Eternity Daily Bible Study: No. 521 Romans 1-8 - A Righteousness That Is By Faith Verses: Romans 5:6-8 Topic: Christ Died For The Ungodly Date: 7th October 2005 Romans 5:6-8 HCSB For while we were still helpless, at the appointed moment, Christ died for the ungodly. (7) For rarely will someone die for a just person--though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. (8) But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us! In the Greek world the ungodly were among "the lowest of the low" because they did not observe the social proprieties and have due reverence towards the gods. Thayer's definition is : "Destitute of reverential awe towards God, condemning God, impious" The book of Jude gives the general idea of what the ungodly deserved: Jude 1:14-15 HCSB And Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied about them: Look! The Lord comes with thousands of His holy ones (15) to execute judgment on all, and to convict them of all their ungodly deeds that they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things ungodly sinners have said against Him. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia sums up the word thus (Greek characters have been removed) : Ungodly in the New Testament asebese e.g. indicating that the persons so called are both irreverent and impious): Trench says that the idea of active opposition to religion is involved in the word, that it is a deliberate withholding from God of His dues of prayer and of service; a standing, so to speak, in battle array against God and His claims to respect, reverence and obedience. Those whose sins are particularly aggravating and deserving of God's wrath are the "ungodly." And yet it is for such that Jesus Christ died. These are the god-haters, the insolent, the vigorous atheists and the disrespecters of community standards and conventional religious social mores. They give nothing to God except pain and want nothing from God except never to be bothered by Him. And yet Christ died for them! " For while we were still helpless, at the appointed moment, Christ died for the ungodly." This is so that grace might be totally free and undeserved. If God saves the ungodly then grace is truly free! God does not save us because of our piety, or because of anything in us that merits salvation in any way. We saved entirely by the love of God that loves even the least lovable among human beings. God does not save us because our beauty, intelligence or wealth or because of some religious ceremony we have performed (for the ungodly perform no such ceremonies) or because we will be useful to Him in some way after our redemption. We are saved simply because of God's great desire to demonstrate His love. "But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us!" There we were helpless, ungodly sinners condemned by the Law, and at the appointed time Christ died for us! This assures is of God's love, for if God has loved us when we were bad, how much more will be saved now that we have the righteousness which is by faith, the very righteousness of Jesus Christ? Romans 5:9-10 HCSB Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath. (10) For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life! In other words if we received justification even when we were ungodly, helpless sinners in rebellion against God - how much more will we receive from God as the Christian life unfolds from glory to glory ? (More on this tomorrow) Paul sets forth the process of this great sudden justifying leap from sinner to saint in his epistle to the Ephesians: Ephesians 2:1-5 ISV You used to be dead because of your offenses and sins, (2) in which you once lived according to the ways of this present world and according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now active in those who are disobedient. (3) Indeed, all of us once behaved like them in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of our flesh and senses. By nature we deserved wrath, just like everyone else. (4) But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love for us (5) even when we were dead because of our offenses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), So there we were, dead in sin, animated by evil spirits and worldly desires, helpless, ungodly and sinful and just like everyone else - and God's love came to us and saved us! No sinner is too sinful for God. Indeed the harlots and tax-gatherers enter the Kingdom before the scribes! Matthew 21:31-32 MKJV ..Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you that the tax-collectors and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. (32) For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. But the tax-collectors and the harlots believed him. And when you had seen it, you did not repent afterwards so that you might believe him. This seems a topsy-turvy religion where the ungodly who do not revere God at all are saved while the scribes who studied the Bible daily were lost. The key point is openness to God. The harlots and tax-gatherers listened to John the Baptist while the scribes were offended and failed to repent. Some rather wicked people are actually more open to God than some pride-filled religious experts. God is not so worried about where we are as about where we want to end up. God loves to take us "from the guttermost to the uttermost". He is our Redeemer and no case is past His power. All we have to do is to see ourselves as helpless lost sinners and to call out on Christ: Romans 10:11-13 MKJV For the Scripture says, "Everyone believing on Him shall not be put to shame." (12) For there is no difference both of Jew and of Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call on Him. (13) For everyone, "whoever shall call on the name of the Lord will be saved." Blessings, John Edmiston (johned@aibi.ph) REFER OTHERS: If this devotional is a blessing to you, maybe you have a friend or family member that would like to start receiving this daily bible study. 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