Romans 5:18 - Prayer Tents

Romans 5

Developing Patience

5By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus.G3767G1344G1537G4102G2192G1515G4314G2316G1223G2257G2962G2424G55472And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.G1223G3739G2532G2192G4318G4102G1519G5026G5485G1722G3739G2476G2532G2744G1909G1680G1391G23163There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us,G1161G3756G3440G235G2744G1722G2347G2532G1492G3754G2347G2716G52814and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next.G1161G5281G1382G1161G1382G16805In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!G1161G1680G2617G3756G2617G3754G26G2316G1632G1722G2257G2588G1223G40G4151G3588G1325G22546Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn't, and doesn't, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn't been so weak, we wouldn't have known what to do anyway.G1063G2257G5607G2089G772G2596G2540G5547G599G5228G7657We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice.G1063G3433G5228G1342G599G5100G599G1063G5029G5228G18G5100G5111G2532G5111G5998But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.G1161G2316G4921G1438G26G1519G2248G3754G2257G5607G2089G268G5547G599G5228G22579Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way.G4183G3123G3767G1344G3568G1344G1722G846G129G4982G575G3709G1223G84610If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we're at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life!G1063G1487G5607G2190G2644G2316G1223G2288G846G5207G4183G3123G2644G4982G1722G846G222211Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah!G1161G3756G3440G235G2532G2744G1722G2316G1223G2257G2962G2424G5547G1223G3739G2983G3568G2983G2643

The Death-Dealing Sin, the Life-Giving Gift

12You know the story of how Adam landed us in the dilemma we're in—first sin, then death, and no one exempt from either sin or death.G1223G5124G5618G1223G1520G444G266G1525G1519G2889G2532G2288G1223G266G2532G3779G2288G1330G1519G3956G444G1909G3739G3956G26413That sin disturbed relations with God in everything and everyone, but the extent of the disturbance was not clear until God spelled it out in detail to Moses. So death, this huge abyss separating us from God, dominated the landscape from Adam to Moses.G1063G891G3551G266G2258G1722G2889G1161G266G1677G3756G1677G5607G3361G355114Even those who didn't sin precisely as Adam did by disobeying a specific command of God still had to experience this termination of life, this separation from God. But Adam, who got us into this, also points ahead to the One who will get us out of it.G235G2288G936G575G76G3360G3475G2532G1909G264G3361G264G1909G3667G76G3847G3739G2076G5179G319515Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin. If one man's sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God's gift poured through one man, Jesus Christ, will do!G235G3756G5613G3900G3779G2532G5486G1063G1487G3900G1520G4183G599G4183G3123G5485G2316G2532G1431G1722G5485G3588G1520G444G2424G5547G4052G1519G418316There's no comparison between that death-dealing sin and this generous, life-giving gift. The verdict on that one sin was the death sentence; the verdict on the many sins that followed was this wonderful life sentence.G2532G3756G5613G1223G1520G264G1434G1063G3303G2917G1537G1520G1519G2631G1161G5486G1537G4183G3900G1519G134517If death got the upper hand through one man's wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, sovereign life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right, that the one man Jesus Christ provides?G1063G1487G1520G3900G2288G936G1223G1520G4183G3123G2983G4050G5485G2532G1431G1343G936G1722G2222G1223G1520G2424G554718Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life!G686G3767G5613G1223G3900G1520G1519G3956G444G1519G2631G2532G3779G1223G1345G1520G1519G3956G444G1519G1347G222219One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right.G1063G5618G1223G1520G444G3876G4183G2525G268G3779G2532G1223G5218G1520G2525G4183G2525G134220All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn't, and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin versus grace, grace wins hands down.G1161G3551G3922G2443G3900G4121G1161G3757G266G4121G5485G524821All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that's the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.G2443G5618G266G936G1722G2288G2532G3779G936G5485G936G1223G1343G1519G166G2222G1223G2424G5547G2257G2962