Romans 5

http://www.esvbible.org/Romans+5/

We have God's Approval! Again, we receive this favor through faith. When we brag, we do it because of what God has done for us. We brag about God. But don't just brag about God when things are going well, brag when you suffer because suffering builds endurance, which builds character, which builds confidence. We cannot be ashamed of what Christ has done for us. We must proclaim it and tell others about it. The next part puts the gospel in such a way that is truly unbelievable, but it really happened. Christ died at the perfect time. Why? He came to die for the evil, which is unheard of. You might give your life to save a good person if you knew it would cause them to survive, but never an evil person. You would just let them go and continue on about your business as before. Christ died for us while we were still sinners. Sin is the one thing that causes God anguish to watch people do. There is nothing remotely of God in it or about it. Still, Christ died to save us while we acted out against Him. So, if Jesus died for each of us to save us even when we were at the darkest moments when sin controlled our lives, how much more will He save us daily now that we have His Approval? Christ restored the relationship between humans and God.

Adam brought sin to the world, and sin brought death because death is the payment for sin. Sin existed even in a time before there were written laws about it from Moses, yet everybody from Abraham to Moses still died. We should not compare Adam's failure to God's gift. God is the one who controlled the fate. After Adam sinned, God condemned people to die, and all people became sinners because we all came from Adam. God also eventually gave the gift that brought people out of the hopeless fate. What we can compare is a one to one system. Each and every one of us committed sin, and Jesus died in place of us by taking that sin upon Himself. Sin cannot overtake God. Jesus rose from death. Even if you feel your sin is the worst (and no sin is worse than any other) or that you have committed more sins than others and we have all committed so many that it is pointless to try to count), God's grace will always overcome the sin.