The David Spoon Experience 7-16-24 part 2

1) Romans Chapter 5, Verse 9, makes it absolutely clear that we have been justified in God’s sight by the blood of Christ. There is a liquid involved in our righteousness with God, and that liquid is the blood of Jesus, symbolizing His righteousness. What can wash away our sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make us whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Precious is the flow.

2) It’s important to understand the progression that takes place. We are justified through the redeeming work of Jesus Christ. We are restored to friendship with God by the death and resurrection of His Son. It’s critical to understand that the purpose of Jesus’s ministry was to restore a friendship that was lost in the Garden of Eden. This is not about rules and regulations; it’s about learning to spend eternity with God. It’s about our relationship with God, and to reduce it to something less is an insult to the blood of Christ.

3) That’s one reason we need to be careful about viewing Christianity as a religion, as the world does. Christianity is a living relationship with the living God, made possible through the redeeming work of Jesus Christ and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. When we add other labels and requirements to it, we risk degrading this precious gift of friendship that God has bestowed upon us.

4) A key component is found in Verse 10: while we were still enemies, still sinners, Jesus died for us, enabling us to be restored. It wasn’t because we were righteous but because He was merciful and gracious. It wasn’t because we earned it but because He chose to grant it. And while we were in the position of being enemies with God, Jesus transformed that adversarial relationship into a friendship. The bottom line, as Verse 11 aptly states, is that the Lord Jesus has made us friends with God. It feels a bit reminiscent of Abraham, doesn’t it?