ROMANS 5

CONTEXT: Matthew Henry comments: The apostle, having made good his point, and fully proved justification by faith, (Chapter 4) in this chapter proceeds in the explication, illustration, and application of that truth. I. He shows the fruits of justification (v. 1-5). II. He shows the fountain and foundation of justification in the death of Jesus Christ, which he discourses of at large in the rest of the chapter.

Have you ever been told that the Bible or God is unfair? There are countless reasons people will say this, things like I don’t understand; ‘how can a loving god allow famine’ or if there is a god how can he allow such a disaster to happen,’ or most often “people are basically good, but your bible says they are evil that is not right.’

I love it when someone says things like that to me especially when I respond “you are absolutely correct. It usually takes a minute or two for them to gather their thoughts (from the shock) and ready their next senseless argument. Please note I am acknowledging two key things in the preceding paragraph, first, they don’t understand, and second, they see God with a small “g”. Simply put they do not see God as the sovereign ruler of the universe, they have no concept of nor recognize His authority, so surely they do not see Him in control of all things for the good of man. Nor of course, does the natural man understand spiritual things, they are ignorant, 1 Corinthians 2:13-15.

I have found that acknowledging their ignorance (obviously not calling them that) and then engaging folks in conversation works much better than starting out with ‘you are wrong and scripture proves it.’

But this “ignorance” is not limited to non-believers. Back in 2014, I preached a sermon Judgment for the Defendant Paid in Full. In it, I noted the following: How foolish is man? I recently read an article that claimed that the only reason we have sin in the world is that biblical law points it out to us. Like if the bible went away so would sin? I am afraid to know what fairy tale land this person lives in? I did not note it at the time but the article was written by a so-called “Christian.”

Mankind’s sinful nature is undeniable, the Good News, the Gospel Message, is mankind has a Redeemer, a Saviour: