Sermon 9: Romans 5:10-21

  "For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.  And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement."  Romans 5:10, 11

  The eleventh verse states one of the fruits that must follow from a knowledge that we are "saved by his life."  When men have a well-grounded assurance that they are saved by the life of Jesus Christ, when they realize it is so till it becomes a part of their very being, they will joy in God through Jesus Christ their Lord.  There can be nothing but joy in the heart of an individual when he knows that he is saved by the life of Christ.  That is the secret of joying in tribulation.

  "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."

  This verse contains a partially stated proposition.  You will notice that commencing with the thirteenth verse and continuing down to the end of the seventeenth, there is a parenthesis.  Then in the eighteenth verse, the proposition is taken up again and completed.  The first part of the eighteenth verse is merely an equivalent to the first part of the twelfth; it is the same truth expressed in other words--"Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation."  Then the closing portion of the verse completed the proposition:  "Even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life."

  We can notice but briefly the intervening verses.  They contain rich truths, but the time allotted for this subject is so limited that our remarks must be confined to the major points of the chapter.