WHO ARE CHRISTIANS

Who are Christians? A Whole new Person Romans 5 verses 1-11
If I were to ask you to give me a definition of a Christian I wonder what you would say? You may describe how that person lives or behaves. You may even include Jesus Christ in your definition. The description may be positive or it may be negative depending largely on your experience of Christians and your understanding of Christianity. If I was to change the question slightly and to ask you: Are you a Christian? I wonder would you say 'Yes' or 'No.' Often I meet people who genuinely answer that question by saying "I hope so" or "I think so." I want to look at exactly what is a Christian and how do you then live that out in all areas of our lives.
If we look at Romans chapter 5 verses 1-11. We are going to base ourselves primarily in this text , though we will draw from other verses in Scripture. Romans 5.1 is based on the argument begun in Romans 3.21 with the phrase 'But now...' from chapter 1 to 3.21 Paul has outlined the dire situation that mankind, all, find themselves in. He begins 3.21 with a phrase which tells us that something has changed and now in 5.1 he says "Therefore..." What follows is an outline of the wonderful work that Christ has brought about through His death and so we are going to learn what the Bible says is a 'Christian.' I want you to look for a moment at verse 1 because it tells us something very significant has changed because of Jesus. Do you notice Paul says "we have been justified through faith." It is an accomplished fact. It is not something that will happen in the future but is something which has already happened. The result of this is that "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." The implication of that phrase is that at some point in time Paul, his readers and presumably we also, did not have peace with God. I want you to note something here - we have peace with God - which is an objective fact. It is not a subjective feeling but an objective fact for all who are in Christ. Paul goes on then in verse 2 to tell us that through justification by faith in Christ not only do we have peace but we also have gained access to God the Father. Again the simple conclusion is that at some point we did not have access to God the Father. I want you to note also that this place where we now stand is because of 'grace.' It is not because of anything that we have done but is all of grace. Let me illustrate this with a story from the OT. Some of you may know the story of Mephiboseth. Mephiboseth was of the family of Saul. One of the servants dropped him as they ran from the oncoming army of David. As a result he was crippled. David had made a promise to Jonathon to be kind to the house of Saul. When David became king he sent for Mephiboseth and he was carried in and seated at the king's table. You can read the whole story in 2 Samuel 4 and 2 Samuel 9. In fact in 2 Samuel 9 David refers to Mephiboseth as "a son" and not a cripple. This was an act of grace. Mephiboseth was born of royalty but because of the rebellion of his family against God he lost his royal status but under king David that status was returned. He was no longer referred to as a 'cripple,' a badge he had carried all his life, but as a 'son.' Do you think Mephiboseth understood grace? In a far greater way we are like Mephiboseth. We were born of royalty, made in the image of God, we fell and were crippled by sin but one day a king kept his promise and restored us to the banqueting table and referred to us as 'sons and daughters.' The result of this is made plain by Paul - we now "rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." Let me read you Romans 3.23 - for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God - but now we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. What has changed? Well move on in chapter 5 to verse 6. Let us stop here for a moment because it is important.
"At just the right time..." - it is a simple enough phrase. One we probably would normally Passover in the bible but here we need to linger for a moment. This is not speaking only of 'tick, tick' tick time' but of kairos time - it was the God given moment in history for God to act to save His people from their sins. This little phrase tells me that the cross, the death of Christ Jesus, the Son of God, was no afterthought by God. It fitted God's perfect purpose and plan for the salvation of man. This was the way God always planned and intended to deal with sin. At the appointed moment in history Jesus died for the ungodly. We will come back to that phrase in a moment, but before that we read that 'when we were still powerless...' Paul makes it clear that he, and all mankind, were unable to get themselves out of sin. We were powerless. To be powerless is to be totally dependent on someone else to do what you cannot do for yourself. It was while we were still powerless in sin that Christ died for us. I want you to hear that - Christ died for you when you could do nothing to help yourself and when you had nothing to commend you to Him. So many of you fail to understand that and therefore you fall into the trap of thinking that somehow there is something you must do before God will accept you. God did it before for you when you were unable to help yourself.
Verses 7-8 well Paul wants us now to understand this awesome work of God. He does not want them to be under any illusions about themselves or to take for granted the enormity of the death of Christ for them. In verse 7 he points out the utter folly of the cross. A righteous man believes he has no need for anyone to die for him. Often those who are self-righteous are the hardest to live with and live up to. They are ruled by Law and not grace. They believe by keeping the rules they will be justified before men and God. Paul knew all about this as he had spent a considerable period of his life living according to the meticulous regulations of the Pharisees, until that day on the road to Damascus when he met the risen Christ. Well for a good man someone may possibly die but for a sinner, for an evil and wicked man no one would give up their life. I want you to understand that whether or not you consider yourself a good person or the worst of the worst Christ died for you. The contrast is between the worthiness of the life laid down for the unworthiness for whom it was laid down. God loved: Christ died: sinners benefited. Is that not amazing grace to you ? You know 4 times in verses 6-8 we read the phrase 'dies for.' The emphasis is on the death of a substitute - someone dies in the place of someone else. Christ dies in our place. Paul is not trying to speak of the number of times it happens but the fact that it is almost impossible to find someone to die for someone else, but certainly not for an evil person. Notice as well will you how verse 8 begins 'But God...' once more we are reminded that it is God who has taken the initiative and acted for sinful men. The cross is a demonstration of God's love for us. While we were still in our sins, still at war with God, still turned away from God, He sent His Son to die for us.
Verses 9-11. Now the height of God's love is declared - it brings salvation. We are invited to take our stand on the fact of an achieved justification. Verse 9 begins with the word "For" - here is outworking of verse 8. If we have been justified, that is restored to a right standing before God by the blood of Christ, that is by His atoning death on the cross, then Paul says we will be saved from the wrath of God. The implications are clear - God's wrath is on those who are not justified. But what does that mean? Justification is a legal term. It is a legal declaration by God. God declares us righteous in His sight. Forgiveness of our past sins is part of justification and the imputation of Christ's righteousness is the other part of justification. When we say that God imputes Christ's righteousness to us we mean that God thinks of Christ's righteousness as belonging to us, or regards it as belonging to us. Justification comes to us entirely by God's grace and it is not on account of anything of merit in us. God justifies us through faith in Christ. Galatians 2 verse 16 and Romans 5.1 tells us that justification comes through saving faith.
Verse 10 Paul draws out more of the outworking of this change in status brought about in our lives through faith in the death of Christ. By Christ's death we have been reconciled to God, that is brought in to a new relationship of peace with Him. You see there is a time in all our lives when we were, or maybe some of you still are, God's enemies. Please note it is not an accident that Paul uses the term 'enemies.' It is not that we were, or are, friends who have come up short. We were, or are, in the opposite camp to God. That is why in the gospels Christ says that we either for God or against God. There is no middle ground here. You see wrath and enmity go together. Sinners are God's enemies. Enmity is not the last word, thankfully. God reconciled us - made peace through the death of Jesus. Having been reconciled to Him by Christ Paul says we will also be saved. This salvation is from the wrath of God which in the first few chapters Paul has outlined is God's actions towards sin.
Verse 11 - Paul therefore rejoices in this change of status. He spontaneously bursts into celebration at this. Did you notice the end of this verse? We have received - an accomplished fact. Nothing we do achieves this reconciliation. It is done for us. We do not take the initiative God does. We do not bring about this reconciliation - God does. We do not contribute anything to it - save our need of it. This is amazing grace at work.
Application:
I want us to understand from God's Word that a Christian is someone who through faith in Christ Jesus now stands in a completely different place before God. This is accomplished by Christ's death on the Cross to atone for our sin. We all stand before God as sinners. We all need Christ Jesus. When we come to Christ and confess our sin and ask His forgiveness we move, legally move, from someone on whom the wrath of God is directed to being reconciled to God. We no longer are His enemies but have peace with God. We are counted righteous by God because of Christ. This act of grace re-creates us - we have become a new creation - no longer under condemnation but saved by the blood of Christ. This is the beginning of Christian discipleship.