Romans 5:1-11
So, now by believing that Jesus our Lord by God's plan has completely justified us we have peace with God. Through our belief in Jesus we now have a new position of grace and a new attitude of grateful participation in all that God is and all that He is doing. We can even joyfully dive into the troubles of life armed with the knowledge that God is using it to teach us to persevere, to prove our character, and to give us a confident hope that comes from all His love which He has poured into our hearts through His Holy Spirit. All this results as it dawns on us that at the point of our greatest need and ungodly desperation Christ died for us. I mean, why should anyone die for someone else? I suppose you might be able to find a situation where someone would die for a "truly righteous" person. But even that isn't the case here. No, God played out His love on us while we were sinners by Christ's death on our behalf. If that's the case and as we now stand justified through His blood He saves us from the wrath of God. For if, while we were enemies God reconciled us through the death of His son how much more now that nothing any longer stands between us will He save us in His life. The result of all this is an uncontainable inner joy and peace with our God which comes from our reconciliation with Him through Jesus Christ.