From Powerless to Powerful

Last week, we talked about how God is a God of transformation. God desires to transform our spiritual and physical reality through His love and grace.

What does this mean?

He transforms us from sinner to saint through justification.

He transforms us from a position of death to life through the gift of His Son.

Both of these transformations will impact our entire being.

What God does on the inside, will impact who we are and what we do on the outside. If no change is noted… I would argue no transformation had taken place.

Quick note of warning: If Judas could walk that close to Jesus and miss the point… we need to make sure we remain teachable and in a place of humbleness.

When God transforms our life… it will change us from the inside out.

Tonight we go back to chapter 5 by looking at the last few verses we mean to hit last week. I didn’t feel like we could give these verses the attention they deserve last week, so we will tackle them this evening. And right out of the box… we see the from this to that transformation mentioned once again. So we dive in by looking at the change God has made in us...

From Powerless… to Full of Power

Romans 5:6–8 NIV

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Let’s zoom in on verse 6 for a moment. The wording here catches my attention.

Paul indicates that Christ moved on our behalf at a specific time in history: at just the right time.

What do you suppose that means? What made that time… the right time?

There are a couple of theories out there… but there is one that stands out to me. The verse itself gives us some clues.

The right time = when we were still powerless (or weak), Christ died for the ungodly.

Who was Paul referring to when he said we? The Jews. The people of Israel. At this time in history, they are under Roman occupation. Their world… is a mess and all real power had been stripped away from them.

Why would this be the right time for Christ to die for the ungodly? I see it this way.... The Jewish leadership saw the law (in a sense) as their source of power. It was what they used for everything.

They used the law to question and eventually crucify Jesus

They used the law as a means to gain righteousness in the eyes of God.

When Jesus came, He came to not abolish the law… but to fulfill it. The power of redemption was never in the law… it was always in the blood.

The problem was… misplaced power. Paul calls this out again in 1 Corinthians 15:55-57

1 Corinthians 15:55–57 NIV

55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Why would the power of sin be the law? The law defined sin… and the punishment for sin. Although the law was given to steer us away from sin, once on the side of sin… it became our point of condemnation. We had no answer for our sin.

The law… was not a point of power… it was a point of condemnation. EVERYONE had broken the law and had been left powerless in sin. And before you become too quick to point our fingers at the Pharisees… we tend to do this even today.

How so? Through legalism. Legalism is NOT a point of strength… in fact I would declare it as a point of weakness. Jesus didn’t come to condemn, but to save. He didn’t condone sin… He called it out. But His answer wasn’t do better… it was place faith in Him.

He came to do what we could not do for ourselves!

And when He did what He did, a transition of power took place! Again, look at verse 6 in its wording, “when we were still powerless...” This phrase indicates that a change took place.

They might have been powerless before… but now, those who believe in Christ, are full of power! Whose power? The power of the Holy Spirit!

We are covered by the blood of the Lamb… the blood that has the POWER to break any sin.

We are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit… the power that helps us live out our faith.

We are baptized with the power of the Holy Spirit… the empowerment for our witness.

This transformation was NOT a result of what we did through the law or legalism… it was a result of what Christ did as He fulfilled the law by giving His life on the cross.

And He did this… because of His love for us. We know Romans 5:8 well.

Romans 5:8 NIV

8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The Word makes clear that what Christ did for us was a DEMONSTRATION of God’s love for this world.

What is a demonstration? Defined it is the action or process of showing the existence or truth of something by giving proof or evidence.

God PROVED His love for His creation never stopped… even when sin entered this world. His love endures forever.

Jesus’s death on the cross had nothing to do with how good we were… but had everything to do with how stuck in sin we were. We were not worthy of His sacrifice… we were not deserving of such a tremendous gift. Yet Christ gave anyway.

He gave… to transform our reality. He gave… to move us from a place of no power… to powerful - full of His Spirit! For once our sins had been redeemed, the power of the Holy Spirit could move into our hearts.

Which again leads me to say that when our hearts are given to the Lord, we will change from the inside out. Why? Because God now lives within us!

Lastly, our passage hits on one more amazing transformation...

From Death… to Life.

Romans 5:9–11 NIV

9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Right out of the box, Paul identifies the element that brought about the radical change in our lives. He states we are justified by His blood.

ONLY the blood of Jesus can wash away our sins and make us righteous in the eyes of the Lord. There is no other source. There is no other way.

With all the other so called “options” our world tries to put out there… there is only one name a person can be saved and that name is Jesus.

In these verses, Paul speaks of two important realities every believer needs to be reminded of.

One, while we were still enemies of God, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.

First off… enemies of God? Really? Isn’t that a bit dramatic. ABSOLUTELY NOT. God did not make us His enemy… we made God our enemy when we made the choice to go a different direction.

In short, God said go this way, and we said no. We rebelled against His given word. We went our own way. And church… there is no grey area here. We cannot have our sin and our relationship with God at the same time… the old must go to make way for the new.

Now… don’t mistaken this for legalism. What we do does not define who we are in Christ. Who we are in Christ… however, SHOULD define what we do in life.

Secondly, despite our fallen status, God offers to us reconciliation through the death of His Son.

What is reconciliation? It is the act of restoring friendship or harmony.

Now, think about this:

We rebelled against God through our sin - enemies with God

Jesus, God’s one and only Son, died BECAUSE of our rebellion - He paid the price we could not pay.

God did this so that we could be reconciled back to him… no longer enemies… no longer in sin-debt.

He did this… through the death of Jesus.

So… as Paul brings to our attention… if this is what God did through the death of His Son, how much more does He want to do… through the resurrected life of His Son?

Christ came… that we might have life to the full… or life more abundantly! Through His death… we find new life.

There truly is no greater transformation we could possibly hope for. And this new life… is eternal life. For those who are in Christ Jesus… the penalty of death has been paid for IN FULL.

And… who is it that gets the credit? GOD AND GOD ALONE!

IF we boast of legalism and DOING what is right… we boast in ourselves… as if we did something to earn our way into heaven.

IF we boast of BEING a believer and placing our faith in Christ… we boast in what He has done… and in what He is doing.

Jesus not only saves us in a moment… He is saving us from the evil things of this world.

As we choose to follow Him, He leads us away from sin and destructive lifestyles. Jesus will guide and direct you.

In this process, our fellowship with God grows stronger, our faith grows stronger, our dependence in Him grows stronger. Our relationship deepens with the Lord and lessens with the world.

Closing

So what do we take home from this? What daily application can we make?

For me… it’s a reminder.

Before Christ, I had… nothing. No amount of work… no amount of good deeds... no amount of doing could change where I was spiritually.

I was… on of the ungodly that Christ came to die for. In the first three verses we looked at, there is an emphasis on death… not out death, but Jesus’ death. He died, He died, He died. HE DID THE HEAVY LIFTING. He did what was needed.

This was a work… only Christ could do. When it came to breaking through the sin barrier… we were POWERLESS to overcome.

But when Jesus said “It is finished” The power of sin was BROKEN. The veil in the temple was torn in two. The separation between God and His creation had been conquered.

Jesus did it all for us.

So let us be careful to give Him all the praise! He has filled us with His power! He has given us new life. He has changed our status from enemy of God to friend of God. So let’s walk in His love, grace, and mercy as we lead others to His transformative power. God desires to set all hearts free today!