Luke 15:3-7; Rom 5:6-10
SS Lesson for 12/21/2025
Devotional Scriptures: 2 Cor 5:17-20
The first of our two printed texts for this lesson is drawn from a sequence of three “lost and found” parables that constitute the entirety of Luke 15. An element common to all three parables is the joy that occurs when that which was lost is found. Jesus spoke these parables while on his final trip to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51-56). It was a lengthy journey, but the crucifixion was near. Matthew 18:12-14 is another version of today’s parable. Paul’s letter to the church in Rome was most likely written in AD 57 or 58. During Paul’s third missionary journey, he spent about three months in Greece (Acts 20:1-3). This may have been the time during which he wrote this letter. He had never visited the church in Rome, but he planned to (Romans 1:8-13). Many consider Romans to be Paul’s most outstanding epistle. It is a profound doctrinal treatise, dealing with many aspects of the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 1:5). The universal sinfulness of humanity was the issue (1:18-3:20). The remedy is “the righteousness of God” that comes to individuals through their faith in Jesus (3:21-24). The printed text leads us to explore the intersection of these facts.
For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life
(Scriptural Text from the New King James Version; cross-references from the NIV)
3 So He spoke this parable to them, saying:
4 "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?
5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'
7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?
2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.
8 "Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!'
7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
6 and prayed: "O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.
18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.
38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,
16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance-now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.
16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
11 For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.
22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
Paul, in Romans 1-4, has established the fact that men are saved by faith. Now, in chapter 5, Paul keys in on the object of that faith. In chapters 1-4 the verb and noun forms of the word faith are used 36 times, but after Romans 5:2 this word is not used again until chapter 9. However, the name of Christ, used only five times between the introduction of the book and Romans 4:24, is now suddenly used 10 times in this one chapter. The argument is clearly shifting from the means of faith to its object. Let’s go back and trace our argument to this point in order to put the object of faith in perspective.
Paul’s purpose in the first four chapters of Romans is to prove to his readers that the only way a man can be justified and thus obtain salvation and eternal life is through faith. It is impossible, says Paul, for man to be saved by his own endeavors. Having stated this position, Paul deals with three possible objections.
Taking the role of God’s prosecuting attorney, he meets the first objector, the pagan or natural man. This man’s argument says, “I do not accept the fact that man must be justified by faith for I was ignorant of God. Therefore, God is unjust to condemn me simply because I went my own way and did not obediently have faith in His Messiah. I should be pardoned and given eternal life because I was ignorant.” To this Paul answers, “You were not ignorant of God for all of creation proclaims His reality. You are to be judged on the basis of what you did with the little knowledge you had. You rejected even the little that God revealed to you. Therefore, God is just in condemning you. Guilty as charged.”
Now the second defendant steps up. He is a Jew and a moral man. His argument says this: “I reject the proposition that justification must be by faith. I don’t need God’s standards for salvation. I am moral and conform to my own standards as I think I should. I can gain salvation on the basis that I was moral and kept the standards I knew.” To this argument Paul replies, “God will judge you according to your own standards. However, you must keep those perfectly to be acceptable to God since your way of salvation makes no provision for forgiveness of sin. But you were not as good as you could have been for you did things you condemn others for doing. Therefore, God is just in condemning you. Guilty as charged.”
Now, Paul turns to the third defendant, the religious Jew. His argument is this: “I reject the fact that we must be justified by faith. As a Jew, I have many advantages. Because I am God’s chosen tool, I should be saved. God would be unjust in judging those He uses as tools in the world.” To this Paul replies, “The law was written to the Jew. But you have not kept the law. Since you refused to be God’s tool according to His revealed will, you forfeit your right to salvation on this basis. God is just in condemning you. Guilty as charged.”
So then in the first two chapters of Romans, Paul has declared that a man must be justified by faith and he has shown that neither ignorance nor morality nor the Law can provide a basis for man’s salvation.
Having shown man the extent of his lostness in chapters 1-2, Paul, in chapter 3, describes the beauty of God’s salvation by faith. Paul shows in chapter 3 that while man was as bad off as he could be and totally unable to make himself just before God, God had sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross. This death God accepted as the full payment for the sins of all men. God in this became both just and the justifier of all who place their faith in Jesus Christ. Paul here shows that man’s only hope of getting to heaven is for God to provide the way. That way, says Paul, is by faith. Man, in his hopeless position, can place his faith in Christ’s provision for sin and be totally justified by faith.
But a Jew might say, “Isn’t this a new way of salvation?” In chapter 4 Paul says, “No, for the principle of justification by faith is the glue that holds the Old Testament together.” In chapter 4, Paul gives four reasons why the Old Testament would be a pack of lies without the principle of justification by faith. “First,” says Paul, “Abraham in the Old Testament was justified by faith. Second, circumcision was a sign of faith and only has meaning if we are justified by faith. Third, the promise God gave to Abraham is made good by faith. Finally, salvation in the Law was by faith.”
So then, Paul in the first four chapters of Romans has stated the principle that the only way a man can be justified is by faith. He has shown that the means of ignorance, morality and religion are insufficient for salvation. He has clearly shown that faith is the only way sinful men could be saved and illustrated that men of all ages were saved by this same principle.
Now in chapter 5, Paul shifts his emphasis from faith to the object of our faith to show us how our salvation by faith was accomplished. In verses 1-11, Paul will show that we are brought into fellowship with God through the Person of Jesus Christ. In verses 12-21, Paul will show that the work of Christ on the cross is the only rational means of justification and that all the benefits of salvation are provided to mankind through this one act. Let’s first look at verses 1-11.
If someone were to ask you, “What is the most sought-after possession in the world,” what would you answer? Some would say money, some would say wisdom, some would say beauty or popularity. But if you were to analyze these, I think you’d find that it isn’t money people want but rather what they think money will get them. It isn’t wisdom or beauty or popularity but it is the security and peace people believe these things bring. But do these things really bring what they advertise? King Fasel was the most wealthy man in the world, but today his body lies in an unmarked grave. Marilyn Monroe was the beauty queen of Hollywood, but she committed suicide. Leonardo Da Vinci was the most brilliant man of the Renaissance, but he died a discouraged man having admittedly failed in finding the purpose of life.
You see, it is not money, wisdom, beauty or popularity people want most. Just ask the people who have these and you’ll see they aren’t satisfied. Rather, the most sought after thing in the world is inner peace and security. This is the real need of every person. Inner peace is not the cessation of problems on the outside. Rather, it is the ability to remain stable because you can see the end of the problems and know that you will come out on top. The problem we as individuals face is that we are not able to control our circumstances completely. Furthermore, there is someone who is in control of our circumstances—God, and if He is against us, we have no chance of having inner peace. The only way we can have inner peace then is by making peace with God, but how can men who are sinners and stand in God’s wrath become reconciled, changed, to the point that God will make peace with them? Paul tells us in Romans 5:1-2 that Jesus did this for us. He died and paid for our sins. We are then justified, as proved in chapters 1-4, by faith in Him. Now, says Paul, those who believe can and do have peace with God through what Jesus has done.
Verse two gives us a picture of how this peace with God was accomplished when it says “Through whom we have obtained our introduction.” The Greek word for introduction means “to bring to.” It is not that we went to God but rather Jesus brought us to Him and reconciled us, made us right before God by His death. Our peace with God then is not obtained on the basis of what we do but on the basis of what Christ did for us. It is in His work, not ours, that we depend for eternal life and so our peace with God can never be lost for Christ’s work is already done and will never change.
(1) In verse 2, Paul says we can boast in the hope of the glory of God. In chapter 3, Paul has already shown that boasting or placing confidence in man’s works is out of order. But here, he tells us we can place confidence in the hope of the glory of God. Now the biblical definition of hope is “to plan on a future that is guaranteed to us.” That future as explained in Romans 8:30 is that we will be glorified, that we will be conformed to the image of Christ. Here, Paul is saying that we can boast about this because it is accomplished by Christ and not dependent on man’s works. So we can exult or boast in our position for we are at peace with God and assured of a future of glory.
(2) In verses 3-10, Paul tells us that we can boast or exult in our pressures. The Greek word for tribulation is “pressure.” It is an outside force that pushes on you and exerts pressure on you to yield and conform to it. Paul tells us that we can exult in these pressures as believers because of what they produce. The pressures of life, says Paul, are used by God to produce perseverance. This is the quality of a person who when faced with problems he has no control over and to which his only responses are either to endure with anger or to endure with patience chooses to endure with patience. Paul goes on to say that the practice of perseverance under pressure produces in us character which has been proven. Perseverance in trials proves that the godly qualities we practice are what we really are like, rain or shine. This proof of our growth toward godliness then encourages us all the more to trust in our hope—our plans for future glory that God has guaranteed us.
But someone might ask, “How do we know we won’t be disappointed? How do we know God will bring us through our trials to be conformed to the image of Christ and be saved forever?” Paul’s answer is, “We know because of God’s love for us.” Verses 6-10 comprise a profound passage which there is not time to do justice to in a short time. Please listen as we read them together and the import of God’s word brings this truth home to you.
For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His Life (Romans 5:6-10).
(3) Verse 11 gives us the third reason for boasting—that we have received reconciliation with God through the death of Jesus Christ. The word, reconciliation, means “to be changed.” Earlier in this book we learned that because of our sin, we were enemies of God. But Jesus’ death changed man as far as God was concerned. Now, God is free to be at peace with man without blighting His holy and just nature. It is important to note that the effect of Christ’s death toward man is called reconciliation—that is, that the effect was to change man in the eyes of God. The effect of Christ’s death toward God is called propitiation which means that God’s justice was totally satisfied. Reconciliation, the manward aspect of Christ’s death, is never said to save anyone. It only renders all men savable. Although as verse 10 tells us, reconciliation occurred while we were enemies, dead in our sin, 2 Corinthians 5:20 points out that we must receive that reconciliation to enjoy its benefits. (Read 2 Corinthians 5:20.)
So in verses 1-11, Paul has proclaimed that because of the object of our faith—Jesus Christ, and what He has done—we have peace with God and we can boast in our position, our pressures, and our possession of reconciliation.
(Adapted from URL:https://bible.org/seriespage/7-object-our-faith-romans-5)
A homecoming is often a time of great joy. Think of those miners in Chile dramatic rescue. But such earthly celebrations pale in comparison to celebrations in heaven over the repentance of a sinner, an enemy of God. The angels themselves join the celebration! Strictly speaking, Paul does not use homecoming language in Romans 5. But the reconciliation made possible through Jesus’ death is what allows a spiritual homecoming. Those who accept Jesus’ sacrifice according to the biblical plan of salvation become reconciled to God. The sin barrier no longer stands. They are at peace with him. They have come back to their Creator, back to where they belong. They are home spiritually and are destined for the eternal home being prepared for all faithful followers of Jesus (John 14:1-3). For many, “coming home” is a vital part of the Christmas season. The real message of Christmas is that our heavenly Father has provided a way for every person to “come home” to him: the gift of Immanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:23). God wants to be for us! He proved that desire in the death of his Son. Everyone in rebellion against God is a lost sheep. But Christ specializes in finding lost sheep. What is your part in being his hands and feet in that regard?