Bible Passage: Romans 5:1-8
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: March 8, 2026

Bulletin – March 8, 2026

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

Most of you know that in the Old Testament the Lord made a covenant with his people that required various sacrifices. Among all the sacrifices in the Old Testament is one we may often overlook.  It was called the “drink offering.”  Drink offerings were to be a part of burnt offerings.  The drink offering involved pouring out some wine at the base of the altar.  As mentioned, it was connected to the burnt offering.  That means that every single morning when a lamb was offered at the Temple as a burnt offering for Israel, and when every day ended with another lamb sacrifice, a priest stood and poured out wine at the base of the altar.

This may seem a boring detail, until we remind ourselves that every sacrifice in the Old Testament was meant to be a “mini-Calvary.”  A prelude to Good Friday.  The Lord wanted the Jews to make a connection between “pouring out” and the work of the coming Messiah.  In Isaiah 53 the Lord would not just hint about it, but said clearly about the Lord’s Suffering Servant, He poured out his life unto death. (Isaiah 53:12) 

The image of that ancient drink offering being poured out will be helpful for us today as we consider Paul’s words.  Imagine the worshipper of old pouring out that goblet of wine next to the altar as you listen to Paul’s word, “God’s Love has Been Poured Out into our Hearts.”

Paul does not leave “God’s love” as some amorphous abstraction.  He tells us in no uncertain terms, God shows his own love for us in this:  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (v. 8)  God didn’t write a dissertation on love.  He didn’t write us a poem or sonnet about love.  He “showed” it.  He demonstrated it.  He put it on display!  On a cross!  With a death!  The death of Jesus Christ!  It was a death for us.

Just so we realize how unworldly this death “for us” really is, Paul writes:  For at the appointed time, while we were still helpless, Christ died for the ungodly.  It is rare indeed that someone will die for a righteous person.  Perhaps someone might actually go so far as to die for a person who has been good to him. (v. 6-7)  Paul knows human nature.  He knows that it is a rare thing indeed that one human being is willing to die for another.  Maybe, maybe, maybe there’s an outside chance that someone would take a bullet for a noble, decent person.  But who would die so the worst-of-the-worst could live?  Jesus would…and did!

It is good for us to let it soak in that Jesus had to die for us.  We were helpless  and ungodly.  Jesus didn’t come to give us “a hand up.”  Jesus didn’t come to “reform” us or “show us the way.”  He came to die for us.  To die a death that should have been ours.  He did this not because we are such decent, respectable folk; but precisely because the opposite!  Because we could do nothing to save ourselves!  The result of this death for our sins Paul states in the first verse of our text:  [W]e have been justified by faith. (v. 1)  Jesus doesn’t make us into holy people; but through faith in Jesus’ death for your sin, God DECLARES you to be holy in his sight.  That is justification.  This is the love of God that has been poured into our hearts, and the Holy Spirit did the pouring.  God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. (v. 5)

Now Paul wants to turn this love of God to full account in our lives!  [S]ince we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God. (v. 1)  “Peace.”  Shalom.  You are no longer at “odds” with God.  Long ago “odd” numbers were thought to be out-of-balance and not in harmony.  9 divides into 5 and 4. Ugh!  8 divides into 4 and 4.  Ahh, that’s nice!  Sin made us at odds with God.  We were at 6’s and 7’s with one another.  But now with Jesus’ death for sin and God’s justifying of you, and this love being poured into your heart, you are not at odds with God any more!  Things are back in balance and harmonious.  They are as they should be!  That’s peace.

As a result of justification, we have obtained access by faith into the grace in which we stand. (v. 2)  How comforting is this verse!  How often do we view God’s grace, his love for us, as a spigot God turns on and off.  When my sinful nature gets the upper hand, I imagine that he cranks the handle to the right – righty-tighty – and turns it off.  When I am good, I imagine he turns it left and lets it flow.  Grace is not a spigot, now-off, now-on!  Grace is a rainshower in which you stand at all times, for Jesus’ sake.  You cannot make God love you less!  Let that sink in!

More blessing comes our way!  And we rejoice confidently on the basis of our hope for the glory of God. (v. 2)  Christian hope is certainty.  Christian hope is Job saying, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon my grave.  And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God! I myself will see him with my own eyes! (Job 19:25-26)

But our rejoicing is not only for “what is coming.”  It is a rejoicing even “right now.”  Not only this, but we also rejoice confidently in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces patient endurance, and patient endurance produces tested character, and tested character produces hope. (v. 3-4)  We rejoice even when suffering!  Because we know that the weight of suffering gives our spiritual muscles a workout.  And this workout teaches us that God can be trusted!  We become veterans in the Church Militant, not jittery, skittish raw recruits.  And veterans of the cross become even more confident that God can always be trusted!  There is that “hope” we talked about!  And, Paul adds, hope will not put us to shame. (v. 5)  We will never blush for having placed our trust in God!

So much blessing in this text!  Almost too much to take in at once!  And all of it traces back to one simple fact:  …because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts. (v. 5)  Let the beauty and comfort of that soak in!   

Amen.