Series Title:

“Justification: Man’s Relationship with God”

Romans 5:1-21

Sermon 2: “Justified by His Blood”

Romans 5:6-11

Jacob Anderson

May 17, 2026

​

​

​

​

​

​

​​​

We are justified by faith in Jesus Christ as Paul said in Romans 3:22 “The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ.”

 

What is it about Jesus that makes our faith in Him powerful enough to justify us before a perfect and holy God?

 

The most valuable aspect of the Old Testament temple, was that it was the place where animal sacrifices were made to God. An animal blood sacrifice was necessary to stay the wrathful of God.

 

When the sacrifice was made by the high priest, and the blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat, the sins of the nation of Israel were covered for one year. A blood sacrifice was necessary to cover the sins of the people, as Paul says in Hebrews 9:22 “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

 

What the high priest did in the Old Testament couldn’t take away sins. It only stayed the hand of God’s wrath for one year. Hebrews 10:11 “Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.”

 

If blood is necessary to receive forgiveness, then it was necessary for there to be a perfect blood sacrifice that could redeem all mankind. Today we’re going to look at what Jesus did on the cross and how He became that necessary blood sacrifice. Hebrews 9:11 – 12 “When Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the Holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”

 

It is our faith in Jesus that justifies us, but it is the blood of Jesus that allows us to be justified.

 

Romans 5:6 “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

 

We had no ability within ourselves to save ourselves, we were dead in our sins and transgressions and we were in need of a Savior to do what we could not do.

 

I’ve heard people say, “why do bad things happen to good people?” There are no good people. The Word of God tells us this in Ecclesiastes 7:20 “There is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.”

 

It was Jesus’ death on the cross that saved us from our sins, it wasn’t our obedience to the law or doctrine, it was our obedience to a set of rules, and it wasn’t our obedience to man, but it was our obedience to Jesus Christ and our faith in His death on the cross.

 

Romans 5:7 “For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.”

 

Mankind has such a high capacity for self-preservation; for that reason, it is very unlikely that people will even die for someone who displays good character.

 

Would you be willing to die for the drunk down the street, or for the child molester sitting in prison, or for the murderer sitting on death row?

 

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ die for us.”

 

Jesus died for the drunk down the street, Jesus died for the child molester sitting in prison, Jesus died for the murder sitting on death row, and He died for us all while we were still unrighteous sinners, displaying bad character.

 

God didn’t look down on mankind and ask Himself, “Are they worthy of my Son’s sacrifice?” No, God sent His Son to die for us in spite of our sins and unrighteousness. God sent Jesus to die, because we were unworthy.

 

God wanted to demonstrate His love for us and sent His Son to die for us. Jesus came, because God wanted to demonstrate His love, His mercy, and His grace.

 

In verses 6 – 8, we see Paul describing mankind in three powerful ways.

• First; helpless, we were unable to act without help from God

• Second; ungodly, without respect and reverence for God all mighty

• Third; sinners, we act immorally and unrighteously

According to Paul we were helpless, ungodly, sinners, but God loved us so much that He still sent His Son to die for us and redeem us.

 

Would you be willing to die for a helpless, ungodly, sinner?

 

Romans 5:9 “Much more then, having been justified by His (Jesus) blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him (Jesus).”

 

What comes next is even more amazing than Jesus dying for helpless, ungodly, sinners. What Paul is about to say next is even more significant than just God’s love. In other words, this goes beyond just seeing God’s love for mankind, we get to see God’s justification of mankind.

 

To love sinful man is amazing, but to justify sinful man is a whole other matter altogether.

 

Earlier I read in Hebrews 9:22 where Paul said, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness”, and here we see that it was the shedding of Jesus’ blood that brought us forgiveness, that justified us before a holy God.

 

We are justified by faith, but it was the blood Jesus shed on the cross that makes our justification possible.

 

Romans 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.”

 

J. Vernon McGee said it well when he said, “We will escape that day of wrath, not because we are worthy, but because we have been saved by the grace of God. We have been saved by grace, we live by grace, and we will stand in heaven by the grace of God.”

 

Romans 5:10, “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.”

 

Imagine someone comes up to you and says, “If you would die an agonizing death for Ted Bundy, then Ted Bundy could be saved from eternal death and destruction (hell).” Would you do it? Most of us would probably say emphatically no.

 

That is exactly what Jesus did. God came to Jesus and said, “If you would die an agonizing death on the cross, and bear the burden of their sins, then they could be given a chance to be redeemed, reconciled, and justified before me”. Jesus loved you so much that he said yes and chose to die so that you and I could be justified before God.

 

Paul continues to escalate these incredible blessings that we receive through Christ.

• First, Christ died for us while we were still sinners.

• Second, God justified us through the blood of Jesus shed on the cross.

• Third, we are saved from the wrath of God through the blood of Jesus.

• Fourth, we have been reconciled to God and we are no longer His enemies.

Here is a huge reason we should be secure in God’s promise of eternal life.

• While we were sinners God loved us.

• While we were sinners Christ came and died for us.

• We were enemies of God, but now we are reconciled to God and have peace with God.

• The blood of Jesus has saved us from the wrath of God.

 

 

Romans 5:11, we read, “And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”

 

It was God the Father who loved us enough to send His only Son to die for us. It was God the Father who accepted Jesus’ death on the cross as a payment for our sin debt. It was God the Father who justifies us through the blood of Jesus.

 

Let us evaluate our own lives and ask ourselves if there is someone we know that we need to be reconciled to.

 

Jesus died to reconcile us back to God, let us take the first step and begin to reconcile broken relationships in our own lives.

 

Let our community know we love them, let our community know God loves them, and let our community know our church wants to serve them.