The Watershed – Romans 5:8-10

 There is a place not far from here, at which, technically speaking, if three drops of water fell only 1 inch apart, they would begin to trickle off in three different directions. One would eventually flow into the St. Joe River and then into the Spokane. Another would move in a slightly southerly direction and join many others in the Clearwater and Snake. And then the third would fall east into the Bitteroot and then into the Clark Fork. You could call that specific spot where those water drops would part company, a watershed. But then again, they would all meet again when they eventually join the Columbia. Further east, however, there is a more dramatic watershed at the continental divide. At that point, two drops of water just an inch apart would separate flowing into the Missouri River and the Columbia. One would eventually end up in the Atlantic Ocean while the other flowed into the Pacific.

By definition a watershed is: “A ridge of high land dividing two areas that are drained by different river systems. Or the region draining into a river, river system, or other body of water. Or a critical point that marks a division or a change of course; a turning point.” In other words a “watershed” is the point at which two drops divide. Or it is the area collecting those divided rain drops.

Here you are today sitting at the watershed of Bible Christianity. Assuming that you haven’t been brought here unwillingly, what makes you different from the heathen or the atheist is not that this is Sunday and you are in a Baptist church. What makes your watershed different is not a particular variety of morals, or some sort of political position. What makes this a different spiritual watershed than thousands of others, is the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact Christ Jesus is the watershed. He is the Continental Divide of humanity and of eternity. Unfortunately, there are a hundred other watersheds which make a claim to Christ. Jesus of Nazareth is the difference between the Christian and the Jew. And what is difference between the Catholic, the Mormon, the Adventist, the Russelite and the Baptist? Again it is the Lord Jesus Christ. In these last instances, they all will say that they are in the “Christian” watershed. And yet, they do all flow in different directions. But still the difference between them, the true watershed, is the Lord Jesus Christ.

To some professed Christians, Jesus is nothing more than a symbol of morality, generosity and religion. To most of those people He is little more than the babe born in the stable and placed in the manger. To some professing Christians Jesus died as a martyr, or as a victim of Satan’s hatred. To others He died as a sacrifice for sin, but then he arose from the grave to rejoin God in Heaven. To many of the apparent best of Christians, Christ is their Saviour, having died for them.

But Christ is another kind of watershed between many people who are genuine Christians. Every true Christian agrees with Paul that they have been justified by Jesus’ blood. They agree that they have been and shall continue to be saved from wrath through Him. When they were sinners, Christ died directly on their behalf. And when they were enemies they were reconciled to God by the death His son Jesus Christ. And those Christians know that He has been “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead,” and by whom they have received grace to be saved.

Most Christians acknowledge that Jesus died, was buried, but rose again the third day, later ascending into Heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father But to the Apostle Paul, in addition to this, Christ was His on-going – living Saviour.

There are two little words in verse 10 that most of us skim over without ever reading. Those two words are very important to Paul, and he likes to use them over and over again. What do the words “much more” mean? Don’t they suggest that one thing may be more important than something else? In verse 15 Paul says that the sin of Adam was a terrible thing which condemned us all to death, but…. “For if through the offence of one many be dead, MUCH MORE the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.” Then again in verse 17 we see what Paul means by “much more.” “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; MUCH MORE they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.” Actually Paul used these words four times in this chapter – verse 9 and then again in verse 10. He uses these words in other epistles as well. And the import of those words was always the same. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. MUCH MORE THEN, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, MUCH MORE, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” In verse 10, isn’t Paul saying that Christ’s ongoing life is as important, or more important, than His death?

This is another of the watersheds between professing Christians. Do you think of Jesus your Saviour, as having died as your personal substitute before the wrath of God? Is Christ’s sacrificial death for your sins, a thing of the past with residual effects reaching into eternity? Or is the Lord Jesus Christ as much your Saviour today, and in some sense still saving you today? Is your love and trust in Christ as deep and rich, fresh and important today as it was that day that your first saw Him hanging on the cross bearing your sins? That is our question for this morning.

Salvation by Christ Jesus’ life, is NOT referring to some things which are absolutely true.I believe that it was the Son of God who visited with Adam in the Garden of Eden. In other words, I believe that the Bible teaches that Christ is the Creator of the Universe and of the first man. And the Book of Colossians clearly declares that Christ is the only reason why creation still exists today. It is held together by the Son of God’s omnipotent sustaining grace. Furthermore, I believe that He is the Sovereign Governor over all His creation. He really is God in the fullest sense of the term. Christ and the Father are one, and in Christ is the fullness of the God-head. That Christ lives today means that the Creator, Sustainer and Sovereign King lives today despite having died on the cross 2,000 years ago. But this is not what Paul is trying to declare in this verse.

And I also believe that there is a sense in which Christ lives in the heart of every child of God. The saint of God has eternal life because the life we have is not our own but that of the Son of God. I’ve told you about a foolish man who visited with our church in Calgary years ago. During that service, we sang the hymn “I Serve a Living Saviour.” The chorus concludes with the words, “I know He lives; He lives within my heart.” The poor man, knew just enough of the Bible to be dangerous – at least to himself. He rejected our church, because as everyone knows, Jesus died and went to Heaven. He refused to listen to the dozen scripture verses which agree with Galatians 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Paul believed that every Christian is indwelt with the living Christ in the Spirit of Christ. But again this is not his reference here in this verse.

Paul was talking about Christ as the God-MAN, the Saviour, the Messiah. The guarantee of our salvation from sin is not in the fact that the Eternal God is eternal. It’s not that Creator is still able to create another universe if He chose to do so. Our salvation is not based on the fact that the King is still upon His throne. Paul is saying that the dead-bolt which locks our salvation into place is that our Saviour lives. “Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.” In Jesus’ own words, he is currently sitting at the right hand of God – exalted. He is at the right hand of power, waiting until his enemies have been made His footstool. Acts 5:31 – “Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.” To Christ has been returned all the glory which He had with the Father from before the beginning of time. To Him has been given all power and authority. And Paul’s point is that because He lives, the saints of God shall live eternally as well. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one.”

Obviously, Life is not Death.I hope that no one mistakes my theology today. I am not in the least trying to minimize or bring down the importance of Christ’s sacrificial death. I recognize that this is Paul’s basic theme, and it is the subject of the Gospel. There could only be one way for sinners to be reconciled to God, and that is through the death of his Son. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” “For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight.” More specifically, Paul and I believe that it is through Jesus’ sacrificial shed blood that our sins are atoned. “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his BLOOD, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God. “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” “In (Christ) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” I know and believe that the sinner’s salvation from sin was accomplished through Jesus’ death and blood, but it was the Apostle Paul who said, “MUCH MORE, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his LIFE.”

Picture the first Passover, when Israel was in Egypt. They had never celebrated or heard of the Passover up to that point. The only thing that they had were the instructions of the Lord. The primary points were that the best lamb of the flock was to be taken and slain. The blood of that lamb was then to be painted onto the external parts of the door of the house. What would have happened if the blood of a chicken was used instead of a lamb? It would probably have meant the death of the oldest son in that family, because the Lord was specific. What if a lamb was slain and a wonderful meal had been prepared, but the blood was thrown out? What if the blood of that lamb had been poured out on the threshold of the door instead of sprinkled on the lintel? What I’m trying to suggest is that without the proper application of the blood, the sacrifice would not have been sufficient. And this could be said of every sacrifice Israel ever made, from that of the daily morning sacrifice to those very special sacrifices on the Day of Atonement. Without the proper ministration of a God-approved priest, the sacrifice would have been rendered useless.

When the Lord Jesus died, the Son of God, was brought down to an unbelievably low level. He not only humbled Himself, but He was humbled and humiliated. He was stripped and shamed, beaten and bloodied, mocked and degraded. The Creator and Prince of Life was reduced to death. There aren’t colors dark enough on my palette to properly convey what took place at the crucifixion. He “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” After making the sacrifice, the true ultimate sacrifice, Jesus put on the royal robes of the true priesthood and presented the sacrificial blood to the Father. He dipped the hyssop plant into the blood of the Passover an painted it on the doorposts of my house. He sprinkled His own blood on the Mercy Seat between the Cherubim and before the Holy God. And if the Lord could save us when He was so low, how much more capable is He to save us today?

“When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son . . .”

“Much more, being reconciled we shall be saved by his life.”There are several Biblical ways in which to picture the Saviour as still saving us today. For example, the Book of Hebrews spends considerable time expounding the fact that Jesus is our Priest. Christ is our High Priest, with a variety of responsibilities even after properly applying the sacrificial blood. Chapter 2 – God’s Son “also himself likewise took part of the same (human flesh); that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.”

Chapter 4 – “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

Chapter 7 – “By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.”

I know that this might be debated by you theologians, but there is a sense in which the living Saviour is perpetuating our justification. The true Christian has been declared righteous, and that was a once for all eternity act and fact. But someone might see us sin and question that whether or not we are truly righteous. Don’t worry about it, because the One who originally provided that justification, is still there to affirm it. Romans 8:34 – “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”

Our Saviour lives today as a constant frustration to the Lord’s enemies. Christians often get so full of themselves that they think that their salvation from sin is first and foremost something that was done for them. Hog wash – it was accomplished first for the glory of God. And certainly Satan has only a passing interest in whether we are saved or lost. You and I are not the Devil’s primary concern. However, if someone for whom Christ died, should somehow be lost, it would mean the failure of Omnipotence and the defeat of the Almighty. It would the only tool Satan would need to declare that Jehovah is not truly God. But as we’ve already pointed out, Christ continues to work and no Christian can ever be lost: Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one.”

I hope that you have noticed that during His earthly ministry Christ tied a great deal to His life. “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: BECAUSE I LIVE, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” Jesus said to Thomas, “I am the way, the truth, and the LIFE: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” That apparently meant that in Christ we can live and come unto the father. “This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.” Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection, and THE LIFE: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”

After all of Jesus’ statements, the Apostles picked up the theme. As Paul did in Colossians 3 – “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, WHO IS OUR LIFE, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” II Corinthians 4 – The life of Jesus has been made manifest in our mortal flesh.

It is a fact, not recognized by most of the world, that Christ is the watershed of humanity. In the death of Christ we find our only deliverance from sin. But even beyond that – in the life of Christ we have a practical division between professing Christians. “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”

As Jude concludes his little book, he gives the true saint of God, something on which to meditate and rejoice. Christ lives today, and He is our Saviour today. Christ deserves our praise today, tomorrow and forever. “NOW unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”

Is Jesus Christ your living Lord and Saviour today?