Romans 5-10, God Saves Sinners

Find Peace in God’s Promise of Salvation

Romans 5

1) Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2) Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 6) For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 9) Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 11) …we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

The Lesson

Do you know how Orthodox prayer candles are made? They're made by carefully dipping strings into melted beeswax, over and over again. First, you heat a large pot of wax and tie one end of a string to a washer as a weight. The other end is attached to a rod with multiple strings hanging about half an inch apart. You dip each string into the wax every few minutes, allowing each layer to harden before the next dip. This process continues until a solid, quarter-inch thick candle stick forms.

To me, this process reflects how sin builds up over time. It all starts with a single act, perhaps a small lie or something you stole. As you continue to commit the same sin, each act becomes buried beneath layer after layer. Eventually, who you were before sin is now unrecognizable, and much like wax, sin feels impossible to remove.

But here’s what Jesus’ salvation looks like: He lights the wick and makes the entire candle disappear, as if the sin never existed at all. He makes us pure and sin no longer takes hold of us. It's as simple as placing your faith and hope in Christ alone, as the scriptures teach us.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9