Fire Insurance – 4
Being saved – justified by faith in Christ – assures us of eternal life. But is that all? A criticism of Christianity is that it just offers “pie in the sky by and by.” That may be true in the minds of some believers. For instance …
Once a visiting evangelist was preaching at the little country church, and he noticed that every time he mentioned Satan one little lady would bow her head, almost in deference to the name. Afterwards, at the door, he asked her just what she was doing. She answered, “Well preacher, every time you mentioned the old devil’s name, I just showed a little respect. After all, one never knows. And it doesn’t hurt to be polite!”
Some Christians are accused, perhaps with good reason, that they get saved in order to take out a “fire insurance policy” against going to hell. But their lives don’t show any results, any difference from non-believers. Is it really all “pie in the sky”? Does being a Christian provide benefits and results in this life, now and today?
Listen what Paul has to say to his friends in Rome. Chapter 5, beginning with the first verse.
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
“Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
“Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Romans 5:1-11 NIV)
What do most people want out of life? Confidence, peace, love, hope, happiness, security, a sense of accomplishment. We may express it in different words and ways, but the desires are pretty much universal. In the passage we just read, Paul claims that the Christian has all these things.
Being justified … made right in God’s sight … by faith gives us real peace with God, all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us. And, additionally, our faith brings three wonderfully practical results … new potential, new power, and a new Friend!
First … new potential. Our faith has brought us into a place of highest privilege. We can confidently look forward to actually becoming all that God has in mind for us to be.
How’s that work?
The answer is written all over the Book of Romans. Simply put … have faith, trust God, and obey. God is in charge, let Him do the directing.
Listen, every good athlete lets the coach direct the training, right? Bill Glass, a former football player and witness for Christ both on and off the field said that the worse thing that can happen to a player is not to be willing to pay attention to what the coach tells him or her. Glass said, “A player must be able to take coaching and listen to instruction. And when the going gets tough, he must be even more careful about taking the signals of the coach.”
God is the Coach. Listen to what He tells us. It’s for our own good.
Second … the power. Paul said, “There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us,” (Romans 5:3 THE MESSAGE)



Sure, right. Who’s he kidding? Who wants problems? Nobody. Who has problems? Everybody. But problems do have a purpose. What purpose? Paul tells us.
“Our problems bring us patient perseverance, which gives us character. And our God-created character gives us hope. And our hope never disappoints us. Why? Because it is God who pours out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” (Romans 5:4-5) Paul never saw a problem as something that brought him low. Problems are always something we can use to learn to trust God more and more until our faith is really strong.
“Cool. Where do I get this patience and strength? I have a short fuse … I get pretty discouraged. I start out by trusting God. I even pray about it – passing that exam, getting the job done on time, winning the basketball game, saving bucks in my 401K. But what happens when I don’t pass, when I fail to get the job done on time, when I lose the game, when my stock portfolio tanks out. What happens when there is just me and my problems?”
For the Christian, it is never “just me and my problems.” God is there, too. No matter what happens we can know that all is well, that God loves us. Why? Paul says, “Because it is God who pours out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.”
Actually, this is the first time Paul talks about the Holy Spirit in the book of Romans. It won’t be the last. The Holy Spirit is the vital key to being a Christian without being religious. For the Christian, every trial, every problem can be used to build one’s faith, one’s confidence, one’s hope and happiness … if we face it by relying on the power of the Holy Spirit.
How do we rely on the Holy Spirit? Wait. Do nothing on our own power!
Richard Halverson writes: “There are times when doing something only compounds the problem, deepens the difficulty, adds to the confusion. Doing nothing is a strategy … a conscious, positive, constructive strategy. Leave a glass of muddy water alone – the dirt and debris settles to the bottom. This is a way of purifying water … and it’s a way of allowing a confused situation to clarify. Waiting brings facts into focus – helps you see them in perspective.”
Of course, waiting doesn’t mean we never take action on a problem. But to wait and do nothing in our own strength is a way to rely on the Holy Spirit.
Waiting, thinking, praying can give God’s love, which is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, a chance to calm the troubled waters that are boiling inside. Try it … and see how it works.
Third … the Friend. The one thing at the top of everyone’s “what I want out of life” list is love. We all want to know that we matter to someone. That can make all the difference between despair and meaning in our lives.
The Christian knows that someone cares. She knows that God loves her. How do we know? “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 NIV)
At times we may feel alone with our problems, our trials, even our convictions. We may feel small and insignificant, but we have God’s Word for it that He cares. Paul reassures us, “So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.” (Romans 5:11 New Living Translation) We are friends of God! What better friend could we ever ask for?
So, is your faith more than just fire insurance? It should be. It better be. If it isn’t, then you are in danger of only going through the motions … trying to be a Christian by being religious.
In the rest of chapter five, Paul seems to digress. But he is actually expanding on this incredible truth of how “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” He writes profoundly on the nature of our sin and the nature of God’s mercy.
“When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam's sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break. Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did.
“Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come. But there is a great difference between Adam's sin and God's gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God's wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. And the result of God's gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man's sin.
“For Adam's sin led to condemnation, but God's free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God's wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.
“Yes, Adam's one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ's one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.
“God's law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God's wonderful grace became more abundant. So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God's wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:12-21 New Living Translation)
Question: How can Jesus save us all? How can just one Man die for so many?
It’s simple, actually.
One man, Adam, brought all this death on humankind. The one Man, the new Adam, the eternal Son of God, has the power to bring life to all who believe in Him.
Just believe it. Have faith. Trust God.
That’s the Good News for this morning.

Let’s pray.
God, thank You for this Good News. Because we are all children of the old Adam, we are born with this terrible sin nature. We don’t even know we are lost until Your Spirit comes upon us, convincing us of our sin and our desperate need of a Savior. Thank You that You have given us a new Adam, a life giving Spirit, that in Him and through Him we may have peace with You, forgiven of our sin, and everlasting life with You in Paradise. Grant us faith, that we may trust only in You. Amen.