Romans 05 Round Two: The Secret to Joy

What if joy wasn’t fragile, but anchored? We open Romans 5 and find a surprising claim: once you’re made right with God by faith, you stand in a place of undeserved privilege that reframes your past, steadies your present, and brightens your future. Peace with God isn’t a mood—it’s a reality secured by Jesus, and it changes how we meet pressure, pain, and uncertainty.

We walk through the arc from Romans 1–4 and then settle into Paul’s crescendo: trials don’t crush hope; they cultivate it. Endurance breeds character. Character deepens confident hope that won’t disappoint, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. We also confront a hard truth with even better news: Christ didn’t die for our highlight reel. He loved us at our worst and made us friends of God. That single shift—from enemy to friend—reshapes identity and dissolves the need to perform for worthiness.

To ground it, we explore Paul’s sweeping contrast between Adam and Christ. One man’s disobedience spread sin and death; one Man’s obedience brings righteousness and life. The law exposed the depth of our need, but grace proved greater, abounding where sin multiplied. This isn’t sin management; it’s the reign of grace leading to a real, lived triumph over sin and death through Jesus. Along the way, we share a simple story about “bringing your own sunshine,” showing how gospel joy holds in dark seasons without denying the dark.

If this conversation strengthens you, hit follow, share it with a friend who needs hope, and leave a quick review so others can find the show. What verse from Romans 5 anchors you right now?

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Joy Theme
• 0:54 Community Shoutouts And CTAs
• 1:49 Setting Context For Romans
• 3:15 Chapters 1–4 Recap
• 4:18 Bring Your Own Sunshine Story
• 5:19 Reading Romans 5:1–5
• 6:08 Trials Produce Hope Commentary
• 6:41 Reading Romans 5:6–11
• 8:03 Friends Of God Reflection
• 8:56 Reading Romans 5:12–21
• 11:42 Adam Versus Christ Explained
• 12:53 Application: Joy Of Salvation
• 14:07 Prayer And Closing Reminder

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. Every day, we take one chapter of the Bible, dig deeper, and discover that the more we dig, the more we find. You can find out more at the Biblebreakdown.com. Now let's grow in God's Word together. Well, hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon. Today, Romans chapter 5. And if I could give this one a title, it would be just the secret of joy. Like just bring in your own sunshine every day because of what God has done. And for some of us, that's just natural. We we just bring our own sunshine into every environment. And for some of us, praise the Lord, right? We're working on it every single day. And this is the one, this is where the Apostle Paul really starts to turn and really share with us even more the joy of what salvation truly is. And we're going to dive into that in just a moment. I can't wait to read this together. But as always, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you are like, sharing, and subscribing to this on YouTube. We are also starting to do some YouTube shorts, putting together some of my favorite apologetics quotes and different things together. So I hope you enjoy those. I'm trying to mess with a little bit of Bible trivia on there as well. So I hope we have some fun. But also, if you're listening to the podcast, first of all, you're my favorite. I love you so much. And you guys are doing awesome. You are really starting to like those, uh, give those five-star reviews. Actually, leaving us a comment really, really helps. So thank you so much for doing that. And also thank you for going to the Facebook group. It is called the Bible Breakdown Discussion. And man, they are doing an amazing job over there. And people are starting to comment and different things. And so it is really, really cool. And I just want to say thank you so much. The more we dig, the more we find. And that's the goal is to create a community of people that is just rallying around God's Word. And speaking of that, if you want to get your Bibles with me, Romans chapter 5 out of the New Living Translation. We're going to dive into this and to kind of catch you up while you're also topping off your coffee cup and all of that. What this is, is remember, the Apostle Paul has never been to the city of Rome. He knows he's going to go, he's going to end up there one day. Turns out he's going to end up there as a prisoner, but he's going to get there. And what he is doing is, is he is sending on his introductory message, as we say. The Bible tells us in the book of Acts that many times what Paul would do is he would go to a synagogue, you know, a Jewish church, whenever he would go into a new town, and he would share the gospel. And so that's what this is. Is this Paul sharing the gospel with this area? And it's amazing to see what he would say and how he would do this. And so what these were also done when they would write, when Paul would write this epistle, it was intended to be read out loud. So what they would have done is the guy who would have taken this to the city of Rome, to the church in Rome, likely planted by either Peter or Priscilla and Aquila, he would go into the middle of the group, he would unscroll or unravel the scroll, and he would read it. And so this whole thing would probably have taken a little over an hour to have read. We're just breaking it down one chapter at a time. And he is building this foundation of this message. Chapter one was where he said, God made all of us, and because of our sin we turned away from him. Chapter two, he said, and God is no respecter of persons, whether Jew or Gentile, all have fallen short of God's glory. Chapter three, he said that God then instituted the law to show us what perfection looked like, to which we say thanks. Because it was impossibly high. There was no way we were going to be able to meet up to that, right? And so then in chapter four, the good news is, or excuse me, chapter five, the good news is, chapter four, the good news is that he said that's the reason why we need a savior. So chapter three shares with us we need one. Chapter four says, and the savior is Jesus. And so our job is like Abraham, have that believing loyalty, that belief in God that compelled us to then turn toward him. And then when we do that, now we see chapter five. Chapter five is what happens after we believe in God. We confess and believe in him. Now we have what is called bring your own sunshine, bringing it all. And it reminds me of, as we get ready to jump into this, I used to know a guy named Sonny, literally, S-O-N-N-Y, and that was the perfect name for him. This guy was amazing. He just smiled everywhere he went. And he had spent most of his life living in Alaska. And one of the things I would always ask Sonny is, I was like, Sonny, I've heard that a lot of people deal with depression in Alaska because of the times of continuous light and the times of continuous darkness. Like, is there any truth to that? And he would say, Well, some people would, unless you could bring your own sunshine. And I asked Sonny one time, why was he always so happy? What was it that caused him to bring his own sunshine into every environment? And he basically told me what is in Romans chapter five. So we're going to read this and then I will tell you when we get finished exactly what Sonny told me. So here we go. You ready? Romans chapter five, out of the New Living Translation, says this. Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we are confidently and joyfully looking forward to sharing God's glory. Verse 3. We can rejoice too when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us to develop endurance. Endurance develops strength of character. Character strengthens our confident hope of salvation, and this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. So pause for a second. What Paul just said, because of our faith in Christ, because we are now known by God and He has saved us from our sins, it changes our perspective on everything. He said, Not only do we now realize that we've been forgiven of our sin, but also we can rejoice when we run into problems. Because even our problems aren't the end, the problems are an opportunity to experience God's goodness. So he's just saying that that idea of God has forgiven us and God is for us is absolutely a game changer. Verse 6 says this when we utterly, when we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would be willing, not would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed us his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right with God's sight in God's sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God's condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because of our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. Now remember, that is back looking back at chapter four, when the Bible said that because Abraham trusted God, he believed God, God said, That's good enough for me, you're my friend. And I love that idea. Like, think about that for a moment. You know, we tend to kind of put everybody on a spectrum, right? Like we put, tend to put like Mother Teresa, you know, Billy Graham as number one. Like these are super holy people. And we put Hitler as the lowest human life form. And we try to look at that and we go, okay, so if there's a spectrum, where am I at on that spectrum, right? Like, you know, I'm closer to Billy Graham than I am Hitler. Of course I am, you know, and then other people are a little lower on the list, right? But the reality is, is that what God's word says is that yes, Jesus died for Mother Teresa and Billy Graham, but he also died for all the people at the bottom of the list, too. He died for the Adolf Hitlers of the world. And that he didn't die for us on our best day, he died for us on our worst day. And then he said, you know, I love how he said some people might die for a good person, maybe not. Can I tell you? It's one thing to die for a good person, it would be another thing to send my only child to die for a good person. Not happening, right? So it's this amazing idea of what Christ has done for us. And he's saying, now we are friends of God. Let's keep reading. Verse 12. When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam's sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Thanks, man. Appreciate it. Verse 13. Yes, people even 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 was a great difference between Adam's sin and God's gracious gift. For this for the sin of 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 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 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 the one person's because one person's disobedience, let me say that again, because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one person obeyed God, many will be made righteous. God's law has given us, was given to us so that 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 all over 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 Christ Jesus our Lord. Now, what did he say right there? He was using this example, saying that through one man all had sinned. And that's pretty universal to say all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But then Paul is saying, so just like through one man, sin entered into the world through one man, Jesus, who was born of a virgin. He was God and man, all in one, fully God, fully man at the same time, through this one act of righteousness, forgiveness can now be given to everybody. So as we finish up together today, let's kind of wrap up in what see what Paul is saying as he's turning the corner from saying that we had all sinned, God saved us, and now we have the peace of God in our heart. When I was talking to Sonny that day, as I was saying at the beginning, he said, Man, you got to bring your own sunshine with you. And he actually told me, he said, that there would be many people over the years when he lived there who would move to Alaska, stay for six months and then leave because they just couldn't bring their own sunshine. And finally I asked him, Okay, well, where does your sunshine come from? And he looked at me and he said, Well, because of Jesus. And I was like, I mean, yeah. I've been growing up in church and all this stuff. And I was like, Yeah, I mean, yeah, but what about Jesus? And he kind of looked at me funny and he said, Man, I'm not going to hell. I'm going to heaven. And it's because of Jesus. And he said, You know what's even better is God can do it for my wife and for my kids and for my coworkers. So he's like, I've always got good news to share. And can I tell you, I was embarrassed because I somewhere along the line had lost the simple joy of knowing that I'm not going to hell, I'm going to heaven, that I've always got good news to share, that no matter what I'm going through in life, and no matter what somebody else is going through in life, we don't have to go through it alone. That Jesus is available for everybody. And I mean, he just told me, he said, that is what has kept me through everything, through dark seasons, through difficult seasons, all this is to realize that I never go through it alone. I have peace with God and I've always got good news to share. And that's exactly what Paul is saying. He said, Chapter one, we all fell from grace. Number two, it doesn't matter who you are, nobody's perfect. Number three, God gave us the law to see how far we had fallen. Chapter four, but it's through Christ that we can receive salvation when we believe in him. And then now, chapter five. When we put our hope and trust in him, our sins are washed away. There's no longer the curse of sin on us, and we have now been called friends of God. So what do we take away from this as we get ready? What's our application point today? I think our application point would simply be this Is it enough that God is your friend? That He has called you His child. When is the last time you sat and thought about the fact that one day, and I really hope it's a long way away from now, but one day this life is going to be over for me and it's going to be over for you. But there's no sadness attached to that anymore. There's no fear there anymore. Because the Bible says to be absent from the body is to be in the presence of God, and we don't have to worry about judgment anymore. But we now have the joy of salvation that can be our strength so that when we pass from this life to the next, we meet our friend face to face for the very first time. We know him in our spirit now, then we'll see him face to face. What would your day look like today if you thought about and continually realized I no longer have the curse of sin on my life? I think maybe it helped us all have a little bit better day, and maybe to realize we've always got good news to share with somebody else. Let's pray together. Father, thank you so much for your goodness and for your grace. Thank you, God, for the constant reminder that we always have good news for ourselves and good news to share. I'm thankful, God, that you are with us and you are for us more than we can imagine. I pray today when bad times come, when the enemy tries to attack, when bad news tries to ruin our day. Help us to remember that you are for us and not against us, and that because of that, all things are possible. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Don't forget what God's Word says when it says in Romans 1 16, I am not ashamed of the good news about Christ. Why? Say it with me. For it is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes. Let's take a few moments and think about what it is to have the joy of the Lord. And I will see you here tomorrow for Romans chapter 6.