I am born estranged from God. I am a sinful enemy. Matthew 7:11 even shows us that the general population is evil. God looked on an evil transgressor and died for him. In the last years we have become used to sacrificing American and British sons and daughters in Afghanistan and Iraq allegedly to save us from Osama Bin Laden. What if one of these children died to save Bin Laden? Is his redemption worth the life of our own? God demonstrates his own love in that while we were still his enemies, God died for the ungodly.
Romans 5: 1-15
- How do we have peace with God?
- What do tribulations or sufferings bring?
- How does God demonstrate his own love?
- What is the one man, Jesus, able to achieve through his death?
- For what cause might you lay down your life?
Going Deeper
Observation
- Through whom have we received peace, hope , and grace?
- Why doesn’t hope disappoint?
- What was our condition when Christ died?
- Having been justified by Christ’s blood, from what are we saved?
- What is not like the transgression?
Interpretation
- What is ‘justification’?
- How can Adam and Jesus be compared?
- What is ‘transgression’?
- In your own words, describe the condition of a person before they find Jesus.
- Why would understanding what Jesus has done lead to a life of rejoicing?
Application
- Have you thought deeply about what it meant to be an evil sinner, estranged from God?
- Why do many Christians think of people as basically good?
- How does the common view that people are not evil undermine the message of the Bible?
- How can we lovingly communicate to people that they are lost?
- Do you communicate joy because of your great salvation?
Plymothian 
I would classify myself as a nonviolence theologian.Christ died for the ungodly. That puts me, Saddam Hussein, Hitler, my fiancée, Dr. Nyquist, you, and Mother Theresa in the same boat: ungodly. I don’t see how Christianity can justify killing Bin Laden. Or going to war in Iraq. Praying for Bin Laden, certainly. Engaging creatively internationally, most definitely. But so much killing? No.My problem is certainly with the fact that there is a war. But it is more with the fact that our Christian President (Bush) and millions of North American Christians are in favor of said war. And (minus the President, maybe) the Christians say that they are in favor of it for biblical reasons.I challenge someone to come up with biblical reasons for our going to Iraq.