The Gifts of Faith

As we continue to dive deep into faith as we have been studying the book of Romans, we have been focusing on the future benefits of faith.

However, faith is not only to benefit us while we are in heaven, but it also brings us benefits now.

If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ and repented of your sins, then you are already receiving the blessings of faith.

Let us look to our passage today to see what benefits we gain from our faith.

Romans 5:1 ESV

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Faith gives us peace with God.

I believe we often fail to realize that without faith, we are actively at war with God.

We often think that on our own, we are genuinely good people, or at worst, not particularly good but not bad either—somewhere in the middle.

We think, “I may not be a faithful servant of God, but I am also not a murderer.”

Yet, Scripture clearly communicates that we are anything but good; in fact, it tells us we are at war with God in Ephesians 2.

Ephesians 2:1–3 ESV

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

We see that:

We followed Satan.

We lived in the passions of our flesh.

We carried out the desires of our body and mind.

We were children of wrath.

It is very clear that we opposed God in every way imaginable.

This opposition to God leads to a life that is miserable.

It drives towards pursuits that we believe will bring happiness, only to leave us feeling emptier once the satisfaction fades.

Yet, through faith, we experience peace with God now, not just in the future.

We are freed from the burden of our past sins.

And when we fall into sin now, we no longer need to fear God's rejection.

Instead, we can repent and turn back to God, knowing He loves us and that we have peace with Him.

Having seen that faith gives us peace, lets see what else God gives us a result of faith in the next few verses.

Romans 5:2–4 ESV

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. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

Faith gives us hope.

There is so much truth in these two verses that I can’t unpack it all. Instead, I want us to focus on one word: 'hope.'

Our use of the word hope and the way Scripture uses the word hope are completely different.

When we say we 'hope' for something, it implies we desire a certain outcome but remain unsure if it will occur.

For instance, we might say:

“The weatherman says it might snow next week. I really hope it does so we can miss school.”

“I hope my internet comes back on soon so I can watch YouTube videos of Sam Sulek.”

“I hope the school lunch serves chicken again, so I can reach my protein goals.”

In each one of these scenarios there is an uncertainty with the word hope.

However, in the Bible, 'hope' carries confidence.

As R.C. Sproul puts it, “Hope is an assurance that God is going to do what He says He will do.”

For the Christian, hope is like an anchor for the soul.

If you've ever been on a boat, you know an anchor prevents it from drifting away, keeping everyone on board safe.

You have to tie the anchor to the boat, and then throw it into the water.

Lastly, the anchor needs to catch onto something beneath the surface.

Sometimes it lands mud, which isn’t secure, so it floats off with the slightest breeze.

Sometimes it may catch an unstable rock; it seems secure at first but then becomes dislodged later if a strong enough wind or wave pushes the boat.

Sometimes, however, it hits a strong and steady rock, ensuring that it stays secure no matter the strength of the waves that hit the boat.

Our hope, placed firmly in God, ensures our future is secure. If our faith is in Jesus Christ, we can be certain.

God is our strong and steady rock that we can rest our hope on.

In the last verse of our passage, we find our last, yet most crucial, gift of faith.

Romans 5:5 ESV

and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Faith gives us the Holy Spirit.

As Christians, we believe in the Trinity.

The simplest way to explain the Trinity is by these 3 truths. (This will not sound simple)

There is one God.

God exists in 3 persons, God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit.

Each person of the trinity is fully God.

I don’t have the time to fully unpack what all of that means, but what I want you to know is that the Holy Spirit is God.

Knowing that the Holy Spirit is God, and recognizing that this verse tells us the Holy Spirit is given to us as a result of our faith, it means that God Himself lives within us.

A lot of you think that you can’t change:

You think that you can’t defeat your desire to gossip.

You think that you can’t defeat your porn addiction.

You think that you can’t defeat the bitterness in your heart.

You think that you can’t defeat your spiritual laziness.

You think that you can’t defeat your disrespectful attitude.

And guess what, you’re right, you can’t defeat it, at least not alone.

But if you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ, you now have the Holy Spirit living inside of you fighting all of these sins.

How will I respond?

If you are a Christian:

You can rest in the truth that you have peace with God. You can cast any care you have to the Lord because you know that He is on your side.

You can know that your hope in God will never let you down. You can know that God is working all things for your good without any doubt.

You can fight any battle with sin with the power of the Holy Spirit.

If you are not a Christian:

All of that can be yours, you no longer need to live without peace and hope, all you must do is turn away from your sins in repentance and turn to Christ in faith.