Peace with God
Romans • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 15 viewsNotes
Transcript
Last week:
We saw Abraham, that he believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.
What Paul says is this wasn’t written for his sake only, but for all of us who believe, who will be credited as righteous because of our belief.
And what we will see today, is how that faith plays out in our life as those who have believed God.
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;
4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;
5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5 (NASB95)
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
“Having been justified by faith”
This has been Paul’s whole argument in these first 4 chapters, that we are justified by faith, not by works.
In fact, Paul made it clear that it does not matter whether you followed the Law or not, whether you are a Jew or a Gentile, It doesn’t matter who your ancestors are, because no flesh will be justified before God. Then Paul spoke of Abraham, the father of many nations, not through blood, but because he believed, and it was credited to him as righteousness so he could be the father of all those who believe!! We are justified because of our faith.
And because of that, we now have “peace with God through Jesus !!”
Isn’t that all people want, is to have peace with God??
Sometimes people think we will find this peace by:
Going to church
Getting yourself or things you have prayed over
Making certain sacrifices, like giving up food or coffee or sweets
By treating others kindly and by doing good things
By giving money
all these things are good, and are even a big part of what we do as Christians, but none of them will bring you peace with God. Only by believing God, will you have peace.
By believing God for WHAT???
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
So what does this mean for us??
Romans 1:17 says
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”
Not faith to works, but faith to faith
After Abraham was promised this blessing, did he do everything perfect?? No way
We have this tendency to think, “Now I am saved, now I have to be perfect so I don’t lose a blessing”
Genesis 13, Abraham gives up Sarah, the woman of promise, to save his own life
Gen 16, Abraham gets inpatient and tries to fulfill God’s promise on his own with Hagar
Gen 20, Abraham gives up Sarah again for his life
Abraham made big mistakes, but did they uin his blessing?? No
Brothers and sisters, since we believed God and it has been credited to us as righteousness, we have peace with God. Even when we make mistakes and fall short.
This in of itself should bring so much relief. Our performance does not dictate neither how God feels about us nor if we have peace with Him. That comes through faith in Jesus Christ
This is a reminder we all need, even if you have known Jesus for many years.
A famous songwriter for Hillsong, who wrote and cowrote songs including “Forever”, “King of Majesty”, “All I need is You”, and many others, released this statement in August of 2019, saying:
Time for some real talk. I’m genuinely losing my faith, and it doesn’t bother me. Like, what bothers me now is nothing. I am so happy now, so at peace with the world. It’s crazy. This is a soapbox moment so here I go … How many preachers fall? Many. No one talks about it. How many miracles happen. Not many. No one talks about it. Why is the Bible full of contradictions? No one talks about it. How can God be love yet send four billion people to a place, all ‘coz they don’t believe? No one talks about it. Christians can be the most judgmental people on the planet—they can also be some of the most beautiful and loving people. But it’s not for me. I am not in any more.
While Marty declares his leaving of faith because preachers falling, miracles not happening, apparent Bible contradictions and not seeing any difference between the Christian community and the world, Paul says this in V.1 “... having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
We are not justified by whether we fall or not, we are not justified by how many miracles we have done, and we are not justified by our works nor our conduct, we are justified by faith, by simply believing God. And because of Jesus, not our works, we have peace with God!!!
We can be stumbled by our shortcomings, or even the shortcomings of others. The world wants to believe that our peace with God is based off of our performance, but Paul makes it clear, that is not the case. We have peace with God because we believed, and therefore we are justified.
2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
Not only through Jesus do we have peace with God, we also have obtained our introduction, or the word is access, into this grace in which we stand.
This grace is the fact that we are justified by faith, that we believed and are considered righteous.
We have been introduced to this grace by Jesus. Paul would explain this even more in Ephesians 2:13-19
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,
15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace,
16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.
17 And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near;
18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.
19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,
This is the grace!!
Grace “In which we stand”
We stand, we remain, we are established, we continue to be…
Think of a magnificent tree that stands tall. Its roots dig deep into the soil, anchoring it firmly even when the winds blow strong. This is us standing in grace; when life’s challenges come, it is grace that keeps us rooted in faith. We may bend and sway, but we remain unbroken, supported by the grace of God. Like this tree, we are deeply grounded, rooted in grace, standing firm, being established remaining in this grace.
“We exult in the hope of the glory of God”
We boast, we rejoice in this hope
There are thoughts out there, that if we are righteous, then in order to maintain that righteousness, we need to ACT like it, otherwise, God is not being glorified in you.
Paul says in Philippians 1:6
6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
We need not to fret, but know with confidence that just by believing, Christ is glorified, and that is the hope. Again, Not based off of works, not based off of performance, but purely based off the righteousness that comes by faith in Jesus Christ
3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations,
It isn’t only in God’s grace, the hope of the glory of God that we rejoice in, but it is also our tribulations.
Paul, of all people, knew that just because we live in this wonderful hope in Jesus, it by no means indicates that it is smooth sailing from here. In fact, Paul tells us not to shy away from these tribulations, these pressures, these times of distress. They too have a purpose.
One of my favorite quotes is an inspirational one that goes like this… “Its not how many times you get knocked down, its how many times you get back up
As a christian, we are just as susceptible to hardships as anyone else… depression, anxiety, stress. Add to that persecution, financial trouble, losing jobs or loved ones, strained relationships with spouses or children, car breaks down, kitchen sink starts leaking, rodents infest your home, government takes away your rights… But these are not things we should despise, but …
knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;
Some of your translations say “endurance”
I want you to notice here, that the reason we are exulting in our tribulation is for endurance, for perseverance in our lives. Why should we rejoice in this as we rejoice for the hope of the glory of God? Because this too is grace. There is an actual purpose and reason for your suffering and trials, not because there is some big bad god looking down on you, wanting your life to be miserable. No, He allows these things for YOUR GOOD!!
One man that I enjoy reading by the name of Lou Priolo says this:
Trials come in all shapes and sizes. They come for many reasons: to test our faith, to sanctify us, to discipline us, to teach us to better depend upon God, to show His strength in our weakness, and to teach us patience.
This is why James would agree with Paul by saying in James 1:2-4
2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
So that we would be complete, this is why endurance is so important. In fact, look at what we read in Hebrews 12:1-7 and how important endurance is. And this is right after we read of the men and women of faith in Hebrews 11 and how they believed God, and in that they became examples to us.
Hebrews 12:1–7 (NASB95)
1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with ENDURANCE the race that is set before us,
2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him ENDURED the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider Him who has ENDURED such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart…
7 It is for discipline that you ENDURE; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
Perseverance, or endurance, is important to the Lord. But this is what God wants for us to learn, because we see throughout the Bible, that enduring is the first step to maturing, because look here in Romans what Paul says it leads to:
4 and perseverance, proven character;
Your endurance will lead to a proven character. I like how the King James Version translates this word into “experience”.
In fact, it is true, how our experience should lead to proven character. The only time that it doesn’t is when we don’t endure, when we lose patience with what the Lord is doing.
Keep in mind what Proverbs 16:31 says
31 A gray head is a crown of glory; It is found in the way of righteousness.
Gray hair, speaking of experience, someone who has seen life. It is a crown of glory for those who have endured through trials.
Take a look at what Paul says also in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.
6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer;
7 and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.
Our experience comes from perseverance, it really defines our character. And as we persevere, we also share with others as they go through things that you too have gone through. That my friends is character, a proven character
and proven character, hope;
When the Lord allows these tribulations, in which we persevere and it proves our character, we have seen the Lord come through, and when we see He has been faithful, we now have hope, a hope that he is faithful, a hope that He is true. A hope that is truly hope. Because we have seen Him come through, we can live in the hope that indeed, He will do it again.
5 and hope does not disappoint,
I really like how Jon Courson defines “hope”. He says:
Hope being the absolute expectation of coming good
I love this, because even later, Paul is going to even go deeper in Romans 8:23-25
23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?
25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
The hope of our redemption, meaning, our new bodies, a new heaven and a new earth, that old has passed away and the new has come. This is the hope that does not disappoint, this is the hope we stand on. We haven’t seen it yet, but, we know it is coming, as Hebrews 11:1 says
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
This is what we believe, this is what Abraham believed. And because Abraham believed, he had hope against hope, and it does not disappoint. Why?
because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
We have been given the Holy Spirit of promise, and God’s love has been poured out within our hearts. This love isn’t something that we just have simply experienced, it is the Holy Spirit who continues to make it known to us, because He dwells within us.
And what is that love that is being poured out in our hearts? Look at these next few verses.
6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
“While we were yet sinners”
Paul hits it on the head, we wouldn’t die for someone who was righteous. We might think a little harder for a good man, but never would we die for someone who was evil.
But that is what Christ did for us, while we were still sinners, He died for us
This is God’s demonstration of His love for us, that Christ died for us.
This is why I personally am not offended by pictures of Jesus hanging on the cross, because it is a picture of God’s love for us.
John says in 1 John 4:10
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
This is love… that Jesus died for us. One of my favorite sayings came from a pictured quote in my grandmothers bathroom. It said this:
I asked Jesus, “How much do You love me?” He said, “This much” And He spread out HIs arms and died.
What a love and a hope we have
Now, let’s try to bring this all full circle:
This peace we have with God is so wonderful. We don’t have to try and earn this, we just have to believe. And this peace was completely initiated by God Himself, because of His love for us.
I want you to remember that, remember that His love came for us when we were helpless and sinners.
So when you are going through trials, you know without any shadow of a doubt that you actually have peace with God.
We have this weird tendency to forget completely who God is and what He has done for us, and we start to accuse God of doing things that aren’t even in His nature. He doesn’t hate you, He isn’t mad at you, He isn’t trying to make life miserable… Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through Jesus.
This is what He has done, and if you are in a trial now, know that you are at peace with Him, and He is using this tribulation to bring you to a hope that does not disappoint. And I will leave you with this last verse from 2 Corinthians 4:17-18
17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,
18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
This is what He is doing, take courage, persevere, let your character be proven, and live in the Hope that we have in Christ
