The Full Access Pass to God
Introduction:
Do you ever go to a concert? Sometimes before or after the show you see these guys or girls walking around with T-shirt carrying the logo of the band’s tour, and a whole bunch of ID cards around their neck. If you look closely at one of those badges it may say: "All Access." It means they can go wherever they want back stage. They get to rub elbows with the star and see how the show is put on from behind the scenes.
I’ve always wanted to have one of those passes – and now I do – not for some famous rock star, but backstage with the star of all time – the "bright and morning star" – the God who is also man so that we can approach him at anytime– let’s take a look how.
A bit of History:
Paul is the writer of the letter to the Romans
His previous name was Saul and he was converted in Acts 9 and his name changed to Paul – Greek translation of the name Saul.
The first 4 chapters of Romans deal with the argument that we are sinful and cannot be right before God, that God is right to be angry with us – v20
2:5
3:10
3:21 – Righteousness through faith
Ro 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
These are some of the most comforting words ever written. It’s like Paul has been building up through chapters 1 – 4 this big case of why we are sinners separated from God and why faith in Jesus apart from our own rightness is the only way back.
Now he says "therefore." Because of this justification (making us right before God) – what is the result? Peace. Peace through Jesus. “Without justification it is impossible to have real peace. Conscience forbids it. Sin is a mountain between a man and God, and must be taken away. The sense of guilt lies heavy on the heart and must be removed. Unpardoned sin will murder peace. The true Christian knows all this well. His peace arises from a consciousness of his sins being forgiven, and his guilt being put away …. He has peace with God, because he is justified.”
—J.C. Ryle in Foundations of Faith. Christianity Today, Vol. 35, no. 8.
What sin did by separating you from God – and just how Paul gets into later in the chapter – Jesus undid and made us one again with God, our Creator. It’s not just the stop being God’s enemies or like a cease fire in war. We join His family, and we become His children.
Ro 5:2 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.
Paul says we have "access" into His grace. Grace is the unmerited favour of God on us. This verse is another of many in the book of Romans that ought to be on the "must memorize" list.
The result of Jesus’ death is justification, peace with God, and access to His favor – but its more – "we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." What is that? It’s the hope that His wonderful character, so pure, perfect, real – will be ours as well. 1 John 3:2 says "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”
So how do we become more like Jesus? Partly through difficulties. What? Paul says
Ro 5:3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
What? Rejoice in sufferings? Are you kidding? No, we get upset with suffering, we get angry at suffering, we rail against suffering – but rejoice? Yes. Why?
Because we know that suffering produces perseverance -
Ro 5:4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Ro 5:5 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.
If you lie on your back all your life watching TV your muscles will atrophy and you’ll get fat and probably die at a young age. But if you put your muscles under stress by exercising, they will grow strong. It is exactly the same way spiritually. The more we experience suffering – the stronger the Lord makes us
God teaches us through difficult times to rely on Him. The more we rely on Him to get us through the more we develop perseverance – a fancy word for "endurance." I started lifting weights many years ago – I started out at a smaller weight for 10- 15 repetitions – but the more I lifted the more weight I can keep up for longer periods of time. It happens because as I put resistance to the weight. Muscles grow when you put tension between fibers for a certain amount of time. Once I get comfortable with a weight I have to work harder to get muscles to grow more. More detail on suffering in another talk perhaps in the near future.
This character builds hope because based on experience you know how God works. You know that relying on Him doesn’t mean suffering ends – but you know that He is present and working in suffering. Now – does this mean we become self reliant? No – as Paul illustrates next:
Ro 5:6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
Ro 5:7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
Again, a "wow" verse. We were powerless to save ourselves – and just at the right time that God foretold by many prophecies Jesus died for us – the "ungodly" Paul says – without God, alone, and incapable. In most religions you must better yourself – whether through good works, or obedience, or meditation, or reincarnation – slowly getting better and better to merit God’s favour. As we’ve seen from the previous chapter – it just doesn’t work that way. You can have the most wonderful philosophy in the world – but does it work? Does it really work? How can you know? Only one way – test it. Die and see if your religion gets you to heaven or Nirvana. The only problem is – what if you’re wrong? You see Jesus tested His way – and it worked. God’s wrath over impurity has been taken by Jesus:
Ro 5:9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
Ro 5:10 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!
Ro 5:11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Did you know you were an enemy of God? We see the amassing of a great army in preparation for possible war in Iraq. The military might of the United States or Australia is something to behold. But it is nothing and less than nothing compared to the power of God Almighty. If you don’t want to face any army in battle – you really don’t want to have God as your enemy. And the fact is we were also antagonistic towards God – rebelling against His authority.
Paul in 1st Timothy tells us that God lives in "unapproachable light." You can’t exist with God and be impure. The only way is come through the blood of Christ. What this gives us is something called "reconciliation." The idea is of a mutual change. God changes from enemy to friend through the blood of Christ, and we change from rebellion to submission by making Him our Lord.
Conclusion
Peace with God means no more hiding why? When you accept Jesus into your life you become God’s friend, and a part of God’s family.
Remember the backstage "All Access" pass? Through Jesus, we have access to God – exciting news isn’t it? We can wear that badge around our necks all we want, but if we never use it we will never see backstage in God’s kingdom.
Jn 5:24 “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”
Ro 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The choice is yours – choose life through Christ or continue on to death in sin