May the God of Peace be with You — Romans 1-5

0:00 The more you go through life and the more you live the Christian life, the more you understand there... There's no coincidences. The more you can see God's hand at work and, just in the preparation for this morning and going through that, even what we heard this week from brother Jim. It's just really been encouraging to me. So just with this message this morning, I was thinking about what the Lord would have me share with you all, what he's been showing me or laying on my heart.

0:38 And it has to answer or it has to do with the answer to this question. What do you do as a Christian when maybe you feel a little cold? Maybe you don't feel as much zeal as you did before or that vigor as maybe you might have think in the past that you felt or that closeness and intimacy that you have with Christ. So for me, I was thinking and and this came to mind is just to go back to the basics of what it means to be a Christian. Of what it means of what the things that Christ has done for us.

1:17 And it reminded me of a phrase that I once heard when I was at Camp Lailalai. The phrase, to renew your love for Christ, review his love for you. And so that's my aim this morning of our little discussion. Our time is to review that love that Christ has for us. All the ramifications, the benefits that we get and that we can experience as a as a result of what Christ has done for us.

1:48 Some of the key words that we're gonna be talking about this morning is peace, grace, hope, suffering, the holy spirit, love, and mercy. And just before we get into it, let's just commit this time to the Lord. Lord, we're just so grateful to be here this morning. The fact that we can come together as a body to sing praises to you, to worship the Lord, and just to come together and experience fellowship, Lord. Lord, we do admit sometimes that, we don't have the intimacy that we we want to have with you.

2:28 And so we just pray, Lord, that you would just renew our love for you as we look at what Christ has done for us. And just the peace that we can have, the grace that you've given us. I pray, Lord, that you'd, just move in this meeting, that you would, speak to our hearts. We pray this thing... These things in the name of Jesus.

2:50 Amen. Turn in your Bibles to the book of Romans, to the book of Romans. We heard from brother Jim this week. We also heard from Gabe this morning. I'm going to be in a in a different passage but just as we talk about the book of Romans, recently, I was coming down the mountain with a friend who's nice enough to come with me on the way back to the city to then go get on plane and I was...

3:21 I would have been my myself if I hadn't. He hadn't come with me and I asked him what y'all are doing at your assembly. What are you guys going through? And they're book... Going through the book of Romans.

3:32 And so I told him, you know, for me, I really enjoy the book of Romans just because of how direct it is. It's it's not like a lot of the other books of the Bible that have a lot of historical narrative in them. But for me, Romans, it's very direct and you... But the other thing that he'd said to me was just how profound it is. Really, when you dive into the book of Romans and you go verse by verse and the book as a whole, we've done the series on Romans in the past.

4:52 It wasn't man's idea. He created this plan of salvation. He had this foreknowledge and this forethought to bring up this plan of salvation. If you take a a look back in Genesis chapter three, it talks about how through the seed of Eve speaking about Christ would crush the head of the serpent and defeat death. So when Christ died, he destroyed death and he destroyed the enemy of our souls.

5:22 John 10 talks about how we have the enemy, Satan, and he comes to rob, kill, and destroy. But Christ came that we might have life and have it abundantly. So just throughout the whole plan of salvation, God's been in control even even throughout all of history in the old from the old testament all the way into the new. So just a reminder for us that in our in our salvation that we have from god, it was his idea from the very beginning. Go now to chapter five of Romans.

5:59 We're going to be in chapter five of Romans. And I like to maybe just start out by going and reading through the passage. We're going to go from Romans five verse one all the way through 11. Verse one, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with god through our lord Jesus Christ. Through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of god.

6:35 And not only that but we also glory in tribulations knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance character and character hope. Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the holy spirit who is given to us. For when we were still without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely, for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps even for a good man, someone would even dare to die. Verse eight, but god demonstrates his own love toward us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

7:24 Much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies, we are reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through him we now have received the reconciliation. I think it's always important to just read God's word before we dive into it. So take a look at that very first verse, the first half.

8:45 You take a look at in Genesis when Abraham was done in his sacrifice to the Lord when that time that he was taken Isaac up on the mountain to sacrifice him. At the very end, he said, he named that mountain and he named it the lord will provide and so, the lord or excuse me, Abraham wasn't justified in the work that he was doing there even throughout his entire life. The works that he was doing but he was justified in the faith that he had, that he knew god was going to pay for his sin eventually. He knew that a sacrifice was going to come. And so you have verses like Hebrews 11 and it talks about the faith of Abraham.

9:36 It says, by faith when he was tested, Abraham offered up Isaac and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son. You look at verse 19 of that same chapter in Hebrews 11, concluding that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from which he also received him in a figurative sense. And so Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. It wasn't based on his works and the good works that he was doing that he was made right with the lord and you and I have that same opportunity this morning. If you have not put your faith in the lord Jesus, you have it each and every day that have that opportunity to put your faith in the lord.

10:30 The battle can end of you and I trying to earn our way to heaven, trying to earn our favor with the lord by looking at him and putting our faith and trust in Christ and in the work that he has done for us on the cross. Now, take a look into the second half of verse one. Having been justified by faith, we have peace with god through our lord Jesus Christ. That idea of peace reminded me of an event in history. Does anyone know what happened on 04/09/1865?

11:17 Feel free to answer or raise a hand. Tim? Say that again? Yes, that's the event that I'm talking about. So General Robert E.

11:28 Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant. So Robert E. Lee was the General of the Confederate Army and he surrendered to the Union Army. And I I like to read this quote.

11:44 It is from the National Park Service, so take it with a grain of salt, but I I really think it does give us some a summary of what this means. While this act, the surrender of Robert E. Lee, did not technically end the American Civil War, it could be best described as the beginning of the end. Lee had only surrendered his army, not the confederacy. Despite confederate president Jefferson Davis' wishes to continue the fight, the remaining armies all surrendered by early June, bringing the bloodiest war in American history to a close without any further major major battles.

12:30 And so when I thought about this verse about the the idea that we have peace with God, it's the idea is that the fighting is over. The battle is won. Christ has won the battle for our salvation on the cross. And you cannot... You and I can rest in that fact.

12:51 All we have to do is believe and receive. When you take a look at that that surrendering, there was some conditions to it. But when you take a look at what Christ has done, really, I would say the only conditions if you would call them conditions is that we would just look at it and we would look at the work of Christ, of what he has done on the cross, and believe it. We would have faith that it's done. That we don't have to keep fighting anymore.

13:22 That we don't have to earn our way to heaven. That we don't have to do good works to earn favor and to be made right with the Lord. And so maybe you can think about that time in your life and just be renewed in your love for Christ. You know, when I was a kid, I felt as though I was in a battle that I always needed to earn favor with the Lord. But you and I can have peace because we know that the Lord Jesus Christ has paid for the penalty for our sins.

14:32 What he's already talked about in Romans. In Romans three twenty four it says, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is Christ... That is in Christ Jesus. So the grace of God, this undeserved merit, it's it's Christ himself. The fact that Christ would come down and give himself for us and offer himself for us.

15:00 We don't deserve it, but it's in that grace that we can stand, that we can have confidence when we live our daily lives. You know, when you think about grace, it's so undeserved. So how much more confidence we can have is when you think about that grace and when you think about what the Lord has done for us, I can rest in Christ and what he's done, not of my own works and not the fact that I've done anything. There's another verse in the bible in in Ephesians six and it talks about the spiritual warfare. It says, having done all to stand.

15:45 So that phrase of standing, it has a certain confidence about it about it. You and I can have confidence in the work of Christ. We can have confidence in the grace that he has offered us in the person of Jesus Christ. Hebrews four sixteen, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace. We, you and I can have boldness to be in relationship with God, to pray to him that we might obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

16:22 And I think that when you think about the grace offered to us in salvation, it dispels into the grace that we... You and I receive in our everyday lives. We can look into our lives and look into the grace that we can receive and have that same confidence that we can boldly come before him and have that intimacy on the merits of Christ. And we can speak with him and have relation with relationship with him and be guided by him. And just what a blessing it is to stand in that grace and have confidence in the grace that he has offered us.

17:07 And then the second half of verse two, it says, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. This isn't the first time that this specific word or concept is used in the book of Romans. There's a rule of biblical interpretation that it's called the law of first mention. So when you look at a passage or a book, you look at how a word or phrase might be used and you look at the very first time it was mentioned in that book or you can even look at it as a whole the first time it was mentioned in the in God's word in the Bible.

17:52 And it kinda drives the meaning and it gives understanding for when you see it pop up later. And so you have this same idea in the book of Romans. The idea of hoping or boasting or glorying in the Lord. The first time Paul uses it, he's talking about how a Jew or a religious person might boast in the law of God. How they might boast that they were able to keep the law and they were able to have confidence that they could be right with the Lord because they're able to keep the law and therefore be saved.

18:34 But we have a stark contrast that we can look here and we can rejoice or we can boast or we can have confidence not in our own merit but we can rejoice and have confidence and hope in the glory of God. That one day when we have the opportunity to to be before the Lord in heaven, to be in his presence, we have that hope to be there before him and be able to rejoice in that hope all of because of what Christ has done for us. It really... It kinda couples together this idea that we have access into this grace in which we stand and we have confidence and we can have rejoice that when we are in God's presence one day, we have that confidence to be there because we didn't do it on our own. We didn't do it seeking...

19:35 Excuse me. We didn't do it by trying to achieve it, but we're there because of what Christ has done for us. And you know, was thinking about evangelism. I was thinking about when you share from the platform, when you preach, or when you teach. And I was thinking that as someone shares their faith and they speak about Christ, maybe you could ask brother Christian on what's his confidence.

20:06 Ask a preacher on what's their confidence when they go and to share Christ? What do they rejoice in? Well, they rejoice in the fact, hopefully, they rejoice in the fact that they're standing on the merits of Christ. That we can that we can boldly preach Christ. That we can have a hope that we will be with Christ one day and it's all of because of what he has done for us.

21:06 Maybe and I could speak for myself here. Maybe you don't always recognize it in the moment when you're going through trials and tribulations, but the Lord definitely gives us grace and you can think about when you go through those trials or maybe you have in the past that that was for a purpose. And maybe there's a a trial or tribulation that you're going through right now and you don't know the reason yet. But I believe that when you ask the Lord and and you talk to him and you search his scriptures, he's gonna reveal to you why you went through a particular tribulation in your life. But getting back to the text verse three says, and not only that, but we also glory or we rejoice, we have confidence in tribulations.

21:59 Knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance character and character hope. So what kind of tribulations? You know, it's interesting to me is you read the book of Romans and this talk of tribulations and in the the larger discussion that Paul has regarding tribulations, the tribulations that a Christian would go through. It's really the first mention of him talking about this. The other times that he's talking in in chapter two of Romans in verse nine, it says, tribulation and anguish on every soul of man who does evil.

22:44 So it's not talking about the tribulation that a Christian might experience. But I I was thinking about, well, why would Paul mention it, you know, right here in chapter five? Why wouldn't he mention it earlier? And I think it's because that the Christians back then, they knew afresh because it was the... A fledgling church.

23:08 There was much more persecution and tribulation and trial going on back then. And so I like to think that it would have been a little bit more familiar to the Roman Christian. But, you know, when you think about the book of Romans two, you can see how God put... Has prepared the Christians back then. When the book of Romans was written, it was actually right before the great persecution of emperor Nero.

23:41 And you can kinda see how the lord, he took Paul, he wrote this, and he sent this to the Christians there as a way for... To prepare them for the persecution that was gonna come and the tribulations and trials that were gonna come. Now just to give some some clarity, what kind of trials or tribulations are there? Well, number one is you could suffer for doing wrong. And you and I might that...

24:12 Might find that a little bit more relatable. We might see that little bit more every day that we would suffer suffer just for the mistakes that you and I would make for the personal sins that we might commit. It's a little bit more relatable. You reap what you sow, the Bible says. But Peter describes how well this is not the the tribulation or suffering that is the best thing.

24:40 The second kind would be that you were you would suffer for doing good. So that means that you're living life. You're trusting the Lord and you're following him in the relationships, in the decisions that you're making in life. And you suffer persecution from others as a result. Can think of maybe, you're at work.

25:02 I think maybe this is more relatable to an American Christian, but you might suffer that persecution of maybe your coworkers chiding you. Maybe you don't do particular things in your life. They may call you a goody two shoes. They may say, well, Christianity is is just a whole bunch of rules and it's just a straight jacket. It's just a way of, you know, being clean and following a whole bunch of rules But you know as a Christian and this is maybe another topic of for discussion.

25:40 But you know as a Christian that it's not just particularly about the rules. You know that when you have a saving relationship and an intimacy with Christ, you do those things or you don't do particular things because you wanna please the Lord. But you can suffer a certain persecution because of that or suffering. The third kind is just the effects of living in our sin cursed world. Because of the fall, you and I, we have things that we experience each and every day.

26:51 He talks later in chapter 15 of Romans. Romans 15 verses four and five say, for whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through patience or perseverance and comfort of the scriptures, we might have hope. Now may the God of patience and perseverance and comfort grant you to be like minded toward one another according to Christ Jesus. So the idea is that when we go through tribulations, when we go through these hard times in life, whether we're suffering because we're suffering under the effects of sin or we're suffering because we're suffering for persecution. Certainly, there's many people around the world that are suffering for their faith, But it's for a reason.

27:43 It's that we would develop patience. And that patience and perseverance produces the character of Christ. We heard from brother Christian on Wednesday talking about how that character that we develop is it's the character of Christ. It's that we would exhibit the future or the fruit, excuse me, of the Holy Spirit. And all of those things that we would go through, it gives us hope as well that one day we're not gonna have to have these persecutions and trials.

28:22 There's another verse, James one two to four through four. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing. I wanna give this example.

28:52 In the field that I'm in right now, one of the things that you look at is different kinds of tools. And what I appreciate about some of the older style wrenches, we're talking like old craftsman from Sears, is that they're forged. And what does that mean? When traditionally when you think of forging up a metal tool, you're taking and you're heating and you're putting that tool in the fire and then you're taking a hammer and you're beating it. And what that does to that metal is that it makes it stronger.

29:29 You're putting stress on that metal. Well, what that does is that molecularly, you can maybe talk to my dad about this and I have a good friend that knows more about the chemistry of it. But what it does is it lines all of those different molecules in there and it makes that metal stronger. And so just that idea that when you and I go through different trials and tribulations in this life is that we would become stronger as a result. That we would have a greater patience and a perseverance and that we would have greater character.

30:44 Try and connect this. Romans says that when we suffer or have perseverance or when we suffer and then we get patience and we have perseverance, that produces character and that character produces hope. And we already talked about in Romans how how we can have hope in the glory of God one day. And so I think that the joy that Christ had when he was looking as he would go to the cross and suffer, it's the joy that he would be before his father one day and have a a whole collection of saints that he redeemed and that it would just declare the glory of God. And you and I can have that same mentality as we look at what Christ has done for us and look at the suffering that he that he did for us as an example.

31:42 Another verse that's very helpful for me and one I think that really I've experienced or one that's so precious to me in Romans is Romans eight and verse 18. And our brother Jim read this for us on Wednesday. It says, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. How is the glory going to be revealed in us? Well, it's that idea that when we're with Christ one day and we can share in his glory, it's the idea that he was working in us even through that tribulation.

32:31 He was the one sustaining us so that we can have confidence to to stand before the Lord one day. And so for me, the the idea is when I consider the sufferings of this present time, my most recent challenge or the challenge and suffering that my wife and I went through before we were married, we were apart almost sixteen months. This whole process of her coming into The US, I many times ask myself, well, why did I have to go through that? Why did it have to be so long? Why did we have to suffer that separation?

33:17 But I could say with confidence today that it's the suffering that I've experienced or that we experienced through that being a part. It's overshadowed by the joy that we experience being a couple today. The joy and and the bliss and the blessing of being a married couple even in the challenges. I'm not going to tell you that marriage is easy but it's such a great blessing that when we were finally together, the joy and the blessing that we experience as husband and wife has overshadowed. It's the suffering that we experience.

34:00 It's not worthy compared to the glory that we would experience one day. And so maybe that's just a little taste of what it would be like. I think that the joy that we can experience when we're in the presence of God one day and to see his glory after we've gone through all the different trials and tribulations of life. The joy that we can see him and that our faith is made real. It's no longer faith.

34:29 We're gonna see him and have that joy to be in his presence. That's gonna overshadow it's going to be nothing compared to the suffering that we have experienced. Moving on into Romans five. Romans five and verse five, it says, now hope does not disappoint. Why does it not disappoint?

35:27 You and I can experience the love of Christ that he has for us and the intimacy that he has for us now through the Holy Spirit. This is the very first time in Romans that it says the phrase, the Holy Spirit, mentioning him by name. Just one of the great benefits, the helper that we, you and I can have. The holy spirit that would be in our hearts. That the love of God would be part...

35:58 Poured into our hearts and into our lives by the holy spirit. What a great what a great verse those verses in Romans. Those verses of gospel in a nutshell of what Christ has done for us. The Lord used this one in my testimony of how he brought me to salvation. Romans five eight, God demonstrates his own love toward us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

36:31 You and I were enemies of God. We were enemies because of our sin, but yet still God loved us. Still, he sent his son to die for us. What a great love that you you and I can have. That he would demonstrate that he would give his life for us.

36:52 What a great love. I was thinking about the holy spirit. There's some other verses in Romans. Romans fourteen seventeen, it says, the kingdom of God is not in eating and drinking, but in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. How profound Being right with God, having peace, having joy, and it's all wrapped together in a whole bundle in this great gift.

37:24 And we can understand that deeper and more fully about that peace because we have the Holy Spirit in our heart. He says in Romans fifteen thirteen, now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the holy spirit. So all these concepts, all these benefits that we have, this joy, this peace, the righteousness of god that we can have, the holy spirit, they're all wrapped in together in the work of Christ. And just what a great thing that we can do today to die try and digest these and maybe each and every other day that we could understand what these mean. Finally, god's mercy.

38:15 Take a look at verses nine through 11. Much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. That phrase being saved from wrath, that's the mercy of God. We don't have to experience God's wrath because of our sin.

38:52 God has shown us mercy because of that. And just grace pops up again there in verse 10. And if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through his death. So, not only do we not have to experience god's wrath but much more, we shall be saved by his life. We can have eternal life and you and I can be saved to not do certain things and not experience certain consequences by doing particular sins.

39:28 Part of the salvation we can experience each and every day is that when we're born again, when we have the Holy Spirit in our life, he will able... He will be able to keep us from doing certain things and having to suffer the consequences as a result. And so just a wonderful thing to experience. The mercy of God, the fact that we don't have to experience his wrath, but the also the grace that he would give us eternal life. So, in conclusion here, I just was thinking how to wrap this up.

40:11 Well, it's a reiteration of Romans chapter 15 and verse 13. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. I don't know everyone's situation in life right now. I don't know maybe you're feeling cold. Maybe you're feeling lukewarm.

40:36 Maybe you don't have that intimacy. Maybe you're really on fire for the Lord and maybe you have that zeal for him. Maybe you're experiencing a time of tremendous blessing in different ways of your life. Maybe you're going through a lot. Maybe you're you're suffering in many different ways.

41:23 The mercy that you've shown us. The fact that we can be made right because of what Christ has done. The grace that you have offered to us. The fact that even though we go through sufferings and it's hard and even in sometimes we don't understand, we ask why. We know that they're for a purpose.

41:50 That we would have patience, that we would learn patience. It's so hard sometimes, Lord, but we're just so grateful that they are for a reason, that we can have that patience, that we can develop that character, that we can have that hope, that one day we will be with you in your presence and that all of those tribulations will be overshadowed by that joy that we can experience with you. We just commit this time to you. We pray that you would bless this to our hearts. Pray this in Jesus name.

42:23 Amen.