Lessons From Romans – Lesson 7
Romans 5:1 starts with the word Therefore. So that means what is about to be said is based on what was in the verses before this.
Paul has shown us that all men are under condemnation for sin. He has shown that it did not matter if you were a Jew or a Gentile (and that includes everyone). All can be saved and must be saved by faith and faith alone. Paul has also shown that this principal of Justification by faith was not a new principal. He proved that Abraham and David were also accepted by God by faith. He has shown that the Law cannot save and that the only way to escape the wrath of God is by grace. By simply having faith in how God says to be saved
Rom 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
It is sin that is the root of the quarrel between us and God. It not only creates a separation but also an enmity. A holy righteous God can in no way be at peace with a sinner as long as he continues under the condemnation of sin.
Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind [is] enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
The word enmity is a very strong word it means the quality of being an enemy; the opposite of friendship; ill will; hatred; unfriendly dispositions; malevolence. It denotes a fixed or rooted hatred.
By nature we are born the children of wrath. The carnal mind that we are born with is at war with God. And we are all born that way.
That is the way we are born, we are all born with a sin nature.
And the state of the sinner’s mind is far from peace. He has a sense that he is alienated from God. That is why you can go to the most remote jungle and find men trying to appease some god. It might be something in the sky or a rock, but they will be trying to appease some god. That is because all men are born with a sense that there is a God with whom they have to do.
The sinner will tremble when he thinks of God’s law and fears His Judgments. The sinner quite frankly is alarmed of the thought of hell. This is because all men are born with a sense of guilt before a Holy God.
I have seen more and more thru the decades how man has been working hard to interfere with this sense of guilt that all are born with. They start in kindergarten teaching kids there is no God and everything is just an accident. What that has done is made many bolder in their sin. And has made our society more dangerous.
But that approach has not brought peace in their hearts. True peace for the soul only comes from God and only when the sinner deals with his guilt before God and gets saved by grace thru faith.
Man can and many do delude themselves into believing they are ok and even believing they are not guilty. It does not matter what they convince themselves of, the guilt remains.
And guilt is a barrier to peace and fellowship with a Holy Righteous God. In fact as long as this guilt remains there can be no peace with God.
The guilt of sin must be taken care of first. And it is Justification that takes away this guilt and thus makes room for peace.
After the obstacle of God’s justice has been taken care of by us putting our faith in the shed blood of Christ. God has pardoned us and we are now at peace God. There is no longer an enmity with God. God now forgives the transgressions of the sinner.
But understand that more takes place than just a ceasing of hostilities. It is more than just a laying down of arms.
There now is friendship and loving-kindness.
Abraham was justified by faith and was called the friend of God
Jam 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
When Adam was created he had this peace and friendship with God.
God would come down and walk with Adam in the garden in the cool of the day.
Gen 3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day:
Gen 2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought [them] unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that [was] the name thereof.
God brought the animals to Adam to see what Adam would call them.
God and Adam were at peace. They had sweet fellowship until Adam rebelled against God by disobeying the only command that God gave Him.
Gen 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
Gen 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
God created the man to have fellowship with Him in peace. He created the man so that He could Love and take care of the man and God wanted the man to Love Him back.
But understand that a Love that is not freely given is not love at all. Therefore the man must be given a choice. So God told Adam not to eat of the one tree. Now if Adam obeyed then he could remain in sweet fellowship with God. However, if Adam rebelled, then death would be the result. God decreed that Death is the required penalty for sin. Now Adam had a choice. He could choose to Love God or Adam could choose to turn his back on God.
Well we all know what happened. Adam choose out of a free will to rebel against God.
Adam’s sin destroyed the peace that man had with God.
Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Adam’s nature changed from one of innocence to one of rebellion. And Adam passed his sin nature to his children. That is why all men have sin and that is why all men die.
But, Praise the Lord that God has made a way to restore that peace.
Col 1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, [I say], whether [they be] things in earth, or things in heaven.
Col 1:21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in [your] mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
Col 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
And when a sinner embraces this, a peace is produced in his mind that comes from God. The sinner will then experience a peace that the world cannot give and that the world cannot take away.
Phi 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
This peace is of God.
Albert Barnes wrote:
“The alarm subsides; the heart is calm; the fears die away, like the wave of the ocean after a storm. A sweet tranquility visits the heart – a pure shining light, like the sunbeams that break through the opening clouds after a tempest.”
That is a wonderful description of the way that God’s peace breaks thru at salvation.
God is not only the maker of our peace, He is the maintainer of our peace. It comes from Him. We did not make this peace. All we had to do was surrender. Lay down our pride and accept Him as saviour. Peace cannot be ours without our personal surrender to God. But that is our only part. We do not make peace, we have peace. It is given to us by Almighty God.
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
2 Thes 3:16 Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all.
We are not talking about the types of things others call peace. We are talking about the supernatural peace that God gives.
Phi 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding
This peace of God is far reaching in how it effects our life. Not only does it give us peace about our eternity, but it also gives us peace to handle the tragedies in life that lost people cannot understand. They will watch a saint of God go thru some tragedy and as they watch them they will say I don’t understand. How can they be so calm? The peace that God gives surpasses all understanding.
Rom 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Many of us here have been in hard and difficult situations and have experienced God given peace that makes no sense to the lost world. When we get saved we are given peace as far as eternal salvation and we are also given peace in this life.
The first benefit of getting saved that Paul mentioned is receiving peace from God.
The second benefit Paul mentions is grace.
Rom 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
We now have access to God’s grace. Grace is defined as the unmerited favor of God. And this grace is accessed by faith. We are saved by grace and not of works. Our salvation stands rock solid for eternity on grace. Works never enters into it ever.
And we can never lose the grace of salvation. But grace for salvation is not the extent of the grace that we are given at salvation. We are also given access to His grace to help us in this life.
Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
We now truly have a loving heavenly Father, and Jesus our savior understands all our troubles and hurts. God wants to help us in this life. What we need to do is believe that and ask for His help in faith. He will not always remove the trouble but He will give us the grace to get thru it.
When we got saved eternal salvation would have been enough, but we received more than that. We have also received peace from God and grace to help in time of need.
The 3rd benefit of salvation that Paul mentions here is rejoicing in hope of the glory of God.
Rom 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
The world defines hope as A desire of some good, accompanied with at least a slight expectation of obtaining it, or a belief that it is obtainable.
That is totally different from Biblical hope.
Biblical Hope is an absolute, 100% certainty that it is going to happen. Biblical Hope leaves zero percent doubt. And this kind of Hope has the effect of causing rejoicing.
Biblical Hope is based on God. It is based on what God said, and on what God did.
We have hope of eternal life because God promised it, and He cannot lie. Therefore it is assured to those of us who have accepted Christ as our Saviour.
Joh 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Everlasting life is an absolute certainty for those who believe on Jesus and put their trust in His atoning work on the cross.
Heb 6:19 Which [hope] we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast,
Biblical hope is not a maybe or could be. Biblical hope is an anchor sure and stedfast. Biblical hope is a certainty, and that kind of Hope results in rejoicing.
No matter how bad things get here on this wicked sin stained earth. We can always rejoice in the Hope that we will get to be with Jesus.
No matter how bad the hardships, and persecution gets here on earth. We have the absolute Hope that one day there will be no more pain and no more tears.
We will get to be with our Lord and savior for all eternity in a place that is perfect and it is a place without sin. Knowing this brings rejoicing.
Hope is an important thing to have in this life and it does impact our lives in a positive way.
And lack of hope will also impact a life but not in a positive way.
There was a small town in Maine that was proposed for the site of a great hydro-electric plant. A dam would be built across the river and the town was to be submerged. When the project was announced, the people were given many months to arrange their affairs and relocate. During those months all improvements ceased. No painting was done. No repairs were made on the buildings, the roads, or anything else. Day by day the whole town got shabbier and shabbier. A long time before the waters came, the town looked uncared for and abandoned, even though the people had not yet moved away. You see where there is no hope in the future, there is no power in the present. That town was cursed with hopelessness because it had no future.
But that is not the case with the redeemed. We have a glorious future in store for us.
We should not be idle like the people of that town who had no hope. Our hope should make us busy in the Lord’s work. So that one day, when we stand before the Lord we will hear
Well done, [thou] good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
At salvation God gives a better hope. A biblical hope. A Hope that is not based on desires or wishes. Rather it is a hope that is based on what God said and what God did.
A hope that is based on and in Almighty God. We have a hope that is an anchor. Stedfast and sure.
Next Paul says that we can now glory in tribulations. Why? Because tribulations for us have a purpose.
Rom 5:3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
Rom 5:4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
Tribulations teach us patience and experience. And experience works hope. As we gain more experience as Christians and as our faith grows when we see God work in our lives thru tribulations. And as we gain experience seeing our God be faithful and work in our lives over time our grasp of and realization of the fact of the certainty of our hope grows.
It gets stronger. And our hope get shed abroad.
Rom 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Our hope gets shed abroad both in our own hearts. Our rejoicing in our hope grows. But it says hope maketh not ashamed. That implies sharing our hope with others.
Paul will often bring up a topic and then add additional information that has bearing on that topic. We seen that a lot in 1st Corinthians. And Paul does that here. He brought up hope making us not being ashamed and shedding this abroad.
So Paul is going to be clear about what our hope is based on and what we should be sharing because hope makes us not ashamed.
Rom 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Rom 5:7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
While we were not lovable. While we were yet sinners at enmity against God Christ died for us. We were without strength absolutely unable to work for or earn our salvation. When we were ungodly Christ died for us.
The wages of sin is death and Christ went to the cross to pay those wages. He shed His blood and died.
Rom 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
Rom 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
When we put faith in what Jesus did and call upon Him to save us with a repentant heart, in a judicial act of God we have been justified by his blood and we are saved from the wrath of judgment.
And this brings Joy.
Rom 5:11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
We joy in God through our Lord Jesus because we have now received the atonement.
Not may receive it. Not can receive it. Not we are allowed to receive. It is not will receive it one day. It is we have now received it. It is a done deal. It is finished. It is a certainty.
This is biblical hope. And it brings rejoicing. The joy in verse 11 goes along with the rejoicing in verse 2.
Rom 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.