Sermon Notes from December 27, 2009...

On Sunday, I preached from Romans 5:1-5. In this chapter, Paul looks beyond being made right with God to explain the blessings of a right standing with Him. Below is the outline of Sunday's sermon.

THE BENEFITS OF BEING RIGHT WITH GOD

I. Believers have peace with God
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. v 1

Paul is saying that those who have seen their need of Christ and have trusted in Him for salvation are no longer enemies of God, but are at peace with Him. I think that Christians often fail to appreciate this benefit because they do not realize what has been prevented by trusting in Christ for salvation. Prior to being saved, believers were enemies of God (Romans 8:7; James 4:4). Those who remain in this condition until death face God’s eternal wrath.

As believers, we must praise God for what we have been saved from and for the fact that we are now presently and eternally in right standing with Him. This fact should strengthin our faith in Christ and our service for Him.

II. Believers have access to God
Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. v 2

Paul is saying that God is made reachable to anyone who is in Christ. Before Jesus’ death, the Jews were kept from God’s presence by a veil that hung in the Temple. History tells us that the Gentiles (all non-Jewish people) were also separated from God's presense by a wall outside the temple with a warning on it saying that any non-Jewish person who went beyond it would be killed.

Jesus’ work on the cross ended this separation. As a result, the veil was torn and the walls of division were broken down (Lk. 23:44-45; Eph. 2:14). Today, no matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, if you are trusting in Christ for your salvation you have access to God. You can hear from Him by reading His word and can speak to Him through prayer.

It is also important to know that this access is unending. The phrase “in which we stand” carries the idea of permanence. The reason this access is lasting is because God is keeping believers in right standing with Himself by His grace.

III. Believers have the hope of glory
We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame. vv 2-5

"Rejoicing in the glory of God" introduces a major reversal of fortune for the readers of Romans. In Romans 1, Paul speaks of those who scorn the glory of God and in chapter 3 he addresses those who have fallen short of God's glory. Now those who have scorned and have fallen short of God's glory through repentance and faith in Christ are promised a share in His glory.

This benefit is a bit different from the previous two because it has not yet been experienced in its fullness. It refers to a time when the work being done in believers will be completed. There will come a time for believers when sin will be removed, and pain and heartache will be no longer because Christians will be made like Christ.

More great news about this benefit is that it isn’t something that might be but what will be. The word “hope” expresses an emotion of desire, but also that of confidence. John MacArthur says that a believer’s hope in the glory of God is a “divinely-secured hope” (Commentary on Romans 5).

Another wonderful thing about this benefit is that although it has not yet been fully experienced, this hope enables Christians to endure trials in this life, not matter how difficult, without losing the lasting joy that comes in a relationship with God. Paul also affirms that these trials are not difficulties one has to simply "grin and bear," but are experiences God uses to grow Christians in godliness. That is why Paul tells his readers to “rejoice (in) suffering.” That word “rejoice” is the same word used when he says “Rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” Paul's point is that in the same way one rejoices in the future salvation, they should also rejoice in suffering.

"Quote" of the Week

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you" (1 Peter 1:3-4).

A continual theme throughout Scripture is that God uses unlikely people for extraordinary purposes. This is one of the lessons learned from the story of “The Shepherds and the Angels” in Luke 2. Even though we hear it every year at Christmas, we often fail to understand how strange it was for God to use shepherds to report the good news of Jesus' birth to others. According to R.C. Sproul,

“Shepherds were a despised class because their work prevented them from keeping the ceremonial law, and as they moved about the country it was common for them to be regarded as thieves. They were considered unreliable and were not allowed to give evidence in the courts” (1457).

These shepherds were not the only unlikely witnesses chosen during Jesus’ earthly ministry. Prostitutes, lepers, tax collectors etc. were also used by God to be witnesses of Christ. This undeserved treatment was criticized by the self righteous scribes of the Pharisees who said, "Why does (Jesus) eat with tax collectors and sinners?" to which Jesus responded, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners" (Mark 2:17).

This theme of God using unlikely people is also true today because God expects all believers to represent Him to the world. Paul tells Christians in Ephesians 5:1, “Be imitators of God.” This Christmas, may you be reminded and humbled by the fact that God uses unlikely people like you and me to represent Him. May we also not fail to share with others the importance message of God taking on flesh, dwelling among us and accomplishing our salvation.

Sproul, R.C. The Reformation Study Bible. Orlando: Ligonier Ministries. 2005. 1457.

"Quote" of the Week

"For some reason, shepherds were not permitted to testify in court, but God used some humble shepherds to be the first human witnesses that prophecy had been fulfilled and the Messiah had been born...Telling others about the Saviour is a solemn obligation as well as a great privilege, and we who are believers must be faithful." -Warren Wiersbe

Someone told me recently about an elementary teacher who allows her students on their birthday to be king or queen for a day. For the entire day this child wears a crown and has special privileges. These privileges include, being first in line and leading the class to recess, lunch, the library, P.E. etc. These privileges also include taking attendance and sitting with the teacher at her desk for the entire day. This observer also mentioned that many of the kids were often envious of the king or queen and looked forward to the day when they could wear their crown.

Many of us have grown up thinking that this is what is meant to be king or queen. This, however, is not the example Christ left for us. Before His birth, the Jews were anticipating a Messiah who would come and rule and reign in a physical, political and immediate way. Being convinced of this made it difficult for many Jews to accept a Messiah who had been born in a barn and raised by a carpenter in Nazareth who taught that the greatest individuals will be those who consider themselves "last of all and servant(s) of all" (Mk. 9:35).

Christ was a different kind of King. Though He is rich beyond measure, He became poor. Though in deity He is lacking in nothing, he took on flesh and dwelt among us. Though he is the King of Kings, he came not "to be served, but to serve" (Mt. 20:28). According to R.C. Sproul, "Jesus humbled Himself, relinquishing His heavenly status" (1720). Paul said it in this way, "Though (Jesus) was in the form of God, (He) did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Phil. 2:6-8).

Spoul, R.C. The Reformation Study Bible. Orlando: Ligonier Ministries. 2005. 1720.

"Quote" of the Week

"The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many"(Mt. 20:28). -Jesus

Jesus was a man who convinced those closest to Him that He was also God; His humanness is not in doubt...The Gospels show Jesus experiencing human limitations (hunger, Matt. 4:2; fatigue, John 4:6; ignorance of fact, Luke 8:45-47) and sorrow (John 11:35, 38). Hebrews stresses that if Christ had not shared all these facets of human experience-weakness, temptation, pain-He would not be qualified to help us as we face such trials (Heb. 2:17, 18; 4:15, 16; 5:2, 7-9). As it is, His full human experience guarantees that in every moment of our relationship with God we may go to Him, confident that He has been there before us, and is the helper we need.

Christians, focusing on Jesus' deity, have sometimes thought that it honors Jesus to minimize His humanness. For example, it is sometimes suggested that Jesus was always consciously omniscient, and only pretended to be ignorant of facts. Or it might be thought that He only pretended to be hungry and weary, because as a kind of superhuman He was above the needs of daily existence. But the Incarnation means that the Son of God has only one Person, existing in two natures, and there is nothing lacking from His human nature, sin only excepted.

Jesus could not sin, but he was able to be tempted. Satan tempted Him to disobey the Father through self-gratification, self-display, and self-aggrandizement (Matt. 4:1-11), and the temptation to retreat from the Cross was constant (Luke 22:28; cf. Matt. 16:23; and Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane). Being human, Jesus could not conquer temptation without a struggle, but being divine it was His nature to do His Father's will (John 5:19, 30), and therefore to resist and fight temptation until He had overcome it. Since His human nature was conformed to His divine nature, it was impossiblee that He should fail in the course of His resistance. It was inevitable that He would endure temptations to the end, feeling their entire force, and emerge victorious for His people. From Gethsemane we know how acute and agonizing His struggles were. The happy result for us is that because "he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted" (Heb. 2:18).

Sproul, R.C. The Humanity of Jesus. The Reformation Study Bible. Orlando: Ligonier Ministries. 2005. 1836