Rejoice In Hope

Rom. 5:1-5- “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but 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, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

Re-read this text this morning, please! For believing this can change your life!

The Bible is clear about the fact that we live in a fallen world and that a lot of our experience is going to be difficult, discouraging, even overwhelming some days…but that doesn’t change our relationship to the Father.  These are God’s Words spoken through Paul to His Church who needed to hear these words because their day to day was discouraging…even frightening. So we must listen to God’s Word…we must “consider” God’s Word…we must ingest God’s Word…(i.e. the Lord’s Supper)…we must share God’s Word, because it is the truth.

So let’s take a moment to “consider together” what God says in this text. “We” all God’s children…which includes you and I “…have been justified by faith…” This justification is an act of God’s free grace alone wherein He pardons all our sin, and accepts us as righteous in His sight because of the righteousness of Christ…and all of this is done to us, His children, who were chosen in Christ alone before the foundations of the world… a salvation which is fulfilled in God’s timing, in time and space.

Next, he says, “…we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We … have…PEACE with GOD…through …our… Lord…Jesus Christ. Did you “hear” that? This is true…NOW! Jesus told His disciples and us, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”- John 14:27. The Prince of Peace gives us peace with God which should be something that enables us to push through the hardest day. So what is this peace? Some are quick to point out that the Hebrew word for peace is shalom and biblical shalom entails the right ordering of all things, the way the world is supposed to be. This is no doubt true, but we must always remember (1) that biblical shalom is much deeper than societal harmony and (2) that true shalom comes only to those who have union and communion with the shalom giver…Christ Jesus our Lord.

Since we have been justified and given peace with God “…we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand…”- Access to God and His grace…read strength, assurance, life eternal… “grace upon grace” … one grace does not leave us before another is upon us. We can and must come to Him at all times…it is when we “forget” we can…that we begin to fall into despair. But it is in reading and considering that we remember the truth…not the falsehoods we tell ourselves or others tells us.

Then with this being true, “…we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but 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 …” We can rejoice in the hope of God and we can rejoice in the suffering/ affliction/ hardships that God brings into our lives because these are the tools that He is using to enable us to endure in this life…to produce the type of Christian character needed to proclaim God’s Word effectively and to train disciples in the faith starting with the youngest among us…which again brings us back to hope, “…because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

When we forget and the day gets overwhelming we need to remember this last statement.  God loves us…God loves us…God loves you and me!!! Our identity lies with Him in Christ. Our purpose lies with Him in Christ. Our place…our home… lies with Him in Christ. It is with this knowledge that we have read and considered that we can then push through the tough days and celebrate in joy all our days because we will have eyes to see Christ! And in seeing Christ we have hope!

God bless y’all today!

In His Grip,
Pastor Mike