Romans 5:1-5

Romans 5:1-5

Never Disappointed

I.                    We must hold firmly to the hope we have only in Christ; so we must understand the reality and results of true peace (Vv. 1-2)

a.       By the time we get to Romans chapter 5, Paul has spent four chapters describing the sinful nature of all humanity, our complete inability to save ourselves, our desperate need for a Savior, and God’s gracious gift of salvation which is only accessible and achievable through faith in Christ’s finished work on our behalf. Now Paul describes the results that only faith in Christ can produce on the lives of people. Our true hope in life and beyond rests solely in whether or not we’ve been justified through faith in Christ, or whether we’re still enemies of God, justly abiding under His wrath for our sin, and eternally separated from Him. To be justified isn’t a declaration of our righteousness, but the declaration that by faith in who Jesus is and what He did, even in our confirmed guilt, we’re declared not guilty. The finished work of Christ satisfies God’s holy, righteous, and just requirements, turns away His wrath, and through faith in Him, credits us with His righteousness, makes us new, and sets us free from sin, death, and judgment. As a result of our justification, we’re reconciled to God in Christ, no longer His enemies, and we have peace with God. The peace that Paul describes here isn’t limited to just the inner feeling of peace in the midst of peaceless times, nor is it exclusively the judiciary and reconciliatory peace with God, it’s both. The reality of our judiciary peace with God through Christ, results in the establishment of our relationship with Him, and also produces our ability to feel the emotional, spiritual, and inner peace of harmony with God and others that comes from the removal of boundaries between us and Him, and our complete access to Him in Christ. This true, deep, and abiding peace is lasting and produces hope which is firm. False peace flees in the face of trial, temptation, and difficulty, but true deep and abiding peace is strengthened. Only true relational peace with God through Christ will endure in all seasons of life. (Vv. 1-2; Prov. 8:35-36; John 3:16; 14:6, 27; Rom. 3:21-26; 4:4-5, 24; 5:8-11; 8:29-30; 2 Cor. 5:17-21; Eph. 2:1-15; Col. 1:19-22; Heb. 4:14-16; 1 Pet. 1:3-5; 1 John 2:1-2)

II.                 We must hold firmly to the hope we have only in Christ; so we must live out our hope which never disappoints (Vv. 3-5)

a.       Life in this world is broken by sin, and it’s in the crucible of the most difficult times in life, that God manifests the greatest and most certain hope in those who belong to Him. The result of justification in Christ is relational peace with God, and the result of peace with God is certain hope in Christ. The result of our justification, peace, and hope is that we can be “elated, and extremely joyful” in our tribulations. Paul isn’t suggesting that we should be joyful for our tribulations, but we that being justified we’ll rejoice in our tribulations because we know what results they’ll produce in our lives; because we know the hope of the glory of God in Christ, and that in Him, difficulties produce perseverance, and perseverance produces proven character, and proven character, true hope. It’s in the furnace of refining, the extreme trials of life, and the pressure of tribulation pressing down on us, which we discover the deepest reality of the nature our hope. Real true and certain hope in the Savior who has rescued us and set us free from the enemies of sin and death which we could never defeat, never disappoints; and this hope manifests itself in our hearts no matter our circumstances, because God doesn’t ration it out to us sparingly, but He showers us with eternal hope as He inundates our hearts with His love through His indwelling Holy Spirit. It’s the perfect of love of God which casts out fear. The reality of our existence is that there are so many thing which we simply don’t know. These questions and uncertainties always exist in our fallen world, but when we dwell on them, they produce fear and steal false hope. But for those who are justified in Christ, and inundated with the perfect love of God through His Holy Spirit, all these things we don’t know, only serve to press us into considering what we do know, and experiencing the peace, hope, and joy of the glory of God in fresh new ways. And for all the things we don’t know about what might happen in our lives, and all we do know about the hope of glory in Christ, we must also consider the things we can’t know about what God will do in the lives of others through our hope in times of trial, tribulation, difficulty, and temptation. We can be certain that whatever He does in and through us when we’re faithful to trust and hope in Him, will be for His glory, our greatest good, and far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think! (Vv. 3-5; Job 23:10; Isa. 26:3-4; Luke 9:23-25; Rom. 8:18, 28-39;       2 Cor. 4:7-10, 16-18; 5:14-16; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 3:20; Phil. 3:7-16; 4:6-7; 1 Pet. 1:6-9; 3:13-16; 4:12-19; 1 John 4:13-19)