January 17, 2016

Pastor Dan’s Message

Romans 5:1-5

Turning Point Wesleyan Church

Today, we will be reading from the Book of Romans, Chapter 5, verses 1 through 5.

(Romans 5:1-5)

1.    “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by FAITH,

we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.

2.    Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

3.    We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.

4.    And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.

5.    And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”

Last week, we covered the key words within verse 1 and they were:

“THEREFORE” – With this ‘Therefore”, Paul is summing up all what he had covered from the beginning of this Book up to this point.

“Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by FAITH, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”

We are JUSTIFIED BY FAITH and we have Peace with God.

The 2^nd word was “PEACE” – Paul makes it very clear that we have PEACE!

Peace with God through Jesus Christ.

Now, you have peace which comes to your soul when you TRUST in Jesus Christ as your savior and you know that God no longer has any charge against you. You are no longer guilty and God, who was at one time against you is now for you. You now have a life of salvation which is both, Permanent and Eternal.

That is the peace which comes from sins being forgiven and everything is made right and Holy between you and God.

This Peace is given to us through the GRACE which came from Jesus’ Blood on the Cross. That means that everything is now made right and perfect between you and God.

The 3^rd word was “JUSTIFIED” – Paul want us to understand that we are justified because of what we BELEIVE. Justification is a process. It means that God declares that we are to be made whole because of OUR BELIEF. God pardons us of our sins and He accepts us as Righteous, not because of what we do but because of God’s Decision. Being Justified is totally, that is 100% of a pure Gift from God.

And the 4^th word was “FAITH” – Your Faith is the motor which runs all of this.

Your salvation is directly tied into your act of Faith. FAITH is the key word which does or does not place everything into motion.

To understand what FAITH Really is, let’s go to the Webster 1828 Dictionary.

Faith is described as:

Evangelical, justifying, saving faith. It is the approval of the mind to the truth of divine revelation, on the authority of God's testimony, accompanied with a warm acceptance of the will or approval of the heart. An entire confidence or trust in God's character and declarations, and in the character and doctrines of Christ, with an unreserved surrender of the will to his guidance, and dependence on GOD’S merits for salvation.

In other words, that firm belief of God's testimony, and of the truth of the gospel, which influences the will, and leads to an entire reliance on Christ for salvation.

In Hebrews Chapter 11, God shares with us much about what True Faith is and how it is lived out.

(Hebrews 11)

“Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation. By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen. It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel’s offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man, and God showed his approval of his gifts. Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith. It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to Heaven without dying—“he disappeared, because God took him.” For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God. And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith. It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.

And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God. It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed that God would keep his promise. And so a whole nation came from this one man who was as good as dead—a nation with so many people that, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, there is no way to count them. All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads (or like travelers) here on earth. Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.” Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again.

And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead. It was by faith that Isaac promised blessings for the future to his sons, Jacob and Esau. It was by faith that Jacob, when he was old and dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and bowed in worship as he leaned on his staff. It was by faith that Joseph, when he was about to die, said confidently that the people of Israel would leave Egypt. He even commanded them to take his bones with them when they left. It was by faith that Moses’ parents hid him for three months when he was born. They saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s command. It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward. It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible.

It was by faith that Moses commanded the people of Israel to keep the Passover and to sprinkle blood on the doorposts so that the angel of death would not kill their firstborn sons. It was by faith that the people of Israel went right through the Red Sea as though they were on dry ground. But when the Egyptians tried to follow, they were all drowned.It was by faith that the people of Israel marched around Jericho for seven days, and the walls came crashing down. It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God.

For she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. Women received their loved ones back again from death. But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. Some were jeered at (or mocked at), and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.

Whether it was Paul or someone else who wrote the Book of Hebrews, it points out people, like you and me. They were people who not only claimed to BELIEVE or claimed that they had FAITH, but they were people who demonstrated their FAITH by putting their FAITH into action.

They lived their lives and also died by their FAITH.

Here in Romans, verse 2 through 5, we God’s Great News:

“Because of our faith, their faith, your faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.

And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”

Paul reminds us that we are to “Live by believing and not by seeing.” (2 Corinthians 5:7.) Paul is sharing with us that the benefits of a right relationship with God are direct and immediate. “We have Peace with God… we have gained access… we now stand” firm and in Good Standing with God. (Verses 1&2)

Just as faith is the pivotal point that leads us to a right standing with God. This is also the same moment when all of the benefits of God’s Grace are made accessible to us, the believer.

God does not act in such a way as to measure out His Peace and Grace to us in small doses as to only give it to us when He sees us worthy of it as when we take steps in our lives to follow Him. No, that isn’t how it works. God offers us a new relationship and a new nature simply on the basis of our faith in Him.

The faith of the Gospel is that emotion of the mind, which is called TRUST and CONFIDENCE. Through our FAITH, we place our TRUST and CONFIDENCE towards the moral character of God and particularly of Jesus Christ our Savior.

·         Our FAITH is built upon LOVE.

·         Our Faith is and Everyday Event.

·         Our Faith is built upon our Assurance.

·         Living a Life of Faith is living a life with affectionate practical confidence in the testimony of God.

In this world, we have basically three separations of people.

1.    We have those who don’t believe there is a God. There is no reason for life except for the time we have here on earth.

2.    We have those who believe they have faith in the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit) but their faith falls more in the line of having knowledge of the Trinity. Knowledge that God exists but they chose to leave it at that, knowledge. Their life does not show any fruit of that knowledge.

3.    Then we have those who have knowledge and they choose to believe and they show their FAITH through their way of life.

God gives us situations all the time where we can test ourselves in which of those three categories that we really belong in. One of such example may be found in this past week’s events centered on the 1.6 Billion dollar Power Ball Lottery.

Questions which you should ask yourself are:

Did you purchase a ticket or do you trust within the Lord to provide for you.

And if you did purchase a ticket, for what was the true reason behind that purchase?

Was it for fun and games?

Or was it for fame and fortune?

How many tickets did you purchase?

Did you put your trust in the Lord’s understanding with having only 1 ticket?

Or did you try to beat the odds and purchase multiple tickets?

How did the Lottery affect your prayer time?

Did your prayer life increase drastically during the time you purchased your ticket and the drawing?

Did you pray non-stop for God to give you the winning ticket?

Would it be accurate to describe your prayers as being of greed and desperate selfishness?

And what were your emotions when you found out that you were not a winner?

Was your reaction full of only thankfulness and blessings towards the winners?

Or was your reaction of being jealous and disgruntle that you were not a winner?

The Lottery is only one real life situation, or temptation which we deal with every day.

However, we can use these real life situations to test ourselves, to see how we are measuring up, whether we are conforming to this world, living within this world or living a life for God with having our Trust and Faith resting in God Himself.

FAITH is a firm, affectionate Belief in the Truth of God, in all the Declarations of His Word; or a Full and Loving Confidence in the certainty of those things which God has declared, and because He has declared them.

(2 Corinthians 5:17) “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

In Romans 5:2, we have a place “in which we now stand”. 

We have access to Grace, whether by way of introduction to the Father or finding refuge from the storms. This brings us, the believer, to a position of security, to a place in which we can stand firm. One of the great blessings of our life in Christ is a sense of stability. When we gain access, by FAITH, to God’s Grace, our position in Him becomes secure.

But don’t get misled here. Satin loves to lead us down the dark road and he loves to fill us up with doubt. We gain doubt from this world. From people who we know who so easily point out our spiritual flaws and from those who question us, asking for us to confirm for them whether we really truly are a Christian or not.

And maybe even more harmful are our own doubts and questions. We many times, find ourselves surprised or even ashamed at things we have done or things which we have not done all the while we claim that we are walking with Christ.

We should never minimize the subtle work of the Evil One who finds great delight in raising questions and fears about our relationships with God, even as he did with Eve and Adam from the very beginning.

In moments of doubt, we need to remind ourselves of where we stand. By FAITH we have TRUSTED God for our salvation. And God has credited our FAITH as RIGHTEOUSNESS!

As we continue to TRUST in Him, we can shift our focus away from our sometimes less-than-perfect performance, to the TRUTH that Our Salvation is of His Works, and not ours.

We stand by His Grace.