Romans 7:8
The rock star Bono once said, “The Scriptures remain a plumb line to gauge how crooked the wall of my ego has become.” Many Christians who read the Bible regularly find this function of the Scriptures helpful, even therapeutic.
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Romans 6:20-23
Something happens in our lives when we receive the grace of God given to us in God’s Son, Jesus Christ. We used to be under a slave master who seemed quite charming but turned out to be very cruel. The Apostle Paul says, “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness” (Romans 6:20) In other words, you really did not care about what God desired for your life. That seemed like a pretty good deal, but you were under a spell. In the end, what did that master give you? Death. Death in the fullest scope of the word with its attendant misery, sadness, and frustrations. He tricked you into thinking that freeing yourself from what God commands would make you happy, but it did not.
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Romans 5:8
Do you know the everlasting, always flowing love of the Father? Before we knew the love of the Father in and through the Son, our thoughts of God may have been filled with fear, uncertainty, and disquiet. Now seeing the Father’s love in the Son, we know the heart of the Father, the endless beating of his heart for the sinner.
The ever-flowing love of the Father, like a river, flows to the lowest point. It gives us life. Like the heart supplies blood to every part of the body, God’s love gives life to our otherwise self-loathing, despairing, prideful or egotistic self, our living but not really living self. Like a river it flows down to the lowest point, because while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The Bible, spoken out by God himself through the pens of his servants, assures us of this rock-solid proclamation of truth. The Apostle Paul, for instance, wrote down for us and human perpetuity, “…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 ESV) You can take those words to the grave with you, because, though flowers may fade, God’s Word endures forever (Isaiah 40:8).
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Romans 5:2-5
No one, in their right mind, wants to suffer. Yet, all people experience suffering in their lives at some point. If you have not yet experienced suffering, just give yourself time. In a fallen world, suffering is inevitable.
The Bible says something very counterintuitive about suffering. It says the Christian can rejoice in suffering. “Through [Christ] 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.” (Romans 5:2–5 ESV)
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Romans 5:2
The journey was long, arduous, around many bends, through streams, and up many mountains. Yet, their spirits remained high. A benefactor ensured they had all they needed to complete the journey, and his promise that they would make it too their long awaited and most desired destination was surer than money in the bank.
The Christian can use the word “hope” in a special way. Christians do not hope as the rest of the world hopes. The world often uses the word “hope” for something one would like to see happen but can never be sure it will. The Christian hope is different. It is a sure, certain, unalterable, and everlasting hope. The Bible tells the Christian in Romans 5:2, “we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
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Romans 5:2
The Apostle tells us that the Christian rejoices “in hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:2) Are you are rejoicing Christian? Before you answer, please allow me to explain what I mean.
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Romans 5:2
I do not know about you, but there are things in my life that I long to get rid of. There are behaviors, bouts of crankiness, loneliness, selfishness, melancholy that I long to get rid of. Furthermore, now that I am older, I am beginning to realize why so many people have given me a piece of advice that I never could follow, “Don’t get old.” The aches, pains, and lack of endurance of old age sneaks up on you.
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Romans 12:18
Over the past two weeks, we have looked at some of the ways that the peace that God offers us through his Son changes us. The reception of this peace changes how we view God. It calms our souls with an assurance of permanent peace with God. It also conditions our emotions, helping us resists Satan’s attacks. Here we look at two more ways God’s peace changes us.
Peace with God not only calms one’s troubled soul, it also moves one’s hands. Romans 12:18, says, “If possible, as far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” If God has gone to such lengths to make peace with us, how can we ever withhold peace from others. If God found a way to relieve our greatest of debts, how can we squabble with others over smaller ones. What grudges are you nursing right now against others that you need to let go of? Do you have an estranged child that you have refused to talk to? A ruptured friendship that you have kept at arms-length? Are you harboring resent in your heart against another member of your church family? “If possible, as far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”
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Romans 5:1
Last week we looked at how the peace that God offers us through his Son changes how we view God and calms our soul. This week we look at one more way the peace of God changes us.
The late and great Biblical scholar John Murray said, “Peace of heart and mind proceeds from ‘peace with God’ and is the reflection in our consciousness of the relation established in his favour.” Even the most devout Christian will experience times in life when God feels far away. Though our feelings help us in many ways, they do not always send us in the right direction. While we cannot always change our emotions, and we certainly do not want to suppress them, we can condition them.
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Romans 5:1
Last week we looked at how God made peace with us through the death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ. Here we begin to explore some of the ways that receiving this peace changes us.
First, this peace changes how we view God. The late Bible scholar par excellence Robert Haldane once said: “While guilt remains in the conscience, enmity will also rankle in the heart; for so long as men look upon their sins as unpardoned and on God as the avenger of their transgressions, they must regard Him as being to them a consuming fire. But when they view God in Christ reconciling them to Himself, not imputing their iniquities to them, peace, according to the measure of faith, is established in the conscience.”
If that sounds like a lot to take in, let me say it again graphically. If a great thief knows his guilt, he will tremble on his way through the door into the courtroom. But, if he knows that everything he stole was paid back in full by the judge himself, his trembling will turn to joy. He has nothing left to fear. His heart now overflows with gratitude and joy before the judge, who paid his great debt.
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