Finding Purpose- Romans with Kenny Jones: 8

This is Hans Schile from the Finishing Well Podcast. On Finishing Well, we help you make godly choices about Medicare, long-term care, and your money. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and choosing the Truth Podcast Network.

I can do this, but I can't do that. Do you feel like your efforts to reach God, find God, and please God are futile? Do you feel like your faith is dead or alive? Looking at scripture will help us answer these questions. Join us on Finding Purpose, glorifying God by helping men find their purpose for living.

For more information on the ministry, please visit online at findingpurpose.net or connect with us on Facebook. Let's listen to guest speaker, Pastor Kenny Jones, as he leads us through Romans, teaching us how to be a Christian without being religious. If you have a copy of your Bible with you, turn over to Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. And tonight, we're going to be looking through the first 11 verses in this great chapter that Paul has written.

Well, last week, Russ did an outstanding job, didn't he? I mean, answering and making sure you understand the question, do you know that you're saved? Do you know that you know that you know that you know? And men, how you answer that question has eternal consequences, lasting consequences. And I think Russ did a fantastic gospel centered Bible centered job of explaining to us what our faith in Christ, what it looks like, what it means, and what also what we can hope in. When you know when you understand the power of the gospel, you realize that this is truly the greatest gift that you can ever receive. The power of the gospel, it changes hearts, it changes minds, it changes souls, it changes lives forever. You see men that have been in the Myers of sin. You see men and women that and you can read countless stories and hear testimonies of men being lost into the sea, yet it is by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, by the power of the gospel of God, being reconciled to God all because of Christ, that they are made whole, they are made new, and their life has changed forever. Men, tonight what I want us to look at in the title of your outline that I pray that you got is we're going to look at what the consequences of our faith look like, the consequences of our faith. I know a lot of times when you think about the word consequence, you probably a lot of times think about a punishment, or maybe you go back into your childhood days when you think about these are the consequences of your sinful pattern of behavior. But no, we also have good consequences. We have, let me say it another way, inheritance.

Let me say it one even another different way. We have gifts received and given to us by God all because of our faith. And tonight, my prayer for you, my prayer for me is that as we unpack these great truths here in Romans chapter 5, we are going to see the blessings that we have that are given to us from God all because of Christ. My prayer tonight that I've been praying ever since I've been studying over the last week is that you are going to have and understand that the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Because joy can only come from truth. And tonight my prayer is that you are going to see in Romans 5 verses 1 through 11 the truth, the consequence of our faith and the blessings that we have all because of Christ. My prayer tonight for you is that this will give you assurance of your faith and that you will walk through this life that when the storms and then the waves and the billows blow over you, you won't lose heart.

You won't lose your way. But you will have a sure and steady confidence in Christ alone. Tonight we're going to look at four gifts, four consequences, as I will call them throughout the evening tonight. First, we're going to see that we have peace with God. And because we have peace, secondly, we have access to God. And because of our access with God, because of our peace with God, then we have hope, hope, anchored hope.

And the third thing we are going to see, and this is the one that really just blows me away. We are granted the glory of God all because of the power of the gospel. So tonight, before we get started, like we always do, I'm going to ask if you will, let's bow our heads. Let's bow our hearts tonight and let's ask the Lord. Let's ask for his for his spirit to lead us tonight in the scriptures, because remember, man, this is the word of God. This is the inerrant word of God inspired by him.

And we also know that it is it would never return voids about your heads with me. Eternal Lord and Heavenly Father, we come to you tonight, Father, expectant of for you to work in us, in our heart, Lord, to help us to see the glorious truth of the blessings that our faith has given us. I ask, Lord, by your grace, that your spirit will just teach us in our heart, Lord, that we will be continue to be mold and shaped into the image of Christ.

And, Father, that we as we see these gifts would never not take any one of them for granted. So, Father, I pray, convict us of sin where we need to be convicted. Lord, encourage us where we need to be encouraged in our walk of faith. And, Father, I pray through all of what I say tonight, Lord, help me to disappear. And for your word, for you to be exalted, Lord, that you will increase and I will decrease. So, Father, teach us now through your word, and it's in Christ we pray.

Amen. Let's look at our first point tonight, that we have peace with God. You know, just this past weekend we celebrated Veterans Day, the day that we honor all those men and women who have sacrificially served our country and to be able to put themselves on the line to protect our freedoms. As I was studying over, I was just curious about Veterans Day and its history behind it, and I was reading on a historical website a couple of stories about men who were on the front lines there on November 11th, 1918, the day when World War I, the Great War, stopped. Robert Coode, C-U-D-E, remembered that famous bugle call. He heard steadfast ceasefire sounded across the foggy landscape of the British lines that morning. The American motorcycle courier carrying mail to and from the lines, Leon Ruff, noted that in the sudden quietness when all the firing of the guns stopped, he could hear his watch ticking.

Near the Moselle River in the northeastern part of France, there was recording equipment there that had been tracking the thunder of artillery fire, and then all of a sudden it flatlined. It was a famous day, this author wrote. November 11th, 1918, the 11th hour, the 11th day of the 11th month. Armistice Day, the day that we call Veterans Day of the United States. Peace had fallen upon Europe. Another quote from a man named Robert Casey who was in the 124th Field Artillery Regiment in the 33rd Division was there on the front lines on November 11th, 1918.

Listen to what he said from this author. There was some cheering across the river, occasional bursts of it as news carried to the advanced lines. For most part, though, we were in silence with all this feeling that can it really be true? Has the war truly ended? For months we have slept under the guns.

We cannot comprehend the stillness of the land. War was over. The great war had come to a stop. Yet it was hard, like we just read from Robert Casey, the Field Artillery Regiment, to fathom peace. War all around and yet within the blink of an eye, peace has fallen. When we think about that word peace, a lot of different things may come to our minds because especially in the contemporary world today, there are so many different misconstrued ideas of the word of peace. When you think about peace, of course, a lot of you go back, y'all are much older than I am, a lot of you go back to the 1960s.

That was a joke. We're not as old as Jim Briggs. But a lot of things come to our attention when we think about even the 1960s when there was this idea of peace meant that everything was accepted. There was harmony. There was joy.

Everything was just happy-go-lucky. But, men, we realize that that peace that is anchored in the world's eyes is a false hope. It's wishful thinking. True peace comes from what the Bible says. And look at how Paul starts us off here in verse 1. He says, look in your Bibles with me in Romans, chapter 5, verse 1. He says, therefore, we have been justified by faith. He starts off with the verse, therefore, connecting us back to Romans, chapter 4, verses 12 through 25. And it's all because of our faith that we are justified.

Because of our faith in Christ alone, by grace alone, when we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, by faith, we look at the first consequence we have. We have peace with God right there in verse 1. You can write this down, but the word peace in the Greek means one. It means quietness. It means rest. It means harmony.

When you begin to do a word study on the word of peace, it comes and is derived from the Greek word erero, which means to join, means to tie together into a whole. It also means it is a gift of God's wholeness, being made whole, to have rest and harmony before God. You can think of it like a blanket in a cold winter day that is covering you from head to toe, that was freezing outside that blanket that has made you whole, wrapped around your entire body, the whole of your body. There you were kept warm.

It's a total encompassment of that blanket. And that's the idea of what peace carries before God. We are made whole all at the moment of our faith.

Remember when we were studying back in Romans 3, remember when we were studying the righteousness of God, and instantly when we believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior, right there at the split second, we are declared right before God. And it's the same thing when we have peace with God. Right at that moment of faith, at the conception of faith, we have peace with God. But in order to understand peace, just like how that field artillery in that regiment Robert Case thought, something had to happen.

He's used to war, gunfire over top of his head. In order for peace to happen, conflict or trouble or unrest had to take place. The peace that Paul is talking about can only come through something happening.

It has to come through something happening. But first we have to understand the bad side of it. Remember men, before Christ, as Colossians 1.21 reminds us, and you who were once alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds. You remember that joy ride we took through Romans chapter 1 and 2, when we were reminded over and over and over again that we were enemies with God. We were children of wrath. We were separated with God all because of sin. God's hot wrath, his hot indignation upon sin was being poured out on sinners.

I know you can't forget that journey that we took through those chapters. But the Bible is clear. When Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden, not only were they separated from that garden, but they were also most importantly separated from God. And here in Romans chapter 5, Paul is talking about this peace that we have came through because we had unrest with God. We were not whole before God, but something had to happen.

Jesus. Jesus had to come. Jesus became our mediator between God and man. Jesus' ministry was about reconciliation.

It's what we find there in verse 10. You can think of peace and reconciliation as synonymous terms. The peace that Paul is talking about is the ending of an estrangement before from God.

We were estranged from God. Jesus' ministry of reconciliation brought two estranged parties together, reconciled them together, and all this happened through the cross. All this happened through the cross. That's why it's important to sing, to know, and understand the importance of what Jesus did at Calvary. Reconcile in the Greek means to change, to exchange.

The root word there means to change to the same position. That's what reconciliation means. An exchange had to happen, a decisive change, in order for us to have peace with God.

But here's the thing you need to understand. Whenever you think about reconciliation taking place of two estranged parties, a lot of times you think, well, I've got to do this, that person has to do that, and then we can come together. Here's the reality of reconciliation according to God's word. We did nothing. God had to intercede for us on our behalf. Remember, men, in Romans, again, chapter 1 and chapter 2, it's pretty clear of that doctrine that we learned of total depravity. We didn't want God. We didn't pursue God. There's nothing in our hearts that even wanted to the notion of the gospel. It's God. When we heard the gospel being proclaimed, when we heard that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again on the third day, and when the gospel clicked in our ears and it made the truth resonate in our hearts, we didn't do it.

God did. Through the mediator, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Son of Man. This idea of reconciliation, of a peace with God, again, going back to what we celebrated with the Veterans Day, if you recall there and you know your history, I'm going to dust off your books here going back to 11th-grade history and world history, but you remember Neville Chamberlain, the Prime Minister of England? You remember when he thought he was negotiating peace with Germany, but you memorized what was happening. Hitler was storming through there in Germany, or excuse me, into Europe, into England.

He thought, Neville Chamberlain, thought peace was happening, but there Hitler was stabbing him in the back, storming through to be able to take control of Europe. But, men, here is the reality that we face. The great war between God and man has been reconciled, has been stopped there dead in its tracks, all because of Christ's work on the cross. Wholeness came through the King. Men, write this verse down. Isaiah 9, verses 6-7, a very familiar verse, especially this time of season, as we're coming to the Christmas holiday.

Listen to what's described of Jesus. For a child will be born to us, a son will be given, and the government will rest on his shoulders, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, and what? Prince of Peace.

Micah, chapter 5, verses 4 and 5 says this, And he, Jesus, shall stand and shepherd his flock, and the strength of the Lord, and the majesty and the name of the Lord his God, and they shall dwell secure, for now he shall grant, he shall be great, excuse me, to the ends of the earth, and he shall be their peace. Men, don't take for granted having peace with God. The application of this point is pretty clear, that because we have peace, we should be walking lives of holiness. We should be walking grateful lives.

We should be a humble people. Men, when you realize what you have been saved from, when you realize that you have on the cross the wrath of God is being poured out and not on you, and you have been sent to hell, men, it makes you to realize what I said in the very beginning. That is why the joy of the Lord is your strength, because you have peace with God.

And let's go to their second point. Because we have peace, we now have access to God because of Christ. We have access to God because of Christ. Look with me in verse two in Romans chapter five. Through him, Jesus, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace into which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

Because of Christ, we have access to God. When I was younger, I was a young guy, I knew I could call my dad at work anytime, anytime. And no matter what he was doing, he always answered. Even on times when I'm calling him, it would ring, ring, ring, ring, ring. This is before answering machines, or at least he didn't have an answering machine in his office. But it would ring and ring and ring, but I knew either at one point his coworkers would answer for him, they'd take a message for him, or they'd go find him for me.

I knew whatever time of day when he was at work, I could call and my dad would answer. When you look back in the Old Testament, you look at access to God, you realize it was a very hot commodity, a scarce commodity. It wasn't possible for any person just to go up to the mountain of Sinai and to be able to talk to God. God gave strict commands to take place if you wanted to gain access to him. Recall Israel on Mount Sinai. You remember Moses was allowed to go up to the mountain, but Israel was not. You remember Moses, right before he was to receive the 10 Commandments in Exodus chapter 19, verse 12, it says, and you shall sow limits for the people.

Literally, what he means there is barriers for the people. Tell them, take care not to go up to the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.

Why? Because he is holy and we are not. No one can see the face of God and live. Remember again, God telling Moses in Exodus chapter 33, verse 20, but he said, you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live. If you know the context of that chapter, what did Moses want? He wanted to see God. But remember in Exodus chapter 34, what did God do to him?

Put him in the cleft of the rock and all Moses could see was his back. He can't see him and live. But now, because of him, Jesus, we have access to the Father.

Do you realize what this means? That we have an audience before Yahweh himself. Because of our faith in Christ.

I mean, write these verses down if you would like, but listen to what the scripture says about this access that we have. Ephesians 2, verse 18 says this, for through him we have access in one spirit to the Father. One chapter later, Ephesians chapter 3, verse 12, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

Hebrews chapter 10, verses 19 through 20, therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the living, by the new and the living way that he opened for us through the curtain that is through his flesh. We no longer have to wait for the day of atonement to have access to God, but our confidence in which we stand is all because of our faith in Christ. We have nothing to boast about, men. When Paul says there that we have obtained access into this grace and to which we stand, and depending on what version of scripture you have, maybe the NIV, and I believe the NASB says this as well, talks about our boasting. He's not talking about selfish boasting, it's our boasting placed in Christ. We have nothing to boast about.

It's excluded, as Romans 3.27 reminds us. But we boast because of what Christ has allowed us to be able to gain access to, and to this grace, as it says there in verse two. Grace has been extended to us.

Our faith has been given to us, and so we boast in Christ, who gives us access to the Father. Many years ago, I had the distinct pleasure of getting a behind-the-scenes tour of the Pentagon. I know a lot of you probably have been the same, or maybe you were in the armed services, and maybe you served there at one point. But I remember going through the tour of the Pentagon, and there were a lot of other tourists there that day getting a tour.

But I remember that we were permitted to enter into a section that was not even allowed in the tour. And it was always fascinating to watch, that when you were, and I was just a small group of people, but immediately they would see that we were civilians, and they had this awkward look. They would immediately look, you were a fish out of water, but they would always look immediately to your chest, meaning they were looking at your badge. But there was this one little piece of just writing on that badge that made us and our group distinct.

It's because the general who gave us permission to be there, that was his stamp. So as soon as they saw it, you're in. And even though we weren't in some top-secret area in the Pentagon, we were really just sitting there in a conference in the general's office, we were allowed in. And so I remember in that moment, I soaked it in. I asked all these types of questions because there we had a front row audience.

But the general, they're leading hundreds and thousands of people there in the army. So I soaked it in, I took advantage. And man, here's the application. We need to do the same thing with this type of access. It is easy to shrug it off and say, okay, I can talk to God, I have access to the God.

But man, it is a big deal. It's a big deal that you were once barred access to Christ, but now you can come and you can enter in all because of the blood of the lamb that's before you. And since you entered in with confidence, what do you do? First of all, a point of application is this, you pray. You pray with confidence, you pray with boldness, you pray without ceasing, as 1 Thessalonians chapter five says. You bring God your fears, your joys, your ups, your downs. You can go to God in confidence and to know because you have peace with God, you know that you can come to him when you do sin and you can repent and you know that God is just and faithful to forgive.

You never, of course, step on that cheap grace, but you do know when your conscience pricks you, you can go to God boldly and boldly know because of his grace and his mercy, you stand forgiven. You pray because you, with this bold access, you ask for a desire of the word of God. And the second thing is that you worship him. You worship him freely. You worship him with joy.

You worship him with everything in your heart because you realize, again men, what you have been delivered from. And then which leads us to our third point, that we have hope in God because of Christ. So we have peace and because of our peace, we gain access and in this access, we are given something. We are given hope. Paul moves into this other consequence of our faith, which is hope. Again, letting you go deeper with me in the Greek language, the Greek word of hope means expectation, a trust, a confidence. It means the expectation of what is sure, what is certain. But with a definition like that, of what is sure, confidence, trust, expectation, that means that your hope has to be placed into something.

If you gotta trust something, there has to be something on the other side of that trust in order for you to have confidence in. Meaning that your hope is not empty. It's not like a business deal that goes through and when it does go through, you lose all your hope, you lose all your confidence, you lose hope. No, this hope is anchored in our justification by faith alone. It's anchored in the God-man, in Jesus.

This hope is not like a wish. No, our hope is based on fact, faith, and a rich future. It's based on fact that Jesus, as we will celebrate next month in December, that Jesus came, was born of a woman, born of the flesh, that he became a man and he lived a sinless life and he died on the cross for our sins and he rose again on the third day and he later ascended to heaven and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father, reigning and being Lord over all. It's based on our faith because of this fact that we know that Jesus died and we are given the ability to believe and a future. We know that because of Christ, our future, our hope is set in heaven with God. That we know that this life will pass one day and we will be with Jesus forever in a place that is known as perfection. It's hard to fathom, isn't it?

Especially living in this dark and fallen world. Hope, when you look at it in the scriptures, is always anchored in the soul. Hebrews chapter six verse 19 says this, we have this sure and steadfast anchor of our soul, a hope that enters, here's the key word, into, into the place behind the curtain. You know what an anchor does? It stabilizes you. It stabilizes the boat or a ship. It's just like, for example, a lot of you guys know I grew up in New Bern where two rivers there in New Bern come together, the Neuse and the Trent. And a lot of times when a hurricane would take place, a lot of guys would put their boats out in the middle of the river, they're in the middle of a hurricane. And there would be, of course, more than one anchor out there in the middle of the river. And yes, the storm would come, the boat would be tossed to and fro and sometimes be a little bit further down the river. But nonetheless, it was there.

Instead of being dry docked, or maybe put it on a trailer in your middle yard, and then it's two miles away. But there, that's what the anchor does. It's anchored in to the eternal truth of who Jesus is. Being a Christian is not about being religious, but about having a dynamic, alive relationship with Jesus Christ. You've been listening to Finding Purpose with Pastor Russ Andrews, glorifying God by helping men find their purpose for living. You can discover more about finding your purpose in life by checking out the resources at findingpurpose.net or connect to Finding Purpose on Facebook. Pastor Russ would also like to extend a special invitation for you to join him and over 300 other local men to study God's Word together every Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in downtown Raleigh. Find out more at findingpurpose.net. .