Romans 5: Developing Godly Character - February 8, 2008
Turn with me this morning to the book of Romans, chapter 5. Today we want to look at the idea of developing godly character. How do we become the men and women that we were created to be? We have been looking at this letter from the Apostle Paul to Christians living in Rome, the capital city of the Roman Empire. Paul starts out in chapter 5 with these words: Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore is a reference to what has come in the previous chapters.
We saw in chapters 1-3 that we were all condemned: the ungodly, moral sinners, and even self-righteous Jews. All men are sinful and as such are under the condemnation of God for their sin. In chapter 4 we saw that even faithful Jews like Abraham and David were condemned for their sin: their works could not save them. But they were saved by faith, apart from works of the law.
Paul says we “have been justified” - this is a one-time act occurring in the past. Justification is not a process we go through, but a declaration: God says we are “not guilty” of our sin, because the penalty for our sin was paid by the wrath of God falling upon Jesus. Just like someone who would pay my credit card bill: Credit from the righteousness of Jesus was applied to my debt. I owe nothing, for Jesus paid everything for me.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Peace is a lack of fighting, a lack of hostility. Why would Paul use the term “peace”? The answer is simple: because God was “at war” with us. His righteous anger was inflammed over our sin. In Psalm 2 we find a description of God’s righteous anger: Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One. . . . The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath . . . Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
We sometimes focus so much on the LOVE of God that we forget the WRATH of God. We saw in Romans 1:18 - The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. We understand that we WERE at war; but now that we have received forgiveness, not that we have been justified and declared “not guilty” - we are no longer at war: we have peace with God. Even though we may not FEEL close to God, this peace with God is a fact.
Now jump down to verse 18 with me. We come back in a little to the beginning of the chapter, but right now we want to look at the end of the chapter. Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. Paul reminds us that Adam brought sin to all men. In the same way, Jesus provides justification for all who turn to Him in faith. In verse 12 we see Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned-- for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.
Death came to all men because of Adam’s sin. Paul says here that we were not given the OT law to make us righteous. We have already seen in the first four chapters that we are not saved by keeping the law. But neither did the law make us sinners. Instead Paul affirms that mankind was sinful before the OT law was given. Verse 14 - Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come. Even before the OT law was given through Moses, mankind was guilty of sin. We are not sinners because we sin: instead we sin because we are sinners. Our sinfulness is deep-rooted. It comes from the heart of man. The law was simply given to show us how sinful we are. The law shows us the deep discrepancy between who we are and who we were created to be. The law shows us our sin and places the condemnation of God on us.
So, now let’s jump back to verse 1 - Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Since we are justified, we are now at peace with God, and there is no more condemnation for our sin. Paul writes this in chapter 8:1 -
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
So, by faith, by trusting what Jesus has done for us, it goes on to verse 2 and tells us, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. This word for “access” is the word used for coming into the presence of a king. To be able to come and stand before the throne. Remember the story of Esther -- even though she is the queen, she knows if she comes into the king’s presence uninvited and he doesn’t hold out the scepter, she would die. Paul says we have access -- we have the freedom to come into the very presence of God, to come before His throne.
We are given an “all-access” pass. Think about going to a concert: there are barricades set up that only those with the special pass get to go past. Buying a ticket gives you a seat in the audience, but those who get the all-access pass get to go backstage and hang out with the artist before and after the concert.
Or think of going to a football game. Those with the all-access pass get to go into the locker room after the game and interview the team.
One of my favorite cartoons was one our board chairman used to wear in Fort wayne. It showed a little innocent lamb, walking down a path, confronting a wolf, and behind the sheep was a lion. The sheep looks at the wolf and pointing to the lion says, “I’m with Him!”
Access means that we can come boldly into the presence of the God of all creation. We have this access because by faith we become the children of God, heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ. Hebrews 4:16 says, Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. We are to come boldly before God’s throne to find grace to help us. When we come to God’s throne, we find grace: God freely gives us that which we don’t deserve, that which we haven’t earned. His free gift to us is help in time of need. It’s like having a blank company check: anything that we need, our God is able to give us.
So, how do we use this access, how to we come before the throne? Prayer! Remember we watched the video a couple months ago about prayer. James tells us in chapter 4 of his book: You do not have, because you do not ask God. Even though we have free access to all the riches of heaven, we often live like spiritual paupers because we don’t ask God for help. Hebrews tells us that we find grace to help us in our time of need when we come to the throne. But often even though we are children of the king, we live like our God won’t do a thing for us.
If we really ever get a grasp of this idea of access -- that we can come directly to the God of all creation and ask Him for his help -- it would change our lives. We would live triumphant, victorious lives. That’s what Paul tells us in verse 2: And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Our access to God causes us to rejoice. For two reasons: the help God gives us now, and the glory that we will enjoy later. It is a win/win situation for the Christian. Paul writes in Philippians 1:21 - For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. The Christian has nothing to fear. Our God gives us grace to help us on earth, and once we die he gives us His unspeakable glory.
So, this all reminds us, when we keep the right focus in life, we live a joyful life. We will develop godly character and become the person we were created to be. I remember growning up, seein buttons and bumper stickers that said, “Please be patient; God is not finished with me yet.” That is the idea of sanctification. Sanctification is a process. In Justification we are declared in right standing with God; in sanctification we live out the truth of who we are eclared to be. We live up to our calling.
In the movie the princess diaries a teenager in California finds out she is heir to the throne of a European country. She has to make the decision to live out her destiny, to become the person she has been declared to be. As Christians, we are declared in right standing with God; but we need to live out our destiny and develop Godly character. That is one of the blessings of Justification: we grow to become like our God.
We rejoice in our hope for the future in verse 2 - we will enjoy the glory of God, but we also
rejoice in the present -- for God’s grace is poured out in our lives. Look at what Paul tells us in verse 3:
Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
Paul says we can rejoice in sufferings: trials, tribulations, problems. God certainly knows that there are a lot of problems facing us: unemployment at a high, repossessions; uncertain financial times, not to mention all the personal issues each of us faces. But Paul says these problems can be a source of rejoicing for us.
Normally when faced with a problem our first response is to say, “God, please take this away.” After all, that’s what Paul did, even Jesus prayed that way. But when God chooses to leave us to face the problem, we need to change the way we look at the problem. It can either be a stumbling-block or a stepping-stone. Don’t just look to escape the problem; look for God’s grace to carry you through. Struggle, problems, adversity, testing -- these make us stronger. God promises He will never give us more than we can bear.
Think about an athlete in training. They run miles and miles; do thousands of situps and pushups; lift heavy, heavy weights - why? to be stronger, faster, to be their best. There are many who say “that’s too hard” and never work out. They’d rather sit in front of the TV with a pop in one hand and a bag of chips in the other.
We have a nation of “couch potato” Christians, who don’t want any adversity. But when we avoid adversity, we miss out on one of the greatest blessing God could bring us. Paul says that suffering produces perseverance. When we go through suffering, we learn never to give up.
I’ve share the story with you before about a group of behavioral Scientists who put some rats in a tank of water. The tank had smooth sides so they could not escape or rest. The scientists observed the rats to see how long they would survive before drowning. The average time was 17 minutes.
Then, they repeated the experiment, but this time they "rescued" the rats just before the point of drowning. They dried them off and returned them to their cages.... Fed them, let them play for a few days, and repeated the drowning experiment. This time, the average survival time for these rats increased from 17 minutes to 36 hours! The scientists explained that phenomenon by pointing out, that the second time around, the rats had HOPE. They believed that they could survive this, because they had received a helping hand before.
When we go through suffering, trials, obstacles, we learn to persevere, to keep on trusting God. Remember what David says as a shepherd boy as he stands before Goliath: (1 Sam. 17) Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
Proverbs 28:1 tells us, The righteous are as bold as a lion. Suffering brings perseverance in our lives: we don’t give up because we have learned we can trust our God. Then it says perseverance produces character. Ther term character is the idea of being “approved” by God. Someone has said that reputation is what people think you are: character is what God knows you are. Character is what you are when no one else in around, when no one else is looking.
When we learn to persevere, to keep trusting God no matter what, we develop godly character. We develop the type of life that when God looks upon us He can say, “Well done good and faithful servant.”
So how do you develop character? Don’t give up when you face problems. Don’t say, God must not love me or he would help me. Don’t say God isn’t good. Don’t say, God doesn’t hear my prayers. Keep on trusting in the goodness and love of God. Psalm 123 - As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he shows us his mercy.
So what sustains us and keeps us looking to God to work? The word of God.
2 Timothy 2:15 - Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. It is the study of the scriptures which give us encouragement. We grow spiritually by applying God’s word to all areas of our lives. We don’t just follow the word on Sunday, but every hour of every day. God speaks to all areas of life.
So perseverance produces character, and character produces hope. When God builds character in our lives, we live in hope. What is hope? It is the confidence that God is in control. It is not just a vain wish for the future, but the certainty that God will work on our behalf based upon who He is and what He has said. The book of Hebrews tells us, We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.
What keeps us from turning to despair when we go through difficult times? We have hope as an anchor keeping us firm. We go through trials, and learn patience and perseverance for our God brings us through time after time, so we build a character that learns to trust Him, and in turn, we have hope. The Bible tells us that our hope will grow as we meditate on God’s promises. Romans 15:4 - For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. When we read and study the word of God, it builds hope in our hearts. And that’s what we see in verse 5, And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. When we live in HOPE, we don’t get disappointed when God doesn’t work the way we expect Him to. We learn to keep looking for God to work. We know God is still at work, even when we don’t see His hand, we can trust His heart.
So, we are reminded that we can rejoice, because we have hope in the present and hope for the future. Today, no matter how difficult the problems we face, we know that we can rejoice because the problems will make us stronger and teach us patience, building character in our lives, instilling us with hope, which keeps us boldly coming to God with all of our needs.
Today, I would encourage you to face the problems in your life with confidence and hope, turning to the scriptures for encouragement, and coming to God in prayer, casting all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you. Let’s pray.
