Dr. Bradford Reaves
CrossWay Christian Fellowship
Hagerstown, MD
www.mycrossway.org
1. We have Peace with God,
2. We have Standing in Grace,
3. We have Hope of Glory,
4. We have the Fullness of God’s Love,
5. We have Certainty of Deliverance,
6. We have joy in God.
We have the promise of eternal security to Christ.
1. We Have Peace With God,
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1)
“Therefore” is the way Paul begins this section. This is a link between the truth and the foundation starting in Romans 3:21 through Romans 4:25. It is the glorious doctrine of Justification by Faith. At the base of all of this is that the unregenerate is at war with God, and God is at war with them.
And my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless. (Exodus 22:24)
They have made me jealous of what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous of those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. 22 For a fire is kindled by my anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol, devours the earth and its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains. (Deuteronomy 32:21–22)
And my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless. (Exodus 22:24)
If you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from the good land that he has given you.” (Joshua 23:16)
You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4)
Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us. (2 Kings 22:13)
To say the least, you are not on God’s good side. You may not be that angry with God, but God is very angry with the sinful man. The wrath of God, says Romans 1:18, is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. (Ephesians 5:6)
Another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.” (Revelation 14:8)
So when God says we have peace with Him, it is not so much that we are no longer at war with Him. It means that God is no longer at war with and fighting us. He is no longer our enemy, no longer promising judgment, death, and hell. Peace with God is the restoration between God and the believer, which flows from the reconciliation accomplished in Jesus Christ.
Now remember, when Jesus died on the cross, He bore our sins in His own body, and God was propitiated. The penalty of sin was paid in full, and nothing was left to be paid. That’s why Jesus said, “It is finished.” Tetelisti. Our debt has been legally satisfied.
?and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (Colossians 1:20)
Peace with whom? Peace between the sinner and God - peace between the sinner and God. God no longer needs to be angry with us. God no longer needs to punish us because of our sins. All of God’s anger poured out on Jesus Christ on the Cross. This is why understanding the Tribulation Period and the Rapture is so crucial.
So that brings a deeper understanding of peace for us. Instead of being the enemies of God, we are now the sons of God.
We Have Standing in Grace
Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:2)
When you put your faith in Jesus, he opens up to you a world you never knew before, and that is the grace of God. You now live in grace. You stand engulfed in grace. The Greek for stand is histemi, to abide, to be firmly set, fixed, grounded.
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, (1 Corinthians 15:1)
There are those who think for sure that they were saved by grace, and now they maintain that salvation through the Law.
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 24–25)
If we were saved by grace and then expected to maintain that salvation, then there is no standing for us. We would all slip beyond the place of hope. That is categorically the opposite of what the Bible teaches. We do not go from the realm of grace in my salvation to the realm of law in my sanctification. We stand and remain standing on God’s grace. And that is purely on the merits of Christ and His work.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)
For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:14)
For from his fullness, we have all received, grace upon grace. (John 1:16)
3. We Have Hope of Glory
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 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 5:3–5)
We are secure because we have peace with God.
We are secure because we stand in grace.
And we are secure because we have been given the hope of glory.
God has promised us future glory. He promised. Does God keep His promises? He is the God who cannot lie. And we will enter into that glory in the future.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:28–29)
In other words, if He established a love relationship with an you, He didn't just predestine you to eternity, He predestined you to bear the image of Christ. In other words, He didn’t call you, save you, redeem you, and justify you to initiate salvation, he saved you for the completion of your salvation and eternity.
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)
To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27)
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (1 Peter 1:3)
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, (Philippians 3:20)
We're going to be like Christ. We're going to radiate the divine glory of God; just marvelous to think of. We are called to be reflectors of his marvelous glory. We rejoice in our tribulation because we know no matter what comes or how severe it is or devastating, it can never take away our promised glory.
When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)
4. We have the Fullness of God’s Love
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. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:5–8)
When you came to salvation in Christ, it was an act of love. You were redeemed by love. That love is demonstrated in the cross.
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14–19)
We have a massive impartation of divine love poured into our lives. It is incomprehensible. You can’t seize it. You can’t make it your own. You can’t capture it.
5. We Have Certainty of Deliverance
Now, the question we must first ask is, “Deliverance from what?” Deliverance from wrath
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.(Romans 5:9-10)
For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. (1 Thessalonians 1:9–10)
For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. (1 Thessalonians 5:9–10)
When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. (Psalm 34:17)
He said, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, 3 my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; you save me from violence. (2 Samuel 22:2–3)
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, (Colossians 1:13)
The promise of God to believers is rescue from the wrath to come.
6. We Have Joy in Reconciliation With God.
More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:11)
We have Peace with God, ?
We have Standing in Grace,
We have Hope of Glory,
We have the Fullness of God’s Love,
We have Certainty of Deliverance,
We have joy in God.
We’ve gone from peace to grace, to hope, to love, to deliverance, and now to joy - now to joy. Why? Because salvation is not merely a future; it is a present joy in anticipation of that future. That is why nothing can steal the believer’s joy. We have the security of God’s presence now and the glory to come.
The single greatest spiritual evidence of the believer is joy. I’m not talking about a frivolous, slap-happy attitude. I’m talking about an unmoveable, deep-seated, settled joy that nothing in this world can move.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope. (Romans 15:13)
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 14:17)
If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. (John 15:10–11)
Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:8–9)
The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish. (Proverbs 10:28)
That should be most evidenced in us during our worship as we sing songs of the Kingdom together. Above all else, we are rejoicing in the Lord.
