TEXT: ROMANS 5:1-11
TITLE: “BENEFITS FOR THE BELIEVER”
INTRODUCTION: A. The pastor of a church in San Francisco was looking over the
manger scene in the front yard of the church the day after Christmas.
He thought something looked wrong and went to investigate.
As he walked closer, he noticed that the baby Jesus was missing.
He looked down the sidewalk and saw a little boy with a red wagon. In
the wagon was the figure of the infant Jesus.
The pastor walked up to the boy and asked, “Son, where did you get
your passenger?”
The little boy said: “I got him from the church.”
Pastor asked: “Why did you take him?”
Little boy said: “Well, about a week before Christmas I prayed to
Jesus and told him if he would bring me a red wagon for Christmas that
I would give him a ride around the block in it.”
B. We have become confused about the benefits of being a believer. We
have come to believe that God is like a genie in a lamp. We rub it
through prayer and we get what we want.
1. There are benefits to being a believer.
2. They are not what we have come to expect.
3. They are what we need.
C. How do we acquire these benefits?
1. Paul tells us how in v. 1
--“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith…”
2. Two weeks ago, we studied what two of these words meant.
--Let’s review
a. “Faith”
--placing our entire hope and trust in Jesus Christ
b. “Justified” – “Justification”
(1). Declaration of not guilty in the face of overwhelming
evidence to the contrary.
(2). “Just if I had never sinned.”
3. We acquire the benefits that Paul describes through the placing of
our faith in Jesus Christ and God then declaring us “not guilty”
because Christ paid the penalty for our sins.
D. Paul lists 6 benefits of being a believer:
I. AMITY – v. 1
A. “Amity” – “peace; friendship”
--concept of shalom
B. Bible tells us that before we put our hope and trust in Jesus the Christ that we are enemies
of God.
C. We cannot come into relationship because of our rebellion and sin.
D. Our faith in the faithfulness of Jesus brings us into relationship with Him and therefore,
relationship with the Son brings relationship with the Father.
E. Amity (peace with God) brings us:
II. ACCESS – v. 2a
A. Imagine that you hear your doorbell ring. You open the door and a child you don’t
know and have never seen before is standing on your porch with a suitcase. The child
says he’s there to stay for awhile. You’re probably going to try to find out who he is,
where he lives, who his parents are.
Imagine again you hear your doorbell ring. You open the door and a child you don’t
know and have never seen before is standing on your porch with a suitcase. Your son is
standing behind him. He says, “Dad this is my friend Jeremy. He’s going to stay with us
for awhile. Mom says it’s okay.”
B. The word used here for “access” is a Greek word that signifies being ushered into
the presence of a king or ruler; a person of authority and respect.
1. When Jesus died, veil of temple torn in two
2. Paul says we have gained access into the grace of God through the person of Jesus.
--“grace” – “gift” – “do over”
III. ASSURANCE -
A. “Hope”
1. Before we submit ourselves to Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we have no hope.
2. Titus 2:13 – “…while we wait for the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of our
great God and Savior, Jesus Christ…”
B. Our hope stems from the fact that one day, we will be transformed into the glory of God.
1. All of imperfections, flaws, warts, pimples, and moles in our life will be made glorious
in the presence of the one who gave Himself for us.
2. As for now, we have to put up with each other and put up with ourselves. But God has
provided a way for us to have hope.
IV. ACQUISITION – vv. 3-4
A. One of the benefits of being a believer is that we can acquire the things that we need.
1. Notice how Paul says we acquire them – through suffering
2. We don’t like that word – “suffering”
--Greek word also translated as – “trouble; distress; hardships; afflictions; trials;
tribulation”
3. Jesus said that in this world, you will have trouble!
4. Part and parcel of Christian life.
B. But there are benefits to suffering
--Lets look at them:
1. Suffering produces perserverance
--(each benefit produces another benefit)
2. Perseverance produces character
3. Character produces hope
a. We have hope because we have allowed who He is to make us what we are.
b. This kind of hope does not disappoint us
--Because our hope is in God and not in ourselves, our possessions, our goodness,
or in anyone else.
c. We have hope because God loves us
--So much so, while we were still sinners (enemies of God), Christ died for us
V. AGAPE – vv. 5-8
A. Our language has only one word for “love”
--love chocolate, love a movie, love a sport, love a hobby, love a person
B. Greek language has several:
--look at four
1. Storge
2. Philos
3. Eros
4. Agape
VI. ACCORD – vv. 9-11
--Reconciliation
A. As stated earlier, we were once enemies with God but now have peace through our hope
and trust in Jesus the Christ.
1. People want to make God a kindly but feeble old man who wants to do good for
everybody and has no anger over our rebellion and sin.
2. This passage clearly talks about the “wrath of God”
--Jonathan Edwards: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
3. God is not happy about your rebellion. He is not rejoicing over your sin.
B. God has made a way through Jesus to appease His wrath.
1. God does not want to stay angry with us.
2. He wants us in relationship with Him.
3. Paul says that relationship will bring us joy
CONCLUSION: A. Don Richardson spent several frustrating years among the Sawi tribe in
New Guinea. He had come from the United States as a missionary with
the hope that he could bring the Gospel to this nearly primitive tribe.
The endeavor proved to be a formidable project. The Sawis considered
deceit to be the highest virtue. When he first told them the story of Jesus,
the only thing that interested them was Judas’ betrayal. To them, he was a
genuine hero! They were a cruel people and were also cannibals.
Richardson’s attempts to proclaim the Gospel to these people seemed to
be futile. He just could not find the key that would unlock the glory of
Christ’s love to them. No concept seemed to work. He had witnessed
fourteen very bloody battles fought right outside his home. The Sawis and
the Haenam tribe were at war.
Richardson decided that his efforts were pointless and made
arrangements to go home. Just before it was time, he observed a very
remarkable event. The Sawis and the Haenam were gathered and as he
watched, the Sawi chief took his own six-month-old son out of his wife’s
arms and held him high in the air. He then carried his son to the Haenam
chief and gave him to his enemies.
The missionary asked one of the Sawi tribe members what was
happening. The member explained to him that the child would become
part of the Haenam tribe. They would rename him and raise him as one of
their own. This baby boy was the “peace child.” By mutual agreement, as
long as the peace child lived, no wars would be fought between the two
tribes.
At long last, Don Richardson had his analogy – the parallel story –
between cultures. With a pounding heart and a dry throat, he stepped to
the middle of the crowd and shared how God had sent His own Son, Jesus,
as His peace child to make peace with mankind.
