In talking and listening to those who have come to Jesus, the thing they so often say when they come to Lord is that they now have peace. Which is true. And true for all of us.
Without Jesus, we are under God’s wrath based on our sins. With Jesus, we have with God because we have been made righteous through his sacrifice on the cross.
Just as Abraham was counted righteous because of his faith, so we will too having put our faith in Jesus.
No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his [Abraham’s] faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 4:20-5:1).
Faith in Christ’s sacrifice is the door for us to be declared righteous. Inside is the abundance of God give to us as a gift made possible because of Christ’s sacrifice. Since we now have peace with God through the sacrifice, we have been made righteous. And because of that righteousness, we receive the fullness from God.
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 (v. 2).
What does it mean to rejoice in hope of the glory of God?
Rejoice – Be very happy and speak out that praise and worship and joy
Hope – confident expectation of something yet to come. This is based on the promises of God.
Glory of God – This is presence and his joy. This is eternal life with Him. It is the restoration of all things in his kingdom.
Since we have peace with God through faith in Christ, we can rejoice exceedingly and be happy and hopeful, because we know that we will one day be in the Presence of God, sharing in his glory, and living in a restored life.
And what is the fruit of this confident hope and expectation?
It means we can even endure suffering with joy.
The truth is we don’t like suffering. But now how bad it gets, how deeply we hurt. we have a future hope.
Because of this hope, we can endure great heartache and suffering. And when we persevere in faith, this grows in us perseverance, character and hope.
It doesn’t mean we don’t grieve and hurt and feel the pain of our suffering. We do. But hope and grief, joy and pain, and polar opposites can exist at the same time.
And while we can hope in many things that do disappoint us, the hope that we have in God will not disappoint us. We will see that hope fulfilled.
It says then that God has poured out his love on us.
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 (v. 5).
God’s love through his Holy Spirit is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance to come. What does that love look and feel like?
For some, they have a deep sense of God’s love.
For others, it is that indwelling presence that we sense in our spirits.
Regardless of how we experience God’s love in our lives, it is proof of God’s presence, his love, and what is to come.
And for this we can rejoice.
And enjoy the peace that comes from Him.
Romans 5:1-5
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 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. 3 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