Do you find that there are just some days and some weeks where the struggle against sin is just so hard? Sometimes it feels like sin will always have a hold on me, that I will eventually come to the end of Christ’s patience, and that will be that. That’s where my head has been this week.
So, when I started this morning’s readings in Romans, I noticed a sticky-note stuck just above where chapter 5 starts and I had to chuckle. The note commented on the power, penalty, and presence of sin in the life of a believer.
Romans 5:1-5 reads this:
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 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. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 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.
Notice, first, that because we have been made legally “right” before God because of faith in Christ, we have peace. Sin no longer has the ability to interrupt communion with the Trinity because Jesus’ death and resurrection have destroyed sin and death’s power. Elsewhere in Paul’s writings he tells us that “in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ”, because “He Himself is our peace” (Colossians 2:13-14a). Galatians 5:1 speaks similarly of this when Paul says, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery”. No longer do we have no other choice to disobey when Christ has set us free from the bondage of sin! We who were once far away because of our wretchedness in sin can now commune in perfect freedom with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Second, because of Christ’s justification of us through His death, we have “obtained access…into this grace in which we stand”. Sin no longer stands as an obstacle; Jesus’ death removed the penalty of separation from God. Jesus “also suffered once for sins…that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18a). There is “now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus” because Jesus’ death “condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1, 4). Paul makes this overtly clear in Colossians 1:12-14 where he says that Jesus’ death “has qualified [us] to share in the inheritance of the saints in light” because “He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins”. Because of the work Jesus did on the cross as the God-Man, His blood and death pay the wages we owe God and gives us grace to walk and live in the light of Jesus (1 John 1:7). The penalty of sin has been paid!
And third, because of the justification of faith, we “rejoice in hope of the glory of God”! One day, sin’s presence will be totally removed and we will receive an inheritance that has been guaranteed by the Holy Spirit. In Jesus, we are “born again to a living hope…to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven” for us (1 Peter 1:3-4). …What is this hope? That “when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). No longer will sin keep us dead; no! Jesus’ death raises us to eternal life where death itself dies: “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:56-5)! We have great future hope because Jesus’ death allows us to be raised with Him in glory where we will be like Him!
Those three things are enough to make Romans 5:1-5 glorious without commenting any further …But Paul goes on to give us great hope in the midst of turmoil and trials, too. He says, not only can we rejoice because of our future hope, but we can rejoice in our suffering now because our suffering is purposeful! We can rejoice in our suffering because suffering works in us great strength and endurance. And great endurance produces godly character. And godly character reminds us of our audacious, faithful, enduring hope of what is to come. And we know this because “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit”; we can fully trust that this is a certain hope because of the great and abiding steadfast love of God in us!
I don’t know about you, but this thought–that our struggle against the power of sin is only temporary because the penalty of sin has been dealt with, and because of that, we have great hope that we will one day stand before our Creator totally without blemish and stain–certainly girds me up to strive to live well today, no matter what I’m facing. My certain future citizenship gives me strength to bear up under anything while I’m a stranger here because I know that I “await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform [my] lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself” (Philippians 3:20-21). It means I can “rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, [I] have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of [my] faith…may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:6-7).
So my friend, whatever you have on your plate today, and no matter how hard sin seems to have hit you, remember that in Jesus you have great magnificent treasure. Not only can you walk in obedience now, with the knowledge that your past no longer disqualifies you, and not only can you be certain of a future hope of the glory of Christ, you can also rejoice in your sufferings now because they will produce in you great unashamed hope in the praise of your Lord Jesus Christ for all eternity.
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, 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)
What you’ll find here is a collection of musings, thoughts, writings, and ramblings about things I’m reading, watching, and thinking about. It’s my goal to inspire, encourage, and instruct my fellow sisters in their walk with Jesus and their understanding of the Word.
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