Acceptance by God
         Rom.5:1-6

I heard a Jewish rabbi speak once on the topic of the theology of a Jew.  He declared that there are no systematic beliefs of a Jew.   There is a core belief in the oneness of God but no great emphasis on doctrine.  He declared that Judaism is not a doctrine but a way of life.
This seems  profound and probably many Christians may think that way.   It is not important what you believe but how you live.  Christian faith is a way of life but it is also an important doctrine.  However, there is something prior to a way of life.  The first and most important issue is relating your life to Jesus, the Christ, the Savior.

When you relate your life to Jesus, sometime happens.  When you give your life to Jesus, there is forgiveness of sin.  This is sometimes called justification by faith, or some translations say, “By faith we have been made acceptable to God.” (Romans 5:1)   To be made acceptable means that God has done something for us.  It means that we cannot please God ourselves because we have sinned.   To be justified is to be forgiven.  It is to be cleared of all charges against us.  It means that we are loved and approved by God even when we were yet sinners.

A little boy was accused by his sister of taking her watch that she could not find. Her mother probed the little boy asking questions and he always replied, “I didn’t take it.” Finally, the mother said to the little boy, “You’re acquited !”  And the little boy asked,
“Does that mean I have to give the watch back?”

Acquited usually means that a person has not done anything wrong.  But in the words of our verses acquited means that the sinner is forgiven and goes free.   If you ever wondered whether God really loves you, don’t wonder anymore.   While we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

I. Forgiveness means we have peace with God.  Vs. 1

What is the peace of God?   It is not the inner peace that is spoken of here, but an external relationship of peace which Christ has brought.  We are no longer an enemy of God. If you know this, it brings inner peace.  It brings inner calm, a peaceful mood to the soul. It brings confidence in facing the future.   It makes possible the peaceful transition from here to the presence of God on our deaths.

Compare this with what existed before.  In our rebellion we were enemies of God. There was a disunity of our relationship with God.  We were objects of the wrath of God. We were running from God.  We did not want anything to do with God. But God did something about it for us.  Look at verse 10:   “ Even when we were God's enemies, he made peace with us, because his Son died for us. Yet something even greater than friendship is ours. Now that we are at peace with God, we will be saved by his Son's life.”

Some years ago the pilot of the airplane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Robert de la Rocha Levis, in WW2 became a Trappist monk and was spending the rest of his days in a Spanish monastery near Bilbao.  When asked why he had taken this step he said , I could not bear to remain in a world where you have to take orders like that. Orders that at one stroke cost the lives of 70,000 humans and crippled a 130,000 more people.  When a visitor asked, do you really hope to atone behind monastery walls for what you did? He answered, “Yes, I am atoning for an order that I carried out.”

From the standpoint of our Scripture we have to raise the question: is it possible for anyone to atone for any sin committed?  We cannot atone for little sin.  How much more impossible to think of atoning for the death of all those people.  All atoning that need to be done was done 2000 years ago on Calvary.  Though your sins be as red as scarlet they shall be as white as snow.

II.  We have Access to God vs. 2

By Christ we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.  Access mean that we have the privilege of approaching or being introduced into the presence of someone in high station or high position.  Here Christ is viewed as ushering believers into their new state of grace and acceptance before God  

In our modern world we have access to many things.  By aircraft we have access to the many countries of the world.  By communication we have access to news around the world. By education we have access to many career possibilities.    These are trivial in comparison to access to the presence of God and heaven.

Access and introduction are a priceless privilege of the Christian. Christ made it possible for us to enter into doors we could not go otherwise.  What right have we in the presence of God?   What right do you have to pray to God?  Our sins were a serious problem of separation from God.  But the grace of God made it possible for all of us to enter His presence.

.It is interesting to see what access you gain from proper credentials.  There are some churches that would not be interested in a pastor who does not have a doctor’s degree.  When I was in West Texas I have spoken in churches that would not have asked me if I did not have a doctor’s degree.  Without academic credentials it is not possible for me to teach at the University.   Without his medical degree I would not be seeing my cardiologist for any heart problems.  Without a medical degree he would not be here.  Credentials of many kinds open the doors to lots of different privileges.    Now Christ is our credential, our resource person, who gains entry into the presence of God for us.  We are invited into the presence of God because of Him.

III.  We rejoice...in hope...in suffering   2-3

There are two different contexts of rejoicing.

A. We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God    In Romans 3:23, we fall short of the glory of God, now because of Christ we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  The word glory, (doxa) is of the very nature of the divine life.   Only God has eternal life.  We will share everlasting life, life that has a beginning, but continues forever.   I have a friend who has stage 4 cancer and he speaks of confidence in God as he faces his death and the future of his life in Christ.   He is rejoicing in this hope.

B. We rejoice in suffering also.  How can this be?   Remember the early Christians were warned that they would suffer for being Christians.  When persecution came their way as it often did, they looked upon it as a token of their true commitment.  The Scripture does not say, “we bear our suffering.:  It says, we rejoice in our suffering.  How can this be?

There is a series of events that flow from suffering..    “we know that suffering helps us to endure.   And endurance builds character, which gives us a hope  that will never disappoint us. All of this happens because God has given us the Holy Spirit, who fills our hearts with his love.”  

Some time ago I talked with a musician who played the trumpet.  He had a course in college for learning to play jazz.   The professor would give them a sheet of music with deliberate mistakes written in it.   When the student came to that mistake he had to learn to take the mistake and make something good out of it.   There are various systems of doing this and I don’t know any more than I have told you.   But think of this.  There are mistakes, problems, events,
accidents, tragedies, etc.  handed to us without our asking for them.  What do we do with these things?  In the Music sense, we can make something good out of it.   In the character sense of our lives we can develop endurance and endurance builds character which gives us a hope that will never disappoint us.  On top of it God has given us the gift of his Holy Spirit who fills our hearts with love.

Conclusion:

Many years ago a young boy stood on the banks of the San Antonio river. He wondered why many people had drowned in the whirlpools in the river.   He pushed in a log about the size of himself and watched in go to the whirlpool and then moments later out again.  He plunged into the water, swam toward the whirlpool and just before it took him under he grasped a lung full of air, closed his eyes, and felt himself being pulled under.  It took him down but moments later he bobbed up downstream.  He committed his life to the buoyancy of the water and it floated him to safety.   That is like we do to God.  We commit our lives to him and wherever trials come we have his Spirit in our lives to take us through the hard times.