ROMANS 5A AN AMAZING TRIO

ROMANS 5A   AN AMAZING TRIO
PEACE, GRACE, & HOPE
Introduction:   
The Last Impression

Since this is the SuperBowl weekend, I thought I would share with you some football plays you might just see this Sunday... in church!

Quarterback Sneak – Church members quietly leaving during the invitation.
Draw Play – What many children do with the bulletin during worship.
Halftime – The period between Sunday school and worship when many choose to leave.
Benchwarmer – Those who do not sing, pray, work, or do anything but sit.
Backfield-in-Motion – Making a trip to the back (restroom or water fountain) during the service.
Staying in the Pocket – What happens to a lot of money that should be given to the Lord's work.
Two-minute Warning – The point at which you realize the sermon is almost over and begin to gather up your children and belongings.
Instant Replay – The preacher loses his notes and falls back on last week's illustrations.
Sudden Death – What happens to the attention span of the congregation if the preacher goes "overtime."
Trap – You're called on to pray and are asleep.
End Run – Getting out of church quick, without speaking to any guest or fellow member.
Flex Defense – The ability to allow absolutely nothing said during the sermon to affect your life.
Halfback Option – The decision of 50% of the congregation not to return for the evening service.
Blitz – The rush for the restaurants following the closing prayer.

As we move into Romans 5 I am going to talk about an amazing trio this morning.
The trio is not big Ben, Mendenhall, and Hines Ward.
This morning’s trio is peace, grace, and hope
Chapter 5 begins a new focus in the book of Romans.
Chapters 1-4
The first 4 chapters centered on the need for salvation and the provision of salvation, righteousness, justification, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 
Our faith in Christ puts us in right relationship with God. 
Jews and Gentiles alike can be a part of Abraham’s family,  better yet a part of God’s family.
Chapters 5-8
Paul begins to tie our righteousness by faith with hope as we move into the next 4 chapters. 
He talks about the hope that belongs to us who are right with God.
Jews and Gentiles alike have tapped into this great hope. 
Writers reference the first 5 verses here as consequences of our righteousness and justification.
Define consequence: The effect, result, or outcome of something occurring earlier.
I prefer the word result. 
There are three very vital results of our righteousness spoken of here. 
Peace
Grace
Hope
They are the trio that we are going to look at.
Each of them are familiar to us.
I want us to pay closer attention to how they become ours.

I.    Peace

A.    Define peace
Dictionary.com
the normal, non warring condition of a nation, group of nations,
an agreement or treaty between warring or antagonistic nations, groups, etc., to end hostilities
a state of mutual harmony between people or groups,
cessation of or freedom from any strife or dissension.
freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, anxiety, an obsession, etc.;
a state of tranquility or serenity:

B.    Who is this peace with?
Paul says here that this peace is with God.
Ultimately He is the one that you want to have peace with.
It is great to know and understand the impact, the trickle down effect of this peace with God.

C.    What is the key or what did this peace come to us through?
The key to this peace with God is Christ.
Isaiah 9:6,7 For to us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and  upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.
Isaiah 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,  he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Colossians 1:19,20 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Our key is faith in Christ.
Paul tells us here that our justification through faith in Christ puts us at peace with God. 
I love being at peace with God.
I love the way that my peace with God provides peace throughout the many other areas in my life.

II.    Grace
The second result is into this grace in which we now stand.  

A.    There are several facets of grace.
This reminds me of the message I shared on grace in our Noah series.
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Saving grace, the building of and the entering of the ark.
Securing grace,  when all had entered the ark God shut the door keeping them safe inside.
Sufficient grace that kept them safe the entire time. 
There is the saving grace. 
Ephesians 2:8,9
This is not what Paul is talking about here.
There is the securing or the keeping grace. 
I am glad that I just wasn’t saved by grace and that was a thing of the past.
Too many times Christians just hold onto a past experience.
Today is a new day and it has it’s own experience.    

B.    Paul is talking about the securing grace. 
“grace in which we now stand.”
This grace is an abiding and immovable status arising from a past action.  (John Murray in commentary)
Believers have an on going access to grace and continue to stand in grace.  (Thomas R. Schreiner)
God did not save us by grace and then drop grace out of the picture.
Just like the grace that Noah found in the eyes of the Lord didn’t just build the ark but it keep them safely secured in the ark. 
We need to walk daily in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

C.    I believe that this flows into the sufficient grace.
His grace will keep us all the way to the end.
It is the grace of God that will enable us to stand upright before the Lord in that final day.

III.    Hope
The third result is hope. 

A.    This hope is qualified as the hope of the glory of God. 
This is not I hope you have a good day today hope.
This is not even I hope you have a good life hope.
This is I hope you experience the glory of God forever hope.

B.    The door is open for us to share in God’s glory.
The vast experience of that glory is in eternity.
Notice that those who scorned and fell short of God’s glory are now given an  opportunity to share in it.
Romans 1:21-23
Romans 3:23
Romans 8:17,18,21,30
Again we realize that this is not really a present possession.
We await future glorification that will bring moral perfection, and restore the glory that Adam lost when he sinned.

C.    This is a life long process to experience this hope.
The peace that we talked about is a result of our faith in Christ.
The grace that we talked about is a result of our faith in Christ.
There is a process to obtain this hope.
Afflictions produce endurance or perseverance.  Troubles have a way of toughing us up.  Andre Crouch sings through it all.    It goes through it all I learned to trust in Jesus, I learned to trust in God.  One verse goes if I never had a problem I would never know that God could salve them,  I’d never know what faith in God can do.
Endurance, perseverance produces character.    They have a way of building a stronger character in us.   The challenges that we face can make us bitter or better.  Being made better is a great building of character. 
Tested character generates hope.  A change in character shows God at work in our lives.  The more we let God work in us the more our faith and confidence in God are built up.  We become assured that what God started He will finish.                                                                  
Hope in God will not disappoint us or bring shame on us.
Philippians 1:6  being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
I Corinthians 1:8 He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
None of us like the process but we certainly will like the end result.

Conclusion:   
Read Romans 5:6-11
We are going to focus on these verses a few minutes tonight before we go home and eat some hot wings and finish watching the super bowl. 
Communion