Listen to God's Word. 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. More than that, 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 was given to us. The word of your God this morning. My old professor, Sinclair Ferguson, tells the story about a woman in his congregation when he was pastoring in Scotland. And this woman would talk and tell the story about a beggar. True story. Her mom used to minister to this beggar week after week. Her mom was a factory worker in Scotland. Worked long hours. Got very little money for it, but works to care for her family and every Friday She'd leave the factory gate and there sitting by the factory gate would be this beggar because Friday was payday and the beggar was hoping that someone would take pity on him and help him out and so every week this mother would take some of what she earned and more than she could afford, but she'd take some of it and she'd go and she'd buy a pie, probably some kind of meat pie, and give it to the beggar so at least he would have something to eat. And she did this week after week after week until the beggar passed away, he died. And you can imagine everyone's shock when it was discovered, as the officials were settling matters related to this beggar, when it was discovered that this man, unbeknownst to everyone, including him, that he was actually the heir of a great fortune. One million pounds was his, although they could never find him, and he didn't even know about it. So think of that. Here is this man who lived most of his life at a factory gate, and yet at the very same time, he's rich beyond his wildest dreams. True story. Tragic story. How tragic it is that as believers, we often do the very same thing. That we are those through the Gospel in Christ that are rich beyond our wildest dreams. In fact, Paul is going to describe that in these verses. Describe the riches that flow from our justification. And he's going to list them for us. And he says that that is ours in Christ through faith. That we have this rich inheritance and we're rich beyond our wildest dreams. And if that is really true, then it should change everything for us. It should change everything. It should transform how we live from day to day. How we think about the past. How we feel about our present circumstances. How we look into the future. It should transform everything. It should give us a hope and joy that rules and reigns. We're heirs. We're rich. And yet, how often is it the case that we live, though we are rich, as if we were really spiritual beggars? As if we were poor? Think about how that beggar must have lived. What his existence and mentality must have been. If you picture him there at that factory gate, you can probably guess that he most likely had a great deal of regret about the past. Thinking back, oh, if I just would have done this and not done that, then I wouldn't be here. Oh, if only, if only. Filled with regret. And you can probably guess that as he looked toward the future, no doubt he felt hopeless. You know, after you live for so long in circumstances like that, you just give up hope of things ever changing. No hope. No lasting joy. You can think that life would become just a matter of survival. Just a matter of scraping by. Just eking out an existence, you know, one day at a time. Perhaps trying to numb the pain. Perhaps for him it was alcohol. Could be. And there, that alcohol, just a little drug, just to take the edge off, just to numb the pain, because he just couldn't deal with the reality around him. Not any kind of lasting joy, not any kind of lasting thanksgiving, but just a little something to get by. It's just about survival. As I think about those details, I think, you know, sometimes that's how I approach life. Do you ever approach life like that? different scenery, but don't we sometimes in mentality act like those spiritual beggars? You know, we have these regrets about the past and they burden us. They rule us and control us. Or we think about the future and we feel fearful and sometimes hopeless. Or in our present, we can just go from day to day just trying to survive. Oh, I've just got to make it through this day. And it just becomes about eking out an existence as if joy was just not even a possibility. Not even around, perhaps even latching on to some physical pleasure. Though it might be good and a gift of God, but it becomes a little drug to us that, oh, this will just help me get by. A little something to numb the pain so I can just scrap through another day. Sometimes I get into that mentality. As I look at other Christians, I see the same kind of thing. And it's tragic because here Paul says we are rich. Why would we live as if we were not? So what we want to do this morning is look at what Paul lays out for us and have it fill us with joy and hope that we really are rich beyond our wildest dreams. It affects our past, our present, and our future. Let's look at what Paul has to say. It begins with our past reconciliation. We have peace with God. Verse one. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, Paul is transitioning here. This is a major transition point in the book of Romans. He says, therefore, Therefore, because of everything I said up until now, I'm about to draw an important conclusion because everything that came before is absolutely true. There are some that changes things. Therefore. And in fact, he goes on to give us a quick summary of what he's been talking about in the first four chapters of the book, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, that's a summary of everything we've talked about so far. Paul has said in the first couple of chapters, we cannot be justified by our own works. That there's no way we're going to be able, because of who we are, or what we do, or what kind of commandments we keep, to be right in the sight of God. But, Paul said in chapter 3, and explaining and expanding in chapter 4, there is a way for sinners to be justified. God does it. through the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus, that payment for sin. Jesus, that righteousness that's accredited to our account. And we just receive it by faith. And Paul here summarizes it. Remember that? Remember all we've been talking about, he says? Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, therefore what? What does that mean? And he says, one, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He wants us to know that this means there is a personal change. You see, Paul has talked to us, and we've talked about justification as a legal, a judicial matter. And it's absolutely true. When God justifies a sinner, He declares them righteous. It's God, the great judge, pronouncing the final verdict upon believers. In Christ, God pronounces as the judge, forgiven, righteous in my son. But Paul wants us to know that it's not just a judicial legal thing. It's not just as if the judge says, okay, you're forgiven, you're acceptable, now get out of my sight. It's more than that. It's not just judicial, it's personal. And so Paul is going to talk about a relationship restored and repaired. Verses 10 and 11, he uses the language of reconciliation. And here he calls it peace with God. This justification means peace with God. Peace with God gives us a window into the backstory. The backstory is war. That's where we start in this world, at war with God. Paul explained that essentially in Romans 1-3, that there we are as those created in God's image, created to be in loving relationship with Him. And what's our response in sin? Our response is to make war on God. We stage a rebellion. We stage a coup against the King of the universe. We don't, as Paul says, don't glorify God as God or give thanks to Him. We stage a rebellion. And the king of all the universe is upset at that. He's going to say it goes all the way back to Adam. But the king of the universe has rightfully built up wrath because of this rebellion. I mean, after all, we're those guilty of treason, of sedition against the Lord of the universe. But instead of condemning us, he takes his people and sends a savior. He sends the Lord Jesus to make peace. It's his plan, his idea. He sends the Prince of Peace to make peace. And along comes Jesus. And there he dies on the cross. That's what is written elsewhere, that he makes peace through the blood of his cross. Because there at the cross, everything is changed. Instead of pouring out judgment, instead of God making war and destroying us, God makes war on His Son. That wrath that we deserve. So that wrath poured out, it's finished. And so for us who trust in Him, now there's peace. There's reconciliation. The relationship is completely and totally restored. The war is over. The hostilities have ceased. And they're never going to start again. It's permanent. Now, the king, the one that we've rebelled against, and the one who has rightly upset our rebellion, because of his plan for peace, now he draws near to his enemies and he delights in them. That's us. He delights in us, rejoices to give us blessings, rejoices to pour out His love upon us, because peace has been established. And again, it's permanent. It's not one of those wars where the shooting stops, but you're never quite sure when it's going to begin again. You might think in historical terms, about the Korean War. If you're familiar with what happened in Korea in 1950, North and South Korea start shooting at each other. They stopped shooting at each other in 1953. But there was never a peace treaty. Never, to this day, has there been a peace treaty between North and South Korea. And still to this day, people line the border with guns pointed at each other. And no one's ever sure when the shooting might start again. And there's been skirmishes, even in recent years, between them. Yeah, shooting stopped. There's no hostility right now in the sense of active war, but you never know what's going to start again. Some of us have personal relationships that look like that. You have relationships that look like that? Yeah, sometimes there's an active conflict, but then the shooting stops. But it's not real peace, because you're never quite sure around that person. You're always kind of wary around them, because you never know when the battle's going to break out again. That's not how God does peace. We might think that sometimes, but that's not how He does it. He makes peace through the blood of the cross, and it's done. It's completed. The treaty is signed, sealed, delivered. It's never to be revoked. God cannot, He will not, take up hostility towards you again. He can't. If God were, if He were to, in frustration, anger, resume hostility, toward cursing you, doing anything for your harm. If for God to resume hostility toward you, he first would have to shoot his own son. He'd have to make war on Christ first and destroy his work. In other words, it's not going to happen. The peace is established. It's secure. See how secure you are? It's done. The result is we're rich. Oh, we're not done. Verse 2, he talks about our present position, our access and standing. Through Him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. Maybe taking note, first of all, of that phrase, through Him, is through Christ. Paul said, verse 1, we have peace through Christ. Now he says, verse 2, we have this present standing through Christ. He's going to repeat this again and again and again in chapter 5, chapter 6, chapter 7, chapter 8. Drill it through our heads that all these blessings, all these riches are through Christ. They're in Christ. They're because of Christ. Christ gets all the glory. So what's this blessing that comes through Christ? He kind of phrases it in a strange way. He says, Through Him, we also have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. Obtained access into this grace in which we stand. It's almost as if Paul is talking about grace as a whole different world. As a whole different realm that we enter into. Almost as if Like in the stories, you go through the looking glass, or you go through the wardrobe, and all of a sudden, you're in a whole different world. You're in a whole different realm. Things are different. It's almost as if He describes a whole different world. It's a grace world. And Jesus takes us by the hand, and He escorts us through the looking glass, through the wardrobe. And now everything's different, and this world is grace. Grace. And it's a grace in which we stand. Access and standing. The implication is there we're before royalty, before the great sovereign, before the king, before God himself. I was thankful for a pastor who reminded me of the story of Esther in connection with this picture. Kids, do you know the story of Esther, kids? You know the story of Queen Esther in the Old Testament? It's a great story. Here's God's Old Testament people, and they're being ruled by the king of Persia. And the king of Persia has a very, very wicked advisor by the name of Haman. And Haman hates God's people, the Jews. And he convinces the king that on a certain day, all the Jews were to be wiped out. They were to be killed. And the word is being spread throughout the empire that on this day all the Jews are going to be killed. But God has Queen Esther right there in the palace. In His plan, one of the royal queens, she's right there. And she learns about the plot and the plight of her people that they're going to be killed and very likely she killed with them. And she's determined she's going to ask the king to save her people. But the only problem was, in those days, you couldn't just walk before the king. You couldn't just walk into his presence and ask for something. In fact, if you were to go before the king without being invited, you would be killed. You would be killed. Unless the king showed mercy. Unless you found favor in the eyes of the king and in those days the king would take his golden scepter And he would raise and hold out his golden scepter to the one who came uninvited as a sign that you found favor and So here's Queen Esther. She's thinking I could be killed for doing this so she spreads the word to God's people take three days and fast and pray and And three days go, and they're praying to the Lord. And after that third day, Esther goes in before the king, not knowing what the king will do. And here's what we read. And when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won favor in his sight. And he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. She could have been killed, but instead she finds favor. She gets access before the king. And then the king says this most marvelous thing. He says to her, What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you even to the half of my kingdom." And you know from the end of the story that God's people are saved. Well, that picture there before the king gives us a little taste of what Paul's describing. That here we are, those who are by nature rebels, The only thing that should happen to us in the presence of the King is that we should be killed because of our sin. But what happens? The Lord Jesus Christ ushers us into the presence of the King and we find favor in His sight. We have access. We have standing before Him. And it's the very Lord of the universe who holds out His golden scepter to us, and He says to you, believer, and He says to me, He says, what is it? What is your request? Even up to half my kingdom, even up to all my kingdom, the Lord, the King says to us. We have access. into His presence. That's the realm. That's the world in which we stand. Do you remember what we sang earlier? Did it get you the way it always gets me when we sing it? We sang these words. My God is reconciled. His pardoning voice I hear. He owns me for His child. I can no longer fear. With confidence, I now draw nigh. With confidence, I now draw nigh. And Father, Abba, Father, cry." See how rich you are? See who your Father is? The great King? There's more. At the end of verse 2, Paul tells us about the hope of glory, our future joy, He says, after speaking about this access into the grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. We rejoice. Actually, the word there is stronger than rejoice. It's actually the word for boast. We boast. the hope of the glory of God which is kind of a powerful thing because you might remember in chapter 3 in chapter 4 Paul made a point to say that in front of God we can't boast. We cannot boast. Remember he said not even the great Abraham can boast. And you remember the point there was we can't boast in our own accomplishments, in who we are, that boasting is excluded, that only grace and favor. We have it. It's all through faith. It's all by His mercy. It's all a gift. We don't contribute to it. No one can boast. But here He says, we boast. We boast not in who you are, not in what you've done, but we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Hope. You remember what the Bible does when it talks about hope? It's not how we usually talk about hope. It's not a dream or a wish about the future. That's how we use the word hope, right? I hope to visit Europe someday. I hope the Phillies make the playoffs. It's just kind of a wish, just kind of a dream. That's not biblical hope. Biblical hope is based on a rock-solid promise of God. God has promised it in his word and it will come to pass. We don't have it yet, but it's coming. And so what we have is this confidence, this sure rock solid hope. And Paul says, we boast in the rock solid hope of the glory of God. What's that all about? He doesn't really explain it here. But if you start to look at in the rest of Romans and the rest of Paul's writings, you get this glorious picture. The hope of the glory of God. Well, the glory of God, first according to Paul, is something that we've lost, fallen short of. You remember that verse you learned in Sunday school? Romans 3.23, for all have sinned and what? Fallen short or come short of the glory of God. So the glory of God first is something we fall short of. God makes us in His image to reflect His glory. But that's tarnished in sin. And instead of, as Paul puts it, instead of reflecting the glory, what do we do? We exchange the glory of the immortal God and we worship idols. So we don't reflect God's glory as we were made to, as we were designed to. But in salvation, the glory is beginning to be restored. We saw that in chapter 4. As Paul said, Abraham, with his faith in the Lord, his trust in the promises, was giving glory to God. And so as we trust in the Lord Jesus for salvation, not in ourselves, but in Him alone, we give glory to God. God gets all the credit. It's all through Him. But Paul, especially as he talks here about the glory of God, is thinking future. Something that is yet to come. The glory in all its fullness. Paul is going to describe this, especially in Romans 8. As there, he thinks about what happens when Christ returns. The end of the age, Christ returns, as he describes it, in the glory of his Father. And as he describes in that day, Paul does, creation is remade. That's Romans 8. That creation is freed from the bondage to decay. That's the world we live in. Creation in bondage to corruption and decay. But on that day, it's going to be remade. Paul calls it that creation will obtain the freedom of glory. And we'll get to see this. We'll get to see the Lord Jesus coming in the glory of His Father. We'll get to see the world creation remade in the freedom of glory. But it's not just that we get to be spectators of it. We get to be participants in it. And Paul says in that chapter, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us. among us. We're not just spectators of it, we're participants in it. And so connected to the Lord Jesus, united to Christ, we are glorified with Him. We are remade like the world. Paul explains it elsewhere. Because we see Him as He is, we're transformed into His likeness from one degree of glory to another. We see the Lord Jesus in all His glory and we're transformed into His image. Body and soul raised up, glorified. We, in our very person, match the renewed creation in glory. Paul says that is what will happen. It's a promise and it's our hope, the hope in which we boast, in which we glory and exalt that that's coming. Okay, so start to put the pieces together now. Paul is saying here are those things, here are those riches that flow out of your justification, believers. Here are those things that flow right out of it. A past reconciliation. That you have peace with God and it cannot be taken away. That you have currently a standing before God. Right now. That you have a king and you are in his presence and he delights to not only hear your prayers but answer them and give you far beyond what you even asked for. You have that standing. And you have a future boast. The certain hope that the glory of Christ is coming and you will be a participant in it. You'll be transformed into his likeness. These are the riches. This is the inheritance that is yours if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's guaranteed. Some of it you already have. The fullness you wait for. But it's already been bought and paid for. The will has been executed. It's yours. So why, if this is ours, why would any of us, as rich as we have just heard that we are, why would any of us act like a beggar? Can you challenge yourself and encourage yourself with that good news? When you find yourself, or maybe even this week, You find yourself going into survival mode. When you find yourself in that place where you think, OK, I just got to get by. I just got to get by. I just got to scrap out another day. Can you challenge yourself? I don't need to do this. I can have real joy even where I am, even in the mess of what's in front of me, because I'm rich. And cry. Or the next time you think about, I need to numb myself a little bit. To get by. You start thinking like that beggar with his bottle. Not thinking about real joy, but just thinking a little something to just eek by, just to get by today. Most of us, it doesn't even have to be a bottle. Perhaps it is, but we have other ways of doing this. For some of us, it's just living for the weekend. You know, I have those Friday night plans, or this special thing, or, oh, if I can just get to that, that'll, I just gotta get through today, gotta get to that. Just a little something to just get by. For some of us, we don't need a, we don't need a bottle because we got this little drug we wear on our hip. You know, you just, you know, just this little thing that I can just escape from the world. I can just, a little, a little pleasure, this little screen that I hold, or that sits on my, on my desk, and just, just get me away, can escape for a little bit. I hope you get the idea. It's not that these things are bad in and of themselves, but it's how we use them sometimes. Almost like a beggar and his bottle, like, I can't deal with reality, so I, so I need something to just help me get by. But, you see, it's actually better than that. And that's what Paul's saying here. Our hope, our joy is better than that. You can say, you know what? I don't need to do that. I can enjoy things as God's good gift, but I don't need to drug myself. Because I know what real reality is. It's better. It's better. I'm rich. My hope is sure. Or maybe when you start feeling regretful about your past in a way that starts to control you, you can say, no, God has dealt with my past. He's given me peace with God. Or maybe you feel hopeless about the future. Can you challenge yourself, remind yourself, I know what my future is. God has said it's done. It's paid for. You don't have to scrape by. You can delight. You don't have to escape. You can rejoice in what's true about you right now. When you're tempted, can you say, no, no, no, come on, self. That's beggar stuff. I'm rich in Christ. Do you see the good news? Can you take it in and put it to work for you? Let's just listen again to God speaking to you, to us. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him, we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Believer, those promises, those riches are yours. Believe it. Live in it. Sing about it. Let's pray. Father, we pray that You would give us joy in the things that are true, the things that You have done. Father, encourage us. May we live as those who have true joy and lasting hope. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. 691. Hymn 691. Please stand. So,