Introduction
This week I found myself filled with rage and filled with hope on the same day. Friday before I went to the Charlie Kirk prayer vigil, I came across a video of some “Christian leaders” (one of which created the cartoon Veggie Tales) saying that Charlie was not a Christian martyr and that he was killed for his politics, and his politics weren’t Christian. In this guy’s view Charlie’s politics were not biblical, but just rightwing nonsense. And this enraged me because for a few reasons. First and foremost, because it’s not true. The popular version of “Christianity” today has embraced leftist progressivism, and in so doing has embraced a false religion. The junk they are peddling is not Christianity. It is not Truth from heaven, but lies from the pit of hell. Second, this made me mad because as a theonomist—someone who believes God’s Law-Word should shape the laws of every nation in every area—I’m actually a bit to the right of Charlie. And furthermore, this enraged me because Christianity and politics are not really two separate things.
The Greek Word for church is a political word. In the Greco-Roman world, ekklesia didn’t originally mean a religious gathering. It was a civic term. The ekklesia was the official assembly of citizens in a Greek city-state, called together to deliberate, legislate, and make decisions for the polis, for the city. When Jesus and the apostles used the term, they were deliberately employing a word loaded with public, political meaning: the church is God’s governing assembly, called out from the world to live under and advance Christ’s rule. This isn’t accidental. To call the body of Christ the ekklesia is to declare that the church is not a private, inward, or merely “spiritual” club, but a public body-politic under King Jesus. It is the assembly of His citizens, the embassy of His Kingdom, a rival heavenly city on earth that embodies the reign of Christ in the world. This directly challenges the pagan city and the modern secular state: their sovereignty is not ultimate; Christ’s is. And Charlie knew that… Which is why he was not only an evangelist, but a political activist. They go hand in hand. His politics flowed from his Christianity.
Now with all of that said, the same day I found myself enraged by this fake Christianity, I was also greatly encourage by what seems to be a gracious work of God in our day. Friday night I gathered with numerous other believers to mourn, to pray, and to praise our great God. And though there were things said and done that I would have said and done differently, what was clearly proclaimed, and what was clearly believed and seeking to be embraced in word and deed, was that God is sovereign and good and is working all things together for the good of those who love Him. There was this great expectation and hope that, even in the midst of this tragic evil, God is doing and will do great good. There was this basic assumption and belief that what we do in life, and what happens to us in this life echos in eternity. And that is indeed cause for great hope. And that’s exactly what we’re going to see in God’s Word today. So look with me at Romans 5:1-5.
Context
So far in our series through Romans Paul has shown us that sin is a universal problem, binding both Jew and Gentile under its power, and that God’s solution has always been rooted in His covenant promises—fulfilled through Abraham and ultimately through Christ. In chapter 4, Paul pointed to Abraham’s faith as the pattern for all believers, showing that God’s promise creates a new humanity by grace through faith. Now in chapter 5, Paul is going to bring that forward into the present and show us what this means for those who are justified by faith: we have peace with God, we stand in grace, and we rejoice in the certain hope of God’s glory. And even our sufferings are caught up in this hope, because through them God trains us—like weight training for the soul—to grow in patience, proven character, and mature hope. All of this rests on the love of God poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, grounding us in the assurance that Christ died for us while we were still sinners.
Romans 5:1-5
In verses 1 and 2 Paul says, “1 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.” Essentially what Paul is saying here is that in light of our salvation coming in and through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, and all of that being counted to us in and through faith, in and through our belief upon and trust in Jesus, we now have peace with God in and through the person and work of Christ. Basically, what Paul is doing is showing us one of the greatest benefits of being justified by faith. It’s as if he’s anticipating the question, “So what? So we are justified… That just means we’ll go to heaven one day, right? What about now? Why does that matter now?”
Notice what Paul says… He says we have already, even now, been justified by faith. We have been already, even now, declared righteous in Christ. Or, as Paul will say later in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” And this means that right now we have peace with God the Father in and through God the Son. And by peace Paul means, not merely the absence of hostility, but the presence of fellowship and communion with God. Right now we have a right relationship with God. We are now rightly in covenant with God. Which is why he says that through Christ we have obtained access to the grace in which we stand, or our gracious standing before God the Father.
In and of ourselves we cannot stand before God. In and of ourselves we are rebellious haters of God justly deserving His wrath and fury. In and of ourselves we are at war with God, and He is at war with us. Every person who has ever lived, outside of God’s grace in Christ, are children of wrath. As Paul has already said, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). And as R. C. Sproul said, “Sin is cosmic treason. Even the slightest sin that a creature commits against his Creator does violence to the Creator’s holiness, His glory, and His righteousness. Every sin, no matter how seemingly insignificant, is an act of rebellion against the sovereign God who reigns and rules over us and as such is an act of treason against the cosmic King.”
This is an important word for us today. For the last week and a half, since Charlie Kirk was murdered, what’s been on every news channel and every social media platform is commentary about the war between the left and the right. And while I, just like all of you, use that language, we should remember that it is not biblical language. In fact it is language that comes from the left itself. It’s from the French Revolution, where people thought they were smarter than God, and sought liberty apart from Christ, but instead it just brought chaos and bloodshed.
Instead of seeking change by God’s grace through God’s Law and God’s gospel, motivated by their idol of human autonomy and hatred for the church the French Revolution brought blood in the streets, guillotines, and tyrannies worse than what it replaced. Yet, the term “The Left” still refers to those who want revolutionary change, typically tied to human autonomy and hatred for the church. Whereas “The Right” are the conservatives that want to hold on to, or go back to biblical Law and the basics of what it means to be one nation under God. But what the ideas and actions behind this language reveal is that the fundamental issue in this nation and in this world is not merely left versus right, but good versus evil. And while there are some evil people on both sides, one side is fundamentally and ideologically evil. The whole platform is one of rejection of and rebellion against God. And this is where all are outside of Christ.
In Adam everyone is on the left. Everyone is at war with God. If we are committed to human autonomy, like those who say they have a right to do what they want with their body, seeking to change their gender, go against God’s design for sex and sexuality, and who basically think they can say or do whatever they want as long as it’s in the name of tolerance or freedom of expression… if we are committed to that and the like then we are committed to sin, we are committed to rebellion, we are committed to cosmic treason. We are haters of God and therefore hated by God. We are either on the side of God and therefore the side of good, or we are against God and therefore on the side of evil. That’s what evil is… To be against God. So you can’t wed Christianity to leftist politics. But true conservative politics flow from Christianity because it’s seeking to acknowledge that Christ is Lord in every area of life.
No one can sit on the fence. Jesus Himself said, “Whoever is not with Me is against Me” (Matt. 12:30). There is no neutral ground. We are either bowing the knee to Christ or standing in rebellion. If we are not consciously seeking to think His thoughts after Him and obey His commands, we are—whether we realize it or not—following another standard. It might be the cultural consensus, some other religious system, or simply our own preferences. But all of that amounts to rebellion against Christ. We are either at peace with God or at war with God, there is no neutrality. And if we are seeking revolution or liberty outside of Christ all we will find is chaos and bondage. As Jesus Himself said in John 8:36, “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” All else is chaos.
Remember, Adam was meant to subdue the earth and have dominion over it. He and Eve were to be fruitful and multiply, to take what is true, good, and beautiful and protect it, cultivate it, and advance it out to the ends of the earth. But instead they embraced lies, and led the world into bondage and death instead of liberty and life. But that was not the end of the Story. Jesus is the new better Adam. And He is Lord of all. He has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18). He is King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev. 19:16), perfectly good and perfectly loving—which means His will for the world is good, just, and life-giving. His way is not only right, it is best. And He is leading His people—and the world through His people—into what is right… into true life and liberty.
If we are in Christ, if we are walking in the footsteps of faith that our father Abraham walked in, then we are no longer at war with God, but we stand in His grace. And if we are in a gracious standing with God, if we are in a right relationship with God—true covenantal communion—than everything changes. Our standing before God and our relationship with God changes everything about us—everything we think, feel, and do… indeed, everything we are. If we are no longer a part of the old humanity in Adam, but the new humanity in Christ, everything is affected. We now stand in grace, and therefore stand in true life and liberty. Instead of being at enmity with God we have peace with God and therefore have free access to God. Which means, as Hebrews 4:16 says, we can, with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace, and receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Later, in Romans 8:31, Paul says, “What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” And that’s the idea here. In Christ God is totally for us. We are under His grace. We can stand before Him boldly in Christ. We can come to Him in our time of need—namely our entire lives—and we will find grace, mercy, and help. We are His children, no longer estranged and caught up in sin, but united to Christ and covered in His righteousness. Christ has risen victoriously from the dead never to die again. As Hebrews 13:8 says, our victorious King is the same yesterday and today and forever. And because Christ will not change, as long as we are looking to Him by faith neither will our standing in Him change. And Paul says in Romans 5:2 that this causes us to rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
That word rejoice could also be translated to boast, brag about, or exult. One commentator said that the idea is that one is so gripped and overwhelmed by their hope in the glory of God that they can’t help but feel and express in word and deed, WAHOO! And that makes sense given what biblical hope is. This is not wishful thinking, but a sure and confident expectation based on God’s good promises. The promises of God so take over the core of who we are that they directly affect everything we are, everything we say, and everything we do. The glorious reality of who our great God is and what He has given us, and promises to give us in Christ grips us and transforms us even now, causing us to live with overflowing joy come what may.
Adam and Eve were to fill the earth with the knowledge of the glory of Lord as the waters cover the sea, but they failed. However, where Adam failed, Christ, the new better Adam succeeds; and He brings His bride with Him. So Paul’s phrase “the hope of the glory of God” means that believers confidently anticipate the full restoration of what was lost in Adam and promised through Abraham—sharing in the glory of Christ, both in the resurrection and in the transformation of the world. It is a hope that is already breaking into the present by the Spirit, through the worship and ministry of the church, and the life and work of the Kingdom of God throughout the world. Christ is risen. Christ is reigning. He has ascended to the right hand of the Father where He sits in glory. And that glory is slowly but surely covering the earth as the waters cover the sea. Indeed, it is happening in and through us right now, as we, as Paul said in Romans 2:10, seek glory, honor, and peace in this life. That is, as we seek to glorify God and enjoy Him, and advance the cause of His Kingdom in and through all we are and all we do.
Now, Paul anticipates immediate push back to this. How can we rejoice in hope of God’s glory overtaking this world when this world is so broken and full of suffering? Indeed, it’s not just this world but our own lives. Future hope is great, but what about right now? And to that Paul says in verses 3-5, “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 who has been given to us.”
No doubt, we have the hope of heaven. We have the hope of the resurrection. We have the hope of the new heavens and new earth, where all things will be made new. We have a great future in store for us, and therefore we have great reason to rejoice. But Paul says we have cause to rejoice even now in this broken world full of suffering… even when our lives are full of suffering. Why? Because our suffering is doing something. It’s all a part of God’s grand plan of redemption.
As Paul says later in Romans 8:28, “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” God is sovereign and good, and holy and just. Therefore, for those who hate God, and remain in that hate, all things will fully and finally work together for their destruction and condemnation. But for those who love God, for those who have laid down their rebellion and bowed the knee to King Jesus, all things work together for their good, for their redemption, for their justification, sanctification, and glorification. No doubt, this is for everyone who has been called and will be called according to God’s purpose, and many who are now haters of God will one day become lovers of God by God’s sovereign grace. We are all proof of that. Christ saves sinners, even the worst of sinners. So there’s a sense in which many of the enemies of God will get in on this promise, but we must recognize that this promise is given to the people of God, the lovers of God, not the haters. It’s for those under God’s grace by faith in Christ.
Again, as Paul says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” And when we’ve come under God’s grace in Christ, when we are in a standing of grace before the Cosmic King, all things now work together for our good because God is for us… Even suffering. Paul says suffering produces endurance. The idea is that suffering—especially the tribulations and afflictions that come in this life directly tied to our faithfulness, along with all the suffering that befalls humanity in this broken world because of sin—produces patience. That’s not always true. Suffering can produce bitterness, anger, hopelessness, and impatience. But for God’s people, for those in Christ by faith, suffering produces patience, endurance, and steadfastness. In other words, it works for our good.
Notice Paul grounds this in God’s love being poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Again, Romans 8:28 only applies to those who love God. And because we are all naturally in Adam, and thus evil haters of God, we cannot love God unless He first loves us. And so the Spirit, who is the very love of God, comes into our hearts, giving the gift of faith and the ability to truly love. Indeed He gives His fruit.
Throughout church history theologians have said that the Spirit of God is the very love of God in a person. God is love, and the Trinity has always existed in perfect love and communion. God the Father has always loved God the Son. And God the Son has always loved God the Father. And they have always done so in and through God the Holy Spirit. And so too do we love in and through the Spirit.
Remember what Paul says the fruit of the Spirit is. “[T]he fruit of the Spirit is love (or love overflowing to and displayed through), joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:22-24). And so it is here in Romans. The Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit, the very love of God has been poured into the core of our being so that everything about us changes, so that we can crucify the flesh with its passions and desires. But that doesn’t mean that we won’t go through trials and tribulations, and any and every kind of suffering. It just means that the suffering we go through isn’t meaningless. It’s doing something. Indeed, it’s doing something good. It’s bearing more fruit, leading to patience, to endurance, to steadfastness, so that we would not be bitter and hopeless, but would rejoice in hope even in and through our suffering.
As Christians our suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character… That is, holy, Christlike characteristics… Or, in a word, as Paul says in Romans 8:28, good. When we, by the Spirit, patiently endure suffering, knowing, by faith, that God in His sovereign grace has ordained that we should go through whatever it is we’re going through for His glory and our good, it actually produces good in and through us. As A. W. Tozer once said, “When I understand that everything happening to me is to make me more Christlike, it resolves a great deal of anxiety.” And indeed, that’s what suffering does. It makes us more like Jesus. It leads us to be and live more like Jesus… All because, by the Spirit, we actually love and trust Jesus.
I said earlier that through suffering God trains us—like weight training for the soul. As you all know, many of us go lift weights and train with Carl twice a week. And on more than one occasion, the day after training, Rachel will see me groaning and struggling to move because I’m so sore from the workout. And she’ll ask me, “What’s wrong?” And I’ll respond jokingly, “Carl is mean!” And I say jokingly because that soreness is exactly what I signed up for, because through that pain comes the gain. Breaking down the muscle leads to bigger and stronger muscles. And so it is in life.
Our sufferings break us down, and bring us back better and stronger. God often gives us more than we can handle, forcing us to rely on Him, getting our eyes off of our trials and our self, and fixed on Jesus. And as we, by faith, see Him more, we become like Him all the more. It all works to create Christlike character… To make us more loving, joyful, at peace, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and able to control ourselves, instead of being a slave to self. And all of that produces greater hope. Which again, is how it is in the gym. At first all the diet and exercise seem hopeless. But when you start to see progress, when you start to see results, suddenly you are filled with hope, and all the more motivated to work hard. And this is how suffering works for us. By God’s grace suffering grows us in holiness and hope, enabling us to all the more rejoice in God and His great promises.
But this all comes back to justification by faith. Since we have been justified by faith God is now totally for us. And because God is for us nothing and no one can ultimately stand against us. Even though we will go through great suffering, and even though people may seek to do great evil against us, what others mean for evil God means for good. In Christ, all things, that is everything, works together for the good of those who love God. And God has given us that love in and through the Spirit. As Paul says in Ephesians 1:13-14, we “were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” In other words, because we have the Spirit we have hope. We are sealed in Christ by the Spirit, and all the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20). And so, come what may, everything is working for our good and God’s glory, which is cause for even greater hope and rejoicing.
Because we stand under God’s grace in Christ by faith we know that God in His sovereign grace is using every aspect of our lives—every choice we make, ever word, every deed, and every circumstance, even everything that afflicts us and means us harm—all of it is working for our good and His glory. God wastes nothing.
Think of Jesus. The Son of God took on flesh, being born of a virgin, raised by Joseph and Mary, living under their nurture and care. And then growing up to be a carpenter and faithful Jew who sought to do all for God’s glory. And then after living a fairly ordinary faithful life for 30 years, He then began a public ministry of faithfulness as our Prophet, Priest, and King. And His faithfulness led Him to the cross where He suffered and died for our sakes. But on the third Day He rose from the grave in victory. And do you remember what He did just after the resurrection? He showed Himself to His disciples. He showed them the scars of His sufferings that He carried with Him even in His glorified resurrected state. He showed them that all that He went through in life and death was a part of who He now is as our resurrected Lord. And so it is for us.
Just as the sufferings of Christ, and the whole of His life shaped who He is now as the risen Savior who will never die again, in one way or another, everything we think, feel, say, or do, and everything we go through is transforming us into who we will be forevermore in Christ. Because God is for us nothing is meaningless… nothing is wasted… it all matters eternally. And because we are in Christ it is all working for our eternal good. And not just our good but God’s glory. And God’s glory will cover this world as the waters cover the sea. Therefore we can, we should, and we must rejoice in hope of the glory of God!
And don’t forget what is tied up in this hope of the glory of God. It is the hope that comes in and through the new Adam who is making and who will make all things new. Indeed, as 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” And this means that the glorious new creation that we hope for and long for, is already breaking into this world in and through us. So, just as everything we say and do, and everything that happens to us is working for our good, so too is all of our faithfulness, and everything that happens to us—the good, the bad, and the ugly—working for the good of this world.
We are called to think, feel, speak, and act… to do everything for the glory God. And when we do we are taking part in making all things new. Every time we do the next right thing God is using us to make His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. But along with that, even our sufferings are working not just for our good, but for the good of all of God’s people, and for God’s glory, and thus His glorious plan of redemption. You might not realize or ever know about or ever know how God is using the good, the bad, and the ugly of your life to minister to others… But He is. You might not realize how God is using your ordinary everyday faithfulness for His glory and the good of His people, but He is.
As Jesus said, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. . . .’ ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me’” (Matthew 25:40-45). And that is all the more cause for hope and rejoicing. We never know how our acts of faithfulness, or how any aspect of our life is serving others or serving Christ, but if we are in Christ, it is. If we are looking to Christ by faith then every aspect of our lives is in service to Christ, His people, and the cause of His Kingdom, whether we realize it or not.
Conclusion
Beloved, there is no neutrality. There is good and there is evil. There are lovers of God and there are haters of God. But for those who love God all things work together for good. God is totally for those who are justified in Christ. And if God is for us, if we stand under God’s grace in Christ, nothing and no one can stand against us. That doesn’t mean we won’t experience great sufferings, trials, and tribulations. But it does mean that God will not waste them. What others mean for evil God means for our good and His glory. So we can go to Him in our times grief, pain, and fear, we can go to Him anytime, and because we are in Christ we will receive grace, mercy, and help. He will not abandon us. And He will not waste anything. He will use it all to make all things new.
This means we must learn to rejoice loudly, even when the world mocks us or when the weight of sorrow bends us low—because suffering is not wasted, it is training. It means we must reject the lie of neutrality; there is no “private Christianity.” Every sphere of life—home, workplace, politics, education—belongs to King Jesus. And it means we must see our ordinary obedience as extraordinary Kingdom work. Every meal prayed over, every child discipled, every stand you take for truth, every tear endured in faith—all of it is filling the earth with the glory of God. That is the hope of glory breaking in even now. So rejoice in hope even in tribulation. Reject neutrality in every area of life. See suffering as training, not futility. And live as joyful agents of the New Creation.
Fret not Christian. Things are not what they seem. When trials come we need not fear, for in the pain our God draws near, and is firing a faith worth more than gold. A faith that stands, hopes, and rejoices, come what may. A faith that endures patiently, and that takes part in making all things new. So don’t let the world, the flesh, or the devil, don’t let suffering rob you of hope and joy. But rejoice in hope of the glory of God, because you know, that come what may, God is for you. And if God is for you, nothing can stand against you. Amen!