Romans 5:1 ¶ Therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
2 By whom also we have access by faith
into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3 And not only so, but we glory in
tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience,
hope: 5 And hope maketh not ashamed;
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is
given unto us.
Verse 1 is a very important point. We can have peace with God, who
created all things, only by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here in Ephesians
is a statement on having peace with God.
Ephesians 2:11 ¶ Wherefore
remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called
Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by
hands;
12 That at that time ye
were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and
strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the
world:
13 But now in Christ Jesus
ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
14 ¶ For he is our peace,
who hath made both one [Jew and Gentile], and
hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity,
even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of
twain one new man, so making peace; 16
And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross,
having slain the enmity thereby: 17 And
came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
18 For through him we both [Jew
and Gentile] have access by one Spirit unto the Father. 19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and
foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20 And are built upon the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21 In whom all the building fitly framed
together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22 In whom ye also are builded together for an
habitation of God through the Spirit.
We have access to God by faith because of Christ.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto
him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but
by me.
Ephesians 2:18 For through
him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Tribulations are adversities, troubles, anguish, and distress
involving problems of living and persecution and temptations to renounce by
thought and deed Christ Himself, problems that arise from being a follower of
Christ. When we face such things with faith we find patience grows within us.
Matthew 5:10 Blessed are
they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. 11 Blessed are ye, when men
shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against
you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice,
and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted
they the prophets which were before you.
Acts 5:41 And they departed
from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to
suffer shame for his name.
2Corinthians 12:9 And he
said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect
in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that
the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities,
in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I
strong.
James 1:1 ¶ James, a
servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are
scattered abroad, greeting. 2 ¶ My
brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith
worketh patience. 4 But let patience
have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
Patience is built and we are promised this.
1Corinthians 10:13 There
hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful,
who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the
temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
With patience comes experience. We’ve “been there,
done that, got the t-shirt.” We learn by experience and gain wisdom and
understanding. Trouble teaches us more about life than ease of living does and
we learn to trust in God’s mercy and comfort.
Genesis 30:27 And Laban
said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I
have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake.
Ecclesiastes 1:16 I
communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have
gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea,
my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.
And with experience comes hope. The majority of
times salvation or saved is used in the Bible it means from some temporal
danger or crisis, something in this life, not in the next. We can learn from
experience and have hope of God’s immediate deliverance and trusting in His
promises of eternal life.
Enduring tribulation in faith works and strengthens patience
and gives birth to experience which enlightens us with hope because of
God’s promises and His deliverance on those promises in our lifetime.
Christians don’t have hope because of simply words written in an old book. We
have hope because of God’s delivering on promises written in a living Book that
He has given us from down through the ages. His Spirit , which indwells us, comforts,
strengthens, advises, and never forsakes us in our time of need if we believe
in faith expecting Him to lift us up in our adversity.
If we live in faith and suffer adversity in faith we see God’s
deliverance and our faith in eternal life with Him is strengthened and made
sure, established. There are two types of Christians in this regard. There is
one who simply believes what they were told to believe and sees no power of God
in their life because they live by a need to submit to others and the comfort
of group belief and identification with a group for whatever reason. The other
sees God’s hand in their daily life and that life is a continuous miracle to
them. They believe God’s promises not because of some charismatic preacher who
influences them but because they see God as real and involved with them.
One believes because they trust a person while the other believes
because they trust God and have seen His power in their lives. They’ve had
their own escape from Egypt, their own Red Sea crossing, their own wilderness
wandering, and have seen their own Promised Land as they hope for eternal life
and have no reason to not believe God because He is faithful.
We are not ashamed or bashful, as the word also meant at the time
that this Bible was translated, and not inhibited to proclaim the gospel of
Christ because it is in us swelling to come out of us. God’s love is shed
abroad in our hearts because of the Holy Spirit. If you don’t have a hunger
to tell others about your faith or to even show it to others and you insist
that faith is a private matter that no one else should know about perhaps you
need to examine your relationship with Christ more closely.
Of course, there are different ways to witness from standing
unflinchingly on the principles that Christ has laid down for us to witnessing
with words. For some it is in their manner of living that makes people know to
whom they belong. I had a manager at a pizza place I worked at thirty years ago
who said he knew I was a Christian by the way I talked. He wasn’t. Unbelievers
seem to know more of what to expect from a Christian than we often do. Then,
there were others who knew my faith by my words, strangers by my passing out gospel
tracts, or acquaintances by my offering of the gospel to them after I had been
saved. Both ways have plusses and minuses though. The plusses are obvious but
in the first example my manager should not have had to guess my faith based on
my behavior but it should be been declared in some way. In the second example I
am sure I’ve been a total nuisance and a sanctimonious boor as well who drove
some people away from the Cross rather than drawing them toward it. Being a
Christian takes some maturity, some compassion, and some awareness of the
limitations of a situation yet all the while being responsive to the Holy
Spirit’s leading.
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