May 11, 2025 • 28 mins
We explore the profound benefits of justification by faith through Christ as outlined in Romans 5:1-5. Pastor Taylor Guerin unpacks how our position in Christ provides us with peace, access, and hope that transform our daily lives.
• For believers, justification is not a process but a point in time when we are counted righteous because of Christ's finished work
• Before Christ, we were weak, sinners, enemies of God, and deserving of wrath – now we have peace with God
• Through Christ, we've received unprecedented access to God's throne room – more valuable than any exclusive membership
• The prayer room represents the true power center of the church, where believers exercise their access to approach God
• Suffering produces endurance, which builds character, which creates a hope that never disappoints
• The Holy Spirit within us serves as a guarantee that God will fulfill all His promises
• Paul wrote about rejoicing in suffering from personal experience, having endured arrests, beatings, and persecution
• Jesus himself demonstrated that suffering can lead to hope through His death and resurrection
How will you respond to these gifts? Will you live differently because of your peace with God? Will you fully utilize your access to Him in prayer? Will you find purpose in your suffering?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello and welcome to the FBC Eldorado Sermon Podcast.
My name is Taylor Guerin, Ihave the privilege of being the
pastor here at First Baptist andI want to thank you for
listening in to our sermon thisweek.
And I want to tell you this ifyou're in our area and you don't
have a church home, we wouldlove to see you any Sunday
morning at First Baptist, elDorado.
(00:25):
Will you join me now inlistening to our sermon from
this week?
I want to read Romans 5, verses1 through 5.
Romans 5, 1 through 5, and itsays this therefore, since we
have been justified by faith, wehave peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ.
(00:46):
Through him, we have alsoobtained access by faith into
the grace in which we stand andwe rejoice in hope of the glory
of God.
Not only that, but we rejoicein our sufferings, knowing that
suffering produces endurance,endurance produces character and
character produces hope.
Endurance, endurance producescharacter and character produces
hope.
And hope does not put us toshame, because God's love has
(01:07):
been poured into our heartsthrough the Holy Spirit who has
been given to us.
Let me pray.
Lord Jesus, I ask that youwould speak now through your
word.
Teach us what it means to liveout your gospel truth.
I do pray over every woman inthis room, for mothers, for
(01:28):
grandmothers, for even greatgrandmothers in this room, for
disciple makers across the room,lord, what a gift, lord, the
debt that we owe to faithfulwomen of God who have faithfully
discipled.
We give you praise, lord, and Ipray your blessings over them
today and every day.
(01:50):
And, lord, now through yourword, would you speak to us?
We ask, in Christ's name, amen.
We've gotten now to Romans,chapter 5.
In Romans, 1 through 3, what welooked at is the really, really
bad news that we are far moresinful than we ever thought
possible.
We are far more sinful than wedared to even consider.
(02:12):
But then, late in chapter 3,paul gives us the best news we
could imagine that there is farmore grace than we could ever
imagine, far more grace becauseof the work of Jesus Christ than
we could have dreamed waspossible.
Last week, in chapter 4, we sawPaul give us a case study from
(02:32):
family history.
What does it mean to bejustified by grace through faith
?
Well, he says look at Abraham,who believed in God and it was
counted to him as righteousness.
And so we saw this piece offamily history.
And now, today, we turn toRomans 5, and Paul wants to show
us the benefits of faith, thebenefits of the gospel, what is
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true of us because we believethe gospel.
It begins here again, inchapter 5, verse 1,.
Therefore, since we have beenjustified by faith, if we have
the chart on the screen, I wantto show you something.
We showed this a couple monthsback, but this, really this
chart that represents theChristian life, and I just want
(03:20):
to remind us again that you'vegot unbelief before Christ.
And then you've got that J,that dot there of justification.
We're coming back to that whichleads to sanctification, which
is the process of becoming morelike Christ, glorification, when
we go to be with the Lord, theeternal state of a glorified
(03:41):
believer.
But that big dot, justification,notice, it's not a line, notice
, it's not a process.
It is a point on the map ofyour life that you are justified
, that your sins have beenforgiven.
Why?
Because of the finished work ofChrist and you are counted
righteous, because Christ hasdied and risen from the grave,
(04:04):
and so you are justified, apoint in time.
And you, how could this be?
Certainly not, as we saw lastweek, of our own work, merit or
effort, but by the work ofChrist.
So again, romans 5.1 shows us.
Point number one is this thatour justification provides our
(04:27):
peace.
What's the first thing we getout of it?
Our justification provides ourpeace.
Therefore, since we have beenjustified by faith, here it is
we have peace with God.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ,we now have peace with God.
Now, what does that word peacemean?
Sometimes, when we think ofpeace, we can think about it
(04:50):
like this as we think of peace,we think of an inner serenity,
an inner just, maybe clarity orcontentment.
That's really not what Paul istalking about here.
Now, by all means, there willbe times in the Christian life
when we have that inner peace,that contentment.
(05:12):
All seems well, all feelsresolved in our soul, that inner
peace.
Certainly that will be there attimes in our life.
In this moment, really, paul istalking about peace, defining it
as that we are no longer rebels, we are no longer hostile to
God and to the things of God,that we who were once counted
(05:34):
enemies of God are now broughtinto peace with God.
Now we might be tempted to saydid I really need peace with God
?
We might be tempted to say well, taylor, I don't know that I
was really hostile to God.
I don't know that I was anenemy of his.
(05:55):
I might tell you this thismorning I was saved at the age
of six years old, I think Imentioned before.
I wasn't running around theplayground at five years old
just as this reckless enemy ofGod shouting out my rebellion
against God.
That really wasn't my story.
So what do you mean?
That outside of Christ, wedidn't have this peace.
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We were hostile to God.
Well, outside of Christ,certainly, though we may not
have run around as if we wereenemies of God and rebels.
Certainly, in our sin we livedlike it, whether we realized it
or not.
We made decisions that put uson the throne of our lives.
We made decisions that had notime for anyone else being the
(06:40):
sovereign Lord, had no time foranyone else being the sovereign
Lord.
If you want to see just how muchwe need peace, let's jump down
and look briefly at verses 6through 11.
Because Paul describes when thegospel work came, verse 6, he
says For while we were stillweak.
(07:00):
So, number one, we were weak atthe right time.
Christ died for the ungodly,for one will scarcely die for a
righteous person, though perhapsfor a good person, one might
dare to die.
So we were weak and Christ diedfor us.
Paul, reasoning this out, maybefor someone who is really,
really good.
Some human might dare to die,but look at this good.
(07:27):
Some human might dare to die,but look at this, verse 8, but
God shows his love for us inthat, while we were still
sinners, christ died for us.
When did the work of Christ takeplace?
Not after we cleaned ourselvesup, not after we looked the part
, not after we finally got ourlives together, but it says,
while we were still sinners.
Christ died for us.
Therefore, verse 9, since,therefore, we have now been
(07:50):
justified by his blood, muchmore shall we be saved by him
from the wrath of God.
For if, while we were enemies,we were reconciled to God by the
death of his son, much more,now that we are reconciled,
shall we be saved by His life.
More than that, we're rejoicingGod through our Lord Jesus
Christ, through whom we have nowreceived reconciliation.
(08:15):
In the beauty of those verses,what you also see is the reality
of our own lives outside ofChrist.
We saw that we were weak.
We saw that we were weak.
We saw that we were stillsinners.
We saw that we were enemies ofGod.
We saw that we were deservingof the wrath of God.
We saw that we were those thatneeded to be reconciled to God.
(08:37):
And so when we think about thatand that is the context of who
we were outside of ChristSuddenly it wakes us up to the
unbelievable claim that we arethose now that stand at peace
before God, that before thesovereign God of the universe,
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you and I have peace.
You and I come into hispresence in peace.
We have perfect relationshipwith him, and I say perfect.
We are justified, his perfectrighteousness.
Certainly, sometimes our ownsin still seems to get in the
(09:22):
way a little bit in our lives,but the reality is this we are
now at peace and justifiedbefore him.
So our justification, first ofall.
It provides our peace, but alsoI want to see this our
justification provides ouraccess.
Look at verse 2.
Through him, we have alsoobtained access by faith into
(09:45):
the grace in which we stand andwe rejoice in hope of the glory
of God.
I want to think about that word,access, for a minute.
We live in an access world,don't we?
Everything seems to be aboutaccess.
Thing seems to be about access.
(10:10):
You pay your $10 a month to thesubscription to the Netflix or
the Disney Plus and they giveyou access to their video
catalog.
You pay your monthlysubscription to the El Dorado
paper or the Democrat Gazettethey give you access.
The second you miss thatpayment, that access is taken
away.
We live in an access world.
I think a few weeks ago, theMasters Tournament at Augusta,
(10:30):
rory McIlroy wins the tournament, finally wins the tournament,
the career Grand Slam, and I'lltell you what he gets for
winning.
He gets $4.2 million.
That's what you get this yearfor winning the Masters $4.2
million.
But let me tell you get thisyear for winning the Masters,
4.2 million dollars.
But let me tell you what healso gets that you get for
(10:51):
winning at Augusta winning theMasters, you get access.
First, you get the green jacketthe green jacket at Augusta
that only the winners have andeverybody who's never won the
tournament want that elusivegreen jacket that says forever
(11:14):
you're a Masters champion.
You get your name engraved onthe trophy that stays at Augusta
.
You also get a replica of it totake with you.
Probably most importantly, youget access to the champion's
locker room and it is exactlywhat it says it is.
It is a locker room that onlyexists, that is only open for
(11:36):
past champions, and even still,each year at Augusta, the past
champions still use that lockerroom, so there'll be maybe three
or four guys that get to use itthat weekend at Augusta.
The past champions still usethat locker room, so there'll be
, you know, maybe three or fourguys that get to use it that
weekend at Augusta, but it'sonly for them.
You get your name on a locker.
It is yours now and forever.
At the next year, rory McIlroywill get to you know, host the
(11:57):
dinner and pick the menu.
There's a certain level ofaccess that comes with winning
that tournament and if you askedRory McIlroy right now which is
a very difficult name topronounce in a sermon multiple
times if you asked Rory McIlroyright now and I preface this by
saying he lives in a differenttax bracket than the rest of us
(12:19):
but if you were to ask him rightnow, you can keep one of them,
you can keep the 4.2 million oryou can keep the access.
It's not a question.
Give me the access, let me bethe master's champion.
The locker room, the jacket,everything that comes with it.
There's just something aboutaccess.
That means something, and youand I, if we are in Christ Jesus
(12:46):
, think about something theaccess that we have.
It's almost wild to even utterthis fact that you and I, who
are so undeserving because ofthe finished work of Christ
being clothed in hisrighteousness, have access to
(13:09):
the throne room of God, that wecan come before a holy God.
And not only that we areinvited in.
And not only that, as Jesusreminds us, we can look to him
and say this is the wildestclaim of all Our Father.
That's access.
That's better than a champion'slocker room, that's better than
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a jacket.
That's access before the throneof God In our sanctuary, in
that top corner.
There's a room up there and youall want to.
You can look right now.
If you hadn't seen it, you seea window up there there and
there's a room.
And one of two things is trueof you Either you've always
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wondered what's in there oryou've looked in and been
extremely let down because it'snot that exciting.
But there's a room up there andif you go in there right now,
you can't.
After service, you're gonna seea couple things.
Again, you're going to be letdown by it.
You're going to see a lot ofbreaker boxes and a lot of
breaker switches and there's alot of wattage and a lot of
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power in that room.
You can turn lights on and off,probably all over this building
.
You're also going to see andthis is Dustin's world, I don't
know but some large towers ofamplifiers that somehow make all
this sound go forth so we canhear it, and and all of that is
housed in that room.
(14:32):
The amount of wattage, theamount of power that exists just
in that room is kind ofunbelievable.
The reality is this it's notthe most powerful room in this
church.
There's also down below us,kind of down in the guts of the
basement, as well as on the roofof the church, there's these
large HVAC units.
(14:53):
I mean literally, they have tohave a crane.
Get that unit up on top of thechurch.
If you don't believe just howpower-packed these units are,
just ask the property team whohad to replace one about a month
ago.
They'll tell you they'reserious business.
The power that it takes to coola room like this on a day like
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this or heat it in the summer,the power that those units take
both below us and above it, it'sunbelievable.
It's above my pay grade, butthe reality is where those are
housed.
It's not the most powerful room, powerful place in this church,
the most powerful place in thischurch.
I can tell you where it is.
You go down these stairs, youwalk through the reception hall,
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you turn right.
At the end you're going to gointo this room that, since 1988,
has existed as the prayer roomof First Baptist Church of El
Dorado.
If you want to know what powerlooks like, think about women
and men, for decades now, whohave walked into that room and
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though you and I may see it asjust walking into a room, what
it really is is using theiraccess to come before the throne
of the God of the universe topetition him, to praise him, to
seek him, to make requests ofhim the power that exists in
that room, utilizing the accessthey have to the God of the
(16:27):
universe.
If you want to know anythinggood that has happened at this
church since 1988, just look atwhat's going on in that room and
what God has done through thepower that has gone forth
because of the access that isgained before the throne of God
in prayer, forth because of theaccess that is gained before the
throne of God in prayer, andthe reality is that access?
That is true of many who havewalked into that room.
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It's the same access you haveAt the end of the day.
That room's not magic.
At the end of the day, you havethe same kind of access to the
God of the universe at yourdining room table, in your, your
chair, at home with your cup ofcoffee in the morning.
Oh, it's a beautiful thing tocome to that room and I hope and
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pray that you will, but youhave access anywhere you are.
Why?
Because you deserve it.
Why because we can boldly comebefore the throne and we can say
aren't I something, lord,shouldn't I get to come here?
No, no, no.
Because Christ Jesus hasclothed us in his righteousness
(17:34):
and therefore we can come.
And so, even now, you haveaccess to the God of the
universe.
Do you live like you haveaccess to the God of the
universe?
Do you live like you haveaccess to the God of the
universe?
Does your prayer life look likeyou have access to the God of
the universe?
Does the boldness you live withcommunicate to an outside world
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that you have access to the Godof the universe?
Our justification provides ourpeace.
Our justification provides ouraccess.
But last, I want to see thisOur justification provides our
peace, our justificationprovides our access.
But last, I want to see thisOur justification provides our
hope.
So we've seen peace and access.
I'm getting excited about whatPaul's going to say next in
verse three.
Not only that, but we rejoicein our sufferings.
(18:18):
We fell off a cliff there,didn't we?
We're going up, we've got peace, we've got access.
And then Paul, in verse 3, saysthis I rejoice in my sufferings
.
I don't like that one as much,that one doesn't maybe get a
room as excited as those firsttwo.
But I want us to see the beautyof it.
(18:39):
Not that Paul is saying werejoice in our sufferings, as in
when suffering or trial comes,I'm just, I'm coming out and
just high-fiving and, mygoodness, I get to suffer again.
How great, not that.
But we rejoice even in themidst of our sufferings, even in
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the midst of our trials.
Because, why?
Because our suffering is notwasted.
Because, though we live in abroken world and a sinful world,
and suffering and trials willcome, we serve a God who is
sovereign over all and therefore, even in the hardest of
circumstances, we serve a Godthat doesn't waste any of it,
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that doesn't waste our suffering.
Look what he says.
He says we rejoice in our thatGod is going to do something
with our suffering.
He's going to take us somewherewith our suffering.
First, it produces endurance.
You can think of the wordsteadfastness.
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This is just the character of abeliever that they've walked
through suffering.
They've seen the faithfulnessof God and therefore through
suffering they keep walking.
They know God is still on thethrone, he is still faithful.
It produces endurance, but hecontinues.
Endurance produces character,that believers, in their
(20:11):
character, are built up.
They're differently.
They're different today.
They live differently becausethey've walked through hard
things and seen the faithfulnessof God and their character that
has been built has a new way ofseeing God I love.
At the very end of Job youprobably heard me quote it
before 42.5, job says this thatGod, I had heard of you by the
(20:34):
hearing of the ear, but now myeye sees you.
God, before I walked throughsuffering I knew about you, but
now my eye sees you.
I think we all know this thatthere are some lessons and some
growth God can build within usin a season of suffering that
(20:58):
might never have come, in theseason of sunshine.
I praise God for mountaintopseasons, for sunshine seasons.
I pray you all have them andhave them in abundance.
But you also know this God cando something in and through your
suffering and trials that canreally change things.
(21:18):
And maybe you know God moreclearly today, because God has
walked you through somethingthat you didn't know if you'd
make it through.
So it produces endurance, itproduces character, and
character produces hope.
And that hope, it doesn't put usto shame.
We hope in a lot of things inthis earth.
(21:39):
We hope for a lot of thingsthat may or may not put us to
shame, may or may not come true.
I hope my team wins thisafternoon.
I hope this or that happens.
I hope it's not going to be acold, rainy day on Mother's Day.
And yet sometimes those hopescan let us down.
And yet what Paul shows us here,there's something about the
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hope in the gospel, even in themidst of sufferings, that will
not put us to shame.
Why?
Because God will come through.
How do we know?
Because God's love has beenpoured into our hearts through
the Holy Spirit who's been givento us.
Ephesians 1.14,.
I love the verse.
It says that the Holy Spirit isto guarantee the down payment
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of all that is to come, the downpayment of all of the gifts and
even the eternal life that ispromised.
It's as if God is saying do youwant to know how faithful I am?
I will come and dwell withinyou right now and you can go and
let that be a promise that allof my promises will come true,
(22:51):
both now and into eternity.
That the one who walks with usthrough suffering is faithful.
And therefore, because of thegospel, because of our
justification, we have a new wayto think of even the hard
(23:12):
things in life.
That we don't walk around thisworld hopeless.
No believer should ever walkaround this world without hope.
Because we know this that inChrist, at the end of all things
(23:33):
, no matter where we sit now,one day we know that all will
indeed be well.
And it'd be one thing if Paulwere writing this from his beach
vacation, sitting on the beach,enjoying himself, writing to
the church at Rome, saying whydon't you just rejoice in your
sufferings?
Have you tried that?
But no, this is Paul writing,the one who had been arrested
(23:58):
more times than we can count,put in prison, who had been
beaten, who had they tried toexecute him.
Eventually, they did executehim.
This is the one who hadsuffered more for the sake of
Christ than we can imagine.
Who's he writing to?
The church at Rome, livingunder the hand of an emperor
that did not like believers,that persecuted believers?
(24:21):
They knew suffering and yeteven still rejoice.
And, most of all, we see asavior who himself knew
suffering.
The god of the universe sendinghis son did not run from
suffering, but his son enteredinto it on our behalf.
(24:42):
And if you want the perfectexample of how hope can come
even out of suffering, look nofurther than an empty tomb a
couple days after the Lord ofthe universe being put in the
grave.
This is what is possiblebecause of the hope of the
gospel.
This is what, as a believer, youhave, and so I just want to end
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by asking you this questionwhat are you going to do with
these things?
What are you going to do withyour peace, the fact that you
were once an enemy of God andnow you're brought into right
relationship?
How will that change you?
Will people around you hearabout the fact and know about
(25:27):
the fact that you know Jesus?
And it changes everything?
What are you going to do withyour access?
How many subscriptions are youpaying for right now and you
don't even know you're payingfor.
Sometimes we don't utilize ouraccess.
I pray that it wouldn't be thecase in our Christian life, that
we're sitting with access tothe God of the universe and yet
(25:51):
just putting it on the side.
Will you come with confidencebefore the throne of God because
he invites you as a father?
Will you pray to him witheverything you have because you
have a God that wants to hearfrom you?
Will you wake up every dayknowing that you live the life
(26:12):
of one who has been radicallyturned upside down, for the
gospel that has changedeverything and the God of the
universe is your father?
And what will you do with yoursuffering?
You may be in the midst ofsuffering right now, in the
midst of trial in this verymoment, and though it's
(26:33):
certainly not enjoyable, thoughwe certainly wouldn't wish for
it back at any point or anysufferings, what can God do in
the midst of it?
How might my hope be built?
Even now, the good news of thegospel is this that we now have
peace, we have access and wehave hope.
(26:55):
That changes everything for thebeliever, and I pray day by day
.
It changes everything for yourlife, as we respond in just a
moment.
I wonder for someone in here ifthat'll change everything for
you, even this morning, that youwould come to know your Savior.
I'd love to introduce you.
I'd love to talk with you aboutwhat that means.
I'd love to pray with you downhere.
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I'd love to invite you to be apart of this church.
Maybe you want to come down andtalk about being a member here
at First Baptist.
However, you want to respondnow.
I pray that you would do so.
I'll pray and we'll worshipLord Jesus.
I thank you so much for thegospel.
Thank you for the peace that wehave, the access that we have,
the hope that we have only madepossible by Jesus Christ.
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I just pray any in the roomthat don't know you that today
they would come into thatrelationship with access to the
God in the universe, not throughtheir works, but through Jesus
Christ, the righteous, and himalone.
I just pray that you wouldbring souls to life.
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I pray that you would encouragebelievers who have just maybe
grown tired, grown weary.
Lord, even in their weariness,would they remember that they
have peace, they have access andthey have hope.
Lord, I thank you for thegospel.
I pray this in Christ's name,amen.
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Would you stand now?
I'll be down front if you'dlike to respond.
Hello and welcome to the FBC Eldorado Sermon Podcast.
My name is Taylor Guerin, Ihave the privilege of being the
pastor here at First Baptist andI want to thank you for
listening in to our sermon thisweek.
And I want to tell you this ifyou're in our area and you don't
have a church home, we wouldlove to see you any Sunday
morning at First Baptist, elDorado.
(00:25):
Will you join me now inlistening to our sermon from
this week?
I want to read Romans 5, verses1 through 5.
Romans 5, 1 through 5, and itsays this therefore, since we
have been justified by faith, wehave peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ.
(00:46):
Through him, we have alsoobtained access by faith into
the grace in which we stand andwe rejoice in hope of the glory
of God.
Not only that, but we rejoicein our sufferings, knowing that
suffering produces endurance,endurance produces character and
character produces hope.
Endurance, endurance producescharacter and character produces
hope.
And hope does not put us toshame, because God's love has
(01:07):
been poured into our heartsthrough the Holy Spirit who has
been given to us.
Let me pray.
Lord Jesus, I ask that youwould speak now through your
word.
Teach us what it means to liveout your gospel truth.
I do pray over every woman inthis room, for mothers, for
(01:28):
grandmothers, for even greatgrandmothers in this room, for
disciple makers across the room,lord, what a gift, lord, the
debt that we owe to faithfulwomen of God who have faithfully
discipled.
We give you praise, lord, and Ipray your blessings over them
today and every day.
(01:50):
And, lord, now through yourword, would you speak to us?
We ask, in Christ's name, amen.
We've gotten now to Romans,chapter 5.
In Romans, 1 through 3, what welooked at is the really, really
bad news that we are far moresinful than we ever thought
possible.
We are far more sinful than wedared to even consider.
(02:12):
But then, late in chapter 3,paul gives us the best news we
could imagine that there is farmore grace than we could ever
imagine, far more grace becauseof the work of Jesus Christ than
we could have dreamed waspossible.
Last week, in chapter 4, we sawPaul give us a case study from
(02:32):
family history.
What does it mean to bejustified by grace through faith
?
Well, he says look at Abraham,who believed in God and it was
counted to him as righteousness.
And so we saw this piece offamily history.
And now, today, we turn toRomans 5, and Paul wants to show
us the benefits of faith, thebenefits of the gospel, what is
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true of us because we believethe gospel.
It begins here again, inchapter 5, verse 1,.
Therefore, since we have beenjustified by faith, if we have
the chart on the screen, I wantto show you something.
We showed this a couple monthsback, but this, really this
chart that represents theChristian life, and I just want
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to remind us again that you'vegot unbelief before Christ.
And then you've got that J,that dot there of justification.
We're coming back to that whichleads to sanctification, which
is the process of becoming morelike Christ, glorification, when
we go to be with the Lord, theeternal state of a glorified
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believer.
But that big dot, justification,notice, it's not a line, notice
, it's not a process.
It is a point on the map ofyour life that you are justified
, that your sins have beenforgiven.
Why?
Because of the finished work ofChrist and you are counted
righteous, because Christ hasdied and risen from the grave,
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and so you are justified, apoint in time.
And you, how could this be?
Certainly not, as we saw lastweek, of our own work, merit or
effort, but by the work ofChrist.
So again, romans 5.1 shows us.
Point number one is this thatour justification provides our
(04:27):
peace.
What's the first thing we getout of it?
Our justification provides ourpeace.
Therefore, since we have beenjustified by faith, here it is
we have peace with God.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ,we now have peace with God.
Now, what does that word peacemean?
Sometimes, when we think ofpeace, we can think about it
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like this as we think of peace,we think of an inner serenity,
an inner just, maybe clarity orcontentment.
That's really not what Paul istalking about here.
Now, by all means, there willbe times in the Christian life
when we have that inner peace,that contentment.
(05:12):
All seems well, all feelsresolved in our soul, that inner
peace.
Certainly that will be there attimes in our life.
In this moment, really, paul istalking about peace, defining it
as that we are no longer rebels, we are no longer hostile to
God and to the things of God,that we who were once counted
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enemies of God are now broughtinto peace with God.
Now we might be tempted to saydid I really need peace with God
?
We might be tempted to say well, taylor, I don't know that I
was really hostile to God.
I don't know that I was anenemy of his.
(05:55):
I might tell you this thismorning I was saved at the age
of six years old, I think Imentioned before.
I wasn't running around theplayground at five years old
just as this reckless enemy ofGod shouting out my rebellion
against God.
That really wasn't my story.
So what do you mean?
That outside of Christ, wedidn't have this peace.
(06:18):
We were hostile to God.
Well, outside of Christ,certainly, though we may not
have run around as if we wereenemies of God and rebels.
Certainly, in our sin we livedlike it, whether we realized it
or not.
We made decisions that put uson the throne of our lives.
We made decisions that had notime for anyone else being the
(06:40):
sovereign Lord, had no time foranyone else being the sovereign
Lord.
If you want to see just how muchwe need peace, let's jump down
and look briefly at verses 6through 11.
Because Paul describes when thegospel work came, verse 6, he
says For while we were stillweak.
(07:00):
So, number one, we were weak atthe right time.
Christ died for the ungodly,for one will scarcely die for a
righteous person, though perhapsfor a good person, one might
dare to die.
So we were weak and Christ diedfor us.
Paul, reasoning this out, maybefor someone who is really,
really good.
Some human might dare to die,but look at this good.
(07:27):
Some human might dare to die,but look at this, verse 8, but
God shows his love for us inthat, while we were still
sinners, christ died for us.
When did the work of Christ takeplace?
Not after we cleaned ourselvesup, not after we looked the part
, not after we finally got ourlives together, but it says,
while we were still sinners.
Christ died for us.
Therefore, verse 9, since,therefore, we have now been
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justified by his blood, muchmore shall we be saved by him
from the wrath of God.
For if, while we were enemies,we were reconciled to God by the
death of his son, much more,now that we are reconciled,
shall we be saved by His life.
More than that, we're rejoicingGod through our Lord Jesus
Christ, through whom we have nowreceived reconciliation.
(08:15):
In the beauty of those verses,what you also see is the reality
of our own lives outside ofChrist.
We saw that we were weak.
We saw that we were weak.
We saw that we were stillsinners.
We saw that we were enemies ofGod.
We saw that we were deservingof the wrath of God.
We saw that we were those thatneeded to be reconciled to God.
(08:37):
And so when we think about thatand that is the context of who
we were outside of ChristSuddenly it wakes us up to the
unbelievable claim that we arethose now that stand at peace
before God, that before thesovereign God of the universe,
(09:01):
you and I have peace.
You and I come into hispresence in peace.
We have perfect relationshipwith him, and I say perfect.
We are justified, his perfectrighteousness.
Certainly, sometimes our ownsin still seems to get in the
(09:22):
way a little bit in our lives,but the reality is this we are
now at peace and justifiedbefore him.
So our justification, first ofall.
It provides our peace, but alsoI want to see this our
justification provides ouraccess.
Look at verse 2.
Through him, we have alsoobtained access by faith into
(09:45):
the grace in which we stand andwe rejoice in hope of the glory
of God.
I want to think about that word,access, for a minute.
We live in an access world,don't we?
Everything seems to be aboutaccess.
Thing seems to be about access.
(10:10):
You pay your $10 a month to thesubscription to the Netflix or
the Disney Plus and they giveyou access to their video
catalog.
You pay your monthlysubscription to the El Dorado
paper or the Democrat Gazettethey give you access.
The second you miss thatpayment, that access is taken
away.
We live in an access world.
I think a few weeks ago, theMasters Tournament at Augusta,
(10:30):
rory McIlroy wins the tournament, finally wins the tournament,
the career Grand Slam, and I'lltell you what he gets for
winning.
He gets $4.2 million.
That's what you get this yearfor winning the Masters $4.2
million.
But let me tell you get thisyear for winning the Masters,
4.2 million dollars.
But let me tell you what healso gets that you get for
(10:51):
winning at Augusta winning theMasters, you get access.
First, you get the green jacketthe green jacket at Augusta
that only the winners have andeverybody who's never won the
tournament want that elusivegreen jacket that says forever
(11:14):
you're a Masters champion.
You get your name engraved onthe trophy that stays at Augusta
.
You also get a replica of it totake with you.
Probably most importantly, youget access to the champion's
locker room and it is exactlywhat it says it is.
It is a locker room that onlyexists, that is only open for
(11:36):
past champions, and even still,each year at Augusta, the past
champions still use that lockerroom, so there'll be maybe three
or four guys that get to use itthat weekend at Augusta.
The past champions still usethat locker room, so there'll be
, you know, maybe three or fourguys that get to use it that
weekend at Augusta, but it'sonly for them.
You get your name on a locker.
It is yours now and forever.
At the next year, rory McIlroywill get to you know, host the
(11:57):
dinner and pick the menu.
There's a certain level ofaccess that comes with winning
that tournament and if you askedRory McIlroy right now which is
a very difficult name topronounce in a sermon multiple
times if you asked Rory McIlroyright now and I preface this by
saying he lives in a differenttax bracket than the rest of us
(12:19):
but if you were to ask him rightnow, you can keep one of them,
you can keep the 4.2 million oryou can keep the access.
It's not a question.
Give me the access, let me bethe master's champion.
The locker room, the jacket,everything that comes with it.
There's just something aboutaccess.
That means something, and youand I, if we are in Christ Jesus
(12:46):
, think about something theaccess that we have.
It's almost wild to even utterthis fact that you and I, who
are so undeserving because ofthe finished work of Christ
being clothed in hisrighteousness, have access to
(13:09):
the throne room of God, that wecan come before a holy God.
And not only that we areinvited in.
And not only that, as Jesusreminds us, we can look to him
and say this is the wildestclaim of all Our Father.
That's access.
That's better than a champion'slocker room, that's better than
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a jacket.
That's access before the throneof God In our sanctuary, in
that top corner.
There's a room up there and youall want to.
You can look right now.
If you hadn't seen it, you seea window up there there and
there's a room.
And one of two things is trueof you Either you've always
(13:50):
wondered what's in there oryou've looked in and been
extremely let down because it'snot that exciting.
But there's a room up there andif you go in there right now,
you can't.
After service, you're gonna seea couple things.
Again, you're going to be letdown by it.
You're going to see a lot ofbreaker boxes and a lot of
breaker switches and there's alot of wattage and a lot of
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power in that room.
You can turn lights on and off,probably all over this building
.
You're also going to see andthis is Dustin's world, I don't
know but some large towers ofamplifiers that somehow make all
this sound go forth so we canhear it, and and all of that is
housed in that room.
(14:32):
The amount of wattage, theamount of power that exists just
in that room is kind ofunbelievable.
The reality is this it's notthe most powerful room in this
church.
There's also down below us,kind of down in the guts of the
basement, as well as on the roofof the church, there's these
large HVAC units.
(14:53):
I mean literally, they have tohave a crane.
Get that unit up on top of thechurch.
If you don't believe just howpower-packed these units are,
just ask the property team whohad to replace one about a month
ago.
They'll tell you they'reserious business.
The power that it takes to coola room like this on a day like
(15:15):
this or heat it in the summer,the power that those units take
both below us and above it, it'sunbelievable.
It's above my pay grade, butthe reality is where those are
housed.
It's not the most powerful room, powerful place in this church,
the most powerful place in thischurch.
I can tell you where it is.
You go down these stairs, youwalk through the reception hall,
(15:38):
you turn right.
At the end you're going to gointo this room that, since 1988,
has existed as the prayer roomof First Baptist Church of El
Dorado.
If you want to know what powerlooks like, think about women
and men, for decades now, whohave walked into that room and
(16:03):
though you and I may see it asjust walking into a room, what
it really is is using theiraccess to come before the throne
of the God of the universe topetition him, to praise him, to
seek him, to make requests ofhim the power that exists in
that room, utilizing the accessthey have to the God of the
(16:27):
universe.
If you want to know anythinggood that has happened at this
church since 1988, just look atwhat's going on in that room and
what God has done through thepower that has gone forth
because of the access that isgained before the throne of God
in prayer, forth because of theaccess that is gained before the
throne of God in prayer, andthe reality is that access?
That is true of many who havewalked into that room.
(16:49):
It's the same access you haveAt the end of the day.
That room's not magic.
At the end of the day, you havethe same kind of access to the
God of the universe at yourdining room table, in your, your
chair, at home with your cup ofcoffee in the morning.
Oh, it's a beautiful thing tocome to that room and I hope and
(17:10):
pray that you will, but youhave access anywhere you are.
Why?
Because you deserve it.
Why because we can boldly comebefore the throne and we can say
aren't I something, lord,shouldn't I get to come here?
No, no, no.
Because Christ Jesus hasclothed us in his righteousness
(17:34):
and therefore we can come.
And so, even now, you haveaccess to the God of the
universe.
Do you live like you haveaccess to the God of the
universe?
Do you live like you haveaccess to the God of the
universe?
Does your prayer life look likeyou have access to the God of
the universe?
Does the boldness you live withcommunicate to an outside world
(17:55):
that you have access to the Godof the universe?
Our justification provides ourpeace.
Our justification provides ouraccess.
But last, I want to see thisOur justification provides our
peace, our justificationprovides our access.
But last, I want to see thisOur justification provides our
hope.
So we've seen peace and access.
I'm getting excited about whatPaul's going to say next in
verse three.
Not only that, but we rejoicein our sufferings.
(18:18):
We fell off a cliff there,didn't we?
We're going up, we've got peace, we've got access.
And then Paul, in verse 3, saysthis I rejoice in my sufferings
.
I don't like that one as much,that one doesn't maybe get a
room as excited as those firsttwo.
But I want us to see the beautyof it.
(18:39):
Not that Paul is saying werejoice in our sufferings, as in
when suffering or trial comes,I'm just, I'm coming out and
just high-fiving and, mygoodness, I get to suffer again.
How great, not that.
But we rejoice even in themidst of our sufferings, even in
(19:01):
the midst of our trials.
Because, why?
Because our suffering is notwasted.
Because, though we live in abroken world and a sinful world,
and suffering and trials willcome, we serve a God who is
sovereign over all and therefore, even in the hardest of
circumstances, we serve a Godthat doesn't waste any of it,
(19:26):
that doesn't waste our suffering.
Look what he says.
He says we rejoice in our thatGod is going to do something
with our suffering.
He's going to take us somewherewith our suffering.
First, it produces endurance.
You can think of the wordsteadfastness.
(19:48):
This is just the character of abeliever that they've walked
through suffering.
They've seen the faithfulnessof God and therefore through
suffering they keep walking.
They know God is still on thethrone, he is still faithful.
It produces endurance, but hecontinues.
Endurance produces character,that believers, in their
(20:11):
character, are built up.
They're differently.
They're different today.
They live differently becausethey've walked through hard
things and seen the faithfulnessof God and their character that
has been built has a new way ofseeing God I love.
At the very end of Job youprobably heard me quote it
before 42.5, job says this thatGod, I had heard of you by the
(20:34):
hearing of the ear, but now myeye sees you.
God, before I walked throughsuffering I knew about you, but
now my eye sees you.
I think we all know this thatthere are some lessons and some
growth God can build within usin a season of suffering that
(20:58):
might never have come, in theseason of sunshine.
I praise God for mountaintopseasons, for sunshine seasons.
I pray you all have them andhave them in abundance.
But you also know this God cando something in and through your
suffering and trials that canreally change things.
(21:18):
And maybe you know God moreclearly today, because God has
walked you through somethingthat you didn't know if you'd
make it through.
So it produces endurance, itproduces character, and
character produces hope.
And that hope, it doesn't put usto shame.
We hope in a lot of things inthis earth.
(21:39):
We hope for a lot of thingsthat may or may not put us to
shame, may or may not come true.
I hope my team wins thisafternoon.
I hope this or that happens.
I hope it's not going to be acold, rainy day on Mother's Day.
And yet sometimes those hopescan let us down.
And yet what Paul shows us here,there's something about the
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hope in the gospel, even in themidst of sufferings, that will
not put us to shame.
Why?
Because God will come through.
How do we know?
Because God's love has beenpoured into our hearts through
the Holy Spirit who's been givento us.
Ephesians 1.14,.
I love the verse.
It says that the Holy Spirit isto guarantee the down payment
(22:28):
of all that is to come, the downpayment of all of the gifts and
even the eternal life that ispromised.
It's as if God is saying do youwant to know how faithful I am?
I will come and dwell withinyou right now and you can go and
let that be a promise that allof my promises will come true,
(22:51):
both now and into eternity.
That the one who walks with usthrough suffering is faithful.
And therefore, because of thegospel, because of our
justification, we have a new wayto think of even the hard
(23:12):
things in life.
That we don't walk around thisworld hopeless.
No believer should ever walkaround this world without hope.
Because we know this that inChrist, at the end of all things
(23:33):
, no matter where we sit now,one day we know that all will
indeed be well.
And it'd be one thing if Paulwere writing this from his beach
vacation, sitting on the beach,enjoying himself, writing to
the church at Rome, saying whydon't you just rejoice in your
sufferings?
Have you tried that?
But no, this is Paul writing,the one who had been arrested
(23:58):
more times than we can count,put in prison, who had been
beaten, who had they tried toexecute him.
Eventually, they did executehim.
This is the one who hadsuffered more for the sake of
Christ than we can imagine.
Who's he writing to?
The church at Rome, livingunder the hand of an emperor
that did not like believers,that persecuted believers?
(24:21):
They knew suffering and yeteven still rejoice.
And, most of all, we see asavior who himself knew
suffering.
The god of the universe sendinghis son did not run from
suffering, but his son enteredinto it on our behalf.
(24:42):
And if you want the perfectexample of how hope can come
even out of suffering, look nofurther than an empty tomb a
couple days after the Lord ofthe universe being put in the
grave.
This is what is possiblebecause of the hope of the
gospel.
This is what, as a believer, youhave, and so I just want to end
(25:07):
by asking you this questionwhat are you going to do with
these things?
What are you going to do withyour peace, the fact that you
were once an enemy of God andnow you're brought into right
relationship?
How will that change you?
Will people around you hearabout the fact and know about
(25:27):
the fact that you know Jesus?
And it changes everything?
What are you going to do withyour access?
How many subscriptions are youpaying for right now and you
don't even know you're payingfor.
Sometimes we don't utilize ouraccess.
I pray that it wouldn't be thecase in our Christian life, that
we're sitting with access tothe God of the universe and yet
(25:51):
just putting it on the side.
Will you come with confidencebefore the throne of God because
he invites you as a father?
Will you pray to him witheverything you have because you
have a God that wants to hearfrom you?
Will you wake up every dayknowing that you live the life
(26:12):
of one who has been radicallyturned upside down, for the
gospel that has changedeverything and the God of the
universe is your father?
And what will you do with yoursuffering?
You may be in the midst ofsuffering right now, in the
midst of trial in this verymoment, and though it's
(26:33):
certainly not enjoyable, thoughwe certainly wouldn't wish for
it back at any point or anysufferings, what can God do in
the midst of it?
How might my hope be built?
Even now, the good news of thegospel is this that we now have
peace, we have access and wehave hope.
(26:55):
That changes everything for thebeliever, and I pray day by day
.
It changes everything for yourlife, as we respond in just a
moment.
I wonder for someone in here ifthat'll change everything for
you, even this morning, that youwould come to know your Savior.
I'd love to introduce you.
I'd love to talk with you aboutwhat that means.
I'd love to pray with you downhere.
(27:17):
I'd love to invite you to be apart of this church.
Maybe you want to come down andtalk about being a member here
at First Baptist.
However, you want to respondnow.
I pray that you would do so.
I'll pray and we'll worshipLord Jesus.
I thank you so much for thegospel.
Thank you for the peace that wehave, the access that we have,
the hope that we have only madepossible by Jesus Christ.
(27:41):
I just pray any in the roomthat don't know you that today
they would come into thatrelationship with access to the
God in the universe, not throughtheir works, but through Jesus
Christ, the righteous, and himalone.
I just pray that you wouldbring souls to life.
(28:01):
I pray that you would encouragebelievers who have just maybe
grown tired, grown weary.
Lord, even in their weariness,would they remember that they
have peace, they have access andthey have hope.
Lord, I thank you for thegospel.
I pray this in Christ's name,amen.
(28:24):
Would you stand now?
I'll be down front if you'dlike to respond.
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