What You Believe Matters! (Romans Week 10) by Rich Nathan

This message explores how what we believe profoundly shapes how we experience life, especially in our relationship with God. Drawing from Romans 5:1–5, it unpacks how being justified by faith gives us peace with God, access to grace, confidence in suffering, and assurance of God’s love. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good morning. Great to see all of you today and great praying a blessing and and do pray for protection for synagogues around America. It's uh a pretty um frightening time uh really globally to be Jewish. And uh so great well uh let me begin. How many of you think what you believe matters? That it it actually matters what you believe. We we live at a time where uh people think that belief is just purely preference, it's subjective. It it doesn't really matter what you believe. You know, you i it's like you like chocolate, I like vanilla, it's just a matter of personal preference. But if you think about it for just a moment, it's really clear that what we believe matters in in almost every area of life. It does, it affects your behavior. For example, uh, let's say that you got two guys with the same condition, they both go to a doctor, uh, and uh the treatment plan is painful. One of the guys believes that the doctor is a sadist and is planning to torture and kill him. And so he flees the doctor's office, doesn't get the treatment. The other person knows that the doctor is not trying to hurt him, but to heal him, stays with the treatment, the one man dies, the other lives. Or let's say uh you're on a plane and there's some real turbulence as you're flying. The lights come on, the uh pilot says, We're hitting a uh you know huge storm, buckle up. One woman, let's call her Marlene. She uh she just begins to scream, we're we're all gonna die. And uh there's a man peacefully sitting next to her, let's call him Rich. And and he grabs Marlene's arm and says, It's okay, uh, we're not going to die. The pilot knows what he's doing, and uh the plane is well built. It really matters what you believe, right? And that's true in every area of your life. Or or to just use a more contemporary illustration, uh, the stock market has been really uh hurting in the last, what, four weeks since the Iran War, it's down 10% or whatever, and people start getting nervous. One person believes that uh they're going to lose their life savings. And they, as the market drops, they start pulling their money out. Another person says, look, over the last hundred years we've had these dips and then they've gone up, and if you stay pat, you know, it'll eventually rebound, don't pull your money out. My stepfather pulled all of his money out of the stock market in the depth of the recession and just lost, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars. It matters what you believe. And the Bible asserts over and over again that it what it claims is objectively true. It says that what it claims about God, what it claims about Jesus, what it claims about the way to live a meaningful life, it's objectively true. It's as true as the law of gravity. And if you live in accordance with Scripture, your life will flourish. And if you don't, it won't. And so today, as we continue in the book of Romans, I'm my message is simply titled What You Believe Matters. Let's just ask God's favor and then we'll turn to his word together. We'll be looking at Romans chapter 5. Heavenly Father, we welcome your presence here. We ask, Lord, for uh each person who's here to have an open heart to hear your word. Lord, you know those who need encouragement, those who need comfort, those who need challenge, Lord, those whose hearts are broken. You know, Lord, those who are struggling with faith, and Lord, you know everything about us. You know those who have been betrayed and those who are struggling with health. And uh we ask, Lord, for your presence. And Lord, I pray that I would just get out of the way and that your spirit would speak. Please, Lord, anoint this message in Jesus' name. Amen. We're going to be looking at Romans chapter 5, beginning in verse 1. Therefore, since we've been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we've gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope. And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who's been given to us. And so if you've got one of those outlines and you plan to fill it in, here's the first point. Because you have been justified by faith, you don't have to fight for God's approval. Because you've been justified by faith, you don't have to fight for God's approval. Let's read verse 1 again. Therefore, since we've been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this is one of those times that the grammar really matters. And the exact translation of Romans 5, verse 1 is therefore having been justified by faith. Having been justified by faith. The Greek here is called an aorist passive participle. Now, an aorist participle is about actions that have been completed in the past. They're done deals. A passive participle is something that's done to you, that you don't do yourself. So what the Apostle Paul is saying is that in the past you were declared right with God, and it was entirely his action. You just received it. You didn't justify yourself, rather, God declared you by his own action to be forgiven. He declared that you are in the right with him, that you stand acquitted before him, and that the righteousness of Jesus Christ has been put in your in your account. All of that is done. It's a done deal. You don't justify yourself, God justifies you. And this past action of God forgiving your sins and saying you're as right with him as his son Jesus is right with him. This is the foundation of everything that's going to follow. Now, it makes a difference if you believe you're right with God or if you don't. And there's a great illustration in the Old Testament of a man who never believed he was right with God, even though God had said that he was in the right. And his name is Jacob. Jacob, if you're not familiar with the Old Testament, was one of the three patriarchs of the people of Israel: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And as you look at the life of Jacob, God declared that his plan was to bless Jacob before Jacob was even born. Before he did anything good or bad, God said, I'm going to bless you, and through you the nation of Israel would come. But Jacob could not believe that God would bless him. And so he spent his life manipulating and striving and struggling for a blessing that was already his. And it just about destroyed his life. Jacob didn't believe that God's promise was enough and God's grace is enough. And how many people today do not believe that God's grace is enough? That you don't have to fight for God's love. It's there for you. I think of a child who's insecure in her parents' love. And she always believes that she has to have perfect grades and perfect attendance in school, perfectly clean up her room, and perfectly do everything in order to earn her parents' love. And one night her mom comes in, puts her arm around her daughter, and she says, Honey, we don't love you because you're good. We love you because you're ours. It matters what you believe. I think of a guy who doesn't believe he's enough and always tries to pretend that he's more than he is. He buys things that he can't afford, and he's always picking up the check for his friends when again he can't afford it, and he always has to have greater stories about his success at work than it really is true. And his friends love him just as he is. They just want him to relax, to stop playing pretend, to try to stop, you know, trying to be more than he is. But how many folks don't believe that they're okay because God says they're okay? Listen, if you don't believe you're right with God, you're gonna spend your life trying to gain the approval that's already there. Here's a little devotional exercise, and you can write this down if you want. Just fill in the blank here. Because Jesus died for me. What would you fill in the blank with? Because Jesus died for me, I don't have to what? I don't have to what? Because Jesus died for me. I don't have to lie about my achievements. Because Jesus died for me, I don't always have to cover up my weaknesses. Because Jesus died for me, I don't have to be anxious about the future. Because Jesus died for me, I don't have to fear dying. What would you put in the blank? Because Jesus died for me, I don't have to what. The Apostle Paul says that being justified produces so many good things in the heart of a believer. One good thing that being justified and believing that puts into your heart is that you know that you have peace with God. He says in verse 1, therefore, since we've been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Here's your second point. Because Jesus, because you have been justified by faith, you have peace with God. Because you've been justified by faith, you have peace with God. The apostle Paul, by the way, doesn't say, because you've been justified with by faith, you have peace with your ex-spouse. He doesn't say that. He doesn't say because you've been justified by faith, you have peace with your boss. He doesn't say because you've been justified by faith, you have peace with everyone in the church. He doesn't say because you've been justified by faith, you have peace with the devil. He doesn't say any of those things. What he says is because you've been justified by faith, you have peace with God. And that ain't bad. You have peace with God. And if you embrace the fact that you have peace with God, that can be a foundation for forming peace with everyone else. That's the starting point. You can have peace with everyone else. And I want you to note that when he talks about peace with God, he's talking about an objective state of affairs. This is a fact. This is reality. This is truth. You have peace with God whether you feel it or not, by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. What Paul is saying is the enity that existed between us and God has been removed. God's wrath has been poured out and paid for by Jesus' death on the cross. God does not condemn you. You are right with him, therefore you have peace with him. You know, literally, billions of dollars are spent every year in America for people who are seeking peace, right? How much do people pay just to find peace? We go to therapists because we want peace. We seek medication because we lack peace. We read self-help books and we self-medicate with drugs and alcohol because we lack peace. And uh it's okay to go to a therapist, and it's okay to deal, you know, to take medication if you struggle with an anxiety disorder. But there's something so much more fundamental as a foundation for peace, and that is knowing that you have peace with God. Listen. Those are two different things: peace with God and the peace of God. Peace with God is an objective state of affairs. The peace of God is an inner feeling, a feeling of peace when God's presence settles on you. The peace of God gives you an inner tranquility, uh, a serenity that no matter what happens, no matter what I'm going through, I don't have to freak out. I know that even in the storm, Jesus is in the boat with me. He will never leave me or forsake me. He's with me, therefore I can feel peace. But you know, there's a condition for experiencing peace in the Bible: peace with God and the peace of God. There's one condition for both. And the Bible says the condition for both is righteousness. Let's read this again. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God. The condition for having peace with God is that you are justified. That means declared in the right. How were we declared in the right? Because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He lived a perfect life. He died a sinless death. He was raised to glorious resurrection, and his righteousness is put in your account. Therefore, if you receive that by faith, you have peace with God. Righteousness is the condition for having peace. And the daily experience of inner peace is also based on righteousness. Here's what we read in Isaiah 32. The fruit of that righteousness will be peace. The effect will be quietness and confidence forever. And Romans 14, 17. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness. Peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. There is an order to these things. We all want peace and we all want joy. But the Apostle Paul says, first righteousness, then peace, then joy. If you want inner peace, if you want to be happy, you have to live a life that is a righteous life, that is in accordance with God's will. So many of us want to get to peace and joy without righteousness. In other words, we say, I want to live life according to my rules. I want to do it my way, but I want peace and joy. I want to make up my own rules for my sex life, but I want peace and joy. I want to be able to hold on to anger and bitterness toward people who have really hurt me. I don't want to forgive, but I want peace and joy. I want to hold a grudge, but I'd also like peace. I want to treat my spouse any way that I choose, but I'd sure like peace. I want to treat my kids any way that I choose, but I'd like peace. I want to treat my friends any way I choose, but I'd also like peace. And then we get angry with God. And we say, God, you're not keeping your end of the bargain. I thought you were going to give me peace. Peace with God is based upon the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The peace of God is based upon us living righteous lives. One condition. And when your life is out of sync with the way that God ordered the world to be, you're going to struggle with anxiety. You're going to struggle with a lack of peace. A good signal that something's not right between me and God is I'm all jangled inside. I'm all upset. Something's not, you know, something's not clicking. I need to say, Lord, is there anything wrong? Is there anything wrong between me and you? And if there is, let me just confess it and get right with you. You're always going to be frustrated if you're not living in accordance with God's will. Here's the third thing. Because you've been justified by faith, you have access to God's grace. And we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we've gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. The idea of having access to God and His grace is not hard for us to understand. Listen, when I worked at Vineyard Columbus, people there used to carry around a little pass key. And some of you work in office buildings where you need a little pass and it opens a door. This is the idea with justification. Because you have trusted in Jesus Christ and in his shed blood, you have a pass key. You have something that other people don't. You get into parts of the building that they don't. You have access into God's grace. What an extraordinary thing. And you have this access key no matter where you are. In the middle of the night, you have access to the presence of God. When you're in the hospital, you have access to the grace of God. When you've lost a loved one, when your heart is broken, when you're sitting in a funeral home grieving, when things are not right with your kids, and you don't know what to do, when you feel lost and confused, and you don't know which way is up, you have access to God and access to his grace because of the blood of Jesus Christ. You have the access key, and the rest of the world, unfortunately, does not. Through faith in Jesus. But Paul says it's even better than that. You have no idea what justification does. You not only have access to God in His grace, but you get to stand in grace. Look at this in verse 2 through whom we've gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. You get to set up shop in grace. You get to live in the power of gra in the palace of grace. Brothers and sisters, you don't move in and out of justification. You know, I'm justified, then I sin, then I need to be re-justified, then I sin, then I justify, and it's a revolving door round and round and round. That's how some people live. No. Your justification was declared in the past. And now I move forward based on that. And just like you don't have to be re-justified, you don't move in and out of grace. You stand in grace. And this is exceptionally great news. This is great news that you get to stand in grace. Because what it means is that everything that God does towards you is an act of grace. Everything. When we mess up and God disciplines us, it's not discipline out of wrath, it's discipline out of loving grace. When we go through hard times, it's the grace of God. God only relates to you now, based upon grace. The enity between you and God has been dealt with at the cross. God no longer deals with you on the basis of wrath or law or condemnation. It's all grace. You get to stand in grace. It matters what you believe. Do you believe that God your Father relates to you based on grace? Breathe that in. Here's the fourth thing. Because you've been justified by faith, you boast in different things than the rest of the world. Paul says, through whom we've gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God. And not only so, we glory in our suffering, literally, same word, we boast in our suffering because we know that suffering produces perseverance. Now, here's a really great way to distinguish between someone who is a Christian and someone who's not a Christian. And Pastor Michael made this point a few weeks ago, but I want to underline it and stretch it out a little bit. The difference between being a Christian and being not a Christian is not that a Christian doesn't brag and a non-Christian brags. That's not the difference. The difference between being a Christian and being a non-Christian is everyone brags. Everyone. Everyone boasts in something. The difference is what do you boast in? We all boast, but what is it that you boast in? That's the difference. Because what you boast in reveals what your heart is after. What you love at the core of your being. See, Paul loves to talk about boasting. He mentions the word boasting over 30 times in his letters. And you can tell what people love based on what they boast about, right? So people boast about their kids, or they boast about their achievements, or they boast about, you know, who they know and where they've been and what they own, and and you know, they boast about their morality. I would never do what they do. You just did it. But I would never do that. We boast about so many different things, right? You know, our ethnicity, if if guys, if you've ever been in a locker room in a gym, you hear guys boasting, I drank so much this weekend, I was so wasted. Wow, that's really impressive. I mean, that took a lot of lot a lot of intelligence, a lot of a lot of effort to, you know, drink yourself to total sickness and stupidity. That was a good thing. And and the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is not that the Christian doesn't boast and the and the non-Christian boasts. It's what we boast in, and what do we boast in as Christians? We boast in what God has done. We boast in what God is doing. We boast in what God will do in the future, and how great it is to know Jesus. And here's what the Apostle Paul says. He says the Christian ought to boast in two things. Number one, we boast in the hope of the glory of God, through whom we've gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God. What does that mean? It means that one day you and I, who are justified by faith, are going to see our Lord Jesus Christ. And we're going to see him either when we die and we stand in his presence, or if he comes back before we die. We're going to see our Jesus. And we're going to see him in all of his glory and all of his wonder. And not only are we going to see him in his glory, but he is going to share that glory with you. So that every bit of darkness that's in us will be driven out of us by his light. Every bit of death in us is going to be driven out by his life. Every bit of sin in us is going to be driven out by his holiness. We get to share the glory of Jesus. To be a Christian is not just to stand in worship of Jesus, but that Jesus actually shares his life with us. So that not only does the whole universe get permeated by the holiness of God, but you get permeated by the holiness of God. We boast in the hope of the glory of God. We know where we're going. We're going to shine like the stars. And Paul says, and not only so, not only do we know the end of the story, but here right now, we get to boast in our sufferings. Not only so, but we also glory or boast in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance. Really? Boast in our sufferings? Listen, people misunderstand this all the time. Christians are not masochists. We don't say, oh, isn't it great? I just banged my head. Yay! No, that's not the way it works. Christians don't boast that we're going through cancer treatments or that we've been betrayed by a friend or a spouse or we got fired from our job, or, you know, we're struggling with this or that problem. No, that's not how it works. Christians don't boast in suffering itself. We boast in what suffering produces because we know that God is always at work. A good God is always at work in our life. And we know that because God is at work, He's going to do something great through this pain. I don't boast in suffering itself, but I do boast in what God is going to do. Listen. We know that suffering's not the end of the story. Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones, who was a cardiologist before he became a preacher, he always worked on people's hearts. Martin Lloyd Jones said that suffering is God's gymnasium. And uh Pastor Tim Teller said the same thing. Suffering is God's gymnasium. Here's the way suffering works. If you go into a gym and you go into a locker room, you first strip off your street clothes, right? And typically they have mirrors all over. And when you take off your clothes, you see all of your defects. It's like, ooh. Thought I'd look better than that. That's what suffering does. Suffering holds up a mirror. And we realize, like, oh my gosh, I thought I was doing pretty well when life was going well. But now that the mirror is being held up to me, my faith is about a millimeter deep. I realize how how prone I am to unbelief. I don't believe that God will work when I go through hard times. I tend to uh complain a lot. I I always want to escape. Whenever I get cornered, I I lie my way out, I exaggerate, I blame others. Lord, I didn't see all these defects in me. But now that I'm suffering, I really see who I am. You know, the word suffering literally means to be squeezed, to be pressed. It's like grapes in a wine press. And uh I've always liked the illustration of toothpaste in a tube. You know what's in the tube. When it gets squeezed, it comes out. And when you get squeezed, what comes out? That's who you really are. That's who I really am. When we get squeezed, blaming others comes out. For some of us, it's catastrophizing. It can't be any worse. Oh, yeah, it could. But not for us. It's like the worst, darkest, most awful thing in the universe, and you know, we we tend towards self-pity or or towards, you know, some uh escapism. Suffering is God's gymnasium. We glory because I know that even though this is really hard, God, I believe because you're good, you're gonna produce something good out of this. In my life and in this world, if I persevere, if I hang in there, if I don't throw in the towel, if I don't give up on you, if I don't turn my back on you, you're gonna produce something really good. Paul says, Because you've been justified by faith, here's the fifth thing. You can know that you're a real Christian. Verse 2. Through whom we've gained access by great faith into this grace in which we now stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God. He says, We boast in the hope of the glory of God. And in verse 3 to 5, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, character, hope, and hope does not put us to shame. Here's what the Apostle Paul is saying. There's hope at the beginning of this chain. I hope in the glow in the participating in the glory of God, and there's hope at the end of the chain. Once I've suffered and I've persevered and it produces good character, at the end of the chain, there's also hope. I start with hope, I end with hope. What does all that mean? How does that work? Here's what I think Paul is saying. You know, when you begin the Christian life, you hope that your faith is real. You hope that you're a real Christian. You hope that, you know, uh, I'm the real deal, but but you inside you wonder. You think to yourself, you know, I see how shallow I am. I I see uh, you know, I like God when things are good. I don't like God when things are bad. I turn my back on God, I I let go of God, I I struggle with faith when when things in my life are really hard. Uh we wonder, would I be able to hang in there if something really went wrong? Would I continue? Would I persevere? Do my roots go down deep enough into the Lord that no matter what happens, I would stay faithful to God? Is that the kind of Christian I am? I hope that I will share the glory of God, but I don't know if I'm for real. And then we suffer. And by the grace of God, God gives us faithfulness. He allows us to persevere, to push through, to hang in there. And it produces good character. And at the end of it, we say, you know what? I'm for real. The work of God in my life is real. It's true. God has saved me. He's in my life. I've been a Christian for 52 years. I've watched people go through hard times and walk away. Suffering weeds people out. And I've walked people go, watch people walk through suffering and hang in there. They put their roots deep down in Jesus, and I think they are for real. I've seen people stand in worship at their children's funerals and lift their hands and say, nevertheless, I still trust in you, God. So here's the last thing. That hope is so real at the end. It could grow and grow and grow in your life, friend. If you hang in there, you will have a deep assurance no matter what happens. Here's the last thing. Because you've been justified by faith, you can know that God loves you. Last thing. Because you've been justified by faith, you can know that God loves you. And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. In verse 5, the Apostle Paul says, God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Notice that God doesn't say, I love you, and the way you know I love you is you can look at the cross. Jesus who died for you, you meditate on what he's done, and you know that I love you. That is a way for you to know that God loves you by meditating on the cross. But Paul says there's something else. There's another way for you to know God loves you because he's poured out his love into your heart by the Holy Spirit. One way to know God loves you is that Christ died for you. A second way to know God loves you is because he does something in you. Not for you, but in you. You can know the objective fact of the death of Christ, but do you know the subjective feeling of being loved by God? Oh, our hearts need to know that we're loved by our Creator. The one who made you. He loves you. And so many Christians have never had a subjective experience of God's love. They don't know God's love. Paul says, God's love has been poured out. There are two things in the New Testament that are poured out. One is the blood of Jesus shed for us on the cross, outside the walls of Jerusalem, outside of us, Jesus' blood was poured out, but a second thing that's poured out is the Holy Spirit poured out in us. In us. And that's something you can feel. Listen. When you go to a dentist, and the dentist says, Don't worry, you won't feel this. Don't believe him. And when someone says regarding the love of God, don't worry, you won't feel it. Don't believe that either. God's love is something you can feel. You can feel it. So let me ask you, have you ever felt the love of God? Do you want to feel his love? Why not ask the Lord? Lord, I want to feel your love in my heart. I want to know down in the core of my being that I am loved by you with all my flaws and with all my failures and all the things that I do and don't do. I want to know that you still love me. And I want to feel that in the core of my being. Friend, do you know you're right with God? And because you're right with God, you can have peace with God. And you have access to God and His grace, and you can stand in that grace. And not only so, but you can glory in the hope of his coming and boast in your sufferings. And because Christ has died for you, you can know that God loves you. Here's what I'd like to do. I'd like to ask you to pray with me. You've heard God's word. The Lord wants us to respond to his word. It's not just passively listening. He wants his people to respond. Here's what I'm going to ask you to do. Would you mind bowing your head for just a moment and praying with me? And what I'm going to ask you to do is, friends, there are some of you who don't know if you're right with God. You don't know that. You're not sure. You hope you are, but you're not sure. You can be sure. You don't have to just guess all the time about your relationship with God. You can know that you're right with God. If you turn your heart to Jesus and you say to Jesus, Jesus, I trust in you. I trust that you died for my sins, that you're uh the sacrifice that paid for all that I've done, and I'm putting my confidence in that, God says, You're right with me. For some of you, for some of you, if you would uh say, I'm not either sure that I might have done this in the past, but I don't know whether this is, you know, it took, you can pray with me also. So right now, we could just hold up on the music for a moment. Right now. If you desire to know that you know that you're right with God, would you pray with me this simple prayer while your head is bowed? Lord Jesus. I do want to know in my heart of hearts that I'm right with you. And as much as I can, I'm choosing to trust in you, to trust in what you've done for me. I believe that you did die on a cross to pay for my sins, and I want to embrace your death and your resurrection. Lord God, declare me in the right with you. And Lord, I want to feel your love for me inside of me. Not just believe it as an idea, but I want to feel your love. Fill me. Friend, if you just prayed with me while people's heads are bowed, would you mind raising your hand and just indicating, Rich, I just prayed with you.