Epi 29-Through Romans: Peace with God Through Christ
In this episode of Living the Selah Life, we step into Romans 5 and look at what happens when God calls us righteous through faith. We now have peace with Him, access to His presence, and a real hope that holds.
This episode shows what that means for your life. You are brought near, given a new identity, and can stand firm even in hard times.
Join in and see what it means to live in the grace and peace we have through Christ.
Transcript
The content shared on Living the Selah Life is for spiritual encouragement, personal reflection, and informational purposes only.
Speaker A:It is not intended to diagnose, treat or replace medical, psychological or professional advice of any kind.
Speaker A:Please consult a licensed healthcare provider or qualified professional for any physical, mental or emotional health concerns.
Speaker A:The views expressed are those of the host, Kimberly Lockanore, and are based on personal, personal experience and Biblical insight, not clinical or professional training.
Speaker A:Welcome back to Living the Selah Life, a podcast that invites you to slow down, to breathe and to reconnect with the presence of God.
Speaker A:I am your host, Kim, and this space is for anyone longing to become more familiar with his presence.
Speaker A:Each episode is an intentional pause, a moment to reflect, realign and remember that God meets us when we create space for Him.
Speaker A:So take a breath.
Speaker A:You are right on time.
Speaker A:Let's live the Selah life together.
Speaker A:In our last episode, we celebrated the stunning truth of justification by faith that God declares us righteous based on Christ's work and not our own.
Speaker A:We're accepted freely by grace through faith in Jesus, and this is the foundation of the Christian life.
Speaker A:Today.
Speaker A:We're moving into Romans chapter 5, where Paul reveals the results of being justified by faith.
Speaker A:What changes when God declares you righteous?
Speaker A:Everything.
Speaker A:You have peace with God.
Speaker A:You have access to his presence.
Speaker A:You have hope of glory.
Speaker A:You're reconciled to God.
Speaker A:You're safe from wrath.
Speaker A:You reign in life.
Speaker A:Everything.
Speaker A:This chapter is pure celebration.
Speaker A:It is the overflow of justification, all the riches that become yours when you're made right with God through Jesus Christ.
Speaker A:Get ready to see just how much changes when you're justified by faith alone.
Speaker A:This week's main teaching will be called Peace with God through Christ.
Speaker A:Starting In Romans, chapter 5, verses 1, Paul begins with the first and most foundational result of justification.
Speaker A:Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus.
Speaker A:Christ therefore connects this to what came before it.
Speaker A:Because we're justified by faith, certain results follow.
Speaker A:The first result is peace with God.
Speaker A:This is peace with God.
Speaker A:It's the end of hostility between you and your Creator.
Speaker A:It's reconciliation.
Speaker A:The war has been replaced with friendship.
Speaker A:Before justification, we were at war with God and we didn't necessarily feel like it.
Speaker A:But because sin created enmity, we were separated from him, alienated God's enemy through justification, though, that changes.
Speaker A:The war ends.
Speaker A:Peace is established.
Speaker A:We are no longer God's enemy, but his friend, his child, and welcomed into his family.
Speaker A:This peace comes through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker A:Jesus is the peacemaker.
Speaker A:He removed the barrier.
Speaker A:He satisfied justice he made reconciliation possible.
Speaker A:Through him we have peace with God.
Speaker A:Access to Grace Romans, chapter 5, verses through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Speaker A:Not only do we have peace with God, we have access to Him.
Speaker A:Before Christ, we were shut off, separated, unable to approach a holy God.
Speaker A:Now we have access.
Speaker A:The word access means, like introduction, the right to enter.
Speaker A:In the ancient world, you couldn't just walk into the King's presence.
Speaker A:You needed someone to introduce you, to grant you audience.
Speaker A:Jesus grants us an audience with the Father.
Speaker A:Access.
Speaker A:And this access is by faith.
Speaker A:We approach God through trusting Jesus, not through our own merits or accomplishments.
Speaker A:We have access into this grace in which we stand.
Speaker A:We're not just visiting grace occasionally, we stand in it.
Speaker A:We're positioned in grace.
Speaker A:It's our permanent standing, constant reality.
Speaker A:We also rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Speaker A:We have confident expectation of future glory, sharing in God's glory, being transformed into Christ's image, dwelling in his presence forevermore.
Speaker A:This hope fills me with joy even now, rejoicing in suffering.
Speaker A:Romans chapter 5, verses 3 through 5.
Speaker A:And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance, character and character hope.
Speaker A:Now, hope does not disappoint, but because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Speaker A:You rejoice in hope of the future glory.
Speaker A:But here's what's amazing.
Speaker A:We can also rejoice in present suffering.
Speaker A:Not because suffering itself is good, in and of itself is good, but because of what God produces through it.
Speaker A:Tribulation produces perseverance, endurance, the ability to keep going when life is hard.
Speaker A:Perseverance produces character, proven character, tested genuineness, mature faith and character produces hope and confident expectation that God will complete what he started.
Speaker A:Christ died for the ungodly.
Speaker A:Romans, chapter 5, verses 6 through 8.
Speaker A:For when we were still without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.
Speaker A:For scarcely for a righteous man will one die.
Speaker A:Yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.
Speaker A:But God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Speaker A:Here's the proof of God's love.
Speaker A:The cross.
Speaker A:Christ died for the ungodly, not for the ungodly who deserved it, not for people who had cleaned their lives up and their acts were all together.
Speaker A:For the straight up ungodly, for sinners, for enemies, for rebels, he died when we were still without strength.
Speaker A:Word says we were helpless, unable to save ourselves.
Speaker A:Christ died when we were powerless.
Speaker A:Paul notes that rarely would someone die for a righteous person.
Speaker A:Maybe for a truly good person, someone might sacrifice their life.
Speaker A:But Christ died for what we call sinners, for people who were anything but good.
Speaker A:But God demonstrates His own love toward us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Speaker A:This is how God proves His love.
Speaker A:Not with just words, but with action.
Speaker A:While we were still sinning, still in rebellion, still his enemy, Christ died for us.
Speaker A:This is the nature of God's love.
Speaker A:It's unconditional, sacrificial, pursuing you when you were running from him, when we were all running from Him.
Speaker A:Saved from wrath.
Speaker A:Romans chapter 5, verses 9 through 10.
Speaker A:Much more then having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
Speaker A:For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Speaker A:If God loved you when you were his enemy, how much more does he love you now that you're reconciled?
Speaker A:You're justified by Christ's blood.
Speaker A:You shall be saved from God's wrath.
Speaker A:If God sacrificed His son to reconcile you when you were his enemy, he will certainly save you now that you're his child.
Speaker A:This is the how much more logic.
Speaker A:If God did the harder thing, reconciling enemies, he'll certainly do the easier thing keeping his children saved.
Speaker A:You're not just saved from sin's penalty in the past, you're saved from future wrath.
Speaker A:You are saved.
Speaker A:Secure God who began the work, will complete it, even when it doesn't look like it.
Speaker A:You're reconciled through Christ's death.
Speaker A:You're saved by his life, his resurrection life, his ongoing intercession, his power working in you.
Speaker A:Rejoicing in God.
Speaker A:Romans chapter 5, verses 11.
Speaker A:And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation, the ultimate result of justification.
Speaker A:You rejoice in God himself, not just in God's gift, peace, access, hope, salvation.
Speaker A:You rejoice in God.
Speaker A:He is your greatest treasure.
Speaker A:Knowing him is your highest joy.
Speaker A:And this joy comes through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker A:Jesus makes this relationship possible.
Speaker A:Through him you are reconciled.
Speaker A:Through him you know God.
Speaker A:Through him you experience the joy in God's presence.
Speaker A:Adam and Christ.
Speaker A:Romans 5, 12, 21.
Speaker A:Paul shifts to a comparison between Adam and Christ, two representatives of humanity.
Speaker A:Therefore, just as through one man, sin entered the world and Death through sin.
Speaker A:And thus death spread to all men because all sinned through Adam.
Speaker A:Sin entered the world.
Speaker A:Through sin came death.
Speaker A:And death spread to everyone because all sinned.
Speaker A:Adam was humanity's representative.
Speaker A:When he sinned, his sin affected all of his descendants.
Speaker A:We inherit a sin nature.
Speaker A:We're born separated from God.
Speaker A:But Paul's point isn't just to explain sin's origin, and it is to set up the contrast with Christ.
Speaker A:For if by the one man's offense, many died, much more.
Speaker A:The grace of God and the gift, by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ abounded to many.
Speaker A:Adam's sin brought death to many.
Speaker A:Christ's grace brought life to many.
Speaker A:Grace abounds much more than sin.
Speaker A:Never let anyone tell you something different.
Speaker A:Grace abounds much more than sin.
Speaker A:And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned.
Speaker A:For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation.
Speaker A:But the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification.
Speaker A:Adam's wound, one sin, brought condemnation.
Speaker A:And Christ's one act of righteousness brings justification for many sins.
Speaker A:Grace doesn't just undo Adam's one sin, it covers all of yours.
Speaker A:For if by the one man's offense, death reign through the one, much more, those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through through the one Jesus Christ.
Speaker A:Through Adam, death reigned.
Speaker A:Through Christ, you reign in life, you're not dominated by sin and death.
Speaker A:You reign.
Speaker A:Whether you live that way or not, you reign.
Speaker A:You live in victory, power, abundance of grace.
Speaker A:Therefore, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation.
Speaker A:Even so, through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.
Speaker A:Adam's disobedience brought condemnation.
Speaker A:Christ's obedience brings justification and life.
Speaker A:For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous.
Speaker A:You were made a sinner through Adam's disobedience.
Speaker A:You inherited a sin nature.
Speaker A:You're made righteous.
Speaker A:Through Christ's obedience, you're given his righteousness.
Speaker A:And that is so hard for many to comprehend.
Speaker A:Because righteousness has been preached as right, living, being just, perfect, or never messing up or making mistakes.
Speaker A:And even when we do that without receiving the righteousness of Christ, the Lord said, it is filthy rags.
Speaker A:It is only the righteousness that comes as a free gift through Jesus Christ that God accepts.
Speaker A:Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound.
Speaker A:But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.
Speaker A:So that as sin reigned in death, even so, grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Speaker A:The Law exposed how much sin abounded, but grace abounds even more.
Speaker A:Sin reigned in death.
Speaker A:Grace reigns through righteousness to eternal life.
Speaker A:No matter how much you've sinned, grace is greater.
Speaker A:No matter how deep the darkness, grace shines brighter.
Speaker A:And no matter how strong sins hold, grace is stronger.
Speaker A:What this means for you, you're in Adam or you're in Christ.
Speaker A:Everyone is represented by one of these two men.
Speaker A:In Adam, you're a sinner by nature, condemned, subject to death, reigned over by sin.
Speaker A:In Christ, you're righteous by grace, justified, alive, reigning in life through abundance of grace.
Speaker A:The question isn't whether you're good enough.
Speaker A:The question is which representative you're under.
Speaker A:Are you in Adam or are you in Christ?
Speaker A:When you trust Jesus, you're transferred from Adam to Christ.
Speaker A:What Adam's sin did to you, Christ's righteousness undoes and exceeds.
Speaker A:You're no longer dominated by sin and death.
Speaker A:You reign in life.
Speaker A:You live in victory.
Speaker A:You walk in grace.
Speaker A:The power of peace.
Speaker A:Peace with God makes everything different.
Speaker A:When you know you're reconciled to God, accepted by him, loved by Him, a lot of things in life lose their grip.
Speaker A:You stop trying to earn his approval because you know you already have it.
Speaker A:You're not wondering if he's always mad because he's not.
Speaker A:His wrath was satisfied at the cross.
Speaker A:You're not uncertain about your standing.
Speaker A:You're his child, secure in his love.
Speaker A:This peace frees you to rest.
Speaker A:You don't have to outperform or overperform or underperform or any of the performance.
Speaker A:This is something that God established prior to your birth.
Speaker A:This peace also fuels obedience.
Speaker A:You serve God not to gain acceptance, but because you have it.
Speaker A:You obey not from fear of rejection, but from gratitude for grace.
Speaker A:And this was something that God had to deliver me from as well.
Speaker A:Because it is a very religious thing to try to earn and work for and perform and do all the things to gain his approval, to gain his affection, and to gain his love.
Speaker A:And the Holy Spirit had to break that with the quickness.
Speaker A:It is not so.
Speaker A:It is not so, children of God.
Speaker A:It is not so.
Speaker A:We do not have to spend days and nights in prayer trying to earn something that God has already freely given.
Speaker A:We will move on to this week's Pause Prompts.
Speaker A:And remember, Pause Prompts is just where we take inventory of where we are so that we can See where we need to be.
Speaker A:Never any condemnation, only self reflection.
Speaker A:Let's go.
Speaker A:Pause.
Speaker A:Prompt number one.
Speaker A:Do you live with peace toward God?
Speaker A:Or are you anxious, uncertain, wondering if he's angry with you?
Speaker A:Are you trying to maintain your relationship with God through performance?
Speaker A:How does knowing God loved you when you were his enemy change how you see his love now?
Speaker A:Can you honestly say that you rejoice in God himself?
Speaker A:Where do you need to remember that grace abounds more than sin?
Speaker A:Let's move on into our Selah moment and prayer.
Speaker A:This is our opportunity to rest in peace with God.
Speaker A:Position yourself to receive.
Speaker A:Sit comfortably and take several slow, deep breaths and picture yourself approaching God's throne.
Speaker A:Hear God say the war is over.
Speaker A:You're reconciled your mind, my child.
Speaker A:I'm not angry with you.
Speaker A:You have peace with me through Jesus.
Speaker A:You stand in grace.
Speaker A:This is not temporary and it's not conditional.
Speaker A:This is your permanent position.
Speaker A:Rest in this.
Speaker A:You do not have to earn access.
Speaker A:You have it.
Speaker A:God loved you when you were his enemy.
Speaker A:He loves you infinitely more now that you're his child.
Speaker A:His love is not based on your performance, because if it was, none of us would pass.
Speaker A:Let us pray.
Speaker A:Father, thank you for peace with you through Jesus Christ.
Speaker A:We thank you that the war is over and that we are reconciled and that you are not angry with us.
Speaker A:Thank you for access to your presence.
Speaker A:We stand in grace, not visiting occasionally, but positioned permanently.
Speaker A:We come boldly to your throne because Jesus opened the way.
Speaker A:Thank you that we rejoice in the hope of your glory.
Speaker A:We have confident expectation of future transformation, of sharing in your glory, of dwelling in your presence forever.
Speaker A:Thank you that even in tribulation we can rejoice knowing your product, perseverance, character and hope through our trials.
Speaker A:Lord, we thank you that hope doesn't disappoint because your love is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
Speaker A:Lord Jesus, we thank you for the cross.
Speaker A:Thank you that while we were still sinners, still your enemies, still helpless, that you died for us.
Speaker A:This is how you demonstrated your love.
Speaker A:And there's nothing more a man can do than to lay down his life for his friends.
Speaker A:If you loved us when we were enemies, how much more do you love us now that we're reconciled?
Speaker A:Lord, help us rejoice in you, not just in your gifts, but in you yourself.
Speaker A:You are the greatest treasure, and knowing you should be our highest joy.
Speaker A:Help us to live as people who reign in life through Christ, that are not dominated by sin, that are not victims of circumstances, but ones who reign through abundance of grace where sin has abounded in our lives remind us that grace abounds much more that no sin is too big for your grace, no failure beyond your forgiveness and no darkness is stronger than your light.
Speaker A:Help us live from peace, not for peace.
Speaker A:Help us live from peace, not for peace, we already have peace with you.
Speaker A:Help us rest in this rather than trying to earn something that we already possess.
Speaker A:Give us grateful hearts that overflow in obedience.
Speaker A:We don't serve to be accepted, we serve because we are accepted.
Speaker A:We obey not from fear but from love.
Speaker A:We obey not because we going to go to hell, but because from love.
Speaker A:Make us people who access your presence constantly, who rest in your love continually, who rejoice in you always.
Speaker A:Thank you that we're in Christ and we're no longer in Adam, condemned to death, dominated by sin.
Speaker A:We're in Christ, justified, alive, reigning in life.
Speaker A:We have peace with you through our Lord Jesus Christ and this changes everything.
Speaker A:It is in Jesus mighty name through whom we have peace and access that we pray and it is so let's lean into our Selah moment.
Speaker A:Sam.
Speaker A:Well my friends, thank you for listening to Living the Selah life.
Speaker A:If this moment stirred something in your spirit, share it with someone who needs to be reminded to pause and to listen.
Speaker A:You can connect with me on Instagram, a Facebook group or YouTube Living the Selah Life or email me your story to Living the Selah liferoton me.
Speaker A:Until next time, remember that God is speaking.
Speaker A:He wants to guide you and direct you and give you his wisdom for your life.
Speaker A:Create space to listen.
Speaker A:You have peace with God through Jesus Christ.
Speaker A:Rest in this and let it transform how you live.
Speaker A:May you go from this place rested not just in body but in spirit, carrying the awareness that his presence is always near.
Speaker A:May you be rooted in the unshakable word of God, the Logos that ground you and the rhema that guides you.
Speaker A:For man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
Speaker A:And may you keep rising into the life he designed for you, into purpose, into peace, into the fullness of his calling.
Speaker A:May your life become a living Selah, an intentional pause that reveals his presence and it is so.
Speaker A:Selah.
