Join us as we explore the powerful message of Romans chapter 5, where the promise of freedom from wrath and access to the Heavenly Father is laid out vividly by Paul. Through faith, we are granted peace with God, opening a door to His abundant grace. The discussion dives into the profound implications of having access to the Father, reminiscent of the High Priest entering the holy of holies, yet now available to all believers through Christ.
00:00:05 Freedom from Wrath, Access to the Heavenly Father
So we are in this section, this new section, chapter 5 of Romans, freedom from wrath, access to the Heavenly Father. Paul says, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, don’t expect in the morning for your mind to tell you that. You need to tell your mind. And how do we tell our minds? By lifting up our faith and saying, Father, thank you so much that I have peace with you through Jesus Christ. It’s not something I feel in my heart, Lord God, but I thank you that it’s the reality because Christ has done it for me. That’s how we work with this. That’s how we believe. We believe contrary to what the mind says. We believe contrary to how the heart feels, because our mind and heart betray us. They are part of our fallen human nature. And we, by faith, which is a faith given to us by God, counter that voice in our head and speak the truth which is in Christ. Now, when he says we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, then he goes on, through whom also, now who, through whom, who’s that talking about? Well, of course, Jesus Christ. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace. through whom, through Christ, we have an introduction, more than an introduction, an entrance into this grace. Now think of it. This is one of the reasons why it is clear that this passage is talking about freedom from wrath. Why? Because according to Romans 1, verse 18, when men and women suppress God, God, in verse 24, hands them over. Therefore God hands them over. What does his wrath do? It hands people over to the idols they choose instead of him. And so it abandons them to their idols. So, what is the opposite of that? It is to bring us into access to the Father. It is to give us access to the Father. The opposite of handing over and sending away in wrath is to draw near and bring us into His presence. Now, you remember in the Old Testament, who got access to the Heavenly Father? Only the High Priest on the Day of Atonement. But when Jesus died, do you remember what happened to that veil that separated the holy place from the most holy place? It split from top to bottom, and that was a very thick, several inches thick, very heavy veil, and it split from top to bottom. because at that moment Christ had died and given us access, entrance into the Father’s home. And so we don’t have to wait for an earthly priest now to give us access to the Father. We come in Christ. to the Father, we through whom also we have access, because we believe it by faith, many manuscripts don’t have by faith in there, so we can read it through whom also we have access into this grace. The idea in the Greek suggests a dome, a wonderful round room, in which we are introduced and we have access to this room, this throne room of God, this home of our Father, which is an access into his grace, his loving kindness. Now, why would Paul say this? How can he say we have access into this grace? I mean, we’re sitting here on earth. We’re standing about, walking about on earth. We’ve got our feet on the ground. And yet Paul is talking about access into this throne room of God. How can he talk like that? Because he’s telling us that what Christ does is for us. When Jesus ascended to heaven, he ascended to the Father. He had access to the Father’s home. Can you imagine this? That we now speak by faith. We haven’t received the kingdom of glory yet. It hasn’t yet come, and it will come at the second coming of Jesus. But we do have the kingdom of grace. And that is like something given us ahead of time, a first fruits of it, a sampling of it, so that we can know what it’s like. you and I can wake up in the morning and tell our minds by talking to God, Father, good morning, thank you so much that I have access into your presence through Jesus my Savior. You see, the mind will tell you miserable things or boring things or dull things or worrisome things when you wake up, either in the middle of the night or in the morning. But you don’t listen to your mind, you listen to the truth that God has given us. And how do you do that? By repeating in thanks and praise to God what he has given you, access into his throne room of grace, into this dome of grace. And notice it says, in which we stand. Not in which we sit, not in which we walk. We stand. There’s a sense of steadiness.
SPEAKER 01 :
and permanence in that we’re standing in it. And because of that, we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. We rejoice.
SPEAKER 02 :
The idea there is we congratulate ourselves. We say how fortunate, how blessed we are. And we are. We’re blessed because Jesus has done all this on our behalf. We exult in God. We congratulate ourselves in the sure expectation, that’s the idea behind the word hope there, it’s not our English wistful hope, we hope our friend who said he’ll come to dinner will turn up but he’s a bit late. So maybe he won’t. No, that’s not the kind of hope this is. This is the expectancy that is sure. We congratulate ourselves in the certainty of God’s glory that we will live in endless, beautiful, glorious sunshine of God’s love for eternity. Now look, this truth must be brought to your soul by faith, and you must express it, and you must express it at the most unnatural times, when you’re worried, when you’re tempted. when you’re defeated, when you’re overthrown, when you’re sick, when you’re financially broke, all of these conditions will incline your mind to deny everything that it says here. But our faith is trained when we, by faith, lift our hearts up to God and tell God the very opposite of what our mind feels. Lord God, even though I’m broke, I am rich. Even though I am sick, I am healthy. and will have eternal health and joy in your kingdom. Even though I’m alone, I will be full of the joy of your presence in the kingdom and will have an infinite number of saved friends. How incredible this is. I know it sounds like pie in the sky. I know it sounds like a fairy tale. Listen. Listen. Do not let your mind ridicule the truth. Rebuke your mind. But don’t go about rebuking your mind in the sense of, I rebuke you, O mind, or I rebuke you, Satan. All this is concentration on the negative. We rebuke our minds by declaring by faith the truth. the positive. Lord, I thank you that I am counted justified, innocent. I praise you that I have peace with you and there is no war and judgment between us. Lord God, I thank you that I have access to your home. Can you imagine the joy and the beauty in the Father’s home? It must be endless and constant and glorious that we have this access into his home, and we stand in it, we are secure in it, we are safe in it, and we therefore exult, we rejoice, we congratulate ourselves in this firm expectation of God’s glory. Incredible, isn’t it? You want to ponder, look, let me urge you to do this. Take your Bible, Romans 5, verses 1 and 2, and slowly ponder each word you find there.
SPEAKER 01 :
Justified. Peace. Through Jesus Christ. By faith. Access. Grace. standing in that grace in which we have access, to which we have access, rejoicing, hope, glory. This is just full of gold, verbal gold, spiritual gold.
SPEAKER 02 :
And our minds are so darkened and so dull. that we can’t embrace what is being said here until we ponder it and express it by faith. You see, how do we get this out of the mere intellectual into our heart? by lifting our faith up to God and thanking him and going forward based upon the truth of that. The day ahead of you might be worrisome. It might cause you to stress because you know there are a lot of things to do that you hate to do and you don’t like to do and there’s not enough time to do it in. And yet what you do is lift your mind to God in faith and you say, Father, I thank you that there will be adequate grace for me today and I will get through it because I’m in your kingdom doing this thing on earth. I am going to work, walking with my feet on the ground, but knowing that my heart is in your kingdom by faith, that I have access to you. This is how we live, you see. This is how we have faith. And it is not limited to all the good things that happen. We’ll talk about this next time. God is going to show us that his grace and our fellowship with him in his kingdom takes place even while all the troubles of one single day are around us. Because God is so sovereign. so all-powerful that he’s able to take all of those troubles and turn them into blessings. That’s how it works. That’s how faith is. And you say, boy, Colin, it’s a tall order. Yes, it is. Faith is a tall order because faith is a gift from God. It doesn’t come from your mind. But it’s a very gentle gift, and it will give your mind strength and give your heart courage to go on. Lift up your heart, know you have peace, even in all your troubles. Thank you for listening today, Colin Cook, and how it happens here. This radio broadcast can be heard on your smartphone any time of the day or night. You simply download a free app, soundcloud.com or podbean.com or Apple or Google or wherever you go, and key in how it happens with Colin Cook when you get there. And if you’d like to make a donation, that would be so very much appreciated. This is listener-supported radio, and you can make that donation at faithquestradio.com or send your donation to Faith Quest, P.O. Box 366, Littleton, Colorado, 80160. Thank you so much for all your support. I do appreciate it over the months and some of you over the years. Thank you so very much for taking the effort, for putting a stamp on that envelope and putting it in the postbox. Thanks again. I’ll see you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
