Hope of the Glory of God.

“Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:2-5 ESV)   

In the opening of Chapter 5, Paul reminds us that we have been justified by faith in Christ alone. In doing so, Christ gave us the ability to hear and see the Gospel of Jesus Christ. By grace we come to faith, and in our salvation, Christ imputes, or gives, us His righteousness. It is a gift; God completes the entire act of coming to faith. We contribute nothing on our merits. In return, we repent of our sins and begin our walk with Christ.

We know this to be true as Christ told us this in Matthew 7:21-23, where He said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ Many sit in worship services, work in ministries, and do many things in Christ's name, but unless one submits to the King of kings and Lord of lords, unless one accepts Christ as their Savior and believes in Him alone, they will not be granted the Kingdom.

But what is the Father's will? In John 6:40, Jesus tells us the will of the Father, “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” We need do nothing but believe! My friend, salvation and freedom from sin are free, and in your salvation, the works you do are the fruit of your salvation. You do them because you want others to know Christ. You do them because you want to please God and reflect His glory to those around you.

In Ephesians 2:1-10 Paul wrote,  “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

What can a dead person do? Nothing; they are dead. We, in our sins, are dead to God, unable to have a relationship with Him. As children of wrath, we cannot be with God. Yet, even in the darkness of our hearts, God, who is rich in mercy and grace, sacrificed His only Son so that you might be redeemed and become a useful child of God. Christ was raised from the dead, and in Him, we too are raised from the dead to eternal life. God did not have to do this; He wanted to do this, and so Christ sacrificed Himself, so that the very creation He made was remade, born again in the Spirit, cleansed by the blood of Christ. He saved us through grace, not by our own works, not through clairvoyance knowing who would believe, but by election. We were elected to become Children of God not because of who we are, but because of what He did.

How can you reject a free gift? How can you turn your back on an eternity of love with God?  Do you not want to stand and rejoice knowing that each day you grow closer to Christ, you grow in sanctification; you grow in your holiness? Would you rather suffer in the throes of the world or know that your sufferings are molding you into the image of Christ? Would you rather be a sinner or a saint? While we become saints on earth, we may still sin because of our sinful nature, but with each repentance we grow closer to Christ as we learn to stand in our faith against the temptations of sin.

My friend, will you not come to Christ? There is no hope without Him, for He embodies hope. Call out to Him and ask to be forgiven, ask for grace to believe, and seek the risen Son of God today. He is waiting.

Grace and Peace.