access-to-god-sermon-notes

Made New: Access to God

Romans 5:1‑2

Today, we begin a new series of messages from Romans 5-8 that I’m calling “Made New”. This will be a very personal series of messages based on those we just did from Genesis 3. Last week, in my message that took us from the Garden of Eden all the way to the city-garden in Revelation 22, I said that God is on a mission in our world to make everything right, everything the way it is supposed to be.

And, that everything that God is going to make right includes you (and me). Yes, you’re a part of God’s “everything” that he loves so much that will not discard you but restore and renew you. What Romans 5-8 is about is how God takes us individually, as a church community and all creation from where we are to where he promises us we can be. In fact, as Paul reminds us in Phil. 1:6, what God has started in us, he will complete!

Here’s what we will do today:

1) We’ll start with a reminder of what God promises to do in us (What God Will Do) in Romans 5-8.

2) Then, we’ll look at what God has already done as the Bible describes it in Romans 1-4.

3) And we’ll close with asking how God’s work begins his work in us from Romans 5:1-2.

What God Will Do – Conform you to the image of Christ with nothing separating you from the love of God until he’s done (8:29,39).

At the very end of this section in Romans (i.e., ch.8), the Apostle Paul, who wrote this letter, did what I am trying to do now, i.e., he reminded people that nothing right now is quite what it should be but that God has promised that our world will not always be messed up by sin. In Rom 8:18-21, he says that all of what God created in his first 5½ days of creation is decaying and affected by sin and that it longs for God to do what he has promised, i.e., to “liberate it from the bondage of decay.”

Then, Paul said that every human being, including those who have believed on Jesus and have the Spirit of God in us are also longing for God to finish his work in us and our world. In 8:23, we too “groan inwardly as we wait eagerly… for our redemption, including that of our bodies -- for in this hope we were saved.”

Then, in 8:28-29, we read a remarkable promise: In all things God is working for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. What is that “good”? What is that “purpose”? ^“For those God foreknew he also gave this promised destiny: to be conformed to the image of his Son.”

When you believe in and walk with Jesus, God promises he will work all things to bring about a good purpose in your life – to have your life be conformed to the way that Jesus is. It’s amazing. What is it like?

One way to grasp this is to think of the Beauty and the Beast story: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms05La1pDIU

I know this isn’t a perfect illustration of what God promises to do in our lives – but it’s quite good.

A young man, a prince, who had everything going for him – like Adam and Eve in Genesis 2 – is turned into a beast because of his selfish ways. It’s just like Adam and Eve who selfishly wanted to be God instead of simply to be like God.
The consequences of a curse did not just affect the prince – but everything around him – the woods, the clock, the candlestick and even the teacup. And the effect of Adam’s selfishness also negatively affects all of creation. All creation is longing for the curse of sin to be broken.
And the restoration of the prince is a supernatural work brought on by love.

Of course, other things about the Beauty and the Beast story are not like the Bible’s, e.g., how the curse is broken, how quickly that transformation takes place (about a minute), etc.

But, maybe you’ll remember this illustration to remind you of the wonderful work that God promises to do in you. When you feel the reality of temptation, endure the ravages of anxiety or depression, and experience the injustices that fill our world because of the widespread impact of sin and evil – I hope you will remember that God loves you and is at work in all things to bring about his good purpose in your life. He promises to make you to be someone whose life is re-shaped to be like that of Jesus.

Never forget that truth as, all through this series in Romans 5-8, we’ll consider how God takes you and me from the imperfect people that we are, worshiping in the still-imperfect church that we are, living in the imperfect world we live in, and keeps his promise to “make all things new (Rev. 21:5).”

And, now, let us look at what God had to do so that he could begin that work in us and in our world.

What God Has Done -- Since we have been justified through faith… (5:1)

That beginning phrase in 5:1 and the word “since” points us back to everything that the Apostle Paul wrote about in Romans 1-4. God has found a way to make us right with him -- even when he knows that things are not right inside us (and we know it too). He has found a way to declare that those who are wrong with him are right with him. But how?

For almost three full chapters in Romans, the Apostle Paul speaks about the mess we’ve made of ourselves as human beings. By the time we get to Rom 3:20, we have no doubt that each one of us human beings – regardless of age, skin color, or religious background – is hopeless before God on our own. Paul ends saying things like, “There is no one righteous, not even one… (3:10)”. And, “No one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law (3:20)” Most of us get up in the morning each day wanting to live better than we have – but then we find that we fail again – and again – and again.

But, then from 3:21-4:25, Paul says that in spite of our sins and failure, God has made a way to make us right with him. Some of you know some of the verses: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (3:23-24).” And Paul ends his case in Romans 4:25 when he declares, “Jesus was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”

Let me put it this way, when you read through the first four chapters of Romans, you will read a lot of teaching about weighty things. To put it more simply, when you read Romans 1-4 you will read:

The bad news about yourself and about every other human being,
The good news about the fact that God still loves you – and about what God has done for you and makes available to you and to every human being,
The surprising news that the response God wants from you is not that you have to earn His favor by trying to be perfect enough to be accepted by Him,
And the even better news that what he wants you to do is simply to respond to his gift by receiving His gift of salvation with childlike faith in Jesus. He wants you to begin following Jesus by faith.

If you’ve experienced that in your life, you love it. If you haven’t experienced the reality of God in your life, then I am praying that today will be your day of salvation.

So, that’s what God has done. He sent Jesus who lived the sinless life that you and I should – but haven’t and can’t! Then, Jesus died the death you and I deserve but he did it for us – in our place – so now we don’t have to die for our own sins. So, Paul wrote, “Since we have been justified through faith… (5:1).” Have you been? If you have, then that brings us to the last point I want to make today: Throughout this series in Romans, we will see how God will complete his work of making you new? Today, I can only show you where he begins.

How God’s Work Begins in You -- We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand… (5:1b-2)

What I want you to focus on is this word “access” that leads to peace. “Access” -- What an important word that word "access" is for having peace. Have you ever gone to a store or company where, when you wanted to resolve a problem, first you had to stand in a line for a long time? When you got the front, the person behind the desk would say, "I don't handle that kind of problem. You have to fill out some form at the desk over there – and then go over to that other line..." There always seemed to be so much that stood between you and access to whoever it is that could resolve the problem. It's frustrating! It robs peace.

Paul is saying that gaining access to God isn't like that. You don't have to go through a priest or some saint, or fill out forms, or do amazing tasks to prove you’re worthy. No, you have access by faith in Jesus. The idea behind the word “access” is that of a welcome. You and I are welcome into the presence of God.

Usually, we talk about wanting access when there is something we think we really, really need! Have you ever felt you needed something but just couldn’t get access it? A few months ago, in the midst of having a lot of deadlines to complete, I was flying back from Wheaton, IL to LA. I had chosen the flight I took because it was supposed to have in air Wi-Fi. I thought, “I’ll be able to get the research I need to get done during those four hours in flight. But -- just as we took off, the purser, the chief flight attendant, came on the intercom to say, “We’re sorry to announce that Wi-Fi will not be available on today’s flight.” I almost yelled out (though I didn’t), “No! False advertising! That’s why I took this flight!” I felt I needed the access. I couldn’t get access on my own. So, I was not at peace.

In vv.1-2, the Bible says that the access we have through faith in Jesus gives us “peace with God”. Let me tell you – Peace with God is what you most need in your life. It’s the starting point for everything else in your life being made right. I know that when we talk about peace these days, we usually mean either the absence of war or a moment of quietness (e.g., "I want a minute of peace and quiet!") But usually the Bible uses the word in a much deeper way. Peace – or shalom -- was a marvelous and rich word for most first century Jewish people because they believed that when their long-awaited Messiah would come, he would introduce a time when everything will be made right in our lives and in our world. They would remember back to the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve were in harmony with God, with one another, and with their world.

Do you remember it from the weeks we’ve spent in Genesis 1-3? Everything in the world was very good until people walked away from God. Look again at how that Gen. 3 ended in 3:24. After people had sinned and had to leave the Garden of Eden, “God placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.”

Do you see it? People no longer had “access”, access to God. All people are made in the image of God. We were created to know God. As Ecclesiastes puts it, “God has placed eternity in our hearts.” But, because of our sin, we have no access to God.

But, now, hear the good news: Jesus died on the cross to give us access to God again. When we come to know God, everything begins to be made new. Nothing is quite right until we get things right with God. What Paul is saying in these to verses is that the peace which we long for but which was lost with Adam has now been made available again to us. The punishment necessary for our peace has been turned away from us and put onto the One who never sinned.

When, people walked away from God, it messed everything up. When you bring God into the center of our lives, then everything else begins to fit together. And, Jesus is the one who gives you access – access into the presence of God that is so personal that you and I can know God as “Abba” – Dad – Father.

And that brings us now to our communion service. Let me summarize what I’ve said to you: 1) God promises that he will take all that is wrong in your life, in the church and in the world and make it new. It will be even more wonderful than the beast becoming a prince again in Beauty and the Beast. 2) God has made a way to forgive and cleanse all that is wrong in your life. The punishment necessary for people like us to have peace with God was placed on Jesus when he died in our place – out of love for you and me. 3) The first step to your life being made new is to place your faith in Jesus and begin a life of following him. Jesus, and Jesus alone, gives you access to God.

What is your response to God’s Word today? Is this a day when you will, at last, become a Christian? Or, is this a day in which you will recommit every part of your life to him? Pray about that as Pastor Chuck Hunt comes to lead us to the time of remembrance that Jesus himself instituted. We will remember what it cost so that you and I might be “made new”.