August 9, 2026, Morning Service
Grace And Hope
Pastor Greg Isom
In the first four chapters of his letter to the Romans, Paul has made the case that we are all sinners in need of a Savior. He revealed to us the truth that our salvation does not come from works (what we do) but it comes from faith (believing what Jesus did). We are justified by faith apart from the works of the law (3:28). Last week in verse one of chapter five, he explained to us that because we are “justified by faith, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ.” This peace with God is not a promise that our lives will be filled with tranquility and free of conflict. His peace is the deep settled peace that comes from me believing and trusting that no matter what circumstances I face, my relationship with God, through Jesus, is rock solid and never changes. Today, we see the next advantages of us being justified by faith is giving us access to His grace and a hope to rejoice in.
Rom 5:1-2 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, (2) through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Through our faith in Jesus, we are given access to His grace. Grace is the unmerited favor of God. We don’t deserve His blessings, but He gives them to us anyway. We are granted a place of undeserved privilege. He not only has declared us “not guilty” but He goes a step further and also undeservingly draws us close to Him. We are no longer only servants and slaves of God but He calls us His friends and part of His family (ch 8). We are given access to His grace through our faith and the two work together as part of our salvation as Paul tells us clearly in his letter to the Ephesians.
Eph 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, (9) not of works, lest anyone should boast.
You can’t get much more clear and concise than that can you? God’s unmerited favor and our faith work together to save us. This is the plan of salvation for all of us and notice God offers it to us as a gift; “it is the gift of God.” We cannot earn it ourselves and God designed it that way. He simply asks us to accept the gift and believe in Him. If we could earn it, we would and then we would brag about it removing our need for Jesus; that goes against all that Jesus came to do. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life no man comes to the Father except through Me!” Being justified by faith gives us access to the grace of God which saves us and grace also keeps us along our journey. When the Apostle Paul faced a problem that he called “a thorn in the flesh,” he prayed three times for God to remove it from him as he explained to the Corinthians:
2Co 12:8-9 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. (9) And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
God told Paul that His grace was enough and that his circumstances did not define him, His relationship with God did. He was told to trust God and to endure his sufferings allowing God to work through them for His glory. We can also see the peace of God at work here to. When we have faith in God that He is leading we can have peace when we experience suffering, knowing “His grace is sufficient for me.” God loves us and because we are justified through faith we are given access to His grace.
Next we see that because we are justified by faith, the we are also given the ability to “rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Hope is “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.” I have a little trouble separating hope and faith. Faith is the “substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.” We always “hope” for the outcome of things to be good, but it is our “faith” that gives us confidence that it will. We can then define the hope God gives us as a “confident expectation that God is true to His Word.” By our faith we are given the ability to “rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Paul explains the glory of God for us to the Colossian church:
Col 1:27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Our hope of glory is that Christ does indeed dwell within us through the Holy Spirit. By faith, we rejoice that through the Spirit’s presence in our life we have been given the gift of eternal life and though we die, we will live. Jesus told Mary and Martha this:
John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. (26) And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
When we believe Jesus at His word (have faith) we are given the hope that even though we die, we will one day live. This should change everything for us! Often we fear death as the worst thing that can happen to us, it is not. Our faith in Jesus gives us the hope that death is simply another stage of our journey leading us to one day see Him face to face. Listen to the hope of this truth as Paul explains how Jesus has overcome our greatest enemy, death.
1Co 15:51-58 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— (52) in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (53) For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. (54) So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY.” (55) “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING? O HADES, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY?” (56) The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. (57) But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (58) Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
This explains the hope of glory that we can rejoice in because we are justified by faith! We now confidently hope that the day is coming that Jesus will return, “in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet” to call all those who have been justified by faith to have their hope turned instantly into sight! If Jesus tarries, each of us will taste death but we have hope that death is not the end of our story but just another chapter in it. Psalms tells us that God looks at the death of His saints as “precious.” (Ps. 116:15) Where does that hope of glory come from? (Read verse 57) Jesus Christ is our hope who brings us victory over death! He has given us the confident assurance that in the end, WE WIN! Our salvation has been paid for in full by the work Jesus did for us on the cross and we are assured victory through Him and His grace towards us. What can I do with all of this?
Notice verse 58 now as Paul tells us because we have this hope of certain victory, he tells us how we should be approaching life right now. “Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.” Why? Because we KNOW our “labor is not in vain in the Lord.” Since we know (have faith and hope that this will happen), we need to living a life that is locked in to serving our Lord in all we do; steadfast and immovable. We need to be about our Father’s business doing His work of making disciples, growing in our faith and loving those around us. Those efforts are not in vain, but will be rewarded in heaven. The realization of all that God has done for us will naturally give us a desire to serve Him even more faithfully being thankful for His gift of salvation.
Are we there yet? Is that how you are living your life, single mindedly serving God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength? Would you describe your faith as “steadfast and immovable?” We all have work to do on this front to be able to “walk worthy of the calling with which we are called.” (Eph. 4:1) The key is not to simply know that we need to draw closer to God, but to do something about it! James tells us that as we draw close to Him, He will draw closer to us. (James 4:8) Together, let’s begin to establish our walk with the Lord as one that is “steadfast and immovable as we are abounding in His work” and growing in our faith together becoming all that God created us to be.
Today we were shown that through our faith we have been given access to the grace of God and given the ability to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Next week, the Lord willing, we will learn how we grow our hope to the next level.