AT HOME WITH GOD

I was preparing for tonights bible class and thought some of my friends might like some of my notes, so here ya go.....AT HOME WITH GODRom. 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,  5:2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 5:3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;  5:4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5:5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.Here is one of Paul’s great passages in which he almost sings of the intimate joy of his confidence in God. Trusting faith, the accepting of God at His word has done what the labour to produce the works of the law could never do; it has given man peace with God.Before Jesus came, and until a man accepts as true that which Jesus says about God, no man could ever be intimate with God.It is only when we realize that God is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that there comes into life that intimacy with God, that new relationship which Paul calls justification.Paul says, that through Jesus we have an introduction to this grace in which we stand. The word Paul uses for introduction is prosagoge. This word has two great pictures or images wrapped up in it’s meaning.

1. It is the regular word for introducing or ushering someone into the presence of royalty; and it is the regular word for the approach of the worshipper towards God. It is as if Paul was saying, “Jesus ushers us into the very presence of God. Jesus opens the door for us to the presence of the King of Kings; and when that door is opened what we find is GRACE; not condemnation, not judgment, not vengeance, but the sheer, undeserved, unmerited, unearned, FAVOR OF GOD, HIS INCREDIBLE KINDNESS.
2. The second picture contained in the word prosagoge; is a place where ships come in. Simply it means a harbor or a haven. If we take it in that meaning, it means that so long as we tried to depend on our own efforts we were tempest-tossed, like mariners striving with a sea which threatened to overwhelm them completely, but now that we have heard the word of Christ, we have reached at last the haven of God’s grace, and thus we understand the calm of depending not on what we can do for ourselves, but on what God has done for us through Christ. Because of Jesus we have access, entry, introduction, are ushered into a safe haven of God’s Grace.

As soon as we see this Pauls shows us another contrasting view. The fact remains that life is filled with ‘trouble,’ (tribulation). He uses the word, thlipsis, which literally means ‘pressure.’ All kinds of things may press in upon a Christian -- the pressures of want, need, heavy circumstances, sorrow, persecution, unpopularity, and loneliness, to name a few. However, all that pressure produces a fortitude (perseverance). The word here is hupomone, which is more than endurance; it means the spirit that overcomes the world; the spirit that does not passively endure but which actively overcomes and conquers the trials and the tribulations of life.When Beethoven was threatened with deafness, (the most horrible thing for a musician), he said, “ I will take life by the throat.” That is hupomone.When Scott was involved in ruin and bankruptcy of his publishers, he said; “No man will say, Poor fellow! to me; my own right had will pay the debt.” That is hupomone. Someone who was suffering sorrow was told that; “Sorrow fairly colors life, doesn’t it?” He replied, “Yes! And I propose to choose the color.” That is hupomone.When Henley was lying in Edinburgh Infirmary with one leg amputated, and the prospect that the other must follow, he wrote Invictus:“Out of the night that covers meBlack as the Pit from pole to pole,I thank whatever gods may be, For my unconquerable soul.”That is hupomone. Hupomone is not the spirit which lies down and lets the floods go over it; it is the spirit which meets things straight away and overcomes them. This perseverance, fortitude, hupomone, produces “character.” The word here is dokime, it describe metal that has been passed through the fire so that everything base has been purged our of it. Is is used like or in the meaning of the word coinage as we might us the word ‘sterling,’ (sterling silver). It describes something out of which every alloy of baseness has been eliminated.When affliction is met perseverance  with the man or woman who is in that battle will emerge stronger, and purer, and better and nearer God.“Character,” produces “hope.” Two people can meet the same situation. One of them will despair the other one will be spurred on to triumphant action. For the one it is the end of hope, to the other it is the hope becomes the source of greatness.Lord Reith said, “I do not like crises, but I do like the opportunities they provide.” The character which has endured the tests of life always emerges in hope. Why? Paul says; “....hope does not disappoint, because the love of God...” The Christians hope is based completely on the Love of God. When man’s hope is in the God of Love, he will never be disappointed. God loves us with an everlasting, never fading, unconditional love.Jesus introduces us to the very “peace” of God. Brings us into the presence of God’s Grace. In this safe haven, the Holy Spirit pours out the Love of God within our hearts. Thus not only are we standing in the Presence of Grace, but His very Love, (He is love), is pour out inside of our very spirit.He is united to us and we are united to Him. Thus we are inseparable. If we race ahead of Paul we will get a glimpse of where he is headed.....Rom. 8:37 ¶ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.I love the way that the Message translation reads:Rom. 8:37 ¶ None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. 38 I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, 39 high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.I hope you’ve enjoyed the notes....Blessings from Pastor Q.