Where Do You Stand?
Dearly beloved, in Christ we obtained a new standing before God. We now stand in God’s grace; encircled by His Divine favor. We no longer stand in Adam and his condemnation. In Christ, we stand in God’s Divine favor and we rejoice in hope of receiving the glory of God.
All that we are and all that we hope for is ours in Christ. God set it to our account by the riches of His grace the moment we confessed Jesus as Lord and believed that God raised him from the dead. Now, we stand in the grace of God!
In the Lord Jesus Christ and by his work we have the sure hope of receiving the glory of God. God’s glorious hope is the basis for our rejoicing.
We gained access into this grace in which we now stand because of the Lord Jesus Christ’s accomplishments.
Romans 5:3-5 AV
And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost [the gift of holy spirit] which is given unto us.
Everybody faces troubles in life and the mental pressures that come with each new day, but we rejoice in the certainty of receiving the glory of God. Our hope is the anchor of our soul. It is the difference between the ungodly and us. We will obtain the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ!
Not only do we boast in God’s glorious hope but we boast even in the face of tribulations. Verse two ended with “. . . rejoice in hope of the glory of God”. Verses 3-5 form the figure of speech, Climax, where the last word of one clause or sentence is repeated at the beginning of the next and then the last word of the next is repeated at the beginning of the one that follows and so on until the climax.
Not only do we boast in hope of receiving the glory of God, we boast in tribulations . . . tribulation works patience . . . patience [works] experience . . . experience, hope . . . hope makes not ashamed! Our hope is the climax. We can withstand the tribulations because we know our end; we will absolutely receive God’s glorious hope in Christ.
Our expectation and hope is to receive the glory of God because of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:9-11 AV
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath [the wrath of God] through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved [from the wrath of God] by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
Since our standing is now in Christ, we no longer have to fear the wrath of God. The living Son of God stands between us and any such possibility.
What did we do to deserve all of this? Absolutely nothing! The Lord Jesus justified us. He saved us. He reconciled us. He made the joy possible. He accomplished our atonement. He did it all for us when we were completely undeserving; we were dead in sin, ungodly and enemies of God.
It is all ours by the grace of God. God’s grace is not handicapped by our sins, nor is it contingent upon any works that we do. The riches of His grace are ours exclusively by Christ's work. Where do we stand, beloved? We stand before God in Christ, encircled by His Divine favor.