Click DOWNLOAD for audio,TITLE for summary, On summary page "click here" for ppt

Summary  Gill Khoury:  The Covenant Romans 5:1-8 Sept 8^th 2019

Romans 5:1-11 New International Version (NIV)

Peace and Hope

5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Its been a difficult week in RSA. Xenophobic or Afrophobic violence, femicide, familicide.  The nation has hung its head in shame. Internationally it’s not much better. Trade war, Brexit etc.

Sometimes life can seem very scary to say the least. Instability becomes a norm and often we can feel like running away!!

But at these times does God speak to us?  Does he remind us of the basics that we need to know?

Romans 5:1-8

Context is that Paul has spent 4 chapters explaining that we have a problem, We can’t save our self

But the good news is that God made a way to put it right.

Underpinning the idea that God initiated the way to put things right is the idea of Covenant.

Jeremiah 31:31-37

Covenant not Contract

Covenant overcomes the problem that we can’t save ourselves.

With this covenant we are made right with God but we also get Peace, Grace and Hope and its these gifts of grace that allow us to cope when times get tough. These allow us to rejoice in times of difficulty and see meaning and purpose in suffering. They give us the courage to carry on and stand. Suffering might be painful but for us it’s not pointless.

Trials test us to see if we will do the right thing under pressure.

God was so willing to Covenant that he initiated the solution. He died for us while we were still sinners he didn’t wait for us to come and say sorry. This is so unusual, that Paul develops it. Because most of the time we don’t want to save people who are mean and horrible.

The crux of the idea is that Paul holds out hope for everyone not just nice people. And it’s important that the gospel message goes out to all. That everyone has the chance to be part of His family

THE COVENENAT