Thank you, Dick, for reminding us of that blessed truth found in Colossians chapter 2, and ye are complete in him. Would you take your Bible and turn with me please to Romans chapter 5. It's good to be back with you today after having missed last week due to being out of town. I appreciate those who filled in last week, the ministry of Jack Smith in the morning, and thank you for being faithful. Romans chapter 5, verses 1 and 2 will be our text today. These are familiar verses.
We have memorized them together, and doubly they have been known to you for many years if you have known Christ for a number of years. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we exult or we boast or we joy in hope of the glory of God.
Perhaps it would be good for us this morning to have a brief review of where we have been and where we are going in the book of Romans. The theme of the book of Romans is the righteousness of God. In this book we learn how we as sinners can be right with God. In the first three chapters essentially we discovered that righteousness is needed because we are all sinners. God has provided perfect righteousness for us through the work of his Son, Jesus Christ, at the cross.
We shall see as we get into chapters 6, 7, and 8 how that righteousness is to be experienced. Those are the verses that we are memorizing right now, which we meditated upon this morning while the organ was playing. How to experience the righteousness which God has provided for us.
Then we will learn in chapters 9, 10, and 11 about God's righteousness being rejected by his Old Testament people Israel, and how the God in this age has done something marvelous in bringing about a new body of people to be his, which are neither Jew nor Gentile, but which are believers in Jesus Christ.
Then in the last part of the book, chapters 12 through 16, it is the righteousness of God revealed, how God's righteousness is made practical in our lives as we live it out in various relationships. Sometimes the book of Romans is summarized by several words that begin with S, sin, salvation, sanctification. What's the next one? Some of you have taken the classes I'm sure we've learned that, sovereignty, and finally, service.
Those are five convenient words by which you can remember the flow of the book of Romans. The righteousness of God is needed by all men, whether the pagans, whether moral or immoral, or Jews, religious people, is needed by all men. God has provided through Christ's work. He has become our propitiation. We have studied. That is the word that describes his work on the cross in its Godward effect. He has satisfied the justice of God. Therefore he is our propitiation.
His work is also called our redemption. That is the word that is sinward in its effect. He has redeemed us. He has purchased us out of our sin and set us free. And then he has also provided by his work on the cross our justification. And that is a man-word directed word because it describes what happens to us when we place our faith in Christ. We are justified. That word means that we are declared legally righteous in God's sight because of our faith in Christ.
A justification has always been by faith, whether in this age or in previous ages. It has always been received, appropriated by faith in God's promise. The apostle goes all the way back to Abraham to give us an example of that. In Romans chapter 4, there is the personage of Abraham brought before us. And we see in the first few verses that Abraham was not justified by his works. He was not justified by his circumcision.
He was not justified by the law, but he was justified by God's grace and by his faith in the promise that God gave him. And that promise that God gave to him was the promise of a what? A son or a seed. A promised heir was given to Abraham and because Abraham believed that, God counted it to him for righteousness. And you will notice that chapter 4 ends with an application to us.
He says, and not for his sake only was it written that it was reckoned to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be reckoned, as those who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. Him who was delivered up because of our transgressions and was raised because of our justification. He closes chapter 4 with a reference to our justification. I want you to notice first of all that this justification is not the kind of justification that the world has.
The world's justification is based upon merit, what you earn. God's justification is based upon grace. It is justification that belongs to us. It does not belong to everybody in the world, but just to those who have placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It describes here a personal relationship to God. It is our justification.
It is not just a theological dogma that we are studying, but we are talking about something that is very personal to each one of us, and that is our relationship to God. It is condensed in that word justification. In chapter 5, the Apostle talks about the blessings that come to us because we have been justified by faith in Christ. He enumerates the blessings that you and I have because we are saved. The first blessing that he points out is in verse 1.
He says, having been justified by faith, we have, number one, peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Peace with God. I think too often we take for granted, don't we, what that means. We have peace with God. The word peace is used in several contexts in the Bible. It is used in the sense of political peace sometimes, and talking about peace in the world.
There is one prophetic utterance that deals with it in that way when it says that in the last days they will say, peace, peace, when there is no peace. Talking about political peace in the world. And then there is the sense of personal peace in which this word is used. It refers to the tranquility of mind to freedom from disturbance and upset. This is the word that Jesus, the meaning that Jesus gave to the word when he said, my peace I leave with you. My peace he says. My tranquility.
I want you to experience the absence of upset that I know because of my relationship with the Father. So his bequest to his followers before he was crucified was his peace. My peace I leave with you. Here is that personal peace. It is described in Philippians chapter 4 as peace, the peace of God. He tells us there that we should be anxious for nothing. It doesn't say be anxious for only the big things. He says be anxious for nothing. But in everything by prayer and supplication with what?
Thanksgiving. Let your request be made known to God. And he says the peace of God which passes what? All understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ. There is the peace of God. It is the peace that he gives to the believer, the tranquility he gives to the believer because the believer has his trust in him. He is not anxious, he is not worried, he is committed to the Lord by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. And then that peace that is said to pass understanding.
In other words, it is something the world looks at and says I can't figure that out. How can that Christian respond that way in the face of all the trials he is going through? He scratches his head and says it is beyond my understanding. Well he is exactly right. God said that the peace of God is beyond human understanding. But God gives it to the Christian.
You may look at a situation in the future and you would say oh if this would have happened or that would have taken place, I don't think I could ever get through that with peace. You know God doesn't give his peace until we need it. When you and I need the peace for a particular circumstance, God will give that to us if we are looking to him for it. You may look at the possibility of losing a child. I think that Satan uses that fear in the lives of many young couples particularly.
He whispers in the ear that if you commit everything to the Lord and give it all to him, God is going to test you. The way he is going to test you is by taking away one of your children because that is the most precious thing in the world to you. By creating that anxiety and that fear, he tries to keep the believer from giving everything entirely to the Lord.
So there are many Christians who are afraid to commit themselves to God for fear that he is going to test me and I will lose something that is precious to me, maybe my child. That possibility, I can't imagine having peace in that possibility. Listen, if you and I have committed ourselves completely to the Lord, then we will know the peace that passes understanding if something traumatic were to happen to us.
I have talked to some of you as I look back through the congregation and you have been through some traumatic experiences this year. Some of you have testified to me how the peace of God just so filled your hearts during those times. That is what God is talking about. But that is not what Romans 5 verse 1 is talking about. The tranquility of spirit is the peace of God, but here he says we have peace with God. In this sense, it is talking about the positional peace that the Christian knows.
Not political peace, not personal peace, but positional peace. It is a word that describes the relationship between my God and me. We are at peace, finally. There may be some people who would wonder why is peace even an issue then? The fact is that sin created warfare in the spiritual realm. There is a battle going on today between good and evil, and sad is the Christian who doesn't realize that. There is a great battle going on between God and Satan.
It is not as though there is a toss-up as to who is going to win the war. That has already been determined. God is the victor, but there nonetheless is a very real battle that takes place. There is a battle that is between God and mankind, because mankind is in rebellion against God. In Psalm 2, David pictures man as lifting his fist to God and daring God to strike him. Little man lifts his angry fist against the God of the universe and does battle with him by his rebellion.
What a pitiful battle, and yet how real it is. In fact, even in verse 10, he says, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God. In other words, there was a time before our conversion when we were enemies with God. This same thought is found over in Colossians 1, if you want to turn there and look at it, in verse 21.
He speaks about what the Lord has done for us, and verse 21 he says, and although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet now he has reconciled you. Well, when he says formerly, he is talking about before our salvation. He says at that time you were hostile to God. There was no peace between you and God. You declared war on God by your sin, and consequently, God declared war on sin. Do you know that God is at war against sin?
The seventh Psalm has some interesting words about this. If you want to turn back there a moment, in Psalm 7, verse 11, we have some instructive words that give us insight into this battle against wickedness. Psalm 7, beginning in verse 11, God is a righteous judge and a God who has indignation every day. There are some translations that say he is a God who is angry with the wicked every day. And for man does not repent, he, God, will sharpen his sword. He has bent his bow and made it ready.
He has also prepared for himself deadly weapons. He makes his arrows fiery shafts. Behold, he travails with wickedness. He describes here how God does battle against the wicked. He says that God sharpens his sword. He draws his arrows out. He puts them in his bow and makes his bow ready. Why is God doing this? Because God does battle with wickedness. God is at war with sin and with sinners. Warren Worsby has a helpful sentence or two on this.
He says, condemnation means that God declares us sinners, which is a declaration of war. Cammation means that God declares us righteous, which is a declaration of peace. The one who is still in sin is one who is in a declared war with God. It is not God that God is being mean, but it is simply God's holy response to sin. When there is sin, God responds to it with wrath and warfare. It's natural. It's built into his nature because he's holy.
I think God has illustrated this in many ways in nature. It's illustrated, for example, in our bodies. When there is some foreign matter that gets into your body, God has so created you that there is an immediate warfare that takes place. It's initiated by your body and the white blood cells. Those blood cells attack that foreign matter, and that's why we get infection. Yesterday, I was moving some wood around outside here and I cut my finger.
Immediately when I did that, there was dirt in there. There were germs that got into my body. The white blood cells went to work and they attacked that foreign matter in me and kicked it out so that my body remains healthy. It's just an automatic thing that happens in the healthy body. You see, that's the way God is with sin. He is holy. When there is sin, he responds against it immediately. He does war against it. The sinner is at war with God. He knows no peace with God.
Isaiah said, there is no peace to the wicked. Justification, though, brings peace because sin is forgiven and righteousness is imputed to the sinner. When I trusted the Lord Jesus Christ, I was declared righteous in the sight of God. What that means is that there is no longer a charge against me as far as God is concerned. I'm no longer guilty in his sight.
There is no offense that God has on record that I have committed because he has legally not only forgiven me, but he has declared me righteous in his sight. That's based upon Christ's death for me. You see, in the garden, mankind turned away from God. And therefore, God, in his holy response, had to turn away from man. God even turned away from his son when his son was hanging on the cross when he became sin for us. The son cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
He goes right on to say, but thou art holy, in Psalm 22. God turned away from his son because his son was unholy at that moment. He was bearing your sin in mind. But because Jesus did that, now God is turned toward us. And instead of his back being toward us, God is saying to sinners, come unto me. All ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. For literally, he says, I will rest you. In other words, he will give peace, he can do that because of Christ's work for us.
Vernon McGee quotes a Christian psychologist, friend of his, who said, the only place you can have a guilt complex removed is at the cross of Christ. Do you feel guilty this morning? Well, are you saved? If you are saved, then there is no reason for you to be guilty. Now you as a Christian can get out of God's will and live in sin, and God will cause guilt to come to you, but what you need to do is confess it. God doesn't want you to bear that guilt. But the sinner has no choice about it.
He is guilty before God. And the only way to have that guilt removed is to come to God through Jesus Christ, by faith in him, and receive peace. Are you at peace with God this morning, or are you declaring war on God? Are you telling God to keep his hands off your life, and you want to do it yourself? Then you are at war with God, friend, and there is no hope for you, because you cannot possibly win that battle. You are damning and dooming yourself to eternity and separation from God.
What you need to do today is to come to God through the Lord Jesus Christ and have peace with God. That was the second blessing that comes with our justification, and that is found in verse 2. He talks about this peace that we have through Christ, and he says, through whom also, in addition to peace, that is, we have obtained our introduction, or our access, by faith into this grace in which we stand. The second blessing that we have from justification is access to God.
The MAV puts it, our introduction, which isn't bad. What it means is that we have entrance before the sovereign of the universe. Access means that somebody else introduces me to the sovereign. I am able to come before him because of somebody else's favor on my behalf. I had the privilege of serving as a trustee of Cedarville College back in Ohio. One of our meetings, the president of the college there, Paul Dixon, related to us an interesting story which illustrates what access is all about.
He was trying to be in touch with a man in Ohio who is reputed to be a very wealthy man and who has an evangelical background. Whether he's a Christian or not, I don't know, but he has awareness of the evangelical world. Some people say he's the wealthiest man in the state of Ohio. The president, in fulfilling part of the function of his office, was trying to make contact with this man to present to him the needs of the college, but he couldn't get through.
He would get to the secretary and that was as far as it went. There were only certain people who were able to get through to this gentleman. And so Paul was mentioning this one day around a group of businessmen and one of them said, just a minute Paul, I know that guy. He's a friend of mine. We belong to the same country club out there. Want me, write him a letter telling him about the college and about you and after I've sent the letter then you call him and see if you can get through.
So the man wrote the letter of introduction about the college and he said the president's name is Paul Dixon. He wants to be in touch with you and explain to you what the college is doing. Well, sure enough, the time came when Paul put the call through and he was able to get right into the office of that man. Why did he gain access? Because of the favor of another.
Do you see in a far greater sense, that's what's happened to you and me, we have gained access to the God of the universe because of the favor, the grace of Jesus Christ. Through him we have obtained the right to come into the very presence of God. Isn't that tremendous? Throughout the Old Testament men were separated from God. They could not come into his presence. Gentiles could come up to a certain point.
In the Herodian temple, the temple that was existence in Jesus' day, there was a wall around the temple structure and immediate compound and that wall kept out the Gentiles. It was between 30 and 54 inches high. On top of the wall was an ornamental work of some kind and there was a big sign on the wall and here's what it said, no Gentile may enter within the railing around the sanctuary and within the enclosure.
Whoever should be caught will render himself liable to the death penalty which will inevitably follow. That sounds kind of serious, doesn't it? That was the place of the Gentiles. They could come up to that point, no closer. Jews could go on into the compound and be around the temple. But only the Levites could approach the altars. They were the ones who did service to the temple.
Only they could come around the building itself and only the priests could be involved in the actual offering up of the sacrifices. And finally the screening process narrowed down to one man who was able to go into the presence of God and the Holy of Holies and him only once a year and then very carefully. There had to be a lot of incense put in there so that he could not look upon God. Now why was it that God kept men away from himself? Because the way to him had not been opened up yet.
But after the death of the Lord Jesus Christ the way was opened up into the very presence of God. The veil on the temple of course was rent or torn on the very day that Jesus died. Very significant, indicating that anyone may come now into his presence. It was not many years after that until the temple structure itself was destroyed. God was doing something new. All men, whether Jew or Gentile, now may have access into his presence.
We see this beautifully described over in Ephesians chapter 2. I want you to turn there a moment. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 13. In the previous verses he talks about what we were before we were saved, especially those of us who were Gentiles. But he says, But now in Christ Jesus, you who were formerly far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall.
He describes that wall as being the law of commandments. He says he abolished it in his flesh, the enmity which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances. That in himself he might make the two, Jew and Gentile, into one new man, the church, thus establishing peace. Here the peace is primarily the peace between Jew and Gentile. You see when men are at war with God, they are at war with one another too.
Not only has our Lord established peace with himself, but he has made it possible for us to be at peace with others. He says in verse 16, And that he might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And he came and preached peace to those who were far away, and peace to those who were near. For through him we both, Jew and Gentile, have our access by one spirit to the Father.
So today dear friend, it makes no difference what your background may be culturally or racially. All of us have equal access to God if we are saved. Now understand one thing very clearly. No unsaved person has access to God, not one. An unsaved person may pray and pray and pray and his prayer goes nowhere. He has no access before God. He has no legal standing before God. You'll notice back in Romans chapter 5 it says that we have access into this grace in which we stand.
We stand in grace having been forgiven. But those who still stand in sin are not forgiven, and they have no access into the presence of God. And I want you to notice too that this access into the presence of God does not come through saints. It does not come through the Virgin Mary. It does not come with somebody who is a friend of God and who somehow can get us closer to God. This access comes through faith in Jesus Christ and in him alone.
He is our access unto God, and if we have believed on him, we may come to the presence of God confidently and without shame or embarrassment question. Are you taking advantage of your access? Have you been before God this morning? Have you been before God to tell him that you love him? To devote yourself to him, to give him this Lord's day? Have you been before him in private worship?
Have you been with him to ask his blessing in your life and to ask him to use you in ministering to others today? I fear that the privilege that we have of coming before God is perhaps the greatest neglected privilege we have as Christians. God has given us access so that it can be used. God helped us to use it faithfully and to joyously take advantage of the opportunity we have to come before the God of the universe.
Now there is a third blessing that I want to point out before we close, and that is found in the last sentence in verse 2 of Romans 5 where it says, We exult or we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. The third blessing that we see here is the glory of God. It's said to be our hope. There's a word that needs to be defined today because we use the word in a little bit of a different context. The word hope means a favorable and confident expectation. It is a happy expectation of good.
It's not something that's uncertain and maybe will come, but it is a confident expectation that something good is coming. I remember one evangelist whom I wouldn't agree on a lot of things, but who says something good is going to happen to you today. Well you see that's the attitude of hope. Because hope looks into the future, it ponders the unseen, and it has confidence that something good is going to happen. Now what is the hope that we have because we're justified by faith?
It is said to be the glory of God. What does that mean? Well Paul elaborates on this over in chapter 8. We're just going to take time to read it because we'll be studying it when we get there in two or three years. Romans chapter 8 verse 16. He says, The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children also heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may be also but glorified with Him.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation awaits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but we also ourselves having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves eagerly waiting for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved. That could as well read, for the hope we have been saved. And hope that is seen is not hope, for why does one also hope for what he sees?
For we hope for what we do not see with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. What is he talking about? Well, just briefly, he is talking about the Rapture. He is talking about the adoption of our bodies, he says, that time when our bodies will be changed. I think that probably verse 23 was fulfilled this morning by many of us as we realized it was time to get up and that blessed rain was coming down so softly on the roof. And we groaned as we realized it was the hour to get out of bed.
We groan within ourselves because our bodies get tired and they are sometimes in pain, they get sick. We groan. And he says that even creation groans. It emits a sound as it were because it too has been subjected to futility, that is to corruption because of the fall of man. But he says that what we are groaning for is the future when the Lord Jesus Christ will come back and will consummate our salvation.
And he says that when all of that takes place not only will our bodies be changed but even creation itself will be released from the curse that has come upon it because of the fall. Isn't that a blessed prospect? We have a hope today, it is the hope of the glory of God. I would like for you to turn over to Revelation chapter 21 and just see something more about this. Like Abraham, we look for a city whose builder and maker is God.
And that city is described here in the last part of Revelation, it is called the New Jerusalem. I want you to notice some things about it. Chapter 21 verse 9. And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me saying, Come here, I shall show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. Now tell me who is said to be the bride of Christ? The church. So now he is going to show the church or where the church is.
And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. This is not Jerusalem, Israel. Whatever the zip code may be. But this is a heavenly Jerusalem. And he says in verse 11, it has the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal clear jasper. He describes the gates and so on. And then I want you to look on down to verse 23.
The city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. In other words, in that heavenly city that God is going to create, there won't be the need for the sun or the moon. But Jesus Christ himself will radiate such glory that it will fill up the whole place. Now this is a city that is going to be about two-thirds the size of the United States, the 48 states.
And so brilliant is the glory of the Lamb that he has served to be the lamp of it. This is where you and I are going to live. Then down to verse 1 of chapter 22, he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, rather in the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month.
And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no longer any curse. And the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his bound servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face. And his name shall be on their foreheads, and there shall no longer be any night. They shall not have need of the light of the lamp, nor of the light of the sun, because the Lord God shall illumine them, and they shall reign forever and ever.
Now when it says they, that sounds rather impersonal. But it's talking about you, if you've been justified by faith. This is where you're going to live. Now the shape of this city has been variously described, but I think one of the most beautiful is that it's a sphere. A sphere. It's almost as though God is preparing this city to hang in his universe like a Christmas tree ornament.
It is beautifully made, and instead, apparently, instead of living on the surface of this globe, as we do the world, we will live inside of it. There seems to be some of the language here. At least it can be understood that way. And through that crystal globe of a city, you and I will walk, you and I will reflect the glory of Jesus Christ. Folks, you and I have the hope of the glory of God.
Not only are we going to reflect that glory, but the place we're going to live is designed to reflect and to radiate the glory of God to the new heavens and the new earth. That's why the Apostle said, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. That should characterize us. Eagerly anticipating it. You know, that will help you with the blues.
That will help you on Monday morning when you get up to realize that your hope is not in that job that you're going to work for the next five days. Our real hope is not in the want ads in the newspaper that you pick up in the morning looking for a job, but your hope is an eternal hope. It is the glory of God. Let that lift your heart. You know, the world's hopes rise and fall with the stock market, with the news of war or peace, but the hope of the Christian is one that is solid, it's eternal.
Sad is the state of one who has hope only in this life. Friend, is the glory of God your destiny or is it the wrath of God? You say, well, I don't want it to be the wrath of God, then you have only one choice. That is that you place your faith in Jesus Christ and be justified or declared righteous by him. You can't work for it, you can't earn it, all you can do is get on your knees, admit that you're a sinner, and receive it. It's free gift of salvation that he'll give.
Once you have that, you have a lot of blessings. Peace with God, that's a marvelous blessing in itself. You have access to God, you have the glory of God, and next week we'll see some of the other blessings that are ours. If you are a Christian, are you experiencing the peace of God? Are you living in that state of taking advantage of access so that the peace of God is filling your heart and mind and guarding it from anxiety?
Are you living in the reality of the riches of grace that God has made available to you? You stand in grace and God has given you access to that grace. What does it say over in Hebrews, chapter four, there at the end of the chapter? It says that Jesus, the Son of God, has passed through the heavens and that you and I therefore, because he's opened the way, have access and we may come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain what? Grace, may obtain mercy rather, and find what?
Grace to help in the time of need. He's talking there about the mercy and the grace that we need every day. Not the saving grace and mercy, that's the beginning of it, but there's so much more. Are you living in the light of that or are you just trudging along your own little way, living in your own resources, having a miserable time? Well if that's the case, you're not living the way God has provided for you to live. God hasn't called you to be a pauper, he's called you to be a prince.
Will you live that way this week? Will you give yourself anew to him, to his lordship, take advantage of the blessings that are yours? Let's pray. God thank you for the grace, the mercy which you have richly provided for us. Forgive us.
Lord forgive us, when we so independently and arrogantly march on our way as your children, failing to take advantage of the privilege of access, worried, placing our hopes and dreams in this life, living like poor paupers instead of reveling in all the grace that you've given to us. Father, there are some of your children here today who are hurting, and they're hurting because of their own bad decisions and disobedience. Reclaim them today I pray.
Help them to repent, confess their sins, and turn again to you to acknowledge your lordship. I pray for those who may be here unsaved, today they would trust the Lord Jesus and be justified and know the blessings we've talked about. We pray this in Jesus' name.