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Romans 5:1-2,
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we
stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."
This morning, complex things generally lead to one of two paths: 1. they are
avoided, or 2. they are looked upon improperly. When considering what the Bible
says about different subjects, some are easier to grasp than others. Is there
any doubt, or should there be, as to what the Bible says about adultery? Is
there any doubt, or is it unclear at all about the subject of murder or theft?
The simple answer is "no" there is no doubt as simple statements from Exodus 20
and other places serve to show God's feelings about those subjects. There are
other subjects such as atonement, justification, redemption, etc that take more
digging to reach the heart of those subjects. There is not a singular sentence
that encapsulates these subjects, and because of this complexity (compared to
the previously noted subjects), most professed Christians either form misguided
ideas about them or just avoid them completely.
Perhaps one of the hardest subjects of the Bible to rightly divide, from my own
experience and observation in others, is the subject of justification. Due to
this difficulty, I have laboured quite often to find ways to simplify it
whenever possible. While the classic "3 courtroom" illustration is not my own, I
do find it very valuable and use it quite often. That illustration basically
states that there are three courtrooms that justification can be found in. As
the Bible speaks about the different forms of justification, we need to
understand what courtroom we are in and what evidence will be heard.
If we are in God's courtroom, the only evidence that will be heard is spotless
righteousness and perfection of beauty. While we cannot bring such before God,
Christ could and did, which was done in our room and stead by blood and grace -
justification by blood or grace. (Titus 3:7, Romans 3:24, 5:9) If we are in
man's courtroom, he cannot see the blood of Christ, but he can see works that
testify to the gracious state from the blood of Christ - justification by works.
(James 2) However, the courtroom of our own mind or conscience requires
something else as proper evidence, and that is testimony of faith from the
tender heart of God's regenerate children - justification by faith. (Romans 4,
Hebrews 11)
This last courtroom - from whence justification by faith springs - is often
discussed in Scripture with many figures serving as examples, but Abraham being
the most prominent. The previous chapter from our study verse (Romans 4)
discusses Abraham's justification by faith in great detail. Sometimes the
language becomes quite involved, but the overall thought in the lesson is that
Abraham's mind was at ease and comfortable with the things that God had assured
him would take place. Abraham did have works (as James 2 shows), and most
assuredly, he was declared righteous by the blood of the Lamb in God's sight.
However, this whole lesson about Abraham delights in describing his
steadfastness toward God that gave him confidence and assurance in his God.
Notice that Abraham was confident that what God promised, He was also able to
perform: showing his trust in the omnipotence of God. (Romans 4:21) Believed in
hope against hope, showing a successful campaign against natural hope with the
weapon of spiritual hope. Naturally, there was no hope for a child as God had
promised for he and Sarah were well up in years. However, Abraham showed courage
to step out on what God had said by faith in hope of things unseen rather than
attaching greater importance to what he saw: his own dead body (reproductively
speaking). (Romans 4:18-20)
During this discussion of Abraham and his attendance to the promises of God, we
see something growing that Paul hammers home in our verse. Paul starts our
thought by saying "therefore." We should immediately tie the thought coming with
the discourse we just had on Abraham. Because of all that Paul has laboured to
illustrate with Abraham, being justified by faith, we have peace with God.
Before we notice what the message is, let us briefly notice what the message is
not. Paul did NOT say, "Therefore being justified by faith, God has peace with
us." God has peace with us through the merits of His Son, and nothing else
matters in that court as far as eternal justification and reconciliation with
God is concerned. (II Corinthians 5:18-19)
The text reads that WE have peace with God being justified by faith. Whether or
not we ever get to a point in our lives where we, as faithful Abraham, live as
disciples of the Lamb walking by faith or not, God is ever at peace with His
children by the blood of His Son. However, there is much peace in the world that
children of God can miss by not walking by faith. When Abraham trusted God to
deliver him a son as promised, it took 15 years for that promise to come to
fruition. In 15 years, Abraham waited with the faith and assurance that God
would perform what he promised. That situation yielded peace to him with the God
that he served.
So today, we have peace with God when we yield ourselves as members of
righteousness utilizing the faith that He has implanted by His Spirit. By doing
so, we focus our minds on something that drives away and dispels the dark clouds
from our sight: Jesus Christ the Righteous. When focused upon Him, we utilize
the access we have to approach unto God and see the beauty of His glory in the
Person of His Son. How do we approach God on a daily basis? We come through our
Mediator, by which we have access. (I Timothy 2:5) How do we understand things
about God? We see God in the most vivid way our minds can comprehend Him by
looking at our Elder Brother.
When we walk in such a fashion, our works corroborate what we feel, which our
fellowman sees in our actions. Our works declare us righteous to him, but what
we feel inside, springing from the well of faith, justifies us in our mind and
conscience. We feel that sacred nearness with the Saviour and have the
confidence and assurance that He both has and will continue to love us. By
steadfastly considering that He died for the ungodly and unrighteous (as Paul
later describes in this chapter), we have the assurance that He will also stand
with us no matter what life may throw at us. With this two-fold thought firmly
entrenched in our mind by faith, we can rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Notice that last phrase is rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. Paul later
describes hope as something that we do not yet see. (Romans 8:24) What we do not
yet see is the glory of God in its fullest sense. Even though we do not yet see
it, we can rejoice in it as though it has already happened, just as Abraham
could rejoice in God's promise to him even though Isaac had not yet been born.
Since God calleth those things which are not as though they were (Romans 4:17),
things in the future that God has said will happen are as good as already
happened (in the past). He has assured us through His word that one day we will
be with Him where He is. (John 14:1-4) If that be our happy estate and final
dwelling place, may we dwell upon that happy and wondrous thought here. In so
doing, we feel that graciousness and peace grows out of the thought and state.
Dear friends, God has cemented our position with Him forever and always. What
began in His own mind and purpose was rendered complete forever at Calvary
(Hebrews 10:14), and it will be made manifest one day at His glorious appearing.
That is unchanging and unwavering. What does change and waver is our mind's view
of it, which in turn changes our mind's view of everything else in our lives.
With God's unchanging work correctly in view, we can then correctly view other
things as well. With things out of kilter in our view of God's work, so likewise
will other things be out of kilter as well. Due to the swinging pendulum of our
mind's thoughts, we must be justified by faith repeatedly as that peace we feel
with God is not as constant as it should be. However, when we stand steadfastly
in the faith that He has given us and nurture its productiveness in our lives,
we experience, yet again, that wonderful place where He appears and speaks to
whisper sweet peace to us.
In Hope,
Bro Philip |