We are in Romans chapter 5 and
what Romans 5 is about to do is to introduce us to the person
who accomplished for us this great work of propitiation of
which the Apostle speaks about in chapters 3 and 4 as we have
developed over the last several weeks. And what Romans 5 does
is open up by making the statement that the life is radically changed
when the soul is made to understand what it means to be justified
freely by the grace of God in Christ. The way Paul opens up
Romans chapter 5 is to underscore that the life is radically changed
when the soul is made to understand what it means to be justified
freely by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. There's an assumption
on the part of Paul's writing observed by our first word in
Romans 5.1. It's the little word, therefore. And often in our Bibles, particularly
our King James Bibles, often conjunctions or clauses will
be put in large capital letters. In my Bible, therefore, is in
large capital letters. Now I've told you before, when
you understand the history of your Bibles, that chapters and
verses, and therefore ending of chapters, are not inspired. They were letters written with
a constant flow, but the translators thought that it would fit to
start sentences here and end sentences there, chapters here
and there. So there's no inspiration here.
There's a continual flow from chapter 4, verses 23, all the
way through chapter 5, verse 1, which goes like this. Now
it was written, not for his sake alone, that is Abraham, that
it was imputed to him, but for us also to whom it shall be imputed
if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead,
who was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our what?
Justification. Therefore, the apostle Paul. is understanding that he has
now finished an argument that he has been engaged in from chapter
1 verse 1 all the way up to chapter 5 verse 1. A therefore is what
we call a conclusive clause. It's a clause that closes out
one's previous discourse, one's previous arguments, or their
labors to try to explain something. And what Paul is saying when
he says therefore, he is saying I'm through arguing my point,
Here is the conclusion of the whole matter and I want you to
hear it Here's the conclusion of the whole of my argument from
chapters 1 to chapters 5 verse 1 sinners Are there any sinners
in the house are? only justified in the sight of
God through faith in Christ alone apart from words That's his argument
From here he will build his subsequent arguments of the benefits of
justification. So if you haven't heard the word,
this is the word that I want to now penetrate into your thinking. The word is justification. Justification in fact justification
is Paul's Total subject from the beginning of his discourse
to now Do you remember Romans chapter 1 verse 16 and 17 where
he opens up saying I am not ashamed of the what? the gospel because
it is the what power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes
to the Jew first and then also to the Gentile for there in is
the righteousness of God revealed Paul's whole discourse is to
prove to his auditors that justification is the primary work of God by
which a sinner is accepted before God in terms of the work of Jesus
Christ on Calvary Street. For you and me, we must comprehend
the work of justification. Justification is the grounds
upon which we have assurance of salvation Justification is
the grounds upon which we have a right to enter into the presence
of God Justification is the grounds upon which we have every right
to know that if God has started a good work in me He will perform
it unto the day of Jesus Christ. It is the work of justification
when properly comprehended that brings you and me into the realities
of of just exactly what God had to do to save our eternity-bound
souls. When you and I understand justification,
we understand the enormity of the work that God did to redeem
our souls from hell. Romans chapter 1, 16 and 17.
And in Romans chapter 2, verse 13, how do we know that the apostle
Paul was concerned about us comprehending God's justification he says in
verse 13 for not the hearers of the law are just before God
But the doers of the law shall be what do you understand that
when a man is? Contemplating the issue of justification,
you know what? He's asserting people are in
trouble When a man is contemplating justification When the doctrine
of justification is laid out, right? What it is teaching is
that humanity is not right with God When you and I are contemplating
justification you and I are recognizing that God has a problem with us
and until that problem is rectified you and I are in real trouble
and What Paul has been doing from chapter 1 all the way to
chapter 5 is arguing a case for the holiness of God, for the
righteousness of God, for the justice of God. Do you remember
the first revelation? It was the revelation of God's
righteous wrath against humanity. Romans 1 18 says God has revealed
his wrath against all ungodliness of men and all unrighteousness
of men in other words brothers and sisters when you and I are
contemplating justification You know what? We're contemplating
our guilt our sin our hell-bound state our condition under the
wrath of God well, if you and I are not sinners, what is justification
all about and If you and I are not inexorably bound to a hellish
state, why talk about justification? And the man or the woman who
is going to be a teacher of God's word and help eternity bound
souls get right with God will start with letting humanity know
you are under the wrath of God. And you and I got a problem that
has to be fixed, and we can't fix that problem. Only God can
fix this problem. So the person that has the privilege
of sharing the gospel will rightly share the gospel from this standpoint
that God has wrought a means by which he can justify the sinner
Without impugning his holiness and bring the sinner into a right
state with God. We call that justification Justification
is what you and I talked about when we moved over into chapter
3 Remember what chapter 3 says in verse 19 and 20 listen to
it. I Now we know that whatsoever things the law says, it says
to them that are under the what? That every mouth may be what?
the whole world might become what guilty before God see what
we say is in this generation where people are presenting the
gospel they are presenting the gospel to men and women in a
faulty way when they start with the love of God and not with
the righteousness of God when you tell many women God loves
you you are making them assume that they are in a right state
with God when in fact they are not And when once you start with
the love of God now you diminish the significance of men Comprehending
this this grand work of God justifying sinners by putting his son to
death See for Paul as we're gonna learn if you don't get justification,
right? You cannot glory in God You cannot
glory in God Your glory and would be in vain and it would be a
lie if we fail to understand as we had learned before What
it means for Christ to have been crucified He's talking about
justification because he has been proving to both Gentile
and Jew that we're all under what sin Remember Romans chapter
1 he said God has revealed his wrath and God has backed up from
humanity and given them over to Idolatry and that idolatry
has led to men exchanging the glory of God for idols. And God gave them up to vile
affections, to the lust of their flesh, to the vanity of their
minds, to an ignorance of God that would cause humanity to
devolve down into a state of barbarism, reprobation, and eternal
damnation. And then Paul moved to chapter
2, remember? And he said to the people who had their Bibles,
just because you have a Bible doesn't make you right with God.
And just because you read your Bible doesn't make you right
with God. Remember, it's not the hearers of the law, but the
doers of the law that shall be justified. What was he doing?
He was shutting us all up to the damnation of salvation by
words. It's not the hearers of the law,
but the doers of the law. that shall be justified. Is there
anyone in the house who ever done anything that God has called
him to do right with a perfect heart and a perfect mind? May
I quickly answer? No. It is therefore to be concluded
by a reasonable mind, by a reasonable mind, that because I am a sinner,
I'm in trouble with God. And that when you and I share
the gospel with people, you've got to let them know that they're
in trouble with God. The Holy Ghost works through
that form of admonition. He only works to convince men,
first and foremost, of their what? Sin. John 16, 18, 16, 13. And so what Paul is doing as
we open up chapter 5, I'm only going to get through two points
today, I can tell. What Paul is doing as he opens
up chapter 5, is he is basically concluding that his argument
is just that the world hates God and therefore God's wrath
is on them even now, that the religious world hates God and
therefore the wrath of God is even on them now and they are
more culpable than the unbelieving world because they know more.
To whom much is given, much is what? And if the law of God doesn't
drive you to Christ by which you find your hope only in Him,
the law of God will sink you and me into the lowest hell.
And see what Paul has done after he has breathed a little bit
in chapter 3 and 4 by taking the stool legs from under the
Jewish people by telling them Abraham was saved only by faith. Abraham was justified only by
grace. Abraham did not obtain the rights
to the universe by any work that he did. Justification then is
the grounds upon which you and I now can ask the question. Am I am I right with God? As I said, he concluded with
sinners are only justified in the sight of God through faith
in Jesus Christ alone. What apart from works. And so
once he moved it through, moved through chapter four, arguing
about the justification of Abraham by faith alone, apart from works.
Remember what we learned? Abraham was never under the law.
The law was not given until 430 years after Abraham. Abraham
was called out of Ur of the Chaldee as a Gentile, just like you and
me, uncircumcised. He experienced the grace of God
by God in his own prerogative calling Abraham to himself, making
him his son and leading him to the promised land, as God must
do with all of us. He placed, employed the law of
God in the life of Abraham. See, that is the 12 tribes under
Moses. But Abraham was a basic Gentile
sinner who experienced the mercy and grace of God just as we do
apart from words. And when he comes to chapter
five, what he does in chapter five is absolutely amazing. In
chapter five, what he does, saints, is he opens up addressing this
issue. He addresses the issue that all
of the problems that you and I are dealing with are the consequence
of one man. And that all of the blessings
that you and I experience are the consequences of one man.
See, what he's getting ready to do is introduce us to the
doctrine of imputation and federal headship, by which we begin to
understand the two wills from which all these troubles came.
The first will is the will of Adam. The second whale is the
whale of Jesus Christ. From the whale of Adam, all of
our problems occurred. That's verse 12 of chapter 5.
For by one man, sin entered into the world, and death came upon
all. For all have what? That's one whale. That's where
it started. There's another well called the well of grace in Jesus
Christ and by one man Justification came upon all Freely through
the grace of God in him. That's where we're going and
we're going to contemplate the contrast and Similarities between
these two men where we get to ask the question. Are you ready?
Am I in Adam or am I in Christ? If I am in Adam, I'm condemned.
If I am in Christ, I'm justified. If I am in Adam, I'm headed to
hell. If I am in Christ, I'm headed to glory. And if I am
in Christ, I have a responsibility. And I want to talk to you about
that responsibility today. If you are in Christ, you have
an absolute responsibility to know what God has done for you
and to respond according to it. So he opens up Romans chapter
five. We'll deal with our first point now here. This is glorious.
By the way, the next five chapters are just gonna be an amazing
ride. I hope you can hang in there.
I liken it unto the analogy of water rafting. Have you ever
done any water rafting? I see one or two hands in the
house, 500 people, only two hands. I got you, I got you. Listen,
you have to be a little bit of an athlete to do a little water
rafting, but water rafting is fun if you're not scary. You got to hold on. The ride
is swift and there's a lot of turns and a lot of challenges.
But after it's done, you really will say, hey, I enjoyed that
ride. That's the way the next five
chapters are going to go, because he's going to be dealing with
a lot of points quickly. And if you don't hold on, you're
going to get thrown off the boat. Somebody got to tow you back
in. By that time, you're going to be way down the river and
to miss the whole lot of the ride. So I trust that you'll
hold on because chapters 5 through 10 are some of the most common
passages that we all know in the book of Romans. I just quoted
one in Romans chapter 5 verse 12, for by one man sin entered
into the world. Death came upon all for all have sinned. Romans
chapter 6, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
That's verse 1. Verse 23, the wages of sin is death, but the
gift of God is what? We know those passages, don't
we? Romans chapter 7, the good that I would, I do not. The evil
that I would not do, I find myself doing. So I see a law in my members
that brings me into captivity to the law of the flesh, the
law of sin and death. Oh, wretched man! that I am who
shall deliver me from this body of death. Romans 8, there is
therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus
who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. And you
remember all things work together for good to them that are called,
to those that are called according to the purpose of God. Romans
5 through 10 give us some wonderful, wonderful lessons about the grace
of God in Christ. And I hope that you stay with
us so that you can get your feet anchored in the gospel and the
truth. The first point I want to call your attention to is
justification leads to peace with God. So you can write this
down if you've never developed the doctrine of justification,
just write this down. Justification is God's decree, it's God's declaration,
and it's God's purpose to make you righteous through Jesus Christ. Justification is God's decree,
it's God's purpose, and it's God's work of making you right
through Jesus Christ. When a man or woman is justified,
they are made right before God's holy law. so that according to
the law of God you are a righteous person. Righteousness is the
grounds upon which a man or woman is decreed or declared just. Now the just shall live by what? That means, remember, if you
have the gift of faith, faith is designed not to terminate
in you, but to terminate in the promises of God, right? So the
reason why I'm going to live is because my faith is not fixed
on me, it's fixed on Christ. And if it's fixed on Christ,
it's fixed on the work that Christ did by what he accomplished on
Calvary, by which he merited for me an eternal righteousness
that allows me to stand in the presence of God. Accepted for
all eternity Justification is God declaring me Righteous for
Christ's sake you got that it's very important for you to know
that there's all of the days of your life Here's what you're
gonna struggle with Because you are not in glory yet. You're
gonna struggle with sin And you're gonna have to know where your
anchor lies You're gonna have to understand justification deeply
in your soul so that when the world turns upside down, you
will not be moved. This is what Paul wants you to
comprehend in the study of justification. So I'm getting ready to share
with you several things over these next three points. First
and foremost, when we properly comprehend justification, it
necessarily leads to peace with God. When we properly comprehend
the glorious work of God in justifying sinners, it necessarily, did
you hear me? Necessarily leads to what? Peace
with God. Stay with me now. I didn't say
peace from God. I said peace with God. See, you
and I, being humanists as we are, and always thinking that
everything is about us, assume that what God does is in order
to bring peace in our soul. Listen. Don't care how jacked
up you are if God Caused Christ to die for your sins God has
made peace with you Even if you haven't made peace with him Listen,
that's very important for you to know because he's not coming
to you in favor until he fixes the problem that he has with
you Now I say that to say this if you and I think that peace
has to always be affirmed by how we feel Then justification
didn't even do a good work because every day we're all jacked up.
Is that true? So what I'm getting at is the
first principle is this when justification Demands that the
sinner is at peace with God. It's not talking about peace
in the mind Nor is it talking about peace in the heart. It's
talking about peace in the relationship This is important This is important
peace The peace that we have is not first for us, it's for
God. Remember what I stated in Romans
chapter 1 verse 18? The wrath of God is revealed
against all ungodliness of men and unrighteousness of men. God's
not at peace with us. We're hostile towards God, but
God's wrath is on us. That's what Romans 1 18 says
and then again we saw it in chapter 2 verse 5 and 6 where God plainly
says we have treasured up wrath against the day of wrath and
revelation of the just judgment of God. Do you know daily while
you and I are not right with God we are heaping up wrath against
us? Do you understand that when a sinner is not seen to be in
Jesus Christ, that God is angry with the wicked every day? Do
you understand that? Do you understand when Jesus said in John 3, 36,
that he that does not believe on the Son of God, the wrath
of God continually abides on him or her? Do you understand
that? So stay with me for a moment.
I need to paint this picture. Can I do that? One of my brothers
came to me two weeks ago and said, Pastor, I'm not quite comprehending
the wrath of God. I said, okay, in the Greek, There
are two Greek words. In the Hebrew, there's one primary
word. The primary word in the Hebrew
is the word ra, from which we get the Hebrew term, the wind,
or the breath of God. A wonderful study, because sometimes
the wind is used to move us forward and advance us in our cause.
Oh, it's glorious when the south wind blows and helps you get
where you got to go. Isn't it nice when the wind is
blowing behind you and moving you forward? You feel the grace
of God moving you. That's God's grace. That's God's
grace. Oh, but if the wind turns and
becomes northward and blows against you, you can't make any progress
because God is against you. Those pictures are seen in the
Old Testament, such as in the days of Jonah, when Jonah rebelled
against God, jumped in the ship to try to go the other way. God
sent an east wind like to tow that ship up. And sometimes that's
what God will do in our life to get our attention. He will
come contrary to us to slow us down. And we're wondering why
we're laboring so hard to try to get ahead. God is stopping
you because you're not right with God. And the whole world
is walking contrary to God, lying in the lap of the wicked one.
And so God's wrath is against the world. So the proverb says,
the ways of a transgressor are what? Hard. It's hard when you're
trying to walk against a wind that's mightier than you. I got
to paint another picture here. In the New Testament, the two
words for the wrath of God, one, as I shared with you before,
is the word thumia. Thumia, from which we get the
term thermometer. And Macro Thumia is God's slow
rising wrath. Remember I used the analogy of
the thermometer gradually developing until it gets hot? That's the
nature of God against humanity. That he's slow to wrath, but
he's still wrathful. He's slow to wrath, but at some
point he pours it out, does he not? Now watch this now, that
Thumiyah, our macro Thumiyah, that slow rising temperature
comes to a boiling point and there's another word, and it's
the word Urge, from which we get the term Orgy, but the word
literally simply means to be completely given to wrath. And it's the idea of the nostrils
being so wide open that the anger and the fury God is about to
break out on sinners. I liken it unto the analogy of
King Kong Now I know some of y'all don't
like King Kong But I like me some King Kong and especially
the new King Kong the latest King Kong See, I actually understand
the meta-narrative there King Kong was just a brother like
me minding his own business and Just because he had some skill
sets that little bitty peon people want to take advantage of him.
They tried to lock him down and tie him down. They even stuck
a woman in front of his face. Now because King Kong loves beautiful
women, he kind of fell for it for a moment. And so he kind
of gradually fell into their trap. They put him to sleep.
They doped him. They did everything they could.
And then when they tried to pull the curtains back and make him
a mocking gauging stock, and the object of ridicule before
the world. Remember that? He looked and
he saw that they disrespected his power. Now, for me, King
Kong is God. Because that's what we do with
God. We disrespect his power. And we mock him. And we tie him
down and try to make entertainment out of God. But see, God has
a wrath. He has a wrath in him. Like King
Kong. Have you ever seen him rage?
I love it! Because his rage and his wind
is furious. And that's the hand of God that
hangs over the head of every soul. It is fully vented to destroy
the soul at any time. No one can overcome the wrath
of God. That's the picture that we're
dealing with. And until a soul is awakened to the wrath of God,
the cross is foolishness to him. Until he is awakened to the fact
that God's hand hangs up there ready to wipe him out, he will
play games, she will play games with God. And when we contemplate
what God did to recede his wrath, it ought to humble us. See, the
peace that we have is not first for us, it's for God because
of our sinful condition. Secondly, God's wrath by virtue
of the justification of Christ against the believer is now what?
Settled. Hallelujah. The hand went back. And King Kong smiled on you.
And he saw you as that lovely woman that he'd tear up the world
to get. See, she was the only one that
was not afraid of him. And that's how we are with God.
God is a king and he's glorious in his wrath. But the one woman
that can walk up to God is the bride of Christ, because she
sees love in his eyes. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Is it glorious? Now you're going to go back and
watch that movie because you're going to see the gospel in it. I know. God's
wrath against the believer is settled. It's settled. I can show you gospel all over
the place. We were enjoying it this morning in Sunday school.
The gospel is everywhere when you properly comprehend the work
of God. Now I just said that God's wrath is settled. I didn't
say it was removed. Don't ever teach that God no
longer has wrath. It's intrinsic to his nature.
There's a day of judgment coming where God's going to punish the
world in righteousness. When we say that God's wrath
is settled, you know what we're saying? That God's wrath has receded
from us and is no longer targeting us as the object of its vindication. We say that God's wrath is settled
and therefore we have peace with God. What an amazing contemplation! I want you to consider with me
two verses. Go with me to Isaiah chapter 53 verse 10 and 11. I
want you to see the cross work of Christ there that merited
for you and me peace, with God, not peace from God. See, Christ
died for us how long ago? 2,000 years. So the work of redemption
was accomplished 2,000 years ago. For us, Christ died as the
Lamb of God from before the foundation of the world. So in the mind
of God, who is eternal by nature, he could take the benefits of
Christ's crucify and apply them to every believer from the beginning
of time to the present time Because God is eternal in nature, right?
He speaks those things that are not as if they what were because
he's eternal and so the merits of Christ's righteousness Can
be can be imputed to us even before Christ comes and dies
on Calvary Street. Is that true? Is that true? Why cuz God can't lie change
or fail See if his son said yes, God can go to work blessing us
even before he actually pays the price of for our sins. We saw that with Jacob and Rachel.
Glorious truth. And so what we read in Isaiah
chapter 53 verse 10 and 11. Some of you heard this before.
I simply want this to resonate with you as I press home how
important the doctrine of justification is as the grounds of your peace
and as we shall see more. Isaiah chapter 53 verse 10. Are
you there? Here it is. Get it what? Please
the Lord to do what? It's an amazing passage the father
bruising the son It's the word that goes all the way back to
genesis 3 15. He shall bruise his heel, but
he will crush your head He hath put him to grief who is to him
the father hath put christ to grief When you shall make his
soul an offering for sin He shall see his seed. He shall prolong
his days and the pleasure of the lord will prosper in his
hand verse 11 The father shall see of the travail of his soul
and he shall be what you better get a hold of that When the father
looks on christ having poured his wrath out on christ Fully
vented his wrath and the behalf of those that believes on him
the father then is satisfied Judicially with us and his wrath
backs up and is settled and when he looks on us What he sees is
what christ did to soothe his justice and make God now favorable
towards us. The net effect of justification
is that we have peace with God. Are you hearing me? Peace with
God. One more verse. Go with me in your Bible to 2
Corinthians chapter 5. I want you to see these verses
here. This needs to be in some of your heads. I know that this
will be, for some of us, a revelation. And it's critical that you have
it. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17 through 21. I need to
lay this foundation. The Apostle Paul, speaking to
the church at Corinth, says these words about those who are in
Christ Jesus and are new creatures. Here's how he explains it in
chapter 5, verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ
Jesus, he is a what? Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. A phenomenal concept too. And
all things are of God, who hath what? Reconciled us to himself. Stop! That's what we mean by
peace. See, two people that are at war are unreconciled. Two
people who are in hostile relationship with one another are at variance
with one another. And what the world needs to know
is that God is at variance with the world, just as the world
is at variance with God. See, somehow the world thinks
that we have tied God down like King Kong, and we get to kind
of just stare at Him and gaze at Him and play with Him. But
I'm here to tell you, God broke those chains just by moving around.
He didn't even labor because you and I can't tie omnipotence
down. And can you imagine free omnipotence
still angry with the wicked? Humanity ought to be alarmed,
shouldn't it? Because humanity is living in danger of eternal
destruction every day. And yet God is at peace with
a whole bunch of people. He's so settled down at peace,
King Kong can walk around your house and you don't have to worry
about him stepping on your head. King Kong can live with you,
fight your battles, be your sentry, your watchman, take care of you,
your shelter in the time of storm. King Kong guarding your soul,
keeping you from destruction. You ought to feel real good when
you got King Kong watching your house. I'm trying to paint a
picture of what it means to be at peace with God. God will never
ever do anything that will harm you when God's at peace with
you. because he has settled his justice
by the death of his son. You are so eternally secure that
it ought to cause something to occur in you, which is going
to be our second point. He says in verse 19, these words,
as we move forward. I'm sorry verse 18 and all things
are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ
and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation that is that
God was in Christ Reconciling the world unto himself. Here's
what we learned this morning not imputing their trespasses
unto them. Hallelujah and committed unto
us the word of reconciliation and Now, then we are ambassadors
for Christ as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you
in Christ's stead be reconciled to God. Watch this. God has established
reconciliation. Sinner, enter into it. For He,
that is the Father, hath made Him, that is Christ, to be sin
for us who knew no sin. Here it is, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. Glorious! Glorious glorious
true. This is what justification did
for you justification took all of the merits of Christ's person
and obedience and Attributed to you because of what Christ
did for you when he died. Let's go back to our text Let's
deal with our points now back to point number one Justification
leads to peace with God peace. We have not first with us But
with God and God's wrath against the believer is settled because
of the work that Christ accomplished. And you and I are viewed in God's
sight as if we were Jesus Christ himself. So now God moves towards
us. God moves towards us in reconciliation
because he's reconciled to us. See, in the preaching of the
gospel, God is moving towards you when he calls you to himself. When He calls you to Himself,
He's moving towards you, not away from you. Why? Because of
what verse 9 and 10 says in Romans chapter 5. Listen to verse 9
and 10. This is an important truth around
your justification. Here's what the Apostle says
in verse 9 and 10. Here it is. Listen to this. Much
more than being now what? See how he's still stuck on justification,
but watch this. This is important much more than
being justified by his blood We shall be saved from wrath
through him for if when we were enemies and we were We were what
reconciled to God and we were by what the death of Jesus Christ
much more being reconciled We shall be saved by his what I
get a chance to explain that in a moment I know we don't understand
it, but I get a chance to explain it. God has done something for
us by which it frees up God to do more for us and to do more
for us and to do more for us because of what God has done
for us in justification. Please listen to what I'm saying.
Justification becomes the grounds for us, for God to do for us
things that are unspeakable and full of glory. Justification
is the grounds upon which God can do for us things that are
unspeakable and full of glory. Let's go back to our point. PowerPoint.
Let's go. Justification leads to peace
with God. Why? Because the peace was established by God. His wrath
is settled and therefore he can move towards us because of reconciliation
in terms of declaring to us peace. The effect, therefore, of righteousness
or justification is peace. I want you to see one text before
we move to our second point. Go with me to Isaiah 32. Isaiah
32. We're going to look at verses
15 through 17. And here, I want you to meditate with me now about
solemnity, tranquility, a state of stability and freedom from
chaos. Freedom from trouble freedom
from from conflict freedom from interruptions in your life freedoms
from all sorts of toil and and mayhem and Destructive things
that seem to pop up in our life all the time. Can you imagine
that? No, I know but but but I want you to think about it
for a moment to be able to have an unending an unending an Unending
state of absolute peace for all eternity. Can I tell you what
it is typified like in the scriptures? I the Sabbath, which again is
what we talked about this morning in Sunday School. The number
seven, Sabbah, Sabba-wah, is the word for seven, or Sabbaths. And it's the word that's constantly
associated with the seventh day. And what we understand is that
the seventh day God rested from all his works. And what God calls
sinners to is to enter into that rest. Now that rest is not a
day, it's a person. His name is Jesus Christ. Are
you hearing what I'm saying? The problem is most of us live
in the sixth day Because six days the Lord labored and on
the seventh day he what and it was the sixth day that he created
man Is that true? That he created you and I on
the sixth day means that he created you and I to work But he meant
for us to work to enter into his rest. I But rather than work
to enter into his rest, we worked to steal God's glory. And in
stealing God's glory, God cut us off from the seventh day.
You know what that means? You and I have been working since
the fall of Adam and Eve under the wrath of God. And so as Isaiah
puts it, the wicked are like the troubled seed tossed to and
fro and never can enter into what? Rest. Because the rest
is only found in the perfect man. that perfect man is Jesus
Christ whose labor once consummated and fulfilled allowed him to
say it is what finished and everyone that's in Christ gets to enter
into this rest that we're talking about right now look at it I
said chapter 32 I'm gonna start here and I said 32 at verse 15
and go through 17 this is the promise and the effect and the
net consequences of justification of which Paul now is lauding
in Romans 5. Are you at verse 15? He speaks
to the work of the third person. Until the Spirit be poured upon
us from on high. See how we need the Spirit of
God? And the wilderness be a fruitful field. See the analogy of a wilderness
turning to a fruitful field? And the fruitful field become
counted for what? Forest. Do you see the abundant
growth that comes out of a wilderness that turns into a fruitful field?
Now it's trees everywhere. That's a picture of the kingdom
of God. And the first seed is Christ,
who when he died, he brought forth much fruit. And you and
I are consequent of the death of that one seed. Do you see
the picture? Now watch what he says. He says
then, over in verse 16, Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness,
and righteousness will remain in the fruitful field. Now the
wilderness and the fruitful field are metaphors and analogies of
us. You know what's dwelling there? Judgment. You know what's
dwelling there? Righteousness. Don't ever separate
the two. Righteousness only comes through
what? Judgment. This is why when you
preach the gospel, you have to let men and women know that God
is judge and savior. Judge, in that he's gonna bring
judgment. Savior, in that he imputes righteousness
to those who believe. He is both judge and savior. And that is critical for us to
maintain a proper balance when it comes to talking about who
God is. Now watch what verse 17 and 18
say. I love this, here it is. And
the work of righteousness. That is that work of Jesus Christ
by which both in his active and passive obedience as a substitute
for sinners Perfectly obeyed the law of God died on the cross
of on the cross as a voluntary Substitute as the atoning lamb
of God and the work of righteousness shall be what there it is Mark
that circle that put stars around that put your name by that and
say God I thank you for your righteousness and Because of
it I have peace with you the work of righteousness is peace
Peace now watch this the work of righteousness is peace and
the effect of righteousness is what quietness and assurance
forever Go back to Romans 5 1 I'm gonna see if I can make that
part good now. I want you to hear why Paul is
so up in arms about the work of justification in the language
that he formulates in verses one and verse two. So justification
leads to peace with God because God has now established grounds
by which his wrath can be abated against us and by which now he
can draw near towards us in justification and reconciliation. And then
because he has established reconciliation, he can speak peace to us. You
and I did not know anything about peace. Until we came to understand
how our sins were forgiven. Is that true? Even those of you
who went to church, you went to church all your life and you
still didn't know the peace of God. Because the gospel was not
preached and Christ was not taught clearly and the emphasis of the
work of Christ on Calvary never came home in a clear, cogent,
comprehensive way for you to know that God actually satisfied
things in himself before he took care of you. And in taking care
of things of himself, he's taking care of you, even in your sloppy
mess. Now, there's a lot of peace in
that. There's a lot of peace in that, because God has already
demonstrated his character as being holy, as being righteous,
and as being unchanging. And if we got a holy, righteous,
unchanging God, when he tells you and me, there is therefore
now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus, we
are good to go on God's part. Now, you and I might wake up
tomorrow full of condemnation, but God doesn't wake up full
of it. Are you hearing me? And it's important for us to
know the difference between that. Notice how verse 1 opens up.
I'm going to do a little bit of exegetical labor, just a touch,
not much. Therefore, being justified by
faith. See that first line? We call
that a participle. Therefore, being justified. Being justified
by faith. The term being justified is in
what we call the passive past tense. Your justification was
accomplished in the past and it was a work of justification
wherein you had nothing to do with it. Remember, the passive
voice means that you're being acted upon. You're not doing
the acting. Therefore, having been justified,
Therefore, having been justified, you look up and you're justified. When did that happen? It happened
2000 years ago. Who did it? God did it. Well,
I don't remember that because you had nothing to do with it.
Are you hearing me? Are you hearing me? When did
it happen? Long time ago. Who did it? God
did it. Well, I don't remember it because
you had nothing to do with it. Therefore, having been justified,
not therefore having justified yourself. That would be justification
by what? Words. You come to discover that
God was highly involved in saving your eternity bound soul without
you having anything to do with it. And you wake up one day with
a letter in the mail saying free. You better thank him for that.
All right, let me go on with this
verse. Therefore being justified by faith, that is apart from
works, because if God has already justified us, the only thing
we can do is receive it by faith. We can't work for it because
it's already done. Watch this. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. See the vehicle of peace? It's
through Christ. This is what Jesus said in John
16 33. He says in the world you're gonna have tribulation, but be
of good cheer I've overcome the world my peace I give unto you
See when he rose again on the third day he started handing
out letters of peace To guilty sinners the Holy Ghost delivered
the mail How did he deliver it through the preaching of the
gospel? Where did it land on the hearts and conscience of
men? I? The soul inquired and opened up the letter and God
said you're free to go And the soul said hallelujah I think
it did Because verse 2 is getting ready to determine that Can I
show you something in verse 2? It's crazy how the apostle paul
talks in verse 2. He says these words He says now
having been justified freely by his grace through jesus christ
our lord By whom that's christ Also, we have access. I want to park it right there.
That's my second point. Access. How do we have access? And to whom, to what do we have
access? The text says we have access into this grace wherein
we stand. Do you see that? We have access
into this grace wherein we stand. I'll talk about that for a moment.
But my second point is, my second point is, Christ is our what? Access. Christ is our access. Now, ladies and gentlemen, let
me help you with this. There we go. Back it up. Point
number two. Christ is our access. Now, what
do what does Paul mean when he says that Christ is our access?
What he means is that Jesus Christ himself actually watches now
actually brought you to God. Want you to get this this is
so beautiful. This is so beautiful when it says By him therefore
we have access into this grace and where we stand you and I
got to ask the question How did we get there? Because prior to
being in Christ, not only did you not have access you were
barred from eternity God had cut you off One day in your own
experience, all you know is you don't know God. God does not
know you. You're at enmity with God. Isn't that a horrible situation?
Then the next day, you know, guess what? You're in the presence
of God. You're in the presence of God. How did you get in the
presence of God, Jesus? The word access is a powerful,
powerful, powerful, powerful word. I'm only going to go to
three verses to underscore that. When Paul says we have access,
he's describing the privilege of a pauper, of a beggar. of
a poor man, of a criminal, of a malefactor, of a no good, of
a ruffian, of a sinner, of a vile person, of a wicked person, a
scandalous person, a raggedy person, a double-dogged person. Give me some more adjectives.
He's talking about you and me. A person that does not have any
right to be in the presence of the king. Having no right to
be in the presence of the king. But they're standing right in
front of the king. How did we get there? And how
come the king hasn't thrown us into hell? Hallelujah. You do believe in Coram Dale,
do you? Do you believe in Coram Dale? In the presence of God?
How can a sinner be brought into the presence of God and holy
God not immediately reject your person? because of Jesus Christ. Christ is our access. See, and
so those of us who know Bible verses like John 14, 6, I am
the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes unto the Father
but by me. That's the verse. How does a sinner get into the
presence of God without God immediately annihilating them? They must
have a representative who brings them into the presence of God.
Do you know 2,000 years ago the Lord took me Walk me into the
presence of the father say father this one here. He's mine. Oh By the way, I want you to
take all my benefits and accrue them to him so that anything
he needs For his eternal welfare, just give it to him. Oh, by the
way, I gave him a key He gets a master key to the universe.
He gets to come and go whenever he wants to and He has access
to you. He has access to the Holy Ghost. He has access to the kingdom
of God, the benefits of the kingdom, the blessings of the kingdom.
Everything in the kingdom is his. I am his key. I am his access. My death on Calvary's tree made
it possible for him to go in and come out whenever he wants
to. It's amazing. Now, my first point
is the only way in is through the atonement. The only way in
is through the atonement. So verse 9 actually gave us the
affirmation. We were justified freely by his
blood. See, you and I don't get to go in except for with blood.
Remember when the Lord passed through Egypt 1,500 years before
Christ, when he told Moses, we're leaving now. We're getting ready
to have this baby called the Son of God. The womb is Egypt. The Red Sea is the water busting.
And we're coming out through blood. You see the analogy? We're
coming out. Put the blood on the doorposts
and tell them to walk out. And they walked out that night,
head high, without chains, and a whole bunch of money in their
pocket. Remember that? That's a picture of our redemption through
the death of Christ that freed us from bondage to Egypt and
brought us into the presence of God. Remember what God told
Moses to tell Pharaoh? Tell Pharaoh to let my people
go, that they might come and worship me. And how did we get
into the presence of God? By the death of Jesus Christ.
Here's another verse we know. Galatians chapter 2 verse 20.
Paul said, I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I
what? That's right. When God sees you
and says live, it's because you have already died. You have already
died in Christ. Your sin debt has been paid.
And when Christ rose again, guess who rose again? You are a resurrected
new creature in the eyes of God the father you stand in the presence
of God Just as if you were Jesus Christ and God can't do anything
but bless you bless you bless you as he blessed his darling
son This is what we mean by access. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
This is what we mean by access second point. He is our escort
That's good He's our escort We go in by him Because he's the
one that escorted us in and you guys have heard this verse before
first peter chapter 3 verse 18 the just For the what? For the unjust that he might
what bring us to god now when this word Access is used in its
verb form. It means to be brought into the
presence Can I explain that for a moment? It means that you were
brought in you didn't go in on your own It means that someone
else brought you in and you didn't go in with them. It means that
they brought you in by their own prerogative, by their own
power, by their own purpose. You were brought into the presence
of God without anything you did. I can say it like this, Christ
is our escort, but he carried us in. Are you hearing me? He
carried us in because there's no steam on our part that would
allow us to come out of hell and get to heaven. We were brought
in by the work of Jesus Christ. This word access is translated
a couple of times in the gospel and wherever it is translated,
here's how it's translated. An authority says to another
servant, go get him and bring him to me. And that's exactly
what God did. When Christ died for our sins,
he told the Holy Ghost, Go get him and bring him to me. So the
reason you and I are in the presence of God is because he came and
he got us from where we were. Where were we? We were dead in
trespasses and sins, lame and blind and hope and helpless and
hell bound. And he took us in our mess and
he carried us into the presence of God. And the Lord Jesus said,
Father, this was mine. Give him all my benefits. Do
you guys hear that? Now this is what he meant when
he says, this grace wherein we stand. Is that good grace? This grace wherein we stand. When you get the gospel right,
you discover that you are already in the presence of God. That
Christ has brought you there. I'm going to affirm that with
my last point today. But he's our escort into the presence.
And thirdly, his person is our vouchsay I love it. See, when we talk about the work
of justification, here's what we're saying. Justification is
the work that God does outside of you, apart from you. This
has nothing to do with your new nature or being born again or
anything. In yourself, you are sin. But because of what Christ
did for you, you are the very righteousness of God in Him.
Now, are you with me so far? Nothing has changed in your nature.
Nothing has changed in your behavior. Nothing has changed in your understanding
or your mind. While we were enemies, God justified
us. In the mind of God, in the sight
of the Son, by the work of the Holy Ghost, you and I are brought
into the presence of God in all of our mass. God doesn't wait
to fix us to bring us in. Because you're not brought in
on the basis of who you are. You're brought in on the basis
of who he is. Are you hearing me? You're not
brought in on the grounds of what you do or who you are. You're
brought in because you're with him. Can I give you two words
that'll keep you out of hell? With him. His person is our vouchsafe. What do I mean by that? I'm in
the presence of God and on God's part of the equation I am perfectly
righteous spotless without sin without blemish God doesn't see
anything evil in me, but I am still very much a sinner. I Hope
that didn't shock you and I still sin I wish I didn't don't want
to But I still do And what sustains my fellowship in the presence
of a holy God is the same person that got me there by his death
on Calvary Street. You know what he is for me? He's a vouchsafe.
You know what that means? Every time that the Father looks
at me and says, that boy is acting up, the Lord Jesus says, hey,
Father, look over here. I'm his vouchsafe. I'm his mediator. I'm his advocate. I'm his go-between. I'm his fellow. All that he needs is in me. Remember
that? Father, I'm his advocate. I got all that you need. When
he mess up, come see me. This is important to know. This
is important to know. You gotta have a mediator. You
gotta have an advocate. You gotta have a high priest
who is able to be touched with all the feelings of your infirmity
so he can talk to God right for you. This is Romans chapter 8. We have a mediator in Jesus Christ,
who so perfectly prevails with God the Father, that you and
I never feel anything but love and grace and mercy from God
towards us. Now, in ourselves, we grieve and mourn, and in ourselves,
we are bereft with how sinful we act towards God. And in ourselves,
therefore, we yearn to be right. This is why He gave us the Spirit
of God. by which we cry what? Abba Father. That's right. But
in God's own purpose and in his own prerogative, he has chosen
to only give us a new nature and still leave us in this world.
Are you guys following that? Because he's doing a work down
here in the realm of regeneration and sanctification by which he
gets glory in our life and other sinners have hope for redemption. See, don't you ask the question
sometimes, God, how come you didn't just immediately glorify
me once you saved me so I could walk on water like Jesus did? So I could have that body that
I want and that mind? Lord, why you didn't just make
me? Because would nobody else in the world identify with you?
You could never reach them for Christ because it takes sinners
to reach sinners for Christ. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
That's right. It takes sinners. It takes in us. But because Christ
is our vouchsafe, we can hear the words in Hebrews chapter
10, 22, which says unto us, draw near to God. Draw near to God. There's no reason for us not
to draw near to God when in Jesus Christ, we are as near to God
as we could ever possibly be. Am I making some sense? Let's
go back to our text. I got one more point I want to develop.
This is crazy what Paul is saying. He says we have been justified,
apart from anything that we have done, through the merits of Jesus
Christ on Calvary Street, by whom, through Christ also, we
have access to God. Access to God by what? Faith. I need to take you to two more
verses, because he used the same word only twice in this form. The second place is in Ephesians
chapter 2. Let's look at Ephesians 2. It
marks something about access. Remember when we say access it
means you already positionally are before God the father So
all you have to do is start talking to him You don't have to go anywhere
to talk to God You don't have to get on your camel and ride,
jump in your car and ride. You don't have to go to a church
building and talk to God. You don't have to go to the top
of the mountain and say, God, I'm trying to catch up with you.
If you're a child of God, you're in his presence already. You
know what that means? As my sister said in prayer service
two weeks ago, I want you to get this. Sister said, God, for
us who are believers, is just a thought away. Is that good? Just a thought away. Now you
didn't know, Sister Guidry, how close you were to God as you
do today. Just start talking to him because
you're in his presence. I talked to him. Lord, you know
what I need. And I'm confident he hears me.
And I don't have to try to figure out which door to go through,
door A, B, or C. People come to me. So pastor,
which way do you pray? Do you pray to the father? Or
do you pray to the son? Or do you pray to the Holy Ghost?
Or do you pray to the father through the son by the Holy Ghost?
Or do you pray in the Holy Ghost through the son to the father?
By the time I find the right door to get through, I'm too
late. You just talk to your God. This
is what we're learning in biblical theology for our men. Do you
think God's ear is too heavy to hear because you don't get
the right sybilleth out? Do you know God hears the voice
of our words? He hears the intents of our heart
even before we articulate them. Do you believe that? Do you know
that God hears us before we actually speak? Do you think God is waiting
around until you get the right formula before he gives you access
to talk to him in prayer? So I know sometimes you are wondering,
oh Lord, I forgot to say in Jesus' name. Oh Lord, I forgot to say
in Jesus' name. I'm not getting the blessing
because I forgot to say in Jesus' name. That's called religion. The father knows Jesus' name. The father knows Jesus' name. So, so, so saints, what you going
to do when you get Alzheimer's and dementia and you land up
in the hospital and the convalescent home and you don't even know
your own name? What you going to do then? Is God going to be
waiting? Is he going to have to send somebody
and try to reintroduce you to yourself and then reintroduce
you to him through Jesus? You see how silly it gets? You
better talk to God. You better talk to God. Because
you have a mediator, according to Romans 8, already talking
to God. And then the other thing I like
about this, this is what we're getting ready to learn here in Ephesians
2, the Holy Ghost is also a mediator. He's taking your jacked-up prayers,
your religious prayers, with all of the here-to-tos, thous,
don'ts, and prevents, and where-fors, and all of that stuff. He's peeling
all that off. Peeling the bark of all of that
fleshly stuff off. And he's only sending up to God
that which is right. Most of us be praying to God
for hours. The Holy Ghost is only using
three seconds of our conversation. That's the first three seconds
when our heart was right. Because in our prayers, you know,
we'd be going all over the map. And we're trying to get back
to prayer. Our mind all over on our business. We arguing with
people in our prayer. We debating in toilet. Oh, Lord,
I'm sorry, Lord. I should be talking to you. where
the Holy Ghost left with the mail long ago. You might as well
get on up, go eat something. He left long ago with the mail.
Long ago. He ain't waiting on you to get
it right. You got too many typos in that letter for him to do
anything with. Ephesians, Ephesians chapter
two. Watch what the apostles say.
I love this. I love this. This is good. See,
this is gonna liberate some of y'all prayer life too. See, you
don't have to pray to God long. If God had to endure some of
our prayers, he'd be sleep. If he had to wait for us to get
to the point, he'd be sleep. Or if he had ADHD, he'd be gone.
Because we get way too long getting to the point. Get to the point. All right, here we go. Here we
go. When it comes to access to God,
Christ is the essential means, but He is not the means exclusively.
Because for us to enter into the presence of God and derive
the benefits that come from God to us experientially, we need
the third person. And in Ephesians chapter 2, verse
12, or Ephesians 2 rather, verse 18, here is how Paul uses that
word again. Let me start back up at verse
15 and go through verse 18. Christ having abolished in his
flesh the enmity, that is the law of commandments, and ordinances
for the making himself the twain, one new man, so making what?
Peace. And that he might reconcile both of us to God in one body
by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, that one body
is his own body, which we call the church. We get back to God
through Christ being his church. He came and preached peace to
us. When did he do that? When the gospel was preached
to you. You who are far off and you who are near this is jews
and gentiles verse 18 for through him that is jesus We both have
access by one spirit Unto the father. Do you see that the spirit
of god gives you and I continual access in the presence of god?
This is why you don't have to labor contemplating being in
god's presence when you're unsaved. You don't have the spirit In
an unsaved state, you don't have any confidence you are in the
presence of God. Are you hearing me? When you're
unsaved, you don't have the Spirit of God. You have no confidence
that you're in the presence of God. Only when you're born again
do you have confidence that you're in the presence. It is the Spirit
of God that allows you to dwell in the presence because of what
Jesus did for you. In the presence of God, therefore,
even in all your mess, Are you hearing me? Even in all your
mess, because of the spirit of adoption, we are still able to
talk to our father, even in all your mess. It's the spirit that
allows us in his presence. Are you hearing me? This is very
important for you to hear. Then let's go back. They messed
that up for you. They have to work that out. You got your outline, right?
All right, good. Get your outline out. You can
pretend that you know how to read. I got one more point, and
I'm going to close right here. All right, here we go. All right,
under our second point, Christ is our access. He's our escort. He's our vouchsafe. I want to
close with my last point. Point number three. Are we there?
The joy of glory to come. Do you see that? The joy of glory
to come. So listen to what he says back
in Romans chapter five. I'm going to close here. We'll
pick up after this. Romans chapter five. Here's what he said. This
is absolutely fabulous. And I really need to, I need
to treat this. So I'll come back here. I said
to myself, I am not going to be like MLK, Martin Lloyd Jones,
MLJ. And Martin Lloyd Jones preached
about 30 sermons per chapter. He got the Romans chapter five.
He preached on every verse in Romans five, because it's worth
it. As you can see, we just started with verse one, right? Listen
to what this text says. And I just want you to resonate
with one closing thought on this before we have the Lord's table
and we observe offering. He says in verse two, by whom
also we have access by faith into this grace, wherein we stand,
we stand on the grace of God, do we not? And remember now what
we mean by the grace of God is all that God has done for us.
Outside of us is the grace of God. When we use the term grace
of God, I'm going to use an analogy here so you can get it. I'll
pick it up next week. Remember I said that you and I are paupers,
you and I are beggars, you and I are scandalous, hell-bound
sinners. We are no low-down, dirty, no-good ruffians. Did I say that? Can I get lower
than that? We're vile creatures, maggots,
sinful things. And that's not even scratching
the surface of what we really are. We're hell-bound sinners
acting more like devils than we do angels. Can I keep going?
Watch this. And yet we have access into the
presence of God. You know what we call that from
a standpoint of magisterium and aristocracy and dignitaries? Can I share with you what we
call that? We call that grace. For the king to do anything towards
us other than reject us is grace. When his highness, his majesty,
his royal majesty looks upon us and does not annihilate us,
well that's grace. When he tolerates us in his presence,
that's grace. When he bestows upon us the blessings
that come from Christ, you know what we call that? Grace. See,
you and I ought to feel unworthy because we are. And yet the grace
he gives us is just that. It's grace from a king. And when
people ask, why do you think you're competent to stand in
the presence of the king? You tell them I'm standing only
by grace. Now, stay right there for a moment,
because I want to get your wheels turning. What do you do when
you enter into the presence of God and you contemplate how you
got there? and how God will never ever reject
you and how he will never ever cease to do you good. What does
the sinner who now knows that he's the righteousness of God
in Christ and has received through Christ everything necessary for
life and godliness and you are now a son and daughter of God,
what do you do in the presence of God? Can I tell you what you
do? Can I tell you what you do? You get your dancing shoes on
and you start boasting in God. You start exalting in God. You
look around and go, I'm in. I'm in. I'm in. I'm in. Hallelujah, I'm in. I'm in. I'm in. Can you, do you know I'm in?
I'm in. I can't never not be in. All
this is mine. Look at God. I have it all. because of Christ is all mine.
Hallelujah. Praise His name. Exalt Him. Worship God. Lift Him up. Exalt Him. Boast in Him. God
is glorious. God is mighty. He is worthy to
be praised. Exalted. Magnified. Magnified with everything that's
in me. I'm in by the grace of God in
Christ. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for
your grace and your mercy and your goodness and your kindness. Hallelujah. I'm in. I'm in. Hallelujah. I'm in. I'm going to make my
point next week. I'm going to make my point next
week. Amen.