Turn, if you will, to Romans
chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. Pray for me that God would enable
me to bring this message. We'll read the first two verses
in Romans 5 in just a moment. But I want to share something
with you first. I've been reading this past week the autobiography
of Joseph Hart. He wrote many, many of our good
hymns. He was also a preacher. And after
hearing him tell of God's dealings with him, when he was bringing
him to Christ, when he was bringing him down, when he was teaching
him for his heart to fear, before he clothed him in Christ's righteousness,
after reading some of that story, I had a better appreciation for
one of Hart's hymns that he wrote afterwards. He says, What comfort
can a Savior bring to those who never felt their woe? A sinner
is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost hath made him
so. The older I get, the more convinced
of that I am. Only God can make a sinner. Only God can get a man lost. Only God can do that. And although
you could never convince someone that's passing through that ordeal
at the time, that's grace. That's God acting in grace. It seems anything but that because
it's a tough, tough business. Hart went on to write, new life
from him we must receive before for sin we rightly grieve. In his autobiography he wrote
about three or four years ago I fell into a deep despondency
of mind. I was very melancholy and shunned
all company, walking pensively alone and sitting in private
and bewailing my sad and dark condition. I remember that concerning
my own experience. Not having a friend in the world
to whom I could communicate the burden of my soul, which was
so heavy. that I sometimes hesitated even
to take my necessary food. In that state, he continued until
he writes, the Lord by his spirit of love came with such divine
power and energy into my soul that I was lost in blissful amazement
and cried out, what? What? Me, Lord? Me, Lord? And his spirit answered, yes,
you. Oh, I said, I've been so unspeakably
vile and wicked. And the answer of grace was this,
I pardon you fully and freely. Your own goodness cannot save
you, nor shall your wickedness damn you. I undertake to work
all your works in you and for you and to bring you safely through
all, the alteration, the change. I then felt that my soul was
as sudden as that which is experienced by a person staggering and almost
sinking under a burden when it is immediately taken off his
shoulders. Tears ran in streams from my
eyes for a considerable while, and I was so swallowed up in
joy and thankfulness that I hardly knew where I was. Amazing grace. He went on to write, Jesus Christ
and Him crucified is now the only thing I desire to know. In that incarnate mystery are
contained all the rich treasures of divine wisdom. This is the
mark towards which I am still pressing forward. This is the
cup of salvation of which I wish to drink deeper and deeper."
And then he wrote, therefore, from the wonderful dealings of
God towards me, I endeavor to draw the following observations. And he named several. I want
to just share one with you. He said that. As much as Lazarus
coming out of his grave and feeling himself restored to life differs
from those who only saw the miracle. They didn't experience it, they
only saw it, or believed the fact because it was told them,
so even so. So great is the difference between
a soul's real coming out of himself and having the righteousness
of Christ imputed to him by the precious faith of God's elect
and a man's bare believing the doctrine of imputed righteousness,
there's a world of difference. Hearing of God's grace and experiencing
God's grace. Having a knowledge of God's grace
in your head and experiencing God's grace in your heart. Having
tasted yourself that the Lord is righteous. Now look, if you
will, to chapter five here in Romans. Let's read the first
two verses. Paul writing and says, therefore,
Therefore, being justified. That's what our Lord said about
the public, isn't it? You see that man? He's going
home justified. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom also? That is Christ. It's all by Him, through Him,
because of Him. by whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. Those he predestinated, them
he also called. Whom he called, them he also
justified. Whom he justified, them will also glorify. Every
link in that golden chain of God's amazing grace are so tied
together by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ that one can't
be broken. whom he called, he'll glorify. First consider this wondrous
blessing of being justified." Man, that's not a small thing.
That's not a small thing. Being justified, not according
to man's standards, but God's, God himself. Therefore, verse
1 begins, therefore, therefore, being what? Being what? The world says, oh, the blessings
of God are to be wealthy, That's a proof of God's blessings. Actually,
it could be a curse. Therefore, being made wealthy?
Oh no, because to be wealthy with this world's riches, and
not rich, not truly rich, in the grace of God that is in Christ
Jesus, is to be poor indeed. Is to be poor indeed, although
not to know. It is to be rich and increased
with goods, as our Lord said. and have need of nothing, and
know not, not to know. That's the state that most people
are in. That's the state that you and
I were in, and would still be in except but God. And know not
that you're wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. Oh, not me, not me. Oh, but it
was so, but we knew it not. And that's the state this world
is in, especially, especially this religious world. It was
the religious folks that our Lord spoke those words. You remember
that poor outcast, that woman in Samaria we read about in John
4? She was lost. She was a notorious
sinner. She was a known adulteress. Everybody in town knew it. She
was afraid to show her face. That's why she came to the well
in the very heat of the day. Why would she do that? Because
nobody else would be around. Nobody else would be carrying
water in the very heat of the day. She came there because she
didn't want to be seen. But even with all that, even
with all that, you read the story there in John 4, she was still
religious, wasn't she? I mean, she was living in adultery,
had been, and was living with another woman's husband, and
yet she was religious. She still had a hope, a false
hope. She still had a false peace.
You remember when our Lord came to her? No wonder old Hart wrote,
a sinner is a sacred thing. They're rare. They're rare. That's
why this woman was the reason Jesus Christ must needs go through
Samaria. My soul, you know why? You know
why he had to go through Samaria? Why he was compelled to go through
Samaria? He went there to seek her, that
woman. Surely not her, yet she's the
one. She was one that God the Father
had entrusted him with before the world began. The time of
love had come. Not time for his love. He always
loved her. Time that he revealed himself
to her and she knew and loved him in return. He went there
to seek her. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that
amazing? To find her. Be no point to seek
her if he didn't find her. There would be no point to seek
and find her if he didn't save her. He said, I've come to seek
and to save, not to attempt to save, not try to save, not to
have saved, but to save to the uttermost all that come unto
God by him. Remember what he said to her
before, or remember what she said to him, how she tried to
hide behind her religious tradition? Before that, our Lord said, if
you knew, if you knew, if thou knewest the gift of God, If you
only knew. I read those words and I think
of my children. Oh, if they only knew. If they
only knew the gift of God and who. Oh, underline that. Because she talked about what. She threw out all these what's. What she did. Where she worshipped. Who she was. And our Lord said,
no, no, no. Here's where it's at. It's not
what, where, it's who. Lady, you don't know what you
worship. You don't know. You don't know. If you knew the
gift of God and who, that's what salvation is. It's to know whom
I have believed. This is life eternal. Our Lord
said that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ whom thou didst send. Lady, if you only knew. Who it
is that saith unto thee, Give me a drink? You would have asked
of him, and he would have given thee living water." Living water. In John 7, our Lord said, Is
any man thirsty? Come to me. Come to me and drink
the fountain of living water. Jesus Christ is the gift of God. The richest token of God's love
to sinners. The richest treasure of heaven
itself. A gift, not a debt. Not a debt
which we could demand from God. No salvation. The giving of His
Son is a gift. The gift of His amazing grace.
It's not a loan, which God will demand back from us again, but
a free gift. A free gift of God's grace. Thanks
be unto God for His unspeakable gift. Isaiah chapter 55, verse
1, the prophet said, Everyone that's thirsty, come ye to the
waters. And he that have no money, come. Like that beggar we read about
in Luke 18, that poor publican. Like that woman in Luke 7, when
she had nothing to pay. Beggars, not braggers, not boasters,
but beggars that have no money. Our Lord says, come, buy and
eat. Ye come and buy wine and milk without money and without
price. That's what our Lord said, come
unto me. Preachers say, come to altars,
come to the water, come to the doctrine, come here, come there. And Christ says, oh, no, no,
no, no. Are you thirsty? Do you want mercy? Do you want
grace? Do you want to experience God's
great salvation? The only place you can. The only
one from whom you can is me. Come to me. Come to me, Jesus
Christ, and you'll find rest. You can find rest in them other
things. You wear yourself out, I've told you many times. That's
what religious tradition does, doesn't it? It wears you out.
Come. Walk. learn, recite, be catechized
and baptized and homogenized and still no peace, no real rest
for my soul. Christ says, come unto me and
you'll find rest. Come to me, I'll give you rest,
all the sweet rest, the lie down at night and the know it is well
with my soul. How can that be? How can a sinner
be just with God? I have Jesus Christ, as our text
said, being justified by faith through the Lord Jesus Christ. That gives a sinner rest. Wherefore,
the prophet went on to say, wherefore do you spend money for that which
is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfies not?
Hearken diligently unto me, and eat that which is good, and let
your soul delight itself in fatness. Just curl up. Just nestle up
in the arms of your great God and Savior and rest easy. Just rest easy. Underneath are
the everlasting arms. I would much rather this be said
of me by Him who is the first and the last, who was dead and
is now alive forever. I know thy works, and tribulation,
and your poverty. But, remember what he said in
Revelations of the Church at Ephesus? But, here is a divine
intervention. Here is the only reason for what
follows. Because this is spoken by him
whom are all the riches of God's mercy and grace contain. And he says to everyone of his
own, these blessed words, you're rich. You're rich. You have something all the riches
in this world can't purchase. You have something that the world
knows nothing about. The real riches, you possess
this, the riches, the true wealth of a believing soul. You have
Christ. This therefore, notice again
here in our text, in Romans 5 and 1, is preceded by that which
alone is the foundation of a sinner's justification. Look back. Don
used to say, when you see this word, therefore, look to see
what it's there for. And Paul tells us in chapter
4, in chapter 4, beginning at verse 24, but for us, but for
unto 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 was raised again for our justification,
who was delivered because of our offenses and was raised again
because of our justification. God raises his son from the dead
because he was satisfied. He was satisfied with the atonement
that he made. He was satisfied with the redemption
that Christ obtained. And he showed his everlasting
satisfaction by raising his son from the dead and said, sit right
here, my son, in my own right hand until I make your enemies
your footstool. God, because of justice satisfied,
can now, in justice, justify a believing sinner. Because the
price has been paid, the debt has been paid, it's been satisfied. Look over here, if you will,
in Romans chapter 3. Chapter 3, verse 24. Being justified freely. I like
that. freely, by his grace, through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth
to be of propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare
his righteousness, for the remission of sins that are past, through
the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth
in Jesus. whom God has set forth a propitiation."
That's exactly what that publican prayed for in Luke 18, when he
asked God, be merciful to me, the sinner. He was saying, God,
be propitious. Have mercy on me through the
sacrifice. That's what he was praying. And
that's exactly what we read here in our text. That's what God
does. He bestows his mercy on the grounds of his satisfied
justice. Mercy always comes to the sinner
on the wings of satisfied justice through the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ. And that's what Paul again speaks
of in Romans 8 and 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? God's justified. It is God that
justifieth. That's why the Lord said that
it wasn't that Pharisee in the temple that day who went home
justified. Man, he sure had a list, didn't
he? And he rolled it out. Lord, check
this out. Surely you've noticed this. Look
what I've done. Look what I don't do. I'm not
like that despised publican down there. But the Lord didn't say concerning
him, he's going home justified. Oh, no. That Pharisee didn't
need justifying, did he? No, he didn't need God's righteousness.
He had his own. He had his own, and he thought
it was good enough. He thought that robe of righteousness
that he had weaved by his own works was good enough to please
God. but it wasn't enough. It may
have been enough for that deluded Pharisee, but it wasn't enough
for a holy God. God looked on it and said, it's
filthy rags. Filthy rags. The self-righteous
Pharisee goes home wearing his robe with its enlarged border
and his broad phylactery, and he thinks God must be pleased
with him. God must be pleased with him,
but he didn't go home justified. My soul, that will be multiplied
and multiplied 10,000 times over today, won't they? People will
go to church. They'll sit down. They'll never
hear the answer to how can a man be just with God. And they'll
leave smugly in their own words, just like that Pharisee, feeling
like God must be pleased with them. But our Lord spoke these
glorious words, not to the Pharisee, but to that
one that despised public, because he goes home robed in the perfect
righteousness, the righteousness of God's own Son. My soul. to everyone that believes on
the Lord Jesus Christ, the God of heaven, the holy, righteous,
and pure God says He justifies. Why? Because He's clothed in
the righteousness of my own Son. Because God made Jesus Christ,
sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. That's what the hymn writer meant,
didn't it? My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood
and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. When he shall come with
trumpet sound, oh, may I then in him be found, dressed in his
righteousness alone, thoughtless to stand before the throne. And that is why everyone that
God justifies must be glorified. Must be glorified. This is the
question that Job and his friends asked. In the light of God being
who he is. That's not much considered today,
is it? Who God is. What does God demand? What will
God accept? How good does someone have to
be to go to heaven? As good as God Almighty. Now
you say that, you preach that. You make that statement in the
average church and they'll tell you don't let the door hit you
on the way out. But that is exactly right. In
the light of God being who he is, absolutely pure, absolutely
holy, absolutely righteous, perfect, and in the light of man being
who he is, the exact opposite. Vile, unholy, anything but righteous,
full of sin, In the light of those two things, Job asked,
how then can man be justified with God? How can such a man
be justified with such a God? Justified. What does justified
before God mean? Somebody said it means to be
justified is to be forgiven. But it means more than that.
To be justified, they say, is to be pardoned. Well, that's
true, but it means more than that. To be justified is to be
declared not guilty. To be justified is not only to
be pardoned and forgiven, it's to be perfect, it's to be holy,
it's to be justified, to be without blame before God Almighty. It's
to be without fault before God. To be justified is to be without
sin, to be freed from sin. Oh, my soul, again, in the light
of that, How can a man be just with God? I know it can't be
by any of my works, any of my deeds. There was several years
ago, Robin was having lunch with a friend of hers, a lady. And
this lady was talking about her church. And Robin shared this
with me afterwards. And the lady kept talking about
where she went to church and her activities. how they have
something for every age group and just on and on and on and
blah, blah, blah. And then Robin asked her, has
your pastor ever answered this question? Has he ever addressed
this question? How can a sinner be just with
God? How can a sinner be just with
God? And that lady said, no, I don't
even know what that means. Isn't that sad? She said, I don't
even know what that means. How can a man be just with God?
I want God's answer to that. Don't tell me what the Baptists
say or what the Catholics say. What does God say? How can a
man be just with God? Here's his answer. Justified
freely, freely by his grace. That's the only way. Through
the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, no wonder Paul said, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
all, all, nothing left out, having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good
pleasure of his will. to the praise of the glory of
his grace wherein he had made us accepted in the beloved."
Oh, what a marvelous place to be, in the beloved. "...in whom
we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins
according to the riches of his grace." That's the sure foundation
on which a sinner stands before a holy God. He stands upon the
foundation of Christ's righteousness being imputed to him. or with
the handwriter did not go too far when he wrote with his holy
garments on as holy as God's own Son. Paul and Barnabas were
preaching to folks in Antioch in Acts 13, and Paul said, Be
it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through
this man, the God-man, the only man, mediator between God and
man, through this man is preached unto you, the forgiveness of
sins. And by him, all that believe
are justified from all things from which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses." Again, the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah 53. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He done no wrong. But yet it
pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed.
He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see of to develop his
soul, and shall be satisfied by his knowledge. Shall my righteous
servant justify many for or because he shall bear their iniquities."
There's your justification. That's why God is faithful and
just to forgive us our sin, because Jesus Christ in his own body
bore our sin on the tree. He bore them away. In the person
of God's Son, I've already paid my debt. I've already gone to
the gallows in Christ. I've already paid the debt in
Christ. I've already died. The justice of God is satisfied
in Christ. My debt is paid. It's paid in
full. Ooh, glory to his name. There's
nothing left for Larry to pay. It's been paid in full. God Almighty,
the just, holy, pure, and holy God says concerning my debt,
it's gone. It's paid. I'm satisfied. How can that be? Because Jesus
paid it all. Oh, Jesus paid it all, all the
debt I owed. Sin had left the crimson stained
oil, but he washed it white as snow. And here's the other blessing
being justified brings with it, peace with God. Do you see that? Therefore, being justified by
faith, because of that, on those grounds, we have peace with God. Peace with God. The only path
to peace with God is faith in Christ. Faith that brings a full,
free, complete, irrevocable justification. Those God justifies will never
be unjustified. All my life, and you have too,
we've heard people use the phrase, peace with God. Peace with God. Make your peace with God. Have
you made your peace with God? How can you or I make peace with
God. How can you do it? How can you?
How can I make peace? What can I give God by which
He will declare peace between Him and I? Can I put away sin? That's necessary. Before I can
have peace with God, my sin's got to be put away. I can't do
that. Can I put away all my transgressions?
I can't do that. Can I satisfy God's demands?
Because that's exactly what it takes. Preachers today spend
all their time trying to convince sinners how easy it is to be
saved. They should tell them how impossible
it is to be saved. Then and then only will they
look to the Lord Jesus Christ, the only God and Savior. We've
heard it said concerning people when they're ready to die, well,
he made his peace with God. He did. How did he do that? How
did he do that? How does a sinner make peace
with God? Well, he joined the church. That won't bring peace
with God. He got baptized. That won't satisfy God. Only in, and by, and through
the Lord Jesus Christ, and because of my relationship with Him,
I'm with Him. I'm with Him. I belong to Him.
Can I have peace with God? He's the Prince of Peace, the
Lord Jesus Christ. By His own self, He made peace. Colossians 1 and 20. And having
made peace, through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile
all things to Himself, by Him I say whether they be things
in earth or things in heaven." That's so important, isn't it? Peace with God can only be ours
through the relationship with Jesus Christ. He is the one who
brings peace. He's the Prince of Peace. He
speaks peace. And when He speaks peace, He
gives peace. Peace with God. Oh, the sweet
peace that all my sins are forgiven. The peace that He now lives and
intercedes for me. The peace that Jesus Christ paid
my debt in full. Oh, that gives me peace, doesn't
it? If I claim to have peace with God apart from faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, it's a false peace. It's a false peace. If
I claim to have peace with God through my own merit, through
my own morality, apart from the righteousness of Christ, that
is a false peace. There is nothing clearer in the
Word of God than that fact, that of all God's blessings and benefits
and grace and mercy to sinners is in and through His beloved
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And He's enough. He's enough. And so is God's peace in Christ. Listen to this. In 2 Corinthians
chapter 5 verse 19, Paul wrote, God was in Christ reconciling
the world, Jew, Gentile, unto himself. So apart from Christ,
God is un-reconciled. Oh my soul, an un-reconciled
God. In Christ and through the Lord
Jesus Christ, God's reconciled, but outside of Christ, God is
un-reconciled and un-reconcilable. God is reconciled. It means that
for every believer, God's wrath is gone and God's judgment is
gone. There's no condemnation to those
that are in Christ Jesus. Punishment and the curse of the
law are gone. I'm at peace with God. Wow! Money can't buy that. Wealth
can't buy that, the labors of my hands can't produce that,
or to lie down again and to know I'm at peace with God. I've been
reconciled to God by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember
David's last words? He lay on his dying bed and he
said, although my house be not so with God, yet, yet, it doesn't
change this. It doesn't touch this. It doesn't
alter this. Yet He, God, hath made with me
an everlasting covenant ordered in all things ensured. This is
all my salvation and all my desire." He looked at that covenant, that
everlasting covenant. This is what the writer in Hebrews
spoke of, Hebrews 13 and 20. Now the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd
of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.
Most professing Christians, you talk to them about the everlasting
covenant, and like Donny Bell says, they'll look at you like
a calf looking at a new game. Clueless, clueless. Oh, but that
covenant, that Jesus Christ, in that everlasting covenant,
before he ever created the worlds, before he ever created the heavens
and the earth, God Almighty, the Triune God, entered into
a covenant, an everlasting covenant of grace. And in that covenant,
Jesus Christ agreed to be our surety. To be our surety, what's
that? He agreed to be responsible. to take full responsibility to
answer for all those that God committed into his hands. You
remember what Judas said to his daddy Jacob concerning his younger
brother Benjamin? He promised Jacob, I will bring
him back home. Or you can require him at my
hands. I'll be responsible for him.
The Lord Jesus Christ said to God his Father in that covenant
of grace, I'll bring them all home. I'll bring them all home. All that my Father giveth me,
they'll come to me. I'll lose none. I'll bring them
all home. All the way home to be with Him
forever in the Father's house. Look at verse 2 here just for
a moment in Romans 5. By whom? Also we have access
by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope
of the glory of God. We don't just have peace with
God, we have peace with God and free access to God. We have access
into all of his mercies and blessings because of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ said, I'm the door, by me if any man enter in he shall
be saved and he shall go in and out and find pasture. Wherein
we stand Paul wrote, wherein we stand, isn't that a comforting thought?
This is the true grace of God wherein we stand. This is peace. My sins are gone. They've all
been put away. I need not fear. I have no sting
of conscience. I have no fear of judgment. I'm
justified. I'm justified in Christ, and
there is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.
Justified, peace with God, access into the presence of God, and
rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God. Isn't that a sweet
comfort to your heart and soul? Let me close with another hymn
by old Joseph Hart. We mentioned a line or two of
one. Here's another one he wrote.
This done, our dear, our dying Lord, exerts his short, expiring
breath, utters this rich, important word, it is finished, and submits
to death. Henceforth an end is put to sin. The important word implies no
less. Now for believers is brought
in an everlasting righteousness. The Son of God and man has died.
Sinners is blacked as hell to save, and that they might be
justified in His risen victorious from the grave. in heaven he
lives, our king and priest. Therefore, his people ever plead,
how sure is our salvation Christ, died, rose, ascended, and entered
seas. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable
gift. God bless you.