Back in chapter 3 of Romans, the Apostle Paul and all the
apostles came to this conclusion, Romans 3, verse 28. This is their
conclusion. Therefore we conclude, having
examined very carefully the word of God, that a man is justified
by faith. by believing on Christ, without
the deeds of the law, without his own personal obedience to
any law, but by faith alone. In chapter 4, the Apostle Paul
brings forth two great examples of that salvation, which is by
faith, or through faith. He talks about Abraham, our father. who believed God, verse 3, chapter
4, what saith the scriptures, Abraham believed God, which counted
to him for righteousness. Then he calls our attention to
David, permanent king of Israel, man up to God's own height. He
quotes David in verse 6. David also describes the blessedness
of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without his works,
without works, by faith. Saying, Blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is
the man to whom God will not charge sin, not one sin. He calls our attention in chapter
5 to the spiritual blessings that are ours through faith in
Christ. The way we are saved is by faith.
Righteousness is by faith. But the results of that faith
and that salvation are many blessings. Paul talked about them in Ephesians
1. He said, Blessed be the God and
Father. of our Lord Jesus Christ who
hath blessed us, not who is going to bless us. We are going to
be blessed. The Bible talks about an inheritance
reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God
through faith, an inheritance undefiled, that faileth not away,
reserved in heaven for you. It talks about that. And the
book of Revelation talks about it. But Paul is talking about
present blessings. God has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. Not right now, this day.
These blessings are ours in Christ. Beloved, now are we sons of God. It does not yet appear what we
shall be, what we're going to be, what we're going to have.
But right now we're sons of God. And if we're sons of God, we're
heirs of God. would join us with Christ right
now, this moment. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. Not shall have, he has everlasting
life. He that believeth on the Son
of God is passed from death unto life. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. Old things have passed away and
old things become new. Paul is talking about right now
blessings. Being justified, verse 1, chapter
5, by faith, we have certain things. We already have them. I'll give you an example. Turn
to Psalm 23. Here and now blessings, spiritual
blessings, all blessings in Christ are ours. Psalm 23, just look at this,
review it, break Lord is my shepherd right now, therefore I shall
not want. I shall not want right now. I shall not want for spiritual
food, he maketh me lie down in green pastures, the pastures
of his Word. I shall not want for rest, he
leads me beside still waters, waters of quietness. I shall
not want for forgiveness, he restores my soul. I shall not
want for holiness and sanctification, he leads me in paths of righteousness,
for his name's sake." Right now. I shall not want for comfort,
though I walk right now all my life through the valley of the
shadow of death, I don't fear evil. He's with me. His rod and his staff comfort
me right now. And he prepares a table before
us. My goodness! Congregation here
has been blessed beyond expression, beyond words. He's prepared table
after table after table, blessing after blessing after blessing
in the presence of enemies, principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness,
spiritual wickedness in high places all around us. But we
feast on the Lord, the Lord's table, his body and blood. The
Lord's spiritual blessings and physical blessings in our families
and children and food, clothing, shelter, all, he prepares the
table. I know you fellows plant your
gardens and go out and reap it and you bring it in and you say,
there's the beans and the corn and the tomatoes and the potatoes
out of my garden. Out of whose garden? His garden. His garden. You never made it grow, he made
it grow. You never produced it, he produced
it. You worked, he used you, that's right. But he prepares
the table. My God shall supply all your
need according to his riches and glory through Christ Jesus,
and he has. And he anoints our head with
oil, our cups just runnin' open. And not only that, but this is
a promise from now on, surely, confidently, without doubt. Goodness,
God's goodness, mercy, God's mercy is going to follow me the
rest of the days of my life. You doubt that? I don't doubt that. Thy grace, what's that verse
in that, "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my
fears relieved. How precious did His grace appear
the hour I first believed. Through many dangers, toils and
snares, I have already come. His grace, what did, brought
me his grace, safe thus far. His grace will take me home. And I will, in the future, dwell
in the house of the Lord. But this is present blessings,
present blessings. The Lord's present blessings. Let us see what some of them
are. Chapter 5, verse 1. Being justified through faith,
we have, what do we have? Peace with God. Peace with God. What's the word
peace mean? Reconciled. No longer enemies. You know,
the scripture says God's angry with the wicked every day. God
hateth the workers of a micro-clan. He that believeth not on the
Son, the wrath of God abideth on him. But not on us. We have peace with God. We have
peace with God. Through whom? That turned to
2 Corinthians 5. How do we have peace with God
and the rest of the world doesn't? Well, by whom? By Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5, verse 18,
listen to this. who hath reconciled us to himself
by Jesus Christ. That's how we reconcile, that's
by whom? By Jesus Christ, and hath given
us the ministry of reconciliation. How did Christ reconcile us?
Let's turn to Colossians 1. It's Christ that reconciled us.
God hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. Now, here is
how he did it, in Colossians 1, verse 20, verse 19. But pleased the Father that in
Christ should all fulness dwell, and having made peace, reconciliation,
through the blood of his cross, by Christ to reconcile all things,
past, present and future. We are reconciled. There is no
wrath. The canons of heaven have been silenced. They are not pointing
in your direction at all. God is not angry anymore. Yet
peace. To reconcile all things, June
said, by him I say, whether things in earth or things in heaven,
and you who were at one time alienated, enemies of God, in
your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. There is no period there. Yet
now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death,
to present you and me holy, unblameable, unreprovable in sight." That's
a treasure that's indescribable, unspeakable. The depths of it cannot be fathomed.
The heights of it cannot be explained. God has reconciled us. We have
peace with God. By Christ. How? By the blood
of his cross. It's a permanent peace. Turn
to Ephesians 2, Ephesians 2. It's a permanent peace. In Ephesians
2, verse 14, watch this. He is our peace. He is our peace,
who hath made both one, Jew and Gentile, hath made both parties
one. And he hath broken down the middle
wall of petition between us, and having abolished in his flesh
the enmity." Whose enmity? He is against us. And by his
Spirit of grace, I was against him. The enmity is gone. Even the law of commandments
contained in the ordinances. but to make in himself of two,
Jew and Gentile, one new man, making peace, that he might reconcile
both to God in one body by his cross, having slain the enmity."
It's gone, I tell you. The child of God doesn't have
to fear God any more than your little girl fears you. She loves
you and respects you. She's not scared of you. You're
her protector. You're her provider. Her loving
father, she doesn't run from you. I don't need to fear God. He reconciled. Peace reconciled
us to God. That's right. Peace with God. It's only through Christ. Listen
to this. Turn back to my text, Romans
5. We have peace with God, but it
has to be by Christ in order to be sure at peace. Verse 16,
Romans 4, look across the page. Romans 4, verse 16. Therefore
it is of faith, this reconciliation, this salvation, that it might
be by grace. Now, it works. To the end, to
the goal, that the promise might be sure. to all to see. Not just that which is of the
law of the Jew, but also that which is of the faith of Abraham,
the Gentile. It's just one way that peace
with God can be sure. And that's not by something we
do, it's by what he did. God's pleased with him, he's
satisfied with him. It's my son whom I'm well pleased.
But in the flesh, no man can please God. In the flesh, blood
is no good thing. So this peace, it's there now.
We have peace. By whom? By Christ. How? By his
blood. And it's a secure peace. The enmity is gone. It does not
even exist. But here and there, we have something
else. Look at the next line, verse 2. We have peace with God,
by whom we have access. By faith into this grace wherein
we stand. It seems like Paul has distinguished between these two
gifts, peace with God and access to God. I believe the reason he has divided
them is this, is this is the reason. Peace is a particular
blessing, a particular blessing for a time. Peace on earth, goodwill
toward men, the angel and that. I'm come for you might have peace.
My peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give
I you. Let not your heart be troubled. It's a particular blessing. But access is a state. Access is a state of favor. It's
a standing which embraces all blessings. I'm at peace with
my neighbors. Consider this illustration. I'm
at peace with my neighbors. But they don't have access to
me and to my home at all times. But my children do. My children
have access to me. My neighbor's got to call and
see if he can come see me. But my children don't. You see
what I'm saying? They have access into my presence. They come in without knocking.
A neighbor wouldn't dare do that. So we're at peace. We're not
enemies. We're at peace. And God's at peace through Christ.
But he has given us access, access into his presence, access into
his throne, access, come in boldly without knocking at all times,
access to God. It's a state of favor. You found
favor with God. Just call on him any time. You
don't have to know. Just call on him. Enoch walked
with him, walked with God, and one day he just walked out onto
heaven. Turn back to that Ephesians we
were looking at a while ago, Ephesians 2. Remember, I stopped there in verse 17 of Ephesians
2. Go back there a moment, Ephesians
2, verse 17. He came and preached peace to
you, which were far off, and to them which were nigh, Jew
and Gentile. Verse 18, For through him we both have access by one
Spirit unto the Father. I go to my Father and your Father,
he said. He has sent forth his Spirit
into our hearts, whereby we cry, Father, Father, Abba, Father. Look across the page at chapter
3 of Ephesians, verse 12. verse 11, according to the eternal
purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom
we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Seeing we have such a high priest,
let us come boldly before the throne of grace, that we may
find grace to help, mercy and grace to help in times of trouble.
Back to our text. Being justified through faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and by
whom also we have access into this grace wherein we stand. I looked at those three words,
wherein we stand, and it took me back to some scripture. Don't
turn to them, but let me just quote these. Psalm 1-5, the ungodly
shall not stand in his presence. There are some folks that don't
dare stand in his presence. They cried for the rocks and
mountains to fall on them and hide them from the face of him
that sits on the throne. They don't dare stand. Psalm
5-5, the foolish shall not stand in his sight. Psalm 24, verse 3. Who shall
stand in his holy place? Who shall ascend into the hill
of the heavenly Father and stand? He says, We do, by whom we have
access by faith into his grace and stand there. The Prophet Nahum wrote this,
Who shall stand before God's indignation? Who shall stand
in the fierceness of his anger? When his fury is poured out like
fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him, who shall stand
in the fierceness of his anger? My answer? Through Christ, we
who have peace with God. Through Christ, we who have access
to the Father. Through Christ, we stand, and
we stand complete in him. And the next line says, And we
rejoice in hope of the glory of God. We have peace with God
because we are redeemed by his blood. We are believers. We have
access as sons into his awesome presence. We are complete in
him. And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Isaiah wrote
this, and Paul quoted it. Since the beginning of the world,
men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither have seen
with the eye of God what thou hast prepared for them that wait
on thee." We rejoice in that hope. One great old writer sums
it up. Here is his testimony. Where Jesus Christ is truly seen
by our faith and believe, there will be full and complete joy
in the Lord and peace of soul and conscience. Although we are
sinners by nature, we despair not and we die not, because Christ
the Lord, who is our righteousness and wisdom and sanctification
and redemption, he ever lives. He loves us. He makes intercession
for us. And in him there is no sin, there
is no fear, there is no sting of conscience, there is no fear
of judgment, there is no fear of death. Oh, yes! I, like you, am a mere man of
flesh and blood and bones, and as touching this present life
and the perfect law of God, it accuses me But I have a righteousness
and a life far above this life and far above that law. And that
righteousness and hope is God's own Son, our Savior. And in him there is no sin. In me, yes, but not in him. There is no judgment, no death,
only eternal life and glory. And I rejoice in him. who is
my hope. We rejoice in the hope of the
glory of God because we rejoice in him who is our hope. Here is the fourth blessing.
And not only so, we have peace with God, we have access, a state of favor,
sonship, family, into his presence. at all times, it is grace. Where
do we stand? And rejoice in hope of the glory
of God. And not only so, but we are able,
because of the mercy of God and the grace of God in our hearts,
we are able to glory in troubles. The world doesn't understand
this. They keep writing these books about why bad things happen
to good people and all this sort of thing. We are able to rejoice in glory
in trouble. One of the reasons is, we know
this, that trouble and trials work patience. They are sent
of God to teach us patience, teach us long-suffering, teach
us to wait on God, teach us not to depend upon our wisdom and
our strength and our ability, but on him. And this patience
and long-suffering, the more we acquire it and learn it, the
more experience. And that word is maturity. We
grow up in Christ. We become mature believers. We become established. He said,
settle and established on a rock, Christ Jesus. Well, we're not
blown about with every wind of doctrine, every positive thing
that comes along, that we're anchored. in Christ. And the old ship, it moves when
the wind blows, but it doesn't remove its anchor. It moves. It's hurt, but it stays
right there on Christ. It's settled and established
and experienced, and that experience strengthens that hope, and we
know that. But I came up with something
that helped me a great deal, and I think I gave it a long
time ago and it helped some of you, and I'm going to repeat
it. How are we able to glory in troubles? Paul said, I rejoice
in my troubles. And here's the reason. Turn to
Hebrews 12. It's a very simple four points. Hebrews 12. Here is how and why we can rejoice
in troubles, trials, and glory in our tribulations. Hebrews
12, verse 5. And you have forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not
thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked
of For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every
son whom he receiveth." Number one, we can rejoice in troubles
because we know who sent them. Our Father. That's right. We're children, and we're chastened
of the Lord. We're rebuked of the Lord. Whom
the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. He deals with every son in discipline,
every daughter. So we know who sends these trials.
The devil doesn't have anything to do with anything that happens
in the life of a believer. He doesn't, except by permission.
But it's all the will of God. Our steps, the steps of a righteous
man, are ordered by the Lord. Every step he takes, every day,
hour, minute, second he lives is ordered by God. That's it. By the Father. So we can rejoice.
Eli said, it's the Lord, let him do what he will. Secondly,
we can rejoice in trials, verse 7. If you endure troubles, God
deals with you as sons. What son is he whom the Father
does not discipline? Now, name me a son that's undisciplined. He's one that's unloved. If he's
not corrected and disciplined, God doesn't own him. So I rejoice
in trials because of who sends it. And because when he sends
them, it tells me I'm a son. I'm not a bastard. I'm a son.
I belong to him. And he cares how I act, and he
cares how I preach, and he cares how I live, and he cares what
happens to me, and he sends these things for my good. All things
work together for good to them who love God, who are sons of
God, who are called according to his purpose. So a trial, instead
of me fussing at God, I say, thank you, Father. I know you
love me. I know you love me, or you wouldn't
let this happen. It's for my good. That's so. If you endure
chastening, God deals with you as a son. Here's the third thing.
We glory in tribulation because of the purpose for which they
are given. Look at verse 9 and 10. We have our fathers of the
flesh who corrected us. I'm so thankful my father corrected
me, aren't you? You children listen to me. My
father was a good father, a provider, and he disciplined us. He wouldn't
let us misbehave. He wouldn't let us steal the
neighbor's watermelons and things. He corrected us. He spanked us.
He cared. He'd sit us in the corner. I'm
glad he did. I'd have been a rebel worse than
I was. He'd corral me. And I'm thankful. We've had fathers,
and they corrected us. Read on. And we gave them reverence
and respect. Shall we not much more rather
be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? You better think it. What would you be if God did
not discipline you? What would you be, a Judas, a
Pharaoh, a devil? What would you be if God didn't
corral you, if God didn't say no? If God didn't bring you into
a certain path, it would make you walking. So verse 10 says,
For these fathers of ours barely for a few days chastened us after
their own pleasure, after their own wisdom, as seemed good to
them. And they make mistakes. Not a father in here that doesn't
wish he could do some things over again. Not a one, not a
one. Be a little harder or be a little
looser. I don't know, but we don't have the wisdom. It takes
a lot of wisdom to raise children, a whole lot more than I have.
But my father never makes a mistake. Listen, he does it for our profit
that we might be partakers of his holiness. Is that what you
want? Is that what I want? His holiness, his righteousness,
his acceptance, his love? I sure do. Well, lay it on. That's
what I want. And he does it so that I might
be a partaker of that holiness. Now then, verse 11, and we rejoice
because one day we're going to look back on it and thank God
for it. That's what the next verse says.
One day we're going to look back. It's going to take a while, but
we will. Just like Joseph when he revealed
himself to his brothers. Boy, they were scared to death. They had mistreated him, and
they thought, he's going to kill us. But he came before them and
he said, You meant this for evil, God meant it for good, that he
might preserve and keep alive many people. What happened to
me at your hands, God used to save people. So don't be afraid. And that's what he says here
in verse 11. Now, no chastening for the present seems to be joyous,
but grievous. Does that help you when something
happens that breaks your heart and you just cry and weep and
mourn before God? That's understandable. A trial's
not easy. It wasn't meant to be easy. It's
not joyous, it's grievous. The trial itself is not joyous. It's terrible. The things some
of our loved ones are going through right now, it just makes me cry
to feel for them. So it's not joyous. But nevertheless,
afterwards, after this thing's over, That trial is going to
yield a peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby, unto everybody that was involved in this thing. God
is going to work it out for his glory and their good. When God touches your life, he
touches everybody who touches your life. And he is saying that
this is all going to work out for the good to everybody who
is exercised thereby, who is included. in this thing, who is included in our text. Verse 6, Romans 5, let me give
you this. Verse 6, For when we were without
strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. That's us. The scarcity for a
righteous man will one die, a self-righteous man. Yet peradventure for a good
man, a kind man, a personable man, some would even die to die.
But God commended his love for us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. That's the gospel. Much more
than being now justified by his blood, we'll be saved from wrath
through him. For you think about this. didn't know God, didn't love
God, didn't believe Christ. We were reconciled to God by
the death of his Son, much more than that, being sons. Believing
him, loving him, praising him, trusting him, we'll be saved
by his life. Not only so, but with joy in
God, through whom our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we now receive
his atonement.