Christians are justified before God, in Christ. In Romans 5, we find three basic provisions of this justification.<\/p>\n
1<\/sup> Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:<\/p>\n2 <\/sup>By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.<\/div>\n3<\/sup> And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;<\/div>\n4<\/sup> And patience, experience; and experience, hope:<\/div>\n5<\/sup> And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.<\/div>\n6<\/sup> For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.<\/div>\n7<\/sup> For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.<\/div>\n8<\/sup> But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.<\/div>\n9<\/sup> Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.<\/div>\n10<\/sup> For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.<\/div>\n11<\/sup> And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\nThat word atonement<\/em> is the same word translated reconciled<\/em>. You can say the reconciliation as some modern translations give it.<\/p>\nWhat he is saying is there are things that we have that have been accomplished because we have been declared righteous in Christ. And these form the foundational meaning of justification. If somebody asks you, \u201cWhat does it mean for you that you have been justified before God?\u201d<\/p>\n
You can respond with three truths:<\/p>\n
Peace with God<\/h3>\n
This is a very important issue because we were enemies, alienated. Paul wrote about this both in Colossians (cf.\u00a0Col 1:21) and Ephesians (cf.\u00a0Eph 4:18). We were alienated from God. We don\u2019t have the life of God. We\u2019re enemies of God. Our sins have separated between us and our God that He will not hear (cf.Isaiah 59:1-2).<\/p>\n
To say that we have peace with God is a major statement of justification. In other words, whatever was wrong between us and God has been solved and resolved by Jesus Christ. It\u2019s all over. The war is won. We now have victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, and that is a precious fact! We have peace with God! As some of you know, this doesn\u2019t necessarily imply that we have the peace of God ruling and reigning in our hearts. Positionally peace has been made. Like two warring nations in a war, they sit down and sign a peace agreement. Now it may or may not be real peace, of course, but that\u2019s what it\u2019s talking about when it says peace with God.<\/p>\n
Go over to Philippians chapter 4. In addition to the issue of peace with God which is a matter of our position in Christ. Being declared righteous gives us that. There\u2019s the matter of the peace of God. A peace that God puts into the heart of the believer based on something he does,\u00a0Philippians 4:6-7.<\/p>\n
6<\/sup> Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
\n7<\/sup> And the peace of God, [Now, you already have peace with God. but the peace of God\u2026] which passeth all understanding, [Sometimes you won\u2019t be able to understand why you\u2019re so much at peace when everything is falling apart around you.] the peace of God that passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds\u2026 [It\u2019s in the area of our hearts and minds that we\u2019re most greatly troubled.] It will keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nNow when he says, \u201cbe careful for nothing\u201d or \u201cbe anxious about nothing\u201d or \u201cdon\u2019t worry about anything.\u201d The particular Greek word translated \u2018be careful\u2019 is a word meaning \u2018to divide.\u2019 And it comes to mean \u2018to be distracted,\u201d the word,\u00a0merismos<\/em>. You remember in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, that we \u201cdon\u2019t need to worry about what we should put on or what we should eat? We\u2019re to look at the birds and the flowers. And don\u2019t worry about tomorrow cause sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof\u201d (cf.\u00a0Matthew 6:25-31). He uses the exact same word. Don\u2019t worry about anything! Literally it means don\u2019t be distracted. Don\u2019t get your mind off the Lord who has promised to meet all your needs and get it onto your circumstances because they often will trouble you to the point that you don\u2019t know up from down.<\/p>\nSo, the whole point of how God will bring His peace in to you is by not being distracted or divided in your thoughts away from the Lord and the fact that He is in charge. Everything is going to turn out. Don\u2019t be troubled. Don\u2019t be anxious. It\u2019s all going to work out.<\/p>\n
Now in\u00a01 Peter 5:7\u00a0it says, \u201cCasting all your care upon Him [many of you know that] for He careth for you.\u201d There are two different words for care in that verse. When he says, \u201ccasting all your care,\u201d it\u2019s the same word here in\u00a0Philippians 4:6. The chorus says, \u201cTurn your eyes upon Jesus and look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.\u201d It is keeping your eyes on the Lord.<\/p>\n
There are a lot of guys who read one Psalm and one Proverb each day, that I have challenged to do so around the country and we\u2019re on our fifth and final month in the Book of Psalms and today was\u00a0Psalm 121\u00a0and also\u00a0Proverbs 1. But in\u00a0Psalm 121:1-2\u00a0it said this morning, I thought it was so beautiful, \u201cI lift up my eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help? My help cometh from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.\u201d In other words, the point of it is not the hills aren\u2019t going to help you. The hills are a reminder that God made them. And God\u2019s in charge and if He created the universe He can handle your deal. So your problem is no biggie on His list at all. \u201cMy help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Access to Grace<\/h3>\n
Another provision that we have is access into this grace in which we stand. Notice he uses the word, \u2018we have.\u2019\u00a0Romans 5:1, \u201cWe have peace with God.\u201d Romans 5:2, \u201cWe have this access into the grace in which we stand.\u201d This “standing” emphasizes our position. You are in<\/em> grace, surrounded<\/em> by grace, the recipient<\/em> of grace. You worship the God of all grace. But it\u2019s something different to avail yourself of it. As I just quoted from\u00a0Hebrews 4:16, we\u2019re come to the throne of what? Grace<\/em>. We have access unto the throne room of God because we have been declared righteous. Otherwise you couldn\u2019t come. There\u2019s no way that you could come to a holy God with all your sin were it not for the justification of our Lord. He declared you righteous. Now, you can come as Hebrews says \u201cwith boldness.\u201d<\/p>\nA new and living way He has consecrated through the veil of His flesh and He says, \u201cLet us draw near. \u201cIf we draw near to God, He will draw near to us\u201d (James 4:8). What does that mean? He\u2019s already here. It\u2019s got to mean what Brother Lawrence said in the Middle Ages when he wrote a beautiful book,\u00a0Practicing the Presence of Christ<\/em>. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. In other words, the presence of the Lord, His wonderful peace, His grace that gives us much more than we deserve, becomes a reality in you now because you are practicing your position in Christ.<\/p>\nIs everybody following? It\u2019s kind of a thin line isn\u2019t it, as to which one we\u2019re talking about? Sometimes you can get so much in the area of practice that you forget your position in Christ and you start doubting your relationship with God. So understand your position. Nothing\u2019s going to change it. \u201cNothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ our Lord\u201d (Romans 8:39). But understand that this does not mean that you\u2019re enjoying or practicing the righteousness that you have in Christ.<\/p>\n
Salvation from wrath<\/h3>\n
Now another thing we have, and we thank God for it, is salvation from wrath<\/strong>, according to Romans 5:9:<\/p>\nMuch more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/p>\n
Jesus said, \u201cWhere the worm dies not, the fire is not quenched\u201d (Mark 9:44) and \u201cwhere there\u2019s weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth\u201d (Matthew 13:42). It\u2019s a place of torment where people will be tormented forever and ever from the presence of the Lamb. The awfulness of it! And then to read about how wonderful justification is, let me tell you something: the position that you have in Christ is the guarantee that you will not be in hell. Thank God it\u2019s not related to our performance, because our performance proves that we belong there. So praise the Lord!<\/p>\n
And on the positive side, not only are we saved from wrath, but our place in heaven is assured. Why? Because we\u2019ve been justified, even as chapter 19 of Revelation hits us in the wonderful Second Coming of Christ, it speaks of the marriage supper of the Lamb and it says that the fine linen clothed in white is the righteousness of the saints (cf.\u00a0Revelation 19:3).<\/p>\n
The Old Testament taught that the Messiah would come and clothe us in garments of righteousness, garments of joy, not of mourning; garments of praise, not of defeat (cf. Isaiah 61:10). And in Christ, you have been clothed with the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. You will never be any more righteous twenty years from now, than the day you come to Christ. Amen?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Each month, we will be highlighting a particular theological topic here at the BLB blog. This month, we are highlighting the topic of\u00a0soteriology\u2014the doctrine of salvation through Jesus Christ.\u00a0The following is adapted from the\u00a0Blue Letter Bible Institute\u2019s\u00a0soteriology class. Christians are justified before God, in Christ. In Romans 5, we find three basic provisions of this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":4508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-misc","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4507"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9151,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4507\/revisions\/9151"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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