Someone asked me once, if I could only have one book of the Bible, which one would I take? Though I would certainly hate to part with the Gospel of John, or even the Psalms, but I would have to say, I would take the Book of Romans.
Romans is known as Paul’s Magnum Opus, he’s greatest work. Now, as the name of the book indicates, The Book of Romans was written to the Christians, the believers, that were living inside the city of Rome, which happened to be, the capital of the entire Roman Empire. And the Roman Empire was massive, taking in parts of Europe, and Asia and Africa. Some believe there could well have been over 100,000,000 people in the Roman Empire at its height.
So, Paul is writing to the Christian community inside of Rome to encourage them in the faith. Of the Pauline Epistles, this one is the longest and most complex. The central message is the Good News.
- Jesus Christ came to live a life that we could not live;
- Yet He died a death that we should have died.
Yet, if we are going to talk about this Good News, then we have to first recognize that there is some bad news. And that bad news is that:
- “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” And because of that sin, there is a penalty.
- “The wages of sin, is death . . .”
Folks, we are deeply flawed, and so that brings us to the theme of Romans, and that is the Righteousness of God – which you see all throughout this Book. So in the Book of Romans, Paul sets out to tell us how a deeply flawed people can have the right relationship with God. And folks, that “Right Relationship” cannot be earned – it has to be received.
And what Paul sets out to share is that when a person comes to that right relationship with God, our wrongs are transferred to Jesus’ account – and His righteousness is transferred to our account! It cannot be earned, it is received – it is a free gift, a free pardon of sin.
Paul seeks to encourage us in this Book by sharing God’s love, and His mercy, and His grace. So, reading in Romans chapter 5, beginning in verse 1, the Word of God says,
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
Thank God that you and I don’t have to walk around with our heads hung low, but we can stand and rejoice in the Hope of the glory of God!
While Following God’s Roadmap, I Discovered I was Made Right!
As we begin this message, we first need to understand what the word Justification means. Simply put, it means “Just as if I’d never sinned.” But having travelled down the road a little further and having been around a little longer, this has a deeper meaning to me, and actually it has a two-part meaning.
First, it means that God has forgiven us (He has cleansed us) of ALL our sins. I John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness.” One drop of the Precious Blood of Jesus covered a multitude of my sins.
But secondly, He treats us as if we’d never committed them in the first place. This means not only has God forgiven you of your sin, but He Forgets them, never to throw them in your face ever again! He treats us JUST AS IF WE’D NEVER SINNED.
Praise God, our sins are forgiven and they are forgotten, that’s why we can “stand and rejoice in the Hope of the Glory of God.”
We’ve been justified. He wiped the slate clean and He no longer remembers the. And He treat us as if we’ never did them in the first place.
But there is a problem. The same problem that the Romans had back then, is the same problem that we have today:
God forgave them, and God forgives us – but the problem is, we still have a memory. And I find myself often not being able to forgive myself, not being able to forget myself.
And worse, there are others who have a memory, and I am convinced they’ve earned their Ph.D. and how not to let us forget our sins!
And shamefully, that occurs way to often in our churches today. Let me illustrate this for you:
We can see a brother or sister that was an alcoholic, or a drug addict, or a thief, a crook – basically a dirty, rotten no-good scoundrel. Or a brother or sister that fell out of church:
- They come to the alter and get their heart right with God. “The son of man comes in and saves that which was lost.” “God commended His love toward them, in that while they were yet sinners, Christ died for them.”
- He saves them from their sins (past, present and future), “He has clothed them in the garments of salvation, and covered them with the robe of righteousness.” They are now a new creature in Christ, “Old things have passed away, behold all things have become new.” The old man is dead.
And what do we do??? We clothe ourselves in our self-righteousness and point fingers at them say:
- Oh, they’re no good;
- They don’t deserve God’s grace;
- They’re never gonna make it;
- They won’t last;
- You can’t believe a word that comes out of their mouth;
- God might forgive them, BUT I sure won’t.
But thank God, that’s not what He says. He says:
- “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be saved;”
- “If we confess with our mouths the LORD Jesus and believe in our hearts that God hath raised Him from the dead, THOUGH SHALL BE SAVED.”
- “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness.”
- And Praise God – “Who the Son has set free, he is free indeed;”
So, the next time you can’t forgive yourself, or others make it a point to make sure you don’t forget, remember that not only has God forgiven you, but He forgotten!
Let me show you few things that Justification brings:
JUSTIFICATION BRINGS PEACE
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: . . .”
When you come into a personal one-on-one relationship with the Creator of the universe, the One who hung the moon and the stars, you have peace!
The Websters Dictionary defines the word peace as, “The state of mutual harmony between people or groups.”
To think that when you and I have mutual harmony with God, means that we are in tune with God, and He is in tune with us! What in the world could bring more peace into your life than knowing that you are in tune with God!
Illustration: Last Sunday, before church started, Josh and Turner grabbed the guitars to practice a song together. As they started playing, they immediately noticed they were not in tune with one another. So, they started adjusting the strings until they were tuned up. And let me tell you, there is nothing sweeter than when those guitars were in tune with one another.
Can I tell you right now, there is nothing sweeter, there is nothing that will bring more peace into your life, than when you and God are in mutual harmony together! When you and God are in tune with one another!
Are you in the place in your life where you’ve hit a sour note? Maybe you just need a tune-up!
JUSTIFICATION BRINGS ACCESS
“By whom (Meaning The Lord Jesus Christ) also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand,”
The Greek word used here for “access by faith” literally means “to usher into the presence of royalty.”
When you and I knelt at the altar and asked Jesus Christ to become the Lord of our Life, He grabbed us by the hand and lead us right into the Grace of God – the unmerited, undeserved favor of God.
If you remember in the Old Testament, a sacrifice had to be given to the High Priest who would enter into the Holy of Holies and make a sacrifice for the atonement of our sins. But Jesus Christ became our once-and-for-all sacrifice and He ripped the temple veil in twain from top to bottom and we now have direct access to God! We don’t need to go to the Priest to talk to God for us, we can talk to God ourselves.
Ephesians 2:18 says, “For through him (Jesus) we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.” We have direct access to God 24/7.
Justification bring Peace, Justification brings Access, and finally:
JUSTIFICATION BRINGS HOPE
“. . . and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
I’ll tell you, looking around our world today, I see how our country and our world is changing. I see court decisions being made that boggle my mind. I see the devastation COVID 19 has left in its wake, and it’s hard to have hope in our future.
The American Psychological Association (APA) defines hope as “having an expectation that something good will happen in the future or that something bad won’t happen.”
Somebody once said that “Hope is the one thing that can get us through the darkest of times.”
For us as believers, hope is defined as the “confident expectation that God will fulfill His promises to us.” God will do what He says He will do.
- We have the promise that He will never leave or forsake
- We have a promises that out of weakness He is made strong;
- We have the promise that He will supply all our needs according to His riches in glory!
- We have the promise that there will be no more suffering, no more sickness and no more death;
- We have the promise of a prepared place;
- We have a promise that He will one day wipe away all the tears from our eyes.
- We have the promise that one day, “the dead in Christ are going to raise first, then those which are alive and remain will be called up together to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord!”
Albert Einstein said, “Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow.” What a bright tomorrow we have as believers in Christ!
Fighting for My Pea Patch 