“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1 KJV).
Justification means justification by faith alone. Through justification by faith alone we have peace with God. Justification is solely through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us talk about justification as something experienced. We can enjoy that peace of justification by faith. We must ask ourselves the question, “Do I know the peace of justification? Have I received the peace of justification? Have we been taught by God on justification? We ask, do we have that peace of God in our hearts?” We ought to make it a heart matter and a matter of conscience. Are we in a state of reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ? Are we enjoying our state of redemption? What shall we discover before we have peace with God? These questions correspond directly to Romans 5:1. We ought to understand sin before we discuss justification by faith. We must understand that men are sinners. We must realize we are sinners because it is a matter to restore the favor of God that was lost in breaking God’s law in the Garden. What we raise here is a mater of your spirituality.
It is an essential matter to be justified. It is the necessity of sinners. However, people may not understand. If we asked a non-church goer, it would yield a self-righteousness. People see that they ought to be just before men but people do not see they need to be just before God. I think people should contemplate their justification before God. If we are unjust before God, we would endure the severest penalty. We tend to be more concerned with our justification before men but not with God. We value relationships but disregard God and His law that is trodden under foot. We could be just before men but it doe not make our character perfect. We ought to strive for both. That is, to be just before men and God. We ought to be justified before God, because we will return unto Him in the Day of Judgment. It is a necessity we will be judged. Is there a desire in your heart to be just with your Creator? If so, the Spirit is already working in you. We ought to be thankful that such a question can be asked.
The Spirit of God brings us to Christ. We realize our serious offenses against the character of God. In our natural state it is like being in a dark room. There are foul and bothersome things in a room in the dark. The Spirit of God comes and helps us to see our darkness of blackness of sin in our hearts. We would do well to open the Bible to see the depths of our total and complete depravity in Romans 3. The man under conviction loathes himself and comes to despair at different moments in his or her life. The law of God shows us our sin, but how more when Christ explains the law of God in the Gospels? The law of God not only deals with our outward actions but also our words, thoughts and imaginations. No one can plead guiltless before God’s throne. We must understand before justification that we are full of sin. All of us have sinned. We could not contribute to our spiritual salvation because it would be sin. We are tainted with sin and we are completely sinful. The things of the heart are evil continually. We must understand that we are not righteous but we must understand our nothingness. We ought to understand our nothingness before God because in that we discover the all-sufficient Christ. We must be pulled down so Christ is lifted up. You must understand you are lost because that Savior seeks after lost sinners. We must understand that we must be just before God according to the moral law of God. We must come to a place that we are unable to keep the law of God. We cannot keep the law of God and stand.
We cannot be just before God upon our own doing. It is a lost case. Justification by the law of God is impossible. We must obey everything in the book of the law perfectly. The curse is upon anyone that does not keep the whole book of the law. It is a matter that is so important because we must keep the whole law of God perfectly. We have failed in perfect obedience. Do you see you can’t be just before God by law? Are you concerned how you can be right with God? We must come to God on His terms. Those not justified may come to the point where they discover they are condemned. We must understand that God is not indifferent to our sin. May people be in a state when God would justify them. If someone is not just before God he is condemned in that very moment. Jesus spoke of he that believeth not is condemned already, because he has not believed on the Son of God. It is important to be justified in the sight of the Court of Heaven. Thanks be to God if He showed you your condemnation, because now you can flee to Him for mercy.
The Gospel learning is brought to us by the Spirit of God. We must realize we are dead in sin, and that the way of obedience is forever closed. None of us can have a true righteousness by following the law of God. God must deal with us in the way of mercy and forgiveness to wash away their offenses. He receives sinners in the way of salvation but not in injury to His justice. When God blesses them, it is as though they fully and perfectly kept God’s law. Now it is a matter of a gift and undeserved mercy. Salvation is by grace alone and not of works. It is the matter of the necessity and sufficiency of grace. Grace alone is sufficient to take us to heaven. We need not add to it by our sinful soiled works.
There is an eternal difference between the doctrine of working and the doctrine of receiving grace. It is impossible to mix the two together. If its of you it cannot be of works. If its of works it cannot be of grace. The two cannot be mingled together. Ephesians 2 excludes all of our works. We are saved by the obedience and work of Christ alone. It means all of grace alone. We are blessed for Christ’s sake alone. He deals with us by the grace of the merits of His dear Son. If you trust Christ all His merits are your merits by imputation. He was our divine Substitute. He underwent the thunderbolt of all of our sin. We stand in Christ’s place and receive the sunlight of His divine favor. We accept His substitution by trusting or believing. Has the Spirit taught you this? God’s way of salvation is a simple dependence on God’s dear Son. Have you accepted it and are you resting on Jesus? If you are you must be happy!
We are justified by believing in the present moment. It is what “being justified” means. We are clean like Adam before the fall and have access to God through Jesus’ blood. We are equally acceptable before God. Everyone justified through our Lord Jesus is equally justified with the same imputed righteousness. However, we are poor sinners. We are lost sinners. We are guilty sinners. We are helpless sinners and good-for-nothing sinners but we are perfectly justified through Christ alone. We are as though we were perfect, “without spot, wrinkle, or any such thing” through His unified righteousness.
We are justified by faith. We are not justified by ANYTHING but by faith alone. If we possess faith we are perfectly justified before God tonight. Jesus obeyed the law in our place like He died in our place. The devil says “you are a sinner!” You should say we are but that we are justified before God. If he speaks of the greatness of your sin, speak of the greatness of the righteousness of Christ. We offend God but Christ came to save sinners. We know our sin is great but Christ is able to put it all away. But we are vile sinners. We must leave our fancied righteousness and pretended goodness. With His righteousness we are righteous as He is righteous. We ought to be holy as He is holy. This can only be done through leaving His righteousness to our account. Justification is an act of God. Through Christ, we know we are accepted. If we wear His garments we too will be accepted.
We are sanctified through our Lord Jesus Christ. The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me. He is our meritorious work. We are imperfect people, who shall save us from this body of death? We ought to flee to the Cross of Christ. We are nothing but Christ is our all in all. We must stand on the Rock of our Faith. We come with empty hands of faith, “nothing in my hands I bring: simply to thy cross I cling.”
We have peace with God. It will help us in storms when we are at peace with God. We ought not to be afraid because our Heavenly Father holds all in His hands. God is in control though man has his confidence in his fellow man. But God is at the helm. There is no bad turn our Father can give us. If He uses His rod upon us it is for our good. When we die we go to our God with whom we are at peace. Let us rest in Jesus. The world cannot take it away. May the Lord grant us His peace by faith! Amen.
