Peace With God

Peace With God
Reading: Rom 5:1-11
Text: Rom 5:1-2

Introductory Thoughts

v Remember, the Human race is at war with God—there is open rebellion and it is going on now. God is our Creator and King, with all rights to our worship and obedience.
v God Created all—Neh 9:6
v Because He is our Creator, we owe God full worship, obedience, and dominion. Rev 4:11
v As rebels against our Creator, we have no basis from which to negotiate, we have no right to make demands. Isa 45:9
v What we need is peace with God.
v Peace—not the peace of God, nor peace of mind—that is a separate thing, a quality which develops over our entire Christian life.
Ø Peace with God, no more war.
Ø Peace with God, an end to rebellion
Ø Peace with God, we have left the rebel kingdom and the rebel army and we have been inducted into the Army of the Lord.
Ø Peace with God, we love Him and His ways, we love His Word, and His People.

1. A Done Deed—"Therefore, being justified by faith,

a. One of the most important and little-understood words in the Bible—Therefore
(1) Context—what is Therefore there for?
(2) Consequences—actions we take have consequences, doctrine has consequences—things logically flow from other things.
(3) Order—the Bible is an orderly book because our God is an orderly and logical God—the Bible is not a loose collection of sayings, but one coherent message.
(4) Connection—the word “therefore” connects what is coming with what went before.

b. The Condition for the Rest of The Promises— being justified by faith, (having been justified by faith )
(1) The promises of God apply only to those who have received Christ, who have put their faith in Him, who have believed unto salvation.
(2) The promises that follow this phrase apply only to those who have believed in Christ and been justified by faith.
(3) being (having been)—The verb translated we have is in the present tense, indicating something that is already possessed. Many of a believer’s blessings must await his resurrection and glorification, but peace with God is established the moment he places his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. The peace that Paul is speaking about here is not subjective but objective. It is not a feeling but a fact. Apart from salvation through Jesus Christ, every human being is at enmity with God, spiritually at war with Him (see v. 10; cf. 8:7), regardless of what his feelings about God may be. In the same way, the person who is justified by faith in Christ is at peace with God, regardless of how he may feel about it at any given moment. Through his trust in Jesus Christ, a sinner’s war with God is ended for all eternity. (John MacArthur, Commentary on Romans)

(4) Justified by faith—The only thing that can restore peace between God and those who hate Him is Justification by Faith In Christ
(a) Justified—just as if I’d never sinned
(b) Justified—just as if I’d always been holy
(c) Justified—a legal declaration by God that I have been declared, once and for all, Not Guilty.
(d) Justified by Faith—not by works, not by ceremonies, but by Faith alone in Christ alone. His blood has atoned for my sins, and I am free in Him.
(e) Justified by faith—I stand before God my Father as Holy, as blameless, and as clean as Christ my Lord.

2. One Great Need—“…we have peace with God…”

a. Christianity is not primarily about our worldly needs, but about our greatest need.
(1) Many people seek to have their needs met through the church—Social, Financial, Psychological
(2) Most of the great heresies of today center on man, on man’s needs, on man’s wants and desires, and on man’s part in whatever they conceive salvation to be.
(3) The Bible starts and ends with God

b. The Christian Faith Meets our Greatest need—peace.
(1) Not peace OF God, that comes later, and is the result of growth in grace
(2) But peace WITH God, reconciliation with our Creator and King.
c. We are, individually and as a race, at war with God
d. It is only through faith in Christ that the war is ended.
e. Review—the barriers to peace

(1) The Wrath of God Against the Sin of Man
(2) The Law of God, which demands justice for the sins we have committed
(3) The Guilt we possess over our sins
(4) Our slavery to sin
(5) Our own minds and natures, hateful and hating God, desiring pleasure, not desiring God and His Way.
(6) The blindness, deafness, and deadness of our Souls
(7) The impotence of our will.

f. Reconciliation—we need reconciliation with our Creator and King.
(1) We need to be transferred from one kingdom to another—Col 1:12-14
(2) We need reconciliation, and only God reconciles us with Himself.—2 Cor 5:17-21

3. Only One Way to Reconciliation and Peace—through our Lord Jesus Christ

a. Salvation is Through Christ alone.

(1) Not because of or through our self-generated faith-- Eph 2:8-9
(2) Not because of or through our works or religious actions—2 Tim 1:9, Titus 3:5
(3) Not through any other means or person—Acts 4:12
b. He is the LORD Jesus Christ
(1) Lord—Sovereign—1 Tim 6:14-15, Rev 17:14, Rev 19:16
(2) Jesus—Savior, fully man—Heb 4:15, Heb 2:14-17
(3) Christ—Messiah, fully God—John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
(4) No salvation without Lordship—The Lord Jesus Christ does not come to us in chunks; we do not receive part of Him today and more of Him another day. When we receive Christ, we receive Him as Savior and Lord, as Priest and King, as intercessor and discipler.


4. Access To The Highest—Rom 5:2

a. By Whom Also we Have Access By Faith

(1) We—not everyone
(2) Have—it is not something that comes and goes, it is a possession.
(3) Access—blessed word!--Heb 10:19
(4) By Faith—not by any works, nor by any ceremony
b. Into This Grace Wherein We Stand
(1) Into—we possess this grace, we have this access, but we do not always enter in.
(2) This Grace—the grace of continual access
(3) Wherein we stand—the meaning of standing. Eph 6:12-18
c. And Rejoice in Hope of the Glory of God
(1) And Rejoice—The joy of the Christian life.
(2) In Hope—The meaning of hope
(3) Of the Glory of God.
(a) What is the Glory of God?
(b) We shall behold that glory—Jn 17

5. Applications

a. For those truly born again, who have evidence of their salvation by a changed life—you are at peace with God!

b. If you are a true believer in the Lord Jesus, guilt is a thing of the past, you are free in Christ

c. If, however, you are merely a religious person, without the fruit of the Spirit in your life, beware! You may very well be at war with the Lord Himself!

d. And if you are lost, without Christ in your heart and life, War with God is what you have, and Peace with God is what you need—there is only one way to get that peace…..