Introduction

The Apostle Paul has shown that all people are guilty before God (Romans 1:18 – 3:20), and that they only means open to mankind is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 3:21 – 31). Then he has started working out the great truth that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ has always been God’s means of salvation, the patriarch Abraham and King David kew this truth (Romans 4). It was always God’s plan to have one united people who are reconciled to Him through faith in His Son. The question then becomes, “Do we have the faith of Abraham, that God declares the guilty innocent through Christ’s death and resurrection?”

Now Paul introduces the theme of our peace with God. God who was once angry with us (due to our sin) is now at peace with us. We have a peace that cannot be shaken by worldly trials, these trials instead produce a stronger confidence in God. Ultimately we are secure because our peace with God depends on the steadfastness, power and love of God, rather on our own feeble powers and abilities.

A Peace With God

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1

Now the apostle comes to consider the benefits of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Once we were objects of God’s wrath (Ephesians 2: 3). Wrath is God’s settled response to human sin.  His wrath is not arbitrary or malicious. It is His settled, considered and just response to our breaking of His laws. But Jesus has taken the wrath of God for His people on the cross. But the reconciling work of Christ on the cross produces far more than just a removal of God’s wrath upon our lives.

“There is more in this peace than barely a cessation of enmity.  There is friendship and loving kindness, for God is either the worst enemy or the best friend.  Abraham, being justified by faith, was called a friend of God (James 2:23), which was his honour, but not his peculiar honour.  Christ has called His disciples friends (John 15:13 – 15).  And surely a man needs no more to make happy than to have God as his friend.” Matthew Henry

God is either your worst enemy, the one whose wrath you shall be under for all eternity, or He is your best friend. A constant friend who is committed to you, deeply caring, loving you with a love you can barely even begin to understand.

The Peace of a Cleansed Conscience

The book of Hebrews tells us our consciences are cleansed by Christ’s shed blood (Hebrews 9:14), freeing us from our guilty fears.  Those relying on good works, can never know this.  How can they be sure that they have done enough to be accepted before God? We all have a conscience to a greater or a lesser degree. The conscience can be seared and hardened, but we all are aware that there are times when we fail this Holy God, that we are guilty before Him. We can speak out of anger or resentment, envy or bitterness.  We don’t have that perfect love that we should have for other people. Love should be the defining motive for everything that we do, but all too often we act out of motives other that of love for God or our fellow man.

So if we are all aware to a greater or lesser extent that we fail this Holy God, how can those who are relying on their own merits ever know that they have done enough to please God? How do they know that He will not hold their offenses against them on the Day of Judgment?  It is only through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ that we have peace. It is through knowing that He has taken God’s punishment for all our wrong doing, knowing that we are clothed in His perfect life that we have received by faith, that is how we can have a clear conscience before God.

The Peace We Are Looking For

The Bible says that God has placed eternity on our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11).  It is an inescapable fact that we die.  People wonder what is beyond death.  Is it just the end?  Even to the hardened atheist who says death is just the end, you can always ask, “Are you sure? Can you prove conclusively to me that it is just the end?” There’s always that nagging doubt.  God has set eternity upon our hearts.  We are restless until we find him.  We can seek satisfaction in the things of this world, but our true satisfaction is found in eternity, not in this life, but beyond death. It is found in God and knowing him through the Lord Jesus Christ.

A Secure Peace

“through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand.” Romans 5:2a

Our peace is dependent upon God’s Grace.  God’s unmerited favor towards us.  The believer is firmly grounded in grace.  We did not bring ourselves into this blessed state, but it was Christ who let us into it.  It is not dependent upon our works.  It is dependent upon what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross.

“We could not have got into it of ourselves, nor have conquered the difficulties in the way, but we … are led into it as blind, or lame, or weak people are led, – are introduced as pardoned offenders, – are introduced by some favorite at court to kiss the king’s hand, as strangers that are to have an audience, are conducted” Matthew Henry

We have been led in to God’s presence by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.  We have not deserved it.  We couldn’t do it, in and of ourselves.  Before coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ, our minds were slaves to sin.  Enmity towards God was the only thing that was in us. But now through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is He who brings us in to the grace of God, and into the peace that we have with God.  Once in this state, we are firmly rooted in it.  We are not brought into dangerous ground.  Our Lord did not bring us onto a cliff edge where at any moment, we might lose the presence or favour of God.

“… by Him they stand in it, accepted before God, secured according to His everlasting covenant, that they shall not be cast down, but they are fixed in the state of perfect acceptance, conferred by sovereign grace, brought into it by unchangeable love and kept in it by the power of a faithful God.  ‘They shall be my people and I will be their God’, ‘And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, and I will not turn away from doing them good’, Jeremiah chapter 32:38,40” Robert Haldane

When God says He makes an everlasting covenant with his people, He means it.  We are His for all eternity.  We stand in His presence, kept by God’s love and by his sovereign grace.  He is not fickle or changeable, but in complete contrast to humans, is resolute in His purposes.

“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” Numbers 23:19

A Peace That Leads to Rejoicing in our Future Hope

“and rejoice in hope of the Glory of God.” Romans 5:2b

We rejoice now, in a sin sick world.  Conditions for God’s people in the first century, when Paul is writing this letter to the Roman Church, were tough.  People were dying for their faith.  Christianity was a small cult that had appeared in the face of the mighty Roman Empire.  If we think that we are marginalized by our secular government today, Christianity then was more so. But they rejoiced in the hope of the Glory of God.  When our future state is still but a hope to us, and not yet a reality, the believer can rejoice now on earth as well as in heaven.

“Although this assurance is the legitimate effect of reconciliation, and the want of it is evidence of weakness, still in this, as in other respects, the actual state of the believer generally falls far short of the ideal.  He ever lives below his privileges and goes limping and halting, when he should mount up as with the wings of the eagle.  Still it is important for him to know that assurance is not an unseemly presumption but a privilege and a duty.” Charles Hodge

Often our lack of faith means that we don’t have the joy that we should have. We get distracted by the glittery things, the shiny things, the small treasures, if you can even use the word “treasure” of the things of this world, in comparison with the great glories that we have in the next.

The Christian should speak nothing boastingly, so far is concerns himself, but he has no reason to conceal his sense of his high destination as a son of God and an heir of glory.  We can’t boast in our own goodness – we haven’t got any.  We can’t boast in our own spiritual strength – we haven’t got any.  But we can boast in what God has given to us, unmerited, undeserved, that we have this high calling of a future eternity with Him.

A Peace That Is Secure In this Life

We have a wonderful peace.  We have been ushered into this state through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are kept by the Grace of God.  But what about the hardships and the trials of this world, won’t they shake our peace?  Shall not the hardships of living in a fallen world with all its pain, corruption, temptations, cares and worries cloud the vision of the Christian towards his future glory.  Paul’s answer is simple, certainly not.

Trials Add Backbone To Our Faith

“And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance character, and character hope.” Romans 5:3,4

In the face of trial these words may seem very strange.  We can begin to wonder, Paul, what are you talking about?  In and of ourselves, nobody likes to go through difficulties or hardships.

“Tribulation worketh patience, not in and of itself, but the powerful Grace of God working in and with the tribulation …  Tribulation in itself worketh impatience: but as it is sanctified to the saints, it worketh patience.” Matthew Henry

In and of ourselves, when we hit the hardship or the trial, we can experience a range of unhelpful emotions. We may get frustrated, angry, worried or impatience. It is as God works in the individual that the patience is produced.

Difficulties put backbone into the believer.  When the believer sees how great the trial is, and how weak they are, it should send them to God in prayer.  As the believer struggles in the place that God has placed them, they find that God’s help is sufficient to meet their needs.  With a confidence coming from experiencing God’s help firsthand in their lives, the believer develops the ability to persevere on in the trial.  Those who have never struggled, tend to give up easily.  Difficulties, sanctified difficulties, where we or those around us pray for us, are an opportunity for us to experience God working in us, keeping us, strengthening us.

Trials Reveal What We Are

“and perseverance, character.” Romans 5:4a

The difficulty can make us better or bitter, revealing our character. The Greek word that is translated character means a tried and tested integrity, a state of mind that has stood the test. The test came upon the individual and they are found to be truly the Lord’s.  The believer has been shown to be genuine.  Their faith was not short lived or based on favorable circumstances.  Peter wrote his first letter to such Christians:

“the genuineness of your faith, being the much more precious than gold that perishes, through it is tested by fire, maybe found to praise, honour, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. “ 1 Peter 1:7

How was their faith made known as genuine?  It had been tested by fire.  The difficulty, the tribulation produces perseverance as prayer is made for the individual. As they experience God working in their lives, the believer can have more of a confidence that they are God’s.

Trials Clarify Our View Of Heaven

“ and character hope.” Romans 5:4b

The believer knows that they are truly the Lord’s and hence truly the recipients of the glory He has promised His people.  They have experienced, first hand, the power of God in their lives helping them through the trial.  They know they are genuine Christians who follow a genuine God who can deliver what He has promised to His people.  The believer can read about the power of God in the Bible and marvel and yet it can still be an abstract, a distant concept. To the individual who has experienced the power of God first hand, they have no doubt whatsoever that the living God exists and is at work in His creation, caring for His people.  Their experience leaves an indelible mark on them and hence we find that the trials do not cloud but rather clarify the believer’s vision of heaven.

Trials Reveal A Hope That Does Not Disappoint

“Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Romans 5:5

We can look forward to the coming Day of Judgment in confidence because God’s loves His people. Love was God’s motivation for sending His Son to die for us on the cross (John 3:16), our means of salvation. God loved us enough to send His Son to die for us 2000 years ago, and God will still love us enough to deliver us from hell on the Day of Judgment at the end of time. God’s love does not change:

“What is it that gives solidity to this hope and guarantees its validity? It is the love of God to believers, a love that suffers no fluctuation or reverse” John Murray

Further we know this hope is real because we experience God’s love. The Spirit bears witness to God’s love, pouring forth the love of God into the believer’s life. By His Spirit, God directly changes the nature of His adopted children. The Father does what no human father can do to his adopted child; He changes His child’s inward nature. God changes and transforms us, many old sins are no longer found enjoyable. The emptiness of the world shouts at us. We are given a new concern for others which helps all our relationships. As we experience the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, as we experience God’s love changing our lives, we know that the hope in God that we have is real. The believer cries out “Abba, Father” (Rom 8:15), and their faith in God and His promises to them is strengthened.

A Peace That is Undeserved

“For when we were still without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.“ Romans 5:6

We were headed for judgment and eternal wrath in hell.  We were without strength.  We could not remove our own sin.  We were content with our earthly interests.  Every thought of ours was towards evil and away from God. But when we could not save ourselves, Christ died for those who had no natural appeal to him, we were ungodly.

“Scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would ever dare to die. But God demonstrates His Own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:7,8

Humans, like to receive more than to give and naturally favour their benefactors, those who will give to them.  A righteous man could be interpreted as a just man.  He will deal justly in his affairs.  He commands respect being upright, honest and true.  But the good man does more than this, he is more likely to have other peoples’ favour because he is more willing to help others.  He will be a just man but he also provides aid as needed to those around him.  The good man is more likely to have someone willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice of their life for him as others benefit from him.  This is how man’s love works.  We naturally favor those who help us.

But God’s love is unconditional, unmerited.  God eyes are too Holy to look upon iniquity (Habakkuk 1:13). But while we were still sinners, before there was anything good within us, before the power of sin have been broken over our minds, before we ever wanted to actually turn to God, Christ died for us.  There was nothing to merit His death in us.  God showed His love toward us while we did not merit such favour, and what love!  He sacrificed His only Son that we might have eternal life.

If He loved us, because we loved Him, He would love us only so long as we love Him and on that condition. Then our salvation would depend on the constancy of our treacherous hearts. If you believe God loves you because you are good or because you love Him then presumably you believe that God will hate you if you ever fall from that state. This means that your salvation will depend on the constancy of your own treacherous hearts. But God loved us as sinners, Christ died for us as ungodly, so our salvation depends, not on our loveliness but on the constancy of the love of God.  It is not so much how much we love God but how much God has loved us.

A Peace That Is Secure For All Eternity

“Much more then, having been justified by His Blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.  For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. “ Romans 5:9,10

When we all stand before God in that Day of Judgment, where is our confidence that we shall be taken through that judgment to be with the Lord Jesus Christ and not placed in hell for all eternity?

Christ is More Than Willing To Save His People

If Christ willingly paid the price for those who were His enemies, how much more willing is He to save His friends? When we couldn’t stand Him, when we completely rejected Him from our lives, He died for us.  Now we are reconciled to him. Now there is peace between us, how much more willing is He to carry us through in the coming Day of Judgment?  If Christ was willing to die for those who were guilty, we can have much more confidence in Him acting for those who declared innocent before God.

Christ Has More Than Sufficient Power To Save His People

Christ accomplished the removal of our sin in the weakness of His death.  We look at heroes in the world, whether it’s in Hollywood or in other places, and their actions are done in strength by their great power, by their skills, by their ability.  It is not usually done by their death and by them dying because that’s weak.  Once that individual is dead, what else can they do?  Christ declared us as innocent by taking God’s punishment for our wrong doing, in His death. But now He has been resurrected above all created power and authority.  Now He is seated at the right hand of the Father and uses His power for the benefit of His church and the body of believers, (Ephesians 1:22) and represents their interests before God (Romans 8:34).

Christ’s People Rejoice In Their Secure Salvation

“And not only that but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”
Romans 5:11

If you go to church, why do you go there?  What is uppermost in your mind? Sometimes the temptation is to consider ourselves as a small bunch of mostly neglected and ignored people. We can also be very aware of our circumstances, our physical frailty or difficult circumstances.  God is mindful of our physical circumstances. But what should be uppermost in our minds is the thought that we are going to worship a wonderful magnificent God who has loved us and given His Son for us and has declared us innocent before Him.  We have a God who will carry us through the coming judgment. Liars, blasphemers (those who misuse God’s name), the adulterous, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, will all be cast out into the lake of fire to spend all eternity under God’s wrath. But God by His Grace, not because we deserved it, has given us the truth about Himself and will carry us through this present evil age, through the judgment to come, and to be with Him for all eternity.  In our lives do we rejoice in, praise and worship our God?

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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