Peace with God: Justified and Reconciled by Faith through Christ

Well, I don't know about you, that last chorus there got my glasses fogged up a little bit. But it's, man, what a blessing to be here. And I don't know about you. For me, this has really felt like a season of being on the move. And I felt like today I almost could take a breath and, you know, it's a beautiful thing to be together on the Lord's day to have the opportunity to preach this passage today.

I tell you, I was talking with Jonathan before the service, and the last time I preached, it was really bad news that I had to give you. So I'm thankful for this opportunity to preach some really good news, some blessings that we receive as believers in Jesus Christ. Now, if you're here and maybe you feel more comfortable in the German language, I just want to remind you we do have translation available today. You can see our greeting team. There's a QR code in the lobby if you would like to use our translation, if that's easier for you.

And, you know, I'm going to start maybe a little different today. I've asked some of our teens to pass out some handouts to you. So I'm going to go ahead. Teens, if you want to go ahead. And I think they're around here somewhere, hopefully.

Yeah, they're in the back. So if you guys want to go ahead and pass those out. So there's two different sizes here. So we've got the size for good eyes and we have the size for maybe little older eyes. So I tried to make them small.

I was trying to save paper. You guys can go ahead and pass them out. Go ahead and try to pass those out to everyone. These are some important terms that we've been learning, especially from Romans 3, 21 and on. And I think that, you know, I don't know if maybe this will take you back to school a little bit.

You know, I don't know if, you know, when you're in a class a lot of times, your teacher will give you a list of terms that are really important for you to know. And these terms that we have, I think I have them on the screen back here on this next slide. These are terms that we've been learning over the past weeks. They're terms that are really important because they relate to our salvation. If there's things that we need to know about our salvation, then these words help us understand the depths of what God has done for us.

And you can just look at these. You know, we kind of started with sin at the beginning of Romans. And we talked about how we have missed the Mark. And Paul, he really laid it out in those first three chapters, didn't he? He helped us understand how badly we have missed the Mark.

And then we began to learn about righteousness, the fair and just way of God. We began to understand what faith is. This is reliance and trust on his promises. And then we had this big word that really seems, you know, a lot of people hear it. We're not sure what it means.

Justification. What's that? And we find that this is how we are declared righteous before the living God. And how does this happen? It happens through.

Through this propitiation. That's a big word, this sacrifice that satisfies God's wrath. It averts judgment.

And how do we receive this? It's through grace, unmerited favor that God gives us. Now, last week you really heard this word, imputation. Jonathan mentioned that word last week, right? This idea that we're reckoned from this legal debt or credit, this is reckoned to our account through this propitiation or this atonement of Jesus.

So we have this, and this is what we're going to talk about today. We're going to talk more about redemption and reconciliation and sanctification. These are the things that we're moving into. And Paul, he's been moving us through and he's been laying this out very systematically to help us understand that we're not only justified, but we're reconciled in Christ. Now we're going to talk more about what that actually means today, what it means to be justified and reconciled.

Because those things sound similar, don't they? I think Paul does an awesome job of helping us understand that in our passage. So we see these terms, they help us understand ultimately what our theme is today. That we have peace with God, how we come to enjoy the blessings of God that we do not deserve. And really, that's what this passage is.

It's just Paul going through a list of blessings, of being justified in Christ. And we see this from the very beginning. Let's pray as we get into our text in verse one. Lord, we thank you for this opportunity to open your word. We thank you that Paul has laid out so clearly what our salvation is.

So, Lord, as we meet this afternoon, would you work in our hearts? Would your spirit teach us what we need to know?

We thank you. In your name we pray Jesus. Amen.

So in verse one, we start with therefore, we have this word that is really helping us transition. It's taking what we've heard before and now Paul is really going to summarize things as we move into our passage. He says, therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Our passage today, it's really the summary of this line of thought that Paul began in chapter three, verse 21. And this was a turning point where Paul, he lays out how we're saved.

But notice the result of being justified in verse one, that being justified has an effect, that it brings an end to the hostility between us and God, that it brings peace. And we find out how justification is meant to bring reconciliation, that God is not only the justifier of those who are powerless, but a reconciler of those who are ungodly. And notice a shift in person as we move into this passage. He's been talking a lot so far in third person, but now he switches and he says we. And he marks this common sharing and something between Paul and the believers in Rome.

And what do we know about Paul? We know that Paul was a Jew. What do we know about the believers in Rome? Well, we know that the majority of them were Gentiles. And what we find is that regardless of background, these believers, including Paul, that they're capable of sharing in God's grace, they're capable of receiving these blessings that God is offering to those who believe that we have been justified.

Now, this term, the way that this verb is set up, is really important for us to understand. It's actually an aortas passive participle. Now, if you're like me, that probably just went way over your head because I hated grammar in school, I don't know about you, but in this sense, it's really important to understand this, the aortis part, what this means is that this is a completed act, that it has been done. Not only that this passive part means that the recipient of this action is passive. We, as the recipients of this action, do nothing to actually receive this justification.

And it's important to understand that this is the power of God that is at work. And what we find in the language of Paul that he's using is, is this promise that Jesus has finished this aspect of our salvation. It's not something that is in progress, but it is something that was finished in an instant. Our justification is different from our sanctification commentator, Donald Bloisch. He says this.

Listen to this. He says justification reaches completion at a moment, but sanctification unfolds as an ongoing process. You see, the different parts here we're talking about with salvation. Now, we're Gonna move more in. We're actually still in the doctrine of salvation for one of justification for one more week.

And then we're gonna be moving more into this doctrine of sanctification here in Romans. But what Paul is saying is, whether we realize it or not, the result of being justified is that we have peace with God, that this is the blessing of believing by faith, that we are now at peace with God. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have this peace. And this is our main topic in this passage, verse 2. It gives us more blessings that we receive in Christ as we move forward.

Look at verse two with me. It says, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. That's a beautiful sentence. Isn't says and we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Notice it starts with through whom?

And we were just talking about Christ in verse one. It's through Christ that we have gained this access. And by what means? Well, it says by works, right? No, thank you for saying no, it's not by works, actually.

Isn't that what Paul's been trying to teach us the whole time? That it's not by works, it's not by the law that we receive this justification? No, it's by what, it's by faith. So through Christ, by faith, we find these new realities for the believer, these blessings that we stand in grace. That's an amazing concept, isn't it?

That we stand in grace. If you think about. That's a positional term. What it means is that Christ's work allows us to stand in this grace or be found positionally in Christ. And you know, as we look in the New Testament, you see this phrase a lot, don't you, in Christ.

And when we see this phrase in Christ, that's signaling to us that, that we now have this standing before a holy God. Not only this, but what does our verse two say? That we also have hope that conditionally there is this opportunity that our situation will change. That there is a transformation that is now happening for those who believe we now have hope that this bad news snowball cannot touch us. And you guys remember we talked about that.

This snowball that seems to be moving and picking up steam, and it just seems worse and worse coming at us. And what we found was that the law was not a sufficient shield for all of this bad news coming, bearing down on top of us. But today what we find out is that Christ is that he's the cleft of the rock we can hide in that he is this shield, that he is the bridge that actually allows us to pass this cavern that we can't pass.

Now, notice what the revelation of this news should cause us to do. That if we have hope, then what will we do? Well, it says that we will boast in the hope of the glory of God. That we will actually speak of this hope, that we will find pleasure in this hope. We will find joy in this hope.

We rejoice that God's glory has been revealed in his Son, that a living hope in Christ Jesus has come.

And this, I think it will have an effect on the way we live when we really believe this, even though through the hardships of this life, what hope causes is for us to rejoice in suffering. And that's what we see here in verses three through five, right? And it's as if Paul now puts parentheses around this line of thought of the benefits of being justified. And he now shows us how the reality of this position affects our condition in this world. That the power of God not only justifies, but sanctifies.

It sets us apart. Now, on that little sheet I gave you, we just have that little definition to be set apart or to be made holy. But let me give you a little more of an expanded definition of what sanctification is. Listen to this. Sanctification is the ongoing supernatural work of God to rescue justified sinners from the disease of sin and to conform them to the image of His Son.

We can think of it in this way that this is how we're becoming holy, that we're becoming Christlike, that we're being empowered to do good works. This is what sanctification is. This is the obedience part of our salvation. That as we walk in this way, you see the difference there. Being in Christ compared to walking in the Spirit.

This is how we make progress and we grow in our faith. And what is one way that God uses to help us make progress? Well, according to our text, it's suffering. Now, if you're like me, you don't like to suffer. That's not my favorite parts of this life, the times where I have to suffer.

But look what Romans 3. 5 say. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings. That's the same idea of being rejoicing in our sufferings. And then Paul, he unpacks why we can do that.

He says, because we know that suffering produces perseverance and perseverance. Character. Character. Hope. And what does hope do?

It doesn't put us to shame because God love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who He has given us. And what we find is we have this assurance that we are sealed with this Spirit and we have everything we need to live in this way that we can rejoice in suffering. Because suffering is meant to initiate growth. Suffering is meant to help us grow in endurance. It's meant to help endurance grow into character.

And this character that we're developing and we're growing in is actually giving us hope. It's giving us. It's strengthening our faith. And for those in Jesus, hope grows through suffering and our faith is strengthened. I mean, if you think about it, hope really is just faith in action, isn't it?

Hope moves forward regardless of whether we really see a way forward, like Abraham. What it does is it hopes against hope. It trusts that God's promises will be realized. Like David, as we just heard last week in chapter four, we believe in the steadfast love of our God regardless of our failures. And we remember the foundation of God's justifying work to bring us through.

It's why Paul reminded us of these flawed men in chapter four. But they were men that were counted, faithful, and it was their belief that God would fulfill his promises, that he would reckon them righteous, that he would count them righteous. And this is how they obtained access to grace. It's the same way that we access grace. They didn't access it through the law, but through faith.

So ultimately, what we find is that what hope is producing is peace.

Hope recognizes that Jesus has rescued us from our greatest enemies. He's rescued us from sin, from the power of Satan, and from death.

Hope defeats our anxiety because we have access to this grace through Jesus and because of this confidence, we can now grow in this ability to be transformed by the power of God. Now, I don't know about you, maybe you've been in a situation where you've been crippled by fear. I think we've all probably been in that situation before. Fear robs us of our strength and confidence, doesn't it? You know, when I was coaching back in the United States at a university, I felt that pressure.

There were many days where I had panic attacks where the pressure of the expectations for me were crushing.

Looking back at that now, I recognize that I was trying to do things in my own strength. The reason why I felt that anxiety and that fear was because I felt like everything relied on me.

But because we stand in grace, we now have the means to move forward, even when we feel like everything's crashing down around us and we're reminded in our passage today that we are not only justified by his grace, but we're sanctified by his grace. That it is this power of God that has raised us to life, but also this same power that helps us walk in newness of life.

And here's the thing. We must recognize that our hope is different than all others. Notice that in verse five, that this hope is different because it does not put us to shame. Because God's love is being poured into our hearts. And because we have this Holy Spirit that we have been given.

This is the difference with our hope to all others. It doesn't put us to shame because it is a living hope that will stay. It's motivated by the love of God. Because God's love has been poured into our hearts, we can now access this helper that will help us grow in this confidence. And it is this Holy Spirit that we have been given that we will receive these blessings through.

So the question that we have to ask ourselves is, do we really want to rejoice in suffering? Do we really want to run with endurance to be men and women of character? Do we really want to be a person of hope and faith?

If we do, then we'll give way to allow the power of God to actually transform us in this way. Now, our text, it continues in verse 6 with helping us understand this. It says that we are recipients of God's love. And I love the turn. Now that we see Paul move to the turn to help us understand this love that we have received, that God actually demonstrates his love for us.

And he uses like three verses to develop this. Did you notice that? I really want to just hit you right away, you know, with. With verse nine, but. Or verse eight.

I'm sorry, verse eight. But we have these verses that lead up to it. Verse 6 says, you see, at just the right time, when we are still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. That God's justice is inseparable from his love. Both are demonstrated.

And I love the phrase at just the right time. Now, I looked at this phrase a little deeper to try to help get an understanding of what it really means. And you know, Paul, he's known for using terms that maybe come from sport or warfare. And this term is actually used in these situations. And really what it means that at the perfect, opportune, critical moment that Christ came.

Now, if you're an athlete, you know that in the course of a game, there comes a critical moment where the game is won or lost. I don't know if you were able to watch the Olympics. I watched some hockey during this, during the Olympics. And it's just amazing to me, the sport of hockey, because one millisecond, there can be just the tiniest opening for the puck to go through and a goal to be scored. And then the next millisecond, that opportunity is gone.

And there were many games in this tournament that were won and lost on one moment. Same thing in warfare. There comes a time where the tide changes. Even in music, there comes a climax to the music where things shift and we realize the moment. And what we find is that there was a critical moment in the history of this world where Christ came.

And it wasn't a mistake. It was just at the right time. And notice at the time it was. It was in a time when we were still powerless that the power of God was revealed at this perfect moment. And who was it for?

Well, not only it says the powerless, but even maybe harder to comprehend the ungodly. Now we have to remember that it's not just us that were powerless, but it was us that were ungodly at this time as well.

Now, verse seven, Paul, he kind of expands on this. He says, very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person. Though for a good person, someone might possibly dare to die. You might wonder, okay, why would Paul add this in? And I think what he's doing is he's just helping us understand the magnitude of what Christ has done for us, the powerless and the ungodly.

It's interesting that he contrasts the this righteous person and a good person, isn't it? Now, we don't know. I've read a lot of different commentaries on this, and scholars think different things. Some think that this is the same righteous, good person. Others would say that there's a difference here.

One thing that really was interesting to me, and I want to share it with you today, was this idea of a righteous person. A lot of time we think of this in the sense of a courtroom, right? We think of this in a formal legal relationship where someone is either proven guilty or innocent. You know, it's like Paul is saying, you know, one maybe would die for a righteous person. But then he adds, the good person, like the good person is better than the righteous person, right?

And, you know, it's interesting because what you find when you look deeper at this word good, actually, it's really interesting in the German version, but it actually means benefactor. It actually means someone you have a personal relationship with, but not only a personal relationship. You really owe your life to this person. This is gonna be someone who you have intimate knowledge of and they are affecting your life in a specific way. And what Paul says is, maybe you might die for this person.

And I think that as we reflect on this, the nature of who God is really comes into view. Because the nature of our relationships many times are dictated by who we'd be willing to die for in the sense of they should be righteous or good.

We set limits on the lengths we would go to to lay down our lives for someone.

But this is what makes God so much different than us. This is what makes his gospel so unbelievable. Because he didn't just come to die for his friends, his family, or his comrades, but he came to die for his enemies.

In verse 8, one of the most beautiful verses in all Scripture helps us understand the depth of God's love. It says in verse 8, but God demonstrates His own love for us in this. That while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

That while we were enemies, Christ, he laid down his life for us.

And I ask you, don't miss the character of the one who stands at the center of our universe.

That he is not a God that takes pleasure in crushing rebels. Now, yes, his justice is required. His wrath will come on the ungodly, but his love chases us. Sinners who deserve nothing from him are able to obtain grace through his Son. And here we see that the love of God meets the justice of God in the atoning work of Christ.

And in the atonement we find both God's judgment and his love demonstrated. And this has been demonstrated from Romans 3. 3. Back in Romans 3, we see that Christ's atonement had to take place. And we have the verses up here.

It says starting in verse 25, that God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement through the shedding of his blood to receive by faith. And listen to this. It says he did this to demonstrate his righteousness or his justice. Because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. And he did this to demonstrate this righteousness at the present time so as to be just in the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

And what we understand is that Old Testament saints, that they were saved on credit, we could say, while us New Testament saints were saved on debit, this debit of Christ's atonement. So being a holy God, God demonstrates his justice in the atonement. But now we also find in Romans 5. Eight, that God also demonstrates his own love for us in this. That while we were still sinners.

Christ died for us. He's a compassionate God, a God that demonstrates his love through his atonement. And what we find is that the atonement, it demonstrates two things, according to Paul, that God is both just and loving. And those things seem to be opposed to one another. But in God and in his perfect plan of redemption, it brings us this amazing benefit for those who believe.

And we find this benefit in verses 9 and 10. It says, since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him that we have been saved from God's wrath? I wish I could get an amen there, because that is incredible news. And if we really think about the fact that we have been saved, those that were powerless and ungodly are now saved from the wrath that is coming on humanity. That's an incredible blessing for those who are in Christ.

The hope of the gospel is that the blood of Christ is sufficient to save us from this wrath.

Verse 10, it goes on to tell us of what this means for the believer. It says, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life? That the result of, of not having this wrath come on us is that we're also being saved by his life. I don't know if you've noticed, but Paul, he keeps using this phrase, doesn't he says, how much more? How much more, right?

And Paul really seems to be working hard to convince us that the gospel is the power of salvation, doesn't he? In fact, maybe you like. I know that maybe like a used car salesman uses a similar technique to this, doesn't he? When you think about it, he's like, oh, he tries to convince you that this is just too good to be true, right? Have you ever experienced that where someone, it doesn't just have to be a used car salesman.

They always get a bad rap, I guess. But anyone that's trying to sell you something is always trying to tell you not only this, but you get this too, right? But here's the thing about the gospel message and the hope that Paul is trying to convince us of. The message of the gospel is a message that you can be sure your hope will be realized.

And here's the thing, you can grow confident that the blood of Christ is sufficient to save you from God's wrath. You can grow confident that you are reconciled and you are being saved through his life. And I can tell you this just like Paul, because Jesus lives, he can intercede for you right now at the throne of God. And we learned about that in Hebrews, that he is our mediator who is actually interceding for us at the throne of God. I can tell you that because he lives and that we have this hope too, that we will be raised to life.

This is the hope of the Gospel, that Christ is alive, that he is risen. The message of the gospel and Jesus is that God's grace has come to those who do not deserve it. That this message is meant to be a sweet aroma to all those around us, that we are not ashamed of the Gospel. And Paul, he elaborates on this in second Corinthians 2, 15, 17. Listen to this.

He says, for we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To one, we are in a Roma that brings death. To the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? He says, unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit.

On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity and those sent from God. Paul is not a peddler. He's not a used car salesman. Because his hope is real. Because our hope is real.

And here's Paul's sincere message for you today. It's the sincere message that we are called to proclaim in this city that Jesus has come to reconcile both the Jew and the Greek. He has come to reconcile you and me to God.

He offers not only justification, but reconciliation for those who put their hope in the risen Christ. And this is the amazing thing that we claim these blessings that we've learned about today, because we know that the power of sin is broken, that Satan's power is broken, that the power of death has no sting.

These things have been defeated. For those who are in Christ, our great foes have been neutralized.

And what we find is that we've received justification that releases us from these masters, but we also have received reconciliation that allows us to draw close to this new master. This is what we find in our final verse today. It says in verse 11, not only so is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. That all these blessings, they lead us to understand that we have been reconciled to God. And this should cause us to boast about what God has done for us, what Jesus has done for us.

Now, over the past weeks, I've been struck by the amazement that the men that have taught here have had for God's word. And I think as they've gotten into God's word. I've just noticed in each of their messages almost like a bewilderment or an amazement that this is actually true. And as we close, if I could just boast about what God has done for us to justify us and reconcile us. Because what we find is that what we desperately need is not only to be justified, but reconciled.

Now you might say, well, what's the difference between these? It seems like they're the same thing. I mean, we receive the same blessings from these, right? But notice how each term, I really believe it satisfies different things. It's justification that addresses this need for justice, while reconciliation addresses God's desire to love us.

Justification, it takes care of our legal problem, our judicial problem. But reconciliation, it takes care of our personal problem with God. That God has addressed both our legal and our relational status isn't that amazing. He is both a just God and a loving father through his actions. And he has restored this fellowship through the work of Christ.

And he calls us to this new identity.

Once enemies, he now calls us friends. Once orphans, he now calls us sons and daughters. And this is what amazes me most about the new life that we receive in Christ. That it is this formal legal relationship that has been satisfied and secured by Christ's blood. But it's also an intimate and loving relationship that he invites us into.

And what we understand is these two aspects of our salvation. They help us understand the adoption that we have received through Christ. That God has not only changed this legal status, but he's changed our relational status through his son. That adoption is our new reality, that we are now children and nothing can change that.

This is the reality. I think that it requires a response. It's a reality that calls us to come and live in this identity that through Christ we've received an indescribable blessing, that the living God calls us his child.

Now, as I close this morning, I was at the girls school. Gracie was leaving for a ski trip this morning. And you know, it was amazing to me because all the kids, they're excited about leaving, they're excited about getting away. And I was watching the parents and it was amazing, the love of the parents for their kids. And I noticed the kids really didn't see it, but I could see the tenderness and the love that these parents were looking at their children with.

They were snapping pictures, they were trying to get one last glance. I think what Paul wants us to hear from our message today is that he is a just God. But just like these parents that I saw today. He loves us deeply.

May we glory in our Redeemer today.

May we glory in the price he has paid, in the blessings we receive for those who are in Christ. I'm going to invite the worship team forward. We've chosen this song. I will glory in my Redeemer to finish today. I hope you'll sing this with everything you have and be reminded of how we can boast in Christ.

So I hope that we'll boast as we sing. Let me pray as we close here. Lord, I thank you for this opportunity to boast about how great you are today, to boast about how great your plan for us was you your plan of redemption, to boast that your reconciliation has made us sons and daughters.

So, Lord, we thank you today.

We thank you for being our Redeemer, our loving father.

May we glory in what you are doing. In your name we pray. Amen.

Well, I hope you'll glory this week in the blessings that we received in Jesus Christ. They're all listed up there, the ones on the. There we go. That we talked about today. Yeah.

And as we go into this week, may we allow these different blessings to just well up inside us and rejoice in what God has done for us. You know, this past month was a difficult one for me and our family moving. I came to the end of myself. You know, I've done that before, but I had to rediscover that and be reminded of it. And it wasn't until I recognized that it was God doing the work and it was God's power working inside me that things changed.

And, you know, as we were moving out of our house, right after I realized this, I saw this on our wall in our garage. I'd never seen it before, but evidently the family that lived there before us left that for us, the power belongs to God. May we remember that this week as we go. Ephesians 3, 16, 19. Say this.

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love and may have power together with the Lord's holy people to grasp how wide and long, how high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. May we take this message as we go this week. Thank you for coming today. We hope you have a great day.