Title:Peace with God and Access to God

Text: Romans 5:1-2

Title:Peace with God and Access to God

Truth:We have great joy in what Jesus has given to us.

Date/Location: Sunday June 9, 2013 at FBC

Introduction

This passage tells us we have four things through our Lord Jesus Christ:

1. Justification by faith2. Peace with God

3. Access to God4. Rejoice in Hope

The first item is the basis for the other three.

I. Precondition: Justification by Faith

A. “Having been justified” serves as a summary of where Paul is in developing the systematic teaching of Christianity. The first four chapters have dealt with the sin of humanity and God’s solution of justification for sinners through faith in Jesus Christ, apart from religious works (4:1-8), religious rituals (4:9-12), and religious rules (4:13-17).

B. The Christian's current standing with God is “justified.” Justification is by simple, hearty faith. Nothing more. One dictionary says it this way: the divine gift of righteousness through faith in Christ; to be acquitted, pronounced, and treated as righteous.

II.Peace

Peace simply means a state of harmony and a removal of enmity. It is tantamount to salvation, that is, true peace comes only by salvation through Jesus Christ. See Psalm 119:165 and Isaiah 54:13.

It is important to note two kinds of peace: a subjective kind (the feeling of peace) and an objective kind (the reality of peace). This verse speaks to the latter—a real peace with God, not some feeling.

A. Objective = This Verse

1. In the sense we are talking about here = the objective sense, you have peace if and only if you are justified. This is peace in the relationship between two people. If you are not justified, there is no real peace.If you have no peace with God, it is because you have no justification. No justification, no peace!

2. In this verse, peace is the opposite of enmity with God (Rom. 5:10); death (Rom. 6:23); God's judgment (Rom. 2:16); God's wrath (Rom. 1:18, 2:5-6, 5:9, John 3:36); condemnation (John 3:18); and of separation from God (Is. 59:2).

B. Subjective= NOT This Verse

1. As to the matter of subjective feelings or personal sense of peace, there are a fewdifferent kinds. There is the “assurance kind of peace” which is your personal understanding of having peace between you and God instead of enmity (Romans 5:10). There is also the “decision making” kind of peace where you feel “at peace” about a decision or direction that you are taking. There is also the “relief from anxiety” kind of peace that we know from Philippians 4:6-7.

It is entirely possible to have a false inner sense of peace or to have a false inner sense of no peace in any of these areas. The reason for the feeling of peace needs to be examined. The feeling cannot just be uncritically accepted.

2. If you have the feeling of peace, you may or may not be justified; and if you don’t have this kind of peace, you may or may not be justified. In other words, what does this kind of peace tell you about your justification? Just about nothing.

3. The Word of God tells us what we must know objectively. It is the basis for true peace. In other words, correct doctrine is not determined by your feelings about it. Rather, doctrine comes first and true peace is based on it.

4. The difference between the two kinds of peace can be understood by visiting two passages in Jeremiah 6:14 and 8:11. The context in both passages shows Israel has turned away from God and they will not listen to His word. God's judgment is on the verge of breaking out against them. The prophets and priests falsely cry "Peace, peace" – but there is no peace. Their priests and prophets gave a false sense (FEELING) of peace, but there was no objective reality behind it—because there is no peace, says my God, for the wicked (Isaiah 57:21). In their case, there was no political peace at all—war was about to break out. Neither was there any theological peace—Israel's relationship with God was broken.

5. What about our world? Political peace? Barely, with terrorism and wars throughout the world. Theological peace? Not at all. Immorality rules. The Word of God is ignored. Babies are torn from their mothers' wombs. But somehow we still convince ourselves that things are fairly peaceful in our land—again, a feeling, not a reality. It's all a sham.

III. Access

Through Jesus Christ and His perfect work, we not only have peace with God, we have access to God. This access was opened for us at salvation and continues forever.

A. “Have” or “have gained” is a verb in what we call the perfecttense. This means that we have obtained that access and we will continue to have it into the future. The emphasis here is on the present state or result of the past acquiring of such access.The access has to do with God's grace – his unmerited favor to us. We were brought into this favor at our salvation. We ever will remain in that position.

B. What is this access? It is a way of approach or an introduction. Jesus Christ introduces us into God's presence as one of His own. The term refers to coming before the presence of a high official. In our case, the high official is God; and the introduction is good for us to come before Him any and all the time.

1.“It's not WHAT you know, it's WHO you know!” Here, knowing Jesus Christ personally gives you access to God Himself!

2.The word was used in some ancient literature in the sense of ground that would offer a foothold against enemy forces. The example of D-Day in June of 1944 is a good illustration of this.

3.Notice that “membership has its privileges.” True Christians enjoy access to God that no one else did or does.

1. No Jew in the OT had this access – Exodus 24:1; Leviticus 16:2.

2. No unbeliever has this access – a clear point of this passage.

3. In some religions,the people must approach God through a human priest. See 1 Tim. 2:5 to see how this teaching is incorrect. Christians have an introduction to God by Jesus Christ – they do not need any human to intervene.

C. We should note that access “into this grace” is basically the same as access to God, since God’s unmerited favor is so closely tied to God.

D. Consider the following verses: Eph. 2:18, 3:12; Heb. 4:16, 1 Peter 5:12.

IV. Joy

A. The idea of rejoice is that we sense and have a personal feeling that we express about our relationship to God and what is coming in the future because of it. The verb is more commonly translated “to boast.” We can get a good sense of it if we look at other uses of it in Romans:

1. Romans 2:17 – boast in God

2. Romans 2:23 – boast in the Law

3. Romans 5:2 – boast in hope of the glory of God

4. Romans 5:3 – boast in tribulations

5. Romans 5:11 – boast in God through Christ

The “boasting” seems to include the idea of expressing yourself in terms of what you are relying on. We are exulting “in hope of the glory of God” because we rely upon God to transform us into His glory.

B. The object of joy: hope in the glory of God.

Just the words “the glory of God” is a broad concept. For example, it can refer to the radiance of His perfect presence, something we will see according to John 17:24 and which Stephen saw in Acts 7:55. I believe this particular use of the phrase has to do with our personal participation in the glory of God. That glory is something that:

1. We fall short of on our own, Romans 3:23.

2. We are being transformed into, 2 Corinthians 3:18.

3. We await, Romans 8:18.

The hope we are talking about is not an unsure prospect of something that might happen, but it is a sure prospect of something that is guaranteed (Kaseman, p. 134).

V.Evangelism Training

A. Questions to Ask: Are you at peace with God? Is God at peace with you? Do you really think that you have a harmonious relationship with God?

Your response, depending on their answer: Distinguish between feelings and reality. Use Romans 5:1-2 to show that it is really possible to have peace with God, but only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

B. Question to Ask: What religious faith do you practice?

Your response, depending on their answer: Refer to the forthcoming “Evangelistic Verses Quick Guide” to help Roman Catholics, Muslims, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Jews, or others that you may encounter.

Conclusion

When you believe in Christ, you automatically get peace with God, access to God, and you should have joy in God in what He is doing in your life.

MAP

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