Email This Page

Peace with God

Romans 5:1-2

• The first word of the chapter is “Therefore.”

• Whenever Paul uses the word, “therefore,” it means that it is “there for” a purpose.

• This “therefore” is like the stone that is rolled away from the grave to show us the living Christ.

• This “therefore” is there to show us all that God says about us in this Epistle to the Romans up to this point:

• The first two chapters of Romans show us the complete ruin of our lives because of our separation and estrangement from God.

• Chapters 3 and 4 show us that our redemption is the mighty power of God, accomplished by Jesus Christ and His work of going to the cross and dying for us.

• Chapter 4 emphasizes that we are completely justified before God because of what Christ has done for us.

• It is when we believe God, when we place our faith in Christ and His holiness and complete work at Calvary, that our morally bankrupt life is imputed, credited to us, all of the righteousness of God.

• From now on, Romans is addressed to believers only.

• Ex. I love my job as a pastor and teacher. My spiritual gift mix is Leader/Teacher/Evangelist.

• I am both an Obstetrician and Pediatrician. I care for the patient leading up to birth, I help with the birthing, and I help after the birth.

• I love the patient care as you are pregnant with the new life of Christ, I love being a part of your birth in Christ, and I so enjoy discipling and parenting you in your new birth.

• From Romans 5 onward we are caring for the believer and discipling, or parenting, you in your faith.

• This verse points back to an event in history; something that has happened in the past.

• This phrase summarizes the entire argument of the first four chapters of Romans.

• You can be confident in this!

• Remember: It is God who justifies!

• Your confidence is not in your feelings, your mood, your enjoyment of church, your salary, or how well you perform.

• Your confidence is based in the fact that Christ was put to death for your sins and raised again that you might now be declared righteous.

• God did it!

• Solomon said:

• The only one who can declare a sinner righteous is the judge before whom all cases must be tried.

• Justification is the work of God in which we are out of relationship with God and He declares us righteous because we have placed our faith in Him.

• I like the way Donald Grey Barnhouse says it: “God is the source, grace the stream; Christ’s blood is the ground or cause…the water of life comes to us by the channel of faith.”

• But even our faith is a gift from God.

• What is the most sought after thing in the whole world?

• Is it money?

• A man says he will be happy if he could just get $1000, and he gets it, and now he sets his sights on $5000, and he gets it.  Now he says real happiness will come if I can just get $10,000.

• If it’s the first million, then it has to be 5 million!

• But the attainment of more and more money brings him no lasting happiness.

• Is it power and prestige?

• Elect a man for one office and he must seek a higher office.

• But happiness, lasting happiness eludes the power and prestige seeker.

• Is it pleasure?

• We all have two choices for our pleasure desires: this world and its people and its circumstances, or God.

• What is the most sought after thing?

• Throughout history we see that the mad pursuit of fame, power, prestige, education, money, and pleasure does not bring us what we are really longing for.

• Robert Burns writes in his Epistle to Davie:

• John Keats described life as:

• Even the Founding Fathers did not think of guaranteeing us life, liberty and happiness, but only “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

• Man cannot provide happiness.

• Only God can give us happiness through having peace with Him.

• The dictionary gives us 15 definitions for “peace.”

• The first definition of peace describes the relationship between nations and people.

• Peace is: “Freedom from, or cessation of war or hostilities.”

• This is actually a good starting point for understanding our peace with God.

• Through faith in Jesus Christ, we have “freedom from or cessation of war or hostilities with God.”

• Our God has called Himself the Prince of Peace.

• Jesus wants to give us peace!

• There are two kinds of peace.

• If you read this passage carefully you note that the word “rest” is used twice.

• There is a “rest” that is given and there is a rest that is found.

• We cannot fully experience God’s peace in our life until we understand the difference.

1. There is peace that is given

• We must understand that there is a peace given by God

• This fits our definition: every soul has been at war with God.

• You must first admit that you are or were at war with God in your spirit.

• There is a warfare that exists with every soul and God.

• The reason men die into a Christ-less eternity is because they will not submit their self-will to God.

• God, being Supreme and the Righteous Judge, must have it His way!

• Human comes from a combination of two Latin words: the two words Humanus and humus are very much alike; humus is a word used by gardeners for the dark brown or black substance resulting from the decomposition or oxidization of organic matter on or near the surface of the earth.

• We all know that when we die our bodies will decompose and go back to the dust of the earth.

• Shall then, we the creature, the humus, tell the Creator who made us, what to do?

• We don’t come to God as the victor, but as the vanquished.

• Can we imagine the Iraqi’s dictating peace to us after the war?

• Can we imagine the Germans telling us their terms for peace after we defeated them in WWII?

• We don’t tell God anything.  We listen and we humble ourselves before His demands.

• And He stands with open arms and embraces us because he loves us so much!

2. There is peace that is found

• There is a peace given, but there is also a peace that must be found.

• You find God’s peace when you believe by faith.

• Have you found peace with God? Do you desire to cease fighting with God and let Him have His way?

• You can only experience peace with God by realizing that God wants you.  He wants a relationship with you in every area of your life.

• God wants a peaceful relationship within every area of your life: your job, your money, your family, your marriage.

• Give it to Him and He will pour His peace in.

• The doctrine of access is one of the most important doctrines of Christian theology.

• This is important because of all the erroneous beliefs that are out there.

• There is this idea that somehow we have rights in approaching God.

• That anyone, anytime, anywhere can just approach God, even if you’re a good Jew, or good Muslim, or good Buddhist, or good terrorist.

• It is kind of an Aladdin Theology, that if we just rub the lamp, the genie will pop out and help us.

• The Lord is a very “present help in time of trouble” (Psalm 46:1), but not for all people.

• There are more verses in the Bible explaining why God doesn’t answer prayer, than where He says He will.

• Ex. If one tramples the Word of God, lives outside of a personal commitment to Christ, enjoys sin, and is in rebellion to God, he cannot approach God.

• Make no mistake about it, God doesn’t hear his prayer. He has no access to God.

• But what about those who don’t totally deny Christ but add Him into their own personal belief systems, about a Loving Eternal Compassionate Universal God?

• Jesus is the model man for all universalist teaching.

• Hollywood loves Jesus.

• CEO’s love Jesus, unless He demands something.

• Everyone likes Jesus and wants to believe that somehow they have access to Him by being a good and loving person.

• However, as Romans 1-4 has taught us, our good deeds are only filthy rags to God.

• We can’t access God through our Man-made ways.

• Jesus said it well:

• We also cannot find access to God through the saints. St. Benedict won’t get you to God, and neither will St. Francis, Mary, or St. Peter.

• There is only one mediator, and that is Jesus Christ.

• We have been given access to God by our faith in Him.

• The word “also” is in verse 2. We have peace, and we also have access to God!

• We get peace and access! That’s really good news!

• If someone asked me “Why don’t I pray to the Virgin Mary?” My answer would be “I have everything I need in Christ. I have access to all the resources, peace, and power of Jesus. I don’t need a human to intercede for me.”