Today, we continue our study of the letter written to the first century Christians who lived in Rome. This powerful book is a description of the righteousness of God come to the souls of those who are humble enough to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans is about the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ through whom God arranged the only way to justify the ungodly. Whereas Romans 4 was about the basis of our justification before God, Romans 5 is about the benefits of our justification before God. Today, we will consider the first of these benefits and it is peace with God.
Peace with God brings to a screeching halt the hostility that existed between us and God. This hostility was not of God, it was created out of the void of our disconnection with Him due to our violent and intentional rejection of His kingdom. This first immediate effect of our justification means our war with God is over. It means our rebellion against Him and our war with Him is history because the Lord Jesus signed our peace treaty with God with His blood.
I find a lot of people who say it is not fair that God holds all of mankind responsible for the choice of Adam and Eve. Well, He doesn't. He holds us responsible for our choice of rebellion against Him. He holds us responsible for choosing to reject the free gift that solves our problem of separation from God. But, when we receive the free gift that His Son garnered for us, we experience peace with God.
The believer's justification before God through Christ brings with it the declaration of acquittal. This legal declaration, results in peace with God. This acquittal is not based on our merit or performance, it is not even pronounced on us because we are somehow not guilty. No, it is pronounced by God as a result of the work the Lord Jesus accomplished on His cross. It is accessed by us when we come to the point of deciding to place our faith solely on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The believer's justification before God through Christ brings with it the declaration of acquittal. This legal declaration, results in peace with God. This acquittal is not based on our merit or performance, it is not even pronounced on us because we are somehow not guilty. No, it is pronounced by God as a result of the work the Lord Jesus accomplished on His cross. It is accessed by us when we come to the point of deciding to place our faith solely on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics declares anything left in isolation deteriorates. Sin has separated us from God and eternal life. This separation is largely expressed in our lives by our distrust of God. When God reconciled us to Himself through the death of His Son, He made it possible for His wrath to be diverted from us onto His Son. By the death of the Lord Jesus, the barrier of separation that sin erected between us and God can be ripped away, only if we receive the free gift. When we get to the point of being willing of heart to believe, our place in the family of God will be realized by us.
There are three types of peace in the Bible. There is spiritual peace or peace with God. Then there is psychological peace or peace within. And then, finally, there is relational peace or peace with others. Peace with God makes the other two possible and it is a gift. Peace within oneself is the fruit of that gift. And, peace between people is a result of the work of God's righteousness in our lives.
According to today's verse, having been reunited to God through His Son, we have access to eternal life which is much more than the forgiveness of sin and the ability to get into heaven. This life with the touch of eternity upon it brings with it the ability to get life right now. Not that we can earn or maintain rightness with God, the Lord Jesus took care of that. No, this life brings with it the ability to access the wisdom of God. The importance of this is far reaching. In fact, far more reaching than we can imagine because it gets to the real purpose behind our sanctification which is the salvation of the lost. The process that we enter into after we have been made right with God has as its design the salvation of the unbeliever. The goal of our sanctification or the changing of our souls is much more than we have ever known. It is God's design that as we come into a personal relationship with Him and we grow in His wisdom by choosing to walk in His culture, the lost would be able to peer into our lives and want what we have with God.
