Peace with God through Faith in Jesus

Do please sit down. And I'll do my best this morning to work the timing so that we can have our silence around about eleven o'clock. It might not work out exactly, so I think we'll read from the Bible now. I'm going to read this morning, not from Luke's Gospel, but from the book of Romans, Paul's epistle to the church in Rome. I'm going to read from chapter 5, Romans chapter 5, and we'll read the first 11 verses. Romans chapter 5, starting to read at verse 1. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this.

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him? For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life? Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. We thank God for the reading of his word. I think I'll invite us now to stand. We're going to have a couple of minutes silence as we remember those who have fought in wars and died along with their families. Thank you.

Please sit down. And I'm going to lead us in a word of prayer. Let's pray. Our loving God and Heavenly Father, there are so many things to give thanks to you for. We've already thanked you for your Son, who fought that all-important battle on the cross so that we might be found at peace with you. But on a day such as today, we want to give you thanks for our armed forces.

We thank you for the fact that they bring a degree of security to our nation. We thank you that sometimes they're posted in different places to serve as a peacekeeping force. We don't take them for granted. But on a day such as today, we want to give you thanks for our armed forces.

We thank you for the fact that they bring a degree of security to our nation. We thank you that sometimes they're posted in different places to serve as a peacekeeping force. We don't take them for granted. But we also thank you for those who have fought so bravely in wars that have gone by.

We thank you for those who have made great sacrifices. And we thank you, Lord, for the peace that we now enjoy, or the relative peace that we now enjoy, in this country and throughout most of Europe. Again, we do not take this for granted. And Lord, today we pray for the families who perhaps still grieve over the loss of loved ones. It is a day to remember, and Lord, it's right and proper that we do, and so we do so. Lord, we pray for those in our fellowship at this time who in particular need of our prayers. Some are busy looking after loved ones.

Some struggle with their own health. Some have problems at work.

Some, Lord, have difficulties at home. Lord, will you please give grace to all who need your grace? Your grace is a sufficient grace, and may we prove the sufficiency of it. Lord, we pray for your gospel as it is preached, taught around the world today. We thank you that it goes forth 2,000 years after the apostles first proclaimed it. Christianity has not been silent. It has not come to nothing. The church continues to grow.

People are still becoming Christians around the world, and we thank you and we praise you for that. Many of us here this morning are a testimony to your saving grace, but we pray for your gospel as it goes forth today. May it do so with power and authority. May your word achieve the purpose for which you send it. May your word fall on good soil and bear much fruit. May there be rejoicing in heaven today over sinners repenting. Your word teaches us that there is much rejoicing even over one sinner who repents. Lord, you do not delight in the death of the wicked.

Your desire is that all men might be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. So help us this morning as we look into your word together.

Help us to feast upon it. Help us to delight in its truth. And we ask all of these things in Jesus' name and for his sake. Well, we're going to stand and sing an old hymn, one that we haven't sung, I don't think, during my time here, but I've chosen it because of the words.

They seem to fit in so well with what I'm going to be speaking about in just a few moments. It's number 793 in the Praise Hymn Books. Other words, of course, will appear on the screen in front of you. I hear the words of love. I trust in Jesus' blood. See the almighty sacrifice and I have peace with God. I'm going to ask Jill if she wouldn't mind playing through at least a verse, and then after she's played the verse through, we'll stand and sing it through together. I hear the words of love.

I trust in Jesus' blood. I see the mighty sacrifice and I have peace with God. His everlasting peace, as certain as his name, his sure and strong, his eternal throne, unchanging, be the same. I love his love and love my trust in his hand close. The peace with God remains the same. Who changed my heart. His name, His sure and soft eternal throne, unchangeably the same. My love is often love, my choice hellens and most, the peace with God remains the same, who changed my father most.

My change He changes not, the Christ can never die, His love not mine, the rest in place, His truth not mine, the time. Please sit down and can I invite you to turn with me to Romans and chapter 5. Romans and chapter 5 and I'll tell you in just a moment what verse it is that I'm going to be speaking on. On the 8th of May 1945 crowds, euphoric with joy, swarmed Buckingham Palace. There were hugs and kisses, smiles and laughter, dancing and singing. For the first time since war broke out in 1939, London's skies lit up with fireworks and floodlights. Why? Because there was peace.

The war in Europe had come to an end. Now of course with the invasion of Ukraine, the peace that has been known in Europe for a long time has to some extent come to an end.

But it's been good hasn't it to have peace, relative peace in Europe for so many years now. This is one of the things that we give thanks for on Remembrance Sunday. Well I want to talk about peace.

It seems right on such a day to talk about it but I don't want to speak about peace between nations. I want to speak about peace between God and man.

My Bible text for this morning is Romans chapter 5 and verse 1. Romans chapter 5 and verse 1. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. This was a really important word from God through the Apostle Paul to the believers or the Christians in Rome. Paul wanted them to know that they were now at peace with God. This is what Christians are. They are at peace with God. Non-Christians are not at peace with God and if you're a non-Christian here this morning or listening online, my hope and prayer is that God will use this verse to help you see your urgent need of being found at peace with God.

As we look at this text, I want to speak about three things. Firstly, the need for peace with God.

Secondly, the way to peace with God. And thirdly, the blessing of peace with God. But firstly, the need for peace with God.

A number of years ago now I was speaking at a little service and there were lots of non-Christians present and I said that the Bible plainly teaches that by nature we are enemies of God. I was concerned that it would cause offence. I thought that it probably would cause offence. But after the meeting, as I walked through the crowd, a number of people said these words to me or something like these words.

A lovely service. Thank you. Now either they had not listened to one single thing that I had said or they had not comprehended what I said.

Look at verse 10 of chapter 5. Again, Paul is writing to the believers in Rome but he's telling them what they were before they became Christians. For if, he says, while we were God's enemies. There was a time when these believers were hostile to God. They lived as enemies of God. But there was also a time when God was hostile towards them.

A time. They were before they became Christians. For if, he says, while we were God's enemies, there was a time when these believers were hostile to God. They lived as enemies of God, but there was also a time when God was hostile towards them. A time when they were an enemy of God. I think the emphasis in this verse is on God being an enemy of them. You see, this is what people are until they are reconciled to God through the death of His Son. Why are people?

Why are we by nature enemies of God? Because of our sin. Because of our sin, because of our hostility towards Him. We are by nature rebels against God. It stirs up His righteous hostility towards us. And if we're not a Christian here this morning, then we desperately, desperately need to be found at peace with God. So then, secondly this morning, what is the way to peace with God?

What is the way to peace with God? The Society of International Law in London states that during the last 4,000 years there have been only 268 years of peace in spite of good peace treaties. In the last three centuries, there have been 286 wars on the continent of Europe alone. This is not a very good record as far as the human race is concerned, is it? And even as we sit here this morning, we know that there's conflict all over the world. Some of it we hear about on the news.

A lot of it we don't. And we know that some of the conflict is not actually that far away from us. And all sorts of efforts are being made on the part of leaders, of countries to put an end to the conflict and to bring about peace. Will they be successful? I don't know. It's never easy to bring about an end to hostility. But the question that I would pose this morning is this.

Is there any way by which we can be found at peace with God? And the good news is that there is. Look again at our text. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. As Paul writes this letter to the believers in Rome, he reminds them how they have found peace with God. The answer is by being justified through faith. What does it mean to be justified? How can we be justified?

When we talk about justification or being justified, we're using a legal term. It's a word that belongs to the realm of the law court. Well, that said, let me provide you with a definition.

It comes from Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology. He says this. Justification is an instantaneous act of God in which he, one, thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ's righteousness as belonging to us, and two, declares us to be righteous in his sight. I think that I can sum it up even more briefly than that. Being justified is all about being forgiven and found righteous in God's sight or being declared righteous in God's sight. But how can we be justified?

The answer is through faith. Again, look at our verse. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God. Now, we all exercise faith in certain things every day of our lives, don't we?

You all exercise faith in the chairs that you're now sitting on when you came into church today. And may I say how remarkable your faith. Because as far as I could see, none of you, you know, were spending time checking the chair to make sure that it would hold your weight. None of you lifted one up and had a play with it. None of you did a test run. You just came in and you sat down on it. You had the faith to believe that it would hold your weight, not just for a short time, but for the duration of the service. We all exercise faith or belief in things every day of our lives.

We exercise faith in. the none of you, you know, were spending time checking the chair to make sure that it would hold your weight. None of you lifted one up and had a play with it. None of you did a test run. You just came in and you sat down on it. You had the faith to believe that it would hold your weight, not just for a short time, but for the duration of the service. We all exercise faith or belief in things every day of our lives. We exercise faith in banks to look after our money. We exercise faith in our computers to look after information we put into it.

I mean, the list really is endless. Well, in order to be justified, we must put our faith or our trust in God's Son, Jesus Christ.

Therefore, writes the apostle, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, it's Jesus Christ who makes justification possible. Remember, justification is all about God forgiving us and declaring us righteous in his sight. Let's firstly then talk about how God has made forgiveness possible. How has he made it possible? He's made it possible by his death on the cross. Just go down a few verses and glance at verse 9, where Paul begins the sentence, since we have now been justified. What by?

His blood. His blood shed on the cross. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him? As we've said on a Sunday morning, there were lots of people that were crucified by the Romans in the first century. Two thieves, you'll remember, were crucified either side of Jesus, but there was something special, there was something unique about the death of Jesus Christ. What was special about it? What was special about it was this, that his death was a substitutionary death. Sinners deserve death, but Jesus died in the place of sinners.

Now I know that I've said this before, but I'm going to go on repeating it as long as I'm the pastor of this church, because I think it needs to be repeated. God cannot just give away forgiveness without first satisfying his justice. Judge that simply forgives all the murderers and rapists that come into his courtroom is a really bad judge and should be taken off the bench. Wouldn't we agree with that? Such a man is supposed to uphold justice. He's supposed to dish out suitable punishments having found persons guilty of various crimes. Friends, God is a just God. And as the judge of all the earth he must punish sin.

But the wonderful thing is this, that he punishes sin at the cross, punishes it fully, so that he might freely forgive the sin of all those who put their trust in Jesus. The death of Jesus makes forgiveness possible. But secondly, as we've said, justification is all about God's righteous declaration.

Secondly, Jesus has made a righteous standing before God possible. Let's move from the law court to the world of banking for a moment. Our sin puts us in the red before God. It puts us in his debt. Now forgiveness with God delivers us from the red and puts us, we might say, at zero.

But justification is not just about forgiveness of sins. It's not just about the cancelling of our sin. It's also about God counting us as positively righteous. Or if I can put it this way, as making us billionaires in terms of a righteous standing before him. And it's when we put our faith in Jesus that the righteousness of God, the righteousness of Jesus, a righteousness that he earned in life and in death, is credited to our account. Friends, the Son of God. in terms of a righteous standing before him. And it's when we put our faith in Jesus that the righteousness of God, the righteousness of Jesus, a righteousness that he earned in life and in death, is credited to our account. Friends, the Son of God left the glory of heaven.

He came into this world. He lived and died so that we might be justified through faith. On a Saturday morning, some of us from the church here meet at the manse. We do so every three or four weeks. And our purpose is to look at some chapters in a book written by J. Packer. The book is entitled Concise Theology. And it wasn't that long ago that we were looking at the short chapter by Packer on justification.

And I want to read to you this morning a quote, a wonderful quote from his book. Packer writes this, God's justifying decision is the judgment of the last day, declaring where we shall spend eternity, brought forward into the present and pronounced here and now. It is the last judgment that will ever be passed on our destiny. God will never go back on it, however much Satan may appeal against God's verdict. To be justified is to be eternally secure. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that amazing? At the end of time, whenever that will be, God will judge the earth, the whole earth in righteousness.

But God's judgment with regard to the believer has been brought forward into the here and now. The pronouncement of God towards the believer is this, forgiven, forgiven and righteous in my sight. And therefore we can travel throughout life as a Christian without any fear whatsoever of God's condemnation. We need to be found at peace with God. Peace with God can be found through faith in Jesus. But let's thirdly and lastly this morning talk a little bit about the blessings of peace with God.

The blessings of peace with God. How thankful we ought to be that the Second World War ended however many years ago it was and that there has been peace in Europe by and large since that time. I don't know about you, but I quite like the Germans. I admit that there is no love lost between us when it comes to football, but even there I jest. I've been on holiday to Germany. I've been to what they call the Black Forest and I'd happily go again. My wife has been to Nuremberg and she absolutely loved it. She'd love to go again.

You see, things are good between our countries now. We're allies. We're friends. And it's good, isn't it, that it's this way. It means that we can talk to one another. It means that we can trade happily with one another. It means that we can visit one another's countries. It's a good thing to be found at peace with other countries.

But you know, the blessings of being at peace with God are infinitely greater. I've already spoken about one. We can live our lives without any fear of God's condemnation. This is what Paul says, isn't it, in Romans 8, in verse 1, Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Another is that we can enjoy fellowship with God. We've been reconciled by the blood of the Lord Jesus. We were made, we were created to enjoy fellowship with God. Sin severed that relationship.

Jesus has dealt with sin, sin that separates us from God so that we can be reconciled to Him, to enjoy communion or fellowship with Him. As Christians, we can come before our God any day and at any time, wherever we might be, and talk to our God and enjoy His company, and we'll be able to do that forever and ever. Before we move on, I think it's important for me to point out that this verse we're looking at this morning is not talking about the peace of God, rather peace with God. Philippians chapter 4 speaks about the peace. and we'll be able to do that forever and ever. Before we move on, I think it's important for me to point out that this verse we're looking at this morning is not talking about the peace of God, but rather peace with God. Philippians chapter 4 speaks about the peace of God. I'm sure many of you will know these verses, but I'll read them anyway. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God, and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

And there are those of you here this morning who have experienced this. You've been anxious about something, but you've taken the matter to God, and he has granted you a peace, a calm in the midst of the situation. It hasn't necessarily gone away, but you've known a peace, a peace that can't be explained, a peace that transcends all understanding. I think this is the sort of peace that Jesus knew when he was on the boat with his disciples in the midst of a raging storm. The disciples were anxious, and remember, some of them were fishermen. They were used to being on boats in the middle of storms, but they were really anxious on this occasion, and they were doing everything they possibly could to try to keep the boat afloat. They feared, you see, that it would sink. Where was Jesus?

Jesus was lying at the back of the boat, trusting completely in his heavenly Father. There was peace in his heart. In Romans chapter 5 and verse 1, the Apostle Paul is not speaking about the peace of God. No, he is talking about peace with God. He's talking essentially about being found in a right relationship with God, with all hostility having been removed. He's talking about being in a relationship with God that cannot be broken, though I accept that knowing that we are at peace with God may well lead to us enjoying or knowing the peace of God. On Remembrance Sunday, I often think of my uncle who fought in the Second World War on the beaches of Normandy. There, so I've been told, he witnessed some horrific scenes, as you might imagine, and these resulted in him having terrible nightmares throughout his life.

Suffice to say that he never wanted to talk about the war. I remember as a youngster wanting to engage him in conversation. Tell us, uncle, what was it like? What happened? But he never would.

It was too painful, too difficult. On Remembrance Sunday, he would come into church wearing his best suit with all his medals wonderfully arrayed on his jacket. It was very important to him that his friends be remembered. It was also important to him that thanks should be expressed to God for the peace that had been brought about in Europe. But you know, there was an even greater peace that he had come to know, a peace that he would have you know about this morning.

Peace with God. A peace which is found through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I wonder whether you know it. If you don't already know it, you can know it. And let me say that you must know it. Perhaps you want to inquire further about it. I'd love to speak to you. I'd love to talk to you further about it after the service.

Please come and join me for a cup of coffee. I'd be delighted. This is God's word to us this morning, and what a wonderful word it is to us. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, not by works, through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray together. Our loving God and Heavenly Father,. Since we have been justified through faith, not by works, through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray together.

Our loving God and Heavenly Father, peace often comes at a cost, and we see that peace with you has come at a tremendous cost. It required your justice being satisfied. It required Jesus satisfying all the demands of your law. Oh, how we thank you that he satisfied them. How we thank you that he lived that perfect life so that we who put our trust in him might be forgiven and declared righteous in your sight. What grace. We began our service, Lord, thinking about your grace, and we have been reminded of your amazing grace as we've looked at this verse together this morning. How we are overwhelmed by it.

We thank you for it. Lord, if there are any here this morning who are still enemies of God, oh, how we pray that they might see their need of the Lord Jesus and put their trust in him and in him alone. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, we're going to sing as we finish.

Someone reminded me of this great hymn earlier on in the week, and I thought, well, that will do to finish with this morning. So let's stand and sing.

When peace like a river ends all my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my path you have taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. Let's stand and sing.