Title: The Blessings of Justification 2

Text: Rom 5: 2

Date: 10-14-07.am

Passage:

Introduction:

Three weeks ago we began chapter 5. In these first few verses Paul explains that because or since we have placed our faith in Jesus Christ we been justified. I know you’ve heard that word over and over but it’s important to understand. Justification is God's gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Being justified carries with it certain benefits or blessings for the believer. The first blessing was Peace with God. Peace with God means that all of the hostility that existed because of sin, everything that came between us as sinful humans and God who is perfectly holy and righteous has been taken away. We have a right standing before God. Our relationship is no longer one where we are objects of His wrath, but we are now children of God and joint heirs with Jesus. It is the relationship God intended us to have. It’s not a perfect relationship yet, because we are not perfect yet. We still rebel against God and we still fall short of His absolute glory but it a right relationship that is both restored and reconciled and will one day bring us into the portals of glory where it will be perfected and completed.

In addition to peace with God, the second blessing of justification Paul mentions is that we have access to God through Christ by grace.

ACCESS TO GOD

Ro 5:2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; NASB

Ro 5:2 Also through Him, we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, (HCSB)

The main idea is of this verse is we now have direct access to God. The word translated introduction in verse 2 is the same word translated access in Eph 2:18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. And Eph 3:12 in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. NASB

This means we can approach God, we can come into His presence and have an consultation with Him. That’s a pretty big deal. Most of us here don’t have direct access to important people like the Mayor. We might be able to make an appointment to see him, but we would have to have a purpose for seeing him and have to go through several staff people to see if we had a legitimate reason for meeting him and so forth. We couldn’t just show up at city hall and say I just wanted to drop in and say hello or talk to the mayor about whatever is on our mind. The more important a person is the harder it gets for ordinary people to see them. We might have a hard time getting an audience with the mayor, we would have a much harder time getting one with the President. That is unless we knew someone. If my brother, if I had a brother, was the mayor’s executive assistant I would probably be able to gain access to the mayor through my brother. It would be the same with the President if I had someone close to me who was also close to him to make the introduction I might have access to him. But even then it would be limited access I couldn’t call up or show up anytime I felt like it. I couldn’t call in the middle of the night and say hey I was having trouble going to sleep and had something on my mind and I knew you couldn’t be sleeping so I thought I would call up for a chat. I doubt even with a personal introduction if the president would give me his personal cell number. Though there are some people who might have that kind of access to him.

That’s is exactly the kind of access we have to God because of our justification. Paul explains how we obtain that kind of access. The key to understanding this passage is the mediation of Jesus Christ. That word translated access in some versions means to bring to or to introduce. Through His death and His resurrection Jesus brings us into the very presence of God.

The idea of this kind of direct access to God was incomprehensible for Jews or Jewish believers. The Jews were taught that God was holy and unapproachable In Lev 10:1-3 we read about Nadab and Abihu the sons of Aaron:

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. 2 And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. 3 Then Moses said to Aaron, "It is what the Lord spoke, saying,

'By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy,

And before all the people I will be honored.'" NASB

Depending on when this occurred these two young men who were priests, either assumed an office which had been committed to Moses; or assumed the duties which passed on their father as the high priest. Everything these two men did was wrong. They were the wrong people to be handling the incense and presenting it to the Lord. This was the task of their father, the high priest (Ex 30:7-10). They used the wrong instruments, their own censers instead of the censer of the high priest, sanctified by the special anointing oil (40:9). They acted at the wrong time, for it was only on the annual Day of Atonement that the high priest was permitted to take incense into the holy of holies, and even then he had to submit to a special ritual (Lev 16:1 ff). They acted under the wrong authority. They didn't consult with Moses or their father, nor did they seek to follow the Word of God. They presumed to intrude into the holy of holies, they presumed to have access to God. Access which was denied to all but the high priest. As a result they were consumed by the fire of God’s wrath. Because of His perfect holiness God is unapproachable, except under His conditions.

Direct access to a god would also be a foreign concept to those coming out of paganism as well. Most every religion recognized the necessity of a priesthood, a elite or special person or group that alone had access and served as an intermediary between humans and whatever or whomever their god might be.

But, everyone, every single man woman boy or girl who has been justified by faith now has direct access to God through Jesus Christ.

Not only do we have direct access we have continual access. Unlike even the High Priest whose access was limited to only once a year, the access we have is not just a one time or once a year occurrence. Every single person who has been justified by faith now lives continually in the presence of God. We always have access to Him.

Christ's death changed the Old Testament concept of access. When Christ died on the cross Matt 27:51 says the veil of the temple, the curtain which separated the Holy of Holies from the sanctuary was torn from top to bottom symbolizing that access to God was now possible for all mankind.

Heb 10:19-22 19 Therefore, brothers, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that He has inaugurated for us, through the curtain (that is, His flesh); 21 and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. (HCSB)

When we studied peace with God in verse 1 we saw the foundation for the doctrine of the eternal security of the believer, why our salvation is both sure and eternal. Here we see the underlying principle for another important Baptist distinctive that of the of the priesthood of all believers. Every believer is a priest of God. No other mediator is needed between God and man. Every believer has free access to God through the one and only High Priest, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. We are all priests before God.

The way of access is through Jesus but it is by grace. A simple definition of grace is God's unmerited favor by which He saves us and makes us righteous. We see God's favor in our salvation. Ephesians 2:8 tells us, "For by grace you have been saved." It is undeserved and unearned. Nothing about me or you prompts God to save us. Our justification, our salvation is based entirely on His sovereign love, manifested by grace in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. It is not the result of any worthiness on our part. That’s a good thing. I might do some good things and I’d like to think I’m a pretty nice person most of the time, and if I were to compare myself with some people I’d probably look pretty good, but if I were to compare myself with some other people I might not stack up as well. I mean I’d probably look pretty good compared to say Charles Manson, or Adolf Hitler, or Jeffery Dalmer or someone like that, but if it were say Lottie Moon, or DL Moody or some of our missionaries on the field I might not fare as well. If Paul were the measuring point I couldn’t get in Line and with Jesus as the Standard to measure up to all I could do would be like Isaiah and say woe is me. God knows I am unworthy but by His grace alone I am made worthy to come into His presence through the blood of Jesus.

CONTINUE IN GRACE

Recognizing we are saved by grace, we also need to understand that once we are saved we also stand in that same grace. Some people believe they are saved by grace, but think that in order to keep their salvation they must live up to a certain standard and if they fail to live up to that standard they will lose their salvation.

Paul says we are not saved by grace and kept by works, but we are saved by grace and live daily in that grace. We are anchored in grace.

Ro 5:10-11in the Complete Jewish Bible says: 10 For if we were reconciled with God through his Son's death when we were enemies, how much more will we be delivered by his life, now that we are reconciled! 11 And not only will we be delivered in the future, but we are boasting about God right now, because he has acted through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, through whom we have already received that reconciliation. CJB

Dr John MacArthur puts it this way, “Since a dying Savior succeeded in bringing us into the presence of God a living Savior can certainly keep us there.”

Paul wrote to Timothy 2 Ti 1:12. . .I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able (not that I am able) to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. NASB

Heb 10:10-15

10 By this will [referring to Christ doing the Father's will going to the cross] we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. 14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. NASB

That’s the blessing of peace with God and access to God through Christ. If you have been justified by faith you have that kind of access to God. But again don’t be misled into thinking you can live anyway you want to and still have that unimpeded access. We don’t earn our salvation and we don’t work to keep our salvation and we don’t need a mediator other than Christ to access God. However, God instructs us as to how we are to live in this world.

Tit 2:11-14

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus; 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. NASB

Here’s is something important we need to understand, While we don’t earn access or work to maintain access we can block our own access to God. We can do that through pride, refusing to go to God with our needs. We can do it though doubt, doubting that God will hear us or that He is concerned with what I’m going through and so we don’t take advantage of our access to Him. We can do that through deliberate sin or unconfessed sin in our lives.

1 Pe 3:12 2 "For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, And His ears attend to their prayer, But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." NASB In other words God says if you have deliberate sin in your life I will turn a deaf ear to you. The other side of that is that when we have unconfessed sin in our lives we simple are ashamed to go before the Lord.

That’s why John wrote in 1 Jn 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. NASB If we confess we are made clean again so that we can enter into the presence of the Lord.

If you have been justified by faith you have that kind of access to the Lord, don’t allow anything to impede your access. I pray you would live everyday in the glory of that access giving your all to Him. And if you don’t know that access that comes through being justified by faith I pray this would be the day you surrender to Him also giving your all to Him.