The Blessings of Being Justified

by Chet Plimpton

General Secretary, New Tribes Mission

Sanford, FL

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”  Romans 5:1-5

 INTRODUCTION

“Therefore being justified by faith”

It is very important to note that the meaning of the words “being justified” is “having been justified.” In other words the moment you believed in Jesus Christ, God declared you righteous on the basis of Christ’s finished work on Calvary, and He will never change His mind just as David said, “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin” (Romans 4:8).   

What is it to be justified?[1]  There is a statement in Romans 8:33 that will help us grasp the meaning of being justified by God.  The verse says, “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.” The word “charge” or “accuse” is a legal term.  We use the same concept in our legal system today and it shows what justification deals with.  In regard to the charge that was against us, Christ dealt with our sin problem on the cross so completely that he closed the case against us forever and declared us to be righteous.  The devil himself can never again bring a charge against you or me as a saint of God.  Compare forgiveness and justification.  You and I may forgive someone who wrongs us, but God has not only forgiven us, He has also removed the guilt and the charge against us.

Notice the two words that follow the phrase, “Therefore being justified by faith,” which are -”we have.” This means that we have some possessions that result from having been justified.

Much of the New Testament is instruction, that is, how we should live as believers. But as we examine the results of our being justified in this passage, we notice that Scripture is not primarily telling us to do anything but to know what has already been provided for us.  

Peace with God . . . Access to God . . . Hope in God

1. PEACE WITH GOD[2]

“we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:” (v1)

How amazing is this?! Peace with God!  The word “with” implies “facing,” so as justified sinners, we have “peace facing God.”  The word “peace” has the meaning of “binding together that which has been separated.” 

Think how amazing it is that we can have “peace facing God.”  Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, men and women have hidden from His face.  Genesis 3:8 says, “Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.” 

When the sixth seal was opened in Revelation chapter 6 we read that, “the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb” (Revelation 6:15. 16).  We would be among those who hide from His face except for the grace of God. 

Now we can sing:

Face to face! oh, blissful moment!
Face to face to see and know;
Face to face with my Redeemer,
Jesus Christ, who loves me so.

Do you feel at peace with God?  I’m glad if you do, but peace with God is not based on our personal feelings, but is based on the fact of Christ’s death.  An unbeliever may feel perfectly at peace in his heart yet not have peace with God.  Anita has told me that before she trusted in Christ, she would go to confession, and after coming out of the church building she would feel perfectly at peace with God. 

Even some men and women who are boastfully wicked and brazenly rebellious against God feel perfectly at peace in their hearts, not disturbed by the thought of one day facing God in judgment.  That is the very nature of sin. It dulls man’s awareness of being at enmity with God and dulls the fear of impending judgment.  But even where this is true, there is still a state of enmity between God and the sinner who has never trusted in Christ.  This is what Paul was referring to in Romans 5:10 NIV by the clause, “when we were God’s enemies.”

If a man rebels against the United States government and flees to another country, even as a refuge, there exists a state of enmity between him and the United States government.  It really doesn’t matter how peaceful the man might feel living in his place of refuge, he is not at peace with the United States government.  If he comes back to the United States, the United States government will immediately arrest him and bring him to trial. 

According to the teaching of Romans 5:1, it is not correct to encourage people to “make their peace with God.”  Colossians 1:20 tells us that Christ has already made peace “through the blood of his cross.” The only requirement for a person to enter into this peace is to place faith in the finished work of Christ, because He is the only One who has made that peace.[3] 

There is a difference between having peace with God and having the peace of God in your heart.  Peace with God has to do with justification; the peace of God has to do with sanctification.  Peace with God is a result of the finished work of Christ, the peace of God is a result of the work of the Holy Spirit in your heart. Peace with God never changes but the peace of God may change from hour to hour depending on our choices. Peace with God every believer has, the peace of God every believer may have.

Paul promised in Philippians 4:6-7 that when we commit our cares to the Lord, “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”  As believers we have unbroken “peace with God” all the time, but isn’t it true that we don’t always enjoy “the peace of God” all the time.  

WHY IS THAT?  WHY DON’T WE ENJOY PEACE ALL THE TIME?

One reason is that we look for peace in the wrong place.

As Jesus was preparing to leave this earth He told His disciples, and us, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

This was the personal peace He had enjoyed and manifested while on earth.  He was never in a panic because of circumstances and He was always in unbroken communion with His Father.  Jesus clearly stated that the peace of God is unlike anything the world can promise – “not as the world giveth.”  The world’s peace is shallow, unstable, and unsatisfying.  The world talks peace but doesn’t deliver.  The world has on-going peace initiatives all over the world, but all the great powers are armed to the teeth.  The world’s peace fails under trial.

Another reason is that we stop trusting Him who is altogether trustworthy.

Isaiah 26:3&4 says, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.  Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength.”

The expression, ‘is stayed on thee,’ in the Hebrew does not express the idea that the mind is stayed on God, although that is the result of God’s faithfulness. The Hebrew meaning of this expression is simply that the mind is stayed, or supported by God.  In other words, we only need to trust Him, and though that trust seems feeble, God will keep our minds in perfect peace.  Jesus can still the storms that rage about us or better still, He can still the storms that rage within us!  Another word picture of this expression is that of a city kept securely by a strong garrison or guard within, although it is severely besieged without.

Paul expressed it this way in Philippians 4:6 & 7, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

TWO CRUCIAL QUESTIONS: DO YOU HAVE PEACE WITH GOD?  DO YOU HAVE THE PEACE OF GOD?

 2. ACCESS TO GOD

“By whom also (“Whom” is our Lord Jesus Christ) we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” (v2)

There are three things that stand out regarding our access to God:  1) we have access through Another; 2) we have access to a standing; and 3) we have access to rejoicing. 

1) We have access through another

“By whom also we have access”

When Mordecai asked Esther to approach the king to plead for her people the Jews, Esther was understandably concerned for her life.  She sent a message to Mordicai saying, “I (will) go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.” Even as she waited in the inner court of the king’s house she must have wondered, “Will the king give me access to his presence or will he refuse me an entrance to him and thus seal my fate?”  Of course what happened is recorded for us.  “And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favour in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre.”[4] 

This is not at all like the access Christ has won for us!

The word “access” is an interesting word.[5]  It implies an introduction has been made. It was used in literature to describe the action of a person who secured an audience for a friend with a king.  He made sure his friend was properly attired, and then brought his friend into the king’s presence and into the king’s favor.  That is exactly what the Lord has done for each of us who are believers.  He has cleansed us by His blood, clothed us in Himself as His righteousness and brings us into grace or full favor with God the Father. 

• 1 Peter 3:18 says, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.”  
• 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

The access we have into God’s grace is one of confidence and boldness as Ephesians 3:12 says, “In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.” Being in Christ we have the very favor in which Christ Himself stands. The “golden scepter” is always extended to those who have been redeemed.

The word “access” in this passage signifies A PAST EVENT ACCOMPLISHED BY ANOTHER, WITH CONTINUING AND PERMANENT RESULTS.  This means three remarkable truths:

o        Because the access is through Another (and not just another) we need never fear we can lose that access.  It does not depend upon us. 

o        God does not bring us into salvation and then abandon us to face life’s challenges the best we can on our own.  The grace of God that brought us into a saving relationship with God continues to sustain us in the Christian life.

o        By providing you this continuing access, God is telling you that He wants, He desires, your daily, moment-by-moment fellowship. 

2) We have access to a standing

“access . . . into . . . grace wherein we stand”

Our access into God’s grace gives us a standing before Him that we could never gain on our own merit.  Jesus Christ by His death and resurrection has solved the problem of the ages as expressed by the writer of Psalm 130 who wrote in verse 3, “If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” or, as another translation has recorded it, “If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?”  Could you or I stand under such awful scrutiny? Of course not! But we need not fear because Christ as blotted out the record that

was against us by His own precious blood.[6]  The believer can rejoice in verse 4 of Psalm 130 that says, “But with you there is forgiveness.”

The unsaved man or woman who doesn’t have a standing before God is what the Apostle John referred to in Revelation 6:17 when the lost cry out in the presence of the wrath of God, “For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”

The writer of Psalm 1:5 says the same thing. “Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment.”

But “being justified by faith, we have” a standing.  We stand in Christ Jesus.  He is the One who bore our judgment and suffered in our place.  He is the One Who satisfied the Father by His death, burial, and resurrection. He is the only place any man, woman, boy or girl will ever be able to safely stand.

The story is told of a father and his young daughter who were walking on the open prairie grasslands one afternoon, when sweeping steadily toward them was the billowing black smoke of a prairie fire.  There was no time to run, no place to hide.  The father quickly began to light the grasses by their feet on fire.  In no time a large patch of ground had been burned all around them, so there was only black ash where there had been tall grass.  Taking his daughter in his arms, the father stepped right into the center of the burned patch, and stood as they watched the angry flames rushed directly toward them, then sweep past them on both sides.  The little girl asked, "Daddy, why didn't the fire burn us up?"  The father replied, "Sweetheart, we are safe because we are standing where the fire has already burned." 

This illustrates a very important truth that we didn’t obtain our standing with God, and we don’t need to maintain our standing before God! Our verse says that it is grace wherein we stand.

3) We have access to rejoicing

“access . . . into . . . grace wherein we . . . rejoice in hope of the glory of God”

We have hope that someday we are going to have the glory of God, and because of that hope we rejoice.  What is the glory of God?  The glory of God is the likeness of God.  Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus Christ is “the brightness of His glory,” brightness meaning the “outshining of His glory.” That is what we as believers can anticipate!  We are going to be the outshining of God’s glory with Christ, because as Romans 8:29 says, “whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.”  This is the true meaning of being predestinated.  No one is predestined or predetermined to be saved or lost, but rather, we as believers in Jesus Christ, are predestined or predetermined to be conformed to the image of God’s Son so that we might in every sense of the word, glorify God for eternity. When we are finally conformed to the image of Christ, then we shall have the glory of God.  In Romans 8:18 Paul refers to “the glory that shall be revealed in us.”

Our justification accomplished by the finished work of Christ is vitally linked with our coming glorification with Christ. The divine glory stamped upon man was lost at the fall, but there is coming a day when God will be glorified in a Man, Christ Himself, and everyone who belongs to Him is going to share in that glory.  Therefore we “boast in hope of the glory of God.”  In that day, there will not be a speck of anything contrary to God found in us. Romans 8:30 tells us that God has justified us with a view that we should be glorified.  “Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”

We will not merely behold God’s glory as bystanders – we will enter into it! 

(Note: Italics in the following verses are mine for emphasis)

• Colossians 3:4 – “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”
• John 17:22 – “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them”
• Psalm 17:15 – “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.”
• 2 Thessalonians 1:10 – “When he shall come to be glorified in his saints”

Notice carefully that it is by grace we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  That is, there is nothing we have done, or can do, to acquire the glory of God.  But shouldn’t the fact that we shall one day have the glory of God influence how we live our lives?

 “When Queen Victoria was a child, she didn’t realize that she was in line for the throne of England. Her instructors, trying to prepare her for the future, were frustrated because they couldn’t motivate her. She just didn’t take her studies seriously. Finally, her teachers decided to tell her that one day she would become the queen of England. Upon hearing this, Victoria quietly said, “Then I will be good.” The realization that she had inherited this high calling gave her a sense of responsibility that profoundly affected her conduct from that day forward.”

 3. HOPE IN GOD

“And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; v3 And patience, experience; and experience, hope: (v4) And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” (v5)

“And not only so,” connects verse 2 and 3 as we shall see.  The word “glory” in verse 3 is the same word as “rejoice” in verse 2, so both those words carry the same meaning. While in verse 2 we glory or rejoice in our future hope of being glorified with Christ, in verse 3 we glory or rejoice in our present trials or tribulations! 

Tribulation refers to that which brings pressure on our lives, or that which oppresses us, afflicts us, and distresses us. 

TAKE A MINUTE, MAKE A MENTAL LIST OF ALL THAT BRINGS PRESSURE ON YOUR LIFE!

Rejoicing “in spite of” or rejoicing “in?”

Perhaps we have understood this verse to teach that we should rejoice in spite of tribulation.  But that would seem to imply that we are dissatisfied or unthankful for what God has allowed into our lives, and the passage doesn’t appear to say that. Look for a minute at the 11^th verse of this chapter that uses the same word once again: “we also joy in God.”  That certainly doesn’t mean that we rejoice in spite of God!  It means that we acknowledge God and rejoice in Him. 

Verse 3 has the same grammatical construction, which means that we should acknowledge the trials that come into our lives and rejoice in them.  Obviously, this begs a question: “Why in the world should I do that?” Who among us enjoys tribulation, or just loves trials?  Think about this.  We don’t have to pretend to enjoy or love trials to rejoice in them.   While we won’t enjoy going through trials, we can rejoice in them.

Even though trials and tribulations are difficult, often painful, and even frightening, there is a very good reason why we should rejoice in them. Trials are not an end in themselves. 

Reasons to rejoice in trials:

Ø      Trials increase our confidence in God. 

Through trials, God works in our lives to develop patience, experience, and hope.  First God works patience into our lives which refers to learning to become steadfast.  The scriptural meaning of patience implies “waiting,” or choosing to “remain under” the trials rather than trying to get out from under them in some unfaithful way.[7]  Then God through the patience He has worked into our lives encourages us through experience or a sense of being “approved of God.”  This produces and increases our hope or confidence in God that we can completely trust Him and He will never allow us to be ashamed before our enemies.  He will never disappoint us.  

There is a beautiful illustration or example in the Old Testament of how God uses trials to produce patience, and then experience, and finally hope in the life of His children.  When David stood before King Saul in the valley of Elah just before going to fight the giant Goliath he recounted how God had prepared him for that moment.  David said, “When I was taking care of my father’s sheep a lion came to attack the sheep, and on another occasion a bear came to attack the sheep.”  David didn’t run away, which means he chose to be stedfast or patient.  Then David said, “I fought and killed them both.”  That victory gave David experience, showing him that God was with him. “Now,” David said, “I am confident that the God Who helped me kill the lion and bear will also help me defeat this giant.” In other words David is saying, Because of the trial of the lion and bear I learned to hope in God.”

Ø      Trials turn us away from trust in ourselves to trust in God alone.

Trials have a way of removing all our props so that we look around and find we have nothing to depend upon by God.  It is then we realize He is all we need.

Being without hope in God is described in Scripture as being the most desperate condition a person could possibly be in.  In Ephesians 2:12 Paul writes that “without Christ,” we were in a condition of “having no hope, and” being “without God in the world.”   However as believers subject to trials and tribulations of all kinds, we can be confident in the phrase, “hope maketh not ashamed.”  Those who trust in God will never be ashamed or disappointed. 

Hope in God is never misplaced.  That is why Scriptures encourage us many times to have hope in God.  For example Psalm 42:5 says, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance (presence).”

We can have confidence that as we go through trials, God will never forsake us but will strengthen us, encourage us and comfort us. Psalm 31:24 says, “Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.”  Romans 15:13 says, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.”

What should we specifically hope for as we go through tribulation and trials? Paul describes it succinctly in Philippians 1:20: “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death” (Italics for emphasis).

Does hope in God remove all sorrow and pain?  No, of course not, but in the midst of our pain and sorrow we have hope just as 1 Thessalonians declares when referring to the death of a loved one: “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.”

Ø      Trials prepare us for better, eternal things ahead.

We noted that trials are not an end in themselves.  Through the working of trials in our lives God prepares us by giving us an expectation for the joy of glorifying Christ and of entering into Christ’s glory.  And this future glory far surpasses the suffering and pain of the trials we experience here.

Paul declares this truth both in his letter to the Romans and to the Corinthians.

• In Romans 8:17& 18 he writes, “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
• In 2 Corinthians 4:17 Paul writes, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

Hope in God gives us great anticipation of what is coming!  Titus 2:13 reminds us of this: “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”

 CONCLUSION 

Peace with God, Access to God, Hope in God! These are blessings we have because we have been justified by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ.  These are not blessings we earn, or deserve, or maintain.  They are ours in Christ.  However the knowledge that we have these blessings should greatly affect our lives.  

The knowledge we have peace with God should result in our choosing to have the peace of God.

The knowledge we have access to a standing before God should result in a state or condition of living to please God.

The knowledge we have hope in God should result in comfort and encouragement as we go through the trials of life.

 

Chet, along with his wife, Anita, have been with New Tribes Mission since 1971. Chet served as Chairman and missionary teacher at New Tribes Mission of Canada missionary training school for 25 years.  For the last 13 years,  he has served on the executive leadership of New Tribes Mission in Sanford, Florida, assuming the position of General Secretary.  Chet has also visited a number of the fields where NTM does church planting, ministering to missionaries and leaders on those fields.