Jeanie and I recently watched the 2013 movie Philomena via Netflix at home. It’s based on the book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by Martin Sixsmith. It is the true story of a 19-year-old Irish woman who became pregnant out of wedlock in 1951, was disowned by her father and went to live in an Irish Catholic Convent for four years. As she worked in the laundry at the convent seven days a week, she was allowed to see her little son for an hour a day, until he was three years old. At that time, the convent gave her son up for adoption for a generous donation of what would amount to $40-50,000 today to an American family. Within a couple weeks the convent put her on the street and for 50 years she lived with the secret of her lost child, with the desire to someday find him. When she finally confessed to a grown daughter about what had happened, her daughter recruited an investigative journalist to help her in her search. They went to the convent requesting information about the adoption. The convent claimed all the records had been burned in the fire with the exception of one—Philomena’s signature on a piece of paper giving the convent the right to give her child up for adoption.
From other sources, the investigative journalist Sixsmith was able to surmise that Philomena’s son had been adopted by American parents, and within two weeks of travelling with Philomena to America, had discovered who he was. He had become a prominent attorney, in fact the chief counsel for two U.S. presidents, but had died young. As they pursued further information, they made a shocking discovery-- her son Michael had travelled to the convent in Ireland three times in an effort to find his mother but had been stonewalled and deceived by the nuns there as well. Finally, he arranged to have his ashes shipped to the convent to be buried there with the hope even if he did not find his mother in life, his mother would find him after his death.
The climactic scene comes when Sixsmith and Philomena return to the Convent to confront the nuns about why they had lied to both Philomena and her son about the other’s whereabouts. Sixsmith, finding an older nun whom he had seen in a photo with the son on one of his visits to find his mother, barges into her room and confronts about why she had kept this vital information from mother and son. The nun, angry at the confrontation, then justifies everything she had done by stating that she had fulfilled her vows, but Philomena had sinned, and the actions taken to prevent the reunion were justified because Philomena needed to suffer to atone for her sins.
Now it’s a horrific story. It is ultimately a story which demonstrates clearly that bad theology, a false gospel, in bad, even corrupt behavior and tragic consequences.
And it’s a story that is made incredibly relevant by the two verses we shall consider this morning--the two verses that act as a monumental summary of the truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ about how men may be made right with God and assured of heaven. It’s a truth that if fully understood and accepted by any of the folks who stonewalled both Philomena and her son would likely have resulted in an entirely different outcome. Because the truth that it tells us is actually revolutionary in most circles. It tells us that you can know that faith alone in Jesus has already granted you peace with God and place in heaven.
Now I know I’m repeating what we have already learned from the letter to the Romans in the first four chapters. I’m repeating because the Word of God repeats it. The Word of God repeats it because it is a message that is so often ignored or distorted by so-called Christian churches with even more terrible outcomes than the true story of Philomena has revealed.
So we’re going to slow down and carefully study and consider the implications of these two monumental verses about the good news of Jesus Christ.
And the first truth to consider is this: Know you already have been granted righteousness and peace with God through faith in Jesus.
Romans 5:1: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The transitional word therefore at the beginning of this sentence indicates that its conclusions are based on all the truths that have up to this time been explained in chapters 1 through 4.
There are four amazing conclusions.
First, for those who believe, we have already been justified or declared right before God, not on the basis of our works, but on the basis of our faith in Jesus Christ. This is the major theme of the Book of Romans; it is the heart of the Gospel or Good News that most people don’t understand or accept. It is the key to a right-standing with God, and entrance to heaven. The only way we can be right with God is not through our works, but through faith in Jesus.
The second truth is that as a result of this right-standing with God, we have peace with God. There is absolutely no hostility from God directed at us because of our sins. We are not at war with God and God is not at war with us. This is in direct contrast with the situation that pertains to the rest of mankind, who do not believe in Jesus. This is in direct contrast to what was stated in Romans 1:18-20 about the relationship of God to man. There we were told that “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth about God.” In other words, the typical state of affairs that persists between mankind and God is one of hostility; it is one of war. God is revealing His wrath against mankind because of our sinfulness. He justly does so. And so in effect there is a war going on, heaven against the sinfulness of man on earth. And it’s just the start. And then what is explained from Romans 3:21 through 4 is how God has resolved this horrible situation between himself and everyone who believes in Jesus. The sinless God-man Jesus was offered as an atoning sacrifice for our sins on the cross, so that we could be forgiven. We are forgiven on the basis of faith in Jesus, and then declared right or justified by God as a result. Incredibly, by the gracious act of God in sacrificing His Son Jesus Christ, the relationship of believers toward God has been dramatically and eternally changed. We are, incredibly, now at peace with God. We are no longer at war with God. And let me tell you, if you need to be at peace with anybody, it is Almighty God!
The third important truth found in verse 1 is this: This righteousness and peace has already been accomplished for the believer. It is a done deal. It is not a process that is in progress. It has been finished. It is completed. Notice the tense of the participle in the first phrase. “Having been justified by faith.” In the Greek it’s in the perfect tense, which indicates a past action with on-going effect. Our being declared right before God is a done deal. It has been accomplished. It is not in process. It is not a work in progress. It has been accomplished in the past and has continuing results for those of us who believe today. As we know from Romans 3 and 4, it was accomplished by two events. The first was Christ’s death on the cross which paid in full the penalty for your sin 2,000 years ago. He paid it all, once and for all. Nothing more needs to be paid or done to accomplish your salvation. The moment you believed, or trusted in Christ, his death was counted as payment for your sins, once and for all time and eternity. There is absolutely nothing you or anyone or anything can do to add to it. His death was totally sufficient to pay for your sins and accomplished, as witnessed to by Jesus Christ himself, when He stated, “It is finished” or paid in full. The substitutionary atoning sacrifice on the cross for your sins settled your right-standing with God once and for all and forever.
Fourth, notice that this was something that was done for you, not by you. It was accomplished by God through Jesus Christ on your behalf. It does not say that we justified ourselves. It says we have been justified, and it’s clear that the one who justified us is God, through Jesus His son. To be explicit, there is no self-justification, there is no self-righteousness, there are no works that we do to earn or deserve a right-standing God. God Himself did all the work that was necessary for us to made right God and saved.
Now these facts absolutely contradict all the beliefs of the Catholic Church that fueled the kind of what happened to Philomena Lee and her son.
First, as the nun angrily declared it, there was the belief that Philomena was a sinner who need to atone for her own sins. Therefore, Philomena needed to be subjected to the suffering imposed on her in losing her son and never finding him. In other words, Philomena’s salvation or right-standing with God depended on her suffering for her own sins at the hands of the agents of the church in order for her to earn, deserve or satisfy God’s wrath against her. Thus, obviously, Christ’s work was regarded as insufficient to pay for Philomena sins.
Instead, the agent involved in causing her to suffer for her sins was the church and its officials, namely the nuns and the convent. They deliberately punished her for her sins so that she would atone for her sins, so they would be the atoning agent. All of this squarely contradicts with the truth that God and His Son Jesus Christ are the ones who bring about justification with God, and they did so solely and completely through the finished work of Christ who suffered on the cross for her 2,000 years ago.
Then there’s the whole idea that the matter of being right with God is a process in progress. That we and the church and others must work together to atone for our sins and somehow access enough of God’s grace to possibly go to heaven, or not spend too much time in purgatory burning our sins off. The Bible knows nothing of purgatory. The only way that men’s sins may be atoned for ultimately in the New Testament is through Christ’s death on the cross for their sins.
So we see that bad theology and a false Gospel results in horrific human rights abuses and justifies great sins on behalf of those who claim to be in authority. It’s true of any religion or institution which claims to dispense salvation on the basis of its own authority through it’s good works, or atoning sacrifices in place of Christ’s work. It’s as true of Mormons who baptize people for the salvation of the dead and of Jehovah’s Witnesses who must witness to somehow earn their salvation. Bad theology, a false Gospel, results in bad or corrupt practices invariably. “Beware of false prophets who comes to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You shall know them by their fruits.” Or so Jesus Himself said.
Now, we should be free from all those condemning and guilt-inducing beliefs and practices. There is no purgatory. There are no continuing sacrifices of Christ or need of the mass to gain grace necessary for a right-standing with God. According to the Bible, all of that is an accomplished fact for the believer, accomplished by God through His Son Jesus Christ.
Know you already have been granted righteousness and peace with God if you believe in Jesus. It is a settled issue.
Second important point. Know that this incredible state of peace with God has come about only through Jesus’ atoning sacrifice, not your own.
Now Paul only makes passing reference to this at the end of verse 1 with the phrase “through our Lord Jesus Christ.” He explains there specifically how we have come to justification before and peace with God. It is through Jesus Christ. Now what this refers to is the redemption, the propitiation and the reconciliation that has been brought about for us through Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the Cross. He’s explained this thoroughly in chapter 3:23-25 where he wrote: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a pro8ition (or satisfaction of God’s wrath in His blood through faith.” In other words, only Christ’s death for our sins was sufficient to pay for our sins. Only Christ’s death, evidenced by the shedding of His blood, could ever pay the penalty for the sins of zillions of sinners, because He alone was infinitely God and perfectly righteous.
Once this is understood, we see also the errors that fueled the atrocities committed against Philomena and her son. Their right-standing with God could not be accomplished by the church, by a priest, by a nun, by saints or by Mary. Only Jesus saves. Involvement in sacraments or rituals or good works will not save anyone. Only Jesus dispenses salvation. No church and no individual have the right to claim they are the dispensers of a right-standing with God or can forgive man of sin. Who can forgive sins, but God alone? With this Jesus Himself agreed, while claiming to be God, the Son. Himself. “For there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, as Paul said in I Timothy 2:5. Only Jesus can mediate and bring peace between man and God.” And He did so on the cross 2,000 years ago for each of us. No amount of suffering we bring on others will suffice for their salvation. The very thought is an abomination to God. Mary cannot be co-redemptrix, as official Catholicism claims. The so-called treasury of the saints—the good works of the canonized saints of the Catholic Church which that church claims exceeded what was necessary to save them—is not available to us. Neither Mary nor the saints save. Only Jesus saves.
Third crucial point, now becoming self-evident based on what Paul has already said: Recognize this peace comes only by Jesus’ grace, and can’t be earned or deserved.
With reference to Jesus Christ, verse two says “Through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand.” Notice the word grace. Grace is not something which can be earned or deserved. It is by definition undeserved or unmerited favor. It is not based on anything good on the part of the person who receives it. It is based solely on the gracious attitude and character of the God who gives it. Grace does not come by means of participation in sacraments, or rituals, or good works. It comes only as a gift from God received by humble sinners who don’t deserve it. It come based on an attitude, faith in Jesus, not on the basis of works, as Paul has repeatedly stated.
The entire idea that grace can be earned by involving ourselves in rituals, sacraments or good works guts the very meaning of grace. Again, it is offensive to God in the sense that it indicates that God needs some help to save us, and the death of his Son was insufficient to bring about our salvation. Is God’s arm so short that it cannot save? Absolutely not. Anathema to that statement. Jesus alone saves and is fully capable of accomplishing all that which He did without any help from us. All glory to Jesus! He is the Lamb of God who indeed takes away our sins.
And then finally, what we all want to hear and need to hear. The end of verse 2, our appropriate response. “And we exult in hope of the glory of God.”
The word for exult can mean to boast or rejoice. It can also mean to glory. I think it means that we glory or exult, we are incredibly excited, we are amazed, we are celebrating, if we understand what God through Christ has done for us.
And exactly what has He accomplished for us is then mentioned in the rest of this phrase. “The glory of God here refers to heaven, the eternal state. We exult, we glory because what God through Christ has done for us will get us to glory--it will get us to heaven!
Again Jesus saves. We are not bound for hell. There’s no chance we’re going to hell. We are not going to experience God’s justice or His wrath. Because we have experienced His grace, and that grace is greater than all our sin, it will get us to heaven.
As Jesus said in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
Who is the one who grants salvation in that verse, spoken by Jesus? God and Jesus are the ones who grant salvation, who earn salvation for us. How do we receive it? As a gift. As a gift given by a gracious God. No because of something we do. No, because of something we believe. What do we believe? We believe in Jesus as our Savior.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is that by faith alone in God’s grace alone provided by Jesus’ death alone we are assured of an established right-standing with God that will result in heaven for all of us who believe.
A monumental set of truths for an incredible salvation offered by a glorious God and His wonderful Son, the Lord Jesus.
And our response. We exult. Or we should be exulting and glorying in what God has done for us rather than taking credit for it ourselves.
This is an amazing truth. We were at war with God, that the wrath of God was being revealed from heaven against us. But now because of what Christ did for us, not what we can do for ourselves, we experience peace with God. That is indeed worthy of getting excited about! I should be jumping for joy.! I should be praising God. I should be exulting in the salvation and the peace I now experience because of Jesus.
I went again to my dermatologist this past week. As they cut away some of the skin cancers from me, I became acquainted with a new medical assistant. She made the mistake of asking me what I do. I told her, and then asked about her church background. She was a Roman Catholic, having attended church twice a week as she grew up. I then asked her how she was going to get to heaven. Again, it was through her good works, just as Catholicism officially teaches. I told her that I used to think that, but Jesus and the Bible say something different. I told her she wouldn’t make it on account of her good works. And she wanted to know why. So I explained she could never be good enough for God. “If you keep the whole law and stumble in one point you become guilty of all. But I said Jesus did something for us to take care of our sins and waited to hear from her what that was. She got the answer right—“Christ died for our sins.” However, despite all the years of involvement with this church, she had never rightly applied this answer to herself. So I encouraged her to put her confidence now in what Christ did for her, rather than what she can do for herself.
That’s the good news that so many know about but fail to apply to themselves. But you can rest assured. Your faith in Jesus has already granted you peace with God and a place in Heaven.
And that’s worthy getting excited about!
Let’s pray.
