The Blessings of Justification
Romans 5:1–11
INTRODUCTION
Once a farmer was interviewing prospective workers. The farmer asked one young man “What makes you the best person for the job?” The young man answered, “I can sleep when the wind blows.” Now the farmer thought this to be a strange answer but hired the young man anyway because he seemed so sincere.
Just a few days after putting this young man to work a violent storm blew across the farm in the dead of night. Debris shook the farmer from his bed hitting his bedroom window. Instinctively, he ran outside to check his barns and stables, afraid of the damage that they would cause if all the doors and windows had not been secured. To his amazement, he found everything in order and there was no damage. In the last barn he checked he found his new employee sleeping peacefully on a pile of hay.
At that moment the farmer understood what he had meant when he said, “I can sleep when the wind blows.” He was fully prepared when the storms came and even when his master came to check on him, he was not put to shame.
• Paul has already explained to the Christians at Rome that God has made a Promise to them, the promise of salvation.
• They needed this promise because of the Common Bond that they shared which was Sin.
• The only way out of their predicament as condemned sinners and into The Promise was to be justified through faith. Abraham, our example of faith, shows us that this is obedient faith.
• Justified means “just–as–if–I’d” never sinned.
• Starting with the first verse of chapter 5, Paul explains the Blessings of Justification.
• As if justification alone isn’t blessing enough, God gives us so much more while we await the end result of our justification.
• In verses 1 & 2, Paul identifies three things we receive as a result of our justification.
1. We have Peace with God.
2. We stand in Grace.
3. We rejoice in Hope.
• Once one gives their life to God in obedient faith, he gives you much more than you could have ever imagined, certainly more than we deserve.
• The one thing I want you to take from this lesson is; Through justification we experience all the blessings of God’s love, not just the promise of eternal life but also in this present life!
Read Romans 5:1–11
MAIN BODY
I. We have Peace with God. Romans 5:1
A. Peace comes only through Christ. Gal. 3:14 “14He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.”
B. Peace is Christ’s legacy to them that love and obey Him.
1. Luke 1:79b Zacharias prophesied of the Christ who would “guide our feet into the path of peace.”
2. Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
C. This peace comes form being reconciled to God. Romans 5:10
1. Sin makes us enemies of God.
2. Peace with God means that the fierce rebellion against God is no longer in our heart, the war is over and man has submitted to his maker. This changes everything.
3. Because of Christ we are reconciled to God and have access to God. Ephesians 2:17–18 “He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.”
a. In His death He reconciled us.
b. In His life He assures our salvation as our mediator.
(1) Hebrews 7:25 “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”
(2) 1 John 2:1 “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.”
D. This reconciliation that brings us to peace with God also brings us peace of mind. Romans 5:11
1. We Rejoice in God through Christ.
2. Philippians 4:4–7
a. This kind of peace is exactly the kind of blessing which all men need and seek.
b. This desire is never diminished until men rest IN Christ.
II. We Stand in Grace. Romans 5:2a
A. What is this grace we are standing in?
1. Romans 5:6–8 THAT’S GRACE!!!
2. We deserved to die in our sins.
3. Yet because of God’s love for us even while we were condemned sinners, Christ died so that we could live!
B. This Grace we stand in is the firm and secure establishment we have in Christ.
1. Standing in grace gives us the uttermost security and confidence!
2. Romans 8:30–39
a. The predestined are explained. Romans 8:29
b. Those who are called to be like His Son.
c. The Church.
III. We Rejoice in Hope. Romans 5:2b
A. In the Assurance of Salvation
1. 1 Thessalonians 5:8–10
2. God wants us to be saved!
B. God has not just confined our Rejoicing to our future. Romans 5:3–5
1. The hard realities of everyday life work to make believers more Godly and Christlike.
a. They are the completion of the Full Circle of Hope vs. 2
b. All the misfortunes, sorrows and disappointments of life are not meaningless tragedies to a Christian.
c. 2 Cor. 12:10 “10That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2. ILLUSTRATION: For two years, scientists sequestered themselves in an artificial environment called Biosphere 2. Inside their self–sustaining community, the scientists created a number of mini–environments including a desert, rain forest, even an ocean. Nearly every weather condition could be simulated except one, wind. Over time, the effects of their windless environment became apparent. A number of Acacia trees bent over and even snapped. Without the stress of wind to strengthen the wood, the trunks grew weak and couldn’t even support their own weight. Weathering storms is what builds our strengths.
3. The love of God helps us in our struggles through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
a. Romans 8:26
b. When the hard winds of life start to blow, Rejoice in the fact that although you don’t know the answer, the Holy Spirit that God gives to us does.
CONCLUSION
• The Blessings of Justification:
1. Peace with God.
2. Standing in Grace.
3. Rejoicing in Hope are what make the Christian life such a joy to live.
• If you are not a Christian you may be asking, “What does it take to receive these blessings? I believe but I don’t have Peace, I don’t know if I’m saved or not, and I don’t feel this kind of Hope.”
• The book of Romans makes it clear from the very beginning and reminds us at the very end that we are justified when we come to God through Christ in obedient Faith.
Romans 1:5 “Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.”
Romans 16:25–26 “Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him.”
• We all must come to God in obedient faith through Jesus Christ. What better way to discover how to do that than by the words of Christ Himself?
Believe - John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Repent - Luke 13:3 “I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
Confess - Matthew 10:32 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.”
Be Baptized - Mark 16:15–16 “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
