The Purpose of Peace

Transcript

JRS 24
12/25/2022
The Purpose of Peace
Romans 5:1-2
Jesse Randolph

One of my favorite Christmas hymns growing up, it got me all excited this morning when I saw Ethan start to down stroke the tune, “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing.” That was at the top of my list growing up. “Hark! The herald angels sing
Glory to the new-born king
Peace on earth and mercy mild (I'm not going to sing it)
God and sinners reconciled.”
As a child I think it was just the sound of that song that I appreciated—its up-tempo nature, it's built-in cheeriness. And as those first notes were struck I knew that we were in the middle of the Christmas season and I was ready to, as they would say, get into the Christmas spirit. I didn't know what it meant to hark, in fact I probably don't even know now what it means to hark. I didn't know what mercy mild meant. I knew that the newborn King was a reference to the Baby Jesus, but I hadn't the faintest idea what that had to do with God and sinners being reconciled or how that related to this little Baby in the manger in the nativity scene.

All I knew when I heard that song, “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing,” was that it was starting to look a little bit like Christmas. At least in our southern California sort of way. That it was starting to smell a lot like Christmas and it was going to start sounding a lot like Christmas, and that most importantly we were getting really close to that big day, Christmas Day, that day when family members would start showing up with truckloads of gifts and treats, where we would be eating a whole lot of good food in short order, when wrapping paper would be soon flying around the living room. And then after that we would eat a bunch of dessert, and it was delicious, and after that everybody would go home and then after everybody went home they would leave our house empty and full of echoes and that feeling of that went by way too fast, and back to that feeling of malaise that it's going to be another 364 days before I experience that feeling of euphoria again. Well, what I was missing as that child from that song, “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing,” though I didn't know it at the time, was just how profound its lyrics were and are. “Glory to the newborn King.” “Peace on earth.” And of course, “God and sinners being reconciled.”

And it's that last lyric, that lyric about “God and sinners being reconciled” which is at the heart of the passage of Scripture that we will be studying here this morning, this Christmas morning. For those of you who are visiting, we are now deep into this Christmas series called “Peace on Earth” which is a five-part series and you are in message #4. We have been going through the “Promise of Peace,” that was Isaiah 9:6, words that were written 750 years before the birth of our Lord, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, a prophetic word about the Messiah who would come. Isaiah 9:6 says, “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” After that we saw the “Proclamation of Peace” in Luke 2:14 as angels proclaimed to a lowly group of shepherds in Bethlehem that the long awaited, the long promised, Prince of Peace had arrived on the scene of history. And then last night on Christmas Eve we spent some time looking at the “Provision of Peace” from the book of Colossians where we saw that the Lord Jesus Christ has provided peace to His followers Colossians 1:19 says, “through the blood of His cross.”

And today now on Christmas morning we're going to look at the “Purpose of Peace” which we'll do as we work our way through Romans 5:1-2. In fact, if you have your Bibles I'd invite you to open with me to Romans 5:1-2. Romans 5:1-2 says, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.” So God promised peace, God proclaimed peace, God provided peace, and today, as we are going to see, there is a purpose to this peace that God has provided.

And did we need His peace? Why do we need His peace? What peace has God offered us? What benefits attach to those who now have this peace? These are the questions that we are going to be grappling with this morning as we work our way through these two verses, Romans 5:1-2. By the way, I've broken this text, these two verses, into three parts this morning. In our text we are going to see links between #1, “Peace and Our Justification”; #2, “Peace and Our Position”; and then #3, “Peace and Our Exultation.” So if you are a note-taker, those will be the three headings for this morning's sermon—“Peace and Our Justification,” “Peace and Our Position,” “Peace and Our Exultation.” Let's take them one by one, starting with “Peace and Our Justification.”

Look at Romans 5:1, it says, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We'll start our time in God's Word this morning with that very first word “therefore.” That word is a connecting particle, “oun” in the Greek, and its function is pretty simple. It's linking what Paul is about to say in the words that we are going to look at this morning with what he said thus far in this letter. Meaning in the first four chapters of Romans, which many have considered to be Paul's “magnum opus.” And by way of review, what has Paul been covering in these first four chapters of Romans? Well, he has covered quite a bit. He has addressed his apostolic credentials. He has laid out his desire to visit these fellow believers there in Rome. He has identified the Gospel of grace, Romans 1:16, as being the central theme of this letter. “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel,” he says, “for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” He has pointed to the wrath of God which hangs over the heads of those who reject the inherent knowledge of God that resides in every man and woman's heart, though they “suppress the truth in unrighteousness,” he says in Romans 1:18.

He has already, Paul has, highlighted this multi-tiered decline into abject godlessness that he had witnessed in his day and which we are getting a taste of in our day as well. In fact, why don't you look with me at Romans 1:21, if you go back a few pages in the book of Romans. Look what he says in Romans 1:21[thru 24]. It gives us a taste of Paul's concern over the godlessness that had crept into the culture of the day. Romans 1:21 says, “For even though,” he is speaking of the unbeliever here, “they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.” So he is describing the downgrade culturally that was happening then, and it is happening today.

As we keep marching through Romans he has described how the Jewish people of his day, though instructed by the Law, were equally with the Gentiles under the judgment of God. And he says in Romans 3:10 that, “there is none righteous, not even one.” He says in Romans 3:23 that “all have sinned,” meaning Jew and Gentile alike, “and have fallen short of the glory of God.” And to those who might quibble with Paul's premise and seek to self-justify through their efforts to adhere to the Old Testament Law, Paul makes very clear that any attempts to comply with the Law will not ultimately lead to one being justified in the eyes of a thrice-holy God. In fact Romans 3:28 says, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.” And that's the key—faith. Justification, as we are about to see, that's the word Paul uses here in Romans 5, to be justified, justification; justification is this legal declaration that an otherwise guilty sinner is now right with God. And justification comes not through the Law, justification comes not through deeds, justification comes not through good works. Rather, one is justified by faith.

And Paul builds that out further in Romans 4, as we pull in back into Romans 5 here. In Romans 4 Paul goes through this exercise of explaining how Abraham, the father of nations, an Israelite, a Hebrew, was not justified by his works, he wasn't justified by being an A+ Old Testament saint. No, rather Abraham was justified on account of his faith. That's what it says in Romans 4:3 as Paul here is quoting from Genesis 15:6 where he says, “For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.’ ”

And that brings us back to our text here this morning, Romans 5:1, where Paul, having just explained this concept of justification by faith and having illustrated his point through this example of Abraham, now says, “Therefore.” And we have a few different therefores in the book of Romans. There is one at Romans 8:1 which says, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” There is another one in Romans 12:1 where he says, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God,” and then he goes on to exhort them to present their bodies as living sacrifices. But this is the one we are focusing on, Romans 5:1, where he says, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” In other words, Paul here is saying I have just explained how one is justified by faith. Now let me explain to you some of the out-workings of a person who has been justified.

So let's move on to the next part of Paul's thought though, here in verse 1 where he says, “having been justified by faith.” That word “justified,” “dikaiow,” is in a Greek tense which points to something that has already been accomplished. It is not something that is in process, it's not something that could happen, there are no conditions or strings attached here. No, what's being described here when Paul uses the word “justified” is he is describing something that has already been done, something that has already occurred. But what is it that has already been done? What is it that has already occurred? What is it that has already been accomplished? What occurs when a person experiences justification? Well, the person who has been declared justified has gone from being an enemy of God to being a child of God. That person has gone from being a child of darkness to a child of light. That person has gone from being a slave of sin to a slave of Christ. And this change, this transformation, this moment of justification occurred in an instant once and for all at a specific point in time. That point in time being the very moment that the individual placed his or her faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

See, justification is about a change in one's position or status, it's a once and forever declaration settled in the courts of heaven that the unjust and wretched sinner is now viewed as being just and righteous in the eyes of a holy and righteous God. And how does that work? Why? Well, verse 1 says that justification is by faith. Faith. What kind of faith? A lot of people identify themselves as people of faith. The 9/11 highjackers would have called themselves people of faith. David Koresh and his followers at Waco called themselves people of faith. 1.3 billion deceived Roman Catholics on this planet are people of faith. Joe Biden calls himself a person of faith. Donald Trump called himself a person of faith. I guarantee you that the 2024 Presidential candidates will both call themselves people of faith. God-hating pagans will say that they are just trying to keep the faith as they experience various difficulties in this life. See, simply saying that you have faith or that you are a person of faith is meaningless. That faith that you claim to have must be attached to a proper object, an object that is true, an object that has value, an object that is worthy of faith for your faith to do you any good. Having faith in a false god, having faith in a faulty or false religious system, having faith in a lie only takes a person that much further away from the truth and that many more steps away from a true concept of salvation and only that many more steps toward the precipice of a real, eternal hell.

So what kind of faith is Paul referring to here, when he says, “having been justified by faith?” He is speaking of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Only He, the Lord, can forgive a wretched sinner. Only He, the Lord, can cleanse a person of their sin. Only He, the Lord, is the way, the truth and the life. And only His righteousness can be credited to a sinner's account. And only through Him can a person have access to and relationship with the living God. It's through that kind of faith, which results in one being justified, where that sinner is now looked at through the lens of the perfect and righteous sin-bearing Savior who took the wrath of God on our behalf. To paraphrase that hymn, “Before the Throne of God Above,” God looks on Him, meaning Christ, and pardons us. In other words, a person doesn't work their way toward justification, a person doesn't earn justification, a person doesn't grow in their justification. There are no works involved, there is no self-effort involved, there is no human enterprise or ingenuity or inventiveness involved. Rather, a person is justified, they are once and forever justified, because they have put their faith not in self, but instead because they have put their faith in the once and forever sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. They are justified by believing what God has done in Christ, and by believing in Jesus Christ. And that's it. That's the wonder and the simplicity and the beauty of the Gospel, the Gospel that that baby in the manger would one day go on to proclaim. A person is justified by believing in Jesus Christ.

All right, all of that, all of what I have said so far has been connected with that one word “justified.” So much more could be said, so much more has been said, in fact, entire treatises and dissertations and theological tomes have been written on this word “justification.” We need to move on. Suffice it to say for now, though, that justification, if you lock in on one definition, justification refers to that one time, singular, moment-in-time legal declaration that a person who once was in opposition to God now has favor with God and is no longer at enmity with God and is in the family of God because of the sufficient sacrifice of the Son of God.

We'll move on. Looking on into verse 1 he says, “having been justified by faith,” here we go, “we have peace with God.” Many years ago in his commentary on Romans called “The Gospel of Grace,” Alva McClain painstakingly laid out twelve of the benefits listed here in Romans 5 alone that go along with these words, “having been justified by faith.” I won't go through all twelve here this morning, but among the twelve that McClain listed were these, these benefits of being justified by faith. One, he said being justified by faith we are able to persevere in the midst of tribulation. That sounds a lot like what we have been studying in the book of James of late. Being justified by faith we have joy. Being justified by faith we have hope. Being justified by faith we experience the love of God. Being justified by faith we have the Holy Spirit. Being justified by faith we will be spared God's wrath. Being justified by faith we do not fear God's judgment but instead we rejoice that we have been reconciled to Him. Now those are great insights, those are powerful insights from McClain about these benefits that attach to being justified by faith.

But putting our noses back into this text, I want us to look at that very first benefit of justification that Paul lists here as he is writing under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit. He says, “having been justified by faith,” here it is, “we have peace with God.” There we have it—“peace with God.” We are right back at the heart of this text, we are right back at the heart of what we have been looking at in this series—this concept of peace. And the peace that Paul speaks of here, “irene” in Greek, means something very specific. He is referring to the objective reality that people who once were at war with God, meaning everyone here on that side of the pulpit and on this side of the pulpit, without exception, has now been reconciled to God. Going back to the lyrics of the hymn “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing,” God and sinners are now reconciled.

Now I recognize there may be some of you here this morning who are thinking, an enemy of God? That's a little harsh, I don't know if I'd call myself an enemy of God or that I would have called myself an enemy of God. I don't know about that. I went to church as a kid and I sang the hymns and I ran in the Awana circle and I memorized the verses and I sang in the choir and I wrote my name in my Bible and I attended and I listened and I was respectful. I never once fell asleep on a Sunday morning when the preacher was preaching. I shined my shoes and pressed my suit each and every Saturday night. I carried my Bible in a case, I went to every church potluck, I went to every summer camp, I went to every winter camp, my parents took me to every prayer meeting. I always believed in God, I always believed there was a God, I never denied the existence of God. I was never like one of those lunatic, left wing, purple-haired, pierced, tattooed, mad-at-their-father-and-mother types. That wasn't me. They are the real enemies of God, I've always been good with God.

Now this is me, Jesse, speaking back to you. I get that there must be some sense of spiritual pride associated with thinking that you've always been good with God and I get that what I'm saying right now might be rubbing up against your spiritual pedigree and the family that you were born into and that might be causing a little bit of friction in your heart right now. I get that what I'm saying might make you feel a little bit uncomfortable because with me, and forget me, Paul stepping on your toes right now you may need to rethink your faith. You may need to rethink whether the faith that you claim to have is mom's faith, dad's faith, grandpa's faith, or your faith. See, all of us have to reconcile our experiences with Scripture. And what Scripture teaches is that whether or not you feel like you've ever been an enemy of God, the reality is you absolutely were, and some of you still are enemies of God. So was I. So was everyone in this room at some point. And again if you haven't truly given your life to Christ in repentance and faith, the reality is you remain His enemy today.

This is not just me opining up here, by the way. Let's go to the Scriptures. Scripture testifies to this fact that those who are outside of Christ, those who have not given their life to Christ, are His enemies. Romans 5:10 says we were reconciled to God through Christ but before that we were His enemies. On the page, you can look at Romans 5:10, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” It says there we were enemies. Isaiah 59:2 says, “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” Romans 8:6-7 says, “the mind set on the flesh is death,” and, “is hostile toward God.” The carnal mind, the worldly mind, the ungodly mind, is hostile to God. Isaiah 48:22 says, “There is no peace for the wicked.”

Not only that, though, even if you could somehow argue that you've never consciously been an enemy of God, Scripture again is very clear that God considers you to be His enemy before you come to faith in Christ. Psalm 7:11 says, “God is a righteous judge, and a God who has indignation every day.” Psalm 7:12 says, “If a man does not repent, He,” meaning God, “will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and made it ready.” Isaiah 13:9 says, “Behold the day of the Lord,” that's a future day coming, “is coming, cruel, with fury and burning anger.” Nahum 1:2 says, “A jealous and avenging God is the Lord; the Lord is avenging and wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserves wrath for His enemies.”

Now you might be saying, that's one grumpy pastor up there. Doesn't he know it's Christmas? Doesn't he know that that was the God of the Old Testament? Doesn't he know that God has really mellowed out now in the New Testament? He doesn't talk that way anymore, especially Jesus, because Jesus was all about love. Really? Consider Ephesians 5:6, New Testament, “The wrath of God comes upon sons of disobedience.” Consider 2 Thessalonians 1:7, New Testament, “when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” The point is this: before a man, before a woman, before a child is justified, that is before they bow their knee to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith, they have no peace with God. They are at a state of enmity with God and yes, they are enemies of God. No matter how clean and polished and religious they appear on the outside, in terms of their future eternal destination… Let me put it this way, they are going to be sharing some common and rather fiery real estate with the likes of Hitler and Manson and Joseph Smith and Muhammad and various popes and other enemies of Christ and the Gospel.

Which is why Paul says here in Romans 5:1… Why what he says here is so profound and powerful. That “having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We were once behind those enemy lines, unregenerate sinners, working against God and His purposes even if we thought we were on His team. But we were actually serving our own purposes. But then when the Lord grabbed ahold of us, when He regenerated us, when He saved us, He gave us peace, peace through the Lord Jesus Christ. As a result we are no longer His enemies. That threat of the outpouring of His wrath on our heads no longer hangs over us. Rather, we have been justified, reconciled. We have been saved. The war is over, the rebellion has come to an end, the arms have been laid down, the white flag has been waved, and we are now inexplicably the object of God's favor and blessing. We have peace, peace “through our Lord Jesus Christ.” And note that it is peace “through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We haven't secured this peace through ourselves or our own merit or our own efforts. Instead it is all of grace, it's through the Lord Jesus Christ.

And Paul as he tends to do, focuses on all these different titles to bring out the fullness of the person of the Savior. He is Jesus, fully human, the son of Joseph and Mary, the One from Nazareth, the One who walked the earth, the One who lived and breathed and moved in the midst of other humans and experienced life just like you and I do, albeit without sin. He is the Christ, meaning the promised Messiah of Israel, the heir of David, the One who would one day establish His earthly reign here. He is Lord it says, “kyrios,” which as we saw last week is not merely a title of honor or esteem but is a reference to the deity of Christ, meaning He is God. Not only that, though, in addition to all these titles and realities, Paul says He is our Lord Jesus Christ. He is our Savior, our hope, our King, or as he says in Ephesians 2:14, He is our peace. It's through Him that we have been ushered into the presence of God the Father. It's through Him that we have access to God the Father. It's through Him that we have been reconciled as former enemies to God the Father. And it's through Him that we now have peace with God the Father.

Now while Paul here, as I've already mentioned, is speaking to the objective truth of the objective peace that we have with God if we trust in Christ, the reality is that when a person comes to faith in the Lord, when they come to that place of having objective peace, solid ground before the Lord, the reality is that there is a subjective peace that goes along with that, a spiritual tranquility, a settledness of the soul that follows along. The person who has been justified through faith in Christ, reconciled to God, the person who has peace with God, they don't worry about where they are going when the cold death dew is beading on their brow. They don't worry about a little turbulence on the airplane and wonder where they will go if this plane goes down. They don't worry. They don't stare at the ceiling fan like they used to at 2:00 in the morning and ask these existential questions like, “Why am I here?” and “Where am I going?” and “What's the point of all of this?” No, they have those answers. And they have this settled confidence and it's rooted in faith about where all of this is headed. And it brings them great peace, what one theologian called a sweet quiet of the soul.

They know that they know God the Father who in Hebrews 13:20 is called the God of peace. They know that they know God the Father through the work of God the Son who is called the Prince of Peace. And they know that they are now indwelt by the Holy Spirit who in Ephesians 4:3 is called the Spirit of peace. So if you have trusted in Jesus Christ, anyone in here who has trusted in Jesus Christ, they are justified, they are the recipients of this legal declaration that the wall of hostility that once divided them and God has now been torn down. They now have peace with God. Having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

That's our first heading for this morning, “Peace and Our Justification.” The next one is “Peace and Our Position,” that's our next heading. Look at Romans 5:2. After noting that we do have peace with God, we who are believers, “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Paul goes on to say, “through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand.” Now take a look at those words. He says, “we have obtained our introduction.” That is sort of a mouthful. I'm going to try to explain a bit about what is going on here in the underlying Greek text. The word here for introduction is “prosagoge.” I won't try to spell it, it's going to take too long (and we all want to open presents, right?) “Prosagoge,” it's a word that has a couple of powerful word pictures built into it.

The first word picture that is built into this word “introduction” is this idea of ushering somebody into the presence of royalty. It's as if Paul here is saying Jesus is ushering us, has ushered us, into the very presence of God. He opens the door for us to have access to the very King of Kings. I can't help but think of that scene, I think it's a couple of times in the book of Esther [chapters 5, 8], where whenever the golden scepter would go down it would be pointed toward whoever was approaching the king. That meant that that person could now access, be introduced, to the king. That's the idea here. Because of Christ we have been ushered into, introduced into, the presence of royalty, the presence of, as 1 Timothy 1:17 calls Him, “the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God.”

But that word “prosagoge” also has another picture built into it. We see that same word used in other ancient Greek texts to describe a harbor, that enclosed haven where ships would come in. I really appreciate what one commentator has to say about this aspect or this definition of this word “introduction,” this harbor definition. He says, “If we take it [this] way, [meaning harbor,] it means that so long as we have tried to depend on our own efforts we were tempest-tossed, like mariners striving with a sea which threatened to overwhelm them completely, but now that we have heard the word of Christ we have reached at last the haven of God's grace and we know the calm of depending, not on what we can do for ourselves, but on what God has done for us.” Because of Jesus we have peace with God as we have just seen. But we also have this introduction to God, meaning this ability to access God, this ability to approach God. Christ has led us into the presence of God, given us access to God which gives us this ability to stand before God.

In fact, that's what comes next here in verse 2. After noting that “we have obtained our introduction by faith,” it says, “into this grace in which we stand.” That's an interesting term, “stand.” “Histemi’ is the word and it means what it sounds like, to stand firm, to stand solid, to stand fixed. But it's interesting because Scripture is clear that there are certain people who will not be able to stand before God. Psalm 130:3 says, “If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” Or Psalm 1:5 says “The wicked will not stand in the judgment.” And we know from Revelation 6 [verses 16, 17] that during the future period of tribulation and judgment that is coming on the earth, the wicked after begging to have rocks and mountains fall on them to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb, will say that “the great day of their wrath has come and who is able to stand?” In other words, the wicked cannot and will not be able to stand in the presence of God, but the righteous and the redeemed, the justified and the cleansed, the forgiven and the pardoned, can stand in the presence of God. And not only that, not only can we stand but we should stand and we should approach His throne boldly. Hebrews 4:16 says, “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Or Hebrews 10:19 [thru 22] says, “Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith.”

But how is that possible? And how has that happened? And why has that happened, this idea that we could suddenly stand in the presence of a holy God? Well, it goes back to Romans 5:1, we have “been justified by faith,” and because of that we have standing through Christ before God. We are able to stand before God because our standing is in Christ Jesus. We stand in the One who sits today at the right hand of the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ. And how is that standing maintained? Well, the answer is given to us in verse 2, it's “into this grace in which we stand,” meaning we don't stand in our own works, we don't stand in our own character, we don't stand in our own righteousness. No, it says we stand in His grace. It's “grace in which we stand.” We stand because we are these recipients of unmerited favor, this unfathomable grace which God saw fit to show us through Christ. The fact that we are justified, the fact that we have received this introduction, the fact that we have this access now. The fact that we have this ability to stand is not due to anything in us. We didn't open the way, we didn't introduce ourselves into this state. Rather, we were brought into this state by Christ. We stand in the grace of God, our justification, and we stand because of the grace of God.

I love what Martyn Lloyd-Jones had to say about this idea of access to God or standing in His grace. By the way do you know that Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached through, I think he made it through 14 chapters of Romans. He preached those 14 chapters of Romans for 13 years and he did it on Friday nights. Can you imagine trying to make your way through London, that's where he was doing his preaching, on a Friday night? You've had a busy week, a busy work week. You know, the weekend has finally arrived and you are pining and pressing the gas pedal to get to the chapel to hear Martyn Lloyd-Jones exposit Romans on a Friday night. They don't make them like they used to. You know, Gil is doing a Wednesday night Romans study. Maybe we'll figure out another book to do on a Friday night one of these years. All right, I get fired up about these things. Anyway, Lloyd-Jones, when he came to this text, Romans 5, he said this, again this idea of standing in grace, he says, “This is the most marvelous thing of all about being a Christian; our whole relationship to God is different; it has been entirely changed. It is like the case of a man who has spent his whole life out on the street outside a great palace. Inside the palace there are endless riches and wealth and a great banquet is being given. He sees people enjoying themselves; but he is shivering out on the street and he cannot partake. He has no right of entry, he is not fit to enter. Suddenly, in a miraculous and marvelous way, he is approached and invited to enter, and provided with a festal garment. He is brought in and introduced, and he takes his place and begins to partake of the feast of the riches of God's grace.”

That's what Paul is saying here in Romans 5 when he says we have access to God, that we are standing in grace. This is the grace in which we stand. We are children of the heavenly King, we have peace with Him, we have access to Him, we stand in His grace. So knowing that, we have to go to Him. Knowing this reality, we aren't to live like spiritual paupers. No, we're to go to Him, to go to Him in prayer, to approach Him boldly, to live boldly for Him, to share the good news of His Gospel widely, to read the Scriptures He has given us excitedly. We are not to be apologetic Christians or doubtful Christians or hesitant Christians or uncertain Christians. No, we are to look to Him, to boast in Him, to stand in Him, and as we'll see next week, next time, we are called to proclaim Him.

But now and for our third point this morning, for you note-takers, it is “Peace and our Exultation,” we are to exult in Him. Look at the last few words of Romans 5:2. It says, “and we exult in hope of the glory of God.” That word “exult” literally means boast, it means to speak of oneself, to praise oneself. This is the literal root meaning, to boast in oneself, to congratulate oneself, to speak of oneself as glorious and blessed. Now we know from other places in Scripture that that type of boasting is improper if it has an improper object. Romans 3:27 says, “Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.” 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 says, “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.” And then a favorite around our house is Proverbs 27:2, “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth,” or as it is rendered in ESV, “Let the lips of another praise you.” So boasting in ourselves, boasting in our own strengths and power and ability as mere human beings is prohibited in God's Word. But not all boasting is ruled out since boasting in the Lord is marked in Scripture as being one of the truest forms of worship. 1 Corinthians 1:31, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” Galatians 6:14 says, “But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Or Philippians 3:3 says, “For we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God, and glory,” same word, “in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.”

So while the root meaning of this word is boast, the way the NAS has it rendered here, “exult,” is closer to the actual meaning. Paul here is saying we are to exult in something specific. Having been justified now we are having peace. Having this access, having this standing, “we exult,” he says, “in hope of the glory of God.” Now when he speaks here of the “hope of the glory of God,” this is not a cross-your-fingers kind of hope, this is not a white-knuckling-it kind of hope, this is not a make-a-wish kind of hope. Rather he is talking about a sure confidence, a settled and confident assurance similar to what the author of Hebrews describes in Hebrews 11:1 when he says, “faith is the assurance of things hoped for.” In other words, what is being referred to here by Paul is a triumphant, a rejoicing, confidence. We glory in hope, we rejoice in hope, we exult in hope.

And what is that triumphant, rejoicing confidence rooted in? He says, the “hope of the glory of God.” Now God's glory is what God is, in His character, in His nature, even in His external appearance. That's what we would refer to when we are speaking of the glory of God. And in Hebrews 1:3 we see that Jesus Christ is the radiance of God's glory. In other words, Jesus Christ shines forth God's glory, He displays God's glory, He is the image of God's glory. And a major part of our hope, our future hope, is to be like Jesus Christ in every respect. Romans 8:29 says, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.” 1 John 3:2 says, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared what we will be. We know that when He,” meaning Jesus, “appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.” See, that's the hope of the glory of God and it's a wonderful hope.

You know, back in Romans 1 [verses 21-23] we saw this earlier, Paul spoke of those who would scorn God's glory. In Romans 3 [verse 23] we see that Paul says we have all fallen short of God's glory. But now in Romans 5:2 he is saying there are going to be certain individuals who are promised this future “hope of the glory of God.” And we really see that coming to fruition, by the way. You can turn with me, if you will, to Romans 8, just a few pages over, where we see this idea of hope and future glory coming together. I'm going to start in verse 18 and read just a few verses here, Romans 8:18 [thru 25], and just note how many times you see the words “hope” and “glory” linked together. He says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope, that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.” In other words, this hope of the glory of God that we see in Romans 5 is an eschatological, meaning future-oriented, reality. It's not a present-day possession, not every benefit and promise associated with a Christian's salvation comes to full fruition today. No, we still await future glorification, we still await a future in which in our perfect and glorified bodies we will more fully reflect Christ's glory which we fall so short with now. That day is not here yet though, so we eagerly anticipate this hope of glory.

And by the way, that idea of the hope of glory, it's all over the New Testament. I'm going to read just a few verses here to give you some more orientation. Colossians 1:27 says, “God willed to make known what is the riches of the [His] glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 3:4 says, “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” 2 Corinthians 4:17, “For this momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.” One last one, 2 Thessalonians 2:14 says, “It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

So we are at peace with God because of Christ's finished work in the past, we stand in grace today because of His work on our behalf as our advocate and our mediator in the present, and we have no fear of the future because of this hope of glory. See, the Christian has a secure future and we exult in this secure future because of Christ who is our hope and who not only is our hope, but as we've been seeing over the past few weeks, who is our peace.

Well, yesterday, on Christmas Eve, our nation's President, Joe Biden, sent out a tweet. It was like a note to the nation through social media. And in this tweet he said the following. He said, “There is a certain stillness at the center of the Christmas story: a silent night when all the world goes quiet. And all the clamor, everything that divides us, fades away, in the stillness of a winter's evening. I wish you that peace this Christmas Eve.”

I'm not going to make a political statement. But other than betraying the fact that he has no idea what Christmas is all about, President Biden's message highlights the emptiness of any efforts to promise peace or to pursue peace or to find peace if those efforts aren't rooted in the right object. Contrary to the verbiage of our President's tweet, you won't find peace in the stillness of a winter's evening; you won't find peace when all the world goes quiet. You won't find peace even when all that divides us, as he says, in this world fades away. Rather, true peace is found exclusively in the finished work of the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, through which, as the hymn says, God and sinners are reconciled. I pray that today on Christmas Day that you will find great peace in knowing that you know God through Christ the newborn King. And if you are here this morning and you don't know Christ, I would love to chat with you and to talk with you. My hangout is in the south lobby. My boys and their presents can wait, right? We'll hang out here as long as we need to, to make sure that you know what it means to be made right with the God of the universe and that this Christmas can be this day. Where you can celebrate for years to come that you received the greatest gift that has ever been given, the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. Okay? I'll be out there until they lock me out of here.

Let's pray. Father, thank You so much for this wonderful morning of worship on Christmas Day, this chance to gather around Your Word and to sing these wonderful Christmas carols and to reflect and meditate on the true meaning of Christmas. That God and sinners have been reconciled through the peace of the blood of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. I do pray that for those of us who know You through Christ that this would be a Christmas that brings us much joy and much wonder and much hope and anticipation of the coming return of our Lord and all that entails. But if there is anyone here this morning on Christmas Day who is lost and wayward, who is deceived -- and who is willing to humble themselves and acknowledge that they have been deceived -- and that they need to come to faith in Christ to have their sins forgiven -- I pray that today, this Christmas Day, would be that day and that another soul would be added to your family. Thank You so much for sending Your Son into the world to die on our behalf. Thank You for that little baby in the manger who is the hope and Savior of the world and in whose name we pray, Amen.