Jusified by faith

Romans 5:1
"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ"

This Scripture leads us to ask some questions. What is the significance of the word therefore? What is it to be justified? Why does it have to be by faith? Why does it bring about peace with God? Why does this peace come through our Lord Jesus Christ?

What is the significance of the word therefore?
The answer to this question lies in Romans chapter 4. The chapter highlights the patriarch Abraham. Romans 4:3 "For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."

Romans 4:20-22
" (20) He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God,
(21) and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.
(22) And therefore "it was accounted to him for righteousness."

In faith Abraham believed that what God had promised that God would bring it to fruition. Therefore his faith in God was justified when Isaac was born.

What is it to be justified?
In general terms it means to be vindicated and to be held blameless. If you have been accused of some impropriety, examination of the facts will prove that you are blameless. The results of the examination will justify your innocence. In Abraham's case he had to wait a lot of years before God fulfilled His promise. It would have been easy for Abraham to give up in unbelief. So Abraham was justified in God's eyes by his faith in God.

Why does it have to be by faith?

God cannot justify us by our works; since examination of the facts reveal that we are all sinners against God. Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." There is an immediate problem; we have all fallen short of God's standards. We have an incredible debt of sin to pay to God and we can't work our way out of this debt. There is a price to pay for our sins.

Romans 6:23 tells us that, "the wages of sin is death..." People die everyday of every year. Here is the reason why.

Ephesians 2:1-3
"(1) And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
(2) in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
(3) among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others."

Here is how God views the sinner - dead in trespasses and sins. In God's eyes what we consider our good works are dead works and therefore have no value in His eyes.

Ephesians 2:8-10
"(8) For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
(9) not of works, lest anyone should boast.
(10) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

Notice the difference - saved through faith - not through works. The good works mentioned in verse 10 are subsequent to our salvation through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ - not before we are saved.

Why does it bring about peace with God?
We have seen that we are justified in God's eyes through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. So how does Christ make this happen? Earlier we looked at the incredible debt of sin we each have. There is no way any of us could pay off or work off our debt. That's why God sent His Son! Christ was the only person qualified to pay our debt of sin. Now you need to grasp this truth. You are utterly incapable of paying the debt of your sins - Jesus Christ the Son of God paid for them at Calvary. In doing so He made peace for us with God.

Colossians 1:19-20
"(19) For it pleased the Father that in Him [Christ] all the fullness should dwell,
(20) and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross."
Ephesians 2:13-14
"(13) But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
(14) For He Himself is our peace..."

The result is that, "...we have peace with God..."

Why does this peace come through our Lord Jesus Christ?

Christ is the only person who could bring about peace with God.

1 Timothy 2:3-6
"(3)...God our Saviour,
(4) who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
(5) For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
(6) who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time"

As our Mediator, Christ achieved peace with God for you and me on the cross at Calvary. Proof of that are His death, burial, resurrection and ascension to God's right hand in Heaven.

Do you know the peace of God in Your life? Do you know what it is to be justified in God's eyes by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ? If you stay in your sins you cannot be justified by God. You will still be, "...dead in trespasses and sins..."

Now is the time to do something about it! Hear the plea of Jesus Christ the Son of God.

Matthew 11:28-30
"(28) Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
(29) Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
(30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

Jon Peasey

Words of Life blog www.jrpeasey.blogspot.com
Ebooks author page https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JRPeasey

[All Scriptures quoted are from the New King James version; unless otherwise noted. Words enclosed in [ ] are inserted for clarity. Words in bold type emphasise a point. You may notice some verses are quoted with ... at the beginning, ending or elsewhere in a verse. Only the relevant part or parts of the verse, that relate directly to the current subject matter is quoted.]

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