Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Romans chapter 5 as we continue our study through this letter that Paul wrote to the church in Rome. We are currently in a portion of this letter that I have called JUSTIFICATION. Paul opened up condemning the entire world before God and now, in that hopeless and helpless condition, Paul shows us the righteousness of God that has been revealed from Heaven apart from the works of the Law.
Thus, our righteousness is not based on how we BEHAVE but what we BELIEVE! It is the righteousness of Christ that has been imputed into our lives by faith that makes us justified before God. It is His shed blood that cleanses us from all our sins and thus, as God looks down upon us He sees us as white as snow. That is what we are told in Isaiah1:18 as Isaiah tells us, “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ Says the Lord, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.’” And as we have seen, that word “justification” speaks of there being no record of our sin, there is nothing that has been kept, it is “just-as-if” you never sinned!
And in this section on justification we have looked at the DESCRIPTION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS in Romans 3:21-31. Then we looked at the ILLUSTRATION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS in Romans chapter 4. And this morning we will begin our look at the BENEFITS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS that is found in Romans 5:1-11.
Before we get to our text this morning, let me share with you these words from David Breese. He wrote:
This “faith unto salvation” has been illustrated in many ways. If I stand on the twenty-seventh floor of a tall building and press the button for an elevator, I am confident (I have faith) that the elevator will arrive. Indeed, it does, and the door opens. I am now presented with a vehicle that, I am confident (I have faith), will take me to the ground floor, or to the top of that building, provided I step into it. When I do, my faith in that elevator takes the form of personal trust. It has become not only objective confidence but a personal reality to me. In the same way, the faith of the gospel—the truth of Christianity—becomes the path to my personal salvation when I exercise faith. This is accomplished by accepting Christ’s death as my way to right standing before God.
- David Breese, Living For Eternity, Moody Press, 1988, p. 36
Folks, we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone and thus, for our faith to be real, we need to exercise it or use it. We need to walk what we say we believe, not for our salvation but for the evidence of our salvation. With that said, let’s begin reading in Romans chapter 5, starting in verse 1 and see what the Lord has for us this morning as we begin to look at the BENEFITS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS!
People may wonder what are the benefits or the blessings of being justified by faith? You may think of it like this, “What do you have in Jesus?” Paul, in these verses we have read this morning gives to us eight benefits or blessings for those who have been saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone!
Thus, this morning we are going to begin to look at these eight points to help us to understand what we have in Christ, those wonderful blessings that He has given to us. We will start out by looking at our, PEACE WITH GOD in Romans 5:1b. Then we will look at our, ACCESS TO GOD in Romans 5:2a. From there we will look at how we are to, REJOICE IN HOPE OF THE GLORY OF GOD in Romans 5:2b. Next we will look at, GLORY IN (NOT “FOR”) TRIBULATION in Romans 5:3-4. Next we will look at, the LOVE OF GOD POURED OUT IN OUR HEARTS in Romans 5:5-8. Then we will look at, SAVED FROM WRATH in Romans 5:9. Then one that I truly believe is important, not that these others are not, and that is ETERNAL SECURITY in Romans 5:10. And lastly we will look at how, WE ALSO REJOICE IN GOD in Romans 5:11.
And please understand that these benefits that are linked to justification are not given to us because we deserve them. It is like Thomas Watson wrote: “God does not justify us because we are worthy, but by justifying us makes us worthy.” You see, we deserve none of what God is giving to us, but it is all ours because He loves us and all we must do is receive this gift by faith!
Of this chapter, Romans chapter 5, Martin Luther said, “In the whole Bible there is hardly another chapter which can equal this triumphant text.” With that said, let’s being digging into these verses and see what the Lord has for us as we look at this topic, the BENEFITS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS!
VERSE 1a
Before we look at the benefits of righteousness, I want to focus on this word, “Therefore.” You see, when you read the Scriptures and you come to this word, “therefore,” ask yourself, “What is it there for?” As you can see, this word is a bridge or a link from what was previously said to what Paul is now saying.
The focus here is Romans chapters 3 and 4 as Paul describes and illustrates for us that our righteousness, our justification is by faith only. That is the foundation of what Paul is going to build upon. And if you still don’t get it, Paul tells us, “Therefore, having been justified by . . . [my good works, my church attendance, my prayers, my indulgences?]. NO, not at all! Paul says, “Therefore, having be justified by faith.”
William Barclay put it like this, “To say that God justifies the ungodly means quite simply that God in his amazing love treats the sinner as if he was a good man. Again, to put it very simply, God loves us, not for anything that we are, but for what he is.”
And here is another very important point that we need to understand. Some people feel that justification is a process. That you grow in justification, you mature in it and finally one day you will reach that point of justification in your life, a full justification you might say. Folks, if that were the case that justification is based upon our good works, and it is not, then we would all miss the mark, we would never be justified. But it is not based upon our good works, but His finished work! Justification is not a process, it is an instantaneous and irreversible event that takes place the moment you put your faith in Jesus Christ. Paul put it like this in II Corinthians 5:21, a verse we are all very familiar with. Paul wrote, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Or as The Living Bible puts it, “For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God's goodness into us!” Do you see what God has done for us and what we have done to attain this, nothing!
Listen carefully to what Jesus tells us in John 5:24, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”
People want to know what they have to do to have eternal life, they are very interested and yet, many come up with their own ideas on what eternal life is all about and how you get there. But the reality is, the answer is simple, He tells us to “Pay attention” to “Listen carefully and get this straight!” If you want everlasting life you must not only hear the Words of God, but believe them and what they teach, that Jesus is the Messiah, our Savior and you must receive Him into your life to obtain this everlasting life, that abundant life that is only found in Him!
Also note that we can know that we have eternal life, we don’t have to guess, we don’t have to hope! If we believe that Jesus is Lord and Savior, if we receive Him into our lives, we can be assured that we have eternal life! What peace that brings. Now, if we were to work our way into heaven, have to do this or do that, we would never know if we have made it in until we die and then, well, it is too late if you miss the boat. That would make you crazy, but Jesus says that we can know if we have eternal life, and like I said, there is great comfort and peace in knowing that.
Not only that, but in I John, the writer of the Gospel According to John, speaks on this very issue once again. He tells us in I John 5:11-13, “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.”
This is so simple, if you are in Christ, if you are saved, you will have that abundant life, that everlasting life, that eternal life. But, apart from Him, if Jesus is not your Lord and Savior, you will not have that abundant life but your eternity will be in the Lake of Fire enduring the punishment of God for your sins because you refused the pardon for your sins that is only found in Christ!
One of the reasons John wrote this letter was to let believers know that they can be assured of their salvation, that you can know if you are saved, that you have eternal life, but how? Are you in the Son, Jesus Christ? You see, like I have said, if you are not then you don’t have eternal life and if you are you do have eternal life. What a great comfort once again that should be to each of us!
Thus, as we are justified in Christ, as the righteousness of Christ is imputed into our lives by faith the moment we believe, we can know that we have eternal life, not because what we have done, but because of what He has done!
Now, as we move on Paul is going to show us the benefits, the blessings that we have in Christ. You see, we are saved and out of that there are many blessings and Paul will focus on eight wonderful blessings that we have in Christ and it is not based on how good we are but purely by our relationship with Jesus! Erwin Lutzer put it like this, “The doctrine of justification is the foundation that supports all of the other benefits we receive from Christ.” And so let’s now begin to look at these benefits we have in Christ, those blessings so that we may be thankful for all He has given to us and be able to share these with others!
VERSE 1b
The first benefit and one that is obviously important to us is that we have PEACE WITH GOD when we have Jesus and have been justified by faith. Now for many, they would disagree with what I am going to say here, but I am sorry, this is just the truth, not because I have said it, but this is what the Scriptures teach us and that is the bottom line!
Every single person who has rejected Jesus Christ, every single person who is not justified by faith, is at war with God! They are fighting against God! I do realize that there are many religious people who would argue that point, but it is just the way it is. If you are not for God then you are against Him. If Jesus is not your Lord and Savior, if you are just a professor of God and not a possessor of Him, then you are at war with God!
Again, don’t get mad at me, listen to what Paul says in Romans 8:7-8 regarding this issue, “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” The Amplified Bible puts these verses like this, “[That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Law; indeed it cannot. So then those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him.”
This is a powerful point that Paul is making here. He is saying, “The carnal mind is enmity against God.” Not “The carnal mind was at enmity with God.” Because of that condition they are in is Paul saying that they can only please God when they really do good? Not at all, Paul says that those who are not born again, those who remain in the flesh can never please God until they are born again! How can that be? That is not fair! Why is that true? Because you are created to bring pleasure to God and thus, if you are at war with Him, you will not please Him and you will be at war with Him until you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior! In Revelation 4:11 we are told of this very thing, the reason why we were created and this is from the King James Version of the Bible, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”
In regards to this, listen to what Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 48:22, “‘There is no peace,’ says the Lord, ‘for the wicked.’” And in Isaiah 57:20-21 we are told, “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, When it cannot rest, Whose waters cast up mire and dirt. ‘There is no peace,’ Says my God, ‘for the wicked.’”
So the wicked, those that are not justified in Christ are at war with God and of this enmity against God, Spurgeon said:
“It is not black, but blackness; it is not at enmity, but enmity itself; it is not corrupt, but corruption; it is not rebellious, it is rebellion; it is not wicked, it is wickedness itself. The heart, though it be deceitful, is positively deceit; it is evil in the concrete, sin in the essence, it is the distillation, the quintessence of all things that are vile; it is not envious against God, it is envy; it is not at enmity, it is actual enmity.”
In other words, they are more interested in their own will than God’s will. They are the master of their destiny and refuse to bow their knee to God. Thus, they are not subject to God’s Law and they are warring against God for Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.” Matthew 12:30.
Pastor Chuck Smith summarizes this fact like this:
“At one time we were at war against God, against the laws of God. We were rebels, rebelling against God's laws. Feeling that they were too restrictive. Mistaken in our concept of the law, we thought that God was seeking to hinder us from a full, rich life, when in reality, the purpose was to bring us to a full, rich life. But Satan had deceived and blinded our eyes. Sin looked attractive. It looked exciting, but the consequences of sin was something that we didn’t see.
Jesus said come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest. Or I will give you peace. And you know when a person accepts Jesus Christ, as their Lord and Savior, suddenly you realize that the war is over. I’m no longer fighting against God. There is such peace! There is such rest. You go home and you lie there on your pillow. You look up and say, hey God, I’m on Your side now. Not fighting against You anymore. And you just feel that warmth and that glow of knowing that there is no more war. There’s no more rebellion. I’ve surrendered. And now I belong to Him. And the glorious peace because I’m no longer at enmity with God.”
But again, many feel that by their own actions, they can be justified before God and thus, attain peace with God! I recently heard an interview with Ryan O’Neal regarding Farrah Fawcett’s battle with cancer. She is dying. And he said that she was a religious person and one day he entered her room and she was praying the rosary and that was justification for her getting into heaven, that she was at peace with God! And when I heard that my heart broke for her because salvation is not obtained by praying the rosary or any works on our part.
But here is the good news folk’s. The good news is our eyes have been opened and we have received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and by grace through faith we have been declared justified before God, we are at peace with God, no longer fighting against Him because, as Ephesians 2:14a says, “For He Himself is our peace . . .” Jesus is our peace!
That is not to say we don’t struggle, as Spurgeon tells us, “I am delighted to find that sin stings you, and that you hate it. The more hatred of sin the better. A sin-hating soul is a God-loving soul. If sin never distresses you, then God has never favored you.”
Folks, we are not at peace with sin or the Devil or this world, we are at peace with God, which then puts sin, the Devil and this world at war with us! And don’t we find that true in our daily lives as we try to live for the Lord? Of course we do. We do battle every day with sin, the Devil and this world because it is trying to fight against the way we want to live, to please the Lord, not for our salvation, but out of love for Him!
Now let me also say this, you can never experience the peace OF God in your life until you first make peace WITH God, and, as I have said, that is only done through Jesus. Once we make peace WITH God, Paul tells us “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Or as The Amplified Bible puts it, “Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition ( definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. And God's peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7.
What a glorious promise to each of us, the peace of God that surpasses all understanding but is very real in our lives once we make peace WITH God through Jesus Christ! We might not understand it, but when we are going through a difficult time, we can feel it; we know the peace OF God in our lives!
And so, the first benefit and one that is really important is that we can have peace WITH God because of what Jesus has done for us and it is out of that peace WITH God that we can experience the peace OF God in our lives. For those that are not saved, that have not made peace with God, I am sorry but you cannot enjoy that peace, that relationship with God.
Peter put it like this in I Peter 3:18, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.” And The Amplified Bible puts this verse like this, “For Christ [the Messiah Himself] died for sins once for all, the Righteous for the unrighteous (the Just for the unjust, the Innocent for the guilty), that He might bring us to God. In His human body He was put to death, but He was made alive in the spirit.”
Why did Jesus have to bring us to the Father in the first place? Because our sin has separated us from God and there was no way to bridge that gap, to make peace apart from the shedding of His blood. And it is the cross that has bridged that gap for us, the work that Christ has done and now we have access to God the Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Once again, we have PEACE WITH GOD, the first benefit!
VERSE 2a
The second benefit that we have when we are justified by faith is that we have ACCESS TO GOD. Keep in mind that for the Jew’s, they were kept from God’s presence by the veil in the temple. Only the high priest could enter into the holy of holies, the place where God dwelt above the mercy seat between the Cherubim and he could only enter in once a year, on the Day of Atonement. And even then, the high priest would have to go through a rigorous ceremonial cleansing before he could enter in. And keep in mind he could not just enter and sit down and speak with God, there were no chairs in the holy of holies. He went in, sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice on the mercy seat and then he went out. He did not spend much time in there at all in the presence of God.
And for the Gentiles, they were kept out of the temple, they were only able to gather in the court of the Gentiles and there was a sign placed that said any Gentile that is caught beyond this point will be put to death. Thus, not only did the veil separate the Gentiles from the presence of God, but there were many walls and now this sign! So, once again we see not only were the Jew’s kept from the presence of God, but so were the Gentiles!
First let’s deal with the Jew’s and then we will look at the Gentiles, because they do go hand-in-hand as you will see. In Matthew 27:50-51 we are told this as Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split.”
So as Jesus gave up His Spirit, as He died, the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom signifying that God opened this veil. This veil was some 18 inches thick and it separated man from God, the holy place from the holy of holies where the ark was and the presence of God dwelt. Ripping this veil showed that man could now come before God through Jesus Christ, he did not have to go through the priest. You see, as I have said, it was only the high priest who could enter the holy of holies and only once a year, on Yon Kippur or the Day of Atonement, after a rigorous ceremonial cleansing. But now Jesus has taken down that curtain and for the Jew, he can come before God, not in his own righteousness, but His!
Now, that wall of separation was not only opened for the Jews, but also for the Gentiles. How do I know that? Because the Scriptures tell us this fact that both Jews and Gentiles have access to God the Father through Jesus Christ! In Ephesians 2:14-18 Paul tells us, “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.”
Thus, believing Jews and Gentiles have access to God! In Hebrews 10:19-20 we are told, “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh.” You see, through Christ we can boldly come before the Father, the way to God has been opened up to us through Jesus, and thus, as Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Now I do realize that some people feel all roads lead to God, you can approach God any way you want. I totally disagree with that line of thinking, it is not correct and it gives people a false hope. What did Jesus say in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. [And you can come to the Father any way you want”]? Absolutely not! Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Apart from Christ you do not have access to God the Father, PERIOD!
In Isaiah 59:1-2 we see this very clearly. Isaiah tells us, “Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.” I think that is clear, don’t you?
Now, here in Romans 5:2, when Paul says that we have “access” to God, it is a Greek word from which we get our English word, “protocol” from. In other words, the proper way to come into the presences of the King is Jesus! In fact, He is the only way we can come before God the Father, it is the proper protocol, it is the only way!
Years ago there was a story of a little boy who was visiting Buckingham Palace with his family. And this little boy wanted to see the queen, but of course he was not able. But he did make a lot of ruckus and finally a man asked him what was wrong and he told this man, “I want to see the queen and they won’t let me,” as he pointed to the guards. Well, the man said, “Follow me,” and they marched right on by all the guards as they stood at attention before this man. In fact, they even opened doors for this man! And he brought this boy right to the queen. How did he do it? He was the Prince and thus, he had access, he could do it just as our Prince, Jesus Christ can bring us to God the Father. We can’t do it on our own, but He has opened the way for us and it is through Him!
And did you notice that this access to God is by faith and that this is all a grace gift given to us by God. We don’t earn it, we don’t deserve it, it is freely given to us by faith. Thus, if that is true, and it is, this grace standing that we have that is by faith and through Jesus, we can’t lose. You can’t work your way out of it, why? Because you did nothing to obtain it but receive it by faith! Paul, in Hebrews 11:5 tells us about Enoch. He wrote, “By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, ‘and was not found, because God had taken him’; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”
Think about this for a minute. Enoch is walking with his friend Bob, and they are talking, and Bob turns and Enoch is gone, where? God took him to Heaven! On what basis did the Lord take him to Heaven? It tells us that he “pleased God” and thus, he must have been a good boy for God to do that, right? Absolutely wrong!
Look at the next verse, Hebrews 11:6 and you will see what I mean. You will see why God was pleased with Enoch and took him. We are told, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Did you see that? Apart from faith it is IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE GOD! There is not even the slightest possibility apart from faith to please God and that faith must be by grace alone in Christ alone! You cannot work yourself into this kind of standing with God!
There is another important point here. Paul tells us that this access to God is a permanent possession for us. We can’t lose it. The perfect verb tense of “have access” indicates that for us! Our access to God is permanent and it is Jesus who brings us to God as Peter tells us, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.” I Peter 3:18.
I like the way that Clarke put this. He wrote, “And this access to God, or introduction to the Divine presence, is to be considered a lasting privilege. We are not brought to God for the purpose of an interview, but to remain with him; to be his household; and by faith, to behold his face, and walk in the light of his countenance.” That is what our Lord has done for us!
Now here’s the thing. If our standing before God is based solely upon grace, unmerited favor extended to us by God, we can really stand and have peace because our accesses to God is a permanent possession, and it can never be taken away, not later today, tomorrow next year or in 10 years or 50 years or 100 years, it can never be taken away! Thus, we have ACCESS TO GOD through Jesus Christ, the second benefit!
VERSE 2b
The third benefit we have when we are justified by faith is that we are to REJOICE IN HOPE OF THE GLORY OF GOD. Think about this for a minute. What is the result of having peace with God, with having access to God or standing in the grace of God? We should rejoice in the hope of the glory of God! That just makes sense! You see, I can rejoice in knowing that the glory of God will be made manifest in me! That the work that God has begun in me He will complete!
In fact, Paul tells us in Romans 8:30, “Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” The Amplified Bible puts this verse like this, “And those whom He thus foreordained, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified (acquitted, made righteous, putting them into right standing with Himself). And those whom He justified, He also glorified [raising them to a heavenly dignity and condition or state of being].”
He not only called us, justified us, but He also glorified us. This is the final step of the sanctification process and it will occur when we go to be with the Lord and yet Paul states this work, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is in the past tense. Why does Paul speak of something that has not happened as if it already did? Because that is how sure it is, God will complete the work He started because He foreknew us!
It is as Jesus said in John 6:37, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.” And in John 18:9 we are told by Jesus, “ . . . ‘Of those whom You gave Me I have lost none.’” If you are His, He will not lose you – it is a promise – you are already seen as glorified in the Father’s eyes – that is how certain it is! You see, from God’s perspective, I am, you are, already glorified!
Now to rejoice in this means that we are to boast in the sense of jubilation, to shout about it! Is that our attitude as we go through our day, our life? It should be. You see, we should be shouting for joy in regards to all that God has done for us! Now, look at other religions, like many of the eastern religions that believe in re-incarnation, is there any hope in that? Obviously not, you never know where you will end up, what you will become. Imagine, being re-incarnated into a Green Bay Packer fan! I shudder just thinking about that, and of course, not much hope! Sorry, but you know what I mean. It is the nightmare of re-incarnation and there is no hope in that. What about existentialists, do they have any hope? Well, you tell me. The Dictionary says this about existentialism, “A philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts.” There is no hope there as they see they future as absurd! For evolutionists, it is a survival of the fittest and again, what hope is there in that if you are not strong, healthy, wealthy or whatever? There is no hope in that! But we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God!
And please listen to how certain this is for us. First, Paul tells us in Philippians 3:20-21, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.” We will be raised in glory one day, not by our own efforts, but by Christ and our faith in Him!
Also, in Ephesians 1:11-14, “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”
That is God’s plan and now our place in that plan as we are in Christ is that “we have obtained an inheritance” which in the Greek is one word, KLERRO (klay-ro’-o) and it is in the aorist passive indicative which basically means it is a future event that was so certain to happen that the Greeks spoke as if it had already occurred! And folks, we have a guarantee of this inheritance, to be raised in glory and that is a certainty!
And thus, the third benefit of being justified by faith is that we are to REJOICE IN HOPE OF THE GLORY OF GOD!
And notice what we have so far:
“Peace with God” takes care of the past: He will no longer hold our sins against us.
“Access to God” takes care of the present: we can come to Him at any time for the help we need.
“Hope of the glory of God” takes care of the future: one day we shall share in His glory!
We are obviously not going to cover all eight benefits of righteousness that God has given to us and we will continue looking at these next time. But as I close this morning, we have seen that we can have peace with God and that peace with God is only obtained through Jesus Christ. Apart from Him, we are at war with God. And secondly, we have access to God the Father through Jesus Christ and only through Him. And lastly, the third point is that we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Do you see a recurring theme here? You should, because it is all about Jesus and what He has done for us and what we receive by faith, THE BENEFITS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS!