The Results of Faith

 So far in our study of the book of Romans, Paul has been working out this other way of righteousness. We’ve seen that all of humanity has a sin problem. But, from the very beginning, God has always had another way of righteousness. It is not a righteousness that is based on our good works, but a righteousness based on God’s grace, which we receive by faith.

Now, Paul takes another turn in his letter to explain the results of this other way of righteousness. What happens to a person who gives up on earning his way to heaven and instead trusts completely in God’s grace through Jesus Christ? The Roman Catholics would say that this person is still at risk of Hell. They believe that, when you trust in Jesus Christ, you are infused with Christ’s righteousness, but then it is up to you to keep it. Depending on the sins you commit or the lack of effort you put in, you could find yourself in purgatory or Hell. The Church of Christ believe something very similar. Still others believe that faith in Christ is enough to provide an initial cleansing, but you must finish what Jesus started. Yet the Gospel of the New Testament reveals something very different. So, let’s see how Paul would answer this question from Rom. 5:1-11. I want you to see two points from this text today: Faith results in Rest and Faith results in Reconciliation.

First, in verses 1-5 we find that faith results in rest. Paul begins this passage with a powerful statement in verse 1: “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Let me say, this verse is an essential memory verse because It is jammed with significance. First of all, Paul says that through faith, we have been “justified.” This is a word that we’ve seen a great deal already in Romans. Most significantly, in Rom. 3:20, Paul says “for by the works of the law no human being will be justified.” But now, Paul says that we have been justified by something else – namely faith. The Greek word for “justified” is dikaiao, which means “to declare righteous.” It’s a legal term. So, imagine that you are standing before a judge, and you deserve the sentence that he should pass on you. But, in the instant that the gavel comes down, the judge declares “not guilty!” The judge’s declaration makes it so, and no one can take it back. So, in a similar way, when we place our faith in Jesus Christ, God stands over us and declares, “not guilty, because of the work of my son.”

This verdict of God that we receive through faith leads to a very important consequence. Notice, Paul says that through faith we have peace with God. Remember, for the first three chapters of Romans, Paul made sure we understood that the wrath of God was being revealed against all the unrighteousness of man. God is not removed from his creation, ignoring our sins. He is not up in heaven, ringing his hands and just wishing we would do better. He is vengefully angry towards our sins and is working out his justice in this fallen world. Yet, when we turn to him in faith, because of what Christ has done on the cross, God rests from his wrath and we have peace with him.

There are two ways that we know that peace of God in the here-and-now. First, in verse 2, Paul says that we have “obtained access by faith into his grace in which we stand.” A direct result of our justification is access to the grace of God. Eph. 2:18 says “For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” Because of our faith in Christ, we have direct access to our Heavenly Father. This means that we can pray, and he hears us. But, it also means that God showers his grace on us. He readily forgives us when we sin. He gives us strength when we are weak. He enables us to love and forgive others. He gifts us so that we can bless his church and the world.

Second, in verses 3-5, Paul says that our justification gives us the power to rejoice in suffering. The harsh reality of this life is that everyone will suffer. Everyone experiences loss. Everyone faces disease. Everyone has broken relationships. For those who don’t know or have no faith in Christ, that suffering is meaningless and destructive. But, for the believer, suffering actually means something. Paul says that we can rejoice in sufferings because it brings about something good in us. First, it causes endurance. Suffering causes the believer to rely less on himself and more on God. Second, it produces character. Through suffering, we learn to be more like Christ. Finally, it produces hope. Because suffering shapes us, it also causes us to hope for that day when God will make all things new.

Next, from verses 6-11 we see that faith results in reconciliation. Here, Paul wants us to understand the depths to which God was willing to go to save us. In verse 6, he declares that while we were “still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” Paul places an emphasis on the time of Christ’s death. He died for us while we were weak. In other words, we had nothing to contribute. As Jonathan Edwards said, “the only thing we contribute to our salvation is the sin that made it necessary."

Paul wants that reality to sink in, so he points out that hardly anyone would be willing to die for a righteous man. We tend to view saving someone’s life kind of like Captain Miller did in the movie, Saving Private Ryan. After crossing through German occupied France to find Private Ryan and bring him home, Captain Miller and his company get caught up in a fierce battle. In the end, Captain Miller is mortally wounded just at the moment when his men win the battle. Private Ryan comes over to Miller to comfort him as he dies, and the captain leans forward and whispers, “Earn this.” The movie ends with an elderly Ryan kneeling over Miller’s grave with his huge family in toe. In that moment, with a face that is riddled with guilt, he tells Miller’s headstone, “I hope that in your eyes, I’ve earned what you’ve done for me.” If we were going to give our life for someone else, that’s the kind of bargain we would want to make. But, that isn’t what God did at all. Jesus didn’t come to die for a righteous man. He didn’t even die for a men that were good some of the time. No, instead, Paul says in verse 8, “God demonstrates his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” The result of that great sacrifice is our reconciliation. In verse 10, Paul says that the death and resurrection have both reconciled us to God. His death paid the full penalty for our sins, and his resurrection brings us to God and gives us access to his grace.

Friend, peace with God won’t come through doing better. It won’t come from better discipline or more meditation or greater commitment. It can only come through faith in Jesus Christ. Won’t you trust in Jesus Christ and be saved today?

Brothers and sisters, we cannot add one drop to our salvation. Jesus, in his death and resurrection has accomplished everything for our salvation. He didn’t get us in the door and now we have to make it the rest of the way. No, he has made peace between God and man. This means that we have the blessings of his grace. It also means that we can suffer with hope, knowing that everything we endure is from the hand of a loving God.