S. LET US HAVE PEACE WITH GOD

LET US HAVE PEACE WITH GOD Dr. W. A. Criswell Rom 5:1 08-01-54

Now, in your Bibles, we turn to Rom 5:1-21. And the sermon tonight is the first verse. The whole sentence is contained in two verses, so we will read the whole sentence: “Therefore”…-and the “therefore” refers to the chapters that have gone before. Paul has been proving a great spiritual revelation.

Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; By whom we have access into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

“Therefore being justified by faith”: the preceding chapters- Rom 1:1-32, Rom 2:1-29, Rom 3:1-31, Rom 4:1-25 -all have been proving that we all are sinners, and that we cannot, in our own righteousness, justify ourselves-that no man, by the deeds of the Law, could ever be saved. Paul has been proving in those previous chapters that, however good we are, we are never good enough; however holy we are, never holy enough; however “acceptable” we are, never acceptable enough.

There is always in us-always-the element of mistake, of shortcoming, of dereliction, of sin, of death. We never quite attain the full measure of the stature of God. We are never perfect enough, however we might aspire or labor or work toward that goal of holiness and perfection. We never attain it. All of us are in debt. All of us are in death. All of us are in sin.

But, says Paul, we are not saved by our efforts to be holy or our works to be good. We are not dependent upon those for justification before God. For God, seeing us in our weakness, our humanity, our sinfulness-the Lord sent into this world a mediator, a sacrifice, an atoning Savior to take our place, to be for us sanctification and justification and atonement, to pay the price the penalty of our sin. And he says, “That’s the only way that anyone who has ever been saved was saved.” And he takes, for example, Abraham, who was the founder of the Hebrew nation and who was called of God to be the father of the chosen people. In the fourth chapter, how was Abraham saved: by his works? No, for his works were not righteous and his works were not acceptable before God.

How was he saved, then? Paul, quoting from the Book of Genesis: “Abraham believed God, and his faith was counted unto him for righteousness.” Abraham was saved by faith. Abraham was saved by casting himself upon the mercies of God. Abraham was saved like all of God’s children are saved: he was saved by grace, by mercy, by the tender kindness of God.

“Therefore,” says Paul-“Therefore we, being justified by faith,” and he looks back to the end of the chapter before-“Jesus-who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification”-Jesus, our Savior: how we are justified by faith in Him. All of that, I say, was in these preceding chapters.

Now, Rom 5:1-21 begins in a different way: “Being justified, believing that, receiving that-receiving that-“Now being justified by faith”: we have a situation here where “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Well, that’s all right. That’s a good translation of the Textus Receptus of that verse. “Therefore being saved by grace”-“Therefore being saved by faith,” declared righteous, acceptable to God by trusting God for it-“being justified by faith, we have peace with God.”

Now, that word translated “we have peace” is one of those words that these great brilliant scholars-I don’t know how many years they’ve been discussing it-is that Greek word there echomen, or is it echomen? Isn’t that a funny thing? You know, the whole Roman Empire was, one time, divided over a Greek iota. And they went to war and tore up the church and the whole Roman Empire over a Greek iota. Did you know that? In the days of Arius and Athanasius, one of them said Jesus is homoousias. The other said He was homoiousias, with a Greek iota in there. A discussion of the essence of Jesus: was he one in essence with God, or was he of a substance like the Father? Well, that controversy, I think, tore up the Roman Empire.

These scholars looks at this text here: “Therefore being justified by faith, exomen”-omicron. Is it an omicron ‘o’ or an omega ‘o?’ If it is an omicron, “we have peace with God” is right. It is an active linear indicative. But, if it is that omega, it is active volative subjunctive: “Therefore being justified by faith, let us have peace with God-let us have peace with God.”

Well, how do you think it is? I think it’s an omicron. I think the manuscript evidence shows, without doubt, that the true text here is “Therefore being justified by faith, let us have peace with God”-now, having settled this thing with God-“let us have peace”-let us rejoice in that salvation-same thing that you will find over there in Mat 21:1-46, where Jesus, telling the parable of the wicked husbandmen, where he built a vineyard, then went away. He sent back servants and they beat one, and killed another. Then, the lord said, “I’ll send them my son, and they’ll reverence my son.”

So, the lord sent his son into the vineyard. And they said, “This is the heir; let us-volative subjunctive-kill him, and let us seize-let us take hold of-his inheritance.” That volative subjunctive is here.

“Therefore being justified by faith, let us have peace with God.” That’s the joy of our religion. That’s the Acts 9:1-43 : “Then the church enjoyed peace… .” That’s what Paul is writing here.

“Therefore being justified by faith”-being saved, being Christian, being acceptable to God, through the Lord-“being justified by faith”-now, let’s enjoy our religion-let’s settle this thing about our conversion-and in peace and in thanksgiving to God-“By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice-and are glad-in hope of the glory of God.”

I don’t know how many of us-I don’t know how many of us-I was down there at the camp, listening to our children and they came and talked to me-Thursday night, a great group of those children came. And they took my hand-and some of them were weeping-and they were saying to me-I mean, a host of them were saying to me: “I have been baptized and I belong to the church. But, I don’t know whether I’m saved or not-I don’t know whether I’m a child of God or not. I’m don’t know whether I’m born again or not.” And that troubles me-that troubles me to no end. These children: we are so careful with them, and we try to be so everlastingly responsible. And you know me-I work together with the parents and the Sunday school teachers. We do everything we can. And then, I’m standing out there at the camp. And the children talk to me like that: “Preacher, I don’t know whether I’m saved or not. I don’t know whether I’m born again or not.” And then we make an evangelistic appeal here in a service, and people come down here and stand in front of this rostrum, in answer to an appeal. And they don’t know whether they have been saved or not. “Pastor, I don’t know whether I’m a child of God or not. I don’t know whether I’m saved or not. I don’t know whether I’m a Christian or not. I have no assurance.” And I look at the throng-and the throng and the throng-some of our own people go down there and they say: “I don’t have assurance. I don’t know if I’m saved. I don’t know if I’m converted. I don’t know if I’ve been born again. And I’m troubled and I’m miserable.” And you are in trouble and in misery. That’s what Paul is talking about. That’s the thing I’m going to preach about here tonight. In the fifth chapter of the Book of Romans: “Therefore being justified by faith, let us have peace with God… .” We’re not to live in trouble and misery and agony and wonder whether we are born again. It’s a terrible way to live. It’s an awful state in which to find ourselves. That thing was true in the Bible, again and again. In the sixth chapter of the Book of Hebrews, this is the thing that, whoever he is-I think it was Apollos-this is the thing that Apollos was writing to that little church:

Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto maturity; not laying again the foundation of repentance toward dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms… and all the rest.

Those things back there about repentance and faith and baptism-he calls them rudimentary principles, first principles. And we ought to get over them and beyond them and get on with it, and go on to maturity, to be full-grown Christians.

But, you can’t-you can’t, as long as you live that’s there. So, you ask, “Am I saved or am I lost? Am I justified or am I condemned? Am I dead in Christ, or am I alive in Him? How is it with me? How is it with me?” And I tell you, that thing is everywhere-it’s everywhere. You can go through the church, and through the Sunday school, and up and down these aisles, and ask our people: “Do you have great assurance-do you know that you know?” And so many will equivocate: “Preacher, I have tried and I have tried. I went down the aisle. I was baptized. But, honestly, I don’t know. I don’t know. I’m in doubt. Sometimes, I think I am and sometimes, I think I’m not.” And it’s a miserable way to live our faith. And it’s an affront to God and it makes for poor religion.

That’s the reason Paul starts off here, at the beginning of the fifth chapter of the Book of Romans: “Therefore being justified by faith, echomen-peace with God… .” “Let us have-volative subjunctive-let us seize-let us seize-let us hold-let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

Now, how is it that a man can have “peace with God?” How do you become that Christian? How do you get out of that limbo of not knowing for sure? How do you do it? How do you get to where you enjoy it?

“Therefore being justified by faith-being justified by faith”: You do it by trusting Jesus. And that’s all you can do, I don’t care what else you try. It’s by trusting Jesus. There’s nothing else. There’s not any other way. It’s done by trusting Jesus.

“Preacher, I don’t believe that. I believe you have to trust Jesus and do some good works.” Then, you’ll be in misery all the days of your life.

How will you know if you’ve enough good works or not? How will you know-how will you ever know if you’ve done enough to get to heaven?

Trust in Jesus, and add something else-how will you know if you did enough, or if you did it right? That’s the way to be in misery, and in agony, all the rest of your life.

How do you know? It comes by trusting Jesus. That’s the whole of it. That’s the sum of it. It’s the middle, the beginning and the end of it. You’re justified by faith-by trusting Jesus.

You come down that aisle 40 dozen times, and it will always be the same way: trusting the Lord Jesus. There’s nothing you can add-nothing. And it’s an eternal salvation, that’s never taken away. That soul that on Jesus, Hath leaned for repose, I’ll never, no, never, Desert to his foes. That soul, though all hell Should endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no, never, forsake.

What more can he say Than to you He hath said, To you, who for refuge, To Jesus have fled?

All of it is locked up in that word-we’re saved by looking to Jesus, by trusting in Jesus. There’s nothing besides trusting the Lord Jesus. You cannot be partly saved. A man is not partly dead and partly alive. He’s either dead or he’s alive.

We’re never partly justified and partly condemned. We’re either condemned or we’re justified. There’s no partial state before God. I’m either lost or I’m saved-one or the other. I’m either condemned or I’m justified-one or the other. I’m in Christ or I’m out of Christ.

-Just like you are in this world: you’re either alive or you’re dead-one or the other, one or the other. Now, you may be sick. You may be half-sick. But, if you’re still alive, you’re alive. It doesn’t matter how sick you are, or how low you are, to be alive is to be alive and to be dead is to be dead. And one is not the other. And it’s the same way in God: I’m saved or I’m lost. I’m justified or I’m condemned. And I’m one or the other.

“Preacher, how do you get to be justified?” By faith. You are one or the other. We are justified by trusting in Jesus-looking to Jesus, looking to Jesus, trusting the Lord Jesus, depending on the Lord Jesus.

“Well, I don’t know if I depend upon Him enough?” You don’t even need to qualify it with “enough.” “I don’t know if I believe in Him enough.” You don’t need to qualify that with “enough” faith. Your faith may be bold and vigorous. Or your faith may be weak and apologetic. It’s not what kind of faith. It’s whether you trust Jesus. That’s it. The Lord saith, “On such-and-such night My death angel passes over. And any man who has sprinkled on the door lintel blood, if he will get under that blood, in that house, my angel shall pass over. But, when the angel passes over, and sees that there is no blood on the lintel of the doorpost-if there is no blood on the lintel-death will visit that house. Death will come into that home. “ And I can imagine that night. Can’t you? In an awful, solemn moment, when you could hear the leaves rustle, that angel passes over every house in the land of Egypt. On the inside of the house, under the blood on the lintel, I can imagine all kinds of people. Can’t you? Some of them, shallow; some of them, profound; some of them, with great faith; some of them, with little faith; some of them, with great questioning; some of them, in doubt and in dread; some of them, in perfect peace-trusting in the Lord.

But, if they were under the blood-if they were in that house-if they had enough faith to walk in the door, they were safe. The angel passed over and there was life in that house.

That’s the same thing as we find in this thing here tonight. There are some of you with strong faith. There are some of you with a little faith. There are some of you with questionings. There are some of you who, in dread and in fear, wonder. There are some of you who have perfect peace. But, if you’re under the blood; if you’re trusting Jesus; if you’re in Christ; if you’ve taken Jesus as your Savior, you’re safe and you’re saved, forever and forever. As Paul says here, “Having been justified by faith, let us rest in peace-let us have peace with God-let us enjoy our religion-let us be glad in Him.” And I want to preach about that tonight. That’s my introduction.

You people better pray for me, too. I’ll tell you: I’m preaching myself to death. But, there’s so much here to say. How do you say it? How do you say it? Now, I’ll preach about that. The work of Christ for us is a finished and completed work. The work of redemption-the work of our salvation-is a final and completed-eternally completed-work. If God is God, when the Lord Jesus died on the Cross, He said, “It is finished-It is finished.” When the Lord Jesus prayed, in the High Priestly Prayer, of the seventeenth chapter of the Book of John, He said to God, His Father: “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.”

What is finished? The work of redemption-the work of atonement-the work of salvation: it is done-it is finished forever and ever. It’s a great historical fact. It happened 2,000 years ago.

Now, the work of the Spirit in me is never finished. The Holy Spirit could never say, “It is finished.” Only Christ could say that. The work of the Spirit in me, inside of me, is ongoing, helping me to love some of the people that I don’t love: “Lord, help me to love them.” There’s just some people that you look at and is it’s hard to love them. But, in the power of the Holy Spirit, God said, “Love ‘em. Love ‘em.” Did you hear that? Some of you just need to put your meanness right there. Yes, Sir. “The fruit of the Spirit is love-love… and joy.” When I see someone, and he’s down in the mouth-and he had a loan called yesterday, and he can’t make the payment on the debt-I say, “Brother, you need to get over that. That’s why you have faith-joy-joy.

Peace-peace. I know it’s stressful out there where you are, fighting with your wife. Some of you fellas around here: Cut that out! Peace!

Long-suffering-long-suffering; gentleness; goodness; meekness-meekness. My, my, wonder if the Holy Spirit can ever transform some of us-I reckon He will.

Why, as long as you live, there’s the work of the Holy Spirit in you. And the Holy Spirit is never done with us. No matter how good we are, we need to be better-we need to be better. And the Holy Spirit continues the work in us. The work of Christ is finished-forever and ever. No man adds to that. No man takes away from that. You’re not saved by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit cannot cancel sin. What cancels sin is the blood atonement of Jesus Christ, God’s Son. “And the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin.”

“This is the blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sin.”

We are saved by the blood of Jesus. We are saved by the atonement of Christ. We are saved by His Cross, by His sacrifice, by His death on the tree. We are justified by trusting in that final, finished work of Jesus. And it’s done forever. It’s done forever.

You can’t trust Jesus’ atonement and then say, “I’ll add this and that and that. I must trust Jesus and be baptized. I must trust Jesus and keep the commandments. I must trust Jesus and”-No! There’s not any “and.” You’re saved by trusting Jesus and Jesus alone. Do you remember Nicodemus? Jesus said to him, “You must be born again.”

Nicodemus said, “How can a man be born again?” And the Lord replied, “This is the way that a man is saved, that a man becomes a child of God: As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up; that whosoever trusts in Him-looks to Him-may be saved.” Looking to Jesus-washed in the blood of the Lamb-looking to Jesus-saved by the atoning grace of Christ Jesus.

Jesus never said to Nicodemus, “You must get yourself born again.” You can’t do it. I’m still waiting for someone to say, “I got myself born” the first time.

You had to have your mama. You had to have your papa. It’s unfair for you to say that you had something to do with being born the first time. It’s ludicrous. And for you to say, “I got myself born the second time” is equally inanity and ludicrousness. You’ll never get yourself born the second time any more than you got yourself born the first time.

Nicodemus asked, “Master, how can a man climb back into his mother’s womb?” And Jesus said, “Nicodemus, no, no, no. A man being born again is like the serpent being lifted up in the wilderness. Whosoever trusts in Him-looks to Him-looks to Him, is born again. He becomes a child a God looking to Jesus-looking to Jesus.”

All the work of the Spirit-He brings the fruit; He gives the fruit; He brings all the gifts of the faith that glorify God in heaven.

But, I’m saved-I’m born again-by looking to Jesus, by looking to Jesus. That’s the principle. I could never repent enough-I could never repent enough. I could never do enough. I could never cry enough. “I’m miserable. I don’t know how I could ever make it to God. And when I look at all these other people, they’re miserable and they can’t help me. And when I look at all the other faiths, and works, and baptisms, I still don’t know what to do.”

But, looking to Jesus, I have peace. Being justified by faith, we have nothing but peace with God, forever, in the Lord Jesus.”

I think of Simon Peter as, so many times, typical of us: Jesus, walking on the water, in the middle of the night, and Peter, with the disciples.

Jesus says, “It is I. Be not afraid-be not afraid.” And Simon Peter says, “If it is thou, let me come unto thee upon the water.” And the Lord says, “Come-come. Don’t hesitate.” Will you trust God? It doesn’t have to be some kind of tremendous faith. You just have to trust God.

“If you want to walk on the water to me, just get out of the boat and walk on the water to me.” And Simon Peter had enough faith-had enough trust in Jesus-to get out of the boat. And he was walking to Jesus on the water. He was walking on the water, going to the Lord Jesus. And while he was in the midst of the sea, he took his eye off the Lord. And he began to look at the wind and the waves. And he was filled with fear and he began to sink, and cried, “Lord, save me.” And Jesus reached to where he was, and said, “Simon, why-why do you doubt? Why do you look at the wind, Simon? Why?” As long as he looked at Jesus, he walked on the water. While he looked at Jesus, there was peace. There was tranquility. In the wind and the waves, he walked on the water.

But, when he looked away from Jesus, at the wind and the waves, he was filled with fear and terror. He began to sink into that wave. As long as we look to Jesus-as long as we are centered in the Lord Jesus, there is peace and tranquility. As long as we’re trusting in Him, even if I’m not all right, He’s all right. I may be filled with fear, but the Rock on which we stand never moves.

Looking to Jesus-looking to Jesus, we have peace in Him, not in things, not in others, not in the church, not in man, not in creeds, systems, doctrines. We have our peace in the Lord Jesus Christ: “Being justified by faith, let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”-looking to Him, looking to Him, looking to Jesus.

Looking to Jesus-He’s our all in all. We’ve got to quit. He’s our all in all. Are you in Christ Jesus, who has been made unto us-He’s made Christ for us our wisdom, and our salvation, and our sanctification. “As it is written, let him who glories, glory in the Lord.”

“Of him, ye are in Christ, who, of God, is made unto us our righteousness.” I despair of my own. He is our righteousness.

“He is made unto us our sanctification.”