(I had two busy weeks but I will attempt to get “back in the saddle” today.)
Romans 5:1-2 (NKJV) 1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
I believe the Lord has spoken to me for my life and for our church that 2013 is to be a year of great favor. In the context God showed this to me, he was talking about favor with people and in the affairs of life. However, you cannot enter any discussion of favor without looking at favor with God or what the New Testament calls grace. The greatest revelation on this powerful bible truth comes from the apostle Paul. I want to spend some time this week looking at what he has to say about grace in the book of Romans.
In Romans chapters 1 through 4 Paul has a great deal to say about man’s condition as a result of the fall as well as God’s response. Paul makes it clear that everyone has sinned in some way and fallen short of God’s glory. (Romans 3:23) In Romans 4 Paul tells us of the faith of Abraham. He explains that there were no works that Abraham did in order to become righteousness before God. Abraham believed God and it was that faith which was accounted to him as righteousness.
We are made right with God by believing in what Jesus did in his death, burial and resurrection. In Romans 5 Paul begins to reveal what we are to believe in and what God did in order to produce the freedom in Christ we are now able to enjoy.
In today’s verse we read the word “therefore.” This word connects what comes next with what went before. Paul is saying that since every person is guilty before God and has no other escape from judgment, we must understand that we stand justified before God only on the basis of our faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Those who have accessed this wonderful salvation have peace with God.
It goes on to say that along with peace we have access by faith into the grace of God by which we stand. Grace is unmerited favor. God chooses to do something for us that we do not deserve simply because he is not willing to allow us to enter an eternity separated from him without challenge. Grace as expressed in the salvation found in Jesus is the challenge.
Grace has two components. The first component of grace is what God does for the lost. Ephesians 2:12 says that those who are outside of Christ are “without hope and without God in the world.” Those who are not saved have no standing with God. The sin of Adam in the garden put a gulf between God and man that nothing can bridge. The sin nature that came upon Adam at the fall passed on all of his descendants. The only payment for this sin nature is the death of the sinner. Once that occurs there is no hope of salvation.
Since man sinned of his own accord, God had no obligation to do anything about his condition. However, God chose not to leave man in that condition so he took upon himself the likeness of sinful flesh and paid the death penalty for man. Since God in the flesh, the man Jesus, did not owe the payment, it could be legally applied to whomever God chose to apply it. God chose to apply to all those who would receive the sacrifice as payment for their sin and subsequently submit to Jesus as the Lord of their life. All who will do this are saved from eternal separation from God.
This is the pre-salvation and eternal element of Grace. God did for us what we could not do or ourselves. He did it because of his great love for his children not because of any obligation. He did not do it begrudgingly but with great willingness. We did nothing to deserve this favor from God. We can do nothing to earn it. We simply need to receive it and the benefit of eternal salvation by grace is ours.
The effect of grace is complete. The blood of Jesus pays for all of our past sin. There is nothing left to bring condemnation upon us. Look at what Paul tells the Colossian church.
Colossians 2:14 (NKJV)
14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
Grace in the blood of Jesus has taken the legal papers listing the charges against us in the spirit and literally erased the writing from the page. The Devil has no record of our sin. God chooses not to remember anything we have done before we are saved. 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 is reality for every believer.
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 (NKJV)
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
One of the most important things we can learn is that Christianity is not a change of philosophy or religion. Christianity is a fundamental change of the nature of the believer. When any person receives the sacrifice of Jesus as the payment for their sin and accepts Jesus Lordship over their life, that person becomes completely new. They have no past in the spirit. They have committed no sins. They are just as pure as a newborn baby in the eyes of God. That is why Jesus said what he did to Nicodemus.
John 3:3 (NKJV)
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
This is how completely grace does its job in the life of an unbeliever. We do not have to confess all of our past sins to be saved. We do not have to do penance for our past sins after we receive Jesus as Lord. There are no past sins on record for the “New Creature.” The handwriting has been washed away by the blood of Jesus!
This is a powerful truth, but it is only half of what the grace of God is designed to do. The moment we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior we are cleansed of every past sin. More important, we are cleansed of the sin nature that compelled us to sin in the first place. The question we must ask next is, “What about the sins we commit after salvation? Are they paid for as well?”
The answer to that has become somewhat controversial. The short answer is yes. Jesus was crucified 2000 years ago. He was buried and rose from the dead at the same time. He could not have paid for some sins and not others. Jesus paid for all sin for all time. (Heb. 9:26) However, he also paid for the sins of all those who have not received him as Lord. Yet they will spend eternity in hell if they do not access the forgiveness available to them by grace through faith.
Jesus paid for all sin for every person for all time potentially. That means we must access this forgiveness by faith. To the unbeliever this means wiping away the past. For the believer this means we must receive forgiveness of our current sins by faith. (1 John 1:8-10) It is this function of grace that Paul tells us in Romans 5:1 will keep us after we receive the New Birth which makes us new creatures in Christ Jesus.
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