The Beauty of Justification in Christ

This sermon is from Grace Fellowship Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. To access other sermons or to learn more about us, please visit our website at graceedmonton .ca.

The Need to Keep Returning to Justification by Faith Alone

Well, it is my privilege to get to preach on this chapter now twice in one day. And I will warn you ahead of time that because I'm preaching a full chapter, it's just not going to be an exhaustive study.

But what I hope to do is to bring out some of the cream of Romans chapter 5, if I can. And my intent today is to provide a survey of the magnificent doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ.

And because you are here every week, you know that we don't preach on this theme weekly, but we preach on it frequently. And you might wonder to yourself, how many times can we hear about justification in Christ, justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone?

And I would go so far as to insist that we can never hear the truths of our justification too often. We need to hear about this wondrous and this paramount theme of justification as often as we are gathered together as Christ's people.

Because if we do not dwell on these themes, we will lose them. If not in this generation, then in the next generation, or in the generation after that. It has been said, and I would add the caveat, that if the Lord would allow it, the church is really only one generation away from being extinct.

And while I believe in the preserving power of God, and I believe that Christ will build his church, and that the church will never fully dissolve, I think at the same time, history would demonstrate that this threat is far more real than we would care to admit.

The History of Romans, the Latin Vulgate, and the Reformation

And I have a case in point. When we look at the Apostle Paul, he wrote this book to the Romans, this letter to the Romans, probably in about AD 56. He was writing it, we have good reason to believe, from the city of Corinth.

You see in Romans chapter 16 and verse 1 his mention of Centuria, which was a port in the city of Corinth. And it was probably on his third missionary journey. And for all of those of us who have read the book of Romans, I'm sure it's all of us at this point, we know that contained within this book of Romans are some of the clearest and most cogent gospel truths in all of the New Testament.

I have, and you should have absolutely zero doubt about the fact that Paul taught a full and free justification that is a declared righteousness that is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.

He preached this gospel, he guarded this gospel in about AD 66 or so, he died for this gospel. And yet just a few centuries later, by the year AD 382, a man named Pope Damasus, as he was known at least, commissioned a Latin translation of the Bible that later became known as the Latin Vulgate.

And a leading scholar in the church at that time was a man named Jerome, who was commissioned to translate this Greek Bible into, or the Hebrew and Greek Bible into Latin. And as Jerome translated this Latin Bible, he made some devastating, truly devastating translation decisions.

For instance, in the Gospel of Matthew, when the message is preached, to repent, the kingdom is at hand, he changed that word from repent to make penance. That is a big change from repent to make penance.

But if that wasn't enough, he translated the Greek word justification to declare righteous, using the Latin word justificare, which means to make righteous. Now that might not sound like a big change from to declare righteous to this phrase to make righteous, but this was in reality catastrophic.

One conveys a declaration, a legal declaration of a person's standing in Christ, and the other conveys a moral reality. And this translation, paired with the errant trajectory of the Roman Catholic Church, had a disastrous effect.

Think about this, I know it's easily lost on us because we're now 2 ,000 years away from Christ, but just a couple of centuries after Christ hung on that cross for sin, just a couple of centuries after an explosion of Gospel preaching, a couple of centuries after the giving of the New Testament, the receiving of our New Testament, the Gospel went from you must be declared righteous by faith alone in Christ to a false Gospel of you must become righteous by faith and then by merits and sacraments and works.

And it was not until the Protestant Reformation, a thousand years later, that the true justification of the Bible was rediscovered at a popular level. That is a thousand year dark spot in the history of the church.

And do you know what those reformers said when they rediscovered this doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone? They said that justification by faith alone is the hinge upon which the Christian life turns.

And brethren, if I can put it this way, we must make every effort to maintain that hinge, to get out our biblical WD -40 and wet it down and lubricate it and clean it out and ensure that it is free and clear of any junk, any garbage, any untruths.

We must jealously guard this theme of our precious justification. And today we find Paul unpacking this doctrine before our very eyes. And as we look at Romans chapter 5, I want you to see this with me, the beauty of our justification in Christ.

And I want us to be gripped anew. I trust, I hope that we have all been gripped by these truths at various times, that we would be gripped anew by what Christ has done for us 2 ,000 years ago and what that means for us today and how it is that we will hold fast to that justification tomorrow.

The Blessings of Justification: Peace, Grace, Hope, Joy, Love, and Reconciliation

Now, it is a significant passage. I am not going to expound upon every word. Because I was preaching in a church that values slightly shorter sermons, you are going to see that today, I trust. But we are going to hop and skip and jump, as I mentioned, through some of the highlights of Romans chapter 5.

And as we do, we are going to look at the blessings, the basis, and if I can call it this way, the right response to our justification. The blessings, the basis, will be the lion's share of our time, and then a quick application in the right response to our justification.

And what I would first like us to turn our attention to is the blessings of our justification. There are blessings beyond number that await the Christian who truly understands the doctrine of justification in Christ.

In fact, when a wretched sinner places his faith in Christ, God not only declares that man to be righteous in his sight, but he takes great pleasure in showering him and showering her with every good thing imaginable and then more.

And Paul would have us to understand and to embrace these blessings for our eternal rejoicing. Now, our brother Sam read the chapter, which is a great service to us. I'm going to read just bits and pieces as we go.

In Romans 5, in verse 1, Paul writes,. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. As Paul builds upon what he has been writing all through this letter to the Romans, he now turns to this list of blessings.

And first among his list is the very peace of God. And even as I lay these out, I want you to see with me that, brothers and sisters, these blessings are already yours in Christ. They are already within reach.

These are not blessings that you need to go out and buy somehow, that you need to acquire as if they were in a far off land or a street down the corner or in a church at the end of the block. But these gifts are already yours in Christ.

And as I list these blessings, I want to ask you, are you availing yourselves of these good gifts? Or are you leaving them untouched, neglected, covered in cobwebs, unenjoyed? And so we have received, in Christ, peace with God.

And when we look at the world around us, it doesn't take long to realize that we live in an anxious age. And it seems more and more that the more and more the culture rejects Christ, the more anxious the culture becomes.

I was doing a little bit of research on this this week, because I feel as I look around, doesn't it seem like people are just more anxious today than they were 10 years ago or 20 years ago? And as I found it, it's in fact true that the number of anxiety disorders diagnosed in Canada has doubled in the last 20 years.

And oddly enough, at the same time, or not surprising, in the same time, since 2005, the number of self-identified atheists and agnostics have doubled. And so with every new agnostic atheist, it seems there is a new anxiety patient.

And there is a biblical correlation there. I find Proverbs 28 and verse 1 fascinating as it pertains to this. Proverbs 28 and verse 1. There it reads, The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.

Now why is that? If we look at what the Apostle John says in his epistle, 1 John 4, 18, he says that fear has to do with punishment. And you see as wickedness increases, at least from my perspective, as wickedness increases, so does accountability increase.

And with that accountability, a paralyzing fear of God's righteous judgment. Because we know, we haven't studied Romans chapter 1 together, but in Romans chapter 1 it speaks to the fact that all people everywhere have a knowledge of God, that his invisible attributes, his eternal power, his divine nature are clearly perceived in the things that have been made so that they are without excuse, and yet this knowledge of the living God is suppressed in unrighteousness.

And so, the wicked flee when no one pursues. But Paul explains here that the Christian has been altogether freed from such a servile fear. Or at least that ought to be the case. And in the place of this fearful expectation of judgment is perfect harmony with almighty God.

John Calvin calls this state tranquility of conscience. If I can define that idea of tranquility of conscience, it is to know that you now stand before God without so much as one charge against you. That the record is clear.

And what Paul is saying, that this is not just a subjective sense of peace, but it is an objective peace with God. That when a Christian places their faith in the Lord Jesus, it can be safely said, it can be safely said about you, that there is now no condemnation for you in Christ.

And that ought to blow our minds, if I can say it that way. At one time, the polished blade of God's sword, picture this with me, the polished blade of God's sword was sharpened for you. What a terrifying prospect that is, to live as a guilty enemy before a holy God.

But when God saved you, when he called you to himself, when he justified you by faith alone in Christ, it was as if he set that sword down. This is a biblical illusion. If I were to use another biblical illusion, he had his bow drawn at your face, and he set his weapons down forever.

And now he comes to you who are in Christ, not to do you harm, but to pour out the riches of his grace and kindness to you. You see the wounds that mar the body of Christ, even now. Shout, peace, peace for the believer.

Perfect peace, matchless peace, peace with God himself. And, brothers and sisters, how the world longs for such peace. It really does. There are people in this world today, they would take any pill under the sun to give them such peace.

And yet they do not know that this peace does not come in a pill, but it comes in a person, and his name is Jesus Christ. And, brethren, if you are in Christ, you have that blessing of peace. But more than that, in verse 2, Paul tells us that the Christian has a confident standing in grace.

He's obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. Now what exactly does it mean that we stand in grace? We don't really talk like that. Oh, Sam, how are you doing today? I'm doing great, I'm standing in grace.

Where's Paul going with this? Oftentimes, Scripture speaks about the posture of standing as a reference to a sense of confident security. Throughout Scripture, we see that to stand is to stand firm, as the Scriptures often say.

It is to remain steadfast. It is to be immovable. And here what Paul is speaking about is a place of permanence wherein the believer is positioned to enjoy the grace of God forever. So not only do we have peace, but that peace is forever.

So often people go out and they look outside and they say, the sun is shining, the sky is blue, it's my day off, I'm in good health. Therefore I can have peace. But that is a subjective peace that is here today and it's gone tomorrow.

But here what the Lord would have for us is a steady, a secure peace that is untouched by circumstance. He speaks next to the hope of the glory of God at the end of verse 2. And as I was reflecting on this, my mind went to Ecclesiastes 3 .11 where it says that He has put eternity into man's heart.

The human heart longs for glory. And what I mean by that is not vainglory, the vainglory of the world, but I do believe that the human heart longs for an eternity, longs for eternal life. The lost human heart may not long for God, but it longs for something that only God gives.

In the Christian heart, we long for the day when we shall see God and when we shall be like Him. In my experience, I'm only 38 years old, but in my experience, the older I get, the greater, the stronger that longing burns within me.

I'll ask some older brothers and sisters if that matches your experience. And yet, this desire can be found in the youngest human heart. I was thinking about my children. When we do our family worship around the kitchen table or in the living room or wherever we find ourselves, oftentimes we use a simple formula.

We don't always follow it, but it's the formula we aim for to read, to pray, and to sing. To read a passage of Scripture, to pray for something, someone, and then to sing in response. And you know how frequently we sing Amazing Grace in this church.

I can't think of a time when we've sung it in the last year. Maybe once, perhaps. We're not a church that sings that song a lot. It's probably sung too often in too many circumstances that are inappropriate.

And yet, one of the songs that my children often request is Amazing Grace. Can we sing, Dad, can we sing Amazing Grace? And it's interesting that when they want to sing Amazing Grace, they ask, can we sing verse 6?

Can we sing the final verse? And do you know how that final verse goes? When we've been there 10 ,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we've first begun.

Why do they want to sing about this? Because their hearts long for the hope of glory, the hope of the glory of God. Eternity is in our hearts, and each of us long for it. But apart from Christ, it is a slippery thing.

We can never quite take hold of it. You think you have it, but alas, it is an illusion. I think I've spoken about this before at this church, so forgive me if I have. But today you read about celebrities who will literally pay a fortune to have their bodies cryogenically frozen.

Frozen when they die so that somehow they can attain to eternal life. But we should not suppose that the hope of the glory of God can be bought with silver or gold, or it can be found in the back of a dark freezer.

But it can only be bought with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without spot or blemish. It is only found in the presence of our Master, and such glory is the eternal home of the Christian.

It is your home in Christ. And it is no longer a futile yearning in our souls, but an absolute certainty. That is what Paul was getting at when he says, the hope of the glory of God. It's an assurance.

It's a conviction of things not seen. And we're told in Matthew 13, 43, that on that day of Christ, the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. And that is the future of the Christian.

And such a certain hope is cause for an unshakable joy. We see that in verses 3 and 4. Verses 3 and 4 deal with this joy that transcends all circumstances. That we can rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

That we rejoice in our sufferings. In verse 11, that we rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. This world can barely rejoice when absolutely everything, everything is going right. The human heart is not just an idle factory, it is a complaint factory.

And meanwhile, the Christian has been given the capacity to rejoice in every single circumstance. When absolutely everything has gone wrong. Because we see that nothing will separate us from the love of God.

And that every trial and every affliction serves a vital purpose as it produces endurance. And then as that endurance produces Christ-like character. And then as it primes us for the hope of eternal glory.

Every momentary trial. Every affliction. Every single cancer diagnosis. Every death. Every difficulty is producing in us an eternal weight of glory. The way I picture it in some ways is this. You know those three man slingshots?

Usually they shoot water balloons. You got one guy on this side, you got one guy on this side. And then the alpha of the pack. He's the guy that gets to pull it back and aim it and shoot it wherever he desires it to go.

It is like that but with every bit of suffering. Every trial. It is as if we pull back that elastic just a little bit further. Until we get the opportunity to go into glory. To fire ourself into the very presence of God.

It prepares us. It primes us for eternity. For our hope of eternal glory. And when was the last time you considered the fact that because of your justification in Christ. Even suffering and death has been commandeered by Christ.

To serve your eternal good. More than that verse 5 speaks of how we come to experience God's love. I've dwelt on this at length so I'm not going to speak on it too long. But as I've said before. It is so difficult for us to fathom.

That God would love people like us. And I think that's why Paul draws out an explanation in verses 6 -10. To speak about how while we were still weak. At the right time Christ died for the ungodly. And in verse 8 that God shows his love for us.

And that while we were still sinners. Christ died for us. One would scarcely die for a righteous person. That is a morally upright individual. Though perhaps someone might die for someone who's done much good.

But God shows his love for us. And that while we were still sinners. While we were still enemies of the cross. Marching against him in willful disobedience. Christ died for us. And if Christ died for us.

If Christ loved us. When we were his enemies. How much more does he love us. Now that we are his friends. In verse 11 speaks to the blessing of our reconciliation with God. While justification speaks to our change in legal standing.

Reconciliation speaks to our change in relational standing with God. Christ himself said, I just made reference to it in John 15, 15. No longer do I call you servants. For the servant does not know what his master is doing.

But I have called you friends. In all of the blessings that God has lavished upon us. It seems that he has left verse 11 to be almost the best for last. That he gives us not only peace. He gives us not only security.

Not only hope. Not only unshakable joy. Not only love. But in the end we find that he has given us even his very self. That we could commune with him. That we might walk with him. In relationship with him.

That we might know God. Be men and women after his own heart. And by the time we get to the bottom of this list of blessings. What we find is that every single blessing that we enjoy is a gift. That is received by justification.

Or through justification. By faith alone in Jesus Christ. Every drop poured from Christ's body is purchased. Has purchased another blessing for you. And it is already yours in Christ. Now maybe you see why I want us to jealously guard this doctrine of justification.

That we cannot earn this by our own merit. That we cannot acquire this by the labor of our own hands. But that it must come from God. And when it comes from God through Christ it is ours and it is secure.

And these blessings are so great that they are almost incredible. I had a silly illustration that I had prepared and then I removed it. And now I'm wondering if I should share it now. I'll say it this way.

Imagine that I were to tell all of you that in exactly one year. On May 25th, May 26th, 2025. At exactly this time, 4 or 5 p .m. I'm going to have a caravan of tractor trailers come into the parking lot.

One for each person in this church at this moment. And in those tractor trailers they are going to be full to the brim and to the back with $100 bills. For each of you. Now I know because you're not worldly you don't want a tractor trailer full of money.

Maybe.

But I convince you. No, this is important, this is good. You pay off your mortgage. Buy a house. Support world missions. Be the answers to people's prayers. Whatever it is. If I were to tell you that.

That that was waiting for you in one year to the minute. You might want some assurance. How do I know that this is true? How do I know that such a blessing could be real? Could be for me? And I would have to come up with I think something really important.

Vitally important to tame your incredulous response. And I think that's what Paul has done. If I were to write Romans chapter 5 I think that I would give the basis for justification. I would explain just the way my mind works.

That this is justification. This is how it works. And then these are the blessings. But instead what Paul has done is he has given us all of the blessings. And now he's going to give us the basis for that justification.

The foundation. The inner workings. The mammoth gears that are underneath these blessings. And so the second half of this passage we find that. The basis of our justification. In verse 12 Paul says,. Therefore just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin.

And so death spread to all men because all sinned. Beginning in verse 12 Paul first teaches us what has been called the doctrine of original sin. This is one of the keystone passages that teach this idea.

This doctrine of original sin. And what Paul is after is this. He is demonstrating that Adam's choice to sin in the garden. Was not a decision that impacted just him. It was a choice that was made on behalf of all of humanity.

And when Christ came into this world. Our situation was much worse than we might otherwise think. This is why we need justification by faith alone. Because when Christ came. We were as good as dead. Let me demonstrate this.

I think some historical discussion from past centuries might help to shed some light on this. Just after Jerome translated the Latin Vulgate. There was another man who came along who denied the doctrine of original sin.

I don't know if anyone knows his name. It starts with a P. He went by Pelagius. And Pelagius contended that when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden. And specifically Adam. It wasn't that he somehow passed down spiritually, physically a corrupt nature.

But instead he was simply a bad example. And then his children saw his bad example. And then their children saw his bad example. But truly and innately that humans are truly good. Now I know that most of you don't believe that.

But there are people who do believe that. I sat in an evangelistic event. An English second language class. And we were sharing. Well we were teaching people conversational English. And that was a benefit to them no doubt.

But we were always speaking on biblical themes. And imagine what you would do in a situation like this. As I was speaking to this idea that we are all sinners and we need Christ. I said to this Eastern European man in front of us.

I said the Bible says that no one is good. That all have sinned. That all have turned astray. That all have become useless. That the venom of asps is under our tongue. And I'm going into this idea that this is the bad news.

But in light of the bad news there is good news in Christ. And as I was speaking this in the English second language cafe. One of my fellow volunteers. Who I supposed was a believer. Leaned in and said.

Shane don't say that we're not all bad. We are in our hearts we are good. Oh my goodness. Well how do I now recover from that. That we can't even be on the same page about what our need is. But Pelagius this was his view.

That we are all innately good. And unsurprisingly and appropriately. The council at Chalcedon in 430 A .D. Said to Pelagius and his followers. Who they labeled Pelagians. Those who denied the doctrine of original sin.

Here is the door you may exit. And they put them out of the church. And they labeled them as heretics. Now some might ask. Why such a sharp response? Why would you put Pelagius out of the church? Why do we still speak today about Pelagians?

Who deny the doctrine of original sin. Was this error really that serious? And the council at Chalcedon. And us as believers today. We should say that absolutely it is a serious error. Because if we don't see original sin.

Which we do. But if original sin is not indeed true. If we deny at least original sin. Then Romans 5 is of no value at all. And the gospel is of no value at all. And Romans 5 .12 is for sure wrong. So when Adam sinned.

Did he merely give us a bad example? There is a reason. And you have heard me mention this before. That we don't have to. And there are many of you now. Who are going to be having children. I trust. I look forward to that.

And more children. Brother if you are to have a daughter next. There will come a day. When your precious son. Will grab a plastic dump truck. Or some other kind of hard sharp toy. And he is going to bash his sister over the head with it.

I recall a time where Elise grabbed something from Noah. And Noah ran behind her and pushed her. So that her feet left the floor. And the first thing that met was her forehead to the fridge. And I took her to ER with a goose bump.

The size of a large egg from the grocery store. Why is that? Is it because my children saw me push my wife into the fridge? I hope not. Not that they learned from a bad example. You should verify that with Nicole.

But it was because they inherited a corrupt nature. And like Adam. In Adam. They were fallen. When Adam sinned. He did not merely give us a bad example. But when Adam fell into sin as our first father.

In covenant with God. In a covenant relationship with God. As our covenant head. As our ambassador. As it were before God. He fell into sin. And as our covenant head. That sin came to us. And then to our descendants.

And beyond. And we actually see this picture of a covenant in the garden. When we go to look there. In Genesis chapter 1 through 3. We see a distinct covenantal structure. In Genesis 1 we find a historical narrative.

Of how the world was made. The creation account. This was an important element of an ancient covenant. We see that man was made in the image of God. In the likeness of God. And became covenant partners.

And just as we would expect to see in a covenant. There was a defined prohibition. Does anyone remember that? You shall not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And as part of that covenant prohibition.

There was something called a covenant curse. And if you eat from this tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You shall surely die. And then attached to that. A covenant blessing. But if you do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

But from the tree of life. You will live. And that forever. So what we find in the garden is a covenant. Where there is a probationary period. Adam and Eve in the garden. And I believe fully that if Adam and Eve.

Had turned away from eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And had eaten from the tree of life. They would have lived for eternity. I believe that God and his sovereignty had a better plan.

And yet they had that ability. As partakers in that covenant. But we don't just see this in Genesis chapter 1 through 3. We see this explicitly in passages like Hosea chapter 6. In verses 6 and 7. There Hosea speaking on behalf of the Lord says.

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice. The knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. But like Adam they transgressed the covenant. There they dealt faithlessly with me. You see there was a covenant even before there was sin.

They transgressed that covenant in the garden. One theologian says just as Christ is the head of the new creation. And mediator of the new covenant. Adam likewise serves as the head and the mediator of the creation covenant.

Being in Adam or being in Christ are covenantal realities. And we don't have time to go through and look. But if we were to count all of the ones. The one transgression. The one act of righteousness. The one man.

The one man. There are 13 ones in the last 10 verses of Romans chapter 5. And why is that? Because it is contrasting this one man Adam. With this one man Christ. And as Christians we are partakers in one of these two covenants.

In the covenant with the first Adam. Or in the covenant with the last Adam. You can belong only to one. And so Pelagius as it turns out. Was dead wrong. And when we look at scripture objectively. We see this for ourselves.

You've heard us mention it I think recently. So I won't go into length. Genesis 5. 6 verse 5. That the Lord saw the wickedness of man. That the wickedness of man was great on the earth. And that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only continually evil.

Or when David confessed his sin to the Lord. After his murderous affair and conspiracy. He said behold. And Psalm 51 5. Behold I was brought forth in iniquity. And in sin did my mother conceive me. What that means is that every single time.

A single sperm. Meets a single ovum. There is a new sinner in the world. Before that child can come out of the womb. They are conceived in sin according to scripture. So here Paul is clearly and simply laying out.

What theologians would call the doctrine of original sin. And what Paul says next is that this sin led to the reign of death. In verse 14. He says yet death reigned from Adam to Moses. And then verse 17.

Because of one man's trespass death reigned through that one man. Or in verse 21. So that as sin reigned in death. And he goes on. What is Paul trying to convince us here? That through this one act of sin.

A new ruler entered the world. And it's an unnatural ruler. It's the only ruler in the world that God has never created. And yet he rules with an iron fist. And all things that live. Plants and animals and birds and fish.

And all of mankind are subject to him. What is that rulers name? A ruler is not a he. It's an it. It is the last enemy. It's name is death. And the objective of death is to deliver each person, body and soul.

Into an eternal death. Into an eternal hell. And this horrific covenantal curse. That we will surely die. Until we were saved in Christ. Had dominion over us. Now Paul has listed these blessings. And he's built the basis for these blessings.

As he builds it. He shows us just how bad things were before Christ saved us. We were dead men. Dead in our trespasses and sins. As you've heard us say over the last number of weeks. We were born dead and yet dying still.

I know that some of you have heard this. Some of you have not. This is I guess the pros and cons of hearing a sermon. That's preached in a different location first. But most of you have forgotten it I'm sure.

Even if you have heard of it. Now there's a story that powerfully illustrates the power of sin. In the unbelievers life. In the 1800's in East London. There was a man. A gospel minister. A young man named Henry White.

Who one night was awakened from bed. By a woman pounding on his door. Shouting that she needed his help. And so rousing himself. Getting out of bed. He proceeded to the door. And the woman said my husband is dying.