Two Great Results of our Salvation - Genesis Part 30

Now, three weeks ago, you know, we began a four-part miniseries within our study of the book of Genesis entitled Our Salvation in Jesus Christ. And in part one, we talked about how our salvation works. And we learned that the answer to that question is imputed righteousness, which means that when we believe in Jesus Christ, we don't really become righteous. We're still sinners through and through. But rather, God credits our account.

God imputes to us righteousness, not a righteousness that we earn with our own human effort, but the righteousness that Jesus purchased on the cross for us and that God credits to our account as a gift. And then in part two, we learned that when we trust Christ, our imputed righteousness, our place in heaven, our eternal life is eternally secure, regardless of what we do or we don't do from that point on. And then in part three last week, we talked about some practical questions that flow out of the doctrine of eternal security. Now, we want you to catch up.

If you missed any of that, either go get a CD in the lobby before you leave or go on our website and download and podcast those messages and catch up with us. Today in part four, we want to talk about two great results that our salvation gives us. So are you ready? Are you ready?

Yes. OK, here we go. Then result number one.

And there are a lot more than two, but I'm only going to pick two today. Result number one is we get peace with God. Romans Chapter five, verse one says, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And, you know, a good rule of Bible study is when you see a therefore, find out what it's there for. And the reason this therefore is here at the beginning of the verse, what it's really saying is since God has offered Romans four twenty three to credit our account with righteousness, if we believe in Jesus. And since we have taken God up on his offer, therefore we have been justified by faith through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now you say, well, on justify, what does that mean? Well, I'll tell you in a moment. But first, please notice whatever it means that it's available to us only through our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is not available to Buddha or Confucius or Mohammed or Joseph Smith or L. Ron Hubbard or Rabbi anybody only through the Lord Jesus Christ and his finished work on the cross. This is so important. Do we all see this?

Yes, we do. OK, so what exactly does it mean to be justified? Well, this is a legal word. It's a courtroom word.

And what it literally means is to be acquitted of all charges. And in this legal imagery that this word creates, let's figure out who's who. God is the judge. The prosecuting attorney is Satan. Remember, Revelation 12. Ten calls him the accuser of the brethren. Our defense attorney is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible calls him First John to one, our advocate before the father and our defense that the Lord Jesus presents for us as sinners is his own blood shed on the cross to pay for our sin and cover our sin in the sight of God. And friends, in this scenario, the verdict is always the same, and that is acquittal, justification, penalty, pay right with God.

And why is this? Well, it's because Hebrews 10 17 says that when our sins are covered by the blood of Christ, God will remember them no more. This is justification.

It is a once and for all verdict. There is no double jeopardy in the courtroom of heaven. And now that we're justified, now that we're right with God, man, a whole host of new spiritual privileges and benefits become ours. And the first one we said was peace with God. Romans 5 1. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God.

And please notice what the verse says. It says we have this. We're not looking for it. We're not hoping for it. We're not wishing for it, and we're not praying for it. We have it.

And what exactly do we have? Well, peace with God. And we need to stop for a moment now and distinguish the peace of God from peace with God. All right, stick with me. Philippians chapter four verse six says, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything let your request be made known to God and the what? Say the next three words.

The what? Peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. My friends, the peace of God is that inner calm. It is that sweet tranquility of spirit that God gives us in the storms of life when we lay our burdens completely at his feet and when we surrender our will to his will. But peace with God is a completely different thing than this. It is a peace treaty with God.

Let me explain. The Bible tells us that unpardoned sinners have a certain relationship with God. The Bible says Romans 1 18 that God's wrath is against them. John 3 36 that God's wrath abides or sits on them. Ephesians 4 18 that they are alienated from God. Romans 5 verse 10 that they are enemies of God. The fact is that God and unsaved human beings are not at peace. To the contrary, the Bible says a state of war exists between God and every unpardoned sinner alive. Ah, but praise God.

I got some great news for you. Colossians 1 verse 20 says that Jesus made what? Peace. Jesus made peace between us as sinners and God. And how did he make this peace?

Watch through the blood of his cross. In other words, when we trust Jesus Christ as our personal savior, God declares a peace treaty with us. And folks, this is not a ceasefire.

Mind you know, no, this is a full fledged, absolute, unconditional, eternal peace treaty. God smokes the peace pipe with us. God buries the hatchet with us. No longer are we enemies of God. No longer are we alienated from God. No longer are we under the wrath of God. The war between God's holiness and our sin is over forever and for good. Praise God for that. Now, therefore, the bottom line is that the peace of God is something that waxes and wanes that goes up and down based on how fully we're surrendered to God at any moment of any day.

But peace with God is a formal treaty made in heaven between God and justified sinners. It never changes. It never diminishes.

It never fluctuates regardless how our everyday life goes. And friends, just think what this means. I mean, take a moment. Can we grasp the awesomeness of peace with God? What this means is no matter what you and I have done, no matter how bad you and I have been, no matter how much ungodliness or hatred or deceit or impurity or violence or crime or profane living we've ever been involved in, no matter how big an enemy of God we once were, when we give our lives to Christ, God justifies us. God declares us not guilty. And God dismisses all charges forever against us. Praise God for that, huh? This is peace with God. You can clap for that. And you know, when we get to heaven, what's going to happen?

This is going to be so cool. An angel is going to meet us and parade us right down Main Street and walking in front of us, pointing to the right and to the left, to everybody in heaven. You know what this angel is going to be saying?

Loud enough for everyone in heaven to hear him. Therefore, having been justified by faith through Jesus Christ, this man, this woman has peace with God. And not one person in heaven will be able to raise a voice of protest because Romans 8 33 says it is God who justifies. So who is there that can condemn?

The answer is no one, no one, not the devil of hell himself can condemn when God justifies. We have peace with God. Amen? Amen.

Wow, that's great news. I'll tell you that. If that's all we got, it would be worth it. But there's more.

There's more. Benefit number one is peace with God. But the verse in Romans 5 goes on to say that we also have access to God. Watch Romans 5 verse 2 says to him that is through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Notice whatever it is that access to God means again, you don't get it through Buddha, Confucius or anybody else. It's only Christ through him. We have also gained access into this gracious position in which we now stand.

And what is this talking about? What gracious position is the Bible talking about? Friends, the gracious position that we have been granted is a position of being God's adopted children in Christ. We have joined the family of God and our members in full.

And exactly how does the person join the family of God? Well, they do it by exhibiting saving faith. And I had someone walk up to me in the lobby a couple of weeks ago and said, you know, you keep talking about saving faith in this series. Maybe it would be a good idea if you define what saving faith is. So we're all sure we're talking about the same thing.

Good idea. Let's do it. What is saving faith?

Here we go. Saving faith means relying on the blood of Jesus as our full and utter payment for sin. So much so that we reject every other remedy for sin we've ever trusted. Our good works trying to keep the Ten Commandments, all our religious activity, and we rest our entire eternal destiny on what Jesus did for us on the cross, on the finished work of Christ on the cross.

Don't miss this. Plus nothing. Not plus sacraments, not plus the rosary, not plus being bar mitzvahed, not plus trying to keep the Ten Commandments and not plus recycling. Nothing, nothing, nothing. We go into eternity holding on to one thing and one thing only, the work of Jesus on the cross for you and me.

That's it. This is saving faith. And, folks, in response to saving faith, Romans 5 verse 2 says we're immediately granted a new gracious position with God.

And what is that? John Chapter 1 verse 12 says to every person who believes in Christ, to them God gives the right to become children of God. When we come to Christ, we are made members of the family of God. That is our new gracious position. We are members in full of the family of God.

God's adopted children in Christ with all the rights and privileges appertaining thereunto. I love that. It's on my college degree. I love that.

Read your college degree. It's on yours, too. Don't you love that? I never get to say that.

With all the rights and privileges appertaining thereunto. Okay. You say, Lon, but wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. I thought we were all God's children, right? No. Friends, that's not what the Bible says. As a matter of fact, the Bible says the exact opposite. The Bible says we're all God's creatures, but no, we're not all God's children. How can people outside of Christ be God's children?

Remember what we saw about them? They're enemies of God. They're alienated from God. They're sitting under the wrath of God. How can these be members of God's family?

They can't. Folks, being God's child and a member of his family is a privilege reserved exclusively for justified sinners who have peace with God. Remember what we read? John 1 12 to every person who believes in Christ to them and them alone. God gives the right to become Children of God Galatians 3 26 for you are all Children of God.

You say, Ah, see there? The Bible agrees with me. Finish the verse for you are all Children of God through faith in Jesus Christ, not through being born in a hospital, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So this gracious position in which we now stand that Romans 5 2 is talking about means being God's adopted Children in Christ means being full members of the family of God.

And with this new position comes benefit number two access to God. In 1988, my family and I went on vacation out to Hume Lake Christian camps in California, and my oldest son, Jamie, was 11 years old. And so he went to wagon train for 8 to 11 year olds, and they sleep in these covered wagons all week long.

8 10 campers, along with one counselor. God bless that person. And, um, and so there was a young man in my son's camper whose name was Cameron. Um, not a particularly unusual name, but you might recognize his last name. His last name was Reagan. He was Cameron Reagan, the grandson of then President Ronald Reagan.

So there were also a few interesting looking adults hanging around the outside of this wagon train. And so my son asked him one day, he said, Hey, Cameron, he said, Have you ever spent the night in the White House? And Cameron said, Well, sure, I have. I've spent lots of nights in the White House. This upset me because I've always wanted to spend the night in the White House.

And I've been in Washington 40 years and nobody's ever even invited me. And so how come he gets to stay in the White House and I don't get to stay in the White House? Well, you know the answer, don't you? It's simple. He's family. And as family, he gets access that I don't get. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, let me tell you something, friends. You may live in Washington all your life and never have unlimited access to the White House.

But I want to tell you, you got something better. If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, you have unlimited access to the throne of the living Almighty God. And you can go there whenever you want to go there. You can go there wherever, whenever you need to go there. And sitting on that throne is Almighty God of the universe, anxious to hear from you and help you.

I'll trade the White House for that. And this is what Ephesians 2 18 says, For through him, Christ, we have access by one spirit to the Father. So let's summarize. There are two.

There are many more. But there are two great benefits that we get when we become justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. One of them is we get peace with God. The other one is we get access to God.

And the reason we get those is because we become children of God. Got it? Got it. Now we're going to end our passage now, but we have one more question to ask before we're done.

And you know our question. So are you ready? So are you ready? Okay, come on out. Don't let me down. Here we go.

One, two, three. You guys are unbelievable. Yeah. All right. Hey, hey, what can I say you with it?

I mean, you're unbelievable. I love you. All right. So you say one. All right.

So what you say? Look, I got peace with God. That's great. I got access to God. That's great. I don't see anything here that's transformational for my everyday life. Ooh, I'm help you with that.

All right. You know what? Not only does the Bible tell us we have access to God, that's great enough, but the Bible goes on to tell us how God wants us to use that access. Listen, Ephesians Chapter three, verse 12 says in Christ Jesus, our Lord, we have boldness and confident access to God. Hebrews 10 verse 19 says Since we have confidence to enter God's holy place by the blood of Jesus, let us draw near in full assurance. And I love Hebrews 4 16 that says, Let us come.

What's the next word? Boldly before the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and grace to help us in the time of need. Friends, God wants this gracious position of access that he's granted us in Christ to translate into a holy boldness in our approach to prayer with God. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying we should be flippant, and I'm not saying we should be disrespectful and certainly that we should not be irreverent in our approach to God. We are still dealing with the holy being of the universe that deserves.