Shall we turn together this evening in the book of Romans, chapter 5, at verse 1? Romans 5 at verse 1 and down through verse 11. Let us hear the word of God this evening. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance. Perseverance, character, and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us. You see, just at the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man, someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him? For if when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life? Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever. Let us pray. We do pray this evening, O Holy Spirit, once again, that you would revive our needy souls, our poor hearts, out of dust, out of the miry clay of our lives, that we might be revived in your righteousness, that we might live to your glory and to your praise, to Jesus Christ. Amen. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, as one person who has not grown up in a Reformed church, let me ask you a simple question. Do you fully understand just how great the truth is of the Heidelberg Catechism? I wonder if many of us have heard it over and over and over again, and it just glazes over our ears, in one ear, out the other, over our eyes, possibly. We've memorized question 60 over a hundred times. You might say, I've heard a sermon on that text, who knows how many times. Some of us might even say, I've preached a sermon on that text. But, beloved, question 60 of our catechism is the very heart of who we are as Christians, let alone Reformed Christians. How are you right with God, our question asks us in question 60, only by true faith in Jesus Christ. Despite our conscience accusing us that we have grievously sinned against all the commandments of God, have never kept any of them, and are still inclined always to all evil, yet God, out of mere grace, grants and imputes to me the perfect righteousness, satisfaction and holiness of Christ as if I had never sinned and had myself accomplished all the obedience which Christ has performed for me. That question just should grip our hearts. That question should be the very pulse of who we are as believers. The very righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ has been given to us by faith alone. And even that is a gift of God that no one should boast. Beloved, we as reformed believers have this treasure, and as Paul would even say, to use his phrase, in earthen vessels, a treasure that for many of us needs to knock the dust off. And we need to once again remind ourselves just how wonderful it is to be reformed, to be Christians, to believe in justification by faith alone. Now, beloved, on the one hand, it has been said that theology that does not become biography is wishful thinking. Theology that does not become biography is wishful thinking. I was told this by a Pentecostal theologian in college who taught me reformed theology of all things. Theology that does not become biography is wishful thinking. That is to say that we as reformed Christians are not rationalists. We are not those whose minds are stone cold. Our hearts are, as some would characterize us, as I was called even two days ago, the chosen frozen. Or the frozen chosen, however you want to phrase that. But our lives, our hearts, all that we do comes out of what we believe. We are not rationalists then. We are not stone cold doctrinalists. Our hearts must be enraptured with God's love. our actions must be filled with His praise because of what we believe. On the other hand, though, it might be said that biography that does not become theology is rudderless Christianity. That is that if we would call ourselves pietists or those who say that theology is just for ministers or just for those who teach at Westminster Seminary. After all, they can be pious too. But we must not have a rudderless Christianity. On the one hand, our Christianity, our theology is not rationalistic. On the other hand, it is not one that just goes to and fro with all the waves of doctrine, all the winds that go to and fro through the church and through the world. Our theology then must become biography, and our biography must not become rudderless Christianity. The truth then of Heidelberg question number 60 is taught to us in Romans chapter 5, verses 1 through 11. But this evening, just to focus on verses 1 through 2. You know, our catechism, children, you might know this better than I if you've heard the catechism more times than me. Our catechism will ask us a question. What does it mean that Jesus is called Savior? Or what does it mean that Jesus was born of the Virgin? Or what does it mean that he descended into hell? Or what does it mean that he ascended into heaven? And then it goes on to give the theological answer. But you know, for most of the questions, it goes on to say, what does this benefit you? To know that Christ has ascended into heaven, that Christ has risen from the dead. We have the truth then, and then we have as well that living, that benefit, those blessings that come forth out of knowing the truth. That is what Paul tells us especially. But I want us to focus on this evening, verses 1 and 2. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Our catechism does not have a question 60A or 60B that says, what does it benefit you to know that you are righteous before God by Christ alone? I do not presume to insert that question this evening, or never would. But Paul tells us the benefits then. What does it benefit us? What good does it do for us to know that Christ is our righteousness before God? And we see three things. First of all, we have peace with God. We have access to God, and we have joy in God. First of all, then, peace with God. Having been, he says, therefore justified by faith, we have this peace with God. And notice where that peace comes from. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. That should be a given. If you've watched any of the funerals or any of the memorial services, think about how many times you heard this. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. How often was it portrayed to those who were mourning and those who were seeking answers that it is only through Christ that peace comes. I heard not one time. Peace came through one thing or it came through another, but not through Christ. That is where we find this peace of God. Therefore, he says, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And notice as well as chapter 5 begins, Therefore, having said all that he has said up to this point, now therefore, he says, here is the result, Here are the benefits of this justifying work of God. Look in chapter 3 with me for a moment at verse 21. After laying out for us that all men, Jews and Gentiles alike, are dead in sin, no one good, no not one, nobody seeks God, there is none righteous. All are under the just condemnation of God, that all mouths might be stopped. Paul then says in Romans 3.21, But now, a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the law and the prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ. To all who believe, there is no difference. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood he did this to demonstrate his justice because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus What is this peace then That Paul lays forth for us As this first benefit Of our being justified by faith What does it mean when he says Through faith, through Christ Therefore we have peace Is it a temporary peace That would give us some sense of In a world that is lost In a world that is topsy-turvy We might find some anchor for our soul For a day or two Even a Sunday Is it a peace that tells us To rest in ourselves on the one hand. No, this peace comes to us and it is a radical peace that is one that says to us that we were once at war with God, that we were once those who were dead in sins and trespasses, at enmity with God, as Paul would say. Children of wrath by nature. This peace, then, is not a transitory peace. It is not a peace that we have invented. It is not a peace that is topsy-turvy, that is slimsy. This is a peace that only God can give to us. and only through Christ and through His righteousness. When He says, therefore, we have peace with God, He tells us, in other words, that we have reconciliation with God. That is what He tells us in verse 10. For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life? Now, children, I'm sure all of you have at one time or another got into a fight with your brother or sister or with your best friend down the street. Undoubtedly, all of us have. And you might have called your friend a name and ran home and told your mom or dad about it. Your mom and dad told you then, you have to go apologize. It is your job to, as we would say, reconcile yourself to your friend whom you have offended. The same is true with God. But the truth of the gospel, though, is not that we come to God and we say we are sorry to Him and that we somehow merit or somehow gain from Him or somehow receive from Him that reconciliation. But we who are at enmity with God, we are the ones who have stolen all of God's glory. And it is God, therefore, despite what we have done, who comes to us and says to us that we are reconciled in Christ. He takes the action. He is the one who is active. If He seeks us when we were lost, He seeks and saves that which is powerless. It is not us then as we go to our friends and reconcile ourselves to them. It is not a mutual reconciliation. It is not like the Middle East peace process that we've seen for years and years and years where one group gets together with another group and somehow come to an accord or a treaty and make peace. It is not a mutual covenant. It is not a mutual treaty that we enter in with God, but it is God Himself who enters into this treaty with us. A treaty of peace, a covenant of reconciliation, and only in Christ. Notice as well in chapter 8, just for a moment, at verse 5. To drive home this, at chapter 8, verse 5, Paul says, Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires. But those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. Those words characterize exactly who we were before God gave us that wonderful gift of faith. If you were like me who did not come to faith until you were later on in life, such as myself, 17 and a half, these words ring true. The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit itself to God's law, nor can it do so. The sinful nature cannot please God. Beloved, we have a peace that surpasses, as Paul says, all understanding. A peace that, despite all that we have done, we come to that bargaining table with nothing but demerits. All that we've done to forfeit peace and reconciliation. God gives us His Son as a Savior, as the one who is righteous, the one who propitiates, who takes away the wrath of God towards us, only in Him. We have this peace then with God. And beloved, this peace must not only resonate in our hearts. It must not stop in our heads. It must not sit in our legs as we sit on cues. This peace of God must go out of our mouths and out of our lives to those who need to hear this message. This morning I preached on the first part of the Canons of Dort, Head 1, the third article which speaks to us about God Himself when He wants and to whom He wants. He sends ministers to bring those elect to faith. And but for the grace of God, we would all be dead in our sins now except for Him sending those ministers when He did and to whom he did and where he did. It may have been like some people who may have heard that word of the truth through a personal testimony or through the less than perfect means of a false church in my case. But beloved, these words of truth, the words that having been justified by faith, that truth for us, that indicative, that fact, must become an imperative for us who tell it to others. And not only when it is convenient to do so, and not only when somebody comes to us and says, I want to be saved. That's not going to happen very often. We must not have fear. We must not be afraid. We must not be ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God to salvation. Therefore, this peace that we have should take our hearts and make us filled with His love and make us filled with that peace so much so that we want to spread it to others. Well, the second point then. We have this peace with God. The second benefit of being justified through Christ, through faith, that is, in Christ, is access to God. Paul says this in verse 2. Through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. through Christ, through whom? Through the One who has reconciled us by His blood and by His righteousness, by His obedient life and death on the cross, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 4 for a moment. Hebrews 4. The author of Hebrews speaks in a similar vein when he says in Hebrews 4 at verse 14 and following, Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. But we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are yet without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. This access, this approaching God in His Holy of Holies, in that place where the Ark of the Covenant rested, where God's presence was found, where only the high priest could go once a year, and only after he cleansed his own sins, that access has been given to us through Christ. As Hebrews tells us in chapter 10, it is through the veil of the temple that is His flesh. We come through Him as our mediator, as our great high priest, and we now, as the priesthood of all believers, enter into that throne of grace. We have access to God, only to the Lord. All of us are priests, therefore. This does not mean that we are all ministers. It does not mean that we can all preach the gospel. We can all baptize or administer the Lord's Supper. But this access is an access that all of us have in common. An access that is a priesthood of every single believer. Not a special class of a few. Not ministers, not only priests, not only men. All of us have this access through Christ. As Hebrews says, that we are to come with confidence, come with boldness to His throne of grace. Asking Him for mercy and to find grace in our time of need. This access comes to us not as we have seen the past few weeks, through a vague notion of God, through a false hope, through one God of one religion or another, it doesn't really matter. It's all the same. This access comes only through Christ. It only comes through His blood. It only comes through His body. And that is a part of that message that we must tell those who need to hear it. That it is not a vague idea. It is not some generalized idea of a deity in heaven who dwells as the great watchmaker who left his creation to tick down. It is not through the God of tolerance or the God of ecumenicity. It is through Christ and through Him alone as our great high priest. We have this access to God's grace then, and we are to approach with boldness, with fervency, with excitement, with confidence. This means that we must pray, that we must come into His courts with thanksgiving, That we must not sit back idly, hoping that God would somehow call His elect through some other means than using us. He does use our prayers. He does use our efforts. We are to go to that throne of grace. We are to ascend that hill of the Lord through Christ, who has given us clean hands and a pure heart. That we might enter into that throne of grace with utter boldness. We have peace with God through Christ. We have access to God only through Christ. And we must take advantage of these benefits, of these blessings. Lastly, we have joy in God. Back to Romans 5 to conclude. In verse 2 of chapter 5, And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Rejoice in all things, Paul says. Pray in every circumstance. Cast your anxieties upon the Lord, for He cares for you. Rejoice in hope. And beloved, once again, this hope is not a hope that the world can conjure up or that we can even imagine, but a hope that God Himself can give to us only in His beloved Son, who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven. This joy, then, is, as you notice, in the hope of the glory of God. That glory that Paul says is Christ in us, the hope of glory. That glory that he speaks of when Christ shall return with our final salvation. Our body shall be renewed. Our mind shall be cleansed. Our faith shall be perfected. Our righteousness shall be complete. Our sanctification shall be finished. And we shall see God, as Revelation 21 tells us, face to face. We shall see Him as John, in 1 John says, as He is. We shall see Him in His glory. We shall see our Savior, Jesus Christ, as He is in His body. As our mediator, as our elder brother, as our high priest. We won't see the Father. We won't see the Holy Spirit. We'll see Christ. That is our hope of glory. That is the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We shall see Him. Do you rejoice in that often? For some of us who are young and get excited about these things, sometimes we think that we won't die for another 50 or so years. But for many of us who have tasted the bed of death, know this hope, even more so than others. The hope of glory. To see Christ as He is our Savior. to touch Him, to receive His grace, to have His hands raised, not a minister's pronouncing a blessing upon us, forgiving our sins. That hope of the glory of God causes us and it should cause our hearts to be filled with love and to be filled with His praise and should fill us with the desire that He would come quickly. That is the prayer of the church, you know. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Not necessarily to take away our physical infirmities. Not necessarily to take away all that the world brings to us. All the sorrow, all the sadness. We pray that prayer that we would see Him. That we would be with Him. Not just twice in the Lord's day. But every single moment of all eternity. This joy in God then is that third benefit of our justification. So, beloved, this faith that we have, this righteousness that we have been given in Christ, only through faith, that hand of the soul, it is this righteousness alone that is the ground of our salvation, the very foundation of who we are and what we do. And this as a foundation. So let's bring forth these blessings in our hearts. Having been made by God to be at peace with Him, we now shall have peace in our minds having seen Christ that is go to the very Holy of Holies blazing forth into that access. We now have access and ought to pray fervently. We've seen Christ resurrected with the joy of the Holy Spirit and we too have that joy in God in the very hope of His return, our final redemption. Let us give thanks. Let us pray. Our Father in Heaven, we do acknowledge our dependence upon You. Not a dependence that is a little bit of our effort and a little bit of Yours. But our utter dependence upon You for our salvation. And Lord, we do acknowledge our dependence upon You for the salvation of even our very loved ones. Oh, Father, we do acknowledge this great joy that we have in Christ, that our hearts are filled with laughter, that our mouths are filled with your praise, our souls are lifted up into heaven itself to see you as you are in Christ. We pray then fervently, earnestly, expectantly for lost brothers and sisters, for co-workers and neighbors and friends. May You give us boldness to testify to them of these things. The justification only comes through Your Son and only through faith. Give us boldness to bring them to this place, to hear the Word of God preached and proclaimed in all of its might and all of its power. Go before us, Holy Spirit, sanctifying and setting apart hearts who are elect, softening the hearts of those who are at this time obstinate and at war with You. May our minds and hearts not just rest in what you have given to us, but may that spring forth into action of what we ought to do for you out of gratitude. May your word go forth boldly from this place and from all faithful churches. May we see your churches filled to overflowing with hundreds and even thousands of sinners calling upon Christ as Savior, confessing with us the good confession. We do thank you then this evening in Christ. And we ask that you would bless our homeward way. Amen.