Thank you again for joining us as we complete this week of looking at the blessings that are ours in Christ. Today we are looking at the treasure of having peace with God.
Romans 5 is a wonderful passage on this subject. It talks about our peace with Him. It says in Romans 5:1, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This verse is very full, isn’t it? First it talks about us being justified. We have been made righteous by the Lord Jesus Christ. We have now been set free from sin in the sense that we have been forgiven. We have been given the righteousness of Christ and that has happened by faith. It is not a work that we have done or something we have earned or something we have merited, but by faith we have received this gift of righteousness and therefore we are justified. Then it says because of that we have peace with God.
In the New Testament we find that we have the peace of God and the peace with God. The peace of God is represented in Philippians 4:6-7 which says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Here it tells us to be anxious for nothing but by prayer and supplication and so forth we can have the peace of God. In any given circumstance, between people or within our own souls, there are times when we need peace. We need peace with people and peace within ourselves. That peace of God is available when we turn our anxieties over to Him in prayer and trust and believe in Him in that way. That is the peace of God.
This passage in Romans 5 is not talking about that kind of peace. It says we have peace with God and that is different. The passage is teaching that we are at war with God. We are born His enemy and we are born against Him. Our great need is reconciliation, to be made friends of God and have peace with Him. It says here that we can have peace with God, but only through our Lord Jesus Christ. So, the barrier is broken down between us and God because of Jesus Christ. It is through Jesus Christ that the enmity between us and Him is gone. We were at war and now we can have peace. It says, “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” . . .
