Romans 5:1-2 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.

 Do you understand and grasp the kind of peace that is being spoken of in
this text?  Better yet, what I am really asking is if you have this peace
that is being spoken of, this thing called "peace with God?"
 I have seen and been touched by this peace.  I have been at the bedside
of those who are dying and have seen this peace.  I have been in
hospitals with those stricken with the most horrendous of diseases and
difficulties and have seen through them the peace spoken of here.  I have
met people who have suffered the loss of all and yet have shown and dwelt
in this peace.  When difficulty and tribulation have reared their ugly
heads, I have in my own life rejoiced in this peace of God that is found
here.  It is a peace that I don't think any man should live without.
 But beware!  The peace spoken of here is not the peace the world would
throw at us.  The world's kind of peace is one where they believe there
is nothing but harmony and joy, where all things go beautifully, where
all our needs and wants are met, where men know no strife because all men
will have all things in common.
 Now don't get me wrong, I do like the sound of what the world promotes.
My problem is that I am a realist.  My problem is that I don't believe
the world is ever going to be capable of such living and harmony.  My
problem is that I know what God says of sin in this world and exactly how
mankind has been terribly scarred by this sin.  I know that God says that
until Jesus returns and restores this world to the perfect, sinless place
it once was that this world will be one filled with "wars, rumors of
wars, nations will rise against nations, famines, and earthquakes."  And
as if that isn't bad enough we are also told, "many will abandon the
faith, they will betray and hate each other...many false prophets will
appear, the love of most will grow cold and there will be great distress,
unequaled from the beginning of the world until now-and never to be
equaled again.  If those days had not been cut short, no one would
survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened."  In
other words, on the basis of what God says and reveals, I do not expect
there will ever be any kind of earthly peace as the world likes to
promise.
 So then, how can I stand before you and ask if you know the peace that
our text speaks of?  Because it is not a worldly peace spoken of.  It is
not a peace based on man and the things of this world but rather is a
peace based on the wonder, the marvel and awesome redemption that is
found in Jesus Christ our Lord.  It is the peace, as God's Word states,
"that transcends all understanding."  True peace, lasting peace, the only
peace that counts!  Let's then learn of this peace.  Our theme will be:
THE PEACE OF GOD.  1st. It comes through Jesus.  2nd. It brings
justification.  3rd. We have it now.
 Indeed what a worthy topic we have before us: Peace!  Not ordinary peace
but rather what our text calls "peace with God."  Note how this peace is
spoken of in our text.  It says, "we have peace with God though our Lord
Jesus Christ."  There is the foundation.  There is the secret to this
peace, the Lord Jesus Christ.
 It is in speaking of Jesus that you will grasp why the world cannot get
this peace.  Because of its sinful nature the world wants nothing to do
with Jesus and the truth of God that Jesus has come to reveal.  Indeed,
even when Jesus did walk in this world, the very people he had been
promised to and ministered among chose to hate him rather than to accept
what they saw and heard of Jesus.  They denied his words of truth that
spoke of salvation from sin.  They rejected his miracles, thousands upon
thousands of them, not by denying he did them but rather by claiming he
did them by the power of the devil.  Worse yet, the one clear
demonstration of the very divine nature of Jesus they shunned.  Jesus
Christ, crucified had risen from the dead.  He who was dead was made
alive again and although many of them saw Him they refused to believe
that Jesus is God.
 But isn't that exactly the way that God had said it would be?  And isn't
that the way that it still is today?  Tell me, what harm or horror is
there in the message of Jesus?  I can't help it that over the centuries
false teachers and prophets have taught and done things to bring shame to
the name of Jesus.  Those things are the acts of men not of Jesus.  So
tell me, what harm or horror is there in the message of Jesus?  Is it a
horror to show men their sins and how those sins have separated from God?
 Is it harmful to speak of how God sent his son to forgive our sins and
grant eternal life and salvation?  Is there some sort of shame in the
moral base that's God's Word encourages in man?  Is there shame in being
forgiving and loving, caring and gracious to our neighbor and all of
mankind?  What is there in the message of Jesus that is harmful?
 The truth is that the message of God's Word has nothing horrifying or
harmful.  It is a message of the Savior, the good news of God's eternal
love that has taken and acted on our behalf that we might be delivered
from the true and real problem we have: sin.  But there's the problem.
The world doesn't want to hear of sin.  The world doesn't want to be
answerable to a supreme being even though that God is the one who
supplies all the answers.  The world still wants to be like Adam and Eve
when they ran to hide from God right after they ate of the forbidden
fruit.  God had not changed but clearly Adam and Eve had.  They just
wanted to blame God.
 It was because of this change brought about by sin that God took the
steps to bring about our justification.  What a beautiful word this is.
How sad that so many take this wonderful word and its lesson and twist it
into something it is not.  There are those who claim this words means
"the process of making innocent."  How sad this is.  They make this
beautiful and meaningful word something that we must do, rather than what
this word says.  The word justify or justification is a word that speaks
of God "declaring us innocent of all the charges brought against us."
Please note that.  It is a word that speaks of what God has declared,
what God has promised and given through his divine power and love.  It is
a word that shows us the true nature of the peace we have with God.
 In truth the word we are speaking of is a word that comes from the Greek
courtroom.  It is a word that says the case has been heard and that the
judge is declaring the defendant free of all the charges and accusations
against him.  It is a word that is the equivalent of the jury saying, "We
find the defendant not guilty on all charges!"
 But dear people, remember that this is God's courtroom!  There is
nothing hidden or left out in the testimony against us.  God knows all
things.  God knows that we are guilty of sin in deed, in words and in
thoughts.  God looks right into our hearts and sees everything that is
there.  On the basis of what God's Law says there is no doubt that each
of us deserves nothing but the death sentence, the eternal death
sentence.  Yet God, because of Jesus, declares us innocent.  God, because
of Jesus and the fact that Jesus paid for our sins, God announces that
there are no charges against us.  He declares that all the evidence
against us is inadmissible in his courtroom.  Thus we are pronounced "not
guilty," not because that's the reality of our life but rather because
that's the reality of Jesus' life!
 Why is it that the world just doesn't want to hear about this marvel and
beauty of Jesus?  Why is it that they seem to be so opposed to Jesus and
what he declares?  Jesus is about our forgiveness and redemption.  Jesus
is about God's love for a lost world and how God worked to bring that
world back to him.  Jesus is about eternal life and salvation, not based
on us but rather based entirely on what He did and accomplished!  Through
Jesus we are made right with God.  Through Jesus our sins are forgiven
and yes, yes, heaven becomes our eternal home now and always.
 That's what our text tells us isn't it?  It says to us, "through whom we
have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand."  The
"through whom" is Jesus.  It tells us that in Jesus we gain access to
God's grace.  Again another word worthy of note for us.  The word we
translate "gained access" has the fuller meaning of "the means of
admission into the presence of a person of higher position."  It is a
word that tells us that without Jesus we couldn't and wouldn't be able to
enjoy the favor and presence of God.  But with Jesus we are in the very
presence of God and we are the recipients of God's grace.  Grace is God's
free and certain love.  Grace is the love that God has for us, a love
that moved him to send his Son to win forgiveness and eternal life.
 Did you get the most awesome thing about this last section we looked at?
 Not only did it talk about our access to the grace of God in Jesus but
it spoke of that grace with these words: "in which we now stand."  God's
grace is ours now.  God's love and care is ours now.  All of this goes to
reiterate what we heard last week...that God is working and moving for
the sake of those that he loves.  With God on our side, how can we lose?
With God forgiving our sins, how can any charges against us stand?  With
God, who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how can we
not grasp that he will give us all things because of Jesus?
 It is because of Jesus that you find that other little set of words in
this section, you know, that set of words that speaks of, "faith."  We
have all of these things because God has done them and God has declared
them so.  We have these things when we simply believe God.  That's what
"faith" means.  It means to believe God, or if you want to be more
specific, to believe God's message demonstrated and realized in Jesus.
 I am forgiven, because Jesus paid for my sins.  I am a child of God
because Jesus declares me his brother and an heir of eternal life.
Heaven is my home, because God so promises this gift of eternal life in
Jesus.  To have faith means to believe what God says.  To have faith
means that God has worked in your heart and mind, has opened your heart
and mind to the wonder of Jesus.  All of this because of Jesus.
 Now after you have learned all of these things about this verse, listen
again to what it says and tell me if you don't have a greater
appreciation for it message.  "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."
 God's grace, eternal life and heaven are ours in Jesus.  Ours because we
are declared "justified" in Jesus.  Ours now and always in Jesus.  Amen.