Since we are Justified

Romans 5:1-6
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.

For those who have studied or even read Paul's letter to the Roman Christians, you recognize this is an important and pivotal point in the writing. Earlier in the letter Paul was stepping on toes with a convicting message that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."  Then the swing of directions in the letter as he says to his Christian brothers, "we have been justified through faith."

This is where we all need to be reminded that Christians are not perfect.  We still sin, and as much as we wish that were not true, even the writer of this Bible letter confessed that at times he knew the right thing to do and ended up doing the wrong thing! Sound familiar? 

The good news is that Christians are forgiven because of Jesus giving his life on the cross as a sacrifice for us all.  He took the sins of mankind with him to his death.  The punishment we deserved, is forgiven because Jesus washes us clean with his blood which was shed on Calvary. 

So Paul comes to this point in the letter and says, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith,"   I know you just read that at the top of the page, but what if you were told those words and didn't know what would follow?  What would you be expecting?

Would you be given further instructions? Would you be given further requirements before you could be "accepted" by other believers? Let's see what Paul said in his letter.  "....we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."  That's the good news of Jesus applied to us!   But even that isn't all.

Paul continues and says it is through Jesus "we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand."  In Jesus we have escaped the condemnation of the law, and now we are under God's grace. This brings rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God. 

Then Paul reminds us, "we also rejoice in our sufferings."  Wait!  We have to suffer to be a Christian? We do if we are committing our lives to the Lord. Here is why: "suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts b the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."  Those verses are not only pivotal in the lives of the Roman Christians, but in our lives, too.  Praise God for the completeness of the salvation he provides. 

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