5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
How Can Being Justified by Faith be a Source of Hope? Even amid our darkest valleys of life, knowing Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord brings hope, joy, and peace into our darkness. So, as we break this down step by step, my desire is that you do find comfort, hope and peace in Him.
JUSTIFIED BY FAITH
From the former pages of Paul’s letters to the Romans, Paul has laid out the case for humanities guilt before God. He also presented the fact that the law was incapable of bringing salvation. Rather, it proved how far the creature (male and female) were from the righteousness of God, their creator. It pointed out how corrupt, evil and self-exalting the human heart really is. He who so willingly pours forth His grace upon the just and the unjust, waiting with such patience, enduring such grief; because He loves and desires that all come to Him. Although, fully knowing that by giving them the freedom to choose; many would walk away from the salvation He so freely offers them. Yet, He so willingly paid the price for them upon the cross. Jesus Christ bore the full penalty and wrath that God’s Righteousness demanded for our sins, past, present and future.
Yet, in His Abundance of Grace, God has offered all of humanity the opportunity to be justified by Faith alone In Christ Alone to the Glory of God Alone because of Grace Alone. For that reason, we have Peace with God. The enmity, the wrath that I so deserved from God was satisfied by the payment made in my behalf by Jesus Christ. Therefore, my relationship with God is one of Peace with God. When God looks down on me, He sees the blood of Christ covering my sin and because I accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, God sees only the cloak of Righteousness that Christ placed on my Shoulders.
Therein lies my Hope. My source of Hope, regardless of my earthly situation is God alone.
Source of Hope
Because I am Justified by Faith, I have access by faith into the grace in which I stand. Firmly, safely, securely stand before a Holy God, clothed in the righteousness of Christ so that I cannot fall from that Grace. Only because of the work of Christ. Does that mean I would want to run out and sin more? Absolutely not. In love, I desire to do that which is going to bring honor to the one who loved me so. Beyond that, I know that He is ever about the work of transforming my heart into one that looks like Him. As He promised.
“the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live” (Deuteronomy 30:6).
He is always about the work of changing my heart to one that will love Him with all my heart, strength, mind and soul. The surgeon’s skillful knife will not miss one darkened spot until my heart looks like Jesus one day as I stand before Him.
Therefore, I rejoice in the hope of the Glory of God. He is the source of all hope that rises in me amid the trials of this life. One day I will see Him in all His glory and one day when I stand before Him my heart will know what it is to love like He does. His joy, glory, and love will be fully mine. Though now I see through a glass dimly, but then face to face.
With Him as my hope and my treasure, what do I have to fear on this earth.
Romans 8:
26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Heidelberg Catechism LORD’S DAY 1[1]
- Q. What is your only comfort in life and death?
- That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ.
- He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from all the power of the devil.
- He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head
- indeed, all things must work together for my salvation.
- Therefore, by his Holy Spirit he also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for him.
1 Cor 6:19, 20. 2 Rom 14:7-9. 3 1 Cor 3:23; Tit 2:14. 4 1 Pet 1:18, 19; 1 Jn 1:7; 2:2. 5 Jn 8:34-36; Heb 2:14, 15; 1 Jn 3:8. 6 Jn 6:39, 40; 10:27-30; 2 Thess 3:3; 1 Pet 1:5. 7 Mt 10:29-31; Lk 21:16-18. 8 Rom 8:28. 9 Rom 8:15, 16; 2 Cor 1:21, 22; 5:5; Eph 1:13, 14. 10Rom 8:14.
- Q. What do you need to know in order to live and die in the joy of this comfort?
- First, how great my sins and misery are.
- Second, how I am delivered from all my sins and misery.
- Third, how I am to be thankful to God for such deliverance.
1 Rom 3:9, 10; 1 Jn 1:10. 2 Jn 17:3; Acts 4:12; 10:43. 3 Mt 5:16; Rom 6:13; Eph 5:8-10; 1 Pet 2:9, 10.
So, my question for you today is: Do you know Jesus Christ as Your Savior and Lord?
DO YOU KNOW CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR AND LORD?
If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord: I urge you to go to my page titled How to Be Saved by clicking on this link. There is nothing more important than this; because He is the way, the truth and the life. Therefore, I urge you to seek Him today.
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©Effie Darlene Barba, 2019
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned except for my own books. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
Credits
[1] The Heidelberg Catechism (1563), one of the Three Forms of Unity, is a Protestant confessional document taking the form of a series of questions and answers, for use in teaching Reformed Christian doctrine. It was written in 1563 in Heidelberg, present-day Germany. It is divided into 52 days, one for each week of the year.
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