WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.000 as well, where Abraham's faith is counted to him as righteousness. Counted to him, there's this sense 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:15.160 of an account that he has that is in credit with God. Faith is counted to him as righteousness. 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:22.640 And then we come into chapter 5 and we read, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, 00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:29.800 we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have also obtained access 00:00:29.800 --> 00:00:37.899 by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 00:00:39.340 --> 00:00:45.760 Maybe familiar words to us in the book of Romans, we come across so much wonderful teaching that God 00:00:45.759 --> 00:00:53.339 gives to us. And these opening words of chapter 5 enter into a section, then it leads us right 00:00:53.339 --> 00:01:00.159 through into the end of chapter 8, where we're seeing the wonder and the beauty of Christ, who is 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:09.420 our Savior. How much do you have in your account this evening? When I ask you that question, you 00:01:09.420 --> 00:01:14.120 automatically think I'm asking you how much money you have in the bank. And you might say it's none 00:01:14.120 --> 00:01:20.420 of your business, how much money I have. But some people like to talk about how much money they have. 00:01:20.500 --> 00:01:27.020 Some people like to boast about how much money they have. And there's a list of rich people that's 00:01:27.020 --> 00:01:35.740 produced every year. It's called the Forbes Rich List. And people love to see their names on that list. 00:01:36.780 --> 00:01:42.640 And maybe we're not on that list. Maybe we don't want to be on that list. We'll never be on that list. 00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:48.620 But that's not the account that matters. And that's not the account that I'm asking you about 00:01:48.620 --> 00:01:56.219 this evening at all. It's not how much money you have in the bank at all. It's an account with God 00:01:56.219 --> 00:02:05.099 and what we have with Him. And that's what matters. Not our name being on the Forbes Rich List, 00:02:05.099 --> 00:02:12.060 but our name being on another list, a far more important list. And that is our name being in the 00:02:12.060 --> 00:02:21.799 Lamb's Book of Life. We might ask the question, how do people get their names on the Forbes Rich List? 00:02:22.359 --> 00:02:28.219 How do you end up on there? Well, it's often about what you have in your account, what you have in your 00:02:28.219 --> 00:02:33.879 bank account, through things that you've maybe accomplished and earned in life, or maybe through 00:02:33.879 --> 00:02:42.199 what you've inherited in your life. You can end up on that list. But we ask ourselves, how do we end up 00:02:42.199 --> 00:02:50.599 on that other list, that list belonging to God, the Lamb's Book of Life? It's nothing to do with 00:02:50.599 --> 00:03:00.859 what we do ourselves. We don't earn our way onto that list, but it's by faith in the one who has done 00:03:00.860 --> 00:03:08.680 everything for us. And it all comes down to realizing that, that it's not about what we 00:03:08.680 --> 00:03:18.000 have done that makes a difference in saving our souls. It's all about who we know and how we know Him, 00:03:18.700 --> 00:03:27.020 and to know Him by faith, just like Abraham was justified by faith, and it was counted to him 00:03:27.020 --> 00:03:37.840 as righteousness. His account was with God, and his security was with God. And as we look at God's 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:46.020 Word tonight, as we've just sang from Psalm 19, we see just how precious God's Word is. It's far more 00:03:46.020 --> 00:03:54.580 precious than gold, the psalmist says, even much fine gold, the best of gold that could be had in the 00:03:54.580 --> 00:04:02.900 psalmist's day. It's nothing compared to the value of God's Word to us. And for ourselves tonight, if we 00:04:02.900 --> 00:04:12.300 know Jesus, if we know Him as our Savior, we could have nothing in our bank account, and yet we have 00:04:12.300 --> 00:04:19.900 everything through faith in Him. And on the opposite side of that, we could be number one on the Forbes 00:04:19.899 --> 00:04:29.259 Rich List, and yet without Christ, have nothing and be lost. And so what do you have in your account 00:04:29.259 --> 00:04:38.659 tonight? Well, as we read these opening verses of chapter 5, we've given this insight into what we 00:04:38.659 --> 00:04:47.120 have through faith, and what is credited to our account by faith. There's a few things just going 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:54.100 through these two verses that I want us to highlight this evening, that we have through faith, 00:04:54.100 --> 00:05:02.720 and to realize that it's a never-ending source of riches. It's the riches that we have through faith 00:05:02.720 --> 00:05:09.780 in Christ. We're just going to take some of these words as we go through these verses. And the first 00:05:09.779 --> 00:05:22.979 thing we see here is in verse 1, we have been justified by faith. The same as Abraham before us. It was not 00:05:22.979 --> 00:05:32.719 just written for his sake alone, it says at the end of verse 23 of chapter 4, but for ours also. It'll be 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:39.840 counted to us who believe in Him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our 00:05:39.840 --> 00:05:47.960 trespasses and raised for our justification. And then it comes in, therefore, we have this as well. 00:05:47.960 --> 00:05:57.460 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith. So the first thing we see here of this account that we 00:05:57.459 --> 00:06:06.459 have with God is that our debt is clear. And you may ask, well, what debt are we talking about here? We 00:06:06.459 --> 00:06:17.279 are justified by faith. What is our debt? What was our debt? Well, you go back to chapter 3, and there it 00:06:17.279 --> 00:06:26.179 says, are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. What do we have 00:06:26.180 --> 00:06:32.280 here? Well, we have the righteousness of God through faith? That's what it's speaking about as you go back 00:06:32.280 --> 00:06:39.259 to verse 22 as well. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. 00:06:39.259 --> 00:06:50.939 Well, there is no distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We are all in debt. 00:06:50.939 --> 00:07:00.180 All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But yet we are justified through faith by this 00:07:00.180 --> 00:07:10.639 grace as a gift through the redemption that is ours in Christ Jesus. We have this debt. It's highlighted 00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:18.399 for us again in chapter 6, verse 23, the end of that chapter. For the wages of sin is death, 00:07:18.399 --> 00:07:26.979 but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Again, there's this debt that we have. 00:07:27.939 --> 00:07:37.560 The wages of sin is death. So we all have this debt. But what does faith do for us? We are justified 00:07:37.560 --> 00:07:45.819 through faith. Our debt is clear. And how is this possible? Well, it's because of what the Lord Jesus 00:07:45.819 --> 00:07:54.920 Christ has done for us. How he died on the cross. He paid for all our sins. And so that when we receive 00:07:54.920 --> 00:08:06.339 him as our savior, our debt is clear. Justification doesn't mean that we are perfect. We still fall short 00:08:06.339 --> 00:08:13.519 so often, but we are made right with God. Not through our righteousness, but through the righteousness 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:22.379 of Christ. And so there's no need for us to try and add to our account. There's no need for us to try and 00:08:22.379 --> 00:08:28.559 boost our account in any way because there's nothing more we need to add to it. There's nothing more that 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:35.700 we can do to make it any better or healthier than it is. We add nothing to it because he has done 00:08:35.700 --> 00:08:45.519 everything for us. There's a writer, John Flavel, who once said this. He was speaking about our 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:53.960 justification. He said, if he has finished the work, this is Christ, what need is there of our additions? 00:08:53.960 --> 00:09:01.620 What more could we add to it? And if not, if he's not finished the work, to what purpose are they? 00:09:02.019 --> 00:09:09.600 Anything else we can do? Can we finish that which Christ himself could not complete? Did he finish 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:17.480 the work? And will he ever divide the glory and praise of it with us? No, he says, no. Christ is no half 00:09:17.480 --> 00:09:26.639 savior. It is a hard thing to bring proud hearts to rest upon Christ for righteousness, but God humbles 00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:33.480 the proud by calling sinners holy from their own righteousness to Christ for their justification. 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:43.060 He has finished the work. There is nothing more we add to our account. Our debt is cleared. We are justified 00:09:43.059 --> 00:09:53.639 by faith. We are made right with God. Isn't that a wonderful thing to have in our account this evening? 00:09:54.119 --> 00:10:03.759 To know our debt is cleared. To know we are right with God. We have been justified by faith. So we have 00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:10.599 this in our account through faith, but there's more. Because he goes on, he says that we are justified by 00:10:10.600 --> 00:10:22.279 faith. We have peace with God. Peace with God. Bank accounts can cause people great stress and worry so 00:10:22.279 --> 00:10:29.080 often. If they're running low or if our bank account's in debt, we get worried. We get stressed. 00:10:29.720 --> 00:10:35.860 Imagine the relief when a substantial amount is paid into that. It gives us a sense of relief. 00:10:35.860 --> 00:10:42.300 It's the end of the month just now. It's payday for many people. And maybe your bank balance has been 00:10:42.300 --> 00:10:47.080 just dropping all month and you're so glad to get to the end of the month when it gets a boost once 00:10:47.080 --> 00:10:54.300 again. But how long will it last? Once all the direct debits come off, once all the bills are paid, 00:10:54.659 --> 00:11:01.940 how much is left? It so often just leads us for a moment of peace, but then we start to worry once 00:11:01.940 --> 00:11:08.100 again. And then we think, even with our bank accounts, supposing they are healthy, what difference 00:11:08.100 --> 00:11:14.480 does it make at the end of the day? Can we take it with us? No. But here we are speaking about 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:22.400 something else. Justification by faith is not just a temporary fix. It's a complete transformation, 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:29.720 an everlasting transformation. And so the worry is taken out of it. We have peace with God, 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:38.120 a peace that cannot be taken from us. All our debts are paid. There's no more coming off. He has given us 00:11:38.120 --> 00:11:48.620 this peace. This peace is a wonderful blessing. And it's not just a feeling of this inner peace, 00:11:48.620 --> 00:11:59.519 but it's an object of peace. The fact of peace. We have peace with God. But there's always a danger 00:11:59.519 --> 00:12:06.720 with that. And people often feel we have peace with God, but we don't really. It's highlighted for us 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:13.019 so often in the Old Testament, the likes of Jeremiah, a prophet who was calling up people to repent 00:12:13.019 --> 00:12:21.939 when the false prophets were telling them, you have peace. But Jeremiah was saying to them in chapter 6, 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:28.639 verse 14, they have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. 00:12:29.639 --> 00:12:39.399 It's a false peace. But through faith and being justified by faith, we have through peace with God. 00:12:39.399 --> 00:12:49.399 An old Christian who was on his deathbed was visited by a friend who asked him, have you made peace with God? 00:12:50.459 --> 00:12:58.579 And the man replied, no, I haven't. And his friend was troubled. He said, what have you? You must make 00:12:58.579 --> 00:13:06.720 peace with God, he started saying. And the man on the deathbed was saying, I'm sorry, I cannot do that. 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:12.860 But you must. But you must, he said again, his friend, don't you realize the danger you're in without 00:13:12.860 --> 00:13:20.639 making peace with God? And the dying man replied, but how can I make peace with God? 00:13:21.700 --> 00:13:28.879 And then he turned it around and he said, my Lord made peace with me 2,000 years ago when he died on 00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:36.300 the cross. And when I came to accept that and to believe in that, I had peace. And I have had peace. 00:13:36.720 --> 00:13:45.460 Ever since. We have peace with God, not through what we do, but what has been done for us. 00:13:46.180 --> 00:13:53.779 And what Christ has done for us at the cross. So we are reconciled to God. We are no longer 00:13:53.779 --> 00:14:01.600 enemies of God, but friends with him. And we do only to fear his judgment. Our account 00:14:01.600 --> 00:14:13.220 is healthy with him. We have peace with God. Then it goes on to say, with God, through our Lord Jesus 00:14:13.220 --> 00:14:24.000 Christ. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. So many people enter financial crisis when their investments 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:31.500 have been put in the wrong place. So when there's a market that collapses. So much can be wiped off the 00:14:31.500 --> 00:14:39.000 market in the blink of an eye, in a day, in a moment. And then there's a panic. How can we go on? 00:14:39.080 --> 00:14:46.679 We need someone to help us. We need someone to act as a guarantor for us. But for many, they're helpless. 00:14:46.679 --> 00:14:56.620 They can't do anything. But what about our account with God? How secure is your account this evening? 00:14:57.439 --> 00:15:03.559 Our bank balance and accounts, they can be wiped out in a moment. But what about our account with God? 00:15:04.500 --> 00:15:12.039 Well, here we're told our account is through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is secure. 00:15:12.039 --> 00:15:20.559 There is nothing that can take anything away from us because it is secure in Christ. 00:15:21.559 --> 00:15:33.179 Through our Lord Jesus Christ. There's a commentator called Douglas Moo who wrote a commentary on the book 00:15:33.179 --> 00:15:41.799 of Romans. And he makes this comment about Romans chapter 5 through to chapter 8. And he says, 00:15:42.039 --> 00:15:52.299 that all God has for us is to be found in or through Jesus Christ, our Lord. He says this is a constant 00:15:52.299 --> 00:16:02.039 thread running through chapter 5 to chapter 8. This is the first one of them. We have peace with God through 00:16:02.039 --> 00:16:12.019 our Lord Jesus Christ. You carry on through the chapters. We rejoice in verse 11. We rejoice in God. 00:16:12.019 --> 00:16:20.960 through our Lord Jesus Christ. Then you go further on in chapter 5, verse 21. Grace reigns through 00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:29.799 righteousness resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord, he says. The gift of God bringing 00:16:29.799 --> 00:16:38.679 eternal life is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Chapter 6, verse 23. Thanks for deliverance are due to God 00:16:38.679 --> 00:16:46.679 through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Chapter 7, verse 23. And then that great chapter, chapter 8. And it says, 00:16:46.779 --> 00:16:56.679 the love of God from which nothing can ever separate the believer is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. He guarantees 00:16:56.679 --> 00:17:06.399 our account. He is the security of our account. Everything is in or through Jesus Christ, our Lord. 00:17:07.679 --> 00:17:16.319 Nothing can put us back in debt again. Nothing can wipe away our account. It is secure in him. 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:28.579 He goes into verse 2 then and says, through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. 00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:38.619 Your name on the Forbes rich list may grant you access to the finest restaurants. It may be no bother to own 00:17:38.619 --> 00:17:47.419 anything you want in this world. It's yours just the click of your fingers. It seems like there's access to funds 00:17:47.419 --> 00:17:57.239 unending. But it doesn't give us anyone the access that this speaks of. But we have through faith, 00:17:57.739 --> 00:18:06.679 through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace. We have this wonderful access through 00:18:06.680 --> 00:18:15.480 Christ. We have ongoing access to this account of the treasures of God's grace, the riches of his grace 00:18:15.480 --> 00:18:25.039 towards us. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, we can come again and again and again into the presence of God 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:35.200 and receive grace and mercy for every need. It's an account that never runs out. He supplies all our needs 00:18:35.200 --> 00:18:43.920 through Christ. And the word access here. Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace. 00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:53.819 The word access here means entering into the presence of the King. Many people earn access to royalty through 00:18:53.819 --> 00:19:01.160 their riches in this world. But we as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ have access to the King of Kings 00:19:01.160 --> 00:19:08.759 and Lord of Lords. Any time of the Lord of Lords. Any time of the day or night, we can come and approach him. 00:19:09.160 --> 00:19:16.860 Through Jesus, we enter into the presence of God. We come in prayer to him. We come saying, 00:19:17.220 --> 00:19:25.880 Our Father who art in heaven. We have access to him. And as it goes on here, he speaks of access in which 00:19:25.880 --> 00:19:34.420 we stand. There's this idea of permanence here. Again, it's this that cannot be removed from us. It's 00:19:34.420 --> 00:19:43.780 firmly fixed, immovable. We have this access constantly, this security constantly. We are absolutely 00:19:43.780 --> 00:19:54.460 secure in the Lord Jesus Christ. What access, what wonderful access we have to the riches of God. 00:19:54.460 --> 00:20:01.360 What a blessing that is for us tonight. That is our account with God. 00:20:02.420 --> 00:20:12.140 The final thing we take from these verses is the end of verse 2. We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 00:20:13.319 --> 00:20:20.579 Our hope is certain because it's based on the promises of God that never fail. 00:20:20.579 --> 00:20:28.539 You hear so many people putting things in front of us to invest our money and to get a great return. 00:20:28.859 --> 00:20:35.720 And we hope in some ways that that will happen. But it's not a certain hope. It's not a secure hope. 00:20:35.960 --> 00:20:44.399 But here there is a hope that is certain, that is secure. We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:52.440 So there is this return on our accounts. There is this future hope on our accounts. 00:20:52.940 --> 00:20:58.100 You know, sometimes people will show a box full of money or a room full of gold. 00:20:58.340 --> 00:21:03.220 And you're only given a glance to see what it looks like. What does a million pounds look like? 00:21:03.460 --> 00:21:07.220 And they'll put it in front of you in a pile and you'll see that's what it looks like. 00:21:07.220 --> 00:21:09.960 But you can't go near it. You can't touch it. 00:21:11.160 --> 00:21:16.380 But here the hope of the Christian is that we will rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 00:21:16.640 --> 00:21:20.900 Not just that we will see it, but that we will share in it. 00:21:21.200 --> 00:21:25.640 We will all be part of it through being justified by faith. 00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:30.360 The glory that was lost when sin came into this world. 00:21:30.359 --> 00:21:41.419 When we see Jesus and when we trust in him, we see it restored, not only in part, but the day will come and we will see it in all its fullness. 00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:52.719 What Christ has done for us is so amazing, so remarkable that we hope, rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 00:21:52.779 --> 00:21:55.399 And hope is a wonderful thing. 00:21:55.400 --> 00:21:59.019 Hope for the Christian keeps us going. 00:21:59.140 --> 00:22:00.680 It keeps us going on. 00:22:01.980 --> 00:22:04.600 There was a man in America called Eugene Lang. 00:22:05.580 --> 00:22:08.200 He had become a self-made millionaire. 00:22:08.660 --> 00:22:12.440 He'd worked hard and become a millionaire through hard work. 00:22:13.040 --> 00:22:16.660 And he was often asked to go and speak in different places. 00:22:17.480 --> 00:22:22.160 And one day he was invited into a school in East Harlem in New York. 00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:31.120 A very poor area of New York, where many of the students, they really didn't have much to hope for in life. 00:22:31.300 --> 00:22:37.700 And yet he was invited on to address a class that was coming to near the end of their time in school. 00:22:37.840 --> 00:22:40.200 59 students he addressed. 00:22:40.300 --> 00:22:44.220 And he was worrying, what could he say to inspire these students? 00:22:45.180 --> 00:22:48.620 He knew most of them would eventually drop out of school. 00:22:48.619 --> 00:22:54.219 Many of them would probably end up in prison because that's the kind of life that they were used to. 00:22:55.459 --> 00:22:57.399 And so he was thinking, what could he say? 00:22:59.099 --> 00:23:02.619 He was thinking, never mind, would they listen to him? 00:23:02.659 --> 00:23:03.739 Would they even look at him? 00:23:03.779 --> 00:23:06.459 He was thinking, how can I get them to engage? 00:23:07.299 --> 00:23:10.419 And so everything that he began to write, he scrapped. 00:23:10.500 --> 00:23:11.359 He put it in the bin. 00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:15.639 And instead he decided to speak from the heart. 00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:21.339 And not just speak words, but give them another kind of hope. 00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:25.079 And he said to them, stay in school. 00:23:26.439 --> 00:23:27.539 Keep on studying. 00:23:28.199 --> 00:23:33.539 And I'll help pay the college tuition for every one of you. 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:36.519 There was an offer made to them. 00:23:36.519 --> 00:23:40.900 An offer that they would never have managed by themselves. 00:23:41.779 --> 00:23:45.500 And immediately those students, their lives were changed. 00:23:46.259 --> 00:23:48.799 For the first time, they had hope. 00:23:49.539 --> 00:23:52.160 They had something to look forward to. 00:23:52.980 --> 00:23:57.660 And many of them went on to go to college. 00:23:58.500 --> 00:24:03.680 Of that class, 90% of the class graduated from high school. 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:10.140 They were given hope by someone giving to their account. 00:24:11.420 --> 00:24:16.920 And for ourselves, here we are as a people, hopeless in life. 00:24:17.700 --> 00:24:19.700 No hope without God. 00:24:19.860 --> 00:24:21.600 Perishing without him. 00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:29.600 And yet now, in our account, we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 00:24:29.599 --> 00:24:33.879 Because of what he has done for us. 00:24:34.959 --> 00:24:38.659 So what do we have in our account this evening? 00:24:39.679 --> 00:24:42.959 We have more than we ever dreamed of. 00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:46.559 We have more than we could ever imagine. 00:24:47.379 --> 00:24:49.439 But we have to realize it. 00:24:50.119 --> 00:24:51.539 We have to trust it. 00:24:52.059 --> 00:24:53.379 We have to believe it. 00:24:53.379 --> 00:24:56.399 Because that is what the word of God says. 00:24:56.400 --> 00:25:00.580 This wasn't just for Abraham. 00:25:01.580 --> 00:25:04.380 It was not written for his sake alone. 00:25:04.759 --> 00:25:06.960 But for ours also. 00:25:07.940 --> 00:25:11.840 That our account, our debt is clear. 00:25:12.860 --> 00:25:15.140 And in his place, we have peace with God. 00:25:15.500 --> 00:25:17.700 Through our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:25:17.700 --> 00:25:22.660 We have access on a daily basis to this unending grace. 00:25:23.340 --> 00:25:28.140 And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 00:25:29.319 --> 00:25:32.120 Our names may never be on the Forbes Rich List. 00:25:32.980 --> 00:25:34.259 That doesn't matter. 00:25:35.400 --> 00:25:38.600 If our names are on the Lamb's Book of Life, 00:25:38.599 --> 00:25:43.980 that means we are richer than anyone else in this world. 00:25:44.439 --> 00:25:47.240 And that is where we should long to be. 00:25:47.299 --> 00:25:48.399 And that is where we are. 00:25:49.059 --> 00:25:52.359 Through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:25:52.839 --> 00:25:53.559 Let us pray. 00:25:55.939 --> 00:25:58.439 Our Father in heaven, we thank you for all.