Justification by faith is not merely a judicial act, but it is a gift of God which brings great assurances and blessings: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:1-2). Peace with God. Access. Grace. Standing with Christ and hope in His glory. It’s present tense. It’s ongoing. It’s unstoppable. This is what justification by faith has accomplished in our lives!

In Romans 5, 1 and 2, we discover that the believer has such a remarkable gift. Let me read it to you. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and this is the phrase that should knock us over, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. In Romans 5, the Apostle Paul is just explaining the blessings and assurances of justification by faith. Way at the beginning he said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it's the power of God.

And now in Romans five he says, you have peace with God and you're standing in grace. And he uses four, I'm just going to call them thrilling words, access, grace, standing and rejoicing. This is what justification by faith has accomplished. We have access, it's present tense, it's ongoing, It is unstoppable. We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand.

We are standing in a spiritual realm. It's not virtual reality, it's reality. Now I've lived in a number of places, probably five or six states in my short life, Alaska, Nashville, Tennessee, New Mexico, 30 years in California, one year in Texas, and 35 years in North Carolina. But in every state I've lived, I've been standing in grace. I live in the state of grace, And this is what God has done through justification.

We have access into this grace. That means there's this ongoing access, ongoing flow of grace from God. You know, we know that God drew us into grace. We were saved by grace. We walk in grace and we stand in grace.

And as a result, we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. So how do we apply this? You don't. You just experience it. You just rest in the fact that God's grace is like a shower, a constant shower of grace.

When you get up in the morning, when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up, the believer who is justified by faith has a gift to be standing in a shower of grace. Praise the Lord. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Scripture Applied is a production of Church and Family life. Visit churchandfamilylife.com for more resources.