In this sermon at Barnet Bible Church, Pastor Steve Hopkins explores Romans 5:1-2, focusing on the themes of justification by faith, peace with God, access to God's grace, and hope of the glory of God. He emphasizes that justification is a gift from God, not a result of human effort, highlighting the passive role of humans in salvation. Hopkins critiques testimonies that focus on personal actions rather than God's work, underscoring that salvation is entirely a divine act. The sermon explains that believers have peace with God, as the wrath due to sin has been satisfied through Christ's sacrifice. This peace is permanent and brings comfort to the believer's conscience. Hopkins further discusses how believers now have access to God, symbolized by the tearing of the temple veil at Christ's death, allowing direct communion with God through faith. Finally, the hope of glory is presented as a certainty for believers, promising that they will one day see Christ in His unveiled glory and be conformed to His likeness. This hope serves as an anchor for the soul, providing assurance and joy.

Welcome back to Barnet Bible Church. Join us this week as Pastor Hopkins continues his sermon series through the Book of Romans. Turn with me in your Bibles Once again, if you would, to the book of Romans, chapter five we'll read aloud together, where we will be picking up with verses one and two. Read with me the word of the Lord. 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 Let's pray Our most gracious heavenly father we we lift up our hearts and praise, O God, once again, and thanksgiving to you.

And we thank you, God, that you are our God and we your children, O Lord, by the adoption that was won forth by Christ, and that you are the same yesterday, today, and forever, the almighty, all-wise, ever-present, and unchanging God without beginning and without end, Lord. And as we continue to worship you this morning, God, we want to ask that you might be pleased to give us grace, Lord, as we worship you, Lord. Give us grace to worship you in spirit and in truth, guided by your most Holy Spirit and in accord with the truths of your most holy word. And God, we thank you that you have taken away our hearts of stone and given us hearts of flesh to know you and to love you. And we pray, God, that you might be pleased to grant us whom you've given eyes to see and ears to hear, grace to seek you by your word and understanding, O God, and more Christ-likeness in this hour, for we ask it in Jesus' name.

Amen. Let's be seated. A couple of nights ago, I had some of my children gathered and I Played a video clip of a testimonial of a well-known figure from American history Who after he had accomplished this feat that no man before him had ever accomplished. He became known worldwide, and he's giving his testimony. He became a Christian.

And I was grieved once again to hear a believer, And I believe this man was a believer, convinced that he was a believer, but recounting how he was saved and yet talking about what he did rather than what God did. His testimony went something like this throughout his testimony, I came to Jesus. I gave my life to the Lord. I surrendered to Christ. Every statement about his salvation and what took place with him began with the word I.

And we hear this kind of language used often from believers. And again, I have no doubt this man was truly saved. I believe he was saved by God. But that's just it. He was saved by God.

But every pertinent line of his testimony began with the word I. Yet it is God who calls us out of darkness into the light of his Son. And it is God who breathes into our dead and darkened souls life. And it is God who raises us from spiritual death to spiritual life. And it's God who regenerates us, who justifies us in His sight, and who sets us apart for Himself.

Our text this morning says, having been justified by faith. Having been justified by the gift of faith. Faith is the grace of God. It is the gift that is given to us. It is God's free gift.

Otherwise we could boast if it were a work of our own. And it's by this gift of faith that we have been justified and have peace with God, and that through the person, a work of his son, no work of our own. No man, Jesus said in John 6 44, can come to me except the Father who has sent me draw him. No man can, that's ability. No man can come to me except the father which has sent me draw him and I know that's repulsive to human pride Sometimes it's pride that keeps us from giving all the glory to God Sometimes it's presumption But the fact of the matter is this, if you came to Jesus, if you came to Jesus, you say, I came to Jesus, it's because Jesus first came to you.

And if you say, well, I gave my life to the Lord, if you gave your life to the Lord, it's because the Lord first gave his life to you and for you. If you say, you know, I surrendered to Christ, if you surrendered to Christ it's because God first conquered you. God conquered you. Salvation is the work of God upon a rebel, as we looked at in our last session, upon one who is at war with God. And it is God who brings an end to the warfare.

Man is passive in his salvation. It is God who does the work in sinners, who opens up our hearts, who brings conviction upon our souls, who grants repentance, the change of mind, the change of heart, and the life, and who gives the gift of faith to believe. It is God who conquered us in the midst of our rebellion. Our surrender to him only came after he conquered us. In World War II, when did Hirohito surrender his sword to the generals and sign the surrender documents to MacArthur after he was conquered.

After he was conquered, he surrendered. We don't surrender to Christ until He conquers us and wins that war that we have been making against him It is God who subdues the will of man at war with him It is God who overcomes our stubborn resistance by His grace and works in us to the point, listen to this, to the point that resistance by us is no longer made. He works, He overcomes our stubborn resistance by His grace and works in us to the point that resistance by us is no longer made against Him. That's what happens. Salvation is of the Lord.

So why do men tend to begin their testimonies of what God did by telling other men what they did? I'm sure that a lot of it has to do with bad teaching. Somewhere down the line in this country men began to teach that the salvation of man is a cooperative work between you know God and man. I've heard people say, between God and us, we can get it done, we can get her done. You know, just with God in us, we can get it all done.

I've even heard it put like this, that quote, God does all he can do, but the rest is left up to us. Is it not a blasphemous statement to suggest that God has done all he can do? God who is almighty, who can do all things, and who does all things according to his good pleasure. The fact of the matter is that God, with regards to our salvation, and I'm sorry I chuckled at that, because some people struggle with this. And I don't want to make light of that.

Some people struggle with this. Some people, you know, everybody's at different places. Some are at places where they're saying, it's all of God, I give you all the glory, God, it's none of me, it's none of me, and some are somewhere in between, still holding on to some vestiges of me, of I, and of my work, my repentance, My this, my that, whatever, my conviction. And others have completely come to the place in their thinking where they understand that what happened to them happened to them. And it was not something that they did to themselves or that they did differently from other men apart from a special work of God.

As believers again, our warfare has ended. This is what we looked at last week, and it is God who ended it. Our gracious God, through Jesus Christ, His Son, ended our estrangement from Him. He conquered our rebellion and He worked reconciliation. He spoke peace to those who were afar off and to those who were near.

As we read from the scriptures last week, and having been justified, we having been justified by the gift of faith, we now have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. I said in our last session, and some of the children repeated this in our family time on Sunday evenings where we get together and we have sermon review, I said, what did you hear? And they said, I heard you say, faith is God's work in us, not our work or we can boast. Faith is God's work in us, not our work or we can boast. Faith is God's work in us, not our work or we could boast.

We are justified in God's sight by grace through the gift of faith. It is a grace of God, and it is in that grace the believer stands and shall never be moved. If we got ourselves saved, we'd have to keep ourselves saved. But if God is the one who did it, God is the one who keeps us, and His Word is true. I told my children in family worship this past week, and I hope all the men are still having daily family worship.

We've been doing this now for, well, over two decades. I told them, you know, in family worship, I said, I can take any one of you down the road a mile or so, and I can find 20 neighbors who have never known the grace of God. The grace of God, the irresistible grace of God and salvation has never been known to them. If you've been given, I tell you, If you've been given the grace of God, thank Him for it. Give Him the glory due His name.

Thank God for raising you from spiritual death to spiritual life. Thank God for overpowering your will to resist Him and subduing your nature-born aversion to Him. Thank God for delivering you from the power of darkness and translating you into the kingdom of His dear Son. Thank Him and praise Him and give Him all the glory. And understand this, that if you have been justified by the grace of God through faith in Jesus, that's what you're going to be doing for all eternity.

That's what all of us are going to be doing for all eternity, thanking Him and praising Him for what He has done, amen? For what He has done. That's what we're gonna be doing. In the text before us this morning, the apostle lists three consequences, three benefits, or three blessings of justification. Peace with God, access to God, and hope.

Peace with God, access to God, and hope. Having been declared just in God's sight by faith in what Christ has done for us. We have peace with God. We have now, we possess peace with God. We also have access to God, access to the immediate presence of God.

And we have the hope of the glory of God, that we'll one day see Him, Christ in His unveiled glory, when we are made like Him and our bodies are changed to be like unto his resurrected body. In our last session, we looked at the first of these three consequences, peace with God, and that word therefore, therefore, because of everything proceeding that I've taught, in light of all that Christ has done for us, having been declared just in God's sight by faith in the person and work of his Son Jesus Christ, the wrath of God that once abided upon us has now been turned away and being turned away we have peace with God and God with us. Remember how we looked at that? We have peace with God, and God is at peace with us. In our last session I quoted the 19th century Scottish theologian Robert Haldane, quote, all men are at war with God, and he is at war with us.

But when they are justified by faith, the wrath of God, which abides on them who believe not on his Son, is turned away, and they cease to be enemies to God. We're at war with God, God's at war with us, but when we're justified by faith, the wrath of God, which abides on those that don't believe on his son is now turned away and we cease to be enemies to God. Martin Lloyd-Jones put it this way, I was listening to a sermon of his this past week. Listen to these words. Before there can be peace with God, before a man can have peace with God, okay?

Between man and God, and between God and man, I say with reverence, Something has to happen with respect to the wrath of God. Something has to happen with regards or with respect to the wrath of God. How can God, think about it, How can God at one and the same time forgive a sinner and yet remain just and righteous? Well, the answer is there is only one way whereby that could be done. This is still Lloyd-Jones.

He has sent his son into the world and he has set him forth to be a propitiation Close quote you may remember from our study on Romans chapter 3. I said when you think of propitiation think of what? When you think the word propitiation think what? Satisfaction Satisfaction made to the justice of God. Christ, in bearing our sin and guilt and the punishment do us, satisfied the demands of justice.

He satisfied the demands of justice and appeased the wrath of God. We live in a time when we hear people talk often about wanting justice. You want justice from God? Anybody want justice from God? I don't.

You know, the words of Charlie Brown's little sister just popped into my mind. I only want what I have coming to me. Charlie Brown Christmas. Anybody ever seen it? All I want is my fair share.

All I want is what I have coming to me. I don't. I don't know about you, but I don't want what's coming to me, not apart from the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ. Jesus bore the wrath we deserved. On the cross, he said, it is finished.

Tetelestai, payment made in full. Jesus, in his suffering and death, paid the penalty that we deserve for our sin and guilt and thereby satisfied the demands of God's justice, rendering God propitious towards us. Now his favor is upon us. John Gill writes, our sins were laid on Jesus and the wrath of God came upon him for them." Close quote. Praise God.

Because of what Jesus did for us, God looks upon believers as he looks upon his own son. Now with favor, the wrath has been removed. The justice do us for our sins has been satisfied. Our sins forgiven, our great debt paid and reconciliation made. Where once there was war and enmity, now all that's left is peace and favor.

Further on in Romans 5-10, which we will come to shortly, we read, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. Again, I'll quote Lloyd-Jones. He says, quote, he laid our sins upon him. How many love Martin Lloyd Jones? Anybody listen to Martin Lloyd Jones?

Please listen to Martin Lloyd Jones if you don't. He's one of the great of the great of the greats, and now the MLJ Trust has everything he's done set out for free. As long as a person doesn't take it and clip parts from it or whatever, they use the works in their entirety, they can spread them abroad. Everyone should do that. We shouldn't be copywriting Christian work and selling our sermons.

But He says, he laid our sins upon him, he poured out his wrath against sin upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is only because he has done that that God can look upon us with favor and pardon us and forgive us and reconcile us to himself. This has to happen before the wrath of God can be appeased and God can thus justify him that believes in Jesus. Listen to this. And still remain the same eternally, unchangeably, everlastingly just God." End quote.

Of course, I can't do it like Martin Lloyd-Jones. He has that low growl, right, when he really gets to it. Paul says, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. Christ had to suffer the wrath do us for our sins, do our sins. Our sins had to be imputed to him.

He who knew no sin had to be made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Have You ever just laid on your head down to your pillow at night and meditated on, thought on Christ's suffering, the wrath of God, do your sins personally? Oh, I sit and contemplate it for a while. And it's just, it's too much. He bore the guilt of my sin, specifically my sin, your sin personally.

Only of course an infinite God, God-man, could do that. And he did it. He accomplished it for all of his people on the cross. Not just the universal, I pay for all their sins, but your sins personally. That sin that comes to your mind, you think, oh God, I wish I'd never done that.

I can't go back and change it. I can't go back and change my past. Jesus bore that. He suffered. He suffered for that sin, That specific sin.

He was treated as though he had done it who knew no sin when I had done it. He who knew no sin had to be made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. This is God in Christ reconciling the world to himself. John Gill, again, if you don't know some of these names, John Gill held the pastorate of the same church as Charles Spurgeon 100 years before him and did a full exposition of the scriptures, every single line of scripture. One of the greatest expositors of history, John Gill, says, for peace to be made between God and men, reconciliation for sin had to be made, and a justifying righteousness brought in.

Christ did this. And that imputed to us and applied to those who have offended God brothers and sisters Jesus did that for every one of us who is trusting in him alone for their justification their right standing, their salvation in God's sight. It is, Matthew Henry says, it is justification that takes away our guilt. And so makes way for peace. And immediately upon the removal of that obstacle, okay, our guilt, peace is made, Peace is made.

A note in my Reformation Heritage Bible, which I see is falling apart. I've got another one coming on the 29th. Finally, a note in this in my Reformation Heritage Bible says, Quote, the hostility is ended between believers and God because Christ has borne the wrath of God against their sins. This is a doctrine that has been almost unpreached in American churches, you know, for about a hundred years, from 75 to a hundred years. But that's it in a nutshell.

We'll go on with that. We've been reconciled to God through the work of his Son. The wrath believers deserve to suffer for all eternity in hell, it's no longer abiding on them. It's gone, it's taken away. Remember also in that study we talked about expiation.

Propitiation, think satisfaction. What did I say when you think of the word expiation? Think what? Removal, Removed. Our sins taken away from us as far as the East is from the West.

The sins are placed upon the head of the one sacrificial animal that's slain. The other, he's sent out to wonder in the wilderness river. Our sins are removed from us as far as the east is from the west, and Christ is the one who did it all. He has taken away our guilt, and He has taken away the punishment. He has paid the price, the penalty for our sins.

He suffered it in our place. He died in our place. Now all that is left is peace. Now all that is left is peace. God is at peace, listen, with those who are united to his Son by faith.

God is at peace with those who are united to his Son by faith. God is at peace with those who are united to his Son by faith, having been justified by faith, we are reconciled to God, and God is reconciled to us. Where once wrath rested, the favor of God now rests. Where wrath once rested upon us, John 3.36, abides on them that believe not upon His Son. The wrath of God abides on them.

It's ongoing and continual and it goes on through all eternity except they repent and believe on Christ. Where wrath once rested, the favor of God now rests. The communion that was broken in Eden is restored at Calvary. Abraham, after he was justified by faith, was called the friend of God. Inmity is gone.

Jesus told his disciples, I now call you friends. Our enmity with God is over. Our warfare is ended. God is at peace with us, believers, and we are at peace with God. And it is a permanent peace.

Peace with God is ours now, and it is a permanent peace. It is a real peace and it is a permanent peace and it is a peace that speaks peace to our hearts and consciences. Because the warfare has ended and God ended it through what Jesus Christ did for us. Our warfare has ended. He's spoken peace to us.

And now the result of having peace with God is that he speaks peace to our consciences. We have peace now in our hearts and our minds. My peace I leave with you, Jesus said, peace I leave with you, by peace I give unto you, not as the world give I unto you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Don't be troubled, don't be afraid.

John 14, 27, There is there now for no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, Paul will later say. Now, even when our consciences alarm us as they do, when we are grieved by our failings, because guess what? We still sin. We must Remember that God is no longer our enemy. As Sproul says, you may look over your shoulder and wonder if the bow is still bent and the arrow is coming at you.

They're not. They're not. Our warfare is ended when God looks upon his children in union with his son, praise God, he sees us clothed in his, in Christ's perfect righteousness. He's at peace with us and we're now at peace with Him. The believer's mind can be at rest about his or her relationship with God.

You can be at peace about your relationship with God. Again, MLJ says, faith always finds the place of rest. Faith always finds the place of rest. Faith always finds the place of rest. By faith, we understand that God loves us and has provided proof of it through the giving of his son to die on that cross 2, 000 years ago.

Comfort can now flood our souls. Our warfare is accomplished. Our iniquity is pardoned. Christ is our peace. Peace with God is the first consequence or benefit of our justification.

The second is access. Access to God or to the presence of God. Verse two of our text today says, by whom, that is by Jesus Christ, we also have access by faith. Okay, we're justified by faith and we have peace with God. As a result, we also have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.

What is the grace wherein we stand? We now have access to the very throne of God and His grace on account of our justification. We also have access into this grace where we stand. We have access to the very throne of God and His grace. This is access to the immediate presence of God.

You can go to God whenever you want to if you're in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 312 says, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him. In Christ we have access. Jesus is the door by whom we enter, the presence of God. In John 14, 6, Jesus said, no man can come unto me, unto the Father, but by me.

No one comes to the Father but by me. Through the person and work of Jesus Christ, we have access to God. Remember in the Old Testament the teaching about the Holy of Holies, going from the holy place to the Holy of Holies, and you've got this big curtain that divides the two. No man can enter the Holy of Holies on the annual day of atonement, except for the high priest. The Holy of Holies, and you remember from our previous studies, that was the place in the tabernacle and later in the temple where the Ark of the Covenant was located.

Remember we talking about the Ark of the Covenant and the contents of the Ark of the Covenant and the covering of the Ark of the Covenant? The covering, you know, the Ark of the Covenant, the lid over the the Ark, the chest of the covenant, the covenant being the commandments of God written by the finger of God. Covering the Ark was the lid called the mercy seat, whereon the high priest would sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice to make atonement or satisfaction for the sins of the people pointing to Christ, of course, who would make that sacrifice alone, which is acceptable to God. But within the ark, you remember the contents of the ark? How many remember what's inside the ark?

Okay, Inside the Ark of the Covenant is the copy of the Ten Commandments of God, the Law of God, a pot with some of the manna that fell down from heaven, and Aaron's rod that budded. And you've heard me tell it before, the law of God that was in that chest points us to Jesus who is the one and only law keeper. He alone kept the law of God perfectly in the place of his people. And in that chest was the pot filled with the manna that fell from heaven, pointing us to Jesus who is the bread who comes down from heaven that if a man eat he shall never die. And then also in the chest is Aaron's rod, a dead stick that comes to life, pointing us to Christ, who will suffer and die for the sins of his people and will rise again from the dead.

And all of this is covered by the mercy seat, upon which the high priest would annually sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice to make atonement for the sins of the people. And in the New Testament, we read that Jesus is our mercy seat. The same word that is translated propitiation is from the word that means mercy seat. He is our mercy seat. He is the one who atoned for our sins.

He is our propitiation, who made satisfaction to the justice of God and appeased God's wrath against His people. And you remember the ark was hidden, as I said a moment ago, behind a veil, this big, thick, woven curtain that separated it. And no one but the high priest in the day of atonement can enter in or God would kill him. And I've heard that there was even a rope that was tied to the high priest leg in case he were to be struck dead by God and they would pull him out without anybody else entering in and being killed by God. But Jesus is our high priest, and Jesus is the one who entered in beyond the veil, the scripture tells us.

When Jesus hung on the cross, bearing the wrath of God, do our sins, at the moment of his death, just before he dies, he cries out with a loud voice and the Bible says he gave up the ghost. At the moment of his death, there was a massive earthquake And that huge woven curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the people was ripped in half from the top to the bottom, giving access. Now access, signifying access to the presence of God. At His resurrection, Christ, quote Hebrews 9-12, by His own blood entered in once to the holy place, that's the holy place in heaven of which the things on earth were only a figure or a shadow, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Once, and for all time.

Brothers and sisters, having been justified by faith, we have access to the presence of God. The veil is gone. We now enter into His presence boldly, not arrogantly, but boldly, and we can rejoice, and we can rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. We can rejoice that there's a day coming when we are going to be made, our vile bodies, as the KJV puts it, our lowly bodies, as your version may put it, will be made like unto His glorious body. We'll no longer be able to sin against God.

We'll be able to worship Him perfectly. And so we can rejoice and hope with the glory of God. We can rejoice now. We have joy now, being assured with a certain hope, not like the world's hope. Hope in the world is, well, I hope that's going to happen.

It's kind of wishful thinking No ours is a is hope based in the certainty of the thing hoped for not like the world hopes with a certain hope that we will one day see Christ face to face, the glory of God in His unveiled glory. We'll see Christ in His unveiled glory, and when we see Him, the scripture says we will be made like him. This is what it means when the scripture says we will one day be glorified. Doesn't mean we're gonna one day receive glory, you know, like, oh, everybody's gonna glorify you and you're gonna receive glory, no. But that when we see Christ as he is, our bodies will be made like unto his glorious body.

In the words of Calvin, stripped of all the corruption of the flesh. Amen? Can I sit here one of the babies say amen? Thank you. Praise God.

Stripped of all the corruption of the flesh. What a glorious day. Remember our former elder, 83 years old, who died last year, October 10 last year. Oh, how he prayed. He just wanted to see Christ.

He just wanted the return of Christ. He just wanted to have this corruption put on incorruptibility. He got his prayer, his desire, his great desire. Didn't come about the way that we had all hoped or the way that he hoped, but he died. And he lifted up his eyes, not in torment and in a flame, but in the presence of God in paradise, stripped of all the corruption of the flesh and thereby enabled to glorify Him forever, amen?

The hymn we sang earlier said, sinless there forever, we shall laud him ever. Sinless there forever. Why? Because this vile body is put on incorruption. We have been made, our bodies have been made like his glorious body.

Sinless there forever, we shall laud him ever. The Christian's hope in this is a sure hope. We have God's word on it, and the Christian's hope is an anchor for the soul. It's an anchor for our souls, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil where Christ our High Priest has gone before us. Our ship would be tossed to and fro.

It would be tossed to and fro. Hope, if it weren't for this hope, hope is the anchor of our souls. The Spirit of God, who indwells believers, gives this hope. And it is a hope that will never fail. It is grounded on what Christ has done for us in both his life and in his death.

It is a sure hope that we will be conformed perfectly to Christ that is coming when we see him as he is. And so we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Now, we can have joy having been justified by faith. As we close, 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 the hope of the glory of God. Amen.

Let's close. Father, we thank you once again that our warfare is ended, that our warfare is accomplished, that our iniquity has been pardoned, who are united to your Son by faith. And that on account of the righteousness of Christ imputed to us. And we thank you for the peace of mind, O God, that floods our hearts and souls and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord knowing that we have been declared just forever by faith in him. And we thank you God for the access we have into your presence through the person and work of your Son.

And we thank you that through him we have a certain hope, an anchor for our souls of the glory which is to come. Oh God, flood our hearts, oh God, with the peace that passes understanding. As we bask, oh God, in your love, manifested to us through Jesus Christ our Lord. For it's in his name we pray these things. Amen.