SERMON SPOTLIGHT * 4/19/26
Peace with God is truly the “gift that keeps on giving!” Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.
SERIES: Romans: The Power of God in the Gospel of Christ
TEXT: Romans 5:1-2
TITLE: Gospel Powered Peace
PREACHER: Tim Lambros
BIG IDEA: Justification eternally transforms unbelievers and empowers believers daily.
POINTS:
I. A Point in Time Gift
II. A Present Day Gift
SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes and text emphasis are taken directly from the pastor’s notes.
ILLUSTRATION: The origin of the phrase “The gift that keeps on giving”
“‘THEREFORE’…put your phones down, turn your TV off…now that in Romans 1-3 you’ve heard of your NEED for justification…now that in Romans 3-4 I’ve argued THE WAY of justification…THEREFORE, SINCE WE HAVE BEEN JUSTIFIED BY FAITH.” [Paul is trying to capture our attention using the word therefore.]
“You’ll notice also that Paul changes his prepositional usage. It’s now WE! vs. Romans 1: ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel’, Romans 1: ‘So they are without excuse’, Romans 2: ‘So you suppose, O man’ and ‘Now you, if you call yourself a Jew’, Romans 3: ‘Their throat, their mouth, their feet’”
“[This] is to [show us] how God’s past action puts the accent on God’s activity not ours.”
“Notice also that Paul is speaking in the past tense. We have been JUSTIFIED – past tense – we are not BEING JUSTIFIED. Scripture says believers HAVE BEEN JUSTIFIED. There is a point in time event in each believer’s life that God justifies us. Declares us righteous in His sight.”
“Let’s be clear. God’s justifying action in our lives is an absolute gift of grace. WE HAVE BEEN JUSTIFIED. In other words, it was a point in time event that happened to you. Theologians call it a monergistic work of grace. Scripture is clear that this is a work that God does to undeserving sinners.”
“So when Paul writes “we have been justified by faith” let’s make sure we put the accent where Scripture puts the accent. GOD JUSTIFIES.”
“We have been acquitted of our sins. Justification radically transforms us and permanently transforms our eternal status. Formerly, like Romans 3:23 stated we were in the group that ‘sin and fall short of the glory of God’ but now we have eternally been radically transformed.”
“We have received a gift of grace that keeps on giving. One of the most powerful implications of being justified by grace is Paul’s first implication of this eternal and powerful transformation. We have peace with God.”
“Peace with God must be understood Biblically. The secular understanding of peace is the absence of hostility. When the Bible speaks about peace, it deals with your deepest, most inner, unrest in your soul, a well being not known since the garden – in other words a peace that only comes with salvation and reconciliation with God Himself.”
“We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ – Peace with God comes to us only one way. It only comes through Jesus Christ. Justification doesn’t stop at God’s acquittal of our sin. IT KEEPS ON GIVING.”
“We have peace with God because our sins are acquitted but there’s more. The greatest exchange – Jesus righteousness imputed to us only comes through the atoning work of Jesus. Paul likes to say this comes to those who are IN CHRIST.”
“The OT understanding of peace - SHALOM - is not simply the absence of war or even an inner sense of well-being or feeling of peace. Shalom – is a deep sense of peace that arises out of an outward status of having peace with God.”
“Isaiah 9 prophesied that this Shalom would come through a person THE PRINCE OF PEACE. God’s justifying work of grace comes through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
“You’ll notice when we get to the end of this section of chapter 5:10-12, Paul uses the word reconciliation – now that we are reconciled and v. 11 we have now received reconciliation. Peace with God is reconciliation with God, but it only happens – can only happen, in and through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
RUNNING APPLICATION: Has God justified you? Do you have peace with God? Are you reconciled with God? What is the implication of justification by faith alone and the peace with God we now enjoy? How does it affect our present lives?
ILLUSTRATION: phrase “in the now but not yet”
“Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, - We have access – DAILY, MOMENT BY MOMENT ACCESS. The NT calls us to boldly enter – this gift that keeps on giving means we don’t have sporadic access to God nor is it a precarious relationship with the King of Kings. It’s a gift that gives us continual and secure access to God.”
ILLUSTRATION: imagine the common OT saint having access to God’s presence once a year getting teleported to the NT understanding of access – the gift that keeps on giving.
“Church, through Jesus Christ’s justifying work in our lives we have peace with God in a reconciled relationship. But there’s more to this amazing gift. We also have access by faith – ALL THE TIME.”
“This gift that keeps on giving is meant to be used daily and moment by moment while we live in the now but not yet. Not only is this a gift but we need this! When your inner voice tells you lies about your status before God. When you have sinned and fall short. In that fight to put to death or weaken a life besetting sin. When your adult kids aren’t pursuing the Lord – in fact they have no interest. When you need patience with the inevitable health struggles as your body falls apart.”
ILLUSTRATION: Having access by faith into this grace which we stand is like God providing a water fountain in the back of the Church. You are told you have access any time for a drink, for your water jug or to fill your 5 gallon buckets and take it home. It’s pure Swiss water and it’s chilled all the time. Access is granted only to members of our Church. What would it be like if members continually walked by and said “I’ve got my water bottle I’m fine” … we would honor this gift by accessing it as often as needed!
“Justifying grace is the grace we stand in when we are tempted, when we face suffering or anything [difficult] in this fallen world.”
“Church, justification by faith alone is a point in time event for sure. But it’s so much more. What we receive is peace with God but so much more. This access into this grace Paul is talking about is an ongoing state or realm we operate in until He returns.”
“We have been transferred from the realm under the law to a realm of grace.”
“You’ll notice there’s an additional gift that is spoken about at the end of v. 2. We have been justified and enjoy peace with God. We are transferred to this realm of grace where we can approach the king without fear of losing favor. Notice what comes next. Paul says ‘we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.’”
“We are a people who are a rejoicing people. There is much to rejoice in and Paul’s going to develop this over the next sections of Romans 5:1-11. But here is the core truth about our justification – our hope is in the glory of God and that hope is rooted in God’s glory being displayed in the justification of sinners. We rejoice in the truth and reality that on that [final] day there will be no condemnation – God’s justifying grace will be on display and His glory will be honored. We get the benefit TODAY – there is NOW no condemnation - so we rejoice in the hope of God’s glory being on display in the future.”
ILLUSTRATION: Adoption - There was a legal declaration decided upon outside of you that powerfully changes your life.
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Titus 3:3-7
Ephesians 2
John 6:44
1 Peter 1:3
Numbers 6:24–27
Ephesians 2:6
APPLICATION:
Because we have been justified, because we have a new ID, we can live humbly until the Lord returns. Being declared righteous is not the same as being actually righteous. By faith we have access to this grace because God follows the point in time event with a process of showing us what growth in actual righteousness looks like. We call it sanctification. Actually growing more in righteousness. Growing in God-likeness.
Justification is a one-time event. It’s followed by a process. It’s that process where we need to stand in the grace of sanctification. We need to be humble. When we fail we don’t run from our reconciled Father, we stand by faith in justifying grace.
We don’t run away from God, we run to God. Daily.
QUOTES:
Douglas Moo - “While justification brings to the believer a new and permanent status, justification itself is a once-for- all act by which God acquits the sinner.”
Stott - “The pursuit of peace is a universal human obsession.”
Douglas Moo - “Paul, along with the rest of the NT (John 1:17) so focuses on God’s work in Christ as that act in which God’s grace was decisively and finally realized that he can picture the new status of the believer as one in which grace is characteristic and dominant. While this state of grace includes our justification as a key element, the notion goes beyond justification to all that is conveyed to us by God in Christ.”
SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION:
Romans 5:1-2
SONGS FROM THIS SUNDAY:
Sing
There is One Gospel
Grace and Peace
Christ Our Hope In Life And Death
Rejoice
NEXT WEEK’S PASSAGE:
Romans 5:3-5
THE BOOK OF THE QUARTER:
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“Encouragement: How to See and Celebrate Evidences of Grace” - Jared Mellinger