Thursday, June 4, 2020

PEACE WITH GOD


Musisi Kahuzi in D. R. Congo







     273 – PEACE WITH GOD
     May 24, 1964
     Pastor Henry F. Kulp





Romans 5: 1 – 7 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. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

Notice, God says “therefore being justified by faith.” The King James version is not the best translation here. It should be, “having been justified therefore by faith.”—instead of being justified by faith. There is a very great difference between being justified and having been justified. Being justified indicates a state or condition in which the believer might find himself. Having been justified points back to a point in the believer’s life where he was justified. When one believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, he is not in the state of being justified at that time, but he is counted as being justified the moment he believes.

1/  But now let us go back to Romans 4: 17 As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”[a] He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

Here God says, “And calleth those things which be not as though they were.” That is just what salvation is. God calls you something that you are not. God calls you as being righteous, and you do not have one atom of righteousness in yourself, yet God says you are righteous. How can that be? Because He gives you His righteousness, His justification that moment that you believe. If people would understand this word, justification, there would not be so much evil teaching abut today. But people do not really understand justification. 

I’d like you to turn to Romans 8: 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.

And here we read, “Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called, He also justified, and Whom He justified, them He also glorified.” 

Here in Romans 5: 1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

He says, “by faith,” by believing in Jesus Christ we are justified, and I want you to see there is nothing between justification and glorification. In the plan of God there is nothing between.

2/  I would like you to notice, Romans 5: 9. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. That is the price of justification. That is why Jesus Christ shed His blood, that He might justify us. All those who believe that it is possible to be saved at one time, and then fall away from salvation, and be ultimately lost, have no idea whatsoever of the meaning of justification. To understand what justification mans is righteousness, and justification has been paid for by the blood of Christ. Not by something that we can do.

3/  Then notice something else about justification. Here we read, Romans 8: 33. That it is God Who justifies us. In one of the most magnificent passages in the Bible, we read these words, or rather we hear the shout— “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect, and the answer comes back, it is God that justifieth.” So, this passage teaches us that the source of our justification is God. In other words, it is a work that is done by Him.

Ecclesiastes 3: 14  I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.” 

Here Solomon says, I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it, and God doeth it. These words are clear, are they not? 

4/  Then notice, Romans 3: 24 “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:” We are justified by grace—that means everything for nothing—and the word, freely, justified freely, is to say it is gratis. For gratis, for nothing, without a cause in us.

5/  Romans 4: 25 “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.”  

6/  In the fourth place, our justification is linked with the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the proof of our justification. If ever I am tempted to doubt my complete salvation—in other words, my eternal position in Christ, guiltless, righteous, forgiven, saved, joined to Him, a member of His body, I need only to look away from myself, and see Him at the right hand of God, and then I know that the wonderful things which God hath declared about those who believe in Jesus Christ is certainly true.

7/  THIS SHOULD BE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE MESSAGE. In Isaiah 5: 23Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!” 

We have a very solemn woe pronounced on those who justify the wicked. It is a very wrong thing for a judge to justify a wicked person. We have just so many complaints, we read about them in our newspapers of our great cities, because public enemies, racketeers, and hoodlums of all times, have been arrested by the police, and they have gone up before corrupt judges and they have been allowed to go free and prey once more upon the community, and people are rightly indignant about it. It is completely wicked for a judge to declare a criminal righteous. Yet, that is the very thing that God does. God justifies not the righteous, not good people, not holy people, but the ungodly. 

Romans 4: 5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

8/  Remember, justification is not patching up the old man—making it better. It is an act whereby God makes you completely righteous. The story is told of an old man who owned a little narrow lot with a miserable house to dwell in—it was nothing more than a lean-to, with a lot of boards, some metal signs that had been discarded—it was a filthy place. Lots in his neighborhood had been selling for fabulous prices, and he felt that someday his place would make him his fortune. And after a while a millionaire came along and seeing the possibilities on that block—said I want the whole thing. He sent his agent to go and buy up the block. And when he came to the old man, he said, what will you sell your place for? This was what he had been waiting for, an opportunity just like this, so he put up what he thought was a tremendous, large figure. Very well, said the agent, I will take it. When do you want it, the old man asked? Oh, in about two weeks, I will be around with the deed and you can be ready to sign it. Here is $1,000 to bind the sale, replied the agent. The Old man was simply delighted. And then he thought, if someone has bought this place who is able to pay all that money, I ought to fix it up a bit. So, he went and bought some paint, and he went to work painting the old place. He bought some glass and replaced some of the broken window panes, and in about two weeks he had the place sparkling clean—all the trash had been picked up and everything looked 1,000 percent better than it did before, and when the millionaire came with his agent—brought the papers for him to sign, this old man was so nervous he could hardly hold the pen. He was surprised that the millionaire didn’t say anything about the shack, and so he said to you See how beautifully I have painted it up, put in some of the windows, cleaned up the yard—it is going to be a nice place, I hope you will be very comfortable in it. Oh, said the millionaire, I didn’t buy this place for what’s on it, but for what I’m going to put on it. So, God when He justifies an unholy sinner, it is not because of what He finds in men, but rather what He is going to make them—righteous in Jesus Christ.
 
I John 4: 17 “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.”

9/  Now, the next thing—justified by faith, we have peace with God. This is not the peace of God; this is the peace with God. When the Lord Jesus Christ had finished His work, then God held nothing against the human race. Jesus Christ died for every man and God is not a great task master over the race, waiting to use a whip on men—God has His arms outstretched and He says, Come to Me in the Name of Jesus Christ. There is peace with God. Notice, another Scripture that helps us to understand this. Colossians 1: 19, 20 “And having made peace by the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself.” Notice the phrase, and especially the tense of the verb. “Having made peace.” We hear people say that folks should make their peace with God. So far, if I can ascertain Thomas Fuller, only 300 years ago first spoke of making one’s peace with God. But the phrase is incorrect, l and certainly it is not taught by the Bible. If you read obituaries, you will notice that quite often they say, having made his peace with God, he departed this life—or words like that—but that is not the case at all—for it says, “Christ having made peace.” What would General McArthur have said to the Japanese if they had brought their own peace terms? No, they came to General McArthur—he was the victor, they were the vanquished, and they had to accept the peace terms that he set forth—unconditional surrender. And God will have no other peace with man, then that which was made at the cross. If man rejects the peace of God that He has provided through Jesus Christ, man remains at enmity with God.

10/  Now notice, Romans 5: 2 “By Whom also we have access.” You see, by Christ we have access. We have access to the Father by the Lord Jesus Christ, and only by Him. Among men, they have secret societies, you enter you must give a sign, and sometimes it is just a word, and sometimes they have a secret entrance, and you have to know how to get in. You have to know how to have access to God, and there is only one way that there is access by Jesus Christ. Christ is everything.

11/  I wonder if you appreciate this wonderful privilege of having access to God? Did you ever read in your Bible and study how access was to God under the old covenant, under the law? And then compare it to what you and I have in Christ today? When God prepared Israel for the coming of the law, He revealed to them that He was holy and could be approached in only one way. Read the books of Moses and see how carefully God revealed that access to Him was to be in only one way. Exodus 19: 12, 13. When God came down on Mt. Sinai, He warned Moses that the people must be barred from the mountain— “and ye shall set bounds for the people round about, saying, take heed that you do not go up into the mountain nor touch the border of it. Whosoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.” No hand shall touch it, but he shall be stoned or, shot, whether beast or man, he shall not live. So, you notice, the only one who had access to God at that time was Moses. The people were down at the base of the mountain, and this evidently did not satisfy them, for when Moses didn’t come down in a reasonable time as far as they were concerned, they went to Aaron and said, make us gods that they may lead us. They were not satisfied with this access at this time.

12/  Then, under law, have you ever thought about access then? Did you ever realize that of the Levitis, only the descendants of Aaron could touch the sacrifice. Their cousins supplied music and other parts of the priestly service. Then at the hour of sacrifice, the priest slew the lamb brought by the sinner, while the sinner leaned over the gate, his hand on the animals’ head, and confessed his sins before God. After confessing his sins, the sinner watched the priest offer the sacrifice for him. First the priest went to the altar, offered the sacrifice, and then walked a few steps to the laver, where he washed his feet. Returning to the altar, he took the blood of the animal in a bowl and placed it on the North side of the altar, toward the tabernacle itself. Taking the censer with sweet-smelling incense, he walked into the tabernacle, but only into the first room, the holy place. And there he offered the incense at its special altar. This altar stood just in front of the great veil—the one that was torn in two when Christ died on the cross. At this point the priest could proceed no further. Then, finally, once a year, one man could go beyond the veil of the temple, on the great day of Atonement, and the High Priest over Israel went in with the blood. Here was the climax of their access to God. All this pageantry taught that man cannot come to God in his own way. He must come to God in His revealed, divine way, and today it is the same thing—only in Jesus Christ do you have access to God. Do not think you can come to Him in any way you feel is right—God has set down the conditions under which you may have access to Him.

13/  Now, let us notice this matter of access a little more clearly. In Ephesians 2: 18 “For through Him we both—Jew and Gentile—have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” 

And because we have access now to the Father, in the 19th vs., He says, therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints, and it should be in the holiest of all. The Greek is TONE—HOG—GEE’—OWN, and what does Tonehogeeown mean? We have the answer in Hebrews 9: 8 The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:

Here it is translated holiest of all, or the most holy place. Where is the holiest of all? It is heaven. So, we can see by this access that we have because we have peace, we are now fellow citizens of the holiest of all. This should not mean that we do not live for the Lord, because we are saved by grace, justified by faith and have access unto the holiest of all, that we can live anyway we want. There is a portion of Scripture I particularly like. It is I Corinthians 16: 15 I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,)

Here Paul talks about the house of Stephanus, and that it is the first-fruits of Achaia, and they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints. That word addicted, I like. We don’t often hear it, and when we do hear it, it is not in a good way. We say a man is addicted to drink—we mean he must have it—he cannot do without it. He is aggressive in getting it. Or, we say a man is a dope addict—that means again that he is aggressive. He must have the dope. But Paul uses it in a different way, this is a good way. The folks there in the house of Stephanus, were addicted to the ministry of the saints. They went after it—they had to have it, they were not going to be thwarted in this matter, and this should be true of all who are saved by the Grace of God.

AMEN

Ref: 05/24/1964/ KULP - 273 - PEACE WITH GOD / June 4, 2020

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