ROMANS UNWRAPPED 68

                           STANDING IN GRACE

"By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand"   Romans 5 v 2

We come now to the second of the blessings resulting from justification.   He begins

with "by whom" which casts us back to the previous verse.    Paul is anxious that we should understand from whom these blessings come, namely THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.   The teaching of the New Testament is that all blessings come from Him, apart from Him there is no divine favour.   This full title occurs 14 times in the letter to Romans and over 100 times in the New Testament.   He is Jesus, He is Christ, He is Lord.   Paul never forgot the impression left from the vision of his conversion on the Damascus road and he works this title time and again into all his writings, in order that we know that Jesus is Lord; Lord of all the earth; Lord of all the church; Lord of all heaven.   There is no blessing from God but through Him.

"We have access."   This is a very special word, used only three times (again in Ephesians 2v18 and Ephesians 3v12).   In each case it is used of entry into the presence of God, into the things of God, into the grace of God.   It comes from a root word which has its origin in people presenting themselves, or being presented to royalty.   As you are, you have no right of access to the queen.   Certain formalities must be observed first.   You must be "presented at court," introduced by someone who is known.   The French use this word as entrée, for approach to a royal personage and it has come to be used commonly to described a starter to a meal.   The idea behind this is that the entrée would be a foretaste of things to come.   We have been introduced to God by a person well known in the courts of heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ,  and having been introduced we come into all the blessings of His grace, and God has accepted us and made available to us all His favours.

The word grace simply means divine favour, not what is merited but what is given freely by a generous God.   Having been introduced, all the riches of heaven have been placed at our disposal, not only has the Lord Jesus dealt with all our past guilt but has made available to us all heaven's riches.   Consider it as unlimited treasure made available to us.   Paul later speaks of "the exceeding riches of His grace" Ephesians 2v7  and again "unsearchable riches"  Ephesians 3v8.   How excited would we be if we were invited to the royal court to hear that all our debts were paid, and all the riches of the royal palace were ours to share!   This is what we have been introduced to an unending limitless source of divine grace for our help throughout life.   This is "the grace wherein we stand."

We think of the meaning of the word stand.   Once again, we are presented with the idea of permanence, leading to the assurance of faith.   The bible has much to say about this business of standing, we are talking of standing in the presence of God, when before we would be described as fallen Psalm 1v5  says "the ungodly shall not stand in the judgement nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous."    In a future day of wrath the cry goes out "the great day of His wrath has come and who shall be able to stand"  Revelation 6v17   This is the situation with unbelievers, but for believers, those who have been justified by faith, have a standing before God.

• Psalm 24 v 3-4     "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in His holy place?   He that hath clean hands and a pure heart."   Only those who have been cleansed by Jesus Christ will stand in God's presence.
• 1st Corinthians 15 v 1     "I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you which also you received and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved."
• 1st Peter 5 v 12     "This is the true grace of God wherein ye stand."
• Ephesians 6 v 13     "Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand."

Later in this chapter we shall discover that the grace of God is not only divine favour, but divine power and indeed is a power greater than even the power of sin.    The message of this verse clearly is that we have been introduced into a position of divine favour that carries all the blessing of heaven, and all the power of heaven to see us through to the glorious end no matter what comes our way.

Tomorrow d.v. we look at future glory.