“Brothers and sisters: Since we now have been justified by religion, we now have peace with God by way of our Lord Jesus Christ, by way of whom we now have gained entry by religion to this grace through which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1-2).
These verses come from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, the longest of Paul’s epistles. They supply a message of peace and beauty for the Third Sunday of Lent, religion chief Jeremiah Johnston instructed Fox Information Digital.
“God handled Jesus as if He lived your life and mine, so He may deal with you and me as if we lived the lifetime of Jesus,” stated Johnston. He’s pastor of apologetics at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, and president of the Christian Thinkers Society.
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That, he stated, is “the fantastic gospel of grace on this third Sunday meditation of Lent.”
He added, “With out Jesus, we have no idea the way in which of peace. Certainly, it’s unattainable.”
St. Paul’s message of peace and beauty is a reminder that “with out Jesus, we have no idea the way in which of peace,” stated Rev. Jeremiah Johnston of Dallas, Texas. (iStock; Bertuzzi Pictures)
Peace, famous Johnston, eluded St. Paul previous to his conversion to Christianity.
“A press release of God’s peace freely supplied would have surprised the pagans of the Roman Empire within the first century. Within the Roman world, the gods have been feared, even despised,” he stated.
The gods of the Romans “supplied people no peace, no assurance of salvation. In brief, the gods had no love for humanity. They cared not a whit.”
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Conversely, “assembly the risen Jesus modified every thing for Paul,” stated Johnston. “In Jesus he discovered peace. He discovered pleasure. And he discovered life.”
Discovering the true that means of peace will “rework your life,” Johnston recommended.
St. Paul, in his letter to the Romans, affords a message of peace from God, one thing that might be unfamiliar to the previously pagan Romans, stated Rev. Johnston of Dallas. (iStock)
“For Paul, and us, Jesus is our shalom: peace. In Jesus, we expertise peace with God and the peace of God,” he stated.
By way of His loss of life and resurrection, “Jesus established an enduring, everlasting peace for us,” he stated, a peace that “is accessible to all of us on the premise of not works, however of religion in him.”
Religion, stated Johnston, “is what you imagine. It isn’t what you’re feeling.”
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He continued, “We place our religion — our belief — in Jesus Christ, who shouldn’t be solely worthy of our belief and worthy of our honor, however can be a worthy object of our religion. Religion doesn’t equal certainty; reasonably, religion equals trusting God by way of the uncertainty.”
Christians, stated Johnston, could fall right into a “entice” of equating that emotions of peace imply that they’re “OK with God.”
Religion, stated Johnston, shouldn’t be confused with emotions of consolation and peace. “Even after I really feel emotionally out of kinds, the reality of the Scripture is that due to Christ, God’s acquired me,” the pastor stated. (iStock)
“However right here’s the important thing: Even after I really feel emotionally out of kinds, the reality of the Scripture is that due to Christ, God’s acquired me,” he stated.
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“All of us discover ourselves on emotional skinny ice at occasions, or expertise occasions when our bodily our bodies should not nicely. However that doesn’t change the target reality discovered within the Phrase of God.”
Feelings, stated Johnston, can “cloud biblical reality.”
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“Feelings are actual, however they don’t transcend biblical actuality and guarantees. But, nowhere extra clearly is the premise of our peace proclaimed than Romans 5:1, ‘Justified by religion … we now have peace with God.’”
For extra Way of life articles, go to www.foxnews.com/way of life.
