ADDRESSES ON ROMANS And every believer has peace with God. There is another peace mentioned in Phil. 4:6,7. Paul does not refer to it here in Romans 5: 1, but in his letter to the Philippians he wrote of the peace of God. "The peace of God, which passeth all under~ standing, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:7). This is another thing altogether; it is ex~ perimental. The peace with God comes when we accept Christ as Saviour. The peace of God comes from casting our cares upon Him. It is our privilege to have our hearts filled with the peace of God. When we receive Christ as Lord and allow Him to govern our lives, casting our burdens upon Him, then we receive the peace of God, but no man can make his peace with God. He must accept the peace that Christ has made for him. Let me tell you a story on this point: There was once a man in my ho~eland who belonged to a ritualistic church. He visited the poor and sick, seeking merit by his good works. One day he called on a poor laboring man who was near death, and asked him, "Have you made your peace with God, my good man?" To his surprise, the sick man replied, "No; I have no· peace to make with God." "But," the visitor asked again, "You are a poor lost sinner, are you not? Will you not make your peace with God?" And the same answer came again. Finally the visiting man raised the question, "You need peace, do you not?" Then the sick man said, "How can I make peace with God? My Lord made my peace nineteen hundred years ago, and I accepted it. I have had peace ever since." That laboring man knew the meaning of Rom. 5: 1. 3. AccESS. Even as we are justified on the ground of the finished work of Christ, even as "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," so also by Him "we have access" into the presence of God. The opening words of verse 2, "by whom," tell us so. Because Christ died for our sins, we may look right up into the face of a holy God, for none of the hindrances that once obliterated our view are there. By our crucified and risen Lord "we have access by faith into this [Page 75
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