Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
2/2 Reading Portions: Genesis 34; Mark 5; Job 1; Romans 5
Listen to the audio devotional above, and/or read the written devotional below.
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1
PERSISTENCE
Romans 4 presents to us the power and consistency of saving faith. Romans 5 further amplifies the necessity of faith to be given by God’s grace. Faith to believe, to repent, and to live before a holy God must come from our merciful and almighty God because, in our fallen flesh, we are weak and ungodly (Rom 5:6) sinners (Rom 5:8) who were enemies of God (Rom 5:10). This is why we must be born from above (John 3:3); because, as the Lord Jesus told Nicodemus, that…
“…which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” John 3:6
Biblical faith is not only a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22), the faith God imparts to us is the very faith of Jesus Christ who walked in sinless perfection as a Man during His incarnation. This is why we have peace with God when we are justified by faith; because we are endowed with the faithfulness of the Prince of Peace (Isa 9:6).
“If we are empowered by Christ’s imparted faith,” one may ask, “then are we made perfectly sinless once we are born again?” Certainly not, for the corruptions or mortal flesh still remain in us (1 Cor 15:53); and the desires of the flesh oppose the holy liberty of the Spirit (Gal 5:17).
Our peace with God comes through our perseverance in faith because we’ve been justified by Christ’s atoning work on the cross. The power to persevere in faith is found only through our Lord Jesus Christ, in the truth of His person and work. We must persist by faith always to keep at the cross— trusting in Christ’s faithfulness to live as a Man to accomplish in righteousness what we could not; and to also persist in trusting in Christ’s faithfulness as God to save us and return for us so we may be with Him forever.
This saving faith comes from our Lord
With gospel truth and pow’r;
Cling to the cross and trust Christ’s Word
With peace for ev’ry hour.
