Good evening, everyone. You can turn back in your Bibles with me to the book of Romans. We seek to wrap up a look at justification as Paul sets it forth here in this significant book of the New Testament. We read this morning from Romans 3, 19 to Romans 5, verse 5.
We won't read all of that this evening, though it would be better for Paul to preach to all of us than it would for Cam. Nevertheless, here we are. I'll read from Romans 4, beginning at verse 23, and then to Romans 5, and verse 5. Romans 4, beginning at verse 23, the Word of God.
Scripture Reading
Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us, it shall be imputed to us who believe in him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance character and character hope. Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Amen. Well, let's pray.
Opening Prayer
God, we thank you for this time together in the preaching of your word. We would pray once again for the ministry of your Holy Spirit, that we would be strengthened in the inner man, that we would be strengthened in mind to lay hold of the glories of Christ, to rest upon the truth of your word, and to rejoice and hope in the promises of you, our God. And we just pray that you'd help us in this exercise, help our minds to attend unto the preaching of the word, that we might be all the better for having gathered in this place to worship Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior.
Amen. Well,
Introduction
for those both who were here this morning and for those who weren't, just a little bit of a review. We looked this morning at verses 23 to 25 of Romans 4, taking into account much of what had preceded that, at least from verse 19 of chapter 3. We observed that Paul sets forth the bad news from chapter 118 to chapter 3 and verse 20, and then he turns to the good news and he takes up for a large portion of this from 321 all the way really to the end of Romans 5, taking up the topic of justification by faith alone. He then transitions in a measure to sanctification, and then ends the theological portion of the Book of Romans, really on the sovereignty of God in the salvation of sinners.
But we looked at justification this morning, and we noted the nature of justification, that it is for all of those who believe, that it is an act of imputation, and perhaps we didn't spend enough time on that, or a whole lot of time, or at least to define that clearly, that justification is not a process, and hopefully you you gained that, you already know that, but you gained another appreciation for that this morning. Justification is not a process, but it is a one-time declaration by God that the sinner, now believing, is righteous in his sight based upon the righteousness of Christ. So justification is a legal, or the theologians might say a forensic term, which again has to do with the opposite of condemnation. If condemnation is a legal declaration that a sinner is condemned, legally liable for their sin against God, then justification, the blessed antithesis, is the legal declaration that God has declared a sinner righteous based upon the perfect righteousness and cross works. of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so when Paul is using this language of justification, when anyone else is in the Bible within the context of salvation, it's used in that sense. God declaring a sinner righteous based upon the perfection of the righteousness in Christ, which is, remember, imputed to the believer, that is, accounted to the believer or reckoned unto the believer's account and received by faith alone. We noted that receiving instrument of justification is faith faith is not the ground of our justification It is that empty hand that receives the blessings of the perfection of Christ's righteousness It is not our act of believing that merits our justification but rather the only thing that merits our justification or we would want to say the only one is who merits our justification is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. We also noted then, or closed this morning with that perfect ground, talking about the fact that it is the perfection of Christ's obedience and his substitutionary, wrath-bearing curse upon Calvary's cross, that act of impassive obedience that is imputed to us for our whole and soul righteousness.
And we also noted that blessed truth, if you'll remember, since it was only this morning, that the resurrection of Jesus Christ, among many other glorious things, is that testification to the truth that he really did merit our salvation by the perfection of his mediatorial and messianic work. When Christ rises again the third day and emerges victorious from the tomb, it is a testament to the fact that his work as the champion of our salvation was executed perfectly. And now we want to come then to the blessed result of justification. The blessed result of justification.
Notice what we have as Paul brings all of the weight of what he had previously written to this therefore statement in Romans 5 and verse 1. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We should always, we should always, the Christian, as we read our Bibles and as we're engaging in preaching, stop upon the therefores to appreciate what is going on there. The therefore carries with it the reality that we are to understand, in this case, everything that Paul has written prior to coming to this therefore.
Now, there is the immediate context, of course, of verses 23 to 25, but all of this weight of setting forth the universal condemnation of all men under sin, all of this weight of then turning to the good news whereby in Christ Jesus we have righteousness that avails with God the blessing of justification, contrary to any notion of justification by works, he then comes to this blessed place of, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Enmity Before Peace
This peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ assumes a beforehand condition of enmity and antagonism against God. unrighteously held and exercised by man against God, but then an enmity and antagonism by God against sinful man, exercised righteously and according to holiness and justice, because it is man who has violated the law of God cast asunder the divine perfections and the divine being as it were in his rebellion against God so this peace with God is significant and again it it it has the idea of Two warring parties we can think of peace in the in the national sense for a moment and then mount up to the higher divine sense, if you will, of the term. We can think about national peace. National peace, when it obtains, sometimes assumes that those two parties now at peace, or multiple parties that were now at peace, were at once warring parties against one another. And whatever happens in the goings-on of international affairs and foreign affairs, something obtains and peace is established.
The same obtains though to a pure and a higher degree in the matters of heavenly things when we are at peace with God. And this peace with God to simply and to wrap up what we noticed this morning or to connect it to what we noticed this morning. This peace with God, of course, does not have anything to do with our doings, with our deeds, with our works, with our law obedience. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And perhaps you can remember when you were at war with God. When you, prior to grace having come, you might not be able to mark the day on your calendar, but you know, as a Christian here tonight, at one point, God brought you forth from darkness to light. And you can reflect upon the fact that you were once at war with God, and wrongly so, because he is your creator, he is your upholder, he is now your redeemer, Perhaps at that time he was that one or he is that one who was setting forth to you Peace through the gospel of Jesus Christ and yet time and again you rejected that You were at war with God as it were unrighteously he at war with you Righteously you were not at peace with God. I It is the case that this blessed Perfection of activity on the part of the Lord Jesus Christ in his perfect life and death brings that blessed peace That we have now with God and this peace is something that we we could maybe sum up and Gil Gil kind of sums it up in the language of of tranquility and And this this peace of mind that we can have with the knowledge of the fact that we are no longer Resting under the wrath and condemnation of God, but now rest With joy with hope and with glory in Christ Jesus the Lord who is the champion of our salvation tranquility and serenity of mind that we have with respect to our relationship with God this this Idea of or this truth of peace is replete in the book of Romans you can back up to the beginning of the letter with me just as we trace a little bit of a a little bit of a Movement through the book of Romans on the topic of peace Very often the writers to the various churches in the epistles in the New Testament will open up with a short benediction.
The structures of epistles are very often a self-identification of the author, a salutation, and then some measure of benediction before the writers launch into the body of the letter itself. And here we see Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle. This is one one separated to the gospel of God, which he promised before through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who was born of the seed of David, according to the flesh and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. Through him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ. to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." And this benediction, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, is repeated by Paul in a number of other places. in the realm of human writing, when, see this is divinely inspired scripture, and I'll get back to why I'm saying that in a moment, but in human writing, when we write letters, our, you know, grace and peace is to you, though we might word it differently, hey, how you going, you know, I hope all is well with you, period, and then you get into your letter, and we rarely, We rarely mean it, you know, we have a measure of cordiality and we have a measure of friendship, but it almost becomes customary just to write, you know, dear Johnny, comma, space, new line, I hope all is well, period, and then we get on to the writing.
It doesn't carry As much sincerity as it does when we get to the divinely inspired scriptures when the writers of Holy Scripture when God's superintending through human authors Greets the Saints here in Rome and he says grace to you and peace from God our Father in the Lord Jesus Christ and It is meant, verily and truly, by the author, ultimately by God through divine inspiration, that the Romans would receive this sense of the glory of grace and of measures of peace by the Spirit from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. If you turn to Romans 10 with me for a moment, we see here peace connected to the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. obviously and connected to our passage in Romans 5 in verse 1. Now notice Romans 10 beginning at verse 14. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things. We'll notice a connection here in a number of moments to the announcement of the birth of Christ in Luke chapter 2, but we see here the blessing of peace between God and man connected to the proclamation of Jesus Christ.
How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace. We also have peace set forth in Romans 15. the context of benediction remember that word benediction simply means good words a malediction would be bad words a benediction are good words spoken or good words written and here in a fee excuse me Romans 5 we have two instances of this first notice Romans 5 and verse Let's see here. Verse 13. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
And then verse 33. Notice what we have there. Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.
These aren't simply customary things penned by the Apostle Paul, but the Apostle Paul, God through Paul, really wants the Romans to understand and to appreciate the peace that they have with God. Roman Christians to understand the peace that they have with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a bit of a prayer here that we have in verse 13. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.
That is one of the things that we have, brethren, as Christians, justified solely and alone by faith through the Lord Jesus Christ. We have this peace that we have with God that we didn't have before, that those outside of Christ don't enjoy a peace with God. Gill writes this with regards to with regards to the absence of peace. So what it means to be in essence at enmity with God and to be absent of peace when we're outside of Christ in unbelief.
To God, people, that is, sinners are opposed or at enmity to God, to His being, perfections, purposes, providences, to Christ, to His person, offices, grace and righteousness, to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit and His divine operations and influences, to the people of God and to the gospel and ordinances of Christ, which enmity is deeply rooted in their minds, is causeless and undeserved, and is implacable and irreconcilable without the power and grace of God." So you see what it means here in the contrary, to be at enmity or at antagonism, at this position of antagonism against God. It is significant and it is severe. If we think back to the beginning of Romans, where we noted this morning both Jew and Gentile being under the same condemnation of sin. Paul sort of sums it up in verse 9 of Romans 3, what then?
Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. And then he goes on to write here, and this is perhaps significant for this whole discussion of justification and being at enmity with God before peace comes by the grace of God.
Notice in Romans 3.10, as it is written, There is none righteous, no not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside.
They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no not one. Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have practiced deceit.
The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.
This isn't just a picture of a certain wicked class of sinners and, you know, all the rest of us or all the rest of them are, you know, they're a little bit better than that. They don't really have that big of an issue. Everything should be okay. This is wrapping up Jews and Gentiles under one real umbrella. being universally condemned under sin and deserving of the wrath of God and it it mounts with proposition upon proposition observation upon observation and it gets to this point here destruction and misery are in their ways and the way of peace they have not known there is no fear of God before their eyes You see, the issue with the enmity, the issue with the antagonism, the issue with the hatred of man against God is severe, it is grave.
We think back to, first, the Gentiles in Romans 1, where Paul is opening up the fact that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men who suppress the truth. in unrighteousness. Let's just think of this enmity here as God points out. Enmity against God, his being, his perfections, his purposes and providences. Gil liked alliterations there.
We'll have to point that out to Richard Barcelos because he doesn't like alliterations. But back to the Bible. The Gentiles, as Paul notes, are confronted with the reality of God in creation and providence. The...
The Apostle Paul goes to great length essentially to say that the fingerprints of God are set in the expanse of the heavens. The handiwork of God is expressed and clear in the providential workings that he bears out upon all men and women, boys and girls everywhere. The stars are a testament to the glory of God. The mountains, the creation around you are a testament to the glory of God. you know the the fact that humans can explore the genome is a testament not to the the amazing reality of Evolution that could never bring it could never bring life to a point like that It's an it's an amazing testament the fact that human beings can explore the human genome It's a testament to the the veracity that there is a God in high heaven there's a there was an interview just speaking on the genome for a second there was an interview with a This goes back man.
I want to say 20 more than 20 years. There was an interview. I think it was at the time published by Answers in Genesis anyway, there was an interview with someone who was part of the human genome project a scientist a geneticist Who was being interviewed And on the topic of intelligent design, and the interviewer asked some sort of question like, in going through your discovery of the human genome, What did you come away with? Do you believe that there is an intelligent designer, a God who has created this?
And he said something like, it is by a measure of intellectual dishonesty that any scientist who studies human DNA can come away with rejecting the fact that there is a God in heaven who has designed this amazing machine, if you will. He said something like the intelligent design or divine creation in the context of studying the human genome is like an elephant in the room. It bumbles around, it makes a lot of noise, it stinks up the room, and it tosses hay everywhere. And he says, and we scientists have to swear that the elephant isn't there. to retain some measure of professional integrity in the realm of science.
He acknowledged the fact that there's no way that anyone who studies the human genome could come to the conclusion that it got that way because of naturalistic devices. It has to be by divine creation. So getting back to Romans 1 the Gentile who raises his fist against God in essence by saying no God Worshiping the creature casting out of his contemplations the glory of creation that speaks of one God who has made all things He is at enmity with God opposed to his being opposed to his perfections opposed to his purposes and opposed to his providences then we get to the Jew also and Paul addresses the Jew in chapters 2 and then into 3, up to 3.9, where he then concludes with the universality of condemnation. But he deals with the Jew in saying that they are also, without an excuse for the rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ, they have been given the very oracles of God.
They also, like the Gentile, can cast their eyes upon the glory of a created universe. But they have further than that special and supernatural revelation in the Bible. They have the special revelation of the Scriptures themselves, and yet they exalt themselves in self-righteousness and do not own the Savior. The Old Testament speaks, page after page, chapter after chapter, about Christ being a divine Messiah who would assume humanity for the forgiveness of the sins of his people.
And yet, those who were the recipients of the oracles of God, the Jews of the Old Testament and the time of Christ, by and large, reject the Lord Jesus Christ. They put him to death. Not only do they reject the truth, but they put truth incarnate to death upon Calvary's cross. And so both Jew and Gentile are at this enmity against God, but in Christ Jesus, they have peace through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And that peace not established because one day they woke up, had a good bowl of cornflakes with the proper amount of milk and were well prepared, to say yes to the gospel but because God interceded on their behalf and ripped them out of the mire of the death and the darkness of sin and made them alive in Christ Jesus and Imputed to them that is accounted or reckoned to their account the righteousness of Christ in his active and his passive obedience What a blessed thing we have in the peace that we have in our Lord Jesus Christ
Christ as Peace: OT Promise
speaking of which Speaking of whom, we want to look at a moment here because it's wonderful how the Old Testament and the New Testament set forth Christ with respect to peace. First off, we want to look at Christ promised. Christ as peace promised. And you can turn with me to the book of Isaiah for a moment. in Isaiah chapter 6, chapter 9 rather.
In Isaiah chapter 9, we have this wonderful language that hopefully you'll recognize. It's the language that we very often refer to when we are preaching about the incarnation of Jesus Christ. You'll recall this language with respect to peace Isaiah 9 beginning at verse 6
Isaiah and Micah: Prince of Peace
for unto us a child is born Unto us a son is given and the government will be upon his shoulder and his name will be called wonderful counselor mighty God everlasting father prince of peace You can turn to Micah with me for a moment and then we'll make a comment on this on these promises concerning Christ as peace. In the book of Micah, in a similar announcement with respect to the incarnation of Jesus Christ, we have in Micah 5, 2, the following language. But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting. Therefore he shall give them up until the time that she who is in labor has given birth Then the remnant of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel and he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God and they shall abide for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth and this one shall be peace and This language of the one who is the Prince of Peace, and the one that is here captured as being peace itself, the Lord Jesus Christ, is announced in the Old Testament, and this peace is not a horizontal peace that would obtain amongst warring nations.
This peace is peace between sinners and God by virtue of the perfect work of this promised one. Christ comes into the world as the prince of peace, as even peace itself, and he brings God and man to reconciliation by virtue of his obedience and the shedding of his blood. We get to the New Testament, and if you turn with me to Luke chapter 2, we have this language of the angels speaking at the scene of the nativity. Luke chapter 2, beginning in verse 8.
Peace Announced at the Nativity
Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. And they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.
For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men.
This announcement of the birth of Christ brings together Isaiah 9-6 and Micah 5-5 in announcing the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. It talks about, of course, this babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, this one who is born to you, and this one who is born to you this day in the city of David, which is Bethlehem, Ephrathah. And this wonderful announcement by the angels, glory to God, in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. There's a connection drawn here out of interest sake to the book of Hebrews, which rehearses a particular psalm.
But when Paul is speaking or writing with regards to the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, he refers to a psalm and says, and all the angels of God will worship him, that is Christ. And that psalm announces this very occasion, glory to God in the highest. incarnate deity before them. and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. This peace again is not, this on earth peace is not sociopolitical calm. It's not the bringing together of warring nations, though that would be wonderful if that did obtain under God's good son, but this is a peace with regards to salvation, a peace with regards to this babe wrapped in swaddling cloths being the champion of God's elect, the very captain of our salvation.
As we move forward a little bit in the New Testament, after Christ in effect secures peace at the cross, we have in the book of Ephesians a particular statement that lines up well with Micah 5.5. If you turn to Ephesians 2, speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ, Ephesians 2 verse 14 and just the first clause there for he himself is our peace.
Peace Accomplished in Christ
After opening up, similarly, the bad news in Ephesians 2, 1 to 4, and then following that up with another but God statement, it's but now in Romans, here it's but God, opening up the good news about the grace of God, the mercy of God visited upon undeserving sinners through Christ, we have this wonderful statement in verse 14, for he himself is our peace. Jesus Christ secures peace. his people and We also have not only the fact that Christ is peace Pronounced or promised that he is peace announced and that he is peace here accomplished Following the blessing of his work, but we also have the fact that Christ Similarly though in a different sense is the bringer of peace notice what we have after that Or as we continue reading through Ephesians 2 14, he's the bringer of peace for he himself is our peace Who has made both one that is Jew and Gentile and has broken down the middle wall of separation Having abolished in his flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments obtained contained in ordinances so as to create in himself one new man from the two thus making peace and and that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And he came and preached peace to you, who were afar off, and to those who were near. For through him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father." So we see here Christ as peace, as the one also that makes peace, and as the one who preaches peace.
And it's an interesting statement in verse 17 because Jesus never came to Ephesus. Perhaps there is a reference to those who heard the preaching of Christ afar off, that is, away from Ephesus and then came to Ephesus. But more than likely, it's similar to the book of Galatians, where it speaks about Christ coming and preaching, or the cross being preached before, as it were, our very eyes, by virtue, in this case, of the apostle Paul, coming to Ephesus and preaching Christ, it is as if, as it were, Christ, the ascended Christ, was preaching to them through the preacher Paul. In fact, the Reformed churches, those in the Reformed tradition, the Westminster, the Savoy, the London Baptist, the three forms of unity, we all recognize that the preaching of the word of God is the word of God. by virtue of the ascended Christ, by his spirit, blessing the preacher at the pulpit, insofar as the preacher accurately opens up the word of God in proclamation, it is the word of God proclaimed.
And so it is as if it was Christ who came to Ephesus and preached peace to them. What a wonderful thing.
Peace Applied: Assurance for Christians
So finding our way back to Romans, We have this wonderful statement concerning peace that obtains between God and sinners. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And I want us Christians here this evening to reflect on this reality for a moment, because we were once those who were, as Gil writes, denying that there is a God or wishing there was none. fancying him to be such and one as themselves, or disputing his sovereignty, denying his omniscience, arraigning his justice and faithfulness, despising the riches of his grace and goodness, enemies to his purposes, providences, and word, we could not bear that he should determine anything concerning us or others, And are I being so evil to him because he is good to others, replying against him, running upon him and charging his decrees with unrighteousness, cruelty, murmur and quarrel with the dispensations of his providence? That was us before we came to Christ. in whatever measure or to whatever degree that manifested itself, we sinned against God in deed, we sinned against God in thought, we did, perhaps inwardly, and not outwardly, though certainly... perhaps outwardly, though certainly inwardly, raised our fists at God for the... for...
In concert with this sort of this person or this set of persons that Gil is bringing forth here in his quote, we raised our fists against a holy and a just God. We were at enmity with him, at opposition with him, in hatred towards him. and we deserve nothing but wrath and condemnation. So, considering that, and understanding that we find ourselves, unless there are any Jews here this evening, saved by the Lord Jesus Christ, we found ourselves as Greeks, Gentiles, in that Romans 1 reality, though perhaps with a measure or a dose of the reality of Romans 2 and following, as it respects the Jews, that we were, within the context of a community, the church, that had the oracles of God and that did proclaim them in Christian churches. And yet we were like this one Gil describes at opposition to God, denying him or wishing that he wasn't there.
And now, by grace through faith in Christ, we have peace with that God that we opposed. We have peace with that God that we were at enmity with. We have peace with that God that we hated, that we reviled. We have peace with that God who gave us his very son to die upon Calvary's cross and to be raised again and yet, Time and again, we rejected that message until one day by grace through faith We were made to know our blessed Christ.
We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. There's that a wonderful passage here, and I want to bring this to a point of assurance. Because very often, the peace that we have by virtue of our union with Christ can endure a measure of upheaval because of a lack of assurance or because of assurance being shaken. And we have this wonderful statement in our confession of faith with respect to the perseverance of the saints.
And it talks about the fact that our perseverance First off, does not depend upon our own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father, upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ and union with Him, the oath of God, the abiding of His Spirit, and the seed of God within them, and the nature of the covenant of grace, from all which ariseth, also the certainty and infallibility thereof." Now that's a lot of words, but I want us to appreciate something there.
Perseverance Grounded in God Alone
Notice what is completely excluded from perseverance, and we'll note assurance here in a moment. It's us. We are the ones who persevere by God's grace, but the ground and foundation of our perseverance is from first to last, midst and throughout, the work of the Triune God, who saves without a helper, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Paragraph 3 reads this way, And though they may, through the temptation of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of the means of their preservation.
And just pause for a moment there. The neglect of the means of their preservation. That means coming to church, praying, reading the scriptures, engaging in the preaching of the word, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and engaging in baptism in the Lord's Supper. and the neglect of the means of their preservation fall into grievous sins, and for a time continue therein, whereby they incur God's displeasure and grieve His Holy Spirit, come to have their graces and comforts impaired, have their hearts hardened and their consciences wounded, hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves." Now, that doesn't sound all that good, but notice how it ends. Yet, shall they renew their repentance and be preserved through faith in Jesus Christ to the end.
It's the blessing that we have as Christians, brethren, is that our assurance does not rest on deeds of righteousness, which we have done. When we have this period of peace with God, remember that period of peace with God isn't in fact a period. It is objectively now and forever by virtue of Jesus Christ and the perfection of his work.
Assurance Not in Our Walk
Our peace with God doesn't ebb and flow with our Christian walk. as if there's less peace that God sees us with, with respect to our own state as a Christian before him. It's, remember, intimately and inextricably linked to Jesus Christ, not to ourselves. The ebb and flow of our Christian walks should not affect the peace that we have with God, because that peace with God is by virtue of the immutability of the decree of election from his unchangeable free love, It's based upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ and union with him. It's based upon the very oath of God.
Our perseverance and our assurance rests upon the perfection of the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And so when we have these times when we, you know, in our Christian walks, we've been going okay for a while. We've been coming to church. We've been, you know, really attending the means of grace.
We've been focused in church. Our weeks have been going okay. We're reading our Bibles. We're doing good in the Christian walk.
And then something happens. We fall into a pattern of sin. We stumble. We fall in transgression, in our remaining corruption.
And it enters into the Christian mind. It can enter into the Christian mind then that there is then no assurance for me or there is not a proper peace because I've stumbled, I have been weakened, I have fallen into a particular pattern of sin. Well, remember that your perseverance, your salvation, your assurance does not rest upon the ebb and flow of your own Christian walk. It depends upon, lo the incarnate God ascended and pleads the merit of his blood.
That's what it rests upon. The blessed Christ heaven and earth who came into this world sinners to save and who justifies us by virtue of the perfection of his obedience and the perfection of his death upon Calvary's cross this this peace this this unburdening this This casting off of animosity and antagonism in the reality that we have this tranquility and serenity of mind is captured well if you'll
Burden Removed at the Cross
remember the story of Christian in Pilgrim's Progress. You know, it can be a burden with Christians, and that's what's brought out by Christian in Pilgrim's Progress, the burden of sin. Certainly, as believers with remaining corruption, we can have a particular burden, but in the Pilgrim's Progress, Christian comes to the point where he sees the cross and he sees the tomb, and that burden falls from off his back. Isn't that a beautiful scene if you've read Pilgrim's progress he's come this long way with this burden and he sees the cross in the tomb from our text he sees something of who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification and having not beforehand known peace and Having beforehand been marked by that enmity, been marked by the weightiness, perhaps this aspect of peace also that Christ takes away, the weight of guilt upon our minds because we have sinned and because we do sin.
And Christian has that burden taken from off his back. But before it falls off his back, he goes through this rehearsal of some things. He says, if I recall it correctly, how far have I come laden with my sin? It's a bit of a poem.
How far have I come laden with my sin? and nothing could ease the grief that I was in. Till I came here, that is the cross and tomb, till I came here, what a place is this. Must here be the beginning of my bliss? Peace with Christ.
Must here this burden fall from off my back? Must here the strings that tied it to me crack? And then he says, blessed cross, blessed tomb, blessed rather be the man who there was put to shame for me. the blessed thing that we have with respect to our peace with God, through not ourselves, but through the Lord Jesus Christ, who is peace himself, who is the bringer of peace, and who has blessed his people with peace. If you're here tonight, you enjoy peace because of the perfection of Christ, because of the blessings of that one, the second of the triune God, who came into our lower shame, assuming our humanity, perfecting obedience in his life, perfecting obedience in his death, raised again as the vindication of that one salvation for us, and he now sits at the right hand of the majesty on high, where he ever lives to intercede for his people.
Isn't that a blessed thing? You see, the work of Christ, well, I'm gonna rephrase that a little bit differently because his work is completed. He said, it is finished. but the activity of our blessed christ goes goes on after his life and after his death and after his resurrection and ascension remember christ the same yesterday today and forever he lives and At the right hand of God the Father, He intercedes for us. He sees us weakened in our human state, even as Christians with our remaining corruption, stumbling and falling.
And our ascended Christ, by measures of the Spirit, lifts us up and puts us back onto that high place, back onto that place where the joy of salvation returns to us. And He impresses by His Spirit upon our minds that our peace does not depend upon our ebbing and flowing, but it depends upon the perfection of his very own work, pointing to the wounds, pointing to his perfection, pointing to the beauty of his salvation won for his elect. So, Christian, rejoice, persevere, have that assurance that is connected solely and alone to Jesus Christ. the Savior, and sinner here tonight, again, hopefully you've heard of God, of sin, of the only remedy and answer for sin, Jesus Christ. There is one name under heaven by which a man, a woman, a boy or a girl can be saved, and that is Jesus Christ the Lord.
Believe on Him and you shall have salvation. You have salvation through Him if you believe in His name and you have this blessed peace that obtains with God. Won by that champion that Christ that redeeming king of our salvation.
Closing Prayer
Well, let's pray Heavenly Father. We thank you for your word We rejoice once again in your goodness to us as you declare in your word the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you that we can say with Paul,
Peace with God: The Therefore
therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that you would fill us with the hope and with the joy that we also read of there, that we have access by this same Christ with measures of spirit to the throne of grace. We pray that you would help us in our Christian watch to be resting solely and alone upon the work of the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation and that you would help us by your spirit to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of that blessed gospel of peace go with us into this work and might we honor and Glorify you and all that we do and we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen We'll have a brief time of prayer that when the pianos finished you are dismissed