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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. 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. 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, 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. 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 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 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 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. 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, 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