Amen. All right, take your Bibles
and go back with me to Romans chapter 1. Our text this evening
will be found in verse 7 through verse 12. The apostle says, to all that be
in Rome, beloved of God, cold saints, Grace to you and peace
from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ." Now,
I've entitled this message, Grace and Peace and Prayer. Grace, Peace, and Prayer. Now, as we've seen before, we've
established the heart of the apostle in writing this book,
Paul a slave of Jesus Christ. As a slave of Jesus Christ, as
a slave to the risen King, he wrote this book with a heart
of a servant. A heart of a servant. And as
we've gone over this last Lord's Day, that's how we're to receive
it. As a heart of a servant. If we
are believers, we are slaves. Bound slaves, bond slaves. Now think of that bond slave,
you remember. The one who was free to go. And yet he desired
to stay with his master. They had to pierce his ear through
with an awl. And he had to proclaim that he
loved his wife, he loved his children, and he loved his master.
And that man was a bond slave forever. That's exactly what
we are. We are bond slaves to Christ forever. And gladly so. Gladly so. And so we see the
heart. We secondly saw the authority
of this book. We should receive it not just
because it was from the servant of God, but because he's an apostle,
one that saw the risen Christ and one that received his message
from the risen Christ. That gives it an authority. And
thirdly, we saw this, that the message of the apostle was the
gospel of God, not just the gospel of men. It was the gospel of
God. It was concerning the whole scripture,
which was concerning his son, Jesus Christ. So as Paul writes
this, he writes his intent is the gospel. And we know this,
that there is only one gospel. There's not many gospels. And
so if you go to a different place and you hear a different gospel,
listen, it's not the gospel. If it differs from what is written
in this book, it is not the gospel. Don't believe it. Don't follow
it, no matter how good it sounds and no matter how many people
accept it. There's only one gospel. Paul
says, if an angel from heaven come to you and preach anything
other than what I've preached to you, let him go to hell. Let
him be accursed. And so that's what every man
of God says. If you preach, they preach anything
other than this, Jesus Christ and him crucified. They preach
anything with that, let them go to hell. There's only one gospel. And
so then what is this gospel? It is concerning his son. It
concerns his deity. And it's humanity that Jesus
Christ is God, very God, and man, very man. That by the Spirit
of holiness, He came declaring to be the Son of God with power
and with the Spirit of holiness. The Spirit was given to Him without
measure so that He should secure for all of His elect salvation. And then after He offered Himself,
What was the proof of his victory? He said the resurrection from
the dead. He said, verse 4, declared to
be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness.
How? By the resurrection of the dead. How do we know that's true?
God raised him from the dead. And verse 6, he said, you also
are called. You that believe, just as I'm
called to be an apostle, I'm called to be a sinner saved by
grace. That's how you were called. You
were called to that. You may not have been called to the office
of an apostle or an evangelist or a pastor, but you were called.
You were called of Jesus Christ to life and faith in Jesus Christ. So this is the foundation and
sole mission of this letter is to show forth the whole counsel
of God concerning the salvation of his son. Now he says to those
who he's writing to in verse 7, to all that be in Rome, beloved
of God, called saints. Called saints. You that are called of Jesus
Christ, I want you to know this, you are beloved. And I'm going
to show you the reason you're beloved is not because you're
such a good person. That's how we judge other people.
We love them because they are good people or they're good to
us and we bestow love upon them. God does not bestow His love
upon us because we were good. But I'll tell you this, you are
loved with an everlasting love, an immutable love that no one
can remove from you. Now what he tells us in Romans
chapter 8, he says, Nothing can separate me from the love of
God that's in Christ Jesus. Nothing. So regardless of your
circumstance, today I did not feel loved. I did not feel the
love of God coursing through my veins. I did not have the
experience of God's love in my mind or heart. At times I thought
maybe he didn't. But that's not true, is it? Regardless
of my circumstance, if you've been called by Jesus Christ,
if you've been called by this gospel to believe on Christ,
Paul says this, you are beloved. You are beloved. And listen to
this, you're called saints. You know what a saint is? It's
not somebody that does a miracle, that's not a saint. A saint is
someone who is holy. Sanctified ones. You are made holy by the Spirit
of God in the new birth. You're saints. Saint Joanne. That's just so. You know what? You were called to that. called
to it. And notice the reason for, now
this is the purpose of Jesus Christ coming, this is why you
are beloved, this is why you are called to be saints, holy
ones. Listen, grace to you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This, my friends,
is the result of what The Son has accomplished. This was the
purpose the Son accomplished it and the result. What's the
purpose? Why did the Son of God condescend to come into the world
and save you? Why did God set His love upon
you when you were unworthy of it? Grace. Grace. Grace and peace is the whole
counsel of God from eternity. I want you to understand that
this concept of grace was kept a mystery, a secret. A secret. It was kept in the
sacred trinity of God's purposes from eternity. And what Paul
desires to do in every epistle is to reveal this mystery. When
I preach to you the gospel, friends, I am preaching to you a mystery. It's a mystery. And so the purpose of this book
is to reveal the mystery of the gospel of God's salvation to
his elect. Go to 1 Corinthians. Look at
how Paul puts it this way. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Let's read this together. 1 Corinthians chapter 2, he says,
and I, brethren, when I came to you, came not in excellency
of speech or wisdom concerning declaring unto you the testimony
of God. Isn't that what he wanted to
do to the Rome? He said later, just the next
few verses, he said, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you.
Why? The gospel is the power of God
and the salvation to everyone that believe it. Paul says the
same thing. I came, but I didn't come in
excellency of speech. Declaring unto you the testimony
of God, for I determined not to know anything among you save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. What was his message? What do
you suppose his message was to them? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's what he said. I determined
not to know anything else. I didn't care about anything
else. I preached to you Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And
I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of
man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the power of the Spirit."
Isn't this what men want to hear? They want to hear some guy stand
up with great skill and entertain you. They want to be entertained.
They want somebody with a lot of wisdom, earthly wisdom. We got a lot of earthly problems.
And what they want, they want a man to stand up and tell them
how to solve these earthly problems. We got financial problems. They
want a man to stand up and tell them how to solve their financial
problems. They got marriage problems. They want a man to stand up and
tell them how to solve their marriage problems or their this problem
or that problem. Paul said, I'm not here to do
any of that. I'm here to tell you about Jesus
Christ and not use the wisdom of this world. But this was my purpose, verse
5, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but
in the power of God. You that believe, you that believe
on Christ, was it by the wisdom of the preacher you believe or
the power of God? Look, if you believe under my
ministry, I definitely tell you it's not the wisdom of the man.
That is not the case at all. We know this, it is the power
of God. That's where our faith came from.
How be it we speak wisdom, what's our wisdom? The same thing he
preached, Jesus Christ him crucified. That's our wisdom. Among them
that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world nor the
princes of this world that came to nothing. We speak the wisdom
of God in what? This is something that goes against
the grain of this religious world. They think the gospel is something
everybody knows. They do. They assume that everybody
knows the gospel. I remember a conversation that
my mother had with one of the curriculum writers for the Southern
Baptist Association. She wrote curriculum for I believe
the Vacation Bible School or something like that. Maybe that
Our Daily Bread stuff. Anyway, she was writing stuff
like that and she made this statement that everybody already knows
the gospel. We need to move on from that. Everybody already
knows it. Excuse me, Paul said it's a mystery. It's a mystery. Even, listen, the hidden wisdom
which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none
of the princes of the world knew. You're talking about the most
studied men in the Bible ever. He's talking about the Pharisees,
talking about those that crucified the Lord. He said, then none
of them knew it. For had they known it, they wouldn't
have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, I have
not seen nor ear heard, neither entered into the heart of man
the things which God prepared for them that love him. This gospel that we preach, my
friends, is a mystery. It's a mystery to the human nature,
the natural man. It is a mystery. A mystery he'll
never figure out. It'll never come to his mind.
You know, this is this is the thought
of natural man. Well, if I just go out into the woods, I'll see
God and I'll experience God. Listen, said it didn't even enter
into your mind or your heart ever. I hath not seen nor ye
heard. By these senses you're not ever
going to know it. Wait a second. I know it. You that believe know it. How
is it that you know it? How do you know this mystery
that was hidden with God before there was ever anything created?
How do you know that? But God hath revealed them unto
us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things
of man, save the Spirit of man that is in him? Even so the things
of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. Now we have received,
not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God,
that we might know the things which are freely given to us. Only by the Spirit that a man
could ever know the Gospel of God. Only by the Spirit of God. Those things which are freely
given to us. You who know the Gospel, you
know this, the things that Christ did, the things that Christ accomplished
for us, they were freely given to us. freely given to us. What are we talking about? We're
talking about salvation. Salvation is freely given to
us by the, by what? The grace of God. So when Paul
says grace to you, that gospel that he's preaching, he understands
this, you received it only by the grace of God. Only by the
grace of God. Salvation of God's elect children,
my friends, was purposed by the triune God from eternity. Ephesians 1, according as He
had chosen us in Christ, when? When were you chosen? Before
the foundation of the world. This purpose of God's grace,
my friend, was hidden. It was hidden from all his creatures. Do you realize this? When God
made the angels in heaven and earth, nobody knew his purpose
in salvation by grace. Nobody. The angels knew nothing
of grace. Now the angels understood the
holiness of God, but they knew nothing of grace. Satan, when he fell and his angels
fell with him, being chained, they understood the justice of
God, didn't they? When they sinned against God,
they understood the justice of God. They didn't know anything
about grace. Now Adam, when he was made, He
knew those things, too, by the commandment that was given to
him. He said, In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely
die. He knew the holiness of God to give that commandment.
Adam knew the holiness of God, and he knew the justice of God,
because he said, In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely
die. He knew God was holy, and he knew God was just. What Adam
did not know is that God was gracious. He didn't know anything
about grace. But you remember when Adam sinned
in rebellion, he sought to cover his nakedness
with his own works. And then when he heard the voice
of God, what did he do? He hid. He hid. Why? Because even in his lost
condition he maintained these two things about God. That God
is holy and God is just. He knew that. And so he cowered
in the forest expecting what? Wrath. Why did he run? Why did he hide? Because he knew God was just
and he had sinned. He knew it. And that day that God came down
and sought out Adam, listen, I'm sure that heaven was silent
to figure out what he was going to do. Man was his highest creation. And man had failed. What was he going to do? I'm
sure that they had no idea what he was going to do. I'm sure that all the angels
stood in awe to see God condescend to reveal himself to Adam and
preach not a message of judgment that he did the other angels,
but rather a message of grace. You remember that God did not
He condemned the world. Adam was judged. He was dead. In the day thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. He died. And his whole race
died in him. Justice did fall on him. But now God comes and listen
to his voice, Adam. Where art thou? You suppose that
would be surprising to the angels to see that? They never saw anything
like that before. Grace, grace. And God preached to them a message
of a savior. Yeah, the world's ruined. Isn't
this world ruined? Can you not see it? It's condemned. It's cursed. You have to work
for everything you get. Nothing comes easy. This world
is full of tears and sorrows and griefs. And you get over
one and you fall right into another. That's a product of the curse.
Even in the midst of this, God gives a message of hope. And
He said, the seed of the woman. What was that? What Paul was
telling us in this thing, it was a mystery. Nobody knew this
was going to happen. But God. And God purposed it
that when he failed, you realize that the Adam's fall was on purpose.
Why? So that God might show his creation,
he is a God, not of just holiness and justice, but a God of grace. How could he be gracious? If
everyone was holy. There must be a sinner to be
gracious to. And Adam, God gave him that message
of Christ coming into the world and that he would make a sacrifice.
I like this. God told him, He said, The seed
of the woman shall crush the head of the serpent. That was
good news because it was a serpent that deceived. It was the serpent
who is the father of sin. And he says, Look, I'm going
to crush sin at its very head, its very source. And they were
happy. And you remember right after
he told him that, he gave him a picture of it, didn't he? God
took an innocent animal, killed it, skinned it, and covered their
nakedness. Isn't that a picture of Christ?
It's a picture of His sacrifice to cover our sin. And this same
message was passed down not just to Adam and Eve, but through
the holy prophets and the holy scriptures. Things that God purposed
for those he loved. So all who believe on Jesus Christ,
we believe this gospel. We believe that gospel of God's
grace concerning Jesus Christ that was preached to our father
Adam. I believe that message, don't you? The seed of the woman
crushed the head of the serpent. And by his one act he covered
my naked. Now then I no longer stand before
God naked, I stand clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And so this is the message that
was hidden and is now what, Paul said, revealed. It's revealed. This is the message Paul desired
that the Romans should receive. It is a message of grace. A message of grace. Matter of
fact, God said this, My heart is inditing a good matter. Psalm
45 verse 1. My heart, the heart of God says
this, I'm inditing a good matter. I speak of things which I have
made touching the king. You know what God desired to
speak about? The king. What rejoices the heart of God
is to testify of His Son, the things He made concerning His
Son. The heart of God, that word inditing
means gushing. God's heart is gushing forth
a good matter. And so what is the message of
the gospel of grace? It is grace of God, where is
it found? Where is the grace of God found?
In Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ. Friends, this world thinks very
little of Christ. Matter of fact, if they had their
way, they would eradicate his name from history. And it's good, it's good news
that they won't, ever. But consider how little people
think of Christ. They think of him as part of
salvation. They think he does his part.
He plays his role in this matter of salvation. But man has dignity,
and man has will, man has volition, and he can exercise his part
in this matter of salvation. So they think very little of
Christ, very little of Him. They think of Him as a stepping
stone to better things. They think that Christ is a stepping
stone to health, wealth, and prosperity. If you want to be
healthy, happy, and successful, then yeah, you need to believe
in Jesus Christ because that's what he wants for you. He wants
you to be healthy and wealthy. He wants you to be prosperous. No. No, you that believe know that
that's not so. That's not so. Jesus Christ,
God's son, friends, is not part of our salvation. He's all of
it. He's the whole of our salvation. He is the whole matter of God.
Jesus Christ, him crucified, is the good news of God toward
sinners. Jesus was made a man so that
he should both earn our righteousness and suffer for our sins. that Jesus Christ came into this
world to be the only high priest and mediator for sinners. This was an act of God's grace
and mercy to send his son. And so now, to you that believe,
God has given us his Holy Spirit to reveal this mystery. To reveal
this mystery that, listen to me, is still hid to them that
are lost. Now, when I preach to you the
gospel of Christ, I preach to you your sin, your depravity,
your inability, your unholiness, your unworthiness. And God's
people, once the Spirit of God touches their heart, they recognize
that's true. That's just so. There's no way
I can earn God's favor. And we become humble. We become
destitute before God and by the grace and power of the Spirit
we also hear of Christ's victory, of His accomplishment, of the
very things we need. Righteousness, peace with God,
redemption, atonement for sin. Those things we need. And by
the Spirit of God we believe and trust in Him. But listen,
why is it that the other people around us do not believe this
Gospel? Why do they not have any interest
in the things of God? I'm going to tell you this. It
is because God has hidden it from them. I know that's not very cosmopolitan
of me. Not very modern of my thoughts. That's all right. I'll stick
with the book. I'll stick with the book. Look at John chapter
12. John chapter 12. So I'm getting at this. You that
believe. You that believe because of the
grace of God. That's what we're getting at. Now look at this.
John chapter 12. Look at verse 37. But though he had done so many
miracles before them, Yet they believed not on him. Isn't this what modern men want?
They want miracles. They want to see something. They
say, I'm not going to believe it until I see it. These guys,
they saw it and they did not believe. He did many miracles
in front of them. Yet they believed not. Now why
in the world do you suppose they didn't? Was it an act of volition
of their will? Is that what did it? Look what
the scripture says. That the saying of Isaiah the
prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed
our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Therefore,
they could not believe. Because Isaiah said again, he
hath blinded their eyes and harden their heart, that they should
not see with their eyes or understand with their heart and be converted,
and I should heal them. These things said Isaiah when
he saw the glory, his glory, and spake of him. Why is it that
men will not believe? Because this gospel to them is
a sealed book. and God's the one that sealed
it. We've got children who don't
believe. We've got family who don't believe.
We've got those people that we would love and give our lives
for that won't believe. And you think, you keep thinking,
well, if I just do it this, if I could just, Stop thinking that you or I have
anything to do with this. I cannot open this book to anyone. Isaiah 29, flip over there, look
at this. I want you to see this. And again, I'm emphasizing how
much grace God has given to you. By showing you what he has withheld
from others. Isaiah chapter 29. Let's, uh, make sure I get the right place. Okay. Yeah. Reverse nine says
Stay yourselves and wonder Cry you out and cry. They are drunken,
but not with wine. They stagger, but not with strong
drink. For the Lord hath poured out
upon you the spirit of deep sleep and hath closed your eyes. The
prophets and your rulers and seers hath he covered. And the vision of all is become
unto you as words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that
is learned, saying, read this, I pray thee. And he say, I can't. It's sealed. You got that? One that knows, one that is learned,
one that has understanding. Look, you know what? I can't
open this to you. That's what I'm telling you.
I can't open this to you. I can point you to Christ. I
can tell you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be
saved. And that is true. That is vitally true. But one
thing is I can't I can't get you to see it. I can't get you
to open it. So what do you what do men do?
Well, they take it to an unlearned guy. He said, well, you can't
help me. So I'm going to go to an unlearned
guy. What he says. And he said, and the book delivered to him
that it's not learned, saying, read this. And you know what
they say? I can't read. That's what false religion is. They can't read. The book's sealed
to them and you're asking them to read it to you. No, you can't. This gospel that we preach is
a mystery. It's a mystery. Salvation is
hidden. It's sealed. But you who believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, behold the grace of God to unseal this book to
you. This book's unsealed. I know what this is about. When
I read it, I understand it. I understand it. When it says
sinner, I know that. That's not just, he's not talking
about people out there. He's talking about this person
right here. When he says that Christ died
for sinners, my heart leaps, because that's what I am. That's
what I need. That's what he offered. I hear
of his victory, that he didn't just make it possible. He actually
did it. He accomplished it. This message to me is glorious,
it's beautiful, it's magnificent. When you tell me of his deity, when you tell me of his humanity,
when you tell me of his offering, when you tell me of his sacrifice,
when you tell me of his righteousness, when you tell me of his resurrection,
of his ascension, you tell me of his coming again, our heart
leaps because I know that this book is about him. I understand
that. I know. Now how is it that this
man knows? How is it that you know? That
is because of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the
grace of God who has made us to know those things that God
has freely given to us. I know this. God chose me. before the world was that I should
be saved. And every providence in the world
was leading to that point. And every providence since is
leading to bring me home. How do you know that? Because
I know the book. Rather this, I know the one who
wrote the book. I know the one whom the book
speaks of. I know that Christ died for my sins, and God accepted
his offering. The scripture says, but this
man, after he'd offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down forever, henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by his
one offering, he hath perfected forever, perfected forever, them
that are sanctified. Those who believe on Jesus Christ
who are made holy by the grace and power of God. And what is the result then of
grace? You see, the book is bound to everyone who does not have
the grace of God. But when the grace of God comes,
the seals are loosed. We understand the book and the
book is all about Christ. It's all about Christ and what
a glorious book it is. It is a book of God's grace and
mercy. Salvation by grace without the
works of the law. That's what we're going to study.
This whole book of Romans is about salvation by grace. By
grace. And once a person experiences
grace, what follows? Go back to your text. To you
that are Rome, beloved, eternally beloved, saints made holy by
the Spirit of God, listen, grace to you. You were saved by grace
and grace is how you continue, isn't it? You believe still?
You still believe this book? How in the world are you ever
going to finish? Everything's against you. Everything's against
you. You notice that? Everything's
against me believing in Christ. How am I sure I'm going to make
it? Well, because I was given this
by grace, he's going to sustain it by grace. And what's the result of this
message? The message of grace. Grace and what? What follows
grace? Peace. Grace and peace. Friends, this is always the order.
Grace and peace. You go throughout the apostles
and writing his salutations, it is always what first? Grace.
Then what? Peace. You will never have peace
without grace. Grace. It's foolish for the heart
to believe that you can have peace without grace, that you
can have peace by works. And again, Paul is going to deal
with this in Romans. He's going to deal with this
matter of grace and works. You can't mix them. It's either
of grace or it's of works. It can't be of both. That's in
Romans chapter 11. That's a long ways from us, but
that's where he's going with this. So if you desire peace
with God, grace comes first. So peace with God at the exclusion
then of an effectual Experimental grace of God in the heart of
the sinner is nothing but an illusion. If God has not come
to you and quickened you by grace, if you are not saved by grace,
you have no peace. Isn't this true of works religion,
there's no peace? You know why? The standard is always moving.
Have you noticed that in works religion, the standard of being
accepted is always moving. They have to keep adding because
enough is never enough. One thing about grace is it's
enough. It's enough. And so any work or action of
man that is mixed with the work and action of God is not grace.
Listen to what one definition of grace was. It means the unmerited
favor of God. That's what it means. Unmerited
favor. In other words, you do nothing
to merit it. That's what grace is. One writer said grace is
the free desire, will, purpose, and act of God. It is the free
desire of God, the free will of God, the free purpose of God,
and a free act of God upon men who do not desire it. who will
never will for it or purpose or act to receive it. It's an
act of God. It's a will of God. And it's
salvation. It is forgiveness. It is pardon
from all sin without any merit or value or action of those that
receive it. God doesn't want anything from
you. You that receive it, what does God want from you? What
could you give? When God puts it in our hearts,
we desire to give everything, isn't it? We decide to give everything
because a debtor to mercy alone, of covenant mercy I see. We are
debtor to God's grace. And so believer in Jesus Christ,
consider the grace of God that chose you, the grace of the Father
that made you accepted in the beloved. Consider the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ who has redeemed us by His blood. and
by grace has forgiven us all our sins. Consider the grace
of the Holy Spirit that effectually called you, that created in you. Paul says,
back in Galatians, chapter 6, he says in verse 15, he says,
for Christ in you, neither circumcision availeth anything or other circumcision,
but what? a new creation. Consider the
grace of God that created in you a new nature, a new heart,
a new mind by which you can understand the gospel, by which you can
receive it now. It's the grace of the Holy Spirit
that gave us the new birth and you hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins. I think of that infant cast out.
Remember, the infant, his parents were, he was a bastard child.
His parents were heathens. And what did they do? They threw
that child out in the wilderness to die. That's a picture of us. Our parents were sinners. We
were nothing but bastards. Left to die. And God said, but
when I passed by thee, it was a time of love. And he said, I said unto thee,
live. Eric, why are you alive? One
day God stood by and he walked by you, polluted in your own
blood, and he said, live. What else could you do? When
God says to a man, live, what else can he do but And when the gospel came in power
and demonstration of the Spirit and said, believe, what did you
do? Was it an invitation? Did he
ask you to believe? No, it was the same command that
gave me life, it was the same command that gave me faith. It
was the power of God the Holy Spirit in grace Scripture says, as the light
shined out of darkness. God commanded the light to shine
out of darkness. He has shined in our hearts,
giving us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. The light
of the knowledge of the glory of God. How can I glorify God? How can I be accepted of God? Where is that found? In the face
of Jesus Christ. That's where it's found. What's
the object of our faith? It's Christ. It's Christ alone. Now, there are many who profess
to believe in Jesus who never experienced the new birth. If
you've never experienced the new birth, your profession is
a lie. Isn't it? If you've never been born again,
you know what born again means, right? It means born from above.
When people say, you need to be born again, This false preacher, he was preaching,
you need to be born again. That was his message. You need
to be born again. You need to be born again. Let me tell you
how. And God struck him with silence. How can you be born
again? What can you do to receive the
new birth? What? What'd you do to receive
the first one? That's exactly what you're gonna
do to receive the second. I was born from above. The power of my birth came from
God, who gave me life and faith. And we who are born again is
not a reformation. Not a reformation. I'm not turning
over a new leaf. You hear that? Well, he's turned
over a new leaf. The problem is it's the same
old leaf, isn't it? Just turned over. I need a new
tree. I don't need a new leaf. I need
a new tree. It's not education. It's not
adaptation to the gospel truth. How many people have you heard
say, I've converted to Calvinism? Oh, don't do that. Don't do that. Salvation is not conversion to
Calvinism or doctrinal truths. Salvation is conversion to Jesus
Christ. And then, by seeing Him, these
doctrines are very self-evident. Calvinism is true, not by virtue
of it being Calvinism, but by virtue of the person it's talking
about. And so what is what is faith?
Faith is the product of God's grace, a new heart. And what
is in this new heart is peace. Peace. God has created in us
a new nature that is holy. He said he's created after God
in true holiness. So then if there is a holy nature
within us, then where's the conflict? There's no conflict between us
and God. Why? The scripture tells us in Colossians
1 chapter 1 and verse 20, it says that He hath made peace by the blood of His cross. Go
to Romans chapter 5, and I'm going to end here. I'm not going
to get to the next part of it. Look at Romans chapter 5. We're
going to get to this too. Paul says, therefore, being justified
by faith. I'm gonna ask you this, did your
faith justify you? Did your faith have any work
in this matter of justification? No, no. Justification was by
Jesus Christ, by the faith of Jesus Christ. Matter of fact,
he tells us our righteousness comes by the faith of Jesus Christ
in Romans chapter 3. Justification by faith. He justified
us. Faith does nothing but simply
receive that as the truth. Believes that as the truth. And
so by faith is the evidence then of my justification. It has nothing
to do with justifying me. It is simply the evidence that
I have been justified. So being justified by faith,
we have what? What do we have? We have peace. In this world? Is that what it
says? We have peace with God. Who cares
if you have peace with the world? If you have peace with God, it's
all you really need. We have peace with God. How? through our Lord Jesus Christ. See how everything reverts back
to Him? Can you see it? Everything centers in Him. Everything. By whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope
of the glory of God. I think I'll get to it a little
next time, access. This is what grace and peace
give us. Consider the grace of God that's
been given to you, believe me, that this book was sealed to
you and you couldn't open it. There was nothing you can do
to understand this gospel that was preached. It was a mystery. And the only reason you understand
it is the grace of God. How great is that grace? The only reason that you have
been redeemed is because of the grace of God. That Jesus Christ redeemed you
out of grace. And the only reason you believe
is because of grace. Let me ask you this, can you
look down on anybody? With that being the truth, is
it possible for you to look down or condescend on any other son
of Adam? No. Not if you're saved by grace. And if we are saved by grace,
then listen to this, you have peace with God. I don't have
to earn my peace with God. I don't have to make my peace
with God, it's already made. Isn't that comforting? But your peace
has been made. And because of that peace, listen,
you have access to God anytime. Anytime. That was my next section to prayer,
but prayer's important, isn't it? It's needful for us to commune
with our God. And you have access and will
never be rejected. Why? Because of Jesus Christ,
you will never be rejected. How often do you lift up in prayer
and just know there's no way? There's no way he's going to
listen to me. He's not listening to you
because of you. Isn't that good? I'm faithful, not because of
you. He's listening to you because he's listening to his son, who
stands between you and God. So you have his ear all the time. I pray God blesses to you. Let's
stand, be dismissed, and pray. Terrence dismisses, please.