Alright, if you will, let's open
our Bibles to Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. The title of my message tonight
is, Who Makes Peace? Who Makes Peace? I hear so many
people say that they have made their peace with God. Especially
before someone's about to die or they think they have a terminal
illness or something, they say, I've made my peace with God.
Well, who makes that peace? That's what we want to look at.
We just read in John 16 about that rich man. wanting Abraham
to send that beggar, Lazarus, back to his family, back to his
five brothers, and be one raised from the dead so they didn't
go to hell also. They weren't tormented also.
But Abraham said, if people will not believe Moses and the prophets,
if they won't believe this Word right here, this written Word
of God, they won't believe someone that's raised from the dead.
That's what Abraham told them. So, when we want peace with God,
Do we believe what the Scriptures tell us about who makes the peace
with God, if we do or He does? Or do we believe ourselves? Do
we believe what we think? Do we believe the Scriptures
or do we believe what Grandma told us? That's our question. Abraham said if you don't believe
the Scriptures, you won't believe one raised from the dead. So
I pray tonight we can believe these Scriptures about what the
Lord says. Let's look here in Romans 5 and verse 1. Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into
this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory
of God. And not only so, but we glory
in tribulation also. knowing that tribulation worketh
patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope
maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Now because
of the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have
peace with God. That is why we have peace with
God. Because of that peace that's
been made, we have access to His throne of grace. And there
at that throne and the road to that throne, we stand solely
on the merit and the worth of Christ, the Son of God. On the
way to and at that throne of grace, we glory only in God,
no other. Giving all glory to God Almighty,
especially when we are in our greatest trials of sorrow, when
we're in that great tribulation. We glory in God. And that grows
us in grace and it grows us in knowledge. Now the experience
that is given to us, it strengthens our hope in our Savior. It strengthens
our hope in Christ. And any man, woman, or child
that has a strong hope, has a strong hope in Christ our Lord, will
not now nor ever be ashamed. First there, Romans 5 verse 1,
we're going to look at the peace with God. It says, Therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. Now anytime you see a therefore,
you need to know why it's therefore. Paul's culminating all the previous
things he said in the first four chapters of this letter to Rome.
He's putting it in a simple way of seeing it, and he's showing
us its application. So what was it he declared in
these last several chapters? That men, women, young people,
old people, Jew or Gentile, it doesn't make a difference. They
are justified before God through faith, not by works. Faith alone,
not works. Saving faith is Christ's faith. It's His faith that's given to
us. Grace that saves is through that faith of Christ. All blessings
to the saints of old, all the blessings to us in this day,
and all the blessings that are going to be to those saints in
the future generations, if the Lord keeps this earth in place,
intact, are from and through Christ Jesus. All the blessings
are in Him. So here in chapter 5, Paul shows
us some of the blessings that the saints of God have through
His Son. Verse 1 says, we have peace with
God. Through Christ and Him alone,
we have peace with God. So many people say they have
peace with God. They claim that peace is through
something they've did, or something they've said, or thought, or
a promise that they've made. I have peace with God because
I made a promise. But peace with the Father does not originate
with mankind. It doesn't start with us. Offending
God starts with the sinner. That's where it originates. But
peace doesn't originate with the sinner. It comes from the
Lord. Now turn a few pages over to Romans chapter 8. Why is it
we can't be the ones that make this peace? Romans 8 and verse 7. Because
the carnal mind is enmity against God. The carnal mind is at war
against God. For it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be. We are at war with God in
our nature, in our sin nature. Prophet Isaiah wrote, They have
not known nor understood, for He hath shut their eyes that
they cannot see, and their hearts that they cannot understand.
That's what happened when Adam fell in that garden. We became
enemies with the Lord. So with that known, can we choose
to enter into peace with God, the God that we have offended.
Can we do that on our own accord? All men fell into sin in that
garden and we drank iniquity like water, as the scriptures
say. None doeth good, no not one. If man's depraved, if he's
sinful, if he's full of sin and corrupt to the core, can we do
good things to win the favor of God? If we're as dirty as
pond water, are we going to be able to clean ourselves? Are
we going to be able to satisfy God? Can we make the peace? Jeremiah
said, can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?
Then may he also do good that are accustomed to doing evil.
If all I've done from birth, I came from that womb speaking
lies. I cried when I didn't need a diaper. I cried when I wasn't
hungry. I just wanted my mother to pick me up. I wanted something,
so I lied to her. If I come from the womb speaking
lies, everything that's in me is evil. There's no good in me.
How can I do good? I don't know what good is. And
John 3.36 says, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.
He that believeth not on the Son shall not see life, but the
wrath of God abideth on him." The only hope we have is to believe
Christ. That's our only hope for life,
and that's our only hope for peace, for peace with God. Now
how are we going to believe? How can we have life and peace
with God? He must give it through Christ. That's the only way we'll get
it. John 6, 65 says, Therefore said I unto you that no man can
come to me except it were given unto him of my Father. The desire
we have to come to Christ is given by the Father. Now God
the Father elected a people before Christ ever made the world. Before
He made this earth that we're standing on. And He put them
into the eternal grasp of His darling Son. He put us in His
hand. He made the everlasting covenant
with Christ, with that seed, singular. Remember? The Lord
Jesus was then made human flesh, living and dying as a substitute
for that people, for His sons and daughters. And He rose from
the grave victorious, accomplishing redemption, justification, and
He accomplished sanctification for His people, for that chosen
race. Therefore, we have life and peace He's the reason. So back to our text there in
Romans 5. Do you see now how it's through
Christ? It's through Christ. That's where
that peace comes from. He did it all. After He accomplished
everything fully for His sheep, Christ sent that great Comforter
to the saints. The Holy Spirit comes to them
through the preaching of the Gospel, that good news of Christ. He enters into our hearts, quickens
us, makes us alive, gives us life. It convicts us of our sin
and it comforts us by pointing us only to Christ. To make us
see Him only. All of our hope is in Him. All
of our trust is in Him. Romans 5 once says, therefore
being justified by faith, we're made just by Christ's faith.
We have peace with God. Now we didn't have peace, but
we do now. Through our Lord Jesus Christ,
We have peace with God. That's astounding. My warfare is accomplished. I
can't enter into that. I'd be a man that no one could
put up with if I could truly believe that all day. But there's
more. There's more to that. Look here
in verse 2. We have access to His grace. By whom? Also, we have access by faith
unto this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory
of God. It says, by whom? By Christ Jesus
we have access. He said a few times in John that
He is the door. Christ is the door. He is the
way. He is the truth. He is the life. That's Christ. No man comes to the Father. No
man comes to peace. No man comes to life everlasting. No man enters into that grace
except by Him. He's the door. He's the way.
But we have access to this grace. Paul wrote to the Ephesus, for
through Him we both It's you and I. Paul in Ephesus. You and
me. Saints in the future. All the
saints. We have access by one Spirit. Capital S. By one Spirit
we have access to the Father. What does this access to the
Father's throne of grace provide for us? We have peace with God
and we have peace with some other things too. Turn over to Hebrews
chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. Me in verse 19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Can we have
peace to approach the throne of grace through prayer? We do
because of Him, don't we? We're allowed to enter into that
holiest of holies because of Him, because of our substitute.
Verse 20. By a new and living way which He hath consecrated
for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh, Now we
can peacefully live for the Lord and serve Him in newness of life
because of what Christ has done. Verse 21, and having a high priest
over the house of God, our peace is continually given because
Christ ever makes intercession for us at the right hand of the
Father. Verse 22, let us draw near with a true heart and full
assurance of faith. We have a bold hope through Christ's
faithfulness. That's assurance. Having our
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed
with pure water, let us hold fast the profession of our faith
without wavering, for He is faithful that promised. Because of the
faithfulness of Christ, we have the peace of eternal security. It's not in my hand. If it's
in my hand, I can mess it up. I can break it. But it's in His
hand. That's peace. He's the one keeping
the promises. He made the promise. He's able
to keep it. Christ made the peace and He keeps the peace in His
people. And back to our text here in
Romans 5. Because we have peace with God, we have access to Him,
access to His grace, we are given the faith to see He will sustain
His promises, and we stand on that. We stand on it. Romans
5.2, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein
we stand. We stand on this. It's solid.
It is sure. It's steady. Christ saved a people. Christ saved sinners. That is
certain. The work is done. It's effectual. We have access to the Father
and eternal life in His Son. That's the only thing we can
stand on. What do we stand on? His oath. His covenant. His blood. Support me in the
whelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ's solid rock
I stand. All other ground is sinking sand."
When a sinner enters into that, when the Lord gives them a grace
to see Christ alone, you sing that with experience, don't you?
We'll see that in a minute. Paul wrote to Corinth, "'Moreover,
brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto
you, which ye also have received, and wherein ye stand. That gospel
that you've heard, you've received it, you stand in it. That's where
we stand, by which also you are saved. That's how sure we are. We put all our eggs in one basket,
don't we? Standing on Christ is believing
Christ. Not just believing He lived.
Some man named Jesus was born 2,000 years ago. A history book
will tell you that. But to believe Him, believe God,
not believe in Him, but believe Him. I'll stand on this floor.
This concrete floor. I have confidence. I can trust
this floor underneath me. It ain't going to waver. I can
stand over here and I have rest. I can stand over there and I
have rest. It doesn't waver. I don't fear. Christ is more
firm, is more solid, is more sure than this concrete slab
is. Stand on Him. stand on Him. And as we'll see in a minute,
if you do that, if you believe Him and you stand on Christ,
you won't be ashamed. You won't be ashamed. So because
of that faith given in Christ, we stand on Him and Him alone. Then we rejoice in Christ that
He will be glorified for it, for making us stand on Him. Look
there in verse 2. By whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. Job wrote this. Now here's a
man that has peace with God. God's made peace with. Job 19,
it says, For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand
at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I
shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold Him, and not
another. We're going to glory in our Redeemer
only, and no other. We're going to glory in God only,
not ourselves. Not someone that saved us, not
in all the people I talked to getting baptized, but more glory
in Him alone. Him alone. God made a promise
to His Son and the people that were put in Him, that He represented.
He said, I will not share my glory with another. This promise
that He made, He'll receive all the glory for it. And the Scriptures
say that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord. That's every knee, every tongue. It's going to happen. And whenever
I hear that, I say, Amen. Do you? All this peace given
to us, all this access to the Father, this access to the throne,
access to prayer, access to worship, All the comfort that's given
in that. And all that in the light of what I am. I offended
God Almighty. I sinned against Him and Him
alone. In the light of that. And I hear that Christ is going
to get all the glory. The Lord's going to do it for
His name's sake. He'll keep these. When I hear
that, do I get jealous of the Lord? Do I get jealous of Him
performing all the work and that I have no part in my salvation?
Do I get jealous that I have no part in my sanctification? I don't have anything to do with
keeping myself holy. Does that upset me? Should it? In the light of everything He's
given me? And in the light of what I am? Does that offend you? Or do you rejoice in it? Do you rejoice that our God does
all things right? Do you rejoice that all spiritual
blessings are in Christ? I'm thankful for that. Brethren,
if you are given peace with God, if you're given access to His
throne of mercies, you stand on Christ alone, you delight
that all your hope, all glory is in the Lord, then you can
have peace on this earth. You can go through trials on
this earth and have some comfort. Then you can, because eternally
we have peace. Eternally we're not at warfare
with God anymore. We have peace now in times of
trouble. Having Christ as our all in all, we worship Him during
hard times, during tribulation. We glory in Christ and we glory
during trials and after trials. We glorify God during those trials.
Look there in Romans 5 verse 3. He says, "...and not only so,
but we glory in tribulation also, knowing that tribulation worketh
patience, and patience experience, and experience hope." We do not
have joy in the trial itself. That would be foolish, wouldn't
it? We have so many trials and hardships that the Lord sends.
It's of His hand. And they hurt. We weep. We bleed. We cry, don't we? We
have pain. But if the trials themselves
were joyous, if they were joyful, they wouldn't be trials, would
they? They'd be good times. We know that. A child knows that.
But we know that all of our trials are appointed by God. Trials
are for our good and His glory. All things. Good and bad work
together for our good and His glory. That's what Romans 8.28
says, doesn't it? For His glory, on His purpose.
Now turn back over to Hebrews again, but chapter 12. Hebrews
chapter 12. Look there, verse 9. We have had fathers of our flesh
which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Our fathers on
this earth, they whipped you, they spanked you, they corrected
you, and we revered them for it, we honored them for it. Shall
we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits and
live? For they verily for a few days
chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit
that we might be partakers of His holiness. The Lord does not
discipline us for His own pleasure. He doesn't chasten His children
to make Him happy. But He does it for our profit,
to train us, to turn us to Christ, to make us trust Him, to grow
us in that knowledge and wisdom of Him. Look here in verse 11.
Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous,
Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness
unto them which are exercised thereby." What is this Hebrew
writer getting at? Trials are hard, but they are
God affecting us that there might be an effect in us. He affects us so we can be effected. I think I got that one right.
I get them mixed up. He exercises our hearts that
we may be blessed with comfort in Him alone. We're strengthened
through that exercise in our hearts to lean on Christ. David said, it is good for me
that I've been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes. Trials
are good. It makes a believer rejoice in
glory in the Lord. Have you ever been in a trial
and just felt overwhelmed. You are overcome. The waves are
crashing in the boat. It's going down. Looking to ourselves,
we are always overwhelmed. When we look to those waves around
us, we're distraught. But what happens at the end of
that trial? God Almighty comes into our lives and gives us trouble,
gives us tribulation, gives us heartache. After that trial is
over, we see Christ more clearly, don't we? He uses it to point
us to Him, to point us to His Son. And we rejoice in that. We joy in it. I said recently
that there's a congregation that we mourn with. We lost a dear
brother, and I don't mourn for him. at all. But I mourn for
those left behind, mourn for myself. And it's not balanced. There's a greater benefit there.
Because I know that this is a heavy, heavy burden. It's a heavy trial
for those going through it. But at the end of it, what are
they going to see? Who are they going to trust at the end of
it? Who are they going to lean on at the end of that trial?
That's a great blessing, isn't it? The Lord sent that on purpose.
But we learn another one of His statutes. Like David said, we
believe in the promise of God. We believe in Christ. But we
begin to believe the promises, plural. too, don't we? We start
trusting those, Lord Providence. We don't get so hasty. We don't
get so furled up and unhinged. We start calm. We start having
some peace in this worldly life, don't we? We calm down some. Back in our text, Romans 5, verse
3, in Christ. We glory in Christ
during tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience. Patience, experience, and experience
hope. First thing, one of those we're
going to look at is patience. Trials and trouble make patience
in a believer. It strengthens the patience in
the believer. Patience is the act of submission
to the Lord's will. It is being content and waiting
on the Lord for Him to perform His work in our lives and in
the lives of others. We calmly wait on the Lord. Patience
is the opposite of haste. It's the opposite of worrying,
coming unhinged, coming unglued. Can you see someone that is just
bouncing off the walls? And they have worry and they
fret and they're just run around like a chicken with her head
cut off. Would you call them patient? Would you say that they're
settled? To have patience, you must have
confidence. Do they have confidence in the
Lord? I pray we do. I pray He teaches us that. But
the only way we're going to learn is through these tribulations,
through these trials. True patience can only come through
trust in God, trusting Him, believing God. That's the only way we can
gain patience. So trials work patience, and
what does that produce? Once He puts us through all these
tribulations and we gain some patience, we learn to wait on
the Lord a little bit. What comes out of that? Experience. Trials are not experience and
do not produce experience, but patience produced in the trials
gives experience. Over and over we lean on that,
don't we? Experience in what? What do we
get experience in? Trust in the Lord, waiting on
the Lord, believe in the Lord, having faith in the Lord, trust
in our Redeemer. Brother Mahan wrote this, that
trials may detect a hypocrite, harden his heart and cause him
to drop his profession, but true faith is stronger as a result
of trials. True faith that the Lord gives
us, if He gives us trials with it, it will strengthen that faith.
It will make that faith stronger. So this experience of trust in
Christ We've built that patience. We've had that trial. We get
a little patience. And we've experienced this over and over
and over again. You'd think we'd learn after
the first few times. We're like children, aren't we?
But what does that produce? We start getting some experience.
Like I've been down this road before. This trial's coming.
Or I'm in the middle of a trial. I don't know what's going to
happen. I don't know what the Lord's going to use to turn it
His way. But I know at the end of it, it'll be for my good,
His glory, and I'll see Christ better at the end of it. We start
getting that experience, don't we? What does that produce? That
experience? It produces hope. Our faith is
established and verified by trials. Lord establishes our faith and
he verifies to us our faith. Not to him. He's the one that
gave it. He knows what he gave us. But he shows us our faith
that he's given during these trials. And we're grown in experience
through that patience that's given. That patience he develops. And we grow in the knowledge
of Christ. Then we have a stronger hope of enjoying an eternal life
with our Savior. We have a stronger hope in Him,
stronger trust in Him. Trials are given by God, works
patience in us. Through that we gain experience
of leaning on the promises of God. We get experienced at that. And our hope in Christ, our salvation
is matured. We mature in hope. So that hope
that we mature in, that hope the Lord develops in us, is it
temporary? Is it a sure thing? We wish for things that aren't
sure, don't we? I wish for stuff. I don't know if that will happen,
but if I have hope, it's like this floor underneath me, I've
got a good hope that I ain't going to fall through it. It's
more solid than I am. I have a good hope in my Redeemer.
He's a sure thing. Look here in verse 5, Romans
5. Once we have a hope in our Redeemer,
we won't be ashamed for it. And hope maketh not ashamed,
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost which is given unto us. How did we get that Holy Ghost
given to us? That new Spirit in us. Where did you get it?
Did you find Jesus? No, He found me. He gave it to
me. He gave me new life. Those that put all their hope
in Christ will not be ashamed. Why won't we be made ashamed? He doesn't make us shameful.
He makes us perfect. Christ makes His people perfect.
He makes them like Him. He's not ashamed, is He? No,
He's Lord God Almighty. Men and women that make a false
profession or have a hope in anything other than Christ, they
have hope in themselves, hope in a decision they've made, hope
in a promise they've made, they're going to be ashamed. They will
be ashamed. The peace that they made with
God, it will come up lacking, and the result is going to be
eternal damnation. If you've made the promise, you've made
the peace, you've made the covenant, it won't stand. The Lord has
to make it. He has to give it. Isaiah said,
therefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for
a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. That word there means he will
not be ashamed. Do you believe on that solid
rock, that perfect cornerstone, the Lord laid? Those that believe
the Lord will not be ashamed. Why? David wrote, our fathers
trusted in thee. They trusted and thou didst deliver
them. They cried unto thee and were
delivered. They trusted in thee and were not confounded. They
were not ashamed. Name a man in heaven You walk
down the street and say, give me a name of somebody that's
in heaven. Most people say Abraham, wouldn't they? He believed God. He trusted God. Did Abraham work?
Did he make peace with God? No, God made peace with him.
God gave Abraham a new heart, didn't he? Gave Abraham faith.
He saved him. Abraham believed in Christ, didn't
he? His seed to come. So if God's made peace with you
through Christ, you have access to His throne of grace. You're
given the ability to lean on Christ. You will not be ashamed. How do we know? How do I know
that I won't be ashamed on His promises? I have trials. The Lord sends tribulation. And when we go through them,
Over and over and over, we keep having these and we gain that
experience. The Lord starts building patience in us, waiting on Him.
We'll see our Master's love for us. There's been so many things
that for years, during the trial, I thought I wasn't going to make
it. And for several years after, I thought, why did the Lord let
me live through that? I don't see any. I'm sure there is good
in it for me and His glory, but I don't see it. I feel empty. I don't know if you feel that
way I have. And then years later, sometimes months later, sometimes
many years later, something will come up. And I'll say, man, if
I hadn't went through that trial, if I hadn't lived through that
experience, I couldn't comfort my brother. I couldn't comfort
my sister. Or I wouldn't have peace during
this trial. The Lord taught me something. I see the Master's
love for me, what He gave for me, His care for me, His wisdom.
And then on that we build, don't we? He builds it. Next trial
that comes, it's still going to be painful. It's still going
to be a trial. It won't be joyous. But we start having more patience.
We start waiting on the Lord more. And you know what we're
doing there? We're saying He's going to keep
His promises. I believe Him. He told me that I believe Him.
If we do that, if you stand on that rock, Christ Jesus, And
the Lord will give you a new heart, start working patience
and trust in you, experience, and He gives you hope. You'll
have true peace. You'll have some peace on this
earth, but eternally, you'll have true peace. I pray that
was a blessing for you. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we're so weak
and sinful and undeserving. How majestic Your name is. Lord,
give us a heart that can worship you and praise you as we ought. Forgive us our sin, Lord. Forgive
us for what we are. Thank you for providing your
lamb. Thank you for providing our substitute. Allow us to see
Christ in our trials. Give us the patience to wait
on you and trust you. Give us the experience that knows
the next trial that comes, we have a hope. We can enter that
trial with the hope of Christ. We can suffer through that trial
with His hope. We know at the end of it, we'll
see Him clear until that last trial is completed, Lord, and
we go home. We're made like Him and we get to see Him face to
face. Be with our brethren now that are suffering, physically
and emotionally, They're overwhelmed, Lord, You
know. Comfort them as You always have and You always will. Stay
with them, Lord, and give them peace in the only thing that
we can have peace in. It's in Christ's name that we
ask it. Amen.