I want us to read again from
the fifth chapter here of the book of Romans. I want us to
read the first verse, the first verse of this chapter. Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. I want to
speak this morning on peace, a fact, and a feeling, and an
antidote for various fears that we have in our hearts as the
Lord's people in this world. What a wonderful power is in
true faith. If you were to turn with me,
keeping your finger here in the fifth chapter of Romans, turn
to the book of Hebrews chapter 11, We'll see just quickly, we're
not going to spend much time here, but quickly some of the
wonderful power of faith, true faith in the hearts of God's
living family. We begin here in verse 2 where
it says, for by it, that is by faith, the elders obtained a
good report. Those that have gone before,
those that are the fathers in the faith, these obtained a good
report before God by faith. I would say quickly that men
have always been justified before God by faith. Men have never
been justified through a covenant of works. Men always have been
saved by faith. Now there is a sense in which
we know that men are not saved by works, but we know there is
a sense in which we are saved by works. But it is the works
of another. It is the works of our substitute,
the works of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am thankful for the wisdom
of Almighty God who found a way to justify believing sinners
through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That Jesus Christ
obeyed God. I'm thankful for that. I rejoice
in that. I know very little of obedience
to God as far as practical experience. I just touch the surface. I want
to obey God, and I think you do, but we don't know too much
about it. But we do know that the Lord Jesus knew what it took
to please God by works. And we know that the Lord Jesus
Christ obeyed God and he fulfilled every jot and tittle of the holy
law. And he did that on the behalf
of believing sinners. And so by faith, the elders obtained
a good report before God. And everybody here today that
believes on the Lord Jesus Christ also has a good report before
God. Isn't that wonderful? Well, that's
a great basis for our peace and our joy in the Lord. We've got
a good report before who it counts. And that is before Almighty God. And then through faith, we understand
that It says in verse 3 that the worlds were framed by the
Word of God so that the things which are seen were not made
of things which do appear. It's not a mystery to me why
that the ungodly in the world deny the creation theory or the
truth of the Bible concerning how this world got here and how
we got here. It's no mystery to me they have
no faith. They have no faith. If they believed
God, they wouldn't have any trouble believing the account of the
Word of God. This is one of the wonderful
things about faith is that it enables you to agree with the
wisdom of God and the power of God in bringing this world into
existence. And then it mentions Abel and
how he offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than did
Cain. We know that Abel was a righteous
man because he submitted a sacrifice, a blood sacrifice, an animal
sacrifice. And Cain, of course, he submitted
a sacrifice of works which God would not receive. Now in verse
5 it says Enoch was translated that he should not see death.
He believed God and he walked with God for over 300 years. Many of us start and within 40
years we're war out. We're completely exhausted and
we don't seem to have any ability to go on. Some days we just feel
so limp. and so fainthearted. But this
old brother, he walked with God for over 300 years serving the
Lord and honoring Christ and honoring God in his walk. And
so God just took him out of this world. What wonderful power faith
has in the life of a believer. A man can just keep on walking
with God as long as God allows him to live. And you don't have
to be exhausted and wore out completely, you can just wait
on the Lord and trust God. Oh my, how short we fall as the
Lord's people. But then in verse 7, I'm going
to skip verse 6, in verse 7 it says, By faith Noah that he was
warned of God, and he built an ark. Noah built an ark because
he believed God, not because he had ever seen it rain down
on the earth, because he hadn't. But he built an ark because God
said, I'm going to bring judgment on this world. Noah, you build
this ark, and Noah built that ark because he believed God.
That's why he built it. And that shows you the power
of faith in this brother's life. And then it mentions Abraham.
He was called to go out into a place in verse 8, and by faith
he went out into a place that he should after receive for an
inheritance. He didn't know where it was.
He didn't know for sure where he was going. Couldn't leave
a forwarding address, but he went out. He went out because
God sent him and he obeyed the Lord and he went out not knowing
whether he went and he Sojourned in the land of promise as in
a strange country because all the time he was looking for a
city that had Foundations he was looking past this world and
the things of this world to a city that had foundations Whose builder
and maker is God and every one of God's children as we pilgrimage
and travel in this world. We're all looking past our daily
lives and experiences to that day when we're going to be in
that city, housed in that eternal city there in the presence and
fellowship of the God that we love for all eternity. We're
looking past this world. And then I like verse 11. It
says that Sarah, dear sister in the Lord, and that she received
strength through faith to conceive seed and was delivered of a child
when she was past age because she judged God faithful who had
promised. God judged, or she judged God
to be faithful, able to do everything He promised. And Sarah believed
God and God blessed her with a child. That child was Isaac.
And look at verse 12, and through Isaac there sprang even of one,
even of one, and him as good as dead, Abraham, but Isaac was
the promised child, the miracle child, and there sprang even
of one, old Abraham, and Sarah, him as good as dead, Abraham
being a hundred years old, so many as the stars in the sky
in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable."
Now that's talking about not only the fleshly descendants
of Abraham, but it's talking about all the spiritual seed
of Abraham, which in Isaac shall the seed be called, and Isaac
was the miracle child, and all born-again believers are miracle
children of grace, And these are of a great number. They're
as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the
seashore, they're innumerable. And that, of course, are those
that are embraced by the doctrine of election, those that were
chosen by God. We're sometimes accused of preaching
a very narrow doctrine when we preach the doctrine of election,
but such is not the case. We say that there will be a multitude,
a multitude of those saved, many as the stars of the sky, And
that number that will be as innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. So God's gonna do great things
and gonna save his people. And then verse 13 says these
all died in faith. Meaning that everybody that God
saves, they all make it through and they all die in faith. None
are lost. And that's the miracle and the
power, the wonderful power of faith. But now I've hurriedly
done that. But I'd like to come back now
to Romans chapter 5 and verse 1. And to me personally, one
of the most wonderful of the effects of faith is that it brings
personally to me justification and peace. Now these are two
blessings that are spoken of by the apostles in this text
this morning. And they're made real to the
heart of the believer by faith. These two blessings. Now faith
is not the creator. Now I want you to listen to me.
Faith is not the creator of these two blessings, but it's the channel
through which these things come to us. Now I want to talk to
you this morning about three things. First of all, I want
to talk about faith bringing us into a state of peace with
God, being justified by faith. And secondly, I want to talk
about it bringing us a sense of peace. or a peace that flows
like a river, a gentle flowing river in the souls of God's people. Peace, that legacy of all of
the elect in every generation, that peace that passeth understanding,
that keeps the hearts and the minds of the Lord's people. And thirdly, there is a peace
that is spoken of in John chapter 14 and verse 27 where Jesus said,
My peace I leave with you my peace I've given to you, not
as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid." This peace is an antidote for fear. He said, let not your heart be
troubled, neither let it be afraid. I've given you my peace and this
will sustain you. And there's three fears that
are very common to God's people that we'll try to explain to
you how the peace of God is an antidote First of all, then,
this morning we're to talk about a state of peace with God. A
state of peace with God. I want to be at peace with God,
don't you? I don't want to be at war with
God. I don't want to continue as I was in a state of nature. And let me make haste to say
that naturally, naturally we have no peace with God. Now God is angry, the Bible says,
with the wicked every day. And we, in a state of nature,
are at variance with God because the God of the Bible is a holy
God. The God of the Bible is a holy
God. Now God cannot agree with us
as we stand in a state of nature. The Bible says in Amos chapter
3 and verse 3, can two walk together except they be agreed. God Almighty
cannot agree with us, and we in a state of nature cannot agree
with God, for the carnal mind is enmity against God, For it
is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."
That's Romans 8 and verse 7. God cannot walk in agreement
with us because our nature is at enmity against Him. Our nature
is at enmity against God. And we by nature love sin, God
is holy, and therefore we have no peace with God because we're
in a state of sin. There's a breach between the
rebellious creature and the righteous creator. Sad, my friend, that
it's so, but it is true. There is a gulf between us and
God, and there's no peace, saith my God to the wicked. Now then,
a man who is born of a woman, he is set against the Lord. He's
set against God. Look in verses 10 and 11 here
in Romans 5. It says, for if when we were
enemies. Now this describes our state
in a state of nature before God saved us. before we were reconciled
to God. He says, for if when we were
enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son,
much more being reconciled we shall be saved by His life. So we were at one time enemies
against God. Now we kicked against the providence
of God And I hear people all the time, and you do too, cursing
God and cursing their lot in this life, having absolutely
no ability to accept what comes their way. They're always out
to war and out to curse and out to have more in this world. We rebel against His commandments.
All men by nature are rebellious against God's holy commandments. And then we reject His love as
it was manifested in the giving of His beloved Son to die on
a cross. We heard long before it had an
effect upon us, we heard about God giving His Son. We remember
somewhat of the various seasons of the year, and how that we
were told in school about the coming of Jesus and Emmanuel,
God with us, and we were all acquainted with that, but it
meant nothing to us, and we did not in any way, shape, or form
subject ourself or in any way, shape, or form reach out to the
love of God in the giving of His Son before we were converted.
And we would live and we would have died in this hostility of
nature toward God if it were not for the intervention of His
almighty grace in our lives. We would have lived and died
if it were not that God got a hold of us one day and that God took
the blinders off of our eyes and opened up our eyes and caused
us to see our true state in nature. And he gave repentance and he
gave regeneration to us. Repentance is the change of the
mind and regeneration, thank God, is the change of the man. God, when He regenerates a man,
He changes that man. Now both must be granted by God. And until He grants it, you're
at enmity against God, you're God's enemy, and you have no
peace naturally with God. Have you ever understood why
it was that you were so miserable inwardly? Why you felt so guilty
and felt like that there was something terribly, terribly
wrong in your life? Well, it's because naturally
you have no peace with God. But the wicked are like the troubled
sea, when they cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
Isaiah chapter 57 verse 20 and 21 says, There is no peace, saith
our God to the wicked. There is no peace to the wicked
and to those who are estranged from God. Now, before ever we
can enjoy peace, in our hearts there must be a state of peace
established between us and God. There's got to be something happen
before God can give you a sense of peace with Him. Something
has to happen. Now we must submit ourselves
to the Lord and He must forgive the past, and make with us a
covenant of peace, or else there is no peace for us. Now then, as we consider this,
how then do we come to have true peace with God? How can we enter
into a state of peace with God? Well, before there can be peace
between us and God, we must with all of our hearts, I believe,
plead guilty to our sin, plead guilty. Now if we're born of
a woman, we are guilty of sin. The scripture says all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Now this is our proper position,
it is our true position, we're guilty. And I could ask you this
morning, guilty or not guilty? And you may stand up like O.J.
Simpson and say, I'm 100% not guilty. But I'll tell you something
this morning, you may be able to convince people around you
you're not guilty, but you can't convince the God of the Bible. You are guilty! And you must
come to the place before you ever get peace with God where
you plead guilty before the bar of God. You have broken God's
law and you are a hundred percent guilty of breaking God's holy
law. Now there is mercy for a sinner. There is mercy for a sinner.
Are we a convinced sinner? Have we pled guilty before the
bar of God? Now try as he may, the preacher
of the gospel cannot make a sinner. The Word of God alone cannot
make a sinner. One may hear and read the truth
of man's condition before God until it is committed to memory,
but it will not make him to be a sinner in the biblical sense
of the word. Now, do you hear what I say?
A man can come and listen to the best preacher of the gospel
in the world, and he can listen to that preacher, and he can
commit to memory what that preacher's read to him out of the Bible,
and that still won't make that man a sinner in a biblical sense. It will not. No, it won't. Now,
I want you to hear me. The Lord does some writing in
the heart of His people when He draws them out of the world
and draws them to Himself. When God draws His people with
a cord of love out of the world and binds them to Himself, He
does some writing in their hearts. In big block letters, He writes
in their hearts, SINNER. SINNER is what He writes. in
their hearts. And when God does this writing,
try as one may, it cannot be erased, it cannot be removed,
it cannot be covered up, it can never be ignored as long as you
live. Something happens when a man
is brought to plead guilty before God and when it's real in their
soul that they never get over it. They always, always look
upon themselves as a sinner. Maybe a saved one, but a sinner. They never get over that. They
never get past that. I'm a poor sinner and nothing
at all. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. Now
then, listen to me, and when God does this writing, when God
does this writing, you cannot, You cannot ever, you cannot go
back. You're a guilty sinner and God's
shown it to you and you live with the realization of it as
long as you live in this world. That person in the true biblical
sense of the word becomes an acknowledged A self-condemned
sinner and he will be throughout eternity and he'll have no problem
in eternity singing the song of redemption throughout eternity.
And he won't have to have any rehearsal at all. He just comes
in and then he begins to sing unto the Lamb that's worthy.
because the Lamb is worthy of glory and honor, because He has
redeemed us by His blood out of every nation, kindred, and
tongue, and people, and we can just enter into that song and
begin to sing unto the Lamb, because we're a sinner, God wrote
it in our hearts, and it'll be there forever, a sinner. A redeemed
one, thank God, but a sinner nevertheless. Now, the Spirit
of God must convince of sin and He must do this writing upon
the heart before you can say, Lord, I'm guilty. I'm a guilty
sinner. God must write this on your heart.
He must. You say, Preacher, you told me
I'm guilty. That's enough. No, it isn't. No it isn't. If
my voice is the only voice you ever hear telling you you're
a guilty sinner, it won't be enough to bring you savingly
to Jesus Christ. It will not. You've got to hear
another voice. That's the voice of God in the
Word revealing to you, make known by the Spirit in your heart and
writing those big block letters in your heart. You're a sinner
before God. Now then, I want to go on with
this. The next thing I think that is
requisite to our peace is that we should admit the justice of
the divine sentence against sin. We must admit that God is just
in sentencing us to death. The penalty of sin, we're told
in Romans 6, 23, the wages of sin is death. That's the penalty.
The wages of sin is death. Now we must learn to reverence
Instead of reviling the judge of all the earth, we must learn
to reverence him and agree with the sentence against sin. Is the penalty out of proportion
to my sin? When God says the soul that sinneth
it must die, when God says that I'm worthy of death, because
of my law-breaking and because of my rebellion and willful sin
in my life? Is the penalty out of proportion
to my guilt? Well, the answer, I believe,
is no. If you are ever, listen, if you
ever are sure the exceeding sinfulness of your sin, its natural hideousness
and deformity, you will take sides with God against your sin
and say, yes, God, you ought to send me to hell. I ought to
go to hell for the blackness of my sin and ought to be eternally
separated forever and ever from you because I am guilty. Now you would not lift after
you know and understand what an awful thing sin is. Sin is
a preferment, our preferment, the preferment of self over God. It's the desire to be God ourselves. And instead of considering God
and instead of doing what we ought to do from His standpoint,
we just said we prefer ourselves and our own plan, our own way.
And sin is self-preferment, if you please. Self-preferment. And so this, when you would understand
this, I don't think you'd lift a finger to prevent God from
punishing sin. All the trouble that I've ever
experienced in this world has been because of my sin or somebody
else's sin. And I think every one of us know
that and would agree that sin ought to be punished and that
God's divine penalty which he's placed upon it, that the divine
justice that's placed upon sin is holy and right. God is right. Now if you or I were the judge,
now listen to me now, I'm asking you a question. If you and I
were the judge, what would we do with ourselves? What would
we do with ourselves? This morning, I'm talking about
Judgment Day honesty. This morning, if you and I were
the judge, and had to pass judgment upon ourselves this morning,
starting right over here, just going through the congregation,
what would you recommend that be done with you? You having
lived the kind of life you live, God knowing everything about
you, nothing hid from Him. Eyes of the Lord are upon us.
His eye sees us, searches us out. God knows our uprisings
and our down cities. God knows our thoughts are far
off. What should He do with you, sister?
What should He do with you, brother? What should He do with this preacher?
What ought God do with us? Now if you answer that in judgment
day honesty, I'll tell you what you'll do. You'll say, God you
ought to commit me to hell. You ought to send me into everlasting
burning. You ought to separate me forever
from the sheep, the true sheep of God and send me off. into
everlasting judgment. What would and what should God
do with us? Well, God is the righteous judge,
and he's fixed today, the Bible says, when he will judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereby
he hath given assurance to all men in that he raised him from
the dead. God's going to judge the world by the white righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts chapter 17 and verse 31,
God will punish sin and you and I will never get peace until
we can say amen. And I know David said, he said,
my sin is ever before me. He says, I acknowledge my transgression. And he said that you might be
justified when you speak and you might be clear when you judge.
David said, I'll agree with you, God. I'll agree with you. My
sin is ever before me. And here today, would you agree
with God? Would you say amen to God's judgment
on sin? Would you sing hallelujah when
God sends your loved ones to hell and those that have lived
and rebelled against Him all their life? Would you say amen,
God? That's good. That's right. That's proper.
That's the way it ought to be. I'm siding with God. Could you
do that? Ah, that's the reason why a lot
of people don't have any peace, is because they think somehow
or other God's gonna let them off, let them slip in. And He's
not gonna deal with their S-I-N. God's not gonna deal with their
sin, God's gonna let them through. Now I'm telling you this morning,
you gotta face it. God will punish sin. He'll either punish it in you,
or He'll punish it in a substitute. And I don't know where you stand
this morning in regards to faith. But I want you to know God will
punish sin, and I agree with God. I agree with God. Now, essential
to our having peace, there's another thing that I think that
we must understand. God, who in order to put us into
a state of peace with Him, He must find a ransom. He must find a substitute to
bear our penalty, because we've told you we're guilty, and we've
told you that the penalty is just. And so God, in order to
put us into a state of peace, where we're at peace with Him,
where it can be said the warfare is accomplished, where it can
be said the iniquity is removed and forgiven, God must find a
ransom, and let me tell you, God bless me to tell you, He
has found a ransom. Praise God, He has found a ransom. Now, He has found one and reveals
this to us, this gracious fact in the Gospel. He reveals to
us that God's found a way whereby He can spare our souls whereby
he can get justice, and whereby his justice can be satisfied
completely and entirely, and we can go free, justified, save
sinners. The Son of God in the place of
the sinner. is what God has found. He found
His own Son, voluntarily willing to lay down His life, willing
to give Himself, willing to go to the cross, willing to assume
our debt, willing to stand in our place, willing to take upon
Himself all of our guilt, willing to shed His blood, willing to
die, in order that we could be spared, saved. He was made to
be sin, 2 Corinthians 5 and 21 says. Galatians 3 and 13 says
he was made a curse for us. He took our sin, he took it away
as the scapegoat of the Old Testament. Remember the priest would take
his hands and lay it upon the head of the scapegoat, then they
would lead that scapegoat out and lead him way off into the
back country where he would never be seen again. And that's what
the Lord Jesus Christ has done. He's our scapegoat. Our sin was
all laid on him and then he was led away to Mount Calvary and
there he died suffering the penalty of sin. that we might be spared
the wrath of God. His wounds, it tells us what
He suffered on our behalf, what He suffered in our place. His
prior from the cross reveals what was going on there on the
cross. God demanding of Him, exacting
from Him what I owed. That's what went on on that cross.
God said that sinner there that you said you would stand good
for, you know the Lord Jesus, He married all of the elect.
He's married to every one of them. And when a man marries
a woman, he stands responsible for every one of her obligations.
Every one of them. And Jesus married all of the
elect in the eternal covenant before the foundation of the
world. And when he stood responsible for me, that's what took place
on Calvary. He was suffering there in the
cry of the cross. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? That's what he was saying. God,
you've forsaken me because I've stood for that sinner. And I
have his sin on me. And you've forsaken me. And He
did. God forsook His own Son on the
cross. Well, God-given faith believes
this, doesn't it? It believes this. I believe this. I believe it. And it sees how
God can be just and justifier of them who believes in Jesus,
Romans 3 and 26. In another I fell, in another
I rise. I fell in the old Adam, and in
the new Adam, the Lord Jesus, I rise. I have salvation. God
has made a state of peace. We have been reconciled to God
by the death of His Son. That's what Romans 5 and 10 says. Much more being reconciled. And we shall be saved by his
life. And not only so, but we join God through our Lord Jesus
Christ by whom we have now received the atonement, the atonement,
the reconciliation. We've been brought together with
God and there's nothing between us anymore. It's all been taken
out of the way and God don't have anything against me. Oh,
how wonderful that is! How precious that is! And I can
discover that! I can feel that! I can rejoice
in that! Because faith, the power of faith
brings that to my soul. There's nothing between me and
God. My sin's been put away and I
stand clean. The poet said, well, the believer
takes his place no longer liable to the sentence of death. Thomas
Adams said, his sins are so remitted, listen to this, as if they had
never been committed. Sins are so remitted, means they
are put away as if they had never been committed. The poet said,
now free from sin, I walk at large, my Savior's blood my full
discharge, at his dear feet my soul I lay, a sinner saved, I'll
homage pay, because the Lord Jesus has put away our sin. Now,
the second thing I was to talk about was how that when there
has been a state of peace made, between God and our soul, and
we've been reconciled to Him, and He's reconciled to us, and
there's that one between us that we have a sense of peace, that
God's pleased to give us this peace. He gives it to us and
we enjoy it. We have it as our possession. It's one of the heritages of
the people of God. I said earlier it was the legacy
of all of the elect in every generation to have the peace
of God that passeth all understanding. Now then this follows our being
justified by faith. Peace with God. Now we have no
peace with the devil. We have no peace with the flesh.
We have no peace with the world, we have no peace with sin, but
we have peace with God. Wonderful, wonderful truth. We
have peace with Almighty God. Isaiah 40 talks about us comforting
the Lord's people by us telling them that. And this, of course,
assists them in coming to rejoice in this finished work of the
Lord on their behalf and their having His peace. It says, tell
them their warfare is accomplished. Cry! to Jerusalem, cry, comfort
them and cry out and say your warfare is accomplished, your
iniquity is pardoned. We have peace because we know
that God loves us. We read here in verse 5 of Romans
chapter 5, look at this verse, it says, hope maketh not ashamed
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts for the
Holy Ghost which is given unto us. The love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Every child of God has the Holy
Spirit. We were baptized by the Holy
Spirit in regeneration and all of us have the Holy Spirit and
the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. We just know God
loves us. We just know He does. God loves
me. Now I'm not here to tell you
why that He loves me. I'm not here for that. I'm here
to just tell you the fact that God loves His people. He loves
all those that are in Christ Jesus. He loved His Son. He loved
His Son. I know why He loved Him. He had
many reasons to love His Son. But He loved His Son, and then
the Scripture says He loves everybody that's in His Son. He loves them
all that are in Christ. So I know He loves me, and that
gives me peace. If God loves me, everything's
going to be alright with this sinner. Everything's going to
be alright. I don't have to worry about anything.
I do worry. That's sin. And I do fret. That's sin. I do murmur. That's
sin. I do complain. That's all sin. But I'll tell you this. Everything's
going to be alright. If God loves a man, it's going
to be alright. And the scripture teaches that
God loves His people. Our soul delights itself in the
Lord. We don't have much else to delight
in. If God brings you by the way
He's brought me and you come through the jungle and through
the briars and the thorns and the thistles, you won't have
a whole lot to delight in. But I'll tell you this, you can
delight in the Lord, delight in Him. And then we can rest
in His providence. What a wonderful thing it is
to be able to rest in the providence of God. Just to trust God and
believe God. Rest and give you a little peace.
resting yourself. The old psalm talks about not
a wave of trouble rolls over your breast as you rest yourself
in the Lord. Now then, we can look forward
to the time of our departure with confidence, this peace of
God in our hearts. If God's given us peace, we don't
have to worry about death. We don't have to worry that death
is going to be something tragic to us. Death is not a tragedy
for the people of God. It's a decree of God and it'll
be blessed to go off yonder and be with the Lord and be in His
fellowship forever and ever. And the poet said, bold shall
I stand at that great day, for who ought to my charge shall
lay, while through thy blood absolved I am from sin's tremendous
curse and shame. There's peace that God gives
in this world. That brings me hurriedly to the
third verse. In John 14 and 27, Jesus said,
my peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as
the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. So this peace of God is an antidote. It counteracts three of our greatest
fears as believers. Let me give these to you as we
go. Now, a preacher can preach until
he's blue in the face, about a state of peace, about how God
can be just and justifier of a guilty sinner. And everybody,
you know, feel good about it and all of that. But on Monday
morning, there's some real fears that begin to grip our hearts.
Let me speak to you about those fears. Number one, the fear of
our sins. The fear of our sins. Now our sins are real. I'm talking about my sins. I'm
talking about your sins. They are very, very real. David said, as I quoted earlier,
my sins are ever before me. And I acknowledge my transgressions. That was a believer. First John
tells us that if we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar
and his truth is not in us. If we say we have not sinned,
if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. So if anybody
here this morning says, preacher, you're talking about somebody
else, we're talking about you, your sins, the fear of your sins. Now one of the most startling
truths that I was taught experientially as a child of God is that I have
in my breast A heart, I have an old nature in my very person
and being that is a traitor to Almighty God and a traitor to
my own best interest. That's one of the most startling
truths that I ever learned as a believer. Do you believe that?
That you have a traitor right here living in your heart? This
old nature of yours? Now my friend, that's very real.
And every sin, listen to me now, which I have committed since
God saved me, since I was regenerated by the Spirit of God, every sin
that I have committed has been committed by this old nature,
not by the new, because the new nature cannot sin because it's
born of God. And every sin that is committed
is committed by the old Adamic nature. Now, in this old nature,
and somebody still may be saying, Preacher, I think you're talking
about somebody else. Don't really believe you're talking about
me. But in this old nature of ours, we have either done it
or we have thought it. And according to what the Word
of God teaches in Matthew chapter 5, if you begin with verse 21
and work your way down through verse 28, the thought is equal to the act. And if you
haven't done it, you thought it, and you are a sinner before
God in this old nature. This old nature is corrupt, and
it's wicked and it's sinful. And let me make this statement.
There is not very many old, bold Christians. Not very many. We stand up and say, oh, you
know, I've just done so well and I'm just in real good shape.
And I've never gotten myself in no trouble, and the devil
never did slick me, and he never did take advantage of me, and
I've never fell very far in my life. I've never had any real
falls as a Christian. I'm an old Christian. I've been
in the way for 40-some years, 50 years, and I've never had
any real falls in my life. Well, I'll tell you what, you're
an exception rather than a rule. There isn't very many old, bold
Christians around anymore. Every one of us has spent our
lives struggling hard with sin. Every one of us has had some
fear that sin was going to so dominate and take over our lives
that we would never, never persevere unto the end. That we would succumb
and overcome and that our sin would finally damn us to hell.
Now, but the peace of God assures us that sin has been judged,
if it's there, if you've got the peace of God in your soul,
that's a fact, brother, that the peace of God, the peace of
God being there assures us that our sin has been put away, our
peace is built on The fact, listen to Psalms 32, what it says. Psalm 32, 1 and 2 says, Blessed
is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no guide. Now if you're still in Romans
5, if you have your finger there, look, if you will, at verse 13. It says, for until the law, sin
was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no
law. This is one of the strongest
evidence in the Word of God that believers, children of God, are
no longer under the law. And that is because David described
the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord would not impute
sin, and Paul said it's because there is no law. Sin is always
imputed to those who are under law. Sin is not and cannot be
imputed to those who are not under the law. And therefore,
our sin has been done away with, judged in the Lord Jesus Christ,
put away in Him. Now then, in Romans 8 and 33,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is
God that justifies, who is He that condemneth. It is Christ
that died. Now then, beloved, I say our
sin indeed is real. But might I say that the death
of Christ is more real than our sin? The death of Christ is real. And God judged our sin in Christ. And if you got peace today, because
God has brought you into a state of peace and given you a sense
of peace, quit worrying about your sin. Quit worrying about
it. God's taking care of it. God
laid it on His Son. Alright, that brings me to the
second thing. There's another fear that roams around in our
hearts, especially on Monday morning. And that is the fear
that finally we will be, regardless of what the preacher says, that
finally we will be condemned. Finally we will be condemned,
that we cannot make it possibly past the judgment. Now I want
you to turn with me to the book of Matthew chapter 7. The book
of Matthew chapter 7. Now you pardon me if I'm a little
lengthy this morning. I did not mean to be. I thought
that I would very easily be able to handle this in 45 minutes,
but I might be a minute or two over that. But you follow with
me. I want to read verse 21 and 22 and 23. Not everyone that
saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven,
but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works. And then
will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye
that work iniquity. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. Now I know of no reason why God
should not say this unto me. What do you understand from these
verses? Here's some people that use the
name of the Lord. Here's some people that prophesied
in the name of Christ. He cast out devils, done many
wonderful works in the name of the Lord. And the Lord said,
I never knew you. depart from me. I do not know
of any reason why God should not say the same to me, except that I believe with all my heart
that Christ died for me. That's the only reason why I
believe He won't say that to me, is I believe Christ died
for me. I believe I've been regenerated
by the Spirit of God. I believe God gave to this sheep
eternal life. I believe I am one of God's sheep.
I believe He gave me eternal life. That's the only reason. Now any spiritual minded person
knows that salvation is a gift of God. Salvation is not through
all these things these people did. Salvation is through believing
on a crucified Savior. Salvation is believing God. Christ
is our advocate. And I hope that God will bless
me to say it and bless you to hear it this morning. If He cannot
get me off, I will not be gone off. He's the only one that can
get me off. I'll just tell you that. Christ
is the only one. He's my advocate and He'll have
to get me off. I'm guilty enough to send me
to hell. How about you? I'm guilty of enough. I mean
there ain't no question about it. No question about it. If
he fails, I'm a goner. And if he fails, you're a goner.
You're not gonna make it. You can't make it if he fails.
Now that's what true trust in Christ is. It's believing with
all your heart that if he fails, it's all over. It's done. Now
if you truly believe with all of your heart that Christ in
his advocacy on your behalf, his making intercession for you,
his pleading for you, is going to get you through. Then, my
friend, I believe that you will get through. Now, Luther said
this, he said, I do not do business with an absolute God. I do not
do business with an absolute God. He said Christ does business
with an absolute God. Now brother, sister, that's exactly
my place, right there. Christ can do business with God,
can't he? Because he was perfect, righteous
in every way. And he can do business with God
in the court of God, but I can't. I can't. Christ does it for me. That's what it means when it
says we have an advocate. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father Jesus Christ the right. That's what it's talking
about. Christ does business with God, not you and I. In Romans
8 and 1 it says, There's therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus. Our judgment fell on the Lord
Jesus. Now the last fear. There's another
fear which I think we have to deal with. It seems every day
of our lives, and that is the fear of falling away. Falling away. Many, listen to
me, many seem to. They fall away from grace. They
fall away from it. They get real righteous in themselves. They join a self-righteous church.
They join groups of people that just absolutely insist that our
perfection is in the flesh. First thing you know, they've
fallen from grace. Those people begin to be, they started by
the Spirit and then they're made perfect by the flesh. First thing
you know, they don't any longer talk about the grace of God.
They don't any longer talk about salvation being holy, completely
and entirely of the Lord from the beginning to the end. They
don't talk about that anymore. It's now, it's what we've done
and what we're going to do, and it's all about us. How long do
you suppose you will last? How long? Many have seemed to
fall away. Well, I believe in instant salvation
at the point of regeneration, but it takes time to see if our
faith is of God. Is that right? It takes time,
don't it? To see whether or not we believe God or not. The person,
the church, his family, the preacher says he's saved But God only
knows whether he is or not. God only knows. He's the only
one that can know. I mean, he's sheep. It's His
salvation that He gives to His sheep. Surely He's the only one
that would know whether a man has it or whether he don't. Romans
8 and 35 says nothing can separate us from the love of God. God's
love is in Christ. Here's the question of questions.
Am I in Christ, in Him sincerely, honestly, for time and eternity?
If so, I will not ever fall away to perish. John 10 and 28. You
see, God started this thing with us. He knew me. I was 17 years old. He knew me. And he knew what
he had to work with. Is that right? Did God know what
he had to work with when he took you on, brother, sister? Do you
know? I mean, when he plucked you as a brand from the burning,
did he know what he had to work with? Ah, that's a great consolation
to me. You know, I don't believe in
the omniscience of the devil. I don't. But I believe in the
omniscience of God. And I believe he knew what he
had to work with when he took on this poor sinner. He knew.
God is faithful. You know the scripture says,
He that calleth you is faithful who also will do it. He'll do
it. I was nothing then, and I'm nothing
now in the flesh, and I don't get any encouragement by looking
within. I never have. Every time I look within, I get
discouraged. But when I look away from myself,
to Him, then I get encouragement. And the songwriter said, O the
love that sought me, O the blood that bought me, O the grace that
brought me to the fold, wondrous grace that will not let me go. Grace will complete what grace
begins. to save from sorrows, death,
and sins the work wisdom undertakes, eternal mercy never forsakes. That's a good statement, isn't
it? That's good. Some say a believer is much safer
in the rain than he is in the sun. Some say that he's much
safer in the valley than he is on a mountaintop. Some say that
he's much safer poor than he is rich. Well, our safety is
not in where we are. But our safety is in whom we
are. It's in Christ. That's where
our safety is. We're in the Lord Jesus. We're
in a person. And there, the scripture says,
He is our peace. And when thine eye of faith is
dim, still trust in Jesus, sink or swim, and at his footstool
bow thy knee, for Israel's God thy peace shall be. May the Lord
bless you this morning, and I hope this has been of some help to
you. It has been to me. It's been a joy to talk about
these things this morning, the old gospel of redeeming grace. Father, remember us as we remember
you and your word this morning, and as we take comfort from these
precious truths. Oh, how merciful you are to show
these things to your lame, limping, feigning sheep. We're so thankful. Lord, bless us to be more useful
in your work and in your kingdom. Encourage this people, and may
great blessings fall out to us through Christ, who loved us
and gave himself for us. In his name we pray, amen.