I'm asking you to open your Bibles
with me this morning to the Book of Romans. I'm going to speak
from the fifth chapter of the Book of Romans, verse 1, just
a very brief verse of Scripture. Our subject is the road to peace. Everybody ought to be interested
in this, how to find peace of heart and conscience, peace with
God. And we have the answer here in Romans 5, verse 1. If you'll
look in your Bible and follow, I'll read Romans 5, verse 1. Paul says, therefore, being justified
by faith, we have peace. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, my friends, I say this,
that before us today, there's the most glorious doctrine to
be found anywhere in the Bible, peace with God. I say it's the
most glorious doctrine to be found anywhere in God's Word.
Peace with God. Entering into His rest. That's
what it's all about. The Bible is a book of redemption.
How God saves sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ. And the
results of that justification, that salvation, is to find peace
with God. These are the questions that
Job asked. How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? Do you have the answer? Here
it is. How can man be just with God? Behold, the moon it shineth
not, the stars are not pure in his sight. How much more vomitable
and filth is man that drinketh iniquity like the water? This
is what the disciples asked the Master, who then can be saved?
Our Lord said, with me it's impossible, but with God all things are possible.
This is the question of questions. If we can find the answer how
to have peace with God, peace with God, how to enter into his
rest, to have a quietness of heart and conscience as far as
this matter of sin and salvation, heaven and hell, God, how to
find peace. I say this, that we have before
us the best news that a sinner can hear. Therefore, being justified,
we have, not going to have, do have right now, we have peace
with God. For when God justifies a sinner,
he takes him from under the condemnation of the law. There is therefore
now no condemnation, no judgment to them who are in Christ. He
not only takes him from under the condemnation of the law,
but he forgives all his iniquities, past, present, and future. He
said, I cast them behind my back. I cast them into the depths of
the sea. I separate them from you as far as the east is from
the west. I remember them no more. No more. Now, think about that. And then
the third thing, he not only lifts us, lifts from us the condemnation
of sin, not only forgives all of our iniquities, all of our
sins, but restores us to divine favor, restores us to divine
peace with God. Now, my friends, listen to me,
the road to peace. how to have peace with God. Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God. I'm not
talking about pretended peace. I'm not talking about pretended
peace. I know Jeremiah said they cry,
peace, peace, peace, when there is no peace. That's not what
I'm talking about. I'm not talking about make-believe peace. Nothing
is so fatal. I say this to you. Nothing is
so fatal as a false religious refuge. Nothing is so fatal as
an empty profession of religion that just quiets your conscience
and dulls your mind and makes your heart indifferent. Only
one day to hear Christ say, I never knew you, depart from me. That's
not the kind of peace I'm talking about. Not a pretended peace. I'm talking about a genuine peace,
a real peace, peace with God, peace of which God is the author.
Peace of which Christ is the purchaser. Peace of which the
Holy Spirit is the applier. A living peace. An everlasting
peace. A rest of heart. I'm not talking
about presumptuous peace. It's tragic, but I hear people
say all the time, well, I've made peace with my maker. Have
you now? But that's not the issue. That's
not the issue at all. You know what the issue is? That
your maker made peace with you. You say you're at peace with
God? Well, my question is this, is God at peace with you? Is
God reconciled to you? That's the question. Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have God's peace. God's peace. And I'm not talking about the
peace of profession. Now, I don't want to offend you.
I wouldn't offend you for the world, but I do want to make you think.
You know, the Bible tells us to examine ourselves, whether
we be in the faith. The Word of God tells us every
time we come to the Lord's table to examine ourselves and then
to eat. Peter says, give diligence to make your calling and election
sure. The book of Hebrews is full of
warnings to God's people. We are the house of Christ if
we hold fast our profession firm unto the end. I don't want to
offend you now, but I want you to listen to me. Too many people,
when they talk about peace and a relationship with God, they
want to go back too far. They want to go back too far.
They want to go back in the past to an old profession of religion,
which they made in the old country church during summer revival
time or the protracted meeting or under an old brush harbor
when they were about 12 years of age. And they said, I accepted
Jesus. I accepted Jesus when I was 12
years old. Or I was sprinkled when I was
a baby, or I was confirmed or catechized to join the church.
Now, let me tell you something, and let me be totally honest
with you. I've been where you are. And I know this, that genuine
repentance is not an isolated act. A man doesn't say, I repented.
It's not I repented at all. It's I am repenting. If a man
has ever felt the guilt of sin, the weight of sin, the burden
of sin, he not only did repent, but he is repenting and he will
repent. He not only has believed on Christ
and received Christ, but right now he's believing on Christ.
And he will believe on Christ. He has come to Christ. He is
coming to Christ, and he will come to Christ. Salvation in
the Scriptures is a living union with Christ. It's not a decision. It's not an isolated experience.
It's not a profession of faith that happened 30 years ago. And
I warn you, if you have to go back 20 minutes to prove you're
saved, there's a problem somewhere. Christ liveth in us now. Now,
I'm not talking about a pretended peace or a presumptuous peace
or a peace of profession. I'm talking about a living union
with Christ that brings us to peace with God. Remember this.
It's vital and important. These two words in Romans 5.1
cannot be separated. Justified and peace. Now, you
think of those two words. Let's read the text again. It
says, Therefore, being justified by faith, comma, we have peace
with God. That peace is based upon what?
Justification. That's right. You can't separate
those two words. Therefore being justified, then
we have peace. No man can have peace with God
who's not justified. It's an impossibility. No man
can have peace with God who has not been forgiven, who has not
been pardoned, who has not had his sins put away. He can't have
peace with God. He's at war with God and God's
at war with him. No man can have peace with God
who's not justified, and all men who are justified have peace
with God because they're justified, because they have no sin. It's
your sins that have separated you and God. And when the sin
problem is taken care of, when the sin problem is finished,
then there's peace. The war is over. Here's an illustration. When God's own well-beloved,
only begotten Son, hung on the cross of Calvary bearing our
sins in his body on the tree. The scripture says the Father
deserted him. The Father turned his back on
Christ. Why? Because of the sins that
he bore. Almighty God cannot have fellowship
with sin. Almighty God cannot look with
favor upon sin. Almighty God cannot dwell with
sin. And that's what I'm saying. You
can't have any peace with God. It's an impossibility until your
sins have been removed, until your sins have been paid for,
until your sins have been pardoned, until your sins have been forgiven.
The Bible says God's angry with the wicked. The Bible says God
hateth the workers of iniquity. The Bible says he shall have
I hated. The Bible says he that believeth not on the Son, the
wrath of God abideth on him. So this cannot be separated.
There is no peace with God. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. That's the basis on which the
peace rests. That's the foundation on which
it rests. That's the reason that God can be at peace with us,
is because we have no cause for anger. We have no cause for wrath. God's wrath is against sin. Somebody
said one time, it's no longer the sin question, it's the son
question. I beg your pardon. It's a sin question. Where sin
has not been put away, where sin has not been paid for, where
sin has not been pardoned, it's still the sin question. Our Lord
said, if you die in your sins, you cannot come where I am. Your
sins have separated you and your God. How can man be clean that's
born of a woman? How can man be just with God?
That's the ringing question. How can I be justified? If I
can find out how to be justified, I can find out how to have peace.
If I can find the road to justification, I can find the road to peace.
You see what I'm saying? Therefore, being justified, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, first
of all, justification is not by the law. I know that. That can be ruled out. No use
people coming preaching to me, thou shalt not, thou shalt not,
thou shalt not. That won't justify me before
God. It says in the scripture, by the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified before God. Now that puts that aside.
So let's take the law and just lay it aside. The law is the
schoolmaster that brings us to Christ. The law is that which
convicts us of our sins. The law cannot save. It cannot
give a righteousness. It can expose the fact that we
don't have any. The law can shine the light of
God's holiness upon us and show our filth and guilt, but it cannot
cleanse us, it cannot atone for our sin. There's no justification
in the law. Secondly, justification is not
by works. The scripture plainly says, not
by works of righteousness which we've done, but according to
his mercy hath he saved us. Abraham was not justified by
works. That's what Paul said in Romans.
If he were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but
not before God. So it's not by works. And then
thirdly, justification is not earned. In Romans 3, verse 24,
it says, Therefore being justified freely, freely by his grace through
the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. So justification is not
by law, it's not by works, it's not earned, it's free. Now watch
this. First of all, justification is
by God's grace. It's the gift of His grace. How
is a man justified? What are we dealing with here?
Peace with God. How to have peace? You said preach
your subjects how to have peace, but what I'm trying to tell you
is this. You can't have peace. in a state of sin, in a state
of unbelief, in a state of rebellion. There's no way. You can study
how to win friends and influence people. You can study how to
have a positive mental attitude. You can study, I'm okay, you're
okay. You can go to these sessions
where people sit around and try to give each other rest and peace
and quietness of spirit, but you can't have peace with God
until something's done about your sin. I can't either. And
if I'm ever justified, what does the word justified mean? It means
just as if I had never seen. Cleansed, pardoned, forgiven,
all my sins put away, all of my guilt put away, holy before
God in Christ. That's justification. Now if
I can find the road to justification, I can find the road to peace.
Being justified by faith, I'll have peace. And so first of all,
I tell you this, that it's by God's grace. Now listen to these
scriptures. being freely justified by his grace. Ephesians 2, 8
and 9, for by grace are you saved through faith. What is grace?
It's God giving us what we don't deserve, what we don't earn.
It's unmerited favor by God's grace. Romans 6, 23, the gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So first
justification is by grace, and then secondly, it's through Jesus
Christ. Look back at our text in Romans
5.1, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. In Romans
3.24, being freely justified by his grace through the redemption
that's in Jesus Christ. And in 1 Peter 1.18, we know
that we're not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver
and gold, from the vain conversation received by tradition from our
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ. Are you with
me? Justifications by God's grace.
It's a free gift. Salvation is not what I've done
for God, it's what he's done for me. It's conferred upon us
secondly freely through our Lord Jesus Christ. And what's the
next place? It's by faith. For by grace are
you saved through faith. Without faith it's impossible
to please God. Romans 5.1, being justified by
faith. Romans 3.30, seeing, seeing,
it is one God who shall justify the circumcision, that is a Jew,
by faith, and the uncircumcision, or the Gentile, by faith. We're
justified by faith. If a man is justified before
God in Christ, by faith, freely, as the gift of God, on the merits
of his Son, he has peace with God. God looks with favor upon
him and accepts him. God has fellowship with him.
He has peace of heart and conscience, and God's providence is so arranged
that all things will work together for his good. Preacher, can you
help me come to this place? I believe I can. If you're sincere,
if you're interested, if you'll bow to the Word of God. I'll
give you some things that a sinner can do and a sinner must do if
he comes to this place of justification or peace with God. Now, here's
what I say to all men. First of all, the road to peace
is the road to justification. Let's remember that. Would you
listen and consider these things? I say, first of all, the sinner
will plead guilty before God. If you want to know the way to
justification, if you want to know the way to peace, I say,
first of all, you will plead guilty. No strings attached,
no reserve, guilty. The Scripture says in Romans
3, 19, what the law saith, it saith to them who are under the
law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become
guilty. Those are hard words to say,
aren't they? Guilty before God. But those
are three important words. Guilty before God. When we are brought before the
law of God, we plead guilty. When we are brought before the
judgment bar of God, we plead guilty. When we are brought before
the holiness of God, we plead guilty. When we're brought before
the justice of God, we plead guilty. And I mean to be guilty
in one part of the law is to be guilty of the whole law. Job
said, if I justify myself, my own mouth would damn me. My own
mouth would condemn me. Isaiah pleaded guilty. He said,
woe is me. I'm a man of unclean lips. Job
pleaded guilty. He said, Lord, when I saw your
holiness, I hated myself. I'm full of sin. Peter pleaded
guilty. He said, Lord, depart from me.
I'm a sinful man. Paul pleaded guilty. He said,
Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the
chief. Do you plead guilty? That's the
first place to start. Offering no alibi, no excuse,
just casting ourselves on the mercy of God, like the publican
in the temple, who would not so much lift his eyes to heaven,
but smote upon his breast and cried, God, be merciful to me,
the sinner. That's the first thing. Do you
plead guilty? All right. The sinner will not only plead
guilty, but he will justify, this is the hardest thing now,
he will justify God in his sentence against him. He'll take the side
of God in his sentence. He'll say, Lord, you're right. If you send me to hell, I'll
get what I deserve. That is tough preaching. I know, I know it is. David said
this though, Psalm 51.3, he said, I acknowledge my transgressions.
My sin is ever before me. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, watch it, that
thou mightest be justified when you speak, and clear when you
judge." When God, David said, I acknowledge my sin, my transgressions
ever before me, it's my sin, it's against God, against God
have I sinned. So when God speaks, when God judges, when God condemns,
He's righteous, holy, and good. Now, you'll come to that place.
Let God be true and ever man a liar. I justify God in his
anger. I justify God in his wrath. I
justify God in his condemnation. That's something this generation
won't do. The God that they worship must love everybody. The God
that they preach must not be angry. The God that they preach
must not be righteous. He must not be holy. He must
not have a judgment bar from which he casts men into outer
darkness. They won't have anything to do
with that God. But I'm telling you this, when you come before
the Lord of glory, number one, you'll plead guilty. Christ died
for sinners. He said, I didn't come to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Sinners to repentance. And you'll justify God in his
wrath. You'll justify God in his anger. You'll justify God in his divine
sentence. Now, I'm telling you that. You
read the Bible, you'll find that to be true. Every man, David
said, who am I, Lord, and what is my house that you should bless
me? All the way through the scriptures, you'll find these men of broken
hearts and humble spirits justifying God. Like David said, the heavens
won't contain him, how much less the house that I built him. And
then thirdly, the sinner will be confronted with the only substitute
God has provided, the Lord Jesus Christ. It won't be many ways
or many roads or many doctrines or many plans, it will be one.
I am the door, I am the way, the truth and the life, I am
the Savior, the refuge, the only one. Other foundations can no
man lay than that which is laid, Christ. or none other name unto
heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved." Moses saw
him and wrote of him. Moses saw him in type. Abraham
saw him. He rejoiced to see his day. He
saw him in picture. Simeon saw him in the body of
an infant, incarnate. He said, mine eyes have seen
thy salvation. I'm ready to die. The woman at
the well saw him in the flesh. She said, when the Messiah comes,
he'll tell us. Christ said, I'm he. I'm he. The thief on the
cross saw him in his dying hour when he cried, Lord, you're not
going to stay dead. You're coming into a kingdom.
Remember me. Thomas saw him in his resurrected
glory and fell at his feet and said, My Lord and my God. Stephen
saw him seated on the right hand of God. Paul saw him on the road
to Damascus as one born out of due time. And my friends, I'm
going to tell you this, not in a vision at the foot of my bed.
and not in a dream, some dark, rainy, cloudy night, and not
in a whooped-up feeling at some mourner's bench, but I've seen
the Lord in His words. I've seen Him as the Redeemer,
as the Savior, as the Substitute, as the Sin Offering, as the High
Priest, as our Atonement. I've seen Christ. I've been to
Calvary, and I've seen the Lord. And some of you can say the same
thing. I've seen Christ, not with these eyes, but with eyes
of faith. I've heard him, not with his
ears, but ears of faith. I felt him, not with his hands,
like John and the other apostles, but I felt him in my heart. He
revealed himself to me. I've seen him as my only hope,
my only hope. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and his righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
praise, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. Other refuge have I none.
John Wesley wrote, hangs my helpless soul on this. Last of all, the
sinner not only pleads guilty, he not only justifies God in
his sentence, in his wrath against sin, he not only sees that Christ
is his only refuge, his only sin offering, his only hope,
his only mediator. There's one God and one mediator
between God and men, Christ. Don't miss the way of the cross.
That's the way that leads home. But last of all, the sinner will
receive Christ. intelligently and lovingly, he
will receive Christ. I'm not talking about just believing
a doctrine. I'm not talking about just making a decision. I'm not
talking about joining the church or straightening up your life
or quitting a few sins. I'm talking about bowing to the
sovereign claims of Christ, bowing to the royal claims of the King,
receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and your Savior. It says
he was in the world and the world knew him not. He came unto his
own and his own received him, but as many as received him."
Him. Not just the words about him,
not just the things identified with him, not just his laws,
but as many as received him. How do you receive Christ? As
your Redeemer, as your Lord, as your Savior, as your husband,
brother, friend, as your God, as all things, as your life.
As many as received him, to them gave he the right, the privilege
to become sons of God. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine heart God hath raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Paul said, Who is he
that condemned us? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, whoever
liveth to make intercession for us. Now, there may be some objections
that will be raised. Let's go back to the text. Therefore,
being justified by faith. Sin pardoned, sin forgiven, sin
put away. by faith in Christ. I have received
Him. I have pleaded guilty. I have acknowledged my transgressions. I have looked to Christ only.
I have justified God in His divine sentence. I have received Christ
as my Lord and Savior. I have bowed to Him. But preacher,
I don't have peace. I don't have peace. I don't have
peace with the devil. He just won't leave me alone.
I am so tempted and so tried. Now wait, hold on a minute. Look
at that text again. It doesn't say we'll have peace
with the devil. It says, therefore, being justified
by faith, we have peace with God. I don't ever in this world
expect to have peace with him who is the disturber of Israel,
him who is the accuser of the brethren. Him who is a roaring
lion going about seeking whom he may devour, if he could lay
hands on Peter by God's permission and on Job by God's permission,
the only thing that keeps him from laying hands on me and you
is God Almighty's permission. But we don't expect to have peace
with Satan, we have peace with God. Somebody else says, well,
I do believe, I trust Christ, I look to Him alone, but I don't
have peace with my flesh. I have more struggles and conflicts
and trouble with my flesh Read the text again. It doesn't say,
therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with our
flesh. It says, peace with God. In the flesh, you'll have troubles
and trials and sorrows and pain and even death. God doesn't promise
you peace with the flesh. Galatians, is it 5.17 says, the
flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh.
You can't do the things you would. But I'm not talking about peace
with the flesh. Somebody else says, well, I believe, but I
don't have any peace with the world. Well, it doesn't say you'll have
peace with the world. Wicked men will condemn and cause trouble.
It's peace with God. Let's get back, therefore, being
justified by faith. I have peace with God. I have
peace with God. Thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. Let me warn you, don't
seek the blessing. Seek the Lord. Don't seek assurance. Seek the Lord. Don't seek peace.
Seek Him. and being justified by faith
in Christ, you'll have peace. You'll have peace. But it comes
as a result of justification.