Thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. Our Lord said, Come unto
me, I'll give you rest. 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. When he greeted his disciples
so often, our Lord, and I imagine he'd raise his hand before them,
said, Peace be unto you. Peace. Oh, for that great gift
of peace. It's a twofold peace that I'm
talking about. But in this day, our hearts are
so troubled, and torn apart, and distressed, and with depression,
and conflict, and being pulled apart, and troubles, and trials,
and tribulations on every hand. I long for peace. Peace. Peace that passes understanding.
And I want you to have that peace. And I believe we have it here,
if God will give me some liberty on it. Romans chapter 5, verse
1. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this faith, we must begin
at the beginning. Being justified by faith, we
have peace. But the faith spoken of in this
text, my friends, is saving faith. It's not this easy believism. It's not this religious presumption,
this empty, idle presumption based on a religious profession.
Well, I know I'm saved because I made a profession when I was
12, 14, 16. Well, I know I'm saved because in a revival meeting
up in the country, up the holler, The preacher was preaching and
God got a hold of my soul and I made a profession of faith.
That's not the faith I'm talking about. I'm talking about saving
faith. I'm talking about a work of the
Holy Spirit in the human heart. I'm talking about that work of
the Holy Spirit in the human heart that brings that person
to truly lay hold upon Christ. To have in Christ a saving interest. to have the love of God shed
abroad in our hearts and to lay hold by faith on the mercies
of God in Jesus Christ. Now that's the kind of faith
I'm talking about, Don. Our Lord said, it's not everyone that
saith unto me, Lord, Lord, that's going to enter the kingdom of
heaven. And it's not everyone that says, Lord, Lord, that's
going to have this peace. This peace is not based upon
an empty, idle, easy believism. It's based upon saving faith,
living faith. loving faith, willing faith,
persevering faith. It's a faith that lives. Now,
there are three parts of faith that I want to mention to you.
First of all, the motivating cause of this saving faith is
our sin. That's the motivating cause.
The publican in the temple cried, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.
That which brought him to look to Christ was his sins. Now this
is so. That which brings me to feel
my need of Christ is my sin. They cried unto the Lord in their
trouble. The woman who came to Christ with the issue of blood,
what brought her to Christ? Her need. Her need. The thief on the cross, what
caused him to turn and look to Christ? His need. Blind Bartimaeus,
what made him cry out, Lord Jesus, thy son of David, have mercy?
His need. The Canaanite woman, what brought her to Christ? Her
need, her sick daughter. But this is what brought you
to Christ and what brought me to Christ. And I'll tell you
this, our Lord said this, Christ is valued according to need.
Is that a true statement? Our Lord said that. He said,
to whom much is forgiven, they'll love much. The greatest sinner
in here tonight will be the greatest lover of Jesus Christ. The man
who does not or the woman that does not feel their guilt and
their sin and bowed down with iniquity. That person does not
love Christ like I love Christ. I'm not boasting of loving Christ
more than you. I simply say he's more important
to me than he is to you because I'm a greater sinner than you.
That's what Paul felt. He said I've been injurious,
I've been a blasphemer, I've been a reprobate, I've been a
rebel, I've been all these things but God showed mercy to me and
I love him with all my soul. The more I need him, the more
I love him. That's just so. Now our motivating cause of faith
is need, need. And the greater the need, the
greater the love for Christ. The greater the need, the greater
desire for Christ. The greater the need, the greater
the interest in Christ. That's just so. People who love,
who have a great need and a great sin, they don't drift away. They don't drift away. Out of
the depths have I cried unto thee, Lord hear my plea. You ever been there? Out of the
depths have I cried unto thee, Lord hear my plea. And then the
second thing, that's the motivating cause of faith. Now the foundation
of faith is the Word of God. The foundation of faith. As you
believe the Word, so you believe God. David said, Remember thy
word unto thy servant upon which thou has caused me to hope thy
word Paul said I believe God that it shall be even as he has
said He wrote again in Hebrews. He had said I'll never leave
you so I can boldly say the Lord is my helper David said I believe
his word therefore I've spoken Now this is the foundation of
faith faith cometh by hearing and hearing for the Word of God.
I There is no other foundation for faith. Feeling is no foundation. Spirit, dreams, visions, no foundation. This word is the sole foundation
of faith. And then thirdly, the object
of faith is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the other foundation can
no man lay than that which is laid, Christ the Lord. He is
the sole object of faith. Faith looks to Christ. Faith
leans upon Christ. Faith loves Christ, faith takes
hold of Christ, there's none other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved. Look back at Romans 4.
In Romans 4, beginning with verse 20, and this is talking about
Abraham, Romans 4, 20. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, but he was strong in faith. giving
glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what God had promised,
God was able to perform. What was the strength of his
faith? God's Word. See that? He was strong in faith. He gave
glory to God, and this was the foundation of his faith. He believed
what God said God was able to perform. I read on. And therefore,
it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now, it was not written for his
sake alone that it was imputed to him. but for us also to whom
it shall be imputed if we believe his word, which leads us to believe
on him. If we believe on him that raised
up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. He's the object of faith. Faith
looks to Christ. Now that's the kind of faith
I'm talking about. I'm talking about therefore being justified
by faith. I'm talking about that saving
faith, that living, loving faith, that persevering, continuing
faith that's motivated by my need. And the greater my need,
the greater my faith. And that faith that is built
upon God's word as its foundation. And that faith, it looks only
to Christ. It never looks in. It always looks out. Look to
me and be your savior. I'm God, and there's none else.
Look to me. All right, secondly. Wonderful
is the power of faith. In the book of Hebrews, the apostle
tells of the marvelous results of faith in those that believe.
Abel believed God and found favor with God. Enoch believed God
and was translated that he should not see death. Noah believed
God and prepared an ark, preserved a race. Abraham believed God. God told him to get out of his
father's house. He didn't know where he was going, but he went,
believing God. God told him he would have a
son. He was already 100 years old. He believed God, not knowing
how. God told him to take that son up on the mountain and sacrifice
him as a sin offering, and he took him up there, not knowing
why. Abraham believed God. He believed God, and it was imputed
to him for righteousness. Moses, by faith, turned his back
on the riches of Egypt and walked with God. Rahab, by faith, perished
not when the walls fell. It says in Hebrews, by faith,
they subdued kingdoms. By faith, they obtained promises.
By faith, they quenched fires. By faith, they stopped the mouth
of lions. All by faith. What wonderful
results of faith. But my friends, right here in
our text, Right here in our text, I believe we have the most wonderful
effect of saving faith to be found. Being justified by faith,
we, sinners, sons of Adam, fallen creatures, guilty creatures,
have peace with God. We have peace with God. I believe
that's the greatest effect. And here it's a twofold effect.
Look here, it says being justified by faith, that is justified before
the law, vindicated before justice. We are in a state of peace with
God. God is not angry. The scripture
says God's angry with the wicked, but he's not angry with us. It
says God hateth the workers of iniquity, but God doesn't hate
us, he loves us. The law condemns all flesh, and
yet it does not condemn us. The justice of God cries for
our death, but it doesn't cry against us because God's justified. us and reconcile us. That's a
state of peace. But secondly, it gives us a sense
of peace. Legally and positionally, I'm
at peace with God. Legally. Turn to Romans 8, 1.
Let me show you something. Romans chapter 8, verse 1. This
is what I'm saying. Being justified by that saving
faith through Jesus Christ the Lord, I am in a state of perfect
peace as far as God's concerned. Legally, positionally. I'm justified. There's no charge. There's no
condemnation. That's what it says here. There is, therefore,
Romans 8, 1, therefore, right now, this very moment, no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation. That's what
it says right now. Legally, positionally, before
the law of God, before the justice of God, I know my afflictions. I know my infirmities. I know
my weaknesses and failures. I know all these things. I'm
less than the least of all the saints. I'm not worthy to be
a preacher of the gospel. I'm the chief of sinners, etc.,
etc., etc. But legally, positionally, in
Christ, there's no condemnation. There's no charge. God's at peace. There's no warfare. That's so.
My sins, oh, the bliss of that glorious thought. My sins, not
in part, but the whole past, present, and future are nailed
to the cross. I bear them no more. Praise the Lord. It's well. It's all at peace with my soul.
That's greater than stopping a lion's mouth. That's greater
than quenching a fire. That's greater than subduing
a kingdom. That's greater than all these things. peace with
God. And not only that, but listen
to this, my conscience and heart ought to be, should be, can be
at peace if I claim the blessing. No, we're not perfect, but He
is. Christ is, and He's our representative.
Is He not our representative? No, I'm not without sin, but
He is. Is He not my representative?
No, I'm not worthy, but he is. Now, that's what I'm saying.
Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. That is,
the war is over. The ransom is paid. The redemption
price is paid. The conflict is settled. God
is not angry anymore. We're not children of wrath anymore.
There's peace, peace on earth, goodwill toward me from heaven's
glory. But I also ought to have peace
of heart and peace of conscience. I ought not to be in a troubled
state. The heart of the wicked is like the troubled sea, but
the heart of the believer ought to be calm and serene, whatever
the environment, whatever the conflict. Now let's answer two
or three questions. First of all, what is this road
to peace? Or how does a sinner find this state of peace with
God? Well, first of all, we're not by nature at peace with God.
You know that. The scripture says the natural
mind is enmity. It's not subject to the law of
God. Neither, indeed, can it be. The natural mind is enmity.
The natural mind hates God. Now, and I know, I know, we say
this, we say the natural man hates God. And everybody gets
his back up and says, I don't know anybody that hates God.
Let me tell you something. Nobody hates his God. Nobody
hates his idea of God. Nobody hates his conception of
God. But men hate this God. See, I
know. You go to the people of this
religious world and present them, present to them God as he presents
himself in his Word, and you'll find out there's some hatred.
And the great hatred is not so much from the carnal folks out
yonder in the world as the religious world, those who claim to have
a God. Men, by nature of the scriptures,
hate God as he's revealed in his work. So by nature, we do
not have peace. But what is this road to peace?
All right, it's fivefold, I believe. Number one, the first thing,
turn to Romans 3. The first, the road to peace. How does a sinner find peace,
a state of peace? And I'm talking about a twofold
peace. Now, a state of peace and a sense of peace being justified. Freely pardoned, freely forgiven,
all condemnation removed. No condemnation, no guilt, no
charge. God is not angry. God's in love
with us. And we ought to have that peace
of conscience and heart and rest in him. Cease from our labors
and enter into his rest. How does that come about? Romans
3, 19. Now we know that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law. That's
every human being. If you're a citizen of the United
States, you're under the laws of the United States. If you
are a citizen of the world and the universe, God's world and
God's universe, you're under God's law. Now that's just so. Everybody's under God's law.
It says that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
may become guilty. Guilty before God. That's the
first step. When the sinner is brought before
the law of God, brought before the court of justice, there's
just one plea. Guilty. guilty it's not I'm not
as bad as so and so no it's just guilty well I haven't done this
guilty well I haven't done that guilty Job said if I justify
myself my own mouth would condemn me the only plea we have is guilty
guilty guilty guilty before the law Guilty before God's justice,
guilty before God's throne, guilty before God's word, guilty of
every law God's ever set forth. Guilty of every precept. To offend
in one part of the law is to be guilty of the whole law. That's
the first step. Secondly, not only plead guilty,
and brother, don't plead guilty with one hand behind your back.
plead guilty with both hands reaching out this way. He said,
over there in the Old Testament where the fellas came before
the king, I forget, I've read this and I forget the name, but
the king was sitting on his throne. And these fellas were part of
a rebellion. And the rebellion had been put
down. And these fellas were the leaders
of the rebellion. And you know what they did? There
were several of them. Every one of them took a rope
and made a hangman's noose out of that rope and slipped it over
their heads. The rope was hanging down. Charlie
went like this. They had the rope around their
necks. And they all filed into the into the throne room before
the king with the ropes around their necks, pleading guilty.
See what I'm saying? That's the way we come before.
If we're looking for peace, the way to come before God is to
condemn yourself. Is to receive his charge and
his condemnation. Guilty! Guilty! Don't alibi,
don't excuse yourself, don't be like Adam, but the woman did
it, but the serpent did it, and all of this, don't blame your
environment, blame your friends, and blame folks attention, blame
yourself. Guilty, guilty. All right, secondly,
justify God in his divine sentence. Turn to Psalm 51. David gives
us a little help here in Psalm 51. Not only plead guilty, the
road to peace, not only plead guilty, but justify God in his
condemnation. Now listen to what David said
in Psalm 51. He said, verse 3, I acknowledge my transgression.
Mine. I acknowledge my transgression.
My sin is ever before thee. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest
be justified when you speak. and clear when you judge. You
see what I'm saying here? The road to peace is when the
sinner is brought into court and he pleads guilty, he says,
whatever sentence you're pleased to hand down, I'll accept and
I'll say, God, you're just. If you damn me, you're just.
If you send me to hell, you're just. I don't want to go to hell
now. I'm not saying that you ought to want to be damned for
God's glory. A preacher said that one time. He said, if God
sends me to hell, for his glory, then I'll be thankful. Now, I
may go, but I'm going to kick and scream all the way. I'm not
going to be thankful. I'll be honest with you. I don't
want, old brother Clarence Walker used to say to me, he said, I
don't want to go to hell. I don't either. And I know I'll say Christ is
Lord, and I know I'll glorify his name, and I know his justice
will be glorified in my condemnation, but I'm not going to do it willingly.
Not willingly. But I will say this, and I can
say it from my heart, if God does send me to hell, he'll be
just. If God does condemn me, if God right now would take away
everything I have, destroy everything I have and everything I love,
he'd be absolutely just. I'd have to say, Lord, I'm getting
exactly what I deserve. Can you say that? I haven't loved
God with all my heart. I haven't loved my neighbor as
myself. I haven't walked in the light. I have. Have you walked
in all the light God's given you? Have you been true to everything
God's revealed to you? Why, certainly not. Then God
is just. If God cut us off, if God cast
us out, if God spewed us out of his mouth, he'd be just. Now,
you better take that place. Let God be true and every man
a liar. A fella said to me one time,
you called me a liar. I said, are you a man? He said, yes.
I said, then you're a liar. God said, let every man be. And
that's what he said, all men are liars. That's what scripture
said. Yes, let God be true in every women too. I forgot, we're
in ERA. I have to say persons. Every
person's a liar. All you persons are liars. That's
right. Every man's a, let God, that's
if you want peace. Now, there's no peace in justifying
yourself. If I wash my hands with snow
water, they come out dirty. No way. All right, thirdly, when
the sinner pleads guilty, when the sinner justifies God in his
divine sentence, then the sinner will be confronted with a person.
He'll be confronted with a person, not a plan, a person. He'll be
confronted not with a law, because he's already been confronted
with a law, and the law charged him and found him guilty. He'll
be confronted not with a ritual, not with water, not even with
a wafer and wine. He'll be confronted not with
a system of rules and regulation, now you can't do this, that,
and the other anymore. He'll be confronted not with three
steps, repent, believe, confess, and be baptized, four steps.
He's not gonna be confronted with, he's gonna be confronted
with a person, with a substitute, with a representative, with a
sin offering. And that person is none other
than God's own Son. Simeon in the temple, as a little
babe, took him up in his arms, and he said, I've seen thy salvation. I've been confronted with the
whole deliverance of God. Here it is. I'm ready to die
now. I've seen your salvation. The woman at the well sat there,
and when Christ talked to her, he said, if you knew who was
speaking to you, and you knew the gift of God, you'd ask me,
and I'd give you living water. They talked a while, and she
said, well, I know when the Messiah comes, he'll tell us all things.
Now, there he sat, and here she stood. She said, I know when
the Messiah comes, he'll tell us all things. He shocked her
and rocked her when he said, and he... I just imagine, Charlie, she
didn't speak for some time. I that speak to them, he confronted
with a person, a person. The thief on the cross looked
over there at that mass of battered flesh, blood streaming down his
face, naked, nails across, his visions marred so they didn't
look like a man. If anybody could paint that scene,
nobody ever hanging on their wall. It's too terrible, his
soul and body suffering. What that man saw, he was confronted
with a person. He saw something nobody else
saw. God showed him something nobody else understood. And he
said, Lord, And I'm sure that the Lord turned that swollen
face, having his covered with spittle and blood, his beard
pulled out by the roots, black and blue from the smiting of
the soldier's fist, that crown of thorns. The heat on those
festered wounds had swollen his face to where his eyes were slit
and his lips were split open. His tongue was cleaving to the
roof of his mouth, and he was a battered mass of flesh. And
he turned toward that man, and that man looked into those eyes.
And he said, you're coming into a kingdom. You're not going to
stay dead. But you remember me, confronted
with a person. He couldn't walk. His feet were
nailed across. He couldn't work. His hands were
nailed across. He couldn't wash. His body was
nailed across. He couldn't witness. He was dying,
but he could look. And he was confronted with a
person. I know churches, they've confronted you with rules and
regulations, they've confronted you with recipes and plans, they've
confronted you with steps to salvation, all this hogwash.
I'm telling you, a man hasn't been confronted with salvation
until he's been confronted with Jesus Christ, born of a virgin,
walking this earth as our representative and dying as our sin offering.
And Saul of Tarsus on that road to Damascus was confronted with
a person. Our Lord spoke to him, and he
said, who are you, Lord? He said, I'm Jesus of Nazareth,
whom thou persecute. Turn to Romans 1. Let me show
you something here. Romans chapter 1. This is what
it's all about. I never will forget the first
time I saw this. Roth Barnard was preaching over
at Pollard a long, long time ago. And strange. It is strange. It's only by God's
grace I was listening. Most people don't listen. Did
you know that? Most people don't listen to preachers. Well, most
preachers ain't worth listening to, to be honest with you. But
this man was, and I was listening to him. I was 24 years old, and
I was totally disgusted with everything I knew about religion,
myself, and everybody connected with religion. And I was sitting
there listening to him, and he said, you want to learn the gospel?
And I thought, in my heart, I sure do. But he said, here it is in
Romans 1. He said, Paul, a servant, a bond
slave of Jesus Christ, I've been called to be an apostle. I've
been separated unto the gospel of God, the, the, the, the, not
a, the gospel of God, the one gospel of God Almighty. In parenthesis,
he said this ain't, this no new gospel. This gospel was promised
before by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. This is the
ancient gospel. This is the gospel Moses believed
and Abraham saw and rejoiced. This was the gospel that Noah
trusted, that Enoch prophesied concerning that Isaiah wrote.
This is that old gospel. This is an eternal gospel. This
is a covenant gospel. This is a gospel of God from
the foundation of the world. Verse 3, concerning his son. The gospel is not concerning
a plan or a pattern or a recipe or a ceremony or a ritual or
anything you do or anybody else does. It's concerning Jesus Christ,
his person and his works, prophet, priest, and king. He is the sum
and substance of the gospel. He's the author and finisher
of the gospel. He's the alpha and omega of the gospel. He's
the wisdom, righteousness, redemption, and sanctification of the gospel.
He is the full gospel. Now this so-called, what's this
full gospel they talk about, there's different tongues and
all that, the full gospel's Christ. Everything's in him, everything's
by him, everything's through him, and everything's for his
glory. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not deceiving, I'm telling you
the truth. The gospel of God, you leave out verse 2 because
it's a parenthetical statement, it can be left out, and it says
I'm separated to the gospel of God concerning his son. Jesus
Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according
to the flesh, born of a woman, and declared, not made, not created,
not born, but declared to be the Son of God. He's made, unto
us a child is born, but a son is not born, he's given. He was
already God's son. He became a child for the first
time. He became a man for the first time. He walked this earth
in the flesh, the likeness of sinful flesh, for the first time
when he came forth from his mother's womb. He was made of a woman. He who made woman was made of
a woman. The ancient of days became an
infant of days, but he was declared to be the son of God. That's
the gospel. concerning and you'll be confronted.
You want peace? You'll come in God's courtroom
with a rope around your neck. Guilty. If you can't come that
way, you better stay outside because he won't fool with hypocrites.
He has his harshest condemnation for. You come in with a rope
around your neck and you come in justifying God. God stretched
the rope, hang me, send me to hell, you'll be just. I'll get
what I deserve. But then by his grace he let
you look into the face of that substitute who was wounded for
our transgressions, who was bruised for our iniquities, who the chastisement
of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.
Deliver him from going down into the pit. I found a ransom." All
right, forward. Want peace? Then the sinner,
having seen his substitute, having seen Christ fulfill God's holy
law in every jot and tittle, by his perfect obedience. He
came to the baptismal pool and said, suffer it to be so to fulfill
all righteousness. Our Lord Jesus Christ did all
these things, suffering it to be so to fulfill all righteousness.
He said, I didn't come to destroy God's law. I didn't come to take
the edge off God's law. I didn't come to whittle down
God's law. I didn't come to fix it so you can keep God's law.
I came to fulfill God's law. By the righteousness of Christ,
by the obedience of Christ, God's law was perfectly fulfilled.
So we take our place as no longer liable to charge condemnation
or sentence in Christ. That's the road to peace. Turn
to Romans 8. I've looked at his law and pleaded guilty. I've
looked at his justice and I've vindicated it. I said, Lord,
you're right. You're just. I've looked at his substitute.
And I've laid claim by faith to him. I've trusted him. Therefore,
I look now at his law and I say, you can't touch me. I look now
at his justice and I say, you have no charge against me. because
it's all been poured out on Christ. Listen, Paul said that. He said
in verse 31 of Romans 8, what shall we say then to these things?
Well, if God be for us, who can be against us? I've come to this
conclusion that if he that spared not his own son, but delivered
him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give
us all things? And Paul whacks his bowl and
says, who can lay anything, anything, I know, but some sins are pretty
bad. Anything! I know, but you shouldn't have
done it. Anything! Well, I know, but what about
anything? That's what he said. Who can lay the charge? Who can
lay anything to the charge of God? God has justified. Brethren, do you know I've been
forgiven, pardoned, redeemed, but the greatest thing, and above
all these, I've been justified. And do you know in Christ what
that makes us? Now you, you listen. Grab ahold
of Boaz Shelton, you say, grab ahold of your seat, we're going
to jump a creek. Justified means that in God's eyes, right now,
I'm just as if I had never sinned. Is that right, Don? Never sinned. And that ought to give you peace.
That's what justified means. Justified means not guilty, not
guilty. I'm not guilty because all my
peace was laid on Christ, all my transgressions were laid on
Christ, all my sins were laid on Christ, and there's none left.
One time years ago, the wife of the pastor of the First Baptist
Church here in Ashland called me a long time ago. Not the one
down there now, this is a long time ago. And she said, my son,
you remember Pat? I forget their names, you all
were kids then. She said, he's troubled about his soul, he just
cannot understand substitution, the gospel. Would you come over
and talk to him? I said, yes ma'am. I said, hey, get his dad
to talk to him. She said, well, I just, I want you to talk to
him. I said, okay. Her name was Bobby. I said, Bobby,
I'll come over. So I went over to the house.
And I was sitting with this young man, talking to him. And this
came to me while I was talking to him. I said, your mom says
you're concerned and troubled about substitution. And you don't
understand substitution. He said, no, I really don't.
I said, OK, let's take it this way. Now, here I am. This is
flesh. I'm a son of Adam. I'm a child
of Adam. And here's my sins. There are very many. I took my
Bible. I laid it right there. There are very many. They're
very black. They're very heavy. Like a cloud, they've covered
me and separated me from God. Totally. There's my sins. I'm separated from God. Your
sins have separated you. God's only begotten, well-beloved
Son came down here and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh.
He wasn't made sinful flesh in the likeness. He had no sin.
He knew no sin. God took my sins laid them on
Christ. That's what he said. He laid
them, you know what he said? He laid them on Christ. And Christ
became sin for me. He bore my sins in his body. Not two or three of them, all
of them. The blackness of them, the weight of them, separated
him from God then. He said, my God, why hast thou
deserted me? Same reason he deserted me, because
of my sin. And he bore them all. And the
fiery darts of God's justice and wrath were poured out on
Christ, and he died, and no sins put him in the grave. And here I am, I don't have any
sins. And our Lord, as my scapegoat, bore them away and left them.
He came out of the grave without them. And now he doesn't have
any sins. The Lord took him right on to
the right hand, and I don't have any sins. Can you believe that? Well, if you can, you can have
peace. That's why I told that boy, I said, I don't know whether
you can believe that now or when, but if you ever come to believe,
if you ever come to believe substitution, you can have peace. There ain't
no other way to have peace. Now if you think Christ took some
of them you know, and left the rest of them, or maybe he took
two or three more, Donnie, or maybe he left the white ones
and took the black ones you know. Well, he's without them now,
but I still got these. God's justice takes a look at
me and says perfection heaven requires. I don't have it. But
he died for all our sins but unbelief. Can't come in. Heaven
requires perfect righteousness, perfect substitution. Yes, sir,
I believe in particular redemption. Call it limited atonement, call
it anything you want to. Fuss at it, fight at it, chew
your nails at it, spit out and do anything you want to. But
Christ, if he took my sins, he took them. If he paid for them,
he paid for them. If he put them away, he put them
away. If the debt's settled, it's settled. I don't have any
sin. I don't have any. Free from the law, O happy condition,
Jesus has bled and there is remission. Cursed by the law and bruised
by the fall, but Jesus redeemed me once for all. Mercy's been
magnified, justice been vindicated, and the law's been honored, and
peace is mine. That's the road to peace. Now
then, somebody says, well, preacher, preacher, I believe that gospel. I believe it. But I don't have
peace. And I just, I can walk with you
through everything you've said. I go with you being justified
by faith. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. I can follow you in that illustration.
I can sit with that little boy and say, I love that. I preach
that. I accept that. I lay hold on
that. But I don't have any peace. Satan
just won't leave me alone. I'm constantly tried and troubled
and constantly tempted. Let's go back to the text. Let's
read this text again. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with Satan. That's not what that says. God
doesn't promise me any peace with Satan. There's not a word
in here that tells me I'm going to have peace with Satan. It
says peace with God. Our Lord said to Peter, Satan
hath desired thee that he may sift thee. Job, Satan went up
there and appeared with the sons of God and said, let me have
Job for a little while. God said, all right. Huh? We are told to pray each day,
deliver us from the evil one. That means we're not at peace
with Satan. He's at war with you still. He's after a roaring
lion going about seeking whom he may devour. This doesn't promise
us peace with Satan. Somebody else says, well, I believe
that gospel, I believe that truth, I believe it, but I don't have
peace. My flesh just keeps me in turmoil. Oh, I tell you, my
flesh is a constant source of trouble, passion, lust, envy,
jealousy, conflict. I just fight this battle with
my temper, with these things. I just fight this battle. Well,
let's read the text again. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with our flesh. Well, it doesn't say that. God doesn't promise us peace
with our flesh. He said, turn to Galatians a
minute. Now listen here, let's just stay with the word of God
and see. It says in Galatians 5 verse 17, the flesh lusteth
against the spirit. Galatians 5, 17, and the spirit
against the flesh. And these are contrary one to
the other. You cannot do the things you would. Listen, to
be honest with you, if you didn't have a convict in your flesh,
I'd worry about you. I'd be concerned about you. If
you were at peace with your flesh, if you were one of these folks
walking around saying these Sands hadn't sinned in 10 years, I'd
worry about you. If you went around like some
of these folks and saying, I just, I'm living above sin. Brother
Johnson came here to a conference one year, and they put him out
here in this Western Hills, and put Drew Garner in number 17,
and Brother Johnson in 117, and Brother Johnson leaned over the
balcony and saw Drew's groom right under him. He said, I'm
living above sin for the first time in my life. It doesn't say we have peace
with our flesh. I tell you honestly, Honestly,
I do believe that really the older you get, the more conflicts
you have with this flesh. I really believe that. And I
think I can speak from experience because I'm getting older. But it doesn't say what it says,
peace with God, Bob, with God, with God. Somebody else says,
well, I believe what you're preaching. I believe it. I believe the gospel. I believe Christ is my Lord.
I believe that Christ redeemed me. I'm a saved preacher. I know
that I'm a child of God. I believe I'm a child of God.
But I don't have any peace with the world. The worldly people
I work with, they give me a hard time. They keep me torn up. They
keep me troubled. They keep me dissatisfied. I dread to go to work. I dread
to be around them. I dread all. I just keep torn
up. Folks tear me up. Well, let's see what the text
says. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with
the world. It doesn't promise peace for us. It says in the
world you'll have tribulation. Tomorrow morning. Now right here,
this is sweet and precious. And I'm so thankful. I couldn't
keep the schedule I keep and have folks upset with me. I just
couldn't do it. I couldn't preach and be happy.
Like you said, Donnie, this is a precious church. They love
me. I love them. But if ever this place is divided,
I'm just going to take my act somewhere else. I just can't
live with discord. I'm not going to have it. I just,
you can't do it. But I know some of you have to.
Tomorrow morning, you're going to work. And it's going to be
tough. You know, we preachers, I try
to tell the young preachers, don't be too hard on folks now.
I know, be firm, preach the gospel, and stand for the truth. Now,
Barnard used to say, don't criticize that old Indian until you walked
in his moccasins. Yeah. And we preachers get our
Bibles at 8.30, 9 o'clock in the morning, head for our studies.
And we sit there and open the Bible and read, grab down Spurgeon
and Manton and Whitfield and all these fellas and just feast
on the word. Everybody comes in, they act sweet, you know.
Nobody comes in cussing and swearing. Everybody comes in to study,
puts on his best halo, you know, and adjust it to talk to the
preacher. That's right. But they don't
come in your office like that. And we preachers all remember
that. When you go to blasting your men for this and blasting
for that, remember, they've been blasted by better than you. That
day. And it's been tough. Ain't that
right, Charlie? It's been tough. You deal with both. It's been
tough. But the Bible doesn't say we'll have peace with the
world. It doesn't. It doesn't. It says, therefore,
being justified. Now watch this. And Spurgeon
said this about this. I jot it down somewhere. Remember,
a sense of peace. A satisfaction of peace follows
a state of peace. Now you can't claim the peace
of God till you claim the substitute of God. Therefore being justified,
being justified, therefore being redeemed, therefore the price
being paid, therefore God's justice and law being honored in your
place, therefore being justified, we have peace with God. Not with our flesh, not with
Satan, not with the world. Paul said that in Romans 6. Let
me show you this right here and I'll quit. Romans 7, Romans 7,
he said that. Oh wretched man, look at verse
23, verse 21. When I would, I find a law, when
I would do good, evil's present with me. I delight in the law
of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members,
warring, against the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity
of the law of sin, which is in my members. Oh, wretched man
that I am. Who's going to deliver me from this body of death? I
thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And therefore, I'm
going to claim the peace that he promised. I have a state of
peace, so why shouldn't I have a sense of peace? Is that right,
Cecil? I know we have doubts and fears,
but let's quit condoning them. We ought not. I know we have
depression of spirit, we're brought down low and we beat upon our
breast and we say, do I love the Lord or do I not? I know
that, I love that song. It's my experience, but don't
not debate. I can't justify it. If I've looked into the face
of God's substitute, why do I keep looking to God's law? Why do
I keep looking to God's justice? Why do I keep ducking? Why do
I keep waiting for the axe to fall? Why do I keep waiting for
the trapdoor to spring? I've been justified! Why do I
keep waiting for the sword to fall on me? I've been justified. Why not have peace? Why not walk
in peace?