March 12, 2023 - Sunday Service

the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

Through the perfect mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, come now, let us worship him.

Please pray with me. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, it is a privilege to be called a child of God.

Lord, we ask for the effectual work of your spirit in our hearts, that the feebleness of our prayers and praises would resonate in the throne room of heaven, that Christ would be exalted, that the

Father would be glorified. We ask for your provision of yourself, your presence with us, and we ask all these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. Please kneel for the corporate confession of sin.

Let us join together with one voice confessing our sins. God of love, it is your will that we should love you with heart, and neighbor as ourselves.

But we are not sufficient for these things. We confess that our affections continually turn away from you, from purity to lust, from freedom to slavery, from compassion to indifference, from fullness to emptiness.

Have mercy on us. Order our lives by your holy word.

Conform us to the image of your loving son, Jesus, that we may shine before the

Lord to your glory. Amen. Please stand.

My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin.

And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

And he himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for us, but for the sins of the whole world.

Take heart today, if you be in Christ, brethren, you have the complete remission and forgiveness of sins.

Amen. Amen. Let us joyfully sing to the Lord number 38.

Immortal, invisible, God only wise. Please take up the bulletin insert and find

Psalm 12. I'm going to ask Alyssa if she'd play through one time for us, please.

Remain standing. Lamentations chapter four. Lamentations chapter four.

How the gold has become dim. How change the fine gold. The stones of the sanctuary are scattered at the head of every street.

The precious sons of Zion, valuable as fine gold. How they are regarded as clay pots.

The work of the hands of the potter. Even the jackals present their breasts to nurse their young.

But the daughter of my people is cruel, like ostriches in the wilderness. The tongue of the infant clings to the roof of its mouth for thirst.

The young children ask for bread, but no one breaks it for them. Those who ate delicacies are desolate in the streets.

Those who were brought up in scarlet embrace ash heaps. The punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment with no hand to help her.

Her Nazarites were brighter than snow and whiter than milk. They were more ruddy in body than rubies, like sapphire in their appearance.

Now their appearance is blacker than soot. They go unrecognized in the streets.

Their skin clings to their bones. It has become as dry as wood. Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger.

For these pine away, stricken for lack of the fruits of the field. The hands of the compassionate women have cooked their own children.

They became food for them in the destruction of the daughter of my people. The Lord has fulfilled his fury.

He has poured out his fierce anger. He kindled a fire in Zion, and it has devoured its foundations.

The kings of the earth and all inhabitants of the world would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed in their midst the blood of the just.

They wandered blind in the streets. They have defiled themselves with blood so that no one would touch their garments.

They cried out to them, Go away, unclean. Go away. Go away. Do not touch us.

When they fled and wandered, those among the nations said they shall no longer dwell here. The face of the

Lord scattered them. He no longer regards them. The people do not respect the priests, nor show favor to the elders.

Still our eyes failed us, watching vainly for our help. In our watching, we watched for a nation that could not save us.

They tracked our steps so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end was near.

Our days were over, for our end had come. Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens.

They pursued us on the mountains and lay in wait for us in the wilderness. The breath of our nostrils was anointed of the

Lord, was caught in their pits, of whom we said under his shadow we shall live among the nations.

Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz. The cup shall also pass over to you, and you shall become drunk and make yourself naked.

The punishment of your iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion. He will no longer send you into captivity.

He will punish your iniquity, O daughter of Edom. He will uncover your sins.

This is the word of the Lord. I'm going to ask everyone to be seated.

We have a little bit of a difference in our liturgy today for a very blessed reason.

We have a baptism to celebrate, and we will have another next week as well,

Lord willing. The ordinance of baptism is administered by the church in obedience to the command of Christ, that the nations should be converted, baptized, and taught all that Christ has commanded.

Baptism represents and seals our union with Christ, the outpouring of the

Holy Spirit, and the resulting regeneration, adoption, and cleansing from sin.

By baptism, we, like George, are admitted into the covenant community and made members of the body of Christ.

Underlying the diversity of biblical revelation is a unifying and singular covenant of grace.

Abraham had the gospel preached to him, according to Galatians 3. He believed

God, and his faith was reckoned to him as righteousness.

And he entered into a covenant with God, signified by the sign of circumcision.

Yet he was commanded to apply this sign of his adult faith to his infant child and all infant children thereafter.

Why? Because of God's promise. God said in Genesis 17,

I will be a God to you and to your children. The saving purposes of God include the children of believers, because he is their

God as well as their parents. The children also receive the sign of the covenant and are admitted into the covenant community.

When we come to the New Testament, no new principle is introduced. Children are not now excluded from the covenant community.

Rather, in an era of greater promises, a greater covenant, children do not have a reduced but a more privileged status.

At Pentecost, Peter said, for the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are afar off, as many as the

Lord our God will call. The echo of the promise made to Abraham is clear.

Children have the same covenantal status in the covenant as in the old.

They are set apart and even considered holy, according to 1 Corinthians 7.

Members of the covenant community and recipients of the sign of the covenant are children.

Households, therefore, were baptized. When Jesus took infants into his arms and blessed them, he demonstrated not only that passive infants may receive grace, but that God also continues to love our children through us.

And now for you, congregation, let all who are here present be reminded of their own baptisms, of the grace of God confirmed, of the privileges of the covenant into which they entered, and of their responsibility to live holy lives and to serve

God with thanksgiving. Let the parents here assembled especially be charged to not neglect the means of grace.

Be sure that you provide a godly example, that you pray with and for your child, that you, in the case of the

Lemke's, instruct George in the word of God, that you might make use of the catechisms of the church, that you might bring

George weekly into the public worship. Our God, please pray with me.

O Lord, we give thanks to you for the gift of George Bailey Lemke.

We also give thanks to you for your covenant promises. We ask,

O Lord, that you would grant the inward reality that corresponds to the outward washing, that the child would be received into the protection and care of Christ and his church, that even as he has been the

God of the children's, the child's parents, that, O Lord, he would, you would be the

God of the child as well. That George would be granted the gift of the

Holy Spirit, that his heart would be renewed and regenerated, that he would grow up never knowing a day apart from Christ, like John, filled with the

Holy Spirit from the womb, like David, trusting while still a nursing infant.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we ask your blessing upon George Bailey Lemke, and we ask your blessing upon this church that we would keep covenant with you because you have made the promise to be our

God, and that we would be your people. We ask all of these things in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen. I'm going to ask the Lemkes, Mitchell, Gina, children, to come to the front.

And the renewing grace of the Holy Spirit. Do you trust in God's covenant promises on George's behalf, and do you look in faith to the

Lord Jesus Christ alone for his salvation as you do your own?

We do. Do you unreservedly dedicate your child to God and promise in humble reliance upon divine grace that you will endeavor to set before him

Christ and his gospel, that you would provide a godly example, that you will pray with and for him, that you will teach him the doctrines of our holy faith, that you will strive by all the means of God's appointment to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the

Lord Jesus? We do. Congregation of Ascension Presbyterian Church, do you as a church body undertake the responsibility of assisting these parents in the

Christian nurture of this child? Do you? What is the

Christian name of this child? George Bailey. George Bailey, I baptize you in the name of the

Father, and of the Son, and of the

Holy Spirit. Please, O Lord, we ask your blessing,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We ask that you would descend upon and remain with George forever.

We also acknowledge, O Lord, that this child is now received in the Christ Church, and the people of this congregation promise to be help and aid to these parents.

And, O Lord, we rejoice that you said, whoever shall receive one such little child in my name receives me.

And so, we dedicate George Bailey to your service.

We praise you for your grace in Christ. We pray that,

Lord, you would guide and protect this child, that he would grow daily the love and knowledge of Christ, that he will serve

God all his days and live with his glory, that his parents will show wisdom, discernment, and diligence as they seek to rear him in the nurture and admonition of the

Lord, that he will live so as to be a credit to his family and to the church.

And we ask all these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Welcome to the church,

George Bailey. Let us now stand with the saints that have gone before us, that are gathered even today all across the world, and until the

Lord's final day, we ask, we confess our faith in the of the apostles' creed.

Please turn in the hymnal to number 460, as we sing the most loved and known hymn probably in the church of the last hundred years,

Amazing Grace. And brethren, let us not ever stop being amazed by God's grace to us.

Amen? Let us sing it together. You to take the folded bulletin insert.

DJ, would you please remind us, and we have some guests here, about how to sing St. Patrick's Breastplate.

Thank you, brother. Alyssa, if you would mind playing an intro for us, and we'll begin. Christ, please make preparations for the prayers of the people.

Men, we have today the Ten Commandments, and I want you to be ready to offer those up.

Prayers for each of those. Let's pray together in unison.

Oh God, from whom come all holy desires, all good counsel, and all just works.

Give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, and also that we, being defended from the fear of our enemies, may live in peace and quietness through the merits of Jesus Christ our

Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God forever.

Amen. The Lord says, I am the Lord your

God. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above, or on earth beneath, or in the waters below.

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Remember the

Sabbath day to keep it holy. Honor your father and your mother.

From transgressing this your law by dishonoring our mother and father as we often do, by not giving them the respect that we want to give to them, to our elders, and to all who have put a thorn over us.

Lord, give us hearts that would take a seat at the back gate, and would not want to take the throne.

You shall not kill. Keep this your law.

You shall not commit adultery. By necessity that required us to be committed to our spouses, to those you have set in the future, if we are unmarried, to commit to purity unto that relationship.

Father, I pray God that you would give us the strength and the spirit to stand on the rock and go to war with this great sin of impurity, of adultery, lust, fornication.

I pray that it would be cast out of our midst, for that it would be slain in our hearts, that we were no longer individually here.

For the individuals in our congregation, but also the church at large, that this would no longer be a problem, that we would be faithful disciples of our children, raising them in purity to hate this sin, be committed to their spouse.

Lord God, and that that would pass on through the generations until this great sin is defeated.

Amen. You shall not steal.

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. You shall not covet.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul, mind and strength.

Amen. Please stand again. I'm going to ask you to turn and find the bulletin.

It says 155 in the upper left corner. This is Psalm 84, and this is the

Psalm of the month for the month of March. Remain standing.

Romans chapter 5. I'm just going to read the portion we'll be covering today in the interest of time.

I'm going to read verses 1 through 5. Romans 5 verses 1 through 5.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our

Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance character, and character hope.

Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the

Holy Spirit who was given to us. Brethren, this is

God's holy and infallible word. Please pray with me. Oh Lord, we ask for your comfort and assurance.

Give us great hope because you have given us Christ. Cause us again to rejoice and give thanks, and to lay hold of the privileges that are reserved for the people of God, and walk in them.

And we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated.

The title of the message today is Peace with God. Peace with God.

Our text today begins with the word therefore, which draws our attention back to the antecedent section that goes before.

The Apostle Paul, drawing upon Old Testament history and revelation, uses the lives and scriptural revelation of the patriarch

Abraham, and secondarily David, to show how saving faith in Christ has been the teleological end of redemptive history.

Using Abraham, the father of the faithful, the Apostle establishes the primacy of faith.

If you want to follow along, I'll start in chapter 4, verse 3, and pick up a couple of verses along the way.

For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed

God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Verse 5.

To him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.

David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works.

Verse 7 of chapter 4. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. The Apostle here goes on to argue that the promised is realized by faith, and that faith is in accord with grace.

God's love is at work in saving men. It is an act of his free grace.

This grace is operative in the heart of man, and he responds in faith, which itself is a gift.

In chapter 4, verse 17, a promise is made to Abraham that he had been made the father to many nations.

I should point out to you the most significant part of that promise, we often forget, is the promised seed

Christ. Not just the Jewish people, that Christ would come from the loins of Abraham.

The Savior, the Messiah to whom Abraham himself would need for salvation would come from his line.

This promise is granted to him in his old age, under the full weight of Sarah's barrenness.

He believed in the God who gives life to the dead. A God who calls things to exist that do not exist.

It's quite a spectacular thing that Abraham, as a hundred -year -old man, a very aged man, would have a promise of descendants more numerous than the sand on the seashore or the stars in the heavens.

He has a barren wife, but Abraham hoped.

He did not waver at the promises of God. He was fully convinced that God would perform what he had promised.

That's very much at the heart of our theology, isn't it? We believe and we cling to and we hang our lives on the very fact that God keeps covenant with us and maintains fidelity to his promises.

The example of Abraham is not merely history, but it establishes the centrality of faith throughout redemptive history.

In chapter 4, verse 23, it says, now it was not written for his sake alone, referring to Abraham, that it was imputed to him, but also for us.

It shall be imputed to us who believe in him, who raised up Jesus our

Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification.

Our sin was imputed to Christ, and Christ's righteousness was imputed to us.

This is the pattern of things that is established in scripture, and this serves as the context of our section.

Abraham believes God and it's accounted to him for righteousness. We believe in Christ and we are made righteous because of our faith in him.

Our text today begins a very powerful answer to the question, what are the effects of justification?

What does it mean for those who are believers in Christ? Paul previously, in this book of Romans, has begun to answer the question, how is man made right with God?

And the answer simply is Christ. The only way that men, women, and even babies are made right with God is

Jesus Christ. That's how we are made right with God. It's not because we have great faith.

It's not because we are good law keepers. None of those things would ever enable us to be right with God.

I have to be in Christ. I have to have his atoning work.

I have to have his righteousness in order to be saved. The first effect in our section of justification is peace with God.

The second effect of saving faith is we enjoy his favor in the present and have an assurance of future glory, and this is a very real hope for the people of God.

The third effect is that our tribulations, as Hodge says, instead of being contrary to divine favor, produce fruits of perseverance and character, which leads to greater hope.

Hope is confirmed through the character that is forged in the fires of tribulation.

It's a very distinctive Christian worldview there. That's not how the world thinks.

And finally, these effects of justification culminate in the realization of God's love as the fount of hope and blessing, and this love and this hope and this blessing is continually dispersed.

It is literally poured out in the hearts of his people by the presence of the

Holy Spirit, which he is continually and effectually working in the lives of his people.

Let's consider it quickly. First, peace with God. In Christ, we are reconciled to God, and I want to stop here for just a moment for us to absorb the weightiness of that very simple statement.

In Christ, we are reconciled to God. We are no longer objects of his righteous displeasure.

You and I, in our natural state, would rightly be the object of God's displeasure.

It would be good of him to punish us eternally according to his justice.

Therefore, there is a logical consequence. In Christ, we are reconciled to God. A logical consequence of being reconciled to God is that we have a real peace with God.

Now, because of the age in which we live, we have to ask the question, what does this peace mean?

Is this some zenish inner tranquility? Is that what

Paul is saying? Is that what's being communicated to us? In actuality, the grammar of this phrase means, and I want you to listen carefully,

God is at peace with us. Think about the construction of that.

God has been made to be at peace with us. We think about it from our side, that we have this tumultuous spirit within us, and we have all of these anxieties and fears, and Christ comes, and these things are relieved, and that would be a great thing.

It's much more significant that God himself would be at peace with us from that direction, from the top down.

His wrath, the Greek word orge, toward us is removed in Christ.

We forget that, don't we? The wrath of God hangs over the unbeliever's head.

For the Christian, this wrath is removed. One author said, this is, listen carefully, this is referring to peace with God.

This is not a state of mind. Listen carefully.

It's not a state of mind, but a relation to God. We love covenant theology here, and this is it.

It's not a state of inner tranquility. It's not feeling better about things.

It's an actual, real, tangible, familial, relational, covenant communion with God, and this relation of peace comes out of the removal of sin's great impediment.

It's been taken away like the old scapegoat by expiation. We're no longer his enemies.

I want to pause here because when I think about military peace treaties,

I don't think about the parties on the day the treaty is signed having a great love for each other.

They've just been shooting at each other, and then this accord is reached. This political solution begins to be enacted in the region that this conflict takes place, but the two parties, they don't love each other.

They've been bitter enemies, but you and I now, not only were we enemies in rebellion against God, shaking our fist at God, we are no longer that enemies, and instead of being the enemies of God, objectively, we have become the objects of his favor.

This is what happens with the gospel of Christ. What a transformation.

What a transition. Enemies of God now become the objects of his love and his favor.

The whole of this context, dating back all the way through Romans, is focused on reconciliation to God and to satisfaction, to propitiation, the removal of the wrath of God, and it's accomplished in the death of his son.

God's reconciliation to us causes our reconciliation to him.

Do you catch that? God's reconciliation to us enables, and because the instrumental cause of our reconciliation back to him, our reciprocation is a response to God's love and making peace with us.

Certainly, if he is to be at peace with us, we also have an inward peace. Our subjective peace with God is tied to faith and the love of God, which becomes an assurance of our being declared righteous, our justification.

True affections for God are the fruits of this reconciliation to him.

In our time and broader evangelicalism, they believe, some do at least, this is the cause of reconciliation, not the fruit of it.

Paul says, peace with God is the result of justification by faith alone.

It's important to remember that peace and reconciliation with God is built on something very profound.

It's built on the atonement of Christ. We must see God's justice in justifying the sinner.

We must see that sin has been punished, that the justice of God has been satisfied in that punishment of Christ, that his righteousness is vindicated.

Brethren, you and I have to see in Christ that justice and mercy have kissed.

The believer can be at peace, which passes all understanding, to be filled with all thanksgiving towards Christ, whose blood atonement satisfies

God and cleanses our consciences. We prayed through the

Ten Commandments today. How many of you got a hundred percent on obeying the

Ten Commandments just today before we got here and prayed? A righteous standard, a holy

God, a perfect justice. His justice is preserved in the condemnation of Christ in our place on the cross.

God has not winked at our sin and just said, I'm not going to make a big deal of our sin. His wrath was poured out on Christ.

Therefore, his wrath no longer is poured out on his people.

Therefore, even the righteousness of Christ in this beautiful double imputation is returned back to the people of God because God has laid upon Christ the iniquity of us all, and Christ has laid upon us his righteousness.

This peace with God is accomplished only by Christ. It could never be accomplished by us.

There's no merit in us. There's no effort we can exert, no work we can perform.

It is all of grace. It's all through Jesus Christ that we enjoy this reconciliation and peace as Romans 3 so powerfully declares, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom

God set forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness.

It's only because of Christ. Brethren, look to Christ for salvation.

Look to Christ for salvation for your neighbors, for your little babies. Look only to Christ.

There's salvation nowhere else. Nowhere else can be found any salvation save in Christ.

Well, what is the ground of this peace? Look at the second verse.

It says, through whom we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in the glory of God.

What is the ground of that peace? We are indebted to Christ not only for peace, but also for our standing, for our access to this grace, this state of justification, which is the ground of our peace.

Christ grants access to this grace. Do you remember

Ephesians chapter 2 referring to the Jews and Gentiles becoming one body, for he himself is our peace, to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

He preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near, for through him we both, referring to Jews and Gentiles, have access by one spirit to the

Father, the access to God, the ground of our peace, the entryway into this faith, the standing we have in the royal holy tribunal of God is founded on our union with Christ.

We have access to God. We have peace with God only in Christ. We could not make an entry into that holy place.

Christ brought us into it. I said on Thursday evening, and I love this picture of infant baptism, the utter passivity of George Bailey Lempke this morning.

You and I cannot climb the holy hill of Zion. We have to be taken there.

We have to be carried there. And as this little baby was carried in the arms of his parents to the font of baptism, so too

Christ, in our helpless condition, carries us to the Father. Christ has brought us into it.

Ephesians 3 says, according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our

Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him.

I don't know about you, but I read the Old Testament and wonder. I'm a man who, like a priest in the

Old Testament, I officiate at an altar, and I think about the responsibilities and the heaviness of working in that realm, and how distant man and even the high priest is from God, and how things are so dramatically transformed in Christ that we now dwell in the very presence of God in the

Holy of Holies. Right now, our standing, if you want to, how you want to think about this, we have a heavenly standing.

We have a citizenship in heaven. You and I could stand in the presence of God today because we are in Christ.

Amazing privilege. You and I are not in a precarious position.

We stand in a firm place. Our feet are rooted and grounded on solid rock ground.

We stand fast in this grace because Christ has planted us there.

He enables us to remain firmly rooted in that reconciliation to God.

And brethren, this should be a cause of our rejoicing. We're not very impressed with holy things.

No doubt you peruse the liturgy and you're thinking, well, the baptism, that adds some time.

To the service. Oh man, the prayers of the people. Those are long.

It's the longest one we do, the 10 commandments. They add an extra commandment at the end.

It's 11 commandments. You know, the preacher is going to preach a long time.

Do we really treasure and esteem holy things? Would we rather be doing something else?

If we were to understand our place and the privilege and the position that we had, which

I believe almost no Christian has ever really experienced all the fullness of the privileges that are ours in Christ, what if we made progress in that realm?

It should be a cause of our rejoicing. Paul's orthodoxy always leads to orthopraxy.

That's right practice in living. We talk about it almost every time we talk about Paul. But we must also remember that it always leads to doxology, rejoicing, worship.

We rejoice as the people of God and hope of the glory of God. Our lives must be filled with rejoicing because of the certainty of our standing in Christ.

This optimism does not just encompass the future and final salvation. Isn't that part of our struggle?

We know it works out in the end for the believer. Go to heaven, right? But what about the difficulties of today?

What about the hardness of my circumstance today? Paul says that our lives should be filled with hope.

We're challenged by the reality of daily life. We believe we're saved. We know it works out in the end.

But what about now? How can we glory in our tribulations?

Look at verse three. We can glory in tribulations because our relation to God has been transformed in Christ.

Our relation, therefore, to all things, therefore, is changed in my wild imagination.

I almost imagine the animals and the creation and the starry hosts looking upon the children of God and saying, oh,

I see you. You're the redeemed in Christ. I almost see that that's the relationship now that we have with God's creation as the redeemed in Christ.

We can glory in tribulations because we've been transformed.

Our relation to all things is changed. Christians share in the sufferings of Christ.

He faced tribulations and you and I face tribulations. His obedience in the face of tribulation, those are the things, the markers that assure us of Christ's mediatorial office.

Do you realize that? His faithfulness in all of his sufferings, those are the things that show us that he's our mediator.

We would like to have a life of comfort and ease. His obedience in the face of tribulation gives us confidence about him and his qualifications as a savior.

The tribulations that Christ suffered and faced revealed his character and his character was perfect.

But brethren, you and I have now a different relationship with trials and tribulations.

They cause us to grow. They produce perseverance. We learn of what kind of faith we have when it is tested.

I tell you today, there were many things I was afraid of as an early young Christian.

I'm not afraid of those today. Because year after year after year, the trials and the tribulations have come and here

I stand in Christ. The same is true for you. I used to get worried when my little baby girl, my firstborn daughter, got a fever.

I would agonize. My little baby is sick. I'm so worried something terrible could happen to her.

I never worry when my little children, as we had many more children, got sick.

I'm not worried when I hear my new grandson has a fever because I've been through all of this before.

It's true for you. What kind of faith do you have? It's only revealed as we sang today when the fiery furnace burns away the dross and the pure metal, the gold, the silver is revealed.

We have to have tribulations to show the authenticity of our faith.

Our perseverance in the faith gives us even more assurance of his deliverance.

How many dangers has he delivered us from? We have to remember the myriad of ways our

Lord has provided for us in times past and as we face the tribulations of the present and the future, our experience itself testifies that we are the objects of God's love.

And it deepens the strength and resolve of our character and provides a basis for hope.

We'd have no reason to hope if we had no tribulation. How would we grow in perseverance?

How would our character become more and more refined into Christ -likeness if there were no tribulation?

Isn't it amazing? The Christian can look at the tribulations that come and exalt in glory in them.

No pagan could ever do that. It's just bad news. It's not true for an unbeliever.

It deepens their misery. They have no hope, no Christ -like character to be refined, no steadfastness to deepen.

Oh, what a privilege it is to be a child of God and to have his faith tested.

It is an honor to suffer for Christ. It's an honor to have his power manifested in the support and deliverance of their tribulations.

Suffering is a means of growth and godliness for the people of God. We are made fit for even greater service in his kingdom when we endure.

The trials prove the faithfulness of God and improves the legitimacy of our faith.

Tribulation produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope.

Do you remember James 1? Blessed is the man that endures temptation for when he is tried he shall receive what?

The crown of life. I can't get the crown without the trial, the tribulation.

Christ's exaltation is his peak at his zenith, at its height, at the resurrection and ascension.

He's accomplished the work. He's gone through the trial. The endurance of a trial tests and forges a man.

It produces a strong faith that can bear an ever -increasing load.

Well, finally, hope. Look at verse 5.

Now hope does not disappoint. The firm ground of this assurance in Christ can be trusted.

There's a myriad of verses. I can't go there now because of time, but the believer will never be put to shame.

Our hope is not in our ability to execute or to perform. Our hope is found in God's love toward us in Christ.

This quote comes from Hodges' commentary, but I don't think he's the original author.

I can't remember the citation of the author that he cites, but I want you to listen to this quote because I think it helps bring a nice close to this.

The love of God does not descend upon us as dew and drops, but as a stream which spreads itself abroad through the whole soul, filling it with the consciousness of his presence and favor.

And this inward persuasion that we are the objects of the love of God is not the mere result of the examination of evidence, nor is it a vain delusion, but it is produced by the

Holy Spirit. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

Ephesians 1, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory.

Second Corinthians 1, now he who established us with you in Christ and has anointed us is

God who also has sealed us and given us the

Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. And maybe most profound and connected to our context here,

Romans 8, the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

And if you are children, then you're heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.

If indeed you suffer with him, that we also may be glorified together.

Brethren, there's nothing that compares with being reconciled to God.

There's nothing better than peace with God. That there's nothing that matches a vibrant living communion with God.

And it's all ours in Christ. I was thinking about this this morning, early in the morning, and it's very apparent that the people of God do not lay hold of the privileges that are theirs.

It's kind of sad. The limitless wealth, the airship of the kingdom of God is ours in Christ.

We have peace with God. We've been reconciled with God. We have a standing with Christ. We have a sure hope, not only for the future, but for today.

We ought to be walking in that. We ought to be reveling and rejoicing in that.

I have a quick three words of application for you and we'll conclude here. First, you have peace with God through our

Lord Jesus Christ. Please today meditate upon that. Let that sink in to your hearts.

Walk in that peace. Make it a primary cause of your rejoicing.

Now, because of this peace, as we learned from the Ephesians context, we can live at peace with all men.

God has reconciled you to himself. You having trouble in your marriage?

Not getting along with the kids? Extended family? Coworkers? You have peace with God.

You have been reconciled to God. You can be reconciled to your neighbor. You can start properly loving your wife.

You have peace with God. Remain steadfast and singularly devoted to Christ.

You have access to the holiest of all. Commune with him there in worship and prayer.

Take advantage of the privileges. Go out and exercise the ministry of reconciliation.

Preach Christ and the reconciliation he has to senders. Consider your standing you have with God in Christ.

We, even in this moment, oh the sheer wonder of the thought, we dwell in his presence and we're loved by him.

And finally, I should say next to last, make the most of your tribulations. See them as an occasion of growth.

A place where your faith will be tested and found true and made ready for even greater faithfulness and service.

And it'll be another occasion for you to give God the glory because you'll be delivered again.

He never leaves you. He never forsakes you. And finally, be filled with hope.

The salvation of Christ is yours. And one of the persons of the

Trinity himself, the Holy Spirit, testifies of God's love for you in Christ.

What a salvation. What a God. What a savior. What a glorious day.

Please pray with me. Lord, we thank you for the treasure of knowing

Christ. There's no place we'd rather be, oh Lord, than in your presence with your people reveling in the glories of Christ.

Under the sway and power of the Holy Spirit, oh Lord, in this we rejoice.

We pray that we would meditate on these things, that we would prepare our hearts even for the rest of the teaching of Romans 5 in the coming two weeks.

And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's continue our worship with the presentation of tithes and offerings.

Please stand and pray with me. Oh Lord, we have greater conviction that our lives belong to you and there's no greater life to live than a life consecrated to you.

We pray that our work and family life and our investing and our finances and everything would have a reflection of our thanksgiving.

Lord, we bring these gifts back to you saying we give thanks, we rejoice in what you've done for us, and we ask, oh

Lord, that you would use this to advance your kingdom, to bring more saints in, to disciple people, to help widows and orphans.

Oh Lord, we ask that you would use these funds for your glory and namesake.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We get to sing again. We have reason to offer doxology to God.

Let's sing heartily to the Lord the Gloria Patri. As it was in the is now.

Lord be with you. Lift up your hearts. Let us give thanks to the

Lord. It is right and a good and joyful thing that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to you,

O Holy Lord, Father Almighty, Everlasting God. Because you sent your beloved

Son to redeem us from sin and death and to make us heirs in him of everlasting life, that when he shall come again in power and great triumph to judge the world, we may without shame or fear rejoice to behold his appearing.

Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we praise and magnify your glorious name, evermore praising you and singing.

Please be seated. O God, the

Father of all mercy, the God of all consolation, we ask that you would grant your gracious presence and the effectual working of your spirit in us, that you would sanctify these elements both of bread and wine, and bless your own ordinance that we may receive by faith the body and blood of Jesus Christ crucified for us, and that we might feed upon him that he may be one with us and we one with him, that he may live in us and we in him.

We ask all of these things for him who has loved us and given himself up for us, the

Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Lord Jesus, on the night in which he was betrayed, this is my body.

Likewise, he took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Drink from it, all of you. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the

Lord's death until he comes. Therefore, we proclaim the faith.

Christ is risen. Christ will come again. Let's approach the table now by praying in all humility the mercy of God upon us.

Let's pray together. We do not presume to come to this your table,

O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your manifold and great mercies.

We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table, but you are the same

Lord who always shows mercy. Gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of your dear son,

Jesus Christ, and to drink of his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us.

Amen. Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore, the gifts of God for you, the people of God.

Through the way, graces of this day, baptism, singing praises to the

Lord, Lord's Supper. Let's make this commitment earnestly and sincerely now.

Almighty and ever -living God, we thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food of our

Savior, Jesus Christ, assuring us in these holy mysteries that we are living members of the body of your

Son. And O Lord, grant us this other benefit that you will never allow us to forget these things, but having them imprinted on our hearts, may we grow and increase daily in the faith which is at work in every good deed.

And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our

Lord. To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit be honor and glory now and forever.

Amen. Please stand. Receive the blessing of the new covenant, the grace of the

Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the