As many of you are so accustomed to, please open up your Bible one more time to Ephesians chapter 6. And we're going to work through verses 10 to 20, though I'm only going to be preaching on verse 15. Ephesians chapter 6. There are a few Bibles if you require one. Paul's letter to the believers in Ephesus. Chapter 6, verse 10. penultimate exhortation. Finally, be strengthened, or as the ESV says, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces, of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand firm, therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace, In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Praying at all times in the spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To this end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. And also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth, to boldly proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak, before I would dare even attempt to preach the gospel this morning, is to join me in a prayer to our God. Father, can these dead and dry bones live? Only You know. Father, I pray, That as prophecy, as it were, goes forth this morning, that you would cause these exceedingly dry bones to live. That you would gather for yourself an exceedingly great army. Father, I pray that through the preaching of the Gospel this morning, the Spirit would remove hearts of stone and replace them with hearts of flesh. Hearts that are supple. Hearts that are responsive. to the spiritual stimuli of the gospel that will receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save their souls. I pray this morning that many would be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. Father, you say that faith comes by hearing and hearing through the proclamation of the gospel of Christ. Lord, would you cause the dead to live this morning. But Father, even for us, Lord, who you have called by your grace, whom you've called in Christ, Father, I pray for those of us who are languishing, for those of us, Lord, who are weary, who are burdened, who are troubled, who are tired, who are groaning. Oh, Father, would you strengthen our feeble knees and would you strengthen our weak arms with the word of grace. Father, I pray. Send forth your Holy Spirit. Lord, it is impossible for a mere man to accomplish anything of any spiritual value or significance apart from the moving of your Spirit. Not by might, not by power, but by your Spirit alone, O Lord of hosts, will your church be built, will your temple grow and build itself up in love. Father, would you give me strength? I confess I feel very weak. I feel very afraid this morning, but Father, would you strengthen me. And Father, would you not only strengthen me, would you open up hearts as you did Lydia when Paul preached the Gospel to receive the message he proclaimed. Father, how we need you. Father, would you, by the Spirit, fix our eyes upon Christ. Lord, may we look and live this morning, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, I had originally anticipated in working through all six armaments of God's armor and two services. The Lord's providence saw fit for me to work through them. one sermon at a time, so we're in week three, and thus we're working on the third armament, or the third piece of armor that the Christian must avail himself with before he's able to stand, withstand, and having done all, stand firm. That is impossible for us as Christians to be able to resist the devil, as it were, apart from these gospel graces, all of these treasures that Christ has purchased for his people. And so, not surprisingly, this sermon is not very clever. It's The Armor of God Part 3, The Shoes of Peace. I've not been called to be creative. I've been called to be a herald of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So this morning, we will continue our study through what is popularly called by theologians, spiritual warfare. And as we saw last week, spiritual warfare is not the weird zany stuff you see on cheesy Christian TV after midnight, where people's eyes are rolling back in their heads, and they're exercising demons all the time. That is not what Paul is primarily talking about. I'm not saying that Christ did not cast out demons, but when Paul says that the Christian is to do battle against the heavenly forces, we are to do so against the schemes, against the plots. against all of the wiles of the devil, who is the deceiver, and who is also called the accuser of the brethren. Now these are theological fights, actually, that we have to engage in. And basically, as I've said innumerable times through the seven years I've been here, putting on the armor of God is basically appropriating all the facets of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel, as we saw this morning in Sunday School, is not the ABCs of the Christian life. It's not just how you get in. But the Gospel is the A to Z of the Christian life. It's how we live. It's how we as Christians move and have our being. That we feed upon Christ and the glorious riches of the Gospel every moment. We don't just accept them into our hearts at one moment of time and then remain in the flesh. No, we abide in Christ. We abide in the vine. We renew the spirit of our minds. We let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly. And by faith we walk in the armor of God. The last two Sundays we've looked at the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness. It would be convenient if the third armor had a B, but it isn't. So we have belt, breastplate, shoes. We have truth, righteousness and peace. We will need all of these and more If we seek to fight, if we seek to war, if we seek to defend ourselves against the insidious attacks of that serpent called Satan and his macabre minions. I like that word, I thought it was macabre, but I have an app and it pronounces it, it's macabre. And that just means ghastly, demonic, nasty. But it's alliterated, macabre minions. Sounds a lot better than ghastly minions, doesn't it? Earlier in the passage, Paul has explained how the devil uses a variety of methods. He attacks some Christians this way. He attacks other Christians that way. He has a plethora of ways to assault and assail us as Christians. And that's why we can't just pick and choose which armor we feel to put on. We must put it all on. And as we saw last week, Satan loves to attack the Christians' assurance. He loves to say, you are not righteous. That you are not good enough. You are not spiritual enough. You have not read your Bible enough. That you have sinned this week. You are not Christian enough to be accepted by God. And so we saw that we would fight against that lie from the pit of hell by putting on the breastplate of righteousness. And not our righteousness, not our filthy garments of the flesh, but rather putting on the righteousness which Christ has procured for his people through a perfect life of obedience. And received, imputed, reckoned to the Christians account by faith. Well, this week we're going to see that the shoes of peace are intimately related to the breastplate of righteousness. Last week I argued that the breastplate of righteousness flowed out of the belt of truth, because truth must define righteousness. I said everyone is probably wearing some form of a breastplate of righteousness. Some of you this morning outside of Christ are sitting with a tattered rag called the armor of Christ. Others of you who have trusted in Christ and repented of their sins are wearing the breastplate of righteousness. And we saw that truth defines righteousness, and truth also defines peace. Okay, there's a link. That's why the belt of truth must go on first. You can listen to the sermon unless they wear you with re-preaching it. But peace is defined biblically, just like righteousness is defined biblically. And just as the shoes of peace are related to truth, we're going to see this morning that these shoes of peace are also related to the breastplate of righteousness. You will have no peace! You will not be wearing the shoes of God's peace, if you're not wearing the breastplate of God's righteousness. Some of you this morning, Struggle with assurance and with peace, because you've forgotten the gospel of justification. So there is going to be some repetition, some overlap this morning, but I have no problem preaching the gospel. The Spirit has said you must preach Christ in every sermon, and Paul endeavored in Corinth to preach nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Are you wearing the belt of truth this morning, Christians? Have you put on the breastplate of righteousness? Are you wearing the shoes of God's peace. If not, you are easy pickings for Satan and all of his attacks. The reason why believers must put on every piece of armor that God provides them in the gospel is because spiritual warfare is all-encompassing. Satan's not like a lot of us lazy employees who takes a lot of breaks, who's late for work. He doesn't just work 9 till 5. You read the book of Job and it says that he is the one who goes across the earth to and fro. It's a very powerful verb in the Hebrew. He's constantly trekking throughout the world, looking to accuse, looking to assault, looking to attack, looking to undermine. Spiritual warfare is all-encompassing. And whether you believe that you're in a spiritual battle or not is besides the question. You are. I don't care if you believe in gravity. The fact of the matter is that gravity is a reality. And I pray to God that with gravity you would deal with it properly as you would spiritual warfare. It touches every area of our lives. There is virtually no part of our Christian existence over which the evil one does not want to maintain or reassert his unhealthy and perverse influence upon the Christian. Christian, I've said this often, life as a Christian is a battle. It's a war. It's a struggle. It's a conflict. It's not a retreat. It's a battle. So therefore put on the whole armor of God. If you are a Christian this morning, regardless of your age, your background, your financial assets, regardless of anything, regardless of whether you want to think about it or not, the truth is that all God's people are guaranteed to face this sinister and supernatural opposition as you set out to live the Christian life. God is summing up all things in Christ, through the Church, as she walks in obedience in a manner worthy of the Gospel. How will Satan thwart that? By seeking to trip you up in your desire to walk in a manner worthy of the Gospel. Let me say it this way, it's not my notes. If you sense no spiritual opposition in your life, you should be very afraid. Because you know what Jesus said when Jesus was casting out demons and some of the opposition of the scribes and Pharisees? They said, you know what? Jesus casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons. You know what Jesus said? Satan is not opposed to Satan. Satan doesn't attack his own people. He attacks his enemies. Some of you have absolutely no opposition. There's no resistance. And this area is set off, that's because dead fish don't swim upstream. Satan doesn't attack his own. And so if there's no attack, if you're just rolling along in life, living happy-go-lucky, I wonder if you've been transferred out of the dominion of Satan in Colossians 1 and into the domain of Christ, God's beloved Son. Yes, as Christians, spiritual warfare is terrifying. But as non-Christians, non-spiritual warfare should be even more terrifying. Because if Satan is not attacking you, that means you're for him. He who is not with Christ is against Christ. Satan is happy to have you sleep. He doesn't want to wake you up. Perhaps you're tired this morning, and you're not even fighting it. Satan would love nothing more than for you to just zone out. Lest you hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and be saved and become His enemy. Were our nation to go to war this morning, only those qualified with able bodies would be called, recruited, drafted to service. Those who are not fit are not drafted. It's not so in the Christian life. I read about so many of my heroes, when there was a war in World War II, they weren't called because they were too young, or their eyes weren't proper, or they had breathing problems, like John Newton. He wasn't drafted into that war because he wasn't fit. But as a Christian, everyone is drafted. It's not just pastors, and elders, and deacons, and the super spiritual people. If you have renounced your former life, and you fled for refuge in Christ alone, you are in a battle. You have been drafted. You have been enlisted. You don't get to choose. You don't get to opt out. You're in the Lord's army. I want to sing the song now, but I'm not going to. As Luther famously penned, though, Though our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe, His power and craft may be great, and armed with cruel hate. On earth is not His equal. You have been drafted into the army, but it's the Lord's army. And He has conquered. He has dealt that death blow to Satan in the book of Revelation. In Colossians 2, He has put to shame publicly the one who attacks you. Christ has already triumphed over Satan. And He's laughing, as it were, at him through the cross. Yes, He is great and armed with cruel hate. And yes, on earth is not His equal. But do you know the next line? Did we in our own strength confide? Our striving would be losing. We're not the right man on our side. The man of God's own choosing. Doskasku that might be. Christ, Jesus, it is He. This is a fancy word that a lot of Christians don't know. Lord Sabaoth. That doesn't mean Lord of the Sabbath. You know what that Hebrew word means? Sabaoth? It means Lord of hosts. You know what that means? The Lord is a warrior, the Lord of Heaven's armies, the conquering King, Christ Jesus, it is He. Lord Sabaoth His name, from age to age the same, and He must win the battle. Let me just keep reading the lyrics. It's worth memorizing. And though this world with devils, that's what Paul talks about. You could say, with rulers and authorities and cosmic powers and spiritual forces of evil. And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo you. Christian. We will not fear. You should have probed that. I will not fear. We will not fear. For God hath willed his truth to triumph through us, church. The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him. His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure. One little word shall fell him. And this is where we're going to transition into Ephesians 6. I promise there is a rhyme and a reason to this long-winded introduction. That word, above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, no thanks to us, abideth. The Spirit and the gifts are ours. That's the line I want you to think about. The Spirit and the armor, you could say. The Spirit and the Gospel gifts are ours. Through Him who with us sideth. If God be for you, who can be against you? Read that in Romans 8.31 and following. The Spirit, Christian, and the gifts are yours through Him who with you sideth. Let goods and kindreds go, this mortal life also, the body they may kill. God's truth abides still. His kingdom is forever. And so though we face a formidable foe, an arduous arch-enemy, Luther reminds us this morning as Christians that in and through Christ, God has given His people His Spirit and His gifts. You can think about the Chronicles of Narnia, you movie watchers, where when they are entered into battle, they are given these various gifts. Well, Christ has given all the gifts to all of his people, if they would only appropriate them all by faith. These gifts of the Spirit, of the Gospel, enable us not only to fend off the foe, but also to further the Kingdom. So you need the armor of God to fend off and to further. To fend off the foe and to further Christ's kingdom. Have you put them on though? Have you put them on by faith and in prayer? When we were witnessing to some people yesterday, I mentioned this in Sunday school, but I don't mind saying it again. There was a girl, I'm not going to mention her name, but we explained the gospel to her. And I said, it's not enough that you know the gospel. It's not enough that you understand what I've articulated to you. It's not enough that you can say it back to me. I said, it's like you're on a plane that's about to crash, and you've gone through the run-through, and you understand what a parachute is, and you understand all of the mechanics of it, and you understand that the parachute will save you. But I said, it's not enough to know about the parachute. And Christian, it's not enough for you to know the Gospel. You must also put on the Gospel. You must put on the Lord Jesus Christ. You must appropriate my faith afresh every single moment. Who you are in Christ, what He has done for you, and all that He has for you. Christians know the gospel. I know you do. But some of you believe you're defeated. Why? Because you've not put on Christ. That's what I urge you to do. Don't just nod your heads. Say, Lord Jesus, remind me of these truths. All these darts that are seeking to stick into my heart and seeking to undo me. Remind me, Christ, of your righteousness and this peace like a river that you give to your people. The first gift, the belt of truth. Why does he say for us to put it on first? Why does Paul say put on the belt of truth first? Because Satan's primary attack against God's people involves what? Distorting the truth. He deceives through distortion. So put on the truth. I preached it, but I'll say it again. I know it sounds legalistic, but you've got to feed on Christ. Satan goes for all the people who are underfed. He goes for all the people who don't know much of the truth. Who are unskilled in the word of righteousness. He goes for those people. It's like a wolf. When they attack a whole bunch of animals, who do they go for? They go for the weak. It's sad, but I've read the statistics. So many Christians, they read their Bibles once or twice a week. They can't stand. The Greek says you can't stand until you've put on, until you've fastened on the belt of truth. And with that truth comes the reminder of a righteousness that is available for sinners in Christ. But if you forget about that righteousness and the peace that attends that declaration, you're easy pickings. I really think this is why many Christians live defeated lives and walk around with their lips hanging and have depression. It's because they forget that in Christ they're more than conquerors. They forget who they are in Christ and that they've been reconciled through His cross to a holy God. This morning, we're looking at the third piece. The first being the belt of truth. The second being the breastplate of righteousness. The third being the choose of peace, their consequence of putting on the breastplate of Christ's righteousness. We recall from Paul's earlier grammar that to stand against the schemes of the devil, that to withstand an evil day, and the prerequisite to standing firm, is putting on, and putting on all. So you can't stop at the belts, you can't stop at the breastplate, you can't even stop with the shoes, though that's where we're going to stop this Sunday. You must put them all on. And so what I want to do this morning is to show you what these shoes look like, and how they help us as Christians in this spiritual battle. If the terrain we as Christians are embarked upon was soothing, like the sand of a tropical beach, wearing shoes wouldn't be that big of a deal. When you go on vacation to a resort, shoes aren't really that important. Say you fly down to Cancun, or to Hawaii, or somewhere nice where there's a tropical beach. You really don't need shoes. The terrain that you walk upon, it's smooth sailing. That's not the terrain of the Christian now. It's far different. It's a battlefield littered with mines, and barbed wire, and sharp impediments that seek to trip you up. It's not the soothing sand of a resort. It's the ground of battlefield. It's a fierce battle that we're engulfed and embroiled in. And the terrain we tread is perilous. And thus we must wear the right shoes. It is essential, Christian, that you're not just wearing any old shoes. Wearing flip-flops to battle might look cool, but they're not very helpful. When I worked with Robert, the first thing I needed to do before I was able to even work on the site was get what? A pair of steel-toed boots. You need them, Christian. Even more than a construction worker. And even more than a soldier needed his army boots, you need your army boots. Because the consequences of not having them are far more precipitous and perilous in a spiritual battle. We recall that as Paul is unpacking the armor of God, he likely has in his mind's eye a Roman soldier. I don't know if it's because he's chained to one, or he's looking through his prison gates, I don't know, but likely he's looking at a Roman soldier and he's appropriating his armaments to the Christian life and how we do battle against the evil one. Along with the belt and breastplate, proper foot gear was a vital piece of equipment for a first century Roman soldier. Often involved in close-range combat, remember we're wrestling, not just archers, but we're wrestling in a close-range combat. The soldier needed to be sure-footed, since losing his balance due to inadequate footwear could hasten his demise in battle. To fight well, the soldier needed to move quickly and decisively, and therefore required solid footing. Scholars tell us that the Roman soldier wore shoes that were leather half boots or sandals tied with straps at the ankles and shins. The soles were thick leather so they could walk on sharp things whether arrowheads or sticks in the ground. Have you ever hurt your foot? This is what came to my mind. I'm a real pansy and we have tons of pine trees in our backyard. So I'm playing with the girls running around and all of a sudden you see me like limping around. And squealing like a little girl, a female pig. You know what I've stepped on? A pine needle. So you know what I do now? I wear sandals in my backyard. Satan wants us to be limping around, halting around. So we need to have a thick sole, as it were. Play on words intentionally. A thick sole on our feet. We need a thick sole that we might be able to battle against Satan. So they had soles of thick leather. They also had studs in them. Sort of like baseball or football cleats. It's like trying to run around on ice. Or like us with our bald tires. I need to get new ones. There's just no grip. You could probably put my van in neutral and push it. Because there's no tread on my tires. And so these Roman shoes for battle, they had a fixed sole that they could walk on, but they also had grippies, if you will, treads, cleats, so that they could withstand their wrestling. Have you ever wrestled with somebody and you've got better grip than them? What happens? You push them around. And so these shoes, Paul is telling us, need to have some grounding. You need a fixed sole and you need to be grounded. Let's also play on words. Without such foot gear, a soldier would never be ready for combat. There'd be no firm connection to the ground. He would never be able to withstand the attack of an opponent. And as Lloyd-Jones reminded me as I was reading one of his sermons, one of the most crucial things a Christian needs in the war is balance. If you don't have right shoes on, you don't have balance. I've only been a pastor for seven years, but I can tell you that almost every problem I see in my own life and in those I talk with, and every false doctrine, it's almost always the result of imbalance. Antinomianism, legalism. Arminianism, plagism, hyper-Calvinism. You know, no reading the Bible, legalism. There's always imbalance. And Paul wants the Christian to be Balanced. Many of our troubles are due to lack of balance. A fact of which Satan is aware. Do you read all the Bible? Or do you just have your little verses that you carry around? Your reformed verses? Or your baptism verses? Or your spirit verses? Or whatever your hobby horse verses are? It's funny, because when you have just those verses in your mind, it's funny how unbalanced you become. And the Bible becomes about one or two things. And you're unsteady, and it's easy to push over something that's losing its balance. You've got all four tires on the ground, it's hard to roll your car. So you need to make sure that you're putting on the belt of truth, and the breastplate of righteousness, and the shoes of peace. They will give you balance and stability, and a unified Christian walk. The first advantage such war boots provided the Roman soldier was a firmness of hold. Second, is that it allowed him to have security when he walked. And thirdly, it provided him with mobility. I'm getting on, I promise. But the three benefits of wearing shoes in battle are stability, security, and mobility. Okay? You need all three of those. Stability, security, and mobility. The Gospel provides all of those. Some of you right now have very little stability in your Christian walk. You know what my advice is? Put on the shoes of peace. Some of you have very little security in your Christian walk. Pun intended. Put on the shoes of peace. Some of you have very little mobility in your Christian walk. Well, put on the shoes of peace. In the words of Paul, we must arm ourselves with the peace that comes from the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christian, if your gospel shoes of peace are not laced up this morning, you are not ready to stand. Christian, it is impossible to be strengthened in the Lord, and in the power of His might, unless you put on shoes for your feet. You can't stand, withstand, or stand firm. You can't be strengthened in the Lord without these shoes. So the first principle you need to know this morning is that putting on our gospel shoes readies you for battle. What's the Greek word? Preparation, readiness. You're not ready for battle if you don't have the shoes of peace on. Okay, I know I've used this illustration before, but everybody's lined up for battle. I'm not wearing my shoes. Who's dying first? Me. Right? Say there's broken glass, I think you'll die hard now. This is before I got saved, so don't judge me. But, you know, Bruce Willis, he's fighting against the terrorists and they realize he has no shoes on. And what do they do? They shoot the glass around him. None of you probably even know what movie I'm talking about, but that's okay. They shoot the glass around him, and it all shatters. And he's basically paralyzed, because he has no shoes on his feet. Had he shoes on his feet, could he walk on the broken glass? Could he stand, withstand and stand firm? Could he fight back? Absolutely. He didn't have shoes on, and he was helpless. Don't watch the movie. First principle is, To live in a manner worthy of the Gospel, to fight against Satan, is you need shoes, because the shoes ready you. They prepare you for battle. No shoes, no preparation. No shoes, no readiness. The second principle, which I'm going to spend a little more time on now, is how do you put them on, and why do you put them on? How do you put on the shoes? You put them on by faith, by believing the Gospel. The shoes of the Gospel remind us that in Christ, we have peace with God. Do you have peace with God this morning? The first piece of gospel armor is the truth, and therefore we must define peace by the truth. Did you know that in the Old Testament there were many people who thought they had peace, though they had no peace? Did you know that there were many false prophets in the Old Testament, just like there are many hucksters in the New Covenant? Did you know that there's many preachers actually this Sunday who are preaching peace, peace, when there is no peace? And God says through Jeremiah that my people love to have it so, that people love to hear a false gospel, a false peace. The first piece of gospel armor is the truth, and so the peace I'm preaching on this morning must be true peace, gospel peace, God-given, Christ-earned peace. Dear listener, please understand that wearing any old shoes will not suffice in the battle. To stand against the throes of the foe, you must be wearing the gospel shoes. She says, putting on a breastplate of false righteousness is eternally perilous and precarious and pernicious. So also putting on the tattered shoes of a false notion of peace will be of no eternal good to you. I encourage you, go home, if you have the internet, and Google peace quotes. Or quotes on peace, whatever you want to do. I guarantee you will look and linger long before you see anything about peace with God. You know what Buddha says? Peace is found inside. Same with Gandhi, and same with every other false religion. Work at peace with yourself. I've shared the gospel with people whom I love and people whom I don't know. And you know what they've said? I have peace in my heart that I'm right with God. Even though they have rejected Christ Jesus. Do they have peace? Are they wearing shoes? Yes. But are they the shoes of gospel peace? No. They're deceived by the deceiver. And I would ask you this morning, as I preach, what shoes are you wearing? Are they the false shoes of a false peace from a false gospel offered by a false God? Or are they the true shoes from a true gospel offered by a true God? Beloved, mark this down. The Bible says that apart from faith in Christ, There is no peace. So you could say, I feel peace in my heart right now, but you're not a believer, you're deceived. Either you're right or the Bible is right. But you know what God says, repeatedly in the Old Testament? There is no peace for the wicked. There is no peace with God. outside of Jesus Christ. Regardless of how peaceful you feel, regardless of how long you can meditate at the door handle and levitate, there's no peace, save the Lord, to the wicked. Why? Because the very definition of peace is this. It's the absence of hostility and strife between two warring parties. And you know what the Bible says? If you are outside of Christ, you are an enemy of God. I know that's not good news. Yet, but I would hate for you to be so deluded, like 2 Thessalonians 2 says, as to believe a false gospel and think all is well with me outside of Christ. I'm a good person. I'm a religious person. I'm a spiritual person. I do all kinds of charity. That accounts for naught before a thrice holy God. Apart from Christ and vital union in Him by faith, there is no peace for anybody in this world, which is why we preach the gospel. The very definition of peace is the absence of hostility and strife between two warring parties. Did you know this? That the Bible says that by nature we are enemies with God. Yes, God is love. But you know what the Bible also says? Some of you may want to get up and leave after this, but I would encourage you to read in the Bible. Psalm 5, for example, says the Lord is angry with the wicked. Every day his soul abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. The evil one may not dwell with God. There's no peace between a holy God and an unholy, unrepentant sinner. It's incompatible. Can light and darkness have fellowship? No! This is the message we heard from the beginning and declare to you that God is light and in Him is no darkness, no none at all. If we say we walk in the light but walk in the darkness, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in you. You cannot walk with God outside of Christ. Outside of Christ we are by nature enemies. We are children of wrath, Ephesians says. Romans 8, 7 says that we are enmity with God, we hate Him. You say, I don't hate God. Yes, you do if you are outside of Christ. As unpalatable as this truth is, the Bible clearly teaches by nature we are estranged from God. and we are enemies of God. Remember that when you're sharing the gospel with unbelievers. Estranged from God, enemies with God. So why are churches not preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified? Because they don't believe that. So turn to Romans chapter 5. Okay, I'm going to focus not yet on the first verse, but I am going to read it. Because the first verse is necessary when we read verses 6 through 9. Notice the tense here. Therefore, Romans 5, 1, having been, or the is be, since we have been justified, that's a past tense, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God. How? Through our good works, spirituality, good karma, nobility, charity, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received also access into this grace in which we now stand by faith. No justification, no peace. Why? What does the doctrine of justification teach? That God forgives sinners based on the work of Christ. Why would a sinner need to be forgiven? Because the sinner is at enmity with God and the sinner cannot come into God's presence while carrying the filth of sin. Matt comes to my house and he's been rolling around in manure. I'm not letting him come into my house. But if he's been washed and if he's been cleansed of that filth, come on in Matt. You can now have peace in my home. We can now be friends. Don't think for one moment you can walk into my house covered in that filth. It's exactly what Paul says. There's no peace with God if you're still in your sin. That's why you must be justified. That's why you must repent. That's why Christ must forgive you of your sins and give you his righteousness. Last week's sermon. Tenses are very important. He doesn't say we have peace with God and then are justified. It says we must be justified. We must be declared righteous. We must have our sins imputed upon Christ. He must become sin. He must become our rebellion, our transgression, our iniquity. And we must become His righteousness, 2 Corinthians 5.21 says. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Look now in verse 6. This is why Christ had to die. This is why it's not an option. He's going to say, this is why we need Christ. So, for. It's an important word in the Greek and in the English. For while we were still weak. The Bible says you're weak, firstly. At the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. So you're weak and you're ungodly. Though one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, hypothetically, read Romans 3, one would dare even to die. But God shows His love for us in that while we were still, thirdly, sinners. So we're weak, we're ungodly, and we're sinners. And yet Christ dies for those kinds of people. But we're not done yet. Since therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, by His death, Much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God, for if we were enemies. Weak, ungodly, sinners, enemies. This is why the Gospels are non-negotiable. If you're strong, godly, not that bad of a sinner, you don't need Christ. Leave here and keep being religious. But if you are weak, ungodly, a sinner, and an enemy against God, you need Christ to die on your behalf, to bring you into the presence of God. Those are all together. And thus we all need Christ. No peace without Christ justifying you. Turn to Ephesians 2. This should be helpful as well. While you're turning there, let me read to you the nature that we're all born into the world with. I know, there's always visitors, and there's a good chance you might not come back next week. That's okay. I'm going to stand before God one day, and I want to say with Paul, I've done so with a clean conscience. That I've spoken to you the truth of God's Word. Did not hold back anything that was profitable. I want to be able to say before God, that whatever today's date is, I preach the Gospel to people who might never come back. Because you know what? You might die going home today and go to hell. I'd rather you leave here angry with me and then repent, than leave here happy with me, ticking your ears and go to hell. I'm really not that angry of a person. And you were dead. Literally, you were in, you being dead, in your trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the Prince of the Power of the Air. That's why I said, if you're not feeling spiritual opposition, it's because you're for Team Satan. You're following Him. Following the Prince of the Power of the Air, the Spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh. But it gets even worse. Carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind. And we're by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. What is Paul saying? That by birth we are sinners who rebel against God and His wrath is upon us. There's no peace when God's wrath is upon you. Go down to verse 11 then. And therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision which is made in the flesh by hands. Remember that you were at one time separated from Christ. Alienated from the commonwealth of Israel. What he's saying is that you were outside of God's way of saving people through the sacrifice and through the law. And when I say that, I mean by faith through which the sacrifice and the law pointed to. If you weren't in Israel, if you were in Moab and you never heard the Old Testament Scriptures, you couldn't be saved. You're separated from the Messiah. You're alienated from all the covenant privileges of Israel. He says that you were strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. What is he saying? That we're born estranged. And we're born alienated. There's no peace between us and God by nature. Which is why we need Christ to bridge that gulf. Christ needs to be our mediator, our representative. He needs to forgive us, to bring us to God. 1 Peter 3.18 says that just the righteous one for the unrighteous died to bring us to God. Why do we need to be brought to God? Because we're enemies. But the Gospel doesn't stop there. Look at in the next verse. Verse 13, but now, what are those next two words? But now, in Christ. Remember when I said, there's no peace out of Christ, there's only peace with God in Christ? So you were once enemies, estranged, all that by nature, children of wrath. But now, in Christ, you were once far off. have been brought near by the blood, by the death of Christ. For He Himself is our peace. There it is. When I say that there's no peace with God apart from Christ, that's the verse. Not just peace between Jew and Gentile, peace between God and man. I know it's not a very popular message, but God is angry at sinners. He loves them, yes, but He's angry and He will judge them if they're not in Christ. You know what we tell people when we witness on the streets? Your sins will be judged. Either upon Christ on the cross, or upon you in hell. Choose this day. There's no peace for you apart from Christ. There's no reconciliation between enemies. Christ is the only one who can take enemies and make them children. Before man can be reconciled to God, before man can know God, man's sin must be removed. That's why Christ is our peace. Why did Christ come into the world? To bear the sins of His many, you shall call His name Jesus. Why? For He will save His people from their sins. Why do they need to be saved from their sins? Because they cannot come into God's presence as a friend while they're still carrying all of their sin. This is what it says in verse 16 of chapter 2. That Christ by His death would reconcile sinners to God. In one body, through what? Through the cross! Yes, the cross shows us how much God loves us, but the cross shows us how our sin alienates us, and separates us, and removes the peace we have from God. That's why Christ came into the world. To bring us near to God. To reconcile us to God through the cross, killing the what? You're like, no, no, that's just hostility between Jew and Gentile. Paul's talking about both. There's a hostility if you're not in Christ. But my parents are Christians. It doesn't matter. God doesn't have grandchildren. I got a Bible, an ESV, big Bible, if you're not in Christ. The Bible says there's a hostility between you and between God, and it's a two-way street. You hate God, and He's angry with you. In fancy theological terms, you would say this, justification provides the basis for reconciliation. You guys don't like those theological terms. Justification provides the basis for reconciliation. You can't be reconciled. The enmity can't be removed until the sin is removed. Okay, so here's an analogy that comes to my mind. It might be a good one, I don't know. So me and Christine are married. And all of a sudden I start dating a whore. And I bring the whore into the marriage bed. And so there's me, the whore, and there's Christina. Is there reconciliation between me and Christina while that whore is still there, in the bed? I know it's crass, but that's sin. Sin is adultery. What needs to be removed before Christina will snuggle with me? The sin. Okay? Regardless of what you think, or what eases your conscience this morning, regardless of what many false prophets concessively preach, dear listener, if you're not wearing Christ's righteousness this morning, the Bible clearly teaches you have no peace with your God. But if you're a Christian, the Bible gloriously teaches that Christ Himself is our peace. It's been a negative message, but I'm reminding you, Christian, I need to show you who you were I need to show you what Christ has done that you might revel in it more. If you're in Christ, He is your peace. Not might be or will be. Christ is your peace. Today, who by His atoning work on the cross has broken down the wall of asylum that was erected between you and God. Or as we read, having been justified by faith, we now have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Are you longing for peace this morning? Because only the gospel will provide you with a true and lasting peace. Every false religion says that our problem lies outside of us. The reason I don't have peace inside is because of something outside. And the solution to the problem that's outside is found within. You know what? Deepak Chopra, all these clowns on Oprah, you know what they say? The problem is out there! So chaotic! Find the peace within! The Bible couldn't say anything more contradictory than that. The Bible says the problem is within! And the only solution is found without. The problem, the reason why you don't have peace, is not your wife, is not your boss, is not the country you grew up in, is not your upbringing, is not your job, is not your education. The problem with you is the sin in your heart that keeps you from having peace with God. And you will never find peace within. You will only find peace by looking without, to the Lord Jesus Christ. You know He says, look to me all ye ends of the earth and be ye saved. He means it. Look and live. But look outwardly, because if you look inwardly, you will die. Listen to this, this is Marvin Gaye. If you cannot find peace within yourself, you will never find it anywhere else. What kind of people believe that? You talk with people at your office. Talk with them on the street. Most people believe that crap. Dalai Lama. We can never obtain peace in our outer world until we make peace with ourselves. That's not the truth. You'll never have peace with yourself until you have peace with God. Vertical peace precedes horizontal peace. As worldly wise as these philosophers may seem, these lies come from the pit of hell. Diametrically opposed to this stands the gospel of Jesus Christ, which alone avails for us a sure footing against the attacks of the enemy. I quoted you one of my favorite hymns. I'm going to quote you two lines from another one. Not what my hands have done can save my guilty soul. Not what my toiling flesh has done can make my spirit whole. Not what I feel or do can give me peace with God. Not all my prayers and tears can bear this awful load. Thy work alone, O Christ, can ease this weight of sin. Looking within won't help you with that. If you feel convicted for your sin right now, I am thankful to the Lord, because the Spirit comes to convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. If you feel a conviction of sin this morning, listen to what Horatius Bonner says. Thy work alone, O Christ, can ease this weight of sin. Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God, can give me peace within. Thy love to me, O God, not mine, O Lord, to Thee, can rid me of this dark unrest, this unpeace, you could say, and set my spirit free. Only Christ's work, only Christ's blood can free you. Only Christ's merit, only Christ's substitutionary death, only Christ's gospel can give you peace this morning. Peace flows out of Christ's righteousness. Are you clothed in the righteousness of Christ? Have you put on the breastplate of Christ's righteousness? Yes? Then the shoes should come on pretty easily after that. When Satan says, God is angry at you! No, He's not. God was angry at me and His Son when He judged my sin on the cross. And the Bible now says that I'm a friend of God like Abraham, because I believed in the Gospel. You know what Ephesians 1 says, Satan? It says that through Christ I've been adopted as a son. You know what I sing on Sunday morning? He'll never turn His heart or His face away from me. You know why? Because he turned his heart and his face away from Christ on the cross for my sin. I hope he's saying amen inside. I know I'm not a great preacher, but these truths should well worth up a great amount of joy within you. Unfortunately, some of you this morning, many Christians I've met, they believe their sins are forgiven. They've put on the breastplate of righteousness, but they still feel that God is angry at them. That God is keeping them at arm's length. Yes, God is just, but He's not warm, and He's not welcoming me, despite what Romans 15, 7 says. And I was thinking about this this week. I know I'm going long, but just bear with me a little more in my folly. What good would it be only if your sins were forgiven? What good would it be if God was still cold and distant to you? if you couldn't call God friend, if you weren't sure if there was still some kind of problem between the two of you. So let me use another illustration that comes to mind. I'm a moron, which you guys know, and I do stupid things often to my wife. I sin against her. There will be a little bit of coldness, and then we'll go to bed together, And she'll say, I forgive you. And that's nice. But you know what I'm really longing for? I'm longing for her to roll over, put her arm around me, and kiss me on the cheek. It's nice to know she's forgiven, that she's forgiven me. But we're still laying with our backs to each other. You know, the gospel is so much more than God forgiving you of your sins. God welcomes you in. He accepts you. He embraces you. He's delighted in you. He forgives you, and then He embraces you. And that's what Paul says. Yes, it's great that you have the breastplate of God's righteousness. Yes, you declare just. But the peace says the hostility is removed. And even more than that, that there is a friendship, an intimacy, a fellowship. It's like in Ephesians 5 when he said the gospel is sort of like a husband and a wife. What good would it be? We were forgiven of our sins, but didn't have that assurance. The God was pleased with us. He accepted us. Good job, Ryan. I love you. I care for you. Again, I don't want to get too cheesy, but as it were, He's even embracing me. That helps. It's not enough just to have my sins forgiven. I want God. I don't just want His forgiveness. I want Him. I don't just want Christina to forgive me. I want her. I married her not so that I wouldn't have no sins. I married her because I love her. That's the gospel. That God gives you, yes, forgiveness of sins, but He gives you so much more. Put on the gospel shoes this morning, dear Christian, in Christ. He's not only justified you. You're accepted. You're adopted. God is pleased with you in Christ. Even when I sin? Yes. Let me lead you to the Lord's table. Jesus Christ said, Peace I give you. Has Jesus Christ given you peace this morning? In this world there's going to be all kinds of crazy things happening, without, within, stormy, gales, rocks. Some of you I know got rocked this week with all kinds of trials and temptations. But Jesus Christ says to His disciples on the eve of His crucifixion, My peace I give you. Not worldly peace. Worldly peace doesn't help. It's a vapor. It's a mist. It's transitory. It's like a rotten tooth or a broken limb. Jesus says, My peace I give you. Do you have that peace? Do you have that word Shalom? That's the word Paul is thinking of. Do you have that wholeness, that completeness, that restoration? In our language, peace is just the absence of hostility. That's true. But in the Hebrew understanding, peace was more than just the absence of hostility. It was the fullness that comes from a right relationship with God through covenant. Do you have that? Do you have this shalom? I was going to get into a huge thing. I won't because it's already going late. I would encourage you to go home or after the community group. But tomorrow read Leviticus chapter 3. They're what are called the Shalameem Offerings. Shalameem sounds like... I was trying to explain this to Lazar yesterday. Sounds like Shalom. It's built off the word Shalom. It's the peace offering. And if you were to read Leviticus 1 and 2, you're going to see that there's two offerings that precede it. And that Leviticus 1, 2 and 3 are three different kinds of offerings that were often offered in unison, together. They were a packaged deal. The first one is what you call the burnt offering. The sin offering. The Ola. Let's think of some person. Ola! That's what God does in the burnt offering. He removes our sin and our guilt. And then there's the Minha. That's chapter 2. And then there's the third offering. It's called the peace offering. And if you read it, you know what the peace offering is? It's a fellowship offering. Wherein you get to eat in the presence of God. But you don't offer the peace offering until you offer the burnt offering. You see where I'm going with this, I hope. It's not enough to offer the Ola. Thank you Jesus for forgiving my sin, but I'm going to offer the peace offering. Because I want fellowship with you. I want peace and a fellowship offering with you. I want to know that I've been restored, not just forgiven. I was thinking of David and Absalom. David wasn't angry at Absalom. Absalom's life was ruined. Why? Because David didn't bring him in and embrace him. We need that. So after we offer, as it were, the Ola, Christ dies for our sins. What the Jew would do in the Old Testament is he would offer the shalomim, the peace offerings. And what it signified was not only were their sins forgiven, but God had brought them back in and he was eating with them. And if you look in the Old Testament and in the New, you know what eating was signifying? Welcome. Fellowship. This man eateth with sinners and prostitutes and tax collectors. What did the Jews mean by that? He eats with them. Shouldn't be in KSC, Jesus. They're saying He is spending time with them and He's embracing and He's welcoming and accepting sinners. So I want you to understand. I'm tempted to start having the Lord's Table every Sunday, by the way. Because it's like a peace offering. Please see that as you are taking the Lord's table, what you're doing is you are preparing yourself by battle, by putting on the shoes of peace that come from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's not just, okay, just repeat it, I'm thinking about lunch, blah, blah, blah, blah, drink, eat, or eat, drink, whatever. It's so much more. Jesus, your broken body, your shed blood has forgiven my sins, yes, but it has given me peace with God. I'm eating, not only in the presence of God, I'm eating in the embrace of God, as it were. I don't know, it blew my mind as I was thinking through it this week. Sometimes we just go through the motions at the Lord's table. But as you take it, as long as God gives you breath, remember, those are the shoes of peace. I can eat and drink this. Why? Because in Christ, I have been reconciled to Holy God. Have you been reconciled to Holy God, or are you just religious this morning? If you're disreligious this morning, please don't partake. You know who the meal is for? Those who have been forgiven. Have you been forgiven? You say, I don't know. The Bible says this, that by grace are you saved through faith in the Gospel. It's not your own doing. It's not a result of works, so that no one might boast. That believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and God will forgive you, and He will accept you, and He will offer terms of peace. through Christ. So quiet, I don't know if you're tired, you're somber, you're just praying that I would shut up. But I really do pray that you would know the Lord Jesus Christ, and He Himself would be your peace this morning. And before we partake, let me just pray. Father, this was a long, perplexing sermon, Lord, I sense. I can only pray that some nugget of truth, Lord, would strike the heart of someone this morning, perhaps unto salvation. Father, for others of us, Lord, who feel cut off, as it were, from you, that perhaps The benediction of Aaron that there would be peace upon the people and your countenance would be smiling. Perhaps we feel your frowning upon us this morning. May the Gospel drive away those clouds. May we understand that the Son of Righteousness is looking upon us with a smile. Father, I pray this is not cheesy and superficial, but we would actually understand that in Christ we are well pleasing to our Father. Lord, I ask this, and when Satan tempts us to despair, Remind us, O God, that we have peace with You through Christ, our peace offering. I don't know what else to say, Lord, other than bless Your holy name. Father, we pray that You would bless Your holy people this morning as we gaze upon Christ. May He receive all the glory we ask, Father. In His name, Amen.