In his sermon, Steve Hopkins expounds on Romans 5:1, emphasizing the concept of justification by faith and its consequence, peace with God. He reviews Paul's teachings in the preceding chapters of Romans, stressing that no one is justified by the law, but rather by faith in Jesus Christ. The sermon highlights the story of Abraham, who was deemed righteous due to his faith, not his adherence to the law, which came 430 years later. Hopkins underscores that faith is a gift from God, not a personal work, and that it's through this faith that believers are clothed in Christ's righteousness. He portrays the natural state of humanity as being at war with God, but explains that through Christ's sacrifice, this enmity is ended, bringing reconciliation and peace. The sermon concludes by reassuring believers of their justified state and the peace that comes with being clothed in Christ's righteousness.

Welcome back to Barnet Bible Church. Join us this week as Pastor Hopkins continues his sermon series through the Book of Romans. Good morning. I always like that good, hearty good morning by Phil. Turn with me in your Bibles once again to the book of Romans and the fifth chapter.

We've taken a rather lengthy break from our study of the letter of Paul to the beloved at Rome to look in depth at the Lord's prayer. But now we return. And if you would stand with me for the reading of the Word of the Lord, one single verse, Romans chapter 5 and verse 1. Let's read the Word of the Lord together. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let's pray. Father, we do praise God and adore you. Father, we thank you that you are our God and we your redeemed children on account of the justification purchased for us by the death of your Son. Father, we ask that you would speak to our hearts this morning by your Word, that you would illuminate the text before us, and that you would open up our understanding by your Spirit. For we ask it in Jesus name, Amen.

Let's be seated. So our text this morning begins, Therefore, you've all heard me say this or you've heard some pastor or expositor say this in the past. If you see the word therefore in Scripture, the first thing you need to ask yourselves is what is it there for? And of course it refers to what has previously been stated or what has previously been taught. And as I said, we've taken a break from our study of the letter of Paul to the Christians, to the beloved at Rome, to the elect at Rome, to look in depth at the Lord's Prayer, but now we're returning and I feel like we need to be reminded of where we left off so many weeks ago because before we look at the consequences of being justified by faith, the first of which is peace with God, we need to be sure we understand what it means to be justified by faith.

And the first thing that I want to bring to your remembrance this morning is how the Apostle Paul labored. He really labored to drive home the truth in the previous two chapters that no one, not a single person who's ever lived, has ever been justified in the sight of God by the keeping of the law. Not in Old Testament times, not in New Testament times, not in any other time has anyone ever been justified in the sight of God by the keeping of the law. Jesus is the only perfect law keeper who is all God and all man. But that justification in God's sight, being declared just in God's sight, Having the righteousness of God declared to our account, salvation, is on the basis of not our righteousness, but the righteousness of God's Son, of Christ.

And that righteousness, as you'll remember, imputed to us, reckoned to our accounts, reckoned to the accounts of ungodly sinners like you and me, and that by God's grace. And it is this righteousness of Christ declared to our accounts, reckoned to our accounts, that we by the grace of God lay hold on by faith in the person and the work of God's Son Jesus Christ. So what we found in our study of the previous two chapters was Paul's conclusion, a man is justified by faith apart from works, apart from the deeds of the law. Do you remember how diligently the apostle drove home the point that Abraham was justified before God when he was still an uncircumcised man. How many remember us going through that?

The blessing of justification and the imputation of the righteousness of Christ to ungodly sinners, whereby we are counted righteous before God, comes not only upon the circumcised, but also upon the uncircumcised." Not only upon the circumcised, as the Jews believed and the Judaizers that were in the church at that time, the visible church, were teaching, but also upon the uncircumcised. Abraham is the father of all the faithful, the Scripture says. And he lived, you'll remember, in a justified state before God, having believed God for many years before He was circumcised. How many remember the number of years Abraham lived in the state of justification before God before he was circumcised? How many remember?

Yeah, how many? Fourteen. About fourteen years. Abraham received the sign of circumcision, the seal of the faith he already had, 14 years after he was justified by faith. 14 years After, faith was imputed to him for righteousness so that he would be clearly understood to be the father of all them that believe even though they be not circumcised.

The righteousness that is imputed to them that believe comes upon the uncircumcised as well as the circumcised. This is what the apostle Paul had been teaching, and Abraham is the father of us all, the father of all that believe whether they be circumcised or not. And in review, we looked at Galatians chapter 5, verses 2 through 4, to emphasize further what Paul was saying. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you that if you be circumcised, that is, you get circumcised because you think it's going to save you or it's going to aid you in your salvation or justification before God, Christ shall profit you nada. Nothing.

Zero. A man is justified in God's sight, declared righteous in God's sight the moment he puts his trust in Jesus alone for his salvation. We receive justification the instant we believe. Paul said that if we place our hope in any work of our own, we then make ourselves debtors to all the law of God. Now you've got to keep it all.

Okay? Now you're a debtor to all the law, to the entire law of God, a thing no mere man has ever done or ever will be able to do, but which Christ accomplished in the place of his people. And then we looked at how it was promised to Abraham that he would be the heir of the world. How many remember us talking about that? He's told you're gonna be heir of the world.

And we looked at how the fulfillment of that would be by faith and not by the law. And we looked at exactly what that meant. How many remember? The promise to Abraham back in Genesis chapter 12 was that he would be heir of the world. He was given the promise that he would be the father of an innumerable multitude and that they would possess the land of Canaan, right?

And that through his seed, the seed of his own body and that of his wife, which is what Phil was referring to a minute ago, that from the seed of their body all the families of the earth would be blessed. How many remember that? Going through that. And the fulfillment, we were told, would not be through the law, but by faith. And we went to Galatians chapter three, we looked at verse 16 to get a clearer picture.

How many remember what we found there? Who is the seed through which all the families and all the nations of the world would be blessed through Father Abraham? Who is that seed? Christ, yes. In Galatians 3.16 we read, Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made.

He saith not unto seeds, plural, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. God said he would bless all the families of the earth through the seed of Abraham, that is through the seed or offspring that would come from his body and the body of his wife Sarah, and that seed or offspring or child that would eventually descend from Abraham we know would be Jesus, was Jesus. Abraham believed the promises of God way back in Genesis 15, and it was imputed to him for righteousness. Abraham is saved at this point. He is a saved man, he's a justified man, before he's circumcised or keeps any laws and before the law of God is even given.

How many remember from our study how many years it was, How long was it after Abraham was justified by faith before Moses comes down from the mount with the law of God in his hands? How many remember how many years it was? 430 years, okay? That's what we read in Galatians 3.17, if you flip over to Galatians 3.17. The law came 430 years after the promise and after the faith and justification of Abraham, so that the promises cannot in any way be understood as dependent upon the law not dependent upon circumcision not dependent upon keeping of the law but on account of the righteousness imputed to him to those who believe who have faith who have faith Abraham is counted righteous by faith back in Genesis 15.

He believes God, the Scripture tells us, and it is imputed to him for righteousness. Abraham receives the promise by faith, not by the keeping of the law, which will not come in for another 430 years. Therefore, the promises cannot be dependent upon the law. We went on to understand that if that were the case, that would render the faith of Abraham by which he was justified back in Genesis 15 void and make the promises of God of none effect. It's not dependent upon the law.

The promises are not dependent upon the law. Justification in the sight of God is not by the keeping of the law, but by faith. And we read, it is of faith that it might be clearly understood to be by grace. That is a gratuitous, unmerited work of God. Understand this.

It's not in the text here, but understand this. Faith is not your work, okay? Faith is the work of God in you. Faith is not your work. If it was, then you would be saved by works.

But you're not. It's a work of God that is done in you. He is the one who implants faith in the heart of a man, a woman, a child. He's the one who births the faith within us. It doesn't come from within us, because remember, what's in man?

Nothing good. Nothing good. And faith, the ultimate good, is going to come from a rotten, unregenerate heart? I think not. No.

It is something that God gives to a man. It is the gift of God. Otherwise, we could boast. As Paul says in Ephesians. Abraham, we read, believed God, and against hope, believed in hope.

This is what Phil was referring to. He was 99 years old, his wife was 90. This was against hope, believing in hope. This was trusting in the Word of God in the face of seemingly impossible circumstances. I asked in that message, how many know that 90-year-old women don't conceive and bear children?

Abraham believed, he hoped against hope. He, against hope, believed in hope. This was trusting in the Word of God in the face of seemingly impossible circumstances. But Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief. He was strong in faith, we read.

He didn't stagger at the promise of God. He had no doubt that God both could and would fulfill his word. Abraham trusted in the Word of God, and God received glory thereby. Abraham was fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was also able to perform. And you see where the apostle has been going with this.

So must all those who believe. And it was imputed to him for righteousness. It was credited to his account, Abraham's account for righteousness, as Abraham laid hold on the promise of God by faith. Abraham trusted that God would provide a child through his body and the body of his wife Sarah, which were effectively dead with respect to childbearing. And he trusted God that through his offspring, capital O, the one seed, which is Christ, all the nations of the world would be blessed, as we saw in Galatians 3, 8 and 3, 17.

And all the nations of the world have been blessed through that one seed. Remember? We looked at Revelation 7, 9 through 10, which speaks of a great multitude which no man can number, of all nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands, saying, Salvation to our God. These are saved people. Salvation to our God, which stood upon the throne and unto the Lamb.

The lamb took away their sin. And then we read, and brothers and sisters, this is so important as we come up to chapter 5. We read in the last verses of chapter 4 that it was not written. All of the stuff he's been talking about, all the stuff about Abraham and the imputation, him believing God and it being imputed in for righteousness, it's not written for Abraham's sake alone. This wasn't written for Abraham's sake alone, that righteousness was imputed to him on account of faith, but for us also.

It was also written for us. It was also written for you. It was written for all of us, to whom it shall be imputed, to whom the righteousness of Christ shall be imputed if we believe on Him. If we believe God, if we believe what God has revealed to us in His word concerning the person and the work of his son, Jesus Christ. You see, Abraham's back here in Genesis, and he's looking forward to the one seed that will come from his body who will come and bless all the nations of the earth, through whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

He's looking forward to the coming of Christ. We're on this end of the spectrum. On the other side, we're looking back at what Christ did 2, 000 years ago on that cross of Calvary. If we believe on Him, if we believe What God has revealed to us concerning the person and work of his Son, if we believe on him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. The imputation of the righteousness of Christ and Thus justification in God's sight is promised to everyone who believes the testimony of God Concerning his son isn't that a blessed hope Isn't that a blessed truth Every one of us needs to be covered by Christ's righteousness.

You need to be clothed. You need to be covered by Christ's righteousness. I need to be covered by Christ's righteousness. Apart from that covering, not a one of us will be safe on the day of judgment, but will be exposed to the wrath of God forever. In fact, His wrath, we read in John 3.36, is even now abiding upon them who do not truly believe.

Abideth. The wrath of God abideth on him, John says. That's present tense and ongoing. The wrath of God continues to abide upon all of them who don't really believe. When I preach on the streets, I warn men, you don't want to stand before the holy God who made all things from nothing, clothed in your sin and self-unrighteousness.

Many times I'll just point to the sun. You can't even look into the blazing glory of the sun without being blinded. What in the world are you going to do on the day of judgment when you stand before the holy God who made that sun? And it's Nothing in His sight. It's just spoken into existence out of nothing.

In the words of Paul Washer, our God is a dangerous God. Those clothed in their sin and their self-righteousness will be exposed to and suffer the wrath of God for all eternity in hell you need the righteous covering of Christ those final words we read at the end of chapter 4 communicate much if you believe on him who raised up our Lord Jesus from the dead you must and this is where we ended several weeks ago, you must put your trust in God and his promise to save ungodly sinners like us and ungodly sinners like Abraham. You must believe the testimony of God concerning his son Jesus, his person and his work, his life, his death, and his resurrection from the dead. And you must believe that he is Lord, it says, if you believe on him who raised up our Lord Jesus from the dead. We read it chapter four, our Lord Jesus.

That word Lord is a term of deity. You must believe that he is both God and man. That he is, that Jesus is God the Son, come in the flesh, God incarnate. And you must believe that he died and that he rose again from the dead and that the purpose of his death was for our offenses in which you're included, for your offenses. You must believe personally that you are included in that.

He was sacrificed for my sins because I offended God by sinning against him. For all have sinned and fall short continually of the glory of God. And You must trust God's word. You must believe God when he says that he delivered his own son to judgment for the offenses of his people to satisfy justice and to pay the penalty to our sins. He satisfied the justice that was due us, that was due you.

You must believe that Jesus was delivered for your offenses and raised again for your justification. If we believe on him who raised up our Lord Jesus from the dead, here we go again, The righteousness of Christ is imputed to us. We are clothed in his perfect righteousness. His death has atoned for our sins, amen? Satisfaction has been made, praise God.

His obedience in life and death is yours. His obedience in life and death is mine. His obedience in life and death is yours His obedience in life and death is mine His obedience in life and death is ours who believe on His name and we are justified in God's sight and His resurrection secures our justification. At the moment we believe we were justified in God's sight and This is where we ended in our last session on Romans. And from that point forward, God forever looks upon us as He looks on His Son.

Is God angry with His Son? No. He is not angry with any of those who are in his son either. And so that's review. As we pick up with our opening text this morning, we read, therefore, therefore, being justified by faith, therefore being declared just in God's sight by God's grace through the gift of faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Peace with God is the first consequence of our justification. Peace with God is the first consequence of our justification. Peace with God is the first consequence of our justification. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. We have, we possess, we're in that state of peace with God.

No more comforting words have ever been spoken. Peace with God. We have peace with God. Being justified we have peace with God. We who believe being justified by faith have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

And the peace spoken of here is peace in the sense of cessation of warfare between us and God and God and us. Okay? Hold on with me here. God and us. The result of which is inner peace and quietness of conscience, which we'll get to at the end.

We who trust in Christ have peace with God and a peace that passes understanding. He said, my peace I leave with you. Here's, you have the consequence of peace, which is the cessation of our warfare. An end to the hostility, The result of which is inner peace Jesus says my peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you Not as the world gives do I give? Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

We don't have to be troubled. Our consciences don't have to be troubled. We don't have to fear God's hammer coming down upon us. And we has adopted children. And the adoption won for us by Jesus.

His anger is not upon us, his favor rests upon us, but the case is not so with those who continue at war with God. Before the conscience of a man can be quieted, before he can feel the peace that exists between him and God, before peace floods the heart and the mind of a man, the warfare between that man and the Almighty and the Almighty and that man must come to an end. There must be reconciliation. There must be an end to to estrangement And only God can bring that about. God is the only one who can conquer our rebellion and bring it into hostilities.

He's the only one that can do it. This evening, my grandchildren, you're listening? You're looking right at me, I love it. All of you are looking up here. Good.

When we have sermon review with the family, if any of you grandchildren are there, okay, when I ask everyone that's gathered there, what did you hear, you know, in the sermon today? And I ask you, what did you hear grandpa say in the sermon today? I don't know what you're going to say, but if you don't have anything already, you can say, men are at war with God, and only God can end that warfare. Men are at war with God, and only God can end that war. All men enter the world at war with God.

You understand this? In the nature-born state in which we all come into the world, we all have our fists lifted to heaven saying, I'll not have this man Jesus to reign over me. That's the way we come into the world. That's the natural condition and state of fallen man. Corruption.

Desperate corruption. Unregenerate man hates God and is at war with him. You remember that from Romans chapter 1? The more that an unregenerate man upon whom the Spirit of God is not working, but the more that That man hears about God and the law of God the more he hates God and opposes him. He doesn't like that God.

Remember Adam and Eve, when they sin, the communion, the fellowship with God is broken and they take to running. They flee from the presence of God. They don't want to be in his presence. God has to come to them. God came to them.

They did not come to God. R.C. Sproul comments on this passage, By nature we regard God as our enemy, but few people will own up to that. By nature, we regard God as our enemy when we come into the world, but few people are willing to admit it. This past Wednesday, as I was preaching on the streets of Burnet, a woman pulled up in her car in front of me.

Her and her six or seven-year-old daughter had been across the street listening at the gas pumps. And they pulled up in front of me on the highway and she lifted her middle finger at me, this mother. And as she pulled up closer, not maybe 10 or 12 feet away, her six or seven year old daughter followed suit. And with her middle finger lifted up at me, she gave me this bitter look of hatred, like a seven-year-old. She despised me, and her mother despised me, and they gave me the international sign of I despise you hand sign I had been preaching from first Corinthians chapter 6 beginning with verse 9 don't deceive yourselves don't be deceived neither fornicators or adulterers covetous extortioners drunkards homosexuals etc etc will enter into the Kingdom of God.

They have no inheritance in the Kingdom of God. Those who die and sin apart from Christ and His righteous covering have an inheritance, but it's not heaven. They will on the day of their death, I said, except they repent and believe on Christ, lift up their eyes in torment and a flame, and it will be an eternal flame with no escape route for all eternity. And so this mother and her little daughter, after having listened to me preach a while as they were getting fuel across the street, they got in their car, they crossed the highway, they drove up right in front of me and my sons, and up goes the international hand signals of hatred and disdain. And with this little girl's middle finger lifted up at me out the window of their car, ten or twelve feet away, I said tenderly, I know it's nothing personal.

I know it's nothing personal. Jesus said all men will hate you on account of me. You hate God. Your war is not with me. Your war is with God.

And her little finger went down quickly. But they were trapped there at the red light for a couple minutes, so I went on. I told them about the Apostle Paul. So you know the Apostle Paul, when he was out persecuting Christians, he's on the road to Damascus, and God knocks him through the ground in the middle of his journey to persecute the believers of Christ, and a voice comes from heaven and it says, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who are you, Lord?

I'm Jesus whom you're persecuting Jesus was crucified dead buried resurrected from the dead and ascended to heaven How is he persecuting Jesus? He's persecuting Jesus in his people, in his people. And I said, you hate me because you hate Jesus. And you display that hatred to anyone in whom Jesus dwells. I know it's nothing personal.

You just hate God. And they drove away before I could give them some good news. An unregenerate man hates God and is at war with him. There is no peace, sayeth my God, to the wicked." Isaiah 57-21. If the mother and daughter had stuck around a few minutes, I would have told them how they could be reconciled to God.

Maybe they'll return and hear the rest of the message one week I would have told them how they could be reconciled to God how they could have peace with God Through our Lord Jesus Christ Brothers and sisters the wicked are at war with God. I hope I've driven that home, but we need to understand something. God is also in a posture of war against the wicked. God is also in a posture, a warlike state against the wicked. Psalm 7 and verse 11 tells us God is angry with the wicked every day.

If he doesn't turn, he's going to wet his sword and he has his bow bent. It's heavy language. That's warlike language. If he turned not, he will wet his sword. He had bent his bow and made it ready.

Psalm 68-21 says, God shall wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such a one that goes on still in his trespasses." Persist in sin. A wicked man persists in his sin. He's got his fist lifted to heaven. I'm not going to have this man Jesus to reign over me. I don't care about your law.

I don't want to hear about your law. I'm going on in my sin. God will wound the head of his enemies. And the hairy scalp of such a one that goes on still in his trespasses. Scottish theologian Robert Haldane in the 1800s writes, all men till they are justified are at war with God, and he is at war with them.

Doesn't sound like American preaching, does it? Doesn't sound like the kind of preaching that comes out of American pulpits. God is not at peace with the wicked. He is a holy God and can permit nothing unholy in His sight. In the unregenerate state, men are not at peace with God and God is not at peace with them.

R.C. Sproul comments on our opening text, The scriptures tell us that not only are we at war with God, but God is at war with us. We might be so hardened in our hearts, so stiff in our necks, that we think surely God cannot be a war with us, but this is the legacy, says Sproul, of 19th century liberal theology which captured the church in Europe and was exported to the United States. So what happened? Some of the Puritans were teaching to modern American theology that came out of Europe during the time when liberal theology was sweeping across that continent.

As a result, he says, we've been raised in a country where we hear that all are God's children. God is a God of love with no capacity for wrath or judgment. But the God, little G, you hear of every day in the marketplace says, Sproul is an idol. That's an idol. Not to worship idols.

Right? Second commandment? That God simply does not exist, he says. The imagery of God in the Old Testament is the soldier whose bow is bent, his chariots come to trample out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. We need reconciliation." End quote.

In the New Testament, Sproul didn't go on to New Testament, any New Testament imagery, but I wanted to show that there's no difference in the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the New Testament, Jesus gives a parable in front of the people, and the chief priests and the scribes are there, the Pharisees are there, chief priests and the Pharisees are there, and they perceive, the scripture says, that He's talking about them. They perceive it, and they want Him dead. And it's the parable where He's speaking of a householder who represents God the Father, and He lets out His vineyard, you'll remember, to husband men. You know the story.

But they don't give the owner of the vineyard Which is God his fruits in his due season and so he sends his servants to them and they beat one and they kill one and they stone another. And these represent the prophets of God that were sent to his people Israel, who were persecuted at the hands of the Jews in the Old Testament. And finally, the king in the parable sends his own son to them, which in the parable is Jesus. And the husband and say, this is the heir. Come, let's kill him.

And we can take his inheritance to ourselves. And they caught him, and they cast him out of the vineyard, and they killed him. And Jesus said, what do you suppose the householder is going to do to those men? What do you think he's going to do to them? He will miserably destroy those wicked men and let out his vineyard to others.

That's Matthew 21. He will miserably destroy those wicked men and let out his vineyard to others. American Christianity doesn't have the full picture of the attributes of the one true and living God and it's done us great harm. It's done us great harm. And so men don't fear God because the God that is put up before them is an idol That's Matthew 21 Matthew 22 the parables of a king who makes a marriage for his son Those been to the marriage feast refused to come.

That's the author of the gospel. And they persecuted his servants who invited him to the feast, and they slew the rest of his servants, Jesus says. And when the king heard this, he was wroth. He was angry. He was wrathful.

And it says he sent forth his armies, that's war, and destroyed the murderers and burned up their city. The wicked are at war with God and there is no peace between God and them. John Gill says for peace to be made between God and men, reconciliation for sin had to be made. A justifying righteousness had to be brought in And that righteousness had to be imputed and applied to those who have offended God. That's what has to happen for reconciliation And brothers and sisters, that's exactly what Jesus did for every one of us here who is trusting in him It is justification that takes away our guilt, writes Matthew Henry.

And so makes way for peace. And immediately upon the removal of that obstacle that is our guilt. Peace is made. And Jesus did that for every one of you who believe on His name. Robert Haldane, who I quoted earlier, agrees.

He says, all men are at war with God and He is at war with us. But when they are justified by faith, the wrath of God which abides on them who believe not on His Son is turned away. It's turned away and they cease to be enemies to God. Brothers and sisters, bless God. Our warfare with God is ended, Amen?

Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through our Lord Jesus Christ who brought about an end to the hostility. Jesus is the one mediator between God and man. And he has reconciled every one of us to God who believes on his name. Praise God.

Jesus, quote, this is from Ephesians 2.17, came and preached peace to us. Peace to us who were afar off. That's Gentiles. That's us. It's everyone in this room.

And to those who were near, that's the Jews. He preached peace, both peace, both to the Gentiles as well as the Jew. Ephesians 2 14 speaking of Christ says, He is our peace. He is our peace. When you lay your head on your pillow tonight, just say those words, Jesus is my peace.

Jesus is my peace. And when you do that, remember Jesus is our peace because Jesus is our righteousness. Jesus is our righteousness. He is our precious righteousness. He is our peace, the Prince of Peace, who has reconciled us to God by the blood of His cross.

And His righteousness has been imputed to every one of us who believes. And we're covered. We're covered. Even when our consciences alarm us, think about this as we close. Even when our consciences alarm us, as they do so many times, right, because we still sin.

When we, our conscience is alarm us because we are we're grieved by our failings, We have to remember that God's not our enemy. God is our friend. Jesus said, I call you friend. Abraham after he was justified was called a friend of God. God's not your enemy.

Our warfare is ended. When Jesus, when God the Father looks upon us, praise God, he sees us clothed in Christ's perfect righteousness. There's peace. There's peace. Isaiah writes, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.

Many of you know this from Handel's Messiah, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is over, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. Amen. Oh the comfort of the Spirit that is spoken to the hearts of all whose warfare with God is ended whose iniquity is pardoned. Praise God that being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you God that our warfare with you is ended. We thank you, Father, that our iniquity is pardoned. We thank you, God, that our sin has been removed from us by Christ as far as the east is from the west. We thank you God for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us.

We thank you God for faith by which we lay hold on Christ and His righteousness. We thank you, God, that it is your gift and not our work, lest any man should boast. We thank you, God, for the peace of mind that the Spirit gives your children who have been declared just forever in your sight through faith in Jesus. Amen.