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Good evening. >> Welcome to worship this evening at Ebenezer Presbyterian. Welcome to all the regular members.

If you're a guest with us tonight, thank you for coming and being a part of our time together as we close out the Lord's day in worship and praise. Uh I do want to make the announcement I made at this morning service in case you weren't there and that is uh the blood drive is coming up on June July 13th. Uh if you plan to participate in that uh and have not signed up, I know they would greatly appreciate it.

Right now they have a a very small group that has been signed up for uh this next time and they're hoping to have more. So, uh, if you would like to sign up, I'm sure you can pick up one of the old bulletins from this morning. They're in the box or a little container over here, and you can use that QR code, and you can sign up for it there.

Let's take a moment and let's prepare ourselves to worship God. I forgot to mention a moment ago while our associate pastor Pastor Jordan is uh doing uh Appalachian uh mission work with our ARP church in Appalachia over the next few days. We are blessed to have our good friend Gil Martin with us to provide the preaching of the word tonight.

Our call to worship is from Psalm 95 verse1. Oh come let us sing to the Lord and let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Please pray with me.

Our triune God, enthroned on the praise of your people, with glad and sincere hearts, we return to your house at the close of this Lord's day to present to you the evening sacrifice of praise. Far from a base duty on our part, this is the devotion of those who can say with the psalmist, "Whom have I in heaven but you in earth has nothing I desire besides you? My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever.

Mighty God, would you come now and inhabit the praise of your people? Wash us clean of our sins and lead us by your spirit of truth that we would see Jesus, the author and the perfector of our faith. Through him we pray.

Amen. First hymn this evening is number 164 in your hymbook. Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing.

And we'll sing verses one, two, three, and four. Please stand with me. Glory.

You may be seated. needed. As we look at the shorter catechism this evening, we remember from last week the bad news that since the fall, no one is able perfectly to keep God's commandments and that we break them continually daily in thought, word, and deed.

Now this evening, we see the consequence of our sin and our only hope of escape. Let's read the next two questions. responsibly.

What does every sin deserve? Every sin deserves God's wrath and curse, both this life and that which is to come. What does God require of us?

That we may escape his wrath and curse due to us for sin. To escape the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin, God requires of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption. You have ever seen the Dave Ramsey program when he is asked how are you doing?

He always says better than I deserve. And that is true for all of us because what we deserve for our sins against a holy God is sorrow and suffering under his wrath and his curse both now and into eternity. There isn't a single one of us who can say to the Lord that the suffering that we deal with in our life is unjust.

That we could rebuke him and say, "I didn't deserve this." The reality is we deserve far more than what we have received. But God under no compulsion and purely of his own sovereign grace has provided the way escape of escape for us from his judgment through his son the Lord Jesus Christ. Through faith in Christ and repentance unto life, we are spared from God's wrath and curse because these were laid upon Christ in our place.

God's answer to the bad news of our sin is the good news of Jesus Christ our Lord. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our heavenly father and mighty God, we come humbly before your throne of grace this evening.

Uh you are the sovereign creator of the universe and you sustain us in all things with your great power, love and mercy. You alone, Lord, are holy and eternal. We praise you for your wisdom and the grace you've given to us.

Lord, you are true and everlasting God. We are amazed that you, the creator of all things, take delight in hearing our prayers. And we thank you for your Holy Spirit who transforms our prayers into acceptable worship to you.

Forgive us for taking prayer lightly and only praying in times of need or want. Lord, we praise you for your assurance that you hear us when we pray. You know our needs before we ask and you answer us according to your perfect and sovereign will.

Lord, we lift up our church to you this evening. We pray for our pastors, our church leadership that you will continue to bless them and guide them in the ministries here at Ebenezer. Lord, we ask you that you will pour out your spirit upon our congregation and sanctify us with the truth of your word.

Lord, may we as our church stand firm in the gospel and love one another well and proclaim you boldly to others. Lord, we pray that you would use us, your church, to be a witness of your love, grace, and mercy that you have so freely given. We pray that you would use our testimony to add to your church by opening the blind eyes of the lost and draw them to yourself.

We pray that you would bring many to repentance and faith here and around the world. Lord, we also bring before you those who are experiencing pain and sickness. We think about those in our own congregation who even now are experiencing these trials.

Lord, you know each of them and we pray that you would comfort them with your presence, strengthen their faith and grant them patience in their trials. You, oh God, are the great physician and we ask that you lay your healing hands upon them. Please grant them relief from their suffering and restore them to full strength and health.

Lord, we thank you for this great country. Um, as yesterday we celebrated 250 years of freedom. We thank you for sustaining this country and for the blessings each of us enjoy through the freedom that so many others paid for and you so graciously have given to us.

Lord, we know that we by no means live in a perfect country, but we take comfort in the hope and security we have in your sovereign plan and that you work all things together for our good and for your glory. We know all things in this world are under your control and we rest in the assurance that you are reigning over all things in our lives. Lord, we thank you for the assurance of our salvation.

We rejoice that our salvation rests not in our own strength or works, but in the finished work of Christ. Lord, we are kept by your almighty power and nothing can separate us from your love. And we thank you for all you have done for us and will do for us.

We pray all this in your holy name. Amen. you'll take out your himnels.

Uh him number 100 will be our next hymn. Glory. Halleluat.

Hallelujah. Glory. bless.

I'll ask you to take your copy of God's word and turn with me to the fifth chapter of Romans. If you're in a pew Bible, you may find that on page 942. This evening, we will consider one verse, the opening verse of Romans 5.

Romans 5 verse 1. Hear now the word of the living God. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is the word of the Lord. Please pray with me. Our gracious God and Father, as fallen human beings approaching your holy word, we're again faced with our desperate need for the spirit of God, even the spirit of truth to fall upon us.

We pray, oh spirit, that you would unplug our ears, for we're slow to hear. We pray that you would soften our hearts for we are resistant to your truth and we pray that you would sanctify us in that truth for your word is truth in Jesus name. Amen.

Well, many years ago a now defunct magazine did an article entitled peace of mind. 16 prominent Americans were interviewed and asked how they found peace of mind in a hectic, stressfilled world. And the answers were quite varied, as varied as the individuals who were interviewed.

But the article did reveal two things that were quite striking. First, how subjective the answers were. All of the interviewees based their version of peace upon favorable circumstances.

But secondly, not one of the people interviewed didn't seek peace somehow some way. People are constantly searching for peace. It is the ongoing quest of mankind.

Now many people think of peace as a feeling. But peace is first and foremost an objective status or position. And true lasting peace is only found in a right relationship with the living God.

Now for the past 36 verses in Romans, Paul has been teaching on the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Paul spent so much time on this doctrine because that is the only way any human being is ever saved from the righteous wrath of God. Justification by faith alone.

Not justification by faith plus something. Not justification by faith plus our own works. It is justification by faith alone, by grace alone in Christ alone.

Nothing else can save. Now, justification is a one-time act of God's grace. And in this one-time act, God pardons our sins through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And he considers us to be righteous in his sight by crediting the perfect righteousness of Jesus to us by faith. We are justified as a gift of God based on the finished work of Jesus Christ. As Paul wrote in chapter 3 24, we are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Now, as we come to Romans 5, Paul will spend the first 11 verses of the chapter laying out the benefits of being justified by faith alone. And he begins with peace. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, Paul begins with the word therefore. One of the rules of interpretation when we see the word therefore in scripture, we must figure out what it is. Therefore, the writer is building on a thought he has previously made.

And here Paul is looking back in general over everything he's written in the first four chapters, but especially chapter 3 verse 21 through chapter 4 verse 25. his in-depth teaching on justification by faith alone. He says, "Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." So, what does it mean to have peace with God?

Now, before we proceed, it's important to note that Paul says peace with God. Paul does not say the peace of God. The two are not the same thing.

And the second is contingent upon the first. Before we can really understand what it means to have peace with God, we need to go back to the reality that in our natural state, all human beings are enemies of God. There are no exceptions.

Paul laid this out in depth in chapter 1 verse 18 through chapter 3 verse 20. He laid out the universal reign of sin. How every human being is stricken with this deadly disease called sin.

Paul showed us how all humanity suppresses the truth of God. How they exchange the truth of God for a lie and worship created things over the creator. In chapter 3 10, Paul said,"None is righteous, know not one.

No one understands, no one seeks for God." Because we inherited a sin nature from Adam. We are born in rebellion against God. A rebellion that sets us at odds with our holy creator.

We are at war with God and God is at war with us. The New Testament repeatedly describes the natural condition of humanity as being at enmity with God. By nature, we are enemies of God.

By nature, West how we view him. Though few people will readily admit this, I've met many people who feain indifference to God. They put up this guise of neutrality.

They'll say, "Well, I'm not against God. I just don't need God." Well, when they say they don't need God, what they're really saying is, "I don't want God." And they don't want God because their foolish hearts are darkened. In Romans 1, Paul gave a lengthy exposition of the sinfulness of man.

None of us worships God. None of us give thanks. We worship created things instead of the creator.

And in chapter two, Paul tells us, with each act of rebellion, we're storing up wrath for the day of judgment. We are at war, and this is a war we can never win on our own efforts. We need peace with God.

We need reconciliation. But in our sinful state, we cannot make reconciliation. No matter how hard we try, we cannot have peace with God.

Thankfully, in his abundant grace, God took the initiative in pursuing peace with us by sending Jesus to earth. Jesus lived a perfect life, the standard to which all humanity is held. He met the righteous demands of the law because we have no hope of doing so.

None of us has ever kept even one part of the law perfectly, much less the entire law of God. But Jesus kept the law for us. His death paid for the sins of all who will trust in him alone for salvation.

And in his resurrection, our justification before God is assured. Paul closed chapter 4 by declaring that Jesus was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Much of the church today has been infected with liberal theology and it's spreading through the church like a malignant cancer.

And it teaches something totally different than what Paul lays out for us in the book of Romans, what the word of God teaches from Genesis to Revelation. This liberal theology teaches a cotton candy theology that downplays sin, makes concessions for sin. But that is a sure hallmark of false teaching because all false teaching at some way and in some measure makes concessions for sin.

To some degree it calls evil good and good evil. This theology states that everyone is God's child and God loves everybody equally. He's love and he has no capacity for wrath.

In an essence, he's sweeping everyone into heaven with a great big cosmic broom. But that is flatout heresy. My friends, if your God is all love and no wrath, your God is an idol.

If your God is all love and no justice, your God is an idol. If your God is tolerant of sin, your God is an idol. The one true God is love.

But most importantly, he is holy, holy, holy. So holy, in fact, he cannot even look at sin. And we, on the other hand, are unholy.

We sin times without number. in what we think, what we say and what we do. Hence, we are at war with God.

We need peace. We need reconciliation. And in Jesus, we find it.

Through the power of the gospel, we who were far off can be brought near. Through Jesus, there is a ceasefire to this warfare. And the ceasefire God brings through justification by faith alone is a permanent ceasefire.

I remember when I was a teenager watching the Camp David Accords being signed back in I think it was 1978. The Camp David Accords was a peace treaty signed by Egyptian President Anoir Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Manakim Bean. These peace talks were broken by President Jimmy Carter and it was the first peace treaty between Israel and any Arab nation.

It was heralded as a new beginning in the Middle East. Problem is, it didn't last. In fact, it led to Sedat's assassination.

But when God enters into a peace treaty with his people, it is a permanent peace. The peace we have with God through Jesus is our objective standing before God and it can never be taken away from us once it is rightly established. This peace only comes through Jesus.

He is the one mediator between God and men. A mediator is someone who brings estranged parties together. One who brokers peace.

And Jesus is the mediator between a holy God and sinful man. And notice Paul emphasizes in 1 Timothy 2:5 that Jesus is the one mediator. Any who would be saved must come through him.

Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me." That is a very exclusive claim and it's one our world collectively despises. But Jesus also said, "Whoever comes to me, I will never cast out." We live in a time of religious pluralism.

Pluralism teaches that all religions are equally valid. All religions have saving power. All religions lead to heaven.

Just pick the one you want and do the best you can and it will all end up in well in the end. Well, that's the biggest religious lie of all times. All roads do not lead to heaven.

And that lie has condemned countless millions to eternity and hell. We need peace with God. And God has initiated this peace through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And we must remember, we didn't run up the white flag. We didn't surrender. God graciously conquered us and brought us to Jesus.

Jesus said, "No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him." Through the power of the Holy Spirit, our hearts are changed, convicting us of sin. The Holy Spirit leads us to Jesus and then we find this permanent peace. Jesus has set us free from the bondage of sin.

And if the son has set you free, you are free indeed. Yes, we still grieve God with our sin. The ongoing battle between the flesh and the spirit will not stop until we die or Jesus comes back.

And that ongoing battle can still weigh us down. But once we have peace with God, it is a permanent peace. In Jesus is our peace.

Peace with God allows us to live without fear of death or fear of eternity. Our hope is secure in the knowledge that Jesus has done all that is necessary to make us right with God. We were created to live in peace with God.

But sin absolutely destroyed that peace and sin still destroys it for all who reject Jesus offer of salvation. However, anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord and is willing to surrender him as savior and lord can have peace with God. Peace with God is the starting point of all spiritual blessings.

If God is the source of every spiritual blessing, and sacred scripture makes it clear he is, we won't receive a single one of them until we're first in a right relationship with God. Yes, unbelievers receive God's common grace, but they're still cut off from God because of their sin. But having been justified by faith alone through Jesus Christ, we have assurance that our salvation is secure.

And if the peace that brought us reconciliation is permanent, so is the salvation we graciously receive from it. Romans 8 is arguably the greatest chapter in all of sacred scripture. And it closes with these incredibly comforting words.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. But peace with God then allows us access to another spiritual blessing, the peace of God. The peace of God is contingent upon peace with God.

And the peace of God is Jesus gift to his people. In John 14, Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you.

Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. The peace of God is a state of inner tranquility, a quietness of spirit that transcends our circumstances.

It is a gift that God freely bestows upon his people. Those who don't know Jesus will never know the peace of God. And the closer we draw to God, the more of his peace we enjoy.

James wrote, "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you." This peace begins when our sins are wiped clean. And this peace grows as we grow to know God better. The writer to the Hebrews wrote in Hebrews 10, "Let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an e from an evil conscience." This peace allows us to truly know God is faithful.

God is who he says he is and he is going to do what he says he is going to do. We begin to trust in his promises more and more. And the more we trust God, the more his peace begins to rule in our hearts.

The prophet Isaiah wrote, "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you." The problem is we do not always trust God. We want to, but we are weak people with feet of clay. Doubts creep in.

Our faith becomes shaken. And then we rob ourselves of this peace Jesus gives. Jesus wants to give us peace, but we sure do know how to lose it.

And one of the things that sabotages the peace of God is worry and anxiety. When we choose worry over faith, we will not live in peace because worry and anxiety are the enemies of peace. Many of you may remember Mad Magazine, a humor satire magazine that was published from 1952 to 2018.

And I heard it's back in publication, but I don't know. But you may remember the face of Mad Magazine, a quirky guy named Alfred E. Newman.

He was typically the focal point of the magazine's cover. He had parted rar red hair, a gap to smile, a protruding nose, and a scrawny body. And he is most famous for his signature catchphrase, what me worry.

The problem is we do often worry. Anxiety and worry is something that besieges many of us. At some point, we all fall prey to its crippling power.

Are you one of them? Anxiety can bring a myriad of problems. Physical problems, emotional problems, spiritual problems.

Some people become so entangled in anxiety snare they cannot even function. Anxiety constantly drains the peace God gives us to face life in this evil, broken, sinstained world. Colossians 3:15 tells us to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts.

But when anxiety and worry get a foothold, the peace of Christ begins to make nothing more than a cameo appearance. Anxiety is much more than simply a personality quirk. Most bluntly stated, it's the sin of unbelief.

Anxiety and worry basically mean we don't trust God. We don't trust the character of God. We don't trust his promises.

We forget that God is a trustworthy God. But when we're overtaken by anxiety and worry, we say just the opposite. I think we're all familiar with Paul's well-known words in Philippians 4:es 6 and 7.

Do not be anxious about anything. I hope you're doing better with that one than I am. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Paul is calling us away from anxiety and he's calling us to prayer. He calls us to come to God, our heavenly father, in everything.

to come to him as trusting children, to come with him with thanksgiving, to come to him in full acknowledgment of his many blessings, to come in him to to him in full acknowledgment of the unmmerited grace he pours out upon us each and every day. And as we come to God, peace begins to replace anxiety. In Matthew 6, Jesus asked a very pointed question about anxiety.

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? Well, Jesus question is meant to highlight the futility of anxiety. The question is clearly rhetorical.

It's meant to remind us that anxiety is not beneficial. Jesus is basically asking us what good does it do? Well, isn't that the logical question for us to ponder?

Does anxiety make a difficult situation easier to bear or does it make it more oppressive? Now, it is important to recognize there's a difference between anxiety and the legitimate concerns of life. The legitimate concerns of life need to be recognized.

They need to be addressed through seeking God's wisdom. We don't simply ignore them or go through life and carefree oblivion. The problem is it is often these legitimate concerns of life that drive us to anxiety.

The more we focus on them, the greater the place they take in our hearts. We have a tendency to make them bigger than God. And that gives rise to worry, stress, and anxiety.

There are times when a Christian can be in such arduous times of tribulation and anxiety has such a foothold that even God's word doesn't seem to bring comfort. I've been there once and I pray I never go back there again. But those are the times when we fall in prey to exactly what Jesus is warning us about.

anxiety and worry and stress have gotten a foothold into our hearts and we've taken our eyes off of God and we've put them on our circumstances. And when we have a higher view of our circumstances than we do of God, anxiety is the natural result. Anxiety robs us of the peace of God which passes all understanding.

Sometimes the things that rob us of this peace are things that are out of our control. What profit is there in freaking out about something that's completely out of our control? Yet sometimes these are the things that bring us the greatest anxiety and worry.

I often worry about what this world is going to be like for my grandkids and my kids for that matter. But then I have to remember God is sovereign and he causes all things to work together for good to those who love him. Worrying about our future can rob us of peace and us in the present.

Jesus reminds us every day has its own problems. And the God who helps us and gives us peace today is the same God who will help us and give us peace tomorrow. It doesn't take a master theologian, and I'm certainly not one of them, to see that God cares for his creation.

He cares for the birds and the flowers and the grass of the field. He causes his rain to fall on the just and the unjust. So if he provides for the rest of creation, shouldn't we believe he'll take care of us?

Those who have been redeemed through the precious blood of the lamb. If God has redeemed us through the death and resurrection of Jesus, is he suddenly going to fail us now? Well, of course he isn't.

He's going to take care of us. And how do we know that? Because he has promised he will take care of us.

We can't do anything about the future. We can plan for the future, but how many times have the things we've planned gone arry? The future rest in God's hands, and it's fruitless and detrimental to be anxious about it.

Do you freak out and fret over tomorrow? Do you plunge into anxiety over what the future holds? Are you anxious about what this country will look like for our kids and grandkids?

Well, all of these are legitimate concerns. And we all have troubles. Scripture never denies this.

Jesus doesn't deny this. The scripture never makes light of or minimizes the hardships of life. But what Jesus is trying to get us to understand is there's a monumental difference between facing life's troubles with faith and facing them with fear.

There may be greater sins than anxiety, but I don't know if there any as debilitating. Anxiety is carrying a burden God never intends for us to bear. That's why Peter tells us to cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

When we learn to cry out to God in times of trouble, we find that his peace really does pass all understanding. It may not change our circumstances, but what is peace does is it keeps our circumstances from consuming us. Paul reminds us in Philippians 4:7 that the peace of God which passes all understanding guards our hearts and minds.

Where does anxiety attack our hearts and our minds? Where's the peace of God guard us? Our hearts and our minds.

When we place our full confidence in a loving God and are thankful in every circumstance, this peace begins to grow. Peace, as the Bible defines it, is not necessarily the absence of trouble and conflict. It's the presence of Jesus Christ.

The faithful believer will know peace even if there's a tempest raging around him. The world's version of peace is dependent upon favorable circumstances. But the peace Jesus gives rises above our circumstances.

I think of a good example of this in Acts 12. Herod kills James, the brother of John. Well, Herod sees that the Jews are greatly pleased by this.

So, Peter then falls into Herod's crosshairs. But since it is a time of unleavened bread, Herod decides to hold Peter in prison till after the feast. And then his plan is to exterminate him.

Well, Peter's being held in prison, chained to two guards. An angel of the Lord comes to rescue Peter. And the angel literally has to strike Peter to awaken him.

How was Peter able to sleep so soundly knowing his execution was on the horizon? He was resting in the peace of God. Jesus peace is a peace that's completely independent of circumstances.

No circumstance is greater than the peace Jesus gives us if we rely upon it. Look at Jesus. Circumstances constantly raged around him.

He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, but he remained completely unruffled by them. Jesus was constantly surrounded by hostility, opposition at every turn. And yet he was undeterred because he knew his life, his every step was in the hands of his all powerful father.

And my friends, the same truth holds true for us. As the circumstances of life rage around us through Jesus, we have a peace that's greater than our circumstances, greater than our tribulations. And that's because Jesus is greater than our circumstances and greater than our tribulations.

It is possible to have peace with God, to be reconciled to God, and at the same time allow our circumstances to rob us of the peace of God. But even if we do allow our circumstances to rob us of the peace of God, our peace with God is never destroyed. It's never taken away from us.

And nothing in all creation can snatch the true believer out of the hands of Jesus Christ. Paul begins this chapter with one mighty declaration. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

But don't miss the operative words through our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul doesn't want anyone to be deluded. Without Jesus, not only do we have no peace, we have no hope.

But with Jesus, we have both. Jesus is our peace so that we are no longer at war with God. And from that reconciling peace comes the peace of God and our other spiritual blessings.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. And our final hymn is number 478, I love to tell the story.

We'll sing verses one, three, and four. Verses 1, three, and four. Please stand and join me.

and depart now with God's blessing for his people, the benediction from his holy word. Now may the grace, peace, and mercy of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit be with you now and forever more. Amen and amen.