Well, we are continuing our exposition through the book of Romans, and so let's turn, please, in our Bibles to Romans chapter 15, Romans 15. We come to the benediction. Sounds exciting, a benediction, but it is. There's a lot here in the text. A lot of preachers don't preach on this passage or this one verse, but I do think it's very key to understanding of the Book of Romans. Romans 15, verse 33. May the God of peace be with you all. Amen. Let's go to the Lord. Father, we again thank you for those wonderful hymns that we've sung. We thank you for this opportunity to praise you and give ourselves to this high activity, the greatest of activities, worshiping the triune God. And we pray now, Lord, as we come to hear your word, that you would give us the ears to hear. We remember the words of your son, who often prefaced his word to sinners and to saints, hear. We need ears to hear. And so we ask you, Lord, to give us ears of faith that would hear. But not only hear, but Lord, we want to be obedient. And so we plead, Lord, that the word of God that will be sounded in our ears would indeed be lived out in our lives. So come by your spirit. We know without the spirit impressing your truth upon our hearts and minds, we labor in vain. So come, come and help us. Be our counselor, be our sanctifier. And we ask this in your son's name, amen. There are famous places in the world. I'm sure all of us know of them and perhaps have even visited or seen them. There are the Alps of Switzerland, the Rockies, the Himalayas, and perhaps the most famous of mountains, Mount Everest. And the Book of Romans has been referred to as the Mount Everest. It arguably is the highest and yet the most difficult mountain to climb in terms of verse-by-verse exposition. Here the apostle gives rigorous defense and argumentation for the gospel in terms of its necessity in light of the wrath of God, human depravity, its exclusivity, Christ alone, grace alone, faith alone, but also as we come to the back end of Romans, its inclusivity, Jew and Gentile. And in the first 11 chapters, Paul expounds the gospel, and then in the next chapters, chapters 12 through 14, he applies that gospel to all of life. The gospel impacts everything, everything we do, every relationship. And when we come to chapter 15, chapter 16, Paul changes his focus. After expounding the gospel, he now tells of his proclamation of that gospel. Notice verse 20, I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest they build on someone else's foundation. And then he details his present successful missionary endeavors, but also tells us of his hope or tells the Roman Church of his hope of a future missionary journey to Spain. He mentions that in verse 24 and again in verse 28. Plus, he talks about a church business matter that he must attend to. Verse 25, I'm going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. And most scholars believe that Jerusalem was in the midst of a grievous famine, severe hunger and starvation. And so this is somewhat of a 911 emergency situation. Paul has collected contributions from several Gentile churches to alleviate this crisis. But before he leaves town, and heads to Jerusalem, he asks for prayer. Verse 30, and the last time we were together, we noticed three particulars or distinguishing elements or features that shape this prayer. Verse 30, an urgent plea, I appeal to you. Second, the need for intense labor. He uses the word agonizomai, strive with me, agonize with me in your prayers. And then he gives three specific petitions. Verse 31, protection. from the Judaizers and the enemies of the gospel, acceptance by the Jerusalem church, and then he anticipates a future rendezvous or coming into Rome, that church, and enjoying fellowship and refreshment with the brethren at Rome. But now we come to the last verse in this chapter. It's an amen benediction, which means that he has brought things to a close, but don't be so sure, because he's gonna have another chapter here. But he's really three benedictions here. This is number three. He's almost like he doesn't wanna stop. He doesn't wanna say goodbye. And this time, he uses another very significant word as he brings things to a close. He uses the word peace. He uses it 10 times in the Book of Romans alone. Peace is a key fundamental essential to our understanding of the gospel. There are many words that are what you could call key words, and this is one key word. Peace is a key word. It's one of those words that helps us understand who God is, who Christ is, and also what makes the gospel great news. And the four things that this peace word helps us to remember, I trust we will remember even after we hear this sermon and never forget, we don't wanna fall into the trap of gospel amnesia. And that could happen to all of us. So let's focus on this word peace, the need of peace, the prince of peace, the way of peace, and the gift of peace. That's where we're gonna go, the need of peace, the principle of peace, the way of peace, and the gift of peace. So let's consider, first of all, The need of peace. When this word peace appears in your Bible, it's often used to define God, like that word hope. Notice here in this same chapter, verse 13, he tells us God is a God of hope. Now in verse 33, he is a God of peace. And then in the next chapter, chapter 16, he picks up this word peace again and puts God front and center, but this time he highlights his power and conquest over the devil. Notice Romans 16, verse 20, the God of peace will soon cross Satan under your feet. And when it comes to this matter of peace, I don't think there's anybody living on planet Earth who would disagree with me if I say that this world is plagued with daily, hourly strife, contention, fighting on a big scale and on a small scale. Jesus saw that, didn't he? From a global perspective, he said there will be wars, and rumors of war. And on a smaller scale, he said, because of the gospel, man's enemies will be of his own household. And back in Romans 3, if you can turn there, if you will, and you'll see Paul zeroes in on this matter of peace. This is the second time he mentions peace in the book of Romans, but here he mentions it in respect to the unregenerate man and tells us that sinners have a propensity for violence. And that's also why peace will always be wanting or never realized, at least in those sinners who don't know Jesus. Notice what he says, Romans 3, verse 15. Their feet are swift to shed blood. And then verse 16. And their paths are ruin and misery. And then verse 17, and the way of peace they have not known. And to better understand why this world is so marred and scarred with strife on every level, politically, domestically, globally, one only has to go back to Genesis chapter three. The very first man, the very first woman were born in a world of peace, perfect peace. No tension, no conflict, no argument, no strife. But that soon changes, doesn't it? And there's what you could call, someone has actually called it this, not original with me, there's a war of words. God speaks, Genesis 2, to Adam and Eve, and then the devil speaks in Genesis 3. God has spoken the truth. The devil speaks his lie. Who will they believe? And Adam and Eve take the side of the devil. And they put themselves in an adversarial position with God. And no sooner have they disobeyed God and they are on the run, they are fugitives thinking that somehow they can hide from God. And Paul in Romans chapter five even picks up on that transgression. You might remember when he brings Adam into the picture, Romans chapter five, he says, by one trespass led to condemnation for all men. Again, Romans five verse 19, by this one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners. But we have to be clear about this, don't we? Who initiated the war? Man did. He went to war against God by choosing to disobey God. And listen, God goes to war against the sinner. God doesn't sit back and become a pacifist. Romans 1. Verse 18, Paul introduces us to the wrath of God. The wrath of God has been revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. And what we should keep in mind, brethren, that the worst thing about sin isn't so much how it impacts us, but that it's against God. I remember one of the first books I read by Jerry Bridges. It was titled The Pursuit of Holiness. I would recommend it to any young person, any teenager. It might be one of the best books to get perspective on holiness. But he quotes William Plummer, who was living back in the days of Spurgeon. He said this, we will never see sin aright until we see it as against God. And then Mr. Bridges says, most people have a self-centered view of sin and not a God-centered view of sin. And how it impacts me, not how it impacts God. And what we have to realize is that God hates sin. and that his holiness and his righteousness must react. He must react or he will cease to be God. He must react with a holy revulsion, a pure righteous anger. And if you look at Romans 1, you'll see God's reaction against sin three times. Verse 24, therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, Verse 26, for this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions, for their women exchanged natural relations with those that are contrary to nature. Verse 28, and notice here again, it's a reactive, or you could call it a reactive and proactive wrath. And since they did not seem fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind. They almost lose the capacity to think. A debased mind often shows itself by calling evil good and good evil. And we see it all the time, don't we? Things that were shockingly evil five, 10 years ago, maybe even three years ago, are now called good. But at the end of the day, every man, every woman, every boy, every girl is born into a state of condemnation and alienation. Children of wrath. You see the problem? It really is our biggest problem. It's a problem that hardly anybody wants to talk about or admit. If you were to ask your next door neighbor, the boss at work, the guy you work with on an assembly line, the grocery clerk, what is your worst problem? Or as you think of your future, what frightens you more than anything else? How many would say this? God is against me. I am under the wrath of God. And to add to the fear factor, I have to one day give account to this God who is the judge of all the earth on a day called Judgment Day, and it's even called in the Bible the Day of Wrath. And so obtaining peace with God should be my highest priority and my greatest anxiety. But here's the problem, part of more of the problem. The sinner doesn't want peace with God. But thankfully, God is a God of peace. And he doesn't relish holding the sword of wrath in his hands. And the gospel says that God makes peace with sinners, listen, without compromising his holiness. How can he do that? Presidents of the United States pardon criminals with a swipe of a pen. But God does do it. But how can he do it? The need of peace, second consideration, the prince of peace. When you think of God's wrath, you could think of a hurricane storm that's coming. You can't stop it, I can't stop it. Again, it's the day of wrath. But there's someone who can and does intervene, and his name is Jesus. You might remember the incident in the Gospels, the hurricane storm that came upon those disciples suddenly, kind of out of the blue, and they're in that boat on that Sea of Galilee, and you can understand why they are afraid. They see those huge, angry waves, and they hear that raging wind, and they are expert fishermen. They know within minutes we're gonna perish unless someone stops the storm. And they run to Jesus. And they shake him from his sleep. Again, you can sense the fear and the panic, and no sooner does Jesus arise from his sleep and he speaks with authoritative commands to the storm, be still! And the storm ceases. That's a picture. That's a picture. of why Jesus came into this world, to rescue us from the storm of storms, the hurricane storm of divine wrath. You can go right back, can't you, to the very day Jesus was born. A great multitude of angels are rejoicing. We don't know how many were there. It could have been 10,000, 100,000. But Luke chapter two, he captures it. There's a multitude of heavenly hosts and they're praising God and they're saying glory to God in the highest and on earth peace. There's that word peace. Do you notice how many Christmas hymns have that word peace in them? I noticed that last night when I was sitting there singing those hymns. Four or five of them have peace. And when Jesus begins His public ministry, He uses the word peace more than anybody else. He uses it 29 times. Often after He heals a man or a woman, He says, peace be with you or go in peace. You might remember that evening of the Passover when He's up in the upper room with His disciple friends. He knows their hearts are troubled and He talks to them about peace. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. John 16, I've said these things to you that you might have peace. And then in those two post-resurrection appearances in John's gospel, the very first word on his lips is peace. John 20, on that evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came, stood among them and said to them, peace be with you. And again he appears with Thomas being there this time. The doors again were locked and Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you. And so when you think of peace, Think of Jesus. Think of the Prince of Peace and think of why he came into this world. He came to bring peace to this world. But again, how does an angry God, how does an angry God stop from frowning at sinners as long as they are sinners? How does an impeccably pure God, perfect holiness, ever accept you, accept me, and welcome us into His presence? Will the God of peace and the Prince of Peace execute a plan that was coveted in eternity past by perfect wisdom, love, and mercy. And that brings us to our third consideration, the need of peace, the prince of peace, but third, consider now the way of peace. Now when it comes to this matter of peace, everybody wants it. Just like everybody wants happiness. The problem is they try to get it on their terms. And most people want peace with God on their terms. Every false religion in the world is an attempt to find peace with God on their terms. Most people know there's a problem. Their own conscience tells them. The conscience is like a little policeman on the inside that tells you when you've done something wrong, you've sinned against God, your maker, God, the law giver. And sinners know, they know this, they really do. Romans 1 tells us they know that they're going to die, they know there's a judgment day coming, but they're suppressing the truth of God and they go out of their way to condone or minimize sin in one way or another. Listen to Romans 1.32, though they know God's righteous decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them, but they give approval of them. Have you ever heard people congratulate other people for their sin? Oh, you cheated on your income tax? Did you get away with it? That's pretty smart. Did you steal that? Wow. That was a smart move with your parents. You really pulled the wool over their eyes. Listen, sinners applaud fellow sinners. They call evil good. And so you can abort babies, they call that good. You can commit adultery, they call that good. You can murder someone in cold blood in New York City on camera, they call that good. At the same time, in the heart of every man, every woman, every boy, every girl is a conscience, and they can sear it, they can try to silence it, but at one way or another, it speaks, it speaks, and they know something's wrong. And I gotta try one way or another to appease God. And human pride, listen, human pride comes up with all kinds of self-help programs and a work-righteous religion. They follow in the footsteps of Adam and Eve. They covered themselves, fig leaves. thinking somehow we can hide our shame, our guilt, and our fear. But like trying to clean a dirty room with a dirty cloth. Ever try that? Silken oil, dirty, dirty cloths. And it's a dirty, dirty room covered with cobwebs, caked with dirt on every door handle, every table, every chair. And they use a dirty rag and try to clean here and try to clean there. But no matter how hard you scrub and how hard you engage in religious activities, rituals, sacraments, At the end of the day, your best deeds are as filthy rags. So what's the answer? What's the answer? Well, you have to look outside of yourself to someone else. You have to look to Jesus. because Jesus answers all your problems. Jesus lived a perfect life. Jesus fulfilled all righteousness. Remember, at the very front end of his public ministry, just after he's baptized, you hear the voice of his father, this is my son in whom I'm well pleased. And at the very back end, at the transfiguration, the father says, this is my son in whom I am well pleased. In other words, my son has lived a life pleasing from the get-go. That's the person named Jesus who never sinned. He fulfilled all righteousness. He loved God perfectly. He loved his neighbor perfectly. He was obedient unto death. And to have peace with God, you need, you need a perfect righteousness. or you'll never be accepted. And there's only one kind of righteousness God accepts, a perfect righteousness. And there's only one person who had a perfect righteousness, that's Jesus. Something else Jesus did to bring sinners into right relationship with God, the wages of sin is death. Someone has to pay the price for sin. Someone has to suffer divine wrath. And again, to use the language of Romans 3, he becomes our propitiation. Jesus pays the full price on the cross. To use the language of Isaiah, he was bruised for our iniquity, but he absorbs the wrath of God, the full vent, the full force of divine wrath. Just like Jesus, as I said earlier, quieted the angry storm on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus, by way of his blood sacrifice, quiets, silences the wrath of God. He drinks the full cup. Jesus does it all. what theologians call passive and active obedience by living a perfect life and then dying a substitutionary death to reconcile sinners. The need of peace, the prince of peace, the way of peace, fourth, the gift of peace. The gift of peace. This peace cannot be bought. You can't earn it. It's a free gift. That's what that word grace means. Grace means free. Our salvation is all of grace from beginning to the end. Amazing grace that saved a wretch like me. The Bible uses that word grace again and again and again. We are called by grace, we are regenerated by grace, we are justified by grace, we are sanctified by grace, and one day we'll be glorified by grace. But grace is devastating to human pride. That explains why there are so many graceless religions. That's why. People want a religion of personal achievement. I did it my way. Isn't that the way the world works? Isn't that how it operates in terms of everyday life? If you wanna get a good degree or you gotta go to a good college, if you wanna get on a football team or a soccer team, you have to work real hard, you have to train, you have to sweat, you have to labor, or you don't make the team. And when it comes to salvation, when it comes to having the best of the best, the best standing you could ever have, standing in the presence of a holy God, fully forgiven, accepted, deemed righteous, reconciled to God. He's not your enemy, but your friend. How do you achieve that? How do you earn that? How do you merit that? Do you join the Roman Catholic monastery? Do you practice a monastic lifestyle? Do you become a religious monk, a nun? Do you make good use of the rosary? Do you fast? Do you pray 100 prayers of penitence? Do you do this or do you do that? And the answer, simple answer is no. Long answer is no, no, no, thousand times no. This salvation is not achieved. Jesus achieved it. It's received. It's received. And too many people are trying to achieve salvation. You probably were expecting the Christmas sermon. Well, here it is. Salvation is like receiving a birthday gift or a Christmas gift. How do you receive a gift? You receive a gift with open hands and a trust with a thankful heart. When you receive a birthday gift or a Christmas gift, you don't go around boasting how great I am how much I did to earn that gift. Some of you know, most of you wouldn't know, but this church building is here because of a man who gave us close to a million dollars close to 25 years ago. You wouldn't be sitting here in this building unless he gave us a free gift. His representative showed up on our doorstep, knocked on my door, the door over there in that little building, and said, someone wants to help you. After I told our deacons, they said, what's the hitch here? There was no hitch. He gave us almost a million dollars. It was what you could call a grace gift. We didn't earn it. We didn't beg for it. We were as poor as poor could be. But that's how you receive Christ. That's how you receive salvation. It's not complicated. Nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to the cross I cling. And the Bible uses all kinds of pictures to help us understand how faith operates. It's like into legs that run to Christ. It's like into eyes that look to Christ. It's like into a mouth that feeds upon Christ. It's like into hands that hold on to Christ. Romans 5 says, whoever believes, whoever trusts Jesus is justified. and they have peace with God. That means they're no longer under divine wrath, no longer condemned. That means they're no longer alienated. The need of peace, the prince of peace, the way of peace, the gift of peace, and let me just close by one more thing and go back to Romans 15. Notice the last word here. What's it? Amen. Be nice if we had 100 amens on the morning sometimes. What does that mean? Amen means you are in full agreement. You are saying yes, amen. I agree, I have full confidence and assurance in what you said, amen. You are saying to God, I believe your word, I believe the gospel. If you understand the gospel is a gospel of peace, if you understand that God is a God of peace, that Jesus is the Prince of Peace who achieved our salvation, that warrants an amen. That's better. That should be the easiest thing that comes off our lips, right? Maybe we'll start a good habit here. I hope you can give an amen. I hope you can say, I believe with every fiber of my being that Jesus is who Jesus is, the God-man mediator. I believe he's the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. I believe my Bible is the Bible. In other words, it's the word of God. It's infallibly true. Now, Christians can have doubts. I know that. We have issues where we don't always agree on, Christian liberty issues. Go back to Romans 14. There are differences when it comes to baptism, church government, church discipline. But when it comes to the gospel, there should not be a doubt or question in our mind. I hope there's no doubt in your mind as to who saves and how he saves. I hope you're convinced that he is the God of peace and Jesus is the Prince of Peace. I hope you're convinced that there's no other name under heaven by which men can be saved. I hope you're convinced that it was a substitutionary death. on my behalf. I hope you're convinced that Jesus was a historical person who rose on the third day from the grave and that God, you could say, gave his amen by that resurrection. God would say, everything my son did on that cross was accepted and approved by me. I hope everyone sitting here this morning is able to say a hearty amen to the gospel of Christ. And if you can't, then you don't have peace. You can't have peace. But I hope you can say amen, amen, amen to the gospel. And if you can't, if you can't, Jesus has his arms stretched out to you and invites you. He says, come unto me and I will give you rest. I will give you peace. And all you have to do is come. Believe on Jesus and you receive the gift of justification, the gift of peace. If you want the best Christmas, you want the best of gifts. There's no better gift. than Christ, the Prince of Peace, and what he gives you in his gospel. And when you receive the gift of peace, when you receive this gift of peace with God, guess what happens? It'll prove whether you have received it. You become a peacemaker. That's right. Peace begins to define you. Just read the Beatitudes. That's what a Christian is. He becomes a peacemaker. You come to the cross, you see the peacemaker of peacemakers. If you believe on that peacemaker, you become a peacemaker. And the best way to show you're a peacemaker is you tell others about the peacemaker and how he made peace with sinners. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you again for your glorious gospel, the gospel of your son, We pray, Lord, that we would again refresh our minds and even renew our minds with respect to this gospel. Help us, Lord, to grow in our appreciation for this gospel, to grow in our love for your son, Jesus, who did what he did so we could have peace with God. Help us even this day to rejoice in all that we have in Christ. And may you draw sinners to yourself. And we ask this in your son's name, amen.