Yesterday was a hectic day around our home. Probably for many of you, weekends are busy. You've got things to get done, things to accomplish. Today is my little girl's ninth birthday and so we're celebrating that with her today, but because of that, there was a lot of preparation, a lot of things going on, and so I don't know if Michelle and I were giving our kids the impression that we were feeling the stress of the weekend or what, but we were sitting in the kitchen, and Michelle and I were talking, and Jonathan looked over at us, and he said, Mom, Dad, would you like it if me and Jalen and Jordan, if we went upstairs maybe to our room to play so you guys could have some peace and quiet? Yeah. Here's the keys to the car. I know you're, you know, you probably figure it out. Stay as long as you want. We crave that, don't we? Don't we want peace and quiet? Think about our culture for a minute. Since the fall of mankind, which was a long time ago, Humanity has tried desperately to regain peace. We spend a lot of money trying to buy it. We spend a lot of energy trying to pursue it. We even try to legislate it. We try so hard that we can find peace and we believe that if we find the right pill, the right thing, the right object, the right form of entertainment, that in our lives we will experience peace. But my question is simply this. Is peace defined only as the absence of conflict? Is it defined as the absence of problems? Is it defined as the absence of war? Or is there a more significant kind of peace? This morning, if you would, take your Bibles and let's return back to the book of Romans. And let's look at Romans chapter five, and we're going to look today just at five verses. And as we look at these verses today, we're going to consider very simply, kind of tell you the theme up front, is the fact that it is the gospel. that brings to us genuine, eternal peace. Because the peace that we pursue on this side of heaven is very temporal. I printed off a couple of articles this week. I decided to not use them, but they were interesting to read through about different creations or different things that people have made, inventions that people have made to try to give us peace, a peaceful experience. Well, let's look at this from a scriptural perspective today. Look at verse 1 of chapter 5, and the text begins with a very important word, therefore. In light of everything that Paul has just told us in chapter 4, the discussion about Abraham, about his faith, about his faith not being found in his works, his faith not being found in circumcision, his relationship with God, rather, his righteousness being found in works or his righteousness in circumcision. His righteousness was not found in the law, it was only by faith. And Paul says, therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God. through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also. Did you get that? Knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope. And hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Peace. Do you realize today, based on this passage, you can walk out of here experiencing lasting, eternal peace? Well, how do we do that? Well, let's look this morning at three ways to experience peace in your life. Well, let's look at verse one and understand, first of all, you must receive God's gift of salvation. Now, we're going to understand a little bit more about what Paul's meaning of this word peace is in this context, because sometimes, even in the understanding of the English word peace, we understand it a little bit superficially. But this word peace carries a deeper understanding, a deeper meaning of what Paul is trying to describe for us when he says in verse one, we are justified by faith, which he has talked to us extensively about in chapter four. It is because of this justification, just to review for maybe you haven't been here the last couple of weeks, but justification is simply a legal declaration that you have been declared righteous by God. Therefore, in light of this justification that comes through faith, that comes through believing the promises of God, as a result of that justification, I experience peace with God. Now, the reverse of this is also true. If you are here this morning and you have never been justified, you have never by faith put your trust in Christ for salvation, Remembering that Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the Father but by me. Jesus had a very exclusive message, and that was he is the only way to heaven. I know that religions today promise us, they tell us that there are many roads to heaven, but the reality of that is they are false in that Jesus is the only way. So if I have never been justified, I have never put my faith in Christ, you may experience moments of peace. You may experience times in your life where there is a relative absence of conflict and relationships are generally okay, and your life is relatively problem-free. You may have some superficial level of peace, but you will never have the kind of peace that Paul is talking about. Because salvation, justification by faith, means that we are no longer subject to the wrath and judgment of a holy and righteous God. That God looks at my life because of my faith and says that I am no longer under his judgment, I will no longer experience eternal damnation because I, by faith, have trusted Christ. That, that, is the beginning step of experiencing eternal peace. You see, friend, there is no greater reason to experience peace in your life than to realize that if you know Christ as your personal savior, you have been declared righteous. Doesn't that put life in perspective a little bit? When life gets complicated and difficult and frustrating and seemingly life isn't fair, the sooner we figure that out, the better off we will be. Life will never be fair, this side of heaven. But when I look at the complexities of life and the turmoil comes, and in the midst of that, I can experience peace. You know why? Because I've been declared righteous. I have eternal salvation that is secure in Christ. The enmity that existed between God and man ends at justification that produces peace with God in the believer's life. Look at what he says. We have peace with God. We have peace with our creator. Now, there's a lot of discussion in the commentaries on Romans about what is this peace exactly talking about? objective peace, meaning that when you look at it, there is a defined peace that is objective and can be measured, or is this peace that is subjective? Let me illustrate it this way. At the end of a war, when a war happens, there is a declaration of peace. There is some kind of peace treaty that means the war has been declared over. It is objective. The two nations sign that treaty. Peace now ensues. The two countries are at peace. However, there is a subjective peace that means the citizens of those countries now experience peace because there is no longer a battle that is being fought between the two armies. So, which is Paul talking about? I think, as often, the answer is yes. In a sense, we have an objective peace with God, knowing that if I have accepted Christ as my Savior, I will not experience eternal damnation. I will spend eternity in heaven because of my faith. God has declared me to be at peace with Him. Now, we have to understand that later on in chapter 5, next week or so, when Paul comes and says that Jesus Christ died for you when you were his enemy. You were, in a sense, at war because in your flesh you had no hope of salvation, but Christ died for you when you were his enemy. And when I believe in him by faith, I am declared righteous, I experience an objective peace with God. But there's also a subjective level of this peace, which means there's a level of comfort in that. There's a level of experiencing peace because of the harmonious relationship that I now have with God. I experience this in my life. Now, I want you to notice that Paul is very specific about the means by which we achieve this peace. Notice, Paul does not say, I can get peace with God through religion. He doesn't say that I can get peace with God through giving money or through becoming even a Baptist or doing certain things through baptism or through church membership. He's very specific about the means through which we achieve this peace. He says it is through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you think back with me to Isaiah 9, verse 6, where Isaiah writes, For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest on his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of, what? Peace. The Old Testament predicted his coming. Jesus made an interesting statement in John chapter 14, where he said, Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you, not as the world gives. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful." Jesus says, you know what I have to offer you? A peace that this world can never give you, can't happen. You may be able to drown your sorrows for a period of time. You may be able to drown out the noise of your life for a period of time. But Jesus says the peace that this world offers you and the peace that he has made available to you, they are radically different. One is temporal, that's the best the world can do, and the other is eternal. Now, this word peace, let's explain it just a little bit, understand it. There is a Greek word here, erine, and there is a Hebrew word that you're probably more familiar with, and that is the word shalom. These words are very similar. Let me just read to you a definition of the word translated in our English as peace. It means peace between individuals, harmony. We get that. But it also carries the idea of security, safety, prosperity. Listen, it refers to the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly portion. Let me read that to you again. It refers to the tranquil state of a soul when it is assured of its salvation through Christ and so fearing nothing from God and living content with its earthly portion. That is the kind of peace that God can give to you through salvation. We have all stood, I have stood recently at the grave of a loved one. To go through that experience, not knowing where a person will spend eternity is a very difficult, discouraging thing, isn't it? But when I can stand at a grave and say that person, while maybe physically gone from this earth, they are going to spend eternity with heaven because they are at peace with God through salvation, that is a reason to rejoice in this life. Understanding that all of us will one day experience death and we will all one day stand before a holy and righteous God. And if I want to have peace with God, I have to come to him on his terms. And that is through His Son, Jesus Christ, the source of eternal peace. Now, let me read for you an Old Testament verse. The Lord will give strength to His people. The Lord will bless His people with peace. That's Psalm 2911. This is the Hebrew word shalom, which is a very similar word, meaning complete or sound, safe, at peace and prosperity. You see when the peace of god rules in our hearts all of the anxiety and fears of this world Cannot take up residence in our hearts philippians 4 7 says and the peace of god which surpasses all understanding Will guard your hearts and minds through christ jesus that God has the ability to give to you an objective peace that I can withstand this world and go through the trials of life knowing I am at peace with God, and it says it surpasses all understanding. In other words, the world does not understand that. My friend, what are you pursuing today as the source of peace in your life? The world is powerless in its ability to give you peace. The world cannot comprehend the peace that comes from an intimate relationship with Christ. The world can only look at that and marvel. How can a believer live a life of peace and tranquility in the midst of a broken world? You know how? I can do it through the power of Christ. We don't have to look very hard or very long at our news cycle to find out there are all kinds of hurts and problems Think about that situation in California that took place this week. Thankfully, the young lady was rescued, I believe, yesterday. And we look at that and we think, how can we have peace in such a world that is violent, in a world that is so, so wrapped up in its sin? You know how I can have peace? When I have a relationship with Christ. Peace of Christ is something that transcends the world. The peace of God transcends our circumstances. The peace of God can transcend our anxiety. The level of peace, by the way, that we experience greatly depends on the faith we have toward God. As we said last week, if my God is small, then my faith will be small. If God to me is a little God, I will not experience a lot of peace because God may not have the ability to meet the needs of my life. If, however, I understand who God is and have accepted Christ, I can experience peace. Now, let's briefly consider the sources of anxiety in our lives. We often face physical problems, don't we? We often face financial situations or relational problems, or we experience emotional problems. And never to diminish those things, they are real challenges in our lives. What Paul is telling us, therefore, in light of our justification, we have peace that we can experience living in this world. So let me ask you this, do you understand today that believing the gospel has produced a cessation of hostility between you and God? Do you live every day, if you're here this morning, you know Christ is your Savior. Do you live in such a way that you understand that Christ has forgiven you, that Christ has saved you from all eternity? Do you live with appreciation of that? Do you live applying that peace to your life or do you live in a constant state of turmoil because life is so uneasy and so uncertain? You know, sometimes, and we'll get to this in a couple of weeks, probably three or four weeks, that sometimes we believe our justification, and because we have peace with God, that this in fact is a license to sin. Well, Paul's going to make that very clearly when he says in verse 1 of chapter 6, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? And he says, God forbid. So the peace that we have with God is not a license to sin, but it is a license to live life of peace. resting in the objective truth of salvation, resting in the objective truths of scripture, allowing the truths and the promises of God to infiltrate my life and to live in such a way that I have confidence, not in me, but confidence in God and experiencing the peace of God that surpasses understanding because I am resting in Him. My friend, that is peace. That is peace that you will never find on human terms or peace in this world. Well, Paul gives us a second thing to consider here. He says we must also rest in God's grace. We understand that justification is punctiliar. That means it happens at a point in time. Justification is not something that happens repeatedly in the life of a believer. It is not something that happens over and over. It happens one time. I am declared righteous. I am declared justified, legally standing before God in His righteousness. But Paul goes on and he talks about this access of faith into God's grace. Now this, to me, is more of a daily decision. Am I going to live each and every day living under the authority and living under the power of God's grace, or am I going to live every day in turmoil? Look at what he says. He says, by whom? By whom, referring to who? Referring to Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Now, I want you to, if you're writing your Bible, you can do this literally or you can do this figuratively, because we're going to come back to this in a few minutes, underline, at least in your mind, the word rejoice. Because he is telling us we are to rejoice in God's grace. We get that to some degree. We understand this command, if you will, to rejoice in God's grace. But he says this peace of God comes through an infusion of God's grace. And look at what our salvation gives to us. We have access to the grace of God. An unbeliever does not have that. A believer, I mean, has this ever happened to you? You look at the life of someone who has gone through a trial. I mean, something significant in their life, and it is earth-shattering. The death of a spouse, the death of a child, losing a job. I mean, we could go through a variety of things, but something very traumatic, and they know Christ as their Savior, and they're going through it, and it's like they are ministering to you. Have you ever stood by the coffin of a loved one and the spouse or the parent or whoever is standing there and you're weeping and you're crying for them and they're comforting you? And you say to yourself, I could never do that. If you are a believer, can I tell you? Yes, you could. You know why? Because God would be infusing his all-powerful grace into your life. You have access to that. And when I am going through a significant trial in my life, it is God's grace that is sustaining me. At that moment, I may not have that grace in my life, but if I was going through it, I would have access to it. And somewhere, somehow, the word grace in Christianity has been bottled up and put on a shelf somewhere, and we forget you have access to it. Our church is like named that. Grace. Whoa, here's a preacher, you know, get a little preachy for a second. Let's keep living our name. Remembering God's grace on our church and remembering God's grace on our lives and then living a life that is filled with grace and showing the love and compassion and grace of God to others. I have access to the grace of God. Ongoing infusion. Notice the word stand. He says, and not only, excuse me, verse two, why would you have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand? This word access, by the way, means to approach, to come into someone's presence. Because of my justification, are you ready for this? I can come into the throne room of God through prayer. through seeking Him in times of trial, and because of my relationship with Him, I can experience God's grace. Now, he goes on and he says, here's the word rejoice that I asked you to, at least in your mind, underline, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Now, we sang about this. I don't know if Wes did it on purpose, but complete in thee. He envisions the end of the process. Understanding, are you saved today? Well, if you have put your faith in Christ, you are saved. You are justified. Are you saved today? On another note, no. In that, there is an ultimate salvation that is coming called glorification. That one day, because of your declared righteousness, because of the grace of God in your life, you will one day, he says, stand before God in the hope of the glory of God. In other words, you will stand perfected and mature because of your faith. Think about it this way. Philippians 1 6 for I am confident of this very thing that he which began a good work in you will Perfect it or perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. You are in the process of sanctification Maturing in your faith, but one day you are you ready? You will be like Christ. I Will be like Christ Because of God's grace World, you can throw at us whatever you want. You could take our lives, you know what? That's fine, as Paul said, for me to die is gain. At that point in time, at that moment, I will stand before my Heavenly Father, and I will stand before Him in absolute righteousness because of my Savior. Folks, that is reason for peace. That is reason to live in the difficult days of our lives, not to dismiss them or not to discount them, but to live with an eternal perspective, understanding that one day I will be perfected. Now, come back to this word rejoice for a moment. It's an interesting word. In fact, Paul had forbade us To boast in anything improper. This word is translated rejoice in the majority of the major English translations translate it as rejoice. The new American standard actually translates the word as exalt. But the word literally means to boast. to pride oneself. Whoa, wait a minute, that's interesting. You could translate it this way. He could say that you are to boast in the hope of the glory of God. Now, rejoice is a very good translation, the one that I would pick as well. But here's the thing, he's saying I can boast in that confidently, rejoicing in that, having triumphant joy because of God's grace in my life. I can have a boasting, if you will, in God. That is an act of worship. that when I rejoice in the fact that I will one day be like Christ, I am worshiping God and bringing glory to God because of the justification that is mine through Christ. Paul is saying here that God's grace will sustain us. God's grace will be the ultimate source of our glorification one day when we stand before Him and also understand that God's grace is available to you if you know Christ as your Savior each and every moment in your life. Now let's make it practical. You live your Christian life that way? Do you live your Christian life as if you have access to the grace of God in your day-to-day living? When problems do come, what's your reaction? I always think about, we become chicken little Christians. Sky is falling. The world is coming to an end. I love the story of Martin Luther, who off and on struggled with depression. And his wife was always trying to minister to him and get him out of these periods of depression. And one day she came in dressed in all black. And Martin Luther looked at her rather confused and he said, who died? She said, well, apparently God did the way you're acting. Does your Christian life reflect the grace of God? Doesn't that get in the way of judgmentalism? Doesn't that get in the way of despair? Doesn't that get in the way of worry and anxiety? You see, if I'm grace living, I'm living every day understanding I have an infusion of God's grace. Get this, I have the strength and power to live today with joy, regardless of my circumstances. regardless of what is taking place in my life. Peace is living daily, sustained by the grace of God, understanding that every day I need that grace. I need the grace of God. I need it and you need it. And if we are going to live a life of peace, we have to live dependent on that grace. Now thirdly and finally this morning, look with me lastly, you must rejoice in life's afflictions. We're good up until this point, aren't we? Justification. Yes. Preach it. Receive Christ. Rest in His grace. Got it. Yes. Rejoice in affliction. Notice what he says. And not only so, but we glory in tribulation. You see that word glory there? Remember the word I had you focus on previously, verse 2, the word rejoice? And I said it could mean boast? Same word. Same Greek word. King James translates it glory, two of the other English translations translate it rejoice to go along with verse 2. Nasby sticks with the word exult. The idea is I am to rejoice even in the midst of trials, even in the midst of affliction. And this tells me, first of all, that peace in this life is not depending on circumstance. This is not living the Christian life like a pendulum, being okay and life is wonderful when life is the way I think it should be. No problems, no conflict, no difficulties, nothing going on. No, this is a piece of God that is a settled confidence in God, regardless of circumstances, regardless of conflict, regardless of the level of problems that I may be experiencing in my life. We understand boasting in God's grace, but we don't understand this boasting in the midst of our afflictions. Now, there's debate about this too, not to bog down on all this, The scholars are back and forth on, well, what kind of affliction is Paul talking about here? Is he talking about the general afflictions that happen in this world? You and I experience affliction because we live in a sin-cursed world. We know that. Or is Paul talking about the afflictions that are unique to ministering for Christ? Again, as often, maybe I'm a chicken. I don't know. I think the answer is yes. I think there's elements of both. I live in a sin-cursed world. I'm going to face affliction. I'm going to face problems. But I also may face affliction that is dependent on my service for Christ. Now, I want you to... I know the hour is slipping away, but go over to 2 Corinthians for just a moment. I want you to see another passage in which Paul deals with this idea in chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. And I wanted you to just see Paul's explanation of this in another context in another passage where he says in verse 13 We having the same spirit of faith according as it is written. I believe and therefore have I spoken we also believe and therefore speak Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you for all things are for your sakes that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many rebound to the glory of God for which cause we faint not but through though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day look at verse 17 for our light affliction Which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more Exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we look not that the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but things which are not seen are Eternal in other words in the light of in light of our light affliction God is doing something eternal in your life that is for and your eternal benefit. It's not earning your salvation through injuring myself. It's not earning my salvation by depriving myself and causing afflictions on myself. That is not the picture at all. But Paul recognizes that there is a process through which I am working through and benefit from when I go through these trials. He says, I can glory in tribulations when I understand what they are for. And he goes through and he tells us the process through which we go through. Look at this chain of events. He says that, verse 3, knowing the tribulation works patience. And patience experience and experience hope. Rejoicing in times of suffering is possible when I remember the eternal reasons that God brings them into my life. Look at the first one. Troubles bring forth patience or endurance. The word could be understood to mean perseverance. Those who face trials in life are strengthened when the storms of life come at them. I wrote here on my sheet, it toughens us up. I don't mean hardens us. But I mean that life experiences that we are allowed to go through by God's grace and sustained by God's grace strengthens us to the place and to the point that I, as Paul says elsewhere, that I can then minister to other people. That if I just simply sit back in my spiritual life and I always want easy, you know what you will become? a weak Christian. He says, I can glory in these afflictions because under God's gracious care, our afflictions produce perseverance. They bring about endurance. This endurance allows us to live through life's difficulties with patience and with resilience. It is life's trials through which we build spiritual fortitude. We build strength. We know Humanly speaking if you want to build a stronger muscle you have to work it you have to place it under Resistance, but he goes on and he says that patience also brings about experience the idea of experience is a proven or tested character as we experience the trials of life strength of our character is revealed and it grows through these afflictions and You realize there is no better way that we can demonstrate to the world what Christ can do in our lives when they receive and they have access to see your maturing character and your maturing Christ-likeness before them as you respond to life's trials. It is that tested character that brings maturity. Now we can then handle a higher level of ministry, a higher level of experience before God. But he noticed, he goes on and he says that not only does it bring experience, but it also brings hope. A tested character brings forth hope, and this is the end result. As we see God strengthening us through our trials, our faith in Him deepens. As we see the transformation of our character, it is proof to us that God is working in our lives. Our future hope of glorification is settled because we can see God working in our hearts and in our lives today. Now, go back with me, if you would, through your life. Probably, for those of us who are, you know, lived a few years, We could go back over the course of our lives and pick out turning points in my life where God did something amazing in my life, and God matured me in my faith, and God allowed me to take my next steps spiritually. We could go back and probably come up, I could probably come up with four or five of those times that God really amazingly worked in my life And I came out of the other side of that more mature and more like Christ and had a more proven or tested character. I can think of four or five for me. Those four or five events have one thing in common. They were all trials. They were all difficulties. None of them were fun. None of them were pleasant. I wouldn't, to be honest with you, sign up to go through them again. But if I could change it, I wouldn't. Because at the end of that time, I see me maturing in my faith. Isn't that more important than comfort? Isn't that more important than convenience? Isn't that more important than easy? No, God is up to something bigger in your life. He's maturing you for His glory. He's preparing you to minister for Him. He is preparing you for the opportunity you're going to have to sit in the living room with someone going through the same or similar trial that you went through so you can say, I've been there and let me tell you what God did. And I can comfort you. and encourage you. You know what? Why would we take easy when we can go through even the trials of life and we can benefit from them? We can benefit eternally and we can benefit now so that I can be a more effective minister for my Lord and Savior. Isn't that reason to rejoice? Remember, Paul said, and we are to rejoice. Again, I say rejoice. We all know, we've heard it a million times. He said it sitting in a prison cell. It doesn't mean life circumstances are fun or that they are always enjoyable, but what it means is I can rejoice when I see them from an eternal perspective. Notice 1 Corinthians 1, where Paul said, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also sustain you to the end, blameless. Did you get that? Blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Very quickly, let me read for you a quote. I don't quote very often, but sometimes a writer says it better than I could, more succinctly. Writer said this, he said, sufferings, and I quote, sufferings rather than threatening or weakening hope, as we might expect to be the case, will instead increase our certainty in that hope. Hope, like a muscle, will not be strong if it goes unused. It is in suffering that we must exercise with deliberation and fortitude our hope. And the constant reaffirmation of hope in the midst of apparently hopeless circumstances will bring ever deeper conviction of the reality and certainty of that for which we hope." End of quote. In other words, those trials deepen our trust, deepen our hope in God because we see God working. And then the last little phrase he says, why can we do that? Verse five, in hope maketh not a shame because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. It brings us back to God's love. The fact that God has flooded our hearts with his love. He has given to us the Holy Spirit of God. And he said, God will never shame you. God will never harm you. Psalm 119 verse 116, uphold me according to your promise that I may live and let me not be put to shame in my hope. Believers will not experience shame because God has poured out his love for you. When the trials come, Don't we always have to see them through that lens? God loves me. God would never hurt me. God is maturing me. And in the midst of my afflictions, in the midst of my problems, God is making me more like Christ. I can rejoice in afflictions when I know that God is using them for his eternal glory. So peace, how do we get it? Well, peace comes through receiving Christ. Genuine, lasting peace comes from a relationship with Christ that starts when I put my faith in Him. I must receive Christ. I must also rest in God's grace. A daily decision to accept the infusion of God's grace into my life and to strengthen me for the day in which I live. And then lastly, I must rejoice even in affliction. If you have no relationship with God, you will have no peace. But if you know Christ, you know God intimately, you will know objectively and experientially the peace of God that will surpass all understanding. So very, very simply, to leave you with a sermon in a very brief sentence, peace comes from knowing and trusting God. That, my friend, that will give you eternal peace that will never waver. It is yours today. through Christ. Let's pray. Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed. This morning we've come to a brief moment today of invitation. Maybe you are here this morning and you have been resting and trusting in the things of this world, believing that you will find somewhere, somehow, peace. But you've come up empty. It doesn't matter what you've tried, it doesn't matter the avenue you've traveled down. The result has been the same. You have constantly come back to the place where there's no peace in your life. And you may be sitting here saying, now I know why. I have no relationship with God. I have never been justified. I have never accepted Christ as my savior. And I need to do that today. If that's you this morning, Let me encourage you to not leave today without talking to someone about that decision. Christian, I wonder, how are you living your life today? Tossed about? Living on the ever change of the waves of your emotion? Allowing circumstances to determine the level of peace that you experience in your life? Maybe you're relying on a human relationship to bring you peace. Oh, you know Christ, but you don't rest in His grace. And rather than rejoicing in the midst of affliction, you're angry or bitter or resentful. My friend, you can experience the experiential side of that peace you have with God by restoring your relationship with Him today. Today's the day for you. to acknowledge your sin and come and restore fellowship with your God.