We'll be looking this morning
at Jehovah Shalom, Lord our peace. What happened here in Judges,
Israel did evil on the side of the Lord. That seems repetitive,
doesn't it? As we go through these books
of the Old Testament, we'll see this over and over. Israel did
evil on the side of the Lord. And they were giving over to
someone, the Midians. Midianites and they cried to
the Lord because they picked on them and they would camp around
them and as soon as their harvest would come in they'd go in and
take it and as soon as their cattle gave birth they'd go in
and take it. They were using them. Using them. And it says
that Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites and
so they cried out to God. They cried out to God and God
sent his prophet to them. An unnamed prophet. And they
said, do you know what the Lord did? The Lord brought you out
of Egypt, and He's took you out of the hands of this one, and
He's took you out of the hands of that one. He's kept you here, and
He's kept you there. Over and over again, and all these wars,
and all these skirmishes, and all these battles and fights,
the Lord has prevailed, and He has brought you out. And then
He spoke to Gideon. And He said, Gideon, you are
going to go out and fight these men. These people that are against
Israel. And he said, I ain't able. How
am I going to do that? He said, I'm the weakest of my
brethren. I'm the baby of the family. I'm
the youngest. And my father's poor. We don't
come from good stock. How am I going to fight these?
He said, you'll defeat them as if it were one man. You're going
to swing your sword one time. And all those thousands upon
thousands are going to be over with. You're going to go to war,
Gideon. You're going to go to war. It
says in verse 21, that before this Gideon wanted to bring a
sacrifice, this angel of the Lord was speaking to him. And
so he brought a kid. You know what a kid is? Those
are my children. I just call them kiddos sometimes.
A kid's a baby goat. He brought a lamb. And he brought
unleavened cakes. up there. That's what he brought
to this angel of the Lord. It says in verse 21, Then the
angel of the Lord put forth the end of his staff that was in
his hand and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes. And
there rose up fire out of the rock and consumed the flesh and
the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed
out of his sight. That flesh, that unleavened bread
was established, was laid on the rock That was the rock, wasn't
it? And that fire consumed it. It
was accepted. That's what it was. And when
Gideon, verse 22, when Gideon perceived that he was an angel
of the Lord. This wasn't just some prophet
standing in front of him, this was an angel of the Lord. Gideon said, Alas,
O Lord God, for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face
to face. Face to face. In the beginning
of this, he calls it capital L, lowercase O-R-D. He says,
my Lord, that the Lord, capital L-O-R-D, all capitals, did they
send you? Who do you think this was? He says, Christ speaking
to him. That's the angel of the Lord
that's come to him. And this is reference here. He said, I've
seen God, that's what I've seen, and I ain't gonna live. Speaking
of Exodus 33, 20, no man shall live and see my face, God told
Moses. I'll make my goodness pass before you, but you ain't
gonna see my face. And Gideon said, uh-oh. It's God's man. This is the Lord. It says in
verse 23, "...And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee.
Fear not, thou shalt not die." You afraid? Peace be unto you.
Fear not, thou shalt not die. "...And Gideon built an altar
there unto the Lord and called it Jehovah Shalom." The Lord,
our peace. The Lord, our peace. Gideon is
going to be sent to war. You're going to war. And before
that war commences, You're going to see Christ and Him crucified. He's going to speak peace into
your heart. Before there's a battle, peace is established. Do you
see that? Before you go to war, that ain't until chapter 7, He
defeats the Midianites. Before you go to war, He's going
to make you know He is your peace. He's your peace. That's a lot
better than going to war that way, isn't it? We've been looking through these
names, Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide. Jehovah Rapha,
the Lord that healeth thee. Jehovah Rhea, Lord my shepherd.
Jehovah Sikkenu, the Lord our righteousness. Jehovah Shema,
the Lord is present. We talk a lot about those names,
don't we? Because that's our necessity. Do you need provision? Do you need your bills paid?
Jehovah Jireh, we talk about that, can't we? You sick? You
got sniffles? You got a bad back? You got a
bum knee? Something wrong with you? Lord, heal a thing. We know
about that, don't we? I don't know what to do. Do you
have good wisdom as to what you ought to do, what we ought to
do next? We're going to need God to lead us. We need a shepherd,
don't we? Jehovah Raphael. I ain't got no righteousness.
He must be my righteousness. I need Him with me. I feel so
alone. I need the Lord present. We talk
a lot about these names. But what about the Lord our peace?
Are we peaceful? Am I peaceful? Am I at peace
most of the time? I ought to be. I ought to be. What if I was in the middle of
war? I ought to be peaceful. I was talking on the way here.
There's a war movie. It has a real good depiction.
They're just about to fast rope you into a city and take a building.
And they said, two minutes out. And it was so accurate, that
fellow took his book and closed it and put it in his pocket.
If there's a lull in the battle, you want to go play spades? We
got time to get a card game in. You get used to it. You get peaceful
in it, don't you? And then, oh, there's a battle.
But at all times, whether there's a lull in the battle or we're
right in the middle of bullets flying, we ought to be peaceful.
I ought to have peace at all times. So many people cry, peace,
peace, where there is no peace. This world shook up. It's a raging
sea. And it gets torn all to pieces. Oh, did you hear about so-and-so?
Oh, they said this. Calm down. Knock it off. Go sit underneath
a shade-treating ham sandwich, Maurice told me. Chill out. Calm down. Many of those who
profess to believe God, they profess to believe God, they
have little peace. Very little peace. Where did
the peace go? If God saved you and He gave
you peace and His Son, where did it go? I'm going to give
you this illustration. My pastor told some funny things
here and there. It's good to keep our attentions.
Keep us awake. Keep us paying attention. There
was this old man and a woman that was driving a truck. He
had an old 79 Ford as a bench seat. She was sitting over by
the door and she was just getting on him, just hen pecking him.
She says, you know, we used to be so happy together. We used
to sit side by side in this truck every time we went to town. And
he just kept taking it and taking it and taking it. And finally
he looked over and she said, what happened to us? He said, I ain't the one
that moved. You're the one that slid over.
Where'd your peace go? God hasn't moved. I've been,
if my peace is gone, I've been the one that moved. That's simple,
isn't it? Paul begins all 12 of his epistles, grace be unto
you and peace. That's a good way to start. Peace.
You're about to go to war, talk about peace. Talk about that. There's a lot said about grace
from pulpits, but where's the peace? Where's the peace? We understand these facts, we
understand these functions. I need peace in my life. You need peace?
Three questions for you. Where is true peace found? These
aren't complicated. You can probably answer these
for me. We need to see it. Where is true peace found? What
are the results? What are the results of finding
that peace? We met face-to-face and we're one-on-one with this
peace and we have it. What's the results? What's that produced? And how is this peace preserved?
How can it be maintained? What can you and I do? What ought
we to do? What ought we to do? Out of that
debt of love, that debt of gratitude, after knowing God, what ought
you to do? What ought I to do? Those letters Paul wrote, he
said, Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from
the Lord Jesus Christ. Where does peace come from? From
God our Father. Same place grace comes from.
Peace comes from Him and from the Lord Jesus Christ. They're
one. Where is peace coming from? Them. God is our Provider. He
is our Banner. He is Jehovah Nissi. He is our
Shepherd and He is our Peace. He is our Peace. Our Great Almighty
God was manifest in the flesh. He was revealed to us. All has
come to pass in a body. in a body, the Lord Jesus Christ,
and in Him, in that man that walked this earth 2,000 years
ago, that hung on a cross, is risen and seated at the right
hand of God right now, interceding for His people, right now we
have peace in Him. For in Him we have peace. We
sing, come thou fount of every blessing. Come thou fount of
every blessing." Where does our blessings come from? Him. He's
the fountain. What's a fountain? That's where
water comes from. What about blessings? He's a fountain of
blessings. We have blessings that come from
Him. We get that, don't we? He's the source of it. Christ
is the Lord our peace. He's Jehovah Shalom. But not
to all Adam's race. Not to everybody. I can't go
out and tell every man underneath the sun, God loves you. He's at peace with you. I can't
say that. He's at peace with His people, those that put in
Christ. I can't go out and cry, peace, peace, where there is
no peace. How is Christ our peace? How is He our peace? Turn over
to Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2. Christ is our peace because He
came into this world for His people. He came to be our incarnate
Redeemer. God sent His Son into this world
to be our peace. God became a man. You and I could
have peace. His people could have peace.
He's the King of peace. And His coming into this world
brought peace. What kind of peace did Christ
come to bring? Was it between nations? Luke chapter 2. Did Christ come to bring peace
between nations to end Ukraine and Russia going to war? No,
that ain't it. What about neighbors? Well, their tree keeps growing
over my yard and now Christ has come so I ain't mad about that
tree, no. That's not what he come. He came to bring peace
between God and man. Between God and man. We need
to be reconciled. We need peace. Why? Because there's
a war going on. We're at odds. We're entity.
We need peace. Why? Our mind is entity. It's
hostility. It's war with the Holy God we
offended. Have you ever been that way?
You ever been at war with God? If you've never been at war with
God, you're at war with Him right now and you don't know it. And
I pray God have mercy on your souls and He would show you what
we are. We're fighting him, tooth and
toe now. People say, well, I ain't that mad. Well, you can be in
a war and not be screaming and yelling and blood all over you.
Still be at war, can't you? He says he is angry with the
wicked every day. Why do we need peace? He's angry
with the wicked. Sin must be punished. People
don't say that much in our day, do they? You see God is love
on a bumper sticker. You don't see God's just. I'm
going to get in a bumper sticker business. God's going to punish
sin. You're going to meet your maker,
the one you offended. It said, The fool shall not stand
in thy sight. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. He's holy. We have a holy God.
We need peace with Him. You got Luke 2? Luke 2.11. Here's how we can have peace.
Luke 2.11. For unto you is born this day
in the city of David a Savior. which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto
you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes
lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the
angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace." Goodwill toward
men. Peace did not come until He came. Did you get that? When did peace
come on earth? Right there. When He came. When
He came. If God has always loved everybody,
if He had always just been the jolly old man, the man upstairs,
I despise that. Brother, Paul Mahan, I'll send
it out to you. Paul Mahan had a good article
about it. People flippantly call his name Jesus. How Jesus did
this and Jesus did that. John laid his head on his bosom
and he said, Lord, There's a reverence there. I didn't call my daddy
Paul. If I'd have come in the house, hey Doug, Paul and Doug,
depending on which city he was living in at the time. If I'd
have come in and called him by his first name, I'd have had
all the spit out of my mouth. He'd have slapped it clean out.
Who you talking to son? Call him Lord, because he is.
We need Peace with Him. If God's loved everybody, if
He's been jolly with everybody, if He's the man upstairs and
He wanted to save everybody, how come we need peace? That
doesn't sound like war, does it? That doesn't sound like enmity,
does it? You can stand and say peace and you can say goodwill
towards men when you stand in Christ only. If you're standing
on His Word only, that's the only way you could say it. That's
the only place you could beckon to someone and say, come to this
city of refuge. Come to where there's walls and
there's peace. Because outside of Him, there is no peace. It
must be in Him. Turn over to Colossians chapter
1. Colossians 1. He's our peace because He's our
representative. He was made flesh. He was made under the law. The
one who gave the law was made under the law. And He obeyed
that law. And He put away the curse of the law for His people.
Did you know we're under the curse of the law? Do people know
that? He was made a curse for us and
thereby made peace before the law for us. Do we know that? Colossians 1.19. For it pleased
the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. What's going
to dwell in Him? All the fullness, peace, love, joy, salvation,
the forgiveness of sins, all the names of the Lord, all of
our provision, all of our banner. It's going to be in Him. It's
going to dwell in Him. having made peace. How could
He make peace? How could this be possible? We
have peace against the Holy God we offend through the blood of
His cross, by Him to reconcile. I thought it was already reconciled.
I thought God loved everybody. No, we're apart. There's a goal fixed.
To reconcile all things unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven, And you, that were
sometimes alienated in enemies in your mind, you that were at
war with God, by wicked works now hath He reconciled. Where
did He do that? In the body of His flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight. Where is peace found? Christ
alone. What's your peace? It ain't what
it's a who. That person, the person in the
work of the Lord Jesus Christ is our peace. Who He is and what
He accomplished. They go hand in hand, don't they?
That's what Paul wrote in Ephesians 2.14, for He is, He is our peace
who hath made both one and hath broken down that middle wall
of partition between us. That great wall was between us.
That law we offended was between us. That veil was between us
and the holiest of holies where God meets with sinners and Christ
rent it. He tore it down. He brought peace
by coming to this earth, going to the cross, rising from the
grave, a victorious, completed Savior, the captain of our salvation.
And our warfare is over. It's accomplished. It's done. He gave us peace as our prophet. He spoke it to our hearts, didn't
he? Your warfare is accomplished.
I can say that. God has to make it factual. He speaks, you're
going to have condemnation with God? You're going to be at war
with God? No, it's accomplished. He speaks peace as our prophet to
our heart. He speaks peace as our high priest.
Right now. You in a bad spot? You got a
bad situation happening? I bet in three seconds it ain't
gonna be that bad. Right now, Christ is at the right
hand of the Father interceding for His people. What's He doing? He's establishing peace right
now. He has established peace. He speaks peace to our hearts.
And as our high priest, He intercedes for us right now. And as our
King. He's Melchizedek, wasn't He?
Melchizedek was a king of shalom. He was a king of peace. The battle
he fought is won. The battle our king fought against
sin, against death, against Satan, and against hell, it's won. It's
won. Our peace is not Christ plus
anything. The first confidence that you
have in something other than Christ alone, you have no confidence. Not Christ plus our strength,
or Christ plus our faithfulness, or Christ plus our praying, or
plus our doing. No, He alone is our peace. That's
where peace can be found. In Him. What's the result of
finding Christ? I said, what's the result of
finding peace? He's our peace, isn't He? What happens? What results
when we find Him? Turn over to Hebrews chapter
10. No person has the right to claim
peace with God outside of Christ. People say, have you made your
peace with God? Or, I've made my peace with God. No, you haven't. No, you haven't. Christ is the
peacemaker. Our King is the peacemaker. What's
the result of true peace found in Christ? We have communion
with God. I've got four points here. I'll give them a C. I like
that. It keeps with my head, right? Communion. We have communion
with God because Christ is our peace. Hebrews 10, 14. For by
one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified,
whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us. For after that
he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with
them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws
into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and
their sins and iniquities, all those products of war. I will
remember no more." Now where the remission of sin is, there's
no more offering for sin. Those sins have been remitted.
There's been remission for them. They've been separated. They
remember no more. There's no more offering for them. That
offering has been accepted. It's over. Having therefore brethren, not all people,
not everybody. What does he say? Having therefore
brethren. He's speaking to his people.
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by the
blood of our Almighty God. Because of Him, we can have communion
with God. We can enter with boldness into the holiest of holies, where
God meets with us. We can be in the presence of
Almighty God now. We didn't have that before. We didn't have that. We have boldness to enter into
the place where God meets His people. We can enter in peace
with boldness. There's only one place on this
earth I have complete boldness to do anything I want. And that's
in my home. If I go in and I want to sit
on the floor, I'll sit on the floor. If I want to go in and open a cabinet
up and look through it, I'll go in and open a cabinet up and
look through it. It's mine. I'm rightfully, it's rightfully
so for me to be there. I can wear pajamas if I want
to. Do what I want. If I go to your
house, you have a home. I don't go through your cabinets.
That ain't right, if need be told that. I feel weird to go
look for a glass, get something to drink, and it ain't there.
Now I got to open up another cabinet. I don't want to. They'll
think I'm rifling through their stuff. I wouldn't walk through
your house wearing pajamas. That ain't my home. I'm bold
in my home, isn't it? That's boldness. That's boldness,
to understand and have just a full assumption and security that
it's right for me to be here. That's what that word means right
here. We can come into the presence of God. We don't come in our
pajamas. We don't come haphazardly. We
come in the presence of God because of Christ accomplishing our peace
with the Father in His own blood. I have fears about dying of how
the operation of that will take place. I just assume not fall.
I don't like falling. I'm not tremendously fond of
small places now. I'm getting a little claustrophobic.
But the actual dying, I have no fear. I'm the Lord's. I'm bought with the price. What's
it going to be like? I don't know, but I'm going to
be with Him. He's our forerunner, and I trust Him. However, to
set things up is just right. That's done. I believe Him. I trust Him. I understand. I
have boldness to die. You want to see somebody that
don't have peace? They're scared to death of that. And they're scared to
death of this world. They're scared to death of this
government. They're scared to death of the things that's flying above
us and the things dug underneath us. All around us. They're terrified
because they have no peace. So what? Calm down. Relax. Have peace. If you believe
Him, have peace. I need to remind you of that
often. He says in verse 19, having therefore brethren boldest to
enter in the holiest of holies by the blood of Jesus. If that's not the only cause
you have to come in God's presence, stay away from Him. As long as
you can. You take all the pills you can
to stay alive longer, you have all the surgeries you can to
stay alive longer, you eat all the right foods you can to stay
alive longer, because you're about to meet a holy God you
offended. You're going to stand alone. If you don't come by His
blood, you're still an enemy. You're still fighting God. What's
the second result of this peace? We have communion with God, but
we have confidence too, don't we? Paul said, I know whom I
have believed. He didn't say, I've got a pretty
good idea, and that's what So and So told me. He said, I know!
I know! Whom I believed. He was a great
apostle. He was a great writer. He wrote
the bulk of the New Testament, didn't he? He was a great preacher.
He could lay on a dead man one time and raise him. He could
do all these things. But he never spoke about that, did he? Paul,
comma, an apostle. I'm an apostle. Oh, he said,
my name's Paul. Hey, buddy. It was fine, wasn't
it? Why? Because Christ's blood is
on him. That's all he had. He knew who
he believed. Only that Christ was his life,
his hope, and his peace. That's why. David, that great
warrior, that great king and leader, he wrote the hymnal for
the church, didn't he? A great bulk of it. He wrote
most of the Psalms. He said, although my house be not so with
God. on His last words, His dying deathbed. Yet hath He made with
me an everlasting covenant. Who made it? He made it. Ordered
in all things and sure. Are you on rocky ground, David? I have peace in that. I have peace in the covenant
that God made and He ordered and He made it sure. I have peace
in that. For this is all my salvation and all my desire. That's all
I want. Him, I want the Lord my peace.
We have a confidence for that. That's confidence, isn't it?
To say that, I know it. I know, I'm confident. Job said,
for I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand the latter
day upon this earth. Do you know that? I do. He's
coming. What's it going to be like? I
don't know, but he's coming. He's coming to this earth. And though
after my skin, worms destroy this body, I'm going to go in
the ground if the Lord don't come. I'm going to die. I'm going
to be buried like he's buried. Worms are going to eat this body
up. Yet in my flesh shall I see God. There's a resurrection.
How could Job believe that? How could you believe that? Christ
our peace said so. He said so. Is that good enough
for you? Whom I shall see for myself and my eye shall behold
and not another. Well I'm going to know somebody
is going to be there that day. I ain't worried about them. I'm going
to see. though my reigns be consumed
within me." Someone who truly has peace, peace with God, peace
in the heart, all of their confidence is in the Lord our peace, Jehovah
Shalom. Our confidence is in Him. Paul said, for we are the
circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in
Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. No confidence in
the flesh. David said in Psalm 23, Surely
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. What
was his confidence? And I will dwell in the house
of the Lord forever. I will. How can I be so confident
in those things? He said so. He's established
the peace. I didn't make my peace with him.
He made his peace with me. For me. He made peace with God for
me. The result of having peace in Christ? Christ is our own. We've been reconciled to God.
There's no condemnation. We have communion with Him now.
We have confidence in His blood, in His person, in His work, in
His word. What He says, I believe Him.
That's what He says. You think it's going to come
to pass? Should we shore up our bets and buy some insurance on
the side? I believe Him. I believe Him. And we have contentment.
Turn with Philippians 4. Paul writes here in Philippians
4, verse 10. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at
the last your care for me hath flourished again, wherein you
were also careful, but you lacked opportunity. He said, I'm thankful
they took care of Paul. They gave him a gift. He said,
before you didn't have the opportunity to, now you do. Not that I speak
in respect of want. You're taking good care of me,
but I'm not talking about I'm in want of things. For I have
learned. I have learned. Do you ever learn
anything? Some people know everything from
birth. Do you ever learn anything? That means there was a time you
didn't know it. Right? When was the time you didn't
know it? Before you learned. Paul had learned. Did this great
apostle just pop out knowing everything? He had to learn.
What did the Lord teach him? I have learned, verse 11, in
whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know both how
to be abased. I know how to be low. I've been
knocked down in the dirt a lot. And I know how to abound. I ain't
a rookie no more. A little bit of success and a
little bit of spoof. So that sure was a good message.
And the old preacher said one time, he said, I know Satan just
told me. Not in that person, but yeah. I know how to abound. I'm thankful for it. I hope the
Lord blesses the messages, but you ain't going to get underneath
my skin and puff me up. Lord's learning me some things.
Everywhere and in all things I'm instructed. He's instructed
both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer
need. How can He do all these things? How can you handle that?
I can't. Can you? Let me answer it for
you. No, you can't. I can do all things
through Christ which strengtheneth me. Is that contentment? Well,
what about whenever it's real bad? Why have I got Christ? You
know, I've bowed the Lord in Europe and in Asia, North America,
and maybe in years to come on some other continents. Does it
matter where I am? If I'm eating a Vegemite sandwich
or I'm having a steak in New York City, it don't make a difference.
We have Him. He's our peace. That's who we
have. We have contentment because He is our peace. It's a person. How tedious and tasteless the
hours. When Jesus no longer I see, sweet prospects, sweet birds
and sweet flowers have all lost their sweetness to me. The midsummer
sun shines but dim, the fields strive in vain to look gay, but
when I am happy in him, December is as pleasant as May. What about
the seasons that don't make a difference? Content with beholding his face,
to all my all his pleasure resigned. No changes of season or place
would make any change in my mind. It's snowing. He's on his throne,
he made it snow. While blessed with a sense of
his love, a palace, a toy, would appear. Don't mean nothing. And
prisons would palaces prove if Jesus would dwell with me there.
Samuel Rutherford was imprisoned. He was cast out to Aberdeen,
Scotland for preaching. And he handed a letter to a friend,
he signed it, from the Lord's palace in Aberdeen. You in prison? It's God's palace. That's what
this is. Look at them bars. The Lord's keeping everything
bad away from me. I'm in His prison. I went to get that exact
quote looked up, and it was on a website, and their website's
closed on the Lord today, because they're going on about keeping
the Sabbath. I'm like, well, I'm reading that. It'd be better
if I read something that God's people has to say. Communion,
confidence, contentment. What's the last C? Commitment.
commitment. If you can meet with God now,
you've been reconciled to Him, you have confidence in Christ
our peace and Him alone, and you're content. Are you okay
with that? I wouldn't have it any other way. You're going to
be committed to Him. Everything's rosy till now. Everything's
Theological facts can be proved by scripture. Here's where it
hits the believer. We have commitment to him. Commitment's
easy when things are easy. You got to bear your brother's
burdens. You got to bear. Burden. It ain't a feather. It's a burden. Some work's got to take place,
don't it? There's going to be some achy backs. Contentment
is easy when things are easy, but commitment is proven when
the battle's raging. When the trial seems completely
overwhelming, that's when commitment will be proven. Y'all remember
Nadab and Abihu. They went to worship God with
strange fire, and men get wrapped upside and down about what the
strange fire was. Leave it alone. Leave it alone. God said He wouldn't take it,
and He killed them. He killed them. Moses said to
Aaron, this is what the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified
in them that come nigh unto me. I will be exalted, I will be
praised by those that come to me by my son. That's what he's
saying. By Christ alone. You come to me by Christ. That's
how I'm going to be glorified. And before all the people will
I be glorified. You ain't going to come to God any other way.
And Aaron hailed His peace. That got a hold of me this week.
I hope it gets a hold of you. You ever heard that expression?
Hold your peace. Hold your peace. How can I shut up? God just killed
both of your sons. Just took them. They offended
him. Lord, I don't think that's been
right. Maybe we can talk to him again. Maybe we can see Lazarus from
life to death and talk to him instead of Lazarus and the rich
man back to the world, huh? Did he bargain with God? He held
his peace. He was committed to God. That
means hush, doesn't it? It means to hold your peace.
Shut up. Stop talking. Also, how can you do that? To
hold Christ our peace. To cling to Him. How is there
some way I can keep my mouth shut? As Henry always told us,
he said, preach the gospel and leave folks alone. Trust him.
Get up, preach the gospel, and leave them alone. God will deal
with them. I'm going to have to cling to
Him to hold my peace, and explain everything away, and get down
in the weeds, and all that nonsense. That's what the old flesh does.
I need to hold Christ to my peace. Job said, though He slayed me.
You going to die? There's only a handful of people
ever translated. I'm going to be slain one day. Either through a heart attack,
or a bus, or whatever means the Lord's appointed, that's fine.
Though He slayed me, yet will I trust Him. Yet will I trust
Him." Results of peace in Christ are communion, confidence, contentment,
and commitment. How is that maintained? How is
that maintained? John 16. John chapter 16. Verse 32. John 16, 32. Our Lord is speaking here, and
He says, Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall
be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone. And yet I am not alone, because
the Father is with me. These things have I spoken unto
you, that in me ye might have peace. Why did He say that? These things I've spoken unto
you, that in me you might have peace. In the world, in this
world, you and I live in right now, you shall have tribulation. I don't get along with the world.
No kidding. You ain't know that. I'd be worried if I did. That's
why I told unbelievers, the world can't hate you. You can straddle
both sides of the fence and be fine with it. He's telling these
things, you're going to have trouble. I'm saying these things
so you can have peace. You're going to have trouble
in this world. You're going to be dismayed. You're going to have times when
you don't have peace. And you're shook up because you're looking
at this world. And he says, end of verse 33, Be of good cheer,
I have overcome the world. What maintains our peace? What's
our surety in having peace? We know who our peace is. We
know the results of peace. How's it going to stay that way?
Christ overcome the world. He's done that so that we could
have peace, that you might have peace. Isn't that something?
The Lord our peace gives us peace. The Lord that provides, provides.
He's God. Our God is God. He gives peace. I hope I can have more peace.
I hope you can have more peace. That's what the Lord's done.
We know that, right? But now we ain't jellyfish. The Lord's
going to save us in the heart, but it's going to go through
our head, isn't it? We're going to walk this world with some
understanding. He's going to grow us. He's going to teach us. And what can
I do when I'm forgetting these things? Put on the whole armor
of God. Well, guess what? You don't have
armor on. IBAs and flak jackets and helmets, they get heavy.
Swords are heavy, ain't they? Turn over to Psalm 37. I'll be
as quick as I can for you. Psalm 37. The Lord's our peace. The Lord maintains our peace.
He's given us this peace. Psalm 37. There's eight precepts in this
psalm. I was reading them out loud last
night for me and for you. I want to read them to you. I
hope to read them when my pastor, when I was young, read them to
me. Psalm 37, verse 1. Fret not thyself
because of the evildoers. I have people that want to consume
me. They're coming after me. What am I going to do? Fret not. I'm fretting. Quit it. Knock
it off. Quit fretting. Verse 3. Trust in the Lord. First thing
we do, don't fret. How can I do that? Trust in the
Lord and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land
and verily thou shalt be fed. Who are we trusting in? The Lord.
The Lord our provider. The Lord our banner. The Lord
that heals me. The Lord that's my peace. Fret
not. You worried? Knock it off. Trust
God. Trust Him. Do good. Isn't that
doing good? Trusting Him. Trusting His Word.
Verse 4. Delight thyself also in the Lord. We're going to be
happy with things in this world. I'm Tickled Death, my children.
I'm happy where I live. I like this area. I like the
car I drive. There's a lot of things I could
be happy in. Someday I'll have grandchildren. I guarantee you
I'm going to turn upside down and be tickled to death over them
grandchildren. I will not be mean to them, but delight thyself
also in the Lord. Do you want true peace? If y'all
delighting in me, I'm gonna let you down. If I delight in my
grandchildren, them grandchildren will disappoint me at some point,
ain't they? Delight in the Lord, you won't
be disappointed. You'll have peace, you'll have peace. Verse
5, commit thy way unto the Lord. There's commitment. I believe
Him. Good, now follow Him. Believe
Him. You have faith, obey. Good, commit
yourself to Him. Don't commit yourself to other
things. Commit to Him. Says in verse 7, rest in the
Lord. We're going to fret not, we're going to trust in Him,
we're going to delight in the Lord, commit to the Lord and rest in
Him. Rest in Him. Why can we rest in Him? We have
peace. We have peace. Ain't nobody coming over the
fence. The boogeyman ain't going to get you. Sasquatch ain't coming
out of the woods. Lay down and take a nap. It's
fine. Rest. Rest in the Lord. Something
will go with that too. Something will go hand in hand
with that. Look at verse 8. Cease from anger and forsake wrath.
That's speaking to me. I'm probably the best person
I know about getting mad. I can do it faster than anybody.
My blood pressure will shoot up faster than anything. Cease
from anger. Why could I cease from anger?
Vengeance is of the Lord. Well, there's a battle that needs
to be fought. It's already won. He's our Lord, our peace. Jehovah
Shalom. Look down at verse 27. Here's the seventh one. Verse
27. Psalm 37, 27. Depart from evil
and do good. Turn from it. Turn from it. We know better, don't we? So
many evil things that we look to in this world and we look
to in ourselves. Turn from it. Depart from it.
and do good. What was doing good? We just
read it. Trust in the Lord. Trust in the Lord. Eighth one,
verse 34. All these things, fret not, trust
Him, commit to Him, depart from evil. Psalm 37, 34, wait on the
Lord and keep His way. Wait on Him. What are we waiting? He's coming. He's coming. Wait on Him. Is He working? Of
course He is. Is He providing? Of course He
is. Wait on the Lord. And keep His way. And He shall
exalt thee to inherit the land when the wicked are cut off and
thou shalt see it. He promised it. He said, you're
going to watch it. You're going to see it happen. This ain't
going to be done in a corner. Oh well. No, you're going to see
it. I've seen the wicked in great power and spreading Himself like
a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and lo, he
was not. I've seen this happen. Yea, I
sought him, but he could not be found. Mark the perfect man. Who's our perfect man? Christ
is, isn't He? Mark Him. Cling to Him. Trust
Him. Commit to Him. And behold the
upright. For the end of that man, the
end of that man is peace. Is peace. I pray that's our end.
His peace. I pray that's our end. It is
for those that are in Christ, because He is our peace. And
He's our exceeding great reward. It's Him. He's our peace. I pray
that's our end, but I pray that's our day, too. We walk in this
world. We live in this world, don't we? Tomorrow's Monday.
8 a.m.' 's are coming, if the Lord don't come back. I pray
we can have peace then. On Tuesday evening at 147 p.m.,
I pray we cross our peace. Jehovah Shalom. and see Him exalted
high and lifted up. That'd be a good day, wouldn't
it? That's pretty good. Father, thank You for this Word. Lord,
thank You for Your names. Thank You for allowing us to
see Your might and Your wisdom and Your power, Your all-sufficient
grace. Lord, thank You for the blood
of Your Son. Thank You for being just. Thank You for being a holy
God. Thank You for justifying wicked
sinners. What great compassion you have.
Lord, allow us to tell others about this, where mercy and peace
can be found in Christ our Lord. Thank you
for this day. Lord, forgive us for what we
are. Forgive us our unbelief. Forgive us our hard hearts and
be with us as you promised you will be. It's in Christ's name
that we ask it. Amen.