All right, if you will turn with
me in the Bibles to Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4. Paul's opening address to the
saints in all of his epistles begins this way, Grace be unto
you and peace. from God our Father and from
the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace was not just
his introduction to the saints, but the expression of his heart
and the hope of his ministry unto them. We're going to be
looking at Philippians chapter 4 and verse 7. God had arrested Saul of Tarsus. There was no one man dreaded
in the kingdom of God more than Saul of Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus,
he superseded all those Pharisees like him in that he would go
and seek papers not only for adult men or preachers, but for
women and children and anyone who was of that way. That's what
it says. It didn't matter. And God arrested him. Stopped
him as he does all his saints. He alters their course. They
walked according to the course of this world so far. They walked
according to the prince of the power of the air so far. And
then God arrests you. He stops you. He halts your forward
motion and He does the work in you. And God had arrested Saul
of Tarsus and given to him a new title and a new name. He wasn't
Saul of Tarsus anymore. He was Paul the Apostle. Not
Saint Paul, not any of those things. He was just Paul. Just
Paul. His whole life was brought to
a close all his rebellion, all his self-righteousness, all his
fleshly traditions and ways. He wrote to the saints at Corinth
and he said, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received
mercy, we faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of
dishonesty, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God
deceitfully. but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight
of God. God will prove. He didn't try
to prove himself to be an apostle. He proved himself to be an apostle
by the message he preached and the power of God that worked
in conjunction with that message. He said, I commit myself, my
message, my work, my ministry, I commit the whole thing. to
your conscience in the sight of God. Let God be the deciding
vote. Let God's will manifest the truth. The manifestation of the truth
is the declaration of the gospel. And it's a declaration in the
language of common men and women of the person and work of Jesus
Christ and the reconciliation accomplished by him, who is our
representative and substitute. That's what the gospel is. It's
all about a person. Well, what about the doctrines
of grace? The doctrines of grace are the
doctrines of Christ. Because grace and truth came
by Jesus Christ. You can't preach the doctrines
of grace apart from preaching the person of Jesus Christ. That
would be like trying to preach salvation without God. The gospel of Christ is the testimony
of God that he hath given to his people. His people he chose
in Christ. He's given to us eternal life,
and this life is in his Son. Now that's what it all boils,
it's more confusing because of men's preconceived notions, but
that's the simplicity of the gospel. God has given to us life
in Christ. And he that has Christ, he has
life. And he that hath not the Son
of God, he don't have life. And here's Paul's confidence
to these people, these Philippians. He said in chapter 1, and I think
it's verse 6, he said, My confidence is that he that had begun a good
work in you will continue that work until the day of Jesus Christ. He's going to maintain the work.
He began the work. Nobody else could. I have no power to regenerate.
I have no power to cause a man to be born again. But God does. And if he begins the work, he'll
finish the work. He'll finish the work. Well,
does he ever start the work and then the work's finished? No.
But we do. We start all kinds of stuff.
But not God. If God begins the work, He'll
continue the work to the day of Jesus Christ. Here's what
he's preaching. What God sets His hand to do,
He does. He does. This is the confidence,
this is the thing, this is why I can stand up here and preach
to you this morning in full confidence. Because God does what he says
he can do. The very basis of all preaching and
all ministering is that God cannot fail. It's God, he said, let
every man work out his own salvation of fear and trembling, for it
is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good
pleasure. And in my text here in Philippians
4-7, Paul defines the peace that he opened this epistle with as
being the peace of God. This peace is of God. Now, he often used the words,
and these words in particular in his epistle, I'll give you
some examples if you want to jot them down. Romans chapter
15 verse 33. He talks about this peace which
is of God. In 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 23
and in Hebrews 13 verses 20 and 21. Now this peace of God given
to us by the God of peace establishes several things. You might want to take some notes
on this. This peace, it's of God, who
is the God of peace. And when He gives us peace, and
we preach this peace, it establishes several things. The first thing
it establishes is that peace is a gift and not a reward. It's the gift of God. Religion. Antichrist religion, free will
works religion, tells men and women to make their peace with
God. This is not your peace, this
is His peace. He's at peace whether you are
or not. He's satisfied with Christ, whether
you're satisfied with Him or not. You can't make your peace,
only God can make that peace for you. He's the offended party. has to do with him being satisfied,
not you. And religion says, make your
peace with God. Men and women are not the authors
of peace. Peace is the exclusive work of
Jesus Christ. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ,
for he is our peace. He's our peace. How so? Well, he broke down the middle
wall of partition between us and the Jews. They're just one
people. The true Jews, true Israel, spiritual Israel, they're just
one people. And Christ broke down that middle
wall of partition and gave even the heathen hope of eternal life. He's our peace who hath made
Both one. We're one in Him. Made one in
Christ. All those Old Testament scriptures
that talk about Israel, talk about God blessing Israel, choosing
Israel. He's talking about us. He's talking
about us. How can you say that? Because
God made us both one. He abolished in his flesh the
enmity, even the law of commandments contained in the ordinances,
for to make in himself a twain one new man, so making peace.
We studied that in the Book of Ruth. A Gentile woman redeemed
under Jewish law. How can that be? Because he made
woman for a woman. And he says, verse 16, and that
he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross,
having slain the enmity thereby. This is Ephesians chapter 2. Verse 17, and he came and preached
peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the
Father. Now the religion of this world,
with its satanic ministers, preach peace, peace, where there is
no peace. The only place there is any peace
is in Christ. You don't preach Christ, you're
not preaching peace. Peace comes from the God of peace,
and it's His gift to chosen sinners, not the reward of their works
and will and decisions. The second thing established
by his gift of peace is that it will never be taken away.
Listen to this, Romans chapter 11, verse 29. For the gifts and
calling of God are without repentance, without change, never going to
change. James tells us that every good
and perfect gift comes down from above, comes down from the Father
of lights, with whom is no bearableness, neither shadow of time. Is peace
a gift of God? Well, sure it is, but it doesn't
change. It's not going to change. What God gives, He means for
you to have, and you're going to have it. You're going to have
it. He does not blindly blanket the
world with gifts, but he gives all that he's purposed to give
to exactly whom he's purposed to give it. He has no reason
to take back his gifts because his work to them is effectual.
He who begins the work will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. And then thirdly, we're talking
about things that established by the gift of this peace. Thirdly,
the giving of this peace establishes it to be eternal. It's given
to us of the God of peace. Is God eternal? Men like to separate
things. Well, don't separate things.
If God gives you a gift, it's an eternal thing. It's an eternal
matter. He didn't think it up yesterday.
This was God's purpose from the beginning. Solomon writes in
Ecclesiastes 3, verse 15, he said, I know, do we? Boy, if we don't, we need to.
I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing
can be put to it, nor anything taken from it. And God doeth
it that men should fear before him. You can't add anything. It's eternal. It's eternal. And this thing of peace is an
eternal matter. When men by wicked hands crucified
the Lord of glory, they did what God's hand and God's counsel
determined before to be done. Peace established by Christ was
not the solving of an unforeseen problem. Religion always makes
it appear that God didn't plan on man's fall. God ordained man's
father. Huh? Yes, he did. There was no
need to appoint a savior if there was never going to be a sinner.
Is that right? And yet his hand was not involved
in the men that sinned. Sin lies at our door. Not at
his. It's not the solving of an unforeseen
problem. It was the end declared from
the beginning. Our Lord said in the volume of
the book it's written of me, I come to do thy will, O God. God is eternal. He has no thoughts
generated by time and circumstance. He declares the end from the
beginning, doesn't he? And he said, my counsel's gonna
stand and I'm gonna do all my pleasure. Who's out there powerful enough
to thwart God from his purpose, huh? Turn God from, we can't
even, we can't even turn away a cold germ. Men talk about making
God do this and making God do that. You don't even make God
do anything. God does his pleasure everywhere. Peace is a gift, it's not a reward. And because it's a gift of God,
it can never be taken away. And because it comes from God,
it is eternal. What's that mean? Past, present,
and future. That's what that means. All right, fourthly, this peace
is a work accomplished by Christ alone and the cross of Calvary. Turn with me to Colossians chapter
1. We're talking about peace, this
gift of peace given to us. Colossians chapter 1 verse 20,
and having made peace through the blood of His cross by Him to reconcile all things
unto Himself, by Him, I say, He just keeps repeating this.
The reason He keeps repeating it is because we don't get it. Huh? We just don't get it. We just keep going the other
way. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth, sin debts, wrongs committed, or things in heaven,
God must be satisfied. God must be appeased. God's redemptive will has to
be brought to pass. Things in earth, things in heaven,
and you, he said, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. God reconciled his church through
the blood of the cross. But you still have to be reconciled
to him. How's he going to do it? Through
the ministry of reconciliation. And you that were sometime alienated,
enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now have thee reconciled,
have in the body of his flesh, through death, not your flesh,
his flesh, not your death, his death, to present you holy, uncompromised in the work of
salvation before God. Everything right. Now you think
about what I'm saying, because there's a thousand wrong ways.
There's only one holy way. To present you holy, now listen
to this, and unblameable. Who's going to lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? Hmm? Oh, there's a lot who want
to. But there's none who can. It's
God that justifies. And, listen to this, unreprovable. You can't get any better than
you are in His Son. Think about that. Unreprovable. God looks at you and sees no
room for improvement. It's hard to believe, isn't it?
But He's looking at you in Christ. There's no room for improvement
in Him. He's God manifest in the flesh. absolute, total perfection. Peter
said this, For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just
for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to
death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. He died on that
cross, and he said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. Do with me what you will. God
raised him from the dead. God's Spirit quickened him, raised
him from the dead. And there's no other way to have
this peace or to hope in any kind of fellowship with God except
in the accomplished redemption of Christ. And because this peace
is secured in Christ, nothing in this world can touch it. My
life is hid with Christ in God. Now who's going to get to it?
He said, no man can pluck you out of my hand, and no man can
pluck you out of my father's hand, because he's greater than
all, and I and my father are one. There was a man who lived back
in the late 1800s by the name of H.G. Stafford. He was a very
prominent lawyer. He was a real estate investor. As near as I can tell, he lived
in Chicago. That was his home. And he lost
almost everything he had invested in, all his whole life's investment,
in the Chicago fire. Just took it off, burned it down.
And soon after that, God took his four-year-old son with scarlet
fever. And supposing it might help his
family to get away on a vacation after all this destruction, he
sent them to England by ship. And somewhere in the middle of
the North Atlantic, their ship collided with another ship, and
200 men and women and children died, all of his daughters. All four daughters died. His wife survived. And she sent
him a... I started to say a text. There
was no text. She sent him a telegram, I'm
sorry. And upon... Here's what she said. Saved alone. What shall I do? And he immediately took shipping
for England. And the captain of the ship,
knowing who he was and knowing what happened, when they crossed
over that exact spot, he sent for him, Mr. Spackler, to come
up there and he said, we're now crossing where your daughters
were taken. And looking down at that old
cold waters of the North Atlantic, he said, when peace like a river, not like a creek, not just a
drip or two, but when peace like a river attendeth my way, when
sorrows like sea billows roll, my soul to sorrows attendeth, whatever my lot, thou hast taught
me to say, it is well, it is well. Peace from God. Peace no matter
what. Peace. I tell you, I've known
so many people that's lost children. And I feel for them. I feel compassion for them. I'm
so sorry for you. But I'm going to tell you something.
That child, you never have to worry about. That child is with
Christ. Now, I don't know how old these
daughters were. I'm guessing they were young. You'll never
have to worry about them. Never have to worry about them. They're secured in Christ. Peace. That's what Paul's talking about,
a peace. Oh, though Satan should buffet,
though trials should come, let this blessed assurance control
that Christ hath regarded my helplessness. and shed his own
blood for my soul. Peace. Peace. This peace of God and with God
is secured in the person of Christ and nothing can touch it. Nothing
can take it away. He said all things are of God
who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and not only
that but he gave to us the ministry of reconciliation. What's that
mean? Go tell the people There's peace. Peace in Christ. Peace with God. Peace of God. And everything concerning our
reconciliation is of God, and it's all secured in the person
of His Son. One old fellow Henry knew back
in his youth, if I remember right, he went to seminary with the
man, and they were both religious as they could be. The Lord saved
Henry, but he hadn't seen this man since seminary, probably
20 years later. And this man also took a church
in Ashland, Kentucky, and they were both walking to church one
Sunday morning. And this minister spied him and
crossed the road and came over and introduced himself. He said,
Brother Henry, he said, are you still saved? How would you answer that man?
Huh? You start out on this big long? No. Henry said, I don't
know. He said, is Christ still on the
throne? My salvation's in Him. And if
my salvation's in Him, then my peace is in Him, is it not? Eternal life's in His Son, and
he that hath the Son hath life. And then lastly, this peace of
God is a work understood and rejoiced in by all that believe. Our text speaks of a peace which
passeth all understanding. He's not suggesting that the
peace of God passes by our understanding, but it surpasses our understanding. I don't care how far you can
go in your mind concerning this peace, this peace is far above
that. It's far above that. I tell you
this, I don't know what folks are going to do in glory. I know
that they're going to worship the sun. But I think in eternity,
it's going to be made known to us. Perhaps a little at a time. I don't know. But it's going
to be, we're going to look back on things that we had no idea
what those things were all about. And he's going to tell us. He's
going to tell us. This peace is a peace that passes
all understanding. It surpasses. It goes above and
beyond. Now let me show you what I'm
talking about in the Word of God. In Ephesians 1.17, the apostle
tells them that he is praying for them. And he requests that
the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, May give
unto them the spirit of wisdom, little s on spirit, means spiritual
understanding. Give them an understanding of
it. And a revelation in the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his
calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance
in the saints. Now watch this. And what is the
exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe according
to the working of his mighty power which he brought in Christ
when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right
hand. Exceeding greatness. That's above and beyond, Walter. Higher than you can think with
this mind. His power wrought in our reconciliation
is exceeding great, above and beyond anything that we've ever
known. And then in Ephesians 2, talking
about our union with Christ, our representative and substitute,
he tells us in verse 7 that in the ages to come he might show
the exceeding riches of his grace, grace above anything that you
can now think. Any thought you've ever had,
this is far exceeding. And then in 2 Corinthians 3,
Paul's given us a comparison of the glory of God in the giving
of the law and the glory of God in the ministration of the Spirit
of Christ. And he's comparing the two. And in 2 Corinthians
3.10, he said, For even that which was made glorious had no
glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth. Melting rocks is nothing compared
with a melting heart. Boy, I tell you, a mama's tears
won't melt a boy's heart. Won't do it. Won't do it. Like flint. Like cold steel. It can't melt it. But God can
with a word. He can melt it. The thunder and
lightning was nothing compared to the gospel preach. He called
those early preachers of the gospel sons of thunder. That's
what he called them. What was written in stone is
nothing compared with what God writes on the hearts. The law given had no glory at
all compared to the law exalted and honored. And the justice demanded has
no glory at all compared with justice satisfied. You see what
he's talking about? This piece goes so far above
anything that you've ever thought about. And all through the scriptures
he talks about this work of salvation and how it excels past any of
the figures, any of the types, any of the things of this work. He says in verse 14, he said,
And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith
and love, which is in Christ Jesus. Let me show you one more
verse over Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3 and verse
20. He said, Now unto him that is
able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,
according to the power that worketh in us, myself. You can't think what you will,
know what you will, be as mature as you are. Been in this thing
for 30 years. I don't care. It's exceeding
abundant above that. It's just like, you know, they
sent out that telescope. They're looking at things they
can't possibly look at from a stationary telescope here. And it's going on out there. The farther it gets, the farther
it is to the end. That's the way this thing is.
That's the way it is. The farther out we go, the deeper
we go, the more we know. It's exceeding abundant even
above that. In conclusion and in summing
up all that is said, Paul adds this comforting promise. And the peace of God which passeth
all understanding shall, shall keep your hearts and minds through