Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Philippians chapter 4, and
reading for our text just a few words from verse 7. We'll read the whole verse. I do mean to speak from the whole
verse, but it's just the words, the peace of God, and the peace
of God. I want to speak with the Lord's
help this afternoon. The whole verse reads, and the
peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your
hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. The apostle writing to
the Philippians and seeking to encourage and to strengthen them
and to lead them in a path that brings them to enjoy the peace
of God. We think of the herald and the
angels when our Lord was born and how that they gave the proclamation
on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. Our Lord is very clear. Thinkest thou that I am come
to send peace on the earth? Nay, not peace, but division."
And he speaks of that division that, by the grace of God, sinners
shall be plucked out of nature's darkness, they shall be given
the word of God, and the Lord says, I have given them thy word,
and the world hath hated them. And it is by reason of the Word
of God that God's people desire to be separate from the world.
They are crucified to the world, but also the world is crucified
to them. The world does not want them,
and they do not want the world. And we are told, our Lord is
very clear, that there shall be in the world tribulation,
and God's children shall have that. They shall not be spared
from great troubles in this life. The apostle strengthened the
brethren by saying, he must, through much tribulation, enter
the kingdom. But our Lord said, in me ye shall
have peace, in the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good
cheer, I have overcome the world. And that peace then is a peace
that is in this incursed world. but it's not as being about a
peace that we would think it, so that there is no wars and
rumors of wars or conflicts and troubles. It is a different peace. It's God's peace. It is the peace
of God that, as in verse 9, the God of peace brings to sinners. The Apostle, when he writes to
the Thessalonians in his second epistle, he says, now the Lord
of Peace himself give you peace always by all means. And there are those means that
God has appointed for his people through which that peace runs. We'll be able to see a little
of that this afternoon as well. And so I want to look at three
points. Firstly, what is the peace of
God? If we have our text as the peace
of God, what is that? And then secondly, what is the
way to it? What is the lead up? Because
our text, it begins with the word and, and the peace of God. So what goes before is a preparation
that leads up to enjoying the peace of God. And then thirdly,
the blessings that are attendant with it, what it brings with
it, is in the latter part of verse 7, our text. And the peace
of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus. So firstly, what is the peace
of God? Well, we are told in our text
that it is a peace which passeth all understanding. We cannot
understand it. We cannot understand how it comes,
why it comes, what it actually is. It is something so different
than this world has to offer. We know when the Lord rose from
the dead that he opened the disciples' understanding that they should
understand the scriptures. But here is something that the
apostle here is saying, here is something that comes from
God that we cannot understand. And when we think about it, there
are many things in our lives that we use, we enjoy, But we
don't understand. We're driven in cars today for
service. Now some of us know how to maintain
cars. I've changed automatic gearboxes
to manual gearboxes. And the modern cars I would struggle
to do. But I have a knowledge of how
a car works in most ways. Some people have not a clue.
But they still enjoy driving. And they still can drive. And
they still use it. And they still have the benefit
of it. They don't need to understand it. We use the computers. And many of us, well, we know
a little of understanding. But we can't write the computer
code. And we don't know how to work
that out or even understand how it works. But we still can use
it and benefit from it, though we don't understand it. And so
it is in this way we are to understand a peace that comes, though we
can't really fathom or understand it in its length and breadth
and height. It is something from out of this
world, and it comes from God, and it leads to God. And so we
need to stick fast really to the explanation here, right in
the text, where it says, it passeth all understanding. And it's not
surprising when the people of God then are blessed with it.
that they can't understand. They can't understand why they
have it as sinners. They can't understand how it
has come into their souls and how it so affects them and so
is so precious and so beautiful and such a wonderful thing. So it is first then passeth understanding. The second thing is that it is
an inward peace. We've already said concerning
the Herald of the Angels, often interpreted by people and they
say peace on earth. But that is not the way that
it is put, on earth peace. And there's a very big difference.
And the Lord has said, that that peace shall be an inward peace. The kingdom of God cometh not
with observation, it is within you, and those blessings are
within the soul. And we picture it like the martyrs
that had the bay mob round them, the fire about them, much torments
and everything contrary, and some of them that were able to
speak to their fellows that they should this day sit down with
the king in his glory and they were given such peace that was
an inward peace we think why is Peter why is Peter sleeping
when he's guarded he's in prison he's in shackles and James has
already been killed and he knows that he is to be brought forth
after Easter how is he at peace and sleeping And yet we see that
peace is given, an inward peace that enables him to do that. And we think of Daniel in the
lion's den, we think of the Hebrew children standing up against
Nebuchadnezzar, and it is that inward peace in the soul that
which has a He might say a disconnect with what is going on outside
might be all trouble, but inside, peace. And we think of Hannah,
who had not got children, and she comes up and she's praying
silently, her lips move, Eli mistakes her, thinks that she's
a woman that's drunken, but she said, no, I'm a woman of a sorrowful
spirit. I poured out my soul unto the
Lord. She doesn't tell him what she's
asked, but he says, when he realizes, he says, go and the Lord give
thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. And she goes away,
we read, and was no more sad. No more sad. Hannah, you still
haven't got a child. You don't know whether you'll
conceive. You don't know whether the child that you will have
if you do conceive will be a man child, might be a girl. And there's
so many things that are unknown. But the Lord had given her such
faith and such peace to believe. It was settled. It was done.
And that is that inward peace, though outwardly, she couldn't
say, well, here is the child, here is everything that I've
asked for. Later on, she could. I am the woman that stood by
thee, praying. The Lord hath given me my petition
that I have asked of him. And so there is that inward peace
that is given, though outwardly, as yet, and maybe never be sad. There's all conflict and trouble. The other thing is, it is a peace
through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It cannot be separated
from Him. It is joined to Him. And especially when the apostle
is writing to the Ephesians, and he is speaking to a people
that are Gentiles, and that wall that is broken down between Jew
and Gentile and he is saying in Ephesians 2 and in verses
forward from 14 well if we say from verse 13 but now in Christ
Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood
of Christ For He is our peace. And this is, this peace is centered
in our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath made both one, broken down
the middle wall of partition between us. Now we know, of course,
that's a very vivid illustration, because the Lord said, of you
only have I known of all nations, the children of Israel, right
through the Old Testament, very separate. They had to be separate.
They couldn't have mixed marriages. They were kept separate from
all of those other nations. And yet here in the Gospel, it
is now brought together as one. And the difference now is between
a believer and an unbeliever, those in Christ and those outside
of Christ. It needs to be coming out from
amongst those. But it is in the Lord Jesus Christ
that we're being nigh. You can apply this also to us
by nature, by nature, far off, where there is no peace, where
we're under the wrath of God, when we're walking. And I remember
years ago, as a child, an uncalled, one of our Hymns 76 in Gadsby's,
It says, at peace with hell, with God at war, in sin start
may they wander far. And I remember questioning my
parents. I said, the Hemorrhoids got that
wrong. They should be at war with hell. Peace with God. But I didn't know my own heart. And I didn't know that by nature,
actually, I was a rebel and that I hated God. I was walking that
way, but didn't know it, didn't feel it. And so it is through
our Lord Jesus Christ that he breaks down that petition, and
he makes that way to God. It is a reconciling love to God
that brings about a peace. And it is through what he has
done at Calvary. And so we may say in the fourth
place that it is a blood-bought peace. Without the shedding of
blood, there is no remission. And when Paul writes to the Colossians,
the next chapter actually, after the chapter where our text is,
then we have in verse 20, and having made peace through the
blood of his cross. By him to reconcile all things
unto himself, by him I say whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven. And you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now have he reconciled."
And so this aspect of peace is reconciliation. It is a bringing
together two warring parties and making peace. And of course
we know that in the world we've got conflicts at the moment in
Russia and Ukraine and there is not peace, there's conflict,
there's war. We would certainly know the difference
if suddenly there was peace made and they could have talks and
dialogue and amend all the breaches We know that difference. And
so, by nature, there is that war, there's that rebellion,
that kicking against God, and there's that striving against
Him. But through the blood of the cross, through the Lord Jesus
Christ settling the debt, making that debt fully to be satisfied,
that satisfying the law, making it honorable, we must remember
that that law given at Mount Sinai was never given with the
intention that man, fallen man already under the condemnation
of death, was to be able to fulfill it. We might look at it and we
say, well, it's totally unreasonable. It's far too high a standard.
But it's setting forth the high, high standard of God. This is
magnifying God. The law is showing how holy,
how great He is. But then instead of God saying,
now you fulfill that and you make yourself as God's, He exalts
His beloved Son. I will fulfill my own law on
your behalf. And we find then the broken tables
on one side and the mended tables on the other. Where are the tables
put? In the Ark, in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it is a
blood-bought piece. It is a piece that is brought
about by what is vitally necessary there's no peace to the wicked
there cannot be peace you imagine if you owed a debt to say a builder's
merchant or something like that and you wouldn't pay the debt
you couldn't pay the debt and he kept on saying pay the debt
and he kept on trying to get more benefits from him and more
things from him and He started to get really angry. There wouldn't
be peace. You wouldn't be happy one with
another. And you say, well, what's needed? I don't want to live
in acrimony and horrible words with you. He said, well, pay
your debt. Settle the debt, and then there'll be peace. And so
it is with our Lord that debt is what is settled and done at
Calvary, the empty tomb that proves it so. He has given assurance
unto all men in that he has raised him from the dead. There is also
a peace on earth that is in the heart that is an earnest of eternal
peace. Because the children of God do
not know peace Perfectly, yes, those moments, sweet the moments,
which in blessing, which before the cross I spend. But many a
dear children of God, many times, they do have times of sorrow,
times of trial, times when they don't really feel that peace.
But those times that they do, those are sweet earners, they
are tokens that one day that peace shall be forever. that
they shall enjoy that in heaven forever. As their faith is strong,
so their peace will be strong. But there are those earners,
those tokens for good, and what shall come, what is awaiting
the people of God in heaven, it is all peace, everlasting
peace, eternal peace. And so when we read the peace
of God, and there might be those who say, well, why don't we always
enjoy it? Why is it that there's still
those sorrows and darkness and afflictions? And why does Job
cry out, oh, that I knew where I might find him? Why is it that
Peter goes out and he weeps bitterly? Why is it that Paul and Silas
and John Mark and they have all their conflicts and their troubles,
but those are earnest, they are tokens. They show us what the
Lord has in store for us. And we have to remember this
is not our rest, it is polluted. And we're not to be looking this
side of the grave for that which the Lord has reserved in heaven. But in the sixth place, it is
a well-founded peace. It is based upon the word of
God. I do want to be clear on that,
because it's not just something of our own manufacturing and
is not dependent upon our feelings. You know, the feelings of that
peace will come and will go. But that which the Lord gives
his people is based on the Word of God, on those things that
we've spoken of in its description, and how it actually comes. There
are many in this world that deceive themselves with a peace and say,
I shall have peace. There's no foundation for it.
There's no ground for it. It is just on lies. It is just
on false things, things of this world, or things of their feelings,
or the approval of men, and the thoughts of men, but not the
approval of God. And so that peace which is of
God is a well-founded one because it comes through God's way and
based upon His own word. The last thing is that, is that
it is a piece that is wrought by God, but given to us, given
to us. How many things we're used to
in our lives that someone else might do it, someone else might
build it, and then they give us the finished thing. Someone
else might do some sewing or to do some tailoring work for
us and they give us the finished thing. And we have this picture
with our Lord. His righteousness is brought
out purely by Him, not by us, but is given to us, imputed to
us. And the peace in the same way
is wrought by Him, it is paid by Him, it's purchased by Him,
and it's given as a peace, my peace, give I unto you, not as
a will, giveth, give I unto you. And that peace is that eternal
peace that shall be ours forever, the gifts of God. They are not
with repentance. The Lord doesn't give them and
say, oh, I made a mistake. I'm gonna take it away. No, he
doesn't. And he visits again, he comes
with that peace again. And I say this with the peace
of God, sometimes it comes in different ways. I had a dear
sister in faith, Australia, and she was a mother in Israel to
me when I was being called when I was 20. in my 20s and I took
a funeral when I was 25 and she was 81 when she died and I saw
her on times that she was so blessed. I went into a nursing
home once and She said, oh Rowan, she was just so full of the blessing
of the Lord. But she said, I have this word,
has thou faith, have it to thyself before God. And she didn't tell
anyone else, no one in the staff, no one else, in the worldly home.
It wasn't a godly home. But she just told me. And then
that blessing went away, and I mean, in the blessing she had
peace, but then when it went away, she had a different peace. And it was so evident she trusted
in the Lord. The Lord had withdrawn. She hadn't
got his sweet presence, but she knew he would come again. The
assurance and relief that God was in control, he would appear
for us. He would help her. There was
nothing that she could do to drag this peace back, to get
it back. and in that it was a peace in leaving it in the Lord's hands
and she went a month or so like that and then I came and visited
and the Lord had blessed her again and it was a time when
she had been very low in the soul and the Lord used a simple
thing to bring peace again and the first time the blessing had
come through she'd been tempted there was no God and The spirit
brought to remembrance that is, he made the sun, the moon, the
stars, the creation. It was through the creation that
again, the Lord visited her. But this time when she was low,
she had a new nurse come into the room. And as she was hanging
things into the wardrobe, she turned around and said, hello,
my name is Mary. And the Lord immediately said,
Mary hath chosen that better part which shall not be taken
away from her. And that was just what she'd
been tempted of, that the Lord would take away her portion and
she hadn't got it. And that just, she was so blessed. And that time was the complete
opposite. She told everyone. Beforehand,
she was on two sticks, and I'm not a charismatic, but she threw
away those sticks and she walked down that without the aid of
sticks. And the doctors, the nurses,
the residents, everyone in that home, none of them were professed
Christians. They all knew. and he told everyone,
and it was lovely to see, lovely to see that effect. But there's
a peace in those blessings, in the enjoyment, on love of it,
and there's also a peace in waiting in between. There's a different
peace, as it were, maybe a peace without the joy, without the
sweetness, but it is still a peace of God. So what is the peace
of God in these ways that we have spoken of? A very distinctive
peace, very different than what the world knows of. Well, secondly, what is the way
to it? What is the way to this peace? The first thing I'd say is conversion. There cannot be that peace of
God without the new birth, without conversion, without there being
that new creature in Christ Jesus. Before that, there is no peace,
no peace to the wicked. And we would remember that even
though we may attend a place of worship all their days, and
we might dress right and say the right things and sing the
hymns and read the words, unless we are converted, unless we are
born again, we're still the wicked. There is only two. And there
are those that our Lord speaks of that even at the last shall
say, open unto us. And that's taught in our streets,
we've been called by thy name. And the Lord says, depart from
me, I never knew you. They hadn't received anything
from the Lord. They hadn't received a new birth.
They hadn't received peace from the Lord because the Lord didn't
know of it and not come from him. It was in their own hands.
It's like a strange fire that was offered. It's like the sparks
of one's own kindling. It's an imitation. That's not
the real thing. And so the way to it is a new
creature in Christ. And I say this that, especially
in relation to peace, it comes with a contrast first. The Apostle
Paul was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. Long prayers, very religious
man, every advantage religiously. And yet when the Lord began with
him, he began in convincing him of his sin. Anything but peace
was the way it came first. He had peace before. He says,
I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came,
sin revived and I died in reading Romans 7. And that which was
ordained unto life I found to be unto death. And even in his
experience after that. He says, the good that I would,
I do not. The evil that I would not, that
I do. Though wretched man that I am,
who shall deliver me from the body of this death? He has not
got peace in that conflict, and in his sin, and in his old nature,
There is that conflict there, and he asks, who shall deliver
me? I thank God through Jesus Christ,
my Lord. There is the peace coming, and
in the start of Romans 8, there is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus, to them that walk not after the
flesh, but after the spirit. And so the apostle had that real
contrast in the very beginning, brought in as a guilty sinner,
no peace, And then the Lord gave him that peace, and also in an
ongoing way, in conflict with his sin, gave him to know where
peace was to be found. The Christian's life is a conflict
between the spirit and the flesh, always will be. But the peace
of God's children is not to think, well, My heaven rests in my conquest
over sin in that way, but in what Christ has done. Yes, we
should always be aiming for sanctification, to be holy as the Lord is holy,
but our heaven doesn't depend upon our sanctification. And
it's very important to put a very clear demarcated separation between
how that we are justified by the precious blood of Christ
and faith in that alone. And you think of many of those
in the early church, when they were converted, they must have
been very ignorant and very unsanctified. They were baptized almost immediately.
Because the disciples, they discerned this, the root of the matter
was in them. They were converted. They were new creatures. Now
they came under the church, which was like the hospital and like
the school room. And this is now where they're
going to learn is like the children of Israel. So clearly brought
out of Egypt. That was the price. That was
the blood paid. That was the setting them free.
Now you've got to come to Sinai. Now you've got a lot to learn.
And now you've got all the teaching that is to be right through the
wilderness and humbling as well. And so it is in the conversion
that there'll be that realization of what the peace is, because
souls that have been at ease, souls that have think they've
been all right, suddenly are turned upside down, they're brought
to know themselves as sinners, their peace, their natural peace
is taken away, and from that troubles and sorrows and conviction
of sin, then comes the true peace of God. It's the Lord that convicts
us in. It's the Lord that brings the
malady to be known and then the remedy to be applied. And it
is the remedy that brings that peace. And the first way to it
is conversion. And I mean, never take away that
thought that that can be just dispensed with. I want to come
with with four points that the apostle puts here to the way
to peace, but don't bypass that first one. That is absolutely
vital. You and I must be born again
of the Spirit. So then there is secondly, four
things that the apostle says before these Philippians that
they might have this peace. God is a God of order. We mentioned
about the Thessalonians that give you peace by all means.
There is a means that peace comes. So we have four things beginning
at verse four. In verse four we have rejoice
in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. You might say
well if there's someone hasn't got peace and they've got trouble
the people have got because remember the Those that Paul is writing
to, they are converted. He says how that they truly are
in Christ, Jesus. He wishes his eyes for them peace,
but he says, being confident of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day
of Jesus Christ. And he says it's meat for him
to think this of them. They are partakers of grace. Confirmation of the gospel, it
is what they have been blessed with. He's not writing to unbelievers. He's not writing to those that
don't know the Lord. But wise rejoice in the Lord
always. And again, I say rejoice. Because
when we have troubles and sorrows and things that bring anything
but peace, but remember it doesn't rely on our frames and our feelings. Our peace is from the Lord and
in his finished work and what he has done at Calvary. That
doesn't change just because we change, doesn't mean to say the
benefits of Calvary change, doesn't pull the Lord from his throne,
doesn't change his word that is the foundation. of our peace. And so the beginning of this
peace, what a message to us. When we haven't got peace, when
we're troubled, troubled with providence, troubled with our
sin, troubled with things about us, troubled with things we can't
understand, it would seem almost a contrary thing to begin to
be brought to peace by rejoicing in the Lord. But wherever else
can we rejoice? Where else can our hope be? The
psalmist said, why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou
disquieted within me? But then what does he say? Hope
thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his
countenance. That's where his hope is, and
he's rejoicing in what the Lord has done. So maybe remember this
first point here. The second thing is, let your
moderation be known unto all men. Now, I know our natural
use of the word moderation, not in excesses, but this is a strange
word I've found. If you look at four or five different
renderings or versions of the word of God, you'll find a different
word in this passage for every one of them. you will get gentle
and mild and patience and meekness and really it is saying if you
are looking for peace you be a peaceable person you be gentle
and mild you don't be abrasive and coarse and hard and angry
It is not inconsistent with it. You think of what you are yourself
for the things that you're actually going through, or those things
that you desire for your soul. And really, it is completely
understandable, isn't it? If you see someone that is fretful,
or angry, or they're saying like Jonah, Lord says, doest thou
well to be angry? I do well to be angry, and he's
holding to it, he's not letting it go. And you say, is that a
person that's looking for peace? Is that a person that's asking
the Lord for peace? Does that really think that that
is the road to it? So this is a direction he puts
in this way, that your moderation, Let ye be in this character. Our Lord says, take my yoke upon
you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and
ye shall find rest unto your souls. So there's a direction
to it. The third thing is in verse six,
or first part of verse six, be not anxious. Our Lord has much
to say in Matthew 6 over this, anxious of what we shall eat,
what we shall put on, and the Lord will have us without carefulness,
without overburden, some anxious care, be careful for nothing. That anxiousness as if everything
depended on us, as if God was not on the throne, as if these
things were such a burden and trouble to us really it's a real
message to us isn't it when things start to really worry us and
really be a real burden and real concern and i remember the even
just just the other week and i was preaching to australia
actually and i was really worried about our website website And
we'd had this notice we'd exceeded our amount, and in a certain
day's time they're going to stop us adding anything more to it.
And I tried and tried to remove these things and couldn't remove
it from, and I was getting more and more worked up and more and
more anxious. and emails and emails to them
and then suddenly we got an email and it just explained everything
how I could go in and just delete certain files and just free it
all up and which which I was able to do but the instructions
were there at the first and but I was amazed how much it really
everybody was weighing in on me and it can be just simple
things and we think of dear Martha with the Lord in the house And
the Lord said, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled
about many things, but one thing is needful. And it is that anxiousness
then that quite often it stops prayer. We think we can't stop
for prayer. We've got to do, do, do and fix
this and fix this and do it. And yet it's the very opposite.
So really, it's really a flag. We're seeking that peace of God
that passeth all understanding, and we find ourselves so full
of anxious care. And we need to remember this,
lead up to peace. Can we add one cubit to a statue? Can we make one hair white or
black? If you can't do those things
which are least, why take any thought for the morrow? How,
Lord, speak so much on that so that is the place here but it
doesn't stop that because the fourth part and this is why we
had our middle hymn but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving that your requests be made known unto God so it's
bring everything to the Lord in prayer how often we can know
the theory of prayer And we can go in the form of prayer and
our set times of prayer before and after the preaching of the
word. But how much of those times that
are instant in prayer and those times that are real urgent, restling
prayer. Now, when I was first called,
I lived on my own. I was 20, had my own home. My
parents had moved to Tasmania. I was still in Melbourne. But
I could be in a house on my own, and I'd be working away, perhaps
cleaning the house, and it'd suddenly come, go and pray. You
know, I'd drop my broom, drop whatever I was doing. I wouldn't
think, well, wait until another time. And I'd go, I'd go to the
bedroom, go to the chair, and kneel down and pray. And sometimes
I'd get up, and there'd be no blessing, and I'd back to my
work again, and I'd be working away, and I'd go and pray. And
that still small voice, And I used to go, and sometimes the Lord
so met with me and so blessed my soul. And it is to instantly
pray. We've got some of our dear brethren
with us at Cranbrook and very afflicted in their minds. But
one thing has struck from years ago, which he said to me, that
if you were walking as a family outside and there'd be some trouble,
something lost or something happened, and then immediately they'd find
a park seat or somewhere and they'd go and pray. The other
day in Cranbrook we met another brother that he was in a charismatic
church, he's now actually in Church of England in Gouthurst,
but we got on very well with him. And in the corner of High
Street and Stone Street, and we had a nice long chat, he said,
come on brother, let's pray. And there's the two of us, we
stood there in the middle of the busy street, and there we
had our prayer meeting. And those are precious times
to have, it doesn't matter about the world. and well, they can
see if they like, but it's bringing everything. And what had triggered
that was that we had tried to get into the Cranbrook Grammar
School. They'd tried two years ago, they
had a crusade in Cranbrook, and we both had a burden for Cranbrook
and the young people on there. So we said, well, let's pray
right now. And so that's what we did. And this is the way to
peace. When you have that burden, have
that concern, Well, I must move quickly to the last point, which
is what blessings it brings with it. The text says, and the peace
of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus. We might begin sometimes with
a real concern whether our hearts are wandering, our hearts are
going to the things of the world, whether we really stand with
the Lord and our minds as well. Later on in the very next verse,
the apostle deals with so many things that we have to think
of that are good, and those things to think on these things. We do, in my instance, a busy
workshop, and they often are just filled. I find it, if I'm
listening in the house of God, sometimes even when I'm reading,
the word in the public worship, my mind will be, I'll be reading
automatically, and my mind will be going to other things. It
is amazing what our minds will do. And here we have this benefit,
a blessing of the peace of God. God's people are kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation, but it's also kept,
and in this way, through the peace of God. God's work is a hard work, but
it also involves the mind, and those things that we think on,
meditate upon, those things that we go over, And it is a benefit
separate, you might say, or flowing out from the peace of God that
it will keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. How many
of the blessings of the Lord have a secondary benefit along
with it? They're a blessing in itself,
but there are many other blessings that come on the back of it.
And this is one of those. which passeth the peace of God,
which passeth all understanding, shall." So it's not might, or
maybe, or could be a benefit from it. It is shall. So if you're gathering this afternoon,
and you're finding your heart deceitful above all things, desperately
wicked, prone to wonder, your mind, your affections, And here
is the benefit, the secondary benefit from the peace of God
to keep our hearts and our minds and is through Christ Jesus. Well, may the Lord have his blessing. Amen.