Let's turn our Bibles to Romans
15. Lord willing, very soon I'll
be sending out a notice. We'll have a baptism. Anna has
asked to be baptized and so we'll honor that request and she'll
confess Christ in baptism. I'll send you a notice. All right,
Romans 15 verse 33. This was Paul's prayer for the
brethren at Rome. Now the God of peace be with
you all. Amen. God is the God of peace. That's my very simple proposition
for you this morning. God is the God of peace. He's the God of peace without
Him doing anything. It's who He is. Peace is the
essence of our God. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit manifest in the person of Christ Jesus
is the God of peace. That's who He is. All that He
does is peace. You know, God's never surprised. He's never disappointed. Nothing
alters His peace. Known unto God are all His works
from the beginning of the world. That's what causes us unrest
and trouble, is we purpose and it doesn't come to pass. But
God knows all His works from the beginning. Nothing ever surprises
God. He's peace. God doesn't change. That's what causes us trouble,
change. God does not change. He's the
father of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow
of turning. But now you and I, as fallen
sinners in Adam, we are the exact opposite of peace. We come into
this world with no peace and we cannot make peace between
us and God. You hear men say, make your peace
with God. Sinner, you can't make peace
with God. You're at war with God. When
Adam sinned in the garden, we sinned in him, and we began a
warfare against God Almighty. We come into this world like
two opposing nations, God and his people at war. And that's
so of every individual believer, or every individual sinner. We're
at war with God. And the Lord said this, the wicked,
with the workers of iniquity, that's you and me by nature,
they speak peace to their neighbors, but mischief is in their hearts.
You ever speak peace to your neighbor, but in your heart,
you're thinking something else? Their tongue is an arrow shot
out. It speaketh deceit, one speaketh
peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in heart he layeth
in wait. And God says, shall I not take
vengeance on this people? Shall I not pour out my wrath
on this people? He shall, on every sinner. God's gonna win this war. So
that begs the question, how then can God be avenged on us and kill us and yet bring us
into peace with Him. How can God give us peace with
God? How can we have peace in our
conscience knowing we have peace with God? Don't you want that? Don't you want peace with God?
Don't you want peace with your brethren? How can we have it? In the beginning, God. That's how peace begins. In the
beginning, God. Before God made the world, God
chose his people and he purposed to bring us into peace with him. He chose his people in Christ
freely by grace and purposed everything that would need to
take place to bring us into peace with him. It began with God. Peace begins with God. It doesn't
begin with you, Senator. It begins with God. Turn over
to Jeremiah 29. God made in his son what the
scripture calls a covenant of peace. A covenant of peace. It's the everlasting covenant
of redemption. It's the everlasting covenant
of grace. It's the covenant of peace. Now,
God purposed that his people would fall in Adam. Known unto
God are all his works from the beginning. That didn't surprise
God. He purposed that you and I would fall in Adam, we would
become sinners in Adam. And to typify that, whenever
God turned Israel over to Babylonian captivity so that they were taken
captives in Babylon, it pictures our captivity as we come into
this world. But from eternity, God purposed
to reconcile his people to himself, to bring us into peace with him.
That's what he purposed. He purposed to call us and to
teach this good news to us. He purposed to give us a new
heart and make us be reconciled to him. Now this is typified
in God's purpose to Israel when they were in Babylonian captivity. The scripture often refers to
this world and the world of the ungodly and the false church
in this world as Babylon. You and I were in Babylon. We
were in Babylonian captivity and we couldn't free ourselves.
We were at war with God. And now he pictures what he does
in grace and mercy to his elect, he pictures it by what he declared
that he would do to Israel when they were in Babylon. And he
brought this to pass. He brought this to pass physically,
literally, whenever Christ came the first time. He had gathered
them together as one, and they were at Jerusalem, and the gospel
was preached to them on the day of Pentecost, and many heard
this. But here's what God declared
he would do. Watch this. The spiritual picture's what
he does in Christ. Jeremiah 29 and verse 10. Jeremiah
29, 10. For thus saith the Lord, that
after 70 years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you. God ordained before the world
began the set time when he would visit his children in grace. That's what Paul was referring
to in Galatians when he said, when the fullness of time was
come, God sent forth his son. God determined the time he would
send forth his son and work this work towards his people. It says,
I will, visit you and I will perform my good word toward you
in causing you to return to this place. That's what Christ came
to do. He came to perform God's good
word of peace, his covenant of peace. He came to perform that
for God and for his people, bringing us together in one. Verse 11,
For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the
Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected
end. Those are God's thoughts from
eternity toward his people, thoughts of peace. He said, when the set
time has come, I'll visit you and I'll work this good word
towards you and I'll cause you to return. because I know the
thoughts, my eternal thoughts I had towards you from eternity
were thoughts of peace. Aren't you glad God thought peace
towards you, sinner? That's our hope. God thought
peace to give us this expected end. Verse 12, then shall you
call upon me, and you shall go and pray unto me, and I will
hearken unto you. Go to Ezekiel and look at chapter
34. This is all whenever Israel was
in captivity. Now, that eternal covenant of
peace, that was God's good word toward his elect. And God says
here, showing how he would set David up to be their one shepherd,
their one ruler. And he's picturing Christ here.
Look at verse, Ezekiel 34, 23. This was God's thoughts toward
his people. This was his purpose toward his
people. Ezekiel 34, verse 23. And I will set up one shepherd
over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David. And you know David pictures Christ.
Peter declared that on the day of Pentecost. He said all those
scriptures that talked about David being the king, that pictures
Christ. So he's talking about Christ
here. He's typifying Christ. And he shall feed them and he
shall be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their
God and my servant David, Christ, a prince among them. I the Lord
have spoken it and I will make with them a covenant of peace
and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land and
they shall dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. He brings us into rest. There's
no evil beasts in his church. He brings us into rest. I'm talking
about the true church of God, the spiritual church of God,
not the visible church, the true church of God. He brings you
into rest where there are no evil beasts. There are only righteous,
sanctified children of God. He says, and I will make them
the place, I will make them and the places round about my hill
a blessing. That's his church. Zion, the
holy hill of Zion, that's his church. He says, and I will cause
the shower to come down in his season, there shall be showers
of blessing. The gospel, scripture says, falls
like showers upon the grass. This was God's covenant of peace
toward us. I'll put, I know my thoughts
toward you, thoughts of peace. And all through it, we see God
says, I will, I will. I'll send my son at my appointed
time, and he will work this good word towards you, and then I
will set up one shepherd over you, and I'll make with you a
covenant of peace. Go to Ezekiel 37. You know how Israel had, by their
sin against God, they had become divided into two kingdoms. And God declares here how he's
going to make them one. And in doing this, he's picturing
how God makes his elect Jew and Gentile to be one. He takes those
that have all these differences, male and female, rich and poor,
bond and free, all these differences that we have naturally that we
use to divide. And he makes us one in Christ.
makes us be at peace with God and at peace with one another.
That's what he's picturing here. Look, Ezekiel 37 verse 21, he
says, say unto them, thus saith the Lord God, behold, I will
take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whether they
be gone, and will gather them on every side and bring them
into their own land. and I will make them one nation
in the land upon the mountains of Israel. And one king shall
be king to them all. And they shall be no more two
nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any
more at all. Neither shall they defile themselves
any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things,
nor with any of their transgressions. Now you know that has to be in
Christ. We know that has to be in Christ.
It's the only way we're not defiled is in him. Look, but I will save
them out of all their dwelling places wherein they have sinned
and will cleanse them. So shall they be my people and
I will be their God. And David, my servant, Christ
Jesus shall be king over them and they all shall have one shepherd. They shall also walk in my judgments
and observe my statutes and do them. We did that by Christ doing
them for us. And then we do obey his law to
believe on Christ and to love one another, to walk honorably
before him, but the way we fulfilled all his judgments and his statutes
and perfection is by Christ doing that for us. Now read on. He says in verse 25, and they
shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant,
wherein your fathers have dwelt, and they shall dwell therein,
even they and their children and their children's children
forever. And my servant David shall be
their prince forever. That's speaking of his eternal
land, heavenly Jerusalem, heavenly Zion, with Christ as our king
forever. Verse 26, here it is. Moreover,
I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting
covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply
them and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
Christ is that holy sanctuary in our midst. He's the holy place
in our midst. My tabernacle also shall be with
them, yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
And the heathen shall know that I, the Lord, do sanctify them. I'm the one who separated them
out and made them holy, when my sanctuary shall be in the
midst of them forevermore. So here's our first point. How
do we get, how do we, are we brought into peace with God?
It began with God. God purposed in his thoughts
towards his people to send his son to work peace for his people,
to call us out of the heathen nations, make us one in Christ,
one people in Christ, and give us a heart to love him and serve
him and believe on his son, and so making peace between us and
God. That was God's everlasting covenant
of peace before the world began. Now, secondly, go with me to
Ephesians 2. The way we're brought into this
peace, Christ came and he accomplished peace between God and his people.
By Christ, all God's people are made one. If you have ought against
a brother in Christ or a sister in Christ, hear this. Christ
has made you one. Christ has made you one. You're
not two, you're one. That'll never change, you're
one. All God's people are made one,
he's the king, he's the prince of peace, he's the one that worked
this. Now, Ephesians 2, it's saying here that just like the
Jew and the Gentile, I mean, just like Israel was divided
in two, all God's elect Jew and Gentile hated each other. We
were separated and we had all these other differences that
separated us, we used the law to try to say we were different
than others. We try to set ourselves up as righteous and better than
others. It's self-righteousness. That's
what it is when one race hates another race or thinks they're
better than another race. It's no different than one denomination
thinking they're better than another denomination because
of their works. Or a male thinking he's better
than a female, or a female thinking she's better than a male, or
the educated thinking they're better than the uneducated. These
were all these divisions we had while we were dead in our self-righteousness. Christ had to come and make us
see we're one. And how did he do it? Ephesians
2.14, Christ is our peace. Now he is our peace. He is our
peace, who hath made both one. Jew and Gentile, rich and poor,
male and female, bond and free, whatever the difference is, if
you're an elect child of God, Christ is our peace who made
us one. And hath broken down the middle
wall of partition between us. See that wall right there? That's
a middle wall of partition. That's dividing this room from
that room. That's what the law of God did. It divided God's
elect Jews from God's elect Gentiles. Now look at what Christ did.
It was the law of commandments contained in ordinances. He abolished
it. Having abolished in his flesh
the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances. For
to make in himself of two one new man, so making peace. And that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. Our Lord Jesus came and he fulfilled
the law fully. That's what he came for. We couldn't
fulfill it. All we could do was use it wrongly,
use it self-righteously to try to put a difference between us
and somebody else. He came and fulfilled it perfectly
to make his people one people. He kept the ordinances, so he's
the Prince of Peace. You know Melchizedek was called
the King of Salem. That means the King of Peace. and Christ is the king of peace. He alone, Christ alone is our
peace because he made peace between us and God and made peace between
us and one another. He brought us together. Remember
Zechariah 6, 13, the Lord was picturing this and he's speaking
of Christ in type there and he says, he shall build the temple
of the Lord. His people are the temple. His
people are the tabernacle. He builds us as living stones
and makes us his holy place, but he builds the temple. And
it says, and he shall bear the glory. He gets all the glory
for it. And he shall sit and rule upon
his throne. He's the governor of his people.
And he shall be a priest upon his throne. He's the king priest. And not only our sovereign ruler,
Christ is also our high priest by whom we're brought into union
with God. And listen to this, and by this
work Christ does, the council of peace shall be between them
both. That means between God and his
people, and that means between his people and one another in
Christ. The council of peace shall reign. We'll be in peace. Go to Colossians
1. How did he work this peace? He
worked it by the blood of the cross. Colossians 1.20 says, having made peace through
the blood of his cross, by him, by Christ, to reconcile all things
unto himself. By him, I say. Paul says, I want
you to understand, I'm saying this peace is by Christ. This
is by Christ going to the cross. This is by Christ's finished
work of redemption. This is by Christ fulfilling
the law, by Christ putting away our sin. It's by him. He wrought
peace by the blood of his cross. In doing so, he reconciled all
to himself, whether they be things in heaven or things in earth.
are things in earth or things in heaven. Those things are his
people. That's what he's talking about. Because when Christ wrought
this at the cross, some of his saints were in heaven. And some
of them were still on the earth. But he's the reconciler. No matter
where we are, he's the reconciler. He's the one that made peace
between us and God and peace between each other by his blood. by putting away our sin and making
us one, making us have one righteousness, one holiness, one redemption,
one faith, one spirit, one baptism, one, one church, one body. He made us one in every way,
we're one. He said, Father, you're in me
and I'm in you and I'm in them and we're made perfect in one. Paul kept saying, by Him, by
Him, by Him. Go to Isaiah 53.4. It was by His cross. Now listen
to what this says. God's truth had to be honored.
His law had to be honored. His justice had to be satisfied.
Every sin had to receive a punishment. So here comes Christ and what
did he do? Verse four. Surely he hath borne
our griefs. You can put sins right there.
That's what he's talking about. He bore our sins. And carried
our sorrows. He carried our sins. He carried
the sorrows, sin causes. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we're healed. When you read that
word chastisement there, that does not mean the loving, faithful
correction that God our heavenly father gives to you and me who
are his children. That's not what the word means
right there. The word there means vindictive justice. It means
wrath taking vengeance on our surety in our place. This is how come God chastens
you and me in love and chastens us faithfully in correction without
pouring out his wrath on us is because Christ bore the wrath. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. This is the marvel that believers
don't ever get over. This is the thing we just can't
get over. That God came in human flesh,
went to the cross, bore our sins, and bore that awful sentence
of wrath that we would have had to bear. The chastisement, the
stripes, the wrath, the justice of God that made us have peace. was upon him. And now with his
stripes, because he bore that and satisfied justice, with his
stripes we are healed. Justice will never fall on one
for whom he died. That wrath will never fall on
one for whom he died. Look at Numbers 25. You see,
the reason I'm having you turn to these scriptures is I want
you to see that all through the scriptures, this is the message. and God pictured it in so different
ways. He would show us pictures of
this and how he makes peace. Now let me give you the sum of
this story. There was an Israelite named
Zimri and he brought a Midianite woman into Israel named Cosby
and that was against God's law. And so here you have a sinner
sinning against God and what it caused was God poured out
a plague on Israel and they began dying. And when Phinehas saw
this, Phinehas was Aaron's son, he's a priest, he saw this, he
took a javelin and he went into the tent where this Israelite
and this Midianite woman was and he threw a javelin and thrust
them through and killed them both. He nailed them to the wall
with his javelin. And it pleased God exceedingly. Because it pictured what Christ
did for us, it pictured Christ coming and taken our place and
the javelin of justice plunged through him so that the plague
was put away and atonement was made and God's wrath was satisfied.
Now look at this, Numbers 25 verse 10. It says, and the Lord spake unto
Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron
the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel,
while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consume not
the children of Israel in my jealousy. Wherefore say, behold,
I give unto him my covenant of peace. and he shall have it and
his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood,
because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the
children of Israel." Our Lord Jesus Christ, while we were enemies,
He reconciled us to God by his death, by his blood. You had the whole camp of Israel
and nobody was doing anything about this. This sin was going
on between Zimri and Cosby and nobody was doing anything. And Phinehas rose up from among
his brethren and he took that javelin and he pierced them and
he put the sin away. He made atonement. He satisfied
God's wrath towards Israel and stopped the plague. And God said,
my covenant of peace is with him. He has an everlasting priesthood. And not only him, but all his
children too. And that's what God said to Christ. Christ in his zeal for God came
and he bore the sin, he bore the justice, he satisfied it,
he died in our place, he put the sin away, and God says, my
covenant of peace is with him. and with his children, those
he represented, God's elect. So thirdly now, let's go back
to Ephesians 2. How is it that we're brought
to know this word and know this work has been accomplished so
that we can have peace in our conscience? and be reconciled
to God ourselves, come to God ourselves and quit fighting against
God. How's that gonna happen? Because
see, we sinned in Adam and we have his corrupt nature, so we
don't love this message by nature, we hate this message, that's
why we're at war with God. There's enmity in our heart against
God and the only way we're gonna have peace is if God creates
us new. So he's gonna have to do this
work too. Scripture says, the word which God sent unto the
children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he's Lord
of all. So God sent the gospel to us. We're here this morning because
it's God's eternal purpose to give his people peace. We're
here this morning because Christ redeemed his people and worked
peace for us, reconciling us to God when as yet we were enemies
toward God. Because through this message,
we're preaching peace by Jesus Christ. We're preaching the message
God's gonna use to create peace in the conscience of his child. The comforter, he said, I'll
send. And through that comforter, Christ said, my peace I give
unto you. Not as the world giveth, give
our peace, my peace I give to you. and he's gonna do it through
the preaching of this word. Look here in Ephesians 2.17.
Not only did Christ redeem us, it says, in verse 17, it says,
but he came also and preached peace to you. He preached himself
to us. He preached his works to us,
which were far off and to them that were near. For through him,
we both, Jew and Gentile, have access by one spirit unto the
Father. He came and preached peace to
us. That's the message of the gospel. Go to 2 Corinthians 5. This message is the message of
peace. 2 Corinthians 5, and look at verse 18. All things are of God. Now get that, sinner. Nothing
about this peace is worked by you. It's all of God. He gets
all the glory. All things are of God who hath
reconciled us. He made peace for us with himself
by Jesus Christ. And has given to us the ministry
of reconciliation. Our gospel is the gospel of reconciliation. You can't preach the gospel without
preaching how that God reconciled his people to himself. And it's
the message God blesses to the heart to make you be reconciled
to God. Now look, Here it is, to wit,
God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. His elect
scattered all over this world. God was reconciling, he accomplished
it. How did he do it? Not imputing
their trespasses unto them. How could God not impute trespasses
to you that are guilty? He had to have somebody set up
from eternity that he imputed those trespasses to. and that
was Christ. Look, and he's committed to us
the word of reconciliation, now then we are ambassadors for Christ,
that's what God's preachers are, as though God did beseech you
by us. We pray you in Christ's stead,
I'm standing here instead of Christ standing here preaching
this word of Christ, saying be ye reconciled to God. Here's
how he didn't impute trespasses to us. This is how he could not
do that, how he was righteous not to impute our sins to us.
For he hath made him sin for us who knew no sin. Every chosen
child of God was in Christ and God made him sin for us. It says that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. And that's what Christ accomplished.
He made his people righteousness. And he says, so we then, as workers
together with him, beseech you also that you receive not the
grace of God in vain. I'm standing here right now.
preaching this gospel of God's grace to you, telling you that
Christ has already finished this work. He has made peace between
God and all God's elect. The way God will not impute sin
to his people is because his people have no sin to impute. He made Christ sin and Christ
bore the justice and made his people the righteousness of God.
That means they have no sin. We have no sin. There's no sin
for God to impute to his people. The record books of the law says
I can't find any sin. There is none. Christ put it
away. And so through this message, we're declaring to you, the work's
finished, peace has been wrought. Now we're declaring, now you
cease your warfare against God. You lay down your weapons and
you surrender to Christ. And that's how we prove we've
been elected of God. That's how we prove that Christ
redeemed us. That's how we prove that the
spirit has regenerated us. We believe on Christ. And I'm
telling you here now, God's grace never returns to him void. It
never returns to him void. His word never returns void.
God's grace is never in vain. What he means here is, don't
you hear this word of God's grace in vain? How would I do that? You get up and walk out of here
and there's been no change wrought in your heart. There's been,
you just say, eh, I'll listen to that another time. No, today's
the day of salvation. This is the day to believe on
Christ. You might not have another hour.
Don't hear this message and let it go in one ear and out the
other. Don't hear this message and put it off to another day.
Don't hear this message and say, well, I have time. You don't
have anything but what God gives you. Today's the day of salvation. To hear it and walk out and not
believe Christ is to receive the grace of God in vain. It
means you've heard the message of God's grace in vain. It did
you no profit. But everybody he loves, he's
gonna reconcile in our heart, make you see you've been reconciled
in Christ. He gonna make you know in your
heart that he's finished this work and you have peace with
God. And for the first time in your life, you'll stop thinking
you gotta do something to please God. You'll stop thinking you
gotta keep working to try to make up for something you did
yesterday. And you'll have peace with God,
knowing God is at peace with you. And there's nothing like
that. Nothing like that. It'll never
end. God says, the mountains shall depart, the hills be removed,
but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the
covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that has mercy
on you. The only way you're gonna have this peace is believe in
him. He says, now the God of hope fill you with all joy and
peace in believing that you may abound in hope through the power
of the Holy Ghost. That's the only way you're gonna
have this peace is believing on Christ. It's simply believing
that he's really done it. Believing he is our peace. Believing
peace has been accomplished. When he makes that come into
your heart, it makes you truly hear that message. It passes
all understanding. And for you, believer, you keep
your mind and your heart and your focus on Christ above. You
keep, listen to this, Philippians 4.4 if you wanna see it, and
I'm done, I just want you to see that. Here's what he's saying
to us. Rejoice in the Lord always, and
again I say rejoice. Be focused on Christ all the
time, every day. Let your moderation be known
unto all men. That means be meek and gentle. rather than rash and harsh. That means bear insults and agree,
because they hadn't said the worst they could say about you.
Bear insults and agree with them. And deal mercifully rather than
in judgment. That's what it means. The Lord
is at hand. You can do that when you know
the Lord's at hand. The Lord's taking care of this. Be careful for nothing. Don't
be overly anxious about what's going on. God's controlling providence.
But in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known unto God, and watch this. He's
saying, if you do these things, just remember always, rejoice
in the Lord always. Remember, when in every situation,
He's at hand, and be anxious for nothing. Have Him always
in your heart. And the peace of God, which passeth
all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus. It's that peace that keeps us.
It's that peace that keeps us. Now I pray for you what Paul
prayed for the Roman brethren. Now the God of peace be with
you all. Amen. Let's stand together. Our God and our Father, we thank
you that your thoughts are thoughts of peace to your people. Lord,
make us hear this, create peace in the heart of some sinner here
today, and keep your people in peace. Lord, we see through a
glass darkly and its past Our understanding, it's past our
knowledge. But Lord, we know, we do know
you give us this peace and we have it. And we're thankful it's
in Christ and it'll never change. Lord, bless your word. Make it
effectual. Make us be at peace with our
brethren. Make us lay down our weapons against each other. Be
kind and meek and gentle and merciful. and I know you're at
hand accomplishing your will and everything is being done.
Forgive us our sins, Lord, we ask it in Christ's name, amen.