I direct you for a text to words
that we find in the epistle of Paul to the Colossians in Colossians
chapter 3 verse 15 Colossians 3 15 and let the peace
of God rule in your hearts to the which also you are called
in one body and be ye thankful And let the peace of God rule
in your hearts, to which also ye are called in one body, and
be ye thankful. This epistle to the Colossians,
of course, quite a short epistle, just four chapters, but it's
full of great matter. Certainly the opening two chapters
contain much of the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
we find some quite remarkable things being said in these chapters. For example, in chapter 1 at
verse 15, we read of him who is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of every creature. For by Him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him
and for Him, and He is before all things, and by Him all things
consist. He is that one, of course, who
is the eternal Son of God. He is the Word of God, the one
that John speaks of in those opening verses of his Gospel. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him.
All things were made by Him. Without Him was not anything
made that was made, and so The Apostle Paul is declaring the
same truth here in the opening chapter of this epistle. And then again in chapter 2 at
verse 9 we're told, For in him dwelleth all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him which is the
head of all principality and power. Of all the Godhead is
bodily in the Lord Jesus, the great mystery of godliness, God.
manifest in the flesh, that that man, Jesus of Nazareth, was never
anything less than the Christ, the Son of God. And we read there
in John chapter 20, how the apostle makes it plain that that was
the purpose why he had written his gospel. These things are
written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the Son of God, and
the believing he might have life through his name. So, here, certainly
in the first two chapters, we find great doctrinal truth, particularly
with regards to the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the God-man. And then, in chapters three and
four, we really have the the practical outworking of that
doctrine, if we believe that doctrine. If we believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, it will be evident in the sort
of people that we are and the way in which we live our lives,
the manner in which we conduct ourselves. We will, if we are
true believers, we will live as Christians. And what does
Paul say here in the opening words of this third chapter?
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection
on things above, not on things on the earth, for ye are dead,
and your life is hid with Christ in God. or that life of the Christian
he is crucified with Christ nevertheless he lives but as Paul said not
I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in
the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me and so how does the Christian live well
Many things are said in these closing two chapters. We have
mortification there at verse 5 in this third chapter. Mortify
therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness
which is idolatry. Or the believer seeks to mortify,
to put to death, the deeds of the body. He doesn't conform
to the ways of the world. His life is transformed by the
renewing of his mind. He lives to prove what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God. But I want us, as
I said, to come to consider what he says here at verse 15 in this
third chapter. And let the peace of God rule
in your hearts, to which also you are called in one body and
be thankful. And so the theme, the theme that
I want to address, as the Lord helps, is that of peace, the
peace of God ruling in the heart. The peace of God ruling in the
heart. And considering that subject
matter under three headings, first of all to consider something
of the source of the peace. Here it is spoken of as the peace
of God. The peace of God, the genitive
of possession, the peace that belongs to God. It's God's possession. And what is this peace of God?
It's not so much an attribute in God, We often speak of God's
attributes. We think of him as that God who
is a holy God, a righteous God, a just God. These are all God's
attributes. We think of him as that one who
is omnipotent, he's all-powerful. is omniscient, is all-knowing,
and so on. We speak of those attributes
of God. But in a sense, when we think
of the peace of God, it's more than just an attribute. It's
what God is. Now, we know that God is love. Some say love is an attribute
of God. But, in a sense, God in his trinity
of persons is love, because The relationship between those three
Divine Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is a
relationship of love. How the Father loves the Son,
and the Son loves the Father, and the Father and the Son love
the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit, He loves the Father and
the Son. There's a mutual relationship
between all of the Persons. And remember how The Son of God,
when He speaks, as the wisdom of God there in Proverbs chapter
8 says, then I was by Him, speaking of His eternal relationship to
the Father, then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him, I
was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him. And therefore we say that God
is love. in the relationship that he sustains
with himself. And as God is love, so God in
a sense is also that one who is at peace with himself. He is unhurried, he is unperturbed. There's a perfect harmony between
all the persons in the Godhead. Because though they be three
persons, three distinct persons, yet they are one God. And there is nothing but a perfect
relationship. God is altogether at peace with
himself. The will of the Father is the
will of the Son, is the will of the Holy Spirit, is of one
mind, non-concerning, and as God is unperturbed and unhurried
so God is ever always executing His own goodwill and pleasure. We read of Him declaring the
end from the beginning and from ancient times of things that
are not yet done saying my counsel shall stand and I will do all
my pleasure well this is that God then who is the source of
all real peace and how different it is with us oh we are so often
those who are much flustered perplexed confused and we feel
it, the future to us is full of all uncertainty all seems
to us at times to be so dark and so unfathomable we're told
there are many devices in a man's heart many devices, a multitude
of plottings and schemings nevertheless says the wise man the counsel
of the Lord that shall stand." And even though at times when
we come to examine God and the ways of God we feel that God's way seems
to us to be so contrarian, so contradictory. Why His way is
in the sea, His path is in the deep waters, His footsteps are
unknown. But God says, I know the thoughts.
I know the thoughts that I think towards you, thoughts of peace.
and not of evil. And those words of course spoken
by the prophet Jeremiah are spoken in the context of that terrible
catastrophe that came upon Judah at the time of the Babylonian
captivity when they were taken from the promised land and found
themselves exiled. in Babylon for 70 years. What does God say? Through His
servant the Prophet there in Jeremiah 29-11, I know the thoughts
that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and
not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall you call upon
Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto
you, and ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search
for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith
the Lord, and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather
you from all the nations and from all the places whither I
have driven you, saith the Lord, and I will bring you again into
the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive. or
God had pleasant thoughts, thoughts of peace it says, not of evil. They must have thought this was
the end of the world for them. No, God is the source of peace
to His people. And that is our comfort and that's
why we are to be those who would seek Him, those who would come
and cast all our cares upon Him, knowing that He cares even for
us. He is the only source of peace
in a world that is full of sin and full of confusion. But when we come to the words of the text and he
speaks of that peace of God ruling in the hearts. The peace of God
ruling in the heart. Let the peace of God rule in
your hearts. Where is the seat of peace when
it comes to the lives of the people of God? It's amazing that
it's spoken of as that that rules in their heart. Because what
is the state of our heart by nature? You know our scripture
speaks of the heart of man. Suppose we tend to think of the
heart as the seat of of affections we speak of an affair of the
heart and so forth but to the Hebrew mind the heart is more
than that it's a very it's a very center of a man's being it's
really what the man is out of the hearts are the issues of
life says the wise man And what is the heart of man by nature? What is my heart by nature, or
yours? Well, the heart, we're told,
is deceitful. The heart is deceitful above
all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? We scarcely
know ourselves. We scarcely know what an awful
sink of sin and iniquity our heart is by nature. And we see
it so early, of course, in human history. We only have to go back
to the beginning of the Bible there in the opening chapters
of Genesis. In chapter 6, remember what we're
told concerning the state of men in that world before the
floods? God saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth, and every imagination of the thought
of his heart was only evil continually and to a tremendous ebraism that
we have in that statement every imagination of the thoughts of
his heart evil continually it's so pregnant in meaning those
words that is the seat of this peace. This is where the peace
of God is to come and to rule in the hearts of those who in
their very natures are in a state of alienation and enemies in
their minds by wicked works, those who will not submit to
the authority of God. that carnal mind which is enmity
against God and not subject to the law of God, says Paul, neither
indeed can be. And remember how the Lord Jesus
in the course of his own ministry speaks of those things that proceed
out of the hearts of men. There in Mark's Gospel, Mark
chapter 7 Verse 21, Christ says, for from
within, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries,
fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit,
lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. And so the catalogue goes on
and on and on. all these evil things come from
within and defile the man says the Lord Jesus how Christ that
faithful preacher that prince of all preachers how he faithfully
declared the true spiritual nature of the Lord of Gods how the commandment
doesn't just have to do with the man's externals, the way
in which he conducts himself or behaves himself, it has to
do with his thoughts and his feelings. Or the hateful thought
is murder. The wanton look is adultery.
These are the words of the Lord Jesus himself. He needed not
that any should testify of man. He knew, he knew what was in
the hearts of men. or the wickedness of man's heart
then. And we're told what the wicked are like. They're like
the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mirin
dirt. There is no peace. No peace says
my God to the wicked. And yet, in the words of the
text, here is the apostle exhorting these Colossian believers It's
in the imperative here, let the peace of God rule in your heart,
he says. Oh, let the peace of God rule
in your hearts. And when we come to God's word
and read God's words and consider God's words, we have to say,
can ever God dwell here? Is it really possible that God
could dwell in a heart such as mine? think of the language that
we have in that hymn 310 in Gadsby's concerning the state of man's
heart by nature. Joseph Hart says, Lord when thy
spirit descends to show the badness of our hearts astonished at the
amazing view the soul with horror starts the dungeon opening foul
as hell its loathsome stench emits and brooding in each secret
cell some hideous monster sits swarms of your thoughts their
bane diffuse proud, envious, false, unclean, and every ransacked
corner shows some unsuspected sin. It's a remarkable hymn,
but it's so true and so faithful to what we read here in God's
Word concerning the hearts of men, all men by nature. And so
it has that line there in verse 4, Can ever God dwell here? Can God dwell in such a heart
as mine? Well, he can. And how is it that
he can? Well, in the third place, consider
here the sovereignty of that grace of God that brings peace.
Let the peace of God, it says, rule in your hearts to the which
also ye are called in one body and be ye thankful to the which
also ye are called. Oh, here is that efficacious
grace of God. Here is that effectual call of
the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sinners are called to
peace. And who calls them to peace?
Why, it is the God of peace Himself. There is Christ who is, remember,
the Prince of Peace. There is the Holy Spirit who
is the fruit of peace. Is not peace one of those blessed
fruits of the Spirit? It's all the persons in the Godhead,
you see, because God is peace. Peace belongs to God. And God
bestows His peace upon those who in their natures are enemies
and alienated from Him. But principally here we are to
think of the Lord Jesus Christ. As I said, this epistle to the
Colossians, it's full of the doctrine of Christ. It's full
of the doctrine of Christ. And remember, when the Lord Jesus
Christ comes to the end of His earthly ministry, He speaks of
that legacy that He will leave to his disciples, leave to his
followers. Peace I leave with you, he says. My peace I give unto you, not
as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. A tremendous statement that we
find in John 14, 27. Peace I leave with you. Oh, this
is the Lord's legacy and I want just to think of that legacy
for a little while and to consider some six aspects of the legacy
of peace that the Lord Jesus leaves to his disciples which
is what is being spoken of here the peace of God let the peace
of God rule in your heart to which also you are called in
one body and be ye thankful." How do we come to understand
what this piece is? Well, six things in relation
to the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, we are to think
in terms of the person, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
remember how the promise runs in the Old Testament concerning
His coming, His incarnation? There in Isaiah 9, 6, unto us
a child is born, unto us a son is given. The government shall
be upon his shoulders. His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. For the promise is that He who
comes, the Incarnate One, is none other than the Mighty God. Oh, He is God manifest in the
flesh. We must surely recognize that
at the outset when we think of the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is never anything less than
true Almighty God. That is His name, the Mighty
God. There in Isaiah 9, 6, and he
says himself to the Jews, if you believe not that I am, you
shall perish in your sins. We have to believe in Him as
that One who is truly the Great I Am. And as we have it here,
of course, He is the image of the Invisible God. And in His very person, When we think of him as God,
the God manifest in the flesh, who is this man? Well, Micah
5, verse 5, this man shall be the priest, it says. This man,
he is the priest. and in his person, because he
is God and because he is man, he is that one who is so fitted
to stand between God and man. When Job cries out for a day's
man or a mediator, or his great cry there in chapter 9, neither
is there any daisman betwixt us that may lay his hand upon
us both. That's what Job wants. He wants
one to come and stand with his hand upon God and his hand upon
Job to be a daisman, to be an ompire. And here is one, you
see, who is so fitted to be that mediator because he is
God. And yet he who is God is also
man. And so when, in the fullness
of the time, God sends forth His Son, made of a woman, made
under the law, what is the language of the angelic host? We read
it there in Luke chapter 2, glory to God in the highest, on earth
peace. On earth peace. Goodwill toward
men, this world that lies in the wicked one, on earth peace. and peace between God and men
because of the man Christ Jesus. All this peace, we discover it
when we come to a right understanding and appreciation of the doctrine
of the person of Christ, as that one who is God's man. The one mediator between God
and men, the man, Christ Jesus. But then also, of course, it's
not just his person that's so vitally important to our peace
with God. There's also that work that he
came to do. And how Paul speaks of this in
this epistle, here in chapter 1 at verse 20, he speaks of Christ
having made peace. 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
hath he reconciled. in the body of His flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight." All this great work that the Lord Jesus Christ
came to accomplish. And how He accomplished it, and
how we see it there in that portion, that portion that we read in
that 20th chapter of John here is Christ now having accomplished the work
that the Father had given Him to do risen again from the dead
and showing Himself to His disciples those words that we read in John
20, 19 the same day of the evening being the first day of the week
When the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled
for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and said
unto them, Please be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed
unto them his hands and his side. And how significant are the words
in relation to the action. He says, Peace be unto you. And as He says those words, He
showed unto them His hands and His side. He shows them the wounds
from whence that precious blood did flow. This is their peace,
you see. Their peace is in the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Nowhere else. This is that peace
that must come and reign in the hearts of sinners. For Christ
is the propitiation for our sins. Here in His love, says John,
not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son
to be the propitiation for our sins. And all that that word
indicates propitiation. What is propitiation? It reminds
us of a God who is a just God, a God who can by no means clear
the guilty, a God who is angry with the wicked every day. Or
there's that God would aspect, you see, to the dying of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He has propitiated the wrath
of God. There's peace with God. this is the God you see who in
Christ justifies the ungodly or therefore being justified
it says by faith by faith we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ or there's the person there's
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ there's that covenant that covenant
of grace, in which God the Son, of course, is one of the parties.
The Council of Peace, we read, shall be between them both. Or the Council of Peace is between
the Father and the Son before the Holy Spirit. He is witness
to these things. That eternal covenant of redemption
that is to be executed and worked out in the fullness of the time. The Lord Jesus parted to it.
That covenant in which He so readily and so willingly becomes
God's servant. And as a servant of God He becomes
the Saviour of sinners even as many as the Father had given
to Him in that covenant. Oh, He says, My peace I leave with you. My peace I
give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give
I unto you. It's My peace. My peace. That's the most profound thing.
It's the peace that belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's that
peace that the Lord Jesus Christ enjoys. as a result of all His
obedience, He has accomplished all the terms of that covenant.
He has pleased the Father by His obedience, His obedience
in living, His obedience in dying, His obedience unto death, even
the death of the cross. Oh, no wonder believers are complete
in Him. We have it there, remember, in
chapter 2 and verse 10, you are complete in Him. which is the
head of all principality and power? Or is he not that one
to whom God has now committed all authority, all power that
is given unto me in heaven and in earth, he says? Go ye therefore
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with
you always. even unto the end of the world.
Oh, in that covenant you see Christ is that one who is now
the head, head over all things to the church which is his body
and the fullness of him that filleth all in all. Here is the
peace. It's in the person, it's in the
work, it's in the covenant. Fourthly, there is the words. of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, how does the Apostle continue
here in the chapter? We're considering verse 15. He
goes on, Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
grace in your hearts to the Lord. How the singing of God's praises
is evidently a blessed means of grace. How we teach one another,
how we admonish one another. Yes, our praises are of course
principally addressed to God. He is the object of our worship. But you know, many of the psalms
are masculine. They're psalms to give instruction.
The psalmist is praying to God, the psalmist is praising God,
but there's also instruction. And is there not many a time
a great deal of instruction in the hymns we come to a service?
I don't know, maybe you're different to me, but surely there's always
something in every service. There might be nothing at all
that we get from the preaching on an occasion. We might find
little in the prayer, but then strangely we sing a hymn and
a verse or a line in a hymn which seems to speak to us. It seems
to come with such a gracious authority, and it's so encouraging
to us. And it shouldn't surprise us. It's part of that provision that
God has made for us in the means of grace. But ultimately, it's
all the Word of Christ, isn't it? Let the Word of Christ dwell
in you richly, it says. Richly, that means abundantly,
plentifully. The scripture at large, every
part of it, that's what we want, all of God's words, all the promises,
and every precept. Are we not to be those who are
partial in the word of God? Oh, we love, we love those promises,
exceeding great and precious promises, that's the gospel.
But what of the precepts? And you know what we have here
tonight is really a precept. As I said, it's in the imperative. Let the peace of God rule in
your hearts, he says. In a sense, it's a word of command. It's exhortation. And we see
it here in the whole context Look at verse 12, put on there,
for he says, As ye elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies,
kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing
one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel
against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Well, these are the words of
the Lord Jesus Christ. You're caught in one body, it
says, one body. the unity of the Spirit, the
bond of peace. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And of course, as we know, Christ
is everywhere. He's in all the Scriptures. Search
the Scriptures, he says to the Jews. In them you think that
you have eternal life, and these are they that testify of me. Oh, it's a whole farce. to all
these words of Holy Scripture. Luther says we should press into
them and remain in them. We should press into them. And
they should press into us. They're the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And as we have the words of the
Lord Jesus, so in the fifth place we have the preaching of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Is the singing of psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs part of the means of grace? It evidently
is from what we have here in verse 16. But we recognize that
the principal means of grace that God has given to us is the
ministry of the word, the preaching of the gospel. because in that preaching it
is not so much the words of a man as the word of God is rightly
opened up it's the voice of Christ as Paul himself says to to the Ephesians remember there
in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 20 you have not so learned Christ
if so be you have heard him and been taught by him as the truth
is in Jesus You have not so learnt Christ, if so be ye have heard
him. They heard Christ, they were
taught by Christ and yet Christ was never at Ephesus. He was
sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, Ephesus in Asia
Minor, that's Gentiles. How did they hear Christ? How were they taught by Christ?
Well through the ministry, through the preaching. And isn't that the promise that
the Lord gives there again in that portion that we read in
John chapter 20? Look at what he says at verse
21. He breathed on them, and said
unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whosoever sins ye remit,
they are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins ye retain,
they are retained." Now what is all this saying? Here is the
Lord Jesus sending forth His ministers, sending forth the
apostles in the first place, of course. And he says, please
be unto you. And then he sends them. And as
he says these words, he breathes on them and they receive the
Holy Ghost and they go forth and do so of the sins they remit,
they are remitted, do so of the sins they retain, they are retained. The outworking of that is through
the preaching of the Word of God. that Word of God. He comes to some the Saviour
of life, unto life. He comes to others the Saviour
of death, unto death. Who is sufficient for these things?
In preaching the Lord Jesus Christ is present. In preaching the
Lord Jesus Christ speaks. His sheep hear His voice. They hear more than the voice
of the preacher. They hear the voice of the shepherd, the good
shepherd who gives his life for the sheep. They hear his voice,
they follow him, and he gives them eternal life. They never
perish. Oh, this is how the peace comes. It is the Spirit of God
who is present in that preaching. It comes as the Spirit of Christ
and there's the application of that word. That doctrine comes
home now to the soul. Oh, we see these things in the
person, the work, the covenant, the Word of Christ, the preaching
of Christ. And so, finally, what do we have?
We have the peace of Christ. Oh, that's what comes. It's that
peace that Christ Himself has procured in His person and by His Word.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which also ye
are called. Oh, it's that sovereign work
of God by His Spirit in the heart, applying these things to which
also ye are called in one body, and be ye thankful. Be ye thankful. Oh, thanks be
unto God for His unspeakable gift. We have all these things
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our place. He was made both one, both Jew
and Gentile, broken down that middle wall of partition. He
is our place. This man shall be the place. And what does he call his people
to? He calls them to be a people
in a peaceable community, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit
in the bond of peace. You know, you're familiar with
these various texts of scripture. What a high and holy calling
is that to be a Christian. And that to be one who is in
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the local church.
That is a microcosm as it were. of
the One True Church, the Gathered Church, that community of believing
people who have that peace of God's ruling in their hearts. All God grants that we might
know that we really do have an interest in these things and
the Lord bless His Word to us each. Amen.