Good morning. If you would, join
me in John chapter 14. John 14. We're going to read one verse
of scripture. Verse 27. John 1427. Our Lord said. Peace I leave
with you. 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. Over the last little bit of time,
I've had the opportunity to visit with friends and brethren from
other congregations, some of whom have visited with us here. And in these visits, oftentimes
the conversation will turn to the relationship we have with
one another. relationship that is observed
when folks visit this congregation, this ministry. And one particular
comment that has stuck with me went something like this. As
an outsider looking in at your relationship, you have unity. you're at peace, to which I responded,
as an insider, being there, what you've observed is what we have. I know from Gabe's prayer Wednesday
night that the topic of peace is not limited to just my consideration. The relationship that the Lord
has been pleased to give us to bless us with this peace and
this unity that we have in this congregation. Do we realize just
how precious that gift is? Another common phrase I've heard
from others who have a little more experience than I do in
these matters when talking about this relationship, this peace
and unity that we have, is the phrase guarded, protected, be
aware of it, Do we realize just how uncommon
this gift is, this blessing is, even among other churches that
the Lord has raised up? There are congregations I've
known and heard of growing up that at one time it was said
of them, as an outsider looking in, you have peace. There's unity
there. but it's not sad anymore, as
sad as it is. How I pray the Lord will continue
to bestow this peace upon this assembly for many years to come. As I thought upon this peace
and on its fragility, I started considering the responsibility
that I have. How can I labor to protect this
peace? This is a personal responsibility
to me. What can I do to ensure that
this peace stays here? And as I thought on this, I came
to three conclusions. I can learn about peace. I can learn what happened to
the peace. Historically, what is it that
broke the peace? Where did it go? How was it lost? And how was that peace restored? I first concentrated on peace. What is peace? And as I started studying, I
realized I asked the wrong question, as I do so very often. What is
peace is not the question. Peace is a person. Who is peace? Peace is our Lord Jesus Christ. Six times in the New Testament,
God, the holy, sovereign God, is acknowledged by the title,
the God of Peace. We just read our Lord's words,
peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Christ Jesus,
God the Son, is the God of Peace. Shall we have peace with God?
Only in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We have peace with one another,
not a stick-on peace, not a peace that we put on a show. but a true peace, a deep peace,
a peace with one another. Shall we have that peace? Only
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's what I set out to know.
How can I labor to have peace, to guard the peace that's been
blessed in this ministry? The first and likely only answer
to this question is by looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ, by
learning more of Him, by staying steadfast upon Christ and Him
crucified. In John 16.33, you can turn over
there, it's just a couple pages, John 16.33, Our Lord said, These things have
I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world
ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome
the world. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face,
and the things of earth, tribulation, the lack of peace, shall grow
strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Peace is our Lord Jesus Christ
alone. To have him is to have peace. Secondly, what happened to peace? Turn with me to Genesis chapter
1. Genesis chapter 1 verse 27. So God created man in his own
image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created
he them, and God blessed them. And God said unto them, be fruitful,
and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the
air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. One day, God and man dwelt in
peace. God blessed them. And he gave
to man all that he had need of, verse 29. And God said, behold,
I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face
of all the earth, and every tree in the which is the fruit of
a tree yielding seed, to you it shall be for meat. And while man kept the law. the law that is recorded over
in chapter 2, verse 16. And the Lord God commanded the
man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat. But of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that
thou eatest thereof Thou shalt surely die. As long as man did
not eat of the fruit, as long as he kept the law, there was
peace. But when Adam ate, when he broke
the law, when the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes
and the pride of life entered his heart and he did eat, there
was no peace. Psalm 711, God is angry with
the wicked every day. There is no peace. On one side
is the thrice holy, angry God. On the other, sinful man, us. Our carnal mind is enmity. It is hatred against God. Adam sinned against God, he died,
and in him we died. We, by nature, are dead to the
things of God. In Adam, we lost peace with God. In Adam, we lost peace with one
another. Look at the relationship and
the unity, the peace Adam and Eve enjoyed before they died.
Genesis 2 verse 23. And Adam said, this is now bone
of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because
she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his
father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they
shall be one flesh. And then chapter three, verse
12, this is their relationship after the fall. And the man said, The woman whom
thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did
eat. After the fall, Adam threw Eve,
the woman he loved, he threw her under the bus. It's her fault, it's not mine. She
did it, not me. This is the nature we inherit
from our father. This is our nature. We are destroyers
of peace. As I got into this story, or
into this study, this is the point at which I began to get
excited. This is when I realized I had a message. Thus far, we have fact. All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. God is holy. God is angry with the wicked
every day. We have who we are. We have who
he is. Now we get to see love in action. We get to see what great things
the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us. Now we get to see how
peace is restored. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. God is angry with the wicked
every day. How can peace be restored? Genesis three, verse eight. And they heard the voice of the
Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam
and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God
amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto
Adam and said unto him, where art thou? And he said, I heard
thy voice in the garden. and I was afraid because I was
naked and I hid myself. Adam who transgressed, Adam who
offended, Adam who broke the peace did not go seeking to restore
the peace, but he hid himself from the God of peace. It was
God. who had been offended, who went
seeking the peace. Why? Why would God seek to make
peace with a sinner? Why would he not cut him off
as he did to Lucifer and the fallen angels? We read in John 3, 16, for God
so, the word so meaning in this manner, for God in this manner
loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And in
Romans we read, God commendeth, he put together, he united, God
commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Why didn't God immediately cut
off sinful man? For love's sake. Love caused God to seek peace,
but love for whom? For Adam, that fallen rebellious
creature? Not so much. Rereading Romans
again, Paul gave us a great list of things. And then he said of
those things. They shall never be able to separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. In John 3.35, our Lord said,
the father loveth the son. How does he, how does the father
manifest his love for the son? By ensuring that all honor and
glory goes to the Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation of sinners. For the love of God in Christ
Jesus our Lord, God sought out Adam after he sinned to restore
the peace. For the love of God and Christ
Jesus our Lord, God seeks out each of his lovingly elected
and redeemed sinners to restore peace. Now, peace, once broken, was
restored in love. But just how was that peace between
God and rebellious sinners obtained? First, humbly. He who knew no
sin, he who did no wrong, he who was transgressed against,
came from his throne. left his glory behind, and being
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. To obtain peace, the
God of peace, the Lord Jesus Christ, humbled himself so far
as to not just come and dwell among sinful men, but to actually
take upon his holy person the very sin and transgression that
we are. and to bear the punishment which
we heap upon our heads, the wages of sin is death. It's one thing to forgive and
to restore peace, but consider this. We sin and transgress God's
law moment by moment, over and over. Thank God. He who I continually sin against
is patient and long-suffering. May the Lord give us this heart.
Turn over to Matthew chapter 18. Matthew 18, verse 21. Then came Peter to him and said,
Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive
him? Tell seven times, Lord, How oft shall I sin against
you and you forgive me till seven times? Is there mercy left for
me? Jesus saith unto him, I say not
unto thee until seven times. but until 70 times seven. The Lord has been gracious and
merciful to me, yet I remain in this sinful flesh, continuing
to sin against him who is so good and kind to me. How patient and kind he is towards
such a rebel. He continues to teach, to lead,
to love, just as he did to Peter when he sent Cornelius to Peter.
And Peter was taught, what God hath cleansed, that call not
thou common. Lord, give us this grace to be
patient and kind to one another. Patience and long-suffering go
hand-in-hand with forgiveness. To keep the peace, Lord Jesus
Christ freely forgives those that the Father gave to Him,
those for whom He suffered, bled, and died for. Peter, on the night
our Lord was taken, having so emphatically denied our Lord
Jesus, And yet Christ freely, lovingly, graciously forgave
him. Is it not so with us? As the
Lord has freely forgiven our sin and transgression against
him, shall we not quickly forgive those around us? Finally, to keep the peace, the
offense, the transgression is covered. Proverbs 10 verse 12
says, hatred stirreth up strifes, but love covereth all sins. In Hebrews 11, we read how Abraham
went out, how Sarah conceived, and of many others. In Hebrews 11, there is no record
of any doubt, any laughing, any Ishmael. In 2 Peter, we read the words,
just lot. The same lot. who before have
so many failings recorded about him. Yet the love of God in Christ
obtained peace just like. And he covered all the sins that
would break the peace with his own blood. In closing, turn over to Ephesians
chapter four. Ephesians chapter 4. It's a sad thing to say. And
if I haven't said it, I'll say it now, I'm sorry. It's a very
sad thing to say. But if I haven't yet offended
you. Saving God's grace, preventing
me from doing so. I will offend you. It's coming. It's my nature. It's who I am. And possibly even sadder, I probably
won't even know that I've offended you. I'll do something that is just
me that will offend you. When I offend, or if you somehow
offend me, may we be reminded of how our Lord restored the
peace when we had offended him. He sought out peace for love's
sake. He humbled himself. Oh, what grief my pride causes. He gave himself. He bears patiently
with us. He freely forgave and continues
to forgive. me who has nothing to commend
myself before him for forgiveness. And in shedding his precious
blood, he covered our sins. When we offend or when we are
offended, may God give us the grace to remember who and what
we are. We're sinners. Not a one of us
is better than the other. Whose we are, we are bought with
a precious price. And over in verse 32 of Ephesians
4, when we offend or are offended, may God give us the grace to
remember who we are, whose we are, in verse 32, and be ye kind
one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. I truly believe
that the prayer of every one of us is that God would be pleased
to continue to bless this ministry with his peace. To give us peace
with one another. To give us peace with our brothers
and sisters in other congregations. To give us peace in this community. Lord, please teach us more of
Christ. Cause us to love him more. And in loving him more, we will
find we have great peace. May the Lord bless us.