If you will, turn back to the
scripture that the brother just read, Ephesians 2. Beginning in verse 11. Ephesians
2 in verse 11. I titled this message, Perfect
Peace in Christ Alone. And what I wanna look at first
is who we were in the eyes of a sovereign God. Look at verse
11. It says, wherefore remember that
ye been in time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands. But
at that time, ye were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope without God in the world. When you read that,
it's a little frightening to think about it, but we were Gentiles
in the flesh. We were dead in trespasses and
sins. The Jews even called us uncircumcised
dogs. And God's covenant was with the
Jews, and we were without Christ. We had no mercy seat, we had
no weight of God, no hope of salvation, no hope of glory,
and no hope of redemption. But then, look at 13, he says,
but now, In Christ Jesus, ye who sometime were far off or
made nigh by the blood of Christ. But now, in Christ Jesus, who
were sometimes, he's talking to us Gentiles, if you're not
a Jew, you're a Gentile, were far off or made nigh, how? By the blood of Christ. That
word nigh means close. How close are we? 1 John 3, 2
says, Beloved, now are ye the sons of God. And it doth not
yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall
appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And we're talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ here. Will, we'll go ahead and read
verse 13 one more time. But now in Christ Jesus, who
ye who sometimes were far off are made now by the blood of
Christ, for he is, now think about this, this is such a blessing,
for he is our peace, who hath made both one and hath broken
down the middle wall of petition between us. Christ, he is the
offer of peace with God, and he is the giver of peace to his
people. Verse 15, having abolished in
his flesh the enmity, or the hostility, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one
new man, so making peace. You know, all believers are one,
regardless of where we come from or who we are, what color we
are, all believers are one in the body of Christ. In verse
16, it says, and that he might reconcile both unto God in one
body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. He could be talking about his
body here where he hung on the cross. And where he died for
those at whom the father had placed in him before the foundation
of the world, where he could be talking about the church,
and he is the head of the church. He says here in verse 17, and
come and preach peace to you, which were afar off. speaking
of the Gentiles, and then to them that are nigh, speaking
of the Jews. And he done this through the
apostles. In verse 18, this is one verse right here that really
blesses my heart. When you really think about it
and then you try to enter into it, to be able to look at the
heavenly father, the almighty sovereign God, and to say, my
father. It says here in verse 18, for
through him we both have access by one spirit unto the father. If we'll turn to Hebrews four. We have perfect peace in Christ
because we can go to our father at any time through the God man,
for he is our great high priest, Jesus Christ our Lord. The fourth
chapter of the book of Hebrews, I've heard people say, well,
I've made my peace with God. Man can't do that, but Christ
Jesus, our Lord, he did it. And we go through him. It says
here, seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed
into the heavens, beginning in verse 14 here, Jesus Christ,
the son of God, Let us hold fast our profession, for we have not
a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of
our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are,
yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. It's a blessing to know that
we have a great high priest that we can go to God to and that
he knows what we go through. He knows the infirmities that
we have. He knows the hardships, the sufferings. He's done it
all because he was 100% man, 100% God. You know, as soon as a sinner
trusts Christ, his warfare is over, and God's word says that
we are made nigh by the blood of Jesus Christ, and I thank
him for that. I love what he says in Matthew.
He says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek
and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. What
person doesn't want peace and rest for their souls? There's
none in this world. It's all in Christ. It's all
in Christ. We'll read verse 13 again. Go
back to your text. It says, but now in Christ Jesus,
who were sometime before all are made now by the blood of
Christ, for he is our peace, who hath made both one and hath
broken down the middle wall of petition between us. having abolished in his flesh
the enmity, even the law of commandments attained in ordinances, for to
make in himself a twain one new man. It is such a privilege,
it's such an honor to be one of God's elect. It's nothing
that we have done. It's nothing that we will do. But we'll go ahead and go to
our text. This is not our text. Our text
actually is in Isaiah 26. Verses 3 and 4. You know, it says in verse 3, Isaiah 26. We're talking about the peace
of God here. Perfect peace in Christ. The Bible says, I will
keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because
he trusts in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever,
for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. You know, we live in
this flesh and we have to deal with it. And we live in a very
hostile world. And we need Christ each and every
step in our walk through this life. God's word says in the
book of Proverbs, he says, boast not thyself of tomorrow, for
thou knoweth not what a day may bring forth. And we don't, none
of us does, we think that five minutes from now we're gonna
be sitting here. You know, it's been a long time ago, 27 years
ago, but I was raised on a farm, my dad got out and went out,
Done his chores and come in and sit down to eat breakfast and
he went to beautiful Lord. He was gone And then about three
years later, my mom, she always laid down and went and took a
nap at 1 o'clock. She'd done that ever since we
were in school. She was getting some age on her. And my sister
spent the night with her. She said, Louie, I'm going to
go lay down and take my nap. She went and laid down, took
her nap. She usually slept about an hour. And Louie had been about
an hour and a half, so she thought, well, mom ain't got up yet. I
better go check on her. She left this world. That's how
fragile we are. We're just one breath, one heartbeat,
regardless of how old we are, or how young we are, or what
kind of health we're in. We're just one breath away from
facing our Lord. Whenever we talk about the trouble
in this life, God's word says that in the book of Job, the
man that is born of a woman, that his days are few and full
of trouble. We'll look at our text again.
It says, thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is
stayed on thee. How does God keep us in perfect
peace? He says, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusts
in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever,
for the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Thou will keep him
in perfect peace. This peace is a matter of faith.
If I do not enjoy this peace, And if I'm griping and complaining,
it's not the father's fault. It's not our Lord's fault. But
it's our fault because of unbelief. The Christian life is somewhat
of a paradox. I believe you, Lord, but help
my unbelief. I love you, Lord, but I want to love you more.
But God's word teaches three essential truths about our Lord. You know, in this world, there
are so many different, in the world of religion, there's so
many different Jesuses out there, but what does God's word say
about him? There's three essential truths about our Lord. And in
order for our faith to be strong in our walk through this life,
we must keep our eyes upon Christ. Who does, what does the Bible
say about Christ? He's almighty God in the flesh.
And our Lord, our Lord, Jesus Christ, is completely sovereign. He's sovereign in creation, he's
sovereign in salvation, he's sovereign in providence. That
means he's in absolute control of all things. He's sovereign
in creation, you know, There's many, many verses in here that
talks about him being sovereign in creation, but one of my favorite
is in Galatians, verse 16 and 17. It's speaking of our Lord. It says, for by him were all
things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible
and invisible. Wherever there be thrones or
dominions or principalities or powers, All things were created
by him and for him, and he is before all things, and it is
by him that all things consist. And then he is absolute sovereign
in salvation. It's not grace plus works. It's
grace alone in Christ Jesus our Lord. One of my favorite verses
is Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, where it says, for by grace are you
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's a gift
of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Of any sovereign
in providence, and this is something that I get upset a lot with myself. I forget it a lot whenever I
get out in this world. But he is absolutely sovereign
in providence. Nothing happens without his will. It says, and one of my favorite
verses that shows this, and there's plenty of them in the scriptures,
but it says here in the book of Daniel, and it says, and all
the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he
doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand, or
say, what doeth thou? That is the God of peace. and
being our Lord is infinite in wisdom. If you will, hold your
place here and turn to Romans 11. Verses 33, Romans 11. Verse 33, it says, oh, the death
of the rich is both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God, how
unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord, or who hath been his counselor? Or who hath first
given to him, and it shall be re-connaissance to him again?
For of him, and through him, and to him are all things. to
whom be glory forever. And when the Lord is sovereign,
he is perfect in love. His love is perfect. And one
of my favorite verses is in the Ezekiel, where he speaks of his
love to his people. He says, now when I passed by
thee and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was a time of love.
and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thou nakedness, yea,
I swore unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith
the Lord God, and thou becomest mine. To have his peace, we must
keep looking unto our Lord, the offer and the finish for our
faith. What is perfect peace? It is the peace of Christ. In
John 14, 27, God's word says, peace I leave
with you. My peace I give unto you, not
as a world giver give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. We'll go back to the text here.
Isaiah, verse three. Isaiah 26, verse three. Isaiah 41 10 says, fear thou
not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thou
God. I will strengthen thee, yea,
I will help thee. I will uphold thee with the right
hand of my righteousness. It says here in this verse, in
our text, it says, whose mind is stayed on thee. What does
that mean? That means that we keep our mind
on Christ, pray without ceasing to rejoice evermore. And everything
gets thanks. It's a sign of respect and love
to be able to go to our closet and shut the door and get on
our knees out of reverence to our Lord. and to pour our hearts
out to Him. We can pray to our Lord. We can
be driving down the road and we can pray to our Lord. We can
be out mowing the yard. We can be a hole in the garden
or doing whatever, you know. Wherever we're at, He can be
on our mind. We talk to Him just like we're
talking to each other because He's right there with us. I love
what Joshua said over in chapter 1. He said, He's right here with
us. I like what he says here in Philippians
4, 6. He says, be careful. That word careful means anxious.
And I'm so guilty of this. May God have mercy on me. But
he says, be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer
and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known
unto the Lord. We must always remember that
God is our refuge and strength, and that he's always near, and
that he is always ready. He's always ready to help his
children. He's always ready. And may God
help us to keep our minds on him and not on things of this
world. You know, because I'm in his flesh, I am so easily
distracted. He don't call me a sheep for
nothing, you know. I need a shepherd. I'm like David. The Lord is my
shepherd, and I thank God for that. But we get distracted by
things of this world, but the more that we look to Christ,
the stronger our faith will be, and the stronger our trust will
be in Him, and the more that we'll be at peace with our Lord,
and the more that we'll be able to handle the circumstances that
comes into our lives, that are hard to deal with. And we need
not let this world or this flesh distract us. You know, I won't
give an illustration here, but to keep our eyes on the Lord
and not on things of this world. I was raised on a farm. And it's
been a while. It was a long time ago. We worked
with mules. And Dad would, whenever we'd
get ready to plow for tobacco or the corn or the garden or
whatever, he'd put the harness on the mule, you know. And he'd
put that head harness on. And on that head harness, there
was cups that come out from that mule's eyes. It was made out
of leather. And he went out about two inches from his eyes and
went like that right there. So that mule, he couldn't see
anything over here. He couldn't see anything over
here. All he was crying just to go to the straight to the
end of that row. That's the only thing. I guess you could say
he had tunnel vision. I don't know. But anyway, us
boys, we'd be hauling. And some of you may not know
what that is, but that's where we would chop the weeds and stuff
out between the plants where the plow couldn't get to. A mule
sometimes would be very easily spooked, you know. And we didn't
want him jumping on the tobacco or the taters or the corn or
whatever, you know. And then binders kept his mind
on the end of the road. And that's what we need to do.
We need to keep our mind on Christ. And when we find ourselves wondering,
we need to ask God to give us a strength. And he will. And give us a peace to overcome
the infirmities and the problems that we face in this world. And we will face, I mean, that's
all part of God's plan. It still draws us away from this
world. You know, the Bible says life's like a vapor. It appears
for a little while and it's gone. But the things that are not seen
are eternal, you know. And in our text here, you know,
at the top of my Bible right here, it says a song inciting
to confidence in God. You know, our Lord will keep
his people in perfect peace, inward peace, and also outward
peace. Peace with God, and that peace comes from our Lord. The
peace of conscience is peace at all times, under all events.
Whose mind is stayed on thee. Why? Because he trusteth in thee.
Psalms 112, seven says, he shall not be afraid of evil tidings.
His heart is fixed, trusting the Lord. And that's where our
heart needs to be fixed. It needs to be fixed on Christ,
regardless of what our situation is. You know, in our text here
it says, I will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on
thee, because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever. That's a long time, isn't it?
Forever trust in the Lord Jehovah, for he is our everlasting strength. We have perfect peace and trust
in Christ. Whenever we trust in the world,
like I said, it will be but for a moment, because it's confined
to this time. But you know, in eternity, there
are no such things as time. We must trust God, because He'll
last forever. For in the Lord Jehovah and Him,
who was and is and is to come, there is a rock of ages, a firm
and lasting foundation for faith and hope to build upon. Those
that trust in God shall not only find in him, but receive from
him everlasting strength. And that strength comes from
our Lord through faith. And I thank God for that. I thank the Lord for that. You
know, the Lord is our perfect gift. It says, for by grace are
you saved through faith, and by it in all yourselves. It is
a gift from God. He was the perfect gift. He was
our gift. God gave him to us. I thank him
for it. Our hearts are fixed on Christ. We lean on him. We
have to lean on him hard in this life sometimes. And the older
you get, the harder you're going to lean on him. But we need to
lean on him. We need to trust in him. We need
to set our affections on him. I do, more than what I do. And
I have to repent. Oh, I have to repent so many
times every day. Oh, God, forgive me. Forgive
me for this, forgive me for that. And you know what? He will, because
I'm one of his. I believe that from my heart.
And the reason that I believe that is because that's what his
words say, is Christ Jesus come into the world to save sinners.
So what do I see when I look in the mirror? I don't like to
do that. because I don't like what I see. I'm not talking about
my outside, I'm talking about on the inside. I don't like what
I see on the outside either, but I don't like what I see on
the inside. But we need to trust in him,
set our affections on him. And we should have no faith in
his flesh at all. You know, Christ is our all and
he's in all. The Lord Jesus Christ is our everlasting strength.
And he is that rock that will never move. And he's our hiding
place from the storms of this life. And there will be storms,
there always will be. And His arms is always around
us. His arms is always holding us. And in Christ, we have it
all. You know, if you have Christ, you have everything. If you don't
have Christ, you don't have nothing. I'd like to read one more piece
of scripture and then I'll finish. It blesses my heart to read this.
It's John 10. We're all very familiar with
it. But the Lord Jesus Christ said to His sheep, He said, I
am come that they might have life. and that they might have
it more abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd, and the
Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. I am the Good
Shepherd, and I know my sheep, and them knowing of mine. As
the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay
down my life for the sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father gave them to me. My
Father that gave them to me is greater than all, and no man
is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. You know, when
we get down out, we get discouraged, and I know we all do. I know
I'm not the only one that ever does that. And we go through
trials and tribulations. What we need to do is, what I
need to do more of is to rejoice and the gifts of God of what
he has given us, what he's done for us, what he's doing for us
every day, and what he's going to do for us. I pray that that
was a blessing, and may God get all the glory for it. Eddie?