Turn back to Hebrews 13. The title of the message is The God of
Peace. The God of Peace. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the
earth. And after that, he made a garden,
the Garden of Eden. And he created man, Adam, from
this earth, from dust. And he put him in the garden,
told him to dress and keep it. And he made him a wife, Eve,
and brought her to Adam. And there was peace between God
and Adam and Eve. And there was fellowship between
them. There was really a Garden of
Eden on this earth. And at one time, as hard as it
is to imagine, this earth was perfect. At one time it was perfect. God would visit Adam in the cool
of the day and they would fellowship with him. You remember when after Adam
fell, he heard the voice of God walking in the garden in the
cool of the day. That's how God would visit him.
It was so peaceful and fellowship. But it didn't last long. It didn't
last long. Adam rebelled against God and
peace and fellowship was broken, broken. And now the natural mind
is enmity against God, at war with God. There is a natural
hatred of God And every person born into this world, we know
that, don't we? We know it by experience. We
know it. Adam changed. God didn't. God didn't change. God has never
known any change whatsoever. He never moved to the left or
the right. He never cast a shadow. But Adam did. Adam changed. God is still God in all His holy
character. He hasn't changed one bit. But
man is now lost in sin and rebellion. This world is a place of nothing
but turmoil, trouble. Man that's born of a woman is
a few days and full of trouble. Seems like you know more than
put one out, another one crops up. Trouble, trouble, trouble. But here in Hebrews 13, the apostle is ending his epistle
on a good note, on a good note. He ends it in good news. He says, the God of peace. The God of peace, you know, earlier
he's looking verse 18, he said, pray for us. Pray for us. He's asking, asking the Hebrews
to pray for them. But we trust we have a good conscience
and all things willing to live honestly. But I beseech you the
rather to do this, to pray for us. that I may be restored to
you the sooner. And now he turns and he does for them what he
asked them to do for them. He prays for them. And when Paul,
if you'll go and read in the epistles like Thessalonians and
Colossians and Ephesians, read the prayers of Paul for the church. They are so rich. Over in Ephesians,
he prays that we will be given an understanding. I mean, he
prays for the things that are spiritual, the things that really
count, the things that you and I really need. That's what he
prays for. The thing that concerns our salvation,
our relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ, His glory, that's
what he prays for. And here he turns, now he's praying.
and he's praying to the God of peace. Peace. I like the sound
of that, don't you? I like the sound. There's nothing
like peace. Peace in the family, peace in
the community, peace. That just sounds so good. The
Scripture says, God is not the God of confusion, but of peace,
as in all churches of the saints, over in 1 Corinthians 14.33.
He's not the God of confusion. He's the God of peace. One of the reasons I believe
and many believe that Paul wrote Hebrews is because the way he
ends this. I'll read some scriptures to
you here in just a little bit. I think Paul's about the only
one who speaks of God as the God of peace in his epistles. Now, first of all, God, being
the God of peace, is the author of peace. He's the fountain of
peace. Peace starts with God. It starts
with God. God is the offended party. We
offended Him. We broke His law. We became guilty. We became guilty
under the justice of God. And our God, Being a God of peace
is going to see to it that we are reconciled to Him in peace. He's going to see to it. He's
a God of peace. It starts with Him. I know this,
I know that He has every right to cast every one of us into
hell. Do you really believe that? I
know we say that. We say a lot of things that kind
of, you know, we hear them, then we repeat them, God has every
right to cast every one of us in hell. We are children of wrath
by nature, even as others. That means I have the same nature
of those, I was born with the same nature of those whom God
will cast into hell. He could if he would. But our God is a God of peace
and he's going to see to it. He's going to see to it that
his children, that his children are reconciled to him and that
they are at peace with him and he's at peace with them. Now
listen here. Paul's writing in Romans 15 33
now the God of peace be with you all. In Romans 16, 20, "...and the
God of peace shall brew Satan under your feet shortly." The God of peace is the one who's
going to brew Satan under your feet. Now, He's not the God of peace
to everyone. Not to everyone. But He's the God of peace to
everyone that He chose in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the
God of peace to them. You know, in the Old Testament,
He's called a God of war. And we read back here in Hebrews
12, 29, for our God is a consuming fire. He's a consuming fire. He's not someone you want to
deal with apart from a mediator, apart from Jesus Christ. You
don't want to deal with God. But in Christ, God is at peace. He's at peace with us and he's
the God of peace. He's the fountain of it. It says
in first Thessalonians 5 22 to 23 abstain from all appearance
of evil and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. The very
God of peace sanctify you wholly. It is God who purpose peace,
between Himself and a multitude of sinners chosen by Him. He
purposed the peace. God is the one who purposed reconciliation. If it were not for God being
the God of peace and the God of reconciliation, you and I
would never have anything to do with God. Really, we wouldn't
have anything to do with Him. Listen to these scriptures in
2 Corinthians 5.18. And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to himself. Now, why did he do that? The reason? He's a God of peace. He's a God of peace. And he's
not going to be at war with his children. He's going to reconcile every
one of His children to Himself by Jesus Christ. And He's given
to us the ministry of reconciliation. In 2 Corinthians 5.20 it says,
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did
beseech you by us, God's speaking to you by us. We pray you. In Christ's stead, now you be
reconciled to God. See, God has reconciled us to
himself by Jesus Christ. And in Jesus Christ, you and
I be reconciled to God. God is at peace. He is satisfied. He is at peace with us in Christ. And he's saying here, now you
be at peace with God. I believe Scott Richardson said,
lay down your shotgun, lay down your shotgun, and you be at peace
with God. And over at Colossians 1.21,
and you that were sometime alienated and enemies, enemies, enemies
of God, enemies in your mind, by wicked works, yet now hath
he reconciled." He's reconciled you. Oh, he says here, now, the God
of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus. Now
we see how this peace was affected. It was by the death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ. God did not just speak peace. God could not just be at peace
with a bunch of rebels. Justice had to be satisfied.
Our Lord said, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass
from me. Did it? Not in saving you and me. Not
in saving his elect. He had to drink damnation dry. He had to endure the hell of
God's wrath. I deserved. The chastisement,
it says in Isaiah 53, the chastisement of our peace was upon him. It was upon him. And now God is satisfied. He's at peace with all His children
in Christ. The God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus. Jesus Christ really died. A man named Jesus Christ, who
is the God-man, really died under the wrath of God. He didn't have
a heart attack. He didn't die of old age. He died under the wrath of God. He was, and I thought about this
today, he was executed in my place. There was a man, the God man, the Lord Jesus Christ
was executed. Everyone in here knows what execution
is. You know when somebody is executed, they're put to death.
You know, we've had that done in this country, capital punishment. They strap them down. He was executed. A man, I thought
about this today. I'm standing here alive right
now, and I'm standing here in hope of standing before God accepted
because there was a man executed in my place. He was put to death. Put to death. Now, just because
that was 2,000 years ago, don't think of it as being that far
removed. Because they're standing in the throne of God, in the
midst of the throne of God right now, a lamb as it had been slain. That's what John saw when he
was taken to the third heaven. He saw Jesus Christ in His sacrificial
character. If people really knew, who profess
to be Christians, if they really understood what the cross says
about me, what the cross says about all
those for whom Christ died, they probably would say, well, I'm
not that bad. I'm not that bad. When you look
at that mutilated flesh, that man whose visage, it says, was
marred more than anyone, he was beyond recognition. He was forsaken
of God. That's how vile and wretched
I am. Anytime you start to get a little
self-righteousness rising up in you, go to Calvary. Sit down
and look at him. That's what God thinks about
me in this natural flesh. Me and you, if you're one of
his. He was executed in my place and he was really, truly raised
up from the dead. We need to live in the reality
of Jesus Christ daily, to be conscious of Him daily. I was preaching somewhere,
it's been a few years ago, I preached to a group of people, and I was
talking about living in the reality of Christ, living conscious of
Him, and He's seated at God's right hand, and this gentleman
came up to me, actually it was your brother, Gene, that was
your brother's day. It was in Charlotte, I was preaching
there. And he said, you know, I never really thought about
that. He said, you hear the gospel
and you hear about Christ, but after a while you don't sometimes
realize the reality of it, the reality of him right now, his
presence. And sometimes we do, we kind of just let that go. It says, listen, that it brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus. For God to be God, He must remain
just. He's got to be a just God. You see, in the courts of heaven,
it's not like the courts on this earth where they get in the back
room and do bargains and deals and all kinds of junk goes on. Not in God's courts. It is absolutely
strict justice. Absolutely. We cannot have peace with God
at the expense of God's justice. If we could, there wouldn't be
any justice. And if there's no justice, God
cannot be trusted. He could not be trusted. He's
a just God. He can be trusted. He's holy. He can be trusted. The Scripture says, The soul
that sinneth must surely die. God said that. And now that has
to happen. It has to happen. And it did
happen when Jesus Christ was put to death in the flesh. We
need to live in the reality of this. We have already died in
Christ. Now my body has yet to die if
the Lord doesn't come back. But I have already died. Death has no power over any believer. It has no power over us. We have
already been raised. Do you know that? We have already
been raised from the dead in the Lord Jesus Christ. Someone
may say, Well, I know we'll be raised in the resurrection. Isn't
that what Martha said? You know what he said? You're
looking at the resurrection. Quit looking for the event, because
if you do, you're going to miss the resurrection, because the
resurrection is a person. It's Jesus Christ. I have died in Christ and I have
been raised in Christ. And we need to live in the reality
of that. And now God is reconciled to
all those sinners for whom Christ died. And God can be a just God and
a savior and be at peace with me and you if you're in Christ. Why is a resurrection so important?
Because he speaks here of him being dead and being raised from
the dead. because it's proof that God is satisfied with the
person and work of Jesus Christ. And if God is satisfied with
the person and work of Jesus Christ, He's satisfied with everyone
in Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
the channel through which the peace of God comes to us. He's the channel. through which
the peace of God comes to us. He's the channel through which
we experience peace with God. Look over in John 14. He's the
channel. In John 14 verse 27, look what
the Lord says here. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace
I give to you. He's the channel. Not as the
world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. I give you my peace. He's the
Prince of Peace. Peace flows through Him. It flows
through Him. And in Christ we have peace with
God. So it says over in Romans 5.1
that we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. I believe it's Romans 5.1. I
didn't write it down, but I believe it is. Look over at Philippians
chapter four. And then we're going to have
to go to Romans 5.1 because that'll bug me all night. We go, listen, we go from the
God of peace to the peace of God. And the peace of God, which
passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds, how? Through Jesus Christ. It's never
apart, peace, listen, peace is never had, is never experienced,
ever, ever, ever apart from Jesus Christ. It's always through Him. Always, always, always. Grace
and peace, Paul says, be multiplied unto you. How? Through our Lord
Jesus Christ. It says in Ephesians 2.14, For
He, that is Christ, is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath
broken down the middle wall of partition between us. But He
is our peace. Jesus Christ is our peace with
God. And I tell you what, Jesus Christ is our peace with one
another. If we have real peace, He's our peace. Now let's go
over to Romans 5 and see if I quoted that right. Yes. 5.1, Therefore, being justified
by faith, we have peace with God. How? Again, through our Lord Jesus
Christ. Never apart, never apart. And
he says here, our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is called our,
and that's the reason why, because He is our Lord. He is our Sovereign. He hath made that same Jesus
over in the book of Acts, I believe it's Peter, I'm not going to
try to find this one, I believe it was Peter who said, "...he
hath made that same Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and
Christ." He's our Lord. I'm not living an independent
life. I know many like to think they
do. We do not live an independent
life. We have a Lord. We have a Sovereign
that we answer to. And we don't vote on Him every
four years. He was established before the world began. And He's
our Lord. And we need to live in a conscious
awareness of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The first question is not who's
your Savior, it's who's your Lord. If we do not bow to Him,
we are not saved by Him. He's our Lord. He is our Lord. He is our Savior, Jesus. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. He's our Lord
and He's our Savior. There is no other. And listen
here, let me go back to Hebrews, Hebrews 13. Let's get back there. Now the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep. That great shepherd. Over in
Psalm 23, David says, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He's the one
who leads us into green pastures. The green pastures are his word.
He's the one who guides and leads and feeds us in his word. In
the scriptures, he's also called the chief shepherd. There's none
above him. I am an under shepherd. I do not own the sheep. You are
not mine. You belong to the chief shepherd. There's none above him. And he's
the good shepherd. He's called the good shepherd
that laid down his life for the sheep. The good shepherd. No sin in him. If there was sin in him, he couldn't
be good. And you know, that young man
came to the Lord and he called him good master. And he said,
why are you calling me good for? There's none good but God. If
I'm good, I'm God. If he's a good shepherd, it means
God is the shepherd. So there's none good but God. And he's the great shepherd here,
the great shepherd who leads his sheep out of the grave to
glory. He leads his sheep. I was just
thinking of that song. We sing a song while we've probably
been a while. Savior like a shepherd. Believe
me, we sing it here. Savior, like a shepherd, lead
me." And here's how he has done so, this shepherd. Through the
blood of the everlasting covenant, the God of peace is a covenant
God. That's what he's saying here.
He's a covenant God. He's covering all the bases here.
What a prayer! And he's covering all the bases
in this one little verse. I tell you, It's a goldmine. There's a goldmine here. We cannot
exhaust this one verse. God is a covenant God. The God
of peace is a covenant God. Everything God does in mercy,
in grace, with you and with me, in the way of salvation, He does
so by way of a covenant. And God never breaks His covenant. When God makes a covenant, He
does not break it. And this covenant of grace was
made between the Trinity, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The Father purposed the covenant, the Son agreed to be the surety
and guarantor of the covenant, and the Holy Spirit reveals and
applies all the blessings of the covenant. All of them are
involved in it. The Father, Son, and the Holy
Spirit are involved in this covenant. But this covenant has been ratified,
it has been sealed by the blood of the Great Shepherd. It's been ratified and sealed
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The testator. The testator. That's why it is
called an everlasting covenant because it cannot be broken.
You and I cannot break it. It wasn't made between me and
God. It was made between God and Christ.
and the Holy Spirit. They're all three involved in
it. And here's the blessed part, it does involve us. We are the
inheritors of it. We get it by inheritance. That's
how we get it, by inheritance. Now it says here, now the God
of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that
great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will,
working in you, which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Here's what he's praying for
them, and we can be included in his prayer. Make you mature. Make you mature. Make you what
you ought to be as God's dear children. That He may equip you by His
grace, by His Spirit, for every good work. Before salvation, we couldn't
do anything good. We couldn't. We couldn't do anything
good. But now in Jesus Christ, through
Him working in us, we can do good works. Through Him, His
work in us. Doing His will. We want to do that, don't we?
Lord, what's Your will? What's Your will for us here
in Bethel Baptist? enable us to know and do Your
will. I assure you this, if we really
mean that, He'll make it known. He'll make it known. But the way God accomplishes
this thing of equipping us, this matter of equipping us and enabling
us to do good works is this, working in them that which is
well pleasing in His sight, here again, through Jesus Christ. Not apart from Him. It is God, I believe it's over
in Philippians, it is God who works in you both to will and
to do of His good pleasure. It's God working in you. Any good work done by us is from
God working in us through Jesus Christ. That's what it is. I'm
going to give you a couple of quotes here, and then I'm going
to close. This is from Matthew Henry. There is no good thing
wrought in us, but it is the work of God. He works in us before
we are fit for any good work. He's doing the work. And then
he said, No good thing is wrought in us by God, but through Jesus
Christ. For his sake and by his Spirit,
and therefore eternal glory is due him, who is the cause of
all the good principles brought into us and all the good works
done by us. To this everyone should say,
Amen." And that's a good way to end it. That's a good way
to end it. Now, the God of peace that brought
again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of
the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working
in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ.
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Yes, so be it. So be it. And I beseech you, brethren,
suffer the word of exhortation. Give attention to it. Pay attention
to those whom God has put over you and to instruct and teach
you. He said, give attention to them. If God has put them
over you, what he's saying, then God is speaking through them
and you better listen to them. All right.