Our text is Matthew 5, Beatitudes,
and we come to this blessing, verse 9. Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called children of God. Blessed are the peacemakers. Now, my desire and my prayer
for this message is to give peace, that this Word will give you
peace. And my desire is that this Word will make us peaceable,
peacemaker. Now, the only way that peace
is given is not by a lesson in morality or how to be a peacemaker,
is it? That's not the way. and make
us peacemakers. But to see Christ, to observe
Him, the peacemaker. We've seen this from the beginning. Brother Chapman, I don't know
if you heard his message at Lexington on the preeminence
of Christ. I never heard a better message
on that. Colossians 1 says Christ must have the preeminence. In
Him, all the fullness of God. He is this blessed man, isn't
He? All these blessings are because
of Christ. He's the blessed man. And as
I keep mentioning, Brother Edmondson's message from Psalm 72 said, Men
shall be blessed in Him, and all nations shall call Him blessed.
Blessed be the Lord God who only doeth wondrous things. So it
would be wrong to merely preach a message on how we must be peacemakers
and not speak of the peacemaker who broke down this enmity in
us that causes us to be peacemakers. No doubt the Lord is talking
about His people here all the way through His But Christ must
have the preeminent. It was a preacher I like and
there's so many I like. But, you know, Newton said every
generation should have a little more light than the previous
one. And this preacher I like from
years ago, it was I read his sermon on this and he got I went
all the way through it, and just at the last part, he began to
talk about Christ making peace. And I thought, you've got it
backward. You need to start with Him, don't
you? If He has the preeminent. Okay? These aren't natural. These things
don't come naturally. Mercy and hunger and thirst for
righteousness and pure in heart. No, no, no, no. This is supernatural. It's a gift of God. It's peace. We don't make ourselves. We don't
make peace with God. We don't make ourselves peaceable.
You can't make yourself make peace. Can you? Try as you may. You've got this
war raging in you. And who must? Who must still break down this
enmity in us? The peacemaker. The Lord Jesus
Christ. We're blessed. This is what I
said I want to give you peace. There's only peace given by looking
to Christ. I want to make you peaceable. The only way you're
going to be like Christ is to look to Christ. 2 Corinthians
3 said we're all beholding the Lord as in a glass or changed
into the same image. As you see Him, you want to be
like Him. Alright? So He's the blessed
peacemaker. We are blessed with peace with
God. Why? Because Christ made peace
with God. Christ made peace. Oh, the blessed
peacemaker. Christ who made peace by the
blood of His cross. We have peace within. He said
in John 14, He said, Peace I leave with you. Peace with God. And my peace I give unto you. He said, let not your heart be
troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. Who are you? He's Jehovah Shalom, the Lord
our peace. There's peace of conscience by
the blood of your cross. There's peace of heart, peace
of mind, peace with others. Peace with others. In Ephesians
and Colossians both, it talks about breaking down the enmity. Jews and Gentiles have always
hated each other. Going on right now is wars between
Jew and Gentile. They hate each other. And man is at war with God and
man is at war with one another. Man is enmity against God and
man is hateful and violent and enmity against man. That's man's
nature. Who can break down that enmity?
Who can bring a Jew and a Gentile together? Who can bring a hater
of God to God to love God? Who can reconcile us to God? Reconcile means to make peaceable. God was never man's enemy. He
never has been man's enemy. He still is man's enemy. Let's
not give that impression. God is not against man. But man's against God. And man
keeps fighting God. He's fighting a losing battle. And God in great mercy and grace
tells all mankind of the way of peace. God's not begging people. Not telling people, please, no,
no, no, no. He's just saying, here's peace
now. You can bow to my Son. You kiss the Son. This is Psalm
2. It says, Oh, everybody's against
Him. He says, You kiss the Son, lest he be what? Angry. Thank God's mercy for that. And Christ, He sent Christ to
make peace. Peace on earth. Wasn't that the
first thing the angels said when Christ was born? Peace on earth.
Goodwill towards men. Why? Because God is peacemaker. Because Christ is that peace
that he sent. Peace within, peace with others. He's called in Isaiah 9, verse
6, the Prince of Peace. The Prince of Peace. He's the
son of David. Made of the seed of David. According
to the flesh. He's the Prince of Peace, the
Ruler of Peace. Do you know that in Solomon's
day, and David and Solomon are such a picture of God the Father
and God the Son. Solomon was David's son, wasn't
he? Born of a sinful woman. And all those women, and Bathsheba
was in Christ's lineage, wasn't he? He's numbered with the transgressors. Well, he came to make peace.
Well, in the years of Solomon, forty years he reigned. Forty
years. There were no wars. David, the
whole time he reigned, he was fighting battles with them. Why?
He was making peace. David's blood was shed. So, this is the Prince of Peace,
the ruler of peace. Look at Isaiah 32 with me. You'll
love this. This is where James got what
he wrote there in James 3. Isaiah 32. Isaiah 32. This is wonderful. You have it? Isaiah 32, 1. Behold,
a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be as a hiding
place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, as rivers of
water in a dry place, as a shadow of a great rock in a weary land. You remember reading that? You
sing it all the time. Look at verse 17. And the work
of righteousness. Whose righteousness? His righteousness,
this king of righteousness, shall be peace. Isn't that wonderful? And the effect of righteousness,
quietness. She just played Sally Ann, she
just played It Is Well With My Soul. Quietness and assurance. You
can have complete assurance if Christ is your surety. If Christ
is your peace. You will have no pain. God said
there is no peace for the wicked. None. Those who rebel, those
who do not believe His Son, no peace ever. But perfect peace. Thou will keep him or her in
perfect peace. Whose mind, heart is stayed on
who? on thee, Jehovah. Read on. Isaiah 32. And my people, verse
18, shall dwell in a peaceable habitation. Our Lord has ordained peace in
his kingdom. We have a peaceable little habitation
here, don't we? Aren't you glad? And in sure
dwellings And in quiet, resting places, because when the hail
comes down, and it's coming, we'll have peace. So he's called
the Prince of Peace, the King, the Lord our Righteousness, Jehovah
Sidkenu. In a world of tribulation, the
Lord said, in this world you shall have tribulation, but be
of good cheer. Why? I've overcome the world. He's ordained peace. He set us
a table in the midst of our enemy, where we can come and sit, a
quiet habitation, where we can come and have peace. Isn't that
wonderful? If I don't even get to us, this
would be all right, wouldn't it? Oh, he's this blessed peacemaker,
isn't he? And you know, only when you see
what he's done for us rebels and us, you know, That's what will make you a peacemaker. And it says in Ephesians 2 that
He is our peace. It says He came and preached
peace. He's a preacher of peace. He's Noah, the preacher of righteousness.
Our rest. And He's the preacher of peace.
He came to preach what? Peace. For God's people. Look at Luke 21. You and I have looked at this
many times, where we need to look at it so much more as we
see this day approaching. This is a short version of Matthew
24. Luke 21 talks about the end,
the very last days. That's these days. Why am I dwelling
so much on the last days? Seriously? We ought to look at so much more
as we see the day approaching. He said, these days are not going
to come on you unawares. They're going to come on the whole world
unawares. But you're not in darkness even as others. And when you
see these things, well, let's read. Luke 21, it says up in
verse 9, when you shall hear of wars and commotion, be not
terrified. These things must first come
to pass. End is not by and by. He's talking
to his disciples 2,000 years ago. You understand that? This is 2,000 years later. The
end is by and by. You know, that's where that song
came from. It's not in the scriptures very much, but it is there. In the sweet by and by. We shall meet on that beautiful
shore. No more war. Read on. It says, Nation, verse
10, shall rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. What's
happening right now? Be not terrified. Great earthquakes
in different places, pestilence, signs from heaven. Verse 12,
he talks about persecution. Verse 16, look at this, you'll
be betrayed by parents, brethren, kin, folk, and friends. Persecution,
that's our next blessing. It's a mark you're a child of
God. The kingdom is yours if you persecute it by family. That's a huge test. You shall be hated of all, for
my name's sake. Verse 18, but shall not a hair
of your head perish. Brother John said, our hairs
are numbered. Do you know every hair on your
children's head? Do you? Do you know every hair
on your children's head? You don't have a clue. God does. If the very hair of our head
is, may I say, important to Him, or He knows them, what about
the big things? Oh, in your patience, verse 19,
In your patience, in your peace, possess ye your souls. Peace. What did He say to them
when He appeared all three times after He arose from the grave?
What was the first thing He said to them? Peace. All three times. He appeared
three times after He arose from the grave. And every time He
said, peace. They were tore up. Do you ever
get tore up from the floor up? We stay tore up. What's wrong
with us? And that's what the Lord kept
telling His disciples. Where's your faith? The number one thing we have
to worry about is peace with God. Christ has made peace. Do you
trust Him? Do you believe Him? Within, we
need to have that. We need to have it. Christ is the blessed peacemaker.
He made peace with God. He made peace within. He makes
peace with all. He reconciles enemies. And here
we are. Here we are, meeting together
in peace. Peaceable habitation, quietness
and confidence. This is our strength and assurance. A little oasis, a little ark. And this parish in Wordom, a
wonderful place to be. Now, let's talk about being a
peacemaker, us. All right? Turn to James 3 again. Go back to James chapter 3. We're going to read from Romans
12, which John wisely read in the study. But back to James
3. It is talking about us. Our Lord
is talking about us, as He is, what does it say? So are we,
in this world. If you're not poor in spirit,
you're not a child of God. You're not going to be in the
Kingdom of Heaven. If you're not mourning over your
sin, you don't need Christ. The Spirit of God is not convicting
you of sin. If you are mourning over your sin, still mourning,
you will mourn until the day you die over your sin. And you
will hunger and thirst after the gospel of Christ's righteousness
until the day you die. If you quit hungering and thirsting,
you're dead. You're not a child of God. And
merciful and pure, but peacemaker. Peacemaker. Children of God.
As He is, so are we. And this comes with meekness.
This goes along with meekness. James 3. And John read it in Romans 12,
says not to think too highly of ourselves. James says this
throughout here. But in James 3, look at verse
13. Now, who's a wise man, endued or given, filled with
knowledge among you? Knowledge of what? God. Of yourself. of the truth of
Christ. Read on. Well, let him show out
of a good conversation or life his works with meekness of wisdom. Meekness. You remember meekness? And we looked at meekness. A
truly humble person, a truly brokenhearted sinner over their
own sin, mourning over their sin. He knows that whatever God
sends, whatever it is, if it's bad, they deserve much worse. However we're treated. Barney
used to say, anything this side of hell is mercy. The scripture
says, it's of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. Because
his compassions, they fail him. They're new every morning. We
need mercy every morning. So he's so merciful. And meekness
is self-hatred. It goes with self-denial. It's
whatever is done to me. David said, you're going to be
right when you judge me. If you send me to hell, you'll
be right in doing it. And anything good God does, you think, I don't
deserve that. That's meekness. Okay. That's meekness. All right. A truly meek person is a peacemaker. Peacemaker. Verse 14, if you have bitter
envy and strife in your heart, where does this envy come from?
Where does bitterness come from? Self. Self, it's always our trouble. The first thing our Lord said,
if you come after me, first thing he said, deny your sin. Our Lord denied himself to come
here to this earth. He who was equal with God came
down here, made himself of nowhere meek, made himself meek. We need
to be meek because that's, we need to be poor because that's
what we are. We need to be humble because
that's because we're nothing. And so if we realize that we're a
nobody and if we got what we deserve, God be a war witness. Everybody
else. Meekness. Meekness. So, read
on. Verse 15. This wisdom doesn't
come from love. That's not wisdom at all. It's
foolishness. To be bitter and envy and strife in your heart.
It's earthly. It's sensual. It's devilish.
It's Satan. What's the first thing Satan
tried to do to the first man and woman on earth? Tear them
apart. Strife and division. Confusion
among the angels. I thought these were the sons
of God. Why are they bickering? Why are they fighting? Why are
they blaming each other? They need to blame themselves. It's nobody's fault. Adam, it's
nobody's fault but yours. Eve, it's nobody's fault but
yours. Right? This is meekness. This
is meek. So when we have this understanding,
and other people fight against us and be a peacemaker. We understand them. I'm going
to read that in a moment. Well, go over here with me to,
well, no, no, keep reading. This wisdom, that bittering anger
and all so forth is not from God. It's from, from our flesh.
Where envy and strife is confusion. It's a reproach upon the gospel.
Verse 17, the wisdom that's from above is pure. What's from above? Who's from above? What is wisdom? Now Christ in you is pure. Did you see that? Peaceable. Peaceable. David said, I'm for
peace. I was going to read that with you in the Psalms. He said,
when I speak, they're for war. I'm for peace. Easy, gentle,
tender. You remember when Absalom was
against his father David, and David sent his men? You don't
remember what he said to do? Be tender with him. Be gentle
with him. Go easy on him. Didn't he? They didn't. They joabbed. Kill him. There's a blessed picture of
the gospel. If you want to hear that, tell me. I'll preach from
it. So David later came down hard
on Joab. He said, go easy on it. Go tender. Be tender with it. Gentle. Easy to be entreated. Approachable. Full of mercy. Good fruits. What fruit? Love. Joy. gentleness,
long suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith, full of fruit,
good fruits, without hypocrisy. And verse 18, here's what the
righteousness imparted in us, the righteousness of Christ imputed
does for us, and the righteousness of Christ imparted or in God's
people, it's sown in peace by them that make peace. You want peace? Be a peacemaker. And James started with a tongue,
didn't he? How do you turn away wrath? Start right here. A soft answer. The Proverbs talks
about where no futile is, a fire will go out. Somebody wants to
fight with you. If you don't fight back, the
fight will stop. You know that? There's no end
to retribution. There's no end to vengeance.
Didn't the Lord say vengeance is mine? Romans 12. Didn't He? We can't get vengeance. It won't stop. It never ends. All these wars and rumors of
war. Retribution. So, where was I going to go? Romans 12. Go to Romans 12 now. Romans chapter
12. John, I appreciate you thoughtfully
reading from that. But we're so blessed that we're poor
in spirit, we mourn over our sins, that God's given us some
measure of meekness and hunger and thirst after righteousness
and mercy and a single heart and pure Christ in us. But to be a peacemaker, that's
not my nature. That's not our nature. Now listen
to me, let me say this, you've got to understand that. To be
a peacemaker doesn't mean peace at all costs. To be a peacemaker like meekness
doesn't mean weak. To be a peacemaker doesn't mean
you don't fight for something. To be a peacemaker doesn't mean
you never stand up and fight for something. Abraham was a peaceful man. Remember,
there was strife between him and the lot. We're brothers. There ought not to be this between
us. He said, you take whatever you want. Didn't he? That's meekness, isn't it? That's
a peacemaker, isn't it? Well, you know what? When the
kings came down and took his nephew lot, what did Abraham
do? He fought a huge battle and slew
king after king after king. No, peace is not weakness. Our
Lord is a peacemaker. Our Lord is meek. Our Lord is
love. But he came down, and you know
what he said? He said, I came not, you think I came to bring
peace? And people are confused by this.
He said, I came to bring sword. The kingdom of heaven suffers
violence, and the violent takes it by force. Who's that? This
King of Glory. He's a peacemaker. You bow at
His feet, like Mephibosheth, if you're brought, if you're
fetched and humbled by your sin and bow at His feet, He's going
to say, mercy, kindness and all that. If you don't, like Mephibosheth's
son, kill them all. Isn't that right? That's Jesus Christ's Scripture.
See, people love the Sermon on the Mount because they misconstrued
all of it. It was to God's people. It was His disciples, not all
men. He said, You're the salt of the earth. You're the light
of the world. I'm talking to you, not the world. People that love the Sermon on
the Mount hate Romans 9. You understand that? Abraham was a peacemaker. Joshua. Joshua never killed any innocent
people. Joshua never fought a battle
unprovoked. You know that? No, sir. He's doing what God told him
to do, to go through the land. And if anybody receives you,
they're going to have mercy, they're going to have grace.
But if they come out against you, kill them all. I'm trying to build a case here. David, they came after his wife. What'd
he do? The man was cussing him. He said, leave me alone. They
came after his wife, after Abigail. They ruled the day they did that.
Didn't they? David with Saul. Remember Saul
wanted to kill him. Saul tried to kill him. Saul's
God's king. And this is a hard to understand. But Saul was the king that God
let Israel have and raised up. And David acknowledged him. And
David loved him. And David submitted to him. Let
every soul be subject to higher power. David did. And Saul tried
to kill David. What did David do? What have
I done to deserve this? And David had Saul in his hands
and could have killed him. And his servant, Joab, I think
it was, said, Kill him. He said, No, I'm not going to
do that to the Lord's anointed. He said, You've got to take care
of him. We're talking about my enemies.
You're my enemies. Okay. No, let's not read Romans 12.
Let's go back to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew 5. Let's go back there,
all right? And this applies so well. He said in verse, chapter 5,
Matthew 5, verse 38, It says, you've heard an eye
for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. I say unto you, resist not evil. This is Romans 12. Resist not
evil. Whosoever shall smite you on the cheek, turn to him the
other side. You. Okay? Any man sue you at
the law, you take away and take away thy coat. Let him have thy
cloak. Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him
two miles. Go the extra mile, you heard
that. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would
borrow of thee, turn not thou away. Verse 43, you've heard
thou should love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy. I say unto
you, love your enemy. Bless them that curse you. This
is meekness. Do good to them that hate you.
Pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. You
know what Christ did? That's exactly what Christ did.
But buddy, when they came to get him in the garden, everybody
said, you can have me, but you can't have him. And at one last show, boom. And they couldn't touch those
fellas. They should have taken them all too. And they ought
to take us. But he said, no. You take me. Let these go their way. And David
said this in Psalm 139. David, who was meek, and I gave
you illustrations of the way David was meek and how his enemy
was against him, and he turned the other cheek. But David said,
Do not I hate them that hate thee? Yes, I hate them with a
perfect hatred. I consider them my enemies. And David fought the Lord's battles.
We may look at this on Sunday. Fight the good fight. There's
a good fight to fight. A good fight of faith. Our Lord
fought it. The warfare was accomplished
by Him. What did He accomplish? Peace
with God for His people. But buddy, He's coming down hard
on God's enemies. So to us, as he said, look at
verse 44, love your enemy. Do good to them and hate you.
Pray for you that you may be children of your father in heaven.
I had a man talk to me. He was he was compromising the
gospel. You remember it meant that we
were in his home. He preached the doctrine for a while and
then he got tired of not having enough people in his congregation. So he began to hedge the message.
He began to tone it down. And the first thing he The first
thing they hedge on is the love of God and the blood of Christ. They begin to talk about there's
a sense in which God loves everybody. This is where it starts. And
there's a sense in which Christ died for everybody. And that's
what he was doing. And he brought this up to me
and I was astounded. This was a man that I had sweet
concourse with. for many years. And all of a
sudden, he brings this up. He said, well, we love all our
enemies. You see, it says here, be like God. I was shocked. I couldn't believe what was coming
out of his mouth. I said, brother, brother, it doesn't say God loves
all His enemies. It doesn't say that. Bless God, He does love some
of His enemies and many of His enemies. And you have to be quick. But not all. He tells us to do
that, but not Him. Be ye perfect. That's what it
says. It doesn't say love all men, because God loves all men.
It does not say that, does it? But be like Him. Peacemaker. Peacemaker. Let me close with
1 Peter 8. This is what I want to close
with. First Peter, First Peter, not eight, there's not eight
chapters in First Peter. First Peter, let's see if I can
find it. First Peter chapter, chapter, oh. Oh, here it is, chapter 4, 1
Peter chapter 4. Look at that. 1 Peter chapter
4. It says, Beloved, verse 12, Beloved,
think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try
you, though some strange thing happen to you. Rejoice in as
much your partakers of Christ's suffering. When the glory shall
be revealed, you may be glad with exceeding joy. If you be
reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you. Spirit of glory
and God rest upon you. Verse 15, let none of you suffer
as a murderer, a thief, or evildoer. Verse 16, if you suffer as a
Christian, let him not be ashamed, but glorify God. And he goes
on and he ends in the last verse He says, greet one another with
a kiss of charity. Peace be with you. Peace be with
you and all that are in Christ Jesus. Oh, blessed are the peacemakers. All right, stand with me.