pain. Struggle hard, relief to
gain. Struggle hard, relief to gain. Labor hard you may and long,
but you'll find your own Only through our Savior's blood, Only
through our Savior's blood, Jesus, mighty Prince of Peace, Now proclaim
a full release, set for captive, sinner free. Give them solid peace indeed. Give them solid peace indeed. Okay. Colossians 1. Go back to Colossians
1. I tried again to prepare a message
on the rest of these words, but I didn't make it. I was telling
Brother Marvin Stoniker on the phone today that I fully intended
to deal with these six words through these first eight verses
in one message Sunday, by Sunday morning. So I told him, and as
you know, I got through one word. So I was going to finish it up
tonight, And I couldn't get past the second word. So. We'll just. We don't have anything
else better to do. If it takes six months. Let's read it again, verses one
and two, this opening greeting from. Our Lord, through the apostle
Paul, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. By the will of God. And Timotheus or Timothy, our
brother, to the saints or the sanctified ones, those set apart
by God, by His love, by His purpose, His covenant, and faithful brethren,
those who have faith in Christ and those who are faithful to
Christ. Faithful brethren in Christ. And as you know, it's of God
if you're in Christ. Of God are you in Christ. It puts us there. To the saints
and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Rocky Mount, it might as well say that, hadn't
it? If you're a saint, whatever God's
Word says to one church, it says to them all. Paul said this. He said, Whatsoever things are
written are written for our learning. So to the saints and faithful
brethren in Christ which are at whatever church, Grace be
unto you. Grace be unto you. God in sovereign grace has chosen
you. He's chosen you, elected you,
if you're in Christ. He has chosen you. He has predestined
you, predetermined that you be conformed to the image of His
Son. Predetermine that you be just like His Son, and predetermine
everything concerning you. All things work together for
your good. Those who are chosen by God, predestined by God, and
God in sovereign grace has called you by our gospel. Our gospel.
The gospel. It's the true gospel. That's
how He calls. He's called you. You've heard
this divine call. This effectual call. if you're
in Christ. God in sovereign grace and mercy
has justified you from all things, cleared you of all charges against
you, blotted out every handwriting of ordinances against you, nailing
them to the cross. Justified you. You're completely
exonerated of all charges. Clear. There's not one thing
on your record forever. All sins are blotted out. It's
grace. This is all grace. Grace beyond
you. I'm describing what kind of grace
this is, and I hope I get past this word again. Sovereign grace. It's all a gift. We didn't choose
ourselves. We can't predestine anything. We didn't call ourselves. We
can't justify ourselves. God has sanctified you, set you
apart for his holy use, and regenerated you, a new creature in Christ. You say, I don't feel it. Well,
just take God's Word for it. And he's redeemed you. Redeemed
you. Bought you with a price. You're
not your own. He's not going to let you go.
He's not going to sell you. He's not going to let you sell
yourself. You're bought with a price. Isn't
that good news? This is why our gospel is gospel. The word means
good news, and that's why it's good news, because Salvation
is by God's grace, and the grace we preach is sovereign, saving,
keeping, eternal grace. I mean, it's great. The gifts
of God, gifts and calling of God are without repentance. He's
not going to take it back. What God hath done shall be forever. By grace, you say. That's what
we're saying. By grace, you say. Yes, grace
be unto you. And you're going to need grace
for the day. Grace for tomorrow. Grace to live by. Grace to die
by. God has promised it. He's the
God of all grace. And he delights to give it. He's
given you plenty up to this point. He's going to keep giving it.
He's going to keep needing it. He's going to keep giving it
to the day you die. Mark the end. We read it. The
end of the perfect man. That is that person that's in
Christ. Whoever trusts Christ is a perfect man. And you mark
it now. Our Lord said it. You mark it.
The end of that man will be peace. Peace. You'll die in peace and
you'll rest forever in peace. God cannot lie, I promise you. You like this kind of grace?
Yes, grace be unto you both now and forever. Amen. And peace. Grace be unto you. and peace from God, read it with
me again, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be unto you and peace from
God our Father. Now listen to a few scriptures.
You've heard these many, many times. You've read them, you've
said them. And he says to us, grace be to
you from God our Father. But Christ said to some people,
He stood and talked with some religious people, and he said
to them, to their face, he said, you are of your father, the devil. Didn't he? But he says to the
saints, peace from God, our father. Our father. God is our father.
He said to his disciples one time, he said, I go to my father
and your father. Father loveth you as he loved
me, Christ said. Our fault, God is our fault.
How do you know? Well, in that same passage, Christ
said, he that is of God, heareth God's word. You're not of God,
therefore, I mean, you don't hear God's word, therefore you're
not of God. If God were your father, you'd love me. Do you
love Christ? Do you love this Christ, the
sovereign Christ, the true Christ? Do you love that he gets all
the glory? Do you love that salvation is all in him? Do you love all
of that? Do you love to hear him preach, proclaim? If God
is your Father, you'd love Him. Do you ever get tired of hearing
a cry? Some do. God's people don't. A woman that really loves her
husband never grows tired of living with him, or talking about
him, or talking to him, or being with him, or other people talking
about him and bragging on him. That's how you know. That's how
you know. Hereby we know because of the
Spirit which He's given us. The Holy Spirit gives this love
for Christ to his people. If God were your father you'd
love me. So he says to the saints, peace
from God our father. Now the scripture says this,
Isaiah 57, 21, there is no peace to the wicked. There is no peace
saith my God to the wicked. God is angry with the wicked
every day, angry. And someday God Almighty is going
to destroy a world full of people. This is not just... God is angry with us. It's not
just a verse of Scripture, that's the truth. The wrath of God is
clearly revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness.
Every day, day in and day out, the wrath of God is clearly revealed
for all human beings to see, but they don't acknowledge it.
You know, we talk about, we think about soldiers dying in Iraq,
you know, it'd be three or four, you know, every two or three
days or something like, you know, how many people die daily in
this country? There's a person that dies every
six seconds. Think about it. All we can be
taken up with. You know, Israel, the wars and
all that's going on. Ten people were killed in a bomb.
There's five people murdered in Washington, D.C. about every
day. We're so blind. We're like dumb
cattle. People are like dumb cattle.
They're dropping like flies all around us. God's the one that's
killing them. and floods and tornadoes and earthquakes and
famines. God wiped out the most decadent
city in this country, New Orleans, and the world doesn't even give
it a thought. Going to rebuild it. Two towers
of Siloam, like in the scriptures, those towers that fell down.
Two towers in New York City fell down. Three thousand people,
bam, go to meet God. Going to rebuild it. On top of their ashes. Human beings are dumb animals. Ignorant. Ignorant. The ass knows
his owner. The ox his master's crib. My
people, God said, don't know. Don't even consider that they're
in my hand. There is no peace. God is angry
with the wicked every day, and as sure as Christ said it, it's
coming. He said it. He said it more than
anybody. Jesus Christ talked about the end of this world more
than anybody else. God is angry. The love of God
does not abide on this planet but the anger of God, the wrath
of God. Everybody outside of Christ is
under the wrath of judgment of God Almighty, young or old. It's serious business. Young
people, it's serious business. I'm not trying to scare you to
death. I'm just telling you what God's Word says. It's not a joking,
plain matter. But it says, Peace right now, peace tomorrow,
and peace forevermore. God is at peace with you. Why is God not angry with us? We consider ourselves wicked,
don't we? We consider ourselves workers
of iniquity, don't we? If we know ourselves, we know
we're sinners, no better than the Egyptians. Why is God not
angry with us? Because we make our peace with
God. That's what this ignorant religious world says, don't we?
Huh? Don't we? Every time somebody
died, well, he made his peace with God. Well, they just revealed
their utter ignorance. They just revealed they don't
know what peace with God is. We don't make our peace with
God. Why is God not angry with us? Because we let him have his
way. That right there angers God. You know that anger is God.
If it angers us, You know what anger's got. Well, no, it doesn't.
He's laughing. He's laughing. It ought to anger us if we're
zealous for His glory. Why is God not angry with us?
Because we let Jesus be Lord? Because God's pleased with us
because we let His Son into our lives? Isn't that utter blasphemy? I hate to even repeat that stuff.
But I have to. Because that's all you hear at
the end. Why is God not angry with us?
Look at verse 12 and 13. We give thanks unto the Father
which hath made us meet or fit to be partakers and inheritors
of the saints in life, who hath delivered us from the fire of
darkness and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.
In other words, he gave us to his Son to redeem us. Down in verse 14, in whom we
have redemption through his blood. Even the forgiveness of sin,
it took the bloodied death of Christ to make peace with God. Look at verse 20. And he made
peace through the blood of his cross. You've read and you've
heard read Isaiah 53 many, many times, haven't you? Where it
says in verse 5, the chastisement of our peace was upon him. And
with His stripes we are healed. Do you remember that old illustration,
He took my whipping? That's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ did to obtain peace. He is our peace. Christ made
our peace. Here's the difference in the
truth and a lie. Here's the difference in the
gospel and the false gospel. Here's the difference in knowing
God and not knowing God. The world says we make our peace
with God. We say Christ made our peace
with God. That's all the difference in the world, isn't it? Christ made our peace with God.
He is our peace. How do I know God's not angry
with me? Because my substitute, my mediator is right there seated
at his right hand, and I'm seated with him. And I want to talk about threefold
peace tonight, OK? We have peace with God. God is
not angry with his people. God is not angry with us. He's angry with the wicked every
day, but every day he says, about this world like he did the former
world, the one where Noah lived. He says the same thing about
this world. Remember, Christ said, As in the days of Noah,
so shall it be in the coming of the Son of Man. And what did
he say back then? He said to Noah, he said, It
repented me that I have made man. Because the imagination
of man is only evil continually from his youth up. None good, no, not one. None
righteous. God looked down from heaven to see if there were any
that didn't understand. Any that didn't see God. They're all together
become unprofitable. None. Well, then why are we? Because God chose us. The only
reason we ever give God a thought is because God chose us. Because
God thought on us. See, it's by grace. He gets all
the glory for this thing of salvation. Chose us. Bought us, brought
us, will keep us. Well, threefold peace. We have
peace with God, and Christ is the one that obtained that, made
it. He is our peace. He is our peace, the Ephesians
say. Well, and he makes peace in us. In us. He makes us peaceable. Look at
verse 21 here, Colossians 1. He says, and you that were sometime
alienated enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath
he reconciled. You see, God never was the enemy
of his people. God never was against his people.
No. Before the world began, God,
that's when God chose, before we ever existed, that's when
God chose his people. And that's when he made that
covenant concerning us in all things. That's when he set his
love upon us. Spurgeon said, God had to love me before I was
born. Remember that? Children being not yet born,
either having done any good or evil. That's the purpose of God,
according to the election might stand. Rebecca, the elder, should serve
the young. God had to choose us before we
were born, had to love us because he couldn't have loved us. He loved us before we were born,
and even while we were yet sinners. And how much more were we in
Christ? Well, and you, we're the enemies. We were the enemy. We were the
enemy. Carnal mind, natural mind is
enmity against God. You, it says, were enemies in
your mind by wicked work. See, our sin is against God.
Our rebellion is against God. Young people and all their rebellion,
you know, all this rebellion against authority, rebellion
against God. God's the one that designates authority all down
the line. And ultimately, human beings don't like God, anybody
reigning over them. It's like wild animals don't
want to be tamed. And they'll end up killing themselves.
God will leave them alone. You know, our hope and help is
that God will violate our will and stop our wild career, like
John Newton wrote about, and get on this wild ass's coat and
tame us. Because it says, go to Ephesians
with me, go to Ephesians, just a couple of, a few pages on back. We were former enemies, but now
reconciled. Reconciled means made friendly. God's friend. Friendly toward
God. Former God-haters are now God-lovers.
Former truth-haters are truth-lovers. Former Christ-despisers are Christ-lovers,
Christ-worshippers. What could do that but the grace
of God? Look at Ephesians 2, verse 2 and 3. You know these
verses. It said, You in time past walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air. You all laugh, you know, the
spirit that now works in the children of disobedience. You
all laugh when I talk about young people thinking they're free,
you know, free spirit. Back in the 60s, 70s, when we
grew up, free spirits. Oh, never been a generation any
more captive to, you know, all the vices and evil and so forth. Satan. That's what that's it. No generation more captive to
the evil one than my generation. And now, look at them now. What
in good common sense could make a young person mutilate
their bodies the way they did? Huh? Now you tell me who's operating
in this world. It's just incredible. These things
are proof of a reprobate generation. It's all the fault of religion.
See, God is removing the laborers out of this field. There are
very few true preachers now, and it's showing. And this world
is going to hell. It's going to hell. It's becoming hell on earth.
People look like aliens. And we'd be right in the middle
of it, if we were teenagers, but for the grace of God, or
young people. Right in the middle of it. Right
in the middle. Children of disobedience, children
of wrath, verse 3, says, children by nature, children of wrath,
even as others. That is wrathful, violence. But God. But God. And look at verse 12. It says,
At one time you were without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, strangers from the covenants that promised that,
no hope without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you,
sometime were far off, maiden nigh by the blood of Christ,
for he is our peace. So peace be unto you, from God
our Father. He should have wiped us out a
long time ago, but he didn't. He didn't. Now, go with me to
John 14. So, we have peace with God. He made us peaceable toward God. John 14, threefold peace. Since we have peace with God,
believers, saint, dear saint, since we have peace
with God, we should have great peace within. This should give
us great peace within, no matter what. no matter who or what. That's what that Psalm 37 is
all about. It's telling us no matter who, no matter what, fret
not. Have peace. Be at peace. We should have great
peace. I can say to every saint in here,
every one in Christ, every believer in Christ, smile. God loves you
and has a wonderful purpose for your life. I can say that most. God is a wonderful God loves
you and has a wonderful purpose. I don't like the word plan, but
I like the word purposes. God has a wonderful purpose for
your life, and you don't have to go to a 40 day seminar to
find out what it is. Within these 40 minutes, I'm
going to tell you what. Just listen. All right. Our Lord
said here in John 14, verse one, Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God? I know you do. I look into your faces when when
we preach our God. And I say we because it's both
of us. I couldn't preach if you didn't respond, I wouldn't. I
quit. But you respond. You love to
hear this God. Exalted, don't you? You never
get tired of this. Some of you seem just as excited
to hear it now as the first time you heard it 20, 30 years ago. You believe in God. That's what
the Lord's saying to his disciples, you believe in God. He's not
saying, do you believe in God? He knows they believe in God.
He gave them the faith. He is God. He says, believe also
in me. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many mansions, dwelling places.
Christ says many. You know that he numbers the
sand on the seashore and in the ocean. He has every grain of
sand numbered and every hair on every head of every person
that's ever lived got a number. That's what the Bible says. That's
what God's Word says. He says, many. There are many. Oh, I don't know. Oh, many dwelling places, many reservations. That's what that word is. If
it were not so, I would have told you. Did I go to prepare a place for
you? Who? Who's the you? Do you believe
in God? Do you believe also in Christ? And he went to prepare
a place for you. Now read on. And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again. Did he come to this
earth the first time? Yes, he did. Did he leave this
earth the first time? Yes, he did. And he said, I will
come again and receive you unto myself. That where I am, that's
where you'll be. Now look down at verse 27. He
says, Peace I leave with you. Peace with God. He obtained it,
didn't he, John? He obtained it. We have peace with God. God is
not angry with us. He's at peace. We have peace
with God. And he says, My peace I give unto you. My peace, inner
peace. This is the second peace. Inner peace, my peace, my peace,
the peace that I have, Christ said. The peace that I have now,
listen very carefully here, OK? Jesus, the man, Jesus. My representative, my substitute,
the man, the God man, but the man, Jesus. When he lived on
it, he lived by faith. He lived totally by faith. Rachel,
he lived by faith. He didn't do anything for himself.
He didn't perform miracles for himself. Never. Never. Never. When he walked around, he went
to people's house and they fed him. He stayed in people's homes. They wouldn't keep him. He stayed
on the stars. He never made himself a new suit
of clothes. Never. He lived by faith. Totally by
faith. Lived by faith. And nothing and
no one bothered him ever. Nothing and no one ever bothered
him or upset him, not in the least. Nothing anyone said, nothing
that happened in this world bothered him, except the blasphemy against
his godly love. Listen to me now, listen, listen
to me. World events did not bother him.
Now you listen to this time, when the Bible time, we got,
we lose, we're so sheltered in this country. This country had
known war, bloodshed, or any kind of major, prolonged, traumatic
time in, what, 1945? Fifty, sixty-one years. Few people in here that old.
Few people that have any clue about that. Have to go to others'
place, Vietnam or somewhere to experience Turmoil and trouble
and war and so forth. World event. Back then, back
during scriptural time, where Christ lived. Listen, people.
Every single person, every Jew that lived, lived under the tyranny
of Roman government. And they lived in fear of their
lives every day. Parents, they worried about their
children being taken and just slaughtered in front of their
eyes. Honestly. If you live, you and I live back
then, they could come in our house and take us, just haul
us to jail because they're a police and do so, and kill our family.
Yeah, they could. Didn't have to ask any questions.
The Apostle Paul wrote Colossians 1, he's sitting in a jail cell.
He's going to get his head cut off. Now, who in here faces anything,
anywhere near anything like that? None of us. Yet Paul says, and
our Lord Jesus Christ, who all his life was facing that cross,
that horrible death of the cross, all his life was facing that.
Everybody in the world hated him, wanted him dead wherever
he went, tried to kill him. He says, my peace. Perfectly. And he has to lay the fears of
his disciples. World events, wars and rumors
of war didn't trouble him. The economy didn't bother him. What if the stock market crashes?
What if it does? Didn't he say over there, Nancy,
I've never seen the righteous forsaken her God's seed on a
street begging bread. There's never been one saint
in the history of the world begging a morsel of bread. Never. Would you hear this? My peace
I give unto you. Trust me. How many years does
this thing have to go on before we trust God? David said, when
did when it was that time, David said that it was worse than the
apostles time. Everybody around. Amalekites,
Philistines, you name it. Roving marauders trying to kill
them. My peace, I give up. You want
this peace, John? Well, if the economy fails. It
might be the best thing that ever happened in this country. We'd all have to just lose everything
and live together, wouldn't we? We'd have to turn this into our
home. Wouldn't that just be wonderful?
Honestly, do you think we'd go hungry without a roof over our
heads? Calamities or disasters, are
you worried about anything? Age, remember years ago, age
was everybody. Oh, age, age, age. All the nurses. Be honest. Oh, I'm going to get AIDS. Anybody
got AIDS yet? If you live a promiscuous life,
young people, if you practice sex outside of marriage, you
might get AIDS. There's no promise you won't get AIDS. There's no promise. But if you do what God says,
you're not going to get it. So you can't. Yes, I can. According
to God's word, calamities and disaster. Trials, tribulations,
did he have any trials? His whole life was a trial, tribulation,
persecution. He had peace, perfect peace,
where did he get it? He knew more than we did. Well
yes. Yes and no he it's all written
down. It's all written down for us
to read. He believed God. He committed
himself to God. He committed himself to the judge.
His faithful father. He committed himself. He had
faith. He lived by faith. I don't think we really understand
that, that our Lord Jesus Christ, as a man, lived totally, completely
by faith. And nothing and no one bothered
him, Janelle, until it was time. And it's been the same way with
us. You've lived twice the time that our Lord has lived. There
have been hurtling steel, hunks of steel go by you two feet every
day. Look at that two-lane road. People dying like flies on the
highway every day, day in and out, not you. You're immortal. You're just like the Lord Jesus
Christ. You're immortal until he says so. And then when he
says so, when he takes you, glory be. It'll be sad. We'll be sad, but you won't be
sad. God will have blessed you, taken you from the evil days
to come. Christ's God is our God. His Father is our Father. His inheritance is our inheritance. My peace, look at look at what
he said here, he said, not as a world gives. I like that. Peace, I leave. With you and my peace, I give
unto you, not as a world give unto you, but not your heart.
I'm not given what the world calls peace. Will there ever
be world peace? No. Our Lord said no. Don't put that bumper sticker
on your car, because it's not going to happen. God says it
won't, because there's no peace for the weak. What about peace
in this world? No, we're not going to experience
that either. We're not going to have peace in this world.
We're rather tribulation. You must through much tribulation.
You're not going to have peace with this world. You're going
to be the enemy of this world. I mean, they're going to be your
enemy. They're going to hate you. If
they could kill you, they would, but they can't. Our Lord, I believe, is saying
here, too, about peace by the world religion. You know, you've heard it all.
They talk about peace, but they don't have peace. People don't
really trust the true God and the true Christ. They don't have
peace. How could you? How could, why would you trust,
or how could you have any peace in a God who's standing over,
standing to the, Margaret, a God who's standing over to the side
and something bad happens to you, you didn't want it to happen. Doesn't make sense. How could you have any peace
in that? I'll tell you where your peace will be. God's not
standing over the side, but everything's in His hand. And He's already
predetermined. And though you and I can understand
it, though it seems evil to us, it's not evil. It's good. And
it's all working together according to his all wise purpose. He's
too wise to err. He's too good to do evil or wrong. He's too kind to be cruel. And
this thing's going by real quickly. We're going to see the end of
it all real soon. He said, you're going to see
it. You'll see it. Remember that? He said, you'll see it. Just
hang on. Wait, wait on the Lord, you'll
see it. And you'll thank God to high heaven that He reigned
and ruled over all of us. So be at peace right now, right
now. God reigns. Peace. Over your children, over
your home, your lives, your family, your soul, your everything. Everything
is in His hands. Just peace. Be still. Be still. Be still and know that He's God.
Now that's peace. That's good news. I venture to
say that if you heard that right now, everybody who heard that
has got perfect peace right now, until you leave here and turn
on the radio. Don't turn on the radio. How's
that? Don't turn on the TV. Peace, peace, peace. Not the
world religion peace. They don't have any peace. God
that's not God. Man's will being done. Man's
will's being done. Man's got a free will. What peace
is there in that? Kelly, if that's so. Stan, if
you and Kelly might, fellas, let's get our guns, OK? Now seriously,
let's get our guns. If man's will is being done, if man has a free will, God doesn't. If God has turned this thing
over and man's doing whatever he will, fellas, we better get
our guns and head to the hills. Let's get our women focused. The man's will is not being done. It's not being done. Osama bin
Laden is under a pile of rubble over there, and we're still worried
about it. The world's religion talks about
a Jesus, you know, and committing to a Jesus. Now, listen to this. So-called Christian religion
talks about Jesus and if you'll commit to Jesus and this and
that and the other. But they say, and this is what Billy Graham
said, that the Muslims who've never heard the name of Jesus
or whoever has never heard the name of Jesus or the gospel may
be OK. That's what he said. You heard
it with your own ears, didn't you? Right in here, you heard.
I played the tape for you. That's what he said. He said
there's another way. He's anti-Christ. Why even bother with Jesus? Why do we need a Jesus? Huh?
What are we doing here? That's what Paul wrote, didn't
he? Our Lord, through Paul, said to tell us, he said, if in this
life only we have hope in Christ, We're all men most miserable. What's the proof that what we
believe is so? One undeniable fact, the proof.
What proves all this? He rose from the grave. You know,
that was the theme of the apostles preaching all through the book
of Acts. That was the thing. That this
whole world has to answer to a man who rose from the grave
and ascended back to heaven. And he is who he said he was.
And the book says he was. And that same one said, I'm coming
again. And that he said all things were in his hand. No, not as
a world given. Not as a word, but my peace,
my peace, real peace, lasting peace, peace of passive understanding. Have you ever thought about this,
peace of passive understanding? We have a God we can't understand,
and that gives us peace. Have you ever thought about that?
We have peace because we believe a God we can't understand, a
God whose ways are so infinitely higher than us, and the heavens
are the earth. God who really is God. And that gives us peace. My dog,
I use him all the time, but he's a good illustrator. He has peace.
He's happy, he grins all the time, doesn't he? He's always
grinning. Why? He trusts me. He knows I'm
not going to kick him out. I'm in charge. He knows that
bowl's going to be full of food. That bowl's going to be full
of water. He knows that, you know, if a thunderstorm comes,
I'm going to bring him in the big house. He has peace. I'm not going to kick him. I'm
not going to hurt him. I'm not going to, I'm not going
to pet him. I'm his all. I'm his all. He
has peace. Just a perfect man. He grins. Like you're regretting right
now. That's your God. That's your master. That's your
master. The Lord is my shepherd. Never lost a sheep. So we have
peace with God. We have peace within a measure
of it. The more you believe, the more
you read God's word, the more you trust in, the more peace
you have within. Peace by believing and peace among ourselves. I had so many scriptures to turn
to, but peace among ourselves. Our Lord said, have salt in yourselves
and have peace one with another. Our Lord has ordained peace between
his people and his people. Peace in the church family. We have something right here
in this little this little flock that is so very, very rare and
rare and so very, very special that it's worth Endeavoring to
keep it. Scripture says endeavoring to
keep the unity of the spirit in peace. Not only do we have the gospel,
we have a church family that's actually at peace. We've not
known any real strife. The only way it really happens,
it never usually happens, is a false brother creep in and
try to stir things up. That's the way they are, wolf
and sheep. Or we ourselves. Believers can
get in a bad state, get their feelings hurt. Petty feelings
hurt, we become selfish and they cause a strife in the vision.
That shouldn't happen. And we need to guard against
it because this is something too precious to let go. Peace between husbands and wives.
There's no reason right here in this room for any of these
couples to ever break up. Ever. Ever. If you're married to a man who
loves Christ... Jennifer! That man right there,
he loves the Lord Jesus Christ, he loves you. There's no reason
for y'all to ever have any real trouble. So what if he leaves
his shirt on the floor down there? Shoot. That's all he's done. And vice versa, Patrick. And
John and Irene. And Ron and Tammy. And John,
and you don't have to worry about them, they've been married a
thousand years anyway. But seriously, no, it can happen to old people
too. Right? There's no reason for two believers
to ever split up. And if he's given you a man or
a woman that loves Christ, you've got something that few people
have and several people want. Well, peace. Brethren, saints, grace be to
you. We can go over that again. Grace
be unto you and peace. Peace threefold. Peace with God.
Peace within. Peace among yourselves. From God, our Father. He's our
Father. He knows our frame. He's taken care of us. He loves
us. And the Lord. Who's in charge? The Lord Jesus Christ. He's in charge. God's committed
all things in His hands. He's right now reigning. Mindy and I were talking on the
way to Roanoke the other day. I said, it's inconceivable. Wouldn't
it be inconceivable to you to live under the reign of government
of David, King David or Solomon? Have you ever really stopped
and thought about that? To actually live where the President of the
United States is a man like David. I mean, he really knows a true
God. And everything he does, he does according to this book,
Irene. Everything he does, he does. He looks up, he looks,
he seeks God's will about it. Loves God and loves God's people,
loves what's right and doesn't, won't take a bribe, won't take,
won't, no respect your person. You could go see him anytime
you want to. You could go see him. I think I'll go see the
president today. I got some time. So you could
see him. Isn't that inconceivable, isn't
it? Solomon said every man, said every man, dwelt under his own
vine and fig tree, everybody. Nobody without, Barbara, nobody
in that kingdom was without. A man that started every joint
session of Congress with prayer, I mean real prayer, with a sacrifice. We do have such a king, a greater
than Solomon. It's raining right now. We don't
see him. We don't see him. Dan, you read that. I'm happy
not to see him. But he is. He's right in the
room. Right now. And we're all dwelling under
a fire in the fifth ring. And none of us are going to do
without him. Peace. Let not your heart be
troubled. Peace from him. He sends peace. And then someday he's going to
take us out of this mess. All his people will take them
out of this mess. And fold this thing up like a vesture. Discard
it forever. And we'll all be together in
eternal peace. And you'll be grinning the rest
of your day. OK, stand with me. Lord, thank you for this grace
and this peace that comes from thee, comes from your son, comes
from Him be in our peace. Thank you, Lord, for your sovereign,
saving grace. Lord, keep our minds stayed upon
Thee, our Lord, our Jehovah. For Thou wilt keep them in perfect
peace, who Thou art. Those that trust in Thee, You
said, will never, never perish. So, Lord, let us not fret for
any reason, for any reason, but look to Thee and remember these
things. Lord, bring these things to remember
tomorrow. We will need them tonight and
in the morning. So bring them back to our members
until we gather again to look back into your words in Christ's
name we have met here tonight. you