The Lord Our Peace

Q: What does the Bible say about the Lord being our peace?

The Bible describes the Lord as 'Jehovah Shalom,' meaning He is our peace, emphasizing that true peace is found in Him. In Judges 6, Gideon encounters the angel of the Lord, who comforts him by proclaiming peace. Gideon builds an altar and calls it 'Jehovah Shalom,' which means 'The Lord is our peace.' This signifies the profound truth in the Bible that Christ is our peace, the one who reconciles us to God. Throughout Scripture, we see that true peace is not found in circumstances but in the person of Christ, who has fulfilled the law and paid the ultimate price for our sins, thus granting us peace with God.

Q: How do we know Christ is our peace?

We know Christ is our peace because He reconciles us with God through His sacrifice on the cross. Christ is our peace because He removes the enmity between God and man through His perfect work on the cross. Romans 5:1 states, 'Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.' This peace is a result of Christ's sacrifice that satisfies the justice of God, allowing believers to stand justified before Him. The angels proclaimed, 'On earth peace, good will toward men,' exemplifying that through Christ, peace is not merely an absence of conflict but a restored relationship between the believer and God.

Q: Why is peace important for Christians?

Peace is essential for Christians as it signifies a reconciled relationship with God, leading to communion and confidence in Him. Peace holds paramount importance for Christians because it embodies the assurance of their reconciled relationship with God, which was achieved through Christ's sacrifice. As believers, we are called to experience 'the peace of God which passeth all understanding' (Philippians 4:7). This peace facilitates true communion with God, fosters inner confidence amidst life's trials, and leads to contentment in all circumstances. In sharing this peace with others, Christians embody the grace of Christ, which further nurtures unity within the body of believers.

Q: How can Christians maintain peace in their lives?

Christians can maintain peace by trusting in the Lord and committing their ways to Him. Maintaining peace in a believer's life involves a continuous reliance on God. As seen in Psalm 37, believers are encouraged to 'fret not' and to 'trust in the Lord.' This means resting in His promises, committing every aspect of life into His hands, and waiting patiently for His guidance. Furthermore, actively pursuing a life of holiness, ceasing from anger, and delighting in the Lord foster an environment where God’s peace can flourish in our hearts. When we focus on these practices, we will experience His peace sustaining us through all circumstances.

Is this for a while? About two thousand years ago,
the Lord of glory took on him my sin and woe, my sin and woe. He went to Calvary and bore his
own cross. He suffered there and paid that
awful, awful cost. Oh, that awful cost. He's my sovereign Savior, to
God a sweet, sweet savor. He's the perfect Redeemer for
you, and the perfect Redeemer for me. There was no way I could keep
God's law. I needed someone perfect who
could keep it all. Who could keep it all. Then God revealed to me His Son. It's not that He can do it, but
that it's all been done. Oh, it's all been done. He's my sovereign Savior, to
God a sweet, sweet savor. He's the sufficient Redeemer
for you, and the sufficient Redeemer for me. There's times I wonder why, oh
why God could have compassion on such a worm as I Such a worm
as I I know it wasn't anything I've
done. God chose me in eternity and
chose me in His Son. He chose me in His Son. He's my sovereign Savior, to
God a sweet, sweet savor. He's the only Redeemer for you,
and the only Redeemer for me. He's my sovereign Savior, to
God a sweet, sweet savor. He's the perfect, sufficient,
and only Redeemer for you and me. Well, it's so good to be here
tonight. I tell you, I could really just
go on home now having received a blessing, couldn't you? The
song service, the courses, that special number was so beautiful. Terry always does such a good
job of glorifying God in the songs. been a delightful time
already. We're—Darcy and I are glad to
be here. That's putting it mildly. Delighted to be here. The preacher's
tired. I'm tired. I preached last Wednesday
night at home, and then we drove down below Asheville, North Carolina,
which was an eight-hour drive, and I preached Thursday night,
and then I preached Friday morning, and Friday night, and Saturday
morning, and Saturday night, and this morning, and then drove
over here. And I'm going to take one more
shot at it. Ask the Lord to help me preach one more time. Tomorrow
night I'll be preaching in, as Paul said, over in I think the
church is in Hampton. It's a Newport News address,
but it's on Todd's Lane in Hampton, Virginia. I was there years and
years and years ago. I don't remember how long it
was, but I preached there a long time ago. Tonight, let's open our Bibles
to the book of Judges. This is a message This is a message that I delivered
to our congregation, I believe, on a Wednesday night.
I felt like tonight that just about everybody here in the evening
service is a professing believer. I gathered that most of you who
will assemble here in the service tonight know the Lord Jesus,
and love the Lord Jesus, and rejoice in Him, and have no confidence
in the flesh, and worship God in spirit and truth. And so I
want to bring a message that will be helpful to the believer. The title of the message is,
The Lord, Our Peace. The Lord, Our Peace. I need that
so desperately, don't you? Peace. Peace. The peace that passes understanding. Here in Judges chapter six, let's
begin reading with verse twenty-one. You follow as I read. Judges
six, twenty-one, Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end
of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and
the unleavened cakes. And there rose up fire out of
the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. And
then the angel of the Lord disappeared, departed out of his sight. And when Gideon perceived that
he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, alas, O Lord
God, he was so afraid, so afraid. I'll tell you why he was afraid. He knew the writings of Moses
in Exodus 33, in which Moses quoted the Lord God, who said,
Moses, no man can see me and No man can see me and live."
And he realized that he had seen the angel of the Lord. Good possibility
this was Christ, pre-incarnate appearance of our Lord, as the
angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah and his wife and went
up in the sacrifice. And the angel of the Lord appeared
to Abraham. This may be our Lord Jesus Christ
in a pre-incarnate appearance, but anyway, Gideon knew that
he had seen at least an angel of the Lord, and he was just
totally petrified. He just cried, O Lord, alas,
alas, O Lord God, alas, O Lord God, for because I have seen
an angel of the Lord face to face. Now watch this next verse. And the Lord said unto him, Peace. Peace be unto thee. Don't be afraid. Peace. Here's a man petrified.
Here's a man you can't imagine. I can't imagine his fear. I can't
imagine how fearful he must have been in this moment. He'd seen the Lord, and he was
scared to death. He thought he was gonna drop
dead right there. And the Lord spake to him and said, peace,
don't be afraid. Listen, thou shall not die. And then Gideon built an altar
right there unto the Lord and called it, underscore this in
your Bible, Jehovah Shalom. Jehovah Shalem. You have a marginal
reference which says, The Lord, sin, peace. The Lord, our peace. He built an altar right there
and called it Jehovah the Lord, my peace. Jehovah Shalem. Now, look at me just a moment. I don't put a lot of in numbers. I know people say this is the
number of man and this is the number of something else. Seven's
the number of God and good possibility used often in the scripture.
Talks about seven spirits of God. But there are seven names
of Jehovah in the Old Testament. I know you're familiar with them.
Many of you know them. I have them written down in the
back of my Bible. Seven names of Jehovah. There's, if you want to jot these
down, if you don't have them written down, take down these
scriptures. There's Jehovah-Jireh. You remember Genesis 22, 13,
14. The Lord will provide. Remember Abraham was going up
the mountain, and Isaac said, Father, here's the wood, here's
the fire, where's the lamb? He said, my son, God will provide
Himself. Himself. A lamb himself for a
lamb, a lamb for himself. The Lord will provide. He will.
He will provide. He always has, hasn't he? He
always will. The Lord will provide. He's provide—our
Lord said, take no thought for what you shall eat, drink, or
wear, no anxious thought, no thoughts of anxiety. Your Father
knows you have need of these things. Seek ye first the kingdom
of God. These things will be added to
you, and my God will supply all your needs according to his riches
in glory through Christ Jesus. You doubt that? He will provide. Then the other
one, the next one, is Jehovah-Raper. Exodus 15, 26. I am the Lord
that healeth thee. And my brethren, that's not just
physical healing. he healeth all thy diseases."
He healeth all thy diseases. He bore in his body our sicknesses
and diseases, spiritual sicknesses and diseases, and he's healed
them all. I am the Lord. I heal you. Jehovah-Raper,
our God, our Lord. Jehovah, see, God my Savior,
who healeth me. is found in Exodus 17, 8 through
15. That's the Lord, Jehovah-nisa,
the Lord our banner. He's our ensign. He's our banner.
He's our captain. He's our commander-in-chief.
He's our king. The Lord reigns. The Lord our
banner. The Lord always over us. And
then Psalm 23, it doesn't say this, but it's Jehovah-reya,
the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not walk. He leadeth
me beside still waters, he restored my soul. He leadeth me in paths
of righteousness, for his name's sake. The Lord's my shepherd. And because
he's my shepherd, because he loves his sheep, he knows his
sheep and loves his sheep. He's always known his sheep.
Father gave them to him. He said, I lay down my life for
my sheep. I'll provide for my sheep. The Lord is my shepherd.
And then the next one you're familiar with, Jehovah Sidkenu,
that's found in Jeremiah 23, 6, the Lord our righteousness. He is my holiness without which
no man will see the Lord. He is my sanctification. He is
my righteousness. He, through his blood, has cleansed
us And through his righteousness he has provided and imputed unto
us a perfect righteousness and a perfect holiness so that we
are holy, unblameable, unreprovable in God's sight. But he's my righteousness. I don't have any righteousness
of my own. My righteousness is a filthy
rag. The best deed I have ever done
needs to be bathed in the blood of Christ. Even my repentance
needs to be repented of. Even my tears need to be bathed
in the blood of Christ. There's nothing about me or in
me or of me of which I can be proud except that He's my righteousness. Paul said, God forbid that I
should glory save in the cross of Jesus Christ. That's all I
got to glory in. He's my righteousness. He's my
righteousness. And then Ezekiel. Chapter 48,
verse 35, Jehovah, Shammah, S-H-A-M-M-A-H, the Lord is present. He is present. I heard a preacher not long ago,
he was preaching, I know these things slip out, but he said,
when our Lord was here, he said this, Brother, He's here now. He's not, He wasn't here then. any more in the flesh than he
is now. He's not here any less now than
he was then. The Lord is here. The Lord's
here. And wherever you are tomorrow,
he's here too. You don't have to come here to
meet the Lord. The Lord's present. He said,
I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you, lo, I'm with you
always, even to the end of the earth. David said, whither shall
I flee from the presence of the Lord? If I ascend into heaven,
thou art there. If I make my bed in the grave,
thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning
and go to the uttermost parts of the sea, there your hand will
hold me. My Lord's present. He's present,
present, present, present. And then number seven, and here
it is right here. And I tell you, we talk so often
of these other names. The Lord will provide. The Lord
will heal. The Lord is our banner, our ensign. The Lord is my shepherd. The
Lord is my righteousness, my holiness. I stand in Him. The
Lord is present. I don't doubt that. The Lord
is my What? Peace. Jehovah Shalom, the Lord,
our peace. Well, we talk so much of these
other names and ministries of our Lord, I wonder sometimes,
and we're all guilty of it, where is the Lord, our peace? I'm really troubled that so many
times I, you, those who profess to know the Lord, do not demonstrate
that peace and rest which Christ brings. He said, Come to me,
I'll give you rest. Over and over again, like Paul
said in reading that Scripture, how many times the word peace
is used in the Scripture. My peace I give unto you. Let
not your heart be troubled. Don't be distressed. My peace
I give unto you. Listen to some of these scriptures. Don't look them up, just let
me read them. You'll recognize them. Isaiah 26, 3, Thou wilt
keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee. I see you quoting it with me.
That's what it says, whose mind is stayed on Thee. Philippians
4, 7, And the peace of God which passive understanding shall keep
your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus." That's not just
here now. That's all the time. And then
Colossians 3, 15, let the peace of God rule in your heart. Don't let it just be a doctrine.
Don't let it just be in your catechism. Let it rule in your
heart. the peace of God. Let it rule
in your heart. Let it rule in your home. Let
it rule wherever you are. Let the peace of God rule. And
did you know this? As long as I've been preaching,
I've never seen this before. The Apostle Paul is responsible for fourteen of
the twenty-seven New Testament epistles. Fourteen of them. In twelve of He starts them off
this way. Now, twelve out of fourteen epistles,
he starts off this way. Grace be unto you. Boy, we like that, don't we?
Grace. Grace. Grace. Good old grace. Grace
chose me. Grace saved me. Grace keeps me.
Grace enthroned me. It was grace that taught my heart
to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear,
the hour of first belief. We love grace, sovereign grace.
I do. But he said, grace and what?
Peace. Grace and peace from God our
Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ be unto you. Grace and
peace. That's what I want. That's what
I want, grace and peace. And they go together. Where you
find one, you'll find the other. If we can put in practice these
things, I'm going to deal with for a few moments. And I want
to ask you three questions with regard to my subject. Jehovah
Shalom, the Lord, Our Peace. The first question is this. where
is this peace to be found? Where? Secondly, what is the
result of finding true peace? And thirdly, how is this true
peace maintained? That's three good questions.
You see, and I think I've heard Paul speak about this, that peace
is threefold. There's the peace with God, there's
the peace of God, and there's peace with others and within
myself. And that's what these three questions
deal with. Where is peace found with God? What is the result of peace,
the peace of God? And how can I maintain it? Our
text tells us where peace is found. It says, Jehovah Shalom,
the Lord is our peace. He's my peace. That's right. Grace, mercy, and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the fountain
of every blessing. He is love, He is grace, He is
life, He is hope, and He is peace. Christ is our peace. If we have
Christ, we have peace, because he is our peace. In him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead, and in him we have all these
blessings and mercies, the sure mercies of David, and he's our
peace. Well, you say, preacher, how
is he our peace? He's not peace to everyone. He's
not peace to every son of Adam, that's for sure. All of Adam's
race does not have peace. Our Lord condemned the false
prophets who said, peace, peace, when there is no peace. But Christ
is our peace. Now, how is he our peace? Take
your Bibles, first of all, and turn to Luke 2. Here's how he
is our peace. Luke chapter 2. In the second
chapter of Luke, this is the way Christ is my peace, peace
with God and the peace of God. Luke chapter 2, verse 11, the
angels came down and appeared to the shepherds. And they said
in Luke 2, verse 11, unto you is born this day in the city
of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a
sign unto you, you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling
clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the
angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God, and saying,
Glory to God, glory to God, and on earth peace, good will toward
men." Jesus Christ is our peace in that He came from heaven incarnate
in human flesh on a mission by his obedience and by his death
in the flesh to make peace with God for every believer. My incarnate
Lord is my peace. He came to purchase it. He came
to provide it. See that? So as my incarnate
Lord, He is my peace. All right? Now turn to Romans
4. How is Christ my peace? Romans chapter 4. Listen to this.
because he's my righteousness. If I didn't have a perfect standing
before God's law, I couldn't have peace with God. His law
would be against me. If Christ on the cross did not
satisfy the justice of God, I wouldn't have peace with God. Justice
would be against me. But Christ has reconciled us
to God, and here it says in Romans 4, now listen, verse 20, talking
about Abraham. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, but he was strong in faith, giving
glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what God had promised
he was able to perform, and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness,
holiness. Now listen. Now, it was not written
for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also. to whom righteousness shall be
imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord
from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and raised for
our justification. Therefore," verse 1, chapter
5, being justified by faith, we have what? Peace with God. That's how he sought peace. He
came down here to this earth incarnate in the flesh. and met
the holy law of God, and removed the enmity from all men. And he met the holy justice of
God, and removed the enmity, and God's reconciled. And therefore
being justified through Christ by faith, I have peace with God. Christ is my peace. Also, He's
our peace on the cross, in that He made peace through the blood
of His cross. That's what Colossians says,
doesn't it? And then as our great high priest, he is the king of
righteousness and the king of what? Peace. And as my mediator,
Paul could stand and say in Romans 8, 34, who can condemn me? It's Christ that died, yea, rather,
who's risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also makes intercession for me. So my friends, if you can believe
the Word of God, if you can by faith lay hold of Christ Jesus,
if you can rest in that great high priest and mediator, you
can have peace with God. You can sleep at night. You can
rest. You can say with a hymn writer,
listen, rest my soul. The penalty is born. The ransom
is paid. All my sins, satisfaction has
been made. Strive not to do what Christ
has done. Claim the free gift and let peace
be thine own. No more let guilt and fear distress. Rest, my soul. in Christ Jesus'
breast. That's where it's found. Nowhere
else. What Paul reads, he is our peace. And you don't find it anywhere
else. You're not going to find it with a positive mental attitude. You're not going to find it by
trying to do good. I want you to do good. I want
to do good, too. But you're not going to find
peace with God by doing good to your fellow man. Do it. Do
all you can, but not for peace. This peace business has to be
settled by the blood of His cross. That's where it's settled. God's
angry with the wicked. The wrath of God abideth on men
who do not believe. And Christ is my peace. And I
have no right to claim it. I have no right to boast of it,
I have no right to profess it unless I look to Him, rest in
Him, believe on Him. He's my Savior. He's my peace. Right here in me. That's where
it is. All right, now what's the results of this peace? What's
the results? Well, there are four words, the
results of this peace with God, which brings the peace out of
God. The result of this peace in Christ is communion with Christ. That's right, communion with
Christ. Communion. He said in his word, let us,
that's us, you and me, just ordinary people, just sons of Adam, just,
you know, flesh and blood and bones and folks like us, let
us come boldly before his presence. with full assurance and confidence
that because Christ is our High Priest, God will receive us. That's right. When our Lord died
on the cross, Almighty God tore that veil into that and opened
up that holy of holies where only the high priest, once a
year, slipping under the veil, dared to go into the presence
of Shekinah, glory of God, and not without blood, which he offered
for his sins and the sins of the people. And he came out,
and God dwelt there over the mercy seat, between the cherubims,
in that awful holy place. And when Christ died, he tore
it in two, and he said, Come on, call him Father. Walk with God. Enoch did. And
someday walking with God, you'll walk right on into glory. I made the mistake one time of
saying to one of our widow ladies in the church, we have 19 widows
in our church. And my heart grieved for them
so often. I said to one of them, I said,
I know it's tough to be alone. And she looked at me and never
batted an eye. She said, I'm not alone. I said,
thank you. You're not. He's with me. I'm not alone. I said, we don't
have to read about God in our creeds and catechisms. Job said, I know my Redeemer
living. I know Him. I know Him. We, our fellowship is with the
Father and with His Son, John said. Communion with God. Talk
with God. Walk with God. I, I was talking
to four or five men this morning out in front of the church, and
we were, we were talking about the subject of public prayer.
And someone made the statement, he said, public prayers are one
of the most difficult things I'm called upon to do. And I
said, I agree with you. I agree with you. I said, there's
some, in 40 years of the ministry, I finally discovered this. There's
some men who have the gift to preach. There's some men who
have the gift to read, and ladies too, read, not preach. You girls
don't preach, do you? Some have the gift to read. Some
have the gift to give. Some have the gift to do other
things, to serve. The Holy Spirit gives various
gifts to various people in a congregation. It's the body of Christ. And
some men have the gift to pray publicly. Some do. We have some at 13th Street have
the gift to pray. And some don't. Not publicly,
but they can privately. Every believer can pray privately.
But sometimes when you get up to pray publicly, I don't know,
you're somehow conscious of everybody, you're conscious of saying the
right thing, or you're conscious of so many things other than
when you're praying privately, it's just you and the Lord, isn't
it? And you're not conscious of how you word it, because we're
not heard very much speaking. We're not heard for the length
of our speaking. We're not heard for the fine
words that we say. We're heard because our heart
beats with his. Every believer can pray, and
does, and will. That's communion. But everybody
doesn't have the gift to do what I'm doing right now. God gave
me this gift, I know that. God gave him that gift. Every
believer doesn't have the gift to sing like you just did, or
write hymns like that. Every believer doesn't have the
gift to teach publicly. Teach privately, teach children,
teach others. But there's a difference in private
and public ministry. There's a difference. And the
Holy Spirit gives severally, as He will. But every believer
communes with the Lord. And that's the result of peace,
communication with Him. I'll tell you another thing that's
the result of peace, is confidence. Confidence in Christ. Confidence. I know, Paul said, whom I have
believed, and I'm persuaded. You'll keep me. I'm confident. Oh, yes. Old Job said, I know
my Redeemer liveth, and He'll stand on this earth, and I'm
going to see Him. With these eyes, I'm going to
see Him. Not another eye myself. I'm confident. Totally confident. Old Paul wrote in Hebrews 13,
he said, The Lord hath said, I'll never leave you nor forsake
you, so that I can boldly say, The Lord is my keeper, my helper. I don't have to fear what men
do." That's right. I'm confident. Confident in His
power, confident in His love, confident in His strength, confident
in His purpose. I'm confident. Not cocky now,
but confident. Not presumptuous. Oh, never let
us presume on the grace of our God. I like that word, It's a
good hope. It's a living hope. It's a good
hope through grace. But it's a hope. Isn't that right? Because you ain't seen it yet.
I don't mind a fella saying to me, and I hope by thy good pleasure
safely to arrive at home. That's good. That's good grace
grammar. Good grace grammar. I hope. It's a living hope. It's a good
hope. And it's on the promises of Christ. But nevertheless,
what you see, what do you hope for? And then the third word
is this, in Christ and that peace brings me contentment. I want to learn this. The Apostle
Paul said this, I have learned. You learned something, Paul?
Yeah, I'm still learning it too. I have learned. whatsoever state
I am, to be content. Now, the only way you can be
content in any state is to have a communion with and a confidence
in Christ. But if you have a communion with
Christ and confidence in Christ, you can be content. Isn't that
right? Content. John Newton wrote this, I guess
of all hymns, Everybody says, this is my favorite hymn, that's
my favorite hymn. I've got a lot of favorites,
but I guess of all of them, this is my favorite hymn. How tedious and tasteless the
hours when Jesus no longer I see. Sweet prospects, sweet birds,
sweet flowers have all lost their sweetness for me. The midsummer
sun shines but dim the fields Strive in vain to look gay, but
when I'm happy in him, December's as pleasant as May." Continue,
continue. Oh, I ought to learn something
about that word. Godliness with contentment is great gain. Be content with what you have
and avoid covetousness, which is idolatry. Continue with beholding
his face. my all to his pleasure resigned. No changes of season or place
would make any change in my mind. While blessed with a sense of
his love, while palace a toy would appear, and prisons would
palace his proof, if he had dwelled with me there." Peace with God. genuine, real
peace in Christ brings contentment. And then you know something else? It brings committal. I want to show you something.
Turn with me to Leviticus, chapter ten. Leviticus, chapter ten. Now, this is a strong scripture,
but you're strong people. This, this is for mature people,
but you are mature. I've known some of you for a
long, long time, and I know you are a mature people. You're believing
people. But now listen to this. This
is for me and for you. Listen. Leviticus 10, verse 1. Got it? Leviticus 10, 1. And
Nadab and Abihu were sons of Aaron. Now, these is sons. This is Aaron, God's high priest.
This is Moses, sidekick. These is sons. his own son. They took either of them, his
censer, and put fire on there, and put incense thereon, and
offered strange fire before the Lord. They violated the gospel
of Christ. They violated the commandment
of God. They offered strange fire, which God commanded them
not. Verse 2, And they went out fire
from the Lord, and devoured them, both those boys, sons of Abraham.
They died before the Lord. Watch verse 3, And Moses said
unto Aaron, Now, Aaron, this is what the Lord spake, saying,
I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me. You'll come
my way through my son. Christ said, I'm the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. Because coming by Christ, God can be just and justify you. God can be holy and receive you.
in Christ. I'll be sanctified by them that
come nigh me. And before all the people I'll
be glorified." And Avon held his peace. You know what he's
saying out there? Avon held his peace. You know
what he's saying? This is what he's saying. And
Avon said nothing. He said nothing. He stood right
there and watched his two boys die under the judgment of God.
He didn't say That's commitment. He was silent before God. You
know, Joseph summed this thing up. In our lives, in our lives,
a lot of things gonna come to pass—good times, bad times, times of joy, times of sorrow,
great trials, all these things. But let me tell you something. There may be second, third, fourth,
fifth, or sixth causes, but Almighty God, if he's your Father and
Christ is your Redeemer, he's the first cause of everything
that happens in your life and mine. Now, that's just right. There ain't no argument with
that. He's the first cause. And that's
what Joseph said. when Joseph was so ill-treated
by his brethren. You know how they treated him.
You know the suffering. You read about it anyway. The
suffering through which Joseph went because of those ten boys.
I mean intense suffering. Prison. The pit. Slavery. And when they finally stood before
him, he said, they were scared to death. He said, I'm not angry
with you. I'm not angry with you. You meant it for evil. My God made it for good. Can
we get a hold of that? That's peace. That's peace. That's the result of peace. It's
communion with Him. Communion. Confidence. Confidence. Contentment. And I know it's difficult. I
know it's difficult. I'm preaching to me. I'm not
just preaching to you. One of the old writers says sometimes
it's easier to present a contented attitude when a son dies than it is for
such a small thing as you've read at breaking a china plate.
Sometimes the big things we can We can demonstrate more contentment
than in the little things. The little things that snap the
thread. It's the little things that turn
us into raging infernos. It's the little things, day by
day, that are hard to cope with. I know. You say, how do you know
me so well? I just know me. I know you. That's fine, that peace, contentment,
and then commitment. It's all right, Job said the
Lord gave and the Lord taken away. Blessed be the name of
the Lord. That's commitment. All right,
last of all, how you gonna maintain this? Well, wouldn't it be wonderful
if you could just stay in an atmosphere like this all the
time? That'd be something, but it's not to be. In the morning,
it's going to be different, isn't it? Wouldn't it be a blessing to
have no one about you but people who love Christ, talked about
Christ, talked about—nobody would ever take his name in vain, nobody
ever swear, curse, give you a hard time, just have people around
you, this believer's family. Wouldn't that be wonderful? It's
not to be. It's not to be. Tomorrow, all
this week, I'm going to another meeting. I'll just be around
believing. You're going out there and face them. And they're tough,
aren't they? Boy, wouldn't it be wonderful
to have all your needs miraculously met by God? Just like the manna
falling out of the sky. Just go pick it up. But that
ain't the way it is. No, you plant your beans and
they dry up. You go out here and thorns come
up. You work hard to do something, and it just folds up. That's the way it is. God said,
by the sweat of your brow, you're going to earn your bread. And
the thorns and thistles are going to come up. Wouldn't it be great
never to encounter the old nature again? Your old nature, I'm talking
about, and not just everybody else's. You know, we talk about
being around people with whom we work. They're around us, too. And there's in here, you know
what I'm talking about. Never to encounter that old man.
But it's not so. You're going to meet him before
the night's over. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be eternally
young? Never to hurt anymore. Never to be sick. Never to weep. No more pain. Never grow old.
I was down at Crossfield, Tennessee in a meeting, two or three, when
Paul was there. Y'all remember Paul was there.
One of my friends walked up to me down there and said, Henry,
you're looking well. I said, Floyd, I said, there's three
stages of life. There's youth, there's middle
age, and there's you're looking well. And I have arrived. Not only did he say it, another
fellow came up and said, you're looking well. Wouldn't it be wonderful to stay...
I'm going to be eternally young someday. Our youth shall be renewed
like the eagles. But how are we going to maintain
it? Well, turn to Psalm 37. And let me just give you something
here and I'll quit. Here are eight precepts that
will help us every day. Psalm 37. I call them the eight
precepts of David. I'll just give them to you briefly
and you can do with them what you want to later. Verse one,
fret not. Fret not. That's how we maintain
this peace. Now, I know the Lord enables
us to believe, but we believe. The love of God's shared in our
hearts for the Holy Ghost, but Christ said, I command you to
love each other. So, and I know that it's the
grace of God that enables us to do anything, but God has commanded
us to do some things, and here's one. He said, don't pray. Fret
not thyself because of evildoers. Don't be envious against the
workers of iniquity. Don't do that. Then verse 3. Trust in the Lord. Trust Him. Trust Him. Did you ever, when your little
child was little, start across a busy street and feel that little
hand creep up in your hand and you grip it tightly and the little
child just skip, won't even look either way, just skip across
the street? Why? I trust you. That's why I love you. I trust
you. Number three, verse four, delight thyself in the Lord.
We are happy believers. Well, all believers are happy.
Well, some are happier than others. That's right. And it, you know,
love begets love. Friendliness begets friendliness,
and happiness begets happiness. So delight thyself in the Lord.
Verse five. Here's the fourth one. Commit
your way unto the Lord. Trust Him. He'll bring it to
pass. He'll bring it to pass in His own time for your good.
Just commit your work. Commit it to Him. Can you do
that? Verse seven. Here's the fifth one. And rest
in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. You know, most every
mess I've ever gotten in was getting in a hurry. A lady wrote
me this week from up in West Virginia. a television listener. And she said, well, she wrote
some time ago, a few weeks ago, and told me her husband died.
Virginia Campbell's her name. She said, my husband died, and
it was a severe blow, and I wrote to her. And so she's a good way
of smashing it. I wrote to her a letter, and
then she wrote me back this past week. And she said, Brother Henry,
she said, my husband was 61. I'm 59. And she said, I'm just,
I have no children. And she said, I'm just lost without
him. But she said, I've got a problem.
She said, I have some money and I have some property. And she
said, I don't want it. I don't want it just to be wasted.
I want God's, I want to be used for God's work. I want it to
be given to God. She said, what should I do? Write
me some advice. What do you think I wrote her?
First thing. I said, wait, don't get in a
hurry. I said, out there, there's so
many people waiting to take advantage of you, to mistreat you. You're just 59 years old. Wait
on the Lord. Don't do nothing until he gives
you some definite leadership. Isn't that good advice? That's
what he's saying here. He says here, rest in the Lord
and wait patiently. Don't be, fret not yourself because
of him who prospers in the way and so forth. Just rest. Wait. Don't get in a hurry. And then
the sixth one, verse eight, cease from anger. Forsake wrath. Don't try to get even. Don't
try to, just You know, if someone does you a misdeed or whatever,
misunderstanding, and you want to make them pay, make them hurt,
make them suffer, leave it alone. Isn't that right, Paul? Just
leave it alone. Vengeance going on, let God take
care of that. He said, I'll repay. I'm the
Lord. Vengeance is mine. It's not yours.
Just cease from anger. Just cease. I'm not going to
do you any good or anybody else. A man made a statement to me. He said,
Folks, most folks don't care how much you know unless they
know how much you care. That's pretty good. Folks don't
care how much you know unless they know how much you care. The wrath of man never did work
the righteousness of God. Now it never has, it never will. You come to the knowledge of
grace and your children don't understand it, don't believe
it, your friends and family, don't get mad at them, it ain't
going to do any good. It's not going to accomplish
the righteousness of God. You're not going to force-feed
grace to nobody. It's going to be revealed to
them just like it was revealed to you. So you might as well
cease from anger. And the fellows on the job that make fun of your
good, sovereign grace beliefs and those things, you might want
to cease from anger, because you're not going to accomplish
one thing by fussing and fighting and arguing. So just cease from
it and be at peace. Fellow wants to go to hell, let
him go. Isn't that right? If a fellow doesn't want to believe
God, let him believe, let him worship his idols. cease from anger, be at peace.
Verse 27, here's the seventh one, verse 27, depart from evil
and do good, and dwell forevermore. Depart from evil. Just walk in holiness, honesty,
honesty, truth. Speak the truth. Verse 34, wait
on the Lord. and keep his way, and he'll exalt
thee to inherit the land when the wicked are cut off. Thou
shalt see it. Read on. I've seen the wicked
in great power spreading himself like a green bay tree. He passed
away. He passed away, and he was not.
Yea, I sought him, but he couldn't be found. But you mark that mature
man, and behold that upright man. The end of that man is peace. Grace and peace from God the
Father and our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Thank you, Paul. This is saying number, hymn number
287. Number 287. I'm going to ask
you to go back to the back door and greet
the people. Stand with me and we'll sing,
just sing this first verse and that'll be our benediction. Like a river glorious, it's got
perfect peace. For we're all victorious in its
pride and greed. Perfect yet it's slower, fuller
every day. Perfect yet His throne with people
all the way. State upon Jehovah, our sparkly
way.

The Lord Our Peace

What does the Bible say about the Lord being our peace?

How do we know Christ is our peace?

Why is peace important for Christians?

How can Christians maintain peace in their lives?

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The Lord Our Peace

What does the Bible say about the Lord being our peace?

How do we know Christ is our peace?

Why is peace important for Christians?

How can Christians maintain peace in their lives?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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