chapter 13 again. I've been working
on this verse and studying it and bringing some messages, especially
from the first few words of this verse, and I'd like to do so
again this morning. And our subject will be peace
with God. Peace with God. You know that
word, peace, it's such a heavenly word. It's such a delightful
word. Peace with God is the subject,
and the words here say in verse 20, now the God of peace, now
the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord
Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood
of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good
work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing
in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. A God of peace. And that which
we want is peace with this God. a heavenly word, this word peace. You know, when God created Adam,
Adam was at perfect peace with God. That word peace, it takes in
much more meaning than just knotted warfare, but it means fellowship,
getting along, friendship, communion. And that's the way it was between
Adam and God, and then God in mercy gave Adam a helpmeet. Her name was later revealed to
be Eve, the mother of all living. The both of them enjoyed blessed
peace with God. I can't imagine how sweet the
fellowship was with Adam and Eve and with God during ever
how long it was that they stood innocent before God. But that
time of peace ended. And enmity was found to be existent
in the heart of Adam. God had laid down one law One great commandment. And it was of every fruit of
the trees of the garden thou mayest eat and eat without reservation. But there is a tree, he called
it the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Don't eat the fruit
of that. For in the day ye eat thereof,
you'll surely die. All fellowship between us will
end. All communion between us will
end. And I don't know how long Adam
and Eve stood in that innocence in which God created them, but
there came a day when Adam rebelled against God, and in that instance,
make no mistake about it, man went to war with God. That great transgression of Adam,
It was a very pivotal thing because he didn't act as a private individual. He was the representative of
all of the race that God would create. And in that moment when
Adam transgressed God's law, he immediately declared war against
God. His attitude was, in eating of
that forbidden fruit, God will no longer tell me what to do. I will be the master of my own
destiny and my own fate. I'll be my own God. I'll be my
own Lord. No longer will God have any authority
over me. Man went to warfare against God. Therefore, we read in Romans
chapter 8, the natural mind is enmity against God. The word enmity means hostile. There's great hostility in the
heart of every man and woman and boy and girl against God. We're very much opposed to God.
That is, we're very much opposed to God being God as an authority
and as the ruler. Now, we don't mind God dispensing
His favors. Everybody likes a God who gives
mercies and who gives good things to us. But it's God being God,
God being sovereign. God being the ruler who does
as he pleases, that's the God we have difficulty with, and
that's the God man is declared warfare against. It was this
very issue that was at the heart of the fall. Who's to have dominion? Who's going to have control?
Who is going to have authority? The Bible says of our God that
He's a ruler of all things and all things are in His hands to
dispose of according to His will. Nebuchadnezzar said he rules
among the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou?
And that's the very issue that man has with God. I don't like
God's sovereignty. He can bless me. He can give
me gifts. He can give me life. He can give
me all these wonderful things that I enjoy, but I don't want
God being God, God determining what's going to happen to me
and to you and to everybody else. Man says that's not fair. That's
the issue that man has with God. Man has rebelled against his
God. He will have God to be anywhere
else except on his the throne of grace and sovereignty. This was the issue that raised
the ill will of those people in Galilee when our Lord Jesus
was preaching to them. In Nazareth, He spoke about the
widows of Israel. But God only sent His preacher
to one widow, and she wasn't even an Israelite widow. She
was a Gentile widow. The widow of Sarepta. And Elijah
provided for that woman. He didn't provide for the needs
of any Jewish widow, only a Gentile widow. And people were getting
upset. And he said, and more than that,
he said there were many lepers in the day of Elisha. But unto
none of those lepers of Israel was my servant Elisha sent, but
unto a general who was a Syrian. He was a Gentile. And that man
was washed from his leprosy, and his skin was white as snow. And when the people heard of
distinguishing grace, when the people heard of sovereign mercy,
because that's what that is, They gnashed their teeth together
and they would have killed him right then and there, but he
escaped out of their midst. They didn't mind him healing
their sick. In fact, the people said to the
Lord Jesus, what you've done in Jerusalem and in Judea, why
don't you do here? Why don't you heal our sick folk? We've got lots of sick folk around
here. Why don't you heal them? And
in essence, He was saying, I heal whom I will. One day in John chapter 5, our
Lord was walking along a pool of water. Every once in a while
the waters were troubled by an angel. And whoever got into the
water was healed of their infirmity. And there was a man there, he
had been laying there 38 years. And he was lame. He had no ability
to get into the water and the water would be troubled and agitated
and somebody else would get in and they would be healed and
then the agitation of the water would stop. Nobody else would
be healed. And this man, he had been lame
for 38 years. And the Lord Jesus went that
way. And he was stepping over, here's
a sick one here and a sick one there. All kind of sicknesses,
all kind of diseases, all kind of bodily infirmities. And he
went to one man, just one. He could have healed them all
with not even a word. He could have willed the healing
of all of them, but he only healed one man. That lame man. And the Jews got upset with him.
Listen, this is the God who does as He pleases. And He doesn't
have to give an account of what He does to anybody. He doesn't
owe you an answer or reason for what He does, nor does He owe
an answer or reason to me for what He does. He's God. He does
as He wills. And this is the very issue that
men have with God, His absolute sovereignty. That's why people are upset.
They don't mind God sending rainfall in the summer upon their crops
and they say, oh, how good God is. They don't mind when God
sends a refreshing shower. They don't mind when God sends
a healing. You pray for somebody to be healed
and they're healed. They say, oh, how good God is. But then we begin to speak about
God in His absolute independent sovereignty. And when we say
God is sovereign, here's what we mean by sovereignty. God's
absolute independent right to do as He will with all of His
creation. He said to Moses, I will be merciful
to whom I'll be merciful, and whom I will, I'll harden. You
have a problem with that, Moses? He hardened the heart of Pharaoh,
and he softened the hearts of the Israelites. You say, well,
they were better people. No, they weren't better. They
were as vile as Pharaoh. But God in His sovereign mercy,
in His distinguishing mercy, He said, I'll show mercy to these
people though they don't deserve it, and this man over here, I'm
going to harden his heart. That's the sovereignty of God.
And this is when men went to war against God. And in pulpits
all around this world today, It's okay if you preach God is
a God of love in generalities. It's okay even to say God is
gracious in generalities. It's this specific grace and
specific love that people have an issue with. But here is the truth of the
matter. God owes us nothing but death and judgment and hell. That's what we naturally deserve,
all of us. And if God leaves all of us to
ourselves, we're going to perish. But God, for the glory of His
grace, before He ever made this world in which we live. He chose
a people unto salvation. He ordained them to be His sheep,
the sheep of His pasture. He gave them to Christ Jesus
in covenant love and mercy. He said to Christ Jesus, save
them, redeem them, rescue them, make them righteous, send the
spirit to them, send the preacher to them to tell them the truth,
woo them and win them, justify them, make them perfect through
your beauties and your comeliness, and bring them all safely home
to glory. And Christ Jesus accepted that
responsibility even before the foundation of the world. And
though men gnash their teeth on this doctrine, and they do,
Though men hate God being sovereign, and they do hate Him that way,
our God, He still shows mercy to whom He will, and whom He
wills, He'll harden. Now, what is your reaction to
that? Oh, that God would give us illumination of the heart and
renew our minds that we would cease this warfare against God
because we've engaged in a warfare we cannot win. If you stay in opposition to
God, you're going to be the loser forever. Forever! Well, what must I do? Bow down
to King Jesus. Fall at His feet. Seek His mercy. Seek His grace. Oh, you who are
defiled by nature just like me, I urge you, come to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Flee to Him. The storm of judgment
is brewing. Don't you see that? There's the
wrath of God that's out there. There's only one ark. There's only one ark of salvation. Oh, that God would draw you to
the ark of Christ Jesus, to see in Him all your poor soul needs
forever. You can't stand before God without
Him. I tell you the only place to
hide from God is to hide in God, Christ Jesus. You must flee to
Him for everlasting salvation. Be done with your rebellion.
Oh God, I'm sorry. Oh God, I repent. This is a day
when repentance is something that's been tossed by the wayside. But we've been wrong, folks.
We're wrong. We've been wrong against God.
We've been wrong against everything! And about everything. Wrong about who He is, wrong
about what we are, wrong about the way to come to God. Acknowledge
that you're wrong! That's hard to do. It's hard
to say, I'm sorry. I was wrong. But that's what
we've got to say to God from the heart. Lord, I've been wrong. I've been fighting against you. I've been at war with you. And
Lord, I'm sorry. and I flee to the Savior and
I know you don't owe me anything. You don't owe me life, you don't
owe me freedom, you don't owe me salvation, you don't owe me
everlasting life, but I flee to Christ Jesus and I wait here
for the touch of His scepter. If you will, you can save me.
If you will, you can forgive me. If you will, you can take
me to glory. If you will, Lord, here I bow
at your feet and I wait right here. Doesn't that sound like
the wisest thing to do? And stop your warfare. You see, I know God is the God
of peace. He's the God of peace. And there is a way for us to
be at peace with God. There is a way to have peace
with God. I want it. Don't you? I want
this peace. And I'll tell you what, I believe
I got it. I believe I've got this peace,
even though I was born in hostility against God. I think I do. I believe I do. In fact, I know,
according to the Word of God, I have this peace with God, and
it's due to the fact that God is the God of peace. I know He's
angry with the wicked every day. There's no question about that.
I know our God is consuming fire. He is also the God of peace. I want to know how can God be
the God of peace to me? I want to know how I can have
peace with God. I want to direct your attention
to Luke, the second chapter. Luke, the second chapter. You say, Jim, this is a Christmas
passage of Scripture. No, this is a passage of Scripture
suitable for every day of the year. Here is a glorious portion
of Scripture that speaks about the incarnation of our Lord Jesus. May I begin reading with you
from Luke, the second chapter, and verse seven. Luke chapter two in verse seven,
and she brought forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling
clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for
them in the inn. And there were in the same country
shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock
by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord
came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about
them, and they were sore afraid. The angel said to these men,
feared not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy. I'm here to preach the gospel
to you, which shall be to all people, all kinds of people.
For unto you is born this day, the word is, is has been, he's
been born. For unto you has been born in
the city of David a Savior, Christ the Lord. And this shall be a
sign unto you. He shall find the babe wrapped
in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And then suddenly there
was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising
God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace. Oh, there's that heavenly word. And on earth peace, good will
toward men. What is the message of the Incarnation? We listen to all kinds of sermons
at Christmas time and preachers have different ideas on the message
of the Incarnation. Well, here's the what the Bible
has to say. Here's what the angels have to
say about the incarnation. The message of the incarnation
is peace on earth. What is this peace? What is this
peace? It's peace with God. That's what
it is. It's people being at peace with
God, even though they still live on this earth. You see, the message
of the Incarnation is not political peace. It's not civil peace. The message of the Incarnation
is not even domestic peace. It is not carnal peace of any
kind. Actually, our Lord Jesus said
to those who believe the Gospel, He said, I came not to send peace,
but a sword. And so these people who say,
you know, the message of the birth of Jesus Christ is peace
throughout the world, peace between nations, peace between enemies,
peace between husband and wife that have been separated, peace
in the family. That's not the message of the
Incarnation. The message of the Incarnation
is peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the
message. The peace which has come to this
earth, the peace which the angels announced to the shepherds on
that night outside of Bethlehem is the Lord Jesus Christ because
Ephesians chapter two and verse 14 says, He is our peace. He's our peace. On earth, peace. Peace. Jesus Christ, our daisman, our mediator, our substitute,
has made peace between us ungodly enemies and rebels and a holy
God. And He did so by the blood of
His cross. What kind of peace is it? It's
a legal peace. It's a legal peace. Something
had to be done about our sins. Our sins deserve death because
the wages of sin, that's what it is. It's death. The wages
of sin is death. Something had to be done. Something
had to be done to satisfy God's justice and God's holiness. Our Lord Jesus, therefore, He
stood as the substitute of all of His people and all of the
sins of all of the saints of God for all of the ages were
made to meet on Him. And He bore the wrath of God
in our stead. He drank the cup of damnation
dry and thus brought in for us everlasting peace with God. We have peace with God, Romans
chapter 5 and verse 1, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Understand this, God could not
just say, okay, everything's alright between all of you rebels
and me. We'll just pretend like it never
happened. Men, forget about God's holiness. God's righteous character. He's
too strict not to punish every sin wherever He finds it. When He found it on His only
begotten Son, He punished Him. And if He finds it upon you,
He's gonna punish you. That's for sure, He's gonna punish
you forever. This is a legal peace, a legal
peace. Our Lord Jesus suffered in the
stead, in the room, and in the place of His people. He died
that God might be just and justify the ungodly. This is a legal
peace. And I'll tell you something else
about this peace. It's not only a legal peace, it's a lasting
peace. It's a lasting peace. He'll never
have to die again. Once, once in the end of the
world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
Himself. He died one time for sin. Our Lord Jesus. And He established
peace between us and God. This is a legal peace and it's
a lasting peace. It's a peace that will have no
end. And I'm telling you, if in your poor Your poor soul,
if in your heart of hearts you lay hold of Jesus Christ, you
believe the Word of God that says, he that hath the Son hath
life. If you believe the Word of God,
you have a legal peace, for Christ died for you, and you have a
lasting peace. That faith God gave you is evidence
of that. And I say, come to Christ Jesus
now. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. And all of this peace is due
to the God of peace, who established the means of peace. You see,
it isn't that God left us. Oh no, He's right where He was
when we left Him. We're the ones who went astray. And we're the ones that have
got to be reconciled. We're the ones that have got
to be brought back. We're the ones for whom peace had to be
made, and peace has been made by the peacemaker. Is not one
of his names, what is it, Prince of Peace? He's the Prince of
Peace, who came as a result of the covenant of peace, sent by
the God of peace. And the gospel came to us by
the comforter of peace, the Holy Spirit. This is a legal peace
and this is a lasting peace. This is the peace of His propitiation. He is a propitiation for our
sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the
whole world. What does that mean, propitiation? Justice is satisfied. I was at war against God. My
hands were lifted up in rebellion against Him, and so were yours.
And I deserved everlasting hell, but the Lord Jesus, He came.
And as it were, pushed us out of the way and said, you deserve
to die, but I'm going to die for you. I'm going to suffer
the wrath of God for you. And he satisfied justice. He
drank the cup of damnation dry. God's justice is satisfied. What
is his peace? It's not only the peace of his
propitiation, it is the peace of his pardon. Here's what he
said, your sins, which are many, are all forgiven. They're all
washed away. All of them. Lord, all of them. I don't even know how many there
are. Well, every how many there are, they're all washed away
in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. My, what good news. This is a peace of pardon. God's
pardon. He doesn't hold it against us,
you see. All of these iniquities, all
of these transgressions, they've all been paid for. It's the peace
of His propitiation. It's the peace of His pardon.
And it's the peace of His providence. Because He's directing all things
to their appointed end. For His glory and for the good
of His people. And it's the peace of His presence.
He said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. And it's
the peace of His purpose. He said, all things are working
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose. Isn't that peaceful? This is
a peaceful message. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. And our Lord Jesus, He established
this peace, and He maintains this peace. I said, what is the
message of the Incarnation? Peace on earth between sinners
and a holy God. And here's the second thing,
and I'll give this to you. Once again reading here in Luke
2.14, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace. That's the
first message of the Incarnation. The second message is goodwill,
the goodwill of God toward men. What is the goodwill of God? What is the good will of God?
Well, this is the will Christ Jesus said He came to fulfill. He said, Lo, I come to do Thy
will, O God. What is the will? The good will
of God toward men. The good will of God is His everlasting
purpose. His everlasting determination
of grace. toward his people. The Holy Spirit
tells us exactly what his goodwill is. Christ said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will. This is the Father's good will, which sent me. That of all which
He's given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up at the
last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me. This is His good will. that every
one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting
life. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. In Adam, we fell out of friendship
and harmony with God. At Adam's fall, we declared war
against the Lord. We raised our hands against him.
The Lord comes to us with the gospel of peace. I had Ron read
there in Acts chapter 10, Peter is preaching in the house of
a Gentile, a man by the name of Cornelius. He came preaching
peace by Jesus Christ the Lord. That's how we have peace with
God. There's no other way. There's no other way because
nobody else can do business with God except Christ Jesus. And
He is our peace. And He made our peace by the
blood of His cross. Now I admonish you. I compel
you. Be reconciled to God. Oh, come
to Christ Jesus. Bless you and bless me and bless
all who are watching. And bring us effectually to Christ
Jesus. Enable us to see He is our peace. There's no peace to be found
anywhere else. And I'll tell you, if you go
out into eternity without Him who is the peace between men
and God, There'll never be any peace between you and God. Never. Never. And you'll forever be the object
of God's condemnation and God's judgment. Oh, God, bring us to
Christ Jesus. Oh! Lay hold of us with sovereign,
sovereign omnipotence! Because that's what it takes.
Bring us to the Savior and give us an awareness and a love for the
fact we have a legal peace and we have a lasting peace with
God. And no matter what we do, And
we sin numerous times every day. We don't make excuses for our
sins, but it's just a fact. Even believers. Believers sin. We sin all the time. In our minds,
in our motives. But we know we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus. And our sins, which are many,
they're all forgiven. All forgiven. Well, let's sing about the Lord's
grace to sinful people.