We sang the song, to begin with,
There is a Fountain by William Cowper. He's a great songwriter. But when we sang that fifth stanza,
I just about got a little choked up. says when this poor, lisping,
stammering tongue lies silent in the grave. A lot of folks from this congregation,
their tongues lie silent in the grave. And we just lost another
one. We'll bury him Tuesday. And he
His tongue is silent, but then in a nobler, he says, sweeter
song, I'll sing thy power to save. And I think about the saints
of God who've gone before us, and so many of them out of this
congregation, I've seen several go, and of course through the
years you've seen many others. But they're not silent. They're singing. And they're
worshiping in heaven. And I was thinking about Brother
Kerry. In his weakness, how he's been
unable to join us for public worship. But he isn't weak anymore. And he's fully well. And he sings
the songs of Zion. He sings praises to the Lamb
of God who bought him, who redeemed him. And I tell you, there's
a sweetness that the child of God can look forward to, a joy
that awaits us when we leave this life. the joys seeing and being with
Christ, which the scripture says is far better than anything down
here. And as far as Brother Kerry,
these other dear brethren and sisters that we've had to say
goodbye to for a little while, it's hard to let them go. But oh, how Delightful their
existence is in heaven. And we rejoice in their home
going because all the afflictions of this life, all the struggles
with sin, that's all in the past. Forever more bliss. Go with me to Hebrews 13 again. Hebrews chapter 13, I wanna sort
of pick up where I left off this evening. Our subject is the God
of peace. And every time I look at this passage
of scripture, I just, I see so much. And I expect probably the
next two or three messages are gonna come. Out of these verses
it says, Hebrews 13, 20, 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. The life of a child of God is
a life of rest and peace, on the one hand, and warfare and
fighting on the other hand. I'm thankful for the peace that
we have. We have a peace that the Spirit
of God gives us that all is well between us and a holy God. We
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, the scripture
says. The blood of the cross of Christ
answered all of the all of the demands of justice against us. We were laden with guilt. We had multiplied transgressions
we committed against God. Sins without and sins within. But our Lord Jesus answered for
those. The scripture says an awful penalty
for sin. The wages of sin is death. Somebody
has to die. It's either gonna be a substitute,
a suitable substitute, or the sinner himself or herself. Somebody's
gonna die. Because the law of God said the
soul that sinneth shall die. Our Lord Jesus stepped in for
us. For all of his people, all the
father covenant did with him in everlasting grace. He stepped
in and said, take me instead. And he lived for us and he died
for us upon the cross of Calvary. As I said, he answered all the
demands of justice against us. Justice is strict. We have no
idea how rigid the law and the justice of God are, but I know
this, it demands perfection. Just the least breakage of the
law of God requires death. But there is no death to the
child of God because our Lord Jesus has died for us. That's
the glorious doctrine of substitution. I've often said, and I'll say
it, almost say it in every path, every message, at least if I
don't use these exact words, I certainly present these truths,
the doctrines of substitution and satisfaction, the most glorious
doctrines there are. If you want to find peace for
your soul, you'll only find it in the substitutionary satisfying
death of the Lord Jesus. How can God be at peace with
you? How can you be at peace with
God? How can God have anything to do with you? How can you have
anything to do with God? God's holy, righteous, and undefiled,
and pure. You're anything but those things,
and so am I. And yet through our Lord Jesus,
through His labor, through His work, through His death, through
His sufferings, through His dealing with God for us, all is well
between us and God. There is no more barrier. The great barrier between us
and God was the mountain of our sin, but that's been removed. It's gone. We sing the chorus,
gone, gone, gone, gone. Yes, my sins are gone. Buried
in the deepest sea. And the chorus says, yes, that's
good enough for me. It's good enough for God. It's good enough for God. Everything
Christ did was good enough for God. The evidence of that is
he arose from the dead. In fact, right here in this passage
of Scripture, now the God of peace, how do we know He's the
God of peace to us? How do we know He's the God who
established peace? How do we know God is satisfied? How do we know God's law has
been honored? We know it this way. He brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus. That's how we know. There's
our peace right there. That's where our consolation
is. That's where we have full assurance of faith. Everything
God demanded, Christ has presented to him, and our Lord Jesus said,
it's finished, he died, God raised him from the grave, God exalted
him, said, sit here at my right hand, till I make all your enemies
your footstool. That's the evidence that everything
he did was done to God's satisfaction and met God's approval. And we
find rest in Christ. Listen, there's no rest in laboring. There's no rest in doing the
deeds of the law, thinking that's how you'll be justified with
God. There's no rest in wondering, well, have I prayed enough? Have
I read enough? Have I been good enough? Have
I done this enough? Have I done that enough? There's
no rest in any of those things. The only rest for your poor soul
and my poor soul is to be found in Christ Jesus, who satisfied
God completely. There's no peace anywhere else. That's the reason God says, there
is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. They can't have any
real peace in their hearts that all is well with God because
they're not looking to the suitable Savior. They're not looking to
His righteousness. They're not looking to His blood.
But that sinner who is brought by the Spirit of grace to rest
their poor soul in the hands and in the care of the Lord Jesus,
to look to his bloody sacrifice for all of their salvation, to
find in him everything they need, they have rest in the heart that
all is well with God. All is peaceful. Oh brother,
top lady wrote, in a complete atonement, thou hast made into
the utmost farthing paid whate'er thy people owed. How then can
wrath on me take place if sheltered in thy righteousness and washed
in thy blood? We find rest for our souls in
Christ. There's no rest to be found anywhere
else. And if you find yourself miserable,
and if you find yourself worrying about things regarding you and
God, I'll tell you this, you'll only find rest for your soul
in Christ Jesus and his work of redemption. And I say cease
from your labors. Now cease from work and just
stop that now. Stop struggling. and just lean
on Him. Could you do that? You know,
we can only do it by the power of the Spirit of God. It's the
only way we can do that. But if we can just cast ourselves
upon the Son of God and see Him who has finished the work, if
we see Him as that satisfaction of God's justice, then we'll
have some peace in here. and we'll have some rest. And yet at the same time, while
we're a people who have rest and peace with God, we also understand
we're in a warfare. We're in a battle. Now this isn't
a battle for our salvation. This isn't a fight. for a right
standing before God. That's already been established
by Christ Jesus. Now, you've got to understand
this. We're justified by his blood. We're justified by the grace
of God. We're justified through the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus, freely imputed to us. But as believers, we're involved
in wrestlings, fightings, warfare. Ephesians 6 says, we wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places. We're in a battle. You're in a battle every day.
As am I. Look, let me show you two references.
Look at 1 Timothy chapter six. Look at 1 Timothy chapter six. Here are some wise words given
to a young preacher. His name is Timothy. Look at 1 Timothy chapter six. The writer is the apostle Paul. He is led of the Spirit of God
to write two letters to Timothy. He says here in 1 Timothy chapter
six, he warns him. He says in chapter six verse
10, for the love of money is the root of all evil. Money is
not the root of all evil, but the love of it. The desire, absolute
craving it. Having an affection toward it.
The love of money is the root of all evil, which, while some
coveted after, they have erred from the faith. In other words,
materialism became more important to them than the things of God.
And they've erred from the faith and pierced themselves, watch
it, pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou,
O man of God, Run away from these things. Flee these things. And
I know he's writing to a preacher, but this is appropriate for all
of God's people. Flee these things. Watch it.
Follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness,
Now look at verse 12. Fight the good fight of faith. A preacher just said we're to
rest. We're to rest in Christ and find peace in him. Absolutely. And yet we are in a warfare.
Fight the good fight. Fight the good fight of faith. What is involved in this? Lay
hold on eternal life. Take hold of it. mean business. When you take
hold of something, you mean business. I wish I could find more people
who mean business about the things of God. Take hold, lay hold of
eternal life like it means something to you. Take hold of Christ like
He's your all in all. Take hold of the truths of God's
Word like they're vital to you. Lay hold of eternal life, whereunto
thou art also called and hast professed a good profession before
many witnesses. Fight the good fight of faith.
And it's interesting that go to the second letter that he
wrote to Timothy. He had this to say about fighting. A good fight in chapter four,
2 Timothy chapter four. Look at verse six. He says, for
I am now ready to be offered. The time of my departure is at
hand. I have fought a good fight. I have fought a good fight. In
verse Timothy, he said, you fight a good fight. And now he is at
the end of his road. And he said, I have fought a
good fight. And I finished my course. And
I've kept the faith. Henceforth, there's laid up for
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, shall give me at that day. Well, I guess that's just
a very special crown afforded to a few special people in the
kingdom of God. No, that belongs to everybody
because it then says, and not to me only, but unto all them
that love his appearing. Who's that? That's all of his
children. The crown of righteousness is
laid up for all of God's people. Fight the good fight of faith. We're in a battle. We're in a
warfare. We've enlisted. We've enlisted
under the captain of our salvation. And we understand he has finished
the work of redemption. He has battled our enemies for
us and he has conquered them all. But we also understand that
as we live our lives, there's a daily battle which we're gonna
be involved in. A battle against the flesh. The flesh wars against the spirit. There's a battle against the
world. There's a battle against the devil. There's a battle against
the enemies of the truth. This warfare, fight the good
fight. Let me tell you what it involves.
It involves us taking a stand for the gospel of Christ Jesus.
It involves us guarding this place where the word of truth
is raised up. And we are protective of this. We're protective of the worship
here. We're protective of the Word
of God. The church is said to be the
pillar and the ground of the truth. We stand for the truth. We don't just let anybody in
here. We don't just allow anybody to
come behind this pulpit and speak to us. We're very particular
about the message we want to hear. It's got to honor God. It's got to abase all men. It's
got to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. It's got to be a message that
brags on God and puts us in the dust. And we stand for that gospel. We fight the good fight. It's
a good fight of faith. It's an ongoing warfare. We fight
against not being contented in the times of affliction. You
really have to battle that. And I think that's a warfare
we forget about, that we're also in that kind of warfare when
the flesh is weak, when disease comes in, when sickness attacks
us by the will and purpose of God. It's easy for us to get
down in the dumps. It's easy for us to get sad.
But we gotta fight against that. Fight against that tendency toward
being low in your spirits. And remember, Christ is on the
throne. The things that are befalling
us are according to his will. And fight against that urge of
discontentment. Fight against that urge to dishonor
God with your words. And you find yourself murmuring
against his good providence. I'm telling you, we're in a warfare.
We're in a warfare. But in the midst of this warfare,
how wonderful it is to know, as I said this morning, that
there is one who is not opposed to us. In fact, not only is he
not opposed to us, he's for us. He's for us. And He's the God
of peace. Look with me in Romans chapter
eight. God is for us. Several years ago, I was going
through a bit of a difficult time. I received a phone call from
a preacher much older than myself, Scott Richardson. Just had a
few words for me and he said, I just want you to know this,
Jim, I'm for you. And that just helped me to know
he was for me. But I've got somebody for me
much greater than any other flesh and blood. The Lord is for me. He's always been for me. Years ago when I was at UPS,
I'd preach one Friday and a black preacher preached next Friday.
And he was preaching one day and he said, I tell you, God's
in your corner. I thought, that's not a bad way
to put it either. God's in your corner. Look at
this, Romans chapter eight. And we know that all things work
together. Verse 28, of course. And we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose, for whom he did
foreknow those he did forelove. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Whom he did predestinate, them
he also called. Literally, he named them. And whom he named, them he also
justified. He named us when he wrote our
names down in the Lamb's Book of Life. And you thought your
parents just picked your name out at random. God named you
before the world began. He puts your name in the Lamb's
Book of Life. You got a beautiful name, whatever
your name is, it's a wonderful name. God ordained it for you. and whom he justified, them he
also glorified. What shall we then say to these
things? You're talking about foreknowledge,
that's loving foreordination. You're talking about predestination.
You're talking about calling. You're talking about justification.
You're talking about glorification. What shall we say to all of these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all? How shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Do you think anybody can lay
any charge against you and it'll stick? It can't be. It isn't that all
charges have been dropped. Now watch it. All charges have
not been dropped. All charges have been paid for. God couldn't just drop them.
God couldn't just erase them and pretend they never happened.
They've been answered for, they've been paid for. No charges, no
charges. The woman that the Pharisees
brought and threw down at the Savior's feet. That story, the
way it ends, of course you know they all began to leave. Those
men began to leave from the eldest to the youngest. Then our Lord
was back down on the ground writing something. He looked up. He said,
and it wasn't anybody left but Him and the woman. He said, woman,
where are those thine accusers? She said, no man, Lord. He said,
neither do I condemn thee. What precious words. Neither
do I condemn thee. And the Lord doesn't condemn
us, and therefore nobody else can condemn us. No charge sticks against us,
because God has justified us. And look at 34, who is he that
condemneth? It's Christ that died. When Satan
accuses you of being a vile sinner, just say, yeah, you're right.
I am, and the half hadn't been told. But who can condemn me
since Christ has died? And when your own conscience
smites you, and makes you feel low and you think, surely I can't
be saved to have the kind of thoughts that I have and the
inclinations I have and the motivations I have when your own flesh accuses
you. Say, now wait a minute. My Bible
says, who is he that condemneth? And just tell your own soul to
just shut its mouth. because somebody else has already
answered for your sins, and that's your savior. He died, yea rather,
he's risen again, he's even at the right hand of God, who also
makes intercession for us. Listen, God is to us the God
of peace. Now to be sure, he is not the
God of peace to everybody. Go over to Exodus chapter 15.
Exodus chapter 15. This is the first and this is
the oldest song in the Bible. The first and the oldest song
in the Bible is here in Exodus chapter 15. Look at verse one. Then sang
Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and
spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed
gloriously. The horse and his rider hath
he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song,
and he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will prepare
him in habitation. My Father's God, and I will exalt
him. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord, Jehovah, that's his
name. That's his name. The Lord is
a man of war. And remember what Moses said
to the people, turn back in the previous chapter, chapter 14. And here's the Egyptians coming
up behind them. And look at verse 13, chapter
14, verse 13. And Moses said unto the people,
fear ye not, stand still. But they're coming, stand still. There's a time to move and there's
a time to stand still. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. And see, that's what they're
singing about over here. He's become my salvation. So
he says, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which
he will manifest, he'll show you today. For the Egyptians
whom you've seen today, you shall see them again no more forever. Why not? Verse 14, the Lord shall
fight for you. He's a man of war and he's gonna
fight for you and you'll hold your peace. This is not about
what you're going to do for God. It's what God's going to do for
you. And see, that's what salvation is. If we could learn that. Isn't
that a cooperative act? They couldn't do anything to
help their cause. They're in a hard spot. They're
between a rock and a hard place. There's nowhere to go. Just stand
still then. And watch what God does. And here we are in our sinfulness,
in our awful spiritual dilemma. What am I gonna do? Stand still,
see what God does. See how he sends his son. See
how his son suffers, bleeds and dies. See how his son answers
justice for you. See how he drinks the cup of
wrath dry. Stand still, see the salvation
of the Lord. Well, you know what happened.
And go over to verse 26. And the Lord said unto Moses,
now, getting ready for the end of this now, stretch out thine
hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians,
who of course had followed the Israelites right on into the
Red Sea, into the path. The waters may come again upon
the Egyptians, upon their chariots and upon their horsemen. And
Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned
to his strength when the morning appeared, and the Egyptians fled
against it, and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of
the sea, because even though they fled, they can't outrun
divine judgment. You cannot outrun divine judgment. And the waters returned and covered
the chariots and the horsemen. and all the host of Pharaoh that
came into the sea after them, there remained not so much as
one of them. Not one enemy remained. Our Lord
Jesus conquered all of our enemies at the cross. Not one of them
remains to give a serious threat to his people. Look at verse
29. But the children of Israel walked
on dry land in the midst of the sea, The waters were a wall unto
them on their right hand and on their left. Thus, the Lord
saved Israel. Oh, what about that? You see,
the Lord saved Israel. The Lord saved Israel that day
out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians
dead upon the seashore, just washing up on the seashore, all
these bodies. And Israel, Israel saw that great
work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians and the people
feared the Lord and believed the Lord. Here's the two results,
fear and faith. There's the two results, fear
and faith. They believed the Lord and they
believed his servant Moses. And then Moses said, let's sing. Let's sing a song of redemption. And they struck out singing. About the Lord being a man of
war. Wait a minute, a man. Oh, is
this not foretaste of our Lord Jesus coming into this world,
a man? A man is gonna go to war, and
he's gonna go to war against all of these enemies, and you
know who is gonna go to war for us? He's gonna go to war for
Israel, for his true Israel. And we just stand and watch with
mouths wide open, said, you mean he did that for me? You mean
he loved me to that degree? You mean he washed all my sins
away? There's no good in me. Lord, why you do this? And the
Lord says, I know there's no goodness in you, but I'm gonna
give you my righteousness because my son died in your stead. He
saved you. He saved you when he died. That's
why I sent my spirit to you and he came to you through the preaching
of the gospel to assure you the work has been done to God's full
satisfaction by Christ Jesus. This is the Lord Jesus. He went
to war for us. And I'll give you one more reference,
Psalm 24. Psalm 24. The Lord Jesus, that
blessed man of war. The one who is eminently qualified
for warfare. He went to war for us. He had
absolute wisdom. He had absolute power. He had
absolute strength. He had absolute courage. He didn't
faint in the day of battle. Sometimes we do. Sometimes some
of the Lord's servants faint in the day of battle, but not
the servant of Jehovah. Not our Lord Jesus Christ, who
is a man of war. He had all the power of God with
him. He had the power of the Spirit.
He withstood all of the insults of Satan and all
of the attacks of his enemies. He bore up under all of them
and though his own heel was bruised, he crushed the head of the enemy.
He crushed the head of Satan and he washed our sins away.
He's a man of war. Having died, he was buried and
he rose again the third day 40 days later, he ascended to heaven,
and here's the scene. Psalm 24, verse seven. Lift up
your heads, O ye gates. And be ye lift up, ye everlasting
doors, and the King of glory shall come in, in triumph. Isaiah says in Isaiah 65, where'd
you get the blood on your clothes? It's the blood of my enemies. And he whipped them all. And now he goes to heaven. The
question is raised in verse eight, who is this king of glory? The
answer comes back, the Lord, strong and mighty. The Lord,
mighty in battle. He went to battle for us. If that doesn't break your heart,
here's a man, the God man, who came down here and he entered
into a skirmish for you and me. He took on every enemy of our
souls and He defeated them all. He's the victor. To the victor
goes the crowns. To the victor goes the glory.
Who is this King of glory? He's the Lord, strong and mighty. He had to be strong and mighty
to win that battle. The Lord mighty in battle, lift
up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting
doors, the King of glory is coming in. And that day when he came
back and the Father said, sit here at my right hand, don't
you know all the hosts of heaven, all of the angels, all of the
Old Testament saints, they all stood and sang in adoration as
the King came home, the King, and lo and behold, he's the man
Christ Jesus. He's the man, a man of war, who
went to battle for us. And the father said, take the
honored position. And that's where he is today,
at honored position. His universal, sovereign authority
over everything and everybody. And he's the one who has to speak
peace. to our hearts and tell us over
and over again, everything's all right. You remember what
the Lord told Isaiah to tell his people? I quoted this as talking to Janet just the other night, Thursday
night, I quoted this to her. The Lord told Isaiah, said, say
ye to the righteous, it shall be well with thee. It shall be well. Can't be anything
wrong because the man of war, he's conquered all your foes.
And you find rest in him. And then you step up for the
fight and fight the good fight of faith. God help us to do that. God give
us strength. Let's sing it closer.