If you'd like to follow along
please turn to 2nd Thessalonians chapter 3 and verse 16 2nd Thessalonians chapter 3 verse
16 Now the Lord of peace himself
is give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all. The salutation of Paul with mine
own hand which is the token in every epistle so I write, the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. My subject today and my title
today is the word. Peace. Peace. In these days of protests and
riots and general turmoil, earthly peace is scarce. I mean, I hear them, and I understand
what they're saying. We want a peaceful protest, okay? I know what they mean. But the
definition of a protest is a protestation. Generally, it means you're against
something. Now, some people may be more
violently against something than others. And I've got nothing
against protests. They don't work with God, but
as far as this world is concerned, some protests have done some
nice things, some good things. You can't have a protest without
having a conflict with something. It's not a peaceful act. People
say, I don't like those protests. Well, the definition of a protest
is you're not supposed to like it. Maybe. I don't know. Some see peace as the absence
of war or the absence of conflict. And that's what we call, I'm
calling, earthly peace. It's not the peace of God, and
it's not the peace that Paul's writing of here. And unfortunately,
we humans haven't had an earthly peace since the early days in
the Garden of Eden. There's been one conflict after
another, one way or another. There have been wars and rumors
of wars, and there still are. It's like that old joke, y'all
heard this, about David David fought with Goliath. David fought
with the Philistines. David fought with the Edomites.
And David fought with the forces of Amalek. And you know what
the world draws from those facts. They draw David couldn't get
along with anyone. That's the way the world looks
at it. We live in conflict in this world. With the world around us. and
in ourselves. We argue, we fuss, and we fight
because there is no peace in this world, period, other than
the peace of Jesus Christ. Now, I want to get this out of
the way first so I can get to the good stuff. I'm going to
make a statement here. There is no peace. Let's specify, no true peace
for the unbeliever. For the unbeliever. Those who
do not know Jesus Christ have no peace, even if they think
they do. And they don't even know anything
about true peace. And here's the thing, an unbeliever
never will. Now, I know that's a bold statement,
but it's scripture. I'm not making that up. You don't
have to turn there. But in Isaiah 48, verse 22, and in Isaiah 57,
21, Isaiah wrote this. It's the word
of the Lord. There is no peace, saith the
Lord, unto the wicked. And in Isaiah 59, verse 8, he
said this, the way of peace They know not. And there is no judgment
in their goings. They have made them crooked paths. Whosoever goeth therein shall
not, shall not know peace. Now, I know I said unbeliever,
and Isaiah said the wicked. But take my word for it, they're
both the same thing. I said unbeliever because that's
what we're dealing with today. Isaiah said the wicked, but the
wicked don't know the way of truth. No peace, no peace, and
the way of peace they don't know. And then he said, God says, they
shall not know peace. The unbeliever doesn't know peace,
and he shall not. And the scripture doesn't lie.
Thus saith the word of God. Thus saith the Lord himself. If you think about it, Paul reiterates
this in Romans chapter 3. I might turn there for just a
second. Romans chapter 3, there's that
litany. about the both Jews and Gentiles
in verse 9, that they are all under sin. Then Paul starts. And all this is pretty much quoted
from the Old Testament. As it is written in the Old Testament,
there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become
unprofitable. And there is none that doeth
good, no, not one. Their throat's an open sepulcher
with their tongues they have used to see. The poison of abs
is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift, swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery
are in their ways. Then Paul says this, and the
way of peace have they not known. Why is destruction and misery
in their ways? They built crooked paths. They
built crooked paths. That's Jew and Gentile unbelievers. And he ends up with, there is
no fear of God before their eyes. The way of peace, they've not
known. They've not known. There is no peace for the unbelieving. There is no peace without the
faith of Jesus Christ. There is no peace without knowing
Jesus Christ. This is the thing. Unbelievers don't know the way
of peace. Jesus Christ is the way, the
truth, and the life. And no man cometh unto the Father
except by him. No man. The peace of God is the
fruit of the spirit. Says it. Third thing, love, joy,
peace. Peace. Because true peace is
not in a natural man, an unbelieving man. We all were there. If you
believe now, at one time you were an unbeliever. And I'm not gonna go into the
fact that if you believe now, there's still unbelief in you.
That's not what I'm talking about, because Paul is talking about
those who do believe Christ. And let me try and define this
piece. At least the word here. I looked
it up. You know the word peace here?
It translates as Peace. It does. But there's a couple
other things. And one of them in particular I really like.
It translates as peace. One of them, it translates quietness. Quietness. No strife, no conflict,
okay? But here's the one that got me
when I was looking at this. Another definition for peace
here, this word that Paul uses, is to set as one again. I like that. I like that. Now,
not to set as one, to be set as one. S-E-T. Oh, you understand. This is a work of God. This is
a work of God. We need to be set as one by God,
with God. Let's be clear. You understand?
The peace of God is entirely and completely one-sided. Man doesn't contribute anything
to this peace. Man doesn't contribute anything.
Man supplies nothing to this peace because the peace of God
is only known by believers because the peace of God is given to
believers by God. Now verse 16, 2 Thessalonians
chapter three, now the Lord of peace himself, himself. You understand, if you wanna
talk about peace, if you wanna talk about true peace, this is
the place you have to start. You gotta start with the Lord
of peace. You gotta start with the Lord of peace. You've got
to start, and I'll say it right now, you've got to start with
the person of Jesus Christ. Because without the Lord of peace,
there is no peace. Because the Lord of peace is
the source of peace. The word here is kurios, which
means the supreme. The supreme authority, the supreme
control. He is the supreme authority of
peace. I like that. John, see, Romans
16 verse 20 put it this way, and the God of peace shall brew
Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you, amen. Let me ask you a question. Who
is said to bruise Satan? There's only one. There's only
one. Seed of woman in Genesis. Seed
of Abraham. And guess who the seed of Abraham
is? It's not seeds as many, but seed as one, and that one is
Jesus Christ. He is the Lord of peace. He is
the God of peace. Jesus Christ is the deity of
peace. God's supreme authority. Again,
without him, there is no peace. He's the source. He's the source. He's the one who gives peace. And all true peace is of Jesus
Christ and from Jesus Christ. Because peace is his. It's his
peace. It's his peace. He said it himself. John 14 and verse 27, he says,
peace I leave with you. My peace. My peace. The peace of Jesus Christ, I
give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give
I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. My peace I give you. Peace I
leave and peace I give, he gives peace. And he gives his peace. How did he say it? My peace,
my peace, the Lord of peace, the God of peace. Peace is his
to give. He is the source, the only source
of peace. You know why? Because not only
that, not only did he give it, he made it to start with. He
made peace. Colossians 1 and verse 20, and
having made peace, how? Through the blood of his cross. By him, to, to, what's the purpose? to reconcile all things unto
himself. By him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven. What is that definition
of that word peace again, one of the definitions? To set as
one again. By him to reconcile all things
unto himself, unto himself. And that word where it says,
having made peace, that actually translates having the peacemaker. That's what it is. Peacemaker
is one word in the Greek. The peacemaker. He gives it. He's the source
of it, and he gives it. He's the one that made peace,
this peace that we're talking about. Two things. In a very real sense, there was
no peace with God until Christ shed his blood. He said he made
peace by his blood, not just his blood, but by the blood of
his cross. By the blood of his cross. Paul
writes it later, or in another epistle. What's he say? I determined, determined, to
know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and what? Him crucified. The blood of his cross. The blood
of his cross. And in a very real sense, there
was no peace with God until Christ shed his blood. But then again,
the second thing is, we've always had peace with God. We've always
had the peace of God. As you understand, when God chose
us in Christ before the beginning of the world, before the foundations
of the world. He chose us what? In Christ. And guess what? Jesus Christ
is our peace. He is our peace. God chose us
in Christ in peace. The peace that Christ would perform,
the peace that Christ would provide, the peace that Christ gives to his people, to believers. Jesus Christ and him crucified
made peace. And he is our peace, in Ephesians
two. Personally, he is our peace. And the peace of God, this is
Philippians 4.7. And the peace of God, which passes
all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus. See, this is what makes this
tough. I'm already told here, and I
know it's true, the peace of God cannot be understood totally
by the mind. Because where it says, the peace
of God passeth all understanding, the word there is surpasses.
It is superior to our minds. It is superior to our understanding. There's no way we can grasp the
totality of it because we are finite beings. And this, in our
Lord Jesus Christ, is an infinite peace. I'll show that here in
a little bit. But like I said, the word is
superior to all our understanding. It passes our comprehension. You understand what that means?
Think about this. Even believers don't really get
it when they have it. But ain't that the truth of the
grace of God? We don't comprehend it. All we got is what he has
revealed to us. But here. Take heart. It's his peace, and he's our
peace, and he gives it to every son that he brings in. Every daughter, every child of
God. Because here's the thing. Fear
not, believers. The peace of God works. Understand? The peace of God
works. Just like everything else of
God works, the peace of God is successful. Romans five and one puts it this
way. Therefore, being justified by faith, here it is, we have
peace. But not just peace, we have peace
with God. With God, through our Lord Jesus
Christ. being made righteous, justified,
imparted and imputed, righteousness. In God's sight, by his blood,
by his faith, we have peace with God. You understand, God, the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit have never been without peace
toward his children. If God has peace towards you
now, he's always had peace towards you. It's just you didn't know
it. You didn't get it. The unbeliever
has no peace. And we were all unbelievers at
one time. Like I said, we were chosen in
peace. What? We were chosen in the Lord
of peace. For he, Jesus Christ, is our
peace, and he came and preached peace to every believer, whether
they were afar off or not. Jew or Gentile is the context
there. That's also in Ephesians 2. And he reconciled both Jew
and Gentile, what? To God, to God. In one body, by his cross, shedding
his blood, making peace, and now he gives us peace. His peace. The Lord of peace. In him, we have peace with God. The world doesn't understand
what that phrase means, and I know I don't fully grasp it, but here's
the thing. The world doesn't understand they're at odds with
God. They don't understand that they're
striving against God. They don't understand they're
in rebellion to God. But believers know they were.
And believers still are sometimes. We fight, we strive, but that's
our fault, not his. He's at peace with us. Through
the blood of Jesus Christ, his son. Him in Christ we have peace with
God So cease the fight It wasn't much of one anyway God won God
won and So did every child of God? We won We won In his son
our Lord Jesus Christ. What do you tell us? my peace
Give you I give you You don't earn it can't It's no way You don't earn his peace he gives
it He gives it freely by his grace like he's given we have
been given all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ and
one of those is peace with God His peace Sometimes I have to be honest.
I don't know that I can truly preach peace, and I know I really
can't explain it being set as one with God by Christ. He's reconciled us to the Father. He's my advocate right now on
the right hand of the majesty on high. But here, I do know this. From
the scriptures, the peace of God is the peace between God
and his people and It is the gift of God from the Lord Jesus
Christ who has given it You understand this is not it isn't I'm not
going to tell you you're going to have peace with the world
you won't The world will hate you Just like the world hated
Christ. I can even tell you I can't even
tell you that this will put peace within your family Jesus Christ
himself said, I come to bring division. I come to bring division. I didn't
come to bring peace with your family. And I'm gonna set it
very instant. The mother and the daughter,
the father and the sons, and every other combination you can
come up with. Brothers and sisters. Because this is not peace in
your life that Paul's writing of here. No The peace of God
is the peace of your life Because of his life It's actually the
peace of his life. It's his peace. He gives but
he gives it to you And he gives it to all his believers By faith we have peace with God Christ, who is our peace, reigns
in our hearts and minds. Believers, like I said before,
believers have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ
Jesus. And his peace is one of those
blessings. And Jesus Christ has given to
all those who believe his peace, his peace. Because all believers
in him There's one good shepherd. There's one fold and there's
one flock and What's he doing? He says them I must bring those
that are not in the flock now those that are not in the fold
He's going to bring them in The Lord of peace the God of
peace he is the one who makes us all believers One. One. We are his body. And members in particular, but
we are his body. In him we have peace. Because
he is our peace. He is the one who makes us all
in one. You have peace with God whether you feel it or not. You
understand? Because it's his peace. He made
it. And if he made it, it's perfect. If he made it, It's complete. And ye are complete, but not
of yourselves. Ye are complete in Him. In Him. If you believe Him, you have
peace with God. Understand, God is angry with
the wicked every day, and He will no way acquit the wicked. But if you believe Him, You're
not in that category. You have peace with God by Jesus
Christ, given by Jesus Christ, made by Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1 and 10 puts it this
way. that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times, he might gather together in one, in one, all
things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in
earth, even in him. In whom also we have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him
that worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,
that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted
in Christ. He's gonna gather together what? In one. He is going to set. one together again. And it's in himself. This is
gonna happen. And then we'll have another better
meaning, a better knowing of the meaning of the word peace. When God looks at you as a believer,
I'm not talking about unbeliever, when God looks at you as a believer,
He sees his son. He sees Jesus Christ. And you
know what he says? I'm at peace with that one. Now
is that not a blessing from the Lord? Is that not a blessing
from the Lord? I can tell you this, sinners,
sinners, if you labor and you are heavy laden, come to him
and he will give you rest. It says it later. He will give
you rest for your soul. For your soul. You know what
that is? That's peace with God. Peace
with God. Don't strive. The peace of God
and the peace with God. And one day we are literally
going to be set as one in Christ Jesus. Gathered together in him. So rejoice in the Lord of peace.
Rejoice in the God of peace. Rejoice in the peace of God and
rejoice in peace with God. As I can tell you this, it don't
get no better than that. You understand, Christ told us,
fear him who has the power to cast both body and soul into
hell. No, no. If you believe, there's not a
chance that's going to happen. Because you have peace with God.
Christ made it, and Christ gave it to you. And here, even more
importantly than that, God, God, says you're acceptable in Christ
Jesus. That's peace. That's peace. Heavenly Father, thankful again
for this time and this place. Give us, Lord, your blessings
because we sorely need them. We'll go out in this world and
we'll go out and be in this world in this world that hates you,
and that hates your son, and that hates your gospel, and if
we preach it or talk about it or whatever, they'll hate us. Help us to understand the peace
we have with you. Be with those who couldn't be
here for whatever reason. Bless them all. Bless all of
your children as you always do. In Christ's name we pray, amen.