All right, Matthew chapter 5
and verse 9. These Beatitudes are just, you
know, I was thinking about it because going through the Sermon
on the Mount once again, and I think probably since I've been
in the ministry that I've gone through the Sermon on the Mount
maybe around four times, and each time I go through it, it
just It just stands out, the grace of God. And these beatitudes,
blessed, he says, blessed are the peacemakers. The blessing
are for the children of God. It says, blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God. These peacemakers,
whoever he's talking about, these beatitudes, this state of blessedness,
which is salvation by the grace of God. That's what it is through
Christ. That's what it is to be blessed. Outside of Christ,
all people are cursed. Cursed is everyone that continues
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. But in Christ we're blessed, as Ephesians 1.3 says, with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places. All of it conditioned
on Christ. That's the marvelous grace. It's not conditioned on us. These
qualities of character, these spiritual qualities of character,
which are the operation of God within us in the new birth through
his word, imparting the life of Christ, spiritual life, to
us, all these spiritual qualities of character are evidences of
our blessedness. They're not conditions we must
attain. They're not achievements. You
understand that? The poor in spirit, the meek,
those who hunger and thirst, the merciful, these are not achievements. These are not things we can say,
well, I've worked hard and I've achieved this. These are things
that are gifts from God by His Spirit as we bask in His grace,
knowing that we haven't earned anything. Just like I mentioned
last time or a couple of times before about the merciful. The
merciful, you don't earn mercy. If it's something you earn, it's
not mercy. So whenever we look at these
things, we see these are evidence. That's what he's talking about
today in the peacemakers. Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God. This peacemaking
is an evidence of us being children of God. It's not something we
achieve or attain in order to become children of God. And of
course, that's the reward, the reward of grace. But I want to
do something to start off with that may sound a little contradictory,
but it's not. He says, blessed are the peacemakers.
And you know, this is one of those times when you really see
how important it is that we keep things in their proper context. All right, let's start it this
way. The Christian life is a continual conflict and warfare. When a person is brought by the
Spirit of God in the new birth to believe in and cling to and
rest in Christ and testify of Christ, preach Christ, that person
is brought into a continual conflict and a continual warfare. And
we have three great enemies. Their enemies, listen, these
three great enemies are enemies of each individual true Christian,
and they're enemies of the church collectively, the true church
collectively. The enemies are the world. The
world's our enemy. And the flesh, which in essence
is being at war with ourselves, and the devil. The world, the
flesh, and the devil. Now, before I get into that,
understand that the victory over each enemy is already accomplished. It's already done. Well, how? Who won the victory? Christ did.
The victory is not conditioned on us. Thank God we'd be defeated
in every realm, especially by the flesh. by ourselves. We are our own worst enemy. We
understand that. But the victory's already won
because Christ has won it. But for God's purposes of his
glory, his wisdom, his grace, and the salvation of his people,
he's left us here on this earth for a while to engage ourselves
in this conflict, in this battle, in this warfare. For example,
as I said, we're at war with the world. Now, the world in
that sense refers to the unbelieving, unregenerate world. The Bible
says that the world hates the gospel. Why are we in conflict
with the world? Because the world doesn't like
what we believe and what we say about them. For example, we preach
one way of salvation. One way of a sinner being made
right with God, and that's Christ's righteousness imputed, the grace
of God, His blood alone. There's no other way. The world
doesn't like that. The world wants many ways. The
world wants to say, well, we're all going to heaven, we're just
going in different ways. But true Christianity won't allow
that. Christ did not preach that. He
said, I am the way, the truth, the life. No man, no man in the
world, no woman in the world comes unto the Father but by
me. And then also the way of grace,
the way of Christ, the way of righteousness exposes the world's
ways as being what? Wicked and evil in the sight
of God. You take a worldling in religion
who's doing their dead level best to live by the Beatitudes
in order to attain and maintain salvation. And you look at that
person and you say, that's evil in the sight of God. How are
they going to react? That's why Christ said to his
disciples in John 15, he said, marvel not if the world hates
you. It hated me before it hated you.
Now, the unbelieving world is an enemy to Christ's true disciples. There's no peace between the
true church and the world. It's a conflict, it's a warfare.
Christ told his disciples in John 16, 33, in the world you
shall have what? Trouble, tribulation. But then
he said, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.
Christ overcame the world, and our victory over the world is
in Him. In the end of all things, the
world will be condemned. God's people will live forever
with Him in Christ. All right, we're at war with
the devil. The devil has been loosed to deceive the world and
to make war against the church. You can read about it in the
book of Revelation chapter 12, for example. Now our victory
over the devil is ensured. Why? Because God is in control,
folks. Here's a statement that modern
day false Christianity doesn't like. The devil is on God's leash. You believe that? I do. I do. But the devil is our enemy. Now Christ has already defeated
the devil. The devil is called the accuser
of the brethren in Revelation chapter 12. What does he accuse
me of? I'll tell you exactly what he
accuses me of. Of sin. Look at Bill Parker. He's a sinner. That's right. Well, what's my defense? Well, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. God doesn't charge me with my
sin. And he does so in a way that
is just so that he cannot deny himself. He does it based upon
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ imputed. And that's
what it means in Revelation 12 when it says they turn him back
by the blood of the Lamb. That's how we defeat Satan, the
blood of the Lamb. Christ on that cross defeated
Satan. That's what he said in John chapter
12. But, while we're on this earth, Now we know Satan's days
are numbered, we know that he's coming to his final end, but
while on this earth, what does the Bible tell us to do? Put
on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against
the wiles of the devil. We've got, we're in a battle.
Armor of God and all of that, the armor of grace. As described
in Ephesians chapter six. In other words, we're to go to
war. That's what he said. That's why he put on armor, isn't
it? That's why a soldier put his armor on to go to war. That's the armor. And we wear
that armor every day. Remember the breastplate of righteousness,
the helmet of salvation, having your feet shod with the shoes
of the gospel of peace? All of that. And then we are
at war with the flesh, which is, as I said, in essence, is
warfare with ourselves. And that's because of the remaining
power and influence and the remaining contamination of sin within us. Do you still have sinful thoughts,
sinful desires, sinful motives, sinful goals? You sure do. But
do you have a desire to follow Christ? To be like Him? You have
that too. There's a conflict. That's the
warfare of the flesh and the spirit. Paul called it in Galatians
chapter 5. He described it in Romans 7 verses
14 through 25. Here's a man who said over in
Romans 6 that I'm dead to sin. I'm freed from sin. and then
in Romans 7.14 he says now I'm a slave to sin. What is this
Paul? Is he talking about, is he talking out of both sides
of his mouth? Is he contradicting himself? Is he talking about
a Jekyll and Hyde religion? I've got an old nature that sins
and a new nature that's perfect. That's not, that's, listen, that's
confusion. He's simply saying that in Christ
as I stand before God in Christ God counts me perfectly righteous. Washed in his blood, clothed
in his righteousness. That's how I'm dead to sin. That's
how I'm dead to the law. The law cannot condemn me because
God does not charge me with my sin. He charged those sins to
my surety and my surety paid the debt in full. I have a righteousness
that answers the demands of God's law and justice. But in myself
on this earth right now, I'm still a sinner. And I have to
deal with sin every day. It's an everyday battle. I've
had people in desperation say, when does it ever end? Well,
to live is Christ, to die is gain. That's when it'll end. That's when this battle with
myself will end, when I leave this body and go to be with the
Lord. Then I'll be sinlessly perfect
in myself without any thoughts of contamination or sin. But right now, I'm on this earth
and I'm in a battle. Now, this keeps believers looking
to and resting in Christ for all salvation. For all righteousness,
for all forgiveness. Remember the close of Romans
7 where Paul said, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from this body of death? Remember what he said? I thank
God through Jesus Christ my Lord. Somebody said, well why does
God leave us in this state? Because it keeps us looking to
Christ, resting in Christ for all righteousness. That's how
the Spirit drives us continually to Christ. In light of all that, when it
says here in verse 9 of Matthew 5, blessed are the peacemakers,
here's one thing we can know. The peace that Christ came to
establish on earth, and that's where this goes to. This is all
peacemaking relating to Christ and his truth as we fight the
battle of the world, the flesh, and the devil. The peace that
Christ came to establish on earth is not peace between nations
or even individuals. The peace that He came to establish
was peace between God and sinners by the blood of the cross. You
can read about it in 2 Corinthians 5. It's called reconciliation.
God was in Christ. reconciling the world unto himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them." The world there is
not talking about the unbelieving world. It's talking about the
world of God's elect because it says God does not charge them
with their sin. You know something? If God does
not charge you with your sin, He cannot condemn you. You know
why? Because Romans 8.1, there is
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ.
And that's the only way that God cannot charge you with your
sin, is in Christ. So the world there is the world
that God has been reconciled to by the blood of Christ. Peace
has been established. That's why the gospel is called
the gospel of peace. People quote Luke chapter 2 and
verse 14 quite often during the Christmas season, which says,
glory to God in the highest and peace on earth and goodwill toward
men. Well, the literal translation,
I've got it written out in your lesson there. The literal translation
of Luke 2.14 would read this way. Glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace among those with whom he, that is God, is
pleased. Now with whom is God pleased? His people in Christ. This is my beloved Son in whom
I'm well pleased. Hear ye Him. Without faith it's
impossible to please God. Hebrews 11. What does faith do? Rest in Christ for all salvation,
for all righteousness. You see that? So God is pleased
only with his people in Christ. Now, here's the point. Now with
all this warfare going on, war with the flesh and the devil
and the world, how then can the Lord say, blessed are the peacemakers
for they shall be called the children of God? How in the world
can peacemaking be an evidence of being blessed, being a child
of God, of being a sinner saved by grace? Now, let me say this. As true believers, there is no
doubt, there's no doubt that we are to be peaceful people
in our relationships. We're to do everything we can
to pray for peace between nations and individuals. I don't know
about you, but I don't want a nuclear war with any country, North Korea
or anybody. How about you? I've got two grandchildren,
they're growing up, and I don't want them to be drafted and go
to war. I want peace. But now, this is
not pacifism. You know, a lot of people interpret
that way. You know what pacifism is, don't you? You don't fight
any time for any reason, not even to defend yourself. No,
that's not it at all. But we are to be peaceful people.
We're to promote peace. We're not to be brawlers and
strikers, just like it talks about leaders of the church,
you know. We're not to be people who are all the time with a hot
temper, ready to fight, ready to draw back. We're to be peaceful
people. We're to be gentle, the scripture
says. All of that. And again, that
doesn't mean that we cannot defend our homes or defend our families,
even not defend our nation. We can against evil forces. But
think about this. A person can be a peacemaker
in that sense and still be an unbeliever. You ever heard of the Peace Corps?
Peace Corps is a pretty good thing. People joined it to go
help other countries, learn farming and medicine and things like
that. Well, it was started by unbelievers. And unbelievers
can be members of the Peace Corps. And they can go out and they
can protest for peace. Unbelievers can do that. Listen,
I'll tell you what, unbelievers can turn the other cheek. They
can do that. Going to seminary, I was studying
comparative religion. I read a lot of Gandhi. Remember
Mahatma Gandhi? Man, he was a peaceful person.
He was a Hindu. And it's pretty much peace at
all costs for him. And then unbelievers have won the Nobel Peace Prize.
You ever heard of that? But the kind of peacemaking that
the Lord is describing here is that which relates directly to
Him as the Prince of Peace and His truth as the Gospel of Peace. Now again, we're to strive for
peace with others, especially our brethren in Christ, but we're
not to make peace with anyone at the expense of the glory of
God in Christ and the truth of the Gospel. Turn to, well, I've got this
listed in your lesson. You can turn there if you want.
There's a verse that people misuse there all the time. And you know
what he's talking about. This is in Hebrews 12 and verse
14. And you know what he's talking
about there in Hebrews 12 is people suffering over the gospel,
suffering persecution. You know, he just finished with
Hebrews 11. Talking about how people had died in the cause
of Christ because the enemies of Christ, the enemies of truth,
the enemies of the church persecuted them. And how so many in the
church in Jerusalem, the Hebrew Christians, or those who profess
to be Christians, were being persecuted. And you know, he
starts off there, he says, now you, many of you have not yet
been persecuted unto blood. In other words, you haven't died.
Even though you suffer in different ways to different degrees. In
fact, this is kind of like in line with the Beatitudes because
next week, he's going to be talking about that very thing, about
persecution. Verse 10 of Matthew 5, blessed
are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake. That's
the gospel, what he's talking about. So here's what we're learning. Whatever peacemaking he's talking
about here, it brings persecution from the world. And it's related to the prophets.
I'm gonna show you something about that in just a moment.
But in that Hebrews chapter 12, now he goes on and he tells them
that for believers, The sufferings that we go through here on earth
are to be classified under blessedness called chastisement. The chastisements of God. Now
chastisement is not penal punishment. In other words, it's not punishment
to pay for your sins. Now, believers, sometimes we
suffer the consequences of particular sins. There's no doubt about
that. If you went out and robbed a bank and got caught, you're
going to jail. But here's the thing. There's
no way we can pay for our sins. That's why Christ had to come.
He paid for the sins. The payment for sin is death.
Isn't that right? The wages of sin is death, all
right? He died so that we wouldn't have to. I'm not talking about
physically, but eternally, spiritually. All right. The chastisements
of God are his corrections, his teaching us by experience. You
might want to say punishments, that's okay, but it's not punishment
for payment, it's punishment for learning. Like our children. When you're raising your children.
You punish them when they need punishing for their correction.
You want them to learn from it. And they're called the chastisements
of a loving father. And he says that's why all children
of God suffer alike. He said those who don't suffer
are bastards and not sons. Hebrews 12. Now he says that
doesn't mean that the punishment is pleasant. It's painful. But he said, after it's over,
then it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. What
does that mean? Well, when you come out of that chastisement,
how do you come out, believer? You come out looking to Christ
even more, resting in Christ even more, growing in grace and
in knowledge. So then in Hebrews 12 and verse
14, he makes this statement. Follow peace with all men, and
then I've got in capital letters the term and holiness, without
which no man shall see the Lord. Now that holiness refers to what? It's not our seeking to attain
moral perfection. That's not what it's talking
about. Should we seek to be perfectly obedient? Yes, we should. Not
to attain salvation, but because we already are saved. That holiness
is our separateness that distinguishes us in Christ and by the gospel
from the world. So, in other words, what he's
saying is we're to be peaceful people, we're to strive to be
at peace with all men, but not at the expense of truth. We're
not to compromise the truth in order to attain peace with men. That's what that means. Now,
I've got you an example in here. Back over in Matthew chapter
5 when he talks about the persecution, and he says, verse 12, rejoice
and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for
so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. I use
the prophet Jeremiah as an example in two passages, Jeremiah 6 and
Jeremiah 8. Because it tells you, it really
distinguishes the difference here, following peace with all
men and holiness. Follow peace, be a peaceful person,
try to live at peace, but don't do it at the expense of holiness,
your separateness that distinguishes you as a true believer from the
world, which is our faith in Christ, our gospel of peace,
wherein the righteousness of God is revealed and exposes the
false refuges of unbelievers. Well, you remember Jeremiah,
he prophesied in the last days leading up to Judah's captivity
in Babylon, the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. And
Jeremiah kept telling the people that judgment was coming. And
it was because of their sins. God was bringing judgment upon
that nation because of their sins. In fact, Jeremiah's message,
some people call it a defeatist message because he's saying,
you might as well accept it. It's coming. God's going to bring
this nation into captivity. But now Jeremiah was also adamant
to tell them that they would be delivered because God was
not finished with them. The Messiah was still going to
come through that nation. But they were gonna be in captivity,
he said, for 70 years. And that's what they were. Well,
Jeremiah had some enemies who were calling themselves prophets,
and they had a different message. And you know what their message
was? If you read it in Jeremiah 6 and Jeremiah 8, I've got the
two verses, their message was peace, peace, when there is no
peace. You know that's the message,
basic message of all false preachers. Somebody comes in, they hear
the gospel, the true gospel, how God justifies the ungodly. Never heard that before, been
in church all their lives. I know how that is, don't you? And they look up and they think,
man, you mean, I've got to know all that to be saved? And you
tell them, well, you've got to know the gospel. The gospel's
the revelation, the power of God unto salvation. What do they
do? They go to some person, some
preacher, and get a second opinion. And what does the preacher say?
Peace, peace, when there is no peace. See what I'm saying? That's what happened in Jeremiah's
day. That's why he was persecuted. That's why they put him down.
They made his pulpit at the bottom of the dry well. They didn't
want to hear him. Remember, they called him the
burden of the Lord. Here comes the burden of the
Lord. It's kind of like saying, here comes that guy that doesn't
have anything good to say about any of us. He's just a burden. Well, this shows you that the
main peacemaking that's being spoken of here is preaching the
gospel of peace. showing sinners, lost sinners,
declaring that Christ and Him crucified and risen from the
dead, His blood and righteousness is the only ground between God,
a peace between God and sinners. And there's no other ground.
People talk about, well, he made his peace with God. Well, what
did he do? Oh, he joined the church. or
he got baptized. My friend, those things won't
make peace with God. You know what does? The cross! Righteousness and peace must
kiss each other. What is that? Psalm 89? Or 85? I can't remember. I didn't put
it in your lesson, you can write it. But righteousness only comes,
or peace only comes, based on righteousness which can only
be found in Christ. And that's what brings peace
between God's people in the church. Because we're at one. We're in
agreement on the gospel of peace through the Prince of Peace.
But when we preach the gospel to lost sinners, it is actually
a declaration of war against their religion, against their
ideas, against their opinions, and against their false refuges. but at no time are we commanded
or allowed to compromise. Now, one other thing, there is absolutely no mandate
or allowance in the scripture for a believer to take up physical
arms in this peacemaking or in this warfare. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians chapter
10, he says, though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after
the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, they're
not physical, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,
casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth
itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ. Our sword is the truth
of the gospel. wherein Christ is revealed as
the Lord our righteousness. Our battlefield is the mind.
Anybody who takes up a physical sword or a gun or a bomb in the
name of Christ is living a lie. Christianity is truly a religion
of peace. You know, they talk about Islam
being a religion of peace. Well, they're peaceful Muslims.
But Islam is not a religion of peace. Their Bible, their Koran,
allows them to take up physical arms. That's not Christian, you
see. And somebody says, well, what
about the Jews in the Old Testament? That's not Christianity. I don't
have time to go into all that. But here it says, they shall
be called the children of God. What that means is, is they're
the only ones who have the right to claim to be children of God.
because of the gospel of peace wherein Christ is revealed as
the Lord our righteousness.