Please turn in your Bibles to
the 5th chapter of the book of Romans. Romans chapter 5. While you're turning there, I want to read to you a verse
out of Isaiah. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the
government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall
be called Wonderful, the Counselor, the Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. The Prince of Peace. And that's
what I've taken for my title this morning. The Prince of Peace. But that is not my text. My text
is the first verse of this fifth chapter of Romans, where the Apostle Paul writes,
Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, without a doubt, the title
for Christ that I have taken for my title will be read and used many times
today, the Prince of Peace. And there will be many who will
speak of Peace on earth. And they will say that Jesus
came to bring universal peace. But what can you expect from those who try to connect
the birth of Christ to what is really simply a pagan holiday? What can you expect when people
do not care what is really commanded in the Bible? What is not even
practiced in the Bible? What is not even seen, carried
out in the New Testament church, in the book of Acts? Who really
do not care whether or not any practice, any belief, any tradition
really glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ or not. What can you expect? And that word, peace, will be
on the lips of many people. And many will say that they seek
it, with men and with God. But in reality, they deny the
reason why there is no peace, say what we will. And that reason
is sin. That reason is the fact that
we're all sinners. And if we fail to acknowledge
the facts, the reality, if we fail to realize and look to what
the Word of God says, man's ways of peace, they always fail. Do they not? They may appear
for a while to be real, but they always fail. And it becomes evident
that what God says is absolutely true. He says, the way of peace
they have not known. They have not known because they
do not know the Prince of Peace. And they fail to realize man's
depravity and our sinfulness in our relationships with others,
but most especially with God. But even though they deny these
realities in our day, it doesn't keep preachers in our day from
speaking peace to men and women through all these things. And
the words of God through the prophet Jeremiah, they ring loud
and clear. He says, "...for from the least
of them, even unto the greatest of them, everyone is given to
covetousness." That means it's not about God at all. It's not
really about others at all. It's always about us. The apostle calls covetousness,
he says, which is idolatry. That is, rather than having God
who is God, we make ourselves to be God. And he goes on and
he says, "...and from the prophet even unto the priest, every one
dealeth falsely." I don't want to do that this morning. I don't
want to deal falsely with you in matters pertaining to God. I don't want to deal falsely
with you in matters so important as your eternal souls." He goes on, "...they have healed
also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly." Their
remedies are momentary and temporary, passive. They're not lasting
and eternal. They've healed also the hurt
of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace,
when there is no peace. And the reason that men and women
do not have peace with each other is because they do not have peace
with God. And yet Paul says here that there
are some who do have peace. Look at our verse. He says, therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. You see that word, we, there? We have peace with God. That is a pronoun that he uses
to identify some people of which he himself is a part. We. Who is that? True believers. We. God's elect. We, God's children, His sheep,
His redeemed, those who are truly born of God, we, those He addresses
these words in this letter to in the first few verses, those
in Rome called saints. He wrote this letter to all the
saints. And they are not saints because
someone in religion conferred sainthood on them. They are saints, which simply
means sanctified ones, those set apart by God. set apart for His glory, set
apart to be the objects of His grace, set apart by the Spirit
and Gospel of God, whereby they are brought to believe on Christ
alone, these saints. He says, we have peace with God. But if you notice here, the Apostle
Paul, he tells us and he shows us by the Spirit of God leading
him, that it is only by one way. He says, through our Lord Jesus
Christ. And my friend, let me say this
this morning, if you never hear anything else I say, Let me say
to you that it is a futile attempt, it is a hopeless endeavor to
seek to find peace, especially peace with God, in any other
way except Christ alone. That's why He's the Prince of
Peace. And this verse, we have to examine
it thoroughly, and the Holy Spirit has to be our teacher if we are
ever to learn what He's actually saying here. Let me read it to
you from another translation. He says, "...having been declared
righteous, then by faith we have peace toward God through our
Lord Jesus Christ." Now, every part of that verse is essential
in knowing about the Prince of Peace and having this peace. You see, peace with God, and
we have to know this, we have to distinguish this, but peace
with God is both an accomplished thing and an experienced thing. Though they are inseparably joined,
they are not the same. And we can never have one or
the other apart from the other. And if we have one, then we'll
have the other. Absolutely. You see, it was accomplished. This peace was accomplished long
before we experienced it. If you're looking for peace in
a feeling, If you're looking for peace with a sinner just
like yourself, if you're looking for peace through the words of
men and the teachings of men, it's no wonder you don't have
it. You see, first of all, it is
something that Christ established and made with God on behalf of
His people when He died on the cross. Hold your place here and
turn over to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1, and listen
to this same apostle, led by the Spirit of God, as he talks
about Christ and what Christ is to all who truly believe. Look at what he says in verse
20. and having made peace." You see,
we have to look back. Let me say first, we have to
look outside of ourselves and we have to look back, first of
all, to something Christ has already done. Something He has
totally accomplished. He says, "...and having made
peace." How was that? Through the blood of His cross. By Him to reconcile all things
unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometime
alienated, and enemies in your mind, He's talking to these saints
at a place called Colossae also. He's talking about every believer
in this present hour also. He said, you that were sometime
alienated, apart from, estranged from. But this isn't any ordinary
estrangement. It's estranged from God. alienated
from God. And he says, "...and enemies
in your minds." Not that God's people were ever His enemies,
but being the sinners they are, they all in their minds act as
enemies to Him. How so? By wicked works. by wicked works." Now you have
to remember who's writing this. This is that man Saul of Tarsus. And we don't ever read anything
about him even as Saul of Tarsus as being anything other than
a morally upright man, an outwardly good man, Most definitely a religious
man, a learned man. We don't read anything negative
about him in that sense. But he was very negative. He
was that one who thought he was doing right. thought he was upholding
truth and the honor of Jehovah God, to take all those followers
of Christ and preachers of the gospel of Christ, take them out
and have them stoned or imprisoned. But it wasn't by what men call
wicked works, though they are surely sin, But it's by what
God calls wicked works. And that is any work, listen
now, wicked works, especially wicked works in the sight of
God, is anything that a sinner does, first of all, because if
a sinner does it, it's sin. But it is especially wicked. if it is done as an attempt to
gain the favor of God, if it is done as a part, any part,
of our salvation, which is totally Christ's work. Any and all works
that are opposed to, added to, The one work of Christ Himself,
any work opposed to His work or added to His work is a wicked
work. But He says, yet now hath He
reconciled. You didn't reconcile yourself
to God. I didn't reconcile myself to
God. When Christ died on that cross,
first of all, I wasn't even born yet. But when I was born, I came
forth from my mother's womb, just like the Scriptures say,
speaking lies, born in sin and shapen in iniquity, And it wasn't
too long before that nature, fallen nature of sin, found its
expression at its worst in a false religion. I never was a drunkard, a carouser, drug addict, none
of these things. But I did stand in the pulpit
and tell lies about God, and call upon men and women to base
their salvation and their hope of eternal life on something
that they could do down at the front of a building. An act of
their wills. A decision that they made. Wicked works. Because this reconciliation,
he says, in the body of His flesh through death, that's how peace
with God was made. In the body of His perfect sinless
flesh through death, which is what sin requires. God says,
the soul that sins shall surely die. When Christ came into this
world, that did not mean that all God said in the past and
all God pictured in the past, it didn't count anymore. Sin
was still sin, man was still man, and God was still God. He said, your sins have separated,
alienated you from God. Your sins have made you rebels
and you are by nature at war with God. The natural mind, the
carnal mind, Paul says, is enmity against God. You see, God was
not who I thought He was. And because God was not who I
thought He was, I found out I was not who I thought I was either.
You see, it's in His light that we see light. We only find out
what we really are not by asking your best friend, certainly not
by asking your mom or your dad or your child. We only know what
we are by what God says that we are. He said, even these people
of God that He loved with an everlasting love, that He chose
in Christ before the foundation of the world, that He brought
into this everlasting covenant. Even they, as they are in their
nature state, are those rebels, enemies, alienated from God,
who cannot and will not reconcile themselves to God. They can't
make peace with God. Paul, when he writes in Hebrews,
and he talks about the God of peace, he says, "...the God of
peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ,
that great Shepherd of the sheep, is through the blood of the everlasting
covenant." Why did God say, Abel, take a
lamb and slay it." Why did he put Noah and his family in the
ark and bring all that flood of judgment against them? How
was the only way they could be delivered? How was it that Isaac
was taken off of that altar of wood by Abraham and spared It
is in every case through a death which pictures a death for sin. Abraham was pointed by God to
look over in the bushes. They are tangled in the bushes.
was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns, a God provided,
and God accepted sacrifice and substitute, which was taken and
laid on that altar in Isaac's place, and his blood was shed."
Why? Because the soul that sins shall
surely die. There's no way of peace by reformation. There's no way of peace by human
activity. There's no way of peace by personal
resolve or decision. The peace that every sinner needs,
which is peace with God, is solely on one basis, and that's the
dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, how does He begin our verse?
Why is Christ called the Prince of Peace? Because He made peace. Because that's exactly what He's
doing on that cross. He's making peace. He's reconciling
a people that He represents to God. He made peace not by His
simply being born. He made peace not by His simply
living a perfect life, or His teaching, or His examples, or
anything like that. He made peace by the blood of
His cross. He didn't live a life given example. Teach a bunch of things so that
you and I could follow those things in order to get eternal
life ourselves or make peace with God by our obedience to
these things. He made peace by the blood of
His cross. That's why Paul said, I determined
to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's how the Prince of Peace
is the Prince of Peace. And the peace He speaks of here
and elsewhere, this is not some so-called world peace. There's
not going to be any world peace until Christ comes again. Actually, the opposite is true.
In Matthew 10, He says, "...think not that I am come to send peace
on earth." You and I need to figure out... No, we don't. We'll never figure it out. You
and I need revealed to us what He's talking about when He's
announced in His birth as peace on earth, and yet He says, here,
I'm not come to bring peace. It's not some world peace. It's
not peace among every individual. is peace with God. He says, as
a matter of fact, think not that I have come to send peace on
earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. As a matter of fact,
truly believing on what Christ did, who He is, it brings about
a warfare on this earth. He said, "'I have not come to
send peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man at variance
against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law, and a man's foes shall be they of
his own household.'" Why? Because when we are brought by
God, to see that it is Christ alone who made peace by the blood
of His cross for us, that puts us at odds with all the whole
world almost who believes that they have a part in making peace
with God. You mean I have nothing to do
with it? You mean I'm to look at something
that was a con... You mean to tell me that something
that one man did over 2,000 years ago, that'll be the basis of
the peace I have in this world right now? That's exactly what
I'm saying. But I can tell you this. If you
think that Christ Jesus is hanging on that cross simply to make
something available or something possible, or to make you savable,
or all these other false notions, or to give somebody a chance,
you'll never know peace. He's hanging on that cross making
peace. He made peace by the blood of
His cross. As a matter of fact, the Bible
nowhere tells us to make peace with God. Or as men tell us to do, make
your peace with God. No, the good news of the gospel
is that the Prince of Peace, He made peace with God for His
sheep when He laid down His life for them. You read John 10. I lay down my life for the sheep. I give my life for the sheep. He's saying, I shed my blood
for the sheep. I give my life as the ransom
price, the redemption price for the sheep. And those Pharisees
said, we don't like that. That's not what we believe. That's
not our theology. That's not what our denomination
teaches. Christ said, here's the reason.
You believe not. because you're not of my sheep."
What was he saying? He was saying, I didn't come
to die for you. I didn't come to put away your sin. I came
to lay down my life for my sheep. That's what a shepherd does.
And God was in Christ reconciling His people who showed themselves
as enemies in their minds and rebelled against Him from the
first. when they did so in their father
Adam. He is making peace by the blow of
His cross. But they are also, these same
ones, they are also in time brought to experience that peace. I never
forget this story I read many years ago. It was about a Japanese
soldier. And he was found some years after
the war ended. And he was still trying to fight
when he was finally located and captured only to be told that
peace was already established. That's us. God has to send His
Spirit. He has to buy His providence
work to bring us under the sound of the true gospel. And He has
to buy His Spirit, cause us to see that our rebellion against
God, our negativity against His truth, our defiance against the
way of salvation, it's a matter of Christ already having accomplished
something for us. You're never going to hear me,
by God's grace, telling you to make peace with God. But by His grace, I hope to keep
telling you about a peace made by God. Can you hear that? What good would that do? I know it crushes our own self-righteousness. I know by nature we like to be
told what to do, even though we never do them. We like to
be told because we imagine we have some ability or some worth
or some value, something we can offer up to God. But I'll tell you, if the Lord
ever brings you to see what you are as a sinner, I know I'm a
sinner. I know it because God says it.
I know it because I so often feel it. And because I so often
demonstrate it, but I know this, if I were to ever be shown the
real sinner that I am in His sight, in myself, I wouldn't
live an instant. But you see, God in His gospel
is good news. He says, hath He reconciled." How? Through the blood of His cross. That's what making peace is.
He made peace by the blood of His cross. And it is not our
faith that makes peace with God. Rather, God-given faith experiences
and trusts and believes in the peace that Christ has made. If you look in our verse, it says, therefore, being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, actually what is being
said there is this, therefore having been justified, what does
that mean? Declared righteous by God. How could He ever declare sinners
like us as righteous? Through the dying of the Lord
Jesus Christ. had laid upon Him all the responsibility
for my sins, if as Isaiah 53 says, they were all made to meet
on His head, if He died in my place before the justice of God,
if He put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, I don't have any. You say, are you saying you're
perfect? Not in myself. In my flesh. It seems like I'm
getting worse. You may be making progress, but
I don't see it in me. Why? Because he says, that which
is born of the flesh is flesh. You can't improve it. It's sinful. But that which is born of the
Spirit, That is, that which is revealed by the Spirit of God,
which is the righteousness of Christ, you can improve it. It's a perfect righteousness.
So he says, therefore, having been declared righteous by faith,
we have peace with God. We've been justified or declared
righteous through the dying of Christ. That's the accomplishment
of peace. And when He gives us faith to
believe on Christ, that's the experience of peace. That is
the experience of peace. We have peace with God, and by
faith we believe and experience and rest in and rejoice in that
peace. I like what old John Gill said.
He said, the first fruit and effect of justification as a
benefit perceived and enjoyed by faith is peace with God through
Christ. I don't have to worry anymore.
Oh, I'll worry about a lot of things. But there's one matter I don't
have to worry about, and that's the matter of my sin. The Lord
hath laid on Him the iniquity of all His people. I've got one
hope. I've got one basis for peace.
And if I ever take my eyes off of Him who is the Prince of Peace,
My experience of peace diminishes. Why? Because I can feel no peace
looking at myself. I have to look at the Prince
of Peace. If you could just imagine all
of your sins. I'm not talking about everybody's
sins. I'm talking first of all about
all the sins of God's people. But as one of His people, think
about all your sins. I don't even want to think about
it. A multitude of sin. But they are no more. They are no more. Because the
way sin is made an end of is by the satisfaction of God's
justice against it. A man who commits multiple murders. What has to be done with him?
Well, they take him out and put him to death. Somebody says,
well, I don't believe in that. It doesn't matter. God has done
it for centuries. Whosoever sheddeth man's blood,
by man shall his blood be shed, not in a mere vindictive spirit,
but by the hand of justice." Paul says in Romans 13, the ruler
bears not the sword in vain. So the way sin was put away on
my case, and the case of all the Lord's people, is that one
who was made responsible for it, had to be put to death. And since He was perfect in Himself,
He could be put to death for sin. And since He is God manifest
in the flesh, He is of such glorious worth in His person, He could
die the death for sin for a multitude of sinners. He could be crowned
the Prince of Peace. As a matter of fact, Paul says,
for the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink. Not these external
things. But he says there's three things.
And they're given to us in a perfect order. It's not meat and drink. but
righteousness." And then he says, what follows that? Peace and
joy in the Holy Ghost. That is, in what the Spirit of
God has revealed to us in Christ and Him crucified. What is it?
A perfect righteousness, which brought about peace with
God. which results in joy. No joy unless there be peace,
and there be no peace apart from righteousness. You go back and
you read in Romans chapter 4 that leads up to this verse. And you'll
find Paul asking questions that he already knows the answers
to in order for us to find out the answer. He said, why was
Abraham so blessed? Why was it that Abraham was accepted? is given as an example of God's
grace and salvation, an example of imputed righteousness. He
says, "...what shall we say then that our father Abraham, as pertaining
to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified
by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God." For
what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it
was counted unto him for righteousness." His believing was? No, the one
he believed on. Now, to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of death. If you're working
to be saved, if you're working to get God's favor, Whatever
God gives you, could you do anything? It would have to be a payment
of a debt. It wouldn't be grace at all. But to him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describes
the blessedness of the man. David said, this is who's blessed.
Blessed is the man unto whom God imputeth. Do you know what that word means?
I'm shocked in this day and time. So many who profess Christianity
who ain't got a clue. To impute something, means to
charge to or reckon to one's account on the basis of another. So, David describes how blessed
the man is unto whom God imputes righteousness without works. God counts me as righteous, not
based on what I do, That's it. Do you think that God could account
David righteous based on what he did? Adulterer, murderer,
and much more. Saying, blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven. and whose sins are covered, blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." How in the world
can a just God not hold you and me accountable for our sins,
not charge it to our account? There's one way. And this is
the good news. He charged the sins of his people
to Christ. That's what a substitute is.
That's what a surety is. You remember when they came to
take him in the garden? They came to take him, those
soldiers did, in the garden, and he had those men with him.
And they said, he asked the question, who do you seek? They said, Jesus. He said, if you seek me, let
these go free. They must go free. And everyone
for whom Christ died, everyone for whom He made peace by the
blood of His cross, they must go free. You see, if Christ died
for them, God would be unjust if they didn't go free. If He
made peace for them by the blood of His cross, they've got to
have peace. They've got to have peace. You see, believing on Christ, Which is exactly what Abraham
did. We have peace. Nowhere else. But we have peace. He says, therefore,
having been justified, accomplished that, when God gives us faith
to believe the truth, believe on Christ, we have peace through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 32, he says, "...and the
work of righteousness shall be peace." These preachers today,
they're like a bunch of cheerleaders, phony cheerleaders. Ah, if you'll
just do this, or if you'll just believe this, you know, hoorah,
come on, let's all get together, we'll all sing, and because we've
all sung, or we've all had these holidays, we've all had these
things, we're all together going to agree that we've got peace.
Everybody goes home, lays down on their pillow at night, And
they don't have peace. They don't have peace. Oh, but
he says, the work of righteousness shall be peace. And the effect
of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. Again, that verse from Romans
15, now the God of hope filled you with all joy and peace in
believing. Turn over to Isaiah 26. Isaiah 26. This is one of my
favorite verses in all of Scripture. Somebody calls me, or emails
me, or texts me, and they're all kind of torn up about something. I'll text them back this verse
a lot of times. Isaiah 26, verse 3. Thou wilt
keep him in perfect peace. That's what I need. Perfect peace. "...him whose mind is stayed
on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee. Trust ye in the Lord
forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." See, we don't have peace, not
trust in Christ. And you know that goes even a
lot farther than in our salvation, it's in our daily peace. We have
a lot of things that disturb that peaceful tranquility in
life we desire. And things become very unpeaceful
when we take our eyes off of Christ. You see, in this verse,
it's really peace, peace. It's that word in the Hebrew,
shalom, shalom, double peace. You have double peace. You rest
in the accomplished peace. And that gives you the experienced
peace. Because it's all in the Prince
of Peace. He gives us peace of mind. The word keep here is like a
garrison that keeps a city. Soldiers that guard and protect
and keep a city. Thou shalt keep in perfect, perfect
peace the mind, the heart that has
stayed upon Christ. This is our hope in all the turmoil
of this life. You say, how can you have peace
in the midst of that? Because it's all ordered by the
Prince of Peace. Because everything is controlled
by the Prince of Peace. He sits sovereign on the throne.
He's not in a manger. He's not on a cross. He's on the throne of glory.
And He rules there to keep peace for all His people. Oh, to have peace with God. The
more we learn of Him, the more peace we have. He's not the knave of peace. He's not the commoner of peace. Joe, He's the prince of peace.
And I believe that term is used there because a prince is the
king's son. He's the only begotten Son of
God. He's the Lord of glory. He is
the Prince of Peace. And He made peace by the blood
of His cross. May the Lord be pleased to cause
you to enter in and to rest in that peace He accomplished on
that cross. Because it's in believing. and
trusting that finished work that we experience this peace. I've
seen some of the Lord's people go through some things in their lives, in their families,
troubles and trials and sicknesses that, humanly speaking, they
rock you to the very bottom of your feet. But beyond all these
things going on, They possess what was called
that peace that passeth understanding. The natural man cannot understand
it. But it all is bound up in the
Prince of Peace. That's who we gather to worship.
Praise and thank you. Father, today in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, in the name of the Prince of Peace,
Your only begotten and well-beloved Son, who came in human flesh,
that He might suffer on that cross in the place of His people,
to give them peace, peace with God. We thank You for His sacrifice. We thank you for your wonderful
good news of the gospel. We praise you. We pray all glory
be to you. Help us to rest in Him and rely
upon Him alone. Grant to us that peace that passes
understanding. Cause us to know the Prince of
Peace. We pray and we ask all things
in His name. Amen.