You turn back to Ephesians chapter
2. Let's look again at verse 14. These four words, He is our peace. He is our peace. It's clear from the context that
it's speaking, of course, about the Lord Jesus Christ. But if
these words were just They're by themselves. He is our peace. Who else would it be talking
about? Who else could make peace with God but the Lord Jesus Christ? Who else can give us the peace
of God in our hearts? As was foretold by the prophet
Isaiah, he shall be called, among many other things, he shall be
called, the same person that's in our text, he shall be called
the Prince of Peace. And as the royal prince that
he is, he speaks as none other man ever did, ever has, or ever
could. When he says words like these,
and he said it often in the Gospels, to believing sinners, go in peace. Thy sins are all forgiven thee. You remember what the Pharisees
in the house of Simon, the Pharisees said when they heard our Lord
speak those words of that woman? Who does he think he is? Who
does this man think he is? Who can forgive sins but God
alone? Well, they were right. And God
just did in a person of his son. He is saying so. Only his saying
so makes it so. I had people, I had preachers,
I had loved ones when I was seeking God's mercy tell me, well, you've
come forward. You've said the sinner's prayer.
Your sins are all forgiven. But God hadn't told me that.
And I didn't have no peace until the Prince of Peace himself spoke
those words to my heart. Peter, in preaching the gospel,
said, him hath God exalted, him, the same person again, him hath
God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior,
for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins, to give,
to give. If he doesn't give it, we'll
not have it, because we sure can't earn it. We sure don't
deserve it. If we get what we deserve, we'll
be eternally lost. Oh, but his gift The gift of
His grace is eternal life, the forgiveness of sins. Oh, He is
our peace. He is our peace. He made peace,
as we read a moment ago, and He gives peace. He made peace
on our behalf with God, and He gives peace, the peace of God
to reconcile sinners. Let me give you two examples.
two illustrations to prove, to illustrate rather, that he is
our peace. And one, perhaps both, you're
familiar with, but I think it'll bear repeating. The one is Horatio
Spatford, he wrote the hymn in our book, It Is Well With My
Soul. And you probably know the history
of how that hymn came to be written. He had lost much, he was a businessman
in Chicago and had lost much of his possessions in the Great
Chicago Fire. Well, after that, a couple of
years after that, he sent his wife and four daughters to France
on a ship on a vacation. He had to tie up some loose ends,
and he was going to meet them there afterwards. Well, while
they were on the ocean, they collided with another ship. And
in 12 hours, that ship sank. His four daughters were lost. Only his wife survived, and she
sent a telegram to him saying, saved alone. And he, shortly
after that, booked a flight on the ship to meet her. And somewhere
in the Atlantic, near the spot it was pointed out to him where
that ship that his four daughters were on went down, he sat down. He sat down. and began to write. When peace like a river attendeth
my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot
thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. Though Satan should buffet, though
trials should come, let this blessed assurance control that
Christ has regarded my helpless estate and has shed his own blood
for my soul. And with the shout of triumph,
the triumph of God's grace. He says, it is well, it is well
with my soul. Christ was his peace. I listened
to a message, this is my other illustration. I didn't listen
to it, rather I read it. A message that Brother Don preached
last year, May the 14th. From 2 Corinthians 4 and 17,
the title of his message was Our Light Affliction. Our light
affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us in the
more exceeding eternal weight of glory. And Don said, that's
my subject again tonight. He had preached it that morning.
He said, I'm preaching to you from this text again tonight
because it is presently relative to all of us. We have some very
dear friends who are enduring real trouble. heartache and pain
and heaviness. Some of you, some of those you
are aware of, others you are not. And he mentioned the Cullmans,
David Cullman, which is about two weeks after that, God took
home. He mentioned the Mahans, which
was just a week or so after he took David home, he took Henry
home, and he mentioned some others. And Don said, watching one of
your loved ones die is painful, always painful, even when the
one dying is dying in the arms of the Savior. Swift, he quoted,
swift to its close ebbs out life's little day. Earth's joys grow
dim, its glories slip away. Change and decay in all around
I see. O thou who changes not, abide
with me. In the midst of heartache and
trouble, that is what I need. O thou that changes not, abide
with me. Don wrote I do not need perfect
health, I need God's perfect peace. Where are you going to
find it? Where are you going to find it
in this world except in the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ? I don't need prosperity and wealth,
I need the riches of His grace. I don't need a life of ease,
I need the comfort of God's presence. And then a few months ago, Just
a few days before God took our dear friend home, I was talking
to him on the phone and he said, Larry, if anybody asks you how
I'm doing, you tell them this. You tell them there's nothing
sweeter, there's nothing more comfortable than going out into
eternity with the assurance that Jesus Christ did everything that
God Almighty demanded that required on my behalf. He said, you tell
them that. It's well with my soul. He closed
that message with this. When death has come and taken
our loved ones, leaving our home so lonely and drear, then do
we cry, oh, help me, dear Savior. You know my sorrow. You know
my fear. Often, I wonder why I must journey over a road so
rugged and steep. Why all the darkness? Why all
the heartache? Why must your chosen so often
weep? Farther along, we'll know all
about it. Farther along, we'll understand
why. Cheer up, God's children. Glory
awaits us. We'll understand it all by and
by. He is our peace, God's word and
our Redeemer. never promised us that we would
have peace with the devil, God forbid, or peace with this flesh,
oh wretched man that I am, and we'll have that warfare until
we lay this body down, or that we'll have peace with the world.
Oh no, he said, I promise you this, the opposite. In the world
you'll have tribulation. But he does say we will have,
during those times, peace with God, which is so much better. Oh, I'd rather be at peace with
God than the world, this flesh, or the devil. And Jesus Christ
is our peace. First of all, Jesus Christ is
our peace because He made peace with God. As Brother Scott Richardson
used to say, before God Almighty can do anything for you, He has
to do something for Himself. Most people don't have a clue
what that means. They would, upon hearing that, would do like
Donnie Bell says, look at whoever said it. They would look at them
like a calf looking at a new gate. Don't have a clue. Before
God does anything for you, he must do something for himself. When God made man, there was
a bond of perfect love and unity between them. Oh, can you imagine
what it must have been like for Adam before he fell? Hearing
the voice of God, walking with God, communing with God, as we
sang a moment ago, knowing I'm his and he is mine. They had
sweet fellowship with one another. But when Adam sinned, when he
disobeyed God, he fell and immediately, immediately there was a quarrel
between God and man. Eating that forbidden fruit broke
the peace. And since that day, there's been
a quarrel between the creature and the creator. And until this
quarrel between God and man is taken up by somebody who can
settle it, It won't be settled. Somebody who can settle this
quarrel. Somebody that can take man and
take God and bring them together in peace again. That's not easy. That's not easy. It must be someone
who can satisfy God. And contrary to today's religious
teaching, that's not an easy thing to do. It's easy, we're
told, to please God, to satisfy God, to appease God. It doesn't
take anything but the sinner's prayer. It doesn't take anything
but a walk up to the so-called altar, or being baptized, or
learning some doctrine. That's all that's required. Oh,
no, no, no. No, that won't appease God. That
won't settle this quarrel. God won't accept just anything.
He won't do it. He never has. God's standard
is not my standard. No, it doesn't take much to satisfy
me. Oh, but God says it must be perfect
before I'll accept it. It's got to be perfect. Again,
I ask you, who's going to take up this quarrel between God and
man? Who can do that in reference to this quarrel between God and
men? Jesus Christ is our peace. That's what we read here in Ephesians
2. He stepped forward. He stepped forward in that covenant
of peace and grace before the foundation of the world, and
he volunteered to undertake our cause, to take up the quarrel,
and to settle it. Here I am, Father. Send me. He's the mediator. He's the daysman. He steps in between the two parties
and brings them together. To do this, he must deal first
with the one, God, and then with the other, man. How do we have
peace? Christ, our mediator, has dealt
with God. God had to be satisfied before
peace could come. The wall of partition. The wall
of partition which separated us from God had to be removed. The law of commandments that
was against us had to be fulfilled, had to be satisfied. Oh my soul,
behold. Behold, who's going to settle
this world? Who's gonna satisfy God? Who's able to do that? Who does
God look upon as having enough merit, enough satisfaction in
themselves, enough worth? Who's gonna open this book? The
angel cried. Who's gonna open this book and
fulfill the decrees of God? Who's gonna do it? Who's worthy?
They couldn't find nobody, no man, not even men in heaven.
Nobody was found worthy to open that book and John started weeping
as well. He should and as well we would
except We've not John. Oh look John. Look we found somebody
there's somebody worthy. Look who's standing forth here
Look, who is this worthy? It's the lamb It's the lamb the
lamb slain from the foundation of the world and he comes forth
when the fullness of the time was come and God sent forth His
Son, made of a woman. He had to be. Made under the
law, He must be. To redeem them that were under
the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because
you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. He's my Father. Our sins had
to be put away. There could be no mercy otherwise. There could be no forgiveness
otherwise. Nothing but the blood would satisfy
God's justice. This is what we read in 2 Corinthians
5. And all things are of God, verse
18, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and
have given to us the ministry of reconciliation to wit, that
God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word
of reconciliation. Now then we, our ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you
in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." And here's the foundation
for that. Here's the foundation of our
reconciliation for he had made him. God had made him to be seen
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. God's done something for himself. So now you can be reconciled
to God. That's exactly what we read here
in verse 15 of Ephesians 2. It tells us that Jesus Christ,
by His death, has so made peace. He's made peace. We've all heard
the tale of preachers, poor blind shepherds, telling sinners, you'd
better make your peace with God. Anybody ever tell you that? You'd
better make your peace with God? How are you going to do that?
What do you have that God will accept? What do you have that's
perfect? No, you can't make your peace
with God. Nothing I could ever do could
offer God a satisfactory atonement for my sin and give me peace. But Jesus Christ did. Oh, behold. He's worthy. He's worthy. He
satisfied all the demands of God's holy law on the behalf
of his people. And he made peace with God for
them. What does Paul tell us in Hebrews
9? He now appears in the presence of God for us. For us. His very presence there
is evidence, proof that God has accepted his sacrifice. His very
presence there speaks of his worthiness in the place of all
of his people. Sin must have been put away,
or he wouldn't be appearing in the presence of God. Righteousness
must have been brought in, or he wouldn't be appearing in the
presence of God. And he does so for us. And what
does he plead? What is the basis of his intercession? He makes intercession for us,
Paul said in Romans 8. What does he plead? Father, forgive
Larry Chris because he deserves it? Oh, no. Forgive Larry Chris. Because I bore all his sins away,
Father. God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven
us. Now how do you like that? How
do you like that? How does that feel? God, for
Christ's sake, all that God does for me, He doesn't do with an
eye to what I deserve or what His Son deserves, what His Son
has earned, what His Son has merited. Take the best robe,
Father. Take that best robe. Take it
and put it on Him. Put it on Him. And with His spotless
garments on, as holy as God's own Son, this is the peace with
God. which is brought about by the
blood, the death, the sacrifice of our Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ, more than anything else. The Bible speaks of the blood,
the blood of Christ, obtaining for his elect all the great benefits
and blessings that are ours in him. Christ made peace. He made peace. He didn't take
a stab at it. Now he made peace. He got the
job done. All glory to his name. He got
the job done. We were purchased by his blood.
We have propitiation by his blood. We've been justified by his blood.
We have redemption through his blood. Our consciences are cleansed
by his blood. We're sanctified through his
blood. Our election is through the sprinkling of the blood.
And we are ransomed by his blood. We have been set free from sin
by his blood. We who once were far off have
been brought nigh by his blood. And we have peace through his
blood. Colossians 1 and 20. And have
he made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile
all things to himself? By him, I say, whether they be
things in heaven or things in earth. We sing the old hymn and
ask the question. What can wash away my sin? What can wash away my sin? What can do it? What about my
living a good moral life? Can that wash away my sin? It'll
never happen. It'll never happen. What about
the sacrifices I make? What about my prayers? What about
my preaching? What about my giving? Can they
wash away my sin? Never, never, never. What can
wash away my sin? Nothing. Oh, nothing but the
blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow. When
we drink this wine, symbolic of His blood. Oh, may that ring
in our hearts. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. They are without fault before
the throne of God. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Nothing. And that's enough. That's enough. Isaiah 53, He,
Christ, was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes
we are healed. Now God can, in strict justice,
absolute strict justice, bestow His mercy. When He forgives a
sinner, it is as much a matter of justice as it is of mercy
and grace. God is just. If Jesus Christ
bore my sins in his own body on the tree, it would be wrong. It would be unjust for God not
to forgive me. It would be unjust for God not
to receive me. God's faithful and just with
an eye towards his son. He won't demand payment twice. Psalm 85 and verse 10, mercy
and truth are met together. Where did that happen at the
cross? Righteousness and peace have kissed at one another. Where
did that happen? At the cross. At the cross. The
precious blood of Christ is central to all we are and all we have
as the children of God. His blood was the ransom price
of our souls. The price of our redemption was
the blood of Christ. Think of how much we owe to the
blood of Jesus Christ. Thank God for that precious sin-atoning
blood. By shedding His blood, He is
our peace. Because without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission. And without remission, there
can be no peace. No such thing. as the sweet experience
in a sinner's heart of being reconciled to God. It all comes
about, due, because of, and through the shed blood of our glorious
Redeemer. The blood that was shed for me,
He purchased peace and liberty. It purged away my sin and guilt,
and from the curse my soul redeemed. The blood that Jesus shed for
me intercedes in heaven for me. Upon the grounds of truth and
grace, in strict accord with righteousness. The blood that
Jesus shed for me will in the day of judgment be the only thing that I will own
when justice cries, what have you done? The blood that Jesus
shed for me will be what still amazes me when with God's saints
in heaven above, I perfectly adore his love. When sin is put
away, God has no reason for warfare against his people. Christ has
put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself and therefore peace
is established between God and our souls. God doesn't have a
quarrel with me anymore. How about that? Comfort ye, God
says. Comfort ye, God told the prophet.
Comfort my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to
Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished.
It's accomplished, and her iniquity is pardoned. For she had received
of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Here's the second
thing. Christ makes peace with us. Christ
makes peace with us. Having made satisfaction for
us with the Father, the Savior now deals with man. God is reconciled
to His chosen, to Himself by the obedience and death of His
Son. Now His people must be one and reconciled to Him. They must
lay down their arms. They must bow to the Son of God.
And he sends forth his spirit through the preaching of the
gospel and persuades you to be reconciled to God. By his saving
grace, God the Holy Spirit wins you to Christ. Psalm 65 verse
4, blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causes, causes,
Oh, God doesn't do that, does he? Oh, yes, he does. And thank
God that he doesn't cause us to approach unto thee, that he
may dwell in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thine house, even thy holy temple. Thank God that
he causes, or we would have never came otherwise. Psalm 110, verse
3, thy people shall be willing. Oh, no, no, no. God doesn't even
interfere with a man's so-called free will. Oh, yes, he does. Thank God that he does. Thank
God that he made you willing in the day of his power. You
had never been made willing otherwise. In the beauties of holiness from
the moon of the morning thou hast the view of thy youth. Thank God that he makes his people
willing in the day of his power. God doesn't save anybody against
their will. He makes them willing. Makes
them willing. He shows them the beauty of Christ. He opens our blinded eyes with
the light of the gospel. He breaks the hard heart with
conviction of sin. He humbles our stubborn will
with repentance. He causes us to willingly come
to Christ. When you came to Christ, was
it against your will? Oh no, you were willing. Willing! Oh God, please have mercy on
me. Oh, pass me not, oh, precious
Savior. Oh, Lord, please, please, hear
my cry. Have mercy upon me, oh yeah. We're made willing in a day of
His power. How did that happen? Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians
4, for God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
has shined into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The way of peace
is the way of faith in Christ. It doesn't come any other way.
The only way sinners can obtain peace is by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Trust Christ. Trust Christ. And every sinner that does will
have peace. That peace is yours. You can't
have it any other way. There's no priest can give you
peace. You've heard the story. I'm sure
I've used the illustration. I think I read it in one of Mr.
Spurgeon's messages about a priest that visited a dying man, one
of his parishioners. This man had been a woodworker
during his life, and the priest came in and he held up a wooden
crucifix and told that poor dying man, behold your God. And that
poor man looked and said, my God, I made that, he said. I made that. No ritual can give you peace.
No sacrifices can give you peace. No works of your own can give
you peace with God. Oh, but Paul tells us in Romans
5, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with
God. How? Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Is there anything, as Don said,
as Don told me to pass along, is there anything in this world
more comfortable to your souls than knowing that your sins,
not in part but the whole, were nailed to the cross and you bear
them no more. Praise the Lord, O my soul. It's
a precious truth that the same blood that sprinkles the mercy
seat in heaven sprinkles the believer's conscience on earth.
And as the blood speaks peace within the veil, so it speaks
peace within the heart of every believing sinner. Let no sin-distressed
saint doubt the sovereign efficacy. The peace-speaking power of the
blood has brought into the personal contact with the conscience.
Surely, if the blood of Christ has power to satisfy God, it
should satisfy us. If it pleases God, it should
please us. Nothing will satisfy an enlightened
conscience, a quickened conscience, but that which satisfies a holy
God. And whatever pleases God, satisfies
God, may well satisfy us. If God is reconciled, surely
we may be. And this is the true foundation
of peace. God had peace with us that passeth
all understanding. God says, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. Oh, I like that. When I see the
blood, oh, I hope God will meet with us in a few moments by His
blessed spirit when we remember what our Redeemer did, taking
the bread representing His body and the wine representing His
blood. And oh, hear that sweet, glorious promise from the very
throne of heaven saying, when I see the blood, when I see the
blood, I'm going to pass over you. Hebrews 9 and 14, how much
more should the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit
offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God? Mr. Spurgeon, in a message from that
text where our Lord spoke to that woman, go in peace, thy
sins are forgiven thee, he said this. The woman to whom the Lord
spoke these words all of her life through, she would seem
to hear the Savior saying to her, go in peace. Perhaps she
afterwards would go upstairs and lay upon a bed of sickness,
but she would go in peace. Possibly she was to come down
and to confront opposition and persecution. If so, she was still
to hear this message, go in peace. I think that that word would
come to her every morning as soon as ever she awoke. And when
she was about to close her eyes at night to go to sleep, she
would hear those precious words, go in peace. With such a gracious
message as that, she could even go through the valley of the
shadow of death and fear no evil. It may be that that is what happened,
that the Lord meant it for her, that when she came to die, and
she may have died a martyr's death, we cannot tell. At any
rate, whenever she came to die, this message would be ringing
in her ears, Go in peace. Go in peace. Oh, beloved, Mr. Spurgeon said, beloved friend,
as you go to your families, as you go through life, as you go
into eternity, I pray you to go in peace. It is heaven begun
below to possess the peace of God which passeth all understanding. Our Lord told his troubled disciples
that night, peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you,
not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart
be troubled, neither let it be afraid. One of my favorite passages
in scripture is the miracle. It's recorded in Matthew, Luke,
and Mark. Our Lord being asleep in the
ship when a storm came up and his disciples said, Master, Master,
don't you care that we're going to perish? And we read that he
arose and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace. Oh,
can't you just see him? The mighty God. He speaks to
that angry sea and says, Peace. Peace did. And we read immediately
that there was a great calm. Those waves just laid down at
his feet. They knew their creator's voice.
I believe that the Lord was speaking not only to the troubled sea,
but to the storm in the hearts of his troubled disciples. Why
are ye so fearful, he said? How is it that ye have no faith? Oh, the peace of God which passes
understanding shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. When temptations assail, Christ
is our peace. When darkness surrounds us, Christ
is our peace. When enemies oppose us, Christ
is our peace. When tribulation is upon us,
Christ is our peace. When we're leaving this world,
Christ is our peace. When we stand before God Almighty,
Christ is our peace. Christ is our peace. When peace
like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows
roll, whatever my lot, he has taught me to say, it is well,
it is well with my soul. The only way that it can be,
because Jesus Christ is our peace. The Lord bless thee and keep
thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious
unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee and give thee peace. Amen. God bless you.