I invite you this morning to
turn back with me to 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. A message to you that believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ is a message of peace. Contrary to popular belief, I
do not believe that Jesus Christ came into this world on a universal
mission of peace. We're gonna hear that. It's already
starting. But around Christmas time for
about six weeks, you hear this over and over and over. About
he came on a mission of peace, a universal mission of peace. But our Lord stated as clearly
as words can be used in Matthew 1034, He said, think not that
I am come to send peace on earth. That's pretty clear, isn't it?
That's not why I came, you see. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. For I'm come to set a man at
variance against his father. Boy, I can testify to that. That
was my experience. My dad was an Armenian Sunday
school teacher for 50 years. And when he first heard the gospel
from me, his face turned red. He was mad and I wet on him.
He said, I've come to set a man at variance against his father. And the daughter against her
mother. Experienced that with my wife
and her mother. And the daughter-in-law against
her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they
of his own household. As a matter of fact, Isaiah the
prophet says this about false preachers. They cry, peace, peace,
where there is no peace. What's he talking about? They're
crying a universal peace where there is no universal peace.
Peace, peace where there is no peace. They declare a peace that has
been established for all mankind. But I've already read to you
that our Lord said this is not so. It's just not so. Now Christ did come to make peace. but not a universal peace. At his birth, the heavenly host
sang out, peace on earth, goodwill toward men. Not goodwill toward
man, goodwill toward men. There is peace to be had on this
earth. He came to make it, and he made
it. He established it. This peace has an object, and
the object is God's elect. And over and over in the epistles, he opens the letters, all of
his epistles, he opens them with these words, grace unto you and
peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. This
is not peace to every man, this is peace to his elect. There
is a peace, a glorious peace, a peace the scripture said that
passeth all understanding. A peace that reaches into the
highest seed in glory and comes down to the lowest worm of a
man on this earth. It's a glorious peace. Paul said
in Colossians 1.20, and having made peace 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. He doesn't mention things under
earth here or things in hell because there is no peace there.
But he's reconciled all things to himself. And this peace had
to be mediated by Christ himself and himself alone because only
he could do it. He's the only one who could do
it. There's one mediator between God and me and the man, Christ
Jesus. This man, to establish peace,
he must satisfy the justice and righteousness of God. There can
be no peace in the heart of any man who cannot see the satisfaction
of God in Christ. There can't be any peace. That's
how peace comes. God's wrath, God's anger, His
righteous anger with the wicked, His justice must be satisfied. No peace apart from that. Believers
are reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to present
them holy. That is, they have not compromised
the character of God, but in perfect harmony with the character
of God. He presents them holy, and listen
to this, unblameable. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Huh? Who's gonna do that? It's God that justifies. And not only does He present
you unblameable in Christ, but He presents you unreprovable. In Christ, you can't be made
any better. That's what that says. And all of this in his sight. And this glorious and effectual
peace is given to all of God's elect through faith. Being justified
by faith, we have peace with God. how you know you're at peace
with God by faith. That's it. That's it. And having declared this glorious
gospel to them, and knowing their election of God, and seeing the
power of the Holy Ghost bringing them into submission, bringing
them into a patient waiting for God, bringing them into a turning
from their idols, To the true and living God, Paul now sums
up all of his hopes and desires for this church. And he says
to them in verse 16, this is my text. Now the Lord of peace
himself give you peace always, by all means, the Lord be with
you all. I have six things in this verse
of scripture that I want you to see and consider. First of
all, I want you to see that peace is in the hands of a sovereign. It's in the hands of a sovereign.
It ain't in your hands. It's not in my hands. It's in
his. As all the corn in Egypt was
in the hands of Joseph, even so the peace of God is in the
hands of Christ the Lord. They came to Pharaoh crying out,
we need corn. He said, go see Joseph. Go see Joseph. And he begins
this verse with these words, now the Lord of peace. That word in the Greek for Lord
is kurios, kurios. It has many meanings. If you
read that word, it has particular meanings in the Greek. This one,
this kurios means supreme authority. That's what it's talking about.
Paul tells us in Colossians 1.18 that Christ is the head of the
body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from
the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.
For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. He is the Lord of peace. Nobody else has it. Nobody else
has the right to dispense it. It belongs to Him. And then notice
this. Peace is not just a work. It's
not just a doctrine. But it's His very name and title. He is the Lord of Peace. That's who He is. Say, well, I don't really know
what this peace is. It's Christ. He is peace. He's not only the Lord of peace,
but He is peace. There's no peace apart from Him.
Peace is in Him. There's one mediator, one who
can mediate this peace. It's the work he was appointed
to, the work he accomplished, and the reason he now sits at
the right hand of God. He is, Paul said, our peace. The second word in our text that
needs our attention is the word himself. The Lord of peace himself. Now it's one thing if If you
get a letter in the mail to whom it may concern, and so on, and
you read it, and you say, well, I guess they're talking about
me. It's another thing when that court-appointed lawyer shows
up at your door and says, is your name Luke Whitehead? And
you say, yeah, well, this is for you. And he hands it to you.
It's one thing to hear about peace for me, but it's another
thing when you see Him giving that peace. You say, what a difference
in the impact. The Lord Himself, that's what
He says, gonna give you this peace. It's His, He can dispense
it, He can give it. All preachers can do is point
you to Him. I don't know if he'll dispense
that peace to you or not, don't I? But he has it, and he's able. As far as I can tell from the
scriptures, he's willing. He's our peace. God's satisfied
with him. He loves him. He accepted him. He crowned him. He seated him.
He's at God's right hand even now. God told His Son, you sit
here next to Me till all thine enemies become thy footstool. No man cometh unto the Father
but by Him. Eternal life is in His Son. He
that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. He made Him to be unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, and He is our
peace. He's our peace. The question
is not, am I at peace? The question is, do I have Him? If I have Him, I have peace.
I have peace. All through John 16, our Lord
prepares His disciples for what lies ahead. He said, it's expedient
for you that I go away. If I go not away, My Father won't
send a comforter. I must go away. I must go and
appear before my Father. I must go to the cross. I must
suffer and die and then be raised from the dead and ascend back
to the Father. And by virtue of my person and
work, the Father will send His Spirit. And when He does, the
Holy Spirit, He's going to convince men of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment. of sin because they believe not
on the Lord Jesus Christ. There can't be a bigger crime
than that. You can't plumb the depth of
your sin until you discover your own belief in the Son of God.
There is absolutely nothing in Him for you to say, well, this
is why I don't believe. There's nothing in Him. There's
no excuse in Him. There's no roadblock in Him.
There's nothing. Nothing but love and peace and
joy and happiness and strength and sufficiency. He's everything. All the fullness of the Godhead
is in Him. But we won't believe. Huh? When the Holy Spirit's come,
He's gonna convince you of this. He's gonna convince you of your
sin. He's gonna show you something about the wickedness, evil, ungodliness
of your sin, and He's gonna do it by showing you your unbelief
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And when He's done that, you'll
be emptied. You'll be flat on your face.
You'll see there's nothing in you to recommend you to God.
There's nothing in you for God to say, I need to blow on that
coal. Maybe I can get a fire started.
There's nothing in you. You're gonna know that. You're
gonna lay there. You're gonna say, oh, have mercy on me, the
sinner. And when he does, he'll have
to convince you of righteousness because you're already convinced
you ain't got it. Is that right? Pastor up in North Carolina,
before I got up to speak, he said, I have to warn you, this
man's a little country-fied. And I told him afterward, I said,
you kind of missed the mark there, bud. I said, I'm a lot country-fied,
not little. And sometimes I'm at such a loss
for words. when I'm trying to convince you
of what this book says. Oh my soul, he will convince
you of righteousness when you discover you don't have one.
Then he's gonna convince you that your righteousness is all
together in Christ. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe it. Oh, I heard the gospel, if you
did. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation because therein is the righteousness of God revealed. And then he's going to convince
you of judgment, not that there is one, but of judgment passed,
judgment satisfied. Oh my soul, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, But after the Spirit, there's no judgment.
Why are you so convinced of that? Because the Holy Spirit convinced
me of it. That's why. I see that judgment
satisfied in Christ. We have peace in Him. And that's
what I want you to see. Down here in John 16, 33, He
said, These things have I spoken unto you that in me, see that? In me, you ought to take an ink
pen and put about five or six lines under that. In me, you
might have peace. That's why I said these things
to you. We have peace in him because God put us in him. He
put us in him by an eternal covenant union. God chose us in Christ. He blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in Christ. He predestinated us unto the
adoption of children through Christ. There'd never been a
time He considered us outside of Christ. We obeyed the law
perfectly in Christ. We died in Him. We satisfied
the justice of God in Him. We was raised up together with
Him. We ascended up with Him on that
cloud and God seated us together with Him at His own right hand.
It's not a doctrine or a statute or a principle that seals our
peace with God. It's a person. It's a person. He is our peace, who hath made
both one, that is, Jew and Gentile, and abolished in his flesh the
enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for
to make in himself of twain one new man. One man. All of us, one man in Christ. Black, white, yellow, red, rich,
poor, female, male, don't, all one in him. All one in him. He made in himself of twain one
new man. Now listen, so making peace. That's the only way peace could
be made. Everything God demanded to be
reconciled, Christ produced. He did what it took. He paid
what was owed. And oh, glorious thought, that
as our Lord was received by his Father, so we were and we are
accepted in the beloved. That's what the scripture says.
As supreme Lord of peace, he himself is the source of it.
Thirdly, he's the administrator of it. Peace is not something
you can earn. I've made my peace with God.
I get so tired of hearing that. You can't make peace with God.
Only Christ can make peace with God. It's not something you earn or
something you qualify yourself for. It says here it's given. Isn't that what that says? The Lord of peace himself shall
give. Peace was given to them for whom
peace was accomplished. He did all that he did that in
the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace
and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. He reconciled us
to God, Paul said, and then he came and preached peace to them
that were afar off and to them that were nigh. It's his to give
because he accomplished it. Because it is his very name in
particular and because he is the Lord over it. And he's willing to give it to
all who call upon him. Who are they? I don't know till
they receive the gift of His peace. That declares it. And then here's another word.
Here's the fourth thing I want you to see. Always. There's times when we feel at
peace with God and there's times when we don't. But He's always
at peace. That peace is unchangeable. It
never changes. never changes. It didn't change
in the fall. It didn't change when I was at
the height of my rebellion. It never changes, because He
never changes. This peace is of such a nature
that it shall never be disannulled. He is the keeper of peace, and
ain't you glad He does? To overturn His peace, He Himself
would have to be destroyed. He'd have to be unseated from
the Godhead. I give unto them eternal life,
and they'll never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out
of My hand. My Father which gave them Me is greater than all,
and no man can pluck them out of His hand, and I and the Father
are one. You're not going to lose this
peace. If He gives you this peace, it's
yours. And if he gives it to you, it's
because it's been yours from the beginning. Who is he who can rob God's elect
of their peace in Christ? Huh? And even though they believe
not, the scripture said, yet he abides faithful. He cannot
deny himself. Listen to this verse. Peace I
leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give
I unto you. A peace that abides forever,
as our great Melchizedek is a priest forever, so his peace abides
forever for us. And then fifthly, look at this.
He said, always by all means. Now this is not encouraging us
to make up new means or telling us that any old means will be
effectual. He's telling us that the means
he has ordained to this end shall be honored. It's gonna be honored. And of these means, I'll only
mention three. And the first is the preaching
of the Gospel. How is it that a man comes to
experience something of this peace of God he hears? The Gospel is a message of peace. Not one you can make or take
it off the shelf anytime you want it, but one accomplished
by Christ and given through faith in Him. And I don't know of anything
so hated in our day as the necessity of gospel preaching. Even people in grace churches
stand up and kick at it. I just, I'm amazed. Preaching has been relegated
to the closet in most so-called churches and relegated with, they put in its place, they put
counselors and entertainers and motivators, gotta get people
motivated. Spiritual cheerleaders. Let's
go! Come on, team! One of them even, they were using
sports figures. They said, Team Jesus. They're just spiritual cheerleaders
trying to motivate dead men to do what's impossible for them
to do. Secondly, the Holy Ghost. It
is the Spirit who takes our Gospel and makes it effectual in the
hearts of chosen sinners. Otherwise, they're just words.
Paul said, I know your election of God, for our Gospel came not
in word only, but it came in power and came in the Holy Ghost.
Effectual preaching is attended by the Holy Ghost. It is the Spirit who takes the
word we preach and makes it needed and wanted in the hearer. In this gospel, he reveals the
righteousness of God. He reveals hope, he reveals peace. And then thirdly, he convinces
us of judgment, that judgment satisfied. These are the means
which God has ordained the preaching of the gospel and the presence
and power of the Holy Ghost, and then thirdly, the providence
of God. Do you ever think about the providence
of God that attends the preaching of the gospel? How shall you
hear without a preacher, but how shall he preach except he
be sent? Would I know where to go? I wouldn't
have a clue. I wouldn't have a clue. Turn
with me to 2 Corinthians chapter six. I'm gonna show you something
here about the providence of God that maybe you never thought
about. We're talking about the means
of peace as they're used to give us peace. His gospel, his spirit,
and his providence. In 2 Corinthians chapter six
and verse one, Paul said, we then as workers together with
him beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God
in vain. How does a man do that? Well, you can hear it and disregard
it. That's hearing it in vain. You can hear it and lay it up
on a shelf. I can't use that right now, but when I need it,
it'll be there. You can hear it and take it for
granted that you're gonna hear it again. That's hearing it in
vain. We beseech you also that you
receive not the grace of God in vain. Now listen to this,
verse two. For he saith, who did? God did. I have heard thee in a time accepted. What time is that? That's the time he providentially
set in your way. That's right. I've heard thee
in a time accepted and in the day of salvation have I succored
thee. Behold, now listen to me, now
is the accepted time. Oh, but preachers, I'm not sure
I'm ready. You better get ready. Now is
the accepted time. It's not out there somewhere.
There may not be an out there. This world could end at any time,
at any second. He could wind it up. We think we're going to live
forever. Old Western, I was watching,
said, everybody thinks they're six foot tall and bulletproof.
You ain't. Now is the accepted time. Behold,
now is the day of salvation. You remember Paul's message on
Mars Hill? He wound it all up with the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. And boy, as soon as he said that,
they all went shaking. And most of them said, well,
we'll hear thee again. They never did. They never did. The providence of God affords
you this hearing. This is a hearing which millions
this morning may never hear. I don't know what they're gonna
hear. They're going to hear about coming down aisles. They're going
to hear about reforming their lives. They're going to hear
about their works, encouraging them to keep the law, encouraging
them to give, encouraging them to take up posters and get involved
in the election. I don't know what they're going
to hear. But God has given you, in his providence, another opportunity
to hear. What will you do with it? What are you going to do with
it? Do you just assume it's going
to come back and come back and come back until you decide to
hear it? I'm going to tell you something.
God's not under any obligation to give you a hearing at all.
And if you knew the privilege you had this morning to hear
this gospel, you'd be on your knees before him. And what are
you going to do with it? This is the accepted time, the
time when his means are being employed. This is the time when
the gospel, Paul said, comes nigh unto thee. It's even in
your mouth. You can taste it. It's that close. Even in your mouth and in your
heart. And I'm telling you as your pastor and somebody that
loves you, even if you think I don't, I'm telling you, don't
disregard it. Don't shove it aside. And then, let me close with these
words. He said, the Lord be with you
all. If he is, you have everything
that God has for sinners. You don't need to shop any further.
You have everything God has for sinners. This is what Paul was talking
about when he talked over there in Ephesians chapter one about
the Holy Spirit of promise whereby we're sealed. and the earnest
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.
What in the world is he talking about? He's talking about hope
in Christ, that's what he's talking about. That Holy Spirit is put
in you, in you, Christ in you. He becomes your hope, your rest,
your God. What do you know about God outside
of Christ? Nothing, nothing. He's everything, he's all, and
in all. Oh, don't put it off. Don't lay
it aside. Pastor, I'm this young. What's that got to do with anything?
Huh? He tells us to seek him in our
youth, doesn't he? Sure he does. The older you get,
the worse it gets. The worse it gets. Your heart,
your mind, your experiences are full of sin. You become set in
your ways. Oh, seek Him while you're young.
Seek Him in your youth. Seek Him. Don't seek things. Seek Him. Seek Him. Trust in
Him. May the Lord make it so, for
Christ's sake.