Turn back to Luke 24. Now, I had never really thought
much about the atmosphere that surrounded the disciples before
they knew that the Lord was raised from the dead, but this is very
significant. The disciples were in a room
with the door shut. The reason they were in a room
with the door shut is they were in hiding. They did not want
anybody in. They were afraid. They thought
that the ones who had crucified their master would come after
them, too. So they were afraid. Just three days before, these
men, all with the exception of John, had forsaken Christ. and fled. They were just as bad
as Peter. And then when these two on the
road to Emmaus came with the report, we read in Mark chapter
16, verse 12 and 13, and after that he appeared in another form
unto two of them as they walked and went into the country. And
they, those two went and told it unto the residue, neither
believed they them. These men had seen the Lord. They tell the disciples of the
Lord and they did not believe. Now here they are, scared, feeling
guilty over the way they had done forsaking the Lord and fleeing. And in a state of unbelief, when
some eyewitnesses came to them and told them of the Lord, and
they didn't believe them. Now, this is the state they were
in. And Christ says to them, verse
36, as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of
them. I believe he just appeared. He
didn't come walking in. All of a sudden, there he was. His glorified body could do that.
He could walk through doors. He could walk through walls.
And all of a sudden, he appears unto these men, and here's what
he had to say. Peace be to you. Now, they were feeling anything
but peace. They were feeling guilt over
their conduct. They were afraid. They were feeling
remorse, uncertainty, worry, anxiety, but certainly not peace. And he comes to them in this
state, in this frame, and says, peace be to you. I couldn't help but think of
what the Lord said to Peter At the end of John chapter 13, you're
gonna deny that you know me three times. Let not your heart be
troubled. He comes to these guilty, sinful,
scared disciples, and he says, peace be unto you. Now, peace. There's not a more
wonderful feeling Peace. To be carefree. To be worried about nothing. To be content. To be satisfied. To not fear any of the consequences
that could come from your sin because you know you won't face
any consequences. Your sin has been put away. Peace. Peace, what a wonderful
feeling. Peace, not afraid, not worried,
content, satisfied. Everything is great. Everything
is just the way it should be. That's what peace is. And yet
he comes to these men who are so unworthy of peace. And he
says, peace be unto thee. Now back to that in a moment,
let's go on reading. Verse 37, but they were terrified
and defried and suppose that they'd seen a spirit. Now, what
that means is they suppose they'd seen a ghost. They didn't believe
what they were seeing and they were terrified. And I think this
is so interesting. They supposed that they had seen
the spirit things we suppose that are not true. There are a lot of things we
suppose. There are a lot of suppositions we make, me and you, about circumstances,
about people, about places, about things, even about ourselves. Suppositions we make that causes
terror and causes us to be frightened. And those were false suppositions. They were not true. They supposed
that they had seen a spirit and that had caused them such terror. And in verse 38, and he said
unto them, why are you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in
your heart? This is a gentle rebuke. Why
are you troubled? You have no reason to be. Now,
if the Lord says peace to you, do you have any reason for trouble?
Now, if I say peace to you, that doesn't mean much. In fact, it
doesn't mean anything. If you say peace to me, I'm glad
you said it, but you can't confer it. There's only one who can
confer peace. And if the Lord says peace to
you, you have every reason to have that perfect peace that
passes understanding. Verse 39, behold my hands and
my feet. And he's talking about his hands
and feet with the print of the nails. Now, I don't understand
all of this. I know that he said to Thomas,
reach forth your hand and put it into my side. In his glorified
body, I don't think it was just scars. Evidently, it was an open
wound that you could actually put in his side. He said, take
your finger and thrust it into the hole in my hands. He said
that to Thomas. So our Lord in his glorified body still has
these wounds, still has these scars, they're still there. And
he shows his disciples his hands and his feet. Man, I've got real flesh and
real bones. I'm no ghost. I'm the risen savior. I'm the same one who was nailed
to that cross. I'm the same one who walked with
you for three years. Handle me and see. I am a real
man raised from the dead, verse 40. And when he had thus spoken,
he showed them his hands and his feet. Now his wounds, are
still present in his body. I don't know in what form. It
would be needless for me to speculate that. But his wounds, his scars,
the marks of his crucifixion, even as I speak, are still present
in his body. And the saints in light right
now are looking upon his wounds. Now, when we enter heaven, We're
going to enter heaven with glorified bodies. I don't know what all
that means, and you don't know either, but I know they're going
to be perfect. They're not going to be blemished. They're not
going to be scars. They're not going to be anything. I've got
all kinds of scars. I've had surgery. I remember
one time I was out, and somebody said, were you in Vietnam? And
I said, yeah. But no, I wasn't. I wasn't. It's
signs of weakness, my scars, my sicknesses. But when I enter
glory, those scars will be gone. They'll be gone, I think. I'll
have a glorified body. But the Lord Jesus Christ still
has the marks of his wounds. And here's why his wounds speak
of his chief glory. Let me repeat that. His wounds
speak of his chief glory, how he glorified every attribute
of God when he was nailed to that cross. The only way me and
you are really going to know the true character of God is
by the cross. I see every attribute that God has been pleased to
make known to us in Christ being nailed to that tree. We see the
love of God. We see the justice of God. We
see the holiness of God. We see the sovereignty of God. We see the power of God. We see
the wisdom of God. All of God's glorious attributes
are displayed in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. The cross
is the whole counsel of God. It's His way of saving sinners. The cross. Oh, the cross. Now, when I'm in heaven, By the
grace of God, all the things that trouble me now, I won't
even remember. I won't remember what it's like
to be a sinner. I won't remember what it's like
to commit a sin. I won't remember what it's like
to feel shame or guilt or remorse or fear. I won't have any of
that. I won't even remember what sin
is. There'll be no sin in glory.
There'll be no unbelief in glory. All tears will be wiped away.
All fears will be removed. I'll be perfectly conformed to
the image of Christ. And that's like all I've ever
known. I won't remember the stuff that's happened today or yesterday
or tomorrow. I won't remember. But I'll know when I look upon
my Redeemer that the only reason I'm there is because of those
wounds. I'll know that. I won't think
that my merit is my own. I'm going to know when I'm in
glory that the only reason I'm there is found in the wounds
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He showed them His hands and
His feet. His wounds are the only ground
of peace and His wounds are why He could say to these men in
their unbelief, in their fear, in their anxiety, in their remorse
over what they've done, in their shame of forsaking the Lord,
He could look at them and say, peace be unto you. And here is
the ground of that peace. He showed them his hands and
his feet. Verse 41, and while they yet believed not
for joy. I've actually heard people use
this verse to say the disciples were not believers yet. Well,
you can use it that way if you want, but I feel quite sure that
that's not what that means. What it was is, this is too good
to be true. That I could have peace, as sinful
as I am, that I could have peace. This is too good to be true that
He was raised from the dead and now says to me, peace, when I've
been nothing but unbelieving, cowardly, evil, forsook Him at
His time of need, let Him down in every way, and yet He says
to me, peace? When I'm so sinful, not about
the way I used to be, but the way I am right now, when I'm
so sinful, yet He says to me, peace? that I could have the
peace of justification? The peace of knowing that I've
never sinned? When I know all I am is sin?
That seems too good to be true, doesn't it? They believed not
for joy. This is glorious. This is too
good to be true. While they yet believed not for
joy and wondered. They were wondering at this.
They were still taken back by peace be unto you. They wondered. And he said unto them, have you
any meat? Have you anything to eat? And
they gave him a piece of broiled fish and of a honeycomb, and
he took it and did eat before them. Now, what must have been
going through their minds as they watched him eat? I don't
know whether they were eating at the same time, but they were
watching him. And just a note on the side. glorified body of
Christ ate food from this fallen world. You know what that means? Sin is not in stuff. Sin is not
in food. Sin is not in matter. Sin is
not in anything you can touch or feel. That is not sin. The glorified Christ ate food
from this world, this fallen world, and it was good. Broil
fish. Can't help but wonder what it
must have tasted like. And that honeycomb, and there
they sit there. I love, I always love to think of the disciples
sitting there looking, watching the Lord. You know, they look
at each other. Watching him eat this meal. What must have been going through
their minds? Now, for me to say peace to you,
would it give you any peace if I said it? Peace be to you. No. I wouldn't give you any peace. Because if you know anything,
you know that I can't confer peace on anybody. I can't make
peace. It's meaningless if I say peace
be unto you. If you say peace be unto me,
it's not going to make me feel any peace at all. I know you. You know me. We're sinful. We
can't confer peace on somebody else. It can't be done. But here
the one who can confer peace says, peace be unto you. I think of Isaiah's prophecy
in Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6, unto us a child is born. unto us a son is given. That
son wasn't born. That's the eternal son of God.
Now he was born as a child, but he is the eternal uncreated son
of the living God. Unto us a son is given and the
government should be upon his shoulders and his name shall
be called wonderful. Be careful the way you use the
word wonderful. Here's where it should be used. His name is
wonderful. counselor. And there the word
in the original Hebrew is a verb. It's not a noun. It's not he's
a counselor and you can go to him for counsel. That's not what
it means. His counsel is his decrees. He's the one who decrees. He's
the one who controls everything. His counsel is his will being
done. He's wonderful. He's counselor. He's the mighty God. He's the
everlasting father. And what's the next line? The
Prince of Peace. The Author of Peace. Now, if He's the Wonderful Counselor,
if He's the Son Given, if He's the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, and the Prince of Peace, He can say to me, and He can
say to you, peace be unto you. And you have every reason to
have a true, well-grounded peace. That peace of God which passes
all understanding. At his birth, the heavenly hosts
sang, glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill
to men. If you ever watch those shows
on TV where they try to talk about the historical Jesus. I
hate it when they do that. He brought radical ideas. Peace
among men. That's not talking about peace
among men. That's talking about peace with God. On earth, goodwill
toward men. God's goodwill toward men. Peace. Peace with God. At a circumcision
when Simeon held that eight day old infant up in the temple.
He held that child and he said, Lord, now let us thou thy servant
depart in peace. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Shortly before his crucifixion,
he said to his disciples in John 14 verse 27, peace, I'll live
with you. My peace I give to you, not as
the world give I to you. The world's got a peace, but
it's the peace of a cow before it's getting ready to get slaughtered.
It just doesn't know what's going to happen. The world can give
you a peace, but it's not a real true peace. But he says, my peace
I give to you. And then he said, at the end
of his last discourse with his disciples before he began that
great high priestly prayer for his people to his father, he
said, these things have I spoken unto you, everything I've said
up to this point, these things have I spoken unto you that in
me you might have peace. In the world, you'll have tribulation. You'll have trial. You'll have
trouble. But be of good cheer. I have
overcome the world. Now these things have I spoken
to you that in me you might have peace. You see, the only place peace
is found Listen real carefully. The only
place real peace is found is where there is no sin. The only place real peace is
found is where there is no sin. He was manifested, 1 John 3,
5, He was manifested to take away our sin. And in Him is no sin. Beloved, if we're in Him, that
means we have no sin. None at all. And if I don't have
any sin, I have peace. What peace there is, is in having
no sin. Now, turn with me to Colossians
1. I'm going to ask you to look
at these scriptures with me. Verse 20. Colossians chapter 1 verse 20,
and having made peace through the blood of his cross. I hate it when people say, if
you've made your peace with God, no, I've not made my peace with
God. Christ made my peace with God. He made my peace. He didn't make my peace possible. He made it. He made it. 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, and you that were sometime
alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to
present you. Holy. Unblameable. and unreprovable
in His sight. You see, when He was nailed to
that cross, He was nailed to the cross by the will of God.
It was God's purpose for Him. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. He was nailed to the cross by the justice
of God. The justice of God called for
His death. The justice of God against sin. He was nailed to the cross because
of our wicked hands. We were responsible for this,
but oh, what he achieved because of what he did, every believer,
everybody that he died for right now is holy. Now, let me tell
you something about being holy. You can't be unholy. You can't quit being holy. You're
holy eternally. You're unblameable. There's nothing
to bring to your charge. You know, I can't help but think
of, you know, when people talk about believers being judged
for their sins while here on earth and handed out rewards
or given penalties, some in a mansion and some in a hut, I think, where's
the gospel there? There's not a drop of gospel
in that. The gospel is that I am holy,
unblameable. Unreprovable in the very sight
of God. Peace. Peace. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 14
says, he is our peace. Now he made our peace, but let's
take it a step further. He is our peace. Everything that God requires
of me, He looks to His Son for. And everything God requires of
me, I look to His Son for. And He is our peace. So much so that He is our peace. He is our peace. Now, if you
can look for some kind of reason in yourself to have peace, well,
I think I'm saved because I'm I'm fill in the blank. I must
be saved because I fill in the blank, whatever it is, whatever
it is, I must be saved because I am fighting against sin and
I'm striving against sin and I'm repenting and I'm I'm walking
and I'm whatever it might be. If you can find peace. Out of
something in you, even something that he's done in you. He is
no longer your peace. That's a bad place to be, isn't
it? He is our peace. You start looking for evidences
in yourself for peace. If you find any, you can no longer
say, He's our peace. But if you can find none, what
a blessing. What a blessing. You can really
say, He is my peace. Now turn with me, I'm gonna read
four scriptures. Turn with me to Acts chapter 10. I'd like you to look at these,
Acts chapter 10. Now this is a summary of the preaching of
God. Verse 36, Acts chapter 10, verse
36. This is a summary of gospel preaching, the word which God
sent unto the children of Israel. This is what God sent. This is
God's message. The word which God sent unto
the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all. There's the gospel. Peace by
Jesus Christ. He's the author of it. He accomplished
it. He's the grand of it. He's the subject of it. He's
the thing itself. Peace by Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all. What's that mean? It means He
is Lord of all. What peace we receive from that? He's the Lord. He's in control
of everything and everybody and whatever happens, it's His will
be done. Good, that was His will. Bad,
as far as I perceive it, that was His will too. It's all His
will because He is Lord. He's Lord of all. It was He who
created the universe. It's He who's controlling everything
right now, and it's He in whose salvation. It's in His hand. Your salvation is up to Him.
Now, is there a good place to be? I know that the world, when
they hear of Him being sovereign and salvation, how He can save
or He can pass by and people think, how could that be fair
for Him to save one and pass by another? Now, the only reason
you'll make an objection like that, the only reason, is because
you don't really believe you're a sinner. If you really believe
you're a sinner, you know one thing dead for sure, He'd be
just and passing you by. You really believe that. And
you find your only hope in Him being Lord. You're just like
that leper, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. He's Lord of all. Turn to Romans 4. Verse 25. Who was delivered for our offenses. That's talking about him being
delivered to the cross and dying on Calvary's tree. Why was he
delivered? He was delivered for our offenses. His substitutionary death on
the cross. He was delivered for our offenses
and was raised again for our justification. Now this puts a whole new light
on what people think of as justification by faith. Therefore being justified
by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now listen real carefully. Justification doesn't have anything to do with
you believing anything. It has to do with him being delivered
for your offenses and raised again for your justification.
And you believe that. That's what you believe. You
believe he was delivered for your offenses when he was raised
from the dead. Your complete justification was
accomplished. when he opened his eyes in life
in that empty or in that dark tomb where he was when he opened
his eyes. And I don't know what happened.
I like to think of a bright light flashing. I don't know whether
it did or not. I like to think of that. But I know this when
he was raised from the dead. I was justified. I was justified. I'm unjustified because I believe
I'm justified because he died for me and worked out a perfect
righteousness and saved me. That's what I believe. Therefore,
being justified, having been justified, by faith we have peace. By faith we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now let me tell you what gives
me peace. Not that justification comes to me through an act of
my faith. But justification comes to me because of what he did.
He actually justified me before I was ever even born. Matter
of fact, you want to talk about justification, I was justified
in the council halls of eternity. Whom he foreknow, he also did
predestinate. Whom he predestinated, he also
called. Whom he called, he also justified.
Whom he justified, he also glorified. Everything with regard to salvation
is found in his foreknowledge. Somebody says, do you believe
in eternal justification? Absolutely. It's amazing to me
that people don't believe that. It's the best thing you ever
heard. If he ever saw you as guilty, you won't be saved. He said, I will by no means clear
the guilty. The reason he can forgive you
is because you've been justified. That's why. Not because you asked
for it. but because you were justified
by what he did. And that's how we have peace
with God. Turn to Romans chapter 15. Verse
13, Romans 15, 13. Now the God of hope Have you ever felt despair? Where you actually don't feel
like anything is ever going to be better? Despair. What a horrible feeling. But God is the God of hope. Now the God of hope fill you
with all joy and peace. In what? In believing. Not in doing. Not in working. In believing. Now the only way you and I will
experience joy and peace is by believing. Not by believing you're
saved. Not by believing you're anything. But by believing that he is salvation. Don't think about yourself. That's
not faith. Believing he's the son of God.
Believing he is all in salvation. Believing that all God requires
of you he looks to his son for. Believing that he is all in salvation. what joy and what peace there
is in that. Now, as soon as you start looking
to yourself, it'll fly away. It'll be gone. But oh, the joy
and peace there is in believing the gospel. One final scripture,
Galatians chapter six. Verse 16. And as many as walk according
to this rule. Peace be on them and mercy and
upon the Israel of God. Now there is a rule. We must walk according to if
we're going to have peace. It's only those who walk according
to this rule that are going to have this peace. As many as walk
according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy upon the
Israel of God. Now, the Israel of God is not
that land in the middle of the east. You can just forget that.
That's not the Israel of God. It's not those people who are
national or physical Jews. That's not the Israel of God.
The Israel of God is every believer. The Israel of God is right here.
This is the Israel of God. Now, what is this rule that they
walk according to wherein they can have peace? Well, back up
in verse 14, Paul says, God forbid that I should glory. Now you think of the things Paul
could have gloried in. He wrote scriptures. He was the
man God used more than any other man to expound the gospel. He was the chief apostle. He was taken into the third heaven and taught the gospel directly
by Jesus Christ himself. He was used in such miraculous
ways. And what does he say about all
that? God forbid that I should glory. Save in the cross. Of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the only thing I have confidence in is the cross
of Christ. What he accomplished, I don't
have confidence in how he's used me. I don't have confidence in
anything that has anything to do with me. All I have confidence
in is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ that he accomplished my
salvation. Now, my rule that I walk according
is first what he did for me. And look what he says next in
verse 15. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision avails anything
nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And this is talking
about the work of Christ in you. The work of Christ for you is
what he did on the cross. The work of Christ in you is
this, a new creation. Now, what's the point? Well,
in the first creation, what part did you play? Nothing. Nothing. In the second creation, what
part do you play? Nothing. Just as much as that
first creation was the work of God only, the second creation
is the work of God only. All pressure, all performance
pressure is taken off. This is the rule of every believer,
to glory only in the cross. and to know that God's work in
them is His creative work. You didn't have anything to do
with it. You didn't add anything to it. It wasn't caused by anything
you did or did not do. It's all the work of Christ. Now, as many as walk according
to this rule, the rule expressed in verses 14 and 15, peace be
on them and mercy upon the Israel of God. Now, these disciples, they sure didn't feel any peace
at this time. I'm sure of that. They felt no peace. They felt
guilt. They felt fear. They felt remorse. They felt
unbelief. They felt confusion. They felt
like they didn't know what they felt. And Christ comes to them
and says, Peace be unto you. And may the Lord by His Spirit
say that to each one of us through the gospel. Peace. Nothing to
worry about. No conflict. Peace. Nothing to feel guilty about.
Nothing to fear. Peace be unto you. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that you're the God of peace,
that you're the God of hope, that Christ made our peace. How we thank you that he is our
peace. Lord, give us the grace to walk
by this rule, to glory only in the cross. and have confidence
in nothing else, and to know that we are the creation of God,
that it doesn't have anything to do with us doing anything,
but it wholly has to do with what you have done. Lord, grant
us the joy and peace of believing. In Christ's blessed name we pray,
amen.