If you turn back to Hebrews chapter
13, I've entitled this message, The
God of Peace and the Peace of God. And for me to have peace, I'm
going to have to know something about the God of peace, and I'm
going to have to know something about the peace of God. That
peace of which Paul spoke of when he said, the peace of God,
which passeth understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus. Now, I love this name of God
in verse 21 or verse 20 of Hebrews chapter 13. Now, the God of peace. Peace is a feeling. And what a feeling it is. Now,
I love that song that Matt sings so often by Martin Luther. Feelings
come and feelings go. Feelings are deceiving. My warrant
is the word of God, not else is worth believing. And that's
so, isn't it? That being said, we have a lot
of feelings. The gospel is not something without
feeling and deep feeling. We have a lot of feelings, good
and bad. Think of the feelings of anxiety,
worry, resentment, fear, insecurity, lack of confidence. Those are
horrible feelings, aren't they? They're not good in any respect. Feeling of jealousy or envy. It's a horrible feeling. And
then there are things that make you feel good. Joy is a feeling. Patience is a feeling. Peace is a feeling. You know, these are things that
make you feel good. Think of the warmth of feeling
you get from a sincere thank you. It means something, doesn't
it? Think of the warmth of feeling
you experience from a genuine compliment. Feelings can be very
good, and I don't think there's a greater feeling than peace.
The feeling of peace, it's the opposite of stress, worry and
anxiety. Peace. Isn't it wonderful to
feel peace, to know God's at peace with you? There's no greater
feeling. God, the living God, the sovereign
God, the holy God, is the God of peace. I love his name. I think of the peace that exists
between the three persons of the Godhead. God the Father is
at such peace with God the Son, and he's at such peace with God
the Spirit. And God the Son is at such peace
with His Father and peace with His Spirit. The Holy Spirit is
at peace with the Father. And oh, He's at peace with the
Son. God is at peace with His people. He has no feelings of hostility
toward them, no reason for anger. perfect peace. He looks upon
me with complacency and delight and joy. Isn't that wonderful? God's at peace with his providence.
He's in control of everything. He never worries. His will is
always done, and he is at peace. And he who is our peace gives
us his peace. In John chapter 14, verse 27,
the Lord said, Peace, I leave with you. My peace. Now, did you hear that? My peace,
I give unto you. Now, this is true of every believer. He says, My peace, I give unto
you. And oh, the peace that's derived
from being in him. He said, These things have I
spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. Not just that
you feel peace, but you have peace. In me, you might have
peace. In the world, you're going to have trial, tribulation, and
trouble. But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. And
I think of the peace that there is simply being in him. Now, when those people were in
the houses with the blood over the door, You reckon some of them didn't
feel very much peace? I guarantee you that some of
them were thinking, he might get me anyway. I guarantee you
there were people who were struggling with that. But while they might
not have felt peace, they had peace. Because everybody in the
house with the blood over the door was absolutely secure. They had peace. Now, some felt
it more than others. Some felt complete security.
I dare say Moses didn't worry a bit. He knew he was secure
in the house with the blood over the door. But there was someone
else who didn't feel that same security. But still, God said,
when I see the blood, one thing he was looking for, blood. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. That is his promise. And what peace is derived from
simply being found in him? We read in Romans 14, 17, the
kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but it's righteousness. Righteousness. Perfect righteousness. Every believer is the very righteousness
of God. I have His righteousness as my
righteousness. And when you're looking at me
right now, you're looking at someone who has the absolute
obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ as their righteousness before
God. That's why I can stand bold before God and know I'm accepted,
because I have nothing short of the righteousness of Christ.
That's the only righteousness there is, is His righteousness.
And you know what I derive from that? Peace. Now, if I thought
it was human righteousness, I would be scared to death. But knowing
it's his righteousness, I have peace. What a feeling of peace. All that God requires of me,
I have in the Lord Jesus Christ. And what peace there is in knowing
that. And what comes next? Joy. Oh, the joy of knowing Christ
is my righteousness before God. The joy of having peace before
God. The kingdom of God is not meat
and drink. It's righteousness, peace, and
joy in the Holy Ghost. Turn to Romans chapter 4 for
a moment. We're going to look at this again later on, but I
want you to look at this. Romans chapter 4. Verse 25, speaking of the Lord
Jesus, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again
for our justification. Therefore, being justified, and
you could just as easily read that, having been justified. When Christ was raised from the
dead, all of God's elect were justified. Their sins were put
away, their sins were washed away, and they stand just before
God. Therefore, having been justified
by faith, we have peace with God. God is at peace with me. And by his grace, I'm at peace
with him. Peace. Go in peace, thy faith hath saved
thee, the Lord said. Christ is called the Prince of
Peace, and if you hear what's said tonight and believe it,
you can leave this place having the peace of God that passes
all understanding. Now, let me give you a warning.
If you're looking for peace, you'll miss it. You will. If you want this feeling of peace,
all you're going to have is turmoil, if that's what you're looking
for. But you look to Christ. You hear the gospel that I'm
preaching tonight. You hear with hearing ears. And
you will have the peace of God that passes all understanding.
Now, back to our text in Hebrews chapter 13. I see five things
in this passage of Scripture, these two verses, that give me
peace. Now, the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of
the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working
in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Now, in our text,
we have peace from His covenant. that everlasting covenant. We
have peace from his blood. We have peace from his resurrection. We have peace from the shepherd
and we have peace from his spirit. Now notice, he says in verse
29, the God of peace who brought again from the dead, our Lord
Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of
the everlasting covenant. Now note the word everlasting. This covenant was made before
time began. It's eternal. It never had a
beginning. is a covenant God. Everything he does, he does through
a covenant. Now somebody says, what's a covenant?
A covenant is an agreement. If you do this, I'll do that.
You know, we operate in covenants every single day. Every time
we go to the store, we're acting in a covenant way, I'll give
you this much money, and this product is mine. That is a covenant. It's an agreement between two
parties. God is a covenant God. Now, this covenant was made before
time began, so it couldn't have been made with man. Man did not
yet exist when this covenant was made. This was made before
the foundation of the world, and the covenant of grace runs
like this. God the Father gave to his Son a people on the condition
that he save them, that he keeps the law for them, that he dies
for them, that he's raised from the dead for them, and that he
intercedes for them. And the Son said, I'll do it. This covenant was made with God
the Holy Spirit. Those the Son dies for, God,
the Holy Spirit, is going to give them life through the preaching
of the gospel. He's going to regenerate them,
give them a new nature, and keep them, and finally make them perfectly
conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what
is called the covenant of grace. Now, who are the objects of this
covenant? We see the ones who made this
covenant, the three persons of the Trinity, with each other.
Man was not yet created. Who are the objects of this covenant?
His sheep. His elect. Those the Father gave
him before time began. In John chapter 10, verses 24
and 25, they said, How long do you make us to doubt? If you're
the Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I told you plainly.
And you believe not. And the reason you don't believe
is because you are not of my sheep. He didn't say, you're
not my sheep because you don't believe. He said, you don't believe
because you're not one of my sheep. The covenant was made
for the sheep. They were objects of the covenant,
his elect. Now why? What was his motive?
Well, the motive wasn't found in the sheep because they had
no merit in and of themselves. Absolute sovereignty is the only
reason why. You know why God chose me? Because
he chose me. No other reason is needed. He
willed my salvation simply because he willed my salvation. He's
God. He does as he will. And we trace our salvation to
the sovereign will of God. Now, here's what David said about
this covenant that I'm talking about. David, the man after God's
own heart, when he's dying, these be the last words of David when
he was dying. He said, although my house be
not so with God. And his house was a mess. It was a bad mess. And he said,
Although my house be not so with God, yet hath he made with me
an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure. And this is all my salvation,
and it's all my desire. All my salvation is found in
this covenant. When Christ agreed to be my surety,
all that God requires of me, He looks to my surety for. Now,
is that good news to you? That's wonderful. This is all
my salvation. It's all my desire. Though He
make it not to grow. Now, Christ is called the surety
of a better covenant. And I want to show you what that
means. Turn to Genesis chapter 42. Now you remember the story of
Benjamin. The brothers have come back to
Joseph. They don't know he's their brother at this time, but
he's the ruler of the world at this time. And his brothers have
gone to get food. And he says, well, you can't
come back unless you bring your brother with you. He asked him
about the brother. And so they said, I don't know
who he was. They said, you can't come back unless you bring your brother
with you. Well, they run out of food. So they get ready to
go back. And they talk about bringing
Benjamin, their brother. Now, look in Genesis 42, verse
35. And it came to pass, as they
emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man's bundle of money was
in a sack. And when both they and their father saw the bundles
of money, they were afraid. And Jacob their father said unto
them, Me have you bereaved of my children? Joseph is not, and
Simeon is not. And now will you take Benjamin
away? All these things are against me. I can't have Benjamin go
to this man and Reuben." Remember what the scripture says of Reuben?
Remember what Jacob said of Reuben? Unstable as water thou shalt
not accept. Now, Reuben says, I'll be the
surety. Look what he says. And Reuben
spake unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring
him not to thee, deliver him into my hand, and I'll bring
him to thee again. And Jacob said, My son shall
not go down with you. He knew him. He knew it wouldn't
be any good. What if your salvation was totally
up to me? Would you feel any safety? Would
you feel any security? Jacob didn't trust Reuben. He
said, my son should not go down with you, for his brother is
dead and he's left alone. If mischief hath fallen by the
way in which you go, then you shall bring down my grave. Here
is the sorrow of the grave. And the famine was sore in the
land, and it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn which
they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them,
Go again, buy us a little food. And Judah spake unto him, and
you remember who Judah is? What tribe did Christ come from?
The tribe of Judah. Judah, the lion's whelp. And
Judah spake unto him, saying, The man did solemnly protest
unto us, saying, You shall not see my face, except your brother
be with you. If thou wilt send our brother with us, we'll go
down and buy thee food. But if thou wilt not send him,
we'll not go down. For the man said unto us, You
shall not see my face, except your brother be with you. And
Israel said, Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me as to tell
the man whether ye had a brother? And they said, The man asked
us straightly of our state and of our kindred, saying, Is your
father yet alive? Have ye another brother? And we told him, according
to the tenor of these words, Could we certainly know that
he would say, Bring your brother down? And Judah said unto Israel
his father. And these are the words of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Send the lad with me. I'll bear full responsibility,
and we will arise and go that we may live and not die, both
we and thou, and also our little ones. I will be surety for him. Of my hand shalt thou require
him. If I bring him not unto thee,
and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever. Of every believer Christ said,
I will be surety for him. And when Christ agreed to be
my surety, God looked to him for everything. Does that give you peace? The
everlasting covenant. And then we read in our text
of the blood of the everlasting covenant. That's referring to
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the blood of this covenant. Look at Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. Verse 28. He that despised Moses' law died
without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sore punishment. Suppose ye shall he be thought
worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted
the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing,
and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace." Now, that word
unholy is the same word that is generally translated, The
word means, by definition, that which is general to all, as opposed
to that which is peculiar to the few. Someone who looks at
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ as general, it didn't actually
do anything, it's up to what you do to make it work, that's
to do despite unto the Spirit of grace. Now, the blood of the
covenant, now what that's talking about, is the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, before time, he agreed
to be the surety, but he had to come in time and be their
substitute. And everything he did, he did
as an us. When he kept the law, I kept
the law. When the Lord came up to John
the Baptist, and he said, I want you to baptize me. You can read
about this in Matthew chapter three, verse 15. I want you to
baptize me. Now, can you imagine how you'd feel if the Lord came
up to you and said, I want you to baptize me? John had the appropriate
response. He said, I need to be baptized
to thee. And sayest thou to me, you want
me to baptize you? And then the Lord replied, thus
it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. You see, everything
the Lord did, he did as an us. He kept the law for me, and yet
he was nailed to a cross and bled and died. Now, why was he
nailed to that cross? Why did he bleed? Why did he
die? Because he had agreed, as the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, to represent all
those people and pay for their sins. And my sin became his sin,
so that he was guilty of my sin. All the hell that's in my heart,
he was made to bear. He bore my burden to Calvary. He took my sins and sorrows. He made them his very own. He
bore the burden to Calvary. He suffered and died alone. One reason for death, sin. My sin became his Now, he never
sinned in his person. He never sinned when my sin became
his sin, as far as his person goes, but my sin became his sin. God's wrath came down on him,
and he got what he had coming. Now, that's what he accomplished
by his blood. Turn to Colossians 1. Here's what his blood did. Verse 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, and you that were sometimes alienated in enemies
in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in
the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unapprovable
in his sight. Right now, I am, because of his
blood, the blood of the everlasting covenant, because of his shed
blood, I am holy, I'm unblameable, and I'm unapprovable. And that's
true of every one of God's children. Holy and unblameable and unapprovable. Does that give you peace? If
God really does look at you, and He sees you as holy and unblameable
and unreprovable, and the only reason He'd see you as holy and
unblameable and unreprovable is because you are holy and unblameable
and unreprovable. That's how real the work of Christ
is. It makes me to where I really
am. He doesn't treat me like I'm this way. I am this way through
what the Lord did for me. Now, that gives me peace. All that God requires of me,
I have. And then notice it says in Hebrews
13, 20, Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, peace from his
resurrection. Now, the Lord died. The Lord
died. He shed his precious blood. The Scripture points out that
he couldn't stay dead. Remember in Peter's message on
Pentecost, he said death, he could not be holding of it. He
wouldn't see corruption. His body did not decay. Now, when you and I die, our
body is going to decay and it's going to end up That's what's
going to happen with us. That's our heritage of this flesh.
We're going to decay, we're going to rot away, and pretty soon
we're going to be nothing but dirt. But when our Lord died,
He didn't see any decay. And there's one reason for that.
Because He actually put away sin. When he died, sin was put
away, and that's why his body didn't see decay. And God raised
him from the dead. The very justice of God demanded
his resurrection. The purpose of God demanded his
resurrection because of what he accomplished when he was raised
from the dead. We've already read this. He was
delivered for our offenses. He was raised again for our justification. That justification is not something
God offers you. God doesn't offer you justification.
You can accept it or reject it. It's up to you. No, justification
is what He declares you to be. And when Christ was raised from
the dead, all of God's elect were justified. Well, don't they
have to believe? Of course they do. And they'll
believe this. Every one of them, they'll believe
this. No, this doesn't take away from the importance of faith.
If you don't believe the gospel, if you don't bow to Christ, you
will not be saved. Don't say, well, that means Faith
is not necessary. Yes, faith is necessary. Absolutely
necessary. But it isn't faith that justifies
me. When Christ was raised from the dead, I justified. And my
faith is the evidence that God has done something for me. And
if I don't believe the gospel, all it says is I've never bowed
beneath Christ. But I was justified by what He
did for me. Now, I want to ask you a question.
Is God satisfied with what Christ did? Is he completely and perfectly
satisfied with what Christ did? Yes, he is. And that is how satisfied
he is with you, if you're a believer. He's just as satisfied with you
as he is with Christ. And what peace I derive from
that. Peace from his resurrection.
That means my salvation was accomplished by what he did. And then notice,
he says in verse 20, Now the God of peace that brought again
from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep. That great shepherd of the sheep. Peace from him being my shepherd. Turn to Psalm 23. David says, and so does every
other believer, the Lord is my shepherd. And because my shepherd is the
Lord, I shall not want, I shall not lack. I'm not going to lack
him making me to do what he intends for me to do because it says
he maketh me. to lie down in green pastures.
Aren't you thankful for that? Don't you want the Lord to make
you to do His will? I want Him to cause me to do
His will. He maketh me. I like the Lord
making me to do His will, don't you? He maketh me to lie down
in green pastures. I'm not going to want rest. I
lie down right now in the green pastures of His Word. I'm lying
down in perfect peace from what he's told me in his word, knowing
that I have all he requires in Christ. And I lie down in peace. He leads me beside the still
waters. I'm not going to lack leadership.
He's going to lead me. He's going to guide me. He's
going to order my steps in his word. I love what David said.
Order my steps in your word and let not any iniquity have dominion
over me. Oh, we have this promise. He's
going to guide me. Oh, the steps of a good man are
ordered by the Lord. Every step I take, he guides
me. And he guides me by the still
waters, waters of quietness. I shall not lack peace. Waters of quietness. He restores
my soul. Verse three, I shall not lack
restoration. How often do you need restored?
I need restored continually, and he restores my soul. And he leads me in the paths
of righteousness for his namesake. Now, I'm not going to lack righteousness,
because he leads me in the paths of righteousness. And I'm not
going to lack his motive for doing it. He does it for his
namesake. You know why he does what he does for me? For Christ's
sake. Not because I deserve it. Not because I've earned it. He
does what he does for Christ's sake. And that gives me such
peace. He says in verse 4, Yea, though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil. I'm not going to
lack protection. For thou art with me. I'm not
going to lack his companionship. Thou art with me all the time. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. I'm not going to lack comfort.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.
I'm not going to lack his provision. Thou anointest my head with oil. I shall not lack his favor and
his grace. My cup runneth over. Surely,
goodness and mercy, God's watchdogs, shall follow me all the days
of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I shall not lack an eternal home. Now, because my shepherd is the
Lord, I have peace. Listen, they're going to put
you under, Tuesday, for surgery. You're going to close your eyes.
You're going to probably be nervous in some respects. You always
are when things like that happens. But the Lord's your shepherd.
And you're in His hand. And He's a glorious shepherd.
And isn't that a wonderful place to be? The Lord is my shepherd. And what peace I derive from
having him as my shepherd. And lastly, Hebrews chapter 13,
back again, peace from his spirit. Now the God of peace, verse 20,
brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd
of the sheep. Through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, here's what he's going to do. And he does this by his
spirit. Make you perfect in every good work to do his will working
in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ
to whom be glory forever and ever. He does it. He does it. What if it was up to you and
your strength to do that? You wouldn't have any peace.
But here we have the promise of God that He, by His Spirit,
will make us perfect in every good work to do His will, working
in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ,
to whom we glory forever and ever. I couldn't help but think
of what Paul said in Philippians 2, 2, 12, and 13, he says, you
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Don't you
have a cocksure attitude about this? You work it out. You give
attention to every problem. You work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling. And look at this reason he gives,
for it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do His
good pleasure. Now, what a comfort, what peace
I have. That's what I was trying to say
this morning, where Paul said in Galatians Galatians 1 15,
when it please God who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by his grace to reveal his son, not simply to me. If
all he does is reveal himself to me, I'll lose it. I know that. I'll forget. I'll go in the wrong.
If that's all it is, it won't do me any good. But thank God
He revealed His Son in me. Christ in you, the hope of glory,
working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight. Now that gives me peace. That's the peace of God that
passes all understanding. And He gives me peace to this
extent. If God strikes me dead tonight, I'm going to be brought into
heaven. And He's going to look at me, and He's going to say,
Well done, thou good and faithful servant. And the reason He's
going to say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant, is
because I've done well. Because whatever Christ did,
I did. And I can look at judgment. I
can look, stand before a thrice holy God with joy, anticipation,
knowing I'll be accepted for Christ's sake. Now that is peace. All that God requires of me,
I have. And I don't have the minimum.
I don't have the bare bones minimum. I have the maximum. I've got
it all. Christ is all, I have Him, and
what peace there is in knowing Him. Now, we're getting ready
to have a baptism. Stephen Bryce and Anna Williams
are going to confess Christ in Believer's Baptism, and I love
baptism for what we confess in baptism. When I'm baptized, you know, Mark 1 verse 4 says, And they
were baptized of him, confessing their sins. That doesn't mean
they got up before everybody and confessed all the bad things
they did before they could be baptized. Not at all. Whenever
you have that kind of stuff going on, people trying to confess
their sins to other people, that's unclean. It's evil. That's all
it is. It's evil. What we confess is that But I
confess that I am so sinful that the only way I can be saved is
by the perfect obedience, the shed blood, and the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's my hope. When He lived,
I lived. When He kept the law, I did. When He died, I died. When he was raised from the dead,
I was raised from the dead. Baptism is the believer's public
confession of Christ. It's not walking down the aisle
in response to an altar call. Baptism is the believer's public
confession of Christ. I'm confessing when I'm baptized
that he is all in my salvation. And what a beautiful, simple
picture it is. Okay, yeah.