these things in his name, amen.
Hebrews chapter 13. I'm going to look at two verses,
verses 20 and 21. Before I do, our title is the
God of peace. There's many, there's many that
think that they have peace with God, but they don't really have
peace with God. Peace is not something that you
and I can accomplish on our own. Peace is not something that we
can choose. Peace is not with God. Peace is not something that
we can find a way to get by what we
do or don't do. Peace is something God has to
give. Peace is a gift of grace. Like everything else that comes
from the Lord, it's all by grace. There's few who actually have
peace with God, but most think that they do. You ask people
that you meet, do you have peace with God? Well, yes, I've done
this, or I have done that. And if that is the case, we don't
have peace with God. If it's about what I've done,
we don't have peace with God. Many believe that the life that
they lead, that's what creates peace, but it doesn't. There's
only one who ever created peace with God. Only one that ever
made peace with God, and it's not you and me. It's the Lord
Jesus Christ. He made peace with God on his
people's behalf. Everything we do in the flesh,
it just adds to the mountain of condemnation that we already
are guilty of. Just a pile of sin that keeps
getting bigger and bigger, or isn't it? So it doesn't do us
any good to do in order to try to have peace with God. Only
one made peace with God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's read
this. Hebrews 13 verse 20. 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 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. The title is the
God of peace, the God of peace. How can a man or a woman, a creature,
born in sin. And we've all been born in sin,
shaping it to iniquity. That's what the scripture tells
us clearly. How can one that's a sinner have peace with a holy
God? How? How can one that's wretched
and vile be made clean? How can one that's leprous be
declared clean? Except it not be for the grace
of God. Except it not be for the finished work of God. We're
in a situation by being born that we can't get out of. We're
sinners by nature, sinners by practice, sinners by choice.
And everything that we do to try to fix that is iniquity.
And in Psalm chapter five, verse five, David said, thou hatest
all workers of iniquity. The Lord hates the workers of
iniquity. So how can we be at peace with God? Well, The only
way that we can have peace with God is if that which separates
us from God is removed. That which separates us from
God is our sin. And that sin has to be removed
in order for us to have peace with the God of peace. But you
and I can't remove it. Only he can remove it. And that's
exactly what he did on Calvary's cross. He took our sin, nailing
them to his cross and put them away for his people. That's what
he did on the cross of Calvary. This is exactly what he's talking
about here when he says this was through the blood of the
everlasting covenant and through Jesus Christ. The word of God
declares he made peace by his own blood. He made peace by his
own blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sin. So put out any thoughts in your
mind about doing something that's good or not doing something that's
bad as part of your righteousness or as part of helping your cause
when it comes to God and it comes to sin because that's all we
can do is sin. Sinning is not, what we do, sinning
is what we are by nature. I've used this analogy in Iowa
when I went last week for them. Bethany was asking me, what is
a sinner, daddy? And I was trying to explain it
to her best I could, and I said, well, a dog does not bark to
become a dog. A cat does not meow to become
a cat. A dog barks because it's a dog, and a cat meows because
it's a cat. Isn't that right? That's what sinners are. We sin
because we are sinners by nature. We're born into it. The problem
is, is the wages of sin is death. That's the problem. The problem
is, is we can't do anything to fix it. But God, who is rich
in mercy, wherein his great love he hath loved us, and sent his
son to be the propitiation for our sin. That's the good news
of the gospel, isn't it? need to do that? Well when we
were dead and trespassed as in sin we were without God. In due
time Christ died for the ungodly. That's the good news of the Gospel.
When you didn't have an ability to fix your sin at all that's
when the Lord did it. The Lord did it. The Lord didn't
inquire of you and I whenever He was making, whenever He was
agreeing in the covenant of grace to save His people. He didn't
ask our opinion. He didn't consult with us. He
No, he, it was by the determinant counsel of God, wasn't it? See,
God is God and we are not. So what is the only way that
we can have peace with the God of peace through and by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, through and by his blood alone. It's
the only remedy for sin, the only way to have peace with God.
He said in Colossians 1.20, 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 on earth or things in heaven.
See, peace is not something we can attain. That's something
that Jesus Christ had to attain on our behalf. Salvation is not
something that we can acquire because of what we do. Salvation
was something that was accomplished on the cross of Calvary by the
Lord Jesus Christ alone. He tells us in Hebrews chapter
one that when he had by himself purged our sin, he sat down.
That's an accomplished salvation. That's an accomplished salvation. Either God made peace on our
behalf or we have none. Well, the second question I have
for us is when can I have peace? Peace sometimes feels like it
comes and it goes, doesn't it? And it always will go when you
look at yourself or you look at your circumstances. That's
true, isn't it? As soon as I start examining self, I don't have
peace anymore. My peace has disappeared. But as soon as you look to the
Lord Jesus Christ, as soon as you see him high and lifted up,
there's peace there. There's peace there. Why? Because
he's the God of peace. He's the originator. He's the
He's the fountain where it comes from. It's all His, and it has
to be Him that gives it, or we won't have any. Ephesians 2.14
says, for He is our peace, who hath made both one and hath broken
down the middle wall of partition between us. See, peace is the
result of the accomplished salvation on the cross of Calvary for the
Lord's people. Peace is the result. It's the
byproduct, if I can put it that way. It came with it. That's
part of it. And the Lord gives it freely
by His grace. It's the benefit to all of God's elect. He gives
His peace. And you know that peace surpasses
all understanding. I used to think I knew what that
verse meant. But the Lord changes our mind constantly on different
things. When it says the peace that surpasses all understanding,
what that means is you don't need to understand because He's
given you your peace. You just believe. Because He's
given His peace to you, you just believe Jesus Christ. You don't
understand everything that happened on the cross. You can't enter
into all of that, but we believe it by faith. And that peace surpasses
all understanding. Furthermore, if it's a trial
that you're facing, something that you're going through in
life, and you're dealing with a difficult time, isn't it true
whenever the Lord gives His sweet peace during those moments of
trials and tribulations that it surpasses the need to understand
what's going on? We just bow to it. Truth, Lord.
Truth, Lord, you know better than I. You're God and I'm not.
That's what that means. That's what that means. Well, because he saved us and
called us, it means he gives his people peace in this life.
So when do I have peace? Well, I have peace in this life
and in the life to come. The life to come, eternal life. Eternal
life. If you've been given faith to
believe, to look to Christ, you have peace with God right now.
Think about that. We're talking about God, and
there's so many preachers that talk about God in a very different
manner than who He really is. He is absolutely sovereign. He
does whatever He will, when He wants to, how He wants to, with
who He wants to. And if somebody ever tells you otherwise, they're
lying to you. He's God. He created the heavens and the
earth. He created everything that there is. He has all power,
both in heaven and earth. If he has all of it, that means
I have none of it. This is our sovereign, holy God that I'm
talking about. And because of Christ alone,
not my works, not by works of righteousness, which we have
done, not my faithfulness, not my doing or not doing, but by
the blood of Christ, God's people have peace with the God of the
universe, the holy sovereign God, real peace. You're no longer the enemy of
God. You have been accepted in the
beloved. Jeremiah 29 11 says this. For I know my thoughts
that I think towards you, saith the Lord. Thoughts of peace. Thoughts of peace. The Lord said,
I know my thoughts that I think on you. Thoughts of peace, not
thoughts of evil. He said, oh Jacob, I've bought
you. I've redeemed you. You're mine. I think peace when
I think of you, Jacob. He's talking about his elect
people. He's talking about the church. That's what he's referring to.
He says, I think of peace. Why? Because Christ put away
all the enmity that we had that would separate us from our God.
Christ put away the sin that caused us to be the enemy of
God. That's what he did on the cross. The cross wasn't an offer
to man. The cross was an offer to the
Father, and the Father was well satisfied with his son, insomuch
that he resurrected him. We have that evidence that everyone
that he died for on the cross that when he was resurrected,
they were resurrected in him. And now we have peace with God,
peace with God. I love the thought that when
we were without strength, When we were without strength, Christ
died for the ungodly. It wasn't when we had a little
bit of strength, a little bit of ability, a little bit of a lot
of, a lot of people believe that the Lord did his part and you
have to do your part. And that's not true. No, the Lord did it
all. He said, it is finished on the cross of Calvary. That
was his final words. It is finished. And that means the salvation
for everyone he died for was accomplished right there. And
then in time, he just lets us know about it. I love that. Don't
you? We see here that He did this not whenever we were getting
better or whenever we changed our lives or started living more
righteously or something. No, it was when we were without
strength, when we were dead and trespasses and in sin, this is
when he did it. When we were sinners, that's when God saved
his people from their sin. And my question is, are you looking
to him for peace? You're looking to yourself for
peace. Because if you're looking to yourself for peace, it's a
false peace. And that's where people deceive themselves. You
know, the scripture tells us that our hearts are deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. We will deceive ourself
in thinking we have a false peace. We can sear our conscience and
pretend like we have a false peace. Well, I've done this and
I've done this and I've done this. And this is my righteousness now.
And I have peace. The only way to have peace with God is through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Not what we do, but what he did.
Not the life you live, or the life I live, but the life that
he lives. Not the works that we do, but the works that he
does. There's our peace. That's who we need. It's the
Lord Jesus Christ. You remember the woman that had an issue of
blood for 14 years? Or 12 years, I believe it was.
12 years, she had an issue of blood. There was a big crowd
around the Lord, and they were all pressing up against him,
and she pressed through the crowd. She said, but if I could just
touch the hem of his garment, I know I'll be made whole. I
know I'll be made whole. The Lord gave her faith to believe,
didn't he? She presses through the crowd,
and she comes up, and she touches the Lord, and the Lord says,
who touched me? And you can imagine how we would
be. We'd be the same way. The disciple says, Lord, many
people touched you. You're getting bumped into all
this stuff. I mean, they didn't, we're the same as they were.
We're no different. And he says, no, you don't understand.
Virtue has gone from me. Somebody touched me because they
need to be healed. Somebody touched me because they had a need and
only I could fix. That's what was happening there. And she
was made to confess everything to the Lord. And you know what
he told her? Thy faith has made thee whole. When the Lord gives
faith, When the Lord gives His faith, and we see the Lord Jesus
Christ, we believe on Him, we have peace with God. She had
peace. She had peace with the Lord Jesus
Christ, right there, that was it. She had peace. She came to
the God of peace, she wasn't looking to herself, she didn't
say, well, I touched you, so I obligated you to heal me. No,
she was desperate, she said, the only way I'm gonna be healed
is if I touch Him. It's not about what I'm doing here, I gotta
get to Him. It was selfless, it was about, needing him, not,
not needing recognition for what she had done, but just needing
his healing, needing his power. She wasn't looking at to herself
or her works or anything. She was looking to the God of
peace. Well, I've said this already, but third question I have is
what does it mean to have this peace? What does it mean to have
this peace? Our God chose to make peace on
behalf of his people. He chose to save his people from
their sin. Jesus Christ, our only peace
with God, our peace before God, he is the God of peace. has caused us to be able to see,
to see that what he accomplished on the cross has given us true
peace, not a false peace. That's what it means to have
this peace. It's not a false peace where we're deceiving ourself
or we're looking at what we've done or not done. It's not looking
at self at all. As a matter of fact, that's the
opposite. If you're looking to self, you don't have the peace. Somebody
said one time, when the dove of peace flies in, If I look
to the dove of peace, it flies away. What does that mean? Well,
whenever the Lord gives you peace, we look to Christ. But if we
start looking at that peace, like, okay, I have this peace.
Well, that's the spirit. That's the Lord, the Lord giving you
that peace for a moment, and it'll fly away as soon as you
look to it. Why? Because you're trusting in the peace and not
in the one that brought the peace. Do we see that? And we're all
guilty of that. Oh, he's the God of peace, brethren.
and he's the one that gave us peace. What does it mean to have
peace? Well, first of all, peace is underrated. Can everybody
agree with what I'm saying there? Peace is really underrated. Whenever
I go places or I talk to other brethren and they say, how's
your church doing? I say, we have peace. And I love
that. We don't have contention. We
don't have strife. We don't have family divisions. And some sit
over here like feuding rivals and things like that. No, we
don't have any of that. Why? We're here for one reason. We want
to hear about the God of peace. That's why. Peace is so underrated
in my house, whenever my wife and children, or when we have
peace in my house, that's the best time. Nobody's fussing. There's no fires to put out or
whatever, however you want to say it. But you can be assured
that either you're going through a trial, you're coming out of
a trial, or you're fixing to go into another one. That's just
the life of the believer. The Lord didn't promise us sunshine
and rainbows as a people, but he promised us grace. He said,
my grace is sufficient for you. His peace will surpass the understanding,
the need to know, why is this happening to me? It'll change
to, Lord, you know better than I, you know best, and you bow
to it. That's what the Lord's peace
does. You remember the disciples, They were, and I love the way
our Lord does things so many times. He sends them ahead and
he says, I'll, I'll, I'll catch up to you. I'll come across.
And, but he goes walking on the water. I mean, you know, they
didn't see that coming. They had no idea he was going
to do that. So the Lord's walking on the water and they thought
it was a spirit and they were afraid and they called out and
he said, it is I, be not afraid. It is I, be not afraid. And Peter
said, Lord, if it be you, bid me come, let me walk on the water.
And he said, come. And Peter starts walking out
on the water. And I don't know how far Peter walked. I mean,
but he walked on the water. However, two steps, I don't know,
but he walked on the water. And it was by God alone that
he was able to do that. Well, what happened? Well, he
took his eyes off of Christ, didn't he? And he started looking
around. He started thinking, and you know he had to have peace
in order to get out of that boat. You know he did. He had to have
peace. He had to have confidence in
Christ and he had to have peace. And as soon as he got out and
he started looking around, that peace started disappearing, didn't it? Why?
He took his eyes off of the one that gives peace, the peace bringer.
And what happened to him? He began to sink. Is that not
us? The moment we take our eyes off
of the Lord Jesus Christ, not only do we lose our joy, we lose
our peace, we feel like we're drowning. Is that not true? Lord,
save me. That's what Peter said. Lord, save me. I can't save myself. Can't save myself. What did the Lord say? They all
got back in the boat. The Lord said, peace, be still. Peace, he calmed the storm. And
is it not true whenever we have a storm in our life, we desire
our Lord to say the same words to us? Peace, be still, peace,
be still. And my question to this is, do
you have the power to make peace? No, Peter couldn't tell the winds
and the waves to stop, could he? The winds and waves obey
God's voice, not Peter's. But when the Lord speaks, there
is power. All he has to do is speak the word. and we are given
peace with God. So what does it mean to have this
peace? Well, and I hope we can enter into this, we can stand,
His elect can stand in the very presence of God without judgment,
without wrath, without torment, without condemnation. We stand
before the very throne room of God, the very throne of the God
of this universe, and we have peace with him because we're
in Christ Jesus. There's nothing sweeter to hear
than that, having true peace with God. Matter of fact, moreover
than that, he takes his robe off and gives it to us and puts
a ring on our finger. Because we're in Christ Jesus,
we're seated at his right hand in Christ. I mean, it's glorious
what he's done, making peace for his people. You don't have
to have fear. You don't have to have fear when
you stand before God. Why? Because the blood of Christ
cleansed us from all sin. You don't have to have doubt
when you stand before Christ. Don't look to self, look to him.
You have peace. Every time you look to yourself,
that dove of peace will fly away. But if you're looking to him,
you can stand before God boldly with confidence, knowing that
everything he, Everything he intended to accomplish in salvation,
he did for his people. He did that. He made peace. Peace that we could not make
on our own. He's the only God of peace. He's
the only one who says, let there be and it exists. I think it
was Steve was speaking on the word of power last week and it
was When the Lord said, let there be light. I want you to think
about that for a second. The Lord said, let there be light.
He commanded light to shine out of darkness. We can't do that.
We can't do that. He did. Let there be light. And there was light. And God
saw the light that it was good. Now you and I can't do that.
You know what he does with the peace as well? He made peace
the same way. He endured Calvary's cross and
putting our sin away, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him, that we might have peace with God, that that
light might shine out of darkness into us, that we would see the
truth, the light. He's the only one that can say,
let there be and it exists. Unless he says peace, be still
to this wretched, vile sinner, unless he calms the storm of
our sin, unless he shows us it is finished and he put it away
himself, we don't have peace. We don't have peace. I love the thought that it's
all his choice in the matter. God's not wringing his hands,
wondering who's gonna accept or reject him. Salvation was
accepted on the cross of Calvary. Jesus Christ's offering was accepted
for all of God's people. Lord's not playing chess with
the devil. That's silly. No, that's God's devil, isn't
it? He's on a short leash with no teeth. Lord ain't gonna let
him loose. Will for a season, some in the future, but we know
he's still God's devil. If you and I are ever going to
have peace with God, we bow to the fact that it's salvation
is of the Lord. It is not of us. We can't do
anything to acquire it. We can't do anything to change
it. We can't do anything to accept
or reject it. Salvation is of the Lord, freely
bestowed by his grace. The last question I have is how
do I know if I have this peace? How do I know if I have peace
with the God of peace? How do I know? Because you're
not looking to yourself for your own righteousness. You're not
looking to your lifestyle. You're not looking to your life.
You're not looking to what you say or don't say. You're not looking
to what you do or don't do. In doing so, you have a righteousness
that's by the law, which is no righteousness at all. Men believe
and women believe that they're good enough for God because they're
not as bad as this person or not as bad as that person. But
you have to be perfect. You have to be perfect, sinless,
holy in order for God to be pleased with you. And we're going to
hear the second hour. That's the only one that can do that is the Lord
Jesus Christ. Only one that can do that is
the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't look at circumstances, we don't
look to self, we don't look at others. We're looking to and
we're trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, his finished work. How do I know if I have peace
with the God of peace? What are you looking to? Are you looking
to your record? You're looking to what you've
done over your life, or are you looking to the life of Christ?
And you're begging God, let my life be hidden his life. Looking
to your works, am I looking to my works? Are we looking to the
finished work of the cross where the Lord saved his people from
their sin? What are we looking to? That's a simple question,
but it's life and death, really. It's life and death. It's not my works, my sacrifice.
His finished work brought peace. He brought salvation to his elect.
He had made peace with God. He has made peace with God, not
going to, Not going to if you let him know he made peace with
God on the cross of Calvary once and for all for everyone that
he died for. For the Lord's people, there's
only one place in this world where there's rest and where
there's peace, and it's in Christ alone. It's in Christ alone. A lot of people talk about joy,
and they talk about different things. Those are all gifts from
God. If you have joy, that's something God has to give. Happiness
comes and goes, and you know that to be true. We can be happy
about one thing. You get something I won't use an exact example,
I'll just say you get something shiny, you're happy about it
for a little while, but something happens to it, it becomes discouraging,
right? Well, that happiness just fleeted, you become upset. Well,
that ain't how joy works. Now, it may be true that we're
not in a joyous time, but whenever you see the Lord Jesus Christ,
oh, we have joy, we have peace, we have rest with God, the Father.
The God of this universe, we have peace with him. A wretched,
vile, dead dog sinner has been told, not just offered, told,
enter boldly into the throne room that you might obtain mercy
and find grace to help in the time of need. Why? Because the
blood of Christ alone. Because of his own blood. Only
one way to have that peace and it's through Christ. John 16 tells us this, I'm going
to come to a close. These things have I spoken unto
you, that you might have peace in the world. You shall have
tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. We have an advocate with the
father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. We have an advocate. He overcame
the world for his people. But he says, I spoke this to
you, I've told you this, that you might have peace. You're
gonna see your circumstances around you, but if you look to
Christ, if God gives you the grace, the faith to look to Christ
alone, it would be foolish to try, but it's gonna take God
to satisfy God. God's only pleased with what
he produces, and he only accepts what he produces. He doesn't
accept what you and I produce. The only way that he accepts
us is in Christ. How can we have peace with God?
Because he's the God of peace and our Lord Jesus Christ made
peace on behalf of his people. This is the gospel of peace.
This is the good news. All other gospels call for some
doubt or some fear or some worry or some concern. Have I done
enough? Did I do it right? How do I know? Well, you're looking
to self. You don't have peace. But this gospel, this gospel
of peace, this God of peace that brings salvation to his people,
this peace that surpasses all understanding is a gift freely
given by grace. And we can have it when we look
to him alone, whenever he says, peace, be still, peace, be still. Let's pray. Father, we ask that
you would bless us to our understanding for your glory in Christ and
we pray, amen.