Not Peace But a Sword

We went to a small Pueblo called
Quincheo, about 45 or 50 miles from the city of Meteda, to attend
the service in a new mission opened by Brother Groover and
Brother Pledger. We met in the home. of a family. They're not believers, but they're
interested. They have opened their home for
the preaching of the gospel, for worship services to be held
in their home in the community. There's only one baptized believer
in the entire Pueblo. He was a notorious, drunk, gambler,
profane, blasphemous individual. He heard Walter preach several
times, and God saved him. Walter baptized him not long
ago. Now he's the only baptized believer
in the Pueblo. There were several people in
the service, I suppose 10, 12, 13, something like that. It's
a new mission, meeting in a small home. We went there to preach.
And this man gave his testimony, the fellow who was the notorious
profane town drunk whom God has saved. But the thing that impressed
me most, I didn't know what he was saying when he was giving
his testimony, but the thing that was so impressive to me
was I watched him when he came through the door. He's a man
about 50, 55 years of age. But when he came through the
door of the little home, he had his Bible in his hand. I was
sitting there, Brother Williams, Brother Thompson, Brother Pledger,
Brother Groover, the man and the woman who lived in the home,
and then another gentleman. The other people hadn't come.
And he came in and sat down, and immediately opened his Bible
to Matthew 10, verse 34. And he read it to Brother Groover.
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to
send peace, but a sword." And he told Brother Groover that
he'd been reading his Bible, and he read this verse, and he
wanted Brother Groover and Brother Fletcher to help him with this
scripture. He'd been reading God's Word,
he'd been trying to apply God's Word to his own experience, to
his own life, to his own home, and he was concerned about this
verse. I didn't understand what they were saying, but they talked
back and forth in Spanish, and while they were talking, my mind
dwelled on this verse. Think not that I am come to send
peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. And then I thought of another
verse over in Luke, chapter 12, verse 51. Turn over there. Luke 12, 51. And our Lord said
this. Suppose ye that I am come to
give peace on this earth, I tell you, no. I tell you, no. I didn't come to send peace on
the earth. I tell you, no, but rather division. Now, I have trouble with this,
and I'm not surprised that a young believer has trouble with it.
Our Lord is called the Prince of Peace, is he not? In Isaiah
9, verse 6, the Prophet said, Behold, a virgin shall be with
child, bring forth a son, thou shalt call his name Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. Is that not his name? The Prince
of Peace. Did the Prince of Peace say,
I came not to bring peace, but a sword? I came not to bring
peace on the earth, but division? Our Lord is called the King of
Salem. That's one of his names in the Old Testament. The word
Salem means peace. Our Lord is called Shiloh. Look
that up. Tranquility. The angels announced
his birth. They appeared to the shepherds,
and they said, We bring you good tidings of great joy. Unto you
is born in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the
Lord. But what do they proceed this announcement with? Peace
on earth, goodwill toward men. Peace on earth. Paul said in
Ephesians 2.14, He is our peace. The gospel of Christ is called
the gospel of peace. And yet our Lord says here in
our text, think not, don't be confused, I didn't come to send
peace on this earth, I came not to send peace, but a sword. I tell you nay, you think that
I've come to bring peace, I tell you nay, but a sword. So as I
looked at that and thought about a message, I thought, now you're
going to have to approach it this way. There is a peace that
our Lord came to bring. And there is a peace that he
did not come to bring. That's the only way to deal with
this. There is a peace that he came to bring. He is the Prince
of Peace. He is our peace. Therefore, being
justified by God, we have peace. with God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. And he is our peace. But there
is a peace that he did not come to bring. Now, the Jews had a
notion, the Jews had a notion of great outward peace and prosperity
in the days of the Messiah. They believed that when the Messiah
came, that he would restore the kingdom to Israel, and they would
enjoy the peace and prosperity and the tranquility and the riches
of the days of David and the great days of Solomon. And this
notion was based on Old Testament prophecies, which they didn't
understand. But more than that, the disciples
The disciples also entertained this same notion. Turn to the
book of Acts, chapter 1, verse 6. The disciples entertained
this same notion, that when the Messiah came, and Christ was
the Messiah, they believed that. They said, we believe that you're
the Son of God. We believe that thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. We believe that thou art
that prophet. Now, his crucifixion had dampened
their spirits. You remember the two that walked
on the road to Emmaus, and Christ appeared to them, they said,
talking about Jesus Christ, and he said, who are you talking
about? They said, why, where have you been? We believed, we
thought that he was the one who would restore the kingdom to
Israel, the kingdom of peace and prosperity. That's what they
believed. And his crucifixion had dampened their spirits, but
his resurrection, he was now alive again. And his resurrection
had encouraged them and revived their hopes of an earthly kingdom
of peace and prosperity. And here, standing out there
on the mountain before he ascended back to the Father, listen, Acts
1, 6. Are we going to now be lifted
above our enemies, the heel of Rome taken from our necks? The joy and tranquility and ease
and peace and prosperity of the Messianic reign, is that going
to be ours now, have you come to restore the kingdom to Israel? They entertained that notion. And sad to say, preachers today
talk about worldwide peace, the fun of being saved. They
talk about health and wealth and prosperity and ease and tranquility. If we accept Jesus, your troubles
are over. But then the true believer, the
man who really comes to know the Lord, the man in whose heart
the Spirit of God performs an operation of grace, who comes
to believe what happened in the garden, what happened on the
cross, and what happens when God really visits a man with
his mercy and his presence and his grace, who learns the gospel
of redeeming love, who learns the gospel of substitution. When
a man really comes to experience that and enter into that kingdom
of Christ, what a shocking experience! A somewhat friendly world becomes
suddenly an unfriendly world. In fact, the true believer finds
this, that he really didn't know what warfare was until he came
to know the Lord. He really didn't know what hostility
was, what persecution was. In fact, in the days of sin, He had more peace than he has
now. Outward peace, rest, tranquility,
and possibly prosperity. David said that in Psalm 73. Turn over there just a minute.
This troubled him in Psalm 73. Turn over there a minute. And
he talks about the wicked. And he says in verse 3 of Psalm
73, I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of
the wicked. There are no bands in their death,
their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other
men, neither are they plagued like other men. Verse 7, their
eyes stand out with fatness and prosperity. They have more than
the heart could wish. They are corrupt, they speak
wickedly concerning oppression, they speak loftily, they set
their mouths against heaven, their tongues walking through
the earth. Verse 12, Behold, these are the
ungodly who prosper in the world, they increase in riches. Verse
13, Have I cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands
in innocency? All day long I have been plagued,
chastened every morning. Well, I thought when I came to
know the Lord that there was healing in the atonement, never
have another headache or backache. Thought my garden, my vegetables,
when I planted them, I'd go out there and they'd be bigger than
anybody else's tomatoes, and I found I had the smallest. I
thought when I came to the Lord my business would prosper, I'd
be giving God 10, 15, 20 percent of what I make, before I start
giving God anything, I prospered more than I'm prospering now. That's what happens. Preachers
are lying to people. If you come to Jesus, you'll
have health and wealth and prosperity, ease and tranquility, happy all
the time, happy all the time. David said it's not so. Look
at verse 15. If I say I will speak thus, behold,
I should offend against the children of thy generation. But when I
thought to know this, it was too painful for me, until I went
to the sanctuary of God. And then I understood, I understood. I saw their end. I saw the prosperity of the wicked,
but I saw this pleasure in sin for a season. There is ease and
tranquility in sin for a season, a very short season. But Father
Believer, what unhappiness he experiences
now, what trials he experiences now, that's just for a short
season, and then he enters into eternal rest, eternal joy. So our Lord, looking back at
the text of Matthew 10, Our Lord thought fit to warn his disciples
that they must not expect outward peace and ease and tranquility
and praise. Don't think, he said, that I've
come to send peace. I came not to send peace but
a sword. I came not to bring peace on
this earth. but a sword, but division. My
people shall have enemies, and verse 36, he says, they'll be
even in your own house. In this world you shall have
tribulation. It is given unto us not only
to believe on him, but to suffer for him. So let's look at this thing under
three headings. Let me deal with three things. There is a peace that Christ
came to give. There is a peace. Secondly, there
is a peace that he did not come to bring. And you needn't expect
it, and I needn't expect it. And thirdly, I want to deal with
the response which true faith produces. The response which
true faith produces. A sincere confession that saves. First of all, the peace that
our Savior does give, the hymn writer put it this way, there
comes to my heart one sweet strain, a glad and a glorious refrain. I sing it again and again, sweet
peace, the gift of God's love. Through Christ on the cross,
peace was made. by his death was all paid. No
other foundation is laid for peace, the gift of God's love. When Jesus as Lord I had crowned,
my heart with this peace did abound. In him the rich blessings
I found, that peace, the gift of God's love. It's threefold. There is a peace that Christ
gives. First of all, Our Lord Jesus Christ brings us peace
with God. You'll find that in Romans 5.3.
Will you turn there with me? Romans 5.3. In the 5th chapter of Romans,
verse 1 it is, Romans 5.1. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. What are we talking about here?
Because of the cross, Because of the blood, because of the
death of the Son of God, because of his substitutionary sacrifice,
I am no longer the enemy of God. Natural men are God's enemies.
The Scripture says that we were children of wrath even as others.
The Scripture says, he that believeth not on the Son, the wrath of
God abideth on him. God's wrath is no longer upon
me. Because of Christ's blood, there
is peace between God and me. That's the peace Christ came
to give. When the angels announced his birth, they said, Peace on
earth, goodwill toward men. And all whom the Father gave
to the Son, and all for whom the Son suffered and died, have
peace with God. The warfare is over. The enmity
is put away. Turn to Colossians 1, verse 20. Listen to this. Colossians 1,
verse 20. And having made peace through
the blood of his cross, by him, by Christ, to reconcile, we have
been reconciled to the Father. We who are without hope and without
help and without Christ and without God. We who are children of wrath,
enemies of God. The natural mind is enmity against
God. But Christ has reconciled us
to the Father. He has reconciled all things
unto himself. By him I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were at
one time alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked work,
yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death. I am no longer God's enemy, I'm God's son. I'm God's son. Our Lord put away
my sin, and when he did, he put away the enmity. Our Lord put
away our guilt, and when he put away our guilt, he reconciled
us to the Father. We have peace with God. The war
is over. We are reconciled to the Father.
We're his sons. There's peace. No longer wrath,
no longer enmity. God does not look upon us with
a frown, but with a smile. That's right, because of Christ.
That's the peace that Christ came to bring. All right, secondly,
in Christ we not only have peace with God, but we have peace in
our hearts. or we ought to have, or we could
have, or we should have. Listen to David. David says in
Psalm 4.8, I will lay down in peace. I will lie down upon my
pillar at night in peace and I'll sleep. For thou, Lord, makest
me to dwell in safety. John wrote in 14.27, speaking
of our Lord, Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you,
let not your heart be troubled. I say we could have. It's ours
in Christ, if we claim the blessing, if we lay hold upon it, if we
believe God's word. Let not your heart be troubled,
let not your heart be afraid. I give you peace. Philippians
4 verse 7, And the peace of God, which passeth understanding,
shall keep your heart and your minds through Christ Jesus. And
Colossians 3 verse 15, Let the peace of God, let the peace of
God rule in your hearts. Let it rule. When we're troubled and fearful
and afraid and upset, it's our own fault. Sins past, present,
and future are forgiven. God says that. Your sins, I'll
remember no more. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all sin. All things work together for
our good. That's accepted. It's true. We'll accept that, we'll walk
in that light, we'll receive that, we'll have peace. But when
things happen and we get upset, troubled, disappointed, we're
not resting. And it's true that they will
work together for our good. But we can have it working together
for our good as we walk the floor or as we lie down and rest. Either
way you want it. It's going to work together for
your good. If you're a child of God, you can worry and still
it'll work for your good, or you can rest and it's still going
to work for your good. I prefer to be over here. Paul said, Who can lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? Who is he that condemneth? Why
shouldn't I have peace? It's mine. Christ bought it.
He paid for it. He gave it to me. Peace, perfect peace, even in
this dark well of sin. The blood of Jesus whispers peace
within. Peace, perfect peace. With sorrow
surging round on the Savior's bosom, peace can be found. Peace, perfect peace, even with
loved ones far away in his keeping. We're safe, and so are they. Peace, perfect peace, though
the future is all unknown, but Jesus we know, and he's on the
throne. Our Lord brought peace with God. My sins are forgiven, they're
put away. There's no warfare, I'm reconciled to the Father.
He's not angry with me. He's not angry with me. He knows
me. He knows you. He's not angry anymore. The warfare
is over. Christ paid the debt. It's canceled.
He's got no reason to be angry. Our Lord also brought a peace
of heart, if you want it. It's there. It's there. And that's what the hymn writer
is saying here. I can have peace in this dark world of sin because
the blood of Christ whispers peace within. Your sins are forgiven. Well, I'm troubled over it, but
they're forgiven. Well, stay troubled. If you find more joy
in staying troubled, stay troubled. But I don't. I find joy resting
in Christ. Peace? Yes, sir, with sorrow
surging round. But on the Savior's bosom, calm
is found. If you want to stand out here
by yourself and endure your sorrows and bear your burden and wrestle
with your cares, that's your privilege. But I prefer just
to lie on his breast and let him carry them. Cast your care
upon him. He says he cares for you. Take
your burden to the Lord and leave it there on the Savior's bosom. Perfect peace with loved ones
far away. I know folks that if their loved
ones are somewhere else, they just walk the floor. Well, he
says here that They're just as safe over there as they are here
because Christ is there, isn't he? We're safe here and they're
safe there. Now if you want to walk the floor,
walk it. But you don't have to. You don't have to. Though the future is unknown,
what am I going to do when I get old? Same thing you're doing
now, trust the Lord. What'll I do if I get sick? Well,
same thing you're doing now, rest in him. The future's unknown, but Christ
I know and he's on the throne. That's the peace. But you have
to lay hold of it, you have to claim it. The water's there,
it's yours, it's bought for you, it's purchased for you, it's
yours, but you've got to drink it. That's so. And God's not going to knock
you in the head and give you peace. God's not going to run
you down and lasso you and bring you in the corral. The corral
is there. Noah, come into the ark. That
is it. Walk in. You can walk in the
light of his love, or you can walk out there in the shadow
of darkness. You can walk in the light of his joy and his
peace. You can claim his assurance, or you can stay troubled and
filled with doubt. It doesn't make you any less a child of
God. When the Israelites put the blood on the door, And shut
that door and went inside, and God passed over at midnight.
I'm sure some of them were in there wringing their hands, but
some of them were sitting calmly, resting in Christ. But they were
both safe. The one walking the floor was safe, and the one sitting
quietly was safe. They were both safe. I'm not
questioning your salvation. I'm just questioning your wisdom. I'm just questioning your judgment. When things don't go the way
we want them to go, and most of the time they don't, it's
just leading in the hands of the Lord. In Christ we have peace with
God, we have peace in our hearts, we have peace among brethren.
If something else has to be cultivated, it's that. Love covers a multitude
of sins. Have you ever read that scripture?
Love covereth a multitude of sins. What does that mean? That
means that when I love an individual, he may have a dozen faults, he
may have two dozen infirmities, he may have six dozen problems,
but if I love him enough, that love will cover all of those
infirmities, all those afflictions, all those faults, and I'll love
him anyway. Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, blessed are the peacemakers. They shall
be called the children of God, peacemakers. What is a peacemaker? A peacemaker is a man that goes
forth like Christ came forth. Christ came to make peace between
God and the sinner and the peacemaker goes forth to make peace between
brethren. Not to stir up doubts and stir
up fears and stir up conflict and question the brethren, but
to unity and peace, pouring all on troubled waters. The gospel
of Christ and the unity of the body become the uppermost goal
in the mind of a true believer. Those two things are his ultimate
goal, the glory of Christ in the preaching of his gospel and
the unity of the body. And he'll do anything for those
two things. He'll die for them. He'll die
for Christ, he'll die for the unity of the body of Christ.
Because the body of Christ is the glory of Christ. And you
can't hurt the body without hurting the head. Christ said, inasmuch
as you've done it to the least of these, you've done it to me.
So why persecutest thou me? Lord, I never touched you. As
much as you've done it to the least of one of these, you've
done it to me. You can't take a strike at one
of God's children without hitting the Lord, any more than I can
wound one of Gerald Kuhn's children without hurting him. In fact, I'd hurt him a lot more.
It would be better to hit him than to hit one of his loved
ones. That's right. In Christ we have peace with
God. In Christ, we have peace in our
hearts. I can rest. It doesn't matter
what happens. Christ is on the throne. In Christ,
if I am in Christ, there will be a unity of spirit, a unity
of heart. There'll be peace between me
and thee. There's no cause for conflict between me and thee.
No cause whatsoever, because we're both sons of God. All right,
there's a peace that our Lord does not give. I'll give you
this briefly. He said, I didn't come to bring
peace on this earth. In the first place, the gospel
brings a warfare to the soul. Now this sounds like a paradox.
I've just been talking about the peace that Christ gives.
Now I'm going to turn right away and talk about the conflict.
But a Christian is a paradox. You're looking at a paradox.
I'm looking at a paradox. I'm looking at people who are
full, full of God's love, full of God's grace, full of God's
mercy. But you'd be the first one to tell me how empty you
are. Right? I'm looking at people who are
rich, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. The world
is yours and all things are yours, but you'd be the first to cry,
I'm poor, I'm a beggar. You're holy, that's right, you're
holy. You're a holy people. You're
a royal priesthood. You're a holy nation. You're
righteous. You're godly. But you'd never
say it, would you? You'd cry with Paul, I'm the
chief of sinners, right? But both are true. You're happy.
Sure you're happy. You're joyful. But what did Paul
say? I have continual sorrow. I can't explain that to you.
If you don't understand it, God will have to show it to you.
But Paul, who said, Rejoice in the Lord, always also said, I
have continual sorrow. But what I'm saying is this,
that the conflict between the old nature and the new nature
never ceases. Adam never quits. The old Adam
doesn't die. without a struggle, and even
then he doesn't die permanently, he just dies daily. But it's
still there. And when you have that conflict,
don't throw the peace out the window. Let the peace of God reign and
rule in your hearts. But also engage in battle. You
know, a man can go forth happily to battle if he's assured of
victory. My wife teases me. I'll find
out whether Kentucky won a basketball game, and then I'll watch it
on the late replay. But if they didn't win, I won't
watch it. She says, what's the use of watching it? You know
they're going to win. You already know the score. I said, that's
what makes me enjoy it that much more. And those boys come down
the floor. We get behind. I don't worry.
They get 10 points ahead. I don't worry. I know the score.
That fellow commits his fourth foul, and that announcer says,
he's going to foul out. I say, no, he's not. It's fun. And that's the way, listen, that's
the way that we ought to live in Christ. The victory is ours. It's ours. He's on the throne. The battle is going to be won.
And I am going through a replay. As far as God's concerned, I'm
already glorified. That's right. This game's already
over in the purpose of God. But these conflicts, they've
got to come. They've got to come. All right,
let them come. But it's going to be all right
over there. I'm trying to learn. I believe I'm learning that a
little bit. I may take a big setback tomorrow, but I'm learning.
Somebody walks in and says that we can't do this. It's out of
the question. Well, that's all right. That'd
be all right. But doesn't that upset you? Well,
it's all in God's plan. We've got to come to that place.
It's a struggle. You're not going to do it tomorrow,
overnight, but that's still it. That's still it. Then the gospel
brings warfare in the household. Christ said a man's enemies will
be there of his own household. There's no division like the
division of faith. And I try to warn young people
about dating unbelievers and marrying unbelievers. They go
on and do it, but I'll keep on warning them. You belong totally to Christ
unless your partner does. You're in trouble. And I don't
know any greater trouble to be in than if you're really a child
of God, you really belong to the Lord, and you have someone
that doesn't understand, doesn't know the It's trouble. And then the gospel brings warfare
with the religious world. Our Lord said they'll cast you
out of the synagogues. And listen, John 16, verse 1
through 3. This is worthy to be read. John 16, verse 1 through 3. Listen to this. He says in John
16, 1, these things have I spoken to you that you should not be
offended. They'll put you out of the synagogue. The time will
come when Whosoever killeth you will think he doeth God's service." It was in the synagogue that
they plotted the death of our Lord. In the synagogue. It was in the cathedrals that
the Reformers were tried and burned at stake. It was in the temples, it's right
now in the temples and the churches and the seminaries that the doctrine
of God's redeeming grace is denied and hated and cursed. The religious world hates the
gospel. It hates the gospel worse than
the unbelieving world. That's so. And I'll tell you,
you can go and preach the gospel of substitution, the gospel of
sovereign grace to a drunk, and you won't get near as much anger
and enmity and malice as if you preach it to a self-righteous
religious person. That's so. You make up your mind. Our Lord said, I didn't come
to bring peace, I came to bring a sword and division. Now you can hold to a nominal
religion, you won't have any trouble. You can hold to what
we call an easy, nominal, liberal religion, and the whole world's
religious. You won't have any trouble, but don't stand for
the gospel of grace. There's the problem. That's what
the religious world hates. Satan! Our Lord said, Peter,
Satan hath desired to sift thee. Well, before Peter met the Lord,
Satan didn't give a hoot for him. Peter didn't have any trouble
with Satan before he met the Lord. But now he's become Satan's
enemy, and he's become Satan's object, and he's become Satan's... The individual that Satan's going
to attack personally. Now you think about that. The
Apostle Paul, listen to what he wrote in 1 Thessalonians 2,
18. He said, I would have come to you, but Satan hindered me.
Boy, Satan didn't hinder him when he was on his way to Damascus
to kill Christians. Satan didn't hinder him when
he held the coat while they stoned Stephen. Satan didn't hinder
him in his days of persecution, but just as soon as he began
to preach Christ, Satan hindered him. And we're going to have trials
in the flesh. God promised us fiery trials. He said in the
world you shall have tribulation. Your garden will have weeds just
like anybody else's. Your head's going to hurt just
like anybody else's. Your body is going to ache just
like anybody else. The consequences of the fall
are upon you just like they're upon anybody else. In Adam we
all die. But the difference is we have
his grace. Spurgeon died at 58. And all his life, from the time
he was in his late 20s, he was a sick man, sick man. He was
God's servant, but he was a sick man. He used to stay out of his
pulpit for weeks and weeks at a time, trying to find some strength.
Did you know one of the greatest preachers to the Indians who
ever lived, David Brainerd, died when he was 29? One of the greatest preachers
Scotland ever produced, Robert Murray McShane. died when he
was 29. God doesn't promise you roses
without thorns, apples without seeds, a road without stones, skies
without clouds. Rather, he promises you some
trials. That's for your good, too. That's
to reveal faith and to strengthen faith. And that's to give patience. That's to give us pity, give
us understanding, help us to enter into other people's experience.
I can't weep with you unless I've wept. I can't sympathize
with you unless I've been where you are. I can't understand you
unless I've walked your road. And that's the reason God The
people whom God is going to use, the Lord will equip them. And
that's what he's doing some of these things to us in order that
when we encounter those who are going through the same experience,
we can put our arm across their shoulder and we can say, Well,
I've been there. I've been there. And it's going
to be all right. And then last of all, look at Matthew 10 again.
There are three statements here that are worthy of our notice.
Verse 37, 38, and 39. Look at these three statements.
In verse 37, he said, he that loveth more, he that loveth father,
mother more. Verse 38, he that taketh not,
he that taketh not his cross. Verse 39, he that findeth his
life. Now, first of all, our Lord said,
he that loveth father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife
more than me is not worthy of me. Now, we're to love our parents,
we love our friends, we love our wives and children. And we'll
continue to love them. We want to love them more. But
what our Lord is saying here is when there's a conflict between
them and our love for Christ, then they have to go. Let's hope
there's no conflict. How blessed it is when brethren
dwell together in unity. But if we cannot, then they'll
have to go. But Christ remains. He's first. And then he that taketh not his
cross. Now this is interesting. Listen to this. Did you know
Christ said this before he ever went to the cross? This was said long before the
cross. The disciples had no inkling,
no idea that he was to be crucified. So evidently cross-bearing must
have been a commonly used figure in that day. Think about it a
minute. The cross, the Roman cross, was associated with humiliation. and submission and death. The
Roman cross was disagreeable to the flesh. The cross was painful
to bear. So Christ is saying this, that
every Christian is going to be submitted to that which is disagreeable
to the flesh, that which is painful to bear. But we are to take it
up, just like he took up his cross. And he bore it. You and
I are not to shun that which is disagreeable to our flesh,
and that which is painful to bear, and that which cost us,
we are to take it up willingly. All right, Lord, if this is for
me, I'll take it up, and I'll bear it, and I'll follow you.
And then he that findeth his life. Now, one old preacher said
this, you can find ease You can find tranquility, you can find
peace, you can find accord, you can find these things, you can
protect your honor, you can preserve your life, you can find temporary
enjoyment, but it better not be at the expense of your relationship
with Christ. For he that findeth his life
in this way He may find peace, he may find prosperity, but if
it's at the cost of his relationship with Christ, he'll lose his life.
He'll lose it. Let's pray. Our Father, we give thanks for
thy presence and thy mercy and thy grace through Christ our
Lord. And we believe that thou hast spoken to us in this hour.
We believe our message has been given to us by thy Spirit. We
thank Thee for the peace that passeth all understanding. Our
sins are forgiven. We thank Thee for the peace that
we have in our hearts, the rest, knowing that all things work
together for good to them who love Thee. We thank Thee for
that joy and unity that Thou hast given to us among many brethren,
how precious it is, how sweet it is, how blessed it is. When
we share the love of Christ with so many, and we grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord, O Lord, give us the patience
of Christ, the humility of Christ, the temperament of our Lord.
Help our lives to show forth the glory of Christ, not just
in our doctrine, not just in our outward behavior,
but in our inward attitude and in our conversation. Speak to
us by thy word throughout this day. Let it be a day of joy and
rest and worship and fellowship. For Christ's sake we pray, amen.

Not Peace But a Sword

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Not Peace But a Sword

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