Write your attention back to
Philippians 4, verse 7. And the peace of God, which passeth
all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Jesus Christ. Now these words, as we've just
read, are part of the closing admonition of Paul in his letter
to the Philippian church. And this was the church that
began in the house of Lydia, when Christ opened her heart
to believe the gospel and she immediately began to attend to
the things of the gospel. From that church that began in
Lydia's house, that was the first church in Europe, and is the
source of the preaching of the gospel to western civilization. From that little house that became
a church, Lydia's house, the gospel came to this land. the gospel came to us. These words, as do many of the
words of Paul, have kind of a poetry to them. And this verse you've
probably heard in one form or another because it lends itself
to use as a kind of motto or a mantra. These words, however,
are not written to the world. They are not written to the world
in general, but rather to believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. In
fact, the whole Bible is written for believers in the Lord Jesus
Christ. For no one can understand it
unless they are in Christ, through the Spirit, by faith. These words cannot be understood
by any definition that the world might give of them. When Paul says, The peace of
God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds
through the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no definition that the
world can come up with to explain what that means. There is no
definition. This peace is not world peace. It is not peace among friends
or family. It is not even peace among brethren,
this peace that's spoken of here. It is not a peace that can be
attained by meditation or worked up by any effort of the flesh.
Now the natural mind is a wonder, and it is a strong thing among
men. And they, by efforts of thought
and confidence in themselves, can often come to a place of
acceptance of things, things that they cannot change, and
thereby invent a kind of peace for themselves, a calm in the
time of trouble, a kind of resolution and resignation that gives them
a sense of well-being. That's not the peace that's being
spoken of here. Religion can sometimes soothe
the savage breast and men can be convinced that there is peace
when there is no peace. Governments may sign treaties
which declare a state of peace, but they generally last hardly
any longer than it takes for the ink to dry on the document. Sometimes men confuse non-aggression
with peace. None of these things are the
peace that Paul speaks of in this passage. This peace is in
and upon those who have been redeemed by Jesus Christ and
made aware of it through the new birth by the gospel and who
believe by God-given faith. It is a peace that only the believer
has and every believer has because Christ has bestowed it upon them. They have this peace that passeth
all understanding. I think Paul probably had this
verse in mind when he said what he said in Philippians chapter
4. In Isaiah 26 and verse 3 it says,
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, or peace, peace, whose
mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee. Because
he trusteth in Thee. Our Lord, in John chapter 14
in verse 26, He says, My peace, said this to His disciples and
to you, My peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you,
not like the world gives, and not the peace that the world
gives, give I unto you. I give you My peace. That peace is the peace that
Paul is addressing here in this passage of Scripture. This peace
is referred to in our text as the peace of God. The peace of God. God often inspired
Paul to refer to himself as the God of peace. In Romans 15.33
it speaks of the God of peace sanctifying you. In 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5 it speaks of the God of peace. Look over to Hebrews
chapter 13 just for a moment. Hebrews chapter 13, verse 20, verse 20 says this, Now the God
of peace, that God, the God of peace that brought again from
the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep
through the blood of the everlasting covenant. That God, the God of
peace, 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. The God of peace,
Paul calls Him. The God of peace. If this is
the peace of God, the peace of God, given by the God of peace,
then some things are absolutely true of this peace that God gives. Some things are true. First of
all, The first true thing is that it is a gift. It is a gift
which means that it was given and not merited or earned by
men. My peace I leave you. My peace I give unto you. That's what we just read or I
just quoted from John 14. Secondly, being a gift of God,
It will never be taken away. If God has ever given you this
peace, it will never be taken away because the gifts and callings
of God according to Scripture are without repentance. Thirdly, if it is of God and
given by God, then it is eternal. It is eternal peace. You are
not going to have a different peace When God winds this whole
thing up, you will have this peace. The very same peace. You see, what God does, He does
forever according to Ecclesiastes 3.14. Nothing can be put to it
and nothing can be taken from it because He's God. If God has
given you peace, this peace, then it's an eternal peace. You'll
always have it. It is the peace of God that will
belong to the believer when the world and time is no more. Which
tells us that the world and time have nothing to do with it to
start with. Have nothing to do with this
peace. And the world and time cannot affect this peace that
he speaks of. Being of God, it is spiritual. It is spiritual. And the world
can never understand it. Never. They will mock it. They will mock it when you tell
them, you're not worried. They will mock it when you tell
them, I'm at peace. Why? Because everything around
us and around them tells us that that just can't be so. That just
can't be so. Paul says of this peace that
it passes understanding. It passes understanding. This
word passeth means that this peace goes above and beyond understanding. The word is huper. We get our
word hyper from it. Hyper peace, above peace, uber
peace if you were German. High above, this peace is high
above all understanding. High above all understanding.
It is higher and on a loftier plane than all understanding. Now Paul is not getting all ethereal
here. People like to think that when
you talk about a higher plane, a higher plane of understanding
that they are talking about some level up here where you float
around in just intellectual mud. But anyway, Paul's not getting
that way here. He's not speaking of a state
of mind where you become transcendent or dwell on some level that others
could never reach. These words that passeth understanding
are comparative words. They're comparative words and
words that declare a particular distinction that Paul is making.
Paul is not saying that the peace of God is beyond understanding
the peace that God gives. Let me say that again, because
I've got some worried looks on my face. Paul is not saying that
the peace of God is beyond understanding the peace itself. Every believer
understands this peace. So the understanding or the all-understanding
that he's talking about doesn't have to do with that. This peace
is understood by every believer. The Spirit of God has revealed
this peace unto everyone whom God has given life to in Jesus
Christ. They understand it. They understand
it. They are the only ones who do,
but they do understand it because God has given it to them. has
given it to them, because all good and perfect gifts come from
above, from the Father of lights, in whom there is no variableness,
nor shadow of turning. The Holy Spirit was given to
us, and showed us the things of God, so we might know what
God has done for us. Not what we can do for God, but
what God has done for us. Look over 1 Corinthians chapter
2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. In verse 9 it says, But it is
written, where is it written? Isaiah 64 and verse 4 is where
it is written. But it is written, I hath not
seen in verse 9, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the
heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him. And you think, well, this is just all a mystery. We can
never know this. But that's not what, if you stop there, that's
where you're going to end up. And that's where most people
stop. Well, it's just a mystery. No, it's not. Look what it goes
on to say, But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth
the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? That
is to say, we understand each other and we know where we're
coming from and where we're going because we're men. So we understand
that. I know we think we're individuals,
but we're not. We're common as gully dirt, all
of us are. We're the same. Ain't no difference.
Race, grace, place, no difference. God has made all men of one blood.
We're all the same. We're going to live the same.
We're going to sin the same. We're going to do the same kinds
of things. We're going to die the same. And there ain't no
difference. We might look different, but
for that, many of us can be thankful that we do actually look different
than someone else. But we're all the same. We're all the same. So we understand each other.
Now Paul is making a point here. He's saying men understand what's
going on with each other because of the Spirit that's in them.
The Spirit that's in them. He's not talking about the Holy
Spirit. He's talking about the natural vitality and enthusiasm of man. The breath of man, if you will. Even so, the things of God knoweth
no man but the Spirit of God. Now, we have received not the
Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God. We've
received that Spirit. Why? That we might know the things
that are freely given to us of God. That's why you have the
Holy Spirit, so you know what God gave you freely in the Lord
Jesus Christ. We understand the peace that
God has given. We understand the peace that
God has given. Every believer understands this
peace because it's spiritual peace. It's spiritual peace.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 2 it says, "...the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit, but the spiritual man discerneth
all things, yet he is discerned of none." 1 John chapter 2 and
verse 20 says, "...we have received an unction or an anointing..."
That is the receiving of the Holy Spirit that's talked about
and we just read in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. And we understand
all things that Jesus Christ came in 1 John chapter 5 to give
us an understanding of who He is and that we are in Him, and
this is true God and eternal life in 1 John 5. The believer
understands that this peace is not a product of his works, but
is accomplished by Christ alone on the cross of Calvary. Turn
over one book to the book of Colossians. Chapter 1 and verse
20 says this, ìAnd 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 at earth or things in heaven.î
Made peace by the blood, and it doesnít say Heís making peace,
because He ainít. Heís made it. Peace has been
made, and that's the peace that Paul is talking about. This peace
was established on the cross when Jesus Christ died. And by
His death reconciled the elect of God to God. God did not need to be reconciled
to us. He hadn't done anything wrong
to us. He had done us no wrong. It was we who were in enmity
with Him. Our sin had separated us from Him. We did not seek
Him. We did not know Him. We did not
desire Him. Yet 2,000 years ago He reconciled
us to Himself by the blood of the cross. And in time made us
aware of this reconciliation by the hearing of the gospel.
Paul said it this way in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, God was in Christ
reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses
to them, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. Now
the world there, is the world, word kosmos, which can be used
in a thousand different ways. But it's defined particularly
in that passage of Scripture. Whoever this world was, God's
not imputing sin to them. God's not charging them with
sin. That's that world that's being spoken of there. It's the
world of the elect. The world of God's children.
The world of God's chosen. That's the world. Because whoever
they are, God's not charging them with sin. Not imputing sin
unto them. Well, how did that take place?
If you read on down just a few verses in the same chapter of
2 Corinthians, you find these words. For He was made to be
sin for us, whom you know sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him." God doesn't charge His people
with sins. Why? Because they're reconciled
to it by the blood of Jesus Christ which put away their sins. He
doesn't charge me with sin because He charged Christ with my sin. And the iniquity of all was made
to meet on Him, it says in Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 6. Made
to meet on Christ the iniquity of all God's people. And our Lord says there are some
people in this world, in Romans chapter 4 verses 6 through 8,
there are people walking around in this world right now, there
are probably a roomful of them here, I hope that can be said
of everybody here, whom God will never charge with
sin. Now if that don't float your
boat, you're sunk. Eddie will never charge you with
sin. Think about that. Just roll that over in your head.
You know what you are inside. You know how you behave. You
know what you think. God will never charge you with sin. Blessed
is the man to whom you will not impute iniquity. Are you talking
about blessed? That's really blessing. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is Christ. It is God that justifies. Who
is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died. Yea,
rather He's risen to give. It's even at the right hand of
the Father ever living to make intercession for us. Romans chapter
8. This peace of God is understood
by the believer. We understand it, and we love
it, and we're so tickled with it. It is the peace that God
established by Christ, and is the knowledge that we have been
reconciled to God, accepted in Christ, and that God will remember
our sins no more. It is called the peace of God,
because we are at peace with God, because God sees us as perfect
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll remember our sins no more.
Christ has perfected forever them that are sanctified, it
says in Hebrews chapter 10. The peace of God is the understanding
that God is for us, not against us. And therefore, it does not
matter who might be against us. This is peace that passeth all
understanding. That's what Paul is talking about,
that peace. As I said, it is a comparative
statement or a statement of distinction. Paul is distinguishing between
the peace of God that is well understood and that which is
all around us and all about us that we understand but gives
us no peace. And if it were possible, would
even destroy or hinder this peace that we do have. It is a peace
that is above and beyond that we understand about ourselves
and our world. that keeps our minds and our
hearts through Jesus Christ. Now this distinction between
understanding the spiritual and understanding the natural is
what Paul is talking about. What we understand about the
natural world gives us no peace. Does it? The understanding of the fact
of the peace of God goes above and beyond and keeps our heart
and mind settled when we see the chaos and the terror and
the fear that pervades this world. The estate of the world is not
a comfortable or comforting thing. All you have to do is listen
to the news, read the newspaper, read a magazine, open up a time,
a U.S. News & World Report. It's devastatingly toxic and
uncomfortable to read about this world. Governments know that they lose
control when nations are at peace. Did you know that? Governments know that they lose
control when nations are at peace. If no crisis exists, governments
know that one must be invented in order to control the masses. Somehow governments rely upon
the fact that people want them to help them. They rely on that. In a nation at peace, it doesn't
really think about its government that much. Everything's going
fine. So the government begins to get scared and comes up with
crisis. We have a health insurance crisis. We have a education crisis. These are inventions of men.
We have a global warming crisis. You ain't seen nothing yet how
hard it's going to get. But it's a crisis. Why do they
do that? They control people by keeping them afraid. Oh, the
ice is going to melt. It's going to come over the mountains
of North Carolina. We're all going to drown. If it goes at the present rate,
according to the calculations of the global warmers this day,
in between 150 to 500 years, there will be one-seventh of
a degree rise in the temperature of the Earth. Oh, gosh. Wow. But you know what? Man didn't have anything to do
with that. The same thing happened in the
20s. Greenland, did you know Greenland melted in the 20s?
In the 1920s. All ice went away. And it's doing
it again in a cycle of weather. And everybody said, oh my soul,
it's going to be all over. It'll be over when it's over,
folks. And listen, you'll know when it's over because God's
going to speak it done. And in one moment, in a twinkle in the
eye, this whole thing's going to end. worry. But you see, if you can
keep people afraid, you can create a state of chaos and you can
get people to give money like crazy. Do you know that on Wall
Street right now that you can buy carbon points? Do you know that? What does that
mean? Well, if you're out here driving an SUV and burning a whole lot of gas,
You're a sorry carbon polluter. But you can go to these carbon
places and buy points to balance out how much you use and then
they'll say you're not a polluter. Just because you bought the point.
This is a money making scheme that people are trading on these
points and there's nothing buying, nothing being bought, nothing
being had, nothing being possessed, nothing being made. It's just
a dream. But you see, you get people afraid.
And they're not at peace. And then they have to go to the
government and say, oh please, make a law, make a regulation,
help us out, someone. If the government can convince
people that a crisis exists, then the people will apply to
the government for help. Our world. It seems is in a constant
state of chaos. We understand that. Men, even
the best of men are only men and man cannot solve his own
problem because mankind is its own problem. This understanding,
however, gives us no peace. That understanding doesn't give
us peace. But the peace of God goes above and beyond that. See
what Paul is saying? Because above and beyond that,
beyond that understanding, we know, though as bad as it seems,
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them that call according to His purpose. We know that. And that's peace. Above and beyond
what we see going on around us. Above and beyond. For whom He did foreknow, He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called, them
He also justified, whom He justified, them He also glorified." What should we say to these things
if God be for us? Who can be against us? He spared
not His own Son, but freely gave Him up for us all. How shall
He not with Him freely give us all things? He hath given us
peace in Jesus Christ. Peace with God has been established
on the cross. And we can say to the righteous,
to those made righteous in Christ, it's okay folks, don't be afraid. It shall be well with thee. This whole thing I was just talking
about is nothing new, because there is nothing new under the
sun. If you look back at Isaiah chapter 3, I want you to read
what God says He is going to do to Israel, because of their
rebellion against Him. He says this in chapter 3 of
Isaiah, For behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take
away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff,
the stay and the staff, that which they hold on to, that which
they believe in, the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of
water. Here's what God takes away, the mighty man, the man
of war, the judge, the prophet, the prudent, and the ancient. Everything that people count
on, God said, take them away. How many of you trust the judicial
system in the world today? You know, if you got some money,
you'll get off, I guarantee you. Just today, or just yesterday,
that guy that accused those Duke players lost his license to practice
law. Which, well, he should have.
Because he withheld evidence, he lied. Just to prove a case. He wanted to be DA again. The
election was coming up. I'll take away the judges, God
said. I'll take away the ancients. I'll take away the people you
trust in, the people you have confidence in. I'll take away
the captain of the 50 and the honorable man. I'll take away
the honorable man. That's not even a word people use anymore
to describe me, is it? Is it? Used to be that honor
meant something. My daddy, when I was growing
up, if he said to somebody, If he went somewhere and borrowed
money, the shake of the head, with no paper signed, he said,
I'll pay you back on such and such a date. My dad hadn't paid
him back, they had to sell one of us to do it. And they looked
at my dad and said, he's a man of honor. He's a man of his word.
God said, I'm taking those away from you. From the highest place
to the lowest place, honorable men are gone. The counselor,
the person who has wisdom, A cunning artificer. The eloquent orator. I'm going to take all those away
from you. I'll give you children to be your princess. I'll let
people who are just like babies run your show. And all you've
got to do is turn on C-SPAN and know that's the truth. Babes
shall rule over them. Children shall be... and the
people shall be oppressed. Everyone by his neighbor. And
everyone by his neighbor. The child shall behave himself
proudly against the ancient. You see that going on? Where
children have no respect for elders. You know, a lot of times a lot
of people that send their kids to me in karate class do it because
they can't, they don't have enough gumption about themselves to
actually discipline their children because they don't love their
children, they love themselves more. They'll send them to my karate
class and some of those kids are just awful in behavior for
about five seconds. I get down on my knees in my
white gear and my black belt. I look them in the eye. I say,
you're not going to act that way in this class. I'll kill
you. Then I might break a board in
front of them. I say, that's your head. You're done. You understand me? You're not going to disobey.
You're not going to disrespect me or any other student in this
class. You're going to show respect. Because that's how you survive
in this class. And they do. Why? Because they
see somebody they can respect. The Lord said, I'm taking that away
from you. So children, look at people. They ought to respect
and they won't respect them anymore. He said, A man will take hold
of the brethren in his house, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou a
ruler. What he's saying there is that the least reason For
having someone to rule over you will be the reason that they'll
use. Most of America's presidents are elected because of how they
look. And it's true. Don't want no
ugly man running the show. Won't have to look halfway decent
in a suit, you know. He said, it will be so foolish. When I'm finished with you, God
says, that you will say, I want you to rule over me because you've
got a nice suit. In other words, everything will be frivolous.
There will be no substance or foundation in the world. Verse 8 says, For Jerusalem is
ruined, and Judah is fallen, because their tongue and their
doings are against the Lord, and provoke the eyes of His glory.
The show of their countenance doth witness against them, and
they declare their sin as Sodom, and hide it not. What is sin? Everything has been renamed.
What is sin today? You can't imagine it because
you know what adultery is? Polyfidelity. That's what it's
called. Perversion is lifestyle. A thief is a larcenist. Not a
thief. A larcenist doesn't sound quite
as bad. God said, I'm taking it all away.
And I read this, I see our nation. I really do. What are you going to do with
a fix like that? He says, verse 10, Say ye to
the righteous, and it shall be well with him. There you go. Say that to the righteous. There's
that peace that passeth all understanding of all things that are around
us. We look around us and see religion on every side, a church
building on every corner. Religion permeates the airways.
Faith-based initiatives like the planes flying into the Twin
Towers. That's a faith-based initiative. Those guys did that
because they believe in Allah. The religion of works and will.
The religion that holds that man in his fallen state. The religion that holds that
man in his fallen state still possesses dignity and honor and
power over his own condition. Religion that makes the death
of Christ a crapshoot dependent upon the affirmative vote of
man. Religion that is ignorant of who God is and how He saves
sinners is all around us. And the world is no better for
it. Statistics tell us that 97% of Americans believe in God. Eighty-some of them attend church
regularly. Why are we in such a fix? I can
remember a time. I'm not that old. I'm getting
there, but I'm not there yet. I can remember a time in a little
town called Winston-Salem that if anything came into that town
that was the least bit questionable, they didn't go to the city council.
They got the church fathers together in that town. And they said,
what do you think about this? And they said, well, we'd be
good for the town. They weren't ugly. They didn't
pass no laws. They just said, oh, we'd be good for the town.
Didn't come into the town. Didn't come into the town. That's gone,
isn't it? Religion. Religion. The world no better for it. The
peace that it offers is of no value because it's not real.
It is born of presumption and self-righteousness. The believer
looks at it and understands it because he was plucked from it
by grace as a firebrand from the burning. Understanding this
about religion gives no peace, does it? I understand it. But I find no
peace there. But the peace of God goes above
and beyond this understanding. Salvation has never been up to
man. It was accomplished by Christ on the cross and our sins are
gone. Religion is doomed. Babylon, the great hole, will
fall and be plunged into hell. But the children of God do not
fear the judgment because the peace of God that passeth knowledge
keeps their minds and their hearts through Christ. Babylon's going to fall, and
you'll watch. We'll see that tonight in our
study of Revelation 19. You'll be there to watch it all. My sinfulness plagues me. I despise my infancy to quell
my sinful desires and my palpable inability to do that which is
good. I despise that about me. I know that the old man in me
is against God on every front. I am ashamed of the ease with
which I can so readily hate and the difficulty I have in loving.
I am ashamed of my bent to self-righteousness. I can say with David, my sin
is ever before me. I understand my failures. I understand
my weaknesses. I understand my willful nature.
I know and understand that I am of all men most miserable and
detest the body of this death. On the one hand I do, while delightfully
pursuing it on the other. For with my mind I serve the
law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin and death.
And this understanding gives me no peace, this understanding
of myself. But the peace of God. Thank God. goes above and beyond what I
understand of my sin. I am at peace with God because
Christ has freely forgiven me of my sin, has taken that which
is against me and nailed it to the cross and openly displayed
victory over it. I am at peace because God is
not angry with me. He is not angry with I am at
peace with God because God Himself has undertaken my cause. He has
provided to me that which I could not manufacture for myself. He
has given me in Christ everything that is necessary to be found
in His favor and accepted me in His holy presence completely
as I am. As I am. He has done for me what I could
not do for myself. He has made me suitable to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Christ
is my peace. He's everything. God has made
Him to be unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
This is the peace that Paul speaks of. And the peace of God, which
passeth all understanding, shall keep your minds and hearts through
Jesus Christ. Do you have this peace? Well,
I hope you do. Because if you do, everything's
going to be alright. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name. Amen.