The Peace of God

AV1611HOUR - Pastor Nelson Turner - sermon preached on the Lord's Day June 26, 2022.

SERMON NOTES

THE PEACE OF GOD - Nelson C. Turner (copyright 2022; all rights reserved)

Colossians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother, Colossians 1:2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
KJV Ephesians 1:2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

If we read out read our Bibles closely, we will find that virtually all the epistles of the New Testament begin with a salutation from the author and a prayerful desire peace upon all the saints who are addressed. We never find any apostle or prophet bestowing or wishing peace upon the wicked. “There is no peace to the wicked saith my God.” Peace pertains particularly and only to the regenerate children of God, to them that are washed in the blood of Christ and have had their consciences purged from dead works to serve the living God. Unbelievers live in a state of condemnation, their consciences ever accuse them for the sins they have committed against God and man, their unregenerate natures a seething cauldron of iniquity bubbling over with wrath, misery, and every form of licentiousness. Infidels know nothing of the peace of God which passes all understanding:
Isaiah 57:20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
Isaiah 57:21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
No unbeliever serves God or can know or possess the peace of God. The Spirit of God imparts the peace of God. Having not the Spirit of God or the peace of God we know and speak of the unbeliever esteems this work of Christ to be foolishness. The infidels seek peace in heaping up money, gratifying lusts, enjoying the pleasures of sins for a season, and doing well unto themselves. But for all this, they never find that which they seek after. There is no hope, no security, no safety, no rest, and no peace outside of Christ. Except the Lord make the crooked straight and the rough places plain they that have no changes cannot fear or know God.
Peace is a state of being possessed only by those that know God and worship him in spirit and in truth. The redeemed of the Lord look onto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of their faith, and find peace in Him and in Him alone. They are weened from all worldly supports, and trust in Christ alone for all things that pertain unto life and godliness. They recognize that in themselves they can do nothing, but in Christ they possess every good thing they formerly lacked. Once alone and without hope in the world, they now are never alone and have hope in Christ for this life and the life that is to come. The peace they possess is the result of the work of Christ, which has brought to them so great a salvation as to give them peace concerning their past, their present and their future. Their Saviour, who is mighty to save, has taken all their sins upon himself and bestowed all his righteousness to them. He bore their guilt, shame, and condemnation, and they now are justified by his righteousness and resurrection. The work of the Mighty God has taken the handwriting of the ordinances that was against them out of the way and nailed it to the cross of Christ. Their old man is crucified with Christ that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth they should not serve sin. They have renounced the hidden things of darkness and fight against the motions of sin in their mortal bodies, seeking to mortify the deeds of the flesh by the power of God’s Spirit. The battle within the Christian is unceasing. The more the Christian grows in grace the greater he sees his own helplessness and is taught to rely on Christ alone to win any victory over sin in this world. Christians are free from the threatenings of an evil conscience and the works of the law. They have a certain and sure ground outside themselves which has wrought a mighty change within their hearts and minds. The seek to serve the living God and put no confidence in the flesh. They have become new creatures in Christ, who is the Prince of Peace and their Hope. There are joined to Christ forever by the work of God.
Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
Christ is the author of peace for all of his elect, and that peace which he gives shall have no end. No principalities or powers, no spiritual wickedness in high places, no infirmities or distresses, no calamities or woes, no trials or turmoil, no things present or things to come can take away the peace of God’s elect as they find it outside themselves in Christ. The peace he has wrought is apprehended of them by faith and Christ makes it a present possession of those that are called by his name. In the midst of sicknesses and sorrows they cannot be shaken loose from the hope of their calling, which is Christ and his work.
Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. By the work and power of the Holy Ghost the Christian is possessed of a God consciousness that will not depart. In the midst of the activities of his daily life the unseen God is an ever-present help through all of life’s trials and troubles. The Creator of the heavens and the earth has made his children new creatures imbued with spiritual faculties that no man has by mere flesh and blood. The child of God is joined to God in an everlasting union and as he walks in communion with Christ he finds satisfaction, joy, comfort, and peace.
Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. The chosen child of God has ceased from his own works and leans upon the work of God.
Hebrews 4:10 “For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.” Resting in Christ and trusting in His work, we find rest and peace.
God’s children proclaim, (Isaiah 26:12) LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us. Having laid hold of eternal life (1 Timothy 6:12) whereunto they have been called they have found the rest that remains for the people of God. (Hebrews 4:9). Christ has worked in them to will and do of his good pleasure, and it is his good pleasure to give his own a kingdom prepared for them before the foundation of the world.
Matthew 25:34 “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
This is a kingdom wherein dwelleth righteousness, and where there is righteousness, there is peace. God’s people are heirs to a tranquility, a state of quiet in their souls that negates fear, terror, anger, anxiety, or the like. Knowing that no weapon formed against them shall prosper, they stay themselves on God’s promise that,
Proverbs 19:23 “The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.”
Isaiah 32:17 “And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.”
We have an eternal God and are heirs of eternal things. Our inheritance is incorruptible and undefiled, an inheritance that will not and cannot fade away.
1Peter 1:4 Our inheritance in heaven waits for us as we wait for it. “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” “being justified by faith,”
Romans 5:1 and we walk by faith, not by sight. We seek for those things that make for peace, with our neighbors, with our loved ones, with those within the fold and without the fold.
Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”
“The God of peace” (Hebrews 13:20) “that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus” makes his people over in his own image and like unto himself. He who is peace gives us his peace, and we are peacemakers beseeching men in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. (2 Cor 5:20). What we have we seek to give to others. The husbandman is first partaker of the fruit of God’s vineyard. We have an everlasting Father and as his children we deal in everlasting things. The peace of God is a river of righteousness flowing through our souls as we look at the things which are not seen by the mortal eye but are apprehended by the quickened spirit given us by Christ. Our spirits are one in his Spirit, and we delight ourselves in the abundance of peace. David prophesies of Christ,
Psalm 72:7 “In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.”
As Christ came to give us life, and that more abundantly, he gives us an abundance of peace, a great plenty of peace within despite the turmoil of this present evil world.
John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
Christ has made peace with the Father for us by the sacrifice of himself and the pouring out of his blood. He lived as a man of peace, died as a man of peace, and rose again that he might reconcile us unto God that we might have peace with God which begets the peace of God in our souls. We need no more to be troubled or to be afraid. We will fear if our mind is set upon the evils in this world, but if we look unto the Author and Finisher of our faith, we will be lifted up in the ways of God and see that it is He who has placed our feet on a rock and established our goings. He that conquered the world has conquered death. He has delivered us “who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Hebrews 2:15 We are joined to Christ in one spirit, we have one Lord, one faith, one baptism. We walk in Christ, live, move and have our being in Him. We esteem the words of his mouth more than our necessary food. He is altogether lovely, and “as he is, so are we in this world.”
1 John 4:17 “To be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
Romans 8:6 We have been renewed in the spirit of our minds,
Ephesians 4:23 “And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.”
Psalm 119:165 “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.”
Offend here means, “To draw to evil, or hinder in obedience; to cause to sin or neglect duty.” We live in the love of Christ and walk in the law of Christ. This not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, it is his work and not our own. He has given us his peace as a present possession, it is part of “the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”(Ephesians 1:14)
What God has done no man, no devil, or no power can undo. Christ has given us himself, his mind, and his peace. “Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever.”
Isaiah 54:10 “For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.”
Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.