Series: Romans
Title: The God of Peace
Text: Rom 15: 33
Date: August 2, 2020
Place: SGBC, NJ
Romans
15:33: Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.
Proposition: God is the God of peace.
Without doing anything God is
the God of peace. Peace is who our God
is. God the
Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus is THE God of peace in
his very essence. In all that God does
he is Peace. God is never surprised or disappointed; nothing alters his
peace.
Acts 15: 18: Known
unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
God does
not change; God is constant peace
James 1: 17: the
Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
But as fallen children of
Adam, all sinners come into this life with no peace. We are unable to make peace between us and
God. In the garden when Adam sinned
against the God of peace war began between sinners and God. God is peace but we are war, all unrest, and murderers.
Psalm 28:3…the
wicked,…with the workers of iniquity,…speak peace to their neighbours, but
mischief is in their hearts.
Jeremiah 9:8: Their
tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to
his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait. 9 Shall I not visit them for these things?
saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
God’s justice must be avenged. So how are sinners like us given peace? How are we brought into peace with God? How are we made peacemakers toward others?
THE COUNCIL
AND COVENANT OF PEACE
Peace for
sinners began by God choosing whom he would and purposing to bring us into
peace. God made in his Son a covenant of peace—the everlasting covenant of
redemption, the covenant of grace, is a covenant of peace.
God purposed that his
people would fall in sin. In time God typified
our fallen condition by the children of Israel in captivity in Babylon. But from eternity, God purposed to reconcile
his people to himself in Christ, purposed to call us and purposed to make us be
reconciled to God through faith in Christ.
This eternal covenant of peace is typified in God’s purpose toward the
children of Israel in Babylonian captivity.
Jeremiah 29: 10
For thus saith the LORD, That after
seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good
word toward you, in causing you to return to this place 11: For I know the
thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of
evil, to give you an expected end. 12: Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall
go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
God ordained the exact time when he would
visit his elect in the person of his Son—"when the fulness of time was
come God sent forth his Son.” Christ
performed God’s good word toward us by reconciling us to God through Christ’s
cross according to God’s covenant of peace.
When the Spirit of God has called us then our end is the same as theirs—“Then
shall ye call upon me, and ye shall and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto
you.” That eternal covenant of peace was
God’s good word which Christ worked for his people.
Again we see Christ’s
rule typified by David’s rule over national Israel.
Ezekiel 34: 23:
And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my
servant David he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. 24: And I the
LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD
have spoken it. 25: And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and
will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell
safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. 26: And I will make them and
the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come
down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.
King David was a type of Christ our King. He is the Prince of peace among us. God’s hill of blessing is his church, his
holy hill of Zion. Through Christ
fulfilling the covenant of peace, Christ sends the gospel upon us which fall
like showers on the grass.
Another time is seen after Israel was
divided into two kingdoms due to their sin against God. God declares he alone unites and creates
peace. It typifies the peace Christ
makes between his elect, Jew and Gentile. Christ is the Holy sanctuary in our
midst.
Ezekiel 37: 21:
And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of
Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on
every side, and bring them into their own land: 22: And I will make them one
nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to
them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided
into two kingdoms any more at all: 23: Neither shall they defile themselves any
more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their
transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein
they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will
be their God. 24: And David my servant shall be king over them; and they
all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe
my statutes, and do them. 25: And they shall dwell in the land that I have
given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall
dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s
children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. 26:
Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting
covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my
sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. 27: My tabernacle also shall be
with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28: And the
heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall
be in the midst of them for evermore.
So our peace with God began with God’s
everlasting covenant of peace. By Christ,
all God’s people are made one. Christ is
our King of Salem—King of peace. He is
the Prince of peace who rules in our midst.
CHRIST IS OUR PEACE
This brings us to the second point. It was Christ who came and accomplished peace
between God and his people. Like Israel
of old, God’s elect Jew and elect Gentiles were divided. How are we made one and given peace? How was the above prophecy fulfilled?
Ephesians 2: 14:
For [Christ] is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle
wall of partition between us; 15: Having abolished in his flesh the
enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for
to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16: And that
he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the
enmity thereby:
By Christ fulfilling the law for us, God’s
people kept his ordinances and did them in perfection. He alone made peace between God and his people, as well as, between
his people and one another.
Zechariah 6:13:
Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and
shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne:
and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
Christ worked peace between God the Father
and his elect children by the blood of his cross. He reconciled all God’s elect in heaven and
earth unto himself. He reconciled “things
in earth and things in heaven” which is God’s elect people.
Colossians 1:20: And, having
made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto
himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
Paul keeps saying, “By him, by him, by
him, I say!” God’s holiness demanded
that for there to be peace between God and his people God’s truth, his law had
to be honored. But the law demanded his people must die.
Isiah 53: 4: Surely
he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him
stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was
upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
“Chastisement” here is not the faithful,
loving chastisement with which God our Father chastens believers. It means vindictive justice, wrath taking
vengeance on our surety in our place. Thereby
divine wrath is appeased, justice is satisfied, and peace is made—"with
his stripes we are healed.”
We see this work of Christ typified in
Phinehas. An Israelite, Zimri, brought a Midianite
woman, Cozbi, into the camp of Israel. It
was transgression against God’s law. So God
sent a plague among them. But Phinehas,
the priest, the son of Aaron, as a type of Christ, slew them both. He pictured God’s elect being slain in Christ. This is what Christ did and brought in for
all God’s elect Israel. Therefore, this
is God’s word to Christ and to his people in Christ.
Numbers 25: 10 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 11: Phinehas,
the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from
the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I
consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. 12: Wherefore say, Behold, I
give unto him my covenant of peace: 13: And he shall have it, and his seed after
him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was
zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.
So our peace began with God’s everlasting covenant of peace. Then Christ
accomplished that good word, making peace between God and his people, by bearing
our sin so that the javelin of justice pierced him in our stead. He was zealous
for God and made atonement for God’s elect Israel. “While we were enemies we were reconciled to
God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by
his life.”
PREACHING PEACE
Each of God’s elect, redeemed, reconciled people are
brought to be reconciled in time by the Holy Spirit of God regenerating us
through the preaching of the gospel of peace.
This very gospel of reconciliation is the means whereby God brings his
people to be reconciled to him.
Christ sends his preacher declaring his finished work
of peace.
Acts 10:36: The
word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus
Christ: (he is Lord of all:)
Ephesians 2: 17:
[Christ through the Spirit] came and preached peace to you which were afar off,
and to them that were nigh. 18: For through him we both have access by one
Spirit unto the Father.
Reconciliation and peace are the message of the gospel
which Christ’s preachers preach.
2 Corinthians
5: 18: And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by
Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19: To wit,
that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20:
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by
us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. 21: For he
hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. 6: 1: We
then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that
ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
Those Christ sends preach in Christ’s
stead, declaring to all who will hear that God in Christ has successfully
wrought peace between he and his people.
Be sure to get this. God will not impute sin to his people because God
made his Son sin for us, who knew no sin, and Christ made us the righteousness
of God in him. God’s grace is never in
vain! It means do not hear this word of
God’s grace in vain! Do not prove to be
one for whom this work was NOT done! Today
is the day of salvation! Believing on
Christ proves our election of God, our redemption by Christ, our regeneration
by the Spirit—God’s grace is never in vain!
Now, you lay down your weapons, and be
reconciled to God. When the Holy Spirit gives a new heart—the child of
God is given faith to behold Christ our Peace. Faith beholds peace accomplished. It causes us to be at peace with God.
Romans 5:1: Therefore being
justified, by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
This peace will never again turn into
warfare between God and reconciled people
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.
You who have never believed on Christ,
hear this. You will never have peace in
your heart nor peace with God until you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is called “peace in believing.”
Romans 15: 13: Now
the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may
abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Believer, knowing we have peace with God, give
yourself to hear this gospel of peace. Set
your focus on Christ above. The way we
are kept in heart and mind is by this peace of God.
Philippians 4: 4:
Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
Be always focused on Christ above and rejoice
in peace.
Philippians 4: 5:
Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
It means be meek and gentle unto all; deal
in mercy rather than judgment; bear insults and be at peace. We can do so knowing that the Lord is near
and working everything that comes to pass in our lives.
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.
Also, knowing the Lord is at hand, be not
anxious over trials or over anything else.
Instead, call on the Lord your peace by prayer, making supplication to
the Prince of peace, letting all your requests be made known unto him. These things will promote peace in our
hearts. And this is the result,
Philippians 4: 7:
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts
and minds through Christ Jesus.
In Colossians 3, Paul says the same
thing. He begins the chapter telling us
to seek Christ above, setting our affection on him rather than on this
earth. Then he says mortify the deeds of
the flesh as Christ renews you in his image.
Then he says get along with your brethren and with all men by the peace
of God ruling your heart.
Colossians 3: 12:
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies,
kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13: Forbearing one
another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even
as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. 14: And above all these things put
on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. 15: And let the peace of God
rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye
thankful.
Now I pray for you what Paul prayed for
the Roman brethren, Romans 15:33: Now
the God of peace be with you all. Amen.
Amen!