Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. What's your idea of peace? Well, people have varying views of how things ought to be and on how to attain that place of peace. But God has laid out for us in His Word both the true nature of peace and how we can have it. Sadly, mankind has often turned aside from God's way.
C.S. Lewis points out that human history is the long, terrible story of man trying to find something other than God, which will make him happy. Proverbs 14, 12 reminds us that there is a way that seems right to a man, but that is actually the path to death. In today's message, Rich lays out for us God's gracious path to peace through a life of faith.
Let's listen in. This is part three of a message titled, Living by Faith, Peace. It was first preached on April 14, 2019 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem.
To hear the whole message or other messages in this series, you can visit us at www.delightingrace.com. He is called the Prince of Peace. And he is the one, number two, who came writing into Jerusalem on a donkey as prophesied in Zechariah 9-9 and that it was recorded in the Gospels.
Reliable history. This is history that happened. This is not fantasy or mythology. A real man in real history rode into Jerusalem with crowds cheering. And then he wept, I wish you had known the things that make for peace. He came writing into Jerusalem.
It's very important that he came writing in on a donkey, which means he wasn't coming as a conqueror. He was coming as a man of peace. He came in meekness to provide peace. He will come again as a conqueror.
Number three, reconciliation. He is the one who offers reconciliation. He is the one who offers peace with God.
Why? Because he was a substitute. He was prophesied. He came in history.
He came to earth in history. And he offers peace with God. Romans 5-1.
Why? Because he was our substitute under the wrath of God. We talk in Christian terms. We talk about being saved. What are you saved from? What are you saved from? Do you know what you're saved from? If you are in Christ, you are saved from the necessary holy wrath of God. That's what you're saved from.
Why? Because you're at peace with God only in Jesus Christ and he offered that. Now if that is true, then he is also the one that offers the peace of God to rule your heart and mind. That's Colossians 3.15. And that is if indeed he is the master of your life. If he is the Lord of your life. And you know everyone serves a master. Everyone. No exceptions. And you might say, Rich, I'm my own master.
There you go. That's the master you're serving. And you're following a delusion because you cannot be the master of your life.
You had nothing to do with your existence. How could you be the master of it? You can't even keep your heart beating. You can't be the master of your life. But Christ offers us the peace of God to rule our hearts. Knowing that God is good and his perfect plan. And we follow that. And those two truths and realities anchor your attitudes and desires. That's the peace of God ruling in your heart and mind. This is what Jesus Christ offers.
Now let's wrap this up in conclusion. This last week I went for a quick lunch down to Mr. Lu's. Just a little orient Chinese place up there.
Mr. Lu's. And I got a small lunch and they included a fortune cookie. And I cracked it open because I wanted to know what my fortune was. I love what it said. It says, this is good.
There's a spiritual truth here. And it said, sometimes we're so busy reading the menu we missed the banquet. Sometimes we're so busy reading the menu we missed the banquet. We've read the menu this morning and maybe you go to lots of Bible studies. But you know what I want for you is I want for you the banquet of God's peace.
And you can read the menu but it's not the same thing as enjoying the banquet. God wants the banquet for you. So maybe to lead you in that direction I have four questions for you this morning as we conclude.
Number one, does my idea of how things ought to be align with God's? Does God need to rescue you from your idea of the rich fool that had the wrong basis for peace? He was counting on the material things that could be taken away. Is that what you're relying on for peace?
You're good as long as you have enough stuff. That's foolish. Does God need to rescue you from being the same as the crowd in Jerusalem? Of counting on just simply bringing in this prosperous rain. You're looking at a political means for peace.
Did I just hear some radars go up? How many of you are counting on political ambitions or political offices for peace? God rescue us from that because it's not going to happen.
That is wrong basis for peace, that is wrong means to peace. What are you more concerned about, your comfort or your character? Do you want to know which one God is more concerned about? Do I need to tell you?
Let me just say it this way, it's not your comfort. He is bent on developing your character to become like His. This is my idea of how things ought to be aligned with God's. You know what, in order for that to be true, you need to know God's self-disclosure. We've talked about that earlier today, reading plans, reading the Bible.
You know what you need to do? You need to consume God's self-disclosure. And that's not just doing the checklist thing. It's not just doing the checklist. It's opening the Word of God and recognizing that God's self-disclosure.
It's not just doing the checklist. It's opening the Word of God and recognizing that the Infinite Sovereign of the Universe is making Himself known to you. The One for whom and by whom are all things is making Himself known to you. I need to align my idea of how things ought to be with His.
Second question, does my idea of attaining how things ought to be align with God's? His path to developing us might be very different than what we would prefer. A surgeon, for example, did you know what a surgeon does?
I always thought about that. What kind of surgeon, you know, the first time they stick that scalpel into a person. Do you know what a surgeon does? A surgeon injures, right?
Am I right? A surgeon injures. Is he doing it just for the sake of injuring a person?
No. He's doing it for the sake of healing the person. A surgeon injures with a view towards healing.
Do you know what oftentimes we do? God is the surgeon and He wants to heal us. He wants to develop us. He wants to take out of us that which is eating us away. Eating away at us, that which is killing us. He wants to remove that and sometimes He has to do that through pain.
And do you know what we do? We're just asking, God, get rid of the pain. Just stop the surgery. Just stop.
I just don't want the pain of the surgery. We do that, don't we? Could it be that our comfort and our normal, moral life, we believe that's what will usher us into ultimate peace? If that is the case, then we will be like the church in Revelation that Jesus called Luke warm and Jesus said, it nauseates me. That's not peace. He doesn't want that for us. He wants peace for us, not just a comfortable, normal, somewhat moral life.
You see, He died to be Lord of our lives. That's how we attain peace. Question number three. You might be here this morning and you really don't know what I'm talking about.
Maybe this is the first time you've heard this. Here's a question for you. Am I at peace with God? Maybe you have grown up Christian. Maybe you know all the right things to do, all the right things to say, but you don't know that peace and you're wondering why all this turmoil is in your life.
Ask yourself this question. Am I at peace with God? Have I surrendered myself in faith to Jesus Christ as the foundation of my life? Have I given my life to Him?
Have I surrendered myself preeminence to His sovereignty? It may be that you've been living a good and moral life and doing all the right things and all of a sudden you realize there's no pilot in the cockpit. I thought I was the pilot. I was just doing all that I'm supposed to be doing, but I really don't have a pilot in the cockpit. You know, something's going to crash. Am I at peace with God? You need to take care of that. Are you trusting in His righteousness or are you trusting in your goodness to be okay with God?
Fourth question. Christians, this is for you. Are my attitudes ruled by His peace? Are my attitudes ruled by His peace? If they are to be, you need to be delighting in His word. You need to be delighting in His word.
That's His self-disclosure. Listen to me before you wrap things up. I want you to hear this, okay? This is one of my favorite verses in all of scripture.
Psalm 119, 165. You ready for this? It is a tremendous promise.
It is way beyond, He will never leave me or forsake me. It's time to graduate from kindergarten. This verse says, Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing will cause them to stumble. Do you know that?
Do you experience that? Do you know that level of peace? It's what God promises you. Great peace have those who love your law and nothing causes them to stumble. Are my attitudes ruled by His peace? Because you know what the promise is?
It is this. And this is how I pray for you. This is how I pray for everyone in this congregation.
Day by day I'm praying for you by name. And here's how I pray. Grant them a delight in your word because I know it will lead you to a delight in Him. Therein His peace will rule your attitudes and your desires. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you what? The desires of your heart.
Now that's peace. And that's what I desire for you. More importantly, that's what God desires for you. So I wish for you the banquet of peace. I wish for you that you are able to get beyond just reading the menu. But go now and feast on the banquet of God's peace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in Him, the One who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on Weekdays at 10 a.m.
