The Peacemaker:
Inner Peace
Mark Christian
Matthew 5:9
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
Last week, we began a series about being peacemakers, and remember that we began by looking at THE Peacemaker, God. That is God, plural. God, the Father created the plan by which we could enjoy His peace. Jesus was sacrificed for our sins, and the Holy Spirit is at work in us, perfecting us and changing our very beings.
Our three key points last week were:
• Our God is a God of peace.
• We can enjoy the peace of God.
• God has provided the path to peace.
Isaiah 53:5
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
God’s path to peace is paved with the body and blood of Christ Jesus. He laid himself down to die for our sins, and we were given the peace that was rightfully His. Today, we will take a closer look at what is required of us as we follow that path to peace.
What I am about to call the first step is actually several steps, but the first step is to become a Christian. Without that, there is no peace. On September 17, 2001, President George W. Bush gave a speech in the immediate aftermath of the most horrible acts of terrorism this country has ever seen. In that speech, President Bush was trying to establish that the terrorists were not truly representative of the Muslim religion. He remarked, “The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That’s not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace.”
Even though I support President Bush, I couldn’t disagree with that last statement any more strongly. Islam is not peace. Islam denies that Jesus is the Christ, and because of that denial, Islam is in discord with God.
John 14:6
6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
No one means no one. Jesus is the way, not one way. He is the truth and the life, not a truth nor one of many lives. And for anyone to claim to be peaceful, they must be in accord with God. Islam denies Christ; therefore, Islam can not be at peace with God.
1Corinthians 6:9-11
9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
You heard the short list of sinners. We could add many more specific sins to the list, but I think you get the idea. But the beauty of this passage is in verse 11. “And that is what some of you were”. If Paul were from East Texas, he would have written, “and that’s what you ‘used to be’”. In even better words, “You aren’t like that any more because ‘you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.’”
Back to the issue of Islam, they are not at peace because they haven’t been washed in Jesus’ blood. We said that God’s path to peace is paved with the body and blood of Christ Jesus. But for us to go down the path to peace, we must first hear and believe the truth that Jesus is the Christ; the One and only Son of God.
Romans 10:17
17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
We must declare the fact that Jesus is the Christ from our hearts, not timidly, but with conviction.
Romans 10:9-10
9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
We must recognize that we are sinners, unworthy of His favor, and we must repent from that life of sin. To repent is to change our direction, and that is exactly what we must do. We must stop following our selfish desires, the desires of the flesh, and begin living by faith, following the commands of God.
Acts 3:19
19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
And we must be washed in Jesus’ blood. We must take Him on in baptism.
Acts 2:36-39
36 "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."
37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"
38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call."
The people present on that day when the Holy Spirit spoke through Peter had heard the message of Christ. They believed and were convicted. They asked, “What shall we do?”, and were told to repent and be baptized.
This is not some “formula for salvation”. This is a process of change. God has laid out the path to peace for us. Our steps along this path begin with hearing, believing, and obeying the Gospel. The Gospel changes us. Let’s revisit 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.
1Corinthians 6:9-11
9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
10 or thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And that is what some of you (us) were. But you (we) were washed, you (we) were sanctified, you (we) were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
** Parenthetical text is mine.
When we are washed, sanctified, and justified, our past is gone! We have been made clean, been set apart, and been adopted as sons and daughters of God!
That should be enough to give any of us peace, and for a time, it does. But even after we have obeyed the steps outlined earlier, we still give up the peace that God intends for us to have. Even though as Christians we strive to live right, there is not one of us here who has not carried the weight of sin around with us like the heaviest piece of luggage you could imagine.
You should have seen the back of our Excursion on our trip to South Carolina. You would have thought we were moving back! We didn’t know whether the weather would be hot or cold, and we didn’t know whether or not we would be able to do some laundry while we were there, so we packed heavily and were over prepared. The problem came when we would stop. At every hotel or resting place, we had to unpack and later repack, and we didn’t all stay at the same place from one night to the next, so all of our luggage was in a near-constant shuffle. Naturally, whenever we dropped off a child to stay with a friend for the night, his or her luggage would be hidden under everything else, so it seemed like we would unpack it all at each stop.
We do that with our sin and guilt. God has told us to leave it behind, yet we carry it around with us, and it gets in our way and slows us down. We shift it from one spot to another, unload it only to reload it, then carry it around another day. We don’t reach our potential for Christ because we act like we have to carry this extra weight around with us. We do not need to carry the guilt. Yes, I know that we were sinners. Yes, I also know that even though we became Christians, we still have had sin in our lives. But our Father loves us so much more than we know, and we can go to Him and He will remove the sin that creates barriers between us and Him.
1 John 1:8-9
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
God does all the work in providing us with inner peace, but we have to be open and honest with Him. We must confess our sins to Him. He will forgive us and He will purify us, but we must confess to Him.
Have you ever wondered why God would want us to confess our sins? Doesn’t He already know everything we have done anyway? Of course He does. He watches over you like a doting Father. He knows when you have sinned.
Confession is a place where we gain perspective.
When we have to say, “Father, I know that I said I would stop stealing, but I did it again”; or “God, I know that I promised that I would be true to my wife, but I’ve been unfaithful”; or “Father, I have let myself get so busy trying to make money that I have put you second”, then we have to come to grips with who we are and where we stand with God.
Confession is an humbling experience.
When we stand before God and confess our sins, we begin to see how great His love is for us, that He loves us in spite of our unworthiness.
Confession comes from a penitent heart.
It isn’t easy to admit just how unfaithful we are to God. He has always been faithful to us, and for us to approach Him with our sin, we must grieve over our sin and be determined to change.
Confession should bring about a greater desire to grow in Christ.
In confession, we stand in the glaring light of truth. God loves us in spite of our sin, but we can’t be comfortable to remain sinners. We need to confess our sin, and God forgives us when we do, but confession is difficult. No one would want to have to admit their sin. It is one more reason that we should want to stop sinning.
Confession glorifies God.
I almost missed this point. When we confess our sins to God, He forgives us and purifies us from all unrighteousness. It gives God one more opportunity to change us. It gives Him another chance to show how much He can make from so little! When we confess our sins, God takes our filthy, nasty lives and purifies them. He removes the stains of sin. He makes us clean, and this brings Him glory! Satan would love to see us stained, but even after we have committed sin after sin, God has the power to remove every trace of sin from our souls. He cleanses us and defeats Satan in the battle over our souls.
Confession puts our sin behind us.
I understand that in Alcoholics Anonymous, participants will stand up and say something like, “Hello. My name is Mark, and I am an alcoholic.” I understand the idea that no one wants to forget that they are vulnerable to alcohol, but with Jesus, we don’t stand and say, “We ARE slaves to sin”, we say, “We WERE slaves to sin, but Jesus set us free!” Brothers and Sisters, we are free! Put down the bags and rejoice; we are free!
Today’s lesson has had two prongs. For those of you who have not yet taken on Christ in baptism, the message is this: God’s path to peace begins with becoming a Christian. For those of you who are Christians, but who carry your sin and guilt with you from day to day, the message is this: Confession gives you a fresh start with God. You can trust Him to forgive you, but he demands that you be open and honest with Him.
As we said last week, our God is a God of peace, and He wants us to enjoy the peace of God. God has provided the path to peace, but we must leave our sin behind.
Isaiah 48:22
22 "There is no peace," says the LORD, "for the wicked."
There is no better time than now to leave wickedness behind. If you need to confess your sins to God, do it now. Beg His forgiveness. He is faithful and will lift you up when you humble yourself and confess your sins to Him.
If you have never known what it is to be truly forgiven, today is the day for you to accept the salvation that Jesus died to provide. Peace comes in knowing that you are saved by the blood of Jesus. Peace comes in the forgiveness that is given to you because of His sacrifice. Peace comes when you trust God for your direction instead of following your own selfish path.
Please come forward as we stand and sing together.
