Sermon Central
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Finding God’s Perfect Peace
Contributed by Dennis Lee on Jul 10, 2022 (message contributor)
Summary: In a world filled with unprecedented fear and uncontrollable anxiety, the Lord promises us perfect peace, a peace far different and better than anything the world can imagine. It is His perfect peace. We will look at this peace and what God says for us to find it.
Finding God’s Perfect Peace
Just looking at these last three years brings anxiety.
· We’ve been in a constant health alert around the world with the COVID pandemic and all its variants.
· We have also been thrust into a war that threatens world peace, and there are rumors of more wars to come from another superpower.
· We’re also experiencing a weather change that is seeing our world go through again a time of tremendous drought, which is triggering along with the prior two, that is, the pandemic and war, a worldwide famine, followed by uncontrolled inflation.
· And these have added to the people’s frustration where we are now seeing an increase in violence across the globe.
I think I can be safe in saying that this present world is producing within our population unprecedented fear, uncontrollable anxiety, and just overall feeling trouble. In a way we can liken it to a valley talked about in the Bible, the Valley of Baca, or the Valley of Tears.
“Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a spring; the rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength.” (Psalms 84:5-8 NKJV)
This can only happen when our trust is in God, and not in anything or anyone else.
You see, when we go through these times in our lives, we require a refuge from the storms of life, and the Lord is that refuge as He soothes our souls in the midst of our distresses. And we see how this happens in the verse we’ll be looking at today.
“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength.” (Isaiah 26:3-4 NKJV)
And so, let’s start our study today looking at this perfect peace.
Perfect Peace
Notice it’s not just peace, but perfect peace.
“You will keep him in perfect peace.”
When we talk about peace, we generally think about it being a temporary state of euphoria, that is, the opposite of agitation, restlessness, confusion, or even alarm. This is the type of peace that the world, and hence the god of this world, Satan wants to give, but this is not the peace that the Lord wants to give to us.
God wants us to have, not only peace with others, but more importantly, peace with Him.
Oswald Sanders, a Christian leader for almost 70 years, and was the general director of China Inland Mission for 15 years and a prolific Christian author with over 75 books, said, “Peace is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of God.”
In other words, true peace, the peace that is going to last into eternity can only be found in the Lord God to is eternal, because the world, and the god of this world, will in the end go down in flames.
Peace is one of the things that God is known for. In his letters to the church in Rome and in Corinth, the Apostle Paul ends saying, “The God of peace be with you all.” (Romans 15:33; 2 Corinthians 13:11)
But God is not just known for peace, it is one of His names, and thus denotes His character.
During the time of the judges, the people of Midian were oppressing the Jewish people, and so, the Angel of the Lord, which is another name for Jesus as found in the Old Testament, what is known as a Theophany, that is, a visible manifestation of God, came to Gideon and called him to lead Israel against the Midianites.
When Gideon realized that this angel was none other than the Lord he was afraid and said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” And the Lord replied, “Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die.”
“Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and named it The Lord is Peace [Jehovah Shalom].” (Judges 6:24 NKJV)
We see this beautifully in a picture of the coming Messiah, and one of his titles, or names, in what the prophet Isaiah says.
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6 NKJV)
And so, what this is saying to us, and what Jesus Himself confirms is that only in Him do we have perfect peace, that is, He is the bringer of true and perfect peace.
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27 NKJV)
