Have you ever heard the way Jewish people greet one another? They say "Shalom." "Shalom." It means "peace." When you look at the writings of the New Testament, you’ll see that this greeting is often used. Paul often says "grace and peace unto you" as he begins and/or ends his letters. When Jesus appeared to His disciples after the resurrection, in John chapter 20, He said, "Peace be with you!" In fact, He said it to them twice, because they were so shocked at seeing Him.
What greater desire could man have than the desire for peace? What greater gift could we wish for someone than peace? Let me quickly point out that when I talk of peace, I’m not just talking about an absence of war. You know and I know that it is possible to be in the calmest of situations and have no peace inside of us. It’s also possible to be in situations of great turmoil, yet still have peace in our hearts and peace in our minds.
The peace I want to look at today is peace with God. It is that state of absolute trust toward God, it is the absence of fear as regards our relationship with God. It is the peace of an infant nestled in his mother’s arms, the peace of the small child who knows his father’s protection. With peace comes rest. With peace comes calm. With peace comes quiet confidence.
Jesus said to His disciples: "These things I have spoken unto you that in me you might have peace. In this world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer… I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) Our God is a God of peace who offers a gospel of peace.
So let’s take a look at peace with God. Please open your Bibles to Romans, chapter 5. We’ll be reading the first 11 verses:
Rom. 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Rom. 5:6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Paul says that our peace with God comes because of our having been justified by faith. You see, when we understand that by faith we are given access to God’s grace, God’s unmerited grace, then we can begin to have peace with God. As long as we are convinced that our salvation depends on our own actions, as long as we think that we have to do something to be good enough for God to save us, then we will never have peace. It’s impossible. If we live our lives with the idea that one little slip up, one little mistake and God will ZAP us, we can never know what it is to have peace with God. If we think that we have to be right on every single doctrine, that every practice done in faith must be done exactly right, if we think that our salvation depends on precision obedience, peace will not be a part of our lives. We will always have that doubt: "Have I done enough? Did I get everything right?" But when we can see the love of a God that would reach out to the sinners and the ungodly, that would send His son to die for His enemies, then we can begin to have peace. We can the hope of glory, the hope that does not disappoint: "3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." We have God’s precious Holy Spirit to remind us of that incredible love that makes our hope a certainty. He is a constant reminder of our Father’s love.
Now imagine this scene. You come upon the scene of a car wreck. Someone has pulled an injured person from one of the cars and looks at you and says, "There’s still someone in there." As you approach the car, it bursts into flame. You realize that if you attempt to save the person inside, you will be risking your own life.
You look through the car window and see that the person trapped inside the car is none other than your own child. What would you do?
Most of us wouldn’t have to think about it much, would we? Just about anyone in here would be willing to risk their life for the life of their child.
Imagine the same scene: car wreck, person trapped, car on fire. You look through the car window and see a small child inside. Would you risk your life for this small child?
What if it were an elderly man inside the car? Would you risk your life for an elderly man?
OK, let’s go back to the wreck. Same scene. You look inside the car and you see… Osama bin Laden. Would you risk your life to save Osama bin Laden? Would you potentially give your life to save that of someone that you might consider an enemy?
Keep that thought in mind as I read the following verses again:
Rom. 5:6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
Would you be willing to give your life for a good man? Would you be willing to give your life for a bad man?
Jesus didn’t wait until we were good enough. "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Jesus didn’t wait until we loved him enough. "While we were enemies…" Enemies. Not family. Not friends. Enemies.
What a powerful thought. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." God sacrificed the life of His own child to save people who did not deserve it. Sinners. Enemies. Ungodly.
In Ephesians 2, Paul says we were dead in our sin. We had no hope. The only thing that saved us was the grace of God, through faith. It’s not about our working our way back to God, it’s not about us climbing the ladder to salvation nor moving step by step through a checklist. It’s about God reaching out to us and saving us. While this may seem to be merely philosophical reasoning, it all becomes practical when we put it back in the context of Romans 5. Look at verses 1 and 2: "Rom. 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God." It comes down to our having peace with God. Paul says we were reconciled to God. The relationship was fixed. The truce was signed. Peace was declared. And Paul says that not only were we reconciled through Jesus’ death, but we have been saved through Jesus’ life. We rejoice in this reconciliation that we have received.
When we have peace with God and know that we have peace with God, we can take whatever the world sends our way. We can weather the storms of life with the anchor we have, the hope that the peace of God gives us. If we don’t have peace with God, we can never really have peace. That promotion at work won’t bring it. Marriage to our perfect soul mate won’t bring it. Neither money nor fame nor power nor STUFF nor anything else will bring peace. The only way, the one and only way, the one possible way to come to peace is to find peace with God.
Some of us haven’t found it. Our thoughts turn first to those who haven’t given their life to God. And it’s true. If you have not joined your life to Christ’s life by being baptized into Him, you don’t know what peace is. Without the trusting faith that says "Here I am, Lord. I’ll do whatever you say," then you cannot have peace. It can’t be done. You need to put your faith in God and part of that is putting on your Lord in baptism. Our salvation is through faith, but through a living faith, an active faith, an obedient faith. Baptism does not add something to faith. It is a part of faith.
But there are some of us who have taken that step, who have given ourselves to God, and yet we still don’t have peace with Him. Isn’t that right? Some of us have been Christians for years and years, and yet we have this nagging doubt in our mind: "Is there something I missed?" Folks, as long as we live with the idea that we’ve got to get every little detail right or God won’t accept us, we’ll never have peace. I told our Bible class a few weeks ago that the easiest thing for a preacher to do is to make people feel guilty. You haven’t done enough of this or you’ve done too much of that or you thought this or said that or… If I wanted to play with your emotions, I could easily do so. But would that bring you peace with God? Does making people feel guilty about their inadequacies bring them peace with God? NO. Peace with God comes from understanding that we are saved by grace through faith. Saved by grace through faith. Understanding that brings me peace.
I have access to grace through my faith in Jesus Christ. He died to reconcile me to God. If I will put my faith in Him, He will not disappoint me. If I put my faith in Him, He will give me hope, but not the kind of hope that says, "Oh, please, oh, please, oh, please let this happen." The kind of hope that does not disappoint. The kind of hope that is actually certainty; it is only called "hope" because it is something that is still in the future. I can know that I am saved. I can know that I am right with God. I can have peace with God.
[Offer invitation]
