Mr. Ken Martin
Sermon Transcript
February 9, 2002
Passover and the Source of Peace
Looking forward to these weeks as we approach now the Passover season, we want to continue along the lines of what we have been doing, covering varies topics that certainly are appropriate for preparation of this very, very important season for all of us in the Church of God.
Today what I would like to do is to cover an area that you might not stop to consider the importance of this area in relationship to the Passover. Now what we’re going to discuss today is the Passover and the source of peace, the Passover and the source of peace. It’s far more significant than you might think superficially, just regarding, well, how do those two tie together? I think when you see this beginning to unfold, you’ll begin to see why this is so important and why it dove-tails so uniquely with the Passover which we’ll be observing.
God’s word has much to say about this very topic; in fact, the world we live in yearns for peace, this very commodity. This is something that I think we can see by looking around; there are no end to the efforts being made to obtain peace on behalf of the nations of the world, we see things constantly. In fact, I don’t believe I can ever say I don’t hear a week that goes by where the term, "peace," is not in the news. They’re either looking for peace, searching for peace, think they found peace, or something of that nature. Something’s going on, but there is a quest for peace, because man realizes that there is a serious need in this area that effects the lives of humankind.
You and I need to know about this, because it definitely effects our preparation for the kingdom of God, and what we are going to have to do as sons and daughters of God in showing the world how to find this priceless commodity, because peace is a priceless commodity that very few people enjoy. You and I have been called into a relationship now by the grace of God through a conversion process that allows us to come to God and to discover this wonderful peace that God provides as we’re going to see in the scriptures as it unfolds. But, regarding the world we live in, with all the technology and the advancements that we have in science, it’s almost crazy. Put men to the moon. You can do all these things. Shoot marvelous satellites up into space, and the like, and yet, with all advanced knowledge, man cannot somehow get a handle on this elusive thing called peace. It’s just all over the place on the page for them. In fact, they can’t find peace within themselves; they can’t find peace within the community; they can’t find peace in the world in which we live in as a whole. There’s always something going on that aggravates and agitates what everybody desires most: peace.
So you and I need to look at this, and I don’t know if you ever stop to really think about it, but I just jotted down a few of these areas that I have heard of and remember, and I’m sure you’ll be able to say, "Ditto, ditto, ditto," to these things as well. And that goes on this area. Have you ever heard of leaders trying to get together, and they have what they call a "peace initiative?" I’ve heard the term "peace initiative." All right.
What about peace songs? Well, back in the folks singing period, you know, after the fifties, or the sixties, or the seventies, remember how they’d get their guitars out and they would sing their peace songs, as they called them? That was kind of an aftermath of the Vietnam era of the sixties; they wanted to bring peace. And so, then you have after that, peace marches, and peace rallies, and people had their signs and placards demanding peace from the politicians, and wondering why they couldn’t find it. Then we hear about the Secretary of State, goes over here talks with someone else and they call it the "peace process." So you’ve got the "peace process" going on. And then somebody else proposes something, and it’s the "peace proposal." So, we’ve got the paper talking about it, or the news in the evening talking about it, and then we have nations getting together and having "peace conferences." Look at this stuff. It just goes on and on, from one thing to another.
And then, if they think they’ve finally got this elusive animal called "peace" under control, that they’re going to get it, they write a "peace treaty." And they think they’ve got a "peace treaty" here, and everything is going to be hunky-dory. Except you’ll remember, if you think back a little bit, (some of the seniors in our midst will remember this; younger folks might not, but do your history, and you’ll find this), but one of the greatest faux-pas of our human experience was when a prime minister of England, prior to World War II, (the greatest conflagration that the world had ever experienced; a terror literally tore the world apart from one end of the world to the other), there was this prime minister called Neville Chamberlain, who thought that he could sign a treaty with a man called Adolf Hitler. And then he would come back, and he would wave this paper in front of everybody, and what was that paper; what did he say with that? Declared, "Peace in our time." We signed a treaty, "Peace in our time." It was just a matter of how many months from that point on when that piece of paper went to pieces, and the world exploded September 1, 1939, in World War II.
So, here we have, all this goes on, and what does it give a testimony to? It’s a testimony to the sad reality that there is no true or lasting peace in the world in which you and I live. We live in this world, and this is the kind of world that’s going on all around us, and it does have a hurtful effect upon us as it does everybody else in this world, because you can’t help but be effected by things like that. And so, right now, we are effected by what - a war on terrorism. Our president has told us it’s going to be a long protracted war. This is not going to be a fast, quickie type thing that’s going to be, you know, here today, gone tomorrow. So we’re now kind of hunkering down, and getting ready for a long-term war that is going to have its effects, and we never know when it might strike, and when these individuals may go chaotic. Just like the young Palestinian girl who suddenly wanted to be like the martyrs of the Palestinian movement, the fellows that strap bombs on themselves, now she takes a bomb, and she walks in an blows up an elderly lady, and hurts about a hundred and fifty other people, and her picture is now shown all over as if she is some kind of great individual because she went ahead, and she bombed those Israeli Jews. Well, it’s sad, but that’s the kind of world we live in.
Certainly one of the reasons why we should all pray and ask for God’s blessing that we are never in the wrong place at the wrong time, because time and chance can happen to anyone. And we need God’s protection; we need His blessing as we move through this chaotic world in which we’re living.
Now, again, too often we see nothing but turmoil. We hear a lot of talk about peace, but we see the reality in turmoil, tension, and too often in open warfare. Many of the following countries, you know, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Northern Ireland, former Soviet Union, Africa, Iran, Iraq, Gulf states, Israel, all these areas are hot spots that could literally blow at any time, and just take off, and become just a massive conflagration, just drawn people into it. And just like, again, prior to World War I, the so-called "great war," the war that was to end all wars, you know, here we have the Archduke Ferdinand. He came in from Austria; and he went there to Serajevo, the capital there of Yugoslavia, at that time, in the Bosnia-Herzegovina area. He got assassinated. All those different nations got sucked in like a giant vacuum cleaner, just got brought right into that great conflagration called World War I. Who’d have ever thought that one assassination would have stirred all that up. Well, that’s the kind of world, you never know anymore, what’s going on out there, and how much it could explode.
The ironic thing about it, and where we are so blessed from our vantage point, is where we see, by the grace of God, that the Bible predicted these tragic escalations and turmoils would grow and grow and this was prophesied hundreds of years before these things ever came on the scene. You and I now have these prophecies literally happening in our lifetime. We’re seeing the turmoil that was prophesied hundreds of years ago where even Jesus, Himself, in Matthew 24:7, the famous Olivet prophecy, where He made the following statement. He said:
Matthew 24:7 - "For nation shall rise against nation." Well, there’s always been wars and fighting among nations, but in this twentieth century that just passed, we find that there has just been an escalation because it goes, not only just nation, it says, "kingdom against kingdom." This thing just began to pull groups of nations into massive war-like configurations. So, you have that element.
And it finally is going to spread according to the prophecy in I Thessalonians 5:3, where it says they’re going to keep trying to get a handle on this thing of peace, and finally, they’re going to think they’ve got it. Finally, they think, because of circumstances, they’ve got it under control. And they’re going to make a proclamation to the world.
I Thessalonians 5:3 - They’re going to say, "Peace and safety." Just like when the Roman empire was in final control, and had the control of the world, it was "Pax Romana." Roman Peace. And they kept that peace by the Roman sword. Well, they’re going to again, at a certain time in the future, claim "peace and safety." And what does the scripture go on to say? "Then comes sudden destruction." That peace effort is going to blow up just like all the other peace efforts have blown up because the famous book of Revelation, called the apocalypse, the book that Jesus said was the final conclusion that would help you and I to understand. It was the final prophecy that we were told that we’d be blessed if we would read and heed the instruction in that particular special book. And you know, there are many people today who don’t even want to read the book of Revelation, don’t even want to hear what Jesus Christ had to say, and yet Jesus said that was His purpose for coming so that John on the Isle of Patmos would have this important revelation given so that you and I would not be caught blind-sided by events happening in our lifetime. But that we’d be able to see it, and know that this is faithful and true just exactly as Jesus had prophesied and revealed it would be.
In that book of Revelation, Revelation 6:4, there’s the prophecy there of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and each one would be responsible for doing something.
Revelation 6:4 - "And there went out another horse that was red:" This is the famous red horse. And it says, "power was given unto him that sat thereon to take away. . ." What? From the earth? Peace. In other words, the efforts for peace, and there are certain little increments of peace from time to time that man has been able to experience, but they’re short-lived, very short-lived, and then it seems like - boom - we get right back to war again, because it seems to be the most profitable business mankind enjoys. The only ones that really benefit from that are the arms and ammunition manufacturers. But you know, human kind always suffers no matter whose side, and whoever claims they win, they even suffer terrible losses in time of war as well. But here the scripture tells us that peace would be "taken from the earth and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword." A sword is a symbol of warfare. And so the world has been torn in warfare. And I can’t even begin to name, over the two hundred some types of flair-ups and wars that have taken place since the great war, World War II. They’re just happening all the time now. I’ve lost track and lost count of them. There was a time I could figure some of them, and all of a sudden, it just seems like everybody is fighting everybody. If it’s not a civil war, it’s just somebody wanting power, and they’re going to assassinate somebody and try to take over.
Well, not only is that an element that would have to be contended with, but peace would be a commodity that slowly would be disappearing from the world scene. You would just live in a constant state of world turmoil and warfare, but there would be something else that peace within the communities in which we live, like the community of Columbus, Georgia, or any other community you might site, would begin to have its problems internally. That there would be difficulties going on within communities, and they would not be at peace. And that would begin to vanish. All this was forecast to increase.
We were told that it finally would come to a type of persecution. Matthew 24:9, in which it uses this expression.
Matthew 24:9 - "Then," it says, "they shall deliver you up to be afflicted," so there would be an affliction coming, and in some cases, ". . .and shall kill you: and you shall be hated of all nations for My name’s sake." I think I have referenced this before to you to keep you posted, that there is a growing anti-Christian mentality developing in this world, because they’re trying to say that Christianity claims to be an exclusive religion, that nothing else will do, only Christianity. According to the Bible, that’s true, because the Bible makes it very clear that there’s only one name given under heaven among human beings by which we can be saved, and that is the name of Jesus Christ. Well, if you’re part of a religion that doesn’t observe that, what does that do to you? Well, "You make me feel inferior." Are you saying, "I’m no good?" Are you saying, "My religion isn’t as good as your religion?" So human beings try to justify, and before you know it, there’s going to be an amalgamation in an ecumenical type of spirit whereby it will seem so right to the human mind, that it doesn’t matter what kind of religion you do, as long as we all do what Jesus said.
What did Jesus say? "Love one another."
If we just love one another, "You go paddle your canoe your way: I’ll paddle my canoe my way, and we’ll all be hunky-dory because we all love one another." Right? "And those mean, wicked Christians that think that they’re better than everybody else, we’re going to make it a hot time in the old town for them tonight." And that’s what your Bible tells you is coming.
Matthew 24:9 - ". . .and you shall be hated of all nations for My name’s sake." Whose name do we bear? The name of Allah, the name of Muslim, or Hindu, or Zen, no, it’s Jesus Christ, because we recognize Him as our Lord and Savior, and they would claim also, "You are Christian," and as a result, it’s going to be more difficult, the scripture tells us that.
In fact, II Timothy 3, if you’ll turn there. II Timothy 3:12 and 13; notice how the apostles confirm this very thing.
II Timothy 3:12 - It says, "Yea, and all that will live. . ." Notice, you chose to live this way . . "to live Godly in Christ Jesus . . ." You see, you’re not doing your own thing; you’ve conformed your life as a man and a woman now to live in the footsteps and the dictates that Jesus gave, He says, "His commandments," the things that He spoke of, He says, "If you live Godly in Christ Jesus," you’re going to do what? You "shall suffer persecution." In other words, there will be things whereby you’ll be targeted because of religious conviction. And it says in verse 13:
Verse 13 - "Evil men and seducers. . ." Boy, we’ve seen that today in this world. ". . .shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived." This kind of thing will get to such a degree that peace will not only vanish from the earth, as we basically hunger and thirst for peace, we’re just not going to find it. It’s going to be more elusive than ever, is what the scripture is showing. But, we’re going to find out also that individuals are - it’s going to be a rare individual that’s going to have inner peace. There will be those who have inner peace, but we’re going to look and see how we get that inner peace, and how you and I are privileged to have access to it now at this time in a way that the world does not have. You and I have had access to how to find peace. But we do not see that in the world, because the world has neglected the source from where peace comes from.
Isaiah 57:20, we are told that: ". . . the wicked are like the troubled sea, (and) when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt." In other words, just like you see the turbulence of the ocean, and you see the water just raging all the time. This is the way human beings are getting to this place. They are not at ease. We hear things constantly on the news about road rage, and how people today are short-fused, and how they’re ready to just kind of pop off at any minute. Look at the individual on the airliner heading to South America. Twenty-nine-year-old doctor, I believe he was, and suddenly he jumps out of his seat in his airplane, and he wants to kick the door down and commandeer the airplane. Well, I’m glad to see that at least people are starting to react normal now, under those conditions, and of course, the pilot, who gave him a whack in the head with the ax, and that kind of helped things, but then the people jumped in on that thing together. And they, you know, put him down, and then until the proper authorities can deal with him accordingly, and that’s what people should do. People shouldn’t just stand there and just allow themselves to be butchered at the hands of maniacs.
You know, there is a situation that happened out there in California years ago at a McDonalds, in which a guy went berserk in there and he just went, you know, nutso, is the way I would refer to it, and he just started shooting people left and right. Well, it’s amazing with all the people sitting there, they were so panic-stricken, they just sat there and were terminated by this guy. You would have thought that they could have all done something. What could they have done? Well, they could have grabbed glasses of water and started throwing glasses at that man, clunked him in the head with them, maybe knocked him out temporarily. Throw chairs at him. You know, those things start - hurl chairs, knock him down with chairs, and overpower him so that he would not take more human lives.
Well, it seems like it has taken nine-eleven to finally wake up. And suddenly now people on the airplanes are now realizing, we better not just sit here and let these terrible things happen. We better do something while we have a chance to do something. And that’s how they say wicked men prosper, and they move heads, and the righteous don’t do anything. They just sit there and let the wicked take over. And so in these particular cases we have a classic example that there are wicked individuals in this world, and they have to be dealt with, and there are things people can do. They don’t have to sit there, and just take it, and be brutalized by these evil animals that are out there.
Isaiah 57:21 - "There is no peace, says [my] God, to the wicked." There is no peace to the wicked. Now what is God telling us here? He’s telling us those who choose to live contrary to the will of God are classified as wicked. And if they want to embrace a lifestyle, and people are free morally; just as they can do what they choose to do. If they want to embroil themselves in a lifestyle that the Bible just clearly shows is unacceptable in any way. And, you know, people have this idea, "Hey, it’s my life. I can do what I like with it." Sure you can, and you can suffer the consequences of your actions as well. So says the Lord God almighty, and He says one of the consequences is if you want to live a wicked life, and there are a lot in this world who love to live a wicked life. They hate the truth of God. They do not like being around people that they consider moral people and righteous people. They like to be around where the carousing and all the evil and the wicked stuff goes on. And of course, if that’s the lifestyle they embrace, what does God say to them? There’s no peace to those individuals. They’re never going to be in a state of peace. They’re always going to be in a state of chaotic turmoil in their lives. That is plainly shown in the scripture.
Now, what you and I need to ask ourselves, especially, again, as Passover approaches, why this is so important. Just what is peace? Because we hear them all talking about it, but what is peace? Let’s take a look at Isaiah 53:5; because here we will see how this begins to dovetail into the upcoming Passover season, and why God wants you and myself and anyone who has ears to hear and to understand this very important point. In Isaiah 53, we’ve addressed this in a past sermon on Passover and the price of salvation. What God had to do, the terrible sacrifice that was placed upon God, the Father, and His own Son having to be delivered for the sins of mankind, and we pointed out to you at that time that the law of God provides that there has to be either punishment for disobedience, or God must provide forgiveness. There’s only those two ways. It’s either the punishment for violation of the law of God, or forgiveness that God and His grace and mercy provides for mankind.
Well, God has provided that tremendous grace and that mercy through Jesus Christ, and through His sacrifice. The law of God, as we mentioned, the full punishment for sin and its activities, fell upon the shoulders of Jesus Christ. He took the hit for all mankind, for us and every human being who has ever sinned, or ever will sin. Sin, punishment of that sin, fell on His shoulders. And this is what Isaiah 53 is addressing. Notice, if you will, verse 5, how it says:
Isaiah 53:5 - "He was wounded (or pierced) for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: (Notice this.) the chastisement of our peace. . ." Notice that. Peace. ". . .was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed." Or in other words, we’re in the healing process in our relationship with the Almighty and with Jesus Christ.
What mankind has not realized is that we have been in a state of warfare with God. It’s been a deception that has been very cleverly pulled off by the adversary, Satan, the devil, who is the open conspiritor and protagonist against God. He was the original rebel from the beginning, but he has deceived mankind into following his way, and we don’t realize that we have been in an undeclared state of war. A lot of people walk around, and they think, "Oh, I just love God. I just love God and all that God is." And yet, when you compare it with what the scripture says, we got problems. And where do the problems show up? In reference to the law of God. When you mention the law of God, bingo! You got problems, immediately, because the book of Romans, and the apostle Paul saw this, and he wrote this for our edification. And he talked about it in the book of Romans where he says that, "The carnal mind is enmity," that means, hostile, hostile toward the law of God. "It is not subject to [the law of God], (that law), neither indeed can be."
What happens when people get into war? Nations start fighting. We read about it in the newspaper. We see it on television, and we say, "Hostilities have broken out between these people." There has been a state of hostility between, that’s a form of warfare, spiritual warfare, in which we have been the unwitting pawns as humankind, in thinking one thing, but in reality experiencing something else. And the apostle Paul says, "Man has been in a hostile relationship at war against the law of God."
That’s why he doesn’t fight anything else except the law of God. He doesn’t fight loving Christ. He doesn’t fight anything in terms to accepting Jesus. He doesn’t fight anything regarding: should you praise God? By all means, do these things. But when you say," Be obedient to the laws of God; walk in His ways; obey His voice; keep His commandments, then immediately, you will find every kind of reasoning, rationale, and altercation that begins to get placed on the table as to why we can’t do that, because things have changed, people will say.
No, God says, "My ways don’t change. My ways are the same yesterday, today and forever." And so this is very important for us to understand, because peace as defined in the dictionary says, "Freedom from war and disorder." Well, how is that peace achieved? Plain and simple. The Bible tells us according to scripture - the devine revelation of the word of God - that Jesus Christ endured this terrible, terrible weight that was thrown upon Him, where He became sin for us, who knew no sin. He took the heavy hit on this, and what was it for? To produce a corridor of peace in our relationship between God and ourselves so that we would not be in a state of hostility against God, but now we could come to God and be in a peaceful relationship with Him.
Did you ever notice how nice it is when husbands and wives are at peace with one another? Ever see a T. V. sitcom where husbands and wives are yelling and screaming at each other? Which one would you choose, if you had your choice? Would you rather be the peaceful couple? Or would you rather be the yelling, screaming couple? I think you automatically know. You want peace. Everyone wants peace. The whole world is screaming for peace, and yet, the Bible is telling us peace is a spiritual fruit. It is not something physical that man, or woman, can achieve on a physical plane. It’s a spiritual fruit. It has to be sought from the spiritual source where this fruit is provided. And once a person will accept the terms and conditions that is placed by the Almighty in this area, then that man and that woman can have peace, and we’re going to see why this is so important, and you and I must know this now and be practicing it, and growing in it because we’re going to have to show mankind, one day, as future rulers and teacher in the kingdom of God. How to find this elusive thing that people have all wanted, but nobody can seem to find. It’s an amazing story, an amazing story indeed.
You know, a horticulturist, for example, someone who works with plants and things of this nature, they may cooperate with the Almighty God, and they may get busy, and they may plant, and they may water, and they may tend to the orchard, or whatever it is that they’re doing, but you know, who brings forth the final fruit? Is it the horticulturist? Or is it God who has done it? It’s God who has done it. It’s God who provides the fruit. It’s God who provides the spiritual fruit as well, the fruit of peace, because man tries to bring peace his way, has it maybe for a little bit, and it all falls to pieces.
But God can produce lasting peace, and this is what we need to understand. It is a spiritual fruit, and because it is a spiritual fruit, how many politicians have you ever heard gathering together and saying, "Let’s have a parlay, and let’s invite God to our political conference on the subject of peace, and let’s invite Him down here and see what He has to say, and how He can help us out." They don’t do that. They’ll sit around, and they will dialogue, and they will talk till the blue moon, to try to get things their way. They’re all trying to get peace at the expense of the other guy, because they all have selfish self-interests, and because they all have selfish self-interests, they know that, "Hey, I know what you’re here for. You’re trying to get the upper hand." So, this one’s trying to get the upper hand, and if they can kind of create a deal, maybe we can have a defacto peace for a little while. But sooner or later, because of greed, it’s going to break down, because greed is in this world, and its what drives the nations all too often into the areas where they belong in terms of chaos and upheaval.
Galatians 5:22 - We’re told that: ". . .the fruit of the spirit. . ." This is a common scripture that we well embrace and understand. ". . .the fruit of the spirit is (number one), love. . ." So this is going to be a manifestation in the lives of God-fearing men and women. The second is: ". . .joy. . ." And the third is: ". . .peace. . ." The spirit of God produces love, joy and peace among those who are involved with the spirit of God. It also produces: ". . .longsuffering, gentleness, goodness and faith."
Verse 23 - "Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." There’s nothing against individuals who are living this way. The law does not condemn them. You know, the same way, if we find ourselves in man’s world, if we live in harmony with the laws of man, we do not have any problems with the law of the land. And so, you’re not fearful or worried about those blue lights that sometimes come up behind people, you know, when your blood pressure jumps up sky high, when that blue light comes flashing, and you hope it’s for the other guy and not you, and your mind starts flashing, "What did I do? Did I do something wrong? Did I made an illegal turn? Why is he there? Is he looking after me?"
And your mind just does all these fast, quick resumes of things you might have done, but you see, if you haven’t done anything wrong, you don’t have to fear those blue lights. But he represents what we call in man’s world, "law enforcement." Law enforcement. If there is a violation, then the law must be enforced. Well, the same way holds true in God’s situation dealing in the spiritual plane.
When man has violated God’s law, he has no peace. Now you see why mankind is in a terrible state of affairs. It started in the garden of Eden, and it has just been getting progressively worse and worse and snowballing now in these end times in our day and age. We’re told in John 15:5; let’s go to John 15:5; we read this during the Passover season. That’s because many of these principles apply very strongly to Passover and the subject of peace. We’ve already seen that Jesus took the hit to make peace possible between a God-fearing man and a woman and their relationship with the Creator. Now in John 15:5, it says:
John 15:5 - "I am the vine, . . ." So Christ is pictured here as the structure of main support, He’s the vine and ". . .you. . ." who are in harmony with Me, you who are in this relationship with Me, in a peaceful relationship, ". . .you are the branches: He that abides in Me, and I in him, the same. . ." Does what? ". . .brings forth much fruit:" What is the fruit that we’re going to bring forth in this relationship? We just read it. It’s going to be love; it’s going to be joy, and it’s going to be peace.
The people of God will be peaceable individuals. Peaceable individuals. They’re not going to be, as we say, confrontational type of people. They’re not going to be "in your face" type of people. They’re going to be people who will condescend to one another, that will show respect and humility and love for one another. One of the very key signs, it says, "By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another." Other places talk about love of the brethren. Why? Because we’re all in the same boat at this time in our calling. We’ve all been called to understand this wonderful understanding of our worship of the living God and His son, who is what? The Prince of Peace. He represents peace in all that He does and that’s what He is targeting us to understand, that without God’s son, Jesus Christ, you can do nothing. So, by this we clearly see, that everything that man tries to do in this area of finding peace for man, for himself, for his communities; it’s all doing down hill, or going south, as they like to use the term. It’s falling apart. It can never be longlasting because God is left out of the equation. When you leave God out of the equation, like it says, "Except the Lord build the house, you labor in vain." And everything I see in the world around us in this effort for peace, they’re laboring in vain in their effort to try to bring peace to mankind.
But it sounds good, you know. If I were to say, a say as a politician, "You know, I’m here to represent efforts to get us into war." Well, that wouldn’t sound good. But if I say, "I’m here to represent our quest for peace." Ah, that sounds, "Yeah!" That sounds good. But see, even our own president has had to realize we’ve been attacked, and now we’re in a state of war with terrorism. And he tells us it’s going to be a long war. It’s not going to be something over and done with quick.
So, here again, we see very clearly that to obtain peace, we have to first of all make peace with God. That’s what conversion is all about. When you suddenly discover, when God begins to call you and open your mind, you begin to realize you’ve been in a state of war with God. You had a friendship with the world because you grew up in the world, you did everything else like the world around you; it’s the way people are. Doesn’t matter what society, you just grow up in it and do the things as we say, "Doin’ the what comes naturally." And that’s what you’re doing, what comes naturally, just the way everybody else is doing things, except what you’re doing naturally is sin. It is sin against the living God. And the goodness of God leads you to repentance and shows you this and you suddenly begin to comprehend, "Oh, my! I’m in a terrible state of affairs. I have been in a state of undeclared hostility of God. I thought I loved God."
But now you begin to read scriptures that say, "Why do you call Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" "In vain do [they] (you) worship, [me] teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. (following the commandments of men instead of the commandments of God)."
All these things begin to jump off the page at you, and you suddenly begin to realize you’ve got some decisions to make in your personal life. That’s what the conversion process is, repentance, fine it brings you to that place, you seek the hand of the living God for forgiveness. Remember? Because now you see that you have been a spiritual law-breaker. And what does that mean? That means you are under the penalty of the law. You have broken the law of God, and if you’re under the penalty of that, what’s going to happen? Consequences you don’t like, so therefore you have to beseech God in His mercy, in the multitude of His mercy, that He will do what? That He will apply as He promised He would do, forgiveness of our sins through that great sacrifice of our Messiah, Jesus, the Christ, and thank God for that wonderful way of escape, because there would have been no way of escape. God’s law is one hundred percent. You can’t slip through the cracks; you can’t get away from it. It’s there. It governs and rules the universe as God’s standard of morality that governs all beings whether they be spiritual beings; whether they be physical beings. That law is there. "Heaven and earth will pass away. My law will never pass away," because it’s designed to provide what you and I hunger for most. If you do what those commandments say, you will be in a state of peace, because against such, there is no law. You’re in harmony with it; you’re not in warfare against that law.
So look at how people have been deceived today, well-meaning people. They love God as best they know how to love God. They think everything is great. They think, oh, they feel so good. They sing praises to God. But the one thing that is missing is the understanding of obedience to the commandments of God, the law of God. That, dear brethren, is a litmus test for every God-fearing man and woman. It’s a litmus test. A litmus test is what tells you whether you’re getting the right, you know, you put that little piece of paper in there, and it tells you there’s a certain acidity factor involved, and you know exactly what you’re dealing with. The laws of God are designed for us to help us in that way. That’s what the world doesn’t understand. That’s why prophecies talk about a time in the future in the kingdom of God when the Prince of Peace will sit upon the throne of His glory on the very promise of David’s throne that will now be transferred to Him. What does it say? "And the law shall go out of Zion." Twofold. Twofold. The law goes out of Zion, spiritually speaking, the Church of God will be seriously involved in spreading the law of God. Physically, it will go out of the literal city of Zion, Jerusalem, where Jesus will reside.
So, the world then is going to discover the law of God, which they were told was done away. They were told it didn’t apply anymore. And then they will suddenly begin to see how they were deceived as they suddenly are brought out of deception and into the wonderful peace that God has for us through Jesus Christ, because, again, what did we see? What did God say? If you don’t do it His way, there is no peace for the wicked. Oh, they can have their fling. They can do their thing, but there is no lasting peace. It will come back to haunt them. That’s why Moses said he did not want the pleasures of sin for a season. He didn’t want the consequences of that. He’d rather suffer with the people of God and do it God’s way, because he had come to see that very important aspect, and he was the one that was the mediator of the old covenant that brought that precious law of God written in stone to the people of God in the Old Testament.
Now, you and I are told, then, that peace is a very important commodity. And to obtain peace, we have to make first our peace with God. That becomes the conversion process. That’s when you begin to start making your peace with God. You now start doing and obeying the things of God because, you see, the keynote of the new covenant is to have that law of God written in your inward parts, in the mind, in the heart, and now you desire to do the things God has shown you that you just didn’t fully understand and realize before. And so God is a merciful God. He will forgive us our sins, and we can claim that boldly and have confidence in our God and His wonderful son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
In John 14:27. Let’s notice something here that Jesus said. All these are important scriptures dealing with the Passover. Just as Jesus was advancing toward the last Passover, He was giving this instruction to his disciples.
John 14:27 - He says, "Peace I leave with you." Notice. He was going to leave the gift of peace with them. ". . .My peace I give unto you: not as the world gives. . ." Notice, ". . .give I unto you. . . ." Because the world is an Indian giver, as we say. They say, "peace," and then they take away the peace and go to war.
When God says He gives peace, He gives peace. And here He says, "I give it to you," He says, "therefore:"
John 14:27 - "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." That is the wonderful understanding of God’s peace. It gets rid of a troubled heart, and it gets rid of may hidden fears that people have and worry about, because they’re not in a state of peace. They just worry about all kinds of things. God didn’t call us, you know, He says constantly in the scriptures, "Fear not," don’t worry about this; don’t worry about that. "Fear not; fear not." Where do you find any biblical command, "Thou shalt worry?" Thou shalt worry. Worry thyself sick. That’s what people do, but that’s not what God tells us to do. He says, "In Me, you shall have peace." You won’t be troubled; you won’t be worrying about this and that, because you will see who’s in control, and you will have your life in His hands.
Paul used that very same comparison. He says that if you are in the hands of Jesus Christ, and you place yourself there in the hand of the Messiah, there’s no power in heaven, on earth, breadth, width, depth, anything you say, nothing can take you out of the hand of Jesus Christ and the love that He has for us. We are His. He bought us with His own life. And we understand that, and we appreciate that. We want to be right there in His loving care. And because of that, the scripture goes on and says you don’t have anything to be fearful of. Now, how is this done? How are we going to be able to help people understand this in the process of time? Well, the same way God is teaching us now, through the scriptures, and through the power of His spirit.
If you go back, and you study the Old Testament, and all those things that are written for our learning upon whom the ends of the age are come so that we can translate this understanding to the minds of other people at a future time.
Now in the Old Testament, in Leviticus 26. You go to Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, they are referred to as the "blessings and cursings" chapters. Certain things are done, and blessing comes; certain things are done a different way, not with God’s stamp of approval, and curses come. Well in Leviticus 26, you will find certain instruction dealing with literal agricultural crops. It’s agricultural crops that he might be talking about. But the fruit thereof, that is blessed by God on that physical level gives way to a greater blessing on the spiritual level because you and I are told to bear fruit, remember on a spiritual level as well. So, what we have, and I’ll just hit highlights here for the sake of time, in Leviticus 26:6 certain blessings come. It’s talked about there and in verse 6 it says:
Leviticus 26:6 - He says: "I will give. . ." notice, ". . .peace in the land." God can give peace to the land, so that the land . . . one of the key areas He gives peace to is called the "Sabbath rest," wherein the seventh year the land was told to rest. Don’t push the land; let it rest. And God’s peace would be upon the land. But see, today, people just push the land; push the land. The land never gets any rest. So as a result, the land is not at peace. The land is now becoming like iron and brass; it’s not producing what it could produce if we would follow the instructions of the Almighty. All right, God says in verse 9, He says:
Verse 9 - "I will have respect unto you," if you do this, He says, "and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you." So God was then working in a special relationship with His people in the Old Testament, the Israelites, and He’s working in a very special way with us as His spiritual people in the new covenant in the New Testament.
Now, in Numbers 6:23, where He says:
Numbers 6:23 - "Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, [saying], (and say the following), ‘On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying [unto them]" the following. Now what I’m going to read to you, if you remember some days when back prior to conversion you might have been involved in say, some Protestant church involvement of your choice. Back at that time, you know, it was the church of your choice, where you found out later on, it could only be the church of God’s choice, the Church of God. It couldn’t be the church of your choice, but God said He would build His church; He would add to it; He would allow us then to become part and parcel of the spiritual body of Christ.
Well, in this, many times, you would hear the minister say at the close of a church service, and that normally was about fifteen minutes, with a short, "My text for today is . . ." and that’s it, and it was over, in and out as fast as you can in some of these area, but basically, what it would be is the following. It was called, "the doxology." And the doxology went like this, and you’ll read it starting right there starting in verse 24. The minister might say:
Numbers 6:24 - "The Lord bless you, and (the Lord) keep you:
Verse 25 - "And the Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you:
Verse 26 - "The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you. . ." What? ". . .peace."
It’s called a doxology. It’s referred to also in the New Testament. But, again, notice, it was peace that was given by God, and that His kindness would be shown upon you.
Roy Rogers used to say, "May the good Lord take a liking to you," and that’s exactly what God desire to do. He wants to take a liking to every one of us as His sons and daughters, and He hopes we will respond in kindness to His great kindness to us. We don’t deserve it, but He hopes that we will respond in appreciation to what He has so graciously provided.
James 3:17 - Tells us that the " wisdom that [is from above], (comes from God in the heavens above)," that comes to us through His spirit is ". . . first, pure;" it’s a pure wisdom from God, "then (and it is) peaceable, . . ." Notice. God desires a peaceable relationship with us. He does not want a confrontational relationship. That was in James 3:17.
Well, we’ve seen that the wicked have no peace. There is no wicked individual who is going to embrace that kind of lifestyle, and receive the blessing of peace from God. He just will not do it. But notice a few scriptures now, as we look at the righteous, because the Bible tells us that the righteous, if you are a righteous individual, you will have peace. You will have peace. It will be an inner peace that God provides, an inner peace that give you assurance in a troubled world in which you live. And that in truth is from God’s hand. You cannot crank up this kind of peace; I cannot crank it up. We can’t get ourselves psyched up for an inner peace. It either comes from God, to know that you’re in a relationship with Him now, that is sanctified in Jesus Christ through the spirit of God, and that the law of God is now becoming an active part of your life in a governing factor that you live by, and we’re going to see scriptures that affirm this point. John 16:33, Jesus again discussing and giving His disciples instructions prior to His Passover death.
John 16:33 - We have seen verse 32, He said, ". . .the hour had come," and He says, "and you’re going to be scattered, every man to his own." But notice what He says in verse 33. The whole purpose that He spoke the things to them. He says: These things have I spoken to you that in Me," that in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, it says, "(that) you might have peace." You will not find peace from any other human being. Human beings cannot give peace. Only Jesus Christ can transmit through the spirit of God the peace that you and I as human beings hunger for. That’s why mankind can’t find it. It comes from Jesus Christ.
The apostle Paul talked about that in the book of Romans. He says, "The way of peace they have not known." They’ve never discovered it. They don’t know how to get it, but you and I have been brought into an understanding of how to achieve this inner peace. And sometimes we have to keep in mind that there is an adversary that tries to destroy that inner peace through the external bombardment that attacks us all living in this world. That’s why it says we’re at a time, it says, "redeem the time for the days are evil," hurtful in their effect upon us, that word evil, poneros in the Greek. It’s working on everybody, because Satan knows his time is short. He know he’s not going to be able to stay in control of this chaotic world that he has created, but that the Prince of Peace is on His way, and there’s going to be dynamic changes brought about that will impact mankind.
Jesus says, "These things have I spoken unto you that in Me, you will have peace. In the world," looking at it clear and factual, ". . .you’ll have tribulation, but. . ." He goes on to say, "be of good cheer," Be happy in this way, "I have overcome the world." And therefore, if you are in Christ, you’re a new creature and you have that ability now to overcome these things the same way Jesus Christ did because He will live His life in you and bring you an inner peace that comes through the power of the Spirit of God. That is the wonderful scripture of reassurance. Notice Philippians 4:7.
Philippians 4:6 - Tells us not to be anxious over things, but in "every thing," Notice, talk to God about everything. Tell Him what’s on your mind. ". . .in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving." Pour out your thanksgiving heart to God. Let Him know you appreciate the gift of life. Let Him know you appreciate the hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ. Let Him know you appreciate living in the most wonderful country on the face of the earth as you sojourn as a human being by the grace of God, and, notice, "Let your requests be made known to [God] (Him)." Tell Him what needs to be discussed. You’ve got things on your mind. You want to talk about these things to God, and notice what He will then do:
Verse 7 - "The peace of God," the source of peace comes from God. "The peace of God which passes all understanding. . ." This goes above and beyond the physical ability to fully express in human terms. We can only express it into a limited degree, but the Spirit of God adds something there that is an inner peace and security that goes above and beyond words. And He says: "And it passes all understanding, and it shall keep your hearts and your minds through Jesus Christ." Notice, again, He is the focal point. If you get your mind off that, you begin to do what? You begin to sink.
The greatest example of that was Peter when Christ was walking on the water, and here comes Peter, and he says, "Lord, Let me come to you." I’m going to try this out. That looks neat. And so he jumps out of that boat, and he comes. He just steps out in faith and starts walking toward the Lord, and then as he starts walking, he’s looking around, "What in the world am I doing out here?" He suddenly had a change of heart. And when he had that, immediately, he starts going down. And he starts sinking. And he cries out, "Lord, save me." What was the problem? He took his eyes off Jesus Christ. This is why this is so critical. He’s the source of peace. You cannot find peace looking all over the place. You’ve got to keep it riveted right on Jesus Christ. You keep it on Him, then you’re going to have the source of peace at your disposal, and you can call on Him who was what? "Brutalized for the chastisement of our peace." To make a peaceful relationship possible for us, so that we could go to God and do what? Not come to God, and "God. . .," You know, because all you’ve heard about is "God’s going to get you for this. God’s going to get you for that." No, you don’t have to fear God, not in that way, because you’ve come to Him to make peace with your Creator.
But those who are not in a state of peace are going to discover another side of God’s nature. He’s a mighty warrior. The book of Revelation talks about Him. When that son of God comes, He’s going to come out of the heavens; He’s going to have a fiery look in His eye; He’s going to have a two-edged sword that comes out of His mouth showing again, figuratively speaking, He’s coming with power. He’s going to bark commands, and things are going to happen, and people are going to die. Why? Because they love their wickedness more than the forgiveness of God. And all these things are there, and Jesus says that one of His names are "Faithful and True." So, it’s going to happen just like Jesus says it’s going to happen. And so He brings peace to us because we desire that peace. Psalm 119:165 is an excellent scripture to remember and to keep in mind always. It says:
Psalm 119:165 - "Great peace have they that love thy law:" You see, this is going to be one of those litmus tests, like I say. When the end time finally hits its final crescendo, you’re going to see this real antagonism against the law of God as never before. If the law of God were not so important, you see, you wouldn’t see this kind of reaction to it. But the adversary cannot submit to the law of God. He violated it when he abode no longer in the truth, and he is going to drive mankind into the ground if he has to do, what? If he has to kill every last one of the human race. That would be his desire, rather than to submit to the law of God. And God says He is not going to allow that to happen. He’s going to cut it short, and He’s going to intervene to save mankind, and bring the kingdom of God.
And what is the kingdom of God, the millennium? What do we look for? Why do we pray, "Thy kingdom come?" Because there’s going to be a thousand of war and hell and chaos? The most wonderful time that has ever been on this earth, because God’s Prince of Peace will be ruling, and people will begin to discover peace, and turn to God, and see the fruit of all that wonderful peace begin to pour out. Their lives will be happy; their kids will be at peace; nobody will have to worry about some mugger on the street at night. You’ll be able to walk where you want to walk. You won’t have to pack a pistol or something like that to defend yourself, because God’s angels will be there, and all the holy saints will be in charge, and "they will not hurt or harm in all my holy mountain," thus saith the Lord. Man, that’s going to be a wonderful time, you know. You won’t have to worry about local law enforcement. That’s a thing of the past. Everybody’s going to be working together in harmony to complement one another. That reign is going to be mighty wonderful.
Well, the question as Passover approaches for all of us is to stop and ask ourselves, "Do I have this peace?" This is part of our self-examination. "Do I have this inner peace?" "Do I have peace in my home?" The home that I live in. "Is God’s peace in this home?" "Or is this home always in constant turmoil all the time?" If it is, then you know now what needs to be done. You need to seek God in repentance; you need to cry out to Him and ask Him to give you the gift of peace. That’s where it comes from, and to get rid of whatever it is that is causing the hang-up because you now know the "peace formula," how God provides that peace. And He wants it in our homes; He wants it in our lives, and we have a serious responsibility because when He comes back to this earth, part of our job is to help Him as the Prince of Peace, which is one of His titles, His names there in Isaiah 9:6; He’s called ,"Wonderful Counselor," you know, "the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." And you and I have to assist Him in that.
And we can’t walk up at that time, if we were granted the opportunity to serve in that area, and say, "Well, I don’t know how to bring peace to the world, Lord. What do we do now?" We have to already be experiencing it. We have to show people how we discovered it by the grace of God and how they must discover it as well.
Now as God-fearing men and women, you and I have a duty to perform in these days of our calling in this "Christian walk," as they like to use the term. That duty is:
Number one: To point people to Jesus, the Christ. So, when people say we don’t believe in Jesus Christ; that’s a lie. That’s a lie. We believe in the Jesus Christ of the Bible, who set us the example that we should follow in His steps, not to avoid certain steps because we think it might be more convenient to go a different way. So, we listen to this, and what did Jesus say in Matthew 5:9, and this is the sermon on the mount:
Matthew 5:9 - "Blessed are the peacemakers. .." The peacemakers, "for they shall be called the children of God." Now why are they going to be called the peacemakers? It doesn’t mean that just because we have access to a lot of iron, where the scripture says, ". . .whereby we will rule the nations." It doesn’t mean, figuratively speaking, that we’re going to walk around like with a spiritual Colt 45, long Colt, on our hips, and you remember it was called in man’s world, "the peacemaker." That’s how they made peace. They took care of the bad guys with the peacemaker. But that’s how you have to do it in man’s world. To bring peace in man’s world, you have to rule by force of arms. Every nation does, if they want to have some kind of peace. And when other nations threaten, they have to use their armed forces to go to war to stop - someone’s got to win; someone’s got to lose - in order to have world peace.
God has got a better way, instead of force of arms, He’s going to let the force of love rule in men’s hearts, and people are going to learn how to love one another instead of taking up arms against one another, and that’s why it says, as the prophecy clearly shows, "neither shall they learn war anymore." No more having to defend this, because God will defend us. God will fight our battles for us. God will rule, and in His rule, there will be beautiful peace, and everyone will contribute to that peace or they will suffer the consequences. And God can deal with that side if it’s necessary. He doesn’t want to have to do that, but He can, and He will, and Jesus made it clear in Matthew 11:28, He says:
Matthew 11:28 - "Come unto me." You’ve got problems with this area of difficulties, "Come unto me, you that labor and are heavy laden, . . ." Now, people are burdened today with lots of burdens, lots of problems. They’re burdened down, as we say, or we would use the modern vernacular, "They’re stressed out." They need relief from this stress. Jesus says, "Come unto me, and I will give you rest." What are you and I learning about this seventh day today? What did we do when we came here by the grace of God? We chose to honor God’s command to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy, because it was a day designed to provide rest for our souls. You see man has got to have rest; he’s got to have peace. That’s why the Sabbath is such an important commandment in the canons of God. And God tells us in verse 30:
Verse 30 - "My yoke is easy, [and] my burden is light." Jesus makes it very clear that this is very important to come to Him for these answers. Colossians 3:15, one final scripture. It says:
Colossians 3:15 - "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, . . ." The peace of God has got to rule in our hearts. ". . .to which also you are called. . ." We were called to live in peace. In what body? ". . .in one body. . ." called the church of God, that spiritual body in which we’ve all been made a membership, brought into membership, and in this we are told to do what? ". . .and be you thankful." Be thankful for this wonderful opportunity to be the first fruits, to become the peacemakers in God’s great plan of salvation. To learn where peace comes from, and to think, and it almost eludes you at times, to think here you have it in your hands and all the great leaders of the world are sitting down having conferences, talking, trying to figure out, "How are we going to bring peace to this world? How are we going to solve the problem in the middle east? How are we going to solve this thing with Ben Laden? How are we going to solve these things so we can live at peace?" And they don’t have the answer.
But by the grace of God, you and I do have it. And we are to practice it through the spirit of God in our lives, to be at peace, and be at peace with one another, and to shed that peace as a peacemaker ultimately to mankind. To show where peace comes from, that it comes from God and obedience to His law, because mankind’s violation of that law is created all the upheaval that we see in the world today. Until man comes to repentance and sees where he has been deceived and recognizes that, you know, there are many people, they’re just deceived. They’re beautiful people. Beautiful people. They love God sincerely. They just don’t know they’ve been fed a counterfeit. And so there they are, on the first day of the week, doing what everybody else does. And yet, God made it very clear, "You’re on the wrong day. Back it up one and get back on the seventh day where you belong."
"This is the day that the Lord hath made." And it would be just like us discovering, you know, that we found a phony twenty-dollar bill, I’ve used this example before, but somebody palms off a phony twenty-dollar bill on us and we think it’s genuine. We’re sincere. We think it’s legitimate money until somebody points out, "Well, look over here. Can’t you see? This is counterfeit; this isn’t genuine."
"Aaaaagggghhh." We’re shocked. Now we’re no longer deceived. Once you find out you’ve been had and its a phony twenty-dollar bill, now you’re not deceived anymore. So, once the world finally comes to see these things the way they really are, then that’s where God says, once they’re called, He can take all the circumstances involved and He can work it for His good that He will receive the glory, the honor, that is rightfully His, as the living God who sent His son, Jesus Christ, to this earth. And a very special configuration which is referred to as a lamb, a lamb of God. And what we then discover is that mankind is going to have to discover the true Passover lamb, because they are not observing the true Passover lamb. The Passover lamb was Jesus Christ who died on the fourteenth, and not on the first Sunday of every month; the third, or the first or third or every Sunday. Plain and simple.
What we see in the Bible is the story of the Passover and how to achieve peace with God. But people are not in peace with God today. They’ve been deceived into thinking they’re in somewhat peace with God, but always there is turmoil. Why? Because what they observe, and what is spoken of in the scriptures do not lock up together. And God must be consistent and true in all things. And when mankind finally finds the true Passover, Jesus Christ, he realizes they have been hood-winked, they’re going to embrace Him, and peace, like a river, is going to flow to all parts of this world. Then the kingdom of God will reign supreme. God speed that day.