Adrian Freer is the author of books on reservoir fly fishing, fly dressing, trout fly patterns, religious topics, children's stories and poetry.

THE ULTIMATE PEACE

 

Bible Reading: Romans 5:1-11

 

‘Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.’

 

This evening I want to be quite practical about what the Bible says with regard to living our daily lives in the world today. Specifically I want to talk about having peace in our lives when the entire world around us is a very turbulent place.

It seems that in spite of everything that the world’s rulers are seeking to impose upon us, the one thing that they seem unable to achieve is a deep and lasting peace for the seven billion people living on the planet.

 

The Bible has, of course, many deep doctrinal, spiritual truths which we must understand and apply; but it is also a very down-to-earth handbook of how we should live our everyday lives in this present age.

 

You know how it is when you buy a new appliance; you get a copy of the manufacturer’s handbook. The Bible is the handbook that we need for our lives to function properly and avoid things going wrong. The fact that people do not read the handbook is why things do not work as the maker intended.

 

The apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Rome is possibly the greatest single doctrinal statement of all his epistles, and it sets forth, in plain terms, the basis of the faith and position before a holy God we share, if we are true believers in Jesus Christ. He writes it almost in the nature of the exposition of a legal treatise setting out his reasoning and arguments to support his case.

 

In the passage we read earlier Paul talks about faith, and the subsequent outworking of this faith in our lives.

One of the effects of the believer’s reconciliation with God is that he now has peace. It is a peace which, the Bible tells us, the world cannot have or understand. The text I want to really home in on is verse 1, so let me read it again, ‘Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.’

 

The Bible talks about peace in many other places and, if you have the time to spare, look the word up in your concordance and check out the numerous references. I can tell you that it will take you quite some time! However, before, we look at the subject of peace in depth, let us briefly look at the case Paul presents to prove the fact that believers receive salvation by faith alone.

 

In the previous chapter the apostle gave the example of Abraham, and the reason he was chosen and accepted by God.

It was not as a result of Abraham’s family line, or the fact that he was a good man, or that he was prosperous, or as a result of anything he did. He was justified as it says in chapter 4 verse 3, ‘For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”’ He believed God, and that was the sole source of his righteousness and acceptance by God.

 

Just like him, if we are believers, we are accepted on the same basis. We are given the ability to believe as a result of the work of the Holy Spirit and that is all we need. That belief results in our justification. We are counted as righteous before God. Just as if we had never sinned.

When we have been accepted by God our spiritual state now, and at the judgement seat in the future, is assured and the outworking of that assurance is that we are at peace in spite of the troubles and turmoil which will still afflict us this side of glory. When we become God’s children we are not automatically freed from troubles, but we can have peace in those troubles. There is a distinct difference.

 

Paul says that Christians are bound eternally to Jesus Christ and preserved by His almighty power; and not by any human effort on our part. As evidence of that tie which binds regenerate Christians to Christ, are six out-workings as follows:

 

 * The reality that believers have peace with God in verse 1 is because they are now justified. Justification is a legal term which declares that person to be righteous. The verdict of ‘not guilty’ to the charges against them has been delivered once and for all time, ‘Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ There is no double jeopardy.

  * Believers now stand in a position of grace in verse 2a; that is they are recipients of the free, unmerited and undeserved favour of God of having all charges against them removed, with the penalty paid by someone else, by Jesus Christ, ‘we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand.’

 * Christians have a certain hope of glory in the hereafter, verse 2b. This is not a vague and tentative wish that something positive might perhaps occur if we are lucky; but in the absolute cast-iron certainty of it right now, ‘[we] rejoice in hope of the glory of God’. That glory starts now.’

 * Christians are the recipients of God’s vast and unceasing love. It is a love which is so immense that we cannot contain it, and as a consequence it overflows out from us to others in verses 5b to 8, ‘the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’

 * Believers escape from divine wrath in verse 9, ‘Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.’ God is a God of love; but He is also a God of wrath and anger and judgement against the wicked, who he has to punish as a result of His holy character. The redeemed are no longer His enemies however, but His friends, and so escape that utterly correct divine wrath.

 * Christians have joy in verse 11. It says that we now rejoice. That is because we are a people who once were estranged from God, but have had that estrangement terminated, and so we are now reconciled to Him; with God making all the running, ‘And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.’

 

So having looked at Paul’s argument let us return to the subject of peace which Paul refers to in verse 1, and also in many other places in his epistles. This true peace is, in reality, something which is the sole inheritance of the children of God. Unbelievers cannot inherit it.

 

The people of the world are always seeking after true peace, worth and satisfaction in their lives and yet, in spite of it being the goal of 99% of all people, it is something that they do not, indeed they cannot, find. It is so sought after – and yet so elusive. It is something which is so easy to break, and yet so difficult to mend.

 

 * Some seek it in wealth and the cushion that it will supposedly give in times of trial; but it cannot deliver the goods. When you think about some of the richest people in the world such as Howard Hughes and Paul Getty, who incidentally I once met, they have both passed away long ago. They were in fact both very troubled people and they certainly did not have biblical peace in spite of all their vast wealth.

 * Some seek it in fame and adulation, and yet that is short lived. How many of the old film stars and pop music stars who were once idolized are now either forgotten in their retirement or still driving a bus or being a postman in relative poverty? When Louise and I go cruising we see once-famous singers and musicians who were once idolized, but are now reduced to performing in second rate shows. Louise’s second cousin in Belgium, Tonia, once sang and even came third in the Eurovision Song Contest, here is one of her LPs; but she now sings in old peoples’ homes and opens supermarkets.

 * Some seek it by keeping healthy, and yet illness and old age stalk us relentlessly and inevitably. As someone who is definitely not a keep fit fanatic, I find it puzzling that the man who originally started the jogging craze died of a heart attack while he was out running. It did not do him much good. That does not persuade me to buy a pair of running shoes! I am not saying that we should not try to keep healthy, but rather that it, and the longer life it supposedly promises, cannot give deep satisfaction.

 * Some seek it by trying to escape the troubles of the world by moving elsewhere, and yet wherever they go troubles follow, indeed the troubles are probably already there before they even arrive. Mohammed Al Fayed may have three luxury yachts, but he cannot be on them all at once. Elvis had several Cadillacs, but he must have had the extra problem of deciding which colour to drive. Getting away from it all cannot provide the solution.

 

As Job famously said, ‘man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward’. Yet paradoxically, in those troubles, believers can still have an inner peace. Let me explain.

 

In the account of Jesus calming the storm it records that, while everything was raging round about Him, Jesus was asleep, was calm, and was at peace. I don’t want to sound trite, but believers can also know some of the peace that our Lord experienced in the here and now. It may be marred by our sinful nature and the flawed world around us to some extent, but we can still know a measure of it here on earth nonetheless.

 

Can I remind you of the words our Lord spoke when He rebuked the wind and sea when the disciples woke Him up on Lake Galilee when they thought they were about to perish in the storm in Mark 4:39, ‘Peace, be still!’ What reassuring words to them, and to us, that the Lord of glory can command and obtain instantaneous peace. When I am out in the boat fishing and the wind stops, it takes time for the water to become still, but that is not how it was with Jesus. There was instant calm.

 

Going way back for a moment to Genesis chapter 3; ever since the fall in the Garden of Eden man has been at war with God. Man was created to be with God and to have fellowship with his Maker, and that fellowship was such that man once walked with God and had a very close communion with Him. In Genesis 3: 8 it tells us that Adam communed with God in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the day. Man, however, crossed the line as it were, and declared war on God when he took the forbidden fruit and tried to be like God. Ever since that time man has kept up his rebellion against his creator.

 

God, however, took the initiative and sent our Lord on His rescue mission to lost sinners and, as a result of His atoning sacrifice at Calvary, He bought His people back to Himself. This as we noted earlier has brought us that peace that we could never attain for ourselves.

 

So what sort of peace are we thinking about? It is a peace that has three primary facets. It is:

 

 * Peace with God.

 * The peace of God.

 * And finally as a result, we can have peace with our fellow man. He may not necessarily be at peace with us, but we can have peace.

 

Let us look at these three different aspects of peace in turn.

 

1] We have Peace with God.

 

Let me read verse 1 of the passage we read at the beginning once more, ‘Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”’

The verse says that instead of warring against God we are now at peace with Him and are on His side, rather than on the enemy’s side. This gives us the ultimate peace of knowing that in spite of all that can happen to us, and all that the devil will try and throw at us, we have this ultimate peace with a God who is angry with sin, and angry with the sinner.

Furthermore we have a guaranteed place in heaven to be with Him, and in spite of everything else that can happen to us; our eternal security, if we are truly saved, cannot be lost. Never!

 

Our names are inscribed in the Book of Life and they cannot be erased. I like the word inscribed, because it gives the notion that it is very permanent. You know how it is when you write something down with a pencil, you can rub it out; but if you take a sharp pointed 6H pencil and press down hard on it, however much you try and remove it, the impression is still there on the paper and can be read. That is the extent that our names are in the Book of Life.

 

We know that our God is a God of love, and yet it is sometimes hard for us to comprehend fully just how deep that love is. 1 John 4:10 says this, ‘In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.’  His love was such that he gave the most precious thing He had to bring us to salvation. And that occurred when we still hated Him. For someone to show a love like this it cannot be a grudging love, but one that is so expansive that we, with our mortal and sinful minds, can never fully comprehend it this side of glory; and when we get to glory it will still probably be beyond our full comprehension as well. Verse 8 tells us that Jesus died for us while we were still sinners. We are told that the angels rightly marvel at these things.

 

2] We also have the Peace of God.

 

God by His very nature is not a God of strife and turmoil; he is a God of peace. When we said that at the beginning of history man began to wage war on God, I am saying that it was our doing and not God’s. He was on the receiving end of our rebellion and He did not provoke man into it; in fact the reverse was the case.

God did not lay down rules for Adam to try and spoil things for him and make him miserable, in truth the reverse was the case; those rules were for his own wellbeing.

 

Having peace with God is in knowing that inner peace and contentment that transcends every reverse, every illness, and every misfortune that can come our way. Let me read Philippians 4:11b-13, ‘I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’ Sometimes when we are in the thick of things it may not seem that way, but that does not make it any less true.

 

God wants His people to be at peace rather than in turmoil, He wants us to live satisfied and contented lives in the here and now, even in spite of the sin-marred world we inhabit. That kind of peace can never be the lot of unbelievers because it is a supernatural peace that comes through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Unregenerate man cannot know that indwelling. However much they strive for it they cannot attain this kind of peace, but we as believers receive it as a free gift.

 

3] Finally, we have Peace with our Fellow Men.

 

In verse 5 of our passage it says, ‘Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.’ We have the love of God in our hearts and as a response to that love pouring in, it also pours out as well. You only have to look at the example of godly believers in the Bible to see how their faith affected their lives.

 

 * The early church in Acts looked after one other and shared what they had with those in need. You can read about that in Acts 2:45.

 * The Apostle Paul had such a deep love for his own people, so much so that he said he was willing to be accursed in order that they might be saved, Romans 9: 3 says, ‘For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh,’ and in Romans 10:1 he says, ‘Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.’

 * We read in Acts 9:36 how Dorcas helped and provided for the poor, ‘At Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did.’

 * We read about Philemon’s love in Philemon verses 4-5, ‘I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints.’

 

All the great Christian humanitarians and reformers like William Wilberforce, Elizabeth Fry, Lord Shaftesbury, George Muller, John Newton and the rest had this deep love for others in their heart, which was as a result of the love of God firstly being poured into their lives.

 

When we have God’s peace in our lives we become happy, satisfied and contented with our lot because we understand and believe that this is the situation which God, in His love and mercy, has wisely decreed to be the best for us.

One of my favourite verses is Proverbs 15:16, ‘Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure with trouble.’

The apostle Paul said something similar to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:6, ‘Now godliness with contentment is great gain.’

 

This is not the fatalistic acceptance of the low-caste Hindu who is left on the scrapheap with the dregs of life, but rather a grateful recognition that God has put us in the position we are, with as much, or as little, as we need to be content. It is an understanding that we do not need to strive for recognition, acceptance or adulation by society, because we know that we have a worth and an acceptance by almighty God, which is of far more worth and lasting value.

 

Just take a moment to consider that God considers us of such worth that He was willing to go to such lengths to buy us back from the kingdom of darkness.

 

When we become believers, we see a lost world which makes us pity their eternal state and want to witness and pray that they would be saved and have the same peace that we have.

 

When we become regenerate we do become a new creation and want to get on with other believers, our family, our friends, those round about us, and we even have a concern for those who we have never met personally, and probably will never meet this side of glory, as a result of our concern and pity for humanity. That is an outworking of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

 

So what is the application for us of Paul’s words if we are redeemed people in the here and now? What are the challenges and the outworking of all this as we live our everyday and sometimes humdrum lives? Can I suggest five things, five musts, and leave you to consider what God may be saying to you individually through His word?

 

 * It must make us grateful for what God has done for us in choosing us to be part of His spiritual family and a co-heir of glory with Jesus.

 * It must make us satisfied with the lot which God has appointed for us.

 * We must be thankful that we can have an inner peace that the unbeliever seeks for, but can never find.

 * It must make us look forward to meeting our Saviour who has loved us so much at the appointed time.

 * And it must also make us want to share the message of peace with those we know who are outside God’s kingdom.

 

To those who may not be in God’s kingdom can I challenge you, if you have not as yet been called by Christ to be one of God’s family; to seek Him with all your heart and put your trust in Jesus Christ to be your Saviour, friend and advocate at the throne of judgement; and to have that same peace of God through all the difficulties of life.

 

How do you do this? Pray that God would graciously show you His immeasurable holiness, His righteousness and His hatred of sin; your own sinfulness and unworthiness to stand before Him; and that you would have the gracious free gift of God, by the Holy Spirit, to repent, believe the gospel and trust in that the glorious salvation which Jesus purchased at Calvary and can be applied to your account.

 

The good news is that the resultant joy of knowing that your sins are atoned for is beyond measure. There can be no better place to be in life’s troubles than under the shelter of His divine protection.

 

I hope you have found these brief thoughts to be an encouraging reminder of just how much God has done for us, His people, in the here and now; and how we can have Peace with God, the Peace of God, and Peace with our Fellow Man right now; and not just in the glory to come. Amen.