Introduction.

1. The hymn Amazing Grace was greatly loved by those who loved the Reformed faith long before it became pop song in the 1970's (I think) or the most popular funeral hymn since the horrors of September 11. The theme of God's grace is a very comforting and joyful theme. We love talking about the amazing grace of God, and how we are totally dependant upon his grace to live the Christian life. We are saved by grace, kept by grace, enabled by grace, sanctified by grace and will be glorified by the grace of God. We frequently give thanks to the Lord for extending his grace towards us in our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing that God has promised and pledged himself to always deal with his children according to his grace, provides us with great comfort and ought to make our relationship with the Lord a relationship of great joy. There is an inherent joy in knowing that the Lord will always be gracious towards us as it gives stability in our walk with the Lord.
   
   
2. This emphasis on grace is good and very biblical, but we must not focus on grace and neglect other wonderful characteristics of God. Personally I think we have failed to emphasise the peace the Lord gives to those who belong to him. It is very significant that the Apostle Paul in every epistle except Titus uses the greeting: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. In Titus 1:4 Paul modifies the greeting and says: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.' Paul links grace and peace together. Surely this means that grace and peace are vital aspects of living the Christian life in fellowship with the Lord. Paul wanted every believer to have and enjoy the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blessings of grace and peace are foundational in living and enjoying the Christian life. Does the peace of the Lord play an important role in your everyday experience of life?
   
   
3. We hear a great deal about the God of love and the God of grace, yet these titles appear only once in the Scriptures while the title the God of peace is used 5 times in the Bible. I know you often think of God as the God of love and grace, but how often do you think about God as the God of peace? If we do not think about God as the God of peace, we forfeit the comfort and enjoyment that comes from knowing this wonderful truth about our Covenant God. We need to spend more time meditating on the God of peace and the peace he gives to his people. Perhaps a more troubling question for us to contemplate is, why don't we like Paul think that knowing the peace of God is absolutely vital for every believer? I find it very significant that Jesus on the night he was betrayed told his confused and distraught disciples, ‘Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let it be afraid.' (John 14:27) Jesus in his infinite wisdom, knowing what lay ahead of the disciples gives them his peace. Jesus' evaluation of his disciples was that they needed his peace in order to face the future. It is also significant that in John 20 which records two appearances of the risen Lord Jesus to his disciples his first words are; ‘Peace to you.' Our loving Saviour knows that his people need the peace only he can give to live for his glory in this sinful world.

The wonderful peace which Jesus the Saviour gives to his people.

1. Jesus makes a distinction between the peace that he gives and the peace that the world gives. When you hear the word peace your mind thinks of a sense of calmness, tranquil surroundings, a place that is quiet, bliss, rest, contentment and a general sense of well-being. You will only have this sense if everything is going your way and with nothing and no-one opposing, obstructing or challenging your way. For this kind of peace you need to exercise total control. I am sure that you all know the feeling, and some of you may be thinking some peace would be wonderful. This is not the peace that Jesus gives; the world can give that feeling by giving you a pill to pop, or a bottle of vodka, or by deliberate deception. I dare say that some of the more romantic people among us have this feeling when they whisper sweet nothings to each other. The sense of peace produced in this way is very fragile and very fleeting as it can be totally destroyed by a wrong word, a failure, disappointment, suspicion, doubt, fear, misunderstanding or guilt. The peace Jesus gives is not like the peace that the world gives it is vastly superior.
   
   
2. The peace Jesus gives needs to be thought of in at least 6 important ways:
   
   
1. The peace Jesus gives is a judicial peace. All human beings are born under the law of God, therefore all people have a legal status before God. We are born law-breakers, the law condemns us, demands our punishment and the appropriate punishment for offending God by breaking his perfect holy law is eternal condemnation in hell. How can you have peace when you are guilty before God? Ronald Biggs a member of the gang that pulled off the 1963 Great Train Robbery in England, spent 29 years in exile in Brazil decided to return to Britain and gave himself up as life on the run from the law was a dreadful life. You need to be delivered from your law-breaking before you can have peace. Paul in Galatians 4:4-5 says, ‘when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born  of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.' Jesus came to redeem his people from the law. Listen to A.W. Pink commenting on this aspect, ‘God sent forth His Son in order to carry out what had been agreed upon in the everlasting covenant, and to provide an adequate compensation to His law that God's Son was made of a woman, that in our nature He should satisfy the requirements of the law, put away our sins, and bring in everlasting righteousness. In order to redeem His people from the curse of the law, the Son lived and died and rose again. In order to make peace with God, to placate His wrath, to secure an equitable and stable peace, Christ obeyed and suffered. In His redemptive work through His Son, God provided peace.' Jesus by his death suffering in your place fully paid the punishment your law-breaking deserves and in doing so provides judicial peace; you are no longer a condemned law-breaker and never will be. On the basis of the atoning work done by Jesus believers are declared just. God the Righteous Judge declares them not guilty of law-breaking as their law-breaking was imputed to Christ. Judicial peace means that the law no longer poses any threat to the believer. You have peace because God the Judge has justified you.
   
   
2. Secondly the peace Christ gives is reconciling peace. Signing a peace pact does not mean that reconciliation has taken place, all it means is that the fighting has stopped. Our law-breaking or sin sets us against God and all men and women are born enemies of God. God is glorious in his holiness and nothing sinful can stand before him. God is like a consuming fire that burns up all dross. The peace Christ gives clothes us in his righteousness and makes us acceptable to God. Reconciling peace means you can come to the Lord in prayer and enjoy fellowship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. You can stand before God, in his very presence and not be consumed. Listen to the assurance given to believers concerning their prayers in Hebrews 4:14-16 ‘Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. ^Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.' Notice that you come to the throne of grace boldly. You approach the throne as if you were a prince and your father is the King. Being reconciled through Christ Jesus maintains the peace Jesus gives.
   
   
3. The peace that Christ gives is paternal peace. The fullness of reconciliation is expressed in believers being adopted into the family of God: they are given the right to call God, Father. Reconciling peace means that we are accepted, loved and embraced by God; he is our heavenly Father and we are his greatly loved and precious sons. Knowing and appreciating that God is our Father ought to fill us with a great sense of security. As a son of God you should know that your adoption will never be reversed, God who is all knowing adopts you by his free grace with a perfect knowledge of your entire life. Paternal peace supplies the assurance: ‘I belong to God, I am a son.' If God is our Father we should have complete peace in knowing that he is committed to us. In Matthew 7:9-10 Jesus said, ‘What man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?' If earthly fathers are committed to the best for their sons, how much more will our Heavenly Father be committed for our good? We ought to rest secure in the love of our heavenly Father to enjoy the peace Jesus gives us.
    
4. The peace that Jesus gives is governmental peace. Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of Lords he rules over all things by his sovereign power. Jesus in Isaiah 9:6 is given the title the Prince of Peace; he is the provider of peace. In the fullness of time, when Jesus Christ comes he will bring perfect peace to all creation; sin's work that continuously destroys peace will cease. The Kingdom of Christ is the Kingdom of perfect peace. Governmental peace means that victory for the Kingdom of Christ is absolutely guaranteed; the last days in which we live are the last desperate throws of an enemy defeated and awaiting eternal bondage in the lake of fire. The Kingdom of peace will have total victory over the kingdom of rebellion. The peace that Jesus gives assures us that the rule of the King of kings and Lord of lords pursues peace.
   
   
5. The peace Jesus gives is eternal peace. The best efforts of peace among men have all ended in war and destruction. Men and women, who are slaves to sin can never establish, maintain and promote lasting peace. The sinful nature is a nature of rebellion, how can it establish peace? Finding peace is essentially a spiritual matter, until peace abides in heart, mind and soul, external peace is impossible. Accepting this principle Paul in Romans 12:18 says, ‘If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.' We are commanded to love all men and women, but we are not commanded to be at peace with all men, that would be an impossible command to execute. The peace Jesus gives is eternal peace, peace without end.
   
   
6. The peace Jesus gives is unchanging peace. Peace given by the world depends upon circumstances and situations and on the attitude and behaviour of men and women. If there is change in circumstances, peace comes to an end. In Sri-Lanka the devastation of the Tsunami forced the Tamil Tigers and the Government force to draft a peace pact, but now as things begin to return to normal tensions and out breaks of fighting are once more becoming part of life in northern Sri-Lanka. The peace Jesus gives is not subject to change, or to the situation or circumstances in which believers find themselves. Jesus is the same, yesterday, today and forever, he does not change. Not only does he not change, but he has the power and the authority to maintain the peace that he gives. The peace Jesus gives does not depend upon any human relationship or human circumstance; it depends on the everlasting covenant made in eternity between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This divine peace which Jesus gives to believers is unbreakable, unassailable and unshakable. This is the wonderful truth proclaimed in Psalm 46:1-7 ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah. There is a  river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah'
   
   
3. The peace Jesus gives to believers is theirs to have and enjoy as they live in this fallen and broken world of sin. This peace is ours as we participate as faithful, diligent, and courageous soldiers in a raging spiritual war. Even when the battle is fierce and furious the peace of Christ is to be enjoyed. When Jesus says, ‘Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you,' he is giving peace as a gift, not as a prospect, or a noble goal to strive after, but as peace established. The same concept comes through in the prayer Paul prays in 2 Thessalonians 3:16, ‘Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all.' The peace of Jesus is a sovereign, gracious gift bestowed on those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you believe in Jesus Christ, Jesus has given you this peace as a gift. If you are a Christian born from above you have received the divine gift of the peace that Jesus gives, you have it you do not need to find some experience that brings it to you. If you are a believer and have this peace of Jesus then you ought to be enjoying the benefits of having such a glorious and wonderful peace in your heart, mind and soul. Jesus gave you his peace, so that you can enjoy it, are you enjoying it?
   
   
4. What difference ought the peace of God make to your life? It means you should have peace in your inner being no matter what is happening about you or even to you. In Daniel 3 Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego faced the fiery furnace with the peace of God in their hearts. Listen to what they tell Nebuchadnezzar after he gave them one more opportunity to bow down and worship the statue he had set up, or be cast into the fiery furnace. They say to the King, "O Nebuchadnezzar we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up." Daniel 3:16-18. The peace and the courage they showed in the face of death was truly amazing. We see the same peace abiding in Stephen as he was stoned to death by the Jews who rejected the Gospel of Christ. Listen to the testimony of Acts 7:57-60, ‘Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.' Stephen faced death and died with the peace of Jesus in his heart and mind, in his heart he was not troubled or afraid. The peace Jesus gives his people enables them to face and deal with severe trials with inner peace abiding in them. Do you know this wonderful inner peace when things about you seem to be collapsing? The peace Jesus gives removes the terror of being a victim of circumstance or a victim in the hands of other people.

Conclusion.

This is the peace that Jesus gives. Jesus gives his peace to every believer; if you are a believer then you have received this gift and ought to be enjoying it as you live your life in this fallen world of sin. Having the peace of Jesus abide in your heart, mind and soul ought to give you security, rest and joy. Jesus gave you his peace to enjoy and to provide you with stability and security as you serve him. Are you enjoying the peace that Jesus gives? It is the will of Jesus that you enjoy the peace that he gives to his own. If you are a believer why do you live as if you do not have the peace of the Lord abiding in you? Why are you afraid? Why are you anxious? Why are you restless? The peace Jesus gives ought to be a reality that regulates your life and response to situations and circumstances. Jesus has given you his peace to enjoy, please him by enjoying it.