Lord, we thank You for this chance to be together today, gathered in Your name around You. Praise Your name. We thank You for the fellowship we have in Christ. We thank You for the remembrance we have in Christ, and we just pray You to grant grace for the rest of our time here together, in Jesus’ name.
Do you ever notice how many times there are rivers in the Bible? A lot. Rivers, not oceans. Like “A River Glorious.” Sometime, look at how many times there are rivers and see why there are rivers in the Bible.
Speaking of water, Roger brought me this glass of water. I think it’s going to be a short message today.
Anyway, I want to talk about peace and rest—God’s peace and rest. We are living in days of total upheaval. We were meeting the other night, and Mac just said, “I can’t believe it. It’s just everything stirred up.” It’s upheaval.
But I think what we need to remember is that we do not belong to this world, that we are strangers and sojourners. How many times have I quoted Psalm 2 in the last couple of years?
Why are the nations in an uproar,
And the peoples devising a vain thing?
The kings of the earth take their stand,
And the rulers take counsel together
Against the Lord and against His Anointed.
That’s where we are. All this turmoil is the enemy taking a stand against the Lord. How often we’re assaulted. But remember, not only do we live in a foreign land; we live in a hostile land.
This world, for the present time, is in the hands of the enemy, the usurper, and he would like to have first place. It’s a spiritual darkness that we live in. Don’t you feel it? Sort of a cloud.
And we need to be careful and watch that we do not get sucked in and come under it. The bigger problem is if we do not think it’s a dark day. That’s a bigger problem—if we do not see how dark the day is.
But anyway, we do not want to concentrate on the darkness. We want to concentrate on the Lord and His provision. John 16:33—we’re all familiar with it. This is the period when the Lord was preparing the disciples, the apostles, so He could leave. He was going, but He was trying to give them encouragement.
These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace.
In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.
He has not only overcome the world externally; He has overcome the world internally, within. But we need to be careful that we do not give in to the unrest. Hebrews 4:1 says:
Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.
We have a choice whether or not to enter the promised land of God’s rest. So it’s a choice, a willful thing. How many people have thought, “If I could only get a break”? I haven’t worked for a long time. I’ve been retired eighteen years. I was too tired eighteen years ago to keep working.
But anyway, when you’re working, how many times do you think, “If I could just get vacation, if I could just go to the mountains, go to the beach, or go to the river somewhere”? Well, having a time of rest is good, naturally speaking, but it will not last, because the Lord only wants us to find rest in Himself.
Exodus 33:14. Remember what the Lord told Moses:
My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.
How many are familiar with Augustine’s famous saying?
You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.
So the Lord has made it very clear that our rest and peace are in Him. I’ve got three points today. I want to give a little background on the place we find ourselves in, and then talk about how peace with God opens our way to the peace of God.
The first thing I want to talk about is the background—to set the stage. This is a passage I often talk about, but we were created to live in peace and rest: peace and rest with God and in God.
Let’s read Genesis 1:26, starting at verse 26.
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
So I just thought this was a place of peace—a picture of peace and rest under God’s authority, serving Him, Him being head over all things, in the Garden of Eden.
The second step here is this relationship between God and man. He gave us a free will. To have love, it needs to be a free will, not something under demand. And He gave us free will.
So that free will resulted in a problem, didn’t it? Man chose to listen to the enemy, and he chose to sin. We have been created to abide in love with God, but it says further on in Genesis that their eyes were opened.
When the eyes were opened, man became trusting in himself and not God. What a source of unrest and unpeace. Let’s read Genesis 3:22 and see what happens.
Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—
therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.
So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
So here we have it: cut off from that walk, that fellowship with God, because of sin—because we wanted to go our own way.
But something else happened that was just as important as this alienation and independence from God. There was a deep fracture in our God-birthed constitution there at the fall. We were born to be men and women who walked in spirit, and our spirits became dead.
We were walking in the strength of our own soul, our own natural understanding, our own capacity. We are living godless—not in His presence, not in His life. So no wonder the people are in an uproar and the peoples are devising a vain thing. Things are godless.
We just have to remember: we do not belong to this world. We do not belong to have part of it.
Now we have been given a way to peace—to restore peace with God. And I said earlier that the restoration of peace with God is the way to the peace of God.
I’m reading a lot of verses, and I’ll say something about that later, but the biggest tool for peace and rest is God’s Word—knowing the truth.
You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
We are going to have much less trouble getting under things when we know what God thinks of things.
Hebrews 10:19-25:
Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He Who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
Our brother talked about praising God that we have been forgiven and washed in the blood. I really have this burden that we stay engaged, that we are active in our faith. Being active in our faith gives us that channel to peace and rest.
Look how many action verbs there are in this short passage:
Exercise our spirits and be strong in spirit. These things are wonderful. If we are encouraging one another, how can we be under? Maybe Dora will invite you to go to Jang someday and be encouraged.
We have peace with God also because we have been born again. We have been made alive in spirit. We were separated from the presence of God. We were separated from the life of God.
Ephesians 2:1-9. I’m reading a lot of verses because the Word of God is so important. Right, Roger? Thank you. Roger always encourages me: “We’ve got to be in the Word.” And it’s true.
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air.
Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved, and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Forgiven, born again. Every time I talk, I seem to say something about being born again—John 3. This new life in Christ gives us peace.
John 3:3-7 records Jesus’ dialogue with Nicodemus. Nicodemus came to Him at night. He had questions. He said, “You’re a great teacher. Tell us who You are. We want to understand these things.” He was looking for peace and rest, wasn’t he? Nicodemus had need, but he was stuck in the system, so he came at night.
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Do not be amazed that I said to you, “You must be born again.”
We have been born again. We need to live from that life. We need to live in the good of that.
The second piece of living in that new life of Christ, and in peace and rest, is that we need to come to an end of trying to live in our own natural strength.
In Luke 9:23-24, our Lord Jesus says:
If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.
Being free from our self-life is a great part and portion of finding peace and rest. The message of the cross is not popular, and it has gotten us in trouble over the years, but it is so important to deny ourselves and let the Lord live and have first place in our lives. This is a great, great way of peace and rest.
The third main point is the peace of God. We can live, as the people of God—the born-again, redeemed people of God—in the peace of God.
We know that man was created by God to be with Him and to live in peace, serving Him. We also know that, by his own choice, man chose to live in his own will and strength, and he fell away from God.
We also know that in the future all things will be restored as they were meant to be. But we are living in this period of time. What does the future hold for us? A new heaven and a new earth.
Revelation 21 and 22:
I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away.
And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.
And He Who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
So we have a future and a hope—a future and a home. Then, in Revelation 22, starting at the beginning of that chapter:
Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street.
On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.
And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.
River. What a promise. How important light is. Sharon and I went for a little ride to have a little break yesterday. I go out Route 522 along the south side of the river and then come back on the north side.
Going out on the south side, it was a beautiful day. It was bright and sunny. Then we came back, and it got night. Things aren’t very good at night, you know? Everything has changed. So we are looking forward to light—eternal life.
We are stuck between eternity past and eternity future. I don’t know where we’re stuck, but we live in time. Here we are, stuck in time. I’m not sure how you can measure eternity past and eternity future and carve out time, but that is what the Bible says.
Let me read what brother Peter said in 2 Peter 3:10-13:
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat; and the earth and its works will be burned up.
Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!
But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth.
So here we are: eternity past, looking for a bright future. How are we to live? Peter says, “What sort of people ought you to be?”
Well, we ought to be people of peace and rest. But let me give you the Wuest translation of “what sort of people ought you to be.” The Wuest translation is a Greek New Testament translation. Wuest says:
What exotic persons is it necessary in the nature of the case for you to be?
So I would say that the way for us to find peace and rest is to be exotic people. “Exotic” is a translation of exōtikos, a Greek word. The definition of that word is “introduced from another country.”
We are supposed to live as those introduced from another country. We are not native to the place where we are found—mysteriously different or unusual. My argument would be that we are to live as exotic people and find peace and rest because of that.
We live as Christians, as those born-again Christians living from that life in the Spirit and not accepting the world, not accepting what is going on around us.
The last thing I want to do is give a little personal testimony—maybe it’s not little—about some applications, some things I have personally found helpful over the years in dealing with stress, anxiety, and lack of peace and rest.
These are not formulas. This is personal testimony. If I ever stand up here and give you A, B, and C equals D, just stop listening or ask me to sit down. Our brother Michael and I always used to say, “No pat answers. No pat answers.” The Lord is the answer. He is the way, the truth, and the life. So how do we find Him as our provision?
The first thing that is very helpful is to rest in the good of a new life: I can’t, but He can.
I would encourage us all to be thinking of that. I forget it. I get stirred up. Sorry, Xander. But anyway, we are born again. Do you remember we are born again? We are supposed to be living from a different life, not frustrated and irritated, but living with the Christ-life within us.
John 10:10—the Lord says:
I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
We have often talked about the exchanged life. How many people have heard the term “exchanged life”? Everybody, right? We have had great teaching on the exchanged life.
We have heard from Hudson Taylor, where I think that term started. D. L. Moody found that a secret to his life. A. W. Tozer, Watchman Nee—I am not going to repeat their teaching. But what I can say is, Jesus said to His disciples:
If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
Of course, Paul exemplifies that whole thought in Galatians 2:20:
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
That was not Paul’s teaching; it was his spiritual experience. “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” It is a lifelong process.
Brother Kong, talking to him about one of the CFP books somewhat about the exchanged life, said, “That’s really a good book, but don’t make it too simple.” Paul said, at the end of his days, here is what I want to say: it is a lifelong process of entering into this—“It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
If there is somebody in our Bibles whom you would think would have it straight, it would be the Apostle Paul. Yet in Philippians 3:10, at the end of his days, he said:
That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.
He was a work in progress. I am thankful for that passage. As you get older, you kind of say, “Forget it. It doesn’t work.” It does work. We do not work—that’s the problem. So the way to overcome and enter into peace and rest is to walk in newness of life.
The second application I want to talk about is trusting in the Lord fully. Whenever we get stirred up and beside ourselves, we need to trust in the Lord.
Proverbs 3:5-6:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
Jonathan, you framed one of those. I got one in your period of doing framed Scriptures. How long ago was that? Well, decades. But anyway, for years I had that over my desk. Really, he did a great job.
A few years ago, when my brother and his wife were struggling so badly, I took that thing with me to Florida and gave it to them, just to try to encourage them. Since then, I printed one off the internet. So if you ever have an extra nice one, let me know.
All I can say about this passage is that it is not a passive thing. We cannot afford to be passive. Trust in the Lord. Give it to the Lord. Trust Him fully.
Think of King David. Think about how his psalms are. He would say how he trusted the Lord, then he would talk about all his problems and what a mess, and at the end he would say, “But I trust You, Lord. I trust You fully.”
Oftentimes, how do we find the Lord trustworthy? We find the Lord to be trustworthy when we are put into a place where we cannot trust ourselves. We have nothing left but to trust Him fully, and He is going to prove Himself trustworthy.
Then, when we know He is trustworthy, the next time we get bombed on, say, “Lord, I trust You.” Express that trust and see how He will work it out, because He is trustworthy.
Psalm 91 says:
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
My God, in Whom I trust!”
Someone who had to go through it to come into the place of trust was Job. How many people like to read Job? Just you. Forty-one chapters, right? Then you get to the point in Job 42:
I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear;
But now my eye sees You;
Therefore I retract,
And I repent in dust and ashes.
The end of our trials is coming to see the Lord and trusting Him. Jeffrey, as a masochist, he reads the whole book. I’m just kidding. That is a good book. It shows us how hopeless our self-life and our whole understanding are.
Third application: worship God. Worshiping God is a way through.
We are living in a day when there is a question about who is going to get the worship. Satan wants the worship. It was in the garden, right? He wanted worship. Who are we going to worship?
The world demands our worship. Everyone working in a big corporation, in a big bureaucracy—what do they want? They want your soul. Sorry, Jack. You know it well. But anyway, we do not give them our soul. We give God praise, for He is worthy.
If we are looking off to Jesus, we are constrained to worship Him. How can we be upset and not be peaceful and at rest?
The Lord Jesus told the Samaritan woman:
God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
We draw our attention and our focus to the Lord. We cannot help but worship Him. When we worship Him, we cannot be upset. When our spirit is engaged in worshiping the Lord, we find peace and rest.
The Colossians were in the midst of a great heresy. Paul never dissected that heresy. He never worked it out for them, but he did give them the positive thing to do. I think this is a great verse that has really been helpful to me lately.
Colossians 3:1-4:
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ, Who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
Set our minds on the things above, and our only response can be to worship God. How many times have I talked about getting a hymnbook, getting the little app that plays the tunes, and singing along to it? It is a great antidote to anxiety.
Number four: be anxious for nothing. Philippians 4:6-7—Paul says:
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Who has a translation that says, “will garrison your hearts and minds”? God, it’s good. The garrison is so strong. If we are actively expressing our faith in God, giving all our cares to Him, we will find peace and rest.
A natural response to anxiety-inducing circumstances is to dwell on them, rehearse them, ruminate on them over and over. The Lord’s answer, expressed through Paul here, is to, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, tell the Lord about them and let them go.
“Let go and let God” is way more than a charm bracelet. It is a way of life. Let go and let God—not passive, but active.
Another way into the peace of God is fellowship. Being in fellowship, longing to be in fellowship with the saints, is an outward expression of our new birth. It gives us peace and rest, being with the saints.
How many people longed to be with their natural family over the recent holidays? Nobody? Did anybody look forward to being with your natural family for the holidays? A few more.
We are supposed to enjoy being with our family, but sometimes that is a little difficult. Anyway, if we look forward to being with our family at the holidays, we can be with our family all the time. That should be encouraging.
Of course, that can be just natural family, but to be with God’s people is a great, great antidote to anxiety and fear, and a great source of peace.
Think about that first sermon Peter gave that was so powerful after Pentecost, when three thousand were saved that day. Immediately, the fruit of that great move of salvation was that they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.
We were born again to be in fellowship with one another. Do not be passive about fellowship. If you are passive about anything, it is guaranteed to take you out. We need to exercise our spirits and enter into these things.
The last little thing I want to say is the importance of the Word of God. The Word is living and active and sharper than a two-edged sword, able to divide soul and spirit. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.
There have been different words used, but we can know the Word objectively. We need to read the Word, be in it, know what it says. But it is a pathway to subjectively knowing the Lord. It leads us to the Lord. We meditate on His Word, so we need to be in the Word.
I’ll just read some verses about the Word. John 1:1:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Why would we not be in the Word? John 1:14:
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 8:32:
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.
Hebrews 4:12:
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Hebrews 4 is about not failing to enter His rest—not failing to enter the rest that God has given us. Right at the end of that chapter, it talks about the Word of God. How important is the Word of God to entering rest?
It is important in warfare. Ephesians 6:17:
Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
We need to read the Word. We need to know the Word. We need to know the truth, or we risk going off and losing the peace and rest that God has given us.
So let’s summarize. We live in unreal days of upheaval, at every level, particularly spiritually. The rulers of this world have taken a stand against the Lord and His Anointed.
When we look at it and say, “What a mess. How can this be? What are we going to do about China and Russia?” it should not take us by surprise, because they have taken a stand. The whole thing is to take a stand against the Lord and His Anointed.
What we can do is live as strangers and sojourners, as in a foreign land. We can have peace and rest in the midst of it because we are new creatures in Christ and are living in the good of that.
We no longer should live as natural men and women, coming to the end of our rope. We can live as spiritual men and women, born again to a living hope. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. We can cast all our cares on the Lord and trust Him.
Ultimately, we have peace and rest when we are strong in spirit. Exercise our spirits, be active and not passive, enter into the promised land, and live in the good of God’s provision.
Let’s just close.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
Do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
Lord, grant grace that we can just trust You fully and abide and live in the good of our full salvation. Lord, forbid that we get undone by this world, that we be undone by our natural weakness, but that we be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might, and that we walk in newness of life. Oh, Lord, have Your way, we pray in Jesus’ name.