Dr Charles Stanley - Jesus The Prince of Peace - Part 2

Nobody can take your peace, you have to give it up, and you shouldn't give it up.

You have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

He is your peace, and remember that He says, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Therefore, I don't have to give up my peace.

I can choose to give it up, but I don't have to.

And remember Paul said about it, it's a peace that is so awesome.

It passes all human understand.

This season, you've probably heard a lot of people quote the verse from Luke 2, or the

angels proclaim, peace on earth and goodwill to men.

But maybe you feel like you missed out on your share of peace and goodwill this Christmas.

If so, stay with us and discover how to let God's peace permeate your life far beyond

the Christmas season.

From John chapter 14, here's part two of Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

How does God expect me to have peace in a world that's so full of rebellion, and revolution,

and poverty, dishonesty, and lust, and murder, and crime, and all that?

We can just go on down the list to picture the kind of society we live in, but let's

listen to this.

The society in which Jesus lived, in which he was talking in this time, was described

or characterized by war, slavery, and poverty.

Those are the three words that describe that society.

Now he's talking to them about having peace, and he's also at the same time saying, I'm

going to lay down my life, which means he was going to die.

He also said, you're going to have tribulation.

He also said, you're going to be outcast, and he also said, they're going to kill you

and thank they're doing God a service.

Now to be able to talk about peace in that kind of environment, and to mix those comments

along with what he said about peace didn't seem to make any sense, and they were confused,

and they were frustrated, and so they were asking him, in fact, he can read that in their

minds.

He said to them, look, he said, I'm not going to leave you as orphans.

He said, I'm going to send the Holy Spirit, look at this.

He says, I'm going to send the Holy Spirit, and he's going to be in you with you and upon

you.

And if you'll think about this verse for a moment when people say, well, you know, I just

don't believe in the Trinity and all that, so I want you to listen to this verse.

Verse 26 of John 14, Jesus speaking, but the helper, and he identifies them, the Holy Spirit

whom the Father will send in my name.

There's the Trinity in one single verse.

And he says, what is he going to do?

He says, when these things come is what I want you to remember.

The helper, the Holy Spirit within you, living my life through you.

He's going to teach you all things, bring all things to your remembrance.

My peace, peace I'll leave with you is my peace I give to you.

He says, don't let your heart be troubled.

Don't let it be filthy, be quiet.

He says, because I am there, I am with you, I am in you, I am going to walk with you

through this and remember, I'm going to cause everything going on to turn to you good.

And secondly, remember that I am in absolute control.

I can stop it, I can change it, I can leave it because I'm going to accomplish my purpose

in it all.

Now, there are a lot of folks who say, well, they've got us, they've got a peace.

Why doesn't he eliminate all this pain?

Why doesn't he eliminate all these things?

Why don't we have to go through all of this?

Well, I'll tell you one reason, a couple of reasons.

Number one, first of all, think back in your life, what is it that has driven you to God?

Happen this in joy and plenty of money?

No.

What drove you to God is difficulty, hardship and pain.

When do you learn the most spiritual lessons?

When you've got plenty of everything and everybody loves you and everybody thinks you're

great and you're just wonderful and you've got everything?

No.

When do we learn the greatest lessons?

When we're going through things, we can't handle that we have to trust Him for.

Listen, He's made it possible for us to have this awesome relationship with Him.

Listen to His prayer, speaks through our heart, speaks through our mind, gives us wisdom

and direction, helps us through situations and circumstances.

That's who He is.

Listen, He's the one who can calm your fears, no matter what you're going through and

you're anxietyous.

What did He say in that six chapter, Matthew?

He said, don't be worried about tomorrow.

He said, you're heaven if Father knows all about your need, He's going to meet those

needs.

You know what our problem is?

We don't trust Him.

Now, I'm going to show you in a few moments why we lose, why do we lose our peace?

And so when we think about His peace and how eternal it is, I want you to think about

the peace the world has, because you live around friends and you work among people and they're

not Christians and they tell you, it's wasting your time going to church, can't believe

you go to church, I'm Sunday, what are you wasting your time doing that?

Well, I believe in God too and my God's as good as your God and all in all, you've heard

all that stuff.

You know what that is?

It's the babbling of a cover up, because they don't have peace.

They don't have any tranquillity in their heart.

If you'll be around folks like that long enough, you know what, they'll spill it.

They can smile, they can do all the things that make you think that they've really got

it all together and you know what, they don't even know what peace is about.

So think about their kind of peace.

And I think about a number of words, shallow, unstable, unsatisfying, false.

It's not real.

I've been a pastor long enough to listen to a lot of people over these years and a lot

of times they start out and I mean everything is fantastic.

And the longer I listen, the worse it gets.

You know what, you cannot cover up.

You cannot cover up a lack of peace.

That's why you see people, they got a frown on their face and a frown in their heart.

Something's wrong.

They can tell you what's wrong, but they can't tell you how to deal with it.

All they will tell you, I'm working at everything is going to be fine.

You say, well, I love my occupation, wonderful, but that's not the source of your peace.

It's not even the source of your security.

You lose that in the day.

The only peace that is lasting is a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

And the tragedy is most people will go through their life, still looking and still searching.

I'll tell you what they like.

They like a walking civil war.

On the outside, man, they look in sharp.

They look in fine.

On the inside, there's lust.

On the inside, there's bitterness.

On the inside, there's anger.

On the inside, there is indifference.

On the inside, there's unbelief.

There was all of these emotions on the inside.

You can cover it up on the outside, to some degree.

But if they speak, they'll reveal it.

After a while, they can't put on that fake smile anymore.

They're a walking civil war because think about this.

Your body is so built that when you have all this anger, bitterness, resentment, hostility,

all of these attitudes, lack of love, greed, selfishness, pride, arrogance, all in all

we could go, here's what happens.

Your mind's containing that.

And your mind is affecting your body.

And your body is responding to it.

And you can ask anybody who knows anything about the human body.

All of that is destructive to the human body.

And Jesus, He desires that you and I have peace in our heart, in our life.

We may have peace with Him.

But if we don't have the peace of God, something's going to be missing in our life, everything

your heart desires is to be found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ because in that

relationship you make right decisions.

You make wise decisions.

You don't just let your life float, but you have a sense of purpose and direction

in life because that's who He is and He's living His life in you.

Then I would say one other thing at that point, Jesus is the sustainer of our peace through

the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

It is enough just to have Him.

We see the difference in His peace and the world's peace.

But He's the one who sustains that peace which means He doesn't have to come and go.

And He said in the 16th chapter of John the 33rd verse, these things I've spoken to you,

so watch this so that in me you may have peace.

Now watch this in the world in which you live, you have tribulation.

But take courage, I have overcome the world and I am your life.

There's the victory.

He doesn't say we're not going to have heartaches and troubles.

He says, but He says, I am in you.

Now I want you to think about this.

Turn to 2 Thessalonians for a moment.

Look at this passage.

Sometimes one verse will hit somebody and another verse will hit someone else.

Verse 16 of the 3rd chapter of 2 Thessalonians.

Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance.

Not in some of them, but in all of them.

He will give us the peace to walk through anything and everything in life, no matter what

it is.

And I can remember one occasion when I got a phone call that would normally have just

wiped me out.

I remember putting the phone down and this overwhelming sense of peace just covered me.

Even I was surprised.

I thought, God, and I remember exactly what I said to Him in the process.

It had to be His peace because it could never have been mine and could never have been

anyone else's.

Another overwhelming sense of absolute tranquillity, confidence and assurance that He would

lead me right through it all.

That's who He is.

That's the kind of peace that He gives no matter what we face.

In other words, there are no limitations to His peace.

What we have to do is be sure we are looking at the right place for it.

Now I want you to turn to the 119th Psalm for a moment and look if you will in the 160th

verse.

Listen carefully now.

119th Psalm, 165th verse.

Those who love your law have great peace and nothing causes them to stumble.

And here's what the Bible says, if I love the Word of God, I will read it, I will meditate

upon it, and I will obey it.

If I love it, I'm going to read it, I'm going to meditate upon it, I'm going to obey it.

And He says, if I love His law, I will have His peace.

The first thing to do when you find yourself trouble is getting the Word of God.

Because listen, what you're doing is you are absorbing the mind of God in your life at

that moment to deal with this.

And He is the God who deals with any and everything we face, and He's the God of peace.

That's what He wants for our life.

Let me ask you a question.

What do you own that brings you peace?

You see, I got the finest automobile you can buy.

How fast can you wreck it?

You say, you can't think of anything.

When I see people grasping and lying and cheating and stealing and making all kinds of decisions

to get more money, besides ending up in jail in prison or whatever it might be, have

futile to look for anything else, but peace except through Jesus.

He is it now.

How do you lose your peace?

I say, you're saved and you say, well, I've lost it.

How do I lose it?

Number one, it's a three-letter word.

What is it?

Sin.

How does that make me lose?

Now watch.

You don't lose your peace with God.

You lose the peace of God in your heart.

Here's what sin does.

Sin creates strife between you and the Father.

In other words, there's a disconnect.

All of a sudden you're rebelling, and in other words, sin is a form of rebellion.

It may be if what you call a little loud, big loud, whatever it might be, sin does what?

Causes us to lose our peace.

And so you sin against God and your conscience begins to work on you.

You don't have the peace.

When your conscience is working on you, you don't have the peace.

That's the first thing.

The second way you lose it is dealt the promises of God.

I say, you are facing something in your life, and you think, oh, what am I going to do?

And God says, my God shall supply all your needs to go in this riches and glory in Christ.

You say, yeah, I know that's what it says, but what you're doing is you're doubting God

and what happens.

You don't have any peace.

You listen, you can't have peace and doubt the peace maker, and the one who is your

peace.

That's two ways.

There's a third way you lose it.

Look at this.

By projecting upon today, tomorrow's cares.

And how many times have you said, oh, my goodness, next week, Lord, Lord, Lord, what am I

going to do next?

Thursday, Friday.

And Jesus made a specific statement in His Word not to do that.

And He says it, for example, in Matthew, chapter 6, and part of the Seminole Mount, listen

to this.

Seek He first, the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things will be

added to you.

He's been talking about needs.

So listen to this, very clear statement.

Do not worry about tomorrow.

Lord, tomorrow will care for itself.

Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew, chapter 6, verse 34.

So how do we lose our peace?

We're in about tomorrow.

And listen, somebody says, yeah, but there's one you forgot.

What about when somebody mistreats me?

How can I have peace when somebody mistreats me?

Watch this.

Nobody can steal your peace.

You have to give it up.

They can't take your peace.

You have to give God has given you.

You have to give it up.

If they criticize you and characterize you as being something you're not, all kinds

of things that they may do to you, they can steal your peace.

You don't have to believe what they say.

You know, it's not true.

Nobody can take your peace.

You have to give it up, and you shouldn't give it up.

You have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

He is your peace.

And remember this, He says, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

I will never have to give up my peace.

I can choose to give it up, but I don't have to.

And remember what Paul said about it?

It's a peace that is so awesome.

It passes all human understanding.

And so he says it this way.

He says, don't be anxious about all these things.

But in everything, but prayer and supplication and thanksgiving, let your requests be made

known to God.

And the peace of God will surround you like a garrison and a fort, surround you to protect

you from whatever is going on in your life.

If you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, listen carefully.

You don't have peace, and you will never have peace until He becomes your Savior in your

life.

Now you don't have to believe me.

Look around.

Look at your own life.

What is the source of your peace?

Is it something you own?

You can lose it.

Is it some reputation you have?

You can lose that.

No matter what it is, there's only one source of true genuine peace.

And that is a personal intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

Here's what He does.

He seals you at that moment with the Holy Spirit of promise for ever child of God.

And this peace that I'm talking about can be yours immediately.

If you will begin, just simply look to Him as your peace.

Get in the Word of God and begin to read it.

Watch God work in your life, transform your life.

Let me say one more time.

There is no peace apart from Jesus.

God said it.

There is no peace for the wicked.

None.

God said it.

I didn't say it.

He said it.

You said, I'm not wicked.

If you turn your back upon Jesus you are, because you turned your back upon God.

Jesus said, I am the way the truth in the life.

No one comes to the Father but by me, and you said, I'll have none of that.

That's wicked.

You said, that's just your opinion.

Well, just read the Scripture and get you a found out as this.

The rebellion against God is sin, and God is holy.

He doesn't tolerate it.

Well, if you give you yes, only through Jesus.

And once He becomes your Savior, everything else we've said about the peace of God becomes

yours.

And that's my prayer for you.

And Father, how grateful we are that you've left nothing unturned, that there's not a

single circumstance in life in which we will ever have to go through that you'll not

be there with us to walk through it with us.

That means we can experience your power, your assurance, your confidence, your boldness.

And we thank you for making it possible for us to live victoriously in a world that

is so defeated by sin.

I pray for the person who's seated here this morning who knows in his or her heart.

There's no real peace there, that today they would say yes to Jesus Christ, yes to him,

yes today.

And Father, for every single believer seated here, is going through difficulty, hardship,

troubles and trials.

Just let this truth sink deep into the heart.

It is the truth, divine truth, and God and the truth, biblical truth.

And it works every time.

And this we ask in Jesus' name, amen.

Thanks for listening to In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley.

You can be at peace with God through a relationship with Jesus Christ, then the peace of God is

yours to enjoy every day.

If you want to know more about who Jesus is and what he came to do for you, visit us at

InTouch.org or go back over this message by following the link to today on radio on

our homepage.

And you can order a copy of today's complete message over at the bookstore, the title is

Jesus the Prince of Peace.

Again, that's InTouch.org.

You can also call or text 1-800-INTouch.

If you prefer to write, our address is InTouch.

Post office box, 7900, Atlanta, Georgia, 30357.

Learn more about the gift of salvation God sent us in his son, Jesus Christ.

That's coming up in today's moment with Charles Stanley.

Who is the Holy Spirit and how does he operate in your life?

Dr. Stanley struggled over this divine mystery as well and found that life in the Spirit

has less to do with striving and everything to do with abiding.

Explore this life-changing biblical perspective in the Spirit-filled life available in paperback

and use the think about it questions inside for personal reflection or group discussion.

Order the book, The Spirit-filled Life at InTouch.org or by calling 1-800-INTouch.

Do you take sermon notes on the back of your bulletin, jot scripture references on the

offering envelope, start keeping things in one place, one organized place, with the

InTouch Notakers Journal.

This leather soft journal contains 150 pages for taking notes and includes Dr. Stanley's

30 life principles.

Find everything in one convenient place with the InTouch Notakers Journal.

Call toll-free 1-800-INTouch or visit intouch.org.

We're listening to InTouch.

God sent Jesus to be our savior from the curse of sin.

Here's a moment with Charles Stanley.

Many people read this verse of scripture.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that He ever believes

that He would not perish but that He would turn to life.

They can quote it.

They said quickly.

They said, yes, I do believe that.

And you know what?

It's like looking at this package and never stopping to ask what's inside.

You say, well, what's inside is eternal life.

I want you to see what God has really given you when He gave you Jesus Christ His only begotten

Son.

Well, the first thing you see when you open this verse is when He says He gave His only

begotten Son, here's what He gave.

That verse refers to the coming of Almighty God in the person of Jesus Christ which is the

incarnation.

That is God taken upon Himself human flesh and walking among us.

So you know what He gave us?

He gave us Himself.

That was God coming to earth in human flesh.

That is God dressed in the flesh of humanity, the perfect sinless Son of God coming among

us.

And if you'll recall also that when the angels announced the coming of Jesus, what do they

say to the shepherds?

For behold, to you this day is born a Saviour who is Christ the Lord.

So in this package does not only the Son of God Himself, but in this package is the Saviour.

That is, is our salvation for God so love the world that He gave His only begotten Son,

that whoever believes in Him, listen, would not perish, but have eternal life would be saved.

You say, well, why is that so important?

Here's why it is.

Because the Bible says that all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God which

means we've fallen far short of less than what we'd have to be if we were going to be saved

by our works because none of us will ever be good enough, not by our works of righteousness

which you've done, but according to this mercy, He says He saved us.

He says, the soul that sinnet it shall die.

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ,

the Lord.

We need a Saviour.

We need to be saved from our sins.

And so Jesus said, I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

And so in this package is the Son of God Himself.

In this package there's the Saviour.

He came for that particular reason.

Salvation from the penalty of sin happens the instant you trust Christ to forgive you.

And you can do that right now and learn more about the Christian life at intouch.org.

And if today's program is motivated you to obey God in a new way, we'd love to hear

from you.

Next week on Intouch, we'll hear how important it is for us to be accountable to other believers.

Have a great weekend and join us again Monday for Intouch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles

Stanley.

This program is a presentation of Intouch Ministries at Lanta, Georgia and remains on this

station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.