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[0:00] Good evening and it's lovely to have you with us for this evening's service as we gather to worship God and to hear his voice speaking to us through his word. I hope you've had a lovely afternoon and it's a great privilege to be with you this evening as we gather to hear God's voice speaking to us through his word.

[0:20] Our opening item of praise is Psalm 100 from the Scottish Psalter and I'll read out these words as we prepare our hearts for worship.

[0:50] For his flock he doth us feed and for his sheep he doth us take. O enter then his gates with praise, approach with joy his courts unto. Praise Lord and bless his name always, for it's seemly so to do.

[1:05] For why? The Lord our God is good, his mercy is forever sure, his truth at all times firmly stood and shall from age to age endure.

[1:17] These words to God's praise. Old 100. All people that on earth do dwell, sing to the Lord with cheerful voice.

[1:38] Him, sir, with mirthless praise, forth-tell. Come ye before him and rejoice.

[1:57] Know that the Lord is God indeed. Come ye before him and rejoice.

[2:35] O enter then his gates with praise. A brook with joy his courts unto.

[2:53] Praise God and bless his name always, for it is seemly so to do.

[3:13] For why? The Lord our God is good, his mercy is forever sure.

[3:33] His truth at all times firmly stood and shall from age to age endure.

[3:53] Let us pray. Let us pray. God our Father, we thank you so much that we can come to you in prayer, knowing that even before we open our mouths, you know our needs.

[4:13] And we thank you so much that we can come to you in prayer, our loving Heavenly Father.

[4:25] And we pray, Father, that your name would be hallowed as we worship you, but also in every part of our lives. We acknowledge that you are the holy God.

[4:36] And we pray that our thoughts, our words and our actions would all be lived out in recognition of who you are, of your holiness, your purity, your perfection.

[4:47] That your name would be hallowed and honoured in the way that we live our lives in the week ahead. We pray that your kingdom would come and we acknowledge that Jesus alone is King.

[5:01] And we thank you that he has risen and exalted at your right hand. And we just pray that his rule would extend into our lives more and more. And also into the lives of the community and the country and the nations of the world that are all around us.

[5:18] Because we need your rule, your instructions, your laws. We need these written on our heart. And so we pray that your kingdom would extend. And we pray that you would draw more and more people to become citizens of that kingdom.

[5:35] Members of your family. Fellow disciples of Jesus Christ. Please be at work bringing people to faith. Even this week, please use us to help share the good news with those who need to hear it so much.

[5:48] Please give us each day our daily bread. We thank you so much for the provision you make. And we think of all the amazing blessings that we enjoy each day. From day-to-day needs like clean water and food and warm houses.

[6:02] To other things like medicines, vaccines and all the other blessings that we enjoy. We thank you for your provision. And we pray that we would always be generous and ready to share with those who are in need.

[6:17] And we pray that the energy that we have each day will be used well and for your glory. We ask that you would forgive us for our sins. And we come in repentance, acknowledging that we have just wandered away from you.

[6:31] And so often made ourselves more important than you. And we pray, oh God, that you would just throw us back to you. And we want to just renew our commitment to you. We want to follow after you with renewed obedience.

[6:43] And equally, we do not want to keep a record of wrong in other people. And so we freely forgive those who have wronged us. We pray that you would lead us not into temptation. But that you would deliver us from the evil one.

[6:56] That you would be our guide and our protector. And that you would just lead us in your ways. And when we are attracted to sin or to things that are wrong.

[7:07] Whether it's envy or jealousy or lust or whatever it may be. Help us to see sin for what it really is. And we pray that you would lead us past that temptation.

[7:18] So that we would just follow you instead. And we pray that in every part of our lives, your name would be glorified in all that we do. We thank you for everyone who's listening in this evening. And wherever we are and whatever our circumstances.

[7:31] We just pray that you would draw near to us all. And help us to hear your voice. Because we need you so much. Bless us now, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen.

[7:45] Our reading this evening is from the Gospel of John and chapter 14. John chapter 14. And we'll read the whole chapter.

[7:56] Thomas saith unto him, We know not whither thou goest.

[8:28] And how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.

[8:41] And from henceforth ye know him and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffitheth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet thou hast not known me, Philip?

[8:55] He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. And how sayest thou then, show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself, But the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

[9:12] Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me. Or else believe me for the very works' sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do, he shall do also.

[9:27] And greater works than these shall he do, Because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye ask in my name, That will I do, That the Father may be glorified in the Son.

[9:38] If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, And he shall give you another Comforter, That he may abide with you for ever, Even the Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive, Because it seeth him not, Neither knoweth him, But ye know him, For he dwelleth with you, And shall be in you.

[10:00] I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. Yet a little while, And the world seeth me no more, But ye see me, Because I live, Ye also shall live. And that day ye shall know, That I am in my Father, And ye in me, And I in you.

[10:17] He that hath my commandments, And keepeth them, He it is that loveth me, And he that loveth me, Shall be loved of my Father, And I will love him, And will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, Not Iscariot, Lord, How is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, And not unto the world?

[10:34] Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, He will keep my words, And my Father will love him, And we will come unto him, And make our abode with him. He that loveth me not, Keepeth not my sayings, And the word which he hear is not mine, But the Father's which sent me.

[10:52] These things have I spoken unto you, Being yet present with you, But the Comforter, Which is the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, And bring all things to your remembrance, Whatsoever I have said unto you.

[11:08] Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you, Not as the world giveth, Give I unto you, Let not your heart be troubled, Neither let it be afraid. You have heard how I said unto you, I go away, And come again unto you.

[11:22] If you loved me, You would rejoice, Because I said, I go unto the Father, For my Father is greater than I. And now I have told you, Before it comes to pass, That when it comes to pass, You might believe.

[11:36] Hereafter I will not talk much with you, For the Prince of this world cometh, And hath nothing in me, But that the world may know, That I love the Father, And as the Father gave me commandment, Even so I do.

[11:48] Arise, Let us go hence. Amen, This is God's word, And may he add his blessing to it. Well as we turn to this passage, Let's just pray for a moment.

[12:03] Dear Father, We pray for your help, As we look at your word, And your words are, It is a living word, And we just pray, That we will hear your voice speaking to us, As we look together at this passage now.

[12:19] We ask for your help, Because we need it so much. In Jesus' name. Amen. Well I'd like us to turn back, To this passage for a wee while together, This evening.

[12:35] And as I mentioned this morning, At our two services today, We're looking at two of the promises, That God gives us in his word. As you know in the Bible, There are so many amazing promises from God, We are looking at two of these today.

[12:50] This morning we looked at God's promise to provide, And we saw the amazing faithfulness, And generosity of God, In his promise to make provision for us.

[13:01] Tonight, I want to look at God's promise of peace, And as we do so, We'll look in detail, At John 14, Verse 27, Where Jesus says, Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you, Not as the world giveth, Give I unto you, Let not your heart be troubled, Neither let it be afraid.

[13:25] Now as with this morning, We're going to look at this promise, Under four questions, And these questions are, What does the promise tell us about God?

[13:37] What does the promise tell us about ourselves? What is God promising? And what does God require of us? What does it tell us about God? What does it tell us about ourselves?

[13:48] What is God promising? And what does God require of us? That's our four questions, Or our four headings, For this evening's sermon. So question one is, What does the promise tell us about God?

[14:02] Well, One of the key things that this promise reminds us of, Is the fact that God is a God of peace. In fact, God is explicitly called that, Later in the New Testament, In Philippians, Paul says, What you've learnt and received and heard, And seen in me, Practice these things, And the God of peace will be with you.

[14:24] And in fact, It's evident right through the Bible, That God is a God of peace. And we can perhaps summarise that fact, Under three important points.

[14:36] We could say first, That God is the creator of peace. Because as creator, God is the one who brings order, Stability and harmony to the universe.

[14:46] Back in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, The plants, The animals, And finally he created humanity. But what did he do when he finished? He rested.

[14:58] And that's reminding us that the climax of creation, Is in terms of peace. God rested. Everything was very good. We can also say that God himself is the model of peace.

[15:13] You look at God, Father, Son, And Spirit, And you see within the Trinity, This beautiful, Perfect harmony. It's a model of unity and togetherness.

[15:25] And in fact, John 14 brings that out very powerfully, Because it speaks of the Father, The Son, And the Spirit, All working in unity and harmony, To accomplish God's purposes.

[15:36] At the very core of God's being, Is peace. He is the God of peace. So he's the creator of peace, He's the model of peace. But all that means, Of course, That God is the source of peace as well.

[15:49] And it's very simple. If you want something, You need to go to the source, Whether that's water, Or electricity, Or heat, Or whatever it may be. And so the same is true.

[16:01] That if we want to find peace ourselves, The only place where we'll ultimately find true peace, Is at the source of peace. In God himself.

[16:11] So we're being reminded in this promise, That God is a God of peace. But what about us? What does this promise tell us about ourselves?

[16:23] Well, We said that the climax of creation, Is in terms of peace, When everything was good, God rested. But the fall, Broke that peace. And when you read the narrative of the fall, In Genesis 3, There's a very clear loss of peace.

[16:39] And that happens in various ways. So humanity loses peace with himself. So you see Adam realises that he is naked. He has that sense of exposure and shame.

[16:53] Man and woman lose peace with each other, Because they start to cast blame, And there's a new hostility between them as a couple. But most significantly of all, Humanity loses peace with God.

[17:07] He's banished from the garden. The covenant relationship has been broken. And we mustn't make the mistake of thinking that that just applies to Adam and Eve. The truth is that that loss of peace has affected every single one of us.

[17:21] And it's actually very easy to prove this, Because it's manifested itself at every age of history. If you look at people, You see that people don't have a sense of peace with themselves.

[17:35] And often that can be expressed in the arts, In things like paintings and music. Some of the most influential pieces of music or art, Particularly in the last hundred years, Are actually just an expression of the kind of sense of brokenness and torment that people have within themselves.

[17:53] So people have lost this inward peace with themselves. But equally, people have no peace with each other. And again, you can see that around you in terms of war, In terms of rival groups, In terms of colleagues, Friction between colleagues, Even within families, Where there can be tensions and fallouts, And a breakdown of relationships.

[18:13] People don't have peace with each other. And of course, People do not have peace with God. Our sin has alienated us from God. And in fact, Many people live as open enemies of God.

[18:25] Paul speaks about that in Philippians 3. He says, I've often told you and tell you now with tears, That many people walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. And that of course is why sin is so desperately serious.

[18:38] It makes us enemies of God. And Isaiah brings this out really powerfully. In chapter 59, verse 1 and 2, He says, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, Or his ear dull that it cannot hear.

[18:52] But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God. Your sins have hidden his face from you, So that he does not hear. Sin has made us enemies of God.

[19:06] It's broken that peace that we originally had. And all over the world, You can see that people crave peace. They try to find it wherever they can.

[19:18] And that of course is because the Bible is true and correct. We have lost our peace. And that is one of the many reasons Why the Gospel is such good news.

[19:31] Because it's a message of restored peace. If you think back to when Jesus was born And the angels appeared to the shepherds, Can you remember what they said? They said, Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace Among those with whom he is pleased.

[19:52] And it's fascinating because that's telling us That at the coming of Jesus, Two things are going to happen. God is going to get glory. And we are going to get peace.

[20:04] And that is exactly what happens. Because in all the ways that peace was lost at the fall, It is restored in Jesus.

[20:15] And that brings us to our third question. What is God promising? Well in John 14, 27, It's one of these verses, There's only one verse, But Jesus says some amazing things.

[20:30] And I want to just go through these in a wee bit more detail. So first of all he says, Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you. Now there's two really important words there That I want to look at.

[20:45] It's the word give, And the word leave. These two words are telling us two crucial things. Telling us first of all that God's peace is a gift. It's something that he gives to us.

[20:56] That means that we do not do anything to earn it. But it also tells us that God's peace is left. Jesus says I leave my peace with you.

[21:07] And that means that God's peace is not going anywhere. And all of that arises from what the cross achieves.

[21:18] As we've been saying, Sin has broken our peace with God And made us enemies of God. Sin is basically saying to God, I don't need you. I can cope fine on my own. Sin is saying to God, I don't respect you.

[21:29] I'm not going to acknowledge you as my creator and ruler. Sin is saying to God, I don't want you. I'd rather go on my own. I don't want fellowship with you. Sin is saying to God, I don't trust you.

[21:42] It's saying, Actually, I think I'm going to get on better If I go my own way. And so in all these ways, Sin has broken our peace with God, Made us enemies of God.

[21:53] But the wonderful news of the Gospel Is that Jesus has come to make peace By the blood of his cross. And through him, To reconcile to himself all things, Whether in heaven or on earth, Making peace by the blood of his cross.

[22:11] That's from Colossians chapter 1 verse 20. It says it really explicitly there, That Jesus is making peace By the blood of his cross. In other words, Peacemaking is at the heart of Jesus' mission.

[22:25] And the word that we use to describe that Is the term reconciliation. And that word simply means that An exchange takes place. The hostility and enmity between us and God Is taken away.

[22:39] And it is replaced with friendship. And all of this is possible Because Jesus has borne away from us, Carried away from us, Everything that spoiled our peace with God.

[22:54] So our sin has left us stained and guilty, But the blood of Jesus cleanses us. Our sin has left us constrained. We're slaves to sin.

[23:04] But Jesus has redeemed us And brought us out of slavery. And our sin has left us estranged from God. But now, in Christ Jesus, You who once were far off Have been brought near By the blood of Christ.

[23:19] And the result is an amazing transformation. Those who were enemies of God Are now his friends. In fact, they are now his family.

[23:32] And it's summed up beautifully by Paul In Colossians chapter 1, verse 21. He says, And you who were alienated and hostile in mind, Doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in his body of flesh By his death, In order to present you holy and blameless And above reproach before him.

[23:54] The peace of God is given to us As a gift. And it is left with us. It remains and will never be taken away.

[24:06] And it's all because the cross Is powerful enough To achieve reconciliation. In the gospel, God is promising peace.

[24:19] But one of the big challenges we face Is that it doesn't always feel like that. There are times when we feel An indescribable sense of peace as Christians.

[24:31] Paul describes that in Philippians 4 As the peace of God Which passes all understanding. And it's an amazing thing to experience. But we don't feel like that way all the time.

[24:41] In fact, very often, We don't feel at peace. Often we worry, We're sorrowful, And we're afraid. And it's very easy to think That if we don't feel peace, Then we are not at peace with God.

[25:00] So an example of that might be Maybe you made a mistake last week. So maybe you did something really silly. Maybe you said something you shouldn't have said. And maybe, Or maybe you gave into a temptation to sin again.

[25:13] And maybe you just have this, There's something that you did last week Or sometime, Which has just left you with a huge sense of regret, Frustration, And disappointment.

[25:24] And you don't feel at peace about it. You feel really, Really frustrated by it. And the result of that is that When we don't feel at peace with ourselves, We can very easily think that God is even more disappointed with us.

[25:36] And that he doesn't want anything to do with us. And because of all that, We feel that our friendship with God has been spoiled. And it can so easily happen.

[25:46] I don't know if you ever feel like that. I don't know if you feel like that right now. That you're just a big letdown to God. And that God would not really put you down As one of his truest friends.

[25:58] Maybe you think, Yeah, there was times before When I was doing better in my Christian life. But not now. I just don't feel that kind of peace Is there in the way that it used to be.

[26:09] Do you ever feel like that? I think we all do at times. All of this is a reminder Of how notoriously untrustworthy Our feelings are.

[26:22] Because first and foremost, Our peace with God Is not a feeling. It is a fact. Peace with God is not a feeling.

[26:34] It is a fact. And this is where we have to remember That there's a difference Between peace with God And peace from God. Peace from God Is a wonderful feeling of assurance And security That we sometimes get as Christians But not necessarily very often.

[26:51] But peace with God Is a guaranteed consequence Of your justification. It's an objective reality That never changes. And that nothing Absolutely nothing Can take away.

[27:06] As Jesus said He's left his peace. In other words If you are a Christian Or if you become one It is a theological fact That God is your friend Forever.

[27:17] Jesus' work on the cross Means that you have Peace with God You are reconciled With God The enmity that once Ruined your relationship With him Has now been exchanged For peace And friendship And your feelings Have absolutely No effect on that Whatsoever If you are a Christian Or if you become a Christian You can never Be alienated from God again You can never Be an enemy of God again You can never Provoke the wrath of God again Your friendship with God Is now An unbreakable friendship Because God Has made peace with you He has made your friendship With him A theological fact And of course This is where we see That understanding The fact of our peace With God Will very often Leave us

[28:18] With the feeling Of peace From God Because it's in In theology Not in feelings Where we actually Find assurance In the gospel God is promising us An amazing peace But our last question is What does God Require of us Well there's two things That we can see In John 14 27 And we can just Think about these Together For a moment Before we close The first thing That we need to recognise Is that This peace Is not given In the way That the world Gives Jesus says that So clearly in verse 27 He says Peace I leave with you My peace I give to you Not as the world Giveth Give I Unto you Now there's a lot That we can say here But I think what it's Pointing us to And what I want to highlight Is that Jesus is reminding us That it's very easy To misunderstand peace

[29:20] And because of that It's very easy To look for peace In the wrong places So that means That there's things That we think Will give us peace That actually won't And that means That we have to recognise That when we struggle With ourselves Or with others We can look for peace In the wrong places And yet the truth is That these things Instead of giving us peace Will actually rob us Of our peace So just to look at A couple of examples In Galatians chapter 5 Paul gives a list Of what he calls The works of the flesh Which are sins That we all struggle with And in verse 19 to 21 He lists them He says The works of the flesh Are evident Sexual immorality Impurity Sensuality Idolatry Sociary Amity Strife Jealousy Fits of anger Rivalries Dissensions Divisions Envy Drunkenness Orgies And things Like these

[30:21] That's Galatians 5 19 to 21 Now If you look at These lists A list of sins Like that What we need to recognise Is that It's actually So easy To think That these things Will give us Peace Now that might sound Strange Because you look at A list of sins And you think Well that's all stuff I never want to do But yet actually In the kind of Struggle of day to day life It's so easy To look for peace In these areas So So if Say we struggle With loneliness And if we long For intimacy It's so easy To think that That sensuality Or sexual Immorality Is going to give us That sense of peace We long for When someone Hurts us When someone's Really difficult Maybe at work Or in our families It's so easy To think that Anger Or division Will give us peace That if we respond With With anger Or with strife

[31:21] Or enmity Then that'll give us Peace Because we're kind of Getting our own back For the way That we've been Badly treated Or if we're stressed And burdened Or even if we're bored It's so easy to think That drunkenness Or a wild party Or an orgy As Paul describes it That that kind of thing Is going to distract us And give us peace So if we have a really Rubbish week at work But oh If we can just Kind of You know Go mad at the weekend Then you know We'll get a sense of peace It's so easy to think That these things Will give us peace But yet if you look at them There's a sense in which They're actually All the opposite Of peace Anger Rivalries Sexual immorality Drunkenness None of these Are models of peace They're actually They're actually Pretty chaotic things To get involved in And all of them Instead of giving us peace Will actually ruin Our peace With ourselves And our peace With one another

[32:22] Now It's really important To recognise that We've been reminded That as Jesus said He doesn't give peace The way the world gives And the world gives us Lots of kind of False offers Of peace That we need to recognise But behind this Lies a really important Lesson That we should Bear in mind That being at peace Does not mean Being complacent It's easy to think That peace is just Sort of you know Lying back on a sunny day In the machar And all is well And you just relax And you don't need To think about anything And you can just be Totally casual But that's not really That's not really The way to achieving peace The key to having peace Is not being casual About things It's easy to think Oh just to not have A care in the world That's not how We achieve peace The key to peace Is not being casual About things Rather it's about Having an immensely Firm grip On the things That really matter And that's why Peace requires

[33:22] Vigilance Because if you think About it After a war People are not casual They are incredibly Careful That they maintain Peace And that's reminding us That as Christians We are in a battle For peace And that means We must fight For peace Now that might sound Like a contradiction But I think it's the truth Our natural disposition As sinners Is towards things That are going to Take away our peace From one another Therefore We need to strive To always make peace And Paul makes this Abundantly clear When he speaks about The war between The flesh and the spirit He says Walk by the spirit And you'll not Gratify the desires Of the flesh Because the desires Of the flesh Are against the spirit The desires of the spirit Are against the flesh They're opposed To each other To keep you From doing the things You want to do The flesh wants To bring chaos And conflict And hostility It wants to break

[34:22] Relationships And destroy you As a person But the spirit Wants us to Always be Characterised By peace And therefore We must strive And fight for that Every day Paul talks about That in Romans 14 19 He said Let us pursue What makes for peace And for mutual Upbuilding And all of that Has immense Practical implications For our day to day Life as Christians It's reminding us That as followers Of Jesus We should bring Peace To the situations That we're involved in So next time You're at a meeting At work Where things Are getting A little bit heated As a Christian You should strive For peace Whether it's Something in the community At the football At the sheep If there's tension You should be Striving for peace Now that doesn't Mean compromising But it does mean Avoiding enmity

[35:23] Strife Jealousy Fits of anger Rivalries Dissensions Divisions And envy All these things That Paul lists As works of the flesh As Christians We should be avoiding All of these things And instead Our peace With others Should be Outwardly Visible And this especially Applies When people Fall out So often When people fall out We can hold Grudges So We might You know Maybe The heat of the moment Settles But But The lasting grudge Can remain For a long time And And You know Maybe people Who were once friends Or once closer Something's happened They've fallen out And things just Aren't the same And that grudge That remains Prevents Reconciliation And peace And yet We must never forget What Jesus said In the Beatitudes He said Blessed Are the peacemakers And when he says

[36:25] That we must Always remember That a peacemaker Is not just A peacekeeper A peacekeeper Is someone Who preserves Peace that's Already there A peacemaker Is someone Who works Really hard To bring peace Where at the moment It's not there And that's What Jesus Wants us all To be Not just Peacekeepers But peacemakers And And for every one of us We need to kind of Stop and ask ourselves You know Well is there somebody That I need to Make peace with Or are there two people I know Who I need to help Make peace With one another So Jesus reminds us And explains That the peace He gives Is not given In the way That the world Gives The second thing That he tells us In John 17 Is that He gives us

[37:26] An instruction To not let our hearts Be troubled Or afraid He says there At the end Let not your heart Be troubled Neither Let it be Afraid Now that's the kind Of thing that of course Sounds a lot easier Than it actually is So often Our peace Is taken away And that's not Necessarily because Of what others Are doing Or because of Who other people Are But more often Than not It's because Of ourselves And that can be For many reasons Our sin Things that we We regret Our weaknesses Things that we See ourselves Failing in Decisions that we Make That we're maybe Either worrying About a big decision That we have to make Or maybe we made A decision that we Regret Our fears The things that we Can worry about Whether it's Our health Or our family Or our work Or finances Or our insecurities Whatever they may be We've all got insecurities And things that we're Really sensitive to

[38:26] And things that can Cause us to To be defensive Or to feel that People are getting at us When really they're not Often we can look Inside ourselves And we find That we're not At peace And if you look Around the world Today you'll see That the culture Around us Is utterly Dominated By people Trying to Address that Problem There's a craving For peace With ourselves A craving For our hearts To not be Troubled Or afraid And of course That's what lies At the heart Of many of the Big moral And ethical Changes that we're Seeing Happening in society Today People One of the things That you hear So often In all of these Big ethical issues That are going on Just now Is people will talk About themselves This is about me This is about myself This is me being True to myself Everybody is Trying to express Themselves And be themselves

[39:26] And find themselves And that's because The world is saying To find peace You need to look Into your heart And be whoever you are That's part of how The world tries To give us Peace But of course The Bible tells us That if our hearts Are actually broken And misguided And sinful Then following our hearts Is just going to lead us Down a bad path And if If it was true That just looking Into your heart And being yourself Was the key To finding peace Why is it that people All around us Are still looking And this is where we see That the gospel Is so gloriously different Because the gospel Does not say to you Look into your heart And be who you are And then you'll find peace The gospel says God himself Will come into your heart And he will make you Everything that you Were always intended to be And he will give you peace

[40:27] And that's why The key to finding peace With ourselves Is not in some kind of Pursuit of self-gratification Or fulfilment The key to finding peace Is in theology In the gospel Because what does Jesus say Just in the verse Just before John 14 27 In verse 26 He says The comforter Which is the Holy Ghost Whom the Father Will send in my name He shall teach you All things And bring all things To your remembrance Whatever I have said To you And that's reminding us That the key To finding peace Is to listen To what God Is saying to you Because theology Tells you That God Has made you His friend Theology tells you That you are A precious child In God's family Theology tells you That you are loved By the God Who gave his own son In order to be Reconciled to you Theology tells you That you are safe Forever If you are trusting In Jesus And theology Tells you

[41:27] That God The Holy Spirit Himself Is now dwelling In your heart Theology tells us So many amazing Things that give us Peace But perhaps The most amazing Truth of all Is discovered When we ask The question Who Is making peace Because in all of this It's so easy to think That it's us That we are the ones Who have offended God Therefore we need to go And make peace And sometimes And sometimes We can give that Impression That God You know We've let God Down You need to make Peace with God And you need to Kind of put things Right with him And because we're The ones who Mucked things up The onus is on us To put things right But that is not What the New Testament Emphasizes The overwhelming Emphasis in the New Testament Is not that we Make peace with God It is that God Makes peace With us Paul writes about that In 2 Corinthians 5.18 He says

[42:27] All this Is from God Who through Christ Reconciled us to himself And gave us the ministry Of reconciliation That is In Christ God was reconciling The world to himself Not counting Their trespasses Against them And entrusting To us The message Of reconciliation It's God Who reconciles us To himself In other words It's God Who solves The problem And that is An astounding truth Because we sinned We offended God We caused the alienation We let him down But he Puts it right And of course That's why Jesus Can say in John 14.27 Peace Peace I leave with you My peace I give to you Salvation And peace Is all because

[43:27] Of the grace of God Remember what the angels Said to the shepherds God gets the glory Because he does it all We Get peace And this is why The peace That you have With God Is perfect Because imagine We were the primary peacemakers In other words That our peace with God Depended on us We would always have the worry Have we done enough?

[44:00] And many of the world's religions Have that worry People worry Have I done enough To appease God? Even some Kind of distorted versions Of Christianity Say that That we need to work our way Back up to God By doing stuff That we need to sort it out But if reconciliation Relied on us We could never be sure That we had done enough In other words We wouldn't have peace Because you'd always have that niggle Have I done enough To be right with God?

[44:34] But the amazing thing About the gospel Is the fact that Because he has reconciled us To himself That means that Our peace Depends on him And that means That we can rest in him In perfect harmony As the beloved Children of God That is perfect peace It's a peace That passes All understanding And I don't know If If anyone listening Just has a real longing For peace Maybe Maybe you just feel That huge Kind of hole In your life In your life In your heart Thinking I long for peace And I don't have it This is what Jesus Wants to give you A perfect peace That passes All understanding

[45:35] And And all you actually Have to do Is say Lord please Please give me Your peace May God grant That that's A prayer That we all Keep praying Amen Father we thank you That you are The God of peace And Lord Jesus We thank you That you are The one who has Given peace to us And left your peace With us We thank you For everything That the cross Has achieved That All the brokenness And hostility That our sin Has caused Has been replaced With your perfect peace We worship you And praise you As the God of peace And as we close now We pray that That Your grace Your mercy And your peace Would remain with everyone As they go into The new week In Jesus name we pray Amen

[46:35]  Amen