The Advent of Peace

[0:00] there are certain concepts that seem to be universally associated with the Christmas season. They're ingrained in our holiday culture under the banner of Christmas spirit, typically.

[0:14] Perhaps you've heard that phrase used a number of times already in just the last couple of weeks. And they show up routinely in our festive songs. They show up in our movies.

[0:25] Perhaps if you have your Christmas decorations up in your house, you will see words associated with these concepts on display in your home. If you've already begun to wrap Christmas presents for the year, perhaps you have some wrapping paper that has these concepts plastered all over it.

[0:42] But everywhere we turn for the next few weeks, we are going to see the emphasis on concepts like joy, hope, love, faith, peace.

[0:56] And we're talking culturally here. I'm not just talking about the church. You can walk into the stores. You can go to the mall. You can drive down the roads. You can see the ads on television, whatever it is that you're doing.

[1:07] And you're going to see an emphasis on these things that really, for the most part, are just reserved for religious talk the rest of the year, isn't it? But it's different this time of year.

[1:19] And we're going to see it emphasized everywhere. And, of course, these are totally abstract ideas on their own. And they're interpreted in a variety of ways, culturally speaking.

[1:30] So that if you were to go to Target or some other retail location today looking for Christmas presents, you're going to see probably on the signage and on the banners that they have in their store things like joy.

[1:44] It may even just be that word. Joy. Right? And what is the messaging that comes along with that? You will have great joy this Christmas season if you buy your Christmas presents from us.

[1:57] Yes. That's where you will have your joy this year. Right? Or maybe shopping is not your thing. Maybe your thing is to veg out on the couch and turn on the Hallmark Channel or Netflix or something like that.

[2:10] And what's the messaging that comes across? Love, generally, isn't it? Love is the word that we see. Christmas love, a Christmas prince, a Christmas tree, a Christmas everything. And it's all basically the same story.

[2:23] Right? And the messaging is the same. The messaging is you will experience love this Christmas season if you leave your job in the big city and you go back to your small hometown for the season.

[2:41] And you happen to run into that guy that you knew in elementary school who turned into this successful hunk. And if you will just do that, you will have love this Christmas season.

[2:54] Right? And we could go on and on with that, can't we? Everyone is telling us that we can have joy and hope and love and peace this Christmas season.

[3:05] But they all have different answers for what those things mean and for how they can actually be obtained. Well, what's fascinating is that no matter how hard our secular world works to separate the season from religious thought, it can't help but borrow from Christian worldviews when using these categories.

[3:27] That's where they come from. Thoughts of peace, love, hope, and joy. Those are distinctly biblical ideas that everyone wants to achieve so long as they can do it their way rather than God's way.

[3:45] It's interesting, isn't it? It's fascinating, really. We want everything that God offers. We just don't want to achieve it God's way. We want to be able to get at it our way. We want to decide what love means and how we can get it, but we at least want the love.

[3:59] So on and so forth as the concepts go. Over the next few weeks, we're going to look at how Jesus alone is the fulfillment of these things that we all long so deeply to experience.

[4:14] If you really do want hope and peace and joy and love this Christmas, you're only going to find it in Christ. It's the only place, the only person where you can really genuinely find these things.

[4:25] And this morning, we're going to turn our attention to the birth of Jesus as the advent of peace. I'm not going to do very thorough expositions through this. We're going to bounce around, so I want you to keep your Bibles handy and prepare to turn to a few places.

[4:38] But we're going to start here in Luke chapter 2. Are you there? Luke chapter 2. Let's read a larger portion of the chapter here, starting at verse 8. In the same region, there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

[4:53] And an angel of the Lord appeared to them. The glory of the Lord shone around them. They were filled with great fear. The angel said to them, We're going to come back to that verse on Christmas Eve.

[5:21] But maybe take the month. If you don't like to do a lot of reading, just read that verse every day. Just meditate on that verse every day.

[5:32] There is so much packed into just that little phrase. Unto is born this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Four major, major elements of biblical truth are represented just in that one announcement.

[5:48] Verse 12, And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest.

[6:03] And on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased. When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.

[6:20] And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.

[6:31] And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying, praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

[6:48] And peace. Peace is what we want to focus on here. Christmas is often regarded as a season that brings peace. And just like with those other concepts, in the coming days, we're going to all be instructed in various ways to pursue peace.

[7:07] Especially with those that we've spent much of the year warring with. That's what's funny about it, isn't it? Whatever you're going to do for most of the year, at least at Christmas, set those things aside and be at peace with one another.

[7:20] You're going to hear, as if we're not hearing a lot of it already, but you're going to hear even stronger calls in the next couple of weeks. And underneath the banner of Christmas spirit, that for at least Christmas, we want the fighting in Gaza to cease.

[7:38] At least for Christmas. And because of Christmas, we want the war in Ukraine to pause. At least for Christmas, we want these conflicts around the world that are unfolding.

[7:49] There's going to be urges, stronger urges than maybe normally there are throughout other times of the year. And it's going to be under this banner of peace that is associated with the Christmas season. People groups that genuinely hate each other are going to be urged a little stronger to get along.

[8:07] You're going to be encouraged to love your in-laws when you go and visit their house and just be at peace with them. All the things, we're going to be encouraged on those things. And those are good things. Those are not things that we should have a problem with.

[8:19] But this message of peace, noble as it is, really ultimately and annually is fruitless. It's fruitless because it has no ground or effective mechanism for actually making peace.

[8:37] That's the problem. It's so abstract. We're just simply told to look deep within ourselves, and there we'll find the strength to do these things. But the problem is when we begin to be so introspective, when we look so deep down within ourselves, what we find, what we come to the end of is the very sin, the very hurt that we've experienced that caused all the turmoil to begin with.

[9:04] It's very backward reasoning. It's, hey, it's Christmas. Look inside yourself so that you can find the strength to be at peace. But then when you really begin to think about it, you think, well, all I can think about is the problems that has robbed me of peace.

[9:17] How is it that I can find in myself some mechanism for actually making peace now? And then the Christmas season really just becomes a massive lie.

[9:28] It's a facade that renders displays of peace utterly superficial. The message is the basic equivalent of the exhausted parent saying to their kids, would you please, for 30 minutes, pretend to like each other so we can have a decent meal as a family, right?

[9:54] That's basically what the messaging comes down to. We get out of all the ads. Basically, it's our mom saying, listen, would you just pretend to like each other so we can enjoy some stories and some cookies and some hot chocolate for a little while?

[10:06] None of it's real. It's perhaps spirit lifting to some extent, but it's not real. It's fruitless. It's not lasting. It's not true peace.

[10:18] It's deferred war. There's also a kind of messaging this time of year, every year, that seeks to blend the secular notions of peace with the religious and sacred hopes of peace, hoping that it might achieve a better result.

[10:38] that if we can just take a little bit of this and a little bit of that and bring it together, it will finally work. Combines elements of religion and culture to offer something everyone longs to experience, but then it still misses the mark.

[10:53] What it ends up doing is actually muddying the waters even more. Can I give you an example? Maybe a facetious example, but an example nonetheless. You like Gene Autry?

[11:06] In 1947, Gene Autry publishes and records for the first time these lyrics. Peace on earth will come to all if we just follow the light.

[11:22] So let's give thanks to the Lord above. Why? Because Santa Claus comes tonight. It's this blending notion that we're confronted with every year.

[11:35] It's been going on for decades where we take a little bit of the secular and we take a little bit of the sacred. We don't want to emphasize either one too much. We try to make it work together. But what it does is it muddies the waters even more.

[11:48] I know that's not meant to be taken so seriously, so don't come at me after the service. I'm not saying you can't sing Here Come Santa Claus. But it does actually symbolize the vast confusion that has existed in Western thought for decades.

[12:00] It includes an utterly vapid notion of peace on earth first. What does that even mean? Peace on earth will come to all if we just follow the light.

[12:10] Because he immediately follows it up with something that's completely heinous. He says, Now we're to give thanksgiving to the Lord, not because of the advent of the Christ who has come to save us from our sins, but for the advent of a storybook character who comes to bring us toys and eat all our cookies.

[12:31] Do you see why this is a problem? Do you see why this kind of blending, it actually makes things worse? It teases us with thoughts of peace by at least acknowledging that God has something to do with it.

[12:43] But then it fails to deliver on its promise by replacing Jesus with Santa. Now, the Bible gives us a better way.

[12:55] A much better way. Not only does God issue genuine promises of peace, but he fully delivers on those promises through his son, Jesus Christ.

[13:08] We all long for this peace. The world longs for peace, even those who don't know Christ. They long for peace because God put that in us. He put that in us.

[13:19] He put that desire in us. And they're trying to find it in all kinds of ways. But God put a longing in us that only he can satisfy. Only he can bring this peace. And what I want to do this morning is look at three passages that help us understand the meaning of God's peace, how Jesus is the provider of that peace, and then how we can actually truly receive that peace once and for all.

[13:45] Okay? So we're going to look at what peace actually is, how Jesus is the fulfillment of it, how Jesus alone is the fulfillment of it, and how we can receive it. Number one, I want you to see the announcement of peace.

[13:57] The announcement of peace. This is where we come to Luke chapter 2. The angel's appearance to shepherds near Bethlehem on the night of Jesus' birth is such an exciting part of the Christmas story, isn't it?

[14:10] Like, you just can't imagine what it would have been like to be on that hill or in those caves or wherever it was that they were near Bethlehem when all of this began to unfold. It says they were in great fear.

[14:21] I would imagine that's a bit of an understatement. I would have been scared to death. But this part of the story is actually hugely important. The angelic message was a plain declaration of the gospel to these lowly shepherds.

[14:38] It even uses gospel language. Look at verse 10. And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news. That's the euangelion.

[14:51] Evangel. Good news. Gospel. That's the gospel word. Behold, I bring you good news of great joy, the angel says.

[15:02] But we need to notice that the substance of this good news, of this gospel message, has everything to do with Jesus. The good news of great joy in verse 10 is equal to, Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord, in verse 11.

[15:24] That's the substance of the gospel message. He hasn't got to peace yet. That's not actually a part of the message that they deliver to the shepherds. The message to the shepherds is, The Christ has come.

[15:37] He is born a Savior in Bethlehem. Now, too often we can be guilty of reducing the gospel message to what really are just the benefits of the gospel, but not the substance of it.

[15:54] Good news of great joy is not first peace on earth. Good news of great joy is Christ is born. Jesus is the gospel.

[16:09] And you can't experience any of the benefits of the gospel, like peace and love and so on, without Jesus, without who He is and without what He's done for us.

[16:21] That's why the notions of blending secular and sacred together, they don't actually work. Because in Jesus alone, we have both the ground for peace and the mechanism for peace.

[16:38] The actual way of achieving it and receiving it. So that if you don't have Jesus, you can't actually have peace. At least not the peace that we're referring to here. And we're going to return to this text on Christmas Eve.

[16:54] But for now, I want to draw your attention to the praise of the heavenly hosts in verses 13 and 14. Look at it with me. Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among those with whom He is pleased.

[17:16] So with the announcement of Jesus' birth in verse 10, comes the announcement of peace through Jesus in the praise of the heavenly host in verse 14.

[17:30] So if you follow the progression of the text here, it becomes clear that the result of Christ's advent, of His coming, is God's glory in making peace with His people.

[17:44] Do you see that in the praise? The angel appears and he says, Listen, the Christ has come. He's in Bethlehem. Go see Him. And then all of a sudden, there's all of these angels and they're praising God, not the shepherds.

[17:56] They're not speaking to the shepherds. They're praising God and they're saying, This is bringing God glory, glory to God in the highest because this Savior has come. And because He has come, He has brought peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased to give it.

[18:12] You see the progression. But it's essential that we understand what this peace actually means. Again, cultural notions of peace typically have to do with getting along with other people.

[18:25] But that's not the kind of peace that the gospel has in view. It's not the kind of peace that the gospel promises actually. If we think of this announcement as the end of wars and the end of interpersonal disputes, listen, if that's what this is, then the gospel has failed.

[18:44] It has not delivered. And it doesn't take you long to figure that out. How many of you had a fight with somebody in your house before you even came this morning? Interpersonal disputes, they still happen.

[18:55] Wars, they're getting worse and worse. More prevalent. If that's what the angels had in mind in this announcement, then the gospel has failed and we are lost. The Bible's not promised that kind of peace in relation to the first advent of the Christ of Christ.

[19:14] Jesus himself said that there would continue to be conflict among people, that nations would continue in some cases to be at war because of him even. Here is words from Matthew chapter 10.

[19:27] Jesus himself says, Do not think that I have come to bring peace to earth. I have not come to bring peace, he says, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and a person's enemies will be those of his own household.

[19:48] Whoever loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever loves son and daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it.

[20:00] Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Those are strong words from the Savior. And they are immersed in conflict. They're immersed in war and in problems.

[20:16] Now it doesn't mean that we shouldn't pursue peace with these people. Jesus' point is that even the gospel brings division and conflict. The gospel doesn't promise the kind of peace that we're so used to hearing about this time of year.

[20:31] So then what does this peace actually mean? Are we to understand that Jesus' teaching is in contradiction with the angelic announcement at his birth? No.

[20:42] Because they're not referring to the same kind of peace. The peace associated with the advent of Christ and that is proclaimed in the praise of the heavenly host is not peace with your wife.

[20:56] It is peace with God. That's the peace that is now promised. Peace with your creator. The primary benefit of peace in the incarnation of Jesus is not that you will get along better with those in your family and in your workplace but that you might be reconciled to God and escape his eternal wrath.

[21:22] You see, the world gets this completely backward. But what's good, what good is it if we get along with every human being on the planet but we're an enemy of God? The advent of the Christ isn't about bringing peace among men though it does get there eventually.

[21:38] The advent of the Christ is about bringing peace between man and God, their creator. creator. Reconciliation. Restoration together in eternity.

[21:50] And the reality of our standing before God and his promise to provide a way for peace takes us all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve enjoyed perfect fellowship and peace with God until the day that they disobeyed him.

[22:10] Think about what happened on that day. on that day they were expelled from the garden, the place, the paradise, the place where God had set them. They were expelled from that.

[22:21] They received the curses that came along with their sin. They lost fellowship with their creator. And though graciously allowed to live a long life, they were then destined for death.

[22:34] That was the ultimate consequence. death. Death. You see, God's holiness, it demands judgment. But even amid the judgment, he promised that he would provide a means of peace and reconciliation once again.

[22:52] We call it the proto-evangelion. Genesis 3.15. In the curse of the serpent, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring, he shall bruise your head, you shall bruise his heel.

[23:08] It doesn't say much, at least in that verse, it doesn't say much about how this is going to happen, but it's the start. God, even in the midst of the opening judgment, gives an opening promise. One day, he will send one who will bring peace, who will reconcile us back to our creator.

[23:26] And then through the scriptures, God gives us all these pictures and promises of what this Messiah, Savior, would be and what he would do and it all has to do with making an atonement for our sins.

[23:42] All of it. It has to do with atonement. The advent of Christ means the advent of peace with God. Sinners reconciled to their creator by grace.

[23:59] The praise of the heavenly host announced that God's promised peace peace was now being fulfilled in, quote, a child wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.

[24:14] So I think Gene Autry had it wrong. peace on earth is an experience because Santa Claus is coming to town. Peace on earth is experience because a Savior who is Christ the Lord is born this day in the city of David.

[24:33] And the peace he brings is peace with God himself. That's amazing to consider. You just let that marinate on your mind a while. This peace, it restores me to my heavenly Father.

[24:48] It's a peace that escapes eternal hell. It's a peace that takes the judgment that I deserve and puts it on someone else so that I can be at peace a child of God.

[25:02] That's the peace that's promised in the gospel. That's the announcement of it. Number two, let's look at the provision of peace. The provision of peace. And for this, I want you to turn to Colossians chapter 1.

[25:15] Colossians chapter 1. Would you just flip there quickly? Colossians chapter 1. It's one thing to acknowledge that peace with God comes only through the advent of the Christ, but how exactly does Jesus provide and secure this peace?

[25:33] Let's first say how he doesn't supply this peace. It's not simply by virtue of his existence. It didn't only require his coming.

[25:46] It wasn't just the fact that he came. That's not enough. We're not given peace with God simply because he was born. And the Bible nowhere teaches that the entire universe is reconciled to God on the grounds of Christ's goodness and virtue.

[26:04] The Bible doesn't teach that at all. That's universalism. That's not what the Bible teaches. Even the angelic message itself declares that this peace was limited to those with whom God is pleased to give it.

[26:16] So it's not simply by the existence of Jesus that suddenly everyone is just okay and everyone's at peace. Okay?

[26:28] Neither does Jesus provide this peace by setting a moral example by which we might earn our way back to God. Doesn't work like that either.

[26:41] It's not that God sends his son to do some things so that if we do some things ourselves we'll be made acceptable. It's not that he sends Jesus to do like a percentage of it and then if we cover our own percentage here then okay he's gonna give us a pass and things are gonna be done.

[26:58] That's not how this works. The prevailing thought of the day is that if there is a God and if he's good then he will reward those who do their best and try their hardest.

[27:10] But Jesus himself said in Matthew chapter 7 that there will be many people who stand before him in judgment having lived exceptionally moral lives and still be condemned to eternal hell.

[27:27] So it's not just about providing a moral example so that if we live faithfully and morally and ethically will make it. No. Colossians chapter 1 look with me at verse 19.

[27:41] I know we're parachuting into this text but hang with me. For in him that is in Jesus all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things that's peace with God whether on earth or in heaven making peace by the blood of his cross and you who were once 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.

[28:23] Now there's enough here for two or three sermons. Let me just give you a snippet of it here. Okay. Three simple things about this text that refers to Jesus as the provider of peace and how he's provided it.

[28:33] Number one our peace comes through his cross. Our peace comes through his cross. God was pleased through Jesus to reconcile to himself all things making peace by the blood of his cross.

[28:52] Peace with God is announced at the birth of Christ but it is provided and secured at the death of Christ. We are not made at peace with God simply because Christ exists and was born.

[29:09] We are made at peace with God because Christ died in our place. Earlier I mentioned the promises and pictures in the scripture regarding the person and work of the Messiah that God had given us so that we would know what to look for.

[29:28] Jesus is the fulfillment of all of those things not the least of which is the fulfillment of the picture we see in the Old Testament sacrificial system.

[29:39] Year after year they brought their lambs and goats and bulls and pigeons and all the things that God had instructed them to give and they sacrificed them year after year after year but they had to keep coming and doing it again because none of it actually worked.

[29:54] none of it was sufficient to provide atonement and they did it over and over and over God getting them to look forward that one day a sacrifice would come a once and for all sacrifice that would never have to be repeated and then we get to the New Testament and we see all that the Bible has to say about Jesus and we find that what Jesus is is the perfect spotless lamb of God slain for the sins of the world it's only through the atoning blood of his cross that sinners can be reconciled to the holy God why was Jesus born Jesus was literally born to die that's why he came to die because it's only in his death that we can have life and peace and be reconciled to God our peace comes through his cross number two our peace comes through his person our peace comes through his person not just anyone could make a sacrifice to satisfy

[31:10] God's wrath for our sins it wouldn't work we all have sin which means our death is its own punishment but Jesus had no sin so his death is not a payment for his own wrongdoing it must be for someone else's wrongdoing it's a substitution it took a perfect sinless sacrifice to appease God and bring us peace so what is it about Jesus' cross that made his sacrifice efficacious for us it's who he is it's his person we can be reconciled to God through Jesus because as Paul says in verse 19 all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell in him Jesus not only bears the glory of God but all that God is dwells in him which is to say that Jesus is truly

[32:14] God he's not a representative of God he is God God in flesh that's the wonder of the incarnation isn't it God has become man to save us from our sins Matt Boswell and Matt Papa have just recently released a new Christmas song called In the Fullness of Time it's a beautiful song you should go and listen to it at the very end of the song they take that old hymn that we often sing holy holy holy lord god almighty and they add a verse to it and it's so wonderful it fits for Christmas holy holy holy in a manger lowly Christ the son now born as man in our humanity veiled in flesh in our humanity kingdoms bow before him heaven and earth endure him and I love this phrase God here in person

[33:17] God here in person you know how this song goes in the other verses God in three persons now it says God here in person on earth in person God himself that's who Jesus is that's why any of this matters that's why Paul can write to the Colossians and say that God was pleased to use Jesus to make peace with us through the blood of his cross it was only possible because of what he said first that all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell in him he is God therefore has become the atonement for us now that's real peace real peace is not an olive branch between two people who just decide to now get along real eternal peace is the one who has been wronged giving himself for the ones who have done the wrong that's what

[34:22] God has done and it's all through the scriptures we see it everywhere maybe most notably in John chapter one the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory glory as the only son from the father full of grace and truth our peace comes through his cross but that's only possible because our peace comes through his person who he is thirdly our peace comes through his grace comes through his grace look back at the verses Colossians one notice the description given for sinners here I think it's verse 21 what does it say we were once alienated hostile in mind that is hostile toward God in mind doing evil deeds that's who we are as sinners now notice what he says about us at the end of verse 22 that we are presented holy blameless and above reproach before

[35:28] God that's quite the shift isn't it alienated hostile in mind doing evil deeds now we're presented by Jesus holy and blameless and above reproach before God it's a complete 180 and here's a point our holiness does not come before being reconciled to God but after do you see that this is who we were but now Christ has reconciled in his body a flesh by his death he's reconciled us so that he may present us holy and blameless and above reproach what is that all about it's grace it's grace we are not made at peace because we finally got stuff together because we develop this holiness and this goodness and this above reproach where God was finally willing to unpinch his nose and give us a pass no that comes after we've made peace or he's made peace isn't that amazing peace with God is not something that we can achieve so stop trying to earn it you don't have to do that it won't work anyways it's given to us freely by God's grace through

[36:52] Jesus Christ and it's only after we've been reconciled to God that Jesus begins his work of sanctification making us holy and presentable to God and even then it's not on the basis of our righteousness that he presents us holy it's on the basis of his own righteousness that he presents us holy isn't that amazing so what is this peace actually that that the gospel promises it's peace with God first and foremost right okay that's that's really our biggest need other peace can come but it's only going to come after we're made at peace with God well how is it actually secured well Jesus fulfills it through the cross and atonement thirdly how can we receive it if that's how it's been secured for us and if we can't earn it how do we actually receive it that's the third thing the receiving of peace now I want you to turn to Romans chapter five he's gonna look at the first verse

[37:53] Romans chapter five we read this all the time in our prayers of confession and it's worth doing again here we've seen that the promised peace of God through Christ is not universally applied okay we got that check we've also noted that it's not something we can earn by living up to a particular moral standard okay we got that check so how exactly is this peace good news then because it seems impossible to actually get how can be received well the answer is so simple that it almost sounds too good to be true that's the thing Romans chapter five verse one therefore since we have been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ it's good enough to read again therefore since we have been justified by faith we have peace with

[38:58] God through our Lord Jesus Christ peace with God is not something you earn by what you do it is something you receive by faith in what Jesus has already done isn't that amazing this verse makes it abundantly clear peace with God through the cross of Christ is received by faith sinners are declared righteous that's the meaning of the word justified sinners are declared righteous by trusting in the person and work of Jesus the righteous one that's God's plan not for us to earn our way but to see that Jesus did everything that we couldn't do and to trust him now to reconcile us to the father but this faith it's not mere belief it's not simply intellectual agreement saving faith trust so fully in the finished work of

[40:02] Christ that it abandons all other pursuits it abandons all sin and it joyfully submits to follow Jesus as Lord and Savior that's saving faith it's not just going to your Sunday school class and saying okay that sounds good I guess I'll be a Christian no it's leaving everything else trusting so fully in the person and work of Jesus that you leave every other religious pursuit you turn away from every sin you've ever committed and you follow him joyfully as Lord and Savior of your life it's an act of faith produced by God's spirit who draws the sinner convicts the sinner of their sin and then transforms the sinner from the inside out it's what Jesus said in John 3 is called being born again I want to ask you have you been born again are you actually trusting fully in the death and resurrection of Jesus for your salvation have you submitted all of your life to his lordship if not he invites you to do it now

[41:25] Jesus extends his invitation Matthew 11 come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I'm gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is life how do I receive this peace he says just come to me just come to me and I'll give it to you come to me John 6 all that the father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never cast out never think about that in regards to peace not only is he's saying I have made peace with you but that peace isn't ever going to be taken away again why because it's secured by an effective mechanism the cross the perfect sinless son of

[42:28] God sacrifice for your sin it's all paid for not just the things you've done but every sin you'll ever commit in your whole life covered by the blood of his cross and he says you come to me and I'll give you rest and peace and that will never be taken away again how do we receive this peace by faith come to Jesus believe him don't wait another moment well Christmas really is a season of peace I hope that I didn't convolute that too much earlier but it's only because of Jesus that it's a season of peace he's the grounds for our peace peace and his cross is the mechanism that's made peace possible and because of our peace with God now we can actually genuinely pursue peace with others we don't do that in this Christmas spirit but in the power of the

[43:31] Holy Spirit as he renews us day by day so this Advent season as a church let's rejoice in the peace Jesus has provided and let's take that message of true peace to the world around us to