Stockton Baptist Church

PEACE. The world largely longs for it. We want peace in our family relationships, peace with our neighbors, peace at work, peace in our country and the world at large. Many people especially long to have inner peace. God tells us through the prophet Isaiah that it is Messiah Jesus who is "the Prince of Peace" (9:6). Yet God also tells us through Isaiah, "'There is no peace for the wicked' says the LORD" (Isa. 48:22). We also see in that soul-searching passage in Romans 3, in which the Apostle Paul emphasizes the wickedness of all mankind, that "the way of peace they have not known" (3:17). Are you seeking for peace? Do you long for genuine peace in your soul? Your journey to finding peace must begin by being rightly related to God the Father through God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul told the Christians in pagan, idolatrous Rome, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (5:1). Jesus is the One who went to battle against Satan and sin on that old rugged cross. It was there that God poured out His righteous wrath toward our sin on His Son. His wrath toward our sin having been satisfied, God is now able to justify (declare to be righteous) all who trust (believe, place their full faith in) the Lord Jesus Christ. At that moment, the battle between God and the humbled, repentant sinner is over. The result? Peace with God! No longer is that soul at odds with God and fighting against Him and His will. Now that soul longs to please the Prince of Peace who "made peace through the blood of His cross" (Col. 1:20). What an amazing transformation of life! And now, being at peace with God, that soul can know "the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding" (Phil. 4:7). God gives His perfect peace to that former wayward soul. Or, as Isaiah put it, "You (God) will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You" (26:3).