Peace: “A Son on the Throne and Peace Without End”

Intro

Imagine A person battling stage-four cancer and crippling anxiety. Last week her doctor handed her a government-approved brochure. the headline reads: “Medical Assistance in Dying – A Peaceful, Compassionate Choice When Suffering Becomes Too Great.”

The message is clear: “If the pain is too much, we can give you peace. One appointment. One injection. The suffering ends forever.” The state calls that peace.

Imagine a pastor preparing his Christmas Day sermon. He plans to open the Bible and read Isaiah 9:6 aloud: “For to us a child is born… and his name shall be called… Prince of Peace.” Then he intends to preach, as he has for twenty years, that this Child grew up and taught that marriage is between one man and one woman, that every human being is made in God’s image—male and female—and that repentance and faith in Jesus bring forgiveness and new life to every sinner, no matter the struggle.

maybe he hesitates. Because a bill moving through Parliament right now—contains an amendment that would strip away the legal protection pastors have always had when they teach what the Bible says on these things. If it passes, simply reading certain verses aloud and calling people to repent could, be labelled “wilful promotion of hatred.” The government’s message to himis also clear: “If your words make certain people feel uncomfortable, we can give you peace too. One investigation. One charge. One conviction. The ‘hate’ stops forever.” Tthey call that peace.

Two stories. Same tactic. In both cases the world says: “We will bring peace… by making the problem disappear.”

That night in Bethlehem, heaven did not bring peace by removing suffering people from the earth. Heaven brought peace by sending the Prince of Peace into the earth—into the suffering, into rejection, and eventually a cross. He fulfilled the prophets. He did not erase sinners but died for them. He declared, “I am the Truth,” and then rose from the dead to prove it.

not by eliminating the hurting, but by redeeming them. But the world offers two other options A needle for the suffering. A courtroom gag for the truth.

But the Jesus is still offering the real thing: peace that does not demand our non-existence, but promises His never-ending presence. A peace that is not afraid of pain or of truth, because the One who holds tomorrow has already conquered both.

We will keep handing out something better. We will hand a hurting neighbour the news that there is a Saviour who entered her pain and will walk with her through the valley of the shadow— all the way home. And we will hand a confused culture the news that there is still a King who refuses to rewrite His Word to make us comfortable, because only His unchanging truth can make us truly free.

One day every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and every heart that trusted Him will know a peace the world can neither give nor take away.

That, brothers and sisters, is the only peace worth singing about this Christmas. My peace I give you, My peace I leave to you we are told. The bible speaks of the peace that is offered through a relationship in Jesus Christ Our Lord. The second candle we light is the canlde of peace and in that we learn of the the peace promised through a relationship in Jesus. We think of all the peace that is promised and look up to the world around us and wonder what happened to this so called peace.

The birth of Jesus offers us peace, not like the owrld who offers death wrapped up in a wrapper of peace but true peace in the forgiveness of our sin.

Point: The prophets took David’s covenant and painted it in cosmic colors: worldwide, endless peace flowing from David’s greater Son.

New Testament Promise

We start out this time in the book of John. In the passage that we re going to look into this morning we are promised peace. After that we will go back in time to the OT

In the Beginning of John 14 we are reminded that we need not be worried about ttorubles in the world. Peace in Jesus is what this is talking about.

John 14:1 CSB

“Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

In this passage Jesus Was Promising us peace and hope. He reminded His followers that he was going away to a place that they could follow if they wanted to. He told them that the place where He was going had lots of room. One day Jesus was going to come back He told us, but in the mean time we need to be prepared.

but this peace comes with a commitment.

John 14:5–6 CSB

“Lord,” Thomas said, “we don’t know where you’re going. How can we know the way?” Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

The way to heaven, the place that is prepared for us, the way to eternal peace is through Jesus Christ alone. Only through His salvation do we have access to this eternal peace that is offered.

we are promised that as followers of Jesus their is a way to ease the troubles in our heart. That we have access to eternity in heaven through belief in Jesus and if we truly do love God the way that we claim to then our lives are going to show it.

John 14:15–16 CSB

“If you love me, you will keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.

so we need to live our lives for God, and we wouldnt be alone in doing it we are promised a helper, that is through the HS. So we keep this in mind as we move to the passage I wanted to focus on this morning. Jesus said He was leaving, that there would a place for those that give their lives to him where he was going, that in the meantime we ned to live our lives for Him. and then He repeated himself.

John 14:27 CSB

“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.

This is a peace that comes not from the things of the world but rather by the power of God. but jesus also told us he wasd going away.

John 14:28–31 CSB

You have heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. I have told you now before it happens so that when it does happen you may believe. I will not talk with you much longer, because the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me. On the contrary, so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do as the Father commanded me. “Get up; let’s leave this place.

Have peave while you are in this world but I am going away Jesus told them. Have peace but the world is going to come after you. What the birth of Jesus gives us is a promsie of peacebut the disciples didnt really see peace in their lifetime.

The disciples spoke the word of God to the world around them and where slaughtered because of it, crucified, stoned, beheaded and Jesus told them you can have peace in me. Yoiu see the peace that comes with the birth of Jesus looks forward This has bee the truth since the times of the OT

Just Look to the OT

In the book of 1 sam that we are going through we read that they where in search of a king to bring them peace, but they had that in God already. An earhtly king was not going to bring them what they sought The erathly king as we have seen looked forward to an everlasting peace.

Isaiah 9:6–7  

Isaiah 9:6–7 CSB

For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.

God will accomplish this peace, a peace that looked forward first to the birth of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. But first the peace was going to come in salvation from our sins. It is God who will accomplish this we are told. The zeal of the Lord alone will give us peace.

Try to find peace in this world without the Lord, I know I have tried and I have failed in trying. The so called peace that is offered by the world will in the end bring nothing but heartache.

Micah 5:2–5 CSB

Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are small among the clans of Judah; one will come from you to be ruler over Israel for me. His origin is from antiquity, from ancient times. Therefore, Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of the ruler’s brothers will return to the people of Israel. He will stand and shepherd them in the strength of the Lord, in the majestic name of the Lord his God. They will live securely, for then his greatness will extend to the ends of the earth. He will be their peace. When Assyria invades our land, when it marches against our fortresses, we will raise against it seven shepherds, even eight leaders of men.

A child promised from Bethlehem, a ruler coming which we know to be Jesus

There was going to be a time of silence from God, the intertestemntal period where they didnt hear from God, How could they trust in this offered peace when God was silent?

He will be their peace, even as the invaders come they will find peace only in the Lord and following Him.

What this is reminding us is that Only the Lord God provides hope for the future. If God is the sovereign power the plans the future and not human beings then we must turn to Him.

So then hope will involve waiting on the Lord for all things. Because people have an overconfidcence in themselves to bring about any sort of plkan for themselves. But then we begome quickly overwhelmed by the circumstances that happen that become beyond our control.

then Hope and peace involve waiting on the Lord, having faith that God will do what He said he will do. Then when bills pass that make it prosecutable to preach the truth of the gospel, when people think they can find peace in the ways of the world we remember what the Lord has promised us.

This also needs to involve remembering we need not be afraid of what the world throws at us. But rather an expectation of what the Lord has promsied will come.

S0 What?

What do we do with this? we are called to have peace in the midst of all that is going on. Where do we find peace in the midst or persection and prosecution. Do we find peace in releasing ourselves from the suferring of the world? Or can we learn t find peace in the suffering of the world.

Jesus was born to first bring the peace of salvation

Peace must frist come from salvation in Jesus. John 14:6 “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” and the bible tells us that in many more places as well. It was after this Jesus promised his followers that it was His peace that He gives us. My peace I give you we are told.

Advent Peace: The angels over Bethlehem sing because the Prince of Peace has finally taken the throne.

Do we trust our lives in the prince of peace? Have you given your life to Jesus to find eternal peace.

Finding Peace in the Crisis

Those with a high view of God, who recognize that God is the sovereign King of this world, will be more likely to bring their problems to him. If, however, you live around self-reliant and independent people who proudly struggle through problems with a stiff upper lip, then calling on God for help may not be an immediate response to troubled times. These people work hard, don’t complain, and don’t bother God with the little details of life. Looking at this idea from the positive side, one can exhort people not to follow the mistakes of the past but to seek God’s help in times of crisis. A good biblical example is Nehemiah, who repeatedly calls out to God for help throughout his ministry

One factor that determines how people respond to a crisis is their belief about God’s sovereign plans in relation to “our” plans for the future, where are we finding our peace. Anyone involved in marriage counseling knows that the problem of wanting my plans to happen and wanting to control the future are common forces that drive couples apart.31 At work, bosses and employees often have different perspectives on how companies should be run, and one person or group in the church may try to force their wishes on the rest of the congregation. In all these cases there is the problem of my control of the future and my ability to make things go according to my plans. We often want to solve our crisis situations ourselves.

So lets say this bill passes then what do we do? find peace in the Lord, wait upon the Lord for His plan is sure and his will come to pass. We can trust in God’s sovereign power rather than the work of our own hands. Hope is not secure if it is founded only on human plans, human reason, and human experience. Lasting hope is only found in God.