THE PEACE OF GOD – Charles Spurgeon
The Peace of God
“And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7.
The Heavenly Nature of Peace
“PEACE” is a heavenly word. When at the advent of our Lord angels came to sing among men a midnight sonnet, their second note was “Peace on earth.” Would God the shining ones would chant that song again till yonder Balkans heard the strain and shook off the sulfurous cloud which now hangs around them. Those who have ever seen war, or even come near the trail of its bloody march, will be thankful to God for peace. I am almost of his mind who said that the worst peace is preferable to the very best war that was ever waged, if best there can be where all is bad as bad can be. Peace is most pleasant when religion sits beneath its shade and offers her joyful vows to heaven. How grateful we ought to be that we can meet together to worship God after that form which best satisfies our consciences without any fear of being hunted down by the authorities of the land. We have no watchman on the hilltops looking out for Claverhouse’s dragoons. We put none at the front door of our conventicle to watch lest the constable should come to take off worshipper and minister, that they may suffer imprisonment or fine. We worship God in unlimited liberty and we ought to be exceedingly glad of the privilege and infinitely more grateful for it than we are. Do we not sit, every man under his own vine and fig tree, none making us afraid? Blessed is the land in which we dwell and blessed are the days in which we live, when in all peace and quietness we worship God in public and sing His high praises as loudly as we please. Great God of peace, You have given us this peace, and in remembrance of our hunted forefathers, we bless You with our whole hearts!
Struggles with Peace in Our Personal Lives
We have met tonight for the purpose of hearing the gospel of peace, and many of us are afterward coming to that sacred festival which celebrates peace and is to all time the memorial of the great peacemaking between God and man. And yet it may be that even all believers here are not quite at peace. Possibly you did not leave your family in peace this afternoon. Wars occur even among loving hearts. Alas, even Sabbaths are sometimes disturbed, for evil tempers cannot be bound over to keep the peace, but are riotous even on this sweet restful day. Do Christian men ever permit angry feelings to rise within them? If they do, I am sure that even in coming away from home to the house of God, they come with a disturbed mind. Ah, how insignificant a matter will mar our peace of mind, some little thing that happened in getting to your pew—some trifling incident even while you are in it waiting for worship to begin, may, like dust in your eye, cause you the greatest distress. Such poor creatures are we that we may lose our peace of mind even by a word or a look. Peace, in the form of perfect calm and serenity, is a very delicate and sensitive thing and needs more careful handling than a Venice glass. It is hard for the sea of our heart to remain long in a smooth and glassy state; it may be rippled and ruffled by an infant’s breath.
Peace and Backsliding
Perhaps, too, some of my brothers and sisters here have not been walking near to God, and if so, their peace will not be perfect. It may be, my brother, that during the week you have backslidden somewhat from your true standing and, if so, your peace has fled. Your heart is troubled and though you believe in Christ for salvation, and are therefore safe, yet for all that, your inward rest may be broken. Therefore would I turn the text into a prayer and pray for myself and for every believer in Jesus Christ—that the peace of God which passes all understanding may now keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. May you all know the text by experience. He who wrote it had felt it—may we who read it feel it, too. Paul had oftentimes enjoyed the brightness of peace in the darkness of a dungeon and he had felt living peace in prospect of a sudden and cruel death. He loved peace, preached peace, lived in peace, died in peace and, behold, he has entered into the fruition of peace and dwells in peace before the throne of God.
The Unspeakable Privilege of Peace
Looking at the text and thinking how we might handle it best to our profit, I thought we would notice, first of all, the unspeakable privilege—“the peace of God, which passes all understanding.” Then, secondly, I thought that we might gather, from its connection, the method of coming at it, for the preceding sentences are linked to our text by the word, “and,” which is not an incidental conjunction, but is placed there with a purpose. Paul means to say that if we do what he bids us do in the 4th, 5th, and 6th verses, then the peace of God shall keep our hearts and minds. When we have looked at that matter for a few minutes, I shall need your careful attention, in the third place, to the power of its operation—for the peace of God “shall keep your hearts and minds.” And then we shall close, in the fourth place, by noticing the sphere of its action, namely, “in Christ Jesus.” The word should have been, “in,” rather than, “through”—“shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” May the Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of peace, now lead us into the center and secrets of our text.
I. An Unspeakable Privilege
First, then, here is an unspeakable privilege—one which is very hard to speak of because it passes all understanding and therefore, you may be sure it must pass all description. It is one of those things which can be more readily experienced than explained. Good Joseph Stennett was right when he spoke of those who— “Draw from heaven that sweet repose, Which none but he that feels it knows.” We may talk about inward rest and dilate upon the peace of God. We may select the choicest expressions to declare the delicacy of its enjoyment, but we cannot convey to others the knowledge second hand. They must feel it or they cannot understand it.
Peace with God
If I were speaking to little children, I would illustrate my point by the story of the boy at one of our mission stations, who had a piece of sugar cube given him one day at school. He had never tasted such essence of sweetness and when he went home to his father, he told him that he had eaten something which was wonderfully sweet. His father said, “Was it as sweet as such-and-such a fruit?” “It was far sweeter than that.” “Was it as sweet as such-and-such a food?” which he mentioned. “It was much sweeter than that. But Father,” he said, “I cannot explain it.” He rushed out of the house back to the mission house, begged a piece of sugar out of it and brought it back. He then said, “Father, taste and see, and then you will know how sweet it is.”
So I venture to use that simple illustration and say, “O taste and see that the peace of God is good,” for in very deed it surpasses all the tongues of men and of angels to set it forth. What is the peace of God? I would describe it first by saying it is, of course, peace with God, peace of conscience, actual peace with the Most High through the atoning sacrifice. Reconciliation, forgiveness, restoration to favor there must be, and the soul must be aware of it. There can be no peace of God apart from justification through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ received by faith.
Peace of Conscience
A man conscious of being guilty can never know the peace of God till he becomes equally conscious of being forgiven. When his consciousness of pardon shall become as strong and vivid as his consciousness of guilt had been, then will he enter into the enjoyment of the peace of God which passes all understanding. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ—you that have believed in Jesus—there is perfect peace between you and God now. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God.” Your sin was the ground of the quarrel, but it has gone. It has ceased to be. It is blotted out. It is cast into the depth of the sea. As far as the east is from the west, this far has He removed our transgressions from us. Our divine scapegoat has carried our iniquities into the wilderness. Our Lord, and Master, has finished transgression, made an end of sin. He has brought in everlasting righteousness. The cause of offense is gone and gone forever. Jesus has taken our guilt, has suffered in our place, and has made full compensation to the injured law and vindicated justice to the very highest.
Peace in the Heart
And now there is nothing which can excite the anger of God towards us, for our sin is removed and our unrighteousness is covered. We are reconciled to God by Christ Jesus and accepted in the Beloved. Now this actual reconciliation brings to the heart a profound sense of peace. O that all of you possessed it! O that those who know it knew it more fully! Remember, O soul, if Christ did indeed suffer in your place and was made a curse for you, justice can never require at your hands the penalty which your Surety has discharged, for this would be to dishonor His sacrifice by making it of no effect.
II. How This Peace is Obtained
Now, I must, in the second place, with very much brevity, indicate, beloved friends, HOW THIS PEACE IS TO BE OBTAINED. Now, mark you, the apostle was addressing himself only to believers in the Lord Jesus and I must beg you to take heed to the limitation. I am not now addressing myself to the ungodly. I speak only to Christians. You are always at peace with God though you do not always enjoy the sense of it. But if you wish to realize it, how are you to do so? The connection tells you. In the 4th verse Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice.” If you want to have peace of mind, make God your joy and place all your joy in God. You cannot rejoice in yourself, but you ought to rejoice in God. You cannot always rejoice in your circumstances, for they greatly vary, but the Lord never changes. “Rejoice in the Lord always.”
Moderation and Joy in God
If you have rejoicing in earthly things, you must indulge it moderately. But rejoicing in the Lord may be used without the possibility of excess, for the apostle adds, “Again I say, Rejoice”—rejoice and rejoice again. Delight yourselves in the Lord. Who has such a God as you have? “Their rock is not as our Rock, our enemies themselves being judges.” Who has such a Friend, such a Father, such a Savior, such a Comforter as you have in the Lord your God? To think of God as our exceeding joy is to find “the peace of God which passes all understanding.”
III. The Three Rules for Peace
Three rules are then added by the apostle, which you will be sure to remember. He tells us to be careful for nothing, to be prayerful for everything and to be thankful for anything. Anyone who can keep these three rules, with the other two, will be quite sure to have a peaceful mind. “Be careful for nothing.” That is—leave your care with God. Having done your best to provide things honest in the sight of all men, take no distressing, disturbing, anxious thought about anything, but cast your burden on the Lord. Then pray about everything, little, as well as great, joyous, as well as sad. “In everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known unto God.” That which you pray over will have the sting taken out of it if it is evil and the sweetness of it will be sanctified if it is good. The tribulation which you pray over will become bearable even if it is not changed into a subject for rejoicing.
The Peace of God
The Peace of God: A Heavenly Gift
“And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7.
“PEACE” is a heavenly word. When at the advent of our Lord angels came to sing among men a midnight sonnet, their second note was “Peace on earth.” Would God the shining ones would chant that song again till yonder Balkans heard the strain and shook off the sulfurous cloud which now hangs around them. Those who have ever seen war, or even come near the trail of its bloody march, will be thankful to God for peace. I am almost of his mind who said that the worst peace is preferable to the very best war that was ever waged, if best there can be where all is bad as bad can be. Peace is most pleasant when religion sits beneath its shade and offers her joyful vows to heaven. How grateful we ought to be that we can meet together to worship God after that form which best satisfies our consciences without any fear of being hunted down by the authorities of the land. We have no watchman on the hilltops looking out for Claverhouse’s dragoons. We put none at the front door of our conventicle to watch lest the constable should come to take off worshipper and minister, that they may suffer imprisonment or fine. We worship God in unlimited liberty and we ought to be exceedingly glad of the privilege and infinitely more grateful for it than we are. Do we not sit, every man under his own vine and fig tree, none making us afraid? Blessed is the land in which we dwell and blessed are the days in which we live, when in all peace and quietness we worship God in public and sing His high praises as loudly as we please. Great God of peace, You have given us this peace, and in remembrance of our hunted forefathers, we bless You with our whole hearts!
Struggles with Peace in Our Personal Lives
We have met tonight for the purpose of hearing the gospel of peace, and many of us are afterward coming to that sacred festival which celebrates peace and is to all time the memorial of the great peacemaking between God and man. And yet it may be that even all believers here are not quite at peace. Possibly you did not leave your family in peace this afternoon. Wars occur even among loving hearts. Alas, even Sabbaths are sometimes disturbed, for evil tempers cannot be bound over to keep the peace, but are riotous even on this sweet restful day. Do Christian men ever permit angry feelings to rise within them? If they do, I am sure that even in coming away from home to the house of God, they come with a disturbed mind. Ah, how insignificant a matter will mar our peace of mind, some little thing that happened in getting to your pew—some trifling incident even while you are in it waiting for worship to begin, may, like dust in your eye, cause you the greatest distress. Such poor creatures are we that we may lose our peace of mind even by a word or a look. Peace, in the form of perfect calm and serenity, is a very delicate and sensitive thing and needs more careful handling than a Venice glass. It is hard for the sea of our heart to remain long in a smooth and glassy state; it may be rippled and ruffled by an infant’s breath.
Peace and Backsliding
Perhaps, too, some of my brothers and sisters here have not been walking near to God, and if so, their peace will not be perfect. It may be, my brother, that during the week you have backslidden somewhat from your true standing and, if so, your peace has fled. Your heart is troubled and though you believe in Christ for salvation, and are therefore safe, yet for all that, your inward rest may be broken. Therefore would I turn the text into a prayer and pray for myself and for every believer in Jesus Christ—that the peace of God which passes all understanding may now keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. May you all know the text by experience. He who wrote it had felt it—may we who read it feel it, too. Paul had oftentimes enjoyed the brightness of peace in the darkness of a dungeon and he had felt living peace in prospect of a sudden and cruel death. He loved peace, preached peace, lived in peace, died in peace and, behold, he has entered into the fruition of peace and dwells in peace before the throne of God.
I. The Unspeakable Privilege of Peace
Looking at the text and thinking how we might handle it best to our profit, I thought we would notice, first of all, the unspeakable privilege—“the peace of God, which passes all understanding.” Then, secondly, I thought that we might gather, from its connection, the method of coming at it, for the preceding sentences are linked to our text by the word, “and,” which is not an incidental conjunction, but is placed there with a purpose. Paul means to say that if we do what he bids us do in the 4th, 5th, and 6th verses, then the peace of God shall keep our hearts and minds. When we have looked at that matter for a few minutes, I shall need your careful attention, in the third place, to the power of its operation—for the peace of God “shall keep your hearts and minds.” And then we shall close, in the fourth place, by noticing the sphere of its action, namely, “in Christ Jesus.” The word should have been, “in,” rather than, “through”—“shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” May the Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of peace, now lead us into the center and secrets of our text.
II. The Operation of Peace upon Our Hearts
First, then, here is an unspeakable privilege—one which is very hard to speak of because it passes all understanding and therefore, you may be sure it must pass all description. It is one of those things which can be more readily experienced than explained. Good Joseph Stennett was right when he spoke of those who— “Draw from heaven that sweet repose, Which none but he that feels it knows.” We may talk about inward rest and dilate upon the peace of God. We may select the choicest expressions to declare the delicacy of its enjoyment, but we cannot convey to others the knowledge second hand. They must feel it or they cannot understand it.
Peace with God
If I were speaking to little children, I would illustrate my point by the story of the boy at one of our mission stations, who had a piece of sugar cube given him one day at school. He had never tasted such essence of sweetness and when he went home to his father, he told him that he had eaten something which was wonderfully sweet. His father said, “Was it as sweet as such-and-such a fruit?” “It was far sweeter than that.” “Was it as sweet as such-and-such a food?” which he mentioned. “It was much sweeter than that. But Father,” he said, “I cannot explain it.” He rushed out of the house back to the mission house, begged a piece of sugar out of it and brought it back. He then said, “Father, taste and see, and then you will know how sweet it is.”
So I venture to use that simple illustration and say, “O taste and see that the peace of God is good,” for in very deed it surpasses all the tongues of men and of angels to set it forth. What is the peace of God? I would describe it first by saying it is, of course, peace with God, peace of conscience, actual peace with the Most High through the atoning sacrifice. Reconciliation, forgiveness, restoration to favor there must be, and the soul must be aware of it. There can be no peace of God apart from justification through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ received by faith.
III. How This Peace is Obtained
Now, I must, in the second place, with very much brevity, indicate, beloved friends, HOW THIS PEACE IS TO BE OBTAINED. Now, mark you, the apostle was addressing himself only to believers in the Lord Jesus and I must beg you to take heed to the limitation. I am not now addressing myself to the ungodly. I speak only to Christians. You are always at peace with God though you do not always enjoy the sense of it. But if you wish to realize it, how are you to do so? The connection tells you. In the 4th verse Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice.” If you want to have peace of mind, make God your joy and place all your joy in God. You cannot rejoice in yourself, but you ought to rejoice in God. You cannot always rejoice in your circumstances, for they greatly vary, but the Lord never changes. “Rejoice in the Lord always.”
Moderation and Joy in God
If you have rejoicing in earthly things, you must indulge it moderately. But rejoicing in the Lord may be used without the possibility of excess, for the apostle adds, “Again I say, Rejoice”—rejoice and rejoice again. Delight yourselves in the Lord. Who has such a God as you have? “Their rock is not as our Rock, our enemies themselves being judges.” Who has such a Friend, such a Father, such a Savior, such a Comforter as you have in the Lord your God? To think of God as our exceeding joy is to find “the peace of God which passes all understanding.”
IV. The Power of Peace’s Operation
Three rules are then added by the apostle, which you will be sure to remember. He tells us to be careful for nothing, to be prayerful for everything and to be thankful for anything. Anyone who can keep these three rules, with the other two, will be quite sure to have a peaceful mind. “Be careful for nothing.” That is—leave your care with God. Having done your best to provide things honest in the sight of all men, take no distressing, disturbing, anxious thought about anything, but cast your burden on the Lord. Then pray about everything, little, as well as great, joyous, as well as sad. “In everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known unto God.” That which you pray over will have the sting taken out of it if it is evil and the sweetness of it will be sanctified if it is good. The tribulation which you pray over will become bearable even if it is not changed into a subject for rejoicing.