Please stand for the reading of the word.
We're in The Sermon on the Mount.
The Beatitudes verse number, 9 will be our primary focus today.
But here the reading seeing the crowds, Jesus went up on the
mountain and when he sat down his disciples came to him and he
opened his mouth and taught them saying blessed are the poor in
spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed, are those who mourn for they shall be comforted?
Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for
they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful for
they shall receive Mercy? Blessed are the pure in heart
for they shall see. God blessed are the peacemakers
for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness
sake? For theirs is the Kingdom of
Heaven. Blessed?
Are you when others, revile you, and persecute you and utter all
kinds of evil against you falsely on my account rejoice
and be glad for your reward is great in heaven for.
So they persecuted the prophets. Outfits who were before you.
The word of the Lord may be seated.
Today, we look at verse 9. Beatitude blessed, felicitous.
Happy Well, pleased are those who are the peacemakers.
For they shall be called the sons of God to keywords In this
passage. Peacemakers.
And sons of God. The peacemakers are those who
follow pursue and establish peace.
This is the sole use of this word.
Anywhere in scripture is not used anywhere.
In the Old Testament nor anywhere else in the New
Testament. This word Peacemaker.
In order to understand what it means to be the sons of God, we
have to remember a few things and then we can go from there.
Scripture says that those who are peacemakers, whatever that
is, are the ones that will be called the sons of God. in other
words, they will be like their father You'll be able to see the
genetic code in them. They will be doing those things
that their father does. Now the Bible gives us several
senses in which we are the sons of God.
In the first instance we are sons of God by creation.
Genesis 2. And that's the ants.
All human beings are the children of God.
By creation, God took Adam from the Dust.
Molded him. He was thoroughly physical
thoroughly of the earth earthy thoroughly of human.
Stock and standard and stuff dust Thou Art and dust, Thou
shalt return. But God breathed into his
nostrils, the breath of life and he became a living soul.
And in doing this God said, let us make man in our image and
after our likeness and he did that, he created them male and
female created. He them So there's a sense in
which we are as Paul says, and as even most Pagan religions
will tell us, we are in that. Sits, The Offspring of God, the
sons of God, we are God's Sons by creation and I think the
designation here where it says they shall be called or they
shall be accounted, they shall be reckoned, the sons of God,
isn't there something else to it beyond that?
We are children of God are sons of God by New Creation.
John 3 and First John 3. You must be born again.
We are born of the spirit of God.
Just like, God took that lump of clay and breathed into his
nostrils, the Blessed Breath of Life and Adam became a living
Soul physically. So spiritually, God takes the
dead lump. And breathed into our nostrils.
By his holy spirit, in a marvelous work of regeneration
in a marvelous work of recreation, and now we are the
regenerate sons of God. And as we mentioned, that's who
this passage is directed to by and large are the people who are
the born-again regenerated. Sons of God.
But then there's another sense and that's the sense of
adoption. We are adopted, this is the
legal forensic type of understanding of our sonship, it
has to do with the air to the Heritage.
The air that it belongs in. Paul flesh.
Has this out for us in Romans principally in chapter 8 and
other places. So God is our father.
We are his sons, but in order to be Designated that special piece
maker, designation. We've got to take a look at what
we need to be doing. and basically, we take a look at our
father What did our father do? Our father is a peacemaker.
John brought us says there is no more Godlike work on Earth than
being a peacemaker. That's what God had to do from
the very start. After Mankind's sins, God had to
start a work of being a peacemaker.
There was an Alien Nation. There was a separation.
There was a parting, there was an enmity in a hostility that
existed between God, the father and Humanity.
All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
There's none righteous. No, not one.
There's those that are far from God, and he must bring them back
to himself. So, the Lord began a work, that
is the work of reconciliation. Peacemaking.
Bringing the two that are at enmity and hostile.
Bringing them into one and atonement. 70 over 70 times in
the Old Testament, there is a Word used that refers to one of
the sacrifices, it was called the selim.
Shalom peace. It was the Salim, the selenium
was the peace offering and it was an offering that was quite
expensive but quite important and we find it mentioned and God
tells him how to do it in the book of Exodus.
Leviticus and he goes all through the Old Testament,
you'll find from time to time that peace offerings are made.
And a peace offering has kind of in the middle of it.
You can kind of always remember this.
It means appeasement It is to placate the Wrath of the
parties. It is to appease the parties, it
is to bring them together. There's a Reconciliation God
reconciled to man in the fact that he reconciles and
irreconcilable man. It's man that must change it.
Is we who have fallen short. We are the ones that must be
made. New God is God, he changes not.
He has no reason in this relationship to be reconciled in
and of himself. He reconciles us and the
imperative from scripture is be ye reconciled to God and that's
what the peace offering was all about.
The peace offering was. Reconciliation.
It was an act of worship. It was an act of appeasement and
it involved as a said he was expensive involved.
Two Lambs without spot without blemish, firstlings of the flock
etc. Etc.
You know the standard for the sacrifice of the Old Testament,
it had to be perfect. Interesting, it's two Lambs.
Passover was one lamb, it's two Lambs.
There's some real heavy duty work to be done in
reconciliation. and man has to Be there.
Ready and open for God to do it and the bended knee and the
bowed head and the slaughter. The animal was man's way to come
to God and see if there might not be a Reconciliation.
God commanded him to be approached himself to be
approached, that way, a bullock that's quite a sacrifice that an
agrarian economy. You go out here to any Angus,
breeder in Texas, and ask them to surrender their best.
All they miss may not want to do that but that's what God calls
for. A bullock or even a ram, which
is the chief of all of those sheep and goat species.
And the reason it's expensive offering his it's precious,
there's absolutely nothing more important than a Reconciliation
apiece to be made between God and his people.
And any mediator work between God and man has been fulfilled.
We see a massive amount of Prophecy and shadows and types
and teaching and pictures. images of all of this in the Old
Testament, but We see this work of piece of peacemaking.
Is really the Sovereign work of the Lord, and he promises it in
who he will send. Let me read a passage of
scripture that is most familiar to you.
In fact, I hesitate to even read it so familiar, but you know
doesn't hurt its Isaiah chapter 9, listen to the language of
what we celebrate usually around the Advent season.
For unto us. A child is born.
There's The Human Side of Jesus. A little child is born unto us.
A son is given the exalted Son of God.
There's the deity of Christ Right There For unto us.
A child is born unto us a son is given and the government shall
be upon his shoulder. And his name Shall be Called
wonderful, counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting father Prince
of Peace. That's a title.
That's David's son. David's great, son.
Or Solomon. That's what his name means.
Shalom, Solomon. It's a man of Peace.
David was a man of war, but because he was a man of Peace,
God, assign Solomon, the sacred Duty and privilege of building
the Temple. The place where God would meet
with man, where they would be reconciliation, where they would
be peace, where they would be meeting when all, the enmity
would be put aside, and they would become his very people. so
David's son is the candidate to do this work of reconciliation,
peacemaking and Christ is the one that fulfill that and so
Christ is prophesied here to be called The Prince of Peace of
the increase of his government and of Peace.
There will be no end. the whole point of the government, The
Authority, the rule, the reign of Christ in his kingdom, is to
establish that peace and to keep it A peacemaker and a
peacekeeper. And that's who Christ is to us.
Another Prophet prophesying around about the same time in
Israel. That had a passage similar to,
this is another passage. We consider often at Advent
season. But you o Bethlehem are too
little to be among the clans of Judah from you shall come forth
from me one, who is to be a ruler in Israel?
Whose origin is from old from ancient days.
There we have the eternality of Christ from old.
As coeternal with the father, he was with the father in the
beginning, but we also see his Incarnation, his coming to Earth
is coming to live in a tent of Flesh.
One more time, God is going to take a lump and Infuse, his
breath, his spirited to it as he did in Adam in the Incarnation,
that's what happened. God, takes human flesh and
hovers over by the Holy Spirit and what's conceived in Mary is
the very Spirit, the very breath, the very word of God.
And so that's the prophecy. Therefore, he shall, give them
up until The time when she, who has to labor, has given birth.
Then the rest of the brothers shall return to the people of
Israel. Here is the birth of Christ.
The Incarnation, he shall stand and Shepherd his flock in the
strength of the Lord. Don't miss that, he shall stand.
On a stasis stand-up, be raised. He shall stand and Shepherd.
His flock in the strength of the Lord.
In the Majesty of the name of the Lord.
God, they shall dwell secure for now.
He shall be great. To the ends of the Earth and he
shall be their peace. That's precisely what Paul says
in Ephesians 2. Says Christ is our peace, he's
our peace offering. He's the one that makes piece of
the coming of the Prince of Peace.
Is the one that comes to make this breach between God and
Humanity. Clothes.
Disappear healed. And that's what God has done for
us. God is the ultimate primary
Eternal, peace maker. If you do not know the Peace of
the Lord this morning, it is time for you to know that.
The Bible says the wicked are like the troubled sea.
They cannot rest. There's no peace.
Saith my God to the wicked. God wants you.
He calls you. He says to you seek me while I
may be found call upon me while I am near.
He's broken down the middle wall of partition.
He has made peace for us, and he calls upon us to do just that
and having come by faith. To the Savior who was a blood
shedding peace offering to God on our behalf.
To thus remove that which separates us.
The Lord's hand is not shortened that he cannot save, neither his
ear heavy that he cannot hear your sins have separated between
you and your God. And your iniquity has hid his
face from you, and he will not hear if you do not have that
piece this morning. It's because of your sin.
You must repent. Abandon your sin.
Flee to him and call upon him. And as we've tried to indicate
He will give that peace. That will keep him in.
Perfect peace. Whose mind is stayed on thee
because he trust in thee. That's what we're asking you to
do this morning is to is to trust the Lord.
Let me make one practical note. and, If I have a moment, I'll
read one more scripture. I mentioned that brought us had
said that peacemaking there's no more Godlike work on Earth than
being a peacemaker. What is the role of a peacemaker
in our society as we operate and live our lives and seek to be
peacemakers as God has called us to be making peace involve
sacrifice. It's a removal of Wrath hatred
and strife between parties. You think you want to get in the
middle of a fight? You think you want to get
involved? Peacemaking requires that but
when he does, it will require require you to endure all the
way I got this all out of Calvin.
It's just you just listed it out there, you can just read it in
door and dignity. To here and tolerate reproach.
in fact, I like the way he said it, he says you will hear
Grievous complaints from both sides, In a peacemaking
Enterprise, you will be hated. you will be mistreated by both
sides, both parties that we have a absolute Duty to advocate for
truth, justice and mercy in our efforts, as peacemakers brought
us in his remarks going to say that you must be impartial.
Loving. Tactful.
Selfless. And exercise an enormous amount
of self-control. How will we do?
Well, the good news is God calls us to do everything.
They were supposed to do. The fact is we usually don't do
it too well. Full of imperfections and
failing and even mixed and mingled with motives and sins.
So we have the assurance that God is going to take everything
and make it just right. And as Robbie praying, this
prayer just a few minutes ago. It's not as it used to be.
And it's not as it will be. Let me read.
Just one very, very interesting, passage out of the the Old
Testament to conclude and there are many passages in the Old
Testament that talk about peace and the Shalom, that will be
upon the Earth with the animals, the wild animals, and the fierce
animals, lying down with the domestic animals.
And there will be nobody hurting and destroying and all of God's
mountain and over and over and over in the books.
But here's an interesting. I didn't like the way the Lord
phrases it. Let me close with this.
Therefore this is it Ezekiel by the way Ezekiel 34 therefore
says the Lord. Behold, I myself will judge
between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.
I had a wish. I had time to talk about that.
Would Ron preach only preached on fat sheep.
Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust it all with
the week with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad.
This is the hustle, and the tussle in the friction and all
of the hostility that is between the Sheep.
Peacemaking is to be done within the house of the Lord true.
And the Lord says, one of these days I'm going to settle all
these disputes. I'm going to recognize this, I'm
going to bring to judgment and I'm going to judge between this
sheep and that sheep. He says I will rescue my flock.
They shall no longer be a pray. I will judge between sheep and
sheep. I will set up over them.
One Shepherd, Christ my servant David and he shall feed them, he
shall feed them and he shall be their Shepherd.
And I the Lord will be their God.
And my servant, David will be Prince among them.
I am the Lord I have spoke now. Listen to this.
I will make with them, a covenant of peace and banished,
wild beast from the land. So that they may dwell securely
in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.
And I will make them in the places all around my heel of
blessing and I will send down the showers in their season.
They shall be Showers of blessing and the Trees of the
field shall yield their fruit in the Earth, shall yield its
increase, and they shall be secure in their land.
And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars
of their yoke, when I deliver them from the hand of those who
have enslaved them, they shall no more be prey.
And the Nations nor shall the beasts of the land devoured
them. They shall dwell securely.
And The way shalom means well-being Prosperity safety
dwelling in in peace. That's what the word shalom
means. I will provide for them renowned
plantations so that they may know more be consumed with
hunger in the land and no longer suffer the reproach of the
Nations. And they shall know that I am
the Lord, their god with them. Then they, the house of Israel
Are My People. Declares the Lord God and see if
you hear the voice of the Savior saying, And you are my sheep.
Human sheep of my pasture. And I am your God, declares the
Lord God My sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me.