Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look
us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this
message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
We'll turn your Bibles, please. A Micah chapter #5 You say,
pastor, it's not Peter this morning.
And the answer is no, it's not. We finished our series on 1st
and second Peter as well as looking at the life of Peter in
the book of Acts. And now we turn our attention to
the birth of Christ here over the next several weeks as we
kind of just try to take the time that the world is stealing
from us and thinking of Christ during this time of year and try
to refocus our attention on who Jesus Christ is and why his
birth matters. Back in 1914, it was the
beginning of World War 2 which commenced just a few weeks
before December 25th. But on December 25th, 1914,
something very unusual happened and that was the front lines of
the battle seemed to be quiet that whether it was the English
or the French or the Germans or whoever they were on the front
line. The artillery stopped firing,
the guns stopped blazing, and just for a few brief moments
there was an unexpected and unofficial truce that took place
on the front lines. It was said that over 100,000
soldiers, possibly more, stopped what they were doing, stopped
the fighting, got out of the trenches and even started to
exchange gifts with those who were on the opposite side.
One man named Bruce Baines father who fought throughout the
war, an English man, said I wouldn't have missed that unique
and weird Christmas Day for anything.
I spotted a German officer, some sort of Lieutenant I should
think, and being a bit of a collector, I asked him if that
or I told him that I'd taken a fancy to some of his buttons.
I brought out my wire Clippers and with a few deft snips
removed a couple of his buttons and put them in my pocket.
I then gave him two of mine in exchange and there were
countless different letters and communications that have been
preserved over the years of this truce that took place.
Why would have taken place just for a few small hours?
It was all because of Jesus Christ, just because of the
thought of Jesus Christ, that people willingly lay down their
arms for just those very few moments because of a shadow of
that which was Jesus Christ. And this is the shadow of the
power of the peacemaker, Jesus Christ.
Listen, He brings peace to the sinful, to the sorrowful, and
ultimately can bring peace to the entire world.
All of this is despite the suffering that Satan tries to
inflict and certainly doesn't inflict upon mankind.
Now this morning, I want to send Micah chapter #5 to look at one
of the many prophecies of the birth of Jesus Christ, which was
made in very dark days for Israel and for Jerusalem in
particular. And what I want us to, excuse
me, realize today. That is in a season of chaos
wrapped inside of a world of chaos.
Only Christ can bring peace. In a season of chaos wrapped in
the midst of a world of chaos, only Jesus Christ can bring true
peace. Would you stand please for the
reading God's Word? Micah chapter #5 will read in
verse #1 and it says, Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of
troops, He hath laid siege against us.
They shall smite the Judge of Israel with a rod upon the
cheek. But thou Bethlehem, Bethlehem,
Ephrata, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah,
yet out of thee shall come forth unto me that is to be ruler in
Israel, whose goings forth have been of old from everlasting.
Therefore will He give them up until the time that she which
Travaileth have brought forth. Then the remnant of his brethren
shall return unto the children of Israel, and he shall stand
and feed in the strength of the Lord, and the majesty of the
name of the Lord his God, and they shall abide, for now shall
he be great unto the ends of the earth.
And now just read with me to yourself, as I read out loud
just the first few verses of verse 5.
And this man shall be the peace in the midst of a chaotic world
and a chaotic season. Only Jesus Christ truly brings
peace. We'd be seated as we pray
together this morning. Heavenly Father, thank you for
this day and thank you for all that we've received.
Just so good to be able to be here amongst the brothers and
sisters in Christ. I thank you for them.
I thank you for the guests and visitors that we have today,
those who've returned. Thank you for them all.
And I do pray that you would just be with this message, Lord,
may it be biblical. May it bring forth Christ in a
way that's honoring. And most importantly, may the
Gospel be clear so that all who are here or either rejoicing in
their salvation or find that they need to be saved and make
that decision here before they leave this building.
And we ask it all in Jesus name, Amen.
If you were to go all the way back to Micah chapter #1 and
don't worry, we're not going back all the way to Micah
chapter #1 this morning, But if we go to the beginning of the
book here today, we would see that these are prophecies of
Micah. Yet they are the Word, the Lord,
the word of the Lord given unto Micah.
Micah is speaking, but it's truly the Lord who is speaking
here. And his prophecies took place
during the reign of three different kings, Jotham, Ahaz,
and Hezekiah. Now Jotham and Hezekiah were
good kings, and Ahaz was not a good king.
And here Micah is preaching not just to the people of Judah, not
just preaching to the people of Jerusalem specifically, but I
would say he's also preaching to Israel as well.
You'll remember in your Bible history, this is a place where
the Kingdom has been divided. It's been divided for some time
by now. And usually the prophets would
focus into one region or the other, the South being Judah,
the north being Israel, most of the tribes being in the north.
Remember, there were no good kings in Israel.
They were all wicked kings. And those 10 tribes of the
north, the 2 tribes of the South were both good and bad kings.
And even if one was to focus in one area, certainly there would
heard rather would have spread into both regions.
But very quickly in chapter #1 God is telling both kingdoms,
Israel and Judah. Listen, your days are numbered
your your time is short. Now why was that?
Is that because God was impatient with Israel?
Was it because God was impatient with Judah?
No, it was quite the opposite. God had put up.
Can I put it this way with their foolishness for hundreds of
years, and in his benevolence, in His love, in his
graciousness, he continued to send prophet after prophet after
prophet, who said, Thus sayeth the Lord, turn from your
wickedness, come and follow the living God.
And the more they preached, it seemed like the more they stiff
arm the Lord. And so the Lord over some time
has been trying to call them back to Him, to woo them back to
him. But there comes a time, could I
put it this way, that the rent comes due.
There comes a time when judgment is coming, and that is what's
coming for Israel. And even in God's love, he's
warning them that the judgment is coming.
He's trying to tell them, listen, turn in your ways.
This is what's going to happen. But yet by the time we get to
chapter #5 and this has been expressed in the four previous
chapters by chapter #5 this thought is going to continue as
God says in verse number one, that there is going to be a
siege that is going to be laid there in the Israel.
Look at what it says. Now gather thyself and troops,
daughter of troops, He hath laid siege against us.
They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon his
cheek. Now there are several different
times that there were conquerors that came into both Israel and
Judah. There are several different
places that maybe we could point to that this is looking at.
But again, I remind you that these prophecies were made
during the times of Jotham and Ahaz and Hezekiah.
So I would believe that it would be very likely that it's
Speaking of what would take place in Second Kings chapter
20, 5 verse 7 where it says and they slew the sons of Zedekiah
before his eyes and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him
with fetters of brass and carried him to Babylon.
Basically, this is a prophecy of the complete humiliation of
Israel. This was never supposed to
happen to Israel. Think of the time of David.
Think of the glories of Solomon. This was what God's Kingdom was
to be not that David was perfect.
Listen, we're going through second Samuel right now.
He was not perfect. Not that Solomon was perfect.
He, he started so well. He didn't end very well, did he?
Not that they were perfect, but these were the glory days of
Israel when they were really truly most of what God had
called them to be. But they fell so far away and
now the time is going to come and they are going to be LED
away into captivity. The north into Assyria, the
South into Babylon. Be sure of this.
If you don't understand anything that I'm saying right now about
who these kings are or where these locations are or any of
these matters, understand this morning that judgment was coming
to the people of Israel. Why?
Because they'd stiff armed the Lord over and over and over
again. And listen, you can't do that
without judgment eventually coming.
By the way, that was true in these times, That's true today.
Yeah, you can stiff arm God your whole life.
You could say that you want no part of God or anything to do
with him. But be sure this the Bible says
be sure your sins will find you out.
Be sure the Bible says that it's been appointed on demand once to
die. And after this, the judgement,
Listen, you won't make a mock of God, You won't make a fool of
God. The time will come when the
righteous judge Jesus Christ, who sits upon his throne, will
be the one who will say you are guilty if you have not accepted
the gospel message. It's bleak for Israel.
Verse #1 is bleak. But again, God in his love, in
his great love, gives us verse number 21 of the greatest
prophecies of Jesus Christ. But thou, Bethlehem, Ephrata,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, you say, how
little was it? Well, it was just a village.
Its greatest feat was having David come from it.
There really wasn't much from Bethlehem that people would say
was noteworthy or special as the years had gone on, but it was
the House of David. Yet out of thee shall come forth
unto me, that is to be the ruler in Israel.
How could someone that would be so great come from Bethlehem?
Sure, David had come before, but what has come from Bethlehem
since? And truly since David?
There had been nothing of note that had come from Bethlehem,
but yet there was to be 1 Who was it?
1 Whose goings forth? You could even put it this way.
His activities have been for from OK.
Whose goings forth have been from of old.
There it is. Thank you.
All right. That's I know.
Ralph, pray for me. All right.
Been from old. He's ancient.
But how ancient is he? Well, he's not just very old.
He's from everlasting. That means this.
He is the Ancient of Days. That means this.
He is the everlasting one. That means this.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. That this who is being spoken of
here is none other than Jesus Christ.
It's amazing to me that Bethlehem, that the name
Bethlehem means this, the House of bread.
Bethlehem was a very fertile place.
You can go to the book of Ruth and my wife and I in our Bible
read just gone through the book of Ruth and you find that it was
such a fertile place. Remember, that's where Boaz had
his fields and they were in the middle of barley harvest and it
was a place where bread could be produced in great quantities
because of the, of the, the, the ability to farm there, because
of the way the soil was. It was literally the House of
bread. But you realize that from the
House of bread came the bread of life, the one who you could eat
of the bread of Bethlehem and you would be hungry again.
But if you eat of the bread of life, you will never hunger
again. That's this Jesus Christ, that's
who's being spoken of here in verse #2 And listen, this is
great on its own, but then it continues the text.
It says, therefore will He give them up until the time that
which that she which Travaileth have brought forth.
Then the remnant of His brethren shall return unto the children
of Israel. Now verse #3 has two different
fulfillments, It says, therefore will He give them up until the
time that she which Travaileth hath brought forth.
Now, I don't know a lot about pregnancy Here.
You say, Pastor, where is this going?
Actually, my wife is wondering, where is this going?
I've watched my wife in pregnancy four times.
But I do know this, there's not a lot going on.
And listen, I know there's a lot going on, but follow along.
There's not a lot going on until it's time.
And when it's time, boy howdy is it time.
Remember being in the hospital multiple times and when it was
time, all of a sudden that room that just looks so calm and
quiet today, they're pulling drawers out.
There's knives and instruments and all kinds of where was all
this stuff I don't even know is here.
It's time. People are coming in the room.
You don't even know who they are.
They're just gathering. I think some are on coffee
break. They're just going, hey, let's
see what's going on in here. Because when it's time, man,
it's time. It's travail.
It's time for this baby to be born.
So there's a time where there's not as much going on.
And when it's time, it's time. This is what's being said here,
that from this prophecy, there's going to be a time where there
may not seem like there's much going on, but when it's time,
it's time. Now, in the short term, what is
that Speaking of? Well, by the time you get to the
end of the Book of Malachi, there's going to be about 400
years until the Lord speaks again.
He will be silent in a biblical sense.
He will be silent for 400 years until John the Baptist breaks
out on the scene and starts speaking.
Thus saith the Lord again. There will be no more prophets
like we see in this way here. And when it comes, the time of
travail will be upon. And what will we see?
Jesus Christ will be born. We see that things will change,
but we can also look at this in a different way, as a as a
second fulfillment. And there's often many
prophecies of Jesus Christ that have a near fulfillment and a
further fulfillment. Just like if you were to look at
a mountain and be at the base of the mountain, there could be a
mountain behind the mountain. You could be in front of a
smaller mountain, and there could be a bigger one behind it.
You couldn't see it until you scaled the first mountain.
And in this case, we see that when maybe for them, they
wouldn't have understood that there would be another
fulfillment of this prophecy. But by the time you see Jesus
Christ, what was he saying? I will come again, I will come
again, I will come again. They said, will you set up the
Kingdom? I will not set up the Kingdom
now. It is not for me to set up the
Kingdom now. And what's happened?
Well, the destruction of Jerusalem at 70 AD, there's been
silence again. But there will be a time when he
does re establish his Kingdom and it will be a Kingdom that
has no end from the millennial Kingdom into eternity, forever.
There will be another time. There may be some silence, but
you could be sure the king is coming. 400 years of silence.
The king was coming. It may be almost 2000 years of
silence. It seems you be sure the king is
coming. And it continues in verse #3 and
it says then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the
children of Israel. It says there there will be a
restoration. And we can look at it in the
near fulfillment as the restoration of the Jews and the
Gentiles coming together, both receiving salvation.
Romans 116. I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ as the power of God and the salvation to everyone
who believes, to the Jew first, the also to the Greek.
No, we're not saying that the people of God have replaced
Israel. There's a line of theology with
that that we're not Speaking of here this morning, not in
anyone, but we are saying this, that the Jews and the Gentiles,
we've been looking at this in the book of Acts all or of the
household of faith. But we also see that there will
be a time at the end of the seven-year tribulation that
those Jews who have survived will realize what that they as a
nation will come to Jesus Christ again.
That day is coming. That day is coming.
That's why we've not replaced Israel, because they must
spiritually still be here. They must physically still be
here to be able to come to Jesus Christ.
Those prophecies and those promises that were made in the
Old Testament, listen, are still active today.
By the way, it's important that we still bless Israel today.
It's important that we still understand that he who blesses
Israel be blessed and who curses Israel will be cursed.
Say, Pastor, why are you preaching on politics this
morning? Who's preaching on politics?
Preaching what the Bible said. We'll leave politics out of it
and try to just preach what the Bible says.
But yes, no. What does it say that that time
will come then verse #4 who is this king?
Who is he? Well, it tells us the wonders of
the Christ child. He shall stand and feed in the
strength of the Lord. You know, that's talking of his
shepherd. Does it say shepherdness?
I don't think that's the term I want to use.
The fact that He is our shepherd in the majesty of the name of
the Lord his God. His name is majestic.
He is majestic. They shall abide, for now shall
He be great unto the ends of the earth.
He will feed. He's our Shepherd.
He has the strength of the Lord. He is majestic, He is great, He
is all of these things. And, and what does that lead us
to? What does that, what conclusion
does that draw us to? Well, it draws us to verse #5
when it says this. And, and I don't usually just
take a part of a verse and leave the rest out of context, but I
think we understand in context what is being said here this
morning. And this man, which man?
Jesus Christ, this man shall be the peace, who is Jesus Christ?
He's the peace. He is the one that brings peace
to a world that's on fire. He is the one that can bring
peace to a nation that has resisted him.
Now, maybe you'd say this moral pastor, I see what you're saying
here from Micah chapter 5. But I mean, listen, couldn't
have been a coincidence. Aren't you just reading a lot
into Micah chapter #5 who is saying this has to be Jesus?
Couldn't this be someone else? Couldn't this be something else?
And by the way, the Jews today who read the Torah will still
take Micah chapter #5 and try to twist it into something else
because they have to find some mental gymnastic to try to make
sure that they do not acknowledge that Jesus Christ is
who the Bible says. But maybe you would make the
argument as well. Maybe that's not Jesus.
Well, let's just see what the book of Matthew says about that.
So why don't you turn to Matthew chapter #2 You can, you can
leave your space there in Micah. But Matthew chapter #2 we'll
begin in verse #1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea
in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from
the east to Jerusalem saying, where is he that is born king of
the Jews? For we've seen a star in the
east and are come to worship him.
When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him. Well, why is Herod the King
troubled? Well, because he heard there's
another king. The status quo was about to be
broken. And Herod said, I thought I was
the king. Who's this guy?
And so he has some difficulty wrapping his head around that.
And so it says in all Jerusalem was also troubled as well in
verse 4. And when the scribes?
And when he gathered together all the chief priests and
scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ
should be born. And they said unto him in
Bethlehem of Judea. For thus it is written by the
prophet. And thou, Bethlehem in the land
of Judah, are not the least among the Princess of Judah.
For out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule any
people, or that rule my people Israel.
So who was the prophet? Verse #5, Micah.
What's verse #6 It is Micah chapter 5, verse 2.
This isn't Pastor just twisting something out of context.
Let's take something that has the word Bethlehem in it in the
Old Testament. Let's make it about Jesus.
No, the Bible says it's about Jesus.
This is not my surmising. This is not me just trying to
make something from nothing. You know, this is the Lord
telling us in his inspired word that even the Jews understood,
yeah, He's going to come from Bethlehem.
And even today they look to Bethlehem to find someone who
has already come and departed and is very much alive.
And it's coming again. And they have missed who Jesus
is. Christ is peace.
He's peace. He's the Prince of peace.
Aren't you glad, even for what we read this morning, to find
that Jesus is peace? Because the world is chaos.
Every Rd. is chaos, every street is chaos, every parking lot is
chaos. This time of year just being on
the road feels like you're hazarding your life.
On the phone with brother Vince earlier this week and I was
complaining about something. I don't remember what it was.
Oh I do remember what it was. Anyway, I was complaining about
something and not about any of you, or just to be clear, all
right, it wasn't you. It was all right.
But he's like, does he want to say because they're here?
No, no, it was because of a BJS membership that we had trouble
with. Anyway, I'm complaining about
that. And as I'm complaining about
that, and I can feel my blood pressure going up, someone
decides to cross both lanes of traffic from one lane to the
other while it's raining. I think it was Wednesday while
it was raining or Tuesday while it was raining and tried to play
a game of Frogger. Some of you remember Frogger and
like I can make it through, hit the brakes and I skidded.
I couldn't stop because it was so and I missed by missed it by
that much. Some of you know what I'm
talking about, all right. And I and I went from being
frustrated to being hitting the roof to thinking I'm on the
phone with a church member. And so I said let.
Us pray. No, I didn't say it.
But listen, there's. No peace out there.
People are fighting over toys at the store over Black Friday
Deals. People.
Are arguing about the craziest things and it's something about
this time of year because of the pressure of the expectations of
this time of year, because everybody thinks that they have
to have a Christmas like Currier and Ives.
That when it's not perfect. They lose their minds.
And it's amazing to me. How, at a time of year that's
supposed to be about the Prince of Peace, there's no peace.
But I remind you. That just as Jesus was said of
the people of Israel in Micah chapter 5, that he would be
their shepherd. He could be your shepherd today.
I seem to remember somewhere where it says the Lord is my
shepherd. I shall not want just as he
told. Israel, I will be your strength.
He can be your strength today. Just as He was majestic to the
Israelites, He's majestic for us.
Just as He's great. How great is God?
Listen, He is great for us today.
The peace that He brought to them He can bring to you today.
In a season of chaos wrapped inside a world of chaos.
Only Christ can bring peace. But I will say that this isn't
just true for the world. This is true for you.
Today as well. Listen, we're not going.
To change the world, at least not today.
Tomorrow maybe. No, we're not going to change
the world. The world will be the world.
But we can save, see people saved in the world and help them
to understand what peace is all about.
I remember the very first year that we were here, there was a
man who got saved. He was here about a year or so
ago too. He came for a little while as
well as his name was Peter. Peter sat right there.
Right next to where Marsha is and you could tell he was new at
church because people don't usually sit right there, in
fact. They come for a few.
Services and I do this a little bit and they're like, kind of,
hey, can I move back? And kind of how Marsha feels
right now, She's like, usually I got a buffer zone of a few, a
few seats, but he sat there and, and he, he was, he was into it.
I remember how excited he was. But then we got around to
Christmas time and he said something to me that I will
never forget because he was new in Christ.
He was in his mid to late 50s. They said something like this to
me. This is the first time in my
life that I've really actually understood what Christmas was.
And it's the first time in my. Life, I've actually really,
truly had joy at this time of year.
I thought, well, that's what Jesus Christ will do to a life.
This is why you must come to trust Jesus Christ your Savior.
Just a few days ago, December 2nd.
Listen to me, it's probably some of you remember this more than I
do because I say it so often in my sermons.
December 2nd, 1998 I trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior.
Listen, my life's never been the same.
I thank the Lord for how He changed me, how He took someone
who was on the road to hell. You say, well you were 16 years
old, how on earth were you on the road to hell?
Because I wasn't saved because I was still living within my sins.
But even as a 16 year old, I had no peace.
I, I, I didn't know what I mean. I was trying to go from this
thing to that thing. I was trying to figure out where
I fit in. You say some of that was being a
teenager, maybe some of that would be a teenager.
Some of it was this being lost. Because I can tell you this, if
I hadn't gotten saved when I was 16 on the road that I was going
on to 17 to 18 and 19, I was willing to find the trouble
wherever it was. You say a sweet Christian.
Boy like you. Not if you.
Met me when you're 16. If you had met me when I was 16,
you'd say, hey, someday will you be my pastor?
I'd say what? And I may not have used.
Some nice words and talking to you about it 'cause life was
different. Well, what changed pastor?
You reformed yourself, you know, you kind of realize you were on
a wrong Rd. So you just, you went on a
journey of, of self discovery and you kind of, you went on a
vision quest. That's what it was.
You, you checked in with your spirit animal, you, you, you
found your chi you know, that's what it was, that's what it was,
right? No, no, I, I found the only
thing that I could find that would change my life and that
was Jesus Christ. And by the way, I grew up in
religion, I thought I knew Jesus Christ, but I didn't know that
Jesus Christ, the Bible, who could save me and save me alone
without the doctrines of any other denomination, just the
word of God. Well, pastor, you, you, you just
think. And I know I say this often
because I want to remind you that this isn't even about being
a Baptist, although I'm glad about being a Baptist, I'm
thankful I'm a Baptist. I'm not angry about being a
Baptist. But I will say this, really, it
wasn't being a Baptist that got me saved.
It was the word of God and the gospel that helped me understand
what salvation was. Now I'm a Baptist now because I
see that as Baptists, well, we believe the word of God for what
it is and we want to preach the word of God for what it is, not
any other book, not any other doctrine.
And I thank the Lord for that. But I'll tell you this, I don't
go around telling people I'm a Baptist.
First thing I go around telling people is I'm a born again
believer. Why?
Because that's what will change your life.
Do you know Jesus Christ your Savior today?
Are Are you sure that you can go to heaven today?
Yes, 1. Of the saddest things I.
See is that there are funerals where people will pray for
someone who has already departed.
I've been asked in funerals. What I've done, will you pray
for someone who has departed? I can't pray for someone that's
departed. Why?
Because their decisions already been made and it's everlastingly
too late if they've rejected Christ.
I did a funeral several years ago where someone said, will
you, will you pray for my brother?
And they named the brother and I said, well, I'll be glad to to
pray for him. The funeral was done and and I
thought maybe he was ill or maybe he was, you know,
something like that. And, and all of a sudden we're
at a grave side and we start walking through the graves.
And I thought, what are we doing here?
I thought it was about time to go.
I don't know what's going on. And we're walking around and she
led me to his grave. And says he's.
Right here. Will you pray for him?
I. Had to to.
Sorrowfully tell her I can't pray for him because his life is
through, at least his life on this earth.
I said, but I'll be. Glad to pray for you that God
will give you comfort, God will give you peace, and that you
will come to trust in Jesus Christ yourself.
And I walked away from that experience.
I could tell that they just weren't sure why I would be so
hesitant to not pray for him. They were confused.
I couldn't because the Bible makes it clear it's been
appointed unto man wants to die and after this the judgment.
If you don't know Jesus Christ, you're Savior, you can't wait
you. Don't know.
You don't know how long you have.
You don't know if you'll be in an accident tomorrow.
You say? Well, well, I mean, what?
What? What kind of I thought this was
supposed to be encouraging. Well, I'm not wishing you go
into that, get an accident tomorrow.
I'm just telling you, can you guarantee me that you won't?
Can you guarantee me that you won't have a heart attack
tomorrow? Can you guarantee me that great
calamity won't befall you tomorrow?
And you listen, the Bible says this, that no man can boast of
the Morrow. No man can.
The Bible says this in the book of James chapter before their
life is but a vapor. It's here. 1 moment of God in
the next. If I were to spray a spray
bottle in front of you, just spray it in the air, you would
see it for a moment, it would vanish.
And that's our lives. So don't risk your eternity
because you're going to wait for the here and now.
Listen, not only can you trust Jesus Christ your Savior and
have eternity, but listen, you can have a better here and now
as well. He'll help you in this.
Life and that's. Why I want to talk?
To you believers here for just a moment, because I think a great
amount of people here this morning are believers.
Amen. That's.
Good. I wasn't sure how.
That was going to go. So thank you for that.
It's, it's, you know, it's a blessing to be able to know
Jesus Christ and wouldn't it? Wouldn't it be?
Great that once you got saved by the Prince of Peace, you live
with peace the rest of your life.
But let's. Let's get down to brass tacks
here for just a second. Some of you.
Know Jesus Christ your Savior, you've been saved by the Prince
of Peace, and you don't have a lot of peace right now.
Listen. And I say this humbly, but I say
with all authority. That's not on the Prince of
Peace. That's on you and that's on me.
Because whatever I'm saying to you right now, I deal with
myself quite a bit. Is that we're saved.
We have peace for eternity. Revelation 20. 14 God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes. There should be no more death,
no more sorrow nor crying. Neither shall there be any more
pain, for the former things are passed away.
We'll have peace for eternity. The day you got saved, you were
at peace with God. Romans 51 Therefore, being
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. But understand this, when you
are saved, you can have peace. You should be living in peace
here and now. Second Thessalonians 316 Now the
Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means.
I don't have to be a Greek scholar to know this.
Always by all means means this. Always and by all means you
could have that kind. Of peace Galatians 522 But the
fruit of the spirit is Lovejoy, long-suffering.
Oh, I forgot one. Peace.
That's fruit of the Spirit. John 1427 Jesus said this to
some disciples that were about to see Jesus no more in the way
that they were walking with him for those three years.
He said, This peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you
not as the world giveth, give I unto you.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid so.
Pastor, I got a lot. Of stuff going on right now, I
got to buy, I got to buy presents for the family and
where's this money going to come from?
I got to meet family. In a few weeks and I am counting
down the days to meet them. Not because I'm excited, because
I'm dreading it. Pastor I I'm.
In a work situation that right now at the end of the year, I
don't know if there's going to be work for me at the beginning
of the year. I've got some health things.
That I'm concerned about right now.
I, I just don't know which way it's going to go, you say.
How on earth am I? Supposed to have peace in the
midst of all that. Listen, understand that Jesus
Christ doesn't bring peace by removing all obstacles and
difficulties from our lives, but He brings peace by giving you
peace in the midst of those obstacles and trials of life.
This is what he does. Sometimes he calms the storm and
sometimes he calms the child in the midst of the storm, but he
always brings peace. Why?
Because that's who he is. We're the ones who are agitated.
You know what? The greatest book of peace in
the Bible could be in contentment.
The book of Philippians say well.
What makes that so? Special.
Well, what makes it so special is that Paul wrote it from
prison. No personal experience.
Myself. But I would know this, that if I
was in prison I wouldn't have a lot of peace, especially for a
crime I didn't commit. And his crime was what?
Preaching the gospel? So he committed it, but it
wasn't really a crime. He was falsely.
Accused, if you will, but he showed us the path to peace in
the midst of something that was so harrowing.
And by the way, the prison that Paul would have been in would
have made the prisons of the United States of America look
like Club Med. They put you in prison.
Just hoping you would die there and you could just get it over
with. They, they weren't oftentimes
didn't even provide meals. Other people would have to bring
the meals for you. Listen, they're going to bring
you 3 squares a day. I don't think so.
If you died, you died. That's on you.
And in the midst of all of that, in a dark, dank, dirty prison,
Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote a book of
peace that speaks to us today. Believer, if you don't have
peace in the midst of this season, that is our life.
Jesus Christ says. I can help you with that, but
you need to confess that unto me.
You confess it unto me, and he'll bring peace.
Long ago, a man sought the perfect picture of peace.
Not finding one that's satisfied, he announced a
contest to produce the masterpiece.
The challenge stirred the imagination of artists
everywhere and paintings arrived from far and wide.
Finally, the great day of revelation arrived.
The judges uncovered 1 peaceful scene after another.
While the viewers clapped and cheered, the tensions grew.
Only two pictures remained veiled.
As a judge pulled the cloth from 1A.
Hush fell over the crowd. A mirror smooth lake reflected
Lacy green birches under the soft blush of the evening sky.
Along the grassy shore, a flock of sheep grazed undisturbed.
Surely this must be the winner. The man.
The man who started the contest uncovered the last painting
himself, and the crowd gasped at surprise.
Could this possibly be peace? A tumultuous waterfall cascaded
down a rocky precipice. The crowd could almost feel its
cold, penetrating spray. Stormy Gray clouds threatened to
explode with lightning, wind, and rain.
In the midst of the thundering noises and the bitter chill, a
spindly tree clung to the rocks at the edge of the falls.
One of his branches reached out in front of the torrential
waters, as if foolishly seeking to experience its full power.
But a little bird. Had built a nest in the elbow of
that branch. Content and undisturbed in her
stormy surroundings. She rested on her eggs with her
eyes closed and her wings ready to cover her little ones.
She manifested peace that transcends all earthly turmoil.
If you're looking for an. Idyllic scene of peace in your
life. Good luck because.
We're not going. To get that very likely until we
get to glory. But if you're looking for the
peace in the midst of the storm and I introduce you to Jesus
Christ. When I think of that, I think of
Matthew chapter 23 verse 27, where Jesus looking over
Jerusalem much like that bird, said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
thou that kill us the prophets, and stonest them which are sent
unto thee, How often would I have gathered thy children
together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her
wings, and listen, and ye would not.
If you don't have eternal. Life.
It's not because he would not, it's because you would not.
And if you're saved and you don't have peace in your life,
listen. It's not that he would not.
We would give it to him, confess it and allow him to give you the
peace that passes all understanding.
Thank you for listening. To the sermon from the pulpit of
Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing
to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us
know by contacting us at info@mylibertybaptist.org.
Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,
MA. May the Lord bless you as you
grow in His Word.