The Key to Experiencing Christmas Peace in Your Life Today
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - And Christmas has arrived.
00:00:06.600 | And from the entire team who serves at Desiring God
00:00:10.320 | and from Pastor John and from myself,
00:00:12.760 | we all wanna wish you a very Merry Christmas.
00:00:16.360 | The incredible Christmas story
00:00:17.520 | of God breaking into this world is true
00:00:19.400 | and it really is incredible.
00:00:21.200 | God has taken on flesh.
00:00:23.600 | And that is a story that rings of God's glory
00:00:26.020 | and it rings of a new peace that is given to the globe.
00:00:29.600 | We saw that yesterday.
00:00:31.480 | But it all raises the question,
00:00:32.960 | how do I enjoy the Christmas peace of God right now,
00:00:36.040 | personally, in my own heart and in my own life?
00:00:39.960 | Today, John Piper explains in a clip
00:00:41.820 | from his 2011 Christmas sermon
00:00:44.000 | explaining Luke chapter two, verse 14.
00:00:47.720 | Here's what John Piper said.
00:00:49.960 | - When I say peace,
00:00:51.840 | I don't simply mean the absence of conflict or animosity.
00:00:56.320 | I mean the presence of joyful tranquility
00:01:00.840 | and as much richness of interpersonal communication
00:01:05.840 | as you are capable of.
00:01:08.020 | Richness of back and forth,
00:01:10.920 | richness and sweetness of back and forth.
00:01:15.920 | Nothing awkward, nothing tense,
00:01:19.040 | nothing subterranean,
00:01:22.280 | just open, free, sweet,
00:01:26.680 | eyeball to eyeball, no agenda, peace.
00:01:31.580 | That's what we're after.
00:01:34.200 | So let's look at these.
00:01:38.000 | Let me start with the key, the key, the key.
00:01:41.440 | There's more than one.
00:01:43.580 | The key to each of these three relationships of peace
00:01:49.920 | is keeping together what the angels kept together.
00:01:53.700 | Glory to God, peace to us, together.
00:01:59.720 | If you say, I don't have any interest in,
00:02:07.480 | love for, admiration of,
00:02:11.520 | treasuring of the glory of God,
00:02:13.360 | I just want the peace, you won't get it.
00:02:18.040 | You can't separate the two.
00:02:19.560 | The angels won't let you.
00:02:21.880 | God won't let you.
00:02:23.260 | God's purpose is to give you peace
00:02:28.440 | by being the most glorious person in your life.
00:02:32.140 | Five times in the New Testament,
00:02:37.840 | God is called the God of peace.
00:02:41.120 | Jesus said, "My peace I leave with you.
00:02:46.000 | "My peace I give to you."
00:02:49.120 | And Paul said, "Jesus is our peace."
00:02:52.840 | Therefore, if you say, I want the peace,
00:02:56.000 | I don't want the glorious God,
00:02:57.840 | I want the peace, I don't want the sovereign Jesus,
00:03:00.880 | you won't have the peace.
00:03:02.720 | He will be our peace by being our God.
00:03:06.480 | Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace.
00:03:12.880 | The angels have it right, the angels keep it together.
00:03:17.280 | If we want peace to rule in our lives,
00:03:21.320 | God must rule in our lives.
00:03:24.000 | He is our peace.
00:03:26.560 | So, the key to peace is glory to God
00:03:31.560 | and peace to man kept together.
00:03:36.640 | A heart bent on showing the glory of God
00:03:40.760 | will know the peace of God.
00:03:42.960 | What holds these two together?
00:03:44.980 | A heart that is bent on glorifying God,
00:03:47.720 | making much of God, displaying the beauty of God,
00:03:50.600 | admiring God, treasuring God, cherishing God,
00:03:53.800 | hallowing God's name, and enjoying tranquility and peace
00:03:58.800 | and candor and openness and readiness to forgive
00:04:03.120 | and receptive hearts, not pushing people away,
00:04:06.480 | but welcoming people in, even long lost enemies.
00:04:11.480 | What keeps those together?
00:04:14.460 | Faith, faith, believing the promises of God
00:04:19.460 | bought by the blood of Jesus.
00:04:22.520 | And there's a key text, been so precious in my life.
00:04:25.680 | I love this text, just a little simple verse
00:04:28.080 | from Romans 15, 13.
00:04:30.680 | "May the God of hope fill you
00:04:35.440 | with all joy and peace in believing."
00:04:42.020 | I don't think it could be much clearer.
00:04:44.020 | How will I enjoy joy and peace from the God of hope?
00:04:50.000 | How will I?
00:04:52.160 | What connects me to that God and his peace?
00:04:55.800 | In believing, by believing, through believing
00:05:00.120 | the promises bought by the blood of Jesus.
00:05:04.840 | That will be another key as we look
00:05:09.140 | at each of these relationships.
00:05:12.040 | So here we go, number one, peace with God.
00:05:15.460 | This peace, this peace right here
00:05:20.000 | is foundational to all other peace.
00:05:24.720 | If you try to make peace with your mind and your heart
00:05:29.360 | and all the guilt and anxiety that comes again and again
00:05:33.360 | without that peace, and if you try to hold a family together
00:05:37.000 | and to make peace at work, you will maybe achieve
00:05:40.760 | some brief superficial measures, but it won't last,
00:05:45.760 | especially into eternity.
00:05:50.000 | All peace inwardly and peace outwardly
00:05:54.480 | is based on this vertical experience
00:05:57.800 | of do I have peace with God?
00:06:01.460 | Is it open and clear with God?
00:06:04.400 | Are we friends?
00:06:06.760 | So the key text, as you might guess where I would go,
00:06:11.880 | is Romans 5.1.
00:06:13.340 | Therefore, since we have been justified by faith,
00:06:19.160 | by believing, we have peace with God
00:06:23.880 | through our Lord Jesus Christ.
00:06:26.940 | Having been justified by faith,
00:06:32.360 | by believing, trusting him
00:06:36.440 | and all of his promises to me, I have peace.
00:06:40.760 | So just a word on justification again.
00:06:45.240 | Justification, being justified means
00:06:49.520 | God declares you just.
00:06:54.520 | God declares you right, righteous, pure,
00:07:02.880 | perfect, acceptable, acceptable.
00:07:06.320 | He does, he declares you that.
00:07:09.040 | How?
00:07:09.880 | I'm not.
00:07:11.420 | No, that's the gospel.
00:07:13.800 | Through faith, faith in Jesus, the foundation,
00:07:18.040 | the purchaser, the blood provider of all the promises.
00:07:23.040 | I believe in Jesus, and when I believe,
00:07:26.040 | I'm united to Jesus, and what Jesus was,
00:07:30.040 | he was for me, and God looks upon his righteousness as mine
00:07:35.040 | and his punishment as mine,
00:07:38.080 | and therefore, in spite of all my sins,
00:07:41.400 | God is my friend.
00:07:44.120 | This is the difference that it makes.
00:07:50.280 | When Christ comes into the world, dies for our sins,
00:07:54.440 | provides our perfection, we believe, believe, believe,
00:07:58.320 | we trust him, God says, justified peace.
00:08:03.320 | Lots of people come to church on this weekend
00:08:08.640 | who don't usually come to church.
00:08:10.720 | They're not interested necessarily in Christ
00:08:15.560 | and Bible and salvation and justification,
00:08:18.920 | all these things.
00:08:20.360 | I just wanna say something really clear
00:08:22.560 | after trying to say what that peace with God
00:08:27.080 | is through Jesus.
00:08:29.080 | It's not by our deeds.
00:08:33.800 | It's not by our tradition, whether Baptist or Catholic
00:08:38.000 | or Lutheran or Methodist or Presbyterian.
00:08:40.120 | It's not by baptism.
00:08:42.600 | It's not by church membership.
00:08:44.960 | It's not by piety.
00:08:47.140 | It's not by parentage.
00:08:49.480 | It is by faith alone.
00:08:52.280 | This is the core of our gospel.
00:08:56.200 | Christ died in our place.
00:08:58.520 | Christ provided an alien righteousness for us
00:09:02.920 | that is not ours and Christ bore our punishment
00:09:06.800 | and he offers it to every single human being
00:09:10.280 | and it is received by faith alone.
00:09:13.840 | And when that faith happens, we are united with him
00:09:17.400 | and his righteousness is ours and we have peace with God.
00:09:22.200 | And there isn't anything sweeter to go to bed on.
00:09:26.000 | - Amen, that is so good.
00:09:27.400 | This excerpt was taken from John Piper's Christmas sermon,
00:09:30.040 | "A Savior is Born, Glory to God, Peace to Man,"
00:09:33.880 | preached on December 24th, 2011.
00:09:36.240 | The whole message can be found at our site
00:09:38.400 | at desiringgod.org.
00:09:40.960 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:09:42.320 | Again, from all of us at Desiring God,
00:09:44.360 | we wish you a very joyful Christmas.
00:09:47.160 | And Pastor John and I will see you on Monday.
00:09:49.660 | (upbeat music)
00:09:52.240 | (upbeat music)
00:09:54.820 | [BLANK_AUDIO]