Abundance of Peace
I will reveal unto them the abundance of peace.”
Jer. xxxiii. 6.
“HAT is the nature of this blessing? not only peace, but the abunda?ice of peace; that is to say, Peace without limit, without scarcity, without restraint — Peace in all its fulness. Abundance in its depth and duration. A Peace which fully meets our needs, perfectly satisfies our desires — abundant Peace.
Now, let us consider it in three aspects: in connection with Christ’s work; in connection with Christ’s rule; and then in I connection with Christ’s presence.
I. Peace in Connection with Christ’s Work.
Col.
The peace of reconciliation. This is not an experience so much as a state of relationship; not something wrought in me, but something wrought fo7- me. We may call it the work of peace. It is, indeed, a fact: one of the grand facts of Christianity. In Christ there is Peace with God. Peace already made. “Having made Peace through the blood of His Cross;” i.e., Peace between God and man. Not a feeling in my heart, but something wrought, apart from me, by Christ; something accomplished for me by Christ on the cross. True, when I am brought to a knowledge of my relationship, and of what He has wrought for me, there will be Peace in my heart. I shall have the feeling of Peace; but that is the ejfect, not the cause. The external fact, that Peace is accomplished, is the cause, and that is Christ’s work alone. On the subject of this Peace it is not my purpose now to dwell, for I am especially addressing those who, being justified by faith, have peace with God. We may not be as happy as we should like, and our experience may not be exactly what it ought to be; but, nevertheless, we have received by faith our sentence of justification from God, and we find ourselves transferred in relation to Him into a state of Peace. And the things which secure it to us, bring it within our reach, and make it permanent and abiding, we may say, with truth, are abundant — there is Abundance of Peace.
II. Peace in Connection with Christ’s Rule. **0f the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end.” That is true now spiritually as it will be literally hereafter. In a very real sense Christ’s reign begins in the heart of the believer
Isa. ix. 7.
Isa. xxvi. 3, now. If we would know the blessedness of Christ’s keeping, we must begin by knowing the reality of His reign. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.” What does this imply? That there has been entire submission to Christ’s control. A man’s heart is like a city. Is there peace or tumult? Is there order or confusion? Is there loyal submission or rebellion? That depends upon whose shoulders the government rests. If the believer is trying to manage himself, to take the government into his own hands, peace can never be established or abiding. There may be seasons of comparative tranquillity, but how often the rebels will be in revolt, and sin will be found to be too strong even for the renewed man. But if the Prince of Peace has come in — if the gates of the city have been thrown open to receive and welcome Him — if He has been enthroned in the heart — the city is at peace. Everything within will be under His control, and there will be abutida?ice of peace.
How many who understand all about a right position, are very far from enjoying a right condition. They see and recognise their standing in peace, but they know little practically of an abiding experience of peace. Let me trace some of the causes of this. First, there is rebellion within. Our desires, though perhaps to some extent sanctified, have not been brought wholly under Christ’s control, and hence they are continually overstepping their legitimate bounds. Our wills, though to some extent subdued, are not wholly yielded to Christ — to His keeping and direction. Hence there is every now and again more or less resistance to the appointments, and purposes, and leadings of God. So long as this goes on there may be a kind of peace at times, but the heart will never know what is implied in the expression the abundance of Peace.
Take another point — the matter of
6o
THE WALK 7 HAT PLEASES GOD.
2 Cor. xii.
9, lo.
temper — only a few seconds of ebullition of temper, and our condition of inward peace is destroyed. Up to that point you seemed to be making some progress, but that wretched temper got the mastery and spoilt it all! The grief and sorrow which follow do not put you back where you were before. What is to be done? You may say, “I have tried hard to control my temper; I have struggled and striven against it, but to no avail. The truth is, it is constitutional. It is ray infirmity. I read that Paul had a thorn in the flesh, and I suppose that this is my thorn.” Not so, brother. Stop a moment. Paul’s infirmity was a weakness, but it was not a sin or he could never have gloried in it. That temper of yours is a sin. Call it by its right name. You ask, “What am I to do?” Well, instead of trying to control yourself, put yourself and your temper under Christ’s control. Get down in the dust before Him. Do not strain to keep your temper under; that is what you have tried to do, but have found it too strong for you. Seek to get under Christ’s controlHng power. “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God.” If you want to feel the benefit of the power of God’s hand, get under it. Humble yourself under it. We do not mind trusting; but we do not like the humbling process that often has to precede the trusting. If necessary, acknowledge your need before others. And the greater the humbling, the greater will be your realization of the abundance of peace. Christ is able to control that temper and to fill up wdth His strength the place where you are the weakest. When He takes possession, He controls, keeps under, and reigns as the Prince of Peace; and you then understand what is meant by the abundance of peace.
Again, many are strangers to peace on account of the a?ixieties, the worries, the trials of daily life. Now what are you to do with these things? What is your pre-
1 Pet. sent habit of life in reference to them? Are you trying to manage your own affairs, and carry your own cares and burdens? You will not know what it is to be kept in perfect peace unless you fulfil the threefold command contained in the fourth chapter to the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord 111. iv. 4-7 ahvay: and again I say, Rejoice.” “Let your moderation “— gentleness —” be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.” “Be careful” — or anxious — “for nothing.” Do you rejoice in Him? Is your modera” tion or gentleness known? And then, are you anxious about nothing? If so, what then? “And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds” — thoughts — “in Christ Jesus.”
You have reversed this order, it may be, and have been trying to keep God’s peace; but if you do what He bids you, He will undertake to do what He promises. His peace will keep you. The very things which you say it is impossible to keep,
Cxod undertakes to keep, namely, your heart (the seat of your affections) and your mind (the seat of your thoughts). He will control our thoughts, and so garrison them in Christ that they are brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. It is in Him as in a fortress that we find abiui’ dance of peace.
But once more. Peace is often lost owing to cojiflict. Not necessarily owing to the conflict itself, but owing to the way in which the believer engages in it. How often the believer engages in the warfare on wrong principles, and uses WTong methods.
The good fight is the fight of faith. Nothing is easier than to step out of faith into feeling; out of faith into sight or sense. What follows? At once there is a failure. It is no longer a fight of faith. But when we are in our true position — in Christ, under Christ’s control — we have the benefit of His Almighty powr, and the force of the
THE WALK J HA T PLEASES GOD.
2 Chron.
xiv. II.
Joshua V. 13, Hassault is borne by Him. He takes the strain and the burden; whilst the believer passes into his triumphs, and is kept in perfect peace through it all. The child of God then understands the meaning of Asa’s words: “Lord, it is nothmg with Thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power; help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, Thou art our God; let not man prevail against Thee.” Against us? No; against Ihee! Why! because the battle is the Lord’s. How often we have looked at the battle as ours, and have asked that man shall not prevail against us. But perhaps you are not wholly on the Lord’s side; and this may be the secret of your failure. If you want continuous victory, you must be on the side of Him who knows no defeat. “Art thou for us or for our adversaries?” said Joshua. “Nay; but as Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come.”
The question is not whether the Lord is on your side, but whether you are on the Lord’s side.
in. Once more, Peace in connection WITH Christ’s presence.
“These things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have Peace.” /// Me, not through Me, out of Me, or from Me, but in Me.
The soul’s dwelhng-place is the very presence of Christ, the secret place of God’s tabernacle. It is in that dwelling-place that the deepest, truest, and most satisfying peace is found.
It is not so much what He gives as what He is. “He is our peace,” and He says, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” See how David testilied to this fiict: “Thou art my hiding-place; Thou shalt preserve me from trouble; Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.”
“My hiding-place,” that is safety;
John xvi
33-
Eph ii. 14.
Matt, xxviii.
Ps. xxxii,
7-
Isa.
“Thou shalt preserve me froiii trouble,” strength; “Songs of deliverance,” g/adjiess. And Isaiah says, “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my songp “My strength and my song” Many see the salvation and the strength, but they forget the song. If you have Christ formed in you the hope of glory, you should have the song. Let there be gladness in all you do and say.
We read in the 72nd Psalm: “/« his iays shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.”
No doubt that has an important prophetic application, but with that I am not now concerned. I believe it has a very important spiritual significance. Do you give your days to Jesus as well as your talents? You say, “I am going to give this day to the Lord; but tomorrow I have some special business for myself!” Exactly. Oh to have every day a clay of the Son of man upon earth! That is the secret of continuous peace. To give Him always the pre-eminence. Every day the Lord’s day, in which we say, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” “Thou shalt have full control.” “Fulfil Thy good pleasure in me.” Then shall we have abufidafice of peace. Let the presence of the Lord in His people become a living, bright reality, then we shall find abundant and abiding peace.
Let us now endeavour to answer the question, “How am I to enjoy this peace?” There are conditions. Some people object to conditions. But there are conditions in the matter of salvation. Faith is a condition. And so, when we come to the matter of holiness, and progress in holiness, there are conditions all along the way. First, then, I would say. Let there be 710 reserves. In the end of the ninth chapter of Luke we
Luke ix.
6i.
Gen. xvii. read of a man who came to Jesus, and said, “Lord, I will fullow Thee; but — *’ Many people go as far as tlmt, and there ihey stop. They get the blessing only when the hut is removed. “One says,” Lord, I will follow Thee; but I do not want others to know it. The fact is, I am afraid of being thought peculiar: I am afraid I shall be misunderstood. There are friends whose good opinion and esteem I greatly j’rize, and I am afraid that, if I am out-and-out for Christ, they will shun and avoid me.” Now what does God say to such an one? “Walk before Me, and be thou perfect.” Another says, “Lord, I will follow Thee; but I am not willing to give up one thing. In the first place, I am not sure that there is any harm in it.” Has any one asked you to give it up? “No,” you say; “but I have not felt comfortable about it.” Then it may be the Lord is dealing with you about it. And God bids you lay aside not only sins, but every weighty in running the race set before you. It may not be a sin; but is it a weight? Is it hindering your progress, or marring your influence. If so, that settles the point. You must let it go. Then, after all, oftdmes it is not the thing itself that stands in the way, but the act 0/ clinging to it. Sometimes God puts His finger upon some object very dear to you to bring you out into a sphere of greater usefuhiess. Look at Abraham and Isaac. I do not read that Abraham idolised his son; but the time came when God said, “I want you to give Me your son, your only son Isaac, to offer him up as a burnt offering.” What did Abraham do? At once he responded to God’s call, and gave him to the Lord; but the Lord gave him back again to Abraham. And so God may be putting his finger upon something in which there is neither any harm nor any hindrance, neither a sin, nor a weight, in order that you may consecrate your will to Him. Yield it to
Gen.
the Lord, and He will bless you with the abundance of peace.
Once more. Another says, “Lord, I will follow Thee, but I am afraid that I shall be called to suffer.” This is to have hard thoughts of God. You think that, if you put yourself wholly into His hands, He will be cruel! Why, He is your Father. Whatsoever is loving and tender in an earthly parent is just a faint reflection of the infinite love that dwells in our Father in heaven.
Secondly, let there be no distrust. God wants you to give yourself to Him that He might fulfil His good pleasure in you, that His will may be done in you. His will is your truest happiness. Let us say, “Lord, take me, and do Thy will in me; use me as Thou wilt.” What God requires is that you should be at His disposal, without any conditions.
Lastly, let there be no delay. Some here may be saying, “When I get to my room I will give myself wholly to the Lord.”
Nay, let it be now. A few moments may be sufficient. Just look up into His face, and say, “Yes, Lord, yes; I will go all lengths with Thee — and now — Here 1 am.” “I see now,” said one, not long since, “the secret of abundance, the secret of always having a full supply. It is simply to live in the land; for my Father says, “Dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.” It is in the land the “abundance” is to be found. Simply abide there. Abide in Him, in whom all fulness dwells, and you will have enough and to spare. Yield yourself to Him now for this; give yourself to Him without reserve, unconditionally, cheerfully, prompdy, and then the Lord will undertake to meet all your need, and you shall know what it is, day by day, and right on to the end, to live in the Aeux-DANCE OF Peace.
Pi. X>I>