Sermon Tone Analysis

CAN THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH?

\\ Luke 2:14 \\ \\ Can there be peace on earth?

Or was the song of the angels a farce?

The shepherds heard the angels singing, \\ "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men."

What about this peace on earth?

Across \\ the two thousand years since the angels sang that hymn of gladness there have been only a few very brief periods \\ in which there has not been an active war going on somewhere on the earth.

This Christmas will dawn in a world in \\ which many are still engaged in active, deadly conflicts.

In spite of the periods of hope the world experiences ever \\ once in a while, most everyone senses that the world is edging closer and closer to its own destruction in a third \\ World War.

\\ \\ We need to face the truth!

The truth is that our world will not know any lasting period of peace until some radical \\ changes are made in the world.

The Bible gives us reason to believe that The One born in Bethlehem that \\ Christmas will return to the earth someday to make those needed changes.

Until then the world will continue to \\ know "wars and rumors of wars."

Regard¬less of any new political or economic system that we might create, the \\ situation will not change.

The reason it will not change is that the cause of war is not found in the system, but in the \\ men who run the systems.

The problem is that man is a fallen creature, a sinner, and because fallen man tries to \\ build his world without God, whatever he builds is under the judgment of God, and is predetermined to failure.

So \\ can there be peace on the earth?

Realis¬tically the answer is "no" for the present, if we are discussing the \\ relationships between the nations of the world.

\\ \\ But personal peace is a possibility.

The angels did not really sing about nations, they sang about men.

Most of the \\ modern translations reflect another reading in the song.

They read, "Peace on earth among men of His good \\ pleasure."

The force seems to be that those who are the objects of God's favor will know a personal peace while \\ they are on the earth.

They may be living in a troubled, warring world, but they will be men of peace.

Let's explore \\ this.

What kind of personal peace is possible now, and how? \\ \\ I. THROUGH CHRIST WE CAN KNOW PEACE WITH GOD ON THE EARTH \\ The great war that needed a conclusion was not between nations or men.

In fact the world knew a rather shaky kind \\ of peace when Jesus was born.

If you had been in Rome, the door to the Temple of Janus would have been closed \\ because there was no active war going on any place in the empire.

When a war was in progress the doors were \\ opened so Janus the God of War could go forth with the armies of Rome.

But the peace was one imposed and \\ sustained by the brutal power of the Roman legions.

But the great war that was going on was the ageless conflict \\ between God and His Adversary the Devil.

Man had joined in the conflict on the side of the Adversary in the garden \\ of Eden.

Throughout the history of man, his attitude toward God had been one of rebellion and hostility.

\\ Furthermore, man had not been able to find a way to conclude the conflict.

There seemed to be no way for him to \\ find a basis for peace with Holy God.

\\ \\ The birth of Jesus Christ was directly related to this conflict between God and man.

He was coming to the earth \\ from heaven as the "Prince of Peace".

He was on a mission of peace.

While on the earth He worked out the basis of \\ a new peace treaty between God and man.

The treaty was based on a willingness of this One born to bear in his \\ body the sins of the world of mankind on a tree, and by dying in their stead, to pay the price for their sins.

The one \\ thing that the treaty called for was those who wanted to enter into the treaty must place their trust in Jesus Christ, \\ and accept as a gift from God the new relationship that God offered.

Under the terms of the treaty God promised \\ never to remember the transgressions of the rebels any more, and to accept them in his presence as His own sons \\ and daughters.

He would impute to them the right¬eousness, of His Son, and treat them accordingly.

\\ \\ While the Bible does not use the word treaty, but rather the word "covenant", the basic idea is the same.

The \\ primary difference between a treaty and a covenant, is that the treaty is usually something worked out through \\ negotiations, but the covenant is more a one sided kind of agree¬ment.

The outcome of the work of Jesus Christ in \\ His mission to the earth is stated by Paul, ''Having been justified by God through faith, we have peace with God \\ through our Lord Jesus Christ.''

This peace with God refers to the present relationship between the justified and \\ God.

It indi¬cates that all of the charges against them have been settled.

The books of heaven are clean!

They \\ have been forgiven.

In a positive way it means that they are now the objects of the special favor of God.

The \\ provisions of God are now freely flowing their way.

\\ \\ Dr. Addison H. Leitch gave a beautiful illustration of this in his book Interpreting Basic Theology.

It was a personal \\ experience illustration.

While he was sitting at the dining room table looking out the window and watching five boys \\ "fooling around" with a B B gun and wonder¬ing to himself how long it would be before they hurt one another with \\ the gun, it happened.

One of the boys took careful aim at a little sparrow sitting on a limb just outside the dining \\ room window.

With deliberate aim, he shot, but missed the bird and hit the window.

Immediately all five of the boys \\ turned and ran, with Dr. Leitch soon in pursuit.

But he did not catch them.

\\ \\ In a few days he found out that the boy's name was Dave White.

Also in a few days Dr. Leitch had the window \\ replaced and paid for it himself.

But Dave White was evading him.

The other boys had come back to the vacant lot \\ to play, but not Dave.

Dave, the guilty one, was not in¬clined to do any confessing or to face the one he had \\ wronged.

So Dr. Leitch went looking for him.

His purpose in looking for him was not to punish him, but to save him \\ from the misery he was in.. Finally he caught him alone, and confronted him with the issue.

Dave stood before him \\ trembling with fear and rebellion.

He was ready to run or to fight in defense.

When Dr. Leitch assured him that the \\ window was already replaced, and paid for, and that he did not want Dave to pay it, and that all he wanted was \\ Dave to come back and play with the other boys, Dave could not believe it.

All he wanted was the friendship of \\ Dave, but Dave could not believe it.

It was only after much persuasion, that Dave finally became convinced.

When \\ he did become con¬vinced, it was such an exciting thing to behold.

He relaxed and began to smile.

He was now \\ able to freely come close to the Leitch house again.

Fear was gone.

He now had peace with Dr. Leitch.

He was \\ ready to do anything for the professor within his power.

\\ \\ This is precisely what God has done.

God has freely paid the price for our transgression against Him.

He comes to \\ us offering to us reco4ciliation.

He forgives all, and welcomes us back into His fellowship.

Those who accept His \\ offer by faith have "peace with God."

They have this peace with God on the earth, right now, in their present \\ circumstances.

This was really the peace that the angels saw becoming a possibility.

The conflict between God and \\ man was not about to be settled by the God of grace and mercy.

A peace that would be personal and perman¬ent \\ was about to be offered to man.

\\ \\ II.

THROUGH CHRIST WE CAN KNOW THE PEACE OF GOD ON THE EARTH.

\\ To those who know peace with God the peace of God is a possibility.

Jesus spoke of this peace when He promised, \\ "Peace I leave with you, my peace give I unto you."

Though He lived in the midst of conflict and trouble, Jesus was \\ always a man of peace.

He was kept by the peace of God always.

He bequeathed this peace to His disciples before \\ He left them alone in the world.

Paul wrote of this Peace to the Phillipians.

"Be anxious in nothing: but in everything \\ by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be known unto God, and the peace of God which \\ passeth all understanding shall keep your heart and mind through Jesus Christ our Lord.''

This is different from the \\ peace with God.

This is the calm and tranquility that one knows as they face life day by day.

\\ \\ Many scholars find both aspects of this peace in the statement of Jesus.

When He said, "Peace I leave with you", it \\ is the peace of God.

The peace of God is that awareness that comes of God through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

\\ There are different aspects of this peace.