-Transcript-
00:38 Amen. Glory to God. Welcome to the program.
00:42 Welcome to the cafe. Hope you’re doing great today. Hopefully you’re having a wonderful week, wonderful day.
00:47 My name is Pastor Clark Covington. I’m so glad to join you today. I thank God for the opportunity to preach His Word here today and I thank you for being here with me.
00:55 It’s always good to get into God’s Word, isn’t it? To spend a little time looking at God’s Word, seeing what He can do in our lives is really incredible.
01:04 And today this is the third part of a three-part series on the peace that we have when we seek the Lord, the Prince of Peace. And as I mentioned earlier this week, in the previous episode, I was driving to another town nearby where I live and there was a billboard that said, make this year about, and then add a peace sign.
01:26 Mankind is right to seek peace. The billboard, there’s nothing wrong with having a billboard. Look, it’s one less billboard of something else we see all the time, whatever that may be, but it’s good to seek peace.
01:38 But I thought to myself, how futile that this billboard was telling us to seek peace among ourselves. That people will say on social media, share this for world peace. If it were that simple.
01:52 But no matter how much we post on social media, no matter how many billboards are in the town, no matter how many meetings we have, no matter how many pledges we make, no matter how much we give, we’ll never have peace in this world until Jesus Christ comes again and rules and reigns.
02:12 The reason why is because sin is in this world in a way that cannot be removed. We cannot fix sin without God.
02:25 And man, for as long as man has been around, has tried to do that. And you say, oh really? Tell me a Bible passage on that. How about Adam and Eve sinning in the Garden of Eden, sin entering the picture, them being expelled from the Garden of Eden, and then Cain and Abel.
02:42 Cain and Abel. Cain killing Abel. Cain bringing that unaccepted offering, trying to do things his way.
02:49 Literally at the beginning of mankind as we know it, the first people on the earth as we know it, Adam and Eve, sin. I’ve read about how long were they in the garden before they sinned. Of course nobody really knows.
03:04 Some scholars believe it was the same day. Others believe it was a longer period of time. Only God knows.
03:13 But sin entered the picture there. And then Adam, then Cain and Abel. And you see Cain wanting to bring an offering to God that he wanted to bring, doing things his way.
03:27 And that was unacceptable to God. And here we are some 6,000 years or so later, whatever it has been, as we understand it. Certainly not millions of years, that’s for sure.
03:38 As we understand how long it’s been, here we are. And yet we still cannot resolve the sin problem. No matter how much education we have, no matter how much technology we have, we cannot resolve the sin problem.
03:52 Somebody in the Philippines can start a van in Morrisville, North Carolina. I saw it happen. They’re in the Philippines and they’re literally somehow starting a van.
04:03 So let me start the van for opening, unlocking the van. How on earth can you do that? Well, technology, right? I’m still blown away by things like FaceTime, having a video call, you know, in a car somewhere on a cell signal and there’s video of the other person.
04:17 I remember being a child and there was rumors of video calls coming one day and I was like literally blown away.
04:23 I couldn’t imagine that. And yet we have it. And we have incredible technology.
04:29 And yet we still have many, many wars. We have brutal wars. We have wars in the literal sense of the war, like Ukraine and Russia.
04:38 We have wars like the war on drugs in Mexico where people are being killed and murdered. We have wars. We have ethnic cleansing.
04:44 We have territorial disputes, tripped over that one. We have every kind of war you can imagine in here in 2022, 2023 and beyond. Well, what does that mean? That means that we cannot manufacture peace, that legislation laws do not bring peace to this world.
05:00 Now, before anyone were to say that I’m against laws, I’m not. And the Bible tells us that those that are above us or set before us are there for our protection. Amen.
05:12 And we need laws and we need an enforcer of those laws. And I believe we need governmental organizations. And I’m fascinated by those things.
05:21 And we need mutual deterrence and these things, these ideas of how nations have peace with one another through power and strength. I get all that. Amen.
05:30 I’m not trying to say that we strip all that away. What I’m trying to say is that don’t let the intellectual tell you that, that, Oh, the simple fundamental Bible believers just say you need God. That’s it.
05:40 How simple. What I’m trying to tell you is factually sin is in the picture. Sin entered a very long time ago.
05:46 Sin will not leave the picture. The little G God of this world’s running around, confusing everybody. And that without Jesus Christ, there’ll be no peace in this world.
05:54 And there’ll be no peace in your heart. That is a truth that no intellectual can dispute because it is a truth. How about this? God tells us through his word that he provides a peace that surpasses all understanding.
06:08 The biggest mistake misstep we can make is to think we can make peace on our own without God. I mentioned this verse Isaiah 64:6, but we are all as an unclean thing. All our, our righteousness are as filthy rags and we do all fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away.
06:27 Our righteousness is like filthy rags to God, like dirty gauze pads. But how about Isaiah 9:6, this is the resolution for unto us. A child is born unto us.
06:39 A son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the Prince of peace. That’s Isaiah 9:6, the Prince of peace. This is who we need.
06:46 Amen. This is who we turn to. Seeking Jesus is the action step to achieving peace.
06:55 To seek Jesus for peace isn’t passive. Think about this. We’ve often, I think, been taught this very subtly that you should just, you know, Hey, balance it out and you know, go to church a little bit and go to the worldly movies a little bit and do this a little bit and do that a little bit.
07:13 That’s not seeking Jesus. The idea that we’re just transformed by going to church or being a lukewarm believer is not the case. We must seek Him to have peace.
07:26 And the example I’m going to give you from the Bible clearly shows this. How about the maniac of Gadara? He had no peace. He had legions of devils within Him.
07:36 Mark 5:1-5. And they came over under the side of the sea into the country of the Gurdians. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit who had his dwelling among the tombs and no man could bind him.
07:54 No, not with chains because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains and the chains had been plucked asunder by him. And the fetters broken in pieces. Neither could any man tame him.
08:08 And always night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs crying and cutting himself with stones. Now let’s look at what Mark 1-5is setting up here. Is it not setting up a man that has absolutely no peace? This, this maniac of Gadara was living literally in the wilderness.
08:31 He was out in the tombs and the graveyards. He could not be bound down. Anyone that would try to tame him, tame him or bind him couldn’t do it.
08:41 Even with chains. That’s also a picture maybe of anyone that was trying to cure him in the worldly ways. Hey, let’s make a law to cure him.
08:48 Let’s form a group to cure him. It’s not going to work because that he had been bound with fetters and chains and he would break them. He would break him in pieces.
08:56 No man could tame him. He’s in the mountains and the tombs crying, cutting himself with stones. Okay.
09:03 He’s literally cutting himself and look at verse 6 and Mark 5. But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshiped him. He ran and worshiped him.
09:18 So, he sees the savior. He sees Jesus. Does he just sit there and say, well, maybe Jesus will come to me.
09:26 Maybe I’ll think about this. Maybe I’ll talk to him a little bit and then I’ll go over here to this other graveyard. No, He ran to Him.
09:32 And this is a picture of how we are to be with Christ. We met and we will then have peace. Look at what happened here.
09:41 Mark 5:15. And they come to Jesus and see him that was possessed with the devil and had the Legion sitting in clothes and in his right mind. And they were afraid.
09:53 Remember this man was running around, uh, breaking the chains, absolutely wild, probably didn’t have any clothes on. And now he’s in his right mind and they were afraid. They were afraid because they couldn’t understand the supernatural change that had happened in him.
10:13 Amen. When we are changed by Jesus, some people will see us and be afraid because they won’t understand it. They’ll say that wild man used to be drinking and cussing and living like the world and all this, and used to be the butt of all these jokes.
10:26 And now this wild man is clean in clothes, sitting sober. It’ll scare them to scare the daylights out of them. But we’re not here to scare the world as much as we are to seek Jesus.
10:35 The idea here is that this man was changed by Jesus Christ alone. He was no longer possessed with the devil. He no longer had all of this anxiety and stress and terror among him because Christ had brought him peace.
10:52 Philippians 4:6, be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. Here, Philippians 4:6, Paul’s writing, letting us know, be careful for nothing, like in all things, everything you want to give thanks. Amen.
11:11 And after you give thanks, give it to God. You know, maybe you have something that is holding you back from having peace in your life because you have not brought it to Christ. And because you have not made Christ the priority in your mind, Isaiah 26:3, thou will keep him in perfect peace.
11:33 Whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee Isaiah 26:3 God will keep you in perfect peace. When your mind is stayed on God has kept on God because you trust in God. That’s what Isaiah 26:3 means in my little simple translation, but I’ll read it again in the King James, Isaiah 26:3, thou will keep him in perfect peace.
11:53 Whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee. Now you have a promise from God through the prophet Isaiah, who was the one we mentioned our text first about the son being born of the wonderful counselor. Amen.
12:06 The prince of peace. We have a promise from that same prophet, from God directly. Amen.
12:10 In the Bible telling us that if we keep our mind on God, we will have perfect peace. He will give us peace. And you say, well, I don’t have peace.
12:19 Well, here’s the question. Do you continually keep your mind on God and the ways of God, or where is your mind?
12:26 Think about that long and hard, and then hold God to his promise. If you’re saved, you have the Holy Spirit living within you, then you can bank on it.
12:34 Put your mind on God, on the things of God, on the ways of God. Behold Christ at the cross. Behold Christ in heaven.
12:41 Behold all of what God has given you in his word. Study it. Apply it to your heart.
12:46 Enrich the Holy Spirit. Get rid of the things that grieve the Holy Spirit in your life. Get rid of the worldly music, the worldly movies, the nasty things of this world, all the things that keep our mind in conflict and stress, gossip, and all of the worldly news, all these things.
13:03 Get it out and fill your mind with the ways and things of God. Don’t worry about what the world says, just do it. And watch as peace washes over you, and then do it again.
13:12 And then as you find yourself drifting afar off, go right back to God, repent before him, call upon his name, amen. The Bible tells us if we confess our sins, he’s faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
13:26 We have salvation in Christ, Amen, and we have sanctification in Christ, the idea that he will wash us anew as we go to him, and he’ll forgive us our sins, and that we then forgive others their sins as the Lord’s prayer says, that we forgive those that owe us debt, our debtors, and we ask those that we’re in debt to to forgive us, Amen.
13:49 God’s saying you’re in sin debt, I provided for you, I forgive you, now you go forgive everybody else. And how much easier is that to do when you have peace in your heart and your mind? Seek Jesus today. Don’t wait.
13:59 Don’t put it off. Don’t let the devil distract you. Seek him with all your heart, mind, and soul.
14:04 Turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. He has a mighty arm. He is very strong, and he will save you, and he will sanctify you until He returns.
14:12 I thank you for listening. Take care. God bless, and Amen.