Again I find my self preaching from these verses! Did you listen as I read the names that Isa. gave the child born unto us, the son given for us. To the one upon whose shoulders the government shall rest? I could preach a whole sermon on each of those names, but this Sunday, the Sunday before Christmas, I will by the grace of God preach on the name Prince of Peace.

    What did the angles say in Luke 2:14? "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. When did the angles say this to the shepherds? Was it not when Jesus was born? You see it is the Prince of Peace that will bring peace, true lasting peace to the world.

The word peace is used 111 times in the New Testament and has several different meanings according to which Greek word is used. But they all really mean basically the same thing. Harmonious relationships between men, friendliness, freedom from molestation, order in the government and in the churches. But here is the one definition that I want to us today. It comes from the Greek word, eirene, i-ray'-nay. The harmonized relationships between God and man, which brings about the harmonized relationships between all mankind.

And it is only the prince of peace that can bring this eirene! That peace will only come to the world when he comes, but you can have that kind of peace in your heart right now! But now lets look at the eirene that the prince of peace brings. It is peace with God, The peace of God, and Peace on earth.

    1. This peace is the work of Christ into which the individual

         enters by faith

         A. This is a positional peace, which all of God's saved

              have now and forever

    2. You see there is a great gulf between sinners and our Holy

        God!

         A. This gluf came about when Adam and Eve sinned, was

              brought sin into God's perfect sinless world.

   3. God had made man and woman perfect! There was no flaw

        in them!

       A. They had perfect communication with God. And He

            walked and talked with them in the garden in the cool of

            the morning.

       B. But there came a day when God came in the cool of the

           morning, but Adam did not run out to meet him. He and

           the woman had sinned and they were afraid of God.

      C. Their sin brought about a great gulf between God

           and mankind! Man cannot cross the gulf to get to God

           and God will not cross that sin gulf to get to man.

    4. Millions have tried to bridge that gulf and find peace with

         God

        A. Through religious rituals

        B. Through good works

        C. Through giving their money or possessions.

    5. But that gulf can only be bridged by the cross of Christ.

        And only then will we find that eirene. That peace that

        passes all understanding.

    6. The cross of Jesus

        A. Paid our debt of sin. (ISA. 53:5-6)

        B. Broke down all barriers (EPH. 2: 13-19)

    7. We find peace with God through faith in Jesus.

        (ROM. 5:1)

II. THE PEACE OF GOD (PHLIP. 4:4-8)

    1. This is an inward peace, the state of the soul of the

        Christian who, having entered into peace with God, has

         committed all his anxieties to God through prayer and

        supplication with thanksgiving

    2. Listen Christian do you have this peace? Then why not?

       Are you really saved? If so do you really believe?

    3. You see  peace "with" God is positional and unchanging!

        A. And if your saved you already have this peace but the

             peace "of" God is not positional.

    4. You see many have peace with God, but miss the peace of

        God.

       A. Why? Because this peace of God is dependent on our

            relationship with God.

      B. So how do you stand with God?

    5. In these verses we find the path to peace.

       A. Be anxious for nothing.

       B. Pray about everything.

       C. Give thanks without ceasing.

       D. Think only about praise.

    6. And the result of following this path is peace that passes

        all understanding.

III. PEACE ON EARTH (ISA: 2:1-4) (ISA. 11:1-9)

   1. Remember Luke 2:14? "Glory to God in the highest, and

       on earth peace, good will toward men."

       A. At this time the Roman empire was at peace with all the

           world, and the gates to the temple of their war god was

           closed. They supposed that there was no need for the

           presence of their god to guide and lead their conquering

           armies.

      B. The angles sang of something more real and enduring

           than this temporary lull. Because within in a mere 70

           years within sight of the same spot where the shepherds

           beheld the angels, would come the armies of Rome to

          destroy the temple and slaughter thousands of people.

    2. Yes the angels sang of the eirene, i-ray'-nay that awaits the

        coming kingdom of Jesus.

    3. And in this millennial kingdom there will be

       A. No more war.

       B. Peace among the animals.

       C. Even nature will be at peace, remember (ROM. 8:22)?

    4. And then Gabriel's promises to Mary will be fulfilled.

        (LK. 1:30-33) "And the angel saidunto her, Fear not,

        Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold,

        thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son,

        and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall

        be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall

        give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall

        reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom

        there shall be no end."

    5. Yes the best is yet to come.

Do you long for peace? Christ will bring peace to your troubled heart. Someday He will bring peace to this troubled world.

In closing this sermon, allow me to tell you of my desire to describe the peace of God to you folks this morning. I kept asking my self, "how can I describe the peace that the prince of peace has for us after we have made peace with God by being saved?" I was truly at a lost for words for there are no words that can describe the beauty of this peace.

But I remembered a place that is called the cushion of the sea. Down beneath the surface that is agitated with storms, and driven about with high winds, there is a part of the sea that is never stirred. When we dredge the bottom and bring up the remains of animal and vegetable life, we find that they give evidence of not having been disturbed for hundreds, even thousands of years.

The peace of God is that eternal, calm which lies far too deep down in the praying soul to be reached by any external disturbance.