Today, I'd like you to turn back to chapter 3 of 2 Thessalonians, and we're going to end by looking at the last three verses and going through expositionally. One of the reasons why we do this is because, you know, the Lord has set his own agenda for the ministry of the Word in each of these books. He covers topics in various ways and to various people. That is one of the reasons why it is important for us to look at it this way. God gave us the word in this way for a reason. And so it's important for us to look at how he intertwines all the different doctrines and all the different practices that we are to have in our life as Christians. And so today we're going to consider the topic of peace that we find in verses 16 through 18. The question I want to leave you and for you to think about this morning and really throughout the day is this. Are you at peace? Are you at peace? Is there peace in your life? Is there peace in your family? Is there peace in your heart? Is there peace with your co-workers? Is there peace with the people in your church? Is there peace with God? Are you at peace? And be honest with yourself, because if you say that you're at peace in your heart, and really you're not, the only person that you're deceiving is yourself. We don't know all the problems and all the circumstances and all the issues that you're facing. You can look like you're at peace to me, and you can look like you're at peace with others, but the fact is, you can never fool God. He knows whether you're at peace. In fact, sometimes He brings trouble for you to find the real peace that only comes through Him. Are you at peace? Peace is something that everyone wants, but it's also something that few ever really enjoy. We see very little peace even in the world today. According to the Personnel Journal, since the beginning of recorded history, the entire world has been at peace And that is recorded history. It doesn't count for all the tribes and all the Indians all over the world and indigenous people that might have been battling with inter-tribal warfare and things like that. This is recorded history. So more than likely, the earth has never seen a moment of peace except when Adam and Eve were alive before there was ever sin. From the very moment that there was sin, even to today, I don't believe there has been a moment of true universal peace in the world. They said that according to recorded history, out of 3,530 years of history that we have on the books, only 286 years saw relative peace. 286. less than 8% of the time. Moreover, more than 8,000 peace treaties were made and broken. And the peace treaties that we might see today, NATO and some of these other things, they'll last until they're broken. And we see that time after time after time after time. History repeats itself. There is peace for a time and then it is gone. Why? Because of conflict. And because people really don't enjoy the peace that they seek. We need peace. We need the peace that is so elusive to us in this world and in our lives. We need peace in the world. We need peace in our workplaces. We need peace in our churches. We need peace in our families. We need peace in our own hearts. We need peace with God. This need for peace is absolutely universal. It affects all people, at all places, and at all times. Why is it that when you turn on some television during the end of the year and they're looking at what happened in 2008 and they're looking forward to 2009, what is the main wish of people? as you look at it in Times Square and they're interviewing them and they say, we want world peace. That's what we want. People want peace. And it's only natural for us because peace means an absence of problems. It means that the winds of life that just are surrounding us and seem to topple us from time to time, those winds will be calmed. We all want peace. Peace is something that is needed for all people in all places and at all times. This need for peace also affected the church here in Thessalonica, which Paul is writing to. This, remember, was a young church that Paul had helped to plant and establish years before. And what he was doing was he was teaching them and instructing them in what they ought to do as believers within this church. And we saw last time in 1 Thessalonians, if you remember back several months ago, 1 Thessalonians, he was dealing with some of the problems that the people faced in that church from the outside. There were a lot of conflict from the outside. The city that they lived in was a cosmopolitan city. It was a worldly city. And they did not like to hear the message of the gospel. They did not like to hear that they were sinners. and that they deserved judgment from God. They didn't want to hear that. It was not a very popular concept. And so they were persecuted by those people in the city. Their own citizens. Their own people in that city. But also, they were even persecuted and opposed by religious people like the Jews, who claimed to believe in God, the God of the Bible, the same God that we believe in and serve, and yet they also did not like the idea of Jesus Christ being the suffering Messiah, the suffering Savior, and so they too jumped on the bandwagon to try to oppose this church every way it went. And so they were experiencing a lot of turmoil, a lot of strife. Some of them perhaps were even killed as a result of their faith in Christ. So Paul says they needed peace. In 2 Thessalonians, we've looked at more recently, we've seen that they also faced problems not just from the outside, but from inside the church. There were problems of doctrine. They had some questions about some real important matters of Scripture. Well, is Jesus Christ going to come in the far future? Is He going to come again very soon? Or has He already come and we missed Him? There were some clear problems and that created strife. We see doctrinal strife in churches from time to time, and we understand that we need peace within our churches as well. There was also a matter of a man or some people that were in the church that turned out to be lazy loafers. And he was giving some very practical advice on how to deal with them, saying that if those people are not willing to work, they shouldn't eat. Don't give them things and let them feed off of you if they're not willing to work with their own hands. So there were matters of doctrine, there were matters of practice, and it created a friction even inside the church. They needed peace. Problems on the outside, problems on the inside, and very little peace to be found. Maybe that's the way you feel today. Problems on the outside. Problems at work. Problems with finances. Problems on the outside. All that pressure. And then you look inside in your own family, in your own life, and there's struggles and turmoils and pressures. Problems on the outside. Problems on the inside. And very little peace. Paul knew the only real source for peace And so that's how he finishes this second letter. He realized that the only source for peace was God Himself. In fact, he describes God in verse 16 as the Lord of Peace. The Lord of Peace. And so as he is going to talk to this particular church, this young but growing church, Paul prays that God Himself would give them the peace that they so desperately need. The peace that they need from the outside world and the peace that they need from the inside. We need to realize that what he prays for in these words is the same thing that we need today. The only source for the peace that we so desperately need is God. And God alone. and God Himself. It won't come from elections. It won't come this November to find peace in our nation when we finally have an election and we finally determine who's going to be president. More than likely, that's going to create more conflict, don't you think? It's not going to come through arbitration from time to time. When I worked at the bank, I would talk to people about some of their finances and one of the things that you sign up for when you sign into a bank or you sign a contract a lot of times with these corporations is that you're signing away your right to a trial. What you're saying is I'll agree to arbitration if there's ever a problem between me and this particular company. And more than likely, that arbitration will go in their favor because they're paying for it. So arbitration is something that is, again, arbitrary, and we don't see peace that comes from these things. Peace won't come from negotiations. How many times do we hear that? in our diplomacy, going over to Iran or North Korea, and we need to talk. We need to talk out our problems. How many times of peace, how many years of peace have we enjoyed out of just simple negotiations? Very, very few. It won't come from truces. It won't come from treaties. Peace will only come from God and God alone. So we see four areas from which our peace will come in these verses. First, the peace that we need comes through the power of God. The peace that we need comes through the power of God. Look at verse 16. He offers this prayer to the Lord for the people that are struggling from pressures outside and inside, and he says this in prayer, Now the Lord of peace Himself give you peace, always, by all means, the Lord be with you all. We see from the very first phrase, the very description that we have here of the Lord, the Lord of Peace Himself, we see the power of God in peace. You see, God is the one that is in control of peace. The reason why we don't experience peace is because He hasn't given to us peace. The Lord is the Lord of peace. And if you have your Bible and you mark in your Bible, I would encourage you to underline that word, Lord, because he is the master. That's what that word means. Lord. Lord. He is the master. He is the controller. He is the person that is able to give peace to whoever he wants. And he is even able to take away peace from whom he wants. God is in control of peace. It reminds me of the same lesson that the Lord was trying to teach the disciples in Mark chapter 4. If you will keep your finger here and turn with me to the Gospel of Mark. Mark chapter 4, verse 35 through 41. Sometimes we feel like the disciples in this boat. Mark 4, 35. says, At the same day, when the evening was come, Jesus saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. And when they had sent away the multitude, this is verse 36 of Mark 4, And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him, even as he was in the ship. And there were also with Him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And He was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow." First of all, look at God, Jesus Christ, and the peace that He was enjoying, even when the rest of them were not at peace. There's a lesson there. Jesus Christ is the controller of peace. And he was in the hinter part of the ship, asleep on a pillow, and they awoke him and said unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? It was that strong of a storm. There was a movie not too long ago called The Perfect Storm. This might have been the perfect storm for the disciples in this situation. God was trying to get their attention. God was trying to show them that unless Jesus Christ gives them peace in that storm, they would die. Now these were hardened fishermen. They were on that sea many, many times, many, many years. And they knew what the waters were like. They knew what the storms were like. And this was different. This was significantly different. Their lives were at stake. And all the other ships they could see going up and down, and they were about to sink. They were about to flounder. And they knew that unless the Lord did something... He was asleep peacefully on a pillow in the back of the ship. If Jesus didn't do something, they would perish. And look at what He says. And Jesus arose. Jesus, who is the Lord of peace Himself, the One who is in control of peace, He arose and rebuked the wind. And said unto the sea, Peace! Be still! And what happened? And the wind ceased. And there was a great calm. And Jesus said unto them, Why? Are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? The answer to that question that is given here in Mark chapter 4, we find the answer in 2 Thessalonians 3.16. What manner of man is this? He is the Lord of peace. He is the one peace when you need it in your life. He is the one that can give world peace. He is the one that in the future will give world peace. He is the one that can give you peace in your heart before God. He is the one that can give you peace in your families and in your churches. Why? Because he is the master of peace. He is the Lord of peace. God is in control of peace. That's the power of God. He also has the character of peace. Again, looking at that praise, the Lord of peace, we've already seen how the Lord means He's the Master, but then underline the word peace. He is the Lord of peace. What does this mean? It means that He is a peaceful God. He is a peace-loving God. He is a peace-providing God. You see, peace is what God is known for. Listen to what He says in 1 Corinthians 14.33. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. It says there that God is known for peace because God is the author of peace. When God created Adam and Eve and put them in the Garden of Eden, it was an experience of great peace. It was called paradise. You want paradise in your life? You won't experience paradise without peace. And God is the one who is the author of peace. So why is it that we look other places for peace in our life, and in our families, and in our churches? We must go to God and God alone, because He alone provides peace. Listen to what He says in Ephesians 2.14. Not only is He the author of peace, He is our peace. and it says, for He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us. He is the author of peace. He is our peace, because God has the character of peace. The peace that you need today, right now, sitting in your pew, will only come through the power of God. Only. If you look somewhere else, you're not going to find it. You may be in the most fearful, violent storm that you've ever faced in your life. It might be a financial storm, or a physical storm, or a family storm. It doesn't matter, but God can say, as He did in the disciples' lives, Peace be still. Peace be still. If you've ever been in the office here at the church, I have on my desk a little glass plaque that my wife got me. And it says, be still and know that I am God. I don't know how many mornings I come and I have some burdens, I have some concerns, and I have ideas in my mind, I have things that I've got to do to get to work. And then I look at that and I remind myself that the only way that I can have peace in my life, the only way that I can have peace in my ministry, the only way that I can experience and promote peace within our church is if we're still and know that He is God. Because He gives peace. And when He does so, there can be, as is said in Mark 4, a great calm. the peace that we need comes by the power of God. But it also comes by the present of God. You see, it is a great paradox that in the world, in order to have peace, it usually comes through conflict. Now, that is kind of a strange thing, but it is something that is reality. In fact, during the time in which Jesus lived, it was known as the Pax Romana, which I guess is Latin, and it means Roman peace. In fact, it was a period of about 200 years where most of the Roman Empire was at rest from war. But how did this Roman peace come about? It only came through conflict. It was only after Rome, as the Empire took all its soldiers and conquered and suppressed and even destroyed some of these warring factions within their kingdom, that finally they were able of rest and peace. And even then it wasn't that peaceful. It wasn't real lasting, because even during the Pax Romana, there were rebellions and military conflict. And so in the world, even when you think that there's peace, there probably isn't, because it's not real lasting peace. The peace that we need comes by the very presence of God. Because look at verse 16 again. It says, Now the Lord of peace himself... This is a prayer. May He give you peace always, by all means. Paul's prayer was that the Lord would give His peace to His people. You see, real peace cannot be obtained by conflict. Real peace, the peace that lasts, the peace that is meaningful, the peace that changes things, can only come to you when the Lord of Peace Himself gives it to you. We won't ever have peace in this world until God gives us peace. You will never have peace in your family until God gives you that peace. You will never have peace with a friend that you may have been estranged from recently until God gives you that peace. And you will never have peace in your hearts unless God gives you that peace. Now, when you need something, it's always good to go to the source to get it. If you need cash, you usually go to the bank, unless the bank doesn't have any cash for you. Then that's a problem. But when I go to the ATM, I'm pretty confident I can get my $20 out there. When you need food, you go to the grocery store. When you need gas, you go to the gas station, you fill up, or you get enough gas to get you by. It doesn't matter if it's $4, we need gas. So you go to the source to get that gas. And when you need peace, you've got to go to the source, to God. You see, God gives peace. we go to for peace? Him! So why do we go anywhere else? We need to realize that when God gives peace, the present, the gift of God's peace is accessible. You see, peace is God's gift to His people. How do you receive the gift of God's peace? If you need it and He has it, how do you receive it? It's the same way that you go to the store and you say, I need this. You have to pay a price. And they give it to you. When you need peace and God has peace, He says, come to me and ask for peace and I will give it. But there is a price. That price is a life. But it's not your life. Not only does He give the peace that you need, but He also provides the way to get it. He gives you His Son, Jesus Christ. And the very life of Jesus Christ and the very death of Jesus Christ is what gives you the peace. It is accessible. He is not holding it out on a rope or on a pull like a carrot on a stick trying to get somebody to go. He doesn't hold it out and say, come and try to get it. He says, if you need it, I've got it. Come and ask me for it, because Jesus Christ has already paid that price. He says, if you need it, I've got it. Come and ask for it, because the present of peace is accessible. Both are available, peace and his son, by asking him for them. Do you need peace? Why don't you go ask God for peace? Why don't you get on before Him in your face and plead before Him and say, God, I need your peace. It's not just coming on a Sunday morning and say, you know what, I'm going to pray for peace and that's it. We've got to ask. We've got to seek. We've got to knock. And we got to plead that God would grant us peace and realize that it's not going to be something that I do. It's going to be something that God gives because God's presence of peace is accessible. But when he gives it, the presence of his peace is also absolutely amazing. God's gifts are the best gifts. God's gifts are the best gifts. I remember growing up. And I knew that when I was at Christmas time, I would enjoy some gifts. And I would get a gift from my brother, and I would get a gift from my sister, and I would get a gift from my aunts and uncles. But I knew that when I got my gifts from my parents, they were the best gifts. I didn't usually get clothes or underwear or different things like that like most parents would give. They would give me that stuff but usually they would hold out to the very end and they would give me the best gift of all. I remember one year it was a camera. that I used for years. And it was a nice camera. It was a valuable camera. And I treasured that camera for many years. And I knew that they would give me the best gift because they loved me. And the fact is, when you know that you have a need for peace, and that you know that God has peace, and God has made a way for you to get that peace, when He gives you peace, it is the best gift of all. Listen to what His peace is like. Philippians 4.7 says, And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. You know you have the peace of God when you don't understand it. When it's indescribable for you. That when you're going through some of the worst storms in life, and yet inside, in your own heart, you're at peace. How can this be? It's because God's gifts are the best gifts. and His fountain of peace will never dry up. Look at verse 16. The prayer is that the Lord of Peace Himself would give you peace always. That means through every circumstance in your life. Always. in all means. You see, God's resources are unlimited to provide the peace that you need. We saw this last week, and I don't understand everything that's involved with this bailout of these financial firms, but we saw this last week the government of the United States taking money that they, I'm not sure they have, and they're bailing these companies out, and what happened? It provided some relative peace in the markets. As the Dow Jones Industrial Average was going down, and all the stock prices were going down all the world over, when they finally said we're going to bail them out, what happened? The stock prices jumped again. And it provided a relative peace, which of course will not last, but it provided a relative peace. We need to realize that our government has limited resources. There will come a time when they do have to pay the piper. But God's resources are unlimited. and He will provide the very kind of peace that we need for as long as we need it if we go to Him and ask Him for it. The peace that you need comes by the presence of God. Jesus said in John 14, 27, what we read earlier, Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. How are you going to get the peace that you need? Go to God and ask Him for it. And He's going to give it to you. Because of Jesus Christ. The peace we need comes through the very present. But also, we need the peace that comes through the presence of God. Look at verse 16. We add, Now the Lord of peace Himself gives you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all. That's a tremendous statement. Paul couldn't be there with them all the time. Paul couldn't help them all the time. This is the last letter that we know of that he sends to this church. But Jesus Christ could be and would be with them all the time. The lesson in this verse is clear. You cannot have the Lord's peace without the Lord's presence. You cannot have the Lord's peace without the Lord's presence. People are seeking peace in all the wrong places. Whenever there is a problem between two or more parties in the United States, the motto seems to be, sue them, right? We have become known as the most litigious society. In fact, the United States has more lawyers per capita than any other nation on earth. But is there peace? No. It gets worse. It gets worse. The United Nations also was found in 1945 with part of its goal, and this is actually part of its charter. The United Nations, where this guy from Iran is going to be there, is it this week? Listen to what their charter, part of their charter is. It is to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbors. It's a pretty profound goal. But is there peace? No, there's not peace. Peace is not going to come through lawyers. Peace is not going to come through the United Nations. Peace is only going to come through the very presence of the Lord. So what about you? When you're facing problems in your marriage, or your family, or your church, remember this. You cannot have peace without the Lord's presence. And only through Jesus Christ, then, you can enjoy the promise of His presence. You see, when you realize that you have a need for peace and forgiveness of your sin, and God has it, and you realize that Jesus Christ is the only way, what does it say? If you believe in Him, He promises to be with you forever. Listen to these verses. Hebrews 13, 5, For He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Now that's a promise to His people. I will never leave you or forsake you. No matter how difficult life seems to be, no matter how much the struggle seems to exist, I will never leave you. Jesus said in Matthew 28, 20, just as He was leaving His disciples, Lo, I am with you always. even unto the end of the world. That is the promise of His presence. But there is a unique presence that God promises also to His people that pursue after Him. So yes, there's a promise of peace, but there's also in our lives a pursuit of peace. He will not give peace to those who do not ask Him for peace. He will not give peace to those who do not come to Him and seek Him for peace. Even though the Lord promises to be with His people, there is a special presence that you and I must pursue. And this presence is a presence of special fruit, special peace, and special blessings. Listen to what James says in James 4.8. He says, draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you. So here we have a special example of God's presence that is conditioned on your responsibility as a believer to draw closer to Him, because He is never far off. And if you don't draw close to God, if you don't ask Him for peace, if you don't ask Him for that tranquility in your life, He's not going to give it to you, even though He is present with you. It is a unique, special gift that we need and we can pray for. Draw an eye to God, he says, and He will draw an eye to you. And then he adds, cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up. Peace comes not from trying to have joy in the worst possible situations, but rather getting on our knees before God and saying, God, I don't have peace. I need peace. Lord, my marriage is having problems and I need peace. And I'm going to come to you because you have peace and you give peace through Jesus Christ. The peace that you need comes through the presence of God. Are you pursuing after God's peace? It will never come in the way that you would like it to come unless you do so. You can enjoy the promise and the peace that comes from His presence when you pursue after Him and you cling to Him. The peace that we need comes from His very presence. But also, we see lastly, that the peace we need comes from the pleasure of God. Skipping over verse 17, which basically shows the concern that Paul had for these believers. He says, "...the salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle, so I write." He probably took the pen from the person that he was dictating to, and he said, I want to put my name here because I want them to know that I'm really concerned about them. And then in verse 18, he finally concludes his letter and says, "...the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all." Amen. The question that we ought to come to now is why would God give me peace? Why does God even want to give me peace? I don't deserve it. It is completely undeserved. Isaiah 48, 22 says, There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked. And if we are truly honest with ourselves, we will know that we are wicked people. I'm a wicked person. My heart is sinful and deceitful and desperately wicked, and I don't deserve peace. So why would God give me peace? That's the question you ought to consider in your own heart. Why would God want to give me peace? I don't deserve it. I deserve the worst that He could dish out. Well, it all comes down to verse 18. It's because of His grace. It's because of His grace. It's because of His own pleasure. It's because of His own nature. It is not because we deserve it, because we don't. It's because He wants to show Himself gracious and loving and kind upon His people. And that's grace. I've heard an acrostic for grace. You may want to write this down, but grace, G-R-A-C-E, is God's riches at Christ's expense. It's something we don't deserve, nor is it anything we can pay for. It is something that Jesus Christ has already paid for through His expense, and God just gives us the benefit of Christ's payment. He gives us the peace that Jesus Christ offers. The fact is, we are at God's mercy for peace. We are at God's mercy. If He does not want to give us peace, He does not have to give us peace. We are His mercy. But He has also promised that if you come to Me and ask for peace, I will give peace. And that's His promise. We ought to say in our hearts, like Augustus Hoplady did in the hymn, when we ask God for peace, Lord, nothing in My hand I bring. Simply to Thy cross I cling. Naked, I came to Thee for dress. Helpless, I look to thee for grace. Foul, I to the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die. You are at God's mercy for peace. So why do we go anywhere else for peace? We must go to God, who will give us the peace that we so desperately need, because He offers His own method for peace. God's peace is not hidden. It's not like a treasure that is buried and he offers you a map. That's something that my son has been enjoying a few months ago was he enjoyed making his own little treasure maps. And I don't really think that they were really useful because he knew where he buried the treasure and then he would make these treasure maps. And so for a while I would try to hide little things and give him a little map of where to go. And I would try to make it tough on him so it would take him a little while. You know, God doesn't do that. He says that you can come to me directly for peace because I give peace directly. He doesn't do that. He doesn't hide it. It's not something that is hard to reach. Have you ever been at home and tried to reach something on the shelf and you just couldn't reach it? And you wish you had one of those things that you can use as a claw and it'd grab it down for you? God says, I've already given it to you. I've already brought it down to you through Jesus Christ. Peace is not something up here that you have to grasp at. It's something you have to get down low on your knees and ask God for. And He gives it to you. You see, the method for His peace is found in verse 18. It's the key. It's the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul knew that peace came directly from God. So Paul went directly to God for peace. And that's what we need to do today. whatever problem, whatever pressure, whatever issue, where you're not enjoying and experiencing God's peace in your life, you need to know today that peace comes directly from God, and therefore you must go directly to God for that peace. The peace that you need, the peace that I need, comes from those four things that we see in these verses, from God's power, He's in control of it, and He gives it to those that He wills. It's through God's presence. He gives it to those who ask Him for it. It is through His presence and it is through His pleasure, His grace. So why do you and I go other places for peace? Or why do we just live life like we're never going to experience peace? We need to go to God. We need to go to God. And I conclude this service and I conclude this particular book with a prayer that Paul prayed in verse 16, for you and for my own heart. It is now the Lord of peace himself, give you peace always, by all means, and the Lord be with you all.