Peace With God
And God shall wipe all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain. — Revelation 21:4
We now know what it means to be a Christian. We know the price that was paid to get these elusive things called peace and happiness. I know men who would write a check for a million dollars if they could find peace. Millions are searching for it. Every time they get close to finding the peace found only in Christ, Satan steers them away. He blinds them. He throws up a smoke screen. He bluffs them. And they miss it! But we Christians have found it! It is ours now forever.
We have found the secret of life.
The word peace has been used often in the last forty or fifty years. We talk about peace, and we have many peace conferences; yet, at the moment, it seems that the world is heading toward anything but peace.
“The way of peace have they not known,” the apostle Paul says concerning the human race (Romans 3:17). As we look around, we find that there is little personal, domestic, social, economic, or political peace anywhere. Why? Because we all have the seeds of suspicion and violence, of hatred and destruction within us.
Jesus said,
Blessed are the peacemakers. — Matthew 5:9
We are to try for peace. This does not mean pacifism. We are to work for peace. But Jesus also predicted,
Ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. — Matthew 24:6-7
Peace can be experienced only when we have received divine pardon — when we have been reconciled to God and when we have harmony within, with our fellow man and especially with God. “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked” (Isaiah 57:21). But through the blood of the Cross, Christ has made peace with God for us and is Himself our peace. If by faith we accept Him, we are justified by God and can realize the inner serenity that can come to man through no other means. When Christ enters our hearts, we are freed of that haunting sense of sin. Cleansed of all feeling of contamination and unfitness, we can lift up our heads secure in the knowledge that we can look with confidence into the face of our fellow men.
When a man’s ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. — Proverbs 16:7
Even more important, we know that we can stand before God in the hour of our death with this same feeling of peace and security.
In the Bible Jesus told us there is going to be war until the end of the age. He knew that human nature is not going to change without a spiritual new birth. He knew that the vast majority of the human race were never going to be converted to Him. The vast majority of the people of the world today are not “born again.” So, we always have the potential that violence will break out in a home, in a community, in the world.
Peace with God
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. — Romans 5:1
Having made peace through the blood of His cross. — Colossians 1:20
There is a peace that you can have immediately — peace with God.
The greatest warfare going on in the world today is between mankind and God. People may not realize that they’re at war with God. But if they don’t know Jesus Christ as Savior and if they haven’t surrendered to Him as Lord, God considers them to be at war with Him. That chasm has been caused by sin. The Bible says that all have “sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “Oh,” people say, “I have joined the church. I have been baptized.” But has Jesus come to live in their hearts? Not only as Savior, but as Lord?
It would be the greatest tragedy if I didn’t tell you that unless you repent of your sins and receive Christ as your Savior, you are going to be lost.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever [that “whosoever” is you] believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. — John 3:16
It’s not just head-belief. It’s heart-belief too. It’s total trust, total commitment. We bring everything to the Cross where the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins. He made peace with God by His death on the Cross.
If we turn our backs on Him and don’t commit our lives to Him, we will have no hope in the future.
For one to have peace with God, it cost the blood of His Son. “With the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot,” said Peter (1 Peter 1:19).
If I were the only person in all the world, Jesus would have died for me, because He loves me. And He loves you! His love is pouring out from the Cross.
“Meet Me in Heaven”
I read a biography of Queen Victoria, and I learned that the queen would sometimes go to the slums of London. She went into one home to have tea with an older lady, and when the queen rose to leave, she asked, “Is there anything I can do for you?” And the woman said, “Yes, ma’am, Your Majesty, you can meet me in Heaven.” The queen turned to her and said softly, “Yes. I’ll be there, but only because of the blood that was shed on the Cross for you and for me.”
Queen Victoria, in her day the most powerful woman in the world, had to depend on the blood of Christ for her salvation. And, so do we. The Bible says that God is the Author of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33). God provided salvation through the cross. He made peace by the shedding of His blood. The war that exists between you and God can be over quickly, and the peace treaty is signed in the blood of His Son Jesus Christ.
Are you at peace with God? Or do the sins of your heart separate you from God?
Excerpted with permission from Peace with God by Billy Graham.
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Billy Graham shares God’s gentle, reassuring promise of spiritual calm—of authentic personal peace—amidst a personal life wracked with too much stress, too many burdens, too great a heartache.
In Peace with God, Billy Graham asks God to help this book “find its way into the hands and hearts of a lost, confused, and searching world . . . men, women, and young people everywhere [who] thirst for peace with God.”
In spite of a life drenched with responsibilities and rewards, are you thirsting? Searching for some nameless thing that is more important than anything in life? You are not alone. All mankind is seeking the answer to the confusion, the moral sickness, the spiritual emptiness that oppresses the world. All humanity is crying out for guidance, for comfort . . .for peace.
Reverend Graham shares God’s gentle, reassuring promise of spiritual calm—of authentic personal peace—amidst a personal life wracked with too much stress, too many burdens, too great a heartache.
“I know men who would write a check for a million dollars if they could find peace,” writes Reverend Graham. “Millions are searching for it. But we Christians have found it! It is ours now and forever. We have found the secret of life! . . .When your spouse dies or your children get sick or you lose your job, you can have a peace that you don’t understand. You may have tears at a graveside, but you can have an abiding peace, a quietness.
God’s peace can be in your heart—right now . . .
Whatever the circumstances, whatever the call, whatever the duty, whatever the price, whatever the sacrifice—His strength will be your strength in your hour of need. “It’s all yours, and it’s free. You don’t have to work for it . . . . Do not put it off.”
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