The World's Greatest Peace Treaty - Part A

Peace does not come by documentation. Real peace comes from action. Somebody acted in real time to establish it in this case, it was Jesus Christ to step onto the battlefield and by his singular, as the mediator brought to warring parties. True peace began with the cross of Jesus, and you can live in that piece today connect with skip. I took today as he shares about the incredible peace of God, you have to Jesus before we begin want to tell you about an opportunity for to encounter the roots of your faith in the land of the Bible going to Israel is a unique experience.

But by far the most life-changing part of it is the spiritual aspect. That's why I'm excited to announce our next trip. There 2022.

You'll have the opportunity to worship and study God's word and some of the most significant biblical sites in the country. Find out more@inspirationcruises.com/C a BQ think Skip now will be in Colossians chapter 1 printed a study so let's join Skip Heitzigs whenever two nations who are at war finally stopped their hostilities, they sign something called a piece of peace treaty has terms and conditions whereby the relationship between those two nations can continue included in a peace treaty or things like the designation of borders because land may have been won or lost, depending on which nation is winning or has one that will be the discussion of refugees or prisoners of war are even debts that one nation may of two another monetarily a few months ago I had distinct privilege of being on the lawn of the White House to see a very historic event take place called the Abraham accords.

It was a formal peace agreement between the state of Israel and the United Arab Emirates and the nation about rain. I was just so good to see parties who had been at odds with each other historically decide. Let's live in peace in the future that probably the earliest recorded peace treaty lease that we have on record is from 1350 BC the Hittite kingdom on making peace with a confederacy of tribes who had fought against them.

And the peace treaties back then weren't signed on paper, they were signed signed on clay tablets and we happen to have some copies of tablets like that in museums that speak of the treaty of peace between two warring nations in more modern times are some of the famous peace treaties would be the treaty of Paris when Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo a little more recently than that. The treaty of Versailles between Germany and the Allied powers, which formally ended World War I. But my favorite is what took place on September 2, 1945 aboard the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. It was the formal end of World War II, because on the deck about battleship. By the way, you can visit the battleship today in Pearl Harbor over in Hawaii and they have a replica of what was called the instrument of surrender and the instrument of surrender was a document that was signed by the Japanese Imperial forces and the Allied powers headed by the American Gen. Douglas MacArthur Mrs. get a little snapshot, we are gathered here, representatives of the major powers a shawl agreement whereby patient may be restored.

The issue involving divergent ideals and ideologies have been determined on the battlefields of the world and hence are not for our discussion or debate. The terms and conditions upon which surrender of the Japanese Imperial forces is here to be given not accepted are contained in the end, of surrender.

Now before you what I really love about the little space.

This is a little part of it is. He said the differences that we have have been settled on the battlegrounds of this world. So now we put our names to sign the instrument of surrender, but we fought this out and we have come to terms so I wanted to show you that because what we have before us is what could be called the instrument of surrender in Colossians chapter 1 that is terms and conditions set before us to establish what Paul calls peace through the blood of his cross peace through the blood of his cross because peace does not come by declaration of peace does not come by documentation.

Real peace comes from action. Somebody acted in real time to establish it, and in this case, it was Jesus Christ who stepped onto the battlefield and by his singular action as the mediator of peace brought to warring parties together.

Let's look at verse 19 of Colossians chapter 1 and read down to this paragraph for it please the father that in him all the fullness should dwell, and by him to reconcile all things to himself by him, whether things on earth, or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross, and you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight, if indeed you continue in the faith grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you have heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I Paul became a minister we have in this series called give peace a chance. We have looked for several weeks at the topic of peace we considered in the very first message the personal promise Jesus made to his own followers for his own a particular brand of peace to be given to them in her second study we look to what it is to be a peacemaker how people who are not getting along, make peace with each other and steps to do that we are in our last study can look at eventual peace world peace, but what I want to do today is take you to the very reason that any of that peace is possible we might call the fountainhead of all peace. The source of all peaks. If you really can have peace in your heart.

I just don't mean the cessation of hostility where you stand next to each other and like you, you fold your arms and give each other the look like I'm really mad at you but I won't say anything because I want to keep the peace. I'm talking about an almost overwhelming sense of well-being that you have with God because of something God has done for you.

He has made peace with you, therefore he gives a certain kind of peace to you.

I'm calling this message, the world's greatest peace treaty and I want to show you four aspects to this treaty, the mediator of peace. The method of peace.

The magnitude of peace and the maintenance of peace.

You know it was a guy by the name of Thomas a Kempis who said all men desire peace but very few desire those things that make for peace I think is true.

I think if you asked any individual. What is the most important thing they could wish for. They would sleep peace world peace. Peace on earth, or personal peace. Peace of mind and then if you were to say okay so are you willing to accept God's terms and conditions and receive Christ as your Savior.

Well, no, so everybody says they want peace, but as Thomas a Kempis had very few desire those things that make for peace. I want to show you for things that make for peace. We begin with the mediator of peace and that is the 19th verse, Paul said, for it pleased the father that is God the father that in him, referring to Christ that in Christ all the fullness should dwell… Stop there and let me fill in the gaps chapter 1 of Paul is presenting to the Colossian church, the person of Christ.

Christ in his fullness fully God fully man. He wants them to know his his nature, his character and him so he says back in like verse 15 and 16 that he is the firstborn of all creation.

He created everything out of nothing. He sustains the universe so Christ is the creator Christ is the sustainer of the world and he is the preeminent one and then the summary verse of that glory of Christ is found in verse 19 it please the father that in him all the fullness should dwell. The meter was going on here when Paul is writing this letter he was writing to the church that is is facing problems the church. That's a problem you know what every church has problems trying to say every single church as they really have some problems and and the problem they had was there's a group of weirdos in their church called Gnostics never heard of Gnosticism anybody Gnostics of the word means gnosis means to know and a Gnostic is somebody who's in the know her claim to be in the know. So the Gnostic philosophy or Gnostic heresy was infiltrating the church a classic and only take a little bit about Gnosticism.

So Gnostics believed in a dualistic universe. Sort of like Platonic worldview that there was the material world that was the spirit world spirit world was good material world is bad, everything that is material is evil and only that which is spiritual is good so what did they do with the idea that God created the world because the world is evil. How could a good God created evil world, so they're dealing with that question and here's how they solve the riddle God who is spirit did not create the material physical world is God's Spirit spirit is good material is evil. God didn't create it so what happened they said is several emanations went out from God's are like sub- gods left the true God and they went out eventually.

There were so many of them in one went out so far from God that he didn't even know the true God it was that God that created the material world that God who can handle that which is evil because he himself was evil and didn't even know the true God. See much of weirdos right there when it came to Jesus Christ.

They had the interesting ideas as well because they said, Jesus is the son of God and he's walking on the earth, and he saying things and doing things in a physical body. They have to deal with that. So they said, Jesus didn't have a physical body, but he look like he did so it was sort of all like a phantom.

He was like a phantom. He looked like he was a real human but he wasn't so is like a really good trick, and at all sorts of fanciful stories that whenever Jesus walked on the beach.

He never left footprints in the sand and in all sorts of nonsense like this.

Moreover, the topic, Jesus was sort of a halfway house to God.

He was a link in the chain back to the true God, but that there were better links ahead so the Gnostic would say to the Colossian Christian hey I'm glad that your all into Jesus. Jesus is great but you need to keep going past Jesus and eventually you'll be like us were in the know. Eventually you will come to a place. Listen to this of fullness that sort fullness.

So in and thinking about in verse 19, Paul said, for it pleased the Father that in him in Christ all the fullness should dwell. You guys are looking for fullness.

You just need to know Jesus is fullness. It's all in him and by the way the work fullness is the wordplay Roma. It means completeness and it means full and complete deity dwells in Jesus permanently. He's going to say as much when he gets to chapter 2 we describe going to kinda chase her down to chapter 2 verse nine it says the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Jesus permanently so he's painting the picture that that Jesus Christ is holy God as opposed to the Gnostic heresy and arts is interesting because I've had a lot of conversations over the years with people about Jesus. And sometimes I'll get a person who will say well, Jesus never come come claim to personally to be God. The idea that he was God came later on, like by Paul people perverted. What Jesus really said.

But Jesus never claimed to be got everything I hear that. I just want to ask them what version of the Bible are you reading is that the new I just made it up version because that's what you just did. That's just not in Jesus claiming to be God is like all over the place. You can't miss it on to give you a few examples. Jesus rose from the dead. Thomas looked at him and said, my Lord and my God values it will.

Thomas said that him yet but did Jesus say no I'm not really I'm not.

Because if he wasn't, he would've said that is, he was an Orthodox Jew, he would've allowed somebody to worship him as God unless he was, so my Lord my God, here's another one on one time there was a man who was paralyzed, his friends let him down to the roof into a house.

Jesus looks at the man on the cart in front of him first thing he says is, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven, your sins are forgiven.

People who were in the crowd. The religious people were right when they said dearly. He just said he just said the guy sins are forgiven and they said nobody can forgive sins except God.

The assorted the whole point of what I just said no one can forgive sins but God and he just said your sins are forgiven. Jesus was the one who said I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will never die. Jesus was the one who said I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the father but by me. Jesus was the one who said if you have seen me, you have seen the father. Jesus was the one who said before Abraham was, I am an Jesus was the one who said the father and I are one and you know what happened when he said that when he said the father and I are one the Bible tells us the Jews picked up stones to kill him. And Jesus said, you know I've done a lot of good works in front of you guys for which good work. Or you can astound me and they said not for a good work to be stone you, but because you being a man are continually making yourself out to be God. The EE even they figured it out. So Jesus never claimed to be God what everybody else thought he did preserve an account for you being a man claimed to be God. So Paul wants the Colossians to know that Jesus is the perfect mediator of peace because on one hand, he is fully God, but on the other hand, he is fully human. That's verse 21 and you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled no get this verse 22 in the body of his flesh through death notice how precise he is, how detailed he is the defendant just say Jesus died, he says in the body of his flesh through death. See you thinking of the Gnostics who said Jesus didn't have a real physical body. It was a phantom. No, he actually physically died, his body went through the process of physical death so because Jesus was God. He can rescue and reconcile all centers because Jesus is man human. He's able to suffer the consequences for our sandwiches death.

The wages of sin is death, so he showing the need for Jesus to be both fully God and fully man because it makes him the perfect middleman. The perfect mediator is not just a good man. He's God, man, so, so here's an example may be a lame example, but it's an example. Nonetheless, I have a history of not being fond of ants. I don't particularly like ants.

I have no I have no I don't think there's a lot a look and that there God's creatures to protect the modern data that McCallum I have a long history with I think at an ant farm and I was a kid, but I figured out that I could take ants outside and get a magnifying glass on a sunny day and burn ants okay so it's I was fallen I was an unbeliever. Your simulators or commute shocked at how many guys have ever done that before razor and be honest right now. Be honest the rest of you are not honest. Okay so I did that and I'm a Christian now so I don't do that anymore but I do do this. So when I see Nancy come in the there in my kitchen like today, so here's what I'm to do right here see that I'm to take those ants and on the CM with a smile on my face on the spray this I have no compassion at all from; okay so the wrath of Skip is destined to follow those creatures… I invite you over to my house for dinner.

You're a very different sort than I am. Your much kinder nobler. You have a very soft spot in your heart for ants and so you see ants over there and you got some answer that I go yeah I got to take care of him so I pulled us out and you go do that right now yeah okay that's are you doing here my house because you don't want me to kill so you go over to the ants and you do this you been down you go, runaway, little Lance the bad man is gonna spray you go go go question without help, that would help at all because your you and they are them and they you don't speak ant and they don't speak English but okay notes get a little ridiculous here… Say let's say you could shrink down to become an aunt get their level. So now you not only their size but you speak ant without any know that sounds like, but that you you can do that and so you at their level can warn them. Knowing what you know because you also human nature somehow you can warn them of what is coming. The spray is coming in so you can warn them to flee or or better yet while you warn them to flee because here I am on to do this summer. Spray it on your Dennis stand in the line of the spray and you're gonna take the punishment while they're fleeing okay and in the analogy right there.

Let let me just say if you could do that you would be like the you obedient Savior.

You would be the perfect mediator between God between Skip and ants right so what Jesus did.

Paul said, as he was God, but he came down to our level and he stood right in the in front of the stream of God's wrath on the cross to absorb it all to take it all.

Or we could escape. That's what he did fully God fully meant. He's the mediator. He is the mediator of this piece treated.

It's his action.

The did that and that is why we preach Christ. That is why we preach Christ now with a comma after his name is though leading to something else – after his name is the waiting for something else. We preach Christ. Because there is nothing else.

There is no one else is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Skip the message from his series, give usual resource to review critical insight into what exactly is going on in Israel and the Middle East.

Why it's important for you to know, New York Times best-selling author Joel Rosenberg is now based in Jerusalem and he's releasing the new nonfiction book enemies and allies I traveled with Joel to middle cities to meet with Kings Crown Prince. We sat together on the east lawn of the White House for the signing of the historic Abraham of and I previewed his new book enemies and allies. I can tell you it contains never before published quotes from behind closed door meetings with some of the most powerful and mysterious leaders in the Middle East. You will want to read enemies and allies by Joel Rosenberg includes insights and analysis.

The authors conversation is what is needed meters meet's house language means income to meet the most interesting consequence leaders enemies and allies by Joel Rosenberg insights and analysis of the authors conversations with some of the most controversial leaders in the world will send you a hardcover copy of enemies and allies.

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Find out@connectwithskip.com/be sure to come back again next Skip Heitzigs of shares God's peace consuming can keep moving in that castle. Skip presentation of connection communication changing truth ever-changing time