In the short time that I have today, we are going to look at scripture as the authority, as the inspired word of God. But these Christmas hymns that we sing this time of year are so rich in the theology that is pulled from scripture. So these last few weeks, as pastors made clear, we're not Preaching the hymns, but we're preaching the theology the rich truth that these hymns were That these hymns have taken that the writers have taken from the Word of God and I want to focus on two words in this hymn Hark the herald angels sing and the first of those two words to reflect on this morning is the word peace and We read, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace. Peace on earth is what we sing in the song, Hark the Herald Angels Sing. The world needs the message of peace. The world needed the message of peace back in the time of the Roman Empire. The world needs the message of peace today. The world needs the message of peace in the future. The world always needs to know the message of peace. But there is a difference between what we think peace is and what peace actually is. So when we talk about peace on earth today, there might be pushback. Say, well, we still sin. That's not very peaceful. There's still wars, and hate, and sin corrupts everything around us, so there's no real peace there either. And if Christ is the Prince of Peace, and He's the one who brings peace on Earth, what do we do when the Bible says that He does not bring peace, but a sword? There will always be hostility in a fallen world. So we need to understand peace and what the peace of Christ actually looks like in the life of a Christian and in the world around us. There will be forces and people that come against us. The world hates Christ, so the world will hate Christians. The world will hate you. We must know how to stand in a hostile world. We must know how to navigate in a fallen world. And we must know what peace actually is. And there has been, so far, only one time in human history where there has been true peace on earth. That is, peace between man and God, and peace between man and the rest of creation. And that is Eden. Now we can debate and argue about was there death prior to the fall, meaning the animals. That's not the point today. But the point today is when God made all things, when God created the universe, when God created the world, when God placed man in the garden, he declared everything is very good. There was nothing corrupting the world. There was peace. God walked with man in the garden. But the fall brought a need for peace, both with God and creation. When Satan tempted Eve to eat the fruit and she gave to her husband, the world fell into corruption and disaster. There was death that entered into the world. God said, on the day that you eat of this fruit, you shall surely die. But not only that, but when Adam and Eve recognized their nakedness, what did God do for them? He killed an animal and he clothed their nakedness. He showed mercy. in a time of unrest and sin. And every moment since then has been met with corruption and disaster and violence. There were sacrifices made before the law of Moses was actually given. We see that in the book of Job, who made sacrifices for his children in case they sinned. We know that in the time of the flood, the world was filled with violence. This is what sin does to world, and this is why the message of peace is so crucial for us as Christians. Yes, we have a sin nature, but we don't want to fall into, we don't want to fall back into that constant violence, that truth that there is, that our hearts are evil. Constantly. But we are given a new nature in Christ. We are made a new creation. Creation groans under the weight of sin. There was a false peace around at the time of Christ. The Pax Romana. The peace of Rome. And I say this was a false peace because it appeared peaceful in some ways, but there was the fine print, so to speak. In the Roman Empire, you had religious freedom, so far as you offer that pinch of incense at the altar for the emperor. You could worship Yahweh with the emperor. So there was this masked religious freedom under the Roman Empire. And the mantra, the phrase, Kaiser Kyrios, Caesar is Lord, this declaration of the all-sovereign king. But when Christians entered into the scene, their mantra was something different. Iesu Kyrios, Christ is Lord, Christ is King. This destroyed the idea of Pax Romana. It threatened the peace of Rome. Because the peace of Rome couldn't actually bring true peace. Because there was no savior in Rome. Christ brings true peace. He is the Prince of Peace. So what is peace? We've talked about it, but what actually is it? Well, if we look at our text from 2nd Corinthians, we look at we'll start in verse 17 to get a little bit of context. But it says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. And then some very familiar and hope-bringing verses. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God in Christ. The ministry of reconciliation. God is, by nature, a saving God, a reconciling God. There is no other God in history that desired peace with his people. The Allah of Islam is transcendent. You have no assurance of salvation in the religion of Islam. You have no assurance of salvation in Hinduism or Buddhism or any other system of thought. But here in Christianity, in Christ, we can have assurance of our salvation. We can have assurance of peace with God. We will not have peace with the world until Christ returns and the new heavens and the new earth and the kingdom of Christ is consummated and brought in. But we do have peace with God. God counts our sins not against us. We have the message of reconciliation that we bring to a fallen world where we can boldly declare the gospel and say, you may not know how to have peace with God, but the Bible tells us the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. And we can give that assurance to people that not only can your sins past, present and future be forgiven, but you can have peace forever with the God who made you. Because he sent his only son at Christmas, this time that we celebrate this season, he sent his son to this earth so that he would grow up and be a sacrifice, so that he would grow up and he would take your place upon the cross. so that he would die the death you and I deserve, and that he would rise again on the third day, so that we can have hope of eternal life with him, that as he rose Christ from the dead, so we will also be raised from the dead. Christmas points to the finality of the message of the gospel, which is salvation, the reason Christ came. And in closing, I'll draw your attention to the story of the prodigal son, as I'm sure that's a very familiar story for all of us. that when we are reconciled to God, this is the perfect picture of reconciliation, that the son goes off and lives a wicked life. He brings shame to his father's name and his spending and his reckless living. And then he comes, he decides to come back as a servant to his father. And the Bible says that while he was still a long ways off, the father, who represents God in the story, looks at him and while he was still a long ways off, He hikes up his road and he runs to the sun, embraces him before the sun can even get a word out, kisses him as his son. That is true reconciliation. He didn't hold his son's sins against him, but he was reconciled to his father. And instead, the father, instead of shaming his son and saying, well, you're gonna have to work for a while to earn my forgiveness again, as all the other religious systems say, he brought his son in, put a robe and a ring on his finger and threw a party, made a sacrifice for him so that he could be seen as a son again. And that is what God does for all of us. That is the message of Christmas. What it points to is you and I can be reconciled to God. that we have forgiveness of sins in Christ, and that we are embraced as sons and daughters in Christ. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we are thankful that you are a merciful God, that you are a God who loves your people, that you sent your Son to be the one final sacrifice for sins, so that you can reconcile us to you. Father, that our sins can be forgiven in Christ. Father, as we continue to worship this morning, as we continue to lift our voices in song, as we prepare our hearts for another devotion here in just a moment, Lord, that you would give us comfort, that you would give us that peace that surpasses all understanding. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.