Well, let me lead us in prayer, and we'll look to what the Lord has for us this morning. Our Father, You have revealed Yourself to be the God of peace, the God who seeks peace with those You have created. And this amazes us as we're so easily given to rebelling against You, to warring against Your good and loving authority in our lives. We ask that you would help us not only to understand the significance of the angel's declaration of peace on earth, but to also live by faith in this peace that you have given in Jesus. And we pray this in his name, amen. Well, let's hear the word of the living God. I actually want to start at verse 8 and read through verse 14, and we're going to be zeroing in on that declaration at the end of verse 14. But let me pick it up with the context in verse 8. In the same region, there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. And they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is well pleased. I suspect that many people hear this familiar phrase and may think to themselves, really? Peace on earth, yeah, right. Perhaps you're thinking that right now as you hear that familiar phrase. And we're all too familiar, not only with that phrase, but with the world around us. It's troubles and turmoils, it's pains and pressures, it's conflicts and it's brokenness. And it's easy for us to be suspicious and even cynical about this statement, peace on earth. If we're honest, it can sound simply like religious, sentimental hogwash that really has no connection with the raw realities of daily life. And yet, peace. Peace. What a beautiful concept, isn't it? What a seemingly elusive experience it is for so many. Perhaps you've heard of the children's book, Five Minutes Peace, by Jill Murray. The plot of this gripping drama revolves around a mother named Linda Large. You need to understand she's an elephant. It's a children's book. And she's married to Larry Large, and they have four young children, Lester, Laura, Luke, and Lucy. And the story opens with these words, which no doubt many mothers can identify with. Quote, the children were having breakfast. This was not a pleasant sight, end quote. And from there, the plot unfolds with Mrs. Large doing everything that she can to find anywhere that she can to achieve even five minutes peace away from her boisterous, elephantine offspring. And as you might guess, all of her efforts fail, and in the end, she must content herself with enjoying only three minutes and 45 seconds of peace. Well, the search for peace can feel like that oftentimes, can't it? No matter how hard we try, our efforts to get peace, real peace, prove to be temporary and futile in the end. And the truth is, beloved, I want to ask you to be honest with yourself, even as you hear this today. Do you have peace in your soul? Do you have peace in your conscience? Do you have peace in your mind? Is your soul at rest and satisfied with God and with His love in Jesus Christ? Do you have peace in your soul? The angelic host declared to the shepherds and to all of us with the birth of Jesus, peace on earth among those with whom he is well pleased. Well, certainly you would think if we're to find peace, it would be now at the Christmas season, right? Of course, we all know, ironic as it is, that this season of the year can often be one of the busiest, most stressful, most peace-destroying times of the year. It's an assault on any sense of peace in our lives. I mean, think about it. There's goodies to bake. There's gifts to buy and wrap. There's programs to attend. There's people to visit. There's food to prepare. Decorations to put up. Kids, there's no school for two weeks. Parents, there's no school for two weeks. Parties to host or to attend. There's illnesses to deal with. There's relatives to deal with. There are schedules to coordinate. There's cards to write, trips to plan, and on and on and on and on. And most of us can identify with the sense of there is no peace in this season, it seems. And of course, beyond all of these things, we look at the world around us and we realize there is no peace on earth. Globally, we hear of wars and of rumors of wars. There's much social, economic, and financial unrest everywhere. Nationally, we have a government that seems intent on destroying itself. And in our states and communities, the situation isn't much better. And all too often we deal with things like road rage, and checkout line rage, and all other kinds of rages. And sadly, even in the church there can be grievous division and discord. No doubt many of you are dealing with very difficult problems. Health problems, financial problems, Job-related problems and tensions, personal problems, relationships that are broken, severed, and fractured. Your own home may well feel like a war zone. Peace seems like a mirage that is out there in the distance and yet we never can quite reach it. And yet, These angels among these shepherds out in the fields around Bethlehem, speak to them and speak to all of us with the birth of Jesus, peace on earth among those with whom he is well pleased. And so the question arises, of course, well, what could they possibly mean when we know the divided and the hate field and the restless world that we live in, when we know the sin in our own souls? What is this peace and why is the angel's declaration so astounding, astounding? Well, to answer that question, we have to go back to the very beginning. And when God created everything, as we're told in Genesis chapter 1 and 2, including man and woman in His image, He declared that it was very good. And creation was filled with the most profound peace and harmony and unity and beauty because mankind was rightly related to God, their Creator. And between God and mankind, the most fundamental relationship that impacts all other relationships, there was perfect fellowship, there was perfect joy, there was perfect harmony, there was perfect peace. But in Genesis 3, all of that was ruptured. It was shattered and destroyed, as we know, when Adam and Eve chose to sin and rebel against God's good, loving authority. They chose their own idea of good over God's good command. And in Genesis 3, verse 8, we read of the tragic and the shocking consequence of their sin. The text says this, And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. The man and the woman hid themselves. Why did they hide themselves? Because they were afraid and they were fearful of God. And they were afraid and they were fearful because of their sin. They knew they were guilty. They knew they had no excuse. They were ashamed and they were now terrified in the presence of this God who had created them, loved them, and yet who they had sinned against. So they had no peace in their souls before God. They knew they had displeased Him. And they were divided from Him, alienated from Him, afraid and fearful. And what's worse is they knew it was their fault. just like our sin is our fault at the end of the day. Isaiah chapter 57 verse 21 says, There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked. I hope you understand that to be wicked is to do anything that is contrary to the will of God. We might have our own categories of wickedness in our mind, but from a biblical perspective, just like Adam and Eve, what they did might seem innocent enough to us, and eating the fruit that God had forbidden, Yet it was wicked. And because it was wicked, there was no peace in their souls. And friends, this is the problem in the world. This is the root of every problem. There is no peace on earth because people are not at peace with God. And if you don't have peace with other people, the first question you should ask yourself is, am I at peace with God? Humanity has no peace because we've turned our backs on God, our loving creator and our maker. We've rebelled against his good, perfect, loving authority, and there's no peace among sinful people because there is no peace with God. And so if sin and sin's consequences of no peace with God is the problem, then it helps us to begin to understand the incredible meaning and significance of this angelic proclamation in Luke 2, verse 14, peace on earth among those with whom he is well pleased. The call of this declaration is this, beloved, true peace with God is God's gift in Jesus. True peace with God is God's gift in Jesus. And He calls us, by faith, to live in the fullness of this peace that He has given to Jesus. He wants us to know this peace. He wants us to know that He has given terms of peace in His Son, and for all who believe on His Son, there is indeed peace of conscience, peace of soul, peace of mind with your Creator. Now, as we saw last week, as we also looked at verse 14 in the first part of the verse about glory to God in heaven, we saw that Christ's appearing brings glory to God in heaven because He's the outpouring of God-saving love for helpless, undeserving sinners. It's an amazing contrast, this massive, eternal, heavenly glory to God that will carry on throughout all eternity And the basis of that glory is what God has done in pouring out His love in Christ to helpless and undeserving sinners. And to any helpless and undeserving sinner who would lay hold of God's gift in Christ by faith, the result of that is peace, even on this earth, even now in your soul with God. It's amazing. And so what's it mean to be a person who has this peace on earth? To be a person with whom God is well pleased? I want to take just a few moments as we move through this to highlight five characteristics of this peace that we see in the text and in the immediately surrounding context. Just five characteristics for us to think about this morning, about the nature of this peace. First of all, it is a personal spiritual peace. It is a personal spiritual peace. The angels are not declaring global universal peace, but rather peace that is given and is in specific people. You'll notice what the text says, peace on earth among people with whom he is well pleased. And the little preposition among there could also be translated in. In other words, he's highlighting the peace that is in people on earth through the peace that God has given in the Lord Jesus Christ among those with whom he is well pleased. And we'll talk about that phrase in a few moments. Now, the Bible tells us that global, universal peace will come when Christ returns and executes final judgment on all of His enemies, upon all of the wicked. And in that day, He will usher in a new heavens and a new earth. You can read about it in the book of Revelation, particularly the last couple of chapters of the book of Revelation. There will be a day when He returns where global and universal peace will be established. But for now, in this season of His first coming, when He has come and has now died and has risen from the dead and has gone back to heaven, we now can know peace on earth in people. He's talking about a personal and a spiritual peace between individuals and God. You see, God cares for the world, He cares for the nations, but He does so by caring for individuals. Do you believe that He cares about you this morning? Do you believe that that declaration of the angels is the living and abiding Word of God and He pronounces peace to you if you would receive the Lord Jesus Christ? And if you have received the Lord Jesus Christ, put all of your trust, all of your confidence upon Him and Him alone, that God's Word to you is peace now and forever? Do you believe that? This piece is personal and spiritual in that it concerns people's relationship with God, those with whom He is well pleased. And again, we'll come back to that phrase in a few moments. But what does this piece mean? Well, it means calmness. It means well-being. It means assurance and comfort and tranquility and security. It means the absence of trouble. It means no more war. It means no more worry. It means no more fear. It means Adam and Eve don't need to hide in the garden because of their sin, and you don't need to hide from God because of your sin. Because in Christ, he says to you, peace. It's the absence of hostility, of God's hostility and anger, and it's the presence of His love and His mercy. It's the removal permanently of His wrath and His judgment, and it's the lavishing permanently of His forgiveness and His comfort. It's the absence of war and conflict. It's the presence of reconciliation, unity, and security. It's the absence of fear and anxiety. It's the presence of confidence, assurance, and hope. It's the absence of rejection and alienation, and it's the presence of acceptance and adoption into God's family. It's the absence of brokenness, shame, and regret, and it's the presence of healing and restoration and joy. Now for you who are Christians here this morning who have put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, God's peace has two dimensions, and these are very important to understand, brothers and sisters. One dimension is the settled assurance of your eternal standing before God in Christ. The Apostle Paul said it this way in Romans 5, verse 1, To be justified means to be counted as righteous. Though you know that you're unrighteous because of sin, yet the hope of the gospel is that the very righteousness of Christ, His perfect obedience to God's law, His perfect submission to God's will, in Christ, if you're trusting Him, His righteousness is now credited to you and God counts you as righteous. You're justified. As the Father is well-pleased with His Son, so He is well-pleased with you because you're in His Son. And Paul says that those who have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's one dimension of the peace we know. It's an objective, judicial peace. God is no longer against us. The penalty has been paid. Christ has suffered in our place. His righteousness is credited to us. And now God has not only forgiven us, but he has welcomed us as his children. That is our permanent standing in Christ. But the other dimension, the other aspect of the peace that we have in Christ is comfort in our daily experiences with God. Comfort in our daily experiences with God. Because we know that we live in a world that is filled with trouble, and pain, and grief, and hardship. And so we lay hold of promises like what Jesus said to his disciples in John 14, verse 27. He says, peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. Now anyone knows, even as these disciples know, to live in this world and to name the name of Christ is to bring trouble upon ourselves because the world hates Jesus. And if you are set upon confessing Jesus in this world, there will be trouble. And we all know that even by experience. And yet God says through Jesus that he gives us his peace. Jesus would say in essence the same thing at the end of this lengthy discourse with his disciples at the end of chapter 16 and verse 33 in John's gospel. He says, I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world." You see, the Christian life is not the absence of trouble from an external standpoint, but it's peace in the midst of that trouble because of being reconciled to God and learning to trust His comfort in our daily experiences with Him. This is what Paul echoes in Philippians chapter four, verses six and seven, when he says, don't be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And he says, the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. So you see, the truth is this, and here's the key in these two dimensions. Here's how they relate to one another. When you're assured of being at peace with God, you then are in a place to learn to find peace daily in God. Let me say it again. When you are assured of being at peace with God, you're then in a place to learn daily to find peace in God. And I emphasize the word learn because it is something we grow in. Because we battle fear, we battle anxiety, we battle guilt, we battle regret, we battle all kinds of things. But you see, it's a matter of faith and a matter of growing in faith in the promises of God that we can indeed come to Him in prayer and cast all of our cares upon Him, as Peter says in 1 Peter 5, verse 7, and give thanks to Him and seek Him in prayer and come to know that peace that God promises. And so these two dimensions, beloved brother or sister in Christ, belong to you in Christ. You have peace with God and you're standing before God and that is a done deal, it's eternal, and you can now be in a place day by day to experience His peace as you learn to find Him as your refuge, to find Him as your hiding place. Rather than hiding from Him, you hide in Him and you bring your cares to Him. So the angels are telling the shepherds and they're telling you and me, true peace is God's gift in Jesus. Live by faith in this peace that he has given. It is personal and it is sovereign. And I would ask you again, are you at peace with God? Have you come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you owned up to the fact that you are a sinner? You would always choose your idea of good over God's good command. Have you owned that? Have you repented from that and acknowledged that you cannot accomplish peace apart from what God has given in Christ? turned from your sins and trusted this Christ that you might know what you've never known before in your life. Peace with your Maker. Peace with your Creator. Well not only is this peace personal and spiritual, that's the first one, personal and spiritual together, the second characteristic we see is that it is a sovereign peace. And I spent more time on that first point, we'll move through these other four a little more quickly. But it is a sovereign peace. And this is what is expressed in this term, with whom God is well pleased. And what this means is it refers to those upon whom God has placed His favor. In other words, no one deserves this peace, no one deserves forgiveness, no one deserves reconciliation, but it is the blessing, it is the possession of those upon whom God sovereignly chooses to bestow His favor. Now, it's interesting and actually a little bit ironic that this particular phrase, as it's translated in the ESV, with whom God is pleased, it's a phrase that has brought about much debate and division among Bible scholars and interpreters through the years. The phrase literally says in the Greek, in people of pleasure, in people of pleasure. And you may be familiar with other translations that translate it differently. Both the ESV, which I'm preaching from, and the New American Standard speak of it as peace among men with whom he is pleased. The King James Version and the New King James Version says, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. And then a couple of other translations, the NIV, the New International Version, say, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests. And then the Holman Christian Standard Bible says, and peace on earth to people he favors. Now all of those translations are the expression of scholarly translators striving to get their arms around the meaning of this term and the significance of it. And I think what the ESV has done is a very solid and a very legitimate sense. It's with those whom God is well pleased. But the point to understand is that the pleasure of God upon people is not a result of something that any person could earn, but rather it's a pleasure that God has sovereignly given. And as I mentioned or alluded to earlier, it's the same pleasure that the father has in his son. You may remember when Jesus was baptized and a voice came from heaven and said, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. It's the exact same word. Also at his transfiguration, as we read of it in Matthew chapter 17, that same voice from the father says, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. And so the sense is that for those whom God has sovereignly chosen to favor, those upon whom he has given his pleasure and enabled them to repent and to believe on Christ and to receive all of the blessings that God has given in Christ and secured through his life and his death and his resurrection, upon all of those whom he has so favored, there is peace. And those upon whom his favor rests ultimately are those who have repented and have received Christ by faith. So you ask the question, well, how do I know if I'm one of these who are favored? Well, have you repented? Have you trusted Christ? Are you abandoning your sin and abandoning any sense of reliance upon yourself and trusting Christ and Christ alone? Then you can know that you are one of God's favored because he has brought you to that. And if you're not sure and you want to repent and want to trust Christ, just pray to God and ask Him to help you to do so. And ask Him to give you such grace. One pastor has said good will, but it's a gracious gift to those who are the objects of his good will. And that comes from the MacArthur Study Bible. And so God's peace is a sovereign peace, not something that we can earn, but it's something that is given. Well, that leads us to the third characteristics we want to highlight from the text, and this should be obvious by now, but that is that this is a Christ-centered gospel peace. A Christ-centered gospel peace. And as I've mentioned, this peace is achieved not through our own efforts, but through the coming of Jesus and all that he accomplished. Now you remember in verses 10 and 11 of Luke chapter two, the angel that appears to these shepherds makes this emphatic for them. And so he says to them in verse 10, fear not, which is a statement of peace. I know you're afraid, but don't be afraid, be at peace. Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And in those titles, He is affirming the fullness of all that God is in Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God in this miracle of the incarnation when He took on human flesh. He came as Savior, He came as the Christ, the Messiah, the Promised One, and He came as Lord, the One who is the Master, the One in absolute authority. But it's all bound up in Christ. And it's vital to understand that, beloved. It is the Christ that God has promised. It is the Christ that God has revealed. It is the Christ of Scripture and that Christ alone in whom this peace is found. And I speak of it as Christ-centered and gospel-centered peace, because that's the gospel. That's the good news. That's what the term gospel means. It's the good news of great joy that this angel announces to the shepherds. And so the peace is unique in that way, and it has all been anticipated. Look back in chapter one, at the very end of chapter one, in verses 76 through 79, Zachariah, who was the father of John the Baptist, who was the forerunner of Christ, who would come and announce the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Zachariah, following the birth of John the Baptist, knows and understands all that is coming through the coming Savior. And listen to how he speaks of this prophetically, beginning in verse 76 of chapter 1. He says, And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord. And he's referring to his son, John the Baptist. You will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people. in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." He knew what was coming with the coming of Jesus. And he knew what was coming with his own son, John the Baptist, role in announcing the coming of this Jesus. And so this peace is bound up within and founded in and grounded in Christ and Christ alone. And what this tells us is that there is no peace outside of Christ. You will not find peace with God. You will not find peace in your soul. You will not find peace for all of your troubles apart from trusting Christ. There is a uniqueness, there is an exclusivity to the Lord Jesus. And our sin is so dreadful, and our sin is so serious, and the problem of it all is so insurmountable. that it could only be resolved in Christ because of who He is and because of what God designed to accomplish through Him. Jesus Himself said in John 14, verse 6, I am the way and the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me. Absolutely exclusive because there's no peace apart from Him. True peace, beloved, is God's gift. And he wants us to live by faith in this peace that he has given in Christ. So this peace is a personal and spiritual peace. It is a sovereign peace. It is a Christ-centered and gospel-centered peace. The fourth characteristic we see, I've alluded to this as well, is that it is a promised peace. It is a promised peace. We see the echoes of that promise with the prophecy that Zechariah gives there in Luke 1, verses 76 through 79. But Zechariah is echoing many Old Testament promises related to the coming of the Messiah, related to the coming peace that would be found in the Messiah. Tim read at the beginning of our service, Isaiah 9, verse 6. Let me go ahead and read verses 6 and 7 of that passage. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. He goes on to say, of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. On the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore, he says, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. And then it's in Isaiah 52, verse 7, where the prophet says, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, your God reigns. This is what the angels were doing, was it not, when they're announcing this declaration? They're bringing good news of great joy. You say, well, how is it that Jesus fulfills this promise of peace? How is it that He accomplishes it? Well, listen to Isaiah 53, verses 4 through 6. This is the heart of it, beloved. He says, surely, referring to the Messiah, referring to Christ, surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, but he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds we are healed. all we like sheep have gone astray, we've turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." He's speaking of the substitutionary death that God had designed for his son Jesus to experience in bearing the wrath of God for sin, not his own, but for your sin, for my sin, for the sin of all who would repent and trust Him. And so the chastisement that brought us peace fell upon Him once and for all." You see, this was a promised peace. And it's that promise that informs this declaration of the angels in Luke 2, peace on earth among those with whom he is well pleased. Well, it's a personal and a spiritual peace, it's a sovereign peace, it's a Christ-centered gospel peace, it's a promised peace, and the final characteristic I would highlight is that this peace is a received and immediate peace. It is a received and immediate peace. Unlike Laura Large, that famous elephant of old, you cannot try to find this peace on your own. It is a gift from God, and it is simply and immediately received through faith in Christ. What this means, dear friend, is that if you've never come to faith in Christ, if you've never repented of your sins and looked to Christ and Christ alone to save you, if you were to call out to God this moment, instantly, He will save you, and you can receive this peace. Now, the feelings of that peace may come and go, but you can bank on it as you can bank on the Word of God that you have peace with God through faith in Christ. If you trust Him and receive Him and receive that peace immediately. This is what the shepherds experienced in the field. It's not insignificant that the first words that the angel says when he appears to them is, fear not. He knew that they were afraid, but he calmed their fears. And at the end of all of the events, after they go and they see the baby Jesus and interact with Mary and Joseph and others that are there, they come back to their fields and they're rejoicing and they're praising God. Why? Because there's peace, and there's joy, and there's thanksgiving, and there's praise. This is the peace that a man named Simeon experienced through faith, as it's recorded a little bit later in Luke 2, verse 29, when the baby Jesus is presented to him in the temple. And Simeon says, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. He knew the peace of God. He had received that peace of God. This is the same peace that was experienced by a sinful and repentant woman whom Jesus forgave through faith. And Jesus says to her in Luke chapter 7 verse 50, Your faith has saved you. Go in peace. And it's the same peace that was experienced by another woman whom Jesus healed through faith. And in Luke 8, verse 48, he says to her, daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. It's the same peace that Jesus spoke to His troubled and fearful disciples after He had risen from the dead and before He had made Himself known to them. But when He does appear to them and reveals Himself to them in Luke 24, verse 36, we're told that He stands among them and He says to them, guess what? Peace to you. And you see, this peace is not experienced by the wicked. This peace is not experienced by those who persist in their rebellion against God. And so it is that Jesus, even as we're told in Luke 19, verses 41 and 42, when he drew near and he saw the city of Jerusalem, he wept over it, because as a whole, they had rejected him. They had wanted nothing to do with him or with his peace. And so he laments and he says in verse 42 of Luke 19, would that you, even you had known on this day the things that make for peace, but now they are hidden from your eyes. You see, the King is forever offering peace to anyone and everyone who will hear, but there comes a point if you reject that peace, and if you persist in rejecting that peace, that eventually that peace that is offered in Christ will be hidden from your eyes. which is to say you will be eternally blind and you will suffer the agony of the absence of peace in a very literal hell. Well, there is weeping and gnashing of teeth and a fire that is unquenchable and throughout all eternity you will lament yourself with, why did I not turn to Christ? Why did I not receive the peace that the king was offering? You'll experience that in all of hell. So even this morning, friend, he calls you to turn to him if you've never turned to him. Why would you persist in your wicked and peaceless life when the King of kings, the Lord of lords, your maker, offers you peace today? And again, friend, brother and sister in Christ, if you've come to faith in Christ, praise God all the more. Because as you're standing as certain, as you're assured in your standing before God, now you're in a place to find peace daily in God as you cast your cares upon Him and as you walk with Him. So beloved, as we draw this to a close, true peace is God's gift in Jesus. And He calls you and He calls me to live by faith in the peace that God has given in Jesus. It's an eternal peace, it's an unchanging peace, it is far greater than five minutes peace. So do you have this peace? Do you have this peace? Are you at peace with God? Have you joined with the angels' song? Hark the herald angels sing. Glory to the newborn king, peace on earth and mercy mild. God and sinners reconciled. Let me lead us in prayer. Oh Father, we thank you for your goodness and for your grace. We thank you for your purposes in the Lord Jesus Christ. How can it be that any of us could even have a hint of tasting this peace and yet you lavish it upon all those that you set your favor upon and bring to repentance and faith in Christ. May that peace be known in abundance by each one. For all who have come to faith in Christ, may they be strengthened in that faith and be assured of your peace all the more. And may you help them day by day to live by faith in the peace that you give in Christ as they would ever cast their cares upon you. And for any who have never come to faith, may you be pleased to draw them, even now, that this could be a Christmas season unlike any other, when it would be the point in time in which you entered in to bring them true peace in their souls, in their lives, on this earth. Oh, we thank you for your goodness and for your mercy, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen, and amen, amen.