Brethren, I assume that this morning most of you can remember a time when your normalcy, your routine, your peace was utterly disrupted by some alarming news. That news may have come by way of a phone call by way of an unexpected visit or perhaps by a letter or email. You were going about your routine, whatever that may have been, but the unexpected news shook you and suddenly set you upon another course. Well, something like that happened to the man of God, Daniel. In 536 B.C., when Daniel was an old man, by the chronology followed years ago, in his early 80s, perhaps as old as 83, While amidst his extended devotional exercises by the bank of the great river Tigris, Daniel had a message revealed to him. And to excerpt from Daniel 10, the message was true and one of great conflict. Now that message would be the final extraordinarily detailed prophetic vision of the book of Daniel, the prologue of which is largely chapter 10, the substance of which largely chapter 11, and the epilogue chapter 12. The message concerned a period running from the mid-530s down to the mid-2nd century B.C. the message concerned the eventual fall of Alexander the Great's Grecian Empire and the wars between two of the four parts of that former empire, Syria in the north and Egypt in the south, and that message especially concerned how the conflicts between Syria and Egypt would come to bear upon the Old Covenant people in Israel. Those conflicts, and especially that from the king of the North, Antiochus, would bring a merciless persecution that would become the prototype for the persecution of the people of God at the end of days. Now, in Daniel 10, verses 4 through 6, we read the description of the extraordinary figure who appeared to Daniel so unexpectedly, and years ago I sought to build a case that this individual was likely the pre-incarnate Christ. In Daniel 10, verses 7 through 9, we read of the shaking impact of that message upon Daniel, and I excerpt from that portion. So I was left alone and saw this great vision. Yet no strength was left in me, for my natural color turned to a deathly pallor and my face to the ground." In verses 10 to 14, Daniel is then comforted by this messenger, be it the pre-incarnate Christ or an angel his servant. Daniel then responds, confessing further the trauma that he knew, the trauma, the shaking wrought by this prophetic message. And now reading in Daniel 10 at verse 18, then this one with human appearance, that is the messenger, touch me again and strengthen me. And he said, O man of high esteem, that is, precious man, highly regarded man, O man of high esteem, do not be afraid. And in the context, neither at my presence or at this unexpected prophetic message, do not be afraid. peace be with you. Take courage and be courageous. Sympathizing with the shaken man of God, Daniel, the pre-incarnate Christ effectually pronounces a return to tranquility, a restoration of a settling, calming sense of well-being, and then commands, take courage and be courageous. Daniel is to know a return to the calm of which We just sang. And with a calmed and strong heart is to face the fears that had been stirred up with him or within him concerning what this messenger had revealed. Daniel says, Now as soon as he spoke to me, I received strength and said, May my Lord speak, for you have strengthened me." Again, His Lord, peace be with you. Take courage and be courageous. The words are remarkably similar. to what the incarnate Christ spoke to His disciples on the eve of the crucifixion. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. And again, these things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation. Daniel's life was certainly a commentary on that certainty. In the world you have tribulation. But take courage, for I have overcome the world. the calming, settling, stilling peace of Christ amid shaking, distressing events, that peace that strengthens the inner man so as to engage one's fears and one's duties, that peace was not only a peace for the man of God Daniel, it is the portion of Christ's people. Brethren, if a man of the caliber of a Daniel could be shaken and need a restoration to peace and courage, how much more do average mortals like us? Again, I remind you of Gideon. In Judges 6 at verse 23, and the Lord said to him, and interestingly upon Gideon's encounter with the angel of the Lord, peace be to you, do not fear, you shall not die. Concerning David in 1 Chronicles 12 at verse 18, then the Spirit came upon Amasai, He was a spokesman and a chief officer for some men from Benjamin and Judah who had come to assure David of their loyalty. Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, who was chief of the thirty, and he said, We are yours, David, and with you, O son of Jesse. Peace, peace be to you, and peace to him who helps you. Indeed, Your God helps you to Israel under Solomon. In 1 Chronicles 22.9, I will give peace and quiet to Israel in His Solomon's days. Brethren, in the Psalter we read, the Lord will bless His people with peace. And again, I will hear what God the Lord will say. For He will speak peace to His people and His godly ones. And He did so in the promised Messiah of whom Micah in Micah 5, 5 prophesied. And this one, this one to be born in Bethlehem, This One who has no beginning or end of days. This One who will be a shepherd of His people Israel. This One will be our peace. And the prophet Haggai says of the house of this One, the latter glory of this house will be greater than the former, says the Lord of Hosts. And in this place, I shall give peace, declares the Lord of Hosts. What place? The house of that one who will be our peace. Again, brethren, this peace which Gideon needed, which David needed, which Daniel needed, which the people of God need amidst a world of trouble and uncertainty. It is a peace which we need, and in the language of Paul's prayer for the Thessalonians, continually and in every circumstance. We need it such so as to live effectively for Christ and so as to adorn His gospel with a stability and a strength and a calm and a poise which yields a testimony in a world of agitation. When Deborah and I, on Thursday night, we spent a night up north. We were in the hotel room and I Turned on Fox News, something that I don't have the capacity to do over here. But I saw an interview with President Bush that went for about an hour, former President Bush. And that interview at one point had to do with 9-11. And those school children to whom he was reading when Andy Card came to him and whispered into his ear, America is under attack. President Bush went on to explain in the interview I saw over against perhaps some of the criticisms that he has received for not immediately getting up and running out, that it's the place of a leader to remain calm and poised amidst crisis. That's the responsibility of a leader, not to go to pieces, but to maintain a stability and a composure. Well, brethren, that's what we need to maintain in our world of 9-11s, not going to pieces and wringing our hands, but in the ups and downs of life. having the peace of God rule within. Last Lord's Day, we began to consider the peace of God, that is, peace within ourselves, a peace produced by the Holy Spirit, And we did so in connection with one of the common disturbers of the peace, anxiety. An invader of man's soul that if he gets inside will break up and overturn the order and the quiet of the inner man chasing peace away. Our focus was on Philippians 4, verses 6 and 7, and to that text I again direct your attention this morning. Reading at verse 6, be anxious for nothing. And one might ask, why is anxiety a moral evil? And that's what it is. It's not merely a weakness. It may be that. But essentially, it is a moral evil. Sin. Why is it? Why is it, as verse 6 opens, why do we meet a commanded prohibition Be anxious for nothing. Well, let me offer three reasons. Number one, because anxiety is a distrust of God. It is a denial that He cares for me. A denial that the hairs of my head have been numbered. Secondly, it is a dispute with God's providence. It is a dispute with what He has said. We know all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. When we give way to anxiety, we are maintaining an argument with special providence. And then thirdly, It is a moral evil because we are trying to take into our hands, lay claim to that which is God's alone. And what is God's alone in this context? Tomorrow. You do not know, Solomon says, what a day may bring forth. Jesus said, tomorrow will care for itself. And again, James writes, you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. But in all of those cases, we're trying to figure it out. We're trying to speculate upon it. And the energies of the inner man are going out in those directions. We're trying to take in hand something that is God's alone. I would offer to you, for those three reasons, this prohibition stands. Be anxious for nothing. We considered last Lord's Day the nature of anxiety, its nature being an uneasiness within about anticipated developments in our lives. being agitated and shaken up and fretful about how things might be. Again, the very sense of the language, anxiety or to worry, is to divide, to pull apart. That is the mind. As we think about how things will be, we consider they're going to be one way, but we're not so sure they may be another way, and we're not so sure they may be a third way. The worrier is speculating futilely upon the shape of the future known only to God. And such speculation disrupts and torments and drives peace from Mansoul and occupies Mansoul with fear, with doubt. And Mansoul comes to have a tortured mind. What was Paul's directive? When that invader is standing outside the gate of Mansoul, Paul's directive is the sweet hour of prayer. The sweet hour of prayer that calls me from a world of care. Paul says, be anxious for nothing, but in everything. Now in the context, this everything has reference to the possible event and developments that are nagging at us and vexing our minds. Every matter which is evoking distraction and apprehension, every contingency that is dividing our thoughts this way and that way. Albert Barnes writes, and I expand with this, everything in reference to the supply of your and the wants of your families. Everything in respect to your afflictions, your embarrassments and trials, everything related to your spiritual condition, there is nothing which pertains to body, mind, estate, friends, conflicts, losses, trials, hopes, fears, in reference to which we may not go and spread it all out before the living God in everything by prayer and supplication, supplication being an earnest appeal for that which is keenly felt, supplication being a personal cry for the supply of a specific pressing need, a definite petition regarding the matter which at the time is burdening my mind and dividing it and tearing it apart in everything by prayer and supplication. And again, I would expand when we supplicate, remember these confidences. Romans 8.32, He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? When you come to supplicate, wrap Romans 8.32 around the supplication. or 1 Peter 5-7, casting all your anxiety upon Him because He cares for you. Bring your supplications with that confidence, or the confidence later in our chapter in Philippians 4 at verse 19, and my God shall supply all your needs. according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus. Come with that confidence. The confidence expressed by Jesus in Matthew 6.33, Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, And all these things, in the context, all these things we're prone to worry about. What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear? What shall be my temporal supply? All these things shall be added to you. Paul's antidote. to the soul-vexing invader of anxiety is the sweet hour of prayer in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, thanksgiving for God's faithfulness. Thanksgiving for past supplies. He's seen us through tight places in the past. Thanksgiving for benefits received. Thanksgiving for upholding grace in our former time of weakness. Thanksgiving for His sovereignty. the climate of gratitude that casts our minds back upon what God has done thus far. The Lord has helped us, has purposed to strengthen and aid us in the sweet hour of prayer. Again, I expand with Albert Barnes' comments upon with thanksgiving. We can always find something to be thankful for, no matter what may be the burden of our wants or the special subject of our supplication. When we pray for the supply of our needs, we may be thankful for that kind providence which hitherto has befriended us and granted us supply. When we pray for restoration from sickness, we may be thankful for the health we have hitherto enjoyed and for God's merciful interposition in the former days of trial and for His goodness in now sparing our lives. When we pray that our children and friends may be preserved from danger and death, we may remember how often God is interposed to save them when oppressed with a sense of sin. We pray for pardon. We have abundant cause of thanksgiving, that there is a glorious way whereby we may be graciously pardoned. the greatest sufferer that lives in this world of redeeming love and who has the offer of heaven before him, that man has cause for gratitude. The sweet hour of prayer. In everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests Your things ask for. The Apostle John in 1 John 5.15 writes, and if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we, and here's the same language, have the request which we have asked from Him. in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God." And in that very brief phrase is an epitomizing statement of the nature of prayer. Be made known to God. That is, brought into His very presence wherein our requests are unburdened, wherein our requests are spread out as Hezekiah, wherein our requests are laid before Him, brought into His very presence with confidence in His wisdom and power and in His special providential care of His people. Let your request be made known to God. Matthew Henry writes as a sovereign antidote against perplexing care. Paul recommends. Yes, he recommends, but he actually commands more than a recommendation. He recommends to us constant prayer. When anything burdens our spirits, We must ease our minds by prayer when our affairs are perplexed or distressed. We must seek direction and support. Another writes, this does not mean, I reminded you last Lord's Day, that we exercise no diligence or care in the proper sense of prudent effort about worldly matters. It does not mean that we exercise no proper care to preserve our property or to provide for our families, but there is to be such confidence in God as to free the mind from anxiety and such a sense of dependence upon Him. And I would add confidence in Him as to keep it calm. We have several fathers sitting here today. fathers with young children on their laps, in their arms, dads, your office, your stewardship given by God is to provide and to care for your son and daughter. It would be unnatural for your son, for your daughter to be anxious about whether or not you're going to pay that bill, about problems you're having on the job, unnatural for your son, your daughter, to be speaking about with uncertainty and apprehension tomorrow's provisions. Those are your concerns. They're a father's concerns. It's out of place for the children to be worked up about those matters that are your concerns, Dad. You want your children to, among other things, go out and play, go to school, and to trust you for their provision. Right? That's one of the burdens of fatherhood. So it is with our heavenly Father. He no more desires us to be torn up inside about future contingencies than we want our sons and daughters to be torn up. He wants us, as we want them, to trust Him. He is our Heavenly Father. and through His Son has bequeathed to us peace about these matters. Now, moving forward into verse 7 of Philippians 4, the sweet hour of prayer yields a result. And that result is now before us, and the peace of God. And it's not just the fact of that peace, Romans 5.1. It's what we may call the feeling of that peace. the actual calming experience of that peace, that inward peace, that inward rest, calm and quiet. that peace bequeathed us by Christ, that fruit of the Spirit amidst a world of tribulation, that it shall be well with me, peace, arising from a reconciled God, justifying righteousness, pardon, acceptance, sonship, but the stability within the confidence, the courage, the cheer of heart that arises from the Spirit working in me the certainty of a conquering Savior. And verse 7 begins, the peace of God. The Amplified Bible in its typical manner covers the basis as to what we're talking about in verse 7. It translates and expands this way, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace and the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension. The King James renders which passes all understanding. The NIV which transcends all understanding. However rendered, the idea of surpassing is to go beyond someone, to get further than they, to excel. And the idea may well be, all that man's faculties, all that man's frantic efforts might do to relieve anxiety, this peace that comes in the sweet hour of prayer goes beyond all of that. Like a faster runner on a track, surpassing competitors, so the peace of God runs past all of man's thoughts, all of his schemes, all of his plans, all of his chemicals that are purposed to relieve his worry. Further, the sense may include that it is an unfathomable peace. Man that is in his natively blind state cannot figure it out. How can it be that time spent in the sweet hour of prayer results in the casting out of man's soul the invader anxiety and the return of a calm and quiet? How can that be? Well, the natural man who does not have the Spirit and cannot discern the things of the Spirit cannot figure that out. It makes no sense. The unaided human mind cannot comprehend the means unto the sweet hour of prayer or the result, the peace of God. Again, be in mind that the world's peace is a dependent thing. dependent upon favorable circumstances. The world's peace is a negative thing. It's the absence of difficulty. The peace of God is opposite at both points. It is independent of tribulation, and it is positive. Again, it is that poise, that settled sense, that calm in the soul that is found in communion with the unseen living God. Paul says, as a result of the sweet hour of prayer and the peace of God that runs past all of the endeavors of men to try to suppress and relieve anxiety, the peace of God that is unfathomable to the natural mind, that peace, now note, shall guard your hearts and your minds. Now, as I noted last Lord's Day, there are some men who can get that very quickly because they have served in the very circumstance from which this language is drawn. This is military language. The language shall guard refers to the work of a watch stander, the work of a sentinel that is a soldier who is assigned to stand guard at the gate of a fort. it is descriptive of maintaining a protective watch over an area, preventing the hostile entry of an enemy, or if that enemy has slipped through, apprehending him and casting him out. In 2 Corinthians 11.32 we read this, It's a Paul's time in Damascus. In Damascus, the ethnarch under Aretas the king, and here's our language, was guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me. In this case, they suspect Paul's in the city. They've got guards posted to apprehend him. And I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped his hands." The parallel narrative in Acts 9 says they were also watching the gates day and night. Well, that's the picture of what the peace of God does as to the gates of the inner man. It is watching. Simply put, this is the language of guard duty. The peace of God, resultant from the sweet hour of prayer, is like a sentry on patrol, guarding, keeping out the enemy, expelling the invader anxiety, The peace of God mounts a guard. The peace of God is a watchstander at the gate of our hearts and our minds to prevent entry of anxiety, or to cast out that carking care, that dividing, tearing apart worry that has begun to disturb the peace. And this garrison keeping, this guarding of the soul, Paul says, is in Christ Jesus. That is, in vital union with Him, which has been wrought by the Holy Spirit who produces this very fruit, in close, vital communion with Christ, knowing the presence and the life of Christ as the branch abiding in the vine, union with Christ Not representative union so much at this point, but vital union by the Spirit secures this peace. The more one realizes this vital union, the more does he possess of such a peace. As every gift of God is in Christ conferred, and every act of God is done in Christ, so in Him, one writes, does this peace of God come and exert its guarding influence upon my mind and my heart. in Christ Jesus. Brethren, as to this peace, to use the words of Spurgeon, we have considered the fact of this peace. Having been justified, we have peace with God. We have now received the reconciliation. There is objectively the fact of our peace, but there is also the feeling of peace. And as to the maintenance and the cultivation of the feeling of peace, it's prayerful communion with the living, prayer-hearing God. And I remind you, brethren, as simple as that may sound, we're dealing with supernatural religion, and if we're not, we're deluded people. It's all or nothing. There's the supernatural God, the supernatural triune God who has revealed himself in the living and written word, or we are fools and there's nothing in between. Charles Spurgeon, and with this I close this morning, preached in this manner. He speaks of peace in reference to all the outward circumstances of life. That's what Paul prayed for the Thessalonians. continually and every circumstance. May the Lord of peace Himself grant you peace. He preaches of peace in reference to all outward circumstances by reason of our confidence that God orders those circumstances rightly and arranges all of them for our good. The man who believes in Christ and is reconciled to God as nothing outside of Him that he needs to fear. Not truly does he need to fear them. Is he poor? He rejoices that Christ makes poor men rich. Does He prosper? He rejoices that there is grace to sanctify His prosperity, lest it become intoxicating to Him. Does there lie before Him a great trouble? He thanks God for His promise that as His day, His strength shall be. Spurgeon goes on to set out a few other circumstances and then preaches this way. Whatever may be suggested that might alarm or distress the believer, Deep down in his soul, he cannot be disturbed because he sees his God at the helm of the vessel, holding the rudder with his hand, which defies the storm. And then he says, this is peculiarly advantageous in days like these. The storm signals are flying. The clouds are gathering. Flashes of lightning and grumblings of distant thunder are all around us. If you read the papers, watch the television, the cable news, spend time on the Internet, Wars and rumors of wars are incessant. That's true at the very moment we're sitting here, half a world away. Your eyes light upon reports of famine and drought. You see distress here, slackness of business there. poverty and starvation in many places, and the fear creeps over you that there are dark days yet to come and seasons in which faces will grow pale and hands hang heavy. Brethren, it is for the believer in such a case to feel no dismay. For our God is in the heavens and He does not forsake His throne. His purposes will be fulfilled and good will come out of evil. For at this very moment, God sits in the chambers of kings and orders all things according to the counsel of His will. We are not children whose father has gone to sea and left them at home without a guardian. Rather, God is most near us and we are most safe. Though we cannot see the future, and do not wish to pry between the folded leaves of the book of destiny, we are absolutely certain that nothing is written upon the unopened page of the future which can contradict God's faithfulness so conspicuous in the past. We are sure that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose, and therefore, our soul, as to all external circumstances, casts anchor and enjoys the peace of God which passes all understanding. amidst the storms, cast anchor and enjoys the peace of God. Brethren, may that more and more be our enjoyment, the peace of God wrought by the Holy Spirit and especially in that exercise of soul in the sweet hour of prayer. Concerning the fruit of the Spirit, we have considered peace with God the peace of God. We have one more heading. Peace with men. Not for now, but God willing, later. And that's going to run in a threefold way. in the home, peace in the world, but especially peace in the church, diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Let us pray. Father, we thank You this morning that you are not a heavenly Father who has gone to sea and left us as orphans without a guardian. We thank you that we have the guardian of our souls, that Spirit-wrought peace found in the sweet hour of prayer. Peace that comes from vital union with our living Savior. Lord, I do pray that whatever threatens that peace this morning, in one member's life after another, that that one would flee to the secret place and there cast out the disturber of the peace, anxiety. And Father, may we adorn our profession of faith in Christ with the maintenance of that soul-calming peace, the peace that was restored to Daniel, to Gideon, given to David, and which is the portion of your people in a pressing world. Father, may we be a people characterized by such a tranquility within, such that we could think clearly and act boldly in time of crisis and need. We pray in Christ's name, Amen.