Let us return to the fifth chapter of Matthew's Gospel, chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5 and verse 9 is our text. Blessed are the peacemakers. They shall be called sons, or some of your translations may say children or sons of God. Our father, we pray for your spirit to lead us into the way of truth. Give us understanding of your word. Enlighten every mind. that we may see things and understand things clearly and press them upon us. If faith is weak, make it strong. Where it is absent, I pray that you would come. Faith would come by hearing and hearing the word of God. Rest upon me as I speak. I believe in the Holy Spirit. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. This morning we come to the seventh beatitude. We've been moving through, if you remember this teaching of Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount, and now our Lord is teaching, listen, our Lord is teaching that the people of God, that is the Christian, those who are blessed are to be peacemakers. The Christian is to be a peacemaker. Now consider what we have learned so far. When we know God, when we begin to grasp His holy character and equally our sinfulness, we will be a people or an individual that is poor in spirit. We will acknowledge our spiritual poverty. As we understand our true state, it leads us to mourn our sin, our guilt before God. And those who rightly understand these two things will be meek. They will be humble. Such an understanding of ourselves and God should lead us to hunger and thirst for righteousness. And when we grasp the great mercy God has shown us, we will likewise be a merciful people, and we will show others the kind of mercy we have received. Next, God has cleansed our hearts, we have been made pure, and therefore we live as a people in pursuit of this purity that we have received. And this morning, we see that that which we have received from God, peace, gospel reconciliation, will cause us to be individuals who are like our Father in heaven, and that we, likewise, will be peacemakers. So let us begin in verse 9, the first part. Blessed are the peacemakers, says Jesus in verse 9, opening up. Blessed are the peacemakers. This is those that are the blessed people of God. It is those that have been blessed by God and that now are the kingdom people of God as we saw in the very first beatitude. But let us understand here what Jesus, as we've been walking through these, what he's not saying. Because again, these are often interpreted as types of Christian moralisms, or that somehow these are interpreted in light that if I do these certain things, they give me entrance into the kingdom. But let me be clear, Jesus is not saying that if we go around and help men, broken relationships, we will become a renowned, or if we become a renowned ambassador or politician that travels the world and convinces countries and warring armies to sign peace treaties, we will be blessed and we will become a son of God. That's not what he's teaching. as wonderful and as good, humanly speaking, that those things may be. But what Jesus is saying here, nevertheless, nevertheless, he is teaching that Christians, those who are citizens of the kingdom of heaven, will be peacemakers. where I do not become a citizen of God's kingdom by being a peacemaker, citizens of the kingdom will be peacemakers. You see what I'm saying? There's a great difference there. And let me explain what we have here. Counter to what the world is declaring and saying, and right now I've been hearing it a lot lately, this language that we're all children of God. It's raised its head again. It does this periodically through different venues and avenues of our culture. We're all children of God. In fact, I heard one statement, we're all children of God. And they included the LGBT and everything else. We're all children of God. counter to what the world is declaring. The Bible, Christianity, teaches that since the fall of man, that is, the rebellion that took place in the garden, because of mankind's sin, there are now hostilities between sinful man and holy God. There are hostilities. Not all mankind is in good standing with God. So the current Oprah talk It doesn't need to come from the voices of God's people. We need to be clear what it means to be a children of God and not. Yet this has invaded our culture and so we should, as God's people, be very clear about this. Now, by virtue of creation, yes, if one means by virtue of creation, that all mankind is made in the image and likeness of God, I can concur with that. I think we should be very careful with that kind of language, but we can agree with that. However, we need to be equally clear that since the fall, that image has been shattered. It is like looking at our image in a broken mirror. It is distorted. It is shattered. Ever since the fall, this hostility in the effects of this fall, sin, has invaded into all of creation. All of creation. Just a slight rabbit trail to understand this. I've used illustrations concerning creation before like this. Weeks ago we found dead... We've had rabbits in our backyard early in the morning and the evening. They're cute. We recently found one dead next to the driveway. And when you see that, you look at that and deep down inside you know something's wrong. The rabbit shouldn't die. What's this? And have you ever considered how we as creatures made in the image and likeness of God, like Adam in the beginning as a vice region for God, one who was over creation in the beginning with till and garden and have oversight of creation. And what do we do? We do that in our very own yards. We want to, we want to clip the bushes and have them all in a row and straight lines. We mow the yard. We want everything to be in order. God made us that way. Didn't he recently I've noticed. that whatever we do, it's only temporary, the best of our efforts as we push against the fall. You know, I said our brother James Nogulu who's worked for, he works now for bears. He works genetically for crops and to fight different pests and weeds and so forth. He is an example of us as men, as creatures made in the image of likeness of God that we're pushing back against the fall. Every doctor is pushing back against the effects of the fall. In my yard, But a few years ago, it happened to be that people on either side of me had this pristine yard. And if keeping a yard up is not high on your list, let two people on each side of you begin to have yards that they do want to keep up very nice. And then all of a sudden, what your yard looks like? You go, well, maybe I should do a little more. I'm kind of looking at the neighbors, I'm kind of starting to look a little embarrassed. So you put down weed killer, and you get some grass growing, and it starts to look pretty good. But then you quickly find out the bag that you buy that says it kills 200 weeds, 200 different kinds of weeds, and it will list them on the back. Whatever weed 201 and 202 is, that's what's in my yard. But if next year that weed killer kills up to 205 weeds, weed 206 and 207 will pop up in my yard, right? Isn't that what happens? We find a cure for a disease and 10 more crop up that we find out about. Everything we do, it's just temporary. We cure a disease for a season, and then even though you might have been given an extra 10, 20 years, we find that that great disease and judgment of death still comes. The doctors, the pesticides. I just forgot the name of the weed killers. It's pesticides and herbicides, yeah. only lasts for a season. And then the thorns and the thistles and all the things that work against us raises its head. Right? Our hair starts to thin, we comb it a different way to make it look like we have a little more, and then next thing you know it's all gone. We put on hats. It's always working against us. All of our repairs are only temporary. They're basically poor patch up jobs. They just don't last. I wrote in my notes, we attempt to use spiritual duct tape to repair eternal problems. Isn't that what we do? We're in a place right now in our nation where there's tension among the people in our nation, and we will use spiritual duct tape to try to temporarily fix divisions among peoples in our nation. And that's all it will be, will be spiritual duct tape or legal duct tape. Our fallenness has affected our very nature and nature or creation around us. Now let us be clear. It has affected our very nature in the sense as we look into that mirror as creatures made in the image and likeness of God, that image is shattered and part of that distortion is that as falling creatures, We now live in rebellion to God. I was listening to, I don't know if you know this, you can find Oxford Lectures now on YouTube, Oxford Lectures. And there was, atheists were debating those who were theistic, who believe in God, like John Lennox at Oxford. And when the other men got up to defend the belief in God, I thought it was interesting. He just quickly turned to the atheists who were sitting there and he says, my only question is, is why do you hate him so much? I thought, wow. He just went right, he just cut right to the chase. Why do you hate him so much? We live in rebellion to God, and the one thing that's clear in the Bible, the Creator God, because of this fallenness in us, this rebellion that's now part of our very nature, God will not tolerate rebellion. The penalty for rebellion is eternal death, and God will judge the rebels. They will suffer His everlasting judgment, a wrath. So, men, women, and children that are apart from the saving action of God, let's be clear, are not considered children of God. The Bible identifies them as children of wrath. children of God's judgment. Ephesians 2, verse 3, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. So listen closely. We are truly the children of God. We have been reconciled to God by God if we are blessed, if we have received Christ by faith, if God has saved us by His distinguishing, powerful, sovereign grace through the gospel. He has done this through the giving of His Son on the cross. You see, Christian or non-Christian, listen, God God is a God of peace. He is a great peacemaker. And he's brought about reconciliation between rebellious sinful man and himself, holy God. And he's done this through the gospel. This is why we call the gospel good news. We have been reconciled to God through the work of Christ. Listen, this morning, you can be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. You are not Christians. You're separated from God. What's upon you is the dangerous wrath of God that is upon you now and will come in its finality at your death, or at His second advent, where you shall be cast in everlasting torment. Hell. But this morning you can have peace with God if you repent of your sins and you turn to Christ by faith and receive His glorious gospel. But here in our text, we have this word, blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. So as God's people, though, turning back to that as God's people, as God's people, how are we peacemakers then? If this is so important, what Jesus, how are we these peacemakers? As Christians, citizens of the kingdom of heaven, we are to be peacemakers. We are to be those who make known the message of reconciliation, the message of the gospel. What we have here is really a word about evangelism, is it not? Christians are to be people who labor to communicate or make known the reconciling, peacemaking message of the Gospel. Listen to the Apostle Paul. Paul would write in 2 Corinthians 5, beginning in verse 18, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 18. Now all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation. Verse 19, that is, now listen to this language. Verse 19, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. That is, there were these two parties that were at odds, that were hostile, that were at war. And it is through Christ, the mediator, and through his death, his gospel work, that he reconciles the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us The apostles in particular, Paul has in mind here, committed to us and to the people of God in general, he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. That is the gospel. That's the word of reconciliation, the gospel. Verse 20, now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. As though we were pleading, as God were pleading through us, we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For he made him, that is Christ Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. That is the message we proclaim as God's people. And that is the message that you are to receive if you are separate from Christ. God placed the sin and guilt of sinners like you and like me upon the sun on the cross. And that which we deserve, justice and wrath, Christ bore it in our place. He paid the penalty that was due unto us. And Christ made reconciliation by his death. And if you will turn from your sins and turn to Christ by faith, believing and trusting in the work of Jesus, you shall be reconciled to God. And so with Paul, we say, we plead with you. We implore you on Christ's behalf this morning be reconciled to God. Turn to him this morning and be saved from the wrath and judgment of God. So that's the first way we are peacemakers. Secondly, secondly, Because we've received the Word of Peace, the Gospel, and now we are children of God, we are to be like our Father in Heaven in the sense that we are to be peacemakers. We are to labor toward reconciliation with all sorts of people through different situations. Let me give you an example. We are to be a gospelling people, as we've already heard, a gospel-sharing people. We are to be sharing this good news in every winsome and God-honoring way we can, whether it be a track or through catechism, but preeminently, as we heard this morning, through the proclamation, the preaching of the word of God. But it can be done through distributing Bibles. It can be done through various means that we communicate the word of truth, the message of reconciliation, the gospel. But the other way is that because we have been reconciled to God, Christians, we are his children. And we should be a people of peace, a people striving for reconciliation in every possible way. We should be known to be a people that are not rebels. We should be known to a people that, if possible, we avoid strife. And watch what the scriptures teach here. And this could have actually been a series, each of these beatitudes, you dig, you start to study and you prepare and you start to realize that each one could be a series of messages. But watch this. As a people called to be peacemakers, to be peaceful and to pursue, be peacemakers, to actively pursue that, we should, one, realize that there is this peace and reconciliation that should be among us as the people of God, as the church, as the family of God. So when disruption raises its head in our midst, as a family of God, as a local visible church. We should pursue peace and reconciliation. In this same chapter, Matthew chapter five, if you move your eyes down the page to verse 23, verse 23, Matthew five, verse 23, Jesus says there that, remember that if your brother has something against you, what does he say? Verse 24, first be reconciled to your brother before you offer a gift to God. Leave your gift there before at the altar, verse 24, and go your way, and first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Do you see? He says first. So that means that as God's people, as God's family, as a local visible church, when we hear that a brother or sister has something against us, we know that there's things aren't right in the family, we should go to that brother and sister quickly and reconcile with them. And not only within the church, again, there could be a lot said about that, but within the church, but also with the unbelieving world. You say, what? Yes, and with the unbelieving world. Listen to Paul. He said, listen to what Paul says in Romans 12, 18. Romans 12, 18. He says this, if it is possible Remember that. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. If possible, if it is possible, as much as it depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Why? Because we are the children of God and our Father is a God of peace and we are to imitate and be like our Father. Along with that, within the church and outside the church, the writer of Hebrews would say, now these are very strong, these fall in the context of a very strong place. It's Hebrews 12, 14. Hebrews 12.14, the writer of Hebrews says, pursue peace, pursue peace with all people, all people. He says that in the context of and holiness. You are to pursue holiness and peace with all people. within the church, with outside the church. Pursue peace with all people and holiness. And you know how the weight he puts on this? And without which no one shall, or we shall see the Lord. Wow. Wow. Listen to our brother, Apostle Peter. Listen to Peter in 1 Peter 3, as he just strings this together. 1 Peter 3, verse 8. Watch this, as he's writing to those churches. And these are churches under great pressure that he's writing to, churches under persecution, living in great difficulty. Peter says this, 1 Peter 3, verse 8, Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another. Love as brothers. Be tenderhearted. Be courteous. Verse nine, not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. Verse 10, for he who loves, for he who would love life and see good days, let him refrain from his tongue, from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Verse 11, let him turn away from evil and do good, let him seek peace and pursue it, he says. For the eyes of the Lord, verse 12, are on the righteous and his ears are open to the prayers, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. So in other words, to not do that is what? Evil. And then, Even greater is not only this individual reconciliation within the church, living peaceably with one another and with the world, the Apostle Paul especially. As we see his thought concerning the church begins to develop and grow and mature throughout the New Testament, it's really amazing how he sees the church, the glorious church under the headship of the Lord Jesus, and how we are united locally and with every all of God's people and every place by the spirit because of the because of the gospel. He speaks of the unity of the church, male and female and Jew and Gentile and how free and slave and how we are united in Jesus Christ. And this is what he says in Ephesians for one, speaking of the unity of the church. He says, Ephesians 4 verse 1, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. Where's that calling, Paul? Verse 2, with all loneliness, lowliness, and gentleness, and longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, Verse 3, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. our elders here and I can give testimony of after 30 years in the gospel ministry that typically when unity, when this bond of peace is disrupted, when there's dissension among the brethren within the life of the church, it will almost 99.9% of the time be what Paul tells us to what we are to be doing in verse 2. It's when those things are absent, when he says, lowliness and gentleness and long-suffering and bearing with one another in love. You let those be cast aside and disruption and division will begin to break out. So let us strive to walk in lowliness and gentleness and long-suffering and bearing with one another in love. We are the people of God and we are the family of God, the everlasting family of God. And let us live like that and treat one another like that. Now, all that being said, And okay, okay, got it. But let me say this. There will be occasions when there's no room for peace. Jesus was clear about that, wasn't he? There'll be occasions when there's no room for peace. Some examples. One, we do not believe we are to overlook false teaching, heresy in the church. We want to gently rebuke, correct, lovingly. We want to bring that brother or sister along. But if there's resistance to that and a commitment to Heresy, I'm not talking about some tertiary doctrine, but clear, outright heresy that cannot be tolerated in any form, we are to faithfully stand and fight for the truth. And that is hard sometimes because it may be an individual that we have known for years and we have learned and grown to love them. We are to faithfully stand and fight for the truth. Secondly, we do not believe. We are to overlook sin and just sweep it underneath the rug and forget about it. There needs to be real, when the Bible talks about reconciliation, there needs to be real biblical confession and reconciliation. God our Father does not overlook sin. And neither are we. Sin is to be dealt with, repented of, confessed. And then there can be reconciliation. Thirdly, we are living at a moment We are living in a moment in our nation's history. I think every individual, every generation I say says this, that we are living at a time in our nation's history when things are very difficult. And there is a diversity of opinions on the right paths forward. You may think I'm talking about one thing, but I may be talking about another, because there's a diversity of things that we could talk about, right? Right now. However, we are not saying this morning that as Christians we are to only be quiet and comply at every turn. We are not saying that. We are to confront injustice wherever it may be found. And let me add to this the difficulty for us as Christians. We are citizens of the United States of America and the kingdom of heaven. First, we need to understand that one of those citizenships has a priority. Secondly, this is where it gets difficult, and sometimes I or one of the fellow elders, another brother and sister in Christ, may not quickly have the snappiest answer for you, because these can be very difficult. They may take time to flesh things out, to think it through in all of its biblical ramifications and practical ramifications. Christian citizens, listen to this, in different nations, under different forms of government, will respond differently. And so there's not a full-fledged cookie cutter pattern. Christians in first century Rome might respond different than those in a democratic republic, such as the United States. Or how Christians in Cuba, or Iran, or North Korea might respond to certain injustices, right? However, however, there are overarching principles in all of those different situations from a dictatorship to a Caesar to a democratic republic, whatever it may be. The common biblical theme is that we as God's people are to be gracious. We are to be merciful. We are to be loving. We are to be a quiet and peaceable people. and not come across, if possible, as troublemakers or rebel rousers. We are to be peacemakers and pursue reconciliation. Though that may not always be possible. Just observe the life of our Lord Jesus. The great peacemaker was persecuted and eventually killed by sinful men. The Apostle Paul writing to the Thessalonians. Oh, that you may aspire to lead a quiet life. Mind your own business. Work with your hands as we've commanded you. That you may walk properly toward those who are outside and that you may lack nothing. Brett, wouldn't Ray Ortlund, one of your former pastors at one time. Yeah. Ray Ortlund. Ray Ortlund says this about the people of God being peacemakers and the message of reconciliation. Ray Ortlund says this quote. The gospel, this is wonderful. He says the gospel being what it is and always will be the message of reconciliation. Second Corinthians 519. Then he says this, our churches should be the most reconciling, peaceable, relaxed, happy places in town. We are so open to enemies, so meek in the face of insults and injuries, so forgiving toward the undeserving. If we do not make people angry, let this be the reason. For we refuse to join in their selfish battles. We're following a higher calling. We are the peacemakers, the true sons of God. Now let me quickly begin to close with this second thought that Jesus has here in verse 9. The first one was, blessed are the peacemakers, verse 9. And then the second half of the verse, for they, number two, for they shall be called the sons of God. There again is some of your translations, the children of God. The blessed people of God are peacemakers. We are peacemakers because we are the children or the sons of God. You see, we who are the sons of God, begin to take on the character of our Heavenly Father. We are called the children of God because others see the likeness of God in us. And we have been adopted into the family of God. Our Father is a God of peace. And over and over, the scriptures describe God as a God of peace. Hebrews 13, verse 20, now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do his will. He is the God of peace. He has brought about the covenant of peace through the work of the gospel. Romans 15, 33, now the God of peace be with you all. Romans 16, 20, and the God of peace will crush Satan under his feet shortly. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all. And Jesus here declares that these peacemakers shall be called sons of God. Christians are called children or sons of God because we are like our God. We imitate Him. And day by day, we who are His kingdom people are being transformed into His likeness. And so we have received. We are recipients of. this gospel message of reconciliation. Listen, Christian, this is what we have received. If we would have had the Lord's Supper this morning, this is what would give testimony in the Supper, that which this covenant meal in His blood and body that we would be receiving what He has given. As Paul would say, we are justified and declared not guilty by faith in Romans 5.1. That we have peace, listen to this, We have peace through, through our Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 10, he says, we were enemies, but now we have been reconciled to God through, through, he says, the death of his son. Much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. We've become children of God. We've been saved by his spirit. We have been birthed from above. We have embraced the gospel by faith. And this morning, if you are here apart from Christ, you're not a Christian, you've never placed faith in Christ, you never received the waters of baptism and come into the life of his church and his family and are partaker of this great blessing of the church and the family of God, repent of your sins this morning. Turn to Jesus Christ by faith. and by faith alone, trusting in the work of Christ alone on the cross for your sin and guilt to be washed away by his death and to receive his righteousness where you may be able to stand in the presence of God. Receive him today. John 1 12 says, but as many as received him to them, he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor the will of flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. Let us pray.