Peace with God. SERMON XVI. 2 PETER iii. 14. Be diligent, that ye may be found of him in peace. THE generality of mankind are forming a thousand imaginary schemes of happiness, eagerly pursuing every inviting prospect, and gadding about to change their way as often as they meet with disappointment. But the good man is a man of one business: his heart, like the needle touched by the magnet, tends to one point; his affections and desires, are towards one object; his resolutions and endeavours terminate in one end-to be found of God in peace! 1. Observe, that whatever be our state or character, we shall all be found of God. If we are sinners, and live and die such, our sins will find us out. Wicked men may be very unwilling to be found of God, but they cannot avoid it. His eyes are as a flame of fire, penetrating the inmost recesses of the soul, and the darkness and the light are both alike to him. His arm, his omnipotent and outstretched arm, reaches from one end of the world, from one end of the universe, to another. He hides his people now in the secret of his pavilion, and will hereafter hide them in the grave, and he that hides will find. "Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thy hands." Wicked men may seek to hide themselves in the caverns of the rocks, or call on mountains to fall on them and hide them from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. But it is all in vain: "The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burnt at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation; and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him." Though they bury themselves in the centre of the earth, yet they shall be dragged out from thence, to meet that justice and endure that wrath which they have dared to despise. "Though they dig into hell, thence shall my hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down; and though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out from thence." Amos ix. 2, 3. Nahum i. 5, 6. 2. As all will be found of God at last, so there are some who will be found of him in peace." Such as have had the enmity of their hearts slain by divine grace, and who have cordially embraced the gospel, are in a state of reconcilation and friendship with God, and through the atoning sacrifice of Christ he is at peace with them. This it is that heightens every other blessing, alleviates every affliction, and supports in the agonies of death. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." As is our faith, so will be our peace: if faith be firm and strong, our peace will be so too; but if faith be weak and fluctuating, our peace will be the same. If our faith be counterfeit, our peace will be so too and if we have no faith at all, we shall be strangers to peace altogether. "I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord, and I will heal him. But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked."Peace is a welcome blessing at any time; but how much more so in the last day! Then, when the world shall be on fire, and the elements melt with fervent heat, when the wicked shall be driven to the utmost confusion and distress, when hypocrites shall be detected, and a public and final sentence passed on all mankind to be found of him in peace will be of more value than ten thousand worlds. The Lord grant unto us the blessing which Paul prayed for on behalf of his friend Onesimus; "that we may find mercy of the Lord in that day!" Isai. lvii. 19-21. Rom. v. i. 1 Tim. i. 18. 3. In order to be found in peace at last, it is needful that we seek it here with diligence. Let us carefully examine into the state of our souls. The psalmist communed with his heart on his bed, and his spirit within him made diligent search. Be solicitous to know how matters stand between God and you. See that a foundation be laid for spiritual comfort in a thorough conviction of sin and hatred to it: a broken and contrite heart is the divine abode. Having devoted yourselves to God, exert all your powers and employ all your talents in his service. Occupy till he come, and then his coming will be neither a terror nor surpise. Watch against sloth and indolence, vain confidence, and carnal security. Constantly attend the means of grace, imploring the divine blessing upon them, for your growth and improvement in the things of God. Forgetting the things that are behind, and reaching forth unto those which are before, be pressing towards the mark. Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Never think that you are sufficiently weaned from the world, estranged from your lusts, or conformed to God, till you get to heaven. If you do not gain ground in religion, you will lose ground; and as religion declines, your comfort will decline. "Where fore, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure; for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall; for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 2 Peter i. 10, 11. Let us now enquire who they are that will be found of God in peace. 1. Those only whom God finds in this world, and brings into a state of grace. Our state by nature is like that of lost sheep, and our recovery is by the interposition of the good Shepherd, who came to seek and to save that which was lost. We should never seek him, if he not first seek us; nor take one step in the way to heaven, if he did not take us by the hand, as he did Ephraim, and teach us to go. Our return to God is free and voluntary, but we act only by being acted upon. "It is God that worketh in us to will and to do of his good pleasure," and, "thou, Lord, hast wrought all our works in us." It is he that both seeks and finds, and leads us in the way that we ought to go. "They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them-Behold I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick." Jer. xxxi. 9. Ezek. xxxiv. 11-16. 2. Those shall be found of God in peace who here have found him. Those whom God seeks he always finds, and those who seek aright will always find him. "I love them that love me, and they that seek me early shall find me." Some seek and find him in the closet, some in the public assembly, and some on a sick and dying bed. Some in their youth, and others in more advanced years: some find him at their first seeking, and others after long waiting. But unless he be found of us here, we shall not be found of him in peace another day. If we do not find him as a friend and a father, he will find us as a judge and avenger. Job exclaimed, "Oh that I knew where I might find him!" He had found him indeed many a time before, but those who have once found God will want to find him again and again, and will therefore continually renew their search after him. Whereas "the wicked, through the pride of their countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all their thoughts." But remember, that distance from him in this world will be followed with an everlasting distance in the world to come. If we say, "Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways," he will also say to us, "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." 3. Those only will be found of God in peace who are found in Christ. This is what Paul so earnestly desired: "That I may win Christ, and be found in him." He saw that the day of wrath was coming, and longed for the city of refuge where he might be secure from the avenger of blood; to be found in the Redeemer's righteousness, that he might not appear naked in that day; to be united to him by faith, and represented by him, that he might be justified and accepted by the Judge of all the earth. He that is not found in Christ can neither be admitted to communion with God here, nor to the enjoyment of him hereafter. "God is in Christ Jesus reconciling the world unto himself: not imputing their trespasses unto them;" but out of Christ he is a consuming fire, and will both impute iniquity and punish for it. We cannot enter into heaven unless our debts be paid, |