Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis - The Peace of God

Episode Date: June 1, 2023

We live in a world that is starved for peace and gasping for hope and the question is: What peace does God provide to who live in a tumultuous world? Thankfully, the Scripture is clear: “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you.” ~ Isaiah 26:3. Make sure to Dial In Thursday as we approach this important topic in Scripture.Watch VideosVisit the Website Follow on InstagramFollow on Twitter

Hello everybody, my name is Johnny Artavanis and this is Dial In. I want to begin over the next few weeks a mini-series, if you will, on the subject of peace, anxiety, and trusting God. Some of you may know that I have begun the writing process of a book that will be published by Zondervan in the fall of 2024 and I want to begin to just communicate some of my initial thoughts on this all-important subject in our world and theme that we find clearly approached by God in the scriptures. So with that in mind, let's dial in.

Whenever I tell someone I'm from California, one of the most common questions I receive is, do you surf? My response is, no, not really. I mean, everyone's taken that photo with a wetsuit on, but I'm a poser. I don't really surf. To be honest, I'm somewhat intimidated by the ocean, not just because of the sharks, of which there are millions, but because I possess a significant amount of respect for the waves. Of course, there are times where the waves are nothing more than the small speed bumps you find in a private gated community. But at other times, the waves are like great towers that fall and crush all that lies beneath. If you've ever been in the midst of an oceanic swell, you know what it's like to be pulverized by wave after wave

as you hold your breath and fight towards the surface. These great breakers not only have the ability to pummel your body, but to discombobulate and dizzy your mind. At times, life itself seems as though we have been caught up in a violent riptide like this, that we've been shackled to a relentless current of suffering and sin and temptation that we are unable to escape. Our minds are frequently drenched by despair and submerged with anxious thoughts and fraught with much temptation. The sin that we face often robs us of joy, and the worries in our life rob us of peace. Our lives are often a chronicle of trouble and pain.

Whether that be dashed hopes or infertility or miscarried babies, lost loved ones, the sting of injustice, crippling illness, an unfair boss, an athletic performance, your next basketball game, or chronic illness. Sometimes the pain we experience is like a flash flood that suddenly sweeps over our life. And at other times, our pain is like a slow leak that drips and drips and compounds and exacerbates over time. It's not only the catastrophic headlines of our lives that prompt our anxiety and our worry and that steal our peace, but it's also the details that fade to the background, such as a broken water heater, a looming job interview, or the individual who after years of praying for a spouse wonders, will I be single forever? Fuel and food prices are

soaring. An enemy nation is test firing rockets into the ocean. And on top of this, I have a little mole on the back of my neck. Is it cancerous? I recently Googled the question, the cure for anxiety, and 527 million results popped up in less than half a second. I then proceeded to search, quote, how can I find peace, end quote. How many results do you think instantaneously populated? Answer, 1.6 billion. We live in an anxious world and amongst those who long for peace are the people of God. Far from the heretical cry of prosperity preachers

today, God's children are not immune to suffering, but on the contrary, their pain is often more unexplainable, more severe, and more frequent than the world around them. Christians are not impregnable to physical ailment, relational loss, or the temptations of the flesh. The Christian life can often feel as though we have been stranded on a small reef in the middle of the ocean, only to be left there to endure the endless crashing of the waves. What then is the initial basis of the Christian's hope and strength? What can possibly buoy our souls amidst the turbulent seas of this life? Well, I want to look at one passage of scripture with you in this episode, and it's in Isaiah 26, three, which reads, you will keep him in perfect peace. Him whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you.

In this episode, I want to look at the peace of God. Now, the only people on earth that can have the peace of God are those that have been reconciled to God and are therefore at peace with God. Spiritual peace is the peace where one knows their soul is right with God. The child of God has no fear of condemnation, no fearful dread of God as judge, but only love for God as father. If you have assurance of salvation, there is a peace in your life a spiritual peace with that being said as we have already surveyed because of our sinful world and because of our sinful flesh our lives are constantly badgered and bombarded by tragedy and trials and temptation but the

scripture is still going to offer us peace and the peace that we are going to look at today is not peace positionally in regards to our standing before God, but a tranquility of spirit, a quietness of heart, an inner harmony. When I was growing up, my family and I, we used to go houseboating every summer at Lake Powell with my cousins. My favorite times were the early morning wakeboard runs. Throughout the day, the water would get choppy and wavy because of the wind and the many boats and jet skis darting around. But in the morning, the water wasn't choppy at all. We would come back after that early morning run and our grandma would ask us,

hey kids, how was the water? And we would respond and say, like glass. It was almost as if the water was like a blue sheet spread out across the lake. It was perfectly still. This stillness reminds me of the peace that is offered to our souls, where even if the waves of life are crashing all around us and the temptations of the flesh and our culture rage against us, our souls and our minds are like glass, calm, peaceful. In examining the passage in Isaiah 26, verses 3 and 4, I want to ask four questions. What, who, how, and why? Number one, what is the quality of the peace that God provides? Well, Isaiah says in Isaiah 26, three, you will keep

him in perfect peace. The peace that God gives is not partial. It's not imperfect, but perfect. The Hebrew reads peace, peace, literally it repeats the Hebrew word Shalom twice so that it might enforce and intensify the immense measure of the peace provided. The word shalom you're likely familiar with means completeness, soundness, wholeness, and this perfect peace that God gives is a peace that surpasses all understanding. We live in a world crippled by anxiety and paralyzed by fear. 253 million prescriptions were filled out for anxiety in 2010 in a country of 311 million people. That's the US of anxiety as one website calls it.

But the peace that God grants and God gives to us is a holy serenity, a peace of conscience. Now, secondly, the question we must ask is if that's the peace that God provides and it's a perfect peace, who gives it? Well, we've already answered. It's God. The verse says you will keep him in perfect peace. Only God himself can give you peace. Happiness comes from things that happen, but peace can only come from the God of peace. In the same way, there is a fool's gold. There is a fool's peace that is based on possessions, circumstances, or perceived protection. But if you want genuine, authentic, and durable peace, it is the peace that comes from God. Furthermore, God is not only the giver and provider of peace, but he is the maintainer of peace.

What God grants, he keeps. Peace is not God's gift to you and then your responsibility to maintain. God is the giver and the keeper of peace. The passage says you will keep him in perfect peace. In verse four, there are three names for God that are intended to display and show the solidity and the immensity and the fullness of the peace that God provides to his children in his word. In verse four, we read the first of the three names for God in Isaiah 26, and it says, trust in the Lord Lord caps lock forever. Now this word, when it says the Lord and caps lock, you may know is Yahweh in Hebrew. This is God's covenantal name.

And it means that God is the absolute all sufficient, eternal changeless one. He is not dependent on anyone or anything. All of creation is dependent on God at every moment for everything all the time. When it comes to the peace in your life, we are entirely dependent on a God who depends on no one and no thing. He is Yahweh. Secondly, it says in verse four, trust in the Lord forever. Then it says for in God, the Lord, this is one of the only times in scripture where there is a compounded name for God. It says, God, the Lord. Calvin says regarding this name, the twofold name of God given is to magnify his authority. He has power over our circumstances, events, and over everything that tries to rob us of

our peace. Then it says in verse four, for we have in God and everlasting rock. We find ourselves in this life in a chaotic sea of trouble and the waves and breakers of adversity and temptation crash upon us. But in God, we have a place of safety where our souls can be at ease. God is the rock of ages. He's not the rock of back then. He's not the rock of yesterday. And he's not just the rock for today, but for all time. He is the everlasting rock. And he is the firm foundation for all those for all time who would come to him and want fixed and firm peace. When your peace is built upon the sand, you have much reason to worry. But if your peace is built upon the everlasting rock, your peace will surpass all

understanding. Now the question number three is how? How can I have this peace? What can bring this experience into my life? Maybe you're saying, well, Johnny, there are so many things that stress me out, that sap my strength and strip me of joy. Well, the scripture tells you how you can have this peace. Consider the ESV translation here. You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. Isaiah here speaks to a steadfastness of mind. This is our responsibility to fix our minds on God. Now, imagine with me,

you're a baseball player. If you're a baseball player, you do not hit the ball by looking at the bat. You are trained to keep your eye on the what? The ball. I can remember as a kid growing up, my dad would always tell me, Johnny, keep your eye on the ball. And in that same way, the Christian does not pursue peace. They experience peace and are given peace when they keep their eyes and stay their mind upon God.

You do not hit the ball by looking at the bat. You look at the ball. And the object of the Christian's faith is not peace itself. The object of the Christian's faith is God. Two words to consider. It says in the ESV translation, the steadfast of mind or the mind is stayed on God. Steadfast means well stayed. It means steady, established, rooted and grounded. It means well stayed. It means steady, established, rooted and grounded. It means anchored. It's not blown to and fro.

It is a concentrated focus on God. Then it says the steadfast of mind. And in this regard, I want to take a brief field trip, if you will. The Christian life is a battle for the mind. If you do not grasp this, you do not understand the Christian life as the scripture details. If you want to grow in your trust in God, the peace of God, your purity before God, your love for the people of God, then you need to fix your mind upon him. Spiritual concentration is the prerequisite to spiritual growth. You do not grow as a Christian without engaging your mind far from the shallow anti-intellectualism of the Christian faith today. The Bible teaches us that the Christian life is one where our minds are fixed and focused and concentrated not on growing, but on God.

And when our minds are fixed on God, growth occurs. Today, many churches are thoughtless, user-friendly, and shallow. And this casual view of God is the catalyst to a low view of God that steals our peace. Consider briefly, just for a moment, the condition of the unbeliever and watch the theme here. 2 Corinthians 4.4 says the God of this world, that's Satan, has blinded the minds of the unbelieving.

Romans 1. 128 says that unbelievers were given over to a depraved, what? Mind. Colossians 121, you were formerly alienated from God. Watch this. Hostile in mind. Ephesians 417 says that unbelievers in their condition are futile in their thinking and darkened in their minds. Naturally speaking, people do not love God because they do not believe in God. And the reason they do not believe in God is because their minds are darkened and hostile towards the one who gives them life. Now, when Christ comes and saves us, he gives us a new heart. We have a heart of stone, and then he gives us a heart of flesh. That's Ezekiel 36.

And in doing so, God gives us, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2, God gives us the mind of Christ. Now, question for you. When God gives us a new heart, is there anything we need to do to make our heart more clean or more renewed? Well, not in a salvific sense, because he has taken our heart of sin and pollution and washed it white in the blood of his one and only son, Jesus Christ. Now, the next question is, when we are given a new heart, we are also given the new mind.

And is it then our responsibility to renew and reform our minds until we see Christ face to face? Yes, there is progressive change. What I mean there is that your heart is changed once and for all by God positionally, but your mind is renewed over time progressively until you meet him. In Romans 12, 2, it says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Ephesians 4.23 says that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind.

Understand this, as your mind goes, so goes the entirety of your spiritual life. Your will is the servant of your affections and what controls your affections is your mind. The sum and substance of your Christian life is what you think about. Proverbs 23.7 says, for as a man thinks within himself, so he is. You become like what you think about.

Filthy thoughts produce a filthy life. Godly thoughts lead to a godly life. Low thoughts of God, low degrees of peace. High and lofty thoughts of God, high degrees of peace and high and lofty thoughts of God, high degrees of peace and high degrees of trust and high degrees of hatred for sin. Be careful then what you let behind the steering wheel of your mind. The Christian life is a battle and therefore a lack of preparation is but the preparation to fail in regards to receiving and maintaining the peace of God. 1 Peter 1.13 says, prepare your minds for action. You are not ready for anything in your Christian life

until you first prepare your mind. Mark 12 says that you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, what? Mind and strength. Now the question is, how is my mind renewed? How can I actually change? Well, our minds are transformed by faith. Now, if I were to ask you, what is faith? What would you say? You would maybe say belief, but that's

really just a synonym of faith. Faith for the Christian is primarily gazing at God. Christians don't actually consider their faith. They consider the object of their faith, that being Christ. Just like the eyeball can only see what is in front of it and not the eyeball itself. The one who is exercising faith does not see faith, but sees Christ. We live in a world of sound bites and there is no engaging thought process often of reasoning and rationalizing. Our thoughts upon God are severely limited when we only briefly consider him in the morning. But if you want to experience the peace of God, you have to have your mind steadfastly stayed upon him. This requires meditation. Unfortunately, this very term meditation has been hijacked by the religions

of the far East that teach us that meditation is an emptying of your mind after which you receive a, like some sort of a transcendental state. But biblical meditation is not the emptying of our mind. It is a staying of our mind, a filling up of our minds with the truth of God's word. The Puritan Thomas Watson said that meditation is to think, quote, personally, practically, seriously, and earnestly on how the truth of God's word should look in our life, end quote. So often the truths that would bring us peace are not digested into our hearts because we do not chew the cud in our minds. Just as there is no true healing from surgery without rest, there is no true spiritual healing without a commitment to

meditation. Our memories, as the Puritans would say, are slippery and therefore we need the hammer of meditation to drive the nail of God's word into our minds. When the Lord appeared to Joshua, Moses's successor, to encourage him for the task of conquering the promised land, God did not initially discuss military strategy or battle plans or techniques with Joshua, but he first and foremost drove home the fundamental requirement to meditate on the word of God day and night. Often in our world today, truths can be devoured, but they are not properly digested. Our hearts, one Puritan says, are like unstrung musical instruments. So we need this fixation upon God.

Our devotional life is often more akin to wolfing down a burger on a highway rather than the preparation and enjoyment of a good meal. And this takes time, but it enriches our soul. To have our minds steadfastly stayed on God is to anchor and fix our minds upon four things. Number one, it's to anchor our minds in God's word. And consequently, because we fix our minds in the word of God, secondly, we are fixing our minds upon the character of God, that we consider his sovereignty, his holiness, his love, his presence, and that he listens to

our prayer. I love the lyrics of the song, What a Friend We Have in Jesus. It says, Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. And considering God's word and his character, we third consider the reality and the love of God's son. We consider Christ's love demonstrated for us in the past, not just as a momentary or weekly thing, but as a constant exercise. We consider our past sin. It's been washed white in the crimson blood of the lamb. We look to the present and we're held in the hands of a sovereign God. And then we look to the future and we have no fear of condemnation, but only the excitement and anticipation of meeting our heavenly father.

Fourth, in fixing our minds in this regard, we consider God's glory. And in considering God's glory, we allow ourself to understand and trust his plan for our life. All of our trials, all of our afflictions, our infirmities, diseases, and pain are allowed by God for his glory and our good. And our ultimate good is what?

Our transformation and confirmation into the image of his son, Jesus Christ. Jonathan Edwards says that every leaf that falls to the ground, God is working altogether for my good. Do you believe that? Do you believe that everything in your life, God is working out for his glory and for your good? Now finally, I want to consider why then this person whose mind is stayed on God is described as the one who is kept in perfect peace. Well, the end of verse 3 in Isaiah

26 tells us, it says, the steadfast of mind you will keep in perfect peace. Why? It says, because he trusts in you. As long as Peter kept steadfast of mind on the Lord, he was secure. But when he looked at the waves that were threatening him, he began to sink. And when you and your mind are stayed upon Jehovah, you can walk above the storms that wage against you. You can say no to the temptations that besiege you. Trust here doesn't just refer to security in the midst of difficulty, but also the resolved trust in the face of temptation. A trust in God means that we have a settled conviction upon our own hearts that intimacy with God is better than the fleeting pleasure of sin. A trust where we know that God's way is the best way and that sin never satisfies and that he, God alone, does. Trust is a reliance upon God. As the crippled lean upon their crutch or as the

injured soldier leans upon their fellow comrade, so we must lean our entire heart, mind, and soul upon the everlasting and powerful arms of God. Trusting God and trusting self are mutually exclusive. The heart either relies fully upon God or fully upon self. We can either cast our cares on God or we can bear them on our back. The soul either throws all of its sorrows and worries upon the Lord or is weighed down by them. How long shall we trust the Lord? Well, verse 4 tells us. Is it a day, a moment, a week?

No, verse 4 says, trust in the Lord forever. If you desire firmness of peace, then you must fix your mind on the everlasting rock. There is a city of peace. Its walls are well fortified. The gates are secure. There is a watchman on every corner and on every wall. And a river runs through the city and keeps the inhabitants well nourished within it. The scripture asks you a question. Do you desire entrance into that city? Philippians 4 says the God of peace will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Well, entrance into this city of peace is granted to only one type of individual. It is the person whose mind is fixed on Yahweh and faith in God is the father of true peace. When we despair because of our sin, the mind fixed on God can sing. When Satan tempts me to despair

and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look and see him there who made an end of all my sin. When we are in the midst of trials, the mind fixed on God can sing. Whatever my lot thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. Do you have this peace?

You could be the richest man in the world, but if you don't have peace, you are poor. But if you fix your mind on God, peace like a river will gush out into the reservoir of your heart. I love the lyrics of the hymn, Like a River Glorious. It says, like a river glorious is God's perfect peace, overall victorious in its bright increase,

perfect yet still flowing, fuller every day. Perfect, yet still growing, deeper all the way. Trusting in the Father, hearts are fully blessed. Finding, as he promised, perfect peace and rest. Hidden in the hollow of his mighty hand, where no harm can follow, in his strength we stand. We may trust him fully, all for us to do. If you don't have the peace of God, I bid you to come to him in his word and ask him for the peace that only he can provide

as you fix your mind upon him. Stay dialed in.