Ron Dunn Podcast - Christ - The Peace of Life

Episode Date: May 28, 2025

Yo cannot having the peace of God without having peace with God. Peace with God has to do with your position in Christ.

Now open your Bibles to the book of Philippians, chapter 4. Philippians, chapter 4. And we're going to read tonight verses 4 through 7. Philippians, chapter 4, verses 4 through 7. A good title for the book of Philippians is the Christ Life, the Christ Life, or the Christ-filled Life. the Christ life, the Christ life, or the Christ-filled life. And if you want to know how the Christ-filled life works out in an individual's daily experience, I think you'll find no better example than that of the Apostle Paul.

And the book of Philippians is, as I have mentioned before, a very personal thing, a very personal book, and it is a tremendous platform from which Paul expounds what it means to have Christ filling the life. When the human life is totally absorbed by the divine life, when the earthly life is completely captivated by the heavenly life, when the man, the creature, abandons himself to God the Creator. The results we have been finding in the book of Philippians. When Christ fills the life and is allowed to be Lord, we discover that he is the person of our life, he is to be the pattern of our life.

Last Wednesday night he was the pursuit of our life, and tonight he is the peace of our life. Philippians 4, verses 4 through 7, Rejoice in the Lord always. That's a command, that's not a suggestion. That's like coming up to somebody and saying, I command you to have a good time. Have you ever taken your children somewhere and they didn't want to go and you said, listen, you're going to have a good time whether you like it or not. Oh boy, isn't that futile?

I order you to be happy. Well, that's what Paul's saying. He's saying, rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say rejoice. He said, well, how can a fellow just command somebody to be happy and to be rejoicing? Well, he can. Because rejoicing in the Lord has nothing to do with feeling. He doesn't say rejoice in circumstances. That might have something to do with feeling. He doesn't say rejoice in your economic situation, that might have something to do with feelings. He doesn't say rejoice in good health. He says rejoice in the Lord. You don't have to feel good to do that. Always rejoicing in the Lord.

And again I say rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men, the Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God, and the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Christ the peace of our life. Verse 7, and the peace of God, which transcends all human understanding, shall keep your heart and mind through Christ Jesus. The first thing we need to do is to distinguish between peace with God and the peace of God.

They are two different things. You can have peace with God and not have the peace of God. But you cannot have the peace of God without having peace with God. Peace with God has nothing to do with your daily experience. The peace of God does. Peace with God has to do with your position in Christ. Peace with God, the peace of God, has to do with your practical side of your daily life. We've said before that every great truth of the Christian life has two facets to it, the positional and the practical. The positional. Or I wonder if your life, even though you are a Christian, I wonder if your life is

just not topsy-turvy. The least little thing moves you into panic palace. The least little thing just throws you into pieces. And the gears become all tangled up of your life. And you just blow up your hands. All of us tonight, if we're saved, have peace with God, but not all of us have the peace of God. That's what I want. You know, I've noticed something about the Lord. He's not stingy. He wants to give me everything he has. Have you ever noticed that? Have you noticed how the Lord wants to share everything?

That's what the word fellowship means, really. It means a partnership. And when the Bible says I have fellowship with God and with his Son, the Lord Jesus, that means that I'm partners. Everything he has is mine. Now, there are some people that I wouldn't care too much about being partners with.

And you'll never see Mr. Sheppey and I go into partnership on any business deal. I mean, that'd be like the blind leading the blind. But now, one of the Rockefellers asked me to become a partner with him, and so that'd be another deal altogether. I'm certain that I would not add any kind of stability to any business enterprise if I would come to you and say, listen, I'll become your partner. But when the God of heaven, who owns all things, says, listen, I want to take you in as my partner,

you don't have to put down anything, you just give me yourself, and here's what I'm gonna do for you. I'm gonna, you're gonna be a joint heir of everything I have. You're going to share equally in everything I have." I said, that's a bargain. Now can you understand why we say that those people who are outside of Jesus Christ are spiritually insane? But have you ever noticed how the Lord wants to share with us everything he has? There's a song, It's Just Like My Lord. It's Just Like My Lord.

And It's Just Like My Lord, he wants to share everything he has. Now he has peace, and he wants to give it to me, and he wants to share it with you. I'm a partner, and Jesus said, I'm going to give to you my peace. Now let's look at this peace. And the peace of God which passes all understanding. Now there are two ideas behind this. First of all, when he says it passes all understanding, it means that it transcends all human thought. In other words, it has the idea that this peace that God is going to give you is, man, you never even thought of this kind of peace before. You might have tried to write out what you thought real peace was, but this kind of peace just goes beyond anything you've ever imagined. The other idea is that your mind cannot comprehend it in the sense that there is nothing that

happens in your mind that can kill this peace or destroy this peace. This kind of peace just goes beyond all human cleverness and all human understanding. You cannot obtain this peace by the power of positive thinking. You cannot obtain this peace by human understanding. You cannot experience this peace by human intelligence. It passes beyond all human understanding. It's unlike anything you ever heard of or imagined before, and you cannot obtain it, and you cannot experience it by trying, and by thinking, and by positive thinking. And with human intelligence, it's completely out of that realm.

It's another galaxy altogether. It's another galaxy altogether. It's another dimension altogether. It passes all understanding. And notice, it shall keep your heart and mind. That word keep is a tremendous word. It's a military word that means to build a fort around or to stand guard over, like a policeman or a Roman soldier who stands guard over something, or like a fort out in the wilderness. And the people inside are protected and they are safe because there is a garrison that is constantly around them.

And here is what the apostle says, he says, Listen, if certain things are true in your life, if you will fulfill two or three conditions, the peace that God himself has will come and it will build a fort around your hearts, and men's hearts in the latter days shall fail them for fear, and it will build a fort around your minds, and it will keep and it will stand constant guard and constant watch over your hearts and minds so nothing can get in and disturb it. That's what he's talking about. This peace of God, God's own peace, stands like a policeman, a constant guard over my heart and over my mind, and will not allow anything to disturb it and to upset it. This happens through Christ Jesus.

You see, you can't know this except in union with Christ Jesus. All things of God come to us in union with Christ Jesus. When I by faith unite myself with the Lord Jesus Christ, then I am eligible to share everything that God has, but only through Christ Jesus. The folly of so many people in the world today is they are trying to get this apart from Christ Jesus. You cannot do it. It is through Christ Jesus.

There is a little formula praise equals his peace. Do you get that? Presence plus prayer plus praise equals peace. Let's read these verses again. Verse 5, Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. The Lord is near. I think it's Phillips that translates it. The Lord is standing by.

You know, it makes a lot of difference who is near you. It makes a lot of difference who's around you. I'll never forget when I was in the fourth grade, I had a tooth problem. I had to go to the dentist. I had never had a tooth pulled see the dentist, Dr. White. He might as well have been Dr. Black to me. Dr. White, and they didn't do it easy like they do today, you know, just give you a shot and that's it, but they had this big old tank, you know, it looked foreboding, and then this, you know then this mask. They couldn't put me under.

I don't know why, but they kept trying to get me under. I just fought it and I just fought it. Of course, I've always been a scaredy cat. I just fought it and fought it. My dad was out there in the waiting room. I said, Listen, I'll go through with this if you'll let my daddy come in here. Now, what's my daddy going to do? He doesn't know anything about dentistry and tooth and anything, but I scared to death because I had never had this before. I wanted my daddy. I said, boy, I was just kicking up a fuss, and the poor old Dr. Watt, I guess he's ready

to try anything. He said, all right, bring Mr. Dunn in here. And I'll never forget, my dad came in there and he held my hand. And you know, everything that Dennis said was true. No problem. It was just as easy as pie. I didn't feel a thing. It was like getting a haircut.

Less painful. But you know what made all the difference? You know what calmed me down? All that doctor telling me and the nurse was there and she was trying to tell me everything is gonna be all right and there's no pain, nothing's gonna hurt, everything's all right. None of that could calm me down. When my dad came in, you know,

well, I knew my dad wouldn't let him do anything to me. I knew my dad cared about me. He grabbed my hand and everything was all right then. I read several years ago about some underground Christians over in Russia who were meeting. There were thirty of them meeting in a little worship group in a home. Of course, their religion and their meeting together at that time during this was under Stalin's reign had been outlawed, and it meant prison sentence and maybe more severe things if anybody was found together worshiping Jesus Christ.

One night while this group of Christians were meeting together, the secret police burst in on them. They lined all of these up, They were rural folks, most of them were farmers and their families, and they lined all thirty up in this room. They began taking their names and saying, We're going to get the names of every one of you. Every one of you is going on report and so forth, so forth. So he went down and he took every single name and when he got all the names he began to count them.

He reported to his officer There are 30 here and one of the farmers who was the leader of the group said no, there's 31 and So he looked and he counted them again. He said no, they're just 30. He said you missed one. There's 31 of us here and The soldier said listen I've counted twice. There's only thirty here. Who am I missing? And he said, Jesus Christ is here. Paul, in this Roman cell facing death, writes to these Philippian Christians and says, Rejoice always!

The Lord is standing by. The Lord is near. The Lord is standing by. The Lord is near. The Lord is near. I talked to a person some time ago and they were going through a time of intense trial and they were apprehensive about the future. They didn't know what the future was going to be like, but they were scared. I said, Listen, let me ask you a question. If Jesus Christ were right here with you in the flesh physically, bodily, he was right

here with you all the time, would you be afraid of the future? Would you be afraid to face what's coming tomorrow?" And the reply came, no! It would be ridiculous for me to be afraid of the future if Jesus were here with me physically in the flesh. I said, listen, he is here. He is with you. He indwells you by his Spirit. He says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. And the first step in experiencing the peace of God is to remember his presence. The second thing is to remember to pray. Look at verse 6.

Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. Worry about nothing, pray about everything. That's what the word careful means. Be careful doesn't mean to be haphazard and be reckless, but it means don't be full of care. That's exactly what it means. Don't be full of care. Don't be anxious. Williams translates it this way, stop being worried about anything. Boy, that's a command, don't worry about anything.

You say that's an impossible command. You're right, it is. But all things are possible through him, and Jesus never asks you to do anything that you can't do. Don't worry about anything. You see, there are only two things you can do. You either worry or you pray. Worry and prayer are like fire and water. They can't be in the same place at once. They're like oil and water, they don't mix. They're mutually exclusive. You cannot have both of them occupying the same spot at the same time.

Worry and fear. Did you know that worry is a sin? Sin everyone commits, did you know that? Worry is a sin because worry is the practical result of unbelief. Don't worry about anything. Small or big, significant, insignificant. Stop worrying about everything. Well, how in the world can I do that? Instead of this, notice that little conjunction,

but be careful for nothing, but instead of worrying about things in everything, not just a few things, not just religious things, not just sacred things about things in everything, not just a few things, not just religious things, not just sacred things, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." Instead of worrying about it, he says, you pray about it. You take it to the Lord, tell him what the problem is, claim his promise. In everything, if anything is big enough to worry about, it's big enough

to pray about. And everything in the life of man is a concern in the heart of God. Oh, I found this true. Listen, I want you to know I'm not just preaching to you. This is truth. Boy, I wish we'd get to the place where we really believe the Bible is true. We take it literally, but we don't take it seriously. I want you to know this is true. It's so easy to worry, so easy to get uptight about things. When you take the time in faith now is to go to the Lord and just give up and say,

Lord, here I am. I don't know what to do with this thing, but I want you to know that I'm trusting you. I know you've got the solution to this. I know that you're equal to this problem, and Lord, you promised to meet our needs, and you promised to do this and be this, and so Lord, here I am. And you just pour it out to God. Pray about everything. Do you do that?

Honestly, now. Do you honestly pray about everything that becomes a concern in your life? Everything that becomes a concern in your life, do you really pray about that? Or do you just wish? Fred, keep it in your mind. Step number two is to pray about everything. And he says, let your requests be made known unto God. You say, I thought God already knew about them. I thought God knows all things. That's right. But I'll tell you what, if you don't care enough to tell him about it, then you're not really serious.

You know it? I mean, this is the way God looks at it. He says, well, now, if that child really is in dead earnest, if he really wants this, he'll take the time. That's an expression of faith, an expression of love. If your problem doesn't merit and isn't worth the time to pray about it, then it's not much of a problem. You're not really anxious about it. I think that's why God sometimes shuts us up to faith and backs us up into a corner and puts us

in our spiritual Dunkirk so that the only thing we can do is to fall on our faces and cry out to God, and that way he can teach us that it really works. But in everything, by prayer and supplication. Prayer is the broader term meaning communion with God. Supplication is the more narrow term which means entreaty. It means to beg, to entreat God. Request has the idea of being specific.

Let your specific wants and needs be made known to God. He's talking about being specific here, going to God with a specific need, the specific burden, the specific concern that's on our hearts. You cannot be vague in general and get anywhere in praying. This is the problem with some of us in our prayer life. We're too vague in general. The third thing, remember to praise him. Be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. With thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. Don't forget that element.

And I believe that that is the most important, because I doubt seriously if we ever really are truly praying until we are truly praising. It's similar to 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 18 that we talked about a few weeks ago. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you. I talked to a man not long ago. He's not a man not long ago. He's not a member of this church. His daughter has run away from home just having tremendous problems.

He came and wanted me to pray with him about it. I called him by name and said, Have you praised the Lord for this situation? He looked at me, waiting for me to make clear what I was talking about. I said, Have you given thanks to God in this situation? I quoted 1 Thessalonians 5.18 and said, Listen, it's not going to do any good for a man to pray unless he can praise, because you see praise is the highest expression of faith and confidence. And if you ask God to take care of a problem, if you really believe he can do it and will

do it, then you ought to be able to praise him for the problem, for whatever it's going to be. Praise him for the fact that he's in control. You see, it's a matter of our accepting this situation, knowing that my life is in the hands of God, knowing that I am here by divine appointment. God brought me to this place. God brought me to this situation. I'm not here by chance. I'm not at the mercy of some blind fate, whatever gods may be. I know, I know that there is a Father in heaven. I know that I am His child. I know He loves me. I know He cares for me. I know that He's promised to take everything of my life and work it out ultimately for my good. And so, Lord, I thank You even though

my life is falling around about me, even though this situation seems to be completely disastrous and no way out. Lord, I want to praise you because I know you're Lord and in control. And I give you thanks even in the midst of this. I'm not going to be bitter. I'm not going to be critical. I'm not going to be gripy and grumbly about this. I'm not going to turn inward and become outwardly bitter about this situation. I'm going to praise you Lord even in the midst of this situation. I doubt seriously, I believe it with all my heart that nobody will ever find victory in a bad situation until they come to that place. Because this is why God allows these things oftentimes to come to us is to show us and to teach us just to

rest in Him. Even the storm may be raging to rest in Him. I like the way Phillips translates this. He says, In the peace of God that passes all understanding shall keep a constant guard over your hearts and minds while they are resting in Christ Jesus. I like that. Your mind and your heart resting in Christ Jesus.

Now, here's the promise. Do you believe this? This is just as good a promise as John 3.16. Anybody here can quote Romans 10.13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord and shall be saved. We have no doubt about that promise. Yet the same man that penned that promise penned this promise.

He said, remember the Lord is at hand. Be careful, don't worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God and here's the promise and the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep a constant guard over your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Do you believe that? That's a precious promise on the Word. And the Christ-filled life is a life of peace, and Christ is our peace.