PEACE IN THE MIDST OF JUDGMENT
PEACE IN THE MIDST OF JUDGMENT
Sunday, March 14, 2021
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Exodus 14: 13-15: Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” The LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.
Pharoah and the Egyptian army were at the back side of the camp of Israel ready to attack. Moses spoke this word to Israel. Israel walked across the Red Sea on dry land and Pharoah’s army was drowned. God’s judgment was on Pharoah and Egypt that God would be honored (14:4). Yet, the Israelites had to walk forward in peace trusting God in order to receive their promise and deliverance.
We have cried out to God for many years to deliver out nation from the bondage of corrupt laws and politicians. God is exposing and overturning the evil in our government. We must trust the Lord will fight for us as we walk onward in Heaven’s peace. Just has God brought honor to Himself in the deliverance of Israel and the judgment of Egypt, He will again bring honor to Himself.
We have become a nation that does not honor God, his Name, His Son or His Holy Spirit. He will honor himself as He delivers the United States.
We are daily watching God’s judgment on the government and government leaders of the United States of America. Joe Biden is in judgment. Every day, he is shamefully being humiliated and defamed being used by the Democratic Party Leaders. We are watching God’s judgment fall on Governor Cuomo. The crisis at the southern border is a judgment on the policies of the Biden administration. More judgment is coming.
God’s message to the Church is: “Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today…The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace…It is settled. Tell the children to go forward.
In the book, My Time in Heaven, by: Richard Sigmund. He describes "the third most beautiful and glorious place in Heaven is a glory cloud of the peace of God. It was the peace of His presence which surpassed all understanding. The first most glorious place he saw was God's Throne; the second, and equal to it was the Lord Jesus. The third was the fountain of all peace."
Next to our Salvation and Redemption through the Blood of Jesus, Peace is our greatest blessing. So, it is in Heaven. Church be one of those who enter into that realm of the “rest” of the Kingdom of Heaven while you are still on the earth.
Phil 4:7: The peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Col. 3:15: Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which you are called in one body, and be thankful.
When Paul wrote those words, he was preaching in the midst of great persecution and tribulation. The evil and violent Roman empire was ruling most of the known world. But, in the midst of evil government, He was able to walk in the realm of Heaven’s peace and release it to us through His epistles.
When evil men rule a nation, they have no understanding of justice or judgment. Therefore, under their rule, there is chaos.
Proverbs 28: 4-5: … Evil men do not understand judgment. They that seek the Lord understand all things.
On Sunday evening, September 14, 2014, I preached a sermon, Peace Through Righteous Judgment.
The Holy Spirit spoke to me, “A Preacher of Righteousness”. 2 Peter 2:5: …God spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.
Hebrews 11:7: Noah, was warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the savings of his house; by which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
Through these turbulent and tumultuous days when God’s judgment is running down as waters, let us hold our peace. Let us stay in that realm of Heavenly peace, enter God’s rest and not be moved.
Amos 5:24: Let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
Our position in the Kingdom of God is marked by righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. The effect of righteousness will bring peace. Once we have the
“peace of God that passes all understanding”, then the joy of the Lord is our inheritance.
Jer. 23:5-6: Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD that I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is His name by which he shall be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
The righteousness of Christ will bring righteous judgment and justice to the earth. Christ must visit the earth to bring judgment. The Word of God must be fulfilled in all generations. In God there is no shadow of turning.
Matthew 12: 18-20: Behold My servant, whom I have chosen; My beloved, in whom My soul is well pleased; I will put My Spirit upon him, and He will show judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive nor cry; neither shall any man hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench, till he send forth judgment to victory.
Thursday at NASA Aglow, I preached a message on the New Wine. I do not have notes (which is unusual). One day soon, I will prepare notes on the New Wine. But through this judgment which is now on the earth, the King of Glory will show forth the “riches of his glorious kingdom and honor himself as He did to Pharoah revealing His excellent majesty.” He is preparing a great feast and will assemble His own to His table where we will feed upon the riches of the Living Word, and drink of the new wine of the kingdom.”
Through this crushing, the Lord’s Kingdom saints are now being prepared to rule and reign with Him. The mysteries of the kingdom so long hidden are being unlocked, and revealed to humble, simple-hearted believing ones.
In Tuesday Bible Study (Jeremiah 8-9), the Lord quickened to us that like Judah, many Christians have an uncircumcised heart. The Lord commanded Jeremiah to call for the praying church to repent with tears. The wise men gloried in their wisdom. The mighty men gloried in their might and the rich man gloried in his riches. The people were worshipping idols.
Jer. 8:17: Behold I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, says the Lord. (Jeremiah) O my Comforter in sorrow, my heart is faint within me. Listen to the cry of my people from a land far away. Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King no longer there? Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with their worthless foreign idols?
The prophet is expressing his pain and grief. Jeremiah is crying for his nation and people. How could this happen? The Lord answers because they provoked me to anger with their images.
God first sent them judgments in the form of serpents. Isaiah 14:29 notes the progressive rebellion of Judah:
“…Out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.”
1. Serpent’s root = Fangs
2. Cockatrice (adder) = Thruster (striker)
3. Fiery flying serpent = Dragon Company
Rebellion is a venom passed by the serpent’s root or seed. If one has been bitten, and does not allow the root of bitterness to be removed, he will become a Cockatrice (striker) towards himself and others, hence defiling many. If one is not delivered from this destructive lifestyle, he will grow into a mature son of disobedience, a fiery flying serpent.
John 5:22: The Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son; that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father which has sent Him. Verily, verily, I say to you, He that hears My word, and believes on Him that sent Me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death to life.
Friday evening, I was nursing a cold and I thought I would find a “clean” movie. The Bourne Identity was on the movie channel. They didn’t profane the name of “God,” as most movies do these days. No! they profaned the name of “Jesus Christ.” “He that does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father.” They are very sneaky. This is idol worship and it brought judgment on Judah.
The sanctification of the Christian is not legalism or license. Holiness is centered in Jesus. We are holy in Him through and by a change of nature from within which then flows out into every area of practical Christian living. We are set apart at conversion by the Blood of Jesus, and then we set ourselves apart daily and progressively by the washing of water by the Word. There will be a complete putting away of sin as these judgments are on the earth. It rains on the just and unjust. However, those of us who are righteous in Christ will pass through the fire.
Those who are righteous in their own eyes are not righteous before God. This false righteousness has its source in the love of self and the deception that one can be made righteous by his own merits. True righteousness must flow from within from a circumcised heart receiving the transferred life of Christ.
We are living in the life of Christ. The measurement of Jesus’ judgment is the Holiness of His righteousness. The presence of Jesus’ righteousness separates that which is evil from that which is righteous. That which is evil will burn as chaff and that which is righteous will remain as pure gold.
Acts 17:31: He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom he has ordained whereof He has given assurance to all men, in that He has raised Him from the dead.
In the presence of the Lord, we consider the beams in our own eyes. This is a circumcised heart. Those who have judged themselves, will always be able to extend grace and mercy to the Body of Christ. They will not and cannot flow in the Spirit of God in condemnation. “There is therefore now, no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
We are always measured by our own measurement.
Those who have faith to move forward in Christ will survive the coming judgments of the ungodly. A holy seed will survive. The righteous judgment of Christ ---in his people is the vessel which will produce righteousness in the earth and thus peace. From this judgment will come forth the New Wine which will simultaneously release revival in the earth.
Hos. 2:9: I will betroth you unto me forever; yes, I will betroth you unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies.”
Psa. 33:5: He loves righteousness and judgment; the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.”
Psa. 36:6: Your righteousness is like the great mountains; your judgments are a great deep; O lord you preserve man and beast.
Mic 7:9: I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me; he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.
Jesus’ visitation of Righteousness, will bring forth the judgment that will bring the His followers into the Peace of the Lord as we go forward. This is harmony, rest, quietness, reconciled, contentment.” It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit and an aspect of God’s nature. It means the end of struggle, doubt, fear and uncertainty.
1 Co. 1:3: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
P.T. 1 Co. 1:4-6: I am always thanking my God for you because he has given you such free and open access to his grace through your union with Jesus, the Messiah. In him you have been made extravagantly rich in every way. You have been endowed with a wealth of inspired utterance and the riches which come from your intimate knowledge of him.
Psalm 119:66: Teach me good judgment and knowledge; for I have believed Your commandments.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture from K.J.V.