John Hagee - Jerusalem: Path To Prosperity
Why pray for peace in Jerusalem? This is a command. It's not a request. I want you to get that in your mind. "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem" does not say, "Will you please consider doing it"? It says, "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem". Say that with me. "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem". Secondly, Jerusalem has been fought over 16 times in history. Jerusalem has been destroyed twice. It has been besieged 23 times. It has been attacked 52 times. It has been captured and recaptured 44 times. Why pray for Jerusalem to have peace? Because to pray for the peace of Jerusalem is to pray for the coming of Messiah, because peace is not going to come to Jerusalem until Messiah (Jesus Christ) gets there, who is the Prince of Peace. Just as Jerusalem must have Jesus Christ to have peace, so must you have Jesus to be in your life to have peace. "There is no peace," saith God, "To the wicked". There is no peace until the Prince of Peace becomes the Lord of your life and Jesus is his name! Give him praise in the house!
Jerusalem is the city of peace. "Salem," Hebrew for "Peace". Everyone wants peace but what is it? The search for peace has become an international obsession. We live in the age of anxieties. America lives behind locked doors in fear with burglar alarms. We have burglar bars over the windows. We have guns that are cocked and loaded. We have attack dogs that are straining at the leash. We have gangs who rule the streets and reign in terror. You don't dare wear your jewelry downtown that's good because thieves will follow you home. This is happening in America. We write books about peace of mind and they sell like hot cakes. Why? Because we're looking for, in a book, what we do not have in our lives. Without peace, a palace of gold is a penitentiary. Without peace, our nation that was once the leader of the free world has become the laughingstock around the world, and that's a fact.
What is peace? The absence of strife is not peace. The absence of strife is not peace. At the moment Jesus was speaking of peace in Matthew 5, there was no war on the earth but certainly there was no peace. Why? Because the Roman Empire had forced the world into submission. The world was living on its knees to the Roman power. The people had lost the means and the will to fight. Rome kept peace through fear. The Jews were not at war with Rome because they had to swallow their hatred and submit their sullen rage, to their misfortune. The point is, the absence of strife does not mean that you are at peace. Your marriage has not been healed just because you're not at war. You're just resting to reload. Yesterday's arguments still sizzle with resentment. You're thinking, if he says this, I'm going to say this. And if she says this, I'm going to say that. And you've got your verbal attack all ready to launch! Your family has not been reconciled. It's just resting until round ten can get started again.
Peace is not detachment from risk. Peace is not detachment from responsibility. Peace is not total security. Peace is not the absence of tension, the blue haven of the untroubled life. In this world, there's no such thing as total security or the absence of tension. Christianity is a call to life, not death. Christianity is not escaping responsibility. It's bearing your responsibility. It's involvement. It's not retreat from reality. Christianity is transforming adversity into opportunity and snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. Christianity is giving and forgiving. Christianity is fighting the good fight in season and out of season.
"Resist the devil and he will flee from you". "Put on the whole armor of God". Get on the battlefield. Going to war with God is really exciting! Try it. You'll like it. Christianity is knowing that nothing is impossible to those that believe. Christianity is to: "Count it all joy in the trials of life". Christianity is saying, "The victory is ours through Christ the Lord". Let's engage the forces of evil. Let's look them in the eye. Let's not retreat and apologize for who we are! We have a Bible standard! Read it and defend it, in Jesus name!
Saint Paul writes about the peace that surpasses understanding. Why? Because you can be happier in the combat zone with Jesus Christ than in your comfort zone, and everybody has one of those comfort zones. You can be happier in the lion's den with Daniel than walking with a king in the king's palace, giving birth to peptic ulcers, worrying about how Daniel is. You can be happier in the fiery furnace with the three Hebrew children than outside, bowing down with those moral cowards to that image. Quit looking for Maalox and dialing 911 in your Christian experience. There's more peace in the battle than there is sitting on the sideline. Peace is won by accompanying God into the battle.
There is peace in the time of trouble. There is peace in the battle to save your business, to save your marriage, to save your family, to save your health, to save America. There is peace in the hour of death. The Bible says, "I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me shall never die". That means your last breath here is your first breath there. That means you are forever promoted. It is a great promotion. It's a time of celebration in heaven. There is peace in the time of the storm. Jesus Christ is the master of wind and waves. He has said, "Peace be still," and it will be still. God will use the thing that terrifies you, the winds and the waves, as a sidewalk to reach you, to save you! Give the Lord praise in the house!
There is peace in the darkest valley. David writes, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me". "The shadow of death"? A shadow is a harmless thing. The shadow of a lion cannot bite you. The shadow of a snake cannot bite you. The shadow of a sword cannot cut you. A shadow is a harmless thing. Death has become a shadow on the day Jesus Christ rose from the grave. "Because I live, you shall live also". And if that was the only message of Christianity, it would make our message the greatest message on the face of the earth. You're never going to die! You're going to live forever in the presence of God! Peace is a gift of God.
Let me shock you and tell you, it was never God's plan for there to be universal peace to a God-hating society. Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace. I've come to bring a sword". That's in the Bible. A sword divides. It divides. Jesus separates wheat from tares. Jesus separates sheep from goats. Jesus separates light from darkness. Jesus says, "There's a broad way and there's a narrow way. The narrow way leads to heaven and the broad way leads to the gates of hell". There is the word of truth and then there's Satan's deception that pretends to be the truth. You are either a servant of Jesus Christ or you're a slave to sin and Satan. Which are you? Which are you?
Paul said in Romans 5:1, "We have peace with God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ". Peace is the gift of God. Say that with me. Peace is the gift of God. Without total surrender to Jesus Christ, you will never have peace! The angels sang on that first Christmas morning, and here we come back to Luke 2. "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men". It translates in the Greek, peace on earth to those of whom God approves. Peace is impossible without God's approval. And you don't have God's approval until you're living by this book. Isaiah 57:20, "The wicked are like the troubled sea, which cannot rest, whose waters stir up mire and dirt". "There is no peace to the wicked, saith God". That's God's statement, not mine.
The idea of a universal peace for a Christ-rejecting, God-hating, pleasure-loving world, enslaved by greed, materialism and socialism, is an absolute pipe dream. That's just not true. Peace is the gift of God and he gives it only to those who bow their knee to Jesus Christ and serve him as a servant, not as a religious dictator. Jesus is the Prince of Peace! Can I get a witness? Peace is the opposite of hatred. It is absolutely true that the most expensive thing in the world is hatred. The byproducts of hatred is war, divorce, racial prejudice, riots in the streets of America, anti-semitism that are surging through this country, slander, the assassination of another person's character: suicide, which is self-hatred. How can these things be eradicated? Not by bombs and fighter jets, not by socialist political panaceas pouring out of Washington, D.C., not by giving Iran a nuclear weapon, not by more laws, not by more counselors, but by every man being a peacemaker: every person who reads this book being a peacemaker.
You don't need to be the pope or a preacher to be a peacemaker. If you know Jesus Christ, you are a peacemaker. Jesus said in Matthew 5:9, "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God". Just say, "Sons/daughters of God". Where is peace found? Nowhere in the Bible is it sought as an end or goal of existence. Peace is a consequence of something in the scripture. The Bible says, "The Fruit of the Spirit is peace". Say that with me. "The Fruit of the Spirit is peace". Peace is the fruit of reconciliation with God. Saint Paul is saying, "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God". Say that with me. "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God".
There can be no peace of mind until there's peace with God. In every man's heart, there lurks a sense of wrongness and a craving for rightness. Uneasiness in the heart is something called guilt. It's put there by God, trying to get you to turn around. It's useless to sweep your guilt under the rug or to take it to the seashore or to take it to some Shangri-La of forgetfulness where everything is so exotic, you can't think about who you really are. But when you get there and unpack your luggage, look in the mirror. Guilt will look you in the face. Your past will still be with you. Your words of hatred and bitterness and division will follow you to the ends of the earth because guilt is in you. You can't take a vacation far enough to get away from it.
Our generation has dismissed the whole idea of guilt. Forgiveness, conscience, and moral responsibility is not something we want to talk about. We have sought to rearrange attitudes and to manipulate truth and to wink at evil. I hate to say it, but the American church has learned how to wink at evil. Anti-semitism, again, is flourishing in this country. Anti-semitism is Jew hatred. Anti-semitism abounds in our colleges and universities. This cancer lurks in the halls of congress with the squad of four. To see evil and not call it evil. Hello, America. Hello, congress. Stop winking at this evil and vote it out!
The Disney corporation shocked America. Walt Disney built Disneyland, whose creative genius attracted American families for all of these decades to Disneyland for wholesome entertainment. That Disneyland is dead. Disneyland has announced it will no longer welcome people saying, "Good morning, boys and girls," "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen," lest they offend someone who does not wish to be a boy or a girl. You see, our society has become so sick. If you're a man and you're not doing well as a swimmer, pronounce yourself a woman and start swimming with the girls. They're also going to have at least 50% of their shows at Disney with the leading characters that are transgender actors. You can count on Disney films coming into your house by television to show your children the same.
Disney is no longer a family experience. It's a journey into transgender indoctrination. The moral foundations of America are rotting at the core. Walt Disney, himself, would be turning over in his grave. To see evil and not call it evil is evil. "There is no peace," saith God, "to the wicked". We, as a nation, must learn to stand up and say, "This is wrong! Stop it"! Amen. But the new gospel in America is adjustment. Adjust to your sin. Don't confess them. Don't rise above them. Too many are trying to get adjusted in their sin rather than getting converted from their sin. They're having their sins explained rather than forgiven.
The Bible says, "If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness". "Whosoever confesses and forsakes his sin shall have mercy with the Lord". I want to shock you. Quit praying for peace and start praying for righteousness. You cannot have peace when you are at war with God. You cannot have peace when you're at war with the Prince of Peace. If your inner self is crying out for peace, it's only possible if you reconcile with Jesus Christ, who is the Prince of Peace. "He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life". He is the hope. Try him! Try him! Peace is the fruit of responsibility, the result of facing, not fleeing the risk of life. It's the fruit of responsibility.
Churchill, the man who saved western civilization, said, "Responsibility is the key to greatness". Say that with me. "Responsibility is the key to greatness". Jesus said, "My peace I give unto you not as the world gives". When did Jesus speak these words? It was not in an ivory tower of detachment or some Shangri-La. It was in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before he was going to be crucified by the Romans. Jesus did his duty. He went to the cross. He suffered. He bled and he died for my salvation and for yours. Hallelujah for the cross!
But it happened because the Son of God did his duty. We are in a spiritual dog fight for the soul of this nation. Stop complaining about your situation and fight the good fight of faith. Stand up and speak up for your Bible convictions. Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered! Moses did his duty. He faced Pharaoh. He led Israel for 40 years. He lived to be 120 and walked to his own funeral. I like that. Joshua did his duty. He marched around Jericho seven times, shouted, and the walls fell down flat. David did his duty. He loaded the slingshot and let the rock fly, and the hand of God guided it. He fought the giant and killed him. He conquered the City of Jerusalem. And it remains the capital of the Jewish people to this day by the covenant God gave them.
Saint Paul did his duty. He fought the good fight. He walked to the chopping block in Rome in confidence and in triumph, saying, "I have fought a good fight". "I have finished my course". He was beaten by a bloody whip, by the Roman whips, three times. He was stoned and left for dead in the streets of Jerusalem. He was shipwrecked when he was fighting for his survival. He was put in prison for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was dishonored by evil reports. Call it fake news. But they tried to totally discredit him as having nothing, and yet, promising all things.
Paul writes, listen, after all of these things, there is no whining. There is no, "Oh, woe is me". He said, "These light afflictions are not worthy to be mentioned compared to the glory of the crown of life that awaits me". But not to me only, to all of those at Cornerstone Church who seek his glorious appearing! Hallelujah! Church of Jesus Christ in America, stand up and do your duty. Defend the Word of God. Defend Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Rebuke the Godless conduct of our national leaders. Speak out when morality is thrown out of your schools. You have children and those children and grandchildren are worth fighting for!
Stand up! Peacemaking is proactive. It's the decision to do something, not just dream about something. Peace is made. We must do more than dream of peace, or sing about peace in our churches, or hope for peace in our marriages, or read books about peace for our homes. We must make peace based on the righteous principles of the Word of God. It is impossible for all to make fortunes, but everyone can be a peacemaker. Peace on earth is simple. Seek righteousness and then peace will come.
Our frustration comes when we reverse the order. We want peace without righteousness. We want the gifts of God without the authority of God to rule your life. We want the fruit without planting the trees. In this age of chaos in America, we need to heed the voice of Jesus when he says, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness", say that with me. "And his righteousness". "And all of these things shall be added unto you". How does it come? Through righteousness! That's the message, ladies and gentlemen! You want peace? You want real peace, lasting peace, in your marriage, in your family, in your heart, in America? Then be a peacemaker. Be a peacemaker. Stand up for peace and righteousness.
Will you please stand? How many of you here will say, "Pastor, I do not have the peace of God in my life? I don't have the peace of God in my family, I don't have the peace of God in my marriage, I don't have the peace of God in my mind. And today, I want the peace of God because it is a great treasure". If that describes you, would you slip up your hand right where you are? Hundreds of you, hundreds of you. Hold your hand up and we're all going to pray with you and right now. Thank you. Let's pray, congregation:
Heavenly Father, in the authority of Jesus' name, I confess my sin and ask that you cleanse me from all sin. The blood of Jesus Christ, in the courts of heaven, finds me forgiven and respectful of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Amen.