My Peace — Leonard Ravenhill

Peace in Christ Rather Than the World

We're going to look in the gospel recorded by John the 17th, pardon me, the 14th chapter. John the 14th chapter. I'm thinking particularly of verse 27. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth give I unto you.

Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Perhaps you'll remember without looking that the first verse of this chapter is let not your heart be troubled. I suppose there's more trouble in the world tonight than ever there's been in history.

I saw a book a while ago and the title was very simple and very understandable. It was famous last words and you know sometimes these are written in a kind of a jovial fashion and sometimes they're quite serious, sometimes they're quoted from nobodies like film stars or important people like preachers and there's a big gap.

But you know these words are really the famous last words of Jesus and we say that Jesus was not only a king but he was the king of kings. I saw a statement the other day about the new baby that was born in England of course where most clever folk are born and it called it a billion dollar baby, a billion dollar baby.

I didn't know they were so expensive but there you have it, a billion dollar baby and this little thing doesn't know anything about it, it will have enough troubles when it does but it becomes heir to the throne.

When I was a boy it was an empire but the empire is just about gone and there's no doubt that the, I think the Queen of England is the second wealthiest woman in the world. The Queen of the Netherlands, the old queen was the richest and I think Queen Elizabeth is the second richest and my wife is not the third but anyhow, normally you think of a king leaving as the Queen of England would leave alright, she'd leave Buckingham Palace and she has a marvellous castle in Scotland called Balmoral and she'd leave that and there's another wonderful place called Sandringham and they have another one not too far out of London which is very popular and normally a king leaves a lot of material things and yet Jesus, the King of Kings, left nothing at all material.

The daughter of William Booth, the Marashal, she came to a church I pastored, she was a marvellous old woman, as ugly as sin but she was very nice and she was very masculine, very tall, nose like a banana like the rest of the Booth family had you know and quite an authoritative preacher and all her life she'd live by faith and somebody said to her one day, I don't know how you dare go on like this, you live by faith, you live on what people hand out to you and she said yes that's quite right I do.

Are you happy about it? Yeah. Why? Well she said because my master did that. He had to borrow everything, he had to borrow a body to come into the world, he had to borrow a boat to go over the Sea of Galilee, he had to borrow an upper room to celebrate the Last Supper with his disciples, he even had to borrow a penny once for an illustration and he wanted to borrow a cup from a woman at a well and she listed all the things that Jesus borrowed and said I'm not a bit embarrassed but I'm sure there's no other king in history who has been so poor as Jesus and yet nobody's so rich.

Again the Word of God says he was rich but for our sakes he became poor that we through his poverty might be made rich. One of the old English hymns says he was poor to give me treasure, he was slave to make me king, he was hated without measure, heaven's love to me to bring.

Consecration and Sanctification

Now these disciples left all and followed Jesus. You find people say sometimes you know you get saved and then after all the preacher begs and scrapes and begs you to leave all and follow him and well that was not true with the disciples.

They came very often in explaining sanctification, people say well it's a place where you leave everything and you become separated to God, well they were separated to God from the first day they yielded everything they had, they gave up their business careers, they gave up their futures, they left their homes, what else could they leave?

And yet it's to those men that Jesus prayed in John 17 and 17 sanctify them through thy truth thy word is truth. It's more than a separation as in the Old Testament, you could separate vessels but that didn't make them any useful just because they were separated they need to be filled, they need to be put into service.

The Holy Spirit as Strength and Comfort

Now Jesus is leaving these disciples, they don't like it, he's promised them another comforter will come and they don't like that and he says when he the comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things.

Now that word comforter comes from two latin words comfortis comfortis with strength it means so when the Holy Ghost comes he comes with strength or change it to Acts 1 .8 you shall receive power or you shall receive strength the Holy Ghost coming upon you.

Christ's Peace in a World of War

Now there's one promise this is part of the legacy that Jesus is giving to his disciples and the other is here that he says peace I leave with you and my peace I give unto you. Now if you if you just took a kind of glance over history you might say that history is peace interrupted with war whereas actually history is war interrupted by peace.

Right now how many millions of men are there under arms we're told on the border of China for instance there are a million Chinese and nobody knows how many Russians are on the other side of the border.

We have more money invested in war machines in death than ever in any period in history. I sometimes wonder why we dare call this civilization I don't see much very civil about it when I see the six o 'clock news and I see houses going up and babies lying in the street and women weeping and folk don't know where to go or to sleep or when we have more culture and universities and learning and books than ever and yet we're still savages we're still barbarians.

Now Jesus says peace I leave with you but then he qualifies it he says my peace I give unto you and then he says not as the world give us give I unto you. Now you could go back to the second chapter in Luke and say well of course you can say it about Jesus wherever you take him in history there is no divorcing Jesus from peace and there is no real peace without Jesus.

You see 700 years before he came in the what ninth chapter there of Isaiah it says thou shall call him what wonderful counselor mighty God everlasting father prince of peace and when the angels came through the sky in the second chapter of Luke there it says that they we usually say they sing.

Charles Wesley Englishmen don't often make mistakes but Charles Wesley made one and he said how the herald angels sing. No there's no angels singing in the bible that I know of. It says the angels said glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of goodwill.

You know isn't it really wonderful that those shepherds I guess they went out every night never expected anything unusual and suddenly there's a heavenly host the sky lit up and here's a glorious company of angels.

I don't know whether they could see them or not but they were all chanting it must have been very wonderful to hear them. I don't think there's anything more wonderful than hearing a crowd of men sing women do you know not so bad but uh you get an all-male choir boy there's something about it really stirs me.

And as you know there are no female angels anyhow in the bible so uh all the angels in the bible are males. You notice that they've all got men's names. It's rather discouraging ladies but anyhow uh remember there's no sex in soul no color in soul there's neither jew nor greek.

The good book says born nor free male nor female. And then as I thought about that today this heavenly host suddenly coming you know it's changing history. The other night some of you stayed up I believe to watch the eclipse.

I was tempted to stay up because you know the prediction was the prediction was it would turn into blood. I don't know if it did did it go blood. Right. Yeah rather rather wonderful thing. I think it's happened once before in history.

But remember the prophecies the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and notable day of the lord. But you look at the stars. When I was a boy I thought heaven was all flat like this.

You know. And these are little baby stars these little things that don't shrink very much. And these other big ones were planets and so forth. And then I discovered of course if you look from the back and I put my hands like this you can't tell the gap between.

And so some stars are millions or trillions or quadrillions of light years away. Stars are divided by space. Continents are divided by water. Religions are divided by prejudice. People are divided by um well race and black and white and yellows and browns and all the rest of it.

But the amazing thing is that that that history is divided by a babe. There's an old song that says they were looking for a king to bring salvation. Nigh he came. A little infant thing that made a woman cry.

But isn't it wonderful that while those shepherds were watching their sheep and looking out for wolves or something that this heavenly horse suddenly came to them. Why didn't the angels go knock on the door of the chief priest and say listen.

I want to tell you something. Hurry up get out of bed. Because history is going to be changed. You can go to the chief priest. Uh why didn't michael come instead of the other angels and knock at the door of one of the leading men in the in the sanhedrin or better best of all go to caesar's palace.

God's Use of the Weak and Ordinary

They see the consistency in the word of god. There's not much consistency maybe with god's people always. But with the word of god there is. And he takes the things that are not to bring to naught the things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence.

You want to be strong be weak. Because the stronger you are the more self-sufficient you become. But the weaker you are the more you're cast on god. I've heard people say oh if that man ever became a christian boy i mean with all his ability.

Do you know he graduated. Do you know this. Do you know that i'm not interested. It doesn't necessarily mean it'd be a uh if i dare prostitute the word in oh i can prostitute it but misuse it a superstar for god on and by that.

I don't mean a scintillating platform personality. I mean a man that will do more in the kingdom of god. You know really do it. Pull down strongholds. I'm getting a bit anxious in my spirit to see this happen in the day in which we live.

I don't see the church pulling down many strongholds. I'll put into flight the armies of the alien. And then i say that you cannot divorce jesus from peace there as i said he's a wonderful counselor the mighty god the everlasting father and the prince of peace.

And then the acclamation in the skies glory to god in the highest and on earth peace to men of goodwill. Now jesus is entering here in this 14th chapter. I've described this before. It may not suit you.

It suits me that like the river in ezekiel's vision you know it starts going deeper. It's ankle depth. And it gets deeper to the knees and deeper to the loins and waters to swim in. But from the 14th chapter of john it gets deeper in the 15th chapter deeper in the 16th chapter deeper still in the 17th chapter deeper still in the 19th and so forth.

Christ's Peace Through His Suffering

Now usually it seems to me when i've heard and i haven't heard it preached or nothing. But years ago i heard you know peace i leave with you. My peace makes all the difference in the world. It makes all the difference if you read it in the context.

He says the very same peace which governs my life. And where's he going. Well he's going to get feminine to be beaten up with the devil. According to the ninth chapter of hebrews he prayed with strong crying and with tears.

I haven't heard much of that. Have you church. You go to do the pastor pray with strong crying and tears. Or the deacons. Does anybody. We live the gospel as though it's a fairy tale. I think we don't realize that.

This is an issue between the powers of darkness and the powers of the kingdom to come. And it's not a temporary issue. It is an eternal issue. Now again jesus is going in to get seminic and he says i've got peace.

Oh the disciples didn't like to think that jesus would leave them alone. But he says i'm sending a substitute. I'm sending you another comforter and he will abide with you forever. And i'm going on my pilgrimage.

And it's going to be a battle now he knew what was going to take place. He'd already testified on three occasions that he was going to die and rise again on the mount of transfiguration. He'd born testimony.

They'd born testimony there that jesus was going to suffer. They talked about his exodus by the way of death. And yet jesus is as poised as though he were going so as we would say to a wedding or a function.

He's going to be isolated there. His disciples are going to run away. And he's going to get upset and imbalanced about it. He knows too much about human nature. He's already fortified himself in god. He's already seen their failures.

He's already been through 40 days of temptation. He's been rejected by his own family. He's been rejected by the synagogue. And instead of weakening him every time there's an assailing by the devil it strengthens him.

You see he knew positively he'd come on earth to do one thing. And that was to do the will of his father. And that was to be the redemption of men. Now i say when you take it at least when i take that in that context my peace i give them to you.

Not as the world giver. Well how does the world give. Well it gives very stingily usually doesn't it. We used to have a joke around where we lived as children. There was a a little shop there and they sold linens and fabrics.

And in those days they used to have elastic on rolls you know pinks and blues and yellows narrow and wide and black and all the rest of it. And he used to say the lady there she would say you want a yard.

Oh i'll give you a good measure. And she stretched it you see to make you think you were getting a good yard. But how does the world give. I used to go and spend my uh half penny on saturdays at a shop that was run by a lady mrs north.

I loved her because she was nearly blind. And uh when she was weighing anything out the scales would drop down and she'd still keep pouring candies on you know and pour them on. And i was always told never to speak you know out of place.

So i never said anything to her. I i just took the bag and then took the extra ones. But i went home one day and dad said uh come here lenny you've got candies in one hand and you've got a bag there. How much.

Well it was christmas and i spent four cents and i gotta get about half a pound of candies. Real good english candies. And my father said that couldn't be. Where did he go. Scargill. Scargill i was a deacon deacon in the church.

He could have taught scrooge a few lessons. I went to mrs uh my good friend mrs north. You mean the lady across the hall of that. Yeah. Well she's nearly blind. Yeah. I think she's something wrong with her eyes.

That's true. You know he turned me out took me to the door. He said you'll go back to that shop and go back to mrs north and tell her what a naughty boy you've been and apologize to her and make sure you never do that again because mr scargill the old scrooge that was a deacon in the church.

He he got to be a nervous wreck when he was weighing any of those little tiny things. You know we used to suck. He'd shake it like oh one too many. Take it out. My goodness. He was so careful. Well that's how the world gives.

Jesus Gives Full Measure

How does jesus give. He gives full measure pressed down running over. One of the embarrassments we're going to have in eternity is how little we've used of the resources that god had for us. Oh mercy.

We talk about going to heaven as though it's going to be a fourth of july forever and ever. And free hamburgers and french fries. And mercy be none of that junk there anyhow. But by the same token when we get inside those gates by the grace of god and we look back and see the twisted course.

We look back and see where god was waiting for somebody to listen. I'm afraid very often when we pray we do all the talking. That's bad manners. I i like to talk behind me that. And sometimes when i'm in company i have to kind of bite my lip and say he let somebody else do some talking.

Let me listen here for a while. I've often wondered how many people the word that god could have called on when um saw was on that road to damascus. But ananias. Ananias not only prayed he listened. And god said you go to the street call straight go to the house.

But you see he knew his name and address. Do you live as conscious of the fact that god knows your name and address. You say you supply all your needs. Or what's he going to do. Is he going to be looking for you in dallas when you live here he knows us.

He knows our names are engraved on the palms of his hand. You never did this. Did you. I'm sure you're so such a lovely lot of folk. You never wrote any answers to questions on your hands. Did you before you had examinations.

No never did it. Innocence is a lovely thing. But anyhow lots of people did put them on the fingernails you know put them on the palm of the hand. And teachers are looking. You look and look for the answer.

But it's an old custom it's not. It's not new to our day. They did it in those days back there in the scriptures men used to write. They didn't have computers in the pockets and all these other gadgets and things.

And so they made a marking on their hands. And god says that your name and mine is engraved on his hands. But i wonder how often we could have given to use a link on to the hands. How often we could have given a helping hand to somebody if we'd only listened.

Now the listening side of prayer is not easy to develop because our minds go wandering all over the place. I talked this morning with a man again. He was in this place not long ago. None of you maybe you didn't see him.

Some of you did. You didn't know much about him. And he called and said i enjoyed the couple of times i saw you down there and the talks we had. He came with dave wilkerson to talk for half an hour and we talked three and a half.

And then he came the next night and talked two two hours and he said i'm getting back into line now i'm uh the lord straightened me out since i was down there with him. Glad we had those talks. Because you see he'd been praying a minimum of eight hours a day and his maximum prayer was 16 hours a day.

Now you tell your cousin that that goes to a seminary in. He'll think you're nuts. But i think those boys in the seminaries these days if joshua had said we're going to march around the city 13 times.

They'd have said you're nuts too. Some foolish things are wisdom with god and some wise things are foolishness with god. And he said this morning brother adrian i've got i've got things straight. I go to the little church and i've uh the lord just show me now what to do.

He's made it clear to me i have to pray a minimum of five hours a day and a maximum of 10. That's pretty good going isn't it. And god reveals his secrets to him. You see the strength in the life of jesus too was the strength of his prayer life.

No man again is greater than his prayer life. Your whole spiritual character hangs around not your knowledge. You may have a head stuffed with knowledge. So what if you'll forgive the exaggeration. I'll tell you.

And if you want i'll still say it. But from the gulf of mexico sorry this way to the border of canada from new york to california the whole nation is about four feet deep in cassettes and i mean gospel cassettes.

Some are tunes some are music some are dreadful and some are sermons. We've never had more knowledge that the good book says what be doers doers of the word in all this that we've got stored up here or back here if you want to say it's in the repressed complex of your subconscious that all that stuff is going to be brought to judgment.

One day sometimes i look at my library and think night is the lord going to challenge me on all these books. Jesus is as has come through the whole period of his at least up to this point up to trial.

And uh he says my peace i live with you not as the world give up i unto again. Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid. Now if you look down to verse 30 he says hereafter i will not talk much with you.

For the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me. Now he knows the prince of this world is coming. And yet he says i've got peace. It'll take me through it all now. That's a striking thing. The prince of this world cometh and he findeth nothing in me.

Holiness, Temptation, and Spiritual Character

Look at first john chapter 4 and verse 17. I'm reading as you know from the usual version king james first john. For what is the verse. Oh 17. I'm sorry 1 john 4 17. Here it is our love made man is perfect.

And that word perfect means unblemished that we may have boldness in the day of judgment because as he is so are we at the judgment seat. Doesn't say that he says. But as he is so are we in this world.

What was he like in this world. Well he said the prince of this world cometh and findeth nothing in me. Now if there's nothing in me satan can't tempt me. Well he can tempt but he won't win. This is what i'm expected to be in the sight of god.

Maybe not in the sight of the world or your church even but in the sight of god. It should be that the prince of this world has no territory inside of me that he can work on no trojan horse. I'm not hiding something.

God has cleansed me his spirit has come to abide in me. And therefore when he comes then he switches. You see from temptation. Temptation is very often quick. You know that lovely old hymn that says i need thee every hour.

Stay thou nearby. Temptations lose their power when thou art nigh. And if you read first peter in the first chapter he makes it very clear there there's a time when when temptation won't affect you at all.

I'll dare to say this. You'll maybe discover how true it is in a few years to come or a few days to come. I don't know. I believe you can get to the place beyond temptation. Not that you will not be tempted.

But satan will give up in those temptations because he knows that you get over it every time we have his presence we have the spirit within us we have the blood to cover us. So then he does something more.

You see a temptation may last just as quickly as a flash of an eye. And so according to first peter he switches from temptation to trial. Now i can't find in the life of jesus after the 40 days of temptation.

Maybe i haven't searched enough. But i can't find after those 40 days where jesus was tempted. But i can find his trials. It's full of trials full of testings full of tribulations. And there's a testing of our christian character.

You see peace. We think of peace as being the absence of war. Well it's more than that. I'm sure most of us if we could have our choice we'd have an area where they know there's no tribulation no distress no persecution no opposition no friction.

Wouldn't have to be in the same bedroom as this guy anyhow. But uh you know no opposition of any kind. We'd like all the hills to be pulled down and all the valleys to be lifted up and all the crooked places to be straight.

And boy if we had it like that we'd get victory every day. Except it wouldn't develop character. You see outside of reading the word of god i find nothing more profitable than reading biographies and autobiographies how god made men.

How how he tested them how he tried them. And he doesn't do it. You know he doesn't do it. Uh well in common language for fun. He is testing us for this reason our dross as the hymn writer says our dross to consume.

And our goal to refine. Look at colossians one for a minute. Excuse me i'm not sure what it is. Colossians one. Find it here. Okay. Verse 20 colossians 120. And having made peace through the blood of this cross who needs peace.

Reconciliation Through Christ's Blood

Well two people at war. Who's at war. I'm not sure that the first charge that god will bring against us at least in so-called christian countries i'm not too sure the first charge he brings against us will be that we're bad.

I think it may be that we're mad. But we didn't avail ourselves of the resources that there are in jesus christ first in a redemptive way to redeem us from all iniquity. Jesus made peace through the blood of his cross.

You've got two parties here. This party is a fraction with this other party. This party says well i'm willing to meet him. And he says well i'm not willing to meet him. What do you do. He can't do very much.

Sometimes a mediator comes in. Mr habib has been running around the middle east for weeks now trying to get peace between the folks in lebanon and israel and so forth and so on. The amazing thing is that though we were the transgressors we don't seek after god.

God seeks after us. And jesus made peace through the blood of his cross. Now that doesn't look too uh vast does. It doesn't look too majestic. It doesn't sound very challenging. It doesn't sound very awesome.

But wait a minute. That's that's the uh what 20th verse. Go back in the chapter. A minute. Go back to verse 12 giving thanks unto the father which hath made us peace pardon me. Which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son.

Well is that right or isn't it. There's only two kingdoms. You're either in the kingdom of darkness tonight or the kingdom of light. Your life draws its satisfaction out of the kingdom of darkness or out of the kingdom of light.

He has delivered us. Verse 13 again delivered us from the power of darkness transformed this or translated us into the kingdom of his dear son in whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins.

Now wait a minute. Who is this person. Is this. Is this gabriel. Is this the apostle paul. Who is it. Well see the vastness of who this person is in verse 15. Who is the image of the invisible god the firstborn of every creature.

Now listen in verse 16 for by him were all things created that are in heaven or earth visible and invisible. Whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created by him.

Notice the verse that begins with for by him it ends by him and for him. And he is before all things and by him all things consist. Verse 19 for it pleased the father that in him should all the fullness of fullness dwell.

And verse 20 having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself. By him i say whether they be things in earth or the things in heaven. Now this is a person all things consist by jesus christ.

He was with the father before the world began. As the old hymn says he laid his glory by see all the time. There's a for want of a better word. I'll say there was an itch in the heart of jesus. He wasn't at home in this world.

He didn't belong this world this lousy stinking rotten world. And it's made very clear in the 17th chapter of john. He says i'm aching to get back with to thee with the glory which i had with thee before the world was.

Well if you want to get a tiny peepy uh peep of that wonderful glory you do read isaiah 6. You see. But isaiah says. Well he he saw uh he had a vision of god always me. I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips.

I dwell in the midst of the people of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen the king. He can only have one king. And if you go to the 12th chapter of john it says this spake isaiah when he saw jesus on the throne.

Now it's that jesus who was with the father before the world was when this world was a piece of mud in the womb of the universe before ever the bird in the sky a blade of grass in the field of a flower.

He was with the father in the beginning and all the eternal beings cried holy holy holy to him. And yet he comes and he takes the sin of the whole world the sin of the whole world. By him all things were created in heaven or earth visible or invisible whether their thrones or dominions or powers or principalities.

Now don't let that get away from you. And remember this one who created this vast universe as isaac watt says he made those the stars those heavenly flames. He counts their numbers calls their names. His wisdom is vast and knows no bound.

The deep had all our thoughts to drown. But he in his perfection in his holiness unspotted the uncreated being let it all on one side. And he took all the curse of the human race upon him took all the sin of the world upon him.

You know an old hymn we used to sing in sunday school in england though it was written by an american lady. There is a green hill far away without a city wall. He died that we might be forgiven. He died to make us good.

That we might go at last ahead and say by his precious blood. Now i wonder if we really started on the front row and went right around the building tonight. How many of us thank god for the blood. Because if you haven't fallen to sin today it's because of the covering of the blood.

Because it was part of the spirit of god. And yet the world goes on. What does the world care about jesus tonight again. There's blood spilling in lebanon. Oh we've forgotten all about the blood in vietnam.

That's that behind. No no it's a bloody horrible stinking mess right now the russians are still baptizing people and little children there with poison gases. They see it's stale. Cbs didn't talk about that tonight.

And then they could have gone to cambodia but that's stale. Now they've chopped millions of heads off people. If you're wearing glasses you're suspicious suspicious. You're an intellectual. So you got killed first.

They destroyed the money system. They destroyed all the freedoms. They pulled the postal system apart. They pulled all the telephones out. They've turned it back 2 000 years. But so what. Who cares about that.

After all the baseball season's on. You can't and you know can't carry too many burdens. And then of course we could have gone on to afghanistan but that's stale. And then we could have gone up a bit further to uh uh poland that that's not very thrilling.