Jesus Gave You His Peace | Sermon 12/10/23

John 14, going to be in verses 25 through 31.

The title of the sermon today, church, is Jesus Gave You His Peace.

Jesus gave you his peace.

So starting in verse 25 of the gospel according to John chapter 14, hear

now the inerrant and infallible words of the living and true God.

John, these things I have spoken to you while abiding with you, but the

Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things

and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you.

Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

You heard that I said to you, I go away and I will come to you.

If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe.

I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing

in me.

But so that the world may know that I love my Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded.

Me.

Get up, let us go from here.

Thus ends the reading of God's magnificent and glorious word.

Let's pray as a church.

God, I pray now that there would be no distractions for your people, no distractions in our

hearts, or even here to technology, Lord, that would take us

away from focusing on you and your word today, Lord.

There is a message here that you have prepared for us thousands of years in advance, honestly, a word

that is from eternity past in a sense, and it has been given to us, Lord, your very words, and

we seek to understand it today.

We seek to know it, Lord, not simply as information, but Lord, something that actually changes

us, something that has tangible, grasping

handles to it, Lord, that we can grab onto and know and bring into our lives and take it with us, Lord.

So that's my prayer today, dear God.

Help us to know what your peace is, Lord Jesus, and the peace that the world offers

is nothing in comparison.

We give you all the glory in Jesus' name, amen.

Well, church, in some capacity, every sort of person all over

the world is seeking peace in their lives using something

or someone to get it.

There are those who believe more money will bring them peace.

Some believe perfect health, perfect fitness, those sort of things will

bring them peace.

Others think, if only I quit this job, I can't stand this job, and I get my dream job, I'll finally have

the peace of mind that I've been looking for.

Many people seek peace from the psychiatrist and the psychologist and the

pharmacist, one 10 milligram dose to bring harmony to

the body and mind.

I've heard of people taking a year -long break from their job, traveling or

backpacking across the wild country looking for peace.

Peace for some people is a cabin in the woods.

For some, peace is watching the waves on a beach, sitting by a crackling fire in a cozy home.

I'm not saying those things are bad, right?

But have any of these people who use these things for peace really

obtained true peace?

Have they obtained true peace, lasting peace?

Our country may not be at war right now, technically,

but can we say that the United States is at peace as a nation?

I don't think so.

There are those who seek world peace and do so at the helm of syncretism and

pluralism, right?

All over the world, people are saying that every religion must become one singular world

religion.

All deities are the same deities, but a different culture, they say.

There are temples across the world in various countries of various religions, of various

cults where peace is advertised.

Peace must come at the price of what they call tolerance.

The only thing they won't tolerate, though, is what you believe as a Christian.

But that's how they say they'll get peace.

If you and I shut up about this Word, this Word of God, there will be peace.

And each place, each thing says, peace can be had here, peace over here.

But there are only two types of peace according to this Word.

There are only two types.

The peace that Jesus gives and the peace that the world gives.

The question is, whoever you are across the world, whoever you are in this room, which peace do you

have?

And if we have this peace of Christ, why are we still so

often troubled?

Why are we still so often fearful?

So let's take a look at that now in our text.

Jesus has taught them many things in the past several years, and in this short time that Judas was dismissed

from their presence, He has informed the apostles of precious promises and pieces to hold on

to.

We've seen that for the past two chapters.

We've seen the oneness of the Father and Son and Spirit.

We've seen the oneness of the Creator and the creaturely oneness.

The Savior and the saints, right?

The connection between Christ and His followers.

And then we saw the promise of the Holy Spirit.

That was last week.

God will make His abode in us.

The Spirit will be in us while God the Son prepares a

place for us in the Father's house.

Now what has happened since then?

Since He said that God will dwell with us and we will dwell with God, which is at the heart of

eternal life, by the way.

Now in verse 25, Jesus says these things I've spoken to you while abiding with you.

He's been able to speak all these things to them while remaining by their sides, but what about when He leaves?

What about when He's gone?

We kind of talked about that last week.

Jesus is about to leave these men and they're full of trepidation.

They're full of fear.

What are we going to do, Jesus?

We followed you.

You've been our master this whole time.

We followed you.

We've left everything for you and you're telling me so soon after I gave up my job and my home and my farm and all

these things, you're about to leave?

What's going to happen next?

We saw the promise of the Holy Spirit.

Don't worry.

I will give you the spirit of truth.

I will give you the spirit of promise.

We saw encouragement with that.

He's going to do kind of the same thing again today.

Verse 26, he says, But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in

my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all

that I said to you.

And there are two truths that we can gain from this statement of Jesus.

Two truths.

First, the Holy Spirit being sent by the Father and in Jesus' name means that

salvation is a triune operation.

The Father sends the Spirit in the name of Jesus.

Salvation is a triune operation.

This coordinates the three holy persons of the blessed Trinity together.

What Jesus has taught them has been from the Father.

What the Holy Spirit will teach them is both from the Father and the Son.

They are all one in being and one in teaching.

And now the second thing to this is that the Holy Spirit will not only

bring to the disciples' memories all that Jesus has spoken to them for the last several years, but

also what?

It said, all things, all things will be taught to you.

All things will come to you, he tells them.

You know, have you ever wondered how exactly the Holy Spirit inspired the text

of Scripture through these men?

Have you ever wondered that?

How do we have these four gospel accounts that are so very

detailed?

They're so perfect.

I mean, they remember the exact sayings of Jesus, his questions, even some

mannerisms, some habits, prayer, going off alone.

How are these accounts so perfect, right?

Exact quotes of the Messiah.

The gospels were written, what?

Many years after he ascended.

Many years.

Years had gone by since Christ had left them, and yet they wrote these things down.

And I would argue today, church, that right here in John 14, this is a hint of how this happened.

The Holy Spirit, he tells these men, these apostles, the Holy Spirit will bring all that I spoke to you to your remembrance.

Translation, you will tell everyone else in the world what I've told you as you spread the good

news, but you will also write it down.

You're going to write it down, and you're going to share it for every generation proceeding yours,

even after your death.

You're going to remember all these things.

You're going to write them down.

It'll come to your memory.

Everything.

Everything that he wants them to remember, they will not forget one piece of it, okay?

But also, there are things that Jesus spoke of with brevity that the apostles

will expound on in greater detail and greater depth later.

What's an example of that?

I think of like the letter to the Romans, right?

Many have called the letter to the Romans the Gospel according to Paul.

It's an amazing letter of the comprehensiveness of the Gospel, the comprehensiveness

of what Christ accomplished and why it was necessary and the deep theology that

surrounds all of.

It.

Romans is in the category of what the Holy Spirit will do in these men and the

other.

Apostles.

He will teach them all things.

You get that?

He will teach them all things.

Paul is a part of this.

Paul after he had the road to Damascus experience, he went into Arabia for three years it

says in the Spirit that Jesus taught him.

And so Jesus taught Paul in the Spirit just as he taught these men in the flesh, and

that's how these men were able through the Holy Spirit to write down and expound

on things that Jesus taught.

Our New Testament comes because of this promise of Jesus right here.

The Holy Spirit will be given.

He will cause you to remember all things and all things will be taught to you.

That's our New Testament.

Now, we typically have people who are liberal, often they're lawless sort of

people.

Sometimes they flaunt their sin, you know, maybe not that hardcore.

Maybe they're just liberal Christians or progressive Christians supposedly.

Sometimes I consider that an oxymoron myself.

But these type of people say, I'm a red letter only person.

I'm with Jesus.

I don't stand with Paul.

I'm with Jesus' words.

Red letter guy right here.

Well, not me.

I'm tota Scriptura, all of Scripture sort of guy.

You should be too, right?

But this verse is literally a defense against that.

This verse is a defense against something like that.

The Father sent the Son.

The Son taught the Apostles.

The Holy Spirit was sent after the Son's departure.

The words of the Spirit are the Son's.

The words of the Son are the Father's.

That is to say that what the Apostles have is what Jesus had.

And what Jesus had is what the Father had.

And the Holy Spirit was surrounding all of that.

Paul's words are Jesus' words.

Peter's words are Jesus' words.

The book of Hebrews are the words of the Father God Almighty, you guys.

That's what I'm trying to say here.

They are all one in this teaching and word.

All this to say, again, the Bible in your hand is a fulfillment

of this passage in John.

We receive the Word of God by the Spirit of God, teaching these authors and calling to their memory

all that Jesus spoke to them.

This is how Paul can say in 2 Timothy 3, verse 16, all Scripture is breathed out by

God.

It comes from the very mouth of God.

This is all from God, he says.

This isn't from men.

And then what Peter then says in his epistle, 2 Peter 1 .20 -21, know this

first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no

prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the

Holy Spirit spoke from God.

Men moved by who?

The one who was sent, the one who was promised to be sent here.

Men moved by the Holy Spirit of God.

And when he says God, he's, of course, even this goes back to chapter 14 here.

This is all of them.

This is Father, Son, and Spirit.

Now, there is no doubt that Jesus' promise to the disciples here concerning the Holy Spirit, teaching them,

causing them to remember all things, is more for them than us.

Contextually, this is more for them than us.

But I can say, I do think we can find application here.

I do think we can.

We can find timeless principles in this.

And I've heard it from many of you.

I've heard it from so many different Christians.

It's happened to me as well.

The Holy Spirit has brought to my mind scriptures that I haven't read or

remembered in years and brought to me in the moment of need.

I've heard you say it as well.

He gives us what we need when we need it.

Because part of making it through this Christian life with all the trials and suffering and hardships and sin

is to remember what Jesus said.

You and I need to remember what Jesus said.

We're so prone to wander.

We're so prone to doubt.

Excuse me.

We need to remember the words of Jesus.

That is so often as a pastor, I counsel people.

And it's, of course, not as simple as just like, here's a Bible verse, go memorize it, and all

your problems will go away.

You know, that's not the silver bullet of pastoral counseling.

But so much of it is remembering the words of Jesus and having that deeply

resonate within you, soaking in that truth, remembering what Jesus had said,

what he said through the apostles, and having that just totally take over the wrong thinking.

Because the wrong thinking is what often makes us have these issues.

This word is more of an anchor than any feeling or miracle, by the way.

This word is more of an anchor than any feeling or miracle.

Let me explain.

I was actually talking to a family from this church, our church, about

this this week, going back to Peter's second epistle, which I just quoted from,

talking about, you know, the men moved along by the Holy Spirit brought this word.

Just before that, just before that, Peter recounts seeing what he called the majestic

glory.

He saw Jesus transfigured on the mountain, the Mount of Transfiguration,

Matthew and Luke.

His full glory was on display, the full glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, shining in holy brilliance.

The Father spoke audibly His endorsement of the Son.

This was an amazing moment.

I mean, Jesus comes up into the air, He's shining, He's brilliant, full glory.

Elijah, Moses, the Father speaks.

This amazing scene occurs, all His glory on full display.

And Peter doesn't diminish that.

He's not seeking to.

It was incredible to see.

However, he does say, but we have the prophetic word made more

sure.

We have the prophetic word made more certain in Scripture.

You see, not everyone gets to see the light of Christ on full display.

You and I haven't gotten to see the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But he says that the word, pay attention to it, it is a light shining in

a dark place.

It is like the day that dawns.

In other words, Peter elevates sacred Scripture, the words of Jesus, the

Old and New Testaments, the apostolic writings.

He elevates the word of God, the Bible over spiritual experiences,

miracles and feelings.

He says, I got to see Christ with unveiled glory.

But he goes,.

I, we have the prophetic word made more sure.

You think you've missed out on something?

You, some of you haven't seen Him, but you know Him and you love Him.

And He loves you now.

He says, we have the prophetic word made more sure.

It's incredible.

It's wonderful.

Because we can see Jesus through this word.

You and I don't need to wait for God for an attesting sign or miracle from heaven.

We have the prophetic word made more sure.

And I truly believe that since the word is living and inspired by the Holy Spirit,

a dead person, an unregenerate person is number one dead, and they don't have the Holy Spirit.

So think about that.

The word of God comes by the Holy Spirit, and it's living.

It's a living word.

So what does it take to understand the Bible?

It takes not being dead.

It takes being living as well.

And it takes having what?

The Holy Spirit who inspired that word.

That means an unbeliever can come to the word, and maybe this happened to you.

I remember before I was saved, I couldn't appraise it.

I couldn't read it.

I couldn't understand it.

It was just information.

But now, because the Holy Spirit indwells all of us, it's transformation information.

It does something.

You're alive now.

You see, you can't work on a corpse.

You can't change it.

You need the Holy Spirit.

You need to be living, and that's what He's done with regeneration in us.

And so it sets up a challenge for us if one wants to remember all that Jesus spoke.

If one wants to be taught by the Holy Spirit, they ought to open the holy Scriptures

that the Holy Spirit gave us.

And He will help you to know them.

He will help you to treasure them.

He will help you to use them.

You see, so many people say, if only God would part the heavens and speak to me.

And Peter would go, you fool, you have the prophetic Word made more sure.

Open your Bible, son.

That's what he would say.

Look at the Word of God.

Shamans and gurus sit on tops of mountains waiting to hear a word from God, but you don't

have to.

You have it with you.

You can open up anything from Genesis to Revelation and in between, and you could hear the very words

of God and the Holy Spirit will help you understand it.

That's a promise here.

That's a promise.

So after informing the disciples of what to expect with the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus wants to

encourage them again.

Jesus's encouragements have been littered all throughout this discourse and now is no exception.

He continues to care for their well -being, even to the very end.

Verse 27, look in your Bibles or in the printout I gave you.

He says, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives

do I give to you.

Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

So let's consider that first statement.

He says, Peace I leave with you.

This was a phrase used in Jewish culture to say a farewell actually.

Peace I leave with you.

This is like saying goodbye, right?

But the problem is, the world doesn't actually mean what it says when it proclaims farewell.

Isn't that interesting?

Goodbye or farewell no longer have the meanings that come behind them.

In fact, they've taken on a separate thing.

They're just a, they're a habit you say.

You know, they're not actually that you wish someone to farewell.

It's just something we automatically say and the world has especially been the one to do that.

In fact, the world has no power to fare someone well.

We could wish it, they could want it, but they can't give it.

And typically they don't mean it when they say it.

Think about the word goodbye.

G -O -O -D -B -Y -E.

We say that to each other all the time.

We lock the doors at the church tonight.

We hug each other and you know, we wave and say goodbye, goodbye.

And our children learn it very early on.

The world even says goodbye.

Did you know the etymology of the word goodbye?

Goodbye is literally a change in our language from the

true English form, which was God be with ye.

So think about that B -Y -E.

That is the, that is to contain be with ye in that, in that section by.

And good was God.

That is to say the, the only way to get good, the only way to have a good in

your farewell is to have God with you.

That's the only way.

That's the only way to have true peace.

There is no goodbye.

If God is not with us, peace, I leave with you.

He says in this immediate context, who's being left with them, the Holy Spirit, the comforter,

the helper, the Prince of Peace will leave them the spirit of peace.

And you and I will experience peace by way of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit can calm us.

He can reassure us.

He can change our focus off our concerns and back onto God.

He can do that.

Peace can be had with God.

Jesus says, peace I leave with you.

My peace I give to you, not as the world gives to you.

He says, I don't just give you a simple farewell.

I don't just wave goodbye, Jesus says.

I don't just say the words out loud when I leave you, but they don't really do anything.

They don't really mean anything.

He says, I don't give peace.

I don't give peace like the world.

I don't say farewell like the world.

And he's not even ultimately talking about a farewell salutations.

This word points back to the Hebrew, what, shalom,

shalom.

You see in the garden, when sin came into the world, shalom was lost.

Peace was lost.

The Bible says the path of peace, the world has not known.

Only disharmony, disquiet, distress.

These things came between mankind and God because there is no real peace

when we don't have the peace of God.

The prophet Jeremiah recognized this and he was warning the people that if drastic measures

weren't taken, if there was no genuine repentance, they would perish under God's judgment.

But here's the thing.

Just like Paul told Timothy, people don't want to hear what they don't want to hear.

They want to hear something that's going to tickle the ears.

And so the people got a second opinion.

Okay, Jeremiah, whatever, you're doom and gloom.

You're telling us judgment's coming.

You're telling us to change.

We'll find some prophets who will tell us differently.

And so the people of Israel go to these false and wicked prophets, these leaders

of Israel.

And these men said, all is well, Jeremiah is acting up again.

You can keep worshiping the idols that you're worshiping.

But as long as you continue to worship Yahweh alongside the idols, you'll be fine.

No judgment's coming.

These were people who said they were prophets of God.

They have the title prophet.

So Jeremiah, in this holy, righteous indignation and frustration, says in

Jeremiah 16 -14,.

For from the least of them to the greatest of them, every single one of those leaders is greedy for

gain.

And from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely.

They have healed the brokenness of my people superficially, saying peace, peace,

but there is no peace.

There is no shalom with God when you are trying to have harmony with idols.

That goes for everybody.

And so we need someone to give us this kind of peace, this peace that Jesus gives.

We need real shalom.

And so it was prophesied, Isaiah 9 -6 -7.

This is interestingly, obviously an Advent text that we often

go to, but this is where real peace would come.

Isaiah 9, For a child will be born unto us, a son will be given to us,

and the government will rest upon his shoulders, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor,

Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

Prince of Peace.

There will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace

on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness

from then on and forevermore the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.

We know this child born unto us is Jesus.

He is the one right here in John promising that peace.

This is a direct fulfillment.

The Prince of Peace is finally here.

And that word Prince in Prince of Peace means that he is the official

over all peace.

He has authority over peace.

Church, he is the one who gives peace or retains peace.

I would even argue that Jesus is the source of peace.

The prophecy says that there will be no end to the increase of peace when he comes.

Once he comes,.

Peace will spread.

It's going to spread through the hearts of changed people.

It's going to spread through the gospel.

Peace is going to continue to spread.

It will spread until his return.

It will fill the whole earth when his second coming occurs.

Because at the end of the day, this isn't about a ceasefire or a harmony between us and other

nations or people.

This isn't about an inner peace, although that's kind of part of it.

Because inner peace only comes with the Holy Spirit who is in our

inner person and this peace that Christ gives us.

The greatest way Jesus gives shalom is to what?

Is to take our disharmony.

He takes our distress.

He takes our disquiet.

He takes the wrath of God.

Jesus takes all that is not peace and puts it upon himself

and the people of Jerusalem.

The people of Jeru shalom.

The people of the city of peace killed the prince of peace.

Ironic, but it's true.

But in that way, a new Jerusalem, a new Jeru shalom,

a new city of peace was made.

The church, a new people.

A people of peace.

This is what we've needed all along.

We've needed peace with God, but there was nothing to create peace with God.

There was nothing that we could do to earn it or work for it.

Romans chapter 5 explains this.

It is the famous passage Romans 5 1.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with

God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained

an introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand.

We exalt in the hope of the glory of God and not only this, but we also exalt in our

tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance and perseverance proven

character and proven character hope and hope never disappoints because the love of God has been

poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Do you catch that?

Peace from God is coordinated with the giving of the Holy Spirit,

just like our passage here in John 14.

They go together.

If you have the Holy Spirit, the one whom Jesus gives, you have the peace that Jesus gives.

You see, you can't have one without the other.

If you have the peace of God, you have the Holy Spirit of God.

If you have the Holy Spirit of God, you have the peace that Jesus gives.

One's an indicator that you have the other.

And now peace is one of the fundamental characteristics of the messianic kingdom anticipated in the Old

Testament.

It's all throughout scripture.

That when the Messiah comes, peace will arrive.

Isaiah 54 demonstrates that with the Messiah.

This peace is forever your possession.

Look at your printout or go to Isaiah 54.

Verse 10, I believe,.

For this is like the days of Noah to me, when I swore that the waters of Noah would not

flood the earth again.

So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, nor will I rebuke you.

For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, but my loving kindness will not

be removed from you and my covenant of peace will not be shaken.

Says the Lord who has compassion on you.

Then it goes on later in two more verses down,.

All your sons will be taught of the Lord and the well -being of your sons will be great when this

covenant of peace comes.

The covenant of peace will never be shaken.

It will never be removed.

And what is also amazing is that Jesus quoted part of this in Isaiah 54 in

John 6 .45 when He said,.

And they shall be taught of God.

He quoted Isaiah right here.

They will be taught of God.

What did He tell the disciples?

The Holy Spirit will teach you all things.

They will be taught of God.

This word well -being also in Isaiah 54 is literally in the Hebrew shalom.

The well -being of your sons will be great.

But in the Hebrew it says,.

The shalom of your sons will be great.

And Jesus is accomplishing that right here.

For their sons and daughters, for you and me, and even for our children and

their children's children, and all who are called by the Lord Jesus Christ.

The shalom of your sons and daughters will be great.

And if you study Hebrew at all, you'll learn they relegated

shalom to a simple parting

salutations or a simple greetings.

Shalom.

But in the Bible, in Hebrew, shalom speaks to more than simply,

even not just peace with God, but it speaks about completeness, wholeness,

soundness, great welfare.

And that's really what salvation is.

You guys, we aren't simply saved from the wrath of God.

Definitely a premier aspect of salvation.

You don't simply have eternal life.

You're sons and daughters of God.

You've been seated with Him in the heavenlies.

You have an inheritance that is unfading, will never go away, reserved for you in heaven.

You have something beyond that.

You aren't just saved from hell.

You have more.

You have shalom.

You have completeness.

You have wholeness.

You're going to get a glorified body.

You're not simply going to live in this body and you just won't go to hell, but one day you will

die.

No.

Shalom speaks about the fact that we will never die of glorified bodies.

The world can't do that.

The world can't give you peace like that.

What did the world have at this time during the Apostles' Day?

The Pax Romana.

You ever heard of that history?

The Pax Romana?

The Pax Romana literally means Roman peace.

But how was Roman peace, how was the Pax Romana won?

By murder and mayhem, brutality and bloodshed.

The Romans killed so many people in all the different nations of the Mediterranean.

For us, our peace was also won by brutality and blood.

However, not by ours, but Christ's.

An innocent man suffered violence at the hand of Jews, Romans, and in a way the rest of

mankind, even us.

But this peace is not like the world's peace.

This is not like the Roman peace.

This peace that Jesus gives is the garrison of our hearts.

It is the protective wall that shields our minds.

This peace is the blockade that holds back the invasion of anxiety.

It is the immunity developed in us to stay fears inoculation.

And that's why Jesus is able to finish this verse by saying this, do not let your heart be troubled.

Don't let it be fearful.

Now, someone could tell another person this and they wouldn't be able to back it up, right?

Don't be fearful.

In fact, we tell this to our children who are fearful.

It's like, stop being afraid.

And they're like, what do I do?

I'm still afraid, right?

But Jesus can back this up.

He can say, do not be troubled because trouble has been dealt for us by him.

He can say, do not let your heart be fearful because he's taken away our biggest fear.

And since he has, this is something that you and I can have.

The kind of peace he gives that surpasses understanding.

The kind of peace that the world looks at and doesn't get.

They can't fathom it.

How does this person have peace when they should have unrest, stress and anxiety?

This peace that surpasses all comprehension.

We can have it.

He gives it to us.

The trouble of sin and the fear of death are dealt with on the cross.

That's the biggest aspect of this.

That's how.

But can we be honest with each other?

How often do we forget this?

How often do we know this?

But it doesn't seem real.

It doesn't seem more real.

This reality of what Jesus did.

It doesn't seem more real than the circumstance in front of you.

Somehow that has legs, that has flesh.

But these things don't.

Sometimes that's the case in our minds.

Paul admonishes us though.

Colossians 3 15.

He says, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.

This word is the word for controlling something.

Let the peace of Christ control your heart.

What is the heart?

It's the place of the emotions.

It's the place of choices.

It's the place of desires.

It's often the place of anxiety and worries.

And he wouldn't say this if it wasn't possible.

Let that be an encouragement to you.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.

Paul isn't lying.

He wouldn't say that if it's not possible.

Philippians chapter 4.

I just quoted it.

That that peace from God that surpasses comprehension is not a

thing that was of the first century.

But it's a thing for the whole church.

And he's not lying.

It just doesn't sound good.

It doesn't go well on a magnet or on a t -shirt somewhere.

It doesn't make a good meme on the internet.

Those are real words of God that actually mean something.

That means something for you and me.

And he's not lying.

It's possible.

It's possible.

The anxiety will diminish.

The panic attacks will go away.

I've seen it.

I've seen it for years.

I've seen it in believers.

I've seen people who have had panic attacks weekly, and they're gone now.

Took years.

Took many years.

General anxiety daily.

Worries about children.

Worries about the future.

I've seen God deal with it.

I'm telling you, I'm not lying.

I've seen God help people with this.

I've seen God take this from them.

It doesn't mean they don't struggle from time to time.

But there is hope.

If you're going, I've been struggling with worry and anxiety most of my life.

I'm telling you here today that it's possible for it to go away.

It is.

God helps people with that.

And even in the midst of what you're going through, this sort of peace that surpasses all

understanding can be yours.

Doesn't mean, again, that you don't struggle.

But there is hope.

Jesus doesn't give the command to not let our hearts be troubled nor fearful without the provision to do so.

Do you get that?

Jesus doesn't make a command that He doesn't enable you and empower you by the Holy Spirit to be

able to do.

Jesus doesn't say don't be fearful like we speak to our kids when they know they're still fearful.

He knows that there's provision for it.

He knows that it's possible.

And so lean into that.

Let that give you hope.

Let that cut into the worry that you have even now.

Because in the end, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

That is enough to fight anything.

That is the biggest weapon we have in our arsenals against troubled and fearful hearts.

I dare you to say it out loud sometimes, church.

I dare you to say it out loud.

I dare you when you're troubled to cry out and say, I have peace with God through the

Lord Jesus Christ.

Say it out loud.

I challenge you.

I dare you to try it sometime.

This meant something to the apostles then, and it means something to us now, okay?

But let's continue on.

Jesus is dealing with the disciples who are still very much dismayed.

Go to verse 28.

You heard that I said to you, I go away and I will come to you.

If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than

I.

Jesus attempts to show them the joy of his departure.

They really have no clue right now what is all about to happen and how it will not only impact them, but the entire world.

There's no doubt they love Jesus, but currently their love is mingled with doubt.

Unbelief.

If they understood, their love for him would be eager for his departure.

That's what he says.

You would be eager for me to leave because he goes to the Father, and the Father is greater than him.

Now what does he mean by this?

Because thus far in the gospel, according to John, for 14 chapters, I've nailed it in

time and time again.

Jesus has co -equality with the Father, co -eternality.

He is divine.

And now would he reverse that?

No.

No.

One easy way to explain this would be like in other verses, where he establishes his subordination

to the Father in his humanity.

This is not the pre -incarnate Son of God perspective, when in full divinity and

full glory before he came to earth.

This is the incarnate Christ.

Totally God, but also totally human.

And I definitely think that that's part of this, no doubt.

But I don't want to take away from what Jesus is trying to do.

But it's also not that Jesus isn't God, or that Jesus is some sort of lesser God because there's

only one God.

This greater than category is not ontology.

It's not ontology.

Think about it this way.

Let me give you an example.

If I were to say that the prestigious president of the United States,

and you're like, what?

I know our president.

But let's just imagine it was a good president.

The prestigious president of the United States, he is greater than I.

He is greater than I.

And none of you would think, the president's more of a human being than Wade.

He is more of the human beingness than Wade.

That would be the wrong way to look at that.

He might be greater, the president might be greater in his level of authority or wealth or something similar.

But he is not more of a human than me.

We are both human.

We are of the same nature.

The way we can understand this then, if Jesus' disciples truly

loved him, they would have rejoiced that he is going back to the Father, for he is returning to the domain where

he belongs to the glory he had with the Father before the world was.

That's what's happening.

Before the world existed, the glory he had, the greatness and splendor of heaven, Father,

Son, and Spirit, there together in perfect unity.

That is greatness.

And Jesus is going back there.

He will be in full and greater glory.

And so going home is a gain for the disciples.

And not only that, just like previously, in seeking to comfort the troubled disciples at the beginning

of this chapter, he told them he goes to prepare a place for them at his father's house.

You remember that?

Likewise here, what he's trying to say is, you're mine.

You belong to me now.

You're adopted in.

And if I go to the great Father, and I said I will come for you again, you

will also go to the great Father.

This saying is meant to assuage their fears.

Something, or I should say someone great is in their future.

Our future.

And Jesus had to leave the presence of the Father to get us into the presence of the Father.

He had to leave the Father to get us into the presence of the Father.

And now at this moment, he has to leave our presence and go to the Father so that he'll come back

to us and bring us to the Father.

You see what's happening?

His humility brings us a sense of exaltation.

He goes to be in the greatness of the Father.

He will be great.

And a greatness that is not inherent in you and me, but applied to us will be given to

us as well.

Being back with the great Father means the Son got the kingdom and dominion and people

in the greatness that were always promised to him.

He has it now.

The reality is though, that the disciples won't receive the fullness of this now.

They might be thinking this doesn't exactly help us in this moment.

Great, you're going back to the great Father, Jesus, but what about now?

But it will be these very words that give them the courage and boldness and power to face rulers and

kings and judges and prisons and beatings and even death

with courage and boldness for the sake of Christ.

Verse 29, I've told you before it happens so that

when it happens, you may believe.

Belief and faith will rush them and they will remember and the Holy Spirit will cause them to

remember.

And if Christ returns before we die, if you and I hear the trumpet

sound and we get caught up in the air for the final resurrection and final coming of our Lord

Jesus Christ and the dead are raised simultaneously that we're caught up because of the power of His

great voice, then we'll remember this too.

If you get caught up, you will have no fear.

He will cause you to remember these things.

And if Jesus doesn't return before you and I die, when you

and I face the passage of dying, He will give you by His Spirit

the remembrance of these things as well.

You see, there's something about opening a door that you've never opened.

It's a little intimidating.

The door that you don't know what's behind it.

But Jesus told you and I these things ahead of time so that when you and I open the door,

you know exactly what's behind it.

Jesus is waiting for you.

Absent from the body, present with the Lord.

You open that door, we can know where we're going.

We know where we will be.

That's a promise.

Well, let's go to our final verses for the evening.

Verses 30 and 31.

He says, I will not speak much more with you for the ruler of the world is coming and he has nothing in me.

But so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded me.

Get up, let us go from here.

So the end is drawing near for Jesus, you guys.

He will soon face his fate.

He only has a bit more to say to them and then he will go to his death.

In fact, the one who entered Judas Iscariot, you remember, Satan entered Judas

Iscariot to betray him and the one who entered Judas is coming.

He's on his way.

The ruler of this world is near, the Lord Jesus says.

You remember this from John chapter 12, verse 13.

We went over who the ruler of this world is.

He said back then the world of this ruler, I'm sorry, the ruler of this world is about

to be cast out.

That's what he said in chapter 12.

He is the God of this age.

He is the God of this world, the Satan, the adversary,

the devil.

You see, it is in the very heart of Satan to kill the son of God, not to

save people, but to hurt the son, to afflict him, to humiliate the Lord of glory, to

stop him from doing what he came to do.

But what he intended for evil, God intended for good.

Through this all, what Jesus just promised will come to fruition despite the ruler of this

world coming.

He's on his way.

Satan is about to arrive right here.

But the ruler of this world has nothing in him.

He has nothing in him.

And this phrase is often used even in a court setting.

When someone accuses another person, the devil, in fact, what's interesting is the Satan means the

adversary, which is often a legal term in a courtroom setting.

The adversary can't make a single charge against Jesus.

Not one accusation will stand.

If Jesus sinned once, if he only sinned once, the cross would then be the devil's victory

and not the Lord's.

Thankfully, he did not sin, nor could he.

So the ruler of this world is defeated.

And ironically, the very thing that makes the world the world, which is sin, hatred and murder,

is the thing that God will use to save them, to save the world,

to vindicate many through the cross.

But the devil has nothing in Jesus.

The father is in Jesus.

Jesus is in the father.

And the spirit is in them and they and he.

Satan has nothing to do with them.

Jesus said, you are in me.

He said that to the apostles.

He says that to us by extension.

He says you are in me and I am in you.

And the New Testament writers constantly say what?

We are in Christ, in Christ.

And so when you are in Christ, church, the ruler of this world has nothing in you when you are

in Christ.

He has nothing in you either.

The devil has no part with us.

We have no part with him.

And that means that he can't accuse us either on the final day.

When we are in Christ, the accuser has no part in us.

He has nothing in us and he won't be able to stand.

Although he try in vanity, in futility, the Satan will go before the judge

and say, yeah, but he did this.

She did that.

She did this.

He did this.

They did that.

Look at their life, Lord.

And the father will then point to his son.

And his righteousness, his perfection, his obedience has

been applied to your and my account.

Our fine has been paid in full.

What should have incurred us in eternity in hell has been paid for.

The fine is over.

That's the reality.

The ruler of this world has nothing in us.

And honestly, we were called then to act like it.

The other passages in this chapter said, if you love me, keep my commandments.

And so we are to show our love and obedience to him because we are in him and he is in

us.

But the one who loves the things of this world and the things of the ruler of this world obeys

the devil's inclinations and desires.

And therefore, that person has no part with Jesus.

Their part is with the devil.

And there is no in between.

You are either hot or cold lest you be spewed out.

A person either follows one or the other.

Because in the end, Jesus shows us where his devotion is.

You see that?

In verse 31, so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father

commanded me.

We know whom Jesus obeys.

We know whom he loves.

The devil can't make a single charge against him, and he proclaims it here.

The devil won't be able to say, Jesus, you didn't obey the Father.

He says, no, I've loved him and I've obeyed him from the beginning to the end.

No charge against me.

The ruler of this world has nothing in me.

He's loved and obeyed the Father perfectly.

Love and obedience.

If these things are characteristic of Jesus, they will be of those who follow him.

Is love for Jesus and obedience to him characteristic of you and me?

If you are in Christ, I trust many of you are.

I pray at this moment, at that sort of question, the peace of God would wash over you.

And I truly pray this, though, in the opposite way.

If there is someone here who is not in Christ, I pray that the peace

that they don't have, the peace that is absent from them, would cause them to turn to him.

But truly, if you're a believer, I pray you feel that peace now.

And that's how we'll end the sermon today.

One last glimpse at peace.

Jesus made it clear that the peace of this world is completely opposite to his.

The peace of this world is powerless to truly give peace.

It doesn't deserve the name peace.

What the world gives is adequate hatred, selfishness, bitterness,

malice, anxiety, worry, fear, division, and violence.

One cannot have peace by searching within either.

You can't find peace in the inner self or a new age in the inner eye.

You can't find peace doing the right rituals or speaking peace into existence with positive thinking or the

law of attraction.

Crystals won't give this type of peace, but the rock who is called Christ gives this

peace alone.

This peace Jesus gives, he gives.

It is not acquired.

It is not earned.

It is not developed.

He gives this peace.

It's given by God.

It was foreign to us, but now it is ours.

Jesus' peace is transcendent.

It comes from above.

The world's peace is from below.

And in his death, he will absorb all that hatred, selfishness, bitterness,

malice, anxiety, worry, fear, division, and violence.

He takes it.

Now, the question is, as I said from the beginning, why don't we see this and

experience it more?

How do we take this promise of peace, peace with God, and

live in it more?

And in some ways, what came to me is, I truly think we've

got to see the reality of hell and our escape from it

as bigger than the thing we're worrying about.

Therefore, you are able to look upon the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all your

iniquity has been forgiven.

All your transgressions have been blotted out and your sin is no more in the eyes of God, that

you would see that and that knowledge and reality needs to be seen and

understood as bigger than anything you face in this life.

If we could only look upon the horrors of hell and the torment of its inhabitants,

if only we could come right now as a church upon the precipice of hell

and see the very things that are happening there, the depths of Gehenna where the worm never dies and the

fire is never quenched and men wish that only someone could take their little finger

and dip it in a cup of water so that they may cool their tongue with a drop.

If only we could see this thing and then looking upon such horror

and such terror, you and I could then fix our eyes on the heavenly realm where the

king dwells and where he prepares a place for you and looking

upon that hell and on that pit and realizing, if that's what

I was going to get and I'm not going to get it anymore, throw anything at me.

I'll take anything through the power of the Holy Spirit, through the power of the rock,

through the power of the Christ because I have the peace that he gives, not as the world

gives, but as he gives, right?

May that promise of dwelling with him be more real to you than what you're

facing, church.

That eternal life would be something you know deeply, you've laid hold of by the work of Christ so that

among all of this, you would have peace,.

Peace,.

That peace that surpasses all comprehension, the comprehension of man, that peace that would cause you to

be controlled and calm and resting in Christ in the smallest to the greatest

trials of your life.

If only we could live in that reality, no trial,

no trial, no affliction that you ever face will ever sweep you into hell.

That precipice you will never fall into, Sheol is not your home.

You've got to hold on to that, you guys.

You've got to live in that.

The Lord took our trials and affliction and most of all, he took what earned us a spot in hell.

It's over.

I can't take, you can't take what Jesus took.

You get that?

You can't take what Jesus took for you.

You can't take his crucifixion on yourself.

You can't pay for your sins and you can't take back the heaven he gave you and the hell he took away

from you.

You can't.

It says he gave you his peace and that was an exchange, church.

He gave you his peace while taking our anxiety, our unrest,.

Our worry,.

Our chaos, our punishment.

And so my prayer is that you would see these things as bigger and grander than

anything you face in this life.

And may they grow in you the more you walk with Christ.

So that the internal peace that moves

and wanes would match the peace that he actually gave.

That's my prayer for all of us.

And let's pray that now.

Heavenly Father, Lord, we come before you.

We thank you for your word.

We thank you, God, for this message, Lord.

This word, it's this word, God, that is living, given by the Holy Spirit.

We have the ability to understand and know it because of the Holy Spirit given to us.

And Lord, we see that we don't have to be fearful.

Our hearts don't have to be troubled.

For we have a peace that was foreign to us.

We have a peace, not as the world has, but as Christ gives.

We have shalom with God.

We have completeness, wholeness, unity.

We're no longer at enmity with God.

We're not at war with you, God.

For you have made war against our own sin.

And you've won.

You've conquered.

We're saved.

We're forgiven.

And so, God, may we see the fact that we are freed from hell.

And we have an inheritance that is much bigger than anything we could face,

Lord.

Help us to have the perspective.

Because so often, Lord, it's hard for us to see.

And we need you to help us see, Lord Jesus.

We love you.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.