Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Well, happy Mother's Day to the many of you, and good morning to the rest of you.
[00:00:06] All right, that got nothing but. Okay, good morning. Good morning.
[00:00:12] Let's just get into to God's word this morning. We're in the Book of John, as you can see, this series that we've been walking through for some time, and we're in chapter 16. We're concluding chapter 16 today, and there's some important things for. For us. So hopefully you have a Bible you're opening up there. And then children ages 3 to 5, welcome to go to Children's Church. Have they already done that?
[00:00:35] I totally forgot. I knew I was missing something. They have done that. All right, cool.
[00:00:40] I was like, you know when you have those moments, you're like, I know I'm forgetting something, but you don't know what it is. It was that moment right there. I was like, there's something, something.
[00:00:50] Some of you know what that's like. The rest of you have perfect memory and never forget anything, including Mother's Day, which I didn't forget because it was on my calendar.
[00:00:59] So let's get into John, chapter 16 this morning and see what God has for us. Verses 25 through 33 is where we're going to be. And as we really get into this, the subject line, as you see in your title, is about peace. What it looks like to have peace in a world full of craziness.
[00:01:17] Peace is something that's incredibly valuable. And even Jesus says that we can have peace. But how do we do that? How is that actually possible? Let's read this passage, and we will see if you haven't been with us, particularly if you weren't here with us last week, the week prior, where we are right now in the text is the Last Supper has occurred. And how many of you have had dinner with friends before?
[00:01:39] Okay, many of you others, if you've never had dinner with a friend or something, come to Nelson's Grove and you will have dinner with friends. Good connecting point there. That's great.
[00:01:51] Many times, if you've had dinner with friends before you have finished the meal, you're sitting around, you're chatting. And just because the meal is done doesn't mean that the important conversations aren't done. And that's what we see here. The meal is done, but the important conversation is not yet over. And so there is the eleven disciples. Judas has already left the table, and Jesus is having this very important conversation with his disciples before he goes off to the garden to be arrested. And then soon Within a matter of hours to be guarded, to be betrayed, then to be arrested and soon to die. So that's really where we are in this portion. And Jesus is sitting at the table with his other disciples, and he's having this monologue. He's really sharing this important information with them. They're very troubled because they're realizing Jesus is about to leave. And so Jesus, even the beginning of chapter 14, he speaks about their hearts being troubled, 15 talks about their hearts being troubled and about how they're going to be hated in the world. And then Jesus says, I'm going to comfort you. I'm going to be with you. We saw that in chapter 16, the first part of it, and now we see the tail end. He says that he's going to continue to be with them and he wants them to have peace. He tells them how to do that and how they can experience peace. So let's read this passage and then let's pray together.
[00:03:08] Verse 25.
[00:03:11] He's just said that your sorrow will turn to joy if you're looking at the Bible with me. And then verse 25 starts off. He says, I have said these things. And he's referencing backwards. Now. It's kind of like when you see a therefore in the Bible, it means you should see what it's there for. So I've said these things. That is, I will comfort you, I will be with you. The Holy Spirit will be with you.
[00:03:30] Said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech.
[00:03:39] But I will tell you plainly about the who, the Father.
[00:03:44] Now we can restart verse 26. In that day, you will ask in my name. And I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf. For, in other words, why is that? For the Father himself loves you. Because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.
[00:04:01] I came from the Father and have come into the world. And now I am leaving the world and going to whom?
[00:04:07] The Father. And he's already talked about this multiple times. And this is what's giving them some angst in their heart. You're going to leave. You're going to go to the Father. And he's talked about how he's going to die. And they're getting concerned. What's going to happen to us is a big part of their concern with a big part of their question. Verse 29, his disciples said, oh, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech.
[00:04:30] Now we know that you Know all things and do not need anyone to question you. This is why we, we believe that you are from God. Jesus answered them.
[00:04:40] Do you now believe?
[00:04:42] Behold, the hour is coming. Indeed it has come. That is very, very soon, when you will be scattered, each to his own home and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone. For who is with me?
[00:04:58] The Father is with me. Verse 33 concludes the chapter.
[00:05:02] I have said these things to you, and here's really the thrust of it all. I have said these things to you that in me you may have what peace in the world you will have. Tribulation he talked about in chapter 15. But take heart. Some of your Bibles might say, take courage, I have overcome the world. What a great conclusion to that chapter.
[00:05:27] Lord Jesus, we come to you this morning singing just moments to go. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Lord, for the work that you have done, for your great mercy in which you have continued to lavish upon us in all different walks of life. This morning. We come here today, some here today who may not normally be here, other churches perhaps visiting today, all of the different things going on. And yet you, Lord, in all the different places that we are here in this room, and also brothers and sisters around the world, you show us your great mercy.
[00:06:00] And we're so grateful for that.
[00:06:03] And as we spend time in this word, being reminded of your love for us, your desire for peace in our life, pray that you would keep our eyes, our hearts open to what you want to tell us.
[00:06:14] That I would really just get out of the way and let you speak through your word here.
[00:06:19] We know, Lord, that you want to change us into your likeness.
[00:06:23] And it is through the power of Jesus, death and resurrection that we can know that we can be changed into your likeness by your own power. We praise you for that this morning in Jesus name, Amen.
[00:06:36] So it's no secret, as you see on your outline and on the screen, peace. Peace is the subject matter, the point that we are aiming at this morning. And so as I consider peace, maybe you do as well.
[00:06:46] Peace in the world. Is that something that we're ever going to have before Jesus comes?
[00:06:51] There is conflict everywhere, isn't there? Many of you know this from looking at the news, from looking at social media, from looking at a newspaper. I don't know how many of you look at newspapers anymore. Anyone look at newspapers?
[00:07:03] There is something called the Global Peace Index. I didn't know this until recently, but it reveals that the world is at a crossroads. Surprise, surprise.
[00:07:13] Without concerted effort, this is Something from their site. Without concerted effort, there is a risk of a surge in major conflicts. There are currently, as of the end of 2024, 56 conflicts, the most since World War II.
[00:07:31] They have become more and more international, with 92 countries involved in these conflicts outside of their own borders.
[00:07:40] The most conflict that this particular index has ever seen since its inception.
[00:07:45] Concluding here. The rising number of minor conflicts increases the likelihood of major conflicts in the world that we live in. For example, in 2019, in Ethiopia, Ukraine and Gaza, those were considered minor conflicts. And today, are they minor conflicts?
[00:07:59] Not at all. And so we see in the world that we live in continual conflict, yes, beyond our borders, but even more so and to our point today, within our own souls, conflict continues to rise, continues to wage inside of us. And so even as we look at this text here, if you and I were to sit at the table with the other disciples, one thing that we would know to be very true is there is conflict within their souls.
[00:08:26] There is a battle waging inside of them, saying, what should we do? Should we try to follow Jesus, who we followed for years, or should we try to stay back and stay safe? Right now, safety sounds really good. But also there's another conflict going inside of going on inside of them. And it's this. And it's to the point that on your outline, point one, it's, we don't totally understand what Jesus is talking about. Have any of you been confused before?
[00:08:49] Many of us know that when we're confused about something, that also inserts inside of us a bit of conflict. Because we naturally want to understand something. But the way that God has designed us, we want to understand things, particularly things that are important to us or involving people that we care about. These disciples cared about Jesus and their relationship with Jesus. And Jesus has said things over and over again that are veiled.
[00:09:17] And they would like to know, what are you talking about?
[00:09:22] Now, if any of you have read your Bibles before, you know what it's like to be confused sometimes, right? Any of you have read the Bible and been like, I don't understand that. Anyone?
[00:09:32] All right, if you haven't raised your hand, like, that's. That's not true. Like, all of us have read the Bible. Like, I don't totally understand that. And the reality is sometimes we read something, we're like, I think I got that and you don't.
[00:09:44] There's times I'm sure we're gonna get to heaven, however this works. I don't know. I've never been there. But we're gonna look back and be like, I thought I totally understood something. And we realize I didn't understand it at all.
[00:09:56] Here we see that the disciples understand a little bit about what's going on, but they don't understand the big picture. And that's true of our life as well. There are seasons in our life where we do not totally understand something. And Jesus knows that is going to happen. And at times he says, I'm going to reveal it to you. And at times he says, I'm going to have you wait a little while longer before you're totally going to understand what I am talking about. So point A on your outline is this. And Jesus recognizes that there's not going to be complete understanding all the time. Sometimes we're going to understand at the right time. And you can write that in if you'd like. Verse 25 points that out. Jesus speaking, he says, I know you want to understand, but that will happen at the right time. Look what he says, Verse 25 with me. I have said these things to you in figures of speech and in the original language. That's one word, and it just means this, A veiled statement. And Jesus has said lots of veiled statements, things that we understand, looking back 2,000 years later, what he's talking about. And in the moment, they go, I think I understand what he's talking about, but maybe not completely. For example, Jesus says, I am the light.
[00:11:03] Now. In the moment, they go, okay, I think I get what he's talking about, but I think we understand a lot more than they did that, don't we? Even now, he says, looking back, he says, I am the way. They go, okay, I think I know what you're talking about, but maybe not today. We're like, we know what Jesus is talking about. He says, I am water, the living water. He talked about destroying the temple and raising it again in how many days?
[00:11:25] And I'm sure they're going, what is he? What is he talking about there? Maybe connecting. But now today we're like, oh, I understand.
[00:11:33] I understand those comments were veiled statements or figures of speech, as we see here. Jesus says earlier on, in verse 12 of the same chapter that we're looking at, he says, I want to say more things to you, but it's not the right time. Because he knows that his death, burial, and resurrection is going to come. The Holy Spirit's going to come, and they're going to be able to understand things in a way they never have.
[00:11:56] He says, the hour is coming. You see that in the verse he says, the hour is coming, the time is coming, when I'll no longer speak to you in figures of speech or in veiled ways, but tell you plainly about the Father. They wanted, though, to understand. Now, as most of us don't like being confused about anything that we care about. Here's the takeaway here. Sometimes we don't know why God is letting us, letting hard things happen.
[00:12:20] You all have been in situations where it's really, really frustrating. And you're wondering, maybe you've asked this question before, why God? Why any of you have asked that question? Why is this happening right now? And sometimes God answers that very quickly and says, here's why it's happening. And we're like, thank you for telling me. It's still hard, but thank you for telling me. And other times, he doesn't give us that answer, does he? Sometimes he says, you'll understand at the right time. We'll look back and realize, oh, that's why that had to happen. But in the moment, it was very challenging. So sometimes understanding Jesus occurs at the right time, and Jesus decides when that time is. But if we were to even consider, on a much broader spectrum, understanding Jesus, we see the second point. We can come to understand Jesus if we're willing to pursue his words because we love him.
[00:13:11] So because of your love for Jesus, you could write that in on your outline.
[00:13:15] Understanding Jesus occurs because of your love for God or your love for Jesus. Look at what it says, verse 26 and 27 in your outlines. This is. I mean, in your Bibles. This is very important. It says this in that day. That is when the time is right. And the Holy Spirit comes and fills you when I'm gone. That's what he's talking about in that day. You will ask in my what?
[00:13:39] We still do this today, don't we? And prayers oftentimes saying, in the name of Jesus, amen. And he says, in that day, you ask in my name. And then he says this. I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf.
[00:13:53] So here's what he's saying. So far in our journey together, you have had problems or concerns or questions, and you've come to me. And then I would maybe go away for a time. Jesus said he often went away to a lonely place and he prayed. He. He might have been praying also for his disciples, as we'll see in a little bit. Here's what he's saying. There's gonna be a time that I'm not gonna Pray on behalf of you anymore, you're going to look what he says, verse 27. For the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and I have believed and have believed that I came from God. Here's what he's saying, is there's gonna be a time when it's not you and then me, and then I go to God for you. You're gonna be able to do that directly.
[00:14:33] Now, this was a foreign concept in Judaism from what they taught. This was always Jesus job to go before God or a priest's job to go before God. So for Jesus to say something like this, they're like, wait a minute, a common person. We don't just go before God.
[00:14:51] This is a major transition. Even the High priest, once a year he would go into. What's that place called? The Holy of Holies. And he would enter in with great fear and trembling, by the way, because he wanted to make sure and hope that he's done all his ceremonial processes properly. And then he enters in approaching the presence of God and he hopes, I hope I did it right so I don't drop dead.
[00:15:14] That's the concern there. We common folk, we would never even consider approaching the presence of God. That's always a priest's job or the high priest's job or Jesus job on our behalf. And here's what Jesus is saying. No longer am I gonna be going to the Father on your behalf. Why? Because as we saw last week and we see again today, you're going to do this yourself.
[00:15:37] Here's why, verse 27.
[00:15:39] Because for the Father himself loves you in that word. Oftentimes we see the Father loving someone. We even see, oftentimes in Scripture, this idea of loving the word love there is not agapeo or agape, as we sometimes say, but it's phileo, which is a different kind of love than this omniscient kind of love of God. He knows all things. He sees all of us. And God loves the world, right? For God. So what's John 3:16 for God? So agapeo or agape, that kind of love. He has this love for the people in the world. Different kind of love here. It's a different kind of love. And it's important for us to notice this because this would have also caught the attention of the disciples. Why? Because even think back, Matthew chapter six, the Lord's Prayer starts off with what? Our Father. Now, even just pausing there, Our Father. The Jews considered God to be collectively as a nation, the Father of the Jewish nation. And so when they prayed, it was our Father that is our of the Jewish nation. And here's the transition that's important for us to get that we see particularly here in this point is this. No longer is God just our Father, but he's yours.
[00:16:56] It's a personal known relationship between God and that person. And even more than that, it's this. That kind of love is not just God's knowledge of all of us because we are his creation, we're created in his image. He agapeos us, he loves us, he cares for our well being. But this phileo kind of love is this. God doesn't just loves you, but he likes you.
[00:17:21] This is a different kind of relationship that these disciples are now hearing. Wait a minute, you're saying that God doesn't just love us because we're his children and his nation, but he likes me, he sees me, he knows me. Now it's one thing for us in our world to love someone when we know a little bit about them.
[00:17:40] But as you know and I know, the more you share with someone, we have this internal fear, will they still love me?
[00:17:47] God though knows everything about us and he still loves us for us. We might have a crowd of people around us and say, look at all these people who love me. And then as I start sharing all of my faults, the crowd gets smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller. For God though, he sees all of our faults and he says, I'm not running away, I am not leaving you. And this is something that would have grabbed their attention, grabbed their heart and it should us as well, right? That God doesn't just say I love you this way, but because of. And this is the transition that happens. God loves all people.
[00:18:27] But phileo kind of love transitions when what? Because you have loved me, Jesus speaking and have believed that I came from God. The transition happens for one particular reason.
[00:18:41] Because you believe in the work and the words of Jesus Christ.
[00:18:44] When your heart changes from I'm running away from God. Yes, God still loves you. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. When the transition. The transition happens when you say, Jesus, you died for me and I'm going to submit my life to you. When that transition of what we call salvation occurs. That's when the love of God is not just agapeo us, but phileo us. Are you with me?
[00:19:07] And so that here is so important for not just them to hear, but for us to hear. Friends, God doesn't just love you, love you from this distance. But he says, I see all of your faults, but because you have said, jesus, I love you and I believe in you. I have faith in you.
[00:19:28] Now, God the Father doesn't just say, yes, I love you from a distance, but he says, I love you and I want you close, I want you near. This is that brotherly kind of love.
[00:19:40] Now, sadly, this kind of love, this kind of relationship with many, is not ever communicated in the life of even many churches and relationships. God is always one who is far off, never one who is near. God is always one with the lightning bolts ready to strike you down when you make a mistake, not one who is kind, who is gentle. And maybe if that's you, if you've struggled with this relationship of God has always been far off. He's never been close, he's never been intimate. He's never been someone that I can sit, if you will sit next to and listen to, because I actually trust him with my problems. There's a book I would recommend that you pick up. It's called Gentle and Lowly.
[00:20:20] It's by someone named Dane Ortland and helps us understand, as that phrase shares with us, that Jesus is gentle and lowly. He's one who wants to come alongside us and say, trust me, believe in me, I care about you, I want to be in relationship with you. Now, what's the result of experiencing this kind of relationship with God? This not just distant agapeo kind of love, but this, he loves me and wants to be close to me. What's the result?
[00:20:45] It's this peace.
[00:20:48] Because I know that the King of the universe, the creator of all things, the Lord of Lords, the one who is more awesome than anything else out there, he loves and likes me.
[00:20:58] So even if everybody else doesn't and everything else is falling apart, the Sovereign over all things, he sees me and he wants to be in a relationship with me. That is actually what Christianity is about, is loving God and experiencing and being changed by his love.
[00:21:14] Love. Maybe write this down somewhere. Love is the God ordained motivator for our maturity, not guilt or shame.
[00:21:23] The love of God and receiving that love of God and faith in his promises is the ingredients for peace. You were like, how do I have peace in my life? Those two are key. Experiencing, believing, trusting in the love of God and having faith in his promises.
[00:21:41] We look at C on your outline, we go one step further. I want to understand Jesus. It also occurs in verse 28. We see this by faith and we've already touched on this in some way by faith in Jesus words and his work.
[00:21:55] Faith in Jesus words and his work. I came from the Father. This is Jesus statement here. And have come into the world. And now I am leaving the world and going. Where is he going?
[00:22:07] Back to the Father. This verse is quite literally a short gospel message. This is not veiled, this is not secretive as Jesus sitting there at the table with the disciples. And he says this. I came from the Father.
[00:22:22] I came into the world. You've all seen me. And now I'm leaving and I'm going back to the Father. No longer is all of these points kind of spread out over a long conversation. It's in one sentence. He explains to them what he's talking about.
[00:22:35] Jesus came from God as God, from heaven into the world. He did what he needed to do to bring about redemption for mankind. And then he will. In this point in time, as we're reading, we'll return to the Father. He is not, as some of the Jewish leaders said, from Satan. It's not where Jesus is from.
[00:22:54] He is not just a prophet speaking on behalf of God, a messenger, as the Muslim faith teaches. He is not just a good teacher, as many religions teach about Jesus. He is not just a man that religious people chat about every once in a while.
[00:23:13] Or the guy that is hanging on that cross as I drive by that church down the street. No, he is not any of those. When we have faith in the mission and the ministry of Jesus, we repent of our sins, trust in him for salvation, for our sins. What? We are brought from death into life. We are changed on the inside. And this is by saving faith in Jesus Christ. First, though, one must have faith in. What did you write there? The. The words and the work of Jesus. Not faith in our personal opinion of Jesus, but rather the words of Jesus as he said them. We can't take half of Jesus and say, all right, I like this part. I'm going to throw out the rest.
[00:23:55] Jesus, I believe in you. He's like, not the important parts, the part that says you're a sinner. The part that says you have problems and you need help. You may like some other good teachings as we find the disciples proclaiming in the next point. Here it is for us today. Believe Jesus.
[00:24:13] Believe Jesus. Not what other people say about Jesus. Believe what he has said about himself. And in reality, if we were to expand that even from our view of salvation. Friends, hear me here. It's not this. It's not, I'm a Christian, so I can check off the mark that I believe Jesus, but rather it's this. Let's take a step further. It's I'm gonna stop making excuses for my disobedience. I'm gonna stop making exceptions for my sin and for my pride, for my addiction, for my anger, for my affair, my poor boundaries, my inappropriate jokes, my addiction, my laziness, my rejection of Jesus voice. We have to stop doing that if we actually want to experience peace in our life. We not only one, believe that I'm a sinner and I need Jesus. But in all areas of our life we, we say Jesus, I still need to believe you. Believing Jesus doesn't happen once in our life and then we never have to do that again. Other than that subject around salvation, it's Jesus, I believe you that I am a sinner and I need salvation. You are the one that saves me. But also I believe that your word about my language is better than my view of my language. Then your view, your words about my marriage is more important than my feelings about my marriage. Your view about my job, about how I interact with my co workers is more important than what I believe. And your view of my family, members, of my friends, that all is more important than what I believe. So when we say believe the words of Jesus, have faith in Jesus words, it's not just on the subject of salvation, but it's also everything else, isn't it?
[00:25:44] If we truly want to experience this kind of peace that Jesus is talking about, it's not just, although very important, I am trusting in him for salvation, but also everything else because too often we do this.
[00:26:01] I would like peace in my life, but I don't want to look at all the ways that I'm disobeying Jesus. And then I wonder why I don't have peace.
[00:26:10] Because the reality is we're not believing and doing the things he's already called us to do. And then I wonder why is there no peace here? Because we truly haven't had faith in the words of Jesus Christ.
[00:26:21] Okay, let's look at point two on our outline. Once this understanding of Jesus occurs, what's going to happen? And it's this. We are now then going to submit to his lordship. Point 2 on your outline is this revelation. This understanding leads to submission. We see this from the disciples.
[00:26:40] Their explanation back now to Jesus is this. His disciples says, ah, now you're speaking plainly. Or in other words, you're, you're not using figurative language or veiled speech. We understand what you're talking about now. We know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you. This is why we believe that you came from God.
[00:27:01] Jesus no longer speaking in any veiled way. They understand. All right, I get what you are talking about here. And when reality, we know this, looking at scripture, they understand about this much of what Jesus is talking about. When the Holy Spirit comes, they're going to understand so much more.
[00:27:19] So much more. And this is true of us. As we read through God's Word, we understand something. Hopefully we don't say, oh, that makes sense. And I'm not going to do anything about it.
[00:27:29] Hopefully what we do, friends, is this. I'm studying God's word. I'm studying God's word. When I understand God's Word, it leads me to say, and he is the king of my life, not me. It's a transition that occurs because revelation of God's word, of the character of God, the love of God, the promises of, should lead to. And now my life looks different.
[00:27:50] Not just that's cool, now I can tell someone else about it.
[00:27:55] That's a dangerous pit to fall into.
[00:27:59] Very dangerous.
[00:28:01] Since we'll move forward since the profession of faith was made, since they realized Jesus sovereignty, we can now move to this last point here that really is important for us to lean into.
[00:28:13] And it's this.
[00:28:14] Jesus power supersedes earthly events.
[00:28:20] Isn't that good news?
[00:28:22] Jesus says this and most of your Bibles probably phrase this next verse 31 like this. Do you now believe question mark. Now when I just insert a piece of information there, original language has two words and there's not question marks there. So this is kind of inserted. That question mark is inserted. The way this is phrased is inserted as we read in our English translation. It really could also just be this Jesus saying, believe now and it could be good, you believe now finally. Or it could be it took all of that. You now you believe after all the things we've talked about. Now you're saying you believe either way. With that, here's his next point. Verse 32. Look what he says. Behold. All right, so now you've believed me. You understand what I'm talking about. Cool. Something harder is coming. Are you ready? The hour is coming. It has indeed come when you will be scattered.
[00:29:23] That is that word there, particularly because of fear. Each to his own home and will leave me alone. Now, if you remember, if you've been with us in previous weeks, you will remember that there was a time Jesus said that you will all leave. And the disciples were like, no, not us. And then Peter says, well, even if they all do not Me, I'm not going to. I mean, maybe all of them will leave you because things get hard. But, you know, not me. Not me. And then Jesus says to Peter, well, there's going to be a rooster crowing and you will have denied me three times by that time.
[00:30:02] Here we see again Jesus saying, you all will run away because you are scared.
[00:30:09] Each to his own home and will leave me alone.
[00:30:13] This is something that would have kind of caught their attention again and should catch our attention as well because sometimes we also believe I am strong. I got this. I have figured this stuff out First Corinthians 10:12 says this. Be careful when you think you stand, lest you fall.
[00:30:33] And that important lesson for us as we read this, they thought, we've got this figured out. We understand. That was their declaration just a moment ago. Now we understand. And Jesus says, actually, you're all going to run away in fear.
[00:30:46] Then we look at verse 33. He says, Yet I am. End of verse 32. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.
[00:30:53] I have said these things to you that in me you may have what?
[00:30:59] Peace. That's the point. All of these things. I have said these things that you may have peace in this world. You will have tribulation. You can read through the beginning of chapter 16 and chapter 15 thinking about this. Tribulation. The word tribulation literally means pressure. Have any of you felt under pressure before?
[00:31:16] You just whether it's friends or family, work stuff you under pressure. Tribulation will come. You will feel under pressure, particularly because of your faith. But take heart. Some of your Bibles might say, take courage or be of good cheer. Why I have overcome the world.
[00:31:35] I have overcome the world. I have conquered the world is literally what he is saying. That so verse 33 tells us. He, Jesus, one wants peace for us. He knows life will be hard. And he doesn't tell us that he's going to make the hard stuff stop. Did you catch that?
[00:31:54] He promised that he will be with them, but he doesn't say the hard things will stop.
[00:32:00] We often pray for that, don't we? Hard things are going on. God, will you make this stop? Will you please make this stop? And Jesus says there's going to be hard things and I'll be with you.
[00:32:12] And I'll be with you. Notice also peace is found where in it's bolded on the screen there. I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. Not in your circumstances, not in the things, all the problems going away. But in me, multiple times already. Jesus has shown by example, prayer, communion with the Father is how we find peace. It isn't by looking around us, by looking even within us, but it's looking above us, in Me. You can have peace. How do we do that, though? Right? Isn't that the question? How. How do I do this?
[00:32:56] And here's maybe one of the answers.
[00:32:59] Well, it's not maybe. It is one of the answers, and it's holding tighter to Jesus and. And our time with him, our allegiance to our time with him above other things. It's not to say that I have to pray more hours in the day than I do everything else, but my allegiance to time with the Father takes priority over everything else. That means the words that I'm hearing from him, the promises that I'm hearing from him, take precedent over the words that other people are saying. Because sometimes other people are going to say derogatory things about you or untrue things about you. Right? You. Things that tear you down. And here's what he's saying. We want to find peace. It's listening to me over other people. When your heart is grounded in something that doesn't move, you can have peace regardless of whatever the storm is. But it's rooting ourselves in him, not in what everyone else is doing and saying. Is this easy to do?
[00:33:53] Not at all.
[00:33:54] Any of you experience times where your life is hard and you go and you pray, and then two and a half minutes later you come out, you're like, the problem's still there. And, you know, I don't know, how am I going to make this go away. The problem continues to come. But Jesus says that in me, you may have peace.
[00:34:13] Not I'm going to take away the problem. And this reminded me of this image I put on the screen of a lighthouse.
[00:34:19] And this picture just kind of embodies what Jesus is talking about here. We could be somebody, for example, on the outer ledge of that picture where blue the lighthouse is found. The bottom of the lighthouse is not inside. And we could say, look, there's a storm coming. God, make the storm stop. Will you please make the storm stop. I want peace. I didn't come and do this job because of the storm. I came because I wanted peace. And Jesus is telling his disciples here. And even in this picture, as we can see, is the peace is found inside the lighthouse, isn't it? It's not found standing on the outside wishing the storms would stop, and then seeing that they don't and saying, God, you're not taking care of me, but rather he's saying, in me. Come to me and you will find peace.
[00:35:07] Maybe write this in somewhere. You can leave that picture on the screen for a moment. Our experience of peace is directly tied to our trust in God's promises.
[00:35:18] Our experience of peace is directly tied to our trust in God's promises.
[00:35:24] And so as Jesus will show here in the next chapter, he'll walk through this entire chapter 17. He will spend time praying. He says, you want peace? Find it in me and I will show you. This is how you do this, is by grounding yourself in a relationship with me, listening to my words, reciting my words, holding tightly to my words above all else.
[00:35:45] Prayer and peace are inextricably linked together.
[00:35:51] Maybe something else to write down is this. Our anxiety and stress is an outward sign of our lack of control. Because we only anxious about things that we can't control, right?
[00:36:05] So when those emotions are triggered, it should drive us to the one who is in control.
[00:36:11] I'm feeling anxious, I'm feeling stressed. I can't control these things that are happening. Who's in control?
[00:36:18] It's not shove those emotions down and stop being stressed. It's let those emotions drive you to the one who is in control of all things.
[00:36:30] Lastly, Jesus says something that again, we focus in on. There's a lot of verses, signs, pictures, all of that. He says it's the last sentence of chapter 16, verse 33. He says, But 10 take heart. Now, if any of you have interacted with somebody who is stressed out or they're angry and you tell them to calm, calm down. How many times does that often work for you? What's the percentage ratio on this worked? I saw someone stressed out, I said, calm down. And they're like, thank you for saying that, I feel so much better now. Or someone who's angry and they're yelling at you, you don't have to be angry. Calm down.
[00:37:11] Thank you, that worked.
[00:37:15] Now, at first glance, we might even glance at what Jesus says. He says, take heart to these disciples who are troubled, who are anxious, who are uncertain about what's going to come next. When Jesus says he's leaving and then he says, take heart, what he's telling them is not some short, trite little phrase to make them cheer up, as even some Bibles say. This is not some well intentioned pep talk, but rather it's this from Jesus. It's an instruction to change your attitude.
[00:37:44] That's what he's saying. The only time that phrase take heart is used in the New Testament is always and only by Jesus. And secondly, it's always an instruction to people who are anxious. It's as if Jesus is saying, I'm not just throwing some warm fuzzy feelings, like, I hope it goes well, but he's saying, I'm God, you're not.
[00:38:04] Change your emotions.
[00:38:06] Change that. Not just for the sake of change them. With no information to ground that change, but rather, look what I've just told you. I have what? Overcome the world. So all of these problems are going on in the world, but change your emotions. Don't let that bog you down, drag you down, stop you, because I am stronger than the world. That overcome is a military word. Like when someone goes into battle and he has conquered another nation. It's like if the soldiers walking into that say, I'm really anxious. And then the commander in chief says, don't worry, no one's gonna die here today.
[00:38:45] Take heart. Hopefully you would assume then all of the soldiers are gonna walk into that battle with a lot more confidence, aren't they? That emotion of anxiety and of fear, what's gonna happen to me? Has now changed because their king said, no one's gonna die here today.
[00:39:00] You can have confidence now. It's not to say the battle's not going to happen. Does it?
[00:39:05] But it does say that he's made a promise to you. He's made a promise. And his promise is this. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you, no matter what happens. Let's conclude, go to the last slide.
[00:39:18] What do we do with this? Four things. Four things you could write down, things that you can process through with me as we conclude this time, is this one. Pray, ask God to help you believe his promises. Yes, initially with salvation, but also, what other promises of God am I not believing? Ask him that when I'm not feeling peace about something, ask him, is there something going on in my life that I'm not believing you, I'm not obeying you in?
[00:39:45] So firstly, pray, Spend time with the Lord. Secondly, repent.
[00:39:51] Turn away from the things that you're doing by yourself that are bringing about storms in your life. We often know what these things are because when we look at the word of God and we see that it's not aligning with our life and we're having all sorts of issues, we might say, why is this going away? God, make it go away. He says, we'll do what's in here.
[00:40:10] Start here. So maybe for some of us, it's this. Start here. What does the Word of God say, and I'm going to do those things. Thirdly, so firstly is pray. Secondly is repent. Thirdly, this perspective, perspective, change.
[00:40:26] Keep a big God pressed upon your heart and mind.
[00:40:30] A big God. Tribulation is hard. Hardship, pressures, anxiety, tension is hard. We don't throw that under the rug. We don't act like that's not true. But, but this. We keep our eyes on the King of Kings.
[00:40:45] And so when people see us going through hardship with peace, it's not because the hardship doesn't matter to us, it does. But we see the one who is stronger than all of our hardship is the one in control of those things.
[00:40:56] And fourthly, it's this. Believe.
[00:40:59] So pray, repent, perspective and believe. Believe that God is sovereign over all things. And as we saw earlier, he doesn't just love us from a distance. Agapeo I love the whole world, but I love Phileo I friendship kind of love. I see you and I love you. And when we truly believe that God is sovereign over all things in the world and he loves us particularly, he sees us particularly the things that we are going through particularly, that by default will bring us peace.
[00:41:29] Anxiety will flee. So I don't know where you are today, but I hope that you can today. One, trust in Jesus, your Lord and Savior.
[00:41:38] Two, if you see something in your life that you know is not in line with God, that you'd repent of that and turn and run back to him, that you would maybe keep that if you have a shrunk down view of that's the God for those people over there or God hasn't helped me in a long time and I feel like my life's not better. Have a big view of God. He's stronger than anything that we can imagine. Whatever anxieties might be going on, he's stronger and bigger than that.
[00:42:00] And then believe, believe that he loves you more than you could even imagine. Let's pray. Lord, we are grateful for your wonderful love for us, Your abounding love for us, Your great mercy for us.
[00:42:17] And even as we consider this day that we are celebrating the love, the care, the role of mothers in the lives of many of us, we also see that that same kind of love and care is attributed to you.
[00:42:35] That same kind of love and care where your arms are wrapped over us, guarding and protecting us as the storms rage on around us, you are there, present, close to us, and we are so grateful for that.
[00:42:50] Help us to have to experience this kind of peace that you're talking about here.
[00:42:55] Help us to run back to you time and time again as the pressures of life overwhelm us, that we would find relief in you.
[00:43:04] And it's joyful. It is with joy that we can keep doing that, knowing that you're a God who desires us to run to you with confidence, with boldness. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
