I direct your prayerful attention
to the chapter that we read, the Gospel according to John,
chapter 16, and reading from our text, the last verse, verse
33. John chapter 16 and verse 33. These things I have spoken unto
you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall
have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. John 16 and verse 33. The Lord here is preparing His
dear disciples for the time that He is to be taken from them,
crucified and slain, and then ascend again unto the Father. And it is easy to see, having
read and known the account in the full scale of it, as to realize
how needful these words were immediately for these dear disciples. But as the Lord says in his intercessory
prayer in John 17, neither pray I for these alone, but for them
also that shall believe on me through their word. And so these things that are
spoken by the Lord These things that are recorded and written
for us have been spoken that we also might have peace. And the Word is spoken to us
as well, that in the world we shall have tribulation. But the
beautiful Word, be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. And What the Lord is really setting
before the dear disciples and it is remarkable here it is not
after but before he comes to the cross. It is the Lord himself
that has walked through this world coming to the end of his
course and being able to testify this, that He has overcome the
world. The Apostle says, thanks be to
God who giveth us the victory through our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. And I always remember the late
deacon at Geelong in Australia, speaking of the death of his
mother and how that she at the last strengthened herself in
the bed and took hold of the counterpane and moving it in
a circular motion three times and each time she said, victory,
victory, victory, and then lay down and died. And I often felt
what a wonderful blessing that would be to have, as it were,
one foot one side of the grave and one the other, and to realize
that we have been brought through all of life's journey, all of
the temptations, all of the trials, and that we are about to enter
into glory and realize that nothing now can come between us and glory. Well, the Lord here says that
He has overcome the world And we have this very clear how
it is described in Revelation. In the third of the Revelation,
in the end of the letters that are sent to the churches, we
have this word in Revelation 3 verse 21, To him that overcometh
will I grant to sit with me in my throne. And then he says this,
even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in
His throne. So he is using himself as the
example, I have overcome. I have been brought through,
I have come into this world the same as my people have and I
have overcome and they shall overcome, we have it again in
Revelation 12 and verse 11. They overcame Him by the blood
of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they loved
not their lives unto the death. And in the Lord's intercessory
prayer in this next chapter in John 17, He speaks of Him being
in the world. He says in verse 11, Now I am
no more in the world, but these are in the world. And I come
to thee, Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou
hast given me, that they may be one as we are. And then he so clarifies in verse
16, they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. And we have this picture, the
Lord not of the world, yet He came into the world, brought
through it, and endured and brought to glory. His dear people come
into the world. They are not of the world. They
shall be brought through it. They shall overcome. They shall
be brought to glory. And there's the comparing You
have the Lord Jesus Christ and His people and binding them up
together and saying to them, be of good cheer, I have overcome
the world. And they're not just to look
at what Christ has done and think that it has no relation to them. It does. We can look at one another,
we can see some of the Lord's dear people, and no doubt many
of us have, in the case I've just mentioned, and they've overcome. We've been glad for them, we've
coveted what they've had and the blessings that they've had,
but what's happened to them is no guarantee as it were that
we shall overcome. But when we see the Lord, on
behalf of His people and what He has done, then we can see
that in the Word that is before us, the reason for the good cheer
of His people is that He has overcome the world. What a witness! And we can go even further than
the place where our Lord spoke this to the dear disciples. We
can go, we can see Calvary, we can see the empty tomb, we can
go out as far as to Bethany and we can see Him lifting up His
hands and blessing them and carried into heaven and we can see them
returning with joy and praise in the temple. What assurance
that there is in that way. And so he gives us this picture
of himself going before and of overcoming. He also speaks of
the very real tribulation and trials that his people shall
have, that it does not come then as a surprise to them. We have
in the very beginning of this chapter He says, and there's
three times in this chapter, that He begins what He has to
say, including our text, with, These things have I spoken unto
you. The chapter begins with it. These
things have I spoken unto you that you should not be offended.
And He speaks of the tribulation, the persecutions that they shall
endure. these things that were spoken
so that not just these disciples but to the end of time that when
we have persecutions and great troubles and great trials we're
not to think well we're out of the secret this hasn't been mentioned
in the gospel we didn't expect this Maybe there are many times
that things come in our lives we didn't expect them, not those
particular things, not the individual things, we weren't looking for
them, we didn't know that tribulation would come in that particular
way, but we do know that tribulation will come, and we do know that
it does not come by chance, and that it is ordered by God, and
it is appointed by God, and that the Lord has told us beforehand. of what shall happen so in the
very beginning of this chapter and at the very end in our text
these things have i spoken unto you in the world you shall have
tribulation and we're not to be in any doubt this world is
not our rest the trials the tribulations He must, through much tribulation,
enter the kingdom. Our Lord went through that way.
He was crucified. He endured the contradiction
of sinners against himself, and we are told to consider that,
lest we be wearied and faint in our minds. Then we have in
the middle of the chapter, these things have I spoken unto you.
In verse 25, I've spoken unto you in proverbs. The time cometh
when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs. A proverb is
a natural story with a spiritual meaning. He'd just spoken of,
in verse 21, a woman when she is in travail has sorrow. We
think of John 10 with the proverbs of a natural story. a parable
of the good shepherd and the shepherd and the sheep. We have
constantly the Lord using these examples. We have in 15, chapter
15, of the vine, and the branches, and the husbandman. All the time the Lord is using
natural illustrations or speaking in proverbs or parables to them. And we read in John 10 that they
didn't understand that parable. The Lord had to open up and explain
it to them. But later on here in this chapter,
we read the dear disciple saying that now he is speaking plainly,
they could really understand. He says, do you now believe? And it's a blessed thing where
we struggled with something, we couldn't understand it, couldn't
believe it, couldn't fathom it. And then it dawns and the Lord
opens the eyes and shows and interprets that parable. So we're
able then to say, we do now believe. So the Lord is very clear regarding
this path of tribulation. He has spoken already in chapter
15 at the end of those tribulations as well. It's not just put in
one place. But then the Lord gives the reason
why He's speaking these words. In our text, these things, have
I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. When our
Lord came to this world, the angels heralded His coming, and
they said, on earth peace, good will toward man. Now we know
that there will not be peace on earth. There's a very big
difference between them saying, peace on earth, or on earth peace,
because you can have the people of God in the midst of tribulation
and trial, whether in their families, in the world, in the church of
God, in the middle of tribulation, and yet to have perfect peace
and quietness in their own souls, in the midst of that. Not a peace like Jonah had, sleeping
when he should have been awake, but you might say a peace like
that which Peter had. You know, Peter had been told
by the Lord that when he was old, that another should gird
him and carry him whither they would. Well, he was not yet old. And the death that was supposedly
before him was the sword, not crucifixion. And the Lord gave
him peace, gave him sleep with that which was before him. How
many of us had known what it is to have something before us
on the next day and we could not sleep? We were so full of
apprehension, so full of all what was going to happen the
next day, sleep went from us. that Peter he was asleep. And
so the Lord gives his dear people peace and quietness in the midst
of tribulations and troubles, contrary to what we normally
expect. And this is the reason the Lord
doesn't just say peace, any type of peace, but in me, in Christ,
in that which the Lord has spoken, and what He is to us. He is not
a piece separate from Christ. It is inseparably joined with
Him. It is that in me you might have
peace. This is one of those texts I
like to emphasize. What if we took some words out? If you hadn't got your Bible,
if you didn't know this verse off by heart, you wouldn't know
that I'd left it out. These things I have spoken unto
you, that you might have peace. It flows nicely, doesn't it?
But we've left out two words, in me. You know, the world might have peace.
We mentioned Jonah had peace. But what we want is peace in
the Lord Jesus Christ, in what He has said, in what He has undertaken
to do, in who He is and what He has
done. peace in him. And those things
then that he said was to that very end. How are you this evening? Troubled? Tossed about? Anything but peace? How does this word sound in your
ears? These things I have spoken unto
you that in me you might have peace. Not in those things that are
all around you or going on in your mind or in the world. No,
in the world you shall have tribulation. There's a real contrast in this
verse, isn't there? And we like dear Peter. Are we
taking our eyes off the Lord to the ways and the billows?
Or are we to be, they looked upon Him, their faces were lightened. What a difference it is when
the people of God see no man, but Jesus only, but Jesus only. Well in our text it speaks of
those things the Lord has spoken to this very end and it was personal
to these disciples and it will be personal to all the people
of God. In one sense those things are
for our reading and we should read them and believe them But
in another sense, they are very precious when the Lord speaks
them to our souls. And it may be some of you in
this very chapter, or, and I believe when he says, these things I
have spoken unto you, he's going back to chapter 14, maybe even
in 13, all of these at this same time that he's speaking to the
dear disciples. There may be in these chapters,
Words that the Lord has not only spoken to be recorded in His
inspired Holy Infallible Word, but has spoken them with some
degree of power an unction and savour in your own souls, and
that you have known what it is, that you have had peace as He
has spoken those words to you. Maybe it is that you've had the
peace first, and asked the Lord why, how is it that He's given
you peace and quietness, and the Lord has said thou wilt keep
Him. In perfect peace his mind is
stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. And the Lord knoweth
them that trust in him. Sometimes his dear people, if
they were asked, Do you trust in the Lord? Are you leaning
upon him? Do you have faith in him? They
say, I hope I do. But the Lord knows where he is
given, at faith and peace and hell. And though his people might
tremblingly and fearingly lay claim to the blessings in the
Word, yet the Lord doesn't disown what He gives to His dear people. And sometimes it is that we have
not really believed that the blessing has come from the Lord
until the Lord has taken it away. or until the Lord has given us
a similar situation, and we have had no peace, and we've had trouble
and affliction, and then we look back at a former time, and we
think, well that wasn't imagined, that wasn't me, it was the Lord,
that's what I want to gain, and in looking back we can realise
the reality of what the Lord has given us before. I want to
then now look at some of those things that the Lord was pleased
to speak to the dear disciples and speaks to us too in the chapters
and we go back to chapter 14 as well comprised in these words of our
text, these things I have spoken unto you. And it may be some
of these things that we may consider, that you will say, yes, the Lord
has spoken this word into my soul, that these are things which
I have had peace and blessing through the Lord in. I just want
to look at a few of these things. Firstly, if we go back to John
chapter 14, the Lord tells his dear disciples that there is
a place that is prepared for them, and will be prepared for
them, away from this world, not in this place of tribulation
and sorrow, not to be enjoyed by this body of death, this mortality
that must put on immortality. And he says, let not your heart
be troubled, Ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's
house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you."
You know, he's saying this, if it were not so, would have told
you. Maybe one of you really tried,
is that the Lord has not told you something, thinking it is
a mark against you. But here the Lord says that if
it wasn't so, He would have told you. But because He hasn't told
you, because He's been silent on the matter, it is so. It is so. And we know it is for
all of those that are called by grace, all that are chosen
in Christ. They all have a place prepared. Not just the ones who specifically
had it told them. He says, if it were not so, if
there wasn't many mansions in my father's house, I would have told you so, but I
haven't. A preparing goal. And you know,
when they saw the Lord taken from them, ascended up into heaven,
when they returned with great joy to the temple, of no doubt
they remembered this, I go to prepare a place for you. Because
the Lord said, and the angels confirmed it, when the men of
Galilee were standing, looking up into heaven, why standing? He that thou seest, go. shall
come again in like manner. And what did the Lord say? If
I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive
you unto myself that where I am, there ye may be also. And all
the time it's the law. Now remember what we said in
our text where that peace was. In me ye might have peace. Now look at these words the Lord
has spoken to his dear disciples in John 14, these first three,
first four verses. You've got at the end of verse
one, believe also in me. At the end of verse, well in
verse two you've got my Father's house and then I go to prepare
a place for you, if I go, I will come again, receive you unto
Myself, where I am, there ye may be also, and whither I go,
ye know the way and the way ye know. And all the time it is,
I, I, I am, in me. It's all centering in Christ,
all what He is doing. And this is one of those things
that He has spoken unto them and speaks unto us, that ye might
have peace. It's what the Lord has done,
what the Lord is doing for his dear people. We spoke to the
young people Saturday evening concerning Ruth, and the last
chapter in the book of Ruth, you don't hear of what Ruth is
doing. You hear about what Boaz is doing,
and what Boaz is doing brings about union brings him and Ruth together
and we are directed to a heavenly Boaz and what he is doing. What he is doing to bring us
together and to that great wedding feast and marriage supper of
the Lamb above. So this is the first I bring
before you, a prepared place, away from this world, that is
where the Lord is now. Then he speaks of the way to
it, the way to it. It says in verse 4, And whither
I go ye know, and the way ye know. The Lord tells them that,
but they don't think they do know the way. Maybe one of you
this evening, so I don't know the way. Not sure. Are the disciples here? They
said they didn't as well. But the Lord tells them so clearly,
so beautiful, isn't it? In verse 6, I am the way, the
truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. The way to it is the Lord again. What does our text say? The reason
why the Lord has spoken these words, that in me you might have
peace? Because the Lord is the way.
He has gone before, think what he said in John 10, as a good
shepherd he goeth before them when he puts forth his sheep.
Did the ark of the covenant, did the fiery cloudy pillar only
go half way through the wilderness? All the way through, and all
the way through Jordan, remember that. And it stood in the middle
of Jordan until all the people passed over. I've always seen
a real beauty in that. As the people started to go over
Jordan, they would have seen the ark far off, just a speck. And in fact, there had to be
a distance between the Ark and the people so they'd know the
way. And really, we have set before
us in the Word of God, the Lord passing right into death. And
we just see that, as it were, at a distance so clearly, without
being mingled with any other man or any other person. When
the Children of Israel went through, as each time, each person's turn
was to go through Jordan, they would have walked right past
the Ark. They would have seen it. Yes,
it was covered in a veil at that time, but they would have seen
the shape of it underneath the veil on the shoulders of the
Levites. Yes, in death. We have this beautiful
expectation and promise. The Lord who has been the way
all our journey through, that he'll still be the way, and we'll
see him more clearly, maybe, than ever we've seen him through
the journey at that very time, through the swellings of Jordan. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
way, these things have I, I have spoken unto you. But then we have the oneness
of the Father and the Son. The Lord says in verse 7 of chapter
14, If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also. from henceforth ye know him and
have seen him I am my father one how the Lord so clearly sets
this forth and how vital that that is how vital that that is
you know if we were wanting to say gain access to Buckingham
Palace and we had someone say to us, well, we will gain you
an access there. You would really want to know
that they had authority to be able to do that. You might have
apprehension if you were coming, if you were invited there by
Charles. Well, would the Queen accept
me? Does she know about this arrangement? Has her son mentioned me to her? But when the Lord says, I and
my Father are one, there'll be no surprises later on. He says
that the Father himself loveth you. He makes it very clear that
the arrangement of salvation And the acceptance of coming
into heaven is known by God Almighty. It is known by the Eternal God.
Solomon, in dedicating the temple, he said, Heaven of heaven cannot
contain thee, how much less this house that I have built it. But
will God in very deed dwell upon the earth? Yes. Yes, here He
is, God Himself, Emmanuel, God with us. If you've seen me, you've
seen my father also. The great mystery of godliness,
as the Apostle says, God manifests in the flesh. And this is so
important for the comfort of the people of God, the joy and
peace of the people of God. In me you might have peace, because
I am my Father alone. The things that I do, I do at
my Father's command. The words that I speak, I speak. The Father hath put them into
my mouth, the oneness of the Father and the Son. This the
Lord has spoken, that in me ye might have peace. But then we
have the beautiful provision of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. He returns to this theme and
this provision again and again. In the 16th verse of chapter
14, we read, I will pray the Father, and He shall give you
another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever. Even
the Spirit of Truth in the world cannot receive, because it seeth
him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth
with you, and shall be in you, I'll not leave you comfortless.
And he returns to this in several places, verse 26 of 14 But the
Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send
in My name, He shall teach you all things, shall bring all things
to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Our text says, these things I
have spoken unto you. And what does the Comforter do? Bring to your remembrance whatsoever
I have said unto you. Sometimes someone may ask us,
and maybe we go over in our own minds, what has the Lord done
for us? What has He said to us? And if
you're like me, sometimes my mind goes complete blank, and
I couldn't put anything down. I can't remember a thing the
Lord has said. I can't remember a providence.
I can't remember a blessing. It's just like a cloud is over
it all. And at other times someone will
say something or something will happen in providence or I'll
start rehearsing. to another some of the things
that have happened and gone on and as i've begun to rehearse
them then i felt my heart softened and melted as i've remembered
as the spirit is brought back to remembrance those things that
he has done and how he's visited me and how he's visited and blessed
my soul and this is the What the Lord has spoken to His dear
disciples, and He speaks of this beautiful provision of the Comforter
and the Spirit of Truth. Do you know that, dear friend?
Do you know those times when former blessings have been visited
again? Not a fresh blessing, but an
old one, freshened up and made sweet and precious, and even
more so because it has the stamp on it as if the Lord would say
to you, And to me, that which I blessed you with thirty, forty
years ago, I remember it. And here it is. And not only
just a dry remembrance, but with some softening and savour as
well, which brings to remembrance what you had when it was first
given. The Lord doesn't let that which
He's done for His people just fall to the ground and forgotten.
He's given the Remembrance, and those are blessed times. Maybe
there's one of you trouble tonight. You want, as it were, fresh blessings.
The old devil has said you can't live on past blessings, on past
what the Lord's done for you in the past. No. In the naked,
knowledge of it, as it were, you can't. But when the Lord
comes and visits it, and blesses it with a sweet savour, and that
has the stamp of the Holy Spirit's work on it, you live on that,
and that is very precious. And don't let Satan ever take
such a blessing away from you, and tell you you need something
very different, and new, and something to speak of, that shall
add, as it were, to your store of what the Lord's spoken to
you. Why it's a precious thing if we go through life we might
only have a handful of blessings but the Lord's visited them again
and again, freshened them again and again and made them precious
to you and you know Though it may be you say one thing I know,
yet you know it has been in power and with sweetness, and the Lord
has not forgotten it, and he hasn't let you forget it either."
Well, the Lord speaks of the Holy Spirit again in the 15th
chapter, and he says in verse 26 there, sorry, But the Comforter, in verse 26,
but the Comforter, when the Comforter is come, whom I will send you
from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from
the Father, he shall testify of me. And here the Lord joins
again, not just Himself, but the Holy Spirit, the Comforter
with the Father. And we get the whole Trinity
joined together. in the blessing and the speaking
peace to his dear people. But then we have the life of
the people of God joined with the Lord's life. In John 14 again,
in verse 19, at the end of that verse, he says, because I live,
ye shall live also. And of course referring to His
rising from the dead. Because I live, ye shall live
also, ye shall rise again as well. But more than that, the
Lord has said, I give unto them eternal life, they shall never
perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of mine hand.
The life of the people of God is bound up with the Lord, an
empty tomb, a living Saviour, our Advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the Righteous. What voice is that which speaks
for me in heaven's high court for good, and from the curses
set me free to His Jesus' precious blood? Then we have the beautiful
chapter in John 15, where the Lord speaks the parable of the
vine. And fruitfulness that comes from
the Lord Jesus Christ and from union with him is a beautiful
parable. A parable that takes in the chastening,
the correcting, the pruning. It takes in the source of life
from the stem. It takes in the faithfulness
of the Lord to his dear people. and their need that union with
Him, a constant union with Him. Abide in me and I in you. And what I like is where he says
that the branch, it cannot bear fruit of itself. And some of
us will prove this in a very painful way. When we've got distance
and far off from the Lord in a low place, then all our graces
decline, and we lose our peace, we lose our blessings, and we
realize they're not in ourselves. No man, we haven't got power.
to bring forth fruit ourselves. It must come from the Lord, it
must come from union with Him. And so wherever there is fruits,
by their fruits ye shall know them, the Lord has said. And
with these dear people as they, near their journeys end, in old
age, They shall still bring forth fruit in old age. of this when I take the services
there, they might think their days of fruitfulness are over,
but they're not. And all the graces and fruits,
yes, shown maybe in a different way, but in all of the teachableness,
humility, and patience, and long-suffering, and the cleaving to Christ, and
the patience in afflictions and trials, All of those fruits,
the fruits of love, love to the people of God, love to the Lord,
love to the little ones, and love to the brethren, all of
these things, those fruits, they come by this shall all men know
that ye are my disciples indeed in that ye love one another. And so the Lord has made it very
clear that where there is fruitfulness, it comes from Him, it glorifies
Him. Again, He is central in this. And where our peace is, is not
to be looking for that which comes from us. but for what the
Lord has wrought in us. Thou only hast wrought all our
works in us. The Apostle Paul says, I laboured
more abundantly than them all, yet not I, but the grace of God
which was in me. And the Lord will teach us that,
and sometimes in very painful ways, that in me, that is in
my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. But where the Lord has granted
us His blessing of fruitfulness, then we know that we do have
a union with Him, that He has wrought these things in us. We dare not, we cannot lay claim
to them ourselves as if they came from ourselves. And then we have in this chapter
16 the Lord's assurance of seeing his dear people again. In verse
21 and 22 he speaks of the parable of the woman in travail And he
says, You now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again,
and your heart shall rejoice. How many poor tried child of
God has hung onto this promise, pleaded it, maybe you have pleaded
it many times, Lord thou said I'll see you again, visit my
soul again, do come again to my soul and we look upon the
Lord here and how he's visited again and some of us can look
back to times when we've had blessings and then long periods
that the Lord has been silent and He's broken that silence
and then we've had another silence and then He's broken that again.
You know, it's like Psalm 170, isn't it? Up and down, down into
the depths, up again into the heights and down again into the
depths. And yet in every time the Lord
remembered them, the Lord saw them again, visited them again. And then we have the encouragement
in verse 23, 24, and also in 26, to ask, to ask. Maybe you've come this evening
asking of the Lord. But what a confirming word this
is, where the Lord has spoken these things, that in me ye might
have peace. When his dear children pour out
their hearts to the Lord, they come with large petitions, and
they ask, and they ask in the name, my name. The peace is in
the Lord. And in all our petitions, they're
asked in His name. Whatsoever you shall ask the
Father in my name, He will give it you. You know, it's a blessed
thing when the Lord puts prayer into our heart. We read in Daniel
9, and he understood by books the time was near for the deliverance
out of Babylon captivity. And the Lord gave him prayer.
and the Lord answered prayer. And, you know, if we're constant
in prayer, we'll know those times that we prayed hard-hearted prayers,
and we wonder, has the Lord heard them? Will He answer them? But other times, as we continue
in prayer, and the Lord has bid us to continue in prayer, and
it is to be instant, in season, and out of season, there were
no differences. We know times when we're softened
in prayer. You know, we're not just to pray
when we're softened or drawn, but men ought always to pray
and not to feign. But in that prayer and in that
wrestling, there'll be those times there'll be a real sweetness
in asking in the name of the Lord, pleading in the name of
Jesus, and in the precious promise here, and ye shall receive that
your joy may be full. And there's many other things
in this passage, and I commend it to you. These things I have
spoken unto you, our comforts, our blessings, They come from
the words the Lord speaks to his people. Faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. And it's the Lord that speaks.
Be not silent, say the people of God. Be not silent unto me,
lest if thou be silent unto me, I become like them that go down
into the pit. My sheep, they hear my voice,
and they follow me. Dear friends, have we some of
these things, and have them very personally to us. These things
I have spoken unto you, and may the Lord speak it to us all.
I have spoken it unto you. You have heard my voice. Why? That in me ye might have
peace. There's a beautiful end prospect
of this, isn't it? To know a little taste of peace
here below, but to have everlasting peace above. To have that in
the mansions that are prepared above. These things I have spoken
unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall
have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. May the Lord add His blessing.
Amen.