Seeking once again the help of God, I'd like you to turn with me to the chapter that we read together, the Gospel according to John, chapter 16, and the text you'll find in verse 33. These things have I 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.

As the Lord Jesus Christ came to the end of his earthly ministry, as he knew that the forces of darkness were closing in and he was to be handed over into the hands of sinful men and was to be betrayed by Judas and then to be deserted by his apostles and then falsely tried and then crucified and then to die upon the cross.

He came to the end of his life and as he began to As he began to understand that he was coming to the end of his life, he began to prepare his disciples for what was going to take place. He began to make them aware that he was going to leave them. He began to tell them the things that were going to take place, that they were going to be persecuted, that as Christ had been persecuted they were going to persecute him.

But he also gave them words of comfort, that although he was going to leave them and it was essential for him to leave them, yet he was going to give them the Holy Spirit who would be a comfort and a guide to them. And so the text begins with, these things have I spoken unto you that in me you might have peace, that the words of the Lord Jesus Christ were to put to rest the anxiety and fear that they were speaking, that they were feeling at this time.

In chapter 14 he says, let not your heart be troubled, You believe in God, believe also in me. And so you can fully imagine how these apostles and disciples of the Lord Jesus began to be troubled by the words that the Lord Jesus Christ was speaking. They believed him to be an earthly king, an earthly prince that was going to deliver them from the hand of their enemies. And then he begins to say to them, you know, I'm going to go to the father. I'm going to leave you. I'm going to be handed over into the hands of sinful men. I'm going to die. And you can understand why then they would be troubled. He'd been with them for these three years and they'd sat under his ministry. They had experienced his miracles and the miracles that he did. They loved him and yet he was going to leave them.

And so he begins to speak words of comfort to them in order to bring some peace to their troubled hearts. And thinking about this, this is something that we all do. If we know something is going to happen, we try and comfort somebody by words. if you've ever undergone an operation, undergone anesthetic and surgery, the surgeon comes to see you beforehand and they try to talk you through the process. They say, we're going to put you to sleep for this amount. We've got to do this procedure and all of these things. And they try to settle your mind. They try to give you peace by speaking words of wisdom to you.

And just like of the Lord Jesus Christ. He speaks to his apostles and his disciples and in doing so he hopes to settle their minds and to bring peace to the troubled heart by making them aware of all that is going to take place. He is pre-warning them of the big change that is going to take place in their lives. that he was going to leave them. Not only was he going to leave them, but he was going to be crucified, he was going to die and he was going to usher in a new covenant.

And these men were going to be the covenant bearers. They were going to be the heralds of the King to go forth into the whole world and to preach the good news of salvation. They were going to preach that Christ came into the world to die upon the cross and then to rise again the third day. And they were to go forward. And in going forward, they were not to expect an easy pathway. Jesus pre-warned them of the difficulties that they would expect, that they would experience opposition and isolation and persecution, but they would not be alone.

although he physically was going to leave them, that they would not be alone because he was going to give them the Holy Spirit. He says, it is essential for you that I go away, because if I don't go away, then the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, he will not come. In John 14, In verse 16, he says, I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter. So Christ, he was the comforter, but he says, I'm going to give you another comforter, a comforter that he may abide with you forever.

And so the Lord Jesus Christ is the comforter who was going to leave. He was the physical comfort that they had. They had his voice. They had his presence. They had his being. but they are going to be given this other comforter who was not going to leave them, he was going to abide with them forever, the spirit of truth. whom the world cannot receive because it sees him not, neither knoweth him. But ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you."

And this is the great truth of the Trinity, that if we know the Father, then we know the Son. If we know the Son, then we know the Holy Spirit, and vice versa. that Christ gave his Spirit and he said, I will give him and he will be in you and I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. And so the presence of the Holy Spirit is the presence of Christ, it is the presence of God the Father. We cannot have one without the other, they are undivided. And that is a great comfort. And that was to be a great comfort to the apostles as they went forth.

They witnessed the working of the Holy Spirit. They witnessed the continued advancement of the kingdom of Christ. In the book of Acts, we read, don't we, of how the Lord working with them. What Lord? The Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit moving forward. Those chosen by the Father for the foundation of the world, those secured in Christ Jesus are having their eyes opened, their hearts softened by the Spirit of God. And so he says, may abide with you forever.

In verse 26, But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. And so the comforter of the Holy Ghost, who the Father will send.

In chapter 15, verse 26, but when the comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the spirit of truth which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me. And so in chapter 14, Jesus is saying, whom the Father will send. Then he is saying, whom I will send. He will comfort you. Then he says, I will comfort you. I will be with you. And so it speaks of this relationship that the believer has with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and how they are united together in one. So what a comfort that is, as the Lord Jesus Christ says, I've spoken these things to you that you might have peace. That although I'm going away, I have revealed to you the great unity that you have between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And that unity will be sealed upon your soul by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit of God.

In chapter 16, nevertheless I tell you the truth, verse 7, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.

Verse 13. Howbeit, when he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you in all truth. For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. And he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me. for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. All things that the father hath are mine. Therefore, I said, I, that he shall take of mine and show it unto you.

And so as these apostles are troubled, they are promised the comforter, the comforter that would go with them and reveal the Lord Jesus Christ to them and through them. that he will glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, that the ability and the success of their ministry did not rest upon their own ability, but in the Spirit of God that went before them to open the eyes of the blind, to soften hard hearts, and that Christ would be glorified.

These were ignorant and unlearned men, yet It was seen that they had been with the Lord Jesus Christ, that Christ Jesus by his spirit opened up the truth to them. I don't know if you've ever experienced that as a believer, as you've come to the word, you're struggling over a section, over a doctrine, and there is an illumination takes place within your mind. How did that come? spirit of truth. He will guide you in all the truth. He will not speak of himself but he will point you always to the Lord Jesus Christ. He will glorify the Lord Jesus.

And so as he tries to comfort them by pre-warning them of what would take place, and that as he leaves them, they're going to enter into times of great opposition and maybe even death because he tells them that those who kill you will believe that they're doing the work of God. And so he makes them aware that this is going to be the pathway, that it's going to be a very, very difficult pathway and some of you may even die. but that will not alter the relationship that I have with you. Although you're going to enter into persecution and difficulty, the relationship that I have with you stays the same. I will continue to be with you, although not in my physical presence, but by my spirit.

that you are united together with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, even though you're in difficulty, even though you're in opposition, experiencing opposition, yet be of good cheer. Let not your heart be troubled. you believe in God, believe also in me. These things have I spoken unto you that you should not be offended. These things have I spoken unto you that in me you might have peace.

We see, don't we, in the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ that the angels come and they tell us their of his name, wonderful counsellor, in Isaiah chapter 9. It tells us there that he will be called the Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9 and verse 6. Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And he says that in me you might have peace.

So we have come to the end of another year. No doubt everybody in the whole world has any concept of the years and of of the coming year has no doubt high hopes for the new year ahead. That seems to be the mindset that we have. We hope that this year is going to be better than last year. We hope that this year is going to be a year of peace. This year is going to be a year free of trouble, free of difficulty. We hope that it goes better than last year.

But the very fact of the matter is that Every year is just the same. It just rolls on continually. Life just continues. We have trouble. The people of the world have trouble. Yet Jesus says that there is a peace to be found. Yet that peace to be found is not found externally. The peace to be found is in Christ Jesus.

And what does it mean to be in Christ Jesus? It means to be united to Him. It means to be in a relationship with Him, to be one with Him, one with the Father, one with the Son, and one with the Spirit.

in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new.

to be in Christ. To be in Christ means to be born again. To be in Christ means to have been redeemed by the blood of the lamb. To be in Christ means to be part of his body. To be in Christ means to be part of the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ, to be part of the called out ones, to be in him, in a covenantal relationship with him.

And it is only in Christ Jesus that this peace can be found. John 14, verse 27, peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Peace. The absence of trouble, the absence of difficulty, a tranquility. a calm ocean. And we know that that cannot be found here upon earth. Therefore, he's speaking about a spiritual peace, the peace of being knit together with Christ, a peace of having your relationship restored with God the Father, a peace of having your sin forgiven, a peace that is beyond the understanding that is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God.

not just knowing facts about the Lord Jesus Christ, not just knowing that he came from heaven, not just knowing that he was born upon earth. Facts can't do you any good. It's only a relationship with Christ Jesus, a transformation of heart, the indwelling of his spirit that gives us faith to believe and trust in him, and not just in him, but in his words.

You see, he says, I am going. But he spoke to them. He spoke to them words that would comfort them, just like the surgeon tries to speak words of comfort to the patient, telling them all that is going to take place. So the Lord Jesus Christ speaks words of comfort to his people.

And even today, these are words of comfort to his dear people that they have been given the Holy Spirit of God, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, who will guide them in all truth. The truth here is found in the Word of God, the Spirit of God, who will abide with you. I will be with you.

And it's the same even today, that the believer is in a state of peace, peace between God and themselves. Peace between God the Father and his adopted children. Peace before the law of God. There is no justification to them that are in Christ Jesus. They are justified. There's no condemnation, sorry, to those who are in Christ Jesus. There's peace between you and the law. Your sin has been washed away. You stand just before the law of God. but also in life there can be peace. An experienced sailor who knows the sea, who knows his ship, can have peace in the storm by the knowledge of his vessel, by the knowledge that he has of the ocean, by the understanding and the experience that he has. And so the believer can also have peace in the storms of life. Yes, the storm may be raging externally, but they can have peace in their hearts. They can have peace in their souls by knowing the word of God, by knowing the word of the Lord Jesus Christ, by having walked in experience and faith with the Lord Jesus. And so these are words of comfort. These things have I spoken unto you, that you might have peace. That was the desire of Jesus, that his apostles would experience the peace within their hearts.

Because in the world, ye shall have tribulation. you shall. As we come to this new year, we can have a hope that the Lord will help us to walk through this year. We can know that he will give us the strength needed day by day We know that he has given us his Holy Spirit, the comforter and the guide of his people. But we also know we will have tribulation. To what extent, we don't know. But what we do know is that the Christian life is a perplexing mixture of peace and distress.

we have peace between ourselves and God we have peace within our souls because of the joy and the knowledge of sin forgiven but we also have trouble and difficulty and opposition and persecution and distress that our life is a complete mixture of all of these things the unbeliever can say has double trouble. You see the unbeliever is in trouble with God and they have trouble here upon earth. The believer has peace with God, peace in Christ Jesus and yet trouble on earth. The believer is in the favoured position of having a heavenly Father in heaven who knows all that they are going through. The believer is in a favoured position to have the Holy Spirit of God who walks with them through all trial and difficulty and opposition and persecution. The unbeliever walks completely alone. They may have their friends round about them, but they have a God who is their enemy. They have a Holy Spirit who is absent from them. so they're in double trouble. They will have tribulation just like you and me. Our tribulation is somehow different to theirs because we have a spiritual battle to contend with.

Believer, we have the natural troubles of the world which every person has. Troubles within and troubles without. We have sickness, we have sin, we have soul trouble, doubts and fears, we have coldness, we have distance that we have to contend with, we have unbelief that we have to fight with. But we also have all of the other troubles, that everybody else has troubles. There are troubles in the world that weigh us down. There are troubles in our own country that weigh us down. There are troubles in our families. There are troubles in our marriages. There are troubles at school. There are troubles at colleges. There are trouble at university. Everywhere you go, there are troubles and difficulties and oppositions, persecutions at work, persecutions in the family. Jesus says, these things have I spoken unto you that you might have peace, that you might be aware that all of this is going to take place. Just because you're following me doesn't mean that you're going to be without trouble, without difficulty. He says, if you follow me, you're going to have more trouble because the world will hate you because it hated me. You're going to have trouble. You're going to have spiritual opposition. You're going to be at war with the kingdom of darkness. You're going to be at war with your own weakness, your own flesh. You're going to have trouble. You're going to have opposition.

But in me, in me, in your relationship between me and the Father, there's going to be peace. Within your own soul, there's going to be peace because your sin has been forgiven. Don't you prove it? Oppositions without, and difficulties and oppositions within. But all of these things are set by God, that the trial of your faith is much more precious than gold that perishes.

The trouble that the apostles had to go through, what was it for? It was an opposition, but also it tested their faith. It tried that very faith that knit them to Christ Jesus. They proved his faithfulness and they saw their own weakness.

In the world you shall have tribulation, but, he says, be of good cheer. One writer writes that this is very cleverly done by the Lord Jesus Christ. And I thought of, no doubt many of us have eaten much cake over Christmas and New Year. You know, cake normally is layered. You normally say you have a chocolate sponge and you have some icing in the middle and then you have another chocolate. You imagine this like a chocolate sponge with a bitter icing and then chocolate in the middle, a chocolate sponge on the bottom. As you eat it up, The bitterness is consumed by the sweetness.

And so it is here in this verse. Sandwiched in the middle is this bitterness of trial and temptation and difficulty and persecution and opposition, yet it is sandwiched together by two great promises, that you will have peace in Christ Jesus and that Christ Jesus has overcome the world. So he contrasts it with the trouble, but you're going to have trouble. It's going to be difficult. It's going to be hard, but be happy because I have overcome the world. Christ Jesus has prevailed and he has got the victory. That's what it means. I've overcome, it means I've prevailed.

Even though Christ was yet to go to the cross, we know that no thing can alter the plan of God, that what he has said must be accomplished, therefore Christ can speak in the present tense that he has overcome. That he was going to gain the victory, he was going to triumph over sin. He was going to be the perfect substitute for the sins of his people, as the sins of his people was laid to his charge. He was going to gain the victory. He was going to gain the victory over Satan. He was going to bruise the serpent's head. He was going to gain the victory over the grave. The grave could not hold him because no sin was found in him and he was raised again on the third day.

He says, be of good cheer. be of good cheer because I have overcome by his death upon the cross, by his resurrection, there is forgiveness to be found and there is strength to be given. He says, if I don't go away, I will not send the Holy Spirit. So it was essential for Christ to die upon the cross in order for the Holy Spirit to begin his work of gathering in the church. In 1st John it tells us, 1st John chapter five, from verse 4. For whosoever is born of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world? But he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God.

And so as Christ has prevailed, as Christ has overcome, as Christ has become the captain of our salvation, so all of those who are following the Lord Jesus, who have taken up their cross and are following the Lord, all those who are in battle, who take up their armour daily and are fighting the cause of Christ, they will overcome. will overcome even by faith.

Who is it that overcomes the world but he that believeth that Jesus Christ Jesus is the Son of God. In Romans 8 it tells us there from verse 34 or verse 33, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who make is intercession for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword As it is written, for thy sakes we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, or any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

they are going to overcome. Will the opposition that they pass through separate them from the love of Christ? Will the opposition that they pass through, the persecution, separate them from the unity that they are in Christ Jesus? No, nothing. I am persuaded and neither death nor life or any other thing shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

And so Jesus says, these things have I spoken unto you that you might have peace. Are we going to listen to the word of God? Are we going to listen to the word of the Lord Jesus Christ? Or are we going to listen to the lies of Satan, who tells us just give up, just despair and focus upon yourself and your own troubles?

are we going to listen to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, the words that he has given to us that we might have peace in a troubled world. As we enter into this year he says you're going to have problems, you're going to have difficulties but these difficulties are not going to separate you from the love that you have in me because He has overcome the world by his death upon the cross and he's risen again on the third day.

When the children of Israel came out of Egypt and they had that great deliverance as they passed through the Red Sea, they went directly to a place called Mara. Mara was a place of bitterness. They couldn't drink the water for it was bitter. They had that great blessing and then they had a great difficulty. Isn't that just how our lives go? We have a new year. You think of the trouble that some people have entered into already. There are those who lost their lives on New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, out for a good time, as I was saying on that day, worshipping the God of this world, singing to the gods of this world, and they're taken in a moment into eternity to stand before God. The Bible says after death, judgment. They go from partying and drinking into the presence of a holy God. Double trouble. No doubt there are believers that have had their troubles already in the first few days of this year. Varying troubles. Yet we have that hope. We have that promise that Christ, that we have peace in Christ Jesus. That we will have trouble. But Christ has overcome.

How did they overcome at the waters of Myra? By cutting down a tree and the waters became sweet. In our bitterness, in our troubles, how can we overcome? By going to the tree, by going to the cross at Calvary and viewing the Lord Jesus Christ and all that he went through. All the trouble, despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. All that Christ went through for you and for me, punished for our sin upon the cross. Is there sorrow like unto his sorrow? There's not. And so anything that we go through, look to the Lord Jesus Christ, look to the cross. and that bitterness will be turned sweet as we view our relationship to God in Christ.

I read a while ago that in the olden days, nowadays we get Johnson's orange juice and when you pour it in, the whole orange juice is sweet all the way down. But I remember when we were younger that it wasn't quite so good and it would all sink to the bottom. And so you'd have weak orange juice and then very, very strong orange juice right at the bottom. And that is how it is with the Lord's people, you know. We go through these difficult things, but right at the bottom, when we're at our depths, there is a sweetness. If we come to the Word, there is a sweetness. We can find Christ. He says, these things have I spoken unto you that you might have peace.

Where do you have to go? to the cross. You have to go to the word to find the sweetness in the trial. The believer is able to pass through much opposition and yet have sweetness. He said, thy word was sweet to my taste. I sent the children something that I found yesterday online. There was this preacher and he brought in a Bible. It was his dad's Bible. And the Bible was very, very well used and falling apart and bound together with string. And he says, this is my dad's Bible. He said he read it every single day. He read it four times a year. He said on every single page, there is notes. Between every single leaf, there is a plain paper that he's written on. And when this Bible falls apart, he buys another one and he does the same thing. He says, my dad was the most gracious, godly man, patient man that you've ever met. How did he get like that? By the word. by the Word, by the Word of God dwelling in him. And he said this, a Bible falling apart is normally owned by somebody who isn't falling apart.

Where does our strength lie? Not in the wisdom of this world, but our strength lies in the wisdom of the Word In what God has given to us, Christ says the comforter, the Holy Spirit who is in you, he will guide you in all truth. So where do we go? How do we find this sweetness? We go to the Lord Jesus. We go to the word of God and we find it because it's him who has overcome. He has overcome the world. by his death and resurrection. And he is seated at the right hand of the Father. And he says, these things have I spoken unto you that in me you might have peace.

Don't be blinded by the fact that you're going to have a year without trouble, especially if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ. This world is full of trouble. Outside of Christ, you have double trouble. You're an enemy of God. There is trouble and you will have trouble in the world but there is peace with God in Christ Jesus.

There's trouble in the world but there's a helper who walks with his people in this troubled world who is the Spirit of God and he's given us his beautiful word who is sweet, what is sweet to our taste, a cordial to help us in our trouble, that thy word is sweet and pleasant to my taste.

May this be a word then to encourage us through this coming year that Christ is still in control, even though Trump believes that he's in control of everything, bombing Venezuela and threatening people here and there, yet the Lord Jesus Christ sits upon the throne. The earth is his footstool and he's waiting for that day when he can come and receive his people to himself.

May the Lord add his blessing. Amen. Let's sing our final hymn 1114 from Gatsby's to the tune 101.

1114. Now gracious Lord thy arm reveal and make thy glory known here whilst we plead the Saviour's name and venture near the throne.

1114. So... I swear.

Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit, do rest and abide with us now and forevermore. Amen.