So you can once again, with the
help of God, I'd like us to turn together to the chapter that
we read, 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. in the Gospel of John from chapters
14 15 and 16, the Lord Jesus Christ
begins to comfort his people, his disciples, by making them
aware of what is going to take place. He's making them aware
that though he has been with them for these three years, he
is going to be taken away from them. And he tries to encourage
them that they should not be discouraged, that they should,
in fact, be glad that he must needs go away. Because if he
does not go away, then the Holy Spirit is not going to come.
And so he takes these three chapters and he begins to explain the
reasons why he is going to go. He tells them in that very lovely
chapter 14 in the first part, let not your heart be troubled.
You 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. And 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 so he tells them
that he is going to go away and he's going to go away for a reason,
to establish a dwelling place. for his people. They're not to
be troubled that he's going away. They're not to be sad or anxious
or discouraged that he is going away because he's going away
to continue on another work on their behalf. He's going to,
as he tells them, build the mansions for his people. He's going to
be at the right hand of the father, to be a high priest for them. He's going to intercede, he's
going to mediate for them and he's going to go away and he's
going to send to them the Holy Spirit who he calls the Comforter. that the Holy Spirit of God would
be with them and he would be in them and he would give them
the ability to continue on the work of the Lord Jesus Christ
through the preaching of the gospel as they began to, as we
saw recently, that the Holy Spirit descended upon them and they
began to speak in other languages and began to declare the wonderful
works of God and through the declaration of the wonderful
works of God multitudes were brought to a saving knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ and the gates of hell could not prevail
over the continued building of the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so Jesus begins to explain
to his men that he's going to go away and that they were not
to be troubled, that they were not to be sad, that they were
not to be discouraged because he was going to prepare a place
for them. and he was going to come again
for them when that time would come and he was going to give
them of his Holy Spirit. After the end of chapter 16 we
go on to read of the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ and what
a lovely way it is that it all fits together. He begins to explain,
this is what is going to take place. This is what is going
to happen to me. Even though you are all going
to flee, all of you are going to run away, then he begins to
pray. He prays to his heavenly father regarding his people,
his disciples, those who he has brought out of the world, those
who have heard his word, those who he was to commission to go
into all the world and to preach the gospel. And so he ends his
discourse with them with a word of prayer. He tells them very clearly that
they are going to have trouble, that in the world in which they
live there's going to be opposition, that there's going to be difficulty. But he tells them that in that
they're to rejoice, they're to be of good cheer because Christ
has overcome the world. He says, these things have I
spoken unto you. Christ's words were never empty. They were never words that would
just fall to the ground. Those who came to criticise the
Lord Jesus walked away and said, never a man spake like this man. And so the words of the Lord
Jesus were spoken with purpose. They were precise words. They
were meaning words. They were the words of God. And so when Christ speaks these
words to his people he is meaning that they will have an effect
upon them. These things have I spoken unto
you that in me you might have peace. They were words of comfort.
trying to comfort them because of the fact that he was
going away. It was his, as it were, a final
goodbye sermon to his beloved ones, seeking to encourage them
to persevere in the way, to persevere in all that they have in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And he tells them that in him,
they might have peace. If you look at the words of the
Lord Jesus you will find that he often says about peace Peace
was a word that seemed to be often in his vocabulary. That word peace often fell from
his lips. And when something is precious
to us, we talk about it very often. When there are things
that we say quite often, there are often things that we They mean something to us. There
are certain phrases that even ministers use that they often
I think that I say the narrow way that leads to life. I often
notice I say that quite a lot and it's something that seems
to stick in my mind and the things that stuck in the mind of Christ.
He speaks about peace because he came to bring about peace. The work that he came to do was
to bring about reconciliation between his people and God. There was sin that had divided. There was that barrier that was
between the people of God and God himself. And so Christ came
to bring about peace. And so peace was his way of life. Peace was his life work because
he was to die upon the cross. He was to bring about peace.
When he was on the sea with his disciples and the great storm
came he spoke peace to the storm. Mark chapter 4. Mark chapter
4. In verse 38, he was in the hinder
part of the ship asleep on a pillow. And they awake him and said unto
him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? There was no
peace. They were in trouble. They were
tormented. They believed that they were
going to die. They had no peace. They were filled with fear. And
they came to the Lord Jesus Christ, who was at the hinder part of
the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke him and said,
unto their martyrs, so carest thou not whether we perish. And
he arose and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, peace
be still. And the wind ceased and there
was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are
you so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? And they feared exceedingly and
said one to another, What manner of man is this that even the
wind and the sea obey him? And he said, Peace, be still.
Another rendering of that is silence. Jesus just spoke and
said, Silence. Sometimes when we were at school
and there was a good teacher that had authority they could
walk into the room and just say silence and the silence would
descend upon the classroom. The Lord Jesus spoke that to
the wind and the waves. He just said silence and they
stopped. They obeyed his voice. Peace
be still. In John chapter 14 As Jesus is beginning his discourse
regarding his death, he speaks words of peace to his people. 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 you have heard how I said I go away
and I come again unto you and so it was peace. Peace was the
message that he peace was the work that he came to bring and
peace was the message that he gave to his disciples I'm going
to go away My peace I am going to leave with you, not like the
world. I'm not going to give you that
sort of peace. I'm going to give you an enduring peace, a lasting
peace, a spiritual peace. You'll remember also when the
Lord Jesus rose again from the grave and he appeared to his
apostles as they were in the room. He appeared in the midst
of them and the door was shut. What did he say? in verse 19,
chapter 20 and verse 19. And the same day at evening,
being the first day of the week, the doors were shut where the
disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews. Again, like
in the boat, filled with fear, filled with anxiety, filled with
discouragement. They were afraid. came Jesus and stood in the midst
and said unto them peace be unto you and he said and when he had
said he showed them his hands and his side and they were glad
when they saw the Lord And so it was a word that often fell
from the saviour's lips to his troubled people. When they were
in distress, he came and he spoke peace to them. When they were
full of fear, when he had gone from them, he spoke peace to
them. When he returned, as he rose
from the grave, he came and he spoke peace to them. And isn't it true today what
the Lord's people need? Often we are filled with fear,
often we are filled with anxiety and we forget all the treasure
trove that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ and we become anxious
and despairing and we need the Lord Jesus to come and speak
peace unto us. We want him to say a silence
and that the wind and the waves, the trials of our lives become
like a calm sea. But sometimes he doesn't do that.
Sometimes he may come and speak peace to us and we may remain
in the storm. We may remain in the wind and
the waves, yet we are able to experience the peace of our souls,
knowing that Christ is with us. knowing that we are comforted
by his Holy Spirit, the Comforter, knowing that his word is truly
precious unto us. Sometimes there are those times
when we can be blessed by a word. The Lord speaks and applies a
scripture unto us or a passage unto us and we are able to know
a peace. The fear is taken away. The loneliness
is taken away. The despair is taken away. The
anxiety is taken away. And he says, these things have
I spoken unto you that you might have peace. I notice who it is for. This is what I
hadn't noticed before. That in me you might have peace. You see there is the difference.
These things have I spoken unto you that in me ye might have
peace. Peace is something that is sought
after by many people. Often we go for a nice walk and
we want to enjoy the peace and quiet of the countryside. We want to find an isolated place
where we can just walk and be alone. And we are seeking for
a peaceful environment, maybe to collect our thoughts, maybe
to pray or maybe just to have a conversation with our loved
one or a friend. And we just want some peace and
quiet. And we take a walk. how often
it is that that peace that is disturbed. Maybe somebody else
walks by or maybe it's near a road or maybe there's an aeroplane
or that disturbs the peace. And so the peace that this world
has to offer is not guaranteed. There's always something that
may trouble it. Look at the sea. Sometimes we
say it looks so peaceful and calm. And then the next day the
wind has got up and there's white horses and big waves crashing
on the seashore. That peace has been disturbed.
And it's the same in our lives. Doesn't last very long. Peaceful
moments. But there is a peace to be found
in the Lord Jesus Christ, a spiritual peace, a rest for a troubled
soul. It's like a harbour for a ship
that has been struggling through a storm. There is a rest for
the people of God in the Lord Jesus Christ and they're able
to experience a true lasting peace. And that key to the peace
is the Lord Jesus. That's where the treasure is
found. If you knew that there was a
beautiful, peaceful spot where nobody else went, you would frequent
it often. And we were in Kenya, we found,
we picked up a fisherman. He was walking along this road
and he said, I'll tell you where there's a secret beach. And he
showed us. And we had to push the Land Rover
down this very rough road that was overgrown. And as you come
out of the woods, you are presented with the Indian Ocean, a glorious
sight with lovely sandy beaches. And it was, we used to call it
the secret beach. We're going to the secret beach.
And there was never anybody there, no tourists. And it was lovely,
peaceful. How often there are those times
when that earthly peace is broken. Like this spiritual peace that
Christ gives. It's a lasting peace. And so
we go where the treasure is found. We go to that peaceful place
and we frequent it often. of fellowship with the Lord Jesus. We unburden our hearts, we commune
with him to find that inner peace. We are as his people, in him, united to him by his spirit. In Galatians chapter three, It says, this only would I learn
of you. Receive ye the spirit of works or the law or by the
hearing of faith. No, I've got the wrong reference,
sorry. But he was being raised with him in baptism. We are in
Christ. by his spirit, that the people
of God are in him as he was born into this world, as he lived
and died he bore them upon his heart, upon his shoulders, he
died for them, he rose again for them, he ever lives even
today for them, that they are in Christ. They've been baptised
into Christ. They are members of his body. He is their head. And he has given them peace. A true peace. Peace with God. We have peace with God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. He has removed the barrier, the
obstacle of sin by his death. We have peace. through the forgiveness
of our sins. We have peace in the knowledge
that God is not against us. That God is our Father that is
in heaven. That we have been adopted into
the family of God. We are part of that earthly family,
sons and daughters of the true and living God. That knowledge
brings peace. peace, that God is in control. As he said to the storm, silence. As he said to the storm, peace,
be still. He is in control. Even today
he is in control when things seem to be out of hand, getting
out of control. It brings a peace to the soul
to understand and to remember that Christ is still seated on
the throne. Christ is in control of all the
things that we are in him and that nothing can take place in
our lives without him allowing it to be so. But he never loses the control. But also there is that peace. that Christ is waiting. I was
thinking recently, why are we not filled with more fear? If you were to go into a dark,
spooky house that you'd never been into, and as you entered
through the front door, you'd begin to hear things, creaks
and cracks. And as you made your way through
that building, you would be filled with fear. And that fear comes
from not knowing. Not knowing what is around the
corner, not what is behind that door and your imagination will
begin to run wild and you'll hear things that aren't there. Why is it that we are not so
filled with fear about our lives? We don't know what is going to
happen in an hour's time. Why are we not consumed with
fear about that? What about tomorrow? Why are
we not consumed with fear? Why does our imagination not
run wild that everything is going to fall apart? Because we have some measure
of trust that all these things are just going to continue working. But why are we not filled with
fear? regarding death. People, as we looked at this
morning, they're deceived. People say, I'm not afraid of
dying. I don't care. They only say things
like that because they're deceived. They are really afraid, or they
should really be afraid, but they're deceived. If they can
be afraid walking into a scary house, why are they not afraid
of entering into an eternal state? But the Christian doesn't need
to be afraid. Because the Christian has Christ waiting. He has said to them, let not
your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me and so there is a peace even there that Christ has taken
away the sting of death. The grave will not have a victory
over us as Christ himself arose again from the grave so we also
will rise again from the grave and there is that peace with
that knowledge. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God believe also in me. And these things have
I spoken unto you that in me you might have peace. In the
world you shall have tribulation. As we look at the lives of the
apostles we saw and we see that they had trouble. They were the
ambassadors, the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they
went forth into the world and they were persecuted. They were
hated and they were killed. As it was with Christ, so it
will be with his people. And as the world or England gets
more worldly and ungodly, the more likely it is that you and
I are going to suffer in some measure the persecution. We're going to have trouble.
We have trouble anyway because we are strangers and pilgrims
in a foreign land. We have trouble anyway because
we are living in a world that groans under the weight of sin
and bodies that have been corrupted by sin. It doesn't take long
does it in our lives before there is something that comes along
to trouble us and disturb us and unsettle the peace that we
have. We are constantly filled with
doubts and fears and anxieties and we're troubled about tomorrow
and there's sickness and there is death. There is the opposition
that we face. There are decisions that we have
to make that trouble us and disturb us. And there is trouble in this
world. Some people seem to have a greater
measure of trouble than others. Think of the Christians in Nigeria
and other places in the world where they are persecuted from
place to place. They have no settled rest. They
have no place to call their home. They have no nice chapel to come
and worship in. They're just moved on and moved
on from place to place. But they have their Lord Jesus. Jesus says, in the world you
shall have trouble. But be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world. The believer is in Christ and
Christ has overcome the world. And so as Christ has overcome
the world, so the believer also will overcome. We are more than
conquerors in Christ Jesus. The victory is sure, it is certain,
but it is a pathway of trouble. By his life, his perfect life,
he overcame. He overcame all the obstacles
that were placed in his way, all the sin that was presented
before him. He was tried and tested in all
points as we are yet without sin and he overcame. He resisted the temptations that
were laid before him by Satan by quoting the scripture. And the believers in him are
more than conquerors in Christ. They also will overcome. Yes,
they will be filled with doubts and fears. Yes, there are times
when they will fall away. Yes, there are times when they
will backslide and struggle. yet ultimately they will be brought
forth because in Christ they are justified and sanctified
and prepared for heaven. By his perfect life he has overcome
the world. By his death and by his resurrection
He overcame sin and death and the grave. By his resurrection,
he defeated Satan. He bruised the serpent's head. The seed of the woman was crushed. The seed of the woman crushed
the serpent's head. And so in Christ, he has overcome. Christ has overcome the world. and his people are no longer
held in the darkness. The Bible tells us, doesn't it,
that those who are held there in the darkness, they are blinded. The God of this world has blinded
them. They are held in darkness, but
Christ is the light of the world and he has brought his people
into the light. They're able to see. They have
faith. They're able to realise that
Christ is there in heaven waiting for them. He has overcome and
so will we. Yes as I said it is often there's
times of difficulty and we feel like maybe giving up and maybe
you do feel like that even tonight. You feel that you can't go on.
You feel so overwhelmed with the present circumstances of
life that you cannot continue. But you will continue because
Christ has given you his Holy Spirit, the Comforter, your strength
to enable you to overcome as Christ has overcame for you so
you will also overcome. He says be of good cheer, don't
let your heart be troubled, be of good cheer, I have overcome
the world. Because he is the head of the
church. As the head goes so does the
body. And every believer is part of
the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as the head has overcome
the world so the body has also overcome the world. Jesus has
said that he is the bridegroom and he has gone away and he has
gone away to prepare a place for his people for his bride
and he says I will come again. In the book of Acts it says,
and this same Jesus who went up shall come again and he will
come again for his people because he has already overcome the world. He is victorious in the work
that he came to do. His salvation that he came to
accomplish is accomplished. and he is seated at the right
hand of the Father and he will come again to gather you and
me to himself whether it be from the grave or whether it be we'll
be transformed in a moment we don't know but he is your head
and he is your husband and he has overcome and you are a conqueror
in Christ Jesus and as he has overcome So you and I will also
overcome. These things have I spoken unto
you that you might have peace. He pre-warned them. This is what
is going to take place. This is what is going to happen.
And he pre-warns us even today. Yes, you're going to have trouble.
Yes, you're going to have difficulty. But in me, you have peace. In me, you have overcome because
I have overcome. And one day I will come again
for you. These things have I spoken unto
you that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall
have tribulation but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen. Let's sing together our final
hymn today from Hymns for Worship, number 14, from Psalm 92. To render thanks
to thee, O Lord, it is a comely thing, and to thy name, O thou
most high, do praise aloud to sing. Hymns for Worship, number
14, tune 218. O come, O come, to Bethlehem,
O come, O come, to Bethlehem, ? My loving guidance to you shall
hold ? ? That shines the morning light ? ? And to defend thy faithful
hand ? ? We pledge allegiance to thee ? O'er the ramparts we watched,
were so gallantly streaming? ? And with Him, dear Lord, bless
us ? ? A motive for His praise ? ? Then shall more hope and
love be found ? where I know I'll never stay. ? Light is the hope ? ? It is our
hope to live ? ? Empty from all unrighteousness ? ? Tis all together
now ? Dear Lord, we do thank Thee for
that peace that is to be found in Thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
and we thank Thee for the warning that in the world we shall have
tribulation, but that Christ has overcome the world. Help
us then to be in good cheer and to remember that He is in heaven,
preparing a place for his people. We pray that we may be dismissed
with thy blessing and do watch over us upon the roads and return
us home in peace and in safety. And now may the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship
and the communion of the Holy Spirit, to be with us each now
and forevermore. Amen.