Turn with me again to John 16.
The last verse in this chapter is going to be our text tonight. I was quoting this verse to myself
Monday morning. I had it in my mind. I was comforting myself with it. And
when I grabbed my Bible, I thought, I wonder where that verse is. And my ribbon was in John 17,
because that's where we were Sunday night. So this is the
first page my Bible opened up to. And when I looked at the
top of the page, there it was. So this is the verse we're going
to look at tonight. This is one extremely comforting verse of
scripture. This is one very comforting verse
of Scripture. Our Lord Jesus Christ said in
John 16 verse 33, 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. Doesn't
that just make things better? That just makes it all better.
He said, these things have I spoken unto you that in me you might
have peace. Peace, that's what God's people
want, peace. In the world you shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world." Now our Lord is comparing two conditions,
two states of being. And that comparison is the title
of this message. He said, you're in the world,
but you're in me. In the world, but in me. And that's where our comfort
lies. These things have I spoken unto you, that in me, in me you
might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation,
but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. Now let's
begin by understanding what he means by in the world. He said in the world. What does
he mean by that? We'll turn over to John chapter
one. John chapter 1, this is speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 10 says, He was in the
world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him
not. Now in John 17, He said, This
is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. And right here He said,
The world knew Him not. The world knew Him not. So the
world represents those who naturally are not His people. They do not
know Him. They do not believe on Him. And it's not that they're just
ignorant of Him. It's not that they haven't been told. Have
not they all been told? Verse 11 says, He came to them. He came unto His own. He made them. He created them.
They belong to Him. This whole world belongs to Him.
Every soul must go meet His Maker. So they belong to Him. And verse
11 says, He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. Would not receive Him. And it's
because they were completely eaten up with sin. That's the
reason why. Sin ruined the world. Sin is all that is in the world. That's all that's in the world,
sin. Look with me if you would at 1 John 2. 1 John 2 verse 15
says, Love not the world, Neither the things that are in
the world. If any man loved the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world,
this is all that's in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes, and the pride of life, and that is not of the
Father. That's of the world. That's of
the world. The world represents and the
world is. Everything that is contrary to
God. It represents, when He talks
about the world, the world represents and the world is everything that
is contrary to God. And that's where God found all
of His people. That's where God found every
single one of us. Not only were all of us in the
world, we were of the world. All of us. Of the world. By nature, we are the world. Cut from the very same lump.
Cut from the same lump. Look with me at Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2 verse 12 says, that
at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world. In the world. Verse 4 says, but God. Verse 13 says, but now in Christ. You were in the world. But now
in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by
the blood of Christ. God did something in the world. This is what happened. We were
in the world, of the world, no hope and without God in the world.
But God did something in the world. God did something for
some who were of the world. The Apostle Paul wrote, and this
is one of my favorite verses of scripture. He wrote, great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. God was manifest in the world. In this ruined world. He said
God was justified in the Spirit. God walked this earth and He
lived a life that was completely contrary to the world. The life He lived was completely
contrary to the world. The world walked a life completely
contrary to God. So Christ came and He walked
and He lived a life that was completely contrary to sin, totally
contrary to sin. Contrary to death, contrary to
rebellion against God. And then He took that perfect
spotless life, that perfect spotless walk, and He traded it with the walk and the life of
His people in the world. That sinful life in the world.
He took His perfect spotless walk. And he traded it with the
life of his people that was totally contrary to God. He gave them
a life totally contrary to the world and took their life that
was totally contrary to God. And he took that life to the
grave. When he laid hold of it, when
he took it from them, he took it all the way to the grave.
He put everything concerning His people in the world. Everything
about them of the world. Everything they were in the world. He took it all away. He put it
all away. And when He finished that task,
God His Father told some angels who were in heaven, go down and
roll the stone away from that tomb. And they did. And as soon as they did, they
watched the Lord of Glory walk out of that tomb. So Paul wrote,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the Spirit. He said, scene of angels. Those
angels witnessed Him come out of that tomb. He said, preached
unto the Gentiles. The deliverance from sin, that's
being preached to His people. That's the message that God sends
out to His people. The message of Christ is going
to find His people wherever they are. This brings me more comfort
as a pastor than anything I know. The message of Christ is going
to find all of His people wherever they are. Just preach the message. Use whatever means God gives
and leave it in His hands. That message is going to find
His people. It's going to find His people. And Paul said that message is
going to be believed on. He is going to be believed on
in the world. That's what that verse of Scripture
says. Believed on in the world. Everything Christ came to do,
He has done and He has now been The end of that verse said, received
back up into glory, where he was. Now, to all of those people,
all of those people that he accomplished that for, all of those people
that he's given faith to believe that, do you believe that? You believe God was manifest
in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels. preached
unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received back
up into glory. And that's your hope. That's
your salvation. To every soul that God has given
faith to believe that, because if God doesn't give faith, we
would never say, that's enough. Never would we say, yes, that's
enough. Stop right there. That's enough.
To every soul that he accomplished that for and has given faith
to believe it, he says, these things have I spoken unto you,
that in me, you might have peace. In the world, you are still going
to have tribulation. But he said, you remember this.
This will bring joy to your heart. I have overcome this world. I've overcome you. I have overcome
your sin. I have delivered you from the
world. In Me there is peace. In Me you're going to find all
the peace you need. All the peace you need. Now,
we are in Him eternally. We are in Him spiritually. If He accomplished this for us,
it means God put us in Him. And we're in Him eternally. But right now, we are in the
world physically. And He's telling us in our text
that in the midst of all of this tribulation that's going on around
us, because we are still physically in the world, if we will mentally,
if we will spiritually, if we will in heart, enter in to Him, if we'll enter
into Him, we will find immediate peace right here in the world. We're in Him. But if we will
enter into Him, we'll find the peace we need right here in this
world. Now what is it to enter into
Him? What are we entering into? What is it to enter into Christ?
If we will enter into Christ, we'll find all the peace we need.
It's to enter in to everything about Him. It's to enter in to
His love. It's to enter in to the choice
He made when He chose who His people would be. Who He chose
to save. Just enter into that. He chose
sinners. It's to enter in to His favor
and His kindness and His grace. The length that He went to to
show kindness to us. It's to enter in to His blood. Just how complete that covering
is. So complete. People say blood
is thicker than water. Blood is thicker than water.
A man can try to take water and wash his sins off of him all
he wants to. He can try to take the water
of his own works and cleanse himself and scrub himself clean. It'll never work. It'll never
work. Those sins will never be removed
from God's sight. Never. But if those sins are
covered in the blood of Jesus Christ, that blood is so thick.
It's so thick, when God looks at that blood, all He sees is
Christ. That's all He sees. Thank God
for the blood. To enter into Christ is to enter
into His protection over us. It's to enter into His guidance.
It's to enter into His care. It's to enter into His body.
It's to enter into the congregation of believers that He's brought
together. Being in the world. Having dealings with people in
the world. When that starts bringing tribulation,
and it does, you deal with the world long enough and it will
bring plenty of tribulation. When people of the world bring
tribulation, start entering in to the body of believers that
God has gathered together. Enter into your brethren, enter
into the peace that He's given us together. Enter into the love
that He's put within His people. It'll make you so thankful for
it. It'll make you so thankful for it. Enter into the joy that we have
gathering around Him. Is this not the greatest thing
on earth? the joy of worshipping Him. One
heart, one mind, one soul, knowing He's overcome it all. All of
our problems, all of our tribulation, He has overcome it all. Verse
14 right here in Ephesians 2 says, For He is our peace, who hath
made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition
between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even
the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in
himself of twain one new man, so making peace." What is the current state of
the child of God? What truly is the immediate condition
of the believer? We are physically in the world,
but we are spiritually in Him. We are in Christ. Yes, we're in the world, but
we're in Christ. In this world, physically, we
experience nothing but tribulation. Even things that seemed to be
good at the time, they turn into tribulation. They always do. But when God brings us together,
brings us around this Word, and when He speaks to our hearts,
and we know those moments, we know when God brings us in. We gather together, but we know
those moments when God lays hold of us, and brings us in, and
speaks to our heart, opens our spiritual ears, we
hear His voice, At that moment we experience
nothing but peace. Nothing but peace. His love brings
so much peace. His favor, His grace, it brings
so much peace. His blood, His mercy brings so
much peace. His Spirit, when two or three
are gathered together, His Spirit brings so much peace. So let's
enter into it. Let's see if the Lord will let
us, for just a minute here, enter in to Him. Enter in to what He
said through His Word. Enter in to all of His promises. Let's see if we can enter into
His love through this verse of Scripture. Go with me to John
13. John 13 verse 1 says, Now before
the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was
come, that He should depart out of this world unto the Father,
He knew that He had to lay hold of the sin of His people and
take that sin before the throne of His Father. He knew that. He knew that He was going to
be judged bearing that sin. He knew what the penalty was
going to be. Separation from God in death. He knew all that going into it. Verse 1 says, Now before the
feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come,
that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having
loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the
end. He loved them all the way to
the end. If God will let us enter into
that, that will bring so much peace. We say, yeah, but what if I mess
it up? Yeah, He loved me and He died
for me and He redeemed me, but what if I mess it up? What if
I sin against Him again? What if I bring shame to Him
and shame to myself as a follower of Him? What if I'm not what
I'm supposed to be? Look at verse 36, John 13, verse
36. It says, Simon Peter said unto
Him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I
go, thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me
afterwards. Peter said unto him, Lord, why
cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy
sake. Jesus answered him, wilt thou
lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
the cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice. You're gonna deny me, you're
going to reject me, you're gonna curse me with your very own mouth. Chapter 14, verse 1, he said,
let not your heart be troubled. There's no division there. There's
no chapter division there. He said in verse 38 of chapter
13, will you lay down your life for me, Peter? Are you the follower
that you say you are really? He said, I'm about to tell you
the truth. Before that rooster crows, you're going to deny me
three times. 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. He said, you're going
to deny me, reject me and cuss me. I'm going 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 you may be also." He said, your salvation
is not dependent on your faithfulness. It's dependent on my faithfulness.
Your salvation is not dependent on your faithfulness. It's dependent
on mine. Let's just enter into that. Is
that not Doesn't that bring peace? That brings peace. We're just saying, great is thy
faithfulness. Oh God, my Father, there is no
shadow of turning with thee. Thou changest thought, thy compassions,
they fail not. As thou hast been, thou forever
will be. Great is thy faithfulness. Great
is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies
I see. All I have needed, thy hand hath
provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord
unto me. That's peace. That's peace. Look right here in John 14 at
verse 27. He said, 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. Just let not your heart be troubled. Our Lord told the Father in John
17. Turn with me over there to John 17. He said in verse 11,
He said, 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. Verse 12, he said, while I was
with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that
thou gavest me, I have kept, and none of them is lost but
the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled.
Verse 17, he said, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is
truth. Verse 19, and for their sakes,
I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through the
truth. He said, Father, would you keep
them? This was his prayer. Father,
would you keep them? He said, I have kept them. And He said,
My Word is going to keep them. They're going to keep coming
back to this Word, and it's going to keep them. We're kept. Kept
by the Father, kept by the Son, kept by the Spirit of the Word.
In spite of all this tribulation going on around us, we're kept.
Go with me to Romans 8. Romans 8 verse 36, as it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. It seems as though we're just
sheep for the slaughter. We can't make it in the world. We're just sheep for the slaughter.
He said in verse 37, no sir. 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, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ." Christ Jesus our
Lord. In the world we shall have tribulation,
but in Him it is perfect peace. It's perfect peace. Isaiah wrote,
thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on
thee, because he's trusting in thee. So let's close with this
exhortation. All right, go with me to Philippians
4. Philippians chapter 4, verse 6. Be careful for nothing, but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests
be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passeth
all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus. Here's what he's saying. Don't
be full of care over all this tribulation. Be of good cheer. Be of good
cheer. Just give thanks. We don't understand it, but give
thanks anyway. By prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving, take it all to the Lord. Know that He has already
overcome every bit of that. If God will let us do that, if
He'll enable us to do that, it'll bring peace to our hearts that
passes understanding. How is it that you can have so
much peace in a moment like this? I don't know, but I do. He's
in control. He said, in me you are going
to have peace. You're going to have peace. All
right, let's all stand together. Turn with me to 287.