The title of the message, A Threefold
Peace, A Threefold Peace. I like that word peace, tranquility. There's nothing like having peace
of conscience, to have a quiet conscience, quieted
by the blood of Christ, and His blood, His person, His righteousness
is the only thing that can quiet an accusing conscience. Now there
is a real enmity between God and men, men and women, everyone,
everyone since the fall of Adam come into this world hostile. That's what the word enmity means,
hostile toward God. It just takes a certain situation
to bring it out, to bring it out. And then that hostility
comes out. It lays dormant for the most
part until the Lord brings something along to arouse it and bring
it out and let us see. Let us see that hostility. We
see it in the world, don't we? We see it in the rebellion of
the world, of the unbelieving world. We see the hostility toward
God. You know, man's hatred. for one
another is nothing more than his hostility toward God, because
God made man in his image, and it's a hatred of God. It's what's
coming out. And our great need, our great
need, it's not world peace. There's not going to be world
peace. Don't fool yourself. None of you who believe are fooled.
You know that. There can't be world peace because
natural men hate, envy, jealousy. When you have that, when that
is your nature, there can't be peace, not real peace, not lasting
peace. But there is such a thing as
peace with God. And until there is peace with
God, there can be no other real peace. There can't be, not until
there's real peace with God. Our Lord said this, in this world,
you shall have tribulation. If the world hate me, it'll hate
you. So there'll never be that peace between us and the world.
There won't be, won't be. How can two walk together except
they agree? They can't walk together. Now let's look at what our Lord
has to say in these few verses before we get to verse 27. That's
the verse I want to really look at. Now remember, He's comforting
His disciples. And what He comforts them with,
He comforts us with. His Word, His Promises, My Peace. I leave with you. They are disturbed
right now, but they are going to experience a peace that they've
really not known. They're going to grow in Christ.
They're going to grow in grace. And when you do that, when you
grow in, when you grow in grace and in knowledge of Christ, you
will grow in peace. You will grow in assurance. Don't
try to get assurance. Get more knowledge of Christ.
If you know Him more, these other things happen. They are the results
of it. They're the fruit of it. Assurance, peace, joy, the fruit
of the Spirit, these all grow as you grow in Christ. If we
don't grow in Christ, the fruit of the Spirit doesn't grow either.
And if you don't grow in Christ, That's evidence of death. Because
if it's living, it's what? It's growing. If something is
living, it's growing, it's producing. If it's dead, it's not producing
anything. And that's just so. In verse
21, he says, and I want you to know how many times he mentions
love. He doesn't mention faith here. At first, he started out
saying, if you believe in God, believe also in me, trust me.
He said, if you don't take me at my word, believe the works
that you've seen. But now he turns to love. When
he speaks of keeping the commandments, he speaks of love to him. Because
we don't keep any commandment in order to be accepted or find
favor with God. But love is an evidence of our
relationship to him. It's an evidence. He that hath
my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me shall be
loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself
to him. First of all, he that hath my
commandments shows his authority. You see, all power and all authority
is given into the hands of Christ, and He calls them His commandments.
He calls them the commandments of the Father, God's commandments.
He calls them His commandments, because He's God. He's showing
forth here His deity and His authority. He said, He that keepeth
My commandments. And then He's saying here, He
that keepeth My commandments, and I believe He's saying this,
in His heart. not like the Pharisees who turned a page and said, thou
shalt, thou shalt not. And they said, okay, we've done
that today. No, you haven't, but he keeps them in. You keep
God's word in your heart. If my word, he says, what abides
in you, not just on the pages of this book, you see the God's
word and his words abide in our hearts that's where they abide
in our hearts and you'll notice here when we love christ he tells
us here that we are assured of the father's love for us he that
loves the father loves the son the father loves him loves him
he that's an enemy of christ is an enemy of the father they
are one in love they're one And he says here, I will manifest
myself to him. Salvation is the manifestation
of a person. Now, just about everybody that's
in this country and many other countries who heard the gospel,
they believe in a historical person called Jesus Christ. History
proves this man existed. There are historical writings
of Him. But that's not what He's saying
here. He's saying here, I will manifest myself to Him. This
is spiritual. You see the Lord. He becomes
very, very real to you. Jesus Christ is not someone who
lived, but someone who lives right now. He's your Lord. He's your Master. He's your Savior. He lives. He's real to you. It's
a revelation of Christ through the soul. You see, it's not a
physical revelation. It's a spiritual revelation.
He becomes real to the soul. You see, through the written
Word, the Living Word becomes a reality. We read of Him in
the Bible. We read of Him in the pages of
this book. But through the written word
and the Spirit of God, the one written of here becomes very,
very real to us. He's very, very real to us. Now
Judas, not Iscariot, this is not, this is Jude, is who this
is, Jude. He said, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself
unto us and not unto the world? You know what, to me, The encouraging
thing here is, is you don't have to know everything
to be saved. You don't have to be a theologian to be saved.
You just have to know the Lord Jesus Christ, the right one.
Paul said they'll come preaching another Jesus. That one does
not save. You got to know this. And I'm encouraged when these
disciples say, well, how do you, we don't know where you're going.
How do we know to get, how we know to get there? That's the
apostles asking him this. And Jude here, he says, Lord,
how is this going to happen? In other words, how are you going
to manifest your glory and power and the world not see it? How can that be? He's confused
right now. He wants to know what manner
you're going to do this. Well, after our Lord went back
and the Holy Spirit was given, he understood. It's a spiritual
revelation. It's what it is. I'm going to
manifest my power and glory and who I am, what I have done and
where I am and what's the future, what's coming. You're going to
see in me the glory of God that you don't see right now. Because
they said, show us the Father. He said, you're looking at him.
They didn't see that till later. Then later is like, it's like,
it's kind of like, oh, now I get it. Now I see. But it's a spiritual revelation.
And Jesus answered and said to him, if a man loved me, see,
he's turned to this, this matter of love, because that's an intimate
relationship. to love. He that loves me, he
will keep my words. There's no doubt about it. He
will. He said be baptized. Every one of those who believe
him, for what? You're baptized. You follow the Lord in baptism.
You take the Lord's Supper because he said to. You keep my words. Love one another. You do that
because He said to. And you don't do it just because
He said to, but you do it because the Spirit of God's in you, and
the Word, His Word, now listen, His Word comes alive. Paul spoke
to the Thessalonians, I believe it was, and he said, the Word
which effectually worketh in you, the Word of God works in
you. It's at work in you. It's not
a dead book. It's not dead words. It's His
words. Just like you and I speak to
each other, our word, they mean something. His word really means
something now and it works in us. It motivates us, it directs
us, it guides us in the hands of the Holy Spirit. If a man
loved me, he'll keep my words and my father will love him. Don't you love those who love
your children? You love those who love your children. And those who are enemies of
your children, if they have enemies, you have someone that can't stand
your child, you can't stand them either. That's right. They're your enemies too. But
my father will love him and we, we will come to him, and this
is so powerful here, and make our abode. are dwelling with
him. God dwells in you. God dwells
in you. You can't comprehend that. I
can't comprehend that. God dwells in us. But the more
we do realize that, the more it sure does make us more careful
in our conduct, doesn't it? And in our conversation, that
the Lord abides in us. He said, we'll make our abode.
But again here, love is evidenced by obedience. You know, when
children love their parents, when they love their parents,
it is evidenced by obedience. Wives to their husbands, husbands
to their wives, the church to Christ, their love is evidenced
by obedience. It sounds evidenced. this is this is a powerful statement
we love christ no more than we love one another you know that
we love the lord jesus christ no more than we love one another
at all and he that loveth me not is evidenced by this. He doesn't
keep my sayings. He does not believe the gospel.
He doesn't love God's children. Will not submit to baptism. I
know there are some who are baptized that make a false profession. I know that. But I'm talking
about true conversion. I'm talking about true conversion.
I'm not talking to a bunch of people who don't believe the
gospel, but you know that those who don't believe, they don't
obey. It's evidenced by disobedience. He doesn't love the gospel of
Christ. Then he says here in verse 25 and 26, these things
have i spoken unto you being yet present with you these these
are my instructions you see for several chapters here he's leaving
them with instructions all thy children our lord said earlier
all thy children god's children shall be told of god and here
god stands in front of them teaching them and he's teaching us i feel
like i'm just sitting right there with them To me, this is just
present to me. This is not 2,000 years ago,
this is right now. I'm sitting here with them. When
I read the word of God, I read it in the present. Think about
that. When you read the gospel, read
it in the present, like you're sitting there with them, because
the Lord is instructing you just as he's instructing them. And he says here, these things
have I spoken to you, being yet present with you, but the comforter,
the paraclete, The Advocate, which is the Holy Ghost, whom
the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things."
There's a lot yet to learn. I have a lot yet to learn. Paul
said, I've not arrived, I've not apprehended, I don't have
this all, you know, I've got it now. No, we can never comprehend
all that God is and all that he has given us in Christ. We
can't comprehend. We can't really comprehend the
fullness of Jesus Christ. He's the wisdom of God. Who can
comprehend the infinite wisdom of God? God. He's the only one. The Holy Spirit will guide you
and teach you much more than you know now. That's why we come
together. We come together to worship in
spirit and truth, our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, our God. And we come here to be taught,
to be taught of God. We need to come here. Every time
we gather here, we need to come with the attitude Teach me, Lord. Instruct me. Give me a teachable
spirit this morning. Give me that blood that's on
the ear. Give me an ear for your word
this morning. Give me an ear. Let me hear the instructions.
Send me home. Send me home, instructor. Send
me home fed. Send me home with something to
meditate on. And then our Lord says here in
verse 27, and this is the verse I wanted to get to, peace, peace, I leave with you. He was leaving and they were
troubled. Right now they didn't have any
peace. They were tore up. They were so troubled. They didn't
know what's gonna happen now. We're gonna be left alone? No,
you're not gonna be left alone. The comforter is gonna come.
In my name, the Spirit of Truth is going to come, and He's going
to abide with you forever. He's not going to die and leave
you. He's going to abide with you forever. I'm the one who's
going to die, and I'm going to go back to the Father. I'm going
to finish the work that I was given to do, and He's going to
come, and He's going to dwell in you, and live in you, guide
you, and teach you, and bring all things to your remembrance
that I've taught you. You know, there's things that
I've heard when I was a young believer that now I understand
that I really didn't quite comprehend back then. The Word of God is always fresh.
It's always fresh to those who are alive. It's always fresh. 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.
He knows trouble. He knows every ache and pain
of your heart. Neither let it be afraid. They
were troubled and they were afraid. What's going to happen now? See,
the Lord's about to leave this world and go back to his father.
But before he goes, he's going to leave his disciples. and us
with a very precious gift. It's called peace. Peace. Would you like to have that peace
that enabled him to sleep on that boat when the storm was
just raging? Would you like to have that kind
of peace when all about you is falling apart, when your family
situation is just So troubled. And yet you can lay down at night
and go to sleep. That's the peace I want. When all around is falling apart,
you are not. You are not. You're not falling
apart. This piece that he gives will
carry you through the roughest seas. This is a real piece. It'll lift you above the waves. It'll enable you to let everything
go when it's time to let it go and be at peace about it. Now, I want to look at three
things. First, we need peace with God. We need peace with
God. Secondly, we need peace within. And then thirdly, we need peace
with one another. Peace in the house. You parents,
you know. You know it's good when the kids
are not fighting. There was seven of us growing
up. And if there's not some kind
of control by the parents, that's chaos. That's chaos. But our parents, mom and dad,
would not let us fight. They would not let us fuss and
fight. I mean, they stopped it right now. They didn't let it,
not in their presence. We'd go out to the barn and do
it. But I tell you, it didn't happen
in the house. Mom and dad didn't put up with it. They didn't let
us fuss and fight with one another, not for a minute. Here's what we need. First of
all, it starts right here. Peace with God. If this doesn't
happen, forget it. Forget it. There's not going
to be peace. Not lasting peace. You'll fall apart when things
happen. You'll fall apart. But we need peace with God. Adam
broke that peace. in the garden. He broke it. There was such tranquility. You
know, when you hear, when Adam fell, you read that he heard
the voice of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of
the day. Doesn't that sound so tranquil?
That was the most peaceful place. But Adam broke that peace. He
broke one command. He was given one command. You
think we can keep God's commandments? I know he said, keep my commandments,
but he's talking about you do what you do, follow me out of
love. We don't keep anything perfectly.
We don't do anything perfectly. We know that. Our Lord knows
that. But I tell you this, he doesn't make excuse for it either,
does he? He said, keep them. But anyway, Adam broke God's
law, and until that's fixed, until
that's fixed, there's no peace with God. You see, the first
thing that has to happen, there's got to be reconciliation. God's
got to be reconciled to us. God's got to be reconciled to
us. God's law's got to be reconciled. God's law is very real. It's
very, very real. And his law has to be reconciled.
It has to be satisfied. It has to be a just law. And
our Lord came into this world. He magnified the law and made
it honorable as a man, as our substitute and representative.
He did that. He did that. He made peace with God. And the
scripture says that he's able to save unto the uttermost them
that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession
for them, seeing he's the peacemaker. He's able to save those who come,
who've broken God's law, sinned against God. You know, the scripture
says they go forth from the womb speaking lies. You don't have to wait to what
some preach as the age of accountability. We start lying from the beginning.
We start crying like we're hurting, and we're not. We just want to
be picked up. We just want to be fed or something, coddled. What he's saying there, that's
the nature that we're born with, a lying nature. And no son of
Adam can fix this. We can't, I cannot undo what
I am, and I cannot undo what I've done. But there is one who
can, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my peace with God. Listen
to Colossians chapter one, verse 20. And having made peace through
the blood of his cross, he reconciled us to God. See, God had to be
reconciled also, and He's reconciled through the blood of Christ,
through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things
unto Himself. See, reconciliation is of God. By Him to reconcile all things
unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven. And it says in Ephesians 2.14,
for He is our peace. Not one of us have made peace
with God. Jesus Christ did that. Jesus
Christ is my peace with God. He's my peace. The Lord, God,
the father looks at God, the son, and he sees, he sees, he
sees the law of reconciled. Everything's been perfected and
he's reconciled. He's at peace with me. He's at
peace with me. And my peace is sitting, my peace
and your peace, who believe, is sitting right now at God's
right hand. That's where my peace sits, at God's right hand. And
this peace is outside of ourselves. This peace is outside of ourselves.
This is the work of God. This reconciliation is made by
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a judicial peace. That's
what this is. The judge is at peace with me. The court is at peace with me.
Nothing on the books. Secondly, we need this peace
within. I have peace with God, but I
need this peace within. And it starts with this, be ye
reconciled to God. Lay down, as Scott Richardson
said, lay down your shotgun. I need to be reconciled to God.
God's reconciled to me in Christ. Now he says, be ye reconciled
to God. Lay down that hostility. You
know, man is like the troubled sea. He can't rest. You think money will give you
peace? You think you can buy peace? I haven't seen anyone
that didn't make a good bit of money that didn't keep buying
more and more and more. And I've never heard anyone,
except maybe a believer, but I've never heard anyone say,
it's enough, I'm rich enough. I guarantee you, Bill Gates ain't
rich enough. Not in his estimation. It's more and more and more.
It's just more. We need the peace here that Christ
is speaking of in our souls. This is the peace that will carry
us through the roughest seas. This is the peace that will enable
us to sleep when all is falling apart. It's this peace with God. And it's the peace of God in
the heart. Peace on paper doesn't quiet
my troubled heart. Peace on paper doesn't do that. But by the spirit of peace, the
Lord Jesus Christ, I have peace in my soul. I know I'm at peace
with God through Christ, and that enables me to sleep. I know
all things are of God. Does that give you peace? Do
you know that all your trials are of God? Does that give you
peace? It does me. I know it does. The enmity that
we were born with needs to be subdued. That hostility we were
born with needs to be subdued. I need this peace put in my heart. My peace, he says, I leave with
you, my peace I give to you. This is an inward peace. This
is soul peace with God. A mighty work needs to take place
in order for me to enjoy this peace. You got to be a new creation,
a new creation, a new birth, a new man. My peace I give to you. Peace
comes from the Prince of Peace. That's where it comes from and
it's reality. It comes from Christ, the Prince
of Peace in you. the Prince of Peace in you. 2
Thessalonians 3 16 Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace
always by all means the Lord be with you all. You know. When a when a sinner is awakened. When they are awakened to their
sins, they are disturbed. They are disturbed. They're afraid. For the first time, they're afraid
of God. And I, as a pastor, preacher,
I'm not gonna give you that peace and say, well, it's all right,
don't worry about it. I experienced this some time ago. I said to
this person, if you have peace, if you ever find peace, the Lord
will give it to you. the Lord give it to you, because
if I give it to you, you'll lose it. If the Lord gives it to you,
you'll keep it. Now the Lord of peace himself
give you peace. Whatever it is that's troubling
you right now, the Lord himself, the Lord of peace gives you peace
concerning whatever it is, especially if it's sin, the Lord gives you
peace. I don't want to give you a false
peace, I want Him to give you peace. John 16, 33, These things
have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. Listen,
in the world you'll have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I'll overcome
the world, and that I'll promote peace. Christ has overcome the
world. The world's not going to overcome
me, it's not going to overcome you. Our Lord has overcome it. And He says, that in me you might
have peace you see we have peace in a person not just a feeling
of peace but a real genuine peace that really controls it takes
over it takes over Christ in you is that peace that
he gives God's reconciled to his people through the person
of Christ and his people are now reconciled to him through
that new birth. As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians
5.20, now then we are ambassadors of Christ, as though God did
beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be you reconciled
to God. He says over in Philippians 4.7,
in the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep
your hearts. He didn't say here, it might.
This peace that passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus. That peace. It's a spiritual
peace. It's a real peace. It's Christ
who is peace, that when our hearts are falling apart, the world's
falling apart, he keeps us at peace. You know, there's a point
when things come along, you're anxious and you're troubled,
and then there's a rest, there's a real peace. I'm talking from
experience. There's a peace that comes over you, and it'll be
all right. It'll be all right. At first, you're anxious. You're
troubled. And then there's that peace that
just takes over. You didn't produce it. You didn't
produce it at all. You didn't muster it up. It's
there because Christ is the Prince of Peace. He's there and that
peace will take over and it'll calm things down in you, in you. And this peace is the gift of
God. It's a gift of God because it's the Lord. This is that peace
that Christ gives to his children that carries them all the way
home. all the way home. He'll carry
you. Habakkuk 3, 17, 18. Although the fig tree shall not
blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vine, the labor of
the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat, the
flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd
in the stalls. That's a bad situation, isn't
it? That's a bad situation. Read
that. Everything fails. Everything
fails, yet, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the
God of my salvation. You're not going to rejoice in
the Lord if there's no peace there. And when everything fails, eventually
it will. If you live old, if you live
to be old enough, I've watched this. I watched this. Everything will fail. Everything will, but the Lord
won't. The Lord will not fail. He'll carry you all the way home,
and He'll carry you home in peace. This peace is a tranquility in
the soul that passes understanding. My peace I give to you. Not as
the world gives. The world can't give this peace.
The world knows nothing of this peace. It's totally foreign to
this world. The peace of this world is temporary.
Just be around somebody long enough and listen to them complain.
Absence of peace. And we're guilty of that more
than we should be. But if the peace of this world is temporary,
is fleeting, it'll not carry them through the hardships of
life, and it will not carry them to heaven. It won't do it. It's a false peace. Scripture
says, they cry, peace, peace, where there is no peace. But
the peace that Christ gives is real and it's lasting and it'll
go with us all the way home. And then last of all, we need this peace with one another,
peace in the house, peace in the family, nothing like it,
nothing like it. The presence of this peace is
evidenced, peace with God, peace in the heart is evidenced by
peace with one another. Now, if we're not at peace with
one another, it's because the rest of it's absent. We don't
know anything about it. Ephesians 2.14, For he is our
peace, who hath made both one and broken down the middle wall
of partition between us. Whatever was between us is not
between us no more. We're at peace with one another.
Psalm 133.1, Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren
to dwell together. in unity, peace, peace. 1 Thessalonians 5, 13, And to
esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake, and be
at peace among yourselves. It's the evidence of peace in
the heart. It's the evidence of reconciliation.
And this peace within helps us to forgive and forget. If we have peace with God, we
have it because He's forgiven us our sins. Shall we not do
the same? Shall we not forgive and forget?
How many times should I forgive my brother? Seven times? See how immature they were. Tell
me what number, you know, eighth time I could slap it. The Lord said, no, no, no. 70 times 7, a definite number
for an indefinite number. Peace within promotes contentment
within the flock. One thing, I've never seen sheep
fight. I've seen goats butt. They'll
butt you. My brother's got some goats,
and I was in there, and it butted me. I didn't even say anything
to it. He just came up behind me and
hit me. A sheep doesn't do that. Sheep
are not fighters. They're a peaceful animal, peaceful. That's why he called us his sheep.
You know, the Lord never called any one of his children goat.
He always called him his sheep. Other sheep I have, which are
not of this fold, them also I must bring in. We've always been his
sheep, always. And this peace within shows that
we do believe that all things are of God. All things. Then he says, verse 27, let not
your heart be troubled. That's where he says it's about
peace. Let not your heart be troubled. Neither let it be afraid. This is his conclusion in comforting
their hearts. This is how he concludes it.
My peace I leave with you. The Comforter is going to come
and he's going to take everything that's mine. He's going to reveal
it to you. Me and my Father is going to
come and make our abode in you. Is Christ in you? So is the Father. So is the Father. All right.