John 16. John 16. One verse is our text. And I need not remind you what
the next chapter is. We're going to look at Sunday.
Lord willing. Maybe He'll come before then.
That'd be even better. John 16, verse 33. Our Lord says, These things I have spoken unto
you, that in me you might have peace. In the world ye shall
have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world."
That puts a smile on my face. I want this message to put a
smile on your face. I want to cheer you up. Our Lord
said, be of good cheer. That's the title. Be of good
cheer. I want to cheer you up. I want to get your hopes up.
I want to get your hopes up. If your hope is in Christ, I
want to build you up on this most holy faith. This is a message
of cheer for his disciples. He told them things that he said
filled them with sorrow. But he said, your sorrow is going
to be turned into joy. They said, be of good cheer.
And I want us to see what it is that should cheer us up. A message of cheer for God's
people, all of God's people's sorrow. He said that in verse
six, these things, I've said these things unto you and sorrow
hath filled your heart. He said that over and over again.
These things that I said unto you, that you be not offended.
These things that I said unto you, that they're going to hate
you. These things fill your hearts with sorrow. And then he's going
to tell us some things that will fill our heart with gladness
and joy. Let me ask you, does God's Word
make you both sad and glad? It doesn't. Does God's Word make
you full of sorrow and yet full of joy? There's a paradox in
it. Does God's Word convict you of
sin and then comfort you of sin's pardon? Does God's Word make
you fear and tremble? Then does God's Word give you
peace and hope and comfort. You must be born of God. You
must have life. Scripture says that the gospel
is a savor of life to life. In this life, we have all of
those things, don't we? This life is full of joy and
sorrow and mourning and happiness. comfort of fear and doubting
and peace, isn't it? It's proof of life that you have
these emotions, if you will. So, they that have life, the
Word of God, they hear it. And it touches their heart, because
out of the heart are the issues of life. That the heart may believe
it. And a man born of God takes to
heart what the Lord says. The disciples heard what he was
saying and it filled them with sorrow. He said, these things that I
said unto you, remember, we just looked at it and we dwelled on
it. Betrayal. I thought of anyone, any of our
brothers, betraying Christ and us. It fills us with sorrow to
think about. For me to do that, it fills me
with sorrow to think about. For you to do it. Denial. We
have and we do and we shall. And that fills me with sorrow.
I want to be done with that. Leaving Him. He told them they
were going to go their own way, leave Him. Doesn't that fill
you with sorrow? Him leaving us makes God's people
fearful. Fearful. But this is what He
said in the end. Here's the last word on all that
He said. These things that I spoke unto
you, that in me, Notice where peace is. It's nowhere to be found. Peace is nowhere to be found
but in Christ. He said, in me, you might have
peace. These things, hear me, let these
sayings sink down deep in your heart, though it is going to
make you sad and sorrowful, yet it ought to make you glad. My
brother read my favorite psalm tonight, Psalm 126, where the
Lord turned our captivity, we're like them, to dreams. Then would
our mouths fill with laughter, from sorrow to laughter. Anybody
read Psalm 13 this week? Isn't that wonderful? How long, how long, how long?
And he ends up saying, not long. Not long. These things. He ends this message
with peace, and it's only found in him. He says, he tells us,
he warns us, he promises us, in the world you shall have tribulation. But, quickly, he said, be of
good cheer. And we're going to see why. He
ends this message with great joy. Great joy. Like he said,
your sorrows shall be turned into joy. Now, these things have
I spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace, he said.
What thing? Well, back in chapter 13, it
says, having loved his own, he loved them to the end. His sovereign,
eternal love. If God loves you, he cannot ever stop loving you. Do you understand? We're going
to read Romans 8 in a little while, if we get to it. Who shall
separate us from the love of God? Where is it? In Christ. If you believe in Christ, you
believe on Christ, you're born of God. That's what he said.
God loves you, or you wouldn't believe his Son. That's what
Christ said. God loves you because you love
me. All right? He believes on the Son hath life.
And that's because God loves you. If you love God or the Bible,
it's because God first loved you. And God can never stop loving
you. and all that His love means.
Our Lord told, the Scripture says that, having loved His own,
He loved them to the end, and it says, knowing that the Father
had given all things into His hands. That's one of the first
things He's going to say in that prayer, the next chapter. And thou hast given Him power
over all flesh. Now that ought to Give us peace, shouldn't it? Whatever's happening, Jesus Christ
is absolute control over everything. He tells about His sovereign
election and choosing them. He said, You didn't choose me,
I chose you. They all knew it. To a man, they
all knew it. That's Levi, Matthew, sitting
there counting his money. Counting his money. Every day,
day in and day out, counting his money. That's what most people
do. He wasn't looking up. He wasn't looking for Christ.
But Christ came looking for him. Didn't he? And he said, Matthew. And he looked up. Follow me. And he did. I did too. Ah, His sovereign election. Every
one of them knew that He chose them. Every one of them. Who
was it, Spurgeon? Somebody wrote the poem, "'Tis
not that we did choose thee." Well, Lord, that could not be. Hadst thou not chosen me, I would
never have chosen thee. Right? I didn't choose to come
here. Blessed God, He brought me. He
called me. Blessed is the man whom thou, what? Chooses. And causes to do what? Approach
unto Him. Are you glad to be here? Was
there a time He never gave you the thought? You chose Him. That ought to fill us full of
peace, then. Now, Barnard used to say, election's not a doctrine.
It's God choosing persons. A lot of people believe in election.
But I'll tell you, when you really rejoice, when you find out, it
shows me. Me. Then he tells them and us about
his work on the cross. I go to prepare a place for you.
I go to prepare a place for you. We looked at that. Now Christ
went to the cross. Went to the grave. Came out of
the grave. Went back to the Father. We believe
He went to the mercy seat. Poured out that blood. He may
have sat on that mercy seat. Right, John? It's called a mercy
seat. But the high priest never sat down. Christ did. He went
and sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High. That's
the mercy seat. He did this work on Calvary's
tree. And He said in John 15, Peace I leave with you. He made
peace. How are we going to have peace
with God? Every single person in this room knows it, at least
in their head, by the blood of Jesus Christ Christ. It's the
only way. We don't make peace with God.
If we tried, we'd make peace one day and provoke Him the next,
wouldn't we? But God is well pleased for His
righteousness. Well pleased for Christ's sake,
he made peace by the blood of his crop. And then he said in
John 16, I'm leaving you. In a little
while you won't see me, but in a little while you will see me.
For a while you're going to be sad and sorrowful, but in a little
while you're going to be full of joy and no man can take that
joy from you. That's both talking about his
resurrection the first time and him coming again for his people
the second time. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you. If I go, I will come again and
receive you unto myself, that where I am, you may be also.
If you want to be with him, you want to be with Christ someday.
He promised you that I'll give you peace. that he's coming back
for you. Who me? Yes, you. These things, he said, have I
spoken unto you that in me you might have peace. You see, that's
all about him. It's all about who he is and what he did and
who he did it for. Did he do it? That'll give you
peace. And in the next chapter, he says,
I finished the work he gave me to do. And he went on to say,
John, throughout that chapter, I can't wait to get to 17. He
kept saying, I've given them thy word and they've believed
it. They believe that I came for you. This is who I pray for. His prayer ought to give us peace.
No passage in all of God's Word gives me more peace than John
17. His prayer. He ever lives to make intercession
and God always hears him. So he says here, now listen.
This is to cheer us up. Hope up. Hope up now. He said
in verse 33, again, our text, in the world you shall have tribulation. You shall have, in the world.
He said, but I have overcome the world. Be of good cheer.
He said, I'm not, I will overcome, but I have overcome. Now, known
unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Memorize
that. Acts 15, 8, 10. Memorize that.
for your comfort, and give every man a reason for the holiness
in you. Known unto God are all His works from the beginning
of the world. It's God that worketh all things after the counsel
of His will, right? And when did that will take place? Before the world began. Before
the world began. Known unto God are all His works
from the beginning of the world. Isaiah 46. Memorize this. I'm
going to look at it. He declares the end from the
beginning. He says, I've spoken it, I will
bring it to pass. He says, I've purposed it, I
will also do it. Whatever he said, whatever he
promised, okay? We know, Romans 8, 28, and we
know that All things work together for
good to them that love God, who have called according to His
purpose. God does all things on purpose. Okay? Everything, whatever it
be, it be the Lord. He did. Okay? We know the end. We know the last chapter. in
this chapter of the Book of Life. You know that? We have the last
chapter. Have you ever gotten a book and
you start reading it and you're disinterested and you kind of
thumb through it? Well, I'm going to go to the last chapter and
see how it ends. You ever done that? I've done it all the time. I've got to wade through all
this crap that men think is, you know, all this wordy stuff.
Not God's Word. You know, we just park and camp
all through this book. But we have the last chapter,
don't we? You want peace? Read the last chapter. Revelation
1, he begins this last chapter by saying, I'm the beginning,
I'm the end. He's the one that began it, started
it, purposed it. He's the one that's going to
finish it. Have finished it. We know the end. No matter how
it looks right now. No matter how bad it looks right
now. The end is good. It ends good. Oh, that we were
wise when we consider our latter end, because for God's people,
it ends good. I mean, real good. Real good. Great. Peace, joy, and Peter
said, unspeakable, full of glory. Eternal happiness. Those old
Child's fables, you know, fairy tales talk about living happily
ever after. That's not true in this life.
It never is. But this, Peter said, this is
no cunningly devised fable. This is a fact. This is true.
It ends happily ever after. Yes, it does. I didn't say that.
Christ did. He said, I have overcome the
world. Okay? My dad started this, and
I got it from him, but we used to watch Kentucky basketball
years ago, and I watched it a lot when I lived there. And anyway,
it would make us so nervous watching those games, especially when
they're playing North Carolina. Right, Ron? Make us so nervous,
we couldn't stand it. We'd turn it off. and just look
at the results later. Well, we start recording it,
recording the whole thing. Then when it's over, we go look
at the results. Is it Kentucky won by 12? Well,
I'm going to watch this. Kentucky lost. I ain't going
to watch that. But we go back and watch it after we know the
end. Okay? And they can get down by
25 points. Not worried. It's all good. It's going to end good. Just wait. That may be a silly illustration,
but the fact is, we know the end. Our Lord has told us. No matter how bad it looks, wait. Be patient. Patient in tribulation. Be patient in tribulation. Now,
He said this. In the world you shall have tribulation. Shall have. No ifs, ands, or
buts about. Shall have tribulation. The apostles
went through, Paul and Barnabas went through all the churches,
and they told them that we've promised you, we've told you,
the Lord told us that you must, through much tribulation, enter
the kingdom of heaven. Turn to Revelation 7 real quickly
and mark it because we're going to end this message reading this. But Revelation 7, so the apostles
went to every single church and told every single believer you
must, through much tribulation, enter the kingdom. You must.
If you don't, you're not God's child. Anybody know Psalm 73? Most of
you do. David was envious of the prosperity
of the wicked. He said, they don't have trouble
like me. They're just fat and sassy and blaspheming God and
have more than their hearts could wish. But I've got nothing but
trouble. God's people have nothing but
trouble. He said, but then I went into sanctuary and God reminded
me. Oh, that's going to end for them.
And then all this trouble is going to end for us. We need
nothing but joy. Revelation 7, verse 14, John
asked the angel, Who are these people that are just shouting
and singing? What are they so happy about? Who are these? I said to him,
Sir, thou knowest. He said to me, These are they
which came out of great tribulation. Every one of them. There was
a multitude which no man could number, and every single one
of them came out of great tribulation and their robes washed, made
them white in the blood of the Lamb. And we're going to keep
reading it a minute at the end. But tribulation, much is written
about tribulation in Scripture. It tells us we must, through
much tribulation, enter the kingdom of heaven. It tells us to be
patient in tribulation. Paul even talks about being joyful
in tribulation, glorying. Remember that? He said, I glory
in tribulation. What's he talking about? Well,
if you go through much tribulation, you're one of God's children.
If not, you're not. That's something to glory in.
No chastening, no trial, no tribulation that we go through is joyful. We don't enjoy it. It's very
painful, very sorrowful, very hurtful, isn't it? You can't
joy in your child being sick or your spouse being sick. or one dying. You can't, you
can't, unless they're a child of God. But, you know, you may
not know this, some of you may, but Brother Johnny and Tommy
Parker, brother, you listen to this? They, both of them, are
going through a heavy trial right now. Johnny's wife has cancer. Tommy's son has cancer. 22, 23 years old. That's tough. They can't be glad in that, can
they? But they can be glad in knowing
this. We rejoice in the Lord, you see. We rejoice knowing that He did
it. You know, bad things happen to
us. If it's like false preachers tell us God didn't want that
to happen, that would make you angry at God, wouldn't it? And
that's what people are, sister. They're angry at God. Why didn't
He do something? If He would, He ought to make
you angry then. Who needs Him? But now we can
rejoice, though tears are running down our face. Though our hearts
are breaking, we can rejoice. God did this. I don't understand. I can't see. But I know it's
going to be good. I know it is. He's too good.
He loves me. And He promised me it all works
together for my good. He can't lie. So you can rejoice. And you need
the glory. You need to rejoice if you believe
that. If you can, like Job, say the
Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. And if you can bless His
holy name, you belong to Him. Glory, hallelujah. And buddy,
the end is going to far outweigh the pain and sorrow. Tribulation,
and all through the Scriptures, tribulation is spoken of, especially
the Revelation, the end, talks a great deal about tribulation. It says they all came through
tribulation. It says all overcame by the blood of the Lamb. This
is what we're going to look at. There's a couple of places in
Revelation that says that the enemy overcame the saints. They were overcome with whatever
sorrow and many of them were killed. But it says it twice. And then it says they made war
on the Lamb. And then it says He overcame them. They made war with the wrong
person. If you make war with his children,
you've made war with the wrong person. He's going to do something
about it. He said vengeance is mine. Now
listen, tribulation means pressure. It means things that are weighty
and bear down on you. Just keep bearing down on you.
That threaten to just weigh you down and just overcome you and
just destroy you. There's lots of things that bear
down on us, aren't there? Lots of things that weigh us
down. That threaten to overcome us.
See, we're human beings. We're made out of flesh. We live
in this flesh. Satan. Satan is a strong adversary. Nobody is a match for him. None
of us. A strong adversary. And all of
God's people feel that... it was Luther or somebody said,
feels the heat of his breath down my neck. We do, don't we? His sharp... his darts, his fiery
darts. We all feel that strong adversary,
the world. The world, kings of the world,
people of the world. You know, this world has this
thing called gravity. It pulls you down, doesn't it?
You want to fly? Sitting outside watching the
birds fly, I thought that'd be so much fun. I can't get six
inches off the ground. It's not because I'm white, it's
because I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner, right? Of the earthy
flesh. Flesh lusts against the Spirit,
so you cannot do good things if you would. I know who could. I know who did. We'll get to
that in a minute. Sin bears down on us. Lust of the flesh. Lust of the
eyes. Covetousness. Fear. Fear. Ever been struck full of fear
for whatever reason? Oh, it's awful. It's an awful
feeling. Guilt. Oh, there's nothing worse
than guilt. Guilt. Worry. Anybody worried
over anything, ever? Oh, wow. That threatens to overcome
you. You think, I don't know how I'm
going to get out of this. Worry. Sorrow. David refused
to be comforted. He was so sorrowful. Grief. And death comes. That's the final overcoming thing
for me and him. And so Christ said, here's what
he said, in the world you shall have tribulation. You're going
to have all these things bearing down on you. And he had to smile,
he said, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. That's
what he said. I have overcome the world. Our
overcoming Christ. Satan. Turn with me to Luke 11. If you don't know where it is,
remember it. Luke 11. Our overcoming Christ. He overcame our adversary. Overcame,
not overcome it. Overcame. Done. Revelation says
He's on a chain. That's what it says, doesn't
it? God said that. Christ said that.
He overcame Satan. Luke 11, verse 22. When a stronger than he. Verse
21. He was casting out devils. And
they accused him of casting out devils by Beelzebub. My, my. He said in verse 21,
when a strong man armed keepeth his palace, it's Satan, his goods
are in peace. Meaning that those people whom
Satan has kept him at his will, he's got all this at his disposal
to keep them captive. Lust of the flesh, lust of the
eyes, pride of the light, all these things, the pull of the
earth and things, he's got them in peace. They're his. But. Verse 22. But. Don't you love
the buts of Scripture? When a stronger than he shall
come upon him, and overcome him, and taketh from him all his armor
wherein he trusteth, and divideth his spoils. He takes from him
his spoils. Satan wanted to ruin the Lord's
Kingdom, Adam and Eve. And he deceived the woman, and
Adam fell, so he thought, I've ruined God's Kingdom. I've spoiled
His Kingdom. These are mine now. They were
of God, but now they're mine. Christ came walking and said,
no they're not. And he said, the first thing
he said to Satan was, I'm going to put in my dude, and you and
her, the woman's seed. And the woman's seed shall bruise
your head. It's going to step on your head. Who's that? Him. Just wait. Your time. You have a short season,
Satan. I'm coming to get back, to take
captivity captive. When the Lord turned our captivity,
we're like them. This is no dream, brother. It's
the truth. It's the truth. Satan, to our
Lord, is stronger than he. No one is, but he. I remind you. There's much written in the scriptures
about a covenant, about the second Adam, the covenant head, okay?
1 Corinthians 15. In Adam all die, in Christ all
made alive, in Christ who's Adam of the earth, earthy, in Christ
heavenly, okay? Christ was made flesh to dwell
among us. Made a woman, made under the
law to redeem them under the law. He was made flesh to dwell
among us. He's the second Adam. The first
Adam, we all died in Him. The second Adam, if we're in
Him, we're all going to live. He can't fail. Adam failed. The
second Adam cannot fail. He's not earthy. He's the Lord
from glory. So He came. Covenant head. That gives you peace now. What
that means is, He took full responsibility for you. Everything about you,
especially your soul, He took full responsibility for you. He's the covenant head. For Satan
to have you, he's got to get through Christ. For anybody to separate you in
Romans 8, you've got to get through Christ, because the love of God
is in Christ. So the first thing he did as
a man, our covenant head, was face Satan, didn't it? And all
those things that bear down on us, weigh down on us, get behind me, Satan. We had no match, but our adversary
crashed more than a match. He defeated him. See, what he
did, he did it for me. He did it for you. Our covenant
head, Satan's sin. Lust of the flesh, lust of that
sin weighs down on God. Scripture says that he condemned
sin in the flesh. He was a perfectly holy and righteous
man in the flesh. It must be perfect. It shall
be perfect to be accepted. Christ was perfect. He's accepted. You know what I'm going to say
to them. We're accepted in the beloved. He's the one that did
all this for us. He's the one that God looked
to. He's the one that God first trusted. He's the one that we
must only come to God through. He said God will receive every
soul that comes to Him by Jesus Christ, pleading to Him, His
blood, His righteousness. Scripture says Satan came to
Him, came to Christ and found nothing in Him. Why? Because in Him is no sin. Now what does 1 John say about
us? We're in Him. He's come and given
us an understanding that we might know we're in Him. So when Christ was tempted by
Satan, we were tempted in Him. When Christ overcame Satan, we
overcame in Him. When Christ hung on that cross,
Made a curse for us, killed, died, we died, we're crucified
in Him, okay? He was buried, we were buried
with Him in Him. When He arose, we were quickened
together with Him in Him. Now He went back and sat down
at the right hand, He's seated, and we're seated in Him, with
Him. Sorrow and grief, our Lord was
called a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. But He said in the Scriptures,
just for the joy set before, endured the cross. No one went
through more tribulation than Him. Nobody. Nobody. He overcame that. Completely overcame. How could he have overcome the
thought of going through hell? All his life he knew he was going
to go through hell. Literally. Literally. Suffering
the fires of hell. How? And all the persecution. How could he endure that? Scripture
says he committed himself to God. Faith. Faith. The just shall live by faith. Habakkuk is where it's first
recorded, and it says the just shall live by his faith. Stay with me. The just shall
live by his faith. God requires faith. The just
shall live by faith. Well, the just won. came down
to this earth and lived by faith. How? Why? Us. Our faith is imperfect,
isn't it? His is perfect. The just shall
live by his faith. His faith. Let's see. One, two,
three, four, five, Six times it says the righteousness of
God by the faith of Jesus Christ. Six times it talks about the
faith of Christ. It's not a misprint. We're saved
by, we're made righteous by the faith of Christ. Not faith in
Him, faith of Christ. The faithfulness of Christ. Him
living by faith for us. You understand that? It'll give
you peace. Give you peace. See, our faith
Our faith in Him is in the faith of Him. Our faith in Him is in
the faith of Him. We believe that He lived by faith
perfectly and God accepts Him. And we're justified in Him, by
Him, for His glory. Oh, I was going to have us turn
to Romans 8 and read all that. Go home and read it, okay? Just
start in verse 28 and read to the end. Who's just separated? Let me read it. Go turn there.
Romans 8. Anything could happen between
now and tomorrow. In Romans 8, it doesn't get any
better than this. Romans 8, and I close with this,
and you can read Revelation 7 later on. In Romans 8, we quoted verse
28, we know all things work together for good to them that love God.
Them who are the called, I believe He's called me by His gospel,
don't you? According to His purpose, for whom He did foreknow and
His forelove, He also did predestinate. I believe that, don't you? to
be conformed to the image of His Son. That's what I want,
don't you? That He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
You see? He's the one we're in. Travelled
in birth to give birth to that. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
Him He also called. And whom He called, He also justified. You see, He did it all. Does
this ask us or tell us to do anything? Won't you please accept
him now? No. He's talking about what all
he hath done. He said, I have overcome the
world. Here it is. Whom he called, he
justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. What shall we say then? Then
say to these things, if God be for us, Who can be against it? And He's
going to go on to tell us all the things against us. But He
that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,
how shall He not with that sacrifice, that gift, also freely give us
all things? Whatever we do. Who shall lay
anything to charge of God's elect? You know, when Christ stood up
and said, Who convinces me of sin? Nobody could. You know who He was doing that
for? He didn't come down to prove that He was without sin. He's
doing it for us. Because when the accuser of the
brethren starts accusing His people, Christ said, no, they're
holy, unblameable, unreproofable, I said. Who is He? It's God that justifies. Who is He that condemns? It is
Christ that died. There's therefore now no condemnation
to them in Christ. Yes, He's risen again, He's even
at the right hand of God, and He also maketh intercession for
us. Now, who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? No, no tribulation. Nothing that
threatens to undo you. Because the right man is on your
side. distress, persecution, famine,
nakedness, peril, sword. You know, Paul wrote this and
he went through all of that. As it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the
slaughter. Nay, and all these things. Look at it. We are more
than conquerors through Him. completely through Him, in Him. He said, I have overcome the
world. Him that loved us. So I'm persuaded
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principality. That's
devils. No powers. No things present. What's going on right now? No
trouble is coming. No height, no depth, ups, downs,
ins, outs, or any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. That just gives me peace. Now
be of good cheer. Something bad is going to happen
tomorrow, but cheer up. Okay? Stand with me.