Let's open our Bibles again to
John chapter 16. Probably gathered from our song
service this morning and from the Scripture reading that we're
going to spend some time looking at peace this morning. The title
of the message is Where to Find Peace. And that is a subject that ought
to get our attention. That people all across the world
would listen should get their attention. Above all, human beings crave
peace. They crave it. I know we want
money and all these things, but people would give it all up if
they could just have peace. We long for peace in our homes
and our families. We long for lasting peace with
our friends. We just want peace while we live
in this world with our neighbors and people we come in contact
with. We even want peace among nations. Even though we know
that's not possible, we do want peace among nations. And we long
for peace of heart when we're alone at night. You're laying
there alone. Your wife is next to you. She's
asleep. You're laying awake with the thoughts in your head. We
long for peace of heart. We long for peace of heart. when
we lay on our deathbed. All of us long for peace. Here
at the end of our Lord's final message to his disciples before
he went to the cross, he tells us where peace is found. He began
his final message to his disciples in chapter 14 by telling us,
let not your heart be troubled. And now he ends his final message
to his disciples two chapters later by saying, in me you have
be of good comfort, be of good cheer, I've overcome the world.
Let's begin reading verse 25. See if we might learn something
here about where to find peace. Our Lord says, These things have
I spoken unto you in Proverbs. For the time cometh when I shall
no more speak unto you in Proverbs, but I shall show you plainly
of the Father. Now much of this message in these
past two chapters and much of what The Lord has told his disciples
over the course of the three years that they've been together
has been in parables. They've been in sayings that
the disciples couldn't fully understand yet. They couldn't
fully understand them until after Calvary. After the Lord had been
crucified as a sacrifice for sin, and he rose from the grave
and ascended back to the Father, then everything was clear. Then
everything he said made sense to them because they saw what
he was talking about. After the Lord goes to the cross,
all of his message makes sense. And it won't be a proverb to
them anymore, because they will see the purpose of God and salvation
fully accomplished through the substitutionary death, the burial
and resurrection of Christ. This is what he's been talking
about the whole time. And then they'll see the will
of the Father plainly. Verse 26, at that day you shall
ask in my name And I say not unto you that I will pray the
Father for you. For the Father himself loveth you, because you
have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God." Now
here's encouragement for us to pray. In this day when you see
the will of the Father in redemption fulfilled in the death of Christ,
in the person and work of Christ, you will pray to the Father in
the name of Christ. You'll pray for the sake of Christ. You'll pray for the forgiveness
of your sins based upon His shed blood. You'll pray for His righteousness
imputed to you. It's all for the sake of Christ.
And our Lord says that the Father will hear you, and not just hear
you, He'll hear you in love. When our Lord says, I say not
unto you that I'll pray the Father for you, what He means is, you'll
pray and I don't have to talk the Father into loving you. I
don't have to talk the Father into hearing you. Not only is
Christ our intercessor, of course he intercedes for us. He's not
saying he won't intercede. Of course he intercedes for us.
But the Father loves his people. He loves them in Christ. So he
cares for them and he hears them in love. Christ not only turned
the wrath of God away from his elect, but Christ brought his
elect into a loving relationship with the Father. He said, I'm
going to my father and your father. This is your father. You're in
a loving relationship with him. He loves you and you love him.
Why wouldn't you pray to him then? Why wouldn't you talk to
your father who loves you and you love? He loves his people
and he hears his people in love. Why wouldn't you talk to him?
Now, the Lord's not saying, he says here that the father himself
loveth you because you love me. He's not saying the father loves
us because we love him. You have to interpret Scripture
as Scripture. We love Him because He first
loved us. God's love for His people is
in Christ. And that's the good news that
the Gospel declares. God's love for you doesn't have
anything to do with you. It has to do with Christ. He loves His
people for Christ's sake. That's what the Gospel declares.
That's what Christ is here teaching His people. And here's the Gospel
that every believer believes. Here's the Christ every saved
person believes and looks to, and here's the proof that the
Father loves His people in Christ. Verse 28, I came forth from the
Father and am coming to the world. Again, I leave the world and
go to the Father. Now here's the gospel, the proof
that God loves His people in Christ, the gospel declared in
three statements in this verse 28. Number one, our Lord says,
I came from the Father. Now what's he mean there, I came
forth from the Father? He's declaring his deity. The
deity of Christ. The man Christ Jesus is God. He's not a man that looks like
God or acts like God. He is God. He came from God because
he's God. He had to come from God. He's
always been God. As the Son, he's always been
with God. This is his deity. I came forth from the Father.
Well, where'd he come? Number two, second statement.
I came into the world. It's not just that God came into
the world. God's everywhere. He's always
been in the world. He's everywhere. What he's speaking of here is
the incarnation of Christ. That God became a man. God became
a man so that he could represent his people. He became a man so
he'd be the second Adam. The first Adam, he represented
all mankind. And he did not do a very good
job. He fell. And when Adam sinned, he fell,
he condemned all men to death by sin. But Christ became a man. God became a man to be the second
Adam. To be the representative of God's
elect. And Christ the second Adam fulfilled
all of the law that God required of his people. And he gave his
people, all the people he represented, he gave them eternal life. But
he had to become a man in order to do it. In order to be the
Savior, a sinful man, God had to become a man so he could be
our representative and so he could be our sacrifice. That's
why he came into the world. He came incarnate. Well, what
happened when he became a man? Statement number three. Again,
I leave the world and I'm going back to my father. The Lord Jesus
ascended back on high. When? When did he have sinned?
He didn't just come and live a perfect life and sin back on
high, did he? He came and lived a perfect life as a representative
for his people, and then he died as a sacrifice for the sin of
his people. The Father made him to be sin,
and the Father killed him for it. That sacrifice was offered
to God. The blood was offered before
the Father, and the Father accepted the sacrifice of his son payment
in full for all the sin laid on Him. Now that sin is gone. That's why He ascended back to
the Father. Because the sin is gone. He ascended there triumphantly. And all His people are made righteous. They're justified in Christ.
And you know what? One day, they're going to follow
Him there. Because He ascended back to the
Father. Well, that's the Gospel. But what's your reaction to the
Gospel? Verse 29. His disciples said unto him,
Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now
we understand exactly what you're saying. That message is so clear.
We understand it and we'll never doubt you again. We'll never
wonder again. That's so plain. That's such
a blessing. Do you ever feel like that? I have. I feel like that. Now I understand. Now I understand God's Word.
At least this particular passage I understand. Oh, it makes me
so thankful, so happy. Now we understand the Word. And it fills us with such confidence,
doesn't it? When God blesses your heart with
His Word, He gives the assurance of faith. And it comes from His
Word. And that's how the disciples
felt. Verse 30, they go on, they say, Now we're sure that thou
knowest all things. And need it not that any man
should ask thee. By this we believe that thou
camest forth from God." Lord, now we really believe. Now we
believe so strongly. We'll never doubt you again.
How can we ever doubt you again? This is so plain. And you know,
at that moment, they meant exactly what they were saying. They really
did. They believed so strongly. Why did they? Why did they believe
so strongly? Because they were being fed the
Word straight from Christ Himself. Would you like to have that assurance? You can still be fed the Word
from Christ Himself through the preaching of the Gospel. That's
the way we feel when we're being fed like that. I have my notes
here sometimes, but really it's often, it's not all the time.
We lose the strength of that assurance, don't we? When do
we? We've got to go back out there
in the world and we get away from the Word. We get away from
the worship service and we lose it. We lose the strength of that
assurance. We begin to doubt and fear. You
know, we can't be in the worship service and we can't be reading
the Scripture 24-7. But we can be sure to get a steady
diet of God's Word. We can be sure to be in the green
pastures of His Word often. And that will increase the strength
of our faith and the strength of our assurance because we're
being fed constantly. We're being there when the Word
is preached. And this is how the disciples felt. They were
so confident. But you know what's coming. They
don't know what's coming yet. You do. But you know, they should
have known what's coming. Because they'd said this before.
Look back in John chapter 6. They said this before. They said,
oh, we'll never doubt again. We're sure. And then, as a matter
of fact, they did doubt, didn't they? In John 6, verse 66, from that time many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto
the twelve, Will you also go away? You are free to go. Then
Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life, and we believe. And we're sure that
thou art that Christ, the son of the living God. We believe
and are sure that you came forth from God. Well, here in chapter
16, they're saying again, now we're sure. Now we believe you
came forth from God. Well, when was it settled? Really,
it was settled both times, wasn't it? This is a constant settling,
a constant assurance, a constant strengthening. of the believer's
heart that comes from the Word. Well, verse 31, Our Lord answered
them, Do ye now believe? Behold, the hour cometh. Yea,
it is now come that ye should be scattered, every man to his
own, and shall leave me alone. And yet I am not alone, because
the Father is with me. Now, Our Lord is not saying they
don't believe. He knows they believe. He knows who has faith.
He knows who believed Him and who didn't. He knows they believe
Him. But He is warning them. that the strength of their faith
and the strength of their assurance is going to waver. Because this
flesh is so fickle. It's going to waver. And He's
given them this warning. You do believe strongly at this
very moment. I know you do. But in a matter
of moments, a very short time, when the Lord's presence is removed
from them, what happens? They become full of fear. Their
faith wavers. This assurance that they have
at this moment seems to be completely gone, doesn't it? At this moment,
when they're speaking to the Lord, they do love him so much. They believe him so much. But
when the Lord gives himself into the hands of the Gentiles to
be crucified, they're going to be offended and they're going
to desert him. They're going to leave him all
alone because suddenly their faith became very weak. Suddenly
their assurance was gone. And the Lord tells them, you're
going to leave me alone. You're going to desert me. But
I'm not alone. The Father is with me. But at
this time, when our Lord, when He's referring to His death,
the Father will desert Him. The Father will turn His back
on His Son because of the sin of these very disciples. And
all of us, all of the disciples, all of His people, the Father
is going to turn His back on His Son. And His Son is going
to suffer alone like no man has ever suffered and died alone.
And that's just hard for the disciples to take. It offends
their understanding. It makes them stumble. And they
just hurt Him. Have you ever been there? Have
you ever felt what these disciples are feeling and what they're
getting ready to feel? Well, I have. I have. One moment we
enjoy such strong faith, such strong confidence in the Lord. And it usually happens when we're
being fed the Word. You feel like, I can't love the
Lord any more than I do right now. I can't rest in Him any
more completely than I do right now. I can't believe Him any
more than I do right now. And then we're shocked how quickly
all that changes. What happened? I wasn't like
this this morning. What happened? Suddenly, in your
heart, you feel little or no love for Christ. Suddenly, because
the circumstances have changed, you seem like you can't find
any faith or any belief in Christ. Suddenly, because, I don't know,
a cloud went through the sky, you just feel like you've got
no assurance at all. And if you're like me, you become
depressed and discouraged and just think, how can I be saved? Can somebody who knows the Lord
think like I'm thinking? Can somebody that knows the Lord
feel like I feel? I'm so depressed. All I can see
is darkness. How can I know the Lord is light?
How can a person who's born again think this way and act this way? So discouraging, so depressing. Well, they don't know that's
going to happen yet. But our Lord does. He knows all things.
He knows His disciples are going to feel that way. So He has precious
words of comfort for us in verse 33. These things have I spoken
unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you
shall have tribulation. There's no doubt about it. But
you be of good cheer. I've overcome the world." Now,
our Lord has spoken all these words in this final message to
His disciples before He goes to the cross for this purpose. He says, I've spoken all this
message to you so that you would know this, that you have peace
in Me, in Christ. Peace is found in Christ. I don't think that I was making
up a story or exaggerating the situation. Every person in this
room craves peace. I want peace. Even our youngest
children. When you go to school tomorrow
morning, you want peace, don't you? You don't want people making
fun of you. You don't want people ridiculing you. You just, oh,
the peer pressure of school. You want peace. And the oldest
believer in the room craves peace. That peace is found only in Christ. It's in Him. Nowhere else. Don't look for it anywhere else
because there's no peace anywhere else. But that peace that we
crave is found in Christ. Now listen to me. It's not found
in the strength of our faith. Peace is not found in the strength
of our assurance. If it was, we have peace one
moment, don't have it the next, right? Peace is not found in
the strength of our faith or the strength of our assurance.
Peace is found in Christ. And here's what our Lord is telling
His disciples and what He's telling us. Be warned about thinking
that you've arrived. Just be warned about that. Don't
get overconfident in yourself. Don't get overconfident in the
strength of your faith. But don't lose your peace when
your faith wavers too. Your faith is going to waver.
You're going to be upset with yourself. But don't lose your
peace because your peace is not found in the strength of your
faith. Your peace is not found in the
strength of your love for Christ. Your peace is in Christ. Your peace is who Christ is and
what Christ accomplished for you as your substitute. It doesn't
have anything to do. Your peace has nothing to do
with what you do or what you think. You see that? Your peace
is in Christ. And this truth applies to everything
else about us, too. Don't lose your peace when you
commit some sin that you think is worse than other sins. And
that's what we do. You know, we categorize sin.
We think, well, if I commit this sin, you know, it's just a little
white lie. It's okay. But if I tell this big whopper,
it's not. No, sin's sin. Our peace is dependent on us
not sinning. We're never at peace, right? That's all we do. Our
peace is not found in our obedience or in our righteousness. Our
peace is in Christ. Don't lose your peace when you
can't understand scripture like you wish you could. Or worse
yet, this one gets us. Or when we forget Scripture. This made me feel so comfortable. It just helped me so much. I
was talking to Todd Meyer once. We were talking about passage
of Scripture. He said, I used to know what
that meant. I forgot. I thought, good. If Todd forgets,
that makes me feel better. I forget. Do you forget? When you forget and the Scripture
seems like a closed book to you, don't lose your peace. Your peace
has nothing to do with your knowledge. Salvation is not knowledge. Salvation
is Christ. Our peace is in Christ. Don't
lose your peace when you feel like other people have a better
experience than you. All kinds of people have a better
experience than me. But my peace is not in my experience.
Our peace is in Christ. You see that? It's in Christ.
Our peace is not in our repentance. If my peace was based on my repentance,
I'd never have any peace. Brethren, I repent, but it's
not good enough. It's not good enough compared
to my sin, but I repent. Our peace is not in our repentance.
It's not in our giving. It's not in our Bible reading.
It's not in our holy conduct. Believers ought to excel in all
those areas. Isn't that right? We ought to
excel in those areas. But our peace is not in any of
those things. Because none of those things
that we do affect our salvation. Our salvation is in Christ. So all of our peace must be in
Christ. Christ is our salvation. Salvation is not a thing that
Christ gives you. It's not a legal state that God
gives you before God. Salvation is a person. Christ
is our salvation. Then Christ must be our peace. The only ground of salvation
we have is Christ. So the only ground of peace that
we have is in Christ. Because peace can only come when
sin is forgiven. When sin is put away, then and
only then can we have peace. So peace can't come from any
ground other than Christ. Peace is not affected by anything
we do or don't do. It may affect our enjoyment of
it, but it doesn't affect our peace because peace is in Christ. What Christ accomplished for
his people is our representative. Now this phrase, in Christ, have
I made that point? Peace is in Christ. It's not
in anything else. Well, this phrase, in Christ,
is very important because it tells us about substitution and
representation. In my own self, in my own doings,
I've never done anything to deserve peace. The only thing I've ever
done, everything I ever will do, deserves God's wrath, not
peace. Yet, because of this praise in
Christ, because of representation, I personally have done everything
to deserve peace with God. Now Frank, how can that be? One
way. Joyce is in Christ. See that? Everything Christ did, I did. Because I was in Him. God put
me in Christ. So everything He did, I've done. When the Lord Jesus lived a perfect
life, when He was perfectly obedient to all of God's law, I was too. I perfectly Frank Tate, personally,
perfectly obeyed God's law in Christ. Because what he did,
I did. He's my representative. I'm in
him. When Christ suffered and he died
to satisfy the demands of God's law and justice, I did too. I died to the law. How? In Christ. And when Christ arose
again, because my sin that was laid on him was gone, I arose
in him. I arose to brand new life, eternal
life in him, in Christ. Look in Ephesians chapter 1. This is the gospel of substitution,
the gospel of representation. Everything Christ did, all of
his people did in Him. So we have perfect, complete
peace in Christ. Ephesians 1 verse 3. Notice how
many times the Apostle says here, in Christ, in Him. Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ,
according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world. that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ, to himself according to the good
pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace,
wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in
all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery
of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed
in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might
gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in
heaven and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we
have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things unto the counsel of
his own will. that we should be to the praise
of His glory, who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted,
after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation, in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed
with that Holy Spirit of promise." Now, I'm not the brightest guy
in the world, but I can read those ten verses and know this.
Salvation's in Christ. God's blessed His people in Christ. Everything God has for a sinner
is in Christ. In my peace. Peace with God is
in Christ. And since that peace is in Christ,
that peace is totally unaffected by earthly circumstances. Trials
and troubles do not take that peace away. And even blessings
don't take that peace away. They don't affect it. When the
Lord went away for that short time, just those three days,
didn't those disciples experience genuine sorrow? This was a trial
for them. But their peace with God was
unaffected. Now, they may not have known it. They may not have
appreciated it. But their peace with God was
unaffected during this dark, dark days. And when the Lord
rose again and He appeared to them, like they just couldn't
believe it for joy. It's too good to be true. He's
risen again. Can you imagine the blessing?
Their peace then was the exact same peace that they had during
the dark day the day before. Because it's unaffected by blessing
or trouble or trial or any earthly circumstances. Now, we are either
in Christ or in the world. One or the other. Just like during
the flood in Noah's day, everyone on the planet, they were one
of two places. They were in the ark, or they
were in the world. What a difference there is between
being in Christ, where there's peace, and being in the world
where there's no peace. Our Lord says, in the world.
When He means in the world, He's talking about being in the world.
He's talking about being in the way of the world. Being in sin. Well,
being in the world, you will have tribulation because of sin. And that word tribulation, it
means pressure. It means anguish. It means depression
and it means fear. That's what the world and what
sin does to us. You want to be in the world?
This is what you have. Pressure and anguish and depression
and fear. pressure on men by laying such
a heavy burden on our backs that we can't bear. A burden that
will condemn us to hell. And sin causes depression. Sin
can't give you any joy. I know that the things of this
world, you young people listen to me, the things of this world
seem sweet. I understand. Oh, they seem sweet. You want to get them. You know,
the things of sin seems like brings you pleasure and it seems
like it's going to bring you joy. And I hope you'll believe
me when I tell you this. They're lying to you. It's a
false joy. And when you realize you've been
lied to, when you realize those things that you thought was going
to bring you such joy, really bring you nothing but sorrow,
you're going to be more depressed than when you started. You know,
somebody says, well, I'm depressed, so believe I'll get drunk. And
then, you know, they wake up to more of the hangover and you
realize, well, that didn't do me good. You're more depressed
than when you started. That's what this is talking about. It
brings you nothing but depression. Sin, the way of this world, brings
you nothing but anguish of soul. Anguish. Because we're opposing
God. We're opposing the way of grace
and salvation. And sin causes fear. Fear of
everything. It's everything. Fear of men,
fear of death, fear of punishment, fear of God. All that's brought
on by being in the world, in sin. But in Christ, there's none
of that. There's no pressure, there's
no depression, there's no anguish and there's no fear in Christ.
Just peace in Him. There's no pressure in Christ. He's removed all the pressure.
Bobby did everything that's required. Why do I feel pressure to do
anything? He did it all. Look at Psalm 118. This word
pressure. It also means being confined
in a small space. A couple weeks ago, Sean and I
were talking about this. He feels the same way. We've
gotten a little older. When we were kids, I wasn't afraid of heights.
I'd get up on the, you know, go to Kings Isle and get up on
that Eiffel Tower and just look over the edge and be, you know,
on top of a roller coaster and just. Now, I'm going to stand
way back here, you know, I'm just getting a little afraid
of heights. When I was a kid, I wasn't afraid of being in a
small place. I liked to go hide, you know, in a storm drain or
something, you know, get a little high. As I got older, I'd get
a little claustrophobic. You know, that small space, that
makes me feel like I'm under pressure. That's part of what
this word means, being in a small space that you're being pressed
and confined. There's none of that in Christ.
There's Psalm 118, verse 5. I called upon the Lord in distress
and the Lord answered me and he set me in a large place, a
wide open place. The Lord is on my side. I will
not fear. I won't fear what man can do
to me. I won't fear anything because there's no pressure in
Christ. There's no fear in him. There's
no depression in Christ. In Christ we have the joy of
salvation and it's true lasting joy. That'll never fool you. That'll never lie to you. That'll
never be taken away from you. In Christ, there's no anguish
of soul. Because Christ suffered all the
anguish that our sin deserves. So there's none in Him. In this
world there is, isn't there? Try dealing with this world.
They cause you anguish. Deal with Christ and there's
none. In Christ, there's no fear. There's no fear of death. There's
no fear of judgment. Because Christ already suffered
the judgment that we deserve. He died the death that we deserve.
There's no fear. We don't have to fear men. He's
overcome the world. We don't fear judgment. He's
already been judged for us. And we don't fear the Father
because He already told us that the Father loves us in Christ. So there's no fear. Now, there's
reverence, but there's no fear. No being afraid. There's no slavish
fear because we're in Christ were sons. If you look in 1 John
chapter 5, a believer doesn't have to fear being overcome by
this world, because Christ our Savior just told us, I've overcome
the world. So the world can never overcome
us in Christ. 1 John 5 verse 4. For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
We've overcome the world. How? In Him. Like when He overcame the world,
you overcame the world. So it's not going to overwhelm
you. There's no fear. Perfect peace in Him. Now, look
back in our text, verse 23. John chapter 16. Our Lord says, And in that day
ye shall ask me nothing. In that day when you see Christ
crucified for your sins, in that day when you see the fulfillment
of God's purpose of redemption fulfilled in the person and work
of Christ, your joy will be full. Your peace will be full and complete. And you won't ask for anything.
Why not? Because you see, you already
have everything. In Christ we have everything. So he says,
And that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say
unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he
will give it you. A hitherto have ye asked nothing
in my name. Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be
full. Until now the disciples had not
asked for anything based on the blood of Christ. They hadn't
asked for anything based on the sacrifice of Christ for their
sin, or his death as their substitute, because it hasn't happened yet.
They don't know anything about it yet. But they will. They will pray the Father in
the name of Christ. Based on the blood of the sacrifice
of Christ to put their sin away, they'll pray the Father. And
they'll receive what they ask for. Do you know why? Because
the Father will glorify the Son. He will honor His Son. And if
you ask for the honor, of the Son, you'll receive what you
ask for. Because the Father will honor the Son, will honor His
sacrifice for His people. And these disciples will receive
what they ask for. They'll receive the forgiveness
of sin. They'll receive help in their ministry. They'll receive
God's blessing on the Word that they preached. You know why?
Because Christ did not die in vain. He didn't die in vain for
any of His people. And he didn't die in vain for
any of the purpose of God. So whatever you ask for, based
upon the sacrifice of Christ, you will receive. So your joy
and your peace will be full. Ask for the forgiveness of sins.
Ask that your sin be forgiven based upon the blood of Christ
that he shed in his dying agony that cleanses us from all sin
and you will be forgiven. Ask to be justified. Justified
is not just as if I've never sinned. Justified is being made
without sin, that you have never sinned. Ask to be justified because
Christ was made sin for me and you'll be justified. Ask to be
made righteous based upon the obedience of Christ. He was obedient
even unto death. He died that I might be made
righteous and you'll be made righteous. Ask for eternal life. Ask for eternal life because
Christ died for you and you'll have eternal life. And ask for
peace with God. We're right back where we started.
We crave peace. We want peace in your heart.
Peace with God. Well, ask God for peace based
upon the blood of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. He made
peace for us through the blood of His cross. Then ask God for
peace. based upon the death of Christ
that put away God's anger, and you'll have peace. Ask. Based upon the person and work
of Christ, and the Father will give it to you. Well, I say with
the disciples, now I've got peace. I have all peace in Him. I wish I could say He'll never
waver. My enjoyment of it will never
waver. Based on past experience with old Frank, I know that's
not so. But you know what? I know where peace is found.
Do you? It's in Christ. Let's go to Him.
Our Father, how we thank You for the plain speech of Your
Word that peace is in Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. How thankful
we are. for the freeness of the gospel,
the freeness of your grace, the freeness of salvation in Christ,
that peace is not dependent on anything we do, anything that
we don't do, how well we toe the line or do what we're supposed
to do, but that peace is in Christ, because He accomplished all things
for us. In Him, we're righteous. In Him,
we're justified. In Him, we have no sin. In Him, we're loved of the Father.
And in Him, we have peace. Father, cause us, cause each
person in this room this morning to look to Christ. Bless Your
Word, we pray. Cause it to break our hearts
and to penetrate and reach our hearts and cause us to look to
Christ, to cling to Him and never take our eyes off Him because
all things are in Him. Father, it's in His precious
matchless name we pray and give thanks. Amen.