Okay, well we come this week
now to the last verse of John's Gospel chapter 16, the 33rd verse. Obviously I'm jumping forward
a bit, I'm missing some verses out. I think the meaning is largely
fairly plain in there. Basically, in a nutshell, I think
that our Lord Jesus Christ is speaking to his disciples And
whereas we tell from the text here that whereas they had not
really understood many things, he'd spoken in Proverbs, but
then it's clear he speaks plainly. He speaks plainly about his going
away. And they thought he was going
away somewhere physically, but he now speaks plainly and tells
them, no, he's going to the cross, he's going to die. He's going
to rise again from the dead. He's going to see them. They're
going to be full of joy because they're going to see him in his
risen appearances. They're going to see him ascend
to glory. Their deep, deep anguish and
sorrow, which is definitely coming upon them and is something they're
going to experience, will be turned to great joy and he talks
about that time when the fullness of the spirit will be there and
they'll be praying and he says things that at first sight in
the authorized version language seem difficult to understand
in verse 23. In that day you shall ask me
nothing. What? Is he saying don't pray?
No, I think he's saying you shall ask me nothing that I haven't
already given you. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give
it. I've already given you so much but go on and ask for more
go on and ask for more that while as Isaiah says while they're
still calling I will answer says God in Isaiah 65 and he says
hitherto you've asked nothing in my name compared I think he's
saying compared to what I expect to hear from you when these things
are all accomplished when you have the Holy Spirit the comforter
with you and he says 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. In other words, what he's saying is, I don't need to say
it. Of course he's our intercessor, he's interceding for us. He's
praying these things of the Father for his people. And so he's speaking
of that time when all these things will be accomplished. And they
say, well, now we understand plainly. Now we've explicitly
understood. Verse 29, lo, now thou speakest
plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now we are sure that thou knowest
all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee. By this
we believe that thou camest forth from God. In other words, right,
now it's clear, now we understand, none of this sort of mumbling
amongst themselves, what does he mean by this little while
and what's he talking about, we don't understand. Now we clearly,
explicitly understand it and he says to them in verse 31,
do you now believe? Do you really believe? You're
beginning to understand, but do you really believe? I think
what he's saying there is you're going to need the experience
of the next seven weeks of that dreadful crucifixion, of that
great sorrow, and then of the risen appearances in Galilee
and so on. of the ascension, of seeing him
go back to glory, of going and waiting for those 10 days, the
120 in the room in Jerusalem and waiting for the Holy Spirit
to come and then seeing the day of Pentecost burst forth with
that outpouring of the Spirit and 3,000 of those that had cried
crucify, crucify being convicted by that Holy Spirit of sin and
of righteousness and of judgment and of crying out, men and brethren,
what should we do? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Believe on him. They needed those things, those
experiences to show them. They needed the Holy Spirit with
them, given on the day of Pentecost to show it all to them. But then
in verse 33, and this is the end of the sermon effectively
because chapter 17 is the record of the prayer that he uttered
in their hearing before they went out at the start of chapter
18. So this is all happening the one evening, 13, 14, 15,
16, 17, all of this is happening on the
one evening, the night that he was betrayed, before he was crucified. And the last thing he says to
them before this prayer, and before he says now let's go out,
and they went to Gethsemane, In verse 33 he says, These things
I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation,
but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. This promise
here, and it's a promise for these disciples facing what they
were facing, but it's a promise for all his disciples in all
time. It's a promise for all of his
people. A promise of peace, a promise
of trouble, but a promise of victory. I want to look at these
three things. First of all, peace. These things
I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. what things has he spoken unto
them that in him they might have peace? Well the previous four
chapters the previous four chapters is what he's spoken to them these
things that he's been talking about in that room you know the
night that Judas went out and then after he'd gone out the
things that he spoke to them these things that they might
have peace because we live in a world and our experience is
so often one of a lack of peace. But he's saying these things
have I spoken unto you that in me you might have peace. What things? Let's just look
as a reminder at some of these things. Look back at verse 5
of chapter 15. verse 5 of chapter 15 in chapter
15 he'd been talking about the vine and the branches and he
says in verse 5 I am the vine ye are the branches he that abideth
in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without
me you can do nothing the union that there was because he told
them about them being united with him have peace because of
that peace that you might have peace in me knowing this that
you flesh and blood human being walking through this world with
sin and all of the troubles and trials you have union with the
God-man the Lord Jesus Christ you have union with Him and that's
a union that is a legal union that's a union that is an actual
spiritual union that is a union that is founded in eternity look
at the piece by Charles Spurgeon on the back of the bulletin.
It often happens in the Psalms, he says, that you can scarcely
tell whether it is David or the Lord Jesus or both of them to
whom the writer is referring. Oftentimes you lose sight of
David altogether and are quite certain that he is not there,
while at other times the words seem equally suited either to
David as the type or to Jesus as the anti-type. I think that
this fact is very instructive to us. It is as the Holy Ghost
intended, even in those ancient times, to let God's saints know
that there is a mysterious union between Christ and His people,
so that almost all things which may be said concerning Him may
be said also concerning those who are in Him. Do you hear that?
Almost all things which may be said concerning Christ may be
said also concerning those who are in him, who are united with
him as the vine branches to the rootstock. They are so completely
one. They are so intimately united
in bonds of mystic, vital, conjugal, eternal union that it would not
be possible always to keep the sayings concerning them apart.
What glorious things, what glorious things are said of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And those things in almost all cases are true of his people
in him. He is the righteousness of God
and that is our righteousness in him by that union with him.
Everything he is and everything he has is ours in him. These things have I spoken unto
you that in me you might have peace. Does that not bring peace
to the troubled soul? Knowing that we're united with
Christ, that we're united with the Son of God, that we're united
with God in and through him, that everything he is is ours.
That brings peace. Secondly, look at verse 16 of
chapter 15. Chapter 15 verse 16. You have not chosen me but I
have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring
forth fruit. You have not chosen me but I
have chosen you. These things have I said to you
that in me you might have peace. He's talking about election.
He's talking about the sovereign electing grace of God. He's talking
about that which happened before the beginning of time. In fact,
before is the wrong word, outside of time, in eternity. That choice
of the God of the universe, of a people, for his own glory,
to be to the praise of the glory of his grace. As we've looked
the last two weeks at Psalm 65 and verse 4, blessed is the man
that you choose. Blessed, truly happy, spiritually
blessed, blessed with the favor of the God of the universe, is
the man whom you choose and cause to approach you and to dwell
in your temple and to be satisfied with the things of your house,
satisfied with the things of the gospel. Blessed, blessed
what peace it is to know if by faith I know, if by faith I know
that I am an object of God's eternal everlasting love because
he said to his people in Jeremiah, I have loved you with an everlasting
love. not a whimsical love, not a love
that's here today and gone tomorrow, but with an everlasting love.
We trust in our marriage partners in a hope of a lifelong love
and commitment and trust but we know that the flesh is so
frail and the flesh is so weak but this is an everlasting love
the promise of the eternal God to his people you have not chosen
me but I have chosen you what a blessed source of peace that
is these things have I said to you that in me you might have
peace does that give you peace? You know There are those who
say that they're Christians but they hate the doctrine of election.
They hate it, they wish it wasn't in the Bible. Oh, I tell you,
how can you think that? This is the truth of God. This
is the blessedness of God Almighty, that He has loved His people
with an everlasting love in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thirdly, look
at verse 13 of chapter 15. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends greater
love hath no man than this that he lay down his life for his
friends he's saying that for them he will lay down his life
how are they going to have all of the promised benefits How
are they going to have these things which bring such peace
to the soul in the Lord Jesus Christ? Is it enough to know
that we're united with him? Is it enough to know that we're
elected by the Father? No, we must know that the price
has been paid. We must know that the purchase
price has been paid. I will lay down my life for my
friends, he says. I will lay down my life for my
people. and if he's laid down his life
and if he's poured out his lifeblood because the life is in the blood
and he poured out his lifeblood and it was the price of redemption
it was the price of justice for the soul that sins it shall die
that is the price of justice and he poured out his infinite
lifeblood for his people, in the place of his people, that
the price of redemption might be paid, so that God can cry
out, I have found a ransom. Let him go free. I have found
a ransom. And so we read those glorious
verses at the end of Romans 8. Who shall lay any charge to God's
elect? Christ has died. there's no charge,
Satan will come, Satan the accuser of the brethren will come and
will come with all of these charges and they'll evaporate into thin
air for who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect
for he's paid the price in full he's paid it there is therefore
now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus for he's
laid down his life for his friends oh what peace that gives the
wrath of God and the torment of God we were looking at it
in Isaiah chapter 13 which is a dreadful chapter of judgment
and the promise of awful merciless wrath that is coming on sin at
the end of time on the day of judgment we saw it clearly we
didn't like looking at it but there it is God has spoken and
God has shown that he will judge the world in righteousness he
will punish sin, he will punish unrighteousness he will punish
that rejection of his darling son he will do all of those things
but in that day of judgment there is salvation in the Lord Jesus
Christ for he has laid down his life for his friends what peace
that brings what peace to know that you were in that ark that
ark which is pitched within and without which will withstand
all of the storms of the justice of God that we've already been
acquitted have you ever had to appear in court I only ever had
to appear once, and that was as a witness to a traffic accident,
but I could see the way things played out. Now, I know some
of you have spent a lot more time in court than others and
seen some of the tragic cases that go on, but, you know, to
know that you're accused of something, what a tremendous sense of relief
it must be. what a tremendous sense of peace
must come over you i can imagine somebody who is wrongly accused
of a serious crime and it's in the public domain and it's obvious
and the trial is due for six months time what a dreaded awful
six months that must be knowing that you've got that accusation
against you and what a glorious liberty it must be the day that
the court finds you not guilty finds that you've got no case
to answer throws the case out and lets you go free, what blessed
words they must be. Well you think about it, in the
court of eternity, in the court of divine justice, because this
man has laid down his life for his friends. Ah, what peace that
brings to the conscience. And then next, next, These things,
remember, have I spoken to you, that in me you might have peace. Peace by union, peace by election,
peace by the promised redemption of him laying down his life.
And then next to that verse that we were just looking at in chapter
15, verse 13, lay down his life for his friends. Verse 14, you
are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call
you not servants, For the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth,
but I have called you friends. For all things that I have heard
of my father I have made known unto you. Friends, Jesus says
this. He's their master. He said, you
call me lord and master and you do right because so I am. He
is our lord and master. But he says this, I call you
no longer servants. Even though Paul was delighted
to call himself the bond servant, you know, the ear nailed to the
door post. Here's the day of jubilee, you
can go free. I don't want to go free. I love
my lord and master. I love him and I want to serve
him. I want my ear pierced to show that I'm his forever. I
don't want to be turned out into this wilderness of this cruel
world. I want the safety and the comfort and the delights
of this master's home in whom I have learned to live and love
and survive and all of these things. I want to stay with him.
But though a bondservant, yet he says, I call you not servants,
but I call you my friends. to be friends of the living God.
Abraham was a friend of God. Moses spoke to God as a man speaks
to his friend face to face. you know it's a fearful thing
the scriptures tell us and not the Old Testament, the New Testament
it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God it says in Hebrews that our God is, not was, is a consuming
fire our God is a judge we've seen what he said he will do
at the end of time in Isaiah 13 we've seen the judgments that
he will bring upon this sinful godless world we've seen these
things but here My Lord and my God, as Thomas called him a few
days later, about a week after this, Thomas, Thomas bowed at
his feet, Thomas who would not believe, saw him risen. in that
room where they were meeting together he appeared he just
came through the closed door in that new body in that heavenly
body a real body a body that could eat food but a real heavenly
body and he came there and he showed Thomas Thomas come here
look look at the nail prints look at the sword look at the
wounds look at them look at these things and Thomas falls at his
feet my Lord and my God but here my Lord and my God says that
you are my friends friends does that bring peace? that our God
is not as so many want to portray him, a severe tyrant to his people. Oh, how they come with the severity
of the law to whip the people of God. To whip the children
of God with the law. How they come with their tyrannical
regime of law and rule. God is not a severe tyrant to
his people. He's a friend, says Christ. His
friend. And what do friends do? They
share secrets. And what are the secrets that
he has shared with his people? the mystery of the gospel of
his grace to know and believe this is what it's about this
is what it's about this was the eternal purpose of God to save
a people for his glory in these things that you might have peace
next one I've got is right back at chapter 14 and verse 6 which
is so well known one of the I am's Jesus said unto him I am the
way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the father but
by me you know so many people struggle to understand the meaning
of life so many others fill their lives with foolish frivolity
to avoid the realities of life and death and understanding why
we're here and what it's all about they fill their minds with
science so-called as Paul in Romans calls it, false science
so-called trying to excuse themselves, trying to get away from retaining
God in their knowledge. We hear just in the last few
days that Professor Stephen Hawking, the man that's in a wheelchair
and has to speak through a machine, he speaks and the world sits
up and takes notice, has said there was no need for a creator,
that his equations have now proven to him that there was no need
for a creator. And where does he leave people
with a statement like that? Where does it leave them? Where
does it leave them? In this huge, you know, the French
philosophers who said, well it's all absolutely pointless, I might
as well go out and slit my wrists and die because there's absolutely
no point to it. If that's the case there's no
point to it, there is no point to it. But no. knowing him who
is the way the truth and the life it's irrelevant what professor
Stephen Hawking thinks it's irrelevant what Richard Dawkins and other
professors of unbelief think it's utterly irrelevant it's
absolutely pointless arguing with them it's absolutely pointless
wasting the time of day trying to persuade them or to put up
arguments of human reason against what they're saying it's an utter
and complete waste of time because the children of God Those who
hear the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, they know whom they believe. They know. They don't just know
about him, they know whom they have believed. And they're persuaded
that he is able to keep that which they've committed unto
him against that day of judgment which is coming. They know that
He is the way, the truth, and the life. They know that He is
the meaning of life. They know that He is, to know
Him is to know all the wisdom of God, all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge. To know Him is to know wisdom
from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.
For He is the way, the truth, and the life. And so, concerning
eternity, concerning judgment to come, I'm anxious for nothing.
I have peace as a child of God knowing these things these things
have I said to you that you might have peace that you might have
peace and then look in chapter 14 verses 16 to 18 I will pray
the Father And he shall give you another
comforter, that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit
of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him
not, neither knoweth him. But you know him, for he dwelleth
with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless.
I will come to you." The promise of the Holy Spirit. What's he
promising? He's promising the presence of
God with them. You see, what was his name? Jesus. What was his name? in Isaiah
it's prophesied that the virgin shall be with child and shall
bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel and we know what
that means because Matthew tells us Matthew 1.18 I think it is
call his name Emmanuel which means God with us they'd walked
with God they'd walked with the God-man they'd walked with God
in human flesh the infinite God contracted to a span They walked
with the infinite God, Emmanuel, and he was going away. And so
their hearts were troubled and they were anxious. But he said,
don't worry, I won't leave you without a comforter. I'll send
another comforter to you. I'll send the Holy Spirit to
you so that you will have the presence of God with you and
in you and for you, the presence of God for you, that he will
be with you, in you and for you. He walks with me and he talks
with me along life's narrow way. You know, there's such a comfort
in knowing, there's such a peace and comfort in knowing the presence
of the living God. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, thou art with me. Thy rod and
thy staff, they comfort me. You've prepared a place for me,
you've done all of these things, the comfort of knowing the presence
of the living God. You know how it is for a small
child who is just conscious, I mean a baby doesn't know any
different, but somebody sort of Timothy's age, three years
old, and all the senses are very, very alert to this world around
us and starting to be alert to some of the fears and dangers
and all of those things. And there are situations in which
there is nothing like the presence of mummy or daddy. to calm those
fears to provide that comfort well so it is with the child
of God the comfort of having the presence of the Holy Spirit
with his people and he guarantees life look at verse 9 of chapter
14 verse 9 sorry I've got the wrong verse there I don't know
how I managed to do that where does it say because I live 19,
sorry, there it is. The brain says type something.
That's why I knew as soon as I read verse nine, that's not
the right verse. Because I knew my brain was saying type verse
19 and I didn't in my notes. Yet a little while and the world
seeth me no more, but ye see me. Because I live, you shall
live also. Because he lives, we shall live
also. It says in Hebrews, Chapter two,
it talks about men and women who through all their lives,
through fear of death, were subject to bondage. The fear of death,
you know, people make light of it. At funerals we have the party,
the wake afterwards, to try and get over the awful, dreadful,
horrendous experience of a loved one dying. We do all of those
things to try and distract us from the dreadfulness of that
situation. And in those situations with
our mortality right before us, our Lord Jesus Christ says to
his people, be at peace. Because I live, you will live
also. What's the guarantee that he
lives? He rose from the dead. He is risen. He is not here. There's no tomb. He's not in
the tomb anymore. He's gone. He's risen. And because
he lives, we live. He's the guarantee. He's the
down payment. He's the first fruits. because
he lives so will all of his people live and so will you and so will
I as believers and then the final one of these in in verse three
of chapter fourteen I go and prepare a place for you and I
will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there
you will be also he promises this that not only is there life
after death but there's a glorious place that he's preparing for
his people eternal mansions that he's preparing for his people
there is an eternal home in him there is so much that we don't
understand as John says in his first epistle behold what manner
of love the father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God therefore the world knoweth us not because
it knoweth not him you know there's no point arguing with Stephen
Hawking about his views of life they don't know the father therefore
they know nothing of what the believer experiences of eternity
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear
what we shall be. I don't know what these eternal
mansions are. I don't know what they are, but I do know this.
They'll be glorious. We know that when he shall appear,
we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every
man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he
is pure. All of this gives us peace, but
note it's peace in him. These things have I said unto
you, these things have I spoken unto you, that in me you might
have peace. These things are all peace in
the Lord Jesus Christ for his people. Where do we look for
peace? By nature we look for peace in
ourselves, but you'll find no peace in yourself. We look for
peace in the world with all of the things that glitter. We even
perhaps at times, though God forbid, look for peace in sin,
the pleasures of sin for a season. that tempted Moses but he refused
them. No, not in the things of time and sense. There's no peace
for us in the things of time and sense All of those things,
they're just like Christmas tree decorations. Sorry, it's only
September, isn't it? And I mentioned Christmas already. But do you
know what it is about Christmas tree decorations? Doesn't it
look beautiful? You set up the Christmas tree, and you put all
the sparkly baubles and glass bits and pieces on, and it looks
so expensive. It looks so valuable. It looks
so pretty in the dark days of winter, all sparkling and glittering
away with the different colors. And they're absolutely worthless.
Well, depends where you buy them from. Depends whether you buy
them from the Pound Store or John Lewis, but anyway. They're
worthless in reality. They're just like empty jewels.
They're baubles. They're nothing. And so are all
of these things in the world, in which there is ultimately
no peace. Just the pleasures of sin for a brief season of
time. You know, God says of the wicked,
and I told you earlier in the study, that the wicked is unbelief.
That's the thing. When the scriptures refer to
the wicked, it's unbelief, it's rejection of the gospel of grace.
There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked. That's
what Isaiah says in chapter 48. but for the believer this is
Paul this is Paul's prayer for believers Romans 15 13 now the
God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing Christ
that you may abound in hope that believing in Christ that resting
on these things that he said you might have peace and joy
in him through the power of the Holy Ghost but then he goes on
in the world. In him, you will have peace.
But in the world, you shall have tribulation. You'll have trouble.
You're still in the flesh. You will have trouble in the
world. Do you know the scripture says in the Song of Solomon,
chapter 6 and verse 13, that we are like a believer. The Shulamite,
which is the church, which is representative of believers,
is like a company of two armies and the senses of two opposing
armies. And what are the two opposing
armies? There's the new man of the Spirit of God, the new man
who is reborn for you must be born again, the Spirit of God
must come, he's born not of the will of the flesh nor of the
will of man but of God, the will of God comes and plants this
new man which has the peace that we've just been considering in
the Lord Jesus Christ. But the old man of the flesh,
the natural man, the natural man who cannot receive the things
of the Spirit of God is subject to trouble. And the two are in
tension. The flesh and the spirit, says
Galatians, they're in tension. They're contrary to one another.
They're always fighting. It's as if you've got some wayward
machinery, but with a new manager, the new man inside. But the wayward
machinery is this old flesh, which is so prone. You know,
we're daily prone to idols. Do you remember how in the history
of Israel, the constant thing was a proneness to run away after
idols? And so it is for the flesh of
the child of God. What are the idols we run after?
Not totem poles and statues of Buddha and things like that,
but idols of our own imagination, the things that tempt us, the
things that drag us away. As God said to the people through
Jeremiah in chapter 2, 13, he said, for my people have committed
two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain
of living waters, and they've hewed out them cisterns, broken
cisterns that can hold no water. The picture is of a huge piece
of stone I used to see up near where I lived in Cumbria. Some
of the really old water troughs in the field were actually one
great lump of stone that had the middle hewn out of it, carved
out of it, chipped away to produce this thing. But if you just hit
it in the wrong place it would break and it would be a broken
system and it would hold no water. And so it is that the things
that we go after in the flesh promise to hold water. They promise
to hold the things that will satisfy. They promise to do all
of those things to satisfy our greatest cravings. And they're
broken. They hold no water. Because we've
forsaken the fountain of living waters who is our God. You see,
here, Jesus is talking about the reality and certainty of
the fact that as believers, though the inner man, the new man will
have peace in the Lord Jesus Christ, that in this flesh, in
this world, we will have trouble. He says, ye shall, not ye might. He says, ye shall. But you know
God uses it all for chastisement of his people. He uses all of
it for chastisement to wean us from these worldly affections
as we go through this life. What sort of things? Well think
about it, we're running out of time but I'll go through these
quickly. Legitimate business things, you know we all have
to go to work, we all have to earn a living. It says, I can't
remember where, but one of Paul's epistles says that the man that
doesn't look after his family by going to work and earning
a living is worse than an infidel. So don't go saying that you're
all holy because you don't go to work and you've shunned the
world. No, no, no. Worse than an infidel. We have
all these legitimate things to do in the world of business and
work but, but such tempting situations, such tempting distractions from
the things of God. Such things that steer our gaze
away from thoughts of eternity. And family ties, what can be
better than family ties? Such joy, such potential joy,
but such potential pain and heartache. All of these things, trouble
in the world. I often think when parents are looking at a new
baby, and we're looking forward to a new baby any day now, and
you look and you say, oh what potential for good, oh what joy
that a man is born into the world. We just read in the chapter earlier
on. What joy that a man is born into
the world, but I often think, and I know many of you know,
from other parts of your family, what potential for heartache
there is there too. What potential. and the senses,
our senses as we come into contact with the world what potential
there is for sin and conflict and trouble our ears and our
eyes and our taste are so prone to sinful interaction with the
world aren't they? You know this is why Jesus said
if your eye offend you pluck it out, you know, don't look
at these things if they offend you, if they turn you away from
the things of God, if they tempt you into sin don't look at these
things. Our senses cause us trouble in this world as we walk through
this world. And the tongue, we haven't got time to look at it,
but look at James chapter 3 verses 5 to 8, what he says about the
trouble that such a little member causes. He says, how tiny a spark,
I read in in the news the other day that a huge great forest
fire was caused by a golfer who took a swing with his iron and
he struck a spark they think on a stone as he struck his and
it set fire to a huge great area and James says what a great forest
fire is caused by such a tiny little member as the tongue tiny
little member all these senses causes trouble in the world and
then Of course, as believers, you will have trouble in the
world. Persecution. You say, oh well, we don't suffer
much persecution in these days, we're not burnt at the stake,
we're not stoned as the martyrs were. No, no. But if you live
by the principles of serving the true God, and if you live
by the principles of the gospel of his grace, you will come into
conflict with carnal unbelief. And you'll come into conflict
with the gospel of Babel. the Gospel of Babel, the religion
of Babylon, this religion of DIY salvation which brings everything
down to the same common denominator which is why, as I said earlier,
the Archbishop of Canterbury can have his interfaith dialogues
and all of these. Reason why? It's essentially
the same thing. It's essentially absolutely the
same thing and it's in conflict with the gospel of grace and
particular redemption and you'll suffer persecution. And even
church disputes bring trouble. You know, the last place that
you would expect it among those who seem to call on the name
of the same God you call upon But as God reveals to you the
blessings and liberty of truth in Christ, the blessings and
liberty of the gospel of His grace, how it brings you into
conflict. In this world you shall have
trouble with religious tradition, with expedient compromise, which
there's so much of, even amongst those, you know, well we don't
want to be out of kilter with such and such an organization
because they've got lots of power, so therefore we won't be distinctive
as the word tells us to be about this, but we will compromise,
expedient compromise, and so if you love the true gospel of
sovereign grace and particular redemption, you'll come into
conflict. In this world you will have trouble.
And we can't move on without forgetting health and sickness,
and a realization of our mortality. You might have heard some of
you of a faithful pastor in Alabama, in Silacauga, is that how you
pronounce it? Tommy Robbins is seriously, seriously ill. Pray
for that man and his family. He's a faithful, he's on Free
Grace Radio, but it looks like he's got merely days to live,
because he's so riddled with cancer. This world is not our
home, as that old song used to say, this world is not our home,
we're just passing through. We have here no abiding city. Think about Abraham who went
out, we have no abiding city. He looked for a city which has
foundations, whose builder and maker is God. We're looking for
a city, a permanent home elsewhere. Yes, He gives us somewhere comfortable
to lay down our head in this life. He gives us things in this
life, all that are freely there to enjoy. It says in Paul's sister
Timothy, 1 Timothy 4 verse 5, that all the things in the world
that we need are sanctified by the word of God and prayer. There's
a rightful use of all of these things. Oil to make a man's face
shine, wine to gladden his heart. There's nothing wrong with these
things in and of themselves. They're all good. It's good to
enjoy this beautiful creation all around us, but not to take
our eyes off Him, who is the author and finisher of the faith
of His people, looking unto Jesus. I'm having to cut this short
for the sake of time, but We live in this world, we're
promised that we're going to have trouble in this world. That
the man of God, the new man of God will have peace in the Lord
Jesus Christ. But he says, despite all of the
trouble, are you alarmed? Are you downcast because of the
certainty of trouble? He says, but be of good cheer.
Be of good cheer. Yes, you live in this flesh with
all of its trouble for a while, for a season, but be of good
cheer. I have overcome the world. Christ has overcome it. The world
comes like a friend. It smiles like a friend. But
you know, it's a scam. We're so prone to scams these
days, aren't we? Through the internet and on our
telephones. How many calls do you get a day?
We get loads. Even though we've registered
to try and stop them, we still get calls. You pick the phone
up, there's nobody there or there's somebody there trying to trick
you with something or other. And the world comes like that
to the believer. It's a scam. For all that is
in the world, says John in his epistle, the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the father,
but is of the world. Beware of the world and its smile.
Beware of the world and its smile. It will tempt you away. Use the
things but hold them, as I've often said, I heard a preacher
many years ago say it, hold them in an open hand as gifts from
God for a time but he can take them away just as easily as he's
given. We don't have a right to them. We only have a right
to what he's given us for the time he's given us it. And so
use it like that and hold it in an open hand and don't grasp
and clutch it And don't cling on to it. Beware of the smile
of the world. When I was preparing this, I
was reminded of that rhyme for children about crocodiles. Do
you remember this, children? Never smile at a crocodile. Don't
be taken in by his friendly grin. He's imagining how well you'd
fit within his skin. Well, yes, we smile at that,
but that's the world to the believer. You know, don't be taken in by
its friendly grin. It's imagining how well you'd
fit within its skin. But Christ has overcome it. He's
overcome it. all of it he's overcome it he's
conquered sin so sin shall not have dominion over you and all
that he is and all that he has done belongs to his people so
all of these things are sanctified in him and how do we do it? as
Hebrews 12 says, by looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. We have peace in Christ, peace
in the things that he's promised his people. Oh yes, we'll have
trouble in this world, there's that conflict that goes on as
long as we're in this flesh, but be of good cheer, Christ
has overcome the world.