In the next few weeks, as we're
able to help the church at Pikeville, just write Pikeville in the check,
and we'll make sure they get it within a couple of weeks.
I've entitled this message, Do You Now Believe? Do you? now believe?" That's
the question our Lord asked the disciples in verse 31. Jesus answered them, Do you now
believe? Now, this was our Lord's response
to their cocksure attitude. In verse 29, His disciples said
of Him, Now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb, or dark
saying? Now are we sure that thou knowest
all things, and meetest not that any man should ask thee? By this
we believe that thou camest forth from God." Now, these words have
a kind of fleshly confidence. Can you feel it? to the spirit of grace and humility. Now we're sure. We weren't quite so sure about
you up to this point, but now we are. We're putting our words
of affirmation on you, as though he needed their affirmation. Now we believe. And the Lord
says, do you now believe? You know, it's one thing to say
you believe, and it's another thing to believe. Do you now believe? This is big
talk. Now, the faith that they were
speaking of was a faith that came by human understanding. Now we understand. We've got
the X's and O's together. We understand what's going on.
Therefore, we believe. This is not a supernatural faith,
it's a faith that is derived from human understanding. Let's look back up in verse 25
of John chapter 16. The Lord says, These things have
I spoken unto you in proverbs, figurative speech, dark sayings. But the time cometh when I shall
no more speak unto you in Proverbs, but I will show you plainly of
the Father. 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 what our Lord
is saying is, it's not like he has to persuade the Father to
love. The father does love. The father
gave his son because he did love. And he gives a reason as to why
the father loves him. He says he loves you personally. Because you love me. And because you believed that
I came forth from God. Now listen to this statement
real carefully. You want to know what the Lord thinks, what God
the Father thinks about you. God the Father has some opinion
regarding you. has an opinion regarding you,
a thought regarding you. And if you want to know what
God thinks of you, here's how you can tell. Do you love his
son? Do you love him as he's revealed
in the word? Do you love his holiness? Do
you love his justice? Do you love his sovereignty?
Do you love his majesty? Do you love his greatness? Do
you love his son? If you love his son, God loves
you. Do you really believe that he
came forth from God? Do you believe that? If you do,
God loves you. Now, if you die not loving his
son, if you die not believing his gospel, if you die not believing
he came forth from God, you're going to find out God never loved
you. He never did, never will. You're going to be like Esau,
that one of whom the scripture says, God said, I hate him. God
said that. Doesn't God love everybody? Oh,
no. He doesn't love those people
who do not love his son. If you die in unbelief, you're
going to die just like Esau. God said Esau have I hated. That's God's words. But if you
love his son, you're going to be just like Jacob. Jacob have
I loved. Verse 28, He says, I came forth
from the father and come into the world. Again, I leave the
world and go to the father. He left the father and came to
this world for this purpose, to save his people. And he's going back to the father
because the mission was accomplished. Verse 29, his disciples said
unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly and speakest no proverb.
Now we're sure that thou knowest all things, and neither is not
that any man should ask thee. By this we believe that thou camest forth from God."
Now we understand what you're saying. Now we're sure that thou
knowest all things. Verse 31, Jesus answered them, Do you not believe? It's a big
talk. Do you now believe? Verse 32, Behold, the hour cometh,
yea, is now come, that you shall be scattered, every man to his
own, and shall leave me alone. Now, the Lord saw their self-confidence
and lack of humility and haughtiness in their He saw it. You know,
it's far more wise to distrust yourself than to have this kind
of confidence that they are manifesting. He says, here's what you fellows
are going to do. You're going to leave me. You leave me alone, overcome
by the fear of man. And we generally think of Peter
as the one who pursued the Lord, and he did, but the rest of them
did, too. He said, you'll all forsake me.
These men were too cowardly to stand with the Lord Jesus Christ.
They were scared. They left him alone. After all
this time with him for these years, when they heard his word
and all the glory that they've seen in him and they've seen
glory in him. Yet when push comes to shove, when the rubber hits
the road, what do they do? They leave him. He says, you're
talking about faith. Oh, you talk big, but here's
what's going to happen. You are going to forsake me. The scripture says they all forsook
him and fled. They ran. They were overcome
by the fear of man. And Christ was left alone by
the very ones he was saving. And you know, he was left alone
by the Father, too. The Father forsook him on the
cross. He truly was all alone. But he said the Father was with
me, though. Both of these things are true. Alone, yet not alone. Verse 32, Behold, the hour cometh,
yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his
own, and shall leave me alone, yet I am not alone, because the
Father is with me. Now here's our text. Verse 33,
These things have I spoken unto you, that in me, how old would
God that somebody would hear this, that I would hear it. These
things have I spoken unto you, that in me, You're not going
to have peace in your courage. You're not going to be able to
have peace in your faith. You're going to find that your
faith is not very good. I mean, you run off and desert
me. These things have I spoken to you. I'm letting you know
ahead of time that in me, you might have peace. Now, in the
world, you're going to have tribulation, anguish, trial, trouble. but be of good cheer. If the Lord says be of good cheer,
we have reason to be of good cheer. Be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world. Now these things that I've spoken
to you that in me you might have peace. I want to talk for a few
moments about peace. Peace is a feeling. It's the opposite of worry. It's
the opposite of stress. It's the opposite of fear. It's
the opposite of anxiety. It is rest. It is not being afraid. It is satisfaction. It is contentment. And it comes from a harmonious
relationship, a relationship in which there is no Now, peace. You can have a peaceful
feeling without having a ground for that peace. The Lord speaks of the false
prophets who cried, peace, peace. Be at peace. Everything's fine.
He says, when there is no peace. You can have a peaceful feeling
and have no ground for that peace. I've been one morning in Sodom.
It was very much like this morning, a beautiful Sunday morning. Everybody
gets up and they're excited about the prospects of the day. They
didn't have any idea, although they felt peace and they felt
good and they felt good about their lives, they didn't have
any idea what was getting ready to take place. You can have a
peaceful feeling and have no ground for that peace. Now, seven times in the New Testament,
God is called the God of peace. And we read of the peace of God
that passes all understanding. We read of the joy and peace
of believing. The kingdom of God, Paul said
in Romans 14, 17, is not meat and drink. It's not do's and
don'ts. It's not rules and regulations, but it's righteousness and peace. You see, there can be no peace
where there's sin. True peace, the true ground of
peace only comes from righteousness. The kingdom of God is not meat
and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Ghost. Now, the peace that a believer
has is a well-grounded peace. Now, all kinds of folks have
peace, but only a believer has a well-grounded reason for peace. Now, let me show you that. Turn
with me to Romans chapter 4. Verse 25, it says regarding the Lord Jesus
Christ, who was delivered for our offenses. Our offenses became
his and he was delivered up and he was raised again for our justification. Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ
was raised from the dead, all of the elect were justified.
Now, I don't suppose I'm ever going to preach a message. I
hope I don't. I don't talk something about justification. Justification
means not guilty. My guilt became his. He became
guilty of it. His perfect righteousness becomes
mine. I am justified. I have no sin before God. Now,
go on reading. This is true of every believer.
He was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our
justification. Therefore, being justified, literally
having been justified, by faith we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. The peace he is speaking of is
not the subjective feeling of peace, but the fact of peace. God is at peace with me. He's not mad at me. He's not
displeased with me. As a matter of fact, when he
looks at me, he looks at nothing but that which he is pleased
with. And that's what justification
does. I heard a preacher say, justification
is a legal standing before God. But I want to get in God's lap.
Oh, no, that's saying there's something you can do. It's better
than justification. It'll put you closer to God.
No, justification puts me in the very lap of God. He is at
peace with me. Having been justified by what
my Lord did on Calvary's tree. He was delivered from my offenses.
He was raised again for my justification. Having been justified, we have
peace with God. And this is a well-grounded peace.
Here's how Christ made our peace. Turn over to Colossians chapter
1. Colossians chapter 1. Verse 20. And having made peace through
the blood of his cross. Now do you see that? Having made
peace through the blood of his cross. He made my peace with
God. That's what my Lord did. He made my peace with God. Having made peace through the
blood of his cross by Him. to reconcile all things to himself. By him I say, whether they be
things on earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometimes
alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to
present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight." Now, if you're holy, And if you're
unblameable, and if you're unreprovable, you know what? You feel peace,
don't you? You see, where there's sin, there
is no peace. But where there is no sin, there
is peace. Paul said in Ephesians 2.14,
He is our peace. Never have truer words ever been
spoken. He is our peace. Now, there's only one place that
this peace is found. Now, our Lord said to his disciples
who at that time were affirming him with their faith. Now we
believe, but we weren't so sure about you before, but we are
now. That sounds so arrogant when they say that regarding
our Lord. We're there now. He says, now
you're going to forsake me. And you're not going to be able
to find any peace in anything about you. Now, these things
have I spoken unto you that in me, in me, you might have peace. Peace is found in Christ. It's
not found in your faith. Your faith isn't what you think
it is. It's not found in your repentance. It's not found in
your understanding. It's not found in your experience. It's not found in your circumstances. These things have I spoken to
you that in me, in me, you might have peace. In Christ. I've tried to talk
about peace, what peace is, what the ground of that peace is.
But let's talk about this for just a few moments. In Christ. In me, you might have peace. Now, there's several illustrations
that the Lord gives regarding what it means to be in Christ.
We're given the illustration, the scriptures of the vine and
the branches. And you think of the fibers going through that
vine into the branches. There's not a place where it
begins and ends, is there? You think of marriage. The two become one flesh in Christ. What I think of as much as anything
else, what I think of in Christ, to me, this is a wonderful illustration.
I brought this out a couple of weeks ago. Several of you women
have babies in you. You're walking around with somebody
in you. Where you go, they go. When you sit down, they sit down.
When you enter the room, they enter the room. Where you are,
they are. What you eat, they eat. And you
think how dependent that baby is upon you in the womb. Utterly
and completely dependent. More dependent on you in the
womb than outside of the womb. Totally and completely dependent
upon you for any nourishment in you. Wherever you go, that's
where they go. And when I look at you, I don't
see that one in you. I just see you. That's how the
Lord views every one of his people in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
that's exactly what the Lord meant when he said, by me, if
any man enter in, he shall be saved. I don't come alongside
of him, plead and say, hear me for Christ's sake. No, when Christ
comes into the Father's presence, I come into the Father's presence.
That's by me. if any man enter in. No man cometh
to the Father but by me. In Christ, in the Lord Jesus
Christ, is the only place you'll find peace. And you know, the
greatest scriptural illustration of being in Christ is baptism. Baptism. We're going to have
a baptism this morning. Now, in baptism, Christ lived,
died, and was raised from the dead. And that's what baptism
pictures and represents. The life, the death and burial,
and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's what
I'm confessing in Believer's Baptism. I'm confessing this
is my hope. This is my peace. That when Jesus
Christ lived and kept God's holy law and never sinned, I was in
Him. And if He kept the law, I kept
the law. That's what I'm confessing. When
Jesus Christ died, I was in Him. When He died, I died. When He suffered God's wrath,
I did. My sins were punished. When He
was raised from the dead, when you go all the way under in water
baptism, you come back up. When He was raised from the dead,
I was raised from the dead. Now, this is all my salvation
that I was in Him. This is the only place I find
any peace. I don't find any peace in my preaching. I don't find
any peace in my faith. I don't find any peace in my
repentance, in my intentions, in my ability to not sin, in
my ability to resist temptation. The only place I found peace
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him. In me, you might have
peace. Ephesians 2, 4-6 says, But God,
who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved
us even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
with Christ. When Christ was raised from the
dead and quickened, you know who else was? all of God's elect. And He raised us up together
with Him and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. Peace is to be found only in
Him. Would you turn with me to Ephesians
chapter 1? I want you to look at this phrase,
in Christ. It's in here nine or ten times
in these first twelve or thirteen verses. We're not going to look
at all of them, but look in Ephesians chapter one, verse three. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, where? In
Christ. Every blessing that God has to
give, the believer has in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he starts
to enumerate those blessings. Verse 4. According as He hath
chosen us in Him. There's the blessing of election
before the foundation of the world. I love God's electing
mercy. I love the God of election. An
election cannot be understood apart from simply being in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't choose me because I
did anything. He chose me and accepted me in
the Beloved. According as He had 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
the well-beloved Son." I've been accepted in Christ. Right now,
God accepts me. You know, preachers say, won't
you accept Jesus as your personal Savior? That's the most ridiculous
thing you can say. That's stupid. I don't know what else to call
it. It's wicked. You accept Him? You're turning things around
if you believe anything like that. You don't accept Him. The
question is, will He accept you? Will He accept you? Accepted. He has made us accepted in the
Beloved. Look next. In whom? We have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His grace. Do you see how all of God's blessings
are in the Lord Jesus Christ? Turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter
1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse
3. But of Him are you in Christ
Jesus? How do you get into Christ? God's
got to put you there. The only way you're going to be in Christ
is if God puts you there. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus?
Who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. Now, in Christ, I'm the very
wisdom of God. In Christ, I'm the righteousness
of God. In Christ, I'm sanctified, I'm
holy. In Christ, I have full deliverance. This is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You see what the Lord meant when he said in me you might have
peace? You get peace from that? All that God requires in Christ,
I have. And when I was put in Christ,
which is eternally, everything God required of me, he looked
to his Son for. That peace, isn't it? Oh, the
joy and the peace of believing. One other scripture on this thing
of being in Christ. Turn to 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3. Verse 4. Whosoever committeth
sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression
of the law. And you know that he was manifested
to take away our sins. And in him is no sin. Bless God, that means that if
I'm in him, I have No sin. None at all. Peace is only to be found in
him. The feeling of peace, the ground
of peace is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now back to our text,
John 16. These things, verse 33, have
I spoken unto you that in me you might have peace. No conflict.
Perfect peace. In the world, you shall have
tribulation. He didn't say you'll be delivered
from tribulation. He said in this world. He's speaking to
believers. In this world, you shall have tribulation. That word is also translated
anguish. Burden. Distress. Persecution. Trouble. It's literally a pressing, a
pressure and a stress. In the world you shall have tribulation. If you're a man. You're going
to have troubles. And you're going to have problems.
For a believer, they have the same problems and troubles unbelievers
have. Same ones. Same troubles in the
home. Same troubles on the job. Same
troubles in their own hearts. In this world, you shall have
tribulation and trouble and problems and heartache and terrible things
are going to happen. It's going to happen. Sickness,
disease. Poverty. Problems. Problems in your marriage. Problems
with your kids. It's going to happen. Something
bad happens and somebody thinks, I wonder what they did. Well,
same thing you do. Same thing you do. Don't ever look down
your nose at somebody for anything they're going through. You're
going to have trouble. As a believer, you're going to
have trouble. For Christ's sake. The Lord said,
in the world, they that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall
suffer persecution. It's going to happen. If I'm
faithful to the gospel, I'm going to make some enemies. Folks aren't
going to like it. In this world, you shall have
tribulation and trouble. But be of good cheer. Be of good cheer. I think an
example of what he's saying, now you're going to have trouble,
but be of good cheer. Here's an example of what this means.
Turn back to John chapter 13. Verse 37 of John chapter 13.
Peter said unto him, Lord, why can't I follow thee now? I'll
lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus answered him, wilt thou
lay down my life for my sake? That's the same thing as saying,
do you now believe? Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake?
Verily, verily, I say unto you, the cough shall not crow till
you have denied me three times. Let not your heart be troubled. Peter, you're going to deny me
three times. Let not your heart be troubled.
Peter was taught effectually that peace is found only in the
Lord Jesus Christ. In me, you might have peace. Now be of good cheer, he said,
although you're going to have tribulation and trouble in this
world. Be of good cheer. Behold, I have overcome the world. Now turn with me to Revelation
chapter 12. I preached on this passage Friday
night in Harrodsburg, Revelation chapter 12. Verse 9, And the great dragon
was cast out, that old serpent called the devil, and Satan which
deceived the whole world. He was cast out into the earth
and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud
voice saying, in heaven now has come salvation and strength and
the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ, for the
accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before
our God day and night." Satan is called the accuser of the
brethren. He, you do something evil And he goes and tells the Lord
about it. He's your child? Look what he
did. Look what he thought. Look at
him. He's your child? And he'll whisper
those same accusations in our ear. You, a child of God? You're nothing more than a hypocrite.
The sinful things you do that God sees, that no man sees, but
God sees them. The thoughts you have? You, a
child of God, you don't have the right to trust Christ. You're
too sinful. You, a child of God? He's the
accuser of the brethren. Now, let's go on reading. And
they, the brethren, every believer, they overcame him. How? By the blood of the Lamb. Now that's talking about His
substitutionary death on the cross, the blood of the Lamb. Talking about His death. Now
let me remind you why He died. When He was dying, it's because
He was made sin. It was because He was guilty,
because God is just, God is fair. The righteous are never forsaken.
On the cross, He was made sin. The Father didn't look at him
and say, now, I know you're not guilty and these are the sins
of your people, but I'm going to treat you as if you were, but we know
you're not. He didn't look at himself and
say, I'm dying for the sins of my people, but I know I didn't
really do them. He didn't have any of his people
saying, we know you're doing this for us and we're thankful.
No, he was made sin and the wrath of God came down upon him. And they overcame him, how? One
reason given. I'm an overcomer. I've won. How? By the blood of the Lamb. And by the word of their testimony.
What was the word of their testimony? Now this is, here's my personal
testimony. Anybody want to hear my testimony?
You might not, but I'm going to give it to you anyway. Here's
my personal testimony. I overcame by the blood of the
Lamb. That's it. That's it. By the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Here's my hope. Christ died for
me. He was raised for me. He intercedes
for me. I overcame by the blood of the
Lamb. That's the word of my testimony. And it says they loved not their
lives even unto death. You know what that means? Every
believer willing to die for this message. This is the gospel. This is the gospel. They overcame
Him by the blood of Turn to I John chapter 5. I John chapter 5, verse 1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ God's anointed prophet, God's priest, the one
who must be successful, God's king, the absolute sovereign
of the universe, the one who controls everything. That's what
it is to believe that Jesus is the Christ. He's God's prophet. He's the Word of God. He's God's
priest. He's God's king. Whosoever believe
it, that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. That means you've been born again
if you believe that. You've been born of God. Look in 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. I believe that Jesus Christ is
God the Son. I believe he's the creator of
the universe, and this is what it means to believe he's God
the Son, the Son of God. I believe he's all that the Bible says
he is to be. And I believe that as God, the
God-man, when he said it is finished, my salvation was finished. Completed. By what he did. And that's what gives me peace.
Now these things have I spoken unto you. The Lord says to his
disciples, after this culture, now we believe, now we're sure,
you're making sense now. Do you? These things have I spoken
to you that in me, you might have peace. Everywhere else,
you're going to have nothing but trouble, but be of good cheer. have overcome the world. And we can truly say, when peace
like a river attends my way, when sorrows like sea billows
roll, whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, it is well,
it is well with my soul. Though Satan should buffet the
trials or flow, let this blessed assurance control, that Christ
hath regarded my helpless estate, and hath shed his own blood for
my soul. My sin, O the bliss of this glorious
thought, my sin, not in part, but the whole, hath been nailed
to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. And, Lord, haste that day. Haste that day. What's the next
word? What? Yeah, Lord, haste the day when
my faith shall be made sight, the clouds be rolled back as
a scroll, that trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend, even
so. It is well with my soul. Now,
if you know what this means in me, you might have peace. You
can sing this song from the very depths of your heart. And we're
going to have a baptism after we sing this song. And we're
going to see a powerful illustration of what this means in me. You might have peace. Let's sing
that hymn together.