In the sixteenth chapter of John's
Gospel, verse thirty-three, our Lord said to his disciples, These
things have I spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace,
that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation,
and trials and trouble, but be of good cheer. I have overcome
the world." Now I want you to listen very carefully to me today.
I have some things to say on this subject of trouble, trials,
tribulation, and real peace, what it is and where it's found. Now some questions. Wouldn't
it be refreshing and wonderful if all the time, every hour of
the day, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, we could all live
in an atmosphere of worship and praise? If every day, all day,
clear into the night, we could spend our time fellowshipping
with believers, singing, praising God, Studying the Word of God,
wouldn't that be something? But it just is not to be. It just is not so. We're flesh,
we live in a world of flesh, we have to make our living in
a world of flesh. Now, the preacher, he has an
advantage. Now, he may live in his study,
And he may live in services and Bible conferences week after
week, day after day, and revival meetings, but most of you, most
of you have to live in the world, you have to work in the world,
you have to deal with the world. You're in these services and
this singing and praising God and worshiping publicly three
or four times a week, but most of the time you're in the world. Our Lord prayed about us. He
said, I pray not that you should take them out of the world, but
that you should keep them from the evil one. Wouldn't it be
a blessing if to always have about us people who love Christ
and who love the Word of God? Wouldn't that be something? Have
no one ever in your presence, not to have to associate with
anybody, or do business with anybody or talk with anybody
who didn't love Christ, who didn't love the gospel. Wouldn't that
be refreshing? Wouldn't that be a blessing? No conflict, no
cursing, no bitterness, no blasphemy, but it is not to be. It just
is not so. You have to go to work, and you
have to work with people that literally hate God and hate the
gospel and hate the Bible. who delight to take God's name
in vain. You have to go to school, you
young people go to school, associate with children, boys and girls
and teenagers and young people who drink, who take dope, who
do everything they can to cause their parents grieve, who will
not submit to the authority of the school, the teachers, principal,
just troublemakers, rebels. You have to go to the store and
live in the world. Marvel not, my brethren, the
Master said, if the world hate you, if you're an object of their
scorn and ridicule and hatred. It just is not to be. This thing
of always in the presence of people who worship God. The preacher has an advantage
here. If people know he's a preacher, they watch what they say. Now,
he can't sympathize with you. I can't sympathize with you.
I spend my time in my study, I'm always in the presence of
people who love the gospel, who receive my message, and even
those who don't, when they find out you're a preacher, they curb
their words and curb their blasphemy. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have
all of our needs met miraculously? Wouldn't that be something? All
of our needs met miraculously by the hand of God. No more sweat,
no more toil, no more care, No more concern for rent and taxes
and payments and clothes and food and shelter. Just money
and means and possessions and materials falling from heaven
like manna. Wouldn't that be something? But
it is not to be. Now, a lot of these preachers
have the advantage on you there. They're in the pulpit or on television. They just beg and ask folks to
send money, and it flows in a billion dollars a week. But you have
to work. Hold down a job. Pay taxes. Furnish your own home. Furnish
your own automobile. Furnish your own gas. Furnish
your own utility. It would be wonderful if heaven
would open and these things would just fall out in our hands, you
know, but it's not so. God said to Adam, in the sweat
of your face shall you eat bread till you return to the dust.
For out of the dust you came, and to dust you shall return."
Men and women are going to have to work hard. They're going to
have to labor and sweat and toil. And Paul said, if men won't work,
don't let them eat. And then wouldn't it be great,
great, wonderful never to encounter or wrestle with our old natures
anymore? Never again. Always, every thought,
pure. Every imagination, holy. Every word, perfect. A righteous
attitude, never to get angry anymore, never to offend in word,
thought, or deed. Wouldn't that be wonderful if
from now on you never encountered your own old self and old nature,
old passions, old tempers, old desires, old conflicts. Wouldn't
that be something? But it's not so. I don't care
what they say. You can get a second work of
grace or a fourteenth work of grace, or whatever you want to.
You're not going to eradicate that old nature and tell the
truth. Not to be honest with yourself and with God and with
people. If any man says he does not sin,
he's a liar and the truth's not in him. Any man who says he has
no sin is deceived, and he makes God a liar. That old nature is
there and she's going to stay there until they bury it and
you go to be with God. The believer is a person of two
natures, a holy nature in the image of God who created it and
that old nature that's in the image of Adam from whom we received
it. Galatians 5.17 says the flesh
is in conflict and warfare against the Spirit. Paul said, when I
would do good, evil is present with me. I find within me a law
warring against the law of my mind, the spiritual man. She's
there. Oh, sure, it'd be wonderful never
to encounter that monster again, but you'll encounter him at every
turn of the road. And then wouldn't it be wonderful
to be eternally young? Always in perfect health. That's
what I hear preachers talking about, you know, health and wealth
and prosperity and a Cadillac in every driveway and never sick
and never in sorrow, never in trouble, to feel good all the
time, no conflicts, no suffering, no pain, no headaches. But it's
just not so. It's just not so. Afflictions
and trials and sickness and death is the result of a sinful nature. And Adam all died. And these
things are going to be with us, these difficulties and trials
and afflictions and sicknesses are going to be with us till
we leave this world. It's appointed unto men once
to die. Now that's it, and that's so,
and there's not any way around it. Let's be realistic. We're
not playing games. Let's be honest. Let's be honest
with ourselves and honest with our heroes and honest with the
Word of God and honest before God Almighty. Let's be honest. This is a real world, a dying
world, but a real one. The fashion of it will fade away
and pass away, but it's real. And you'll never find any true
assurance or true comfort or true peace in a make-believe
religion and in a fantasy world of false religion. claiming that
something is not there just because the symptoms are. It's there.
It's real. It's real. For our Lord said
in John 16, 33, These things have I spoken unto you, that
in me, in me, you might have peace nowhere else, only in Christ. He's the Prince of Peace. My
peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth. The
world can't give any peace. In the world, you'll have tribulation. You know what tribulation is?
Trouble, trials, sickness, sorrow, death. But be of good cheer. Be of good cheer. I've overcome
the world. Now listen to me. Will you listen
honestly? Let's be honest. Let's don't
play games. I want a faith to live by. Day by day, not just when I'm
in a church building and a bunch of people are raising their hands
and carrying on and hollering and the preacher's screaming
at me. I've got to have the kind of faith that supports me and
strengthens me when I'm out yonder in the world and out there on
the street and when I'm by myself and wherever I am. I've got to
have a real relationship with God. a professed relationship,
or a phony relationship, or a fantasy relationship, or a relationship
that needs a half a dozen people around me carrying on. I've got
to have a real living union with a living Lord. And you have too. And our Lord said, in this world,
and you are in the world, you will have tribulation. And our
Lord's talking about real trial, real tears, real tears, Some
of you shed them, and the rest of you will. Real trouble. Paul experienced this. He experienced
it. Our Lord's talking about real
sickness. The papadamus was sick unto death, Paul said. Several
of his friends were sick. Sickness is not always lack of
faith, nor is it always the chastisement of God. It's part of this sinful
nature. If nobody ever got sick, nobody
died. Do you realize that? How do these
perfectionist preachers explain death? They're going to die.
We're talking about real suffering, real sorrow. Our Lord's talking
about real disappointment, tribulations and trials, real defeat. Our Lord's talking about real
flesh too, passions and conflicts and temper and these things with
which you live. He's talking about real work,
hard work, weariness. He's talking about wars, rumors
of wars. It'll be with you till the end.
He's talking about wayward children. You know anything about that?
Talking about broken hearts. He's talking about the daily
cares of home and family. You know something about those
things. You all live with them. Anybody over 30 years of age
out there knows something about this. Trust does not exempt you
from trial. Trust in the Lord does not exempt
you from trouble. Our Lord said, they that would
live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. It is given
unto us not only to believe on him, but to suffer for his sake. In this world you shall have
tribulation. Faith does not exempt you from
affliction. David said, it's good for me
that I've been afflicted. that I might learn the statutes
of God. This has been the lot of every
son of Adam, saved and unsaved, trouble and trial, and sorrow
and heartache. This has been the lot of every
son of Adam, believer or unbeliever, and it started in the Garden
of Eden when man rebelled against God. Now our Lord said, these
things have I spoken unto you, and you go back and read chapters
14, 15, and 16, You'll hear our Lord comforting
his disciples. He's talking about the trouble
they're going to have. He said, they'll put you out of the synagogue.
He said, there's a time coming when people who kill you will
think they're doing God a favor. He said, you're going to have
trouble on every hand, but I've spoken these things unto you
that you might understand them, lay hold of them, enter into
them, that in me you might have peace. Peace in days of trouble. in days of conflict, comfort
in tribulation. Where is it? In me. Now, he said,
in the world you'll have tribulation, but in me you'll have peace. In the world, and that's where
you live. That is your address, isn't it? 221 14th Street, Huntington,
West Virginia, USA, world. But in the world, you're going
to have tribulation. And it says in Romans 5, 1, but
therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now watch this carefully. Our
Lord said, in the world you'll have trouble, but in me, through
faith in me, through a living union with me, being in me by
God's grace, you're going to have peace. No matter how much
trouble you have, you're going to have peace. The peace I give,
not the peace the world gives, but a genuine peace and joy and
rest and comfort in me. And he said, therefore, being
justified by faith, we have peace with God. In Christ, we have
peace with God. I've had people say, well, I
sure wish I could be at peace with my relatives. Well, he didn't
say you'd have peace with your relatives. He said you'd have
peace with God. That's right. Our Lord said,
I didn't come to send peace to the world. I came to bring peace
to my people. I didn't come to bring peace
to the world. I came to bring a sword. Is this what he said?
And to set at various a man and his father and his woman and
her mother-in-law and a man's enemy shall be those of his own
household because of the gospel. So he didn't say you'd have peace
with all your relatives. He said, therefore, being justified
by faith, we have peace with God. And I said, well, I wish
I could have peace with the world of fellow workers, the people
I work with. I wish I could have peace with
them. He didn't say you'd have peace with the world. He said
you'd have peace with God. He said the world will hate you.
The world hated me, Christ said, before it ever met you. And then
somebody says, well, I wish I could have peace with my conscience.
I don't read where it says we're going to have any total peace
with our consciences if we tell the truth, if we face the truth. David said, my sins are ever
before me. Isaiah said, I'm cut off, I'm
undone, I'm a sinful man with sinful lips. Job said, I abhor
myself. Paul said, O wretched man that
I am. You want any more examples? These
are honest people. These are not the phony fantasy
religionists of our day who claim perfection in the flesh. It's
not there. These are honest men. And honest people don't wind
up in hell either. Be of good cheer. In the world
you'll have trouble. In the social world, in the political
world, in the working world, in the religious world. But be
of good cheer. I've got good news. I have overcome
this world. He's bigger than this world.
Be of good cheer. I've overcome the world, and
in me you have peace. Our peace and rest and comfort
is not in ourselves, not in our accomplishments, not in our deeds,
not in our positive mental attitude. I'm okay, you're okay. Our peace
is not in ourselves, it's in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our peace
is not in human dignity. Our peace is not found in ourselves.
Our peace is found in Christ. Now, what is this peace that
we have in Christ? What is this peace? Well, first
of all, it's peace with God. That's where it begins. That's
where any genuine peace begins, with God. You can't have peace
in your heart. You can't have peace of conscience or anything
else unless you have peace with God. If heaven's at war with
you, there's no possibility of peace. But he says we have peace
with God, being justified, being forgiven, being pardoned by Christ's
precious blood and perfect life. We have peace with God. You see,
God's law was against us and Christ satisfied it. God's justice
had a curse and a upon us and a charge against us, but Christ
met it and fully satisfied that law on our behalf and that justice.
And therefore, God's holy, and He didn't cease to be holy, and
we're sinners, and we haven't ceased to be sinners. But in
Christ we have wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,
and Christ as our Savior and substitute has made peace for
us. through the blood of His cross.
God was in Christ reconciling, making friends, reconciling the
world unto Himself. He hath reconciled us to God.
The war is over. The war is ended. We're accepted
in the Beloved. And that's peace with God. Now
that's the most joyful, wonderful, unspeakable gift that a man could
have, is to have peace with God. I hear people talking about making
their peace with God. You don't make peace with God.
Christ makes peace with God. He is our peace. He is our peace. Having made peace through the
blood of His cross, there can be no peace as long as the law
is not satisfied and justice is violated. There can be no
peace. But because Christ Jesus the Lord is a perfect righteousness
and a perfect representative and a perfect sin offering, then
the debt's paid. We're at peace with God. And
then we have peace in our hearts. Rest in spirit. My body may be
aching and may have many weaknesses and frailties. I may be stoop-shouldered
and weary and getting old and tired, but I have peace in spirit
forever young. Rest of mind. He said, the Lord
is my shepherd. I shall not walk. I shall not
lack for anything. I shall not want for mercy. I
shall not lack righteousness. I shall not want for daily bread.
David said, I'm old, I've been young, and I've never seen God's
seed begging bread. The Lord will provide. That's
one of his seven names, the Lord will provide. I shall not want
for anything needful. Needful. I might have a lot of
want-tos, you know, A lot of wishes and desires that this
old flesh stimulates, but I'll never want for anything needful.
And I know this, this peace and rest of spirit through a vital
union with Christ, I know that all things work together for
good to them who love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. I don't care what it is, something
good, bad, successful, failure, sickness, death, health, whatever.
God is working. working all things together,
all things, in heaven, earth, and under the earth, all things,
people, events, places, happenings, crisis, whatever, God is working
all things together for the eternal good of those who love Him. That's
the reason Job could say, though He slay me, I'll trust Him. If
He slays me, that's for my good and the good of my family if
they believe on Christ. Eli said, well, he said, Samuel
said, the Lord's going to kill your sons because you didn't
discipline those boys. You let them run wild, and God's
going to kill them because you violated God's almighty law. And Eli said, well, it's the
Lord. Let him do what he will. That's peace. That's rest. Leaving it in his hands. And
then that peace is not only with God and not only in spirit and
heart. I may not be outwardly, I may
be greatly, visibly disturbed over some conflict, but I'm at
peace about it. I'm going to do what I can to
deal with it and do what I can to suppress it and do what I
can to handle it, but I'm at peace about it because of God's
promise, because of God's Word. But this peace is eternal, this
rest of spirit. Surely, surely, goodness. and mercy shall follow me all
the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever." Eternal. He said, my sheep hear my voice
and they follow me and I give them eternal life and they'll
never perish. Never perish. Lo, he said, I'm with you always,
even to the end of the earth. Again, the Lord is my light and
my salvation, whom shall I fear? I will not fear what man can
do. Man is a puny little creature. God rules all things. I want
you to look at Abraham for a moment. We just have a few moments left,
but look at Abraham. He's called a friend of God.
The friend of God. God spoke to Abraham as a man
speaks to his friend face to face. He's called the father
of the faithful. In one place, he's actually called
the pattern of those who believe. Do you think he lived in a temple
all the days of his life? You think that's where Abraham
lived? Abraham lived in a tent. He was a sojourner. That's tough
living. He didn't just go to the mountains
for a two-week vacation and rough it in a tent and then come back
to his air-conditioned home. He lived in a tent. He never
called a foot of ground his own. He lived in a tent all his days
walking with God. Do you think Abraham was always
on the hallelujah side? Do you think Abraham was a man
without trouble? Well, certainly not. But he was
a man who believed God. And he was a man who had peace.
For example, our God came to him and said, now you leave your
father's house. He's 75 years old. And he said,
you leave your father's house. I'm not going to tell you where
you're going, but you just go to a land I'll show thee. Brethren,
that was a tough time for Abraham. All the goodbyes and the tears.
He's 75 years old. And he and Sarah took off in
the desert. That was difficult. You had to do that? There wouldn't
be a hallelujah sight that day, would it? Well, what about in
that strange land when he thought the king was going to kill him
to take his wife away from him? You reckon that was a happy day? That was a time of trouble and
trial. In fact, Abraham, his faith failed
him. For a moment, he said to Sarah,
he said, just tell him you're my sister and that's how I'll
live, you know. What about when Lot and his men
had a conflict with Abraham and his men, and Abraham told him,
pick out the land you want, and old Lot chose the fertile valleys
of Sodom, and Abraham, the old man, had to head to the mountains
and try to graze his sheep and oxen and ashes up there on the
side of a hill, while his nephew, upstart nephew who was down there
living on the best land in the whole plains. That wasn't too
easy. And then he had a son called
Ishmael, 14 years old. He had that only child he had. Here he was nearly 100 years
old and didn't have an heir. That wasn't easy. That was a
trial. The barren womb was a curse in that day. But here he is now,
he's got a son, he's 14 years old, and God came to him and
said, send him away. Kick him out. He can't stay here with
a child of promise. That's one of the toughest days
Abraham ever had in his life. And then to top it all off, the
Lord came to him and said, take your son Isaac and offer him
on an altar as a sacrifice to me. In the world, you'll have
tribulation if you belong to God. If you be without chastisement,
you're a bastard and not a son anyway, Christ said. But in the
world, you'll have tribulation. I've overcome the world, and
may you have peace. If you want this message on tape,
it's called Christ Our Peace. And next week, a happy marriage. Be listening. Same time on this
station. Write me and I'll send the tape
to you. Send two dollars. That'll take care of the expenses.
Until next week, God bless you.