There are no ironclad recipes for scriptural interpretation,
but there are some guidelines that help us. Number one, who's
speaking? Who's speaking? Number two, to
whom is he speaking? Number three, what's his subject? Number four, why is he teaching
them this? What's his goal or objective?
Who's speaking? These are among the last words
spoken by our Lord to his disciples before he went to the cross,
John 14, 15, and 16. These are among the last words
that the master said to his disciples before he went to Calvary. Evidently it took him but a few
minutes to speak these words. But brethren, it'll take us a
lifetime to understand them. Some of them we'll understand
right away. Some of them a preacher like
myself or someone else can deal with them and we can read them
together and come to an understanding right away. We'll understand
as we're able to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ.
And some of these words, we'll just have to wait till that day
to enter into the full meaning of them. But our Lord, as I called
your attention to this a moment ago, using the words, these things,
have I spoken unto you several times. Look at verse 1, John
16. These things. Have I spoken unto you that you
should not be offended? You see, I said, who's speaking?
To whom is he speaking? What's his subject and why? Why
is he talking about this? And he said, I'm speaking these
things to you that you should not be offended, that is, tripped
up or stumble or fall from the way. We see folks who do, don't
we? They stumble, they're tripped
up, they depart from what we call the faith. And then verse
4, he said, these things have I told you that when the time
shall come you may remember them. You may remember that I told
you. That's another reason. I'm telling you this in order
that when these things come to pass, you can call to mind that
I warned you and I taught you. I warned you and I prepared you
for these experiences. When they come to pass, you go
back and pick up my words of warning and preparation. And
then in verse 25, he said, These things have I spoken unto you
in parables. In Proverbs, the time is coming.
The time is coming when I shall no more speak to you in parables,
but I'll show you plainly. You know, another occasion, he
said, I have many things to say to you, You're not able to bear
them now. Howbeit when He, the Holy Spirit,
is come, He will guide you into all truth. I speak to you these
things in pictures and proverbs and parables because you're not
ready for them yet. When the time comes, I'll teach
you plainly. My Holy Spirit will be your teacher.
The Holy Spirit will take the things of mine, the things I've
taught you in parables and pictures and proverbs, and He'll reveal
them to you. But I'm telling you the same
thing He's going to tell you. And you'll look back and see
that I told you the same things, except I told you these things
in parables and pictures, and He'll reveal them to you, and
you can see they're the words of my Master. There's no new
revelation. There's nothing new under the
sun, but what Christ has already taught us. And then in my text,
verse 33, these things have I spoken unto you. See, He uses it four
times. So we need to look at it. These things I have spoken
unto you that in me ye might have peace. I want you to have
assurance and peace and comfort and confidence. In the world
you're going to have tribulation, trouble, trial, pressure, anguish. But in me I want you to have
peace, be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. And
I suppose that we ought to start at the beginning of this chapter
But there's no time for that, not this morning. So I want us
to go to the last verse, verse 33. That's my text. And I've
chosen this as the text because I believe that these few words
sum up our position, our great problems, and our great provider. You see how close these words
were to the prayer of our Lord in Gethsemane's garden? John
17, verse 1, these words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes
to have what words? The words he just said. So he
was right on the, as Spurgeon says, right on the realm of Gethsemane's
garden. He was right on the very verge
of turning his eyes to heaven and praying that great high priestly
prayer for believers. And just before he prayed that
prayer, these were the last words he said to his disciples. These
things have I spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace.
In the world you'll have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I've overcome
the world. Let me shock you. Will you listen
a minute? Brother Mews said, don't move
a hand nor a hair. The true believer is in two places. He's in two
places. Now you don't... And I'm going to say to you what
I said to a young man down in Madisonville, Kentucky a few
weeks ago. You reserve judgment on the things
you hear from the pulpit until you've given it 15 minutes of
study now. One of the things that is most
irritating to me is have someone come to me after I've preached
and challenged something I've said. Do you think I got that
while I was sitting here or standing here? This message has been,
is the product of hours and hours of study. Now when you hear something
in a message, you go home and give it a little study. You understand
that? I'm telling you that plainly
because the most foolish thing a man ever did is to hear a message
or hear a Sunday school lesson and challenge a teacher or a
preacher on the spot. That's foolishness. Go home and study a little while,
and do some research, and do some reading, and do some praying.
Ask God to give you some light. There's a way that seemeth right
to the natural man. And you don't get this understanding
of the Scripture off the top of your head. Brother Walter
Gruber was talking to his young men in the native preacher school,
and he said, I'm going to give you a quiz. He said, it's the
first time you've seen these questions. I want you to write
answers. Now, when you look at the question,
the first thing that comes to your mind, that's wrong. Write
the next thing. First thing that comes to your
mind, he said, wrong. Write the opposite. And that's usually
the way we are by nature. There's a way that seems right
to us. Now, I'm going to make a statement here, and I want
you to study it. I don't want any replies or challenges. I want somebody to go home and
take this over and study it and pray about it. But this is so.
The believer is in two places. He literally lives two lives.
You with me? Not yet, preacher. Okay, stay
with me. Maybe you will. In my text, there
are two places spoken of. Look at it. Christ said, these
words have I spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world, you'll have tribulation. There's two places, in me and
in the world. The believer is in Christ, and
he's in the world. He's in Christ, and he's in the
world. Now, I have three points to this message, and it helped
me so much. This helped me. These things
have I spoken to you that you might have peace. Peace is something
I want. I don't want a troubled soul
and a troubled heart and live in depression and anxiety and
fear and hate and upset and antagonistic and anguish. I don't want to
live that way to you. I want peace. But Christ said,
these things have spoken unto you that you might have peace,
that you might have comfort and assurance and confidence, that
amid the greatest turmoil and the heaviest trial and the weariest
burden and the rockiest road and the darkest valley and the
mountain of prosperity and the hell of pain, you might have
peace. joy, happiness. In me, you might have that peace. In the world, you're going to
have tribulation and trouble, but be of good cheer. I've overcome
the world. Now, I have three points, and
if this doesn't answer some questions, if this doesn't encourage you,
if this doesn't expound anew our hope in Christ, if this doesn't
give you joy and peace, then I'm in the wrong vocation. But here are the three points.
Number one, he said, in Christ, in Christ, in me, you have peace. Point number two, in this world,
you'll have tribulation. Point number three, in Christ
and in the world, I have victory. All right, let's take the first
one. He says, in me, you might have peace. Our Lord closed His
ministry the way it began. How did it begin? This is the
close. He said, These things have I
spoken unto you that you might have peace. He said, My peace
I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Let
not your heart be troubled. My peace. How did His ministry
begin? Well, an angel came down here
to earth and said to some shepherds on a hillside of Judea one night,
He said, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace. Peace. Goodwill toward men. This is the objective of our
Lord, that He might bring peace between me and God, between God
and me, between me and you. Peace. I've come that you might
have peace. My peace I give unto you. In
me you might have peace. All right? Look, if you will,
at several things. First of all, our Lord foretold
their trials. Go back, if you will, to verse
2 and 3. We have peace in Christ. But
then he goes back to verse 2 and 3, and he says, now they're going
to put you out of the synagogue. The time will come when whosoever
killeth you will think that he doeth God a favor. And these
things will they do unto you, because they have not known the
Father, nor me." Now, my friends, trials do not destroy peace.
Trials do not destroy peace. Trials are the messengers of
peace. Trials do not destroy comfort. Trials do not destroy peace.
The Scripture says, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. The
Scripture says in James 1, 2, and 3, my brethren, count it
joy. when you fall into divers or
different trials. Trials are in the covenant. Trials
are in the promise. Trials are for the glory of God.
Trials are for our good. Someone said the stronger and
greater the ship, the deeper the waters in which that ship
must sail. Trials do not destroy peace. Trials are messengers of peace.
If you be without chastisement, you're not sons. And then secondly,
in verse 5 and 6, he told them that he was going away. He says,
Now I go my way to him that sent me. And none of you ask me whither
goest thou, but because I have said, I am going away, sorrow
hath filled your heart. Listen to me. The fact that Christ
went away caused these disciples to be sorrowful, that ought to
cause us the greatest joy and peace. that he went away. Why did he go away? He said,
I go to prepare a place for you. If you stop and reflect on that
promise, the greatest joy and peace will flood your soul. The
Lord Jesus came down here to redeem sinners. The Lord Jesus
meant holiness and justice to save sinners. The Lord Jesus
went to glory to intercede for sinners. The Lord Jesus ever
lives as our mediator, and the Lord Jesus Christ has gone to
heaven to prepare personally a place for his own. My past,
present, and future is in his hands. Paul said he is able to
keep that which I've committed unto him. I go to prepare a place
for you. It's all committed in his hands.
That gives me peace. All right, look at verse 7. He
told them the Holy Spirit would come. Nevertheless, I tell you
the truth. It's expedient for you that I
go away. If I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you. But if I depart, I'll send him
to you. Christ said, if I go not away,
the Holy Spirit will not come. Because if I go not away by way
of the cross and the grave, then the Holy Spirit has no gospel
to preach. The Holy Spirit will have no salvation to reveal.
The Holy Spirit will have no redeemed to teach. The Holy Spirit
is the converter. He is the comforter. He is the
teacher, and He is the witness to God's people. And then, if
you will, look at verse 23. He told them that they would
be heard, that God would hear them pray. And in that day you
shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he'll give it to
you." And if you will look at verse 27, he said, the Father
loves you. For the Father himself loves
you, because you've loved me and have believed that I came
from God. The love of God is the foundation of our peace.
In Romans 8, verse 35, the Apostle Paul wrote, who shall separate
us from the love of God. So tribulation, distress, persecution,
famine, so forth. And then in verse 30, the disciples
finally said, and after this Christ said, you'll have trials,
heavy trials, grievous trials, but trials are the messengers
of peace. He said, I'm going away, but I go to prepare a place
for you. He said, the Holy Spirit will
come and He'll be your comforter and your teacher. He said, the
Father will hear you when you pray. He told them the Father
loved them. And then they said, now watch
this, now are we 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. We believe that. We believe that. And then our Lord said to him,
verse 31, now watch it. He said, Do you really? Do you
really? Do you really? Do you now believe? Oh, he said,
verse 32, The hour is coming, yea, and is now come, that you
will be scattered. Peter said, I go fishing. They
said, we'll go with you, every man to his own home, and you
leave me alone. And yet I'm not alone because
the Father is with me. Their faith was not perfect,
was it? It faltered. And I'll tell you, if theirs
did, mine will too. So will yours. You see what I'm
saying? The Lord Jesus is talking to
His disciples before He went to Calvary. before he sent it
back to the Father. And he said, they're going to
put you through some difficult times. And he said that I'm going away
from you, that I go to prepare a place for you. And he said,
then we'll send the Holy Spirit to be your comforter and witness
and teacher. And remember that you can pray,
and the Father will hear you. And remember the Father loves
you. And they got courage, and they
were strengthened by these words. And they got confidence and boldness,
and they said, we believe. We believe. We're convinced. We do believe. We believe you
are from the Father. We believe. Ready to go now.
That's all fixed up. Bring on the plows. Bring on
the anguish. Bring on the suffering, whatever. We believe. He said, Do you? Do you believe, Peter? Why, it
won't be 24 hours till you'll be sitting by a fire saying,
You never heard of me. Do you really, James? Do you
really believe? It won't be but a little while
till you'll be hiding up there in the upper room with the door
locked. Do you really believe, Andrew?
It won't be 24 hours till you'll be off somewhere in your own
house with the door shut, sitting in a chair, thinking all's for
nothing. I thought he was the Son of God.
I thought he was the Christ. I thought that I was on the right
track. You ever believe Matthew? Oh,
Matthew, it won't be but a little while So you go back home to
your family and you'll say, they'll say, I thought you was following
Jesus. Well, he's gone now and I guess I'll go back to collecting
taxes. I wonder if I could get my old
job back. That's what he said. Do you really believe? Why he
said it, every one of you are going to be scattered to your
own house and leave me alone. But these things have I spoken
unto you. Watch it now, my friend, that
in me you might have peace. If you're looking to your confidence
and strength and ability and faith and perseverance, you're
not going to find any peace. You're going to find it in Christ,
never in ourselves, never in our merit. What does it take
to reveal this to us? This is where the Lord is bringing
His disciples. He's bringing them to this place. He's saying, you're going to
have trials and troubles and all of these different things
have I spoken unto you. Remember them when they come
to pass. And He said, the Father loves you and He'll hear your
prayers. And that's all true, true, true. And they said, we believe. And
they made great, they made a great, a boast here of their confidence. And our Lord said, do you? Ah,
he said, you'll be scattered. You'll be scattered. And you'll
forsake me. Whatever it takes to reveal it,
we must learn this one key right here, that in me you might have
peace. It's in Christ. And you look
to your experience, or look to your faith, or look to your theology,
or look to your strength, or look to your church office, or
look to anything, you're not going to find it. You'll find
it in Christ. Turn to Ephesians 1. Let me show
you. The whole thing's in Him. Everything's
in Him. I wish I could make this plain.
Everything's in Christ, Ephesians 1. He says in verse 3, we're
blessed of God the Father, where? In Christ. See that last two
words of Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 3, in Christ. Verse 4 is,
according as He chose us in Christ. Verse 6, the last line, He made
us accepted in the Beloved. Verse 7, the first line, in whom
we have redemption through His blood. Verse 10, that in the
dispensation of the fullness of time he might gather together
in one all things in Christ. You look for peace where you
will. But I'll tell you where it's found. It's found in Christ. When I'm found in Him. In my
flesh dwelleth no good thing, in the flesh no man can please
God. We're not going to find this
peace and assurance and confidence and hope anywhere but in Christ.
And this is a problem religionists have had for generations. They
believe in Christ, but they seek for peace and joy and happiness
somewhere else besides in Christ. And that's where it's found.
The fact that I'm in Him, then the Father's reconciled. The
fact that I'm in Him, then the enmity is gone. The fact that
I'm in Him, I have a righteousness with which the Father is pleased.
The fact that I'm in Him, the curse of the law is removed.
The fact that I'm in Him, then I have an eternal hope. The fact
that I'm in Christ, my sins are all pardoned. That's
where the peace is. Because here's the second place
now, the second life of the believer. Look at John. In the world, in
the world, you'll have tribulations. Now, I know that we're in Christ.
Are you with me? We're in Christ, chosen in Him,
accepted in Him, redeemed in Him, justified in Him, sanctified
in Him, accepted in Him. Everything's in Christ. But brethren,
I know that we also live another life. We dwell in an evil world. We
dwell among evil men. I don't have to tell you this.
You know this better than I do. You're not in heaven yet. You're
in this world. I'm talking to men and women
who are in this world. I'm talking to folks who've come
here this morning, and you're sitting here in what we call
the house of the Lord. You've got a Bible open in your
hand. And sitting on one side of you is a person that believes
the gospel, and the other side is a person that believes the
gospel. You'll hear no blasphemy. The atmosphere is a spiritual
atmosphere. We've been singing hymns of praise
to God. You're smiling, you're happy.
Everybody walks up to you as your friend. Every handshake
is genuine. Every word is a true word. It's spoken. It may be a rebuke,
but it's spoken in love. It may be a reproof, but it's
spoken in love. But the spirit of love prevails. This is the people here are in
Christ, and they're family, and they're one in Christ, and they
love each other. Tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock,
you're going to walk in another place, the place where you work.
First thing you're going to hear is somebody take God's name in
vain. You're going to hear somebody come in cursing and swearing,
spitting, fussing, griping, complaining. Somebody's going to come in that
hates you. He's going to scold you. You're
not going to do something right or you young people are going
to go to a classroom or school where there's questionable talk
and attitudes and spirit and people don't love God. And they don't love the gospel,
and you're going to do business with people that cheat and lie
and steal. A man's going to sit across the
desk and talk to you, and you know he's lying, and he knows
you know he's lying, and you know he knows you know he's lying,
you know. But it's a game they play. It's
get the best of me before I get the best of you. Now, you mean
to tell me that's not another life? That's not another life,
Richard? Sure it's another life. Isn't that right, Eddie? It's
another life, isn't it? It's another life. It's this world. I'm not in heaven yet. And even
some of you are going to go home. And these folks are going to
make fun of what you believe at home. That's another world. I'm in
Christ. I'm in Christ. I'm in Christ
by God's grace. I'm in Christ by God's mercy.
I'm in Christ by God's love. I know I'm forgiven and redeemed
and bought and blood-washed and clothed in His righteousness.
I'm one with Him. This is my family. That's what
you say, and that's true. You're going out of here because
you have to make a living. And you have to live out there
in that world, and that's not your family, and those are not
your brothers and sisters, and those are not one with you. They're
not in Christ, and you're out there in that world, in that
world. And Christ said, in me you have
peace, joy, and happiness. But in that world, you're going
to have tribulation. You're going to have tribulation.
Why? What's tribulation mean? Well, the word, it comes from
the word pressure. Pressure. It means anguish, it means affliction,
it means trouble, it means to be persecuted. Why are we going to have tribulation
in this world? Three reasons. Number one, because we're men
and women, because we're people. There are many points of difference
between me and those people out there, you and those people you
work with. You know God, they do not. You love God, they do
not. You trust God, they do not. You have a new spirit within
you, they do not. You're born again, they are not.
But my friends, you share with them the same common infirmities
of the flesh. You're outside of Eden's garden
just like they are. You're outside of Eden's garden,
just like the rest of Adam's family. And when they came to
Christ, told him about Lazarus, they said, he whom thou lovest
is sick. In other words, I'm in Christ,
but just like the man next door to me, or across the street,
or down, who doesn't know Christ, he gets sick, I do too. He gets
thirsty, I do too. He gets cold, I do too. He gets
the flu, and I get the flu too. He gets weak eyes, I do too.
You see, we have trials, number one. We have tribulations because
we're people, we're sons of Adam, we're human beings, expect it. I know that there's a gospel
being preached today, gospel of health and wealth. God wants
all of his people to be well and to be healthy. All of God's
people are well and healthy and wealthy in Christ. But in this
world, they ain't. That's right, Tim. In this world,
they got troubles just like that other man. Now, if you think
there's some kind of cocoon around you that'll keep you from the
germs, you just breathe one of them and see. It may not be God's
will for you to get sick, but it just might be. That's right. You know, we have
troubles and trials because we're people. We are fallen, fleshly,
sons of Adam, just like everybody else. All right? Secondly, why
trials? Secondly, because we're believers.
Because we're believers. Ishmael was not mocked. Isaac
was mocked. Why? Special child. Special town. Ishmael was popular. Isaac was made fun of because
he was special. The Pharisees were never ridiculed. You don't find, reading the New
Testament, that anybody challenged the Pharisees or ridiculed the
Pharisees or mocked the Pharisees. But Christ was. You don't find
that the false teachers back here in the New Testament were
ever put in jail. They were never persecuted. Not
a single one of them, Cecil, were ever put in jail or imprisoned
or beaten or died as martyrs. But the apostles were. You know
why? Christ said, they hate you because
they hate me. And the world cannot be the friend
of the friend of God. The world cannot be the friend
of the friend of God. And because the world hates the
living God, they hate the living God's sons. That's the second
reason why. He said, in me, you have peace.
In me, there's no anguish. In me, there's no turmoil. In
me, there's no depression. In me, there's no trial. In me, you have peace.
But in the world, in the world, you have trials and tribulations.
Because you are a human being. And secondly, because you are
a child of God. And thirdly, because God's doing
something for you. What's God doing for you? If
you're His child, He's making you like Christ. Turn to James
chapter 1. God's doing something. He's like,
I told you this story and I'll tell it again because it illustrates
what I'm pointing out. There was a fella went into an
old country store in Arkansas, and there was a man sitting there
whittling. And he was whittling out hound dogs. He was making
them, and the proprietor was putting them on the shelf, selling
them. And boy, this fella stood there, and he said, Why, he said,
those are the finest hound dogs I've ever seen carved out of
wood. He said, I've never seen hound
dogs look so much like hound dogs. Why, he said, that's great. He said, are you doing that?
And this old fellow sitting there with a straw hat on, you know,
and a piece of wood and a knife. And he said, yes. I said, I'm
carving those hound dogs. Well, a man watched him. He said,
well, how do you do it? Well, he looked at his knife
and looked at his block of wood and he looked up at the man and
he said, well, I really don't know. He said, I reckon I just
cut off everything that don't look like a hound dog. And that's what the Lord's doing
for you. He's got to cut off what don't look like Christ. And you never have been cut yet
that wasn't for your good and His glory. Huh? And that's what
he's doing. He's putting us through some
trials and some difficulties and some markings and oppressions. He's taking some things away
from us that we don't need, that don't look like Christ, and he's
doing some things to us that help us to act more like Christ.
Look at James chapter 1, verse 2. My brethren, count it all
joy when you fall into different temptations, trials is the word,
knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. The trying of your faith. It may be that God needs to put
me and you through a time of sickness so that we won't feel
so much confidence in our strength. Maybe that's it. Maybe he needs
to put us through some sickness so we can sympathize with folks
who do get sick. Maybe the Lord needs sorrow to
come into our homes so that we can cut down some on our frivolity
and foolishness. Or maybe we can enter into the
sorrow of someone else. Maybe the Lord bring something
to pass in our lives, some financial difficulty or fleshly difficulty
or problem like that, to wean us from the love of the world.
Maybe we've got too much. Maybe the luxuries and comforts
are just materialism, you know. If you've got a child that's
given to those things, what are you going to do to break him?
You've got to do something. You punish, you discipline your
children. Now, there's no man or woman here that quits his
child for the joy of it. It's a sad time for you and the
child. But it's something he needs. This child is given to a certain
direction, and you have to wean him from it. You know, and pride. You wonder, somebody wonders
why, well, preacher, why do I think my sinful thoughts? Well, if
you didn't have those thoughts, and didn't have the trials that
come with them, you might think you're pretty good. You might
think you're pretty righteous. You might get to where you think
that you're pretty holy. So God puts you through an experience
in your life to show you that you're not so holy after all,
that your holiness is Christ. I don't know all the answers
about these things. I just know this. that He says
that the trying of your faith worketh patience, longsuffering,
trust, waiting upon God, ceasing to rest in ourselves. And look
at verse 4, let patience have her perfect work. In other words,
you know a lot of times people will come to me and they say,
Brother man, pray for so and so, he's going through a lot
of trouble. What do you want me to pray?
What pray that God will end it? Well, now, maybe God wants him
to stay there a little longer in order that what God set out
to do might be done. See what I'm saying? If God puts
me in a certain position of suffering, and you pray for him to quit,
well, he's not through yet. I haven't learned the lesson
yet. I've got to go through this a little longer. Don't get me
out of the valley till I learn to trust the Lord. Don't get
me out of the darkness till I hold his hand. Don't get me out from
under the burden till I learn who carries the burden. Leave
me there. Leave me there. Pray that God
will give me understanding and pray that God will give me strength
and pray that God will give me faith so that I will not finally
fall. But don't always pray for a trial
to stop. Pray that it'll stop when God
gets through with me. Let patience have her perfect
work, that you may be mature and entire, wanting nothing.
I tell you, if we had our way, and I tell you this is one of
the things we've done to, I think we've hurt the generation that's
coming up now, because we've taken the struggle out of life.
A lot of you men and women sitting right here, and I apologize to
the young people, but I'm just saying this is so. A lot of you
men and women sitting here know what it is to work hard. You have what you have because
you worked hard. You did without. You know what
it is to do it, but we don't want our children to do without.
We don't want them to work hard. We don't want them to suffer.
We've taken all the struggle out of life. We want everything
to be easy. And that's not good. It's not
good for God's children, is it? For everything to come easy. What we learn best is that which
comes through trial and struggle. In this world, you'll have tribulation. You'll have trouble and struggle
and trial. Why? Because you're people, first
of all. Secondly, because you're believers.
And the world is not a friend of the friend of God. Because
God's making you like Christ. And whatever I need, whatever
God sends my way. I don't know what tomorrow holds,
but I know who holds tomorrow. In the world, you're going to
have trouble. Expect it. Now, there are two lives of the
bleeding. In me, you have peace. In the world, you'll have trouble.
But now watch the next line. But be of good cheer, I've overcome
the world. Charles Spurgeon said, I can
imagine Napoleon saying that when he trampled all the nations
under his feet and shaped the map of Europe to his own design.
I can imagine Alexander speaking this when he sat down and cried
because he had no more nations to conquer. I can imagine Caesar
saying, I've overcome the world, when he knew that Rome was the
world. But Jesus of Nazareth? Hanging on a cross? saying, I've
overcome the world. Yes, sir, he truly did. I've
conquered, I've prevailed, I've put to death and brought to nothing
this world of evil. The world shall pass away for
it's already under God's judgment. The world shall pass away because
it's under God's wrath. There shall not be left one stone
on another. Nothing shall be left to the
praise of men, or to the glory of men, or to the credit of men,
because my kingdom is not of this world. Therefore, he said,
let us go back to the world with its trials and with its tribulations
without fear, because its trials cannot hurt me. It cannot subdue
me. Let the world do what it will.
Let me endure what I have to endure. But my soul is hid with
God in Christ. And I wait for a new day, expecting
a new body, and I look for a new city." There was an old minister
who was brought before the ecclesiastical tribunal for preaching the gospel. And they looked at him and they
said, you'll have to stop preaching what you're preaching. He said,
I can't. Well, they said, we'll put you in prison. Well, he said,
you may put my soul in bondage, my body in bondage, but my soul
is free. And they said, well, we'll take
away all of your property and possessions. Well, he said, it
all belongs to Christ, nothing is mine. Why, they said, well,
we'll put you to death! He said, I'm crucified with Christ,
nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. They said, let him go, he's a
fool. Well, I understand the kind of fool he is. In Christ I have peace. In this
world, for a time, I have to be here, and you have to be here.
Christ said, I pray not that you should take them out of the
world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. I'm here,
and you are, and you know more than I. I have a refuge in here. I'm talking about this surroundings.
You out yonder. You're going to be there a little
while, and you're going to suffer trial and misunderstandings and
disappointments and anguish and pressure, and it may get greater. But brethren, he said, I've overcome
this world. Don't you fear. I've overcome
it. It's all under judgment. This
is all temporary. We look for a city whose builder
and maker is God. And I've written these things
to you that you might have peace, that you might have peace. Where is that peace? It's in
Christ. Our Father in heaven.