It's not usually the case in
here. Oh, OK. Sorry. I need to learn to pay
attention. That'd be a good thing. Well,
it's good to see everyone. A little change in the schedule.
Not schedule, but necessarily. I said I wasn't going to be here
Wednesday night, but Debbie and I decided to just travel a whole
distance on Thursday. Reason being that we both discussed
the fact that the back troubles we have, are experienced with
a drive to Silva, so an eight-hour drive ain't gonna make us any
less nervous anyway, so we're gonna drive on Thursday. I had
canceled Wednesday night service. If y'all want to have Wednesday
night service, we'll go ahead and have it. So we'll just keep it canceled,
keep it like it is. So we'll have no Wednesday night
service. And then next Sunday, Brother Sam, Vance will be bringing
Sunday morning message. There'll be no dinner, just 11
o'clock service. And Stan's gonna lead the music
for us next week, All the music people are gone. Come on in, honey. Remember those who requested
prayer. Remember Inez. Alita's mom's not doing well.
She's having some Real difficult, it's fading it seems, so remember
her in your prayers. It's tough when your parents
are sick like that, I know personally. And also Fred's cousin, is that
right? His niece, Fred's niece's husband,
Herschel Hyatt, has been diagnosed with cancer, so remember him
in your prayers. The others, of course, Tracy
Wright, I haven't heard anything from Bobby, but It was kind of
a situation where they didn't have hospital room, and she lives
in Springport, and she has to go all the way to Indianapolis,
and that's kind of a long drive in Indiana. And so they're waiting
to find out on her, but she does have very serious late-term ovarian cancer, which is a really
bad cancer for a woman to have. So remember her in your prayers.
Also, Dee Parks has got a thing from Christy this week. He's
got one more treatment in this unique treatment. I think only
38 people in America are taking this specific new Test treatment
has not been okayed by the FDA, but it's, and they don't really
know what it's going to do, whether it's going to work or not, but
remember him in your prayers and seek the Lord's help for
them. Remember also those families that have to deal with these,
because caretaking in a situation like that is often as hard, it
seems, as the disease itself. And once the disease takes the
person, then the caretaker has to adjust their life all over
again because it's a whole different ball game for them. So remember
these folks in your prayers and seek the Lord's help for them.
Any other announcements I need to know about? Yes? The senior
ladies ball team, basketball team will be traveling to Oklahoma
this weekend? Traveling Grace. Yeah, pray for
Traveling Grace for the ladies basketball team. Going to the
Big Sky. Senior ladies, yes. Senior, well,
I didn't mean to. Where? The old ladies. Let's begin our worship service
with hymn number 50, Fairest Lord Jesus. Hymn number 50. Fairest Lord Jesus, O Thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor, Thou my soul's glory,
joy, and crown. ? Fair are the meadows ? ? Fairer
still the woodlands ? ? Robed in the blooming ? ? Garb of spring
? ? Jesus is fairer ? ? Jesus is pure ? makes the woeful heart
to sing. Fair is the sunshine, fair is
still the moonlight, and all the twinkling starry host Jesus
shines brighter. Jesus shines purer than all the
angels heaven can know. Beautiful Savior. of God and Son of Man. Glory and honor, praise and adoration,
now and forevermore be Thine. After scripture reading and prayer,
we'll sing hymn number 326. If you have your bibles with me, turn
to the gospel according to John chapter 14. I want to read one
verse of scripture. The title of my message this
morning is Peace, Wonderful Peace. John chapter 14, verse 27. Our
Lord says, I leave with you my peace I give
unto you, not as the world giveth, give I you. Let not your heart
be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Let us pray. Our Father
in heaven, we thank you that these words are clearly set forth
of our Savior to his disciples, to his people, to his sheep,
to his church. that he has left them and given
them peace. We thank you, Father, that we
know and understand that peace is because it was established
and paid for on the blood of the cross, whereby the Son of
God, in his death, reconciled his people to the Heavenly Father. We are thankful, Father, that
such things can be understood and appreciated in a world It
is chaotic, it seems, but we know that everything is running
according to course, that all things are of God, and that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
that call according to His purpose. We are thankful that everything
in this universe serves your purpose. and is ordained to walk
and act and move and be motivated according to your good pleasure.
We are thankful that you are sovereign. We bow to you in that
knowledge and worship you with hearts full of thanksgiving and
praise. Father, we pray for those of our company who are sick,
remember especially Inez as she's going through these things with
their health. Pray for Alita and Harley as
they minister to her. Ask Lord you be with them. Give
them strength and comfort. Continue to pray for Brother
Fred. We're grateful that he's doing better. Pray for Dee Parks
and for Tracy Wright. For the others who've requested
prayer. Pray for these ladies who are going to be traveling.
You give them traveling grace. We ask for ourselves this hour,
Father, that you might be pleased to give us a real sense of the
words of our Savior as He comforted His children in the time when
they were most troubled about Him leaving them and going away
from them, being absent from them. Help us, Lord, to appreciate
these words and apply them to our minds and hearts that we
might know by grace and experience by grace this real peace that
he gives to his people. Help us now, Father, to worship
you, we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Hymn number 326, More About
Jesus. More about Jesus would I know More of His grace to others show,
More of His saving fullness see, More of His love who died for
me. More, more about Jesus. More, more about Jesus. More of His saving fullness see. More of His love who died for
me. More about Jesus, let me learn. ? Spirit of God, my teacher be
? Showing the things of Christ to me ? More, more about Jesus
? More, more about Jesus ? More of his saving fullness see More about Jesus in His Word
Holy communion with my Lord Hearing His voice in every line Making
each faithful say mine More, more about Jesus ? More, more
about Jesus ? More of his saving fullness see ? More of his love
who died for me ? More about Jesus on his throne ? More of his kingdom sure increase
? More of his coming Prince of Peace ? More, more about Jesus
? More, more about Jesus ? More of his saving fullness see May I stand and see the altar
this morning, please? Let us pray. Father, again, we
come in the name of Christ, our blessed Savior, and we would
indeed learn more of Him, to sit at His feet, to hear Him
speak, to make His words our own. We thank you, Father, that
He has given us his word and that he is the word of God and
is God. Thank you for giving him to your
people. We thank him for giving his life
for our sin and for becoming our righteousness. Help us to
return unto thee that which you have freely given us and do so
with a heart of thanksgiving. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. So, so so Yeah. if y'all remember debbie and
i as we travel this week to jackson missouri to preach at rudy's
church and be with those people pray for sam as he prepares to
preach for you next week and be here to hear him declare the
gospel of god's grace an able and a gifted man whom god is
filled with the gospel and i always enjoy getting back and listening
to his messages after i'm gone I guarded the pulpit of this
church, have all my life, and though many volunteered to preach
up here, which usually disqualified them altogether as being a candidate
to preach here, the men I have in this pulpit, I'll guarantee
you this, I know they preach the gospel. And Sam is my brother
in Christ, and I'm thankful for him. John chapter 14 and verse
27, our Lord is speaking to His disciples. Beginning with the
latter part of chapter 13 and concluding with chapter 16, the Word of God records for the
believer the preparation and the promises that our Lord gave
to His disciples concerning His departure. He does not give these
words to all men as He causes the rays of the sun and the dew
of the rain to fall on all men, but He does not give these words
to all men. already has sent Judas out from
their midst to do his beautifully terrible and ordained vile betrayal. And the words that our Lord speaks
and the promises he gives are only for his eleven disciples
who remain. And they represent the church
of the living God. In chapter 14 and verse 27 our
text our Lord speaks as one who is reciting his last will and
testament See, there's the words of a man, the man, who's about
to give his life a ransom for many, a man who's about to die,
and he tells his family what he's leaving them in his will,
and once he dies, the will will be in force, according to Hebrews
chapter 7. Now, he leaves his people peace. Peace. This is his grand benefaction
to his people. There will never be a day or
an hour that this peace is not with his people. Every believer
from that day to this day and from this moment to the end of
time has this peace. They have it because he gave
it to them. He left them with it in this
world. This peace is not an offer. It
is not a proffer tendered to the believer for his acceptance,
and it most assuredly is not a contingency plan or some anesthetic
to numb the believer when pain comes his way. It is also not
a carrot on a stick to speak of some glorious day
before the end of time when there will be no more troubles. If
you are a believer, You have this peace because our Lord,
being of sound mind and body, bequeathed it to you before he
died, and you and every believer received it when he died, because
a testament is enforced when the testator dies. This peace
is the generous gift given by our benevolent despot, and every
believer, every believer has received it. This peace is not
a storehouse somewhere that the believer must access by keeping
certain rules or regulations or believing to a certain degree
or living at a certain level of piety. The peace that Christ
gives is with the believer and in the believer whether he's
asleep, whether he's awake, whether he's living, whether he's dying
whether he is in time of ease or in times of great trouble. This peace is with him because
Christ give it to him. Peace I leave you, he said. You
are his disciple, his child, one of his sheep, one of his
elect. You now and will till the end
of time have this peace. He said, My peace I leave with
you. My peace I give you. And if you
have it, the reason you have it is because Christ gave it
to you. He gave it to you. It's not acquired and it cannot
be acquired by anything that a person might do or not do. It's not on some supermarket
shelf of available graces in some sacred shopping mall. The
Lord gave it to his family when he dined It is His will and testament. This peace is not a salutation
or a benediction. Our Lord did not say peace be
with you which is the common way of that day to say goodbye
or wish someone well. Our Lord was not saying have
a nice day or have a blessed day or have a good one. He wasn't
saying that. He said I give you something.
He gave his people peace, and since he gave it, they possess
it. And when he gives, you can count
on this, somebody gets. I know that men, and men in religion
especially, enjoy playing fast and loose with language, and
would have others believe that this peace is available for the
asking. It is not. If you have to ask
for it, then you don't have it. And if you don't have it, it's
because He has not given it to you. Because He gave it to His
people. He gave it to His people. He
said, Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you. Now certain words that are found
with this gift of peace teach us something about the nature
and the quality of this peace. In the latter part of our text
we see the phrase, let not your heart be troubled, neither let
it be afraid. Now this is not a general statement,
a generic statement about assuaging worry and fear as we live in
this chaotic universe. This peace will not keep you
from being troubled in your heart or afraid in this life. I know
that some arbiters of austerity like to think that this means
that the believer has a kind of steely fortitude in their
countenance and in their life, a kind of stiff upper lip and
they never show weakness or frailty and question the salvation of
those who do show weakness and frailty. That works unless you're
actually a human being. Your heart and my heart will
be troubled you and I will be afraid. When
our babies are sick, or our parents get old, or we get sick, or our
friends get sick, when our young men and young women go off to
war, when those we love live without an interest in Christ,
when those we love perish without ever confessing Christ, when
those we love are in trouble, our hearts are troubled. Can't
avoid that. And we're afraid. If some clown
thinks or says that you shouldn't be troubled because you're a
Christian, because the Lord told Christians to let not their heart
be troubled, just disregard that bloviating buffoon. He is just
plain ignorant. Let me give you an example of
troubles that attend the children of God. Matthew chapter 26. This
is after our Lord has said this in John 14, 27. Peter has this peace. He has
it because God has given it to him. But let's have a record
of what Peter experiences here. In verse 70 of Matthew chapter
26, or verse 69, it says, Now Peter sat without in the palace.
Our Lord is being judged by Caiaphas and the high priest in the palace.
And a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also was with Jesus of Galilee. But he denied before them all,
saying, I know not what you're talking about. I don't know what
you're talking about. And then when he was gone out into the
porch, another maid saw him and said unto him that was there,
this fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth. And again, he denied
with an oath. That means he cussed a little
bit. I do not know that man. He's talking about Jesus Christ.
Now, he's talking about the one who just prior to this has said,
My peace I give you, my peace I leave with you. And after a while came unto him,
they stood by and said to Peter, Surely thou art one of them,
where thy speech bereath thee. Then began he to curse and to
swear, saying, I know not the man. And the Lord had said, you're
going to deny me three times before the cock crows and the
cock crowed and Peter remembered the word of Jesus which said
in him before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice and he went
out and wept bitterly poor fellow was troubled wasn't he and he
was afraid three times he was really afraid to be associated
with Jesus Christ and yet he is one whom the Lord has given
peace to given peace to. That context, our context teaches
us the meaning of the text, let not your heart be troubled, neither
let it be afraid. And it's not divorced from this
context. In the first verse of chapter 14, our Lord said the
same things to his disciples, let not your heart be troubled,
you believe God, believe also in me. doing so he gives the meaning
of the phrase let not your heart be troubled neither let it be
afraid what is troubling the hearts of the believers as as
they fear being in this world is being in this world without
Christ because he said I'm going to die I'm going to Jerusalem
and I'm going to be manhandled I'm going to be beaten I'm going
to be crucified and I'm going to die and then I'm going to
disappear He said, You must eat my flesh and drink my blood,
and I'm not going to be here for you to do it. Hard sayings,
these. These are my words. They are
spirit, and they are life. What's troubling the hearts of
these people? Christ is leaving them. Look at chapter 13, verse
36 and 37. And Peter said, why cannot I
follow thee? The Lord said, I'm going where
you cannot go. I'll lay down my life for you,
he said, before he denied him three times. And Jesus said,
wilt thou lay down thy life for me? I say, verily I say, the
cock shall crow, thou shalt not die with Christ. I'll lay down
my life for you. Why can't I go with you, Lord?
We want to go with you too. Chapter 14 and verse 5, Thomas
said, Lord, we know not whither thou goest. How can we know the
way? The Lord said, I'm the way, the
truth, and the life. Verse 8 says this. Philip, in
verse 14, Philip said unto him, Lord, show us the Father. It
will suffice us to show us God. The Lord said, you've seen the
Father. You've seen me. You've seen the Father. I am
God. But that's what they're troubled
about in verse 22. They said, and Judah said, Lord, how is
it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world
with your not being here? This was what their heart was
troubled about. He said, let not your heart be troubled. Let
not your heart be troubled, neither be afraid. Our Lord is saying
that. I'm just going away for a bit. I'll come back for you.
I'll go to prepare a place for you. You won't be without me
because I'm the way, the truth, and the life. You won't be without
the Father because I'm the Father. You won't be without me because
I'm the Word. I am the Word. Another phrase
in our text teaches the same thing. Our Lord said concerning
the peace that He gave them that would relieve them of the
trouble and fear of Him being without Him was not the same
one that the world gives. He said, My peace I give you
not as the world give it. This is a direct allusion to
the nature of the peace and the fact that it is the relief that
only God's peace can give verses 16 through 18 of chapter 14, he says this, he said, I will pray the father
and he shall give you another comforter. He was their comforter
and now God's going to give them another comforter. The word is
paracletos, which means to one who comes alongside is a comfort. shall give you another comforter
that he may be with you forever even the spirit of truth in the
world cannot receive not as the world giveth I give you peace
not as the world giveth well this spirit of Christ the world
cannot receive maybe that's what he's talking about because it
seeth him not neither knoweth him but you know him For he dwelleth
in you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless,
I will come unto you. So the spirit that Christ gives
is Himself. He says, I'll give you another
comforter, and when I come, when I come to dwell in you, I will
be with you. So that's the promise He gives
to His people. How can our hearts be troubled?
The peace that Christ gives is Himself in our hearts. The indwelling of His Holy Spirit
who is the Spirit of Christ. How can our hearts be troubled
and afraid of being without Christ in this world if He is living
in us? That is what He said in John 17 in the High Priesthood
parable, I am thee and thou in me, perfect, perfect in one. the peace that Christ gives is
Himself. And some things about this peace.
This peace is not an escape from tribulation. It's not. This ain't a pie-in-the-sky
health and wealth and prosperity religion. It's the truth that
we will have trials and tribulations in the world but with them the
peace that comes with the knowledge of the indwelling Spirit of God
in us and whose Spirit lives in us has clearly overcome the
world. This piece, Born of Christ, in
us is there because Christ has redeemed us and given us peace. That is what it says in Galatians
chapter 4 and verses 4 through 7. This peace then is a peace
that is purchased by the blood of Christ. He has made peace
by the blood of His cross. It says in Colossians chapter
1 and verses 18 through 19 and 20. He has made peace through
the blood of His cross. So this peace has something to
do with us being reconciled to God. Our sins being put away.
being made righteousness before God, standing in God's presence
fully accepted because of His purpose in grace. This peace
has to do with us being reconciled to God. Now the world preaches
a message that you don't need reconciliation to God because
He just loves you anyway and has a wonderful plan for your
life. That's a lie straight out of hell, but it's nonetheless
it sounds good and it gives people false peace. The truth of this
is that I have been reconciled to God. I was a problem. I was a sinner and am a sinner.
I rebelled against God. I hated God by nature. I came
forth from my womb speaking lies. I drank iniquity like water.
I was impotent, broken, ruined, lame and haught and all those
things, blind and deaf, dead and dying, all those things. I ought to have went to hell. FOREVER! And I've been reconciled
by the blood of the cross. Now that's the peace He's talking
about. He's made peace by the blood
of His cross. This peace that is in us, that
Christ lived with His people, is peace with God. Peace with
God, the calm, the calm and repose of reconciliation. This peace
is said to pass knowledge and understanding. This peace that
when we are overwhelmed with life and circumstance and we
lose all ability to know and understand, this peace remains
sure and steadfast. There may be a day coming when
I will not be able to actually think or to remember to rub two
cogent thoughts together. where I may not even remember
the name of Jesus Christ when all understanding and knowledge
is gone this peace will remain because this peace is living
in me he is my peace it says in Hebrews 12 he is our peace
this peace is the result of imputed righteousness that righteousness
that is of God and is Christ and is charged to the account
of all of God's elect and received by faith. And that peace has
a production, it has a result. In Isaiah chapter 32, that Christ has made righteousness
to us means something. In verse 30, 17 it says, And
the work of righteousness shall be peace. shall be peace, and
the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. That is the work of righteousness.
This peace is revealed as being in us when we are given eyes
to see and ears to hear and receive the gospel of Jesus Christ. It
is true peace. That is what it says in Romans
chapter 10 and verse 15 and Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 15. This
is the legacy, the treasure that Christ has left, has given to
His people. They have it, and no one can
take it from them because it is Christ in them. I used to sing an old hymn. I'd
like for us to learn it. I used to love to say, Peace,
peace, wonderful peace come down from the Father above. Beautiful
song. Our text also reveals that though
the world does not give and cannot receive this peace, Our Lord
nonetheless states that the world does give its own version of
peace. Peace I leave with you, my peace
I give you not as the world giveth. There are several things that
are very important here. The phrase not as the world giveth
sets forth four basic things. First, it declares that the world
does give peace. It gives a kind of peace. that
it is not the same as the peace that Christ gives. Thirdly, it
is not given in the same way as Christ's peace is given. And
fourthly, it does not accomplish what the peace that Christ has
given accomplishes. The peace that the world gives
is not what men refer to as world peace. No such thing exists.
We're absolutely aware of that in this day, nor will it bring,
nor will it be as long as the world exists. There will be no
peace in the world, not as long as you have human beings in it.
Makes good fodder for politicians, but it's of no merit or value
whatsoever. The peace that the world gives
is religious peace. It's religious peace, false peace,
counterfeit peace. If then it is a counterfeit,
it must come from a counterfeit gospel. Speak of another Jesus
and another spirit and another salvation that produces other
results than that of the peace that the Prince of Peace left
for his people. The recipients of the peace that
the world gives sees the Holy Ghost not as an indwelling spirit,
but something outside that falls on them. Something they don't have, they
have to go and cry a lot and sing a lot and carry on a lot
and speak in tongues a lot and walk the pews a lot and be fools
a lot and then it'll come down on them. That's not what our
Lord said. He said my spirit lives in you, not falls down
on you. It lives in you. They speak of
looking for a feeling, the emotional upheaval, the tears and the sweat
and the emotionalism, the hand raising Happiness the seraphic
trance and all and are convinced that they have been touched by
God and in that moment They have the peace that the world gives They have it Let them go to a
meeting where believers are there to learn of Christ Not to act
like a fool and they say that place has not the spirit But
that's the only place that does have the spirit He just can't
be seen or felt He indwells the hearts and minds of His people.
This false peace comes from a false gospel that lies on God and lies
to men. It makes men feel at ease when
they have no reason. Our Lord said something about
false preachers in Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse 13 and 14. He says,
I'm going to do away with them that preach peace when there
is no peace. I'm going to put them out of
business. They lie on God. How do they do it? They diminish
God and His Word, just as Satan did in the Garden of Eden. He
said to Eve, Well, you know, God really didn't mean that.
he didn't really mean that if you eat of that fruit that neutralizes
good and evil, you'd die. He meant that you'd be like him. That's what he really meant.
You'd be as God's. And he used the word Elohim,
all-powerful God. That's the false peace. That
peace, that false peace is given by the world, but not in the
same manner that the peace of Christ is given. The world and
its religion gives peace as the payment or the wage of righteousness
or holiness. If you live such and such a way,
do this or that religious thing, you will have the peace of God
in your life. I've heard that promise a great
deal in my life in false religion. The peace that the world gives
is CONDITIONAL peace, conditioned upon what you do, conditioned
upon your progression in holiness, or meeting the standards set
by some forensic specialist of religion. The peace that Christ
gives is by His grace. and is the peace that He established
by the blood of His cross. He gives it and those He gives
it to get it and they do or think or believe nothing to get it.
They don't do anything, they don't think anything, they don't
believe anything to get that peace. He gives them that peace. The peace that the world gives
does not produce the same result as the peace that Christ gave
His people. The peace that God gives that
Christ left to his people removes from them the fear and the troubled
heart that attends the thought of being without Christ. The peace that the world gives
actually depends on the fear of losing Christ and thus controls
men and women with law and works to prove themselves that they
indeed have Christ. I remember the rules and regulations
given to men they said if you don't do these you probably not
saved. But if you do these things you
are. That's a lie. Plain and simple. That false
peace and that religion lives off the energy of the troubled
heart and the fearful spirit that consumes their life to the
point that there is never a moment of true rest in them. It just
be about the business. The peace that the world gives
is false peace in that it is not peace but self-employment
in religious things to the exclusion of all grace and mercy and the
inclusion of self-righteousness. To have the peace that the world
gives, one must believe that he has done whatever is necessary
to have it. That's the peace that the world
gives. The peace that the world gives requires a scorecard The peace that Christ gave has
nothing to do with what you do or have done, but everything
to do with what Christ has done. And our Lord said to His children,
to you this morning, if you're trusting in the merits of Jesus
Christ alone for your salvation, listen, peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. not as the world giveth, give
I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither be afraid. Father, bless this to our understanding,
we pray in Christ's name, amen.