05-22-2022, John 14:15-31 (ESV)
15 “If you love Me, you will keep My Commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to
be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive, because it
neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will
be in you.
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19
Yet a little while and the world will see Me no more, but you will
see Me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me,
and I in you. 21
Whoever has My Commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who
loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to
him.” 22 Judas (not
Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us,
and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word, and My
Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love Me does not keep My Words. And the Word that
you hear is not Mine but the Father's Who sent Me.
25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name,
He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said
to you. 27 Peace I
leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to
you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28
You heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’
If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for
the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does
take place you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is
coming. He has no claim on Me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded Me, so that the world may know
that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.”
Now I Know,
· And You Are Right,
o This Is the Same Text
§ Which We Had for Mother’s Day.
But In All Truth,
· IF No Other Text
o Was Saved Over the Years,
§ Except For This Text,
· This Would Be Enough for Me!
Just Listen to His Words: (John 14:15-27)
15 “If You Love Me, You Will Keep My Commandments.
16 And I Will Ask the Father,
And He Will Give You Another Helper,
To Be with You Forever,
17 Even the Spirit of Truth,
Whom the World Cannot Receive,
Because It Neither Sees Him nor Knows Him.
You Know Him, For He Dwells with You and Will
Be-In-You.
19b Because I Live, You Also Will Live.
20 In That Day You Will Know That I-Am-In-My-Father,
And You-In-Me, And I-In-You.
21 Whoever Has My Commandments And Keeps Them, He-It-Is-Who-Loves-Me.
And He-Who-Loves-Me Will Be Loved-By-My-Father,
And I-Will-Love-Him and Manifest-Myself-To-Him.”
25 “These Things I Have Spoken to You While I Am
Still with You.
26 But the Helper, The Holy Spirit, Whom the Father
Will Send in My Name,
He Will Teach You All Things and Bring to Your
Remembrance All That I Have Said to You.
27 Peace-I-Leave-with-You. My-Peace-I-Give-to-You.
Not As the World Gives Do I-Give-To-You.
Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled, Neither Let
Them Be Afraid.
Now Tell Me – Doesn’t These Words - Just Sing?
And – With Having Them,
· Then Who Can Deny
o That Jesus Loves YOU?
These Were the Words
· Which Jesus Spoke On
o His Last Night Upon Earth to His Disciples?
"Peace, I Leave with You.
My Peace I Give to You ..."
As I Prayed Over These Words of Our Lord,
· It Occurred to Me
o That The #1 Thing People
§ Are Searching For
· Is PEACE!
You Know - It Does Not Seem to Matter Of
· What Anyone’s Present Circumstances Are,
o It Seems That EVERYONE
§ Is Searching for Inner-Peace!
Allow Me to Offer a Small Example:
Tell Me –
· Where Do We Find Peace?
o Genuine Peace?
§ Inner Peace?
§ Within All of The Battles of Life?
We Need to Look
· At Jesus Christ.
He Gives Us Peace.
But – My Dear Friends -
· Just By Coming and Sitting in Our Santuary,
o That Will Not
§ Bring GOD’s PEACE Into Your Heart!
However - He Will Give You HIS PEACE
· But Only If You
o Open Your Heart to Him.
Let’s Take a Look
At a Couple of Scriptures.
Revelation 3:20 (ESV)
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears my voice
and opens the door,
I will come into him
and eat with him,
and he with me.”
& Matthew 7:7 (ESV)
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and
you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”
You See – God Waits For US!
It ALWAYS - TAKES –
· ACTION on Our Part,
Within “Seeking the Lord”
And THEN - We Receive.
Now – Just for A Moment,
Let’s Picture That Thursday Night.
Jesus Knew That Within Just Hours
· He Would Be Taken as A Criminal!
· Tried as a Criminal!
· Flogged!
· Betrayed!
· Then Hung Upon a Cross!
· And Before Sundown on Friday,
o He Would Be Dead and Buried in a Tomb!
Now – Just Let this All-Sink in for a Moment.
· How Would You Feel?
· What Would You Do?
· What Would You Say
When You Met
With Your Closest Friends
For The Last Time
On That Famous Thursday Night?
The Disciples Knew That
Something Serious Was About to Happen.
Their Hearts Pounded
o With Fear
o And Grief Beyond Anything
§ That They Had Ever Experienced.
The Atmosphere Was Electrified
· With Tension
o Because They Knew
o That All Hell Was About to Break Loose.
Yet Jesus Stood -
· Right There - Before Them,
o And In ‘Perfect Calmness’
o As He Said,
"Peace, I Leave with You,
My Peace I Give to You ..."
Do We Have That Type of Faith?
And These Were Not ‘Idle Words’
· Nor - Were They Just an
o ‘Optimistic’ Type of Remark
§ Which We So Often Hear
§ From ‘Superficial Minds’
· And Which Mean So Little.
NO!
His Words Came from A Heart
· And Mind That Knows
o Of The Heartaches
§ And Disappointments
· Of Life Which Is Here and Now!
These Very ‘Words’ Came from:
· The ONE Who
o Had Come from GOD!
· Who Walked with GOD!
· And Who Was Very Soon,
o Returning To GOD!
He IS The ONE Who KNOWS
· The True Meaning of Life
· And HE Knows That At
o The Heart of The Universe,
§ IS GOD!
Jesus Christ Is a God Who:
· Loves And Cares
o For All of His Children.
Jesus Knows That God the Father
· Can Deliver to Us
o The Most - Ultimate – Inner-Peace!
And It Is Only God Who Can Create
· A Center of Calmness
·
And the Knowing of Confidence
o That - Does - Not - Fail
§ Even If We Are In
§ The Midst of Storm and Conflict.
Jesus Promised His Disciples
· That - Even If - the Worst
o Should Come to
§ Torment Their Days,
§ They Still Can Have Peace!
· The PEACE of Knowing
· That God Is with Them!
Do YOU Have That Type of Peace?
We Sometimes Forget
That There Are 2 Kinds of Peace.
(1) There Is What We Might Call
A Worldly Peace.
(2) And There Is What We Could Say
Is a Heavenly Peace.
So, What Do I Mean By
·
Saying that There Are Different Kinds of Peace?
1)
You Can Say that
o ‘He Has Peace of Mind
§ After A Good Dinner
· And He Rests Infront of the TV."
That Could Be an Example of a Worldly Peace.
On The Surface –
o It Appears Everything Is FINE
§ And For a Moment,
§ The Tension of Life
· Has Taken a Break.
It Gave Rest From
· The Trials and Hardships of The Day.
But In All Reality,
· It Is No More Lasting
o Then Taking Some Type Of Numbing Drug.
And When It Wears Off,
· Nothing Has Changed.
o All of the Problems are Still There!
It Is a Kind of Mental Blackout
· Which Gives the Appearance of "Peace"
o When There Really Is No Genuine Peace.
Worldly Peace
· Is Basically Temporary
o And it Varies Among People.
To A Lazy Person,
· PEACE Means Freedom to Loaf.
To One Who Is Active,
· PEACE Gives an Opportunity
o To Work Without Interference
§ And Without Interruption.
A WORLDLY PEACE
· Is That Kind of Peace
o Where The Troubles
§ And Pressures of Life
· Are Temporarily Blotted Out.
This Type of Peace
· Is Only Brief
o And it is Always - Incomplete.
Once The Outward
Circumstances Change,
· The Tensions,
· The Worries,
· The Pressures,
· And Even the Guilt
o Come FLOODING Back Once Again
§ Just As Fast as They had Left.
But Jesus Was Talking
· About A HEAVENLY PEACE.
This HEAVENLY PEACE
· Is Real
· And It Is Permanent
o Even When Our Outward Circumstances
§ Change
§ Or When they Stay the Same.
It Makes No
Difference!
It Is A TRUE PEACE!
To Have This Type of HEAVENLY PEACE
·
We Need to Drop To Our Knees
o And TRULY – TRULY Place Our Lives
§ In God’s Hands!
And I Know – Often
· We Hear of LIP
SERVICE of Doing This
o But In All Reality
§ There is NO Fruit of Our Surrender!
We Need to TRULY –
· TRULY Place Our Lives
o In God’s Hands!
And as A Result,
· We Live
o A New Way of Life in Our Faith
§ Within God!
You See - HEAVENLY PEACE
· Is Not Fighting
God
o But Rather – It Is Obeying GOD!
We Shall Never ACHIEVE - HARMONY
· Within Ourselves
o Or With Others
§ Or Even with The World
· Until We Achieve Harmony with God.
We All Know of People,
·
(And You May Even Be One of These People)
o Who Live Their Lives
§ With Like A Civil War
· Going On Within Themselves?
These People Live Restless Lives!
They Are Torn Apart by Anxieties and Fears!
They Are Tense and Nervous Within Each Day!
They Are Frightened by Every Knock of the Door,
Or Every Unexpected Phone Call!
And They Live Their Lives
Opposing to The Word of God!
These are Those Who Have Sought to
Play With God Within Their Lives
But In All TRUTH
They Continue to Live Life by Their Own Rules.
You Know – It is Strange That
· We Are Tempted to Look for Peace
o Every Place But
§ Where It Is Found!
Some People Seek to Find PEACE:
·
Within Drugs!
·
Within Liquor!
·
Within Lustful Pursuits!
·
And Even Within Emotional Flings!
But You Will Never FIND nor ACHIEVE PEACE
· Within Ourselves
o Until We Place Our Lives
§ In God’s Hands
§ And Embrace His Way of Living!
GOD’S PEACE Comes to Us
· As a Gift From HIM
o But ONLY After
§ We Seek to Live
· In Harmony with HIM.
Saint Augustine Once Said:
"Our Hearts Are Restless Until They Rest in
Thee."
And When He Said This,
· He Was Speaking From
o The Depths
§ Of A Deep Spiritual Experience.
As A Wild - Rebellious - Youth,
· Augustine Deserted
o God,
o Religion,
o And Faith.
The Emptiness of His Life
· Threatened His Very Existence.
Within Despair - He Prayed,
"Oh God, Forgive Me of All My Sin."
But Then, He Went Right Back - Living Within
· His Youthful Passions and Immorality.
And then, Once Again
· The Emptiness of His Unholy Way of Life
o Began To Plague His Days.
So, Once Again, He Prayed:
"O, God, Forgive Me for All My Sins."
However, Once Again - He Ended His Prayer
·
Just Short of Total Commitment.
And He Still REFUSED TO PLUNGE into A Life of Faith.
So, Once Again,
· He Returned to His Sinful Ways,
o But This Time,
§ He Experienced a Total Lack of peace
§ Which Just Tormented His Soul
· Beyond His Ability to Endure!
And then - Finally,
· He Came Back to God
o And Deeply,
o Sincerely,
o And Full of Purpose - He Surrendered
§ His Life Over to Christ Praying:
"O God, Forgive Me for All My Sins
And Please, Do It Now. Amen."
Within These Words
· He Said He Felt
o A New PEACE
o And A New JOY
§ Which Flowed into His Heart and Mind.
And That Was When –
· He Understood as Never Before -
· The Words of Our Lord:
"Peace, I Leave with You.
My Peace, I Give to You ..."
Oh - Our Heavenly Father,
We Thank You for YOUR PEACE.
We Praise You
· That Even While the Storms of Life Rage On;
· And The Winds Howl at us,
We Can Have TRUE – INWARD - CALMNESS
Within YOU!
Please, Help Us to Always Remember
· That You Are Always
· With Us.
Let Us Walk
· Not Only in Courage!
· But also, in Confidence!
And Within You
· We Are Never Alone.
Please, Give Us YOUR PEACE
· Which Surpasses All Human Understanding.
It is in JESUS CHRIST
Our Lord
We Pray,
