Honored Guests

if God’s people would take their
Bibles and turn to the Gospel of John. Let me go off mic one second.
Don’t try these transitions at home. We find ourselves in John
chapter 14. We’ve been here for no little
while. We have been looking at a series
of questions that were posed to Christ, and we certainly have
seen that there’s more than just a sense that Christ is prompting
them, priming them to ask questions. And it started with a question
by Peter, where are you going? Where are you going that we can’t
follow? And Christ answers that question
in the opening four verses of John 14 that prompts another
question by Thomas how how do we know the way if we don’t even
know where you are going Jesus answers that question in verses
6 and 7 which prompts yet another question by Philip Philip’s question
is not where or how but who who is the father show us the father
and it is enough well Jesus not only answers his question in
those verses that follow, verses 9 through 11, but then he goes
the extra mile and he’s driving the point home. This is exactly
what he told his disciples in the first four verses, is that
they were being invited, drawn in by the Holy Spirit of God,
drawn into communion with God. And so Jesus, along that same
theme, drives home the reminder that God had promised them incredible
things. The first thing we looked at
was that they were promised in verses 12 through 14 greater
works. They, by God’s grace, were going
to do even greater works than Jesus had done on the earth.
We saw that that continued even to our day. to you and I as we
preach the gospel and add to the numbers those who are saved
in Christ. Not only were we going to do
greater works, but there is the promise of the Spirit, our helper,
the Holy Spirit. There in verses 15 through 17,
And what a great promise we found that to be, that it is a helper,
not unlike Christ, the spirit of truth that would come along
and impart truth to us, truth about our own sinfulness, truth
about our need of a savior, truth about Christ, truth. And then
there was a third promise that we considered in verses 18 through
21, the promise of communion with God, that we will have intimate
fellowship with God throughout eternity. I will not leave you
as orphans. I will come to you. You will
live. You will know that I am in my
Father. You will be loved by my Father.
Intimate communion with God Himself. Well, and just like has happened
for all of these previous questions Jesus final statement prompts
yet another question look at verse 21 if you would he who
has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me
and he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love
him and will disclose myself to him now that prompts yet another
question this time by a man named Judas Not Judas Iscariot, and
we’ll talk more about that in a moment, but this one is prompted
by this idea of Jesus disclosing himself to a certain select group
of people. Judas might have thought that
Jesus was referring just to the remaining 11 apostles or certainly
just to the disciples of Christ, a much larger number, but not
to everyone. And see, that was not only the
apostles big expectation, that was the Jews expectation. That
the Messiah was going to come, and when he came he was going
to take over, he was going to disclose himself, and everybody
would see it, everybody would know it, and the Jews would then
follow in tow, and theirs would be the kingdom. That’s Judas’
expectation. And that’s what prompts his question
in verse 22. Judas, not Iscariot, said to
him, Lord, what then has happened that you are going to disclose
yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus answered and said
to 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 abode with
him. He who does not love me, does
not keep my words, and the word which you hear is not mine, but
the Father’s who sent me. These things I have spoken to
you while abiding with you. 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.
Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, do I
give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled,
nor let it be fearful. You heard that I said to you,
I go away and I will come to you. If you loved me, you would
have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is
greater than I. Now I have told you before it
happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. I will not speak
much more with you, For the ruler of the world is coming, and he
has nothing in me. But so that the world may know
that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded
me. Get up. Let us go from here.”
And so Jesus begins this answer to now the fourth question. This time, a question of either
why, why the change of plans, or what, what happened? Either
way, these have been simple questions that have been repeatedly asked
of Christ about God and his program. And Jesus carefully takes the
time to walk Judas through his reply. We meet up with Judas
and a rare meeting with him. This is not Judas Iscariot. This
is a man who was known as Judas, an elder brother of James. And
Judas here is thinking, as I’ve already mentioned, about the
outward nature, the grand expectation that the Jews had of the Messiah’s
kingdom. and they believed that it would
have worldwide final and perpetual effects that when the Messiah
came his kingdom would be established and all would be rectified and
remedied then and there. Christ in this section will go
on to show that the revelation of the Messiah’s kingdom was
going to be initially spiritual in nature, that as the gospel
went out and lives were touched and ultimately changed, they
would become aware of the Messiah, but in a much more subtle way
than what the Jews expected of the Messiah’s takeover, if you
will. Ultimately, Jesus promises, even
in this section reiterating, that this kingdom was going to
be established in the hearts and lives of individual believers,
not in some worldwide public takeover. Now the first thing,
and you may have already noticed this, the first thing that you
have to notice about this closing section, verses 22 through 31,
is that there are at least a dozen what I would call echoes or repetitions
from this ongoing dialogue in chapter 14 and even prior to
that. In essence, this section then
becomes somewhat of a summary of what Jesus has already said
in this chapter. Not all of it is repetition,
but a lot of it. And it isn’t like Jesus refuses
to answer Judas’s question. He does answer his question,
but as he answers his question, he is reiterating much of what
he has already declared in Judas’s hearing. This is, in a sense,
a rebuke to Judas. How could you sit here and let
me answer the questions about who and where and why and how? How could you sit here and listen
and still come up with this question? What happened to your program?
What happened to the plan of redemption? What happened to
the Messiah and his kingdom? And so it’s, in a sense, a rebuke.
A rebuke not only to Judas, but a rebuke to all of the disciples
who were in the hearing. They too are concocting even
still further questions. The questions have continued
to flow. And it’s almost as if the disciples,
they’re not listening at all. And so Jesus must reiterate his
thoughts once again. He repeats at least 12 thoughts
inside of nine verses. And I just want to literally
blitz through these. Look back at verse 23. In verse
23, Jesus answered and said to them, if anyone loves me, he
will keep my word. This is a verbal parallel of
John 14, 15. If you love me, you will keep
my commandments. This was when we considered it. What was it to love the Lord
and to keep His commandments? We reasoned even there when we
looked at it in 1415, this was to include everything that the
Lord Jesus had taught and promoted while He was in the flesh with
His disciples. But especially what He had just
urged upon them, the new commandment that they love one another. just as he had modeled for them
in washing their feet there in the upper room as they ate dinner. And so Jesus repeats this simple
thought. If you love me, you will keep
my commandment. Look at verse 24. There is yet
another repetition. He who does not love me does
not keep my words. This is the same thought stated
in the positive in John 14, 23. In 1423, Jesus said, answered
and said, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word. In verse
24 in the latter part of that, and the word which you hear is
not mine, there is still another repetition. The second clause
there is implied in John 14.10. Flip back or just look back if
you need to on the same page. Look at 1410. Do you not believe
that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that
I say to you, I do not speak on my own initiative. There he
implies what he states much more clearly in verse 24. The words
that he has are not his own. They were given by the Father. Jesus was clear and consistent
on that point. He was so aligned with the Father. so deep in intimate communion
with him that he literally could not operate outside of the Father’s
will. His words were the Father’s words. His actions were in perfect alignment
with the Father’s plans. His works were the foreordained
result of the Father’s intentions. And so when he says, the word
that you hear is not mine, conclusion that he’s asking the disciples
to establish is that these words ultimately were coming from God.
There’s another echo. Look at verse 26. Jesus says,
but the helper, the spirit, that from an obviously previous reference
to the Holy Spirit in chapter 14, verse 16. I will ask the
Father and he will give you another helper. Even though Jesus has
indeed been a helper and friend, he is now in the midst of his
departure, preparing for his departure, promised to give them
another helper. They will not be left alone.
They will have help, even divine help, from Jesus himself who
sends the helper, the paraclete, when we looked at that word,
the called alongside one that would come and advocate for them,
a true friend. There is yet another echo. Look
at verse 27. Peace, I leave with you. My peace,
I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give
to you. Do not let your heart be troubled,
nor let it be fearful. This is a repeated admonition
from John 14.1. In John 14, 1, do not let your
heart be troubled. When Jesus first uttered that
admonition, you’ll remember, when Jesus first uttered that
admonition, it was in the context of great turmoil. They had seen
Jesus troubled. Remember, Jesus was himself troubled. Judas had just been exposed as
a traitor. Judas then departs the upper
room for unknown reasons. Jesus announces his own pending
departure. And then Jesus counters Peter’s
brash claim that he would stand by Christ no matter what with
a prediction of his threefold denial. And in a very real way,
the disciples themselves were reeling when Jesus first said
to them, do not let your heart be troubled. This is a repetition
of that same thing. There’s another. Look at verse
28. You heard that I said to you, I go away and I will come
to you. There’s a repeated promise here
again. the going stated as possible
or hypothetical in John 14 3. In John 14 3, Jesus says, if
I go, he’s not doubting the father’s plans. He’s just presenting to
the disciples, softening the blow. If, if you will, if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive
you to myself. We saw here that Jesus gave them
not one, but two promises, right? Not only was He going away, but
that He would come again. We’ll come back to that in a
minute. The first is that He’s going away. He is going, and
He says it again here in verse 28, I go away, definitively. He’s departing. He’s indicating
His passion, His death, His burial and ultimately his ascension
to the Father. How can they be so dull to all
these things that Christ has clearly stated? In the second
clause, there is yet another echo, as we just saw, from John
14, 18. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Now, the
second portion of that sentence is a clear indication of his
ultimate return. We looked at it then. This is
his second coming. Jesus wasn’t vague about his
departure. He wasn’t vague about the news
that he was going to suffer and die at the hands of ruthless
men. And he isn’t vague about his
return. I’m not going to leave you as
orphans. I will come to you. And he points
clearly here to his second coming. In other words, he says, we will
see him. He will return. He’s going to
come to us. He will come and he will call
the disciples to himself. There’s another echo in verse
28. I go away and I will come to
you. If you loved me, you would have
rejoiced because I go to the father. This just indicating
this specific place where he was going to go. He’s going to
the father in heaven. And this is an echo, a repeat
of exactly what he had said early in chapter 14, verse 12. I go
to the father. There’s still another echo. Look
at verse 29. I have told you before it happens
so that when it happens, you may believe he’s calling them
to faith, cultivating their faith. And he repeats this from John
13, 19. It’s a near repetition with an
identical purpose. And John 13, 19 from now on,
I am telling you before it comes to pass stated only a little
bit differently. So that when it does occur, you
may believe that I am He. He’s cultivating their faith.
There’s yet another, only a few more. Look at verse 30, I will
not speak much more with you for the ruler of the world is
coming and he has nothing in me. This is a clear reference
to the devil here of his temporary outburst, you know, this fleeting
thing where he rained down terror and wrath on Christ. But there speaks of his judgment
in John 12, 31. Judgment is on this world. Now
the ruler of this world will be cast out. There is one Two
other echoes, look at verse 31 where you have essentially back
to back, two for one on this occasion. But so that the world
may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded
me. This is a verbal parallel from
John 10, 18 where he spoke of the Father’s commands, the authority
to lay down or take up his life but he had received commands
from the Father. There’s a final verbal parallel
from John 12, 49, speaking of the Father who had sent me, had
given me a commandment as to what to say. Now, why did I just
do all that? I could have said, you know,
look, this is almost all just repetition of what Jesus has
said before in verses 23 through 31, is an echo of what he’s already
said, so let’s pray and call it a day. But there is embedded
in the midst of this great series of repetitions, and he’s doing
this for a purpose, I believe, that given that there’s so much
repetition here of things that Jesus had already said, This
reply to Judas’s question is not merely a summary. It’s the repetition brought on
by rebuke. He’s reviewing everything that
he’s just taught on this evening, and he’s reminding Judas of exactly
what he had said in the context. But in the end, it’s not just
a rebuke. It’s a clear and gracious answer
to Judas’s bewildering question. Has God changed plans? Is the father not going to unfold
his plan of redemption to the world? The bottom line answer
is that God has not changed his mind. The gospel should and will
go forth, but there are absolute and, may I say, exclusive benefits,
blessings to those who place their faith in Christ. God was
not being capricious in suggesting that there would be blessings
to a certain group of people. What he’s doing is narrowing
the focus of the gospel, not just to the general call, but
to those to whom it actually falls. Those blessings are not
for all. They’re not for everyone. Those
who do not place their faith in Jesus Christ’s finished work
on the cross, those who do not repent of their sin, and do not
submit themselves to Christ’s lordship, they are not welcomed
into a special fellowship. They are not welcomed into that
communion with God himself. But for those who place their
faith in Christ, those who repent of their sin, those who desire
salvation by faith in Christ, they’re welcomed in and they
are promised an exclusive blessing. And Jesus Christ here absolutely
desires that his disciples should know this promise, this truth,
this certainty of blessing for those who are truly in Christ
by faith. And as such, Jesus wants to speak
to what I would call honored guests. Believers who enjoy exclusive
privileges because of their faith in Christ. Honored guests, we want to look
this morning at these exclusive privileges for believers alone. First, the Father bestows love
upon believers I know that this sounds simple I know that this
sounds simple but the father is not going to bestow love universally
across the land on every person ever born he’s just not look
at verse 23 Jesus answered and said to 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 abode with Him.” This was a practical blessing,
a practical and a very exclusive privilege. In what sense could
it possibly be said that for those with their hearts contrary
to Christ, for those who don’t repent of their sin, for those
who hate God and His law and His people and His plan of redemption
and his son, in what possible sense, as God dispatches them
to an eternity without Christ in hell, in what possible sense
could it say that God loves them? But to those who place their
faith in Christ, to those who love Christ, who love the Savior,
because of the payment that he rendered on their behalf. To
them, God loves. This is one of the basic doctrines
in John’s gospel, the love of God. We saw it in John 3.16. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son. It was a practical love. It was
a life-changing love. He gave his son out of a heart
of love for his creation. But this speaks of even extension,
if you will, even a greater application of that great love of God. This is a spiritual kind of fellowship
with God. This is a personal friendship,
if you will. a basking in divine love. This is us taking up residence
and God taking up residence with us and in us so that the God
who is love now dwells in us. And so Judas came to Jesus looking
for answers as did the rest of the apostles and as one Commentator
briefly put it, to answer Judas’s question is love. The love of God is the answer
to the sinner. The father has set his love on
us already. And the father is going to love
us if we are in Christ. That love that we’ve come to
know in time actually started in eternity past. Right? In the
foreordination of God, when God set his love upon us, it had
a purpose. And in time, we came to know
that love. And every moment since, we have
sensed God’s love. We know, if we are in Christ,
that God has very practically loved us. He’s set his love upon
us. Just listen. to some of the words
of scripture. 1 John chapter 4, in this is
love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent
his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Will that kind
of love come to some kind of a screeching halt? Will a God
that loved enough to send his own son somehow grow weary of
loving us? I use this oftentimes in weddings. That great theologian Elvis said,
I can’t help falling in love with you. The only problem with
that is 20 years down the road when the man says, I can’t help
falling out of love with you. Is that what we expect of God?
That God would somehow fall out of love with us. It’s a problem with an understanding
of the nature of love. God has set his love upon us. He has fixed his love upon us. And if it started in eternity
past, it will carry forward to eternity future. John finishes
that statement, and this is love, not that we love God, but that
he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our
sins, beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another.
That’s the simple application of that verse. Paul says it in Romans 5, the
love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the
Holy Spirit who was given to us. That’s how we came to know
Christ. He drew us to himself. That is
the practical love of God working its way out. And can we run out
of this supply? That’s not what Paul concludes
in Romans 8, is it? Neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to
come, nor powers, nor height. I mean, he almost runs out of
superlatives. Nor height, nor depth, nor any
other created thing will be able to separate us from the love
of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Saints, we can’t take
this lightly. We cannot take this lightly that
as honored guests, as those who have been drawn into Christ,
to God through Christ and through what Christ accomplished on the
cross, that one of our exclusive privileges is to enjoy and bask
in and to enjoy forever the love of God, God’s love for us. God will continue to love us
as a father, correcting us. God will continue to love us
by providing for us. God will continue to love us
by teaching us. God will continue to love us. It’s one of the believer’s exclusive
privileges, but it’s not the only one. As honored guests,
not only does the Father bestow His love upon believers, but
secondly, the Holy Spirit provides instruction for believers. Look, if you would, at verse
26. Of all the repetition that is given to us in these verses,
23 through 31, There are also these new and, if you will, honed,
sharpened points. No, Judas, the program hasn’t
changed at all. This is the same plan of redemption
that God has ordained from eternity past. And if you’d only looked,
if you would only pause, there are blessings that were designed and communicated clearly in the
scriptures for believers. Look at verse 26, 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 said to you. The Holy Spirit is identified
here now. Previously, just to the apostles,
he was identified as the helper, an advocate who is going to come
alongside, a friend who is going to come to them like Christ,
a helper like Christ in every way. Now, the Holy Spirit has
already been identified in John’s gospel. Think back to John chapter
1 verse 33. where John said, I did not recognize
him, but he who sent me to baptize in water said to me, he upon
whom you see the spirit descending and remaining upon him, this
is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. And so John the
Baptist identifies Jesus Christ by his attendant, the Holy Spirit. The only other time in John’s
gospel that he’s identified as the Holy Spirit is at the end
of the book, chapter 20, verse 22, when Jesus breathes out and
tells the apostles to receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit,
what a crucial identifier, not only for the apostles, but for
the early church and really for all of Christ’s church, identifying
Him as completely sinless, apart from all sin, in complete possession
of all the moral attributes of God, and he has a set and specific
purpose here, that is to cultivate, not only
is the Holy Spirit holy, but his purpose is to cultivate holiness
in the lives of his people. It’s a process that you and I
call sanctification, right? holiness of life and character,
weeding out those areas of sin in our life, constantly looking
for new ways that we’ve offended others and offended God, bringing
it to confession, whether it’s at the Lord’s table or prayerfully
long before, that as sin is brought to mind, as the Holy Spirit shines
His beacon of light on those parts of our life, we work out
our salvation. Philippians 2, you know the passage
where Paul says, so then my beloved, just as you have always obeyed,
not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,
work out your salvation with fear and trembling. You say,
but I gave my life to Jesus back at camp eight years ago. Work
it out. But I’ve been a Christian for
42 years. Work it out. We can never just sit back and
expect God to continue to do all the work. We need to look
for areas of sin in our life. We need to submit ourselves to
the Lordship of Christ. We need to yield ourselves to
the influence, to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Work it out.
And then Paul says, for it is God who is at work in you. You
don’t want to fight God. It is God who is at work in you,
both to will and to work for His good pleasure. The Holy Spirit, Jesus says,
has come. And He’s come not only as the
Holy Spirit, but He’s come as the Holy Spirit to make you and
I holy. That is His great function. He will convict us of sin. He
will bring us to conviction and impart to us the grace necessary
to change. What a glorious thought. What
an incredible, and may I remind you, exclusive promise to believers. What point would it be to change
the lives of those, you know, outward behavior? We were grinning
and chuckling about this old illustration that a professor
gave me, you see a dog and he’s wagging his tail, what can you
conclude? That the dog is a happy dog.
But if you reach down and the dog is not wagging his tail,
and you reach down and you wag his tail for him, have you made
the dog a happy dog? We can change outward behavior. We can compel people. But we
cannot change the heart. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. Look at the passage, that the
Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,
He will teach you all things. This is a reminder of 1 Corinthians
2, right? We have the Spirit of Christ.
We now have the spectacles of faith as the reformers spoke
of them The Holy Spirit himself illumines his word and reveals
to us truths that we previously did not understand. He will teach
you all things and he will bring to your remembrance all that
I said. As Jesus went about on this earth,
I mean, it’s not like these guys all had laptops and they could,
you know, go to these conferences and these guys sit with their
laptops and they type out every word that these guys say. They didn’t have paper and pencil.
It just wasn’t that readily available. And so they had to commit to
memory. That story that Jesus told about the, you know, that
story that he said about the seeds and the four soils, they
had to commit that to memory. And then years later, they had
to sit and write it down. And they were not unlike us. Maybe they would sit and collaborate
What was that story that he told about the 10 guys? I can’t remember. But the Holy
Spirit was there, and the Holy Spirit brought to mind. The Holy
Spirit reminded them. The Holy Spirit reminded them
not only of what Jesus had said, but even taught them new things.
and showed to them scriptures that they had read countless
times before. And now the scriptures, look
at Acts chapter 2, now the scriptures come to life and they see things
that they’d never seen before. In John chapter 2, you see an
example of this. Turn to John chapter 2, if you
would. John chapter 2, you see a really sweet, simple, example
of this. Jesus said to them, to the Jews,
destroy this temple and in three days I will rise, raise it up.
The Jews then said, it took 46 years to build this temple and
you will raise it up in three days? But he was speaking of
the temple of his body. Watch this. So when he was raised
from the dead, his disciples remembered. How? The Holy Spirit
brought it to mind. The disciples remembered that
he said this, and they believed the scripture and the word which
Jesus had spoken. This is exactly the function
of the Holy Spirit. Turn, if you would, to John chapter
12. John chapter 12 and verse 14.
In John 12, Verse 14, Jesus finding a young
donkey sat on it, as it is written, fear not, daughter of Zion, behold,
your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt. These things
the disciples did not understand at first, but when Jesus was
glorified, then they remembered that these things were written
of Him and that they had done these things to Him. The Holy
Spirit was coming and he was teaching them new things, reminding
of things that had already transpired. Luke chapter 11, pardon me, Acts
chapter 11, don’t turn, we don’t have time. Over and over again,
they remembered his words. The disciples understood none
of these things and the meaning of these things were hidden from
them and they did not understand. until the Holy Spirit reminded
them, until the Holy Spirit played His role of teaching and reminding. And the Holy Spirit’s role wasn’t
completed with the apostles. The Holy Spirit continues His
role in our lives first when you hear the gospel. When you
hear the gospel and perhaps previously you’ve heard it, well, this is
absurd, that their Savior comes and He dies on this cross. And
that’s supposed to mean something to me? How? And then one day
you hear the story, or you see it played out on the screen,
or you hear somebody tell the story of what Christ did for
you. And suddenly, inexplicably, until
you know about the Holy Spirit and His role, Somehow this story
now begins to make sense. And God begins to weave it together.
And He begins to show you and you begin to sense your desperate
need of a Savior. And that you had offended a holy
God. And that you are undone. There
is no other hope for you outside of Christ. And you look to the
Savior. And then perhaps it’s only years
later as you begin to read the scriptures and understand theology
and doctrine that you see that the Holy Spirit did that work. The Holy Spirit taught you about
Christ. The Holy Spirit took the blinders
off of your eyes and showed you scriptures. Scriptures that you’d
read many times. But scriptures now that made
sense. Scriptures that now pointed to the Savior that God had lavished
your heart with love. He loved the Savior. The Holy Spirit continues that
work in you and I, doesn’t He? He’s not done with us. He continues
to teach us. He continues to open His Word.
He continues to reveal things and teach us things. What an
exclusive privilege for believers. But that’s only the second. I
said there were three. And each member of the Godhead
has a blessing to share exclusively for believers. The Father bestows
his love upon believers. The Holy Spirit provides instruction
for believers. The Son, the Son imparts peace
to believers. Look at verse 27. Peace, I leave with you. My peace, I give to you. Not
as the world gives, do I give to you. Do not let your heart
be troubled, nor let it be fearful. This peace, this was the ordinary
greeting, a very common greeting, not just among Jews, but among
Greeks. As you greeted one another, initially you would say peace
to you, and as you said farewell, you would say, peace be with
you. It was a very common greeting. And in that sense it kind of
points or hints at least that Jesus Christ is departing and
he says to them, peace be to you, my peace I give to you. This peace is not just a common
greeting, not from Christ. Peace, I leave with you. I am bestowing something upon
you. I am giving you a gift, the gift
of peace. And first and foremost, this
is pointing to the peace that comes, peace with God. Because
remember, Scripture paints the picture very graphically, doesn’t
it? We, in our natural condition, are at enmity. You know what
that word means? War. We have taken up arms against
a holy God. We hate Him in our flesh. We are at enmity with God, and
yet God comes. He sends his son. He sends his
son to enact a peace treaty that was ratified on the cross. And
that peace treaty brings about a reconciliation, a reconciliation
between you and I and a holy God. There’s peace now with God. This is precisely what Paul is
speaking about in Romans 5.1. Therefore, having been justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The war is over. In my heart, in my conscience,
deep in my soul, I know that I am no longer at war with God. I don’t want to be at war with
God. Jesus Christ has come, I’ve placed my faith in Him, I am
justified by faith, and I am at peace with God. But there’s
another kind of peace that flows from that, isn’t there? And I
see you smiling because it’s so true. Once you know that you’re
at peace with God, you just have peace. A different kind of peace,
it’s tranquility, an inner kind of peace, peace in the heart,
whereas there’s no longer a fear of God, a loathing of him and
his law and his ways and his judgment. There is an internal
kind of peace, peace that calms our troubled hearts. We know,
remember that old hymn. Even if everything falls apart,
it is well with my soul. I can die. I could die today,
and that’s exactly the mentality that Paul takes on in Philippians
1. Take me if you want. So R.C. Sproul said the peace
that Christ gave his disciples was far more valuable than the
richest earthly inheritance, the great drama of the gospel,
our justification by faith alone. We have peace. We have peace
with God. Why not have peace with everyone
else and peace in our heart? We have nothing left to worry
about. The peace that the world gives, Jesus goes on to say,
is this shallow, temporary, fleeting, meaningless peace. It is, as
one called it, a ceasefire between wars. The world communicates
peace and says they wish you peace. What they really mean
is until I find some other reason to take up cause against you. The peace that Jesus talks about,
it isn’t dependent on earthly circumstances. We know that it
is well with our soul. We know that we are at peace
with Almighty God. And until then, until Jesus takes
us home, We can live in peace. We can enjoy the world that He
has created and the people that He has created us to walk with. What blessings! And no wonder
Judas had to have stood rebuked. He had been listening and in
a sense Jesus doesn’t say anything new. But He does drive home the
point that God’s plan of redemption hasn’t changed. God loves His
people. And the Holy Spirit will teach
His people. And Jesus Christ will lavish
His people in peace. Would you rejoice before Him
with me? Merciful God, we thank You and
we praise You for this rich time that we’ve enjoyed in John 14. As we have heard Jesus answer
the questions of the simple, simple questions from simple
minds that were face to face with God in the flesh. Lord,
we thank you for your grace and your patience with them and with
us. We thank you for what you’ve
taught We thank you for your heart and even down to the last
syllable, what you imparted to Judas. From a loving God, from
an instructing spirit, and from a peace-giving Savior. Father, if there are any who
do not know these exclusive privileges, they are not for every person
ever born. They are only for those who have
placed their faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. There is
no other way. There is no other hope. Father
God, we plead and pray with you that your Holy Spirit would be
powerful among us and upon those who do not know Christ. That
you would bring them to repentance. Help them to see their sin for
what it is. Grant that they would place their
faith in the only hope for sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s in
His name that we pray. Amen. As we close, if you would
take your bulletins.