Jesus begins tonight’s passage where we began a few weeks ago by saying, (READ PASSAGE)..
Let’s talk a little about this peace that Jesus mentions. Peace means to bind together, to join, to weave together. It means that a person is bound, woven and joined together with himself and with God and others.
The Hebrew word for peace is shalom. It means freedom from trouble and a lot more. It means experiencing the highest good, enjoying the very best, possessing all the inner good possible.
There is the peace of the world. That’s the peace of avoiding trouble, or being able to escape it. This peace is sought through pleasure, satisfaction, contentment, absence of trouble, positive thinking or denial of problems.
Then there is the peace of Christ and of God. This is a peace from deep within. It is a tranquility of mind, a composure, a peace that is calm in the face of bad circumstances and situations. This is what we can call a bosom peace.
But it’s also the peace of conquest. READ Jn. 16:33. This is the peace independent of conditions and environment; the peace that no sorrow, no danger, no suffering, no experience can take away.
This peace of Christ and God is also the peace of assurance. READ Rom. 8:28. It’s the peace with a sure knowledge that your life is in the hands of God and that all things will work out for good to those who love God.
This peace of Christ and God is also the peace of intimacy with God. READ Phil. 4:6-7. It’s the peace of the highest good; the peace that settles the mind, strengthens the will, and establishes the heart.
But what about the source of peace? Peace is always born out of reconciliation. It’s source is found only in the reconciliation wrought by Jesus Christ. Peace always has to do with personal relationships: a person’s relationship to themselves, to God, and to their fellow men. So what I am saying is a person must be bound, woven, and joined together with himself, with God, and with his fellow man.
Here are some ways that a person secures this peace.
1. By justification. “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, (ROMANS 5:1)
2. By loving God’s Word. “Those who love Your law have great peace,
And nothing causes them to stumble. (Ps. 119:165)
"These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." (JOHN 16:33)
3. By praying about everything. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
7And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:6-7)
4. By being spiritually minded. “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, (Rom. 8:6)
5. By keeping his mind upon God. “"The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace,
Because he trusts in You. (Isa. 26:3)
6. By keeping God’s commandments. “"If only you had paid attention to My commandments!
Then your well-being would have been like a river,
And your righteousness like the waves of the sea. (Isa. 48:18)
The subject of peace is often divided into:
1. The peace WITH God, which is wrought through salvation
2. Then there’s the peace OF God, which is the very peace of God Himself and which points to God as the Source of peace.
3. Lastly, there’s the peace FROM God, which God gives to dwell in the heart of the believer as he walks day by day in the Lord.
NOW LET’S TALK ABOUT JOY. READ 28-29.
What is the source of joy? Joy or rejoicing or being glad mean an inner gladness and a deep seated pleasure. It’s a depth of assurance and confidence that ignites a cheerful heart. It’s a cheerful heart that leads to cheerful behavior. The source of joy is threefold.
1. The return of Jesus to the Father causes believers to joy or rejoice. In v. 28 Jesus was referring to His death, resurrection, and ascension.
a. And when you think about it, the death or cross of Christ attracts and causes us to joy or rejoice; not in it happening, but in what it does for us. It means deliverance from sin, death, and hell. "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself." (JN 12:32)
“But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Gal. 6:14)
b. The resurrection and ascension, of course, attract people and cause us to joy or rejoice.
2. What else is the source of joy? The Father’s greatness cause us to joy and rejoice or be glad. The Father demonstrated His great love and power by releasing Jesus:
• From the flesh or sinful nature.
• From the world in all its trials and tensions.
• From the devil
• From the pressure of men in all their threats and attacks.
The Father took Jesus home, back from where He had come; and He restored Him to His seat of glory, exalting Him above every name that is named. So a believer rejoices in the phenomenal power of the Father’s greatness. And what brings joy to a believer’s heart is knowing the we will also be released from the sinful nature, the flesh, the world, the devil, and the pressure of men, just as Jesus was.
3. Something else causes joy. A confirmed faith causes believers to joy and rejoice. The claims of Jesus have been proven and verified. Just as He told His disciples, all that He predicted has come to pass.
• He did leave.
• He did return.
• He did go to His Father.
• He did send the Holy Spirit.
We might note that by foretelling these things, Jesus strengthened the faith of believers. In fact, think about it, He could have chosen no better way to strengthen the faith of believers.
Lastly, let’s talk about security. READ 30-31.
The believer’s security comes from two sources.
1. Security comes from Jesus’ victory over Satan. Jesus says in v. 30 that Satan is coming. He was already using men (Judas and the religionists) to make a last ditch effort to destroy Jesus. But Satan had nothing in Jesus; there was nothing which he could use to attract Jesus to sin. There was no lust, no greed, no selfishness—nothing in Jesus that Satan could use to destroy Him.
Jesus was predicting that He would be completely victorious and triumphant over Satan.
2. Secondly, security comes from Jesus’ obedience to the Father. The Father’s great commandment was for Jesus to die for the sins of the world. His death was the supreme act of obedience.
So there we have it, the source of our peace, our joy, and our security. To put it simply, all three come from knowing Jesus Christ in a personal way.
As Jesus said in v. 31. “Come now, let us leave.”
