WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.600 We're going to read scripture, the passage that Corey is going to preach from this morning. 00:00:04.599 --> 00:00:07.619 I'm going to invite Lizzie up, who's going to come and read for us. 00:00:08.939 --> 00:00:10.359 John, chapter 14. 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:13.160 Let not your hearts be troubled. 00:00:14.019 --> 00:00:16.300 Believe in God, believe also in me. 00:00:17.019 --> 00:00:18.939 In my Father's house are many rooms. 00:00:19.800 --> 00:00:23.640 If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 00:00:24.259 --> 00:00:29.420 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, 00:00:29.960 --> 00:00:32.119 that where I am, you may be also. 00:00:32.119 --> 00:00:35.179 And you know the way to where I am going. 00:00:35.919 --> 00:00:39.219 Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going. 00:00:39.780 --> 00:00:40.939 How can we know the way? 00:00:41.820 --> 00:00:46.659 Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. 00:00:47.259 --> 00:00:49.420 No one comes to the Father except through me. 00:00:50.140 --> 00:00:53.039 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. 00:00:53.719 --> 00:00:56.659 From now on, you do know him and have seen him. 00:00:56.659 --> 00:01:02.539 Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us. 00:01:03.459 --> 00:01:08.539 Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long and you still do not know me, Philip? 00:01:09.219 --> 00:01:12.000 Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. 00:01:12.539 --> 00:01:14.620 How can you say, show us the Father? 00:01:15.299 --> 00:01:18.739 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? 00:01:18.739 --> 00:01:26.560 The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 00:01:27.659 --> 00:01:34.299 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. 00:01:35.579 --> 00:01:38.659 These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 00:01:38.659 --> 00:01:48.560 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. 00:01:49.239 --> 00:01:50.620 Peace I leave with you. 00:01:50.979 --> 00:01:52.379 My peace I give to you. 00:01:52.799 --> 00:01:54.959 Not as the world gives do I give to you. 00:01:55.500 --> 00:01:56.879 Let not your hearts be troubled. 00:01:57.620 --> 00:01:59.019 Neither let them be afraid. 00:02:00.259 --> 00:02:03.560 We read that very famous passage from John 14. 00:02:04.120 --> 00:02:07.159 And we're going to focus on verses 1 to 7 especially. 00:02:07.159 --> 00:02:11.879 But I want to read to you the bookends of the text one more time. 00:02:12.419 --> 00:02:15.800 And the bookends of the text are verse 1 and then down to verse 27. 00:02:15.979 --> 00:02:17.740 And so we read here, 00:02:18.620 --> 00:02:19.780 Let not your hearts be troubled. 00:02:20.159 --> 00:02:21.319 And then verse 27. 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:22.939 Jesus says, 00:02:23.219 --> 00:02:24.819 My peace I leave to you. 00:02:24.939 --> 00:02:26.199 My peace I give you. 00:02:26.840 --> 00:02:28.079 Let not your hearts be troubled. 00:02:28.340 --> 00:02:29.259 Neither be afraid. 00:02:30.159 --> 00:02:33.039 So Jesus at the beginning and the end says, 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:34.819 Don't let your heart be troubled. 00:02:34.819 --> 00:02:39.139 And then he says the solution to that, the counter to that, is peace. 00:02:39.379 --> 00:02:39.919 The peace. 00:02:40.199 --> 00:02:40.400 He says, 00:02:40.680 --> 00:02:42.560 My peace I give to you. 00:02:42.900 --> 00:02:45.099 Therefore, let not your hearts be troubled. 00:02:45.939 --> 00:02:50.840 So Jesus says here that at Christmas, he comes to give the gift of peace. 00:02:51.479 --> 00:02:56.979 And that gift of peace is altogether different from the peace that the world has to offer. 00:02:56.979 --> 00:03:05.839 Now peace is not peace the most important quest for which the human soul embarks upon. 00:03:07.679 --> 00:03:15.039 Getting a peaceful inner life is the most significant thing that you can achieve in the whole of the human life. 00:03:15.039 --> 00:03:18.979 And it's the opposite of a troubled heart, he tells us. 00:03:19.019 --> 00:03:20.539 A troubled heart is our great enemy. 00:03:21.060 --> 00:03:23.500 It removes all the joy out of life. 00:03:23.639 --> 00:03:28.859 So Jesus is saying here today, this Christmas, that you can have a peaceful heart, not a troubled heart. 00:03:29.459 --> 00:03:31.799 And there's a world of difference between the two of them. 00:03:32.419 --> 00:03:34.699 It's a restless heart versus a heart at rest. 00:03:34.699 --> 00:03:47.079 And the reason why this is so important is a heart at peace is a ship that rides every single storm, no matter what the waves, no matter what the circumstances are doing in your life. 00:03:47.199 --> 00:03:52.039 If you have a healthy inner life, a peaceful inner life, you can ride out every storm. 00:03:52.919 --> 00:03:59.280 But if your inner life is in turmoil, if your heart is in turmoil, if your heart is troubled, then you're taking water on. 00:04:00.500 --> 00:04:04.179 And eventually the circumstances of your life are going to pull you all the way under. 00:04:04.699 --> 00:04:05.579 And are going to sink you. 00:04:05.619 --> 00:04:16.420 And what Jesus is offering in this very famous moment, this upper room discourse, is the difference between a life that can withstand anything because your inner life is so full of peace. 00:04:16.899 --> 00:04:27.539 Versus a life that lacks resilience, that will break eventually because your inner life is always taking on water as the circumstances get worse and worse. 00:04:27.540 --> 00:04:41.439 Now, 700 years before this moment, 700 years before Jesus says these words, in Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6, there's a prophecy about the Christmas child that was to come. 00:04:41.700 --> 00:04:43.620 And we're given there four titles. 00:04:44.259 --> 00:04:50.259 He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 00:04:50.259 --> 00:04:58.939 And we've been in a series looking at how that prophecy about Jesus is fulfilled in the ways Jesus is wonderful counselor to us. 00:04:59.159 --> 00:05:07.099 And the way he brings supernatural wisdom, supernatural comfort, the best counselor to the human heart. 00:05:07.100 --> 00:05:15.340 And here we've got this, what is really the most universalized way of talking about all the troubles of the inner life, the troubled heart. 00:05:15.540 --> 00:05:19.160 And so far we've looked at shame, disappointment, fear. 00:05:19.420 --> 00:05:24.520 And here he comes to address everything, all that's wrong with the heart. 00:05:24.700 --> 00:05:26.700 And in one phrase, the troubled heart. 00:05:26.699 --> 00:05:32.979 And the offer he makes is peace, his peace, the gift of peace that only he can bring. 00:05:33.879 --> 00:05:42.039 Notice in Isaiah 9 that when the text tells us he is Wonderful Counselor, the very last title that's given is he is also Prince of Peace. 00:05:42.639 --> 00:05:47.319 And then when you come to the end of his life at John 14, the Wonderful Counselor is standing saying, 00:05:47.459 --> 00:05:50.560 in the midst of a troubled life, I want to offer you peace. 00:05:51.079 --> 00:05:54.500 The Prince of Peace, the Wonderful Counselor, gives the gift of peace. 00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:55.860 And so let's think about that together. 00:05:56.699 --> 00:06:02.259 Is there anything that you want for Christmas more this year than a peaceful heart? 00:06:03.300 --> 00:06:04.740 A life of peace. 00:06:05.339 --> 00:06:12.959 So first, let's think about the troubled heart, the peaceful heart, how to get his peace, and then how he gives that peace. 00:06:13.879 --> 00:06:16.480 All right, so first, the troubled heart. 00:06:16.980 --> 00:06:20.199 All right, the disciples, we know in this passage, are troubled. 00:06:20.459 --> 00:06:23.519 We know that because Jesus says, let not your hearts be troubled. 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:31.180 And the reason they're troubled is because in the paragraph just before this moment, Jesus had said to them, I am leaving you. 00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:39.339 And Peter turns around and says, you can't leave us, but if you do leave us, I'll go wherever you're going and I will die with you if I have to. 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:41.979 And then he turns and says, don't let your hearts be troubled. 00:06:41.980 --> 00:06:44.080 So they're troubled. 00:06:44.520 --> 00:06:47.840 They're living in turmoil because he said that he's leaving them. 00:06:48.259 --> 00:06:50.840 Now, we stand on the other side of the resurrection. 00:06:51.220 --> 00:06:57.420 And so we know as the reader that his departure is the very source that's going to bring them peace. 00:06:57.420 --> 00:07:04.939 But you've got to, for a second, put yourself into their shoes and realize that they had given their, they had quit their day jobs to follow him. 00:07:05.020 --> 00:07:06.660 They had been walking with him for three years. 00:07:06.759 --> 00:07:08.780 They had given their whole lives away for him. 00:07:09.280 --> 00:07:15.639 They've staked everything on their idea of his personal presence, his physical presence being with them. 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:19.819 And so when he says, I'm departing from you, that is their world collapsing. 00:07:19.819 --> 00:07:25.219 And that's why in verse 18, he says, I won't leave you as orphans. 00:07:25.339 --> 00:07:28.019 He's saying that because they clearly felt like orphans. 00:07:28.159 --> 00:07:31.420 They believed they were being treated like orphans in this moment. 00:07:31.980 --> 00:07:34.620 And so then he says, let not your hearts be troubled. 00:07:34.740 --> 00:07:39.680 And in verse 27, let not your hearts be troubled, neither be afraid. 00:07:39.779 --> 00:07:46.339 And so Jesus makes this very slight distinction between a troubled heart and a fearful heart. 00:07:46.339 --> 00:07:50.199 And the distinction is found in the words that he picks. 00:07:50.299 --> 00:07:54.719 They're not the most common words for a troubled heart or a heart full of fear. 00:07:54.919 --> 00:08:06.559 And so the word that he uses in Greek for troubled is a word that if you were to take it in its most literal form would mean to agitate water with a stick. 00:08:07.179 --> 00:08:14.419 So if you've ever been down near a body of water and you take a stick and you stir it and it causes ripples to move outward, 00:08:14.420 --> 00:08:17.960 that is the Greek word that he chooses here. 00:08:18.040 --> 00:08:23.020 It reminds me of that moment in the Fellowship of the Ring when Aragorn says to the little hobbits, 00:08:23.500 --> 00:08:24.819 do not disturb the water. 00:08:25.400 --> 00:08:28.259 There's a nasty beast lurking just underneath the surface. 00:08:28.360 --> 00:08:29.480 And this is the same idea. 00:08:30.420 --> 00:08:35.500 The heart, a troubled heart is a heart that's been agitated, disturbed. 00:08:35.720 --> 00:08:37.980 And so it's constantly producing ups and downs. 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:40.560 And so what does he mean by that? 00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:48.500 What he means by that is something like a restlessness, a disturbed soul, an uneasy soul, an anxious soul. 00:08:48.619 --> 00:08:51.099 Probably anxiety is another way to translate it. 00:08:51.659 --> 00:08:57.059 So it's a situation, a heart where you're never quiet internally. 00:08:58.419 --> 00:09:04.779 And therefore, when he says, let not your heart be full of agitation, he says, neither be afraid. 00:09:04.779 --> 00:09:07.079 And this is not the most typical word for fear. 00:09:07.639 --> 00:09:10.819 The most typical word for fear is the word that we use for phobia. 00:09:11.740 --> 00:09:14.240 It refers more to an instance of being afraid. 00:09:14.360 --> 00:09:17.500 Like if you're crossing the street, the bus is coming too quickly. 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:19.480 You're afraid. 00:09:19.679 --> 00:09:20.279 You should be. 00:09:20.839 --> 00:09:22.839 If you don't fear, you're going to get hit by the bus. 00:09:23.579 --> 00:09:24.959 And so you move across very quickly. 00:09:25.059 --> 00:09:26.059 But this is a different word. 00:09:26.179 --> 00:09:31.259 And it's a word that refers more to something like timidity, a state of timidity. 00:09:31.259 --> 00:09:45.659 In other words, what he's saying is when you have an inner life full of trouble or turmoil, agitated, up and down all the time, never quiet, never settled, never at rest, it's going to produce in your life a state of timidity where the fear. 00:09:45.779 --> 00:09:46.759 Fear, what does he mean by fear? 00:09:46.819 --> 00:09:49.720 He means always expecting something bad to happen. 00:09:50.620 --> 00:09:55.720 So it's where you wake up every day and you're always thinking, what is going to be, what's coming? 00:09:57.019 --> 00:10:00.519 What is about to approach my life that's going to destroy me today? 00:10:01.259 --> 00:10:05.159 So it's a constant state of restlessness that produces a life of timidity. 00:10:06.620 --> 00:10:08.919 And I wonder what you think. 00:10:08.980 --> 00:10:18.799 I think we could say that the troubled heart is perhaps the greatest problem our culture faces. 00:10:20.899 --> 00:10:26.000 We live in an age where we've never been more comfortable, yet we've never been more troubled. 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:36.120 And I wonder if a peaceful heart is not the greatest gift that anybody could possess this Christmas season. 00:10:37.500 --> 00:10:43.879 And Jesus' peace here, what he promises, what he offers, is not very careful. 00:10:43.980 --> 00:10:45.500 It's not first the promise of a good circumstance. 00:10:45.500 --> 00:10:49.000 It's not a life without ups and downs. 00:10:49.220 --> 00:10:52.899 It's not a life without waves that are constantly battering the ship. 00:10:53.019 --> 00:10:59.620 And instead, what he's talking about is the difference that theologians have pointed out for a couple thousand years now. 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:02.379 And that's the difference between emotions and affection. 00:11:03.720 --> 00:11:04.799 And what's that difference? 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:07.919 Emotions, you can have an emotion of fear. 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:10.839 You can be crossing the street and the bus is coming a little bit too fast. 00:11:11.579 --> 00:11:12.919 And so you get nervous. 00:11:13.059 --> 00:11:13.620 You get afraid. 00:11:13.699 --> 00:11:14.219 You get scared. 00:11:14.319 --> 00:11:16.259 That's an emotion that strikes you in a moment. 00:11:16.799 --> 00:11:20.879 And when you get to the other side and you're okay, your body's going to calm back down. 00:11:21.419 --> 00:11:22.159 You're going to be okay. 00:11:22.939 --> 00:11:23.679 That's an emotion. 00:11:23.799 --> 00:11:25.279 But an affection is slightly different. 00:11:25.439 --> 00:11:27.360 An affection is a state. 00:11:27.479 --> 00:11:28.419 It's a bedrock. 00:11:28.759 --> 00:11:29.539 It's a foundation. 00:11:29.659 --> 00:11:33.620 So you can have emotions that are going up and down all the time because of circumstances. 00:11:33.620 --> 00:11:39.600 But what Jesus is talking about here is the problem of the affection of trouble. 00:11:40.580 --> 00:11:46.700 And an affection is when you, in your steady state, your bedrock, are living in turmoil in your heart. 00:11:47.659 --> 00:11:49.700 Versus the affection of peace. 00:11:50.460 --> 00:11:55.279 So you can have peace in your life as the bedrock, the foundation. 00:11:56.759 --> 00:12:00.700 And yet, be a person who's getting nervous, who's getting afraid, who's getting scared, who's getting stressed. 00:12:00.740 --> 00:12:02.620 Of course, because you live in a broken world. 00:12:02.620 --> 00:12:06.960 See, there's a big difference between emotion and affection. 00:12:07.259 --> 00:12:13.200 And what Jesus is saying is, in a world where you are being brought up and down all the times on the waves of the ocean, 00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:17.220 He comes to gift you an affection of peace. 00:12:18.200 --> 00:12:24.320 A steadiness that can ride out all the emotions that are going up and down throughout your life. 00:12:25.100 --> 00:12:27.440 You see, He's not offering here an absence of trouble. 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:32.840 He's offering, He's not offering freedom from bad circumstances. 00:12:33.400 --> 00:12:36.120 He's saying that He's offering us steadiness. 00:12:36.940 --> 00:12:39.960 Being okay, no matter what happens in our lives. 00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:44.780 Now, let me just give you one instance of proof and we'll move to the second point. 00:12:45.660 --> 00:12:47.580 Think about these men that He's talking to here. 00:12:48.120 --> 00:12:48.820 Think about Peter. 00:12:48.820 --> 00:12:55.620 Peter, boy, you read the rest of the story of the Gospels and you know that Peter is a man who's troubled in his heart. 00:12:55.720 --> 00:12:56.780 He's got turmoil. 00:12:56.960 --> 00:13:00.400 He's the one who has just said in the paragraph before this moment, 00:13:01.220 --> 00:13:04.600 Jesus, if you go and leave us, I will go with you. 00:13:04.700 --> 00:13:05.600 I'll go anywhere you go. 00:13:05.660 --> 00:13:08.340 And we know that later on, he is so timid. 00:13:08.340 --> 00:13:11.220 He's so troubled in his heart that when a young girl says to him, 00:13:11.639 --> 00:13:12.580 Don't you know Jesus? 00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:13.360 Book of Acts. 00:13:14.440 --> 00:13:16.139 Peter is afraid of nothing. 00:13:18.060 --> 00:13:20.820 You know, these men that he's talking to, they're going to be sawn in two. 00:13:20.920 --> 00:13:22.660 They're going to be cut limb from limb, some of them. 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:23.840 He's going to be crucified. 00:13:25.060 --> 00:13:27.340 They're going to face the worst possible circumstances. 00:13:28.200 --> 00:13:31.120 And yet, when you transition from this moment to the book of Acts, 00:13:31.259 --> 00:13:33.120 all of a sudden there's a holy boldness. 00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:34.680 Why? 00:13:34.679 --> 00:13:37.859 They've moved from a place of trouble to a place of peace. 00:13:38.259 --> 00:13:42.639 They've moved from a place of being up and down all the time to a place of steadiness. 00:13:43.219 --> 00:13:44.479 Their hearts have become rocks. 00:13:46.219 --> 00:13:49.759 And Jesus is saying, you can have that too. 00:13:49.979 --> 00:13:51.239 That can be yours as well. 00:13:51.379 --> 00:13:53.359 So secondly, the peaceful heart. 00:13:53.439 --> 00:13:55.039 What is this peaceful heart exactly? 00:13:55.159 --> 00:13:59.519 Now, we know that in the first century, for a Jewish person, 00:13:59.599 --> 00:14:03.899 it's very common to use the word, the Hebrew word shalom as a greeting. 00:14:03.899 --> 00:14:09.539 So behind this Greek text probably is the Hebrew word that Jesus would have used, 00:14:09.639 --> 00:14:10.299 and that's shalom. 00:14:11.199 --> 00:14:13.919 And shalom was a way of saying hello and goodbye. 00:14:14.439 --> 00:14:18.799 So in the same way that we might today come to somebody, maybe some of you, 00:14:18.959 --> 00:14:20.899 I think I do this sometimes, and you say, peace out. 00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:24.120 You know, that's a way of saying, I'm leaving, goodbye. 00:14:24.740 --> 00:14:29.819 In the same way, you would use peace as a greeting and a departure, a way of saying that. 00:14:29.820 --> 00:14:35.940 Now, we know that he's not simply saying, I'm departing from you, so peace out. 00:14:36.560 --> 00:14:37.000 Shalom. 00:14:37.700 --> 00:14:40.160 It's certainly far more than that, far deeper than that. 00:14:40.200 --> 00:14:44.520 And the reason we know that is because he says, my peace I give to you as I go, 00:14:45.260 --> 00:14:47.280 not the peace that the world gives. 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:53.039 So this is not peace that can be had from the normal rhythms of any culture. 00:14:53.939 --> 00:14:58.539 And it's important to note that John, when he says, not the peace the world gives, 00:14:58.819 --> 00:15:05.360 at the end of the passage, the word world is used in lots of different ways throughout John's gospel. 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:16.120 But here, it's fairly clear that this instance means the way a culture constructs its gifts of peace in the midst of sin. 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:22.980 In other words, it's the fact that we earthly creatures are living in nations, cultures, subcultures of sin. 00:15:23.100 --> 00:15:29.480 And so he's saying, within that subculture of a bunch of sinners creating a nation, creating a city, creating a society, 00:15:29.700 --> 00:15:33.920 the peace that the world gives is altogether different from what I'm offering you today. 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:35.139 And what is that peace? 00:15:36.179 --> 00:15:40.599 So what is he contrasting the peace that he does with the peace that the world offers? 00:15:41.079 --> 00:15:46.439 And it's something that's so simple, so obvious, I think all of us know it very well. 00:15:46.500 --> 00:15:48.879 One commentator says, this is the world's peace. 00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:53.120 It's the offer of transitory pleasures that distract us from the love of God. 00:15:53.199 --> 00:16:02.379 So it's, in other words, it's the attempt of achieving peace by way of competition, achievement, self-interest, 00:16:02.379 --> 00:16:08.000 control, and it's peace that comes primarily externally. 00:16:08.679 --> 00:16:12.419 So in other words, it's a peace where you think, I can control my circumstances, 00:16:12.799 --> 00:16:17.259 and in this life achieve the peace, the comfort that I'm longing for. 00:16:17.899 --> 00:16:24.059 And it's, in other words, it's peace dependent upon favorable external conditions sought by achievement and luck. 00:16:24.059 --> 00:16:29.339 It's health, wealth, security, stability, the absence of conflict. 00:16:30.179 --> 00:16:34.239 And we all know that that can never work, that that doesn't ultimately last. 00:16:34.339 --> 00:16:35.500 And so what does the world do? 00:16:35.559 --> 00:16:36.339 What is the world's peace? 00:16:36.479 --> 00:16:42.739 When that doesn't work, when it fails, the world, the culture offers a spectrum of a couple things. 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:44.179 On the one hand, escapism. 00:16:45.199 --> 00:16:47.979 And so how do you achieve peace when you know your circumstances are going to be bad? 00:16:47.980 --> 00:16:49.659 Well, escapism is one method. 00:16:50.300 --> 00:16:58.279 And escapism says, I'm going to go to the comforts that I love and try to medicate myself out of the problems that I'm experiencing. 00:16:58.940 --> 00:17:02.320 Or it could be an escapism of merely wishful thinking. 00:17:03.180 --> 00:17:07.299 On the far other end of the spectrum, the world's peace is stoicism. 00:17:07.839 --> 00:17:10.120 So it says, of course you can't control your circumstances. 00:17:10.220 --> 00:17:12.319 Of course your circumstances are going to be horrible. 00:17:12.319 --> 00:17:19.700 And so what you've got to do is you've got to have the resolution in your heart to train your emotions to never feel those circumstances. 00:17:20.700 --> 00:17:24.799 And you see on both sides of it, one is control by way of comfort. 00:17:24.980 --> 00:17:27.460 The other is control by way of self-will. 00:17:28.359 --> 00:17:29.939 Being able to control your own emotions. 00:17:30.039 --> 00:17:31.220 And both are fleeting strategies. 00:17:31.819 --> 00:17:33.379 Both fail to work. 00:17:33.579 --> 00:17:37.720 And Jesus is coming and saying, the world offers peace in lots of different ways. 00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:40.720 But every one of those types of peace is going to go away. 00:17:40.779 --> 00:17:41.500 It's not going to work. 00:17:41.500 --> 00:17:42.339 It's going to be fleeting. 00:17:42.660 --> 00:17:44.099 It's going to run away from you. 00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:49.519 Jesus Christ, the wonderful counselor, comes and he's saying to us, we are not fit for our problems. 00:17:50.200 --> 00:17:56.599 We cannot bring peace, the security of the inner life fully, into our own lives. 00:17:57.319 --> 00:17:57.900 We can't do it. 00:17:57.900 --> 00:18:02.519 In other words, when he says, I've come to give you my peace, he's saying it's a gift. 00:18:02.700 --> 00:18:04.019 Peace has to be a gift. 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:10.619 The peace of God, the peace of Christ this Christmas can only come into your life as a gift. 00:18:10.619 --> 00:18:12.259 It's not something that you can achieve. 00:18:13.039 --> 00:18:24.099 And so we know that he's not offering anything cheap here because as much as he says, let not your hearts be troubled, he also says, take up your cross and follow me. 00:18:24.979 --> 00:18:30.719 As much as he says, do not be afraid, he also says, in this life you're going to have so much tribulation. 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:34.039 And so there's nothing cheap about this offer of peace. 00:18:34.100 --> 00:18:38.980 Instead, it's the offer of peace that comes right in the midst of the recognition of reality. 00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:41.240 You see, the world's peace is wishful thinking. 00:18:41.360 --> 00:18:43.960 It's to say, everything's going to be all right. 00:18:44.700 --> 00:18:45.860 And Jesus doesn't do that. 00:18:45.900 --> 00:18:47.180 The peace of Christ does not do that. 00:18:47.240 --> 00:18:57.500 He comes in and says, in the midst of the fact that everything is not all right, he comes and says, I want to offer you a gift that cannot be had from within the world. 00:18:57.500 --> 00:19:00.920 And so thirdly, how do we get it? 00:19:01.019 --> 00:19:02.579 How do we get this peace of Christ? 00:19:02.700 --> 00:19:18.119 Now, notice if you scan your eyes across the passage for a moment, you'll notice how everything Jesus says about getting peace in this passage is a direct response to one of the three men that have troubled hearts. 00:19:18.119 --> 00:19:21.979 So we didn't print the paragraph just before chapter 14. 00:19:22.199 --> 00:19:27.739 But in chapter 13, Peter says to Jesus, you can't leave us. 00:19:27.759 --> 00:19:29.239 If you leave us, I will go where you go. 00:19:29.299 --> 00:19:32.879 And then Jesus directly responds by saying, let not your heart be troubled. 00:19:33.119 --> 00:19:35.299 And he directly responds to Thomas. 00:19:35.399 --> 00:19:37.139 He directly responds to Philip. 00:19:37.239 --> 00:19:42.500 So he's responding throughout this passage to men who have very troubled and anxious hearts. 00:19:42.979 --> 00:19:44.299 And what does he say to them? 00:19:44.299 --> 00:19:49.159 And the first thing he says is to Peter, and every single time you're going to see the same pattern. 00:19:49.240 --> 00:19:49.879 What does Jesus do? 00:19:49.919 --> 00:19:51.460 He's going to offer himself. 00:19:51.779 --> 00:19:52.500 That's the key thing. 00:19:52.539 --> 00:19:53.659 He offers himself. 00:19:53.940 --> 00:19:57.460 And Jesus says, I'm leaving. 00:19:58.419 --> 00:20:01.859 And Peter says, if you go, I will go with you. 00:20:02.039 --> 00:20:03.759 I'll even die for you. 00:20:04.500 --> 00:20:10.079 Later on, there's a similar conversation where Peter says something almost like that. 00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:14.899 But that time he says, even if all of these disciples leave, I will never leave you. 00:20:15.460 --> 00:20:20.720 And when he says that, we learn the real reason that Peter's committing himself to Jesus verbally. 00:20:21.019 --> 00:20:22.500 And that's that he's competitive. 00:20:23.939 --> 00:20:27.859 He says, even if every one of these people fall away, I will never leave you. 00:20:28.779 --> 00:20:31.000 And he wants everybody at the table. 00:20:31.179 --> 00:20:36.539 And the moment Jesus says, I'm going to die for you, he wants them to know, I am better than the rest of you. 00:20:37.240 --> 00:20:38.439 And so I'm more committed. 00:20:38.440 --> 00:20:39.700 I will go wherever you go. 00:20:40.460 --> 00:20:44.980 And that means that even the reason that Peter is following Jesus is self-interest. 00:20:45.700 --> 00:20:46.539 It's competition. 00:20:46.759 --> 00:20:51.900 He's using his own life as a disciple to compete with the other disciples. 00:20:52.940 --> 00:20:55.600 And it's right into that that Jesus responds. 00:20:55.680 --> 00:20:57.880 You see, that's the paragraph just before chapter 14. 00:20:58.019 --> 00:21:02.059 And when you come to chapter 14, Jesus then says, let not your hearts be troubled. 00:21:02.519 --> 00:21:03.400 Believe in me. 00:21:04.200 --> 00:21:06.500 Trust in me as you trust in God the Father. 00:21:06.500 --> 00:21:10.859 And then he offers, especially responding to Peter, something very specific. 00:21:11.339 --> 00:21:12.240 And what does he say? 00:21:12.299 --> 00:21:13.200 And you'll find it in verse 2. 00:21:13.319 --> 00:21:15.940 He says, in my Father's house are many rooms. 00:21:16.599 --> 00:21:21.259 If it were not so, what I have told you, I will go and prepare a place for you. 00:21:21.779 --> 00:21:26.720 Now look, right in the heart of Peter's self-interest and competition, he turns around and he says, 00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:32.380 I want to give you something that you cannot get from within this world. 00:21:32.460 --> 00:21:33.500 It's the true source of peace. 00:21:33.579 --> 00:21:37.960 He says, you need, Peter, the rest of the disciples, you need a place. 00:21:39.460 --> 00:21:43.980 You need, what you need to have peace is you need home, true home. 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:48.039 So he says, I go to prepare a place for you and that place is your true home. 00:21:48.039 --> 00:21:53.940 If you have been around St. Columbus for any amount of time when you come in for worship, 00:21:54.500 --> 00:21:59.920 it's probably the case that you have a seat that you like to sit in. 00:22:00.940 --> 00:22:04.720 And when somebody, when you come in on a Sunday and somebody else is sitting in that seat, 00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:06.839 you feel disoriented. 00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:09.659 You feel like your world is collapsing a little bit. 00:22:09.660 --> 00:22:13.380 Why is that? 00:22:13.420 --> 00:22:16.040 Why is it that when we go into spaces, we pick seats? 00:22:17.460 --> 00:22:19.620 Why is it that when you take a course in the university, 00:22:19.620 --> 00:22:23.460 you tend to sit in the same desk every single time you go? 00:22:24.279 --> 00:22:29.340 There's a great desire in the bottom of the human heart for place, for home. 00:22:30.340 --> 00:22:32.440 When you have consistency of place, 00:22:32.840 --> 00:22:36.800 it's a bit like participating in the quiet rest that is home. 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:42.200 When Peter comes completely confused, completely self-interested, 00:22:42.339 --> 00:22:44.419 completely competitive with the rest of the disciples, 00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:47.740 Jesus says, what you need to be quiet and what you need 00:22:47.740 --> 00:22:52.919 is to believe that as I go, I'm going to secure home for you. 00:22:53.799 --> 00:22:56.639 And home is to be with the Father. 00:22:57.539 --> 00:22:58.919 There are many rooms there. 00:22:59.539 --> 00:23:02.299 And I'm leaving you so I can give you that gift. 00:23:02.460 --> 00:23:04.960 It is the only way that you're ever going to have peace 00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:09.380 is to realize that you are not at home unless you're at home with God. 00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:13.940 And so to Peter, he says, in other words, 00:23:15.819 --> 00:23:19.940 you have made the universe centered upon yourself. 00:23:20.100 --> 00:23:21.160 You're not made for self-glory. 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:22.940 You will not find peace in your life 00:23:22.940 --> 00:23:24.920 until you realize that you were made for God. 00:23:25.420 --> 00:23:28.220 And home with God is the only place you can actually find peace. 00:23:28.860 --> 00:23:31.120 Now then Thomas steps in. 00:23:31.119 --> 00:23:33.919 And Thomas in verse 5 to 7 says, 00:23:34.039 --> 00:23:35.459 but Lord, we don't know where you're going. 00:23:35.619 --> 00:23:36.599 How can we know the way? 00:23:38.019 --> 00:23:39.839 Thomas, oh boy, his question. 00:23:40.819 --> 00:23:43.559 He's thinking there in physical, literal ways. 00:23:43.639 --> 00:23:46.919 So when Jesus says, I go to prepare a place for you, 00:23:47.339 --> 00:23:51.359 Thomas is thinking, of course, he means he's going to Hebron. 00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:54.519 He's going to the next town over to prepare a place for us. 00:23:55.180 --> 00:23:58.160 And Thomas is here, is asking for something incredibly literal 00:23:58.160 --> 00:24:01.799 in the midst of Jesus' spiritual category that he's talking about. 00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:03.980 I go to prepare a place, a home for you. 00:24:04.339 --> 00:24:05.460 Thomas wants a road map. 00:24:06.299 --> 00:24:08.759 He wants an exact location where Jesus is heading. 00:24:09.379 --> 00:24:11.259 And Jesus has just said to him, 00:24:11.359 --> 00:24:13.759 I go to prepare a place I give you myself. 00:24:14.240 --> 00:24:16.579 And Thomas said, well, tell us exactly the location. 00:24:16.779 --> 00:24:19.379 Pinpoint it for me on Google Maps. 00:24:19.380 --> 00:24:22.800 And Thomas is troubled by skepticism. 00:24:22.960 --> 00:24:25.220 He's troubled by literalism throughout the Gospels. 00:24:25.760 --> 00:24:27.400 He is information hungry. 00:24:27.640 --> 00:24:29.260 He is not relationship hungry. 00:24:30.460 --> 00:24:33.140 And so what he thinks Jesus is saying 00:24:33.140 --> 00:24:37.140 is that I'm going to literally pave a road to a great city for you 00:24:37.140 --> 00:24:39.140 when what Jesus has actually said is, 00:24:39.460 --> 00:24:42.120 I'm leaving so I can give you myself. 00:24:43.180 --> 00:24:44.680 And Thomas is completely blind to it. 00:24:44.700 --> 00:24:47.600 So Jesus has said, I go to prepare a home with the Father. 00:24:47.599 --> 00:24:51.639 And that home with the Father is me giving you my own self. 00:24:52.099 --> 00:24:54.199 And Thomas is blind to it by his skepticism. 00:24:55.599 --> 00:24:59.579 And Jesus' response here, I think this is the most famous, 00:24:59.679 --> 00:25:01.679 verse 6, the most famous, one of the most famous statements 00:25:01.679 --> 00:25:02.819 in all the Gospels. 00:25:02.919 --> 00:25:06.339 Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. 00:25:07.099 --> 00:25:10.240 And you've got to see that that is a direct statement 00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:12.179 corresponding to Thomas' question. 00:25:12.879 --> 00:25:13.559 Where are you going? 00:25:13.619 --> 00:25:14.459 We need a road map. 00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:16.319 We need you to tell us the pinpoint location. 00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:18.019 And he says, I am the way. 00:25:18.159 --> 00:25:19.839 See, the way is the primary idea. 00:25:20.539 --> 00:25:23.720 In other words, he's saying, Thomas, you're missing it. 00:25:23.960 --> 00:25:25.240 I am the road. 00:25:26.220 --> 00:25:27.519 I am also the destination. 00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:31.039 And if you're looking for a place to go, it's me. 00:25:31.139 --> 00:25:32.119 I am the way. 00:25:32.200 --> 00:25:32.859 I am the road. 00:25:32.939 --> 00:25:33.700 I am the destination. 00:25:33.879 --> 00:25:36.720 If you're looking for the truth, the revelation of the Father, 00:25:36.919 --> 00:25:37.500 it's me. 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:38.619 I'm standing right in front of you. 00:25:38.659 --> 00:25:41.379 If you're looking for life, the life of peace, 00:25:41.380 --> 00:25:44.900 the blessed life, it's attaching yourself to me. 00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:46.660 It's enmeshing yourself with me. 00:25:46.700 --> 00:25:48.520 And you see, every one of these moments, 00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:52.260 Jesus interacts with Thomas, with Peter, 00:25:52.340 --> 00:25:54.680 and we can't cover it, but with Philip just after this. 00:25:55.060 --> 00:25:56.180 He's giving himself. 00:25:56.360 --> 00:25:57.340 He's offering himself. 00:25:58.080 --> 00:25:59.660 And Jesus is doing something here 00:25:59.660 --> 00:26:02.520 that is totally contrary to the world's peace. 00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:06.160 And he's saying, I am your peace. 00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:09.820 If you want peace in your life, 00:26:09.860 --> 00:26:11.380 you've got to enmesh yourself with me. 00:26:11.500 --> 00:26:13.660 You've got to connect yourself with me. 00:26:15.460 --> 00:26:16.380 Do you see it? 00:26:17.800 --> 00:26:21.300 What is the great problem that brings trouble to the human heart? 00:26:21.600 --> 00:26:24.600 Turmoil, anxiousness, discontentment, restlessness. 00:26:25.340 --> 00:26:26.900 And when you look at the passage carefully, 00:26:26.980 --> 00:26:28.580 you read it in the light of the rest of the Gospels, 00:26:28.660 --> 00:26:29.700 you realize the problem, 00:26:30.460 --> 00:26:33.220 the problem is self. 00:26:33.220 --> 00:26:36.819 The problem is the self. 00:26:37.720 --> 00:26:41.500 It is us putting ourselves at the center of the universe. 00:26:42.519 --> 00:26:44.039 And Jesus is coming and saying, 00:26:44.680 --> 00:26:48.720 peace can only be had when you displace yourself from the center 00:26:48.720 --> 00:26:52.120 and realize that God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit 00:26:52.120 --> 00:26:52.860 is the center, 00:26:53.420 --> 00:26:55.480 and that your life exists to revolve around him, 00:26:55.579 --> 00:26:56.440 for him, with him. 00:26:56.779 --> 00:26:59.000 Where he says, I've come to give you place, 00:26:59.339 --> 00:27:01.700 home, purpose, meaning, destiny. 00:27:01.700 --> 00:27:05.220 In other words, he's saying that Christmas peace 00:27:05.220 --> 00:27:06.960 can only come to us 00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:10.940 when we realize that God is the point of our lives. 00:27:11.779 --> 00:27:13.080 Another way to say it is that 00:27:13.080 --> 00:27:17.200 if you chase peace in this life, 00:27:17.799 --> 00:27:19.740 if you chase happiness in this life, 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:21.940 then you're probably never going to find it. 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:23.600 You're going to seek it through comforts 00:27:23.600 --> 00:27:25.759 or stoicism or some other method. 00:27:26.299 --> 00:27:27.519 And what Jesus is saying here 00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:29.420 is that the only way you can actually get peace 00:27:29.420 --> 00:27:30.980 is to receive it as a byproduct. 00:27:32.440 --> 00:27:34.680 So you can't make peace your purpose. 00:27:34.800 --> 00:27:37.100 Instead, what you've got to do is make God your purpose, 00:27:37.500 --> 00:27:38.240 God your goal, 00:27:38.620 --> 00:27:39.420 God your home, 00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:40.440 God your heart, 00:27:40.580 --> 00:27:41.279 God your meaning, 00:27:41.660 --> 00:27:42.680 Christ himself, 00:27:43.259 --> 00:27:44.140 the point of your life. 00:27:44.320 --> 00:27:45.500 And then peace comes, 00:27:45.960 --> 00:27:47.300 and it comes as a byproduct 00:27:47.300 --> 00:27:49.279 of pursuing him, 00:27:49.340 --> 00:27:50.720 of making him the ultimate point, 00:27:50.740 --> 00:27:51.759 of seeing he is the way, 00:27:52.100 --> 00:27:52.820 he is the truth, 00:27:53.080 --> 00:27:53.779 he is the life, 00:27:53.779 --> 00:27:56.799 it's himself that he's put on offer in this passage. 00:27:57.460 --> 00:27:58.559 Now let me finish with this, 00:27:58.859 --> 00:28:00.240 how Christ gives us peace. 00:28:00.599 --> 00:28:01.440 How does he do it? 00:28:01.480 --> 00:28:03.079 How does he actually offer this to us? 00:28:03.099 --> 00:28:03.799 How can he? 00:28:04.359 --> 00:28:06.319 And the key is realizing 00:28:06.319 --> 00:28:08.299 several times in this passage, 00:28:08.440 --> 00:28:08.879 he says, 00:28:09.399 --> 00:28:13.519 I must go and prepare a place for you. 00:28:14.220 --> 00:28:15.160 In John 13, 00:28:15.379 --> 00:28:16.259 he told them, 00:28:16.519 --> 00:28:17.980 it's necessary that I leave. 00:28:18.619 --> 00:28:19.399 And then here he says, 00:28:19.480 --> 00:28:21.319 I go to prepare a place for you. 00:28:22.119 --> 00:28:24.480 He's going to say on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24, 00:28:24.919 --> 00:28:26.240 was it not necessary 00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:27.899 that I went 00:28:27.899 --> 00:28:30.399 to prepare a place for you? 00:28:31.419 --> 00:28:32.819 So he says he must do this, 00:28:32.859 --> 00:28:33.319 he must go, 00:28:33.379 --> 00:28:34.119 he must leave. 00:28:34.460 --> 00:28:36.039 And this is what the disciples 00:28:36.039 --> 00:28:37.619 can't see in the moment. 00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:39.720 They can't understand what we can see 00:28:39.720 --> 00:28:41.000 as the reader on the other side, 00:28:41.059 --> 00:28:43.960 and that's that Jesus' departure 00:28:43.960 --> 00:28:45.799 is their peace. 00:28:46.779 --> 00:28:47.599 Now how do we know this? 00:28:48.599 --> 00:28:50.500 Three times in John's gospel, 00:28:51.319 --> 00:28:53.259 Jesus says, 00:28:53.619 --> 00:28:54.439 I am troubled. 00:28:54.899 --> 00:28:56.240 The word that's used here. 00:28:57.139 --> 00:28:57.939 Two times, 00:28:58.079 --> 00:28:59.539 even in the upper room discourse, 00:28:59.720 --> 00:29:00.259 Jesus says, 00:29:00.359 --> 00:29:00.980 I am troubled. 00:29:01.899 --> 00:29:03.220 So how is it that Jesus 00:29:03.220 --> 00:29:04.519 can come to us today, 00:29:04.659 --> 00:29:06.200 to these disciples in this moment, 00:29:06.279 --> 00:29:06.639 and say, 00:29:07.099 --> 00:29:08.939 let not your hearts be troubled. 00:29:11.019 --> 00:29:12.759 Let not your hearts be restless, 00:29:12.759 --> 00:29:14.259 and agitated, 00:29:14.419 --> 00:29:14.799 and disturbed, 00:29:14.879 --> 00:29:15.299 and anxious. 00:29:15.899 --> 00:29:17.700 And then three separate times 00:29:17.700 --> 00:29:18.360 in the gospel, 00:29:18.620 --> 00:29:18.920 it says, 00:29:19.680 --> 00:29:20.700 Jesus says of himself, 00:29:20.920 --> 00:29:22.360 I am troubled. 00:29:23.960 --> 00:29:26.080 And it's found in the fact 00:29:26.080 --> 00:29:26.559 that he says, 00:29:26.680 --> 00:29:28.519 I must go and prepare a place for you. 00:29:28.559 --> 00:29:29.039 See what's happening? 00:29:29.160 --> 00:29:30.080 When Jesus, 00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:31.920 this is the upper room, 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:32.980 this is the night before 00:29:32.980 --> 00:29:34.019 he's going to be crucified. 00:29:34.480 --> 00:29:36.000 When Jesus says, 00:29:36.160 --> 00:29:37.319 in the garden of Gethsemane, 00:29:37.640 --> 00:29:39.660 my heart is greatly disturbed, 00:29:39.860 --> 00:29:40.519 greatly troubled. 00:29:40.600 --> 00:29:41.759 He takes on this word. 00:29:42.519 --> 00:29:43.220 And why? 00:29:43.220 --> 00:29:44.299 And it's because 00:29:44.299 --> 00:29:47.319 he became us 00:29:47.319 --> 00:29:49.059 as he went to the cross. 00:29:50.299 --> 00:29:51.140 You see what it's saying? 00:29:51.240 --> 00:29:51.700 When he says, 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:52.500 I am troubled, 00:29:52.579 --> 00:29:53.160 it's saying that 00:29:53.160 --> 00:29:54.019 Jesus Christ 00:29:54.019 --> 00:29:55.460 took in himself 00:29:55.460 --> 00:29:56.360 the trouble 00:29:56.360 --> 00:29:57.500 of our human hearts 00:29:57.500 --> 00:29:59.039 in order to give us peace. 00:29:59.420 --> 00:30:00.420 The Prince of Peace 00:30:00.420 --> 00:30:01.799 became the troubled one. 00:30:02.519 --> 00:30:03.600 The Prince of Peace 00:30:03.600 --> 00:30:04.980 became the most agitated, 00:30:05.100 --> 00:30:06.079 the most disturbed. 00:30:07.839 --> 00:30:09.079 He, the Prince of Peace, 00:30:09.140 --> 00:30:10.140 took on every bit 00:30:10.140 --> 00:30:10.620 of the trouble 00:30:10.620 --> 00:30:11.960 that we have in our hearts, 00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:12.740 that we deserve. 00:30:13.220 --> 00:30:15.420 In order to gift us peace. 00:30:16.539 --> 00:30:17.680 And so what this means 00:30:17.680 --> 00:30:18.380 is that when he says, 00:30:18.500 --> 00:30:20.079 I go to prepare a place for you, 00:30:20.140 --> 00:30:20.940 they couldn't see it, 00:30:21.019 --> 00:30:21.759 but we can. 00:30:22.079 --> 00:30:22.559 That he's saying, 00:30:22.660 --> 00:30:24.100 I'm going to achieve for you 00:30:24.100 --> 00:30:25.360 peace with God. 00:30:26.680 --> 00:30:28.600 And he's telling us today 00:30:28.600 --> 00:30:31.200 that we, apart from him, 00:30:31.259 --> 00:30:32.960 are at war with God. 00:30:33.259 --> 00:30:34.500 And until we see 00:30:34.500 --> 00:30:35.220 that he took on 00:30:35.220 --> 00:30:36.120 all of our trouble 00:30:36.120 --> 00:30:37.900 by going to the cross, 00:30:37.960 --> 00:30:38.579 the Prince of Peace, 00:30:38.620 --> 00:30:39.360 to give us peace, 00:30:39.600 --> 00:30:41.180 we remain at war with God. 00:30:41.180 --> 00:30:42.740 You can't have the peace, 00:30:42.820 --> 00:30:44.240 you can't have the peace 00:30:44.240 --> 00:30:45.740 of God in your heart 00:30:45.740 --> 00:30:47.299 this Christmas season 00:30:47.299 --> 00:30:49.759 unless you have peace with God. 00:30:51.500 --> 00:30:52.000 You see, 00:30:52.259 --> 00:30:53.840 you've got to realize 00:30:53.840 --> 00:30:55.200 that his cross means 00:30:55.200 --> 00:30:56.320 peace with God 00:30:56.320 --> 00:30:57.039 if you're ever going to have 00:30:57.039 --> 00:30:57.840 the peace of God. 00:30:57.920 --> 00:30:58.320 And that's why 00:30:58.320 --> 00:30:59.019 this is a peace 00:30:59.019 --> 00:31:00.039 that the world cannot give. 00:31:00.820 --> 00:31:01.640 This is a peace 00:31:01.640 --> 00:31:02.320 that's supernatural. 00:31:02.500 --> 00:31:03.039 It can only come 00:31:03.039 --> 00:31:03.680 from the outside. 00:31:04.799 --> 00:31:05.960 Only peace with God 00:31:05.960 --> 00:31:07.920 can secure the peace of God. 00:31:07.960 --> 00:31:08.720 And this is the stunning 00:31:08.720 --> 00:31:09.720 paradox of the passage. 00:31:09.720 --> 00:31:11.259 If he does not leave, 00:31:11.360 --> 00:31:12.640 if he does not go to die, 00:31:12.839 --> 00:31:13.759 if he does not go 00:31:13.759 --> 00:31:15.420 to be troubled in the garden, 00:31:15.940 --> 00:31:18.059 then he cannot be your peace. 00:31:18.980 --> 00:31:19.620 But he did, 00:31:19.720 --> 00:31:20.240 and he has. 00:31:20.319 --> 00:31:21.000 And so he can. 00:31:21.519 --> 00:31:22.279 And so this Christmas, 00:31:22.539 --> 00:31:24.140 because there is peace with God, 00:31:24.180 --> 00:31:25.339 you can have the peace of God. 00:31:26.100 --> 00:31:27.460 And so let me conclude 00:31:27.460 --> 00:31:28.640 with just a couple thoughts 00:31:28.640 --> 00:31:30.120 on how to take this in 00:31:30.120 --> 00:31:31.180 for a second. 00:31:33.480 --> 00:31:34.579 Notice that he says, 00:31:35.360 --> 00:31:36.640 let not your heart be troubled. 00:31:36.779 --> 00:31:38.259 Do not let your heart be troubled. 00:31:38.319 --> 00:31:38.880 It's a command. 00:31:39.720 --> 00:31:41.440 And then down at the very bottom 00:31:41.440 --> 00:31:43.160 of the passage in 25 to 27, 00:31:43.440 --> 00:31:44.240 he tells them, 00:31:44.360 --> 00:31:45.539 I'm sending my spirit, 00:31:45.700 --> 00:31:46.360 the comforter, 00:31:46.480 --> 00:31:47.200 could be translated 00:31:47.200 --> 00:31:47.940 the counselor, 00:31:48.860 --> 00:31:50.039 to give you this peace. 00:31:50.319 --> 00:31:51.200 And so in this passage, 00:31:51.279 --> 00:31:51.539 he says, 00:31:51.620 --> 00:31:52.360 on the one hand, 00:31:53.059 --> 00:31:54.380 the way that you get 00:31:54.380 --> 00:31:56.339 the peace of God 00:31:56.339 --> 00:31:57.720 through peace with God 00:31:57.720 --> 00:31:59.120 is by him sending 00:31:59.120 --> 00:31:59.740 the counselor, 00:31:59.900 --> 00:32:00.319 the spirit. 00:32:00.620 --> 00:32:00.740 You see, 00:32:00.819 --> 00:32:01.839 the wonderful counselor 00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:03.279 sends the wonderful counselor 00:32:03.279 --> 00:32:04.500 to be your counselor. 00:32:05.500 --> 00:32:06.680 The wonderful counselor, 00:32:06.819 --> 00:32:07.059 Jesus, 00:32:07.279 --> 00:32:08.380 sends the wonderful counselor, 00:32:08.380 --> 00:32:09.040 the spirit, 00:32:09.040 --> 00:32:10.120 to point you back 00:32:10.120 --> 00:32:11.080 to the counselor himself, 00:32:11.180 --> 00:32:11.440 Jesus. 00:32:13.340 --> 00:32:15.000 And what that means 00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:16.240 is that he's saying 00:32:16.240 --> 00:32:17.060 that when the spirit 00:32:17.060 --> 00:32:17.920 comes into your life 00:32:17.920 --> 00:32:18.520 as a believer, 00:32:18.860 --> 00:32:20.300 you receive the gift 00:32:20.300 --> 00:32:22.200 of the peace of Christ. 00:32:22.300 --> 00:32:23.080 You have peace with Christ, 00:32:23.160 --> 00:32:23.420 therefore, 00:32:23.860 --> 00:32:24.820 you can receive the gift 00:32:24.820 --> 00:32:26.040 of the peace of Christ 00:32:26.040 --> 00:32:27.240 and, 00:32:27.240 --> 00:32:28.420 and, 00:32:28.420 --> 00:32:30.060 do not let your hearts 00:32:30.060 --> 00:32:30.540 be troubled. 00:32:30.820 --> 00:32:31.420 It's a command. 00:32:32.520 --> 00:32:32.780 You see, 00:32:32.820 --> 00:32:33.380 it's a gift 00:32:33.380 --> 00:32:35.160 and it's a command. 00:32:36.160 --> 00:32:36.460 He says, 00:32:36.540 --> 00:32:36.720 you need, 00:32:36.800 --> 00:32:37.440 you need the spirit 00:32:37.440 --> 00:32:37.860 in your life 00:32:37.860 --> 00:32:38.660 to receive this gift, 00:32:38.720 --> 00:32:39.060 yet, 00:32:39.600 --> 00:32:40.600 do not let your hearts 00:32:40.600 --> 00:32:41.060 be troubled. 00:32:41.140 --> 00:32:42.060 And how do you do that? 00:32:42.340 --> 00:32:43.280 And there's the line 00:32:43.280 --> 00:32:43.880 in verse one, 00:32:44.260 --> 00:32:45.320 believe in me. 00:32:46.500 --> 00:32:47.780 So he's both telling you 00:32:47.780 --> 00:32:48.520 that this peace 00:32:48.520 --> 00:32:49.540 comes from the outside. 00:32:50.160 --> 00:32:51.640 It's a gift upon your life 00:32:51.640 --> 00:32:52.320 and, 00:32:53.320 --> 00:32:55.020 don't let your hearts 00:32:55.020 --> 00:32:55.520 be troubled. 00:32:56.580 --> 00:32:56.960 Fight 00:32:56.960 --> 00:32:58.640 the turmoil, 00:32:58.780 --> 00:32:59.480 the anxiousness, 00:32:59.580 --> 00:33:00.300 the discontentment, 00:33:00.299 --> 00:33:00.919 the restlessness 00:33:00.919 --> 00:33:02.000 of your heart 00:33:02.000 --> 00:33:02.980 by what? 00:33:03.079 --> 00:33:03.440 And he says, 00:33:03.519 --> 00:33:03.859 believe, 00:33:04.059 --> 00:33:04.619 and that's a word 00:33:04.619 --> 00:33:05.399 for trust. 00:33:05.980 --> 00:33:07.000 John Calvin says, 00:33:07.379 --> 00:33:07.899 the answer 00:33:07.899 --> 00:33:09.139 for the troubled heart 00:33:09.139 --> 00:33:11.279 is not the world's peace 00:33:11.279 --> 00:33:12.680 but going deeper 00:33:12.680 --> 00:33:13.539 into trust. 00:33:13.579 --> 00:33:14.339 It's not achievement 00:33:14.339 --> 00:33:15.500 but it's going deeper 00:33:15.500 --> 00:33:17.019 into new levels 00:33:17.019 --> 00:33:18.039 of trust, 00:33:18.599 --> 00:33:19.839 of rest in your life. 00:33:20.819 --> 00:33:21.119 And so, 00:33:21.259 --> 00:33:22.019 he's telling us 00:33:22.019 --> 00:33:22.799 that because you have 00:33:22.799 --> 00:33:23.599 peace with God 00:33:23.599 --> 00:33:24.319 this Christmas, 00:33:25.919 --> 00:33:26.539 will you, 00:33:26.639 --> 00:33:27.480 will you 00:33:27.480 --> 00:33:28.240 take on deeper 00:33:28.240 --> 00:33:28.980 levels of trust? 00:33:30.299 --> 00:33:31.299 When anxiousness 00:33:31.299 --> 00:33:32.099 and discontentment 00:33:32.099 --> 00:33:32.839 and restlessness 00:33:32.839 --> 00:33:34.119 and that turmoil 00:33:34.119 --> 00:33:35.279 heart overtake you, 00:33:35.440 --> 00:33:36.319 let not your hearts 00:33:36.319 --> 00:33:36.720 be troubled. 00:33:36.839 --> 00:33:37.059 Listen, 00:33:37.180 --> 00:33:37.799 it's a command. 00:33:38.759 --> 00:33:39.519 It's a command 00:33:39.519 --> 00:33:40.139 because it's already 00:33:40.139 --> 00:33:40.559 a gift. 00:33:41.359 --> 00:33:42.079 You've got the peace 00:33:42.079 --> 00:33:42.779 of God in your life. 00:33:42.940 --> 00:33:43.700 Lean into it. 00:33:44.339 --> 00:33:44.960 Trust him. 00:33:46.500 --> 00:33:47.419 Believe what he says. 00:33:47.460 --> 00:33:47.680 He says, 00:33:47.759 --> 00:33:48.440 believe in me 00:33:48.440 --> 00:33:49.000 like you believe 00:33:49.000 --> 00:33:49.539 in the Father. 00:33:50.099 --> 00:33:50.740 Trust me. 00:33:54.200 --> 00:33:55.379 The purpose of peace. 00:33:56.099 --> 00:33:56.819 Hudson Taylor, 00:33:56.919 --> 00:33:57.700 at the end of his life 00:33:57.700 --> 00:33:58.940 when he died, 00:33:59.019 --> 00:33:59.359 Hudson Taylor 00:33:59.359 --> 00:34:00.240 was a famous missionary 00:34:00.240 --> 00:34:02.019 he was 51 years 00:34:02.019 --> 00:34:02.660 in China 00:34:02.660 --> 00:34:03.539 with the China 00:34:03.539 --> 00:34:04.259 Inland Mission 00:34:04.259 --> 00:34:05.740 and when he died 00:34:05.740 --> 00:34:08.039 they found in his Bible 00:34:08.039 --> 00:34:09.199 a piece of paper 00:34:09.199 --> 00:34:10.059 that he would use 00:34:10.059 --> 00:34:11.340 as his daily prayer 00:34:11.340 --> 00:34:12.460 and also as a bookmark 00:34:12.460 --> 00:34:13.079 that he would slide 00:34:13.079 --> 00:34:13.599 into books 00:34:13.599 --> 00:34:14.360 and this is what 00:34:14.360 --> 00:34:14.920 he wrote on it. 00:34:15.880 --> 00:34:16.159 He said, 00:34:16.840 --> 00:34:17.840 Lord Jesus today 00:34:17.840 --> 00:34:20.159 make thyself to me 00:34:20.159 --> 00:34:22.219 a living bright reality 00:34:22.219 --> 00:34:23.760 more present 00:34:23.760 --> 00:34:25.139 to faith's vision 00:34:25.139 --> 00:34:25.800 keen 00:34:25.800 --> 00:34:27.159 than any other 00:34:27.159 --> 00:34:28.500 outward object 00:34:28.500 --> 00:34:29.139 seen 00:34:29.139 --> 00:34:30.960 more near 00:34:30.960 --> 00:34:32.039 more intimately 00:34:32.039 --> 00:34:32.679 nigh 00:34:32.679 --> 00:34:34.059 than even 00:34:34.059 --> 00:34:34.779 the sweetest 00:34:34.779 --> 00:34:35.480 earthly tie. 00:34:36.420 --> 00:34:36.699 Alright, 00:34:36.819 --> 00:34:37.519 let's translate that 00:34:37.519 --> 00:34:38.319 to modern English. 00:34:39.219 --> 00:34:39.920 What's the prayer? 00:34:40.440 --> 00:34:40.699 Lord, 00:34:40.839 --> 00:34:41.539 make yourself 00:34:41.539 --> 00:34:42.299 real to me today. 00:34:43.299 --> 00:34:44.500 Help me to believe 00:34:44.500 --> 00:34:45.119 that you are 00:34:45.119 --> 00:34:46.039 far more real to me. 00:34:46.119 --> 00:34:46.539 Your peace 00:34:46.539 --> 00:34:47.480 is far more with me 00:34:47.480 --> 00:34:48.460 than even the physical 00:34:48.460 --> 00:34:49.079 objects I see 00:34:49.079 --> 00:34:49.579 all around me. 00:34:49.659 --> 00:34:50.500 That was Hudson Taylor's 00:34:50.500 --> 00:34:50.739 prayer. 00:34:51.799 --> 00:34:52.339 Listen to Jesus 00:34:52.339 --> 00:34:53.039 as we finish. 00:34:55.079 --> 00:34:55.659 Jesus says, 00:34:55.659 --> 00:34:58.099 my peace I give to you. 00:34:59.139 --> 00:35:00.920 My peace I leave with you. 00:35:01.799 --> 00:35:02.559 Don't let your hearts 00:35:02.559 --> 00:35:03.039 be troubled. 00:35:04.480 --> 00:35:05.319 Believe in him 00:35:05.319 --> 00:35:06.759 so that you need 00:35:06.759 --> 00:35:07.420 not be afraid. 00:35:08.699 --> 00:35:09.339 Let us pray. 00:35:09.420 --> 00:35:09.579 Father, 00:35:09.699 --> 00:35:10.859 we do pray for that 00:35:10.859 --> 00:35:11.539 Christmas peace 00:35:11.539 --> 00:35:12.739 and we long 00:35:12.739 --> 00:35:13.759 for our anxious, 00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:14.279 troubled, 00:35:14.480 --> 00:35:15.199 discontent, 00:35:15.639 --> 00:35:16.019 restless, 00:35:16.619 --> 00:35:17.239 turmoiled, 00:35:17.659 --> 00:35:18.599 agitated hearts 00:35:18.599 --> 00:35:19.599 to find a gift 00:35:19.599 --> 00:35:20.399 that seems 00:35:20.399 --> 00:35:21.619 nigh impossible. 00:35:21.619 --> 00:35:23.420 So we hear 00:35:23.420 --> 00:35:24.440 Hudson Taylor's 00:35:24.440 --> 00:35:25.019 words here, 00:35:25.559 --> 00:35:26.099 this prayer, 00:35:26.259 --> 00:35:26.719 Lord Jesus, 00:35:26.920 --> 00:35:28.119 make yourself to us 00:35:28.119 --> 00:35:29.019 a living, 00:35:29.239 --> 00:35:29.839 bright reality, 00:35:30.259 --> 00:35:30.980 more real, 00:35:31.139 --> 00:35:31.679 more precious, 00:35:31.920 --> 00:35:32.619 more keen 00:35:32.619 --> 00:35:34.139 than even the physical 00:35:34.139 --> 00:35:35.219 objects all around us. 00:35:35.279 --> 00:35:35.420 Lord, 00:35:35.500 --> 00:35:36.219 we want that. 00:35:36.339 --> 00:35:37.599 We want Christmas peace. 00:35:37.739 --> 00:35:38.179 We feel, 00:35:39.000 --> 00:35:39.539 it feels 00:35:39.539 --> 00:35:41.159 so far from us 00:35:41.159 --> 00:35:41.819 so often 00:35:41.819 --> 00:35:42.880 and so we ask today 00:35:42.880 --> 00:35:43.839 that you would 00:35:43.839 --> 00:35:44.460 bless us 00:35:44.460 --> 00:35:45.019 with this gift 00:35:45.019 --> 00:35:45.559 of the Spirit 00:35:45.559 --> 00:35:47.059 and yet teach us 00:35:47.059 --> 00:35:47.460 what it means 00:35:47.460 --> 00:35:48.739 to lean into the command 00:35:48.739 --> 00:35:50.179 to not let our hearts 00:35:50.179 --> 00:35:50.659 be troubled. 00:35:50.659 --> 00:35:51.699 So Lord, 00:35:52.119 --> 00:35:52.940 as we sing, 00:35:53.039 --> 00:35:53.799 as we close, 00:35:54.440 --> 00:35:55.899 speak this peace 00:35:55.899 --> 00:35:56.679 into our lives 00:35:56.679 --> 00:35:58.219 all by the power 00:35:58.219 --> 00:35:58.679 of the cross 00:35:58.679 --> 00:35:59.159 and resurrection. 00:35:59.399 --> 00:36:00.099 Peace with you, 00:36:00.980 --> 00:36:01.559 peace from you, 00:36:01.619 --> 00:36:02.460 the peace of Christ. 00:36:02.539 --> 00:36:03.159 We long for it, 00:36:03.199 --> 00:36:04.039 we ask for it 00:36:04.039 --> 00:36:04.980 and we pray that 00:36:04.980 --> 00:36:05.859 in Jesus' name. 00:36:06.420 --> 00:36:06.639 Amen.