Peace Where You Least Expect It - Part B

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That's Connect with Skip Heitzig on YouTube. Now, let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. You listen, a good cup of coffee will get you that. But these are transient momentary experiences. In fact, I would even go so far as to say for unbelievers, any kind of peace like that is just the bliss of ignorance.

What you don't know won't hurt you is the idea. It's the bliss of ignorance. Because if the unbeliever really understood how the wrath of God is poised against the unrepentant, they would never have an ounce of peace. They would live in high anxiety.

Isaiah put it this way, there is no peace, says the Lord, for the wicked. So it's the bliss of ignorance. It might be transient.

It might be momentary. But this, this promise is something far deeper and something longer lasting. Look at the very last sentence of verse 27. It's divided into two sentences. Let not your heart be troubled.

Does that ring a bell? That's how the chapter begins, right? Verse one, let not your heart be troubled. But then he adds this, neither let it be afraid.

Now the way that's written in the Greek vocabulary, it means to stop an action that's already going on. In other words, these boys were agitated in the upper room. They're distressed. They're filled with anxiety.

They're filled with fear. So he says to them, let not your heart be troubled. Now you know what that tells me? It tells me that there's a cooperation going on. There's God's part and then there's your part. Here, I'll promise you peace.

It's a very real experience. It can be yours. You can walk in it, but you have a part to play. You have to appropriate the promise. That make sense? You have to let not your heart be troubled.

You have to stop if you're filled with anxiety. Stop that and appropriate my peace. A lot of God's promises are that way. Jesus said the Holy Spirit was gonna come. But Paul will later say, be being filled with the Spirit. That's a commandment.

So there's two parts of this. These disciples had every earthly reason to be fearful, to be agitated, to be troubled, to be afraid. Fear is the natural response to trouble.

Peace is the supernatural response. And whenever I encounter that in a person's life, I'm humbled. I was humbled this week. They'd mind if I brought them up in this context. A family that I've known since we started our first Bible study before we were even incorporated as an official church.

They've been with us a long time. I watched Jessica, their daughter, being raised in this church. Jessica grew up, got married, had kids. Six weeks ago, we buried her daughter. It was a very painful experience for this family.

The house burned to the ground. Yeah, you think one blow, so deep, so blighting, so devastating, and then another one. So I called Jesse, who was the grandfather of that child that died, Jessica's dad. Not knowing what I was gonna hear, but sort of suspecting what I would hear because I know him. The first thing he said, and I wrote it down and made such an impression, the first thing when he picked up the phone, when he knew it was me, he said, Skip, we are so blessed to be called the children of God. I thought, how can I minister to him? He's ministering to me. He said, the peace of God, the lessons we've learned, what God is doing, what we have seen, wow. He nailed it. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Why? Because in the storm that is coming, your way, God will couch in that storm of blessing. Remember the story when Jesus sent his disciples out in the Sea of Galilee, and then a storm arose, remember that? And then Jesus starts walking to them on the water, and the Bible says they looked and they saw Jesus walking toward them on the water, and they didn't know it was Jesus, which always sort of amazed me.

Well, who else could it be? And they were afraid. They didn't recognize him. Why didn't they recognize him?

Here's my take on it. They weren't expecting Jesus to come in the storm, and that's the beauty of it. Jesus came to them on the very thing they feared the most, the storm. You might be in one right now, or you might be facing one, don't know when.

It could be a possible surgery. It could be the death of a loved one. You could fill in the blank, but I'll guarantee you, if you look, you'll find that Jesus will come to you on the very thing you may fear the most. It might be his footpath to come to you, and you will say in it and through it and after it, the Lord has been so good and gracious and shown himself. Sailors tell us that in the ocean, there's a section so deep beneath the surface of the water. They call it the cushion of the sea. No matter what's happening on the surface, no matter how big the waves are billowing or breaking ships, if you get down far enough, it's absolutely still the cushion of the sea.

I want to live in the cushion of God's sea. Peace, my peace, not as the world gives. Don't let your heart be troubled.

Don't let it be afraid. That's the first experience Jesus talks about in verse 27. Verse 28 and 29, there's a second kind of peace, and that is peace while you're waiting, in temporal waiting.

I'm coming back to you. If you loved me, you would rejoice because I said I'm going to the Father, for my Father is greater than I. All right, Jesus is leaving, and can you just imagine what they're feeling as he says, now you've heard me tell you that I'm leaving.

They go, yeah, I know, and we're not happy about it. Jesus makes a point, a rebuke, really. If you really loved me, you'd be happy because where I'm going, I'm going to the Father. He left heaven. He left the glories of heaven. He left the prerogatives of that place. He left the face-to-face fellowship with his Father, the glory of the angelic singing. He came to this earth.

He suffered all the limitations as a human being, the suffering, the temptation. And so if you really love me, I'm going back there. See, the nature of true love, well, the Bible says, 1 Corinthians 13, love does not seek its own. Love that person, not is what best for you.

So they're thinking only about themselves. Jesus says, I'm leaving. Well, what about us? Well, if you really loved me, you'd be excited. You'd rejoice because I'm going to my Father. But notice what else he says. You have heard me say to you, I am going away and coming back to you.

Okay, that's a thought I want to capture with you. I'm going, but I'm coming back to you. When is he coming back? How is he coming back? I know it's a trick question.

It really is. It can be answered three ways. Number one, he's coming back in the resurrection. They'll have to wait how many days for that?

Three days. He's also coming back at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit comes. Jesus said, I'm going to send you another comforter, one just like me, to take my place.

That's the Holy Spirit. They're going to have to wait 50 days for that. Okay, eventually, finally, when he comes back to this earth, right? Well, we're still waiting for that.

So whether it's three days or 50 days or 2,000 plus years, there needs to be peace in a time of waiting for the Lord's promises to be fulfilled. Waiting. Do you like to wait for anything?

No, do you? I hate it. I hate to wait. I hate lines because I have to wait for like an hour. Ever been to Disneyland and stood in a line?

Am I supposed to be the happiest place on earth? Because I'm not happy in this line. Or getting on the freeway and lining up and it goes into gridlock and then somebody dares pull in front of us and gets there a millisecond before we do. We hate to wait. We live in the computer age and we have phones. We can get instant text messages and we can get on the internet and listen to how we talk. Oh, man, this thing is so slow. I can't believe it. This 3G stuff, man, is like archaic.

Listen to yourself. You have to wait a billionth of a millisecond extra to get a download of information that would take you months to get years ago. We hate to wait. We need God's peace in our generation. As we wait for anything, especially these promises to be fulfilled.

Let's apply this. Apply this, first of all, to those that you know that you have loved who have died and gone to heaven. A spouse, a child, a parent, a friend. You were at the funeral. You were deeply grieved. You are still grieved. You experienced loss. Understandably so. You should.

It's all legitimate. However, that loved one is in heaven. And if you really loved that loved one, you'd rejoice at the same time while you grieve. You rejoice that they're in heaven. In fact, it's the knowledge that they're in heaven that brings you peace while you're waiting to be reunited with that loved one.

And second, apply it this way. We're waiting for the Lord to return. Okay, it's been a couple thousand years since Jesus said he would come back. Hadn't come back yet. He will.

Hadn't come back. I believe sooner than later. But in the meantime, the world is getting uglier and messier and just, I mean, bad. How can I have peace in these economic times?

Now wars starting all around the world that have just the whole Middle East thing. You're to have peace. And when you give a gift of $50 or more today, we'll send you four of these booklets in our Jesus Loves Them bundle. Our thanks for your support to reach more people with God's love through Connect with Skip Heitzig.

Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your bundle when you give. Now let's continue with today's teaching from Pastor Skip. Now let's continue with today's teaching from Pastor Skip. Now you know why and you know how you can have peace. I want to show you verse 29. I want you to see it for yourself. And now Jesus said, Now I have told you before it comes that when it does come to pass, you may believe. You may believe. Let me tell you, let me tell you how you can have peace. You look back on all the things. That Jesus predicted that the Bible predicted would happen and have happened.

Okay, so let's do that. Jesus predicted that he was going to be betrayed. Was he betrayed?

Yep. Check that happened. Jesus predicted that they were going to hang him on a cross.

He'd be crucified. Did that happen? It happened. Check. Okay, he predicted he would rise again from the dead. It happened.

Check. Jesus also said, And by the way, I'm going to come back to this earth and rule and reign. Is he going to do that? You know how you know he's going to do that?

Because everything he said he would do, he did. I've told you beforehand so that when it comes to pass, you'll believe. If you don't mind, turn over to chapter 16 for just a moment.

Go right two blocks. John chapter 16, look at verse 33. These things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace in the world. You will have tribulation, but be of good cheer.

I have overcome the world. Fulfilled promises from the past ensure fulfilled promises for the future and bring peace. If I tell you that tomorrow I'll pick you up at 7 p.m., if I show up exactly on time, and then I say, now tomorrow I'll pick you up at 8 o'clock p.m., and I'm there exactly on time. And then I say, and the next day I'll be there at 5 p.m., and I show up exactly on time, eventually you will know that when I make a promise, I'm going to be there on time. You'll have peace. You won't live in any anxiety. I'm going to be late.

He never shows up on time. If I always show up on time, it'll bring you a sense of peace. These things I have spoken to you that you might have peace. So we have peace in a troubled world, peace in a time of waiting.

We have a third kind of peace that will complete the picture for us, and that is peace in spiritual warfare. Look at the last two verses of our text. Verse 30, I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here. Who's the ruler of this world?

Two? Satan. We know that because in chapter 12, he calls Satan, same name, the ruler of this world. In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul calls the devil the god of this age or the god of this world. Now, how did he get those titles?

Why is he called that? It's simple. When Adam and Eve fell in the garden, they handed the dominion that God gave to them over the earth over to Satan, the usurper.

They forfeited that. That's what Paul meant in Romans 5. Through one man, sin entered the world, and death through sin, and death spread to all. So Adam, you might say, is the Benedict Arnold of the universe. He's betrayed us, and we suffer the consequences ever since. So Satan is called the ruler of this world. Now, he says the ruler of this world is coming. To be fair in context, this probably refers to what Judas is doing. Judas is betraying Jesus, and the coming of Judas with the soldiers to arrest Jesus that you'll see in chapter 18 is probably what Jesus refers to when he says the ruler of this world is coming.

Do me a favor. Go back one chapter, John chapter 13. We've read it, but let's be refreshed for a moment. Verse 25, this is the meal, the upper room meal, Passover. Then, leaning back on Jesus' breast, he, that's John, said to him, Lord, who is it?

Who is it that will betray you, is the context. Jesus answered, it is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it. And having dipped the bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. Now, after the piece of bread, Satan entered him.

And Jesus said to him, what you do, do quickly. Probably at the very moment that Jesus is speaking in chapter 14, Judas is arranging this arrest, and he will come. But Jesus doesn't say, and Judas is coming. He says Satan is coming because Judas is the pawn.

Backstage, the real power grab is with Satan. Satan is thinking, I'm going to manipulate Judas to get rid of Jesus, but notice what Jesus says. I will no longer talk much with you.

In other words, chapters 15 and 16 will end it all. He's done talking after that. That's all he's going to say to them.

Then he will be arrested and killed. For the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me, meaning he has no hold on me. He can't manipulate me. What is about to happen isn't because of anything Satan is doing. I'm doing this to be obedient and loving to my father. It's in perfect control.

It's part of the plan. He has nothing in me. You can say the same thing. As a child of God, Satan will tempt you, will buffet you, will harass you, will hassle you. You can say with all authority, he has no control, nothing on me. He can't harm me because the Bible says greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world, the ruler of this world.

God's in you. He's greater than the ruler of this world. He has no hold on me. You can never say the devil made me do it.

You can never use that excuse. He has no grip, no hold, no authority. Now, don't underestimate Satan. He is a powerful foe, but please don't overestimate him. So many Christians do. They're so afraid of the devil everywhere. He has no hold on you.

He has nothing in me. And because of that, you can have peace in spiritual warfare. In San Francisco is one of the most magnificent structures on earth.

At least I feel that. It was built in 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge. The designers of the Golden Gate Bridge, the engineers knew that they had to deal with three stresses, three loads, they call it. They had to deal with dead load, live load, and wind load. Dead load is the weight of the bridge itself, just keeping that there and suspended. Live load is the daily traffic that goes back and forth on the Golden Gate Bridge, and wind load, as the term implies, are the winds, the storms that come in and buff it and beat against that bridge.

So the engineers built into that the ability for that bridge to stay anchored, bracing so it could bear up under the load. In life, we all need bracing to bear up under the load. The trouble. The trouble that comes from the world. The trouble that comes as we wait for God's promises. The troubles that come particularly to believers who are buffeted and in spiritual warfare. We need bracings.

What are your bracings? Well, maybe your list would include, well, I have a good marriage. It's good. I have children around me who love me. I have parents. I have good friends. I have a church that I'm involved in.

Of all that are in your list, all of those are good bracings for storms. But you need to be able to honestly add, I have the peace of God. It anchors me. Because I know who He is and I believe what He said, I have peace. It's God's peace.

It's the cushion of the sea that we can abide in. I have a minute left. I want to say one thing in a minute. I'm going to say it really fast. There's a word in our text that I want to just commend to you as an experience.

It's a word that you would say is sort of out of place when you talk about trouble. It's the word rejoice, verse 28. If you loved me, you would rejoice that I'm going to my Father.

My Father is greater than I. Have you ever thought about rejoicing in trials, in trouble? And I know it sounds cheeky, but I mean that honestly. Rejoice.

You say, Skip, are you nuts? Well, aside from that fact, I mean it sincerely. Peter, who was in that upper room and heard all this, would write these words much later on, 1 Peter 1, verse 6. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you've had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. One of the ways of handling trouble that is your lot in life is to do it with rejoicing. And what a pleasure it is to meet along life's road those rare gems that have learned to smile even when they are blasted with troubles. And what they do to lift a person up and encourage them.

Thanks so much for being with us today. Before you go, remember that when you give $50 or more to help reach more people with the gospel through Connect with Skip Heitzig, we'll send you a copy of the Jesus Loves Them bundle to help you understand God's abounding love for all people. Request your copy when you call and give 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. We'll see you next time for more verse by verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig weekend edition. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Cast your burdens on his word. Make a connection. Connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.