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That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. So get the picture. For these disciples, it was like the fog was lifting, finally. That's how they felt. They felt, this has been a very dark and confusing night, but now we understand what you just said, and we know that you know all things, and we stake our belief in you. The fog is now lifting, and Jesus immediately then predicts, well, that's wonderful. However, storm clouds are about to brew over your heads. It's going to cause you to run away.
You're going to flee, and that instinct of self-preservation is going to kick in. So two things are implied here. Number one, you, my disciples, are about to be very confused, and that's implied in the question of verse 31. They say we believe. Jesus said, do you now believe?
Because within hours, they're going to doubt again. And once Jesus is put on the cross, and even on resurrection day, when many don't know he is risen from the dead, those doubts will take over. Let's fast forward to Jesus walking on the Emmaus road. This is after the resurrection. There's two disciples walking on that road who don't know that he's risen from the dead.
Remember the story? Jesus walks up to them, incognito, they don't recognize him, and Jesus comes up and goes, hey, guys, what's happening? I'm paraphrasing. What's happening isn't in the text.
And they go, are you like a stranger around here? Don't you know what's been happening? How that Jesus, this one that we believed in, the one that we hoped would redeem Israel, how he died, and it's been three days since he died, and listen to what they said, we had hoped that he would be the one. Did you hear that?
That's past tense. Not we were hoping that any moment he's going to rise from the dead. No, it was over for them. Their hope was dead. When he died, their hope died. When that tomb was sealed, their hopes were gone.
We had hoped he would be the one. We believed. Do you believe?
Do you really believe? In a few hours, they would be utterly confused. I know, I know that I'm speaking this morning to some very confused disciples of Jesus Christ. At one time, everything was clear. You had a handle. You knew theology, and you knew the truth, and it was laid out, and you could go to bed every night.
I know this. But something happened along the way. Let me put it the way one author puts it. He says there's a window in our hearts through which we view God, and at one time, the window was very clear, and God was very crisp in our view, but he said something happened. A pebble struck the window, and it shattered, a pebble of pain, and now everything is seen through that fractured lens. It's not as clear anymore. Some of you were in that kind of a storm. You believed so clearly. You could see so crisply.
Not so much today. May I just say, please hold fast. Hold on, dear Christian. When you weather those kind of storms, that kind of faith-shaking endeavor or storm, when you come out the other end, and you, after a period of evaluation, what do I really believe?
Who really am I? It's clearer at the other end. It's better. You're settled. When you go through enough stuff, and you see God's promises, and you push away the false expectations, you see just like today.
It rained last night, and it's clear in Albuquerque, but after a rain, it's really clear, right? That's what it's like after one of these trials. The second thing Jesus predicts is that they're going to be scattered. Look at it. Indeed, the hour is coming.
Now it's coming. You will be scattered. Scorpizo means to run away like scared little sheep dispersed in all directions. You're going to hightail it. You're going to think only about yourselves.
That's the idea here. Right now, they're together, all the disciples in this wonderful fraternal fellowship. But as soon as those soldiers come, and they arrest Jesus, and they're looking around at who else to get, they'll just all run away in different directions. They will be fulfilling a scripture, actually, from the prophet Zechariah. Both Matthew and Mark will speak to that in their accounts. When the disciples scattered, this is to fulfill what was written by Zechariah. Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and these disciples will be scattered. Another word I want to draw your attention to in verse 32.
Look at the word alone. Jesus said, and you will leave me alone. Now I want you to compare that to what they said. We know, you know everything, and we now believe that you came from God. Jesus said, you're going to leave me alone. See the weight of those two statements opposed to one another?
You're going to leave me alone. Now, when they scatter in all directions and leave Jesus alone, they're going to leave Jesus to his enemies. What then of their love for him? What then of their belief in him? What then of their commitment and knowledge of him?
Where is it? Now, I'm sure that Jesus didn't castigate them like I just castigated them. I think that Jesus' tone was probably, though I can't prove it, was probably very compassionate when he said, in fact, you're all going to be scattered. I'm sure his heart was breaking as he knew what failure that they would experience coming up.
Here's the point. Jesus knew they would fail him. Now here they say, we know that you know everything, and Jesus said, you're right. I know everything. I am omniscient. In fact, I know so much, and what I really know is your faith is weak and you're going to run away.
That's what I know. But then he goes on to predict their recovery and their peace. Something that needs to be said before I move on to the last and final point. Whatever you do when you're in a trial, do not run away from the company of God's people. These guys who were together ran away.
They ran away in all different directions apart from each other. Never in a trial or a temptation run away from God's people. I speak to people who will say, you know, I haven't been in church life for two years. It's because I've been going through some deep and dark and hard trials.
And I go, it's unbelievable to me. Because when I go through a deep and dark and hard trials, I need to run to God's people, not away from them. You know, a soldier in a fierce battle, if he goes out on his own, goes AWOL, runs away, he's either killed or captured.
He's not safe. You need other soldiers. And so run to the company of other believers. Run to those who can help hold your faith up at that time. Let's look at verse 33 and we'll close this off.
And here's the third principle. Our future is unmistakable. Now we come to the blessing part. After the bragging, after the blundering comes the blessing. Jesus said, 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. I love that verse. It's one of my favorite verses. I know you hear that a lot. I have a lot of favorite verses.
This is one of them. This is Jesus wrapping up the entire upper room discourse. This is the final cap.
This is the final word. After all that he has said in four chapters, he leaves them with this. After predicting their failure, he now bathes them in a promise that their faith is well said, but boasting in something that's really not there. In fact, you're going to fail and you're going to leave me alone, but I'm telling you all this because you can be peaceful and you can have victory in me.
I've overcome the world. Now when Jesus says these things, what is he talking about? What things? Actually, I think he means all that he has spoken that entire night in this upper room discourse.
Now is the time to go over them briefly before we close. One of the things Jesus said in chapter 13 is how much he loved them. He showed them by washing their smelly feet that night. He got down and started washing their feet. That was a metaphor of his servant's heart for them. He said, I've done this for you. You ought to do that for one another.
That's one of the things. Another thing in chapter 14 is he told them about heaven. He called it my father's house. He said, I've come from there. I'm going to there and it's there that I'm preparing a place for you. Told them about heaven.
You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig Weekend Edition. Before we return to Skip's teaching, generous friends like you keep this ministry going strong, sharing verse by verse teaching from scripture with people all around the world. And as we prepare to close out another year of ministry, we need your help to meet a one hundred twenty thousand dollar need by December 31st so that in the new year, more people can connect with the God who loves them and wants to be known by them. Your tax deductible gift today will have an eternal impact, transforming lives as together we share the unchanging truth of God's word in an ever changing world. You'll help ensure Connect with Skip Heitzig can continue expanding to reach new audiences through new radio stations in major cities and with the translation of Pastor Skip's messages into Spanish.
To give your year end gift to help meet the one hundred twenty thousand dollar need, go to connectwithskip.com slash give or call 800-922-1888 and make an investment that will have eternal returns. Now let's get back to Skip for more of today's teaching. He then told them one of the other things is that all the works that I've done, I'm about to leave, but greater works than I've done, you're going to do. And then he told them about the Holy Spirit who was going to be inside of them to enable that to happen. And the Holy Spirit would be moving powerfully through them and the Spirit of God would convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment because of them. Finally, he told them how to talk to God.
You've come to me every time you had a problem, you talked to me, but now you can go directly to the Father in my name. All of that are these things that Jesus has spoken to them. So the bottom line then, here's what we get to at the bottom line, despite all of the hostility and persecution and tribulation that is in the world that they're about to walk out into and all of the confusion that's on their minds at the present and will come in the near future, they can still have a sense of peace and eventually be victors over it. Now listen, a lot of people think that peace is the absence of conflict. You ask people, define peace. They would say it's the absence of conflict because in their minds they say, I just need a little peace. You know, I mean, get the dogs out of here, get the kids out of here.
Don't let anybody call me. I need peace, man. I need space. That's an inadequate definition of peace. It is not the absence of conflict.
Here's a better definition. Peace is the presence of God even in the midst of conflict. In the world you will have tribulation, but cheer up, boys.
I've overcome the world. I've spoken these things to you that you might have peace. Peace.
I love that. There's a painting in a museum. It's labeled peace. When you look at it, you wonder, where's the peace? It's a storm setting. It's an ocean with waves bouncing up high. Lightning is in the entire scene. Waves are crashing on the rocky shores.
Spray is everywhere. It's a violent scene, and it's called peace. You have to look closely to understand, because halfway up the cliff, in a little hole in the rock, is a bird, a mother bird, with her baby birds all sleeping in the nest. They're sleeping. She's watching. It's called peace. The reason they're sleeping is because she's there. It's her presence that brings them peace.
They don't care what's going on around them, but right there with them in the nest is mom. In this world you will have tribulation. Philepsis is the Greek word.
It means to be squeezed, pressured, distressed. But he says, I've overcome the world. I've conquered the world. Notice how he puts it. He speaks of it in a past tense.
Isn't that interesting? Because it really hasn't yet been accomplished. He's going to go to the cross and conquer the world by conquering people's sin and bringing peace spiritually. He will one day conquer the world physically by his second coming.
That's still some time off. But he speaks of it as though it's already done. I've overcome the world. I've conquered the world.
In other words, I guarantee it. It's as good as done is what he's saying to them. And he says, be of good cheer. I've overcome Satan and the world. Now the world, Satan uses the world to overcome you. Jesus said, I've overcome the world. I know you're thinking, well, if that's true, then how come I'm still getting attacked if Satan and the world are still conquered?
Why do I still feel this way and go through these things? Let me give you the answer. Have you ever seen a mortally wounded animal? Just before it finally dies, it goes after something around it. I have a friend of mine who's a hunter, loves it. And he's hunted bear before. He told me a story that he fired a shot at a bear, pretty close range, got it right in the heart. The bear kept coming at him, shot it again in the heart. Bear kept coming at him, shot it a third time. About two feet before him, the bear fell down. I think I would have fallen down at that point.
I'd have lost him. That's the death throes of a mortally wounded animal. All that is happening around you in the world, all of the hassles you get, those are the death throes of a defeated enemy. Jesus said, I've overcome the world. I want to close with this thought. How do we live overcoming lives in a world that gives us tribulation?
Because you only have one of two choices. Either you're going to be a victim or the victor. You're either going to be overcome by the world or you overcome the world.
Those are your choices. So how do you overcome the world? Well, there's two ways Christians have done this, and the first way I find inadequate. I'll call that compensation. Compensation is where the Christian says the world is really bad and gnarly and filled with bad things and tribulation. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to compensate, but I'm just going to clench my fist and grip my teeth and think heaven is in the end.
And I'll just make it through because there's heaven and, you know, maybe I'll die soon and I'll just go to heaven. OK, if you want to live that way, have at it. It's inadequate in my view.
That's compensation. A better way is transformation. Transformation is to find that even in the midst of the tribulation itself, your roots can go deep in the ground and find refreshment even in the fire. In the world, you will have tribulation. In me, he says, same verse, you will have peace.
You see those two phrases? In the world, in me. In the world, in me. These disciples would have all of this tribulation of the world happening around them. Jesus is promising that none of it has to happen inside of them because they are in Christ while in the world.
And when you're in Christ, you're in the one who has conquered all and gives refreshment now. There's a psalm. It might be Psalm 84.
I just don't have it at the tip of my mind, but I think it's Psalm 84. David is describing people going up to pilgrimage in Jerusalem for the festivals, and he says something interesting. He says, as the pilgrims are walking up toward Jerusalem, when they go through the valley of Bacchae, they make it a spring. I've always wondered at that verse. Bacchae means dry, barren, and around Jerusalem, before you get there, you go through some pretty hot, dry desert. No water. He doesn't say, who in going through the valley of Bacchae find a spring, he says they make that dry place a spring. That's transformation.
That's transformation. I'm in Christ, and the Lord is with me in the midst of the fire. That's a better way. I close with this.
I know I said I close a couple of times, but you know, Paul the Apostle would often say, finally, my brother, and then keep writing, so I have scriptural precedent. In 1832, there was a severe drought and a famine in South Dakota. Locusts had come in and stripped the crops bare. It had not rained for a long time.
Temperatures soared over 100 degrees for weeks. The people were economically depressed. In South Dakota is a little town called Wall, South Dakota. On a good day, there's about 800 people that live there in Wall, South Dakota.
I've been there. What's interesting about the town is there's a drugstore called Wall Drug. It's been there for years, and back in the 1930s, Ted and Dorothy Husted, who owned it then, were believers in Christ. They knew the times were economically depressed, and they thought, how can we get people to our drugstore? And so they thought of something ingenious. They made road signs and went out 25 miles in each direction and put up a sign that said, 25 miles ahead, Wall Drug, free water. Now, druggists had been giving out free water for generations. It was not any big thing, but nobody advertised it. They advertised it. 25 miles, free water, free ice water. So people looked at the sign and said, that's kind of weird.
Let's go find out what that's about. So more people showed up. So they thought, well, this is cool. Let's put up more signs. So 10 miles out, 5 miles out, you put up signs like, hold on, just 5 more miles, free water, Wall Drugstore, Wall, South Dakota.
So people just thought, okay, I got to check this place out. Well, they got so carried away and so crazy with the signs, they put a sign in Albany, New York. Wall Drugstore, 1,250 miles, something like that. 1,725 miles. That's the mileage. Kid you not, I saw a sign in Paris, France, that said Wall Drugs. I'm like 12,000 miles, you know, that direction. Crazy. But here's what happens. Today, in that town of 800, 15,000 people a day come to Wall Drug. It's enormous. Ted and Dorothy Husted live by a motto.
Here it is. Pain is inevitable, misery is optional. In the world you'll have tribulation, pain is inevitable.
But you can have peace, misery is optional. Are you in Christ? Make sure you're in Christ. Some of you are in church who are not in Christ. Some of you are in a denomination.
I grew up this way. You are not in Christ. Some of you are in a theological belief system who are not in Christ.
Make sure you're in Christ. We're glad you joined us today. Before you go, if you've been blessed by this ministry and want to bless others with the kind of teaching you've heard today, please consider a generous year-end gift to help meet our financial goal by December 31st. Through your support, you'll help encourage and equip more people with solid biblical teaching that takes them verse by verse through Scripture and connects them with Jesus. To give a tax-deductible year-end gift today, call 800-922-1888.
That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskipp.com slash give. For more from Skip, be sure to download the Connect with Skip Heitzig app where you can access messages and more content right at your fingertips. 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 cross and 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.
