A Peaceful Heart Part 1

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Running the hectic race of life is a lot easier when we have peace within our souls. Peace is getting scarcer with increasing fears of economic collapse in a world ever more hostile to Christ.

But Jesus gives His peace to those who believe in Him. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, you've been taking us through the Upper Room Discourse of Jesus that we find in John chapter 14. Tell us about today's message. Dr. Erwin Lutzer Dave, I never hesitate to talk about the authority of Jesus.

Just imagine. His disciples are fearful, and yet He has the complete authority to be able to say, Peace, I leave with you. My peace, I give to you. It is His peace, and it is His to give. So, in the midst of a world of conflict and competing opinions when oftentimes the person who shouts the loudest wins the argument, we need to hear again the words of Jesus and be comforted.

You know, I've written a book on the Upper Room Discourse. It's entitled, Prepare Your Heart for an Uncertain Future. This is a resource we'd love to send to you because we believe it will be a great blessing in this world of turmoil. Here's what you can do for a gift of any amount.

You go to rtwoffer.com, or you can call us at 1-888-218-9337. Of course, I'm going to be giving you that info again at the end of this message. For now, let us listen carefully. Everyone seeks for peace. The Sunday school teacher wants peace. The drug dealer wants peace. The alcoholic wants peace. We all seek for peace.

The question is, where can it be found? Now, there are certain thieves that come to steal our peace. I've divided them into two categories. One are those inner thieves. I'm talking about the sense of guilt and regret, a sense of self-loathing or fear that arise within us.

Then there's another kind of thieves, and those are the outer circumstances, the people with whom you live, the man whom you married, the folks at work, the lack of money, the difficulty that you have in adjusting to Chicago. All of that also can rob us of peace. Have you ever been peaceful and then you receive a piece of news and it's just like having a pebble thrown onto a still, tranquil lake, and suddenly all the ripples go on and it seems as if they go on forever?

There's some of you who are couples who are not at peace because the person whom you married did not turn out to be the person who is going to be committed to your happiness as you thought. Some of you teenagers are going through those struggles because you have peers at school who are robbing you of your peace because they are forcing you or at least putting a lot of pressure on you to do things you really don't want to do and after you do them you feel that sense of guilt and betrayal, that sense of condemnation and your peace flees from you. Well today we're going to talk about peace and we're going to talk about how it can be applied to you because some of you are skeptically saying, well it doesn't apply to me because of, well you wait until this message is over. We're going to find how you can be peaceful and at peace despite the turbulence within and how God can track down some of those enemies of your peace as well as the circumstances without that are not in your favor. Now when I talk about peace I'm not talking about some sense of tranquility that is either artificial or that avoids reality. It is sometimes peace in the midst of tears. Jesus gave his peace even though he was going to go through the horror of Gethsemane. I'm talking about a sense of stability, a sense of being guided by God and in my way of thinking it's very close to another word that we call the word hope. That's what can be yours today no matter your circumstances.

Let me emphasize that no matter your past or your circumstances. The text is the 14th chapter of John's gospel and actually it is verse 27. Verse 27 where Jesus makes this statement and today I'm going to have as my text only five words.

I'll read the whole verse and then I'll give you the five words. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give you to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Five words.

My peace I give you. That's all. That's all. You say well is your sermon going to be longer than five words?

Yes. My sermon will be longer than five words. It has already been a little bit longer than that but it's based on just five words. What are we talking about in this verse? Three characteristics of the Lord's peace and what you can do each time is underline one of those five words to highlight that characteristic of peace. First of all I want you to underline that little word my peace. This is the peace of Christ. That means it is a supernatural peace. It's a peace that only he can give.

It's a three-dimensional kind of peace. The first is the peace that we have with God. Romans 5 1 being justified by God we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Sin makes God my enemy. Sin means that God can't fellowship with me so I have a tendency to make up other gods who will. Sin means that I am cast from God's presence until Jesus comes and he reconciles me to God by paying my debt and giving me peace and this incidentally is the answer to those inner thieves of peace that want to ruin us. The sense of regret, the crushing sense of defeat, the self-condemnation which oftentimes is brought about by sin and the devil. This kind of peace is the answer to that because my friend regardless of your past, regardless of your history you can be brought into God's presence and you can experience the joy of reconciliation.

That's what Jesus does for people. Now imagine being a part of the New Age movement. Maybe there are some of you here who say well you know I have moved beyond the Christianity to something deeper now. I'm into spirituality. That's what we have today. That's a symbol, a sign of saying I'm not committed to Christianity but something deeper.

Oh really? You may have a God who really does not even believe that evil exists like some of the New Age gods. You may have a God to whom you do not have to come for forgiveness and I feel sorry for you because there's something on your conscience and you want God to be able to say thou art forgiven and only a personal God can do that. I think of Glenn Tindor who belonged to a religion that is much like the New Age movement where he believed that there's a God in heaven everything is right with the world and there is really no great need that I have to seek his forgiveness because after all we're all little gods traipsing around but when he killed two Japanese soldiers in World War II and he thought they were armed and they weren't his conscience so bothered him that even the word murder came to his mind and he could not seem to live with himself and his God and until he studied the scriptures came to know Christ as Savior was that sense of guilt taken away because only Jesus can reconcile us to a holy God. Only Jesus can say thou art forgiven. That's the first dimension of the peace that Jesus gives the supernatural peace. There's a second dimension and that is peace with one another. Ephesians chapter two that he has broken down the barrier and made us one Jew and Gentile and the Jews and Gentiles the animosity between them was just like the Arabs and the Jewish people today where it seems as if there is very little common ground and so much hatred and if Paul were writing today he would say he hath made both one blacks and whites Asians and Latinos because if I am at peace with God and if Pastor Schwartz up here with his Jewish background is at peace with God and I think he is today is that right that means that he and I are at peace too or something terribly has gone wrong and if we aren't we need to be reconciled we need to ask one another's forgiveness we need to humble ourselves because some of us have said yeah there are these Christians over here and there are these Christians over there but you've got all of this animosity oh wait a moment now if that's true it's because there is a part of our life that we have not yet turned over to Jesus and reconciliation and forgiveness and unity is incumbent upon all those who have trusted Christ and made their peace with God there's a third dimension and that is the personal dimension Jesus Christ says I can give you peace within your heart someone said regarding someone else he is a cauldron of civil war within some of you are like that if the truth were known I was reading about personality disorders this past week just trying to check myself out I guess they talked about compulsive what is the first word there Michael obsessive compulsive people now there may be reasons in your background if you fit into that category and by the way I don't but could I just simply say that you may just be a cauldron you may find it hard to sit in a worship service for an hour and 15 minutes Jesus Christ says to you too there is peace peace peace be still he walks into the room of your life as he walked into the room of the disciples there in Jerusalem and says peace I give to you Jesus can bring that restless heart to rest he really can yes it's a supernatural peace my peace I leave with you well there's a second word that you have to underline in these five words and that is the word give my peace I give to you it is a gift the gift of peace isn't that wonderful because a gift means that it isn't tied to circumstances it's not a gift that that needs to connect with what is going on outside directly it's something like an airplane flying over perhaps a desert and and throwing some food down on those below giving them some care packages it is a gift that is inserted in the midst of their circumstances independently of how bad things may be or may not be here it is it is a gift I want you to notice the next phrase that Jesus uses here he says I do not give to you as the world gives how does the world give the world gives a peace that is based on circumstances the world says I will be at peace when my husband finally leaves this house none of you but I'm just talking generally somebody else says I will be at peace when that court case is finally over I will be at peace when I finally have the money for a new apartment I will be at peace if I win the lottery yeah yeah yeah yeah I will be at peace if these circumstances change Jesus Christ peace comes in the midst of those circumstances even if they do not change there is a gift of peace it's a peace that is unearned it's not as if we deserve it now if you go to a psychiatrist and it may not be wrong to do that under certain circumstances but if he's one who does not believe in God all that he can do is to somehow draw out from you all that he needs to hope that you yourself have within yourself the resources for peace that's not the kind of peace that Jesus is speaking about here and he may end up driving you to despair and that's why you have so many escape valves today whether it's alcohol or drugs or whatever where you live in an oblivion of sexuality whatever because you can't live with the quietness within because there is no peace listen this is a supernatural gift it's a supernatural peace it is a gift that only Jesus could give could you imagine Krishna saying my peace I give to you or Buddha saying my peace I give to you no way only Jesus can say my peace I give to you let's look at a third characteristic and that is it is a personal peace my peace supernatural my peace I give it's a gift my peace I give to you that's the word to underline now I give it to you and so from here on this message is between you and me you folks sitting in the balcony whose eyes I find it difficult to see I just want you to know I'm talking to you those of you who are in the lower floor I'm talking to you I'm talking to those who are at the back and special blessings to those who are near the front I'm talking to you now because this is this is remember I say it to you from time to time but front row on earth is front row in heaven keep that in mind I don't know what that says to those of you in the back of the room except this I do know that you wanted to come to the front but it was already full so you're forgiven Jesus said this is peace for you now we're going to talk about you you know when he says this he knows your circumstances he knows your past history he knows what you're going through he knows what you're going to go through tomorrow he knows all of the contingencies all of the possibilities and he also knows how it's all going to turn out so it's not as if you know your circumstance is so unique that Jesus in heaven says I can't believe it I made this promise but when I think of so-and-so it just doesn't work because I didn't take their life into account oh this is a peace for you you think of what Jesus was going to go through the next day he was going to be crucified but before that he was going to have to go through the agony of Gethsemane this very night he was going to have to experience the treachery of Judas and the betrayal of Peter and and all that agony and then then to be nailed in the cross and to become declared sin for us I mean all of that horror lay before him and yet he's saying my peace my peace I give to you my friend no matter what your future holds no matter what crosses lie on your path you say well how do we receive this peace how do we make it ours first of all we have to look at Christ positively positively Jesus focused on the father didn't he you read this upper room discourse constantly he's talking about the father has given to me the father has given to me the father the father and and in focusing upon the father and the father's will and his promises Jesus was able to almost block out the pressure that must have been upon him as he thought of what awaited him that evening and the next day because he knew as we do of course the book of Isaiah had already been written for hundreds of years when Jesus was on earth that thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee so the memorization of scriptures the singing of hymns very important all of us should not only be knowing hymns but memorizing them and using them in our devotional time that is the very means that God uses to keep us focused on God and thou wilt keep him in perfect peace you say it's not true you say pastor have you never had circumstances in your life where there was no peace no matter how you focused on God and the answer is yes I have years before I married my wife before I had that good sense I was in love with another young lady that I thought was a match made in heaven you know what God's response was he said to me you know you may think that that match was made in heaven but what I'm going to do is to show you what hell looks like seriously I don't use that word lightly he gave me such a sense of unrest it was like two rivers trying to both go through my spirit at the same time it was such agony there were times I couldn't have gotten out of bed in the morning I tried to focus on Jehovah I remember singing that song stayed upon Jehovah there is perfect rest I kept saying it over and over and over again and the deep unrelenting agony was so great I wondered whether or not I was able to make it through the next day it's the most awful horrendous experience I've ever experienced in life even worse than I'm really telling you about frankly what about this verse ha ha ha you know what God was saying in heaven oh you know what he was saying don't you erwin between you and me you think this match was made in heaven but guess what it wasn't and you had better get the message and I will not give you peace until this relationship ends and I'm so slow to catch on it took a couple of months before that message came through with unutterable apodictic clarity been waiting years to use that word apodictic not sure exactly what it means but it seems so appropriate I believe that there are times when God directs us by a lack of peace and there are people who are not listening to that voice they are slow just like I was except that God perhaps is not as gracious and and hitting them with this tremendous restlessness and this lack of peace but that was that was God and how I thank him over and over and over and over again for that because I tell you if I had married this match made in heaven I won't go into details but I probably would not be here today you had better listen to God no you can't have peace in every circumstance but if you finally surrender it to God and say God this is your dilemma then the peace of God which passes all understanding fills your heart and it filled mine once I made the right decision stayed upon Jehovah hearts are fully blessed just as he promised giving peace and rest how did Jesus endure it you focus on God that's the positive let's look at the negative you'll notice Jesus says in verse 29 I have told you now before it happens so that when it does happen you will believe I will not speak with you much longer for the prince of this world is coming and he has no hold on me but the world must learn that I love the father and that I do exactly what my father has commanded me what Jesus is saying is is that Satan wants to disrupt my peace but the prince of this world has no hold on me there is nothing within me that responds to his overtures he cannot get within me to enhance the struggle and so what we need to do is to recognize folks very clearly that we must say no to the devil who wants to work us into a lather who wants to destroy our peace so that we focus on circumstances rather than God and we must recognize that it comes from outside of us at times and that the devil must be sent back to his place I realize that that's rather strong language but the simple fact is Satan is a thief he always wants to steal and he wants to steal our peace and what a world in which we live a world in which there is so little peace it is very easy for us to give into it you know as a pastor I am very concerned about my own spiritual life and yours as well I've written a book on the upper room discourse entitled prepare your heart for an uncertain future now the subtitle is final words of warning and comfort from Jesus to his followers I wrote this book so that in the midst of all of the strife we might find again the authority and the love of Jesus assuring us that he is with us during these uncertain times we're making this resource available to you and for a gift of any amount it can be yours I hope that you have a pencil handy you can go to rtwoffer.com that's rtwoffer.com or if you prefer you can call us at 1-888-218-9337 let me give you that again rtwoffer.com or you can call us at 1-888-218-9337 thanks in advance for helping us because together we are making a difference we thank God for our partners for those who stand with us with their prayers and their gifts call right now 1-888-218-9337 you can write to us at running to win 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard Chicago Illinois 60614 whether you have health issues broken relationships or if you face an uncertain financial future the peace Jesus offers is promised to all who believe in him next time on running to win join us to learn more about making the peace of God a reality in your life especially in these times of terrorism and economic uncertainty this is Dave McAllister running to win is sponsored by the Moody Church