When Jesus promised us peace, His world was as dangerous and depraved as ours. How can we attain that peace? Today, on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah explains as he wraps up the series, making sense of it all. Listen now as David introduces his message, Peace in a Distraught World.
You know, some of these passages we're studying are from the Old Testament, some are from the New, which illustrates the fact that both the Old and the New Testament teach us these truths of trusting in God. I know some people that read only the New Testament, they haven't got time for the Old Testament.
Well, that's better than not reading the Bible at all, but you're robbing yourself of some great blessing, as we just learned as we studied the book of Job. I have this book in front of me that we're making available this month called 100 Bible Verses That Made America, written by my friend Rob Morgan. This book reminds us that again and again, specific Bible verses and crucial biblical lessons have impacted critical moments. and influenced The American way of life. 100 Bible Verses That Made America is a biblical tour of American history.
It's a powerful and intimate exploration of our country's founders, leaders, and seminal moments that had the foundation for this formation of our country. You will be a much better American and probably a much better Christian if you read this book. And that's why I encourage you to get your copy. It's a 350-page hardback book. That you will come to many times in the future as you think about our nation, and especially during these days when we seem to be under such fire.
From the enemy who wants to take us down. It's our resource for the month of July. It's yours for the asking when you send your gift to Turning Point today. Get your copy of this book and help us do the work that we do to infuse this country and this nation with God's Word.
Well We're ready for this Friday edition of Turning Point Teaching, and we're going to open our Bibles to John chapter 14 and talk about peace in a distraught world. Is it possible for us to go through life With a sense of peace. With the absence of anxiety, is it possible for us to know direction? and stability in the midst of such a crazy mixed up world.
Well, let me remind you that the world in which Jesus lived and the circumstances in which his promise to the disciples was given. was not much different than the world of our today. Jesus gave these words to the disciples. on the night before his death. Knowing full well the cruelty and the suffering that would be his in the morning.
Knowing full well the trouble and the pressure and the persecution that the disciples would experience after his death. And yet Jesus said to them, Let not your hearts be troubled. Neither let them be afraid. And those words are words for today. I am grateful to the Lord for my own soul's sake.
That we happen to be where we are in John.
Now this promise is a promise that is embodied in much of the language which Jesus has already unfolded to his own. He has promised them that the Comforter is coming. He has promised them that there is a place for them in heaven, that he is coming to take them to that place. He has promised them that through their obedience they can maintain their intimacy with the Lord. He has promised them all of these things, and yet, as far as we can determine, the mention of peace in the 27th verse is the first mention of that term in these last words of Jesus to his disciples.
And yet It is the Reoccurrence of the theme that Jesus began this whole section with in the 14th chapter. For he says in chapter 14 and verse 1, let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. And he continues that theme at the end of the 27th verse when he says again: Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. It is important for us to hear those words today.
Some of you have troubled hearts. Jesus says to all of us, as he said to the disciples that night, Let not your heart be troubled. Neither let it be afraid. There is within the message today reason. And hope.
that will dispel troubled hearts and fearful minds. And it is that reason and hope that we are exploring.
Now, as I read this passage of Scripture, I am reminded that that is exactly how the Lord Jesus expects us to negotiate our lives. If we are troubled in our spirit, if we are undone as the world is in the midst of unexplainable circumstances, then what have we to offer them when they look to us for help? If when we come to difficult situations we say, I don't know what to do. What difference is it for us to say that than for the unbeliever who says, I don't know what to do? The Christian does know what to do.
For Jesus said, a man ought always to pray and not ever to be disheartened or to faint. We know what to do, and we have that great verse in the scripture that says we're to cast our burdens upon the Lord, for He cares for us. What a great testimony it would be for the Lord Jesus in our generation. If the Christian people We were the ones who were able not to ignore it and not to be uncompassionate and not to be lacking in feeling or concern, but to take it in the greater context of the sovereignty of God and give to the world around us that is filled with depression and despair a sense of hope because we have come to understand what it means to live without troubled hearts. and fearful spirits.
I want you to turn in your Bibles with me to the 20th chapter of John's Gospel. where Jesus mentioned the word peace once again. And it's in the context of his appearing before the disciples when Thomas was absent. And we read in John chapter 20, verse 19. Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for the fear of the Jews, came Jesus and he stood in the midst and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands. and his side. It is as though he would say to them, This is the price that I paid. These are the wounds in my hands and feet and side. This is the price of your peace.
Jesus is saying, Peace be unto you, and he reveals the scars of his redemptive work. It is a reminder to all of us that the peace that Jesus is giving to us here is a peace that was purchased with the price of his own blood. It is our legacy because of the cross. He has bequeathed it to all of us. We are responsible to live in light of the great provision that God has given us in Jesus Christ as our peace.
Now the Bible teaches there are two kinds of peace. There is, first of all, the peace. with God. Romans 5:1 says, Therefore, being justified by faith, We have peace with God. Very simply, that is what happens to us when we come to Christ in faith believing.
Before, having been at enmity with God, we are now reconciled unto the Lord through the death of Jesus Christ. And Romans 5:1 says, Therefore, being justified by faith, We have peace with God. When a person accepts Christ, the war with God in heaven is over. He has now made peace with his Father. But there is a vast difference between peace with God and the peace of God.
And what the Lord Jesus is talking about here is the peace of God. He is saying that it is possible in the midst of traumatic circumstances to have an inward peace that gives you a stability in the midst of. of a vacillating society.
Now, when Paul wrote to the Philippians, he spoke of that piece. He said, We're not to be filled with anxiety. But we're to let the peace of God rule and govern and be the sentinel in our hearts. And then later on, He calls that peace the peace that passeth all understanding. Men and women, if you know a Christian who has that peace ruling and reigning in his heart, you know that.
Paul has aptly described it. It is a piece that defies description on the part of mankind outside of Christ. I have watched as men and women of the faith have walked through the death of little children, have walked through the difficulty of tragic death in their own family, have gone through the long and serious episodes of cancer and debilitating disease, and I've watched them with a smile on their face and with hope in their heart negotiate those rough terms as a world looks at them, shaking their heads, saying, What in the world makes those people tick? It is the peace that passeth understanding. And it is the gift of Jesus Christ to all of us.
as it was to his disciples on that night.
Now, Very quickly, some things about that piece from the 14th chapter. Notice, first of all, the context of Christ's peace. The beautiful nature of the peace which Jesus Christ gives to his own is wrapped up in the situation that surrounds his bequest. How is it that Jesus is giving this gift to his own? It is the night before his wicked and cruel execution takes place.
It is in the context of a stormy, difficult, unbelievable situation in his own life. Anyone can have peace when things are going well. When all is well at home, when physical health is at its zenith, when your financial problems are not too difficult, your children are halfway behaving, and everything is going all right, you can be at peace. And there's no credit to us when we have peace in those circumstances because even the world has a semblance of peace in circumstances like that. But when we can have peace in the midst of difficult times, then that is the testimony that God wants us to bear to this wicked world.
And that is why on the night of his crucifixion, he gave this promise to his own. To help them understand that the context of this bequest was not the context of everything going well, but it was at the most devastating moment of his earthly life that he said to his disciples, I give you peace. It's my peace, I want you to have it.
Some of you have heard of the contest that took place some years ago when some painters and sculptors were asked to express the concept of peace in some artistic work. Many of the renditions came back, showing peaceful streams of water rushing through beautifully flowered trees, tranquil sunsets and sunrises. But the award-winning painting was the painting of a small little bird perched on the end of a branch that was hanging out over a. thundering waterfall. And the concept was so wonderfully taken because here was this bird in his nest feeling quite secure while everything around him was a total chaotic picture.
And that's the kind of peace that Jesus promised his disciples. He said it is possible for us. For you and for me who are Christians to live in the midst of this crazy, mixed-up world where. Indiscriminate things happen, and we don't have to be blown away by those problems, but we can have a security and a peace and a confidence that comes with a knowledge that Jesus Christ is still in control. And even though it may look for a moment like everything has broken loose and there is no control in this universe, the one to whom we go in prayer is in control.
And we can have peace through our relationship with Him. the context of Christ's peace. Notice, secondly, the contrast of his piece. He says in verse 27 that the peace he gives is not like the peace that the world gives. He says Neither give I unto you as the world giveth.
Now, that is a mute testimony to the fact that the world has its kind of peace, that it brokers, that it sells, that it gives away The world has a kind of peace that it offers. We Talk about it often in the language of international relationships, in the language of developing relationships between large corporations. Peace is something that the world discusses. And yet, Jesus says that the peace that He gives is not like the peace of the world. Let me talk for a moment with you about the kind of peace that the world gives and some of its characteristics.
I think, first of all, about the peace of the world as being a kind of peace that in. many respects is insincere. We could be said at this moment to be at peace with Russia. We are at least not in hostile open war. People would look at our nations and say they are at peace, but are we at sincere peace?
Is there a genuine desire on the part of them, or perhaps even on our part, for there to be genuine, warm, and positive relationships between our two nations? And of course, the answer to that is no, because philosophically we are miles apart. Our peace is simply an outward dressing that covers up the underneath boiling cauldron of strife and under-the-table dealing and all of that. That is the kind of picture of the world's peace. It is peace on the surface with no sincerity.
The peace of the world is not only marked by insincerity, but it is marked by inability. If ever there was an illustration of that, it surely is to be found in our attempts to make peace with other nations. The agency in our land which meets to try to solve international problems, in my estimation, is one of the biggest jokes that has ever been perpetrated on mankind. It is impotent. It has no power to do anything except to take up a building and allow people to make impassioned speeches in different languages that nobody understands, nor do they intend to follow.
We have all of the desire for peace, but no ability to do anything about it. That's the characteristic of the world's peace. Great speeches, great talks, great individual motivations, but absolutely powerless to pull it off. The world's peace is also marked by inadequacy. The world gives whatever it gives scantily and grudgingly.
It is never able to do what it intends to do. But the peace of Jesus Christ is not like the peace of the world. The peace which Jesus gives is marked by absolute and totally pure motivation. The peace which Jesus gives is a peace which is not only promised, but it is delivered because the one who died and gave it to us in his will has gone to the grave and has been resurrected and now lives as the executor of that will, and he carries out every detail of the legacy. And the peace of Jesus Christ.
is always enough. You say, but Pastor Jeremiah, I don't have a sense of that overwhelming peace in my own life. If that's true, let me remind you that the fault is not his, but ours. We are sometimes inadequate. in our ability to receive what he has provided.
It is the contrast of that piece. That we need to note.
Now, I want you to note, thirdly, the condition of Christ's peace. Once again, we are confronted in the 14th chapter of John. with the awesome truth. That in order for Jesus to give us what He has promised, it was necessary for Him to go back to heaven. He says in verse 28, you have heard how I said unto you, I go away and I come again unto you.
If you loved me, you would rejoice because I said, I go unto the Father. Jesus is reminding us again that before his peace can flood our hearts, it was necessary for him to ascend back to heaven and be with the Father. And you say, why is that? I personally believe because the peace of the Lord Jesus is resident in the person of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit could not be poured out upon mankind as he was at Pentecost until Jesus Christ had ascended back to the Father.
The Holy Spirit's coming was conditioned upon the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. If I go not, he cannot come, the Lord Jesus said. But if I go away, I will send another in my place. And when the Holy Spirit came, he no longer was just with us. He has come to be in us.
And so the peace of God, which is resident in the person of the Holy Spirit, now lives in every believer. It is no accident that one of the symbols of the Holy Spirit from the Old Testament is the symbol of a dove. the symbol of peace. It is no accident that the name of the Holy Spirit is: He is the Comforter, He is the Paraclete. He is the advocate.
He is the one who has come to give us peace within our hearts. He is God the Son's ambassador of peace to every troubled human heart. who has put their trust in Christ. And so, in order for that peace to be ours, Jesus said that he must go back to the Father. One last thing that we need to say about this peace that Jesus has bequeathed to us, and that is the confrontation of his peace.
It is interesting that as we come to the end of this section, Jesus says in verse 30, Hereafter I will not talk much with you, for the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go from here. Jesus here mentions the prince of the world, and I'm sure you know that the prince of the world is a term that is a reference to the devil, a term referencing Satan. When he says the prince of the world is coming, he can mean only the coming of Judas to betray him.
For the scripture says that Satan incarnated himself in Judas, that Judas became filled with Satan, and so Satan came in Judas. To betray the Lord Jesus. And the Lord Jesus knew it was happening. He said, the prince is coming. But notice he said, He has nothing in me.
God says that He will keep us and guard us, and that our lives are in His hands, and that if He should choose for something like that to happen to any one of ours, He is in control of the situation. And for me to brood and to worry and to think about and to contemplate all of the tragedy that could happen to me because the tragedy happened over here is to allow Satan to have a handle in my life. to destroy my peace. And I need to come back to the Word of God, back to the truth of God's Word. and let him have control again.
The peace that comes from the Lord Jesus Christ is our bequest. I read a story about a soldier who had returned from the war and he was telling about the grace of God which had been with him during that time. Short time before he was wounded, He said he was invited by the officers of the regiment to a supper given in honor of a soldier who had been through all the war, had done many brave deeds, but had received no reward for any of them. After the supper was over, one of the officers said to this young soldier, he said, You've been through a lot and you have not told us a single incident.
Now, tell us what you consider the most wonderful thing you have experienced throughout all of your history as a soldier. He waited for a moment, and then this is what he replied. He said, I was walking near my trench one day when I saw a young soldier lying on the ground, and he was intently reading a book. I went up to him and I asked him what he was reading. And he told me that he was reading the Bible.
Now, I had read the Bible for many years, and it never did me any good. But this soldier said to me, Listen to what I'm reading. And he read, Let not your heart be troubled. In my father's house or many mansions, I go to prepare a place for you, neither let your heart be afraid. He read on to the end of the chapter.
And I said to him, oh, I read that chapter many times. It never did me any good. Give it up, man. Give it up. He looked up at me and he said, If you knew what the Bible means to me, you would never ask me to give it up.
And, said this soldier as he spoke, the light on his face was so bright, I never saw anything like it in my life. It just dazed me as I looked at the shining splendor of his countenance. I could not look at it for long, and so I turned and walked away.
Soon after that incident, a bomb fell near to the place where they had been speaking, and when the dust had cleared away, he said he thought he would go over and see if that young soldier was safe. He found him fatally wounded. But he said, I saw his Bible sticking out of his breast pocket. And here it is, and he held it up. And he said, I want to say to you today, who have gathered here at this occasion, that the most wonderful thing I have experienced during the war.
Was the light on that young soldier's face. And more than that, I can say now that his Savior is my savior too, for I read that book. And I came to know the one. who gave him peace in the midst of war. The Bible says that we can be kept in perfect peace when our mind is stayed upon Him.
In the midst of tragedy and unexplained circumstances and death and carnage as Christian people, we need to go back to the legacy we've had from our Father and from the Lord Jesus and take hold of that peace which he has bequeathed us and center our attention upon Christ, reaching out compassionately to all of those who have been touched by tragedy, not allowing ourselves to lose our peace in the midst of the decay and degeneration of a society that knows nothing. about the peace which Jesus came to give. Mm. Thank God for the peace of Jesus Christ, which comes to fill our hearts. when we let him fill our lives.
You know, I've been thinking about you these last few moments and My thoughts are that I hope you're in the church where the Bible's taught. Because you see, there's really nothing we have to offer you. We're not psychologists, psychiatrists. We don't have any major plan that will Outpace the plan that's given to you in God's Word.
So if you go to a church where the Bible is taught, you have one step on everybody else. You're learning principles that will help you. Stay focused and in perspective. This is the Friday edition of Turning Point. I used to give a little sermon here about going to church.
I hope you don't get upset with me for that, but I believe in the church so deeply, and I know that if you're not in church, you're not in the will of God. Mm-hmm. It's God's will for you to be in the church. Every week with your friends and fellow believers, making a difference, getting strengthened, getting powered up for the things that face you.
So go to church this weekend, will you? If you want to do it for anybody else, do it for me. Get in church and tell your pastor I told you to come. We'll see you in Monday. For more information on Dr.
Jeremiah's series, Making Sense of It All, please visit our website where we also offer two free ways to help you stay connected, our monthly magazine Turning Points and our daily email devotional. Sign up today at davidjeremiah.org slash radio. That's davidjeremiah.org slash radio. Or call us at 800-947-1993. Ask for your copy of Robert J.
Morgan's inspiring book, 100 Bible Verses That Made America. It's yours for a gift of any amount. You can also purchase the Jeremiah Study Bible in the English Standard New International and New King James Versions, available in your choice of handsome and durable cover options. Get all the details when you visit our website davidjeremiah.org slash radio. This is David Michael Jeremiah.
Join us Monday for a special message from Dr. David Jeremiah right here on Turning Point.
