The Comforter Is Coming (part 4)
John 14:27

Good Morning, from the Voices of Hope Evangelistic Team, to all who are reading this message, I welcome each of you gathering today by way of the internet. Once again, it’s a blessing to be able to share from God’s Word as we can proclaim it all over the world. 

The title of my message is “The Comforter is Coming” and the scripture this week is found in John 14:27, if you wish to turn there you can follow along. 

Our message is Part 4 of the same message. Verse 15 through verse 31 has been the text for the complete message, which we started three weeks ago, but today we are going to be looking at John 14:27, this is Jesus speaking to His disciples. 

In the Bible there is a very interesting word in Hebrew, it’s the word Shalom. Shalom is the word that in its purest meaning translates peace. But Shalom does not simply mean peace, the absence of trouble, it means peace that is everything good. Shalom is the idea of that which makes for the good of man. When someone says, Shalom or Peace to you, it means I hope you have all the highest good coming your way. It’s a positive word. Most people in our world don’t have any idea about the positive aspect of peace, they’re having enough trouble just trying to find a place where there’s no trouble. 

All over the world Shalom is the idea of that which makes for the good of man. An example, in Ecuador and Bolivia there is a tribe of Keetua Indians, they describe peace this way; peace is translated to sit down in one’s heart. Instead of running around in the midst of constant anxieties of life, peace to the Keetua Indian is just to sit down and be comfortable with himself. That is in a sense a beautiful way to put it, however, it doesn’t tell us about anything that is outgoing; it’s strictly just sitting there sort of at peace or still in your own heart. The Cole Indians of Mexico define peace as a quiet heart. The Biuli people of West Africa define peace as having a song in your body. But perhaps closest to the truth is the Kecktian Indians of Guatemala. And these Indians define peace as quiet goodness. In other words, it is an active thing. It is not just quiet rest at peace in your own heart, having a song in your own body, it is quiet goodness. It is the goodness of life. It is a positive. It is not just the absence of noise it is the presence of calm and it’s an aggressive kind of calm. Now we’re getting a little bit closer to biblical peace although we still haven’t gotten there. Shalom means a peace that is a positive peace. It is the peace of goodness communicated. It is not just the absence of trouble. In fact the absence of trouble has absolutely nothing to do with biblical peace. Whether you have trouble or don’t have trouble has nothing to do with peace in the biblical sense. 

The biblical idea of peace is something like what Paul said when he said, “Whatsoever state I am therewith to be, Content” It didn’t matter about the circumstances. It’s also something like James said when he said “Count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptation.” In other words, there is a certain kind of peace that is totally unrelated to circumstances. It is a goodness of life that doesn’t ever get touched by what happens on the outside. It’s like the apostle Paul singing in the Philippian jail. With all of the adverse circumstances that were there, all of the horror of such a place and yet he could sing with joy in his heart, being confident that there was goodness involved, that God was being gracious toward him, he could actually exude this kind of goodness and when the opportunity arose he actually communicated that goodness to the Philippian jailor, it resulted in his salvation and that of his entire family. 

Where does a man find this kind of peace that’s not just the absence of trouble but it’s kind of a positive goodness? You’re certainly aware that men are looking for peace today. Constantly they search for it. Unfortunately, they don’t find it. Where can man find a peace that has nothing to do with a bad kind of circumstances or whether he’s in outwardly joyous circumstances? Where can he find a peace that no sorrow or danger or trouble or suffering can reduce it? A peace which rather than being effected by the circumstances affects the circumstances? We’re going to see it and it’s here in John 14:27. 

Keep in mind that in this whole chapter Jesus is comforting the disciples as He anticipates His crucifixion tomorrow. He’s about to die and He leaves them with this legacy. They’re broken hearted because He’s going away. It seems to them that everything has gone wrong. So Jesus gives to them five supernatural promises. 

You’ll remember, He promised them a supernatural helper or comforter. The second one He promised them a supernatural life that would make them sensitive to God’s dimension. Thirdly, He promised them a supernatural union; that they would become one with Christ and with the Father. Then we saw that He promised a supernatural teacher; a resident truth teacher. In other words, we have the indwelling Spirit to be our teacher. And you’ll remember also that the teacher uses the Word of God and illuminates it to our mind. So Jesus promises them a supernatural helper, a supernatural life, a supernatural union, a supernatural teacher. If you wish to review these you can visit VoicesOfHope.Faith 

Then the last of His supernatural promises is in verse 27. He promises them a supernatural peace. “Peace I leave with you, My peace,” must be supernatural if it’s His, “I give unto you. Not as the world giveth give I unto you, let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid.” 

In that simple verse we have what amounts to a divine gift of supernatural life attitudes so that all of the other gifts can really function. This is the gift that enables them and us to hold the wildest fears. That enables them to still a riot. That enables them to hush a cry. That enables them to rejoice in pain and trial. That enables them to sing in the middle of suffering. This is the overruling attitude gift that affects all the others, and how we are affected by them. This is a promise of a positive peace, a peace that is never affected by circumstances but a peace which in turn affects circumstances. There are four features of this peace which I want us to see, the nature of the peace, the source of it, the contrast of it, and the enjoyment of it. 

First of all the nature of peace; what is this peace when He says peace I leave with you? In the New Testament there are two types of peace. One is objective and the other is subjective. One has to do with our standing before God; the other has to do with our experience or our living. One of them has to do with our relation to God and the other has to do with our relation to life as a believer. We’ll never have the second peace until we have the first peace. In Romans 5 we’re introduced to this objective kind of peace. Man has sinned, obviously, the whole process having begun with Adam and Eve, and every man born into the world is in open rebellion against God. We come into the world fighting against God. There is a rebellion going on. One of the things that happen immediately when you receive Jesus Christ is that the rebellion ends, the war is over. You and God are no longer enemies, you become friends. Therefore, peace is made on an objective basis between you and God. 

Romans 5:1; “Therefore, being justified by faith, that is we have been by faith redeemed, declared righteous, immediately we have Peace with God. Through the Lord Jesus Christ we have come into the knowledge of God, our sins are forgiven, rebellion ceases, and we have peace with God.” Verse 10, if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled we shall be saved by His life. In other words, we were enemies against God, we fought against God, everything we did was against God’s principles, we were enemies of God in every single sense of the word. But when we came to Jesus Christ we became at peace with God, it’s as if God was on one side, we were on the other side, Christ filled the gap, took the hand of God—the hand of man redeemed and placed them together into the same grip. We have now been brought together through Jesus Christ. Christ has made peace by the blood of His cross. And so God and man estranged have been reconciled. 

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, that’s the ministry of reconciliation. That God was reconciling man in Christ, Christ takes God and man and brings them together by virtue of His act on the cross and His resurrection. So then, there’s an objective peace that is called peace with God. We are no longer enemies of God. We are friends. Now that was God’s wonderful purpose in salvation. Another verse Colossians 1:20-21, it says, “Christ having made peace through the blood of His cross by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself. And you that were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight,” to whom does Christ present you? To God. 

Paul says it is indeed Christ that reconciles us to God and we are at peace, no longer enemies but friends. Beyond friends, the Bible says we are even sons. I think that’s something of what the psalmist had in mind in Psalm 85:10 when he made the classic statement, “Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” You see, without righteousness there’s no peace with God. A sinful, vile, wicked man cannot come into the presence of a holy God, there must be something that occurs to take that sinful man and make him righteous before he can be at peace before God. And that’s exactly what Christ did, dying for his sin, imputing His righteousness to that man, that man became righteous, righteousness was first and then peace. And thus did the psalmist say—righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Without two you can’t kiss. And so they’ve got to both be together. 

Now then righteousness brings peace. And that’s peace with God. But there’s an interesting result to this, when we have peace with God we also have peace with other men who have peace with God. So there is a sense in which immediately upon coming into fellowship with God and we are no longer enemies but friends, we automatically are also at peace with other believers who themselves have been reconciled with God. And this is Paul’s point in Ephesians 4:13; “Till we all come to the unity of the faith of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, no more tossed about, …, verse 15, and speaking the truth in love and together growing up in all things into Christ.” Verse 16, the whole body fitly framed together, …. Then in verse 17, he says, “Therefore, do not walk as the heathen walk.” In other words, we’re different, we are a new breed, we’re one with God and we’re one with each other. 

In Ephesians 2, we see this again made clear, “He is our peace who hath made both one, Jew and Gentile, who were estranged also and enemies.” He has brought together, verse 15 says, “To make one new man that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross having slain the enmity thereby.” And so it is that we are not only reconciled to God and peace with God is made but peace is also made with every other man. Look at it like this. If you have two men who are at peace with God those two men are also at peace with each other, aren’t they? So there is a positional peace, that is the peace with God that Paul speaks about, objective—call it phase one peace if you like. And it deals with our right standing before God and it affects our relationship to other believers. So peace with God is made and we become friendswith God. That’s the first kind of peace. 

But that’s not what Jesus is talking about here in verse 27. That’s phase one peace and that belongs in Romans 5. Verse 27 is phase two peace. It is the experiential peace; it is the tranquility of the soul that Jesus is getting at here. It is the settled, positive peace that affects the circumstances of life that He’s speaking about. It is that peace which is so aggressive that rather than being victimized by events, it attacks those events and gobbles them up. It is an aggressive peace. It is a supernatural, permanent, positive, no side effects, divine tranquilizer. It’s the peace that Paul speaks about in Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God,” not peace with God but the peace of God, “which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” 

This is not peace with God this is the peace of God. This is experiential, the inner peace of the soul, the aggressive goodness that attacks the situation and devours the trouble and turns it into joy. This peace is the smile of God reflected in the soul of His child. It is the firm conviction that He who spared not His own Son will also along with Him freely give us all things. It is the peace that says My God shall supply all your needs. It is the peace that doesn’t make sense in the midst of the circumstances because it is a peace that isn’t based on circumstances and the reason. Paul says it passes all understanding because it doesn’t seem reasonable that such peace could exist in the midst of problems and troubles like Christians go through. It can’t be figured out on a human level, it’s divine supernatural peace. It doesn’t make sense; it’s the kind you can’t understand. Because it is not like the world’s peace which is determined by circumstances but rather the very opposite—it attacks the circumstances. 

Philippians 4:7 says that this peace will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. How can peace guard your heart and your mind? In the mind of Paul is the promise that God’s peace is going to mount guard and stand at the door of my mind and my heart on guard against the aggression of an enemy. The very peace of God, the peace that I leave you that Christ talks about, is going to stand guard over our heart. It’s going to prevent worry from corroding my heart. It’s going to stand guard over my mind, it’s going to prevent unworthy thoughts from tearing up my mind. Peace is on guard in my life. This is the peace that men are seeking for but it can’t come until first of all the objective peace comes; until you are at peace with God you can’t have the peace of God. 

Men seek a condition in which they have no unsatisfied desires gnawing at their heart. Men seek a present, past and future peace. That’s exactly the kind of peace that Jesus left with us. It’s a past peace in the sense of there’s no guilt because the past is forgiven. Paul said, forgetting those things which are behind. It’s a present peace because it’s totally fulfilled in Jesus Christ. It’s a future peace because there is no fear, the future is forecast, our destiny is determined eternally and we have that security in the indwelling Spirit. That’s what man is looking for, a past, present and future peace, and that’s exactly what Jesus gives. But He gives it only to those who have peace with God, who have ended their rebellion and by faith in Jesus Christ come into a reconciled relationship with God and thereby are qualifiers for receiving the peace of Jesus Christ, the peace of God. 

Now how do I get that peace? Jesus gives it. God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Trinity is the only source of peace. There is no peace anywhere else. There is only the transient peace of a song in your body or of sitting down in your own heart or of being tranquil in the midst of positive circumstances which is a pretty fleeting kind of peace. 

God alone brings peace. In Hebrews 13:20, God is called the God of peace. Philippians 4:9 He is called the God of peace. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 God is called the very God of peace. And then Jesus Christ also is seen as the one who gives peace. In Hebrews 7:2 He’s called the king of peace. In Acts 10, Peter says, “The word which God sent unto the children of Israel preaching peace by Jesus Christ.” 2 Thessalonians 3:16, “Now the Lord of peace Himself, give you peace.” So Christ is seen as the dispenser of peace. Not only that, the Holy Spirit is a giver of peace, Galatians 5:22 says that one of the fruits of the Spirit is love, joy, Peace. Peace has a divine source. God is the God of peace. Christ is the Lord of peace. The Holy Spirit dispenses peace as a gift. And this is the key, peace comes through God and godless men can’t know peace. 

Notice the supernatural helper, that’s the Holy Spirit, the supernatural life is imparted to us by the Spirit, the supernatural union takes place as the Spirit places us into the body of Christ. The supernatural teacher is the Holy Spirit; the supernatural peace is a gift of the Spirit. And when did Jesus tell them they would receive it? On the day of Pentecost and who was it that came? It was the Holy Spirit. This whole legacy is tied up with the coming of the Holy Spirit. This shows you the importance of the Spirit’s ministry. Wait a minute, you said it was Christ’s peace, why is it that the Holy Spirit is giving it? You said it was Christ providing the life, it was Christ sending the teacher, it was Christ providing the union because we love Him, He comes and abides with us and He comes with the Father to dwell in us, if it’s all Christ what’s the Spirit doing giving it out? John 16:14, “He shall glorify Me because He shall receive of Mine and show it unto you.” You know what the Holy Spirit’s ministry is? To take the things of Christ and give them to us. It is Christ that promised us all those things, it is the Spirit of God who takes the things of Christ and gives them to us. So He says you’ll have all of this and it will all come through the Holy Spirit. And so in the New Testament, sometimes it talks about Christ being the one who gives peace, God giving peace, the Spirit giving peace, it’s all the same. 

Notice He says “My peace” and this is really the key to the supernatural aspect of it, it is His own personal peace. It is the same deep, rich, peace that stilled His heart in the midst of mockers and haters and murderers and traitors and everything else that Christ faced, it is the very personal peace of Jesus Christ Himself that He gives to us. It’s been tested, it was His own shield, His own helmet, it served Him in battle. And He gave it to us when He left. The peace which Christ desires to characterize us who are His disciples is the same peace that He had. It should give us the same serenity in danger, the same calm in trouble, the same freedom from anxiety, it should give us that same kind of positive, aggressive peace that reaches out and tackles troubles like they were a challenge not a threat. It’s this kind of unruffled serenity that was so obviously a characteristic of Jesus. 

Now the contrast of peace. Verse 27, “Not as the world giveth give I unto you.” I don’t want the world’s peace. An article I read said since 36 B.C. there have been at least 14,553 wars. Before World War II we had an average of 2.61 new wars every year. But since we’ve passed World War II and we’ve now entered the enlightened scientific age we now have 3 new wars every year. More than we had before we got so smart. The article closed by saying—“Peace is a fable.” Man doesn’t know any peace at all; he’s not even at peace in his house. Houses are shattered and destroyed and torn apart and shredded, no communication, no love, no care, no concern,  the breakup of a family, all kinds of problems, it’s obvious to everybody. There is no answer to this peace without Jesus Christ which is why man just can’t seem to find it. 

Now the result of peace “Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid.” That statement shows what should be our response to such a promise of peace. John began the chapter with that, verse 1, let not your heart be troubled. He ends this section with some few closing remarks with the same statement. We ought to be able to lay hold on this peace. It’s ours. But we must take hold of it. It’s interesting that it says—I give you peace and then He says—let not your heart be troubled. You see, it’s peace given but it has to be peace received and applied in our lives. With all the promises we’ve received, we’d be the happiest people in existence. Just knowing this legacy is ours. With all the promise of a calm, untroubled peace to be ours, the very peace of Christ we ought to be able to lay hold on that peace and not go around with troubled hearts all the time. If you have a troubled heart maybe it’s because you don’t believe God, because you don’t trust His peace. He has forgiven the past and the future is guaranteed secure with all your needs supplied. What is there to worry about? Don’t let your heart keep on being troubled. Don’t let it be afraid. What do you have to fear? So He leaves them peace. 

The kind of peace that Stephen had as he sank bleeding and bruised under the stones of that 
cursing mob and lifted up his face and offered a loving, forgiving prayer for his murderers and said—Lay not this sin to their charge, Father. It’s Paul’s kind of peace that let him be driven out of one city, be dragged almost lifeless out of another city, stripped by robbers, arraigned before ruler after ruler and saying continually—rejoice ever more and again I say rejoice. In 2 Corinthians 4:8 and may I add it’s the same peace that you and I have, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed, we are perplexed but not in despair. We are persecuted but not forsaken. We are cast down but not destroyed. Knocked down but never knocked out. Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.” We just live a life of dying, dying, dying, all the time. We’re delivered unto death, verse 11, but we don’t worry about it. Verse 17 he says, “O our light afflictions for just a moment and it works in us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,” and here’s the key, “we look not at the things which are seen.” We don’t look at our problems, “but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, trouble comes and goes but the things that are not seen are eternal.” Paul had it right, he said just get your eyes on the eternal things and the temporal problems don’t even matter. Keep your eyes on eternal things. 

There they are five promises, the promise of a super- natural helper, a supernatural life, a supernatural union, a supernatural teacher or instructor and a supernatural peace. In every case, we must appropriate the gift. We have a supernatural helper, but we must yield to His help. Paul said, keep being filled with the Holy Spirit. Paul said to the Galatians, “Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” The Spirit is our helper but we must yield to His power. We must follow His leading. We must accept His instruction. “Quench not the Spirit.” 

Then we have been given supernatural life, but Paul said, “We are to live that life.” Paul said in Romans 6; “So act like those who are alive unto God.” If you have a new life, walk in newness of life. In other words, in every case there’s an appropriation. We can’t sit back and do nothing we’ve got to attack the Christian life; we’ve got to go at it full blast. We also have a supernatural union we’re one with Christ and one with God. But Paul said to the Ephesians, “You’ve got to uphold that union, you have to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit.” Jesus prayed in John 17, He said; “Father, I thank You that I’m one with You, You’re one with Me and we’re one with them and they’re one with us.” And then He prayed; “I pray that they may be one with each other.” Galatians 2:20, “I’m crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me.” Let Him live through us. 

Lastly we have a supernatural peace. To have that supernatural peace puts the obligation on us to exercise that peace. Colossians 3:15, “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts.” You have this peace, now let it rule. Isaiah—“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is staid on thee because he trusts in Thee.” Perfect peace comes when our focus is off the problem, off the trouble and constantly on Christ. The peace of God is ours, let it rule by concentrating on God’s truth and the person of Jesus Christ in the Word of God. And peace will rule our hearts. 

All personal gifts from Jesus; every one of these things was His and all we have to do is appropriate them. 

Father, we thank You this morning for Your peace. We ask that it might be the prayer of our lives to let Your peace rule in us. As we close our service this morning we pray that the Holy Spirit will do a convicting work and speak to our hearts, teach us by moving us to action what we need to be and do for Your glory. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen. 

Sermons

 When Voices Of Hope Evangelistic Team is ministering in Word and Song, their Fire Choir will sing several songs and then lead the Congregation in singing. Since that isn't possible on-line, please click here and may you be blessed by the song, "He Abides."