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[0:00] John chapter 14, beginning in verse 27, if you would please stand with me as we honor the reading of God's word together.

[0:25] ! Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

[0:36] You heard me say to you, I am going away and I will come to you. If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place, you may believe.

[0:51] I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.

[1:04] Rise, let us go from here. May God add a blessing to the reading of His word. Would you please be seated? If you knew that you would be unjustly tried, tortured, and killed tomorrow, how would you spend the last night of your life?

[1:24] My guess is that unless you knew Jesus, you wouldn't be feeling very much at peace, and your concern would not be to instill joy and faith into others, knowing what was looming for you just on the horizon.

[1:40] Yet here, we continue to see Jesus doing just that. In the moments leading up to His crucifixion, as He meets with His disciples alone for the last time before His death, amazingly, knowing that He is about to endure one of the most horrific forms of execution ever devised by men, and knowing that for a time He will be forsaken by His Father as He suffers the just punishment of God's wrath for His people's sins, He takes this time to pour out His concern to help His disciples.

[2:22] They are troubled, but their trouble is nothing compared to what Jesus is burdened with. But Jesus' focus is on them, and He instills within them His peace to share His joy, to increase the faith of His disciples.

[2:44] Peace, joy, faith. If you visit a Hobby Lobby, you will find an assortment of decorations with those words plastered on them.

[2:59] You may have some of those decorations in your house. And I know some of you already have your Christmas decorations up. You just bypassed the turkey, put away all the fall decorations so that you could turn your house into a winter wonderland.

[3:20] You've got ornaments, you've got wreaths probably with those words emblazoned on them in some way, peace, joy, faith. And I'm not being critical because we put up our Christmas decorations yesterday.

[3:34] But I'm just making an observation that we like to surround ourselves with those words because we want to feel at peace.

[3:49] We want to feel joyful. We want to be faithful. But the Bible says that peace, faith, and joy are more than just abstract words to decorate your house with.

[4:02] They are the results of knowing Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. To know Him is to be at peace. To know Him is to have joy.

[4:12] To know Him is to have faith. And so the main idea for this morning's sermon is this. Knowing Jesus brings genuine peace, everlasting joy, and enduring faith.

[4:26] Knowing Jesus brings genuine peace, everlasting joy, and enduring faith. But you know, Christians aren't the only ones who decorate their homes with signs that contain the words peace, joy, and faith.

[4:42] Most of us desire for these words to describe our lives. But as the Bible says, genuine and lasting peace, enduring faith, and everlasting joy can only be found in knowing Jesus Christ personally as your Lord and Savior.

[4:58] And so my prayer for you this morning is that through this text, the Holy Spirit will illumine your minds, that God's Word would penetrate your heart, and that Jesus would put His peace and His joy and His faith in you as He did for His disciples on the night before He died to atone for sinners.

[5:18] And so in verse 27, the first thing we see there is that knowing Jesus means having peace. Knowing Jesus means having peace.

[5:29] Let's look again at verse 27. Jesus says, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

[5:43] And so right off the bat here, Jesus in verse 27 makes a distinction between the peace that He gives and the kind of peace that the world gives or offers.

[5:53] And I think that the kind of peace the world offers is summarized by an Allstate commercial that I recently saw.

[6:04] In that commercial, there's a lady driving in her car and she's entering into the land of Allstate. And the voiceover says, With Allstate, everyone lives a life that is well protected.

[6:18] And then the scene cuts from her to a man who is sitting on a bench and he's trying to read his book, but the son is blinding him. And so magically, because he is in the land of Allstate and Allstate is looking after him, the tree that is next to him contorts itself so that it's shading him and giving him the ability to read his book.

[6:41] In the next scene, there's a little girl who is happily walking down a sidewalk with an ice cream cone. But the ice cream cone tragically falls and splatters to the ground.

[6:53] And she's heartbroken, but only momentarily. You know why? Because she has Allstate. And the ice cream materializes in her cone and she's happy again.

[7:07] And the voiceover says at that point, Even when things go a bit wrong, Allstate has your back. And finally, a car is traveling down a street when a stray basketball comes rolling towards its direction.

[7:22] But because this car is protected by Allstate, it lifts itself up on two wheels, avoiding catastrophe, which makes you think, is a basketball really going to do that much damage that you've got to do?

[7:34] But anyhow, the voiceover then concludes, With Allstate, things work the way you wish they did. With Allstate, things work the way you wish they did.

[7:48] And so in this commercial, really, Allstray is portraying itself as having godlike qualities. Creation must obey its commands.

[8:00] They can create something out of nothing. And they can foresee tragic events and prevent them from happening. Now, I don't have Allstate.

[8:11] I don't know if you do have Allstate. But I highly doubt that that has been your experience with them or any other insurance provider.

[8:21] And the point, though, that I'm trying to make is that that kind of peace, that's the kind of peace that the world thinks that it can offer. It's a peace based on good circumstances.

[8:35] And it presents the idea that you can only be at peace when things are going your way. You can't have peace in any other situation. It's only when things are going your way that you can be at peace.

[8:46] However, the peace that Jesus gives, as we've seen in our text, is not based on good circumstances, is it? It's a peace that the world cannot give because it does not have it to give.

[9:02] It's a peace that is lasting. It's a peace that overcomes our troubles in the moment we are troubled without having to change our circumstances in order to experience this kind of peace.

[9:14] In John 16, 33, Jesus talks about the kind of peace He gives again. It's a continuation of where we're at in John 14. But it's the last statement there that He makes in this farewell discourse before He prays to God before His disciples.

[9:31] Look at how He defines the peace that He gives there in John 16, 33. I have said these things to you that in Me you may have peace.

[9:42] And look at what He says here. Here in the world you will have tribulation. Not might have tribulation. You will have tribulation. But take heart. I have overcome the world.

[9:56] There is a peace in Christ, a peace that He has and that He gives, which is greater than the worldly troubles that we endure. holding us continually.

[10:08] Keeping us together when we feel like we're going to fall apart. When the troubles of this world come, it's a peace that the world does not advertise.

[10:20] Because it's a peace that they don't know. Do you have that peace? Only the Lord can give it to you.

[10:32] Paul describes this peace in Philippians 4, verses 5 through 7. There he speaks to the Philippian church. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.

[10:43] The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything. Anything. But in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

[10:55] And the promise here at verse 7 is that when we do that, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. See, human understanding cannot comprehend this peace.

[11:13] Because again, it's a peace that must be given to us by God, because it's His peace. We cannot create this peace. It must be received from God.

[11:25] And so now, we should ask the question, well, how so? How do we receive this peace? Well, this peace comes initially through the realization that you've been at war with someone that you stand no chance of defeating.

[11:46] That someone isn't Satan. That someone is much, much greater than Him. That person is God Himself. Look at what the Bible says about this very thing.

[12:01] In John 3, 36, as Jesus is meeting with Nicodemus, He says to him, Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on Him.

[12:18] The wrath of God remains on those who do not believe in Jesus. So then we ask, well, why is that? What causes this wrath of God to be kindled towards us?

[12:30] Let me read a few scriptures to you, beginning in Romans 1, 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

[12:46] Romans 3, 23. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Ephesians 5, 5 through 6. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

[13:07] Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. The Bible says that in the beginning, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, when they doubted His word, when they succumbed to temptation, thinking that they knew better than God, they sinned.

[13:32] And their sin plunged the entire human race under sin's curse. And so we are born with a sin nature. We are born sinful.

[13:44] And we see that in children. We don't have to teach children how to be bad. It comes instinctively. We've got to teach them how to be good. We are born sinful, each and every one of us.

[13:56] We are born with a rebellious nature towards our Creator. We are born estranged from Him. And each sin is an act, in God's eyes, of rebellion against Him, who is a judge who judges righteously and will not sweep our sins under a rug and pretend as if they did not happen.

[14:22] Psalm 711, seeing things from God's perspective, says there, God is a righteous judge and a God who feels indignation every day.

[14:34] Every day, God is sinned against. And every day, that builds His wrath. And that is very bad news.

[14:50] Because who can stand a chance against God? Who can win a war against God? And so this is why the gospel is such good news.

[15:04] Because while the Bible has much to say about God's wrath, it has much to say also about how He's provided a way for us to be saved from it.

[15:15] Romans 5, 6-10, for example. For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly, for the sinner, for the rebel.

[15:27] For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

[15:40] Since therefore we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from what? from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by His life.

[15:58] More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received reconciliation. In Colossians 1, 21-22, And you who once were alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds, you who are at war with God at one time, He has now reconciled in His body by His flesh in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him.

[16:27] So you see, God, in His grace, has sent His Son, Jesus. Jesus, who added humanity to His deity, who never sinned and who fulfilled all that God's law required, never falling short whatsoever at any point.

[16:48] And He, the Son of God, willingly died on the cross to be God's peace offering, to take our sins upon Himself, to extinguish God's wrath in His flesh, in our place, by substituting Himself and enduring God's punishment for our sins, so that in our believing in Him, we receive God's grace and His mercy and His forgiveness.

[17:23] We are justified, not by our works, but by our faith in Christ and what He has done for us, knowing that He's purchased our peace by dying to atone for our sins.

[17:36] And in believing that He died and rose again, we are counted righteous before our righteous Creator. He declares us to be innocent because of our faith in Christ.

[17:50] We are saved from our sins from the moment of salvation and forever. You see, on the cross, Jesus went to war with your sin that you would have everlasting peace.

[18:06] with God. And it's through salvation that there is this dreadful realization that your life, the life that you had been living prior to that point, you had been at war with God.

[18:22] You remember that? When you were saved? Oh my goodness. I had no idea. But then that dissipates quickly as you receive the peace of God that comes through Jesus Christ.

[18:34] that only those who truly know Him can experience. And so the reality of the peace that a believer in Christ receives is a peace that is permanent. It's not based on good circumstances because we know that God uses all things to work them for the good, for our good, progressively making us more like Christ through the indwelling of His Spirit, putting sin to death as we pursue the things of God, as we are being perpetually prepared for the place that Jesus has prepared for us in our true and eternal home in the Father's house.

[19:13] Romans 5, 1 through 5 speaks of this. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God. And that peace with God comes through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[19:28] Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our suffering.

[19:39] See, we don't need good circumstances to have peace because we know Jesus Christ. Knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope and hope does not put to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

[19:59] In salvation, Jesus gives you His peace. It's a peace that is permanent. It is a peace that perfects. In this moment, in John 14, 27, Jesus will face the cross in less than 24 hours.

[20:17] But in His going to the cross, and in His dying there, He knows that He will open the door for His sheep to enter into His peace with His Father. He will provide us with righteousness through faith in Him.

[20:32] And He will bring us into the peace that He enjoys with the Father. And nothing and no one can take that peace from you ever.

[20:44] Therefore, He says to His disciples right here, knowing what they don't know in the moment, let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. And so it's true for us because in knowing Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we have received peace, a peace that brings comfort no matter how difficult the circumstances are that we might face.

[21:08] Do you have that peace? Next, Jesus talks about how knowing Him brings everlasting joy. knowing Him brings peace, knowing Him also brings everlasting joy.

[21:21] Look at verse 28 again. Jesus said, You heard Me say to you, I am going away and I will come to you. If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

[21:36] And so we know from Scripture that Jesus left the glories of heaven behind in His incarnation when He added humanity to His deity.

[21:47] He left the glories of heaven to dwell upon the earth. He left His heavenly dwelling where He'd been with the Father from eternity past.

[21:58] And He humbled Himself by taking on the form of a servant to die for His people. And so in that sense, for a time, He took on a submissive role.

[22:11] He was never at any time less than God or inferior to the Father, but subjected Himself in His role that He might atone for sinners by dying in their place as the suffering servant of God.

[22:27] And in that sense, the Father was greater. The role of the Father is God sending and commanding. The role of the Son is God sent and obedient.

[22:39] And so that's what Jesus is talking about here. But also His point here is that His disciples shouldn't be troubled.

[22:51] Instead, they should be rejoicing. But they were focused on the fact that Jesus was going and not so much on the fact that as He had said that He would return.

[23:04] Their focus was on the present. Their focus was on themselves. They didn't want Jesus to leave and we can understand why. But if they understood what His leaving meant, they would have rejoiced in knowing that.

[23:21] You know, I remember it's been four years now traveling home from Latvia. and if you've ever traveled internationally, you know that it's not a joyful experience, is it?

[23:40] Because you have to go through airports where they don't speak English. You have to go through customs and then security.

[23:54] And so for a man, you know, or a woman too, you're constantly taking off your belt and your watch and your shoes and you're being patted down and you're being scanned and all of these things and you've got to put it all back on.

[24:07] And it's a pain, truly, especially when you're in the airplane. And for someone like me who's over six feet tall, when you're crammed into a corner of the airplane for hours and hours and hours.

[24:20] And on top of that, I had somehow come into contact with poison oak before we left. So I had a rash on my legs and on my torso.

[24:31] So it was not a fun experience. But you know what helped me through that experience? I knew where I was going. I knew I was going home. And though I had talked with my wife and my kids while I was there for that week, it wasn't the same as being with them in their presence in my house.

[24:51] And so what I did then and I still do sometimes, maybe you do the same, is when I'm traveling home and I'm in an uncomfortable situation, I close my eyes and I imagine myself there.

[25:02] And it makes the present suffering more endurable. And so you've got to understand here that Jesus is going back home.

[25:16] He's going back to heaven. He's going back to be with His Father. Now, none of my suffering in any way compares to what the Lord suffered.

[25:29] But it does help me to understand in just a very small way just how joyful He was in knowing where He was going. He was going to His Father.

[25:41] His mission was nearing its completion. And He longed to be back in the immediate presence of His Father's glory, the glory that He shared with Him in heaven.

[25:54] And so the disciples should have shared in this joy with Him. He said He was going to die. He said He was going to come back. He said He would go to prepare a place for them.

[26:07] But they were blinded by those truths truths because they were focused on themselves and how they felt. They were more concerned and more aware of their own grief and sorrow than the things that brought their master joy.

[26:25] And you know, we aren't much different today, are we? In times of trouble, we'd rather have God act like those Allstate commercials.

[26:38] Wouldn't we? changing our circumstances so that we will feel at peace, so that we will feel like we have joy instead of dwelling on the fact that we have already received peace from Him that help us endure troubles knowing that God works all things together for the good.

[27:04] Too often, we don't share an attitude like the one that the Apostle Paul had when he said in Romans 8.18, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

[27:18] We know in his life, Paul went from being a persecutor of the church to one of its greatest servants. He endured a lot of trouble as he proclaimed the gospel, but it did not deter him from the joy that he knew that he had in Christ and the joy that he knew that awaited him forever in his eternal home.

[27:44] So what does this practically mean for us? I like what John Piper had to say about this verse. This is what he said. What this means is that before you go to bed at night, you say, Father, I praise you for the love that exists between you and your son Jesus.

[28:02] I praise you for the joy that you both have in each other. and I realize that for this love and this joy, Jesus endured the cross. And therefore, my forgiveness, my righteousness, my life utterly depends on you.

[28:16] So I am glad in your gladness in Jesus and his in you. Thank you for giving me a taste of this joy. Jesus' going to the Father took him to the cross where there he died to atone for our sins.

[28:35] It took him to the tomb where three days later he rose from the dead, revealing that sin and death and Satan had been defeated and that those who believed in him will likewise one day be raised to glory too.

[28:51] And so, we should seek joy in this world in the pursuit of Christ in our eternal home that awaits us. And in every circumstance, we endure because we know that Christ has endured for us and we find joy in following in his example.

[29:12] Hebrews 12, 1 through 2. Therefore, since we have been surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

[29:27] Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

[29:41] Knowing Jesus brings genuine peace. Knowing Jesus brings everlasting joy because we know that the joy that he has, he has given to us to share and his joy is greater than anything this world could ever offer to us.

[29:57] And so, this peace and this joy should result with enduring faith on our part. Knowing Jesus results with enduring faith.

[30:12] Verse 29 again, And now I have told you before it takes place so that when it does take place you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you for the ruler of this world is coming that he has no claim on me.

[30:28] And so here again, Jesus as he has been doing strengthens the wavering faith of his disciples by reminding them once again of who is in charge. Jesus is God.

[30:40] He is omniscient. He knows what the next several hours will bring and how they will unfold which will culminate in his crucifixion. And he is telling the disciples now, don't let what you're about to see deceive you.

[30:58] Don't let what you're about to see deceive you. Judas has left. Judas will betray me. The Sanhedrin will unfairly try me. Herod will mock me.

[31:08] Pilate will sentence me. The Roman soldiers will pierce my flesh with nails and puncture my side with a spear. And it will appear to you in that moment as if Satan the ruler of this world has won.

[31:22] But don't forget what I'm telling you now. Don't forget what I'm telling you and what I've told you before. That nobody takes my life from me but I lay it down on my own accord.

[31:34] I have authority to lay it down. I have authority to take it up again. Therefore, trust in me. You have faith in me. Evil does not have the upper hand.

[31:46] Jesus does. And so he says I'm going. The ruler of this world is coming. But he has no claim on me. He has no claim on me.

[31:58] How could he? Jesus was not of this world. Unlike us, Jesus had never sinned. Satan had nothing on him. And in Christ, understand that Satan has nothing on you either.

[32:13] He has no claim on you. So this means at least two things for us. First, what was true for Jesus and his disciples in his darkest hour is true for you in yours also.

[32:28] You can have enduring faith in trouble because nothing can separate you from the peace and the joy that is yours that has been given to you by Jesus Christ.

[32:40] I love Romans 8, 38 through 39 and I think as Cameron said, this is one of the best, it's all God's word and it's all good but Romans 8 is a great one. Who, who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

[32:53] Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword or a poison oak rash? as it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long.

[33:07] We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.

[33:31] That is true. And while it is true it won't stop Satan from attempting to deceive you by causing you to doubt as if it wasn't true.

[33:43] To weaken your faith by challenging you as he did in the beginning with Adam and Eve. Challenging the reliability of God's word.

[33:55] Is that what God really said? So secondly this means that enduring faith relies not upon what you feel or upon what you think but upon what God has said.

[34:11] Not based upon what you feel or what you think but upon what God has said. Satan wants you to be troubled and he wants you to be troubled so that you will lose sight of the peace and the joy that you have that you have received from Christ.

[34:28] And so what he'll do is he'll continually throw your sins your past sins your present sins in your face so that you think that he does have some kind of claim on you but don't be fooled by any of that.

[34:45] I love what Martin Luther said about that very thing about that tactic of the enemy. This is what he said so when the devil throws your sin in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell tell him this I admit that I deserve death and hell what of it?

[35:04] For I know one who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf his name is Jesus Christ the Son of God and where he is there I shall be also.

[35:16] So since we've come to know Christ and have his peace which brings joy and enduring faith we must be about the things that Jesus was about in this life.

[35:30] In verse 31 he says but I do as the Father has commanded me so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise let us go from here. And so again I ask you do you truly know Christ?

[35:45] if you don't truly know him you don't truly know God. Are you like Jesus pursuing him that the world may know how much you love the Father?

[36:00] Is that the hope of your life? God I want people to know by their interaction with me and their relationships with me how much I love you. Is that essential to you?

[36:13] that you would have peace and joy and faith that he offers to you. I've been reading a book recently just started Knowing God by J.R. Packer.

[36:28] Many of you know that book or have read it and I'm not very deep within it but I'll already recommend it to you as a book to read if you haven't already. But in that book he talks about what it's like to live life without knowing God and he uses this illustration.

[36:49] So let me quote him here. As it would be cruel to an Amazonian tribesman to fly him to London put him down without explanation in Trafalgar Square which is like Times Square in New York and leave him as one who knew nothing of English or England to fend for himself so we are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about the God whose world it is and who runs it.

[37:20] The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place and life in it is disappointing and unpleasant business for those who do not know about God. Disregard the study of God and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded as it were with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you.

[37:42] This way you can waste your life and your soul. It is as we enter more deeply into this experience of being humbled and exalted that our knowledge of God increases and with it our peace our strength and our joy.

[37:59] And he concludes by saying God help us then to put our knowledge about God to this use that we all may in truth know the Lord.

[38:11] Do you know the Lord? Has he revealed himself to you? If you know him then you are saved.

[38:22] Satan has no claim on you. No matter how difficult the circumstance is there is nothing that can separate you from the peace and the joy and the eternal life that Christ has given to you through his life his death and his resurrection.

[38:39] So don't trust in your feelings or your opinions in that moment. Go to God's word. What has God said? And you rely upon that and with that in knowing God I know we are all going to have a wonderful opportunity here coming up with the holidays.

[39:00] Some of you will be traveling some of you will be staying here. Some of you will be with family members who are unbelievers or friends. And we all have this attitude during Christmas time don't we? That we should be peaceful.

[39:11] What a great opportunity that you are going to have soon to let the peace and the joy and the faith that you have in Christ shine forth that other people hopefully will have that same peace that same joy and that same faith as you live your life for Jesus Christ.

[39:34] And so if you don't feel at peace and if you don't feel like you have joy and your faith is wavering what you need to do is get with God and to be in his word.

[39:46] And the more you're in his word the more you will know him and the more you know him the more at peace you will feel the greater the joy that you will have and it will increase your faith which endures no matter what because you know what the Lord has done for you.

[40:05] Three questions of application for our community groups to discuss tonight and and I encourage you to just take these questions even past tonight and dwell over them this week with the Bible in hand.

[40:20] Question number one. How is Jesus' peace different from worldly peace? How is Jesus' peace different from worldly peace? Is there an area in your life where you don't feel at peace right now?

[40:34] And then I give you some scriptures to read that talk about God's peace that those who know Christ have and ask you what do these verses say about abiding in God's peace?

[40:47] Question number two. How did Jesus encourage the disciples' faith in verse 29? How should his encouragement inspire our faith today?

[40:59] How did Jesus encourage the disciples' faith in verse 29? How should his encouragement inspire your faith today? And then in question three in verse 31 Jesus says that his obedience to the Father testifies to the world that he loves him.

[41:15] Well how so? How does obeying God produce peace, joy, and faith in a Christian life? and if you're here today and you know that you do not know Christ then I tell you in love you do not have peace.

[41:33] You are at war with God and what he wants from you is to have heard his word and to have received it and to trust and obey in his son because apart from him there is no salvation for you.

[41:47] And so I'm going to pray and I'll be here if you want to come talk to me or afterwards we've got to take communion today. I would love to talk with you and pray with you. Right now let's go to the Lord in prayer.

[41:58] Heavenly Father we thank you for your word and God we know I know that at times when there are troubles in life it is tempting to doubt the peace and the joy and the faith that we know that we have through Jesus Christ your son.

[42:16] Lord so often we look at our times of trouble and we we fail to endure we trust too much in our feelings we trust too much in our thoughts instead of turning to you and your word and knowing God that what you say comes to pass that you do not lie that you tell the truth and that we can trust you because you are one who not only tells the truth but keeps his promises and so God I pray for us I pray for those who are here today they don't feel at peace they don't feel like they have joy and their faith is something that they're struggling with right now God I pray that you would draw their attention to you to your son and to what he has done and to the promise that you have said as he's declared to us through his word this morning those who know him have been given his peace they share in his joy and they have a faith that will see them through this life into the next and God may we like Jesus dwell upon our eternal home and look forward to that day where we will stand before you in your presence and be eternally at home totally free from sin and its consequences until that day Lord may we go out into this world and may we be known as your people who have peace and who have joy and who have great faith because we have come to know

[43:44]  Jesus Christ your son in his name we pray amen