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[0:00] As the Lord may be pleased to help me this afternoon, I would try and speak to you from words you will find in the chapter which we read, the 14th chapter of the Gospel according to John, and we read verse 27.

[0:13] Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

[0:30] The 27th verse, the 14th chapter of the Gospel according to John, peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

[0:49] These words spoken as they were by the Lord Jesus Christ himself show to us the wonderful compassion and understanding the Lord Jesus Christ had with respect to his dear disciples at this time.

[1:12] Let me remember that so near the time when the Lord Jesus Christ was to suffer upon the cross, knowing full well as he did, all that lay in wait for him as he proceeded.

[1:27] Yet, as you read these chapters here, and as he was journeying with his disciples toward the Gethsemane's garden, it shows to us how the Lord Jesus Christ spoke so kindly and sympathetically to his dear followers.

[1:50] The opening words of the chapter reminds us of this, and being again as they are in the text before us, let not your heart be troubled.

[2:03] You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you or go to prepare a place for you.

[2:14] The Lord Jesus Christ knew well the troubles of their hearts. And surely, dear friends, it should be a sort of comfort to one another when there are those things that trouble.

[2:29] You might be troubled about various things. But what a mercy of your help to realise that there is one who fully understands the things which may trouble you, which may burden your heart.

[2:42] When you think of the dear Lord Jesus Christ, and all the trouble that came into his path as he lived it, a suffering man, and coming toward the climax of his life, how burdened he must have been with these things.

[3:03] And yet, how often he expressed his sympathy, his concern for his dear followers. These words, of course, were spoken to the eleven disciples.

[3:17] No doubt they had been troubled about many things. They could not yet understand all that was yet to be revealed to them. And the Lord Jesus Christ gives them the promise of the comfort of the Holy Ghost.

[3:33] And that he would teach them all things. And bring all things to their remembrance whatsoever the Lord Jesus Christ had said to them. There was yet to be a deeper experience of the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.

[3:49] But at this present time, you see, of course, they were limited in their comprehension of these things. The Lord Jesus Christ had intimated to them that he was about to leave them.

[4:02] More than once he reminded them that he would be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified upon the cross.

[4:13] They could not yet fully understand these things. And then, of course, there had been the Last Supper. And the things concerning Jesus is carried.

[4:26] He who, being one of the twelve, proved to be the betrayer. And how these things must have troubled the hearts of the eleven disciples.

[4:39] And so we find the dear Lord Jesus Christ, knowing full well the things that troubled them, speaks a word to their hearts. And so as we come to this verse 27, what a beautiful word it is.

[4:58] Let us think of he who spoke that word. Jesus says, peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. This peace.

[5:11] One title that belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ is this. The Prince of Peace. Father, we might be helped to consider what was done.

[5:25] That there could be peace between offending sinners and an offended God. Yet here was one who could, with all that authority that belonged to him, speak this word of peace.

[5:40] Here is true peace. Here is true peace. The source of it. Think of he then who spake these words. The Prince of Peace.

[5:53] He who, by his coming to this world, his life that he lived, the death that he died, made a way whereby peace could be known between holy God and sinners.

[6:09] And so the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Prince of Peace, and all that authority that belonged alone to him, gives this word.

[6:21] You see, there is a wonderful foundation to this word, isn't there? People may speak of peace. Many efforts are made to establish peace in the earth.

[6:37] People may speak, say to comfort one another. But it may be sometimes in wrong direction. And sometimes no foundation for such a word.

[6:51] And indeed, the word of God so clearly tells us that there is no peace to the wicked. Though he may pursue his pleasurable course, as it were, seeking to solace himself in carnal things, and yet the word of God so plainly says that there is no peace to the wicked.

[7:16] And the prospect is far from peace, isn't it? But here is a peace. And you see, the Lord Jesus Christ speaks this word to his disciples.

[7:33] Yes, he speaks to their troubled hearts. Peace, I leave with you my peace, I give unto you. You see, he had this peace to give.

[7:52] And he expresses that desire and that concern that they might enter into it. Now, he alone could give peace.

[8:04] Peace, I leave with you my peace, I give unto you. Now, maybe sometimes, like the disciples, you know what it is to have a troubled heart.

[8:20] Yes, many things trouble God's dear people. The fact they're sinners. And there's a great mercy, dear friends, if you know what it is to be troubled in that way.

[8:36] The ungodly are not so. They're not troubled on account of their sin. They may sometimes feel remorse on account of the consequences of sin.

[8:49] But they're not troubled, not burdened with it. But those whom the Lord is pleased to deal with by his grace. Those who have an interest in the finished work of the dear Redeemer, all these are the ones who know what it is at times, to be troubled because of what they feel within as sinners.

[9:09] And they feel very far from peace. But to such troubled sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ speaks this word to them.

[9:21] Yes, you see, he's a friend of sinners. There were many around the Lord Jesus Christ when he was here upon earth who couldn't understand him.

[9:33] There were those who spoke very as it were, in a derisive way concerning him. This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them.

[9:46] They murmured because it was so. And yet, here is the mercy. See, the Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners.

[9:59] And those sinners who know what it is to feel themselves to be sinners, these are the ones, even in that, that give evidence, that have an interest in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[10:12] Those yet, it may well be, there are those who feel the burden of their sin and do not yet know much of this peace, if any. Yet, the word of God so clearly shows to us that the Holy Spirit's gracious work in the heart is first to convince of sin, and then to lead to Jesus.

[10:40] So their sin will realise that here alone can true peace be known. You see, whatever efforts there may be made, peace cannot be brought about, as it were, in the experience of of a sinner with respect to himself.

[11:00] He may seek to amend, as it were, but it will not bring peace. Peace flows alone through the Lord Jesus Christ.

[11:13] One has well said in the hymn, peace by his cross hath Jesus made. The church's everlasting aid. And it is because of what was shortly to come to pass, when the Lord Jesus Christ should bear the burden of the sins of the whole church of God upon him, and to put that burden away, this was the only way whereby peace could be known.

[11:43] You see, sin is a dreadful thing. Or may we never think of sin lightly. Surely, if we help to consider what it costs the dear Saviour to put away the sins of his people, reminds us that sin is a dreadful thing.

[12:06] When Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden, they no longer enjoyed that peace which they then knew. For they did know a peace in the sense that they were innocent creatures.

[12:20] God had created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden. There's everything there to be conducive to a peace, an earthly peace.

[12:32] But you see, they sinned. Yes. And brought a ruin upon themselves and the whole human race as it were in that sense. and they had to be turned out of the Garden.

[12:46] They no longer communed as innocent creatures before their Creator, but they'd sinned. They'd disobeyed God's one command and they were turned out of the Garden.

[13:00] much seeds of evil were brought in then. And there could never be any peace between sinners as sinners and the Holy God.

[13:13] And yet, through God's wondrous wisdom and mercy and the unfolding of His provision for the salvation of His dear people, He sent His dear Son into this world.

[13:26] and the dear Son of God was so willing to come. Yes, to save His dear people. Yes, from the ruins of the fall. And to bring them into this peace.

[13:40] Yes, which is to be known through the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We'll try and look at it perhaps in just two simple ways.

[13:54] Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Here, we think of it in the first place then, as that peace which the Lord is pleased by His Spirit to impart into the hearts of His people so that from time to time they know just a little of what it is to realise that peace.

[14:15] And there are those ways. And indeed, as this word before us, when the Lord Jesus Christ spoke this word, surely it came with power and blessing to the hearts of these disciples.

[14:29] They knew what it was to realise their dear Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ to speak those words to their heart. And though there were times of course and would be times afterwards when they were much troubled and disturbed, yet it was something which could not be erased from their experience.

[14:52] this bequeathed peace. And really, it is one of the functions of the gospel, isn't it? You see, if we are helped and we need to be helped to rightly preach the gospel, it is the gospel of Jesus Christ, his gospel of peace to forburden sinners, to burden sinners.

[15:16] and when the Lord Jesus Christ speaks this word as he did to the disciples, it reminds us of how from time to time he is pleased by his spirit to communicate in some measure this peace into the soul.

[15:34] There is a beautiful word in Isaiah's prophecy, isn't there? They will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusted in thee.

[15:50] You see, with these eleven disciples, it was as they were helped to think upon these things and as the Holy Spirit had been promised to them to comfort them, these things had been brought to their remembrance.

[16:02] Yes, brought to their remembrance. That perhaps sometimes you fit in your heart and you long to realise. They bring into remembrance the Lord has, perhaps in past experience, dropped a word into your heart.

[16:23] Well then, it seems as though you, and you do, you lose the comfort of it. But you cannot lose the reality of it. If ever the Lord has been pleased in his mercy, in that very, very blessed and yet mysterious way, to let little peace into your heart.

[16:46] Although you do not live in the sweetness of it constantly, it is something that can never be eradicated. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ, when he spoke this word to his disciples, he spoke it with all authority.

[16:59] peace I leave with you. And nothing could overturn this. Although these dear apostles would have troubles to experience as they journeyed on, yet this could not be eradicated.

[17:18] He said they had a personal interest in the Lord Jesus Christ and that which he was about to experience in suffering upon the cross and making reconciliation between sinners and a holy God.

[17:37] And so then, here is something that couldn't be overturned. And now, with true disciples, there is a path of tribulation. The Lord Jesus Christ reminded his disciples that in the world they should have tribulation.

[17:55] He said in me, he shall have peace. This true peace is known alone in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.

[18:08] We do need to be given grace to rightly estimate the nature of peace. We must not confuse this with a sloth, as it were.

[18:22] No. But it's something that pervades the spirit, yes, when it is given. And when the Lord Jesus Christ is pleased to speak, he may do it in various ways.

[18:37] At this time, of course, he spoke the words, actually, being yet present with his disciples. But let's remember, he's still the same Jesus.

[18:50] And he still speaks peace to troubled hurts. Yes. And yet, it does not mean that those who are blessed in that way will always live in the sweet experience of it, not here below.

[19:14] Though it is real. Yes, it is not a groundless peace. Yet, they don't always live in the sweet realization of it, but there it is.

[19:34] And what a mercy it is when the Lord is pleased to, from time to time, communicate those blessed words into the soul.

[19:47] Oh, you may sometimes bow down with trouble in various ways. Then, maybe, it's been a means of bringing you to seek unto him, to call upon his name.

[20:03] And that is one of the ways in which the Lord Jesus Christ is pleased by his spirit to communicate this peace to his needy people. You see, it is in harmony with those gracious exhortations that we have in the epistles.

[20:22] I think of that word which the apostle was enabled to give to the church at Philippi. and he speaks to them with respect to their anxieties.

[20:35] He says, be careful for nothing. And that is, of course, it means to be not over anxious. And everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

[20:49] They're exhorted to praise me. Yes, to supplicate God's strength. But the point I wanted to make is this. If you turn that word up and read it, you'll find that there is this that follows, and the peace of God, which passes the understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

[21:10] And that is one of the ways in which the Lord is pleased in his mercy to communicate intimations of this peace into the hearts of his people as they help to commit their will unto him.

[21:24] It's a means the Lord has appointed. Good it is, dear friends, if your sorrows and burdens are a means of bringing you to the throne of grace. And there to commit your will unto the Lord, to call upon his name, and in your approach to be helped to plead this precious name of Jesus who speaks this word.

[21:50] Oh, it is one of the ways in which the Lord is pleased to at times communicate a measure of this peace into the soul. And so, you see, in that word which I have referred you to, of exhortation in the epistle to the Philippians, there is the promise of the peace, the peace of God which passed the understanding.

[22:15] You see, when we think of that, words will fail to describe this peace. peace. But what a mercy to experience it. Now, I may speak perhaps to some troubled heart this afternoon.

[22:31] Well, you realise this, do you not? The Lord alone can give you peace. But now, as the Lord Jesus Christ was pleased in his great mercy to speak this word of comfort and encouragement to his troubled disciples, remember, he is the same today.

[22:51] Yes, although when the Lord Jesus Christ spoke this word, he had not yet ascended Calvary's hill, he was shortly to go that way.

[23:04] But the Lord Jesus Christ went that way. Yes, and suffered for sinners upon the cross, experienced death, his holy body was laid in the grave, but then the grave could not hold him.

[23:21] And he rose from the dead and ascended on high. But it's the same Jesus. And these words here in the offends are written, yes, for the comfort and encouragement of true disciples.

[23:39] Yes, these soaring ones. things. And you see, there's several words in this chapter that tend this way as it were.

[23:51] Jesus said, I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. that reminds us again, that the manner in which the Lord is pleased at times to communicate peace to his dear people with their troubled hearts, that he comes to them.

[24:08] Yes, although he is now enthroned on high, yet by his spirit he visits his dear people. And when he comes, it is then he gives peace.

[24:21] Oh, you read in the Gospels here of how when the dear disciples were gathered together in the upper room and they were fearful then, they got troubled hearts.

[24:34] But how the Lord Jesus Christ, having suffered upon the cross and risen again, yet, you see, the same Jesus, yet his compassion toward his dear disciples was still just the same.

[24:51] And so he stands in the midst of them and speaks peace. Yes, speaks peace to their hearts. Peace be unto you, he said.

[25:03] So then there are his visits. Or you say, but then they seem to be so few and far between. That may well be.

[25:16] And you will notice this, that when the Lord Jesus Christ was pleased to visit his dear disciples as the risen saviour. They were brief visits. True, he accompanied those two soaring ones on their way to Emmaus.

[25:34] But when at length they realised who he was, and he did reveal himself to them, in the breaking of the grave, he vanished out of their sight. He vanished out of their sight.

[25:46] so you see, just these short visits of his, but how precious, how precious.

[25:59] Or does it sometimes bring you into the mania of that, how the hymn writer puts it, more frequent, let thy visits be, or let them longer last. Peace I leave with you.

[26:14] My peace I give unto you. I will not leave you comfortless. Not leave you alone, as it were. The marginal rendering of that word, I will not leave you comfortless, is this, I will not leave you orphans.

[26:31] Now, all the orphans know what it is, to be without comfort, having lost their parents. And the Lord Jesus Christ speaks in that way to his dear people.

[26:43] Sometimes they felt loneliness. You see, the dear Lord Jesus Christ, he tried the path before his people. Yes, he knew what it was to tread a lonely path at times, especially so.

[26:59] He knew what it was to be alone. Yes, and of course it begged when the disciples forsook him and fled. The dear Saviour stood alone.

[27:12] He took three of them into the garden. But the time came in that experience, that very deep, mysterious, solemn experience of Gethsemane, he was alone.

[27:25] Yes, you read, he went a little farther. He left those three and they went to sleep. He left them and went to the farther. In that mysterious experience, when he was bowed down as he was in spirit, he was sore amazed.

[27:44] In his prayers, he sweated, as it were, great drops of blood. He was alone. Well, now the dear Saviour knew what it was to be alone.

[27:56] Therefore, he can sympathise with his dear people when they feel to be in a lonely case. When they feel to be walking as it were a lonely path.

[28:10] But how kindly he comes to them where they are. Or have you felt sometimes that you do need the Lord to just do that for you, to come to you where you are.

[28:25] Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. You see, this implies it is a gift, a bestowal as it were. He has this peace to give.

[28:38] He has procured it. He has brought about this reconciliation between sinners and a hope. It reminds us too of this, doesn't it? The very precious word to poor sinners, yes, those who feel to be poor.

[28:55] You see, we cannot procure these things to ourselves, can we? No. But the Lord can bestow. And there is his promise here.

[29:08] My peace I give unto you. Yes, and when he gives peace, who then can make trouble? The beautiful, as he was setting forth this in a very literal way, when he was with the disciples on an earlier occasion, when they were crossing the sea, and a great storm arose.

[29:35] And how troubled the disciples were then. The dear Lord Jesus Christ was with them, who was asleep in the shed. And they awake him, saying, Master, carest thou not that we perish?

[29:47] almost suggesting that the Lord Jesus Christ had no care for them. But how different it was.

[29:58] How different it was. The Lord Jesus Christ, you see, he could command peace. They were in trouble, they were in distress.

[30:10] Yes, they feared they would perish in the sea. that the dear Lord Jesus Christ could command peace. Yes, he spoke to the wind, to the waves, and there was a great calm.

[30:29] What a difference it made, didn't it? Now, when the Lord is pleased to speak a word into the heart, what a difference it makes. And even though these experiences may be few and far between, as they often are, yet how real they are.

[30:47] How real. And so then, as a poor sinner has helped to commit his word unto the Lord, and the Lord is pleased in his wisdom at times to use those means to bring his dear people into an experience of this peace, as they are helped to commit it, their word to him.

[31:07] And then, as he pleases his pleases, with his presence, by his spirit, and friends, it's a great mercy, if there have been those moments, and I put it like that, not necessarily long periods, but moments, when you felt a little that peace let into your heart, maybe in the house of prayer, sometimes, perhaps, through the word of the gospel, it's reached your heart, and remember, it's the gospel of Jesus Christ, and then, yes, you felt that peace let down into your heart, so that you could leave your concerns in his hand, and when faith is brought into gracious exercise to trust in him, and then, you see, it brings you into that word, doesn't it, not automatically, I know, but sometimes it comes this way, they will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee, you see, the words of the Lord

[32:15] Jesus Christ can be trusted, can't they, he's the truth, yes, he has brought about this peace in a very effectual way, and nothing can overturn this, his word is true, my peace, I leave with you my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you, this is something far different, far more value than any gift from the world as it were, it is a gift from heaven, and for any moments of that peace that ends your heart, I'll do prize those seasons, prize those seasons, and we observe this at some times as it was at this time, you see, these dear disciples, things were going to be very difficult for them, there was a very difficult time for them just immediately, when their dear Lord and Master should be taken from them, and they would need this word of peace, and you find that from time to time, as we read in the word of

[33:35] God, the Lord is pleased to speak with dear people, that they might be strengthened and supported for that which lay before them, we thought of Abraham this morning, now there was a time in Abraham's experience, when the Lord gave him that word, fear not Abraham, I am thy shield and exceeding great reward, and Abraham needed that word, you follow that chapter down, in Genesis, and you read of this, how that there was a horror of great darkness, Abraham experienced that, but you see the Lord had given him that word, he has to sustain and support him, in that which was yet to come, and so it was then with these disciples at this time, the Lord Jesus Christ knew full well, perfectly well, how they would feel, how they would react in the near future, and with regard to all that the Lord

[34:40] Jesus Christ would experience in being taken from them, and suffering upon the cross, he knew full well, he gives this word, my peace I give unto you, peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, and then there is this word that follows, let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid, you see this peace is a peace which he communicates to the heart, you see outward circumstances may be the same, but as you see it affects the heart, yes when the Lord speaks to the heart, when he speaks a word of peace to the heart, it goes to the heart, doesn't it, and there's that too which is as it were peculiar to the word of the Lord to his people, it goes to the heart, yes, a beautiful instance of this really in type, you read concerning

[35:46] Ruth when she was directed by the Lord in his divine providence to the field, part of the field belonged to Boaz, and the time came when she was in contact with Boaz, and Boaz speaks to her, and she was wrote upon, it was something that brought peace into her heart, yes, circumstances have been very troublesome, her past experience have been very sad, but now she's in the company of Boaz, and he speaks to her, and how it did promote in her heart such a desire, and she felt the effect of it, didn't she, too, in the way that he spoke to her, spoke friendly to her, and the margin of that is he spoke to the heart, and now that is what you and I need, isn't it, when our hearts may be troubled in various ways, we need the Lord to come and speak to our heart, yes, he may use means, sometimes he is pleased to speak through the gospel, through the mouth of his servants, sometimes in circumstances, there's a voice in his dealings, but this is the great point, isn't it, when it comes to the heart, heart, and so, the Lord

[37:11] Jesus Christ says here, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid, how kindly he speaks to these troubled ones, how he comforts their hearts, gives them this word, yes, to solace them, to allow their fears, and he says, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid, he would have them call for remembrance his word, and as there would yet be things to trouble them, would yet be things which may produce fears within, to remember his word, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid, but then of course there is a fuller meaning to this word, peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, here below, through God's great mercy he communicates a little here and little there of his peace into the troubled hearts, but it is the earnest of that which is yet to come, now, what is heaven, now the word of

[38:29] God does not clearly, as it were, bring before us the description of heaven, but there are certain things to help us in the consideration of that prospect which is before God's dear people, all who are true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, there are those things that give us to understand, there is that peace to be known, eternally, yes, with nothing to interrupt that peace, and so when the Lord Jesus Christ, as recorded in the beginning of this chapter, he says, let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me, he directs them, as it were, to this, this is my father's house and many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive unto myself, that where I am, there, ye may be also, now, there is the prospect

[39:36] Lord Jesus Christ, revealed to his disciples at that time, he was going to prepare a place for them, they might be with him, and they eternally, now you'll notice that here below, when a little of this peace, may be let into your heart, is when the Lord draws near, when there's some very sense of his presence, well, now that's an earnest of that which is yet to be, and remember, and how one used to say, and it's true, that heaven is a prepared place for prepared people, and now in heaven, you see, there is that peace eternal, yes, never to be marred, in any way whatever, Satan cannot gain any access there, your peace may be troubled at times, and Satan may often seek to disturb you, perplex you, but in that inheritance which is promised, those mansions in heaven, there is peace eternal, and which should never be disturbed, peace I leave with you, my peace

[40:55] I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid, may the Lord bless his own word, make it good in troubled hearts, amen.

[41:36] Shall we conclude by singing hymn number 564, the tune is Heap 156, hymn number 564, dear Lord, forbid that we should boast, save in the cross of Christ, here may we confidently trust, and solemnly rejoice, 564.

[42:22] 564. 564. 564. 564. 564. 564. 564. 564. 564. 564. 564.

[42:32] 564. 564. 564. 564. 564. 564. 564. 664. 564. 664. 664.

[42:43] 664. 564. 664. 664. 564. 664. 664. 664. 664.

[42:53] 664. 20 Note 5 projections 664.

[43:04] 764. 664. 664. 664. 764. 764. 764. A triune God is finished In the highest glorious view His sin as hell Approach and lay Behold and love himself In the highest glory And glad to be

[44:07] His God And God And glad to be With pleasure Our Father said Upon a smiling sight The sight of Jesus And His cross Answer me for The great

[45:10]  And the love To reign