Sweet Peace For Tried Believers
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY DECEMBER 4, 1887,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you might have peace. In
the world you will have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have
overcome the world." John 16:33.
THIS most delightful passage occurs at the close of the last of our
Savior's sermons before He went to the Father. Let us treasure it as we
lay up a man's last words. Wonderfully full is that sermon–it is of a
piece with His last prayer–and that rises above all other pleadings of
men! This farewell discourse may occupy but a short space in Scripture,
but the thoughts suggested by it are so many that I suppose that the
world itself might hardly contain the books that might fairly be
written upon it. It took our Lord but a moment to speak some of its
sentences–it will take us a lifetime to fully understand them! Perhaps
we never shall understand some of these gracious sayings till we have
put away all childish things and shall have come to the fullness of the
stature of men in Christ Jesus. We shall never see all the richness of
the Grace of this sermon till we have risen beyond these mists and
clouds into the clearer atmosphere of the unclouded skies. In that
Happy Country, being ourselves raised to a nobler condition, we shall
be better able to comprehend the deep things of God, concerning which
our Savior spoke in His supreme discourse. Meanwhile, let us apply our
heart and mind to the consideration of these last Words of the greatest
of all Preachers, the dearest of all Teachers and, may the Spirit of
our God open them up to us!
Observe concerning the preaching of our Lord Jesus how eminently
practical it is. You never find in the Master's speaking a single
sentence spoken for what orators use to call, "effect." He never
introduces a pretty bit here and there to let men see how poetical His
mind could be. He never goes a little aside to introduce a something
which was quite unnecessary to the display of the subject, but very
necessary to the display of the orator. Nothing so little, so
self-seeking, ever governs the mind of Jesus. Far from it! His soul
goes with His subject and He has no second objective–He would convey
His meaning to His hearers and His mind is concentrated on that aim. He
keeps hard at it, steadily driving at His point and He always speaks
with the one desire, that the Truth should go home to the heart and
should be blessed to the hearer. Hence He adopted the method in this
instance of summing up and doing what the old divines used to call
"making the improvement" at the end, when the Truths of God which they
had spoken was turned to practical account and the uses of the topic
were enlarged upon. We might have found out, perhaps, by diligent
study, what the practical drift of the Savior's discourse was, for it
is never difficult for a spiritual mind to perceive His drift, but He
meant not only that we might possibly see what He was aiming at, but
that we should be sure of seeing it–and so He puts it into the
plainest language and says, "These things have I spoken to you, that in
Me you might have peace."
If this was our Lord's objective, I do not doubt that He had fully
accomplished it! All that He had said tended to produce peace in His
disciples' hearts, but He knew that their minds were dark–that they
had but slight capacity as yet, and so, in His infinite tenderness, He
told then, as one might tell a child, what He intended His address to
produce. We thank Him for this and herein would we endeavor to emulate
Him. We hope that our friends will always bear with us when we try to
be very plain and simple–and spend much of our strength in pointing
out what is the practical bearing of the Truth which we are teaching.
It will be better to be considered needlessly explicit than to miss the
end we have in view.
Let us greatly prize this conclusion of the Savior's ministry! It is
all the more endeared to some of us by the fact that our Lord finished
as He began. He is our peace. He came to bring it and He left it behind
Him as He went away. Even before He had commenced His life-work, it was
announced of Him that He came to bring "peace on earth, good will to-
ward men." And before He is taken up, His last Words must necessarily
be, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you." It was meet that
He should close the service of His life wherein He had preached peace,
by pronouncing this as His benediction. "These things have I spoken to
you, that in Me you might have peace."
In trying to handle this text, tonight, aiming at the same practical
end as my Divine Lord and Master, I shall notice, first of all, the
Believer in Christ, and in Christ he is at peace. Secondly, the
Believer in the world, and in the world he has tribulation. And,
thirdly, the Believer in the world and in Christ, and in that condition
he has victory! "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." May the
Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of peace, bless the word which I may
now speak to you!
I. First, you have THE BELIEVER IN CHRIST spoken of in reference to his
peace. Jesus says–"That in Me you might have peace." It is worthy of
careful consideration that in Jesus, Himself, there was always an
abiding peace present. He had peace. If He had not, Himself, possessed
peace, we could not have had peace in Him. But what a holy calm there
was upon the spirit of our Divine Master! Read His life through and
dwell upon any one, delightful characteristic, and you will find Him
perfect. But if you study it carefully in order to remark upon His
manliness, His self-possession, His calm and peaceful bearing in the
midst of turmoil and provocation, you will find Him to be a master of
the art of peace. Truly in patience He possessed His soul! Never man
had more to disturb Him, but never man was less disturbed! He could not
be turned aside from anything which He had resolved to do, for He set
His face like a flint and, in the doing of it, He could not be excited
or discouraged, for His spirit was not of this changing world. Men
might oppose Him, but He endured great contradiction of sinners against
Himself with marvelous long-suffering. When His eager and foolish
disciples would push Him forward, or would hold Him back, He was moved
neither in the one direction nor in the other by any of them. He
steadfastly held to the even tenor of His way, His soul abiding in God,
giving glory to God and resting in the eternal Power and Godhead which
He knew to be always at His side. The background of the life of Christ
is the Omnipresence of the Father. Wherever you see Him–if you see Him
quite alone when every disciple has forsaken Him–you see this text
expounded, "You will leave Me alone, and yet I am not alone, because
the Father is with Me."
Now this fact that He felt the Presence of the Father and did not
occasionally speak to God, but dwelt with Him– that He did not resort
to God as a make-shift in time of trouble, but abode with God at all
times and so kept His spirit above everything that would draw it
down–this it was that filled Him with an unbroken peace. Even
Gethsemane did not break that peace! Covered with the bloody sweat, He
still cries, "Not as I will, but as You will." When His soul is
exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death, yet He knows where His Father
is and He keeps His hold upon Him and maintains His intimacy with Him.
He feels that one word from Him would presently bring more than 12
legions of angels to His rescue. Such is the position of favor which He
still occupies with God, even when the sin of man is laid upon Him!
O Friends, Christ has peace enough and to spare! He is, Himself,
personally, the deep well-spring of an endless peace and, therefore, we
can understand why we always find peace in Him. One calm and quiet man
has sometimes spread peace through what otherwise would have been
terrified company. One Paul standing in the sinking ship saves all from
ruin by the majesty of His immovable courage. And one Christ–such a
Christ as ours–in the midst of a Church turns a horde of cowards into
an army of heroes! His infinite peace breathes peace into our
vacillating spirits. We rest because we see how He rests.
Now, as the Master had peace in Himself, He had a strong desire that
all His disciples should have peace. I was about to say that it was
with our Lord, "the ruling passion strong in death." It was strong
within Him when He was coming very near His passion and was about to go
into Gethsemane–and then to Golgotha. Quietly He said, "These things
have I spoken to you, that in Me you might have peace." Our Lord Jesus
Christ delights to see His people firm, calm, happy! I do not think
that He is so pleased to see them excited, although we have those
around us who seem to think that great Grace can only display itself by
raving and raging. The religion of the quiet Jesus was never intended
to drive us to the verge of insanity. "He shall not strive, nor cry;
neither shall any man hear His voice in the streets." His Holy Spirit
is no raven or eagle, but a dove–His holy influences are powerful and,
therefore, calm. Weakness hurries, rages, shouts–for it has need to do
so. Strength moves with its own deliberate serenity and effects its
purpose. To those who think that saints should be maniacs, Jesus says,
"Peace! Peace!"
On the other hand, we are quite certain that our Lord Jesus does not
desire His disciples to be depressed. To some the fit color for piety
seems to be gray, drab, or full mourning. But it is not so–the saints
are arrayed in white linen, which
is the emblem of gladness as well as of purity. The Savior does not
wish His disciples to go through the world as through a twilight of
sadness, whispering in fear because of judgments to come and
suppressing all joy because of the evils with which they are
surrounded. No, Brothers and Sisters, Jesus wishes us all to be happy
in Himself, with a quiet peacefulness like His own. He was no laughing
maker of merriment, but still He was serenely confident and He would
have us keep to His pitch and be at peace. "These things have I spoken
to you, that in Me you might have peace."
We have a great end to serve. We have a grand life to live. We have a
grand Helper ready to help us if we will but believe in Him! Therefore,
we need not blow a trumpet before we begin and we need not make a fuss
when we are in the midst of our service, nor need we lie down on the
ground as if we were the most wretched of men because of our heavenly
calling. No, but we may feel, "The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of
Jacob is our refuge," and walk with God through life in that holy quiet
which springs of conscious strength. Let us enjoy the calm of heart
which comes of knowing that the reserves of God are infinite and that
at any moment they can come to the front and deliver us should an
emergency occur. Oh, that we could learn the art of peace from Christ!
He desires that we should have it. Then we should not be so often up
and so speedily down–today so brimming over and tomorrow so empty–one
moment so fast and another so slow–unduly exhilarated at one moment
and at the next so needlessly depressed. We ought not to be movable as
waves, but fixed as stars! We ought not to be as thistledown, the sport
of every wind, but as yonder granite peak which defies the storms of
the ages! "These things have I spoken to you, that in Me you might have
peace"–"peace"–oh, to get it and to keep it, through Jesus Christ our
Lord!
Thus I have noticed that He had peace and He wished us to have it.
But now notice again that in order to their having peace He spoke to
them certain words–"These things have I spoken to you, that in Me you
might have peace." It will do you good, when you are at home, to read
over the preceding chapter and note with diligence what the Lord Jesus
said in order to give His disciples peace, for that same thing will
give us peace. If you please, you may go back to the 15th chapter and
even to the 14th, where you read–"Let not your heart be troubled."
When you are at it, you may, if you like, go all through the Book,
backward or forward, searching for peace as for a pearl–and you will
not err, even then–for the great objective of all these Scriptures
which, in the deepest sense, were all spoken by Jesus Christ, is that
you may have peace! But especially let us dwell upon these particular
words in this 16th chapter of John, for to these He chiefly alludes.
Now, what did He say to them that they might have peace? One thing was
that He foretold their trials. He said to them, "They shall put you out
of the synagogues: yes, the time comes, that whoever kills you will
think that he does God service." Learn, then, that one way for you to
gain peace is to reflect upon that trial is promised you, that trial is
in the Covenant, that persecution and the ill-will of an ungodly world
are evils which you are bound to endure! They are guaranteed to you by
the very fact of your being of the seed of the woman whose heel must be
bruised–and they will come to you in your measure. Expect trials as
you look for clouds and rain in the English climate. If this island is
your dwelling place, you cannot look for the climate of India! Neither
ought you to complain of winter and frost for these are a part of a
Briton's inheritance. You must take the rough with the smooth.
When exceedingly severe persecutions and afflictions happen to you,
they will seem to the adversary to be evident tokens of perdition, but
to you they will be evident tokens of the Truth of God's Word and of
your being, yourself, a true lineal descendant of that persecuted
Savior who told you, "If they persecute Me, they will also persecute
you. The disciple is not above His Master, nor the servant above His
Lord." Do, then, make yourself familiar with trial. Wonder when it does
not come! And when it does come, say, "Ah, you are an old acquaintance
of mine." There is such a thing as carrying your cross till you are so
accustomed to it that you would be almost uneasy without it. You may
bear a burden on your back so long that if that burden were taken away,
you would miss it. The Lord has made some of His children fond of their
cross. It was so with Rutherford. He said at last that he was half
afraid lest his cross, which had become so sweet to him, might rival
Christ, Himself! I never feel any fear of that myself, for pain is very
much dreaded by my coward flesh, but I suppose that there are saints
who have come to feel that the bitter is so beneficial that they would
prefer its tonic to the sweetest cup that was ever mingled. It is an
acquired taste, no doubt, but he that has it will be at peace about
trouble. It shall help you greatly to attain peace if you expect rough
treatment while you are a sojourner in this present evil world.
The next thing He did to comfort them was that He told them why He was
going away. It is often a choice blessing, when you have a great trial,
to know why it is sent. That is a wise petition if not pressed too
far–"Show me why You contend with me." The Savior was going because it
was expedient for them that He should go. Does it not take away the
sting of a trial when you know by faith that it is expedient that such
and such a grief should happen to you? If it is expedient that the dear
child should be taken from your arms–expedient that the business
should not prosper–expedient that you, yourself, should be struck with
a sickness which no faith will remove so that you bow to Divine Wisdom.
The God who is better to you than all your fears, yes, better than your
hopes, intends, perhaps, the affliction to remain with you until it
lifts the latch of Heaven for you and lets you into your eternal rest!
Now, when the Savior told them why He was going, the condescending
information was meant to produce peace in their hearts. He has also
told you why your trials are sent to you–they work your lasting good!
Therefore rest concerning them.
Further, to give them peace, the Savior went on to speak to them of the
Holy Spirit, the Comforter, and what the Comforter would do. He
enlarged upon that theme since it was so cheering. Beloved, if you want
peace, think much of the Divine Comforter. You are not left alone. You
are not left without the most tender sympathy of One who knows how to
cheer the heaviest heart! You are not left without a Friend more able
than all other friends to enter into your secret griefs and administer
to you the most potent consolations. Think much of the Holy Spirit in
His office as Comforter and the meditation will foster peace within
your spirit. How ill we treat the Holy Spirit by our few and
superficial thoughts of Him! Let us henceforth adore Him with deeper
love and reverence.
Then He told them about the power of prayer. He said, "Whatever you
shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you." And again,
"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you
will, and it shall be done unto you." What a breath of peace cools the
forehead of the man who remembers that he may pray and that prayer is
heard in Heaven! There is a noise in the streets. There is a
disturbance within doors–even your own heart is per-turbed–what then?
Let us pray! The known remedy for unknown evils is prayer. Oh, the
peace that comes from the Mercy Seat! You that are familiar with it
will bear me witness that it is wonderful what storms it will quell,
what cyclones it will quiet! Only pray and you are master of the
situation! Like your Master, you may walk the waves of the sea when you
have but the power in His name to speak to those waves and bid them be
still! And He gives you that power when you draw near to Him in
believing prayer!
All this must have greatly tended to produce peace, but as if this
might not be enough, our tender Lord let slip a precious Word that
ought to give peace to all our minds–"The Father Himself loves you."
The love of God the Father is a treasure-house of peace! The Father
Himself–not moved by the importunities of His pleading Son, but
Himself, of His own accord, loves you! O Father God, how have You
sometimes been slandered, as though You were hesitant to love us and
Your Son must necessarily persuade You! No, it is not so! God loved His
people and, therefore, He sent His Son to redeem them. "He so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son." Christ is not the cause of
Divine Love, but the sweetest and best Fruit of it. "The Father Himself
loves you." Therefore, be of good cheer, and let your peace be like a
river!
And then, dear Friends, He confirmed their faith in Himself. He so
spoke to them that they, at last, said, "Now are we sure. By this we
believe," and so on. This is the way to get peace! Peace comes by the
way offaith. Those of you who are very fond of doubts, can, perhaps,
tell me whether you ever derived any peace from them. Time is but
ill-used when we pore over books which are calculated to shake our
faith–as well eat food which is sure to make us ill! There are certain
men who are always busy with the Scriptures to try and find
difficulties in them–and if they cannot find them in the English
version then, straightway, they will sooner have a new translation than
miss their precious difficulty! This is as foolish as if we should
refuse to eat our Christmas pudding because we could not find any
stones in the plums, or any hard lumps in the sugar upon which to break
our teeth! The great objective of some men seems to be to find in the
Bible something which they cannot believe. For my part, I am delighted
with what I do believe! They cultivate doubts while a wise man regards
them as weeds, and burns them in a heap!
The Lord knows there is sorrow enough in this world without laboring to
make more. And I should like to ask all such critics and great
discoverers whether they believe that their discoveries tend at all to
the creation of peace in their own minds, or in the minds of others? I
believe, and then I get peace. I believe and am sure–then is my peace
like a river and my righteousness like the waves of the sea! Luther
tells us how he found peace when one said to him, "I believe in the
forgiveness of sins." Oh, if one did but believe what he professes to
believe! I mean believed it fully! That way lies peace– in believing
up to the hilt. The child-like way of sitting at Jesus' feet and
receiving His Words –this is the path of peace. All the outgrowth of
quibbling and caviling may be summed up as thorns and briers, tearing
the flesh and rending the spirit. These things had Christ spoken, that
they might believe in Him, for well He knew that the victory which
overcomes trial is faith and not doubt. Believing–not questioning, is
the King's Highway!
I must notice that our Master's wish that we might have peace was
qualified by those two words, "in Me"–"That in Me you might have
peace." Remember, then, you may not expect to derive peace from
yourselves. You will turn that dunghill over a long while before you
find the jewel of peace in it! Our Lord did not even intend that we
should find peace in outward ordinances, or religious exercises. No
doubt it is very quieting to read a chapter, or to attend a service, or
to come to the Lord's Table–but it is not the Lord's intent that these
should, of themselves, yield us peace. These are to be means to peace,
but the peace must always be in Himself, in His own blessed Person! We
must get to Him, for this is His wish, "that in Me you might have
peace"–peace only in Him, but peace always in Him. Peace of the
deepest, truest, most constant, most emphatic kind is only found in
Jesus! Peace in all seasons, and in all difficulties. Peace
forever–all this is in Him–and only in Him. Outside of Him it is all
tossing to and fro, questions, fog, haze and fear. But in Him we dwell
as in a sheepfold, where the sheep lie down and rest. In Him we are in
a home where all is love and comfort. Brothers and Sisters, let us not
wander from this sacred center of serene repose lest we wander from
peace! It is this Man who shall be the peace, this Son of God who shall
give us rest! Let us then come to Him at once in every case. Yes, let
us always abide in Him. His wish is that His joy may be in us and,
therefore, He says, "These things have I spoken to you, that in Me you
might have peace."
Thus have I said well-near enough to you upon this first point of the
Believer in Christ and His peace.
II. I have been a long while on that head so I need to be all the
shorter on the second–THE BELIEVER IN THE WORLD finds himself like
wheat under the flail, for so the text puts it, "In the world you will
have tribulation."
That is, first, you are not screened from any kind of trouble. You are
in Christ and the Savior saves you from your sins, but He has not
promised that you will have no sorrow. He has not promised to screen
you from either poverty, or toil, or sickness, or slander, or any of
the common ills of mankind. Some of the very best of His beloved have
been enriched and indulged by being permitted to undergo much secret
discipline of pain, sorrow and need. Your Lord, among the treasures
that He gives you, grants a cross. You start back and say, "Not that,
Lord!" but He answers, "Yes, this, My child. This and no other." The
cross is the best piece of furniture in your house, though you have
sometimes wished it was not there. It shall always work your good–it
works it now. Some of the comforts allotted to you in Providence will
be questionable in their effect upon you, by reason of your sinfulness
and weakness. But the cross which the Lord appoints you has no result
but your good! It is a bitter tree, apparently, but it is a healthful
medicine. Take it, child of God! Plant it and let it grow–and its
fruit shall be sweet. We are not guarded from tribulation, but we are
promised it–and we are benefited by it.
We are not favored by being promised the admiration of the ungodly. "In
the world"–not merely in this present state, but in this ungodly
world– we shall have tribulation. Worldlings will not gather round you
to admire your excellence and assist your piety. If they did, I should
think that either the world had changed, or else it had made a mistake
about you. Which of the two it is, I do not say. I do not think that it
can be that the world has changed. Worldlings may like a Christian for
certain externals. They may admire him for certain advantages they get
from him. But as a Christian, they cannot love him. That is impossible!
There is an enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the
woman–and you had better understand that it is so because the serpent
has not changed his nature–but is still a vile deceiver and destroyer!
He still exhibits his glittering scales and speaks as craftily and
flatteringly to us as he did to mother Eve and, perhaps, to you. He
says that he loves you more than he can tell, only you are so
unfriendly and suspicious that he has never been able to show his
affection. Yes, he sees in you so much to admire that he wishes you
were not quite so strait-laced, for then he could introduce you to his
dear friends and children, for you would do them no end of good! Hit
him across the head if you get an opportunity, for he means no good to
you.
Of all the devils in the world, I hate a roaring devil least, but a
flattering devil is the worst devil that ever a man meets! When the
world pretends to love, understand that it now hates you more cordially
than ever and is carefully bait-
ing its trap to catch you and ruin you! Beware of the Judas kiss with
which the Christ was betrayed and with which you will be betrayed
unless you are well upon your guard. In the world and from the world
you will have tribulation!
The text puts this in such a broad way that it gives a hint that in the
world you will have tribulation often. Affliction is not with us
always, but it is well to be always prepared for it. There are times in
which we enjoy prosperity–some Christians enjoy much of it–and do not
let them be much alarmed because they do so, for what the Lord's
Providence sends us is not harmful, in itself, and is to be accepted
without suspicion. I remember that a person came to me, once, and told
me that she had prayed for affliction. I replied, "Dear Soul, dear
Soul, do not be so foolish! You will have quite enough trouble without
asking for it." If a child were to ask his father to let him be
whipped, he would be a strange sort of child! And I should think he
would not be likely to repeat the experiment if he had a practical man
for a father! No, no, no! That is not our path of duty. If God spares
us tribulation, let us be thankful to Him. But if He does not spare us,
let us be equally thankful. This last is a hard lesson to learn, but we
ought to learn it. We shall frequently endure tribulation, for we are
born to it at our first birth, as the sparks fly upward. It is also
certain that our second birth introduces us to a second set of
tribulations. He sang a true song who gave us this verse–
"'Poor and afflicted,' 'tis their lot. They know it and they murmur
not. It would ill become them to refuse The state their Master deigned
to choose." Again, in the world you will emphatically have tribulation.
If anybody else has it, you will. And if nobody else has it, yet you
will have it. You will have it, perhaps, where you least wish it or
reckon on it. "A man's foes shall be they of his own household." "Any
cross but the one I have," cried one. Surely it would not be a cross if
you had the choosing of it, for it is of the essence of a cross that it
should run counter to our liking! It must be something from which the
flesh shrinks, which is not for the present, joyous, but grievous. So
our Lord puts it, "In the world you will have tribulation." I wonder
how many Christians here could say that they have not found it so. I
think that the most of us–at least, all I know of–would say that the
prophecy of our Lord has been abundantly verified. And must it not be
so in the nature of things? Has not this world been a place of sorrow
ever since Adam broke his Maker's command? Did not the mandate then go
forth, "Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to you. Dust you
are, and unto dust shall you return"?
To a Christian man must not the world bring tribulation and anguish
because it is a world which lies in the Wicked One? The Christian is
not of the world, even as Christ is not of the world. He is out of his
element. He is an alien. He is a pilgrim. Can he expect the comforts of
home while he tarries here? It is an uncongenial world to his spiritual
nature. There is nothing in it to help him. This world is a foe to
Grace–not a friend to it–and, therefore, the gracious man must have
tribulation. If he is to be like his Lord, he certainly will have it.
And if he is to be like the Lord's people, he will have it, for they
are a line of cross-bearers. There is no exception to this rule if you
take the whole of any Believer's life, though for a while certain
favored men may seem to be the darlings of Providence. Job multiplied
his riches and dwelt at ease with a hedge about him. He thought,
perhaps, that he would have no tribulation to bear, but the flail
seemed made of iron when at last it fell! So may the most prosperous
have all the greater trial when the day of adversity arrives.
Brethren, I was thinking, as I turned over this subject, that though
there is tribulation in the world, we still get far too fond of the
world. We are always trying to pluck handfuls of its flowers–and if
its roses had no thorns we would bury ourselves in heaps of them! We
would never quit the nest and learn to fly if the Lord did not stir up
our nest even as does the eagle. We should want to tarry here forever
and say, "Lo, this is my home," if it were not that an unkind world
gives us aliens' treatment and forces us to feel that we are in exile
here. One said to a great man, as he looked over his gardens, "These
are the things that make it hard to die." As we are not to live here,
but must soon be up and away to the better land where our life can far
better develop, it is meet that in the world we should have
tribulation, that we may turn our thoughts and our desires towards that
dear City of our God where alone is our dwelling place! Thanks be unto
God for the tribulation which weans our thoughts from earth and wins
them for Heaven! And let all the people say,
"Amen."
III. But now, lastly, let us view THE BELIEVER IN THE WORLD AND IN
CHRIST–and this means victory! I
will occupy but a moment or two to say that if we dwell in Christ,
though we also have to dwell in the world, yet we shall overcome the
world.
I call your special attention to the words of our Lord Jesus in the
text– "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." Our Lord was, all
that time, still in the world. Do you know where Christ was when He
said that? Why, He was on the edge of Gethsemane! He was at the foot,
so to speak, of Golgotha–where He was to die! He had not then borne
the scourge and the Cross. But I dare not lay my hand upon my Master
and say, "Good Lord, You have made a mistake. You have not yet
overcome, for the worst part of the battle has not come to You." He
knew what He said and made no error in saying it. Oh, but it was
bravely spoken! The faith which abode in Him made Him say, "I have
overcome." On the verge of the fight, He said, "I have overcome." John
caught up this word when he, afterwards, said, "This is the victory
which overcomes the world, even our faith," because it was by faith
that our blessed Lord said at this moment, "I have overcome the world."
He spoke in the Prescience of faith. He took for granted that He would
overcome the world, for the Father was with Him!
But up to that point it was assuredly true, as it was even to the end,
that He had really overcome the world. Its blandishments He had
overcome. Its temptations He had overcome. Its terrors He had overcome.
Its errors He had overcome. Everything in the world that had assailed
Him, He had put to the rout. He was tempted in all points like as we
are, but He remained without sin. He had overcome everything that had
come to attack His holiness, His patience, His self-sacrifice–He had
been victor at every point!
Now, here is a matter of joyful consideration–our Lord says, "Be of
good cheer; I have overcome the world." But what cheer is there in
that? Well, the cheer lies in the fact which He does not here state,
but which He had stated before, namely, that He is one with us and we
are one with Him. He does as good as say, "I have overcome the world
and you are in Me, your Head. My overcoming of the world belongs to
you. I, your Leader, have overcome the world for you. I have led the
way in this dread fight and conquered the adversaries which you have
now to fight with. And thus I have virtually won the battle before you
begin it."–
"Hell and your sins obstruct your course
But Hell and sins are vanquished foes.
Your Jesus nailed them to His Cross,
And sang the triumph when He rose." "I have, Myself," says Jesus,
"overcome for you that you may overcome in Me. Now, go to the fight, to
rout the already worsted enemy, and triumph over a serpent whose head I
have already broken."
We derive, then, from the fact that Christ has overcome, the assurance
that we shall overcome, since we are one with Him, members of His body
and parts of Himself! O Brothers and Sisters, you must fight your way
through. You cannot quit this conflict. You have to cut your way
through a solid wall of difficulties–there is no other course! But you
are going to do it. You will do it! A great commander commences a
campaign. Does he desire that there shall be no battle? If so, how is
it a war? How is he a soldier? He certainly can send home no reports of
victory if there is no fighting. He can never come to be a great
commander if he never distinguishes himself in the field. So let us
consider that every battle-field to which God calls us is only another
opportunity of victory and, Christ being with us, another certainty of
victory! Onward, then, you Christian soldiers!–
"Let your drooping hearts be glad; March in heavenly armor clad." Let
not the brightness of your armor be stained by the rust of fear! You
shall overcome as surely as your Lord has overcome. If you commit
yourself to His keeping and abide in Him who is All in All to you, no
defeat can possibly befall you.
I have this last word to add. There may be some here who will say,
"Look, look. These Christian people have plenty of trouble." That is
quite true, but they are not the only ones to be pitied–"Many sorrows
shall be to the wicked." Those who are not in Christ Jesus shall also
find tribulation in this world, for thorns and thistles spring up more
numerously in the field of the sluggard than anywhere else. The wicked
shall find that there are special sorrows for them– whips of scorpions
for them, especially when they get farther on in life–and their
youthful fires burn down to a black ash. Woe unto sinners when they
have to reap the fruits of their evil deeds! O Sirs, I would not go
through life without a Savior, as you do, no, not if I might be made an
emperor! To have to fight this life-battle without Christ is sure
defeat! What a discovery it will be when, having struggled through one
life of sorrow, you shall find yourself beginning another life of
greater sorrow which will never come to an end!
It is an awful thing for a man to go from Hell to Hell–to make this
world a Hell and then find another Hell in the next world! But it were
a blessed thing to go through 50 hells to Heaven, if such a thing could
be. It is glorious to struggle on through poverty, sickness,
persecution and to hear, at last, the word, "Well done!" That will be
glorious! Who aspires to it? God help each one of us to labor after it
and give us strength to carry on the holy war and fight it through,
even to the end!
But if you are wrapping yourselves up in these poor joys, these
wretched rags of earth–and are living to make money, or to get drink,
or to enjoy yourselves in the hurtful luxuries of lust–God have mercy
upon you and save you! Hear the Gospel, each one of you! "Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." The Lord lead you to do
so, for His name's sake! Amen.