Now let's stand together as we read from God's word this morning from John 14 and verse 27. John 14, verse 27, I'll read to the end of the chapter as we continue our study of the upper room discourse that Jesus brings to his disciples the day before he dies. John 14, beginning with verse 27. 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. You have heard how I said unto you, I go away and come again unto you. If you loved me, you would rejoice because I said I go to the Father, for my Father is greater than I. And now I have told you, before it came to pass, that when it is come to pass, you might believe. Hereafter, I will not talk much with you, for the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence. And everybody said, amen. Please be seated. so much relevance to this passage this morning. I know some sermons may have more relevance to you than others. Always it should have relevance when it's the words of Jesus. But as we go through various changes in life, you know there's something the Word of God says to us to help us along the way. And these are the words that Jesus brings to us today as well. I am 54 years of age, and I will tell you that this world holds less and less for me as it used to. My youthful visions have faded. The things I used to consider to be important are less important to me today, and I'm beginning to realize what this world is all about. And this world holds the values and the priorities that are not of value to Jesus. Jesus presents the heavenly kingdom, the ultimate treasures in heaven to be of more value than the treasures we lay down on earth. Change and decay all around I see, O thou who changest not, abide with me. These are the words that stick to me often, I'm sure they do with you as well. We have so many changes that we go through in our lives. And these changes are difficult for us. Some of you are getting older. Some of you are moving out of the house in which you grew up in and you're moving on to other things. Change and decay all around I see. Families are disrupted. When kids move away, they get married. We lose a sense of earthly stability. We find that there isn't a whole lot of long-term stability in this world, although oftentimes we seek after it. We want to find something more stable. and we try to establish something more stable for ourselves, and then an earthquake hits and things are not as stable as they used to be. Sometimes our loved ones pass away, sometimes our spouses will die, and the security and happiness and stability that we enjoyed over many, many years will dissipate. Friends will come and go, and these days at a faster rate on Facebook than ever before in human history. The world responds to these things in different ways. A big question for us this morning is how are we going to respond to changes and the decay that we see on this side of the veil? How are we going to respond to that? The world responds with bitterness. My wife worked in home health care for a number of years and she would say there are two kinds of older people. There are those that are happy and there are those who are bitter. And it's pretty obvious which is which. Those that set their affections on things below, those who were so excited about the fashions and the styles and they got all thrilled about wealth and health and all those things. By the time they're in their 70s or the 80s and they have gone through all of the decay and they have seen all of the breakdown, the changes that occur in their lives, they often become very bitter about the whole thing. They become cynical. Oftentimes, it's fear and anxiety that sets in. Why? Because they've been holding on to those things that are of such value to them, and they just disappear. They just dissipate, like the little bubble machine that Emily got for her birthday. She's still blowing bubbles and such. But those little bubbles, they just float out, and then they pop within just a few seconds of being blown out of the little machine. And so that's the way life is, you know. And if you're going to seek after fame and fortune, or you're going to seek after fashion and styles, at some point you're going to be bitterly disappointed unless your perspective changes such that the things that are of utmost in value are those things that are above and not the things that are below. So, so much disappointment becomes the rule of the day when the world lets the world down. But Jesus comes to his disciples. He announces that there's going to be some changes around here. There's going to be some changes because Jesus is leaving. In fact, he's leaving twice. He'll leave once for just 40 hours, he'll come back and he'll leave again for another time in heaven. So there's two leavings that Jesus is forecasting here in his final words with his disciples. And so he comes to them here in this verse, verse 27, and he says, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. So we're going to focus on this wonderful passage that Jesus leaves with us this morning. It is so incredibly comforting. I'm sure it's going to be relevant to each and every one of you this morning as well. So brothers and sisters, let's take a look at this admonition from our Lord. He gives three reasons why we should not be afraid and why our hearts should not be troubled. But first, let's look at this admonition. Jesus says, let not your heart be troubled. Neither let it be afraid. Jesus says here there's no need to be afraid. Jesus does not want you to be afraid. That's what the text says here. You can look at it one more time if you want to. Go ahead. You said that can't be. That can't be. He's telling me not to be afraid. No way. That's exactly what he says. He says, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Have you heard people encourage you to courage? They say, be courageous, be very courageous. They say, you need to get out there and be courageous because courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is acting in spite of your fears. And Jesus this morning is telling you that's not enough. It is not enough to be courageous. It is not enough to be courageous. Jesus is not happy with you to be very courageous. Because see, He doesn't even want you to be afraid. Yes, courage is acting in spite of your fears. Agreed. But why were you afraid to begin with? Why were you afraid to begin with? Jesus says, I don't want you guys to be afraid. I don't want you to be afraid. Let not your heart be troubled. Let's read the story again from Mark 4, shall we? This lesson comes back to the disciples a number of times in his ministry. And so much of Jesus' ministry occurs on the Sea of Galilee, because the Sea of Galilee is the pattern for life. This is your life. Up and down, up and down. Good day, bad day. Good minute, bad minute. Good email, bad email. You can all relate to this, can't you? Good news, bad news. Every 10 minutes, your life is the Sea of Galilee. Isn't it? It's not flat earth. It's up and down. The waves, the winds, they come and go. So Jesus sets his discipling in a boat. Why? Because that's what characterizes life. Life, my brothers and sisters, does anybody relate to life? Wow, there's just not a single amen in this congregation this morning, not even one. Does anybody relate to this? Has anybody had an up and a down in their life? every day. So let's read the story from Mark 4 verse 35. On the same day, when evening had come, he said to his disciples, let us cross over to the other side. Now when they had left the multitude, they took him along in the boat as he was, and other little boats were also with him, and a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat so that it was already filling, but he was in the stern, asleep on a pillow, and they awoke him and said to him, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? Then he arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace, be still. And the wind ceased and there was a great calm and he said to them, why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? And they feared exceedingly and said to one another, who can this be that even the wind and the sea obey him? Well, that's the story. The winds and the waves arose, Jesus is asleep on the pillow. Obviously, water getting into the boat, probably getting him soaked, getting him wet. He's just sleeping away and they wake him up saying, teacher, it's over, it's over, the kingdom's over, it's all done, we're perishing, we're all going down. This effort of establishing the kingdom of heaven is not going to happen. But he arose and he looked at the winds and the waves. He spoke to them and said, peace be still. And the winds and the waves obeyed him. And there was a great calm. Jesus is incredulous and disappointed with his disciples. I want you to note those words. Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? Haven't you seen what I have done in the feeding of the 4,000 and the 5,000? Don't you understand that the elements are under my absolute control? You've witnessed the raising of the dead, the healing of the blind. The one who raises the dead is in the boat with you. Why is it that you do not believe? Why are you so fearful now? Receive this morning my brothers and sisters the admonition of Christ That he is He wants you To trust in him. He wants you to believe in him He doesn't want you doubting him and He finds it an irrational thing that you and I should be so fearful How is it that you have no faith? Two things, I made the universe and I love you. Any questions? Must I go over it again? I made the universe. I am preeminent over all things. All things operate under my control. They subsist by my own control over all things. And I love you. Now are there any questions? It is the most irrational thing, it is the most inappropriate thing, it is the most unfitting thing that we should not trust Jesus Christ and that we should be afraid. Because Jesus loves us and he is in control of all things. Every atom, every force in the universe, every galaxy Every power in heaven and on earth is under His absolute control. My brothers and sisters, this is basic to the Christian faith. And yes, perhaps your theology has been undermined a bit by those who say, yes, but not in control of your salvation. Yes, but not in ultimate control of your decision. and your choice and your decision and human effort has been made prime by the Arminianism of the day. I understand that there have been efforts to drive cheats into your theological armor and prevent you from understanding the absolute sovereignty of Jesus Christ over our salvation and every other thing in the universe such that no power, nothing in heaven or on earth can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. That is not our love for Him, that is His love for us. Now the context in this passage is Jesus is leaving and He is entering into full-on spiritual attack In just a few hours, in verse 30, we just read it in the text, but read it one more time. Hereafter, he says, I will not talk much with you, for the prince of this world comes and has nothing on me. So Jesus is saying, here's the deal. The prince of this world is coming, the Satan that is the ruler of the darkness of this age. He has already entered into Judas. Satan is marshaling his forces. Jesus senses the spiritual warfare that is going to increase. If you've ever seen spiritual warfare in your life, multiply it times 100 to understand what Jesus is about to face. So when Jesus understands what is going on in the spiritual realm, And he's telling his disciples, it's not time to be troubled. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Now this is the second time he said it. You remember he said it first at the beginning of the chapter. There in verse one, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. And then again in verse 27, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. He says, I understand that Satan is coming. He has nothing on me, but he's coming. but let not your heart be troubled." Somebody mentioned to me this last week that Hollywood has released a major demonic film, and movie reviewers are calling it the most frightening movie ever in the history of Hollywood. And the pagans are out there quaking in fear over this thing. And even the brother who shared it with me, it seems like It was just maybe a tinge of fear in his voice as he mentioned the demonic element in this film. But the goal of the supernatural horror genre, of course, is to get people to be afraid. That's the whole idea. That's why they go into the theater. And they want to be afraid. The producers want these people afraid because what you fear is what you worship, and so they want to be sure that people are worshiping Satan. This is the entire force behind the horror genre. In fact, the man who inspired the horror genre was a graduate of Wheaton College. Believe it or not, one of the prime apostates of the day, not unlike most of the other apostates that have done incredible demonic damage to literature and film and everything else. But the goal of the horror genre is to get people to be afraid of these demons. But I'm here to tell you, Christians, we are not to be afraid of demons, not even for a second. And I understand we will mention spiritual attacks from time to time. I will. I think it's important to acknowledge it. If we don't acknowledge it, we don't engage. So one of the reasons why the Reformed Church is so often subject to intense spiritual attacks is because they don't even know it. They're not prepared to handle it, and there's really not a lot of prayer going in to fending off the demons. They're not engaging the battle, and that's a problem for the Reformed crowd. Don't deny the existence of it, but here's the problem. The minute you start recognizing demonic activity, everybody goes, ooh, like it's some big deal. We're not to do this, not for a second. not to fear demons at all. I don't know if anybody has watched this particular movie. I know some of the young people run off and watch as many movies as they would like, but let me say this. We don't play with this kind of genre. We don't engage in fear, okay? It is against God's law. It is against the commandment of Christ. It is blasphemy against Jesus to say that a demon has more power than the Lord Jesus Christ. Even for a second. We're not to assume that for even a second. Christians must never, never, ever fear Satan or fear the demonic realm. It ought never to happen, brothers and sisters. Jesus says, I don't want you afraid. Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, because Jesus has absolute control over the winds, the waves, and the demons. There's a reason why there are so many instances of Jesus casting out demons throughout the Gospels, because it was a no contest. There wasn't any contest. It wasn't like, ooh, I wonder if the Legion's gonna have a handle on this one. You know, it's probably gonna go to, you know, seven rounds on this one. No, no, no. Two seconds. Knockout. Two seconds. The demons from the outset, they're crawling up to the feet of Jesus, groveling up to the feet of Jesus, going, oh, what are you going to do, cast us into that lake, cast us into the pigs? No contest between the most powerful, evil, malicious spiritual forces in the universe and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. No contest. These pagans that watch the horror movies are in awe of the demons because they cause people to go mad and they do a few circus tricks. I love to say, our God creates universes and he raises the dead. Much more impressive. You know, people see demons do something supernatural, they go, ooh, he did something supernatural. Give me a break. Are you with me here? Give me a break so they can do circus tricks. Stop it, stop it, stop it. The second temptation, I'm going through temptations for fear. First of which is fear of the spiritual realm or the demonic realm. The second is fear of man. And I'll just touch on this for just a second. We tend to want to fear man. I think so many of us operate out of the fear of man, fear of rejection, fear of losing jobs, fear of what people think of us. Fearing man, how much of the fear of man motivates you? Certainly the fear of man influenced the disciples. There's no question that they almost immediately violated Jesus' command, don't be afraid, everything's gonna be okay. They violate that immediately, right? And Peter denies Jesus three times, because he's so afraid of what that could do to him, and you know, somebody might get arrested, he might wind up crucified next to Jesus, or whatever it is, Peter was afraid, afraid of what man could do to him. The fear of man is a snare. May God deliver you from the snare of the fear of man. We don't need the fear of man, we need the fear of God. And do remember that the fear of God is essential for our congregation. I believe it is. I think we need to come back to the fear of God. And children, you need to fear God and honor your parents as well. We had a young lady that was murdered in this congregation about a year ago. What kind of message does that send to the church? Fear God. Fear God. That's basic. We're not teaching these lessons. We're not learning the lesson of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. These teach us God is in control of these things. Children, fear God. You could wind up dead tomorrow. Fear God. You're not to fear death. You're not to fear the enemy. You're not to fear the spiritual forces. Fear God. It's the beginning of wisdom and knowledge in the church, the beginning of wisdom and knowledge in the family. Fear God, but do not fear man. Thirdly, we are also tempted to fear the storms. When I say the storms, we're coming back to the issue of change. Winds and waves, they mark changes. The sea was calm, and now it's not calm. The same thing happens when you raft down these rapids. In Colorado or in Oregon, you go through a period of calm waters, and you pull out your peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and you enjoy your root beer and so forth, and then suddenly you start going through this rapid, and before you know it, the thing's going around and around and around. It turns over and you're in the ocean or you're in the lake or the river, and it's a very frightening thing. But that's the way that life is. Life is filled with all of these changes and movements and losses and sometimes gains, always gains. We can't always understand or determine what kind of gains are happening, but there are gains going on in all of the changes, in all of the movements and losses that occur. Change introduces the unexpected, the unanticipated, over which you do not have control. See, what happens in our lives is we get to the point where we're in control of the boat. We can handle this. We don't need God right now because we have it all under control. Nothing can possibly go wrong. And we get used to the cause and effect relationships in that state. But then as the winds and the waves pick up and we start seeing that the lake is unsteady and unstable and things are going topsy-turvy, we begin to see that we're not in control of the boat anymore. It is the winds, it's the waves, it's the external cause relationships that have so much influence over the boat and over our lives. And so, when a spouse dies, Or when we lose a job or we lose a friend, we know we're not in control of this. And so we ask the questions, is Jesus in control of this as well? Because the props are taken out from under us. We're now left to fend by faith. It's a little bit like you're painting on a rooftop and you're standing on the ladder and someone pulls the ladder out from under you. You no longer have the props you were used to, but now you've gotta hang on by faith to God. You gotta hang on by faith to Jesus, who you know has control over all the things that are going on in your life. So that, again, forces you to faith, But you sometimes become a little troubled when you see these changes going on around you. Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day. Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away. Isn't that true? Change and decay and all around I see, oh Lord who changes not, abide with me. That's the testimony of the Christian. Because we're going to see nothing but change and decay. from here until we make it over the river into heaven with Jesus. We're going to continue to see change and decay. You can count on it. And so, we'll talk about how to interact with that in just a moment, but it's not just the storms. It's also the premonition of the storms. It's the rising of the storms. We're tempted to fear. When we begin to hear Niagara Falls, a little further down the river. We were enjoying things, rowing the river, rowing the river. You hear Niagara Falls, the roaring noise. And we're not very good at level 14 rapids or whatever. I don't know what Niagara Falls is. Level 14? Level 18? I don't know, it's way up there somewhere. I've only been to three and four on rapids in the past. But as you hear the approaching rapids, and you know that it's gonna be something over a 12. you're gonna be dropping, you know, 300 feet on this particular rapid, there is a sense of fear that may take hold of you on the premonition itself. And I think this is probably the most tempting area in which we are given to fear. It tends not to be in the middle of the storm as much as it is when we see the dark clouds gathering. and we just sense the wind picking up, and the waves are moving, and the velocity of the wind is changing. It's the DVDT issue. It's the acceleration issue that causes us the trouble. Once we hit the velocity, and the velocity is pretty stable, we're okay, okay. So now we know we're gonna be dealing with 14-foot waves. It's nice to know it. But beforehand, when we're just getting to the point we realize something is happening, the enemy is rattling his sabers, the death threats are coming, Judas leaves the room. Nothing's happened yet. It was just Judas left the room. Just sense something's going to happen. The phone rings. You haven't even picked it up yet, but you see somebody on the caller ID and you just sense is going to be communicated to you. Maybe it's the Elbert County Sheriff Department calling you right now on the caller ID, and you're afraid. Jesus says, no. Jesus says, no, no, no, not now. No fear now. But it's the Elbert County Sheriff's Department. I haven't answered yet, but I fear what they're going to say, how they're going to communicate something. to me right now because my daughter has been out at 11 o'clock at night. She was on her way home, got the call. What are they gonna say? Fear rises in you. Jesus says, no, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You see, this is going to be bad. Jesus says, no, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Relationships grow tense in the family or the church, and there's fear in your eyes as you realize, whoa, we're getting jiggled here in our relationships and the family. the way my son or my daughter spoke to me just now. Oh boy, that's putting us into the rapids. It's gonna get rough, it's gonna get tough. You're on out. A little fear rises in you. Jesus says, no, no, no, no. Let not your heart be troubled. Be not afraid. Do not be afraid now. On the premonitions, our teenage kids go through their wild moods. They come up with some harebrained opinion about something. And they're like, you freak out over it. Has this ever happened to any of you? Anybody raise teenagers in this room? And they do something crazy like what you did when you were 14 years old. and just your heart is in your throat, and you respond in fear, and they can tell you're afraid, and then it transfers into anger in just a second or two. You know how it goes. Jesus says, no, no, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid is what Jesus is telling us here. Okay, so what is our response to the storms and the premonitions? Number one, first thing, how do you respond when you're tempted to fear? Number one, realize that God is testing you. This is God's test. Get out a clean piece of paper and a pencil, put it down in front of you, you're taking your test right now. You can just do that if you want, I suppose. Take some notes, journal yourself through the test, see how you did. I mean, you're gonna be tested. Life is full of tests. God is testing you. You say, yeah, but Satan's involved here. Yes, Satan's involved, but Satan went up and asked permission of God, and God said, yep, that's according to my plan. We're going to go with it. Here we go. And God tests Job, and God tests you at the same time. that the devil is attacking. God's got his agenda working. He's working on you. He's testing you. He's turning the dial up. The dial was at 2. It turned up to 3.4 on Brenda this morning. Turned it up to 5.6 on Kevin this morning. God is turning up the dial on your life right now. So first and foremost, realize that God is there. God is testing you. God is sending these things. It's not like winds and waves. Where did this come from? Random actions in a totally random universe. Ooh, scary. Betcha it's the demons doing it. It's gotta be the demons. Listen, the God who can still the storms is the God who makes the storms. Amen? Number two, second thing we do in response to the storms and the premonitions of storms in our lives, never act out of fear. Now I would say never be afraid, but I'm also saying never act out of fear. The tendency is to panic. The tendency is to run away. The tendency is to pretend the storm doesn't exist. Listen, we don't run away from the battle. We run to the battle. Amen? That's what Christians do. We don't run away from the battle, we run to the battle. We're always running to the battle, of course. When the battle presents itself to us, we engage. Absolutely. Don't panic. Don't overreact. And do not make a critical decision out of the fear of man, or the fear of the future, the fear of circumstance, or fear of anything else. Repent of the fear. Confess the fear. Don't proceed when there's fear. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of love and power and strong mind. And so if you're going to make any kind of a decision, first thing you do is you say, okay, is there power here? Do I sense the Holy Spirit flooding through me right now where I sense so much faith and confidence and boldness, I could walk out on air this morning? and to preach the gospel in front of some university classroom down in Denver. I just feel the Holy Spirit power just absorbing me. I sense a love. I sense a sound mind. So is there power? Is there love? Is there sound mind? Check, check, check. Make the decision. So first, realize God is testing you. Number two, never act out of fear, but act out of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit power, love and sound minds. And then thirdly, make sure that you are functioning in faith. And that this will represent an increase in faith. There's so many people that when they go through the trial, there's this choice of fear or faith. And in the end, their faith isn't increased. It seems their faith may be decreased because they're not responding in faith to the trial itself. So the goal of all of these trials is to see that we are engaging in faith. And we see before us that God is laying out, yes, a challenge for us where we are going to have to engage this one in faith. We are gonna have to look up to God as we persevere in this trial. So it must be an increase in faith. You must be stronger because of the storm. And your conception of God should be growing through the trial. When Peter was walking on the waves, for some reason, the size of the waves were more impressive than Jesus standing on water. Now, I don't know how many times humans had tested the standing on water gig over the previous 4,000 years of world history, but I'm guessing that it had been attempted a few times. In 4,000 years of world history, nobody had ever stood on the water. And Peter is saying, man, that wave's gotta be all four feet tall. Wow. Wow. Big wave. Really big wave. Guys, that wasn't the thing to be watching. Big wave, not impressive. Jesus standing on water, impressive. So be sure that your conception of God is bigger than a four-foot wave and bigger than a lot of things. Is God getting bigger and bigger and bigger as you pick up the phone from Elbert County Sheriff's Department or wherever it is? Is God just getting bigger? as you are hanging on to some rubber raft in the open waters, and the 24-foot great white has just rubbed your leg, is God any bigger right now in your life? Is God any bigger than the 24-foot great white shark at that moment? Is God getting any bigger or is God just getting smaller in your life? See, these are the questions to be asking. Are you acting out of faith? Fourthly, make sure you can see clearly. What happens in storms is oftentimes the waves kind of do this and they, you're wearing glasses like I do, They get the water in the glasses, fogs it up. Has that ever happened to any of you glasses wearing people? Can't see. Can't see because all this wind and wave business is messing up my glasses. I can't see very well. So you've got to be able to see clearly through the trial and realize this, that the world and the devil are battling hard for your mind. Your mind is a battleground. And the world and the devil is like, they have one thing to do. And I don't think they do much more than this. Occasionally they'll do some circus tricks. Which is really stupid, it gets pagans excited. But what they do for Christians is they just jump into your mind and they just do this. Waving their arms around a lot. It's called diversions and distractions. And they do that all the time. A lot of you are nodding right now because you recognize exactly what they're doing. They're distracting you. They're diverting you. They're getting your eyes off the things that really matter, the things you really believe. But, you know, they provide 10,000 electronic inputs now, 100 decibels of loud music. The world wants to be all-consuming. It's never happy unless it's all-consuming. My wife and I were at some restaurant. I can't remember where it was. But it was just loud. loud, loud, loud, flash, flash, flash. You ever been to these restaurants? Typically sports bars or something like that. You ever been in a place like this? It's just, visually, it's just flash, flash, flash, flash, and just decibels just banging against your head like a baseball bat over and over and over again, and then it gets louder and it gets louder. That's modern life. If you want to contrast that to the way people lived the last 2,000 years, it's crazy, wild, bad out there. But the world is dominating. It's not happy unless it can completely and utterly distract you and divert you from anything real in life. The world and the devil want to bring you back into a bondage of fear. Fear of losing your things, your stuff. Oh, I might lose my stuff. Ooh, that's scary. I might lose my life, my health. These are fears of very, very insignificant things. But if you could spend 10 minutes in the Word in the morning, if you could spend an hour in the Word, you'd be prepared to handle the day. I think I could guarantee that to you. Well, I'll give you double your money back on this morning's sermon. If you would spend one hour in the morning preparing yourself, preparing your mind, getting your mind situated where it needs to be, because remember what the world's gonna do, it's gonna be pulling you away from the truths of God's word, the basic perspective and outlook that you need to have as a Christian. The world is gonna work on you and work on you and work on you, but remember the world is a paper tiger. The world is that guy in Wizard of Oz with a really loud voice. Do you remember when he got behind the screen? He was like this old wizened guy, you know, kind of on a cane kind of thing, kind of falling away. The world and its lusts are passing away, and it's just a mask, and it sounds like it's real authoritative and everything. The world is nothing. The world is a paper tiger. These powerful worldly institutions are collapsing all around us right now. That should be obvious to you. The devil's days are numbered. We all know this. But what should your mind be thinking of? You need to be thinking clearly. What should you be thinking about? How do you? Get your mind straightened out as you're tempted to fear. You have to situate yourself metaphysically. First of all, that Jesus is on the right hand of the Father. He created the whole world. He's over all of the things that are going on in the world around us. Be sure that your mind is thinking rightly. And then ethically, Jesus turns to us. He's trustworthy. He's telling us, don't you dare be afraid. There's nothing to be afraid of. Now, you've got to believe that He has the authority to say that. Does he know enough? Does Jesus know enough about all of the possible things that could ever happen in life, in history, all of the 60 billion, 100 quadrillion possible events that are going to happen, are gonna play out, and how every single one of them are gonna impact your life and the situation that is facing you right now? Does Jesus understand all of this? Yes, he does. given that He knows everything about every part of your life and where your life is going, and all of the things and people you're gonna interact with in your life for the rest of your life, and He tells you, listen, I'm in control of everything, and I love you, and I'm telling you, you have no reason to be afraid. How should you react to that? Should you believe Him? Should you erase every other input that is crowding in on your thoughts? Believe me, brothers and sisters, I get them too. Where do these things come from? I'm like, what am I thinking about this and that and this and that and this and that? It's just somebody doing this, waving their hands in my head like this, where all I need to do is open up John 14 again and read it. Jesus said, don't let your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Jesus knows every potential threat, every contingency. Everything that's going to happen because he has predestined it. And he's already conquered death. He's resurrected. And he tells us, let not your heart be troubled. You know why the pagans are so deathly afraid of everything? I was shocked as a little boy running around in the forests in Japan. Couldn't get my Japanese friends to run through the forest with me. That's where I got the big stag beetles. I got a lot of big stag beetles, and deep in the forest, they wouldn't come with me. And I'd emerge out of the forest with these big stag beetles. Oh, wish I could have one of those. But they wouldn't come into the forest with me. You know why, children? You know why the little children would not come into the forest with me in Japan? Because they didn't believe in Jesus. They didn't believe in Jesus. They didn't believe that Jesus is over the whole world. Jesus is taking care of the whole world. He takes care of everything. Jesus is God. He's over everything. They didn't believe. They believed in gods that were weak. Gods that were malicious, that were bad, evil gods, and kind of weak gods, and wimpy gods, these deceitful demons that never tell the truth, and they can't really do very much because they're just created spiritual beings. They're just weak, weak, weak, weak, weak. The reason why pagans are so afraid is their gods are wimps. Just to put it simply, right? Their gods are wimps. Just that simple. And the reason why Americans are so afraid is because their gods are cars and houses. They're even more miserable than the pagan gods. Western materialists, their gods are money and health and wealth and all these transient things and they just go away. So what is the right perspective for us? Let me close with these three short reminders that Jesus gives to us, verses 27 and 28. The first is 27. He says, peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. I preached on this last week, so we're not gonna spend much time with it. He says, you don't need to be afraid. You've got my peace with you. It's a powerful peace, it's controlling peace. It's a peace of God that passes all understanding and keeps our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And what is peace? It's what I preached on last week. Peace is everything's gonna be okay. Everything's okay right now and everything's gonna be okay. That's peace. Don't make it too complicated for yourself. Peace is everything's okay. Because why? Because Jesus said everything's okay. And now there's the worldly peace. The worldly says, don't worry, everything's at peace, everything's at peace. Don't mind the wars behind my back. But our peace is absolute because Jesus has assured our peace and everything is okay with God. And as long as everything is okay with God, nothing else matters. And that was our big point from last week. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried in the midst of the sea, though, you know, Pike's Pea is toshed into a reservoir down here in Aurora. Big deal. No big deal. Nuclear bombs fall, whatever it is. No big deal. Why? Well, Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, there is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God is with her that right early. And this is the second point. And as Jesus says, I'm coming back to you. I'm going to be with you. The fact that God is with us is the second reason we don't have to be afraid. Jesus was in the boat with the disciples. Really, really good to keep Jesus in the boat with you. Really good. Why? You know what? It's good to have the guy who designed the boat in the boat with you if you're working your way through a storm. But it's even better to have the God who created the world and all the storms in the world right there in the boat with you as well. It's even better. God is right there with you. He's in the midst of you. You will not be moved. God will help you. And that speaks of the church there. And that right early, God's hand is on the church. We have seen it so many times. We're so encouraged by it. We know the presence of God. We have seen him help us through other periods of difficulty in the past. And he promises that he's gonna be with us. Verse 28, he says, you have heard how I said to you, I go away and come again to you. That's the second encouragement here. And what Jesus is saying is, he's saying, I'm going to be gone. I'm going to be gone for about 40 hours. Isn't that nice that he's giving the heads up? Going to be out of here for 40 hours. That good? It's a short time. He didn't tell him 40 hours. He told him he'll be rising from the dead on the third day, so it's three days. But 40 hours. Be right back. Isn't that good? Hang on, I got something to do. Be right back. And he came back on the third day. He rose again from the dead. He came right back. He fulfilled that promise. And yes, we will never go through a dark hour like that again. Never. There will never be another time in the rest of human history where we will not see Jesus for 40 hours because he's in the tomb. That already happened. But he was saying here, he's saying, I'm gonna be gone for a short time, 40 hours, hang in there, be right back. That's what he's saying here. Is anybody encouraged by this? And now he tells us something else. He says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. He says, I need you to get out there and disciple the nations. And it will be dangerous. And yes, the kings of the earth will set themselves against the Lord and against his anointed and against all of you guys. But take heart, I'm gonna be with you. I'm right there with you. I will not leave you. In this very, very difficult task, Jesus guarantees his presence with his people. And there is nothing more to fear, nothing. Revelation 12 verses 10 and 11. I love this message of what the church is going through and how the church faces the tremendous demonic push. And if you've been in the church for more than a year or two, you understand that the church is filled with all kinds of challenges, doctrinal challenges. You have false brethren that creep in. You've got conflicts and difficulties and spiritual attacks over here and spiritual attacks over there. And if, you know, you could just chronicle local church's experience. I don't know if anybody's ever done this, but if you did over a period of 20, 25, 30 years where somebody hung in there and just rode through the waves and they could chronicle all of these things going on and still testify to the presence of God and the overcoming of the evil one and In every instance where the church continues to stand, the gates of hell does not prevail against it. Listen to Revelation 12 and verse 10. This is the summary of this great battle between the dragon and the church. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven now salvation and strength in the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ has come for the accuser of our brethren who's accused them before our God day and night has been cast down and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb by the word of their testimony and they did not love their lives to the death. Do you get a sense of fear here? You do not get a sense of fear, especially with the early church. You just don't get it. We're just reading right now the book of Acts in our family Bible time, and it is amazing how these guys are walking. I mean, this would be like the Christian church in 1938 walking into the Kremlin to have a Bible study. Okay? The church marching into the Kremlin and healing people by the dozens in the Kremlin. And then they're arrested in the temple, they're put in prison, angel gets them out and says, you get back into the temple and preach the word of God to those people. And they went right back and there they were preaching the word of God right in front of this plate glass window of the Sanhedrin. And they're like, didn't we just throw those guys in prison like last night? Yeah, but you know, angel got out, now they're back preaching the word of God in the temple. And that happened again and again and again and again. These guys didn't fear. There's no fear. They overcame him by the blood of the lamb, by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. And then the final reason why we're not to be afraid, Jesus gives it to us again at the end of verse 28. If you loved me, you would rejoice because I said I go to the Father for my Father is greater than I. What does this mean? The Father is not of greater essence than Jesus, but greater in works than in economic primacy. That's what it means, theologically speaking. It's pretty simple. You back up to verse 12 in the same chapter. Always use the immediate context to define what he's saying. Is Jesus saying that he's of lesser essence than the Father? And the whole doctrine of the Trinity blows up? No, no, no, look back. Verse 12 in the same chapter, what does it say? Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also. And greater works than these will he do because I go to my Father. I know it's a shock to you, but Jesus said that we are gonna do greater works than Jesus did, under the influence of the Holy Spirit in his ministry, because Jesus is going to the Father. Now, I can't explain all of this, but what Jesus is saying is you haven't seen the half of it yet. In the ministry of Christ on earth, with raising the dead and all the other things that he did, you haven't seen the half of it yet. The father reaches down and raises his son, the Lord Jesus from the dead. And you know that was the most amazing cosmic event of divine power that ever was. And I hesitate to say this, it may or may not be, but it may be the greatest cosmic event of divine power that will ever be. And that's because Paul refers to it in Ephesians chapter one, that we would better know the power, the power of the Father that raised the Son from the dead. Remember the last words of Christ on the cross? Into your hands I commend my spirit. What is that? Jesus fell into the arms of his Father. And then he says, my resurrection is all yours. It's all yours now, Father. The Father, greater works. The Father, greater in economic primacy. The Father, greater in that sense. And Jesus knew it. He says, you've been impressed with me. I've been in the boat with you. I've taken care of you along the way. But from here on out, you ain't seen nothing yet. It's going to be amazing. You would not believe how the church in China is gonna fare. You will not believe how a tiny little church in Elizabeth, Colorado is going to make it through hell and high water. That church is gonna make it against the spiritual oppression that will be unbelievable. But they will make it by the power of God. Jesus said, check this out. Check out the Father. I'm going to the Father and it's me and Him against the devil and all his tribe and all the opposition that any spiritual force could ever put against us. It will be no contest. Trust me. All that Christians would know the power of God and the love of God. That's what Paul says in Ephesians chapter one. He says, oh, that you would know the power of God that worked in Jesus to raise him from the dead because that very same power is in you too. Our biggest problem is they're sitting around going, I just don't think there's much power here. I just don't think there's much power here. That is the biggest heartbreak that could ever, ever be, that a Christian should just sit there and not realize the power of God that resides within him, the power of the Father that raised the son from the dead. And you say, I'm just not sure I can deal with this porn problem in my life. The power of God that raised Jesus from the dead is powerless with your little sin issue in your life? Oh, no, no, no. that you would better know the power of God, the power of God. We heard about another marriage that's in trouble, a marriage that took place in this church. We heard it from a friend of a friend. They've moved out somewhere. We don't know where they are. I told my wife, if they would just look, They're looking in and they're looking out at the winds and the waves. If they would just look up. If they would just look up! From whence comes our help? Our help comes from the Father. Our help comes from the Son. Our help comes from the Holy Spirit. If they would just understand the power of God, if they would just pray, maybe for the first time in their lives, if they would just pray to the real God. And if you say, help me to the real God, he will help you, he will come, he will save you, he will redeem you, he will make you his own, and you will overcome sin in your life. Well, our approach to fear should be just faith. Faith that prays, faith that acts boldly and forthrightly. Not fear, not fear. Amen. Let's pray. Father, that we would know, that we would know the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead. that we would know the presence of Christ, that we would know the power of the Holy Spirit and the love of God in us. Father, give us more. Give us more. More faith in the time of trouble. Father, less fear, less fear, more faith. Oh, may we delight in the love of Christ, the attention that Christ pays to us, and his absolute power and sovereignty over every single aspect of our lives. Increase our faith. Oh, that the world will not distract and divert us Lord, clear our minds of all these false notions. Help us to act according to the words of Jesus. I love you, I have all power in heaven and earth. Any questions? That we would just receive what he has said, what he's given us. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Father, may this characterize us more and more in Jesus' name. Well, I'd like to exhort us just a little bit on the blood of Christ, as we remember the blood of Christ at the table tonight or today. We overcome the evil one. Revelation 12 said we overcome by the blood of the Lamb. By the word of the testimony, we love not our lives even unto the death. So this life is not of that great value. It's the future life that matters. And our treasures are laid up far beyond, not here on this earth. Our treasures are over there. And that's where our heart is, that's where we wanna go. But as we engage the battle, we overcome by the blood of the Lamb. We overcome the devil, it's amazing. David overcame Goliath, and that was a big battle. But the devil is even more significant than Goliath himself. We approach these formidable enemies, but how do we overcome them? How does the church press through again and again and again? We do so by the blood of the Lamb. We have nothing to fear in the battle because we have overcome by the blood of the Lamb. I'd like to read just a few verses that tie into this as well. What is it about the blood of the Lamb that enables us to overcome? What is it that gives us such an edge in the battle? Listen to Hebrews 10, 19. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter in to the holy places by the blood of Jesus, Colossians 119, for in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. First Peter 1.8, knowing that you were not redeemed with incorruptible things like silver or gold. So we were not bought away from slavery, the slavery of the devil and the slavery of sin, by incorruptible things like silver or gold. but we have been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. And then Revelation 1, 4, grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on the earth, to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his own blood. So what is it about the blood of Jesus that gives us an edge in the battle? What is the value of the blood of Christ? Why is the devil so afraid of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ? What do we get through the blood of Christ? We get confidence, boldness, We have peace with God and we have freedom from the bondage of Satan and the bondage of our sins. That's what the blood of Christ gets for us. So I want you to meditate on this as we approach the table and we remember the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from our sins. The blood of Jesus sets us free from condemnation. There are no more accusations any further. And you know, Satan is referred to as the accuser of the brethren. He has been cast down. You've heard his accusations before. You hear it in the back of your mind. It undermines your boldness. It chips away at your confidence. But he's been cast down. He's down. He's down for the count. He cannot accuse us anymore. We are free from these accusations. We are free from fear. We are free from the fear of death. No more fear of persecutions. No more fear of death. No more fear of guilt. No more fear of that condemnation or that judgment. No more fear of being enslaved to the law. And no more fear of being enslaved to the expectations of mere men and their systems. and no fear of losing our final reward. This is what the blood of Jesus gets to us, gives us a freedom, brothers and sisters, a freedom, a freedom to think rightly, a freedom to act rightly, a freedom to love the brethren, a freedom to engage in witness, different forms of freedom, freedom to live for Christ, freedom to die for Christ. Imagine the freedom to be able to just give up our lives, To be able to say, you know what, my life isn't really worth all that much, I'm going to heaven, so I'm going to risk my life and become a missionary to Saudi Arabia. I realize it'll last for maybe a month or two months, or by the grace of God, six months, who knows? But imagine the freedom to be able to just do that. Instead of this, oh, I'm so afraid, I'm so into the bondage of death. this fear of death, this fear of this, and this fear of death. Imagine being able to be free, free to live for Christ and to die for Christ, free to keep the commandments of God, free to take big risks for the kingdom, freedom from self, freedom to worship God and praise Him without restraint. This is what the blood of Christ does. He sets us free. What a precious gift. We have been redeemed not merely by silver and gold. Who cares about money? Who cares about money? Money doesn't buy righteousness, but the blood of Jesus does. Money can't set you free, but the blood of Jesus can. Enough of this talk about money. Brothers and sisters, we have the precious gift of the blood of Christ. Put a dollar amount on that, there is no dollar amount. He has set us free forever. What a value, what a value. Let's value the precious blood of Christ as we take the cup in our hands and think of the blood that was shed on the cross for us. He paid an expensive price to set you free from pornography. or to set you free from your greed, or to set you free from those things that interrupt your relationships in the home, your lusts, your pride, your worship of self. The blood of Christ sets us free, breaks the bonds, and sets us free from the worst tyranny that man has ever seen. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.