Not As The World Giveth

Our Bible passage, introduction to Sunday 23rd March service and hymns are below.

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Our principal verses are:

Jhn 14:24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.

Jhn 14:25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.

Jhn 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

Jhn 14:27 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.

Jhn 14:28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.

Jhn 14:29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.

Jhn 14:30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.

Jhn 14:31 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.

 Not As The World Giveth

The Lord Jesus, ever careful for the wellbeing and feelings of His beloved friends, has delivered words of comfort and encouragement to His soon to be bereft disciples. Speaking these things ‘being yet present’ implies His imminent departure from them. The Lord has spoken of mansions prepared for them in His Father’s house. He has promised to supply them with power by sending the Holy Spirit to comfort them and intimated how He Himself, with His Father, will come to dwell in them. Though spoken personally to the disciples these present spiritual graces and eternal heavenly promises are every believer’s possession.

Yet there is more

The Lord is not finished yet. Three more commitments are made to the disciples. First, the coming Spirit of Truth will teach them ‘all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you’. This is great evidence for the trustworthiness and apostolic authority of the New Testament scriptures, including the Gospels. Even after many years the testimony of the disciples was clear, accurate and reliable. Their gospel doctrine is faithful and dependable because it is revealed truth from the Lord Jesus Himself who is God that cannot lie.

The peace of God

Second, the Lord furnishes peace for the disciples, His own peace. This means peace for their troubled hearts that despite the severity of the experience about to overtake them they would be preserved and protected. It includes a spirit of peace, an attitude of unity, to enable the group to remain single-minded for their apostolic ministry. It certainly includes the gospel of peace which the Lord now committed to them to be preached and proclaimed to all the world after He was gone.

Of conscience, heart and mind

However, Christ’s peace is also that real and vital awareness in the converted soul of peace with God and reconciliation by the blood of Jesus Christ. This peace is actual union with God by the atonement. The Saviour’s blood has removed the sin that separated us from God. Christ’s peace includes application of forgiveness to the conscience of cleansed and converted men and women. It is spiritual peace that passes understanding. It is totally unlike the peace the world gives which is fleeting and false.

Our personal experience

While these gifts were primarily for the apostles in light of their immediate need and impending commission they apply to all believers. They freely come to all to whom the truth of the gospel is spiritually conveyed. The Spirit of Truth who dwells in us with power brings enlarged spiritual understanding as we grow in grace. He deepens our knowledge of Christ’s peace throughout the days of our earthly experience.

A great inheritance

Spiritual peace and our rich inheritance of grace in the Lord Jesus transcends anything this world can offer. Notice that Christ’s gifts are given. They are neither earned nor deserved. They are freely and unconditionally given as gifts of grace and mercy and flow from the bounty of God’s love. David understood this when He wrote that, goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our lives and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Faith

The third gift after spiritual knowledge and spiritual peace is spiritual assurance and faith, ‘I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe’. Only God knows the future before it comes to pass and here the Saviour reinforces His credentials of divinity. It is certain that the disciples’ faith grew greatly in the weeks following the Saviour’s resurrection and ascension. The giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost brought further boldness and power to men who previously hid themselves for fear of the Jews.

The devil at the cross

The Lord concludes His words of reassurance by drawing the disciples’ attention to the coming prince of this world. This is the devil who was coming to taunt and harass the Saviour as He suffered on the cross for the sins of His people. Here Christ makes an interesting observation, telling His disciples Satan ‘hath nothing in me’. Despite bearing a world of sin for His beloved people there was no personal sin in Christ. All the transgressions of God’s chosen were placed on Christ the sacrificial lamb but He was pure in heart and soul.

Christ’s obedience

The Saviour makes a direct reference to the covenant of grace. He was come to do the Father’s will in obedience to the Father’s commandment. This cannot be one of the ten commandments but refers to the fulfilment of the covenant obligations laid upon the Saviour in the eternal council of grace and peace. This is when the justification and reconciliation of the elect was settled. Jesus Christ was obedient unto death, the death of the cross, for the redemption of the elect; making peace for all who had been placed into His hands.

Amen

Our hymns are below.

Hymn 1

Gadsby Selection 27

To the Holy Ghost. Luke 11. 13; John 14. 26; 15. 26

J. Hart                                         S.M.

1
Come, Holy Spirit, come;
Let thy bright beams arise;
Dispel the darkness from our minds,
And open all our eyes.

2
Cheer our desponding hearts,
Thou heavenly Paraclete;
Give us to lie, with humble hope,
At our Redeemer’s feet.

3
Revive our drooping faith;
Our doubts and fears remove;
And kindle in our breasts the flames
Of never-dying love.

4
Convince us of our sin,
Then lead to Jesus’ blood;
And to our wondering view reveal
The secret love of God.

5
Show us that loving Man
That rules the courts of bliss,
The Lord of Hosts, the Mighty God,
The eternal Prince of Peace.

6
’Tis thine to cleanse the heart,
To sanctify the soul,
To pour fresh life on every part,
And new-create the whole.

7
If thou, celestial Dove,
Thy influence withdraw,
What easy victims soon we fall
To conscience, wrath, and law!

8
No longer burns our love;
Our faith and patience fail;
Our sin revives, and death and hell
Our feeble souls assail.

9
Dwell, therefore, in our hearts;
Our minds from bondage free;
Then shall we know, and praise, and love
The Father, Son, and Thee.

Hymn 2

Gadsby Selection 594

“My peace I give unto you.” John 14. 27; Eph. 2. 14

W. Gadsby           7s

1
O my soul, with wonder tell,
Jesus has done all things well;
And, through his atoning blood,
I’ve a settled peace with God.

2
He bequeathed his peace to me,
As a gift divinely free;
And it is his righteous will,
That my soul in peace shall dwell.

3
Love to such vile worms as I,
Brought the Saviour from the sky;
Every foe for them to quell,
Jesus conquered death and hell.

4
Gifts like this, so full and free,
Stand as firm as Deity;
God has sworn, nor can he lie,
It shall last eternally.

5
Justice, mercy, truth, and love,
Every attribute of God,
Join to make this peace secure,
And it must and shall endure.

6
What a solid basis this!
Such a peace can never miss,
But produce a grateful mind,
To a God so vastly kind.

7
Mourning souls who feel the smart
Of a guilty, treacherous heart,
And with mighty care and pain,
Struggle hard relief to gain;

8
Labour hard you may, and long,
But you’ll find your foes too strong;
Solid peace can ne’er be had,
Only through a Saviour’s blood.

9
Jesus, mighty Prince of Peace,
Now proclaim a full release;
Set poor captive sinners free;
Give them solid peace in thee.

The Lord Jesus adds promise upon promise, gift upon gift, blessing upon blessing to His troubled disciples as He prepares them for His suffering and departure.