1. It is an interesting experience for teachers when they are eloquently expounding a particular subject and suddenly realize that those who are listening just don’t get it. What does the teacher do? Consider this. The disciples are in the upper room. Jesus will be taken away from them in a matter of hours. By this time the next day, He will have been crucified and buried. And He knew that! Some of what He is teaching is repeat – but not just a review. It is review with additional information added for clarification. But the disciples still don’t get it.

2. We considered one of those classic statements of Jesus a couple of weeks ago – “Philip, have I been with you so long and you still do not know me?” Any earthly teacher would have thrown up hands and quit on the spot! What is the point? These guys will never get it. But they do – eventually!

3. At the moment, they are afraid. They are confused. They are frustrated. They are numb. And they are not hearing very well what Jesus is saying. They are anything but full of faith and peace. Knowing all of this, Jesus does not throw up His hands or walk out, resigned to the fact that His disciples are completely incompetent. He does not scold them or demean them. He quietly continues to talk with them and He promises to give them what they will need for what they must soon face. Having already promised them the Holy Spirit, He offers them another wonderful gift, the promise of His peace. Let’s follow His tender teaching as He shares with His disciples what they (and we) so desperately need to hear.

I. PEACE ILLUSTRATED (25-26) How would you draw a picture of peace? Jesus illustrated it for the disciples with a review of His ministry and a promise of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

A. Through the ministry of Jesus

1. This chapter began with Jesus telling His disciples, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” He will say it again in verse 27. When our hearts are at peace, they are not troubled. When Jesus told them not to be troubled, it was more than a wish or a desire on His part. It was an offer that He could and would deliver by actually providing them His peace.

2. This was not something new. Throughout Jesus’ ministry, the disciples had seen this. Even in the most stressful circumstances, there was a quiet confidence and certainty in Jesus’ responses. He had shown them by example how to live lives of peace, not troubled by the people and circumstances of the world, because all the while, He was trusting in His heavenly Father. The problem was that the disciples were struggling with recall and follow through! Jesus had already told them that He was sending another Comforter, but now He makes clearer what this Comforter would do.

B. Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit (By the way, this is the first time in John that He is called the “Holy” Spirit. He would be sent by the Father and would be sent in Jesus’ name. For the disciples, the good news about His coming involved what He would do for them in relation to what they needed in order that they might not be troubled and that they would actually possess God’s peace).

1. He will teach you all things. Obviously the “all things” is limited to what they needed to understand in order to do the will of God, especially in regard to the Good News. The Holy Spirit would make known to them the fullness of the Gospel so they could make it known to future generations – including us! What an incredible promise!

2. He will bring to remembrance what has already been taught by Jesus. Now we know why there was not more concern on the part of Jesus when it was obvious that the disciples were not getting it. Ultimately the Holy Spirit would teach the disciples what they needed to know and He would bring to remembrance what Jesus had earlier taught. This would result in the recording of the NT, which would be to us the revelation of God and His will. How grateful we ought to be that the Holy Spirit came! Listen to this example from the pen of James Boice: “On the day of Pentecost, Peter who on an earlier occasion had said when the Lord announced his crucifixion, ‘Far be it, Lord, that such a thing should happen to you’, who did not understand Jesus at all, this same Peter stood up and announced with great understanding that what had occurred in Jerusalem six weeks before had fallen out in accordance with God’s perfect plan and was the heart of redemption. Then Peter preached Christ to the very men who had crucified him, and the Holy Spirit blessed the message so that many came to faith on that occasion.”

3. I have said these things in relation to the disciples, but we also are taught and made to understand by the Holy Spirit’s ministry to us. Clearly, we in and of ourselves cannot understand the things of God, for they are spiritually discerned, but the Holy Spirit can and does make things clear to us. Consider these words from Paul to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 2:9-13).

II. PEACE ANNOUNCED (27)

1. Peace left

1. The peace Jesus was leaving them was the peace that He had with the Father in doing the Father’s will. Again and again Jesus made clear that He always did what pleased the Father. He had peace in doing the Father’s will.

2. Though violent circumstances were about to be revealed to the disciples in regard to Jesus in that He would die and in that He would not be with them, yet His peace would continue and He would leave that legacy for them! “My peace I leave with you.” The disciples would learn that it would be possible to have His peace without His personal presence! For His peace would be left for them, applied by the Holy Spirit to them.

2. Peace given

1. The peace given was a peace with God that would come at the purchase price of Jesus’ own blood. The only real peace available to us is the peace of God that was purchased in redemption, in the forgiveness of sin, in the propitiation for our sins, in the application of the righteousness of God to us. That’s the peace given to us by God.

2. On occasion we hear people say that they need to make their peace with God. Technically, they cannot do that even if they tried. They cannot atone for their sins. But Jesus has made the one perfect atonement for sin and this is the peace He has announced that would be given!

3. Peace distinguished

1. The world’s version of peace is either in relation to the absence of conflict or in feeling good about ones’ self. The world wants calm on the outside and warm feelings of self-esteem on the inside. In other words it is peace about us in reference to circumstances around us.

2. Jesus was offering a peace that is possible regardless of circumstances and a peace that is in relation to God for eternity. It is a fundamental or foundational peace, not a temporary tenuous peace that is subject to annihilation at any given moment! Jesus’ peace is different than that of the world in the nature of this peace and in the way He gives it. “So much of our restlessness and bitterness springs from our possessiveness, our desire for preeminence, our lust for recognition. Our love for self is so strong that it turns to hatred for others who do not give us what we think is our due. There is no peace where such sin flourishes. Jesus betrayed no possessiveness. He desired his Father’s glory and will, not personal preeminence and popular recognition. Far from loving his life, he gave it up for others – indeed for others who did not begin to offer him what was his due. And so Jesus could speak of his peace” (Carson, pp. 77-78).

3. This is why Jesus could follow up with “let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” Having peace with God and thus having the peace of God is not a peace that can be taken away or destroyed. Does that sound too good to be true? Let’s evaluate this peace.

III. PEACE EVALUATED (28-31)

1. Why peace is given

1. Remember that after Jesus was resurrected, He entered the upper room and said, “Peace be with you.” That was far more than just saying, “Don’t be afraid.” Here in John 14, Jesus is telling His disciples that He will give them peace. After His death and resurrection, He greets them with these triumphant words, “Peace be with you.”

2. In other words, it took His death and resurrection to provide the gift of peace. He had to go away in order to leave behind His peace! We can have peace, real peace, in no other way. To trust in Him is to have the capacity for lasting peace.

3. This is why Jesus makes the point He makes in verse 28. “If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” (The phrase, “the Father is greater than I” was not a declaration of something less than deity. For Jesus to return to the Father was better for Him. During the incarnation, His deity was veiled in human flesh, thus in some sense placing Him in this subordinate role. But He would assume His place and the glory due Him when back with the Father. I could say that the President of the US is greater than I. No one would assume that I was saying that he was more of a human being than I. The issues would be authority, rank, prestige, etc. For Jesus even to say this implies a close relationship. If I said, “God is greater than I”, while it is true, the comparison is ridiculous. However, since the Son is in the flesh and He has willingly set aside or veiled His glory, that would be an appropriate comparison to make). The disciples, because they are not glad about His going away, reveal that they really do not love Him as they should, and thus do not trust Him, and therefore are struggling with peace! (Carson, p. 81) He rebukes them here, not to add to their misery, but when all of this happens as He said, it will strengthen their faith.

B. Why peace is needed

1. Peace is needed because peace is absent. The world knows no peace and the disciples were troubled without peace. Further, they were about to experience the anger of “the ruler of this world”, that is the devil!

2. But Jesus was about to destroy the works of the devil and bring an end to the penalty of sin and in doing so, provide for the disciples a peace that would pass all understanding! “Neither a vacillating world, an absent Christ, nor an active devil should upset us” (Boice, p. 1157). Satan had no hold on Christ in that there was no sin on which to grab as a handle. As easily as Jesus slipped through the crowds who were trying to destroy Him before His time had come, so He slips through the devil’s hands. We cannot make the same claim. For the devil has much on us. But if we are in Christ, he cannot harm us and we can continually know the Lord’s peace. For in Christ, the enemy has no real hold on us either!

C. Why Jesus can deliver

1. Jesus can deliver because He does the will of the Father. He, as man could die, and as God could satisfy the holy demands of the law, the holy standard of the Father.

2. Jesus, who is our peace, is able to give peace, because He has secured peace for us from the Father by destroying the works of the devil and securing for us forgiveness of sin and a right standing before God. If we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, we can live lives that are not troubled because our confidence rests in Him!

3. Jesus secures this peace for us and the Holy Spirit reminds us that we possess it!

Conclusion

1. (Carson, p. 78) Jesus’ peace is not something everyone wants. Sometimes that is because of misconceptions regarding the nature of that peace. To a person whose happiness seems to depend on excitement, the word peace may conjure up visions of rather dull old fogies rocking slowly by the dying embers of an ancient hearth. To a revolutionary, the word peace is nothing but smug enjoyment of an evil status quo. Far sadder is the person who turns his back on Jesus’ peace precisely because he realizes that the peace Jesus promises is full-orbed, involving God, other people, himself; that this peace presupposes a living relationship with Christ, and a walk of joyful submission to him; that this peace is no escape from reality but a courageous serenity even in the midst of troubles; that this peace involves dying daily to overgrown self-interest.

2. Do you want His peace? It is found in Him, in trusting Him regardless of whatever else is happening – and His peace, a peace that passes all understanding, can be yours. (Carson, p. 78).

3. Close with Be Still My Soul (“Celebration Hymnal” p. 712, stanzas 1,2,3)