well hey good morning great to see everybody uh my name is luke i'm one of the pastors here i'm part of our preaching team and it's my joy to be able to open up god's word uh with you this morning uh in december molly and i celebrate our 20th anniversary which is pretty exciting and so to yeah i mean make up your mind are you going to clap or not i don't know anyway so we we had a chance to celebrate a little early we decided to go to new york city for a week some of you heard about that i had been saying how i was going to gripe about masks and everything it actually went great and we had an awesome week we went kind of wednesday and wednesday seven days in new york city basically just picked different parts of the city that we wanted to explore and walk around and eat and drink coffee and just had a great great time together and uh on the before we went i kind of asked some friends that i knew had some experience in new york city like hey what are your top three recommendations because i felt like if i asked for three they're gonna give me five if i ask for five they're gonna give me ten i don't want ten i just you know so so i had all these great recommendations didn't get to go go to all of them but but whenever we went to a restaurant where we had you know had been recommended by a friend i tried to kind of text him and say hey we went to this place and and so one friend replied and he said oh like i'm so glad you liked it you know how it is with recommendations right you know how it is right you make some recommendations they're like i hope they like it i hope it goes okay i hope it works and i think a lot of the time when we read the scriptures or when we listen to jesus whether we're a follower of jesus or we're just kind of kicking the tires on him we tend to imagine that what jesus is saying is just recommendations may maybe try this maybe don't maybe it'll work maybe it won't like it's just a rec it's just a recommendation you know it's a suggestion it's an idea you could do this right and leave your yelp review on what jesus has to say right kind of a thumbs up thumbs down you know but but the reality is especially in this passage of scripture here in the gospel of john jesus is not giving recommendations he's giving promises he's giving promises he's talking to his disciples the night before he is going to go to the cross he's about to be crucified he's about to be buried he's about to rise he's about to ascend to the right hand of the father and he's talking to his disciples and he's preparing them they are troubled they are distressed they're they don't totally understand what's going on but but as he begins to talk and they begin to kind of connect the dots in some ways they realize this is going to get tough and in the midst of that trouble in the midst of that difficulty jesus doesn't offer them recommendations he offers promises and so this bible is written especially this portion is written to describe how disciples ought to live in a world with trouble and in the midst of that world god doesn't give us recommendations he gives us promises and these are not just promises about the future though there's plenty of promises about the future in the bible but in this particular section jesus is giving us promises for right now look at verse 27 so you have your bible look at chapter 14 verse 27 jesus says this peace i leave with you my peace i give to you not as the world gives do i give to you let not your hearts be troubled neither let them be afraid in the midst of a troubling difficult upsetting kind of moment jesus says hey hey hey peace i'm leaving with you my peace i give to you isn't it interesting that he repeats it it's like hey you really need to understand this and then he says this not as the world gives do i give to you how does the world give peace right here we are in this time of trouble here we are in this time of chaos here we are in this time of uncertainty and we start looking for peace and and if you look around the world you can find some peace there is a kind of peace that the rest of the world gives you apart from jesus but what's it like it's temporary it's real short-lived right you can get a drink you can get a whole bottle of drinks you can take a pill you can shop your way into some peace you can pursue a certain kind of relationship you can just sort of lose yourself online or on netflix right there's there's ways to find peace like if you can't find even moments of peace you are really looking in the wrong places you can find some peace the problem with the world's peace is it's short-lived it's temporary the other thing about the world's peace is it's always earned it's always earned i sort of noticed this when you kind of think about all the self-help stuff that's out there and it's not just in books it's all over instagram right here's the life you could have you could be healthy you could be happy you could be emotionally healthy you could be mentally in a good place but all you got to do is eat this way have these things buy those things work out like this on and on and on and so you can have the world's peace but it takes a lot of effort and if it takes that much effort to get it think about how much effort it takes to maintain it the world offers a kind of peace the world's peace though also it's selfish jesus comes to give us a peace that's actually going to spill out on other people to help us be a blessing to other people but when you pursue peace the way the world pursues peace it's just all about you all these people who are a distraction they need to get out of my life all these people are difficult i need to kind of get cut them out right i just i'm about peace for me and peace the way the world gives it it's circumstantial it's peaceful until something goes wrong until there's an unplanned situation until it's like well i wasn't thinking it'd be like this and and it's so it's circumstance i have peace until i don't have any more peace and jesus says i'm trying to give you peace and there's a way the world gives peace but i have something that's better for you and so he says at the end of verse 27 let not your hearts be troubled neither let them be afraid what if our trouble and our fear do everything else feel troubled do we let us feel afraid what if our trouble and our fear is actually coming in part because we're looking to the world to provide peace and it just can't pull it off and so jesus says i came to give you peace and so the title of today's message is promises that produce peace jesus in this particular passage with his disciples is offering not recommendations not suggestions promises and these are promises that if we cling to them we will experience peace these are promises that produce peace that's what we're going to look at here together let's pray father in heaven thank you for your word and thank you for how you declare promises to us god promises that we don't deserve promises that are better than anything that we could imagine god help us to hear them help us to receive them and god i pray that you would give us peace through these promises that you would allow us to not feel so troubled to not feel so anxious to not feel so on edge god would you give us rest would you give us peace thank you for your word speak to us god amen now before we get into these specific promises i think it's important to say this is that these promises are for people who love jesus jesus said in john chapter 14 verse 6 he said i am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the father but through me so in other words if you're gonna experience the the way the truth and the life that jesus gives it has to come through jesus so if if you're gonna try to have the the peace jesus gives apart from jesus well it just doesn't make sense but in this text specifically it says that that these are for those who love him look at verse 15 if you love me you will keep my commandments verse 23 jesus answered him if anyone loves me he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him these are contingent on us loving jesus right these are promises for those who love christ do you love him now listen if you don't love him he still loves you and he's still pursuing you but if you love him i want you to be encouraged and i want you to take comfort today from these promises that produce peace well what are they there's three of them here's the first one if you love jesus first you will start living the way you were meant to live obeying his commandments if you love jesus you will start living the way you were meant to the way you were created to it's interesting in the gospel of john you know john is a follower of jesus he's a close friend of jesus some people would even suggest theologians would argue that john might be jesus closest friend and so he's writing this account of jesus life so that we would trust him and love him and believe in it and at the very beginning if you go to john chapter one what you see is that john starts with creation and he says jesus was actually the creator here's what it says in john chapter one verse 3 all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made in him was life and the life was the light of men in other words here's what he's saying he's saying there is a way of creation that is good and that is right and that is beautiful that is light that is life this is this is how we were made we were made by jesus to walk in the light to experience the life with god but very quickly we we we resist so just a few verses later in john chapter 1 verse 9 it says this the true light which gives light to everyone was coming into the world he was in the world and the world was made through him yet the world did not know him he came to his own and his own people did not receive him so here's what john's saying throughout this whole book he's saying there is this way of life there is this way of light there is this way of joy there is this way of peace and we have turned away from it we've turned away from the light we have loved the darkness rather than the light because our deeds are evil and as a result we experience all sorts of brokenness somebody has said it this way if you live against the grain of creation don't be surprised when your life is filled with splinters and this is how we feel our hearts are just filled with splinters our minds our lives it's splinters because we're going against the grain of creation god made us to walk with him and to trust him and to love one another and to be generous and to be kind and to be patient and to be self-controlled and to be all these and we go against that our lives are filled with splinters right when when god says don't to something what he means is don't hurt yourself there's a way i've made you there's a way i know you i want you to live in the grain of creation and so jesus has come to show a better way a way of love and of sacrifice and of blessing and so if you love him here's the good news today you will obey him you will keep his commandments and you will follow his way now this doesn't mean you'll do it perfectly but it does mean you'll do it increasingly look at chapter 14 verse 15. if you love me you will keep my commandments isn't that interesting he doesn't say if you love me you should you could you might no you will if you love me you will keep my commandments verse 23 jesus said if anyone loves me he will he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him whoever does not love me does not keep my words so if you love him you will keep his commands this is a promise this is a promise that over time you will become more and more like jesus you will become more and more who god created you to be more and more alive more and more filled with joy more and more filled with peace even in the midst of trouble even in the midst of stress you will you will become more like you were made to be now what about this connection between love and obedience if you love me you will keep my commandments well just think about this for a moment what do you get if you have love but not obedience if we love god but we don't obey him what do we get well it's just kind of sentimentalism right and think about this in any relationship right some of you are parents of your grandparents you're some of you are in marriage relationships some of you just have close friends good friends and there's times in those relationships where you say hey i really need you to do this right if you go to your kids you're like hey i really need you to clean your room you need to clean your room and they're like daddy i love you no you're like we have a problem here right like you're saying you love me it doesn't feel like it because you're not doing what i'm asking you to do right i'm not asking you to do something crazy i'm not if you love me you'll keep my commands right love without obedience is just sentimental you're like well i have good thoughts of you i just won't do what you ask like well that doesn't really feel like we have much of a relationship here do we now think about it the other way what if you have obedience without love well that's just slavishness now if you're the parent of a toddler you'll take it right like uh i don't care if you love me get your shoes on and get in the car right like right and so but but over time like it's this this is what's hard is some of us as we begin to have teenagers and we're gonna have adult children you go like they still will do what i say but without much warmth you're like yeah maybe they don't even do that you know well i don't that doesn't really feel great either see here's the thing god didn't make us to be obedient machines that just did what he said he wants a relationship with us and so it just makes perfect sense and that if that's true that if we love him we will obey him and so so we begin to live the way we were meant to live this is why this gives peace right this is why this is a promise that produces peace because if you love him you will start to live like him you'll start to want what he wants you'll start to live the way you were meant to live here's the second promise is that if you love jesus you will experience life with god near you with you and in you if you love jesus you will experience life with god not you might not you could not you ought to you will god near you god with you and god in you right well think about this what is sin sin is walking in darkness sin is what separates us from god sin is what sin is what keeps us from the goodness of god the blessing of god the peace of god and and so then into this world of sin jesus comes and he begins to show these disciples who he's doing life with and these other people who follow and he says hey i'm the way i'm the truth i'm the life they begin to see life the way it was meant to be and so he's with them and he's around them and and they're experiencing the kingdom of god coming and if you just again so this is not just time about us right now as much as talking about these disciples in this room right they're in this upper room they're having this passover dinner with jesus and they're starting to go uh oh we had this world of sin but god came into it and we've had him and he's been close and we could touch him and now it seems like he's saying he's gonna leave he's gonna go somewhere he's going to do something else this seems to be rattling us and yet here's what jesus says to them here's what he says he says don't worry guys don't worry if i were to summarize what he's saying in this text he's saying don't worry you will get more of god than you could ever imagine now this is hard for us to believe because because we who believe that jesus is god believe well how could i get more of god than if jesus were in the room with me or that's what we longed for oh i wish i could just see jesus i wish i could touch his hand and and see his face i wish i could have a presence with him and here's what jesus is saying in this text in this text he's saying listen that's the downgrade i i'm i'm going away and i'm giving you an upgrade i'm giving you something better look at what he says in verse 18 he says i will not leave you as orphans i will come to you he's saying i'm not going to abandon you i'm not going to leave you out in the dry i'm not going to leave you in the cold i will be with you verse 20 indicates this as well in that day you will know that i am in my father and you in me and i in you yo what like he's saying like i'm not just gonna be kind of in the same room as you but i am in my father and you are in me and i'm in you he's describing this this language of union not just proximity to god but union with god that's amazing verse 23 he says if anyone loves me he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him he's saying you've had just you've had this little taste of god through the the scriptures and you've had this little taste of god through the temple and the sacrifices and you've had this taste of god through me coming and you living with me and i'm about to tell you here's what he's saying i'm going to give you something that's better than all three of those combined a couple months ago i was on youtube just i don't know what made me think to do it but i was with my older two girls and we were watching on youtube on our tv and i found the the steve jobs original keynote talk he gave when he rolled out the first iphone right and as my kids watched this i mean they're like going dad how how was it living with dinosaurs you know like when the earth's crust was hardening was that difficult right like that's how that's how it felt to them because they can't imagine a time when there's not smartphones but we're watching this whole keynote and steve jobs is blowing everyone's mind because he's going here's what we have there's a device that combines an ipod and a phone which is the worst part of an iphone and a mobile internet device and the crowd is like right and then he's like and watch this he pulls up the maps feature and he like pinches it and expands it and it's like zooming in and the crowd is like and my kids are like wait what like that's what it's like and it's like i mean but but with steve jobs is going like here's something you've never seen before you've had an ipod and you've had a phone and you've had a computer and we're putting it together and the crowd is going wow right and that's the impact that jesus is trying to have on his disciples he's saying yes i'm leaving but i'm giving you something much better and we tend to go i don't know that sounds like a downgrade but as we see here this is not a downgrade this is union with god and this is the way he's going to do this is by sending the holy spirit and so that's what this passage is talking about is how we are going to experience life with god through the holy spirit look at chapter 14 verse 16. he says and i will ask the father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you he says in verse 26 the helper the holy spirit whom the father will send in my name he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that i have said to you so so how are we going to get this life with god because the father is going to send the spirit now the word that's used here in verse 16 verse 26 is the word helper this word helper shows up five times actually in chapters 14 15 and 16 the word helper now what's interesting about this greek word is that it's a it's a word that's hard to translate uh it's uh para kaleo it's it's this this word that's difficult to translate so if you actually look at the different english translations all these good ones they end up in different places the esv translates it as helper right that's what we just read and that might sound denigrating like god is just sort of like running to get us coffee or something but actually this word helper is used in the old testament to describe god himself in psalm 54 it says behold god is my helper he is the upholder of my life so helper is kind of one word the king james version uses the word comforter and that might seem a little bit sort of soft perhaps but but think about the idea of if you've ever been grieving you've ever experienced a significant loss sometimes someone comes to you and they just sit with you they put their arm around your shoulder and they don't say much they don't do much but their presence when they leave it's not all better necessarily but you go i can keep going i have the strength to keep going that's who god is now other translations like the niv translates it as advocate and that makes sense because the secular greek use of this greek word described these legal assistants these kind of advocates who would plead your case almost a kind of a lawyer who pleads on your behalf and so if you kind of put these things together think about this some of you have gone through the process of trying to adopt and i think this language of adoption is very relevant to this passage in verse 18 jesus says i will not leave you as orphans and some of you have gone through this process of trying to adopt and especially if you're trying to adopt through the foster care system it's just it's complex any kind of adoption can be really complex and you go like this is stressful this is anxiety producing this is confusing i don't really know what to do but here's the thing if you have a good advocate if you have someone who can plead your case who can help you navigate it you have an advocate who is therefore helpful and that's an incredible amount of comfort isn't it and that's what jesus is saying the holy spirit is i love this quote by matt smith thirst he says this the gospel turns the gospel changes heavens courtrooms proceedings from a criminal trial to an adoption ceremony that's the heart of jesus here jesus is saying hey you're gonna get more of god than you ever imagined because the helper the comforter the advocate is coming and you're going to be adopted into my family and i'm going to be by the spirit with you who is this helper well look at what it says in verses 16 and 17 and verse 16 it says that the helper is given by the father so this is a gift of god and it's interesting it actually says give you another helper right jesus has been a kind of helper the spirit is another helper the spirit this helper is with you forever it says in verse 16. he's the spirit of truth so as the spirit of truth begins to fill your life you're less deceived you're less accused you're less led astray you're able to experience the truth he's knowable it says in verse 17 the world doesn't know him but you know him and then he dwells with you and will be in you this is amazing i i have a very hard time honestly just even getting my head around it that it's not just that god will be with us in jesus but that by the spirit god will dwell in us see earlier in chapter 14 jesus had said i'm going to prepare a place for you and he was talking about how he was going to go and and created the new heavens and the new earth this this dwelling place for us with god so so i'm going to prepare a dwelling place for you with god but now he's saying not only that i'm going to create a dwelling place in you with god this is a whole new kind of a thing you know a couple weeks ago i think well i think last week seth uh up here when he was preaching he mentioned that they had just moved and so a couple weeks ago i was part of the group of folks that helped them move into their new house and uh it's nice when you're done helping someone else move because it's their problem now right and you you know we have to move and he there's just boxes everywhere and there's stuff everywhere and you're like going this is going to turn out pretty good but it's mostly kind of a mess right now well i was back there uh friday night and uh it you know seth and taylor have tailorized the house it was warm and beautiful and comfortable pictures are on the wall and blankets laid out over the couch there's these little nooks and comfortable spots to sit the lighting all looks great see here's the thing when when god comes into our lives when he awakens us by his spirit when he loves us and we respond with love for him right he's in us he owns us but we're kind of a mess there's a lot of boxes to unpack there's a lot of things to renovate there's a lot of things to tweak there's a lot of things that need a coat of paint and here's the promise that gives peace is that if if jesus makes his home in you by the spirit he's cleaning you up he's preparing a little nook for the spirit of god to dwell in he's he's preparing in your heart a comfortable spot for god himself to enjoy now it doesn't happen overnight and it doesn't happen as fast as it happened in the trout's house it happens over the course of your whole life but here's here's the promise of this we can have peace because god himself gives us god himself we can have peace because god himself gives us god himself if god is far off there's no peace if god is even kind of close by there's a little more peace but if god is in us by the spirit there's an opportunity for peace peace that lasts peace that isn't earned peace that doesn't have to be held onto peace that isn't temporary based on our circumstances but a lasting substantial peace that doesn't just fill our hearts with goodness but that actually turns us outward and helps us to love other people this is the offer this is the promise for those who love jesus here's the third thing we see is that uh if you love jesus you also will live just like jesus now you might read that and think that that just means well didn't you already say that and in one hand yes i already did right if you love jesus you will keep his commands and live the way you were meant to do and that way you're living just like jesus but that's not what i'm talking about here because in verse 19 in verse 19 jesus says this yet a little while and the world will see me no more but you will see me because i live you also will live so here's what jesus is saying jesus saying i'm gonna go die and i'm gonna be buried and you're then after i rise gonna see me the world's not gonna see me they're not gonna experience me and jesus when he shows up he shows up to his disciples he shows up to his followers but what this is saying is just like jesus lived after dying you and i will live after dying jesus is going to die but he will live and so will we my five-year-old hank he's taking uh skating lessons ice skating lessons his cousins are all into hockey and so they gave him a bunch of hand-me-down hockey gear and he's so tank's learning to skate wearing all the hockey gear i kind of hope he doesn't like it because hockey's really expensive i don't know if i want him to like hockey but but for now it's fun to have him kind of learning to skate and i tell him before his skating lessons what i told all my kids was they were learning to ride their bike i'd say i say this i say hey buddy listen everyone falls but not everyone gets back up now i'm not sure that's actually true like i don't know that like someone falls on the ice just lays there until they're like ready to close the building they're like hey jim could you drag that guy off the ice he's still there like i don't i imagine everyone actually does get back up but but it's incredibly motivating to a five-year-old hey buddy not every everyone falls but not everyone gets back up well everyone might get up from a fallen bike ride everyone might get up from a skating accident but listen not everyone gets up from death everyone falls down in death but not everyone gets back up this is what jesus said in the passage last week i am the way and the truth and the life nobody comes to the father except through me in john chapter 3 in verse 36 it said whoever believes in the son has life whoever does not believe does not have life for god's wrath remains on him everyone falls everyone dies but not everyone gets back up but if you love jesus you will live regardless of what you're facing regardless of what you're experiencing regardless of the pain even right now it's not the end of your story it's not the final word you will live are you suffering you might suffer for a long time but you will live are you depressed are you anxious you might deal with that until the day you die but after that day you will live are you in debt are you up to your eyeballs in financial pressure that doesn't have to be the end of the story because you will live have you been divorced are the relationships in your life really painful and difficult that's not the end of the story you will live now here's the reality if we're going to follow jesus we are following jesus into death right jesus said if anyone would come after me he must pick up his lazy boy recliner and oh wait that's not what he said he said if anyone would come after me he must pick up his cross daily and follow me so listen if we follow jesus we follow jesus into death even following jesus especially following jesus into love is choosing to follow him into death dying to ourselves dying to our comfort dying to our desires maybe you're suffering maybe you're hurting has it ever occurred to you that that might be happening because you're following jesus but here's the good news you might experience it in this life you might not but you will live because jesus lives we will live you disappointed have you failed are you in pain are you struggling are you dying it's not the end of the story you will live these are promises that produce peace they leave us honestly with a big final question which is do you love jesus because these are promises for people who love jesus they're not universal promises right i think we've all kind of bought into a little bit of a i don't know if it's an american thing or a western thing or it's just a human thing i don't know but we kind of imagine that everyone who dies will we'll see them again someday or they're looking down on us we imagine that happily it's almost like we believe in salvation by death but we don't believe in salvation by death we believe in salvation by grace through faith in jesus so the question is if you're gonna experience living the way you were meant to live if you're gonna experience god coming in and dwelling with you if you're going to experience the promise no matter what you face in this life you will live again then the question is do you love jesus it isn't love such a personal word right he doesn't say if you respect me he doesn't say if you admire me he doesn't say if you acknowledge me he doesn't say even here if you believe in me now there's lots of other places where he does say if you believe in me right believe and love and jesus mine are often the same thing but but here specifically he says if you love me and that's hard isn't it because because love is a vulnerable word love is a personal word i can respect you i can admire you i can even to some degree be in awe of you from a distance but once i say i love you i'm moving close do you love him now listen i know what some of you are thinking as soon as you hear that you go i love him but i don't know if i love him enough and here's what i want to tell you today jesus did not say if you love me enough he just said if you love me when peter one of his closest friends who jesus just a few verses ago has said hey peter before the rooster crows you're going to deny even knowing me three times and in the moment of hours from this story peter's going to go out and he's going to stand by a fire and this harmless little girl is going to say you sound kind of like a galilean you know jesus don't you and he's going to go i never knew him and even after jesus rises from the dead and appears to peter peter is still hanging his head in shame and decides he's just going to go fishing and what we're going to read when we get to the end of john chapter 2 john 21 is that jesus is going to go to peter while he's fishing and he's gonna call him to the seashore and what is he gonna ask him do you love me do you love me do you love me he's not to say peter do you love me enough because what would peter say we'd say what all of us would say there is no enough but that's not the question the question is do you love him when you when you look at jesus when you read about jesus when you consider jesus is there something in you that just goes i love him and i want to love him more but it's not even right here it's not even about the quantity it's about is it there and if it's there these are promises that should give you peace now listen if it's not there if you through this process go you know what i admire jesus i'm intrigued by jesus i think he's really smart i'm really amazed by him ah i don't think i love him then what the lord has just given you is the gift of seeing things as they are now listen just because that's how they are doesn't mean that's how they have to stay but you've been given the gift of clarity you've been given the gift of sobriety you've been given the gift of actually seeing things right the scriptures tell us test yourself to see if you're in the faith and if you realize you know what i admire jesus i think he's really neat but i don't love him then this is your opportunity to begin to pray lord help me to love you lord help me to see who you really are because when you see jesus as he really is your heart will begin to soften and you will love him and these promises will be yours do you love him listen he loves you he loves you so much that he's coming near that he's the god himself is giving you god himself this is how much he loves you and this is why we celebrate and rejoice in who he is let's pray father now we come to you and we're thankful for these promises god we're thankful that that you love us and we really do love you god we want to love you more but we we're thankful that that's not really what it's about that you just want us to love you so god help us to love you most help us to love you first help us to love you centrally in everything and god thank you for these promises thank you that we don't have to earn them thanks that we don't have to try to keep them thank you that you are faithful we pray in jesus strong name amen