Apply Within

Bob Davis: Why should a Christian be troubled or afraid at all? Ever? There is a peace. You can have that peace. My finances are falling apart, well then run to God. Start to pray. See what God has in store. Find out. Don't panic. Trust Him. I can't see an end to this. He can. So just walk with Him through.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Apply Within, a verse-by-verse study of the Word of God with Pastor Bob Davis of North Country Chapel. We invite you to join with us as we, by the power of God's Holy Spirit, apply His Word within our own hearts as we study line upon line, precept upon precept, verse-by-verse through the Bible. Jesus promises peace, as our study of John continues in chapter 14 verse 27. Here's Pastor Bob.

Bob Davis: The more we read God's Word in dependence on the teaching of the Holy Spirit, the more it will open us up to God and the more precious that time in the Word becomes. It's not a show and it's not something that's going to make you look like a low-flying looney.

I think people say, "On the Day of Pentecost..." Listen, they weren't acting like they were drunk. They weren't out of control. They were speaking in languages that the other people could understand. That's why the languages were there, to preach all the works of God. But because some of the spiritual leaders didn't know what to do, they were mocking them. "They're drunk and it's only nine in the morning." No.

If you go to church and everybody looks like they're drunk and they're falling over, that's not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit never draws attention to Himself. He always draws attention to Jesus. So that's what you're looking for. Look at verse 27: "Peace. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you, not as the world gives, give I to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

"You have heard how I said to you, 'I go away and I come again to you and I'll come back to you.' If you love me, you would rejoice because I said I go to the Father, for my Father is greater than I." When people are planning to die, I know many of you may have done this. You plan to die because sooner or later, it's got to happen. Some people plan way in advance.

Some people get news from the doctor that they've got an illness that may not go away, and so then they do it. When you're planning to die, people will usually try to leave some kind of will behind and leave their possessions. "I've got three dollars. Who could I leave them to?" And you decide where you want to leave that. You leave the possessions behind to the ones you love, like a last will and testament.

Most people will do it legally because with the way people are bending laws nowadays, somebody leaves you something and the government still gets it. It's all legal stuff, mumbo jumbo. Notice, that's what Jesus is doing right here in these two verses. That's exactly what He's doing. He's going back to the Father. He's going to die but He'll rise again.

He's going back to the Father. He's not leaving them. He will be in heaven. He'll be with them, but He's going to be in heaven. He won't be right there with them all along. So the Holy Spirit is there. He's going back to the Father, but look what Jesus does. He doesn't leave us material things. He doesn't say, "These clothes are all I have. I'll give you the outer coat, John. Peter, I'll give you these sandals. They walk on water." He didn't do that.

He doesn't leave us material things. He's left this for all of us. This is His will for all of us. He left us things that earthly power, authority, or money can't buy. He left us peace. And you say, "Where's mine?" And I say, "Thou shalt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee." Where's your head? On your problems, on your troubles, on your sicknesses?

Where's your head? Where's your heart? Is it all focused on how to fix this, or is it focused on the Lord saying, "Lord, I don't know what to say and I don't know what to do"? There is a peace that passes all understanding and Jesus gave it to us. Look at verse 27: "Peace. Peace, My peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you." It's yours. It's Mine and I'm giving it to you.

How peaceful is Jesus? He's a pretty peaceful guy. Nothing upshook Him. Nothing messed with His head like it does with ours. We start figuring out we're going to go to jail for 50 years or we start figuring out we're going to lose our home or this is going to happen and that's going to happen. Pretty soon, you are wound up tight and everything you're worrying about may never happen.

You just wasted a good 20 minutes of life. So He said, "I'm going to leave you My peace. My peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you." It is yours. Don't give it away. Don't give it up. The word, one of the most precious words in the Jewish language, is Shalom. We're American. We don't speak Hebrew. Shalom means peace. Shalom is one of the most precious words in the Hebrew language.

Yes, it does mean peace, but it's so much bigger than that. It's peace, calmness, wholeness, completeness, health, and security. When they see you and they say Shalom, you say, "Oh yeah, well and happy good day to you too." They have just thrown a blessing upon you that's all you need for the rest of your days. Shalom. It's an inward peace of conscience in our hearts.

That peace arises from the sense that we've been forgiven all of our sins and been reconciled to the Father God through Jesus Christ, His Son. Nothing can get you. The only thing that could happen to you is this body could die. Shalom is a precious word to the Jewish people. It's the main greeting if they like you. It means peace and calmness. I like the idea of wholeness or completeness.

You've got everything you need. Shalom. Everything you need in God. Health, even security. You're secure no matter where you are because God is with us. Does that mean we'll never get sick, never be poor, and never physically die? No. What it means is He's left us with His peace. He gave it to us. We have it. Take advantage of it.

Peace of conscience in our hearts arises from a sense of forgiven sin and reconciliation with God Almighty. And God tells you something else. You're used to the world. So He says, "I want you to know I don't give you the peace the way the world gives you peace." How's the world give it to us? Sparingly. Not very often. There's always somebody on your back to go fill this out or to go pay this fine.

Watch out or you'll get a ticket. You're just walking on eggshells in some cities because you can't remember where you're supposed to walk and where you can't. The world gives you sparingly and selfishly. If the world gives you something, it doesn't come free. It's going to cost. And it is temporary. It lasts until the next hassle, the next trial, or the next argument. Jesus gives peace forever, eternally.

We can have it here and now because it's ours. He gave it to us. Why should a Christian be troubled or afraid at all? Ever? Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Don't let that happen to you. The devil's just playing with you. There is a peace. You can have that peace. If your finances are falling apart, well then run to God.

Start to pray. See what God has in store. Find out. Don't panic. Trust Him. If you can't see an end to this, He can. So just walk with Him through. It's easy for anybody to say, but as you trust God, stay in the Word, and stay in fellowship with one another, there is encouragement from all angles.

We should be here encouraging each other instead of pointing out how ugly everybody is. We can joke and laugh and that's okay. But when you see someone who's hurting, you come alongside and say, "Let's just pray." That's why we fellowship together because two are better than one and a cord of three is not easily broken. Three people stand back to back and nobody can sneak up from any side.

That's God's Word. Why should you be troubled or afraid? You shouldn't. If the disciples could only understand this, they would right then and there not be so afraid, even right there in the Upper Room. They wouldn't be so confused and sad that Jesus was leaving and going back to the Father. He says, "If you truly love Me, I know that you're not grasping this."

But get this: "If you truly love Me, you'd be glad that I'm going to the Father. That's where I came from. That's My home. You'd be glad that I'm leaving." He simply telling them this and you and I are included in that Upper Room. If you truly love Me, you'd be happy that I'm getting out of this and going there. See, you guys have a long way to grow.

Why should they be glad about Him leaving? He says because I'm going back to My Father. Because when Jesus was physically here, He was hated. He was persecuted. Men blasphemed Him. They mocked Him. They spit in His face. They punched Him and shoved Him around. He endured terrible humiliations and suffering from the hands of His own creation. He says you should be happy I'm going home.

He's not leaving you orphans or comfortless. You'll have God's Holy Spirit and you have My peace. You can do this. Trust Me. Surrender and walk with Me. But He says, "I am going to the Father, back to the Father, who is greater than I." He's going to be glorified when He returns. He's glorified when His disciples see Him risen from the dead.

Jehovah's Witnesses use this specific Scripture as proof that Jesus is lesser than God. Therefore, they say He is not God. But they don't understand that's not what the language says. Pastor MacDonald, who I love the way he just makes everything so simple for my head, says the Father was not greater as God because Jesus Christ is also God.

But He is greater because He never came to this world and became flesh and was treated cruelly by humans. As far as the attributes of deity are concerned, the Son and the Father are completely equal. But when you think of the lowly place Jesus willingly took, He became flesh. He didn't have to. He willingly did that. The Father sent Him and He said, "I'll go."

He'll obey the Father. He became flesh, and you know what it's like to be flesh. This stuff gets old fast. It's weak and tired. As far as the attributes of deity are concerned, the Son and the Father are equal. But when we think of the lowly position or place Jesus willingly took as a man here on earth, we realize that in that sense, God the Father was greater than He.

He was greater as to His position, not His person. Jesus humbly came to the earth. He did not have to do that. He knew. Now listen, you come down here and if this was a planet of all dogs, God says, "Okay I'm going to send you down there." "I'll do it!" "Okay, you're going to be a Chihuahua. You know what's even tougher? They'll put you to death."

"Oh, you'll rise again, but you'll be a Chihuahua for all eternity." And He willingly did it anyway. He's glorified man. His body rose from the dead. He will have the nail prints there in heaven. He willingly became flesh and for all eternity, Jesus Christ will have that body. The only body that's damaged in all of eternity is Jesus Christ's, willingly for you and me.

He was greater as to position, God the Father, but not as to person because Jesus Christ and God are one. Yes, Jesus Christ is God. Verse 29: "And now I have told you before it come to pass that, when it is come to pass, you might believe." Language means your belief will be strengthened and your faith will be built up.

"Hereafter, I will not talk very much with you for the prince of this world is coming." That's the devil. "He's coming after me tonight and he has 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's go from here." Jesus told them how it would be before it happened to encourage their faith.

He knows they've got faith. They are His. But their faith is built up when they see Him rise from the dead. They go, "He said He would do that! Oh my goodness, that's right!" You say, "Why doesn't He do that to us?" Well, He has! Read the New Testament. You know what's coming. When it does happen, you know that what's happening right now God said would happen.

That doesn't surprise you; it encourages your faith. I know it's true and I know I see what's happening around me, God, and You said it would be this way and it is. That means I know what's coming next because even though we haven't got to it yet, it's guaranteed coming our way. I like that. He says, "I won't be saying much."

He'll keep talking to them over toward the garden there. They're going to leave the Upper Room now, but He's going to keep walking and talking. But when He gets to the garden, it's going to be prayer and then He's going to be arrested. He's not going to have much to say to them anymore. He says, "I won't be saying too much because the prince of this world is coming after Me."

The devil himself is moving his forces against Me. One of his forces is Judas, who's out there right now getting the chief priests and their soldiers to show them where Jesus will be praying. Jesus says Satan has no hold on Me. Satan can't touch Me. There's nothing he can do. He has nothing in Me. What's that supposed to mean?

Sin leads to death. How many of us are sinners? Okay, half of us, good. Sin leads to death. And sin and death give Satan his hold on each one of us, true? That's all he's got. He's got the hold on every human being because sin and death are there locked. So he takes authority over them. But he can't do that with Jesus.

Satan has no hold on Him. Jesus never sinned. He's sinless. Satan cannot claim Him for his kingdom of darkness. He could claim me and he did. He could claim you and he did. He can claim every human being and he does. But he couldn't claim Jesus. Absolutely no sin. Fully God, fully man, sinless in thought, word, and action.

Satan's got nothing on Jesus. Satan can't claim Him for his kingdom of darkness. Satan actually thought Jesus' death would be a total victory for him. But what happened? Jesus' death was a total victory over Satan. He rose again. That tells me what the rest of the Bible has already told me. Satan doesn't know everything.

You keep treating him like he does and you have to stop it. He is not God. He is the god of this world, but he's not a god at all. He's a fallen angel. He doesn't know what you're thinking until you tell him. He can put ideas in your head if you listen to them, but if you're staying in the Word, you'll know right away that goes against the Word of God.

He can't make you do anything. He took Jesus to prove to you he couldn't make you do it, to the top of the pinnacle of the highest part of the temple, and he said jump off. But you notice what he couldn't do? He couldn't shove Him. He could say just jump, that'll fix everything. But he can't push you. Don't give him that kind of authority; he doesn't have it.

People treat him like God is the power of light and Satan is the power of darkness. No, Satan is a fallen angel. The comparisons don't work. But that's how people treat him. Because Jesus loves the Father, He says, "But that the world may know I love the Father as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do."

"I'm going to obey, showing you I love my Father. He wants me to do this, I'm going to do this." Look at this. Jesus obeyed. He did exactly what the Father commanded him to do and we learn he was obedient unto death. If that's what the Father wanted, that's what he did. Philippians 2:8: "And being found in fashion of a man, Messiah humbled himself, became obedient unto death, even to death of the cross."

And then he says to his disciples, "I'm going to do what my Father wants me to do." "We don't want you to!" "I know, you're confused and you don't understand. Trust me." "You're not going to go to the cross, we won't let you." "Guys, just calm down. I'm going to do what my Father wants me to do." And then what does he say to them? "It's time to go out there now."

It looks like that's where they basically leave the Upper Room. Judas left probably an hour ago or so. All of us that are truly born again, there's something in your heart that speaks to your heart and you want to do what God wants you to do. Have you noticed it? Is it there? And then you fall on your face.

People say, "Why'd you do that?" And you go, "I don't know. I really set out because I wanted to do God's will." And they look at you and say, "Well you're not saved or you're a loser." Don't you worry. Holy Spirit, the Lord picks you back up and dusts you off. We confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

He says, "Walk with Me." When all your friends are saying you're not much of a Christian and we don't want you around, Jesus is going, "You're Mine and I want you around. Walk with Me."

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to Apply Within with Pastor Bob Davis. Apply Within is a radio outreach ministry of North Country Chapel. Our Sunday morning Bible studies are at 9:00 and 11:00 AM. We also have a Friday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM and a Monday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM. You can download today's message in its entirety at NorthCountryChapel.com/studies. That's NorthCountryChapel.com/studies.

If you would like a copy of today's message, write to us and ask for the message with today's date. The address is Apply Within, 2281 West Seltice, Post Falls, Idaho, 83854. Or call us at 1-800-572-8851. That number again, 1-800-572-8851. Our mobile app is available for iPhone and Android. Download it to listen to full-length studies, watch the live stream of our services, or to find out more about church events.

If you have been blessed by the teaching or have prayer requests that you would like to share with us, write, email, or call us as well. Please join with us every Monday through Friday as we study together verse-by-verse on Apply Within, sponsored by North Country Chapel. God bless you.