There’s something really unique about uh the passage that uh Kurt just read because these are the final words of instruction from Jesus to his closest friends and followers. And uh and after these words that just ended with what Kurt read, Jesus doesn’t speak to his uh followers. In the next chapter, chapter 17, he prays for them. Later that evening in the garden of Gethsemane, the only words we know that Jesus spoke to his disciples were a plea for people to pray with him, but he found no takers. So these final words of instruction that we’re looking at today come on that highly eventful evening. Uh their their feet had been cleaned and scrubbed the dirt off them by their their great servant leader Jesus Christ. And he had fortified their stomach with with wine and with bread. He’d served them. So, it’ been a night of touch and taste and conversation and questions and answers and extensive teaching. And as the evening drew to an end, the questions kept coming. But the disciples, they weren’t able to comprehend the answers Jesus was giving. You know, as Kurt just read, what’s he mean by saying, “In a little while you’ll see me, and after a while you won’t see me.” We just don’t understand what he’s saying. And further down in verse 29, the disciples said, “Okay, now you’re speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now we can see that you know all things. You don’t need anyone to have anyone ask your questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.” So they claimed at that point to have things figured out, to be bursting with faith. But Jesus knew their understanding was still pretty infantile. And those bold statements of faith, they’d be shown to be cardboard thin by the end of the evening. So he said to them, I think kind of sarcastically, “You believe at last after 3 and 1/2 years you have me figured out.” But then he adds, “But a time is coming and has come when you’re going to be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I’m not alone, for my father’s with me.” Disciples said they understood. They didn’t really understand. They said they believed, but their faith wouldn’t really translate into great boldness or depth that evening. that end up scattering like cockroaches when Jesus was arrested and Mark details in Mark 50. Then everyone deserted him and fled. So the gist of our passage involves answers from Jesus that weren’t really comprehended and the enthusiasm of the disciples pretty touching, but their faith would seriously flounder in just a few hours later. And if we’d been one of those disciples, I don’t think we can imagine that we’d have done any better. They’re living on their side of the crucifixion and the resurrection. Very different understanding than ours. We have knowledge and understanding that they had no access to at that point. Yet Jesus left them with two words of encouragement that evening. I don’t know if you picked it up in the passage, but it applies equally to believers in any age, theirs and ours. To them and to us, he gave them a word about joy, and he gave them a word about peace. on a night that would seem to be anything but joyful and anything but peaceful. So, we’re going to investigate this morning what joy and peace might look like in our lives when all of our circumstances point in the opposite direction. First word Jesus has is a blessing of joy and in the span of just a few verses, Jesus mentions the joy that was come to his followers no less than five times. He says, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said in a little while you’ll see me no more? After a little while, you’ll see me. I tell you the truth. You will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come. But when her baby is born, she forgets the anguish because of the joy that a child is born into a into the world. So with you, now is your time of grief. But I’ll I’ll see you again, and you will rejoice. No one will take away your joy. And finally, in that day, you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth. My father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now, you’ve not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. So, the first reference contains a world rejoicing while the disciples wept and mourned. And when the disciples went into hiding after when the when the rest and crucifixion took place, we can imagine the scribes and the Pharisees, the teachers of the law, the high priest Caiaphas, probably having the best happy hour of their lives on the late afternoon of Good Friday and the wine was flowing and they were laughing. They recalled the events of the day. They recall that dodgy moment when Pilate almost ruined their game by putting forth the thief Barabus and saying that he could be punished and Jesus could be set free. And that could have gone either way. But thankfully the crowd had turned against Jesus by then. Everything worked out. The execution had been accomplished. The body of that Galilean peasant now lay safely stowed away in a tomb. And they as they as they rejoiced that afternoon, they felt that in the days and the months to come, people would soon start to forget him. things could go back to normal in Israel. So with laughter and relief, the religious leaders probably had a great afternoon before heading home to begin the Jewish Sabbath. But Jesus says that while the world rejoiced, the grief that the disciples felt would soon turn to joy. And he compared it to a woman giving birth to a baby. She’s so overwhelmed as she holds her baby in her arms for the first time. And she’s counting the fingers and looking at the baby’s eyes and gently rubbing its back. The pain and discomfort of childbirth, it hasn’t gone away, but the safe arrival of that baby just kind of overshadows the pain. When we embrace the gospel message as sinful people saved by grace, there’s this vast geological pool of joy that forms at the bottom of our souls. And that joy, it’s not always on the surface. We know that as Christians, we have sadness, we have depression, we have deep disappointment, maybe even despair at times. But there’s a reservoir of deep joy under our circumstances that never evaporates. You know, in Tolken’s The Lord of the Rings, there’s a moment following there’s a joyless encounter between Gandalf the wizard and Denithor, the steward of Gondor, and he has fallen into deep despair over the loss of his son. So, it had been a joyless, somber conversation. Yet afterward, as Gandalf and and Pip and the Hobbit walked down the hallway, the wizard suddenly laughed. And then he came alongside Pip and the Hobbit with his arm on his shoulder, and he gazed out the window. And this is what Tolken writes. Pippen glanced in some wonder at the face now closed beside his own, for the sound of that laugh had been gay and merry. Yet in the wizard’s face he saw at first only lines of care and sorrow, though as he looked more intently he perceived that under all there was a great joy, a fountain of mirth enough to set a kingdom laughing were it to gush forth. So at that moment Pippen had a glance a glimpse of that enormous pool of joy that lay under the surface of Gandalf’s heart. And even though Gandalf at the time was caught up in really serious matters and cares and sorrows from under the surface just came a wave of pure unadulterated joy. That’s what the gospel is meant to do to our lives. Despite the fact that uh that the world he created contains a lot of sorrow and brokenness. Our God is not some dower Scotsman. Our God is a happy God whose resting face is always one of joy. Proverbs chapter 8, wisdom is personified as as an individual, as a person. And wisdom recalls what it was like to be standing at the side of uh God the m at the moment of creation. And he says, “I was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world, and delighting in mankind.” See, it’s a picture of God creating in a sea of joy. And we read in the prophet Zephaniah 3:17, “The Lord your God is with you. He’s mighty to save. He’ll take great delight on you. He’ll quiet you with his love and he’ll rejoice over you with singing.” That’s a picture of God saving us again in a sea of joy. So if our if the God we worship is so full of joy, then when his presence and his salvation comes into our lives, that pool of infinite joy becomes accessible to us as well. Tim Keller makes the observation that Christians have a broader range of emotional perception than other people do because from our vantage point we see a broader panorama of reality. He says Christians are more pessimistic than many other people in the world because we’re not shocked by the pain and the evil and the cruelty in our world. We don’t believe that the world’s basically a nice place and that people are basically good and that someone being shot down in the streets of Minneapolis is just some aberration, a momentary shock. No, Christians are more realistic than that. We expect a world of brokenness and evil and sin where people will at times embrace the full potential of their ability to do harm to others. So while our outlook on the world may seem extraordinarily pessimistic, at the same time we have this optimistic expectation of how things will work out in the end. Sure, what we’re going through right now might be very miserable. But Jesus went before us and through his ministry, his misery, he came out the other side laughing. And so will we. After all the misery and mourning and grief of the disciples on Good Friday, in chapter 20, John will tell us the disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. So, Christians like us who’ve grabbed hold of the gospel, we have a bigger emotional playing field uh for our hearts to work with. We might grieve more at the way things are, yet rejoice harder at the way things are going to be. And that sorrow actually may increase our joy. 2 Corinthians chapter 6:10, Apostle Paul’s going through the litany of the sufferings that he faces as an apostle of Jesus Christ. He says he’s had to endure troubles and hardships and distresses and beatings and imprisonments and riots and hard work and sleepless nights and hunger. And then he uses an really interesting phrase to describe himself. He says, “I’m sorrowful yet always rejoicing.” And do you see the the just the greatness of that? The wideness, the vast panorama of his heart. He’s sorrowful yet always rejoicing. And as Christians, we know the same sadness that other people feel. We’re not immune to it. Maybe even at times we have a deeper level of sadness. Yet, because our joy is not tied to our circumstances, because our joy is tethered to Christ and what he’s done for us, like Gandalf the wizard, even with lines of worry on our faces, we might find ourselves suddenly bursting with laughter, sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. And Jesus says in verse 22, “Our reservoir of joy is so secure that no one’s able to come and take it away from us.” And if we’re not a gospel dependent Christian, then we have to put our joy somewhere. Everyone does. and we’ll put it on a romantic partner, our spouse or our children or a job or a holiday, a hobby, financial security, video games, an AI companion. But all those things, they all sit on a fault line. And if an earthquake comes along of disability or illness or death or loss, a downturn of wealth or security, and we bet all our happiness on those things, it’ll crumble around us and it will strip away all of our joy. But Jesus says, “No one can come along and take away the joy of those who follow him and who are resting in his gospel.” Now, it is, I think, a bit of a spiritual discipline for us to regularly drill down through the surface of our lives into that pool, that reservoir of joy. It’s not always automatic. It involves regularly meditating on the gospel. And we think about this wonderful ridiculousness of people like us who have pretty hard hearts. We know we know what we’re like on the inside, but we’re forgiven forever through Jesus taking our penalty on the cross. And if if we develop a habit of drilling down deep into the gospel and meditating on God’s word and his work in our lives, it can leave us pretty giddy with joy at times. Of course, I’m a I’m a hot mess and I’m a wreck and I’m as broken as anyone else on this planet. But my father in heaven doesn’t see me like that. He sees me as pure and righteous, a beloved, treasured member of his family, all because of the blood of his son shed for me. And our father’s going to take us to be with him forever. No earthly circumstances, however sorrowful, can ever dry up that reservoir of joy. So, a discipline of contemplating the gospel. It’s like hitting refresh on our screen, continually renewing who we are, why we’re here, and where we’re headed for one day with Jesus. So, on what would prove to be one of the worst, maybe the worst night of their lives, Jesus gave his followers a long, strong word about their inevitable enduring joy. And near the end of our passage, he also included a word about peace. Immediately after telling them, “Oh, you’re going to be scattered and you’ll abandon me that night.” Jesus gave them this great final sentence of instruction and encouragement, he says, “I’ve told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you you’ll have trouble, but take heart. I’ve overcome the world.” Couple of things just to say about the peace that Jesus leaves with his followers. One is that the peace that Jesus leaves, it’s not some sppy sentimental feeling. You know, we have those great nights uh where we’re sitting in front of a fire with good friends and and it just seems like a perfect night and we’re perfectly at peace. But Jesus is saying his well-being doesn’t just come from a feeling like that. It’s not just a floating feeling. It’s grounded in doctrine, in content, in a bedrock of truth. Verse 28, really interesting verse. Jesus makes one of the most condensed, complete and accessible statements regarding who he is without which our peace would not be possible. He says, “I came from the father and entered the world. Now I’m leaving the world and going back to the father.” In that little statement, you really have everything there is to Jesus’ life. One is his eternal pre-existence with God before the creation of the world. Two, you have Christmas when Jesus came from the father entered the world as one of us as a human being. Third, you have Easter because whenever Jesus speaks to his disciples of leaving, he’s always referring to his death. And finally, you have Jesus return to his father, his great ascension, where he sits at the right hand of his father in heaven and intercedes for us. Any lasting joy or peace that you and ha I have traces back to that bedrock doctrine of the life of Christ. I came from the father. I entered the world. I’m leaving the world going back to the father. So the first thing we learn about the peace Jesus gives. It’s not just a sentimental feeling. It’s a it’s a hard-fought piece. The hard one piece follows the warfare of Jesus coming down and doing battle on earth, suffering, dying on the cross, ascending to his throne in heaven. Jesus voluntarily laid down his life. No one took it from him. He said in John 10 that I’m going to lay it down. No one has the right or the ability to come and take it from me, but it’s of my own accord. I’m laying it down. Commentator John Murray says, “It’s almost like Jesus Christ took his soul in one hand and his body in the other and he tore himself apart. He battled, he fought, he won to bring us peace.” So is peace much more than just a happy sentimental feeling. And the second thing we learn about peace that Jesus offers is it comes packaged with trouble. Trouble and peace often arrive as a single experience for Christians. says, “I’ve told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you’re going to have trouble, but take heart. I’ve overcome the world.” And the most inconvenient truth about any Christian growth is that most of our spiritual development comes on on the rainy days, not the sunny days. We don’t know that Jesus is all we need until Jesus is all we’ve got. And there are many passages in the New Testament to confirm that. You can look at the uh passages in Romans and in James and in first Peter how trials and grief and suffering are essential to the refinement and perfection of our faith. We don’t grow unless Jesus’ words are borne out in our lives. In this world, you will have trouble. Trouble is the way for us to learn and inhabit that lasting peace. Donald Miller says, “This type of peace, serenity in the midst of confusion, is superior to the easier peace because it abides while conquering obstacles rather than avoiding them.” Nearly nearly 250 years ago, John Newton wrote the preface to a book of hymns that he had been working on for more than a decade. John Newton, if you know his story, he had been uh the captain of slave ships. He was wonderfully converted to Christ on one of his voyages. He wound up as a clergyman as a pastor in the town of Oli England. That’s why his himnil is called only hymns not only hymns only hymns and in the preface to that himnil he wrote that he had two great purposes in putting it together. One he says was to promote the faith and the comfort of sincere Christians in that community of only where he where he ministered. So they the hymns were meant to be a tool of worship and ministry for the congregation. Second great purpose behind the himnel Newton writes was that it was meant to be a monument a remembrance of a very dear friendship he had with a man named William Cooper. They planned on working on the himynel together. They were making good progress. Then William Cooper suffered from one of his bouts of deep depression and mental illness that prevented him from continuing. And Cooper had been dogged by despair throughout his adult life. He had attempted suicide on a number of occasions. He had been institutionalized as a result of his illness. Very very sad for Newton that his friend again became incapacitated during the writing of the himynel. Newton writes in his preface that his disappointment, his grief was so great that he hung his harp upon the willows and he determined that he would proceed no further without his friend. Now, if that had been the case, a great number of very beautiful hymns would never have seen the light of day. They’re not likely hymns that many of us know. I mean, they are old, over 250 years old. The only reason I’m acquainted with a number of them is there’s a campus student ministry group in the US in Nashville that a number of years ago um took those hymn texts and recorded them with modern instrumentation and new melodies. You can find those hymns on Spotify under the albums put out by a group called Indelible Grace. Indelible grace music. And the hymns in that only himnil they really they differed from the hymns of the day because the the hymns that Newton and Cooper wrote uh extremely personal and experiential. One hymn that wouldn’t have emerged had Newton failed to finish the himnil is entitled faith’s review and expectation. We know by its alternate title Amazing Grace. And eventually Newton did decide to pick up the work again without his friend. It progressed very slowly. He says he eventually deferred to the wishes of others. They wanted to see this thing in print despite his deep reluctance to put out a himynel where so few of the hymns were composed by his friend. In the end uh there Newton was very prolific. There were 348 hymns in all. Newton wrote 280 of them and William Cooper wrote 67. So it was a project. It was birthed out of trial and sorrow and trouble. John Newton knew that trouble was really the only way to growing and maturing as a Christian. So, we’re going to take four minutes out of our lives and give attention to one of those only hymns where Newton expresses very personally his experience of growing through difficulties. It’s performed by the indelible grace folks. It’s entitled, I ask the Lord that I might grow. So, let’s give four minutes of our lives to this. I ask the Lord that I might grow in faith and love in every grace. Might more of his salvation know and seek more earestly his face. Was he who taught me thus to pray and he I trust has prayer. But it has been in such a way as almost drove me to despair. I hoped that in some favor at once he’d answer my request and by his love’s constraining power subdue my sins and give me rest. Instead of this, he made me feel the hidden evils of my heart. And let the angry powers of hell assault my soul in every part. anymore with his own handy sea and tend to aggravate my world. Crossed all the fair lines I schemed. Cast out my feelings. Lay me low. Lord, why is this trembling cry? Will thou pursue thy worm to death? It is in this way the Lord replied. I answer prayer for grace and faith. These inward trials I am for self and pride to set thee free and break thy schemes of earthly joy. That thou mayest seek thy all in me. That thou mayest seek thy all in me. Newton had a bit of depth to him, didn’t he? You know, in our passage this morning, we find joy that overcomes grief and peace that overcomes trouble. It’s all based, Jesus says, on the reality that he has overcome the world. He says, “Take heart. I’ve overcome the world.” Meaning that despite all of our grief and trouble, the world need not overcome us. So, we’ll close with another couple lines from another only hymn. This one was composed by that often troubled friend of his, William Cooper, illustrating how even in his deepest days of despair, the joy of Jesus could still poke through. Imagine a man accustomed to deep the deepest of depression penning these lines. He says, “Sometimes a light surprises the Christian while he sings. It’s the Lord who rises with healing in his wings. When comforts are declining, he grants the soul again a season of clear shining to cheer it after the rain. Though vine nor fig tree neither their wanted fruit should bear, though all our fields should wither, nor flocks nor herds be there. Yet God the same abiding, his praise shall tune my voice. For while in him confiding, I cannot but rejoice. So wherever you’re at today, grief and trouble are your lot. Take heart because Jesus has overcome the world. He’ll match your trouble with his peace and you have at your disposal a deeper reservoir of joy than maybe you’ve ever been able to imagine. So let’s uh let’s just go to prayer. There’s few things that uh that you might want to talk to God about as a result of listening to his word this morning. You might want to give thanks for the joy that Jesus makes available to us that no one nothing can ever take it away from us. Pray for the perspective that he wants us to have to find peace in the middle of troubles, not just when troubles cease. And pray about a current any current trouble or problem in your life and ask Jesus to show his presence in it. This is just your few moments with God. So take a take a couple minutes and then I’ll close us off.