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Peace: Overcoming Anxiety – Timothy Keller [Sermon] — Transcript

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0:00We're going to talk about peace and joy.
0:04Peace and joy?
0:06You're kidding, right? No, we're going
0:08to talk about peace and joy tonight. And
0:10let me just read to you the classic text
0:14in the Bible on peace and joy.
0:16Philippians 4 verse 4 to verse 9.
0:24Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say
0:27it again. Rejoice. Let your gentleness
0:30be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do
0:33not be anxious about anything, but in
0:35everything by prayer and petition with
0:36thanksgiving, present your requests to
0:39God. And the peace of God which
0:40transcends all understanding will guard
0:42your hearts and your minds in Christ
0:44Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is
0:47true, whatever is noble, whatever is
0:48right, whatever is pure, whatever is
0:50lovely, whatever is admirable, if
0:52anything is excellent or praiseworthy,
0:53think about such things. Whatever you
0:56have learned or received or heard from
0:57me or seen in me, put it into practice
1:00and the God of peace will be with you.
1:04And let's end the reading of God's word
1:06right there.
1:08Well, um, we've been doing the fruit of
1:10the spirit. I'm going to do something a
1:13little different tonight. Uh, we've been
1:15doing a fruit each week. We've been
1:16doing we did love one week, we did joy
1:18last week, and this is the week to talk
1:20about peace. But I want to talk about
1:24uh not so I'll talk a little bit we
1:25we'll do take about 10 minutes to to
1:27summarize peace and joy and what the
1:29Bible teaches about them. But I want to
1:30focus a little bit more on the
1:32roadblocks to peace and joy. Uh Lane who
1:35was didn't Lane just pray Lane Arthur
1:37was telling me had a typical example of
1:39uh how different life is in New York
1:41from other places. He was in a taxi
1:43right when was it yesterday? And uh he
1:46was in a taxi and when he was in a taxi
1:48another taxi came up and rammed the end
1:50of the taxi that he was in. What did the
1:52taxi drivers do?
1:54What did they do?
1:56Nothing. They just kept on going. You
1:59know, one guy rams in the other guy.
2:01Wham. And you know what does he do?
2:05Put on the pedal and off, you know, the
2:08off we go. You know, you say, "Well, uh,
2:12just imagine any other town in which
2:14that sort of thing would happen." You
2:15imagine two people running into each
2:17other, you know, crash. What happens?
2:18Your typical American town. You,
2:20everybody goes, "Oh no, oh my word. Oh,
2:22and you, you know, you're either
2:24distressed, you know, and it depends on
2:26your upbringing, of course, you know,
2:28you're either very distressed. It's the
2:29end of the world. How am I going to face
2:30people? What a hassle. Oh my word. Oh my
2:32goodness." You know, you get on out and
2:34you exchange cards. The other thing to
2:35do is to get out and say, "How what do
2:36you do that for?" You get real angry.
2:38Here's two taxi drivers say, "Ah, I had
2:40an accident." Oh, well, you know, uh,
2:44as it's it's not so bad. It's been 3
2:48hours since the last one, you know, as
2:53Right. Neither of them got out. Isn't
2:54that right? They just rear ended. Okay.
2:56Now look,
2:58the reason for the difference between
3:01the way the one taxi driver, the taxi
3:04drivers in New York operate and the way,
3:06you know, uh, two people in, uh, uh,
3:09Richmond, Indiana would operate is is
3:11because of expectations.
3:13Expectations. The taxi drivers expect
3:17turmoil. They expect conflict. See, most
3:20places when somebody runs into your car,
3:23you consider that a conflict. In New
3:24York, it's not yet.
3:27You see, your your your ability to in
3:30New York, your expectations of having
3:32people in your face all the time, elbows
3:35in your face when you're on the subway,
3:37you know, your nose in someone's armpit,
3:41right, for 100 blocks, you know, this
3:44this
3:45the sort of the sort of things that
3:47Well, that doesn't happen to me too
3:49often because of my size, but some of
3:50you I know right where you live. And uh
3:53I really wonder how you do with it. Uh
3:56the uh it's a matter of expectations.
3:58You get used to a certain amount of
4:00conflict and you kind of get out there
4:01and you expect to be jostled around. You
4:03expect to have people grab try to grab
4:05your uh you know your wallet. You you
4:07don't even get upset. You say nice try.
4:09You don't get
4:12it's
4:14it's a matter of expectations.
4:19And and the fact is, as you know, and
4:21some of you, since so many New Yorkers
4:23are are, you know, are from somewhere
4:25else, you know, when you first get
4:26there, your expectations are have to do
4:28with other places, you expect a certain
4:30amount of sunlight, you expect a certain
4:31amount of space, you expect a certain
4:33amount of of uh peace and so on. And as
4:36a result, it really is oppressive,
4:38tremendously oppressive, much more
4:40oppressive. Uh our buddy CS Lewis says,
4:43"Expectations are everything." If before
4:45I lead you into a room, I say, "Now,
4:47before we get into this room, let me
4:49just tell you what this room is. This is
4:51a honeymoon suite,
4:54you say, "Okay, let me see it." You walk
4:55on in, you look around. What a dump. You
4:58say, "But if before you go into the very
5:00same room, be the very same room. If
5:03instead of telling me it's a honeymoon
5:05suite, instead you say to me, I want you
5:07to realize this is a jail cell."
5:09You walk in with very different
5:11expectations. you look around at the
5:12same room and you say pretty nice place,
5:15you know. Well, because because
5:17expectations has uh is is the filter
5:20through which you're reading and seeing
5:22what happens here.
5:24Now, a lot of Christians are cast down
5:27all the time and are losing their peace
5:30and joy all the time because they don't
5:31expect the attacks on peace and joy that
5:34are inevitable. Uh, I'd say one half,
5:37twothirds, maybe threearters of the
5:39depression that we experience as
5:41Christians is depression over our
5:44depression.
5:46You we're we're sad that we're sad.
5:48We're surprised that we're surprised.
5:50We're upset that we're upset.
5:52And if you weren't so upset about being
5:54upset, you wouldn't be as upset.
5:58At least a half of being upset is is the
6:00anger and the guilt and the frustration.
6:01You say it's not supposed to be like
6:03this. Uh because you don't have the
6:06proper expectations. Christians do not
6:08come into the Christian life with the
6:09proper expectations. Think of it like
6:11this. Here's a mother. Well, well, we're
6:13going to be talking about this. I I'm
6:15running ahead of myself. Um
6:18the Christian has got more enemies.
6:21You had more enemies than when you were
6:22non-Christian. And I'll tell you why. Uh
6:25you had one enemy when you were
6:26non-Christian. Who was that really? One
6:28real enemy was God. It wasn't because
6:31he's a mean person. It's because you
6:33were at war with him. All right? You
6:36declared war and so there was a state of
6:38warfare. But God is a mighty wonderful
6:42adversary. He tries to save all the
6:45people that are trying to kill him. Uh
6:47he he's amazing. He he's like he's he
6:51reminded he God reminds me and God's
6:53relationship to me reminds me very much
6:55of a a scene I remember some years ago
6:57when there was a little kitten that we
7:00nobody knows how he got there obviously
7:01was thrown into the river by somebody
7:03and he was in well not a river it was
7:05sort of a large creek and he was on a
7:08stone and he was scared to death he was
7:09in a stone in the middle of the the
7:11creek and a bunch of guy young guys were
7:13trying to get him and they were going
7:14out to him and as they tried to get him
7:16of course what did he do You see, he was
7:19at war with anybody who tried to get
7:21him. I see somebody else trying to drown
7:23me. I can just see it now. And he bit
7:25and scratched. Fortunately, it was small
7:27enough that, you know, finally one kid
7:29decided he would pick him up and he
7:30would just take all the cuts and he take
7:32all the scrapes. He take all the
7:33scratches and the little tooth marks.
7:35They weren't going to be that bad. He
7:36took it and he brought the and and of
7:38course, in comes this cat just
7:40absolutely screaming and kicking and
7:42trying to kill the person who's trying
7:43to save him. I mean that is the picture
7:45that God that the Bible gives us of our
7:47all of our relationships to God in our
7:50natural state. That's the way we are
7:51born. We're born at enmity with God.
7:53Romans 8:7. The natural mind is enmity
7:56with God. It cannot love the law of God.
7:58It can't submit to the law of God. It
8:00cannot. It's incapable of it. The minute
8:03you get make peace with God, which is
8:06the we're going to see is the heart of
8:07all other peace. The minute you make
8:09peace with God, instantly all of God's
8:11enemies declare war on you. And they're
8:13not nice enemies. You see, before you
8:16became a Christian, your main enemy in
8:18life was a good guy. Someone who loved
8:21you, someone who cared about you,
8:23someone who was doing everything he
8:24could to wake you up. Now, when you
8:26become a Christian, all your enemies are
8:28bad guys. And the three enemies are the
8:30world, the flesh, and the devil. Now, if
8:32you don't have proper expectations, you
8:35are going to get mauled. Because uh
8:38well, think of warfare. If you don't
8:40come in with proper expectations into
8:41warfare, you will be mauled. If you have
8:44if you overestimate or underestimate, if
8:47your expectations are off at all, you're
8:48going to be killed in a battle. If you
8:51overestimate the enemy, you will
8:52surrender or retreat too soon and you'll
8:55lose. If you underestimate the enemy,
8:58you will uh go in with inappropriate or
9:01insufficient resources.
9:04If you come into Christianity without
9:07and and unfortunately many of you have
9:08without somebody immediately telling you
9:10you have got much nastier, meaner
9:12enemies, not greater enemies than you
9:14had before, but ma nastier, meaner, more
9:17spiteful enemies than you've ever had in
9:18your life. It was sort of like um you
9:21know it here is Switzerland neutral in
9:24the middle of World War II and
9:26Switzerland is neutral during World War
9:28II and the Allies are battling the Axis
9:30and so on. And because they're neutral,
9:32they might have some skirmishes around
9:33the edges, but basically they're not at
9:34war. If they come into the war on the
9:38side
9:40of either one, if they come in the war
9:41on the side of the allies, immediately
9:44things heat up because suddenly they've
9:45got half the world is their enemy.
9:47Before it wasn't that way. Somebody's
9:50got to say to Christians, and I'm saying
9:51to you now, if you haven't heard it
9:52before, you've got enemies. They're
9:54called the world, the flesh, and the
9:55devil. Every one of them is essentially
9:57out. If you're a Christian, they cannot
9:59destroy your salvation. and they cannot
10:02pull you out of God's hands. Jesus
10:03Christ says, "My own know me, right? And
10:06I I have them and no one can pluck them
10:09out of my hand." Now, that means that
10:13the enemies can't pluck you out of their
10:15out of Christ's hand. They can't destroy
10:17your salvation. So, the only thing they
10:19can do is make you totally ineffective
10:21and miserable by destroying your peace
10:22and joy. That's what they're out to do.
10:25Now,
10:27I wanted to I want to just talk a little
10:29bit more about the joy and the peace and
10:31then I'd like to talk about those three
10:32enemies and talk about attacks on
10:34assurance. I mean, some of you are
10:36saying, "Boy, this is going to be a
10:37somber, you know, uh, sermon, one of
10:40those big SS's, the somber sermon." Uh,
10:43not necessarily, but I I would rather
10:46instead of you thinking of as a somber
10:47sermon, I would I would like you to
10:49think of it being a sobering sermon.
10:51Smelling salts are good things, right?
10:53a, you know, good drink of coffee and
10:55when you're trying to get sobered up is
10:57good. It's not pleasant. It's not sweet.
11:00Smelling salts when you're knocked out
11:01on the ground aren't aren't pleasant and
11:03sweet, but you need it. And and
11:05basically what I just like to give you a
11:06good smelling salts kind of sermon about
11:09a joy and peace. Now, first of all,
11:11let's not forget what joy and peace is.
11:13At the top of your handout, this is a
11:15summary of last week.
11:19Don't forget this one. Joy is what? Joy
11:24is a buoyancy, a spiritual buoyancy uh
11:27that comes when you're rejoicing in God.
11:30Uh 2 Corinthians 4:16 to18 is a terrific
11:33place where Paul's saying, I don't
11:34remember at all, but Paul's saying,
11:36"We're down, but we're not out. We're
11:38crushed, but we're not destroyed." He's
11:40talking about buoyancy. He says,
11:42"Christians have got a joy." That
11:44doesn't mean that we're impervious to
11:45suffering. It means that we're
11:47unsinkable. We're constantly getting
11:48wet. We're constantly being pushed down,
11:50but we don't stay down or at least we
11:52don't go, we don't sink. See, there's a
11:55buoyancy about it. We're constantly
11:56being pushed down. The buoyancy comes
12:00from a focus on the unchanging
12:01privileges we have in God. And we said
12:04last week, the opposite of joy is not
12:06sadness. The reason that can't be, the
12:09opposite of joy cannot be sadness
12:11because the Bible is constantly talking
12:12about the fact that you can be joyful
12:14when you're sad.
12:16If you don't know what that means, you
12:18haven't gotten the hang of it yet. It
12:19doesn't mean you're not a Christian, but
12:21it really means you haven't even begun
12:22to tap into the resources that are
12:24yours. If what I just said makes no
12:26sense at all, uh you may not be a
12:28believer at all, may not understand at
12:31all. If if if on the other hand, it's
12:33just something very difficult to grasp.
12:34It could be that you you're a believer,
12:36you just haven't really gotten a hold of
12:37something that's critical. There's a big
12:40difference between joy and happiness.
12:41Happiness comes from the comfort of
12:44having things that you want. Joy is a
12:47deep kind of rejoicing, an assurance and
12:50a security. Uh a a mirthth. I'm going to
12:53use the word mirth, but we don't use
12:55that word much, but uh it's better than
12:57the word happiness, I think, for our
12:58purposes. There's a deep mirth down deep
13:00that says, "I've got the only thing that
13:03really matters."
13:05And you constantly say that to yourself.
13:07And the more you say that to yourself,
13:08the more you say, "Hey, that's pretty
13:09good." Now you do that frankly in some
13:12small ways all the time. Uh if somebody
13:15uh sits down and says to you uh some you
13:18know one of your co-workers says that
13:19was a lousy uh script that you wrote
13:22last week that may make you find bad
13:24make you feel bad but then if suppose
13:26you had some award suppose you won some
13:28great award for a script just uh just
13:30this year you say well but I know what
13:32I'm capable of. Yeah that probably
13:34wasn't a very good script. Okay, you
13:36admit it, but uh because you fall back
13:38on something deeper, you're able to deal
13:40with that particular unhappiness.
13:42Christians do the same thing. In fact,
13:44the opposite, therefore, of joy is not
13:46sadness, it's hopelessness. It's having
13:48nothing to really rest in. 1
13:51Thessalonians 4:13 says, uh, I want you
13:54to grieve, Paul says, but don't grieve
13:56as those who have no hope. And the
13:58counterfeit we said of joy is happiness
14:00which rests in the feeling of comfort or
14:02pleasure. And it's resting in the
14:03blessings not the blesser. And uh Psalms
14:074:7 says uh that I there's a place where
14:10David says I have got more joy in my
14:12heart than they have when their corn is
14:15full and their wine abounds. And what
14:16he's saying is they only have joy when
14:18the stock market is up. And I have joy
14:20all the time because their joy is in the
14:23stock market. My joy is in the one who
14:24owns all the wealth in the world and is
14:27going to give me everything I need. Uh
14:29and to to rejoice in the blesser means
14:32that you can enjoy pleasure. That's the
14:34most interesting thing. If you if you
14:36really have a joy, that means you can
14:38enjoy pleasure. You can enjoy good food.
14:41You can enjoy a comfort. You can enjoy
14:43physical pleasures. But you know what
14:45they're there for? They're simply
14:48they're simply little little samples.
14:51the sort of cruddy little things that
14:52they stick out there and they say here
14:54come and taste something and put little
14:55samples up in the you know in the
14:57delicateessence here come and sample
14:58them and you look at them and usually
15:00somebody else has already looked at them
15:01with their fingers and and all that sort
15:03of thing. You taste them they're okay
15:05but they're stale they're not you know
15:06they're not the very best thing you're
15:08going to get not the best dessert that
15:09comes out you know from the great
15:11restaurant. Uh and even the best
15:13physical pleasures are just those kinds
15:16of dim hints. And that's the reason why
15:19our uh friend uh Lewis says, and this
15:22was from last week's uh uh from last
15:26week's talk, which I never got a chance
15:28to read. It's from it's from the
15:29handout. Lewis says, "A real Christian
15:33allows his mind to run up the sunbeam to
15:37the sun." He doesn't sit and look at the
15:39sunbeam. He knows where it's from. Run.
15:42In other words, you let your mind run up
15:43the blessing to the blesser. And that's
15:45the way in which you can really enjoy
15:47the world. You can really enjoy a good
15:49meal in a way that actually makes you
15:51praise the one who you know someday is
15:54going to have you sit down at the
15:55wedding supper of the lamb and that will
15:56be a meal that ends all meals and it's
15:58never over.
15:59You're able to do that. You're able to
16:02run up, you know, run the run your let
16:04your mind run up the sunbeam to the sun.
16:06So Lewis writes this. He says,
16:09"If we are to shine like the sun, we are
16:12to be given the morning star. If we take
16:15the imagery of scripture seriously, if
16:17we believe that God will one day give us
16:19the morning star, as it says in
16:20Revelation, and cause us to put on the
16:22splendor of the sun, then we may surmise
16:25that both the ancient myths and the
16:26modern poetry, so false as history, is
16:29really prophecy.
16:32And then he says, at present we are on
16:34the outside of the world, the wrong side
16:36of the door. We discern the freshness
16:38and purity of morning, but they do not
16:40make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle
16:43with the splenders we see. But all the
16:46leaves of the New Testament are rustling
16:48with the rumor that it will not always
16:50be so. Someday, God willing, we shall
16:53get in. When human souls have become as
16:56perfect in voluntary obedience as the
16:58inanimate creation is in its lifeless
17:00obedience. Did you hear that? When human
17:03souls can be as perfect in voluntary
17:05obedience as the inanimate creation.
17:07Yeah. The clams and the and and the sun,
17:09they're all doing exactly what God
17:11created them to do. That's why they're
17:12so glorious. You see, clam is being
17:14perfectly a clam. That's why it's so
17:16neat. It's just that you and I are not
17:19being perfectly men and women that God
17:20created us to be. So, the clams have it
17:22all over us. And that's what he's
17:24saying. Now, listen. He says, he says,
17:27"When human souls have become as perfect
17:28in voluntary obedience as the inanimate
17:30creation is in its lifeless obedience,
17:32then they will put on its glory or the
17:35greater glory of which nature is only a
17:37first sketch, which is hard to believe.
17:40The faint far-off results of those
17:42energies which God's creative rapture
17:44implanted in matter in nature when he
17:48made the worlds are what we now call
17:51physical pleasures. Let me repeat that.
17:53The faint far-off results of those
17:55energies which God's creative rapture
17:57implanted in matter when he made the
18:00worlds are what we now call physical
18:02pleasures. And even thus filtered, these
18:05physical pleasures are too much for our
18:07present management.
18:09What would it be to taste at the
18:12fountain head that stream of which even
18:14these lower reaches prove so
18:16intoxicating?
18:18We we can't handle sex. We can't handle
18:21drink. We can't handle food. We can't
18:24handle any of the physical pleasures
18:25which he said are just far off dim
18:28echoes of the joy that comes from
18:31actually knowing not the blessing but
18:33the blesser. So he says, "What will it
18:35be to taste at the fountain head of that
18:36stream which even these lower reaches
18:38prove so intoxicating? Yet that is what
18:41lies before us. The whole man is to
18:43drink joy from the fountain of joy." And
18:45as St. Augustine says, the rapture of
18:48the saved soul will flow over into a
18:50glorified body. And what what he's
18:52saying is a Christian should know more
18:54about joy than anybody else. Christian
18:56ought to be able to sit down and enjoy a
18:58good meal like nobody else can because
19:00we're thinking of the wedding supper of
19:02the lamb. thinking of the God who
19:03created this incredible faint faroff
19:07wonderful pleasure which is so
19:08intoxicating but is just a dim a dim
19:11reflection of what it's going to be like
19:13to sit down at his feet. We should be
19:16experts in joy and we're not. We're
19:19scared. See, we're scared of joy. It's
19:22partly because we focus on the pleasures
19:24and the blessings instead of the
19:26blesser.
19:28Now look at the summary of peace because
19:31I got to move here.
19:33What does the Bible say about peace?
19:37Now we just read the classic text and
19:39frankly it's pretty simple. The Bible
19:42says number one, peace is confidence and
19:45trust in God's wise control of your
19:47life. The opposite of peace is anxiety.
19:51You see, there's a difference. Some
19:52people say, "What's the difference
19:53between peace and joy?" And the answer
19:55is joy is the opposite of hopelessness.
19:58Joy has to do with the mirth. Joy has to
20:01do with with actually being up. But
20:05peace has to do with the steadiness. And
20:08pe and the opposite of peace is not
20:09hopelessness or despair. The opposite of
20:11peace is worry or anxiety. And peace
20:15therefore has to do with confidence in
20:18God's control of your life. And the way
20:20we can see that is right here. It says,
20:22"Let your uh do not be anxious about
20:24anything." H but but in everything by
20:27prayer and petition with thanksgiving
20:28present your requests to God and the
20:30peace of God will result.
20:32Anxiety as opposed to peace. And where
20:34do you get peace from? This is a great
20:37verse. It says in everything by prayer
20:39and petition with thanksgiving
20:42present your requests to God. Now many
20:44counselors have pointed out something
20:45I'm going to point out right now which
20:46is really important about the verse. All
20:49your requests have to be presented with
20:51thanksgiving. What does that mean? How
20:53can you be thankful for something when
20:55you're just making the request for it?
20:57The answer is that's the key. That's the
21:00secret. The answer is you thank God
21:02before you make the request because
21:04you're saying, "Lord, whatever you do in
21:06response to this request is good. I
21:09thank you for it. If I'm asking for
21:12something which is at the wrong time and
21:13you don't give it to me, I thank you for
21:15that. If you give me something the
21:16opposite of what I ask, even though it's
21:18going to be very, very difficult, I'm
21:20not going to be happy about it. I'm not
21:21going to try to force joy. That would be
21:23very wrong. But I know that you're a God
21:25who knows what he's doing. And I thank
21:27you for your ordering of my life. You
21:29see, to thank God ahead of time for the
21:31things you request of him is the secret.
21:35And here you have uh peace, which which
21:37obvious is confidence and trust in God's
21:40wise and good control of your life. Uh,
21:42a little note here, paragraph. There's a
21:45difference in the Bible between the
21:46peace of God and peace with God. Romans
21:485:1 says, "We now, because we're
21:50justified by faith, we have peace with
21:52God." And here in Romans uh in
21:54Philippians 4, it talks about the peace
21:56of God. What's the difference? They are
21:58distinct, but they're never separated.
22:01See, the peace of God is a um a frame of
22:05heart that is completely constant and
22:08solid and confident no matter what the
22:10condition. And boy, do we all want that
22:12or what? We want that so badly.
22:15Everybody wants it. You know, that's
22:17what they're after in those EST
22:18seminars. That's what they're after in
22:20almost all of these things. A person
22:22who's got confidence and stability and
22:24sort of a calm no matter what. That's
22:26what we want. And I know that there's
22:29this is not what the what well I'll show
22:31tell you in a minute here. Uh it's
22:34there's no doubt that the world doesn't
22:35really understand that. What they really
22:37want is Marbor man. You know, the
22:40Marlboro man, he's always cool. You
22:43know, he's always lighting up a
22:44cigarette. He never changes his It
22:46doesn't really matter. People dying all
22:47around him, people giving the
22:48Congressional Medal of Honor. Yep. You
22:51know that it's the same. But we we only
22:54have, you know, we're absolutely steady.
22:56I don't let anything bother me. That's
22:58that's a worldly version of it because
23:00because
23:02I might as well say it now, not wait a
23:03second later. Don't forget that the
23:05fruit of the spirit is one. It doesn't
23:08say in Galatians 5, the fruits of the
23:10spirit are love, joy, peace, patience,
23:12kindness. It says the fruit of the
23:14spirit. It's singular. Love, joy, peace,
23:17patience, all these things are aspects
23:18of the whole. There is a way without the
23:21spirit of God to artificially
23:23manufacture one or two of these fruit.
23:26So it looks like you've got peace, but
23:28only at the expense of joy and love. You
23:31see, you can develop, as I put down
23:34here, you can develop a counterfeit of
23:37peace, which is actually cynicism.
23:41A saying like, well, there's nobody
23:42around who knows better than me, and I
23:44don't even know, and nobody really
23:45knows. I mean, there's a kind of
23:46cynicism and apathy, a way of hardening
23:48your own heart so that you don't care.
23:50And it can look like you've got peace.
23:52It can turn you into kind of a moral
23:53broman. But the way you can tell that
23:55it's not really the spiritual fruit is
23:58because it exists by itself. A person
24:00like that is not tender-hearted and
24:02loving and approachable and humble. Oh,
24:04no. You see, you can have what looks
24:07like joy and humility. Some people have
24:10that, but there's no peace in their
24:11life. They're just sensitive people, but
24:14they're up and down all over the place
24:15and they're all very emotional and you
24:16know at certain if you catch them at the
24:18right times, they look like they're
24:18happy and sweet and approachable, but
24:20they really don't have any peace and
24:21they certainly don't have stability and
24:22they certainly don't have self-control.
24:24And then you've got other kinds of
24:25people that look like they got control,
24:27you know? Yep. you know, they got
24:28perfect control and they've always got
24:30peace and they're real steady and
24:31they're very faithful and dependable.
24:33But when it comes to that joy and when
24:34it comes to that that sensitivity and
24:36that sweetness and that kindness and
24:37that love and that generosity, they
24:39don't have it because only the spirit of
24:41God can create all these things at once.
24:43Jonathan Edwards in his great book uh
24:46religious affection says the only way
24:47you can really be sure that a person's
24:50love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and
24:52all that is not counterfeit is that it
24:54happens all together.
24:56That's the way the only way you can tell
24:57that any one of these things is really
24:59of the spirit and not being manufactured
25:02from some fleshly uh sources is because
25:05there's a symmetry he says about them.
25:07They grow together and only the spirit
25:09of God can really create them together.
25:11Only the spirit of God can create an
25:12emotional, sweet, loving,
25:14tender-hearted, generous person who's
25:16also a self-controlled, absolutely
25:18dependable, absolutely rocksolid,
25:19absolutely peaceful. Now, that doesn't,
25:21by the way, mean that we get there right
25:23away, but they all are growing together.
25:26And that's why we say peace is
25:28confidence and trust in God's wise and
25:30good control of your life. Its opposite
25:32is worry or anxiety. The word, by the
25:34way, the word anxiety is a little Greek
25:37wordna, which means to be in pieces. And
25:41uh there's a play on this word anxiety
25:44in the in Luke chapter
25:47what 10 that tells us the story of
25:50Martha and Mary. This is a sideline but
25:52I just let you know this. You know
25:53there's a great place where Martha and
25:55Mary two sisters have Jesus in to eat.
25:57And Martha's running all around running
25:59all around you know and it says she was
26:01anxious mimnus with much serving. And
26:04the word literally means to have her
26:05mind divided and distracted and trying
26:07to get too many too many goals.
26:11And Mary's just sitting there listening
26:12to Jesus. And Martha starts to get a
26:15little bit Mary,
26:17we've got work to do and you're having
26:19your quiet time, right? You know, you
26:22know what? Mary got up and says, "It
26:23doesn't matter. The house is a wreck and
26:24there's a million things to do. It
26:25doesn't really matter. I'm getting my
26:27time in with Jesus."
26:29And now, are you a Mary or a Martha? And
26:31Jesus actually makes a play on the word
26:32mimnus. And he says, Martha, Martha, you
26:34are anxious and troubled about many
26:36things which is Mimnus. Mary has found
26:39the one thing needful. Mary is
26:42single-minded. Mary has got one thing
26:44she's looking at. You've got 300 things.
26:46I'm one of them. That's nice, Martha.
26:48I'm glad I'm one of the 300 things
26:50you're thinking about. But but I'm not
26:53offended. You are in trouble until I'm
26:55the one thing
26:57because the opposite of anxiety is
26:59single-mindedness.
27:02And the opposite of uh peace is is uh
27:04worry. And the counterfeit of worry of
27:07peace is a kind of apathy and cynicism.
27:10And that counterfeit peace cannot
27:11coexist with the tenderness of love and
27:13joy and so on. Uh how do you cultivate
27:16it? Fairly simple. It says verse 8,
27:19whatever is true, whatever is noble,
27:21whatever is right, think on these
27:22things. And then Paul says in verse 9,
27:24and do what I've said. Frankly, peace
27:28comes from the same thing that joy comes
27:31from. It comes from an assurance of your
27:33salvation.
27:36What do you think Paul's saying? Focus.
27:38Think. Jesus says that all the time.
27:40Jesus says, "Have no anxiety about
27:41anything but consider." If you are
27:44worried, if you are anxious, you're not
27:47thinking.
27:49Uh worry is the absence of thought. Or
27:52we'll put it like this. You can either
27:54talk to your heart or you can listen to
27:55your heart.
27:57You know, tomorrow your heart's going to
27:59start to say, "Oh my word, what are we
28:00going to do about this? What are we
28:01going to do about that? Oh my gosh. Oh,
28:02we going to do that this way. It goes
28:04like that all day, doesn't it? Some of
28:05you. Now, there's two things you can do
28:07with your heart. You can sit and listen
28:08to your heart. You can go
28:12or you can talk to your heart.
28:15In Psalm 42,
28:18you can see exactly what what happens.
28:19David in Psalm 42 is depressed and he
28:22says, "Why art thou cast down, oh my
28:24soul?" Who's he talking to? His himself.
28:26He's talking to his soul, you know. Why
28:28art thou cast down on my soul? And why
28:30art thou disqued within me? Hope thou in
28:32God. What he's doing is instead of
28:34listening to his heart, he's talking to
28:36it. He's saying, think about this. Think
28:38about this. Think about this. Don't
28:40forget this. Don't forget that. Don't
28:41forget who it is that made you. Don't
28:43forget who it is that saved you. Think.
28:46You see, worry is listening to your
28:48heart. Peace comes from talking to your
28:50heart. But it comes from telling your
28:52heart what? Not just talking in general.
28:54And not just saying, "Hey, I heard a
28:55funny story." you know, uh, peace comes
28:58from talking to your heart about who you
29:01are in Christ. And that's where we get
29:03finally to the whole issue of, uh, the
29:06enemies. Essentially, the enemies are
29:09three-fold. The world, the flesh, and
29:11the devil. And let me just get let me
29:13just sort of uh, instead of trying to
29:14follow an outline, let me just tell you
29:16what's in my heart. So, I got to stop.
29:20The world, the flesh, and the devil. Uh,
29:22what are they? Well, first of all, the
29:24world is a mindset. It's no individual.
29:27The world is a mindset of secularism.
29:30You know what the word secular means? It
29:32means nowism.
29:34Secular means now, the present.
29:38And the worldliness, I don't know what
29:40you think it is. Some of you, you
29:42probably heard this all sorts of ways. I
29:43mean, you know, you've got Mastercard.
29:44So worldly, so welcome. Remember that?
29:46That shows how old I am. That's about 12
29:48years old. You add people say, "Oh my
29:50word, you're living in the past." You
29:52know, the word worldly can mean a lot of
29:53things, but what the it means in the
29:55Bible is a mindset that says the here,
29:57the now, the concrete, what you see
30:00right now is all that matters.
30:02Therefore, worldliness can have a lot of
30:04different forms. Number one, worldliness
30:07can have the form of this. You go into a
30:09let's go, you go into a beautiful
30:11restaurant and instead of letting your
30:12mind run up the sunbeam to the sun, you
30:16you look around, somebody takes you out
30:17to a great restaurant, place you could
30:19never afford to go. Whenever this
30:20happens, by the way, when you go to a
30:22restaurant that you could not afford to
30:23go, but somebody else takes you there,
30:24you start to look around and you say,
30:25"Boy, wouldn't it be great to live like
30:28this now, you don't say it consciously
30:30because you're too you can't let
30:32yourself, you know, you you've been
30:33you're not allowed to say things like
30:34that to yourself consciously because you
30:36well, when you say it, you sound like a
30:37fool and you know, you sound like a
30:39fool." So, it goes on a little deeper.
30:41You say, "Wouldn't it be great if I made
30:43enough money and or or wouldn't it be
30:44great if I was just in the this kind of
30:46society?" You look around, you say, "I
30:47know what kind of people these are who
30:49are here. Wouldn't it be great? I just
30:50feel good about myself being here. I'd
30:52love to be back here. How am I going to
30:53be here?" That's worldliness, the now.
30:56Or when you're in a classroom and
30:58everybody's just laughing at anybody who
31:00even brings up anything metaphysical,
31:03anything about values, anything about
31:04morality, anything about religion,
31:06everybody just just you just sort of
31:07they don't they don't ever argue against
31:09it. They they never give you reasons
31:10against it because they can't. There
31:12aren't any. But what they have to do is
31:13they just have this sort of this sort of
31:15mocking, sconing, scorning attitude
31:17toward it that says the here and the now
31:19is all that matters.
31:21Or even when you uh you know, you really
31:23hope that this person of the opposite
31:24sex who's really good-looking would ask
31:26you out or or uh or would be asked be
31:29willing to go out with you and you
31:30realize that they're not interested at
31:32all in you and you start to say, "What
31:33good am I anyway?" You know, you start
31:36to look in the mirror and say, "Well,
31:37heck, no wonder." But it's worldliness,
31:40too. You see, it's just saying the here
31:42and the now, the physical, the
31:43appearances, the image, that's all that
31:45matters. And that's a mindset, the
31:47world. Then you have the flesh. And the
31:49flesh is the selfish part of you that
31:52wants to be God. I don't need you
31:55anymore anyway. But you look silly down
31:57there, you notes.
32:00They they feel unwanted. They realize
32:03that they don't I don't need them
32:04anymore. Uh the flesh is not the body.
32:08When the Bible talks about the flesh,
32:10the flesh is the desire to be God, to
32:13call your own shots, to live for your
32:15own glory. And and don't forget, the
32:17flesh can have what you might call gross
32:21manifestations or it can have subtle
32:23manifestations. And my favorite
32:25illustration is the one I used about
32:26four months ago. So it, you know, a
32:29person who needs to be in charge. It's
32:31one form of the flesh, one form of being
32:33selfish. A lot of you don't need to have
32:35power. You just want everybody to like
32:37you. And that's another form of it. But
32:39here's a person who who needs to be in
32:41charge. And so this person maybe before
32:43they become Christians, they're here's a
32:45guy who just feels the need to seduce
32:48anybody that he can get his hands on.
32:50And once he seduces the girl, then he he
32:52loses interest in her. He knows that
32:54that's sort of a way of making himself
32:55feel powerful uh vaguely, but he's also
32:58having a lot of fun. So he just goes on
32:59till he becomes a Christian. And then
33:01somebody says, "You can't do that. Thou
33:02shalt not commit adultery, fornication,
33:04and so on." Oh, he repents. He's dealt
33:07with his flesh, right? H he comes into
33:09the church and every time he gets into a
33:11Bible study, he completely dominates the
33:13conversation. He wants to be elected an
33:16officer and when he gets in charge, you
33:17know, he shows that he he's it's his
33:19opinion that everybody's got to go by,
33:21you know, some people, Bum Phillips used
33:23to say, "The road to the Super Bowl goes
33:24through Pittsburgh." It doesn't anymore.
33:26And there's a lot of officers say the
33:28road to approval goes by me. You have to
33:30get by me if we're going to be approved.
33:31And he's a power-hungry person inside
33:33the church. What's happened to his
33:36flesh? It's gotten religious.
33:39The world, the flesh, and then you have
33:41the devil. And the devil is a
33:44supernatural intelligence, an evil
33:46supernatural intelligence, who is the
33:48leader of a whole slew of millions of
33:50other supernatural intelligence calls
33:52demons. Do you think Do you think, gosh,
33:54he sounds awfully intelligent. Why in
33:56the world does he believe that sort of
33:58thing? If you don't believe it, I just
34:00want you to realize that you're a fairly
34:02small number of you're part of a fairly
34:04small minority of human beings in the
34:06history of the world and in places of
34:08the world who don't believe in that.
34:09Just want you to realize that. And
34:10there's not that many of you. Oh, yeah.
34:12Of course, they all live in New York
34:13City
34:15and they all Well, that's not true. But
34:16I mean, they all live in America in this
34:18time, but most people have understood
34:20this. Not only that, you can't make
34:22sense of the Bible without it.
34:25And uh the devil's job is to do the same
34:27thing as the world and the flesh want to
34:29do and that is to destroy your peace and
34:30joy. One thing you have to keep in mind
34:33that's very important is that almost
34:36every kind of church I know of and
34:38almost every kind of pastoral approach
34:39and almost every kind of Christian tends
34:41to try to reduce people's problems to
34:44one of these three things. either they
34:46they think it's the world or the flesh
34:47of the devil and they don't see that
34:49they all three always operate together
34:51and and therefore the reasons for your
34:52depression is always complex. See how it
34:55works? For example, the world tells you
34:57the world shows you something called
34:58commercials. And after you've seen what
35:01is what what are the statistics? After
35:02you've seen million commercials, by the
35:04time you're 25 years old, you start to
35:06believe that if you are at all
35:08physically attractive, you've got to
35:10look like the people in commercials.
35:12That's the world doing that. But then
35:14what happens when your when your flesh
35:15gets a hold of what the world told it?
35:17Your flesh gets a hold of it and and it
35:19can do a lot of things. All kinds of
35:21nasty things to you. It can it can drive
35:24you to spend too much money on your
35:25appearance. It can drive you to eating
35:27disorders. I'm not thin enough. I'm not
35:28thin enough. It can drive you to the
35:30need to be sexually active and sexually
35:32attractive. And then after that whatever
35:34this, you know, the flesh gets a hold of
35:36what the world told you and then the
35:37devil comes alongside of you. And the
35:39devil's job is to lie and accuse you.
35:41The word diabolos
35:43which uh well the word Satan is a word
35:46that means prosecutor.
35:48The main job of the devil is not to
35:50tempt you but to prosecute you to accuse
35:52you. And he comes alongside after the
35:55world and the flesh are doing its number
35:56on you. And he aggravates things and he
35:57comes alongside and says and you call
35:59yourself a Christian. That's how he
36:01always starts. You always know you call
36:03yourself a Christian. And and you see
36:06there are some kinds of churches and
36:08Christians that seem to think they try
36:09to deal with your problems
36:10intellectually. They teach you the right
36:11doctrine because your problem is you're
36:13thinking worldly, not biblically. And
36:15there's other kinds of uh Christians
36:16that take a a not an intellectualistic
36:18but a legalistic approach to your
36:20problems and say you've got to obey.
36:21Obey obey. You see, we got to deal with
36:23the flesh only. The intellectual types
36:26deal with the world and the legalistic
36:28types deal with the flesh. And then
36:30there's the uh I would call them the
36:31superstitious type Christians who are
36:33always thinking everything is the devil.
36:34Everything. Uh and uh you know we're
36:37going to cast this out of this and we're
36:38going to cast this out of this and it's
36:39just the devil's just the devil. And
36:41listen friends, the fact is all three of
36:42them are right. But whenever you just
36:44identify one, you you miss you miss the
36:47whole group. It's sort of like there's
36:48there's a whole a whole pile of enemies
36:51coming at you and they're all
36:52intertwined and you're just aiming for
36:54one.
36:55Uh therefore, just keep this in mind.
36:58The world, the flesh, and the devil
36:59basically come after you to try to get
37:02your conscience to go crazy. They
37:05basically all comes down to accusation.
37:08And the main way in which your joy and
37:11your peace is destroyed is by the world
37:13of flesh and devil getting after your
37:16assurance of your salvation. You see,
37:18they come alongside of you and they talk
37:19about your past. They say, "Think of the
37:21things that you've done." Some haven't
37:24you ever noticed that you'd be walking
37:24down a street and all of a sudden
37:26something that you did a long time ago
37:27is incredibly vivid in living color and
37:30quadrophonic sound and it comes up right
37:32as you're going along. Huh? Or or they
37:36can come after you about your feelings.
37:37They'll say, "Why don't you feel more
37:39for this? Remember when you used to feel
37:40love and joy and peace? Well, what's
37:42going on now? Why isn't it there?" They
37:44don't mention the fact, of course, that
37:46your salvation is result your feelings
37:48are the result of salvations. They're
37:50not the basis of salvation. Your
37:52feelings come from being one with God,
37:54but but they're not the basis for being
37:55one with God. God doesn't love you or
37:58save you on the basis of how you feel.
37:59Or they may come along and talk to you
38:01about your your recurrent sins. They'll
38:02say, "Hey, you should be you should be
38:04better by now." And maybe you should, by
38:06the way. They may be right. That's the
38:07point. You know, most of the lie has got
38:10a lot of truth in it. But essentially,
38:12what they're trying to do is they're
38:13trying to get you to look more at your
38:15sins than at your savior. And this is
38:17the end. The reason that you will lose
38:20your assurance is if they come alongside
38:22of you and and they poison your
38:24conscience. There's a great place in
38:27uh in Pilgrim's Progress
38:30where uh there's a man named Mr.
38:32Conscience who's a watchman around the
38:34city and if anybody tries to break into
38:35the city, Mr. Conscience runs around
38:37saying awake, awake, awake, awake. You
38:39know, there's enemies. And what Satan
38:41does is he comes up and he poisons Mr.
38:44Conscience not to kill him but to drive
38:46him insane. So that's so he yells awake
38:49awake awake when there's nobody really
38:50coming in and when he and he goes to
38:52sleep when there's somebody coming in
38:54and that's the way all of our
38:56consciences are and that's the way the
38:57world of flesh and the devil tries to
38:59get at us. Tries to poison our
39:01conscience and get us to look more at
39:03our at our sins than our savior. What
39:05have you got to do about that? Well,
39:07when it comes right down to it, you have
39:09to continually think of a couple things.
39:11One, the reason you're so sad about your
39:14loss of joy and peace and why some of
39:16you actually doubt your salvation
39:18because you say, "I should be better by
39:20now. I my feelings should be better. Uh,
39:23there should be more things going on in
39:24my life. I should be growing more. How
39:26do I even know I'm a Christian?" And the
39:28first thing I always say is, "You give
39:30yourself too much credit."
39:33The reason you're so sad must be because
39:34the spirit of God is working at you. You
39:36don't have the ability to want to be
39:38holy unless God is helping you want to
39:40be holy. Giving yourself too much
39:42credit. You know, you should be in you
39:44should be realizing that your very
39:45sadness is a sign of the work of God in
39:47your life. And secondly, you need to
39:50constantly come back and say, "It's not
39:52really my feelings and it's not my sins
39:53and it's not my record, but what makes
39:55me a Christian, what makes me accepted
39:57by Jesus Christ, by God, is what Jesus
40:00Christ has done for me."
40:02And there's a sense in which the world,
40:04the flesh, and the devil will always try
40:05to keep you away from the gospel. And
40:07the only way to deal with the world, the
40:08flesh, and the devil is keep telling
40:09yourself the gospel and keep preaching
40:11the gospel to yourself. And the way you
40:13do that is you say, "The reason I'm
40:16feeling so bad today is I'm still locked
40:18in works righteousness. I still want to
40:20feel that I have to be good enough to be
40:22saved." And the you know what? I'm not.
40:24And I never was. And of course, I
40:26shouldn't have done this thing this
40:27week. But if I hadn't done this thing
40:28this week, I still wouldn't be
40:30acceptable to God. It's only through the
40:31mercy of Jesus Christ. And that's the
40:34reason why I can look at him and know
40:36that I belong to him. I put my faith in
40:38him. I look at Christ and I say to
40:41myself, "Lay your deadly doing down,
40:44down at Jesus feet. Stand in him and him
40:47alone, gloriously complete."
40:51The world, the flesh, and the devil are
40:52after you. But everything's fine if you
40:54have the right expectations. Don't be
40:56upset that you're upset. Don't be down
40:58that you're down. Jesus was constantly a
41:01man of sorrows and weeping and all the
41:03great Christians were constantly
41:05wrestling with these sorts of things. Uh
41:07and frankly, you're going to get back
41:09into your joy and you're going to get
41:10back into your peace faster if you're
41:12not so bummed out about the fact that
41:14you don't have it right now.
41:17For every one look at your sin, take
41:19five looks at your savior. Okay? The
41:22noble, the pure, think of these things
41:25and the God of peace will be with you.
41:27Let's pray.

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