Faith and Truth

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (Jn. 14:27). I believe those are some of the biggest words ever spoken. Reason being is that there just isn't anything that feels more secure than having peace down in our souls. When it's all said and done, that is what everyone is really looking for, security. That's why most people are bound to trusting in money, because they see money as being their greatest security. But the truth is there is no peace in trusting in money to be your security. There is however a WHOLE LOT of peace in trusting Jesus Christ to be your security. You may note that Jesus spoke of two kinds of peace in that monumental statement. He made it crystal clear that the peace he gives is not the same peace that this world TRIES to give. Rather the peace he gives is HIS peace, and it truly gets the job done. What job might that be, you may ask? He gave us the answer to that as well, and that answer is that our hearts do not have to be afraid or troubled about what is going on external to us. That's where the goods are at, not being afraid or troubled by what is swirling around us in this life. Money can't take that fear away, and neither can anything else known to man. I mean, there really is a HUGE difference between being afraid and troubled, and NOT being afraid or troubled. The peace of God is the only thing that makes the difference between those two polar opposite elements. So the question becomes, how do we get this glorious peace that Jesus said he would give us; the peace that effectively puts us in a bubble of protection from the fears and troubles of this world? It's really simple just like everything else that is actually true. We believe on Jesus for the death that he died for our sins, and the life that he rose in to take our sins away. That's it.

When we believe on Jesus the way God defines believing, there will be an unmistakable, tangible result that leaves us with 'peace like a river,' as it's been said. Speaking of rivers, Jesus described true faith in him like this: "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. [But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.]" (Jn. 7:37-39). The eternal Spirit of God is itself the peace that Jesus gives to those who believe, and as he said, it is a river of living water that rushes gently, but powerfully from within. When the river of the Spirit of God floods our soul, it washes the very nature and power of sin out of us, literally. As the apostle Paul stated emphatically, it truly gets the job done: "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, by the Spirit of our God" (I Cor. 6:9-11). When the holy Spirit of God washes us clean from sin, it leaves nothing but peace where turmoil had dwelt before. Speaking of being justified by the Spirit, Paul said it very simply this way: "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1). The same apostle Paul showed us that the peace of God is the result of being made right with God by his Spirit, and that joy follows the peace: "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Rom. 14:17).

To be certain that this peace must be maintained in order for us to obtain eternal salvation, Peter gave us this: "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless" (II Pet. 2:14). The beautiful thing is that it's easy to keep that peace dwelling within, and it's easy to get it back if we do lose it. It's always by means of that first way that we obtained peace from God, meaning by believing and trusting on the death that Jesus died for us, and the resurrection that he came back to life in. He is our peace, and honest simplicity of faith in him is always the way to reach him, whether for forgiveness, or for maintaining his righteousness within us. Before Peter was baptized with the holy Ghost by Jesus on the day of Pentecost, he was afraid to be identified by Jesus on the night Jesus was taken to judgment by the Jews. In fact his heart was so afraid and troubled that he denied even knowing Jesus three times that night (Mat. 26:69-75). But after he was washed, and sanctified, and justified by the Spirit of God on the day of Pentecost, he slept like a baby the night before he was to be executed. Only a visitation from an angel secured his release from prison, though he was content to wake in the morning and be put to death for the name of Jesus (Acts 12:1-10). Peter found out exactly what Jesus was talking about in regard to the peace that removes fear and troublesome worry from the heart. That my friend, is the peace and the security that we want to always trust in, for that is the peace that will take us from here to eternity. Amen.