John 14:15-27

We had it. We lived it. We enjoyed it. And we lost it. We knew peace. We lived in peace. We can remember a time when life was peaceful, when we knew that things would be okay. We knew that Jesus was close. We knew we were surrounded by the Lord. We lived in and experienced the peace that comes from knowing Jesus.

And then we lost it. Somewhere, somehow, that peace slipped through our fingers. It’s not that we stopped knowing Jesus. We went to church just as often as we did before. We prayed before every meal. We even went to Bible studies, we volunteered at church. We were doing the right things. So what happened? How did we lose it? Where did the peace go? How did we lose the peace?

For some of us, guilt was the cause. Shame robbed us of peace. We knew what we were supposed to do. We knew the requirements of the Lord. We knew He didn’t want us to do that deed. We knew He required us act in a certain way, to speak, to serve. We knew it. And we messed up. We messed up bad. We utterly failed the Lord, the Source of our peace. And when we failed, and when we realized that we failed, we lost our peace.

For others of us, it was duty. We wanted to serve the Lord, but the list of what we were supposed to do for Him started to get really long. The demands on our time and our energy started to get really heavy. And our desire to obey the Lord became a burden. From wanting to serve our Lord of peace, our obedience had become the price we had to pay to feel good about ourselves. We worried that maybe we hadn’t done enough, maybe we hadn’t been holy enough, maybe we hadn’t put enough money in the collection, maybe we hadn’t volunteered enough time for God. And since we failed Him, then He would teach us a lesson. And living in fear of that lesson made living in peace just impossible.

Maybe it was guilt, maybe it was shame. Maybe it was demands and duty. And maybe, maybe we just didn’t know. We weren’t sure of anything. The questions were too big for us. The confusion was too thick to cut through. Questions about your future, questions about your children, questions about the church, about the denomination. Confusion about doing the right thing, when the right thing isn’t always so clear. And when we’re not sure where the next step may lead us, when we can’t get a clear direction for the future, there is no peace. We have lost the peace.

We had it, because, as we saw three weeks ago, the Lord surrounds us with His presence. He makes us unshakeable. He makes us like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved. We had peace, because, like we saw two weeks ago, we are on the way of wisdom. We know Jesus, He has spoken Himself into our minds and our hearts. We had peace because, like we saw last week, we have admitted our failures, we have repented of our sin, and we have found forgiveness and redemption and salvation through Jesus.

And this week, we find how to keep this peace. We come to realize that this peace can be permanent. Instead of the roller coaster from good day to bad day, from restfulness to restlessness, from peace to anxiety, every day can be lived in the steady, certain hope of Jesus’ gift of peace.

Jesus offers this gift, in verse 15. But at first glance, this gift might look heavy. If demands and duty and shame have robbed you of peace, you might not want to hear Jesus speak verse 15:

“If you love me, you will obey what I command.

Is anyone feeling the weight of that verse? If you love Me, then you must obey what I command. If you love Me, then you’d better do it right. If you love Me, then you’d better do your duty, fulfill My demands, get the job done. With that kind of weight, carrying that kind of burden, how can you live in peace?

But wait. Verse 15 isn’t about duty. Verse 15 isn’t about demands. Verse 15 is about promise. Verse 15 is about peace. Because obeying what Jesus commands doesn’t come from us. We can’t obey what He commands. We can’t do our duty. We will never get the job done right. But if we do love Jesus, if we love Him, then He gives us a gift. Verse 16:

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever

The Father and the Son give us a gift. When we love Jesus, when we know that Jesus died for us, when we are raised back to life through the resurrection of Jesus, the Father and the Son give us the Holy Spirit.

And it’s the work of the Holy Spirit that gives us peace. It’s the presence of the Holy Spirit that gives us the assurance that everything is going to be okay. Because it’s the Holy Spirit that causes us to obey. And it’s the Holy Spirit that applies God’s forgiveness and removes our guilt and shame. And it’s the Holy Spirit that leads us and guides us and removes our confusion and answers our questions. And when we are obeying, because of the Spirit, and when we are forgiven, by means of the Spirit, and when we led and guided by the Spirit, then we know peace, we live in peace.

Because, first, it’s the Holy Spirit that causes our obedience. It’s the Spirit that takes Jesus’ perfection and makes it our perfection. Not everyone understands this. Not everyone gets it. Verse 17:

The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.

They can’t see Him. They can’t know Him. So He must not exist.

But you know Him, verse 17:

you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

And you know that He lives in you, because you can see what He’s doing. He causes encouraging words to come out of your mouth, rather than cutting, hurtful words. He causes thoughts that noble and pure to go through your mind, rather than lustful, dark thoughts. He moves those hands of yours to help carry that burden for your neighbor. He causes you to obey what Jesus commands. When you love Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit. When you have the Holy Spirit, you obey what Jesus commands.

And that is a life of peace. There’s just something peaceful about doing the right thing. When someone gets angry with us, instead of striking back, we respond with understanding and forgiveness. When someone does something that we don’t like, instead of judging and condemning them, we respond with patience and kindness. Instead of greed, we’re content. Instead of envy, we’re satisfied. Instead of pride, we’re humble, all because the Holy Spirit is working changing us into Jesus-like people. Jesus says, in verse 19:

Because I live, you also will live.

And the life of Jesus, this life of obedience, this holy life is a life of peace.

The Holy Spirit causes us to obey, and the Holy Spirit removes shame. Jesus says, in verse 20:

On that day (when we give you the Holy Spirit) you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

Nothing shameful, nothing guilty, nothing sinful or stained can exist in the presence of God. When Adam and Eve had eaten fruit in defiance of God, just eating fruit was enough to expel them out of God’s presence.

But when you love Jesus, and when the Holy Spirit is given to you, you will realize that Jesus is in the Father, and that you are in Jesus, and that Jesus is in you. You’re in Jesus and Jesus is in the Father, so you’re in the Father, and in Jesus, and the Father is in you. That couldn’t happen, it wouldn’t be possible, if there was anything shameful, anything guilty, anything sinful about you anymore. There used to be, sure. But you came to love Jesus. You know, you understand that He died and rose again for you. All the shame, all the guilt, it’s all gone. And living without shame, with no reason for the guilt, that is a life of deep peace.

The Spirit brings peace through obedience. The Spirit brings peace through forgiveness. And the Spirit brings peace as He leads and as He guides and as He clears away the confusion. Verse 26:

the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

When Jesus told you that your sins are forgiven, that there is no more shame, He wanted you to remember it. When Jesus told you that the burden of obedience was His to carry, not you. When He told you that His yoke is easy, that His burden is light, He want you to remember it.

And it’s when we forget His forgiveness, the shame comes back and the peace goes away. When we forget that He is carrying the burden, and we pick up the duty and the demands, being a Christian gets heavy, and the peace goes away. So, Jesus gives us peace by forgiving us, through His blood. Jesus gives us peace by making obedience possible, not burdensome, through the Holy Spirit. And Jesus makes this peace last by giving the Holy Spirit to teach us these truths, to remind us of these facts, to cement them in our minds so that we don’t forget, to chase away any confusion or doubt or uncertainty.

So when shame and guilt come rushing back, the Holy Spirit steps in. When the memory of the words that were spoken, or that deed that was done, when the regret blindsides us, we never saw it coming, the Holy Spirit rushes in and tells you, “Don’t believe, not for minute. As far as the east is from the west, so far has Jesus removed your sins from you. You are in Jesus, Jesus is in you, you are in the Father, and that just couldn’t happen if you had anymore shame or guilt left. You’re clean, you’re forgiven, be at peace.

And when the demands and duties of obedience to God start to get too heavy, when you’re just not sure whether you’re going to get it all done, then the Holy Spirit tells us, “You won’t. You can’t. You’ll never get it all done. But Jesus did, and now I’m changing you. It’s my job to give you the desire and energy and gifts and resources to live the holy life. If it’s getting too hard, then you’re trusting in your own strength. If the burden is getting heavy, then you’re trying to carry it on your own. Let me carry it for you. Let me give you peace.

You love Jesus. That’s obvious. You have the Holy Spirit in you, it’s easy to see. Because of Jesus, you are guilt free, there is no shame. Because of Jesus, through the Spirit, you don’t have to carry that burden, there are no demands pulling you down. Jesus gave you a gift, a gift that can last. Jesus gave peace, through the work of the Holy Spirit, peace that lasts from day to day, from year to year, a peace that never goes away, a permanent peace. Verse 27:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.