When Things Fall Apart

Transcript

I’ll read our passage, I’ll pray, and then we’ll dive into God’s Word.

I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf, for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father. His disciples said, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech. Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you. This is why we believe that you came from God.

— John 16

(ESV)

Jesus answered them, do you now believe? Behold the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world.

— John 16

(ESV)

Family, this is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let’s pray. Our Father and our God, this has been a difficult week. For many of us it has been a very emotional week, a week full of confusion. For many of us it has been a week full of distraction. And I pray that right now you would give us the help of the Holy Spirit to align our affections and to align our attention so that we might hear what you have to say to us this morning.

When Clarity Intensifies Fear

Father, we are desperate to hear your word this morning. It is the only thing that brings comfort to our souls. It is the only thing that guides us in this dark world. Father, we confess that we are not strong. We are in fact desperate and needy people, and so we pray that you would meet us in our need by opening our eyes and illuminating your truth, the very thing that guides us into hope. We pray, God, that we would find deep comfort in the well of the beauty of your word. We pray these things in Christ’s name, amen. Before we dive into this section, and maybe just to help set some context, it’s important to remember that this moment doesn’t come out of nowhere. This is part of one long conversation, one long and stressful night, stretching from chapter 13 all the way to chapter 16.

And throughout this evening, Jesus has been moving his disciples towards clarity, while at the same time dismantling everything they thought they understood about the kingdom of God. So by no means is this a kind of casual conversation. I mean, just consider for a moment what Jesus has already told them in this long conversation. He’s told them that one of them, one of his closest friends, will betray him. That all of them, all of these disciples will fall away in fear. He’s told them that he’s leaving, and they cannot follow him, at least not yet. He’s turned their understanding of greatness upside down by washing their feet, showing them that God’s kingdom looks much more like service than political greatness or power. He’s spoken of love, but the kind of love that could very well cost you your life. He’s warned them that the world is going to hate them, exclude them, and even persecute

them. He told them that they’re going to be kicked out of the synagogues, that there was actually going to be some religious leaders that would seek to kill them while thinking that they are serving God in the process. He’s told them plainly that deep sorrow is for sure coming. And over and over again in different ways, Jesus keeps saying the same thing, I’m leaving. So you could imagine how this conversation has been weighing heavy on them and how they feel. They’re not just confused, they’re afraid. They’re deeply uncertain and deeply unsettled. Because as far as they could tell, the one who had held their world together was about to be taken away. And now their world feels like it’s falling apart, which means this conversation is doing two things at the same time. On the one hand, Jesus is giving them clarity that they desperately need because of what’s

coming. But on the other hand, that clarity is beginning to intensify their fear. Because the truth is, clarity doesn’t always bring comfort. Sometimes clarity means realizing just how bad the situation will be. Sometimes clarity means seeing that the road ahead is a road full of deep suffering. Sometimes clarity means knowing that you are not really prepared for what’s coming. That’s exactly where these disciples sit right now. They understand more than they did before, but they feel less secure and more fearful than they did before. Their world is shaking, not because Jesus has failed them, but because he is telling them the truth plainly without holding anything back. And you can imagine the tension that creates. The desire to see what’s ahead so that they might be prepared, but seeing what’s ahead is actually making things harder, not easier. And that tension between clarity and fear is not unique to the disciples.

It’s something that we all wrestle with. Most of us have learned that clarity does not automatically calm fear. In fact, sometimes it intensifies it. I mean, you can know what’s coming and still have no idea what you’re going to do to endure. You can understand a situation with eyes wide open and still feel deeply unsettled about what this might mean for your future. Clarity about circumstances does not always produce peace. And when fear rises, we often hear these well-meaning but weightless words from the very people we love. They say things like, don’t worry, it’s all good. Or it’ll all work out. Just take heart. Things will be okay. But if we’re honest, those words aren’t always helpful in those moments. They can feel dismissive. Sometimes it can feel like an attempt to quiet our fear and uncertainty without actually entering into it with us. I mean, imagine the feeling of standing on the edge of a failing marriage or receiving

a phone call that confirmed the diagnosis. The despair of experiencing financial collapse, realizing that retirement is around the corner or the ache of watching a child walk away from the faith or receiving the call that a dear friend has just passed away. And those moments when someone casually says, don’t worry, it’ll be fine. It doesn’t feel like peace. In fact, it only deepens the loneliness because now you’re not only afraid and uncertain, you feel unseen by the very people you love. Family, why do we reach for these paper-thin phrases in these moments when we know they don’t really help? Listen, I don’t think we do it intentionally or maliciously. I think most of it comes from discomfort. We don’t feel comfortable sitting in someone else’s pain. We don’t know how to carry weight that admittedly we cannot fix. So we reach for words that sound like clarity but don’t really provide it.

When we do that, we’re throwing around superficial optimism. We don’t need people to use words that way. We need people to tell us why things will be okay, to explain how things will be redeemed. We need to be reminded of where real authority rests. We don’t need words from people who cannot control an outcome, who cannot guarantee the future and who have no power over the forces pressing in on your life. Again, they may be well-intentioned, but those words are weightless. And this is why Jesus’ words are radically different. When Jesus speaks into our fear, He doesn’t offer optimism. He offers certainty. He does not say things probably won’t be that bad. He says, in the world, you will have tribulation. That’s clarity. But, He says, take heart, I have overcome the world. That is certainty. Jesus does not address real fear with vague reassurance.

He addresses it with objective reality. Not speculation about what might happen, but a declaration of what has already happened. And that’s why His words carry weight. Because He’s not guessing about the future. He is the one who governs the future. So when Jesus says, take heart, He’s not asking us to simply feel something. He’s calling us to rest in something. And what He gives His disciples here is not simply a strategy for surviving hardship. He gives them an anchor to keep them from drifting into despair. He reminds them of what is true about them, even when everything else feels unstable. He tells them that they are loved by the Father, that they are held by the Son, and that they are safe in the end. Those truths, family, explain, even when everything feels apart, why you won’t. And these three realities will serve as our mile markers for our text this morning.

Loved by the Father

So let’s begin with the first reality that anchors us. You are loved by the Father. We see this in verses 25 through 27. Jesus begins this section by looking back over everything He’s been saying in this conversation and acknowledging that much of what He said to them has been figurative. Chapter 13, verse 33, where I am going, you cannot come. True words, but before the cross, they sound confusing and unsettling. I am the way, the truth, and the life, in chapter 14, verse 6, a clear claim about who He is, but the how of that claim won’t be understood until His death and resurrection. Chapter 14, verse 18, I will not leave you as orphans. This is comforting, but confusing, since He keeps saying that He’s leaving. Chapter 15, verse 1, I am the true vine, great imagery, but a little indirect. Chapter 16, verse 16, a little while, and you will see me no longer, and again, a little

while, you will see me, totally confusing. So He’s spoken this way, not because He’s unclear on purpose or to confuse them, not because He’s trying to hide the truth, but because His disciples have been listening to resurrection language before death, kingdom language before the cross, glory language before suffering. So Jesus tells them in verse 25, I have said these things to you in figures of speech. In other words, I’ve been speaking truth, but not the full picture. I’ve been giving you real words that have real meaning, but you have yet to experience the events that will make those words stick in your mind. But then He says something that shifts the whole floor. He says, the hour is coming. This is a phrase that is loaded in John’s gospel. This is not just Jesus talking about some random moment down the road. One day this will make sense.

He is pointing specifically to the climax of His mission, the cross, the resurrection, and the return to His Father. He says when that hour comes, something will change. I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father. In other words, the days of shadows are coming to an end. Not because Jesus is suddenly becoming more honest, but because His work will finally be completed and understood. And notice what the clarity is centering on. He says, I will tell you plainly about the Father. That’s the point. Because what Jesus is ultimately bringing them into is not just new information about the Father. He’s bringing them into a deeper dynamic with the Father. Jesus is about to tell His disciples something that they’ve never really heard before. In verse 26, He moves from information about the Father to access to the Father.

Look at verse 26. In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf. So what is Jesus saying here? It sounds a bit confusing. And why would this be new for the disciples? And what does any of this have to do with access? Well, Jesus is telling His disciples that there is coming a day when their relationship or their access to the Father will no longer be indirect. You see, up to this point, they have experienced intimacy with God solely through Jesus’s physical presence. If they had questions, they asked Jesus. If they had needs, they went to Jesus. If they needed help, Jesus spoke to the Father for them. Jesus has been their mediator in the most immediate sense, which we understand is already incredible intimacy. But now Jesus says that arrangement is changing for the better.

He is preparing them for an even deeper reality, specifically the indwelling Holy Spirit who will bring the presence of the Father directly into their hearts after the Pentecost. Now you have to imagine for a first century Jewish disciple, this would have sounded crazy because their entire understanding of access to God has been shaped by distance. In the Old Testament, God was never approached casually. They understood God was holy. They knew God was dangerous in His holiness. They knew that God dwelled among His people, but always at a distance. In fact, at the center of Israel’s worship was the tabernacle and then later the temple. And at the very center of that structure was one room called the Holy of Holies. No windows, no chairs, and definitely no casual conversations. Only the Ark of the Covenant and above it the glory of His presence. And separating that room from everyone else was this thick veil, a massive barrier between

God and men. That veil preached a kind of sermon every single day. The topic of that sermon, distance. You may come this far, but no further. Only one man could pass through that veil, the high priest. And only one day of the year, the Day of Atonement. And even then, he did not walk in casually. He washed himself repeatedly, put on sacred garments, offered sacrifices, first for his own sin because if he was not clean enough, he would not survive the presence of a holy God. He carried blood with him, not as an act of devotion, but as protection because the message was clear. Sinful people do not survive unmediated holiness. This is how Israel learned to think about access to God. Carefully, fearfully, at a distance. One man, one day, with fear and trembling. And now Jesus says to His disciples, in that day, you will ask the Father directly in My

name. In other words, there’s coming a day when you will speak to the Father. Not because you’ve become worthy, not because you’ve learned to unlock the right prayers, not because God has become less holy, but because the Son, our great high priest, will offer Himself as a final sacrifice that will cover all those who are unclean and open the way through the veil into the presence of the Father. Now to be clear, Jesus is not saying when this access comes, He will stop interceding for us. No, Scripture is clear. Jesus continues this work on our behalf. But what He’s saying is on that day, you will approach the Father for the first time freely because you’ve been clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. This is really what He means when He says in My name. It means you will have access based on Jesus’s authority.

The righteousness of the Son becomes your standing. His obedience becomes your acceptance. In other words, Jesus’s holiness is in every way the basis of your access. That’s why the veil can be removed without God becoming less holy. Holiness is not lowered. You are raised in Christ, which means practically no more veil. No more blood in your hands and no more distance. Not because God has changed, but because Jesus, our great High Priest, He’s made it possible. Jesus is saying the day of restricted access will soon be over. You will approach the Father not as a stranger asking for permission. You will approach Him as a child who belongs. And listen, Jesus is not simply speaking about access. He’s also speaking about affection. Because access, as wonderful as it is, can feel cold, formal. You can have permission to come, but not feel welcomed. It is possible to believe that you can come to God and still wonder how God feels about

you when you get there. So Jesus doesn’t leave that question unanswered. Look at verse 27, for the Father Himself loves you. That line carries the weight of a lifetime. The Father loves you, not reluctantly, not indirectly, not at a distance. Jesus is not saying, I love you and what I’m going to do is I’m going to try to convince the Father to tolerate you. You hear that? Sadly, this is what many Christians functionally believe about the Father. Many Christians assume that the Father is somewhat harder to please than the Son. So you know, we love talking about the love of Jesus, and we should. Jesus is gentle. Jesus is kind. Jesus welcomes sinners. Jesus loves people. But without realizing it, we sometimes imagine the Father is indifferent. He is serious and reluctant and disappointed. But here Jesus shatters that idea. He doesn’t say the Father will eventually grow to love you.

He says the Father Himself already loves you. And the word Jesus uses here for love is not a kind of general or abstract word. It’s a word used for personal affection. It’s family love. It’s a love that is shared between a parent and a child. It’s a warm love that delights in you. In other words, it’s not just that the Father loves you, it’s that the Father likes you as He loves you. He is inclined toward you. He’s glad to receive you. He’s not annoyed by your prayers or exhausted by your weakness. And Jesus tells us why the Father loves us. Look at the second half of verse 27. Because you have loved Me and have believed that I come from the Father. The Father loves you not because you’re a good person. Not because you do all the religious things. Or because you present yourself as a lovable person in public.

No, He loves you because of your love and faith in Jesus. In other words, if you love the Son that the Father loves, then you are drawn into the Father’s love for the Son. The Father’s affection for Jesus spills out onto all of those who are united to Jesus by faith. That friends is the logic of union with Christ, which means the Father loves you with the exact same love that He’s always had for His Son. Now listen, just to be clear, Jesus isn’t saying the Father’s love is, you know, kind of triggered or unlocked by your faith. He’s saying your love for Jesus proves the Father has already set His affections on you. Your faith is the fruit, not the root of divine love. We love because He first loved us. The Father loved you before you loved the Son, and that prior love is what drew you

into Jesus in the first place. And really, here’s what makes this love almost unthinkable or incomprehensible. The Father loves you like that, knowing everything about you. Not the polished version of you, not the Sunday morning version of you, the version of you that happens after a difficult day with your kids. The real you, the full disclosure you, with your inadequacies, with your insecurities, with your fear, with your doubts, with your sin, both past and present. God loves you with nothing hidden, which means when things fall apart, when your faith feels thin, when your obedience feels inconsistent, when your life feels unstable, when everything feels confusing, when you feel unlovable, you are not losing the Father’s affection. You are not slipping out of His delight because you’ve had a hard week. You are fixed in His inescapable love, and that, brothers and sisters, changes everything.

Because if the Father loves you like that, then you can survive confusion. You can survive uncertainty. You can survive fear and suffering. Listen, you may lose stability. You may lose control of the situation. You may lose everything in this world, but you will never lose the Father’s love. Because a good father truly loves his child. He does not withdraw when things get hard. A loving father does not abandon his child when they are weak. He does not turn cold when they’re afraid. He does not step back when they fall or when they fail. He leans in. He protects. He provides. He comforts. He corrects when necessary, but he never casts away. He remains present, especially when the child cannot hold himself together. A good father may allow difficulty, but he never stops being there for his child. And Jesus is telling us that the Father’s love is not weaker than the best human father.

Held by the Son

He is infinitely stronger and perfectly persistent, which means that when things fall apart, when your world feels fractured beyond repair, you can rest your hope here. No matter what you lose in this life, you will never lose the love of the Father. And this brings us to the second marker, this great reality, you’re held by the Son. We see this in verses 28 through 32. What we see in these verses is that being loved is essential. This is what we were made for—not only the capacity to receive love, but the ability to give it. But love alone doesn’t always make us feel secure. You can know that you’re deeply loved and still wondered, am I going to make it out of this situation? Will I collapse under the emotional weight of all of this pain? Will I endure this present hardship?

Will my faith collapse under pressure? So what Jesus does here is he moves from affection to assurance, from being loved to being held. Look at verse 28. I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world again and going to the Father. Now, admittedly, at first glance, this might not sound like assurance. It almost sounds like abandonment. Jesus keeps talking about leaving, about going where they cannot follow. And if you’re sitting where the disciples are sitting, it sounds a bit unsettling. But listen, this is not a statement of abandonment. This is a declaration of complete control. Jesus is giving them a plain declarative summary of his entire mission, because when everything is about to fall apart, what they need most is not emotional reassurance, not simply that God loves them. They need certainty of God’s control. So when Jesus says, I came from the Father, he is saying something incredible about himself.

He is reminding them that he did not begin in Bethlehem. He existed before the foundation of the world. He is the pre-existent God of the universe. In fact, this is how John opens up his gospel in John 1, verses 1 and 2. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. Here Jesus is helping them find orientation, that he is no mere man. He’s not just some rabbi or spiritual guru. He is the divine Son of God who existed eternally with the Father in perfect fellowship before the world has come into being. He removes the veil on who he is. He says, I have come into the world. And when he says that, he is letting them know that I am the divine Son that stepped into time and space, which means practically he stepped into our weakness.

He stepped into our suffering and into a world that he knew would reject him. John also said this in the beginning of his gospel. John 1, 14. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory. Glory as the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Jesus coming into the world is the incarnation. God becoming man, not only to save us, but most specifically to be with us. You see, he did not save us from a distance. He came near to us, which means, family, when your world feels heavy, when your suffering feels personal, when pain feels isolating, you are not dealing with a distant God, but a God who draws near. And it’s not just that he is close, it’s that you are being held by the God who created the world and holds the universe together by the power of his Word.

This Son entered the world and took on flesh for you, to be with you, so that you might see God, and that through faith you might have peace with God. And then he says, I am leaving the world again, and that sounds like loss, but listen, it’s not abandonment, it’s atonement. He is leaving this world by way of the cross, which means the departure they fear is actually the path of their salvation and security. He is not walking away from them, he is walking toward the wrath that would have crushed them and us. He doesn’t simply come to walk among us and be around us, he came to be the final sacrifice that would cleanse all of our sin and give us the access to God that we need. And finally he says, I am going to the Father. And what this means, family, is supreme sovereignty.

Hebrews 1.3 tells us, after making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Jesus returns back to the Father, having completed his mission as the victorious Son, to rule, to reign, to intercede, and to hold his people securely, even when the world feels like it’s falling apart. Which means if you’re trusting in Jesus, you are held by a Savior who rules and reigns with absolute control over everything and everyone and every circumstance. That is control. You see what Jesus is doing here. He is anchoring our peace outside of ourselves into something that is way more consistent than ourselves. He doesn’t anchor our peace in how strong we are, and how well we understand, or how faithful we live, but in who he is, what he’s done, and where he is going. So when Jesus says, in me you may have peace, he’s not offering a kind of superficial coping

mechanism for your pain. He’s offering himself as peace. And that’s why verse 28, as theologically heavy as it sounds, is meant to be a beautiful assurance for you. What Jesus is saying here is that nothing in this world is slipping out of control. Not your circumstances, not your emotional pain. When the world feels like it’s falling apart, this is what holds you together. You are held by the Son eternally. You are in the grip of the Son who came from the Father to make you his own, and now he is seated at the right hand of God, governing the world with absolute authority to keep his own secure. Jesus said it earlier in John’s Gospel, chapter 10, verses 28 and 29. I give them eternal life, listen, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them

out of the Father’s hand. Notice what Jesus does not say. He does not say, you will be safe as long as you stay strong. He does not say, you will remain secure as long as your faith doesn’t wobble. He says, they will never perish. And then he double downs on that promise. No one will snatch you out of my hand. No one will snatch you out of my Father’s hands, which means when your life is hanging on a thread, you are held by two omnipotent hands, the Son who died for you and the Father who gave you to him. And if the Father has given you to the Son, then your salvation is not fragile, it’s fixed. So whatever happens in your life, suffering, loss, sickness, betrayal, failure, and even death, none of it has the authority to undo what Christ has secured by his own blood.

Your circumstances might change, your emotions may feel weight, your strength may waver, but your position in Christ does not move. Because eternal life is not something you are trying to keep, it’s something that Jesus has cemented for you. And what this means is when the world presses in, when fear rises, when things fall apart, you’re being held not by inner peace, you’re being held by the sovereign King of the universe. And that’s why we can say with confidence, nothing can snatch you out of his hands. Nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. You’re fixed. You’re secure. You are held now and forever, amen? Jesus’ aim here to bring assurance to his disciples, and in many ways to us, it actually works. Notice how the disciples respond. Verses 29 and 30, his disciples said, now you are speaking plainly and not using

figurative speech. Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you. This is why we believe that you came from God. So finally, the disciples feel like they understand. And notice what happens here. Jesus speaks plainly about himself and his mission, and as a result, there’s a genuine response. This is huge. What this means is that clarity concerning Jesus produces confession. They’re not just encouraged, they respond by articulating belief. They believe Jesus is from God, that he came from heaven. They believe that he knows all things. They believe he is who he claims to be. Family, this is real faith, and notice Jesus affirms it. Verse 31, Jesus answered them, do you now believe? In other words, do you finally see it? He tells them the truth about himself. He tells them the truth about his mission, and they believe, but notice he also tells

them the truth about themselves, despite their confidence and their confession. Look at verse 32, behold, the hour is coming. Indeed, it has come when you will be scattered each to his own home and will leave me alone. Jesus doesn’t soften what’s coming. He doesn’t protect their pride by silence. He names it. He says you will experience fear and panic, and you will run. Jesus tells them they will all fall away in the face of fear. He’s telling them the truth about themselves, and the reason he’s clear about what will happen is not because he thinks they’re unbelievers, they just professed faith, but because he wants them to know they’re weak believers. They can believe the right things, but in their weakness, they’ll overestimate their strength. And listen, it’s easy for us on this side of the cross to see the way they scattered and critique it, but how often do we do the very same thing?

We think that we’ll stand for Jesus because we believe until pressure comes. We’re willing to identify with Jesus until obedience costs us something, until our faith becomes public in the workplace, or until fear grips our hearts. You see, the problem is not that we don’t believe, the problem is we don’t yet understand how fragile we are as Christians. But here is the anchor, both for them and for us. Jesus does not call them out to shame them or to put them in their place. He says it so that when they scatter, when we scatter, we don’t conclude that we never really belonged. This is the grace of God. He says it so that our future failure doesn’t turn us into deep despair, so that fear doesn’t become the final word in our life, so that when our courage collapses, our confidence rests not in ourself, but in Him.

Family, God is calling out the fact that they will fail as an act of mercy so that we also might see it. Jesus prepares them and us for our weakness so that our weakness doesn’t destroy us. And then He adds this one quiet but deeply powerful line, and yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. That sentence is doing far more work than it appears on the surface. Jesus is not saying God will emotionally support me through this very difficult moment that I’m going through. He is saying something much stronger than that. He’s saying that nothing that is about to happen is outside of the will and control of the Father. His betrayal, His arrest, His trial, His cross, none of it means the Father has stepped away. When Jesus says the Father is with me, He’s saying I am exactly where the Father has appointed

me to be. I am acting in perfect alignment with His will. I am obeying the Father faithfully, which means even as the disciples flee, even as rejection closes in on every side, the Son remains faithful to the Father. And this is an encouragement to us because as we see over and over again, our security has never rested in our grip on Jesus. It’s always rested on His obedience to the Father. This is the gospel logic that carries us when things fall apart, when our faith wavers and when our courage cracks, when we can’t make sense of the unimaginable, Christ is near and will never let us go. Just as He was faithful to the Father, He is faithful to us. He goes to the cross alone so that His people will never have to feel alone. He remains when we scatter. He endures when we fail, which means your weakness does not surprise Him.

Safe in the End

Your fear does not disqualify your faith, and failure does not loosen His grip. Because your hope has never been held together by your faithfulness to Christ, but by Christ’s faithfulness to the Father on your behalf. Hide this truth in your heart, family. When things fall apart, you are loved by the Father and you are held by the Son. And this brings us to our final marker, you’re safe in the end. Everything that Jesus has been saying now culminates into one single sentence, verse 33. These things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world. If you’ve been a Christian long enough, you’ve heard this verse a thousand times. But despite the number of times you’ve heard it, don’t let it just pass over you. This verse is powerful, it’s sober, it’s real, and it’s unshakably hopeful.

Notice how honest Jesus is here with His words. He does not deny suffering. He does not encourage us to live with plastic smiles. He says in the world you will have tribulation. And that word tribulation is not some vague or flimsy word. It’s a word that means pressure, a word that is used to describe the crushing of grapes or the pressing of olives. It’s meant to give you this image of being squeezed in pressure and in pain. So when Jesus says you will have tribulation, He’s saying you will live under immense amounts of pressure in this world. And that pressure will show up in different ways. It will show up in trouble, the various circumstances that disrupt your life, when things don’t go according to the way that you planned, when doors close or when relationships fracture. It shows up as affliction, pain that comes at you, not abstract suffering, but personal

suffering, loss, or illness, or opposition. It shows up as distress, the internal weight of all of it, the anxiety, the heaviness, the sense of being boxed in with no way out. Tribulation is not just what happens to you, it’s what happens inside of you when life presses in on you. Notice what Jesus says. He does not say in the world you might experience tribulation. He says you will. So when it happens, because it will happen, you can know that it’s not because you’ve somehow failed as a Christian and you’re kind of suffering the consequences of that. It’s not a sign that you’re out of the will of God. This is the normal Christian experience living in a broken world. Jesus is honest with us to prepare us for a life lived under pressure. Not to frighten us, but to keep us from being surprised, and most importantly, to push us

into the place where we need to find peace. Listen, the world is not neutral towards you. It’s hostile. Jesus has already said why. Because the world hated Him, because the world does not know the Father, and because you, dear Christian, no longer belong to the world. So Jesus does not promise escape from trouble, but He promises something better. Peace in the midst of trouble. But I want you to notice where peace is found. That in me, you may have peace. Not in your circumstances, not in your outcomes, not in the words that people give you, not in your stability. Peace is not found in the world becoming safe. Peace is found in Christ remaining victorious. This is why Jesus gives the command to take heart. This take heart is not a superficial, paper-thin word. It’s not emotional advice. It’s a command to be grounded in reality.

And the reason He can command courage is because of what Jesus says next. I have overcome the world. Do you notice the verb there? The verb changes everything. It’s past tense. Not I will overcome the world, not I’m trying to overcome the world. I have overcome the world. The decisive victory has already been won. Jesus is speaking from the perspective of accomplished redemption. And what this means is that though the world threatens you, its sin, its hostility, its chaos and its power has already been defeated. Not by force, but by the cross. Jesus overcomes the world by going through suffering, not around it. And this means He will help us to walk through suffering, not around it. And this means that your safety is fixed. It’s not dependent on your courage or your consistency or your ability to hold on. It’s dependent on Christ’s finished work.

And that changes everything, dear Christian. Because even if the world wounds you, it cannot claim you. Even if suffering overwhelms you, it will not separate you. Even if fear shakes you beyond what you think you can handle, it cannot undo what Christ has done. Your end is not uncertain. You are safe. Not because life is predictable, but because Jesus is victorious. That’s why Jesus doesn’t say take heart, things won’t be that hard. He says take heart because I’ve already won. This is not optimism. This is assurance. This is not denial of pain. This is confidence in Christ as you walk through pain. So family, when things fall apart, and when the world presses in, and when fear feels deafening loud, your peace is not found in understanding everything. And your peace is not found in your inner self or your inner strength or even the words

that people say. It’s found in trusting the one who has overcome everything. Family, let these truths burn in your heart this morning. You are loved by the Father no matter what happens. You are held by the Son whatever the circumstance, and you are safe in the end. Nothing can stop His grace from keeping you. And that is why in a world full of tribulation, fear, and uncertainty, you can take heart. And here’s the truth that I think this passage presses in on every one of us. Every single one of us lives under pressure. Everyone faces fear. Everyone kind of imagines these worst-case scenarios. Everyone is eventually confronted with loss and suffering and even death. The difference is where you stand when this pain presses in on you. Some of you are trying to carry the weight of the world with nothing but superficial optimism. Some of you try to escape with distraction or achievement or control or self-reliance

or meditation or self-care, but none of those things can carry the weight of tribulation. They cannot forgive sin. They cannot defeat death. And they cannot promise an ending that is secure in the grip of God. You need the peace that can only be found in Jesus. Take all of your troubles, all of your pain, all of your pressure, and push it into Jesus, the place of peace. And listen, if you’re here this morning and you don’t know yourself to be a Christian, Jesus invites you this morning to come to Him to experience this peace. He’s not asking you to take heart in yourself or to find peace through spiritual enlightenment. He’s inviting you to take heart and find peace in Him, to turn from trusting yourself, turn from hoping circumstances will save you, like your money or your career. He’s asking you to entrust your life, your guilt, your fear, and your future to the One

who conquered sin and death and the world. And you can bring that to Him this morning. Believe who He says He is, the Son of God who came from heaven, who took on flesh, who died on the cross to pay for your sins, and who rose from the grave and went back to the Father who rules and reigns this world. Come to Him and find peace with God, and find peace for this world. And if you have questions about what it means to follow Jesus, ask anyone in this room, ask them if they’re a Christian, and if they say yes, they will happily cancel their lunch plans to talk with you about what it means to follow Jesus. Amen? Amen. Family, when fear rises, when pressure pushes in, and when your future feels uncertain, hear these words again. Take heart, not because the world is safe, and not because this world is without pain,

but because you are safe in Jesus who has overcome the world. Amen? Let’s pray. Our Father and our God, we do pray that You would help us to take heart in the greatest reality of the Christian, that we are not alone, that we are in Your grip, and that You’ve overcome this world. Help us to orient our hearts and our minds to be fixed on that, because that is the only thing that will carry us through dark days. And there are many of us who are walking through dark days this morning. We pray, O God, that Your truth would be our comfort, that Your nearness would be our help, and that You would help us to fix our eyes on our hope that is eternally fixed because of Jesus’ fixed work. Be our comfort and be our guide, we pray in Jesus’ name, amen.