ALL WILL BE WELL
- Introduction: One of God’s greatest promises to His people is peace of mind. This is a peace that passes understanding because this peace is a certainty that all will be well, no matter what you’re facing, no matter how things look, no matter how you feel.
- Peace doesn’t automatically come to us, but it is promised to those who keep their mind set on God: You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you (Isa 26:3, NLT).
- Keeping your thoughts on God is more than a technique you can use to make you feel better when you encounter trouble. It’s a perspective or a view of reality.
- To experience peace of mind you must have the right perspective on this life. It’s not what you see it’s how you see what you see that you gives peace.
- To have the right perspective you must get your information about reality (the way things really are) from Almighty God. God sees all and knows all (past, present, and future) and has all the facts about everything in every situation. We get this information from His written Word—the Bible.
- The Bible informs us that this world is not the way God created or intended it to be. Because of sin, it is filled with corruption and death which results in hardship, pain, suffering, and loss.
- But God assures us that He is working out a plan to restore His creation to all that He intends it to be. And He tells us that He is able to cause the harsh realities of life in a fallen, sin cursed earth to serve His ultimate purposes of good.
- From God’s Word we learn that we are only passing through this world in its present form. And, we realize that in comparison to the life after this life, our span on earth is just a blink of an eye.
- Therefore, we know that whatever we face in this life, it will come to an end, and the joys that await us in the life after this life far outweigh the hardships and pain of this life.
- This assurance gives us hope even in the most hopeless circumstances and helps us make it through life’s greatest challenges. And, it helps us realize that the most important thing we can do with our lives is stay faithful to God and live in a way that brings Him honor and glory.
- Peace of mind comes from knowing who God is and what He has promised to do for us. It comes from knowing that nothing can come against you that is bigger than God who is with you and for you. It comes from knowing that God will get you through whatever you are facing.
- Last week, as part of this discussion, we began to talk about a statement that Jesus made the night before He went to the Cross. As He prepared His followers for the fact that He was soon going to leave this world, He told them that He would give them peace of mind.
- John 14:27—I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind. The peace I give isn’t like the peace the world gives. So don’t be troubled and or afraid (NLT).
- Jesus said many things to His apostles that night, but He concluded with this statement: I have told you these things so that in Me you may have perfect peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer—take courage, be confident, certain, undaunted—for I have overcome the world.—I have deprived it of power to harm, have conquered it [for you] (John 16:33, Amp).
- Jesus promised that we can have peace of mind and heart (or freedom from disquieting thoughts and emotions) in the midst of life’s hardships because He has overcome the world.
- We asked the question: If Jesus has deprived this world of power to harm us by overcoming and conquering it for us, why do things still hurt and harm us? We have more to say tonight.
- Jesus did not die to make this life the highlight of our existence, and He did not come into this world to remove all suffering and pain right now. Jesus came as part of a plan that began in eternity past, God’s plan to have a family of sons and daughters with whom He can live in loving relationship forever. Eph 1:4-5
- Sin took the plan off track. When the first man Adam sinned, a curse of corruption and death entered the human race and the earth. Since that time, death has reigned in the world. Gen 2:17; Rom 5:12-14
- All living things die, and because every human being has chosen independence from God through sin and they are dead while they live because they are cut off from God, who is life—disqualified for God’s family, under death’s dominion, and powerless to help ourselves. Eph 2:1-3; Eph 4:18
- Hardship is in this world because of sin, not necessarily you own sin, but Adam’s sin. Every problem, injustice, pain, hurt, and loss that we face in this world is a lesser form of death, and is ultimately a consequence of sin.
- Jesus (God Incarnate) came into this world to die as a sacrifice for sin and open the way for us to be restored to our created purpose as sons and daughters of God through faith in Him. 2. Jesus came to die as a sacrifice for our sin and provide us with ultimate victory—victory over death in all its forms, a victory that will last forever. Heb 2:14-15; I Cor 15:26
- I Pet 3:18—(Christ) also suffered when he died for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners that he might bring us safely home to God (NLT).
- Heb 9:26—Now, at this point in time, the end of the present age, he (Christ) has appeared once and for all to abolish sin by the sacrifice of himself (J. B. Phillips).
- We are part of a plan that is bigger than us and our short life span. Although we can’t stop life’s troubles now, life’s troubles can’t stop God’s plan for us (Rom 8:37-39). When you learn to live with the awareness of this reality (or this perspective) it lightens the load of the hardships of life.
- The fact that Jesus has overcome the world means that nothing can stop God’s ultimate plan for you —to live in loving relationship with Him forever in a world that has no more sorrow, no more pain, and no more loss. To fully appreciate what this means we must understand:
- Resurrection of the dead. In connection with Jesus’ second coming, God will raise our bodies from the grave and reunite us with our bodies made immortal and incorruptible, so we can live on earth again. We discussed this last week.
- In connection with Jesus’ second coming, He will cleanse the earth of all corruption and death. He will renew and restore it to a fit forever home for Himself and His family of redeemed, resurrected sons and daughters, in what the Bible calls it the new heavens and earth (many lessons for another day). Rev 21:1-4; Rev 22:3
- Through His death and resurrection Jesus broke the power of this world to permanently harm us— even if hardship and pain lasts a lifetime. Nothing can permanently harm us because there is more to life than just this life and we have a part in it because He overcame death through His resurrection.
- Jesus’ resurrection is a stunning demonstration of the fact that the power of death has been broken, and it is proof that our bodies will come out of the grave to live on earth again, in a complete reversal of mankind’s greatest unconquerable enemy.
- I Cor 15:17-20—And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless, and you are still under condemnation for your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ have perished! And if we have hope in Christ only for this life, we are the most miserable people in the world. But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again (NLT).
- I Cor 15:21-23—So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, Adam, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man, Christ. Everyone dies because all of us are related to Adam, the first man. But all who are related to Christ, the other man, will be given new life. But there is an order to the resurrection: Christ was raised first; then when Christ comes back, all his people will be raised (NLT).
- Jesus’ resurrection is proof that mankind’s greatest enemy has been defeated. And, there is no such thing as an impossible or irreversible situation in the hands of God because He has overcome death. All will be made right—some in this life. But the ultimate reversal of life’s hardships and restoration of all that has been lost is in the life to come.
- One of God’s promises to His people is that He “causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them” (Rom 8:28, NLT).
- Jesus’ death and resurrection is a spectacular example of how God uses the harsh realities of life in a broken, sin cursed earth and causes them to serve His ultimate purpose for a family. Eph 1:9-11
- Wicked men who were inspired by Satan crucified the innocent Son of God (Acts 2:23; Luke 22:3). But Almighty God caused this event to serve His ultimate purpose. Jesus went willing to the Cross and became the perfect, once for all sacrifice that pays for our sin (Heb 9:26).
- God used this wicked act and brought about the greatest good possible to humanity. Through Jesus’ sacrifice God provided salvation from sin and opened the way to everlasting life for all who believe in Him. Had the devil known what Almighty God was going to do, “(he) they would never have crucified our glorious Lord” (I Cor 2:8, NLT).
- Paul the apostle had this eternal perspective. In the context of the many hardships he faced he wrote: Our present troubles are quite small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see right now; rather, we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever (II Cor 4:17-18, NLT).
- The Greek word that is translated look means more than see with your eyes. It means to mentally consider. Paul’s mind and thoughts were on the life after this life. This doesn’t mean that he denied the reality of the hardships he endured or thought only about clouds and harps.
- It means he recognized that in comparison to forever even a lifetime of hardship is miniscule. And he realized that his troubles, in the hands of God, were working for good.
- All of this helped Paul keep this life in perspective, gave him hope in the midst of hardship, and lightened the load of the difficulties of life. And now, he is experiencing the realities of Heaven, as he awaits resurrection of his body and a return to life on this earth when Jesus returns.
- How does this relate to having peace of mind in the midst of life’s hardships? When this eternal perspective becomes your view of reality it gives you the assurance that all will be well, if not now, in the life to come.
- We said earlier that Jesus promised us a peace that is different from what the world gives. The world gives us peace when everything goes right for us. But it’s a temporary peace, since everything changes.
- The peace Jesus gives comes from seeing reality as it truly is—nothing can come against you that is bigger than God. All that you see is temporary and subject to change by God’s power, either in this life or the life to come. And He will get you through whatever you are facing until He gets you out.
- The night before Jesus went to the Cross He connected the peace that He offers to Himself, to relationship with Him—I have told you these things so that in Me you may have perfect peace and confidence (John 16:33, Amp).
- The word peace, among other things, means the peace of mind that comes from being in right relationship with God, and living with an awareness of His loving kindness toward us.
- When you live with the awareness that Almighty God showed His love and kindness toward you by dying an agonizing death for you so that He could have you as His son or daughter, it gives you the assurance that all will ultimately be well.
- If God helped you with your greatest need (salvation from sin) when you were in rebellion against Him, why would He not help you now that you belong to Him.
- Rom 8:32—Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him us for us all, won’t God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else (NLT).
- Through sacrificing Himself to pay for sin, Jesus opened the way for God the Holy Spirit Spirit to indwell us and make us God’s literal sons and daughter through a new birth.
- Eph 1:13-14—When you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us everything he promised and that he purchased us to be his own people (NLT).
- Jesus went to the Cross for us as us, as our substitute. As believers we share in what He has done. His victory is our victory. He took our place in death so that we could share His life—now and forever.
- Paul also wrote: Col 3:1-4—Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God’s right hand in a place of honor and power. Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth. For you died when Christ died, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your real life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory (NLT),
- Paul does not mean think about clouds and harps. He meant that every believer has been raised and will be raised to new life through what Jesus did. Believers needs to know this because it will alter your perspective—all that we see is temporary, but what is ahead will last forever. 2. The fact that Jesus is seated at God’s right hand, in the highest place of honor, means that He accomplished what He came to earth to do. Jesus’ resurrection is proof that our sin has been paid for and that death has lost its power over those who belong to Him.
- We have a living connection to Jesus, the Man in Heaven. Notice that Paul directly connected what Jesus has done for us and our connection with Him (we’re raised up with Him) to the way we think.
- We’ve talked a lot recently about renewing your mind and changing your thinking. But we aren’t talking about becoming a positive thinker and affirming that I can do this (whatever).
- Bible thinking is based on what Jesus has done for us. Because of what Jesus has done for us we have a future and a hope that goes beyond this life. All will be made right, if not in this life, in this life to come. This perspective gives us peace of mind which lightens the load of life.
- Although we can’t stop life’s troubles right now, life’s troubles can’t stop God’s ultimate plan for us. Note Paul’s description of an eternal perspective.
- Rom 8:37-39—Overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord (NLT).
- An eternal perspective lives with the awareness that there is more to life than just this life and that
all will ultimately be made right, some in this life and some in the life to come. When this becomes your view of reality, keeping your mind and thoughts on God is much easier.
- Conclusion: If you knew that you were going on a dream vacation next year or that you were soon going to receive a check that will wipe out your debt, you wouldn’t have to make yourself think about it. This reality would dominate your thoughts and affect how you talk and act. When you have this eternal perspective, keeping your thoughts on God and on the realities of the life to come becomes natural.
- Yes, there are times when the thoughts and emotions generated by life’s challenges overwhelm us, and we do have to choose to put our focus back on God and His Word. We’ve talked a lot about how praising God in the moment helps us get control and focus on Him.
- But our goal should be to permanently change our perspective. How do we do it? Read what God says in His book. Get good teaching about what is ahead. Talk about what is ahead. All of this will strengthen your confidence that God is with you and for you in your difficulty and will get you through until He gets you out. And this will give you peace of mind—all will be well. More next week!
