Jesus says in John 14:27, “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.”

This is what Jesus said, Holy Spirit would bring to them peace. Now we notice that He mentions it twice in a row, ‘peace I leave with you’ and ‘my peace I give unto you’. And the question naturally would be, is Jesus stating the same thing twice just in slightly different ways or is He speaking of two separate gifts of peace? The truth is we really don’t know, He just might be repeating for emphasize or it’s a possibility that He is talking about two types of peace. There is a peace with God and there is a peace from God. It may be that Jesus is speaking of a peace that He leaves with them and then a peace He later sends to them.

All men are enmity with God because of their sins. And there is a peace in the New Testament that signifies a reconciliation with God. A reconciliation between you and God, a peace with God. Romans 5:1 speaks about this, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” And so, a person that is justified by faith, saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, that person can have through Jesus Christ peace with God. If you have not put your faith in Jesus Christ, then you have not been justified and if you have not been justified then you do not have peace with God. In other words, up unto this very moment if you’ve not believed in Lord Jesus Christ, if you’ve not called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, if you’ve not sought Him for forgiveness and mercy, you’re not reconciled with God, you do not have peace with God. And you need to know this, and you need to understand this, unless you’re are a genuine Christian, you’re not at peace with God. That is very serious, that is very sobering, you need to be at peace with God but if you’ve not accepted His Son Jesus Christ, you’re not at peace with God. It’s very chilling, how can anyone live their life like nothing is wrong, knowing that they are not at peace with their Creator. How can you go through a day, a week, a month and a year like nothing is wrong, when you’re not at peace with God? What a terrible thing it is to be walking through life, not at peace with God and realize that a massive heart attack or car accident could take your life at any day.

I am a believer, I put my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, I called upon Him in repentance and in faith. I believe I am child of God and yet ever so often I realize that I might not make out of the day, I could die in a car accident. Do you understand that? You do not have a lease on life, you didn’t sign an agreement that you would live so long, there is no guarantee that you or I will make out of the day or even out of the week. And so, knowing that you’re not at peace with God, how on earth can you act like nothing is wrong. Knowing that you could be standing at the judgement seat of Christ before the day is over, before the week is over, never having come to terms of peace with God. We hear about men and women on their death bed, and we heard and maybe we even know men and women dying an aged death and they talk about having made peace with God, having made peace with their Creator. If each one of us had an aged death bed, if each one of us had a long slow process of dying, then we could take our time and make peace with God, but none of us are guaranteed an aged death, none of us are guaranteed a death bed. Death could be instantaneous, and we would stand before the judgement seat of Christ, never having come to terms of peace with God, never having accepted His Son Jesus Christ through faith.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 says, “When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand-new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun! All these new things are from God who brought us back to himself through what Christ Jesus did. And God has given us the privilege of urging everyone to come into his favor and be reconciled to him. For God was in Christ, restoring the world to himself, no longer counting men’s sins against them but blotting them out. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others. We are Christ’s ambassadors. God is using us to speak to you: we beg you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, receive the love he offers you—be reconciled to God. For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God’s goodness into us!”

So, there is a peace that signifies reconciliation with God instead of alienation, instead of enmity. Peace with God. I hope that you can say this today, “I know that I am at peace with God.” When I see Him at His judgement seat my sins will not be imperative to me because He took them on Himself, and I will stand in the judgement seat of Christ not with my own sins but with the righteousness of Jesus Christ upon me. Peace with God!

And then there is peace which comes from God in our hearts. Philippians 4:7 says, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” A peace that passes all understanding. In another words, a peace that, when world looks at you and sees that your heart and your mind is at peace in the midst of chaos, and they look at you and they don’t understand. How you can be at peace? We are here referring to peace from God that allows us to remain calm in the face of a storm, a peace from God that allow us to remain unruffled in the lions’ den of fear, a peace from God that allows us to remain cool in the fiery furnace of persecution, a peace from God that allows us to be restful in a turbulent world, a peace from God that allows us to be patient in a life of uncertainty. There is no reason that the child of God should not live their daily life in peace. Romans 14:17 says, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” That’s what the kingdom of God is about. It is about righteousness, and peace and joy from the ministry of the Holy Spirit of God. Romans 15:13 says, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” 2 Thessalonians 3:16 says, “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.” God gives to His people- peace.

Those who have made peace with God through the atoning death of Jesus Christ can have peace from God in their daily lives and should have peace with God in their daily lives. As Jesus is preparing His disciples for a time after that He has gone away from them in person, He promises to leave them that very very important commodity of peace. A peace with God and a peace from God. A peace for the conscience, for our relationship with God and a peace for our heart, for our daily lives.

What great commodities! What a great blessing it is to lay your hands on the pillow at night and have your conscience be clear knowing that should you die in the night, you will see God as one of His children, you will stand unafraid before the judgement seat of Christ with the righteousness of Jesus Christ upon you, you can stand there with confidence knowing that no sin of yours is imperative to you. Your conscience is clear because of the peace with God. And then, what a wonderful blessing to get up the next morning and face storm and difficulties and hard times and have peace in your heart from God, to be able to face the junk of this world, to face the upheaval of this world, to face burdens and difficulties of this world and have peace from God. Peace for the conscience and peace for the heart.

Peace is Jesus’ gift, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.” It’s His gift for the believer, Jesus didn’t bequeath us money. He didn’t in His will set up for us a life of ease and pleasure. He didn’t leave us luxury and prosperity. These things are questionable, they often, do more harm then good to the soul. Knowing that you are at peace with God is a far better then a life of ease and prosperity.

The peace of Christ is the possession that all believers can have, whether they are high or low, whether they are rich or poor, the peace of God is a gift to all of God’s children. The peace which Jesus gives, He calls, my peace. It is His own peace to give. He bought that peace with His own shed blood, He purchased it by His own substitutionary death on Calvary. It is His peace, and He gives it to those who would call upon Him.

The great Bible commentator Mathew Henry has described it in this way, “When Christ left the world, He made His Will; His soul, He bequeathed to His Father (God). His body, He bequeathed to Joseph of Arimathea. His clothes, fell to the soldiers, His mother was left to the care of John. But what should He leave to His poor disciples, who have left all for Him? Silver and Gold, He had none. But what He left them was far better then silver and gold. He left for His poor disciples- peace.” He left them immediately with peace with God. And then within a few days Holy Spirit came and gave them the peace within their hearts.

I hope today, that you are at peace with God, and if you are at peace with God then there is no reason that you should not have peace within your heart as a gift from God. This peace which He is going to give to His disciples is not as world gives. The peace of Jesus Christ which He gives to those, who He has redeemed, is nothing like the peace of the world. The world can give you riches, but it will never satisfy you. The Bible says, He that loveth silver, shall not be satisfied with silver. The world can give you a good laugh, the world can give you pleasure, the world can give you power and popularity, many try to find peace in food, in drinks and in drugs. Not everything that I mentioned is wrong, but if you turn to them for peace of mind, if you turn to them for comfort of heart, you will eventually realize, maybe too late, that they have failed you. The world can give you a temporary boost in your mood, but they cannot give you inward peace. The world really doesn’t promote peace, probably because it cannot give it. The world can promote and give you hatred, selfishness, malice, bitterness, anxiety, grieve, lust and fear. But it really has nothing to offer you of spirit of peace, the best the world can offer you of spirit of peace is a temporary mood boost. You go out and buy that thing which you think finally make you happy, and the mood boost that you get from that thing, is short lived. The objects of this world cannot give you peace. Pleasure, fame, wealth cannot give you peace. The different systems of philosophy, the different systems of religions cannot give you peace because they, first of all, cannot take away sin, as Jesus Christ does, they do not clear the conscience. But the peace of Jesus Christ is what meets all the souls need and silences all the alarms of conscience. And the peace that comes through Jesus Christ will still be there with you at the hour of death.

If you are trying to find a calmness, a comfort, a joy, a peace. If you are trying to find a fill of void of emptiness in your life and if you are trying to do it through money, through pleasure, through people, through philosophy, through religion, all these things will fail you, they will only give you a temporary mood boost. What will not fail you is peace that comes from Jesus Christ. He gives what peace of the world cannot give you. You can continue to chase the things of the world, eventually you will realize that you’ve failed.

And in conclusion Jesus tells His disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” In Romans Chapter 14 Jesus gives many promises to His disciples and at last He concludes with saying “do not be afraid” (verse 27). These 12 men, these 12 disciples were about to go to every corner of the world with the Gospel, the road ahead them was not easy, they will be tempted to be cowardly. Jesus is getting ready to leave, He will die on Calvary’s Cross, He will be placed in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb, three days later, He will rise, He will show Himself to many and then He will ascend into the heavens, back to the Father, at the right hand of the throne of God. He is going to send Holy Spirit. When He leaves them, He gives them peace with God, and when the Holy Spirit comes, He gives them peace from God.

My question is twofold; do you have peace with God? Should you stand before His judgement seat, tonight, tomorrow, next week, do you have a confidence that you’ve peace with God? And when you stand before God, you will stand there with none of your sins imperative to you but with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Friends, you can have peace with God, call out to Him with repentance and with faith that you trust Him, call out to Him for mercy, and then, if you are a child of God, do you have the peace that comes from God, the peace that fills the soul with the ministry of Holy Spirit? Your heart and mind should be fill with the peace of God. God Bless!