I Have Overcome the World

Intro

You may have heard it said that all religions are the same. Usually people who make this claim look at all religions as either some basis for morality or a philosophical system. In other words, religion is either something that tells you how to think or what to do.

I’m going to start by giving this claim some credit. Almost every world religion falls into one of these two categories, or a mixture of both.

I’ll even admit that Christianity does have a lot to say about how we should live and how we should think.

But there’s one critical thing that this claim totally misses about Christianity. At its core, Christianity is not a system of morality or of philosophy. At its core, Christianity is a historical event. Jesus did not come in order to give us a moral code, and he did not come in order to give us a way to think; those are secondary to his mission. Jesus came that he might live a perfect life, die a sacrificial death for the sake of his people, and rise again in order to secure redemption for them.

Either these things really happened and Christianity is the most important thing that humanity has ever received, or they didn’t happen and Christianity is worthless and we are hopeless. Everything we believe hinges on the historical person and work of Jesus Christ.

This is important for many reasons, but in our text this morning Jesus helps us understand one very important reason why this matters:

real life is hard, full of tribulation. When tribulation comes, a system of morality or philosophy ceases to be helpful. When tribulation comes, the gospel of Jesus Christ, grounded in its historical claims, delivers overwhelming peace to all who believe.

I will explain this from the text in three points:

Christ gives us clear understanding of his mission, the gospel.

Understanding by itself is not enough to persevere through tribulation

The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ provide immense peace in tribulation

Christ gives us clear understanding about the gospel

English Standard Version Chapter 16

25 “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. 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; 27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

State: Jesus speaks the gospel in clear terms here. Throughout his ministry, a lot of what Jesus has said has been spoken in terms that were disguised, ambiguous, or more difficult to fully understand. Here, Jesus teaches his disciples about himself in clear terms:

We have direct access to the Father through faith in Jesus Christ

No longer will there be the great distance between God and man. The curtain will be torn, and through Christ every single person will have intimate access to the Father

The Father loves to give us everything that we need. We can pray to him and expect to receive the things that we ask for in Christ’s name.

Jesus has come into the world from the Father

he is pre-existent

he is sent by the Father, of one will with him

Jesus has gone back to the Father

Jesus did not stay dead

Jesus accomplished the work of salvation

Jesus now reigns in power

Apply: The Word of God is accessible to all people. The gospel is not merely for those who are educated at seminary. The gospel is set down in the Scriptures for all of God’s people. Therefore, we ought to consume the Scriptures and dwell on the gospel.

Sunday morning preaching

Bible studies with other believers

Personal study of the Scriptures

Understanding by itself is not enough to persevere through tribulation

English Standard Version Chapter 16

29 His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! 30 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.” 31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? 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.

State: The disciples grew confident in the understanding they got from Jesus. In fact, it seems that they probably did understand at least in part what Jesus was saying.

However, Jesus challenges the confidence they have in their own understanding. He reveals that even in their understanding, they will all abandon him in his hour of need.

Do you see how a system of philosophy or morality, even properly understood, is not enough in times of tribulation? For when it came, the disciples scattered, and many of them were incredibly perplexed while Jesus lay dead in the tomb.

Apply: There is no system of thinking that is able to save us from tribulation in this world. Even if we were right in all our understanding, sin would still dominate us both externally and internally.

Therefore, we must be careful not to rest in our own understanding as the answer for our suffering. How valuable is knowledge when you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders? What good are answers when to someone who cries themself to sleep at night?

Thankfully, Jesus did not come merely to give us answers; he came to give us deliverance and peace.

The death and resurrection of Christ is the source of immense peace and perseverance in tribulation

English Standard Version Chapter 16

33 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.”

State: Our understanding is not to be rested in as an end in itself; Jesus gives us understanding as a means to have peace in him. This peace is the important thing that Jesus wants to impart to his people because of what he says next.

Jesus tells his disciples that they will have tribulation in the world.

But they can have peace, not simply because of understanding, but because Jesus has overcome the world. When the disciples are experiencing tribulation, they won’t be desperate for more knowledge, they will be desperate for peace. This peace is what Jesus provides them with because of his death and resurrection.

John 20

English Standard Version Chapter 20

19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

Phil 4:4-7

English Standard Version Chapter 4

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Apply: The promise of tribulation in this world was not only for the disciples Jesus spoke to, but for us as well. In this world, we also will experience tribulation, both from without and from withing.

In what ways does the death and resurrection of Jesus provide peace for us in tribulation?

In his death, we are convinced that Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice in our place

In his resurrection, we are convinced that the Father accepted this substitute, and so raised Jesus from the dead.

Furthermore, Jesus’ resurrection from the dead convinces us that death is not the end, but we have become victorious over death through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is why Jesus exhorts his disciples, “take heart, I have overcome the world.”

English Standard Version Chapter 8

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In the gospel of Jesus Christ we encounter the historical death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and this is the only thing for us to rest in as we experience the tribulations of this life. In that gospel we have peace, whatever else we might be going through.

FCF: Even great understanding isn’t enough for us to endure through the tribulations of life

CFC: The gospel of Jesus Christ provides peace amidst tribulation