BE OF GOOD CHEER!

Scripture: John 16:33
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Introduction: John Smith, a soldier in Iraq during the last war, wrote home about his experiences, saying:

“We got hit by an Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) today… My brothers-in-arms, Iekar (eye-car) and Kohail, were walking out to inspect a civilian car when it exploded… They both were blown back about 100 feet or so… The hilarious part is when they got up, they started yelling and laughing… Iekar came back screaming, ‘Yee-Haw! I’m still alive! Praise God Almighty, I’m alive!’ He had the biggest smile in the world on his face… When he got back, he asked me to help him do something… I said sure, and he asked if I would pray to God for thanksgiving with him...”

John, a new Christian, ended his letter by thanking God for the opportunity to pray with an Iraqi and by saying, “Jesus has been the BEST companion over here… He listens to my every prayer and answers me every morning with renewed strength and a clear mind…”

Message: I just got back from an out of town speaking engagement…It was in a little town called “Bonneau, SC…

Saturday night they had a “Sportsman Banquet…” It was a big cookin where they had all kind of good food…Shrimp, fish, turkey etc… and on Sunday they have two services, one at 8:30 and the other at 11 oclock…

God blessed me with the honor of speaking at each of these services…It was a great time for me…I shared my testimony…I just told what Jesus had done in my life…I did my very best to get across to each one there, that no matter what the question or problem, Christ is the answer…That in Him we each can find the peace and joy that we are searching for in life…

I always love to go to different places and meet new people…

There is always a special sound man to fix up the sound equipment so everyone can hear the preacher or the speaker…There is always some one who leads the choir…always some one who can really sing…but there is also the people in every church that have the same ole problems…drugs, sickness, adultery…depression, the list is endless…just add something to the list that you know about and it can be found in every area…

Each town I go into, no matter where it is, I gain knowledge that people all over have the same problems…

I do my best to let people know or at least wake them up to the fact, that we are in a war 24/7…Satan never rest… He is always trying to pull someone down to his level…He likes to pick on the weak, sometimes innocent prey…Satan is a liar!!

So here again, I want each one who reads or listens to this, to know that we’re in the combat zone of life, faced with satanic IEDs and demonic snipers every day…but listen to the words of Jesus Himself…

Jesus said, “In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

If Christ has overcome the world, and we are His, and He is ours, then we can put on His promises for our daily battle…We can become an “Overcomer with Jesus…”

We can have a peace that passes all understanding…

The Upper Room Discourse of our Lord is found in John 13–17, and the last sentence of chapter 16…His last sermon, He gives us several principles for inner peace…

1. In Me You May Have Peace: This is perhaps the most powerful phrase in the Bible— “In Me...” It was Paul’s theme… He used the phrase “In Christ” about 100 times… It refers to union with Him…

Suppose I saw a bottle on the shore… Unscrewing the top, I walked over to the sea, filled the bottle up with water, screwed on the top, and tossed the bottle into the surf… The water would be in the bottle, and the bottle would be in the water… When we confess Jesus Christ as Lord, He comes to live within us by the living water of the Holy Spirit, and we are in Christ…

2. These Things I Have Spoken: Our sense of inner peace grows from trusting His words… What did Jesus mean by “these things?” In the greatest sense, we can claim the entirety of the Word of God… In another sense, Jesus was thinking of all the teachings He had given His disciples since He called them by the shore of Galilee… Specifically, “these things” refer to the Upper Room Discourse… John 13–17 are remarkable chapters because Jesus spoke them in an atmosphere of incredible tension, yet His message was one of supernatural peace…

3. In the World You Will Have Tribulation: John 16:33 goes on to issue a warning… Our inner peace, which is based on our union with Christ and grows as we trust His words, will be assaulted by the world…(Combat Zone)… Jesus promises that we’ll have problems in the world… Opposition… Persecution and satanic attacks… Misunderstandings, hurts, heartaches, and many things that challenge our faith…

4. But Be of Good Cheer… I Have Overcome: But Jesus did not end His teachings there… Here is the last thing He said before His prayer in chapter 17, the concluding sentence of three years of ministry, the last syllables of the last sermon He preached prior to Calvary: BUT BE OF GOOD CHEER; I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD…

He was saying: “I’ve come into the world and lived here for thirty-three years without sinning so I can serve as an innocent, sacrificial victim whose blood can atone for the sins of the world… I am going to lay down my life willingly and I will take it up again… The grave cannot hold Me, death cannot keep Me, and I’m going to burst from the tomb like a fist through cardboard… I have overcome the world…”

Conclusion: If Jesus Christ has overcome the world, He can overcome our anxieties and make all things work together for good in our experiences…

Whatever tribulations we face… He is the great Overcomer,

Our peace is in Him…

It’s reinforced by His words...

It’s assaulted by the world, but He says to you:

Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world…