John 16:20,33, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy ... These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
John 16:20-33 is a precious passage of Scripture, because Jesus
promised that lasting joy and peace await those who trust upon His
name. Amen! Jesus said Christian believers can have peace in this
horrible world—amidst all the turmoil, malicious people, hatred, sin
and insanity of mankind—simply by remembering that we are on the
winning side, because Jesus overcame the world. Jesus said to be of
good cheer! There is no greater joy than to know that you have
eternal life dwelling in you!
John 3:15, “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” John 10:28, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” If you are saved, you already have eternal life dwelling in you. You'll “never perish.” When your earthly body is no longer suitable to house your soul and spirit, then you will go on to your eternal home, whether it be Heaven or Hell.
Ecclesiastes 12:7, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” All life comes from God. The gifted singer “Sting” of the popular band, The Police, had it right when he sang, “We are spirits in the material.” Sting is absolutely right. When we think about a person, we often refer to the body, soul and spirit; but notice what the Bible says in 1st Thessalonians 5:23, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Notice that the Scripture list man's “spirit” first. We are all a spirit in a temporal material body. Ecclesiastes 12:7 teaches that God gives that spirit when each human being is conceived, and when this life's journey is over, that spirit returns to God from whence it came. I am amazed, and it is a truly remarkable thought, when I ponder why God put my spirit into my particular family, at this particular time in history, in this particular free country. God could have just as easily put my spirit into someone's body born into slavery, or a time of brutal war, or famine unto death. Oh, how blessed I have been of my great God and Savior! And so are you my beloved reader. God is good to all of us, or we'd all be burning in the fires of Hell this very moment!
I shudder when I hear skeptics and blasphemers denying eternal life, denying Heaven and denying Hell. What is the basis for their unbelief? They have none, except to insist that there is no proof of God's existence. Only a fool would deny the existence of a divine Creator, in consideration of the wonders of science and the universe, and the miraculous anatomy and healing power of the human body, and the bountiful and fabulous delights which we consume on a daily basis. We are so blessed! Man's need for a God is His proof! The existence of a good God screams loudly in all of creation. If you foolishly choose not to see God's glory and goodness, then you won't, by your own evil heart of unbelief, love for sin and selfish ingratitude. ...
Romans 1:20-22, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”
If you have been born-again by God's Holy Spirit, be of good cheer dear reader! When life overwhelms you, be of good cheer, for Jesus has overcome this sin-cursed, wacky and hateful world. As believers, we have a hope through Christ Jesus (Titus 1:2). (Note: All Scriptures are quoted only from the trustworthy King James Bible.) For the unbeliever, you should be afraid, very afraid, for the wrath of God is upon you continually. John 3:36, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” Oh, how I wish I could speak some sense into most of the human population. You are a sinner dear friend, and so am I. We are woeful sinners by nature and by choice (Romans 3:10-23; 5:12).
There is an eternal
penalty for those sins, which is damnation in Hell forever (Romans
6:23; Revelation 21:8). The Bible plainly teaches that the Lake of
Fire is everlasting (Revelation 20:11-15). Wake up oh reader if you
are not a Christian! Are you willing to spend eternity burning in
the fires and torments of Hell if you are wrong? Are you willing to
bet against the Holy Bible, which existed in Heaven before man was
even formed? It is a serious matter of grave importance! Where will
you spend eternity? I marvel at the foolish ignorance of billions of
people! Satan has successfully blinded the minds of unbelievers, to
hinder them from getting saved (2nd Corinthians 4:3-4).
In Matthew 27:63, evil men called Jesus a liar and a deceiver. In
John 7:20 and John 8:52, evil men called Jesus demon-possessed. In
John 8:41, evil men called Jesus a bastard. If malicious people
attacked our Lord and Savior, saying all manner of evil against Him,
then you know they'll do the same thing to us. 2nd Timothy 3:12,
“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution.” The Bible doesn't say “maybe”; but rather,
“shall.” If you live for God, the world will give you up, and Satan
will persecute you through weak-minded individuals. Satan looks for
idle and weak minds to do his dirty work. Satan is winning the
battle today in the world, but the war has already been won by the
precious Lord! We are on the winning side in Jesus Christ!!! So be
of good cheer, Oh Christian, because the victory has already been
won by the risen Savior!
Ironically, some of the biggest enemies a Christian has are
religious people. Jesus' worst enemies were the religious
Pharisees—a bunch of self-righteous judgmental hypocrites—who were
always trying to catch Jesus in His Words, trying to find fault in
Him to somehow discredit Jesus' integrity and ministry. If those
evil religious hypocrites found enough fault in the perfect Son of
God to crucify Him, prey tell me, what do you think the same people
will do to Jesus followers when they stumble? That's right, they're
going to follow you around with a magnifying glass, scrutinizing
your every move, looking for any information to destroy you. And if
they can't find fault in you, then they'll conspire against you in
an attempt to destroy you and your labors for the Lord. Preachers in
particular are under relentless demonic attack nowadays. Soulwinners
are being persecuted, arrested and prosecuted for evangelizing with
the Gospel. One hundred years from now, not one soulwinner will ever
regret their time spent proclaiming the Good News of Christ
crucified, buried and risen (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). Praise our
glorious and good Savior!!!
Nearly 2,000 years after Jesus walked this earth, evil men and women
today still portray the Savior as being an adulterer, a conspirator,
a bastard, a lunatic, a homosexual, a fraud and a liar. Whom do you
say Jesus is—Liar, lunatic or Lord? To those who believe, Jesus is
precious! If your name is written in Heaven my dear reader, you have
countless reasons to “BE OF GOOD CHEER”! Our Lord succeeded where
the first man, Adam, utterly failed. Jesus was born of a virgin and
lived a sinless, perfect, spotless, life. Jesus became our
sacrificial Lamb on Calvary's cross, to pay for our sins and redeem
us back to God with His blood. Whereas one man, Adam, dragged the
world down by his sin; one man, Jesus Christ, made redemption
possible for all mankind through faith in His cross. Colossians
1:20, “And, having made peace through the blood of
his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself;
by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in
heaven.” Thank you Lord!
