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Well, greetings to each one of
you in the worthy name of our Savior. It's a blessing to be
here with you as we look at his word again. I would invite you,
if you have your roadmap with you, that you would open it and
go to the Gospel according to John in chapter 14. If I would ask you at what point
is this chapter, at what point is this text in the ministry of the Lord
Jesus, does someone know just off the top of your head? Yes, yes, very good. It's on
the evening before his crucifixion, trial crucifixion and death the
next day. The setting here, it's always,
I think it's always important here to get a bit of the setting
and that in this passage in John 14, We have a very intimate setting,
a very close setting, a very dear setting, we might say, with
Christ and his 11 disciples. And it, as it were, is kind of
the closing statement of Christ to his disciples. Obviously he will speak to them
again after his death and resurrection before his ascension. But here We have Judas already has left. He's gone from their presence.
The supper has been eaten. Christ has washed their feet.
He has ministered to them. And now he comes to them and
these next 14, 15, 16 are very informative as to the heart
of Christ to his people and this is not a message that goes out
into the world necessarily, no it's for his people, it is for
his church so to speak. Here today, even today, now as
we're gathered together, take these words of Christ as a message
for you, it's for us, it's for his people. And so I want to
remind you of this setting that it is the night before our Savior's
death. He's secluded with his 11 disciples
and he told them of his coming departure in John 13 verse 33.
And I want to point this out. Little children, I shall be with
you a little while longer. You will seek me. And as I said
to the Jews where I'm going, you cannot come. So now I say
to you and then again Jesus answered him in verse 36 where Peter said
Lord where are you going? He said where I'm going you cannot
follow me now but you shall follow me afterward. And so we have
in the context of this this coming departure we have Christ speaking
these great words of comfort to to his disciples soon to be
apostles. So I want to invite you to follow
along as I read in our text today John 14 beginning in verse 12
and we'll read through verse 24. John 14. Verses 12 through 24 most assuredly
I say to you he who believes in me the works that I do he
will do also and greater works than these he will do because
I go to my father and whatever you ask in my name that I will
do that the father may be glorified in the son if you ask anything
in my name I will do it. If you love me, keep my commandments
and I will pray the father and he will give you another helper
that he may abide with you forever. The spirit of truth whom the
world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows
him, but you know him for he dwells with you and will be in
you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. little while
longer and the world will see me no more but you will see me
because I live you will live also. At that day you will know that I
am in my father and you in me and I in you. He who has my commandments
and keeps them it is he who loves me and he who loves me will be
loved by my father and I will love him and manifest myself
to him. Judas, not Iscariot, said to
him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us
and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him,
if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love
him and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who
does not love me does not keep my words and the word which you
hear is not mine but the father's who sent me." Now if you were
in a environment where if you would have been one of the disciples
I can imagine that there would have been a lot of mixed emotions
a bit of a turmoil in your heart as you as the one you have followed
for three years who've Who've you've left all as it says one
of them was it Peter that said look we've left all what shall
be our lot And so they left everything and followed this man and now
he's saying I'm leaving you guys I'm going away and He tells them of his plans while
he is away though and that's what I want to just recap just
a little bit here before we come to our text. But in John 14 he
begins in chapter 14 and verse 1. that he tells him, this is my
plans that will be happening while I am gone, while I am away
from you. And this is a comfort to them
to look, let not your heart be troubled. I am leaving. I'm going to prepare a place
for you. And when I'm done, I'll come back or I will come back
again to you so that you may be or that where I am there,
you may be also. And, uh, Thomas says to him Lord
you know how do we know where you're going and how can we know
the way. And Jesus just comforts them
by saying I am the way I am the truth and I am the life. And
then Jesus reminds them in verses 7 through 11. This was the message
last time we were in this gospel that He reminds them and reassures
them of his equality with the Father. And I want you to just
think about that a bit. He appeals to them by his words
and his works. If you notice in verse 10 of
14 he says, Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the
Father in me? The words that I speak to you
I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in
me does the works. Believe me that I am in the Father
and the Father in me." Or he's saying believe my words or else
believe me for the sake of the works themselves. And so the
gospel according to John is over and over utilizing the works
of Christ and using them to prove his identity. And I want you
to just think a bit that if you would have followed the Lord
Jesus Christ for three years and then he told you, look, the
Son of Man is going to Jerusalem. He will be offered up as an offering.
The high priests and the chief priests and the Pharisees will
take him and arrest him and try him and he will be crucified. And this leader, this teacher
that you've been following, if you, would have been there. You would have been distraught. You would have been distraught.
But I believe that this section verse 7 through 11 is very important
for the disciples to understand. It's extremely important for
them to understand in light of his coming suffering and death.
Because if they don't understand that this is God the Son giving
himself for his people, then what they've invested in has
fallen to the ground. What they've invested in is as
nothing. And so he, in verses one through
six, he's giving them comfort. I'm going away. I have a plan.
I'm not just leaving you. I'm going away. I'm preparing
a place for you. I'm going to return. And he encourages
them with this doctrine, this principle that I am equal with
the Father. Believe me, believe me for the
words that I've spoken or the works that I've done. Chapter 14 in this gospel according
to John is one of the most comforting in all of God's revelation. It
is the Lord Jesus sitting down with you and telling you of his
plans of what is going to happen in his absence. I am going away
but I'm equal with the father and now he tells us look there
are so many things that are going to happen and I want you to know
them. Actually he says, In verse 29,
and now I've told you before it comes that when it does come
to pass, you may believe. To be forewarned is to be forearmed,
right? To have information on the inside,
to understand these things. It's incredibly important that
we get this truth. that we become confident, that
we take comfort from John 14, that things are going according
to plan. It's incredibly important for
us to grasp that. Remember the Lord says here,
let not your heart be troubled. He says it twice. He says it
in verse one, let not your heart be troubled. He says it again
in, In verse 27, let not your heart
be troubled. It's as bookends here. And so this theme of comfort
keeps right on going here in our text today. Our text that
we want to look at as I read is verses 12 through 24. This theme of comfort in the
absence of their master. I want you to get that sense,
that sense of uniqueness at this point in the followers of Christ's
life. And so I want to begin here at
the beginning. He assures them of at least four
things in his physical absence. Number one, verse 12. It is almost as if the disciples
are saying, well, what's going to happen with your ministry?
What is going to happen with all your teaching, everything
that you've stood for, your agenda, your plan, all these things,
what's going to happen? Most assuredly I say to you,
he tells them, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he
will do also. That my mission is not in danger. My ministry is not at its end. My agenda will be taken up and
it will grow. My kingdom will come. My program
will not suffer in my absence. This is important that we know
that there is a future, that there is a kingdom coming, you
see. And he tells them, most assuredly,
Lord, verily, verily, I say to you, he who believes in me, the
very things that I've been doing in the last three years, you
will do as well. Actually, he says, you will do
greater works than these, you see. So he is assuring them that
the work that he has begun will not suffer because I'm leaving
you. The ministry of the gospel that
I have started, you will expand. Indeed, you who have followed
me will turn the world right side up. You know that's something
that in the book of Acts it speaks about how those in authority
were amazed at how these illiterate men turned the world upside down
but actually they were turning the world right side up. And
so in light of his departure he assures them that What I have
stood for, it will continue. It will continue. Greater works
you will do because I go to my father. Now there's all, of course,
there's a lot of interest in what he's actually saying here. Greater works than I have done,
you will do. I believe what this is saying
is that the works that Christ had done, they were limited to
a certain region. They were primarily limited to
the Judean region. I mean, he ministered some in
Samaria, but the ministry of the Lord Jesus was pointed and
focused to the children of Israel. Yes, he did minister to various
others, but that was his point and focus. And soon the world
would explode. The gospel would explode into
the world. It would explode onto the scene of a global, of all
the known world. Then it would go out to the Gentiles.
And this idea here, when we see, most assuredly I say to you,
he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also in
greater works than these he will do. Why? I think it's important
that we get the whole thought here. He continues, because I
go to my father. There is a connection there between
the greater works of the disciples and the Lord departing to his
father. There is a connection there and
I'm not 100 percent sure what these greater works are but I
believe it is especially pointed to those who would be apostles
and how that they ministered, they healed, they had a ministry
of healing. It was after Pentecost that they
were filled with power from on high and we have, as one commentator
pointed out, we have Jesus healing with the hem of his garment,
we have I think it was Peter healing with his handkerchief,
we have The Apostle Paul, if his shadow fell on someone, they
were healed. So I believe it's more, the idea
here of greater works is more to the point that it is extended
to a greater group of people, it's more all encompassing, and
it is much more geographically far reaching. And where Christ
was ministering in one spot, his apostles and his disciples
would be scattered into all these various places and they would
be ministering as he was, but in various places. It seems to
me that the Lord is saying, my kingdom is about to start a new
campaign, a new offensive, and I am going to my father for the
needed resources. He's saying, you will do greater
works than these because I go to my father. Notice what he
says here in verse 16, and I will pray the father and he will give
you another helper. That there are resources that
I will be given to you. These will be available. I am
going to my father and you will do these greater works. The ministry
of the gospel will soon explode on the known world after I am
gone. And then this number two, my
second point is, well, what about, you know, in the absence of the
Lord, what about our needs? What is going to happen with,
we've been following you, you've been leading us. You have been
our supply. Well in verse 13 he begins, and
whatever you ask in my name I will do that the father may be glorified
in the son. My provisions will continue with
you in my physical absence. He makes it absolutely clear
that there's not going to be a cut off from the supply route. The supply chain will not be
cut off. You have followed me these three
years in my ministry. My resources, my power, my teaching
has guided you and sustained you. That will continue. He reassures these, that's a
comfort to us and to them. You know, I think sometimes we
think, if only we could have been there with Christ. If only
we could have been there. Well, it would have been nice,
wouldn't it? But listen, they did not have
the comprehension that we do. You understand that they did
not have the insights at the time of his ministry that we
who have the Holy Spirit within us, that we have. And so verse 13 is a beautiful
exposition on prayer. One short sentence and so much
in there. One short sentence. And I want
to look at about five things out of verse 13 that have to
do with prayer. Five things about prayer here. Number one is the scope of prayer. Notice what he says, whatever,
whatever you ask, anything you ask, everything you ask, whatever
your need might be, whatever that is, It is as broad as whatever. You see, it is not limited. It is whatever you ask in my
name. We have so many different needs
represented here today. We have so many legitimate needs
here today. You can take every one of those,
whatever it is, and ask the Lord Jesus for grace and mercy and
help and aid and provision. And he promises to you that whatever
you ask in my name, You see, that is the scope of prayer. It's the panoply of prayer. It is a vast array. It's like
whatever it is. The second thing I want to point
out here about prayer in verse 13 is the posture of prayer. What is the posture of prayer? Is it not asking whatever you
ask, whatever you request, whatever you implore, whatever you beg
for? He says, I will. Notice that this is the posture
of praise and asking. It's not a demanding. It is an
attitude of persistence, of coming and saying, Lord, I have need
here. It is a request. It is asking. Whatever you ask,
this is the posture of prayer that we ask. How do you ask someone
when you want something from someone? You come with a certain
posture don't you? See those of us who have children
we are much more receptive to a proper posture in asking because
there's an attitude behind a posture you see. We have a much greater
desire to bless with whatever provisions they have need of
if the posture comes in a proper way. We ask, we ask, we request,
we may even beg. You know, I had to think about,
well, how were some of these people healed in the ministry
of Christ? They cried out, they pleaded,
they begged. They implored the Lord. And so
in prayer we ask, and whatever we ask with the proper posture
in asking. Number three, is the pillar or
the ground of prayer? What is the pillar or that which
holds up prayer? Whatever, what is the ground?
It is in my name. It is in my name and whatever
you ask in my name. So prayer is about coming to
Christ in his name, not just tacking on, in the name of Jesus
Christ, I pray. No, it's not what he's talking
about. It is praying for his cause. It is praying for, It is in agreement
with the Lord's person and character. That's how we pray. That's how
we have authority in prayer. If you come in the cause of Christ,
in the character of Christ, in pursuit of his will and character
and person, under his authority and agenda, that's how we pray. We come in accordance with his
revealed will and purpose. That is what it means to pray
in according to his name, in his name. That means that whatever
you ask that would agree with the character of Christ, he will
do it. Whatever you ask that is holy,
he will do it. Whatever you ask that's righteous
and just, Whatever that you ask when you pray and you know that
it's the will of God that this would happen. He promises to
give it to you. What are some of the things that
you know are God's will? What are some of the things that
you know to be absolutely true? There's no doubt. We heard it
right here in the children's lesson. The commandment number
nine, that you should speak the truth, always the truth, and
if you pray that God would help you to stay by the truth, to
be honest and transparent and not hypocritical, He will do
it for you. He promises to do it. If you pray according to His
name, whatever you ask in my name, Whatever agrees with the
kingdom of God, whatever agrees with the glory of God, we have
great confidence. See, there are so many things
that we pray for that we don't know whether it's the will of
God or not. We prayed for Marlon Eicher.
We don't know if it's God's will that he be healed or not. But
we know without a doubt that it is God's will, that he perceived
comfort and grace in the person of Jesus Christ. We can pray
with all authority that God would meet his needs and that he would
be drawn to Christ, that his family would grow in grace through
this occurrence. You see, you can pray with absolute
authority in those things because you know them to be the absolute
will of God. But his physical healing, maybe
not. And so we ask, Lord, would you
heal him if it's thy will? But we can ask you, Lord, to
give them grace, because we know that to be God's will. There's so many things that if
you start thinking about what is God's will, we know them. We know what it is. the actual practical, well should
I take this job or not? Sometimes I think we know whether
we should or we shouldn't. It might be sometimes easier
to say, well I know I shouldn't take this job because this position
does not glorify God, this work is not honorable work, I have
to do shady deals to to make a living. We know that you begin
to weigh these things and we understand these things. It is
when something is good, better, or best, sometimes we need great
discernment on what the will of God is in those ways. But
when we pray to him he says, whatever you ask in my name for
my For my glory, for my will and purposes, I will do it. That
leads me to the next. The fourth thing here about prayer
is the promise of prayer, the promise of prayer, that I will
do. No man has ever been more ethical
and more filled with character who states something that he
will do as the Lord Jesus Christ. When he says, I will do it, you
can take it to the bank. It is the promise of Almighty
God given to you as a comfort while he is not in your presence. In his absence, he is encouraging
you, look, there are all sorts of provisions at your disposal. Ask of me according to my will,
I will provide. See, there's no question about
desire here or ability. This one beggar came to him,
or this one who wanted healing, he says, Lord, if you would,
you can heal me. And he says, I will. You know,
his desire was there. There's no question here about
desire or ability. No, it's you need something for
the mission, ask and I will do it. Ask and I will do it. That is the promise of prayer
and then lastly as we think about the fifth thing here that we
see in this verse about prayer is the purpose of prayer and
its answer. The purpose of prayer and its
answer, that the father may be glorified in the provision of
the son and whatever you ask in my name I will do it, that
the father may be glorified in the son. You see that's why Thanksgiving is so
important, this is where Thanksgiving comes in, that when we have answered
prayer And we give that answer to prayer, we give that provision
that we've received, we give God credit for that. That is
how God is glorified in the Son, in the provision that was brought
to us in the Son. You know, in Psalm 103, all these
benefits that have been given to us, we praise God for the
benefits of His Son. You see, God is glorified and
exalted when we praise Him. because he dwells in the praises
of his people, God does. And so we have the scope of prayer,
the posture of prayer, the pillar or ground of prayer, the promise
of prayer, and the purpose of prayer. Now in verse 14 Jesus
repeats the promise of his care, he just says it right again,
he says, In verse 14, if you ask anything in my name I will
do it. Why does he repeat himself? Well
for emphasis, he repeats the promise of his care, he recommits
himself to them again. There's a big if here in verse
14, he says, if you ask, you know, A lot of times we don't ask.
Did you know many of us have needs that are not met because
we don't ask? James says you have not because you ask
not. You see there's something about prayer
and us asking. See God could put it in our pocket
before we ever ask. Couldn't he? He has the cattle
on a thousand hills. Whatever need you have, he could
have filled it five years ago. But there's something about the
fact that you have got to come to the realization that he has
resources that you need. And when you understand that,
that is when you are also ready to glorify him. You see, if you
just had everything handed to you, like a rich kid who has
a millionaire father, he never has to work for anything. There's
no reason to even, there's just an entitlement attitude. But
there's a connection between your sense of need and the glory
of God, and the fact that you will return thanks to God, you
see. So the reason we have not is
because we ask not, and sometimes we receive not because we ask
amiss that we might consume it on our pleasures. See, that's
not asking in his name. If you want something and you
beg God for it, if he would give it to you, would that be good
for you? See, that's the question we need to ask ourselves. Would
it even be good for me if I had this answer? Well if the answer
is ultimately no then you're not praying in the will of God,
you see. You have left off asking properly
and so to ask is to come with an attitude of need and we come
and we ask of God and we ask in such a way that God would
be glorified. And if God was going to be ultimately
glorified in the answer, I think you have the petition that you've
asked for. Verse 15, if you love me, keep
my commandments. Now this is the atmosphere or
the environment of effectual prayer. It is from this environment
that we have effectual prayer. This attitude of obedience from
a heart of love. If you love me, and we keep his
commandments. We keep his commandments, it's
not if you love me, you shall keep my commandments. No, if
you love me, you are going to keep my commandments. It's that
simple and it's that profound. You see legalism, the keeping
of commandments in a legal way out of a sense of duty and obligation
does not meet this requirement. But he says, if you love me keep
my commandments and if you keep my commandments in this fashion
it shows that you love me and out of this place of service
and obedience and you come asking you will have what you ask. Thirdly, the comfort that the
Lord Jesus is giving to his disciples. First off, it was, my mission
will be ongoing. My provisions will be there.
And now he says, I will send you another person. I will give
you another person. I'm going to make sure that in
my absence, you're not going to be alone. You will not be
bereaved as orphans. There I am going to send another
comforter. And this word another means one
like myself, one of the same kind. I am going to send you,
verse 16, and I will pray the Father and He will give you another
helper that He may abide with you forever. This idea of the
Holy Spirit abiding with you forever. Now, what is that if
that's not the doctrine of the security of the believer? He
will abide with us forever, unlike what we see in the garden, where
God created Adam, and then he fellowshiped with Adam, but sin
came in and disrupted the fellowship, and God withdrew himself from
Adam, right? Yes, he did. So here we have,
in the life and ministry of Christ, we have God coming in the flesh,
dwelling with man, ministering to man, leading man, calling
his disciples, teaching them all these things, yet I am leaving. God again, going, leaving the
disciples, not because of sin, but because of the plan that
he has put in place. And now he says, I will send
you another person and he will never, what does he say in Hebrews,
leave you nor forsake you. That you may boldly say, the
Lord is my helper. And so that's what we see here. He says, I am going to go away
and then you will have another person who will come to you and he will abide with you forever. By the way, if you do not have
this helper, you're none of his. You're not his. As many as are led by the Spirit
of God, these and only these are the sons of God. And so if
this helper is not indwelling you, then you are not his. And if you are his, then you
have this helper, you have this indwelling helper. As the old
King James says, this comforter. He will send you another comforter
that he may abide with you forever. And think about it. I mentioned
this earlier that we would have liked to be sitting in the ministry,
sitting on the shores of Galilee while Jesus was standing in the
boat teaching. And we would have loved to partake
of the five loaves and two fish. We would have enjoyed the ministry,
seeing someone raised up, But we have this helper intimately. We have this helper personally. He's ours. And now the ministry,
the greater works of verse 12, are going with every one of us,
you see. And we have a great spiritual
ministry that is going every which way that the children of
God are going. And I will pray the Father and
he will give you another helper. He assures them that they would
not be alone, that his relationship with them would continue. You see, you don't want just
a mission. You don't want just provisions
in your Christian life. No, you want fellowship. Right? That's why we want to
go to heaven. We want to be in fellowship with
God. You see, we want to be together
with God. We don't want just provisions.
We don't want just work. No, we want to have fellowship. We need fellowship. In thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand are pleasures
forevermore. We have not because we ask not. This is a great challenge to
me that these realities would be mine, that I would be living
in them. I would be enjoying the relationship of Christ currently,
not just some future now but now and it is ours for the asking
and it is ours and this is why. This Holy Spirit comes and he
abides with us, he indwells us, he will not forsake you, he will
not leave you. Yes you may grieve him and that is in a sense as being
estranged from your wife. Like there's something between
you and you need to talk about it, you need to confess these
things, you need to make it right, you've grieved the Holy Spirit.
Or you might quench him when he's wanting to lead you in a
certain direction. You drag your feet and you do
not obey. That's quenching the spirit.
But to walk in the spirit is to walk in obedience, in love. As he says, if you love me, keep
my commandments. That's walking in the spirit
brothers and sisters. If you walk in the spirit, this
is the lesson of the Wednesday night Bible study, abstain from
flesh to lust which war against the soul. And if you walk in
the spirit you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. And so
we have in verse 17 this spirit of truth. You know I preached
a two part series many years ago on the personhood of the
Holy Spirit. Too many times we see the Spirit
as an entity. We don't see Christ as an entity,
do we? We see Jesus Christ as a person,
don't we? Of course we do. We see God the
Father as a person. But we fail to recognize that
the Holy Spirit is a person. That he is a person. He is meant
to have a relationship with. He is called the Spirit of Truth
here. He is one who leads us and guides
us into all truth as we'll see later in this gospel. The Spirit
of God is the person of God indwelling us. We are possessed none other
than by the Spirit of Holy God. We have a person of God living
in our hearts. Isn't that amazing? That's incredible. You see what a source of comfort
this would be if you had been walking with Christ and then
he told you, I'm leaving. But he says, I will send you
another helper, one like as me, one as myself, one of same kind. That's what this word, another
helper, one who is like myself. Actually, This is the same term used for
Jesus Christ in 1 John chapter 2 verse 1. If any man sin we
have an advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous, that's the same
word paraclete as is used here in John 14. We have a helper. If any man sin we have a helper,
we have a comforter. Do you know that when you sin
as a believer I think one of the first things you need is
comfort because the spirit has already convicted you of your
sin. You need to understand that in Christ Jesus there is now
therefore no condemnation to those who are in him. We beat
ourselves up when we sin. We need a helper sometimes that
should come along and say, well, let's move on from here. I'll
forgive you, but we have to confess. That's in that 1 John passage,
that if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive
us our sins. But if any man sin, we have someone in our corner,
an advocate, one who speaks for me to God. who says, well, look,
he is mine. I have died for his sin. My blood
is applied on his account. Yes, you might have given Satan
the opportunity to accuse you to God because you sinned, right? But we have an advocate who speaks
for us, and that's this helper. the Lord Jesus and now we have
this same helper in the person of the Holy Spirit who is with
us and abides inside of us and we have this great privilege
of having strength within us. That is this idea of a helper
or comforter. We have this helper here with us on earth. This other
advocate is currently seated at the Father's right hand. But
we have this helper here on this earth, one who comes alongside
of us, along beside of us, and walks with us. That is this idea
of a paraclete. That is, we understand what a
parallel bars are. Some of us have been watching
the Olympics. It's something that is alongside,
para, parallel. It's a paraclete, someone who
comes along beside of us with strength. That is the Greek meaning
of the word. And then lastly, I have to move
on. As we go down through this passage, he says, I will not
leave you orphans. I will come to you. And by the
way, I have to finish briefly about this spirit of truth in
verse 17, whom the world cannot receive. You and I see that's
why this teaching is for the church. The world cannot receive
the spirit of truth. They have to be born again. They
have to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God. And see that's
why we always hold up this truth that takes a miracle for you
to become a son of God, a daughter of God. It takes a miracle. It's
the miracle of regeneration. and the spirit, this spirit of
truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor
knows him, but you know him for he dwells with you and will be
in you." And so I'm not quite sure how to understand this idea
of he dwells with you. There was some form of the Holy
Spirit's ministry to them currently, but at Pentecost he indwelt them,
he possessed them. You see, He will be in you. He will be in us. He says, I
will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. This is the
comfort of the Holy Spirit. A little while longer and the
world will see me no more. And you know, I think in just
a few hours the world would not see him anymore. After his death,
there's no record of the world ever seeing the Lord Jesus again. and by the world I'm speaking
about those who are of the world. It was only believers, the record
shows in the scripture that it was only believers who seen the
Lord after his resurrection. I think this is amazing that
the church had this wonderful intimate opportunity to see the
resurrected Savior and it was not for the world to see. At that day you will know that
I am in my father and you in me and I in you. And this leads
to my fourth point is that and that is we find it again in verse
23. If anyone loves me he will keep
my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and
make our home with him. Brothers and sisters, we are
a habitation of God in the Spirit and we are a habitation of the
Trinity. We are a habitation of the Trinity,
brothers and sisters. He says very clearly here in
verse 23 that we will come, we being the Lord Jesus Christ and
the Father, and we'll make our home with us. This is the fourth
comfort that Christ is leaving his disciples in this passage,
that if you will follow me and believe in me and if you love
me, you will keep my word and my Father will return that love
and we will come to him. And we will make our home, our
abode, the place where someone stays. That is the language here. We will come to him and make
our home with him. In contrast, he who does not
love me does not keep my words. And the word which you hear is
not mine, but the father who sent me. Brothers and sisters I just want
to encourage us with this passage from John 14 verses 12 through
24, recognizing that there are needs represented here among
us. You don't have a Savior you can
see, do you? No, you access him by faith. You hear this passage of scripture. and you recognize the truth of
what God has said about what is your calling while he is absent. Surely truly there will be a
time when we'll be in the very presence of God in a physical
sense but not now. He is spiritually indwelling
us. Yes he is in our midst but it's
not something you can lay your eyes on. And so we access these
things by faith and we ask him, we recognize our mission, we
are called to service, he has promised that his kingdom will
come, there's no lack of work to be done. Work that is sanctioned
by God the Father and fits in with his mission, it is his mission,
greater works will you do. We have the promise of his provisions.
Whatever you're going through you have provisions at your disposal. And then of course we have the
promise of this helper, this spirit of truth that will lead
us and guide us into all truth. And then lastly we have the privilege
of having the son and the father abiding with us. I want to just in closing comment
here yet on verse 19, a little while longer and the world will
see me no more but you will see me because I live you will live
also. Are you convinced that the Lord
Jesus is alive? Yes we are. You've not seen him
but the eyes of your faith you take God at his word and the
testimony of the church and the testimony of the word here. But
it is a documented, it is historical fact that the Lord Jesus Christ
is alive because I live. That means you
will live also. You will live also. What an encouragement. What an encouragement it is to
us that because of the resurrection, we have proof of our own life
to come. Because he lives, we will live
as well. And may these words of comfort
from the Lord resonate in our own hearts and cause faith to
rise up and Let's go out about his work with his provisions
in the fellowship of the Trinity. Let's pray. Heavenly Father we
thank you for this word in John 14. Lord I pray that you would
light the fire of our first love again. Father that we would leave
off from passiveness. That we would be alive and passionate
about your truths and your things and your mission and your work
and our relationship with you. That we would find it as the
most dear thing that we have. Forgive us Lord where we allow
the pressures and the stresses and the busyness of life to creep
in and replace our fellowship with you. Father I pray you forgive
us our sin and that we could be restored again to this fellowship
of that we've enjoyed. And Father, we just praise you. We bless you for this word. And
may you quicken our hearts. And we commit each one here today
to you through Christ. Amen.
The Comfort of the Holy Spirit
Series John's Gospel of Jesus Christ
| Sermon ID | 882418163199 |
| Duration | 56:57 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | John 14:12-24 |
| Language | English |
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