Dear friends, we have over the past months, summer months I should say, we've been studying a series called The Last Night of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so please stand with me once again to John chapter 14 and we'll consider tonight verses 15 through to 24 which we have just read. I want you to remember that it was years after that event that John the Apostle wrote and yet we have exactly the words which our Lord spoke. So what we are we are studying is not only divine in its content it is divine in the way it's come to us. The Holy Spirit worked wonderfully in John's mind years later and he wrote it down almost And almost, I should say, 2,000 years or more than that. After this conversation, we are hearing it word for word. So we are studying the word of God. We are studying the miraculous and heavenly book. Now, it takes wise people to ask the right kind of questions. Sometimes people ask foolish questions. They don't ask the right kind of questions. one of the proofs of our Lord's person. And how wonderful he is, even we find as a 12-year-old, he is in the temple. And we are finding him answering questions. But he doesn't just answer questions. He was asking questions, we read here, is asking the Jewish teachers questions and they marveled. Who is this? Whose child is this that is asking these questions? Unfortunately, we are sinful and we are creatures and we don't even ask the right kind of questions half of the time when we come to the Word of God. But our wise Lord answers our questions which we should have asked. And that's precisely what happens in the passage that we are considering this evening. There are times that the Lord, we read in the scriptures, He says, and He answered them. But there was no question that they asked. But the scripture says He answered them. The issue is the Lord is seeing the questions, the concerns in the hearts of the people. And so He answers certain questions even though they didn't ask them. Now think about this. The Lord Jesus Christ is at the table. Judas has gone out. There are these 11 who remain. And our Lord is speaking to these people. He's preparing them for the time when He won't be there with them. There are certain questions that they should ask but they haven't. So He answers them still. And we thank God for that. He's told them that He's going away. They should have asked. And this is a question I want to answer. They should have said, whatever am I going to do? Lord, thou art going away. What am I going to do now if you go away? So then he answers this question in verse 15. This is what you should be doing. If you love me, keep my commandments. Now Peter is going to deny the Lord. They know that. They themselves are going to run away. The Lord Jesus Christ has already told them. They know that. The Lord is going to leave them. They know that. He's told them about the cross, but it hasn't sunk in yet, but they know that this is going to happen to him. But then whatever am I going to do? Whatever am I going to do? Of course, He's going to be away physically till the end of the world. They're going to see Him during those wonderful six weeks after His resurrection and before His ascension. But after that, the Lord Jesus Christ will be away until the end of the world. morning a Christian has to wake up in a world where There is no physical presence of Jesus Christ. Did you know that? There's no physical physical presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in the world today Except his body is true Church of Jesus Christ in this world, but he himself Physically is not present So what are we going to do? So you wake up in the morning and the Lord Jesus Christ is not physically here. So the question is, whatever am I going to do? Now, of course, the sinner asks that question, meaning, how am I going to cope? How am I going to get on with an absent Lord? How am I going to live? How am I going to continue my Christian discipleship with a Lord who isn't here? How am I going to cope? But the Lord answers the question rather differently. The question, whatever am I going to do, should not be really, how am I going to cope? The question should be, whatever am I going to do? What is right for me to do today? What is right for me to do today? What is my duty? What does God would have me to do today? That's the kind of question you should be asking every morning when you wake up. What am I going to do? What is right in the sight of God? The Lord Jesus Christ says, what is right in the sight of me is that you keep my commandments. That's what he says. We keep my commandments. This is the only duty which is found in today's passage. This is the only duty which is here because actually at the end of the day it is the only duty. We love him. We keep his commandments. I know of some people over the years who have been praying that they might know the Lord's will about a certain problem. But if you talk to them, it becomes clear that they are expecting the Lord to reveal His will to them in some form of intuition somehow. Just waiting. They are just waiting. They might look, oh, there is this thing happening. Oh, the sky is sunny today. So it's the Lord's will for me. It must have been the Lord's will for me to do such and such a thing. Another day, oh, it is raining today. So He surely does not want me to go out. And all sorts of things people can do and say. They expect the Lord to show them by some kind of intuition. that one day will be sort of know what the Lord expects them in a difficult situation. Well, my friends, that's not the way ahead for you. If you live your life like that, just looking for signs all the time, you are going to have a very interesting life, but oftentimes very difficult life. You will wonder, why did this happen? Why did the Lord want me to do this? But it wasn't the Lord. It was you. looking for all sorts of things in shadows and in your dreams and in your all kinds of things that you were thinking of. But there are people who live like that and I know people who live like that. Who said well you know we've had people who've come here years ago now and I hope they're not listening but they would say well I had this dream that God wanted me to move So they got all the family and they moved to such and such a street. And then the man had another dream. And then the Lord was saying to him, he imagined, that they have to move somewhere else. And then so he was trying to ask me a question. Well, what was the Lord's will for me there? Why did he say? I said to him, well, I think it was the cheese that you had. It must have been the food that you ate. And it doesn't work out. This is not how we should be guided by our own imaginations. God has said there are commandments and we should obey them. Of course that man did not return after my response to him. And I spoke with a bit more tact, I should say. But there we are. He wasn't really happy with that answer. But what does the Lord want me to do when he is absent for all the years that he's absent? And the Lord is saying, you'll find my will, you'll find my word for you in my commandments. God to go to my words, he says, not in your thoughts, not in your words, but to my words. You need to study what I have been saying to you. And so he said to his disciples, you go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature and you teach them all things whatsoever I have commanded you, everything. You have to be teaching. So we shouldn't say, well, we can't teach this part, that's too complicated and this person wouldn't understand it and so on. But the Holy Spirit works in our hearts and opens our minds and understanding as well. So, we love the Lord Jesus Christ. You have to keep my commandments, he said. Now, as many as you know, I'm not a lover of red letter Bibles. It's not a good idea to have a red letter. Now, I don't want to ruin your Bibles for you. Some of you have red letter Bibles and I have a red letter Bible in our car and I use it but um so don't throw them away but it's um Don't have it if you can avoid it. Don't buy one if you can avoid it. I know that I'm getting myself into a bit of a problem here. But the idea of a red letter Bible is that somehow the words of Christ which he spoke physically are somehow in a class on their own. And I've had people who've said this to me and then the rest of it somehow is less of the Word of Christ. The whole point of the Bible, dear friends, is of course that it's all the Word of Christ. All the prophets wrote by the Spirit of Christ, the scripture says, working in them. All the apostles wrote by the Spirit of Christ working in them. The whole of this book is the Word of God and the Word of Christ. Now the disciples of course when they heard verse 15 obviously thought of Jesus Christ's words which he spoke during those last three and a half years. But we understand, don't we? With the whole scripture open in front of us that it's the whole word of Christ which is being referred to here. His commandments. What's expected of me therefore as a Christian every day? is to go through the Bible, to meditate on the Word of God, to reflect on the Word of God, to understand from the Word of God that what my duty is today, what is right today, what is well-pleasing in God's sight, what does God expect from me today. So this is the only duty laid down in the passage and it's one which will be repeated in a moment and that of course is The whole key and secret of the Christian life. Obedience to the word of God. That's what it is in one sense. It's quite simple. Another thing, of course it is very hard to do, but we have a whole lifetime and eternity that the Lord will teach us His ways. But it raises another question, a second question which we haven't asked that the Lord answers. So the first thing was, the first point if you like, was that question. What should I do today? What would the Lord have me to do today? The Lord answers it. If you love me, keep my commandments. But it raises a second question which we haven't asked that the Lord answers. Look at verses 16 and 17. Okay, I've got to do my duty. I've got to understand from the word what is expected of me. I've got to understand from the Bible what is right, and then I've got to do it. So the second thing is, will I have to live the Christian life on my own? Will I have to live it on my own? So that's the second question. Those of you who are Christians, maybe you're single. Maybe you're widows. And you think to yourself, well, do I have to live the Christian life alone? Will I have to do it alone? No, says the Lord Jesus Christ in verses 16 and 17. Because of the gift of the Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost. And our Lord now begins to speak to his disciples very bluntly and friendly about the wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit. What is the Holy Spirit? Who is the Holy Spirit? Look at it. Even the Spirit of Truth. So, verse 16, I'm sorry. It says, And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another comforter. that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him, but ye know Him, for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." So when the Jehovah's Witnesses come and tell you the Holy Spirit is just an active force, that's the key word they like to use, the Bible calls the Holy Spirit Him. We should be listening to Him. You don't listen to an active force. Did you ever put your finger in the plug? There was active force in the plug. And you say, well, what did it say to me? Nothing. It just zapped you. And well, some people believe in the Holy Spirit zapping as well in our day. But that's something else. We should go back to the Word of God here. And the Lord is here saying this. It didn't say who here. There's something, a question I have for you. The Lord is beginning to speak to his disciples very bluntly as I said to you. But here the Holy Spirit is called another comforter. Another comforter. That's the word paraclete, which is often referred to. Comforter. Wonderful. is a comforter for our soul. But this is such a deep word, it has a variety of meanings. Not just a comforter, but the word paraclete in the original, it is someone who comes alongside you and comforts your heart, but also strengthens you, helps you, encourages you. That's what the Holy Spirit does. He is the great comforting helper for our souls. And the emphasis here, dear friends, should be this. The word another. For people who emphasize the word comforter, but actually the word that you should emphasize is another. And He shall give you another comforter that He may abide with you forever. Think about this. The Lord Jesus Christ is saying this. Whatever I am to you, I've comforted you, I've provided for you, I've taught you, I've helped you, I've led you, all of these things. Whatever I am to you, you my disciples, whatever I have done for you, when the Holy Spirit comes, he will be to you. And they found in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ strength, of course they did. You'll find in the Holy Spirit strength. They found in the presence of Christ comfort and wisdom and example and everything, guidance and strength. Whatever I am to you, the Holy Spirit will be to you as well. So what is the Holy Spirit? Who is the Holy Spirit? He is, if I could use this term, He is the Lord Jesus Christ other self. As somebody put it. He is to us whatever Christ was in His physical presence. Where does He come from? Where does the Holy Spirit come from? Verse 16, look at that. It comes from the Father. It comes from the Father. The Father issues forth and sends forth the Holy Spirit. And the Son sends forth the Holy Spirit. The great God of heaven sends the Holy Spirit to be Jesus Christ other self. Who guarantees that He comes? Who guarantees that the Holy Spirit comes? Verse 16 again. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another comforter, that He may abide with you forever. So the Holy Spirit is secured to the Christian, to the believer, to the disciple of Christ, not by us going through some technique and jumping up and down and creating some sort of an atmosphere and saying, well, if I just repeat this word, I remember listening to one man who was a charismatic leader and just said, use the name of Jesus Christ every morning, just say it 20 times, 30 times, and then the Holy Spirit comes to you. It's hocus pocus, my friends, that's paganism. That takes place. You get yourself into a mood, into a sort of a trance of some kind. That's not what the Lord Jesus Christ is saying here that you should get yourself into. Well, maybe play some music and the Holy Spirit comes to you through the music that you're praying. Well, no, not through us working up something in any particular way, but by the intercession of Christ. It has everything to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit comes because Jesus Christ prays to his Father that we would be given the Holy Spirit. You see, the Holy Spirit is directly linked to the Lord Jesus Christ. You go to places where Jesus Christ is not preached, but they are exalting the Holy Spirit, it is totally false. It is wrong, dear friends. It's the work of Christ who secures the comfort and the strength of the Holy Spirit for the believer. So you want more of the Holy Spirit? Go after Jesus Christ and more, dear friends. Well, who does he come to? That's another question. Who does he come to? Again, verse 16. And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever. He comes to the believer. The believer on the simple condition that he is a believer. How long does he stay? I know people who are telling me they have lost the Holy Spirit. That can't happen, dear friends. You can't lose the Holy Spirit. You might lose the joy, you might lose the felt presence, but you cannot lose the Holy Spirit, dear friends. That can't happen. When the Holy Spirit comes to the believer, because of Jesus Christ's intercession from the Father, He comes forever, the scripture says. When the Holy Spirit comes to the believer, from the father he comes forever. The Christian never wakes up in the morning without the Holy Spirit. There's never a day or a moment when he doesn't wake up in the morning because the Holy Spirit is absent. I hope you get this. I hope you realize this, dear friends. He is always there with His people. He is there all through the earthly pilgrimage that we have and He is there throughout eternity. Who exactly is He? Verse 17. He is the Spirit. He is the Spirit of truth we read. The Spirit of truth. So He is a person but He doesn't have bodily parts. He is the Spirit. He's not localized, if I could say that. He's not localized. So he's here with us. We are in Cheltenham. And then there are other Christians, other parts of the world, gathering in India, gathering in Malaysia, in Indonesia, in China, in Australia, in the United States, and so on. Christ is real to us and Christ is real to them because of the same spirit, the same spirit. If the Lord Jesus Christ was still here physically it would be very difficult for us, wouldn't it? In our Christian lives. Can you imagine the queue? You know in some churches there's some queue to meet the pastor and to talk to their questions that they have and so on. And we don't have that here because I think you work it all out yourself. You're so good with your Bibles and so on. But in some places you go and there's a queue to meet the pastor. And imagine people are waiting and waiting and then the next one goes and the next one goes or in certain other things when you're waiting in a queue. But imagine if the Lord Jesus Christ was just localized in one place. You had to go on pilgrimages. You have to go to, as people do in false religions, they go on these pilgrimages to this place and that place and they go standing in queues to see this statue or whatever it is that they do. It would be very hard for us if that was the case. He would be in one place at one time and we would have this awful long queue to see Him. But the Spirit, He is the Spirit. He is the Spirit of truth in this world of errors. So He is the Spirit whom the world cannot receive. The scripture says in verse 17. Because unless you are in the spiritual dimension, you cannot receive the Holy Spirit. And He Himself brings you into that dimension, dear friends. If you are not a Christian, you are not in that dimension. You do not have the Holy Spirit of God. There are certain things that might operate on you, but you do not have the Holy Spirit. He is the spirit whom you already know. You know him, the scripture says. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ says. It is because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him. So the Christian knows certain things, knows the Holy Spirit. Again, that's important for us to understand. The Apostle Paul speaks in Romans 8 and speaks about that the Spirit beareth with our spirit, that we are the children or sons of God. So He is the Spirit that you already know. And of course they did. Peter at Caesarea Philippi had said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. It was the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ said, who brought him to understand that. The disciples had gone out and healed the sick and cast out demons. It was the Holy Spirit who had given them those gifts and powers. They knew that they had the Spirit. They already knew the Spirit. Without knowing much about him, they nonetheless already knew him. But says the Lord Jesus Christ, shortly you are going to have a new relationship with him. And now we are coming to this great mystery. What's at the end of verse 17? It says, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you, it says. What does that mean? He dwells with you, and will be in you. The words are very simple, isn't it? You don't actually need a dictionary to understand what does it exactly mean. It's very straightforward, but the concept which our Lord is explaining baffles us completely. What precisely was the difference between their experience of the Spirit after Pentecost and before? What exactly is the difference between your experience of the Holy Spirit and the experience which David, for example, David the Psalmist had in the Old Testament days? It's very hard to define, dear friends. But there are some things that we can say for certain. In the Old Testament, only the nation could call God its father. So the nation in general would refer to Jehovah as its father. But now, there's a voice inside you. There is the voice of the Spirit, this deep-seated conviction that a true child of God has. And it humbles that person. And it's unshakable assurance which you can't finally root out. You can't do it. which tells you, tells this man, tells this woman, this boy, this girl, that if you are a believer, this Holy Spirit says to you and confirms in you that you are a child of God. Now there are times that we do lack assurance, but there are also times that you have this great understanding. You know it in your heart. And with all of my sins, with all of my shame, God is my father. He is my heavenly father. I know him. I am his child. He is my father because of his grace. That you are a member of the family. He is in you. There is something in you and it's the Holy Spirit. So our duty is clear then. We wake up in the morning and we say the Christian life is simple in one sense. There is only one thing to do. I have to do what is right in God's eyes. But yet the Christian life isn't simple. Because it's extremely difficult to do what's right in the eyes of God. But we're not left on our own, dear friends. We don't have to do it on our own. We have the Holy Spirit which raises a third question for us. Will this be as good as the Holy Spirits as having the Lord Jesus Christ with me? Will it be as good as if the Lord Jesus Christ was with me? Look at verses 18 to 21. Will this experience of the Spirit be as good as having the Lord Jesus Christ himself with me? And the answer is as good and better. As good and better. Even better. Look at verse 18. He says this, I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. He says. If you got margins in your Bible, you will find that the translators have translated given the direct rendering of this text. The word comfortless also means orphans. I will not leave you comfortless. I will not leave you orphans. I think most of us cannot fail to be moved beyond words. We are silenced when we see these terrible things happening around the world and we see a picture of a child being dragged out of a, underneath the rubble and they are looking for the parents and the parents are dead and this child comes out alone, destitute and you see these people and you see this child so lonely, orphaned and We see these things. They are disoriented. They are desolate. They are bereft. There is this emptiness that they feel. And you see it. It's so sad to be an orphan. And children have lost every relative. They don't have anybody. Nobody to look after them. That's the only word that we can use. Emptiness. Emptiness. And you can read these things in their faces. and you can hear it as the words that the speaker interpreted. But you Christians, you will never know that emptiness. Did you know that? You will never know that emptiness. You might have all kinds of feelings, but you won't know this emptiness that these orphans feel in the world. And we are saying it on the basis of the word of God. I will not leave you comfortless, He says. I will not leave you as orphans. I won't leave you empty. You'll never be in the world without another presence. Why not? Well, look at verse 18 then. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. He says, I will come to you through the Holy Spirit. Now we are really walking the wonderful road of the New Testament. When the Spirit comes to me, it's the Lord Jesus Christ actually who comes to me. And can I stress that again? When the Spirit comes to me, it's the Lord Jesus Christ who comes to me. The Holy Spirit becomes the channel of communicating Jesus Christ to my soul. He does not testify of himself. He does not lift up himself. He lifts up Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ comes to us supernaturally. So if the Lord Jesus Christ has come to you, it's because the Holy Spirit has come to you. Everybody who knows Christ today knows Him because of the Holy Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit we can call Christ Lord because of the Holy Spirit. And everybody in whom the Holy Spirit has worked knows the Lord Jesus Christ. The spirit never ever draws attention to himself. That's one of the fundamental errors that we find in the charismatic movement. He makes Christ real to us, Christ. So I will come to you, the Lord Jesus Christ. And here we are dear friends, over 2,000 years later, we've been converted and Many of us here who've been converted, Christ has come to us because of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is at work today in this way, in an amazing, miraculous way, working in sinners' hearts, bringing Jesus Christ to them. There's another presence in our life, dear friends. It's the presence of Christ, but He's not beside us. He's not somewhere next to us, dear friends. He is in us, the Bible says. But He is in us by the Holy Spirit. Christ in you, the Apostle Paul says. The hope of glory. And you in Christ. Wonderful. Look at verse 19. Will it be as good as having the Lord Jesus Christ with me? Yes. Because when the 12 went out, you see, on their mission or the 70, the Lord Jesus Christ stayed behind. And though they had wonderful powers and they didn't have the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ with them, but it's never like that anymore, dear friends. So you go out to witness, the Lord Jesus Christ is with you. You go out into the hardest situations. If you're a Christian, the Lord Jesus Christ is with you. You can pray. In all those situations, you are not alone, never. You might be confused on a bed, and you have all kinds of wires coming out of you, and pumps pumping stuff into you, and all sorts of things, and you are tired, and you think there's nobody here, no visitor here. You have a visitor! You don't even have a visitor, you have someone who is abiding with you. Even the Lord Jesus Christ, by the Spirit of our God. Verse 19 it says, yet a little while and the world seeth me no more. But ye see me, because I live, ye shall live also. And these words are to do with future. You see me, that is you will see me. You will experience me. And so the Lord is saying a little while longer. The world will not see me anymore. But you are going to see me. So unconverted people come into such a church as this, they hear the reading, they hear the hymns, they hear the prayers, they hear the preaching, but they say what was that all about? What a load of nonsense. That wasn't interesting at all. They don't see it for themselves. Somebody of the same weight, height, type comes in, who has been born again, he has a born again heart, who has received the Holy Spirit, who knows Christ. And in the hymns, he sees Jesus Christ. In the prayers, he sees Jesus Christ. In the word, he sees Jesus Christ. And in the preaching, he sees Jesus Christ. He is fed by Jesus Christ. And the service is dealing with Christ. We don't see Christ with our physical eyes and nobody has since the Apostle Paul, but we see him and we live. Look at verse 19 then. We didn't live. It was a time that we were not living unto Jesus Christ. We were dead in trespasses and sins. That's what the Bible says. Until God came to us. God spoke to us. But we see him. And we didn't hear a thing. But now we live by the work of the Holy Spirit. You shall live, the Lord Jesus Christ says. Because I live, ye shall live also, it says. And the reason that we live is the very power which raised Jesus Christ from the dead has worked in us as well. So we live because He lives and we know the truth about Him. Look at verse 20. And here we are again, and that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you, it says. Simple words again, but baffling to us, baffling ideas. And so that day you will know that I am in my Father, so the Savior is in the Father, and you in me. So we are in Christ, and in the Father, and I in you, he says. He who is in the Father is in us. There's no relationship which even their friends begins to equal that anywhere in this world. No intimate relationship equals this. There is that intimacy with God that the Christian has and these things develops. We know the Father because we know Jesus Christ. We know Jesus Christ because of the work of the Holy Spirit. We are in Christ which is One of the most common ways of describing a Christian in the New Testament. But Christ is in us. There is no distance. There is no separation. We are wonderfully all wrapped up in the Godhead. He is ours and we are His. We are not Him and He is not us. And yet there is no relationship which could possibly even be more intimate because of the work of the Holy Spirit. You'll know these things, dear friends. And so look at verse 21. And if you can't understand verse 21, think of a girl who lives at home with her parents and there is a man who comes courting her. But her parents don't like him. So the courtship becomes very difficult. Not impossible but difficult. But there's a tension about that courtship which there wouldn't be in any other situation. Now imagine a girl who lives at home with her parents and there is a man who comes to her to court her but the parents really love this young man Now everything changes. And even the relationship between that man and that young lady changes. And there is quickly, much more quickly, an opening of hearts between the two. And between that man and that girl and that girl and that man. Then that relationship quickly develops. than there would be in the other situation, much quicker. And that's what the Lord is saying here. Verse 21, He that hath my commandment and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. You understand that? I hope that illustration makes it a little bit easier. Although Christ is away, the Lord is saying we will continue to enjoy him. We who have His commandments and keep them, we are the ones who love Him. If we love Him, the Father loves us. And He loves us. And He unveils Himself to us. He opens His heart to us. You see, it is possible to walk with Christ intimately now, today. So there are these unanswered questions here. Whatever am I going to do? The Lord says, do what is your duty, do what is right in my sight. Do my commandments. Will I have to do it on my own? The Lord says, no, because of my Holy Spirit that I will send to you. Will this be as good as having the Lord Jesus Christ with me? Good, yes, of course. Just as good, even better. Because this Lord Jesus Christ is with you by His Spirit and you may walk with Him intimately and know Him, know the love of the Father, ravishing your heart. And now there's a question which Judas, not Iscariot, actually asked in verse 22. Judas said unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world? Well, we'll soon answer these things and finish this message soon. But here is the question. Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world? Dear friends, the emphasis here should be upon the word us and world, not on the word how. There are some people who read verse 22 in this way. They say, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world? I hope you get that. How is not what Judas is speaking here or asking. What he's asking is this, how is it that You will manifest yourself to us and not onto the world. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ answers this question. If you want some wonderful philosophical explanation, you won't get it. There isn't one. What the Lord does is He simply repeats a fact. Look at verse 23. This is how. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ says. that tells you how love behaves. So the Lord Jesus Christ is saying, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world? The Lord says, if you love Christ, you will keep his commandment. And verse 24, he that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the father's which sent me. That tells you how the person behaves who doesn't love Christ. If you don't keep Christ's commandments, if you have all kinds of excuses for not keeping His commandments, it's because the Lord Jesus Christ speaks very bluntly because you don't love Him. Commandment keepers, not Pharisees, we're not talking about Pharisees, we're talking about people who do things out of pure love for Jesus Christ because of how much He has loved them. Commanding keepers, the father loves them. Then look at verses 23 and 24, please keep your eyes on that. The first part of verse 24, God doesn't keep his distance from those who keep his word. He and the son come and make their home with him, make their abode with him. Who does God make his home with? Well, the people who will welcome him, who are welcoming him. You can't say, well, I will do things my own way and why doesn't God with me? Why don't I feel and sense the Lord's presence with me? Well, are you really living for the Lord? That's the question that I have to ask myself and I'm asking you as well. Let me just illustrate this and we will finish. Just think about this. What is the Lord saying here? Who does God make his home with? Well, the people who will welcome him. Now many of us have friends. I appreciate that certain things don't happen in culture here, but we see it from time to time, we read about it from time to time. that there are some friends who go to one another's homes and they seem to sort of stay on. Sometimes they stay on. Then you go to their house and you would stay with them from time to time. You would go and you have this easy access to one another's home. But what about someone who gives such a wonderful relationship that the person comes and lives in our home and our home becomes their home and their home becomes our home. So we've got each other's keys to each other's homes and we go and we don't have to even ask. We just turn up and they put us up for the night and we just stay as long as we want and then they do the same when they come to our house and they go and have access to all of our belongings. This is the kind of a thing that we are talking about here dear friends. This is the most close intimate and constant contact and relationship that you could think of. And that's the way it is. And the Lord hasn't strictly answered the question but he has answered and seen Judas's heart. And we may know God, dear friends, and we may feel God and love God and experience God and walk with God, the Father and the Son by the work of the Holy Spirit in this world while the Lord Jesus Christ is absent. And so you see, dear friends, this evening we've come to this tremendous truth of the experiential or experienced religion. If you read the old books of the Puritans, they talk about experimental religion. That doesn't mean that you try it and if it doesn't work you throw it away. It doesn't mean that. But it's the same as we would use the word experientialist. We experience this religion, this faith in Jesus Christ. If you know Jesus Christ at all, He is a felt Christ. He is a felt Christ and that's the glory of the gospel. You see when people worship their pagan God, they see them and admire them and stand in awe of them but We have a felt Christ who lives in our hearts by faith, by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Well, dear friends, we must end it here. But I trust that you have picked up certain things and these words have been explained to you. And for you to know this comfort, dear friend, that if you are a child of God, you are not alone. You're never alone. The Holy Spirit has nothing to do with how much you do and how much you don't do in one sense because it's the Lord Jesus Christ who makes intercession and the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father from heaven and then He is with you. Yes, of course we can grieve the Holy Spirit. But dear friends, you are not alone. So may the Lord encourage you to go on after the Lord Jesus Christ, pursue Him, study the Bible, put it into practice in your life, whatever He shows you. Be a person who repents of your sins every day, who trusts in Jesus Christ every day. You need the gospel of Jesus Christ all the time to be always on the forefront of your mind. I am what I am. by the grace of God. See what Jesus Christ has done for my soul. So dear friends, we must leave it there and trust that the Lord would bless what has been said.