Never Left Alone
Notes
Transcript
// RECAP
// RECAP
Setting
Passover meal with Jesus & his disciples.
He’s sharing his most intimate teachings, encouragements, and foretelling just hours before he is going to the cross.
He knows these are the final moments with his disciples and he knows the stress they are about to endure.
Week 1
Jesus opens the night with dinner as usual but rises, strips himself of his identity, and takes the place of the lowest servant of the house.
He goes one by one and washes his disciples feet, giving instruction that they too are to do as he has done.
We ended that study with an understanding that as we lay our situations before the Lord and carry on with his work (serving & loving others), he will take care of our needs.
Week 2
Jesus gets personal with two of his disciples:
one will betray
one will deny
We were left at a crossroads of how we interact with those that have betrayed or denied us, and also a call to repent and reconcile with those that we may have betrayed or denied.
We saw Jesus release the betrayer from his life.
We see Jesus restore the denier back into relationship.
Week 3
Jesus now knowing that he has delivered some pretty discouraging news, tells his disciples, “do not let your hearts be troubled.”
When you are troubled - Jesus is the way through
When you are troubled - Jesus is the truth that you need
When you are troubled - Jesus is the life that sustains
We ended with Jesus calling us to believe in him, not the trouble.
As we believe in Him, greater works will we do, and those works will bring glory to the Father.
Turn to John 14:12.
Pray
THE HELPER IS COMING
THE HELPER IS COMING
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
The Greater Works
The Greater Works
Works
gk. ergon; doing, labour, work
How many times have we heard it taught...how many times have I taught - the works are the miracles, signs, and wonders that Jesus did.
The work that Jesus did was, loving people!
As much as Jesus loved & served people, he tells us we are going to do more!
As we do these greater works, the Father is going to be glorified!
Sermon on the Mount
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Love & Commandments
Love & Commandments
As Jesus continues in his discourse he makes a very strong statement.
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Love is a Choice
Love is a Choice
Love is more than a feeling—it’s a decision.
Feelings can change with circumstances, but real love chooses to remain. True love is an act of the will, a daily decision to commit, to serve, to forgive, and to pursue the good of another even when it’s hard.
Biblical love isn’t driven by emotion alone; it’s fueled by covenant—by the intentional choice to lay down your life for another
Jesus walked out the commandments to the full - he chose the cross, the greatest love that someone can have is that he would lay down his life.
16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
The Helper is Coming
The Helper is Coming
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
Helper
Helper
gk. parakletos; an intercessor, advocate, comforter, counselor
Intercessor: stands in the fight with you
Counselor: (think legal counsel); he’s providing you legal counsel in the courts of our righteous judge.
When Satan (the accuser) begins accusation against you and you want to plead guilty, the Holy Spirit comes in your defense and says, “don’t plead guilty, don’t plead innocent, just plead the blood!”
As the helper he is everything that you will need to advance the Kingdom of God and bring Glory to the Father.
The Spirit of Truth
The Spirit of Truth
Previously we see that Jesus is truth and now we are told that the Spirit of Truth is going to dwell (or abide) in us.
What I love about this is that it takes the pressure off me to establish truth. The Holy Spirit is the standard for truth and he dwells in me.
“You Know Him”
“You Know Him”
I think too many times we make hearing the voice of God a mystical or black and white process.
“he can only speak to me this way…”
“I need to be a better Christian before I can hear his voice…”
“If I just give more, serve more, read more…then I’ll hear him”
You already know him!
His voice is familiar to us already - you may not recognize it because it’s so familiar.
Many times I will know that it is God by the nature of the conversation. When it is thoughts that are outward focused, faith building, stretching - I know God is speaking to me.
He is with and in
He is with and in
The Helper is with you, around you, before and behind you.
The Helper is also in you - the most intimate of places.
11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE
YOU ARE NOT ALONE
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered 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. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. 25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.
Did you catch something interesting going on here? Is Jesus repeating himself?
The Chiasm
The Chiasm
A chiasm (from the Greek letter "chi," shaped like an X) is a literary structure where ideas are presented and then repeated in reverse order, creating a mirrored or inverted pattern.
Structure:
A → B → C → B′ → A′
The first idea matches the last, the second matches the second-to-last, and the middle point (C) becomes the focal point or heart of the passage.
John 14 Chiasm
A - Don’t Let Your Hearts Be Troubled
B - The Words of Jesus are from the Father
C - Those that Love, Keep My Commandments
D - Father, Son, Spirit are One
E - John 14:18 “18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
D - You will know the Father, Son, and Spirit are one
C - Those that Keep My Commandments are Loved
B - Giving the Father’s Words
A - Don’t let your hearts be troubled
No Orphans Here
No Orphans Here
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
The key point that Jesus is getting through to his disciples is this…
“NO MATTER WHAT THE PHYSICAL LOOKS LIKE, I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU OR ABANDON YOU. I WILL ALWAYS COME TO YOU!”
Peace For You
Peace For You
25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
Peace
gk. eirene; peace, prosperity, one
Jesus is leaving us a lifestyle that is not dying, but thriving!
Again as we are exiting this Chiasm, Jesus says, “Let your hearts not be troubled” but adds, “neither let them be afraid.”
Don’t let your heart be in toil and stirred up, neither let your heart be cowardly or timid!
It’s about finding the balance!
A CALL TO LOVE
A CALL TO LOVE
28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.
Jesus makes it very clear again that everything he does is directly from the mouth of his Father.
The task at hand (the cross) he is doing because His father commanded him to do so.
It wasn’t an accident. It wasn’t the devils power. It wasn’t Judas’ betrayal. It wasn’t a corrupt group of religious leaders.
The Father commanded the son and the son declared his love for the father before the world and before history!
