The Need for the First Coming of Christ
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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.
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Setting the Stage
Setting the Stage
Jesus is calling the eleven to recognize that He is the true object of faith.
The Father and the Son are One.
The Father, Son, and HS are One.
Jesus will never leave them as orphans.
Even though He will die, resurrect, and ascend.
They can enjoy His presence in even greater ways by the Father sending the HS:
To be present among the people of God, when gathered.
To dwell in each believer, individually, forevermore.
This morning I want us to look at the question that is asked regarding:
the work of the HS
the presence of Christ with believers
the absence of Christ from unbelievers
And, then understand how Jesus answers the question perfectly.
So, look with me at…
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.
So, the disciples hear this and they’re puzzled.
This is not what they’ve been taught.
This is not what they’ve imagined for the entirety of their lifetime.
This still doesn’t make sense to them.
This is, most likely, one of the reasons Judas was willing to betray Jesus.
This kind of Messianic conquering is not what the natural man wants.
So, one of the eleven ask a question that they’re all wondering…
22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”
Most scholars believe this is most likely Thaddeus.
The cultural custom was, if there were two of the same name in the group, the lesser in age or status would be called by a different name…
—> secondary name or nickname.
So, if Thaddeus’ rightful or main name was Judas…
He can now be called Judas because Judas Iscariot is now out of the picture.
But, John wants his readers to understand that Judas Iscariot did not rejoin the group.
The question that Judas (not Iscariot) is asking, is this...
How can the Messiah physically overpower and physically conquer Rome in order to rule over the world…
If you do not manifest yourself to them.
How can a battle ever engage in that manner?
IOW, what kind of Messianic conquering is this?
How can you conquer the Romans with a sword if they cannot see you?
If only believers can see you…
If you’re only manifesting yourself to believers…
How can that interact with a physical, blood-shedding victory over the Romans and the rest of the world?
To the Messianic expectations of the day, this is an…
Unwanted Method of Conquering
Unwanted Method of Conquering
But see, in the self-righteous system of the world…
And, in this day of Judaism…
One cannot see, due to spiritual blindness, that for God to wipe out all of His enemies…
He would have to wipe them out to.
In a state of self-righteousness, no one deserves God’s favor more than self.
And, for self to be vindicated, liberated, freed, and glorified…
God needs to conquer self’s enemies…
But, what a person in a self-righteous state of mind cannot fathom…
—> Is that their greatest enemy is self.
In the Messianic doctrine of the nation of Israel at the time of Jesus:
They’ve missed the suffering servant aspect of the Messiah.
They’ve missed that first God must save His people from their own condemnation…
Before He can conquer the world of sin and unrighteousness.
If the latter comes before the former, we’re all doomed.
If God comes with vengeance upon all unrighteousness before He comes to redeem a people out of such a state…
—> We are all doomed.
As the psalmist says…
If God were to mark iniquity, who could stand.
Praise the Lord for the first coming of Christ.
Other wise the second coming would not be good news for anyone.
1st & 2nd Coming
1st & 2nd Coming
So, before the second coming with the physical component of conquering.
There is first a spiritual component of conquering.
And, the weapons of this spiritual conquering are not physical…
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
This world is not the Kingdom of Christ…
—> If it were we would pick up swords.
This world is under the rule of the evil one.
But, the Kingdom of Christ is being built spiritually through the preaching of the gospel.
And, the work of the HS to call the elect…
—> Who are until the moment of justification…
—> Children of wrath as Paul puts it.
And, so Jesus’ answer to Judas (not Iscariot) can seem like it doesn’t really answer the question…
Which the question Judas is asking is…
How can you conquer Rome and rule the world if you only appear to those on your side?
But, it actually does answer this question…
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.
Now, what sort of answer is that?
How does that answer the question of how can you conquer the world by remaining hidden to your enemies?
How can you conquer the world if you don’t overpower them and make them squirm under your rule?
And, the million dollar answer from Jesus is…
By conquering (changing) their hearts.
Here’s the Messianic triumph visible after the resurrection and ascension…
Here is what you will witness [v.23]…
People who love Me, Christ says, will manifest that love by pursuing obedience to my Word/Commands.
If that is the case, if they love me, the triune God will take up residence in them by the indwelling of the HS.
How do you know who doesn’t love Christ?
They do not love His commands.
They do not pursue to obey Him.
They do not care about His glory.
All tied up in love for Christ.
This is the Battle Plan for the Kingdom of God between the 1st and 2nd coming of Christ…
Through the preaching of the gospel God’s power is put on display as it triumphantly invades the nations…
With the saving and transforming power of the gospel through the work of the HS…
Taking out from among the world, rebels towards God and changing them into lovers and disciples of God.
So, Jesus’ answer to the eleven is…
The conquering of the world, first and foremost…
Must be a conquering of the hearts of God’s people.
The conquering of their hearts is by the regenerating work of the HS…
That manifests itself in:
Love for God.
Love for His commands.
Love for God to be glorified.
The fruit of the Spirit in the loves of people shows the power of God triumphantly invading the nations with the transforming power of the gospel.
Watching peoples lives get turned upside down by the HS awakening sinners to the majesty of God.
And, isn’t that exactly what we see in the Book of Acts.
The HS working in and through the people of God…
To triumphantly conquer and call out the elect of God.
Which is shown over and over again by God’s people loving Him and pursuing a life that honors Him.
So, put down your swords.
—> Those who live by them die by them.
But, those who live by the power of the Spirit of God…
—> Never die.
The gospel is to be:
the message of the church
the banner of the church
the weapon of the church
Let’s think about this…
Let’s think about this…
Do we not see the difficulty of people abandoning a false doctrine for a right doctrine?
It can take years, even a lifetime to let loose of some doctrines that hold in error.
—> Some errors will be corrected in glory.
The doctrine we must not get wrong is the gospel…
—> If we get that wrong there is no glory.
A couple of things to learn for what we see in the disciples:
We can be just as slow and difficult to come to the truth.
Even as Christians.
Don’t be afraid to change your mind, if the Word of God is correcting it.
Be patient with others who are struggling with a difficult doctrine.
We like neat structures of thought.
We don’t like things threatening that structure of thought that we’re comfortable with.
We don’t like the thought of rebuilding our structure of thought.
So, be patient with others as Christ has been patient with you.
Also, be a Berean
Pour over the Word of God
Keep studying what you know
Seek counsel (Christianity is not a solo adventure)
It’s not a private adventure
It’s a community called the Church adventure
Be prayerful that the HS will guide you into truth
Be patient and kind.
Pick your battles wisely.
It’s one thing to be in error.
doesn’t attack or alter the gospel
It’s quite another thing to be in heresy.
attacks/alters the gospel
I think there are far too many Christians attacking error as if they were attacking heresy.
And, I think many times it’s because people like puffing up their ego that they’re right…
—> And, someone else is wrong.
When that sort of thing is going on it’s not about love…
—> It’s about self-righteousness.
But, I believe, Christians need to do a better job distinguishing between error and heresy.
Error can change church government.
Heresy changes the gospel, which is a false gospel.
I’m not saying there’s not a time for discussing error.
—> But, dear friends, it’s not the same as heresy.
So, again, be patient with people.
—> Show love and kindness to people.
If you discuss truth with people do it out of love.
—> Not self-righteousness.
Learn to distinguish the difference between:
Loving to be right.
Loving your neighbor and God.
We see such patience and love in Christ’s gentle leading of the disciples…
And, if we’re paying attention to our lives…
We see His gentle care in our life, as well.
Jesus will have to keep explaining this to the disciples as He makes His way to the Cross.
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
