John 14:12-17
Notes
Transcript
Angst about tomorrow.
Context: Where are we at?
Remember, we’re at the last supper.
Intimate, tight knit, serious.
Jesus in great love and servanthood washed the disciples feet.
His death is literally right around the corner, within hours!
He’s sharing truths about what’s to come.
33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’
36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.”
They’re not liking what they’re hearing.
They’re friend, they’re Messiah leaving!
There’s this Angst among the Disciples.
An angst of what do we do if Jesus leaves?
Peter reply’s with...
37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
Jesus encourages with
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
Don’t stress about me leaving, I’ll be back.
I’m preparing a place.
Thomas reply’s with...
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
More angst!
You’re leaving and you won’t even tell us where you’re going and how to get there!
Jesus again reply’s with more encouragement.
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Just believe in Me, have faith in Me.
Remember what you’ve heard, seen, and done in Me.
Take faith, I’ll be back.
Phillip reply’s with...
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
Out of the 11 disciples that are still with Jesus (remember Judas is gone on his betrayal run).
3 of them are deeply questioning Jesus on this one but I bet all of them are questioning this talk from Jesus.
Peter, why can’t I come? I’ll lay down my life!
Thomas, we don’t know the way, you’re abandoning us!
Phillip, (reminds me of myself in pondering and finally just speaks) look, just show us God and we know we’ll be ok!
And as Chris shared with us last week, Jesus defines Himself clearly.
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
Last week Chris went through who Jesus is.
He defined Jesus as Man, as God, as Creator, not created, always has been and always will be.
Jesus is Divine! Jesus is one part of the triune God. Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
3 beings, one God.
Just as husband and wife are two being, one flesh.
There is 3 holy, perfect, loving beings as one God!
The Father is God.
The Son is God.
The Holy Spirit is God.
This is how God’s word describes Himself.
Not how we describe Him, but how God describes Himself.
Fully can’t understand, join the crowd, just like I can’t fully understand eternity or speaking things into existence.
The point is how can the limited fully understand the unlimited.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
So, what does this mean to the disciples and to us that Jesus is God?
Or more pointed. What does belief in Jesus bring?
Jesus has more encouraging words for the disciples and for us on this!
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.
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 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.
Pray!
So, I asked a question at the start of these verses.
What does belief in Jesus bring?
And before we move on too much further, I’d like to discuss belief.
Because what is done with that belief matters...
Question time...
Do you think Satan believes in Jesus?
Ok, do you think Satan is going to spend eternity with Jesus in the Kingdom of God?
No, why?
Two types of belief, right?
There is belief without repentance and believe with repentance.
The Bible clearly shows that not all belief brings salvation.
19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
Satan and the Demons believe but what do they do with that belief?
Nothing, they continue on, continuing on with their own kingdom of destruction and unloving ways.
Choosing their way over the Right way.
But belief that leads to repentance is saving belief!
You not only belief in Jesus but you love Him! You really love Him!
You’re sorry about your sins towards Him and His creation.
You hate your kingdom of unrighteousness and desire His Kingdom of Righteousness.
This is repentant belief.
You don’t belief in Him and continue in sin!
You belief and change direction, repent!
All because of love for Him!
36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” 37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
breakdown these verses a bit.
Clearly we have two different beliefs.
One that leads to death, along with unbelievers and another that leads to life.
So today when discussing the question “What does belief in Jesus bring?”.
It’s in the context of a repentant belief.
And with that repentant belief and what is given in it, we’re going to be working a bit backwards in today’s scripture reading.
We’re going to start with
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.
or as we just read in Acts
38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
This is some of the most encouraging words we can hear as believers in Jesus!
Just as Jesus is encouraging His disciples with this truth it should encourage us!
The Gift of the Holy Spirit, the Helper, the Spirit of Truth dwells with you and will be in you!
This right here church, is where your power to conquer sin comes from!
This right here church, is where your power to love your enemies comes from!
This right here church, is where your power to deny self and pick up our cross daily comes from!
It’s not one being smarter than, older and wiser than, or tougher than.
It’s all about the Helper, the Holy Spirit dwelling with and in us!
And this is something I would like to point out.
The gift that was given upon Christs accension was not only the Holy Spirit dwelling with us but IN us!
Just like the people of the old testament new about the Messiah to come but never experienced it, so it is with the Holy Spirit.
The people of the old testament knew of the Holy Spirit and was at time definitely empowered by Him.
But they never had the permanent dwelling of the Holy Spirit in them as we do today.
The Holy Spirit was active in the Old Testament, but He came upon people selectively, temporarily, and for specific tasks rather than permanently indwelling every believer.
Remember Saul and the Spirit of the Lord leaving Him?
Remember the tent of the tabernacle, the temple, the Ark of the Covenant.
These are all to do with the physical dwelling of God with man.
But not so today.
16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
We are God’s Temple, God’s Spirit dwells in us church!
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.
Highlight these verses.
A Helper to be with you forever!
The Spirit of Truth, that the world cannot receive. This grounding in God’s care. A grounding that no matter what comes, God our great shepherd has us.
And He dwells with you and in you.
Church, this is a big deal.
You’re not alone in your battles ever!
He’s not just with us, He’s in us!
When your told no, not right now as the Lord told Peter. Remember who’s known, and dwells with and in us.
When your told to follow but your not sure how as Thomas was. Remember who’s known, and dwells with and in us.
When you’re confused and don’t understand the Word of God as we seen with Phillip. Remember who’s known, and dwells with and in us.
This is such encouraging news!
We have God the Holy Spirit living with us and inside of us!
Do we see the love and care of our God?
8 It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”
Our God has us!!!
Moving backwards in scripture now that we clearly see where our power comes from.
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.
What works did Jesus do that we are do to also?
Is it the turning water into wine?
Is it feeding 5000 people with 5 loaves of bread and two fish?
How about raising someone from the dead like Jesus did with Lazarus?
Is it possible that God could do these works through us? Yes, absolutely.
But really what do all these works serve to do?
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
These works that Jesus did and the works were called to do is love.
Everything Jesus did was in love for the Father and love for what the Father loves, us, His creation.
When we believe in Christ and the Power of the Holy Spirit enters us, we do the works of the Jesus and love.
Love during good times and the hard times.
During the known and unknown.
All by the power of the Holy Spirit we love.
We don’t get consumed with all the “what if’s” and question God on everything.
We believe, we trust in the Spirit and we continue to love.
And what takes place through this love?
Greater works!
What?
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.
Greater love than raising Lazarus?
Greater love than the going to the cross?
Blasphemy, no way!
It’s not meaning greater works as in we will have more love than Jesus and therefore have greater works.
Not even close, it’s meaning we have been given the opportunity through time and quantity of believers to spread His love to the whole globe.
Greater works is not about raw power, but global reach and spiritual impact.
Jesus’ physical earthly ministry was for a mere 3 years.
The greater works through the power of the Holy Spirit is why we’re all here today!
Amen!
And again, all this because of the sacrificial gift of Jesus’ life and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
He goes to the Father as our propitiation for our sins and asks the Father to send the Helper the Holy Spirit to continue the mission to love!
Jesus is encouraging His disciples and us to love as we’ve been loved.
We’re all sitting here today because someone loved us and shared the Gospel.
These are the greater works we’re called to do.
The great commission!
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
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.
Question, is this a blank check from Jesus?
Is it our genie in a bottle?
Did Jesus do whatever the disciples ask before this?
No!
Remember Jesus telling them that He must die and Peter rebuking Jesus for it?
Get behind me Satan.
So what is it this than?
Remember our context of where we’re at in scripture.
Jesus, is leaving, crucifixion to be exact.
Disciples are questioning this.
And they’re concerned how there going to move forward without Him there.
In the context of all this, and our Lord comforting them with greater works to come and the Holy Spirit to come.
The works of Jesus will continue and again what are the works of Jesus?
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
It’s all about the works, to love God and love others.
This is what Jesus has been doing and teaching the disciples to do.
Continue in this and I’ll provide!
Stray from this and I won’t, I can’t provide.
It’s outside Jesus’ character not to love.
And just in case we miss it, Jesus adds verse 15.
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
And what sums up all the commandments?
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment.
39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
We at all times are called to love God and others. At all times.
God has us today and what my come with tomorrow.
We have the Holy Spirit that dwells with and in us to help us love when our flesh rears up and we want what we want and we want it now as Peter did so many times.
We have the Holy Spirit that dwells with and in us to help us when difficulties arise and we don’t know where to go as with Thomas.
And we have the Holy Spirit that dwells with and in us to help us when we don’t understand, as with Phillip not understanding.
The point of all this, is we’re to be like Jesus and always love, and remember that we’re not alone in this.
To love, to sacrifice oneself for another can be very hard, hence the ask and I will give and the Great Helper the Holy Spirit.
Folks to wrap this up, it’s no secret that life can be hard.
We all face valley’s and peaks.
I want to encourage you today.
The same power that raised Jesus from the dead, resides in you through the Holy Spirit.
Nothing is impossible when it comes to love for God and love for others.
It may not always look the way you want it to.
As in Jesus leaving the Disciples and Jesus going to the cross.
It had to really wreck them.
But remember, those very actions, were for the glory of God and our good!
It was in love Jesus did what He did.
Painful and heartbreaking, absolutely.
Loving and glory to God, absolutely.
Take encouragement this morning.
8 It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”
But before that what does unbelief bring?
Now what does belief in Jesus bring?
love God and love others!Belief in Him either brings life or death.
Do we believe and repent or do we believe without repentance.
