Jesus Comforts The Troubled Hearted, part 3
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 4 viewsNotes
Transcript
15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
16 “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
19 “After a little while the world will behold Me no more; but you will behold Me; because I live, you shall live also.
20 “In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
The word “love” is a commonly used word. Countless songs, poems, novels, and books have been written on the subject of love.
In the Bible, God Himself is described as “love.” The word of God has much to say about “love.” From loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength…to loving our neighbor as ourselves, to even loving those who hate us, the Bible makes no smaller matter on the subject of “love.”
In fact, the Apostle John wrote...
8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
To know God is to love Him, to love Him is to obey Him.
Our authentic love for God, is shown and manifests itself, in our obedience to Him.
On the other hand, habitual disobedience to God’s commands only goes to prove, that one does not genuinely love God.
Every true believer, loves the Lord and will invariably submit his life to Christ and serve Him.
It is a work of God that we love Him.
In fact the Bible says in...
19 We love, because He first loved us.
Through the divine work of regeneration, hearts and minds are spiritually changed, making a person a new creation in Christ. As a result, Gods divine work on the inward man, will manifest itself on the outward man.
17 Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
In fact, while delivering His discourse, Jesus pointedly asked His disciples the question...
46 “And why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?
You see, there is an inseparable connection between “faith” and “obedience”.
36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
This generation must know the truth. The wrath and indignation of God abides upon the one who follows after unrighteousness and refuses to obey the Word of God.
At His second coming, Jesus Himself, will “[deal] out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel.
Jesus is the source of eternal salvation to “all those who obey Him”.
The truth is, the “Elect of God” have been chosen “to obey Jesus Christ,” and any doctrine that teaches otherwise is a false doctrine.
In His final hours in Jerusalem, still gathered with the eleven remaining disciples in the Upper Room, Jesus pointedly said to them...
15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
The apostles were troubled at heart by the reality, that Jesus was about to leave them. But Jesus has encouraged them to not be troubled at heart by His departure.
Keep in mind, the heart is the seat of man’s affection and will. It is in the heart of man, where he wills to do good or evil.
For a genuinely, regenerated believer, the heart wills to do that which is pleasing to the Lord.
Obedience is NOT optional for the true believer.
Here… Jesus is making a statement that undeniably reiterates this point in saying...
IF…you…love ME, you…WILL KEEP…My commandments.
“All sentimental talking and singing about our love for Jesus are vain, unless by grace, we show a truthful obedience to Him.”
“Love is practical, OR it is not love at all.”
If I love Christ, I shall keep His commandments impartially, not picking and choosing.
In verse 16, Jesus, as the Great High Priest, makes a promise to those who genuinely love Him.
16 “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
Ever since the disciples have been following Jesus, He has comforted them, but now His departure from this world is at hand. Death seems so hopeless and final.
But as their Great High Priest, Jesus promises to ask the Father to give His people another ( Parakletos ) Helper (it literally means, “one called alongside to help”!), So Jesus is going to ask the Father, and He will give…another Helper, a helper just like Himself, that He may be with them forever;
Jesus promises a "forever” Comforter, for all who genuinely love Christ. Eternal preservation of every believer is thereby Divinely assured.
Nothing else in life is assured, but what God promises He will perform.
Jesus says, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;...
17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you.
Like Jesus, it is the Spirit of Truth or the Holy Spirit that would teach, strengthen, and intercede for the disciples. It is the Holy Spirit who would empower them to do the work of Christ.
Jesus cautions them not to expect a visible Person. But the Spirit of truth.
Why would Jesus call the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Truth? Because it is the Holy Spirit that reveals spiritual truth to believers.
Who is excluded? The world cannot receive the Spirit of truth because it does not see Him or know Him. The whole world lies in the wick one, and he is a liar from the beginning. Just as the world failed to recognize Jesus Christ, the world would also fail to recognize the Spirit of truth.
How can the invisible Spirit be recognized?
Paul explained to the saints in Corinth...
14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
It is only with spiritual eyes that one can see. And “Except a man be born again, he CANNOT SEE the kingdom of God.”
But again here in verse 17 in the 14 Chapter of John, Jesus assures them,
17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you.
“but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you.”
Christ Himself dwelt among them and He was full of the Spirit. Jesus promised that the Third Person of the Trinity would take up residence within them, making their bodies His temple. This would occur on the Day of Pentecost when the Spirit was given to indwell believers in a new fullness that became the standard for all believers since!
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
Jesus gives the assurance, “I will not leave you as orphans;” For Jesus to die and leave these disciples would have been like a father dying and leaving His little children behind. The disciples would have been made to feel abandoned.
Our Lord goes on to say to them...
19 “After a little while the world will behold Me no more; but you will behold Me; because I live, you shall live also.
To the unbelieving world, when Jesus was nailed to the cross, it looked like defeat. The last time the world saw the Lord of glory was as He hung upon the Cross of shame.In the eyes of a wicked world, Jesus is a joke!
It is important to point out that the original translation reads, “Yet a little while and the world me no longer sees.”
His death on a Cross, however, would NOT be the last time, the wicked world would see Him.
In fact, it says in...
7 Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. Even so. Amen.
When the LORD comes in judgment, every eye will see Him! Every tongue will confess that He is LORD.
But He assures His disciples that as surely as they see Him now, they would continue to see Him. After He rose from the dead, they saw Him. As He went into Heaven, they saw Him till a cloud received Him out of their sight. After He had taken His seat at the right hand of God, they saw Him by faith. Being now eternally with the Lord in Heaven, they see Him now.
Only His true disciples would see Him after His resurrection, and see Him alive and witness His ascension into heaven. As surely as He is alive forever more, so are His elect be alive forever more.
The elect of God are made spiritually alive to never taste death. The physical man, however, will undergo death one time but even the physical will not perish in death but quite the opposite. For we have the most glorious promise imaginable.
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.
This of course is speaking of the raptured church. Contained in Paul’s writings to the Church of Thessalonica are among some of the most encouraging words. Because Jesus lives, so do those whom He has redeemed.
Jesus continues by saying...
20 “In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
The words “In that day” refers to the Day of Pentecost.
The disciples would be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, in that day you shall know that I am in My Father. The Lord Jesus Christ is not only in union with the Spirit but He is also in union with the Father. Jesus is saying to them, “you will come to realize that I am in the Father, but also, they would come to realize that they are in Christ and Christ is in them.
Jesus comforts and gives reassurance to His troubled disciples, that His death would not end their relationship with Him. Their union with Him was indissoluble, as is true for all who believe. Nothing can separate His own from His presence or His love.