Final Lessons

Introduction

How could Jesus who was about to be crucified talk of peace? Here just moments before His death He spends His final hours teaching the disciples key lessons that will change their lives. Their world was about to fall apart, when the unbelievable happens, Jesus is crucified. Already Judas Iscariot was out there somewhere in the dark paving the way. In this paragraph recorded by John there are 5 final lessons, the first of which we discussed this morning. The other four we will look at now. These are not all of Jesus’ final lessons for the disciples these lessons continue into chapter 16 and culminate in chapter 17 with Jesus’ High Priestly prayer.

Lesson # 1 You Can Be At Peace (v. 27)

Lesson # 2 Fear Interferes With Love (v. 28)

Jesus had been clear about His departure.

Matthew 16:21-23 From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

Mark 9:30-32 From there they went out and began to go through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know about it. For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.” But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him.

Luke 18:31-34 Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. “For He will be handed over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon, and after they have scourged Him, they will kill Him; and the third day He will rise again.” But the disciples understood none of these things, and the meaning of this statement was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said.

Their fear of Jesus leaving or dying interfered with their love for Jesus. Instead of rejoicing with Jesus they worried.

Parents often allow fear to interfere with their love for their children.

They don’t want their child to go to a particular school because it is too far away, even though that school is the best option.

There have been many parents that have discouraged their children from the missions field because of fear.

Why should the disciples have been rejoicing with Jesus if they loved Him?

Because He was going back to the Father.

He was going home

His homegoing was something he anticipated with joy. His exaltation and joy should be a source of joy for those who love him. We can almost hear him say to his disciples, as he looked into their glum faces, “If you would only look at it from my perspective for a moment, you would be glad because I am going home.”

“...because My Father is greater than I.”

There have been many misunderstandings of this phrase.

First understand that there is a order within the Godhead. Jesus though equal with the Father in divinity willing submits to the will of the Father. So, in that sense the Father is greater than the Son.

The Father was also greater in the sense of unveiled glory. The glory of Jesus was veiled in human flesh. Jesus looked forward to taking His rightful place at the Father’s right hand in a fully glorified state.

The Gospel according to John 4. The Departure of Jesus and the Coming of the Spirit of Truth (14:15–31)

If Jesus’ disciples truly loved him, they would be glad that he is returning to his Father, for he is returning to the sphere where he belongs, to the glory he had with the Father before the world began (17:5), to the place where the Father is undiminished in glory, unquestionably greater than the Son in his incarnate state. To this point the disciples have responded emotionally entirely according to their perception of their own gain or loss. If they had loved Jesus, they would have perceived that his departure to his own ‘home’ was his gain and rejoiced with him at the prospect. As it is, their grief is an index of their self-centredness.

Lesson # 3 BELIEVE! (v. 29)

Given that this is John’s Gospel one of these lessons had to be about belief.

This lesson answers the question, why did Jesus tell the disciples ahead of time that He was going to die?

To prove He knew and controlled these events.

To verify His message

To strengthen their faith

The O.T. taught and the disciples knew that only God could know and control the future.

Isaiah 42:9“Behold, the former things have come to pass, Now I declare new things; Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.”

Isaiah 46:9-10 “Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;

Isaiah 48:3, 5 “I declared the former things long ago And they went forth from My mouth, and I proclaimed them. Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.... Therefore I declared them to you long ago, Before they took place I proclaimed them to you, So that you would not say, ‘My idol has done them, And my graven image and my molten image have commanded them.’

Jesus plan worked. After His death the disciples remembered what He had said and believed. John 2:19-21 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body.

Lesson # 4 The Devil’s Details (v. 30)

“I will not speak with you much longer...”

Another reference to His death

Similar phrases are found throughout John 14-16

His hour had come

Satan was on his way.

In a sense he was there already in possessing Judas.

Satan believed that this was the hour of his triumph. Why? Because like all of us Satan is the victim of his own sin. Sin blinds to truth even the most obvious truths.

Satan is the “Prince of this World”

This world became Satan’s domain when Adam sinned.

This is the second of three references in the Gospel of John to Satan as the “ruler or prince” of this world.

Satan is a divinely permitted usurper.

Jesus and Satan had always been in conflict during Christ’s earthly ministry.

Satan tried to kill Jesus as a baby through Herod

Satan opposed Jesus’ ministry with demons which were easily cast out and allowed to enter a heard of pigs.

Satan tried to have Jesus killed prematurely during His ministry through the Pharisees and Sadducee.

Satan’s opposition to Jesus culminated in the cross. Satan would finally succeed in having Jesus killed. A dead Savior can’t save anyone.

“and hath nothing in Me.”

Literally, “he has no hold over Me>’

What Satan thought was his greatest victory was actually his greatest defeat.

1 John 3:8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.

Hebrews 2:14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,

The phrase is a Hebrew idiom meaning that the Devil could make no legal claim against Jesus. “How could he?” asks D. A. Carson, “Jesus is not of this world (8:23), and he has never sinned (8:46). The devil could have a hold on Jesus only if there were a justifiable charge against Jesus. Jesus’ death would then be his due, and the devil’s triumph” (The Gospel According to John, 509)

Lesson # 5 Proof of Christ’s Love (v. 31)

Far from marking His defeat at the hands of Satan, Christ’s death was the ultimate proof to the world of His love for the Father.

Jesus had just taught that the true test of loving God is obedience

John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

John 14: 21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”

John 14: 23 Jesus answered and said to 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 abode with him.

Now Jesus provides us with the greatest example of obedience to the Father ever seen, His own death.

Philippians 2:8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Hebrews 12:2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The last phrase indicates that after this lesson Jesus and the disciples leave the upper room.