The Gospel According to John: 14:15-31

Series Introduction:

The theme verse for our series is John 20:31

John 20:31 – “…these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

The “these” John is referring to are the seven recorded SIGNS/miracles and the seven recoded “I Am” STATEMENTS of Jesus. John focused on those 14 key SIGNS and STATEMENTS in order to show us that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the World because He’s God’s only begotten Son. God had John write these things so that we would believe and put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ so that by the grace of God we would be FREED from the penalty of our sin and given life to the FULL here on earth and life FOREVER in heaven.

Recap/review/summary:

Sign 1: Water into wine (John 2)

Sign 2: Royal officer’s won healed (John 2)

Sing 3: Lame man healed on Sabbath (John 5)

Sign 4: Feeding the 5 thousand (John 6)

Sign 5: Man born blind given sight (John 9)

Sign 6: Lazarus raised from the dead (John 11)

Sign 7: *(John 20)

I Am Statement 1: The Bread of Life (John 6)

I Am Statement 2: The Light of the World (John 8 & John 9)

I Am Statement 3: The Door (John 10)

I Am Statement 4: The Good Shepherd (John 10)

I Am Statement 5: The Resurrection and the Life (John 11)

I Am Statement 6: The Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14)

I Am Statement 7: *(John 15)

John 14:15–31 (NASB)

15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 16 “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 see 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 no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. 20 “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 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.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?” 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. 24 “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. 25 “These things I have spoken to you while abiding 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 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. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. 28 “You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 “Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. 30 “I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; 31 but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.

Jesus spells love O-B-E-Y.

(v. 15, 21, 23-24, 26, 31) 15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

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.”

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. 24 “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.

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 said to you.

31 but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me...

Matthew 22:36–40 (NASB)

36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 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 foremost commandment. 39 “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

1 Samuel 15:22 (NASB)

22 Samuel said, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.

2 John 6 (ESV)

6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.

Important Clarification! Jesus spells love O-B-E-Y. God does not spell salvation that way!

Ephesians 2:8–10 (NASB)

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Back to loving God through obedience...

We need to hear to obey.

(v. 23-24) 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. 24 “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.

Luke 8:21 (ESV)

21 But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”

Psalm 81:11 (NASB)

11 “But My people did not listen to My voice, And Israel did not obey Me.

Judges 2:16–17 (ESV)

16 Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so.

The Hebrew word “shama” literally means “to hear”. (Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words)

The “Shama”:

Deuteronomy 6:4 (NASB)

4 “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!

The word “hear” is “shama”.

Exodus 19:5 (NASB)

5 ‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine;

The word obey is also “shama”.

Shama in Hebrew means both to hear and to obey. Not just either but both.

If we truly hear then we will truly obey. If we listen but do not obey, that isn’t really hearing. To God, to hear is to obey.

That’s why Jesus would say....

Mark 4:9 (NASB)

9 And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

That’s why James said…

James 1:22 (ESV)

22 ...be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

We need to hear to obey. These are inseparably connected.

How do we hear? Through the word of God...

Romans 10:17 (NASB)

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

John 10:27 (ESV)

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

Revelation 3:20 (ESV)

20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

We need to hear to obey.

We need the right heart to obey.

(v. 15, 21, 23-24, 31) 15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

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.”

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. 24 “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.

31 but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me...

1 Timothy 1:5 (NASB)

5 But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

Loving obedience comes from a pure heart. Where does the pure heart come from?

Ezekiel 11:19–20 (NASB)

19 “And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God.

A the right heart comes from God.

Jeremiah 24:7 (ESV)

7 I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

God does it! God is a spiritual heart surgeon.

1 John 5:1–3 (NASB)

1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.

Notice the heart that is described here. “His commands are not burdensome.”

If obeying God is a burden rather than a blessing, pray for God to change your heart...

Psalm 51:10 (ESV)

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

And when we pray for this and believe in faith God does what he says through Ezekiel...

Ezekiel 36:26–27 (ESV)

26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

We need the right heart to obey God.

Our Ezekiel passage leads us to the next thing we need...

We need the Helper to obey.

Ezekiel 36:26–27 (ESV)

26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

The Holy Spirit is was causes, [equips and empowers], us to obey.

(v. 16) 16 “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 see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

Acts 1:8 (NASB)

...you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you...

Romans 8:26 (ESV)

...the Spirit helps us in our weakness...

Philippians 2:13 (NASB)

13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

(v. 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 said to you.

(v. 16) “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever...”

Luke 11:13 (NASB)

13 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

Memory Verse of the Week:

Philemon 14 (NASB)

14 but without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion but of your own free will.

Discussion Questions: (John 14:15-31)

How is our love for God connected to obedience? (v. 15)

Why did Jesus send the Holy Spirit? (v. 16-17)

What does this promise of Jesus mean for us? (v. 18)

Do you think Jesus is talking about His resurrection, return or both here? (v. 19-20) What is His primary reason for telling them about this?

In what ways is obedience connected to knowing Jesus? (v. 21)

What do you think is the meaning of Jesus’ answer? (v. 22-23)

What does disobedience say about our relationship with God? (v. 24)

In what ways does the Holy Spirit help us? (v. 25-26)

How is the peace Jesus gives different than the peace the world gives? (v. 27)

Why were the disciples supposed to be rejoicing? (v. 28)

What is one of the purposes Jesus gives for the Scripture? (v. 29)

What do you think Jesus meant by “the ruler of this world is coming” and how was it going to show that Jesus is truly Lord? (v. 30-31)

What else were you taught about God in this passage?

What else did the text teach you about yourself?

Did anything else in these verses stick out to you?

How do you believe God is leading you to respond to His word?