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"Final
Words From The Upper Room" • 1.12.20 • Calvary
Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- The section before us contains the final
thoughts that Jesus conveyed to His disciples in the upper room. Jesus has let
them in on information that has left them stunned.
- He is going where they cannot follow and
there is one among them that will betray Him! While they are in the midst of
considering that, Jesus has been encouraging them.
- He has told them of their "Heavenly Home" that He was going
away to prepare for them. (v.1-4)
There is room in His Father's house for them.
- He has reminded them of their "Heavenly Connection" to Himself,
as the way, truth and life. (v.5-11)
They don't need to know anything beside who they already knew!
- While they waited for Him to return, Jesus
gave them a "Heavenly Commission."
(v.12-15) They were not only not
finished working, but they would do greater works in the days to come.
- Finally, Jesus explains that all of this will
facilitated through the office of their "Heavenly Help." Jesus was not leaving the work of the Kingdom
in human hands.
- He was sending His Spirit,
"another" of the same kind as Himself, to work in and through them.
This brings us to the final words of encouragement from the upper room. Verse 19.
Text
• John 14:19-21 : "A little while longer and the world will see
Me no more, but you
will see Me. Because
I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in
Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it
is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will
love him and manifest
Myself to him.'" : Jesus is
just hours from His betrayal, illegal trial and crucifixion.
- The last
thing that the world at large will physically see is a dead man. Rome's record
for execution will remain spotless and the Jewish leaders will have seemingly
rid the world of Jesus.
- The world
will no longer have the opportunity to lay their eyes upon, to behold the God
who took on human flesh! Can you imagine having that opportunity and missing
it?
- The added
significance is that they will have also lost the ability to comprehend what
His life truly meant! "See" comes from a Greek word that gives us our
English word "theory."
- These will no
longer have the privilege of seeing or contemplating Jesus or His teachings
again! In contrast, the disciples would see and understand Jesus, as early as
that Sunday morning!
- He would
appear to them alive, which would prove something in the most definitive way
possible to them: If Jesus lives, they will live also!
- Because the
Lord's life was unable to be extinguished, the life that they had in themselves
would also prove indestructable! This is a beautiful promise to give them!
- When they saw
Him, they would have the confidence to know that He had the power to endow them
with the same life that was in Him! At that day of revelation, they would know!
- How contrary
to their current feelings there in the upper room! At this moment, they feel
confused, uninformed and "out of the loop."
- Their faith,
however great, was hanging on by a string, as they listened to Jesus explain
His exit from the world. According to their Master, this was only a temporary
condition!
- On that first
resurrection day, the disciples would know, not theoretically, but
experientially of His connection to the Father and they would be just as sure
of His connection to them!
- This is why
it was important for them to practice preserving the commands that He had given
them. They needed to hold fast, that they might show their love for Him.
- Please don't
point to your "heart" as the measure of your love to Christ! The Lord
measures our love by our obedience to Him! That is His love language! Why is
that important?
- Obedience
opens the door for the love of the Father to flow toward them, for the Lord to
allow His love to be known by them! He would love them and manifest Himself to
them.
- The word
refers to a "full disclosure" and a direct declaration of who He was!
God makes no such promise to the world.
- Whenever any
person obeys God's first word, which is to believe upon Jesus Christ, then,
that person will begin to see the Lord in all His glory!
- Only those
that obey the Lord will really see Him now in faith and then, when we pass, in
sight! For the disciples, they were days away from their faith turning into
sight!
- Soon, all of
the mystery, the second guessing and the nearly informed stances about His
person would be a thing of the past!
- They would
know the quality of life that they possessed, the verification of the Father's
communion with the Son and would have the Lord's direct revelation of His
character! Verse 22.
• John 14:22-24 : "Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, 'Lord,
how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?' 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 home with him. 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." : The question that Judas,
better known as Thaddeus presents is a fair one.
-
Why will Jesus will only make Himself plainly known to His disciples and not to
the world?
-
The answer is love! Jesus is willing to completely reveal Himself to those that
love Him, who are found preserving His teaching! "If anyone loves Me, he
will keep my word."
-
That is the eternal litmus test! Do not pretend to define "love" by
your own convenient standards.
-
To love Jesus is to honor, to cherish, to keep His word! By that standard,
would you claim to love Him? May it be a reality or may He give you the grace
to have a reality check!
-
One who loves Jesus will attend to His word. He will take personal care for the
carrying out of His word. The Father and He will make their home with that
person!
-
"Make" conveys the idea of converting a thing from something else. In
this case, a person will be made into a dwelling, appropriate for divine use!
-
The Godhead will find a home suitable for Himself in the hearts of those whose
aim is to live out the message of the Kingdom!
-
The person that doesn't love the Lord will not be privy to that disclosure
because they do not love His word! That is proven by their lack of desire to
guard His words!
-
The person that has no desire to welcome Christ into their lives or acknowledge
Him for the person that He is has not hope of ever discovering Him.
-
Unlike the one that loves Him, they carelessly toss aside or minimize the
Lord's words until those words are twisted toward their convenience. Why would
Jesus live there?
-
Why would Jesus honor a vessel with His very own life and the resource of
heaven, when what is available to that person is neglected and maligned?
-
Consequently, these remain alienated from God, choosing instead to coddle
themselves with a false version of Christ and a false idea of their own
identity and destiny!
-
If He will show Himself to you plainly, you must already be in a position to be
willing to alter your life to conform to His! He will never let it be the other
way around!
-
These promises are not merely the Lord's. These are the decrees of His Father.
There is complete agreement in the Godhead. Verse 25.
•
John 14:25,26 : "These things I have spoken to you while being
present with you. 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 things that I said to you." : Jesus has let the disciples know what to expect while He was
with them. He has talked with them about these things, but has not elaborated
upon them.
-
Jesus is registering thoughts in their minds, planting seeds in their
collective conscience, that would later be built upon by the Holy Spirit! Note
again the activity of the Triune God!
-
The Helper, the Holy Spirit, the One that comes alongside and comforts you and
I, would come alongside of the disciples, sent by the Father in the Lord Jesus'
Name!
-
Don't simply overlook what it means to be sent in a person's name. That is an
important item to remember when considering the Holy Spirit.
-
The Holy Spirit will never act in a way that shames the reputation of Christ!
What we see practiced in some evangelical circles as "acts of the Holy
Spirit" is dangerously close to blasphemy!
-
To be sent in His Name is to act in a way that is complementary of the One He
is representing. Additionally, to be sent in His Name is to act according to
the resource of the Name!
-
The Holy Spirit is not waiting for you to have incredible faith. He acts
according to the resources available to Christ, whose faith in His Father
affords us the help of the Spirit!
-
What will His role be to them? He would teach them all things! The word is vast
in it's scope.
-
It covers courses of information. It includes an impartation of wisdom. It
could refer to instilling doctrine or expounding upon a matter. Is this not how
He is always teaching us!?
-
This is "how" He teaches, but notice "what" He will teach.
"He will teach you all things."
-
When it comes to theology, the Holy Spirit will unveil what has been hidden
about Christ throughout the history of God's revelation.
-
As you read the Bible, you'll learn of doctrines that you never would have
considered or known of. They will be planted in your souls by the Holy Spirit's
agency.
-
All things will appropriately begin with our theology and Christology, which is
Orthodoxy, but that leads also to our practice as Christians! Orthodoxy and
Orthopraxy.
-
He will teach His people what to believe and how to act! How many times have
you run across similar themes in scripture that serve as examples through the
lives of His people?
-
How often have you read something that was just perfect for your current
situation, clarifying a point of confusion that had plagued you for years?
-
Where do you think that "verse that popped into your head" came from?
The Holy Spirit!
-
For every difficulty, season and type of believer, the Holy Spirit is our
qualified, Christ centered teacher of all things related to the Kingdom!
-
Whether it's simple or profound, the believer in Christ must know their
Teacher's voice! The Holy Spirit is soon to unveil truths from scripture to the
disciples that would change their world!
-
He is soon to make connections for them through scripture that would make sense
of everything that they had experienced with the Lord!
-
Beside the monumental truths of scripture, the Holy Spirit would lead and guide
these men into the ways that they should go, the paths that they should or
should not take.
-
His ministry to them and the lessons they learned endure as recorded in the
book of Acts!
-
What a pity it is that many forsake the ministry of the Holy Spirit and lean
upon their own understanding! Such Christians are begging for doom!
-
The Lord in His grace will always offer hope, but the wise will be sure not to
neglect His teaching authority before making any decision or venture!
-
He would teach the disciples and He would remind them of all the things that
the Lord had said to them. Listen to the definition of this Greek word
"remind" that Strong's furnishes.
˚
"to remind quietly, i.e. suggest to
the (middle voice, one's own) memory."
-
People dramatically misrepresent the Holy Spirit, usually to vindicate their
own poor choices. One of the first ways is to suggest that He screams and yells
at them. This word confronts that.
-
If anything, the Holy Spirit will allow a person to run their foolish course
and when they finally sit alone in silence, wondering what went wrong, the Holy
Spirit, amidst the silence, quietly teaches!
-
Most of the time, as with the Apostles, He does not need to bring new truth.
There isn't any new truth! Just like with the Apostles, the Holy Spirit brings
to mind what has already been said!
-
Certainly for the disciples, their minds would soon be barraged by a slew of
visceral images and traumatic events. It's a wonder they were ever able to
remember these sayings!
-
And yet, that testimony alone is the perfect tribute to the Holy Spirit's
ministry among them!
-
Even in the midst of the most difficult time of their lives, He was able to
bring them back in their minds to what was true about Jesus! What would they
need to remember first? Verse 27.
•
John 14:27,28 : "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you;
not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. You
have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to
you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am
going to the Father,’ for My Father
is greater than I." : What a perfect word for
this moment and season in time! "Peace I leave with you!" Jesus is
not leaving them in a state of anxiety.
-
He is laying aside a state of calm, harmony and rest for them. It isn't
"peace" in the abstract but is the very peace of the Messiah Himself!
It is HIS PEACE that He is giving to them!
-
It is the peace that He possesses and is willing to give to them! As with the
life that He shares, so also the peace! It is peace which emanates from Him!
What kind of peace is this?
-
Think of what it looked like when the religious leaders sought to take Jesus in
the public squares. The Lord peacefully, confidently walked right past them
knowing that it wasn't His time.
-
Think of the peace that was anchored in His unwavering confidence in the
Father's love, which continued to allow Him to pursue the course that the
Father had given them.
-
It is His peace and His peaceful relationship with God the Father that belongs
to them!
-
That is ours to claim as well! In Christ, we have peace with God. This is a
judicial peace.
-
In other words, our war with God ended at the Cross of Christ when we put our
faith in Jesus! Since that time, we have had peace with God, but that isn't
all.
-
We have also been given the peace OF God! This is experiential peace! This is a
share of the reaction that God has to anything! What riles God up? What causes
Him to fear?
-
When you respond to a situation that would rock another person's world with
clarity and calm, you have just experienced the peace of God! "His
peace" belongs to His disciples.
-
This is not to be confused with the peace that is given by the world. What does
He mean by this? It could be said that His peace is not a peace that is
according to the world.
-
The world does not provide this kind of peace. Their peace is arrived at by
measures contrary to the Kingdom.
-
The world arrives at peace and serenity by conquering others, subjugating them
to their powers of persuasion. This makes the world "peace"
incredibly tenuous!
-
It can be snatched away by the next threat of war or by the introduction of a
greater idea or person. At the very best, the world's peace is a temporary
cease fire!
-
Christ could also mean simply that His peace is not available to, nor through
the world. It is not merit based as the world's peace is, but grace based, a
gift from our Savior!
-
If that is the gift, then what is the command? How are His disciples to
respond? By not letting their hearts be troubled, nor afraid. The first word
refers to their inner response.
-
One of the lexical definitions is to have one's spirit struck with fear and
dread. The second word refers to their outer life, which would issue in
timidity.
-
How can we not "let" ourselves be fearful and timid? By reminding
ourselves of whose life we are living and that we will give an account of how
we lived to God Himself!
-
If anything, let us remember that we only have so long to hold out because
their peace and ours is wrapped up in His promise to return! Jesus tells them
that He is going away and coming back!
-
The disciples were no better than you or I. Jesus told them these words, but
the heaviness of Him being away from them left them unable to process their
Master's promise.
-
Their sadness and confusion was keeping them from exulting in the Lord! They
should have been elated to hear that their friend, the One they loved, was going
to the Father!
-
Jesus was going to be in the company of one that was greater than He! This
doesn't diminish Christ, but let's us in on the hierarchy of heaven that even
Christ submits to!
-
Wouldn't you be excited for someone that was going to experience what Jesus was
about to experience? Wouldn't it inspire you to know this person was your
friend and Master!?
-
He is about to go to heaven and then will return from heaven to be sure you are
with Him!
-
That is a significant cause to rejoice in the Lord, don't you think? Verse 29.
•
John 14:29-31 : "And now I
have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. But that
the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go
from here." : Beside the current comfort that
the Lord is attempting to administer to His disciples, He is also planting
seeds for their faith.
-
Being able to accurately foretell future events is an essential characteristic
of God. He makes a case for Himself with unbelieving Israel by declaring the
"end from the beginning." (Isaiah
46:10)
-
Ultimately, Jesus is providing evidence to these that believe. He is giving
them fuel for their faith! He wants their faith to be settled once and for all!
-
There wasn't any more time left for Him to speak to them this way. Three years
have passed and they have seen and heard everything that they have needed to
for their faith to grow.
-
As for Jesus, the ruler, the prince of this world was coming for Him. Doesn't
that sound like a tremendous threat? It might be to us, but not to Him!
-
Satan could come all day long, but he didn't have any power over Him! There
isn't a foothold of fear in Jesus, nor could He command Jesus to do anything!
-
Jesus would lay down His life only at His Father's command. That obedience to
His Father would be His legacy! With that said, they moved on from the upper
room.
Conclusion
- Consider how the Lord has comforted them in
this final passage from the upper room.
- The world will be confused about Him, but He
will manifest Himself to those that love Him. These will have a crystal clear
vision of Him.
- The world won't know how to live their life,
but the Holy Spirit will teach you who believe all things, especially those
pertaining to "life and godliness!"
(II Peter 1:3)
- The world won't have a lasting peace, but the
Lord will give His people His own peace, which will free them from fear and
timidity.
- The enemy will come for them, but because He
has nothing in Him, he has nothing in us, for "greater is He that is in us, than
he that is in the world!" (I
John 4:4)
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