John 14:15-24
Sunday Morning Bible Study
August 4, 1996
Introduction
We are on the Thursday evening before Jesus is crucified, at the event known as "the Last Supper".
Jesus is alone with His disciples in the upper room.
:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments
Jesus is saying,
"If you should really be loving me, then you will find yourself keeping my commandments."
Jesus is saying that the proof of your love for Him is whether or not you are obeying Him.
Let's think about context for a moment.
It's been almost two months (June 16) since we started looking at the events of this particular night in Jesus' life.
But everything we've looked at since the beginning of John 13 has all happened within one evening.
What has most recently been His commandment?
This same night Jesus said:
Joh 13:34-35 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all [men] know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. (AV)
I think that we could rightly say that the proof of whether or not you love God is shown in whether or not you love other people.
John wrote:
1Jo 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? (AV)
It's not just loving people you like, but even people you don't like!
And when you love others, it will change them:
Illustration:
"Humanly speaking, I might never have been saved if someone hadn't 'said it with love' to me," says Dr. Howard Hendricks. "I was nine years old, a little terror," he recalls. "I was out playing marbles one day, when a man named Walt came along and invited me to Sunday School. There was nothing appealing to me about anything with 'school' in it, so he made me another proposition -- one I liked better: 'Wanna play a game of marbles with me?'
"After he'd wiped me out in marbles, he inquired, 'Wanna learn how to play this game better?'
"By the time he'd taught me how to play marbles over the next few days, he'd built such a relationship with me that I'd have gone anywhere he suggested. Of the 13 boys in that class -- 11 ended up in vocational Christian work."
If we really love Him, then we'll turn around and love others.
Lesson:
The secret of obedience.
Are you obeying Jesus' commandments?
Do you ever feel like you're not really doing all that Jesus wants you to?
Can you honestly say that you love every person you're supposed to?
Is it possible that when we think things like this, we're going at it all wrong?
Is it possible that rather than focusing on obedience, we should be focusing on love?
Yes, Jesus wants us to obey His commandments.
But it's done through loving Him.
When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was:
Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
This command to love God and to love others is what all the other laws are based upon.
Paul wrote:
Romans 13:8-10 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
If we just learn to love like we should, then we will find ourselves walking in obedience.
Don't focus on whether or not you're obeying like you think you should.
Focus on whether or not you can grow to love Jesus more!
:16 I will pray the Father
Or, "I will ask the Father"
:16 he shall give you another Comforter
another - another of the same kind (
allos)Comforter -
paraklhtos - called to one's side, esp. called to one's aid; one who pleads another's cause before a judge; a helper, aider, assistantJesus is telling the disciples that He has been their Comforter.
We use the English word "comforter" to describe a quilt on your bed that you can snuggle up in when you're cold.
That's not all that bad.
Jesus has been that source of warmth and comfort to the disciples.
But it goes so much deeper than just warm fuzzies.
He has been the one there to pray for them.
He has been the one that was there to help them.
Jesus will also continue being their "paraklete" (not parakeet), yet soon it will be from heaven:
1Jo 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: (AV)
He's now our "defense counsel" in heaven, pleading our case before the Father as the accuser of the brethren constantly condemns and accuses us before God.
But when Jesus leaves them on earth, the Father will be sending another Comforter to take the place that Jesus had been in their lives.
:16 that he may abide with you for ever
This new comforter isn't going to just be with them for just three years like Jesus' was.
This next Comforter will be there for good, for ever.
:17 the Spirit of truth
Here we have one of the titles given to the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is marked by truth, gives truth, and defends truth. (A.T.Robertson)
John Wesley - "The Spirit of truth-Who has, reveals, testifies, and defends the truth as it is in Jesus."
Lesson:
Walk in truth.
It's very easy to get caught up in telling little lies.
We don't want to admit certain things to people, so we make up lies.
Illustration:
A pastor ended one Sunday morning service by instructing his people, "I would like all of you to read the 17th chapter of Mark's Gospel before next Sunday."
The following Sunday, true to his word, he asked the congregation, "How many of you actually read the 17th chapter of Mark's Gospel this past week?" Almost everyone in the pews raised their hands to signify they had indeed read that 17th chapter.
The pastor then stunned his people by announcing, "Ladies and gentlemen, there is no 17th chapter of Mark." Then he proceeded to preach his Sunday morning sermon, which happened to be on lying.
If we are going to get close to the Holy Spirit, we're going to also be having a close encounter with the truth.
:17 whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him
The "world" is made up of those who don't love or believe in God (1John 2:15)
It's not until a person believe in God, until they believe in Jesus, that they are able to receive the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
When a person refuses to believe, they are what we classify as a "natural" man.
Paul wrote:
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned. (AV)
:17 but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you
Jesus tell the disciples that up to now, the Holy Spirit has just been dwelling alongside them, as they've been close to Jesus.
But soon, the Holy Spirit will actually come to be inside of them.
:18 I will not leave you comfortless
comfortless -
orfanos - a word used of someone who has lost their parents, or even used of parents who have lost their children; abandoned.Jesus is saying that though He is going away, He is not going to just abandon these guys completely.
Some of you know what it's like to be abandoned.
Some have been abandoned by husbands or wives.
Some of you grew up without knowing what a father was supposed to be like, because your dad dumped your family.
Some of you have been abandoned by a mother.
Perhaps you have lost both of your parents.
Jesus says He'll not leave us as orphans.
He's not going to abandon us.
:18 I will come to you
Jesus is saying to His disciples that He's not going to abandon them, but He's going to come back.
He's going to come back from the dead and meet with them after the resurrection.
He's going to come back in His second coming, to take us all to heaven.
But most of all, here in this context, I believe the emphasis is on the fact that the disciples will be having a closeness to Jesus through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
When the Holy Spirit comes into them and dwells with them, in a sense they will be able to say that Jesus is in their heart.
Lesson #1:
You have not been abandoned.
Do you know what it's like to have a clingy two-year-old who cries when you attempt to leave them in Sunday School?
We've had three of them.
That's why Deb is such an excellent Sunday School teacher for the preschoolers, because she's had to be in there for the last seven years, getting three boys used to church!
What are they feeling?
They're feeling that you're going to leave them with all these strangers, and that you'll never come back.
Illustration:
We used to sing this silly song to our boys when we dropped them off at my mother-in-law's house for babysitting:
This is from that great theologian/song writer Hap Palmer:
Sometimes my mommy takes me over
To another friend's house to play
Sometimes I only stay a little while
Sometimes I stay all day
But my mommy comes back
She always comes back
She always comes back to get me
My mommy comes back
She always comes back
She never would forget me.
Sometimes I worry when she leaves me
I hope she won't be gone too long
But when I'm with my friends and having fun
I soon forget she's gone
But my mommy comes back
She always comes back
She always comes back to get me
My mommy comes back
She always comes back
She never would forget me.
Jesus is always there.
He's never left you in the first place.
Even when you have your friends around you to make you forget, He's still there!
Jesus said:
Matthew 28:20 and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
God says:
Hebrews 13:5 I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Lesson #2
Don't depend upon people.
Did you notice how Jesus answered the loneliness issue?
He did not say,
"Hey guys, I'm going to leave, but I'm not going to leave you as orphans, you'll have each other ..."
But He did say,
"I will come to you"
We need to be careful about depending upon human beings to fill our inner emptiness.
Illustration:
The Letter, a music video playing on TNN, ought to send tingles down the spines of both Newton aficionados and Elvis fans. The "letter" was written by Elvis, and Newton wrote a song about it, after he bought it from Sotheby's.
"The story goes that in his last engagement at the (Las Vegas) Hilton in December 1976, he kept a pad by his bed, and wrote down his thoughts," Newton says. "This one night, he wrote especially personal thoughts, then crumpled it up and threw it away."
I feel so alone sometimes. The night is quiet for me. I'd love to be able to sleep. I am glad that everyone is gone now. I'll probably not rest. I have no need for all this. Help me, Lord.
Newton says an aide retrieved the note after he saw Elvis throw it away. "When I asked the contents of it" Newton says, "I was so moved that I purchased it."
Newton sings his own lines -- As I awake again today, the pain won't go away -- but speaks the entire contents of Elvis' letter.
"It reflects a man reaching to the ultimate for help. Once I digested it and got over the shock, I realized that it was feelings that I, too, had had at times," he says. "I realized -- that kind of loneliness creeps into everybody's life."
--USA Today, April 17, 1992, p. 2D
David wrote
Ps 27:10 When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up. (AV)
When we're feeling lonely, I think we ultimately need to focus on finding fulfillment in Jesus.
Yes, we do have each other.
Yes, as the Body of Christ, we belong to each other, and need each other.
But the deep inner loneliness can only be met by Jesus.
Lesson #3:
Enjoy the Lord's company.
"You see," you tell me, "that's all great and fine, but sometimes I am just lonely for someone I can touch."
Illustration:
Frightened by the clamor of thunder in the night, a little child cried out. Holding her securely in his arms, her father explained that she needn't fear. God would take care of her because He loved her greatly.
"I know God will take care of me and love me," she replied. "But right now, Daddy, I want someone with skin on to love me."
It's just that I think what we're really admitting is that we haven't learned to be comfortable being alone with the Lord.
Are there certain people that you really don't want to be alone with?
Do you ever ask a friend to hang around with you because you just don't want to be alone with some other person?
I wonder how God feels when we don't really feel comfortable being alone with Him?
Illustration:
I think we could learn a little from the little girl who had been told many times by a childless old couple that if she would come and live with them, they would get her everything she wanted -- a pony and cart, a piano, and the like. One day when the couple had been particularly urgent, her father with whom she was riding said, "Don't you think you had better go with them?" The little girl looked at him in alarm and cried, "Why, Father, don't you want me?" "Yes," he replied, "but I can't give you very much, and they will give you everything nice." "But I wouldn't have you!" she said as she snuggled up to him.
Are you happiest just to be with the Father?
David wrote:
Psalm 16:8-11 I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. 10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
:19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me
In a little while, the world isn't going to be seeing me any more.
He'll be dead.
But the disciples will still get to see Jesus.
They will see Him after His resurrection.
They will be the witnesses to the fact that He rose from the dead.
:19 because I live, ye shall live also
Jesus is about to die a horrible death on the cross.
Yet He is going to rise again from the dead.
And among other things, His resurrection will be a guarantee that the disciples will live after death too.
:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you
At Jesus' resurrection, the disciples will begin to understand all these mysteries.
:21-24 Jesus manifests Himself to us
:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me
Jesus now summarizes what He's been saying about obedience and love.
:21 he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him
As we demonstrate our love for Jesus, we will find God's love coming back at us.
:21 and will manifest myself to him
manifest -
emfanizo - to manifest, exhibit to view; to show one's self; disclose.The word doesn't just mean that mentally we'll understand more about him, but that there is a sense in which we will see Him better, know Him more.
NAS - I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him
NIV - I too will love him and show myself to him
NRSV - I will love them and reveal myself to them
:22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot,
He is also called Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus (#Mr 3:17; Mt 10:3) and the brother (or son) of James (#Jo 6:15; Ac 1:13).
To teachers of small groups:
Notice how Jesus is interrupted by His disciples as they keep asking Him questions, asking Him to clarify Himself.
Peter interrupted (John 13:36), then Thomas (John 14:5), then Philip (John 14:8), and now Judas.
:22 how is it that ...
Judas wants to know why they are going to see Him, while the rest of the world won't.
:23-24 If a man love me ...
Basically, Jesus is saying that God is going to limit His "manifestations" to those who love Him.
:24 the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me
Jesus isn't just making this up to keep the disciples in line and make them obedient.
This is directly coming from the Father.
There's something we kind of skipped over...
Big Lesson:
I want more of Jesus.
Have you ever prayed for more of God?
Spurgeon: "In the biographies of eminent saints, you will find many instances recorded in which Jesus has been pleased, in a very special manner to speak to their souls, and to unfold the wonders of his person; yea, so have their souls been steeped in happiness that they have thought themselves to be in heaven, whereas they were not there, though they were well nigh on the threshold of it--for when Jesus manifests himself to his people, it is heaven on earth; it is paradise in embryo; it is bliss begun."
Has this ever been your desire?
There's a key to this back in verse 21:
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me
Three keys to intimacy with God:
1. Love Him.
Have a passion for Jesus.
Illustration:
Brother Lawrence was a cook in a monastery. He learned to press meaning into virtually every action of his day. Note his capacity to see not only meaning but also purpose in his labor:
"I turn my little omelette in the pan for the love of God. When it is finished, if I have nothing to do, I prostrate myself on the ground and worship my God, who gave me this grace to make it, after which I arise happier than a king. When I can do nothing else, it is enough to have picked up a straw for the love of God. People look for ways of learning how to love God. They hope to attain it by I know not how many different practices. They take much trouble to abide in His presence by varied means. Is it not a shorter and more direct way to do everything for the love of God, to make use of all the tasks one's lot in life demands to show him that love, and to maintain his presence within by the communion of our heart with his? There is nothing complicated about it. One has only to turn to it honestly and simply.
2. Obtain His Word.
Jesus said it was the one who "hath my commandments".
That's where the Word of God comes in.
Spend time in the Word.
Let God speak to you.
Illustration:
A parable told by William Cunningham, education adviser to Gov. George Deukmejian of California:
A man was out walking in the desert when a voice said to him, "Pick up some pebbles and put them in your pocket, and tomorrow you will be both sorry and glad."
The man obeyed. He stooped down and picked up a handful of pebbles and put them in his pocket. The next morning he reached into his pocket and found diamonds and rubies and emeralds. And he was both glad and sorry. Glad that he had taken some -- sorry that he hadn't taken more.
And so it is with God's word.
Quote:
"The vigor of our spiritual life will be in exact proportion to the place held by the Bible in our life and thoughts. I solemnly state this from the experience of 54 years. The first 3 years after conversion I neglected the word of God. Since I began to search it diligently the blessing has been wonderful. Great has been the blessing from consecutive, diligent, daily study. I look upon it as a lost day when I have not had a good time over the word of God."
- George Mueller
3. Obedience.
You can't get around it.
If the first two are real, then the third will follow.
But it still means yielding to Him.
It still means doing what He wants rather than what you want.
Illustration:
A recently licensed pilot was flying his private plane on a cloudy day. He was not very experienced in instrument landing. When the control tower was to bring him in for a landing, he started thinking of the hills and the towers and buildings in that area and began to get panicky. In a calm but stern voice the command came, "You just obey instructions; we'll take care of the obstructions."
-- David Seamands, Living With Your Dreams, p. 79.
Jesus says that if we do these things, that He will reveal more of Himself to us.
Wow!