Gospel of John - Upper Room Discourse - Part 3

       

Upper Room Discourse - Part 3

Anyone Who Loves Me

John 14:15-24

Love is a popular word to the world, but the world doesn't know the real depth of divine love. Love began with God, for he is love. Jesus, the Son of God, is love, for he and the Father are one. At creation the godhead created man for fellowship and love. Now Jesus brings the third person of the Trinity into the picture for the disciples, he is love as well. Later the Holy Spirit will tell Paul of the fruit of the Holy Spirit to the Galatians, for the first of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is love (Gal. 5), and to the Corinthians that love is the greatest attribute (1 Cor. 13)

Jesus is establishing the greatest importance of the disciple’s relationship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, it is love. Let’s look at the first portion of our text, “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”

Jesus has shown God’s love to his disciples through all that he had done and would do. Now he tells the disciples if they love him, they will keep the commands through their love for him.

Jesus tells them that he will ask the Father to give the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth to help them and be their advocate: their protector, helper, comforter, and teacher/guide forever in their lives just as Jesus did during his ministry on earth. And just as the people in the world didn’t accept Jesus as Lord, they cannot accept the Spirit of truth, for he and his way are foreign to them, for they cannot perceive anyone who has come from the Father. 

Jesus being full of the Holy Spirit wanted his disciples to understand that the Holy Spirit will live with them and in them.

Application - Many today really don’t know the third person of the trinity, the Holy Spirit. Francis Chan wrote a book entitled :”The Forgotten God.” Why have we forgotten the Holy Spirit today? Jesus gives every person the same choice, “If you love me, keep my commands.” and the promise of the Father will be given to all who believe. Just as God the Father is love, so are the Son and the Holy Spirit. We are to love God, in all three persons. Jesus said he would ask the Father and he would give his Spirit, the Spirit of truth. 

The Spirit of truth, like Jesus who is the truth (Jn. 14:6), comes from the Father, who is the truth, just as Satan is the father of all lies. 

Jesus knows that the church needs the Holy Spirit on all levels (body, mind, and soul) in their lives today, for without the Spirit of truth, we will believe in lies, and that is exactly what Satan desires. On the contrary, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth will live in every believer, guiding them in love for Jesus and the truth of his Word, which are from the Father and the Son.

So, why are Christians lacking truth and obedience for the commands of Jesus? Why do we not know the Spirit of truth that lives in us? Aren’t we the temple of the Holy Spirit? Most seek the truth in all the wrong places, and many have either twisted the truth to almost seem unknowable or irrelevant because they have denied Truth itself in the persons of the Godhead. 

As Paul said, we took the Temple of the Holy Spirit and gave it to the world’s ways, body, mind, and soul, instead of emptying it of the world and filling it with the Holy Spirit.

Christians should be the stalwart of truth in the world today, letting the Holy Spirit advocate for them in truth, being protected, guided, helped, and able to teach others the truth through the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit lives with them and in them, and he desires to fill us daily if we would empty ourselves of the desires of the flesh and the world.

Next, Jesus, in love, responds to their underlying fear and anxieties about his leaving them. Let’s look at the next portion of the text, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” 

The insecurity that the disciples were feeling must have been intense. Jesus comforts them with “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come for you.” He knew the gnawing doubt that was eating at them. They had literally trusted Jesus for everything, he was their sustainer and provider for three years, and they trusted and understood Jesus to be their Lord, Christ, and master, their advocate before the Father, like Moses was for the children of Israel, and he was their all in all (Col. 3:11). They had abandoned the lives that they knew and submitted to Jesus’ words and directions.

 Now Jesus says he will be going away for a while, but he will not leave them alone. Jesus knew that they would all flee after his arrest in the olive garden that very night (Zech 13:7), like orphans they would feel alone and susceptible to depression, feelings of sadness, and they would be inclined to withdraw and isolate themselves. Jesus promised them he would see them shortly, though the world wouldn’t see him any longer. Jesus had told them he had to die in Jerusalem (John 12:20-36) in order for the purpose and will of the Father to be fulfilled, and that he would send another. 

Jesus again commands them to remain in the way of love he has shown them. Jesus’ words brought comfort, because he said, “you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.” And this eternal life will far exceed even what you imagine, for the Father and Jesus are one, and Jesus will live in them through the Holy Spirit because the Son will ask him to send it to those who love him and keeps his commands. “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” 

Like his loving Father, Jesus teaches his disciples to love one another and others as he loved them. It was the two greatest commandments all over again, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt. 22:37-39) Everything in their lives would hinge on love, their obedience to his commands, and the precious promise: the one who loves Jesus will be loved by the Father and the Son.

Application - Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said it well in the prayer for the Ephesians, “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (3:17-19) This power is from the Holy Spirit, who alone knows the mind of God, “But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him’. But God has, through the Spirit, let us share his secret. For nothing is hidden from the Spirit, not even the deep wisdom of God. For who could really understand a man’s inmost thoughts except the spirit of the man himself? How much less could anyone understand the thoughts of God except the very Spirit of God? And the marvellous thing is this, that we now receive not the spirit of the world but the Spirit of God himself, so that we can actually understand something of God’s generosity towards us.” (1 Cor. 2:10b-12 Phillips)

Jesus knows his disciples and believers today, he knows their insecurities, fears, and anxieties. Like the disciples we are given a command to love the Father, the Son, and one another for this was Jesus’ command. And he has never left us alone like orphans, the Holy Spirit is in us, the Spirit of truth and power. We should not have gnawing doubts, but if we do the Holy Spirit is there as our advocate, protector, and guide. Jesus is our sustainer, our all in all. 

Jesus spoke these words to his first disciples, and he has kept his word, he has sent the promise of the Holy Spirit to all who believe in the Son to the glory of the Father through the Son. 

The two greatest commandments and the

commands of our Lord are love: the Father, the Son, one another, and our neighbors as ourselves. Let’s let the Holy Spirit lead us in the truth of love.

Last, the disciples were still pondering and confused. Thaddaeus (Judas) asked a pertinent question. Let’s look at the last portion of the text,“Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”

Jesus was not being exclusive, everything came down to the choice of loving the Father and the Son and obeying his teachings. If anyone believed in the Son, then they also believed in the Father, who sent him, and both the Father and the Son will make their home with them (John 14:1-2). But if they refused to believe in the Son, then they would not love the Father or the Son. Jesus had laid it out in the message of salvation earlier, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (Jn. 3:16-18 NIV)

If people will not truly believe in the Son, they will not believe the Father, and they stand condemned by his Word.

Jesus again reiterates that He only speaks and acts according to what the Father has told him to say and do. This is the message of hope from Heaven.

Application - Jesus said in the Olivet Discourse that many would claim to be Him in the world, “For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.” (Matt. 24:5 NIV) The unbelieving world in Jesus’ day didn’t see the resurrected and glorified Jesus, for it was hidden from them because of unbelief, but the true believer saw, touched, and heard him (1 Cor. 15:1-11). So, it is today, but the enemy of God has deceived the unbelieving world through a lie about salvation through other means or ways, for there is only one God and Son, and the only way to the Father is through the Son “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (John 14:6, Eph. 4:4-6 NIV) 

The Holy Spirit came to live in every believer, to guide them in the truth, for he is the Spirit of Truth. He requires obedience to the words of the Father and the Son, not to squelch and suppress the truth with the words of man, the world, and the enemy of God. Jesus, and later Paul, told us that in the last days, many would believe and follow false gospels and deceiving doctrines of demonic origins (2 Cor. 11:3-4, 1 Tim. 4:1). 

We all need the fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit to live, walk in faith and live in the light, and to know the truth that sets us free and enables us to know the One true God and His Son. Do you need the Holy Spirit’s power and guidance today? Jesus gave his promise and word through the Holy Spirit to all who would believe, obey his commands, and love as he loved us, and the Holy Spirit would guide us in the Truth. For he is the Spirit of Truth.

I’m again including the ABC’s of salvation (JD Farag). Please, Jesus, God the Son, came to this world to save all who would believe and trust in him. He desires to reveal himself to you, He is the Light that overcomes the darkness of this lawless world. He hears your prayers, and all authority in heaven and earth have been given to him. He will answer you if you will truly believe. If you haven’t asked him to be your Lord and Savior, today could be that day.

 First, A - Admit that you are a sinner. This is where that godly sorrow leads to genuine repentance for sinning against a righteous God and there is a change of heart, we change our mind and God changes our hearts and regenerates us from the inside out. Romans 3:10 - As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one." Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (We are all born sinners which is why we must be born spiritually in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven). Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The bad news is that the wages of sin is death, in other words our sin means that we have been given a death sentence, we have the death penalty hanging over our heads, that's the bad news. But here's the good news: The good news is that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 2:8-9 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Second,

 B - Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and that God raised Jesus from the dead. This is trusting with all of your heart that Jesus Christ is who he said he was. Romans 10:9-10 - That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Third, 

C - Call upon the name of the Lord. Every single person who ever lived since Adam will bend their knee and confess with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, the Lord of lords and the King of kings. Romans 14:11 - For it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God." Don't wait until later — do this now. Romans 10:13 - For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." "O God, I am a sinner. I'm sorry for my sin. I want to turn from my sin. I believe Jesus Christ is Your Son; I believe that He died on the cross for my sin and that He was buried and You raised Him to life. I have decided to place my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior, trusting only in His shed blood as sufficient to save my soul and to take me to heaven. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for saving me. Amen."

Please share this with someone this week, the Lord knows that we and they need it.

If you would like other lessons, please go to http://pmdinhisservice.blogspot.com 

Until next week, In His Service Mike Davis

I am developing a new webpage on Spiritual warfare. Please give it a look. I’m adding answers each week to questions that pertain to our time today.  Thank you

http://uss-warfare3.webnode.com