Seeing the Reality of Jesus • John 14:15-24
Notes
Video teaching begins 22:02
It is the last night of Jesus’ life. Rather than being depressed or anxious He is talking to His disciples about how things are going to continue. He will continue to work in the world, but it’s in a new way. The world won’t see Him directly, but they will see Him in His disciples.
For this to happen they need help. And Jesus has help all arranged, the fulfilment of the Father’s promise.
The purpose is so that Jesus can be clearly seen in His disciples. They will testify that Jesus died for their sins and rose from the dead to give them forgiveness. People will know that what they say is true because they can see the reality of Jesus in His people’s lives.
I’m reading in John 14 from verse 15.
1. Jesus commands the only way to keep His commandments.
A. That is, if you love Him.
1. Why would you love Jesus? The answer is: because He loved you first. 1 John 4:9-10 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
2. If you have received the love of God, and the forgiveness of your sins, you will love Jesus. It will be a joy to love Him in return.
3. Luke 7:36-47 Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.” And Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he replied, “Say it, Teacher.” “A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?” Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.”
2. But Jesus knows we need help, so He has arranged help for us.
A. He says He will pray to the Father. We know the Father always answers Jesus’ prayers.
B. He will give you another Helper. This is the promise of the Father that was made in the Old Testament, for example, in Isaiah 59. That promise began to be fulfilled in Acts 2. We’ll look at those places in a minute.
3. Jesus describes to the disciples who is the Holy Spirit.
A. He is another of the same kind as Jesus.
1. There are two words in Greek for another: another of a different kind, heteros. We use that in the word heterosexual, describing relations involving two different genders. Men and women are both human, but they are different kinds of human.
2. But this is the other Greek word for another, another of the same kind. The Holy Spirit is just like Jesus. Jesus said I am the truth. And here the Spirit is the Spirit of truth. The Holy Spirit is a person, like Jesus, eternal, all powerful, everywhere at once, humble, loving, just like Jesus.
B. The Holy Spirit is a Helper, like Jesus. The Greek word is parakletos, one called alongside to help. In 1 John 2:1 Jesus is also called by this name, and it is translated Advocate. Someone who helps you in a court of law, a lawyer. He is our Advocate with the Father if we should sin. He represents us before the Father and gives evidence that secures our acquittal. Jesus shows the Father His scars and the nailprints in His hands and says, “I died for that sin.” The Father says, “Case dismissed.” Just like a lawyer who helps you when you can’t help yourself, the Holy Spirit helps you in your helplessness. He is for you.
C. The Holy Spirit is given to us forever. This is a permanent relationship that nothing can invalidate or erase.
1. The promise of the Father in Isaiah 59:20-21 “A Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” declares the LORD. “As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from now and forever.”
2. That promise began to be fulfilled with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:37-39 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”
3. There are those who say that now that we have the complete word of God that there is no need for the empowering of the Holy Spirit. Well, the word is perfect, there’s no doubt about that. But I am not yet perfect. I need the help of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said He would be with us forever.
D. Jesus called Him the Spirit of truth. A helper, a parakletos, is an encourager, an exhorter, and a proclaimer of truth.
1. We need truth because we are accustomed to believing lies. We think God doesn’t care about us. He doesn’t hear our prayers. Nothing is going right. I’m never going to change. I’ll never make it. It’s too hard.
2. The Holy Spirit testifies to the truth. God loves you with everlasting love. He continually testifies to your soul that the Father Himself loves you. The Spirit of truth also testifies that you did believe that Jesus died for your sins and rose again from the dead, and you really received Him. You are born again, you are a new creation in Christ, though the outward man is decaying yet the inner man is being renewed day by day. The Spirit testifies that the sacrifice of Christ is eternal. He does save you to the uttermost. Only the truth can encourage you, strengthen you, transform you. And the Spirit is the truth.
3. When the Spirit of truth is in you forever you have an eternal source within you of light, of life, of love. You are saved.
4. You receive the Holy Spirit because you are in the family of God.
A. Jesus shows that those in the world have no connection with Him.
1. The Father is giving this gift of His Spirit, but the world can’t receive this gift. They don’t see the Spirit or know Him.
2. That’s because the world has not received the love of God which is in Jesus Christ. Remember, he who loves little is forgiven little. The world says, “I’m not a sinner. I don’t need forgiveness from God.” They haven’t received the love of God in that Jesus died for their sins.
B. Jesus says in contrast, you know Him because He dwells with you.
1. Jesus has just said, if you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.
2. Jesus does what the Father does. The Holy Spirit does what Jesus does.
3. In just the same way, if you’ve seen Jesus, you’ve seen the Holy Spirit.
C. And He will be in you. The same Spirit of truth shared by the Father and by the Son will be in you.
D. That’s why Jesus says, “I will not leave you as orphans.” An orphan has no mother, no father, no protector, no support, no money, no hope, no inheritance, no strength, no standing, no relationships.
E. I had to ask myself, what’s the opposite to being an orphan? FAMILY, that’s what! Relationships!
1. You have a FATHER, you have a BROTHER. They share their Spirit with you so you can experience how much they love you and are committed to you.
2. Jesus says, “I will come to you.” And you will know by experience that I am in My Father and you in Me, and I in you.
F. Jesus sums up what the family of God is like: We have received the love of God for us, we keep Jesus’ commandments because we love Him. And the Father will love us, Jesus will love us, and will disclose Himself to us by His Spirit who communicates to us the love of God.
5. Judas can’t get his head around this. Nor can we.
A. When Jesus says the world will no longer see Me, He is speaking of His death. For the world, Jesus will be like other famous people. They live, accomplish things, then they die, and that’s it. They won’t see Jesus anymore.
B. You will see Me again. Jesus showed Himself to His disciples for forty days after His resurrection. But He didn’t show Himself to the world.
C. Have you ever wondered why Jesus didn’t show Himself to the world after His resurrection? I have. It would really help out our evangelism if we could point out Jesus, alive from the dead.
D. So what happened? Why isn’t Jesus going to show Himself alive from the dead?
6. Jesus answers Judas’ question indirectly, by staying on topic.
A. Jesus repeats what He has just said for the third time. It’s not the answer Judas is looking for. It’s not what we are looking for, but it is Jesus’ answer.
1. You receive the love of God in Jesus dying for our sins.
2. You love Jesus because He has really taken away your sins. Peter said it like this: 1 Peter 1:8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
3. You keep Jesus’ commandments because you love Him because He loved you first.
4. You are filled with the Holy Spirit to help you in every way. My Father will love him, We will come and make our abode with him. We will have Family, Love! You can obey Jesus because you have the love of God in you.
B. Jesus emphasises: the one who does not love Me does not keep My words, and this is the Father speaking. This is the authority of the Father. Anyone who does not obey Jesus’ commandments has not received the love of God. He is in the world. He is of the world.
C. Jesus is answering Judas’ question. He will be revealing Himself in the world just as He is revealing Himself now with the disciples.
1. If Jesus presented Himself to the world raised from the dead, glorified, there would be people who would say, “I don’t care! I’m still not going to follow You!” They would see, but seeing is not believing because believing is obeying. They would see Jesus glorified and reject Him anyway.
2. What could Jesus do at that point? Nothing but judgment. And it’s too early for judgment. Today is the day of salvation. But judgment is coming. Then the world will see Jesus and reject Him and Jesus will judge the world.
3. But Jesus can still reveal Himself in the world right now through His disciples as they are filled with His Holy Spirit. Everyone can look at His disciples and see that they are in Jesus because of how they obey Jesus’ commands and they love one another. It shows that the Holy Spirit is in them. You can see the obvious difference. Jesus’ disciples do just like Jesus because they have received the same Spirit as Jesus. They will be a complete contrast to those who are not loving Jesus and who are not keeping His words. There is a visible difference.
7. So what?
A. For many people, FAMILY means messed up relationships. What God does is show how family is supposed to be, and it’s about love.
B. The first thing is: have you received the love of God in Jesus Christ? For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name. You turn to Him, confess your sins, and ask Him to forgive you.
C. Then you should experience God’s love for you. You will want to obey Him because you love Him. You will want to love one another and all people because Jesus so loved you.
D. What if you received the love of God but you don’t experience that love right now, at the present time?
1. Sometimes our love for Jesus grows cold. It is evidenced by disobedience to Jesus. You are doing things that you know are disobeying Jesus, not keeping His words.
2. The writer to the Hebrews says, Hebrews 4:16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
3. Ask Him to search your heart and see what you need to repent of, confess and ask for cleansing. The blood of Jesus never loses its power to cleanse you of your sin. Receive mercy, find grace to help in time of need.
4. And then, be filled with the promise of the Father. His own Spirit of truth is His gift to you. He answers the prayer of Jesus. He is willing to give Himself to live in you forever.
D. From now on we are not orphans on our own. We are in God’s FAMILY. Everybody in the family of God obeys the Father. Everybody loves everybody. That’s what we do, because God loved us first. Showing the love of God to one another is what is going to show Jesus to the world.
Let’s pray.