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[0:00] We're preaching through the gospel according to John, the fourth gospel. Today our sermon text, it's the final words of Jesus while he's still in the upper room. At the end of chapter 14, you see he calls his disciples out of there.

[0:13] You could say this is the calm before the storm. And the last words he gives his disciples in the quiet in that upper room are the words that will remain with them until the Holy Spirit comes fulfilling everything he promises.

[0:27] So as I read from John 14 beginning at verse 15, remember this is God's inspired, inerrant, infallible, clear, and sufficient word.

[0:39] It's God's very own word for you, his people. If you believe that, if you receive it that way, I'll say this is the word of the Lord and we say thanks be to God. John 14 starting at verse 15.

[0:52] If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever.

[1:08] Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you.

[1:20] I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. Yet a little while in the world shall see me no more, but ye shall see me.

[1:31] Because I live, ye shall live also. At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

[1:43] He that hath commandments and keepeth them, He it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and I will manifest myself to him.

[1:56] Judas saith unto him, That's not as scary, O Lord. How is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and he will come unto him and make our abode with him.

[2:20] Verse 24, He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings, and the word which ye hear is not mine, but my Father's which sent me.

[2:31] Verse 25, These things I have spoken unto you, being yet present with you, but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, from the Father, who he will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and shall bring all things to your remembrance.

[2:45] Whatsoever I have said unto you, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you.

[2:58] Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away and come again unto you. If you love me, you would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father, for my Father is greater than I.

[3:16] And now I have told you, before it will come to pass, that when it does come to pass, you might believe. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Thanks be to God indeed.

[3:27] You may be seated. Would you pray with me?

[3:46] Would you pray with me? Speak, O Lord, until your church is built for your glory.

[4:01] May your Holy Spirit with power shed your light on these words, Father. Give us understanding, these words of life that Jesus Christ has spoken to his disciples, to his church.

[4:14] Help us to receive your word with faith, that our faith would be like an empty beggar's hand holding on to Jesus Christ. We pray, Lord, that your Spirit will minister and apply your truth, that you will give us hearts to rejoice, that you will comfort us, Lord, that we will put our hope in the finished work of Jesus.

[4:35] By the power of the Spirit in us, we ask. Amen. Amen. Amen. G.K. Chesterton once wrote, The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man.

[4:52] In this upper room, our Lord Jesus is giving some of the most glorious promises, yet it's like they're bouncing off the ears of his disciple like riddles. What does Jesus mean?

[5:04] I grasp that if I can understand and receive what he says, these are words of life. But what does he mean? These are difficult things you are saying, Lord. And Judas, not as scary, the other Judas, he asked that question in verse 22.

[5:18] Lord, how is it that you're going to do this? You said you will manifest yourself to us and that the world won't see you any longer, but we will know you and we will have you.

[5:29] How can this be? How is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world? Because if you have seen Jesus, if you have ears to hear and eyes to see, and you believe this promise that he's given you, you have life.

[5:46] And Jesus says, if you reject my words, you're rejecting the Father. He's the one who sent me and gave me these words. So if you receive these promises, it means everything for your life now and for eternity.

[5:58] If you don't have ears to hear and you reject the word that Christ gives and these promises, then these promises are not for you. In the book of Revelation, Jesus is depicted not as what he will look like, but as who he is.

[6:14] And who is Jesus Christ? From his mouth comes a sword. And that sword is sharp and it divides between bone and marrow. That's what the word of Jesus, going out into all the world, that's what it does.

[6:30] Do you have ears to hear? The most important thing you can reflect on today is whether or not these promises are for you. In this glorious passage, Jesus says, I will not leave you orphans.

[6:46] But if these promises are not for you, you are alone. Jesus says, My Father will give you another advocate in my name.

[6:58] But if these promises are not for you, you don't have an advocate before the holy, just God. Jesus says, I will come again for you.

[7:10] But if these promises are not for you, then Christ will come bringing the wrath of God and the judgment of God. He will not come to rescue you if you are outside of his salvation.

[7:23] Jesus says in this passage, I will dwell with you by my spirit. But if these promises are not for you, you do not have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you.

[7:34] God is not making his home in you. Jesus Christ is promising comfort, peace, rejoicing to all those who receive his promises.

[7:50] Are these promises for you? How can you know whether or not these promises are for you? My objective today, what I've been praying for, is that by walking through seven conditions that Jesus gives attached to his promises, you'll be able to ask the Spirit to search you and reflect and discern.

[8:11] Yes, these promises are for me and I receive them. And if not, that the Lord would take away any false assurance that his Spirit would convict you of your need for your Savior and that you would run to the cross of Jesus Christ today.

[8:27] So number one, Christ's promises are for you if you love him. Look at verse 15. Jesus says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments.

[8:40] Well, how do I know if I love God? His promises are only for me if I love him. And he says in the Bible, look at the fruit and you'll know the tree.

[8:51] Is it a good tree or a bad tree? See, this is very different than saying your good behavior is what saves you. This is saying if you are grafted into Christ, his good fruit will begin to be born in your life.

[9:05] So the promises are not for you if you are defiant toward King Jesus. If you're still holding on to your self-righteousness or trying to muster up good deeds to prove yourself worthy, then his promises are not for you or for me.

[9:20] This same apostle John in 1 John 2, he wrote to the church and he said, my little children, I am writing you these things that you may not sin. I'm reminding you of the gospel and it will play out in its life, in your life.

[9:37] See, God is love and the love of God is not a distant love. Love is action. Love initiates. While we were yet sinners, God sent his son to save us.

[9:53] If you look at two different families, you can peek into a living room this afternoon. Can you tell whether a dad loves his little baby? Well, you can tell by the way they show it, right?

[10:06] Love is action. If you see a dad who doesn't have the time to spend with his family, love is action. You see the dad who pinches his nose and changes yet another poopy diaper, love is action.

[10:20] He's showing he loves his son. If you love God, it'll show up as fruit in your life, as action. It will not be resisting the moral law of God.

[10:31] It will be asking for more and more and more of his spirit working out that fruit of his law in your life. Think of the Ten Commandments as a description of what this looks like.

[10:43] If you love God, number one, you will show your love by worshiping him. You're not too worried about what's going on on TV right now. You are here to worship the creator of the universe.

[10:55] Number two, you will be humble and joyful to worship the way God has appointed and how he's shown you to do that the best you can. And throughout a lifetime, we will be reforming more and more and more to conform with his word.

[11:09] Number three, you will hallow his name. The name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Father, Son, and Spirit will be precious to you. You will hallow his name.

[11:20] Number four, you will long for his kingdom to come. And you will delight to rest in his finished work in a special way on the Lord's day. We need this. Our souls and our bodies need to rest in him.

[11:34] Number five, you will honor the authorities above you. Number six, you will defend human life and flourishing. Number seven, you will treat your body as the holy vessel where the Spirit dwells.

[11:45] Number eight, you will labor diligently as a steward of everything God has put in your hands for now. Number nine, you will love to promote truth and when you do lie, you will confess and you will ask the Lord to tame your tongue and refine you to be more like Christ.

[12:02] Number ten, you will be content in him. The world can be upside down. Your work, your relationships can be on the rocks, but you will find deep contentment for your soul.

[12:13] Even if it means praying Psalm 77 in the middle of the night on your knees, your soul is content with the Lord. In 1 John 2.1, he goes on to say, I wrote so you won't sin, but if anyone, any one of you Christians does sin because if a Christian thinks he is without sin, he deceives himself, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

[12:42] He is the righteousness that advocates on our behalf. The reason I highlight this verse now is because you need to know who is your first advocate before you appreciate the promise of another advocate.

[12:55] You have an advocate. It is God the Son at the right hand of the Father. The righteousness of God advocating for you. So our Lord Jesus Christ promises that if you love him, you will keep his commandments and this is a promise.

[13:11] This is a promise. It's not law to save yourself. It's his promise. Your advocate telling you if you love me, you will want to obey me. It won't be fighting each other.

[13:23] He promises you will obey him. You will delight in his law. It will be a joy and a blessing to know him more that way and to submit to the king who saves you. Number two, Christ's promises are for you if his spirit dwells in you.

[13:41] Look at verse 16. I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper, another comforter, another advocate to be with you forever. Verse 17, Even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him but you know him for he dwells with you and will be with you.

[14:06] The Greek word is paraclete. Paraclete can be translated helper, comforter, advocate. When we think of a lawyer now we think someone who knows the law very well and can be assigned to defend you or maybe just to clarify a contract.

[14:24] So lawyer is a really broad term. In the New Testament a lawyer would be like a teacher of the law. So it's more of a scholarly really technical job. That's not what's in mind here.

[14:35] That's not how the spirit is described. A paraclete is more like a trustworthy witness. So if you have to stand in court and you're being accused a paraclete would be someone that knew you for much of your life ever since you were a boy and they could advocate and say I know the character of this person.

[14:53] I know that what he's being accused of does not match what I've seen. That's what a paraclete does. The word another it could mean in English a couple different things.

[15:04] Sinclair Ferguson gave a great illustration. It could mean I loved this chocolate chip cookie may I have another please. It's another of the exact same kind.

[15:15] I know this is what I want. Or it could mean I'm allergic to nuts do you have another option? You know a different kind. The way he's describing it here the word is another of the same kind.

[15:26] So you have another advocate. The Lord Jesus Christ knows you. He called you by name. He is your good shepherd who watches over your entire life and your soul.

[15:39] And he's at the right hand of the Father. And you're saying yes may I have another please. May I have a Holy Spirit who will be dwelling in me to advocate. The same kind. And this is why Romans 8-9 calls the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Christ.

[15:55] It's not a different God. It's the Son in his glorified seat at the right hand of the Father ruling over everything all power and authority in his hands and the Holy Spirit of Christ the same God ministering advocating on your behalf.

[16:14] He says I will ask the Father and he will give you another advocate. You might be thinking why wait? Why didn't that just happen right then? See Jesus had a work to do.

[16:27] He had a work to do as God incarnate before he could open up the floodgates of the blessed presence of God on the earth. His work was not yet finished.

[16:38] This upper room discourse is taking place on the Thursday before Good Friday. In 24 hours or so he would be hanging on the cross and he would say now it is finished.

[16:49] When the Father raises him from the dead he accepts that finished work of Christ. And when the Lord Jesus ascends the church gathers on the Lord's day and the Spirit is poured out like a tsunami of water upon them and it spills over into every new region until the glorious presence of God fills the earth through his church.

[17:12] In church history there is a big debate who is it that sends the Spirit? Is the Spirit sent only by the Father? And you can get that because Jesus says I will ask the Father and he will send the Spirit.

[17:23] But look down at verse 26 how does the Father send the Spirit? That helper that comforter that paraclete the Holy Spirit the Father will send what are the next three words?

[17:36] In my name. So from this we conclude the doctrine that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son. It's the Father and the Son the finished work of the Son breathing out the Holy Spirit onto the church.

[17:51] a Puritan in the Netherlands named Herman Witsius he had some very helpful comments on this. He said the Holy Spirit is called Spirit because of the distinct mode of procession.

[18:05] So Spirit comes from the word to spirate. Think of other words that have that Latin root you know to be inspired or if something expires you know breathed its last breath and now is spiritless.

[18:18] So to be spirated is to be breathed out. The Father God the Father is the sender of the Spirit. God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son and the Father will send another helper.

[18:32] That's the role of the Father. The Son is God incarnate the Word that is Creator God in John 1 that became flesh and through his name the Spirit is now sent.

[18:43] The blessing of dwelling with God is only possible by the work of God the Son the mediator. And then the Spirit is God spired or spirated.

[18:54] He is the God who has been breathed out by the Father through the name of the Son. Our Lord Jesus Christ promises that you now have two advocates through the work of the Holy Spirit.

[19:07] The Son in Heaven and the Holy Spirit that dwells in you advocating for you. And if God is for you the Son is for you in Heaven the Spirit is for you dwelling in you who can be against you?

[19:26] So if Christ's promises are for you then you can know that his Spirit is dwelling in you. Well what's that like? Number three Christ's promises are for you if he manifests his life in you.

[19:39] How do I know if the Holy Spirit is dwelling in me? He will manifest himself to me. Verse 18 Jesus says I will not leave you as orphans I will come to you yet a little while and the world will see me no more but you will see me because I live you also will live.

[20:00] In that day you will know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you. You will know this. He says you will know this in that day when the Holy Spirit ministers.

[20:12] Verse 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them he it is who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my Father and I will love him and manifest myself to him.

[20:27] So how do you know if the Holy Spirit dwells in you? Jesus Christ is manifesting himself in your life. That's the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Verse 20 the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to make you know that Jesus is in the Father.

[20:44] Jesus Christ is very God of very God in the Father and you by his shed blood by his work as mediator you are in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ is in you by the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

[20:59] Verse 21 The Holy Spirit manifests God to you. He will manifest it. We want to see this don't we? We want to see and know that it is God who is moving in his people.

[21:13] How do we see that? Well Jesus keeps it very simple. He says it will show up by your life. Do you love me? Do you obey me? That's how it will show up.

[21:25] We want to see a mighty moving of the Holy Spirit. We know that the Spirit is represented throughout Scripture as a wind and blowing and life. We take it all the way back to Genesis 1-2 it's the Ruach Spirit of God that hovered.

[21:40] You picture the flapping wings that hover. It's generating wind that from that movement of the Spirit the Word of God created order out of chaos and light out of darkness.

[21:53] In John 3-8 Jesus told Nicodemus that the wind blows wherever it wishes and you hear its sound but you do not know from where it comes or where it goes and so it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

[22:08] There's that pneuma it's like we get the word pneumonia for the lungs it's the breathing it's the movement you don't know where it comes from or where it's going next but that's God working into His people the promises that Christ has secured for them.

[22:22] In Acts 2 verse 2 listen to how this is actually fulfilled. Suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind and it filled the entire house where the disciples were sitting and praying.

[22:39] That's what it was like to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And so the church is set in motion but how do we know now if we have the Holy Spirit? Well we're told that the Spirit will bear this fruit of obedience.

[22:54] This is why the righteousness of Christ working into our lives is called the fruit of the Spirit. It is God alone who can bear these fruits in us and when you see that in your life never perfectly but increasingly and you see that in one another you know that God is fulfilling this promise to dwell in you.

[23:11] Like he said in Colossians 3 12-14 therefore as God's chosen people holy and dearly loved clothe yourselves with compassion kindness humility gentleness and patience.

[23:26] Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you and over all these things bind them up with love.

[23:37] And so there it is the picture of the church being clothed in Christ's righteousness bound by his love. How do you know if you've been forgiven if you're united to Christ? Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

[23:50] You're forgiven and it will show up by how you forgive your Christian brothers and sisters. Our Lord Jesus Christ promises that by the ministry of his Spirit you are not alone.

[24:02] You are not left orphans. God is with you by his Spirit right now and you will know that you are in Christ and that he is in you.

[24:14] Number four Christ's promises are for you if God is making his home with you. If God is making the home of God in your life then you can know that Christ's promises are for you.

[24:29] In verse 22 Judas not Iscariot asked the question everybody's wanting to understand. Lord how is it that you will manifest yourself to us but not to the whole world?

[24:40] That's a riddle. Verse 23 Jesus answered him if anyone loves me he will keep my word and the Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him.

[24:54] Whoever does not love me does not keep my words and the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me. See Jesus calls the whole world to hear his gospel truth.

[25:09] He says shake the bushes go to the hedges the byways the highways invite them all to the banquet feast call whoever has an ear to repent and to believe so the gospel call goes out universally calling all men to God but it's a special work of the Holy Spirit it's an effectual call that draws those who will believe.

[25:29] The whole world is invited to love Christ and keep his commandment but then the law shows you I can't I have this burden on my back a guilty conscience and it's the spirit of God that dwelling in you takes the righteousness of Christ he frees you of this burden Christ paid it all and he puts the love that can only come from God into your heart.

[25:53] See Judas' question is getting at exactly that why won't everyone believe? How will you manifest yourself to your disciples but yet the world won't know that you're alive?

[26:04] Jesus' answer is not direct Jesus says if anyone loves me because only those who love Christ will want to keep his word.

[26:15] Do you want to know if you are effectually called? Then repent. That's what he calls the world to do but only those who love Christ will want to keep his word and Jesus says in verse 23 if anyone loves me he will keep my word that's a promise.

[26:31] So you will know that the Father loves you if you love his Son. Do you want the Father to love you and forgive you? Well search your heart that's the most fundamental question do you love Jesus?

[26:43] Who is Jesus to you? In verse 23 Jesus says he will keep my word my Father will love him. In John chapter 1 verse 14 we were told that the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

[27:00] See God the Father took on a body and he identified with those who came to save for his life and now it's the same spirit of God who is dwelling not physically like Christ did but spiritually with his people.

[27:13] We have seen his glory John wrote bearing witness glory as of the only Son from the Father full of grace and truth and though you and I are called to believe in Christ and to see him by faith not by sight we can say that by the power of the Holy Spirit the same God working in us he is that direct agent that causes us to behold that same thing the glory of Jesus Christ from the Father full of grace and truth.

[27:45] Our Lord Jesus Christ promises that if he makes his home with you and you obey him then that is because God has loved you and given you eyes to behold him.

[27:57] One commentator said maybe you are picturing your life before you became a Christian or right after you became a Christian as a simple little country cottage two rooms shared space for a lot of different things very simple well God has moved into your little cottage he has filled it with his glory and he has much more in mind for your life than you ever knew was possible and it hurts sometimes he busts out an entire wall and he is building this amazing wraparound deck and he is filling more and more and more of your heart the life that he is dwelling in he becomes the home maker I will make my home inside of you so if the Lord is doing that and it hurts and he is refining you and purifying you realize that he is your loving father he is expanding your life he is expanding your heart and soul he is increasing his glory in you even by that work of knocking out walls and extending the foundation and equipping you to belong to his kingdom the temple in which he will dwell and the spirit's job is to make it a beautiful dwelling for the father and the son number five

[29:12] Christ's promises are for you if God's Holy Spirit is teaching you Christ's word verse 25 Jesus says these things I have spoken to you while I am still with you verse 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 have said to you are you understanding God's word more and more do you understand more of the glory of God from the Bible now than you did six months ago then praise God that's the ministry of the Holy Spirit that should give you assurance that the Spirit is teaching you all things we get three things here that Spirit number one illuminates God's word it's closed but the Lord opened up the scriptures to us and our hearts burned within us when he did that that's the work of the Spirit to illuminate God's word number two the Holy Spirit applies God's word he teaches you all things he tells Timothy that Timothy as you shepherd this flock you're not even an apostle you're a regular man and you're sickly but you will be fully equipped to minister if you have

[30:26] God's word and the Holy Spirit you have all that you need he will show you how to apply his word in all things and number three the Holy Spirit brings to memory I think the first application is the disciples would be enabled by the Holy Spirit to write down the gospels the Holy Spirit would breathe out to them the true teaching when the Lord came back from the resurrection and walked them through the scriptures they are remembering this by the help of the Spirit and giving it to the church for generations to come in the New Testament that's the most immediate application but that same ministry of the Holy Spirit is true for every one of us as well even though we're not apostles he brings to our memories he helps us remember his truth you've had this happen to you haven't you you out of nowhere out of nowhere you're in the middle of a situation you're in a conversation and a phrase or a Bible verse comes to mind and you're able to find the comfort of holding on to that promise you have through a disciplined study had God's word dwell richly in you and the Spirit brings it to your memory and reminds you of that you could not do that on your own you and I we're too broken our flesh is too strong but the Spirit draws it back to our memory and he shows us how to use his word so that we are always fully equipped to walk with him this is what we do every week as a congregation when we gather we just sing this as a prayer speak oh Lord as we come to you to receive the food of your holy word take your truth plant it deep in us shape and fashion us in your likeness that the light of Christ might be seen today in our acts of love in our deeds of faith speak oh Lord and fulfill in us all your purposes for your glory that's the ministry of the Holy Spirit with the church so our Lord Jesus Christ promises that his spirit will help you to learn Christ the word of God

[32:24] God's living word the gospel the person of the son you will know him you will learn him he will teach you Christ and he'll do that through his scripture through the Bible number six Christ's promises are for you if you know the heavenly peace that only Christ can give you and that's really the theme of this entire chapter chapter 14 we've seen how the disciples were troubled in heart and Jesus tells them let not your hearts be troubled and he repeats that refrain here at the end of this passage as well we saw that before that Jesus was troubled of heart and he came into the world to give the peace of heaven and he did that by putting himself in trouble in verse 27 he tells them peace I leave with you what kind of peace my peace I give to you not as the world gives do I give to you that's why you can let not your hearts be troubled and neither let them be afraid

[33:27] Jesus is about to take the disciples into the garden of Gethsemane this is the calm before the storm this is the quiet gathering the selah the pause before they go to spiritual war well how is the peace of Christ even in that moment before his great work leading up to and finished on the cross how is it different than the world of the peace that this world can offer all that this world can offer is creaturely it is dependent and temporary someone said that the peace of the world is a fragile truce that can be upended at any time by one single act of violence but the peace that comes from heaven it's not temporary it is everlasting untouchable because it's the peace from God himself and there's no shadow of turning in God it is not dependent and therefore it will never fade away the Holy Spirit came to take that same peace that Jesus Christ accomplished and merited not because he lacked anything but because we lack everything and the Spirit takes the peace that Jesus Christ received from the Father having finished his work and the Spirit applies it out to the church now see you and I are in need of peace aren't we and Jesus said if you follow me you're going to need to take up your cross daily in this world you will have trouble but I give you my peace he says in verse 27 but God's peace is not for everyone who is it that gets this peace see peace requires faith and you and I we need peace and we need the faith that comes before that peace

[35:21] Ephesians 2 says by grace God has saved you through faith and even this is not your own doing it is the gift of God Jesus says you have this faith of salvation if you obey me but you and I we can't obey him we need his help to even obey him and to know whether we have the saving faith and it is the Spirit your helper we're told in 2 Corinthians 10 5 who will help you take every thought captive to obey Christ we need peace he gives the peace we need faith he's the one who gives the faith we need to obey him and he's the one who helps us to obey him if you love me you will obey me Jesus says and to obey you need God's love in 1 John 4 19 we don't even have the love that would make us want to obey but we love because God first loved us do you see how our salvation our sanctification all the way to the end it begins with God it ends in God for the glory of God from start to finish so that no man can boast and even a small aspect of it all glory be to God our Lord Jesus Christ was going to war he was going to march down the stairs of that upper room into the garden he was going to sweat blood intense spiritual war in moments and he tells the disciples

[36:55] I'm doing that I'm walking that road of the cross so you can have my peace the peace I have shared for eternity with my father in heaven my peace I give you independent of anything on this earth by the power of God through the Holy Spirit everything God has purposes I will accomplish for you my people by the great second advocate that will come in my name to bring you and prepare you for heaven so our Lord Jesus Christ promises that his spirit will give a heavenly peace in your heart if you love him so that he gets all the glory number seven Christ promises are for you if you rejoice in the son's submission to the father see in verse 28 Jesus says you heard me say to you I am going away and I will come to you and if you loved me you would rejoice because I am going to the father for the father is greater than I and now I have told you this before it takes place so that when it does take place you may believe the disciples are troubled because Jesus is saying he's going away and they don't know the way to where he's going how are we ever going to see you again and Jesus says if you understood

[38:20] I'm doing this out of obedience to my father you would rejoice that I'm going away I'm going back to him it means my work is finished on this earth the mission I came to accomplish is done you won't you won't rejoice at Christ going to the right hand of the father until you see your need for the great work of God the father God the son and God the spirit to save sinners like you and me when we see our great need and what God required to satisfy his justice we will see that work of Christ that march he takes to the cross and then his death and burial and his resurrection and ascension we will see that and we will rejoice that's how great our need was so that we can be with our God and we can have his peace now in this troubled world because his work is finished the son made himself submissive to the father so that you can rejoice the son declared to you disciples he says the father is greater than I

[39:24] I came on a mission to be the servant I made myself low for you the son took on flesh and he lived and he rose for you the son ascended and took his place as the prophet priest and king of heaven to minister to you to be your advocate at the right hand of the father the son promises he will come to earth again for you who believe for you who receive his promises by faith and you can rejoice at his mission accomplished and you can rejoice that every one of these promises are for you because you put your hope in life and in death and the finished work of Jesus Christ in your place the riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man as Chesterton put it do you hear Christ today does your soul rejoice within you at his finished work to save you as you read these passages and understand the ministry of Christ you hear the words he spoke do you believe do you believe in Jesus Christ the only savior if so then all of the promises fulfilled in Christ are applied to you by his grace the Holy Spirit will cause you to rejoice more and to want to obey him more and more and more so that he will be more glorified in your life we'll sing in a moment oh for a thousand tongues to sing my great redeemer's praise the glories of my God and King the triumphs of his grace

[41:17] Jesus the name that charms our fears that bids our sorrows cease tis music to the sinner's ear tis life and health and peace our Lord Jesus Christ promises that if you believe him then all of his promises are for you by God's steadfast love receive him this way let's pray oh God thank you for sending your son Lord Jesus thank you for accomplishing the mission the father gave you and thank you father and son for breathing out your spirit onto your church for drawing us near to you for putting your love in our hearts for giving us the gift of faith cause us

[42:22]  Lord to rejoice in you put more of your love in our hearts give us more of a desire to obey you to know that your promises are for me we pray this for your glory and for Christ's sake amen