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[0:00] With John 14 open in front of us then this morning, do you notice that the so what, what are we meant to do, comes at the start and the end of the chapter.

[0:11] So in chapter 14 verse 1, if you look back a touch, speaking to his followers, Jesus says, do not let your hearts be troubled. And now this morning in 14 verse 27, peace I leave with you, my peace I give you, I do not give you as the world gives, do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

[0:33] And some of us, forgive me for mentioning this very briefly and in passing, some of us may know firsthand the awful and troubling experience of being abandoned and left by someone we're close to, by even a parent.

[0:51] All of us will be able to imagine something like that. The confusion and panic rising in you, the anxiety and fear grabbing onto you when someone you've relied on so deeply, your rock announces, I'm going.

[1:08] And they walk out and they leave you. I mention that because at this point in John's Gospel, that is what the disciples are experiencing. Because they've been with Jesus for such a long time.

[1:23] He, their King, God the Son, come into the world to rule and to save. And for his disciples, his children, with him by their side, they had nothing to fear. Jesus was their rock. Except that now, in this chapter, the night before his crucifixion, Jesus announces, I'm going.

[1:40] Abandoning them, so it seems. Walking away. Leaving them as orphans without him in the world. And so no wonder, bubbling up inside them, confusion and panic and anxiety.

[1:55] Where are you going? And their hearts deeply, deeply troubled. And we've said before in this past month, you and I, here this morning, are not in the same position as the disciples on the night before Jesus is crucified.

[2:11] Of course we're not. We haven't walked alongside Jesus for three years than just heard shocking news. And yet 2,000 years later, here in the UK, we are in the same position now as they were about to be because Jesus is gone.

[2:28] He's not here. He's not with us. Sometimes it takes children to cut through and ask the questions that adults feel they shouldn't ask.

[2:42] Daddy, if Jesus loves us so much, why isn't he here with us? Or when something tough happens in a child's life, I wish Jesus was here, who you keep telling me about.

[2:54] Why can't I see him now? Why isn't he with us? Does he not care? Truth is, actually, it doesn't take much hardship and suffering in your life, or betrayal in the church, or hatred from the world, or death in your family, or just tough things happening day by day by day, for someone who calls themselves a follower of Jesus to begin to get anxious and afraid, secretly panicky even, and think to yourself, he's not here.

[3:31] He's gone. Like, what are we? We're just, we're 30 people sitting around on blue plastic chairs. And this Jesus we sing and talk about, has abandoned us.

[3:45] He left us behind. And secretly, it is possible for our hearts to be troubled, and even to be pretty afraid. Through John 14, these past Sundays, we have heard Jesus address confused and fearful disciples, teaching them and us about his going and life with him gone, no longer here.

[4:10] Has he abandoned his followers? Has he left us as orphans today? No. Do not let your hearts be troubled, Jesus urges.

[4:20] He left 2,000 years ago, not abandoning us, but to die and rise and prepare a place for us in his father's house. He will one day come back and take us to be with him.

[4:32] You can be absolutely sure of that. This Jesus, who is the way to the father, who shows us the father through his words and his works. And now and today, people like you and me can truly know Jesus Christ.

[4:48] Because, as we saw last Sunday in verses 15 to 21, having returned to the father, Jesus asked the father who gave and sent to us the spirit. God the Holy Spirit.

[5:00] Another Jesus. The world doesn't see him or know him, but we know him. For he lives with us and in us.

[5:13] Today, the Holy Spirit making a living relationship with Jesus Christ real and now. In verse 21, just before the verses we'll arrow down into today, Jesus insists, whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me.

[5:31] And the one who loves me will be loved by my father and I too will love them and show myself to them. Has Jesus abandoned us? He has not.

[5:42] He will not. He loves and shows himself to us through the Holy Spirit within. He will one day come again for us. Well, now verse 22 onwards in our passage this morning.

[5:59] Because as the disciples continue to try to compute what Jesus is saying, Judas asks his question. Judas, not Judas Iscariot, said, but Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?

[6:16] I think I understand that you, Jesus, will show yourself to us, this little band of 11 disciples, but how come us and not the world? And in reply, Jesus, seems to me, recaps and deepens his teaching for them and for us.

[6:36] In verses 23 to 27, these five verses we're going to look at this morning, before leaving and returning to his father, he makes his soon-to-be-abandoned disciples three promises.

[6:49] This is what my father and I will do for you. This is what I will give you. Three promises I want us to focus on, three gifts for all who love Jesus Christ today, which should, here and now today, with Jesus gone.

[7:07] Calm fears and encourage our hearts. Here's the first. For anyone who loves him, Jesus promises his father and him, Jesus, dwelling with us.

[7:31] Look at this with me. Judas, not Judas Iscariot, said, but Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world? And Jesus replied in verse 23, anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.

[7:43] 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.

[7:54] These words you hear are not my own. They belong to the father who sent me. Look at this promise. Notice this promise is for anyone. Not just the 11 back then, but anyone, you and me included, who love Jesus.

[8:12] Those who love Jesus obey his teaching. We do what he says. We come to him, believe in him, receive him as our Lord and our God. We trust him. Is that you this morning? Well then hear this.

[8:25] My father will love you and we will come to you and make our home with you. To people anxious and fearful of Jesus going and gone and leaving us by ourselves as orphans, my father will love.

[8:44] We will come and make our home. In verse 17, just beforehand, Jesus says, the spirit lives with you and will be in you.

[8:57] Now, my father, we will make our home. That is, through the Holy Spirit, God the father and his son, Jesus Christ, actually and really come and dwell with believers and in us.

[9:16] Do you know that? That is stunning. God's living presence with those who love Jesus is personal.

[9:31] Around the place, there are philosophies as Eastern religions which talk about the divine in me and in a spark or light within that's somehow connected to the universal consciousness in some kind of way.

[9:43] This is not that. The father who loves, speaks, sends, gives, he and the son make our home with us.

[9:55] No vague sense of the divine. God's living presence with us is personal and permanent. You know, if friends or family come round to your place, it's really important to get expectations right between you and whoever else is in the house.

[10:15] These people coming round, are they popping in for a cup of tea? Are they hanging round for dinner? Are they crashing on your sofa? Are they coming to sleep the night? Are they hoping to stay the week on a trial basis and see if they like living with you?

[10:30] Imagine the knock at the door comes, they ring the bell, you open the door and they're standing there with a van behind them with all their stuff in. Hello, I've come to make my home with you.

[10:47] Jesus does not promise here, we'll pop into your life for a bit. Jesus doesn't say, we'll stay with you on a trial basis and see if we like living with you.

[10:58] No, we love you and we have come to make our home with you. God's personal, permanent presence with those who love him.

[11:14] Back in chapter 14, verse 2, Jesus spoke about my father's house, which is the same word as in verse 23, for my father's home, that is heaven, the place where God dwells in glory, where we will one day go.

[11:28] Says Jesus, heaven is now here with you, in you. And what do you make of this?

[11:41] Jesus is talking here about genuine Christian experience through the Holy Spirit in you. Jesus and the father are with you. They are in your life.

[11:53] They have made their home with you. Really. And we say, but Jesus has gone, he's left us, we're alone. We are not. For anyone who loves Jesus, by the way, verse 24, anyone who does not love Jesus will not obey his teaching.

[12:14] That's what the father says and those people will not know God with them. But for anyone who does love Jesus, and this offer, this promise is open to the world and all who will come to him, you can today have a loving, intimate, close relationship with the living God, father and son.

[12:34] This is what Jesus promises and delivers. This is eternal life. To know God personally and now, in your life, his love poured into your heart, his presence and friendship, your God, comforting you, at work in you, changing you into a loving, Christ-like disciple, satisfying you with life to the full as you pray to and walk with your father day by day and love your saviour and keep his words.

[13:08] As we sit here this morning, he is not distant. Jesus has not left us as orphans. Do not let your hearts be troubled, says Jesus.

[13:22] The three in one God, Father, Son and Spirit, dwells with us. His promise number one, which is kind of more than enough.

[13:35] But secondly, now, for anyone who loves him, Jesus promises the Holy Spirit's teaching for us. And that's verses 25 and 26.

[13:51] In John's gospel, John's words are so crucial, what Jesus says. Do you want to hear truth from God? Then listen to the words of Jesus. Do you want to know the Father?

[14:02] Jesus speaks and makes the Father known. Do you want to experience the Father at work in your life? Through the words of Jesus, the Father works in power. Says Jesus in John 6, 63, the words I have spoken to you, they are full of the Spirit and life.

[14:20] Yet Jesus is about to go. So how will we today hear his life-giving words and know and experience the Father?

[14:30] or have we been left to imagine God as best we can? Verse 25, all this I have spoken while still with you, but the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

[14:57] Notice this, super importantly. notice that this promise is not directly to us. It is to the eleven apostle disciples in the upper room who have been with Jesus.

[15:12] What Jesus promises though to them is enormous. The Holy Spirit sent by the Father in Jesus' name will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

[15:28] So all things from the Father that we who love Jesus need to know, the Holy Spirit will teach to these disciples here. And every precious word of Jesus spoken to them here in the upper room and beforehand, they won't need to fish around in their memories and compare what they thought he said so that they come up with a rough guess.

[15:49] that would be awful. No, the Spirit will remind you of everything I have said to you. This is a promise then to the eleven disciples in the upper room of total and perfect recall of every word spoken by Jesus.

[16:11] His words which they will then record for us. John himself will write down for us here in his gospel so that you and I today might truly, truly hear the voice of the Son of God addressing us.

[16:33] When Jesus prays to the Father in John chapter 17 he says in verse 20, my prayer is not for those first eleven disciples alone, I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.

[16:49] and that is us. See, this was Jesus' plan from the start from two thousand years ago, that we today will believe in Jesus and know him and hear his voice through their message, their Holy Spirit taught message here in these pages in front of us.

[17:11] second thing this morning, I want to say that what these verses point us to is wonderfully and massively encouraging for us who want to know God and yet worry he is sometimes so far from us.

[17:29] What you hold in your hand this morning is no dry and dusty book, it's no dead manuscript, script, but the only thing I suppose we've got with Jesus gone, you hold in your hands, you've got open in front of you this morning, John's Gospel, the Holy Spirit taught, living, life-giving words of Jesus, recalled and recorded by John for us.

[17:58] These words that we open and read and hear and mull, these words are Jesus speaking, the Father made known to us and at work in us today as the Holy Spirit in us opens our ears and mind and heart to hear the voice of Jesus in these Holy Spirit taught words.

[18:21] Did you know that? I mean many of us do know that, we do know that and we are able to share personally the impact of meeting Jesus in his words and knowing our God at work in us powerfully today.

[18:38] Don't think Jesus is gone and so I need to grab onto any spiritual stuff I have or feel or dream about to hopefully connect with God. We've got to grab hold of the Bible and listen to Jesus' words through the Apostle disciples and know the Father.

[18:57] And we can do. And so can the whole world. As New Testaments are translated and delivered to the most remote tribes that they too might hear the words of Jesus today.

[19:14] One, two. We're talking this morning briefly about life now with Jesus gone. Jesus crucified, unrisen, and returned to the Father.

[19:27] And disciples left by ourselves, abandoned even in a tough dark world. And in these verses, in answer to Judas' question, three promises.

[19:39] For anyone who loves him, Jesus promises first, his Father and him dwelling with us. Second, the Holy Spirit's teaching for us.

[19:50] finally, thirdly, in verse 27, the promise of his peace given to us. Look at this.

[20:04] Verse 27, at the climax of this chapter, to anxious disciples, afraid of Jesus going, peace I leave with you, my peace I give you.

[20:17] I do not give to you as the world gives, do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid. In the Bible, peace can be vertical, peace with God.

[20:31] With our sins forgiven through the death of Jesus on the cross, God is no longer angry with us, we're no longer his enemies, peace with God. In the Bible, peace can be horizontal, peace with one another, as those who enjoy peace with God learn to forgive and love one another as Christ loves us.

[20:52] In the Bible, peace can be personal, peace within. That is when your heart is no longer churning with panic and worry and fear, but instead you have peace.

[21:07] I'm secure, I'm safe, for good. And I think that is the focus here. As Jesus says remarkably, my peace I give to you.

[21:25] The peace that Jesus in health enjoys in his inner self, he gives to us. Jesus, who all through his life is able to know and say, my father loves me, my father is with me, and I remain in his love.

[21:46] The peace of eternal security in his father's love, which enables Jesus, through tears, to step forward even to his own crucifixion, knowing that his father has not nor will ever leave him alone.

[22:02] and Jesus says here to us, my peace I give to you. I think that's why this verse is the climax of the chapter.

[22:14] You see, if this morning you've come to Jesus and put your faith in him and you love him, you too are never alone. We are not orphans, abandoned, and we do not need to live in any kind of anxiety or fear because God the Father loves you.

[22:37] Jesus loves you. He went to die to lay down his life for you. He will come back and take you to be with him. You have peace with God through Jesus for all eternity and the Father loves you.

[22:53] He and Jesus have come and made their home with you and in you for good. And here are the words of Jesus in front of you, given by the Holy Spirit, that you may know and walk with God personally day by day and experience his presence and his power.

[23:12] We are safe in his hands. He has not left us as orphans. Now, through any tears and troubles that come and on into eternity, eternity, we have a God who has come to us, saved us and is with us, living in us and will not leave us.

[23:35] Jesus says, peace I leave with you and my peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

[23:46] need. I'm going to lead us in a prayer. Let's pray together. Almighty God and Father, we praise and thank you this morning for your great plan of salvation to restore us to yourself.

[24:15] We thank you for your son, Jesus, who has made you known. We thank you that he went to prepare a place for us in your house and he will come back and take us to be with him and you.

[24:30] thank you that Jesus asked you and you sent the spirit of truth. Thank you that for us who love Jesus, you love us and you and your son have come to us and made your home with us.

[24:50] Thank you for the living words of Jesus which we have in front of us. Thank you for the peace of Jesus Christ given to us.

[25:03] Please help us in a world of trouble and tears to entrust ourselves into your hands knowing that you are with us and you will love us forever.

[25:16]  We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.