Well, as we come to the Word of God this morning, we're continuing on in the Gospel of John.
For those of you who haven't been here, we've been working through this account of the story of Jesus.
And it's been a few years, I think, now.
We're still working our way through.
Today we're going to pick up the pace just a little bit,
and we're going to hear Jesus touch on a number of things.
We're in John 14, verse 15.
John 14, verse 15.
This is the night of Jesus' betrayal and arrest.
And He's kind of having this last conversation with His disciples and giving them comfort and encouragement.
This is what He says to them.
If you love Me, keep My commands.
And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you.
And to 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.
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.
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.
Well, there's a lot of things in this section of the conversation that Jesus has with the disciples that night.
I counted at least eight.
There could be more.
We'll just run over them really fast.
First of all, Jesus urges His disciples to keep His commands.
Second, He talks about the Spirit of Truth who is coming.
Third, He talks more about His leaving and returning and gives assurance that He's coming back.
Four, He talks about how the disciples will live because Jesus lives.
Five, He talks about a moment of clear understanding.
There's going to be this moment in which the disciples realize that Jesus is indeed in the Father.
And along with that, a moment in which they understand that Jesus is in them, and they are in Him.
Seven, Jesus talks about how He and God will love the disciples and come to them and live with them.
And then finally, Jesus reminds them that the words that He is speaking to them are not His own,
but that they are the words of God, the Father Himself, the One who sent Him.
So, lots in here.
Eight things.
All of them are important.
All of them are worth taking time to reflect on, but we couldn't possibly fully linger over each one this morning.
So, we're just going to focus on the one that seems to hold them all together, number three.
And then we'll look at the one that Jesus emphasizes the most on this evening with His disciples.
So, Jesus talks some more about His leaving and His returning.
And He gives assurance to His disciples that He is coming back for them.
This is something that we heard a little bit about already.
It's how the chapter started.
If you were here, the disciples are worried.
They're anxious.
Why?
Well, Jesus has just told them that He's about to leave them.
And where He's going, He says,
You can't come with me.
Once again, imagine yourself in the room with the disciples as Jesus says this to you.
Jesus has done many wonderful things over the past three years.
But He has also stirred up a hornet's nest of opposition.
And things are about to get ugly and violent.
So, we imagine for the disciples that this is not what they want to hear.
You're leaving us?
You're going away?
Like, all by ourselves?
What are we going to do?
Well, what Jesus says here in verse 18 is powerful.
He says,
I will not leave you as orphans.
I will come to you.
Jesus speaks to the fear in their hearts.
What are they worried about?
They're worried that Jesus is about to abandon them.
They're worried that they're going to have to find their way on their own,
all by themselves,
like a child that has been left by His parents.
And Jesus says,
Listen, I'm not about to do that to you.
No way.
I'm not just going to abandon you like that.
I will not leave you as orphans.
No.
I will come to you.
I am coming back.
And in the meantime,
it will seem to the world as if I'm gone.
The world won't see me anymore.
But you will see me.
In the meantime, while I'm gone,
I will ask my Father,
and He will give you the Spirit of Truth.
And He will be with you.
He will be like I have been to you.
He will be a counselor.
He will guide you.
He will lead you.
He will help you.
He will be with you.
And Jesus says,
He will be in you.
To stay.
In my absence,
He will be there.
And when that day comes,
you will know,
you will realize that I have not abandoned you.
No.
You will see me.
Though the world does not see me,
you will.
And you will realize
that even though I'm apart from you in body,
I am with you.
And I am in you
by my Spirit.
And you are in me.
These are awesome words of comfort
and encouragement.
You know,
sometimes it's hard
when we look out at the world.
What do we see?
We see like the world sees.
We see the absence of Jesus.
We see things going on.
And it's not like the story
that we read about when Jesus was here.
And sometimes doubt creeps in.
And we wonder,
will things ever be like they were
when He was here again?
It's been so long
since Jesus walked the earth
shoulder to shoulder with us.
Where is He?
When is He going to come back?
When will you show yourself to the world?
As Judas asked.
We may even wrestle with deeper doubts.
What if He never really came at all?
Or what if all this that I've believed,
what if it's just some elaborate hoax
or a conspiracy theory?
It's here in this place of doubt
and even despair
that Jesus' words just shine
like a glorious ray of light
into the darkness.
I will not leave you as orphans.
I will come to you.
I'm coming back.
There will be a day
when we will no longer see
the absence of Jesus.
A day when Jesus returns
in personal flesh,
bodily,
and everything that we've had to believe,
everything that we have accepted by faith,
will be plain and undeniable
before every eye in the world.
His return will be visible to every eye.
But for now,
like the disciples,
we must walk by faith.
We must see Jesus with eyes of faith
while the world does not see Him.
We must learn to accept this guidance
of this other counselor,
the Spirit of Truth,
an invisible,
intangible Spirit
that the world can't see
or know
or detect.
But Jesus says
He will be in you.
He will be in you
and I will be in you,
says Jesus.
These are awesome words of comfort,
not just for the disciples
in their days of doubt
and darkness,
but for us as well.
And in the midst of these words,
Jesus says one thing
three times.
Verse 15,
If you love me,
you will keep my commands.
Verse 21,
Whoever has my commands
and keeps them
is the one who loves me.
And verse 23,
Anyone who loves me
will obey my teaching
or literally
will keep my word.
This must be important.
I mean,
Jesus says it three times.
I mean,
think about this.
You're going away on a trip
and you're leaving
the care of your house
to somebody else
and you're doing the walkthrough
before you go.
You're giving them
the instructions
and that one thing
that is the most important,
that if they do nothing else,
you tell them about it
at the beginning.
You tell them about it
in the middle
as you're giving
your instructions
and you remind them
about it one more time
at the end.
This is so important.
Don't miss this.
Well,
Jesus does the same
sort of thing here.
Three times he tells them,
If you love me,
you will keep my commands
or something very similar.
So these are words
that we can't just hurry past.
We got to sit
and reflect
for a few minutes
on what Jesus is saying.
If you love me,
you will keep my commands.
Let's start by talking
about that word commands.
Let's maybe see
a show of hands.
Is there anybody here
that loves to be commanded
to do things?
Nobody?
Well,
the Apostle Paul
seemed to suggest
in his letter
to the church at Rome
that there's a reason
for that.
All of us have sin in us.
We're born with sin
and because of that
we just have this tendency
to rebel.
From birth,
our natural bent
is that when we're commanded
to do something,
we grumble about it,
we complain about it,
and we even rebel against it.
We don't like being told
what to do.
We want to do
what we want to do.
And so this word command,
I don't know about you,
but maybe it sets you
on edge a little bit.
And then it kind of
strikes us oddly,
doesn't it,
that in the same breath
as Jesus speaks about
commanding us,
he speaks about love.
Like what?
How can these two things
be together?
What a strange thing.
We don't love being commanded
and we don't like to mix
love and duty.
Friendship and obligation
or expectations.
And so these words of Jesus,
they just have a way
of jumbling up our emotions
even as we come to them,
even as we hear them
we got to get past that though
if we really want to consider
what Jesus is saying.
This word commands,
it makes us think
about the kind of relationship
that Jesus has
with the men around the table.
Theirs is the kind of relationship
where Jesus commands them
to do things,
not suggests,
not encourages,
not instructs them,
he commands them
to do things.
So I mean like
what kind of relationship
is this between Jesus
and his disciples?
Well, it's not just a friendship,
there's not commanding
in friendships.
I mean they have a friendship.
It's not just camaraderie,
they have that too.
It's not just coworkers,
they've been working
on all kinds of things together.
It's not that Jesus
is their employer.
They're not getting paid a cent
to do any of this.
They're following Jesus
around of their own free will.
And Jesus is not
their military officer
or their commander.
This is not an army.
So who is Jesus
that he commands them
and they must obey?
Well, there's more than one
right answer to that question,
but I'm only going to highlight one.
who is Jesus?
He is their king.
He's the Messiah.
Messiah, Christ.
It means anointed one.
It points us back
to the prophet Samuel
who God sent to pour oil
on the head of King David
to show that yes,
this is my chosen king
who will rule over my people Israel.
and kings command.
They give orders.
They have authority.
And it's funny, you know,
Jesus, I mean,
he doesn't in any way
minimize the fact
that he has this kind
of authority over them.
He just speaks as if it's normal.
If you love me,
you will keep my commands.
I've given you commands,
not suggestions,
not encouragements,
not instructions
that are optional commands.
Jesus commands his followers,
the disciples,
by extension, us,
but he has the right to.
He's the Messiah.
He's the king of Israel
and for all God's people.
So he has authority.
And as I was thinking about this,
you know,
we really need to let this word
commands work on us.
Yes,
Jesus gives his followers
orders,
commands
to do things,
to not do things.
And it's not because
he's domineering
or controlling.
He has every right
to command us
just because of who he is.
He's here to give us
God's commands for us.
He serves God
as our king.
And this should really
change the way
that we think
about all that Jesus said
and taught.
If you're a follower of Jesus,
if you believe in his name,
if you believe
that he is the Messiah,
just like the men
around the table,
the disciples,
you too
are obligated
to obey
his commands.
He is the king.
That's the kind
of relationship
Jesus has
with his followers.
He gives commands
and we are to obey them.
But now let's consider
where love
enters into this.
Three times
Jesus
makes it clear
that love
is somehow
a part of this.
In verse 15
he says,
if you love me,
you will keep
my commands.
In verse 21,
whoever has
my commands
and keeps them
is the one
who loves me.
In verse 23,
again,
anyone who loves me
will obey
my teaching.
What does love
have to do
with obedience
to a commanding king?
well,
first,
Jesus says
that our love
for him
should be the basis
of our obedience.
It's the foundation
for our obedience
to his commands.
If you love me,
you will do this.
You will do the things
I have commanded.
Now,
this might be hard
for us to accept
or it might,
in some of our hearts,
it might just rub us
the wrong way.
Maybe your mind
goes to some
unhealthy relationship
that you've been
a part of
or that you've seen.
Maybe you think
of somebody
who's tried
to manipulate you
or who's tried
to coerce you
into doing something
that you didn't
want to do
and maybe said
something similar
to this.
If you love me,
you'll do what I say.
Perhaps the first
thing we need
to do here
is to remember
that Jesus
is not like
the manipulators
that we have
known and seen.
He is the perfect
son of God.
He has come
to command us
to do the things
that God
commands us to do
and wants us to do.
And God has the right.
He has that place.
I mean,
he's God.
He made us.
We belong to him.
Not only that,
but he's good.
He's glorious.
He's worthy
of not just our praise
and our worship,
but also our obedience.
And then the Bible
goes even further
and tells us
that the way
that God loves us
is such that
he gives us commands
not just because
he can or wants to,
but for our benefit,
for our good,
because that is
what leads to
the happy,
the joyful,
the prosperous life
that he wants
us to have.
So no,
Jesus is not
trying to manipulate
or coerce us
into some kind of
sick or twisted
subservience.
Rather,
Jesus is showing us
what a good
and healthy relationship
looks like
between king
and citizens
of the kingdom,
between God
and his people.
It looks like this.
we obey
his commands
and we do it
because we love him.
Our obedience flows
out of our love
for the king.
The best picture
I can think of this,
I hope that you guys
have seen
or read this,
but
maybe you've
watched
the Lord of the Rings,
Tolkien's Lord of the Rings,
or read the book.
There's a
vile and self-interested
steward
in that story,
a steward of the
kingdom of Gondor.
And everything about
the way he governs
just makes you feel
sick.
It's all about him.
That's all he cares about.
But then there is
Aragorn,
the rightful heir
to the throne
of Gondor.
And everything about him
is noble.
He's humble.
He's gentle.
He's kind.
He's wise.
He's courageous.
He brings out
the best in others.
He leads through
love
and service.
Wherever Aragorn
goes in the story,
he helps the afflicted.
He protects
the weak.
He puts his life
on the line
for others.
And he does all this
without a throne
before he even
becomes king.
And so all throughout
the story,
we kind of watch
as all the good
characters in the story
become increasingly
more and more happy
to pledge their
allegiance
to this man,
to this king.
They want him
to be king
because of how
good he is.
It's an honor
to serve him,
to be commanded
by him.
He is worthy
of the throne.
He's the kind of
leader and authority
that we want,
that we need.
And it's under
his governance
and command
that we will all
flourish and prosper
and have the freedom
that we long for
and be protected
from the enemy.
It's a great picture
of how it is
with Jesus.
Our obedience
should flow
out of our love
for him.
We obey his commands
because we love him,
because he is
that kind of
good king
that we want
and need.
Everything about him
is wonderful.
He's good.
He's gracious.
He's humble.
He's kind.
He's wise.
Courageous.
He laid down
his life
for us.
It's an honor
to serve the king,
to be commanded
by this king.
Well,
now is the place
where we should
really pause
and think about
our love for Jesus.
Jesus says,
if you love me,
an if statement,
it kind of forces us
to that question.
Do I love Jesus?
Do you love Jesus?
And as we reflect
on that,
maybe we're thinking,
well,
what does that even mean?
What does it mean
to love Jesus?
What kind of love
are we talking about here?
Maybe like just the feeling?
How does that work?
If you feel love
towards me,
you will obey
my commands?
I don't think
that really fits.
Love is a feeling,
but as most of us
have learned by now,
feelings are pretty fickle.
They come and they go.
They're affected
by all sorts of things,
by how much sleep
we got last night,
or by when the last time
we ate was,
or by what the weather
looks like outside.
It's wonderful
when we feel love
towards someone
or something.
We want to feel that
all the time
towards Jesus,
towards the members
of our family,
right?
But I think we all know
that really loving
a person,
it's more than
just a feeling.
It has to do
with how we treat them,
sometimes
despite how we feel
towards them.
love.
This gets to that
other side of love,
that deeper element
to love.
It has to do with
our care
and concern
for others.
It has to do
with how we treat them,
not just how we feel
about them.
And family relationships
are the place
where we get
lots of opportunity
to see love
in action.
here we see
that commitment
side of love,
that loyalty
side of love,
that I'm going to be
there
and care for you
and support you
in sickness
and in health,
for better
or for worse.
Love is not
just a feeling.
There are times
when love
is a choice.
it's in action.
It's that deeper
attitude
towards others.
So now,
take this deeper
truth about love
and hear these
words of Jesus
again.
If you love me,
you will keep
my commands.
Jesus is not
promising that
obeying him
will always
feel easy
or that we'll
always like
to do it
or love
to do it.
In fact,
there are many
times when we
must just
simply choose.
to obey,
to do the thing
Jesus has commanded
because we love
him
despite how
we're feeling.
I was reading
through the Psalms
this week
and here's a prayer
of David
in Psalm 141
verse 4.
He prays to God
and says,
do not let my heart
be drawn
to what is evil
so that I take part
in wicked deeds
along with those
who are evildoers.
Now,
why would you
pray a prayer
like that?
Why would you
ask something
like that
unless you
feel that pull
in your heart
towards the
things that
are evil?
There are times
when we must
choose to obey
Jesus,
to do what he
commanded
because we love
him
even though we
don't feel like
it.
Let's look down
a little bit
to verse 21.
Jesus says there,
whoever has
my commands
and keeps them
is the one
who loves me.
It's said maybe
a little bit
differently.
Literally,
the one having
my commands
and keeping them,
that one
is the one
who loves me.
another truth
emerges here.
Obedience
to Jesus'
commands
is the mark
of the person
who truly
loves Jesus.
There is a
visible
and obvious
indicator of
whether a person
really loves
Jesus.
Do they keep
the commands
of Jesus?
Now we're
being asked
a different
question.
Not do I
love,
but am I
actually obeying
the commands
that Jesus
gave?
We look down
to verse 23
now.
This is the
last time
he says it.
Whoever has
my commands
and keeps
them.
No,
sorry,
there it is.
Anyone who
loves me
will obey
my teaching,
literally,
will keep
my word.
My father
will love
him and
we will
come to
him and
make our
home with
him.
This is a
wonderful
promise.
There is
and there
will be
more to
this relationship
than just
our loving
Jesus and
our obeying
his commands.
love will
flow both
ways.
Our love
flows to
Jesus as
we obey
him and
it flows
from the
father,
from God
to us
as we
obey him.
My father
will love
the person
who loves
me and
keeps my
word.
This is
perhaps a
special love.
I mean,
it seems that
God has
loved everyone
even just
by sending
Jesus in
the first
place.
But there
is perhaps
a love
upon that
love for
those who
love his
son and
keep his
word.
My father
will love
that person,
says Jesus.
And then
this sweet
promise which
follows,
and we
will come
to him.
We will
come to
that person.
not just
I will
come to
him,
but we,
father and
son,
we will
come to
him.
This will
no longer
be what
seems like
a long
distance
relationship.
Jesus says
we will
come to
him and
we will
make our
home with
him.
That's
what this
is all
about.
It's about
a relationship
between God
and us.
maybe you
remember back
to earlier
in the
chapter.
In my
father's
house,
there are
many
rooms.
Same
word here.
Many
dwelling
spaces,
many abodes.
That's what
he's saying
here.
We will
come to
him,
we will
make our
home,
our
dwelling
with
him.
That's
the promise.
a good
king and
his people
together.
A good
God and
his people
together,
living together
forever.
That's the
trajectory
here.
But just
like the
disciples,
for now,
we live in
the meantime.
Jesus hasn't
come back
yet,
and this is
how God
wants us
to live.
in
anticipation
of the
return of
the king,
if you
love me,
you will
keep my
commands.
That's the
end of my
sermon this
morning,
but now
it's your
turn to
preach to
me.
I mean,
we couldn't
go through
this whole
message and
really get a
lot of
benefit out
of it if
we didn't
even talk
about what
the commands
of Jesus
are,
right?
It's not
enough to
just have a
general change
of heart or
attitude towards
the commands
of Jesus.
We actually
have to do
them.
We have to
obey them.
So what are
they?
So I'm
going to turn
the sermon
over to you
guys for a
little bit
here.
What are the
commands of
Jesus to
his followers?
Love one
another.
Make
disciples of
all nations.
preach the
gospel,
the good
news.
Don't be
shy.
Shut them
out.
There's lots
of them.
Do unto
others as
you would
have them
do unto
you.
Treat them.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
Love the
Lord your
God with
all your
heart,
soul,
mind,
and strength
above all
things.
What else?
Pray.
Yeah.
What else?
Obey his
commands.
Yep.
That's one
of them.
To love
truth.
Remain in
me or
abide in
me.
Yes.
Stay
connected to
me.
forgive.
Forgive.
Yes.
Forgive.
That's a
tough one.
What else?
Love your
enemies.
Seek first
his kingdom
and his
righteousness.
Yeah.
acknowledge
there is
no
God
except
Jesus.
Okay.
Yeah.
Acknowledge
Jesus.
Do not
be anxious
about
anything.
Do not
worry about
your life,
what you
will eat
or drink
or what
you will
wear.
fear not.
Fear not.
Yeah.
Yes.
Take up
your cross
and follow
me,
said Jesus.
Repent.
Turn away
from your
sins.
Yes.
Trust.
Yeah.
Believe in
God.
Believe also
in me,
said Jesus.
Okay.
Yeah.
Present your
body as a
living sacrifice.
This is a
great sample
that you've
given of
the commands
of Jesus.
It's so
important that
we know what
they are because
how can we
do them
if we don't
know what
they are.
This is the
kind of life
that Jesus
is calling
us to.
And it's
not that
we'll do
it perfectly.
He knows
that.
Jesus died
so that we
could be
forgiven for
all of our
falling short
of that.
But this
is what
he has
called us
to do,
how he's
called us
to live.
All of
these things
and the
ones that we
didn't even
get to yet,
these are
the commands
of Jesus
and Jesus
says,
if you
love me,
you will
keep my
commands.
Let's
pray.
Father in
heaven,
thank you
for your
word.
Thank you
for the
truth that
you bring
to us.
I pray
and ask
Lord that
you would
help us
as we
seek to
live in
obedience
to Jesus.
Lord,
we confess
right now
it's not
easy and
there's so
many times
that we
want to
do other
things.
We want
to do
some of
the things
you told
us not
to do
or we
want to
just shirk
off the
things that
you called
us to do.
And so we
pray and ask
like David
did that you
would not
allow our
hearts to
go there,
to be drawn
to those
things.
We ask
that you
would enable
us,
that you
would fill
us with
a holy
desire to
serve you
remind us
every day
of just
the awesome
and wonderful
king that
you are,
of your
great love
for us,
and lead
us in
obedience,
lead us
in doing
all those
works that
you prepared
in advance
for us
to do,
for the
blessing and
building up
of each
other,
our families,
and for the
people here
in Davidson.
We ask
this for the
glory of
Christ.
Amen.