43 John 13-14 - Pastor Chuck Smith - C2000 Series

let's turn to the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel according to John and we've come into a new section of the Gospel of John which carries us through chapter 17 and chapters 13 through 17 cover a period of approximately 36 hours or so probably more like 24 hour period is covered in these next four chapters or five chapters so this is beginning the night that Jesus was betrayed and his prayer in the seventeenth chapter of John is offered some time prior to the Garden of Gethsemane experience some 24 hours later so we're actually covering a short period of the life of Christ but this is such an important period that John devotes almost 1/4 of his gospel to this 24-hour period so we realize the importance of this period of the life of Jesus Christ in the attention that John gives to it in the overall record he spends about 1/4 right within this 24-hour period and so it is well for us to look carefully at these things that are recorded in this particular period of time and surely we're now being exposed to the very heart of Jesus the book of Revelation is the unveiling of Jesus Christ but this unveils him to us surely as we get this fabulous and site into the heart of Jesus now before the Feast of the Passover when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world going back to the father having loved his own which were in the world he loved them unto the uttermost he loved them unto the completion he loved them unto the end tell EOS is the Greek word and it it means unto the completion that is unto the completion of their Redemption he loved them to the point that he was willing then to complete their redemption which cost him his own life love them to the uttermost in a couple of chapters we're going to read where Jesus said to his disciples greater love has no man than this then a man will lay down his life for his friends that's love to the uttermost and that's how much he loved his own now it's glorious to realize that we are numbered among his own and how much does he loves you does he love you he loves you to the uttermost he loves you to the completion of your redemption and so this is just before Jesus is going to observe the Passover Feast with his disciples knowing that the hour was come now you remember from the beginning of the Gospel of John we've been dealing with this subject my hour is not yet come my hour is not yet come when they were by force going to make him King he hid from them for his hour was not yet come that hour was always a reference to the hour when he would make that supreme sacrifice for your Redemption that was the hour she was to be glorified glorified by his submission to the Father by going to the cross and dying for our sins now the supper being ended that is the Passover supper itself it's over they've gone through no doubt the traditional Jewish Passover with his disciples and the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot Simon's son to betray him Jesus knowing that the father had given all things into his hands and that he was come from God and was going to God he rose from the supper and laid aside his garments and took a towel and girded himself so now the Passover supper is over Satan has entered the heart of Judas Iscariot and Jesus knowing that this is it this is the last time he'll be sharing a meal with the disciples he took a towel and he Girt himself with it a man girded with a towel was a bond slave this was the sign of a slave a slave of the lowest order and Jesus took this towel and girded himself with it the disciples did not understand what he was doing why would he gird himself with this towel that's what a slave did and after he poured water into a basin he began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel and when he came to Simon Peter Peter said unto Him Lord do you wash my feet and I think that the emphasis is on the pronouns hey wait a minute you think you're gonna wash my feet Peter realized how totally in congruous this was that the Lord should be washing his feet it's much like when John the Baptist was approached by Jesus for baptism and John said hey no way I should be baptized by you and Jesus said allow it to be go ahead let's you know it it's right that I fulfill all righteousness so Peter was was sort of alarmed by this and and he said jesus answered and said unto him what I am doing you do not know now but you will know in a little while you don't understand what I'm doing right now Peter but just hang on a minute and you'll understand but Peter said unto Him you will never wash my feet you know that's that's just something that Peter just felt was so totally inconsistent and jesus said to him if I do not wash you you really have no part with me and Peter said unto him well Lord don't only wash my feet but wash my hands on my head I like Peter he's doesn't understand too much but he's all gung ho for you know whatever's right is right let's go for it Lord and Jesus said unto him he that is washed needs not saved to wash his feet and he is clean every whit and ye are clean but not all now the washing of the feet was a common practice in the Roman baths after they had left the baths and returned the dressing room they would pick up dirt on their feet walking through and so they would always wash their feet when they got back to the dressing room before they got dressed and left that would be their first act in returning to the dressing room to remove the dirt picked up on the bottom of their feet walking from the bath to the dressing room they were totally clean they had just been in the bath for maybe an hour too but they did pick up some dirt or defilement walking from the bath to the dressing room so what Jesus is in essence saying is that as we walk this path through the world we may pick up some defilement just from the contact walking through the world but that defilement is only surface it isn't in the head it isn't in the mind it isn't in my life it's just washing the feet those your feet are wash that's all you need your your heart is already clean your mind is already set just get rid of that you know defiant and sort of coming to church is is that kind of an experience we've been mixing with the world all week long we've we've heard the the the filthy language we were sitting in a restaurant today and there was the crudest most foul mouthed woman at another table I hope she's here tonight just so that she'll know how disgusting her language was but she was loud she was brash and and you know if you're saying those kind of words you think you want to whisper them and I felt like Oh Lord you know wash my ears wash my might just purge out that junk the pollution that was coming out of her mouth and and we face it walking through the world there is that surface defilement and it's just good to come and just to sit back in the presence of the Lord and Jesus said now you are clean through the word which I have spoken in here and just let the word of God just sort of wash as you know and feel that that cleansing of God's Word as we just gather together in the sanctuary and so Jesus said no no it's it's not a matter of physical cleanliness now I told you you don't understand what I'm doing Peter now jesus said you are clean but not all of you for jesus knew who it was that would betray him that is why he said you are not all clean so after he had washed their feet and he had taken his garments and had set down again as he had set aside in order to gird himself with a towel take the place of a say a slave his garments and so now he had taken on his garments again and he sat down and he said unto them do you know what I have done unto you now I'm surprised Peter didn't say yes you wash my feet but he would have missed the whole point Jesus said you call me master and Lord and that is correct for that is what I am you're right in calling me master and Lord I am your master and Lord and if I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet you also ought to wash one another's feet for I have given you an example that you should do as I have done unto you verily verily I say unto you the servant is not greater than his Lord neither is he that is sent greater than he that sent him and if you know these things happy are you if you do them now because of this some churches have practiced the ritual of washing feet and there are some churches that have regular foot washing services on sort of a regular basis as one of the church rituals and I have no case against them if they want to have foot washing services that's fine it doesn't bother me on occasion I've had some rather strange individuals who came and who wanted to wash my feet and so they used cold water I would have appreciated it had they used warm water but it is something that I can handle I mean but I think that in having the ritual of foot washing services people are really missing the whole lesson the whole lesson is that of serving one another now in those days serving another person was demonstrated by washing their feet now we don't live in the days of slavery anymore and we don't live in the days of open sandals and dirt footpaths so washing a person's feet isn't a general kind of a practice at all in our culture you might better fulfill this by going over and mowing your neighbors lawn or washing out his garbage pail its whole thrust is that I am not so great but what I cannot serve you in your knees and I should be willing to take the place of a servant to serve my brothers for the Lord's sake I'm not too big to serve you and it's just taking that place of hey I'm not too big to do that now my father came from a aristocratic family my grandfather was the vice president of the Southern Pacific Railway and my father grew up in prep schools with servants always in the home and things of this nature and thus my father had certain ideas about certain things and a Smith would never do dishes he would never scrub a floor he would never meddle in mechanics he would never mow along that was beneath the Smiths to do and and that was just the way he grew up and that's the way he was acculturated scrubbing a floor was just beneath him now my mother became a Smith but somehow it didn't work that it was beneath her but I mean this was just something that was ingrained in him there were just certain things that he would not do because that was beneath his dignity he always wore a suit and a tie every meal always had to have a white linen napkin you know the rest of us were using paper towels and all but my dad was just different now Jesus in essence is saying look no task is beneath you serve one another take the attitude of a servant towards each other be willing to give yourself to serve another person's need don't put yourself on pedestals don't exalt yourself don't get so high and mighty that you begin to demand people to serve you look I've set for you an example here the example that I have set is for you to take the place of a servant now basically he is talking to his disciples who were to be the first ministers in the church and as a minister you're not to get a glorified exalted opinion of yourself and thinking that people ought to start waiting on you because after all you're the minister they ought to bring you a cup of coffee when you come in they ought to come over and ask if they can do something for you you know and and make you cover and after all I'm the minister you know and unfortunately many ministers get that kind of a mindset that because I'm the minister I should be waited upon and taken care of not so that isn't what the word Minister implies at all the word Minister is the word servant and what it means is that I am the one that should be bringing you a cup of coffee and bringing you a chair and taking care of you making sure that you're comfortable and whenever I think I'm so high and mighty that you've got to wait on me then I need to get into some other business when I am NOT willing to serve and to take care of someone else's knees then I've become bigger than my Lord and then I'm in big trouble I don't have the same attitude as my Lord and thus I'm not his true representative and so this attitude of a servant Jesus said you see what I've done now if I being your Lord and Master and you call me Lord medicine that's right but if I being your Lord and willing to serve you then you ought to be serving one another don't set yourself up on a pinnacle don't set yourself up where you're waiting for men to serve you you'll get out and you serve the needs of the world god help us we need more ministers who are servants that's the true minister of Jesus Christ now if you know these things he said happy are you if you do them not if you know them because knowing isn't enough James said be ye doers of the word and not hearers only the joy of serving one another in the body of Jesus Christ is a great joy indeed now I admit that there are times when I don't find it so much joy some of the service that I have done I have griped and I will frankly admit it I always feel guilty after I gripe but I do gripe occasionally mainly when I have to pick up the cigarette butts around the church that's one task I just detest and that's again because from the time I was a kid my mom told me never touch a cigarette and I feel like I'm disobeying every time I pick one up I hate to touch him it's just and so quite often as I'm picking up cigarette butts I will be grumbling a bit until the Lord speaks to me and says who are you doing that for and I said I'm doing it for you Lord nobody else are then why are you griping I don't know I'm sorry Lord forgive me but most generally I find it a joy to serve for Jesus said in as much as you've done it unto the least of these my brethren you've done it to me so I'm serving the Lord by serving my fellow man whatever I do for others I'm really doing for him I am his servant but he has commanded me to serve the body of Jesus Christ so in being his servant I'm only obeying his orders as I served the body of Christ and in serving the body of Christ I'm really serving him so you can't really separate it it's all tied up together now I speak not to all of you for I know whom I have chosen but that the scripture may be fulfilled he that eateth bread with me has lifted up his heel against me now I am Telling You before it comes that when it has come to pass you might believe that I am and he is using here that name of God in the Old Testament you might believe that I am barely verily I say unto you he that receiveth whomsoever I send receives me and he that receives me receives him that sent me so the chain if you receive one that the Lord has sent you're receiving the Lord of your thieving him you're receiving the father and when Jesus had thus said this he was troubled in his spirit though I knew that Judas was going to betray him and though he had chosen Judas and when he chose him knew that that was the lot of Judas knowing that the Scriptures had to be fulfilled he chose him because the scripture said that he who ate bread with him would lift up his heel against him but yet it still troubled Jesus that Judas would do this after having been with him and so Jesus was troubling his spirit and he testified and said verily verily I say unto you that one of you shall betray me then the disciples looked at one another wondering who we was talking about now there was one of the disciples and of course John is talking about himself now in in an abstract way but it was John who was leaning on Jesus bosom and John said he was one of his disciples whom Jesus loved John was no doubt a very loving person it's brought out in his writings themselves he speaks in very loving tones always and speaks of love so much and so Simon Peter beckoned to him that he should ask who it was that Jesus was referring to next to him John asked him you know was he talking about he then who was lying on Jesus breast said unto him Lord who is it and jesus answered he it is to whom I shall give a sob when I have dipped it and when he had dipped the SOB he gave it to Judas Iscariot the son of Simon the dipping of Aesop and handing it to a person in those days was equivalent to toasting a person now today sometimes it functions and all they they'll give a toast to somebody is a gesture of friendship and in those days the dipping of Aesop and handing it to the person was equivalent to the toasting of a person it was a gesture of friendship I think that Jesus even at this point was saying Judas if you won out you can get out you don't have to go through it they'd even though you've already been in to the high priest and made a deal and have bargained with him I would still like to be your friend and after the SOB Satan entered into him and then jesus said to him what you do do quickly so no man at the table knew that this was what Jesus was referring to son of some of them thought because Judas was the treasurer that Jesus was sending him out to buy supplies or maybe to give something to the poor in as much as this was Passover and he then having received the sob when immediately out and it was night and therefore when he was gone out jesus said now is the son of man glorified and God is glorified in him the hour has come I'm going to be glorified how strangely enough by being crucified little children and this is the only time Jesus has used this term and it's a very tender term John uses it in his other epistles the techni the little children yet a little while and I am with you and you will seek me and as I said unto the Jews where I go you cannot come so I say it now to you in just a little while you're going to seek me but where I'm going you cannot come and a new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another and by this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one to another the new commandment the new commandment is an all-inclusive kind of commandment because you don't have to worry about thou shalt not lie thou shalt not steal thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor thou shalt not covet thou shalt not commit adultery you don't have to worry about all of those if you obey this commandment love one another even as I have loved you now that is supreme law that is self-sacrificing love that is giving love and that's the kind of love he wants us to have for each other and by this sign will the world know that we are truly the disciples of Jesus Christ when we have this kind of love I do not believe that we do have this kind of love we see it in small majors here and there we see demonstrations of it now and then but for the most part we've got a long way to go because his love for us was supreme love it was a self-sacrificing love he gave himself for us because he loved us and that's the kind of love we're to have as he has loved us John when writing his epistle said we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the Brethren so our love for each other is first of all a sign to the world by which they may know that we are his disciples but secondly it becomes a sign even to us I know that I have passed from death unto life because of this love that God has put in my heart for the family of God may God work in us and may our hearts be open for that work that we might love more and more not in words but in deed in our deeds towards one another and thus in truth O God work in our hearts in fact let's just open our hearts right now just ask God to allow that Holy Spirit to work in our hearts tonight for the fruit of the Spirit is love and we need this kind of love as a witness to the world around us that we are truly his disciples I fail so much in this area so many times I'm looking out for myself when I should be looking out for others I'm interested in taking care of my needs when I should be interested in taking care of the needs of others and I need that God will just really work this love in my heart tonight let's just for a moment to all of us just sort of open our hearts and ask God by His Holy Spirit to work in us tonight this kind of love that even as he has loved us so may we love one another father we pray now for that special work of your Holy Spirit planting this kind of love in our hearts we realize Lord that we don't have the capacity to manufacture it it's more than a human emotion it is a divine god-given capacity and Lord we want it we want this love we want our lives to be marked by this kind of love Jesus work in us now let your Holy Spirit father just fill us now with your life that we might indeed love one another even as you loved us thank you Lord for your work tonight continue thy work until your love is perfected in us in Jesus name Amen Simon Peter said unto Him Lord where are you going and jesus answered him where I am going you cannot follow me now but you will follow me afterwards right now Peter you can't follow me later on you will Peter said unto Him Lord why can't I follow you now I will lay down my life for thy sake jesus answered him will you lay down your life for my sake verily verily I say unto you the shall not crow until you have denied me three times in just a little while some 24 hours Jesus will be saying to Peter Peter pray with me I really feel in need of help pray with me and when Jesus comes back to Peter he's going to find him asleep and he's going to say to Peter Oh Peter the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weakened and that's the case here I believe that Peter was totally sincere when he said Lord I will lay down my life for you I believe that Peter meant that I do not at all question Peters love devotion and sincerity towards his Lord the spirit indeed was willing but his flesh was weak unfortunately I find myself often in that category where my spirit indeed is willing to do the right thing now there are times when my spirit isn't willing to do the right thing too but there are times when my spirit is willing to do the right thing but my flesh is weak when I have been hasty in saying something about someone and I know that I owe them an apology then is when my spirit isn't willing because you know I sort of feel that they deserved having said about them what I said and the Lord begins to speak to my heart and say hey even so that's wrong you ought to go and ask for forgiveness and I don't want to Lord my spirit is not willing so part of the time that's my problem and some of the times as God is laying things on my heart I have to say Lord I'm not willing to do that and you're just going to have to make me willing to be willing because I'm not willing but then there are other times where my spirit indeed is willing but my old flesh cringes its weak Peter was sincere his love for the Lord was genuine his commitment was real and Peter read he felt that he could lay down his life for Jesus and I wouldn't be a bit surprised but what he could have but many times it's harder to live for Jesus than it is to die for Jesus you know the chips are really down and someone's pointing a gun at you and say hey deny the Lord we're going to blow your head off is a a fire away I'm willing to die for Jesus be with him in glory the problem often times is living for Jesus and sometimes that's much harder than dying for him that's what Peter found out standing up for him when the crowd was against him and these little girls came up and said oh you're one of his I saw you with him but he thought about I don't know him I'm just here warming my hands by the fire surely I saw you when you're one of them now I don't know how many began to curse and see living for Jesus was the problem with Peter dying for him was another thing in the garden he was willing to pull his sword and swing away and go down swinging but many times the Lord is calling us not to die for him but to just live for him Lord I'm willing to die for you the Peter you're going to fail Jesus said let not your heart be troubled now they were troubled because he had been saying these things I'm going to go away where I go you cannot come he's been talking about his death he's been talking about his betrayal he's been saying things that are very troubling to them and yet he said unto them let not your heart be troubled and the cure for it is believe in God and believe in me ye believe in God and that is either a question or it's a it's a statement ye believe in God believe also in me for in my father's house are many mansions and if it were not so I would have told you and I'm going to prepare a place for you the word mansions is abiding places in my father's house are many abiding places and I'm going to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also and where you go where I go you know in the way you know now for many years I heard this scripture interpreted as beautiful mansions that God has up in heaven for us so when we arrive in heaven Peter will meet us at the gate and take us through the city of heaven down glory Lane and there in this beautiful forest of blossoming trees stands one of these beautiful colonial type mansions with the verandas and the porches and and the stream running past all those as there you are you know check-in but as time has passed I have come to believe that what Jesus is referring to is not some beautiful home English Tudor or southern colonial that he has built up in heaven for me but I believe that he is referring to the new body that I'm going to receive when I move out of this old tent and Paul the Apostle in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 says we know that when this earthly tent the body in which we presently live is dissolved that we have a building of God that is not made with hands eternal in the heavens so that we who are in these bodies do often groan earnestly desiring to move out of them not to be unembodied spirits but that we might be clothed upon with the body which is from heaven now God has a whole new body for us far superior to the present body in which we live the present body in which we live is compared to attempt a temporary place to dwell contrasted with a building of God not made with hands that is eternal in the heavens the present body in which we live has marvelous features but yet it also has features that aren't so marvelous the present body in which we live has an aging process that takes its toll so that we grow old and as we grow old the capacities of the body diminish and we are not always able to do all of the things that we want to do or would like to do and sometimes we foolishly get out and try and do some of those things that we used to do and find that age has taken its toll upon the body the body deteriorates the body is subject to sickness to disease to weaknesses now God has a new body for me it's far superior to this body in that it will not need sleep for recuperation thus if I had a mansion in heaven I wouldn't need a bedroom in it because the body won't need that period of recuperating its strength probably wouldn't need a kitchen because the body will probably be nourished by other types of foods that the body will use them completely so I probably won't need a bathroom so when the Lord talks about in heaven he's going to prepare a place for us I believe that he's talking about that new body that he's gone to prepare for us the building of God not made with hands eternal in the heavens and there in the kingdom of God in that perfected state we will dwell live and dwell with him forever know his promise as if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also so the Lord kept his promise to his disciples and he came and received each of them to himself and they are dwelling with him now in his kingdom he kept his word and he'll keep his word to us for one of these days he's coming to receive us unto himself that where he is there we may be also and there comes that time in life when leaving this body to be with him is far preferable to remaining in this body when the Lord comes to receive us to himself now where I go you know on the way you know and Thomas said unto Him Lord we don't know where you're going and how can we know the way jesus said unto him I am the way the truth and the life and no man comes to the Father but by me now here again is one of those radical statements of Jesus Christ last week he said I am the resurrection and the life he that believes on me though he were dead yet shall he live he who lives and believes in Me shall never die radical now he is making another radical statement I am the way the truth and the life and no man comes to the Father but by me here Jesus is declaring that E is the only way by which a man may come to the Father now there are those people who declare all roads lead to God all religions lead men to God all roads go to God not so there's only one road that leads to the Father and that's Jesus Christ I am the way the truth and the life and no man comes to the Father now people may try to find other gods and serve other gods but they don't serve the true in the Living God except through Jesus Christ no man he said comes to the Father but by me couple Mormon boys came up to the door the other day and I said the problem is you talk like I talk but you don't believe as I believe your words are like mine you say that you believe in salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and his death for you yes they said that is true we believe that Jesus died for our sins and were saved by our believing in him I said yes but the Jesus you believe in is a different Jesus than I believe in for the Jesus that I believe in is not the brother of Lucifer and you believe that Jesus is the brother of Lucifer don't you and they said yes we believe he's the brother of Lucifer I said then he's a different Jesus than the one that I believe in because the Jesus I believe in is not the brother of Lucifer but the only begotten Son of God and if he were the brother of Lucifer Lucifer being a creative being would make him a creative being and would put him on a whole different level than that level in which God's Word declares that he is who was in the beginning with God and thought it not robbery to be equal with God so you say you believe in Jesus but it's a different Jesus you're preaching a different Jesus than what the Bible reveals and as far as I goes you're also preaching a different God for the God that I believe in is not an ascended man nor do I believe that you're going to be a god and you believe in a God that was a man ascended just as you are ascending to a godhood state I said so though you may use the terms God in Jesus they're a different God in Jesus than what I trust in and so Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life and no man comes to the Father but by me that is a radical statement a lot of people wish that Jesus had not made that statement we are accused as Christians of being too narrow you need to become more broadened in your outlook on life surely God would not restrict the path to him by just one way well you've got to then set aside the claim of Jesus Christ and if you say he was wrong when he said this then you're saying he is not trustworthy his word is not trustworthy you see one thing about Jesus making these radical claims Manny forces you to a decision either he is the way to the Father the only way to the father or there are other ways to the father's the father and if there are other ways to the father then Jesus was not telling the truth if he was not telling the truth then how can you trust him in anything else that he said so call me narrow call me what you wish Jesus made this radical claim and you either believe it or not Jesus said if you had known me you should have known my father also and from henceforth you know him and have seen him Philip said unto Him Lord show us the father and it suffice a--the us jesus said unto him have I been so long a time with you and yet have you not known me Philip he that hath seen me hath seen the father what a radical statement Jesus is getting down to the end of the road and he's just making one radical statement after another he that hath seen me you want to see the father look you've been around me for a long time if you have seen me you have seen the father for he goes on to say the works that I do I don't do of myself but the father who dwells in me he does the works the words that I speak are not my words but the father who sent me I am here representing the father and if you have seen me you have seen the father now God would appreciate it if all of us could make that statement but I don't think that any of us can I am to be God's representative in the world I am here to do the works of God I am here to speak the Word of God but unfortunately many times I'm doing my own works and speaking my own words so it's impossible that I could say if you've seen me you've seen the father in some search in some situations yes but not in all but with Jesus it was consistent all the way through his entire life he was a perfect representation of the father in all of his works in all of his words in all of his deeds he represented the father and so do you want to know what God is like you can look at Jesus Christ for the purpose of his coming was to manifest the father to man God who in sundry times and in divers manners folk to our fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his own dear son God revealed himself in times past through the prophets but now he has revealed himself in the perfect revelation through his own son and if you have seen Jesus you've seen the father and so what kind of a God has revealed to us a loving God a compassionate God a God who is concerned for the needs of man a God who is weeping over the failure of man a God who desires to redeem lost man for he said I've come to seek and to save that which was lost and what a beautiful God he has revealed to us through all of his life and ministry and that is the God that we know and we worship and we serve that God revealed to us by Jesus Christ if you have seen me you have seen the father now in a sense we are also God's representatives upon the earth and even more so we who have taken the position of teachers of God's Word we stand here to represent God and to declare God's truth to you but what an awesome responsibility that is because standing here is God's representative God is concerned that I represent him in truth now Moses got into big trouble because he failed to represent God rightly when they came to the wilderness area and they were out of water the second time and the people began to murmur and complain to Moses and Moses went in and said God I'm sick of it I'm tired of it I can't stand anymore I didn't give birth to all these people and I'm tired of carrying their load here they are murmuring again god I'm so sick of it God said hey cool down Moses go out and just speak to the rock and they'll get water well Moses went out and he was angry and he said to the people must i smite this rock again and give you water and he took his rod and he smote the rock and anger and God in His love and grace gave water but he said Moses come here son he said Moses you really misrepresented me before those people you went out and anger you smoked the rock I told you just speak to it and now they are thinking that I'm angry with him I'm upset with I'm not angry or upset with a Muslim but they think I am because you were representing me to be that way Moses I don't like being misrepresented I wonder what God thinks about all these people who represent him as being broke bankrupt and almost out of business poor God bail him out quickly friends get your letter in or God's going to be in the bread lines next week and his work is going to fail what a poor representation of God and so God said Moses because you failed to represent me there the waters of Meribah you cannot go into the promised and hey that's serious business your lifelong dream is shattered why because you fail to properly represent me before the people at Mira bah God's representative oh god help me to always realize that awesome responsibility of being his representative so if ever I look like I'm really angry with you I'm not representing God because he's not angry with you he loves you if I look like I'm really upset and out of sorts I'm not really representing God because he's not upsetting out of sorts God has such great patience and compassion and love towards you and to be his representative we must also have great compassion and mercy towards one another he that hath seen me hath seen the father what marvelous words and he how do you say then show us the father don't you believe that I am in the father and the father is in me the words that I speak unto you I don't speak them of myself but the father that dwelleth works believe me that I am in the father and the father in me or else believe me for the very works sake all the way along Jesus was saying the works that I do they bear witness of me I claim to be the son of God and the works that I am doing bear witness that my claim is true I am doing the works of God what were the works of God the healing of the sick the lifting of those that were fallen this is God's work in a needy world I'm doing the work of the Father and else believe me for the very works sake for the witness that they are to you and verily verily I say unto you that he that believeth on me the works that I do shall he do so we are to do those same works that Jesus did of showing compassion and love and tenderness and concern and care and greater than these shall he do because I go to my father and whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do that the father may be glorified in the son if you shall ask anything in my name I will do it now those are two promises for prayer that are absolutely so broad that they are staggering Jesus is saying whatsoever ye shall ask him my name I will do it that the father may be glorified in the son if you ask anything in my name I will do it broad broad promises but to whom are the promises made he's not talking now to the multitudes he's not standing in the temple court crying out ask anything in my name and I'll do it he's talking with those men who have forsaken all to follow him he's talking to his disciples and what constitutes the disciple Jesus said if any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me to whom is this broad promise of prayer made to that man who first of all has denied himself so his prayer isn't going to be one for his own glory for his own wealth for his own enrichment Jesus isn't saying here just you know ask for a Cadillac and I'll give you one as for Mercedes ask anything I'll give it to you all right you know and I start making out my list of all of those things that I want from me and for my flesh no no no you've got it wrong if any man will come after me let him deny himself that's the first qualification to a man who has this broad promise secondly let him take up his cross by that submitting himself totally to the will of the Father not my will thy will be done and that man who has totally submitted his life to the will of the Father who has denied himself who is following Jesus Christ he has a glorious broad promise from the Lord whatsoever you ask in my name I will do it because whatever I am asking will be according to the will of God because that's what I desire to see now there are some people who put down the prayer not my will thy will be done but I think that that's almost blasphemous to put down that prayer because Jesus was the one who offered that prayer Lord your will be done as it oh that's a lack of faith no it isn't it's greater trust than anything else it's greater trust and demanding that I have my way done in this matter of which I know so little about I'm so stupid in the overall program and purposes of God I see things one way today but I see them differently tomorrow and it would be a shame if God would answer every little whim that I had and change of my no no no Lord not you no way Maria say no please no sir that was wrong Lord now this is what really I need you know these broad promises the prayer are glorious but they are to the disciples they're restricted and Jesus said if you love me keep my Commandments and what is his commandment that we love one another as he has loved us Jane in John again writing in his epistle speaks about keeping his Commandments but then he says his commandment is that we should love one another even as he gave us commandment if you love me jesus said keep my commandment so I show my love to him by loving you yes I love him and for that reason I love you because that's what he is commanded but fortunately it's very easy because you're so loving and knee and I will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter Heraclitus one to come alongside of you and help you that he may abide with you forever even the Spirit of Truth so here we have the Trinity Jesus is saying I'm going to pray to the Father he's going to give you another comforter the Spirit of Truth that he may abide with you forever and so the Father the Son the Spirit whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knows him but you know him for he dwells with you and shall be in you and so here we see a twofold relationship of the disciples to the Holy Spirit number one is dwelling parra with you the same para Cleatus but this is just para the the preposition he's dwelling with you alongside of you but he shall be in you he's going to come on in now prior to your receiving Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit was dwelling with you it was the Holy Spirit that caused you to realize that you were a sinner and you needed help it was the Holy Spirit that pointed out Jesus Christ as the answer to your sin problem it was the Holy Spirit that drew you to Jesus Christ and caused you to come and say Oh Lord come into my life and take over that was the work of the Holy Spirit with you to bring you to that place of surrendering your life to Jesus Christ and the moment you surrendered your life to Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit came in you and began to indwell you now you know him jesus said this spirit because he is with you but he's going to be in you he's going to come and in dwell in your life Paul said don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you you are not your own you've been bought with a price therefore glorify God with your body and your spirit which are his so the Holy Spirit the twofold relationship dwelling with me to bring me to Christ and then now dwelling in me now that I have received Jesus Christ but as we move on into the book of Acts we find one further relationship where Jesus in acts 1:8 said but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes happy upon you and so there is that empowering of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer which we will touch on when we get to the book of Acts as soon as we finish the book of John so here we find twofold relationship but there is a three-fold relationship but Jesus isn't making mention of that here Jesus said I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you but yet a little while and the world will see me no more but you see me and because I live ye shall live also now he's been talking about going away where I'm going you cannot come he's been talking about his death but he's also talking about his eternal life I'm going to go away the world is not going to see me anymore but you see me and because I live you shall live also so my hope of eternal life is based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead if Christ is not raised from the dead then my hope is in vain my preaching is in vain and I'm a very miserable person but because Jesus is risen from the dead Peter said thank God we have a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible undefiled which fades not away which is reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith so that glorious living hope that we have because he lives we too shall live at that day you will know that I am in my father and you are in me and I am in you what a glorious relationship that we have now with God Christ is willing in the father we are dwelling in Christ Christ is dwelling in us father dwelling in us how beautiful it is he that hath my Commandments and keeps them he it is that loves me and he that loves me shall be loved of my father and I will love him and will manifest myself to him to whom the one who is keeping his Commandments Judas said unto him not Iscariot he's already gone Lord how is it that you will manifest thyself to us and not to the world and jesus answered and said unto him if a man loves me he will keep my words and my father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him man's relationship with God must be through obedience to the word the commandment of Jesus Christ demonstrated and manifested in our love and so if we love him we'll keep his words and the father and Christ will come and make their abode they will come and dwell with us Paul writing to the Ephesians said that Christ might dwell in your hearts through faith that word dwell is the same word ear abode and it literally means just settle down and make himself at home in your heart as your heart become Christ home does he feel comfortable there does he feel at home or does the art on the wall sort of bother him what's in your heart you see what kind of an imagination or pictures are there on the wall of your heart as Jesus is relaxing in the lounge and he looks at the wall what kind of pictures is he observing when I first invited the Lord in my heart I went in I could see that he was very uncomfortable so it was a matter of Lord he says all the pictures on the wall I can't take him you're gonna have to get rid of that art I know but Lord you know that's costly stuff he said get rid of it can't take it what is in your heart oh that Christ might just be at home there that my heart might be Christ's home that he might feel perfectly at home within my heart he that loves me keeps my words the father will love him we'll come and we'll settle down and make our home with him and he that loves me not will not keep my sayings but the words what you hear aren't really not mine but the father's which sent me and these things have I spoken unto you being yet present with you but the comforter the Parakletos which is the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name again the Trinity the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you and so here's the promise of that help that the Holy Spirit would give to us by teaching us all things and by quickening our recall bringing to our remembrance those things that he has said and then the beautiful bequest of peace peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid and so to a frightened bunch of troubled disciples Jesus is saying look my peace I give to you that kind of peace that he had when the boat was sinking and he was sleeping that peace that comes through the perfect confidence that the father is in control of everything that surrounds my life God's in control the peace let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid now you have heard how I said unto you that I'm going away and I'm coming again if you loved me you would rejoice because I said I'm going to the Father the father is greater than I interesting statement Jesus said if you loved me you would rejoice I'm going to I'm going to die I'm going to go be with the father now if you loved me you would rejoice you know isn't it interesting that when our loved ones die we cry if we really love them we would rejoice because they've gone to be with the Lord it's because we love ourselves that we cry I would bring them back to this miserable old earth I would bring him back to the decrepit old bodies I would keep them from that glory of dwelling with God in his kingdom in that new body in that new glory with him oh I would keep them from that I would bring them back to this old decrepit body and set them there so that they can still give input to me I've said it before and I say it again if the Lord should see fit to take me and a group gathers around as his Oh Lord don't let him die bring him back Lord when I get back watch out I'll bust you jesus said if you loved me you would rejoice because I'm going to the Father oh how glorious to be with the father you see it's only because we don't have a true concept of what heaven is like we think Oh earth is so wonderful life is so glorious he's so young what a shame that he had to die so young oh what a blessing he doesn't have to go through all the misery of this sick world you just have the wrong concept of heaven you don't realize how glorious it is and that's why Paul prayed that the mind of your understanding might be enlightened by the spirits that you may know what is the hope of your calling if you only knew what God has in store for those that loved him if you only knew what a glorious inheritance there is for those Saints in light you wouldn't be praying God bring them back you'd be praying Lord your will be done in the final days my mother was with us and the ministers used to come and pray Oh God heal or not when they leave kid smiled and she said I wasn't agreeing with them in prayer I don't want to be healed I said I I want to go and be with the Lord why don't they just let me go and be with the Lord and same praying God healed me you know I just wasn't agreeing with that prayer or we only knew the glory of God's kingdom now jesus said I've told you before it has come to pass that when it has come to pass you might believe he said this back in the thirteenth chapter xix verse and this again is one of the purposes for prophecy in the Bible to make a believer out of you telling things in advance before they happen so that when they happen you will believe yes he knew what he was talking about and so Jesus is is calling upon this prophecy as a pillar for faith I told you before it comes to pass so that when it does come to pass you might believe remember that I told you and and you'll believe that I am in control I know what I'm talking about you know it's all happening according to plan things are not out of hand now hereafter I'm not going to be able to talk much with you for the prince of this world comes and Jesus is soon going to go out into the garden to face the Prince of this world he's going to go out into the garden of gethsemane and by against every force and power of L the prince of this world comes but he has nothing jesus said in me but there in the garden a tremendous battle was waged and Jesus sweat as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground as there he was fighting this tremendous spiritual warfare as he was facing the cross but that the world may know that I love the father and as the father gave me commandment even so I do arise let's go and so with his disciples he now arises and he makes his way with them towards the Garden of Gethsemane and chapter 15 is a discourse on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane probably as they were passing by some vineyards and he is now teaching them of that glorious relationship that they are to have with him as the vine and the branches so next week chapters 15 and 16 and now may the Lord plant his word in your heart tonight and may the spirit bring it to your remembrance and may he enable you this week to love as God would have you to love even as Christ loved us and may our lives be open and yielded to that work of God's Spirit and may we each one be very concerned that we keep his commandment to love one another and may God give us opportunities to show that love to each other by serving one another in love as his children god bless you and help you as you put into practice his word this week in Jesus name

Channel: Ken Zenk

Views: 16,122

Rating: 4.7894735 out of 5

Keywords: Bible, God, Jesus, Christ, Love, Hell, Death, Sex, Marriage, Drugs, Satan, Porno, Cancer, Sports, Girls, Music, Holy Spirit, Children, Family, Heaven, Healing, Pregnant, Aids, Gay, Movies, TV Shows, Animals, Israel Prophecy, Last Days, Christian, Jewish People, Gentiles

Id: TgOfPB1HQnc

Length: 85min 36sec (5136 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 27 2013