WEBVTT 00:00:00.420 --> 00:00:02.200 I'm going to invite you to John 14. 00:00:02.880 --> 00:00:04.660 John 14 is where we're going to be together today. 00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:11.280 Beautiful section of scripture I told you, I hate to pick favorites in the Bible because it's all good. 00:00:11.280 --> 00:00:15.900 But for me, John 13-17, that's like the pinnacle for me. 00:00:16.040 --> 00:00:22.090 And the reason for that is because of what's happening in the life of Jesus and how He's treating this moment with His disciples. 00:00:22.740 --> 00:00:24.680 This is the final moments of Jesus' life. 00:00:24.740 --> 00:00:26.660 The last six hours of his life. 00:00:26.820 --> 00:00:33.110 He's choosing to spend these last six hours in an upper room with His closest followers, His 12 disciples. 00:00:33.540 --> 00:00:40.680 And He's teaching them some of the most intimate forms of teaching I think Jesus gave His instruction on this earth as it relates to following after 00:00:40.680 --> 00:00:41.000 Him. 00:00:42.020 --> 00:00:46.320 And you would understand in these moments, this is the midnight hour Jesus' life. 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:48.170 He's told his disciples He's about to die. 00:00:48.700 --> 00:00:50.860 And they're kind of seeing the writing on the wall for their life. 00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:55.240 "If we've given up everything, we've followed up to Jesus and He's gone now, what are we going to do? 00:00:55.580 --> 00:01:02.640 And now, because we've been associated with Jesus and Jesus is about to die, what's going to happen to us." There's a tremendous concern in their life and 00:01:02.640 --> 00:01:08.860 the state of their wellbeing and where they are in their pursuit of Jesus to the point that one person has already given up Judas, and he's turned Jesus in. 00:01:09.560 --> 00:01:15.550 And now you have the rest of these disciples that are following after Jesus, but wondering what their future holds. 00:01:15.660 --> 00:01:20.840 And in John 14, you get this beautiful section of scripture where Jesus starts off in chapter 14. 00:01:20.840 --> 00:01:27.740 He says, "Let not your heart be troubled." Let not your heart be troubled and He gives us a reason for that basis. 00:01:27.800 --> 00:01:30.910 And we saw that in the first six verses last week. 00:01:31.380 --> 00:01:38.680 But in verse 27, I just want you to see that Jesus has continued on that thread and verse 27 He says this "Peace 00:01:38.680 --> 00:01:45.840 I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you, do not let your heart be troubled nor 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:52.050 let it be fearful." Now you see Jesus' concern in this passage is for the wellbeing of the disciples. 00:01:52.800 --> 00:01:55.200 And they're in this state of feeling troubled. 00:01:55.760 --> 00:01:59.560 And I think in our lives, we tend to experience a similar thing as people. 00:01:59.560 --> 00:02:04.200 And so we come to a passage like this that we may not fully relate to what Jesus is going through. 00:02:04.220 --> 00:02:10.110 We come to a passage like this, we can find a reason in our own pursuit of Christ to find strength. 00:02:10.440 --> 00:02:12.740 They say in life in a very general sense. 00:02:12.780 --> 00:02:19.940 I know this what I'm about to say isn't always specifically true, but in a general way, it often is that when we tend to get anxious, our anxiety 00:02:19.940 --> 00:02:21.800 is dealt much with the future. 00:02:22.180 --> 00:02:25.820 And we tend to get depressed, our depression deals a lot with the past. 00:02:26.980 --> 00:02:30.640 But when we think about Jesus, it relates to those circumstances. 00:02:31.100 --> 00:02:38.240 In life, we tend to feel turmoil within our soul, but when we come to walk in that turmoil with Jesus, we understand that God holds the 00:02:38.340 --> 00:02:41.610 future in His hand and God has taken care of the past. 00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:46.260 And so He comes to this moment realizing that the disciples are in this terminal in their own life. 00:02:46.360 --> 00:02:49.060 But He is the God that holds all things in His hand. 00:02:50.240 --> 00:02:57.620 And He wants the disciples to understand as He is about to go to the cross, they see this as the end of everything they've been pursuing over the last three years. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:00.780 And Jesus has explained as the very purpose for His coming. 00:03:02.260 --> 00:03:04.480 That he holds all of this in His hands. 00:03:06.260 --> 00:03:14.100 And because God is following exactly as He prophetically declared long before He arrived, that there is a 00:03:14.100 --> 00:03:17.160 way and a place for us to find peace in Him. 00:03:18.300 --> 00:03:22.800 Because everything is happening according to His plan in these moments. 00:03:23.640 --> 00:03:24.680 And the same is true for you. 00:03:26.100 --> 00:03:27.160 The same is true for you. 00:03:27.220 --> 00:03:31.960 That God, as He was the God of yesterday, today and forever in the first century is still the same God. 00:03:33.500 --> 00:03:38.520 And He sees exactly where you are and He knows exactly what you're going through. 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:39.410 And He cares. 00:03:39.700 --> 00:03:43.180 And the reason we know He cares is because He came in the flesh for you. 00:03:44.420 --> 00:03:51.340 And so it's on this basis that Jesus is now teaching His disciples about the circumstances. 00:03:51.340 --> 00:03:55.080 And I don't have this on the screen, but in verse six, He taught us something very important. 00:03:55.140 --> 00:03:58.400 He says, "I am the way, the truth and the life." Very powerful phrase. 00:03:58.420 --> 00:04:05.480 And what Jesus is saying is "Look disciples when you feel like the world is falling apart, when you think you followed after me for three years, given up everything to 00:04:05.480 --> 00:04:08.240 pursue me, you think things are changing. 00:04:08.660 --> 00:04:10.200 I don't want you to run away from me. 00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:18.279 What I actually want is for you to lean further into me because of who I am." And so when you look 00:04:18.279 --> 00:04:23.780 in verse seven to 12, this is the basis that Jesus continues on the thread of that idea. 00:04:23.820 --> 00:04:27.120 Look at in verse seven into really verse 10. 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:29.540 There's a word Jesus emphasizes here. 00:04:29.900 --> 00:04:30.760 And give me a click, Caleb. 00:04:30.780 --> 00:04:31.220 Oh, there we go. 00:04:31.540 --> 00:04:32.500 Verse seven to 10. 00:04:32.680 --> 00:04:36.680 Jesus often talks about in this phrase, He talks about believing. 00:04:37.160 --> 00:04:44.420 "If you had known me, you would have known my Father also from now on you know Him and have seen Him." Philip said 00:04:44.420 --> 00:04:51.240 to Him, "Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us." And Jesus said, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to me, Philip. 00:04:51.440 --> 00:04:53.760 He who has seen me, has seen the Father. 00:04:53.760 --> 00:04:55.360 How can you say, show us the Father? 00:04:55.360 --> 00:04:57.890 Do you not look, believe that I am the Father? 00:04:58.300 --> 00:04:59.580 And the Father is in me. 00:04:59.700 --> 00:05:07.100 The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own initiative, but the Father abiding me does not His works." And verse 11, "Believe me 00:05:07.100 --> 00:05:14.380 that I am in the Father and the Father is in me otherwise believe because of the works themselves." Caleb is there a slide right before this? 00:05:14.540 --> 00:05:16.930 You go back up from just a minute. 00:05:17.380 --> 00:05:17.800 There you go. 00:05:18.060 --> 00:05:18.690 That's that works. 00:05:18.740 --> 00:05:23.940 Jesus emphasizes the idea of believing, trusting in Him. 00:05:25.160 --> 00:05:28.020 Trusting in the identity of who He is. 00:05:28.020 --> 00:05:31.200 So we think about the word believe we talked a little bit about this last week. 00:05:31.940 --> 00:05:33.920 There's a couple of ways we associate with belief. 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:37.510 There's a thought that we can say, "I believe in George Washington. 00:05:38.080 --> 00:05:39.790 I mean, I believe he was in a historical figure. 00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:44.460 I believe he existed." And some people, when they talk about believing in Jesus, that's word they mean. 00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:50.390 They have this understanding that Jesus existed, that He was this historical figure that existed at some point in life. 00:05:50.840 --> 00:05:56.320 And that is a type of belief, but it's not the type of belief that Jesus is talking about here. 00:05:56.540 --> 00:05:59.030 What Jesus is identifying here is believing in. 00:06:00.220 --> 00:06:03.540 Taking all that you are and trusting in everything that He is. 00:06:04.360 --> 00:06:11.600 So this idea of believe is not simply this intellectual ascent to the idea that Jesus existed, but to understand the foundation of Jesus is 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:13.180 everything your life should lean into. 00:06:14.200 --> 00:06:15.660 So it's this trusting Him. 00:06:15.960 --> 00:06:17.500 And go ahead and click the next slide, Caleb. 00:06:18.020 --> 00:06:22.140 And when you say, "Okay, if I'm going to believe in Jesus, why should I believe in Jesus? 00:06:22.180 --> 00:06:26.740 Why should I lean into Christ like that?" The disciples would be asking the same question in this story. 00:06:27.740 --> 00:06:30.520 They're thinking, "Jesus, you've just said that you're going to die. 00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:32.980 We thought you were the Messiah coming to deliver this kingdom. 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:37.480 Now all of a sudden you're dying, how are we going to pursue this king and his kingdom when you're dead? 00:06:38.180 --> 00:06:45.220 Seems like it becomes worthless to us at this point." And Jesus is saying, "When you feel like everything is falling apart, that's when you need to lean further into me 00:06:45.220 --> 00:06:52.600 to believe in to me." Here's why, "Because of the identity of who I am." That's 00:06:52.600 --> 00:06:54.120 what verse seven to 12 explains to us. 00:06:54.940 --> 00:06:55.920 Back up for me, Caleb. 00:06:57.720 --> 00:07:03.040 "Because of the identity of who I am." This is what He's teaching His disciples in these moments. 00:07:04.380 --> 00:07:11.680 "If you had known me, you would have known the Father also." So He's saying, "Look, you want to understand what I am about, who I am, the very 00:07:11.680 --> 00:07:14.800 foundation why I'm telling you to even trust in me? 00:07:15.620 --> 00:07:16.680 Is because of my nature. 00:07:17.760 --> 00:07:24.980 My nature is the same as the Father's nature." In fact, Philip asks the question in verse 18, he says to Him, "Show us if we can see you, 00:07:24.980 --> 00:07:31.720 show us the Father?" Is a very elementary question, but all we know as Christians, we believe something unique about the Trinity of God. 00:07:31.780 --> 00:07:39.100 We see Jesus told us, we've talked about this together in John 10:30, "I and the Father are one." And we want to explain in verses 31 00:07:39.100 --> 00:07:41.500 to 33, Jesus explains to us what that means. 00:07:41.780 --> 00:07:48.340 Not just simply one in purpose, but one in being, the same nature in the Father's the same nature in Jesus. 00:07:48.760 --> 00:07:56.060 It wasn't until in John 1, that we discover that out of the God had Father, Son and Spirit that the 00:07:56.060 --> 00:07:57.800 Son takes on flesh. 00:07:58.900 --> 00:08:00.240 The God had has no flesh. 00:08:00.440 --> 00:08:07.680 Jesus then takes on flesh so that He can die for you in the flesh, so that Jesus can be a sufficient sacrifice for your sin. 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:13.000 Jesus becomes the flesh and Christianity, we have no belief that the Father has any flesh. 00:08:13.840 --> 00:08:21.300 In fact, in John 4:24, it tells us "God is Spirit." And in Luke 24:39 "As Spirit has no flesh and bones." 00:08:22.700 --> 00:08:27.700 But what you discover in Jesus is Jesus becomes the personification of the Father and the flesh. 00:08:27.720 --> 00:08:28.390 And what I mean is this. 00:08:28.820 --> 00:08:36.059 It tells us in John 1:18, that He is the image of the Father, that He is the pronunciation, the exposition 00:08:36.059 --> 00:08:39.059 of God, meaning He is the walking sermon of the Father. 00:08:39.340 --> 00:08:40.799 If you want to see what the Father is like? 00:08:40.900 --> 00:08:41.610 Look at Jesus. 00:08:41.740 --> 00:08:45.720 That's what it says in John 1:18 or in 1 Timothy 6:16. 00:08:45.720 --> 00:08:48.300 It tells us no one has ever seen the Father. 00:08:48.300 --> 00:08:50.000 No one will ever see the Father. 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:52.680 But Jesus has explained Him. 00:08:53.820 --> 00:09:00.060 In fact, in Colossians 1:15, it tells us, Jesus is the image of the invisible God. 00:09:01.500 --> 00:09:06.680 Colossians 2:9, He is the fullness of God in bodily form. 00:09:08.040 --> 00:09:11.280 So while Philip asks this question, Jesus goes on to explain "You not understand. 00:09:12.420 --> 00:09:19.520 No one has seen the Father, no one can see the Father." But Jesus has taken on flesh and live precisely as God would live 00:09:19.520 --> 00:09:23.540 so that we could see in the flesh that God Himself has become flesh. 00:09:23.540 --> 00:09:25.900 And we could see what the Father is like by looking at Jesus. 00:09:27.960 --> 00:09:29.820 So why would we believe in Him? 00:09:32.540 --> 00:09:35.120 Because of the very nature He possesses. 00:09:35.240 --> 00:09:43.280 He is God in the flesh, the power of our belief is 00:09:43.280 --> 00:09:45.880 not found in the size of your belief. 00:09:47.460 --> 00:09:53.800 The power of your belief is found in the magnitude of the God, for which you express that belief in. 00:09:54.440 --> 00:09:54.960 Does that make sense? 00:09:55.940 --> 00:10:03.300 What I'm saying is Jesus is saying "Believe." and the power of that statement is not found in that you believe, but 00:10:03.300 --> 00:10:05.030 it's what you're believing in. 00:10:06.400 --> 00:10:10.480 And so Jesus is saying to us, "Look, lean harder into me, you want this piece? 00:10:10.520 --> 00:10:13.280 Here's why you can have this piece, one because you can believe in me. 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:18.820 And second, because of the identity of who I am." And then he gives this crazy thought, in verse 12. 00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:26.350 In these moments, the disciples are wondering what is left? 00:10:27.760 --> 00:10:35.020 And Jesus is saying, "While you think I'm dying and you think this is over rather than retreat, 00:10:35.020 --> 00:10:42.020 what I want you to do is think about the future." Disciples be looking at thinking that "What future?" And Jesus is saying, "No, 00:10:42.100 --> 00:10:49.440 I want you to understand just how incredible what's about to happen is going to be for your lives." And He says this in verse 12, "Truly, truly." 00:10:49.640 --> 00:10:51.220 This means this is very true. 00:10:51.220 --> 00:10:54.400 Listen, in fact, if anything you listen to what Jesus saying, listen to this. 00:10:54.400 --> 00:10:55.590 "This is a true statement. 00:10:55.860 --> 00:11:03.020 I say to you, he who believes in me the works that I do, he will do also and greater works than these he 00:11:03.020 --> 00:11:07.310 will do because I go to the Father." Now that seems a bit crazy. 00:11:08.190 --> 00:11:12.830 How in the world can you do greater works than Jesus? 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:15.300 That's exactly what Jesus is saying here. 00:11:15.440 --> 00:11:22.640 "Not only do you not need to retreat in this moment, but when you lean further into me, I want you to consider what great things you're going to do in this 00:11:22.640 --> 00:11:24.920 life for His kingdom and for your king. 00:11:26.580 --> 00:11:27.980 That feels a bit blasphemous. 00:11:29.220 --> 00:11:31.880 We're going to do greater things than Jesus, right? 00:11:32.470 --> 00:11:34.200 But what does that mean? 00:11:35.660 --> 00:11:41.040 And how, if this is possible, how do we it? 00:11:41.240 --> 00:11:43.860 Well, let me explain first what it means very quickly. 00:11:43.920 --> 00:11:45.380 And then I want to talk for the rest of the time. 00:11:45.850 --> 00:11:47.230 How do we do this? 00:11:47.640 --> 00:11:50.620 Because I think it's good we talk about what it means first. 00:11:50.620 --> 00:11:57.220 So that way, if we do lean into blasphemy by asking that question, we can unblasphemy ourselves. 00:11:57.620 --> 00:11:59.200 So what does it mean? 00:11:59.860 --> 00:12:08.380 Well, when Jesus says greater works than these He's off, He's obviously doesn't mean greater in the sense of a specific work, meaning 00:12:08.380 --> 00:12:15.390 the quality I would say, but rather the extent of the work, more of the quantity. 00:12:16.900 --> 00:12:22.300 So what I mean is you're not ever going to do a greater work than Jesus has accomplished on the cross for us, right? 00:12:23.080 --> 00:12:28.540 That great work is the work that sets up all other work that God's people will do in history for His name. 00:12:29.720 --> 00:12:36.520 So we're not going to exceed that work because that work is the salvation for mankind, as they put their faith in Jesus. 00:12:37.680 --> 00:12:40.800 So the quality of the work, we will not exceed Christ. 00:12:42.220 --> 00:12:47.070 But what Jesus is referencing here is the quantity. 00:12:47.420 --> 00:12:54.300 If I gave it to you another way, you read Jesus's life and you see different accounts of Jesus, resurrecting people from the grave. 00:12:55.000 --> 00:13:00.200 And so you think about, "Wow, greater works than I will do then Jesus," Jesus resurrected people from the grave. 00:13:00.280 --> 00:13:04.000 And you'd be like in an erroneous way, you could be like, "Well, that was great. 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:11.200 But Jesus just resurrected a few people, Monday's just resurrection day for me, I wake up and everyday I raise one 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:14.200 person from there gave." So like, that's not what this is saying. 00:13:16.280 --> 00:13:23.340 What this is saying is, but as God's people got a hold of this, it's not the quality we 00:13:23.340 --> 00:13:24.540 want to exceed Jesus. 00:13:24.620 --> 00:13:29.740 But the quantity of all of God's people living for this, for His great name throughout the world. 00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:33.470 It's going to be powerful, it's going to be incredible. 00:13:33.860 --> 00:13:38.940 And you think as the disciples in this moment, they're just 11 people in an upper room. 00:13:40.020 --> 00:13:42.400 And right now it feels like the world's kind of fall apart. 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:44.920 How can that happen? 00:13:47.620 --> 00:13:48.910 How is this possible? 00:13:51.260 --> 00:13:52.040 How is this possible? 00:13:52.160 --> 00:13:59.160 This morning if you've got notes, I want to give you, if you picked up the notes that at information counter, just three answers to the question, how 00:13:59.160 --> 00:14:04.660 can we do greater works as Jesus is describing in this passage description? 00:14:04.680 --> 00:14:09.800 I'm going to tell you the first answer is the most important answer. 00:14:11.060 --> 00:14:15.720 And if you walk into this, as the disciples are, remember, they're thinking world falling apart. 00:14:15.720 --> 00:14:18.580 We need to figure out how to hide because if Jesus is getting killed. 00:14:18.600 --> 00:14:19.520 We could get killed too. 00:14:19.520 --> 00:14:21.140 And Jesus saying, "No, don't do that at all. 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:23.500 Lean further into me. 00:14:24.480 --> 00:14:26.840 And don't worry about what awaits you. 00:14:26.840 --> 00:14:33.840 Look, I want you to pursue in this world with great anticipation and hope for all that God has called you to." Going through a 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:34.380 rough time? 00:14:35.680 --> 00:14:36.500 Jesus is greater. 00:14:38.340 --> 00:14:43.800 And so how can we do greater works than these? 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:52.260 Answer one, the most powerful answer out of all three, but let me say it like this, trust brings relationship. 00:14:54.180 --> 00:14:56.620 Trust brings relationship. 00:14:56.640 --> 00:15:00.980 When we talk about relationship, we're talking about His powerful presence in relationship. 00:15:02.980 --> 00:15:08.920 In verse 13, Jesus starts to show us then why is it possible for us to be able to do greater works than these? 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:09.460 And look at this. 00:15:09.480 --> 00:15:16.800 He says, "Whatever you ask in my name that will I do, so that the Father may 00:15:16.800 --> 00:15:18.480 be glorified in the Son. 00:15:19.500 --> 00:15:23.100 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. 00:15:23.460 --> 00:15:26.570 If you love me, you will keep my commandments." We'll talk about verse 15 in a minute. 00:15:27.100 --> 00:15:28.340 And if some of us read verse 13 and 14. 00:15:28.800 --> 00:15:33.340 And if someone would be like, "I have been waiting in this first, my whole life. 00:15:33.420 --> 00:15:35.820 Asked God, whatever I want, God gives it. 00:15:35.820 --> 00:15:37.840 Let's let's all gather around the alter here. 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:45.040 And let's pray for mansions and Ferraris, that's what this versus say." I ask God and he gives you whatever you want whenever 00:15:45.040 --> 00:15:45.920 you want i. 00:15:46.020 --> 00:15:48.580 It's like the candy store that never ends. 00:15:48.610 --> 00:15:50.940 That's obviously not what Jesus is saying here. 00:15:50.940 --> 00:15:54.880 But let me just demonstrate for us what Jesus means. 00:15:55.220 --> 00:15:57.760 We think in terms of greater works that we will do in Jesus. 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:04.060 What's important to recognize is that we have the opportunity in whatever we do in this life to always connect to God. 00:16:05.780 --> 00:16:08.960 You have access to God in the form of prayer. 00:16:11.160 --> 00:16:18.280 Your prayer, no more special than my prayer, but all prayer equally special and being able to communicate with 00:16:18.280 --> 00:16:19.220 God. 00:16:19.220 --> 00:16:21.080 I'm a pastor. 00:16:21.080 --> 00:16:28.460 There's not my words before God, no better than your words before God, because God promises all of us can communicate 00:16:28.460 --> 00:16:30.220 with Him. 00:16:30.380 --> 00:16:31.740 And it's a beautiful privilege to think. 00:16:33.060 --> 00:16:36.140 No matter where you are in life, Jesus knows what you're going through. 00:16:36.300 --> 00:16:37.360 Jesus knows where you've been. 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:39.380 And Jesus wants to hear from you. 00:16:40.820 --> 00:16:42.920 Ask anything He says in my name. 00:16:44.020 --> 00:16:51.140 Now we consider what Jesus is saying as it relates to prayer, what His name identifies for us, is both His 00:16:51.140 --> 00:16:55.120 authority and His desire or His will. 00:16:56.080 --> 00:17:03.300 Meaning when we're praying, our hearts desires to connect with our King, to accomplish our King's purpose in this world, according to His authority 00:17:03.300 --> 00:17:03.980 and power. 00:17:05.260 --> 00:17:07.619 So we come to God, we come not by our strength. 00:17:07.619 --> 00:17:14.619 We don't say "Lord, I'm praying to you," and then the Father asks "Under what authority?" And you say, "Because I'm awesome." That's not, 00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:18.099 what He's saying is when you come before God, you can pray before the Lord. 00:17:18.099 --> 00:17:20.099 Not because you're great, but because Jesus is great. 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:27.940 And because of what Jesus has done for you and because of what Jesus has done for you, Hebrews 4:14-16 says, "Anytime, anywhere you can come before God. 00:17:30.200 --> 00:17:37.100 Connecting to Him in the power of His name and His name also representing His will. 00:17:38.280 --> 00:17:45.580 Meaning when we're seeking after God, our heart's desire is what Jesus wants to accomplish in this 00:17:45.580 --> 00:17:46.440 world. 00:17:48.380 --> 00:17:55.570 God help me to do and live for the very purpose for which you have created me, 00:17:56.200 --> 00:18:00.940 that people would be blessed, and that your name would be glorified. 00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:09.980 Prayer is not about getting what I want, prayer is about accomplishing or prayers is not about accomplishing I should 00:18:09.980 --> 00:18:10.880 say my will. 00:18:12.300 --> 00:18:14.900 But seeking Him in order to accomplish His will. 00:18:16.220 --> 00:18:19.560 It's not about what I want, but about what He wants. 00:18:19.580 --> 00:18:26.960 Now, sometimes what I want is very connected to what God wants or desires because God cares about where I 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:27.620 am. 00:18:29.280 --> 00:18:35.380 But Jesus desires to accomplish His will in this world, through his people who would desire to accomplish His will as well. 00:18:36.780 --> 00:18:43.160 And so we come before God, we pray according to His authority in his name, by His will. 00:18:43.180 --> 00:18:45.520 1 John 3 and 5. 00:18:45.520 --> 00:18:50.740 If you want to look up those later, say the same thing, whatever we ask according to His will we receive in Him. 00:18:50.880 --> 00:18:58.160 One of my favorite historical prayers if I gave you an example is a man by the name of William Tyndale in the 15 hundreds, William Tyndale's desire 00:18:58.160 --> 00:19:05.420 was to see the Bible in English, in the hands of people. 00:19:05.580 --> 00:19:12.720 He said, William, Tyndale's on record of saying he wants a plow boy to know God's word more than even 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:14.040 the ministers of the day. 00:19:15.140 --> 00:19:18.900 Because during William Tyndale's day, everyone that could read Latin. 00:19:19.460 --> 00:19:22.680 If you read God's word, it had to be in Latin, which was very few people. 00:19:23.260 --> 00:19:27.630 And so Tyndale's desire was to print the Bible in English so people could read it in English. 00:19:27.660 --> 00:19:32.000 Unfortunately in Tyndale's day, it was illegal to own a Bible in English. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:39.140 And so it led William Tyndale to a point of being found guilty of violating the law. 00:19:39.280 --> 00:19:44.960 And because of that, he was strangled and burned at a stake and said, give me a picture there. 00:19:45.020 --> 00:19:48.880 He was strangled and then burnt at the stake in 1536. 00:19:48.940 --> 00:19:56.060 But as he dies as a martyr, his prayer written there off to the side as "Lord open the 00:19:56.180 --> 00:20:01.500 king of England's eyes." His heart was God's word go forth. 00:20:02.560 --> 00:20:09.860 And three years after his martyrdom in 1539, the king passed a wall that every 00:20:09.860 --> 00:20:14.580 church in England have a copy of God's word in English. 00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:21.100 He carried God's desire, God's will that His word would go forth. 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:24.880 And God answered that prayer. 00:20:25.080 --> 00:20:30.880 And so we think about what it means to pray according to the God's will, it's praying with God's heart for the things in this world. 00:20:31.360 --> 00:20:36.570 And when we think of trust brings relationship in terms with God, according to prayer. 00:20:37.260 --> 00:20:44.340 The second half of this verse verses 16 to 19, the section of the verse also highlights for us that we think about trust bringing 00:20:44.340 --> 00:20:48.980 relationship that also brings with us relationship in the Spirit. 00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:56.310 And so look at this, it says, verse 16, "I will ask the Father." Jesus is saying this, "I will ask the Father and He will give you another 00:20:56.540 --> 00:20:58.880 helper." I'll talk about what that means in just a minute. 00:20:59.120 --> 00:21:03.820 "That he maybe with you forever," that is the Spirit of truth. 00:21:03.940 --> 00:21:06.860 In verse 26, He's going to tell us that that's the Holy Spirit. 00:21:07.340 --> 00:21:09.200 So the Spirit of truth is the way it's referred to here. 00:21:09.240 --> 00:21:10.550 But it's also the Holy Spirit. 00:21:10.940 --> 00:21:18.120 "That's the Spirit of truth and the world cannot receive because it does not, he him or know him, but you know him because he abides with 00:21:18.260 --> 00:21:19.640 you and will be in you. 00:21:19.940 --> 00:21:21.470 I will not leave you as orphans. 00:21:21.560 --> 00:21:27.360 I will come to you after a little while, the world will no longer see me, but you will see me because I live. 00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:30.800 You will live also in that day. 00:21:30.800 --> 00:21:38.120 You will know that I am in my Father and you and me and I in 00:21:38.120 --> 00:21:42.560 you." So here He is talking about us relationship with the Lord. 00:21:42.920 --> 00:21:46.120 And the reason we have that, the reason we can do these great works. 00:21:46.300 --> 00:21:49.860 The reason we have this relationship with God is because of the presence of God's Spirit. 00:21:51.840 --> 00:21:53.420 God's Spirit and His people. 00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:54.350 I mean, He says it in this passage. 00:21:54.580 --> 00:21:56.480 "I will not leave you as an orphan. 00:21:57.300 --> 00:22:02.440 I will be with you and the Spirit will be in you." It's the beautiful thing for us as God's people. 00:22:02.460 --> 00:22:05.400 It's the reason God's church today does not build temples. 00:22:06.060 --> 00:22:13.110 It's the reason after 78D when the temple was destroyed, Jerusalem temple was destroyed in Jerusalem, that the church didn't go and rebuild temples. 00:22:14.020 --> 00:22:16.520 It's because in the temple, the Spirit of God dwell there. 00:22:17.320 --> 00:22:22.100 But when Jesus came and Jesus died on the cross, Jesus tore the veil of the temple. 00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:30.020 And it was to symbolize that the Spirit of God, no longer dwell in the temple, the presence of God no longer dwelt in temple, but now rather the Spirit of God's 00:22:30.020 --> 00:22:31.020 dwells in God's people. 00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:33.380 Making you the temple of God. 00:22:33.380 --> 00:22:34.940 1 Corinthians 3:16. 00:22:34.940 --> 00:22:37.780 1 Corinthians 6:19 says that. 00:22:37.940 --> 00:22:42.660 In Ephesians 1:13, you are sealed in the Spirit 4:30. 00:22:42.660 --> 00:22:44.400 You are sealed in the Spirit. 00:22:44.540 --> 00:22:45.720 God's Spirit dwells in you. 00:22:46.140 --> 00:22:48.520 You are the walking temple of God. 00:22:48.800 --> 00:22:50.360 God's presence with you. 00:22:50.440 --> 00:22:57.700 And when Jesus describes this is the power of God wherever you go to do the will of God in this world, as you can connect to God in prayer, 00:22:57.820 --> 00:22:59.440 and as you live for God in this world. 00:23:01.120 --> 00:23:08.140 So we think about the greater works that Jesus is talking about in a very isolated way, Jesus dwells in Jerusalem to 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:11.270 accomplish God's work in this world in first century. 00:23:11.300 --> 00:23:13.880 This is Jesus doing this and this passage of scripture. 00:23:14.460 --> 00:23:18.940 But now He's going to say, "You want to do you want to know what's going to happen?" Greater works than these are about to take place. 00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:19.910 And here's how. 00:23:20.560 --> 00:23:24.260 God's Spirit is going to indwell God's people all over this world. 00:23:25.420 --> 00:23:29.430 So the quality of work in Christ, no one will beat that. 00:23:29.560 --> 00:23:32.560 I mean, Jesus died on the cross for the sins of mankind. 00:23:33.160 --> 00:23:40.160 You can't beat that, but the quantity as God's people embrace Jesus and the power of God's Spirit in dwelling God's 00:23:40.280 --> 00:23:42.640 people to accomplish God's will in this world? 00:23:43.080 --> 00:23:44.380 It is a powerful force. 00:23:45.460 --> 00:23:47.500 And that's what Jesus wants us to begin to see. 00:23:47.500 --> 00:23:48.460 He's communicating. 00:23:48.460 --> 00:23:56.440 "Look, you want me to leave?" He'll say that at the very end of this chapter, "You want me to leave because when I leave, this is what's about to happen." And 00:23:56.440 --> 00:24:03.440 this is going to be a powerful force that moves into this world against the forces of darkness that the light of God be made known into the hearts of 00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:03.940 men. 00:24:05.180 --> 00:24:09.260 The thing right now this morning, connecting to God in prayer, what a gift? 00:24:10.020 --> 00:24:17.180 I mean, most religions see God as this deistic figure who sort of wound up 00:24:17.180 --> 00:24:20.540 this world and He's off in the distance away from us. 00:24:22.020 --> 00:24:22.540 And here we are. 00:24:23.980 --> 00:24:31.200 But Christianity shows a God who comes near in the flesh, who gives His life for you personally, 00:24:31.840 --> 00:24:35.960 and places his Spirit in you, that he may walk with you all of your days. 00:24:37.560 --> 00:24:43.380 Wherever you are, God, His power, His strength, His presence. 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:49.920 When Jesus refers to this counselor was important to see as one He's the Spirit of truth. 00:24:50.800 --> 00:24:52.520 And truth is the highest virtue in life. 00:24:52.540 --> 00:24:56.940 The way that the spirit wants to lead you as in truth, very important thought. 00:24:56.940 --> 00:24:58.820 And at the same time, He's another helper. 00:25:00.140 --> 00:25:00.860 This idea of another. 00:25:00.980 --> 00:25:01.880 And we're talking about another for a minute. 00:25:01.880 --> 00:25:04.690 We'll talk about helper, but this idea of another very important. 00:25:05.540 --> 00:25:12.020 In 1 John 2:12, Jesus is referred to as an advocate or a helper or a counselor. 00:25:12.520 --> 00:25:16.600 Some translations will say, so Jesus has the same title as the Spirit. 00:25:17.460 --> 00:25:18.620 In 1 John 2. 00:25:19.300 --> 00:25:26.840 And then He gets the Spirit and now He refers to the Spirit as another, what Jesus is saying in this passage, this word, another means of the same likeness 00:25:26.840 --> 00:25:27.220 as me. 00:25:28.300 --> 00:25:35.080 So what Jesus is saying is like, "Look, disciples, don't be concerned that I'm leaving, because I'm going to talk to the Father. 00:25:35.080 --> 00:25:39.160 The Father is going to send His Spirit and the Spirit's going to continue in the work for which I was doing. 00:25:39.740 --> 00:25:41.180 The same thing I was doing on this earth. 00:25:41.220 --> 00:25:42.850 The spirit of God is going to do it now. 00:25:43.480 --> 00:25:47.800 And he's going to do it in you, not just with you as I did, but in you. 00:25:48.940 --> 00:25:56.020 So when I leave, don't fret over the thought that I'm gone, because God's Spirit will be with you and God's Spirit 00:25:56.020 --> 00:26:02.440 will be in you accomplishing the same thing." The spirit Jesus is saying by calling him another helper is just like me. 00:26:03.400 --> 00:26:10.400 And that's a very powerful thought because what He is saying to us is remember Jesus is saying, "Just as I said, I am equal with the 00:26:10.400 --> 00:26:10.980 Father. 00:26:12.060 --> 00:26:19.690 One in nature, I'm sending another helper who is equal to me in nature. 00:26:20.040 --> 00:26:21.100 Father, Son, and Spirit. 00:26:21.900 --> 00:26:25.120 The same power you've seen in me is the same power he's going to possess. 00:26:25.120 --> 00:26:32.140 And he's going to possess it in you." So this idea of another is just not something different, but it's 00:26:32.140 --> 00:26:35.920 equal to the fact that Jesus was a helper and an advocate. 00:26:35.960 --> 00:26:37.660 And He's sending one just like Him. 00:26:38.620 --> 00:26:43.680 Which is why as Christians, we talk about baptism and we baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and Holy spirit. 00:26:43.720 --> 00:26:48.200 It's a Trinitarian benediction to the baptism of the life of someone dedicated to God. 00:26:48.220 --> 00:26:53.820 It's why we hold to the Trinitarian thought because Father, Son, and Spirit are equal in their authority in power. 00:26:57.320 --> 00:26:58.880 And Jesus is sending him as a helper. 00:27:00.060 --> 00:27:07.120 Now if you're looking at the English translation for this passage of scripture, not the Greek, I don't know how many people bring a Greek to church, but you'll find 00:27:07.120 --> 00:27:07.910 the English translations. 00:27:08.260 --> 00:27:09.300 There's a lot of different ways. 00:27:09.300 --> 00:27:10.540 They translate this word helper. 00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:15.080 Some say helper, some say comforter, some say counselors, some say advocate. 00:27:16.540 --> 00:27:18.340 Helper is almost so broad. 00:27:18.340 --> 00:27:20.300 It's unhelpful. 00:27:20.760 --> 00:27:27.060 Comforter, comforter is an old English word that in modern English, we've really transitioned the definition of what it means to be a comforter. 00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:31.320 We typically think of, you need a comforter because you call what booboo and you're sad. 00:27:31.680 --> 00:27:32.880 he's like, "Let me comfort. 00:27:33.140 --> 00:27:36.980 You feel a little sicky, let's cover you up." That's like, typically think of comfort. 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:44.280 But in old English, the word comforter, when they saw it as more of a fortitude, a strengthening, a building of a fortress 00:27:44.280 --> 00:27:47.020 to accomplish and to withstand and to hold. 00:27:48.040 --> 00:27:53.360 And so when we think of the word comforter, a great definition for old English, modernized, not so much. 00:27:53.940 --> 00:27:58.240 Councilor, it carries more of a therapeutic idea in modern times today. 00:27:58.820 --> 00:28:01.430 I think the best word here we could use as an advocate. 00:28:02.520 --> 00:28:09.640 And the reason is because this term in Greek literature deals with, it's a legal term, and it deals with someone who 00:28:09.640 --> 00:28:13.600 shows up to your aid to offer you counsel in defense. 00:28:14.620 --> 00:28:16.080 And that's what it's saying here about the Holy Spirit. 00:28:16.120 --> 00:28:17.800 You know what the Holy Spirit is going to do in your life? 00:28:18.220 --> 00:28:21.940 He is your great defender and counselor and all that you go through in this world. 00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:25.220 It's kind of like saying it like this. 00:28:25.340 --> 00:28:26.200 I hope in your life. 00:28:26.300 --> 00:28:29.180 You never have to hire a lawyer for anything, but let's say you do. 00:28:29.320 --> 00:28:32.380 If you're a lawyer, I'm not trying to be offensive to you. 00:28:32.640 --> 00:28:37.240 If we can avoid those things, I would prefer, but I know that times of life they're necessary. 00:28:37.520 --> 00:28:37.720 Okay? 00:28:38.860 --> 00:28:40.280 But let's say you have to hire a lawyer. 00:28:41.080 --> 00:28:45.680 What He's saying is this about the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit in a spiritual sense is your lawyer. 00:28:46.280 --> 00:28:49.110 But when you hire a lawyer, you want to hire the best lawyer. 00:28:49.300 --> 00:28:51.670 You don't want to hire a lawyer that's going to lead you to a loss. 00:28:51.800 --> 00:28:53.360 You want to hire a lawyer that's going to lead you to victory. 00:28:53.980 --> 00:28:59.160 You want to hire the kind of lawyer that when he walks into a room, everyone else pees their pants, right? 00:28:59.320 --> 00:29:00.820 That's the kind of lawyer you want to get. 00:29:00.860 --> 00:29:06.420 When he walks in everyone else so intimidated by his presence, that he's just got the victory silt up. 00:29:06.560 --> 00:29:10.980 And so when you think about the Holy Spirit, that's what He's saying about your life. 00:29:12.180 --> 00:29:16.660 That's who He is, the power of his presence, not to be undermined. 00:29:17.580 --> 00:29:20.680 So why is it possible for us to do greater works than these? 00:29:21.940 --> 00:29:27.940 Because trust in Jesus or believing in Jesus, His authority brings relationship. 00:29:28.240 --> 00:29:35.090 And in that relationship, we have this connection to God and the power of His presence made known through a Spirit. 00:29:35.180 --> 00:29:37.630 Number two, these last two I'll do quickly. 00:29:39.240 --> 00:29:41.020 Trust brings obedience. 00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:44.300 Trust brings obedience. 00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:52.220 And when I say obedience, what I'm saying is not just this religious performance, but rather walking with Jesus in unity. 00:29:53.680 --> 00:30:01.090 I want to know Jesus, I want to walk with Jesus, because I understand what Jesus has given to me is the power of his presence, and the ability to communicate to him anytime, 00:30:01.620 --> 00:30:03.430 anywhere in whatever I'm going through in this world. 00:30:04.700 --> 00:30:05.380 I want that Jesus. 00:30:06.820 --> 00:30:13.820 And so, as I believe in Him, as in trusting in Him, it leads me to this path of obedience, where I'm walking in unity 00:30:13.820 --> 00:30:14.380 with Him. 00:30:14.680 --> 00:30:19.920 And it says to us in verse 21, he who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me. 00:30:20.180 --> 00:30:22.350 And he who loves me will be loved by my Father. 00:30:22.720 --> 00:30:25.280 And I will love him and will disclose myself to him. 00:30:25.620 --> 00:30:32.920 Judas, not Iscariot said to him, "Lord, what then has happened that you were going to disclose yourself to us and not to the world?" And 00:30:32.920 --> 00:30:36.200 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. 00:30:36.560 --> 00:30:37.740 And my Father will love him. 00:30:38.040 --> 00:30:41.960 And we will come to him and make our abode with him. 00:30:42.280 --> 00:30:44.750 He who does not love me, does not keep my words. 00:30:45.100 --> 00:30:52.360 And the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father who sent me." What He's saying is this verse 00:30:52.360 --> 00:30:53.810 24, you don't want Jesus? 00:30:54.300 --> 00:30:54.800 Don't take Jesus. 00:30:55.820 --> 00:30:57.330 You won't have the relationship with Jesus. 00:30:57.580 --> 00:30:58.200 And there you go. 00:30:58.200 --> 00:30:59.960 If you don't want Jesus, you don't have to have relationship with Jesus. 00:31:01.980 --> 00:31:07.840 But if you want Jesus and you walk with Jesus in unity, you have this intimacy with God. 00:31:08.860 --> 00:31:16.460 And that trust leads you down a certain path, because you understand that what God is calling you to in this world, is 00:31:16.480 --> 00:31:21.300 the best thing for what you could live for, because you were created by Him and for Him. 00:31:22.400 --> 00:31:25.980 And God knows better for you than you even know yourself, because you didn't make you. 00:31:27.400 --> 00:31:35.340 And so trust leads you down this particular path of following after Him to know Him more and to walk in unity with Him. 00:31:35.940 --> 00:31:42.960 I understand it leads us to this, maybe this idea that just because you say you believe in Jesus, 00:31:43.000 --> 00:31:50.320 doesn't necessarily determine that it's true, because if you really believe in Jesus, you would follow Jesus because you would understand 00:31:50.320 --> 00:31:52.140 what Jesus wants for you is best. 00:31:53.600 --> 00:31:56.060 After all, Jesus gave His life for you. 00:31:57.600 --> 00:31:59.920 Why not trust in the one who has loved you to that depth? 00:32:01.420 --> 00:32:08.520 Who became flashed to pursue, who became the servants of servants and went through the worst torture ever experienced in this world on the darkest day of 00:32:08.520 --> 00:32:12.700 history, just so that you could have the freedom that you could find in Christ. 00:32:15.440 --> 00:32:17.580 What you truly believe you obey. 00:32:21.500 --> 00:32:25.280 What your heart is really given to is reflected in your behavior. 00:32:27.880 --> 00:32:34.640 So I know sometimes we say we believe in Jesus, but the reality is you should be able to look at your life and see that your life believes in Jesus. 00:32:34.640 --> 00:32:35.820 If you say you believe in Jesus. 00:32:38.100 --> 00:32:39.720 When people look at you, do they see Jesus? 00:32:41.220 --> 00:32:41.760 What do they see? 00:32:44.120 --> 00:32:49.110 Because the true belief in Jesus should start to mimic a life that looks like Jesus. 00:32:50.440 --> 00:32:54.500 Because you understand the best thing for what you could live for in this world is Jesus. 00:32:55.240 --> 00:33:00.460 Because you were created for Jesus and saved and rescued by Jesus. 00:33:01.160 --> 00:33:02.480 Trust brings obedience. 00:33:03.800 --> 00:33:06.860 And that's why we can accomplish greater works in this world. 00:33:08.540 --> 00:33:14.980 And number three, trust brings growth, and see in the next few verses here. 00:33:15.820 --> 00:33:23.100 He talks about the Holy Spirit again, "These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you, but the helper, the Holy Spirit and 00:33:23.100 --> 00:33:24.800 the Father will send in my name. 00:33:25.480 --> 00:33:28.100 He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance. 00:33:28.440 --> 00:33:29.690 All that I said to you. 00:33:30.360 --> 00:33:31.440 Peace I leave with you. 00:33:32.160 --> 00:33:39.460 My peace I give to you, not as the world gives, do I give to you, do not let your heart be troubled, nor 00:33:39.460 --> 00:33:46.800 let it be fearful." What He's saying is, look, as you continue on this path of trusting fully in Jesus, 00:33:46.800 --> 00:33:49.260 believing in Jesus, because of the authority of who Jesus is. 00:33:50.220 --> 00:33:53.360 It's not the impressiveness of your belief, but the greatness of your God. 00:33:55.320 --> 00:33:57.180 When you've trusted in Christ like that. 00:33:57.180 --> 00:34:01.380 And you're following after Christ like that, you grow, you grow. 00:34:01.840 --> 00:34:04.680 In fact, He identifies what the Spirit does for us, right? 00:34:05.520 --> 00:34:10.710 "He will teach you all things and bring to your remembers all that I said to you." And let me just say this about the Spirit. 00:34:12.100 --> 00:34:14.610 Some people get weird about the idea of the Holy Spirit. 00:34:17.380 --> 00:34:22.949 The Holy Spirit in this passage is not saying he's going to come into your life and give you new revelation. 00:34:25.199 --> 00:34:28.739 What He's saying in this passage is the Holy Spirit is going to certainly teach you, but you know he's going to teach you? 00:34:29.620 --> 00:34:30.980 The things that Jesus already taught. 00:34:32.420 --> 00:34:36.020 In fact, we're going to see in chapter 16, that the goal of the Holy Spirit is to magnify Jesus. 00:34:37.420 --> 00:34:39.420 You want to know if the Spirit of God's working in a church? 00:34:40.360 --> 00:34:41.639 It makes much of Jesus. 00:34:42.580 --> 00:34:44.340 It's not about the church's glory. 00:34:44.340 --> 00:34:45.639 It's not about your personal glory. 00:34:45.639 --> 00:34:47.320 It's about Christ glory made known through you. 00:34:48.560 --> 00:34:49.889 The emphasis is on Jesus. 00:34:49.960 --> 00:34:51.010 The glory is made known in Jesus. 00:34:51.179 --> 00:34:52.699 The worship is about Jesus. 00:34:52.780 --> 00:34:54.760 What the Holy Spirit wants to do is teach you about Jesus. 00:34:55.300 --> 00:34:58.060 And it's not these new revelations because Jesus has already come. 00:34:59.440 --> 00:35:04.300 He wants to bring into remembrance, the beautiful teaching about Jesus, that your life could look like Jesus. 00:35:06.030 --> 00:35:13.200 And in it, you grow, you will never lead someone else in Christ further than you yourself 00:35:13.200 --> 00:35:14.360 have been led. 00:35:15.580 --> 00:35:18.720 And that's a very powerful thought and an important thought. 00:35:18.860 --> 00:35:22.130 You think as a parent, you want to teach your children godly thoughts. 00:35:22.580 --> 00:35:24.440 You want to teach your children godly ways of living. 00:35:25.240 --> 00:35:27.220 And so therefore you should seek after the Lord. 00:35:27.300 --> 00:35:29.340 Because you're not going to lead them any further than you've been led. 00:35:29.440 --> 00:35:31.780 It doesn't mean you have to get miles and miles ahead of them. 00:35:32.160 --> 00:35:34.920 What it means is you just need to be able to take the next step before them. 00:35:35.840 --> 00:35:38.140 You can guide their hearts before the Lord as well. 00:35:39.540 --> 00:35:44.520 Seeking Jesus becomes important to let the Lord minister to your heart, that you may minister to others. 00:35:44.960 --> 00:35:46.420 Greater works than these you do. 00:35:47.840 --> 00:35:51.190 As God grows you in His Spirit. 00:35:52.380 --> 00:35:54.940 Let me end with this last section of this chapter. 00:35:56.860 --> 00:36:01.120 To believe, to connect, to obey, to grow. 00:36:01.800 --> 00:36:03.470 How do we know that we're not going to end up bankrupt? 00:36:03.720 --> 00:36:05.060 We'll look at this in verse 28. 00:36:05.060 --> 00:36:06.320 How this section of scripture ends. 00:36:07.020 --> 00:36:09.420 "You heard that I said to you, I go away and I'll come to you. 00:36:09.460 --> 00:36:14.020 If you love me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father for the Father is greater than I. 00:36:14.440 --> 00:36:16.370 Let me say this real quick for a read any further. 00:36:17.380 --> 00:36:19.220 I just said, the Father and Son are equal. 00:36:19.400 --> 00:36:22.200 And now Jesus is saying, the Father is greater, what in the world does that mean? 00:36:23.320 --> 00:36:27.430 What Jesus is saying here is not in personhood, but in position. 00:36:28.380 --> 00:36:33.080 Positionally, the Father is greater than the Son because the Son came as a servant to serve the will of the Father. 00:36:33.800 --> 00:36:34.560 So positionally. 00:36:35.280 --> 00:36:42.180 Yes, Jesus is as a servant, the Father determining the will, that He desires for the son to live out. 00:36:42.300 --> 00:36:43.760 So positionally in this moment. 00:36:43.960 --> 00:36:44.560 Yes. 00:36:45.280 --> 00:36:47.900 But as far as personhood goes, it's the same nature. 00:36:48.860 --> 00:36:51.060 100% God and the Father, 100% God and the Son. 00:36:52.060 --> 00:36:59.180 So Jesus is saying, "Look, Father's greater than I, I've come to do His will, but He's going back to the Father." And so he goes 00:36:59.180 --> 00:36:59.900 on verse 29. 00:36:59.900 --> 00:37:03.610 "Now I have told you before it happens when it happens, you may believe. 00:37:04.000 --> 00:37:07.020 I will not speak much more with you for the ruler of this world is coming. 00:37:07.260 --> 00:37:12.080 And He has nothing in me, but so that the world may know that I love the Father. 00:37:12.120 --> 00:37:15.060 I do exactly as the Father commanded me." See He's serving the will of the Father. 00:37:15.380 --> 00:37:19.180 And then he says this, "Get up, let us go from here." I love that. 00:37:19.880 --> 00:37:20.740 I love the end of this chapter. 00:37:21.860 --> 00:37:23.900 Here are the disciples going through some adversity. 00:37:24.460 --> 00:37:26.500 They're looking at the writing on the wall, right in front of it. 00:37:26.500 --> 00:37:28.100 It seems like the world is caving in. 00:37:28.880 --> 00:37:35.160 And Jesus' mind is not on stopping, it's not on sulking, it's not on quitting. 00:37:35.160 --> 00:37:35.320 It's on understanding. 00:37:35.420 --> 00:37:42.560 No, this is working out exactly as it's been orchestrated, exactly as it's been planned, as it's been prophetically declared that the Son will come 00:37:42.560 --> 00:37:45.940 and give his life it's happening precisely as God has said. 00:37:46.080 --> 00:37:48.140 And so this is not a moment to relent. 00:37:48.420 --> 00:37:52.740 This is not a moment to let down from the glory of Christ and proclaiming the goodness of Him in this world. 00:37:52.960 --> 00:37:59.020 This is a moment to lean harder into Jesus because of who he is and what He has done. 00:37:59.080 --> 00:38:01.020 And the opportunity He has given for your life. 00:38:02.180 --> 00:38:03.460 And the same is true for us today. 00:38:05.440 --> 00:38:06.160 Go through adversity. 00:38:07.660 --> 00:38:10.120 Things feel hard, don't quit. 00:38:11.040 --> 00:38:13.580 Don't quit on Jesus, it's not a surprise that people live. 00:38:13.580 --> 00:38:15.730 It's not a surprise that Jesus had Judas quit. 00:38:16.440 --> 00:38:23.480 Thinking your own Christian life you might think of other people around you that claim to follow Jesus no longer following Jesus and not as surprise to Jesus. 00:38:24.540 --> 00:38:31.400 Keep following Jesus, not because of what others do, but because of who He is. 00:38:32.760 --> 00:38:34.140 That what I think of Alpine Bible Church. 00:38:35.820 --> 00:38:40.820 I will tell you personally, the last six weeks have been a very hard six weeks. 00:38:42.510 --> 00:38:45.500 But in the middle of that hard, it's also been beautiful. 00:38:46.020 --> 00:38:53.160 We've gone through a lot of several things last few weeks, but I got the opportunity to just within the last 00:38:53.160 --> 00:38:55.900 couple of weeks, just see some beautiful things happen. 00:38:56.500 --> 00:39:04.440 We had some people volunteer camp, the summer and then vacation Bible school and our food 00:39:04.440 --> 00:39:06.290 pantry where you do here as a church. 00:39:06.420 --> 00:39:13.700 And what I'm seeing in those circumstances is God bringing teams of people together that really connect with each other and want to glorify the Lord. 00:39:13.700 --> 00:39:16.880 It is a beautiful thing, greater works than these you will do. 00:39:18.400 --> 00:39:25.560 And not only do I have the joy of being able to see that as a church, those things take place in the way God brings a community together and how He's forming a team to accomplish 00:39:25.560 --> 00:39:27.720 great things for Him. 00:39:27.820 --> 00:39:32.730 I also, as a pastor, get the opportunity to see how the Lord is leading our church a little bit in the frontline. 00:39:33.640 --> 00:39:37.470 And I feel like part of the reason was the last six weeks have been a little hard. 00:39:39.020 --> 00:39:44.120 I think it's because Satan knows how this church is poised to continue to do great things for God. 00:39:44.280 --> 00:39:46.040 I mean, I don't think it's just a physical thing. 00:39:46.140 --> 00:39:47.840 I think it's also a spiritual thing. 00:39:49.040 --> 00:39:56.320 And I think it's the same thing true in this upper room during this day, a lot of physical heart things happening, but there were some spiritual things that the disciples 00:39:56.320 --> 00:40:04.260 did not see in Jesus in these moments is pulling back the curtain to say, "Open your eyes to the power of what God wants to do in you." 00:40:04.420 --> 00:40:05.430 And for us, how do we do it? 00:40:05.820 --> 00:40:07.170 How do these greater works happen? 00:40:08.620 --> 00:40:14.600 Trusting in the relationship which we have in the Lord, seeking Him in prayer, relying on the Spirit. 00:40:16.220 --> 00:40:20.140 Trusting in obedience and trusting as God grows us. 00:40:21.120 --> 00:40:23.300 And Jesus continues to do a great work.