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 seventeen.
And chapters thirteen through seventeen cover a period
of approximately thirty-six hours or so.
Probably more like a twenty-four 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 sometime prior to the Garden
of Gethsemane experience, some twenty-four 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 one quarter of his Gospel
to this twenty-four 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 one
quarter right within this twenty-four 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 insight 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.
Teleos is the Greek word, and 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.
Loved 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, than 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 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.
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 in which He 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 girded Himself with it.
A man girded with a towel was a
bondslave.
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 going to wash my feet?
Peter realized how totally incongruous 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.
It's right that I fulfill all righteousness.
So Peter was sort of alarmed by this.
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 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
and my head.
I like Peter.
He doesn't understand too much, but he's all
gung-ho for it.
You know, whatever's right is right.
Let's go for it, Lord.
And Jesus said unto him, he that is
washed needs not save to wash his feet.
And he is clean every whit.
And you are clean, but not all.
Now, the washing of the feet was a
common practice in the Roman baths.
After they had left the bath and returned
to 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 or two.
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.
As long as your feet are washed, that's
all you need.
Your heart is already clean.
Your mind is already set.
Just get rid of that defilement.
And so, coming to church is that kind
of an experience.
We've been mixing with the world all week
long.
We've heard 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 you know, if you're saying those kind
of words, you'd think you'd want to whisper
them.
And I felt like, oh Lord, you know,
wash my ears.
Wash my mind.
Just purge out that junk.
The pollution that was coming out of her
mouth.
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 unto
you.
And just let the Word of God just
sort of wash us.
And feel that cleansing of God's Word as
we just gather together in the sanctuary.
And so, Jesus said, no, no, 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 sat
down again.
You see, He had set aside in order
to gird Himself with a towel and take
the place of 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
washed 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's
something that I can handle.
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 neighbor's 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 needs.
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 a lawn.
That was beneath the smith to do.
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, and 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 make you comfortable.
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 needs, 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 and Master, and
that's right, but if I being your Lord
am 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 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.
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 them.
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 say, I'm doing it for you,
Lord.
Nobody else.
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, inasmuch as you have done
it unto the least of these, my brethren,
you have 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 serve 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 is 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.
Verily, 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.
If you're receiving him, you're receiving the Father.
And when Jesus had thus said this, he
was troubled in his spirit.
Though he 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 Scriptures 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 troubled in 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 he was talking about.
Now, there was one of the disciples and
of course, John is talking about himself now
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, what 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 sop when I have
dipped it.
And when he had dipped the sop, he
gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of
Simon.
The dipping of a sop and handing it
to a person in those days was equivalent
to toasting a person.
Now, today, sometimes at functions and all, they'll
give a toast to somebody.
It's a gesture of friendship.
And in those days, the dipping of a
sop 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 want out, you
can get out.
You don't have to go through with it.
Even though you've already been to the high
priest and made a deal and have bargained
with him, I would still like to be
your friend.
And after the sop, 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.
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 sop, went
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 techna, 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 love.
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 measures 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.
Oh God, work in our hearts.
In fact, let's just open our hearts right
now and 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, 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 love 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.
Maybe 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 cock
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 weak.
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 Peter's 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 their forgiveness.
I don't want to, Lord.
My Spirit's 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.
It's weak.
Peter was sincere.
His love for the Lord was genuine.
His commitment was real.
And Peter really felt that he could lay
down his life for Jesus.
And I wouldn't be a bit surprised about
what he could have.
But many times, it's harder to live for
Jesus than it is to die for Jesus.
You know, if the chips are really down
and someone's pointing a gun at you and
say, hey, deny the Lord or we're going
to blow your head off.
You say, hey, fire away.
No, I'm willing to die for Jesus.
Be with Him in glory.
The problem oftentimes 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.
When these little girls came up and said,
oh, you're one of His.
I saw you with Him.
What are you talking about?
I don't know Him.
I'm just here warming my hands by the
fire.
Surely I saw you with Him.
You're one of them.
No, I don't know Him.
And he began to curse.
You 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.
But 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 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
ye 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
the stream running past and all the voices.
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 2 Corinthians 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 then, 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 a tent, a temporary place to
dwell, contrasted with the 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
food.
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.
Now, 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, and 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?
And 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's 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 He 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 and the living God except through
Jesus Christ.
No man, He said, comes to the Father
but by Me.
A 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 we're 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 created being, would make Him
a created 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 that 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.
And I said, so, though you may use
the terms God and Jesus, they're a different
God and Jesus than what I trust in.
And so, Jesus said, I am the way,
the truth, and the light.
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, man, He 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.
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.
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 have seen Me, you have seen the
Father 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 spoke 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 have
seen the Father.
And so, what kind of a God has
He 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 have 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.
The 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 as 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 it 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 in 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 in anger.
You smote the rock.
I told you just speak to it.
And now they are thinking that I'm angry
with them.
I'm not angry or upset with them, 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 at the waters of
Meribah, you cannot go into the Promised Land.
Hey, that's serious business.
Your lifelong dream is shattered.
Why?
Because you failed to properly represent Me before
the people at Meribah.
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 upset and 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 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 dwells in me.
He is doing the works.
Believe me that I am in the Father
and the Father in me, or else believe
me for the very work's 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 work's
sake, for the witness that they are to
you.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, that he
that believeth on me, the works that I
do, shall he do also.
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 in
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 a 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.
Ask for a Mercedes.
Ask anything, I'll give it to you.
Oh, alright, you know.
And I start making out my list of
all of those things that I want for
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.
They say, oh, it's a lack of faith.
No, it isn't.
It's greater trust than anything else.
It's greater trust than 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 mind.
Oh, no, no, Lord.
You don't remember yesterday?
No, please no.
That was wrong, Lord.
Now, this is what really I need, you
know.
These broad promises of 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.
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 His commandment.
If you love Me, Jesus said, keep My
commandments.
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 has commanded.
But, fortunately, it's very easy because you're so
loving.
Isn't that neat?
And I will pray the Father, and He
shall give you another Comforter.
Paracletus.
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 two-fold
relationship of the disciples to the Holy Spirit.
Number one, He is dwelling with you.
The same Paracletus, but this is just 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, O 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, ye 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 indwell 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
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 threefold 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 dwelling 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 ascariot, 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 here,
abode.
And it literally means just settle down and
make himself at home in your heart.
Has your heart become Christ's 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 and I could see
that he was very uncomfortable.
I said, what's the matter, Lord?
And he said, oh, the pictures on the
wall, I can't take them.
You're going to have to get rid of
that art.
I said, 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.
And 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 which you hear are 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 Paracletus, 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 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 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 loved 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 them 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 sit 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 and says,
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
Spirit 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 her and all.
When they'd leave, she'd smile and she said,
I wasn't agreeing with them in prayer.
I said, I don't want to be healed.
I said, I want to go and be
with the Lord.
Why don't they just let me go and
be with the Lord and say, I'm praying
God heal me.
I just wasn't agreeing with that prayer.
Oh, if 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 13th chapter,
the 19th 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 calling upon this prophecy
as a pillar for faith.
I've told you before it comes to pass
so that when it does come to pass
you might believe.
Remember that I told you.
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 fight against every force and
power of hell.
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.
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.