John 14 Jack D. Terry, Jr.

The speaker jumps back to a verse from last week where Satan entered Judas, highlighting that Satan is not omnipresent like God. They discuss the assumption that the memorial feast has already happened and Jesus begins to talk about his imminent departure. He reassures his disciples not to be troubled and asserts that he is the way, the truth, and the life. Thomas interrupts, asking how they can know the way, and Jesus explains that he and the Father are one. Philip then asks to see the Father, and Jesus emphasizes their unity. The speaker concludes that Jesus is leading into a discussion about the Holy Spirit. I need to skip back to last week for about a minute and a half, to a passage that we talked about, but I was getting ready to share it, and somebody asked a question, and when they ask a question, my mind jumps all over creation, and I didn't say it. So I'm going to jump back to verse 27. It was a verse where it says, and Satan entered Judas, and he went out toward the end of chapter 13. And the thing I wanted to do, I wanted to make a theological statement to you all about that. You notice that Satan entered him, which gives you immediately the understanding that Satan, unlike God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, is not omnipresent, he is not omnipotent, nor is he omnibenevolent. Satan cannot be except at one place at one time, so he can't be with you all the time. He is not omnipresent, as God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are. And so in that verse it said, and Satan, when Jesus said to Judas, what you're going to do, do it, and the scripture says, and Satan entered him, which means at that point, Satan came back into him. So Satan was not there all the time, as Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit are with us all the time. Jesus, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, are omnipotent, they are omniscient, they are omnipresent, they are with us all the time. Satan is not that way. He or his imps can only be in you at one time, and then they go away. And so that's why the scripture says, and Satan entered him, Satan came back into him, as Satan often does, comes into our minds, into our hearts. And so he does not abide with us, as Christ and God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit abide with us. Okay, today is a great passage. It's much too long to teach in one hour. I will give it the best shot I can give it, and see how much of it we can work through. And some of it I may just kind of hop about, but you understand, trying to get all the information together, we're trying to put it all together so that you can have a pretty good idea of what chapter 14 says. Now, there is something that is assumed that John does not mention. As we talked last week, we said, I asked you the question, in the book of John, what is missing? And the answer was, the practice of the memorial feast. And John does not even mention the memorial feast in his gospel. Martin, Mark, and Luke all mention how it was supposed to be done, and Paul, even in chapter 11 of the book of 1 Corinthians, mentions how the memorial feast is to be done, and he took the bread and broke it, he took the wine and blessed it, but John says nothing about it. So, beginning in chapter 14, we have to make some assumptions. And the assumption is that the memorial feast that Jesus introduced has already happened. And now, they're through with the memorial feast. By the way, if you go back and read the gospels, the memorial feast in all three of the gospels was not introduced until after Judas left. So, when Judas left the dinner, then Jesus Christ introduced the memorial feast, which would be in his body broken, his blood spilled, and would be his redemption for us on the cross. And so Judas now is gone, and so we have to assume that somewhere in between the time Judas left and the end of chapter 13, before he starts talking again, before he begins his discourse, that they had the memorial feast. And so after the memorial feast, Jesus then begins to talk with them because he has just finished telling them that he is going to die. In fact, he has told them that in the memorial feast that his body will be broken, his blood will be spilled, and it's all done for the redemption of their particular relationship with him, and our relationship with him, our redemption. And so they are very troubled. They are troubled at heart. And so chapter 14 begins with that very statement. It says, do not let your hearts be troubled. Now, this word trouble is kind of an interesting little word. It's a word that identifies, gives a picture of, and in the Greek, the Greeks speak with a lot of word pictures. And when you find a Greek word that is a word picture, it really is an interesting thing to study. And this word, troubled, is the picture of a sea in great storm. It is a storm-tossed sea. And it's a sea that's tossed about, and it's troubling the sailors who are on the boats. And it's just a great turmoil on them. And so Jesus says to them, do not let your hearts be tossed about as if you were in a turbulent sea. Don't be troubled about that. And then he uses the word believe. You believe in God, believe also in me. Now, he uses the word believe twice, but he gives it a different twist. The first time, when he says, you believe in God, which is right after he says, do not let your hearts be troubled, you believe in God, that believe is a matter of fact. Jesus knew that his disciples believed in God. And he knew that they trusted God. That's why he called them. God identified them. And Jesus called them to be his disciples. So he understood that all of his disciples did believe in God. And so this is a matter of fact. You believe in God. It's a matter of fact. I know that. I've seen it over these years that I've been with you, and it's a matter of fact that you do believe in God. Then he uses an imperative. But believe also in me. And that second believe is totally different from the first one. The first one is a matter of fact. The second one is an imperative. And the first one, he says, I know that you believe. And the second one, he says, you believe in me. And it is an emphatic believe. You believe in me. For in my Father's house are many. Now, here's where we run into a good deal of trouble. The scripture literally says, in my Father's house are many places in which we may dwell. Okay? Now, if you want a literal translation of in my Father's house there are many mansions, in my Father's house there are many places in which we may dwell. And I go to prepare a place for you. Now, it's kind of interesting. Jesus oftentimes uses the same word in the same sentence. And the same word oftentimes has different meanings. In this one it has the same meaning. When he says, in my Father's house are many places. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, don't you understand that I will come again and receive you to where I am. That you may be also where I am. Now, the interesting thing about here is how in the world did we get the word mansions? Now, Barbara and I watched the coronation the other day because we've made many trips to England and love the English people and we love the pomp and pageantry of what it was. And I was reminded when they went to Westminster Abbey for the coronation, where, by the way, the kings and queens have been crowned for many thousands of years. I was reminded that one day Barbara and I and the Oxford crowd from Southwestern Seminary, I was teaching at Oxford in their program, we made a trip down to Westminster Abbey and we were actually going through the entire Abbey. We were on a little tour. One of the priests there took us on a tour. And we had the privilege of going to a place where very few people who come to the Abbey have an opportunity to go. You saw it, but you didn't see it. And why I say you didn't see it is you didn't know it was there. Anytime the camera shot to the front door of the Abbey from the back, there's a thing that looks like a big balcony up over the top of the Abbey. Actually, that's not a balcony. It's a room. A big room up above the entryway. As they came into the Abbey, right above the entryway, there is a big room. And it just so happened that in 1611, when King James decided that he wanted the Scripture translated from the Latin into Greek, from the Greek into English, and he had it translated from the Latin. You remember that Jerome translated it from Hebrew and Greek to Latin, and then they took the Latin and they started translating it into English. It just so happened that in that upper room there in Westminster Abbey is where the King James English translators did the translation of the New Testament, of the Bible, both the Old and New Testament. It was up in that room where they were sitting and where they were translating the Word of God from the Latin Vulgate into English. And so we walked in that room and we looked around and they told us about where these scholars sat and how they translated the Latin Vulgate, which was the Bible of the Roman Church, into English. And while we were standing there, I remembered that it was these translators who put into the Word of God the word mentioned. Now, how do you get mansion from place? I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, will I not return and bring you unto myself that where I am there you may be also? Well, it's not as simple as it looks. It actually relates to the Greek text and to the Latin text. And when you look at the Greek text and the Latin text, the word place means something of substantial, solid material. The little word in the Greek text that we translate place from is a very simple little word. It is tapas, T-O-P-O-S, tapas. Many, many times tapas is used in the Bible. We get a couple of English words from the word tapas. We get the word topology. We get the word topological. Now, we say that the rock of Gibraltar is topological. And that's the definition we give the rock of Gibraltar. We say it is topological. That means that it is solid. It is substantial. It has volume. It is not a mist. It's not a vision. It is solid stuff. In fact, it happens to be granite. That's kind of interesting. During the time the King James translators were translating the word of God, very few people lived in brick or rock or granite buildings. Most everybody lived in a grass hut, in a mud hut with a grass roof. And the houses were made out of mud and the roofs were made out of grass. And only the very rich aristocracy lived in castles that were made of granite or made of solid stone. Or they were called castles. Many of them were called mansions. So when the King James translators got to this word and they looked at it and they found its context, they said, you know, what he's talking about is he's talking about buildings in heaven that are going to have substantialness. They're going to be solid. They're going to have volume. They are actually going to be houses, buildings. In my father's house are many buildings, places in which you may dwell. Now, it's kind of interesting. On the day that Jesus arose from the dead, in the book of Mark, I think it's chapter 16. You can look it up if you like. I know it's chapter 16. In the book of Mark, some ladies went to the tomb. They went for the purpose of anointing the body of Jesus. But when they got there, of course, they were shocked because the stone had been rolled away. And as they looked inside, they saw this man in white raiment sitting in there. Well, they were afraid. They were shocked. And the person in white raiment said, do not be afraid. I know that you seek the living among the dead. I said, why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here. He has risen, as he said. You remember that in Mark? Then he said something. Look at the tapas where he lay. Now, it's kind of interesting. Have you ever been in Israel to the open tomb? Many of you have. Have you ever looked at what the place where Jesus lay was made out of? It was carved out of rock. It was a solid slab of rock where Jesus lay. That's what the man in white raiment was talking about. He said, look at this solid place where Jesus lay. And he called it tapas. Now, it's kind of interesting that he would call that hard piece of rock tapas. And it's the same word, look at the place where Jesus lay, that in the book of John, John says, Jesus said, I go to prepare a tapas for you. And if I go to prepare a tapas for you, I go to prepare a building for you, a solid building made out of hard stuff. It's not going to be a tepee. It's not going to be a tabernacle. It's going to be a hard surface building. You're going to have a house. Now, the apostle Paul later on in the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, gives a little bit of substantiation to this when he says, in the event that these tabernacles, our bodies, are destroyed, we have a house of God in heaven not made by human hands. Would you like to know what that word is there? Twice. Same word all the way through. It continues on. So evidently, ladies and gentlemen, our homes in heaven are going to be solid, solid buildings. And we're going to have a place in which we may dwell. And so Jesus is trying to get their troubled hearts to slow down and understand a couple of things. And that's what this lesson is all about. Jesus is trying to help his disciples understand that his leaving them is of utmost importance. And his leaving them is of utmost importance because he knows whom God is going to be sending. And he knows why God is going to be sending him. And he also knows that he is going to be sending him, and I'm speaking of the Holy Spirit, only because Jesus will have left this particular veil. He will have left in his bodily relationship from where we live. And so it starts like this. It says, and where I go, you know, and the way you know. Now, Jesus is taking a great deal here for granted. He thinks they know where he's going. He is assuring his heart that they know from where he came. And so he says, the way I'm going, you know, and you know the way. And then from this point on, there are three interruptions to Jesus's discourse. Thomas interrupts him. And then Philip interrupts him. And then Judas, not Iscariot, interrupts him. And you have three of his disciples. Now, this is a long discourse about where he is going and what the relationship is to him and his father. And he's trying to help the disciples understand that the relationship that he has with his father and the relationship that he has with the Holy Spirit is the same kind of relationship that he is moving toward each of them and us as well to have. And so he starts off by saying, Thomas says to him, we don't know where you're going. We don't know the way. How can we know the way? Jesus said to him, OK. Thomas stops Jesus mid-discourse. And he says, Lord, we don't know the way. We don't know where you're going. Now, Jesus, in this discourse, is a little concerned about what the disciples really understand about him. And at the same point, I'm going to say at this part of the Sunday School lesson, we oftentimes have the same problem of what Thomas says. Oftentimes, we take Jesus for granted. And we think he's going to be, as Thomas thought, he'd be here all the time. Thomas, like the others, were not wanting him to leave. None of them wanted him to leave. And yet Jesus knew that the plan of redemption for the entire world was predicated upon the fact that he would have to leave in order that the Holy Spirit would come. So he says to him, Jesus said, Thomas, and he uses some very emphatic words. He uses the ego I me. I am. And he says three things about who he is. He says, I am the truth. I am the life. I am the truth. I am the life. He says, I am the way. First, he says, I am the truth. I am the life. And Thomas, nobody can come to the Father except they come through me. Now, this word, come through me, is kind of an interesting word. It's a word that the shepherds used. It's a word that all of these men would have understood. Because it was an agrarian community, a lot of shepherds. The sheepfold had a gate. And the gate was commanded by the shepherd. And nobody, nothing, could get into that sheepfold unless the shepherd opened it. In other words, the shepherd was there to protect the sheep. And nothing could get into the sheepfold unless the shepherd opened the gate. And what Jesus is saying to them here is, gentlemen, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. I am, later on, he says, I am the gate of the sheepfold. And nobody comes to the Father except he comes through the gate. And there's the imagery of it all. And Jesus is saying, if you're coming to the Father, you have to come under these conditions. You have to come under the condition that you understand, I am the way to the Father. I am the truth of the Father. And I am the life which the Father gives. And unless you come through me, you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. That's kind of interesting. The book of Revelation said, I saw a door. I saw a door. And he says, and I stood at the door and I knocked. And if anyone would come in that door, he said, Jesus will live with him and he will dine with him and he will be their child. And in the book of Revelation, you have another gate. You have another place through which you go. But all these gates and places through which we go are the same place. It's Jesus Christ. So the only way to the Father is through Jesus Christ. Now, later on, it's going to be interesting. These people were called not Christians. They were called the way. And when they saw them, they said, oh, those are people of the way. Now, isn't it interesting? Jesus said, I am the way. And these were people of the way. And so Jesus is talking to them and he's saying, I am the way, the truth and the life. And he goes on to say, if you had known me, you would have known my father also. And from now on, you will know him and have seen him. Whoa, wait a minute. Have seen him. What are you talking about? Now, this discourse is about Jesus' relationship to the Father and in preparation of our relationship to the Father and their relationship to the Father. And Jesus is saying, you have seen me and you have also seen the Father. That's when he's interrupted again. And he's interrupted by Philip this time. And Philip says to him, well, Lord, show us the Father. Now, at this point, Jesus begins to get a little more concerned about it. And he says, show us the Father. It's sufficient if you show us the Father. And Jesus said to him, Thomas, Philip. Now, you've got to remember who Philip is. He's from Bethsaida, the house of fishermen, up on the northern end of the Sea of Galilee. He is in the same city from which Peter and John came from. Peter and Andrew came from Bethsaida. They were all fishermen. And you've got to remember that Philip was the first disciple called. Jesus called Philip first. He was number one. And so Philip now is asking him, Lord, show us the Father. And Jesus comes back and says to him, have I been with you for three and a half years and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me, he does the works. Believe me that I am the Father and the Father in me or else believe me for the works that I've done. Now, what he's saying to Philip is, Philip, if you cannot believe that the Father and I are one, if you cannot believe that I am in the Father and he is in me, and if you see me, who do you see? You see the Father. That's where Jesus is going with Philip. And he's kind of confused because Philip's been with him for nearly three and a half years. Philip has seen all the miracles. Philip has seen everything that Jesus has done. Philip has heard all of the words that Jesus said about his father, God. Philip has been with him every day, every minute of every day. And yet he is still wondering if he could see the Father. And Jesus is saying to him, Philip, if you have seen me, you've seen the Father, but if that's not sufficient, then remember the works that I have done. They are not of me. You remember Jesus on another occasion said, of myself I can do nothing except the Father give it me. And so since he could do nothing except the Father give him, he and the Father were one. Now, where is Jesus going with all of this? He is going where you and I want him to go. Because after he finishes this discourse, he's going to start another discourse about the Holy Spirit. And that discourse takes in you and me and all of the saints of God who have come into the kingdom of God since this very day. Because in that discourse, he's going to take the one of his relationship to the Father and he's going to move it over to the side where it becomes our relationship to the Father. So he says to him, do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? Verse 10. And the words that I speak to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me, he does the work. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. And Philip, if you can't believe that, at least can you believe the works that I have done? And Jesus oftentimes wanted to be sure that his disciples understood that all of the miracles, all of the signs and all of the wonders that he had done were not of him, but were of the Father. And he's trying to help them understand that here. Because in the next discourse, he is going to put them and you and me and us into the same relationship that he has put himself in here, which is a magnificently wonderful relationship. Okay. So most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do greater works than these. He will do them because I go to my Father. May I ask you a question? What is greater work than raising the dead? That's what Jesus did. What is a greater work than making a blind man who had no optical necessities see again? What is a greater work than spilling a storm or walking on the water? What is a greater work than healing a demoniac in Keterah who was a madman and made him a child of God who became an evangelist and brought the entire city to Jesus? Could you talk to me about greater works than that? What is a greater work than turning water to wine? What is a greater work than being able to be transfigured before Peter, James and John? Tell me, what's the greater work? May I tell you? Sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with a lost individual and seeing that lost individual come to faith in him. That, ladies and gentlemen, Jesus is saying, is a greater work than the miracles he did. Now, he's telling his disciples, when I'm gone and I must go to the Father, it's imperative that I go to the Father. When I'm gone, you need to understand, you are going to do greater things than I've done. Can you imagine how their brains must have been swirling around? Can you imagine how they must have been thinking? What in the world can we do that's greater than what he has done since he's been here for three years? What in the world is he talking about? How can we do that? We don't have the same power he has. We don't have the same investment that he has. We're not from God. Well, Jesus is getting ready to tell them that in a little while, they're not only going to be in God, but in a little while, God is going to be in them. It's a whole different ballgame, ladies and gentlemen, when God is in a person. And so, all of a sudden, he says most assuredly, he who believes in me and the works that I do, greater works, and whatever you ask in my name and my Father, whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, and that the Father may be glorified. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. Now, as we come toward the end of this lesson, I want to share something with you that's very important about asking in his name. And we'll talk about that when we get to it. But now, he's getting ready to start talking to them about the condition upon which what he has already said has happened. What he said about going to a place and building them a house, he's getting ready to tell them the condition under which all of this is going to happen. Now, in Matthew 28, 19, 20, that we call the Great Commission, Jesus ends the Great Commission by telling you what I'm getting ready to tell you. For in the Great Commission, he says, going into all the world, make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. What? Teaching them all things that I have commanded you. What's getting ready to happen is, in verse 15, Jesus is getting ready to tell the disciples the condition upon which a house in heaven and their ability to do greater works is going to depend. And by the way, it's the same thing in our life. We have the same condition in our life if we're going to be effective for Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God. Look at verse 15. If you love me, keep my commandments. That's the condition. You see, ladies and gentlemen, we may be redeemed in our lives by Jesus Christ and saved for all eternity, but the effectiveness of that salvation can only be determined by how effectively, through the power of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus is getting ready to tell them he's going to send, how that effective, that Holy Spirit can work in us as we keep his commandments. You cannot be effective without keeping the commandments of eternal God. That's why, sometime, a great Bible study is to go through the Gospels and mark all the places where Jesus made a command. Oh, and by the way, if you can't remember all the places or you can't find them, before Jesus finishes with just this chapter, he tells us that the other helper who's coming to be with us will guide you into all that truth. It's not upon your recognizance. It's upon his Holy Spirit. So, he said, let me tell you what I'm going to do. Now, he stopped talking about his relationship to the Father. He's given them a solid relationship of who he is. He's getting ready to start talking about their relationship to the Father. And he says, in verse 16, And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another helper, that he may abide... Now, King James says, with. The Greek says, that he may abide in you forever. Not with. Now, if he abides in you forever, he, of course, is with you forever. So that word's okay. But the thing you have to understand is that the Holy Spirit, now, is going to come into the Christian believer, and that Holy Spirit, ladies and gentlemen, is never, ever, ever going to leave. Once the Holy Spirit has entered into your life, you can't, by will, get rid of the Holy Spirit. You can't just get him out of your life. Now, since the Holy Spirit is a person, and the Holy Spirit has feelings, we can insult the Holy Spirit, we can embarrass the Holy Spirit, we can ignore the Holy Spirit, we can do all those things that we can do to each other. But in all those things, he will not leave us. If he is truly in us. Because Jesus said, I will ask the Father, and he will give you another, another. That word, another, means one just like me. He's going to give you one just like me, who's going to lead you and abide in you forever. And he is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him, for he dwells within you, and he will be in you. Now, ladies and gentlemen, this is 50 days from Pentecost. This is 50 days from the Holy Spirit coming into them. Can you imagine what they're thinking? Can you imagine, you mean there's somebody in me? Not yet. I don't feel it. They don't feel it because they haven't gotten there yet. But 50 days later, he'll be there. And 50 days later, they'll see what Jesus is talking about. Jesus is getting ready to prepare them for 50 days coming. Now, he's in Friday night. This is the day he's going to be crucified. The Sabbath, Sunday, Sunday to Pentecost is 50 days. We are about 53 days from Pentecost. And he's telling his disciples 53 days ahead of time that my Father is going to send another one who's just like me. And he will come into you, and he will abide with you forever. Even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him, for he dwells in you, and he will be with you. I will not leave you orphans. I'm not going to leave you without me. Now, he just got through telling them he's going to die. And now he's telling them he's not going to leave them orphans. Folks, every time somebody dies, if they have children, you have orphans. And Jesus just got through telling them, I'm not going to leave you an orphan. What in the world are you talking about? You're not going to leave me an orphan. In a little while, now, this is kind of interesting, you know what that little while was? Twelve hours. Twelve hours. In a little while, no longer in the world will you see me, no more, but you will see me because I live, you also will live. I'm sure that is totally confusing to the disciples. In a little while, you're not going to see me anymore. And then you have to believe that I'm still alive. Wait a minute. They're going to kill you on the cross? They're going to kill you? And you expect us, as we watch them kill you, to believe that you're still alive? I mean, ladies and gentlemen, how ridiculous can you get? And so he says to them, at that day, you will know that I, at that day, when the Holy Spirit comes, you will understand that I am in the Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. He who has my commandments, there it is again, before we finish this chapter, Jesus is going to say the word commandments three times. Evidently, you remember Dr. Jimmy talking about their saying things three times? Which means that, you know, if I say it three times, it must have some heavy weight. The Jewish people were famous about saying things three times. We say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. They say it three times. Jesus, in this chapter, is going to say, you must keep my commandments if you are going to live effectively and efficiently and spiritually with whom I am sending. That's a phenomenon, folks. You mean, you're going to put somebody in me, and if I keep your words and I keep your commandments, that person who is just like you in me is going to guide me into all of the truth that you have taught me? Yes. And I have a little statement at that moment. Wow! Wow! Yes, that's what I'm going to do. He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself in him. How do you get God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit manifested in yourself? Answer me. How do you get it? By keeping His what? I mean, it's not rocket science, folks. It's very simple. You want to keep the fires burning in your heart and life? Keep His commandments. Doing all things whatsoever I have what? Commanded you. It's not rocket science. You want to be an effective child of God? Keep His commandments. He's already said it twice now. Okay? Jesus answered and said to them, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, which are his what? Commandments. He actually says it four times, so I'm going to use his other word here. Keep my commandments. And my Father will love him, and we will come to him. Oh, wait a minute. Jesus said not only are we going to come to him, we're going to make our home in him. What? You mean, you're going to put somebody to live in me? There's going to be a spiritual personality who's going to be just like you? Just like you? And you're going to put that in me? And I'm going to be able to fellowship with him? And when I fellowship with him, I fellowship with you? And when I fellowship with him and you, I fellowship with the Father? You mean, I have a relationship in him to fellowship with all three of you at one time? Yes. Ladies and gentlemen, that's a phenomenon. He who does not love me does not keep my commandments. There's that words again. And the commandments which you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me. The commandments you're keeping are not mine. They gave me to the Father. They were given to me by the Father. And I've given them to you. These things have I spoken to you while I'm here present with you. There he's telling them again. I'm not going to be here long. So listen carefully to what I'm saying. Now, beginning at this point toward the end of the chapter, Jesus starts talking to them about who is this person. The Holy Spirit is not an it. The Holy Spirit is a he. The Holy Spirit is a person. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, three in one. All personalities, individual personalities, all one Godhead. Each of them were in Jesus as he was here. And each of them, according to the Spirit of Christ speaking here, is eventually going to be in 53 days in you, his disciples. And they are waiting for the promise. Now, ladies and gentlemen, let me share with you one of the greatest promises that Jesus ever gave to his disciples and to us is this promise. That if he went away, he would send, here's the promise, I will send another one just like, my Father will send another one just like me. And this other one will not abide with you like I've done for three and a half years. This other one will not be outside of you. This other one, when he comes, he will be in you just like the Father is in me and I am in the Father and we are in the Holy Spirit together with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Now, he's getting ready to identify this person. He said, but the helper, my translation of that. This word that's translated helper here is the word paraclete. It's a legal word, paraclete. And he says that he is the paraclete, the Holy Spirit. It's a legal word in the sense that during the Roman Empire, a paraclete was a defense attorney who stood by the side of the person who needed his help. And Jesus said, I am going to send to you a person who is a defender of you. He will be your defense attorney. He will not stand outside of you as I have for three and a half years. No, no, no, he's not going to stand outside of you. He is going to be in you. He's going to be inside of you. He is not going to have to tell you from outside and you don't hear well. He's not going to be outside where you can see but you don't see well. He is going to be in a position that he can speak to you and you won't misunderstand. He is going to be in you. But the help of the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you a few things. Right? No. No. Wrong. He said the Holy Spirit will teach you all things. You got a problem with the Word of God you're studying? Don't go to a commentary. Ask the person who lives in you. Have you ever spoken to the Holy Spirit who lives in you? Of course. You may not realize it but you do every day. When you say, Precious Father, thank you for this beautiful day. Please give us strength for that day. Who's going to give you strength for the day? The Holy Spirit through the power of whom? God the Father, God the Son. I mean you talk to him every day. He's not out here. He's in here. And he's going to be in you and he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you. Some people say, I can't remember everything Jesus said in all of his teachings. Well, of course not. We're not AI. We're not artificial intelligence. Okay? We're not artificial. We can't remember everything. But if we have the Holy Spirit in us, the Holy Spirit is AI. He is everything. Why? Because he is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He is better than AI. Because he knows everything before it ever happened. AI picks it up later. See, AI can't know anything unless it's been done. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit knew it before it was done. They were the creators of the universe. They were in the beginning. They were the creators. And so Jesus says, I want you to know, when he has come, he will teach you all things, and he will bring to your remembrance what you need to know. Now, at this point, Jesus takes a last step. Now, may I just say, in my material, I'm not teaching my material. You can read that later. I'm teaching what the Word of God says. It's kind of interesting. One thing that Jesus said to Philip, and one thing that he said to Thomas, is something that we need to come to understand. Sometimes we get so familiar with God that we think he is a pal. And I put it here in one place. Fellowship with God? Yes. Pal with God? No. He can't be a pal. He has to be your creator. He has to be God the Father. Jesus Christ has to be God the Son. And the Holy Spirit has to be God the Holy Spirit. He cannot be a friend, a pal. He can be the other, but he can't be a pal. Now, Jesus is going to use a word that has actually controlled his entire ministry. And the word is, Shalom. Peace. And he ends this chapter by talking about peace. He says, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world do I give to you. Let not your hearts be like an ocean being tossed about by a storm. Quit it. Stop it. Don't let that happen. You've heard me say to you, I am going away, and I am coming back. What? You're going away, but you're coming back. Okay? If you love me, you would rejoice because I am going to the Father. In other words, he's saying, if you knew what it is in 53 days that I'm getting ready to send you, you would be up and down, shouting and running, enjoying everything because you would know what I'm getting ready to give you. If you knew why I'm going to the Father and that my Father is greater than I, and now I have told you before it comes that when it does come to pass, you will believe. When Pentecost happens, you will believe. Now that believe that he put emphatically early on, believe in God, believe also in me, now the emphatic believe in me comes to life. You believe in God. You've been with God all the way through all of the Jewish history. You believe in God. The way you believe in him, I want you to emphatically believe in me. And so he says to him, and now I've told you before it comes that when it does come to pass, you're going to be ecstatic when it happens to you. I will no longer talk with you for the ruler of this world is coming and he has nothing in me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, because the Father gave me commandment. There's that word again. Third time. Two times under the definition of word. Five times in this chapter he says commandment, commandment, word, word, commandment. And he's helping us understand, ladies and gentlemen, we cannot when the Holy Spirit comes into us, we cannot be effective in the kingdom of God unless we keep his what? Commandment. That's the whole point of this chapter. We must keep his commandments. And he says keep my commandments. Now, it's kind of interesting at this point. The disciples are totally bewildered as you and I would be as well. And yet they have loved this man so very much they are totally, totally consecrated to him. And they're totally willing to follow him. Although Jesus told Peter in chapter 13, you're going to deny me three times. And Jesus knew that these were human beings. And Jesus knew that they did not have the information that he had of the Father. And Jesus in this passage wanted them to understand I'm going to go to a place where you are going to have a magnificent home in which to live for all eternity. I'm going there because my Father with whom I have great relationship wants to have great relationship with you and that's where I'm going because of my relationship to Him. And then I'm going to send you a helper in order that the relationship that I have with the Father and the relationship that you have with me is the same relationship that we will each have in each other. And you know that I abide in Him and He abides in me. And I'm going to abide in you. And I want you to know that this relationship is going to be great. But in relationship to that relationship, I want you to know, there is a promise. There is a promise. And the promise is I will not leave you orphans. I will send another one just like me. Now, 53 days. Pentecost. Jesus is going to be crucified in a few chapters. He's going to be buried. He's going to lay in a tomb. Three days. He's going to resurrect on Sunday. He will be seen of the woman in the garden on Sunday morning. He will go to the Father as He says to Mary, Mary, do not continue to cling to Me. Don't you know that I must go to your Father and to My Father, to your God and My God? And later on that night, He appears in the upper room to 10 of the 11 disciples. And then that next week, they see Him for 40 days. One time with over 500 people seeing Him. What other actual identification can you get than that? Paul says He was seen of over 40 days. At one time by over 250 people. And then on that 40th day after resurrection, He's ascended to the Father. Ten days before Pentecost. And He says to them, go into the city and preach My Gospel. And I will be with you until the end of the age. And while they were there looking at Him, He was gathered up into Heaven. Ladies and gentlemen, He who came into you on the day you were redeemed, that's the promise of the Holy Spirit. Everyone who prays the very simple prayer of redemption, Father, I'm a sinner. There is no way I can get out of this world and get into Your Kingdom. So dear Father, since there is no way that I can get out of this world and get into Your Kingdom any other way, since You are the only gate through which I can go, Heavenly Father, would You simply save me? He's there. He who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And when you are saved, the Holy Spirit is there. You got Him on the day you were saved. You will never leave Him. Never lose Him. Just be careful. Don't hurt Him. Don't hurt Him. No good. And so, we come to the end of this chapter and go to my last page. I want to say something to you on the last page. Peace embodied the ministry of Jesus. When He came here, He was called Prince of Peace. When He ministered here, He was the Man of Peace. And going to the Father, He will give us eternal peace. So the last three parts of this lesson are, first of all, fellowship, relationship, fellowship, relationship with Him, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the promise of peace. And so He gives it to us and we forever shall have Him. So we thank God for the coming of the Holy Spirit in 53 days when He comes into the hearts and lives. He is in you. He is there by your acceptance of Christ as Savior. And He will never leave us. That's a promise. I will never leave you. Nor forsake you. I will not leave you an orphan. Isn't that a great word? Can you say amen? Godfather, we thank you for the way you share with us what we need to understand about our relationship with the Father. And because of that relationship with the Father, it intensifies our relationship with you. Because you told us you were in the Father and the Father was in you. And if we would be in you, the Father and you would be in us. And Father, we've come to understand now that you've even added another one who is just like you. And now, in being in the Father and in the Son and in the Holy Spirit, we have the wonderful triunity of what's happening in our lives. And for that, we give you great praise. And we thank you, Father, that you loved us enough to come into our hearts and to save us. And because of that, we thank you in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. See you next week.