 Sermon title this morning is Do You Love Christ. It comes in the form of a question and it's a question that we need to consider as we study this text together. Do you love Christ? This is part two as we're working through this text from John 14 verses 15 to 24. Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? The disciples are with the Lord in the upper room in Jerusalem on the eve of his arrest. It's a night and in just a few short hours they're going to make their way to the Garden of Gethsemane where the Son of Man will be betrayed with a kiss by a deceitful and wicked display of a feigned, faked love for Christ. Judas has fought with the Lord for three years just like the other disciples. He was a trusted member of their inner circle. In fact, Judas was given responsibility for the money. He was the treasurer in the group and the others never questioned his love for Christ, but he has been a loveless son of the devil all along and Judas with love in his heart only for himself has simply had all that he can take at this point. While the disciples are talking with the Lord in John 14, Judas is out selling out the Lord and will soon deliver him over to be murdered. And what about the other disciples, the other eleven? They've professed love in their hearts for the Lord Jesus Christ. They say, I love the Lord, right? And they've left everything to follow him. In fact, they're in Jerusalem still on the side of the Lord, still with him in the upper room, with the understanding that they're there likely to die with him. Because of their love for Christ and their devotion to him, they're about to face trials. They're going to face difficulties, adversity that they don't fully understand as of yet. And they're not going to come out of this time unscathed. It is going to be very difficult before the sun comes up in the morning. Peter will deny the Lord three times. Jesus said to all of them in Matthew 26, all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night. For it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. Now the Lord knows what they need. The Lord knows what will sustain them, what will preserve them, what will sustain them through these very difficult trials. And so he begins their time together in the upper room in John 13, assuring them of his love for them and commanding them to love one another. In the opening paragraphs of John 14, he addresses their faith, their trust in him. He addresses how they are to entrust themselves to him. And now, as we've seen in John 14, he turns his attention to their love for him. As we began unpacking our text here last week, we observed that there are essentially four promises from the Lord found in these verses. All four of those promises as we work through the text belong to the one who truly loves the Lord Jesus Christ. The Christian life is dominated and motivated, fueled by a profound and enduring love for the Lord Jesus Christ, loving the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength all the time. The Christian life itself is defined by a love for Christ that is supreme to all others, preeminent above all other loves. Jesus said, he who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. So as we look at each of the four promises given to the one who truly loves Christ, each promise becomes then an identifying mark of a genuine Christian. What is a genuine Christian? What does a genuine Christian look like? What does a genuine Christian think about? What does a genuine Christian do? This is how the Lord in John 14 defines the one who loves him. The first promise, as we saw last week, and the first identifying mark of the genuine Christian is a persevering obedience to the commandments of Christ. He will persevere in obedience to the commands of Christ. The genuine Christian obeys the Lord, and he obeys the Lord out of love. Out of love for the Lord Jesus Christ, he obeys his commandments. Drawing on the future tense of the Greek verb in verse 15, the Lord says, listen, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. Now, point one on your notes. If you love Christ, you will persevere. You will persevere in obedience to Christ. It's obeying his commandments in verse 15 and in verse 21. It's adhering to his words. His doctrine is teaching in verses 23 and 24. According to verse 15, and many other texts in the Bible like it, we've come to this conclusion, right? The teaching of the Bible. Your love for Christ is known or evidenced by your obedience to Christ, right? Let that sink in now. Your love for Christ is known or evidenced by your obedience to Christ. If you have true affection in your heart, right? Not just an empty legalistic, ritualistic obedience, heartless. No, but if you have true affection for the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart, you will yield yourself in subjection to him. He is both your Savior and your Lord. And you do that joyfully, rejoicing in all that Christ has done for you. Now, think about that. In the Lord's perfect example, he expressed his perfect love for the Father, didn't he? Through his obedience to God's commands. In 14, chapter 14, look down at verse 31. Here's an example of that. The Lord says, but so that the world may know that I love the Father, right? How does Jesus Christ show that he loves the Father? As the Father gave me commandment, so I do. Arise and let us go from here. Out of love for the Father, Jesus said in chapter 8, verse 29, didn't he that I always do those things which are pleasing to him, right? In John chapter 4, verse 34, he told the disciples after having spoken to the woman at the well, he said, my food is to do the will of him who sent me. In the same way that the Lord Jesus Christ loves the Father and always does those things which are pleasing to him, the genuine Christian loves the Lord Jesus Christ and lives to please him in all that he does, in all that he does. Look at John chapter 15. Just flip the page and look down at verse 9. John chapter 15 and verse 9, the Lord says, as the Father loved me, I also have loved you. That is a tremendous thought, right? As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. He has loved his own who are in the world. He loved them to the end, to the uttermost, right? And he says in verse 9, they're abide in my love. Now, how do we abide in his love? Verse 10, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love just as, right? Just as Jesus says, I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. We have the perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ as our example. Let me ask you, as we consider these things, as we consider these thoughts last week in this text, specifically in verse 15, are you fervent in your obedience to Christ? Are you fervent in your obedience to Christ? Do you labor to please him in all things? Does it, does it grieve your heart to fall short in your obedience to him? If you can say with a clear conscience before God that you don't allow yourself the practice of any known sin and you don't allow yourself the practice neglect of any known duty and all that is from the heart with affection for Christ, then that is evidence of true love for the Lord Jesus Christ. It's what the text is teaching. That's evidence of a love for the Lord Jesus Christ. Undoubtedly, if you're a Christian, you want to love him more, don't you? It is the grief of our heart, isn't it? That we don't please him as we want to. This side of eternity, we still have this other law in our members to contend with, but do you love Christ? Do you love Christ? Are you motivated from the heart to obey Christ, to please Christ, to live for him, to take up his cause and to preach him? Do you love Christ? Undoubtedly, if you're a Christian, if you're a genuine Christian, you do and that's the motivation of your heart. That's the desire of your heart to seek to please the Lord. For the love of Christ, you hunger and you thirst for righteousness. You desire to obey him perfectly, but it is the great grief of your heart that you can't. Do you love Christ? Do you obey Christ from the heart? It's one thing to say that you love Christ. It's another thing altogether to actually love him. A lack of love, a lack of love evidenced by a lack of obedience from the heart calls into question your salvation, calls into question any profession that you've made. That's why, you know, thinking through this, one of the reasons why so many today are so deceived, looking back at one experience, one moment in time, where they say they decided for Christ, they made a profession for Christ, they made some decision, they walked them out, they did something, they looked back at their experience and they say, back at that time, that's when I was saved and then the rest of their life? Listen, we're to look at our experience, we're to look at our lives. Do you love Christ? If you lack obedience from the heart, it calls into question that one experience, that one decision, that one thought, that one moment in time may prove that it's a sham altogether. For the Christian, the one who loves Christ, that obedience isn't produced in his own strength, in her own strength. We need help, don't we? We need help. And the Lord Jesus Christ, gracious to understand that need, gives it. The second promise in our text, promise given to the one who truly loves Christ, point to you on your notes, you will have help. You've got the help that you need. If you're in Christ, if you're united to Christ, you have glorious help. You have the greatest help. Look at verse 15. If you love me, you will keep on keeping my commandments. Verse 16, and I will pray, the Father, Jesus Christ says, and he will give you another helper so that he may abide with you forever, the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you. As we consider this help, want you to look at verse 15. It's not the love of Christ that earns this help, okay? We need to be very clear about that. It's a contradiction to the rest of Scripture. It's not the love of Christ that earns this helper that God will give. The helper is purely a gift of God's grace. God the Father gives the helper. Now, this is a set of realities for them. Listen, this is a set of realities for them that begin in verse 15. If they are true followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, right? Verse 15, they will love him. If they are true followers of his, they will obey him. And if they are true followers of his, they will have another helper. These are, you see the promises and the text, glorious promises. They will love him, they will obey him, and they will have another helper. Now, who is this helper? Well, verse 17 gives us the answer. This is the spirit of God. In verse 17, the spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, not a force, not a power, but the spirit of God, a person, the third person of the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. It's so foolish for people to say, well, the word Trinity is not in Scripture. This text is a Trinitarian text. It teaches that there is God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Three persons, one God. Now, it's interesting here in verse 16 that the Lord promises another helper. That word there for another is another of the same kind. You have two words that you can use in Greek for another. Another of the same kind, another of a different kind. This is another of the same kind. There is another, if there is another helper, then who's the other helper? Let's figure out that by defining what the Lord means here by the word helper. Word helper. Often transliterated, not translated, but transliterated, paraclete. It comes from a Greek word, paracletos. And that word, the Greek word, paracletos, derived from a verb, parakaleo, which means to call alongside. The word means to exhort, to call alongside, to encourage, to strengthen, to enable. Now the word itself, difficult to translate. Some of your translators will, translations will say comforter. Well, that sounds like a blanket. It's a warm blanket. It doesn't do service to the Holy Spirit of God, right? Helper, helper makes him sound subordinate. Listen, you're doing all the heavy lifting and the Spirit of God is just there to help you, right? He's just a spotter. You're the one bench pressing. And just in case you need help, he's there to help you. That doesn't do it service either. The message translation calls him friend. All kinds of problems with that, all right? Terrible, terrible translation. Others will use, other translations will use the word counselor. Not a camp counselor, you know, not a marriage counselor, but a counselor in the legal sense. That's maybe a little closer. The paraclete calls to his side. He exhorts. He encourages. He strengthens. He counsels and all of that describes the spirit of God. Now, if there is another helper, then who else could be described in his relationship to them? Who else could be described in this way? The Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, he's their helper in John 14, but the Lord Jesus Christ is going to go away and he promises to send them another helper of exactly the same kind. Another helper, word here used in John 14, John 15, John 16, only one other place that the word paraclete toss is used is in 1st John chapter 2 verse 1, where the Bible says, when we sin, we have an advocate, paraclete toss with the father who the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, the righteous, right? Now Jesus is their current helper. He's their current paraclete toss and he's going away. He's departing by means of the Christ, by means of the cross, but he's not going to leave them orphans. He's not going to leave them orphans. He's going to send another helper to them, the Holy Spirit, who will abide with him, it says there, into the ages forever. That's what that word means, who will abide with them into the ages. Now the ministry of the spirit of God, we'll get into this next week as we work our way through John 14, the ministry of the spirit of God is a glorious continuation. It's connected to the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Lord Jesus Christ helping his people, helping his disciples, and it is a glorious help. He's there. He's with them, right? The Lord Jesus Christ departing by means of the cross now sends another helper of the same kind to help his people. He's going to continue the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ and expand it. Didn't the Bible also say, John 14, that they're going to do greater works than Jesus has done? That's going to come through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ himself in his incarnation is a help to them. He's going to go away and send another helper. Now he's not only referred to the spirit of God here, not only referred to as the spirit, but he's called the spirit of truth. Into that, I want you to make these connections here between the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Into that being called the spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit of God in perfect unity and in perfect harmony with the truth of God as it is revealed in Christ. Perfect unity, perfect harmony, perfect economy of effort, economy of will, economy of resolution, economy of purpose, all continuing the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ in himself, the spirit of God. That means that the work of the spirit of God on the earth today, as it pertains to you and I who claim to be Christians, is a continuation of the very work and the very word of the Lord Jesus Christ that began here. Do you see? It's the same work, the same purpose. That's why, listen, when Acts 1-8 says that when you receive power, when you receive the spirit of God, you will be witnesses to me, connect that back to the mission and work and purpose in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The missions are connected, the work is connected, the word is connected, the paracletos is connected. We're to pick up the same torch, we're to pick up the same mission. We've been given a great commission, the same commission as the Father has sent me the Lord Jesus Christ says, so send I you and all of that in the continuing ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ being worked out now through the ministry of the Spirit of God and the people of God. As we come to verse 17, look at verse 17, the world is utterly unable to discern any of that. The world neither sees him nor knows him. If you think about first Corinthians chapter two verse 14, the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. However, look at the contrast there in verse 17, the disciples, they know him. They know him because he dwells with them present tense and will be future tense in them. The Spirit of God has been active with them all along, among them all along and active and among them in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, most evidently in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. However, at Pentecost, at Pentecost and we're going to get there, the Spirit of God will come and will be in them. There's just a qualitative difference between the ministry of the Holy Spirit prior to Pentecost and the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit after Pentecost. Now, Old Testament saints, Old Testament saints in order to be saved had to be regenerated, born again in the same way by the Spirit of God. They had to be granted repentance and faith. Often in the Old Testament, regeneration is described as a circumcised heart, right? That circumcised heart resulted in true repentance, genuine turning from sin. It resulted in genuine faith. It resulted in obedience from the heart. The Prophet Haggai, Haggai chapter two described the Spirit as abiding in their midst, abiding in their midst. However, the time is coming and now is when the Spirit of God would be in them. Now, in them individually, personally, in them intimately, in them permanently, such that Paul would say, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. Now, again, we'll talk about this as we work through the rest of John 14. But this means, all of this means, right? Unique and powerful, substantive help for the new covenant believer. Help for obedience and help for continuing ministry. Obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ and faithfulness, obedience to the Great Commission. Acts one eight, you're going to go out in power. John 14, 12, you're going to do greater works than me. Whatever you ask in my name, the Lord says, I'm going to do it. Now, think about this. The Spirit comes as another helper of the same kind. He does exactly what Christ has been doing. He continues and advances his work. If you think about the word parcoleo, right? To call to one side. Think about the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. We're both called to his side, aren't we? Parcoleo, call to one side to exhort, to encourage. The believer called to the side of the Holy Spirit. We see that in several texts, but namely comes to mind, Acts one eight, you're going to receive power and you will be witnesses to me, right? You're called to the work, to the ministry, to the labor of the Holy Spirit on this planet during this time while the Lord tarries. He calls you to his side. If you think about it the other way too, isn't this a glorious blessing from the Lord that we also, the Spirit of God comes to our side, doesn't he? He's called to our side in the moment of need. He's called to our side at the point of temptation, right? He's called to our side when we need strength to persevere. He's called to our side when you need to overcome the fear of man and preach the gospel. He's called to our side when you're battling sin and you need help, you need strength, you need enablement, you need encourage from God's word, encouragement from God's word. He's called to our side when we need to understand the text, when we want to please Christ and we want to know him, we want to know his word. So in the same way we're called to his side in the ministry, he's called to our side in our need, in our weakness, right? Even in our prayers, doesn't the Bible say that we don't always even pray as we ought to? But the Spirit, by the grace of God, the Spirit intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. It's a glorious blessing. There's an application here for unbelievers also. If you're here today and you've not been born again, then the word of God says that you can't see him and you can't know him. You are unable, why? Because through sin you have alienated yourself from God. You are an enemy of God by your wicked works and he is the Holy Spirit. Your heart is hostile toward God. In your life you serve yourself. You are of this world and you are of your Father the Devil. And what hope do you have? If you can't understand this, if you can't see him, you can't know him, then what hope do you have? You have one hope. That hope is the Lord Jesus Christ. God has made provision for your sin. And not only does he make provision for your sin, he gives you every spiritual blessing that you need to live for him. One of the greatest gifts that God gives the genuine believer is the indwelling Spirit of God. You must be born again. Turn from your sin. Put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and trust yourself to him. And God says you will keep my commandments and I will give you another helper. Think about this, brother or sister, an application of this to the believer that we've not been forsaken. The Lord Jesus Christ says, I'm not going to leave you orphans. I will come to you. He says, the Father will love you. I will love you and we will come to you and make our home with you. We're not forsaken. There's help in the mission. The work will continue and if you're in Christ, you will make it. You will persevere. Can we love Christ as we ought to? Not here, not now. Can we love one another in the way that he's commanded us? Are we able to do that? Not here, not now. That's certainly no excuse. You're to strive in that, right? Can we obey his commandments? Not perfectly. Not fully. We sin. Can we carry on and even expand the work that he began in and of ourselves? No. Not here, not in our weakness, not in and of ourselves, not our own strength. The answer to those questions is a resounding no if we're left to ourselves. Can you overcome sin? No. Apart from Christ, apart from the Spirit of God, you're a slave to sin. Can you fight temptation? No. No. Can you love your wife? Ladies, can you submit to your husband? No. No. Can you save someone in the preaching of the gospel? No. Can you be a diligent worker approved to God? No. No, you can't. Can you be an excellent employee with an excellent attitude all the time? No. No. Can you be a student that gives testimony in your studies of the grace of God in Christ to you? No. No, you cannot. Can by any of your performance, can you earn favor with God? No. In and of yourself? No. It's a resounding no. Can you progress in the faith? No. In and of yourself, you will make no progress. You're going to go backwards is what you're going to do. Can you for one moment, apart from the power of God afforded by the Spirit of God and dwelling you, can you for one moment preserve yourself in the faith? No. Not for one moment. All of this a resounding no if you are left to yourself. But listen, the Lord Jesus Christ departed this earth by means of the cross and he prayed for you and you can see that prayer in John 17. He prayed for you that the Father would keep you. He prayed that the Father would send another helper who wouldn't only just be with you. He would be in you and it's by his spirit, by the Spirit of God that we can do all those things. It's a glorious thought to me when I think about passages like Romans chapter eight where Paul teaches that we as believers can fulfill the righteous requirements of the law. Now if you're a Christian, you desire from the heart to obey him because you love him. But it's only by the Spirit of God that you will do that. You're not going to do that in your own strength. You're not going to do that by gritting your teeth and burying it out and white knuckling it. It's just not going to happen. But you can by the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body. What an awesome thought. By the Spirit, by the Spirit of God with his help, with his enablement, you can fulfill the righteous requirements of the law. Romans chapter eight, by the Spirit, by the Spirit, by the Spirit. If you live according to the flesh, you will die. That's right. Helper comes and conquers sin in us. The helper comes gives us power to obey. All of this do you see is doctrine which accords with godliness. We don't only get information, right? Packing knowledge into your head. This is information for transformation. This is understanding these glorious truths so that your life is conformed into the image of his son. You become more like Christ. How? By the Spirit of God, the helper who's been given to you if you're in Christ, we have to rely on the Spirit of God, not on our own strength. Now remember a story James Montgomery Boyce talked about a time that he spent over the summer in a summer camp as a young man. And one of the things that the summer camp asked Boyce to do was to fix the wires attached to the tops of telephone poles on the campsite around the camp. So James Montgomery Boyce talked about taking the strap, you know, taking the strap, putting around his back, putting the strap around the pole and having to climb those telephone poles. Climb to the top of the telephone pole with a strap, a little fearful, a little frightening endeavor, right? You're going to get to the top of this telephone pole. The only way that Boyce could climb the pole, he watched other people do this and then he did it himself, was to lean back against the strap, right? Lean back against the strap. The moment that in fear he would reach out to grab the pole, he was in big trouble. The pole is just lined with splinters, right? And many times in fear reached out to grab the pole and just get eaten up, sliding down that pole with splinters over the front of it. The only way to climb, he said, was to lean. You couldn't climb any other way. This is a good application, isn't it? Good way to think about this. The only way you can climb in the faith is to lean, lean on the Holy Spirit. When you take matters into your own hands, you are going to get eaten up with splinters. Lean back, lean. How do you do that? How do you do that? God, this is not mysterious. This is not unknown to us. How do you practically lean on the Spirit of God? You study his word. You learn of him. You pray. You express dependence upon him. You repent. You turn from sin and you trust Christ. You seek in all things to obey him. You live for him, heart, soul, mind, and strength. While you learn of him, while you study him, while you strive to put off the old man and to put on the new man, you lean. You labor in the Lord's vineyard, and while you labor in the Lord's vineyard, you lean on the Spirit of God. You depend upon him. You cry out to him for help. You acknowledge your need. Ask him to intercede. Aren't we prone to grab the pole all the time as if there were no strap? Gripping onto the pole with a death grip, and you forget all of those blessings of God. This is a promise of God. If you're in Christ, he has promised you a helper. We've got to lean on the Spirit of God. Third promise on your notes. Look at verse 18. You not only will keep on keeping his commandments, you will not only have the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth as another helper, beginning in verse 18, you're going to have him, the Lord Jesus Christ, the enduring and indwelling presence of the Son of God. As you can imagine, these disciples and the predicament they're in, they're going to feel abandoned. They're going to feel abandoned. That were their orphans. What an emotionally charged word, right? You've seen pictures of orphans. You've read stories of orphans. What an emotionally charged picture that is. They're going to feel like orphans. It reminds me of Luke chapter 24 on the road to Emmaus, right? Two disciples walking along the road, and the Lord Jesus Christ comes to them. And he begins to speak to them about what happened in Jerusalem. And they're like, where have you been? You haven't heard what has taken place in Jerusalem. Everybody's heard about these events. And they told him, Lord Jesus Christ, not knowing who he was, about how the Lord had been crucified in Jerusalem. And they said to him on the road, if you remember from Luke 24, we were hoping that it was going to be him who would save Israel. We were hoping that it was him, like hopes dashed because he's gone away, hopes dashed because he's been crucified. And we'll, we know what happens on the road to Emmaus. In verse 18, the Lord says, listen, I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. I'm sending the spirit, but listen, I myself, and coming back to you, Matthew chapter 28 verse 20, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age, Jesus says. Galatians chapter 2 verse 20. Paul says, I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. Lives in me. I love this. Hebrews chapter 13 verse five, for he himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you so that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? It's an awesome thought. We'll have the spirit of God. We'll have the indwelling presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this enduring presence is afforded by the Lord's resurrection from the dead. Look at verse 19. A little while longer, a little while longer, the world will see me no more. Short time, just a few hours. And the Lord Jesus Christ will be put to death. But he says, you will see me because I live, you will live also. And that day, you will know that I am in my father and you in me and I in you. Now how are they going to know on that day? What are they going to know? How are they going to know it? It's because of the resurrection. It's because of the resurrection. Jesus says essentially, because I will live in resurrection power, you too will be resurrected. We can understand chapter 14 verses 18 through 20 here by looking at another text, John chapter 16, and look there, John chapter 16 beginning in verse 16, where the Lord in the same conversation, just a short time after, says essentially the same kind of thing. Look at verse 16. He says a little while and you're not going to see me. And again, a little while and you will see me. Now this side of the cross, we understand what he's talking about, don't we? He goes away in death at the cross, but then the Lord Jesus Christ is raised from the dead. Look at verse 17. Then some of his disciples said among themselves, what is this that he says to us a little while and you'll not see me? And again in a little while and you'll see me. And because I go to the father, they said therefore, what is this that he says a little while? We don't know what he's talking about, right? Look at verse 19. Now Jesus being God the Son, God in the flesh being omnipotent able to raise minds, Jesus knew that they desired to ask him and he said to them, are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said a little while and you'll not see me? And again a little while and you will see me. Most assuredly I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. What is he talking about there? He's talking about the cross. They're going to weep. They're going to lament. It's going to be excruciatingly difficult. The world is going to be rejoicing over him. You can just imagine the tumult this created in all the demons, right? Rejoicing. They thought they had him, right? Christ has been crucified. You're going to be sorrowful, verse 20, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. Where does the joy come from? The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. God raises him from the dead. Verse 21, a woman when she's in labor, Pastor Rick knows exactly what this is all about. She has sorrow because her hour has come, right? But as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a human being has been born into the world. Therefore you now have sorrow, but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice and your joy no one will take from you. In that day, you're going to ask me nothing. Most assuredly I say to you, whatever you ask in my name, he will give you. Until now you've asked nothing in my name, ask and you will receive that your joy may be full. Now these things I've spoken to you in figurative language, Lord says, but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I'll tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you'll ask in my name and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you, for the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came forth from God. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again I leave the world and go to the Father. As the disciple said to him, see now you're speaking plainly now and using no figure of speech. Now we're sure that you know all things and have no need that anyone should question you. By this we believe that you came forth from God. Now Jesus answered them, do you now believe indeed the hour is coming? Yes has now come that you will be scattered each to his own and will leave me alone. Now think about this again. All of this prior to the cross, prior to the trial, we've seen Peter's boasting ahead of his denial, maybe you, I know I have boasted before, pride comes before a fall. Yet here this knowledge, this believing upon him, this maturity of their faith happens after the resurrection, happens when he comes to them and because he lives, they know they will live also. They're going to be scattered each one to his own. They're going to depart the Lord. In their own way they're going to deny him. But he's not alone, verse 33, these things I've spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. How do they know that he's overcome the world? Resurrection from the dead, resurrection from the dead. The resurrection powerfully delivers them from any uncertainty. In seeing the Lord Jesus Christ raised from the dead, it will become overwhelmingly clear that just as death has no power over him, so death will have no power over them. Do you see? Why? Because they love the Lord Jesus Christ. And to the one who truly loves the Lord Jesus Christ, they will obey his commandments. They will have another helper and because he lives, they will live also. It's a promise from God as inviolable as all of the promises of God. Because of the resurrection, death will not be able to snatch them out of his hand. Now this resurrection, the resurrection from the dead, is a reality to them that shaped, that motivated, that fueled their future devotion to him. When they come to arrest Lord Jesus Christ, they scatter. It looks like everything is defeat and agony and misery and shame and despair. When the Lord Jesus Christ is raised from the dead, that knowledge of the resurrection, seeing the resurrected Lord fuels their obedience, their devotion, fuels their faith in him. They go right back into the same city that killed the Lord Jesus Christ and they preach Christ in Jerusalem. They preach Christ to their own deaths. Now the same here is for us. In verses 18 through 20, we're talking about having the enduring and the indwelling presence of the living Christ among us. He is a living Lord. Do you believe in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ? If you believe in the resurrection, then live in light of that belief as they did. If Christ is not risen, we are of all men most pitiable. Look what we give ourselves over to if Christ is not risen. Talk about a waste of time if the Lord Jesus Christ is not risen from the dead. A waste of your effort, a waste of your energy if the Lord Jesus Christ is not risen from the dead. But the Lord Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. And what a waste if you don't fervently and wholeheartedly live for him as a result of understanding that truth as they did. We are raised in him as men. I don't know many guys that like going to the grocery store. I don't like going to the grocery store. Go to the grocery store. You have a singular mission. If you're a guy and you can relate, say amen, you go to the grocery store, you've got a singular mission. I need milk. I'm going to get in and get out as quickly as I can. I'm going to go in, get the milk, and I'm going to get out. If I'm not the one going in, if I'm going to send one of the girls or if Karen's going in, you pull up to the front of the grocery store and it's like a seal team six entry on foreign soil in the dark of night. Just get in and get out as fast as you can. Get what you came for and let's go, right? No one likes going to the grocery store. This life is a trip to the grocery store. We have a mission and it's a short life. Get in, get the mission done, and go to heaven. Get what you came for. If you believe that because he lives in resurrection power, that you will live resurrected, raised from the dead, then this life is a short stop in an eternity of bliss and glory in heaven with him for all eternity. We're here to get in and get out. We've got a mission while we're here. Complete the mission. We are to go, therefore, and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that he has commanded. And while we're here low, we have him to the very end of the age. We have a mission. We've been given a commission. We have a work to do here. While we're here, we need to work, labor in his vineyard for that mission, looking forward to the day, looking forward to the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 20, he says, in that day after the resurrection, we know this also. We have testimony of the resurrection from the dead. In that day, they will know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you. We know by virtue of the resurrection. Now, we know that intellectually, you can look at the case for the resurrection, the eyewitness accounts. You can look at the testimony of scripture for the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. But we also know this truth experientially. We experience, and I don't mean that in some mystical, occultish, pagan kind of way. We experience the risen Lord in the Christian life. It's not a feeling. I just sense the Lord. It's not that. It's not a feeling. It's a resolved reality. It's something that transcends feeling or sentimentalism. How do we know? How do we know? Promise number four on your notes, beginning in verse 21. You will have fruit. You will have fruit. You will experience Christ manifesting himself to you through fruit. Look at verse 21. This is a reminder, once again, a foundational way to know. He who has my commandments and keeps them, verse 21, it is he who loves me. Do you have my commandments? If you have my commandments, do you keep them? Right? And he who loves me, he who loves me, how do we know who loves him? Those are the ones who keep his commandments from the heart with affection for Christ. He who loves me will be loved by my Father. Look at all the wills. Will be. Will be. I will. You will. He will. Right? Wills. He will be loved by my Father. And I will love him and I will manifest myself to him. Now you may ask yourself, how is it that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to manifest himself to him? Well, Judas asked the same question in verse 22. Judas, not a scary, it said to him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world? Now Judas is thinking, how is this going to work out? When the Lord Jesus Christ comes and he crushes the Romans and he sets up his kingdom on the earth and he destroys all those wicked people who reject him, how is it that that's going to take place so that we see it and the world doesn't? He's not thinking right, not understanding yet. So Jesus says in verse 23, Jesus answered and said to him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word. Now this is how he is going to manifest himself to them. If anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my Father will love him and we will come to him and we will make our home with him. You know, for a vast majority of the professing church today that has completely stripped from the gospel the wonder working power of the grace of God, they don't see any changed life. They don't see any transformation. There's no radical conversion. You make some decision and then you can live how you want to live. Well, you know, he that began a good work in you will one day 30 years from now, maybe, maybe, maybe complete a little bit of it, but it's going to happen when you go to heaven. No, it's just it's stripping the gospel of its power to transform a life. He's going to manifest himself to us in that those who truly love Christ will keep his commandments. How do you know a genuine Christian? It's one who loves him and keeps his commandments. And if that one loves him keeps his commandments, then you know the Father, God the Father will love him and we, God the Father, God the Son, God, the Holy Spirit will come to him and make our home with him. Not only do you have the indwelling spirit, not only do you have the indwelling and enduring presence of the Lord Jesus Christ into the ages, now you have the indwelling presence of God the Father. We are, in essence, indwelt by the Trinity. Do you see? If you truly love Christ, is there any way that you're not going to make it? No, no, no. He says to the disciples, essentially here, you're going to make it because I've ensured that you're going to make it. When God gifts, when he gives saving faith to a soul, radical effects will follow. These are related realities. Not based on a feeling. This is a settled reality. How does Christ manifest himself in the life of a believer through obedience to the Lord's commands? In love for Christ, persevering into them. If you don't have that, you need to question whether you're in Christ. The believer loves Christ. The one who truly loves Christ keeps his commandments. All this is done through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. We experience him through his word, being conformed to him. We become more and more holy over time. All these things, because of the blessed promises and gifts of God to the one who loves Christ. There are those who don't love Christ. Look at verse 24. He who does not love me. He who does not love me does not keep my words. The word which you hear is not mine, but the fathers who sent me. He who does not love Christ will be disobedient, will practice sin, and the one who does not love Christ will be held accountable. They will face God in judgment. Jesus is saying these words aren't mine. These are the fathers who sent me. They will be held to account. First Corinthians chapter 16, Paul says in verse 22, if anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. So much to say here. Do you think that in all of this, that Peter got it? That Peter get it? What can we take away from Peter's example here? One among the 11. Peter's denial of the Lord on the eve of his crucifixion is notorious, right? Peter was prideful. Peter said, even though all may fall away because of you, I will never fall away. Peter was ignorant and prayerless in the garden. Couldn't even keep watch with him for one hour. Couldn't see how serious the circumstances were. He was impetuous in the garden. He took off the ear of Malchus, was aiming for his head. And then in this condition, right, prideful, ignorant, impetuous, immature in his faith, Peter finds himself in the courtyard of the high priest as the Lord's trial begins. Look with me beginning at Luke 22. Turn with me to Luke. Let's look at Peter's example here. We, like Peter, don't we? Desire from the heart to never deny Christ. Never to deny the Lord who bought us. Aren't we plagued oftentimes with grief over the many ways, either by our words or by our actions, in which we do just that, in which we deny him? Luke chapter 22, look down beginning at verse 54, Luke 22, 54, having arrested the Lord, they led him and brought him into the high priest's house. But Peter followed at a distance. And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. A certain servant girl, seeing him as he sat by the fire, looked intently at him and said, this man was also with him. But he denied him, saying, woman, I do not know him. After a little while, another saw him and said, you also are one of them. Peter said, man, I am not. And after about an hour had passed, another confidently affirmed saying, surely this fellow also was with him for he's a Galilean. And Peter said, man, I do not know what you are saying. And immediately while he was still speaking, the words coming out of his mouth, the rooster crowed. And when that rooster crowed, you know, Peter's heart must have just sunk within him, right? We know that in the upper room, the Lord Jesus Christ to Peter predicted Peter's denial. Look at verse 61, crushing man. The Lord turned at that moment and he looked at Peter. Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him before the rooster crows, you're going to deny me three times. So Peter went out and wept bitterly. You know, as deep as Peter's heart must have sunk when that rooster crowed, how crushed, crushed must Peter have been when he made eye contact with the Lord in that moment. The evil of sin, right? The shame of it, the wickedness of it. Here's the Lord Jesus Christ going to the cross to die for sinners. And in that moment, the Lord's trial, Peter denies him. Well, the Lord sees you too. And he sees me too. He sees every denial. He sees every neglect. He sees every failure. He sees every fear of man, every disobedience, every act of anger, every act of pride. He sees every neglect, every sin. He sees your denial of the Lord by what you've said. He sees your denial by what you've not said. He sees your denial of the Lord Jesus Christ by what you've done and by what you haven't done. Turn with me to John chapter 21. John chapter 21. All this should cause us in considering him to go out and weep bitterly. The Lord Jesus Christ having given so much for you and I. We find Peter now in John chapter 21. He has left Christ, decides to go fishing back to his former life. It's interesting in John chapter 21 what happens here is essentially the same thing that happens to Peter in Luke chapter 5. One event at the beginning of the Lord's ministry. Now the same lesson for Peter again three years later. Look at verse 15. They had gone fishing. This great miracle takes place where the miraculous catch of fish. Peter knows instantaneously that it's the Lord who has done this and he goes immediately to him. They have breakfast on the shore and in verse 15 when they had eaten breakfast Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonah. Do you love me more than these? The word these could refer to these things. This life, this boat, these nets, these things. Do you love me more than these things, Peter? The word for love there is the same word for love that we find in John chapter 14 verse 15. It's the word Agapao. It's a decided love. It's a love expressed in the will. It's a love expressed by obedience, sacrificing your own preferences, your own life, your own will, sacrificing that on behalf of or for the benefit of someone else. In this case the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the highest and most noble kind of love Agapao. He says, Simon son of Jonah, do you Agapao? Do you love me more than these things? He said to him, yes Lord, you know that I love you. This is a careful and calculated response on the part of Peter. He doesn't use the word Agapao for love. He uses the word phileo instead. Phileo means friendly affection, friendly affection. Peter couldn't claim Agapao because Peter had denied the Lord and he was convicted. He was convicted. So he uses phileo instead based on his actions, right, based on what Peter had done. Peter in his mind, examining his own disobedience, examining his own betrayal, examining his own denial, couldn't claim Agapao. He says, Lord, you know I phileo you. He uses phileo instead and the Lord said to him, verse 15, feed my lambs. Listen Peter, your priority is no longer fishing. Your priority is no longer your life. You are one of mine. He said to him in verse 16, he said to him again a second time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me Agapao? He said to him, yes Lord, you know that I love you phileo. He said to him, tend my sheep. Verse 17, the Lord said to Peter the third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you phileo me? The Lord moves from Agapao now to phileo. Friendly affection. Peter was grieved. Peter was grieved that for the third time the Lord had to ask him and now the Lord even questions Peter's phileo love of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you phileo me? Peter was grieved because he said to them the third time, do you love me? Three denials on the part of Peter. Three soul piercing questions on the part of the Lord Jesus Christ to him. Peter said to him, verse 17, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Your love for Christ, my love for the Lord Jesus Christ must be demonstrated in our obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not based on how you feel. It's not based on sappy sentimentalism. It's based on what you do. There will be a cost. You must give your life. You must give your life. Look at verse 18. Most assuredly I say to you, Peter, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished, but when you are old you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish. This he spoke signifying by what death Peter would glorify God. When he had spoken this he said to him, follow me. The Lord Jesus Christ tells Peter he's going to die. Peter would follow the Lord Jesus Christ to his death and Peter would be crucified upside down for preaching Christ. He would follow the Lord Jesus Christ to his death. In light of that, in light of the Lord telling Peter that in verse 18, the Lord then commands him in verse 19, follow me, follow me. It ends with a command to obey and it's a command that Peter would obey to his death. Such a tremendous fall on the part of Peter, a grievous fall, a heart-wrenching fall. And yet in this we see Peter's repentance. He goes out and he weeps bitterly. We see Peter's restoration. Lord, you know that I love you and I will follow you and Peter does. We see Peter's return to even greater usefulness and even greater faithfulness in the cause of Christ. For you and I, there are depths sometimes to which we will fall. You'll fall into sin, you'll fall into neglect, you'll fall into apathy, you'll fall into indifference. By your words or by your actions, we deny the Lord who bought us. But the Lord Jesus Christ sees you and he sees your heart. And if you're in Christ, listen, he stands ready to forgive you and to restore you. You must turn, repent, turn from that neglect, turn from that denial, turn from that apathy, turn from that indifference, turn to Christ and be forgiven. And with all the glorious promises and all the glorious blessings afforded to you in the gospel, live for him, out of love for him, obey his commandments. You will persevere, you will make it, you will have another helper, you will have the enduring presence of the Lord Jesus Christ into the ages. You will have the trinity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit in you. You'll be loved by them and you will love them. You will make it, turn from your sin, put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to read this to you. Peter's words, Peter's words. Peter got this. Peter got this. In 1 Peter chapter 2, I just want you to listen. Peter says to us in light of what he's learned, right? In light of the precious promises of God in Christ. Therefore, you and I, we must lay aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, all evil speaking as newborn babes, listen brothers and sisters, desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby. If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious, coming to him as to a living stone rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious. You also as living stones are being built up into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious. He who believes on him will by no means be put to shame. Therefore to you who believe he is precious, note the contrast, but to those who are disobedient and by their disobedience attest to the fact that they do not believe the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble being disobedient to the word to which they also were appointed, but you, brothers and sisters, you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people for the purpose that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once were not a people, but now are the people of God who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims abstained from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works which they observe glorify God in the day of visitation. Amen. Amen. Let's take Peter's example and follow the Lord, right? Let's pray. Father in heaven, Lord, thank you for this word. Thank you for the example of our Lord Jesus Christ and who in perfect and infinite and immeasurable love for you pleased you in all things, obeyed you perfectly where we couldn't or where we can't. And Lord, knowing that in him you have imputed that perfect righteousness to us, we rejoice. Having no righteousness whatsoever of our own, we rejoice that we've been given as a gift of your grace the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ who did perfectly obey you, who satisfied all the demands of the law who took the penalty that the law demands for us in our place that we might become sons and daughters of God. We praise you and we thank you for these glorious blessings afforded us in the gospel. And I pray God that now with gratefulness in our hearts, with love in our hearts, we would strive to cultivate greater love, cultivate greater thankfulness in our hearts for you, for all that you've done. And Lord, because of that love as a fruit of that love compelled by that love, Lord, we would obey you from the heart in all things fervently, faithfully as a testimony of your grace to us. Help us Lord. We praise you and thank you for the help that you have afforded us by your spirit who indwells us. Thank you for the helper. Thank you for the paracletos that you have so graciously given. Thank you for the assurance of your presence into the ages. Thank you Lord for all these promises, promises that by your spirit, according to your word, you will preserve us. These are glorious truths to the one who loves you. I pray God that each person here would not be satisfied until they know on the testimony of your word that they love the Lord Jesus Christ if they determine Lord from their examination that they do not. God, I pray that you would save them. I pray that you would grant them repentance and faith, that you would cause them by your spirit to walk in your statutes, to love you with all their heart, soul, mind and strength and their neighbors themselves for their good Lord, but for your glory, for your worship in Jesus' name.