 So I'll read to you out of John chapter 14 verses 25 through 31 and we'll get into our study John chapter 14 verses 25 through 31 Jesus said these things I have spoken to you while being present with you But the helper the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you Peace I leave with you my peace I Give to you Not as the world gives do I give to you? Let not your heart be troubled Neither let it be afraid You've heard me say to you I'm going away and coming back to you If you loved me you would rejoice because I said I'm going to the father for my father is greater than I and Now I have told you before it comes that when it does come to pass you may believe I Will no longer talk much with you for the ruler of this world is coming He has nothing in me But that the world may know that I love the father and as a father gave me commandment So I do and then he said arise Let us go from here So Jesus has been preparing his disciples for his departure and he had made it clear as we have gone through these verses Earlier he made it clear that he's not going to lead them orphans, but he said I'm going to manifest myself to you He said that he was going to send another helper One who would abide with them forever and this helper he referred to is The spirit of God the Holy Spirit who would be with them and would be in them Now I'll begin with a question. Why why would the Holy Spirit come to them and not to just anybody who needed help? Why would that be? You see there are many people who are in need of help Why is Jesus saying that he through the Spirit will be a help to them? Well that in context Jesus had said that you're to cling to his commandments and you're to keep them And if you cling to the commandments of the Lord and you keep them That's the way to reveal that you love him and so love for God is Revealed in obedience to him and so in an atmosphere of love faith and obedience the Holy Spirit is going to move You see there are people who are saying oh, I need help. I need help, but they have no intent whatsoever to obey the Lord You know how that is you probably were that way before you got saved Maybe you did that since getting saved it God help me now God help me now And then the minute the Lord seems to intervene you forget right away that you had said you would change your life or follow him You forget right away, you know, there are many people who who right now are saying God help me God help me But they have no intention of obeying him They have no intention because they don't love him and that's what Jesus is talking about Jesus is speaking concerning the fact that if you love him, you'll keep his commands If you love him, you're going to continue and in following the things that he has to say And so it's not just that he's saying the Holy Spirit will just help anybody at any time That's not to say that God doesn't help he does But he's specifically speaking to his disciples and he's saying these are the conditions that you'll be able to know Be on a shadow of a doubt that I'm with you and I'm helping you It's because you love me and it's because you're obeying me And so in order for us to receive his help we first and foremost need to admit our need for it On our own we cannot walk pleasing to him We have a spirit that Jesus said is willing but the flesh indeed is weak And that's why we need the power of the spirit in our lives because it's a holy spirit Who gives to us the strength to do what he has provoked us to desire Notice with me in verse 17 how Jesus referred to the spirit of God as the spirit of truth The spirit is called the spirit of truth because he reveals Jesus Christ who is the truth And when you speak concerning that we need to remember that truth is not simply intellectual propositions But truth is actually incarnated. It's actually embodied in a person You see truth by its very nature is not relative arbitrary decided on by vote or subjective It isn't broken into categories such as my truth or his truth or your truth or their truth It's not determined by emotions. It's not determined by my simple experiences Truth is actually revealed by facts Somebody has said Facts don't care about your feelings and I think there's obvious Reality to that it isn't voted in it isn't something that we as a group have a consensus and we decide this is what truth is Truth is actually Jesus Christ. It's embodied in a person and truth is not just a proposition It isn't something decided on by vote. It's not subjective. It's not emotional Truth by definition is the body of real things events and facts the real things The real events and the real facts and truth is given to us by God and is revealed to us by his spirit Through the gospel. You see without the spirit revealing truth to us We would not know what truth is because our sin nature affects everything around us human beings by by nature are self-centered and So we judge everything by how we feel about it Speak to somebody about sexual sin and see how they feel about it They'll tell you how they feel about it speak to somebody about the issue of homosexuality and and they'll tell you how they feel about that particular Thing or drinking you can speak to them concerning religion you can ask them Questions about a variety of things that they feel strongly about and then a lot of people who are Determining what truth is by the way they feel or what somebody has said to them And so what happens is we cannot find truth completely on our own Because we have a tendency of judging based on our experiences So for many truth is subjective It's determined by how someone feels about something and that again would include how they feel about God or religion Because our way of thinking is influenced by our environment Many say I have my truth and you've had somebody say that to you I've had you know in in essence to say well, that's your truth and I have my truth and Because they're convinced that they're right. It's very difficult to share with them When it comes to knowing God they take what we would call a low view of him They often think of God is simply a bigger human being and that's what the Greeks did the Greeks had their gods which they were basically just a little higher than men and That's what they did. They made their God just a little bit higher and he actually had the attributes of sinful men But the Bible makes it clear that God is infinitely above human beings You see that means that that God is beyond my natural ability to comprehend I cannot seek him out through my intellect alone I say of 55 8 and 9 says it like this for my thoughts are not your thoughts Nor are your ways my ways says the Lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth So are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts In the book of Romans in chapter 11 verse 33 Paul said oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God how Unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out In other words, we cannot by searching discover him. He reveals himself to us when you look at verse 17 Verse 17 says the world cannot receive him because it neither sees him nor knows him So God's spirit reveals to us who Jesus Christ is and that happens to the message of the gospel The gospel declares to us who Jesus Christ is So before you became a Christian That is how you would judge the Bible You would you would judge him based on you would judge it based on what you thought about it you see on our own we would never be able to discover him and We reject that message Have you ever been reading the Bible and and said I just don't get it. I don't understand this I remember before I got saved. I was a young man. I was with some friends up in in amount the mountains in a and in a cabin and This guy I didn't I don't know whose cabin it was he is a friend of some friends but this guy had a Bible and he had another book the Bog of odd guitar and I had and I'll just be honest when I say it like this. I had taken some a drug hallucinogenic and I had heard somewhere that when you drop certain drugs that there's a spiritual portal that opens up and So I remember I was high on on psilocybin magic mushroom and I opened up the Bible and I figured it's just like any other book I never even opened the Bible in my life and So I remember opening it to Genesis because the way you read books is from the first page, right? And so I opened it up and I started reading in the beginning and as I read maybe a page or two I closed it. I said, you know, it wasn't just the drugs by the way I said this makes no sense to me whatsoever, you know, it's because the Bible wasn't intended to be read as if it was Just just a book it's God's message and it takes the Holy Spirit to awaken us the reality of what truth is and It takes the spirit of God We're gonna see this in just a moment to take what is of God and to impart it to us So you could have picked up the book you could have read it but it won't make sense to you and so because of that it's God's grace that makes it possible for you to comprehend and You need to remember that he chose to by his spirit reveal himself to you in Matthew 11 27 it says all things have been delivered to me by my father and No one knows the son except the father Nor does anyone know the father except the son and the one to whom the son wills to reveal him So Jesus has been teaching his men and he's been teaching him concerning various things while being present with them and These were were or things that he was giving to them that they might know him and know things of him as They were together, but now he's about to leave them and they're gonna need some encouragement Notice how in verse 26 it says the helper the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you Now he has called the Holy Spirit the helper He's also called the Holy Spirit the spirit of truth, but now he calls him the Holy Spirit That's intended to reveal not so much his presence and power But it's intended to reveal his character as you look at this I want to show you a couple things here in verse 26 When he says the helper of the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you We're gonna be looking at in just a moment two works of the Holy Spirit He's the comforter. He's the truth revealer. He's the teacher He's the one who brings to our memory the things that Jesus has taught Because he intends our lives to conform to his and this conformity to him is not only on the outside by visible religious activity This conformity to Jesus is intended to exist internally so that it may be seen externally See during the time of Christ there were Religious groups there there were Sadducees and there were Pharisees and others a variety of religious groups But the two main ones we see in the New Testament are the Pharisees and the Sadducees and when you looked at the Pharisees especially you would see an external kind of Righteousness so much so that when Jesus said your righteousness needs to extent exceed that of this the Pharisees His men lost hope within themselves and who can be saved? Because the Pharisees were so outwardly righteous that the common people held him high in high regard Jesus spoke of them quite often. Let me refresh your memory how he said they're the ones who like to stand praying on street corners Or they're the ones who like to give their gifts in an ostentatious way They're the ones who like to fast and be known for their fasting. You remember that how Jesus spoke concerning that And what was he speaking about when he said that fasting and and praying and and giving those were the three Outer emblems of a righteous person during the time of Christ If you spoke concerning somebody who was a follower of God those three things would have been their attributes They pray they fast and they give generously and yet Jesus said they do it to be seen by men and from men They receive their reward That's why when he was speaking concerned in the Pharisees and all and would use him in illustration That's why the common people who would hear him say things concerning these people would actually Actually be concerned because who's as righteous as a Pharisee a separated one who is like that? But the problem is Jesus said they're like whitewashed tombs. He said they're beautiful on the outside But on the inside he said they're filled with all kinds of decay and death Because it's all on the outside They would broaden the hem of the garments and and they would wear their Filacteries and various emblems of religion and they wore them like a crown and the people would see them and the people would say Nobody can be as righteous as these people these people are are the the separated ones and all and so it's not hard guys It's really not hard to have as an outer appearance of Righteousness because people don't see your heart. It's easy for me to put on like I like to pray I like to fast I like to give her what it's easy for me to do that Because that's what people see but man looks on the outer appearance God looks at the heart And what God intends to do and Jesus is teaching us this and I'm developing this so you can see it as a Work of the Holy Spirit is what he intends to do is the intense for us to have a holiness But a holiness not just on an outer appearance But an inner heart condition that is separated to God That is purified and so we live for God from the inside So the things that we do are things that his spirit motivates us to do because he's conforming us into the image of Jesus Christ and so Jesus is speaking of the work of the Holy Spirit. So it's not just the the outside conformity Not just the visible religious activities He intends to work within us and the work that he does within us will be seen by those Who are viewing our lives in first Peter chapter 1 verses 13 through 16 Peter said therefore prepare your minds for action be self-controlled Set your hope fully on the grace to be given given you when Jesus Christ is revealed as obedient children do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance But just as he who called you is holy So be holy and all you do for it is written be holy Because I am holy Jesus had just said that those who reject him you see it in verse 24 Rejected him in his words. These are people who did not love him and here He says that those who love him will obey him and will have holiness that begins within their heart They have his word in them and a desire to obey him now when he said in verse 24 He who does not love me does not keep my words and the word which you hear is not mine But the father's essentially let me share something very briefly with you I didn't touch on that last time we're together But I was speaking with my wife today. I was speaking to Marie about this today How that in the scriptures you find that Jesus that God gives us commandments And he also gives to us what he refers to as his word. I'm gonna read this to you. This was not in my notes This is just something I wanted to share with you right now I'm quoting out of 1st John chapter 2 verses 3 through 5 John said now by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments He who says I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar. The truth is not in him But whoever keeps his word Truly the love of God is perfected in him and by this we know that we are in him Let me share something with you very briefly guys. I Want you to notice that in 1st John chapter 2 verses 3 through 5 in verse 3 and in verse 4 He uses the word commandments But in verse 5 he uses the word He says keeps his word. Let me share something with you And we're just talking about this and it's fresh in my mind and maybe this is applying to somebody That needs to hear this When I first got saved brand you Christian I Came out of a drug background and so smoke in marijuana was Recreational to me. I enjoyed it. That was what I did And so I get saved and I start speaking to my friends who are also what we used to call potheds and And I'm sharing with them that I'm now saved and I'm walking with the Lord and and they said but you can still smoke pot Right and I said no you can't and and we used to call it herb And so one of the friends my friend said well, wait a minute doesn't the Bible say God made the herb and you can smoke Herb, you know, I said not to my knowledge. I'm brand new Christian. What do I know? I said but I suspect that that's not exactly accurate and So we would have conversations, you know, and then they'd say well show me a Bible verse that says you can't smoke pot Show me a scripture that says you can't smoke pot And I would wonder if anybody here or anybody listening can show me a scripture that says thou shalt not smoke marijuana and So Marie and I were just talking about this today I believe in and I said, you know, there's a difference between the commandments and when Jesus speaks of the word We see that in 1st John chapter 2 verse 5 the word and this is what what the difference is No, there's not a scripture that says Commandment that says thou shalt not smoke pot But I don't keep simply the commandments. I Also walk according to his word the word gives me a sense of What what it means to be a set apart person? And so I can look at other scriptures that teach me not to yield myself to something that is For the flesh. I can look at other scriptures for example Let's say be not drunk with wine with their wearing his dissipation but be filled with the Holy Spirit and When it says be not drunk with wine wearing his dissipation the word dissipation I could tell you means where there is a lack of self-control and I know what Paul is speaking about concerning that because he's saying you should not yield yourself to something that controls you and wine during the time of Paul Many looked at it as actually having a being a spiritual thing having a spirit Origin because when people would drink wine they would behave differently So they would be drunk and they would be in Disappation instead of my me giving myself over to the the lack of self-control Paul was saying I need to give myself to the Spirit of God who gives me self-control and So somebody says well, how's that how's that applied to marijuana or something like that? The Bible doesn't say don't smoke marijuana But the Bible does say that I'm not to yield myself to an influence of something that will take me from the position of being under control and Then self-control and then put me under control of something else So why did I bring that up because I'm gonna go smoke pot afterwards? No, why did why did I bring that up? I bring that up because people today like to argue if you don't find a scripture that specifically says you can't do that Then you're free to do that Didn't God give me grace and am I not in the liberty of the Lord and they will argue in that way You know, but the Holy Spirit has been placed in my life because he's the Holy Spirit so that I might live a holy life a Life that's separated to God a life That's yielded over to the things that God has commanded and also the inferences that scripture has and so it's not just a Matter of finding a scripture and anything that's not found in the Bible. I'm permitted to do It's deeper than that It is it is God working in me to such a degree that his pleasure becomes my joy And my desire would be to bring pleasure to him and that comes through the power of the Holy Spirit That comes through the work of God and Jesus is speaking concerning these things back in John chapter 14 When he's speaking concerning this comforter the pericleteus the one who comes alongside The comforter and the truth and he's the revealer of truth to us and and he's conforming us into the image of Christ And and nobody will ever be able to tell me that they believe that if Jesus were walking the face of the earth right now That he'd go and smoke some pot. You just can't what he's doing is he's conforming us into his image And so the ones who reject the ones who reject him in his words Jesus said are the ones who don't love him Why don't you go out and do these things that you feel the freedom to do you? Don't do these things because you love him and you want to live a life that brings pleasure to him a life That is known for holiness a life that is known for the love of Christ And so we're looking at that now when we look at verse 26 And it says the helper of the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you Again, he's about to leave them, but his father will send the Spirit to them The Spirit is going to come in Jesus's name Meaning he's going to take his place. He's going to be his representative. He'll come in his name So the father sends the Spirit Because he desires us to have spiritual power to live for him God intended the church to take the message to the world And for this there needs then there's a need for power And so Jesus says he's going to teach them and bring to the remembrance his words First the Spirit is the teacher The Holy Spirit is intended to be the guide of the church Jesus told them that there were things that they did not yet understand It's going to be the work of the Holy Spirit to teach them these things You see without the Spirit people cannot discern spiritual things When you look at the Old Testament book of Job chapter 11 verses 7 and 8 We read can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than heaven. What can you do deeper than she'll? What can you know in? 1st Corinthians 2 14 Paul said 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're spiritually discerned You see the Holy Spirit illuminates us to understand spiritual revelation and Jesus is saying this Jesus is saying that the Spirit will come and the Spirit will teach them again in 1st Corinthians 2 1113 Paul said now we have received not the Spirit of the world But the Spirit who's from God that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God These things we also speak not in words which man's wisdom teaches But which the Holy Spirit teaches comparing spiritual things with spiritual in John 16 verses 13 and 14 However, when he the Spirit of truth has come he will guide you into all truth For he will not speak on his own authority But whatever he hears he will speak and he will tell you things to come He will glorify me for he will take of what is mine and declare it to you The Holy Spirit is your teacher You read the word of God and as you read the word of God you read about how God is what God does what Jesus did How he lived what he would have for you and And and you after you read the word or you're taught the word and you begin to meditate on these things You begin to pray and you begin to say God. I want to do those things. I want to be that kind of person I want to learn to love. I want to I want to learn to walk in faith I want to I want to learn your ways. I want to I want to be like you I want my life to count I want to to reach people you begin to pray like that. That's what happened to me. Maybe it's happened to you, too God I want to be different. I want to be Radically different. I want to be so different that that people who knew me well will say that I'm a completely different person now That's what I want. How's that going to take place guys? It doesn't come It doesn't come naturally it comes through the work of the Spirit the Holy Spirit And so you begin to read the Bible and and you read how that God loved and so you say things like God You you love people teach me to love them. You you see qualities in scripture And you say these are qualities that I would really like to have I want to have I want to have a spiritual spine I can still remember when I first got saved how that I Was a hippie and and one of the things hippies were known for is we kind of like we're hang loose We're the kind of people they say well, whatever, you know, you do what you want, you know Do your own thing is what we used to say and it's alright as long as it doesn't harm somebody else And that's where I thought to whatever you want to do do it. Just don't harm somebody else and that was kind of our code That's the code of the friends that I had and that was the hippie code in many ways And you know just do what you want do your own thing But what happened is I got saved and when I got saved I went into the military and when I went into the military I began to to seek the Lord more because I was alone and I had no friends and and I had no Fellowship in and I started to pray more and I I started asking God for help and and Might where our barracks was there was a street that you would cross and you'd go into a forest and and there was a three-mile Track it wasn't really a track was a dirt track that you could take and I would walk that eventually I was I would run that and as I used to go out And spend time by myself. I would pray I can still remember doing that. I was 20 years old I can still remember walking out crossing the street beginning my jog And I would pray and I would say God and I was always praying for two things I I say God give me a spine. I don't know if that makes any sense. God. Give me a moral spine Give me strength Give me a backbone because I was that guy that vacillates you want to do this fine Do it you want to do that fine do it? I don't really care And I finally started reading the Bible and I started noticing that there were things that God said he he commanded and Things that he said not to do and I I started praying one I would pray God give me a spine and that is an actual prayer. That's the actual words I would use God give me a spine. Give me some strength. I want to live I want us because there's a hippie I didn't have a moral compass and I didn't have a spine and the second thing I would pray every time I still to this day do not as much as I used to but I still do God teach me to love two things God give me a spine to stand up for truth, but God teach me to love people Because when you stand up for truth, there's always a response that people can bring they could make you not Very happy and you might want to pray like like the psalmist You know when somebody says something to hurt you you might pray like David Oh God break their teeth I mean so you ask God for love so that I might love those the Lord who resists you and reject you, right? It's the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit gives you, you know your read God's word which is inspired by God and You it imparts to you who Jesus is through information and then through prayer and seeking You open yourself up to the leading of the Spirit and the Holy Spirit begins to work in you And he begins to teach you so this is why Jesus did this so this is what he meant by this Oh, I can see now how that would work So he teaches you and he brings glory to Jesus Christ So one he teaches you but two he says the Holy Spirit will bring to your remembrance all things that he had said This all things Specifically speaks of the truth. He had taught them So he's going to bring to the remembrance the truths of the things that they learned through him And John has made it clear throughout the gospel that they didn't always understand him Remember all the way back in chapter 2 verses 19 through 22 How John had had written that Jesus answered and said destroyed this temple and I will raise it again in three days And the Jews replied it's taken 46 years to build this temple You're going to raise it in three days But the temple he had spoken of was his body After he was raised from the dead his disciples recalled what he had said Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken So you don't always understand when you first read you don't always understand When Jesus was first speaking It takes some time sometimes remember at the triumphal entry in John 12 verse 16 How it says at first his disciples didn't understand all this Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and That they had done these things to him Again, they learned later after the fact in John 13 verse 7 when Jesus was washing their feet He said what I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this And so there are things that you go through that later on begin to make sense And so he's saying the Holy Spirit will bring to their remembrance all things that he had said to them So obviously this is true in the lives, but it was also demonstrated when they wrote scripture in 2nd Peter chapter 1 verses 20 and 21 Knowing this first that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man But holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost And so the Holy Spirit would work within them and brought to their remembrance And that's how scripture was inspired and written down and to this day He brings to remembrance his words to us and he often does that when we're speaking to people Sharing with them My notes I give to to a team here in the church and they They use them for for our studies and just the other day one of the brothers was saying that a lot of My message that I give isn't found in my notes. That's because the Holy Spirit. I believe I sure hope It's the Holy Spirit is moving me to quote a scripture or to speak of an experience that ties in Because that's how the Holy Spirit works in your life You go through walking with the Lord and God is teaching you things and that's how it works And he brings to your remembrance these things and ties them in even as you're sharing There'll be times perhaps you're you're sharing your faith with someone who doesn't know the Lord and you're you speak into them And the Spirit will give you a scripture that just comes out of your mouth and you go my goodness That's that's all that's a perfectly appropriate Word right now Matthew 10 19 and 20 when they deliver you up Do not worry about how or what you should speak for it will be given to you in that hour What you should speak for it is not you who speak but the spirit of your father who speaks in you The Holy Spirit is working through you. So before you open your mouth to speak One it's always wise to pray Kind of like when Nehemiah had heard of the word of the condition of Jerusalem and and how it was in such Disrepair disrepair and our desert sees the the king sees his sad countenance in our and and and says What is this? What's wrong? He says and I'm paraphrasing what is wrong? he said this is nothing but sadness that I see and and Nehemiah is afraid why because he had never been sad in the presence of the king before Why because if you bummed the king out he'll just cut your head off and so he was upset because you know my god I'm gonna lose my head because I'm depressed over Jerusalem in the condition right and remember what it says there that he did he said and so I prayed Instantly he went in prayer and he said God give me the words and then he spoke those words when you're ministering to somebody There's a lot of times I can tell you this that I this is Personal experience, but I can tell you this when I'm talking to people Sometimes people will come to me after church many times people will come to me after church and they'll need some counsel or direction Whatever as their mouths are moving. I'm listening but I'm praying But I'm praying father in Jesus name. Give me words to speak. Give me words to speak Give me the right word in you know a word that is fit for this moment Give me wisdom that I might share with them from you with the answer to their question. Maybe I do that all the time I'm sure you do too when someone's speaking to me and they're asking a question I'll be looking at them, but I'm also praying father in Jesus name. Give me the right words to speak Give me an understanding of the real question Help me to look beyond the veneer of a question to see what's really at the heart of this I'm praying like that. God help me and so it's the Holy Spirit who will give you this answer and and it's Such a blessing. There've been so many times when when people have said to you know, that's that's all that is from the Lord I needed to hear that and to me that is just part of what Jesus was promising So before you open your mouth to speak Pray and secondly Before you open your mouth to speak it's good to have something stored up within you You see if you don't deposit God's word in your heart, don't be surprised when nothing comes out It's good to commit God's word to memory In Psalm 40 verses 8 through 10 the psalmist said I delight to do your will. Oh my God Your law is within my heart. I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness in the great assembly Indeed, I do not restrain my lips. Oh Lord you yourself know I Have not hidden your righteousness within my heart. I've declared your faithfulness and your salvation I have not concealed your loving kindness and your truth from the great assembly Lord you have put in me that which I give to others and so commit God's ways in his word To your heart and the Holy Spirit will bring it out in conversation There's your introduction. Let's move to verse 27 Peace I leave with you My peace I give to you Not as the world gives do I give to you but not your heart be troubled Neither let it be afraid Jesus is using the customary word that was used in greetings and when you were leaving Peace is Shalom and he's using the word in such a way that he's giving them a farewell gift His peace is going to enable them to deal with anxiety and fear that will overtake them His peace is deeper and more lasting than anything the world and its religious systems could ever offer Are you guys at peace right now? I Am and it's not because I'm stupid Maybe part of it, but I don't think so It's because I have learned something in the years. I've walked with the Lord He will never leave me nor forsake me and Anything that comes in my way is already passed through his will for me and I can adjust whatever I have to I Can adjust to it because I know in the end his plans are good And I know that he conforms me through the things that go through I know that Somebody has asked me I've said this you've heard me say this before but somebody asked me What is the deepest lesson you've learned as a Christian? I've been walking with the Lord going on 50 years in a few months That's pretty good. That's five seventh of my life walking with Jesus. What what have you learned? And the number one thing I've learned I can say this with confidence now is is this it all works out in the end It all works out in the end All the useless energy spent worrying about things I had no power over That's what that's what worry is isn't it? It's it's just using energy Expending energy over something you have no control over anyway You have no control over There's only one who's in full control and that's God and when I line myself up with him and trust him He has a way of bringing me through the shadow He has a way of bringing me through that valley He has a way of taking me to the other side And you stand and like the children of Israel when Moses was about to to take him across the Red Sea and in front of Them was the sea and behind him was Pharaoh's army and what is it that Moses said to the children of Israel? He said stand still and see the salvation of God Stand still and see what your God can do. You don't fear you hold fast You don't fear you have faith you trust the Lord and as you hold on to the Lord He has never ever let me down. Has he ever let you down? He's never let me down God has never let me down his ways are not my ways I don't understand some of the things that he does and I and and you know I've tried to be his advisor more than once but he seems to reject my counsel But I've discovered that trusting him and waiting it out Is the best thing I've ever learned to do to hold fast to him I'm anxious sometimes. I'm I'm greatly desirous for us as the church to once again gather together I'm longing to do that along to be able to join with my brothers and sisters and and to Celebrate to worship God and song and get together in the word. I long for that. I miss that terribly But you know what in his time? In his time he makes all things beautiful He'll take care of this and and and what the enemy has tried to use to undermine It's only his own it's had the opposite effect. It's had the opposite effect It's actually strengthened us. There are more ministries going out right now than than before You know, we didn't have a a Monday night broadcast for our young adults We didn't have a Tuesday morning where we had men's studies going online. We didn't have our women's ministry Being broadcast interviews and things like that our Wednesday night Bible study We have more people watching online right now. Thank you We have more people right now watching online than we have in this auditorium on a Wednesday night You know, we have our Facebook lives and we Marie and I my wife and I are doing a Q&A guys We're we're we're we're we're seeing over a thousand viewers that are just tuning in just to hear us talk to one another Our Saturday night is is hundreds of people are watching it Sunday thousands of people are watching countries are tuning in You know what what the enemy used wanted to do evil with God has turned it around God has turned it around now. I do long to be back But we're not gonna stop doing those kinds of things that we're doing now because we see the fruit of it And that's all the Holy Spirit I mean all of us all of us, you know I went when I was told that that that the situation is gonna be as it is I got on my face before the Lord and I've been seeking God every day. I see God God What do you want to do it? How do you want to do it Lord in Jesus? Damn I asked that that we'd be in the center of your will But I do ask also that we might gather together again soon Lord. I desire that I hunger for that I want that so bad that Jesus in your time. You see Jesus said peace. I leave with you My peace I give to you not as the world gives do I give to you Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid. It's something that I can have control over And when he speaks concerning this He's saying I'm gonna enable you to deal with your anxiety and your fear. These are things that will overtake you And my my peace Jesus is saying is deeper and it's lasting It's more deep than anything else this world has to offer Is it today we have people who who may march for or who cry for or pray for peace What that really is is an expression of a hope that they may one day have it The world gives a hope for peace It engenders a wish for peace But the world's hope for peace is like the greek's hope for cessation of war The world wants an end to ceaseless hostility and battles But jesus has given them his peace and his peace is not dependent on circumstances He gives them his peace because he gave them his life Jewish thought understood peace to rely on a right relationship to god the one who gives peace So jesus's peace came from his unbroken relationship and fellowship with the father And that's how we live with peace We depend on god and we have fellowship with him And how can you have peace? Live in communion with jesus christ They've been reconciled to him Hostility is ceased And now they can be at peace with him And as a result, they can experience his promise of peace In Habakkuk in the Old Testament book of Habakkuk chapter 3 verse 17 Though the fig tree may not blossom Nor fruit beyond the vines Though the labor of the olive may fail And the fields yield no food Though the flock may be cut off From the fold And there be no herd in the stalls Yet I will rejoice in the lord I will joy in the god of my salvation Though everything looks like it's gone I still have something the world can't take from me I have peace I have peace with god I want you to see this again Notice again how he said let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid Soon everything will crumble around you You are going to be powerfully assaulted But don't allow your heart to shrink back Don't cower in a corner Through fear Trust me Do not let fear overcome you Trust me And you can rest in faith My daughter Anna told me this We were on a flight when she was a little girl And we were flying from Israel We were coming home and we were coming to the uh To the uh We're going to fly into New York New York City Manhattan And as we were flying It was a terrible storm condition I still remember it This big 747 was being shaken And people began to get afraid And the closer we got to the coast The more turbulence we began to experience And as the turbulence was hitting The masks began to fall out of the The uh the compartment above us The mass that you put on In times where the cabin is losing pressure It was so severe It was uh all airlines it was so severe That as Christians We had Jewish people coming up to us Saying please come into the back and pray with us So religious barriers were cut immediately Because they thought they were going to die And so we had people from our From the church on the tour Who had gone back there They're praying with the Jews Jewish people the rabbis There were rabbis in the orthodox guys And this is and the plane is shaking And and I was sitting there And as I was seated there My sister my daughter Korean who was about 15 at the time Was seated next to her friend Amy who was also 15 And and Korean at that time Didn't have the most religious She didn't have the most I don't know I wondered whether she was saved I'll put it like that She wasn't known for her devotion But I turned and looked at her She was two seats behind me And she was singing a praise song And I said well if this is a way To get you right with God I'm good with this She's singing she's rejoicing the Lord I can't remember And I looked back at her And I kind of smiled within my sight And I said well check it out I picked up a newspaper And I was reading it And I'm telling you The lights are flickering The plane is We were coming down the white caps You could see the white caps We were going down At least people thought we were And I was holding on to the Newspaper just reading it And so we eventually tried to land What a couple of times And then we finally three times We tried to land And then ultimately they Diverted us to Montreal And we had a deep plane there And stayed there for an hour and a half Got back on the plane Came back in It was still shaking like that We landed And all of that We finally took off and went home We got home Didn't think about it I was just reading the newspaper My daughter Corinne said to me Daddy why were you reading the newspaper And I said well honey I said I knew that God wasn't through Yous God wasn't through With our church God wasn't through working in our church And that's when she said to me Did it ever occur to you He doesn't need you to finish the work That he's doing in the church And I said well you know what I didn't think about, I'm glad I didn't I said but later on Anna and I'm talking about Just within the last year So this has been a number of years Just within the last year My Anna was talking to me And here's the point of that long story She said daddy she said You remember when the plane Was shaken and all of that turbulence And everybody was screaming They were literally screaming in the plane There were people screaming And they were ah you know I mean There was a panic She said I She said I kept my eye on you She said because I knew That if you got afraid I should be And you never were And your calmness Kept me calm My pastor taught me something He said if you ever see Jesus Afraid of something Then it's time for you to be afraid But he wasn't was he I will keep you in perfect peace Isaiah 26 he will keep the imperfect peace If your mind is anchored on him Because you trust him God will keep you in perfect peace He's kept me in peace Yes I struggle and yes I went through some tough times I had a I had a great concern When when we're gonna close down And all of that but you know what I woke up in the next morning And I remembered God God is still on the throne I'm not And that's what keeps me strong guys And let me encourage you in that He said my peace I give unto you Not as the world Do I give unto you Let not your heart be troubled Neither let it be afraid That means I have control That means I make some decisions And I want to trust him I will trust him Now A couple of things then we'll close He said in verse 28 You have heard me say Say to you I'm going away and coming back to you If you loved me You would rejoice because I said I'm going to the Father For my Father is greater than I And now I have told you before it comes that When it when it does come to pass You may believe I will no longer talk much 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 And as the Father gave me commandment So I do arise Let us go from here Let me close Because there are a couple of things here I want to point out In verse 28 The thought that Jesus is going to His Father isn't intended to cause them sorrow This is something we who have Buried loved ones That's what we hold fast to You know when our loved ones have gone To be with the Lord We shouldn't be in sorrow over that Because if they love Jesus They're with the Lord That doesn't mean that we don't have sorrow It means that it's not a lasting one And so you may bury a child You may bury a mother, a father, a brother, a sister And it hurts I mean as believers I believe that we have a capacity to love deeper And we can sorrow in a deep way too But our sorrow is not of the world Because it's not hopeless You know it's not hopeless My sorrow is because of a depth of love And I will miss them But I also know that I'll be with them once again So I can have some I can make some decisions related to that And that's what he's saying He's saying I'm going away But I also said I'm coming back And if you love me you'd rejoice Because I said I'm going to the Father And so that's something I can learn from I'm going to the Father But he goes on to say My Father is greater than I And I want you to see this And this is theologically deep And I'm going to have to just touch it lightly I want you to notice this though Jesus said My Father is greater than I He did not say My Father is better than I You might want to mark that Because if you speak to Jehovah's Witnesses For example They will quote the Scripture And they will say Jesus himself said That God is greater than he is So I'm giving you something That you might want to tuck away in your memory He did not say he's better He said he's greater And let me show you the difference The word better would speak of quality In Hebrews 1, 4 through 8 The writer said having become so much better Than the angels As he has by inheritance obtained A more excellent name than they For to which of the angels did he ever say You are my Son Today I have begotten you And again I will be to him a Father And he shall be to me a Son But when he again brings the firstborn into the world He says let all the angels of God worship him Of the angels he says Who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire But to the Son he says You're thrown oh God is forever and ever A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom The word better is used in the context of he is Better in quality than the angels That's the whole point He's even referred to as God Now the word greater When Jesus said my Father is greater than I The word greater in the Greek language speaks of position A positional greatness He's the one who is in submission to the Father John 1316 says he who is sent is not greater than he who sent him It speaks of positional greatness And so Jesus positionally as the incarnation Positionally is submitted to the Father Who positionally holds that position of God the Father But Jesus did not say that his Father was better than him His position is greater The way that we'll say the President of the United States Is not better than me as a human being We're both human beings But he's greater than me in his position If he gives an order Some people will listen Most people will If I give an order the same kind of order I don't hold the position that the President holds I don't have that So he's greater than me Not in quality but in position And so Jesus is not saying that his Father is better than him He's saying my Father positionally is greater than me Because as a son he came to do the will of the Father And he's speaking about how the Trinity works Father, Son, Holy Spirit And then finally I'll close with this Verse 29 and 30 Now I've told you before it comes And when it does come to pass You may believe I will no longer talk much with you For the ruler of this world Which speaking of Satan is coming And he has nothing in me There's nothing in common with us There's nothing he has to offer me that I desire But that the world may know that I love the Father And as the Father gave me commandment So I do arise Let us go from here And so I've told you verse 29 Before it comes to pass Prophecy Prophecy instructs It prepares, it encourages And establishes God's claims I'm telling you these things So that when they come to pass You'll know that it's God Who gave me this so that you can worship him In truth But he goes on to say in verse 30 I will no longer talk much with you The ruler of this world is coming He has nothing in me There's nothing in common The enemy can't present to me Anything that I desire You see Satan's hold on man Is man's inclination to sin Which he exploits But Jesus did not respond To any of his temptations Because there's nothing in him That would respond to that And then finally verse 31 That the world may know that I love the Father And as the Father gave me commandment So I do arise Let us go from here And so Jesus emphasizes That love is evidenced by obedience And he obeys his Father And he leaves this upper room And now he's making his way To a garden called Gethsemane And he's about to show the depth of his love for man And he's about to show what obedience Actually looks like Let's pray Our Father we just asked that Even as we went through so much today So many deep things That I wasn't able to really develop I just asked Lord that we would just trust you And walk in your spirit Lord I thank you that your Holy Spirit teaches us And I thank you that your Holy Spirit Brings to our remembrance I thank you Lord That we don't have to walk in fear That we can cast our cares on you And that the anxiety of our heart Can be yielded to you So that your peace can flow within us So I lift up to you right now Those who are living right now in fear And concern Father may they cast their cares on you May they turn to you And even as our eyes are closed Our heads are bound There may be some right now who are Who are viewing this Who need to get right with the Lord If you need to get right with God today If you need to get right with Jesus Christ I want to speak to your heart right now The only way that you can have peace Is if you have peace with God You're a person who has been at war with him And God has overcome He sent his son Jesus to die So that he might have victory over sin And the grave and the devil And in his resurrection he declares to us his triumph And he makes it available to us That we could have relationship with him And our sins forgiven And if you know that you need to get right with God And you need his power within you The Holy Spirit to teach you And to remind you of things he has said Well, you need to deal with your sin first You need to make peace with God You need to say, God, forgive me I'm a sinner Cleanse me and forgive me, Lord Coming to my life I want to follow you Make my body your temple And if you desire to do that You can do that with a simple prayer of faith And if you desire to get right with the Lord Let me pray for you right now And as I pray, if you want to get right with him Would you repeat in your own heart Simple words that I'm praying If you can from your heart Say, God, this is true for me I want you And I'm inviting you to get right with God right now Just say, Father, forgive me I'm a sinner Jesus died on the cross to save sinners Jesus died to save me Forgive me of my sin Cleanse me Give me a new life I will follow you every day From this day forward In Jesus' name Amen And if you prayed in that way Please contact us We'd like to connect with you We'd like to send you a Bible We'd like to help you in your walk with God And so please contact us And Father, we would lift up this service to you And I pray in Jesus' name That you would be glorified through it In Jesus' name again, we pray