That's a good hymn. The one before
it's a very good hymn also. That person, I believe, knows
the Lord. Elizabeth Cudner. Lord, I hear showers of blessing.
Blessing. Sing it. Let it fall on me. What? Oh, the mighty Spirit,
witnesser of Jesus' merit. Blood of Christ, so rich and
free. Grace of God, so strong in man.
That's a good hymn. Good hymn. John chapter 14. John 14. Title. Subject throughout this is comfort
and peace of God through truth. Comfort and peace of God I need
this. I need comfort. I need peace. Well, look at verse 27. If I
had a text, this would be it. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you, not
as a world giver. Scripture says they cry, peace,
peace, when there is no peace. Our Lord said there are wars
and rumors of war. Our Lord said there's no peace for the wicked.
Those outside of Christ. None. There won't be. When He
said peace, I leave with you my peace. I give unto you. He's
talking to His people. He's talking to His disciples.
Let not your heart be troubled. Don't let it be afraid. Peace. I need this. A world full of
trouble. Oh my. Now, some things, we didn't
deal with verses 12 through 14 last time, didn't have time.
There's some things, especially in these chapters, that apply
mostly, if not only, to his apostles. Do you understand? They are in this room, this upper
room, at a table. They're sitting at a table. When
He said, Arise, let us go hence, they got up from the table and
then went walking toward the Garden of Gethsemane, okay? And
then He, chapter 15 and 16, He's telling them while they're walking
on that way. And when they get there, then
He prays that prayer in chapter 17. But He's talking to His disciples. Judas is gone. It's just His
disciples. They're sitting at the table.
They're suffing. They're having supper, not a
sop. But a supper, man, He's filling
them up with truth. Truth that gives comfort and
peace. The truth as it is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. There's only comfort. There's
only peace. If you don't hear anything I
say, hear this. There's only comfort. There's
only peace with God. There's only peace within through
Jesus Christ. There's no other way. Not the
world. The world can't give it. Christ
does. Christ can. Verses 12 and following,
he says, He that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall
he do also. Greater than these shall he do
because I go unto my Father. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my
name, that will I do. Go to Acts chapter 3 real quickly. Acts chapter 3. And this needs
to be dealt with because it's in the Scripture. And because
evil men, seducers, wax worse and worse, deceiving and being
deceived, and they corrupt the Word of God, and they take this
as meaning all these charlatans, all these phonies, all these
false preachers, and whatever they say is going to be done.
They just call Jesus' name, and that's what he said. Whatever
you ask. And you're going to do greater works. You're going
to do all these works. John, he is talking to his apostles
right there. You understand? They made the blind to see, the
deaf to hear, the lame to walk, the dead to raise the dead. No man can do that now. Nobody
has ever done one of those things today. There are no apostles.
No more. Everybody says they are is a
liar. You understand that? He's talking to them. This happened
in his name. Acts chapter 3, there was a man
laying from his mother's womb that Peter, verse 3, Peter and
John about to go into the temple, this man asked them for some
money and Peter fastened his eyes on him and John said, look
on us. And he gave heed, thinking they
were going to receive something from them. Peter said, silver
and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee. He had
the power, he had the authority, he had the ability to do this
right here. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and
walk. And he did. That has never happened And ever again
since the apostles have gone, no sir. Everybody, all this stuff
going on is phony, it's fake. That needed to be said, didn't
it? Paul did more than all of them,
all of them put together. Why did our Lord say greater
works than these? Well, go on down, you need to
read this. Verse 12, Peter saw the people
all ran together and they were thinking these men were Great,
and they were going to worship these men. The people were going
to worship Peter and John. And Peter saw it, and he answered
the people, verse 12, You men of Israel, why marvel ye at this,
and look so earnestly on us, as though by our own power of
holiness we made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, of
Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our Father, has glorified
His Son, Jesus. He's the one glorified. He's
the one getting all the glory. Acts 3 verse 13. Whom you delivered up and denied
him in the presence of Pilate. And he was determined to let
him go. You denied the Holy One and the just. See who he's preaching?
You see who he gives all the glory and attention to? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Verse 15 says, You killed the
prince of life whom God raised from the dead, whereof we are
witness. And His name, His name, His power, His authority through
faith in His name hath made this man strong. So our Lord said
this to His apostles. Okay? If you ask anything in
my name, He said, There's a scripture that says what our Lord says,
whatever you bind on earth, I'll bind in heaven. My, my, my, my. That's the apostles. That's the
apostles. That's no mere mortal man. The
Bible wasn't written. They were writing it. They were
writing the Bible. Was it their words? Paul said
this in 1 Thessalonians 2, he said, I thank God that when you
heard the word, you received it not as the words of men, but
as it is in truth, the word of God. God gave them these miracles
and these signs and wonders to make people sit up and take notice
while they were preaching. That's the aim, was to preach
the gospel of Christ. That's the reason these things
happen, okay? Peter, after this man was healed,
started preaching Christ's crucifixion. People sat up. These men are
not ordinary men. These men are sent from God.
All right, once the Bible's written, don't need signs and miracles
anymore. Don't need them anymore. People are blind to see and the
lame walk and the deaf hear by the gospel. Dead are raised by
the gospel, he said. So it's not, this is not to everybody. All right. Back to John 14. Now
he said to them and to us, verse 15, if you love me, keep my commandments. Now he says this over and over
again. He read it with me. Why does
he say that? Because he means it. It's proof
of love. Can we keep His Word perfectly? No. But He tells us to. I want to
keep His commandments. His commandments are not grievous.
What did He tell us? Did He tell us to climb Sinai?
No. Did He tell us to keep the law?
No. Over in chapter 13, He washed
their feet and He said, now, you see what I've done to you?
You do it. said are if you know these things that have been argued
do them. Keep my commandment you're not
preaching that you do my if you keep along you will get to heaven
and not say that improve you prove your love to me you know
my dad gave me things to do. Was it, he'd give me things to
do so I'd be his son. You keep doing this, son, and
one of these days I'll accept you as my son. No. He did it, what was good for
me. He told me what was good for
me. What was good for others. To keep me out of trouble. Huh? I was giving chores to do. Were
you? Anybody giving chores to do?
Yeah, I used to be somebody. I used to be somebody. Because my mother would always
say, somebody take out the garbage. And Rob, pew, Dan, pew, Betty,
pew. I'm somebody. That's really grievous,
isn't it? I thought it was when I was 12.
Why do I have to do that? Are you serious? All that we
do for you? It's your reasonable service,
isn't it? You're going to serve His family. You're going to serve
His home. After all your father's done
for you and your mother, do what I tell you. Not to be a son. Prove your love. Is that clear? Is that hard? Anybody doesn't
like it? I can't imagine a child of God
saying, well, I want to be His son, but don't tell me what to
do. Somebody told that to my dad. Steven, what if you told that
to your dad? I love your dad, but don't tell
me what to do. Woo! Now you're under the law. Right now, you're under the law. I want to do what he says, don't
you? I don't want to do what I want to do. I don't want to
do what he says. I love him. Oh, Lord, forgive
me. Keep his commandments means primarily,
it means lay hold of them. Something you want to keep is
something you don't want to lose. You don't ever want to lose it.
So the world has no regard for God's Word. He said, if you keep
my words, He that hath my words, and keepeth them, he it is that
loveth me." The world is not interested in the Word of God.
Not, don't need the Word of God, don't need to hear it, don't
need to read it, don't even care about it. Boy, I do. Don't you? Peter said, it's words of life.
Oh, please tell me what to do. And the primary thing He told
us to do is believe on Him and love one another. He kept saying
this, didn't He, John? Why? Don't you love each other?
Yeah, but perfectly? Do you? No, we're far short of
that. Well, you want to, don't you?
Then do it. I can't. Stretch out your hand.
He told that to the man with the withered hand. Stretch out
your hand. He can't. It's withered. love one another, as I have loved
you. I can't do it. Sister Mindy, there have been
many, many people like you and me who have laid down their life
for their brethren. I mean literally. Go to the cross,
Simon Peter did. Die for their brethren. He loved them. Keep my commandment. You see how I love you, then
you do it. Is that grievous? That's my heart's
desire, isn't it? Now he begins to talk about the
Holy Spirit. He says, I will pray the Father,
verse 16, and give you another comforter. Meaning, I have been
your comforter for three and a half years. The Lord was their
everything for three and a half years. their father, their mother,
their brother, their captain of their salvation, their protection,
their feeder, their provider. They never worked a day, worked
a job. They never plowed the land like
the birds. They never sowed. He did. He gave them their tax money,
everything. He did it all for them. When they were troubled, he comforted
them. He soothed them. He consoled them. He was their
comforter. He said, I'm leaving. And they're troubled. I mean, they are really troubled.
And he said, I'm going to pray the Father and He will give you
another comforter. He said, that He may abide with
you forever. When Christ left, where did He
go? He went to the right hand of the Majesty on High and sat
down. There's a man in glory, a God
man. Yes, flesh. Flesh seated on the
throne. There's flesh in heaven, our
brothers and sisters, Max in heaven, in a body. You would
recognize him. He's there. My sister, and on
and on it goes. Mark, Mary, Thurley, they're
there, worshiping a man. Jesus Christ, they hope, Helen,
they see Him. They're looking at Him. We can't
see Him. I get troubled all the time,
don't you? That's why Philip said, show
us something. Why does he keep showing his
people? Christ crucified, risen, seated at the right hand of the
majesty on high. The comforter, the Holy Spirit
abides with God's people. He's a spirit and he's in them.
Verse 17, he's a spirit of truth. The world can't receive. They
can't receive the truth. Didn't Paul write that, John?
They haven't been given a love for the truth. They turn away
their ears from the truth and believe a lie. God gives men
what they want. Don't tell us the truth. But God's people, He gives them
what they need, truth. Makes them want the truth. So,
verse 17, he said the world can't receive him because it seeth
them not. It's fleshly religion. They need
flesh. They don't know him. They don't
know him. They don't know the Holy Spirit.
There's a lot of talk about the Holy Spirit. It's easy for me
to say they don't know the Holy Spirit. It's all a sham and a
phony. Why? Because that's who they're
talking about. That's who they're talking about.
Look over at John 16. John 16, look at this. A whole
lot of talk about the Holy Spirit. You know who the Holy Spirit
talks about? Jesus Christ. That's how you know a Spirit-filled
people. They talk about Christ. The Holy Spirit and the Father
bear witness of one. These three are one. These three
are seen in one. These three, the purpose of all
three is found, is fulfilled, is finished in one. And that
one is who? Jesus Christ. He said, I'm the
weapon. I'm the truth. I'm the life. Verse 13 of John 16, when He,
the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth.
I just quoted it. Christ just said it. What's truth?
What's truth? One word, somebody. Christ! He'll guide you into all truth.
He'll not speak of Himself. Whatever he shall hear, that
shall he speak. He will show you things to come.
Verse 14, he shall glorify me. Christ, he will receive the things
of Christ and show them unto you. Verse 15, getting way ahead,
but that's fine. All things. that the Father hath
are mine. Therefore said I, that he, the
Holy Spirit, shall take the things of mine and show them unto you."
Who's he talking to? A man named John. John the Apostle. John Davis. John Cheesman. John Cheesman. A man named Thomas. Thomas and Thomas. That's right. Stephen heard this. What Stephen? Right there and
right there. Paul, a man named Paul heard
it. Where? Right here. Right here. All right, now you know what
he's talking about. The Holy Spirit. Go back to chapter 14. The Trinity. Right in verse 16,
this is the trinity in it. John 14, 16. You know, there's
lots of people who don't believe in a trinity. Lots of religions,
sincere, they don't believe the trinity. This is pretty clear
in it, like Genesis 1. 1 through 3. Verse 16, I will,
I, this is the Son saying, will pray the Father, that's the Father,
and He shall give you another comforter, the Spirit of truth.
That's the Trinity. These three. Oh, but God's one
God. Yes, He is. The Lord our God
is one God. God the Father is God, God the
Son is God, and God the Holy Spirit is God. How can that be? It is. God said, I am, that I am. Christ said the same thing, I
am. The Trinity, these three agree in one. Christ is the one,
the only way, the truth, the life, the truth of God, the true
spirit. He says he's the spirit of truth,
verse 17, spirit of truth. You know, this book, the Lord
God takes His Word and operates on the hearts and minds of His
chosen people. And this new birth, they pass
from death to life, from darkness to light. They're born again
by the Word of Truth. God's people, mysteriously He
takes the preaching of the Gospel, the Word of God, and He shows
these people who are blind, dead, that who God really is. He opens
their eyes, opens their ears to hear who God really is. He
is love. Thank God God is love. There
is no love except in God. Thank God God is love. And God's love is forever. God's love is effectual. God's love is Eternal. God's love is saving love. Whoever
God's love, He loves forever. Thank God for His love. But the
first thing we hear and see about the truth of God is God is holy. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God. The whole earth trembles. Holy. Just, He said, I will by
no means clear the guilty. God is holy. That's too strict,
He said. Look at this planet. Look what one sin brought. Thou shalt not eat of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil. We'll show him. Who does he think he is? Oh God. Oh, it plunged this world into
darkness and filth and misery and pain and suffering. One sin. God must be holy. God must be
just. There's going to be a day where
we're going to drill in a place where there's no sin. There's
never any possibility of sin. Aren't you glad about that? God's
holy. God is just. God is holy. God is just. God is righteous.
He loves righteousness. Thank God. I'm glad. And God
sent Christ to be our righteousness. And this is what the Spirit of
truth tells us about the true God. The truth about you. The truth about you. This is what the Spirit comes
and tells. And our Lord in chapter 16 says,
You have convinced. The first thing the Spirit will
do is reprove you of sin. The truth about us is there's
no good in us. That's the truth. And these false
prophets stand that God needs you. What for? There's a billion more just like
you. It's like me going out in the
yard and there's a bunch of worms laying around. I need you all
so badly. Won't you accept me? That God needs to be made fun
of. Mocked, but God is not mocked. God doesn't need anybody. He's
God. He said, I am. Jehovah means
self-existent, self-satisfied. Before there was anything or
anyone, God. He didn't need anything. He didn't
need anybody. The truth, the Holy Spirit takes
the truth, tells us the truth about ourselves. God doesn't
need you. You're not worth saving. You're
not worth saving. Your life hadn't been what life
well spent. It's been vanity. You haven't
glorified me. You haven't lived for God's glory,
right? No, you've lived for yourself. And you've done nothing but sin
all your life against your Creator. Didn't thank me. Didn't worship
me. You wouldn't come to sing my
praises or hear about my son? No, you're not worth saving.
That's what the Bible said. That's what God said. That's
the truth, isn't it? That's the truth about me. Is
that the truth about you? Is it? Is that the truth about
you? It is, whether we know it or
not. But the Spirit comes and He convinces you. That's the
truth. That's the truth. And He says, now, for your comfort. God sent his Son, the holy, altogether
lovely, beloved Son of the Most High God, sinless One, the Holy
One of Israel. The second Adam from above. Adam
and Adam all die. God sent his son to be the second
Adam. Flesh and blood. Bones. Your husband, your father, your
redeemer. The Lamb slain. He sent him,
the Holy One, to bear your sins in his body on the tree. God's going to take everything
you ever did and put it on his son. And his son's going to die
for you. Now what are you going to glory
in? Now what are you going to glory
in? Anything you've ever said or done? No. Who? Him who died
for me. Him who lived for me. His righteousness. Mine are filthy rags. His blood
shed. Mine's full of sin. It's tainted
with evil. This is what the Holy Spirit
does. Yes. Yes, Christ said, He'll take
the things of mine. What things? All things. Christ
said, All things are mine. Christ is all. And that's all
there is to it. That's a fact. That's the truth. The truth in a nutshell is Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ. And He has to be
given. He has to be revealed, Christ,
the Holy Spirit. Go on down to verse 26. He said, These things have I
spoken unto you, being yet present with you. Verse 25, I'm with
you now, but when I leave, the Holy Spirit's going to take the
exact things that I've been saying to you. Everything I've ever
said to you, you're going to forget most of it. He's going
to bring it to remembrance. Don't you know the disciples
said, oh, if we could just have our Lord back one day, why didn't
we listen to Him? Dan, did you ever say that about
your dad or your mom? Why didn't I listen to them?
Did you? Why didn't I listen? Why didn't
I study in school? Many of them always said, oh,
I'd like to go back and learn something. What was I doing? You don't want to know. You boys
didn't hear that. What were we doing? Wasting my
time and everybody else's. Unfit for nothing. A child of
wrath even. But God. I'll tell you where
he did put me in school. I'll tell you what he did teach
me. I don't know a lot about history and geography, but I
know this is his story. And I know this whole world exists
and turns around, rotates around Jesus Christ in His hand. That's the geography you can
know. Creation was created from Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit
takes the things of Christ, shows them unto us. He said, I was present with you,
but I'm going to send the Holy Spirit, verse 26, The Father
will send him my name. He will teach you all things
and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I said
unto you. Now these words, peace I leave with you. The truth of the matter is, God
does not love every single person in this world. People take John
3, 16, false prophets. They don't have a clue what John
14 through 18 is saying. They don't have a clue who He's
talking to and why He said that. The word world has seven or eight
different connotations throughout the Scripture. Our Lord said,
Love not the world, the things of the world. Any man love the
world, love the fathers, not any. Well, which is it? Does
God love the world? He says that that love's in you,
you don't know God. Which is it? Go and learn with
this man. Peace I leave with you. The truth
of the matter is God is angry with the wicked every day. Romans
1.18 says the wrath of God is revealed from heaven every day.
Tornadoes, hurricanes, right? That's not the wrath of God.
That's just natural occurrences. That's what the Egyptians said
when those nine plagues came. It's just natural occurrences.
It's global warming is what it is. That's what the Egyptians
said. It's global warming. That's it. Climate change. If all these Egyptians quit this
and that and the earth would settle down. No, it's God. Truth of the matter is God is
angry with the wicked every day. God hateth all workers of iniquity. That's what his words, that's
what he said. Now who are you going to believe?
Man or God? Never believe in God. How can this holy and just God
who's angry with the wicked, and I was born that way, how
can this God who hates all workers of iniquity, that I have been
an iniquitous all my life, how can He love me? How can He have
mercy on me? How can He spare me? How can He be just and yet spare
me, let me go? How? Somebody tell me one word,
how. Christ said, Peace, I live with
you. Peace with God. God says, No peace for the wicked.
I'm angry with Him. Christ came for some of these
wicked, and He made peace by the blood of His cross. By the
blood. There it is, John. By the blood. How do we have
peace with God? One way. One way. God said, when
I see the blood, I'll pass it over to you. The soul that sins
will surely die. God made His soul an offering
for sin. The chastisement of our peace
was laid on Him. By His strife, we're healed.
Because He's cut off, we're brought in. Because He's cast out, we'll
never be cast out. Because He died, we'll be healed.
You see that? That's the Holy Spirit. That's
what He takes and shows to His people. Anybody tired of hearing
that? Well, that's about all we're
going to hear in heaven, except better. Christ is going to preach
it. So he said, peace I leave with
you, peace with God, verse 27, my peace I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled.
Not like the world gives it. I'm giving you my peace, the
peace of God that passeth understanding. Do you understand that our Lord
is going to the cross in a few hours? He's going to the cross
and they're going to brutally beat Him, cause Him pain, untold,
indescribable pain. They're going to beat Him. They're
going to beat Him up. They're going to lash Him. They're
going to pluck out His beard. They're going to stick thorns
down on His head. You understand that? They're
going to nail nails into his hand and hang him on a cross
and drop it in a hole. And he's going to hang there
without a drop of water for six hours. And yet he says to these men,
my peace I give unto you. I have perfect peace. He had
perfect peace. He's comforting them. He's going
to go through that. He's comforting them. How? He has a peace that passes understanding. He has a peace that I don't have. I need. Don't you? He kept telling
his disciples, you're going to be hated. They're going to do
this to you and do that to you because of me. They're going
to need this peace that passes understanding. To go through
these trials, these fiery trials, deep waters, they're going to
need this peace that Christ had. He said, I'm giving it to you.
When you need it, you have it. When you have more pain than
you've ever felt in your entire life, more misery, when you think
all is hopeless, I'm going to give you peace. You're going
to have peace. And the world is going to say,
how did they go through this? Because Christ gave us peace. Somebody smile. My peace, I give
it to you. Don't let your heart be troubled.
That's one of the last things he said to him before that prayer.
He said, in the world you shall have tribulation. Be of good
cheer. Whatever comes, whatever happens, Christ said, I'm sending
it. I'm doing it. It's going to be
painful. It's going to be difficult. It's
going to be some of the hardest things you'll ever do. But he
said, I'm going to give you peace. Be of good cheer. He said, I've
overcome this world. I own this world. I rule this
world. It's under my feet. It's in my hands to do with it.
And very soon, I'm going to fold it up like a vesture. And I'm
coming back for you and taking you to a world without end, a
world without sin. And you're going to be with me
forever. And you'll never, I'm going to
wipe away all tears, nothing but joy and rejoicing forever. Those that knew me and loved
me like you are going to be with me and you're going to be with
them. Now what's there to be troubled about? Go through a little pain and
go through a little pain. That's what he's saying. Now
on down he said, I've told you this before it come to pass,
Well, verse 28, you've heard how I said I'd go away and come
again. If you loved me, you'd rejoice.
Oh, my. I'm so grateful Christ went to
the cross and went back to the Father. Aren't you glad that
the high priest John went into the Holy of Holies and made a
new way for us through the veil, his own precious blood? to the
Father, and the Father accepted him, and we're accepted in the
blood, and we're seated in the end. Aren't you glad? We rejoice. See, we know more than they did.
We know more than they did. And now I've told you before
it come to pass that when it has come to pass, you might believe.
Everything he said came to pass. Brothers and sisters, everything
I've tried to say that he said, everything I've just merely repeated
that he said, Has, doth, and shall come to pass. He cannot
lie. God, who cannot lie, promised
us eternal life. He did, He did. He that believeth
on the Son hath life. He said so. That's all I can
do. Now He says, the Prince of this
world is coming. Who's He coming after? Who's
he after? Well, Peter said, he walketh
about seeking whom he may devour, but like our Lord in the garden.
I can't wait to get to that. He went out in front of him and
said, if you seek me, you'll let him go. The Holy Spirit's
come. There's nothing in me for him
to find. No sin. Has nothing in me. He said, I defeated him once.
I'm going to defeat him forever now on your behalf. So let not your heart be troubled. That the world may know I love
the Father as the Father gave me commandment. And he's going
to pray in his prayer, John. He said, I've glorified thee
on earth. I have finished the work you
gave me today. Before it even happened, he said, it's done.
Isn't that wonderful? Even so I do. And he said, arise,
let us go in. And let us do the same. I will
arise and go in and say, all right, let's sing a closing hymn,
Brother John.