I realize that this is not a
classroom, but if I could assign you something to read this week
that would be a great blessing to you and a tremendous value
in your spiritual life, I would require you to read five chapters
in the book of John, chapters 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17. Our Lord Jesus Christ had met
with his disciples in the upper room, and they had observed for
the last time the Passover feast. And our Lord had established
the Lord's table. He had broken the bread, blessed
it, break it, and said to his disciples, this is my body, which
is broken for you. And then he'd taken the cup,
and he'd blessed the wine, and gave it to them, and he said,
this is my blood, in the new covenant which is shed for the
remission the forgiveness of your sins this do in remembrance
of me the bread and the wine setting forth establishing and
explaining to them the Lord's table and then our Lord Jesus
Christ arose from the table and laid aside his robe and girded
himself with a towel and he began to wash the disciples feet humility he said the servant
is not greater than his master and if I your master have washed
your feet you also ought to wash one another's feet but he was
also revealing to them how that we need daily cleansing and daily
sanctification Peter said to him Lord don't only wash my feet
but wash my head and my hands and he said there's no need you're
clean everywhere But you need your feet washed. We're cleansed
by the blood of Christ. We're cleansed and redeemed by
the blood of the cross. But we walk daily through this
world, and our Lord taught us to pray, forgive us of our sins. And he taught his disciples humility,
he taught them the atonement, he taught them daily sanctification.
And then after Judas had left the room, he said, one of you
will betray me. And Judas got up and left the
room. And then our Lord began to speak to his eleven disciples
about many things. And these are the things we read
in John 13, 14, 15, and 16. Of course, John 17 is the Master's
great high priestly prayer. It says, These words spake Jesus. In these preceding chapters,
four chapters, 13 through 16, these words spake Jesus to his
disciples. And then he lifted his eyes to
heaven and prayed to his father. And that's John 17. You know,
I imagine that it'd be good for us if we'd turn some of our services
into classrooms and teach people the Word of God instead of just
screaming and yelling and hollering and saying praise the Lord and
glory to God and hallelujah and whoopee and all these things
and start teaching the scriptures. You know, pastors are called
pastors and teachers. Our Lord said when he ascended
to heaven, he gave to the church prophets and evangelists and
apostles, pastors and teachers. That's one office. The pastor
is a teacher. He feeds the sheep. He teaches
them the word of God. That's the children's bread.
And we need to study the word. So that's the reason I urge you
this week, today, this week, read John 13, 14, 15 and 16 and
17. These five chapters, remembering. that our Lord had gathered his
eleven disciples. This was on the eve of his crucifixion. This is just before our Lord
went to the cross. The eve of his crucifixion. The
eve of his death. This is really one of the last
meetings that he had with them before he was crucified. And
he taught them many things. He sat them down and taught them
many things. And these are the things written
in John 13 through 16. Now I don't have the time in
one half-hour broadcast to deal with all that the Master taught
the disciples. You can read it later. But I'll
give you about seven things that the Lord taught these disciples,
things they needed to know, things they needed to hear, things in
which they needed to be instructed. And we need them, too. You and
I need them as disciples of Christ. Well, the first thing is this.
If you will take your Bibles and turn to John 13, verse 34.
The 13th chapter of John. Now remember the setting. Remember
it's the Master speaking. And remember He's speaking to
His disciples. He's speaking to those who have
been with Him. Three and a half years who have followed Him and
ate with Him, slept with Him, talked with Him, fellowshiped
with Him. He's about to leave them now. He's about to go to
the cross and die and be buried and rise from the grave and ascend
back to the Father. And He's telling them, teaching
them some things they need to know. Now in John 13 verse 34,
the first thing he said, the first thing, after Judas left,
he said a new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another,
as I have loved you, that you also love one another, and by
this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you love
one another. All the law of God is fulfilled
in one word, love. Someone came to our Lord one
day and said, which is the greatest commandment? And the Lord said,
the first commandment is this, thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength. And the second
is likened to it. Thou shalt love thy neighbors
thyself. On these two hang all the laws and the prophets. Love
God and love one another. If you love God with all your
heart and your neighbor as yourself. And then when Paul wrote in 1
Corinthians chapter 13 about faith, hope, and love, he said,
now abideth these three. Faith, we know the importance
of faith, don't we? Hope, we know the importance
of hope and love. But Paul said, but the greatest
of these is love. And then when the fruit of the
Spirit is mentioned in Galatians chapter 5, You know, it said
the fruit of the Spirit is, what's the first one? The fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace. And the first one named is love.
And John said, he that loveth not knoweth not God, for God
is love. So our blessed Lord gathers these,
this inner circle, these eleven apostles, these men who would
take his gospel and go into all the world and preach to to many
nations and he gathers them about them on the eve of his crucifixion
and the first word of instruction out of the master's mouth is
this a new commandment I give you that you love one another
that you love one another now if any man does not love he does
not know God God is love John said how can you love God and
hate your brother how can you love God whom you haven't seen
and hate your brother whom you have seen Well, he that loveth
him that begot loveth them also that have begotten of him. All
right. Secondly, I must move on. Then our Lord, in John chapter
14, now this is important here. He tells his disciples to believe
on him. Listen to what he says. They
were troubled. They were troubled in heart. They had seen the Lord
work mighty miracles. They had been with him. They
had heard him teach. They thought that He was the
Messiah. They thought Him to be the Christ. They thought Him
to be the King of Israel. But now He talked of dying. He
talked of leaving them. He talked of going away. He said,
it's expedient for you that I go away. And they just didn't understand. They didn't understand what He
was saying. They didn't understand what He was doing. They were
mystified. They had followed him. They really
were looking for an earthly kingdom. That's what they were looking
for. They were expecting the Messiah. And there's some prophecies
in the Old Testament concerning Christ's first coming and some
prophecies concerning his second coming. And they seem to be saying
the same thing. And these Jews got them mixed
up. They thought he would come into this world and restore power
and glory and honor to the Jewish nation and set up an earthly
kingdom on this earth ruled over by the Jewish Messiah, the seed
of Abraham and the son of David. And they were troubled. He said, I'm going to Jerusalem
and die. I'm going away. And they were
troubled. And that's when he said in John
14, 1, Let not your heart be troubled, You believe in God? Believe also in me. Believe equally in me. Believe the same, with the same
faith. Believe me. Now, do you believe God? These
disciples believed God. Of course they did. But they
didn't understand the Trinity. They didn't understand the Father,
Son, Holy Spirit. They didn't understand the Incarnation.
How could God become a man? They didn't understand the atonement.
They didn't understand the pictures and patterns and types of the
Old Testament. Not many of them did. They didn't
understand the obedience of Christ and the death of Christ and the
resurrection of Christ, even after He was buried and rose
again. They didn't believe. As I said,
they had in mind an earthly kingdom, not a spiritual kingdom. Now,
they would understand later. They would understand later,
but now, The Lord Jesus Christ, in all of this mystery, in all
of this accomplishment of redemption and the atonement, He just tells
them, you believe in God? You believe in the Creator? You
believe in the Living God? You believe in the God of Abraham,
Isaac, Joseph? Do you? Believe in Me. Believe
in Me. Those are My instructions. Believe
in Me. You'll understand later, but
right now, believe in Me. He asked them one time, He said,
Well, whom do men say that I am? Whom do carnal, natural men say
that I am? They said, well, some say you're
John the Baptist, and some say you're Elijah, and some say you're
one of the prophets. But he said, whom do you say
that I am? And Peter said, thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. And he said, blessed art
thou, Simon, flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you, but
my Father which is in heaven. I ask you today, what think ye
of Christ? Whose son is he? Well, I'll tell
you what I think, what I believe, what the Bible teaches. Jesus
Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus, born in Bethlehem, is very God
of very God. He's God incarnate, that is,
in human flesh. Also, He is our righteousness,
our holiness, by His perfect obedience as a man in the flesh
to God's law. And He's not only our righteousness,
but He's our Redeemer by substitutionary death. And He's our risen Justifier,
and He's our great High Priest and Mediator. I believe in Him. He said, you believe God? I certainly
do. Believe me. Equally. With the
same faith. Believe me. No man has seen the
Father at any time save the Son, and He to whom the Son will reveal
Him. Now, I'm not skilled, the hymn writer wrote, I'm not skilled
to understand what God hath willed and what God hath planned, but
I only know at God's right hand is one who is my Savior. I take
him at his word indeed. Christ died for sinners, this
I read, for in my heart I find the need for him to be my Savior."
So here's his instructions to his disciples on the eve of his
crucifixion, in all their bewilderment and lack of understanding, and
troubled hearts. He said, love one another, love
one another. And you believe in God, believe
in me. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. He that believeth on the Son
hath life. He that believeth not the Son
shall never see life. This is the record. God has given
us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the
Son of God hath life. And these things are written
that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
Do you believe? Dost thou now believe? Mary,
he said, and Martha, do you believe this? Now thirdly, our Lord is
still speaking to this inner circle, this group of disciples.
And he strongly and powerfully tells them who he is. Now this
is important, John 14 verse 9. You know, Philip had asked him,
he said in a troubled way, he said, well, Lord, show us the
Father. Show us the Father. And our Lord
said, Philip, have I been with you this long and you still don't
know me? He that hath seen me, now listen,
hath seen the Father. Believest thou that I am in the
Father, and the Father in me?" There's no mincing of words here
on the part of our Master. Preachers sometimes have a way
of compromising without really revealing that they're compromising.
Just say it so people don't understand what they're saying. But our
Lord never spoke that way. He spoke with authority. He spoke
plainly. There's no mincing of words here.
There's no room for debate or argument. He said, you've seen
me, you've seen God. You've seen God. Now, over there
in Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6, the scripture says, unto us a
child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government
shall be on his shoulders, and thou shalt call his name Wonderful
Counselor, listen, the mighty God, the Prince of Peace, the
Everlasting Father. What are you saying, preacher?
What are you teaching? Exactly what you think I'm teaching.
Exactly. Jesus Christ is no mere prophet. He's no mere healer. He's no
mere reformer. Jesus Christ is God. Behold,
you're God. Now, you'll find that throughout
the Word. In John 1, it says, In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,
and the Word was made flesh. In Acts 20, 28, Paul stood before
the elders of the church, and he said, Now you men, feed the
church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. He's the
church of God, which God purchased with His own blood. In John 10,
30, our Lord declares it plainly. He said, I and my Father won.
Now, you know how the Jews reacted to that? These Pharisees, they
picked up stones to stone Him. And He said, now, many good works
have I done among you. For which of these do you stone
Me? They said, we're not stoning you for good work. We're stoning
you for blasphemy. Why, where have I blasphemed?
You're a man. You say you're God. That's exactly
what I'm saying. They understood what he was saying.
Do you understand what I'm saying? Jesus Christ is God. To the Son,
the Father said, Thy throne, O God, is forever. He said, I
am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the
Father but by me. So when he sat his disciples
down, before he went to the cross, he said, Now, I'll tell you one
more time. He that has seen me has seen
the Father. I and my father won. Jesus of
Nazareth is not a frustrated, defeated, disappointed reformer. He's a victorious, conquering
God who never fails, who reigns and rules and prospers in all
that he does. All right, here's the fourth
thing he told them in John 14 verse 27. Our Lord told the disciples
this. He said, my peace, my peace I
give unto you. My peace I leave with you. Peace. Not as the world give it. Let
not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid, because I'm
going to give you peace. Peace. Not a whole lot of people
have peace. Do you know that? Not even in
religion. Least of all. Not even in the
pulpit. Least of all. Peace. Now, what's
our Lord talking about? He said, my peace I leave with
you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world give it, give
I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. Someone said, if we ever learn
to fear God, we'll never fear anything else. Well, peace, what's
He talking about? Well, He's not talking about
peace between nations. I know we have all the flowery
political speeches during the conventions every year about
peace in our time Bring peace to the world. Forget it. Forget
it. The scripture tells us there'll
be wars and rumors of wars until Christ comes back again. Always
has been. Always will be. As long as man
is a greedy, covetous, self-centered creature, filled with hate, miserable,
despising one another, you're going to have war. So our Lord
said, I didn't come to bring peace, but a sword. So we're
not talking about peace between nations, and we're not talking
about peace with the world. Our Lord said to his disciples,
the world's not going to let you live in peace. They're going
to hate you. Marvel not, my brethren, if the
world hate you. It hated me before it hated you.
They hated me without a cause. Perfect holiness, perfect righteousness,
perfect sinlessness, perfect love stood on this earth one
day 2,000 years ago in human flesh. How did the world react? They hated him. They nailed him
to a cross and spit on him while he died. There's a revelation
of the heart of men. The hearts of men. They hate
holiness and truth. And I'm not talking about religious
holiness. Some of that's worthy of hatred.
I'm talking about the holiness of God. Pure, perfect holiness. Well, he's not even talking here
about peace among families. Now stay with me. Our Lord said,
My peace I give unto you. There's not going to be peace
between the nations, wars and rumors of wars. There's not going
to be peace between the church and the world, not the true church.
There'll be peace between the world's church and the religious
churches, but not between God's church and the world. The world's
going to hate grace and hate the truth of God's gospel and
hate the Son of God. It always has. It always will.
And even among families, our Lord said, I didn't come to send
peace, but a sword. And He didn't stop there. And
He said, a man's foes and enemies shall be they of his own household.
His own household. I've come to set a man at variance
against his father, and a woman against her mother, and brothers
and sisters who hate the gospel will hate those who believe the
gospel. And then there's no freedom from trouble and trial. Our Lord
said, in the world, you're going to have tribulation. But what
kind of peace is He talking about? He said, as He talked to these
disciples, going out there among barbarians and heathens and religious
pagans to preach the gospel, a hated gospel, a gospel of free
grace, and He said, peace. You're going to have peace. What
kind of peace? Well, first of all, peace with
God. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The war is over between us and
heaven. Sin is a pardon, forgiven, and put away. God's not angry.
God's angry with the wicked. That's what the Bible says every
day. But Colossians 1 says, He made peace through the blood
of His cross. So He said, My peace I give unto
you, you, you who believe, nobody else. And then we have peace
of heart and conscience. There's therefore now no judgment,
no condemnation to them who are in Christ. Paul said in Romans
8, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Who
is he that condemneth? Christ has died. I have peace
of conscience, peace of heart, peace with God, and then peace
among believers. Believers love each other. Don't
be misled by church fights and splits and arguments and quarrels.
Believers love each other. True believers do, and they live
in peace because God has given them a peaceful disposition,
peaceful attitude. My sins, oh, the bliss of that
glorious thought. My sins, not in part, but the
whole, are nailed to the cross. I bear them no more. It is well. It is well with my soul. Our
Lord then tells his disciples about divine union, which exists
between him and every believer, divine union. We're talking about
a preacher, all right, look at John 15, the next chapter. We've
gone 13, 14, now 15. I am divine, you are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in
him. He that abideth in me and I in
him, yes. The same bringeth forth much
fruit, for without me you can do nothing." Now, I find it impossible,
start to say difficult, but impossible to define this union between
Christ and the believer. But he said this, when he prayed
in John 17, he said, Father, that they all may be one, as
thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, and I in them. I in them and thou in me, we're
one. Our Lord illustrates this union,
Christ's union with the believer. Paul talked about Christ being
formed in you, Christ in you, the hope of glory, Christ who
is our life. God revealed His Son in me. We're
one with Christ, we're chosen in Him, loved in Him, accepted
in Him, redeemed in Him, crucified in Him, buried in Him, risen
in Him, seated at the right hand of God. And this is a union. And what touches Christ touches
you. What touches you touches Christ, because you're one. Now,
he said, I am the vine, you're the branch. That's a pretty close
union, isn't it? Sever the branch from the vine,
it dies. But as long as it lives in the
vine, it lives. We're the branches, Christ is
the vine. Then he talked about the head and the body. He said,
I'm the head, you're the body. That's one person, head and body.
Then he talked about stones in a building. Then he talked about
a husband and wife. Here's what I'm saying. What
he is, we are. What he has done, we have done
in him. What he has suffered, we have
suffered. Where he is now, we are. And what he has is mine. The
hymn writer put it this way. Between Jesus and the chosen
race, there's a bond of sovereign grace. that hell with its internal
train shall never dissolve or rend and cling. Hail sovereign
union, firm and strong, how great the grace, how sweet the song,
that worms of earth should ever be one with incarnate deity. How can God become a man? How can man be one with God?
Well, he is. One on the cross, one when he
arose, one when he triumphed over his foes, one when in heaven
he took our seat, while seraphims sang of hell's defeat. This sacred
union forbids all fears, for all he is or has is theirs. With him, their head, they stand
or fall, their life, their surety, their all, but he'll never fall."
And then our Lord told his disciples of troublesome times, trials
that they would have to endure. He said, these words I have spoken
unto you, that in me you might have peace, because in the world
you are going to have trouble, trouble, trouble, tribulation. And then He promised them the
Holy Spirit. He said, when the Holy Spirit comes, He will be
your comforter, He will be your guide, He will be your teacher.
But He is not going to speak of Himself. He is not going to
glorify Himself. He is not going to glorify you.
He is going to take the things of mine, and He is going to show
them to you. He shall glorify me, for he shall
take the things of mine and show them to you, and you in turn
will preach these things to others. Now I have this message on a
cassette tape. I call this message Divine Instructions,
The Master Teaching the Inner Circle, Divine Instructions.
If you'd like to have it, you write. The announcer will give
you the address in just a few moments on the screen. On the
other side of this tape is another message I'll bring next week.
It's called the Seven Sayings from the Cross. Write to us and
we'll send it to you by return mail. Send a two dollar donation.
We'll mail you the tape. Until next week, may God bless
you, everyone.