Paul said in Corinthians, he
said, we preach in part, we're not so smart. We know in part,
we prophesy in part, we see through a glass darkly, dimly, like in
a haze. The things of this book are mysteries
only revealed by God, only entered into on this earth in part. And I can identify with these
men. I can identify with them. Here they were in the upper room,
and they had, as their custom had been for many years, they
had eaten the Passover feast. Whether it had been reduced down
or what, I do not know, but they had eaten the Passover feast.
And there was electricity in the air. There was something unusual,
and there wasn't much talking. They kept watching the Lord and
listening to him. And he stood, and he took the bread, there was
bread, unleavened bread on the table, and he took the bread,
and he blessed it. And then he break it, and he
gave it to them, and he said, take eat this is my body broken
for you and I know they looked one to the other and they took
the bread and they ate it and dead silence and then he took
the cup and he blessed it and he prayed and he said to them
as he handed them that cup of wine drink ye all of it For this is my blood which is
shed for you." And they drank it. And he said,
as often as you eat this bread and drink this wine, you show
the Lord's death. This do in remembrance of me.
In remembrance. And then after supper, they were
sitting about and the Lord Jesus took off his robe and dirtied
himself with a huge towel, and I know as they watched him, they
watched with amazement and wonder, what's he doing? What's he doing? And then he went and drew up
a pan of water, and he came to the first disciple, and he began
to wash his feet. This was a custom back in those
days. People walked in sandals and
they walked through the sand and the dirt, and when they came
into your home, You had a servant, a slave at the door with a pan
of water and a large towel, and when the person came in, they
just took their sandals off, and that slave washed that foot
and dried it, and then washed that foot and dried it, and then
the person went on in, and the slave just kept sitting there
on the floor, and everybody came in with his old dirty feet, he
washed it. And here our Lord was kneeling down in front of
his disciples, and they were so stunned, none of them said
anything. And he, the Master, the Lord
of Glory, washed their feet one at a time. And finally came to
Peter, and Peter always had something to say. Always. And Peter, when he came to Peter,
he pulled his feet back under where he was sitting, and he
said, you're not going to wash my feet. The Master's not going
to wash my feet. And the Master said, Peter, If
I don't wash you, you don't have any part with me." He didn't
understand that either. He didn't understand that either.
So he said, well, Lord, just wash my head and my feet and
my hands and wash me all over. That's the condition. No, he
said, Peter, you're already clean. He didn't understand that. Cleansed
by the blood. You need only to have your feet
washed. You need daily forgiveness. You're already forgiven. Your
sins are put away by the blood. You see, a promise of God is
as certain as a deed of God. A promise. Christ was the Lamb
slain for the foundation of the world. When you come right down
to the purpose and promise of God, my name's been written in
the Lamb's Book of Life from all eternity. I've been saved
from eternity. Is that not right? It's a promise.
God said, I have declared it, I'll bring it to pass. I've spoken
it, will I not do it? But it had to be done. It had
to be done. And so our Lord said, you're
already washed. You need only to wash your feet.
Well, they didn't understand that. And then he talked about
leaving them and going away. And they didn't understand that.
And here he gives some instructions, beginning in John 13. And I want
to pick out just a few to point out to you this morning, and
tonight we'll take it in another direction. These words spake
Jesus. Turn to John 17, just a moment. So to these astonished, bewildered
disciples, our Lord, it says, John 17, these words spake Jesus. Now he's not, that statement
is not referring to the praise about the praise. It's referring
to the words he just said. These words spake Jesus. What
words? Well, in John 13, 33, first of
all, he said He said in John 13, 33, little
children, John 13, 33, little children,
yet a little while am I with you. You shall seek me, and as
I said unto the Jews, whether I go you cannot come. So now
I say unto you, these words said Jesus, a new commandment I give
unto you, love one another. Love one another. We'll start
right there. Love one another as I have loved
you. I command you that you love one
another, and by this shall all men know that you are my disciples
if you love one another." Here he is, his disciples. Judas had gone out, the leaven
sitting there, and he said to them, this is the first thing,
love one another. Let your hearts be bound in love
for one another, in union. in love, a genuine, sincere love
for one another is evidence we've been born of God. Turn to 1 John
chapter 4. 1 John chapter 4. Now I'm placing great importance
upon these things because these are the words which our Lord
spake to his disciples prior to his leaving them. These are
farewell words. These are final words. These
are final instructions. And the place he starts is this,
love one another. Love one another. 1 John 4, verse
7, Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God, and every
one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth
not knoweth not God, for God is love. Verse 16, And we have
known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love,
and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Love one another. We are to love
one another as Christ loved us. That's the instruction he gave
us. Love one another as I have loved you. And Paul tells us
in 1 Corinthians 13 that among the graces and fruits of the
Spirit that love is the greatest. Now about his faith, hope, and
love, but the greatest of these is love. And whatever I have,
Paul said, whatever I have, if I have not love, then the rest
of it will profit me nothing. So our Master, speaking to his
disciples before he went to the cross and ascended back to the
Father, he said to them, love one another. Love one another
as I have loved you. as I've loved you, even in your
failures and your errors and your mistakes and your faltering
and even your denials, I've loved you. Now you love one another
the same way. And I'll tell you this, by this
shall all men know you're my disciples, if you love one another. That's the characteristic by
which they'll know you're my disciples. All right, turn to
John 14. Here's the next thing he says
to them. He exhorts them to faith in him. He tells them to love
one another, and then in chapter 14, verse 1, he says, let not
your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. Believe in me. You believe in
God? Do you believe in God? Only the
fool says there's no God, or no God for me. Well, he says,
if you believe in God, believe in me. Believe me. I was reading something last
week by Martin Luther. And he said this, I believe the
gospel and I preach Christ and I'm so obsessed with it,
I'm so confident of it, that I preach Christ as though he
died yesterday and he arose this morning and he's coming tomorrow. Don't you wish you were obsessed
with Christ like that? Believed it just like that. He
died yesterday. It's that new to me. It's that
real to me as if he died yesterday. And as if this morning when I
got up, someone called me on the phone and said, Christ arose.
Christ arose this morning. And hurry, he's coming back tomorrow. Oh, do we believe? He said to
these disciples, And I know, I have such a battle with this
thing of faith. I know the disciples were troubled
and they were confused and they were bewildered. And he
said, do you believe in God? Yeah, I believe in God. I believe
in God. I believe in God. Well, believe
in me. Believe in me. And then he said,
in my father's house, verse 2, are many dwelling places. God's
going to populate heaven. Do you believe that? I believe
that. And he said, well, I go to prepare
a place for you. The man Christ Jesus, our forerunner,
as Mike was singing about a while ago, has gone within the veil
and occupied for us. And he's coming back. And he
said, if I go and prepare a place for you, verse 3, I'll come again. I'll come again and receive you
unto myself that where I am, there ye may be. Believe me.
Believe me. Believe me. Can you believe this?
I now believe, I do believe that Jesus died for me and through
his blood, his precious blood, I shall, I shall from sin be
free. I believe that. Do you believe
that? Our Lord is speaking to these
disciples, and all the things that are going to be called on
to go through, and he exhorts them, he says, Now love one another.
Now love one another. And you love one another like
I loved you. Now this is the way men are going to know you
are my disciples, is you love one another. And believe in me. And believe in me. You know,
if you could get hold of those two things, Love God, love each
other, believe in Christ. Believe in me. In my Father's
house are many dwelling places, and I'm going to prepare a place
for you, and I'll come back. I'll come back. And then in verse
6, he tells them who he is. Beginning with verse 6, he said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. Somebody said at the
conference this week, he's the way, without him there's no going. He's the truth, without him there's
no knowing. He's the life, without him there's
no going or knowing. He's the life, the way, the truth,
and that's who I am. I am the way. I'm not a way,
I am the way. I am the Christ is the truth.
There is no knowledge of or understanding of truth in any fashion apart
from Christ. He is the truth. And he himself
is the life. He's not just a way of life.
He's not a way to life. He is life. Christ is the way. Christ himself is the truth.
Christ himself is the life. And Philip said in verse 8, Well,
Lord, show us the Father. Show us God. Preachers, show
God to me. Well, is that not Moses' plea?
It's not like what Moses said in Exodus 33, show me thy glory. Show me thy glory. If we could
get the picture here, our Lord said to the disciples, now I'm
leaving you, got a lot of things to accomplish, but you love each
other and you believe in me. And Philip said, well, show us
the Father. Show us the Father. Christ said,
I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father
but by me. Well, show me the Father. And
that was Moses' request. Wasn't that Job's plea? Listen
to Job. Oh, that I knew where I might
find him. Is that not Elisha's plea? Where
is the Lord God of Elijah? Is that not David's plea? As
the deer panteth for the water brooks, my soul panteth for thee.
the living God. Where is God? Show me God. Where
can I find God? Can you by searching find God?
That's all Philip was asking. Philip was sitting there in the
chair and Christ told him to love each other, love each other
like I loved you. You're human, but love each other
like I've loved you. Forgive one another as I've forgiven
you. Walk together in unity of spirit
and heart. Don't let anything come between
you. And just look to me. Don't believe in the flesh or
anything else or anybody or feelings or experiences. You believe in
me, only in me. Turn your eyes to me. Because
no man knoweth the Father apart from me, and no man cometh to
the Father apart from me. And Philip said, well, just show
me the Father. And he said, Philip, verse 9,
"'If I've been with you so long and you just haven't known me,
he that hath seen me hath seen the Father.'" The Samaritan woman sitting by
that well, our Lord was talking to her, and she became troubled
and confused too. You know, he talked to her about
living water, about never thirsting again, about eternal satisfaction
and rest and peace. And she said, well, give it to
me. I want it. He said, call your
husband. She said, I don't have a husband.
He went through that. She said, you must be a prophet. And then she said, well, our
fathers worshiped in the mountains and you Jews worship in Jerusalem.
And he said, the hour has come and now is when they that worship
God will worship him in spirit and truth. You worship you don't
know what. Well, she said, when the Messiah comes, when he comes
he'll tell us all things. When the Messiah comes, when
the Messiah comes from God, he'll tell us! Like those two men sitting
out in the backyard one night, and one of them looked at the
other and he said, I get so troubled. He said, I wish somebody would
come down from up there and come down here and tell us what it's
all about. And the other man said, he did.
He did. And that's what this Samaritan
woman is saying. She said, when the Messiah comes
down, when he comes down, mountains and plains and worshiping God
and Spirit and truth, oh, they say, he'll answer our questions.
And the Lord said, I am He. I am He. And that's what Philip
is saying. Show God. I want to see God. Show me the Father. And he said,
Philip, he that has seen me has seen God. Can you believe that? Verse 10, Believest thou not
that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? What place have you given Jesus
Christ? Now, come on, just be honest.
I just passed that sign out there somewhere, where it was the other
night. It had a big sign, Christmas is Christ's birthday. There's
not much eternality there, is there? There's not much glory
there. That's kind of considering Him
and God as sort of not the same. Not the same. But he says, Philip,
just as plainly and directly, you're looking at God. That's
what he's saying. You're looking at God. You've
seen me, you've seen God. Imagine Philip just fell back
in his chair. Okay, where else is it to look? No man knoweth the Father save
the Son, he to whom the Son will reveal. You're going to know
God, you're going to know Christ. Now something else he said to
them. He said in verse 27, Peace I
leave with you. Peace I leave with you. My peace
I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give
I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be
afraid. This is for you and me. These words speak Jesus. Love
one another. Believe in me. I am the Father
One, and my peace I give you." Now, my friend, he's not talking
about peace between nations. I know our beloved presidents,
clear down to the first one, talked about bringing in world
peace. Don't pay attention to that.
There'll never be world peace. There's been a war going on ever
since there's been man on earth, ever since Cain and Abel had
gotten in a fight over religion. There's been a war going on.
There's wars and rumors of wars and always will be. We'll just
wait until the next one. There's no peace between nations,
and he doesn't guarantee you peace in this world. He says,
marvel not that the world, if the world hate you, they hated
me before they hated you. Christ doesn't even guarantee
you peace in your home. He said, a man's foes shall be
those of his own household. Isn't that what he said? So you're
not even going to have peace at home. You're not going to
have peace in the world. You're not going to have peace
between nations. And he doesn't promise you freedom
from trouble and trial. He says in the world you shall
have tribulation. But the peace he's talking about
here is peace with God through the Savior's sacrifice. And that's
what I need. Peace with God. Turn to Romans
chapter 5, verse 1. Peace with God. You see, what
the world doesn't understand is that there's war between heaven
and earth because of sin. God is angry with the wicked.
There's war between heaven and earth. And Christ came down here
in the flesh and reconciled us to God. Therefore, verse 1, chapter
5, being justified by faith, we have peace with God. We have
peace with God. There's an armistice. between heaven and earth, between
God and believers in Christ. He hath brought in peace. Turn
to Colossians 1.19, listen to him here, Colossians 1.19. We'd
better be interested in this. Colossians 1.19, listen to this. For it pleased the Father that
in him should all fullness dwell, and having made peace through
the blood of his cross, By Him to reconcile all things unto
Himself. He reconciled us to God. Verse
21. And you that were sometimes alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet hath He now reconciled. So my peace I give unto you.
But something else. Look back at that text in John
14 again. Verse 27. I give you peace. Peace
with God. My peace I give unto you, not
as the world giveth, give I you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. Peace with God, peace of heart
and conscience is well with my soul. Well, why and how? Down
here in verse 30. Hereafter I will not talk much
with you, for the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing
in me. Let me tell you something. Our
Lord Jesus Christ, by God's decree and purpose,
is our representative and federal head. Our Lord Jesus Christ is
our federal head and our representative. He is us and we are in him. We
are so united in him and with him that God looks upon us in
him and deals with us in him. And when he stood, now this is
You see, the Bible teaches representation as the first Adam and the second
Adam. In Adam we die, in Christ we are made alive. And when Satan
came to the first Adam, he found something in him. He found a
kinship. And Adam responded to Satan.
He responded to the temptation and he failed. And he sided with
Satan. Satan found something in common
with Adam. They both hated God. They both
were willing to rebel. They both wanted to take the
throne from God. Now, we were in that first Adam.
In Adam we were born, in Adam we lived, in Adam we died, in
Adam. That second Adam, now watch this, came to this earth and
stood in the flesh. And this is what he's saying
here. This second Adam came and stood
in the flesh. And Satan came again, David.
And he tried him in every point. In every point. He met him personally. He came to him in representatives.
He came to him with lies. He came to him with truth. He
came to him with all kind of temptation. And our Lord said,
he found nothing in me. Nothing in me. So listen to me.
I'm not on trial. I'm not on trial as far as sin
is concerned. I've already sinned, been found
guilty. But I'm not on trial as far as
holiness is concerned. Satan's already come to my representative,
to me and Christ. He can't, he ain't found nothing
in me. That's just, now you see what
I'm saying? Do you understand what we're saying? That's the
reason Christ said, my peace I give unto you. Otherwise, let
me tell you this, otherwise You have no grounds for peace. You
have no grounds to go to sleep tonight. You have no, you have,
without Christ as a representative, as a substitute, you have no
cause for comfort. Isn't that right Bill? You have
no, you have no reason for rest. You have not the slightest possibility
of peace. But I can, my heart can be at
rest as far as God's law, God's justice and God himself is concerned. My heart can be at rest as far
as my conscience is concerned. It is well with my soul. My sin,
O the bliss of that glorious thought, my sin not in part but
the whole is nailed to the cross. I bear it no more. Praise the
Lord. It's well with my soul. Satan has come to me and he's
found nothing And the prince of this world
is judged. That's what Christ is saying.
That's the reason you can have peace. He's found nothing in
me. He tried every way in this world,
alright? And that brings us to John 15
when he taught them that living union. In John 15, verse 4, Abide
in me and I in you. as the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself." Now, later on he told his disciples, I have many
things to say to you, you're not able to bear them. You're
not able to bear them yet. And there may be young ones in
Christ here this morning that are not able to bear even these
things that I am dealing with. But they're true nevertheless.
They're true. And I find it rather difficult
to define living union. How can two people be one person? I don't know. How can Father,
Son, Holy Spirit be one God? I don't know. Yet there's one
person. And yet there's three. But our Lord says here, I abide
in me and I in you. The branch cannot bear fruit
except it abide in the vine. No more can you except you abide
in me. I am the vine. I am the fountain,
you are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me you
can do nothing." You see, I can't define very well living union
between Christ and his church, but it's illustrated this way.
And our time is gone, but in Ephesians 5 he illustrates it
with a husband and wife being one flesh. one flesh. He illustrates it
in 1 Corinthians 12 as a body. As the body is many members,
so Christ's body is many members and yet one body. He illustrates
it in 1 Peter as stones laid on a foundation. And the way
that foundation is laid, that's the way the stones are laid.
And you become a living temple to offer praise and sacrifice
to God. Christ is the chief cornerstone
in the foundation. John Flavel put it this way,
everything God has, he has put in Christ. And all spiritual
blessings are in him. And they are mine through a vital
living union with him. You say, what does the word vital
mean? Well, now watch this. This thumb is not vital to this
hand. But this hand is vital to that
thumb. That hand can get along without that thumb. But that thumb can't get along
without that hand. You see what I'm saying? Christ
lives, and I'm not vital to him because I have no life in me.
He survives without me, but he's vital to me. And I'm saying that
that connection, that relationship, me in Christ, by choice, by purchase,
by the Holy Spirit's power, that it is vital that I be united
with Christ in one body. And that comes through faith.
All right, turn to John 15, verse 16 now. He promised them trouble
in this world. He promised them trouble. He
said in John 15, verse 16, you have not chosen me, but I have
chosen you. and ordained you that you should
go and bring forth fruit, and your fruit should remain. Verse
17, these things I command you, that you love one another. Now
if the world hate you, now remember our Lord is still instructing
these disciples after the supper, before the cross. And he said,
if the world hate you, you know this, it hated me before it hated
you. This world hates you, why? Because
you're not of the world. If you were of the world, the
world would love you, verse 19, because you're not of the world,
but I've chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates
you. The religious world hates you just as much as the social
world, or more. They hate you because they hated
Him. They hate you because you're not of the world, but there's
another reason why they hate you, and that's found in verse
Verse 21. All these things will they do
unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that
sent me. Look at John 16.1. These things
have I spoken unto you that you should not be offended. They'll
put you out of the synagogue. The time comes when whosoever
killed you will think he does God a service. Think about that.
And these things will they do unto you, because they have not
known the Father, nor me. But these things have I told
you, that when the time shall come, you may remember I told
you of them. And these things I didn't say
to you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go
my way to him that sent me. And none of you ask me where
you're going, but because I said these things, sorrow hath filled
your heart. But I'm not going to leave you
alone. Now here's the last thing. He says, I'm going to give you
a comforter. The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. Verse 7, I tell
you, it's expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away,
the comforter will not come. But if I depart, I'll send him
to you. Now here, here's the Holy Spirit. When he's come,
the Holy Spirit, listen to me before I read this. The Holy
Spirit regenerates sinners. The Holy Spirit convicts men
of sin. The Holy Spirit reveals Christ. The Holy Spirit is our
teacher. The Holy Spirit gives guilt.
The Holy Spirit seals believers. The Holy Spirit is our comforter.
But I suppose the key verse in understanding the work of the
Holy Spirit is John 16, 13. Listen. John 16, 13. Howbeit
when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into
all truth. He shall not speak of himself.
But whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he shall
show you things to come. He will glorify me, for he will
receive of mine, and show it to you." My friends, the Spirit
of the living God, the Holy Spirit of God, indwells every believer. I believe the Scripture teaches
that if a man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.
If we are born of the Spirit of God, then we have the Spirit
of God, but the Holy Spirit of God is not just sent into this
world to make noise. He's not just sent into this
world to make you so extremely happy. He's not just sent into
this world to amuse or amaze people. The Holy Spirit is sent
into this world to glorify Christ, to exalt Christ, to magnify Christ,
to reveal Christ. In doing that, He makes you happy.
In doing that, He brings you rest and comfort. In turning
your eyes to Christ, He gives you peace. In equipping men to
preach, He gives them gifts to preach what? To preach Christ.
You see what I'm saying? The Holy Spirit... So often I hear preachers always
talking about the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost,
being baptized with the Holy Ghost, being filled with the
Holy Ghost, preaching about the Holy Ghost, I'm just as confident
of this as I'm standing here. People who major on the Holy
Ghost and talk all the time about the Holy Ghost never knew the
Holy Ghost. I really believe that, and I'm
not looking for a way out of a day that seems to be without
power and without miracles and without whatever we want to see. But I'm just telling you that
Christ plainly says here, we'll look back there where he said
he'll convince the world. And when he is come, the Holy
Ghost, he will reprove, he'll convince the world of sin and
of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin, why? They believe not
on me. This conviction of sin, Bill,
has to do with Christ. He convinces them of sin, not
because it was wrong for them to get drunk, but that's not
the issue. He convinces them of sin. It was wrong for them
to steal the watermelon, but that ain't the issue. You see
what I'm saying? He convinces men of sin as sin
relates to God, to Christ. They don't believe. They don't
believe. They don't believe God. Abraham
believed God. It was counted to him for righteousness.
And then he convinces men of righteousness. Why? Because I
go to my Father. He is our righteousness. Christ
is our righteousness. The Father raised Him from the
dead and took Him to glory and sat Him down in His right hand
and He gave to us a righteousness. He said Christ's work is accepted. And He convinces of judgment
because Satan and the prince of this world is judged. The
Holy Spirit's entire ministry of conviction of sin has to do
with Christ. And he reveals Christ. If he gives me the gift to speak
in another language, it's to preach Christ. It's not just
to have people say, oh, he's so holy. If he gives me the gift
to pray, it's to pray for the presence of Christ, the glory
of Christ, the anointing of Christ, the exaltation of Christ. If the Holy Spirit gives me a
gift to whatever, preach the gospel, it's to preach Christ. He takes the things of mind and
He'll show them to you. What things? Justification, sanctification,
redemption, regeneration. All these things that Christ
did. He's going to show them to us.
Don't get your mind on the Holy Ghost. Ask the Holy Ghost to
get your mind on Christ. Don't get your mind on the gifts.
Ask the Spirit of God to set your affections on the giver.
I'm being honest with you now. You can have tongues and go to
hell, you can't have Christ and go to hell. You can have the
whoop-dee-doo and perish, but you can't have Christ and perish.
You can have the good feeling, and you can have all the shouting
and screaming and running up and down the aisles and throwing
books, you can have that and go to hell, but you can't have
Christ and go to hell, because Christ is heaven. And that's
what I'm saying, that's what he said to them. I'm not going
to leave you alone. I'm not going to leave you alone.
I'm going to send the Holy Spirit to you. He's going to convince
me of sin. I'll quit. Look at John 16, 27.
And then he talked to the disciples.
The Father himself loved you because you love me. Do you love
him? Do you love him and have believed
that I came from God? Do you believe that? I do. I
came forth from the Father. The Father sent me, and I'm coming
to the world." And he did what he accomplished on this earth,
and he went back to the Father. His disciples said, we can understand
that. We're just sure, verse 30, sure, and if you know everything
and need nothing, any man should ask thee. By this we believe
that you came from God. And our Lord said, do you, do
you, do you now believe? I pray God will take these words
that And that's when John 17, turn over there and look at John
17, and these words speak Jesus. Now tonight, I'm going to try
to do this. I'm going to try to go from there.
And when he finished these words to them, to them, about all that
he came to do, he lifted his eyes to the Father, and he talked
about us. He talked about the Father to
them, and the Father's mercies, and then he talked about us to
the Father. might be interested and I hope
so.