Seek to Obey His Commandments

I'll use the wireless and you can just switch that off.

Thanks.

Yeah, much sound and no light.

I hope that's not continued.

Let's pray and ask God's help.

Our Father, we thank you for the great gifts

that you gave to your church

when you physically left this earth

for your word,

which as you've said in the gospel reading we had today

are not your words, but the very words of your Father.

And for the great gift of the Holy Spirit, another helper.

We pray that we would have thankful hearts,

that we would treasure these gifts

and that by the power of your Holy Spirit

and by his help, we would understand your word

and that in his strength, we would live it out

and share it with the world around us.

We pray all these things through Christ,

your Son and our Savior.

Amen.

Here's a Bible trivia quiz for you.

According to the description

at the end of the book of Revelation,

what is the first group of people

to be cast into the lake of fire?

It's the cowardly.

You can look that up later at your leisure

in Revelation 21.

The cowardly.

The fearful.

The faint-hearted.

Now, if you're anything like me,

you're beginning to feel decidedly uncomfortable.

I seem to be hardwired toward being shy

and perhaps timid.

And it's a precious small step

from timid to faint-hearted

and from faint-hearted

to cowardly

or fearful.

Now, others among us,

you may not have a personality

that bends you toward fearfulness,

but at the same time,

I can imagine that most of you,

probably all of you,

if you had long enough to think about it

and felt comfortable enough to share it,

I imagine that most of us from time to time

are all too familiar

with the feeling of

the pressure of stressful circumstances,

with the mounting anxiety,

with a knot that begins to form

in the pit of your stomach,

with a feeling of discomfort,

the pounding of your heart,

the inability to think clearly.

That seems to be one of my first

in this situation.

A desire to get away.

A desire to flee like a bird

to the mountains.

I felt that last night

when I knew I had to stand up here

this morning.

That's true.

Perhaps even a feeling of desperation,

panic.

Some extent of that is true

almost, I'm sure, to all of us.

Well, in the passage of John's Gospel

that we read earlier,

Jesus speaks directly to this experience.

This fearfulness

does not need to describe

anyone who has become

a disciple of the Lord Jesus.

In fact, it must not

in an ongoing and sustained way.

And he gives very clear reasons why.

So I invite you to turn to this

glorious passage

in John's Gospel

on page 935, again,

of your Pew Bible,

or in your own Bible,

John chapter 14.

John 14 · chapter mention

Once again,

to place this in its setting,

the context of this conversation,

it's Jesus' last night

before his betrayal

and his arrest

and his crucifixion.

He knows that his departure is near.

And in a section

unique to John's Gospel,

a long section

from the end of chapter 13

right through

to the end of chapter 17,

he's preparing his disciples

for what's about to happen.

The 11 disciples,

which is the 12

minus Judas Iscariot,

who has already left

on his mission of betrayal,

they're disturbed

by what they're beginning

to understand

that Jesus is telling them.

Their hearts are troubled

and they're feeling afraid.

And it's into this situation

that Jesus speaks

these words of comfort

and encouragement.

So we pick up the conversation

in chapter 14 and verse 15.

If you love me,

keep my commandments.

And I will pray the Father

and he will give you

another helper

that he may abide

with you forever.

We'll just stop there.

I don't know how comforted

you are yet.

Because what is Jesus saying

here at the beginning?

He says,

if you love me,

well he says,

three things will result.

Did you notice?

Three things.

First,

if you love me,

keep my commandments.

Or some translations

will say,

you will keep my commandments.

That's first.

Secondly,

he will pray

to the Father

or ask the Father.

And thirdly,

the Father

will give you

another helper

who will be with you forever.

So in the first

of these three things,

in verse 15,

if you love me,

keep my commandments.

The Lord is showing us

the unavoidable connection

between loving him

and keeping his commandments.

If we love him,

we will keep his commandments.

If we don't keep his commandments,

we don't love him.

It's that simple.

It's that unavoidable.

It's a simple if-then

kind of a statement

that we all make.

If you put your hand

on the hot element,

then you will get burned.

When the first half

of the statement is true,

when you put your hand

on the hot element,

then the second half

necessarily follows.

You will get burned.

That is the type

of statement he's saying.

So,

if you love me,

if you love me,

if you're in an ongoing

relationship

of love

with me,

with the Lord Jesus,

then it necessarily

follows that you will

keep my commandments.

Now,

for some of us,

this should be a point

of encouragement,

of strengthening your faith.

Ask yourself this question.

Do I seek

to obey his commandments?

I'm not saying

do you never stumble,

but is the basic

orientation

of your heart

to obey

his commandments?

Do I

make it a priority

to read

God's word

in private

or in public?

To read it with others?

To read it myself?

To hear it taught?

And with all

of this hearing,

with the orientation

so that I can

do what it says?

When I live

my ordinary

day-to-day,

Monday-to-Friday

life,

my weekends,

am I trying

to obey

his word?

And for many of you,

the answer will be yes.

If you look in your heart,

yes,

I fall many times,

I stumble daily,

but yes,

I do,

I desire to keep

his word.

Well,

if so,

give thanks to God.

Give thanks to God

because that is a sign

of his grace

that has done a work

in your heart.

Because before

he called you

to himself,

it would have never

crossed your mind

to live like that.

It would have never

crossed your mind

as you were going

about your normal

daily business

to ask yourself,

am I obeying

the commandments

of Jesus?

It's just not

what the worldly

way of thinking is.

It would never

occur to you.

And you may,

if you were converted

late enough in life,

you may remember

a time before

you came to know

the Lord

when that was true.

I don't know,

perhaps some of you

will remember it.

Isn't it true?

Never crossed your mind.

But now it is

your desire.

It is your desire

to keep his commandments.

And that's only possible

because he's given you

a new heart.

A new heart

that loves

the Lord Jesus

and desires

to obey his word.

So be encouraged.

Now for others

it will sound foreign.

Perhaps,

perhaps you read

the Bible

from time to time.

You taught,

you were taught it

as a kid.

It's a habit

you occasionally do.

Maybe when situations

get difficult

you,

you dust it off,

pull it out of the,

the drawer.

I don't mean

to,

to be little.

But,

nevertheless,

or perhaps you

attend church.

Perhaps you come

once in a while.

Perhaps you come

every week

ever since you've

been an infant.

But,

nevertheless,

this experience

I'm describing,

this longing

to know God's word

and to put it

into practice,

to obey it

day by day,

it's just,

it's simply not part

of your experience.

I don't think that way.

It would never

cross my mind.

Well,

if this describes you,

let the words

of Jesus

sink into your ears

and into your heart.

If you love me,

keep my commandments.

And he says

the same point again

in verse 21.

He who has

my commandments

has them

and keeps them,

it is he

who loves me.

And he says

it again

in verse 23.

Jesus answered

Judas

and said to him,

if anyone

loves me,

he'll keep

my word.

Now,

in all this,

it's critical

that you make

sure you get

a hold of

the right end

of the stick,

not the wrong end.

We don't

begin

by obeying

the commandments

of God

and work

ourselves up

into a situation

of loving him.

No,

the love

comes first

and it

expresses itself

in

our

desire

to obey.

Remember

what Jesus

said,

if you put

your hand

on the stove,

no,

that was me.

He said,

if you put

your hand

on the stove,

that corresponds

to what?

If you love

me,

right?

That's the first

thing.

Then,

the result

is,

you will

get burned

or you

will obey

my commandments.

The love

comes first,

the obedience

flows out

of a heart

that loves

the Lord.

So,

what you need

to do,

if this is

alien to you

and you don't

want it to be

alien to you,

is you need

to pray to God.

You need to

cry out to him

to give you

a new heart.

A new heart

that loves

the Lord Jesus

and desires

to obey

his commandments,

to keep

his word.

Now,

all of this

is important

to see

because what

Jesus is doing

is he's laying

the foundation

for what we

said at the

beginning,

a message

of consolation

and comfort.

But the message

is for those

who love him.

You might call it

the comfortable

words.

That's what the

prayer book likes

to call things

like this,

the comfy words.

So he says,

if you love me,

keep my commandments.

And then remember,

there's those two

other things

that flow from

the if.

If you love me,

keep my commandments.

And then this,

and I will pray

the Father,

and then thirdly,

he,

that is the Father,

will give you

another helper

that he may dwell

with you forever.

Another helper.

This is good news.

Indeed.

For those,

for these disciples

who are facing

the loss of their

Lord physically,

the Lord Jesus

who had been

their helper,

their encourager,

their teacher,

the one who had

revealed the Father

to them,

the one who had

guided them,

strengthened them,

all of those things.

Now Jesus promises

them that after

he departs,

he's not going to

leave them as orphans.

He's going to give

them another helper.

Another helper.

The Holy Spirit

or the Spirit of Truth

as he's called

in verse 17.

The Spirit of Truth.

Now the reason

it was important

to think about

the loving

and the keeping

his commandments

is because he says,

this Spirit

I will send

to those who love me.

He says,

the world

cannot receive

the Holy Spirit.

just as an aside,

actually,

I jumped over,

but it's worth

drawing your attention

to,

just as an aside,

notice how

all three persons

of the Trinity

are involved

in helping

and comforting

his disciples.

Jesus,

the Son,

prays to the Father.

The Father

receives his prayer

and sends

the Holy Spirit

and the Holy Spirit

comes and dwells

within us

and among us

to be our helper,

to give us strength

to live as disciples

of the Lord

in this world.

Thanks be to God.

And now,

the connection,

Jesus goes on

to explain

between all of

that and loving him

and keeping his commandments.

He goes on

to say that

the world

cannot receive

the Holy Spirit.

Why?

He says in verse 17,

the world

cannot receive him

because it neither

sees him nor knows him.

They don't even know

that there is

a Holy Spirit,

that the Holy Spirit

exists.

But,

you know him,

for he dwells with you

and will be in you.

To the one

who knows Jesus,

the Holy Spirit

is perfectly familiar

because Jesus,

to know Jesus

is to know

the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit

and the Lord Jesus

are so closely

linked

in this passage

that he says

he dwells with you

even though

he's not yet been sent

because the Spirit

is in Jesus.

He dwells with them now

in the person

of Jesus

and then he says

I will come to you

in verse 18.

The Holy Spirit,

when the Spirit

comes to you,

it's me who's coming

to you.

The Holy Spirit

and Jesus

are so closely

associated

because in fact

they are one.

Now,

the rest of the passage

basically drives home

over and over again

this relationship,

the main points

that we've just been seeing.

The connection

between loving him

on the one hand

and keeping his commandments

on the other,

on the coming

of another helper

from the Father

to the ones

who love him

and obey his word.

Now,

sometimes Jesus

says a little bit more

and explains

what he means.

Sometimes he

repeats the idea,

he says it

in a different way,

he sheds a little bit

more light

and I urge you

to take it home

to look over it again

and see

how he's basically

going around

and around

the same thing

over and over again

to make sure

that they understand.

For example,

in verse 22,

he's just said

a bunch of things

and then Judas,

one of his disciples,

he basically says,

I don't get it.

He says to him,

how is it

that you're going

to manifest yourself

to us

and not to the world?

He hasn't got it

quite straight

in his mind.

So what does Jesus do?

He just goes around

the barn

one more time.

He says the same thing,

if anyone loves me,

he'll keep my word

and my Father

will love him

and we'll come to him

and make our home

with him

and so on.

Well,

now when we put together

then all the different

things that Jesus says

in this passage,

in this passage alone

about the Holy Spirit,

we begin to see

why it is

that the disciples

don't need to be afraid

anymore.

And these are the main points.

So I invite you,

we're not going to go

through them one by one.

I think the better effect

will be is if you do that

at home,

but just sit back

and let these

wash over you

as it were.

Jesus teaches them that.

the helper

is like him,

another helper.

He has been their helper.

He will send

another helper.

The helper's like Jesus.

He will be with them

forever.

He will be with them

forever.

He gives them life.

He actually

joins them

to God.

He makes them one

first with the Lord

Jesus himself,

one spirit

with the head

of the body.

Actually,

vitally,

spiritually linked

with the Lord

Jesus himself

and through him

with the Father.

a living,

real,

spiritual union.

He brings to them,

this is the spirit again,

the helper.

He brings to them

and makes real to them

the love

of the Father

and the love

of the Lord Jesus.

He reveals

Jesus to them.

He teaches them.

He reminds them

of all the things

that Jesus has said.

He brings to them

the peace

that Jesus gives.

Now,

it's knowing

and more than knowing,

experiencing

all of these things

plus others

that are taught

elsewhere in the scriptures

that will encourage

and comfort

and strengthen

the disciples

as they face

the prospect

of living

without the Lord

in this hostile world.

Once Jesus

is physically departed,

that's why

he can conclude

all of this teaching

about the Holy Spirit

in verse 27

by saying,

let not your heart

be troubled,

neither let it

be afraid.

Now,

I want us then

in the final

moments

to focus in

on this

command.

Verse 27

at the very end,

let not your heart

be troubled,

neither let it

be afraid.

This instruction

is a two-edged sword.

I think

what we're used

to doing

when we read that

is reading those

as words

of comfort.

They make us

feel

peaceful,

assured.

and that's so

and in light

of all that

he's doing,

that's true.

But,

in the light

of all that

he's been saying.

But on the other

hand,

there's something

that we may not

fully appreciate

about this passage,

about this verse,

particularly the way

it's put in many

of our English

translations,

is this is

an imperative.

This is a command

from the Lord.

A command.

the words,

let not your

heart be troubled,

neither let it

be afraid,

they carry the

force of a

prohibition.

Don't do it.

We might better

express the same

words as,

your heart

must not

be troubled.

It must not

be afraid.

In fact,

it's even

stronger than

this because

the word

translated

afraid

at the end

of verse 27

is the same

word that we

talked about

at the very

beginning in

Revelation 21.

Cowardly.

It's completely

lost to us

here.

Jesus says

here,

your heart

must not

be cowardly.

Your heart

must not

be cowardly.

In light of

all that I've

told you

and that you

understand,

and in light

even more of

what you're

about to

experience when

the Holy Spirit

is poured out

on you on

the day of

Pentecost,

your heart

must not

be cowardly.

To whom

much has

been given,

much will

be required.

Now,

I don't want,

the last thing

I want is for

all of you

to go away

afraid,

because that

would be the

opposite effect

of what he's

saying.

We don't

want you

thinking if

you suffer

fear,

you're going

to be cast

into the

lake of

fire.

In Revelation

Revelation 21:8

21,

verse 8,

what saves

us from

ultimate

judgment is

not our

being brave,

but the

Lord Jesus.

But,

the point

of this

connection that

is being

drawn with

the lake

of fire is

that that

kind of

cowardice,

that kind

of fear,

is not a

characteristic

of the

people of

God.

It's not a

characteristic of

those who

love the

Lord Jesus

and are

his

disciples.

So,

what do

you do

then,

if you're

like me,

and you're

just naturally

inclined to

fearfulness,

or the rest

of you,

when sometimes

the,

well,

I won't even

speculate,

all kinds of

things that

cause you to

be afraid,

and you fear

that fear,

you feel that

fear welling up

within you,

then,

what do you

do?

How are we

to do?

Well,

we do

like Jesus

did when

Judas asked

him the

question.

We go

around the

barn one

more time.

We run

these things

before our

mind that

Jesus has

laid before

us,

and we

allow these

things to

give us

strength.

Run before

your mind

these points

if you're a

disciple of

Jesus.

In my

heart of

hearts,

I do

desire to

obey God's

word.

Point number

one.

Point number

two.

Therefore,

because of

what the

Lord says,

I know

that I

really do

love the

Lord.

I really

am his

disciple.

Point

three.

Jesus

has asked

the

Father.

Point

four.

The

Father

has sent

the

helper

to

those

who

love

Jesus.

There

is a

logical

connection

to

these

things.

And

finally,

point

five.

The

helper

is with

me

forever.

All

those

things we

just said,

the

helper

is with

me

forever.

The

helper

joins

me in

a real

and

living

union

with

the

Lord

Jesus,

with

the

Father.

He

brings

the

peace

of

Christ

to

me.

He

strengthens

me,

et cetera,

et cetera.

So

brothers

and

sisters,

when you

feel

the

icy

grip

of

fear

on

your

heart,

you

must

realize

that

you're

not

the

slave

of

that

fear

anymore

if

you're

a

disciple

of

the

Lord

Jesus

and

if

you

love

him.

Turn

to

this

passage.

Turn

to it

this

afternoon.

Turn

to it

again

and

again

when

you

feel

afraid.

let

its

truth

sink

deep

into

your

heart.

Then

you

will

be

able

to

obey

Jesus'

commandment

and

specifically

this

commandment.

Your

heart

must

not be

troubled

and

it

must

not

be

cowardly.

Amen.

Times

faith

when

ends

here

on

side

utes

where

it

is

said

and

they

know

they

can

show

them

the

bad

stories