John 14:13-24, theme verse John 14:16
The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.
In this nineth Sunday after the Pentecost, I pray that His grace of the application of all the benefits which Jesus earned for our salvation and also the glorious ministry of the proclamation of His kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit may be full in our life. From last week, as we have been looking at the details of His last exhortations in the farewell discourses of the Book of Glory, this week, we would like to learn few lessons by looking at the Holy Spirit together.
1) The Gospel of John as the last book of Gospels was written by the Apostle John, around AD 90-100 for the Johannese communities who were faced up with the attack of the heresy on Jesus’ divinity and humanity, while experiencing also the growing persecution from the Roman Empire and Jewish communities, in order that they might believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God and also that by believing, they might have abundant life in His name even in the midst of persecution as written in John 20:31.
2) And John wrote his Gospel in his own unique way, I mean, John structured his Gospel, in the way that between prologue and epilogue, he put the book of signs in which he put seven signs for Jesus as the Messiah and the book of glory in which Jesus’ suffering and death and resurrection.
3) Last week, we looked at the content and meaning of feet-washing through which we learned how to love one another looks like in our daily life.
4) And after that, Jesus exhorted three things to His disciples that firstly Jesus exhorted them to have a faith in Him, saying “Believe in God and believe also in me.” This was because not only the faith results in the eternal life as 2 Thessalonians 2:13 says, but also this faith makes them overcome the world as 1 John 5:4 says, since “the righteous shall live by faith" as Rom 1:17 says. And secondly Jesus exhorted them to pray for asking their needs, saying, “whatever you ask in my name, this I will do.” This was because the prayer which we should not cease as 1 Th 5:16 says, is the path through which we will experience the power of God so that if we work without praying, we just work in our own strength, but after we pray and work, we work in the power of God. And then thirdly, Jesus exhorted them to take heart even in midst of tribulation in the world, because He already overcame the world.
5) Through Today’s text, we would like to learn few things. Firstly, we would like to see how His disciples could live with the life of faith and prayer taking heart as Jesus exhorted after giving new commandment to love one another. Our Lord prepared three amazing things for them. I mean, Firstly He prepared to send the Holy Spirit, another Comforter to them as He said He would talk to the Father to send the Holy Spirit to them to dwell in them forever. In Genesis chapter 6, when Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil which God prohibited to eat, all the world was full of the evil and sins so that God had to decide to swipe out the world by the flood and also God said, “My Spirit will no longer be with human forever.” However, now when Jesus accomplished His redemptive work on the cross, based on the eternal redemptive covenant made with the Father and the Holy Spirit before the creation of the world, He sent the Holy Spirit as He had promised. So, accordingly, the Holy Spirit dwells forever in His elect who believe in Jesus, reminding them of the words of Jesus and teaching them so that believers can live in God’s pleasing will, that is written in God’s law. This is what the prophet Jeremiah who was active in the 7th century BC, prophesied in Jeremiah 31 that God would make a new covenant with the house of Israel and Judah to put God’s law within them and write it on their hearts to be their God as they would become His people. And also in the 6th century BC, the prophet Ezekiel prophesied in Ezekiel 36:27 that God would put His Spirit within them to make them keep God’s statutes and regulations to be His people as He would be their God. Additionally, Jesus promised also that He Himself would not leave his disciples as orphans but would come to them. And then thirdly even more surprisingly, for those who love God and live according to God’s will, even God the Father had promised to go into them and make His home with them. So, now his disciples have become amazing beings with whom three Persons of God are with them together so that they could live in God’s pleasing will with the help of God to be His people as God becomes their God. And the Holy Spirit who became to dwell in His people according starts to work in them that first the Holy Spirit will sanctify His people as 2 Th 2:13 says, by applying all the benefits which Jesus earned for His chosen people through His active and passive obedience. And also as Acts 9:31 says, the Holy Spirit comforts His people when they are in trouble. And as 1 Cor 12:7 says, the Holy Spirit gives His gifts abundantly to His church so that He not only edifies and builds the church, but also makes the church do their mission. And also according to today’s text of John 14:26, the Holy Spirit not only reminds His people the timely words of Jesus and teaches them their meaning, but also works in His chosen people to desire and live in God’s pleasing will, as Philippians 2:13 says. In addition, as John 16:8 says, the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of truth, will convict the world concerning sin, because they did not believe in Jesus, concerning righteousness, because Jesus went to the Father since He was innocent, and concerning the judgement, because the ruler of this world was judged, since they crucified innocent Jesus. So, we have to walk in the Spirit when the indwelling Holy Spirit reminds us His words and teaches us their meaning and follow Him, while denying ourselves and taking up our own cross, when the Lord, who is with us, knocks on the door of our hearts, are we accepting Him as the master of our hearts, and obey to God when God works in us and cultivates in us the desire to follow and act in His pleasing will. Therefore I pray that by walking in the leading of the Holy Spirit, we may gain true life by walking in the path of truth, reach the Father of glory, enjoy the joy of eternal life with God and even do greater things than the Lord, to the glory of God.
Key Questions as Small Group Activity
Q1 According to today’s text, we can know that Jesus promised amazing things that Triune God will be within us and make us do greater things than the Lord, while living in God’s pleasing will for the glory of God. So after reviewing how we experience Their presence in our life, I hope you could share your experience and thought with your team members together.
Q2 And also we became to know that even though Triune God is with us, if we do not obey to His will, then we could not bear the fruits. So after reviewing whether we are obeying or if not, why we could not, I hope we could share our thoughts with each other to learn from each other.
Love you. Thank you. God bless you.
Prayer Note
Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!
Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or even during the week )
Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!
Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),
please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized ).
I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon )
Please help me to live in that ( learned way of life )
I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.
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