Pastor Russ
March 31, 2021
To the beloved friends and saints of Grace Baptist Church,
May the glory of the resurrected Christ fill your heart today!
It is Holy Week and we are preparing for an Easter Celebration. I hope you can attend as this really is the high point in the Church Calendar. The Bible says that without the resurrection we are still in our sins and our faith is futile. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. (See 1 Corinthians 15:17-19.)
We offer two Easter services to choose from: at our 9:45 Covid-19 Careful service we will celebrate the Resurrection with the Word and Prayer followed by a 10:30 breakfast. Participants may stay for breakfast or take it to go depending on their comfort level.
Easter Breakfast at 10:30 will then preface our 11:00 Worship Service which will include the ministry of the Word, Prayer, and Worship Songs. We are launching a new Sermon Series called “Love Reigns” for the month of April. This series will focus on how we as a congregation can live in the power of the Gospel. We are not serving a dead teacher—rather we are serving a Living Christ who has not forsaken us. Let us not forget that He is risen and lives in us and among us.
Prior to Jesus’ trial and crucifixion, He shared a meal with His disciples. This meal has come to be known as the “Last Supper.” Literally because it was Jesus last supper before His death and burial. The things that Jesus taught at that supper are found in John 13-17—a lot of very pertinent things for every disciple. Why? Because Jesus needed to prepare them for His physical absence and prepare them to begin walking in the Holy Spirit. It was a difficult transition for them as they had been with Him for 3 years or more. It is difficult for us as we too need to learn how to walk in the Spirit on a more consistent basis as we journey with Christ in this world. Listen to Jesus’ teaching that night taken from John 14:15-21…
“15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
Jesus’ puts it right out there in verse 15. It is simple, terse, and to the point. “If you love me, keep my commands.” Is there any doubt here that the disciples loved Jesus? It seems like a big “IF”? If we love Him? Of course, they did, and of course we do as well. How could they not? They had seen His miracles, heard His messages, and watched His incomparable life. How can you not love a man like that? But I think what Christ is pointing out to His disciples is that this kind of love has some action to it. We are to keep His commands. This is how we know we are loving Jesus… we keep His commands. Anything else is simply sentimentality or hot air. It would be easy, I think, that when the disciples saw Jesus die, that they would go back to doing whatever they were doing before He called them. What is the use now? Simply, He is saying to us that our love for Jesus must get us through the difficult times when we don’t experience His presence and compel us to keep doing the things that Jesus asked us to do. Earlier He gave the disciples a new command—to love one another as He had loved them (see John 13:34-35). It would be this kind of love that He would provide them with after He was gone—so that they could love Him and love one another. But how could they get this love?
Verse 16 contains that answer—Jesus would ask the Father and the Father will give them another advocate to help them and be with them forever. While Jesus walked with the disciples, He Himself was their Advocate. He prayed for them, taught them, corrected them, loved them, and lived with them. Now, Jesus says that another advocate—meaning “another of the same kind” would be with them. This new Advocate would pray for them, teach them, correct them, love them, and live with them forever—just as Jesus had been doing. The Greek word “parakletos” is rendered as Advocate (NIV, NLT, and NRSV), Helper (ESV, NKJV), and Comforter (KJV) in these different translations. But the idea is the same, this new Advocate would now be with them instead of Jesus physically, and He would be with them forever—through all of life. So, what kind of person is this Advocate to be?
In verse 17, Jesus calls Him the Spirit of Truth. He is called the Spirit of Truth because He reveals the truth about God. Jesus just claimed in verse 6 that He was the Truth… and now this Spirit of Truth was to be in the disciples after He left. It is the Spirit of God Himself that is to reside in the disciples. This would take place on Pentecost (see Acts 2) and fill the believers with new life from on high. The Spirit of Truth would reveal the truth to the disciples about themselves, God, and His Word. Now, the Holy Spirit had been active among people from the beginning of time, but after Pentecost the Spirit would live in all believers. Those who are born of the Spirit and are walking in the Spirit understand the Spirit’s power. The Spirit provides a whole new outlook on life.
So why can’t everybody receive the Holy Spirit? Jesus says it’s because “The world cannot accept Him.” The world won’t have Him, they don’t want Him. Why? “Because it neither sees Him nor knows Him.” This means that the world is unable because of their blindness and darkness. They can physically see the Spirit, and if you can’t see something then it must not be real. You can’t know something that doesn’t exist. That is what living is the flesh does to mankind. It prevents us from experiencing the spiritual.
But for the Christian, this is not true. Jesus goes on to say that “You know Him (the Spirit), because He lives with you and will be in you. You see, it is possible to know the truth about the spiritual realm when a person is born of the Spirit. Only then can people come to know the truth of such things. The Spirit makes the things of Christ a reality, providing conviction and endurance to keep the commands of Christ. Keep loving Me, Jesus says; and keep doing the things that I commanded you to do. You can do this! In fact, you will do even greater things than I have done because I am going to the Father. (See John 14:13) So when I leave, Jesus says, “Don’t abandon me like you may want to do in your flesh.”
Why should they NOT abandon Him? Because in verse 18 Jesus tells them (and us) that “He will not leave them as orphans; He will come to them (and us).” You see, Jesus is showing His fatherly care for His disciples. He wants them to become like Him, and represent Him in this world. His leaving is terribly hard. Indeed, any child who has lost a parent knows how difficult that is. You feel like you lost your bearings in life, your coach, your friend, your guide, your security, your identity—and so much more. Losing a loved one suddenly puts a person in shock. As a pastor and a Chaplain sitting with a person who has just lost their loved one you get a feeling like they have lost all hope. They don’t know what to do, or how they can continue in the midst of such loss.
But with Jesus there is always hope. He is the Lord of life itself. On that fateful night Jesus encouraged them (and us) saying, “Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.” For them, His leaving will not be forever. They would have to wait till Sunday morning—just 3 days. He would rise from the grave. Then what He had said earlier about the world would be true—they would not see Him anymore. Why? Because His fleshly ministry would come to an end. But the disciples would see Him. Physically after His resurrection and then even after He was taken up to heaven. How? Because the Advocate would be living in them making His presence real to them. The fact that He lives a resurrected life is the reason that they (and we) can live a resurrected life. We will be able to discern His Spirit, walk in His Spirit, and do the works of the Spirit.
Verse 20 ought to make every true disciple of Jesus sit up and take notice. Underline it in your Bible because it contains such an important reality of the Christian life. First—on that day… What day is that? The day that Jesus rose from the dead, Easter Sunday. That’s the day that something altogether new for the disciples and the world would take place. That is the day of recognition that the Son is truly in His Father. Jesus had taught that He and the Father were one in John 10:30. It was simply a teaching, but how could it be verified? You could take it on faith, simply believing Jesus. But then, when Jesus rose form the dead you had rock solid evidence to truly believe what Jesus taught! Then they would truly know beyond a shadow of a doubt.
But Jesus pointed to another reality in verse 20—the most incredible 9 words in the Bible: “You are in Me, and I am in you.” Did you catch that? In the same way that Jesus was in the Father—He would now be in us. We in turn will be in Him. What does that mean anyway? I quote author and my former pastor, Ray Stedman who writes:
“Here Jesus expresses in the simplest words the most profound truth that can ever engage the mind of man — “You in me.” This is our first experience when we come to Christ. We know we belong to another family; we realize that we now are children of God. We are no longer children of the devil, following after a false philosophy. We have been transferred out of the powers of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of his love. “You in me.”
But soon we begin to learn another great truth — that he is “in us.” We learn that we are not required to demonstrate how much we can do for God, but what he can do through us! Many Christians take a long time to reach that level. This explains those Christians who are filled with a holy zeal that gets very little done until they begin to learn that there is a new provision made: Jesus will be at work in them.”
In verse 21 Jesus turns His statement in verse 15 around—saying the same thing. “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me.” But now He also adds something saying: “The one who loves me,” will experience something wonderful from the Father. What is it? They will be loved by the Father. Not only that, but Jesus too will love them and show Himself to them. In other words, as we grow up in Christ, our experience of Him ought to go deeper and deeper. Our relationship should not be stagnant. The more we yield to Him and permit Him to teach us, the more His love will manifest itself in us. He will show Himself to us. This is what happens to friends as they journey a long time together. They will really know one another. In essence, the more we obey (loving Jesus) the more we will know of Him. We can really know Him! And that changes everything.
So, on Easter Sunday—when you hear that “He is risen,” know that there is a lot riding on that statement. The resurrection has simply changed the world forever.
Benediction:
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV2011)
Pastor Russ Hilsinger,
Grace Baptist Church of Dallas, OR