The All-Caring Compassionate Lord – John 14 V 15 To 21 Series

THE ALL-CARING COMPASSIONATE LORD – John 14 v 15 to 21

[A]. INTRODUCTION:

It is important today we place our passage in context. We can go right back to {{John 13 v 34 “A new commandment I give to you that you love one another, that you also love one another even as I have loved you.”}} This would have been spoken in the upper room on the eve of Calvary. Then the Lord continued with this – {{John 14 v 1 “Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in Me. John 14 v 2 In My Father’s house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you for I go to prepare a place for you.”}} That would have confused or unsettled the disciples, and the Lord continued – {{John 14 v 4 “and you know the way where I am going.” John 14 v 5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going. How do we know the way?” John 14 v 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.”}}

[B]. THE CONSEQUENCE OF CONDITION:

{{John 14 v 15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”}} This verse should be considered as a consequential outcome. For example, if I put my hand in the fire I will suffer injury. If I water my vegetables in the garden, they will grow; if I treat them like the Sahara desert they will die. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. It is a contradiction to say you love the Lord but you don’t do what He says. It is foreign to the bible. The Lord is stating here an absolute of faith. IF you love Me, you will keep my commandments. The statement was not posed as “If you love me, I hope you might try to keep My commandments.” It is a definite affirmation of consequence. “IF you love Me, you WILL keep My commandments.”

It is wrong to have a notion that you have to try to keep His commandments. It is as simple as turning on a tap and out comes water. If you love Me, then obedience is natural and pleasant. If you have to keep fighting to keep God’s commandments all the time, then please examine the line that connects you to Jesus Christ. Paul said to the Corinthians, {{2Corinthians 13 v 5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves, or do you not recognise this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you - unless indeed you fail the test?”}} If we are in the faith we love the Lord. When we love the Lord, we want to please Him. It is natural to do what He has said when we love Him. If you find a weakness in obedience, or in keeping what He has asked you to, then strengthen your love. There are many ways to do that but time allows me to mention only one – meditate in the bible, AND on the sacrifice of Christ.

[C]. THE GREATEST GIFT OF HELP AND TRUTH:

{{John 14 v 16 “and I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper that He may be with you forever - John 14 v 17 that is, the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.”}} We see here beautiful care. Jesus will ask the Father (some versions – “pray”). The word is used of closeness as a shared agreement between two parties. The Holy Spirit will be given as He was on the Day of Pentecost, and the magnificent promise is that He will be with them forever. This is in marked contrast with the Old Testament, for there, the Spirit came upon a man of God for a specific purpose, then departed until next time. Now the Holy Spirit will be with us, remaining forever.

I don’t know what bible version you have, but the Greek word “paracletos” is translated as Helper, Counsellor, Comforter, Paraclete, or Advocate, but the best rendering is Advocate. The Greek word literally means a Person who is called alongside to help. Bengel says, [[“called in to render aid; one’s defender, patron (counsellor); one who speaks in a person’s behalf, and suggests to him what he ought to say,” and Cambridge Bible for Students and Colleges says, “It commonly signifies ‘one who is summoned to the side of another’ to aid him in a court of justice, especially the ‘counsel for the defence’.”]] The Lord in effect is telling us that when He goes, He will send another of the same kind who will do what He has been doing. We have a friend who sticks closer than anyone you could name. in verse 16, the word “another” means “another of the same kind”. It is a touch of deity – God, the Son; God the Holy Spirit”.