INTRODUCTION
• THE BIBLE VIDEO CLIP
• SLIDE #1
• As we have been looking at the importance that Jesus placed on the Word of God over the past few weeks, we will continue on that journey together today as we see the importance that Jesus placed on using the Word to equip people.
• As we strive to live for Jesus and as we endeavor to reach a lost world for Jesus, we have to have an objective foundation for those endeavors.
• Living for Jesus based merely on subjective emotions will not get us far because there will be days in which you do not FEEL like living for Jesus or even doing the right thing.
• As far as reaching others, employing only a subjective emotional appeal will not get us far either.
• To be effective, we need the emotional side; however, we also need the objective truth of the Word of God to guide us, as well as being able to offer answers to the questions that folks will have concerning, God, the world, salvation, and living life.
• SLIDE #2
• Hebrews 4:12 (CSB) For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints, and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
• This passage is one of many which speaks of the power of the Word of God.
• Jesus understood the power of the Word, and He wanted to make sure that generation after generation would be equipped by the Word.
• The context of the passage in John 14, Jesus has told the disciples a significant number of things. He is preparing them for His departure, so He is trying to encourage them as well as to let them know they will not be alone when He is gone.
• SO today we are beginning our journey together in John 14, we will be in verses 23-26.
• Let’s begin with verse 23
• SLIDE #3
• John 14:23 (CSB) Jesus answered, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
• SLIDE #4
SERMON
It is important that we are equipped with the Word because…
I. Keeping the Word is tied to our love for Jesus.
• In verse 22, Judas (not that Judas) or Thaddaeus, from the context, he asked Jesus basically how He was going to reveal Himself to the world if He was gone.
• Jesus responds with the verses we are examining.
• In explaining how they, nor the other believers would not be left alone, Jesus describes HOW God the Father, and Jesus (and by implication) the Holy Spirit would reside within those who follow this.
• “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
• Jesus begins His answer with the word IF. IF shows us that for God to make a home within us, there is a condition.
• What is that condition?
• The condition is KEEPING MY (JESUS’) WORD.
• The word keep means much more that, I am going to carry my Bible around.
• It means much more than, oh, I know some stuff written in it.
• It even means more than, I have a Ph.D. in Bible knowledge.
• It means more than even memorizing the entire Bible word for word.
• The word KEEP means to watch over, guard, preserve, hold, observe.
• The sense of the word in this context is to CONFORM ONE’S ACTIONS OR PRACTICE TO…
• This issue of keeping His WORD has profound ramifications.
• I do want to clarify something, not one of us will perfectly keep His word, this is why we need GRACE, to bridge the gap between where we are and perfection.
• With that said, we should be folks who habitually KEEP His Word.
• Keeping His Word means that I will conform my actions, practice, my very life to those Words.
• When I see my life crosswise of His Word, I will ask God to help me make the correction, I will not be willfully, habitually disobedient to His Word.
• If I were arrested and put on trial accused of being a Christian, I would be found guilty as guilty can be.
• Keeping His Word is the acid test for whether we really love Jesus or if we love self more!
• When MY will and MY desires overrule me keeping God’s Word, that says a great deal about who I really love.
• It is like the person who tells their spouse they love them, yet cheat on them at every opportunity.
• They may “LOVE” their spouse, but they “love” them in their own way, and not in the way they should.
• If I love my children, I will show them not just offer empty words.
• When it comes to loving Jesus, He is not looking for empty words, He wants us to keep His word.
• And there is a little more to it than just being obedient. He wants us to have a heart for keeping His Word.
• SLIDE #5
• 1 John 5:3 (CSB) For this is what love for God is: to keep his commands. And his commands are not a burden,
• When we do things for our spouse, don't you think the heart behind the action is as important as the action?
• Here are some stupid flowers for your birthday and a junky present. GUYS HOW WELL WOULD THAT GO OVER? ?
• THE COMMANDMENTS not being a burden does not mean they are not hard, but instead, we joyfully carry them out.
• Jesus uses the word for love for which the short definition is doing what is spiritually best for someone.
• This type of love is characterized by a willing forfeiture of rights or privileges in another person’s behalf.
• Jesus says when we love Him in this manner He and the Father will make their home with us.
• To MAKE means to cause to be or to become THEIR HOME!
• Look at verse 24 with me.
• SLIDE #6
• John 14:24 (CSB) The one who doesn’t love me will not keep my words. The word that you hear is not mine but is from the Father who sent me.
• SLIDE #7
It is important that we are equipped with the Word because…
II. Not keeping the Word reflects a lack of love for Jesus.
• Now Jesus hits the unfortunate other side of the coin.
• Jesus says the one who doesn’t love Him will not keep His words.
• An unwillingness to follow what the Lord calls us to do springs from a heart lacking love for Jesus.
• This lack of love for Jesus extends to a lack of love for the Father.
• Jesus reminds us that the Word He speaks is from the Father.
• So, if I will not keep the words of Jesus, then I do not love the Father either.
• This does not demand sinless perfection, it goes back to what we habitually do. If I habitually refuse to keep His Word, I do so because I love me, and my will and desires more than I love Jesus.
• We tend to spiritualize our sin in various ways.
• For instance, no one understands what I am going through, so I do not have to be obedient to what Jesus says. God will make an exception for me.
• Are you one to read the fine print of contracts? Another way we spiritualize is we look for loopholes in the letter of the law.
• Well God does not SPECIFICALLY tell me I cannot do something, so it must be ok even if it looks wrong to you.
• We try to make our situation so unique that we can skirt what God has explicitly told us not to do so, we can justify doing it because we want to do it.
• Obedience comes from love and trust. Thus, a person who does not love Jesus will not obey him. A sobering way of stating Jesus’ point is to say, “The quality of our obedience is a direct reflection of our love for Jesus.” (Life Application Commentary, John)
• When we lack love and trust, we will do what we want to do.
• Remember when you were a teen. Your parents said you could not go to the party. You got mad, and you figured out a way to go, why?
• For one, you did not trust that your parents were looking out for your best interests, you may have thought they just did not want you to have fun.
• The other reason is that you loved yourself more than your parents, so you just did what you wanted to do.
• This is not about legalism or keeping the rules because you will get punished in some way if you do not, it is about who you love.
• It is about loving and TRUSTING Jesus enough that He will provide for you and that He will always have your back.
• SLIDE #8
• John 14:25–26 (CSB) — 25 “I have spoken these things to you while I remain with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.
• SLIDE #9
It is so important that we are equipped with the Word that…
III. The Holy Spirit was tasked with equipping the Apostles with the Word.
• Jesus wanted to Apostles to know that their job of imparting His Word was so crucial that when He was going to be gone, the Holy Spirit would be given to them to teach them all things and to remind them of everything that Jesus taught them during His three-year ministry with them.
• Later, this would apply to Paul also as he went to Arabia for three years after his conversion. (Galatians 1:17-18)
• Before the resurrection of Jesus, the Apostles did not fully grasp all that Jesus taught them.
• After the resurrection and with the extraordinary outpouring of the Holy Spirit they received at Pentecost, that changed!
• This promise, to be taught all things and to be reminded of all Jesus taught them was specific to the Apostles; however, for us, the Spirit will also help us to understand the already recorded Word, the completed revelation of the Bible.
• This is what gives power to passages such as 2 Timothy 3:16-17
• SLIDE #10
• 2 Timothy 3:16–17 (CSB) — 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
• God inspired the writers of the Bible to write the books of the Bible.
• How else can one explain that the Bible was written over a 1500-year span in different locations, at different times, in different moods, on three continents, in three languages, with a variety of literary styles?
• The Bible covers hundreds of controversial subjects, yet with all that, diversity, the Bible is united in story, message, and unity.
CONCLUSION
• Keeping God’s Word, making it the central part of our life is so important that God went to great lengths to ensure that we will have His Word until Jesus returns one day!
• The level of your love for Jesus is determined by your level of keeping His Word!
