John 14:15-21. “If you love Me, keep My commandments.16 “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—17 “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.18 “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. 19 “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.20 “At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
I can remember a time when I was speaking to a non-believer about Jesus and a question came up as to how I knew I was right or wrong. I was given in my mind some of the verses we will discuss as an answer. How did I remember these verses? I didn’t memorize them in any way, other than to read them and study their meaning. Have you ever wondered how you remembered a Bible verse that you would have otherwise not used, normally? Or how about the last time you tried to sneak something, and a little voice in side you says “this isn’t right”. Have you ever thought about this and wondered how did I know that.
The answer is simple.... Let’s let God’s Word answer the question for us......
Look again at verse 15 “If You Love Me, Keep My commandments” . let’s find that verse elsewhere in a little different text.
1 John 5:3. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
God loves for us to keep His commandments. At first I thought this very hard to do, Even Paul wrote when I want to do good I can’t seem to, It always seems I do what I am not supposed to do. I struggle with that daily. But as we will see in a minute Jesus had a plan to help us not forget. But to remember. And because of this plan, God’s commandments are not burdensome, or hard to keep. But because of God’s overall plan we are not condemned if we fail once in a while. If we repent and ask forgiveness in Jesus name it will be granted.
1 John 2:5. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
Now that sheds a little more light on John 14:15, Now by obeying His commandments we see the love of God shine through us. This obedience also helps us to learn to love more this love comes From God. This says to me if we keep his word, God’s love is perfected in us, But to keep his word shouldn’t we know what His Word says? So we have to know it , to show it. The more we know the more we are in him, because the more we know the more we will do what it says....See verses 20 and 21
John 14:20 “At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
When I was a teenager I remember being somewhat ruthless and when I went into the service I just knew I wouldn’t it wouldn’t bother me to shoot another person if that is what my country called on me to do. When I got older and then learned that God had no grandchildren and for me to get to heaven required me to Accept, Believe, and Confess (ABC), I changed my whole line of thinking.
[When I finish this story you tell me if I had anything to do with the change.]:
I was saved when I was 23 years old. I was in the home of my wife’s parents and we had been watching Billy Graham on TV. I watched for three nights before I finally felt the tug at my heart. I went to my knees right there in that living room as mom and dad prayed over me and with me. I was then changed to a different person, and from that day Jesus has been teaching me lessons, some very hard and some very easy. I didn’t know about reading God’s Word, and I didn’t most of the time. I handed my sole over to Jesus but not my entire life. Oh yes, I quit drinking, and smoking, and attended a little Baptist church in Conklin NY. But I never got involved in the church, I thought it was a waste of time. The seed had been planted but I would not allow it to be nurtured and cultivated. When trouble came I went back to what I knew. I let the bottle become my spiritual leader. I learned how to deceive even myself. I came back to Jesus after I had committed a crime and was forced to sober up, and sent to rehab. It was at that point I started reading God’s Word during all of my free time, I spent many hours on my knees asking God to forgive me and to not let me go to Jail. All in vain, because I went to jail and was the reason that a few men got saved. [But that is another sermon]
I said all of that to say this; As I drew nearer to God, His love would pour from my soul. I found myself with a lot of compassion for others. As I drew nearer to God The Spirit showed me how to love and gave me a heart that would not allow me to be anything but a loving caring person. I still cry with tears of joy when the Spirit moves in a service. I find my self finding reasons for why people act the way they do sometimes. I have a compassion that I have never in my life experienced, How did this Happen? Let’s look at verse 16 Jesus says here that he will send us another helper, Jesus was preparing the disciples for His departure. But a Helper was to come, let’s find out some more about this helper...
John 14:26. “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
Now there is the answer to my opening question. The Holy Spirit is the helper. He will bring to remembrance all things I said to you. What did Jesus talk about the most? God’s word, so the Holy Spirit will help us to remember God’s word and the things Jesus Himself told us to do. The Spirit will also teach us. Did you ever sit down and read a hard to understand passage in the Bible and after you think about it for a few minutes the meaning came to you. then you wondered where that came from, that is the Holy Spirit teaching you.
He also lets you know when you have done something wrong......
John 16:8. “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment
The “He” here is the Holy Spirit.
If you do not love Jesus or the Father, you do not love the Holy Spirit. If you are of the world you find it hard to connect to the Holy Spirit. The world does not like the Holy Spirit because it convicts them of there wrongs and the world does not want to hear how wrong it is, The things that go on in this world today can only prove that there is a devil and he is having his way with the minds of the world. That is some compelling evidence of our need of the Holy Spirit. We as the children of God need to stand against Satan and stand on the promises of Jesus Christ our King. We in and of ourselves can not stand up to Satan but with the Spirit in us we can and win. When we go to that altar or to our knees and ask Jesus to come into our hearts He sends the Holy Spirit to stay with us forever. And when we put on the whole armor of God as Paul mentions in Ephesians Chapter 6 We can stand against the devil, and anything he throws at us. Look at.......
1 John 4:4-6. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5.They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. 6. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
As children of God we are heirs to the most powerful throne in creation. Nothing in this world can stand against God and live. There will come a time where this will be realized by even the devil and his angels. Because the Psalms tell us “every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord.” When you accept Christ and begin to follow Him by learning more about Him. By loading up your memory cells with the Word of God. the Spirit has something in you to use to fight off the enemies of God. This gives the Spirit within you the ammunition to win those lost family members, to convince those who you talk to that Jesus is the way. So if you don’t read your Bible other than listening to it on Sunday, your development will be slow. When the fight is brought to your door you will give in real easy cause you are not stockpiling ammunition. The word of God is the sword that defeats evil. You have one, and if you don’t study it you are going into battle leaving your sword in it’s sheathe.
