Sermon nuggets Thurs Sept 18
Theme: Our Special Counselor
Verses Selected verses - John 14:16-31
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever--
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.
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
28 "You heard me say, 'I am going away and I am coming back to you.' If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe.
30 I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me,31 but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me. "Come now; let us leave. (NIV)
The Part Jesus’ Plays
We have been speaking much of the work of Jesus. Our relationship to God depends on what we do with Jesus Christ. Jesus is the gift of the Father to the world. He came to speak the words of His Father and carry out the work for our salvation.
v.16 Jesus also carries out the work of intercession. He is praying to the Heavenly Father. He is asking the Father to give to us the Holy Spirit. As we saw also earlier in verse 13,14 The Spirit takes the prayers to Jesus who in turn intercedes for us before the Father. Prayer itself is the work of the Trinity.
v.18-19 Jesus promises never to leave us. He wants the disciples to know this, and us too, that He is coming again. He is not forgetting us. There is the great promise of the second coming of Jesus. He is returning to the earth for the prime purpose of getting us so that we will be with Him physically, not just spiritually. He it is who sets us right before his Father in holiness, and in the power of His name. We have the hope of seeing Jesus, He is returning.
27-28, Jesus is the giver of peace. It is a peace far better than the world has to offer. It is the opposite of fear and trouble. The presence and peace of Jesus is something He desires to give to us. Will we receive it? The Bible says, "having made peace through the blood of his cross,: our reconciliation with the Father is already accomplished. Faith has only to accept it and rest in it as a part of the Redeemer's finished work. Jesus also reminds us that He is returning to His Father and it is for our benefit, for the Holy Spirit will then do His work within us in a greater way that we have had contact with the divine before. But Jesus is coming again. I would not like to live in any other age than the one we're in. The way in which God worked with the people under the law would have been a burden. I am not sure I would have understood and accepted Christ in the first Century. But with the coming of the Holy Spirit where God dwells within us and the centuries of the witness of the church is absolutely fantastic.
Jesus last part is to do battle with the prince of this world in death on the cross. Satan has no hold on Jesus, but the world must know how much Jesus is honoring the Father in obedience. and if this is the command of the Father to the Son then He does what He is called to do and it is to His glory and our benefit and salvation.
Is there any wonder He is the giver of peace? Peace because of salvation, because of His presence, because of His victory.
Pastor Dale
