Well, you can turn with me in your Bibles to the book of John as we return back to our studies in the fourth gospel. We find ourselves in John 14. John 14, our focus this morning will be verses 29, I'm sorry, 19 to 24, but I wanna read beginning in verse 12. So John chapter 14, beginning in verse 12. Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also. And greater works than these he will do because I go to my father. And whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the father may be glorified in the son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, keep my commandments and I will pray the father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever. 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. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. a little while longer, and the world will see me no more. But you will see me, because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 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. Judas, not Iscariot, said to him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words, and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me. These things I have spoken to you while being present with you, 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. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard me say to you, I am going away and coming back to you. If you love me, you would rejoice because I said, I am going to the Father, for my Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our gracious God and Holy Father, we thank you very much for the Lord's Day, the privilege that we have to gather in the house of God with the people of God, and to sing your praises and to call upon you. As well, we thank you for the Word, the written Word of the living and true God. We know it's given by inspiration of God, that it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. And as we investigate this passage of Scripture, may you fill our hearts with the Spirit, may you cause us to rejoice in what we find written here concerning communion with our blessed God, even Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Do forgive us for all sin and all unrighteousness. Cleanse us in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And for any and all who've come here this morning that are dead in their trespasses and sins, we pray that this would be the day of salvation. that your spirit would bring that conviction for sin and set forth Christ and all of his offices to save as a prophet, as a priest, as a king, as the one in whom there is forgiveness and a righteousness that avails with you. Thank you for your word. Thank you for the revelation of your gospel. And thank you that you have made us partakers of it by your grace and for your glory. Bless this time now, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, when we consider the Christian religion and compare it with other religions, we notice some significant differences in Christianity. There are many to be sure, but I just want to highlight two. In the first place, Christianity is a redemptive religion. In other words, the message of Christianity isn't just do better or try harder and then you'll get to go to heaven. No, man cannot do better. Man does not try harder. Man is desperately sinful. He is dead in his trespasses and sins. If heaven is to be achieved, it is by the grace of God alone. So it is a redemptive religion. God saves us by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Another significant difference between Christianity and the world religions is the true and living God. There is but one only, the true and living God. But this true and living God exists eternally in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Our confession of faith captures it in the language of, in this divine and infinite being, there are three subsistences, or three persons, the Father, the Word, or Son, and the Holy Spirit, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided. So it's not that they're sharing divinity, it's not that the Father is 33 and a third percent, and the Son is 33 and a third percent, and the Spirit is 33 and a third percent. Each has the entirety of the divine essence. So one true and living God who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Now, that in many ways is a very heady subject or heady topic when it comes to the investigation of Christianity. But it's the thing that Jesus emphasizes here in the Upper Room Discourse. What he is doing is he's preparing his 12 disciples to go into the world to evangelize sinners, to call them to faith and repentance, to plant churches, and to see the spread of the Christian religion throughout the earth. And instead of just giving some self-help techniques or some do-goodery for them to implement, he gives them this further understanding of who the triune God is, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And he does that precisely in our particular section that we're looking at this morning. So notice in chapter 14, at verses 19 to 24, We've already seen the announcement that Jesus is going to depart from them. He mentions that in chapter 13. In chapter 14, beginning in verse one, he calls upon the disciples not to let their hearts be troubled. He says that he's going to prepare a place for them. He's going to prepare a mansion or a house or an abode for them in heaven. He promises that he will come back in his second coming, in his glory. to bring them where he is. And then he goes on again to disclose something about his relation to the father. Notice in 14.7, if you had known me, you would have known my father also. And from now on, you know him and have seen him. "'Philip said to him, "'Lord, show us the Father, "'and it is sufficient for us.' "'Jesus said to him, "'Have I been with you so long, "'and yet you have not seen me, Philip? "'He who has seen me has seen the Father. "'So how do you say, show us the Father? "'Do you not believe that I am in the Father, "'and the Father in me? "'The words that I speak to you, "'I do not speak on my own authority, "'but the Father who dwells in me does the work.'" So Jesus consistently is revealing to these men his relation to the Father. In verse 12, he underscores the fact that they are saved by grace through faith. Notice in verse 12, most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me, that means for salvation, for justification, the one who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also. And greater works than these he will do because I go to my father. It's not a competition between the disciples and the Lord Jesus, but it is the extension of the Lord Jesus' power from the right hand of the Father through the disciples in the making of disciples and in the planting of churches. They're gonna do greater works. They're gonna take this Christian religion and they're gonna turn the world upside down. And so Jesus is equipping them for that mission. And again, the way that he does it is by introducing them to the reality that he is in the Father, the Father is in him, There is a Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, and that triune God is their blessing and their benefit and their comfort. So as we approach verses 19 to 24, I want to look first at the believer's communion with Christ in verses 19 to 21, and then secondly, the triune God's communion with the believer in verses 22 to 24. It's essentially the same thing. It's essentially the same emphasis. But what Jesus does is that he further explains the significance behind the believer's communion with Him. In other words, when you commune with Jesus, you commune with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the one true and living God. So let's look first at verses 19 to 21, and under this head we have two particulars. First, the blessing of eternal life, verses 19 and 20, and then secondly, the blessing of communion with Christ in verse 21. Let's give that announcement, because if we don't make it all the way through, you've got a completed sermon. But listen to what Jesus says here specifically in verse 19. Again, upper room discourse. He's with his disciples. He's preparing them for mission. He's preparing them for ministry. He's preparing them for the greater works that he's already specified they're going to engage in. So, verse 19, he says, a little while longer, and the world will see me no more. But you will see me, because I live, you will live also. Now, there's an obvious connection between verse 19 and verse 17. After saying that he would provide or ask the Father to give them a helper, And the father will give you another helper according to verse 16, that he may abide with you forever, the spirit of truth. Then notice what he says, 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. So in verse 19, a little while longer and the world will see me no more. The world is dead to the spiritual realities about our Lord Jesus Christ. The world had seen Jesus. And in this context, I think he's using world as unbelievers, that system of opposition to our great God. Jesus came to his own and his own received him not, but rather they delivered him up to crucifixion on a Roman cross. So he says that in a little while, the world is not going to see me anymore. Again, according to his humanity, they physically laid eyes on him, but they had no concept whatsoever of the spiritual nature of his work. They had no understanding of his life, no understanding of his death, no understanding of his resurrection. The little while longer refers to his death and resurrection that was imminent at the time that he's speaking to them in the upper room discourse. But the contrast is blessed. A little while longer and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Again, not just with the physical eye, would be one thing just to set eyes upon a man that lived in Israel in the first century. When he says, you will see me, I think he means you will understand the significance behind the life that I've lived before you, a life of absolute positive righteousness that you could never do, so that I could pass this on to you by way of imputation, but as well the significance of his death. When the unbelieving Jew saw the Lord Jesus on that cross die, it was something that was very common. Men die, especially when they're crucified. They didn't understand the significance behind the death. They didn't understand what John the Baptist says when he first lays eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ and says, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Well, if we go back to the Old Testament and we ask the question, what atone for the sins of the nation of Israel? It was blood. It was bulls. It was goats. It was doves. It was a whole manner of things. Because without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. So when Christ goes to that cross, the world simply looks at it and mocks it. The world looks at it and simply says, well, there's another man who's been put to death by the Romans. But when the believer sees it, what do we see? We see life eternal. We see the blessedness of forgiveness. We see that precious fountain open for sin and uncleanness. We understand that we have transgressed God's law. We understand that we have lacked conformity to God's law. God tells us to worship Him alone. What do we do? We seek out a whole multitude of gods. God tells us not to blaspheme His name. What do we do? We use His name as if it's filler or as a curse word. God tells us to sanctify his day. What do we do then? Well, anything but sanctify his day. God tells us to be subordinate to authority in our lives. What do we do with that? Well, we don't want to be subordinate to that authority. We're going to do whatever it is we want. God tells us not to murder. Well, we may not physically stop somebody's heart from beating, but we certainly murder in our hearts. God tells us not to commit adultery. And though we perhaps have not engaged in the actual act, Jesus says if you look upon a woman and you lust after her in your heart, you have broken the law. God tells us not to steal. God tells us not to lie. God tells us not to covet. We do all those things. How are we gonna get cleansed? What is the simple remedy for man in sin? It's the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, which cleanses us from all sin. The prophet Zechariah prophesied of a day in Jerusalem where there'd be a fountain open for sin and uncleanness. That wasn't a literal fountain in the way that there's a fountain over there at that park by the library, but rather it is metaphorical. It is speaking in a blessed reality with Old Testament background. That fountain is filled with the blood of Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunge beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains. So when the world looks at the cross, they just think, well, another man who fell prey to Roman cruelty, or they mock and they say, well, he had it coming to him for being a revolutionary in first century Israel, serves him right. But then as well, his resurrection from the dead. What does the world do with that? They typically deny it. They typically argue against it. They typically say things, well, it's just not the case that men raised from the dead. But when the believer sees that, which the believer does by God's grace, what do we see in that empty tomb? We see it is finished. We see redemption accomplished. We see it applied by the power of the Holy Spirit. We see what the Apostle Paul says in Romans 4.25 when he summarizes the gospel narrative. He says who, Christ, was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification. In other words, the world can't see what's going to happen relative to Jesus' death and resurrection, but you will see me. Again, not just with the physical eye, but with the eye of faith and the significance behind that life, that death, and that resurrection. such that when the Holy Spirit does work in our heart and convict us of our having broken His law and gives us the graces of faith and repentance, we look now at His life as that life of obedience, the righteousness of which is imputed to us and received by faith alone. What do we do with that? We rejoice, brethren. When we see that blood that is drawn from Emmanuel's veins, what do we do with that? We praise God, because without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. And God sent His only begotten Son, who assumed our humanity and lived for us and who died for us. We deserve to be on that cross. We preach substitutionary atonement. That means that Christ stood in our place and satisfied divine wrath through His own sufferings and death. That is cause for rejoicing for the people of God. And when we see that empty tomb, we rejoice in the triumph and in the victory and in the subsequent exaltation of the Son of God to the right hand of the Father, where He ever lives to make intercession for the likes of us, where He ever serves as an advocate with the Father when we sin, and He's always there for sinners who come to Him in faith. This blessed reality encourages us, so we will see the significance behind this. The seal of Alexandria says, but he says they will be visible to the saints since the Holy Spirit implants a certain divine and spiritual sparkle in the eyes of their heart and sows in them all good knowledge. I love that language that old brother uses. Implants a certain divine and spiritual sparkle in the eyes of their heart and sows in them all good knowledge. We didn't arrive on this because of our wisdom. We didn't arrive at this place because of our betterness than others. We've arrived here by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ. That's why we see. That's why we view. That's why we get that sparkle It's because of the goodness of our blessed God in the salvation of our needy souls. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5-7, For we walk by faith, not by sight. If you walked by sight in that first century and you saw the Son of Man die, again, you'd have thought, another victim of Roman cruelty, another victim of being his own revolutionary. But as you walk by faith, you see the significance behind it. And then notice in verse 20, or at the end of verse 19, look at what he says, because I live, you will live also. Because I live, you will live also. Again, I think the live there points to his resurrection. He's already announced that it's imminent that he's going to die. He makes that known in chapter 13 on the way to Jerusalem and Matthew 16, 17, and 20, he tells the disciples those several times that he must go to Jerusalem. He must be tried at the hands of godless men. He must be crucified. He must be raised again. So the hour had come. The hour looms large in John's gospel. What is that hour? It's the hour of his death and resurrection. And so, as a result of his death and resurrection, as a result that he died but he lived again, we live in light of that reality. We don't live because we're smarter. We don't live because we're better. We don't live because we're wiser. We live because he lived. Because God the Father Most High chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. God the Father Most High sent the Son of His love into this world, sinners to save. We're the sinners that were saved by God's grace. And as a result, we live because He lived. Again, He was delivered up because of our offenses, and He was raised because of our justification. And the live here refers to eternal life. It doesn't mean they're going to live incessantly physically. It doesn't mean they're going to never die physically. In fact, turn back to John chapter 11, the gravesite of Lazarus, Jesus gives this particular emphasis. John 11, specifically at verse 23, Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. So he who believes in me, though he may die physically, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die spiritually. Once you believe the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, you'll die physically, but it's as if you've never died because you have spiritual life. And if you do die physically, which you will, I have that on good authority, you will most certainly, you will live forever spiritually. And so the Lord Jesus, as he's encouraging his disciples in John 14, 19 in the upper room, says a little while longer and the world will see me no more, but you will see me because I live, you will live also. And then he highlights the benefits of eternal life there in verse 20. Again, I think we should appreciate the tactics of our Lord here. How do you prepare a group of men to go out and do world missions? Well, they need to know about the local customs to the target audience they're going to. Yeah. They need to learn how to eat food they don't normally eat. Yeah. You don't want to gag in front of people you're trying to share the gospel with. They need to know about currency and banking and they need to know all that stuff. They need to know their triune God. They need to know Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They need to understand communion with that God. They need to understand the joy of our salvation. And that's what Jesus is conveying to these brothers. That's what Jesus is getting through to these men with. Bask in the reality that you are mine, that I am yours. And when you have me, you have Father and Spirit as well. You don't get one person of the triune God without the other two persons. You don't get just Jesus and no Father and Spirit. You get the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And that's what he's telling these brothers. Notice the knowledge of the Father and the Son. Verse 20, at that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. At that day, which day? Well, there's three days actually that convey this information that He's in the Father and the Father's in Him. The day of His resurrection, when they see Him raised from the dead, that will bring confirmation to everything He has said. It will bring confirmation and fulfillment to everything written in the Old Testament Scripture. The day of Pentecost, Acts chapter 2, 33 to 36, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was to demonstrate the fact that Jesus was at the right hand of the Father who gave the promise of the Holy Spirit so that all the house of Israel would know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. But then the day of judgment, right? It's gonna happen that, you know, some fine-tuning to our theology is going to occur on that Day of Judgment. We're gonna know of a truth everything that we've read in Scripture and everything we've seen in terms of that empty tomb, everything we've benefited from in terms of the Day of Pentecost. But on Judgment Day, when we see Him as He is, It's gonna be a new vista for us, a new level, as it were. We're gonna have arrived into the presence of our blessed God, where we will ever live with Him, without sin. See, even the best theologian right now has sin. There's always this darkening influence in our minds and hearts. But on that day of judgment, as we're ushered into the eternal state, our minds are gonna be clear. They're gonna be pure. We're not going to be reading our Bibles dozing off. We're not going to be at church when we're supposed to be listening to a sermon on the triune God, thinking about what I'm going to have when I go home for lunch. Or how am I going to deal with this business dealing on Tuesday? You may not make it to Tuesday, so give me your attention right now. I'm not speaking that authoritatively. You see, brethren, on that day of judgment, things are going to be clear. On that day of Pentecost, things were clear. I think the context, overall, in terms of balance in our context, the emphasis is on the resurrection. Again, not negating the knowledge that Pentecost brings, not negating the knowledge that the Day of Judgment brings, but the knowledge that comes on the Day of Resurrection. John's Gospel starts with the declaration of the divinity of Jesus Christ. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John's gospel ends on that same declaration. There's an epilogue in chapter 21 to be sure, but I think the gospel proper ends in chapter 20 with the words of doubting Thomas when he says, my Lord and my God. Jesus pronounces a beatitude upon all those who believe, even though they hadn't seen. And then John summarizes why he wrote, I wrote these things, so that you may know, so that you may believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and that believing in him, you may have everlasting life. So that divinity of Christ was exemplified or demonstrated with the empty tomb. John 20, 28. You can turn there. Thomas answered and said, well, just back up for just a moment. Thomas was absent. from the people of God to his detriment. There's a bit of guilt manipulation, not too passive aggressively either, but show up at church, brethren. Where is Jesus uniquely in this new covenant era? He's in the church. He walks in the midst of the lampstands according to Revelation chapter one. In public worship, Ephesians 2, 18 and 22, we come to the father through the son in the spirit. And so what happens? According to verse 24, now Thomas called the twin. One of the 12 was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, we have seen the Lord. If you've been here any time and heard me preach on this, I usually liken this to the poor nursery worker that's watching your kid on the day that the power of God comes upon the preacher. And then the people of God go fetch their kids and tell the nursery worker, we have seen the Lord. And the nursery worker, with all the grace and composure and dedication they can muster, says, praise God, I'm very glad and happy for you. And at some level, they're probably thinking, I wish I could have seen the Lord in like manner. This is what happens. The disciples are gathered and the Lord comes to them. I don't think that's accidental. I don't think it's haphazard. I don't think the emphasis in this new covenant era is on a maverick individualistic Christianity. God loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob, Psalm 87 too. God loves it when you pray in secret. God loves it when you do family worship. God loves it when the people of God gather together on the day of God in the house of God. So Jesus comes to the disciples gathered, but Thomas isn't there. So they say to him, we have seen the Lord. Notice what he says. So he said to them, unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. And brethren, what is Thomas doing here? Thomas is putting himself up as judge and jury. Unless Jesus submits to what I desire, unless Jesus succumbs to what I demand, He doesn't just say, I will not believe. He says, I will certainly not believe. It's a double negative. And a double negative in English is a positive. A double negative in Greek is a double negative. I will certainly not believe. So he's got this standard now, he's got this sort of benchmark that Jesus has to satisfy. So verse 26, and after eight days, and interestingly, guess when they're meeting? On the first day of the week, the Lord's Day, the Christian Sabbath that is to continue until the second coming of our Lord when we enter into that eternal Sabbath. So in verse 26, and after eight days, his disciples were again inside and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut and stood in the midst and said, peace to you. Then he said to Thomas, reach your finger here and look at my hands and reach your hand here and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing. And Thomas answered and said to him, my Lord and my God, Brethren, again, that's where the gospel begins. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So you've got the chief doubter, the chief denier, the chief skeptic of the lot, now looking at Jesus saying, my Lord and my God. So when Jesus says in 14, at that day you will know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you, he is telling us something he's already indicated previously in John 14. The resurrection of the Son of God declared him to be the Son of God with power. Romans 1.4. and declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. He doesn't become the Son of God with power at the resurrection from the dead. It is rather declared. It's rather emphasized. It is rather demonstrated that all that he said was in fact true. That all that the prophets announced was in fact true. That all that was written concerning him was in fact true. So when he says what he says here in verse 20, he's highlighting the blessedness of communion, or the benefits, rather, of eternal life, when he says, at that day, resurrection, you will know that I am in my Father. Notice back in John 14, specifically at verses 10 and 11. I already read that section. Philip says to him in verse eight, Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us. Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does the works. Believe me that I'm in the Father and the Father in me. What was that word that I used back then? Perichoresis. It's a theological term. No, you know, check marks on you or against you if you don't remember that. But it's a theological word meaning the mutual indwelling of the persons. Since each has the entirety of the Divine Essence, it necessarily follows that the Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father, and the Spirit is in the Father and the Son, and so on and so forth. By virtue of that Divine Essence, that same substance, consubstantiality, another word that is associated with Trinitarian theology. So Jesus says that that day you will know that I am in my Father. It will confirm everything that you've heard. It will confirm everything that you've read. Those Old Testament prophecies concerning Messiah that predicates of Messiah divinity. See, we just accept that and we assume that. The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool, Psalm 110.1. That's telling us that this Psalm 110.1 Lord that is going to function as Messiah and Savior is on par with Yahweh. Or in the prophecy concerning the birth or incarnation of our Savior in Micah 5, it tells us that His goings forth are from everlasting. Who could that be true of except God? Remember in the prophet Isaiah, we give a lot of mileage to this around December 25th, when it describes the Messiah there in Isaiah 9, 6, and it calls him everlasting father. Not that he is the father in terms of the Trinity, but he's the everlasting father relative to his church and their redemption. He's the eternal almighty God. So when Jesus says to them here in verse 20, again, we're the benefactors of a rich heritage of good theology, this is powerful. At that day, when that tomb is empty, when you lay eyes on me once again, I will be declared to be the Son of God with power. through the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the tomb, the fact that our blessed Savior assumed to himself humanity, and he lived for us, and he died for us, and he was raised again for us, all of that will come to be crystal clear. So at that day you will know that I am in the Father, but then he goes on to say, and you in me, and I in you. Now, that union that we have with Jesus is not exactly the same. Perichoresis is not true of the union that we have with Jesus. Why? Because we don't have the same nature. We're not divinity. We're not consubstantial with God. The union that we have with Christ is by His grace. It is by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The way that the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father is by virtue of their nature, the same essence as God. The way that Christ is in us and the way that we are in Christ is that we get to participate in this because God is gracious. Remember what Paul says in Ephesians 1-7, and just so you know, we're probably not going to get through everything today. In Ephesians 1-7, as Paul's rehearsing the triune God in the salvation of sinners, he speaks of the Father electing and predestinating. He speaks concerning the Father, sending the Son. And then he says of the Son, in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to what? According to the riches of His grace. Verse 20, Christ's abiding in us and we in Him by this participation is by grace. riches of grace, adoption unto eternal life. Paul uses that language in Romans chapter eight. He uses the language in Galatians chapter four. The Spirit of God in us enables us to cry, Abba, Father. So when Jesus says what he says, the empty tomb is going to convey to you lots of good theology. And on that day, you will know that I am in my Father and that you are in me and I in you. And then that brings us to verse 21. Notice what he says in terms of blessing. It's like he keeps drawing out the good significant parts of this. He says in verse 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. Now, he reiterates his words from verse 15. You can turn there. Verse 15, if you love me, keep my commandments. Remember, he's calling the disciples to mission. He's not calling them to salvation. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ Jesus alone. But what's the chief effect of justification by faith? Love to Christ, obedience to Christ, such that if you don't have the one, you most likely don't have the other. If you don't have the one, then most likely you don't have the other. They're inextricably connected. When somebody comes to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, they don't become Paul. They're not transformed overnight into the image of the blessed Paul. Their sins are dealt with. They receive a righteousness by which now they can go into the presence of God. We call that justification. But in terms of their sanctification, they have a different mindset now. They want Jesus. They want to understand the significance of his life, his death, his resurrection. They want to obey what Scripture says. When God tells us to have no other gods before him, now we welcome that and say, yeah, I want to serve the living and true God. When God says don't murder people, yeah, I don't only not want to murder people, I want to actually promote life. When God says, you know, don't commit adultery. Yeah, I not only not want to do that, but I want to promote chastity and righteousness in my relationship. So there's a new disposition put into the heart of God's people. And so Jesus reiterates that here. Notice, again, it summarizes the whole scheme of salvation. So he who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. The only ones that do that are those who are justified by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ the Lord. So, in the language of the doctrine of salvation, we would just simply say that sanctification always follows justification. In other words, when we believe the gospel, when we're forgiven of our sins, when we receive that righteousness of Jesus, there'll always be sanctification. We'll seek to be holy. Again, that's going to differ. It's going to vary. There's degrees. There's challenges. There's, you know, heartaches and hardships and ebbs and flows and all that sort of a thing. There is, in the believer, a new disposition. A new desire. 2 Corinthians 5.17, he's become a new creature. The things that once endeared him, he no longer wants that, at least to the degree that he wanted them. And the things that he once stood opposed to, he now wants. He wants to come to church on Sunday. He wants to sing old psalms and hymns. He wants to commune with the people of God. He wants to pray. Well, why do you think he wants that? Because God in his grace has saved him, justified him freely by his grace. In terms of nomological study, the doctrine of the law, we would just simply say this is the normative use of the law. So verse 21, he who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. He's not teaching this for salvation. He's teaching this to save men. That's the normative use of God's law. We take the law of God as a revelation of the nature of God, and we see that God doesn't want us to be idolaters, and blasphemers, and Sabbath breakers, and murderers, and all those sorts of things. So we take that law by the power of the Holy Spirit, and we seek to imbibe it. Not perfectly. We fall, we falter, we have that struggle, we have that remaining corruption. We know we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. We can say with David, if thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who can stand? There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. You probably caught that if you were paying attention when our brother Mark read the passage concerning Peter. What does Peter do? If I have to die with you, Lord, I'm not gonna deny you. That's pretty bold, isn't it? Pretty brazen, pretty courageous. If that's all we had of the record of Peter, we'd go, wow. He was of a different stripe. This guy was eight foot tall and bulletproof. I mean, he was an amazing man. We just read in the prayer meeting hour of a guy in China that apparently he just keeps witnessing boldly for Jesus Christ. He's a faithful warrior in terms of evangelism. They put him in prison. Guess what he's doing? He's preaching Christ to everybody there in prison. What a wonderful testimony. What a wonderful declaration. If all we had of Peter was, I'm willing to die before I deny you." We'd say, what a hero. But we know within that very same chapter, he denies his master. He does exactly what Jesus told him he was going to do, and he denied it. And he didn't deny him to the emperor. He didn't deny him to the FBI or to the Mossad or to the CIA. He denied him to a servant girl. What do we learn from that? Well, go ahead and sin, because there's always mercy to be had. No. We do learn, however, that when we do sin, there is an Advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the Righteous. My little children, John says, I write these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the Righteous. We have, in this particular statement, the reality that the people of God, justified freely by God's grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, are those who have the commandments, who seek by the Spirit to keep them, those are the ones, and those alone are the ones who love Him. So, notice how delimited that is. Is that movement to, well, I'm not religious, I'm spiritual. Sure, I believe in God. If you're not believing in and confessing faith in the true and living God, your religion is in vain. Your spirituality is in vain. There is one way, one truth, one life that no one comes to the Father except through Him, according to 14.6. So the Lord Jesus says to his disciples, 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. Now we need to make sure we're clear here on cause and effect. As I've said before, I think many problems in theology could be avoided if we understood the difference between a cause and a consequence, or a cause and an effect. Jesus is not teaching that as long as you obey, As long as you love, as long as you do what I say, then I will love you. And only then, when I love you, based on those reasons, will my Father love you. That's not what he's saying. What he is saying is that you will have more discovery, to use an old Puritan sort of a word, more discovery of the glory of Christ in your own life. And when he goes on to give an answer or a response to Judas not Iscariot, he amplifies that with a plural pronoun. Notice in verse 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. Notice in verse 23, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him. And we will come to him and make our home with Him." That plural pronoun underscores the reality of a trinity of persons in the Godhead. And the Spirit isn't out of the scene. Jesus has already promised to pray the Father, and He will give you another Spirit, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, but you do receive. As I said, you get the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is most glorious. We'll investigate that in a bit more detail, God willing, next Sunday, but let's close out this message on this high note. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. I'm going to do what a smart preacher typically does. Leans on somebody a lot more smarter than him. Actually, I'm not. That sounds like I'm saying I'm smart. what a dumb preacher should do more often than not. Listen to what Gil says concerning the lover of Christ is loved by the Father. He says, not that love to Christ is the cause, condition, or motive of the Father's love to His people. You have to get this, brethren. There's a lot of errors in theology at this point. Well, if I just try harder, I just love Him more, then He'll love me. Jesus isn't your date. He's not your boyfriend, he's not your girlfriend, he's not your fiance, he's not even your spouse. Very often, our love for one another is predicated on our performance toward one another. Oh no, pastor, I just love my wife all the time, she's just great. Okay, you probably love her more when she's pulling a nice roast out of the oven and she looks really good. Our love oftentimes is predicated upon our performance, and we impose that on God's love for us. That's not what Jesus is saying here. Okay, try harder, be better, and do more, and then I'll really love you. Again, listen to Gil. Not that love to Christ is the cause, condition, or motive of the Father's love to his people. It couldn't be. Remember, we were dead in our trespasses and sins. We love him because he first loved us. It's not the case that Jesus is teaching a performance-based love structure. Do what I say, jump through my hoops, and you'll know more of my love. Praise God for the doctrine of divine impassibility that he's most loving. Gil says, nor does his love to them begin when they begin to love Christ. But this expression denotes some further and greater manifestation of the Father's love to such persons and shows how grateful to the Father, our love and obedience to the Son. That's all. It shows us that intimate communion that the believer now has with God. And it shows us that love to Christ that God has given us is pleasing to God the Father. And that when we engage in that, which we will instinctively because we've been justified by faith in Christ, that God makes himself manifest to us in fuller ways. Again, he's not your boyfriend, he's not your fiance, he's not your wife or your husband, but by way of analogy, isn't it nice to know more about the person you love? Well, God does that in His relationship with His people. When He takes them into the upper room, instead of saying, go out there and learn the culture, go out there and learn an additional trade, go out there and learn how to get good books to the people on the ground, He is letting them in on more disclosure of who He is, who the Father is, and who the Spirit is. Yet not three gods, one God. And then the lover of Christ gets more of Christ. So notice, verse 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. Again, John Gill. Christ does not begin to love his people when they begin to love and obey him. Their love and obedience to him spring from his love to them, which love of his towards them was from everlasting. Wasn't just, Guess what, fellas, I love you now. The whole motive behind the sending of the son of God's love into this world was love. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. He goes on to say, this phrase signs a clear discovery of his love to them, which passes knowledge and some fresh mark and token of his affection for them, and which is explained in the next clause, and will manifest myself to him. not in a visible way or in a corporeal form as he did to his disciples after his resurrection, but in a spiritual manner, as when he makes himself known to his people in ordinances and favors them with communion with him, and they see his beauty, his fullness, his grace, righteousness, power, and his glory. So in other words, this is an encouragement to the people of God who have been justified by faith in Jesus Christ that the natural reflex in terms of sanctification is love to the Savior and obedience to the Savior, and in the midst of all that, the Savior, the Father, and the Spirit commune with you. And the language that he uses there in verse 23, when he amplifies it, he says, we will make what? Our home with him. It's the same word from 14 to, I go to prepare a place for you. In my father's house are many homes, many mansions, many dwelling places. And if I go to prepare a place, I will bring you to myself. So in 14, two and three, we have the promise that when we exit this world, we enter that eternal home. But in 14, 23, we have the blessed promise that presently, right here and right now, by virtue of God's rich grace in our lives, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit indwell the people of God. We will make our home with Him. If that isn't an impetus to live in a manner that is consistent with the gospel in terms of our gratitude, our appreciation, our thankfulness, I don't know what is. Again, it's not, do this so that. Do this because of this. It is most blessed, most wonderful, most glorious. So I want to end where we began. The first significant difference or one of the first significant differences of the Christian religion from every other is the doctrine of God. One true and living God who exists eternally is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You must believe that. It's not open for debate. Well, I just don't get it. Well, okay, that doesn't mean it isn't true. It just may mean you need to study a bit more. There's been books written, there's been creeds written, there's been confessions written, there's probably mountains of volumes written on the subject. Will you ever get it perfectly? No, because then you would be as God. God's essence is comprehended only by Himself, and simply meaning that He is altogether different in the sense that He's creator and we're creature. But you've got to believe in this true and living God who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Spirit. Jesus makes that clear in John 8. He says, if you do not believe that I am, and there he's equating himself with the Father, then you will die in your sins. So one of the most significant things about the differences between Christianity and every other religion is our God. But secondly is redemption. Redemption in the Christian world, life, religion is not try harder, be better, and do more. No, it's to come to the one who obeyed perfectly, who died as a substitute on the cross, and was raised again the third day, such that everyone who looks to Him in faith will have everlasting life. That's the emphasis, if you're not a believer here this morning, that you need to take home and ponder. Who is this true and living God, and how has He provided a way of salvation? It is through the Son of His love, and all those who come in faith will be saved. Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for what Jesus does here in the Upper Room in letting the disciples know more about who He is in relation to the Father and the Spirit. God, I pray that You would help us to want to study these things, to want to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. and to take these promises of communion with the Triune God with great encouragement and with great cheer. Be with us in the remainder of this day, be glorified in our local church, and we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.