You can turn with me in your Bibles to John's Gospel, John chapter 14. We come to the end of this particular chapter, but not the upper room. The upper room discourse is recorded for us in chapters 13 to 16, followed up by our Lord's priestly prayer in chapter 17. Remember that one of the things that the Lord is doing is encouraging and exhorting and preparing his disciples for greater works upon his resurrection and ascension on high. These greater works aren't in competition with our Lord, but rather are a further extension of his work from the right hand of the Father, through the ministry of the apostles, the conquest of sinners, and the building of local churches. So I want to read beginning in chapter 14 at verse 12, and then our focus will be on the last couple of verses in verses 29 to 31. So John 14, 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 loved 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 Father in heaven, thank you for the God-breathed word. We thank you that all scripture is given by inspiration of God, that it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. We pray that you would thoroughly furnish us unto every good work. We know one of those good works is to worship Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. May we see the glory of Jesus Christ. May we see the power of God Most High revealed clearly in passages like these. May it be an encouragement to us as individuals and as a local church. May you be glorified in the midst of this body, and may you indeed continue to bless and cause us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. As well, Father, we pray for the salvation of sinners. For those who've come here dead in their trespasses and sins, we pray the Spirit would awaken them. Bring that conviction for sin and set forth Jesus in all of his offices to save, even his prophet, priest, and king. And may he be altogether lovely and chief among 10,000 today. Forgive us for all sin and all transgression and cleanse us in the precious blood of the Lamb. And again, guide us now by the presence and the power of your Holy Spirit. And we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, as I said, Jesus is encouraging the disciples that they may go out and do greater works, basically preach the gospel, make disciples, and plant churches, and extend the glory of Christ's kingdom throughout the entirety of the earth. They do that, they're successful in that, and we are reaping the benefits. We read in the book of Revelation that men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation There'll be a great multitude assembled in heaven on that day. So we see that Jesus is on the throne, that he does build his church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And when we look in this upper room discourse, we see how Jesus primarily encourages the disciples. He shows them the glory of the triune God. He teaches them wonderful truths about himself and his relation to the Father and to the Holy Spirit. Instead of saying, go out, learn the customs, learn the cultures, get the monetary unit, and then go into these various places and preach me. Rather, he shows them the glory and the goodness of the living and the true God. And in this particular section here in John 14, at the end, we see emphasis again on his departure. That's a primary concern in the upper room discourse, or we might call it the farewell discourse, the last time that Jesus is going to be associated intimately with his disciples to convey this knowledge and information. So this idea of his departure looms large. And then we saw, as we move to the end of this chapter, specifically the emphasis on the gifts given by Christ in verses 25 to 27. He's gonna depart, He's gonna leave them, but He's already promised, according to verse 18, that He will not leave them as orphans. He will come to them. And the way that He comes to them is by the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, whom He promises specifically in verse 26. As well, He bequeaths to them peace. He doesn't give them riches, he doesn't give them clothing, he doesn't give them properties and lands. Rather, he says that he conveys his peace upon them there in verse 27. And then, specifically, the direction changes to his departure when you see in verse 28, you have heard me say to you, I am going away and coming back to you. So this section, verses 28 to 31, is concerned with the departure. Last week we saw the exhortation to the disciples, specifically in verse 28. Let's follow the verse. You have heard me say to you, I am going away and coming back to you. If you loved me, you would rejoice because I said, I am going to the Father for my Father is greater than I. You should rejoice at the departure. Why? Because it means resurrection from the dead, and it means ascension on high, where Jesus will lead captivity captive, and he will give gifts to men. So with reference to his death, we speak of the state of humiliation. With reference to his resurrection and ascension, and his current state of exaltation, we call that the state of exaltation. And so Jesus says, you would rejoice. Good things are coming. Good things are going to flow. Blessings are going to accrue. I'm going to be at the right hand of the Father, and I'm going to be able to give the Holy Spirit that I have promised to you. We see that fleshed out on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, specifically in verses 33 to 36. So Jesus says, rejoice, and then He speaks of the Father as being greater than Him. And as we considered that last Sunday, He cannot meet according to His divinity. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All that is true of God is true of the Word. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. So Jesus is not speaking there according to his divinity, but according to his humanity. The Father is greater than I. The Father is the one who sent me on this task of temporal mission of salvation. And so I go to him, he's greater than I, therefore you ought to rejoice. So that's the exhortation to the disciples. Now next we see the confirmation of the plan in verse 29, and then we'll end with the expectation of triumph in verses 30 and 31. But note first the confirmation of the plan in verse 29. And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. To go back to chapter 13, specifically at verse 19, he does a similar thing there. Now I tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am. Jesus is not a victim of circumstance. Jesus isn't just subject to random happenings. It's not some sort of luck or fate out there that is controlling the world. Jesus has come according to plan. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. When John the Baptist declares in John 1 29, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, Jesus is doing what had been prophesied concerning it. Again, this isn't haphazard, random events. We hope he figures it out along the way, and we hope that he actually does accrue benefit for all those whom the Father had given him. No, there's always determination. There is resolution. There is steadfastness. And behind this is what we call the covenant of redemption, the willingness of the Son to take on our humanity and always do that which is pleasing to the Father. So when Jesus does this in the upper room, he wants to encourage the disciples. Again, it's tough for us to sort of transpose ourself into their situation. But remember, they don't have the written gospel of John. They don't have Matthew and Mark and Luke. They have the Old Testament prophets, to be sure. They have now some sort of messianic understanding in terms of who Jesus is. But their good friend, their best friend, their master, their Lord, their friend is going to depart from that. And perhaps it would well up in their hearts to start to kind of wonder, well, what's going to happen? How's this all going to shake out? Is everything going to work according to the divine plan? So I think along the way, Jesus does this. He wants to let them know that everything is in order. Everything is under control. He's got this, and we ought not to fret. So when he says in verse 29, and now I have told you before it comes, what? That I'm departing, that I'm going to the Father, and now I have told you before it comes that when it does come to pass, you may believe. So there is an emphasis here on predictive prophecy. The function of the prophet was twofold. He foretold the word of God, but he foretold the word of God. We only usually look at the foretelling. We only look at the predictive element in prophetic ministry. Well, they rightly announced what was going to happen several years away. Well, that's one aspect or function of the prophet is to foretell, but also simply to foretell the word of the living and true God. In fact, the bulk of biblical prophecy in the Old Testament is the foretelling aspect. God sends the prophet to the nation to upbraid them, to call them to faith and repentance, and to get right with God most high. So Jesus foretells what's going to happen, or rather foretells what's going to happen, to put their minds at ease. Predictive prophecy has that good effect upon the people that witness it. Now, is Jesus speaking here according to his divinity? He would know this, obviously, as God the Word. But by virtue of His humanity, like the Old Testament prophets, being filled with the Holy Spirit, He is speaking, according to the Old Testament Scriptures, all that is written concerning the Messiah. He knew the prophet Daniel, Daniel chapter 9, that Messiah would be cut off, and that through that cutting off, that's the means by which He'd gain victory. He knew Psalm 22. He knew the servant songs of the prophet Isaiah. Jesus knew all that. So I think he's speaking here according to his humanity in terms of this particular prediction. And as I said, he does this in chapter 13 and verse 19, but then notice he gives the specific purpose as to why he tells them beforehand. Verse 29, and now I have told you before it comes to pass that when it does come to pass, you may believe. It's going to confirm your faith. It's going to strengthen you. It's going to build you up. It's going to help you. And again, that's something you see in terms of predictive prophecy. In the prophet, or rather in the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 18, which establishes the prophetic class in Israel, if a prophet predicted the future and it didn't come to pass, what do you think happened to that prophet? More book deals? revised dates, another kick at the can. That's what happens to predictive profits in our own day. Think Harold Camping. He predicted 1994, which came and went, and then I think it was 2012, which It came and went, and yet, in the midst of all that, he continued to teach, and he continued to minister. Well, that's not what the book of Deuteronomy 18 tells us. If a prophet makes a prediction in the name of God Most High, and that prophecy does not come to pass, you're supposed to execute that false prophet. It's funny, all those who invoke the ability to prophesy typically don't invoke that particular consequence to falsely prophesy. So with reference to predictive prophecy, it had to be the case that the one making the prediction was right. It had to be true. If you're going to announce that you're going to die, that you're going to be raised again, that you're going to ascend on high and be seated at the right hand of majesty on high, you better be God's man for the moment. You see this in terms of the veracity of Yahweh and predicted prophecy in the Old Testament. Turn to the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 48. Isaiah chapter 48. Notice specifically in verses 3 to 5. I have declared the former things from the beginning. They went forth from my mouth and I caused them to hear it. Suddenly I did them and they came to pass because I knew that you were obstinate and your neck was an iron sinew and your brow bronze. Even from the beginning, I have declared it to you. Before it came to pass, I proclaimed it to you. Now notice, lest you should say my idol has done them and my carved image and my molded image have commanded them. See what God says? I've commanded, or rather I've foretold or predicted this is what's going to take place. That I'm the one that's going to execute it. So that when the event happens, you don't ascribe the power to Baal. You don't ascribe the power to Moloch. You don't ascribe the power to your own good fortune or your holy horseshoes or your four-leaf clover. No, so that you'll know that God Most High is indeed the Most High. And turn back to chapter 46. Chapter 46, this whole section is riddled with an attack upon the idolatry that Israel has imbibed. Notice in chapter 46, we'll read a bit of it. Notice in verse 1, Bel bows down, Nebo stoops, their idols were on the beasts and on the cattle. These were basically famous gods. Bel or Marduk was the city god of Babylon. and head of the Babylonian pantheon. Nebo was Bel's son, and he was the city god of Bersippa, near Babylon, and the god of writing and wisdom. So these two gods were basically in vogue amongst the Babylonians. Well, guess what's happening? Israelites, again, start to take on the customs of the people around them. They were told to go on the land, to be faithful, to be in covenant with Yahweh, to maintain obedience, and yet they don't. They ape the peoples around them. So by the time that Isaiah writes, he's condemning this. So, Bell bows down, Nebo stoops, their idols were on the beasts and on the cattle, your carriages were heavily loaded, a burden to the weary beast, They stoop, they bow down together. They could not deliver the burden, but have themselves gone into captivity. What good are their gods? They've gone into captivity like the rest of them. Listen to me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been upheld by me from birth, who have been carried from the womb. Even to your old age, I am he, and even to gray hairs, I will carry you. You've heard me say many times, you don't want a god that you have to carry. I didn't make that up. That comes straight from the prophet here. You want the God who's going to carry you. You don't want the God that you have to put on a cart. You don't want the God that you have to polish. You don't want the God that you have to glue back together in the case of Dagon when he fell before the Ark of the Covenant. You don't want the sort of God that needs the sort of therapy and the sort of help that you want. You need God to uphold you. You need God to carry you. You need God to give you his peace. So even to your old age, verse four, I am he. And even to gray hairs, I will carry you. I have made and I will bear, even I will carry and will deliver you. Now note, there's a contrast between five to seven and eight to 11. Let's look at the first part. "'To whom will you liken me and make me equal "'and compare me that we should be alike?' "'They lavish gold out of the bag "'and waste silver on the scales. "'They hire a goldsmith and he makes it a god. "'They prostrate themselves. "'Yes, they worship. "'They bear it on the shoulder, they carry it, "'and set it in its place and it stands. "'From its place it shall not move. "'The one cries out to it, yet it cannot answer, "'nor save him out of his trouble. That's the futility of the idol. It's the futility of a false god. If you are looking to a false god today, it's about as good here as Bel and Nebo. It's about as good as one that falls off a cart and has to be propped back up. Or as Dagon falls before the Ark of the Covenant in the Temple of Dagon in that Philistine environment. You need to look to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is alone able to give peace. The Lord Jesus Christ, who alone is able to give forgiveness of sins. The Lord Jesus Christ, who alone is able to give a righteousness that avails with God. Because you see, that's our problem. God's holy and we're not. All we like sheep have gone astray. There is none righteous. No, not one. There is no fear of God before our eyes. If you understand that reality, that God's holy and we're not, it ought to cause you to look for the Lord Jesus Christ, the one in whom there is forgiveness, the one in whom there is a righteousness, the one who takes care of our sin problem before this thrice holy God. The pagan gods, or the heathen gods, or the manufactured idols of our age, and it's Bell and Nebo here, substitute whatever you want today. Could be money, could be sex, could be drugs, could be rock and roll, could be any number of things that men substitute in the place of God. That which you're looking for stability and security. That which you're looking for peace or some sort of remedy, or some sort of piecing back together your life. All that stuff is empty. All that stuff is carnal. All that stuff is going to be burned up with the fire. It's the peace of Jesus Christ, the Son, that surpasses all understanding. And the beautiful thing about that is, is that He's available because He departed, because He goes to the Father who's greater than Him. because he now sits enthroned at the right hand of his father, where he ever lives to make intercession for his people and where he ever lives to receive needy sinners. So when you look to him in faith, he doesn't cast you out, he doesn't say no, he rather receives. He's able to save to the uttermost, Paul says, all that come to God through him. What more encouragement do you need today to deal with your sin issue than that Jesus lived, He died, and He was raised again so that everyone who looks to Him in faith will have everlasting life? That is the good news that our Bible sets forth. So back to the text, you see the futility of the idol in verses 5 to 7. And then you see the glory of the living and true God in verses 8 to 11. And it's seen through the demonstration of His power. It's seen through the demonstration of His knowledge. It's seen through the demonstration of His glory and His majesty. He's not like Bel and Nebo that falls off the cart and needs to be propped back up. He's not like whatever God you have that you have to pick up and dust off and help along the way. He's the living and true God. By Him all things were made. He governs all His creatures and all their actions. He is the Most High. There is none who can stay His hand or say, what doest thou? And this is precisely what he says. Notice the contrast in verse eight. Remember this and show yourselves men. Recall to mind, O you transgressors, remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. See what predictive prophecy does in terms of substantiating or rather confirming or authenticating the living and the true God? He says, when I bring these things to pass, there's no other conclusion that can be made. Now, I know that sinners will try to find other conclusions. Sinners will say, well, we just haven't figured out a way to explain it yet. We haven't figured out a way to sort of put it into our naturalistic sort of structure. But the bottom line is that man at his very core knows that God is. What's the problem? He suppresses that truth in unrighteousness. May I exhort you today? Stop suppressing truth in unrighteousness and look to this glorious God who works out His purposes for His glory. So notice in verse 11, in terms of a practical application of what he says in verse 10. So verse 10, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. Verse 11, calling a bird of prey from the East, the man who executes my counsel from a far country. Indeed, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it, I will also do it. That man was Cyrus, king of Persia. Remember, at the time that these persons are being written to or preached to, or just about the time, they're going into captivity. They're going to be in exile. They're going to be in Babylon for their sin and breach of the covenant that God has established with them. Well, what's going to vindicate them? What's going to end that oppression? It's going to be the Persians, under Cyrus, the Messiah of God Most High, as he's called elsewhere, that's going to break the back of Babylonian rule. And it's through that venture that God brings the exiles out of Judah, or out of Babylon, and puts them back in Judah, so that in the fullness of the time, God send forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law. So predictive prophecy functions to demonstrate the glory of our blessed God. And back to our text, he specifies the purpose. He says that when it does come to pass, you may believe. And I think the belief here hinges in two directions. One, believe that He is Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior for sinners. That is a recurring emphasis in John's gospel, that you may believe, and that believing you may have life in his name. That's where the gospel is heading. That's where it starts in John 1, 12. As many as received him, those who believed on him, those are the ones who are given the right to become sons of God. And so the object of faith relative to our salvation is Jesus Christ the Lord. If you do not believe on Jesus, you don't have everlasting life. In fact, look at 14.6, where he says this unequivocally, where it's so obviously clear. Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. There is an exclusivity about the Christian faith. We're not narrowed, bigoted, sort of prejudicial people because that's what wins arguments. We understand the exclusivity of the cross, and as a result we preach the cross. We understand that without Jesus, sinners perish and they end up in hell. But with Jesus, sinners are saved and enter into heaven. So it's not bigotry, but rather it is fidelity to the text of Scripture and to the person and the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. So when he says that the role of predictive prophecy in verse 29, now I have told you before it comes that when it does come to pass, you may believe that Christ is the object of saving faith. But I would suggest, secondly, that Christ is the second person of the glorious Trinity. Remember, he is bringing that lesson home to bear upon them in spades. Believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me. Perichoresis, the mutual indwelling of the persons of the Trinity by virtue of the same essence. The unity of the divine nature argues that the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father and the Spirit in the Father and the Son and the Father and the Son in the Spirit. There is this mutual indwelling of persons, and Jesus wants us to believe that. He wants us to confess the God of absolute glory, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In this divine and infinite being, there are three subsistences, the Father, the Word, or Son, and the Holy Spirit, of one substance, power, and eternity. each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided. We confess the unity of the divine nature and the tri-unity of the glorious persons. So when Jesus says that you may believe, so that you may understand who God is. When he gets to John 17 in the high priestly prayer, and in verse three he says, this is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent, he wants us to understand who he is. Do you think the Lord is telling us that when it comes to sound theology, oftentimes there's more practical import there than we often think? See, we think practical sermons ought to end with a list of five things that you should go do. Brethren, if I never heard a sermon the rest of my life with five things I should do, I would be happy. That's not the goal of our instruction. There are instances and seasons I'm gonna be called on, yeah, okay, there's five things you probably should do. Let's just get that out of the way. The main thing you ought to do is to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. What stabilizes you when things are hard? These five points, these five tips, they typically make you far worse because you're not really doing those things anyway. What helps you to keep your focus up when everything down here seems to be a mess? Is it the five tips or is it the glory of the triune God? This is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Brethren, never underestimate the role of theology in settling the soul. Never underestimate the role of theology in the midst of a hardship, or a trial, or an affliction. What's Job do when everything is stripped away from him? Well, I better go learn my five hints. He worships God. He confesses that I came into this world naked. I'm going to return from this world naked. Blessed be the name of God. Brethren, there needs to be a blessed be the name of God in each of our hearts. That's what stabilizes the downcast saint. That's what keeps us on track when everything else is off track. Perhaps you're like me, you're on Twitter and you're following our prime minister at the G7 conference and you're starting to do the math and you're thinking, there's no way anybody could ever, you know, pay this back. He's given money to every other country out there. Well, what is it that brings stability? The five tips or the fact that God is on the throne and this man is tethered? What was it that brought comfort to the saints of old when they were under an Ahab? Or brought comfort to the saints of old when they were under a Jezebel, the mother of the year? What was it? Was it the five tips? Or was it that God Most High reigns? Brethren, when you turn to the book of Revelation, that seems to be the recurring theme. See, we take the book of Revelation, we think it's all gloom and doom, and some in the history of the church have turned it into that. That's a pathetic way to read the book of Revelation. You know what the book of Revelation is about? The Lord God omnipotent reigns. That's what it's about. If I had to summarize it, the focus is upon the crown of our Lord Jesus Christ, the ruler over the kings of the earth, the one in whom is all glory and power and majesty and excellence. It is good theology that lifts the heart It is good theology that stabilizes the battered soul. It is good theology that we need to pass on to our children and to our grandchildren. It's good theology that our young men ought to be studying when it comes to being equipped for gospel ministry. Again, they can learn culture, they can learn monetary units, they can learn all those things elsewhere. Well, best time is when they're there. They need to learn that in this divine and infinite being, there are three subsistences, and he is most high, most glorious, most wondrous, and most worthy to be praised. When Jesus comes to encourage his disciples for the greater works, he does so by revealing unto them Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Notice, then, the expectation of triumph. He's mentioned his departure, He's not going to just leave it out there. I'm going to go and I'm going to go to my father. I'm going to return to my father. Well, that in and of itself is cause for rejoicing if you're his disciples, because the father is greater than him. But we might be inclined to say, well, you know, what about us? Maybe not you. I'm the only selfish one here, I think. But what about me? What do I benefit? What do I get out of this whole situation of death and burial and a return to the Father? Again, Jesus has spoken to this all around, throughout the entirety of the Gospel, here in the Upper Room as well. But I think this is how verses 30 and 31 function. When he speaks of his departure, he speaks of the effects that that departure imparts, or the fruit, or the benefit, or the virtue. So notice, in terms of the expectation of triumph, he speaks of two things. First, victory over the devil in verse 30, and then the demonstration to the world in verse 31. Note first the victory over the devil. He's bringing the discourse to a conclusion. So in verse 30, I will no longer talk much with you. That doesn't mean we don't have a 15 and a 16, but he is winding down the public ministry. The hour of his departure is at hand. He's going to be arrested. Chapter 18, he's going to be delivered over to Pilate and he's going to be crucified. The time is short. And so Jesus, again, is preparing them with those specific things that they need desperately to hear. So verse 30, I will no longer talk much with you. And then he says, for the ruler of this world is coming and he has nothing in me. Now the ruler of this world has already been identified. You can turn back to chapter 12, specifically at verse 27. Chapter 12, 27. Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name. Then a voice came from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said an angel had spoken to him. Jesus answered and said, this voice did not come because of me, but for your sake. Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to myself. And then turn to chapter 16, chapter 16, specifically in verse Eight, and when he is calm, he's speaking of the spirit, he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin, because they do not believe in me. Of righteousness, because I go to my father and you see me no more. Of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. He's talking about the devil. John, who wrote John's gospel, also wrote the book of Revelation. We see more information about this devil in Revelation chapter 12. It's the devil that gives power to the beast from the sea and the beast from the land that you see there in chapter 13. In other words, the civil power and the religious power that is demonic, it's fueled by the devil, giving, again, emphasis to that Ephesians 6 motif. We don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. So here Jesus announces the coming of the devil in terms of their battle at the cross. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me. What I think that simply means is best expressed by the Geneva Bible. Satan will buy and buy, set upon me with all the might he can, but he has no power over me. So Jesus here says that he's coming. The ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me. Now, I don't want to, you know, be, you know, crass or slight here, but You mean he doesn't spend a chapter in outlining how he's going to vanquish the effects of the devil? No. He just says, he has nothing in me. Do you know in the book of James and Peter, James and Peter missed the boat in terms of the modern day prophets. Modern day prophets will teach you how to deal with the devil. You just have to buy their DVD series or when I was younger, their cassette tape series. Most of the kids here, what's a cassette tape? Well, some of us even knew what an eight track was. Wow. Yeah, that was right after the stone and chisel. These modern prophets will teach you, they'll give you five tips, 10 tips, 20 tips, however many DVDs you're willing to buy on how to deal with the devil. You know what James and Peter says? Resist him and he will flee from you. Not gonna sell a lot of tickets to that conference, not gonna be a lot of DVDs produced for that message, but But that's it. Resist him and he will flee from you. Jesus simply mentions that the ruler of this world is coming, but he has nothing in me. There's no power over me. He has no way to upbraid me. He has nothing by which he can sidetrack me from the mission that was given to me by the Father. Namely, to come and save my people from their sins. He just says it so matter-of-factly and continues to teach the disciples, again, Trinitarian theology. Boy, wouldn't it be nice to know that if you go into a demonic culture, you know, seven strategies on how to deal with demons? No. It's better to know that in this divine and infinite being, there are three subsistences, the Father, the Word, or Son, and the Holy Spirit. It's better to know your God. It's better to know your truth. It's better to know your Lord and Savior than spend all kinds of hours studying the devil. Again, there's some sense where you got to know your enemy. But when James and Peter tell us to deal with the enemy, we just simply need to know, resist him and he will flee from you. So Jesus, very matter of factly and very earnestly says, I'm going to dispense with the devil. For the ruler of this world is coming and he has nothing in me. Now brethren, by way of a practical application, if I were to ask you, what are your biggest fears? Death? Yeah. I mean, I suspect some of us aren't afraid to die. We just don't want to be there when it happens. You know, the old bullet in the head, the sword in the, I don't know if it's going to be bullets in heads, probably some bed somewhere where the life just oozes out of us. We don't want the pain associated with it, but we're saved. So at least in principle, we're not afraid to die. If you ask people, generally, there's a fear, right? I don't want to die. I don't want to get hit by a car, if all things being equal. I'd rather not sin. Yeah, you should have a healthy fear of what goes on in your heart. You should have a healthy fear to resist your own inclinations and proclivities and temptations. But the devil, brethren, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Christians that are obsessed with the devil or get dangerously close to being obsessed with the devil, we need to follow our blessed Savior. He doesn't do that. The ruler of this world is coming, but he has nothing in me. Well, I'm in Jesus now by virtue of God's glorious grace, so that must mean that I'm okay relative to the devil. No, he does roam about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. I get all that, brethren. But you're not supposed to live your life paralyzed by the fear of the devil. You're supposed to understand that greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. So Jesus says that he's going to have victory over the ruler of this world. But then notice he says there's going to be this demonstration to the world, something of Jesus' love for his Father. Notice in verse 31, "...but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandments, so I do. Arise, let us go from here." Interesting. He sees that in the cross, that cross which communicates the Father's love to the world. John 3, 16, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. So the cross proclaims to the world that the father loves the world. But the cross also proclaims to the world that the son loves the father. In other words, the one sent by the Father, who always does what pleases the Father, does this from the reflex of love to the Father. It's not a grudging obedience. It's not a knuckling it under. It is rather, when he goes to that cross, he loves God, and we ought to be thankful that He loves us. Look at John 13, one, the very context of the upper room. John 13, one, now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come, that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. So He has this love for us, but in the cross, there is displayed this love for the Father. but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandments, so I do." And we might ask the question, does the world look at the cross and hear the communication of the Son's love to the Father? Well, one way through that is John Gill. He says, the world of the elect. the world of the elect, those who are by God's grace saved, those who by God's grace believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. When we look at the cross, we hear communicated to us God's love for the world. When we look at the cross, we see communicated as well Jesus' love for his Father. but it could also envisage the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. See, right now, if you went out on the streets of Chilliwack and you asked the unconverted, do you think that the cross demonstrates the love of Jesus to the Father? They're going to probably look at you like, what? Huh? We're getting a sort of a post-Christian age in Western, excuse me, in the Western world where these concepts, they're not sort of as in volley as they used to be. But when that second coming happens, the Apostle tells us on that day that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. In other words, on that day of judgment, the entirety of the moral universe, whether for their glory or their shame, are going to acknowledge the great reality that Christ came into this world, sinners, to save. That He is now, by virtue of that finished work, Lord, King, Messiah, Blessed One. He is all those things, but this demonstrates it. And so on that day, there will be that recognition that what he did was out of love to his father. But before we end this chapter, we should notice something. What Jesus does here sort of reinforces what he's done previously in our chapter. He declares his obedience to the Father, verse 31, but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, so I do. Again, a recurring emphasis in John's gospel, I always do the will of him who sent me. Remember when he tells the disciples, my meat is to do the will of him who sent me. Why does he say that? because it was His need to do the will of the Father who sent Him. Having assumed our humanity, being the mediator of the new covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ goes about this willingly. He goes about this with resolution. He goes about this with determination. He obeys the Father. It's by virtue of His obedience to the Father that you and I receive that righteousness. When we believe on Him, our sins are forgiven and we receive His righteousness. It's imputed to us and received by faith alone. But notice how this works in the context. The Son obeys the Father. And as a result, and so doing this, he is doing it out of love. Go back to chapter 14, verse 15. If you love me, keep my commandment. 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. 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. What's Jesus saying? that it's his relation to the father, according to his humanity, wherein he lovingly obeys the father, that sets the pattern or the example for the disciple. We lovingly obey the master. So what do we do in light of that? We honor Him. We go out and seek by grace to do His will. We love Him because He saved us. We love Him because He justified us freely by His grace. So loving obedience is not the reason for our justification. It's rather the result. It's the consequence. It's the effect of what God has done in saving us from our sin. So Jesus lovingly submits to his father, and yet at times we as God's people aren't lovingly submitting to his rule and his yoke and his authority over us. We need to follow the master, even in this particular way. And then that last sentence is tough. Arise, let us go from here. I think there's one or three ways you can understand this. Bad editing, which is not the way you should understand it. Bad editing. That, you know, this directional note was put here in the mouth of Jesus at a place where obviously the discourse had not ended. You can understand it as practically You ever been with close friends or family? You get up, you go get your coat, you put your shoes on, and then you stand at the door and talk for another 10 or 20 minutes? That happens, doesn't it? People are nodding. That means you actually have real friends. All the rest of you, too bad. It happens. They could have relocated. The fact that he starts the vineyard discourse in the first part of chapter 15 may indicate travel now past a vineyard where their ultimate destination is going to be Gethsemane in chapter 18. I don't know. I know it's not bad editing. Could be the, hey, let's get our coats and stand here on the porch for another 15 minutes and talk, or I don't think there's anything keeping us from saying that, yeah, they left and on the way they saw the vineyard and Jesus taught them about the vine, and then they ended up at their final destination, which would be Gethsemane, where Jesus would ultimately be handed over to the lawless and crucified. So that last statement there, I don't think it's faith-shaking in terms of which option you pick. Certainly it is not bad editing. I want to just finish this section, this chapter, with three emphases. First, the provision of Christ. Let's not leave that undealt with again. He gives us the Spirit. He gives us the Pericle, the Comforter, the Helper. It's so beautiful that the Holy Spirit is called by that term. Comforter, well, what do you often need in your life? I just need good lessons, yeah. I need to be taught, yeah, he does that. I need to be reminded, yeah. Don't you just need a hug? I'm not saying that the Holy Spirit just gives you a hug. I'm not getting weird on you. But comfort, kindness. presence. How is it that Jesus can promise in chapter 14 at verse 18, I will come to you? I'm not going to leave you as orphans. He does that by the Spirit. Spirit dwells in our hearts. The spirit is our companion. The spirit abides with us forever. Remember in verse 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. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. Verse 16, he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever. We don't get the spirit a little bit today and then he takes him away. We get the spirit, we get the comforter, we get the paraclete, we get the one who is an advocate with us. We get help from on high. Brethren, that's not always easy to see, is it? That's not always something tangible. It's not like the spirit sitting on the edge of your bed where you can reach out and grab him by the shoulder and say, I'm so glad that you're here. The fact that the Spirit is present among us, the fact that the Spirit's power is operative in us, doesn't defang this world of the afflictions and the trials and the hardships and the difficulties we face. We walk by faith, not by sight, trusting that Christ who promises to be with us is with us by the presence and the power of His Holy Spirit. But as well, that peace that Jesus leaves to us, that peace that Jesus gives, not like the world gives, Not just some temporal, fleeting, temporary thing, but rather it is lasting, it is objective, it is concrete, it buoys the soul through the midst of all the heartaches and all the afflictions and difficulties that this world has. I would suggest that Christ himself and our understanding of who he is, is probably one of the best means of peace. Listen to Owen. He says, by beholding the glory of Christ by faith, we shall find rest to our souls. Our minds are apt to be filled with troubles, fears, cares, dangers, distresses, ungoverned passion, and lusts. By these, our thoughts are filled with chaos, darkness, and confusion. Is Owen describing anybody here? Is Owen speaking anybody's language here? I think he is. I think that this is precisely where many of us find ourselves on, not just once in a while, but kind of in a regular way. He says, but where the soul is fixed on the glory of Christ, then the mind finds rest and peace, for to be spiritually minded is peace. The Christ who gives peace is himself our peace. He gives himself to us. Verse 18, the Spirit communicates that to our souls to help us along the narrow way. And then I want to look finally at the power of Christ, his victory over the devil. You see it here in John's gospel. You see it in several other places. We'll just quickly rush through these or run through these. Turn to the book of Acts, Acts chapter 26. One of the very purposes for which Jesus came in terms of the gospel, in terms of what was going to be accomplished, the apostle sets forth to us before Agrippa. Notice in 26, 18, well, verse 17, I will deliver you from the Jewish people as well as from the Gentiles to whom I now send you to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me. In Christ there is deliverance. In Christ there is freedom. Look at Colossians 1. Colossians chapter 1. The apostle uses, I think, the similarities between the children of Israel and the Old Covenant and Egypt and bondage there. And He shines the light this way. Notice in Colossians 1.13, He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. So there was this power of darkness over our minds and hearts. We're subject to the prince of the power who works in the air. And yet, by God's grace, we've been transferred. By God's grace, we've been translated. By God's grace, we've been conferred into the kingdom of the Son of His love. Notice in 2.15, having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. Hebrews chapter two, Hebrews chapter two, specifically at verse 14, in as much that as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil. There's power in the Lord Jesus to deliver one from the devil, to deliver one from their own sins, to deliver them into the kingdom of the Son of God's love. Look at 1 John 3. Again, the emphasis upon the power of Jesus relative to the devil. 1 John 3, 8, He who sins is of the devil, for the devil is sin from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. And then in Revelation 12, 1 to 17, it tells us in a fourfold sense that the devil is a loser. He loses to Jesus in the incarnation, he loses to Jesus the exaltation, he loses to Jesus with reference to the church in the first century, and he loses to Jesus with reference to the church in the subsequent centuries. That's what Revelation 12 is all about, not some gloomy, foreboding, depressing book. If the people of God read the book of Revelation more profitably, with a better hermeneutic, and they sang the Psalms of David, There's probably not a lot that would get us down. There's probably not a lot that would cause us to be all mopey and sad. We have Christ at the right hand of the Father, where He ever lives to make intercession for us, where He has promised to build His church and the gates of hell itself shall not prevail against it. So the victory over the devil, the demonstration to the world, the glory of the Father, the glory of the Son, the salvation of sinners. See, when we read this upper room discourse, the Lord Jesus is encouraging his disciples to look Godward, to be faithful in the greater works, and to understand the power of the gospel that you wield. The Spirit is with you. Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations, baptize them, and teach them to observe all that I have commanded you. And Jesus promises, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank You for our blessed Savior. We thank You for His victory, for His triumph, for His glory, for His majesty. We thank You as well for so great a salvation. We know we're not heaven-bound because of our good works or our law-keeping or our merit. We're heaven-bound because of God's grace, because You chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. that in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of God's grace, that because of Him we have a righteousness, and because of Him we have forgiveness. We rejoice in these many benefits, and we pray that this would encourage us, that You would build us up in our most holy faith, and help us, God, to glorify You. And we pray through Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen. Well, please take your hymn books and turn to 564 as we sing a portion of Psalm 72 in terms of doxology and praise to our God.