[Transcript represents full sermon's text]

       John chapter 14, pickup up in verse 12: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father” (ESV).

       Fair it is to say that this verse, at least originally, included both sides of the coin. Both sides of the coin. The meaning behind making that statement is that, obviously, the “works” originally done by the disciples would have included miracles, and this by God’s power. Understanding is present that the disciples had done miracles on their own accord. Matthew chapter 10 bears record of this when Jesus sent out the Twelve, where it says “and [he] gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction” (ESV). They were already accustomed to that. And this would carry over into the early church. We know they are going to receive the Holy Spirit, of whom Jesus is about to promise to them, and when they receive him, and will have power. We also know that as the early church is formed, and as the sharing of the Gospel, the Good News, eventually moves out away from the Jewish people into the Gentile inhabited areas, that those “signs” will begin to get less and less. It’s safe to assume that’s because signs, in and of themselves, are meant for the Jews. The Apostle Paul said, “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom” (1 Corinthians 1:22, ESV). This is one argument that can be made as to why signs are not still prevalent today within the church. They may happen from time to time, and perhaps may be more prevalent within Jewish Christian churches, but it doesn’t seem they are a regular thing anymore like they were during Jesus’ time, or the time period right after that, the time period of the early church.

       In view of that understanding, the only way that “greater works” will be accomplished on the part of disciples of Jesus would be through the general spreading of the Gospel and persons coming to the truth. This entails the “wisdom” part of it, in referring to the verse just mentioned by Paul to the Corinthians. No explanation is needed that this true, as we, as twenty-first century Americans, are well aware of. Whether we consider our current line of Christian wisdom available to us today, or whether we consider the wisdom imparted in the past, going all the way back to The Reformation, or even way back with the early church fathers, as they are called, we know that there has been a lot of Christian wisdom made available. Great works have been done in the name of Christ. Many individuals throughout the centuries have come to a knowledge of the truth. It’s truly an incredible thing when you stop and think about it. Sure, persecutions have occurred; there’s no doubt about that. Different times have had different resistances to the truth. When we really contemplate all the wisdom available to us in our day, it’s almost unbelievable, whether that be in the form of books or audio and video sermons. Technology has simply made it possible to have more and more wisdom. And it’s a wonder that the United States itself was actually founded in the Christian spirit, with a lot of our forefathers being various kinds of Christians. For many years, this nation could of been considered a Christian nation, and one has to wonder if God had originally thought it could go this far—that the truth would lead to a whole nation setup on Christian principles. Of course, too, it’s not just the United States, but there are other nations as well.

       The mind can reference a variety of various men and women who have done great works for God, and works of which, but sheer volume, actually contain more words recorded than those of Christ himself. We could pick from the vast amount of early church Fathers, or John Wycliffe, or Martin Luther, or Matthew Henry, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, John Wesley, Charles Finney, Billy Graham, Martin Luther King, Jr, Joyce Meyer, John MacArthur, and Rick Warren. All of these people did the “greater works” that Jesus talked about. And more will continue to do that until Christ’s return for The Rapture of the Church. This all happened because Christ went back to the Father.

       Verse 13: “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it” (ESV).

       Contextually, at least in this occurrence of asking Jesus for things and receiving, it is referring to what he just stated in regard to doing “greater works.” Undoubtedly, the saints are going to need ‘things’ to do these greater works, and the chief of the needs is the Person of the Holy Spirit, whom is about to promised to his disciples. It is the Holy Spirit who will empower the disciples both in works and in speech, and still empowers the speakers and writers of our day. In fact, we know it when we see or hear it. We can intuitively pick on on that, as Christians. We know when a particular person is gifted in this or that area. These areas, of how the Holy Spirit helps the believer, have been discussed in the past by the current teacher, and those messages can be referred to (see original Episodes 51-53 in 2016). Nevertheless, we know that the Spirit, besides teaching us as believers, also convicts us of sin, helps us resist the devil, leads us down certain paths, gifts us with additional giftings, gives us hope for the future, produces his fruit in us (from Galatian 5), guides our speech toward others, and even keeps harmony among us believers. These are the chief things he does for us. These all tie into the “greater works” Jesus is talking about. When adding all these things up, they certainly result in great works for us, both collectively as the body of Christ and also has independently as individuals. It is these things of which we ask Christ for, and of which he helps us.

       Verse 15: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (ESV).

       This is the hallmark of a true Christian, and how we know a person is in Christ. This is rather cliche, of course, but it’s what the text says. We know that chief of Christian’s commandments are the first two, that one love God with his whole being and that one love his neighbor as he loves himself. Thus, we know if we see a person doing this—we know that’s a true bother or sister. Experientially, it seems that people grow at different rates. Some believers continue to grow and grow (which obviously is best), but many believers also reach a point were they usually don’t continue to grow too much (or at a much slower rate that is it barely noticeable). No obvious common factor appears to exist to link between growth and lack of growth. We could try to look at length of years of being a Christian, but we know that there are some individuals who have been in the faith for many years of which they haven’t grown a great deal. And we might have acquaintance with persons who’ve been Christians for a lesser amount of time who seem to be more mature in the faith than younger Christians. Why, remember, Paul even rebuked the Corinthian church because collectively they hadn’t grown to where they should have by the time of his writing to them (see 1 Corinthians 3). Another angle could be to point to Christian freedom versus legalism, but there again we may find that there are those who are in more legalistic churches who are more mature, and those who are in freer churches who remain babes in the faith for a long time. In the final analysis, there just doesn’t seem to be any clear identifier, or linker, as to growth rate and maturity.

       A couple characteristics that have been personally identified that seem to be displayed in more mature Christians are that of the attitudes of forgiveness toward others and non-resistance in general. It seems the more mature believers are those who are willing to forgive others around them, and do not hold things against others. They do not judge, really. Judgment toward others, actually, at the end of the day, is a sign of immaturity and weakness, believe it or not. Remember, Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1, ESV). Displaying a lesser judging attitude toward others, both believers and non-believers, appears to show more maturity, for Paul stated, “For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things” (Romans 2:1, ESV) (of course, here he was talking to unbelievers, but the principle is actually the same for believers). The other attitude afore to mentioned a moment ago is that of non-resistance. Now, this attitude of non-resistance is not something that is usually demonstrated among Evangelicals, but it was obviously witnessed first-hand among Anabaptist believers. The attitude permeates all areas of the Christian walk, and displays itself best when it comes to forgiveness and service toward others. Anyway, the whole concept of non-resistance impressed the speaker so much that he has sought to adopt it as much as possible in his own life. Now, obviously, most of us are not going to take it to the point where we won’t physically defend ourselves or things like that, but the point is that the more non-resistant we are, the better things seem to be in relationships.

       Verse 16: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” (ESV).

       Jesus is leaving the world, and while he’s been in the world, he’s been with his disciples. As a result, they’ve had a first-hand teacher and guide, and really, first-hand protector. Since he’s leaving, he doesn’t want to leave them all alone. This then is the promise of the Holy Spirit, whom we know will begin to indwell believers first on the day of Pentecost within the first church, which is recorded in Acts 2. The indwelling of the Spirit is exclusive for believers in Jesus. People who don’t know Jesus, who don’t have a personal relationship with God, cannot be indwelled by the Spirit since, Jesus notes, they, one, don’t even recognize him (because they don’t recognize the truth), and two, they don’t know God. Remember, Jesus mentioned back in John 10, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them” (10:27, ESV). Thus, Jesus reveals that the Spirit of God is already present with the disciples, as we could also say he was often present with believers in the Old Testament from time to time. We read about that back there, when it says things like “the Spirit rested on them” (Numbers 11:25), “Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit” (Numbers 27:18, ESV), or “the Spirit of the LORD clothed Gideon” (Judges 6:34), “And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward” (1 Samuel 16:13, ESV), for some examples.

       Verse 18: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (ESV).

       Even though Jesus is leaving the disciples now, he notes for them that he will be back after his resurrection to be with them, before the Holy Spirit comes. That was why he said, “I will not leave you as orphans.” For a short time, the disciples would in fact be left alone, though the Holy Spirit would undoubtedly be with them, just not indwelling them yet. Nevertheless, Jesus points to his resurrection in saying, “Because I live, you also will live.” This is a beautiful thing. If Jesus had not conquered the grave, then we wouldn’t be able to either. We can remember that the Apostle Paul noted, “For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:53, ESV). Again, as we’ve mentioned, our current body is affected by the sin-nature. This doesn’t go away when we become saved, even though we are a new creature. Our earthly flesh is still affected by sin. A new body has to be obtained in order to live real life forever. Christ’s resurrection makes this possible for us. He is the first Person to receive a new body. Thus, when the disciples see Jesus in his new, resurrection body, they can know for certain that they themselves, like they see he is, will live. His standing before them will be a guarantee of what they themselves are to receive. We talked about this with Lazarus, how Lazarus’ death and then return to the body proved that, in death, there is nothing to fear. He didn’t cease to exist or end up in Hell. So, neither will we, if we believe.

       Christ resurrection will be absolute truth that everything he has been saying is in fact true. The disciples will know for sure that Jesus is in relationship with the real God of the Universe. And the disciples will also understand that because Jesus has returned to them, that they are his, and that he loves them.

       Verse 21: “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is 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 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. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me” (ESV).

       It is spelled out plainly how to identify one of Jesus’ disciples, or how to identify whether we ourselves display the actions of a disciple. Jesus says that “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.” Now, it’s tempting to read this in the manner of, “I will only love you if you keep my commandments.” It’s easy to read it that way. If we are reading that way, we need to think about our view of God, and how we see him. Nevertheless, we know that God himself loved us before we were even saved. The Apostle John has told us that “God so loved the world” (John 3:16, ESV). That was before those people were saved; before anybody was saved. God loves the people of the world. You will often hear from preachers that God loves us because Christ has made us righteous before him by dying on the cross. While it is true that our belief in what Christ has done has made us righteous before him and that God doesn’t look on our sin any longer, it’s also true that God loved us before that. Indeed, as the Apostle Paul told the Ephesians, God had a plan in place to save individuals before the foundation of the world. It wasn’t that he pre-planned people would sin, but rather we did sin and so he carried out his plan of saving us. God always knew that was a possibility, that we would sin. Stated simply, God doesn’t only love us because of what Christ did, or even because we believed in Christ, but he loved us before that. Otherwise, he would really only be loving Jesus, and not us. If he only loved us due to of our belief in Jesus, then he doesn’t really love us.

       The closer we come to God, the greater experience of love we have with him and with his Son, Jesus. James stated this, remember? He put it this way: “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8, ESV). Continual sin in any part of our lives demonstrates that we aren’t putting God first, and that we love something else more than we love God. Just as in a marriage relationship a person cannot have additional partners on the side, so it is with God. We cannot have things that we value which are outside of God’s will. Most of us probably already understand that, but some people do not. That’s why, for instance, a Christian should not be living with a significant other before they are married to that person. That’s why a person should not regularly drink too much alcohol. We shouldn’t do things like these because this is what the world does. It demonstrates we don’t value God’s way as first in our lives. Some people want to identify as Christian but at the same time be a friend of the world—a friend of the world’s ways. In that same chapter in James, just quoted a minute ago, James says, “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4, ESV). This is why Jesus stated, “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other” (Luke 16:13, ESV). It’s not just money and possessions Jesus was concerned with. If we actually want to demonstrate we love God and want him to have a comfortable home within us, we have to do, to follow, the things he says for our lives.

       Verse 25: “These things I have spoken to you while I am still 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 that I have said to you” (ESV).

       Since Jesus is leaving the world, and won’t be around to remind them of everything he has said, he is going to give the disciples another Person to be with them whom is just like himself. We know this Person as the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, who as exactly like God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, but is a distinct Person in the Godhead. The Holy Spirit will be responsible to teach the disciples everything that is God’s will. In fact, we believe he has done this through the rest of the writings of the New Testament. From the Book of Acts, to the epistles, all the way to the Book of the Revelation, he has done this. We believe the New Testament represents the absolute and final will of God, and that there are no other writings which are equal to that, or even God’s Word for that matter. This is how the Holy Spirit has brought “remembrance” of Jesus’ Words, through the Gospels, and what his will is for us—through the rest of the New Testament. Now, obviously, some Christians believe in the Spirit’s guidance internally, through inner-promptings. That does occur in the New Testament a few times, but the sure emphasis seems to be on the Word of God. One does not have to believe in inner-promptings to be obedient to God, but it does seem that God does use that method from time to time (see Acts 8:29 & 16:6, for instance).

       Verse 27: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe” (ESV).

       What Jesus says here to the disciples seems in stark contrast to what the reality of the actual scene is. Of course, for us, knowing what’s about to take place, it appears even more like that. That is, Jesus leaving “peace” with his disciples. Peace in the midst of the current high tension, the current circumstances of everything that is going on. It’s truly amazing that he was able to say this as Judas Iscariot was currently in the process of betraying him, who was indwelled by Satan. And to add to this, Jesus says that the peace he gives isn’t like the peace the world gives. The peace the world can give us is a peace that is based on circumstances. We all know it. It’s that circumstantial peace, that circumstantial peace, wherein everything ‘seems’ like it is going okay, but the reality is is that it can be shaken at no moments notice. All of us have experienced that truth to some degree. That’s the world’s peace. All it takes for us to disrupt that kind of peace is simply another car cutting us off in traffic on the way to work. That peace can end rather quickly. With our foundation in Jesus’ surety, however, we can have ‘real’ peace, peace that is not swayed by our external conditions. Even if the externals are going bad, we can maintain our peace and not let them ‘hit’ us on the inside. That’s why Jesus says, “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” The implication is that we have a choice. He says, “Let not.” “Let not” means it’s a choice we make ‘when’ the bad comes. Not even really ‘if’ the bad comes, but ‘when’ it comes. That’s why he stated, “Let not.”

       While Jesus was on the earth, we understand that he was limited in that with his original humanness he was bound by all the same struggles that we face. Tiredness came over him and all the rest of that stuff. Best, it was, that he return to the Father, for then he would be exactly like the Father without his human limitations. That’s why the disciples should have rejoiced when he said he was returning to the Father. If he would have remained on the earth without his glorified body, he would have been bound by human limitation. He wouldn’t have been able to help them directly as much as he is able to help us all now. For instance, when he was on the earth, he would only talk with one person at a time, right? Now, back in Heaven, he is able to talk with all of us at the same time. When he was on the earth, this was something that only God the Father could do, and even then, he was bound by the Old Testament Law, the prescription that he had laid out. It’s safe to say that in Jesus’ current state of humanness in this scene, the Father was certainly “greater” than he was, in that sense. But it would be wrong to assume that the Father was and is always greater than the Lord Jesus Christ, as some have tried to purpose. Jesus contradicted that on other occasions, even here in John. Remember, he said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30, ESV) or when he said, “before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58, ESV). Jesus was equal to the Father, but during his time before his death, he had a regular human body like all of us currently have. Yet, he was still fully God, and was also fully a man. To try to read this any other way leads to error, and bad doctrines, rabbit holes we don’t want to go down.

       All of this being told to the disciples before it happens will definitely strengthen their faith when it happens, and they see that God was more powerful than Satan. God had the power to execute his plan, and what happened was not simply by chance, or happenstance. God was carrying out a plan, and so was Satan. But Satan thought he was accomplishing something great, and only accomplishes his own destruction. God ends up with the victory, and Jesus is trying to tell them that is what is going to happen.

       Verse 30: “I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here” (ESV).

       Satan is executing his plan, and as stated prior, he thinks he is about to defeat God. The thought process is likely that he is about to prevent the Millennial Kingdom, and render God’s Old Testament promises null and void. Even to this day, long after this whole scene, isn’t this what Satan is seeking to accomplish in our world? To exterminate the Jewish people from the earth so that God cannot fulfill his promises to them is his ultimate goal. This is what he tried to do, in recent times, through Adolf Hitler, and this is what he is trying to do in the current situation with the war of the Israelis with Hamas. That’s a chief desire—to try to make God out to be a liar. But he, Satan, is the liar. Jesus reiterates here that he is the one who is actually laying down his life for us. It’s not that Satan is catching God off guard and taking it, as it might seem to the disciples with what is about to take place. That’s not what’s going on in this instance. But Jesus has always done what is pleasing to the Father, even to the point of going to the cross. Paul told the Philippians, “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8, ESV). There is the sense where Jesus voluntarily gives his life (again, proving that he is God). And there is also the sense wherein he is doing what the Father wants. He loves us, and he loves the Father by being obedient to him, and he is dealing with his human flesh at the same time. All three are occurring simultaneously.

- Daniel Litton