Our Text for the current class …

“15 If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”(John 14:15-17)

Notice the Holy Spirit is mentioned here under two Names, Titles. Both as “Comforter” and “the Spirit of Truth.”

In Jesus’ “Upper Room” Sermon (John chapters 14-16) our Lord gives us repeated information about the Holy Ghost. Five short mini-paragraphs indeed!

John 14:16-17 here. Then John 14:26. Again in John 15:26 but primarily in John chapter 16. Longer Units, John 16:7-11 and John 16:12-15!

I recently read this quote and agreed with it. “The more Spirit-filled a Christain is, the less he will know he is Spirit-filled!” That is another way of saying the filling of the Holy Spirit brings humility to one’s life.

A Spirit filled person might feel as this man did … “So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.” Luke 17:10

John 14 begins with the general idea of us coming to Jesus (Who is the only “Way, Truth and Life”)! But John 14 ends with Jesus coming to us, as in verse 18 … “I will come to you.”

Verse 15 … “If ye love me, keep my commandments” … if you truly love someone, doing what they ask of you (obeying) is not obligatory, but voluntary and delightful!

Short notes tonight, but I was able to include most of the studied material in the recorded class …

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Read this short Sentence. “Jesus EMBODIES God the Father!” That Sentence startled me at first, until I remembered Colossians 2:9. “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” Now I am saying “Hallelujah!

Philip’s request in this Paragraph almost mirrors the one Moses had centuries earlier. (Recorded in Exodus 33:18.) “And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.” But Moses asked this long before “the Word was made flesh,” long before Jesus came to earth!

Several Bible teachers had this opinion. That verse 9 and its claim is “the highest Christological Peak in all the Gospel of John! “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” Personally, I believe every word of that Statement of Jesus.

The verse I cited about letting God’s Word DWELL in us is found in Colossians 3:16. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.” Be so familiar with your Bible that it can be said “to be at home” in you, in your heart and mind!

About verse 11, I failed to point to the fact that both occurrences of the verb “believe” there are framed in the imperative mood! Stark commands! “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.” So, Jesus not only invites the lost to be saved, He commands it! Acts 17:30 … “God now commandeth all men every where to repent.” Sobering!

And that Prayer Promise Jesus made in verse 13 … “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” … gives us the GOAL of all our praying! And simultaneously it gives us the BOUNDARY for all our praying!

A quote I forgot to include …

“Faith in Jesus’ Person should lead us to Prayer in Jesus’ Name!”

Now, watch the video if you possibly have time …

What a Saviour John presents!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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You folks probably think I “forget” a lot! But I only have 30 minutes in which to teach these video Lessons, and when you study several hours for each Text … it is impossible to include all the information! Maybe I should entitle these Website Articles “I DID NOT HAVE TIME TO SAY!”

The term “My Father’s House” interests me. God “lives” in Heaven. But I have learned (in the upcoming John video) that God also lives “in” Jesus! And He certainly lives “on” earth, He being omnipresent. He even owns the cattle on the hills, Psalm 50:10. He lived in His Temple in Old Testament days too! (The Mercy Seat was God’s very Throne!) I can only think of one other “father’s house” in the Bible, Luke 15. What a happy place when the wayward son came back home, a house of joy and feasting and delight! (Like Heaven a bit, I suspect.)

One writer observed that John’s Gospel does not mention the Second Coming of Jesus, not a great deal. (Our Text tonight certainly does!) BUT … do remember that John wrote the whole Book of Revelation, 22 chapters about Jesus coming again!

Note this please … “believing” dominates the first half of John chapter 14. But “loving” is the focus of the chapter’s second half! What a principle … Believing (in Jesus) should lead to Loving (appreciating both the Lord God and our fellow Christians).

Wow!

Watch this “inclusio” …

Jesus’ Upper Room Sermon begins with an emphasis on His Presence with us. John 14:3 here … “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that WHERE I AM, THERE YE MAY BE ALSO.”

And ends with the same thought … “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, BE WITH ME WHERE I AM; that they may behold my glory.” John 17:24

Amazing!

The disciples here clearly could not enter into Jesus’ Feelings. (Nor could they die on the Cross for redemptive purposes, like Him.) BUT … Jesus sure could enter into their feelings, heartaches, sufferings! “Let not your heart be troubled.”

Now read Hebrews 4:16 … “We have an high priest which can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” Glory to God, He knows our “ups” and “downs” too!

The Lord Jesus prepared … (1) Eden for Adam! (2) Canaan for the Israelites! And (3) Heaven for us! (He is in the building business!)

The Lord is good!

One more thing … Jesus is not merely the greatest Teacher to have ever lived. Jesus is the TRUTH itself, TRUTH personified! (John 14:6 … “I am the Truth!”)

Watch the class …

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Let me first of all share the Text for our Bible Study. It occurred to me that someone may be reading here who does not have immediate access to your New Testament …

John 13:31-38 …

31 Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you. 34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. 36 Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards. 37 Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. 38 Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.

Someone said this, describing us Christians in 2022 … “WE LIVE BETWEEN JESUS’ RESURRECTION AND HIS RETURN!”

Isaiah 52:13-15 gives us a synopsis of the Cross as Jesus’ Glory! (Not as a defeat!) Read it with me: “Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: so shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.” (Remember, Jesus is the Fulfillment of Isaiah’s four great “Servant of the Lord” Passages.)

John, who relates Jesus’ amazing words about “love” in our crucial Paragraph, also enjoys talking about “love” in his little Epistles, especially in 1st John. One sample: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 1st John 2:15

Now here’s a graphic Old Testament Picture of God the Father “bruising” (Isaiah 53:5) His only begotten Son on the Cross. This happened at Calvary … “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.” (Zechariah 13:7, King James Version. Here the “Lord of Hosts” is God the Father. And the “Shepherd” is Jesus, Whom God calls “My Fellow” in this Verse. The “sheep” are His disciples, Mark 14:50.)

Wow!

Our current Text leads me to say … “Love is the Badge of Christian Discipleship!”

If you have not done so yet, I invite you to watch the whole class now …

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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As the Gospel of John tells the story of Judas, the Disciple who betrayed Jesus, it relies on the Old Testament to fill in some of the details!

Specifically, Psalm 41:9, which says: “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.” Initially these are the words of King David grieving over one of his friends (Ahithophel) who had become disloyal! But Jesus (in John 13:18) applies this Scripture to His own situation, to His betrayal by Judas! (Thus we learn that Psalm 41 is Messianic, prophesying certain things about Jesus our Lord!)

Psalm 55:12-14 is also an Old Testament Text pointing to Jesus’ betrayal! “For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him. But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.”

And when Judas led that host of soldiers to arrest Jesus, our Lord (with this Passage in mind) simply called the turncoat “friend!” Matthew 26:47-50 relates the incident: “And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him. And Jesus said unto him, FRIEND, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.”

Wow!

Then Peter in Acts 1 quotes yet another Psalm concerning Judas. Psalm 109:8 prayerfully predicts: “Let his days be few; and let another take his office.”

Now Acts 1:20 … “For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take.”

Peter quoted this verse and applied it to Judas as he led the Believers in Jerusalem to elect someone to fill Judas’ shoes among the disciples.

What a vast study this could become … how the New Testament uses the Old Testament to validate the Claims of Jesus!

Watch the whole class now …

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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