Our John Chapter 14 Text for this Lesson …

“22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? 23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me. 25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. 26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

God the Father not only loves us, but He takes great pleasure in loving us! According to Zephaniah 3:17 … “The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.” (Praise the Lord!)

The Son of God is sent by the Father into the world. (1John 4:14 … “The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.”)

The Holy Spirit is sent by Jesus into the world to convict the lost and comfort the saved. (John 15:26 … “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.”)

Only God the Father is never described as being “sent!” He’s the Anchor, directing all the other aspects of His “Business!” (Luke 2:49 … “And Jesus said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?”)

Hallelujah!

I mentioned in class that The Holy Spirit is our Teacher.

Here is how the Disciple John describes Him in his first Epistle. He is the Anointing, the Unction!

1 John 2:20 … “But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.”

1 John 2:27 … “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.”

Best of all, instead of reading these few little “nuggets” I failed to mention in the 30-minute class, just watch it all …

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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The Text, verse by verse …

18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. 20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”

As I studied for this lesson one commentator called Jesus’ Resurrection … “THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT REALITY THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED IN WORLD HISTORY!” Jesus in Verse 19 declared … “Because I live, ye shall live also.”

Paul in Colossians 3:4 said of our Lord … “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” Jesus, through His Resurrection, IS our life!

In verse 20 we notice faith. In verse 21 we notice love. Faith must precede love. Faith produces love. Because, according to Romans chapter 5, at the point of our justification we experience this little miracle: “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” “Shed abroad” means “to gush out,” Romans 5:5. (In Galatians 5:6 Paul the Apostle actually mentions “faith which worketh by love.”

Wow!

In John’s Gospel, judgment is not just a future event. But an ongoing condition for the man or woman who will not believe in Jesus! Look …

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36, God’s Wrath!

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” John 5:24 with Jesus Himself speaking. The noun “condemnation” is “krisis,” the Greek word for “judgment!”

Now as usual, I invite you to watch the video …

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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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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