by
Keith Hunt
Jesus had just told His disciples that if they loved Him
they would keep His commandments. And although He was going away,
back to heaven, He would still come to them via the Holy Spirit.
And this Spirit was "truth" - hence it is only logical that truth
would be given to Jesus' true disciples; it applied then and it
still applies today.
Once more Christ says, "He that has my commandments, and
KEEPS them, he it is that LOVES me, and he that loves me shall BE
LOVED of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself
to him."
Judas, not Iscariot asked how He would manifest Himself to
them. Jesus answers, "If a man loves me, he will KEEP my WORD;
and my Father will love him, and WE will come unto him, and make
OUR ABODE with him. He that loves me not keeps NOT my sayings:
and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's which
sent me" (verses 21-24).
Jesus did not sin! And sin is the transgression of the law
(1 John 3:4). Jesus NEVER "did away" with ANY one of the Ten
Commandments - not a ones of them. There is not one word in all
the New Testament that the Sabbath command was either done away
with or CHANGED from the 7th day of the week to the first day of
the week. There is not one word in the NT that says Sunday is
"holy" or that the 4th commandment has been changed. If they had
a "ministerial meeting" to decide the issue of physical
circumcision (Acts 15), then you can bet your bottom dollar there
would have been just as large a ministerial meeting to discuss
that the Sabbath command was going to be changed, to the first day
of the week or abolished completely. Such arguments presented by
the Roman Catholic and Protestant religions are TOTALLY HORSE
DUNG, when it comes to their reasoning on the Sabbath command.
Actually the RC church plays it much more openly than the
Protestants, for they will admit it was the RC church that
changed the 4th commandment, but they reason that because they
are the true church of God they had the authority to so change
the 4th commandment. No such authority was EVER given to anyone
to change any of the Ten Commandments. Jesus came to MAGNIFY the
law of God, (Isaiah 42:21) not to diminish it or "do away with"
this one or that one, OF THE GREAT TEN.
Another wonderful truth in these verses is the fact that
when the Spirit comes into a disciple of Christ, BOTH the Father
and Jesus are coming to DWELL inside of that person. It is NOT
some supposedly "third person" of the Godhead coming into a true
Christian, it is as Jesus stated here, the Father and Himself
coming to live inside the child of God. No wonder Paul was
inspired to write that our body is the TEMPLE of God, and anyone
wilfully defiling, living, practicing defilement, be it spiritual
or physical, God will destroy (1 Cor.6:9-10,15-20; 2 Cor.6:14-
18).
There are other verses that clearly tell us that Christ will
come into His disciple (see Gal.2:20), but here is the verse that
teaches not only Jesus but the Father also comes into His child
via the Comforter - the Holy Spirit.
The promise is also that the Holy Spirit will "teach you all
things," and bring to your mind what things Jesus has spoken and
taught. Certainly with the disciples of His day that was
miraculously so, as they were inspired to write the Gospels -
direct inspiration was part of writing the Gospels, which many a
modern "critical scholar" like to ignore or forget (verse 26).
We also come here to verse 28, that knocks in the head, does
a death blow, to the "trinity idea" that makes ALL in the Godhead
FULLY EQUAL in every way. No, Jesus taught no such doctrine.
While Jesus now has EVERYTHING that the Father has, there is ONE
thing that REMAINS for the Father ABOVE anyone for all Eternity.
I did not put this in your Bible last night, it's been there for
2,000 years near enough. Jesus, with plain words said, "....I go
unto the Father, for my Father is GREATER than I!" Christ does
not now sit on top of the Father or somehow inside of Him. Your
NT tells you Jesus sits at the RIGHT HAND of the Majesty on High.
The first chapters of the book of Revelation makes that very
clear. And so does 1 Corinthians 11:3. The Father will ALWAYS be
the Greatest IN AUTHORITY. Jesus taught elsewhere that the "one
sent" is never greater than the one who send him. The one sent
and the sender are not equal in authority, the SENDER is greater
in authority.
Jesus also makes this clear, as who has the greater
authority as He goes on into chapter 15. Jesus is the vine, the
Father is the Husbandman.
Christ's disciples are the branches of the vine Jesus. And
they must abide in Him or no fruit will come forth. It is
automatic - those abiding in Christ and He in them, will bring
forth fruit of righteousness. Not being so is also made just as
clear - the dead branches will be gathered up and burned in the
fire. So it is James chapter two friends, pure and simple, for
those who have a pure and child like mind.
Listen to Jesus again, "Herein is my Father glorified, that
you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples. As the Father
has loved me, so have I loved you: continue in my love. If you
KEEP my COMMANDMENTS, you shall abide in my love; even as I have
kept my Father's commandments, and abide in His love" (verses 1-
9).
Now, Jesus and the Father are ONE, in mind and character, so
whatever are the commandments of Jesus are the commandments of
the Father, and whatever are the commandments of the Father are the
commandments of the Christ. It works BOTH ways!
The next words of Jesus are so uplifting and powerful,
especially for Passover time:
"This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have
loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man LAY DOWN
(Greek is "aorist 2" tense - interesting as "aorist" is usually
past tense, but here it obviously means "anytime tense" - because
Christ's death was a done deal so to speak, He can speak of it as
already past) his life for his friends. You are my friends, IF
you DO whatever I command you. Henceforth I call you not
servants; for the servant knows not what his lord does; but I
have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my
Father I have made known unto you. YOU have NOT chosen me, but I
have CHOSEN you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring
forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever
you shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it you. These
things I command you, that you love one another" (verses 12-17).
Notice among many things taught here, a person does not by
themselves, just sit down and decide to be a "Christian" - well I
better put it another way; you do not decide to become a TRUE
Christian all on your own steam. In fact it is Christ (and the
Father) who have decided to call you to become a child of their
Kingdom - again we are back to chapter 6:44, 65. And remember
again when you are called and you do decide to follow that
calling, you are not given all truth at one time. But the promise
is the Spirit will guide you over time into all truth that
pertains to salvation, as long as you continue to hunger and
thirst for righteousness, as Jesus said in Matthew 5, and long as
you are willing to grow in grace and knowledge, as Peter wrote
that we should in 2 Peter 3:18. See how the Bible INTERWEAVES
itself, when you remember that you must read all Scripture, even
"search the Scriptures" as Christ taught, and "prove all things"
as Paul taught.
The last half of chapter 15 - verses 18-27 - Jesus teaches
His disciples that the world, from a spiritual view, will HATE
the true disciples of the Lord. As they persecuted Jesus so they
will persecute His disciples. He said elsewhere that at times His
followers would be "put out" of the synagogue: by people thinking
they were doing "God's service"! In simple language true
disciples of Christ ain't going to have much favor with the
popular "Christianity" and certainly not the carnal world. Jesus
came and He lived perfectly and taught about SIN! The true
Christian is living according to righteousness (they strive for
it, their nature is to want and to do righteousness, even if they
miss the mark at times, and fall short) and so people who live
according to sin, are uncomfortable around the true Christian,
and will at times, in various ways, persecute Christ's disciples.
This persecution is to be noted as people "count the cost"
in answering their calling. Jesus certainly gave warning to His
followers that it would come upon them at times.
Yes here we are, the verses about being put out of the
"churches" - not acknowledged by other people who think they are
serving God: "They shall put you out of the synagogue: yes, the
time comes, that whosoever KILLS you will think he does God a
service. These things they will do unto you, because they have
NOT KNOWN the Father, nor me!" (verses 1-3). Oh, they will think
they "know" the Father, they may even go around saying "Do you know
the Lord brother," "Are you saved" sister, but they will be like
those looking in from without one day, who will say, "But Lord,
we did this in your name and we did that in your name. And He
will say to them, 'Get away from me, I do not know you, you that
work lawlessness (as the Greek is)'" (Mat.7:21-23).
Then we have the section on the Holy Spirit that will come
into true believers, it will SHOW and REPROVE SIN! It will show
what RIGHTEOUSNESS is! It will declare true JUDGMENT! And it WILL
guide into ALL truth! (verses 7-15).
Did you notice those words "all truth"? Many would probably
say it is impossible to have all truth. Well Jesus is of course
talking in the context of "spirituality." Not knowing all the
truths of all the physical universe etc. And yes friends, IT IS
POSSIBLE to KNOW ALL truth when it comes to the BASIC truths of
the Bible - the doctrines of God as listen in Hebrews 6:1-2. In
fact those truths are ALL fully explained to you on my Website.
For some of you those truths may take YEARS to find and learn,
others find and learn them in a relatively short time - the WHEN
you learn them all is in the hands of the Father. But ALL things
concerning salvation and the plan that God has for human kind,
CAN be found. Then, from there it is digging into the "meat of
the Word" (to maturity - see Hebrews 5:11-14). From milk to
strong meat!
It was ever now so close to the time when Jesus would have
to offer Himself as the lamb led to the slaughter - to give His
body - to shed His blood - for all sins of all people.
He gives encouragement to His disciples from chapter 16:16
through to verse 33. And verses 33 reads:
"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have
PEACE. In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good
cheer; I have overcome the world."
Then there is the real "Lord's Prayer" in chapter 17.
...........................
To be continued
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