John 14:15-26

¹⁵ “If you love me, obey my commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. ¹⁷ He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. ¹⁸ No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. ¹⁹ Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. ²⁰ When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. ²¹ Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.” ²² Judas (not Judas Iscariot, but the other disciple with that name) said to him, “Lord, why are you going to reveal yourself only to us and not to the world at large?” ²³ Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. ²⁴ Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me. ²⁵ I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. ²⁶ But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.”

Seeing the Savior means:

4. Seeing His Service

Verse 24-25 says “And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me. 25 I am telling you these things now while I am still with you.”We don’t really see Savior until we see His Sacrifice. The Father sent Jesus. Which means that Jesus was willing to leave the comfort of heaven and experience the chaos of earth in order to serve us. So often we focus on what we don’t have instead of what we do. We complain about how hard it is but when was the last time you acknowledged what Jesus had to give up to come to earth to serve you and because of His sacrifice what you have gained?

He gave up Control as He intentionally put Himself into the hands of His creation so we could be cared for.

He gave up his throne in heaven for a borrowed feeding trough so we could share in His treasure.

He gave up His glory so we could know God

He gave up comfort so we could be comforted

He gave up his dignity so we wouldn’t have to die.

He gave up being praised so I wouldn’t be punished.

He gave His life so that we could have love

If He had never been sent, we would be sentence to death. But because He came and died in our place we have peace with God and a place in His kingdom. Sometimes people ask some interesting God questions, but sadly over the centuries the church has communicated that it’s not ok to ask God questions. Yet you never once find Jesus saying, “Stop asking questions”. When Jesus is around questions are allowable, because discipleship is all about learning and growing. Jesus’ willingness to allow us to ask questions reveals a caring King, He has every right to tell us what to do, Scriptures says: He has all things under His feet, He is the head of the church, In Him all things live and move and have their being. Jesus could have said, I have decided. Don’t question Me just obey”. Jesus had every right to take that approach, but instead He takes the way of patience, encouragement, and nurture, why because He came to serve. He is willing to help us even when the questions are not the right ones. Jesus is the King who still allows His people to ask and to probe. When was the last time you saw His sacrificial service?

5. Spirit led

Verse 26 says, “the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you”Jesus reminds us of the need to be schooled by the Spirit! This involves not just learning but being led. Because the one you lean on and are led by is the one you will learn from. When you accept Christ, you receive all the Holy Spirit you are going to receive. The question is how much of you is the Holy Spirit going to get? God didn’t give us part of His Spirit He gave us all of the Holy Spirit. He doesn’t hold back so why do we? Often, we don’t see the Savior because we don’t listen to His Spirit. We want to know His will but not his ways. We spend a lot of time telling instead of being taught. Jesus here reveals the Trinity, Father Son and Spirit. What is it that you need to learn or allow the Holy Spirit to remind you of? We need to be reminded of Jesus teachings because like the children of Israel we so quickly forget. Why not take sometime today to celebrate Christ’s sacrifice, praise Him and thank Him for coming and dying on the cross to set you free from sin.

John 14:15-26

¹⁵ “If you love me, obey my commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. ¹⁷ He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. ¹⁸ No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. ¹⁹ Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. ²⁰ When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. ²¹ Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.” ²² Judas (not Judas Iscariot, but the other disciple with that name) said to him, “Lord, why are you going to reveal yourself only to us and not to the world at large?” ²³ Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. ²⁴ Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me. ²⁵ I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. ²⁶ But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.

Not only do we need spiritual sight to see the Savior but second, we need to:

2. Surrender self–

Verse 23 says “All who love me will do what I say.”We don’t really see the Savior until we surrender self. Most of us want to see Jesus for how it will benefit self, we don’t really want to see Jesus so we can serve. Jesus said that love is clearly connected to action. Loving Jesus means obeying Jesus, doing what He says. Love is action not emotion. There are lot of us that want Jesus to be our Savior, but we balk when it comes to him being our Lord. What Jesus is saying is that those who are willing to hear and obey what He has to say will see Him. It’s like the TV in your living room, the shows are sent out 24 hours every day, but it’s only when you turn your TV on and take time to watch that you can receive the sound and the picture. The Holy Spirit is like having cable television, direct-wired into your home but are you tuned in, are you taking the time to hear? What distractions do you need to tune out, so you can be tuned in? The problem is that when the connection is loose or there is a break in the cable the reception becomes distorted. That’s what sin and disobedience does to our ability to be in communication and fellowship with God. Seeing Jesus is about being steadfast, its more than just seeing Jesus it’s saying yes to Jesus and obeying Him. Obedience allows us to see but it also brings:

3. Security

Verse 23 goes on to say, “My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.”Its more than just seeing Jesus but being at home with Him. So often we complain because we don’t see Jesus but what we fail to see is that He sees us and our sin and chooses to want to stay. Jesus is willing to stick with you. Seeing Jesus means we understand we will never be separated. Seeing means settling into a relationship with Him, yet so many in the questioning time tend to stray. Are you straying or settling in? We don’t see the Savior until we see that He is here to stay. He will take those who feel like orphans and give them a family, a home. We will have troubles. The water in life’s boat rises faster than we can bail and we cry out, Jesus “Don’t You care?” Yet when we are at home we have His shelter. We will face temptations and fail so we cry out “Didn’t You promise to help me to resist” yet in the shame and failure He comes and says, “You are still My child come home“. We look back on our lives only to see a string of sins, things we’ve done that we wish we could forget, but things which our consciences won’t let go and we cry to Jesus, “Where is the hope I need?” Jesus comes, hands pierced and says, “My blood purifies you from all sin”. As we look toward the one thing we are sure to face, death. We don’t like it, we don’t want it, we fear what will happen and we cry to Jesus, and the One who has seen the inside of a tomb says, “Because I live, you also will live”. These are the circumstances that produce the questions and stir the doubts. But as the issues come and the questions arise, we do have a Savior who keeps giving an answer, the same answer that He gave to Thaddaeus.  You are not alone, Jesus, the Father, the Holy Spirit, will come … and make our home with You. Jesus seeks us he says you are special I want to stay with you to be at home with you. The difference between a house and a home is who is living there. So, let me ask you how at home with Jesus are you?