Jesus had just dropped a series of bombshells on his boys.  No doubt they must have sat dazed…He just said that He would be leaving them…He also said one of them would betray Him…and then He even said Peter would deny Him…

But then right after that…Jesus looked at them, looked on them…and said, “let not your heart be troubled.”  You know what that means?  That means they had a choice…and so do you!  The Lord would never tell us to do something unless we had the ability…unless it was indeed possible to do it!  But here He says, “Don’t let your heart be troubled” which means they had the option.

The same thing is true for you and me.  It’s not simply an exhortation, a commandment, “hey just deal with it guys.”  No it’s not simply an exhortation…it’s an inspiration.  Because He then gives them the way…if I but listen, if you would but hear Him…if we would but be doers of the Word and not hearers only then my heart, your heart, our hearts would be TROUBLE free on any given day.

So what’s the way Jesus…tell us?  “Simple” He says…there back in verse 1…”believe in Me.”  So simple but so hard, why?  Because it requires faith!  It requires acting upon God’s truth instead of your own.

And if we do that then look two things will remain in our focus, no matter the circumstance, no matter our situation…and He gives these in this Chapter…First > we have the hope of heaven!  No matter the present day happenstance…the eternal tomorrow is heaven!  Second > we know the nature of the Father!  Jesus said in verse 9, “if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father!”  And so we say where is God in this?  Everything is falling apart on me God…where are you!  Jesus would say, “chill out kid!  I am with you.  Believe in Me.  I have not called you to steal from you and kill you…that’s what your enemy does…I am here that you might have life, and have it abundantly.” 

Seeing Jesus we see the Father and what did we see in Jesus?  Availability, approachability, love, kindness, humility…absolute goodness and faithfulness!  That is the nature of the Father!  God can do nothing but good.  He is good.  Your straining and your striving and your harmful affectionate passions…they harm you man…because they trouble your heart!  Believe in God, will ya?  He is nothing but down right, plain out, pure and consistently good!  I wonder is your heart troubled, or do you believe?

Chapter 14 Verse 15

• “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”  You really can’t get much more ground level than that statement.  And what are His commandments?  Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love eachother as yourself.  There are whole movements out there today, there are people maybe even here among us this morning or listening on the internet that espouse a love for Jesus, a relationship with God…yet the lives being lived, the attitudes being aroused, their actions, their words, their days…are completely out of alignment with the Word of God.  This one clear statement alone reveals their true heart…that they do not love Jesus…Jesus was and is all about laying His life absolutely down for the salvation, the peace the lives of others!  No they don’t love Him, they love themselves.
• And so Jesus, the Lord and Savior of all men and women, says here clearly, “if you love Me, you will follow Me, you will believe in Me, your life will absolutely mirror, display, wreak of My Holy Spirit…the Spirit of selflessness, the Spirit of Truth and love and righteousness…if you love Me, My commandments you will keep.  If you don’t…you won’t.”  So entirely clear.

Chapter 14 Verses 16 - 18

• It’s impossible for man to not serve himself.  It’s impossible for us to not put ourselves, our needs, our desires before anyone else’s…even God’s.  We need divine intervention to do what is right, what is pleasing to Him and so check this out…Jesus says here that He will send the Helper, the parakletos (in the Greek)…the Spirit of Truth…to lead us into all truth and show us that self service ultimately leads us to self destruction…and to comfort us when denying ourselves hurts.
• And this Helper is an abiding Helper.  Jesus says there in verss 16 that He will abide with us and that word in the greek “meno” speaks of permanency…that He will not leave us but He will be with us continually.  Some would teach that mankind is able to cast off the Holy Spirit…take up salvation one day and put it aside the next…but that is out of alignment with God’s Word as Jesus says here that He will abide continually…forever!
• And notice here Jesus shows us a few things.  First their current state.  He says “He dwells with you” meaning at that very moment, with Jesus there with them, they are seeing the Father and they are seeing the Holy Spirit because they are indeed One.  But also He says “He will be in you.”  You see they were not yet indwelt by the Holy Spirit.  That doesn’t happen until John 20:22 and so they are troubled, confused, even afraid.  But Jesus reassures them and us as He says, “I will not leave you orphans.”  Or better translated, “comfortless.” 
• Have you lost hope…slipped into a spot of spiritual comfortless?  Do you know that it’s you that’s drifted, not God?  He promises here, and God cannot lie, He will fill us with the comfort of heaven…it is man who forsakes God, not the other way around. 
• And so we here see a two fold ministry of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus says He will be with you…para in the Greek.  And He will be in you…en in the Greek.  The Holy Spirit is with all mankind continually.  Always testifying of the truth.  Always calling them to Truth.  And then when one makes a decision for the Lord and opens their hearts and lives to Jesus…then Holy Spirit comes into that person’s heart and life and that person is born again. 
• Why born again?  Well all men are born with the root of sin.  Slaves to sin.  Lost in it.  They can’t help but sin.  They’re blind to the truth and by their very nature, enemies with God…because God is holy and perfect and completely righteous. 
• But when the Holy Spirit comes in…you see light cannot dwell with darkness and so that sin root is well… uprooted.  And you know the life is in the root.  Without the root, life is not sustainable and so as the Holy Spirit uproots that sin nature in your very core, in your very heart of hearts…the old man, the old woman…stuck as a slave to sin and trapped in blindness…dies. 
• Yet you live on…but now new.  In communion with the Father through the imputed righteousness of the Son and all things are made new…you (as the Bible says) are a new creation…all things have passed away, behold all things are made new.  Born again you see.
• That’s why Jesus says here that the world cannot receive Him, see Him or know Him…because the world is condemned…but there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:28)!  Why?  Because Jesus has overcome the world.  That strife you are in, that pain you are perpetuating in your marriage, in your home, in your family, in your workplace…He has overcome all of that and has enabled you to also…if you would only believe and what’s more…do what His Word has commanded so that you might have life!!
• And still yet there remains a third ministry of the Holy Spirit.  Found in Acts Chapter 1 verse 8.  Jesus said there to His disciples, “you shall receive power (dynamis – where we get our word dynamite!) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you (epi in the Greek); and you shall be witnesses to Me and for Me.”
• So awesome.  He comforts us, He testifies to us…then at our invitation and humble recognition of the truth He comes into us and saves us, rebirths us…re-roots us…sets us free from all of this death that surrounds us so that we no longer burn out but rather burn bright!  Burn hot!  Burn with intensity and eternity!!  And then He comes upon us…and empowers us to do those greater works that Jesus spoke about earlier in this chapter.  Power arises man…explosive power whose blast echoes even in heaven!
• He said, “I will not leave you orphans.”  And He hasn’t.  But we groan, we moan, we complain, we cry…because…under it all…the truth is…we don’t believe.  We have not chosen yet to bow the knee to the Lord of all creation…and in that man so many are just ripped off and they rip others off…it’s a tragic cycle.  A cycle that is not for the child of God.  Jesus said here, love Me?  Follow Me…and watch life take root all around.

Chapter 14 Verse 19

• The last time that the world would see Jesus presently, on the world scene as the comforter, the wonderful counselor…was on the cross.  After Jesus’ resurrection notice, He showed Himself to many…but they were all His own.  He revealed Himself risen and alive to a multitude…but they were all His disciples.  No gospel account suggests that Jesus was seen by “the world” and neither does the Book of Acts.  But notice Jesus says here to His disciples, “you will see Me.”
• Even today, even in your present situation…do you see Him?  I wonder are you seeing Him?  His disciples do.  As we pressed in on the Revelation of Jesus Christ on Wednesday night we learned that revelation…rich blessing…and rich relationship with Jesus now and forever comes to a specific type of person…a person that Jesus here differentiates from the “world”…one who reads, one who hears, and one who keeps the Word of God.
• The world may read…the world may hear, but the world does not keep the Word of God.  The world follows hard after wasteful wants.  The world rejects service and embraces self.  The world Jesus says, will see me no more…that is, until the day I return.  Until the day that I come with eyes of fire with righteousness and judgment and finality in My hand Jesus would say.  But until then, you will see Me…if you love Me, keep My Word…keep My commandments and you will see Me…and in that you will be filled with life eternal, comfort, hope and power!

Chapter 14 Verse 20 – 21

• We just went through this didn’t we as we looked at Revelation Chapter 1 this past Wednesday night?  Jesus is very clear here and this is such a simple truth yet this is the singular truth that most Christians, most believers, most seekers completely miss.  And they struggle…and many are not simply saved but rather tragically deceived.  Jesus says, “If you love Me, hear My commandments, and keep them.” 
• Again its that word tareo…not keep as in store it up, not keep as in take it and lock it away…but keep at it, keep in it, keep on…Jesus says if you love Me, this will be the sign to you and to Me and to the world…that you keep at it…you don’t depart from it…the Word of God. 
• And if you do…the wonderful promise given by Jesus…you will know love.  Not feel love, you will KNOW love and I will reveal Myself personally to you.  I love that word “manifest.”  Emfanezo in the Greek, where we get our word emphasis.  Jesus says if you choose Him, His ways, His truth, His life then He will emphatically come to you!  He will emphatically exhibit His power and might and love in your life!  You won’t have to stop and look for it!  It’s all around you all the time!  But if you don’t…He won’t.  And this is where so many “believers” stop short.  They stop at the desire and never proceed to the decision…
• The one that loves Me, Jesus says…will keep at it, keep in it, keep on…and all the while I will be more and more and more revealing Myself to Him.

Chapter 14 Verse 22 – 26

• Notice the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  To abide with us…verse 16.  He will teach us the truth…verse 26 and also there in verse 26…to remind us of, to focus us on eternity.  In our days, in our trials the Holy Spirit will comfort us by bringing to our remembrance that Jesus is on the throne and that Jesus is coming back.  I wonder today does that comfort you or does that scare you?  Does that terrify you? 
• I once was terrified at the mention of Jesus returning, why?  Because I wasn’t right with Him.  The Holy Spirit testified to my spirit that I wasn’t clean and that brought great terror upon me.  Not anymore…and listen as you press in, keep at it, keep on it in your walk with God…times may be hard but let the difficultly always be because of your decision to hold to His commands, to grasp and cling to righteousness…and in that the remembrance of Jesus in control, Jesus on the throne and Jesus coming back is so intensely comforting!  It brings about great strength and joy and liberty…It will proliferate peace…

Chapter 14 Verses 27 – 31

• What peace does Jesus have now?  Verse 21 of Chapter 13 tells us that Jesus was troubled in the Spirit.  Grieved because of His betrayal.  Grieved because of what lay before Him…But all the while, as He tells us here…at peace.  Filled with peace.
• This peace that Jesus has even at this night…He promises to His disciples.  A peace that is able to stand.  A peace that is able to overcome.  A peace that is able to keep at it!  A peace that only only only only comes through perfect confidence that the Father is in control of everything.  That God is on the throne, that home awaits you…That God is good.  The world cannot give this sort of peace.  The unsaved…the nondisciples cannot experience this.  The Christian walking outside of the will of God forsakes this…
• But heavenly consistency, dynamite style power…peaceful stillness are available to you, to me, to us by obedience to the Word of God which ultimately, ultimately, ultimately…don’t miss this...can be simply summed up in four words that escape all that are blinded by the prince of this age…the deceiver himself…don’t miss this…this peace that Jesus promised, that He displayed is available to us by obedience to His Word which ultimately is simply…true belief in Jesus.
• And just as Jesus says here, “lets go…as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do…” let us go…you and I…let’s go this week and be real…maybe for the first time.