Over the last three years the disciples had seen Jesus do and say great things.  So much so that they were fully convinced, wholly persuaded…they had come to realize, recognize and beyond any doubt believe that Jesus was the Messiah.  They had proved that belief in leaving all to follow Him…and that truly is the mark of genuine belief. 

For the past three years they have spent every day with Him.  Following Him, serving Him, watching Him, experiencing Him and ministering with Him.  But tonight was different.  On this night Jesus humbled Himself and wrapped a towel around His waist, fetched a water pot and washed the feet of each of His disciples.  He told them that one of them would betray Him. 

He told them that He was going away, that He would be taken from them and they would not be able to come with Him.  He had to go it alone.  Something they hadn’t seen at all from Him during the last three years.  And Peter, having kept his peace when he was told that Jesus would be betrayed could no longer and he piped up, “what do you mean we cannot come?  I’d follow you even to my own death.” 

And Jesus looked on him as a Father to His son and said, “oh Peter, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”  And then turning to His disciples there in the beginning of Chapter 14, Jesus said, “but look, listen…I’m coming back for you!  In My Father’s house, you’ll find many wonderful abiding places.  I go so that those wonderful abodes may be prepared for you.”

This was even hard for them to take.  Remember Thomas said, “Lord we don’t know this place so how will we know how to meet you there?”  And Philip chimed in with “Lord, you’re going to Your Father’s house?  Take us to the Father so that we might be clear as to where you will be.”  And Jesus said “I am the Way Thomas and Philip, He who has seen Me has seen the Father!” 

And after they had wrapped up dinner, Jesus knowing that the time was upon Him to be falsely accused, charged as a criminal, tried unlawfully and destroyed bodily…He led them out of the comfort of the meal and into the night.  And as they walked, making their way to the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus has His last conversation, His final time of instruction with His disciples and He uses the time to deliver the most important message for them and for us.  Important yet insanely simple…abide in Him.

Well what does abiding in Jesus look like?  I mean break it down right so that I know, so that I can see…you might say.  So cool this kind of scene the Lord showed me this week as I was preparing, if you look at Psalm 16 beginning at verse 8 you read, “I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.  Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope.  For You will not leave my soul in Sheol.  Nor will you allow Your Holy One to see corruption.  You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

So get the scene, David says in Psalm 18:8 that the Lord is at his right hand and then later in verse 11 he says that he is at the Lord’s right hand.  Well how is that possible?  If I’m holding hands with someone with my right hand, then unless we are facing opposite directions, which would be odd, then they are holding mine with their left.  So how could it be that we are both at each others right hand?  You see because one is clinging to the other.  An embrace you see!  And just like that, to abide in Him is to utterly cling to Him! 

Hang on every word, make no move, no decision, do nothing, absolutely nothing apart from the Lord…that is what it is to abide!

Abide in His love, His truth and His ways and in so doing, just as a branch abides in a vine, we will bear much fruit, we will love as He loved and although the circumstance may be as grave for us as it was for Him on this particular night, we will be characterized by peace and fortified with joy! 

The world will hate you He said to them eight times in a span of less than 60 seconds.  The word there in the Greek for hate is “miseo” which is where we derive our English word, “miserable.”  And so as you walk through this life, shining the light of grace and truth, and salting situations with the certainty and sincerity of scripture, some will say to you, “man you’re a miserable friend!  I just need someone to comfort me and someone to listen…as I complain about my husband or as I tell you how horrible the people are that I live with, or work with, or worship with…” 

But we know the truth!  That gossip, complaining, grumbling, disrespecting your husband, not loving your wife, seeking to be served rather than serving is sin!  And the problem is, the issue that we cannot tolerate is that sin, when full grown, brings death!  And so no you can’t, physically and intellectually and emotionally and truthfully you can’t, be a “friend” to someone who is standing on a cliff begging you to push them off!  You HAVE to pull them back but sometimes, and what Jesus is telling them here in this conversation, sometimes that will take you standing between them and their cliff…and for that restraining upon them, for that type of boldness…its like taking a toy from a 2 year old…prepare for the fit!  And the fit will come for sure…

But all these things, Jesus has shared with them and taught to them so that they may believe and abide in Him when the fits come, and in doing so, they will be ok…they will be reminded that this world is not home…home awaits!

And so as they continue to walk, approaching the Brook Kidron and coming up upon the Garden of Gethsemane…in my minds eye I almost see Jesus stop and turn to them there under the full moon of the Passover season and panning eye contact through the eleven, He says to them there in Chapter 16 Verse 1, “These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble.”

Chapter 16 Verse 1

• Guys, My friends, My disciples listen up…I wanna tell you something, Jesus says…its in your nature to stumble because the nature of your flesh is sin…you’re bent on it…but My word I have given to you so that you, even though all of this comes upon you, you will indeed not stumble. 
• You see we can easily welcome a guest that we expect because to be forewarned is to be forearmed and Jesus here gives them a warning yes of what would come upon them as they walked in a world that is foreign to righteousness, truth, grace and love but more importantly Jesus is making clear to them that naturally they will find themselves defaulting to despair and when that spirit of frustration, dejection and depression creeps upon them, remember what I have spoken to you and you will be well armed to stand.
• The promises of the Word man are earth shaking…life changing…and we hide them in our heart so that when times are unbelievable unbearable…we remember…try these on for size…
• I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he will stand upon the earth at the last.  (Job 19:25)  No weapon formed against me shall prosper.  (Is 54:17)  The generous prosper and are satisfied; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.  (Proverbs 11:25)  Any labor in the Lord is not in vain!  (1 Cor 15:58)
• You just remember one of those…you just meditate on ONE of those promises of God and how can you fail?  How can you turn?  If you truly believe…
• You know someone once counted the promises in the Bible…just to see how many there actually were…how many do you think were counted?  3,573!  Why?  Why so many?  Jesus says it here, so that you are able to stand in the day of trouble!

Chapter 16 Verse 2

• Man Jesus just hits the nail on the head here doesn’t he because who is about to come on the scene shortly?  Saul of Tarsus…the one who was there rooting on the stoning of Stephen, the very first martyr…and this Saul of Tarsus would throw Christians out of the synagogues in the name of God believing all the while that he was doing God’s work…but then who would he later become?  Paul the Apostle. 
• But still there have been many others.  Just to name a few > Khomeini who was quoted once saying, "Those who are trying to bring corruption and destruction to our country in the name of democracy will be oppressed. They are worse than Jews, and they must be hanged. We will oppress them by God's order and God's call to prayer." Hitler was once quoted saying, “I am under special protection from God.”  The KKK burns crosses because they believe that through their efforts they are shining the light of Jesus!  Are you kidding me??  Osama Bin Laden praised his false god as thousands breathed their last…
• Jesus, just like a good Father, just like a good leader, and so unlike the leaders we are faced with today doesn’t tell them of blue skies, lower taxes and fantastical/fictional futures…He tells them the truth!  The good which is very good…and the bad also which is very bad. 
• He says to them as they walk, “following Me will cost you everything” and it would.  Each of His disciples would die a horrible death, even John was boiled in oil…he just didn’t die…and it occurs to me, Jesus said “anyone who is My follower must take up your cross, deny yourself, obey My commandments by loving God before anything else and others before yourself…” the cost is high…yet there are many that have paid no price. 
• Following Jesus cost the early church everything, what is it costing you?  Are you following Him at all?

Chapter 16 Verse 3 – 4

• Ultimately we see why these things will happen and continue to happen today…because they do not know the Father…they serve false gods and as the time of the end draws nearer, persecution increases…why?  Because false gods increase…
• It’s not just a twisted, warped and false concept of Yahweh, and it’s not just the evil exaltation of the Arab moon god Alah, its money, its sex, its pleasure, its power, its political correctness…all of these indeed are false gods that are actively worshipped by many!
• And Jesus says look guys I’m telling you this, I’ve given you My word so that when these things come about, you may remember… and your shield of faith which will be activated by your remembrance of My word…will be solid protection.  So cool!  That is such a motivation to get into God’s word is it not?  Because as you and as I see the events of today unfold which were CLEARLY foretold in God’s Word, man our faith surges!
• And not only that, when we apply the precepts and commandments of God that are found only in His Word, found only by hiding His word in our hearts, and we discover Him to be absolutely, unequivocally and undeniable faithful and true, man we come alive! 
• And it’s the heart of the Lord, Jesus’ very heart, to see us not powerless, defenseless and frankly useless…but alive even while we are in this world!  Burning bright, not burning out! 
• Can you see that we are seeing His heart here?  This is it, His last opportunity to talk with them…before He is murdered!

Chapter 16 Verses 5 – 9

• Wow what?  Won’t the Holy Spirit convict the world of lying, of stealing, of cheating, of fornicating, of sorcery…or drug abuse?  Of not loving?  Won’t the Holy Spirit convict man of all of the works of the flesh?  Jesus says nope, dig a little deeper.  Why do works of the flesh even persist in a man or in a woman’s life…because BOOM, the root…the real issue…they DO NOT BELIVE in ME.  This is really the one and only sin that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of…non-belief.  That is why the one and only unpardonable sin is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit…the willful and eyes-wide-open rejection of faith in Jesus Christ. 

Chapter 16 Verse 10

• The Holy Spirit also convicts or witnesses to righteousness by pointing to the only righteous One.  “I’m okay” you say, “I support good causes, I give to charities, I volunteer for the American Red Cross.  I’m pretty righteous.”  Oh?  Righteous enough that death cannot hold you?  So righteous that when you die, you’ll rise again?
• Did Ghandi, did Mohammad, did Confucius, did Buddha?  Unlike any other figure in history, Jesus Christ alone rose from the dead and ascended to the Father.  Thus, He is the only Righteous One to whom the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of comfort, the Holy Spirit points.
• Man, the Christian often says, what I just did, how I just reacted was no righteous…why?  Because it didn’t honor Jesus…you never hear this…”man I am so busted, what I just did was so unlike Buddha!”  HA!  No way!  No power there…no righteousness there.  You definitely never hear anyone ever say, “I feel so bad because what I did is so unlike Muhammad!”  Not a chance!  Everyone in this room is more moral than Muhammad or slaughtered thousands and even married a 6 year old!  Ayesha was 6 years old…he was 51!  Abominable pedophile!  Void of all righteousness…Jesus Christ alone man!!

Chapter 16 Verse 11

• When Jesus died on the cross, the ruler of this world was judged and his power…permanently broken.  Forever.  That’s some good news because today, even now, Satan battles from a position of absolute poverty.  He has been defeated and ultimately he will be removed forever and so no wonder he troubles us so much…because he is frantic…but look being impoverished, the only power or influence that he can have over you is that which you allow…resist the devil and he will flee James said…

Chapter 16 Verse 12

• They were no doubt lost and confused as they listened to Jesus but understand Jesus is not speaking to them now so that they may absorb and ascertain but so that they would remember these words later and learn them for real…

Chapter 16 Verses 13 – 15

• Some very encouraging truths here that we need to see. 
• First, notice the purpose and mission of the Holy Spirit…to guide us into all truth and to glorify Jesus!  Many movements and churches have gotten well off the path of biblical theology and God-honoring worship as they seek to glorfy the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit when Jesus was clear and even the ministry of the Holy Spirit is clear…that if Jesus is lifted up, He will draw all men to Himself…and that no one comes to the Father except by Jesus!  Jesus is the way, it is His name that is above all other names and therefore the absolute head of the church, the subject and the object of worship within the Body of Christ…is indeed Jesus Christ…
• Second, Jesus says here that when the Spirit has come, He will guide them into all truth…I want you to know, we need to know that it’s not by excellent argumentation of powerful presentation that the light goes on and the heart opens up.  It’s only by the work of the Spirit that people who are blind begin to see.  Jesus knew this and He committed them to the Father…so should we. 
• “They’re just not hearing me, they’re not seeing it,” you might protest.  “I’m talking to them, witnessing to them…my son, my daughter, my wife, my brother, my neighbor, my friend…but they’re still not getting it!”  Rest…the work is the Lord’s…are you trying to sell them or are you simply obeying the Lord? 
• When the Spirit comes, He will guide them into all truth…I wonder today, do you have the truth?  Has the Spirit been allowed to come into your life?  Jesus says prepare, times are going to get tough but you will surely be able to stand…you will surely be able to thrive even…as you cling to Me…and man I will so show Myself faithful!  And in your integrity, in your character and peace and joy…Jesus is eternally glorified…and man that is fruit for sure!