Address—Doug Buchanan
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
I would like, briefly Beloved, to go through the Gospel of John. I usually bite off more than I can chew whenever I open up the Scriptures, but I'm going to do it once again. It's my favorite gospel. I want it to be your favorite too, or at least near it. And I would like you to fall in love with that man that came down to declare God's heart towards you.
The Gospel of John.
Presents to us, as is often said, the Lord, the Lord Jesus as the Son of God. It's God's Son, come down here on earth to reveal what God is like to us. It does reveal in it the heart of man too, but it comes out kind of, by the way, the great thing in this book is to see God's heart because when we get a hold of God's heart.
We want to be there.
He wants us there. It's his purpose. His purpose in sending the Lord Jesus here was that we might be near Him. In this gospel we give the Son of God coming down to earth to raise up the children of men, make them sons of God so that they can go up and dwell with him in glory, and even right now enjoy heavenly things.
It's divided up into 28 days.
Amazing.
Only episodes of 28 days out of the Lord Jesus life here on earth are declared in this book and they there is an immense wealth.
Of.
Revelation about him in 28 days. That's just four times here at Lesson Pines.
Chapter one verse one is the 1St.
Declares unto us in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
This is who is coming down God manifest in the flesh. He was always with God, the eternal Son. Verse nine. We're going to go rather quickly through this. I don't know how far we'll get, but bear with me and tag along if I get ahead of you.
Verse 9 That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. The light shows what is first of all, it shows what God is like to us.
We would have never known God if He hadn't come out in the light to show what He's like. It also shows, by the way, what our hearts are like. But the main thing is what God is like.
Verse 14 The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, that is, God here in flesh on earth among us, for us to see and behold. John saw him, he touched him, he heard him, He listened to him, and so on.
And it goes on in the 14th verse. And we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Verse 17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
No man has seen God at anytime. The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared him. Notice here, it's not the one who came from the bosom of the Father, it's the One who dwells in the bosom of the Father. He was always there, He always will be, and He always reveals as we look at Him, as thus, what God's bosom is like. That's the dearest part, that's the affections of God come out.
Displayed here to us in a man near where we can see, touch and feel of them and we can read about them.
That's the first day. The second day begins in chapter one, verse 29, with the witness of John the Baptist. The next day, verse 29, John C of Jesus coming unto him and says, behold the Lamb of God, a new revelation here, God's Lamb, the one who was the provision for Israel to put sin away.
Was there in their midst. John is announcing him as that.
We know him as the one who came to put our sins away again. John repeats that statement in verse 20 and 35, and he says.
Then again the next day, that's the same day as verse 29, but it's the second time. And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said behold the Lamb of God. This is an explanation.
00:05:11
From his heart as he contemplated him, another witness to who and what the Lord Jesus was like. The result was that the two started following Him, and they follow him and He in verse 39 He set them to them. No in verse.
He said, they say Him Master, where dwellest thou? Verse 38. They had followed Him a little while. They had seen for something about Him for themselves, and they wanted to know where he lived.
Oh, wonderful.
To find out where God lives because He wants to live with you too. He wants you to dwell with him. And these disciples are about to find that out, but it's a long story. It doesn't end until the end of the gospel. And he says unto them, come and see. Verse 39, they came and saw where he dwelt. And what's the result? Verse 41, at the end we have found the Messiah which being interpreted.
The Christ.
Brilliant discovery. The Messiah.
The Christ was there. How few discerned that. Oh, may our hearts open up to this book and see that he is that. That's the second day.
To witnesses, third day, verse 43.
The day following, Jesus would go forth into Galilee and find us Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. Another disciple, Philip, follows him, and then he starts talking about him.
To Nathaniel.
And Nathaniel's response in verse 46. Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him. Come and see.
Verse 49 Nathaniel answered and said unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel. Another man is discovering something about the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, the King of Israel.
He got the picture, just with a few short words out of the Lord's mouth about him.
What he was and he realized who he was, the Son of God.
Once we get a hold of that and realize who he is, the Son of God here, God here on earth.
It changes us.
That's day three.
Two more, another witness as to His person, what he is. We'll go on to the 4th day, chapter 2. And this is the story of the marriage of Canaan of Galilee, where we know the Lord Jesus turned the water into wine. Notice what it says about Him in verse five at the end. Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. That was the Lord Jesus mother according to the flesh.
The result of doing what he says is the water is made wine, a witness of who he is, His power, what he wanted to do, to bless. This is a figure to us of of taking and making joy and happiness and pleasure here in his presence. And he will do that if you do what he says.
A brief message.
Full of meaning.
We know the story. They took the wine, the water, poured it out, and it became wine. And it wasn't only wine, it was the best wine. The Lord of the Feast commends them for saving the best until last.
Man had already had a history of attempting to find joy on Earth.
The best wine was reserved for knowing Him. Those of us who know the Lord Jesus our Savior would agree to that. It's the best joy and He can bring it. And we often illustrate it in the marriage because that's where on earth.
Joy is shared in its most beautiful form on earth, and so it will be in heaven when the Lord has his bride with him too. That's the end of the story of the Gospel of John. A people together in the Father's house made happy and rejoicing. So that's day four. We go on to day five, chapter 2 and verse 12.
00:10:13
In this, in this, in this day, the Lord Jesus cleanses the temple.
He goes in and he drives out those who are making merchandise in the temple there in Jerusalem, and he chases them out. And then he says when they question why he was doing this, he says in verse 19, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.
But he spake unto them of the temple of his body. What the Lord Jesus was telling them there was that.
If they were going to ruin God's dwelling place here on earth, then He had a better dwelling place. It was in His body God could come down and dwell with Him. There was a place in him where God could dwell in full liberty and where God's heart could be fully expressed and enjoyed in holiness.
And the way.
To live there was that the Lord Jesus was going to give his body.
So that we could become members of the temple of God and dwell in his place, in his temple, in the body of Christ, in fellowship with him. And so God wants to dwell with his people. He wants their fellowship. He wants your fellowship. That's why we have a gospel meeting every night here. It's an invitation to come in to know the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
To believe on Him, the one who is lifted up there on Calvary, so that you might have your sins forgiven and dwell in holiness with Him. This is day 5.
We go on to day six, the story about Nicodemus being born again. If a people is going to dwell with God, then they must have.
New birth, they must have a new life. The atom life that we inherited from our fathers isn't good enough for dwelling with God. You have to be born again. You have to have the new light. And so he tells Nicodemus this. Nicodemus was a ruler and he thought that he could buddy up to the Lord here as an equal. And the Lord tells him, no, Nicodemus, you got to be born again. You got to have a new life.
And that's true of everyone here. If you want to enjoy this fellowship, if you want to enjoy the things that the Gospel of John presents to you, your first step is to get that new life. And he adds to it in verse 12. I if I have told you earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things? He introduces this because this is really the purpose in the Gospel of John to introduce us to heavenly things.
It wasn't that, just that the Lord Jesus came down to display God's heart here on earth. That's half the story. But the second-half of the story is to raise up these people here on earth and make them dwell with him in heaven. And so new birth is necessary for that.
Flesh and blood shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.
You gotta be born again.
Very basic and then we follow on our brother spoke about that in the gospel about the Lord Jesus lifted up on on the on the pole or like the the serpent of brass was so the Lord was lifted up and we behold him there in faith and we receive.
That new life.
That's day 6.
Chapter 3 and verse seven begins Day 7.
The Lord Jesus is baptized by the John the Baptist on day on the 7th day. This is not the literal 7th day, but it's the 7th day in this book each day. Each time I refer to that, it's the the 7th episode or day in the book.
It was this seems strange to the the John the Baptist why the Lord Jesus should identify as our brother spoke to us that that baptism represented repentance. The Lord Jesus didn't need to repent. He had nothing to repent of. He was perfect, but he chose to come down and identify with that people that took that place of repentance. He was the Savior. He was the Son of God.
The result of repentance was going to bring much blessing.
00:15:02
If he's there, and so of necessity, he must be with that people. That's his condescension.
To such a low place to identify with those people that took that place of repentance before God.
He was there among them, and those were the very ones with which he began to work His disciples, and he used them to further his ministry to the rest in the outreach that went. So what a beautiful thing to have Him identify here with that people of repentance.
Day 8 begins in chapter 4, the Samaritan woman and how the Lord Jesus draws near to her.
A soul with an honest heart, even though a heart that had sought after many things here on earth. She was not even a Jew, but the Lord Jesus reveals himself to her. Notice what he says in verse.
Tan in the middle of the verse it says If thou knewest.
The gift of God and who it is that saith to thee. Give me to drink. Thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would give thee living water. He's He's drawn out her heart. He wants to win her heart. He speaks this to draw her after himself, and then when she is drawn after him and notices that he is something special.
A prophet, and even more than a prophet, he touches her conscience about her life because.
If God is going to have a people dwelling with him, sin has to be taken care of. You can't have things covered up. Sometimes when we get away from the Lord, we we think, well this just I can get right back to him right immediately. Well, that's true. There is a place of restoration, but we can't do it without getting bowed down to the bottom of the issues or else if we still got some guilt complex in our souls.
When we get into the presence of God.
We won't be able to enjoy full fellowship with him, and God isn't satisfied with anything less than full fellowship. That's why in the story about Joseph, he dealt with his brethren the way he did because he knew that he wouldn't be able to have those those leavened brethren around him in full fellowship if there were still some unjudged things that hadn't been brought out of their heart.
Oh, our God loves us too much.
To be just a halfway savior. We're content some way, sometimes, to be.
Halfway for the Lord, that's not good enough for him. And so he deals with this woman and brings her along until she is a worshipper. She, he deals with her and speaks to her about God is seeking worshippers. But amazing thing, a Samaritan woman, a worshiper. That's not what you were thinking about. They were thinking about the noble, the high, the good people.
That were there. How wonderful it is that people like her could be called to be worshippers.
Day nine, chapter 4 and verse 40. We have an interesting little epilogue here, you might say the Lord Jesus.
Remains 2 extra days there with the the Samaritans and it says many more believed on him.
They didn't believe just because of her testimony, but because they themselves saw that Jesus was.
The Son of God, he was who he said he was. And dear young people, we have these meanings and we speak out these truths from our heart. And I trust in a measure we are sincere and we have imbibed and enjoyed these things from our own heart. But that isn't good enough for you. You've got to take it yourself and make it your own. You've got to see Him with your own eyes of faith and realize what He is to you.
And make it your own. Then you'll be blessed. It's not good enough just to sit here and listen to the ministry or in your home assembly or in your family. You've got to believe it yourself and see it.
So he stayed two extra days to prove that to them. Beautiful Savior.
Verse 43. After the two days he departed to go back into Galilee. Now his ministry is going up into Galilee.
00:20:11
And he heals the noble man's son there, and he performs the second miracle.
And he, he tried them a little bit about needing a second miracle.
In this noble son who was sick to die, and he tells this noble man he's not going to go up to where that son was. He speaks, he speaks the word only, and the nobleman son is healed. But the Lord Jesus would not come down to times, to this world to accomplish our redemption.
It once is enough, doesn't need a second visit.
Well, we shouldn't need two visits either. We shouldn't need two miracles. We shouldn't need two gospel meetings to believe who he is when once the evidence is presented, to need a second witness is a discredit to who he is and what he's done.
And that's why he chides them about this. But he's patient and he's faithful. And I'm thankful that we've had many, many meetings and that God gave me many, many opportunities to to believe what a patient savior he is.
That's day 10.
Now we go on to the fifth chapter verse one and we have day 11 and this we have the impotent man.
Who is laid there by the the pool? Siloam, 38 years waiting to be healed of his infirmities. And every time there was some blessing there at that place, somebody else beat him to it and he was left there in his condition. It's a picture of the natural man, perhaps the Jew, perhaps you and me in our natural estate. And in our attempt to get the blessing, we get close and then all of a sudden it's gone.
We miss it.
Sin is very degrading. And so the Lord Jesus comes and he lifts that man up, gives him strength and, and the man takes the very bed that had been carrying him for so many years, and he carries his bed. It's a picture of what Christianity does. The law couldn't do that. The law said you had to do this and do that and nobody could do it. And so they ended up infirm on a bed of sickness.
But Christianity lifts you up and gives you power and strength to carry those things that are that used to be a burden to you or carry you.
Power through life and faith in the Lord Jesus. He's here. He's proving it.
Day 12 in Chapter 6.
We have on day 12 The feeding of the 5000, we have the Lord Jesus walking on the sea, and we have Him calming the storm. These are evidences of who he was, His power.
And what he could do, this is ministry for the practical care along the way, the storms of life. The disciples were in the boat and they were rowing. And then.
But he in the power of the spirit, walking on the water, and it's so beautiful how this story ends up.
I like to think of it as a picture of this whole life, or a picture of 1 little trial that we might go through where there's a storm and immediately it says when the Lord Jesus got to the boat or the ship, they were at the land whither they weep that they went.
What it means is when you get the Lord Jesus there, you're at your destiny.
You've got the place of blessing. You're there, you've arrived. He's with you.
In your trouble.
Sometimes we think we have to get out of our troubles before we can be happy. But if you've got the Lord Jesus with you, it says that they were there and they arrived actually at the other side. Well, it's a picture, I believe, of the end of this age when we'll be caught up to, but it's nice to think of it practically.
Doesn't really matter where you are, as long as the Lord's with you, does it?
When Daniel's in glory and he's reminiscent about being in the lion's den, do you think he's going to be up there complaining about that hard night he had?
00:25:00
No, I believe the Lord was with him there.
And that was his heaven on earth for the moment.
Chapter 6 and a little farther down in verse 22.
They have we have in this chapter the Lord Jesus as the bread of heaven that come down from heaven.
We eat and we live. He's that heavenly man come down here to earth to, to give the ministry that we need for the time we're here on earth.
We eat of him and we live, and it's beautiful to think of this as.
The Lord Jesus as His humanity here on earth is enough to help us in all our earthly circumstances here.
The one who feeds and cares for us as we go through circumstances of life.
It's interesting what our brother was speaking about the other night about the serpent of brass, when the serpents were out there biting the the people and they were dying and their their desire is that the Lord, that Moses would take away those serpents, but the Lord didn't answer or Moses didn't answer them.
From the Lord. In that way He didn't take away the serpents, but what did he do?
He did something better. He gave them a remedy from the bite of death.
And he put up a pole where all they had to do was to look and to live. And that's what the Lord Jesus has done for us. He's come down, He's been lifted up on the pole, He's been lifted up on the cross. And he doesn't, he doesn't necessarily take us out of all our trials and testings, but he says you look and live.
You get through it. The Bread of Heaven ministers to us too, as we go through life's circumstances.
Chapter 7.
We have day 14. The Lord Jesus is, is, is. He's being rejected here.
Their unbelief. You read through this chapter and you see lots of.
Criticism of the Lord.
But he doesn't work.
And they had complained how that he had healed a man on the Sabbath day and they were wanting to keep the Sabbath. They loved their Sabbath day more than that man that was infirm and needed healing and the Lord Jesus.
When he came down to earth to live amongst us and he saw all the degradation and sorrow that sin had brought about, he just couldn't go over and take an easy chair and rest.
He had to work.
He loved us, he cares for us and he would do that even to the criticism of being rejected for it.
That's how much the Son of God loved us.
No, my father worketh and I work, he had told them previously.
Well, we'll go on. There's much more could be said about all of these, but.
In verse 37. Now in Chapter 7.
We have the feast day and the Lord Jesus is there.
And he notice in verse 38, at verse 37, in that in the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me. In this, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
This was the.
Feast of Tabernacles. This was the feast that was the prophetic view of the the millennial reign of peace and joy, when Israel every Monday would dwell under their own fig and vine, fig tree and vine, and they would dwell in booze and they'd be at peace. And there would be any no enemies about them. There would be no danger of anybody coming in and destroying them. They would live in peace and enjoy the fruit of the lamb.
But that had all been postponed because of sin.
But the Lord Jesus stands up a witness and says, I'm the one that can give this. And he gave a witness to all those people there that he would give. He was the source of blessing. They would believe on him. They would not only have blessing, but they would have the source of it. They would have the living waters themselves. Those of us who are born again partake of that new life and that, that and that joy and that blessing.
00:30:25
So he's offering it there. It's what's going to take place in its fullness in the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus. But he was offering it there, or they rejected him by and large. And so he gave witness to that.
Wonderful gospel message.
Chapter 8.
Now we come to, as it were, a new part of the ministry of the Lord.
There's so much could be said about this chapter. We have the woman taken in adultery here and they are making a big scandal out of her and accusing the Lord, and they're seeking to find fault with the Lord because he was showing blessing to the guilty and to the lost, to the publicans and sinners, and they didn't like that.
And so they bring this woman, intentionally caught, in order to try to prove that the Lord Jesus wasn't right, wasn't righteous in what he was doing.
And the Lord Jesus so beautifully takes care of the difficulty in removing all those those accusers of that woman and setting her at peace. And she's the only one who stayed there with the Lord Jesus until the end to get the final blessing.
Oh, what a lesson for us.
Don't leave the presence of this Son of God who comes. You'll miss everything. And that's what it includes in this book if they reject the Lord Jesus.
There's nothing left for them. There is none of their name under heaven given among men whereby we might be, must be saved is true today. But he was there with that woman, and he gave her.
Forgiveness, even though it meant he was going to have to take her guilt and bear it there on the cross that was to follow later on. Think of that blessed Savior, knowing full well when He forgave her that he was going to have to go up to the cross to bear all of that.
They were accusing him about being unjust about that.
But he's a just savior, and he's a gracious savior.
To get those two things together, remember chapter one, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ and he's holding it forth here. Grace and truth. We didn't deserve to be blessed. We don't deserve to go to heaven at the end of our life.
But His grace has made a way whereby it's possible.
And so this woman is a demonstration for us of that. And then there are other events that go along with it.
He speaks about going away at this time and they couldn't wouldn't be able to follow him. You see, as as the Jews began rejecting him, then his thoughts go out instead of being smaller and smaller and saying, well, they won't have me, so I'll just stick with this littler company. The ways of God are different. Instead of that, he's saying I'm going to go out wider. If you won't have me, I'm going to go out and blessing whiter yet.
The Gentiles are going to hear.
Oh, aren't we glad of that?
Yes, he's gone out to the whole world today. At that time, it was only to the Jews.
Or someone who became like a Jew.
Now in Chapter 9 we have the It's still the same day we have the blind man. It's as I think I mentioned before, it shows the blindness of those who are unbelieving. They became so blundering and made so many mistakes in the 9th chapter. They couldn't see who the Lord Jesus was, but there was one man who went after. He had his eyes open, he saw and he wor.
Him, the blind man, picture to us of ourselves and all our blindness, and the Lord opens our eyes. Aren't we thankful that He has opened our eyes?
Don't close your eyes to the witness that God has given concerning the Lord Jesus. Don't be like the blind.
00:35:10
Chapter 10.
Still.
It's the still the same day. He's the Good Shepherd and He's the shepherd that goes into the sheepfold, but they wouldn't receive him. And so he's going to take those sheep and he's going to lead them out and there's going to be 1 flock here. The Lord Jesus is beginning to introduce His ministry to the Gentiles and to the Jews who believed, and He was going to take them out of that.
Fold of of Judaism.
To form 1 flock that was going to be the heavenly company that he was going to take to be with him in the Father's house. You see it's a it's a process here. The Lord Jesus didn't come just and say Oh well Judaism is done for strike that off and let's start all over again. No, he came to the Jews. He gave them first chance and then he then.
And that little remnant that that did receive him, he says OK.
You're going to be the first of this new flock and this new place of blessing that I'm going to take outside of Judaism and its limitations and all its boundaries. And I'm going to bless you and there's going to be 1 flock and we enjoy that one flock today. We our little, our, our hymn book is named after that the little flock. What a beautiful thing one people, even though I know Christians are.
Are are separated and divided all over. There's still 1 flock and there's only going to be one in heaven.
This is his. He's planning this now. He's beginning it in this Gospel of John.
Down at the end of the chapter 10, then it goes on to the next day. This is day 17 verse 40 and it goes on in Chapter 11 about Lazarus.
Says in verse one the Chapter 11 now certain man was sick named Lazarus and so the Lord loved Lazarus and he hears about this.
But he stays there.
And I'd like to just kind of speak of these two days together in verse six. It's the next.
Episode he abode there two days. Still interesting. Another two days here. I'd like to hear some ministry on that. But the Lord at this time intentionally stayed two more days in that place, and in the meanwhile, Lazarus had died.
Was this out of control? That's what Mary and Martha seemed to thank. Lord, if that's been here, my brother had not died. I believe it's a picture of Israel. It could be a picture of us in our sins too. We needed to be have a new life. We needed to be brought onto resurrection ground. And so the Lord here intentionally waits.
It looked like it was out of control, but it wasn't if he hadn't let Lazarus die.
And then raise them again. We have missed this story, this witness to his power.
And so intentionally, he lets it happen. It's a purpose of it. It's a purpose of why he let the Jews run their course. And then he brings in something new. But it's not just a redo, a recreation of the old. It's something new. It's resurrection.
Life from among the dead. And so when you are born again, you get this new resurrection life, a life that cannot die and will not die.
Everlasting life. This is a picture of it in the raising of Lazarus from the dead. And So what a what a what a hope we have, what a comfort we have when one of our loved one is laid aside. The Lord calls, doesn't call it death. He calls it sleep. Because it's only temporary and we can call it that too.
Many times on the tombstones we see see that little verse part of a verse asleep.
And Jesus.
Arise again. Those of us that are alive are going to be changed too and receive new bodies.
The life is not going to be changed, but the body is, and so we have the resurrection power.
And that's on day 19. Lazarus is raised and now we have a person on resurrection ground. We notice that following that.
00:40:09
In Chapter 11 verse 55. Notice it begins day 20.
No, it's, it's on day 21. I'm getting ahead of myself on day 20.
They reject, they make preparations to catch the Lord Jesus, and they.
Are making plans to take him and they demand that if anybody knows who he is to reveal him to him. This is the total rejection of the Lord Jesus. How wonderful it is to in even though we live.
In the same world that would reject him today to go on and it I don't believe it's necessarily God's intention for us to go out and display the Lord Jesus as to be received here on earth. We display him so that he be received individually in the heart by faith, but not that he set up his Kingdom here. Now that's over with for the time being.
But on day 21.
We noticed that.
They have a feast there, they Martha serves, and they the Mary anoints him at his feet, and it's a picture of the heart of those who loved him and how the Lord Jesus accepted that, how much he appreciated that. Today, sad to say, in many circles of fellowship, they think it's more important to preach the gospel than to come and sit at the Lord's feet and worship him.
And pour out your heart. Don't, beloved, forget to give something to the Lord.
Of what you have appreciated about him like Mary. But we noticed that they they want to put Lazarus to death because he's a witness to the resurrection power of the Lord. And that's a picture of what it's like to be a Christian on resurrection ground. Here you follow this risen Savior with that new life, and you will find that the world doesn't want you either.
Never mind, the Lord Jesus appreciates you.
And he cares for you.
Chapter 12 and verse 12 we have day 22.
And in this the Lord Jesus rise into Jerusalem as the King. He is formally presented here to people receive him. He was the King, but there is also rejection of Him, and he is about to be.
Rejected. And he speaks to himself as the corn of wheat to fall into the ground and die. He's on his way up to Jerusalem now for the last time.
He's about to give his life. He's that corn of wheat, that a grain of wheat has fallen in the ground to die, to bring forth much fruit. We are the fruit of his death and resurrection. And this is a necessary thing for God the Father to have a people with himself.
He must. He was the only person.
Only one capable of going down and robbing death from the enemy of our souls and giving us life.
And so he speaks about that.
Then I go on in chapter 13.
We begin the upper room ministry.
This is the longest section in the book of John. It goes all the way from chapter 13 all the way through chapter 17 into chapter 18 part way. It's called the Upper Room ministry. And this was that night there when he was to be betrayed and the Lord gathered his disciples that little.
Small group of those that were followers of him and in these series of chapters and we won't be able to go over them in much detail.
But the Lord Jesus reveals to them what he is about to do.
And how he is going to.
00:45:00
Depart out of the world and once he's gone, he's going to take care of them while he's gone.
He's going to he's going to be like one who washes their feet.
So that we can have fellowship with him.
That's the that's what the Lord Jesus is doing now in heaven in cleansing us.
Because we would get dirty with sin, but we are not that it is not to maintain our salvation. It's the maintained fellowship with him. That's why it says with him, if I cleanse, if I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. He tells Peter, that's the what the Lord Jesus is doing in heaven now. But he's telling his disciples because he this was his last night with them. And so in this last night he unfolds through them.
Whole history, as it were, of what's to follow after his death, of how he's going to be taken up into heaven, and then he's going to come back. And so in chapter 14, he speaks about the Father's house. That's where he was going to go, but he said he's going to come back. We're still waiting for him to come back.
Chapter 14.
We're still waiting. What a wonderful prospect. Chapter 15 speaks about how we can bear fruit while he's gone abiding in Christ. You have to be close to Him in the vine. He's the fruitful, that one, the only fruitful one, and we have to abide in Him. Without him, we cannot bear fruit to God at all. What a wonderful way, though, that we have the ability to bear fruit.
Chapter 16 is about the comforter.
And that's going to be with us. That's the Holy Spirit to care for us while the Lord is away. The Holy Spirit has come down to seal us, to take care of us, and so on.
Then in chapter 17, we have his last prayer there. It's where he as the perfect servant takes the oath of the of, of service to serve forever. And he says, I don't want to go back to heaven alone, Father. I want to have my people there with me. Well, and he asked the Father to let him have. That's the only time in the Bible where the Lord Jesus.
Expresses His will to the Father. Of course it was the Father's will, but he expresses it in this prayer that He wants you and me, those of us who believe on Him as our Savior. The redeemed ones. He says, I don't want to leave them on here on earth. I want them to be with me in heaven so that they can behold my glory.
Beautiful prayer on our behalf. If the Lord hadn't appraised that prayer, we'd have never had entrance into heaven.
Then in chapter 18, we begins his rejection. It's also the first part is on day 23 where Judas comes and two things happen there. Judas betrays him and Peter denies him on day 23.
It's sad. Many lessons there. Bobo, you must go on Day 24 begins chapter 18, verse 28, before Caiaphas in the judgment hall. He's condemned there. He's rejected because of two things, especially because he was king and because he was son of God.
And he truly was both, and that was his crime, and he died.
For that crime, do you have any doubt that he is that what of abundant proof?
Day 25 chapter 19 and verse 38, Joseph and Nicodemus, they take his precious holy body and put it in it in the tomb and annoying it and it's a witness to the death of the Lord Jesus important Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again the third day if the Lord Jesus hadn't have died.
We hadn't had this witness, this day of witnesses.
We wouldn't be sure about the end of our sins.
The end of our old Adam man. Where would it be if there had still been some life in him?
But he died and he was buried.
Chapter 20 Verse Day 26 And Mary and the others go to the sepulchre to see him there, and he reveals himself to Mary Magdalene.
00:50:13
And he says.
Let's read it. It's one of the most important verses of this gospel.
Chapter 20 and verse 17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my father, and your father to my God, and your God.
What would it have been if he said Mary, I'm going up to my father and to my God, Goodbye.
Oh, he says. He's your father now. He's your God.
Hear God, Don't you want to be with him there? Don't you love him?
Oh, what a heart that. Can you imagine Mary there? Picture yourself there as she was there. What a rejoicing, what a comfort to her heart. She had loved him here as a man here on earth, and now she was learning to love him as the one that went up to the Father. Do you love him there? Do you see him that way? Do you see God as your Father too?
He's revealed them to you. That's the blessing.
Well, there's other there's one other. There's two days left, Day 27, eight days later and verse 26 of chapter 20.
He appears eight days later into the disciples, and this time Thomas is there. It's a special revelation to one that was unbelieving. It's that it's it's as if he waited an extra week here just for one of them because he wanted that one to Thomas. And Thomas did believe, and he gives a blessing to those who believe without seeing.
And that can apply to everyone of us here. We can believe without seeing with our physical eyes that is.
Beautiful the last day is the last chapter chapter 21 of John day 28 and we have here the.
The fish multiplied. Peter had been discouraged and was fishing, and he caught nothing. He feeds them on the seashore there ministers to him, he reveals himself to them, and he restores Peter.
And he gives us that.
Or he gives Peter anyway that.
The word feed my lambs, shepherd my sheep, feed my sheep.
And so he gives them that Commission.
And may we respond.
In a way.
Love it, he tells Peter.
Lovest thou me?
More than these.
Do you love him?
Have you seen in this son of God something that makes you want to respond?
Oh, he's everything, he said.
And he's presented here to you and me this afternoon. Do you love him? If you love him?
Take care of his sheep. Prove it.
What a what a motive for service for us. Our brother was speaking to us about service.
There's no obligation here. It's a question of love. Love is the main strength.
The main basis of Christianity.
And it's left open to us.
It ends up with many other things that couldn't be written in books.
And it's true, but we have 28 days worth. May the Lord bless it to your heart.
And see in those 28 days that he is the Son of God.
Shall we pray?