God's Deep and Abiding Favor - John 14:15-21

2:46And so as we enter into this section of the scripture that we have this morning, he's carrying that same theme. And what's truly remarkable. In this passage, is the blessing that he lays out for his disciples. Listen, the highest blessing a true Christian could ever want is really expressed in verse 21. He who loves me will be loved by my father, and I will love him and disclose myself to him. To be loved by God. We hear it, those words a lot. Oh, God loves you, God loves you. But I think it's the one thing that we really have a difficulty truly believing. Does God really love me?

3:37And what has been expressed here is that highest blessing, to be loved by the Father. In fact, it's said again in verse 24. We will get there next time, but he says, He who, I'm sorry, I've just lost my place. I'm so sorry. 23. If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him. These two verses gives you a picture of this kind of love that God himself delights in and comes to abide with.

4:22And the kind of blessing that we're talking about here is it's to be. Part of that divine happiness. In other words, it's one thing for us to be pitied by God and to be, or that God feels some kind of obligation to because he's made us, but I'm talking about that kind of blessing that God does more than just pity us, but he actually delights in us, that we can be part of that divine happiness, that we can bring a smile to God's face. That's the kind of blessing to be part of that divine happiness. Not that we, but for his sake. Let's put it like this.

5:18You know, years ago, my dad used to go to these auctions. And I know my mom's listening to this, so I have to be charitable. But he got a really good deal on, we lived up in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The government, you know, the great atomic bomb place, you know, and the government would sometimes do all these surplus sales, and they would sell things by big old lots, right? Big old palettes. And you might see one or two things on the palette that you like, and you get. And I remember one time my dad got this palette of battleship gray paint, government gray paint. And that's before gray was in. Okay, I mean, it's battleship gray. And so, and he's also building houses. And I think he got all the stuff, and they're probably about 25 cents a gallon or something like that. And so he painted our house battleship gray. And I don't mean just part, I mean roof, walls, trim, everything.

6:19Battleship gray. And the only, I think it was so bad that the only way that we could get out of it was the Lord had to send a fire to consume the whole house. It's really the paint. But my point is, sometimes I think that, and that really happened, but I think sometimes I think of myself like that. Like, okay, God wanted to buy the world, and so He gave His Son, and He said, He made this promise: whoever comes to me, I will not cast out. And He's like, Oh, look what showed up. Tom Baber showed up. Well, I guess I can't go back on my word, so I guess I have to take Him, right? And somehow, I think like maybe God just has an obligation to humanity, so He takes whoever comes, and sometimes He's not all that happy with it. But that's not the kind of blessing I'm talking about here. God does pity, He does have an obligation to His creation, but God delights in His people because He rejoices over them. We are like We contribute to his happiness.

7:36That's the kind of blessing that's talked about here. Actually, contributing, like an artist delights in his work, to be people that the Father actually delights in, as an artist would delight in his work. Could that be any of us here today? Well, I want to bring joy to the Father's heart, and I know many of you do too. I want him to be overjoyed that he started this whole Tom Baber enterprise and Emma Cardone, right? And that he starts all these Nolan. I want him to be excited that he started this project. And I know many of you feel the same way. And the question then becomes: how can I bring delight to God's soul?

8:35How can you and I bring delight to his soul? And then I have a second question. What does the manifestation of this delight look like today? And so I want to talk to you about God's deep abiding favor. I want to talk to you about who it abides upon and three ways that it manifests itself today. Day. So, first of all, it abides upon those who love Jesus. Very clearly stated: if you love me, that is, if you agape me, if you are esteeming me, you will keep my commandments.

9:24Jesus very clearly measures a person's love for him by two parameters, at least in this text. First, by what one does. If you love me, if you esteem me, you will keep, guard, obey my commandments. You see, love inevitably manifests itself by action, right? Jesus loved his disciples to the end. In chapter 13, verse 1, he gets up, he washes their feet. Love inevitably manifests itself in action. And it's very predictable. But it's, as Jesus says here, it's not just any action, it's action that obeys Jesus's commandments. You want me to tell you who really loves Jesus, or maybe ask yourself, and let's be very honest with ourselves. Do we really love Jesus? Do you? Ask yourself, soul, and be honest with your soul. Do you love Jesus? Well, it'll show up in what you do. Second way Jesus measures a person's love is by what one has. And if you look down to verse 21, Jesus said, He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him. So the one having the commands and the ones keeping, so they are known by what they have, what they possess. They have Jesus's commands. They are treasures to them. And this, by the way, is not an if-then construction. It's not, if you keep my commandments, then I will love you. It's, no, it's the one who has a disposition to love me is the one that I am loving. So it's not like go out and it's an if-then. It's an indicative. It's stating the one who highly esteems me is the one who has the disposition that the Father has. And that is the blessing. That is, the Father really loves the Son. And so if you want to have union with your heavenly Father, love his Son, because he is the embodiment of everything good, and the Father delights in him.

11:56It's interesting that Jesus was loving. Loved by the Father because verse 10, 17, we looked at this some time ago. For this reason, the Father loves me because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. You see, the death, in that context, the death of Jesus is the will of the Father. And because Jesus is in perfect harmony with the Father's will, he is going to lay down his life. So what the Father loves in Jesus is the disposition Jesus has to do his will. And he's making a comparison. Those who are favorably disposed to Jesus will likewise love the things that he loves. That's the way love works, right? So the proof of love that Jesus is bringing out here is not more sacrifice, it's not more emotion, but simple obedience. The measure of true love is simple obedience.

12:59In fact, let me read to you John 17, 6. What I love about this, Jesus later, as he's praying, praying to the Father, he says, I have manifested your name to them, to the men whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Interesting. Jesus is praying to the Father and says, They have kept your word. And as we're reading this, we're like, okay, they're going to defect. They're going to deny. They're going to scatter in different directions. Their faith is anything but perfect, right? But here, Jesus is saying they have kept.

13:40And so we're not talking about sinless perfection, but a disposition to come before Christ and to do his will. And when we fail, there is a sorrow, there is a brokenness, and that is part of. But that's plain and simple. If you love Jesus, you will be a delight to God's soul. Very simple. You want God's deep and abiding favor? Love his Son. Second, that God's deep and abiding favor abides upon those who love Jesus. And secondly, it manifests itself in three ways. Three ways. How does God's favor manifest itself? Well, just looking at our text this morning, God's deep and abiding love manifests itself by what he provides, how he abides, and what he reveals, by providing, abiding, revealing. You can remember maybe by those three words.

14:43So, favor, first of all, God's favor manifests itself by providing for his people. He loves his people. And what does he do? If you love me, you will keep my commandments. First thing God provides, it's very important to us, is good and strong. Instruction, right? We need good instruction. Yes, He provides provision. He gives us food, clothing, He gives us what we need. He gives us time and space and all that stuff. But all that sets the stage for a relationship. And that relationship comes by listening to His instruction and obeying His instructions. So His commandments themselves are an expression of His favor to us. God didn't love us, He wouldn't be talking to us.

15:31God Himself wants us to engage, or God Himself wants to engage us. He speaks to us, He wants to know us, He wants us, and He gives us commandments for our good. His instruction, we think of this thing as commandments, is something very different, like very cold and totalitarian. But that's not how the Bible is describing this at all. Jesus' commandments, the Father's commandments, are given to us for our good. Much like we have all these children. I promise you, these parents that you saw this morning are going to give their children instruction. Why? Because they need it probably more than anything. And boy, you're already learning that, right? They need instruction. And that every Piece of advice, every thought and intention from these parents is going to be for their well-being. And when they fall short, they are going to grieve over it. But as fallen parents, we know how to give good instruction. We desire to give good instruction. We want what's best for them. How much more would Christ? In fact, he said in Matthew 11:29, he says, Look, guys, friends, take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, because my yoke is easy and my burden is light. You see, what humanity needs more than me, really, just about anything is right, the right object to pursue. When you see humanity going after all kinds of different objects to serve self, to do what they think is right in their own eyes, we can get ourselves in a lot of trouble, can't we? If we just absolutely respond only, if the guiding principle of what seems good, feels good, makes sense to us, then we can get ourselves in a lot of trouble and justify some horrible things in certain circumstances. No, what humanity needs is the right goal. And what Jesus does is he gives us his way. Why does he give us his way? Because it is the good way.

18:01And so he gives us instruction. We need instruction, and that is a manifestation of his favor. Already that you're here this morning is a manifestation of his favor that he's talking to you through his word. The second thing he provides, he provides the necessary assistance. Jesus not only gives us good instruction, but he gives us the necessary assistance to carry it out. It's one thing to, Jesus gives us, like he told his disciples, go and love each other like I have loved you. Okay, let's go try to put that one on, right? Jesus went to the cross. He was constantly living for the well-being of others, and it came at great personal cost to him, and now he tells us to go love other people like that. Well, that goes against everything in us, right? Love by nature has to put others' needs above yourself. And so he's calling us to standards. He's calling us to have more faith in him. How can we have faith in one that we're not even seeing?

19:12How do we obey this? How do we believe this? Well, we need help, right? And so he gives his spirit. He's already commanded the disciples to not be troubled. They're about to see Christ crucified. And how can they not be troubled in that? That's a command. Don't be troubled. Commanded them to believe in God and to believe in him. So that's why he calls for a helper, right? Look at verse 16. I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper, that he may be with you forever. That is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him or know him, but you know him because he abides with you and will be in you. Notice that several, there's a couple of provisions here that are very unique to the believer. First of all, Jesus is their advocate. He's saying, I will give you another helper. But I'm sorry, before I go there, Jesus is it. Notice there's two advocates here. Jesus is saying, I will ask the Father. You see him advocating. He's going to go through the cross. He's going to go into the grave. He's going to be ascended on high. And he's going to send his spirit. But we have an advocate before the Father. And that's why he is saying to his disciples, it's good for you to go, for your sake, that I go. Humanity that has been resurrected from the dead, glorified humanity, entering into the presence of God. That's what ascended. And Jesus goes there as our advocate. And so you see him asking the Father on their behalf. I'm going to. The Father, I'm at the right hand of the Father, and I'm going to be asking things for your benefit. I am mindful of your needs. But notice that Jesus not only is their advocate, that provision, he is their advocate, but the second provision is that he wants them to have another helper, another advocate, perikolatos, another helper, another one that comes alongside as an intercessor, as a helper, and alongside helper. And notice that he may be with you forever, that he may be with you into the ages or into eternity. He will be with you always.

21:45So he wants them to have another helper, but notice the helpers. Verse 17, that is the spirit of truth. Okay, so this other helper is the spirit of truth. So now, now keep in mind, remember what John's doing in here. Truth is a big theme in John, right? It's going to culminate with Pilate's question: what is truth? Very deep philosophical question. What is truth? And what John is doing is he is revealing truth. It's a major theme. Truth, we'd already seen in just a few verses before. Look up at verse 14, 6. Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. One comes to the Father but through me. That's Jesus. I am the only way. I am the truth. I am the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.

22:40And so there He is declaring, I am truth. I am the embodiment of ultimate reality. But here, there's a spirit of truth, the same essence. And it's not that truth is that there's truth and then there's Jesus and the Spirit that fits under the umbrella. It's the other way around. That truth is in Jesus. It's in a person and in a spirit. You see, this family of truth, and this is going to go on. Remember, Jesus, here we have truth is a spirit, the spirit of truth. And then in John 17, your word is truth. So the word is truth. You see, this, and Jesus saying that his words are the father's words. So you start seeing this constellation of truth, right? Truth. Jesus is the embodiment of ultimate reality. There is a spirit, ultimate reality that is connected to him, is part of him, is emanating from him.

23:55But Jesus' words are the Father's words, and the word is truth. So you see this truth. Ultimate reality is in truth about Christ. He is the incarnate truth, and then we have the inscripturated truth, and we have the spirit of truth. But look at what he goes on to say: the world cannot receive it. The reason why the world cannot receive it, the world system cannot receive it, is because they cannot see, they cannot perceive him. And the language here is interesting, and it also says, and because it is not perceiving him, nor is it on a trajectory to know him, nor is it coming to know him.

24:51Because it cannot see him, doesn't perceive him. And what trajectory are you on? I hope you're on a trajectory of knowing more and more about this Christ revealed in Scripture through these words. We know him through these words. Spirit of truth has breathed the words of truth, and so we. But Jesus is saying, but you do know him. You do know the spirit of truth. Now, you can wonder what the disciples are saying. What are you talking about? What do you mean we already know the spirit of truth?

25:24He says, because he abides with you. He abides with you. He is remaining with you. In fact, you remember early on, now, how in the world was the Spirit remaining with him even at that time? Well, you remember John the Baptist? A group came to him saying, Okay, who in the world are you? You know, not the Christ, not the prophet, I'm not Elijah. Then who are you? And he says, I came to baptize in water so that the true baptizer, the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit, would be revealed. And then John says this in chapter 1, verse 32. John testified, saying, I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and he remained upon him. That is, upon Jesus. I did not recognize him, but he who sent me to baptize in water said to me, He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon him, this is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. I myself have seen and testified that this is the Son of God. So, how had the Holy Spirit been remaining? Well, they watched him, they've lived with him in the person of Christ. Holy Spirit was upon him, remained upon him. And so, Jesus is saying, You already know him. You are on a trajectory of knowing him better because he abides with you. And then look at this little conjunction and clause. And Will be in you. You notice the difference. He is with you now. You already know him, but soon he's going to be in you. In you. And this is a great change right in history. It's there when the resurrected Christ ascends into heaven, and on the day of Pentecost, he sends his spirit. His spirit enters his people. And there is a distinction that had not been made in the history of the faithful community. The spirit was to be in them. And boy, what a difference that made. The one that denied, all of a sudden became the one that could confront the very ones who crucified Christ and communicate truth in such a powerful way that they could do nothing or even begin to stop it.

28:03We cannot obey his commands without his spirit. And so his provision to the believer is that he would give his spirit. So God's abiding favor manifests itself in several ways. First, by providing instruction and assistance. The second way is by abiding with his people. Look back. Look at back at verse 18. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. After a little while, the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. In that day, you will know that I am in my Father and you in me. You see, you abide with those you love, right? Pretty much fundamental law of love. Abiding with the person involves several realities. And first, it involves not abandoning them, right?

29:04Second, if one is separated, there is a desire, an action to reunite. And so Jesus is saying, I'm not going to leave you as orphans. I'm not going to leave you helpless and unprotected. I will come to you. Although the verb there in the Greek is present, I am coming to you. After a little while, so his going is part of his coming. After a little while, the world is not going to see me. They're not going to see me anymore, but you are going to see me. And in that day, and I believe he's speaking about the day, very emphatic day. He's talking about the resurrection day, or certainly connected with that. I don't think he's talking about a second coming or a day far off in the future. He's talking specifically to his disciples here very quickly. I'm going off the scene and the world. World is never going to see me again.

30:03He's saying that generation, certainly the future, will. But look at what he's saying here. Look who's coming back to abide with them. Look at 19. You will see me. Why will they see me? Because I live, you will live also. Interesting. Jesus, remember what he said just prior to this in verse 6, I am the way, the truth, and the what? And the life, and the life. Why are they going to see him? It's because Jesus is life. He is the embodiment of life. Life is in him. He is not in life. Life is in him. He is life itself. Spirit of life dwells in him.

31:02It's interesting. Let's suppose I said to you, and I can't say this with any kind of authority, but let's say I came up to you and I said, Death is going to knock on your door today. What would that imply? Yeah, if death's showing up on your door, that's not good, right? There's some kind of separation taking place, right? Now, if I said to you, life is going to show up. Up on your door today. What does that imply?

31:36Life, resurrection, life, life. If life shows up on your doorstep, you are going to participate in life. Just like if death showed up, you're going to participate in death. And so Jesus is saying, Because I live, you will live also. I am coming. I am the essence. I am the life of God. I am coming to you. And because I am coming to you, you will live. Very simple truth. Life shows up on your door, you live, right?

32:12Well, life and knowing God are related. Look at what he says. Because I live, he goes on, verse 20, in that day you will know that I am in the Father. So life and knowing God are connected. In fact, in chapter 17, verse 3, Jesus praying, look at what he says. This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. Because he is alive, because he is the manifestation of God, because he is life itself.

32:57His disciples will live also. Listen, if you're going to get to know God, guess what? You're going to have to have eternal life because that's what it's going to take to get to know him. If you die, you can't possibly know him because he is eternal and it's going to exhaust all of our time and eternity for us to have a relationship with the infinite creator. So, life is a given. It is necessary to even know God. And it is eternal life that is necessary to know God.

33:31So, God's deep and abiding favor manifests itself by providing, and it also manifests itself by abiding. But there's a third, and that is by revealing. Third manifestation of God's favor is that He reveals Himself to His people. Look at verse 21: He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me, and He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love Him and will disclose myself to Him. So, we've already looked at the first part, so I won't go back into that. But look at that last phrase, and I will love Him and will disclose myself to Him. You see, when you love somebody, guess what naturally comes up?

34:23You reveal more of yourself to them, right? How many of you have been really concerned about somebody that you have no idea of? Exists over in Australia, or you try to keep up with people that don't know you. You don't keep up with people you don't know, right? You don't go out of your way to try to communicate what you're going to somebody that lives on another continent, but you do go out of your way to communicate, to reveal, to tell people what you're up to, those that you love, right? That's the way it operates.

34:53You like to tell them about your day. You like to tell them about your thoughts. You like to go on. And this is what God does. This is what Christ does. He comes to His own to make Himself known to them. That's what He does. And the question is: how does Jesus reveal Himself today? Well, He's not incarnate like He was walking around some 2,000 years ago, but He still manifests Himself to His people. And He does so on a deep spiritual level. I will disclose myself to them.

35:29It's not that I will give them information that they could take in. No, this is about the communicator. I will disclose. I will make myself known to them. What He does is He, by the Spirit of Truth, through the Word of truth, He creates a deep-seated awareness, a conviction that's not based upon the material, but upon what is behind the material, the unseen. And you have to see the unseen by faith. Faith cannot see it by the particulars, the physical particulars, but by the transcendental universals of God Himself.

36:15But that's what Jesus does: He discloses Himself, He creates a soul conviction to where Jesus could say in John 10:14, I am the Good Shepherd, and I know my own, and my own know me. Even, and this is what is hard for us to grasp: I know them, and they know me, even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. Dear in Christ, you may know a little bit more about the Spirit of God and the Christ of God than you think.

36:53I know the disciples didn't quite piece it all together. Well, I know our time's getting away from us. But God's deep and abiding favor abides upon those who love Jesus, manifests itself by providing for us, by abiding with us, and by revealing Himself to us. And so, what is the response of faith to all this? And I don't think Certainly, if you're parents, you know the grief children who go astray, or hopefully not, or you certainly know the pains when children don't make good decisions and when they make bad decisions. And we also know that it's so much of a truism of life that Proverbs 10 says this: a wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish son is a grief to his mother. I think we get an idea that children can go in different directions. That's why we're praying that the children we brought before will be a source of delight to their parents by honoring their counsel and by choosing the way, because parents know a little bit more than junior. And it'll be good for them if they obey and follow.

38:25Well, and that's what we want to be. We want to be, I hope you want to be a source of joy and delight to our Heavenly Father. We do that by perhaps just picking up what we did last time, by praying in a way that He delights to answer. He said, Whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Now, what, in light of everything that we've talked about, This morning, what are some prayers that he would delight in?

39:06Well, I think we have love problems, right? Father, in Jesus' name, give me more love for your Christ. Give me more faith. Give me more staying power. Father, give me a greater love for Jesus. If you're bold enough to pray that prayer, I assure you, on the authority of the Word of God, He will grant it. And you start watching what will happen next. Because that is a prayer in Jesus' name, so that the Father is glorified in the Son.

39:54Are you bold enough to pray that prayer this morning? I ask you to. As we bow and close prayer, I just ask you to pray this simple prayer. Lord, give me more love for your Son. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do come before you that your favor is the greatest thing that anyone could ever have, regardless of what the circumstances of earth may say, or no matter what trials we may face, or perplexities, or difficulties, Father, we know. That the greatest treasure is your favor. Father, we also recognize that it's so valuable that it's something that there's no way we could ever earn. But it's something that you must freely give. And as we look and pour over the pages of Scripture, the word of truth that you have given us, we see that you delight to freely give your favor. And so we come before you, asking you for your favor. And may it manifest itself by giving us a greater love for your son. Heavenly Father, we know you delight in this Son, and we ask you to give us that same kind of love for your son, that we would believe his words, see the face of Christ merge from the pages of Scripture, be drawn to his image and his form.

41:27Father, for he is truly worthy of all praise and honor. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for your goodness. Thank you for assembling us here this morning. May you be exalted. And help us, Father, as many have prayed this morning for a greater love. Help us all to associate what happens next as your answer to these prayers. For we know you will certainly answer in Christ's name.