John 14:15-24 “Help is On the Way”

1:18No, it's that five, all five of these fictional characters are orphans. And if you think about it, there are lots of main characters in books and Movies who are orphans. And I think that's because whether we've been through that experience or not, and most of us haven't, we can all agree that losing one's parents would be one of the most emotionally difficult things that you could go through. And so having to fight through that and find your way in a world that is often harsh and unforgiving is relatable at that level.

2:00We can all think about how difficult it would be to be without parents and without a home. And as we've been talking in the last few weeks, Jesus has been saying again and again that he's going to be going away, that he's going to be leaving them because he's going to be crucified and buried and that he's going to be raised from the dead. And the disciples are very confused, but they're also very worried. They're very anxious and troubled because it sounds like Jesus is going to leave them as orphans.

2:32And they're worried about being spiritually homeless. And so Jesus today is going to encourage them because he doesn't want their hearts to be troubled with the truth that we're going to learn in this passage this morning. And that is that God makes his home with those who love him and keep his commandments. So let's take a look here, starting in verse 15 of chapter 14. Jesus begins, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. Now, some verses in Scripture are confusing. This is not one of them. It's very straightforward. There's no room to misunderstand what Jesus is saying here. He's saying that love and obedience are inseparable. You cannot separate love from obedience. And to drive this home, you heard in the scripture reading that Jesus repeats this truth not two times, not three times, but four times in ten short verses. You're going to hear that over and over this morning. And if you're familiar with the Old Testament, that should not come as a surprise to you because God linked love and obedience together all throughout the Old Testament scripture.

3:47This is why, when Jesus is asked to sum up the law, he sums it up by saying, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as you love yourself. Now, have you ever wondered why Jesus includes strength in that list? When we think about love, we often think about heart, soul, and mind. We think about the internal things. But Jesus says that the law can be summed up by loving the Lord your God also with all of your strength.

4:19And that's because love without action isn't love. And action requires strength. It takes a lot of energy and effort. It takes strength to put love into action, whether that is toward God or toward the neighbor. Friends, Jesus' words call for an honest look at our lives this morning. There are so many people in our country who profess to be Christians while openly disobeying Jesus' commands. Because many of them think that since they've been in the church their whole life, or because they were baptized at some point, or because they know what the Bible says, then God will just overlook their disobedience.

5:05But as we say all the time here at New Life, a Christian is a repentant sinner. That's what a Christian is. That's the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian. Everybody sins, but we Christians look at and respond to our sin differently. We don't excuse it or justify it. We don't make space for it in our hearts, minds, or lives. We repent of it, meaning that we turn from it. We see it as deadly, life-sucking rebellion against the God who loved us and gave His Son for us that we might live.

5:46We are not okay with our sin, which is why we confess it and turn from it and seek to obey God going forward. So, this morning, you're going to hear these words over and over again: if you love me, you will keep me. My commands. I want to encourage you to take those words to heart, to turn them over in your mind again and again this morning, to consider whether you seek to keep God's commands out of love for him or whether you just claim to love him, but live your life however you want.

6:20Let's take a look back at verse 15 again. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. So Jesus says, if we love him, we'll obey him. But because of our sinful flesh, obedience has always been a struggle for the people of God.

6:56But Jesus says, help is on the way. Help is on the way. He says he's going to ask the Father who's going to give them another helper. And that word can also be translated as counselor or advocate. He's going to send another helper to them who's going to be with them forever. Now that is some great news. And I want to take just a few moments to explore all of the ways that that Greek word, para-kletos, called alongside, para is alongside. Kaleo is called, called alongside, can be translated into English. The one who is called alongside is our helper, counselor, and advocate.

7:41So, the first one of those translations is helper. And in order to obey God's perfect law, we need God's help. And thankfully, that's exactly who the Holy Spirit is: He is our helper. And two ways that He helps us are that He gives us spiritual gifts and He empowers us to use them in service to God and others. Take a look on the screen at 1 Corinthians 12. Now, there are a variety of gifts, but the same Spirit.

8:15And there are varieties of service, but the same Lord. And there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. So, what does Paul teach here in 1 Corinthians 12? That every believer is given at least one spiritual gift. And God empowers us to use that gift or gifts that He has given to us to help us serve others. They are given to us for the common good. Spiritual gifts are not given primarily for personal private edification.

8:57They're given to us so that we can best serve and love. The body of Christ to build up the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the one who helps us to help others. He is our helper. Second, he's our counselor. Because it's not just that we need help to obey God. We often don't know what to do. We don't know the best way to love God or love others in every circumstance. And so we need counsel.

9:27I want you to look at what James says in James chapter 1. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. What does James say? He tells us that if we lack wisdom, if we don't know the best way to love and serve God and neighbor, then we should ask God and God will give us the wisdom that we need. He does that through the Holy Spirit. He gives us the wisdom that we need. He says, without reproach. In other words, without scolding us for not knowing what to do.

10:08He wants us to come to him and ask for wisdom when we don't have it. And he's not going to scold us for doing that. He is our counselor. And then finally, he's our advocate. An advocate is someone who publicly supports and speaks up for someone or something. And that's what the Holy Spirit does for us. He advocates for us by speaking up on our behalf. Take a look at Romans 8. Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

11:02So, what does Paul write here in Romans 8? When we don't know what to pray for, which is many times, we face all kinds of situations. I mean, those of you who are members of the church, you saw this weekend so many prayer requests coming in over church center. Sometimes we don't know how to pray for those situations. We don't know the specifics of what's going on. We don't know what would be best in that particular moment or for those people. And the Spirit intercedes for us. He speaks up with groanings that are too deep for words. He advocates for us. He's our advocate.

11:37And so that's an incredible gift. God has given us the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, who is our helper, our counselor, and our advocate. And Jesus says that when He sends Him, when the Father sends the Spirit, He's going to be with us forever. Not just for a moment, not just for a season, but forever. And we find this in the book of Acts. Look at what Jesus promises after his resurrection from the dead in Acts chapter 1.

12:08And while staying with them, Jesus ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. And that is just what happened. On the day of Pentecost, the church was all gathered together in one place, and the Holy Spirit filled every believer. And from that day forward, every Christian is baptized with the Holy Spirit the moment they believe in Jesus. Look what Ephesians 1 says.

12:48In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, that is Jesus, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. So just consider that progression. You hear the gospel, the word of truth, you believe it, and then from that moment you are sealed with the Holy Spirit, who is the deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until Jesus returns.

13:29So, friends, all of us. Jesus' teaching and Paul's teaching right here, there is no second baptism of the Holy Spirit. There are some out there who teach that as a Christian, you need to be baptized again with the Holy Spirit sometime after you believe. But that's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches us that the moment you believe in Christ, ever since the day of Pentecost, you receive the Holy Spirit, who is the deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until Jesus returns.

14:02So, listen, I do not want you to be discouraged or led astray by people who tell you that you need another baptism of the Holy Spirit, or that if you don't speak in tongues, that you don't have the Holy Spirit living inside you. That is a lie. That is not what the scriptures teach. Because my fear is that many have been led to believe that they are either not Christians or they are second-class citizens in the kingdom of God because they don't speak in tongues and therefore must not have the Holy Spirit. Now, all of us are sealed with the Holy Spirit from the day that we believe. He is with us forever. And so, from the day of Pentecost, everyone who trusts in Jesus has the Holy Spirit. We have a helper, a counselor, an advocate who is the Spirit of truth, and he will never leave us.

14:56But as Jesus says here, the world cannot receive him because. They don't see him or know him. And that's because they walk by sight and not by faith. The reason they don't see or know the Holy Spirit is because they didn't see or know Jesus for who he really and truly is. And that's because they rejected his words. They rejected his words and his work. But the disciples did not. They did not reject his words or his work. They received his words and work. And so Jesus has more encouragement for them. Let's pick up in verse 18.

15:39I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day, you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. So, Jesus is not going to leave the disciples as orphans. He's going to come to them through the Holy Spirit, as we just saw. And he's also going to come to them through his resurrection from the dead. He's going to appear to them in the very same body that was killed the Friday before.

16:22Look at 1 Corinthians 15. Paul writes, For I delivered to you as of first importance, what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, that is Peter, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, that is the half-brother of Jesus, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

17:08What Paul is saying here is that Jesus kept his promise. He did come to them, and they saw him physically alive in the exact same body that was crucified. And who saw him? Paul says more than 500 brothers at the same time, most of whom are still alive, though some have already died. But have you ever wondered to yourself, why didn't Jesus just appear to all of the non-Christians? Why didn't he show himself alive to all the non-believers that were out there? He had so many of them who did not believe in him. And we see from this passage that he appeared to some, I mean, James, Jesus' half-brother, he didn't believe in Jesus during his lifetime. Paul didn't believe in Jesus during his lifetime. He appeared to him. To some non-Christians, but kind of like one here and there. Why didn't he appear to more? I mean, it's not like he walked into a meeting of the Sanhedrin or walked into Herod's palace or Pilate's headquarters or even the temple itself and said, Surprise, here I am.

18:22He didn't do that. And I've often wondered why he didn't do that, but I think the Gospel of John has told us the answer. It's because Jesus knew all along that even if one rose from the dead, they still wouldn't acknowledge the truth. That's why he tells the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. If they won't hear the word of God, they're not going to be convinced even if one rises from the dead. And so Jesus tells them the world will not see him anymore, but they will. He will appear to them once he's risen from the grave.

19:01And Jesus says that because he lives, we will also live. His resurrection guarantees our resurrection from the dead. Look at 1 Corinthians 15 again. This is starting in verse 20. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam, all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive, but each in his own order. Christ the first fruits, then at his coming, those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

20:03Either Christ has been physically raised, Paul says, or no one is going to be physically raised. And if no one is physically raised, that means that sin and its consequence death have been victorious. But because Christ was sinless, the grave could not hold him, and he rose from the grave. And Jesus says, take a look at verse 20 again. Jesus says this, in that day, you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

20:41How would they know that Jesus is who he claimed to be? His resurrection from the dead is the sign. It is the key piece of evidence that Jesus is exactly who he claimed to be. The Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. The resurrection is the key piece of evidence. There is no greater work than Jesus raising from the dead, which also guarantees our resurrection from the dead. Our resurrection from the dead is guaranteed because he rose. Because I live, you also will live.

21:21And so, Christians understand that the resurrection is the linchpin of Christianity. It is what the entire faith hangs on. If Christ has not been raised, our faith is futile and we are still in our sins. That's what 1 Corinthians 15 says. Our faith is futile, and we are still in our sins if Jesus is still dead. So, all of those people out there who say that his death was just an example for us of sacrificial love, that example does nothing for us because it still means that the penalty of sin hangs over us. And it still means that the consequence of sin, death, hangs over us. Jesus' resurrection is what gives us confidence that Christianity is true and that we will all be raised from the dead one day.

22:14Some things in Scripture are hard to understand. They are hard to interpret and hard to apply. I find it so comforting and encouraging that Peter, the Apostle Peter, in his own letters, says that some things that Paul writes are hard to understand. Isn't that good? The Apostle Peter was confused, just like you, just like me, by many of the things that Paul wrote. But we can know that Jesus was telling the truth because he defeated death. And we believe that he defeated death because he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom were still alive when Paul wrote the letter to the Corinthians and could be consulted, in addition to unbelievers like James the half-brother of Jesus and Paul.

23:02So, friends, when you get into conversations with non-believers who ask really good questions about why they should believe that Christianity is true, I want to encourage you to point them to the eyewitness accounts in the Gospels, where those men and women say that Jesus rose from the dead. They saw him, they spoke to him, they ate with him. That is what their faith is based on, and that's what our faith is based on as well. Now, Jesus just said that the world wasn't going to see him any longer, but the disciples would. Why is that? Verse 21.

23:48Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest. Myself to him. So here's Jesus repeating that truth for the second time. If you love me, you will obey me. But I want you to notice this subtle difference. This time he says, whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And by adding that little phrase, Jesus seems to be addressing a very particular group of people, namely a religious person who knows Jesus' commands.

24:39Remember what Jesus told the Jews in John chapter 5? Take a look at the screen. He said to them, you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. And it is they that bear witness about me. Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. The Jews, particularly the religious leaders like the scribes and the Pharisees and the priests, they searched the scriptures. They studied them incessantly. And that's because they thought that their theological knowledge would save them. That if they knew God's word forward and backward, that that would be enough. But Jesus says, no, all of the scriptures. Point to him. They bear witness to him, but they refuse to come to Jesus that they may have life.

25:39Jesus is talking to those people, and he's talking to people like many of us who have grown up in church and who know the Bible forwards and backwards. Many people think that they'll be saved because they know theological information, because they have the commands of Christ. But Jesus corrects that misunderstanding. He says, Whoever has my commands and keeps them, he it is who loves me. Now look at the progression again in this verse, verse 21. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.

26:26Now remember, Jesus was just saying that the world would not see him much longer, but the disciples would see him. And why is that? It's because they love him, and their love is demonstrated in their obedience to his commands. So, friends, understand it is not enough to simply have the commands of Christ. To own a Bible and to read it and agree that Jesus said these things and that they're true. We must keep his commands. That's what Jesus says. And the first Command that Jesus issued in his public ministry was what? Repent and believe in the gospel. That is how he began his ministry. Repent and believe in the gospel. That is the first step. By obeying the command to repent, to change our minds and to turn from sin to Jesus in faith, everything flows from there.

27:25Everything flows from repentance and faith. Why? Because if you're trying to obey Jesus' commands apart from faith, you're going to fail because you do not have the Spirit of truth, the helper, the counselor, the advocate living inside of you. You're going to fail to keep God's commands. You cannot keep the commands of Christ without the Spirit of Christ living inside you. And that may be why living the Christian life feels so frustrating to you because you're trying to do the impossible. You're trying to obey the commands of Christ without the Spirit of Christ.

28:10So if that hits home, if that sounds like your experience for the past however many years, I want to encourage you to bring Jesus your faith today instead of your efforts. Bring Jesus your faith today instead of your efforts. Your efforts will not get you anywhere. But faith will. Through faith, you will be given a new heart that longs to obey Jesus and honor the Father. Through faith, you'll be given the Spirit of Truth, the Helper who can empower you to obey God's commands out of a heart of love.

28:50So, if that's you this morning, I encourage you to turn to Christ in faith and receive him by faith. Don't keep trying harder to do better. Verse 22: Judas, not Iscariot, said to him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world? Remember that the disciples are fully expecting Jesus to reveal himself to the world because they believe that he's the promised Messiah. And so they cannot understand why Jesus would say that he's just going to reveal himself to those who love him and keep his commandments. That doesn't make any sense to them. In their minds and their understanding, they think it would be best for Jesus to manifest himself to the world. Just like we were saying earlier, I and maybe you have always wondered, why didn't Jesus just show himself alive to everybody?

29:51He says he's just going to manifest himself to the disciples. Why is that? Verse 23. Jesus answered. him. If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. And my father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me. So for the third time, Jesus says, if anyone loves him, he will keep his word. But this time he adds, that the Father and Jesus both, we will come to him and we will make our home with him.

30:35So think back to the beginning of the chapter, verse 2. What did Jesus say? He said, In my father's house are many rooms. In my father's house are many rooms. And that word translated rooms is the same word that Jesus uses here. It can be translated home or room or dwelling place. So put these two truths together. And what we have is that Jesus is going to go prepare a home for us in heaven. And meanwhile, while he is preparing that home in heaven, the Father is going to send the Spirit and they together are going to make their home inside of us forever.

31:21What a comforting truth. It's not just that we have this home in heaven to look forward to one day. God is at home. With us from the moment that we believe, so we are never separated from him. We are never separated from the Father, the Son, or the Spirit. And we know we truly believe if we keep His commands. Because love and obedience are connected again. And look what He says in verse 24: Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.

31:57Fourth time that He's essentially said the same thing, but notice this time, Jesus states it negatively. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And I think the reason that He does that is because the way that He's been saying it, if you love me, you will keep my commands, it sounds almost aspirational in nature. Like Jesus is saying, if you love me, you'll do your best to keep my commands. But when He makes it negative, there is no misunderstanding what He's saying at all. If you don't love Me, you don't keep my word.

32:38That's very straightforward. Why don't people keep Jesus' words? It's because they don't love Him. There's no reading aspiration into that statement. Whoever does not love me does not keep My words. And that's a problem. Because as He's said many times throughout the Gospel of John, that His words are the Father's. Look again at that last statement. Verse 24, and the word you hear is not mine, but the father's who sent me. You see, this was the whole crux of the debate. The debate that was raging the entire time throughout his ministry between Jesus and the religious leaders. And it comes to this boiling point in John chapter 8 that we preached months ago. Take a look on the screen at John 8.

33:26The Jews answered him, Abraham is our Father. Jesus said to them, If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did. They said to him, We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one father, even God. Now listen to this. Jesus said to them, If God were your father, you would love me, for I came from God, and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a Liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Now listen to this. Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.

34:56The difference between the disciples and the Pharisees, or the difference between Christians and non-Christians today, is our response to the word of Jesus. Those who believe that Jesus was sent by the Father and spoke the Father's words love him and keep his commands. As a result, God comes and makes his home with us forever. But those who don't believe don't keep Jesus' commands because they don't love him. And they don't love him because they don't believe that he was sent from the Father.

35:34Because they've rejected Jesus, they've rejected the Father. Because as we saw last week, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And no one comes to the Father except through Him. Friends, it would be very hard to miss the point that Jesus is making in this passage. Love and obedience. Are inseparable. Jesus is talking to his disciples, these men who have heard his teaching over and over again for three years. And I believe that God inspired John to record these words of Jesus because they speak so pointedly to people like the disciples and to people like many of us who have grown up hearing the word of God for most of our lives.

36:35You see, the danger of growing up in a place like Texas or a place like America or South Korea or anywhere else where there's a lot of Christians, the danger of growing up in a place like that is that you can become convinced that you love God because you're familiar with his word. But it's those who love Jesus, not those who simply know his commands, who are loved by God the Father. And you can tell if you love God by whether or not you obey the commands of God.

37:19So this morning, I want to challenge you to ask yourself the very uncomfortable question: Am I really a Christian? Am I really a Christian? You may have always considered yourself to be a Christian. But if you haven't turned from your sin to faith in Christ, believed in his sinless life, death, and resurrection, and your life is not marked by a love for God that represents itself in obedience to his word, then, friends, the word of God says, I don't say this, your parents don't say this, your friends or roommates don't say this. The word of God says, if you don't love me, you don't keep my commands. If you do love me, you will keep my commands.

38:10And so I know that's a really uncomfortable thing to consider. I know the thoughts that go through your head because I had all of those thoughts when I was in your place, in the very seat that you're in when I was in college. And I'm thinking, what are my parents going to think? What are my friends going to think? I can't make this declaration that I'm not really a Christian. But friends, there's no shame in admitting that you're not a Christian.

38:35Only someone from a Christian subculture would think that. There's no shame in admitting that you haven't received Jesus by faith, that you need your heart transformed and your life transformed and your eternity transformed by the person and work of Jesus who loved you and gave himself for you. There's no shame in admitting as you look at the evidence of your life that you have not sought to keep the commands of God from all. Heart of love.

39:02There's no shame in admitting that you don't have the Spirit living inside of you, the deposit guaranteeing your inheritance because you've never trusted in Christ. And so I want to encourage you to ask that question this morning. And if you don't know even where to start asking that question, talk to a Christian friend, maybe that you came with today. Fill out that next step card and just have one of the pastors meet with you. We have a book out there that we'd love to give you. How can I be sure I'm saved?

39:34There is no more important question to answer than that. Don't go throughout the rest of your life making assumptions that have eternal ramifications. If you're already following Jesus, then I want to remind you this morning that Jesus said that he came to give us abundant life. He said he came to give us abundant life, and he said that his yoke was easy, and his burden is light. Look on the screen at 1 John chapter 5. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments. Now hear this. And his commandments are not burdensome.

40:30His commandments are not burdensome. Christian, do you believe that today? Do you believe that the commands of God are not burdensome? I think for many of us, if we're honest, we've come to a place where we look at the commands of God and they feel burdensome to us. Because Satan's lie is that God is holding out on us and he's keeping us from the good life. And the good life is the freedom to do whatever is right in our own eyes.

41:06But friends, Satan is a liar. And the reason that God gives every command that he gives to us is so that we can flourish, so that we can have abundant life, so that we can know joy and freedom. His lie is that if we disobey God, then we'll finally find the freedom that we're looking for. But disobeying God never leads to life and freedom, it leads to death and slavery. And so I want to remind you this morning: if obedience has become drudgery for you, that God's commands are not burdensome. They are not intended to be burdensome. They are intended to be life-giving so that you can flourish. So you might just need to be honest first with yourself and then with God. And then I encourage you to talk. Talk to somebody, talk to another Christian in your life group and ask for prayer. Say, obeying God in this area of my life feels like a burden. Would you pray for me?

42:12And then go and search out in the Word of God what the Word says about obedience and all of the promises of blessing that come from obedience. Then ask the Helper, the Holy Spirit, to help you obey the Word of God from a heart of joy and love with His help and power. Let's pray, Father, you always know what it is that we need to hear. And in our culture, we need to be reminded over and over again that your commands are not burdensome because we live in a time.

43:31Where people think that freedom is found in doing whatever it is that feels right in the moment, whatever it is that seems right, in any kind of commandment, any kind of law, any kind of rule, is looked at as oppressive rather than as a good boundary that helps us to flourish. So I pray for every Christian here today that you would help us to see your commands not as burdensome, but as life-giving. God, we pray for those who are asking themselves that question this morning: Am I really a Christian?

44:28I pray that you would help them to answer honestly and truly based upon what you've said in your word. And that some would come to faith in Christ even this morning for the first time. They would find that life and joy and freedom that comes from repentance and faith in Christ and receiving the Spirit. We pray that all of us would respond to your word this morning with obedience. Because as you've said so clearly today, to obey is to love.

45:07Thank you, God, for your word. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.