Book: John Print ( PC Only ) John 14:18 I. I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. A. The word translated comfortless comes from a different root word than comforter, which is paracleatus, comfortless comes from the Greek word orphanos from which we get our word orphan. 1. I will not leave you as orphans, or destitute. I will come to you. 2. We know that for a period of 40 days after His resurrection Jesus was appearing to His disciples in many different ways. a. He would appear when the doors were shut and locked. b. He would often appear when they least expected it. c. You remember how doubting Thomas said that he would not believe unless he could put his finger in the wound in His hand. The next time Jesus appeared to all of the disciples He told Thomas to put his finger in His hand, feel His side to prove that it was He. d. Where was Jesus when Thomas was expressing His doubts? e. Where do you think Jesus is when you may be expressing your doubts? 3. Jesus was seeking to acquaint them with the realization that He was there even when they did not see Him. 4. Where is Jesus now? a. Where two or three are gathered together in His name He is there in the midst of them to bless. b. What we need to live in the consciousness of His presence. c. If Jesus were visibly present with us this evening and you said as did the leprous man, "Lord if You willed You could make me clean." Do you believe that He could heal you of whatever malady that you might have? 5. The great problem is that we as Thomas want to see and to touch physically. a. Remember the words to Thomas when he finally got to see the Lord, "Blessed are those who see and believe, but more blessed are those who believe without seeing." II. "Yet a little while and the world will see Me no more, but you see Me." A. They were to see Him physically. 1. He said to them when they thought they were perhaps seeing a ghost. "Touch me for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see Me have." 2. Again He ate the broiled fish and the honey to prove that He was not a ghost. B. They were to see Him spiritually. 1. When being stoned Stephen said, "I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man is standing at the right hand of God. 2. In Hebrews it says, "But we see Jesus crowned with glory and honor. 3. Paul said that he had seen the risen Christ as one born out of due season. C. However the world was not to see Him again. 1. This is what prompted the next question that came from Judas, not Iscariot. "Lord how is it that You will manifest yourself unto us and not unto the world?" a. Again this was very foreign to their concept of the Messiah that was to reign over the whole world. b. They thought that He would manifest Himself and set up His kingdom it their time. 2. There will come the time when the world will see Him. a. "Then shall they see the sign of the Son of Man coming with clouds and great glory." b. Behold He cometh, and every eye shall see Him. 3. There is a sense in which the world still doesn't see Him. You wonder how people can be so blind to the truth. We can see Him so clearly as He is revealed to us through the scriptures. It makes such sense. 4. When the disciples returned to Jesus rejoicing that even the devils were subject to the name of Jesus, Jesus prayed and said, "Father I thank you that you have hid these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them unto babes, for so it seem good to you." Turning to His disciples He said, "Blessed are the eyes that see the things that you see." 5. To you tonight to whom the Father has revealed His Son, "Blessed are the eyes that see the things that you see." III. "Because I live, you too shall live." A. He has been talking to them of His death, and His going to the Father, yet now He speaks of His living. 1. Because I live. He had said that no man takes His life from Him but that He was laying down His life, He declared that He had the power to lay it down and to take it up again. 2. His resurrection from the dead is the proof and assurance that we too shall have eternal life. a. He had said to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life, He that liveth and believeth in My shall never die." b. In John 5:34 He said, "He who hears My words and believes on Him that sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from death into life." c. Peter said, "Thanks be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has begotten us unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, of an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the the power of God." 3. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the heart of the gospel. a. Peter on the day of pentecost in the first preaching of the gospel to the world said 7 things about Jesus Christ of which the central point was that God raised Him from the dead. b. Paul declared that the gospel that He preached was that Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that He rose from the dead on the third day, according to the scriptures. C. Without the resurrection, you have no gospel. 1. Because of the resurrection we have the hope of eternal life. "Because He lives, we too shall live." 2. Do you have that living hope tonight? D. Have you seen the risen Lord through the eyes of faith? 1. Are you aware of His presence with us here tonight? 2. Why not reach out and touch Him now and be healed from what ever malady that you may have. Be set free from what ever that may be holding you. |