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Book: John
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John 14:29-31
I. "And now I have told you before it has come to pass that when it is
come to pass, you might believe."
A. The cross could have been viewed as a great mistake in human
history, except that it had been planned by God long in
advance.
1. Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain.
2. Luke 24:45 Then He opened their understanding that
they might understand the scriptures and said unto
them "Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ
to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day."
B. By telling them of the events before they happen, they will not
look upon them as great tragedies, but will realize that Jesus
is truly the Son of God.
1. Jesus had prophesied to them of the crucifixion, and of
the resurrection.
2. Jesus had predicted the total destruction of the
temple, not one stone left standing upon another.
3. The purpose of speaking of these events before they
took place was to cause them to believe that He was the
Son of God, after they saw the fulfillment of His word.
C. Prophesy becomes a great apologetic, it is one of the strong
proofs that the Bible is the word of God.
1. God Himself challenged the false prophets to prove
their cause and show something that was to happen.
Isa.41:21-23
2. In Isa.42:8,9 He said, "Behold I and the Lord, new
things will I declare before they spring forth."
II. "After this I will not talk much with you for the prince of this
world cometh and has nothing in Me."
A. Before the day is over, He will be hanging upon the cross, the
three years that He has been instructing them in the ways of
the Lord are about over. The Holy Spirit is going to take up
the task of guiding and teaching them.
B. Jesus makes reference to Satan as the prince of this world.
1. Jesus gives this title to Satan three different times
in the gospel of John.
a. 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world, now is
the prince of this world cast out.
b. 16:11 Of judgment for the prince of this world
is judged.
2. Paul calls Satan, the god of this world, and in Eph. 2
he refers to him as the prince of the power of the air.
C. By what virtue is Satan the prince of this world?
1. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the
world and they that dwell therein.
2. God gave the earth to man. "Have dominion over the
earth."
3. Adam forfeited the right to Satan.
4. Jesus came to redeem the world back to God.
D. Jesus will soon being going with the disciples to the garden
of Gethsemene, the chapter ends with the words, "Arise, let us
go hence."
1. Their in the garden the battle of the ages will be
fought and won by our Lord.
2. It is their that His sweat will be like great drops of
blood falling to the ground.
3. It is their that he will fully yield Himself to the
will of the Father and go on to the cross to pay the
price of our redemption.
E. Jesus said that the prince of this world had nothing in Him.
1. There was nothing in Him to which the devil could
appeal.
2. Satan appeals to our fallen flesh. Jesus was sinless.
3. Satan was to make one final assault against Jesus. He
tried to entice Jesus after the forty day fast to
exchange the world and the glory of the world for Jesus
falling before him and worshipping him.
a. Satan is now going to try to destroy the
Savior.
b. He had sought at the beginning of the ministry
of Jesus to incite the crowd in Nazareth to
cast Jesus over the brow of the precipice.
c. He had sought to entice Jesus to jump from the
pinnacle of the temple.
4. In the garden of Eden, God had said concerning the
serpent that he would bruise the heel of the seed of
the woman. This is about to take place, but in so
doing, his authority would be destroyed.
III. "But that the world may know that I love the Father and as the Father
gave Me commandment, even so I do, arise, let us go hence."
A. Just a little earlier Jesus had equated their love for Him with
their obedience to His commandments.
1. "He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it
is that loveth Me."
2. Again He said, "If a man love Me, he will keep My
words."
3. He now equates His love for the Father by His obedience
to His commandment.
B. The cross proves God's love for the world, and the love of
Jesus for the Father.
1. Again it is so wrong to try to divide the God of the
New Testament from the God of the Old.
2. His great love for man was revealed in the Old
Testament. It was proved in the New.
3. It was the Father that commanded the Son to come and to
give His life as a ransom for sin.
4. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only
begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life."
C. Paul tells us that God has commended His love towards us that
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.
D. John wrote, "Herein is love, not that we love God, but that He
loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
E. It is interesting to me that Jesus seeks to draw our attention
to the Fathers love for us, not His love.
1. He was always pointing men to the Father.
2. Even so, the Spirit is always pointing men to Jesus.
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