Because I am going to the Father.
"Because I am going to the Father."
Again, if Jesus is the Father, how could He then go to the Father? More theologic gymnastics are needed here if the doctrine of the Trinity is to be supported.
And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. (John 14:13,14)
One of the old hymns states: "What needless pain we bear; all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer." This is so true! I myself have found that as we enter the rest of God we continually are talking to Jesus, asking Him about everything we do. The moment we have a problem, we ask Jesus for help. Then, when He gives it, we always remember to give thanks.
This gives us some idea of the tremendous authority the Father has given to His Son. God is well pleased with Jesus!
If you love me, you will obey what I command. (John 14:15)
One wonders if some of the Bible Teachers of our day have ever read the Scriptures? I hear it said that Jesus has "done it all." Anything we do about our salvation is works, filthy rags. If there is any concept more destructive to Christian growth, I have yet to know about it.
We show our love for the Lord Jesus by obeying His commands, and also those of His Apostles, because He spoke through them.
It requires a lifetime of prayer, Bible reading, and the assistance of the Spirit of God if we ever are to be able to obey the commands of Christ and His Apostles! At least it has been that way with me.
So in what book do these people who are teaching "Jesus did it all" learn this destructive concept? I will guarantee they did not learn it from the New Testament nor did they hear it from Jesus. They are in deception.
If we are not learning to perform diligently the commands of Jesus and His Apostles, we do not love Jesus. Our "faith" in Jesus is nothing more than mental assent to theologic facts. We do not know the Lord! That is all there is to it.
I have been saying for years, and today am more persuaded than ever, that we are in terrific need of a reformation of Christian thinking.
When we obey the commands of Jesus and His Apostles we reveal that we indeed do love Him. Then the following verse comes to pass:
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. (John 14:16,17)
"And I will ask the Father." What tremendous authority the Lord Jesus has been given that He can ask the Father to give us the Spirit of truth!
I have been young and now am old. I have come to the conclusion that the antichrist world spirit is one huge lie. The actions of the politicians are one huge lie. The media continually present one huge lie. The intellectuals of the world in numerous instances convey one huge lie. The American culture, with its pursuit of sexual activity, money, and power is one huge lie. Our whole environment is a lie!
The world is unable to arrive at truth because of its slavery to Satan.
The Spirit of truth lives in Jesus and was with the disciples because He was with them. On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of truth entered them to abide forever.
I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. (John 14:18)
We might conclude that Jesus is repeating Himself. He just said that the Spirit of truth would be in them, and is repeating this promise by saying He would come to the disciples.
I do not believe such to be the case. This would be to make the Spirit of truth and Jesus to be the same Person. And that is not true. The Christian Church is the wife of the Lamb, not of the Spirit of truth .
The fifth of the seven Jewish feasts is the Blowing of Trumpets. The Blowing of Trumpets comes after the fourth feast, Pentecost.
Pentecost represents the giving of the Spirit of God, the Spirit of truth, to us.
The Blowing of Trumpets speaks of the coming of the King to His disciples prior to His coming in the clouds to be seen by every eye.
What, then, is the purpose of the Blowing of Trumpets? It is to wage war against the enemies that are in His Church. The Christian churches are filled with lying, hatred, rage, unforgiveness, immorality, gossip, jealousy, and every other devil.
If we will pause our frantic Christian life and listen, I think we will find that Jesus is telling us He wants to enter us and drive out that which is unclean; which is not of the image of God.
He is appearing to us who are looking for Him, not to the world. He will come to the world later when He has a Firstfruits of Christians who are prepared to rise from the dead and ascend to meet Him in the air.
So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:28)
The verse above obviously is not speaking of the worldwide return of the Lord, but of the bringing of salvation to the believers. Such is taking place today for those who have ears to hear.
Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
To live by the Life of the Lord Jesus is the rest of God, spoken of in the fourth chapter of the Book of Hebrews. This is God's goal for each of us. Today God is looking for a Firstfruits company of disciples who are willing to set aside their own life that they might live by the Life of Jesus.
These are the believers who will be prepared to pass from death to life, when Jesus next appears, and to ascend to meet Him in the air. This is the first resurrection from the dead. We have to lay aside all else in order to attain to the first resurrection, as did the Apostle Paul.
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:10,11)
We can see how high the standard is that must be met by those who hope to be made alive and ascend to meet the Lord when He appears, in that Paul did not feel that he had as yet attained to the resurrection.
But this is no reason for discouragement. If we desire to be among the Firstfruits to God and the Lamb, then we must pray to this end and obey Christ in all He tells us to do; keeping in mind that Jesus said we may ask what we will and it shall be done.
Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. (John 14:19)
We understand from the above that we will see Christ prior to His worldwide appearing in which every eye shall see him.
I believe this is going on now. I myself am experiencing something like this. Christ and His angels are real to me. I do not see Christ as one would in a picture or a vision. It is kind of an awareness. Because of this awareness I speak to Jesus all the time throughout the day and night. I have many needs that keep arising. I have no idea what I would do if Jesus were not continually answering my prayers.
I do not believe the experience of the awareness of Christ is limited to me. It will be the portion of anyone who cares enough to look for it.
On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. (John 14:20)
The verse above is the rest of God. It is our goal, our Canaan, our land of promise.
You know, the doctrine of the Trinity was formulated by sincere men, devout men. They were attempting to put into words the mystery of God.
But the only way we can understand the relationship between the Father and the Son is by turning away from our own life and living by the Life of the Lord Jesus.
All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. (Matthew 11:27)
The program of redemption is progressive. It begins with the blood atonement. Continues with repentance and water baptism. Moves ahead to the born again experience, in which Christ, who Himself is the Kingdom of God, is born in us.
The next step is the baptism with the Holy Spirit, providing us with the ability to cease from sin, and also to assist in the forming of Christ in the members of the Body of Christ with the gifts and ministries the Spirit gives us.
This is the level of God's working to the present hour.
Now the plan of redemption is continuing. Christ is coming to us as Joshua. He is pointing out to us the worldliness, lusts, and self-will in our personality. We are camped at Gilgal, in the plains of Jericho, to speak in a figure.
Our land of promise is before us. Now we have to take our land, inch by inch, as we follow the Spirit of God into battle against everything in our personality that is hindering us from perfect rest in the center of God's Person and will.
The Holy Spirit is helping us confess our sins and turn away from them. All of this so far is to provide a background for the final, climactic work—the rest of God.
We have learned to set aside our own life that we might live by the Life of the Lord Jesus, which absolutely is necessary if we are to attain to that state in which God finds His home and His rest in us.
Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. (John 14:21)
We show our love for Christ by obeying His commands, not merely by saying we love Him or we believe in Him.
Everything depends on our obeying the commands of Christ and His Apostles. It is the commands of Christ and His Apostles, when we obey them, that lead us into our goal, which is the rest of God.
Today's teaching of lawless grace is destructive of God's plan for us. The doctrines of "faith alone" and "Jesus did it all," which are so pervasive in America today, are able to frustrate the final work of redemption.
Since many who are last are destined to be first in the Kingdom, this may be the reason why these pernicious doctrines are emphasized in our day. I wonder how long it will be before some prominent pastor or evangelist discovers that the teaching of lawless-grace is absolutely contrary to the New Testament?
There is no doubt in my mind that the teaching of lawless-grace is the reason for the moral corruption of our day. With the demons of sexual lust so prevalent, how do we expect people to resist these fiery temptations when in their mind is the concept that "Jesus did it all," and all they need do is believe that Jesus did it all.
People are falling into sexual sin on the right hand and the left, and Divine judgment is about to fall on America as a result of this and other sins.
When we obey Christ's commands the Father loves us (illustrating that they are two different people). Also the Lord Jesus loves us and will show Himself to us. This revelation of Christ is taking place in our day, as I have said previously.
Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?" (John 14:22)
Jesus' reply does not appear to answer Judas' question: "What is Your reason for doing this?" Sometimes the Lord's thoughts are so high above ours that we cannot grasp them readily.
Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." (John 14:23)
The verse above describes the rest of God.
The purpose of Christ's teaching is to lead us into the rest of God. When we do not obey His teaching, we never enter God's rest. It is as simple as that.
Every aspect of the Divine redemption has as its purpose the preparation of us as a resting place for God. God planned this during the six days of creation and rested on the seventh day. Now His Word is bringing it to pass, and we in our generation are closer to the fulfillment than ever before.
The Father and Christ plan on coming to us and making Their home with us. This is such an awesome concept it staggers the mind.
This is the new Jerusalem. The new Jerusalem is the Tabernacle of God, destined to dwell among people on the new earth, the new world of righteousness.
Wherever we go throughout the creation, the name of God will be on us. We will be the priests of the Lord. Just as in the case of Aaron, we will have no possessions among the inhabitants of the new earth. The Lord Himself is our inheritance.
Yet, we are co-heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom the Father has given the nations and the farthest reaches of the earth.
To be filled with all the Fullness of God. This is our goal. Each one of us must tell God many times that this is our goal so He can keep us going on the path that leads to His Fullness.
Let us now, with a heart filled with courage and determination, press forward in Christ. With the help of the Lord we will become the eternal House of God, just as our Lord Jesus is.
Never, never, never quit. The trials will be over some day, and you have all eternity to think about how you behaved when you were tested in the fires of the valley of the shadow of death, which our world is.