The Debbie Taylor Williams Podcast

Debbie Taylor Williams: Here's our teacher this morning. We're excited for what he has to say and speak into each one of us.

Guest (Male): Father, how we do thank you for you, for Jesus Christ, our sweet Savior and Lord. All you went through on our behalf, we can never repay you except we can offer you our lives now, and that we do. Holy Spirit, helper, how we love you. I ask that now you would do your thing in me, through me, with your Holy Scripture. Teach us, convict us, call us to a higher level of righteousness and a higher level of understanding. In your name we pray. Amen.

Okay, as we look at John 14, we are seeing such an intimate time that Jesus is having with his disciples. Judas has already gone out from their midst, and they only have a short few hours with Jesus before he is taken away and he lays down his life. I want us to begin by reading John 14. I know you've studied it, but as we gather in here after discussing it, I want us to read it again together.

I want to back up, though, because we have to remember that John 14 wasn't written as John 14. This whole red letters that we are seeing in here, these are all Jesus' final words to his disciples before he goes to the garden of Gethsemane and then on to the cross. All of this is just Jesus' words. As we listen and as we read together, we want to put this in the context.

If you go back up after Judas has already gone out in John 13, Jesus is saying in verse 33, "Little children, I am with you a little while longer and you will seek me. And as I said to the Jews, now I say to you also, where I go you cannot come. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another even as I have loved you. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus answered, "Where I go you cannot follow, but you will follow later."

Then as we move on into John 14, he could read the disciples' faces and he said to them, "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would tell you. But I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go, I will come again that I can receive you unto myself." At this point, Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how do we know the way?" Jesus said, "I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. Anyone who comes to the Father has to come through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father. From now on, you know him and have seen him."

Philip now just jumps into the conversation and he says, "Show us the Father and that will be enough." Jesus said, "Philip, have I been with you so long and yet you have not come to know that you have seen me, you have seen the Father? How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own initiative, but the Father in me, he does these works. Believe me, I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves."

"Truly, truly I say to you, he who believes in me, greater works will he do than I do because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, that I will do so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper that will be with you forever. That is the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, but you receive him. You know him because he abides with you and he will be in you."

"I will not leave you as orphans. After a little while, the world will no longer see me. I will come to you and 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 the Father and you in me and I in you. 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."

Judas, not Iscariot, said to him, "Lord, what then has happened that you are going to disclose yourself to us, but not to the world?" Jesus answered and said to 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 abode with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words. And the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me."

"These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you. Peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, give I unto you. Do not let your heart be troubled or fearful. You heard that I said to you, I go away and I will come to you. If you had loved me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I."

"Now I have told you beforehand so that when it happens, you will believe. I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming and he has nothing in me. But so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded. Get up, let us go from here."

Debbie Taylor Williams: What powerful words Jesus spoke. It is this countdown to the cross. Jesus promises the Holy Spirit, he promises his comfort, his peace, and his return. Jesus is going to talk about eight things as we look at all of this context. He is going to talk about peace, the place of his abiding and the Holy Spirit’s abiding, the path to heaven. He has promises for us as his disciples, as he did then. He’s going to talk about the three persons of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He is going to talk about the purpose of his life and therefore also our life. He is going to talk about the presence of his spirit and where he is and the Father is and where we are in relation to all of them.

Then he’s going to end this chapter by revealing from eternity past the plan of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It is absolutely fascinating. First of all, he talks about peace. He says here instead of having a troubled heart, a fearful heart, we are to have a heart that is filled with peace, and it’s peace that is not of this world. I don't know if any of you have ever needed a peace that is not of this world. I have. My first time to experience it to the greatest degree was when I was 29 and diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

We had a two-year-old at that time, Taylor. We lived in San Antonio, and when I went to the doctor to ask about pain I was having and then had surgery, they took the mass out and were shocked by it. They sent it to MD Anderson, and MD Anderson came back and sent back a letter that stage 1A with ovarian cancer. I began having people tell me how terrible a diagnosis that was and how unlikely it was that I would have a full life. I remember lying in bed one morning crying and waiting for probably having to go back in and have another procedure and surgery. I was just crying out to the Lord.

He was like, "Debbie, what's the worst thing that could happen?" I was like, "Well, I'll die." And Taylor, our son, I said he will be so sad. He was a two-year-old clingy mama's boy at that time. He wanted mama. I said I'll die and Taylor will be so sad and he won't understand. And he said, "I'll take care of Taylor." I said, "Well, I'll leave Keith." And he said, "I'll take care of Keith." Then he said, "And then so what will happen when you die?" And I was like, "I'll be with you." And he said, "Okay." And that was it. That was it.

He flooded me with a peace that is not of this world. I don't know if you've ever experienced—I know you've experienced a troubled heart—but I don't know if you've experienced a peace that is not of this world. It changed my life. It transformed my life. As a matter of fact, I like this description that’s given of peace. It means the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatever sort that is. That is John 14:27 peace that Jesus said, "I will give you peace not of this world."

I hope you know that peace. I hope you know that peace. But Jesus also talked about the place. He talked about his Father's house and how there were many dwelling places and that Jesus left to go to prepare a place for us. Friends, just as he prepared the earth, just as you might prepare a home, just as you might prepare a nursery, Jesus went to prepare a place for us. Now, some Bibles say, "In my Father's house are many mansions and I'm going to prepare a place for you." But that word mansions means in the Greek, it's the word monē. Sounds like the artist.

It's the Greek word monē, but that word means a place to live, a place to abide, a place to stay. So Jesus went to prepare not just some fancy mansion, because the heaven and the glory of heaven is going to be just more than we can imagine to begin with. He's preparing a place for us there, a place that we will live. We are not going to heaven and there's a cemetery in heaven where we are. No, he's going to prepare a place for us to live, abide, dwell, just like you have a home where you live, abide, and dwell.

That same Greek word, which is why I wanted to point it out to you, monē, is the same word that is used if you look over in your Bibles in verse 23 where Jesus said, "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, make our dwelling place, make where we hang out, make where we live in him." That means that I have God the Father, the Holy Spirit living in me, and he has prepared a place for us to go live in him, with him, in him.

Now, here is my question. When you think about that place that God is preparing for you to go and live in and you're thinking it's going to be mighty special, right? Well, let me ask you, are you doing some housekeeping? Are you doing some getting rid of some sin, anger, lust, self-pity? Because you know now that he is dwelling in you and you ought to fix up your innermost self. I need to fix up my most innermost self to be a nice place for him to live in me. What if the place he is fixing for you is a reflection of what you have fixed for him to live in? Is that what you're looking forward to in heaven, or do you have your sights kind of on something nicer? Well, then why don't we get ourselves a little bit nicer for him to live in us?

He talks about the path to heaven. He talks about the path to heaven and that he is the way, the truth, and the life. Can you imagine if there was no MapQuest, if there was no OnStar, if there were no directions, and you had to get from point A to point B and you're in your car and you're driving and there are highway signs here and highway signs there, but you have not been given one instruction, but you have to arrive at your destination and you're not knowing which way you should go. Should you take this road and you go that way a little bit and you see a dangerous not so good place for you to perhaps pull over and ask for directions.

That is exactly what is happening to our unsaved friends. They are trying to navigate to have heaven and if they don't know the way, if they don't know the Roman Road, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," if they don't know, "if we confess with our mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved," if they do not know because they have not been given those signs, then they that's why they are out there in the world is lost.

So it is important, and that's why I put this little flyer out there that you can just leave at a doctor's office that gives the plan of salvation. It gives the roadmap to Jesus since he is the way, the truth, and the life. We see here the promises that Jesus gives all through chapter 14. "I will come again," that's a promise. "I will not leave you as orphans," that's a promise. He says, "I will come to you again" in verses 18 and 28. In 23, as we read, "We will come and make our abode with you. We will come and we are going to dwell in you, with you, in you," as Jesus said.

He talks about the three persons of the Trinity. God the Father, who he says is greater than him, but who is in him. He talks about the Son and he talks about the Holy Spirit. We will be talking more about the Holy Spirit as Jesus talks more about the Holy Spirit. Again, I want to bring to you from my research regarding the Holy Spirit who was going to come after Jesus ascended into heaven. He said the Holy Spirit destined to take the place of Christ with the apostles after his ascension to the Father, to lead them to a deeper knowledge of the Gospel truth and give them divine strength needed to enable them to go through trials and persecution on behalf of the divine kingdom.

Oh friends, I pray that you know and you are vibrant because of the Holy Spirit who is alive in you. There are many misconceptions about the Holy Spirit. There has been much abuse in the name of the Holy Spirit, but Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit and therefore it is important for you and me to have a good, strong, biblical understanding about the Holy Spirit. I have a conference that I've done, it's called Listen Up, 31 points about the Holy Spirit every Christian should know. It's free. You can find it on YouTube, any podcast platform, but if you want to know more about the Holy Spirit, then Google that Listen Up conference and you'll receive that information. It's so important.

Sixth, he talks about the purpose. He said the purpose is to glorify God in verse 13. This is not his first time to talk about how his purpose and our purpose then likewise is to glorify God. He says in 12:28, "Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came out of heaven, as you recall, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again." In John 13:32 Jesus said, "If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him immediately."

This glorification is the process of Jesus taking on the penalty of man's sin and them being taken away. And so the glory of God being able to be given and shed forth in your life, my life, and us experience it eternally in heaven. In 17:1 and 5 we will get there when Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come, glorify your son." Then in verse 5, "Now, Father, glorify me together with yourself with the glory that I had once with you before the world was." And then in 21:19 again. And so our purpose as Jesus' purpose is to have our focus on each and every day, on each and every relationship, how we can glorify God. That is our purpose.

Now, he also spoke of his presence. And friends, we're going to be seeing this again. It is important and I would just suggest that when you are reading these verses that talk about Jesus in us and us in God and God in Jesus and all this back and forth, you just go before the Lord and say, "Open my eyes, Lord, and give me divine understanding to this intertwining magnificent relationship that you are describing." He will pray all of this again in John 17, this union that he's describing here.

He says again the presence of God. Where is the presence of God? Jesus is in the Father. The Father is in Jesus. The Holy Spirit is with us believers forever. You will never be unglued from the Holy Spirit if you are a believer. The Holy Spirit is in you, transformed you. The Holy Spirit lives in believers. Oh, friends, I pray that our attitude every day is, Lord, Holy Spirit, my nature, my spirit I was born with, it's very damaged and flawed and goes off course and thinks bad things sometimes and is negative. Lord, I want your Holy Spirit to live and be the heartbeat and the thoughts in me. Do you do that transaction every day? I pray you do. It is our opportunity to live by God's spirit. It's just amazing.

Then he talks about how believers are in Jesus, and Jesus is in believers, and Jesus and the Father live with believers. These are Jesus' final words hours before Judas is betraying him while he is speaking all these words to his troubled disciples, his confused disciples. He is saying, "I'm not leaving you as orphans, and not only that, I'm not just not leaving you, but I'm asking the Father and he's going to send you another who is just like me, who will be with you and be in you."

Now, this magnificent plan from eternity past was that Jesus would go and he would prepare a place for believers. That Jesus would come again. And he would come again to those disciples after his ascension. He would go into the room and show them his scars, but he would also come again at his second coming. But he also came to individuals, to individual believers. And he comes to you and me through his words right now, but he is physically returning to the earth also.

The plan was that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit made for all of this that our eternity has not just been in an erase and a last-minute effort was to save us through the death of Jesus. No, this has been eternity's plan. You heard those words a moment ago that Jesus said, "the glory that he had with God before the world was made, before the world." The plan all along was that Jesus would receive we who believe, we who place our faith in him and his saving work, that he would receive us to himself to glory.

How would this happen? How would all this happen that they're discussing and describing? Well, the way that they decided that it would happen is that people would come to heaven through Jesus. That is their plan. And that people would believe Jesus. But if people didn't believe Jesus, they would believe his works. And they saw his works. So this is planned. This is planned so people could continue.

Their plan went on. Their plan included believers would do great works like Jesus. God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are sitting there talking, "Well, what's the plan?" "Okay, after they come to faith." "Well, they can continue the great works." "They can?" "Yeah, they can. The Holy Spirit we will give to them. Holy Spirit, you will go live in them and then they'll do the great works." "Okay, that works."

You're part of God's plan to do great works. Jesus said, "Greater works will you do than I do." Jesus spoke before people and he fed the 5,000, but we don't have the account of 3,000 or 5,000 coming to faith, but when Peter preached, 3,000 plus came to faith. And Jesus had great works in the area of Galilee and Judea and Samaria, but greater works were done by Jesus in Paul and the apostles and disciples who traveled the known world.

Now, listen very closely because this is important. Some people read these verses, John 14:14 that says, "If you ask anything in my name, I will do it." Hey friends, you know what that means? It doesn't mean he's a genie in a bottle. It means that when I say Father, Spirit, Jesus, teach this lesson for me, he says, "I'll do it." It means he will do. He just said it. Did you read it? He said, "I will do it." Jesus will do it. I'm not teaching.

You need hope and you pray, "Father, give me hope." And he says, "I will do it. I hope for you." You say, "Lord, I need you to show me the way." And he says, "I'll do it." It's Jesus in you. "Jesus, help me be the kind spouse I need to be. Jesus, give me wisdom." "I will do it." It's Jesus in us believers. It's not me saying, "Oh, Lord, I wish you'd just take away all this pain. I wish you'd just give me a beautiful new house." He's not saying I will do it. Pain and suffering is a part of this life. Look at him.

But he will help you go through the pain and the suffering and you know he can do it because you see him do it as he goes to the cross. Grasp the concept. When he says, "If you ask anything in my name, I will do it." It's not being a genie that poofs. He says he will be the one who does it. He will do it. And it has to be in his name. If you go to some store or some website and try to order porn in my name, it's not going through. But if you go and want to buy a Bible in my name, it'll go through. That charge will.

Their plan. Believers will do great works like Jesus because Jesus will do it. Believers ask in Jesus' name and then the Father is glorified. Jesus do what believers ask for in his name. The Father sends the Holy Spirit to live in believers. This is the plan. Believers live forever through Jesus in us. My body will not live forever, but because the Holy Spirit is eternally alive and now in me, I will live forever. Do you keep seeing what Jesus is emphasizing? The in. The in.

If you have come here and you walked down the aisle at some confirmation service at your church when you were 12, or you went to some camp and the preacher said, "Everybody close your eyes and bow your heads, and if you would like to be saved and not go to hell, raise your hands and pray this prayer after me." And I've heard that happen at a children's function, youth function. That is not the conviction of the Holy Spirit. That's saying, "I don't want to go to hell. Dear God, please forgive me of my sins. Amen."

Salvation is when you before the Lord God say, "I know I am an unclean sinner. And I know I cannot enter into heaven with my sin and I can't get rid of it. But Lord, you say that you take it on yourself and took it to the cross and died and then rose with it being forgiven by your Father. And you offer me salvation, the forgiveness of my sins through what you did on the cross. I believe because of your word, because of the conviction of the Holy Spirit in my heart, and I ask you to forgive me, wash me, clean me, save me." That is salvation. That is salvation.

I want to bow and pray right now and if there is anyone in here who has never prayed that prayer, you say it in your own words. God knows your heart. But Hebrews 3:10, I believe it is, says today do not harden your hearts.

Father, we in this moment ask through the revelation of your spirit and your word, you have shown us we are sinners in need of a Savior and from time past it has been your plan to save all who will call on you for salvation. And I pray, Lord, right now that if there is one woman in this room who needs to call on you, that she will do it in the quiet of this moment.

Father, we rejoice in your salvation by faith. Amen.

Their plan, absolutely amazing. I'll close with this, but I hope every one of you is experiencing it because Jesus said that he would disclose himself. What does that mean? He will show himself to you. Oh, my, how I love sweet Savior and what he shows me of himself. Worthy of him is worship. The Holy Spirit's our helper, teacher, he brings to memory what Jesus said. He gives us peace in our hearts so they're not troubled.

Jesus has peace to give you, a place for you to live, a path to get to heaven, promises he will keep, persons who love you—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. A purpose for your life to glorify him and do greater works because Jesus is doing them in you. His presence with you and in you. And you have a past, present, and future with him. You're in good hands. You have a heavenly home. You will live with Jesus forever.

Jesus gives peace that is not of this world. You can keep Jesus' commands because he lives in you. You can ask Jesus according to his nature and will and he will get it done. And you can do great things because the Holy Spirit is in you. But if you are not a believer, none of that applies to you.

An old hymn that the Lord brought to my mind early this morning was Love Lifted Me, and I close with us looking at these words. If you are not a believer, these are the words of a non-believer: "I was sinking deep in sin far from the peaceful shore. Very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more. But the master of the sea heard my despairing cry. From the waters lifted me, now safe am I. Love lifted me, love lifted me. When nothing else could help, love lifted me."

Souls in danger, look above. Jesus completely saves. He will lift you by his love out of the angry waves. But the master of the sea billows his will obey. He, your Savior, wants to be. Be saved today. Record what you needed to hear today and heard. Record your prayer and your praise. And if you would like to be assured of your salvation or you pray to receive Christ during our moment of silence, please let us know so we can either help you find assurance of your salvation or celebrate with you that you prayed to receive Christ. Father, thank you. Amen.