KNOWING GOD – THE GOD OF LOVE || Lesson 19 

KNOWING GOD – THE GOD OF LOVE

[With Reference to the Events Concerning Jesus’ “Passion,” note how Jesus’ love is amazingly displayed throughout and therefore ‘stand in awe of God, the Most High.’]

Lesson Nineteen

JOURNEY TO GETHSEMANE – [Approximately 1 mile, uphill] (Cont’d.)

Jesus’ Discourse & High Priestly Prayer – (John 15 – 17)

(e) The Work of the Holy Spirit – John 16:5-15 (Cont’d.):

⁵“Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, `Where are you going?’ ⁶Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. ⁷But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; ¹⁰in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; ¹¹and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

¹²“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. ¹³But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. ¹⁴He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. ¹⁵All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

V.13 – … he will guide you into all truth – Example: (See Acts 10) Acts 10:15, 19-20, 34-35 – ¹⁵The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

¹⁹While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you. ²⁰So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”

³⁴Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism ³⁵but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.

The underlined statement (v.34-35) is a fundamental “truth” in light of John 4:19-24 – ¹⁹“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

²¹Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²²You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

V.22 – … salvation is from the Jews – Note Romans 9:4-5 – ⁴the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. ⁵Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

(AMP) 4For they are Israelites, and to them belong God’s adoption [as a nation] and the glorious Presence (Shekinah). With them were the special covenants made, to them was the Law given. To them [the temple] worship was revealed and [God’s own] promises announced. 5To them belong the patriarchs, and as far as His natural descent was concerned, from them is the Christ, Who is exalted and supreme over all, God, blessed forever! Amen (so let it be).

V.24 – God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth – (GNT) God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is.”

V.13 (Cont’d.) … he will tell you what is yet to come – Examples: 

{a} Acts 11:27-30 – ²⁷During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. ²⁸One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) ²⁹The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. ³⁰This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

V.30 – … sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul – Who proved to be worthy custodians: Acts 12:25 – When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark.

(MSG) Barnabas and Saul, once they had delivered the relief offering to the church in Jerusalem, went back to Antioch. This time they took John with them, the one they called Mark.

{b} Acts 21:10-11 – ¹⁰After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. ¹¹Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, `In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.'”

{c} Revelation 1:9-11 – ⁹I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. ¹⁰On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, ¹¹which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”

Application:  Let us thank the GOD OF LOVE that, “just as He said,” the Holy Spirit has come and is “guiding us into all truth” and is “telling us what is yet to come.”  Note 1 Peter 1:3-5 – ³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade–kept in heaven for you, ⁵who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.