John 14:25-31
English Standard Version (ESV)
25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 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 have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

Prepping the Kids for the Babysitter: “You won’t even miss us. We’ve thought of everything and planned out your whole night.” These are the kind of things we tell the kids when we’re about to leave them with the babysitter. “Chicken nuggets for dinner. Time to play outside. And if you’re really good, I told the babysitter she can let you watch a movie before bed. … And don’t worry. We’ll be back by 10 o’clock tonight!” We prep the kids. We prep the babysitter. So that when we leave everything will go according to plan.
Review: That’s exactly what Jesus is doing here. He’s trying to give the disciples assurance that he has thought of everything ahead of time. And he’s preparing them because he is about to leave.
While I Am Still With You
Overview
• Prepping you for my departure
• I’m leaving you with:
o Words
o Holy Spirit (your teacher)
o My Peace
o Foreknowledge: that will strengthen your faith in the future
WIIFM: Jesus wanted the disciples to know, and he wants us to know, that he has not left us alone. He has not left us as orphans in this world, but he has given us gifts that will help us on our journey, and he is very near to us, he dwells inside of us, in the person of the Holy Spirit.
Subtitle: Jesus gives the disciples 6 gifts to prepare them for His Departure
[VERSE 25]
25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.
While I am still with you
• Jesus hints at his departure. He says “while I am still with you” implying that he won’t be with them much longer.
Spoken to you
• How does he prepare them? With Words. “These things I have spoken”.

1. Jesus gives the gift of words.

In Christianity, words matter.
• The Spoken word, the written word and the words of the mind which occupy our thoughts
• In the beginning, God made Adam and Eve, and from the beginning he gave them language with which he could communicate to them and they could communicate with each other and with which they could communicate with their God.
• People of the book
• Preach the gospel…with words
o You’ve heard the saying, “Preach the gospel and if necessary, use words.” Well, it is necessary so use words.
o You can give someone a bowl of soup and that will solve the problem of their physical hunger, but it will do nothing for their spiritual hunger. For that, they need the bread of life, they need to hear the gospel and the gospel is shared to them WITH WORDS.
• Words matter because words convey a message.
One of Satan’s tactics, especially in the last 50 years, has been to attack the importance of words. He has made 2 main attacks on the value of words:
Satan’s 2 Attacks on Words
1) Satan argues… Words don’t matter. Feeling determines truth. (Feeling = Truth)
o Sometimes you gotta quit thinking so much. If it feels right, it probably is. So just go with it.
o  Highlight
o TRUTH: Sometimes it feels right, but it’s wrong.
o Mormons: The Mormons will tell you that you can know the Book of Mormon is true because when you read it you’ll feel a burning in your bosom.
o Video: I watched a video put out by the LDS church.
 It showed Christians in the streets yelling angrily at people saying, “You’re going to hell. You’re going to hell.”
 Then the video cut to Joseph Smith’s house where there was a warm fire on the hearth, sweet music playing, and angelic Smith children are gathered around their father, looking eagerly into his eyes as he opens the big family Bible and reads, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son.”
 The argument of the video is simple: Christianity is associated with negative feelings, therefore it is false. Mormonism is associated with positive feelings, therefore it is true.
o Runaway Jury: Similarly, in the movie Runaway Jury, you see this type of argumentation. The movie is what I would call anti-gun propaganda.
 In the courtroom, they have a big, fat, white, rude man with a southern accent represent the gun industry. When he is cross-examined, he loses his temper and starts yelling angrily. At this point in the movie, it is obvious that the anti-gun lobby has won the trial.
 No convincing arguments have been made for their side; they simply have demonstrated that pro-gun people are mean, harsh, negative people. Bad feeling is associated with the gun industry, therefore the anti-gun lobby must be in the right. Nice=good, Positive=true
 Whether you are pro-gun or anti-gun, that is not my point. My point is this, Satan is on the attack of truth. He’s trying to convince us that truth is determined, not by the reasonable arguments and assertions of the Word of God, but rather by your feelings.
o Feelings Matter: As Christians, we would never say that feelings do not matter. Sometimes God puts a check in our spirit to show us that something is not quite right. Feelings do matter. They matter a lot, BUT the Bible uses words that convey meaning to establish truths that are true no matter how you feel about them.
o The Mormons and hollywood aren’t the only ones who have fallen prey to this sort of thinking. Much of our world lives by the mantra, “If it feels right, then it must be right.” This is why premarital sex is running rampant and why people flock to political leaders who are physically attractive and have nice sounding voices.
o Satan’s first attack on Words is that Feeling trumps truth claims.

2) Words are ineffective at conveying truth. Words don’t mean anything.
o Deconstructionism: a movement tied in with post-modernism that argues that words can be made to say anything you want, and once words can mean everything then they cease to mean anything
o Modernists: argued that truth could be determined by scientific evidence
o Post-modernists: argued that our so called “scientific advancements” gave us 2 world wars and they piggy-backed on Einstein’s theory of relativity arguing that morality and truth were also relative.
 These are the ones who pushed the idea: There is no absolute truth.
o To support their relativistic ideology, they came up with deconstructionism which argued that Words could be changed to make them say whatever you want them to say.
 Up – If the time is up, then I’m done.
 Done – Which is a synonym of spent.
 Spent – If I’m feeling spent, then I’m feeling weary.
 Weary – One who is weary is feeling down.
 Down
 Thus I have shown you that Up = Down. And if two obvious antonyms such as up and down can be shown to be synonymous, then how can we trust words at all.
o Goal: To reduce traditional thinking and the use of words to absurdity and show that words don’t mean anything.
• DEBATE: Once a post-modern deconstructionist was going to debate a Christian. Before the debate, the two men had lunch.
o The post-modernist refused to talk because he argued that words were meaningless. After some efforts on the part of the Christian to engage in conversation, he gave up and just ate in silence.
o Later in the meal, the Christian said, “Please pass me the spoon.” The post-modernist slid a spoon across the table. The Christian picked up the spoon, held it up and said, “Why did you hand me the spoon? Why not the fork or the knife?”
o His point was this: Deconstructionists can mess around with language switching out one word for another and try to make nonsense. But we know what they’re doing. We know that Words have meaning and that is why we use them.
o Augustine said, “Words are precious cups of meaning.”
• Jesus is preparing his disciples for his departure and he does so by using words because words convey ideas about truth, and it is confidence in truth assertions that determine who a person is, what they value and how they live. Dare I say that it is confidence in truth assertions that determine whether one goes to heaven or hell…because confidence in truth assertions can be described in one word…FAITH. You are saved by grace through FAITH! And this faith is in a message conveyed to you through the means of WORDS!
[VERSE 26] Jesus speaks of another gift.
26 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 have said to you.

2. Jesus gives the gift of the Holy Spirit.

• Helper: I’m leaving, but don’t worry. You’ll have help.
• THE Holy Spirit: As Dean said last week, he is not a Holy Spirit, but THE Holy Spirit, the one and only Holy Spirit of God, the 3rd person of the trinity. We have THE Father, THE Son, and THE Holy Spirit.
• Holy Spirit: It’s interesting that he’s called the HOLY Spirit. It’s so natural for us to call the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. We’re so used to it that it just roles off our tongues when we’re talking about the trinity: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. But did you ever think about why we do that? He could just as easily been called the wise spirit, the comforting spirit, or the powerful spirit. All those names would fit him. Why the HOLY Spirit?

The Spirit is especially tied to this concept of holiness. Holy means set apart, especially set apart from sin, impurity, or evil. Holiness is righteousness. He is called holy I think for two main reasons:
1) He is completely holy: You’ve heard people speak of evil spirits, referring to demons who carry out sinister plots on the earth… But he is the Holy Spirit. All his thoughts, purposes and deeds are completely righteous, holy and good. He is thoroughly clean, pure and beautiful.
2) One of his chief roles is to make us holy:
11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Cor. 6:11)
 To “sanctify” is to make holy. This is one of the chief roles of the Holy Spirit.
• This text brings up the question of, Who sends the Holy Spirit? Verse 26 says the Father. Some scriptures say the Father sends the Spirit. Some scriptures say the Son sends the Holy Spirit. Some people have gotten a little ruffled up about this issue. Is it the Son or the Father?
1) Various scriptures say it different ways:
 Luke 24:49 Jesus says, “And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
 John 14:16-17: 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth.
 Here in John 14:26: But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send
in my name
2) Conflict in the Nicene Creed between the church of the west and the east:
 East: And we believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life.
He proceeds from the Father,
 West: And we believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life.
He proceeds from the Father and the Son,
3) But is this really a problem? The Father and the Son are completely united.
 Perichorisis: Dean has been teaching us the concept of perichorisis where the Father indwells the son and the son indwells the father. So whether you say the Father sends the Spirit or the Son sends the Spirit, both would be true.
 Luke 24:49 Jesus says, “And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
 John 14:16-17: 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth.
 Here in John 14:26: But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send
in my name
 Nicene Creed of the West: So I would favor the Nicene Creed of the West, which says the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.
• Notice it says “he” will teach you all things: Here John goes out of his way to show us that the Holy Spirit is a person and not a thing, a He and not an it.
 In Greek, the word Spirit is a genderless, or a neuter noun.
 This concept is a little difficult for English speakers to understand because our nouns do not have gender.
 But in many of the great languages of the world, nouns are given a gender. For instance in Spanish:
• El gato – the cat (el – masculine form of the, and gato ends in an o which also lets you know it’s a masculine noun)
• La mesa – the table (la – feminine form of the, and mesa ends in a, which also lets you know it’s a feminine noun)
• In Greek, there are masculine nouns, feminine nouns and gender-less nouns.
 The word Spirit is gender-less in Greek, so it would be natural and grammatical to say: “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, IT will teach you all things.”
 But John says, “HE” will teach you all things because John wants to make sure that we know the Holy Spirit is not an IT, but a He. Not a thing, but a person.

• The Holy Spirit, according to Jesus here [in VERSE 26], will do two things:

1) Teach you all things
 Dr. Leon Morris points out, “This is not to say that Christians will have any claim to omniscience. For example, I know many godly spirit-filled Christians, who don’t know how to put a man on the moon.”
 The Holy Spirit will teach us all we need to know about the gospel and all we need to know in regard to how to live as followers of Jesus.
• Amazed Jesus is ready to leave them just yet: All are about to abandon him. Only John shows up at the cross to see his final moments. This motley crew of uneducated men do not seem ready to be left on their own.
• The CEO of the company doesn’t leave before the employees know what the product is.
• I find it interesting that the most detailed instruction on the gospel is not given to us by Jesus, but rather by his followers. Jesus left his disciples with a veiled gospel that would not be fully unveiled until after the cross, after the tearing of the curtain in two, after the resurrection, after the ascension and after Pentecost. It was the Holy Spirit, and not Jesus Christ, who would lead us into all truth…and the greatest mouthpiece to articulate the gospel was not one of the 12…and did not even become a believer until after Pentecost. It was the Apostle Paul, the last super apostle to the party, whom the Holy Spirit used to preach the good news to the Gentiles and to pen the words of that Great Manifesto of the Gospel, the book of Romans. Christ accomplished the work of the gospel, but it is the Holy Spirit who has lead us into all truth and clarified for us the meaning and the implications of the gospel. A Holy Spirit-less church is a church that never would have understood the gospel and a church that would fizzle out in the first century very soon after Jesus’ departure. It was a church filled with the Holy Spirit that “receive[d] power … [to] be [Jesus’] witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

2) Remind you of Jesus teachings

• Do you ever wonder how the gospel writers were able to write down word-for-word the teachings of Jesus? I believe that it is because the Holy Spirit brought to their memory what Jesus had taught them and enabled them to understand it.
[VERSE 27]
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
TRANSITION: Jesus gives the gift of the Holy Spirit, and he also gives the gift of his peace.

3. Jesus gives the gift of His peace.

For the Greeks, peace was a negative idea. It was the absence of war. We all hope for peace in the middle east. That we may bring our soldiers home and the fighting will stop.
But for Jews, peace was something more than just the absence of war. When Jews would pass on the street, they would greet each other with the phrase “Shalom aleikhem”, or peace to you. And they weren’t meaning, “I hope you don’t get in a fight.”
Jesus peace, did include the absence of strife or ought between God and man, but it also was a positive blessing…not just the absence of something but the presence of something very real, his indwelling presence in the person of the Holy Spirit, which brings a rest, a satisfaction, a comfort of the soul.
Epicurus, the father of Epicureanism held as its highest ideal a state of tranquility, or ataraxia. This was a state of not being perturbed, anxious or frustrated. According to William Hendriksen, Epicurianism teaches, “Do not be disturbed, for the gods, if they exist at all, do not take notice of you.” On the contrary, the teaching of Jesus is this: “Do not be disturbed, for the God whom you trust does take notice of you. He hears your prayers. He loves you. And so does the Son of God.” This peace that Jesus gives is gained not by distancing yourself from an uncaring deity, but by drawing near to your God who loves you.
Jesus will give the disciples peace so they don’t have to be afraid. In a world of danger, power struggles and fear Jesus gives REAL peace. Not a temporal or false peace like that promised by the world. Jesus peace remains in the midst of challenge and continues in the face of death and beyond the grave.
“Let not your hearts be troubled,” continues your bridegroom. “Neither let them be afraid.” I think of Jesus at the home of Lazarus, “Martha, Martha you are concerned with so many things, but only one thing matters. Come and be with me,” cries the voice of your Savior. “My yoke is easy and my burden is light. I came to give you life and that more abundantly.” Fear not, for your sins are forgiven. Be anxious for nothing, for your redeemer lives. Neither be afraid, for your God is mighty to save.
This is not the peace that the world gives. It is not the absence of war, or the state of not being perturbed, or the echo of Bobby McFerrin’s 1987 hit, “Don’t worry, be happy.” The world will often say, “Peace to you.” “Peace bro” Or “Peace out”. Or, cheer up, it’s going to be alright. Don’t worry be happy. Everything is going to be fine. But the anxious soul cries out, Why should I not worry? On what grounds can I be confident that everything is going to be alright? Jesus argues, “You can be confident on the grounds that I will give you my peace.”
How will he give us this peace? He says in the next part of [VERSE 28].
28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’
• Some think Jesus is referring to his coming to them after the resurrection, but I think Jesus has a larger view in mind. I think “going away” refers to 40 days after the resurrection when he will ascend into heaven. And “come to you” refers to the Day of Pentecost when he will come to them in the person of the Holy Spirit.
• It’s interesting how Romans 8:9 calls the Spirit, the Spirit of Christ.
o Romans 8:9 “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”
o This is how Jesus would come to them. He, the Spirit of Christ, would dwell in them.
[Continuing in VERSE 28] Jesus says…
28 If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father,
• If you loved me [which you don’t], you would have rejoiced [which you didn’t].
• Not that the disciples don’t love Jesus at all, but their love for him has not grown to full maturity.
• For Jesus, his departure would be his homecoming back to the father. And if they truly loved him as they should, they would have been happy to see him go to be with the one his soul loves more than any other, his Father.
• In this way, Jesus gives the disciples an acid test by which they can evaluate their love for him.

4. Jesus gives the gift of a Love Test.

ILLUSTRATION: I love tests! When Carolyn does a pregnancy test, I can’t wait to find out what the results are. Is it a plus or a minus? And by the way… We’re not pregnant. I love health tests. There are those blood pressure tests in the grocery store next to the pharmacy. Each time I do it, I wait in eager anticipation to find out what my results are going to be.
Tests are good because they allow us to assess how we’re doing. With this test, the disciples are able to test their love for Jesus.
Test Results: Unfortunately, they don’t do so well on this test. Their rejoice-o-meter is low because their love levels are low. They don’t rejoice because they don’t love Jesus as they should.
They don’t rejoice for lack of love and they don’t rejoice for lack of knowledge. If they don’t rejoice because they love Jesus, they should at least rejoice in knowing that his departure will be incredibly good for them. Jesus will be sitting at the right hand of the father, he will be their advocate, their defense attorney. Jesus will be fighting for them.
But neither their love nor their knowledge is strong enough, so they do not rejoice. [Continuing in VERSE 28]
28 I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
• It is the lesser that goes to the greater. It is the child goes running at the call of the parent. It is the employee that goes to the boss. The slave that goes to the master. The son that goes to the father.
• Jesus is the lesser in position. The Father sends the Son. The Son does not send the Father. The Son goes to the Father. The Father does not go to the Son.
• This phrase may have surprised you because we know that the three persons of the trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are co-equal…meaning they are all equal in essence. They are equal in power and equal in wisdom.
• In Phil. 2:5-7, Paul grapples with this paradox when he is urging the Philippians to follow Jesus’ example of selflessness and humility:
o 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
 “In the form of God” – referring to his equality
 “did not count equality something to be grasped” – Jesus didn’t cling to his equality, but he lowered himself, he condescended to become a man.
 And it is in this sense, that Jesus is less than the Father.
 When the scriptures speak of the Father being greater than the Son, it is referring to the fact that Jesus lowered himself and became a man.
o In Greek literature, there is always this idea of gods coming to earth and acting like men, but at some point in the story they tear away the facade of humanity and reveal themselves for who they really are, gods. But know this… Jesus didn’t act like a man. He was a man. Jesus truly took on human flesh. He lowered himself, didn’t grasp or grab onto or cling to his equality with the Father, but he condescended to become human.
[VERSE 29]
29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.
• Jesus tells the disciples quite a few things that will take place before they actually do, and his purpose is to increase their faith.

5. Jesus gives the gift of foreknowledge that produces faith.

• The disciples will later see that Jesus knew all along that these things were going to happen, none of them caught him by surprise. They were all in his plan.
• Parents Prep Kids: The chicken nuggets, the playing outside, the movie before bedtime… It was all in the plan of the parents before they left the children with the babysitter.
• Jesus Preps the Disciples: The betrayal of Judas, the crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascension and the giving of the Holy Spirit… It was all in Jesus plan and he let them know ahead of time that it would happen.
o John 2:19-22 – John describes words that Jesus had said earlier, in which the disciples did not understand what Jesus was saying at the time. 19 Jesus answered them [the Jews], “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

• The gift of R&B: They remembered and they believed!
TRANSITION: This remembering and believing is not happening yet. Now, Jesus is telling them things that will ultimately have this result. Despite the sorry state these disciples are in at this point, they will flourish after Jesus leaves because he has made efforts to give them:
o the Holy Spirit
o peace
o and foreknowledge that will later strengthen their faith.

[VERSE 30]

30 I will no longer talk much with you,

It says “I will not talk MUCH, which implies that he will talk some more. And as you can see in chapters 15-16, he does have some more things to say to them before he prays over them in chapter 17. But in light of all he’s taught them in the last three years, this is not much.
Jesus will not speak much because his time is running short. Satan’s plan to execute him is about to be enacted. [Back to VERSE 30]

30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me,
• Ruler of this world: Satan
• He has no claim on me: Jesus was completely innocent.
o Satan tempted Jesus in the desert, but Jesus never gave in.
o Hebrews 4:15 says that Jesus was tempted in every way just like us and yet without sin.
o Satan had no accusation against Jesus that would stand. He sought to kill Jesus, but how can you get an innocent man sentenced to death? You have to have false accusations. There were false accusers at the trial of Jesus.

o But how can you get an innocent God-man sentenced to death…when at any point he could snap his fingers and 10,000 legions of angels would come to his side? In order to execute such a man, you must have compliance. The God-man must surrender himself.
[back to VERSE 30] Jesus says…

the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me,
The Father has commanded Jesus to lay down his life. And Jesus does so willingly. That is the only way Judas lips could ever get near Jesus’ cheek. That is the only way Roman guards could lead him away, the only way Jewish leaders could try him, soldiers could beat him and the only way Pilot could send him off to be crucified…this could only happen if Jesus were to go willingly.

As Jesus does exactly that. He says in John 10:17-18, “17 I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

As he says here in [VERSE 31], “I do as the Father has commanded me, [AND why does he do this? He says…] so that the world may know that I love…[STOP]

Stop! What do you expect Jesus to say here?
• Jesus is saying, “I’m obeying the Father’s command, which is to go to the cross.”
• We expect him to say, “I’m going to the cross because I love YOU.”
• But he doesn’t say that. He says, “I’m going to the cross because I love the Father!”
• Jesus goes to the cross first and foremost because he loves the Father.
Jesus said earlier in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will obey my commandments.” True love results in obedience. It’s one thing for my daughter Chloe to say, “I love you, Daddy” and she does so all day long, but the true test of that love comes when I ask Chloe to do something difficult. The true test of Jesus’ love for the father came when the father commanded Jesus to go to the cross. Jesus has set an example for us in that he has set affections on the Father.

6. Jesus shows us where to set our affections.

The greatest commandment tells us to follow in Jesus footsteps and set our affections on our God…and the greatest thing you can do with your life is to spend it loving your God.
Jesus went to the cross to make a statement. He was saying to the world, “Do you want to know how much I love the father? I love the father this much! Watch as I willingly give myself over to have the thorns shoved into my skull, watch as I give myself over to be whipped and beaten, watch as I give myself over to be crucified. That’s how much I love the father. I love him with every ounce of my being. I love him with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.”

Jesus, driven forward by his love for the Father marches boldly toward the cross.

31 Rise, let us go from here.
Where? Jesus still has more to say, but he preparing the disciples to go with him to the garden of Gethsemane to be betrayed, handed over to the Jews and the Romans, and to be crucified. The crucifixion is often referred to as the passion of the Christ.

Conclusion

As we close, let me say a word about the passion of Jesus Christ. By passion I mean the drive, the desire, the intense motivation of Jesus. The passion of Jesus Christ was not:
• The incarnation
• To spread his teaching
• To do miracles
• To show compassion (poor, sick, needy, children)
• To go to the cross

The passion of Jesus Christ was his love of the Father. It was his love of the Father that drove him to become a man, to teach the people, to do the miracles, to have compassion (poor, sick, needy, children) and to go to the cross. It was this passion that drove him to say, “Not my will, but thy will be done.” 
REVIEW: It was this passionate love he had for the Father and for us that drove him to prepare his disciples and to prepare us for his departure. He does not leave us as orphans, but he comes to us in the presence of the Holy Spirit. He gives us his peace, he grants us refuge in him so that the ruler of this world has no claim on us.

ROARING LION: Jesus takes great care to prepare his bride for his departure because, apart from Christ, the ruler of this world does have claim your soul. Satan is the roaring lion seeking to steal, kill and destroy. The lion roars while the lioness hides. The prey flee from the lion only to end up in the jaws of the lioness. Satan, the great devourer, stands between mankind and the gospel staking his claim on their souls. He roars in an effort to drive humanity away from the savior that his prey may flee and run headlong into the lake of fire…where he will join them at the end of time.

Satan has no claim on Jesus, but he does have claim on all those who are not in Christ. It is Jesus who will rebuke the devourer, silence his roar, and call his children to walk the dreaded path of repentance which leads them past the lion and into the arms of their savior. The gospel is the good news that there is a place of safety, a refuge to which we must flee…in order to escape destruction at the hands of the ruler of this world. Jesus is the strong tower that cannot be penetrated by the devouring lion. He is the ark of safety. He is the greater lion…the lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed! He is the only one who is worthy to redeem the lost souls of God’s children and to open up the scroll of wrath to release the divine judgment that will bring destruction on the ruler of this world.