God's Good Gifts

Martin Rinker was a pastor in Germany during the era of the 30 years war in Europe. 1618 to 1648. He was a pastor in a little town called Islandbird. And in that town refugees fled to get away from the war, but there was also famine and pestilence and disease sweeping through Europe at that time. And if it hit Islandbird especially hard, people were dying by the dozens every day. There were four pastors in town in 1637, the year that would become known as the year of the pestilence. Four pastors in that town including Martin Rinker, one of them left to find a more conducive place to minister where he would be free from the health problems, who could not be convinced to come back. The other two pastors died and Martin Rinker preached their funeral. In fact in 1637 he did just under 4,500 funerals. Obviously a lot of the mass funerals they began to bury people in mass graves. Sometimes 40 to 50 deaths a day that he preached funerals for. In May of that year one of those funerals was his wife. And yet in the midst of all that despair, darkness and death and gloom, he wrote these words for his children after his wife had died. We still sing it as one of our favorites at Thanksgiving. Now thank we all our God with hearts and hands and voices, who wondrous things have wrought in whom this world rejoices, who from our mother's arms have led us on our way with countless gifts of love and still is ours today. I want to meet that guy someday. I want to meet Martin Rinker. I want to sit down with him. I want to hear his story. And I want to hear what motivated him to write those words in such a dark time in his world. But I suspect what I would hear is something similar to what we're going to read this morning in John's Gospel chapter 14. Because we come to a section of the word of God where Jesus is with his disciples in the upper room and the disciples are troubled, it's dark and it's discouraging. Jesus has just told them one of them is going to betray him, another one is going to deny him, he's going to leave them and they can't come with him. That's heavy stuff and they are dazed and confused and troubled. And Jesus is encouraging his own in chapter 14 through 16. Often called the upper room discourse. Jesus is not preaching the gospel here in the sense of an evangelistic message to the lost. He's with eleven followers who are troubled and dazed and confused. And he's encouraging them. He's giving them hope. He has already told them in verse 1, do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me. And then he's added some meat to that to help them know why they can trust him. They can trust him because of the promise of heaven. They can trust him because of the presence of the Father. And they can trust him because of the privilege of prayer. Those we saw last time. When we come to verse 15, Jesus is now going to remind his disciples of God's good gifts to them. Because in times of darkness, in times of trouble, in times of losing hope, it's easy to focus on the wrong thing. And they are focused on what is being taken away from them. Literally who is being taken away from them. They're focused on that. And Jesus is going to redirect their focus to God's good gifts. And we're here this morning. We're here under the sound of God's word. This is God's word to us today. And many of us here today are focused on what we have lost. I know that many of you are. Your heart is troubled. You're confused and dazed by the swirling events around you. We can choose either to focus on what we have lost or on what God gives us. What's taken away from us or what's given to us. We can focus on either of those and we make the choice as to what we will focus on in our lives. If we choose to, we can focus on all that's been taken from us. All that's been removed from our lives tragically or just by the nature of the season of life. Or we can choose to focus on God's good gifts. I want to invite all of us today to join the disciples in that upper room. Listen to Jesus. Listen to Him as He offers hope and encouragement to these troubled men. He will direct their focus to God's good gifts. And the first of those is the Holy Spirit. In verses 15 through 18, Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit. He says, if you love me, you would obey what I command. 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. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Jesus speaks often of the Holy Spirit in the upper room. He said a lot about the Holy Spirit, referencing Him on at least five occasions in these chapters and even more about Him where He is not actually mentioned. But it is clear in Jesus' references to the Holy Spirit and this one in particular, it is clear that the Holy Spirit is God's gift to believers. If you trust Jesus as your Savior, the moment you trust Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to live within you. He is God's gift to you. And that is why Jesus begins this by talking about the relationship He has with the disciples. If you love me, you will obey what I command. He is talking to people who love Him, who have a relationship by faith with Him. And their love for Him is demonstrated in their obedience to His commands. What He teaches, they have a desire to obey, they have a heart desire. They may not do it perfectly. They are struggling with it right now. But they have a heart desire to obey the Lord and be submissive and obedient to Him. And so Jesus speaks to those who love Him, to those who have a relationship with Him. And He says, I will ask the Father and He will give you. You believers, another counselor to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth. The world can't accept. The world doesn't know Him. The world doesn't have the Holy Spirit. But you, my people, my children, those who love me, you have the Holy Spirit. And so the Holy Spirit has got to give to every believer. But He comes and He ministers to us. He shows His presence in several different ways. Jesus speaks of those in these verses. He says, first of all, the Spirit is given to us as a counselor. You see it there in verse 16. I will ask the Father and He will give you another counselor. Interesting word. When we think of counselor, we think of someone that we go in, make an appointment with. We talk to Him about our problems. We learn some advice or hopefully some scriptures about what we can do. That's not the idea here. The word is actually the word paraclete. Some translations actually use that word. It comes from a compound word which means called alongside. The Holy Spirit is one who is called to be alongside us. It's a very rich and full word. This word translated counselor here in the NIV. It is only used by John in his gospel and in his first epistle. He uses it four times of the Holy Spirit in this upper room. This course by Jesus. Four times in these three chapters he refers to the Holy Spirit by this term. One time in first John chapter 2 he refers to Jesus as our paraclete. Our advocate as it's translated there. But it's a rich word that there is no one English word that can grasp all of its meaning. Yes, it can mean counselor but not in the sense of someone who gives advice but someone who strengthens and encourages. Probably the most well-known meaning and probably the best meaning of the word is someone who's called alongside to be a defender, a defense attorney. Literally an advocate and that's what Jesus is. That's what the Holy Spirit is too. He's our defender. He's our advocate but the word also has other shades of meaning, encouragement, comfort, counsel, to be a witness, to be a helper. All of those things are involved in this word and you can't really summarize it in one English word. He is one who is called alongside us to help us in every way. As I was reading one commentary this week by Kent Hughes, he illustrated it in such a beautiful way. I can remember this in many of you will too. When we were teaching our kids to ride a bike. You remember those days, you remember some of you are there now. You remember the training wheels and being there by the bike and making sure the child is steady and you're helping them understand how to keep the steering straight and keep the thing. And then the steering wheels come off or the little training wheels come off. The steering wheel comes off when they turn 16, start driving. Just wait for that. But the training wheels come off and you remember that? Now you're running beside the bike and you're steadying them and you're shouting encouragement to them. Keep the wheel straight. If you're on the sidewalk, balance your weight and crash. I mean you don't counsel that but that's what happens. Crash. And what are you doing that crash? You pick them up and you wipe the tears off their cheeks and you wipe the dirt off their knee and you encourage them to get back up on the bike. And try it again and you'll be right there beside them. You'll help them. You'll do your best to be there. That's the Holy Spirit. He's called alongside to help us to encourage us to give us direction to pick us up when we fall. Brush off our knee and encourage us to keep going, not give up. That's the Holy Spirit and that's all in that word. Counselor, paraclete. But Jesus calls him another counselor. That's interesting. I will ask the Father and He will give you another counselor. You mean there's been one before? Yes. And the one before was Jesus. Obviously in the context, He's talking about I'm leaving. But when I leave and I go away, the Father will give you another counselor, another advocate, another help or another encourager. Jesus comes first and then the Holy Spirit comes behind Him. And He's just like Jesus. In fact, there is a word used here for another which means literally another of the same kind. You know, we use the word another in two different ways in the language that John wrote in. They had two different words for that. So you can tell clearly what he meant by which word he used. Sometimes the word another means another of the same kind. Sometimes it means another of a different kind. I've often illustrated it this way. I love this fountain pen. It writes when I want it to write. It doesn't go up. It does the job well. I love this pen. When it runs out of ink, I'm going to get another one. I won't just like it. Now, if this pen did go up and it didn't write when I needed it to write, and I'm all the time scribbling and shaking and you know, then I would get another one. Another of different kind. When John said, and Jesus said, I'm giving you another counselor. The word is another of the same kind. It's just like having Jesus with you. You see that Siples are all been out of shape and upset and troubled, and they's confused because Jesus is leaving. And Jesus says, I'm going to give you someone else just like me. Another comfort or counselor, encourage your helper. Just like me. And notice, verse 17, he is the spirit of truth. He is closely connected with God's truth. As we've been seeing on Wednesday nights in our study of the Holy Spirit, he's closely connected with God's Word. He revealed the truth to the apostles who put it into writing. As they wrote, he carefully guarded them from error. That's called inspiration. And then as we read it, he opens our eyes to help us understand and accept and respond to the Bible. The Holy Spirit is so closely tied to the ministry of the Word of God. He is the spirit of truth. And so that is how he encourages us. That's how he helps us. That's how he comes to our defense. It is through the truth, the truth of God's Word. And like Joel said earlier, however that word comes to you, sometimes people take the truth of God's Word and put it in a song. And that helps open up your heart to it and sticks in your mind. And that's how God may speak to your heart. Sometimes it's through the encouragement of a brother or sister in Christ as they speak God's Word into your life. But it is the truth of God's Word that the Holy Spirit uses to counsel us and courage us, comfort us, help us, stand alongside us. He is the spirit of truth. And he is our counselor. What a gift. What a gift God's given us. But not only is he our counselor, he is also our companion. Notice in verse 16, I will ask the Father. He will give you another counselor to be with you forever. And then in the middle of verse 17, he says, you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. He is with us forever. And Jesus says to his disciples, he's with you now. You know him. You have a close relationship. He's with you. And he will be in you. There are some who make a sharp distinction between those two prepositions and say, well, he was with saints in the Old Testament. He's going to be in us in the New Testament. And it's really difficult to make that sharp distinction just using those prepositions. I don't think that was Jesus' point. In fact, in verse 23, he's going to describe the Father and the Son relationship with us now as being with us. He will also say in us, but he will say with us. And in 1 Peter 111, he says that the Old Testament prophets had the Holy Spirit in them. So you can't make too sharp a distinction between with and the Old Testament in the New Testament. That's not Jesus' point. Jesus' point is the Holy Spirit who you already know. He's with you. The Father is going to send in a new, fresh, powerful way on the day of Pentecost. Baptism of the Spirit will begin. And you'll receive power and an unbelievable feeling of the Spirit to do His work. The Spirit is going to manifest Himself in a new way, but He's going to stay. I have to leave. He's staying. He is your companion. He's abiding. He's staying with you forever. That's Jesus' point. You know, one of the most discouraging attacks in troubling circumstances is the feeling that we're alone. The feeling that nobody knows, nobody understands, and nobody cares. We're alone. That's one of the most difficult attacks we face when we're going through troubling times. And what we need to lay our hands and our hearts on, and our minds on, and wrap around, wrap our arms around it, and pull close to our hearts is this truth. As a believer, you are never alone. You are never alone. Never. You are not alone when you're up with a sick child in the middle of the night. You're not alone when you're being attacked at work. You're not alone when you're in the hospital with a loved one who's facing death. You are not alone when you stand beside a freshly dug grave. You are not alone when you face tough decisions that it seems like nobody else can understand. You're not alone when you're misunderstood and misrepresented. You are not alone. You are never alone. Thank God for that gift. He is our counselor. He is our companion. And he is, thank God, our comforter. Listen to these words of comfort because of the Holy Spirit verse 18. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Now when Jesus says, I will come to you, it probably includes his resurrection. He'll go on to speak of that in verse 19. So it probably includes his resurrection. It's like, I'm leaving you, but I'm coming. You're going to see me again and not going to be that long, actually. But in the context, he's also talking about the Holy Spirit and the ministry of the Spirit of God to us. Jesus is coming to us in what he has just said. Another counselor, another helper, advocate, just like me, is going to come to be with you forever. I have to leave. He's going to be with you forever. So I'm not going to leave you as orphans. I'm coming to you. Thank God we are not orphaned. We are not alone. We are not abandoned. We are not helpless. We are not hopeless. We are in a family. And it's the family of God. You know the amazing thing is the Scriptures portray us both as entering that family by birth and by adoption. Both ways. It's an amazing truth that we are born into the family of God through the new birth, regeneration, salvation. But we are also adopted. We are chosen by Him and placed into His family as legal heirs of Christ. That's adoption. It's one of the most beautiful truths in the Scripture. We're not orphans. We're not left without family. We are lovingly chosen and born into His family. And the Holy Spirit makes us aware of this. The Holy Spirit prompts in our hearts and minds the assurance that we are God's children, that we have a family. Paul talks about that in Romans chapter 8. Look at these verses on the screen. Please. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves so that you live in fear again. Rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him, by the Holy Spirit, we cry. Abba. That's a very endearing term for God. It was an Aramaic word, the language spoken in Jesus' day by the average Hebrew. And it literally meant daddy or papa, a term of endearmate. By the Holy Spirit, we instinctively cry out from our hearts. Daddy. Papa. Father. He goes on to say in verse 16, the Spirit Himself testifies with our Spirit that we are God's children. So the Holy Spirit gives us this comfort knowing that we are not orphaned. We're not alone. We're not helpless. We have provision made for us in a family. And that family is God's family. He is our Father. And the Holy Spirit continually assures us of that. What a gift. The gift of the Holy Spirit is our counselor, our companion, our comforter. Focus on that today. Focus on who is living in you. And what He has been sent to do for you, your counselor, your companion, your comforter, the Holy Spirit. What a gift. That's not the only gift. Not the only one of God's good gifts. We also have the gift of a relationship with God. In verses 19 through 24, Jesus speaks about this relationship with God. And before we jump into the verses, I want to make sure you understand the beauty of what we have in our relationship with God. You see, what we're doing here is not religion. I just finished a biography of Dietrich Bonhoffer. Bonhoffer was a German pastor in the 20s and 30s and into the 40s when he was eventually martyred. Because of his faith and because of his desire to see Hitler out of power. Great pastor, great theologian, great scholar. He coined a term in his writing that was misunderstood in his day, a term religionless Christianity. And people didn't understand what he meant by that. But what he meant clearly in his writings is what I'm trying to say right now. We have more than just religion. Religion is man's attempt to perform certain rituals and go through certain ceremonies and do certain good deeds for others. In order to gain acceptance with God and entrance into heaven. That's religion. That's not what we have. We have a relationship with God, a personal relationship with God through Christ his son. And Jesus describes that relationship here. He describes it as a relationship of life. First of all, notice it in verse 19. Before long the world will not see me anymore. He's speaking about his death there. Before long the world will not see me, but you will see me. That's his resurrection. Because I live, you also will live. Clearly Jesus talking about his death, burial, resurrection. And because of our faith in Christ and the relationship we had with him through faith. Because he lives, because he's been resurrected. We too live. The only way my friend, you can have eternal life is through Christ. And this is the gospel part of this message. And of this passage in what Jesus is saying. The only way you can have life, spiritual life, eternal life, life in heaven is through Christ. He died for you. He was buried, but he rose again the third day, victoriously. And because he lives, you can live. Because you are united with him through faith in his death on the cross. You can live too. And the only way you can live is through Christ. Because I live, you will live. He says, this is a relationship of life. It gives us life when we come into relationship with Christ. But it is also a relationship of lodging. The union, the relationship between us and God is spoken of in such close terms that it is spoken of as a lodging. Someone residing somewhere. Look at it in verse 20. On that day, you will realize that I am in my father and you are in me and I am in you. He is talking about our union with Christ. You see through faith in Christ, in God's eyes, you are actually united with Christ. His death becomes your death. The old unsafe person dies. His resurrection becomes your resurrection. You are a new person in Christ now. And when God looks at you, He sees Christ and Christ's righteousness. And that union between the two of you is so close in God's mind that it is spoken of as this kind of overall indwelling, a threefold indwelling. I am in the father. You are in me and I am in you. This residence within us that he takes up. And we are residing in the father. That union with him is so close. In verse 23, Jesus says, 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. Jesus and the father making their home with us. Think about that. They are lodging right now is with you. He has already told us that the Holy Spirit is with us forever and in us. And now he said, I am in you and the father and I make our home with you. It is amazing. They are lodging with us. They remain with us all the time. By the way, the word for home here is the same word that is used back in verse 2 in my father's house are many rooms. The word room is the same word here for making our home with you. What he is saying is we are going to come live with you. We take up lodging forever permanently with you. It is amazing. This is not just a long distance relationship. This is not where Jesus is way up in heaven and the father is way up there and the spirit of God knows where he is. It is not that. It is the Holy Spirit in us and the father in us and the son in us and we in them, it is a close lodging making their home with us. It is a relationship of lodging. It is also a relationship of love. Verse 21 to 24. This relationship we have with God is based in love. Verse 21 says, 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. He is not Judas Iscariot. John adds that because he wants us to remember Judas Iscariot is hard to left the room. There is another Judas among the 12 disciples. He is sometimes called Thaddeus in other parts of the Gospels. So it is that Judas that asked the question in verse 2. But Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world? 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. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own. They belong to the father who sent me. As you notice how often in those four verses the love comes up? Three times Jesus says, We love him. One time he talks about the person who does not love him. But three times he says, We love him. And the way that that is demonstrated is through obedience. All three times he says, We love him. He says, It is seen. It is shown by obedience to him. You can do all you want to talk about love for Christ. But you do not really love him unless you have the desire to obey his word. And that is your heart's ambition. You obey his word. I received for Christmas a book of church signs. It is a great book. I love it. I love church signs. Some of you know they have to be short. So they have to say a lot in a few words and sometimes they make you smile. Sometimes they make you nod your head and think. I just love seeing them. I love seeing the ones here in town. But this book is full of them from all over the country. And I must admit, I read one or two of them a day in my devotions. Not all read, I want you to know that. But I do look at that book and I look at one or two church signs this morning. Interestingly enough, I had not planned this for the message. But interestingly enough, the two that I looked at this morning on opposite pages had to do with loving Christ. So I thought, Hey, maybe the Lord wanted me to stick that in the message somehow. One of them said, Honk if you love Jesus, text if you want to meet him. Well, that gets right to the point, doesn't it? The other one said, Tive if you love Jesus, anyone can honk. That really gets to the point. Not just tithing but obedience to his commands. That's what Jesus said. Anyone can honk. Anyone can say, I love you. Those who love me keep my commandments. That's how it's really shown in the life. If you have no desire to live by God's word, in fact, you'd rather not live by God's word, then I would say, you don't love him. I mean, I'm not saying that Jesus said that. Three times in these verses he said that. That's the way you know whether or not you love me. Is if you keep my commands. So it's a relationship of love. The other way is that he loves us. Twice it's said of the father, once it's said of Christ. And the way that his love is demonstrated in verse 23 is they come make their home with us. They decide they want to live with us. Well, that shows love, doesn't it? There's no other way God would live with me except that he loves me. I mean, you know, ask Jeannie. And most of you can ask your make, right? If I didn't love that person, wouldn't hang around very long. But he makes a permanent abiding with us. Why? Because he loves us. The way he shows it. So we have a relationship with God. What a blessing. What a gift that relationship of life and lodging in love. But there's another gift waiting for us that Jesus describes. And it's the gift of victory over fear. In the last few verses, verses 25 through 31, he talks about victory over fear. Now, before we jump into them, I must say this fear is probably the most common of human emotions. I think it's demonstrated by the fact that there are 365 times in the Bible that the words fear not are used. And it's all over the Bible. And did you know that the first human emotion after the fall of Adam and Eve was fear? The first human emotion expressed was fear. Genesis 3, 10. God comes down to the garden looking for that normal time of fellowship with Adam and Eve. They're not around. So he says, where are you? And Adam answered. He answered, I heard you in the garden. And I was afraid because I was naked so I hid. The first human emotion expressed after the fall was fear. And we've been living with it ever since. Fear of heights, fear of crowds, fear of germs, fear of death, fear of relationships. And like Adam and Eve, maybe at the root of a lot of those, and maybe the deepest fear in our hearts is the fear of discovery and disclosure. And so we hide. We hide what's really going on on the inside. We hide who we really are. We hide what we've done. We hide what we're thinking. We hide what's going on. It's fear. It's born out of fear. And Jesus wants to give us victory over that because fear is debilitating. Fear strips our courage away. Fear drains our creativity. Paralyzes us. Fear muddles our clarity so that we don't know what to do in which way to turn. Fear is debilitating. And the disciples are experiencing fear. Christ is leaving them. And all the other things he's told him in chapter 13, they're afraid. And so in the very middle of these verses, that's where I want us to start. The end of verse 27, he says, his basic command, and he's going to wrap everything else around it. The basic command, the universe 27, do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. That's easy to say, isn't it easy for me to say to others and not take the heart myself? Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. What does that mean? How can I live so that I won't be afraid? Jesus tells us how do I victory over fear? First of all, it's through the presence of the spirit. Here again, the gift of the Holy Spirit, his presence, verse 25, all this I've spoken with you, but the counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of everything I have said to you. There's the presence of the spirit. Remember, he's coming. He's going to be with you forever. He's going to be in you, that close relationship of a biting, remaining, and dwelling with you, in you. He's there all the time. And he will teach you all things, and remind you of everything I've said. Jesus knew that the disciples would not on their own, remember everything he had said to them, not even in this upper room dialogue with them. So he says, the Holy Spirit's going to help you remember everything. First and foremost, that's a promise to the disciples that they will be able to remember everything Jesus has said to them so that they'll be able to record it. They'll be taught by the Spirit in that way, but certainly there's application for us. And the application for us is once they recorded that truth in God's Word, that's how the Holy Spirit teaches us, and reminds us, is through the things he taught them, and reminded them of. The Spirit of God, presence of the Spirit, teaching us, encouraging us. I hear I see the counselor more in terms that rich word, more in terms of a trainer coach. You know, we look at world-class athletes, and we marvel at their physical prowess and their ability. But behind most of that is a trainer or a coach, and that personal trainer or that coach is always alongside that athlete, helping them, teaching them, reminding them of what to do and not to do, correcting them when they do it wrong, encouraging them when they get down on themselves and feel like they're going to give up, challenging them to move to the next level. That coach, that personal trainer teaches them skills how to move, how to react, what to do in certain situations. He gives them counsel, he gives them hope when they get down on themselves. That's the Holy Spirit. He's our coach, he's our trainer, and he's alongside at all times to remove the fear of going into the contest, the fear going into the battle, the fear facing another day of life. He's there to help with that, the presence of the Spirit. But Jesus gives us another remedy for fear. Victory over fear is not only through the peace of the presence of the Spirit, but also through the peace of Christ, the peace of Christ, verse 27. He says, peace, I leave with you, my peace, I give you, I do not give you as the world gives, do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Jesus offers us peace. Now, the biblical concept of peace is not like the world's concept of peace. That's why Jesus distinguishes the two. He says, I'm not giving you the kind of peace the world offers. The kind of peace the world offers is the absence of turmoil and the absence of conflict. That's what is meant by peace. Interpeace, the absence of turmoil. Outer peace, absence of conflict. That's what the world means when they talk about peace. Peace among nations, peace between neighbors, peace between people, peace inside. That's what the world speaks of. That's not the biblical concept of peace. Because that concept of peace is dependent on favorable circumstances. Things have to be falling in the right place and going well for you to experience that kind of peace. So Jesus says, that's not the kind of peace I'm giving you. The kind of peace Jesus is giving can be there even in times of conflict or turmoil. Because it is an inner confidence that you are right with God first. And it is also an inner confidence of His presence and His purpose in your life. The Hebrew concept is the Old Testament word, Shalom, and it flows into the New Testament concept of peace. It's a well-being on the inside. Literally, it means all as well. It doesn't mean all is favorable circumstances. It doesn't mean there's no conflict, no turmoil, but all as well. All as well on the inside. Because I know I'm right with God. I know I know Him. And I know that He's here with me. He's just promised that. And I know He has a purpose in whatever is happening. I mean, I see it now. But I know that. And so inside, even in the midst of turmoil and conflict, all as well. That's the peace that Jesus gives. It's much like Pastor Dan watching the Super Bowl with the Patriots. Now, let's just say, you know, Dan had ministry obligations that evening. And I'm not saying this is what happened, but very likely. Let's just say that. You think I'm ahead of somewhere else. You know, when that happens, sometimes you take a game. So you can see it later. You don't want anybody to tell you the score. Because you want to be able to enjoy the game. Now, whenever I do something like that, I can barely contain myself. Like I did it yesterday or Thursday with the West Virginia game. I was busy here in ministry. I was doing a play in the afternoon. So I set my DVR. I was going to record it. I just could not help but look at my phone, see what the score was. So you look at your phone and you see what the score was. Okay. And Dan can help himself. He knows the result of the Super Bowl. Patriots win. But he's going to go home with a group of friends, family, and he's going to watch the game. Nobody else knows the score yet. Dan knows. He already knows the score. He knows what happened in that fourth quarter. He knows about the interception of the goal line right at the end of the game. He knows all that. But he's going to watch the game with the others and not let them know anything. And what happens is in the first half, everybody's going to say, oh, we're playing terrible Patriot fans, are we going to lose this game if we keep playing this way? This is terrible, even in third quarter. And they're not going to understand. Dan's going to sit there with a smile on his face. I'll ruffle him. Oh, yeah, he doesn't like to see the interception. He doesn't like to see the fumble. He doesn't like to see the penalty. He doesn't like to see the other team score. But it's okay. He can see that. He can go through that. He knows how it ends. He can even see Russell Wilson on the one yard line. And Marcian Lynch has run over the Patriots all game. And surely they'll hand the ball off to him and he'll score. And the Seahawks will win. He can see that and smile. Because he knows Russell Wilson's going to throw a pass. It's going to be intercepted and the Patriots are going to win. Why? You already know the score. That's the peace Jesus gives. You still got to go through the turmoil. You still got to go through the conflict. But you know how it ends. You know how it all ends. You know that you're in Christ. You know that he's with you now. And you know the promises he's made of where it's all going to end. You know who wins the game. You know who wins at the end of the game of life. And so you can go through all that you go through in this life with a sense inwardly, even though it's troubling and hard. You can go through it with an inward sense that all is well. There's no audience. That's the peace Jesus gives. Peace of Christ. And then here's another body below to fear. Not only the presence of the Spirit and the peace of Christ, but the plan of God. The plan of God. And Jesus speaks so clearly to that in verses 28 to 30, 31. He says, you heard me say, I am going away and I'm coming back to you. Again, all through this discourse, he's talking about his death when he says that. I'm going away. I'm going to die. And I'm coming back to you, the resurrection and later the second coming. If you loved me, you would be glad that I'm going to the Father for the Father is greater than I. Those words have caused a lot of questions. The Father is greater than I. Throughout church history, there have been cults and other movements that have taken that to mean Jesus himself admits he's not God. There is a major cult in America today that uses this verse to teach that Jesus is not God. That is not at all what he's saying. You can tell from the context he's talking about submitting himself to the Father's plan. You see, in Jesus' humanity, when he became man, he voluntarily gave up the independent use of his divine attributes. In other words, he wouldn't flex his divine muscle. That's not a good old straight. He told us nothing there. But he wouldn't flex his divine muscle unless it was in the Father's plan to do it. So what he's saying is I'm not going to flex my divine attributes, my wisdom, my power, I could blow the Roman army away if I wanted to. I'm not going to flex my divine attributes when it comes to my death because I voluntarily chose to submit to the plan of the Father. It is submission and obedience to the Father that he's talking about here. It's not my plan that's being worked out here. It's his plan. He's greater than I. His plan is what's running this show. And it's clear that's what he's talking about by what he says next. Look at verse 29. He says, I have told you now before it happens so that notice this, when it does happen, you will believe not if this is the Father's plan. It is already said in motion. It has been in motion since before eternity ever since before time and eternity passed. This is God's plan. It's going to happen. Nothing uncertain about it. So when it happens, I just don't want you to be shot. Verse 30. I will not speak with you much longer for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me. Jesus knows that as a part of this plan, the prince, the prince of this world, Satan himself is going to come at him with all of his attacks in the Garden of Gethsemane. But there is nothing in Jesus to respond to those attacks. There is no ground, no foothold. The devil has inside of Jesus. And so this plan the Father has for Jesus death cannot even be derailed by Satan. Is that certain? And he is that committed to going through with it. Look at what he says next, verse 31. But the world must learn. Notice the certainty there. The world must learn that I love the Father. And here it is that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me. He is absolutely submissive to and committed to and obedient to the Father's plan, which is for him to go to death on the cross. And he is so confident of that. Yes, he will be tested and attacked by Satan. But he will end up praying, your will be done in the Garden of Gethsemane. And he will go with confidence to the cross in submission to the Father's plan. And that is why he can say to his disciples at the end of the verse, come now. Let us leave. And they leave the upper room. Chapter 15 and 16 are probably spoken on their way to the Garden of Gethsemane, or may be part of it shortly after they got there. But Jesus is able to say confidently, it is time to go. I know what life ahead. It is the Father's plan. I am leaving you. It is death. I know what life ahead. Come on, let us go. Let us leave. It is time. With confidence, he strides out into the darkness of the night, ready to fulfill the Father's plan. In my friend, no matter where you are right now or what you are facing, that causes you fear, that intimidates and threatens you, you can trust the Father's all wise plan. Victory over fear comes when we understand and wrap our hearts and lines around the presence of the Spirit and the peace of Christ and the plan of the Father. All of the Trinity is involved. The Spirit, the Son, the Father giving us this peace. That is how to have victory over fear. We all choose what we are going to focus on in life. Either what is taken away from us, or what has been given to us by the Father. I want you to see a video of a young 11-year-old boy doing something quite remarkable. Maybe watch the whole thing, but I want you to see this. Let us crank it up, guys. That young man, 11-year-old boy, is named Anson Wee. Anson Wee was 11-year-olds when he played that sonata, that Mozart sonata in a competition. He is played in competitions all over the country. Here is the rest of the story. At age 3, Anson Wee was diagnosed with glycogen storage disease. Basically, meaning his body can't break down or store sugars. The cause of that, he requires frequent daytime feeding, sometimes drinking raw cornstarch, and nighttime feeding through a pump that hooks into a surgically implanted tube in his stomach. Found that out at age 3. At age 5, he experienced developmental dislays that delays that doctors feared were connected to autism. When he was 5, he couldn't speak sentences with more than 3 syllables. So when he started kindergarten, he quickly became a target for bullies, so that he would often ask the question, why did God put me here? There is a little five-year-old boy. However, he also discovered that he had a gift, and it was the gift of the ability to listen. And he discovered that when everybody else was talking and he listened, he remembered everything he heard. He also found out that when he saw a piece of music, or when he heard a piece of music, he could remember it, note perfect, and he had perfect pitch. So with amazing speed, amazing proficiency, he began to play the piano like you just heard, without any music in front of him. He began to win competitions all over the country. He also came to know Christ as his savior. Here's what he had to say. I can't decide many things that God has already planned, but I can still choose to work on my dream, just to play the piano, because I have workable hands and a body to do it. I believe every single life is unique and special. Each has its own mission and purpose given by God. Well, a year ago, that competition was in 2010. A year ago, when he was 15 years old, he was diagnosed cancer, a benign tumor around his liver, which probably will lead to a liver transplant, a tricky procedure for a GSD patient. But once again, here's what he had to say. I know there's always a reason for God to give me a special body and talent. My dream is to be a tool of the Lord, so that in the end I can hand in a beautiful report to my Lord in heaven with honor. The most important thing is I will never regret this journey on earth. You know, a lot's been taken away from that young man. A lot has been taken away from him. And he has chosen at a young age to rather than focus on that, to focus on God's good gifts to him. And that's what Jesus is asking us to do. What has been taken from you? God, your health, a relationship, possessions, security, family member, what is it that's been taken from you? Now you can go through the rest of your life focusing on that if you want to. And you can choose to focus on what's been given to you. God's good gifts. Good place to start, the Holy Spirit, a relationship with God, and the victory over fear that He promises. God's good gifts. Let's break. Father, thank you for your good gifts to us. Thank you that even in the midst of turmoil and conflict, difficulty, and things all around us that sometimes are taken from us that we don't understand. Thank you that even in the midst of all of that, there are so many good gifts you've given us. And we can choose to focus on those. Thank you for the indwelling presence of the Spirit, our counsel, our companion, our comfort, our thank you for him, Lord. What a good gift. Thank you for our relationship with you that it is so close that you live with us. You love us. Thank you, Father, for the victory over fear that comes through the presence of the Spirit and the peace of Christ and knowing the plan of the Father. Oh, you've given us such good gifts. May we not look beyond those to focus on our hardships. May we instead focus on your good gifts. Father, I know there are people hurting here today. Pray that you'll take your word through your Spirit. Design it for each heart and each need. Is my prayer in Jesus' name, amen.