THE WONDERFUL WORDS OF CHRIST
THE UPPER ROOM DISCOURSE
Please open your Bible to John chapter 13.
In the Book of John, chapter 13, Jesus shared His last evening with His disciples and the experience is recorded for all generations of believers. In verses 18-30, Jesus foretells His betrayal by Judas. Then Judas goes away, out into the darkness of night. It was also dark in Judas’s heart.
How is it that many reject the gospel and a remnant believe?
In living without Christ, the world lives in darkness with only sunlight. In living with Christ, the believer lives in SON-LIGHT.
When Jesus went to be with the Father after His Resurrection, He sent the Comforter. The Comforter (the Holy Spirit) will abide with the believer forever. What a comforting promise from our Lord in John 15:26; and chapter 16. Countless hearts have been comforted and countless tears have been wiped away by the Holy Spirit throughout the centuries since Pentecost. It is by the Holy Spirit that we live and have our being, and few there be that realize this. We owe God so much, but all that we owe was and is paid in full by Jesus Christ according to the Father’s plan.
Back to our context in John: There is no break between the thirteenth and fourteenth chapter in the Book of John. Jesus goes right on with His discourse to His Disciples.“Peace I leave with you, Peace I give to you.” (Christ left us with His own peace in John 14:27). Then in chapter 15 our Lord told His disciples to “abide in Me.”
In chapter 17, Jesus petitioned the Father. Jesus expressed His Love for the disciples (His followers — you and me). You and I as ambassadors for Christ were the subjects of Christ’s prayer in chapter 17, recorded over 2000 years ago. Christ’s Love for His sheep is incomprehensible. In His prayer He asked the Father to ‘keep us’; to ‘sanctify’ us and to ‘make us one.’ He wanted us to share with Him in His Glory.
THE UPPER ROOM TO THE GARDEN
Join Jesus and His disciples in the upper room … they are seated around the table — please be seated and observe quietly: Please READ John chapters 13 through 17 — as you do, kneel in your soul and God the Holy Spirit will kneel with you and show you the compassion, the beauty and depth of these wonderful words of Christ IN THE UPPER ROOM. Then, continue observing and be a participant walking with the Lord and His disciples as they walk to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Christ prays the prayer that should bring the world to IT’S KNEES. When you have finished, read these chapters a second time.
ABIDE IN ME
Jesus reveals how we are to live the christian life in John 15: “Abide” in Christ. Abide as the branch abides in the vine. Christ is talking about fellowshipping with Him, abiding in Him by the filling of the Holy Spirit — the Comforter. Abide and fellowship are synonymous terms. Abiding in Christ, we bear fruit, because when the Holy Spirit controls our walk, the result is always fruit — Divine production. Peace fills our soul when we are “Occupied with Christ.” Occupation with Christ refers to the filling (fullness) of the Holy Spirit.
Every person who has received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is the personal representative of the Son of God. We are ambassadors for Christ.
Jesus Christ represents every believer at the right hand of the Father, so every believer on earth represents the Son of God to the world — this why we are left here on earth after salvation — to live for Christ.
In order to represent the Lord Jesus Christ effectively, each born again believer must be guided by the Holy Spirit. To this end we have the promise: “And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought (hard times), and make fat thy bones: thou shalt be like a watered garden (you will be at peace in your soul), and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not (Isaiah 58:11).
The objective of the Christian life is to:
- study and know the Word of God
- execute it in our everyday details of life.
When our sins are named in confession to the Father, the Holy Spirit is in control of our thinking and is able to guide the believer.
Together, these two principles form the basis of Divine guidance (Romans 8:14).
This is how we live the Christian life: we let Christ live through us. Peace be with you.
Whenever possible, begin every day with prayer and Bible study. End every day with prayer and bible study.
Put Christ first and last. Will you?
Happy Studying!