Lame & High Priest

We're using this nearly every message, so if you learn anything this last month or two is going through John 14, all the way through John 17, I trust that you'll remember the connection, this union that the Lord is teaching about and desiring for us to be a part of. Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, when we get over to John 17, the Lord is going to pray these very things, that they all may be one, as we are one, that they may be one in us, that the world might know that Thou hast sent me. And so this oneness, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the church, dwelling in the people of God, is what the Lord's heart is for each one of us.

So this morning, we're going to go back to John chapter number 16. And so I have been very blessed in going through these four chapters, we're not through all of them yet, chapter 17 is the prayer that the Lord is going to pray, but 14, 15, 16, he is preparing his disciples for his departure and the coming of the Holy Spirit of God. And it's been a very rich time for me to go through this, and I know that I'm only scratching the surface, there's a lot of things here, I've found you go through another ten years, I'll go through this again, if the Lord wills, and there'll be many other things that you can see in these passages, but I trust that you're learning some things that affect your life as we go down through this.

I want to lay a foundational principle out, and you're going to see it this morning. It's something that the Lord is teaching, it's something that's throughout the Bible, it's foundational from the start to the finish, and I'd like to lay it out before we get into the passage here this morning, and that is this, that the Father is glorified, if you go back to the book of Revelation and throughout the Bible, the Father is glorified for being the Creator. We sing the song in Revelation 4, Thou hast created, they see God on the throne, the Father, Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are created, Thou art worthy, O Lord.

And throughout the Scriptures, God is said to be the great Creator, He's the Creator of everything, and in Genesis chapter 2, we see the creation story, you don't have to turn there, but listen as I read this account here in Genesis chapter 2, it says, Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the hosts of them, and on the seventh day God ended His work, which He had made, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made, and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it He had rested from all of His work which God created and made. God the Father is recognized throughout the Scripture as the one who creates everything, the universe and the earth, and interestingly enough, after He creates it all, it says His work is done, and He rests. So you see Him, God the Father, being the Creator.

And then you move down to the Lord Jesus, the second person of the Godhead, He comes to this earth and He is the Redeemer, and in Revelation, He is the one that is praised, Thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by Thy blood, and people fall down and worship Him. You are the one who has redeemed us. You're the great Redeemer.

And so Jesus comes, and He does His work. He offers Himself up as the sacrifice for sins, and then what does He do when His work is finished? Bible says He ascends up and He sits down at the right hand of God, and His work is finished, and He rested from all of His work. And from that position, Acts chapter 2 says, He now sends the third person of the Godhead.

And the third person of the Godhead is who is working now. And the third, and that's what we're trying, Jesus is trying to communicate here, as He's about to leave and go back and rest, His work is done, He is going to send the third person of the Godhead, and that is the Holy Spirit of God, the Comforter, and even today from the time He came on the day of Pentecost until the return of Jesus Christ, He is going to be working. And He is working now.

And He is trying to work through His people. He is not just floating in the air somewhere, working. He is working through each one of us.

The Scriptures talk about the acts of the Holy Ghost, or the acts of the disciples, or the acts of the apostles. We're going to go into that book when we finish John, we're going to go right into the book of Acts because it all fits together, but those acts in the book of Acts are the works or the acts of the Holy Spirit of God in the church, in His people. And so God created and He rested from His work.

Jesus redeemed and He sat down at the right hand of God. Now the Spirit of God is here working. And there is coming a day when His work will finish.

And while the Spirit of God is working in your heart, please respond to Him. He is busy working. And He is working in His people.

He is sending them forth. The Bible says, so they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost. He is empowering them.

Acts 1.8, you shall receive power. After that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. He is equipping them.

They are called the gifts of the Spirit. He is doing everything He can to His people, to the church, to get this work done. And you know what the work is? It's bringing in the harvest.

Here's the Creator, here's the Redeemer, and here's the harvester. This is the one who is to go out, empowering the people of God with gifts and power and anointing to go out and bring this harvest in. I've said this before, but when I go through this and I study, I read this, if a church, if an individual doesn't have that as the main thrust of their existence, they are missing the mark.

And you wonder, you say, where is the gifts of the Spirit? Where is the anointing of the Spirit? Where is the power of the Spirit? Where is the blessing of the Spirit? Well, you have to get into the work with the Spirit before you can have all those things. If you're not in the work of what the Spirit is trying to accomplish, someone says, you know, if you want to get involved with God, will you go find out what He's working on and jump into the work? And so the Godhead, and by the way, there's no more down here. Did you notice that? When the work of the Holy Ghost is finished, there's nobody coming.

There's no fourth person of the Godhead. And so what Jesus is doing here today is He is saying, I'm leaving. And I'm sending the Holy Ghost and He's going to do the work.

And He's going to do the work through you. So keep that in mind and keep your purpose in life centered on God the Father created it all. He rested God the Son, redeemed humanity and He rested.

Now the Holy Spirit is taking His people and going forth and bringing in that great harvest. It never was the intention of the Lord for us to just be a museum group where we sit here and we tell people, look at how wonderful we look. You know, we were to be an active people to bring in the harvest.

And so that's what the Holy Spirit does. And we'll see that in the book of Acts as we get into there and probably another six months or a year. But let's go to John and let's continue here.

I'm not going to do any reviewing for the sake of time. Most of you have been here along the way. But in John chapter 16, we've come down to verse number 13.

John 16, verse 13. So I want to encourage you. I don't care who you are today.

You know, if you're a man or a woman, young man, young woman. You know, when the Holy Ghost fell upon the church, the people heard them speaking tongues and they said, what is this? And Peter says, let me explain it to you. In these last days when the Holy Ghost is coming, He's going to anoint.

He's going to anoint my sons. He's going to anoint my daughters. He's going to anoint these servants.

He's going to anoint the handmaidens. He's going to anoint His entire church to get this work done. And if you want to be anointed, you come to the Lord and say, Lord, I'm going to get involved in the work.

Bring in the harvest. I want to get involved in it. And the Lord will say, well, I'll give you all you need.

So Jesus is still praying for laborers. Alright, so we come to verse 13. And this is the last section here on the comforter.

The Lord's going to switch gears. So we're going to have kind of two messages this morning. Verse 13, 14, and 15 is one message.

And then verse 16 on down through verse 22. It's kind of a different subject. He's shifting gears.

But in verse 13 down through verse 15, we see some more things about the Holy Spirit or the comforter. Now we've seen how He is a teacher. He's come to teach us.

We've seen how He's come to bring things to our remembrance. We've seen how He's come to reprove the world and to testify to it. And now we're going to see another aspect of the Spirit of God.

So verse 13, it says this, Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth, for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine and shall show it unto you. Now I want to teach you some things here because I know I've heard different people talk this way throughout my Christian years, and I want to correct something.

You notice how many times that the Spirit of God here is called He. Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth. He shall not speak of Himself.

Eight times it's mentioned here. I want to assure you that the Holy Spirit is a He and not an It. The Holy Spirit is a He.

Jesus said, I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. The Holy Spirit is the Lord Jesus Christ in you. Christ in you, the hope of glory.

I oftentimes hear Christians talking about the Holy Spirit as if it's an It. Some force, some dynamic. And so when It comes, no, when He comes, He is a person.

You have a person in you. The Holy Spirit is a person. It's not a, the force be with you type of a thing.

He is a person. Therefore, He grieves when you sin. Therefore, He teaches, He speaks, He hears.

He is a person. How many of you would like it if I called you an It? Hey, It? You don't like that? That's disrespectful, that's degrading. And do you think that the third person of the Godhead likes to be referred to as an It? No, He's a person.

He is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. And so that's number one when we think about the Spirit of Truth.

Secondly, notice He is called the Spirit of Truth and He will guide you into all truth. God, by the Holy Spirit, is always working in the realm of truth. God always works in the realm of truth.

And the Spirit of God is always trying to guide you into the truth. Who's a liar? The devil is. The Bible says the devil is a liar and he's the father of it.

God never leads you into a lie. He always guides you into the truth. And boy, I shared this last week, but it didn't take long.

And I believe the devil deceived the third of the angels and he lied to them and he got them to leave the presence of God and follow him. That's where all these demons come from in the world. But as I shared last week, where did the devil attack Adam and Eve? He attacked them on the basis of the truth.

The first words out of his mouth to Adam and Eve were this, half God said. Is that book true or is it not? And he cast doubt on the truth. And then he went from there to a lie.

He said, you shall not surely die. And they believed it. And they went and ate of the tree which God had commanded them.

So the devil's not any different. There's nothing new under the sun. The devil comes to us and he says, half God said.

And right behind that, he'll have a little lie for you. Now here's the truth. You know, God says this, this, and this.

But I'll tell you what the truth is. Here's the truth. And so you get all these lies.

That's why if you're going to make it in this wicked world, you better know and understand the truth. Because the devil is a liar and he's the father of it. Titus 1.2 says God cannot lie.

And I've given you this illustration before. But some of you ladies, you're going to choose in your life to get married. You're going to choose to have a child.

You have the ability to have a child. You have the ability not to have a child. You can say, I'm going to remain single and I'm not going to have children.

I, as a man, cannot have a child. You see, as a human being, as a sinner, I choose to lie or not. I choose, I'm either going to tell the truth or I'm going to tell a lie.

God does not sit up in heaven and say, I'm going to choose. Oh, it's a struggle, but I'm going to choose to tell the truth. No, the Bible says God cannot lie.

It is impossible for Him to lie. His nature makes it impossible. I cannot have a child today or any day of my life.

Did you know that? You know why I can't? Not because I don't choose to. It's because it's impossible. As far as God, if you look at Him, He cannot lie.

He cannot lie. So you can trust Him. Everything He says.

It is truth. And so there is a battle going on for your mind. Boy, this is a huge subject, but there's a battle going on for your mind.

And that battle is a battle between the truth and a lie. And I'll tell you one way to get through this life and keep your senses and keep yourself in the right course is to stay in this book and to stay in the truth. Because there's so many subtle lies out there.

There's so many ways the devil in this world is trying to lie to you, to lie to people. And the only way you're going to get through all that mess is if you keep your heart and mind in the truth. I've been telling you that for years.

But you know, 20 years, I'll be 80 years old, 20 years, some of you are going to be gone off. How in the world did that person get way over there? How in the world can they believe this stuff? I'll tell you how. They left this right here.

They didn't believe that this is the truth. And they began to listen to the liar and the liar began to take them down a road that is going to lead them to destruction. Very simple.

You either believe this is the truth or you don't. You either believe this is God's Word or you don't. If you believe that this is the Word of God, I've said this before, if a Martian spaceship came down in our front yard and dropped a book out and then took off, every one of us would just be out there, what did it say? Let's study what the Martians are trying to say to us.

And the newspapers would pick up and the whole world would be just devoted to that book. But here's God that made everything. Wrote a book.

Told you what truth is. I'm amazed how little Christians read and study it. And I'll tell you what, you don't read it, you don't study it, you're going to be going down the road of the lie pretty soon.

You're going to follow the lie. But I'll tell you what's going to happen just to give you a little bit ahead of time to let you know. In 2 Thessalonians, one of the verses we've studied in our Saturday morning Bible study, it says this.

Listen carefully. It says, And then shall that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming. It's talking about the Antichrist.

Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. And here's the verse I'd like you to pay attention to. And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness and then that perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved.

Not just the truth. They receive not the love of the truth. And for this cause, because they don't love the truth, God will send them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie.

There's only one way you can go. You either love the truth or you're going to believe a lie. There's no other way around it.

In the end, it's going to be those who love the truth are going to get through the strong delusion. And those who don't love the truth are going to be swept away by the lie. And you can see it.

The Bible says in the same chapter there's coming a great falling away. And people are listening to information. You know, we're living in the information age.

We've got these phones now. We can get all this information. We can fill our minds with everything, all this chaff.

And if your mind is filled with chaff, you're going to hear the wrong voices. And you're going to head in the wrong direction. It's not going to be something like, hey, come over here.

You know, there's a doorway that's got hell on the top. I have this picture at home. You know, someone drew it.

You've probably seen it. It's got three roads. The one road is the straight and narrow way.

It goes this way. It's, you know, following the truth. And then there's another road that goes straight this way.

That goes straight into hell right into the pit. And there's this middle road. This middle road heads this way.

And then there's this slow U-turn around and comes in hell the back door. You know, that's where many people who claim to be Christians, they head that direction. Oh, I'm a Christian now.

I believe in Jesus. Yes, this is really great and I go to church and I don't really love the truth. I don't really believe it's God's Word.

You know, I say I do if I believe this is God's Word, the Creator and the Redeemer that we talked about, He gave me this book and showed me the truth. It's not hard to ever read it. You don't believe it.

You know, most people spend more time reading fiction books than they do the Bible. Can you believe it? Made up stories by men more than the Bible. That's amazing.

So we believe the truth. And because we believe the truth, we embrace the truth. Well, I'll just throw this in.

We'll see it in a few weeks. John 17 starting in verse number 14 I have given them Thy Word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil.

That's what the Lord wants to keep you from evil. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through Thy truth.

Thy Word is truth. Alright, there it is. That's an evil word out there.

I'm going to send you out of that evil world. The only way you can be sanctified and set apart is to love the truth. And you go out in that world and you don't love the truth they are going to eat you up.

I mean your mind is going to get so conformed to the ways of this world. I was sitting down with my parents just two nights ago and I was just telling them in the church that I was a part of way back 30, 35 years ago they began to embrace certain thoughts of divorce and remarriage and sleeping together, living together and I told them and I mentioned a family it was a family that we converted and the first we started our church here one of the first families that we converted and they were with us for about a year and now their children are living in fornication and living and having children out of wedlock and the church is full of this stuff. Just saying how that you know if you don't love the truth you are going to slowly drift to where in 20 years 30 years from now there will be people sitting in this room and you say whoa how did they ever get over there.

So love the truth sanctify them through the truth. I can't say that enough you better stay in this book it's light it's life and love the truth well something else I'd like to mention here I know I'm going to spend a little time on this truth idea but verse 13 says how be it when he the spirit of truth has come he will guide you into all truth now notice it says he'll guide you into all truth not just a portion of the truth Paul said I preached unto you the whole counsel of God now that's important the devil would like you to have some of the truth because some of the truth if you tell half of the truth what's that make? a lie my mother used to tell me that you say half the truth oh you say the truth but you say half the truth you tell the story in such a way as to only present half of it what you're presenting is a lie and who's the father of every lie? that means the devil can take the truth and represent himself as someone who's speaking truth but only speak it half and it be a lie you know when the devil took Jesus on the top of the temple he said cast yourself down for it is written I'll give you the truth I'll give you the truth Jesus it's written you cast yourself down but the angels will take charge of you that's the truth I'll even tell you where it's at you know Psalm 38 or whatever there's only one problem it was half the truth and so the devil often times uses the bible out of it's context twist it tell you half the truth it's the whole truth you know if you ever go to court and have to give a witness I did that when I was like 12 years old I witnessed two men fighting at a golf course there was an assault charge and I had to go to court and they got me up there on the bench you know do you swear to tell the truth? they stopped there the whole truth the whole truth you see they know well people can tell the truth just not the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God well man should not live by bread alone but by what? every word you know God doesn't make every word that's why here we try to go through every word verse by verse you need every word of God you cannot live and function well without every word so a half truth is a lie and that's why I don't want to spend a lot of time here but you have this circle represents truth all the truth and what happens is people build a box it's called denominationalism and in that box they speak the truth but it's their truth it's what they are comfortable with it's what they like it's what they want to emphasize and so these things outside of here you never hear them speak on it but they're speaking the truth but it's inside of a box and that's the danger of denominationalism is it tends to box you into certain doctrines I shared with you a little bit about how when I was in the Baptist church in the Baptist Bible School we got to 1 Corinthians 11 and because 1 Corinthians 11-14 was outside the box my teacher said we're going to skip over these verses or these chapters we're going to go on to 15 I didn't know any better back then why did you do that? I was looking forward to especially the gifts of the spirit well the Baptists don't like to talk about that they don't want to address the head covering they don't want to address a number of things those things are out here but they do preach the truth some of it and many times a lot of it but leave off much of the truth you know the Anabaptists background people do the same thing you know you preach on reproving sin and that's for them most of them out here it's not in our box honoring the king that's often times outside of the box and we all if we're not careful we all do these kind of a thing I was at one of the large churches out in Pennsylvania and I preached on reproving sin and sinners and after the service someone came up to me from the church and said you're not coming back here and I haven't been you know why because I was preaching something that was outside the box it was the truth nobody could deny it wasn't the truth I mean it was preached it's right there in the book it's just that we don't embrace that truth in our box and so many preach half the truth I want to encourage you to accept it all that's one of the reasons why we try to teach through it because you know what I think God wants His emphasis emphasized not my emphasis so if God in the book of John never mentions anything practical as far as day to day living but it's all theological don't you think God knew ahead of time when someone's going to preach to the book of John and take two years to do it that in two years you should never touch on anything practical He knew that already ahead of time you know why this book was written the last chapter these things were written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ and so that's what this book emphasizes there are books that have practical things and sometimes you preach on some books you're always talking about practical and so preaching the truth you into all the truth He will guide you into all truth let me just throw this in here the Holy Spirit will never guide you into a lie if you lie it's not the Spirit of God that's encouraging you to lie the Holy Ghost does not motivate lying no lie is of the truth those who lie or bear a false witness are not being led by the truth they're not being led by the Spirit of truth so He has said here to guide us into all truth look in the middle of verse 13 something else we can learn here for He shall not speak of Himself now here's something amazing Jesus came and who did He speak about I glorify my Father the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit comes and who does He speak about He glorifies the Son well who's down here to glorify the Holy Spirit you know I've done this a couple of times this last week in meditating for this I'll throw this out to you I'm still trying to figure out any place in the Bible where the Holy Spirit is glorified I haven't thought of anything yet you know Jesus has received glory throughout the Bible book of Revelation people are falling down and bowing before Him the Father is glorified and bowing down and yet I have yet to find where the Holy Spirit is glorified if you look down to verse number 14 it says He shall glorify me who's the me there that's Jesus He shall glorify me the Holy Spirit does not bring attention or glorify Himself but rather He glorifies the Son now I guess the Lord just worked this out today I opened up my song book to this song we sung this morning I'm not even sure what number it was all creatures of our God and King I was going to read to you a couple of songs that make me kind of twinge when we sing them you know those songs that say glory be to the Father glory be to the Son and glory be to the Holy Spirit it just doesn't fit right with me when we get to that glory be to the Holy Spirit and there's a number of songs here that that elevate and lift up now I realize that's the third person of the Godhead but yet if you go and you look at the scriptures it doesn't seem that the Holy Spirit is drawing attention to Himself in any way He is lifting up the Son He even lifts up the Father I was going to show you a couple of songs in here but I won't do that but there's a number of songs praise be to God praise be to the Son praise be to the Spirit I think maybe the Holy Spirit says oh please I'm supposed to glorify Jesus don't bring glory to me and I think you know the Son felt the same way about the Father He said I'm here to glorify my Father now He's going to go on here and I want to read verse 13 and 14 and try to bring something out that He is sharing with us in verse 13 it says how be it when He the Spirit of Truth is come He will guide you into all truth for He shall not speak of Himself but whatsoever He shall hear that shall He speak and He will show you things to come He shall glorify me for He shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you now here's what's interesting the Lord came and He said I don't say anything but what my Father gives me to say I don't do anything but what my Father shows me to do you don't have to turn there but I'll read to you in John chapter 5 in verse 19 Jesus says this verily verily I say unto you the Son can do nothing of Himself but what He seeth the Father do for whatsoever things He doeth those also doeth the Son likewise same chapter verse 30 I can of mine own self do nothing I can of my own self I'm looking to the Father for everything and so when the Holy Ghost the Lord says I'm going to send the Holy Ghost He says that the Holy Spirit will receive from me words direction you know as I thought about that especially how Jesus lived we could just spend some time on how to live under authority amen you know the Lord Jesus came and He lived under authority He showed us how to live as a Son before the Father and a couple of things He said He said I don't say anything outside of what my Father wants me to say I don't do anything outside of what my Father wants me to do and I give glory to Him well that's a good that's good right there well I know we're far from that but if you have an authority in your life and you say to your authority authority I want to speak and live like you want me to live and speak and not only that I want to lift you up and give honor and glory to you well that's what the Holy Spirit of God is saying here that Jesus is the authority over the Holy Spirit think about this when Jesus said in Matthew 28 all authority and power is given unto me and now the Holy Spirit sends the Church out and the Church goes out in the name of Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit works under the authority of the Lord Jesus so if we walk in the Spirit we will be under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ would you agree with that as Jesus was under the authority of His Father the Holy Spirit is under the authority of the Son and Jesus said to go out and teach them everything I commanded you and if your heart is being led by the Holy Spirit of God your heart ought to want to be under the authority of Jesus Christ and you want to honor Him and so the Spirit of God has come to glorify the Son and to receive from the Son and to show it unto us now from verse 16 down to verse 22 there is a phrase that is mentioned here and I counted seven times but I would like to read to you from verse 16 on down to verse 22 because we are going to finish the last half of the message from this section the Lord has now finished talking about the Comforter and teaching about the Comforter and He is shifting course and in verse 16 He uses this little phrase a little while and you notice it comes up about seven times here let me read down through to verse 22 starting in verse 16 a little while and you shall not see me and again a little while and you shall see me because I go to the Father then said some of His disciples among themselves what is this that He saith unto us a little while and you should not see me and again a little while and you shall see me because I go to the Father they said therefore what is this that He saith a little while we cannot tell what He says now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask Him and said unto them do you inquire among yourselves of that I said a little while and you should not see me again and a little while you shall see me verily verily I say unto you that they you shall weep and lament but the world shall rejoice and you shall be sorrowful but your sorrow shall be turned into joy a woman when she is in travail has sorrow because her hour has come but as soon as she is delivered to the child she remembers no more the anguish for joy that a man is born into the world and you now therefore have sorrow but I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice and your joy no man takes away from you now this idea of a little while I'm going to draw something up here on the board a timeline to try to explain what He's trying to say here we're going to let this represent the crucifixion the Passover night then you have a timeline here all the way up to Pentecost and that's when the Holy Spirit will come and He's been talking about this day when He shall come when He shall come how long is it from Passover to Pentecost anybody remember 50 days and so this is a 50 day period here and throughout these chapters that we've been studying the Lord continues to talk about when He the Holy Ghost shall come when He shall come He'll teach you He'll guide you He'll prove the world when He shall come however now He's talking about this little period here about 4 days a little while and He's referring to the fact that He has been their comforter He has walked with them for 3 or 3 and a half years and now He is going to be crucified He is going to be buried He is going to descend into the lower parts of the earth for 3 days and then He's going to be raised up from the dead and we'll see here in a minute that the evening of that 4th day or 3rd day in the evening He sees the disciples again and so when He's talking about a little while He's preparing them for His departure His crucifixion and Him leaving them for a short time now just think about that for a minute while they were ministering with Christ for 3 and a half years He was with them if they had problems they could go to them to Him He was their comforter He's telling them about a comforter that's going to come on the day of Pentecost and be your comforter within you however there is this period of time here where the Lord is going into the grave there's no Holy Spirit comforter come yet and they're on their own and so He says there's going to be a little while between my departure and when I see you again it's going to be about 4 days and we'll see that here in just a moment a minute look at verse number 22 and you know there verse 22 and you now and ye now therefore have sorrow but I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice and your joy no man takes from you and so this little while is when He is going to come back and show them Himself and manifest Himself after His crucifixion it's a period of about 4 days 3 and a half or 4 days that they are without a comforter now a lot of people have struggled with how to fit the crucifixion into these 3 days and 3 nights and the horror of the earth I don't want to get into that this morning but the timeline is basically this let's just say Christ was crucified on Thursday He was put in the grave He was in the grave on Thursday night He was in the grave on Friday night He was in the grave on Saturday night and He rose when? Sunday morning the first day of the week early in the morning and so you have the 3 days and 3 nights He says He would be in the heart of the earth so the disciples had Him with them and all of a sudden now He's gone He's actually in the heart of the earth 3 days and 3 nights Sunday morning the first day of the week He is raised up and then that evening the disciples see Him He visits them now I want to go back and look at this in John chapter 20 let's jump ahead if you could turn to John chapter 20 interesting things that are happening here at the resurrection in John chapter 20 verse 11 it says but Mary stood without this is after the Lord was raised up She's in the garden there but Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the sepulcher and see as two angels in white sitting and one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain and they say unto her woman why weepest thou she saith unto them because they have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him when she had thus said she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was Jesus Jesus saith unto her woman why weepest thou whom seekest thou she supposing him to be the gardener saith unto him sir if thou hast borne him hence tell me where thou hast laid him and I will take him away and Jesus said unto her Mary she obviously didn't believe he was resurrected Mary she turned herself and said unto him Rabboni which is to say master and Jesus said unto her touch me not for I am not yet ascended to the Father but go to my brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and your Father and to my God and to your God now this idea of touch me not don't touch me and he says why because I have not yet ascended to my Father now before the high priest could go in once a year and offer up the blood sacrifice for the sins of the people in the Old Testament he went through a ceremonial cleansing so before he entered the presence of God he needed to be cleansed Jesus says to Mary do not touch me in other words he's raised up after three days he's been in the heart of the earth he says now I'm going to go up to my Father and I'm going to take my own blood and place it upon the mercy seat in the true tabernacle in heaven so he says to Mary here do not touch me I am not yet ascended unto my Father now you can hold stay right here but I'd like to go back and read the book of Hebrews chapter number 9 about this idea of the high priest listen as I read Hebrews chapter 9 verse 6 now when these things were thus ordained the priest went always into the first tabernacle accomplishing the service of God but into the second went the high priest alone once every year not without blood which he offered for himself and for the heirs of the people this or the Holy Ghost this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as the first tabernacle was yet standing which was a figure for the time then present in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertained to the conscience which stood only in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances imposed upon them until the time of reformation but Christ being come a high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle that's the one in heaven not made with hands that is to say not of this building neither by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood he'd entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us and so here the Lord is likened to the high priest who went into the holy place once a year with blood that was a picture of the true and the true is the Lord Jesus and he himself after his crucifixion he ascended to the father he went into the holy place in heaven and he applied his own blood there on the mercy seat and that was during from the time he met Mary in the morning sometime during that day he ascended to the father and then we're going to see here in just a minute he comes back and he shows himself to his disciples and here's something I think that's interesting it says here that Christ is not only the high priest but he's also the lamb that was slain and that's an amazing thought to think that Jesus was not only the lamb he was also the high priest and when Jesus carried the blood into the holy place in heaven he was carrying his own blood he was the lamb and he shed his own blood and he became the high priest matter of fact he's everything amen and so so this was a process of time he was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth he was raised up he said Mary don't touch me yet I have not yet ascended to my father I need to go and act as a high priest and take the blood that was offered as I offered it on the cross and place it on the mercy seat now this is an amazing thought someday in a thousand years you'll either be lamenting that you didn't believe it or you'll be rejoicing that you did but when Jesus placed that blood on the mercy seat there in heaven every sin that every human being has ever committed was atoned for or paid for in that blood and you just make it personal your personal sins every one of them he took that in and that blood right there is what pays for your sins that's why when we have the Lord suffer we take that blood but that blood right now is what's making atonement for you and the Lord took it there as our great high priest so we have the Lord being away from his disciples for the three days he's in the heart of the earth and he's now ascending up to heaven now we're going to keep reading here because this is important look at verse number 19 in John chapter 20 let's keep going then the same day at evening being the first day of the week when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews came Jesus and stood in the midst and said unto them peace be unto you now why do you think he said that? first words they hear peace be unto you verse 20 when he had so said he showed unto them his hands in his side then were the disciples glad remember he said you're going to have sorrow you're going to wonder where does Jesus go he's been crucified you're in a room and you're fearful and you're perplexed you're going to be glad a little while when they saw the Lord now look at verse 21 then said Jesus to them again peace be unto you now you know what happened in the old testament this is good news for us in the old testament the high priest went in once a year with the blood and you know there's a congregation a great congregation of people out there waiting you know what they were waiting for him to come out and say that the offering was received and that their sins are atoned for I have read I don't know if it's true it's not in the bible I've read that they put a rope on the leg or the ankle of the high priest in case he got in there and he was maybe in sin or whatever and he died in the presence of God no one could go in there they dragged him out with a rope and so here here the high priest goes in in the old testament and outside are the people waiting you remember Zacharias he went in and the people were waiting and Zacharias didn't come out and they wondered what's going on he's not coming out then he comes out he can't speak and so you're a jew in the old testament and it probably becomes a habit but you watch the high priest go in and there's a ceremony he comes out God has accepted your offering our sins are paid for however it worked people rejoiced well think about it this way so Jesus took the true offering into heaven and it was accepted he made atonement for sin and the first words he says after coming back and seeing his disciples are peace be unto you peace twice peace be unto you in other words you can have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ my atonement has brought peace therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God so I often times think when you study this and read these things what is on the Lord's heart? he's been three days in the heart of the earth he ascended up he saw Mary in the morning just briefly he ascends up he's coming back down now he's been four days roughly since he's seen his disciples what's he going to say to them when he sees them? to me those are important words after doing what you've just done so he says twice first of all peace be unto you I've taken the blood for the atonement for everybody's sins and it's been accepted now you can have peace and then he goes on and says this and here's what I've been trying to encourage all of us in verse 21 then said Jesus to them again peace be unto you and here's what's on his heart as my father has sent me even so send I you okay here's what we're doing now he could have said a hundred things but he says this I want you to know you have peace and now I want you to be sent I want to send you my father sent me I gave my life now by the power of the Spirit I'm going to send you you give your life amen as my father has sent me even so send I you now Ben asked me a question here recently we were Sunday night sitting around the fire he was thinking good he was meditating he was thinking about what would happen why didn't the Lord Jesus have himself on the earth and the Holy Spirit on the earth have two or maybe even three God the Father and the Son everybody on the earth at the same time well I think one reason is because they are one but first of all God finished his work he sent his Son Son finished his work he sent the Holy Spirit but here's something interesting and Ben was asking is there any place where the Holy Spirit and Jesus are on the earth at the same time look at this verse 22 and when he had said this he breathed on them and saith unto them receive ye the Holy Ghost so they are standing there they are in the presence of Jesus in his glorified body and he says fellas here comes something he breathes on them and they receive the Holy Ghost now I don't understand all the theology behind all that I know that the Lord is telling them that on the day of Pentecost you are going to get the river come my feeling as I look at this my feeling is this right here we've got about 40 days he gives them a blessing he gives them a down payment you guys need to receive the Holy Spirit of God I'm leaving but in 40, 45, 48 days the Holy Spirit is going to come down on the day of Pentecost now it just seems like whatever they received here and this is just my thoughts it's not the same as what they received on the day of Pentecost because even after receiving this it's not a long time because Peter is going back to fishing and yet when Peter receives the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost there's no more mention of fishing he's sold out and maybe this is symbolic Peter received but he did breathe on him and so after this short time the Lord returns and as he prepares them for this time where he's going to be gone about a period of four days he lets them know that there's going to come a day though when you're going to rejoice and be glad you'll see me again and of course we have about 40 days it says that the Lord taught them he appeared in different places he appeared to 500 or 5000 people I forget what it was 1 Corinthians says and then shortly before the day of Pentecost about a week before he rises before them and he says now tarry ye in Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high so I want to just say the same words to you all in closing here this morning that Jesus said after he came back and let these words minister to you first of all I want to say peace be unto you are you perfect? no peace be unto you and then I want to also say as the Father sent the Lord Jesus even so send I you you say what's my purpose in life? it's right there God's intention was for the Holy Spirit to equip you to empower you to gift you to take part in this great work of building his church and his kingdom and you know what? as I shared last week it's going to cost you your life it cost Jesus his life didn't it? and the Lord says if you're going to follow me you're going to take up a cross so I would encourage all of you and we're going to see this again as we go down through here to really understand why we're here as a church as individuals and what our purpose is to reach out and to help bring the Zacchaeuses of the world in before judgment comes and we'll see more of that here as we go down through John 16 and 17 the Lord's going to pray these very things and so we are empowered and gifted by the Holy Spirit of God in these last days and my thing is this you can correct me if I'm wrong if you want to be filled with the Holy Ghost then you need to get on the same page as the Holy Ghost because the Holy Ghost is down here to get a work done and you say Lord I'm going to jump in and get involved in that work and I'm going to expect the Lord to fill me for that work let's close this morning and have a word of prayer