East Baptist Church – Denison, TX

In the Upper Room Our Lord Reveals the Gift Of the Power Of The Holy Spirit – Our Gift To God Is Obedience

John 14:15-26

In the Words Our Lord leaves His followers in the Upper Room with, we find the heart of His message of comfort. This section of His preaching opens with the pointed teaching about the importance of obeying His commandment, but our Lord quickly shifts into “Promise Wording”. (When I say “Promise Wording” I mean we find the promises our Lord is making to those He so loves. Like we found out last week when Jesus makes a promise it is a done deal.)

When we are in the middle of rebellion, we are not in a place of blessings because of the state of our spirit. God will not bless sin.

One can’t miss the linking of keeping the commandment to the promise of the blessing of the Holy Spirit Who is the Helper.  

¹⁵“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever-“

To calm the fear and pain that His followers would undergo on this darkest of nights the Lord would not abandon them. I think we all need to hear these words in the Upper Room at times of walking through our own valleys:

¹⁸ “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

So how is God able to come to each of us after the death of Jesus The Christ? That is the heart of the Easter we just celebrated.

¹⁶“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; ¹⁷ that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you.”

Point number one, the love of Christ, a love for Christ is the motive for obedience.

John 14:15 (NASB77) ¹⁵” If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

And again, in

John 14:21 (NASB77) ²¹“He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him.”

Love is a far greater motive than fear.

Now, the second thing I want you to see, if the love of God is the motive of obedience, the Word of God is the measure of your obedience. 

The third thing is where do we find the strength of obedience? What is the might of obedience? The secret of obedience now is love for the Lord, the standard of obedience is the word of the Lord, but the strength of obedience is the Spirit of the Lord.

¹⁶“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; ¹⁷that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you.”