My Time is Near

Well go ahead and take your Bible, turn with me to John chapter 14. John chapter 14, you should know that that's where we're going to be. We're going to finish up John chapter 14 covering verses 27 to verse 31. John chapter 14 verse 27 to 31. Now if we take a step back, and what I mean by that is back up and look at the entire chapter. We need to revisit two words that I have given multiple times. I have said that these are themes that are running in and out of these verses. And those two words are comfort and provision. I have asked you to write those words down. I would encourage you to do that.

We're going to use these words as we continue and finish up the chapter. But these words, comfort and provision. Now if we go back to the beginning of the chapter, we covered verses 1 through 14. And I use the title, "The Troubled Disciples." We had a part 1, part 2. The first message covered verses 1 through 6. And then the second message covered verses 7 through 14. Then as we progress through the middle of the chapter, we had two messages and I had a part 1 and part 2. I called it the promise of the Holy Spirit. Part 1 covered verse 15 through 18. And then verses 18 through 26 was a part 2.

Now if we look at verses 1 through 14, we see the theme of comfort running all through those verses. Jesus was comforting his troubled and his confused disciples. Back in the beginning of the chapter in those verses, there was Thomas, there was Philip asking those questions, really representing the group and they are revealing their great confusion and their lack of understanding. And Jesus was comforting those disciples. Then in verses 15 through 26, the theme was the provision. The provision of God. Jesus was teaching that the Father would provide and give the person of the Holy Spirit.

We've come to understand more fully that he is the third person of the Trinity. He is God. He is not an influence. He is not a thing. Jesus is not leaving the disciples as orphans, but he's giving the Holy Spirit. There's this provision. Now all of this is what Bible scholars call the farewell discourses. I repeat that because we need to see. Between the Last Supper, the Passover meal there in chapter 13, and the cross there, there's this one-on-one time in chapters 13 to 17 where Jesus is spending personal time with the disciples and preparing them for his departure and the cross. I've said over and over he's persevering in them.

He's working in them. And he is making them into the disciples that he wants them to be. Now with these remaining verses finishing up the chapter, we will come back to that first theme, that first word, that word comfort. That word comfort. So in your note-taking, maybe in the margin of your Bible, verses 1 through 14, you could put out there comfort. Jesus is comforting his disciples. And in the middle portion, starting in verse 15 to verse 26, there is the provision, the provision of the Spirit, and then Jesus comes back around to comforting his disciples.

Now the title of the message is very simple, and that is, "My Time is Near." My time is near. We will look at three main truths or major truths out of these verses. "Peace I leave with you," out of verse 27, "I will come to you," or come back to you, verses 28 and 29, and then, "My Time is Near," verse 30 and 31. This is all part of Jesus working in his disciples, preparing them for what's going to take place. We know chronologically that he will be arrested this very night, and the cross is near, and he is teaching them, "My Time is Near," and again, he is comforting them.

Like I do regularly, I encourage you to take notes so that you can retain all the Lord wants to give us this morning, and all the Lord wants to teach us as we continue to study and meditate on our verses and the message. So let's look at our verses, read our verses together, starting in verse 27. "Peace I leave with you," "My peace I give you," not as the world gives, "do I give you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful," verse 28, "For you heard that I said to you, I go away and I will come to you. If you love me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that when it does come to pass, you may believe or trust." Verse 30, "I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gives, gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go from here." So out of these verses, let's look at our first major truth. Truth number one, "Peace I leave with you," back at verse 27. Let's look at the verse again, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you." Now, in many ways, right here in verse 27, Jesus is introducing a new subject.

Up until now, Jesus has not spoken of peace to the disciples, although He has spoken words of encouragement and words of comfort. This is simply a continuation of Jesus preparing His disciples, and comforting and encouraging His disciples. Now, with this verse, we need to look at some background. We need to understand some of the context. This word "peace" was used in the Jewish world as a customary greeting and farewell. In the Old Testament, it was used some 250 times. We see it in a specific example in 1 Samuel 26, or excuse me, 25 verse 6, which reads, "And thus you shall greet Him.

Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have." In this example, the soon-to-be King David sent some of his young men to the house of a man named Nabal. David and his men had lived in the wilderness, and they had lived with Nabal's sheep. They had protected Nabal's property, they had protected his sheep, and David was sending his men for a just compensation for that service. And David instructed his men to greet this individual, what? With the peace of God and the blessing of God. That's why David is giving this instruction.

David was saying to his men, "You say to this individual, 'May God bless you, and may God bless your home, and may God bless your possessions.'" And this was a greeting in the form of a prayer, in the form of a blessing of God on Him, on His home, and on His possessions. Now, Jesus and the disciples were living in a Jewish context, a Jewish culture, but they were also living in a Greek culture. Because you should know and understand that they were occupied by the Romans, by the Greeks. Now, within Greek culture, peace was seen in a completely different manner. The Greeks were a war-like people, and they viewed peace in relation to war.

They viewed peace, personal peace, as simply the absence of war, or the absence of strife. And that is completely different from the Old Testament view of this peace, and the New Testament use of this word. Now, here, in these verses, Jesus is using this familiar cultural farewell, but there is a big difference in Jesus' use, compared to the normal Jewish use of this word. When man expressed this, like we saw in Samuel, they are expressing a hope or a prayer. What was David instructing his men to do? To pray and ask for a blessing. May the peace of God be on you. May God bless you. That is a hope. That is a prayer.

But in Jesus' case, it is much different. Jesus can give peace to men. Jesus can give peace to these disciples. And this is not a prayer. This is a provision. This is a provision. Now, three specifics, or three observations I want to make out of this verse. First of all, I want us to see the source of this peace. Go back to the verse. "Peace I leave with you, my..." All the translations say, "My, my peace I give you." Now, Jesus, being the second person of the Trinity, could give peace, because He is the God of peace. Now, we know who Jesus is. A big portion of the Gospel of John.

John is taking the time to exalt Christ and put Him in His proper place. That is proper Christology. So we know that He is God. And we see this in many places throughout the New Testament. This teaching. One example is Philippians 4, verse 9. Paul is writing to the Philippian church, and what does he say? Verse 9, "What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things." What is Paul saying? What I've taught you, put it into practice. And now, notice what Paul says. "And the God of peace will be with you." Jesus is the God of peace. And the apostles understood this fact.

Many times in the introduction, in their letters, it would include this teaching in what commentators call the salutation. I'll give you an example. In Romans 1.7, it reads, "To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be a saint, grace to you, and peace from our God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ." So what do we see? Just in this first portion of the verse. The source of the peace, and the source of the peace, comes from Christ Himself. The second observation I want us to see is the contrast within this peace. The contrast within this peace. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you, not..." Here's the contrast.

"Not as the world gives, do I give you." Here Jesus is contrasting His peace with the false peace which comes from the world. Jesus knows the false peace that comes from all of the world and what He offers is not true peace. It is at best a temporary peace. So there's a contrast. Jesus gives a contrast between His true peace and the peace that comes from the world. And then our third observation, the comfort of His peace. What does He say? "Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful." Here Jesus offers His disciples comfort. Jesus uses this same language back at the beginning of the chapter in verse 1.

If we look over, what does He say? "Let not your heart be troubled." Jesus is using this same language. Again, He is speaking to their confusion. He is speaking to their circumstances and the circumstances that He knows they will face. So in summary, just out of this one verse, what do we see? Jesus is giving His disciples a farewell. But this is not a hope. This is not a prayer. This is a provision. He knows that when the Holy Spirit comes and feels them, they will know and enjoy this peace. Now a question. We know this was a farewell. And we know that the disciples did not understand fully what was taking place here.

But would they have understood what Jesus was teaching? Now culturally, they were very used to this greeting. They would have understood this greeting in the context in the world in which they lived. But we have no way of knowing if they understood what Jesus was teaching. I do not believe that they did. Jesus is giving this farewell and He is saying, "Peace I give you, peace I leave with you." Now, in application for you and me, what can we learn here? We are not like these disciples. We are not facing the circumstances that they face. But we are far more like the disciples than we know.

And we must understand that Christ's peace, the peace that comes from Christ, is completely different than the peace that comes from the world. The world will tell you that money will bring you peace. The world will tell you that sexual immorality will bring you peace. The world will tell you that power and position will bring you peace. The world will tell you that drugs and alcohol will bring you peace. As a matter of fact, the world will tell you if you have a problem with all types of depressions and anxieties, there is a pill that can bring you peace.

The world is telling you, and the world is telling me, that the world can bring us peace. But Jesus says that His peace is completely different than the peace that comes from the world. I will share with you how we as born-again Christians, Bible Christians, come to live within this peace. This is part of the application. First, true peace can only come in true conversion. Now listen close. True peace can only come when we are at peace with God. The problem with so many people in the life of the church is that they do not understand how they relate to God.

When man, when woman, when a young person is outside of the grace of God, they are not born-again, they are a rebel against God, they are not at peace with God, they are raising their fist to live their life their own way, and they are not at peace with God. They are not a good man, they are not a good woman, they are not a good young person, they are a rebel, they are an anarchy against God and His Word and the things of God. The problem in many churches today is sinners are not seen as sinners. Sinners are not seen as sinners.

And so the only way someone can have peace with God is when they are converted, when they are saved from their sin and their rebellion against God and they are saved from that eternal hell that they deserve. Over 20 years ago when I was converted, no one had to tell me I was a sinner. God showed me I was a sinner. And I received a peace in conversion and it wasn't just conversion, it was Christ coming to live within me. And then second, there is a peace that comes when we walk with God. When we are converted, it doesn't stop there, it just begins.

When God comes to live within us, He lives within us and we walk with God and we know God and we love God and we want to obey His commandments because we have a genuine love for Him. We identify with His commandments, they are ours and they are His. We walk with God and we know God and there is a peace that comes from walking with God. And then there is a peace that comes from walking with God in ordained circumstances even if they are trials. God ordains the circumstances of our life, positive or negative. Even people, you must understand, we must understand that we serve a sovereign God and He has not come to give us a fuzzy, warm life.

No, we might always live in difficult circumstances. I said this last week, the difficulties that you are in might not ever go away. But He is God and He is good and we have a peace that comes from walking with God even in difficult circumstances. And I am going to tell you, you are a lot like these disciples. We are a lot like these disciples. We might reject our circumstances. We might hate our circumstances but there has to come to a place where we get to the very bottom and we say, "God, I receive it. I love you and I am going to serve you no matter what." That brings peace.

Now listen, there are some of you here, you are not converted and you cannot understand this peace. You are an enmity with God. You are a rebel against God. You hate God. You hate the things of God. You hate the church. You hate all that is good because you are a sinner. You cannot understand this. But this peace, where does it come from? In your life and my life as genuine Bible believers, it comes from Christ. And when I have been unfolding this verse for you, there are some of you that are saying, "Yes, yes, it comes from God. It comes from knowing God." And that is what Jesus is teaching his disciples. What does he say?

"My peace, I leave with you." Let's move on. I want us to see our second major truth. Truth number two, I will come to you. I will come to you. Verse 28 and 29, "You heard that I said to you, I go away and I will come to you. If you love me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it comes to pass that when it does come to pass, you may believe." Now, much of what is taught here is a repeat of what Jesus had taught earlier in the chapter. Jesus is reminding them.

If you look back at the beginning of the chapter, if you look back in different places, you will see he says, "You have heard it said, I have repeated this." This is a constant in Jesus' teaching. Jesus often reminded the disciples of what he had previously taught him. And we need to understand that Jesus does this purposely and for their own good and our own good. He was teaching them today what they would understand tomorrow and what they could not understand in their day. Now three observations I want to make out of these verses. First, Jesus promised to leave yet to return. Jesus promised to leave yet to return.

You heard that I said to you, I go away and I will come to you or back to you. Here we have a repeat of what is taught in verse 3. If you look back at the beginning of the chapter, verse 3, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you." This of course calls the disciples great confusion. Thomas questions Jesus there in verse 5 and then Philip questions Jesus in verse 8. But this should have given the disciples great comfort. He is saying to them, "I will leave and I will come." The second we see, Jesus says that they should be rejoicing. They should be rejoicing. What does he say at the second part of verse 28?

"And you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I." This should have caused them great rejoicing, but that was not the case. They could not understand. Now the construction of the language here implies that they did not like or rejoice in this teaching. Instead, they were confused. I know I've said that repeatedly, but that is the case. They should have been rejoicing. And then the third observation, Jesus says that they will believe.

Verse 29, "And now I have told you before it comes to pass, and when it comes to pass, you may believe." Now here we see that Jesus' teaching will have a great impact on the disciples in the future. When these events take place, what events? The cross, the resurrection, the ascension, and the giving of the Spirit. When this takes place, the disciples, they will remember. The Spirit will bring this into remembrance. And Jesus says, "They will believe." There is an important word here, and that is "believe." At the end of the verse, you need to underline that and note that.

The meaning of the word, it means to give more than an affirmation of the teaching. They will place their trust more and more in Christ. This is not conversion. This is a believing in Jesus more and more as His teaching is verified through His actions and those circumstances. Just talk like this back in chapter 13, verse 19. They will see and they will believe even more. So in summary, what do we see here? Jesus is telling His disciples again that He will leave and He will return.

He is telling them after these things come to pass, their faith will grow, their trust in Him will become greater, their belief in Him and trust in Him will become stronger. They will believe in Him more and more and more. Now an application for you and me, there is something here that we really, really need to see. And if we're not careful, we can zoom over it. Now look at the process and the lives of the disciples. When these things come to pass, they will believe more and more. They will trust more and more. They will grow in that process. Jesus is teaching them today what they will need tomorrow.

And you might not realize it, but that goes on in our lives far more than we know. Jesus gives us today what we will need tomorrow and when we see God working in our circumstances and working in our life, what does it do? It builds us, it grows us and it enables us to trust Him more and more and to believe in Him more and more because we see His teaching come to pass. We see Him working out in our life. Now I'll share this with you. If you're a true born again believer, the peace of God resides in your life and you are not seeing this come to pass like it should, you might not be walking as close to the Lord as you should be.

Circumstances might have you bound down. Difficulties in your family, difficulties in your job, you might be allowing circumstances to drag you down. Now difficulties come, but we must be able to walk through those circumstances. So what am I showing you? This process, they didn't get today what they were going to get tomorrow, but then when God works in them, Christ works in them and perseveres in them, they trust Him more, they know Him more, they believe in Him more and that happens for me, that happens for you, it happens for us. Now if you're a fairly new Christian, this might not have been going on as long because it just takes time.

Let's move on. I want us to see our third major truth and that is my time is near. Truth number three, my time is near. Look back at verses 30 through 31. I will not speak much more with you for the ruler of this world is coming and he has nothing in me, but that the world may know that I love the Father and as the Father gave me commandment even so I do. Arise and let us go from here. Here in the beginning of verse 30, Jesus states that His time is short. His chronological time with the disciples is short. Although Jesus will continue to teach His disciples on end of the night, His arrest and separation for them is close at hand.

Now three observations I want to make here. First Jesus' arrest is near. Isn't that what He says in verse 30? I will not speak much more with you for the ruler of the world is coming and he has nothing in me. Now here in this verse, Jesus is referencing two individuals, if I can use that language. Jesus knows that Judas along with the soldiers will come to arrest him. Judas had revealed himself as the traitor at the Passover supper when he had taken the bread from Jesus. The text says that Satan literally entered into Judas, chapter 13 verse 26. So Satan had full control of Judas for his plans and his purposes.

So Jesus is speaking of two individuals which is why He states the ruler of this world is coming. Now notice this phrase, "He has nothing on me." Go back to verse 30, "I will not speak much more with you for the ruler of this world is coming and he has nothing in me." The English Standard reads, "He has no claim on me." Now in the language that it is written, it is a double negative and it is written that way to emphasize that Satan has no power over Jesus unless it is given. He has certainly has no power over Jesus even in his death. This was all part of the sovereign plan of God. So we see Jesus' arrest is near.

Great observation I want us to see, Jesus' obedience to the Father. Verse 31, "Jesus' obedience to the Father, but that the world may know that I love the Father and as the Father gave me commandments even so I do." Jesus had previously taught that the essential test of love is obedience. He gave that heavenly standard to the disciples back in verse 15, in verse 23 and 24. Now Jesus states that he is exemplifying and living that very standard. He is saying that because he truly loves the Father, he will obey the commandment of the cross. Now notice that word commandment is singular. It's not plural. What is he speaking of?

This is the commandment of the cross. So Jesus, he was obedient to the Father. And then our third observation, Jesus initiates a transition. Jesus initiates a transition. Look at the last part of verse 31, "Arise, let us go from here." Here we see Jesus make a transition in his teaching. All his teaching from chapter 13 on into chapter 14 has been there in the upper room. This was when he had celebrated the Passover supper. It seems now Jesus leads his disciples from the upper room to the Garden of Gethsemane. And here Jesus will continue this one-on-one teaching until he is arrested at the beginning of chapter 18.

So in summary, what do we see in these two verses? Jesus states that traitor Judas will soon lead a band of soldiers to arrest him. Of course Judas is under the direct control of Satan himself. This is all part of God's plan. Jesus is completely obedient to the Father. Now what can we learn here? What can we learn from Jesus' example here in verses 30 through 31? Now we've already learned the heavenly standard. The heavenly standard of a true love for God and a true representation of conversion is obedience. We learn that in verse 15 and verse 23 and 24. We learn Jesus said, "If you truly love God, you will obey his commandments.

If you truly love God, you will obey his word." The idea of a Christian living a disjointed life from the Word of God and the commandments of God is foreign, it's unbiblical, it's cultural, and it's straight out of hell. But what we need to see here is Jesus exemplifies this heavenly standard. Jesus was perfectly obedient to the Father in every area of his life, even to this very one commandment. What does he say? But the world may not know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do.

He is saying I'm going to the cross because I am perfectly obedient to the Father, and that tells me that I love his commandments and I love him perfectly. And listen, if Jesus exemplified this heavenly standard, then we must exemplify this heavenly standard. This is a commandment in the Scripture, and it is an example in his life. Now as we move to the conclusion of the message, the conclusion of the chapter, I want to take a step back. We did this at the beginning of the message. I want us to look at the entire chapter, verses 1 through 14, we see great comfort.

Jesus is meeting these disciples right where they are, even in their confusion through questions. He is comforting them and meeting them where they are. Verses 15 through 26, this provision, he's not going to leave them desolate, he's not going to leave them destitute, he's not going to leave them as orphans, he is going to give them who? The Holy Spirit of God. And then in verses 27 through 31, this theme of comfort again. Jesus is comforting them with the teaching that he will bring them peace and he will work in them, even through these difficult circumstances.

Now in moving away from even the chapter, I want to take these two words, comfort and provision and make more application before we move into chapter 15. First of all, I want us to see God our Father has provided us the Holy Spirit of God to dwell within us. He is our legal representation before God. He is our advocate and he guides us and he teaches us. He corrects us, he comforts us, but we have learned that He is God. And listen, this God comes to live within us. Isn't that what Jesus tells those disciples? He will come to live within you. I will come to be within you.

And we must see that when we are converted, it is the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit that comes to live within us. And this relates to our personal relationship with Christ. That is Bible Christianity. But you know what's sad? There are so many people in our families and in our churches and there are so many people that we come in contact with. They profess Christ, but they don't have Christ living within them. They don't have the Spirit of God living within them. God has not come to take up residence within them. They have a cheap substitute living in them. Some have a religious identity living within them. Now think about it.

Many of you, many of us are born and raised within the church. I was not born in the Baptist church. I wasn't raised in the Baptist church. Listen, when I got converted and I started going to the Baptist church, all of the sacred cows and the life of the Baptist church, they didn't mean anything to me. I got saved in February and we have the anti-Armstrong Easter offering and I thought she was the lady in our church. But there are some, they have this religious identity. They have this Baptist identity.

They were born and raised in this thing and they have a religious identity and they adhere to it and they live it and they flesh it out and they know all the language and they know what to say and they know what to do and they know what not to do. Listen, is there a religious identity living within you? That won't bring you peace. It might make you feel better. Listen young person, teenager, child, when you were born and raised in the church, you were born and raised within a religious identity but that will not save you. That will not sustain you.

That's why so many on our Baptist church roles when they go to college, they go to the workforce, they go the way of the world. It's a religious identity. But you know there are some, they have a reformed life. What I mean is this, you know, they're raised in the church or maybe they weren't raised in the church and they'll come back into the church, they'll get married and they'll have children. They'll come back and they'll just clean up their life and there are a lot of people that if you dig a little deep, if you go a little past who they are today, you'll find out that they really weren't converted. They just turned over a new leaf.

That won't bring you peace. The sad thing is in many churches, conversion in biblical salvation has been watered down so much that people can come in and they can just change their life, especially if they'll come to Sunday school and Wednesday nights and Sunday nights. Oh, before long they'll be teaching Sunday school. The reformed life, it won't bring you peace. And then there's some, they have a religion of rules. They have a religion of rules. You got to do this and you got to do that. You can't do this and you can't do that. I've known people like that. That's what dominates their life. This rule after rule after rule.

I've known people like that and they're good at it. But what am I showing you? Those are all in a stark contrast to what we've learned because Bible Christianity says God comes to live within us and he is provided. Just like he said to those disciples, "I will not leave you alone. I will come in you." Is God provided that work in you? Is God provided that work in you? And then second, God the Father comforts us through this person of the Holy Spirit. He's not an influence. He's not a theme. He's not an influence for God, for good. He is God living within us. And listen, he's the one that comes alongside.

He is exactly like Christ because he is Christ and he comes to walk with us through our trials. He comes to walk with us through our circumstances. He comes to walk with us through our difficulties. Yes, he comes to walk and persevere in us through our own sinfulness. These trials and these circumstances and these difficulties, they have come into our lives according to his sovereign will and according to his plan for our life. And listen, as much as we might hate our trials and circumstances, God ordains them to make us stronger and better. And all of this is for his glory because he wants to persevere in us.

He wants to change us and he wants to mold us and he is the one that comes alongside. He saves us, he regenerates us, and then he takes up residence and he is the exact representation of Christ. And he blesses all this out in our lives. So as we conclude, my prayer is that you're on the inside and not the outside. You're on the inside of all that we've been talking about. And listen, if you're on the inside, you have peace. If you're on the inside, you have this peace that Christ is talking about in verse 27. But if you're honest, if you're honest before God and man, if you're on the outside, you'll be on it.

You'll lower your head and say, "I don't have that peace." When people come to be converted, Brother Keith and I counsel them very well. I've used this example before. We were counseling one of the individuals in the life of our church and they were saying, "You know, the whole time I was unconverted, I just felt like I was on the outside. I was on the outside. I was on the outside." And they smiled and said, "Now that God's converted me, I'm on the inside." That's all that Jesus is talking about here. What do we see? The theme of comfort and provision all through chapter 14. Let's pray.