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[0:00] John chapter 16, beginning in verse 25, if you would stand with me as we honor the reading! God's word together.

[0:20] I have said these things to you in figures of speech.

[0:31] The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day, you will ask in my name, and I do not say that you, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf, for the Father himself loves you.

[0:50] Because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father. His disciples said, Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech.

[1:07] Now we know that you know all things and that you do not need anyone to question you. This is why we believe that you came from God. Jesus answered them, Do you now believe?

[1:18] Behold, the hour is coming. Indeed, it has come when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.

[1:31] I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart. I have overcome the world.

[1:43] May God add a blessing to the reading of his word. Would you please be seated? I recently read that the best thing a pastor can do for his congregation is not to validate their feelings but encourage them in the truth.

[1:59] The best pastors are those who remind us that there is a deeper and truer reality that we can at this very moment see or hear or touch.

[2:15] And of course, we know that the best pastor, the greatest preacher of all time was Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

[2:25] And as we've gone through chapters 13, 14, 15, and 16, which chronicle his last moments with his disciples before his crucifixion, isn't that exactly what we've seen from Jesus and how he's spoken to his disciples?

[2:45] He's preaching them. He's preaching them words of encouragement. He's preaching to combat their sorrow. He's exhorting them to trust in him instead of their feelings, which are leading them to have an attitude of despair.

[3:01] Jesus is the greatest pastor and preacher, the one who we most need to listen to. But if we're honest, too often we are guided by our feelings and tempted to listen to the preaching of someone else.

[3:25] Hugh Latimer was a popular preacher during the English Reformation. His best-known sermon was called the Sermon of the Plow. I want to share with you a portion of that sermon in which he identifies who this other preacher is, and this is what he said.

[3:43] And now I would ask you a strange question. Who is the most diligent bishop and prelater, a pastor and preacher, in all of England that passes all the rest in doing his office?

[3:55] I can tell, for I know who it is. I know him well. There is one that passes all others and is the most diligent prelate and preacher in all of England. Do you know who it is?

[4:07] I will tell you. It is the devil. He is the most diligent preacher of all. He is never out of his diocese. He is never far from his cure. You shall never find him unoccupied.

[4:20] He is ever in his parish. He keeps residence at all times. And what is the message that he so diligently preaches?

[4:32] Well, it's the same message that we hear him preaching from his very first appearance in Scripture when he tempted Adam and Eve. He preaches questions, and he answers those questions with lies, saying things like, did God actually say?

[4:48] It's preaching that appeals to our feelings with deceitful promises, like when he said, you will be like God and you will not surely die.

[5:00] Trust in your feelings. Believe in yourself. That's the devil's message, and it's enticing. His enticements work much like a fishing lure or cheese in a mousetrap.

[5:13] It looks good, but it quickly ensnares its prey, who should have known better. And you know, the lion is the apex predator.

[5:25] And in 1 Peter 5.8, that's exactly how he describes the devil. Look there with me. Be sober-minded, he says. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

[5:43] You see, the devil is not out for a nibble. He wants to rip you to shreds and devour every last piece. He often does that by deceiving you to define your reality and see your situation in life through the lens of how you're feeling.

[6:02] He knows how overcome with emotion situations in this life can make us and how they can cast a shadow over the light of truth that we have, taking our focus off of Jesus Christ, the light of the world, and trusting in ourselves or trusting in others, trusting in our feelings.

[6:21] The disciples at this moment are overcome with feelings of sorrow as Jesus has continually explained to them that he will soon leave them and he will die.

[6:34] And so what we see in these chapters is Jesus continually encouraging them by explaining to them what his leaving and what his dying would accomplish.

[6:48] It meant the coming of the Holy Spirit, who would be his presence with them continually. He would die. But then he said he would return, having atoned for their sins on the cross.

[7:02] These verses reveal again that Jesus is the greatest pastor and preacher who ever lived as he seeks to turn the disciples' focus away from how they're feeling to what is true, what he provides, what he has to give them, things that will never end.

[7:20] Jesus pastors this little flock by preaching to them here three truths to help them overcome their sorrow by focusing on the one who overcomes the world.

[7:35] And so Jesus' preaching points are really three promises and they're three promises that every one of us needs. And they're three promises that every one of us needs to be continually aware of, especially when we feel overcome by what is going on in our lives.

[7:53] And so the main idea for this morning's sermon is this. Jesus desires that his people take heart in what he has overcome for them.

[8:05] Jesus desires that his people take heart in what he has overcome for them. And so in this passage, again, Jesus promises three things that we need to help keep our focus on him when we feel overcome by sorrow and fear.

[8:23] He is the overcomer in whom we likewise overcome. Satan, sin, and death have been overcome by Christ. And those who trust in him by faith overcome those foes too.

[8:38] And so if you're anxious this morning, if you are filled with doubt this morning or sorrow or fear or worry, then please listen to these promises that Christ makes to those who follow him.

[8:54] And it's awesome how God works. Because tonight, again, Jeff is going to preach from 1 John 5, 4 through 12. It talks about this very same thing, how we overcome through our overcomer, Jesus Christ.

[9:09] 1 John 5, 5 says, Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? And so in our text this morning, Jesus is going to share his last few words with his 11 remaining disciples.

[9:28] Those words began on a Thursday night in chapter 13. And they've run all the way here through chapter 16. The disciples are concerned.

[9:40] The disciples are anxious. Jesus is leaving. While he was with them, they had someone to love. They had someone to believe in.

[9:51] Someone to hope in. And he'll soon be gone. And so as Jesus closes out this evening, by now it is the early hours of Friday morning, the day of his crucifixion.

[10:05] And they will soon be headed to the Garden of Gethsemane. But before he prays for them in John chapter 17, he offers his disciples three promises, three realities to comfort them.

[10:21] And they can be condensed into just three words. Three realities, three promises that he uses to comfort them. And they can be condensed into just three words.

[10:33] And the first word is love. The first word is love. So in verse 25, Jesus again says, I have said these things to you in figures of speech.

[10:47] The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father. And so what are these things, these things that Jesus is talking about?

[10:57] Well, they include everything that he has said to his disciples. Everything that he has taught them over those three years that he was with them.

[11:10] At the end of verse 25, Jesus explains that all the things that he's taught them have been about the Father, whom he has revealed. As Jesus previously said in John chapter 14, verses six through seven, he said to them, I am the way and the truth and the life.

[11:29] No one comes to the Father except through me. If you would have known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.

[11:39] You see, God is revealed through Jesus Christ, his son. To know Christ is to know God. In him is the wisdom and truth of God personified.

[11:51] So everything he ever said was to reveal to the Father, to reveal God. And he often used figurative speech as he revealed those things.

[12:02] I have the ESV translation, and it translates that Greek word as figurative language. Some of you have a different translation where it might say something like Proverbs or figurative speech or figurative language.

[12:17] The word is paroimia, paroimia, in the Greek. And what it means is it refers to something that is veiled, veiled speech.

[12:32] And so Jesus spoke about being the light of the world, if you remember. We see him using that figurative language repeatedly. He says, I'm the light of the world. He spoke about being water.

[12:42] He spoke about being the bread of life. He spoke about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. And he said things like, before Abraham was, I am.

[12:53] Those statements were totally true, but they were veiled. Now, if you back up to chapter 16, verse 12 with me, you see that there Jesus says, I still have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

[13:08] After Jesus died and after he rose again, we know that the Holy Spirit, as he said, would come, and he did come. His disciples then would be fully understanding of the things that Jesus had said as the Holy Spirit removed the veil and helped them to fully understand and inspired them to write all of the New Testament.

[13:32] They would better understand the ministry of Christ after the Holy Spirit came. They would better understand why it was necessary that he die, the significance of his resurrection, and they would understand all those things after these things had taken place.

[13:48] But at this point, they still couldn't quite figure it out. Remember how you were, when you were a kid, remember how different of an adult you thought that you would be when you were a kid, or how different of a parent you thought you would be when you were a kid?

[14:07] I remember when I was a kid and thinking, why can't we eat ice cream all the time? Amen. Why can't I eat chocolate all the time? What good are vegetables?

[14:17] They're disgusting. And so I thought, you know what, when I'm an adult, I'm going to eat whatever I want. And when I have kids, I'm going to let them do whatever they want.

[14:30] If they want to, if they want to, if they want to stay up late, that's fine with me, right? Let's all have a good time. And you couldn't understand why your parents said the things that they did, but then you became an adult.

[14:47] And then maybe you became a parent, and you realized that, you know what, a lot of those things that my parents told me when I was little, they didn't quite make sense then, but now they totally make sense, don't they?

[14:59] We understand as we grow and mature. And so you've got to understand that if you were one of the disciples at this moment, you wouldn't have the New Testament. You wouldn't have the cross yet.

[15:14] You wouldn't have the resurrection. None of those things had happened. The Holy Spirit hadn't come yet as He would come on the day of Pentecost. And so you've got to understand how difficult it must have been for them to try to interpret the things that Jesus was saying and trying to figure out what He meant and what He was talking about, what was going to happen next.

[15:36] This was perplexing for them. Next, Jesus said in verse 25 that an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father.

[15:49] And so we ask, well, when or what is that hour that He's referring to? Well, I believe that context determines meaning. And so Jesus has been talking about the coming of the Holy Spirit prior to what He's saying here in these verses.

[16:04] And He identifies the Spirit in chapters 14, 15, and 16 as the Spirit of truth. And so I think it's best to understand that hour that He's talking about there is the hour in which the Holy Spirit will come after He has died, after Christ has risen again, and after He ascends when the Holy Spirit comes on the day of Pentecost because He is the Spirit of truth who again removes the veil and interprets those figures of speech which Jesus used.

[16:37] To this point, Jesus had taught using figurative speech, figurative language, which often came in the form of parables. Parables are earthly stories with a heavenly meaning and they served a purpose.

[16:50] Jesus explained that purpose in Matthew 13, 10 through 13. Then the disciples came and said to Him, Why do you speak to them in parables? And He answered to them, To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but to them it has not been given.

[17:06] For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables because seeing they do not see and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

[17:23] Jesus' parables were completely veiled to those who rejected Him and explanation was hidden from them as a judgment of their rejection. Explanation was only given to His disciples.

[17:37] And you know what's interesting as we think about all of that, that outside of the Gospels, in the rest of the New Testament books that we have, none of them use parables when they give instruction.

[17:51] Have you ever noticed that? They use analogies, sure. They use illustrations to communicate truth. But no one else, other than Jesus, gives parables in the entire New Testament.

[18:04] They all provide, after the Gospels, just straightforward, plain speaking, no figures of speech. Why? Well, because the Holy Spirit has come.

[18:16] And because the veil has been removed. Everything in Christ has been fully unveiled by the Holy Spirit. In John chapter 16, verse 13, Jesus said that that would happen.

[18:28] When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come.

[18:39] The Holy Spirit comes to take up residence in the life of a believer and serves as their teacher. He is the one who illumines their minds to understand Scripture, which contains the words that He inspired.

[18:53] He makes it plain. Acts through revelation contain explanation for everything that Jesus said and introduced in the Gospels. Now look at verse 26.

[19:04] In that day, He says, you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf. Now what does this mean? Well, a day is coming when the disciples will be able to have direct access to the Father.

[19:19] That's what Jesus is saying. To this point, whenever the disciples needed anything, who was it that they would go to? Jesus. They would go to Jesus. And as we read in the Gospels, one thing we see Jesus repeatedly doing is that He would retreat and go alone and spend hours by Himself in prayer.

[19:39] He would often go off and do that. Well, what was He praying about? I think He was taking the requests of His people to His Father, as we'll see Him do that when we get to John chapter 17, when we hear His prayer for His people.

[19:54] But when the Holy Spirit comes and takes up residence in the believer's life, He gives them direct access to God the Father. Look again at verse 23.

[20:06] In that day, you will ask nothing of Me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of My Father in My name, He will give it to you. So Jesus' physical presence, we know after His resurrection, ascended to heaven.

[20:20] But His spiritual presence would continually be with His followers and is today. Before He ascended to heaven, Jesus promised that He would always be with His disciples through the indwelling of His Spirit, the Holy Spirit.

[20:38] And the Holy Spirit's indwelling of us gives us direct access to the Father. Now listen, this teaching was totally contrary to what Jewish people understood and how they viewed God to this point, having full access to them because to them, God was distant.

[21:02] He was close, but not that near, and He was veiled. God was symbolically in the Holy of Holies in the temple, and only one person, the high priest, could enter into that place and only one time a year, and when He went in there, He better make it quick.

[21:20] Right? That Holy of Holies was the inner chamber of the Holy Place. And you remember what separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place?

[21:33] It was a veil. It was a veil. A big, heavy, thick veil, as thick as a phone book. Remember when Jesus was on the cross?

[21:45] You remember before He died, He cried out, It is finished. You remember what happened after He said those words in Matthew 27, 50 through 51? And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit.

[21:58] And behold, the curtain of the temple, the curtain that divided that place, access to God, was torn in two from the top to the bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks were split.

[22:12] What was God communicating in that moment to us through Christ? Access. Yeah. Welcome. Access to me has been permanently granted to you.

[22:26] Jesus is explaining here that you, as a follower of His, whom He has saved, gives you full access to the Father. You have His privileged permission to go to Him.

[22:40] Back in 2012, when we were still in Kansas City, the Royals were hosting the All-Star Game. And they had an event in one of our centers downtown, a convention center.

[22:57] And my dad, who was in radio, was asked to go and to report from the convention center about everything that was going on. And he said, hey, would you like to go with me?

[23:07] I was like, of course I would like to go with you. And so I wore my Cal Ripken Jr. jersey because I love the Royals, but Cal Ripken is my guy. And so are the Orioles.

[23:17] And so I wore that jersey and I had no idea what was going on. They told my dad where he was going to sit and we were up on this platform. And next to us was Hall of Famer Raleigh Fingers.

[23:30] Does any of you know who Raleigh Fingers is? He had the big handlebar mustache. He pitched for the Oakland A's and Raleigh Fingers comes and sits down and then a line forms and people are going to get Raleigh Fingers autograph.

[23:44] And so, you know, all of these guys had their cards and their jerseys and their hats and go and get it signed by Raleigh Fingers and they make their way down the line and I'm the last person at the table and they kind of look at me and they saw my jersey and they're like, well, you're not Cal Ripken.

[23:59] Like, no, I'm not. And kind of gave me a look like, well, what are you doing here? And my answer was, my father said, it was okay. You know, I'm here and I shouldn't be because I didn't come close to playing Major League Baseball but I'm here because my father said it was okay and my father has given me access to be able to be up in this place where otherwise I wouldn't have the ability to be.

[24:23] I love how John MacArthur described this access that we have to the father. He said very simply, it's like this, we say in our prayers, Father, I'm here because Jesus sent me, he told me to come.

[24:36] It's okay. Look at what Hebrews 10, 19 through 22 encourages us. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

[25:07] The Jews had talked about God the Father as the Father of creation. They had referred to him as the Father of the nation, but they never spoke of him in the way that Christians are able to speak of him and know him because of Christ.

[25:21] Galatians 4, 6 through 7 says, and because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying, Abba, Father, Abba. It's like Daddy, Papa.

[25:34] So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. Now this does not mean that we don't need Christ to intercede for us because that is what he's currently doing in heaven at the right hand of the Father right now, but he intercedes on the matters over which we have no insight or knowledge or wisdom, but what we desire from God.

[25:58] we have direct access to him to go to him and to ask, but only if we pray in Jesus' name. Not treating them as magic words to get a Ferrari, but going to him and making requests of him that are consistent with his will and his purpose and his desire, and if we do so, the Father, we are told, responds.

[26:25] That is awesome news, isn't it? So why would people like us be given so great a privilege? Why would people like us be able to go to our almighty sovereign creator, the maker of heavens and earth and refer to him so personally as our dad, as our daddy?

[26:48] Why? Well, Jesus says why in verse 27. For the Father himself loves you. He loves you because you have loved me.

[27:00] So why does all of this come to us? Salvation, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, access to the Father, eternal life? Well, because God loves us.

[27:14] God loves you. God loves us so we are not abandoned on this sin-cursed rock. He sets us free from the sin of this cursed flesh and he gives us eternal security in his firm, loving grip.

[27:31] God loves us so that we can come to him and ask of him things that are consistent with the will of our Savior, Jesus Christ. And this is a special kind of love.

[27:44] The word there is phileo, a love used to describe the love that exists between a parent and their children or of close friends who have become so close they're like siblings of one another.

[27:56] It's the kind of love that exists in families. It's a father's affection for his children. And how much does our Heavenly Father love you?

[28:10] So much so that he sent his only begotten son to die as a sacrifice on the cross to atone for your sins. That by faith in him you are declared righteous before him and receive eternal life to dwell with him eternally.

[28:30] This is the great love of God that helps us overcome this world. 1 Corinthians 2, 9 says, But as it is written, what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.

[28:47] So when you feel overcome, you shouldn't retreat into yourself thinking about what I can do, but you should go directly to the Father because you have access.

[29:02] You go to the Father. You be with him. You ask of him. And what he does, I know he's done for me and I'm sure he's done for you, as he fills you with remembrance.

[29:15] He uses his spirit to help you to remember how much he loves you, how much he loves you, and the hope that you have as a result of his love, the hope that you have in Christ who overcomes the world and how he's caused you likewise to be able to overcome through him.

[29:39] Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible told me so, contains so much truth, so much deep theological truth. It's a great song that we need to continually have on our hearts and our minds.

[29:53] Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. So love, it's that first word that he preaches. The second is faith. Faith.

[30:05] You know, when people exercise more faith than they realize every day, people trust that the food that someone else has prepared for them isn't poisoned or spoiled. People board airplanes every day and they trust by faith that the plane is in good working condition and that it won't land in the wrong city.

[30:25] People put a lot of faith even in themselves and their retirement funds or their bank accounts. There's people who put a lot of faith in their ability to collect imperishables and ammo in preparation for the zombie apocalypse that they think one day is going to happen.

[30:46] But a Christian's faith, a Christian's faith foremost is rooted in the love of God as it's been manifested through His Son, Jesus Christ.

[30:58] And the rest of verse 27, Jesus says of His disciples, and have believed that I came from God. That is a reference to their faith. And then in verse 28, He says, I came from the Father and have come into the world and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.

[31:15] And that statement is a remarkably concise summarization of the gospel. God the Son was sent into the world by the Father to accomplish the work of redemption by dying on the cross and having done so, He rose again and He returned to the Father in heaven to His place of glory that He left to save us.

[31:35] Now look at how the disciples responded to that. They say, oh, now we know you're speaking plainly and not using figurative speech. Now we know that you know all things and that you do not need anyone to question you.

[31:50] This is why we believe that you came from God. And so here, this is an affirmation, I believe, of their faith in Christ. However, Jesus knew the truth. The disciples' faith was genuine but it was immature at this point.

[32:06] And so He points out in verses 31 through 32, Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered each to his own home and will leave me alone.

[32:19] Yet I am not alone for the Father is with me. In time, the disciples' faith would mature as it was strengthened by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

[32:30] They would later stand before those who orchestrated Jesus' crucifixion and they would boldly before them proclaim the gospel. But at this point, Judas Iscariot would lead guards to arrest Jesus and the fickleness of the disciples' faith would be exposed as they left Jesus and abandon him to his captors.

[32:57] But Jesus said that he would, despite that, remain faithful to his mission because he knew that the Father was with him until that moment when he was bearing sin on the cross, when the reality that God made him who knew no sin to be sin so that we might become the righteousness of God in him caused Jesus to cry out from that place, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

[33:24] In that moment, the Lord was pleased to crush him because he was rendering himself as a gift offering. And so thus, as Isaiah says, he bore the sins of many and makes intercession for the transgressors.

[33:41] So often, we tragically hear stories of those who claim to have faith in Christ, but it was revealed later on through a scandal that they really didn't.

[33:54] And we, unfortunately, could spend all afternoon listing names of people that we know that we all know or people that we know personally in ministry who claimed to be working for the Lord, people who many sent money to to fund what they were doing only to realize later on that that money was being used by them to to prosper themselves and even use to cover up the scandals that they had been involved with.

[34:24] And you know what? Every single one of us has been lied to before, even by those whom we love and trust the most.

[34:35] We've been lied to, even if it was just once or twice. Every single person that we've ever trusted in has at some point in our lives lied to us. There's only one person that we can trust who will never lie to us ever.

[34:52] And that person is Jesus Christ. He's not fickle the way that we are. He's faithful always.

[35:05] He faithfully went to the cross to give His life, to pay with His blood to atone for His people's sins. people are often fickle, but the Lord is always faithful and so we know that we can always trust in Him.

[35:20] And so when you are overcome with sorrow and the troubles of this world, remember Christ's faithfulness to you and the works that He has done for you and that He works all things together for your good as Romans 8, 28 says.

[35:37] And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for the good, for those who are called according to His purpose. So love and faith, those are the key points that Jesus wants to make.

[35:55] These last words that He has to share with His disciples before He prays. The third word that He wants to communicate to them and to us today is hope.

[36:07] Love, faith, and hope. Verse 33, I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace and the world you will have tribulation but take heart I have overcome the world.

[36:28] So understanding God's love and placing your faith in Him, the things which Jesus shared with the disciples then likewise brings peace to us today despite what hostility exists in the world and the relentless tribulation it brings to us.

[36:50] The world is a turbulent place is it not? We've seen that certainly over this past week. Last weekend we were visited by a lot of Danny's family.

[37:04] her younger brother is in the Navy and he's on a submarine and he works with the nuclear power of that submarine.

[37:15] He's a pretty smart guy and we spend some time just talking about there's things that he can't tell me and I don't want to pride too much but you know I can't help but ask some questions like is there stuff out there that we don't know as far as like abilities to protect ourselves and whatnot?

[37:30] He said oh yeah there is. But then the conversation went to you know we've spent millions billions trillions of dollars developing these weapons that we may hopefully never have to use but I think of even someone like him the brain power that goes behind developing these weapons just in case we might have to use them with the hopes that we never ever will.

[37:56] And it's sad to think about well what if that money and that brain power could be used to do good things instead. But such is the world that we live in it's a situation where there's always going to be wars there's always going to be rumors of wars it's sad it's sad and it's hard to watch the news isn't it?

[38:18] To see how much people hate one another and hurt one another and kill one another. The world seems like a hopeless place to live in and many see it that way as a hopeless place to exist in but believers know that these things are things that are to be expected and despite the fact that they happen we know that we have reason to have hope and faith in Christ still because of the love that he brings to us and the everlasting hope that we have in him.

[38:52] Romans 8 38 through 39 says for I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[39:13] And so Jesus' last words to his disciples before praying for them before departing to the garden of Gethsemane as he faced the cross were words of love they were words of faith they were words of hope as he faced the shame that he would endure he reminded them of these three words these three foundational truths to the Christian life three words that characterized his disciples in their lives after he ascended to heaven three words that characterized so many of the saints who came after them and three words that should characterize his people right now today and so having done all that he could to prepare them for what was about to take place Jesus next turns to his father in prayer let me ask you love faith hope are those words that characterize you people see you as a loving person a faithful person a hopeful person what about our church are those words that characterize us loving faithful hopeful when people see us interact with one another strangers who aren't a part of this church is that what they see do we communicate that not just with our words but with our actions to one another and to them are you fickle or are you faithful when things get hard and you don't understand is your first response to try to look inward or to run away or to depart or are you faithful to Christ who has been so faithful to you are you a hopeful person or are you doubtful are you someone who's constantly critical of everyone and everything always seeing the bad and never being able to see the good does that describe someone like Christ does that describe someone who should be a Christian like him who is loving and faithful and hopeful because you know what the world needs most right now is for the church to be the kind of church that God has commanded it to be you think of those pastors in Ukraine

[41:44] Monty was telling me before or during our greeting time there are pastors in Ukraine who are getting their people safely out of Ukraine to a safe place and they're going back to get more to bring them to safety those are the things those are the actions that communicate Christ and may they communicate us as well because the devil is the father of lies the devil is the ultimate false teacher a lion who seeks to devour the truth but the Bible says that there is a greater lion revelations 5 5 says and one of the elders said to me weep no more behold the lion of the tribe of Judah the root of David has conquered he is a lion who has conquered and he has conquered by becoming the lamb of God who gave his life in love that by faith in him we have eternal life and everlasting hope he

[42:47] Christ has overcome and those who love him and who have faith in him and who hope in him overcome too so the main point of application is this rejoice rejoice in the love faith and hope you have received in Christ rejoice in those things if you feel sorrowful if you feel overcome go spend time with the Lord you have access to him and he wants to spend that time with you because he loves you be reminded of his word meditate upon his promises and when you do that you will rejoice in the love and the faith and the hope that are yours in Jesus Christ two questions of application as we close this time together number one what does this text reveal about how God hears and responds to your prayers what does this text reveal about how God hears and responds to your prayers is he grumpy and grouchy and he says well I'm too busy right now

[43:56] I've got other things on my mind go away and come back in five minutes no he loves you and so how should that affect your prayers how should that affect the way that you pray and then question two how can our church better communicate the love faith and hope that we have in Christ to one another and our community and I can I encourage you to think about how you will this day or this week communicate the love and the faith and the hope of Christ to someone in this church this week let's pray Lord we thank you for your word we thank you for its encouragement Lord we thank you for its conviction we thank you Lord that you have given us the spirit who helps us to interpret it and understand it and apply it to our lives God I pray that each one of us would be characterized by love and faith and hope Lord that we would be known by one another and by our community as people who are incredibly loving people who are steadfastly faithful and people who are always hopeful no matter what is going on in this world or no matter what's going on in our lives

[45:15]  God we know right now that what this world needs most is for your church to be the kind of church that you've commanded us to be and you've made it clear Lord may we be obedient to you in the hopes that our light would shine and people would come to faith in Christ and rejoice in how wonderful and awesome you are in Jesus name I pray Amen