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The Spirit of Truth Strengthens Christ’s Witnesses (John 15:26—16:4a)

When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. 27 And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning. 1 “I have told you this so that you may not fall away. 2 They will expel you from the synagogues; in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God. 3 They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me. 4 I have told you this so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you. Jesus continues to prepare His disciples for life after His death, resurrection, and return to the Father. He has already spoken of the world’s hatred and rejection of those who belong to Him. Now He tells them that they will not bear witness alone. Jesus says, “ When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me ” (v. 26). The Advocate is the Hol...
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Christ Promises the Advocate to Those Who Love Him (John 14:15-21)

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, 17 the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” Jesus is speaking to His disciples before His Passion. He knows that His visible presence with them is about to change. He will suffer, die, rise, and return to the Father. He prepares them to understand that His departure will not mean He is abandoning them. Jesus begins with love a...
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The World Hates Christ and His Disciples (John 15:18-21)

If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. 20 Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me. Jesus speaks these words after commanding His disciples to love one another. He now prepares them for the hostility they will face because they belong to Him. He does not want them to be surprised or confused by rejection. He tells them plainly, “ If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first ” (v. 18). In this passage, “ the world ” does not mean the earth God created, nor does it mean every person. God created the world good, and God loves the world He desires to save (...
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I Chose You to Go and Bear Fruit That Will Last (John 15:12-17)

This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. 16 It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. 17 This I command you: love one another. Jesus continues speaking to His disciples on the night before His death. He has already told them to remain in His love. Now He shows what that love must look like: “ love one another as I love you ” (v. 12). The measure of Christian love is Christ Himself. Christ’s love is faithful, obedient, self-giving love, shown most fully when He gives His life on the Cross. Jesus says, “ No one has greater love than this, to ...
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Remain in Christ’s Love (John 15:9-11)

As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.  11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. Jesus continues speaking to His disciples after using the image of the vine and branches. The branch lives by remaining joined to the vine. The disciple lives by remaining joined to Christ. In this passage, Jesus explains this union in the language of love. Jesus says, “ As the Father loves me, so I also love you ” (v. 9). This is a profound statement. The love Jesus gives His disciples comes from the eternal love between the Father and the Son. The disciples are being drawn into the love that belongs to the life of God. Christ does not love them from a distance. He brings them into communion with Himself, so that they may share in the love He receives from the Father. Then Jesus says, “ Remain in my love ” (v....
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Jesus Said, “Without Me You Can Do Nothing” (John 15:1-8)

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. 2 He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. 3 You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. 4 Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. 6 Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. 8 By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. Jesus speaks these words during His farewell discourse, as He prepares His disciples for His death, resurrection, and r...
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Christ Reveals Himself to Those Who Keep His Word (John 14:21-26)

Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” 22 Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, “Master, [then] what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered and said to him, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me. 25 “I have told you this while I am with you. 26 The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that [I] told you. Jesus continues speaking to His disciples before His Passion. He is preparing them for the time when they will no longer see Him in the same visible way, but He also teaches them that His presence among them will remain real and active. J...
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God’s People Built on Christ, the Living Stone (1 Peter 2:1-10)

Rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, insincerity, envy, and all slander; 2 like newborn infants, long for pure spiritual milk so that through it you may grow into salvation, 3 for you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, 5 and, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it says in scripture: “Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in it shall not be put to shame.” 7 Therefore, its value is for you who have faith, but for those without faith: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone that will make people stumble, and a rock that will make them fall.” They stumble by disobeying the word, as is their destiny. 9 But you are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy n...
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Whoever Has Seen Me Has Seen the Father (John 14:7-14)

If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” 8 Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. 12 Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it. Jesus continues speaking to His disciples on th...
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Have Faith in Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:1-6)

Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. 4 Where [I] am going you know the way.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jesus speaks these words during the Last Supper, shortly before His Passion. The disciples have heard that He will be leaving them. Peter has also been told that he will deny Jesus. The disciples are troubled, uncertain, and fearful. Into that fear Jesus says, “ Do not let your hearts be troubled ” (v. 1). Jesus calls His disciples to faith. They believe in God; now they must also believe in Him (v. 1). He ...
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The Son Sent by the Father Sends His Own (John 13:16-20)

Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it. 18 I am not speaking of all of you. I know those whom I have chosen. But so that the scripture might be fulfilled, ‘The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me.’ 19 From now on I am telling you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I AM. 20 Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” Jesus speaks these words after washing the feet of His disciples. He has taken the place of a servant and given them a visible example of humble love. His action points toward the Cross, where His love will be shown fully. As He says elsewhere, “ the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many ” (Mark 10:45). When Jesus says, “ no slave is greater than his master nor any me...
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