Sun, Sep 11, 2022 – “If You Love Me, You Will Keep My Commandments.” (John 14:15-31)
Part of The Gospel of John—Jan–Dec 2022
To take notes, click into the square to the right of the blue “comment box” (see example immediately below.) If you are logged into the FCC app, it should automatically save them until the next Sermon Guide is published (i.e., it changes each Sun morning.) To save a copy, email your notes to yourself (scroll to the bottom.)
Series Outline & Memory Verses
- John 1-5 – Beholding Christ: The Son of God
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John 20:31 – But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
- John 6-14 – Following Christ: The Man of God
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John 13:34-35 – 34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
- John 15-21 – Exalting Christ: The Lamb of God
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Memory Verses – TBA
Previous Sermon in this Series: fccgreene.org/john
Follow Along with Today’s Sermon Manuscript (sort of, mostly, kind of)
- Our preachers don’t always follow word for word, (especially Scott, Lead Pastor), but it will help you follow the train of thought and prepare for your study below.
- Scott Wakefield (Greeneville)
Daily Bible Readings
On Sun-Fri, the first passages listed (before the semicolon) are related to this sermon, while the second passages listed help you read through the whole book of John. The Sat reading is for the next day’s sermon, to help you prepare.
- Sun – John 1:14; John 1-3
- Mon – John 3:16; John 4-7
- Tue – John 13:1; John 8-11
- Wed – John 16:13; John 12-15
- Thu – Acts 13:39; John 16-18
- Fri – 1 John 2:1; John 19-21
- Sat – John 15:1-17
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. 25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.
Acts 13:39 – And by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.
John 14:15-17 – 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
14:18-20 – 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
14:21-23 – 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
14:24-26 – 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. 25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
14:27-28 – 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
14:29-31 – 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.
Ezekial 36:25-27 – 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
Jeremiah 31:31-34 – 31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
To prepare for Life Group, Pillar breakout groups, or personal use, answer the following inductive study questions based on the sermon and a few other resources we suggest (See “Mostly Trusted & Free Resources” below.) “Inductive” Bible study is about going from particulars to principles by prayerfully studying the details—both in the text and the larger Scriptural context of a passage—and allowing them to determine meaning and application.
Observe: What does the text say?
- Read the passage at least once, preferably multiple times.
- Answer the 4 Ws: Where? When? Who? What? (Ex: author, location, original audience, cultural setting, etc.)
- Are there any literary cues worthy of note? (Ex: key words/phrases, transition, repetition, parallel, comparison, contrast, etc.)
- It’s helpful at this point to consult a few resources: Study Bible notes, commentaries, Bible dictionaries/encyclopedias, etc.
Interpret: What does the text mean?
- How does the wider context help inform our understanding of this passage?
- Are there any other passages that help provide a framework for understanding?
- What are the passage’s main points?
- What is the one main principle God intends to communicate to the original audience?
Apply: What is the text saying to us?
- What doctrinal or theological truths does this text teach or reinforce?
- Which of FCC’s 7 Habits does the principle in “Interpret” #4 highlight most?
- What is the most important application of this passage to… the original audience? Our world? Our church? Your family, marriage, parenting, etc.? You?
- What is God trying to tell you?
- What is your Next Step of “everyday boring faithfulness”? Or, when it comes to the 7 Habits, what do you need to stop doing, keep doing, or start doing?