Truth and Confusion

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Truth and Confusion

John 14:12-15

12 Verily [amen] , verily [amen] , I say [lego] unto you [humin] , He that believeth [pisteuo] on [eis] me [eme] , the works [ergon] that [hos] I [ego] do [poieo] shall he do [poieo] also [kakeinos] ; and [kai] greater works than [meizon] these [touton] shall he do [poieo] ; because [hoti] I [ego] go [poreuomai] unto [pros] my [mou] Father [pater] .
13 And [hos] [kai] whatsoever [hostis] [an] ye shall ask [aiteo] in [en] my [mou] name [onoma] , that [touto] will I do [poieo] , that [hina] the Father [pater] may be glorified [doxazo] in [en] the Son [huios] .
14 If [ean] ye shall ask [aiteo] any thing [tis] in [en] my [mou] name [onoma] , I [ego] will do [poieo] it.
15 If [ean] ye love [agapao] me [me] , keep [tereo] my [emos] commandments [entole] . KJV-Interlinear

12 'Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father. 13 'And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 'If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. 15 'If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. NASB

Now Jesus turns the direction of his words from Philip, not to the remaining ten apostles, but from the eleven to all of mankind, 'he' (anyone), 'who believes.' These eleven have already believed in Christ, so these comments refer not only to them, but to anyone who believes in Christ.

The works that He (Jesus) did, can (potentially) be done by any believer. But what exactly does that mean? Can we walk down the street touching people and make them healthy? Can we speak simple words, 'be healed,' and make people well? Well yes and no.

Jesus performed many miracles and in many cases He stated that it was that persons faith which made them well. So in short you can make people well (spiritually) by performing your responsibilities God expects of you. How?

You have three responsibilities which we have studied before. These are to God, to self, and to others. All of your 'healing' powers are potential. 'If,' you believe in Him. 'Then,' you can perform greater miracles than those mentioned. If you 'ask' with the qualifier, 'in His name,' that name of Jesus Christ, with respect to your prayers which are directed to the Father. This means that you do not ask for yourself, not for your own glory, but for the benefit of God the Father and the Son to whom all the works we request are made manifest.

So what does it all mean?

We peek into verse 16 just ahead to get one more piece of the puzzle, the helper which Jesus was going to send to the apostles to help them. They were to ask for this helper early so that they could have an advantage for themselves prior to the Feast of Pentecost. The apostles of course did not make this request and so they did not receive the helper (the Holy Spirit) earlier, but received it at Pentecost.

The Holy Spirit is the source of power of God within us as believers in Christ. At the original point of your faith in Christ (when you first believed in Him), many things happened to you simultaneously - none of which you felt or sensed in any way. Remember that the spiritual life is not a part of this physical realm nor your emotions nor your physical senses (see, hear, touch, smell, taste). Anyway, you received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit when you first believed in Christ. See the blessings list on the Index page on the web site.

This is the source of power in your spiritual life. When you are in fellowship, the Holy Spirit is in control of your soul. That is to say, He has primary influence and function over your soul. When you commit a sin (you always have the freedom to decide), then the Holy Spirit does not have control over your soul, but you have given that control over to your sin nature.

Under the sin nature you are enslaved, but when under the control of the Holy Spirit, then you have greater power to make the right decisions and freedom of action to pursue a greater life which is from your spiritual life.

Within this sphere (fellowship) you are free of sin (because you have named your sins to God the Father) and you are inside His will for your life. When you make requests which are in accordance with Gods will, 'in my name,' (the name of Jesus Christ) then your requests will be granted.

Your miracles? Example, you give money to a charity. The charity hands out blankets to some poor old bum on the street. He is warm and happens to hear the gospel and because he is warm, in that brief instant he pays attention to the gospel and believes in Christ. You have performed a miracle of bringing a person back to life (spiritual life) from the dead (eternal condemnation).

Now you haven't a clue of what you have accomplished. You probably thought that your money was wasted on bums and blankets, or sucked away by bureaucracy, but you gave anyway. God knows all of the interactions, all of the causes and affects. He gave you the money initially, knowing that you would give to a charity, or to someone, who would in turn provide that blanket to that individual at that moment in time. God provided salvation for someone who would listen and who would believe. The blanket was unimportant as far as ones spiritual life was concerned, but it was an important instrument which helped that person hear and believe in Christ. One more person saved from the Lake of Fire.

While Jesus was here, He walked and talked and did miracles. The apostles sort of tagged along. But now Jesus is in heaven at the right hand of the Father, and we have His written word behind which we sort of tag along in life.

Do we have the power to determine the winning lottery numbers? No. But we do have the power to attain for ourselves, a life far greater than anything available to us from this world. How? By complying with the will of God. That is verse 15.

If you love Christ (as opposed to loving something else more). If you keep His commandments (as opposed to pursuing some form of compromise you have established for your life). Then, you will have a power far greater than you can imagine. What power? That of prayer.

What is at stake? You future. Remember that your spiritual life is by far your most important and most valuable asset. By ignoring it, then you invest in this life and your reward is a nice fresh pile of doggie doo-doo, or some nice used menstrual rags (as Isaiah would put it). Aren't those enticing investment opportunities?

But on the other hand, when you invest in your spiritual life, then your reward is gold, silver, and precious stones. Hummm. Kind of difficult to choose between these two paragraphs!!

Just as your reward when you believe in Christ (heaven) is infinitely beyond the reward of unbelief (hell), so too is your reward for spiritual maturity (blessings beyond your imagination) infinitely beyond the blessings of immaturity, Rev. 1-3.

Your spiritual life produces divine works which equate to blessings and reward not only for yourself but for others. Any works performed from the source of your sin nature are for works performed outside of Gods will and therefore are rejected and if rejected, then a worthless waste of time.