Welcome to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We're glad you've joined us for today's program. Connect with Skip Heitzig exists to connect you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times through verse-by-verse teaching of His Word. That's why we make messages like this one today available to you and others on air and online. Before we kick off today's teaching, we want to let you know that you can stay in the know about what's happening at Connect with Skip Heitzig when you sign up for email updates.
When you do, you'll receive Skip's weekly devotional email to inspire you with God's Word each week. So we're just so excited to be in a celebration. And by the way, they keep track of what they do in a little book called a Seder, The Order of the Festival. At the end of the Passover, they will say, So it's always next year in Jerusalem. So I was stuck up in Galilee.
Not a bad place to be stuck, I'll tell you. But that heart's desire to go to Jerusalem. Well, Jesus is with His disciples in Jerusalem for the Passover. They have spent many a night with Him.
They have been with Him three, three and a half years total. And they have already spent probably at least two Passovers with Jesus. On this final Passover, 13 men gather in an upper room in the upper city of Jerusalem to celebrate together. It is of all of the discourses and we've told you about those a couple weeks ago that there are four major speeches or sermons or discourses that Jesus gave of all of them that are recorded in the Gospels.
The longest and the most intimate one is this one, The Upper Room Discourse. Now it's called The Upper Room Discourse and it covers John 13, 14, 15 and 16, though it's not all in the upper room. Part of it is in the upper room as Jesus washes their feet, celebrates the Passover meal with them. But then at the end of chapter 14, Jesus said, Arise, last verse, Arise, let us go from here. So we can presume that chapter 15 and 16 are spoken by Jesus en route to the Garden of Gethsemane. Having left the upper room but in conversation with those disciples, now 11 of them, Judas has left the room to make his pact, his deal with the enemy to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and that is where they are headed. Jesus continues speaking to them, giving them instruction and that takes us to chapter 16. Now, in this chapter, sort of like what we've seen in the previous chapters, Jesus tells his disciples what we might call the dark side of discipleship.
The consequences of Christianity. He said in chapter 15, I call you my friends, but he also said the world's going to hate you because it hated me first, all in that previous chapter. Now what he's going to basically tell them is you are my friends, but you need to know that I have enemies and my enemies don't like my friends.
And that's you guys. So I want you to know the dark side of discipleship, the consequence of Christianity. Now he knows they're already troubled, so he begins chapter 14 by saying, don't let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house, there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you.
I'm going to prepare a place for you. But even still, as he encourages them and lifts up their spirits, they're still drowning in sorrow because he has announced that he is going to die. He's announced that one of them is going to betray him.
He's announced that Peter is going to deny him. So they find it awfully hard to be lifted up to exuberance. But Jesus continues. Now something else just to make a note of, because what you find in this upper room discourse is a method of teaching that Jesus employs. And if you try to outline it, you find it difficult. I know people have outlined it, I have outlined it, but those of us who delve into it and try to outline it and make sense of it, notice that Jesus, in teaching them, does not introduce a subject, then exhaust the subject, then go on to another subject that he introduces and exhausts. And what he does, rather, is he gives several items to them, then circles back around and touches on them all again in a different way, in a deeper way, then circles back around again, then does it a few times like that.
About four courses all together with the same subjects. And if you think, well, that's kind of weird, it's really not that weird. That is the same way that 1 John is written. 1 John is written where John introduces a smattering of subjects with a theme. Then he goes back around and delves a little bit deeper and a little bit deeper, does it again, does it again, to reinforce a certain set of truths to them.
That is the method employed in chapters 13, 14, 15, and 16. Now, chapter 16, verse 1, Jesus continues, These things I have spoken to you that you should not be made to stumble. I know you're sorrowful, I know you're bummed out, I know the subjects that I have shared with you cause you great distress, but I'm not telling you that just to bum you out. I don't want you to fall away or stumble. I want to tell you before they happen so that you know I knew all about this before it happened to you. I'm fully aware of what you're going through.
The word stumble, skandalizo, which is to offend or cause to stumble, to fall away. That's the idea. I'm telling you this cause I don't want you to freak out. I don't want you to run away. I want you to know what to expect.
They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor me. But these things I have told you that when the time comes you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning because I was with you. But now I go to wait to him who sent me and none of you asked me where are you going.
But because I have said these things to you sorrow has filled your heart. He says they're going to put you out of the synagogues in verse 2. Whoever kills you is going to think that he's doing God a favor. My mind immediately goes to a young rabbi from Tarsus named Saul. Who believed it was his sacred duty to arrest those who called on the name of Jesus who had left Jerusalem and gone up north to Syria to Damascus. And he got orders from the high priest to arrest those who called upon Jesus name who were still in the synagogues to excommunicate them or to eliminate them. He was one of the chief opponents to the early church.
It was a religious opposition. But then after Saul of Tarsus gets converted and becomes Paul the apostle he himself will experience a very similar persecution. He'll go into a city. He'll go first to the synagogue because he said the gospel is first to the Jew and then to the Greek. And so often he will get cast out of the synagogue a riot will ensue. He ends up going to jail or getting beat up. Then he goes to the next city goes to the synagogue gets kicked out of there goes to jail gets beat up goes to the next town. You know pretty soon Paul the apostle must have just gone into a town and say would you just show me the local jail.
I'd like to know where I'm spending the night. So the persecution that he was the initiator of against the early church once he gets converted he will find that he himself will be the recipient of it. If you know church history you know that the early Christians in the Roman Empire had a tough. Many of them were fed to the lions for sport burned at the stake.
Some of them were placed on wooden poles bound with ropes covered in pitch tar and used as living torches to light the way for Caesar Nero to run his chariot races. You're listening to connect with Skip Heitzig before we return to Skip's teaching start 2025 off right. Exploring the richness of God's word with Pastor Skip's book The Bible from 30,000 feet and accompanying workbook. These resources offer an aerial view of scripture covering all 66 books of the Bible with a unique flight plan facts landmarks itinerary gospel history and travel tips. They're a perfect tool to help you enrich your Bible study and apply its teachings to your daily life. You'll explore every book of the Bible with Pastor Skip's insightful flight plan while the workbook provides exercises and questions to guide your reflection. We'll send you the Bible from 30,000 feet book and workbook as our thanks for your gift of $50 or more to reach more people with God's love through connect with Skip Heitzig.
Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give. Now let's get back to Skip for more of today's teaching. Other accounts of how Christians were taken, animal skins that had been flayed or skinned recently, animal skins were placed over the believer's body and they were sewn in them so that wild dogs would be let loose smelling the fresh scent of the animal and attack it and eat them inside the animal skin. Molten lead poured over them. Gruesome acts. Now I commend to you a book. I know it's going to sound gross but it's inspiring to your faith. It's called Fox's Book of Martyrs. If you've never read it, it's a must.
It's a must to have and to own. It's the account, the testimony of believers from early on in the first century all the way up to about the 1500s. That's the original book. Fox's Book of Martyrs. Now Jesus is telling his closest followers what they might expect. Peter, James, John, those 11 apostles, remember Judas is out of the picture now but he's telling them what they can expect.
What is interesting is what became of those apostles as time went on. According to history, Matthew was slain with a sword in Ethiopia. John will be put in boiling oil. He will escape that.
Legend says unharmed. He will then be placed on the island of Patmos to be exiled. Peter will be crucified in Rome but upside down because he requested to be killed upside down saying, I'm not worthy to die in the manner my Lord was killed. James the son of Zebedee, one of the apostles, will be beheaded at Jerusalem. James the son of Alphaeus thrown from the pinnacle of the temple then beaten with the club. Bartholomew will be flayed alive. Andrew bound to a cross where he preached to his persecutors until he died. And Thomas will go to India to share the gospel and will be run through with the lance while in that country and he died.
Now that's their future. And what you have to ask yourself is what would motivate these men to suffer like they suffered and die like they died if it was a myth they were following. If they knew that they just sort of had to keep this thing going, that there really wasn't anything to the deity of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, if this was a hoax, you'd think one of them would break. But all of them did not.
All of them were willing to face the most gruesome death for what they believed. And here Jesus says, I'm telling you this, I don't want you to stumble, I want you to know what's coming up ahead. In verse 3, these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father. What's interesting is he says this is going to happen in religious settings.
The synagogue by the very people who claim to know God and represent God. They have not known the Father nor me. But these things I have told you that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning because I was with you. Now he's told them he's going away.
He's told them that a couple of times. And so he says, you know, I didn't tell you this at the beginning because we were always together but that's about to change. But now I go away to him who sent me. And none of you asks me, where are you going? But because I said these things, sorrow has filled your heart. Now go back to chapter 14 for just a moment because you need to remember this to get what he is saying here understood. Chapter 14 verse 28. You have heard me say to you, I am going away and coming back to you. If you love me, you would rejoice because I said I am going to the Father for the Father is greater than I.
Now look at verse five. But now I go away to him who sent me and none of you asked me, where are you going? They really weren't asking where they didn't care where. What they cared about was why. Why are you leaving us?
Why would you do this to us? How could you love us if you said you're going to leave us? But none of them cared where he was going. He's going back home. He's going to the Father. He has left heaven in the incarnation.
He has come to the earth. But their focus was on their loss rather than their focus being on what Jesus would gain. And by the way, they were focused on what they would lose rather than what they would gain because Jesus is about to say, I need to go. It's for your benefit.
It's expedient that I go because when I go, I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit who's going to abide with you forever. They're focused on why, how, how could this be instead of where. Wrong focus. I've discovered that unbelievers also have the wrong focus when you tell them about Christ and you try to persuade them to commit their lives to Christ. You know, you ought to give yourself to Jesus Christ and you ought to enjoy his forgiveness and have a relationship with him. They focus often on the wrong things.
They focus on their loss. What about all my friends that won't like me anymore or that will forsake me? I'm going to lose my friends. Ah, but you'll gain a friend that sticks closer than a brother. Oh, but I'm going to lose popularity on earth but not in heaven. Oh, but I'm going to lose my old life, perhaps, but you're going to gain a whole new one.
You're going to gain an eternal one. There was a missionary who was killed by the Alka Indians named Jim Elliott. Many of you know of him and you know his story. Very famous missionary. He gave his life to preach the gospel to the Alka Indians. One of the most famous things Elliott ever said is, he is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.
I love that. Focus on the right stuff, not the wrong stuff, on the eternal, not the temporary. But because I have said these things, sorrow has filled your heart. He knew his men. It was still written on their faces.
All of the promises he gave them in this speech, they're still kind of like walking along going, oh man, this is a bummer. What a drag. I hate this. Nevertheless, verse 7, nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away.
Now, I just got to know that these disciples at this point were going, are you kidding? It's better that you go away? No, I have a different idea. I think it's better that you stay with us. I think we're going to take a vote and you just hang around with us.
We like that plan better. Nevertheless, I tell you, it's to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper, remember that's the Holy Spirit mentioned, he's called the helper four times in this upper room discourse. You need help. You need all the help you can get.
And so do I. And I'm so glad Jesus said you have it. In fact, you don't just have help, you have the helper. He's not just going to give you resources, he's going to live inside you to pull it off. You have the helper. I'm going to send the helper, he will come to you, but if I, the helper will not come to you unless I do. But if I depart, I will send him to you. Here's the deal. And you don't have to give me a show of hands because this is a rhetorical question. Have you found that the Christian life is sometimes very difficult to live?
Of course. We all have. We all have and how often have we doubted and wondered, am I going to make it through this? This is more than I can bear or I'm struggling in this area.
I don't know if I could ever conquer it. That's why you need a helper. And he'll live inside of you. And he knows your weaknesses.
But he still is with you and he's not going to leave you. And he's always going to hang around. I love an illustration that D.L. Moody, the evangelist from Chicago, gave when he was alive.
He was a simple preacher and he loved simple illustrations and explanations. He held up a glass, an empty glass, and he said to his congregation, now how am I going to get the air out of this glass? He goes, I suppose I could get a pump and pump it out, get some device to pump out all the air. But then I will create a vacuum and shatter the glass. So how will I get the air out of the glass? Then what he did is he took a pitcher of water and he poured it in the glass till it filled up. And he said, problem solved.
I get the air out by having it filled with water. And he said, that is the Christian life. That is the victory that is offered you by the helper. The key to your success isn't trying to suck out one sin, one problem at a time, but just being filled with the Holy Spirit. Be filled with so much of him that there's nothing left of you. Oh, but there's so much air in there, just keep being filled. In fact, it is in the present tense in the book of Ephesians when Paul says, be filled with the Spirit.
It's be being filled. Be constantly being filled with the Spirit. The helper. If I depart, I will send him to you. Now remember, just to jog your memory, Jesus called the Holy Spirit another helper. And I told you, just want to refresh your memory. I know you've memorized this by now.
If you haven't, I'm going to tell you a second time. There's two words Jesus could have used for another helper. He could have used the word heteros, which means another of a different kind.
But he used the word allos, which means another of exactly the same kind. We're glad you joined us today. Before you go, remember that when you give $50 or more to help reach more people with the gospel through Connect with Skip Heitzig, we'll send you Pastor Skip's book, The Bible from 30,000 Feet, and companion workbook to help you dive into scripture in the coming year. This sweeping aerial view of God's word will help you understand the big picture with greater clarity and gain a deeper appreciation for God's timeless truths. To request your copy, call 800-922-1888.
That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. For more from Skip, be sure to check out the many resources available at connectwithskip.com slash store. Come back next time for more verse by verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast your burdens on His word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever-changing times.
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