The Legacy of Jesus, Part 1
John 13-16
Turn to John 13 in your Bible, and this morning we're gonna look at John 13, 14, 15, and 16. Some of you are saying, "Sure, we are." But we are, and this is gonna be more of a survey approach. I got an idea for a book, which is still kinda germinating in my mind, on this particular theme; and so I'm gonna kinda throw it at you and experiment and see what kind of reaction I get. I've entitled this discussion this morning "The Legacy of Jesus." "The Legacy of Jesus."
I know that all of us at one point or another have either received an inheritance or thought a lot about receiving one. And maybe even prayed a lot about receiving one. But that's something that's very, very familiar to human experience. And although you may have not really understood it, all of us, in some sense or another, have received legacies of some kind. If it isn't a great amount of money or some worthwhile object that is left to us, there are just the mementos of the lives of people who are very dear to us. My mother, for example, has things from her mother that are very precious to her that she was left by virtue of her mother's death. There are people who have their children leave home, get married and move away, and all of a sudden, all of the little things that belong to that child become especially meaningful. And all of us know what it is to have a legacy, to have something left to us.
And that's precisely what is basically in the heart of Jesus in John 13 through 16. His ministry among men is over in chapter 12. He now spends chapter 13, 14, 15, and 16 with his disciples. It all occurs in a brief period of hours in one place, the upper room. And it all occurs the night before His crucifixion. And just before He dies, He gives to the disciples, and consequently to all of us throughout history, His last will and testament. He says, "This is what I am leaving you." And I call it the Christian's Legacy. This is our inheritance in Christ. If somebody asks me, "What, as a Christian, do you possess that I don't have?" I say, "I possess everything Jesus gave in John 13 to 16." And I tell you, folks, if you were to pin me into a corner and say, "What's your favorite Scripture?" I'd have a hard time saying anything except John 13 to 16.
There's nothing here for me to do, really. Jesus doesn't ask anything of His disciples, particularly. Oh, there are a few exhortations kind of scattered thinly in the...in the process. But, basically, this whole flow is, "Here is what I am leaving you. Here is what I offer you. Here is what I give you." And I believe that this, in turn, is what we can offer to people who don't yet know Christ and say, "Here is a good enough reason to come to Christ. Hear, listen to His legacy."...These are my most treasured possessions...In this whole world, if I really think seriously about it and think about what is worthwhile in my life, I would have to say that the most precious thing I possess in this world is recorded here in this passage. All of these things that belong to me because of Jesus' gifts to me. I don't own anything materially that means anything to me. These things mean something to me. And I know they do to you, as well.
Let's set the scene a little bit. As we look at the situation, Jesus is about to die. He has announced His death to them in several different ways, particularly in chapter 12 in verse 24, when He talked about the seed falling into the ground and dying and bringing forth fruit. And He's let them now that He's gonna die. In John 11, He said He was gonna die, in effect. He said, "I've gotta go to Jerusalem," and...and so there have been several occasions in which He has sort of dropped that truth on them. But now He really nails it down.
John 13:31, let's look to begin with there. "Therefore when he was gone out, Jesus said, 'Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him." Now, if you want an understanding of that, you'll have to get the tape we did on that a long time ago. I don't wanna go in and untangle all of it. Just simply to sum it up by saying this: Jesus said, "It is now time that I be glorified and the Father be glorified." And what He meant by that was His death and resurrection and return to the Father. In John 17, He says, "Father, I have glorified You on earth. Now glorify Me with You with the glory I had before the world began." The great apex of glorifying God occurred at the cross, the resurrection, and the ascension. And Jesus said, "It is now time for that." Verse 33, "Little children, yet a little while I am with you. I won't be here long...and He wasn't...Ye shall seek Me and as I said unto the Jews...and He had said this to them earlier...'Where I go you cannot come,' so now I say to you." He says, "People, I'm leaving...and I'm leaving in a little while, and you will seek Me, but you will not find Me, and you can't come where I'm going."
Now, what do you imagine was the reaction of the disciples? For three years, all they had known was the presence of Jesus Christ. For three years, He had been everything in their world. When they needed their taxes paid, He got a fish and took their taxes out of its mouth. That's a nice idea. When they needed food, He created it. When they needed truth, He taught it. When they needed comfort, He gave it. When they needed rebuke, they got it...They had known nothing but the supply and the sustenance and the presence if Jesus, and they had leaned on Him so hard that it was as if He was gonna move, and they were gonna hit the deck. "What are we gonna do? You can't mean this."
Peter, on one occasion even said, "Lord, it'll never happen. Let it not be."...How did they respond? Look at the 36th verse of the same chapter, John 13. "Simon Peter said to Him, 'Lord, where are You going? Well, where you gonna go, Lord?' Jesus said, 'Where I go you cannot follow Me.'" Peter didn't really wanna know where He was going. He wanted to know how he could get there. And so Jesus did not answer the question he asked. He answered the question He knew was in his mind. "'You can't come, Peter, but you will later.' Peter said, 'Lord, why can't I come?'" Sounds like one of my kids. "What do you mean I can't come? I'll die for You. I mean if You're gonna die and go, then I'll die and go with You." I like his spirit. It points up the truth that he could not conceive of existence apart from Jesus Christ. You see? To him, it wouldn't even be living...
Look at verse 1 of chapter 14. The Greek rendering here is this, "Stop letting your heart be troubled." Jesus announced to them that He was leaving, and they fell apart. And Jesus says, "Hey, stop. Stop letting your heart be troubled." Look at verse 5, "Thomas said unto Him, 'Lord, we know not where You go; and we don't know the way. You're gonna leave us, and we don't know how to get where You're gonna be.'" Look at verse 27, John 14, the end of the verse. Again He says, "Stop letting your heart be troubled. Neither let it be afraid." They were in tremendous anxiety and fear. Jesus was everything to them. His very presence was their security, and they were troubled, and they were afraid. Look at John 16 verse 6, and this again is just insight into their emotion at the time. John 16:6...Well, look at verse 5, "But now I go My way to Him that sent Me...I'm going back to the Father...and none of you are now asking, 'Where are You going?' But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow has filled your heart."
Nobody really asked where He was going. They just asked the way to get there. And Jesus says, "Your attitude is one of sorrow. It has filled your heart." And the word we've seen before in our study, defill means dominated. They were crying, I'm sure. They were sobbing on the inside. They could never conceive of a life without Christ. There was no way they could relate to it. You think you're heartbroken when you lose a loved one? You couldn't even begin to conceive of what it would be like to live in the presence of the spotless, sinless, perfect Son of God with all of His unbelievable love and sympathy and perfection in every single possible human relationship, and then to understand that He would be gone, and you didn't know where He'd be or how to get there. And they were afraid.
And Jesus, rather than being concerned with His own death which was coming about in a matter of hours, always exhibiting perfect sympathy, was far more concerned with them than He was with Himself. And so He spent John 13, 14, 15, 16 to tell them what He was gonna leave 'em. "I know I'm going, but this is what I wanna leave you." And when it's all said and done, his point is, "It's better for Me to go, because if I don't go, you can't have these things." And the idea is that when He's all done, they will be saying, "Lord, we understand. It's best for You to go." Now, what is it that He left? What are the things that Jesus left as a legacy to His disciples and to all those who trust Him? I...I found ten of them here, and we'll take the first five this morning, and we'll finish it up next time.
Number one, the first thing that Jesus left was...the proof of His love. The proof of His love...It's one thing, I think, to have somebody say they love you. Something else to have 'em prove it. Wouldn't you agree to that? I remember when I was a little kid, the first thing I ever learned as a little kid going to Sunday School, and I was like church mouse. I was there all my life. And...but I remember the first thing I ever learned. First thing you learned. "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." First verse I ever learned, "God so... what?...loved the world." And that is the basic message...but, you know, if I had been there with Jesus and...and...and He had said for three years, "I love you," and then He said, "I'm leaving you," I might say to myself, "If He loves me, how can He do it?" Right? 'Cause He knows how I'll feel. It...it'd be as if you fell in love with somebody, and your love for that person was absolutely the perfect love. And one day that person said to you, "You know, I love you truly. I love you absolutely. I love you with no reservations. But I've gotta go. I'm...I'm leaving, and I'll never see you again." That'd be a little hard to handle. Well, that's essentially what happened. So the disciples could stand around saying, "Did He...Did He really love us? Did...does He really love us?" And Jesus wanted to make sure they knew He loved 'em, so He gave proof of his love.
Look at John 13. Beautiful. And whenever...whenever anything would come into my mind to question whether Jesus loves me, and I have that question, because I'm not the most lovable person. Whenever that kind of a question would come into my mind, I would immediately go right back to John 13 to this great truth. Now watch in verse 1. "Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father...it's time for Him to leave...having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them to perfection." It was time to go, so you know what He wanted to show 'em? What? Love. "Guys, I gotta convince you," so He loved them to the limit. He poured out His love in those last hours.
How? Verse 2 tells us how. "Supper, having begun." Some of your Bibles may say being ended. No, the Greek rendering... "Supper, having begun." They'd just begun to eat, and then there's a little statement or so about Judas. We'll skip to verse 4. "He rises from supper, laid aside His garments, took a towel, and girded Himself, poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet and wipe them with the towel with which He was girded." Now, get the picture. The disciples are all eating, because they're in such a big hurry to...to get the food down, and because they're all arguing. They were arguing about who was gonna be the greatest in the kingdom. And because of that kind of an argument and the absence of a servant who normally would do this, nobody bothered to wash the feet...Of course, that provided the perfect opportunity for the Lord, who takes off His outer garment, put a towel around His waist over His inner garment, and went around and washed their feet...
And, of course, He comes to Peter, and Peter says, "Lord, are You gonna wash my feet? I can't conceive of this. You're God. What are You doing?" And Jesus said, "What I do, you know not, but you shall know hereafter." What he meant by that was, "You don't understand the total act of humiliation. You...you don't understand what I'm trying to show you. What I'm trying to show you is I love you, Peter. And it's partly now, and it's gonna be partly in a little while that you're gonna know it. You're gonna know it now from My foot washing, and you're gonna know it a little later from My death. You're gonna know I love you." Peter says, "You will never wash my feet. I won't allow it." Jesus said, "If I don't wash you, you're not gonna have any part with Me." Peter says, "Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my head. Give me a bath, Lord, in those conditions."
Now look at verse 13. "You call Me Master and Lord, men. You say well, for I am. And if I am your Lord and Master and have washed your feet, you sure oughta wash one another's feet. For I gave you and example that you should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily I say to you, the servant is not greater than the lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If you know these things, blessed or happy are you if you do 'em." Now, Jesus said, "I gave you a pattern. I gave you a model. Gave you an example of love. I washed your feet."
Immediately following this, there's an interlude with Judas, very sad. And it's followed by verse 34, and Jesus goes back to the idea of the foot washing. Look at it, verse 34. "A new commandment I give unto you: that you love one another...as I have loved you, that you also love one another." Now, listen to me people, Jesus says, "I have loved you." You say, "How did You love us? By doing what?" "Washing your feet." You see, verse 1, He loved them to perfection. He loved them to the limit. That's fine for Him to feel, but how does He demonstrate it? He demonstrates it by washing their feet, and then He says, "Look, that's how I showed My love to you. That's how I expect you to show your to each other, by humble service. By stooping to the place of meekness. I love you."
If Jesus were here, He would have no greater joy than to wash your feet. You know that? And I would be like Peter. If the Lord came around and started to wash my feet, I would say, "Lord, get up. This will never do." But, you see, He is saying, "I love you," but He's gotta do more than say it to convince these guys with the broken hearts. So he proves it by doing something that is truly an act of love. And what's so beautiful about it is that woven into chapter 13 is the backdrop of Judas...and He even loved him. And He even washed his feet. He loves.
But there's more. Look at John 15. The proof of love, given this last night, doesn't just end there. John 15:12, He goes back to the same theme. Remember, this is all in a matter of just a...a few hours on the same evening. So the whole conversation just weaves itself back and forth. "These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full...Now listen...This is My commandment: that ye love one another, as I have loved you...Now, He's gonna take it a step further, listen...Greater love hath no man than this, that a man...what?...lay down his life for his friends...and then here comes the key statement...And ye are My...what?...friends."
Remember what I said in John 13? Jesus says to Peter, "Now, Peter, I'm doing this now, and you'll understand...and you'll understand more later." Jesus was saying, "I love you, Peter. Let Me show it, will you, by washing your feet, and then later I'll show it by...what?...laying down...what?...My life for you." Listen, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." He wants them to have a model. He wants them to have a pattern. So He says, "Will you guys think about this when you see Me on the cross? That is Me loving you." See? It isn't just the lesson, you see. It isn't just a sermon. It's proof. God proved His love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, what happened? Christ died for us...
I don't question the love of Jesus for John MacArthur. I... I could question it under certain conditions. I could say, "I'm not the most loveable person. I am certainly not the most obedient person. I fail. I'm unfaithful. There is sin in my life from time to time. I don't always do the things I wanna do. I usually wanna do the right things, but I don't always fulfill 'em. And if it was the fact that You loved me on the basis of what I am, I'd be in a lotta trouble." But whenever I would question whether He loved me or not, I would go back to this particular portion and I would say, "But, Lord, if You were here, You'd wash my feet, and You sure did die for me." And those have got to the greatest act of love. Condescending meekness and death.
What did Jesus leave us? What is part of His legacy? One...One fantastic thing that begins it all. He left us the proof of His love, right? And I go through my whole life, you know something? Knowing that Jesus Christ loves John MacArthur. That's exciting. Lemme get you the second thing. What is the second of the five that I'll give you this morning? The second of the legacy of Jesus Christ is in 14 verses 1 to 3. John 14:1 to 3, and I call this the hope of heaven. Not only the proof of love, but the hope of heaven...
Now, these guys were saying, "Lord, You're gonna go somewhere, and we don't even know where You're going, and we don't know how You get there, and You're not leaving us any tickets. We're in a lotta trouble." And so He says, "Well, let Me tell ya all about it." John 14:1, "Stop letting your heart be troubled. Calm down, guys. Don't be so sad. You believe in God...in other words...you trust God, don't you? Then trust Me." Boy, and He puts Himself on an equal plane of trust with God. If God's Word is secure, so is His. That's equality of deity. "Don't be sad. Trust Me. I'm not gonna leave you."...Now listen to verse 2. This is so good. "In My Father's house are many rooms." Do you have the word "mansions" in your Bible? That is not what is in Heaven. I always...whenever I think of a mansion, I always think of the Addams Family. I'm not...I'll tell ya one thing. I'm not living in any house like that in Heaven. "Listen to Me. In My Father's house are many mansions." You can't put a whole lotta mansions in a house. You know how many houses there are in Heaven? One. You know whose it is? The Father's house, and I'm living in it. I told you before, no, none of it. We're not living like Heaven is all sectioned up and somebody's four miles down this road and six miles over that one. We're living in the Father's house, "In My Father's house are many rooms."
That's exciting. You know, in those days in...in Israel, the father of a family, he's sorta the patriarchal type, you know. He would have his house. Simple house with a patio in front of it. And then his children would marry. His son would marry, and he would add another apartment onto the father's house, and they would continue to build it until they built it into a square. And the whole family would live around the central area. And they would all come out and eat together. That was patriarchal family life. All the sons would bring their wives to live in the father's house. Often, a daughter might marry a proselyte from a foreign land, and he, too, would add his part. And they would calculate what they needed to do, and they'd join the whole deal together, and that would be everybody in the father's house. And that's why generation after generation after generation had the same land and the same house. That's how Heaven is. We're all in the Father's house. He's up there getting our rooms ready.
Now, I like this. "If it were not so, I would have told you." Do you know that He doesn't keep any secrets? You know, "If it was goodbye, fellas, it's been nice for the years we've been together. When you die, kiss it off, it's all over. Blackness, so long. If that was true...He said...I'd have told you that. I'm not trying to pull the wool over your eyes. But I'm telling you something. That's not true. What is true is there's gonna be something for you in Heaven. I go to prepare a place for you." Oh, that is so good. Do you know, one thing the Lord is doing right now is preparing a place for us? Sometimes when a person says to me they don't believe...they don't believe in the security of a Christian, or that a Christian can know that he's gonna go to Heaven. They're not too sure. Then I always think, "Well, do you suppose the Lord's up there building places that'll never be occupied?" Thinking, "Oh, that's such a nice one. Ummmmm, and he fell. He will never be..."
No, listen, friends, if He's making it, you're gonna be in it. "I go to prepare a place for you." How do you know that? Look at the 3rd verse. "And if I go and prepare a place, there aren't any vacant areas of Heaven, then if that's true, I will come again and...what?...receive you unto Myself. I don't make places for people who aren't gonna get there." In His great sovereignty, His great grace, He knows who His children are, and He's preparing a place for them.
You know, when I think about Heaven, I...you can think about it in a lotta ways. In the Bible, Heaven is called a country because of its vastness. It's called a city because of the greatness of its population. It's called a kingdom because of the structure and the order. And it's called a paradise because of the beauty. But the best name for Heaven is My Father's house. Don't you think so? I mean I can't get too excited about going to a country or going to a city or going to a kingdom or going to a...a...a paradise. That's a little more exciting, but most exciting, I like to go to be with my Father, to live in my Father's house...
Some people have said, "Well, do you suppose...do you suppose that there's gonna be room in Heaven for everybody that gets there?" Well, you know what it says in verse 2. It says, "There are many rooms." Do you know how big Heaven is? I don't either...But I'll tell you one thing. It's big enough. Just the New Jerusalem is incredible. The New Jerusalem described in Revelation 21 is 1500 miles cubed. Do you know how big that is - 2,250,000 square miles...2,250,000 square miles. Do you know how big London is - 140 square miles. Now that's plenty of room for me. Me and you and the rest of us are gonna be there. The Lord knows that. Plus you got the whole universe to roam around. This is many rooms, big house, big house...
But what I like is in verse 3. I just like this. And Jesus says, "If I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again and receive you unto...what?...Myself, that where...what?...I am." You know what the best part of Heaven is? To be with whom? Christ. You know what? I used to think as a...when I was a kid, if I could go to Heaven, maybe I could get an appointment to spend some time with Jesus. Be real busy, I know, all those Christians up there wanting to check in and...and cover a lotta things they've been waiting to talk about. But when you think about it this way, Jesus is simply saying, "I'm gonna bring you to Myself." There'll never be a moment in Heaven and throughout all eternity that I'm not in the presence of Jesus Christ. That's Heaven. Fantastic.
So He says, "I'm gonna give you the proof of love, and I'm gonna give you the hope of Heaven. Third, another part of His legacy - the guarantee of power. The guarantee of power. Now, you can understand how they felt, because Christ had been the resource for everything, and they felt next to invincible when they were around Him. Peter, for sure, did. Peter could do anything when he was near Christ. He walked on water and said miraculous things, and he had so much courage, even in the Garden, he took a sword and tried to fight the whole Roman army by himself. I'm sure he was nudging Christ, saying, "If I get in trouble, zap 'em." You know, he just...they had this invincible feeling when Christ was around. And now He's gonna leave, and I'm sure they're beginning to feel all their power sort of draining away. "Oh, I mean look, guys, there's only 11 left. He's leaving. How are we gonna handle this deal? Where's gonna be the resource?" But He gives 'em the guarantee of power.
Look at 14:11, John 14:11, "Believe Me...He says, or believe My Words, really...Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me. Believe that I'm the same as God. Believe My Words that I claim. Believe that I claim to be God. Believe it. Or...believe Me for the very works' sake. If it isn't just the Words, then let the works prove the words. You've seen what I've done." And they would all say, "Oh, we have." Philip he's really talking to. "Oh, we have."
"Truly, truly...verse 12, here it is...I say unto you...get this, guys...he that believes on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater than these shall he do because I go unto My Father." The word "works" there in verse 12 is in italics the second time, and I think it's better to leave it out and read it, "The works that I do shall he do also and greater than these." Not greater works, greater in a different sense. What does it mean? Well, there's a lotta confusion about this. But, listen, Jesus is saying, "If you believe on Me...and that covers the Christian community...the works that I do you will do."..."Oh," you say, "that's incredible." Keep in mind, this is primarily to the apostles. Did the apostles raise the dead? Yes. Did they heal the sick? Yes. Did they give hearing to the deaf? Yes. Sight to the blind? Voices to the dumb. Yes. They did it. That primary reference is to them. But in a spiritual dimension, Jesus Christ came with regenerating power, and He regenerated men's lives, and that's the heart of what He's saying. And did the disciples do that? Did they carry the Gospel of regeneration and see transformed lives? Absolutely. And do we? Yes.
What does it mean in greater? I've heard people say, "Well, we're actually doing more stupendous miracles than Jesus did." Oh, baloney. People say, "Well, we have a greater kind of power than He did." That's ridiculous. He is God. There isn't any greater power. So it can't mean we're gonna have greater power. "Well, no, we're gonna do greater works." You tell me what's greater than raising the dead. What's greater than raising Himself from the dead? What's greater than ascending into Heaven, just leaving, going straight up? What's great than walking through a wall? What's greater than healing the masses of humanity? What's greater than creating fish and...and crackers, so people could eat? What's greater than walking on water? There isn't anything greater in kind than that. There isn't any greater power than divine power. You say, "Well, then what does greater mean?" It means simply greater in its extent. That's why the word "works" confuses greater in terms of how far it goes. Lemme tell you something. I can't do anything greater than Jesus did. That would be ridiculous in terms of kinds of miracles. And, yet, there are people who claim that...But I have been able to see a broader, listen to me...a broader extension of the miracle of transformation than Jesus saw actually in His own life.
Now, lemme say something that may seem shocking to you. John MacArthur, former blasphemer, sinner saved by grace, has preached to more people than