Arise let us go hence

… John's Gospel, chapter 13, verse 36, Simon Peter saith unto Jesus, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterward. Peter saith unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice. Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go, ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also, and from henceforth ye know him and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father, and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very works' sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me the works that I do, shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever, even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you, yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more, but ye see me, and because I live, ye shall live also. But that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my word, should be singular, you know, my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings, and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you, but the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you. My peace give I unto you. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father, for my Father is greater than I, and now I have told you before it come to pass, that when it is come to pass, ye might believe. Hereafter I will not talk much with you, for the Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me, but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence. May God bless to us this reading from his word. I've thought a great deal about what I should speak to you about tonight. We have just latterly had ministry on the various subjects of the word of God, instructing our minds. I'm not going to say truth for our heads exactly because everything that God gives also touches the heart. But I want tonight to try by God's help in these few moments left to us in this session of addresses, to give you something for the heart. And my text, if I may be allowed to say it, is those last five words in the chapter, Arise, let us go hence. These are the words of the Lord Jesus in this chapter to his own eleven disciples. He's finished with the world around him. His conflict with the scribes and the Pharisees is ended and he has pronounced his final judgment on the nation and now there is nothing left saving his death. In these last chapters, he withdraws himself therefore from the world. This is the, this was the Thursday night after sunset, after the Passover had been eaten and our Lord Jesus withdraws himself into the company of his eleven beloved disciples and he unburdens his heart to them. These are days in which there's so much to trouble us. I know you will agree with that. And the uncertainty that there is, is one of the most trying things. Men of the world don't know what to think. They're racking their brains to try and find some solution to the difficulties that they have to face. And we may well pray for them. Some of them pray for themselves but others do not. So it is our portion as children of God to pray for them. But still the uncertainty is there. Life seems to be getting more difficult, doesn't it? And I don't know what I should do if I hadn't the consolation and comfort of the Bible and of Christianity. And we may well feel that this uncertainty seeps into our own souls and affects us too. Now the reason why I have taken this subject tonight is because in the souls of those eleven disciples gathered with the Lord, there was that same uncertainty. It's true of course of a very different kind but there was the uncertainty. They were confused. They were bewildered. They were full of questions. But our blessed Lord Jesus, true to what he always is, deals so gently with them, doesn't he, instructing them, instructing their minds and appealing to their hearts. And I believe that the Lord Jesus himself would speak to us tonight from the excellent glory and would comfort and reassure our hearts. I don't propose to try and expound this chapter. There's so much in it, isn't there? We shouldn't have time even if I were capable of doing it. But what I want to do is to try and take out from it some of the things that will be a comfort to us this evening. The Lord Jesus then was to minister to his own eleven disciples and to comfort their hearts. And at the close of this chapter he says, arise let us go hence. Now this is what happened in a crisis in their lives. And often times we find ourselves in a crisis in our lives. Maybe there are some here tonight who are passing through such a crisis. It's all change. Things have happened to you and you're bewildered and you're confused. And you wonder what to do. And I think again that in measure that is happening to every one of God's people. But the Lord Jesus Christ comes to us at such a time of crisis and he says, arise let us go hence. Those disciples might have said to him, Lord let's stay here. Just as the three disciples said on the Mount of Transfiguration, Lord it's good for us to be here. Wouldn't you have liked to have been there in that upper room where the Passover was, the last Passover had just been eaten? Wouldn't you have liked to have been in the Lord's presence and listened to his wonderful words? Of course we all should. We have the privilege of course of being able to read them for ourselves now. But still we should love to have been there. And I can imagine those disciples might say to him, Lord let's stay here, don't let's go out. But the Lord Jesus says, arise let us go hence. And it had to be. These lectures have finished and we have all been enjoying much ministry from the Word of God. And we have to leave these places of blessing, this place of blessing and we have to go out. And it must needs be. But let me say here at the very start, the Lord Jesus Christ says, let us go hence. That makes all the difference, doesn't it? He says to them, let us go hence. He goes with them. We'll perhaps come back to this a little later and see what it was those disciples had to experience. And perhaps it may be some comfort to us too to see what they were to go through and what the eventual triumph would be. There's a wonderful thing to be faced this afternoon by our dear brother who spoke here of the ultimate glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. We were shown the triumph. The veil was drawn back and we saw him in his glory. But then before that triumph, before that glory, there must be the suffering. And the Lord Jesus says, let us go hence. Now I don't know what is coming to you or to me. Some of you are here tonight and have been bereaved, it may very well be. Others have suffered in other ways. You have difficult problems to think about and you don't know quite how to meet them. Others of you may be suffering from illness and if you don't yourself, you have those for whom you care, who do suffer, it's not easy to bear all this, is it? And so God veils the future from us, we don't know. Perhaps it's a kindly thing as the hymn says that he does veil it but at any rate what we Christians may know is this, that whatever the future, he says arise, let us go hence. But before we come to, come back to that subject, which I hope to do at the end of this talk tonight, let us just see how the Lord Jesus deals with these disciples. They were all with him, these eleven disciples. First of all, the feet washing had happened, hadn't it? Our blessed saviour washes the feet of those disciples. What humility! When you think of that in connection with the second psalm, isn't it wonderful that he who eventually is to triumph should have been so humble as to wash the feet of the disciples. And then that included, you know, the traitor. This is more wonderful perhaps still. And then the traitor goes out after having been given the sop. It's always a wonder to me, those events as they passed, the disciples were troubled looking upon each other and asking of whom the Lord was speaking. But he said to whom I shall give the sop. This is the one. And he gave the sop to Judas Iscariot. One more utterance of appeal to Judas Iscariot. One more offer of mercy to him but he'd gone too far. It was no use now and so it says he went out and it was night. Night around and night in his own soul. And there was a darkness which fell upon the disciples at that time too because our Lord had spoken the mysterious words to them about his departure. And if you noticed, almost the whole of this portion is taken up with, whither goest thou? Where are you going Lord? They were confused as I say, they were unable to understand it. But they loved the Lord and any words that he spoke were important to them. I wonder whether that's so with us. But it was with them, they loved him so dearly. And they wanted to know something about where he was going. Four of the disciples asked him questions and the Lord very gently answers them. But what he does, much more than answering their questions, is to answer the need of their hearts as he saw it. That's what he always does, I believe. He answers the need of our hearts. We're not always conscious of it, are we? But he answered them. He did answer their questions in a remarkable way. For a moment, let's look at those questions. Simon Peter says to him, in the end of that 13th chapter that I read, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, whither I go thou canst not follow me now but thou shalt follow me afterwards. In that way he brought out and Peter, in one sense, never said a finer thing than this. Lord, I'll go with thee to prison and to death. And I'm sure Peter meant it. And the Lord elicits from Peter that expression that came of the love of his heart. But he also brings home to Peter a lesson which Peter didn't learn then, didn't learn till afterwards. He had to fall, he had to experience the truth of the Lord's words. And he was to deny him thrice. What the Lord was saying to Peter was, Peter, I know what you mean but you don't know what your own heart really is. You don't know the weakness of your own nature. You haven't understood it. And he warned him. And then, as we read on, because as you know the chapters were never in the original language at all, they have been manufactured since. He passes on and then he changes from the singular to the plural. But don't forget that while he does that, he includes Peter in it. He says, let not your heart be troubled, addressing the eleven disciples. Ye trust in God, trust also in me. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. And then, having uttered that wonderful benediction, let not your heart be troubled, remember what Peter had just said and what the Lord had said to Peter. He then answers Peter's question, where are you going Lord? And he says, in my father's house are many abiding places. And he tells Peter something about the place, Peter and the others, something about the place that he would go and prepare for them. Lifting their hearts, lifting their minds up from material things, which was what they were occupied with, crowns and thrones and positions, lifting them up to spiritual things and directing them to that home of which we sung, oh what a home. And so he answers their question through Peter. Isn't it a wonderful thing to know that there's a home awaiting every one of us here, a home in heavenly glory with the Lord Jesus. Whatever the immediate future, there's a home there that he's gone to prepare for us. He didn't say a house, he did speak of abiding places, but it's a home, a home and that is the place where love reigns. And then he says, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also. They said, where are you going Lord? Well he said, I'm going away but I'm coming back again, I'm coming again. And this is a wonderful foreshadowing, a wonderful prophecy of the Lord's coming for us. I will come again, not I will send an archangel to fetch you. I will send the whole company of angels to receive you. I will come again. He won't trust anybody else with it. He has the privilege and he intends to exert that and take advantage of it. He comes himself to receive us to himself. And then he says, whither I go ye know and the way ye know. You know I always admire the candour of the disciples. The Lord never minds the candour of his people. He never minds their asking questions of him, I'm sure of that. This is what I see in this chapter. And Thomas, the one who truly did love him, the one who said, as you know, on one occasion Lord said to the other disciples, let's go and die with him. And yet the one who was cautious to a degree, Thomas says, Lord we don't know whither you are going. Lord, we know not whither thou goest and how can we know the way. Then the Lord Jesus again lifts the whole thing up from the material to the spiritual. And he says, possibly one of the, surely one of the greatest things that ever he said, I am the way, the truth and the life. Is the way uncertain? Don't you understand where I'm going? I'm the way there and I'm the truth. You find yourselves in need of that upon which you can place your feet firmly and know that it is true. I am the truth. You'll find it all embodied in me and the life. What is needed for a place like this? What is needed for a future? It is the life and the life that you will receive is the life that is in me. It is my life. You'll be united to me by that one spirit. He doesn't develop that here. He just says the fact. I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. And then Philip says something to him, the next question. And this is the anguish almost of all the world today. He says, Lord show us the Father, show us the Father and it suffices us. I won't develop that part anymore because it is indeed the unspoken word of the world today in some senses. But Jesus says to Philip when he asks this question, have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? Here again he raises it to the spiritual level and he reminds Philip that he that hath seen him hath seen the Father too. For our blessed Lord Jesus as we all know so well was the very expression, the very outshining of the Father, the Father's glory. He came into the world to be here and to show men the heart of God, to show what God was. Here is the Son of God. Here is the Son of God showing the Father to men. And then lower down we come to another question. This time it's Judas not Iscariot. Now Lord had gone on speaking to them and he was speaking about manifestation and Judas seized on that word. Judas saith to him, Lord how is it that thou manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world? And then the Lord Jesus goes on to deal with the spiritual side of things and he says, what I'm going to do Judas is that I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you and I'm going to abide with you. If he says here in this 23rd verse, if a man love me he will keep my word. We dealt with that a little when we were reading it. He just said he that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me and he shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. That's manifestation. And that is why he will not manifest himself to the world but he will manifest himself to his disciples. And then again he answers and says if a man love me he will keep my word. The words of Jesus, well yes, those are his express commands. The actual word is the same, words and word, although we have commandments in the 21st verse. Those are the specific things that our Lord has asked and indicated to us that we should do. But there is a bigger thing than that, a much bigger thing, that is this, if a man love me he will keep my word. A father who has a family and whose family love him, he's a good father and they all love him, there are occasions when they're by themselves and they're faced with something, some thing that they should do. And one of them says to the other, well I don't think we ought to do that, you know. Oh but father hasn't said we are not going to do it or mustn't do it. Father hasn't said anything about it. And the other one says yes I know that but at the same time I don't think it's something that father would like. And so you see we read the whole of the word of God and we read especially the New Testament and we find out in that way something which guides us in our conduct. And if we keep his word, even though it is difficult sometimes, even though we stumble and fall like Peter did, if we love him and keep his word, what he says is, my father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. Oh my friends that is an experience which only those who experience it and know it can tell. The love of Jesus, what it is, none but his loved ones know. Now the Lord goes on having answered these questions and I'm going to ask you to take it tonight as the kind of preparation for what he's going to say. We're coming back to that presently but now here's something very wonderful indeed. He gives them first of all the promise of the Holy Ghost whom the father will send in my name. He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. The future, what is it going to be? Lord, where are you going? You're going to leave us, are you? And we're going to be alone. What are we going to do? You've been with us, you've been guiding us, you've been leading us, you've talked to us, you've helped us. Now what are we going to do? Lord says, the comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the father will send, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance what I have said unto you. And my friends, this is the great promise by the Lord himself of that which happened at Pentecost when the Holy Ghost descended from heaven, not only to be with those disciples, not only to be in the new born church, but to be actually indwelling each blood-bought saint of God. The Holy Ghost would be with them. He would go, the Lord would go back to heaven and they wouldn't see him anymore. But the Holy Spirit, the divine person that he is, he would come and indwell them. This is the power which enables God's people to go on into the future, to know that he is with us and in us. Wonderful thing, this promise of the Holy Spirit, isn't it? I wonder whether we understand enough of it or whether we make use of this wonderful gift that God has given to us. And after he said that, giving them the assurance of the presence of that divine person with them and in them, he then utters this wonderful benediction, peace I leave with you. Peace I leave with you. The disciples were, all of them confused as we've said before and bewildered. They didn't know what to think. He'd taken the bread, he'd taken the wine and he'd given the bread and the wine to the disciples. And I'm sure they didn't understand what it meant then. He said this is my body and this is my blood. They were to understand it later on for we've just read that the Holy Spirit was coming to bring all things to their remembrance, whatsoever he'd said unto them. Well, the Lord says to them, peace I leave with you. The only one who was calm amongst them was the blessed Lord himself and he was going to die. The governing text for all these series of chapters here is Jesus knowing that his hour was come. And in the consciousness of this, the Lord was calm and quiet and by his loving answers to their questions, he was reducing them to that same quietness and peace that he himself enjoyed. And now he says, peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. What does the world give I unto you? Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Oh my dear friends, can we each one of us tonight take those words to ourselves? Knowing that the Lord would have us enjoy this peace, even though everything is dark and uncertain around, peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. What is it? What does he mean when he says, my peace I give unto you? Well I tell you what I think it means, but I feel sure that I shall not be able to tell you all that it means. It means that peace which was his as a man in this world, when he committed his way to God his father, when he took everything from his father's hand, even so father, he said, for so it seemed good in thy sight. That is the attitude of heart of the blessed Lord Jesus as a man in this world. And there was peace in his heart all the time, wonderful peace. There's a curious text you know in Ezra, I'll just tell you this as an aside, a curious text in Ezra which says, perfect peace and at such a time. I'm not capable of explaining really what those words mean. It was part of the salutation that King Artaxerxes used when he wrote his letter on that occasion to the Jews, perfect peace and at such a time. At the beginning of the First World War there was a young man who joined the RAMC, he was a Christian, the youngest son of our dear brother Mr. W.J. Hocking, Leslie Hocking, and just before he went abroad to serve in the army, he wrote a tract on those words, perfect peace and at such a time. I expect the tract is long, long since out of print. But there he was writing of the peace that was in his own heart. He went out to Flanders and in 1916 on that terrible 1st of July he was killed in the Battle of the Somme. But he knew what perfect peace with God was and the perfect peace of God in his own heart. Well now, this is what the Lord is expressing to these disciples, my peace I give unto you. Everything he took from his father, his father's will was best, not because it was just the inevitable, not because it was, well, the unfortunate outcome of circumstances, but because his father's will was best. In the famous chapter in Matthew, where he is, I can't remember the exact chapter, but where his rejection is final and full and complete. In a chapter that ends up so wonderfully, come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden. Lord Jesus says there, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes, even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. Now he says, my peace I give unto you, O that we might know this, practically in this world today, a world of uncertainty. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. The chapter started with that, didn't it? And here it is repeated. The Lord knows what our hearts are. The Lord knows what we need. And he says these words in order that we might enjoy his peace. Let us all pray from this time, as no doubt we have prayed before. But let us go on praying and let us pray more earnestly that his peace might fill our hearts. …