Words of Jesus Podcast - Believe In Me! Belief Creates Action.

Episode Date: February 21, 2025

A solemn occasion - a noble savior - vital instruction. The historical nature of this occasion should not distract from the powerful works that were accomplished and were soon to occur. Stay in the moment, if you can. Recognize the work of Jesus and the expected continuation of that work through the disciples. The minimum standard of sanctification for communication is the obedience of the commandments. Deny yourself. Take up your cross. Follow me. The similitude of actions between Jesus and the disciples creates division (sanctification) and establishes the promise of persecution. ***108: Jesus At The Last SupperMatthew 26:14-30; Mark 14:10-26; Luke 22:3-39; John 13:1-17:26I Am The Vine            Jesus continued:            “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment: that ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth. But I have called you friends; for all things I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, that ye love one another. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own. But because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.Remember the word that I said unto you, ‘The servant is not greater than his lord.’ If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin.But now they have no cloak for their sin. He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin. But now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’ But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the...

Think Red Ink Ministries presents the Words of Jesus series with Don C. Harris. Hello my friends, welcome once again to the Words of Jesus series. Don Harris. We've been talking about the advice that Jesus was giving his disciples the night of the Passover. We talked about the fact that he's only speaking to 11 disciples. He's already sent Judas out to deal with whatever it is he has to deal with and to betray him into the hands of men. Matter of fact, during this particular discourse, it's not listed here

in this book, but during this discourse, he looks at his disciples and says, well, the Son of Man has been betrayed into the hands of men. Obviously the Father had just said that to him. It's done. They're on their way. And so Jesus concludes that with, Arise, let us be going.

And they went to the Mount of Olives. Wow. You know, it's such bravery in this man, Jesus. Such bravery. And so he goes there to await. You might have wondered why he sat there and cried, as the Bible says, and sweat, as the Bible says, as it were great drops of blood.

By the way, the Bible doesn't say he sweat blood. I've heard that. I've heard, you know, the whatever medical explanations there are behind that and that kind of thing. No, no, no. He's saying that this sweat was not profuse sweating, but it was painful. It was as if he was bleeding, not just sweating. And you might wonder why this was such a problem for Jesus. Don't you kind of feel like walking by the rock out there? We assume he's praying on a rock because of the picture. And you're walking by him and seeing him out there crying and

bawling and squalling. Not meaning any disrespect here. I'm really just kind of going on the Sunday school literature. The Sunday school story. You know you walk over there and you see him crying and whatever and you just want to shake him and say, hey, hey, hey. I thought you left the splendor of heaven knowing your destiny. And after he chides you saying, that ain't scripture, bud. That's a song.

And you say, but did you know all this stuff in advance? I mean, really, what are you crying about? You didn't know this was going to happen? All right, I'm here to tell you. I may be the only preacher in America that will tell you this, but I'm here to tell you, no, he didn't know that. What he came to do, he was not really able to do. He finished part of the job that the Lord gave him to do. He made that comment in 17th chapter of John. I finished the work that thou gavest me to do. And we determined, last show or perhaps the one before that,

we determined what was that work? To glorify God and to show the world that He was sent from God by way of miraculous intervention in people's lives. Giving them an opportunity to believe in God one more time. And that's what He came to do. Now that there were people on the earth that did believe that he was indeed the son of God, that God had sent him in the earth.

He talks about that all the time. Did you notice that he said that over and over? That you might believe that I was sent from God, that you might believe that I am the son of God, that I am in him and he's in me and I am. And it just goes on and on. That I'm the son of God. You. That I'm the son of God. You believe that I'm the son of God.

You believe I am who I say I am. He says it over and over and over like this is really important to him somehow. It was important. It was the work that the father sent him to do. You're going to have to make sure that they know you're my son and he says i proved it to them i proved it to him by giving you the honor and glory for everything i did i didn't do my own thing i didn't make up my mind i didn't go my own direction

i did what you told me to do and we did well we did well and and i'm really pleased with having finished that work now we have something else to do what do we have to do now well now we have to provide some way of redeeming these people who do indeed have faith in you and faith in me that they might be one even as we are one how are we going to do that you and i are sanctified righteous holy set apart they they're sinners i don't see this coming together i don't see this iron and clay mixture thing that you got in your head this oil and water thing that you i don't see this iron and clay mixture thing that you got in your head, this oil and water thing that you, I don't know how this is going to happen. Well, what we're going to do is make them into different people. How can we do that?

We need to put the Spirit of God within them. How can we do that if they're sinners? Well, we need to atone for their sins. We need to cover their sins, so it's not a hindrance to us communicating with them we have to lead them and guide them into all truth let's put the spirit of god in there and let the spirit of god tell them what you want them to know what a great plan let's do that what's it going to require well you knew that father speaking to j. You know what that's going to take.

It's going to take your life sacrifice. Yeah, but you're telling me that I need to be offered in the temple? They won't even let me in the temple. These people hate me. If I show up there, they're just going to kill me on the spot. Hey, will that count? No, that's not going to count. I've heard people making light of people wearing crosses on their necks and says

if Jesus was killed with a pistol, then we would all be walking around with gold pistols on chains. You know what? Whoever said that, I think they're right. Because we really do need little trinkets. We need little idols, little things. Because we just can't believe in an invisible God. And so when things are falling down around us,

we can grab our little cross. Or we can recite the poem, the cross in my pocket, or whatever else. Whatever idolatry thing you've got going. But you see, Jesus couldn't be shot and murdered. He couldn't be

an arrow shot that took him. It had to be a sacrifice. Well, the sacrifice requires certain things. We're going to talk about this as we continue. You're going to find out why he was crying in the Garden of Gethsemane. You're going to find out, you know, mysteries that you've wondered about all your life.

You're going to see, oh, I see what's going on. Well, at least I hope you do. We're looking at this long dissertation that we did several shows ago, and there are some things in here that really can't be skipped over. You probably heard them and you had questions and by the time you formulated a question you realize, oh my goodness, he's read a whole paragraph between now and then. It's hard to take it all in. I advise you to read it. Read it again. Read it over again. You'll get the oh yeah experience and think, yeah, I had a question about that. Jesus said, he makes the statement here and we're going to look at it now.

I am the vine and ye are the branches. There's an idea, especially within Messianic communities, that they are, as they say, quote, grafted into Israel. And it's a huge theological mistake for them to say so because the branch of Israel that was in the vine, Paul talks about the commonwealth of Israel. What is the commonwealth of Israel? It is indeed Jesus Christ.

He is the vine. He's not a branch of the vine. He is the vine. And from that vine grew the branch called Israel. That branch bore no fruit. It was cut off. And when people talk about being grafted into Israel, you're being grafted into a branch that is laying on the ground withering and dying and men will pick it up

and eventually put it into a fire. It's ridiculous. If we are grafted into anything friend you need to make sure you're grafted into the commonwealth of Israel. You need to make sure that you're grafted into Christ. When he says I am the vine and my father is the husbandman every branch that is in me, you bear much fruit. He says the Father is glorified in that you bear fruit. In that you bear fruit.

This is the glory of the Father. This is how he is glorified. Not necessarily by singing a song praying a prayer uh you know waving around and saying oh father thou art this and thou art that and i think you're wonderful and you're okay with me which is really important to him. Sarcasm level high. You know, we spend a whole lot of time trying to convince him that we accept him, and we spend almost no time at all making sure that he accepts us.

You want to know how he accepts you? Not when you just put faith in Christ, but when you put faith in Christ, like he says, that I came out from God. And what I say, I say because God told me to say it. And the only thing we hear from him is, keep the commandments. If you keep the commandments, I'll move you from the servant class to my friends.

You are my friends, if you do whatsoever I say. Well, that sounds like a conditional promise. It is. All of them are. They all have conditions attached to them. And their conditions seldom are what you believe seldom most of the time it has to do with what you do do you keep his commandments you want to convince me that you believe that jesus christ is the son of god

you want to convince me that you believe in god, you believe in Christ, that you call him and believe that he is your Lord? I don't want to hear what you believe. But give me 15 minutes of your day. I'll tell you what you believe. It's obvious what you believe. Just tell me what you did today. Take 15 minutes. Tell me what you did today. Take 15 minutes. Tell me what you did today.

I'll tell you what you believe. Well, you can't judge me. Sure I can. What do you mean I can? Of course I can. That's what discernment is all about, isn't it? Don't tell me that people can't judge you because they do.

Now, I'm not saying that it's necessarily right. I happen to believe that when the Bible says that we're not to judge, I think Luke actually says it better than all when he says, condemn not. Now, I'm not going to condemn you, but I can certainly judge. And it's judged by what we do. Now he says that his intention was to make sure that people know that he came from God. That he was

indeed the Son of God. That he was on a mission from God. Now that is very important to him. And he wants to make sure that people have this knowledge so that they can testify. The Holy Spirit is constantly going to testify, he says. But you'll testify too. And the only way that your testimony is going to have any kind of validity is if you are a part of my disciples and you prove that by keeping the

commandments there's there's no way that people would allow someone teach sunday school be the head of a deacon board uh any of the rest of the higher up hierarchy positions that we've all invented in the church. Jesus absolutely condemned that idea, by the way. But there is no way we would put people into those categories if they violated any of the Ten Commandments, except perhaps the Fourth Commandment and the Tenth Commandment. If somebody's coveting, you know, perhaps the fourth commandment and the tenth commandment. If somebody's coveting, you know, that might be a sin.

They do it in their own mind. It doesn't really hurt anybody, so we don't really care. And doesn't keep the Sabbath? I don't know. How important could that be? Now, a murderer. We don't want no murderer teaching our kids at Sunday school. We don't want an adulterous woman, some sleazy woman taking our kids roller skating or whatever else.

Because they appreciate the commandments for what they do to them or what they provide for them. In this particular case we we're talking about safety. And in this particular case, we're concerned about our children and their role models and these kind of things. God doesn't make those kind of distinguishing remarks about the commandments. You're going to keep my commandments.

You're going to keep all of them, not nine out of commandments. You're going to keep all of them. Not nine out of ten. You're going to keep all of them. If you don't, I'm going to count it as if you break them all ten. That's pretty clear in the scriptures. You just got to do a lot of twisting to get past that. And people are more than willing to do that. Now Jesus asked, he was explaining that he's going to go away and that he's going to be gone for a while

but he's going to come back. And then he says, I'm coming back again. Now what is that? Well, we're not talking about his second coming. We're not talking about him coming to overtake the world. He's talking to his friends, saying, I'm leaving you, but I will come back to you. And then there'll be a time that the world won't see me. And then I'm going to appear to you again in a different form, in a different way.

I'm going to appear to you. The spirit that has been driving me all of my life, the spirit that is the self-same spirit that the Lord God has within him, God is that spirit. Let's just face facts. There's no sense in breaking all this off so we can play with the Trinity. The fact is God is that Spirit. Jesus said He was a Spirit. So there's either two or He is indeed the Holy Spirit that was promised

to us to lead us and guide us into all truth. And He says, I'm going to come back to you and not leave you comfortless. I'm going to send you another comforter. And what will that comforter be? It'll be the Spirit of God. Now, he says that I'm going away. I'm coming back. I'm going away. And his disciples are thinking what what are you doing what are you saying I don't understand what he's saying does anybody understand what he's saying

and uh so he's trying to explain to them that it it takes, by necessity, I have to go in order for these things to happen. And he says, and this is all for your good. I know you're going to be sorrowful, but you won't be sorrowful long, because what's my purpose? My purpose is to make us all one. Like I am one with the Father father you can be one with us now jesus also uh said to the father he says um

he says that i sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth. What does that mean? This is not necessarily so hard for you to grasp if you'll look at this. Because we use the word sanctified. It's a churchy word. You know, it just means I'm holier than you are. If I'm sanctified than you are if I'm sanctified you're not truth is is you know that's just a lot of idiot speech that people just throw

these religious words around they don't know what they mean we're holy and sanctified mean the very same thing and so if a person is sanctified they are holy if they're holy they're sanctified. But nobody would look at the word holiness and say, what are you holy from? Now, would they? What do you mean you're holy? You're holy from what?

Do you know that would actually be proper? That's proper sin structure. Because when you say you're sanctified, it's unquestionably proper to say sanctified from what? Because if you understand what sanctified is, it simply means set apart. To be set apart. You push this over to this side, you just sanctified it. You gave it an entity unto itself.

And Jesus is saying that one of the things that I need to accomplish as I return to the Father is for me to be set aside as an entity unto myself. Do you know this actually happened? Because as long as Jesus Christ was in the earth, he was pretty much just doing what he was told. He said, I don't do anything except the Father tells me to do it, and that's when I do things. I don't think about stuff.

I don't live in a way that I make a decision as to whether or not I'm going to do something. I do what the Father tells me to do. I do always those things that please the Father. That's a heck of a statement, really. You don't have any will of your own? Nope, I don't. However, we find that when God decides

that this man has actually done the work, as Jesus said, that he was sent to do, that he did it very well, he maintained his relationship with his father properly and in a good manner, in a good way, pleased the father in everything that he did. He actually passed muster. I wonder if Jesus knows that he wasn't saved by faith but by works.

Well, it's true. Jesus was the reward that he received. He says, thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. What does that mean? Well, he kept himself from it, didn't he? And if he kept himself from iniquity this is all deeds these are things that he does it's not what he believes it's not like that you know well you know you really uh it's pretty obvious that you rejected iniquity in your life how so well i I know that it really was distasteful for you. No. It was that he refused to do

what the Father told him not to do. He refused not to do what the Father told him to do. These are all actions. Now, when he returns to the Father, remember he told Mary, touch me not. I have not yet ascended to the Father and then on the road to Emmaus I'm sorry when he appeared to Thomas Thomas thought he was a spirit you remember this

and he said handle me a spirit hath not flesh and bone as you see me have interesting that he didn't mention blood. It isn't interesting that he didn't say flesh and blood. So where was his blood? Over there. On the altar. By the Father.

In the tabernacle of heaven. And it was there to pay your ransom. However, I get divergent from time to time. It's a big subject. So he says, handle me. But over here he said, don't touch me. Because I have not yet ascended to the Father. It's obvious that between those times, he actually did ascend to the Father.

When he ascended to the Father, you find in the book of Hebrews, that ceremony where Jesus is sanctifying himself, or the Father is sanctifying Jesus. The Bible says that God has turned all judgment over to Jesus Christ. Remember when he says, I don't judge the world? You remember that? Something changed. All of a sudden, he is the judge. Why? He's being made the God of all the earth. He's being sanctified. That's what that coronation service, the coronation procedure was all about. Thy throne, O God, is forever, he said to Jesus.

He was made the God of the earth on that day. Thou art my son. This day I have begotten thee interesting huh i mean here you have him being sanctified and he says he says now my purpose is that i sanctify myself so that these, so that they also might be sanctified through the truth. I sanctify myself. The Father is sanctifying me. This sanctification is to take place.

I'm going to be their God. And I'm going to walk in them and dwell in them. And they'll be my people and if I do that if I make them my people what does he say happens to a person that becomes his people the world's going to hate you what just happened there's your sanctification right there you're being set apart from the rest of the world he, you're going to get set apart from the world. They don't like you. They didn't like me.

They don't love my father. They hate us both. And they're going to hate you. But you have to understand, there's your sanctification. Because there's coming a time when this world, all these people in it, are all going to be taken away to destruction. Buddy, that day, you want

to be sanctified. You don't want to be with them. You don't want to be part of the majority. What you want to be is sanctified. I'm going to sanctify myself. I am going to become your almighty God. When I do,

I'll see to it that you can make it through anything. How will I do that? You're going to pray. I'm going to hear you. And when I do, I'll give you whatsoever you want. Well, can we have that now? No, you can't.

You're just not quite sanctified enough. Your stuff still means a lot to you. Or Paul says, there's a whole lot of things I want to tell you. Just like Jesus said, a whole lot of things I want to tell you, but you're carnal, you're carnal, you're carnal. I can't tell you. Isn't that a shame? Time's gone.

Got to go. Write to me if you'd like, Don, at ThinkRedInc.com. Until I see you back here again, my admonition to you is, Think Red Inc., my friend. Bye-bye. You've been listening to Don C. Harris of Think Red Ink Ministries. Email don at thinkredink.com. That's thinkredink.com.

Join us again for the next episode in the Words of Jesus series. I love you.