How To Read Your Bible (part 2)

Father, thank you for our time tonight. It's good to just be reminded as we sing that you're good faithful. Reliable, I love it with the psalmist calls you a rock. And we are so easily Swayed back and forth, but you're constant and you're a firm foundation ever faithful ever true.

Help these dear people tonight. They want to learn how to study the Bible better and if they could pick up at least Even one nugget to help them as they study your word. I pray that you would grant that in Jesus name.

Amen. All right, just a quick review. I talked last time about motivations to read and study your Bible and The first motivation I gave you if remember is that you actually have a Bible to hold Up until a couple hundred years ago.

It was very very difficult to have a Bible to hold in your hands. They were chained to the church. They were in the synagogues, but now you get to have a Bible. Motivation number two. The Bible is not an ordinary book.

God wrote it and why don't you turn your Bibles to first Thessalonians? 213 as you know, we normally go verse by verse we park in one spot. You're gonna need to put some WD -40 on your spines of your Bible tonight.

We're gonna jump around a lot. Here's the first verse. We're gonna look up first Thessalonians 213. When you sit underneath preaching gospel preaching and when you read your Bible you ought to be Hopeful and expectant that God is going to change you.

That's one of the reasons why this isn't an ordinary book because it changes you first Thessalonians 213. Of course Paul loved this church and he said in verse 13 and we thank God Constantly for this that when you receive the Word of God, which you heard from us.

You accepted it not as the Word of men. But as what it really is the Word of God which is at work in you Believers, isn't that good to know? Maybe you can't see it in your own life. Maybe you can't see it in your spouse's life or your friend's life.

But the Word of God does its work in believers. And so if you'd like to be Saying no to sin more often and yes to righteousness more. This is the book that we devote our lives to hence Bethlehem Bible Church Reminds me of that story at Iwana, there was a very very Disgruntled man who had his child here and I could tell he was causing a big fuss on Wednesday night I said, would you please come into my office so we can talk privately and his child I think was in Sparky's or something and he said I can't believe you're teaching my child that she's a sinner and I'm mad.

And I thought okay number one. He looks smaller than I am. So I think I could take him. But number two that was back in the old days now I need a lot of help. I Said what's that sign say outside? So we walked over to the side and looked out the window.

Oh, it says Bethlehem Bible Church. And we're gonna teach anybody that comes what the Bible teaches and therefore when you walk in these doors You should expect that the Bible is going to be taught and one of the great things that happens when preachers preach the Bible.

Are you studied the Bible on your own? You're not the same people that you used to be right, hopefully you can see progress in leadership. Paul said I Hope you see that it's evident that progress is being made in my life and We see it as we look around if I thought about Kirsty's life or Bob's life or others that I've mentioned you get to see The transformation of people as they sit underneath the Word of God.

So a motivation that we have Besides a command is that we want to change and honor the Lord as we walk. Motivation three we saw last time that there's a Bible translation fit for every person no matter where you are intellectually.

No matter where you are theologically, you can find a good Bible translation in your language English that you can read well after that motivation those three motivations we talked a little bit about what not to do when you Study the Bible we looked at random of random openings.

Where you just take the Bible and just open it up and think that the Lord's gonna lead you in that area. We talked about reading the Bible too fast. That would be something that you don't want to do because it doesn't help you if you're gonna read really fast.

But not understand what you're reading. We talked about how it's wrong to place ourselves over the Bible. How can this be true? Sodom and Gomorrah or lot or the Canaanites are killing all the children and animals and and women and all this.

Stuff. No, we're gonna put ourselves under the Bible. The Bible's authoritative we talked about The to me method the Bible is true. If I think it's true. This is what it means to me and to watch out for that.

And then we only got to one positive thing last week and it was thinking about studying the Bible with sections. It wasn't last week. When was it a month ago last time? Sorry, we talked about sections.

Remember, there's 66 books of the Bible two Testaments and then I had you do that kind of corny 512 5 5 12 thing remember five books of Moses 12 books of history five wisdom literature books five major prophets twelve minor prophets and then the New Testament for one twenty one one four Gospels one book of Acts 21 epistles and one book of Revelation.

So when you parachute down into a certain part of the Bible, you're realizing. Oh, that's the part I'm parachuting down into if you wanted to make it more simple. You could say Kim starting to clap already.

I Think last week we had somebody starting to try to clap during hymn songs that we had or praise songs. That was fun. It's okay to clap. Isn't it? Do we mind clapping? One time a side note somebody said I want to make sure we clap to every song at Bethlehem Bible Church every Sunday morning.

Because here's a psalm that says clap your hands and I said well nothing wrong with clapping as a kind of an overflow. But I said only five psalms talk about clapping out of hundred and fifty. So to use your logic.

Should we just clap five? Over 150 which is what percentage does anybody know? What is it three percent? 3 .3 of course the WPI people know they're like three how many significant figures would you like?

I mean if you want to think big picture, you could think I'm coming into the Bible as it is it creation fall Redemption or consummation if you wanted to divide the Bible up into four sections, you could kind of think that way.

Could you not creation fall redemption and consummation, but the key really is all right. I'm gonna think before I just drop into some Passage so it's out now for some new stuff tonight. One of the things I want you to do is to remember that every language has genre.

Genre, it's a French word genre and it just means type or literary type or as DA Carson says pastor Steve Jean I Like when the kids repeat that kind of a fun one to repeat and Genre helps us Understand the Bible a lot.

So let's turn to our Bibles to Psalm chapter 1 verse 1 and Whether we go to epistles our narratives our parables our wisdom literature if you can think genre I think you're gonna be helped so we come to Psalms and we think okay.

These are songs. These are wisdom songs praise songs and so if I come to Psalm 1 Thinking like it's Romans. I'm gonna come to the wrong conclusion. Oh if it's Romans because it's inspired and it's God breathed and all that it's in the canon fine.

But if it's the same genre as Romans 1 it's going to be difficult. So let's just give you an illustration of why genre helps so that you when you study your Bible you think what genre is this? Because it's really related to what section am I in?

Am I in Torah? 5 books of Moses am I in wisdom Ecclesiastes? Here's genre with Psalm 1 the gateway to the Psalms. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked nor stands in the way of sinners.

Nor sits in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates. Day and night this particular blessed man. He is so Delightful and delighted in rather the Word of God that he's he's just saying it over and over and over.

Meditation it's got the idea in the original Hebrew of you're saying something under your breath. Repeating it to yourself because it's so good over and over and over now if I come to this passage. And I don't know anything about genre, and I don't say what about genre.

What about literary type? Here's how I teach this passage, but this is not the meaning of the text. Take a look at verse 1 again. You'll teach it this way if you don't know genre first you walk near the wicked people and Before you know it you get really comfortable.

So then you stand by them and then when you're really comfortable you sit by them. And there's a progression of walking standing and sitting. Now is that actually true could it be true? You're hanging out with a bunch of people that are sinful, and and you're you're before you know you're just part of the gang.

There's a book by Beal a Greg Beal, and he said. Here's the name of the book. I think it's called right doctrine from wrong texts. Where you could go that's true. I want to avoid Evil. I want to avoid appearance of evil.

But what's this really saying so if you notice? Today we sang some refrains in the songs this morning and tonight kind of that little extra refrain in italics. Probably people miss that if you realize this is a song and it's wisdom genre.

Then one of the things you'll do is you'll say oh I should read this differently and what wisdom genre does especially in the Psalms it loves parallelism. Stating one thing and then another and that's exactly what's happening here.

So instead of saying before you know before you know what you're walking, and then you're standing, and then you're sitting. It's saying this with parallelism. Just avoid the ungodly at all at all counts.

He uses three different ways to say the same thing to emphasize and lots of times. That's what the Psalms do and so one of the things that I'm just going to say tonight. Just super. Without without getting into 20 different genres if you ask yourself the question hmm.

How should I interpret? Your different genres. I want to make sure and and this is I could say this to Wesley or other WPI students if you're really Logical and you're really Pauline like and you love Romans and Galatians.

I'm glad for that but You have to kind of come over here and use your artistic side when it comes to poetry. I've told you this I'm sure before but I used to think when I was a kid in Nebraska that poetry was kind of for sissies.

You know I wouldn't hang out with some new kid who said I say hey, what are you doing? I what do you like to do you're in fifth grade, and he says I love poetry. We probably beat him up is what we would do in Nebraska.

Oh, I like poetry. Thinking who was this person go back to to California? But the Bible's got a lot of poetry and poetry has this repetition. They just say it different ways. There's antithetical parallelism.

There's consistent parallelism all kinds of things, but when you just come to a psalm say this. Here's here's the takeaway for tonight when you come to the Psalms say to yourself Psalms. I should probably read it a little bit differently.

It's a song. Let me give you another illustration of genre. Please go to Proverbs 6. Proverbs 6. This is also wisdom literature when the men are going to go to the preaching class next Sunday I'm going to teach them that every time you come to the book of a Bible and you say please open up your Bible.

To the book of Acts its pastor Steve is teaching all right. Here's what we know about the book of Acts to kind of settle us in in here's the book of Ecclesiastes. It's wisdom literature that means we don't we don't look at it the same way as we do Galatians Chapter 1 and the same thing when it comes to Proverbs.

This is wisdom literature. It's a certain kind of genre so I'm gonna expect things from this text that aren't going to be Statements of no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus that just shall live by faith.

This is kind of flowery. It's poetry again I'll give you an illustration. Proverbs 6 16 there are six things that the Lord hates. Seven that are an abomination to him. I mean can't you get it right? I mean you want you to say seven to start this whole six and seven thing.

What's going on and then he lists it haughty eyes one lying tongue to. I mean does God hate those? Yes. Hands that shed innocent blood. Three heart that devises wicked plans for feet that make haste run evil.

Five. False witness. Who breathes out lies six and now the seventh one one who sows discord among the brothers? Did you know in wisdom literature this kind of genre? That if you want to emphasize something and you don't have a yellow marker.

You say things like this. There are six things the Lord hates. Yes, even seven are ye even seven and he's emphasizing the seventh one. He hates all seven. But the one that he hates the most is the seventh and of course you can see what that does to a church sowing discord among Brothers.

God Hates that what's the point when it comes to studying the Bible? I want you to think sections and I want you to think genre so far so good. Okay. Next I want you to think figures of speech. This is really going to help you there are figures of speech that we use all the time in English.

Let me give you a few. She has a green thumb. It's raining cats and dogs. Third string quarterback for the New England Patriots. Zappy is that his name? Zappy yeah, did anybody watch the game on the Lord's Day today?

Drop back and threw a bomb. Get off your high horse. Those are all figures of speech. Why do we use figures of speech? Well one it gets your attention, right? You're like, oh, that's an interesting way to say it.

It can make things Memorable. There's an illustration in Hosea. The Israelites are like a stubborn heifer. You ever try to push a stubborn heifer into its pen. I mean these things are stubborn as anything and It makes things really Beautiful and vivid and full of color.

I said that earlier when I was praying Psalm 18 the Lord is my rock. You could say God's faithful God strong. God's immovable, but when you say rock that that helps you think oh. That's a vivid way of doing that and sometimes figures of speech help with.

Kind of almost as you've heard me say before like a zip drive a zip file where you think there's a lot of information. That's condensed and if I said for instance, this has nothing to do with figures of speech.

But if I say the just shall live by faith I'm really saying the just shall live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and was raised from me who lived For me who died for me who was raised from me and he's coming back for me.

There's a there's kind of an abbreviation. So too if I say to you the Lord is my Shepherd. What pops in your mind when you think about all the things that a good Shepherd would do would do provide and and pity and Protect and guard so sometimes figures of speech are used to kind of really jam things into a small sentence.

No wonder people love Psalm 23 because it's a short psalm, but it gives you so much about who God is just a shepherd analogy. So let me give you a few figures of speech that will really help you turn to 1st Peter chapter 2.

We're coming to the Bible and we're saying to ourselves Yes. It's a divine book and it's gonna change me and I want to be under its authority and I'm gonna think all right. What section on my end? What kind of genre does that section have and then what kind of figures of speech might be used?

So we're going big picture and we're funneling down big picture sections. Coming down a little bit to genre and now coming down to the very tip of the funnel. That's what we're doing. That's what I'm attempting to do now.

1st Peter 2 2. Of course, this is on my mind getting ready to be the grandpa. I guess technically I'm a grandpa now, right? Amen. They won't tell us the name. They just said it's a biblical name. So, I don't know I'm just gonna have to live with it.

I guess if I don't get first Peter 2 2 like Similes give a comparison using like or as. Like newborn babes. Long for the pure milk of the word that by it you may grow in respect to salvation. I. It's like silver it's like gold but when Peter writes like newborn babes.

What does that tell you? Like newborn babes longing for the pure milk of the word. When the baby's little and you try to give the baby like I would at two months old ice cream. The baby wouldn't even want ice cream at two months, right?

The baby would not go for anything except for milk. Sometimes you can trick a baby right with with your pinky that lasts for about 10 seconds and the baby insists on the word. No, the baby insists on milk and just like that.

We want To look to God and get to the word. Well, you guys know similes. What if I said the Lord is my shepherd? That's not a simile. What's that? What kind of figure of speech is? The Lord is my shepherd, it's not a simile it's a.

Okay an analogy. All right. Metaphor. Okay. I Made my lips like an M. I can just see myself with my children and we've made the children always order food at any kind of fast-food restaurant or ice cream at Rota Springs and and so I never really liked it when somebody says Can I have.

Well, you know, of course you can but you're asking someone so you should say May I so I've looked at my children a thousand times maybe ten thousand times. Okay, Haley time to order and she's eight and then I always look at her and I'm like May I please the Lord is my shepherd.

A metaphor the Lord is my shepherd is a metaphor and so metaphors don't use like or as a Simile would say the Lord is like a shepherd to me. But a metaphor says the Lord is my shepherd. Are these metaphors?

You're the light of the world. Jesus said I'm the bread of life and what we're doing is we're saying section. Genre, let's make sure we have figures of speech. True or false the Bible teaches that God has fingers.

True or false the Bible says God has an ear. The Bible says true or false God has eyes. A true or false the Bible says God changes his mind. Well, what we see a lot of times is a figure of speech called and.

And Thrax. No, just kidding anthro Pomorphism and you just look at the word anthro man morph form it's a word in form of How we would talk as a man or a woman would talk and so we realize that we're attributing Human features or human actions or sometimes human emotions and something we called anthropo path ism to God.

And so when you see God and Zechariah 8 say I'm exceedingly zealous for Zion. That's just how we have to describe God using human words. All right. Let's say you come to the Bible and you've got a problem and your problem is I don't understand this passage.

Years ago Steve and I were at the Bible study and I thought you know what to try to remember preaching the gospel. Let's come up with the four W's. Who is God? Who is man? That's not the gospel that shows us the need of the gospel.

What did Jesus do? What did God the Father send Jesus to do and to the Spirit help? That's the real gospel there. And then what's the response to the gospel? So who is man? I mean who is God who is man?

What did Jesus do gospel? Here's how the respond to the gospel believe trust receive etc. So the four W's so that you can understand the need of the gospel the gospel the response to the gospel, etc. So tonight I'm going to give you three C's and I'm I think I think there's a good idea that I'm gonna try to put these on some little Index cards and maybe if you're good at it.

Maybe you can send them to me. And we can work on the fonts and everything else and laminate them if you can just get this in your mind. The men in the hermeneutics in the preaching class have to read a hermeneutics book.

This is everything Distilled down to these three C's so when you read the Bible, there's a problem studying the Bible. Of course, the problem is not God's it's our problem and you think how do I go about trying to figure out this problem?

So that you don't congregation immediately go to the Internet because guess what the Internet will tell you whatever you want it to tell you. You're like, oh do I believe in baptismal regeneration? You become born again when you're baptized.

I just type that in and guess what? You you've got it and the only thing you have to do is go. Well, it kind of looks kooky or the graphics are really good. It might be right and you say well, what about purgatory.

Is purgatory real? There's the stuff. Here's pro con and then what do you need to do? So I'm gonna give you the three C's that will help you and if you want to search on the Internet for things fine I also want you to search the scriptures yourself so that you don't immediately say.

What's my favorite celebrity say about this passage? What's my favorite study Bible say about this passage? What does my pastor say about this passage? I want you to study yourselves. And so the three C's are context Comparison and Christ if you study the Bible.

You probably if you've been teaching the Bible already do this. You just don't know that you do it context Comparison and Christ and seriously, it will help you study the Bible the rest of your life. What's the context?

What kind of comparison can I do with other passages in the Bible and comparing it to the all the Bible? Systematic theology wise and then what about Christ? How does this point to Christ? What does it make me think about my need for Christ my thankfulness for Christ?

Is this a type of Christ? Is it a shadow of Christ? Is it Christ himself talking? I think if you just boil it all down. What's the context? What's the comparison and what about Christ? Okay. That's what we're gonna do now.

And I'm gonna finish soon because we can't turn this into a three-part series because we're known as the church of the two-part series not three-part. Number one context go to Galatians chapter 5, please.

It's no Surprise that context is important and when we read Epistles for instance, you ought to read the entire epistle. It's meant to be read that way and that's one of the challenges of preaching. We're in a certain section, but we have to remind you what section we're in and what's already been said.

So you get the right context. So here is a perfect way to think about context for hermeneutics Galatians chapter 5 verse 22, but the fruit of the Spirit is love joy. Peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control.

Against such things there is no law and he writes verse 24 and he writes verse 25. And he's talking about when the Spirit of God is in Christians, and he's always in Christians the overflow the evidence the fruit is Love joy peace, etc.

These are all attitude fruits. I always remember s Lewis Johnson would say before you go around and talk to somebody else saying I don't see any fruit in your life. There's attitude fruit that you could never see maybe if they have joy they might smile.

But there's attitude fruit when the Spirit of God is working in you, but there's also action fruit and sometimes our chapters Present prevent us from looking. To see what follows for instance chapter 6 of Galatians Gives us the action fruit you want to know what a spirit-filled persons like well.

Their attitude is love joy peace and their actions are this verse 1 if anyone is caught in any Transgression you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness keep watching yourself lest you to be tempted.

Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. And when the Spirit of God is using the word in you I have love and you have love and joy and peace and you're concerned About other people.

I could put it this way you love other people and when other people are struggling in sin. You're right there for him. So here immediate context is super simple. Let's use another illustration first John chapter 2 many people Preach this and it makes folks very Unsettled when it comes to their assurance, and I want you to just make sure you read what's before your passage.

What's after your passage? Sometimes we have that slogan if you don't understand the Bible keep reading and read the passage before and here's one of those. If I wanted to really convict you and ask you if you were a Christian or not I might misuse this passage and say in first John chapter 2 Verses 3 and 4 and by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his Commandments whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.

So if that was your passage and you just read that. Those words are true. But those words have a context and those words could be pretty frightened frightening for people who actually are truthful with themselves.

How many people here have kept all the commandments of God, let's just say the last month. Well, it says by this will he we have come to know him if we keep his commandments if he kept his commandments, and so if you're not careful you go to that and you can really Hurt people by taking out a context now.

I could either read after. But in this particular case, I'm gonna read before because one of the things about context. I want you to see After and before here's the before chapter 2 verse 1, which is really the center and heart of all of first John.

This is the center of the wheel the hub. The strength my little children you can just hear John. Can't you I'm writing these things to you that you may not sin. Of course, he doesn't want anyone to sin.

But he realizes people do sin in chapter 1 and now he says but if anyone does sin we have Present tense always and forever right now an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous. He is a propitiation or he assuages God's wrath he exhausts God's wrath for our sins not only ours only but for the sins of the whole world and There's a word there and and by this we know we've come to know him if we keep his commandments.

Whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar. And so one of the things we know about the Bible is when we look at a passage I want you to look after and I want you to look before.

Maybe almost we could call this Stephen Steve. You mentioned this this morning. You didn't know I was gonna have this in my message tonight. Kind of the the Columbo style how many people watch Columbo or have watched old Columbo's?

Okay, so when I first got saved I got saved out of a licentious lifestyle. And then when you first get saved then kind of what happens if you get saved out of a licentious lifestyle often what happens is then like I'm a legalist.

I can't do anything. Nothing's allowed everything was allowed before and now nothing's allowed. And so then you're like, you know, I can't watch any TV. I can't do this. I can't listen to any secular music and whatever your conscience is fine.

Follow your conscience and at that time my conscience was bad, but I was sitting in seminary class as a legalist but happy to be saved and Dr. Roscoe of all people started talking about the detective show on TV called Columbo and He gave me the gateway drug to be able to watch TV again.

Only certain shows like Columbo Kojak McLeod. And he said he watches Columbo because of Columbo's style of asking Questions and I looked it up on the internet and just as you can find baptismal regeneration on the internet.

You can find Columbo techniques of asking questions on the internet. And when you come to the passage you ask all kinds of questions. The the author of the internet article said saving the question until the end of the conversation.

For example as leaving you might say like Columbo. Oh before I go may I just ask. Asking it in an unsuspecting moment catching the responder off-guard. And so when I come to the Bible, I say there's an immediate context.

There's a chapter context. There's a book context. There's a Testament context and there's a Bible context. And so the easiest thing you can do is say what's the context? Because that'll start giving you all kinds of answers about what's he saying?

What has he said before what he is not saying etc. So context is important. Number two. All right. We're all we got two more to go and we're gonna be done number two comparison comparison. Let me use technical language.

So when you see it online or you're studying books, you'll get it. But I'll explain it as easily as I can and by the way, everybody uses technical language. Why can't pastors right he he John just used pastor John the Apostle used propitiation.

It's fine to use a big word. Let's just explain it. So there's two things with comparison one. You'll see called the analogy of Scripture in Theology books and the other one called the analogy of faith.

Analogy of Scripture is I'm in a passage and something's difficult. I can't quite understand it. Are there other verses that I can compare elsewhere in the Bible that talks about the same thing? Oh I'm in Matthew and I having kind of a hard time understanding this.

Does Luke say anything about it? Or does Mark say anything about it? I compare what other passages say about the same account and that is called the analogy of Scripture. That's like cross-referencing.

Right, and so that's a very good thing to do because come to find out as Spurgeon said the best interpreter of the Bible the best commentary of the Bible is the Bible itself so analogy of Scripture is I'm in a passage and is there some other passage that's similar to this that I can go to.

And see if it can help me so I can understand something. That might be difficult, but elsewhere It's clear. So I'll interpret the difficult in light of the clear so that's the first comparison, but the one I want to talk about tonight is the analogy of faith the analogy of Faith, I'm reading the Bible and I've got a problem because I just read that God has eyes.

Context might not help me but comparison will and So I begin to compare what does the Bible say in its totality about God? Does God have eyes? I'm not talking about the Incarnation God. Jesus said is in John chapter 4 a Spirit what does the Bible say elsewhere even as a total?

All right, I'm gonna say it you ready? Systematized theology. What kind of theology do I come to the passage with now? Here's the way that some people do it. I'm coming to the Bible and I'm gonna study it like no one's else study it before and I'm gonna Unclear my I'm gonna clear my mind and I'm not gonna have any presuppositions and I'm just gonna let it say whatever it says.

I don't want you to do that. I Mean if you open up the Bible now to Genesis 1 1 in the beginning God I'm thinking systematic theology because I've read the rest of the Bible. I know what else he says and when you say God What should you be thinking?

Doesn't say anything about the triune God there, but what do we know about God? He is triune. And so when I come to the passage, I'm thinking Okay, what's the systematized theology that I've learned elsewhere that can help me understand the problem?

I'm reading the text for what the text says. But I know that there's a harmony taught in the scriptures about theology because God is the divine author. He's not going to contradict himself. It might be difficult for us.

But there's a harmony of theology that we can take and when we come to the passage it can help us. Let me give you an example. Why don't you go to John 14 28 when you read the Bible you come with presuppositions.

Here your presupposition Jesus is alive. Jesus is coming back. The Bible is God breathe. God is triune. God is the God the Son is truly man truly God. The list could go on and on and on. So when I come to the text, I'm not trying to empty my mind.

I'm trying to say let the text speak. But God has spoken in 66 books and this is going to be in harmony with the rest of those books. You say that kind of sounds like analogy of Scripture. That's true.

But if you listen to me, it's not quite exactly the same. John 14 28. Hi, welcome to my home, may I help you two people on bicycles wearing ties. Calling yourselves elders, but you're 14 years old. Verse 28.

I have a pass a question dear sir at your house. Here's what Jesus said you heard me say to you John 14 28. I'm going away and I will come to you if you love me. You would have rejoiced because I'm going to the Father for the Father is greater than I.