God has been communicating directly with mankind since the beginning. In the Garden of Eden, God spoke directly to Adam and Eve. Even after they sinned, and they were expelled from the Garden, and the entirety of creation became cursed by God, God did not give up on His creation nor communicating with His people.

God spoke directly to Abraham in order to make the nation of Israel out of his descendants. He called Jacob and his family to Egypt with the intention to multiply them and make them into a nation. God spoke directly to His people through Moses, Aaron and the priesthood. He also spoke through the prophets.

But because of the vast, infinite separation between God and man due to sin, although man could hear from God, man could never take it a step further and actually have direct access to the presence of God.

Direct access to the presence of a leader such as a president, king or even a CEO of a company, usually is very difficult if not impossible for the average person. Rarely, if ever, could you walk into the office of a corporate executive, unless you were able to work your way through the gatekeepers of the company.

You could send communication. You could mail a letter. You could write an email or even ship a package. But chances are, getting into the presence of such a leader would be extremely difficult to say the least. All of this would change however, if you had a special relationship with the leader. This is the key to having direct access to the presence of any important person. It’s all about your relationship with that individual.

Despite God speaking directly to His people throughout the Old Testament, when Jesus rose from the dead, this form of direct communication had the ability to expand. No longer would the people of God just hear from Him through intermediaries, but they would be able to come into the direct presence of God, speaking and communing with Him intimately.

This is what John 16:23-28 is all about - this new, incredible, unheard of ability to come directly into the presence of the Father in the name of Jesus. There are no gatekeepers. There’s no red tape. There are no connections to make. Jesus makes the way. Not only to communicate with the Father, but He also ensures the door is always swung wide open for direct access to His presence.

But how and why does this all work? On what basis and why do we have direct access to the presence of the Father? Most would answer, 'it is only because of the blood of Christ'. Yes, without the blood of Christ, nothing is possible as it relates to access to God. But it gets even better. Not only does the blood of Christ give us direct access, but it changes our 'status' and 'identity' as well. And this makes all the difference in terms of the totality of our relationship with the Father.

In this sermon, we will take a look at how we embrace this new relationship with the Father, and also how we can avoid the pitfalls that prevent us from entering and enjoying this wide open door to the Father’s presence.

Next week we will finish up chapter 16 and begin our journey through the High Priestly Prayer in chapter 17, one of the most fascinating passages in all of John's Gospel.

Listen to the sermon below.