John 14:15-17
Richard Tow 5/15/16
I. What do you need more than anything else?
Someone may answer, “I need a healing more than anything else. Pastor, you have no idea how much I have suffered because of this affliction.” Another person is saying, “I need a job. I would like to have a job. My creditors would like for me to get a job. My landlord would like for me to get a job. I think Solomon may have been right when he said, ‘…money is the answer for everything” (Eccl 10:19 NIV).” But someone else says, “I need a spouse; I can’t carry this load by myself. I need someone to love me and partner with me in life.” Of course, we could go on and on talking about houses, cars, vacations, etc. All of those are legitimate needs that God cares about. If you care about it, God cares about it. He is actually more interested in your wellbeing than you are. He cares for you with the heart of an infinite God; you care about yourself with the heart of a finite human being. All those things should be taken to the Lord in prayer with the knowledge that God hears and answers those prayers.1
But today I want to get down to the one thing you need most. As Jesus was about to lay down His life on the cross and leave His disciples, He talked with them about the one thing they needed most. Follow with me as we begin reading in John 14:15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever -- 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”2
Of course, you know Jesus was referring to the Holy Spirit. In verse 17 Jesus refers to Him as
1. “the Spirit of truth”
Without Him people cannot come to a knowledge of the truth.3 They may get a lot of facts and figures in their heads. But the spiritual reality that supersedes this material world is something that must be revealed to the heart by the Holy Spirit. You did not really know that you needed to be saved until the Holy Spirit convicted your heart of sin and of your need for righteousness that only comes through Jesus Christ. John 16:8 “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” These are truths that can only get in the heart by the influence of the Holy Spirit. Do you remember the day when this blessed third person of the Trinity brought the light of Jesus into your life? Can we not appreciate our utter dependence on the Holy Spirit for our initial experience in God?
As “the Spirit of truth” He makes known unto us the revelation God has given in His Word. This book is a closed message to those who are not enlightened by the Holy Spirit. The natural man can read this book and all he finds is a bunch of contradictions. The more he analyzes it the more confused he becomes. But the Holy Spirit can open the eyes of our understanding so that it becomes clear as day! Remember what Jesus said in His prayer in Luke 10:21 "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes….” It’s not an intelligence issues. It is an open heart issue. The simplest person can know God; and the most brilliant atheist can miss it altogether. Why?
because spiritual truth does not come through human analysis and brain power.4 It comes by revelation from the Holy Spirit. This is one reason He is what you need more than anything else. Without the Holy Spirit we are just the blind leading the blind. Without the Holy Spirit we are just groping in the dark.
Paul talks about this in 1 Cor. 2. Mere human flesh cannot comprehend the things of God.
"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him." But (1 Cor 2:10) “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.” (Through the Spirit of truth). “For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”
“…that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.” That revelation is ongoing in our lives. God is showing us what He has done for us, who we are in Christ, and the wonderful things available to us as well.
That’s why Paul prayed for believers at Ephesus that “The eyes of (their) understanding (be) enlightened; that (they) may know” three things. (1) “what is the hope of his calling, and (2) what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, (3) And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to toward us who believe….” (Eph 1:18-19). It is “the spirit of truth” that lets us see a glorious future ahead. The world is in a downward spin; but God has planned good things for His own. He has not appointed us to wrath. One day we will be caught up together with the Lord and be with Him forever and ever in paradise. And even now He has said He will never leave us nor forsake us. God is for us; who can be against us? We have a hope that the world knows nothing about. And as the Holy Spirit reveals those realities to our spirit we are strengthened. His grace is sufficient for each and every day.
It is “the spirit of truth” that lets us know how precious we are in the Father’s eyes. Jesus was rejected by the world. He warned us that we would experience similar persecutions and rejection. But we are “accepted in the Beloved.” We are part of the family of God. We have a destiny filled with glory and joy. The Holy Spirit communicates the Father’s love to our hearts. And that can bring wonderful healing to the soul.
It is “the spirit of truth” that awakens us to the power of God exercised in our behalf. The power of God released in the resurrection of Jesus; the power of God that will raise you and me from the dead one day. There is no greater power; and that power is used for us, not against us.
There is an antichrist spirit operating in the world, guiding people into error. The whole world lies under the deception of Satan.5 If you let the culture tell you right from wrong, you’re going to be wrong. “…broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matt 7:13-14). There is a lot of deception going on right now. It is happening in Washington DC; it is happening at Target; it is happening in universities; it is happening in churches. It’s not hard to get deceived: just follow the world and follow your fleshly desires; and deception is a sure thing.
But “the Spirit of truth” is also at work. He can protect us from all that. He can show us the straight and narrow path. Not only that, but He takes us by the hand and leads us along the way. Jesus said in John 16:13, “…when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.” Nothing will catch Him off guard. He sees the end from the beginning. He will guide you daily. He will help you with your big decisions and with your little decisions. He will help you know which meat to buy and which meat not to buy; which restaurant to frequent and which to avoid. He will help you manage all your affairs. He is “the Spirit of truth” and we greatly need Him for that reason.
2. Jesus also referred to Him as “the Comforter.” The Greek word is Parakletos; and it’s difficult to translate into English with just one word. Parakletos is the combination of two words: para means “beside”; and kaleo means “to call”. So He is called to our side to counsel us, help us, strengthen us, empower us, enable us. In nonbiblical literature parakletos referred to your attorney or advocate.6
Jesus said an amazing thing to the disciples in John 16:7 “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper (Parakletos) will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.” How could anything be better than having Jesus right there with you in the flesh? Jesus was with the disciples; but the Holy Spirit is “in” us. His Spirit is joined with your spirit. You can’t get any closer than that.
We need to learn to rely on our Comforter more fully. We need to know Him better. How can I know Him better? by turning my attention toward Him more fully; by listening to His voice; by obeying His guidance; by allowing Him to prompt intercession in our hearts. Knowing is about companionship. He is your closest companion; but the benefit of that comes as we give attention to Him and to what He tells us.
He is what we need most because He comes along beside us to help us with everything. Do you need healing? He comes to bring healing and health in your life. Do you need provision? He directs you to the stream where the ravens are appointed to feed you. Then when the brook dries up, he directs you to the widow with the barrel of meal.7 He’s got your back. Do you need victory over some besetting sin? He is that divine influence we call grace. “Sin shall not have dominion over you, for we are not under law but under grace.”8 And His grace is always sufficient. He is the great sanctifier. He is the “Holy” spirit; and He alone can make you holy. You will not overcome that bad habit by trying harder. You will overcome it by getting full of the Holy Spirit. “…walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.”9 There is no other way to accomplish that. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord.”10 You and I need the Holy Spirit more than we need anything else.
Do you want to minister effectively? It can only be done in the power and grace of the Holy Spirit. Men can build towers of Babel, but God will bring them down. What God does lasts forever.11 The energizing power behind your ministry is the Holy Spirit. If you are a deacon and gifted to work with your hands, He gives the ability and the “want to” for you to do what needs to be done. If your gift is prophesy, He is the one that shows you what is and what is to come. Paul talks about the gifts of the Spirit in 1 Cor. 12:4-11
“There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.”
What does the Church need today? We need to be full of the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit working, Church is just another entertainment business. Who can put on the best show in town? Let the band play on as people watch and enjoy the music—no worship, just good, clean entertainment. Let the preacher tell his funny stories and tickle the ears. Just make sure they leave happy so they’ll come back. Church without the Holy Spirit may seem alive to the flesh, but in God’s eyes it has a name that it’s alive; in reality it’s dead and fruitless.12
What do we need more than anything else? We need the Holy Spirit. We need His influence on our hearts. We need His power for service.
II. What do we need to do more than anything else?
Get full of the Holy Spirit! Wait on God in prayer until that happens. Exercise ourselves in faith, expecting that to happen. Consecrating ourselves to God with a commitment to keep pursuing God until it happens.
After His resurrection, Jesus told His followers "… it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 And you are witnesses of these things. 49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high." Luke 24:46-49
“Don’t do anything else until you get the power of the Holy Spirit.” This is when Jesus gave the Great Commission. Our assignment is to preach repentance and remission of sins… in His name to all nations.” But, knowing that assignment is not enough. Seeing the resurrected Christ was not enough. Tarry in Jerusalem “until you are endued with power from on high." It seems the Church will do just about anything but that. We will put on shows; we will eat pot luck dinners; we will host social events; we will even sing uplifting songs and preach interesting sermons. But the power comes only through the anointing of the Holy Spirit. That’s what’s needed most.
What do we need to do? Wait on God in prayer. Get intimate with the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Someone may say, “But the Holy Spirit has already come; we don’t need to wait on Him now.” Well He did come on the 120 at Pentecost in Acts 2. My question is; has He come on you in power? Has He come on me in power? Certainly the Holy Spirit is on planet earth. He has always been here; the Holy Spirit is omnipresent. He hovered over the earth and was active in creation.
But the issue at hand is this: what is my relationship with Him? Am I operating in His power? That comes as we truly surrender to Him. He does not come to be bossed around by me. He does not come to serve my flesh. He comes to glorify Jesus through me. Jesus said in John 16:14 “He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” The more of God’s anointing and power in my life, the more Jesus is glorified through me. It will happen according to the gifts God has chosen to distribute in your life. We can look at the power of God operating in someone’s life and admire that (want to be like that). And that is good to a degree. Nothing will inspire you more toward God than to be around someone that is sold out and anointed. But you are uniquely made and uniquely gifted. The fuller you get of the Holy Spirit, the more you become the you you’re designed to be. You won’t be a copy of that other person. Don’t even try to be that. Emulate their dedication. Emulate their consecration to God. Emulate their obedience to the Lord. But let the Holy Spirit express Himself through you the way God has designed you to function.
We don’t even know how to pray without the Holy Spirit’s help. There is a difference between prayer that flows out of the mind (and I’m not saying that’s bad); but I am saying the more we learn to yield to the Holy Spirit in prayer, the more powerful your prayers will be. You will hit on exactly what God wants to do. You will find yourself praying according to the will of the Father, because the Holy Spirit knows thoroughly the will of the Father. Rom. 8:26-27 “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” We must have the Holy Spirit helping us in our prayers—directing those according to the will of God—empowering our words to move mountains.
What we need more than anything else is the Holy Spirit. He is God, a member of the Holy Trinity. What we need to do more than anything else is to get full of the Holy Spirit. He will take it from there.
You may say, “Yes, but I got filled with the Spirit in 1986.” Well that is wonderful; but we’re now in 2016 and you need a fresh filling of the Spirit. So do I. In fact, Eph. 5:18 tells us to be continually filled with the Spirit. “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.” The Greek word translated “be filled” is present, imperative, passive. The present tense generally indicates continuous action in the Greek. Imperative means this is not a suggestion; it is a command. Passive means we are to submit ourselves to God who actually does the filling.
In Acts 4 the government was raging against the Church. The Christians held an old fashion prayer meeting; and God showed up. Acts 4:31 “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.” Two observations: (1) many of these people had already been filled with the Spirit in Acts 2. It’s not a one-time thing. You may have an initial experience with the power of the Holy Spirit. But it should be something that characterizes your life. “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit”—including Peter and John. The primary equipping we must have for the challenges of 2016 is to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Now I want to close with a very encouraging word from Luke 11. In that chapter Jesus was teaching on prayer. Beginning in verse 9 (in Amplified Bible) He said,
“So I say to you, Ask and keep on asking and it shall be given you; seek and keep on seeking and you shall find; knock and keep on knocking and the door shall be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives; and he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone; or if he asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good gifts [gifts that are to their advantage] to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask and continue to ask Him! “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 11 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"
Notice what the Father will give. Verse 13, “how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" Why does it say “give the Holy Spirit”? Why doesn’t it say give everything you need? Because the Holy Spirit is the One who supplies everything we need. Having the Holy Spirit is the key to all the other things. He is what we need more than anything else.
The encouraging thing about this passage is the promise. Our heavenly Father will give us the Holy Spirit if we will ask. If you have never experienced the Holy Spirit, simply ask in faith and God will give the Holy Spirit to you. If you have had many experiences with the Holy Spirit, keep it fresh and keep it full; ask God to give you a fresh filling of the Spirit. And your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit. Only one condition stated here: Ask! Will you ask?
Invitation
END NOTES:
1 Phil. 4:6
2 All Scripture quotes are from New King James Version unless indicated otherwise.
3 2Tim. 3:7; John 6:44; Rom. 8:9.
4 1 Cor. 1:19-21. Of course, the mind is involved in receiving the message of the cross. But it the Holy Spirit who enlightens an understanding of that truth, rather than human wisdom.
5 1 John 5:19
6 New Spirit Filled Life Bible, Jack W.Hayford, gen. editor (Thomas Nelson Bibles, 2002) p. 1472.
7 Elijah’s experience in 1 Kings 17.
8 Rom. 6:14. In the series preached just prior to this message much emphasis was placed on the active dynamic of grace as “divine influence.” The Holy Spirit is that influence.
9 Gal. 5:16
10 Zech. 4:6
11 Eccl. 3:14
12 Rev. 3:1
