What HE Said
Holy Spirit Series
CCCAG 9-3-23
-Scripture- Selected from John 14, 16
Introduction
Over the summer we've been learning a lot about the Holy Spirit and seeing what the scriptures from the Old Testament have to say about the third member of the Trinity.
WE started off by looking at the Holy Spirit in the beginning and his role in the creation of the heavens and the earth.
We also saw how he was intended to always be a part of humanities makeup- our spirit being connected with the spirit of God and forming the image of God within us.
Another thing we learned in Genesis was when the Holy Spirit was removed from humanity after the sin of Adam and Eve.
After that and throughout the rest of the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit could only come upon a person for a short period of time to empower them for a specific task.
We saw in Moses where the Holy Spirit would be upon him so much that his face would glow but then would eventually fade again, to the point of Moses having to wear something like a burka (explain) to cover himself so the people would not see the glory of God fading from him and start to doubt his leadership.
We saw it with a little shepherd boy named David when he slew Goliath
We saw it with Samson and his extraordinary feats of strength
We saw the Holy Spirit come upon the prophets, giving them visions about how God currently viewed the spiritual life inside of Israel and the future of what was going to come.
We then saw in the book of Joel how the Holy Spirit was prophesied to return to his rightful place, intimately connected to the spirits of those who believe in Jesus.
But that could only happen once the sin problem was dealt with.
So this morning, we are now going to enter the New Testament.
In the New Testament, we meet John the Baptist, and saw him prophesy about a coming Messiah- a savior that would baptize people with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Now the Messiah Jesus has come. God made flesh was now dwelling among the people of 1st century Israel.
The setting for today’s scripture is right after the last supper, where Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples, and now they are walking toward the Garden of Gethsemane.
Jesus is doing some last-minute teaching before HE is arrested by the Jewish Officials.
In this teaching, Jesus spends a great deal of time telling them about the promise of the Holy Spirit, His role, and what HE means to the believer then and today.
This morning, we are going to examine some of the key points and see what Jesus had to say about the future purpose and ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer and the church.
Scripture-
John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
Prayer
How many people here have ever had to assemble something?
Maybe it was a child’s toy that you are getting them for Christmas, and it comes with the words, “Some Assembly Required”
One of the biggest lies every told to an unsuspecting parent.
How about a piece of furniture for the house, or just some type of hobby that you have that involves having to read instructions and build something.
One of the jobs I had when I was young was assembling large entertainment centers at a furniture showroom. They would give you a set of instructions written in about 5 different languages, a small tool, in a bag with about 1000 different parts in it.
Anybody who's had to build one of these things knows that one small mistake and you're going to have to go back and almost start the whole thing over.
One of the things I learned very quickly was to walk across the store and look at a finished product to see exactly how it was supposed to be put together so I had a picture in my mind of whoever designed this piece of furniture is actual intent for it.
Throughout our study of the Holy Spirit we have looked at what various people who wrote the Bible had to say about this third person of the Trinity.
Now we get to see what the actual intent of the Holy Spirits coming upon us and living in us it's supposed to accomplish.
And we get it right from the mouth of the second person of the Trinity- Jesus.
We have the creator of the church- the ultimate subject matter expert on this particular subject telling us exactly what the Holy Spirit’s role is in our lives and the life of the church.
This morning, we are going to by focusing on one word in John chapter 14 and verse 16, and that word translated in the NIV as advocate is the Greek word paracletus. This word is translated a few different ways depending on the translation you are using. A few other words are comforter or helper.
Now the term advocate as defined in the bible’s languages would be defined as a lawyer type figure who would present your case before a judge in your defense.
I don’t like that definition of the Holy Spirit just because that role is met by Jesus- he is our advocate and great high priest who stands before God in our defense.
I’m not sure why the NIV translators chose that word but like many words, it can mean different things.
I would instead use the word helper or comforter.
And Jesus further hints at this in verse
John 14:18 I will not leave you as orphans.
The reason I believe this is a better translation is considering the context in which it is given.
After all, Jesus over the last several weeks has told the disciples that he is leaving them.
Over and over again Jesus has been pointing to the cross, and the disciples have not understood what HE is saying. So Jesus is telling them that when HE goes away, we aren’t going to be left alone to figure this out for ourselves- HE is giving us a helper or comforter that will come and live within each of them.
Jesus defines the comforter’s ministry in several different ways-
1. Teach you in all things-
John 14:25-26
“All this (teachings) I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
What Jesus is teaching us here is our connection with God, which was lost in the garden of Eden, will be reestablished when the very spirit of God is able to reconnect with our spirit because Jesus is going to take care of the penalty of sin.
Jesus is going to reverse the consequences of what happened at the Fall with Adam and Eve. The penalty of their sin lead all of humanity to be eternally separated from God. The Holy Spirit had left them, and that is the nakedness described in Genesis 3.
But, then Jesus came, and His suffering and death on the cross abolishes that penalty and it’s consequence for whoever will believe.
Now that connection, lost in Eden, can be reestablished through the Holy Spirit coming to live within each one of us.
As Jesus said, we are not orphans- we are now sons and daughters of the Most High God and King.
Not only that- we don’t have to be dependent on a physical teacher being with us 24/7, 365 days a year- that connection with the Holy Spirit comes with a spiritual tutors who never sleeps, never gets tired, and will always be there to help us live the New Life that our born again experience promises us.
Now, I do want to point out something here- this might challenge a few of us who have been around the Pentecostal church for a long time-
The Holy Spirit’s ministry is to promote Jesus and HIS teachings. The Holy Spirit is not here to promote HIMself.
All glory, honor, and majesty belong to Jesus.
This is kind of hard to grasp.
You might be thinking, “Well, the Holy Spirit is equally God, shouldn’t we also pray and worship to Him as well”
The short answer is yes.
I think the better answer is found in the Nicene Creed that we spoke about a few weeks ago.
You remember this statement-
I believe in the Holy Spirit
The LORD, the giver of life,
Who proceeds from the Father and the Son
And through the Father and the Son He is worshipped and glorified
The Holy Spirit is best worshipped when we obey and emulate Jesus to the world.
I’m making this point because some well-meaning churches have events focused on Holy Spirit explosions, and focus on “Experiencing the Holy Spirit coming in power”
I’m trying to be very careful here as I don’t want to denigrate that at all, but the Holy Spirit isn’t something to just experience.
The Holy Spirit’s whole ministry to us isn’t just to make us jump up and down, or speak in tongues, or perform miracles. His ministry isn’t to give us a rush, goosebumps, or an experience.
The Holy Spirit’s ministry is to form Jesus in every single believer, and to remind and teach them what Jesus taught.
All that other stuff may have it’s place on occasion, but if the end result isn’t Jesus being made manifest in a person’s life, then it’s not the Holy Spirit being honored for who HE is and what HE does.
The second ministry the Holy Spirit has for us according to Jesus is to convict the world, and especially the believer, of sin.
2. Conviction of Sin
John 16:8
8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
As I was driving to work last week, I was praying and worshipping and spending time with God.
I was praying for several people that were on my heart, and many of them are lost in sin or in the deception of this world.
I was also was praying to God specifically about many of the things going on in our culture And nation that are completely the opposite of what he would want for us.
I remember praying to God and asking the question, “How did we get this far away from you?”
The reply was actually instantaneous. The Holy Spirit told me that when HE is absent and unwelcome in a person’s life, people will turn to the flesh and darkness for their comfort. The less God is involved the more darkness a person will need to try to fill that hole that is left behind when God's spirit is not welcome.
A person who is left in that condition for long enough actually starts to hate the very thing that God has given us to comfort us- His Spirit. At it’s worse, the Holy Spirit is now painful to the person who has sunk into that kind of darkness.
This is why America and the World is where it’s at today.
As usual, Jesus says it best-
John 3:19-21
19 This is the verdict (TRUTH): Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
It was a great insight into why we are where we are as a nation, but we are not just a group of people, we are also individuals within that group, and many of us are dealing with secret sin in our lives.
I’m going to speak to that now- it may be offensive to some. The easy thing would be to just speak peace and love, but I love you too much to leave you in a state of being separated from God.
IF you are in grave sin right now- I mean breaking one or more of the 10 commandments, and you feel no conviction or shame about it-
if that is you, and you are in grave danger of losing your salvation.
Pause
You need to repent- turn away from committing that sin and return to God. Ask Jesus to come in and forgive your sin, and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Allow the Holy Spirit to bring life into the death and be restored.
I thank God for that ministry of the Holy Spirit. No, it doesn’t always feel good.
But I thank God for His persistence, His never failing love, mercy, and patience because without that, I’d have never made it past the first day of being a Christian, much less 30 years.
That brings us to the 3rd ministry of the Holy Spirit according to Jesus-
3. To bring God’s presence into our lives
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
As I said a few moments ago, when a person does not have the presence of God in their lives, they will run to the flesh and darkness for their comfort and peace.
However, when God is present, HE brings his power, his strength, and His peace to bear.
In fact, HIS very name is Yahweh Shalom- the God of peace. This is why the name of the Holy Spirit is Comforter- He is the source of all of our peace.
No matter how stressed out we are, no matter what we are facing, this is true in our lives.
January 26th, 2022, I woke up at 4:00 in the morning to drive down to Madison for an 8:00 appointment.
This appointment was the culmination of the last 3 1/2 years of schooling and represented countless hours of studying, clinical time, and driving back and forth to Marshfield and Wisconsin Rapids to complete my nursing degree.
Now it was time to take the nursing board exam known as the NCLEX. NCLEX is an acronym that stands for National Council Licensure Examination and is a 250 question adaptive computerized test that will determine whether or not I just wasted the last 3 years, or I could start my new career as a registered nurse.
I left very early to make sure I wasn't late because if you're late you can't take it and you just wasted $250 and had to reschedule. Madison was the closest place I could take the test in the shortest amount of time since my authorization letter came through.
On the drive down, I was listening to various online NCLEX preparation videos and drilling myself on nursing facts, medications, treatments and everything I thought might be on the test. I had taken 3 different preparation courses to prepare, but I still had the nervous butterflies going.
When I got there and was sitting in the waiting room, I saw many other candidates waiting with me. One got up and kept pacing back and forth mumbling under her breath, visibly shaking in fear about the test. Another one sat with her head down and a waste paper basket in between her legs because she felt like she was going to throw up.
I was probably somewhere in the middle of these two other candidates- nervous and afraid of failing the test and having to face my coworkers and Tammie as a failure.
The person at the desk called my name and gave me a 10 minute warning to take care of any last-minute things like going to the bathroom or whatever. I had my earbuds in and was listening to some last-minute prep for it when all the sudden my YouTube switched to praise music.
I reached down for my phone to switch it back to nursing prep when I felt the Spirit of God say No, you need this more right now- Close your eyes and worship. I obeyed, and suddenly God showed up. All the fear, doubt, nervousness fell away and I felt an overwhelming confidence that I’d not only pass, but do it in the minimal amount of questions necessary.
My name was called, and I put my stuff in the lockers and went into the testing room. Instead of being nervous and afraid, I was instead supremely confident starting the test.
I was blowing through it- very little stress or doubt as I answered question after question- I was actually having fun. Before I new it, I looked down and saw I was at question 74.
Why does that matter?
Because question 75 is the minimal number of questions you can have to pass. The test is adaptive, so if you are killing it- getting over 95% of the questions right, it shuts off at 75 because it computes that you have well over the minimal amount of knowledge required to proficiently and safely work as a registered nurse.
Question 75 came, I answered it, and the screen went blank for 5 seconds.
Then came the words, “You have completed the NCLEX exam. Your results will be posted within 3 business days”
Now, it was easy to worship and thank God.
The Holy Spirit used this situation to reinforce a critical lesson in my life-
The answer to every trial or stress in my life is HIM.
That’s why the Holy Spirit is the God of all comfort and is called the comforter.
God brings HIMself into our fears, our doubts, and our unbeliefs and that darkness flees.
The light shines into the darkness, and darkness is destroyed.
All rise
Landing strip-
This morning, we are going to close with a new song called “I speak Jesus” by Charity Gayle. I believe it’s a fitting way to end this message, and reinforce Jesus’ teaching on this subject.
