John 16:7-14 Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. (8) And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: (9) about sin, because they do not believe in me; (10) about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; (11) about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. (12) "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. (13) When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. (14) He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
Watch on YouTube link listed below ….Sermon starts at 29 minute mark
https://youtu.be/PYo0QYomuXY?si=zLx0JFcjOACckCV8
Now you might look at the text today and see that it is a pre-crucifixion text that is being used for Pentecost Sunday. That may seem out of place to use for the text of a sermon on Pentecost. However, if you look at what Jesus is saying, you see that what he says here to His disciples is most fitting for Pentecost and beyond.
Why? The reason why is because we see how Jesus that He is sending the Holy Spirit to be with us and guide us into all truth, now and for what is to come. That is a very important thing to know because it shapes everything that we are called to do for the forwarding of the Kingdom of God.
The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin (Acts 17:30, John 16:8) and pursues us with the prevenient grace of God that goes before a sinner calling them to repent (Luke 13:3 – 5) and be baptized (Luke 3:16). The Holy Spirt baptizes us and unites us in the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12), regenerates us (John 3:3-8 and Titus 3:5), seals us Ephesians 1:13, 4:30 & 2 Corinthians 1:22), indwells in us (John 14:17), speaks through us to our adversaries (Matthew 10:20), guides us to the truth of the Gospel (John 16:13) and even intercedes for us when we don’t know how to pray (Romans 8:26). We are to a computer what the Holy Spirit is to an operating system.
As we know Pentecost is about the birthday of the Church. Our marching orders for the Kingdom following the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ are to be Spirit filled, Spirit fed and Spirit led as we go and make disciples! Anything and everything that is not in harmony with that mission is both a distraction and destructive because it invites us to deviate from that mission.
Today we want to focus on obstacles and navigation.
OBSTACLES
How many of you like obstacles?
I doubt that anyone enthusiastically raised their hand for that question. That first question raises a second question. That question is “Why is it that we don’t like obstacles?” I am sure that we could develop a list with a myriad (meaning ten thousand) of reasons.
What would each list most likely label?
? Obstructions of some kind
? Wokeism of some kind
? Setbacks of some kind
? Opposition of some kind
? Morale destroyers of some kind
? Discouragers of some kind
? Uncertainties of some kind
? Pessimism of some kind
How will you respond to obstacles on your list? Would you receive your obstacles with defeat or with challenges to overcome?
1) Famous People:
1. After Fred Astaire’s first screen test, a 1933 memo from the MGM testing director said: “Can’t act. Slightly bald. Can dance a little.” Astaire kept that memo over the fireplace in his Beverly Hills home.
2. An expert said of famous football coach Vince Lombardi: “He possesses minimal football knowledge. Lacks motivation.”
3. Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women, was advised by her family to find work as a servant or seamstress.
4. Beethoven handled the violin awkwardly and preferred playing his own compositions instead of improving his technique. His teacher called him hopeless as a composer.
5. The teacher of famous opera singer Enrico Caruso said Caruso had no voice at all and could not sing.
6. Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper for lacking ideas. He also went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland.
7. Eighteen publishers turned down Richard Bach’s 10,000 word story about a soaring seagull before Macmillan finally published it in 1970. By 1975, Jonathan Livingston Seagull had sold more than seven million copies in the U.S. alone.”
Galaxie Software. (2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press. [source of origin: Taken from Chicken Soup for the Soul: 101 Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit, written and compiled by Jack Canfield and Mark V. Hanse}.
2) Our calling vs. accolades: Our obstacles are different from that because we are not called to seek the praise of others (Mark 8:36). All of the accolades that the world has to offer don’t mean anything in the eyes of God.
3) Holy foolishness: Others might even think that we are foolish. But, I would rather be a fool in the eyes of others than a fool in the eyes of God.
4) Secular surroundings: Recalling the picture of the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 , we see a picture of where we are today because it echoes what we are seeing in modern day where the sacred is surrounded by the secular.
5) Capitulation goal: The goal of the world and the worldly is that we give in and blend in so that we look no different but Christ has called us to stand out by being salty and bright (Matthew 5:13-16).
6) Provocative witness:: Our witness will cause others to resent us because we will not give up and give in to ways of worldliness! Jesus even told us this would happen. John 15:18-19 "If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. (19) If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you” (NRSV).
What are the obstacles that Jesus ‘s disciples face in every age?
? Atheists who oppose Christianity
? Other religions that oppose Christianity
? Those who hunger for a world wide Caliphate, opposing all who do not worship and believe as they do.
? No matter the origin of opposition Paul summed it up this way in Ephesians _6:12 For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
GUIDANCE
What was Jesus telling them about the Holy Spirit?
1) Not alone: Jesus was telling His disciples then and His disciples of every age that we will face opposition (John 15 18 – 19), but we do not have to face it alone because we have the assistance and guidance of the Holy Spirit!
2) Clearing up confusion: In Matthew 28:20 Jesus said that He would never leave us alone and in John 16:7 Jesus says that unless He goes away, He would not be able to send them the Holy Spirit. So how can Jesus be with us if He was no longer physically present with His disciples then and now? There is an answer to that question and that is that Matthew 28:19 – 20 and John 16:7 – 14 complement one another.
3) Paraclete: We have the help of the Holy Spirit. Now the Greek word for the “Advocate, Comforter, Helper” is Paraclete. Someone (Gordon Dalbey) once said “…when Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as Helper, he uses a Greek word, Paraclete, that `was an ancient warrior’s term. ‘Greek soldiers went into battle in pairs…so when the enemy attacked they could draw together back to back, covering each other’s blind side. One’s battle partner was the Paraclete.” Our Lord does not send us to fight the good fight alone. The Holy Spirit is our battle partner who covers our blind side and fights for our well being.’’ (Edward K. Rowell ed. Fresh Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching. Grand Rapids: Baker House, 1997, p. 110). We exercise wisdom when we walk with the Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth (John 16:12).
4) Intercession: The Holy Spirit even intercedes for us in our prayer life where we struggle with it (Romans 8:26).
How can we know where to go and what to do and say without the Holy Spirit?
There are so many false truths which is why we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit to guide us to the truth.
1) Have it your way theology: In his book Return of the Gods, Jonathan Cahn made the point the idolatry that came with Baal [made it possible for the forging of] one’s own idle, create one's own God, and fashion one’s own truth and values, [which meant] that there were no more truth or absolutes each one could do as he or she pleased” (p.104).
2) Liberating truth: In John 4:24, Jesus said “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." Paul said in 2 Corinthians _3:17 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (NRSV). The Holy Spirit convicts, regenerates those who are baptized, indwells in the lives of believers, equips us with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, guides believers to the truth even in real time, speaks through us when we face adversaries and intercedes for us when we don’t know how to pray. How can we know the truth that sets us free (John 8:32) without the guidance of the Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth (John 16:13)?
3) False teaching: 2 Timothy_4:3 says “For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires” (NRSV). Are we not already in such a time as that---a time of itching ears?
4) Holiness mandate: Our holiness does not happen by default! We are called to be holy as the Lord God is holy (1 Peter 1:15 & Leviticus 11:44 – 45))! We are surrounded worldly and woke things in a culture that wants to cancel everything that does not conform to its ways. The Church is the bride of Christ (Revelation 21:9) and we are called to keep her holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:27).
5) Grieving the Holy Spirit: Do we ever grieve the Holy Spirit when we fail to be the children od God that God has called us to be (Ephesians 4:30)? How often do we make the mistake that because we are sealed by the Holy Spirit, that we will not yield to being tempted or compromising?
6) People of this time: Esther was a person of her time (Esther 4:14) and we are called to be God’s people of this time! God placed you in this time in history for a reason! God’s people need to follow the guidance of the Spirit to stay true and be worthy of our calling!
7) Greater things: Jesus said “ Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. (13) I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:12 -13). Do we prayerfully ask God to do great things through us or do we just take it for granted, expecting it to happen by default?
8) Glorifying Christ: We glorify the Lord Jesus Christ when we share with others the “Holy Spirit guided truth!” We need to share the Holy Spirit guided truth with the lost! Since Pentecost, when the Church was born, the Holy Spirit works to prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment in our witness (John 16:8 – 11). Jesus said, the Holy Spirit will glorify Christ, because He will take what Christ wants us to share with others as He guides to the truth in real time (John 16:13 -14).
9) Spiritual warfare: The more we rise to that task the more we will be hated by the enemy and those whom he has deceived! Paul gave us a good picture of what this warfare looks like in Ephesians 6:10 -20.
10) Fan the flame: The gift of the Holy Spirit does not operate in us without our cooperation which is why Paul told Timothy to fan the flame of the gift of God given to him for ministry in sharing the Gospel (2 Timothy 1:6). Whenever we feel weak in doing this ministry, we need to rely on the strength that God alone gives to us because “we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us” (Philippians 4:13). “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1). Jesus sent His disciples the Holy Spirit to help us move forward in every age until He comes back!
