John 14:15-21
It wouldn¡¦t be long and he knew it. For three years he had taught throughout Israel, for three years he had healed the sick and fed the hungry. For three years he pointed people to the Kingdom of God, but the time was coming, it wouldn¡¦t be long now and he knew it. The end was in sight, it was time for the chapter to close on his earthly ministry. But how would he explain it to his friends? How would he explain that he was leaving? Would they feel deserted, betrayed? Would they be able to see that there was a much bigger plan a much longer story then they could presently see?
Shera read the story from John chapter 16. It was just hours before the arrest of Christ, the group had eaten what we call ¡§the Last Supper¡¨, had posed for the picture and now Jesus was explaining the events that were about to happen. Trying I¡¦m sure to ease their fears, to let them know that whatever happened that he was still in control and that it was all part of the plan. I¡¦m not sure that he was all that successful.
Most of all he wanted them to know that he wasn¡¦t leaving them alone. Really isn¡¦t that a fear that we all have, the fear of being deserted, being left to our own devices. Lord Byron made this statement concerning growing old: ¡§What is the worst of woes that wait on age? What stamps the wrinkle deeper on the brow? To view each loved one blotted from life’s page, And be alone on earth, as I am now.¡¨
And so it was almost a ¡§I have bad news and I have good news statement.¡¨ Jesus told them that the time had come that he had been telling them about, when he would have to die, but in the same breath he assured them ¡§You Are Not Alone¡¨
Countless episodes of the X-files deal with the concept of our not being alone, but Scully and Mulder are convinced that what they are looking for are aliens. What we should be looking for is the Holy Spirit.
The first thing I want to look at this morning is: The Promise of the Holy Spirit Throughout the gospels and into the book of Acts we see Jesus promising the disciples that they won¡¦t be left alone. Often we think that the Holy Spirit was a last minute thought by Christ, ¡§Oh by the way. I¡¦m leaving, but don¡¦t be upset, tell you what I¡¦ll leave the Holy Spirit for you.¡¨ But that isn¡¦t the case at all. The Holy Spirit isn¡¦t an after thought he was part of the original plan. Early in Christ ministry right after Jesus taught the disciples the Lord¡¦s Prayer he makes this comment Luke 11:13 If you sinful people 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.¡¨
As a matter of fact before Jesus began his earthly ministry he was announced by his cousin John who said Matthew 3:11 ¡§I baptize with water those who turn from their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is far greater than I am¡Xso much greater that I am not even worthy to be his slave. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
And so it should have come as no surprise when hours before his arrest Jesus told his apostles in John 14:15-17 ¡§If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world at large cannot receive him, because it isn¡¦t looking for him and doesn¡¦t recognize him. But you do, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.
Person of the Holy Spirit. A. W. Tozer wrote this in his book The Counsellor ¡§Spell this out in capital letters: THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A PERSON. He is not enthusiasm. He is not courage. He is not energy. He is not the personification of all good qualities, like Jack Frost is the personification of cold weather. Actually, the Holy Spirit is not the personification of anything. He is a Person, the same as you are a person, but not material substance. He has individuality. He is one being and not another. He has will and intelligence. He has hearing. He has knowledge and sympathy and ability to love and see and think. He can hear, speak, desire, grieve and rejoice. He is a Person.¡¨
If we were to do a pop quiz right now and ask you who or what is the Holy Spirit I wonder what we would get for answers? ¡§The Third Person of the Trinity¡¨ ¡§The Comforter¡¨ ¡§The Counsellor¡¨ ¡§Guide¡¨ ¡§Teacher¡¨. How about this: He is God.
Often times when we think of the Holy Spirit we think of him as the third person of the trinity. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Why is that? Why do we define him in that way? To many people the trinity is ranked Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Father being the most important, then Jesus, then somewhere on down the line we place the Holy Spirit. Why is that? When asking people they will often say, ¡§because that¡¦s how the bible lists them.¡¨ Does it? It does in Matthew 28:19 When Jesus is giving his last instructions to the apostles he says Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. But it¡¦s interesting to note that this is the only place in the bible where the trinity is listed in that particular order, in other places God is listed as Father, Holy Spirit and Son, and sometimes as Holy Spirit, Son and Father or Son, Holy Spirit, Father as a matter of fact there are six different ways that you could list the three members of the trinity and all six ways are used in the Bible.
Others think that the Holy Spirit is the third person in the Trinity because he isn¡¦t mentioned until the day of Pentecost. Yet if we go back to the very beginning in Genesis 1:2 Which of course is the initial account of creation we read The earth was empty, a formless mass cloaked in darkness. And the Spirit of God was hovering over its surface.
In Psalm 51 King David is pouring out his heart in repentance over his affair with Bathsheba and listen to his prayer in verse eleven: Psalm 51:11 Do not banish me from your presence, and don¡¦t take your Holy Spirit from me.
It was the Holy Spirit who was present at the conception of Christ Luke 1:35 The angel replied, ¡§The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby born to you will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.
It was the Holy Spirit who was present at the Baptism of Christ. Luke 3:22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove. And a voice from heaven said, ¡§You are my beloved Son, and I am fully pleased with you.¡¨
The Holy Spirit is not some created being or force that poof magically appeared on the day of Pentecost. He always was because he is God. Nor is He some third string player waiting until late in the game to make his appearance. He has been active through the entire realm of history from day one until the present. He is God.
Presence of the Holy Spirit Maybe the question you¡¦re asking today is ¡§So what¡¨, what does that have to do with me. Everything. When Jesus made the promise to the disciples that the Holy Spirit would be a presence in their lives the promise wasn¡¦t limited to those twelve. It is as real today as it was then and as real for you as it was for them. The Holy Spirit is not an option in the Christian life, it¡¦s not like getting power windows and air conditioning in your new car to make it more comfortable. Instead we need to understand that He is the engine, he is what makes it go, he is the power of our Christian experience. Jesus said The Holy Spirit is the very centre of our Christian life and you cannot live an obedient, productive, fruitful Christian life without the Holy Spirit¡¦s presence
.
So what is it the Holy Spirit does? What is it you need him to do? A lot can learned just by looking at the word that Jesus used to describe the Holy Spirit. Remember the scripture that Shera read earlier? In John 16:7 Jesus says ¡§But it is actually best for you that I go away, because if I don¡¦t, the Counselor won¡¦t come. If I do go away, he will come because I will send him to you.¡¨ The word that I want to look at for a minute is counselor in the New Living Translation, in the King James version the word is translated comforter, in the New King James version it¡¦s helper ƒàƒÑƒâƒÑƒæƒÛƒÜƒØƒäƒßƒp Parakletos, and it can mean a variety of things, it can mean an intercessor, consoler, advocate, comforter or it can mean counsellor.
And which ever of those definitions you use, it¡¦s good. Who wouldn¡¦t want an intercessor in their life or a consoler or an advocate or for that matter a counsellor?
What does He want to do for you? Let¡¦s let the book answer: He Gives Us Power: Acts 1:8 But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere¡Xin Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.¡¨
Power, what an incredible concept, power. For everyone who thinks that they don¡¦t have what it takes to live the life that Christ expects of them let me tell you this: You¡¦re right, you don¡¦t. But cheer up because the Holy Spirit has buckets of what it takes and he wants you to have it. This is one of my favourite scriptures, I love the very concept of the promise that when the Holy Spirit has control of our life you will receive power. Not you might receive power or you may receive power or there¡¦s a chance you will receive power, but you will receive power. And not just a little bit of power, but wonderful, incredible, dynamic world changing power.
The power you need to conquer bad habits, the power you need to start good habits, the power you need to tell others about Jesus, the power you need to be everything that God wants you to be. He doesn¡¦t expect you to do it alone, as a matter of fact he doesn¡¦t want you to do it alone, he wants to help you to do whatever it is you have to do.
Do you realize that you have the infinite power of almighty God in your life that is his promise to you today. Let me come into your life and you will have power.
He Gives Us Love: Romans 5:5 And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. Christianity places a high premium on love, after all Christianity itself is rooted in love, John 3:16 ¡§For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.¡¨ And in John 13:35 Christ said Christianity would be defined and identified by Love Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.¡¨
Probably the one commandment that is given the most in the New Testament is to Love One Another. And as long as the church is made up of people that is going to be tough, especially when you use the definition of love that is given in the New Testament,
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
You cannot love people in the church like that in your own power. Because there is always going to be some Jerk that you just can¡¦t get along with, and God still expects you to love me. And even though you can¡¦t do it on your own the Holy Spirit can fill your heart with love, is it any wonder that the first characteristic mentioned in the fruit of the spirit is Love.
He Gives Us Gifts: 1 Corinthians 12:4 Now there are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all. Now I don¡¦t know if this will come as a shock to you or not but if you are a Christian then the Holy Spirit has a gift for you, and he also has a reason why he gives it to you. If we continue along in 1 Corinthians 12:7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us and then it tells us why as a means of helping the entire church. Some of those gifts are Prophecy, teaching, evangelism, discernment, healing, hospitality, speaking in unknown languages, interpreting unknown languages. And each Christian is given at least one spiritual gift, why? As a means of helping the entire church. If you have never taken a spiritual gifts test you should, you might be amazed at what your gifts are.
We all love gifts so we should be excited to find the gifts that the Spirit has for us.
He Gives Us Character: Galatians 5:22-23 Is a familiar passage for most of us, and it should be even more than familiar for most of you considering that I just finished a ten week series on it before Christmas. Paul has described what a person¡¦s life is like when they are controlled by sin and then he goes on to tell what it should be like when it is controlled by the Holy Spirit. But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Notice that the word fruit is singular, these aren¡¦t several different characteristics that we can pick and choice from, if you life is controlled by the Holy Spirit then this is how you will live. The converse is also true if this isn¡¦t how you are living then the Holy Spirit isn¡¦t controlling your life. It¡¦s not rocket science.
So what¡¦s the bottom line? Romans 8:6 If your sinful nature controls your mind, there is death. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace. Through my twenty years of ministry time and time again I¡¦ve heard Christians either pray or make the statement ¡§I want more of the Holy Spirit.¡¨ The Holy Spirit is God he¡¦s not a collection of pieces. You can¡¦t have more of him or less of him. It¡¦s like being pregnant you either is or you ain¡¦t there¡¦s no in between. And it¡¦s not that we don¡¦t have enough of the Holy Spirit, it¡¦s that the Holy Spirit doesn¡¦t have enough of us.
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