The Help We Need
Fortifying the Foundations #33
John 14:15-31[1]
I came across a web site last week that had this phrase across the top, “The emotional rollarcoaster has hit bottom.” That’s a pretty good description of where the disciples were in our text. Jesus has told them in John 13 that he is going away and they cannot come with him. They knew he was talking about his death. Judas is betraying Jesus. Peter will deny the Lord. They will all flee. Their world is about to be turned upside down. Their emotional rollarcoaster has hit bottom.
In John 14 Jesus comforting them with two essential promises. The first we talked about last week—the promise that he is going to prepare a place for them and will return and take them with him to that place so they could be with him forever. And we saw last week how that promise applies to us. Heaven is our home and we will be there forever with the Lord. That is our eternal destiny. What a powerful source of encouragement for the disciples and for us.
Notice Jesus words in John 14:1, “Do not let your hearts be troubled...” He continues to minister comfort and assurance because in 14:27 he says almost the same thing again, “Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
This morning we come to his second great word of consolation:
I. The Promise of the Holy Spirit.
John 14:17 “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever...”
Jesus has taken care of these disciples. He has taught them and nurtured them. And they are wondering how they are going to make it without him. Jesus knows they could not make it on their own. But he is not going to abandon them like a bunch of orphans. He is going to send to them another Comforter.
In John 14:18 he says, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” How will he come? In the person of the Holy Spirit[2], the Holy Spirit will come and as the third person of the Trinity and perfectly represent him.
Many of you know that the word in John’s text translated Counselor, Comforter, or Helper is “parakleetos” which is difficult to translate into English. It is a combination of para meaning beside and kaleoo meaning I call. It refers to one called along side to help. It was sometimes used as a legal term for a defense attorney[3]. Therefore it is sometimes translated Advocate[4]. John uses this term to help us understand our relationship to the Holy Spirit.
What Jesus is saying is that I am going to send you someone who will do for you all the things I have been doing for you. Another Comforter, the “another” is, allos[5], another of the same kind (Someone just like Jesus). “I will ask the Father and He will give you another Comforter...”
Why is this important to you and me? Because what was true of the disciples is also true of you and me. Without the Holy Spirit to strengthen us, encourage us, lead us, and guide us—without Him we too will not make it. No one in this room is able to live godly without the abiding help of the Holy Spirit. In fact, we can find ourselves very depleted and discouraged when we try to do it all in our own strength. But here is the good news; this promise to the disciples is also a promise to you and me. Acts 2:39 “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." NKJV The Holy Spirit is exactly what we need to handle life successfully and to live godly.
We can take courage from some of the things Jesus says here about the Holy Spirit.
(Verse 16), He comes to be with you forever. The Holy Spirit is not fickle in His commitment to you. He is not just with you when you feel spiritual. He is not just with you when you you’re at your best or when you’re on your knees. He abides in you. He comes to be with you forever. You can count on Him. You must count on Him. But the good news is you can count on Him.
Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as “the Spirit of Truth.” He is characterized by truth[6]. He will not lead you astray. You can follow Him and He will lead you into all truth. In fact, Jesus says in verse 26, He “will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you.” It is a great blessing to become a lover of the truth. I want to love truth even when it confronts things in me that are hard to deal with. I want to love truth even when it is correcting me. The book of Thessalonians talks about people who would not receive the love of the truth and therefore got strong delusion[7]. I don’t what to be deceived. I want to know the truth and let the truth shape me. Aren’t you glad the Father has sent us “the Spirit of Truth” and not a spirit of deception?
The world has been blinded by the devil, the god of this world. Truth is not something you arrive at by intellectual capacity alone. The Spirit of Truth reveals it to you. That type of knowing us not sub-intellectual. It is super-intellectual.
He is the “Holy” Spirit. Of all the things the Bible has to say about this third person of the Trinity, the fact that He is holy is the most prominent. In Romans 1:4 He is referred to as the “Spirit of holiness.” He comes into your life and my life to separate us from the spirit of the world—to set us apart unto God, to purify us, to change us into the image of Christ. Your victory over temptation and sin is dependent upon yielding to His influence in your life.
According to John 16:8 the Holy Spirit comes to convict the world of guilt. It is the Holy Spirit Who makes people aware of their sin—aware of it in a way that leads to repentance. It is the Holy Spirit who brings awareness of righteousness and of judgment. The unbelieving world would just as soon put those terms out of their vocabulary. They would like to eliminate the distinction between right and wrong, holiness and wickedness, saintliness and sinfulness. The unbelieving world doesn’t want to deal with moral accountability and eternal judgment. But the Holy Spirit will never let that happen. He is here. And He is here to stay as a convicting influence to awaken people’s conscience to the real issues of life: sin, righteousness, and judgment.
We can’t make ourselves holy. But if we will trust Him and obey Him he will work His nature in us and we will be holy. We will bear the fruit of His character—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
This is really the first time Jesus has explained the ministry of the Holy Spirit to his disciples. Up until this time very little has been said about the Holy Spirit. But now at this most crucial time when Jesus is about to leave, the Holy Spirit is the subject he discusses extensively. The Holy Spirit is the One who will take care of them, strengthen them, and lead them in the way they should go. Just as surely as the Holy Spirit has been sent to those disciples, He has been sent to us. He is exactly what we need.
Do you remember the promise Jesus made during the Sermon on the Mount concerning the Holy Spirit? Luke 11:9-13 "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
11"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
Are you struggling? Do you need help? “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” And what will the Father give? He will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.
On the Day of Pentecost a hundred and twenty were in the upper room when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the church. Mary, the mother of Jesus was there. James and John were there. Andrew, Peter’s brother was there. Peter was there. “Suddenly there came a sound from heaven like a rushing mighty wind...”(NKJV) It was not something they worked up. It was something God gave. The Holy Spirit came in power and revival broke out. Acts 2:4 “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (NKJV) That was their initial experience in the Holy Spirit baptism.
But later in Acts 4 we find Peter and John and the others praying and what happens, 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.” (NKJV) They were all filled with the Holy Spirit! But hadn’t they been filled with the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost? Yes. Then did the Holy Spirit leave them between Acts 2 and Acts 4? No. But they needed a fresh empowerment from the Holy Spirit and He gave it to them. They were filled with the Spirit as an equipping for what they were facing at that time in their lives.
The Holy Spirit is not a stale, rigid doctrine. He is not an old, dusty book that you receive and then set upon a shelf. He is a dynamic person working in our lives. He comes and abides with us but in our relationship with Him there are many experiences.
I do not know what you may or may not be facing in life right now. I do now know what your previous experience with the Holy Spirit has been. But I do know that if you will ask, God will give you the Holy Spirit in the fresh experience that you need in your life now. The Holy Spirit is always the equipper and enabler in our lives.
In our text, Jesus associates the gift of the Holy Spirit with our obedience to God. Look closely at John 14:15-16. “If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.” “...You will obey what I command And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor...” Peter later acknowledged this link between the gift of the Holy Spirit and obedience in Acts 5:32 when he says, “We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him." We do not earn the Holy Spirit. He is a gift. But there is a connection between our obedient response to God and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
So when we talk about the Promise of the Holy Spirit we need to also talk about
II. The Call to Obedience. "If you love me, you will obey what I command.”
There is nothing, absolutely nothing that will keep me obedient to God except love.
The fear of hell, the fear of consequences, may get my attention. In that great song, Amazing Grace, John Newton wrote, “‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear.” Thank God that we did come to the realization that just as surely as there is a heaven, there is a hell. We may not know a lot about what it is like there. But surely we know enough to not want to go there. Thank God for the day grace taught my heart to fear. But the rest of the verse says, “And grace my fears relieved.” Fear can awaken my conscience and get my attention[8]. But for sustained obedience something more must happen.
It begins with a revelation of God’s love toward us. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life.” Our relationship with God begins with God. “God is love.”[9] He is always motivated by love because it is His nature to love. He so loved that He gave His son. That gift of love should awaken something in us that goes beyond fear. Maybe to begin with it is only amazement and wonder. Have you ever stood amazed that God loves you—that He loved you long before you ever loved Him?
In his first epistle (4:19) John wrote, “We love him because he first loved us.”
That is the New Testament motive for obedience. It begins when you begin to realize how much God loves you—not because you deserve it, but because He just loves you.
Jeremiah wrote, “The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness’.” (Jerm. 31:3)
Have you caught a glimpse of the Lord’s love for you? If you have, you will never be the same. You can never ignore His commandments. You can never ignore His will for your live because a revelation of His love toward you awakens a love in you toward Him. How can we not love Him when we learn how He loves us? May His love capture every heart in this room? God has an agenda for your life. Nothing is more fundamental in that agenda than His desire to win your love as you realize His love toward you.
When you really love someone it is your desire to please that person. Love will cause you to simply want to delight the heart of God. Love will cause you to long to please the one who loved you and gave himself for you. When your heart is filled with love toward God, you don’t have to look into some religious rulebook to decide what to do. No one has to look over your shoulder and make sure you do the right thing. You do it for one reason alone. You do it because you love Jesus and you want to please him in anyway you can. This church would not survive if it were not for people like that. The work of the Lord happens on earth because He has captured our hearts with His love.
Without that love it is impossible to live godly. When we try to do the commandments for any other reason than love, we find ourselves trapped in legalism. The Pharisee’s hearts had not been captured by the love of God. They were intellectually convinced that God is and that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. They were intellectually committed to a set of religious doctrines and rituals. But what was the result of all that? They drew near to God with their lips but their hearts were far from Him. In Matthew 23:27-28 Jesus said this about those people, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. 28In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” Legalism produces a kind of outward show of obedience and righteousness. But in reality the obedience is incomplete. It is not in the heart. It is for appearances sake. And incomplete obedience is disobedience.
In John 14:24 Jesus deals with the other side of his statement about obedience. “He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.” A lot of people are confused in their understanding of what love is. Love is not a sentimental feeling. Some people think they love God because they have sentimental feelings about God or about what Jesus suffered. But the biblical test is not what I think I feel. Jesus gives a very simple way I can know whether I really love God. Am I obeying his commandments? If I’m not obeying Him then that is clear evidence that I don’t love Him. If I am obeying, then even if I don’t feel a lot of emotion I am demonstrating clear evidence that I love Him.
Biblical love is something far greater than sentiment and emotion. Biblical love causes me to do those things that God has commanded because I want to please Him. I don’t do it grudgingly. I may struggle some in my efforts to do it. But I want to do it.
What happens in my life when I respond to God’s love by loving Him back and therefore obeying Him? John 14:21 “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." An ever-increasing flow of love comes to me from the Father and from the Son. By responding in love and obedience toward God my soul is opened to more. With the everlasting God there is always more to be received. The limitation is not on God’s side. It is on my receptivity. How open is my heart to receive His love?
“...and I will show myself to him.” Do you want to know Jesus? Do you want to know him more today than yesterday and more tomorrow than today? Obey his commandments and he will show himself to you. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Not everybody has eyes to see God. It’s not a question of whether God is there. It’s a question of whether my heart is in a condition to see Him. A blind man may look down from the window of a Boeing 747 flying over the grand canyon and may insist that there is no such thing as the Grand Canyon. You ask him why he questions the existence of the Grand Canyon and he tells you, “Because I looked for it where they told me that it should be and I could not see it.” What is he proving? Is he proving there is no Grand Canyon or is he proving that he is blind.
1 Cor 2:14 “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (NKJV) To see natural things like the Grand Canyon a person needs physical eyes that have the capacity to see. To discern the things of the Spirit and person needs spiritual eyes to see. To understand complicated scientific knowledge a person needs the intellectual perception to discern it. To know the things of God a person needs a spiritual capacity to see. That’s why Jesus told Nicodemus, “You must be born again.” It’s impossible to see spiritual things without the spiritual faculty to see it. The issue is not IQ but moral obedience.
“Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."
Here is a wonderful progression of events: the love of God revealed, our response to that love with obedience, a greater flow of that love into our lives and hearts along with a greater manifestation of Jesus. And what do I see when I see Jesus? I see his love for me and that revelation brings the possibility for me to respond to him with greater love and obedience. That kind of relationship with God has endless possibilities.[10]
Here is the call of God to you and me. Will you enter into this glorious upward spiral of seeing God’s love and responding in loving obedience? At other times we have talked about the downward spiral of being progressively hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. But oh what a blessed invitation He gives us—an invitation to say yes to whatever He may be asking us to do at this time in our lives. And to each one of us who will obey Jesus promises in John 14:21, “and I too will love him and show myself to him.”
Invitation
John 14:15-15:1
15"If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever- 17the 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. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." 22Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?" 23Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. 25"All this I have spoken while still with you. 26But the Counselor, 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. 27Peace 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. 28"You heard me say, `I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, 31but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
"Come now; let us leave. NIV
Richard Tow
Grace Chapel Foursquare Church
Springfield, MO
www.gracechapelchurch.org
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[1] Text was presented earlier in the service using DVD from Visual Bible International (www.gospelofjohnthefilm.com). Text is provided at end of manuscript. All quotes are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.
[2] For an extensive discussion of this see Alexander Maclaren’s sermon entitled “The Absent Present Christ” accessible at Sermon Central web site.
[3] John 14:16 (from Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft & Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament. Copyright (c) 1985 by Broadman Press)
[4] 1 John 2:1
[5] This Greek term means “another of the same kind” in contrast to the Greek term “heteros” which means “another of a different kind.”
[6] Cleon Rogers, The New Linguistic and Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament, points out that aleetheias isan attributive genitive which tells us he is the spirit characterized by truth.
[7] 2 Thes. 2:10
[8] We do not minimize the biblical importance of a healthy fear of God (Luke 12:5). It is the beginning of wisdom (Psalms 111:10) and is foundational to our appreciation of God’s love toward us.
[9] John 3:16; 1John 4:8,16
[10] G. Campbell Morgan, The Westminster Pulpit, Vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House) p. 223-229.
