John 14:16-26
Awhile back my son had a saying that became famous in our house “I’m scared when I’m alone.” My wife and I even would Text message it to one another.
In the passage we read today, Jesus was addressing disciples who were scared because they were about to be alone, but He promised to send Someone, the Holy Spirit so they wouldn’t be alone.
So what does the Holy Spirit come to do?
That’s our topic for this morning. And I want to talk specifically about what he does for those who are followers of Jesus. The Holy Spirit has another role in convincing people of their need for Jesus, but this morning we’ll concentrate on his role in the livese of those who have trusted in Jesus.
First The HS comes to…
Indwell Us
16-17And 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.
To a fearful flock contemplating His soon departure, Jesus promises they will not be left alone—He is sending another. In the original language there are two words that translate “another” one that signifies another kind as in “this tool isn’t working give me another” and one that means another of the same kind, as in “Hon, my Diet Pepsi is empty will you get me another.” Here the promise is that though He is going away, Jesus will send another of the same kind. Another helper, counselor, literally another one to come alongside.
But Jesus takes it one step further he not only lives with you but He will be IN you. Dwelling, living inside. The Old testament prophets foretold the coming of Immanuel “God with us” In the Holy Spirit Jesus Promises God Within us.
On one of his Artic expiditions, the great Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, the first to discover the magnetic meridian of the North Pole, took a homing pigeon with him. When he had finally reached the top of the world, he opened the bird’s cage and set it free. Imagine the delight of Amundsen’s wife, back in Norway, when she looked up from the doorway of her home and saw the pigeon circling in the sky above. No doubt she exclaimed, "He’s alive! My husband is still alive!"
So it was when Jesus ascended. He was gone, but the disciples clung to his promise to send them the Holy Spirit. What joy, then, when the dovelike Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost. The disciples had with them the continual reminder that Jesus was alive and victorious at the right of the Father. This continues to be the Spirit’s message.
All those who have come to the cross to trust that Jesus blood has paid the price of their sin, all those who have received Jesus’ offer of eternal life by trusting in what He has done receive another gift from that very moment, the Holy Spirit dwelling in them.
Though there may be times in our lives we feel lonely, no matter how isolated you are if you belong to Jesus the Holy Spirit, the One who comes alongside is closer than nearby, he has come to indwell us.
And He hasn’t just come to set up house, he comes for practical reasons first of all to..
Instruct Us
v. 26 But 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.
Jesus, repeatedly teaches that the role of the Holy Spirit is to point to Him. Like a well placed floodlight the attention is cast on Jesus. The Holy Spirit teaches us by illuminating the truth about Jesus—particularly as we study the Scripture—the Holy spirit helps you understand and apply as you read, he anoints preachers and teachers of the word.
Notice too that Jesus specifically promises that He will remind us of what Jesus said? No it is to us as well but we then have a responsibility to expose ourselves to it so we may be reminded
ILLUSTRATION A young pilot had just passed the point of no return when the weather changed for the worse. Visibility dropped to a matter of feet as fog descended to the earth. Putting total trust in the cockpit instruments was a new experience to him, for the ink was still wet on the certificate verifying that he was qualified for instrument flying.
The landing worried him the most. His destination was a crowded metropolitan airport he wasn’t familiar with. In a few minutes he would be in radio contact with the tower. Until then, he was alone with his thoughts. His instructor had practically forced him to memorize the rulebook. He didn’t care for it at the time, but now he was thankful.
Finally he heard the voice of the air traffic controller. “I’m going to put you on a holding pattern,” the controller radioed. Great! thought the pilot. However, he knew that his safe landing was in the hands of this person. He had to draw upon his previous instructions and training, and trust the voice of an air traffic controller he couldn’t see. Aware that this was no time for pride, he informed the controller, “This is not a seasoned pro up here. I would appreciate any help you could give me.”
“You’ve got it!” he heard back.For the next 45 minutes, the controller gently guided the pilot through the blinding fog. As course and altitude corrections came periodically, the young pilot realized the controller was guiding him around obstacles and away from potential collisions. With the words of the rulebook firmly placed in his mind, and with the gentle voice of the controller, he landed safely at last.
The Holy Spirit guides us through the maze of life much like that air traffic controller. The controller assumed that the young pilot understood the instructions of the flight manual. His guidance was based on that. Such is the case with the Holy Spirit: He can guide us if we have a knowledge of God’s Word and His will established in our minds. (Dr. Anderson, Freedom in Christ and Harvest House Publishers www.ficm.org)
Finally the Holy Spirit comes to
Empower Us
12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
How does that last phrase make sense? When coupled with the truth found in…
John 16:7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
The Bible tells us that Jesus “went about doing good, empowered by the Holy Spirit.” When Jesus ascended, the Holy spirit descended so that we too might be empowered by the Holy Spirit, therefore by multiplication we are able to accomplish even more than Jesus did. This began immediately with 3,000 trusting in Jesus on the day that the Holy spirit descended.
Acts 2:38 tells us that this same empowerment is available for us today. Now while the HS Indwells us all at the moment we trsut in what Christ has done, and though from that moment He empowers us for Holy living, I believe that the real empowerment of the Spirit that Jesus was talking about comes when we have another experience with Jesus called the baptism in the HS. This is what Jesus promised in Acts 1:8 moments before he rose up to heaven saying “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses.”
This is what happened to the disciples on the day of Pentecost, to the new believers in Samaria when Peter and John laid hands on them, to the new gentile believers in Cornelius’ house, to those in Ephesus when Paul came to teach them about that same experience. And consistently this experience was accompanied by those believers praying and praising God in languages they hadn’t learned.
You say, that’s strange, I say yeah. But it’s also strange that God became a man and died for our sins. Any other questions? Actually though when you consider that the Bible teaches that the tongue is the hardest part of our bodies to control, it actually makes sense that yielding our tongues to the Holy Spirit’s Control is symbolic of a life that’s learned to yield to Him.
Remember though that that unknown language is only the sign of the experience and the experience is meant for the purpose of empowering us for service to the Lord.
Now here’s where some get confused they say, well not everyone who has that experience seems to be empowered.
Well let me use a metaphor to explain it as best I can. As Christians we may be compared with a reservoir for producing electrical power. When we accept Christ, construction of our reservoir begins. With the Baptism in the HS it is complete—It’s capacity grows. We now have the potential to be useful and to affect lives. But until the flood gates are opened and the cascading river waters pour through, no power is realized. When we are baptized in the Holy Spirit. We open our lives to God and the Holy Spirit pours into us and through us. It is then we become most effective in God’s service.
Until we tap this power though and open up the floodgates the potential isn’t realized. That is the Spirit’s power gives us the potential but we must choose to act on it.
As with the reservoir, this power-generating experience is not intended to be a one-time occurrence. It is to be an ongoing process. When our spiritual power runs low, we need to return to the Source and let the blessed Holy Spirit pour into us again, bringing fresh power.
This happened to the early followers of Jesus. Peter and John they had already been baptized in the Spirit; but later on, when persecution arose, they needed a new surge of spiritual power; so they prayed to the Lord once again and "they were all filled with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 4:31).
Christ made it clear that one of the most important reasons for sending the Spirit was to empower us for great service, but unless we open up our lives to that experience and then open up our mouths and use our hands and feet to do his will then the power available to us goes unused.
