The Gift Of The Holy Spirit

Well, good morning. It's good to see you all.

Our text today is in John chapter 14. We're going to continue in our series in the book of John.

John 14 · chapter mention

We're starting, we're looking at John 14, starting in verse 15.

This is Jesus' farewell discourse. This is the last week of his life.

He's preparing his disciples for what is coming, which is both the reality of his crucifixion and his resurrection,

but also the mission then that he will leave them with to bear witness to him in the world.

And so we'll see as we look at this passage this morning, Jesus exposes a problem that the disciples may face,

a provision that he is promising, and then we'll look for a few minutes at what that provision will produce in our lives.

So there's my three Ps for you if you want, if you're doing an outline, a problem, a provision, and what is produced by that provision.

So let's look at the passage together, and then we'll pray, and then we will dive in.

John chapter 14, verse 15.

John 14:15

If you love me, you will keep my commandments, and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper to be with you forever,

even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him.

You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

I will not leave you as orphans.

I will come to you, yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me.

Because I live, you also will live.

In that day, you will know that I am in the Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.

And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.

Judas, not Iscariot, said to him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world?

And Jesus answered him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him,

and we will come to him and make our home with him.

Whoever does not love me does not keep my words, and the word that you hear is not mine, but the Father who sent me.

Let's pray together.

Lord, we come this morning to your word, and we ask for your help,

because we know that in our human, natural minds, Lord, we are unable to understand what you are saying to us.

But we praise you that we are not left alone.

Lord, even in this passage, you promised the gift of your Holy Spirit,

Lord, who illumines our hearts and our minds,

and gives us understanding of things that we could not understand otherwise.

And we thank you that your word is not so opaque and not so confusing,

that we cannot understand it with your help,

but in fact that you have revealed yourself so that we might know you,

and in knowing you that we might love you,

and worship you as you deserve.

God, I pray for us this morning as we look at this passage

that you will help us to receive your word.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.

So there's a function in Microsoft Word that I've always wondered about.

You may have seen it.

It's called the widow-orphan function.

Do you know what it does?

It means that when you're writing on a piece of page,

and you have a word that might be the only word at the end of a paragraph,

or the only line at the bottom of the page starting a new paragraph,

word will automatically reformat it for you

so that those lines or those words will not be alone.

They will not be left singular, isolated from the rest of the text,

but that they will be seen as a part of the text,

welcomed and gathered.

Jesus tells his disciples in the verses today,

he says, I will not leave you as orphans.

Now, we know that this is a feeling that maybe many of us have had

during this pandemic,

because during the pandemic, we have been isolated, alone,

left as the dangling line at the bottom of the page in many ways.

And we feel that, don't we?

We know that in many ways.

Some of us have literally been left as orphans in this world

because COVID has taken their parents.

Many of us have felt the pain of separation and distance and isolation.

And some of it has also felt like abandonment,

that even when we've been able to see some people,

many who we love, we haven't seen and wonder,

where'd they go?

And it's been hard, hasn't it?

It's been a hard season.

And maybe you feel that orphaned would be a decent word

for how you've experienced some of the pandemic today.

We often will feel this way.

Sometimes personal disappointment,

deep wounds, broken relationships,

loss will create this emptiness

and this sense of,

I'm alone in this world.

Jesus says,

I will not leave you as orphans.

I think there might be another sense in this passage as well

that Jesus is saying that to his disciples.

If you remember back from,

Pastor Nick preached last week

about doing and what Jesus promised in verse 12,

that the disciples would do greater works

than the works that Jesus did.

This is a great promise

that it's an amplification,

it's an implied condition of Jesus saying,

if you keep my word,

if you love me,

you will go

and as you carry out this mission

that I'm sending you on,

you're gonna extend and build

and see God build his kingdom

in amazing ways.

Now we need to be clear on one thing.

When we read these words,

like verse 15,

if you love me,

you will keep my commandments.

Our most natural reading in English

is that that's a causal effect.

If this, then this.

If this happens,

that will produce something else.

And we need to rethink

how we read these sentences

because I don't believe

they're actually causal.

I think they're correlations.

It means if this is true,

then this is also true.

And these things go together.

So loving and obeying his commandments

go together.

We'll see how important this is later

as we look at it.

But recognize that Jesus is telling his disciples,

you're gonna do great things.

You're gonna love me

and you're gonna obey my commandments.

And the disciples are thinking,

how is that gonna happen?

Judas has just left.

Peter's going to fail.

What in the world?

And I wonder if maybe some of us

feel that way

in our Christian lives as well.

Maybe we've tried to be obedient.

Maybe we've tried to love God.

Tried to be a faithful follower.

We've tried to read the Bible every day.

We've tried to pray every day.

We've tried to be patient with our kids

in every circumstance.

And if you're a parent,

you're starting to laugh

because we realize that none of us

can do these things perfectly.

And it feels overwhelming

and it becomes a burden.

It feels like Jesus has said,

you're gonna go and have to perform

perfectly in the world

and do all these great things for God.

And you're gonna do it on your own.

And maybe the disciples felt abandoned,

orphaned in that sense too.

Like your high school teacher,

it says,

I want you to go write a six-page paper

and tell me everything

that is important to know

about the country of China.

It's history, it's culture,

it's language, it's politics,

it's economics.

It's an overwhelming task.

How could I even begin

to understand all that,

let alone accomplish that

and produce what you're asking for?

And sometimes in our Christian lives,

particularly when we take it seriously,

we feel the same burden.

How could we ever do that?

It's overwhelming and defeating.

Our failures then define us,

our weakness defeats us,

and we often despair.

And we despair not only of trying,

but we despair of God himself.

This is a problem.

That many of us have.

But Jesus speaks to his disciples

and to us saying,

you are not alone in these things.

Not so will I leave you as orphans.

And this leads us then,

if this is the problem that we face,

this feeling of being orphaned,

both spiritually and just generally in life,

Jesus says,

here is the provision that I have for you.

Look with me in verses 16 and 17.

I will ask the Father,

and he will give you another helper

to be with you forever,

even the spirit of truth.

Jesus says,

I will not leave you alone,

but I will send another one,

another helper to come alongside.

Now, many of you probably know this,

but the Greek word there is paraclete.

And it's good to know

because it's not an easy word to translate.

Comforter, helper, teacher, guide, friend, advocate, counselor

are all different English translations

that try to get at what that word means.

And all of them capture some of it.

At its core, it probably means

one who comes alongside

to give aid,

to give encouragement,

to give strength.

One who is present

and actually able to give help.

And this is what Jesus is promising.

And the passage itself

gives us a lot of information

about this one,

this helper,

according to ESV,

who will come alongside with us.

Right?

First of all,

we see in verse 16

that he is not just a helper,

but he is another helper.

What does that mean?

He is another one like Jesus.

Jesus has been with his disciples.

How has he helped them?

He has spoken truth to them.

He has encouraged their hearts.

He has taught them.

He has given them examples.

He has seen them

and called them to take steps

in exerting his power.

They have experienced amazing things.

The disciples may be losing Jesus,

but he's saying,

you're not going to lose

what you've gotten

from me being with you

because I'm going to send another one

like me to come alongside.

And not only am I going to send one like me,

but I'm going to reaffirm

that he's going to come from the Father.

I'm going to ask that God

is going to come

and provide all that you need.

And not only that,

but he will be with you forever.

I'm not just giving you

a temporary or conditional gift.

And certainly it seems

at times in the Old Testament,

the Holy Spirit might come

and be on someone

for a season or for a task.

But in the New Testament,

the promise is that

he will come and be with us forever.

He will be a spiritual help

that the world cannot receive

nor see nor understand.

What in the world does that mean?

Well, remember in John's gospel,

the world is the system

that has rejected Jesus

and rejects God.

And so what Jesus is saying is

the Holy Spirit, God himself,

is going to come to the world

and of course they're not going to receive it.

They're not going to see it.

They're not going to understand it.

So they may dismiss

everything they see as luck,

circumstance, hard work,

human ingenuity, just chaos.

Whatever it is,

they're going to dismiss it

and not be able to see

the Holy Spirit for who he is

and what he does.

Remember what Jesus says in John 3,

the wind blows where it wishes.

You hear it sound,

but you do not know

where it comes from

or where it goes.

So it is with everyone

who is born of the Spirit.

But if you have eyes to see,

and Jesus is saying,

you as my disciples,

because you know me,

you will see this.

You will see the effects

and you will know

that it's the Holy Spirit.

And he is not just a Holy Spirit,

but he is a spirit of truth.

He will come and remind you.

We're going to learn more

about this next week

because it's the focus

of the passage right after this.

But like a spotlight,

Jesus is going to,

or Jesus says,

the Holy Spirit is going to shine

all of his light on Jesus

and Jesus' life and death

and resurrection

and his teaching

to illuminate the truth

for us as his followers.

And finally,

we need to recognize

that the Holy Spirit is personal.

In verse 17,

John explicitly uses

personal pronouns.

They are not impersonal.

They are not it.

It is he in those verses

to remind us

that the Holy Spirit

is not like the force,

mysterious mitochondrians

swimming around

in our bloodstream,

nor is it the effect

of gamma rays

that allow us

to turn green

and smash things.

It is not all,

there are lots of ways

in which we think

of these external powers

and it's none of those things.

The Holy Spirit

is a person,

the person of God

who will come

and in union with us,

come alongside of us

to work in us.

This is the doctrine

of the indwelling

of the Holy Spirit

that for all

who have placed

their faith in Christ

at the moment of salvation,

when God regenerates

our hearts,

when he declares us justified,

when we believe

and trust in Jesus

for the forgiveness

of our sins,

we get the gift

of the Holy Spirit

that he comes

and he is in us

and with us.

Jesus says,

I will not leave you alone,

but the Holy Spirit

will come

and he will come

alongside of you

and be in you.

And this is really exciting.

This is just the opening chapter.

We have five sermons

on the Holy Spirit

in the next eight weeks.

So hang on to your hat.

It's going to be really fun

as we explore

different aspects

of how the Holy Spirit

is sent to come

and what this is.

But what I want you to see

is that in the fear

of us living

as orphans

in this world,

Jesus says,

no,

I will send

the Holy Spirit

to come alongside you

and to be with you.

And what does this

produce in us?

What does this produce

in our lives?

If those are the things

that we see,

what does it produce?

Well, I think it produces

three things.

We see in verses 18 through 20,

Jesus is saying,

this is what's going to happen.

I'm going to go away

and then I'm going to be

raised from the dead

and you're going to see me again

for a little while

because I live,

you will live,

you will experience

the resurrection power

of being joined with me

but then I'm going to ascend

to heaven

and I'm going to ascend

to the Holy Spirit.

And this is what

the day of Pentecost is.

This is what the prophecy

that was read earlier

by Tosin

from Joel 2

was predicting

and speaking forward

saying,

this is the day

that's going to come

and when the Spirit comes

it's going to have

this tremendous power

that now is at work

throughout the world

until Jesus returns.

I think there are

three things

that the full effect

of the risen Savior

coming to us

by the Spirit

that we can see

in this passage.

So we're going to unpack

three implications,

three produce.

I'm gardening this.

I'm trying to garden.

Trying to grow things.

And the hope is that

they will produce things

that we'll be able to eat.

So what is it

that the Holy Spirit

wants to produce in us

by His coming?

Three things.

First,

we've mentioned it

but I want to spend

a little more time

thinking about it.

Verse 16,

He will be with you

forever.

The Holy Spirit

will come

to provide

for His disciples

and for us

security.

I think often

Christians live

with a fear.

Can I lose

the Holy Spirit?

what if I blow it?

No,

what if I really blow it?

No,

what if I really,

really,

really blow it?

The sin that's like

beyond the sin

that's acceptable.

What about like

people in the Old Testament

like King Saul

where the Spirit

left him

because of his

unfaithfulness?

If I'm a bad enough

Christian,

will God abandon me?

Friends,

what Jesus says is,

the Spirit

is not being given

because you are

a good enough Christian.

I am not sending it

to you because

you have performed

well enough

that I'm going to

give you this

second gift

or this second blessing.

The Holy Spirit

is going to be

given to you

because I ask

the Father

and He will send

it to you

because you are

connected with me.

This is good news.

Ephesians 1, 13,

the Apostle Paul

says it this way,

in Him,

that is in Jesus also,

when you heard

the word of truth,

the gospel of your salvation

and believed in Him,

you were sealed

with the promised

Holy Spirit

who is the guarantee

of our inheritance

until we acquire

possession of it

to the praise

of His glory.

This image

is like a seal,

right?

A letter that

then wax was dripped

and then a signet

or a seal

was marked on it

saying,

this is from me

and this is mine.

And that's what God

does when He gives

to His children

His Holy Spirit.

He says,

these are mine.

You are mine

because of the Holy Spirit

and the gift of it.

And this is the security

that the New Testament

promises

to believers.

And this then leads

to the second thing,

the second produce

that we see

from the Holy Spirit

and that is a relationship.

Look with me

at 21 to 23.

We are now swimming

in the deep waters

of Trinitarian theology

and I am not going

to be able to parse

it all out for you today.

But we've talked

at the beginning

about how easy it is

to feel abandoned,

to feel alone

like an orphan

without anyone

in this world.

And these verses

remind us

in 21 through 23

that God is promising

through Jesus

something completely opposite.

They thought,

the disciples thought,

we know Jesus

in the flesh

in the person

but what's going to happen

when He's gone?

Look with me

at 21 through 23 again.

He says,

if you have

my commandments

and keep them,

He it is

who loves me

and he who loves me

will be loved

by my Father

and I will love him

and manifest myself

to him.

And then in response

to Judas' questions

He says,

everyone loves me,

keeps my word,

my Father will love him

and we will come to him

and we will make

our home with him.

We will stay

with him

forever.

Jesus is saying

the Holy Spirit,

this helper

will come alongside

and He will mediate

for us

this incredible truth

that when God calls us

to faith in Christ

He calls us

into a personal relationship

with the triune God

who created the universe.

It is a relationship

of love.

Jesus will love us.

The Father will love us.

The Holy Spirit

will mediate this love

to us

by dwelling in us.

And friends,

I know it's trite

and cliche

to talk about

having a personal

relationship with God

because it's been

kicked around

for 50 years

and because certainly

some people

have made professions

of having a personal

relationship with God

and yet their life

shows absolutely

no evidence

of it actually being true.

So we want to

acknowledge that.

And yet,

do you see

how intensely personal

this promise is

in this passage?

The spiritual presence

of God

is real.

We will make

our home

with you.

And this is not

just something

that we should think

about in our heads

to parse out.

It is something

to be felt.

Have you known

the presence of God

in your life?

Have you known

the Holy Spirit

whispering truths

in difficult times?

Have you ever,

as you experienced

God's creation,

felt that you weren't alone

but that God

was with you

rejoicing

in the creation

that He has made?

Have you known

those times

when you felt abandoned

by all others

in this world?

When God

has reminded you,

I am with you

always to the ends

of the age.

Now look,

friends,

I want to admit,

I don't always

feel it,

but I felt it enough

to know that it's true.

And on the days

that I don't feel it,

I can cling

to the promises

and the knowledge

that it's true

because I know

and have experienced

the reality

that God

is not just an idea

but a person

and He invites us

into a personal relationship.

1 Peter 1,

7 and 8

says this

about the believers

in Rome.

Though you have not

seen Him,

you love Him.

Though you do not

see Him now,

you believe in Him

and rejoice

with joy

that is inexpressible

and filled with glory,

obtaining the outcome

of your faith,

the salvation

of your souls.

This is the crazy thing

about this,

isn't it?

Because when we want

a relationship,

if I want a relationship

with Spondin,

I will sit down

and there's a person there

and I can talk to him

and he can respond to me

and we can have

that kind of relationship.

God is a spirit.

Jesus and His disciples

experience the kind of thing

that I'm able

to have with Spondin

and now Jesus is saying,

I'm going to go away

and I'm going to send you

a spiritual

person of the Trinity

to dwell with you

that you're going

to relate to.

Not exactly in the same way

but in a similar way,

in the same sense

of a personal relationship.

And I know that we struggle

with it.

I know that it's hard

to imagine

and yet the witness

of the church

throughout history

and the witness

of my own walk

with the Lord

is that it is real.

That God is a person

and that we can

commune

and fellowship

with Him

through His Holy Spirit.

Have a great joy.

And so the question

then we must ask ourselves

is do we have

a relationship

with God?

Or have we just

agreed to a certain

set of principles,

affirmed a certain creed,

or assumed

that going through

a certain set

of ritual actions

or acts of service

have created

a standing with God

but not a relationship?

Friends,

if that's true,

don't let those counterfeits

rob you

of the real thing.

Seek the Lord

while He may be found.

He is not far from you

and He will respond

if you ask Him.

So the first fruit

is security

and the second fruit

is relationship.

The third one,

finally,

is power.

Power to enable us

to obey

and to love.

You may have seen this.

It's sprinkled

throughout this passage,

right?

If you love me,

you will keep

my commandments.

Verse 15.

And then verse 21,

He says again,

whoever has my commandments

and keeps them,

he it is who loves me.

In verse 23 again,

if anyone loves me,

he will keep my word.

And again,

it's easy for us

to hear all these things

as conditionals.

Right?

You only have these things.

You only have the Holy Spirit.

You only have a relationship

with me

if you are good enough.

But it's not

a conditional statement.

It's a cord.

Jesus is painting

a portrait

of what it means

to know him.

If you know me,

my spirit will come to you.

You will have security.

You will have relationship.

And you will have power

to love me

and to obey me.

We talked about

at the beginning

how easy it is

for Christians

to think,

I'm trying to be good enough

on my own strength

that God will accept me

and I can experience

some of those good things.

How easy it is

to feel orphaned

and feel the terrible burden

of obedience

that we carry around.

The Spirit instead

produces in us

love and obedience.

When we have

a life-giving relationship

with God,

the Spirit comes

and changes us.

He turns our affection

so that increasingly

we love God

and the things

that God loves

and we hate

the things that He hates.

We pursue the things

that God values

and we find

as less and less

valuable to us,

less precious to us,

the things that

aren't interesting,

that are not of interest

in God's kingdom.

We grow

so that God becomes

the greatest treasure.

God becomes the thing.

What do you want?

If you could have one thing

on a deserted island,

what do I want?

I want God with me.

He becomes

my greatest treasure.

He becomes

my highest priority

in all of my relationships.

And it's not just

to love Him,

but in this then

comes the power

to obey Him.

Because as we love

the things that God loves

and hate the thing

that God hates,

we increasingly

are transformed

to have strength

to do the things

that God calls us to

because living

in His kingdom

comes,

puts us in a position

of being parallel

with what His commands are.

As we love His kingdom,

we will say,

we want the things

that God wants

and we will pursue them

and we will not do

the things

that lead to destruction

and death.

When we

have the Holy Spirit,

He is able

to teach us

and change our hearts

and empower us

to have the fruit

of the Spirit.

That's a whole other sermon.

Go read Galatians 5.

But that's something

that God will produce

in us.

And yes,

there is us

striving for those things,

but we are striving

with all the power

that God gives

by His Holy Spirit.

It is us working

out our salvation,

but it is because

God is at work

in us

that we can do

these things.

And this is what

the Holy Spirit

gives to us.

not by performance,

but by daily

dependence on Him.

What does that look like?

How do we pursue

obedience and love

for God?

Well,

just like we entered

into a relationship

with God,

we do it by faith.

We wake up

in the morning

and we affirm

that God is there

and that the Holy Spirit

lives in us.

We admit our need.

We confess

that we are unable

to live

the life

that God would want us

to live that day

apart from Him.

We pray

for God's help

and we ask Him.

And then we walk

out into the world

with confidence

that God is with us

and that God

will empower us

to live the life

He wants to that day.

And we don't just do it

once in the morning

and then leave it behind,

but it becomes

this thing that we do

throughout the day

as we have these moments

of temptation,

as we have these moments

of fear and worry,

as we have these moments

of being overwhelmed

and not being able

to do what we think

we ought to do

to please God.

We stop again.

We confess our need.

We ask God to help us

and then we move ahead

in faith

that God will be able

to do us.

And when we live

a life like that,

then pursuing obedience

is no longer a duty,

but it's a delight.

Then we no longer

are working

to build a resume

so that God

would accept us,

but we do it

simply to please

the one that we have loved.

We do it not

to make ourselves great,

but to make God great

and not to look good

in the eyes of others,

but to let others

see God in us.

Friends,

this is a great hope.

Just as He spoke

to His disciples

on that day,

He speaks to us

and He says,

I will not leave you

as orphans,

but I will ask the Father

and He will send you

a helper,

and that one will come

and provide for you

all that you need

for security,

for relationship,

for love,

a life of love

and obedience

that will bring glory

to God.

For those of you

who are here this morning

who are seeking

to know Christ,

ask the Holy Spirit

to be at work in you.

Let Him draw you

to the truth of Christ

and into the love of Christ.

Let Him lead you

to faith,

believe in Christ

for your salvation.

And if you're here

this morning

and you have known Christ

but have been one

who's carried great burdens,

God has not abandoned you.

He has given you

His Holy Spirit

to empower you.

Cultivate this dependent life,

ask Him for your help,

and believe

that He has promised

and that He is able.

Let's pray.

Lord, we invite you now

just as you promised

your disciples

to make yourself

manifest to us

through your Holy Spirit.

Lord, that we would know you.

Lord, there's so many ways

in which you are at work

that we do not acknowledge.

Lord, we pray this morning

that you would help us.

Help us to see your Spirit

and help us to know,

Lord, that rather than abandon,

Lord, you have come.

Come in your Holy Spirit

to work in us

for our good

and for your glory.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.