John 14:15-31 – The Gospel of John

The scripture reading this morning is in John fourteen, verse fifteen to thirty-one.

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 I live because I live, you also will live.

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

Whoever has in my has my commandments and keeps them, he also loves me, and he who loves me will be loved by my Father and will love him and manifest myself to him.

Judas, not discariat, say to him, Lord, how is that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world?

Jesus answered him, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my father will love him, and he 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's who sent me.

These things I have spoken to the to you while I am still with you.

But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send me send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to you to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Peace I live with you.

My peace I give to you.

Not as the word gives uh gifts do I give to you.

Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

You heard me say you hear me say to you, I am going away, and I will come to you if you love me.

You will have rejoice, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

And and now I have told you before it takes place.

So that when it does take place, you may believe I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming.

He has no claim on me, but I do as the father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.

Right, let us go from here.

Serge God's word.

If you joined us while we were singing, my name is Mark.

I'm one of the uh leaders here at City.

You're very welcome, particularly if you're uh new or visiting with us.

Uh, we're in a series in John's Gospel uh through to the end of uh Easter.

And uh so we pick up the uh the story in chapter 14.

If you've got a phone uh with a Bible app on it, navigate there to John chapter 14.

John 14 · chapter mention

If you don't have a Bible app and you just have a phone, go to Biblegateway.com, search John chapter 14.

John 14 · chapter mention

If you want to know what translation I'm gonna be in, what that was, uh it's the English standard version.

If you want a hard copy, there's one down there you can run down and grab it.

And it's good to uh to have that in front of you because some of these things are dense, and so it's good to see uh what it is Jesus is saying uh to help us understand and process it better, but also as a as an act of uh of dependence of putting ourselves under the authority of Jesus' words.

Uh so I'd invite you to have that uh in front of you and be reading along as we as we think about it.

Uh, this is going to be the first of a couple of sermons that uh that come up over the next uh few weeks, thinking about the uh the person and work of uh the Holy Spirit.

This is the first mention in Jesus' what we call his upper room discourse.

So he's on the night before his betrayal, and he's speaking to his disciples, and he is telling them what is about to happen and uh and telling them what it means to follow him.

And he begins in this passage to talk about uh another helper, the spirit of truth.

And we understand that uh later on to be the Holy Spirit, and it picks up again towards the end of John chapter 15 and again in John chapter 16.

John 15 · chapter mention John 16 · chapter mention

And so this theme of who the Holy Spirit is and what he does is uh is going to be recurring over the next little while.

Now, broadly, uh, I don't know all of the different kind of church traditions and backgrounds uh that you come from, but broadly there are maybe kind of uh two ways of uh of approaching the Holy Spirit.

Uh, some of you come from a church tradition that sees the Holy Spirit everywhere.

You can't get enough of the Holy Spirit that is uh that is a focus of your your worship time, you're constantly thinking about uh the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is very the vocabulary is very easy for you, and then you get uh slightly more um uh uptight uh uh scared people uh who aren't quite sure what to make of the Holy Spirit.

Um for no other reason than um he used to be in the old language called the Holy Ghost.

And that's a bit strange.

Like I've heard it like I used to watch Casper the Friendly Ghost.

Is the Holy Ghost kind of like that?

It's the Holy Spirit kind of, and so we're not quite sure uh what to what to make of it.

I confess I grew up in that second sort of stable, and so I'm under a uh I'm I'm evolving and growing uh as we as we think about and uh uh and glorify uh the Holy Spirit.

If you're here this morning and you're either not a Christian or you're a brand new Christian, you might be like, sorry, who?

I understand this is God and there's Jesus, and that's confusing enough because what's that, right?

Um, but then there's there's a third one.

Like what's how does that is that like is that the force in Star Wars?

What's what's going on there?

And so you might be sitting here going, yes, I'm so glad that we're thinking about this because I have no clue where to even begin with thinking about uh the Holy Spirit.

You know that there's some sort of belief out there that the Christians have, uh, but it's a bit like the restricted section in Hogwarts.

You're like, well, you kind of get you'll get there when you kind of grow up a little bit.

So how should we think about the Holy Spirit, who he is and what he does?

Let me put it this way.

Have you ever missed someone?

Have you ever felt someone's absence?

Have you ever felt the distance that someone's departure has created?

Have you ever grieved someone's loss?

I'm sure that every person right now is answering yes to that.

Because it's a common human experience.

One of the things that we do when we reflect on the memory of someone is we we think about their legacy, we think about moments that we had with them, and we hold on to those memories.

But Jesus is promising something more.

Remember, this is Jesus on the night before his death.

And he doesn't come to his disciples and says uh I'm about to get arrested and uh I'm gonna be crucified in about 12 hours' time.

Um, but it's been lovely uh being with you, hold on to the memories.

He doesn't say that.

He comes to his disciples and says, You know what, I'm gonna do you one better.

In fact, I'm gonna do you infinitely better.

I'm not just gonna say hold on to the memories, I'm gonna give you my presence with you always by my spirit.

Not just to live with you, but to be in you, comforting and empowering and enabling you.

The Holy Spirit is the presence of Jesus in the life of the believer.

He is the divine physician that applies the soothing balm of gospel promise and hope and truth to every heart that has ever been broken by missing someone.

Let's ask some further questions of this text in order to better understand who the Holy Spirit is and what it is he does.

Let's begin by asking this question: Who's the Holy Spirit for?

Who's the Holy Spirit for?

Because there's a there's a sense in both verse 17 and verse 22 uh that the Holy Spirit is not for everyone, but rather is is hidden from some.

Uh let's pick it up in verse 17.

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.

Or verse uh 22, Judas not Iscariot.

Uh, he insisted uh that that be put in.

Uh I imagine when John was writing, he's like, make sure you clarify.

I'm not that guy, not the other one, Judas not Iscariot.

Um said to him, uh, Lord, how it is that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world.

So the Holy Spirit shows himself to some and not to others.

And who are the others?

It's not to the world.

The Holy Spirit is hidden from the world.

Now, the world, remember, uh, if you were here when we did the first half of John's Gospel, the world in John's Gospel is not a geographical term.

John's not talking about the spinning ball in space.

Uh, the world in John's Gospel is an ethical term.

It is uh it is all of humanity that loves darkness, all of humanity arrayed in hostility and enity towards God.

That's the world.

Incidentally, that's what's so amazing about John 3.16.

Everybody knows John 3.16, for God so loved the world, right?

What's so amazing about that?

It's not that the world's so big, it's that the world is so bad.

And God loves it anyway.

But Jesus is saying here that the Holy Spirit cannot recognize the Holy Spirit.

Well, well, one of the things that this is pointing to is that by nature we don't see God's fingerprints at work.

By nature, we we love the darkness, we turn away.

We cannot see uh his work in our lives because we are not just blind but willfully blind, turning away from uh turning away from the light that has come into the world, turning away from the the truth and embracing rather the lie.

But if you're a Christian here this morning, one of the things that I'm sure you're able to do is you reflect on your story and your journey of faith, is you think back over those times and you now are like, I see the fingerprints of God all over the place.

Isn't that right?

Yeah.

You look back and go, God, God preserved me through that.

And I can see how actually he used what was going on there.

That's not incidental, that's the work of the Holy Spirit beginning to uh to show you the fingerprints of God all over your life.

So the Holy Spirit is not given to the world, but rather given to who?

Well, we get the answer in verses 15 and 16.

The Holy Spirit is given to all those who love Jesus.

Look with me at verses 15 and 16.

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.

Now, if you've got your brain switched on this morning, if you're properly caffeinated, one of the questions you might be asking is, is Jesus suddenly become a legalist?

If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Oh, I thought it was salvation not by works.

I thought it was salvation by grace alone.

Isn't that what uh what we teach week after week has said as Jesus suddenly become a legalist, saying that you have to obey in order to get the Holy Spirit?

No, no, no, no, that's not what he's saying.

Rather, he's saying, How would you know if someone loved me?

What is the evidence that someone loves Jesus?

It's that we listen to his word and we obey him.

It's not merely that we say, Oh, I love Jesus, I think he's great.

In fact, it is the sheer hypocrisy that has turned so many Irish people away from religion that people say, I love Jesus, and then have failed to follow his commands and obey his word.

And the world looks at that and goes, I don't want any of that.

How can we be different?

What does Jesus call us to you?

If you love Jesus, you listen to his word, and you obey his commands.

Or verses uh 21 and 23, he picks up this idea again, verse 21, whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me.

That's essentially to say the culture of the of the kingdom, that kind of gospel ecosystem, what's it look like?

It looks like listening to God's word, listening to the words of Jesus, and following him.

And that's how we evidence our love for him.

Verse 23, Jesus answered them, 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.

Notice in verse 23 how it kind of slightly changes, not to talk just of commands, because to listen to Jesus' word and to obey Jesus' word, it's not just moral commands, it's not just do this and do that, but rather it's exhortations to belief and to trust.

It is to come to him, all you are who are weary and heavy laden, and find rest for your souls.

What is the best evidence of love for Jesus?

It is faithfulness and trust of Jesus.

The best evidence of past conversion is present convertedness.

And so verse 16 is not a reward for good behavior.

You obey, and so you love Jesus, and as a reward, I'll give you the Holy Spirit.

No, no, it is that the Holy Spirit comes to empower that faithful living.

Look at it again.

If you love me, you'll keep my commandments, and and what's so what's Jesus' part?

What's he gonna do in order to help that obedience?

I will ask my Father, and he will give you another helper so that he'll be with you forever.

The Holy Spirit is not a reward for Christian obedience, he is the one who empowers Christian obedience, he is the one who energizes faithful living.

So who is the Holy Spirit for?

It is for all who have turned in repentance and faith to Jesus.

Hear me now.

No Christian does not have the Holy Spirit at work in their life.

It is he who empowers our willing obedience to Christ, which shows our love for him to the world.

That is who the Holy Spirit is for.

Secondly, who is the Holy Spirit?

Well, John uh or Jesus in John 14, verse 16 describes him this way.

John 14:16

He says, I will ask the Father, and he will give you, and this is key, another helper.

Another helper.

And the best way to think about it, it's not a helper different than, but a helper similar to.

Another helper, a helper similar to who?

Who's the first helper?

It's Jesus.

It's Jesus because he has been with his disciples, but now he is leaving and he's saying, I'm going to send you someone who's actually just like me.

And he'll be with you forever.

This is significant for uh for a number of reasons that really help us think about who the Holy Spirit is.

And the first is to say that the Holy Spirit is not a force, he's not an energy, he's not a power.

Have you noticed that I haven't been saying what is the Holy Spirit, but rather who is the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is not an it.

He's a he.

You see that uh that language uh confirmed towards the end of verse 17, you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

The Holy Spirit is a person, not a force, not an energy.

He is the third person of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

He is another like Jesus.

There's lots probably that we could say about that, and we will, uh trust me, but one of the things that it means is that the Holy Spirit is God.

We affirm and celebrate his divinity.

He is the one who is sent by the Father just as Jesus was.

Immediately after the sermon, one of the things that we're going to do is we're all going to stand together and we're going to affirm what Christians have believed for thousands of years in the words of the Apostles' Creed.

But if you were to go to a similarly ancient creed, uh, something called the Creed of Nicaea or the Nicene Creed, it's longer.

Uh, and so I took pity on you and put in a shorter creed.

You're welcome.

We'll do it one day, but we'll we'll work our we'll work our way up uh liturgically.

But if you have been to a more liturgical uh setting or church, uh you will have probably said these words.

And this is what the Nicene Creed says about the Holy Spirit.

It says that the Holy Spirit is the Lord, the giver of life, who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, who is spoken by the prophets, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.

This is this is one of the things that people from my sort of stable need to need to learn is that we can sometimes forget about the Holy Spirit because we're a little bit freaked out by some by the heavenly Casper, uh, and we don't think about him rightly.

But the creed says that actually, just as much as we worship and glorify the Lord Jesus and God the Father, so that same honor, that same reverence, that same awe, that same worship, that same glory is due to the person of the Holy Spirit.

This word helper, another helper, is um uh in Greek it's the word it's the word paraclete, and not to be confused with the parakeet.

Um those are two different things.

Um but paraclete uh is is the word for an advocate.

It has legal connotations.

So it's a that's why in some of your translations you'll see counselor, as in in the in the American, uh, in the American legal system, uh, hello, counselor.

You're that so it's that sort of thing.

It's a lawyer, a defense attorney, uh, a legal advocate.

And so helper primarily has these kind of sort of legal connotations.

That is, that what the Holy Spirit does is the Holy Spirit pleads for you, believer, in the heavenly courtroom.

He comes and he pleads your case, that you are bloodbought, that you have had your sins forgiven.

And he's another helper in because Jesus himself describes, uh is described as an advocate.

So John, not in his gospel, but in his letter uh in chapter two, verse one, describes that that Jesus, that if we sin, Jesus is our advocate with the Father.

That is, he stands and pleads our defense.

He pleads our innocence.

Satan is there as the as the as the lawyer for the prosecution.

God is there as the divine judge.

And Satan is saying, Well, look, uh, when Mark did all of these things, and the problem there is I actually did them.

So I'm actually on the hook.

So what happens?

Well, Jesus says it's been atoned for.

I have taken the punishment.

He stands in my defense, he pleads my case, and so the divine judgment comes over my life and says, Mark, not guilty.

If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus, that is your legal standing before your heavenly father.

It is how indeed you can call him your heavenly father.

You do not cry, Lord, Lord.

You do not cry sovereign, sovereign.

You do not cry, judge, judge, but you cry with the words of Paul in Romans 8, Abba, Father.

And the Holy Spirit brings that legal advocacy and makes it real in our lives.

Jesus is in the heavenly, is in the heavenly court.

He is praying for us, he is interceding for us.

And the Holy Spirit comes and he applies that, he makes that effectual to our hearts.

And so again, in Romans chapter 8, Paul would say that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

He prays for us.

In those beautiful words that he prays for us with groanings, too deep for words.

That is, when you don't quite know what to pray, the Holy Spirit takes that groaning and he turns it into words, divine words that reach the ears of your Heavenly Father.

Isn't that beautiful?

If you ever felt so at the end of yourself that you don't really know what to say.

Or if you've ever cried yourself to sleep because of agony or anguish or uncertainty or anxiety, and you've just been crying, Father, Father, the Holy Spirit's working in those moments to take those tears, to take those groanings, and to bring them to the ears of your Father in heaven who loves you.

What that means is that none of your tears go uncounted, no tear goes wasted.

All are interpreted as pleadings by the Holy Spirit.

The idea of helper uh certainly does have legal connotations, but and perhaps primarily that's the way to think about it.

Um, but it does go wider than that.

He's also our comforter, our guide, and our teacher, as we sang.

As Sarah uh taught us to wiggle to.

It's like a 10-year-old girl making up dance routines for her room to worship music.

It was great to be able to uh to sing that song uh with you all.

And Jesus goes on in the next chapter, or sorry, not in the next chapter, the very next verse.

So he's called him another helper, a helper like Jesus, and uh and then in verse 17 he calls him the spirit of truth.

Now, this is important given what we've just seen last week, where Jesus has described himself as the way, the truth, and the life.

And he says, I'm gonna give you the spirit of truth.

And so what we understand there is that the Holy Spirit is not the spirit of general truthfulness.

And you you find you you find yourself um uh with uh with with somebody uh you know pass on the floor and you realize that uh that what they need is uh a corony artery bypass.

You don't say, okay, spirit of truth, I need to, I need to know how to do heart surgery.

Well, you don't climb into the cockpit of the plane uh when you're uh when you're heading off on holiday and go, I have no idea how to fly.

Uh but spirit of truth, uh teach me uh aerodynamics, spinous principle, help me to fly this plane.

No, that's not what it means.

Don't don't do that.

You find yourself arrested.

Rather, he is the spirit of the truth.

He bears witness to, brings us into deeper knowledge of and communion with the one who is the truth.

And then lastly, in terms of who he is, he is a permanent help.

We see that in uh verses 17b and 18.

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

Verse 18, I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.

What love of the Lord Jesus! I will not leave you as orphans.

How is it that we are eternally and forever comforted that we find ourselves in God's family?

It is because of the Holy Spirit who not just dwells with the Christian, but in the Christian, not an impersonal energy, but God Himself taking up residence in the heart of the believer, consoling, comforting, teaching, and guiding.

That is who he is.

And so what is his work?

What does the Holy Spirit do?

That's uh our the third thing that we're going to look at this morning.

We're seeing who he's for, he's for all believers.

Who is he?

He is God, he is another helper like Jesus.

Now, what does he do?

Well, the first thing to note here, and I'm just impressing the point that he is uh that he is God, is well, the Holy Spirit does what God does.

It can you can sometimes think uh in terms of your conception, because I don't know if you've realized Trinity's hard, right?

Understanding Trinity can be tricky, kind of bake the noodle um for a little while.

And so you kind of but one of the mistakes that we can kind of think of is we can kind of compartmentalize each of the um the actions of what we call the Godhead.

So you can kind of think, well, okay, the Father uh He creates, the Father made the world.

That's God in Genesis.

Okay, well, what does Jesus do?

Well, Jesus saves, Jesus is the one who uh who redeems us.

That seems to be his his primary work in the uh in the pages of the New Testament.

So the Holy Spirit, well, he he empowers us to live and kind of separate those three things uh because it's kind of nice and neat and boxed up.

But that's not the way to understand God's operation.

No, they are all involved in each of those works that I have described.

The Holy Spirit does what God does.

The Holy Spirit was the one hovering over the waters at creation.

Not only that, but he was the one who descended and anointed the obedient Son of God at his baptism when the voice from heaven spoke, this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.

No, the Holy Spirit is involved in creation and in salvation and in our own redemption.

The Holy Spirit does what God does.

What more particularly?

That's the first thing to know.

The Holy Spirit does what God does.

Secondly, the Holy Spirit, and this is so good.

The Holy Spirit unites us to Christ.

The Holy Spirit unites us to Christ.

It is impossible to talk about the work of the Holy Spirit without talking about his most important and perhaps most often forgotten work.

That is that he unites us to Jesus.

How is it that we are no longer orphans in verse 18?

It is because the Holy Spirit is the seal upon our adoption papers that brings us into the family of God.

Jesus also says, uh, because I live, you will live also.

Because I live, that's the that's the resurrection, his resurrection from the dead, never to die again.

But for that for him then to say, you also will live, how is it that we also live because of Jesus' resurrection from the dead?

It is because of the work of the Holy Spirit.

That is, that Christ's everlasting, unconquerable life becomes ours through union with him by the Holy Spirit.

It is the Holy Spirit that joins us to Christ so that his life becomes our life, in the same way that his death became our death.

We died no longer to live unto the rule and reign of sin, but to live unto the good rule and good reign of Christ.

No longer to be given to the reign of death, but to enjoy life.

What's more, in uniting us to Christ, he brings us again to the Father.

You know, one of the ways that sometimes Christians describe uh the gospel in our need of Jesus is this idea that that this this great gap, this great chasm has opened up between us, between humanity and God.

The humanity stands on uh on one side of this great gap and God upon another, and that gap is created by our sin.

And it is not until the sun comes and bridges that gap that we are able to return home.

How is it that that becomes true?

How is it that we are brought home, that that gap is bridged, that gap that we needed, that needed to be traversed.

It has now been bridged by the Holy Spirit.

And so Jesus can say in verse 23, 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.

No more exile.

Adam and Eve were sent out of the garden, the garden guarded by a flaming sword that turned every way.

How is it that we can now return back to the presence of God?

Well, it is because the sinless Lord Jesus went under that sword, and the Holy Spirit brings us home.

No more restless wandering in darkness and in doubt.

Christ is the way back to the Father, and the Spirit unites us to that way, and together the Father and the Son, they come and in joyous union make their home with us, never to leave or forsake us again.

To summarize all of that, what does the Holy Spirit do?

He transforms lives.

The Holy Spirit transforms lives.

That's what we pray for.

That's what we want to see, that's why we do what we do, that's why we're here this morning.

To see the Holy Spirit transform lives.

To see the Holy Spirit bring people from death to life, to see the Holy Spirit sign the adoption papers of another sinner that has come home and has been adopted as a son or daughter of the living God.

And that must be for us as a church how we how we measure how we measure success.

It's not so much about how many people come into screen two on a Sunday morning.

It's is the Holy Spirit changing hearts?

Is the Holy Spirit bringing people to new life?

Is the Holy Spirit taking older, more seasoned believers and growing them in maturity and leading them into a new season of love and obedience and joy?

That's what we long for.

Rather, that's what we should be longing for.

And where we see evidences of that amongst us, that's where we give gr great glory and praise to God.

In uniting us to Christ, Jesus, or in uniting us to Christ, the Holy Spirit transforms us.

As Paul says in 2 Corinthians, from one degree of glory to another.

What else does the Holy Spirit do?

If you're wondering kind of when I'm going to be done, I've had two more things about what the Holy Spirit will do from this passage.

This is not exhaustive, the Holy Spirit does lots of things, right?

But from this passage in particular, uh, I have two more, and then we'll begin to wrap up.

The the next one is that the Holy Spirit teaches us.

He teaches us.

So verse 26.

But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Again, all things is not neuroscience, all things is not uh is not how to uh how to fly planes or to drive race cars or anything like that.

It is paralleled with bringing to remembrance all that I have said to you.

You know, in Jesus we read uh at the start of John's gospel that the word was made flesh, that the very disclosure, the narrating of God to the world came to us in Jesus, that we see him face to face, that we know God because we know Jesus.

The word was made flesh in the person of the Son, and now the Holy Spirit comes and helps us to understand that revelation.

How is it that we can plumb the depths of who Jesus is and what he has done?

How is it that we can sit down with the scriptures again and see something that we'd never seen before?

And it and it hits us with uh with new and uh and fresh wonderment.

How is it that we can find our affection stirred again from such familiar words?

It is because the Holy Spirit is teaching us and guiding us.

The Holy Spirit does not come with new revelation that will be contrary to what we see in Jesus and in the pages of Scripture.

No, he is the Spirit of truth, that is the truth that we see in Christ.

The Holy Spirit takes that truth and, as the song says, plants it deep in us.

He illuminates our understanding so that we can better grasp it.

One of my favorite ways uh to understand something like uh like this, and I've said it to some of you before, is that you think of the the great statue of uh of Christ a redenter, Christ the Redeemer, uh, that stands uh over Rio de Janeiro, uh that that huge uh Art Deco statue of Jesus.

And in order to see that uh that that statue in the in the midst of darkness, you know, in nighttime, what happens?

The statue all around is floodlit.

These huge spotlights shine so that Jesus can be seen more clearly in the darkness.

That's what the Holy Spirit does.

The Holy Spirit shines on Jesus so that we can say, Oh, look at his radiance, his beauty, his glory, his majesty.

And I've never seen that detail before, like a like a diamond with many facets.

That as it is held up to the light, we see new refractions of its beauty.

So the Holy Spirit does that to Jesus.

One of the things when you if you were to climb, I don't know if you've ever climbed up to the statue of Christ the Redentor, but I imagine that one of the things that you don't do is climb up onto the plinth uh and stare directly into the spotlight.

That would be a bit silly, wouldn't it?

Because the whole point is that you would look at what the spotlight is illuminating.

That is what the Holy Spirit does.

He teaches us, he illuminates Christ to us.

Moreover, he doesn't just show us the truth of Jesus, rather, he confirms its truthfulness to our dull hearts.

You in this context, the disciples who had lived and walked with Jesus for these last three years, he is saying that the Holy Spirit will come and after he has come, they'll be able to look back and think about all of the things that Jesus has done amongst them and go.

That's why that happened.

That's why he did that.

And you read that in the uh in the little editorial comments that you know, after after he was raised from the dead, the disciples realize that this meant that.

How's that happening?

Because of the Holy Spirit.

What's more, he empowers his disciples, who then be called apostles, which means sent ones, to live with particular authority, to live and to speak for him until the end of their lives.

And so, faithless Peter, who we read about at the end of uh chapter 13, who will go on just a few short hours from now and deny and disown Jesus three times, will stand up on the day of Pentecost, full of the Holy Spirit, and he will preach to a multitude.

And what will he preach?

He will preach a sermon that reaches into the Old Testament, that shows how Jesus is the fulfillment of all of those types and shadows, that shows them that the Messiah, God's promised king, must suffer.

And he will understand at that moment that that suffering was achieved at the cross of Calvary as the fulfillment of all of God's promises that has now forgiven sin once for all and brought us back to God.

And he will then declare with great courage that the appropriate response to that news is repentance, turning from sin, and placing faith in the Messiah.

How is it that he can do any of those things?

Because the Holy Spirit has taught him, has empowered him to speak in this way.

This is why we hold the rest of the New Testament in as much esteem and as having the same authority as the words of Jesus in the Gospels.

You sometimes you see you speak to people and you might kind of uh you quote something from Peter or from Paul to them, and they're like, oh, yeah, but that's that's not Jesus.

That's not what Jesus said.

You know, that's just Peter or Paul.

Oh, well, hold on a second.

What do you mean?

They have the spirit of Jesus empowering their words.

The words of the apostles, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, are the words of Jesus.

You know, again, sometimes, um, and forgive me if this is what you have on your uh on your on your laps.

You sometimes you get true-tone Bibles, that is, Bibles that um that have uh the words of Jesus uh in red letters.

It's good to see, but one of the things that you need to realize is that the words of Jesus are in black in both testaments, because they're inspired by the Spirit of Christ.

Thank God for the scriptures, thank God for the Bible that you can access on your phone, and which sits on your laps.

The Holy Spirit taught the apostles, and we have that apostolic witness for us to read in our own language and to help us to grow as disciples of Christ.

Finally, the Holy Spirit gives us peace.

Verse 27 peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.

Not as the world gives, do I give to you.

Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

The Holy Spirit is not specifically mentioned here in this verse, but given the context of what Jesus is saying, I think we can infer that the power behind that peace giving is the power of the Holy Spirit.

And indeed, that would accord with the rest of the New Testament.

You know, we saw uh in Philippians chapter 4 when we did the Philippians series, uh, where it says that the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

How is it that the peace of God comes to your life that transcends all understanding?

It's by the power of the Holy Spirit.

It is the Holy Spirit who applies that gospel bam.

It is the Holy Spirit who brings that peace to you.

How is it that Christ can assure and comfort the troubled heart?

He does so by his spirit.

And what kind of peace is it?

Well, Jesus says it's not the peace of the world.

That is, it's not the peace that comes from kind and good circumstance.

No, it is peace in the midst of the storm.

What is it we sang last Sunday night in that wonderful worship evening that we had together?

When oceans rise and thunders roar, I will soar with you above the storm.

How is it that we can be still and say that you are God in the midst of trial and tragedy?

It is because of the peace that the Holy Spirit gives, despite circumstance.

And what a circumstance to make that promise in.

This is the night before Jesus' death.

And he's saying, Jesus is saying to the disciples, I'm going to give you peace.

In particular, Jesus goes on to say that the prince of this world is coming, or the ruler of this world, rather, verse 30, I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has no claim on me.

Think about what Jesus is saying here.

Jesus is saying, guys, Satan's on his way.

Satan's on his way.

That's the ruler of this world.

But he has no claim on me.

How do we get from quaking in our boots at those words to a quiet and peaceable following of Jesus?

How is it that we can say, okay, I trust you?

You think think of the disciples in those moments.

And Jesus concludes, verse 31, rise, let's go from here.

If Satan is really on his way, wouldn't you or I be behind the sofa?

Wouldn't we be under the table with a cushion over our heads?

Don't circumstances rob us of our peace and leave us paralyzed?

How do the disciples get up from that table?

How do the disciples listen to Jesus' words and say, all right, we're in how do they do that?

Because of the gift of peace that comes from the Spirit.

And so maybe in a sense, this rise, let us go from here is a let's go out and meet him.

As you face that darkness.

I'm going to give you peace.

As you walk headlong into this night, rise, let us go from here.

And this peace can come to us only because Jesus is going.

That's what he says, verse 28.

You heard me say, I am going away and I will come to you.

If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

Jesus going to the Father, well, that's the road of the cross, isn't it?

Jesus walks willingly the road of Calvary.

Why?

Because his father is greater.

That does not mean that the Son is lesser in terms of his status or his power or his authority or his glory or his majesty, but rather it is the Son wonderfully, beautifully saying that it is the Father who has supreme authority.

The Son obeys his father in going to the cross.

And then together the Father and the Son send the Spirit to bring us home, to empower our obedience, to teach us Christ, and to give us peace.

And so what should our response be?

City Church.

Amen.

Amen.

Love the Holy Spirit.

Love him for his gracious work in your life.

Love him for his work in our midst.

Love him because he has caused your growth in the gospel.

Love him because he has changed your heart and is knitting us together into one united body of believers.

But don't just love him.

Know him.

Know that your confidence to live for Jesus comes from his power.

Know that your ability and power to say no to sin and to obey the words of Jesus come by the Holy Spirit.

Know that your ability to love others sacrificially, selflessly, and joyfully comes from the gracious hand of the Spirit.

And learn from Him.

Learn what it means to follow Jesus.

Learn what it is to depend on His Spirit.

Learn that it is He who gives you understanding as you read God's word.

And lean.

Lean into the peace that He gives you.

O you brokenhearted this morning, as you miss those who you love, hear the promise of peace that the Spirit speaks to your heart this morning.

A peace that comes regardless of circumstance, and may He console you with that peace.

If you found this helpful or want to know more about City Church Dublin, please visit our website found in the link below.