[0:00] In John's Gospel, we'll read John chapter 14, we'll read from verse 15, John chapter 14, and we read from verse 15.
[0:18] 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.
[0:28] 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.
[0:41] 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.
[0:52] In that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.
[1:04] 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?
[1:19] 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 a home with him.
[1:32] 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. Amen, and may God bless to us this reading of his holy word.
[1:46] I'm going to sing again from Sing Psalms, Psalm 118. Psalm 118, the tune is Warrington. Psalm 118, the tune is Warrington.
[1:58] It's from Sing Psalms, it's on page 156. Verses 15 to 24.
[2:10] Triumphant shouts of joy resound in places where the righteous dwell. The Lord's right hand is lifted high, his mighty hand does all things well.
[2:21] I shall not die, but I shall live the Lord's great works, I will proclaim. The Lord severely chastened me, but rescued me from death's domain. Throw wide the gates of righteousness, I'll enter, and give thanks to God.
[2:35] This is the gate of God through which the righteous come before the Lord. You answered me, I will give thanks. Salvation comes from you alone. The stone the builders had refused has now become the cornerstone.
[2:49] The Lord himself has done all this. It is a marvel in our sight. This is the day the Lord has made. In it, let us take great delight. Verses 15 to 24 of Psalm 118.
[3:03] The tune is Warrington. Triumphant shouts of joy resound. card honors.shoŃ horm Reality.
[3:23] The righteous well, the Lord's right hand is lifted high, his mighty hand does all things well.
[3:44] I shall not die, but I shall live, the Lord's great works I will proclaim.
[4:00] The Lord's serving, chastened me, but rescued me from death's domain.
[4:16] Oh, by the gates of righteousness, I enter and give thanks to God.
[4:34] This is the gift of God through which the righteous comes before the Lord.
[4:50] You answered me, I will give thanks. Salvation comes from you alone.
[5:06] The stone the builders had refused, has now become the forest stone.
[5:23] The Lord himself has done all this. It is a marvel in our sight.
[5:40] This is the day the Lord has made. In it let us in great delight.
[5:55] Let's turn for a little to the chapter that we read together in John 14.
[6:10] And that section that we read from verse 15. Jesus says, 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.
[6:25] I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever. And so on, just this section. As you saw last week, Jesus had been telling the disciples that he was going to go away.
[6:40] And he was going to prepare a place for them. And he was going to come again to take them to be with himself. Remember Thomas? We were so thankful that Thomas was a wee bit slow to understand things.
[6:52] Because Thomas was completely bewildered. And he says, Lord, we do not know where you are going. And how can we know the way? And we're so thankful Thomas asked that question.
[7:04] Because in response to that question, Jesus gave one of the great I am statements. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me.
[7:16] And then Jesus gives the most wonderful encouragement to the disciples towards prayer. Whatever you ask in my name, this will I do.
[7:27] That the Father may be glorified in the Son. And so on. And then Jesus immediately, while talking about prayer, then begins to tell them that another helper is coming.
[7:43] And that is, of course, the Holy Spirit. And you'll notice that the Holy Spirit is linked to prayer. Because as Jesus speaks about their prayer and whatever they would ask in his name, anything in my name I will do it.
[7:59] He then speaks about this helper who was going to come with them. And the name that the Holy Spirit, he's given different names, but here he is given the name of helper.
[8:13] And, of course, that is exactly what he does. And Jesus is showing here the link between prayer and the Holy Spirit.
[8:24] And how thankful we are for the Spirit's ministry within us in the whole area of prayer. You remember how the disciples on one occasion, they said to Jesus, Lord, teach us to pray.
[8:38] They felt obviously, no doubt, probably hearing Jesus praying. They probably thought to themselves, you know, I can't pray. We can't pray. And it wasn't only the disciples 2,000 years ago who said that.
[8:52] It's exactly the same today. We all will say the same thing. And it's always a very daunting thing when any person is called upon to pray.
[9:03] Don't think for one moment that those who pray publicly find it an easy thing and they're saying, Oh, it's always difficult.
[9:14] And it's something no person ever gets used to. Because it's a big responsibility when you stand there and call upon the name of the Lord and when you lead other people.
[9:26] Because that's what you're doing. You're leading in prayer. And I think we all feel very inadequate and often sit down and say, Oh, I totally understand what the disciples were saying.
[9:38] Lord, teach us to pray. Because that is how you feel. But the wonderful thing is that the Holy Spirit does teach us to pray.
[9:49] And teaches us to pray in different ways. One of the ways the Holy Spirit teaches us to pray is prompts us to pray. Where there is a prompting within our own spirit.
[10:03] Where we feel compelled to pray about somebody or about something. Or feel compelled just to speak to the Lord.
[10:15] And when that happens, we don't automatically think, Oh, that's the Holy Spirit at work within me. That's not what we're thinking. But there is this prompting where we feel that we have to pray about a situation or about a person.
[10:30] Sometimes just out of the blue. Just comes before us. And we feel compelled to pray for that person. And this person becomes quite a burden upon our heart. And we don't know why.
[10:41] We might never know why. But maybe further down the line, we will discover. And we will know that this is what the Lord was doing. This is part of his amazing ministry to his people.
[10:53] Where he engages and involves his people in praying for one another. It's a wonderful thing. Or about situations. Or as we say, even just praying in order that we would get to know more and more of the Lord.
[11:08] And again, the Holy Spirit prompts us in prayer. In a way where our prayer is aimed at the glory of God. When the Holy Spirit is ministering within our heart, this is our greatest desire.
[11:23] It's not just something we tag on at the end. Where we'll just say, sometimes, Lord, do all these things for your glory's sake. Sometimes we can say that and it's kind of, it's just something we, as it were, throw on at the end.
[11:36] Without too much thought about it. But when the Holy Spirit is ministering within us and prompting us and drawing us. This becomes the real desire. We really want things for the glory of God.
[11:49] And we, this is uppermost now thinking, Lord, I really want this for your glory's sake. We have, this is at the heartbeat of our prayer. And if that is the case, then this is definitely the ministry, the work of the Holy Spirit.
[12:04] And the Holy Spirit, of course, another thing that he does is he brings to our mind the promises of God's word. So sometimes as we are praying, it's like God's word is coming to our mind.
[12:19] So that we're able to base our prayer more upon the word. And that's a wonderful thing. Because any time we are praying, basing our prayer upon the word of God, then we know we're praying according to God's will.
[12:31] Because often we wonder, am I praying according to God's will or not? But the great promise is that if we pray according to his will, he hears us and he will answer us. So if we base our prayers upon his word, we have a lever before heaven.
[12:47] Where we're able to say, well, Lord, this is how it is. But your word says. You'll find many of God's people down throughout the years. That's how they prayed. They prayed using God's word as a lever before God.
[13:01] And God wants us to do this. And, of course, this is, again, part of the Holy Spirit's ministry within us. So that he brings the word of God to bear upon our mind. So that we, in turn, base our prayers upon this.
[13:16] And, again, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. And we're told that in Romans, intercedes with groanings which cannot be uttered.
[13:27] The Holy Spirit, in many ways, is, it's funny, Jesus is termed in the scripture an advocate. We have an advocate with the Father, even Christ Jesus. We're told that in John's letter.
[13:38] And Jesus is an advocate in the sense that he is representing us. He has come into this world for us. And he has done everything for us.
[13:52] And he is now in heaven, standing there, as it were, pleading on our behalf, presenting his own work, his own finished work before the Father.
[14:02] But another work of an advocate is an advocate will, supposing a lawyer or solicitor, an advocate or somebody who is defending somebody, their work will be, at a particular time, to instruct or to counsel the person they are defending on how to speak and what to say.
[14:27] Because they know the ways, the right ways, and the ways of the law, and how they should construct something. And that's just like what the Holy Spirit does for us.
[14:40] He is there as our helper. He is there interceding for us, but he is also interceding, in a sense, in pleading. So that it's a wonderful thought that we're never on our own.
[14:55] Because that's what Jesus tells us. I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper to be with you. For how long? For a while? No.
[15:06] Forever. You know, it's an amazing thought. That the moment the Holy Spirit comes into your heart, the moment you are born again, the moment the Holy Spirit comes in, in this work of regeneration, the Holy Spirit doesn't just work in your heart and then go away.
[15:24] Or come for a wee while until you get kind of established. Or say, oh, well, I'll be with you until you become a member, and then I'll leave you on your own. No. The Holy Spirit, he comes forever.
[15:36] And that really is, it's an amazing thought. And so here is the Holy Spirit, who is here, and we're told elsewhere, he's like a counselor, a wise friend.
[15:50] And that's one of the things the Holy Spirit does as well, is leads us, guides us in the right way. You know how the Lord says, I will instruct you and teach you. In the way that you shall go, I will guide you with mine eye.
[16:01] And so often we find that as we go through life, and we're wrestling about what to do, which is the right way. Because both ways appear right.
[16:11] It's not that one way is, you know one way, well, this is wrong and this is right. But both ways could seem right. Or there's a few ways, and sometimes life can be a wee bit of a fog, and we're not too sure how to go or what to do.
[16:26] And it's amazing how the Holy Spirit, if we are really seeking the Lord, and seeking his mind, and seeking his guidance, how the Lord will lead us in the right way.
[16:39] Because we're told that, again in Proverbs, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not to your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.
[16:51] Isn't that wonderful? Imagine having your pathway directed by the Lord, so that wherever you go, you know the Lord's direction and the Lord's leading.
[17:03] And so Jesus is highlighting this fact. And then you can see that there's real intimacy in this. But the thing is that everything that Jesus is saying to them, he's saying, look, this is for you and for my people.
[17:18] It's actually not for the world. The world cannot understand all of this. Because as you go through these chapters, 14, 15, 16, Jesus seems to be contrasting his people and the world.
[17:33] And he's saying, you know, the world don't get this. They don't understand this. And that is so true. Because a lot of people, and I was to say to myself, while there was so much that I actually did believe, and I believed the way of salvation and all these things, I could never sometimes understand how enthusiastic Christians were about church and about the word.
[18:07] And about thinking about God, about the things of God. And you cannot until God comes to dwell within you.
[18:20] And that changes everything. Because when the living and true God comes to dwell within you, he gives you a heart for God.
[18:31] Prior to that, you can have an interest in the things of God, but you don't actually have a heart for the things of God. And there's a difference. But once you have a heart for the things of God, where you have a love for the things of God, where you have a love for the Lord himself, where you're able to say, like the psalmist, I love the Lord.
[18:54] Where you love his day, his people, where you love his word, where you love, and your mind, your heart is going to the Lord.
[19:05] And you say, I want, Lord, I want to know more about you. I want to experience more of you in my heart. Lord, I actually long for the day when I will be with you forever.
[19:19] That's when we're given a heart for the Lord. And that is why those who do not know the Lord as their own Savior cannot understand why the Christian is so caught up.
[19:35] It is simply because God has come to live, to dwell, to remain there forever. And then Jesus says, I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you.
[19:47] So Jesus is saying to him, look, I'm going to go away from you, but I'm not going to leave you. I'm not going to leave you like orphans at all. And Jesus is going to, this is what he says, I'm going to come to you.
[19:59] And that's one of the wonderful things is that Jesus continues to come to us. And it's often when we're at the end of ourselves that we will discover that Jesus is there.
[20:13] He's always with us, but there are times we're not aware of it. Do you remember when, say for instance, Mary and Martha sent for Jesus? Jesus delayed. Didn't come right away, but he came.
[20:27] And when Jesus came with Mary and Martha, everything changed. Because he taught them things. His presence so helped them.
[20:38] He wept with them. He shared with them. And he left them in a far better state than when he came. And Jesus will always be like that with his people.
[20:50] It's not that he's ever going to leave us, but he's going to reveal himself to us. In a way where we're aware of his help, his strength, his grace, his presence. We know it's him.
[21:02] We know he's there. He has helped us. He's taken us through a dark time, a difficult time. And it's often afterwards where people will say, wow, I don't know how I got through that.
[21:14] Well, you do actually. It is with the help of the Lord. And so this is one of the great things. And again, sometimes the Lord will come to you when you're not really expecting him.
[21:29] And when I say it like this is, for instance, you know, sometimes, sadly, we can drift a wee bit. And we become maybe more careless. Our hearts can become cold.
[21:42] We lose the edge. We're kind of drifting along. God's word isn't that meaningful to us. Not in the way it used to be. Might be some days we don't even open it.
[21:53] Might be times that come to church and it just drifts by. And we're going on like that. And then all of a sudden, the Lord will reveal himself to us.
[22:05] And he does so in a way that melts our heart. And it's at this moment that we come to realize, we maybe didn't realize how far we had drifted, of how we were going away from him.
[22:18] And the Lord is sort of, it's like it's as if he's tapped us on the shoulder. And he's put his arm around us. And he says, you're forgetting about me.
[22:29] I haven't forgotten about you. And it's like a melting moment where the Lord again shows his love, his mercy, his grace. And these are wonderful things. And at the same time, it kind of convicts us of our sin and of our coldness.
[22:45] And we ask the Lord, oh Lord, please have mercy upon me. Forgive me. So the Lord is always dealing with us in spiritual ways. But then Jesus goes on to say in verse 19, yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me.
[23:05] What a judgment on the world. You think about this. The world was only going to serve. It was one, it was only another couple of days that the world would see Jesus.
[23:17] And here was the world getting their opportunity to do to Jesus what they really wanted to do to him. What did they do to him? They did the worst that they could humanly think possible.
[23:32] They battered him beyond recognition. This was the world's opportunity. Jesus had come to the world and he had done for the world a ministry of love and mercy.
[23:47] Now it was the world's opportunity to deal with Jesus. And what did they do? They beat him. His face, we're told in Scripture, was beyond recognition.
[24:00] They hammered him and battered him. They abused him in every way possible. And then they took him to the cross and they executed him in the most barbaric way that was known possible in that day.
[24:16] The most lingering, excruciatingly painful way possible. And as they looked at Jesus, they mocked him, they derided him, and they poured out all their anger and hatred and malice upon him.
[24:33] That was the world. That is how the world looks on Jesus. And don't think for one moment that the world loves Jesus. That's what the world thinks of Jesus.
[24:44] They hate him with a passion because when their opportunity was given to show what they thought of him, that's what they think of him. But the world were never going to see him again.
[24:58] They'd got rid of him. They couldn't wait. They couldn't wait to get rid of him. And when I include the world in that, I include the religious leaders because they were, they certainly knew nothing of Jesus.
[25:12] They were religious in an outward way, but they had no love for Jesus in their heart. They didn't know the first thing about him. They hated him because they weren't, they didn't belong to him.
[25:25] What a judgment that was on the world. Get Jesus away.
[25:36] They thought they had seen the last of him. They hoped they had seen the last of him. And you know, sadly, that mentality still exists to this day all over this world. And when we, when we read from in various ways and when it, how Christians are being murdered and persecuted and abused all over this world, we say, how, why, how on earth can that happen?
[26:00] Well, let's think of Jesus. See, nothing has changed. The hatred that was shown to Jesus 2,000 years ago is still being shown all over the world today.
[26:12] That's the reason. The hatred that lies in the heart, the human heart, against the Lord Jesus. Well, the world never saw him again.
[26:25] Jesus revealed himself after the resurrection to many people, not just to his own disciples, but to hundreds. But we don't know of him ever showing himself, revealing himself to only but to his people.
[26:38] The only one you could argue and say that he revealed himself to, in his risen, resurrected state, to somebody who was an unbeliever was Saul of Tarshish. But that was in order for Saul to be converted.
[26:53] So the year was this great judgment upon the world where Jesus is saying, yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you'll see me. Because I live, you will also live.
[27:05] And here's Jesus, he's just going to die. But he's talking about life. And that, of course, is what his death brought to us. It brought life. And then, Judas, of course, we find Judas, not Judas Iscariot, the other Judas, when Jesus keeps saying about whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.
[27:26] You see, here is this great link between obedience and love. And the Christian seeks to obey the Lord, not out of a slavish fear, but out of a heart of love.
[27:42] When you love somebody, you want to do, if at all possible, what you know will please them. You don't want to, if you love somebody, you don't want to spend all your time antagonizing them.
[27:55] When you love somebody, you want, if possible, to do what you know will please them. And that's how the Christian, that is the heart of obedience, is seeking to do what we know Jesus wants us to do.
[28:09] And Jesus is showing that there is tremendous blessing that comes from this. Because, in our obedience, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit come into the heart of the believer.
[28:25] Because, Judas says, Lord, how is it? You see, Judas hadn't grasped Jesus was going to die and then rise from the dead and reveal himself to them in the resurrected.
[28:37] Judas is saying, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world? Then Jesus says, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my Father will love him and we, that's Father and Son, will come to him and make our home with him.
[28:57] Now, you know, sometimes we don't grasp just what we have. In the ministry of the Holy Spirit today, you have Father, Son, through the Holy Spirit coming to dwell, to make their home with you.
[29:16] I just find that sometimes you come to a verse or a section of God's word and it almost blows your mind and you say, wow, I can hardly believe that.
[29:26] But it's true. This is, if we want to know where the presence of God can be seen in this world or experienced in this world, it is in the heart of every Christian.
[29:41] Father and Son, through the Spirit, have come to make their home in the people of God. The Creator God, the God who brought this world into being by the word of his power, he has chosen to come and to make his home in your heart.
[30:01] It really is the most extraordinary thing and it just shows us what we have because so often we wonder, what do we have? So, if we want to know the presence of the Lord who is already with us, then we need to be seeking to walk in his way.
[30:22] And if today, this is where we have to challenge ourselves and examine ourselves because if today you're saying to yourself, you know, I am completely oblivious in any way to the presence of God.
[30:37] I feel empty, completely empty, just not aware of him at all, at all, at all. Then we have to ask ourselves, am I living in some way that is displeasing, that is grieving the Lord?
[30:53] Because we're told in the scripture that we can grieve God's spirit. God's spirit, we're told, remember how the spirit came down in the shape or in the form of a dove? And the dove is likened to this very sensitive bird.
[31:07] So it's very easy for us to grieve God's spirit by what we do or we don't do, by what we say or we don't say. And if we are grieving God's spirit, then the spirit, while not taken away, withdrawn, isn't ministering in the way where father and son's presence are known to us.
[31:32] Still there, but not manifesting, not revealing. So we've always got to ask ourselves, now that doesn't always mean that if we're not aware of the spirit of the presence of the Lord, that it's because of us.
[31:47] And sometimes the Lord will test us. Sometimes he will hide his face from us and leave us in times to strengthen our faith, to test us, to try us. There's loads of reasons.
[31:58] But often, often the reason is with ourselves. That's why it says in scripture, let us, let a man or a woman examine themselves.
[32:10] That is something that we've always got to see. But we see here that there is a great reward in walking closely with the Lord. As it says in Micah, he has shown you what is good and what does the Lord require of you, but that you will love kindness and that you will walk humbly to do justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
[32:36] May the Lord grant us grace in him to seek him and to know him because it changes life. If today you don't know the Lord, I would appeal to you.
[32:46] Maybe, maybe there are some of you, it doesn't, it's not too big a deal. Well, it was like that for many in the past. But you know, once you taste that the Lord is good, you know what you want?
[33:01] You want others to taste likewise. That's one of the, one of the things that every Christian they want and they say, you know, now that I've tasted the Lord, that the Lord is good, the Lord is gracious, I want others to know exactly the same.
[33:17] Well, I pray that you will all know this Jesus as your own Savior. Let us pray. Lord, our God, we pray to bless us. We give thanks for this great gospel.
[33:28] Oh, Lord, we give thanks for the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We give thanks, oh, Lord, for the way that you have manifested yourself to us. We give thanks for the amazing words that we have there of how Father and Son come to, through the Holy Spirit, come to make their home in the people of God.
[33:49] How amazing, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, that John Newton wrote, and how true. We pray then to bless us and to guide us.
[34:01] Bless the cup of tea in the hall. We pray that you're blessing upon all the young people again, we pray. Watch over us and do us good and take away our sin in Jesus' name.
[34:12] Amen. Amen. Amen. Our concluding psalm is the end of Psalm 91 from the Scottish Psalter. We're just going to sing the last three verses of the psalm.
[34:24] Psalm 91 in the Scottish Psalter. And the tune is St. Stephen. Psalm 91 and at verse 14.
[34:38] Psalm 91 page 352 Psalm 91 verse 14.
[35:12] Because of me he set his love. I'll sing and set him free. Because I pray He set his love.
[35:26] I'll sing and set him free. Because I pray In the ear of God, I will live set on high.
[35:47] You call on me, I answer him. I will be with him still, in trouble to deliver him.
[36:12] And honor him, I will. With length of his unto his mind, I will live satisfied.
[36:34] I also my salvation will cause his eyes to see.
[36:51] Now may the grace, mercy, and peace of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit rest and abide upon each one of you now and forevermore. Amen. Amen.