This morning we're continuing on in the Gospel of John, and you're welcome to open up there in your Bible.
If you have one, or if you don't, you can always use the one in the seat in front of you there.
And this morning we're talking about the Holy Spirit.
I don't think we've done a message yet just about the Holy Spirit.
And so I'm glad that we've come to this now in John's Gospel.
Probably most of us have questions and wonderings about the Holy Spirit.
So we're going to read this morning what Jesus said in John chapter 14.
This is the evening before Jesus' death.
Jesus is talking with his disciples.
They're still in the upper room where they ate the last supper.
And this is what Jesus said to his disciples.
If you love me, keep my commands.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever.
The Spirit of Truth.
The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.
But you know him.
For he lives with you and will be in you.
Then come down to verse 25.
All this I have spoken while still with you.
But the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,
will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
Now let's for a moment just acknowledge some of our thoughts and feelings about the Holy Spirit
before we take a closer look at these words of Jesus.
For some of us here this morning, you might be thinking,
yes, finally, let's talk about the Holy Spirit.
We don't hear about him enough.
And of course, apart from him, we can't do anything.
Others of you may be thinking,
hmm, the Holy Spirit.
I've always wanted to learn more about the Holy Spirit.
I read about him in my Bible, but this idea of God's Spirit living in me,
it's so strange, so mysterious.
How does it work?
Some of you have believed in the Holy Spirit since the day you first were taught about him,
and maybe you feel that you just don't feel or sense his presence in you.
And then others of you might say,
well, I have no doubt that the Holy Spirit is in me.
There's a still small voice inside that keeps calling out to me,
reminding me of the truth,
convicting me of sin.
Others of you might say,
what still small voice?
I'm not sure if I've ever heard that.
How do you know that it's the Spirit,
the Holy Spirit speaking to you,
and not just your own thoughts?
Some of you might say,
well, I just can't explain it,
but I just have this sense,
this feeling,
this prompting.
It must be him.
And others might say,
well, that's interesting.
What about the times when that prompting or that feeling seems to have been wrong,
and it wasn't true,
or it wasn't the right thing to do after all?
And so we easily can get all turned around and jumbled up about this thing of the Holy Spirit
living in us who believe.
Sometimes it can even lead to doubt and disillusionment.
We might wonder,
if God's Spirit really lives in me,
then why do I still feel so strongly the pull of sin?
Or if God's Spirit really lives in me,
why doesn't it feel like it?
Shouldn't I be hearing a regular voice speaking to me somewhere deep within?
Some of us hear that,
and others of us,
for some reason,
don't seem to hear that.
There's a whole kind of bunch of questions that we have when it comes to the Holy Spirit,
and I wish I could answer all of these this morning,
but we won't be able to do all of that this morning.
But hopefully,
as we consider Jesus' words,
we'll get a little bit more clarity and confidence
when it comes to the Holy Spirit.
So let's look at what Jesus said.
If you love me,
keep my commands,
and I will ask the Father,
and he will give you another advocate
to help you and be with you forever,
the Spirit of Truth.
Notice how Jesus refers to this Spirit.
He describes him as another advocate,
or depending on your Bible translation,
another counselor,
another helper,
another comforter.
We'll come back to that whole discussion in a second.
Jesus also calls him the Spirit of Truth.
And then talking about this same advocate,
again down in verse 26,
he refers to this Spirit of Truth
as the Holy Spirit,
the advocate,
the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in my name,
will teach you all things.
Now this probably sounded strange and mysterious
even to the disciples that night.
And yet it's not something
that they'd never heard about before.
If you're familiar with the Old Testament,
all of those Hebrew scriptures
in the first part of the Bible,
the Spirit of God is mentioned
all throughout them.
He's referred to,
he's described.
We'll look at several of those passages quickly.
God's Spirit was there at the beginning
when the world was created.
When the earth was still formless and empty,
it says that the Spirit of God
was hovering over the waters.
Then in the days of the flood,
just before it,
the Lord said,
My Spirit will not contend with man forever.
There was great wickedness on the earth in those days.
Then we fast forward all the way
to the days of Moses at Mount Sinai.
And it was there that God said
that He was going to put His Spirit
on Bezalel
so that He would have exceptional abilities
to do artistic design work
on the Ark of the Covenant
and the tabernacle.
Around that same time,
Numbers 11 verse 17,
God told Moses
that He would take some of the Spirit
that He had given to Moses
and put it on the leaders,
the elders of Israel.
And just a few verses down
in that same passage,
verse 25,
we read that the Spirit
came to rest on these elders
and they began to prophesy.
They began to speak on God's behalf.
Then we could fast forward
to the period of the judges,
the leaders of Israel,
after they had come into the promised land
but before they got their first human king.
And we read again and again
through the book of Judges
that the Spirit of the Lord
or the Spirit of Yahweh
came upon these men
and even women powerfully.
And because of that,
they did great and wonderful things
to save Israel,
to deliver the nation
through difficult times.
One of the most famous
of those judges
is of course Samson.
Samson received superhuman strength
from the Spirit of God
and did some pretty awesome things with it,
fighting off, it seems,
an entire army single-handedly,
ripping a lion apart
with his bare hands
and other things.
Then we fast forward
even further than that
to the days of Nehemiah.
And he and the people
back in his day,
they reflected on all the stuff
that God had been doing
in the history of Israel.
And this is what they said.
They said,
the Spirit of the Lord
will come powerfully upon you.
Oh, that's not...
Sorry.
I'm jumping ahead.
I'm getting ahead of myself here.
Before Nehemiah
came the period of the kings.
And God said there,
the Spirit of the Lord
will come powerfully upon you,
referring to Saul,
the first human king of Israel.
And you will prophesy.
You'll be changed
into a different person.
And then we read later
that the Spirit of the Lord
left from Saul
and an evil spirit
tormented him.
Then after that,
we read about how
the Spirit of the Lord
came powerfully upon David,
God's chosen king for Israel.
Then we get to Nehemiah.
Fast forward all the way
to Nehemiah.
And he reflected back
and they acknowledged
that it was God's Spirit
that was warning the people
all those years
as the prophets spoke.
It was God's Spirit
who was enabling them
to speak God's words
to the people
and warning them,
calling them to turn back
to the Lord.
Then we come to the poetry
of the Bible,
the Psalms,
the prayers,
and the songs.
And the Spirit of God
is mentioned many times there.
This is one of David's prayers
where he prays
and admits to God
that there's nowhere
that he can hide from him
because God's Spirit,
his presence,
knows no boundaries
or limits.
He can go everywhere.
In fact,
he is everywhere
all at once
by his Spirit.
As God said
through the prophet Jeremiah,
do I not fill heaven
and earth?
declares the Lord.
Jeremiah 23, verse 24.
And then as we come
to the last words
of the prophets
before Jesus came,
there are quite a few prophecies
and promises
that were made
about the Spirit of God.
Like this one
in Isaiah chapter 11,
verse 1 and 2.
That there would be
a special son,
a descendant of Jesse,
who would have
the Spirit of Yahweh
rest on him.
And again,
in Isaiah chapter 42,
verse 1,
there would be
a special servant
of God,
a chosen one.
And God would put
His Spirit on him
and He would bring
justice to the nations.
These promises
began to be fulfilled
in Jesus.
It was John the baptizer
who testified.
He said,
I saw the Spirit of God
coming down upon Jesus
at Jesus' baptism.
And then finally,
there were several
wonderful promises made
through the prophets
that someday God
would pour out His Spirit
on all of His people.
Perhaps one of the most famous
is Joel chapter 2,
verse 28.
And afterward,
I will pour out
My Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters
will prophesy,
your old men
will dream dreams,
your young men
will see visions.
So all of this
is there
as kind of a foundation
to what Jesus is saying.
This is the same Spirit of God
that Jesus is referring to.
The Holy Spirit,
just like David and Isaiah
referred to Him,
the one who came
and brought all sorts
of wonderful things
to pass
all the way
from the creation
of the world
onto the present day.
This is who Jesus
is talking about
when He refers
to this other advocate,
the Spirit of truth.
It's the very Spirit
of God Himself.
Not a new Spirit,
not a different Spirit,
but the same Holy Spirit
of God
who has been there
moving mysteriously
through the ages.
And now,
what does Jesus say
about this Holy Spirit
now?
He says,
I will ask the Father
and He will give you
another advocate
to help you
and be with you forever,
the Spirit of truth.
The world cannot accept Him
because it neither sees Him
nor knows Him,
but you know Him,
for He lives with you
and will be in you.
Jesus promises
that the disciples
will not be left alone.
They won't be abandoned.
No.
Jesus will ask the Father,
that's God the Father,
and God the Father
will give them
the Spirit of truth.
And this is just
one of those fascinating things
that Jesus said.
In these two verses alone,
we see what we call
the triune nature of God.
There's Jesus,
the man that's sitting
in the room with Him,
who we've talked about already
is the divine Son of God,
the one who claims
to be one with the Father.
And He,
when He leaves,
He's going to ask
the Father,
that's God the Father,
and God is going
to send His Spirit,
who is also God.
It's God's own Spirit.
All three of them
are here
in just these two verses.
Jesus talks about
His Father
and the Spirit
as if they're
distinct persons.
And yet,
He also speaks
as though there's
this mysterious unity
between them.
I and the Father
are one,
said Jesus.
If you're new
to Christianity
or to the Bible,
this does sound weird.
There's a reason
we believe these things,
though.
It's because this is
how God has described Himself.
These are the words
that He has chosen.
This is how Jesus
describes God
and the Spirit.
In some way,
that's beyond
our understanding.
There's a different
kind of being
than us.
We have some similarities
to our Creator,
but there are
some major differences.
We are all,
each one of us,
just one person.
But God,
according to His own
Word,
is
tri-personal.
His fullness
is somehow shared
by three persons,
Father,
Son,
and Spirit.
I mean,
how else could Jesus
ask the Father
to give the Spirit
unless He's somehow
a distinct person
from the Father?
How else could the Father
give the Spirit
and the Spirit
come from the Father
unless the Spirit
is somehow
distinct
from Jesus
and the Father?
So it is kind of
a wild thing
that Jesus says here.
Not only is there
Father,
Son,
and Spirit,
but Jesus describes
some of how they relate
to one another.
Jesus asks the Father.
He talks to the Father.
The Spirit is given
by the Father
or sent
by the Father.
It's not Jesus Himself
being sent back
to the disciples.
This is somehow
another advocate,
another person.
It's no wonder
we get all jumbled up
and perplexed
when we start thinking
about the Spirit.
I mean,
Jesus,
we can relate to.
He's visible.
He's touchable.
He's tangible.
He's human.
He has all the stuff
of humanity
like we do.
He's like us.
But the Spirit,
I mean,
that's just something
that we can't relate to.
It's outside
of our experience.
A Spirit,
by definition,
is,
for the most part,
a being
without a body.
And we read
in the Bible
that there are
created spirits
like the angels.
We read
that there are
evil spirits
who are fallen angels.
We read
that there is
the spirit of man
which refers
to that inward
part of us
that's immaterial.
But then there is
the Holy Spirit
God's own spirit,
the spirit
who is unlike
any other.
And Jesus
tells them
that this
spirit of God,
the Holy Spirit,
is going to come
to them.
He's going to be
given to them.
And Jesus
tells us a couple
helpful things
about how
he will come.
Imagine for a moment
that you're there
in the room
among Jesus'
disciples,
and Jesus
is saying
this to you
and you're
listening
and you're
wondering,
like how
will he come?
What should I
expect?
Is it going to
feel all tingly
inside?
Or will I
start prophesying?
Or will I get
superhuman strength
like Samson?
What's this
going to be like?
Jesus helps
them a little bit
with this.
He tells them
a little of the
how.
First of all,
Jesus says that
the Spirit of
Truth will be
with them
and will be
in them.
So there's a
real sense in
which they will
not be left
alone by Jesus
because the
Spirit of God
will come
and he will
be with them.
And,
you know,
it's not as
though the
Spirit of God
is just going
to kind of
hover around
near their
shoulder
wherever they
go.
No,
it's better
than that.
It's deeper
than that.
Jesus says
he will be
in you,
like inside
you.
The Spirit
of God
himself will
be inside
of you.
This might
bring to
mind some
of those
stories from
the Old
Testament where
God's Spirit
came upon
men like
Moses or
David or
Samson.
This is going
to be the
new internal
reality for
the disciples.
disciples.
But then
as soon as
we think
about God's
Spirit coming
to live
in us,
maybe we
can't help
but think
about Saul,
that first
king of
Israel,
the man
who had
the Spirit
but then
lost the
Spirit.
The Spirit
of God
left him
when he
started to
turn away
from the
Lord and
disobey
him.
But it's
here that we
see something
very special
and unique
in what
Jesus says.
this isn't
going to be
like the
days of
the Old
Testament
where God's
Spirit came
and went.
When the
Spirit of
Truth comes
to you,
he will be
with you
forever,
says Jesus.
Forever.
We're talking
about something
new and
wonderful that
God is doing
here.
God's going
to give his
own Spirit
to these men
and that
Spirit will
take up
permanent
residence inside
of them.
This is
wonderful news.
But still
we're probably
wondering,
well, what
will this be
like?
What will
this feel
like to
have God
himself living
in me?
God's own
Spirit.
Well, Jesus
tells us a
little bit
more, but
not from our
perspective what
it will look
like, but what
it will look
like from the
world's
perspective.
Verse 17,
he says,
the world
cannot accept
him, that's
the Spirit
of truth,
because it
neither sees
him nor
knows him, but
you know him,
for he lives
with you and
will be in
you.
I find this
so helpful.
Jesus says
that the world
does not see
the Spirit.
The Spirit.
So the Spirit
of God will
come upon
these men,
but from the
world's
perspective,
the people
of the world,
they won't
see the
Spirit of
God.
He'll be
invisible to
them.
It's not
like the
disciples will
have a new
and permanent
glow on all
their skin
that's showing
that the Spirit
lives in them,
or that their
eyes will
suddenly shine
like little
flashlights
because the
Spirit has
taken up
residence in
them.
It's not
like their
bodies will
somehow weigh
15 pounds
more than
they look like
they should
because the
Spirit is
in them.
I mean,
a little
later in
the story,
the disciples
will see
the Spirit
come down
at Pentecost
upon them
in the
upper room,
but the
world isn't
there.
The world
doesn't see
it happen.
And there
were some
real and
tangible effects
of the Spirit
on the day
of Pentecost.
The disciples
began speaking
in other
languages and
preaching the
good news of
Jesus,
and later on
went on to
do signs and
miracles and
wonders.
But what did
the world
see?
They saw
ordinary men
come out of
the house.
To some,
they were just
a bunch of
loony bins
who had had
too much to
drink.
To others,
oh,
there's those
men of
Galilee spreading
the cult of
Jesus.
To still
others,
yeah,
those guys
are a bunch
of professional
swindlers
peddling a
bunch of
lies,
or street
performers,
magicians,
that Jesus
was executed
a month ago.
Why should
we believe
them?
Well,
this verse
helps me
understand it.
The world
cannot accept
him because
it neither
sees him
nor knows
him.
There's a
very real
sense in
which something
will be
different about
the disciples
and the
world around
them will
not understand
it.
Jesus
says they
won't
understand
it because
they can't
see him.
He'll be
invisible,
undetectable.
They won't
understand it
because they
don't know
him.
And this
is a sad
thing,
but in
another sense
I find this
comforting because
it tells me
that it's
okay for
the world to
look at us
and think
that we're
weird when
we talk
about the
Holy Spirit
of God
living in
us.
The reality
is that the
disciples and
all true
believers,
we will
know that
we have a
relationship with
the living
God.
We will
know that
he lives
in us,
that his
spirit is
there with
us,
and the
world will
have a hard
time with
this,
says Jesus,
because they
can't see
him,
and they
don't know
him.
You could
take a
Christian's
body,
you could
run all
the scientific
and medical
tests you
want on it,
and the
results will
come back
the same
every time
as if we
were any
other human
being in
the world.
The spirit
of God
in us
cannot be
seen or
detected like
that.
He's
invisible.
He's
spirit.
He's not
flesh or
bone or
material.
how he
interacts with
us inside
here.
It's beyond
what science
or psychology
can tell.
But Jesus
assures us
the spirit
of truth
will be
with you
and he
will be
in you.
It'll be a
spiritual reality
that's just
unseen,
unappreciated,
unaccepted
by the
world.
well let's
come back
for a moment
to this
description
of the
spirit.
Another
advocate
says
Jesus.
I will
ask the
father and
he will
give you
another
advocate
that he
may be
with you
forever.
This is
another one
of those
places
where there's
debate
about how
to properly
translate
the word
from the
Greek
language
that the
New
Testament
was
written
in.
So depending
on the
translation
that you
have in
front of
you,
it might
say something
different.
It's either
advocate
or
comforter
or
counselor
or
helper.
There's even
a couple
translators out
there who
look at this
word and
say,
well there's
just no
English
equivalent
to it.
So let's
just transliterate
it directly
from Greek
right into
English,
just like
we did
with
baptism.
I will
ask the
Father and
he will
give you
another
paraclete.
Well when I
look at that
I kind of
laugh because
paraclete just
doesn't mean
anything to
any of us,
does it?
So why all
the different
translations
here?
Apparently
in Greek
literature
outside the
Bible this
word was
used to
refer to a
legal assistant
or legal
advocate.
So some
go with
advocate.
others are
just not so
sure that
Jesus is
really picking
up on that
specific legal
usage of
the word and
so they look
more at the
verb form of
this word which
kind of means to
call alongside,
to encourage,
to exhort.
And so
some translations
go with
counselor,
comforter,
helper,
all of which
relate to that
idea.
the problem
with all of
these words is
that they
carry baggage
for us today
in English.
As Don
Carson says,
the first thing
that comes to
mind when we
hear comforter
is a quilt
or maybe
somebody who's
handing out
Kleenex boxes
at a funeral.
Helper,
that's pretty
good,
but for some
reason in
English when we
hear helper we
often think of
someone who's
inferior.
Somebody who's
kind of there
but not really
in charge,
not really
just kind of
doing what we
need a little
bit of help
with.
Counselor
seems to have
a lot of
merit to it
but probably
we shouldn't
think of the
Holy Spirit
as like
the school
guidance
counselor
or a
marriage
counselor.
And even
though some
think that
the legal
overtones of
advocate
hit it just
right,
that word
advocate just
kind of leaves
us feeling
cold or
like we're
in trouble.
He's more
than just a
legal consultant
or a defense
attorney that's
giving us
advice about
how to answer
the charges
being laid
against us.
So this is
my way to
understand this
word.
Hopefully this
is helpful to
you.
I simply
like to take
the word
right out
and just
read the
context
to see
what is
he getting
at?
I will
ask the
father
and he
will give
you another
blank
that he
may be
with you
forever.
At the
bottom of
all this
what has
Jesus been
telling them?
He's been
telling them
that he
is leaving
them but
now he's
assuring them
that they
will not
be abandoned.
They
will not
be left
all alone.
Part of
that assurance
comes in
verse 18
when Jesus
says I'm
going to
come back.
But in
the meantime
the other
part of
that assurance
is that
they will
not be
left alone
while he's
gone.
Jesus
will ask
the father
and the
father will
send another
blank to
be with
them.
again in
verse 25
and 26
what's the
concern?
Jesus
says all
this I
have spoken
while still
with you
but the
blank the
holy spirit
whom the
father will
send in
my name
will teach
you all
things and
will remind
you of
everything I
have said
to you.
What's the
concern?
Jesus is
leaving and
with Jesus
going also
goes all
of that
guidance and
instruction that
he's been
giving.
All of the
words that
he's been
speaking to
them from
God that
help.
But Jesus
says you
will not be
left without
that guidance
and instruction.
You will not
be left without
God's word
because the
blank the
holy spirit
will teach
you all
things and
remind you of
everything I
have said to
you.
So this is
how I get
at the
meaning of
the word.
The holy
spirit is
another of
the thing
that Jesus
has been
for his
disciples.
He will
do what
Jesus did
for the
disciples.
Just like
Jesus taught
them and
encouraged
them and
warned them
and gave
instruction to
them and
helped them
figure out how
to think about
all sorts of
things.
Different
situations,
different worries
in life.
In Jesus'
absence, the
spirit of
truth will
be with
them and
do the
same thing.
He will
be to
them a
counselor,
just as
Jesus has
been a
counselor to
them.
He will
be to
them a
comforter,
just as
Jesus has
been a
comforter.
He will
be to
them a
helping guide
and a
shepherd,
just like
Jesus has
been to
them a
helping guide
and shepherd.
word.
I mean,
this is
good news
for the
disciples,
isn't it?
Some of
these men
are going
to sit
down and
write these
gospel accounts
out for
the whole
world to
read for
the next
2,000
years.
And what
if they
can't
remember how
Jesus said
that thing?
Like,
what was
the word
that Jesus
used that
one time?
the Holy
Spirit will
remind you
of everything
I have
said to
you.
This is
wonderful.
He will
teach you
all things,
says Jesus.
Everything
else that
God wants
you to
know,
don't worry
about it.
The Holy
Spirit will
be there
in my
place,
and he
will teach
it to
you.
This is
wonderful.
This is a
beautiful thing
about the
Holy Spirit.
It's as
though Jesus
will continue
to be with
the disciples.
Things will
continue to
go as they
have gone,
but instead
of Jesus
being with
them in
the flesh,
like walking
around beside
them, now
Jesus and
the Father
will be with
them through
the Spirit
who comes to
live in
each one of
them.
All the
things that
Jesus has
been providing
them, the
Holy Spirit
of God will
continue to
provide for
them so
that they
can do the
work that
God has
given them
to do, and
that they
can play the
role that
God has
given them
to play in
his story.
Now I'm
out of time
for this
morning, and
we haven't
even hardly
got to the
things that
we're all
wondering
about.
The things
like, well
that's what
Jesus said
to them, but
what about
the rest of
us?
What about
all believers?
Do we
get the
Holy Spirit
living in
us like
that?
Working in
us like
that?
I'm going
to tell you
to come
back next
week.
We're going
to continue
on this
topic, because
we haven't
talked a lot
about it as
a church.
Hopefully
we'll get
to some
fuller and
clearer answers
to that
question of
how the
Holy Spirit
lives in
us and
works in
all of us
who belong
to Jesus.
Let's
pray.
Father in
heaven, we
thank you
for your
spirit.
We thank
you that
you live
in us,
that we're
not left
alone.
We don't
have to
figure out
all this
life by
ourselves.
We thank
you that
you convict
us of
sin, that
you call
us back
to you
again and
again.
We thank
you that
you remind
us of
the truth.
We thank
you that
you open
our eyes
up to
see what's
really going
on.
We thank
you that
you give
us life
where there
was deadness
in our
souls.
I pray
that we
would all
go on the
journey together
and understand
more and
more of
your Holy
Spirit,
this wonderful
gift that
you've given
us.
We ask
this in
Jesus'
name.
Amen.