WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.280 I think it's fair to say that sometimes as Christians we just need to be reassured. 00:00:06.280 --> 00:00:08.620 We need to be reassured who we are. 00:00:08.620 --> 00:00:14.919 We need to reset our thinking a little bit and reset our minds based on what we know 00:00:14.919 --> 00:00:17.559 about God and what we know about Jesus. 00:00:17.559 --> 00:00:20.519 We just need to remind it. 00:00:20.519 --> 00:00:24.879 So this evening I'm just going to remind you of what it is to be a Christian. 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:28.240 What a great thing it is to be a Christian. 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:34.560 And the good thing about something like that is that God knows that as the case as well. 00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:37.359 He knows that we are quite often troubled. 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:44.280 He recognizes that sometimes we feel very alone and distant and far from God. 00:00:44.280 --> 00:00:49.079 And we know that because Jesus is speaking exactly into that situation here with the 00:00:49.079 --> 00:00:50.519 disciples. 00:00:50.519 --> 00:00:56.320 He speaks incredible truth into these disciples' fear-filled lives. 00:00:56.320 --> 00:01:02.039 There was a sense in these chapters of impending doom for the disciples. 00:01:02.039 --> 00:01:03.560 Things weren't great. 00:01:03.560 --> 00:01:05.840 Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. 00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:07.840 They knew that he would probably die there. 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:13.359 He spoke about leaving them and they were confused and things were very difficult. 00:01:13.359 --> 00:01:21.159 There was this kind of heaviness in the air, gloomy sense of what was about to happen. 00:01:21.159 --> 00:01:28.359 And he at this point reveals one of the great realities of our faith is that he's going 00:01:28.359 --> 00:01:36.079 to send in time, he's going to send the Holy Spirit to be as we are reminded in these verses, 00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:37.079 our helper. 00:01:37.079 --> 00:01:39.079 The Holy Spirit is going to come. 00:01:39.079 --> 00:01:43.599 Now, we're looking in the evening, I have done for the last number of weeks and will 00:01:43.599 --> 00:01:47.280 continue to do for the next number of weeks looking at the person and work of the Holy 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:48.280 Spirit. 00:01:48.280 --> 00:01:54.760 You've seen him as the breath of God in creation, the giver of life, the one who reveals Scripture 00:01:54.760 --> 00:02:02.280 to us and helps us to understand it, and who is the author of New Life when we become Christians. 00:02:02.280 --> 00:02:08.639 And there's a lot of interactions and there's a lot of things that dovetail together. 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:13.400 And this evening we're looking at this role, this really specific role we have of being 00:02:13.400 --> 00:02:19.599 our helper when Jesus returns to the Father. 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:28.280 Now as worshipers, Christians, as worshipers, I think we share similar experiences in some 00:02:28.280 --> 00:02:29.879 ways to the disciples. 00:02:29.879 --> 00:02:38.000 Obviously the situation isn't the same for us, but we can identify with a lot of what 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:41.480 was going on in the disciples' minds and hearts. 00:02:41.479 --> 00:02:47.599 There's times where we don't sense God's comfort, where we don't feel any different 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:51.599 as Christians if we were not Christians. 00:02:51.599 --> 00:02:56.000 We hear His words, we may become a church, we read the Bible, and we know the words, 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:59.000 but they're not really finding a home in our hearts. 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:01.239 They're not really making any difference. 00:03:01.239 --> 00:03:07.199 It's a bit like these disciples who had previously heard three times from Jesus at different 00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:08.199 points. 00:03:08.199 --> 00:03:11.639 They're going up to Jerusalem, I'm going to die, and on the third day I'm going to rise 00:03:11.639 --> 00:03:12.639 again. 00:03:12.639 --> 00:03:18.560 I mean, that's depressing news, but it's also incredible news. 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:19.879 It wasn't just bleak. 00:03:19.879 --> 00:03:26.319 There was this amazing resurrection truth that He taught them several times before His 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:30.399 crucifixion, but it was like they just simply couldn't hear it. 00:03:30.399 --> 00:03:35.679 It wasn't going in, and they didn't sense any kind of assurance or comfort from His 00:03:35.679 --> 00:03:36.679 word. 00:03:36.680 --> 00:03:43.640 They were confused by Jesus' teaching, even in these chapters 14, 15, and 16. 00:03:43.640 --> 00:03:49.200 We didn't read all of the chapter 14, but Jesus says that I'm going to prepare a place 00:03:49.200 --> 00:03:55.960 for you, and you can feel the frustration in Thomas who says, Lord, we don't know where 00:03:55.960 --> 00:03:58.400 you're going. 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:00.159 How can we know the way? 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:05.080 There's a real frustration because they can't understand His teaching. 00:04:05.080 --> 00:04:07.480 It doesn't seem to be making sense. 00:04:07.480 --> 00:04:11.720 So they're troubled, and their anxious Jesus says, don't let your hearts be troubled in 00:04:11.720 --> 00:04:13.240 verse 1. 00:04:13.240 --> 00:04:19.080 But there's this fear of abandonment, of being left alone, of being orphaned. 00:04:19.080 --> 00:04:24.120 Jesus again speaks to them in verse 18 about that, I'm not going to leave you as orphans 00:04:24.120 --> 00:04:29.800 with all the terror of that image for them. 00:04:29.800 --> 00:04:31.199 Don't sense God at all. 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:36.719 And we can associate, I think, with some of these feelings, lack of comfort, confused 00:04:36.719 --> 00:04:43.000 by God's word and how difficult sometimes it seems to be, troubled and anxious. 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:49.279 Heaven seemed to be like brass as if nothing is getting through, and our circumstances 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:56.240 can bring within us a great trouble in our faith. 00:04:56.240 --> 00:05:02.319 So I'm going to just introduce it by saying something just to set the scene, and then 00:05:02.319 --> 00:05:08.759 I'm going to mention two things that are so good about the Holy Spirit being our helper. 00:05:08.759 --> 00:05:15.800 I think it's important to remember as Christians, worshipers, as people who worship the living 00:05:15.800 --> 00:05:24.160 God through Jesus Christ, that as we worship Him, we worship Him in spirit and in truth. 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:28.680 So that's the relationship we have with Jesus. 00:05:28.680 --> 00:05:35.920 Alistair, one of our elders on Friday, read to us the story of Jesus with the woman at 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:36.920 the well in Samaria. 00:05:36.920 --> 00:05:44.360 And it was on that occasion that Jesus spoke about these amazing words that true worship 00:05:44.360 --> 00:05:47.040 is worship and spirit and in truth. 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:52.640 I want to say that as kind of a preamble this evening for us to remember that our relationship 00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:55.360 with Jesus Christ is a spiritual one. 00:05:55.360 --> 00:05:57.800 His presence in our lives is spiritual. 00:05:57.800 --> 00:06:00.560 In other words, it's not material. 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:02.039 And I know you know that. 00:06:02.039 --> 00:06:03.439 But it's by faith. 00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:07.000 We have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ by faith. 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:08.000 God is spiritual. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:10.759 We've been seeing that in our study of God as where God is a spirit. 00:06:10.759 --> 00:06:12.419 We can't see Him. 00:06:12.419 --> 00:06:17.959 And that means that there's immediately a problem for us as human beings, as Christians, 00:06:17.959 --> 00:06:22.259 because we're called into a relationship with someone we can't see. 00:06:22.259 --> 00:06:24.959 Someone who is God, someone who is not like us. 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:25.959 He's eternal. 00:06:25.959 --> 00:06:29.800 He comes as we saw earlier from another kingdom and another domain. 00:06:29.800 --> 00:06:35.480 And we enter a different kingdom when we follow Jesus Christ as Lord, a spiritual kingdom. 00:06:35.480 --> 00:06:41.759 So as Christians, our relationship with Jesus Christ is real. 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:43.839 And His presence in our lives is real. 00:06:43.839 --> 00:06:50.959 But it's not going to be like holding hands with your dad or smelling your mom's perfume 00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:55.759 or the physical security that you get from someone's hug. 00:06:55.759 --> 00:06:58.919 It's never going to be like that. 00:06:58.919 --> 00:07:04.479 And sometimes we need to rethink and retune ourselves to remind ourselves that the relationship 00:07:04.479 --> 00:07:08.399 we have is by faith and it's spiritual. 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:12.079 When we say God isn't listening, God doesn't hear. 00:07:12.079 --> 00:07:14.120 I can't sense Him in my life. 00:07:14.120 --> 00:07:15.639 What do we mean by that? 00:07:15.639 --> 00:07:22.639 Are we thinking in purely kind of human terms and are we forgetting that it's a relationship 00:07:22.639 --> 00:07:25.479 that is spiritual that we know by faith? 00:07:25.479 --> 00:07:32.599 Are we expecting too much to be tangible that doesn't require the walk of faith? 00:07:32.599 --> 00:07:38.319 So His presence in our lives is spiritual, but it's grounded in revelation. 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:40.479 So it's in spirit and in truth. 00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:48.439 So His truth is grounded in the Word, in His communication to us. 00:07:48.439 --> 00:07:52.920 And that is a realignment for us as well. 00:07:52.920 --> 00:07:56.520 We're moving from what is temporal in our lives, in our relationship with Christ to 00:07:56.520 --> 00:07:58.600 what is eternal. 00:07:58.600 --> 00:08:01.120 And we are listening to His Word. 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:10.200 And yet within that there's the incredible paradox that Jesus, the Word, becomes flesh, 00:08:10.199 --> 00:08:17.439 becomes one of us so that in condescending to our need and in His redemptive power, He 00:08:17.439 --> 00:08:22.719 becomes one of us and therefore we can see God at that level. 00:08:22.719 --> 00:08:28.199 And He speaks about that in verse 9 where He says, you know, Thomas, don't you know 00:08:28.199 --> 00:08:33.480 if you've seen me, you've seen the Father, a great mysterious truth about the reality 00:08:33.480 --> 00:08:36.659 of Jesus being God in the flesh. 00:08:36.659 --> 00:08:41.199 So I just wanted to bed what I'm going to say in that truth that we worship in spirit 00:08:41.199 --> 00:08:50.039 and in truth, and the relationship we have with God is one by faith that is not the same 00:08:50.039 --> 00:08:52.719 as any other relationship we have. 00:08:52.719 --> 00:08:57.000 And sometimes I think we blame God for His distance from being far away because we're 00:08:57.000 --> 00:09:02.039 looking for something much more as it were tangible that is not by faith. 00:09:02.039 --> 00:09:10.039 Anyway, moving on, the Holy Spirit, we're told that the Holy Spirit in verse 16 is our 00:09:10.039 --> 00:09:11.039 helper. 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:14.120 If you love me and keep my commandments, I will ask the Father, He will give you another 00:09:14.120 --> 00:09:18.959 helper to be with you forever. 00:09:18.959 --> 00:09:24.799 So what we find here is Jesus is reminding us that the Holy Spirit has a specific work. 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:30.000 He's a specific work to come into the hearts and lives of believers. 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:35.639 And Jesus has ascended, this is His great work. 00:09:35.639 --> 00:09:38.440 And I want to say two things about that. 00:09:38.440 --> 00:09:42.519 It means that as Christians, and I think they're very important truths, the first is that we 00:09:42.519 --> 00:09:47.399 are not alone if only we could grasp that. 00:09:47.399 --> 00:09:55.799 That we're not, and we're never alone as believers, that we have the presence of God in our hearts, 00:09:55.799 --> 00:09:57.720 in our lives. 00:09:57.720 --> 00:10:04.680 It means as Christians, we're embraced by divine society, by the Father, the Son and 00:10:04.680 --> 00:10:08.480 the Holy Spirit, specifically in the person of the Holy Spirit. 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:12.879 It's in verses 15 to 18, he says, I will send you another helper to be with you, even a 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:17.200 spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. 00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:24.320 You know Him for He dwells in you and will be with you. 00:10:24.320 --> 00:10:33.200 Whatever if we feel valued, if we feel loved in our lives, we should because we have been 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:38.680 reconciled as Christians through the work of Jesus Christ to God the Father. 00:10:38.680 --> 00:10:46.480 And everything that happens in this world revolves around us as believers. 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:49.640 God is working out His purposes through His people. 00:10:49.640 --> 00:10:53.600 And we have this brand new closeness with the Father. 00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:58.960 Verse 23, he says, Jesus answered, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, my Father will 00:10:58.960 --> 00:11:04.000 love him and we will come to him and make our home with him. 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:10.360 There's this astonishing reality that the Spirit is sent to be our helper, but in reality 00:11:10.360 --> 00:11:18.399 we have trinitarian fellowship, we have the Father and the Son as well, so that God comes 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:24.159 into our lives and into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:28.120 Now there's an interesting, there's an angle to that I think because the word Comforter 00:11:28.120 --> 00:11:34.120 and I'll say a little bit more about this later is, can also be translated Advocate. 00:11:34.120 --> 00:11:40.360 And if you go to 1 John chapter 1, which is what we've been looking at in the morning, 00:11:40.360 --> 00:11:49.320 that letter that the Apostle John wrote, and 1 John chapter 2 and verse 1 says, my little 00:11:49.320 --> 00:11:53.279 children I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin, but if anyone does 00:11:53.279 --> 00:11:58.320 sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, the same word 00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:00.600 paraclete as the Advocate or the Comforter. 00:12:00.600 --> 00:12:07.399 Now I think there's a very clear way in which that has a legal implication as it were. 00:12:07.399 --> 00:12:11.360 He is advocating on our behalf before the Father. 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:20.759 Now what I have in mind there is there's this great trinitarian celebration of you and me 00:12:20.759 --> 00:12:28.559 in our Christian lives as we live them in his shadow. 00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:34.720 I can imagine as the accuser of the saints, the evil one, goes into the presence of the 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:40.080 Father and says, see that, see that, that Lament, he gets up there and he spouts away 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:47.480 and he preaches and reads the Bible and everyone thinks he's holy and godly, but yeah, do you 00:12:47.480 --> 00:12:48.480 see his heart? 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:49.920 Do you see what he's like normally? 00:12:49.920 --> 00:12:51.800 Do you see what he thought the other day? 00:12:51.800 --> 00:12:53.759 Or is he what he said the other day? 00:12:53.759 --> 00:12:55.960 He can't possibly be one of yours. 00:12:55.960 --> 00:12:57.200 He's a hypocrite. 00:12:57.200 --> 00:12:58.200 He's a fraud. 00:12:58.200 --> 00:13:06.920 And I can imagine the Advocate, Jesus, speaking to the Father and says, no, he's mine. 00:13:06.920 --> 00:13:07.920 He's one of mine. 00:13:07.920 --> 00:13:13.360 And the Father smiling at that and saying, I know, I know he's one of yours. 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:20.200 And the Holy Spirit at the same level is coming into my heart and saying, it's fine, Derek, 00:13:20.200 --> 00:13:24.640 you're one of God's, you're one of ours because of what Jesus has done. 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:30.439 And there's this almost sense of divine celebration each time the accuser of the saints comes 00:13:30.439 --> 00:13:39.159 and accuses a follower of Jesus of being not a follower of Jesus, that Christ is there 00:13:39.159 --> 00:13:45.480 reminding the Father who has a smile on His face that it's been paid in full. 00:13:45.480 --> 00:13:48.720 And the Holy Spirit reminds us that it's been paid in full. 00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:55.879 That's part of His comforting, advocating work in our lives, that we hear Him resisting 00:13:55.879 --> 00:13:59.399 the accusation that we are not Christ's. 00:13:59.399 --> 00:14:02.080 So we're embraced in that divine society. 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:08.480 We have no idea how much the Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is advocating working 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:11.759 on our behalf, even as we live our lives. 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:14.040 So we're embraced in that great society. 00:14:14.039 --> 00:14:19.399 We also recognize Him here as Jesus calls Him another helper. 00:14:19.399 --> 00:14:20.879 He's the another helper. 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:23.319 What does that suggest? 00:14:23.319 --> 00:14:27.439 Well it suggests that there's already been a helper. 00:14:27.439 --> 00:14:29.480 And that of course is Jesus Himself. 00:14:29.480 --> 00:14:34.599 I'm sending you another helper because I'm going. 00:14:34.599 --> 00:14:36.159 You will have the Holy Spirit. 00:14:36.159 --> 00:14:43.039 And He's really reminding us that the work of the Holy Spirit is to continue what Jesus 00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:46.839 was doing on earth with His disciples. 00:14:46.839 --> 00:14:50.240 And in other words, He's saying, I'm not really leaving you. 00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:53.360 In verse 19 He says, look, I'm not going to leave you as orphans. 00:14:53.360 --> 00:14:55.360 I will come to you. 00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:58.399 Yet in a little while the world will not see me no more. 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:01.719 But you will see me because I live, you also will live. 00:15:01.719 --> 00:15:03.519 I will come to you. 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:08.039 So He's sending the Spirit, but it's the Spirit of Jesus Christ that He's sending in the divine 00:15:08.039 --> 00:15:10.919 reality, the Spirit of God. 00:15:10.919 --> 00:15:19.240 And this, this paraclete, as the word is translated variously, we've mentioned the fact that it 00:15:19.240 --> 00:15:28.039 can be translated advocate, comforter, encourager, counselor, one who comes alongside. 00:15:28.039 --> 00:15:35.839 It's the whole idea of this, I think actually the best translation is helper is the one we 00:15:35.839 --> 00:15:40.279 have here because it kind of covers, in many ways it covers all of these things. 00:15:40.279 --> 00:15:49.159 And He comes and He fulfills the role that Christ fulfilled with His disciples and more. 00:15:49.159 --> 00:15:51.519 So you know what it was like for the disciples, don't you? 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:56.159 Because surely at some point in your life as a Christian you said, I really wish, I 00:15:56.159 --> 00:15:58.199 would say, I wish I'd been one of the disciples. 00:15:58.199 --> 00:16:00.639 I wish I could have seen Jesus in the flesh. 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:03.079 It would have been so much more easy. 00:16:03.079 --> 00:16:05.959 And you know, it would have been great for them, wouldn't it? 00:16:05.959 --> 00:16:10.000 To have the boss there, really, to have Jesus there with them. 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:13.480 And you know how you can almost sense the security generally, they felt when He was 00:16:13.480 --> 00:16:19.000 there to listen to Him, to watch Him, the miracles that He did for Him to get them out 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:24.279 of a fix when they couldn't do things properly, to see who He really was, to respect Him, 00:16:24.279 --> 00:16:29.879 to worship Him, to be befriended by Him, to be encouraged by Him. 00:16:29.879 --> 00:16:34.799 And you know, we saw what they were like when, how they struggled when He wasn't around 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:41.479 them and hence their fear and trouble and anxiety when He says that He's going to be 00:16:41.479 --> 00:16:42.479 leaving them. 00:16:42.479 --> 00:16:51.399 And so what He's saying is, look, it's okay, because while I'm going, I'm coming back. 00:16:51.399 --> 00:16:54.959 And it's going to be much better, because I'm not just going to be walking alongside 00:16:54.959 --> 00:17:00.240 you physically, I'm actually going to be inside you, in your heart and your soul, with the 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:04.680 new life of rebirth that Corey was kind of mentioning this morning. 00:17:04.680 --> 00:17:10.920 So that we're always in the presence of Jesus in that remarkable way. 00:17:10.920 --> 00:17:12.640 We're never alone. 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:15.560 He's always in our hearts and our minds and our conscience. 00:17:15.560 --> 00:17:21.360 He's never absent from us as He was physically absent from the disciples. 00:17:21.360 --> 00:17:22.480 He's never far away. 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:24.080 He's never disengaged. 00:17:24.080 --> 00:17:30.600 He's never unresponsive and He will never be leaving His people. 00:17:30.599 --> 00:17:36.559 You might feel that that is not the case, it might seem for you, thinking in human relational 00:17:36.559 --> 00:17:41.919 terms that Jesus is far away. 00:17:41.919 --> 00:17:48.799 But we're called to remember that we worship in spirit and in truth, and His promises will 00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:51.839 not and cannot be broken. 00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:56.679 We're called to have faith and to trust that He is this Christ who has come into our hearts 00:17:56.680 --> 00:18:02.000 and lives, and we're to believe that and live accordingly. 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:08.480 And sometimes we might have to look at our lives and ask, is it me who's absent from 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:16.279 Him far away, disengaged, unresponsive, leaving? 00:18:16.279 --> 00:18:21.840 Why is it that I blame Jesus for that when He has made clear that He will always be with 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:30.720 us as another helper, as the one who reminds us we're embraced in divine society, and as 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:40.559 the helper to us is the one who we're told here will also teach us in verse 26, we're 00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:45.159 told that, but the helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, He will 00:18:45.159 --> 00:18:51.599 teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 00:18:51.599 --> 00:18:56.599 So He's going to teach us, if you go on to Jesus' carriage on speaking, chapters 15 and 00:18:56.599 --> 00:19:01.119 16, and in verse 16, verses 13 to 15, we have the same thing. 00:19:01.119 --> 00:19:06.319 When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth for He will speak on His 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:07.319 own. 00:19:07.319 --> 00:19:10.639 He will not speak in His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak. 00:19:10.639 --> 00:19:13.240 He will declare to you the things that are to come. 00:19:13.240 --> 00:19:18.319 This is a great oneness of purpose between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:25.039 and He comes and reveals and speaks to us and teaches us truth, reminds us of the promises 00:19:25.039 --> 00:19:32.480 of God, points us to this living word, not a dead kind of dry word, but the living word 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:38.240 of God and opens our hearts to that truth. 00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:39.919 And we're to ask Him for His help. 00:19:39.919 --> 00:19:46.119 We're to ask Him before we come to church, maybe, Lord, speak into my heart, reveal 00:19:46.119 --> 00:19:50.119 your truth to my life today, so we open the word in our own devotions. 00:19:50.119 --> 00:19:56.079 Lord, Holy Spirit, speak through your word, teach me what I need to know and learn and 00:19:56.079 --> 00:19:57.079 understand. 00:19:57.079 --> 00:20:02.159 He's willing to do that, that even ask Him, Lord, teach me not just your word, but teach 00:20:02.159 --> 00:20:07.359 me your truth in my life, in my circumstances, how you want me to respond, how you want me 00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:09.599 to act in this situation. 00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:19.000 And we're called to just listen and be responsive to Him, recognizing that He helps us understand 00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:23.159 the truth, to grant us the wisdom to live our lives. 00:20:23.159 --> 00:20:30.000 It's not an intellectual pursuit as much as a spiritual pursuit. 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.919 Understanding is not primarily intellectual, it's primarily spiritual, although it does 00:20:34.919 --> 00:20:39.000 involve our intellect, of course. 00:20:39.000 --> 00:20:46.119 But the open Bible then for us is a relational reality for us. 00:20:46.119 --> 00:20:50.160 It's kind of like, it's not like, but it's kind of like maybe the privilege, can you 00:20:50.160 --> 00:20:55.680 imagine the privilege of maybe you're in this world, your greatest hero, whoever that might 00:20:55.680 --> 00:20:56.680 be. 00:20:56.680 --> 00:21:03.759 Like, okay, say for me it'd be someone like Johnny Cash or Alex Ferguson or someone like 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:04.759 that. 00:21:04.759 --> 00:21:10.920 Or someone like me reading their autobiography with them sitting right beside me so I could 00:21:10.920 --> 00:21:14.519 ask them, oh, that's like, what happened here? 00:21:14.519 --> 00:21:15.759 What was it like? 00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:20.079 So that you have the living author beside you as you read the book. 00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:25.480 Now, that's not a great analogy in some ways, but I hope it maybe points us towards the 00:21:25.480 --> 00:21:30.279 reality of reading the Word in that way, that we have the living God and the person of the 00:21:30.279 --> 00:21:32.519 Holy Spirit with us. 00:21:32.519 --> 00:21:38.680 So he's our teacher, he's our another helper, and he's the one who enables us to be embraced 00:21:38.680 --> 00:21:39.680 by the divine society. 00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:46.079 Now, briefly, in conclusion, not only is the truth of the Holy Spirit being our helper, 00:21:46.079 --> 00:21:49.480 mean that we're not alone if only we grasped it. 00:21:49.480 --> 00:21:54.960 It means also, secondly, we are strong if only we realized. 00:21:54.960 --> 00:21:57.240 We're strong. 00:21:57.240 --> 00:22:03.319 Now, we didn't read this little section, but I'm going to mention it here. 00:22:03.319 --> 00:22:08.599 It's the same chapter, chapter 14, but verse 12, amazing little section. 00:22:08.599 --> 00:22:13.519 Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that 00:22:13.519 --> 00:22:20.920 I do, and greater works than these will he do because I am going to the Father. 00:22:20.920 --> 00:22:23.079 Greater works than these. 00:22:23.079 --> 00:22:28.039 That's assuming the whole section is the giving of the Holy Spirit because he's going to the 00:22:28.039 --> 00:22:36.000 Father, and he says that the believers in Jesus will do, initially speaking to the disciples, 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:39.879 and then speaking to all of Christendom since it will do greater works than Jesus. 00:22:39.879 --> 00:22:41.599 What does that mean? 00:22:41.599 --> 00:22:43.279 What can that possibly mean? 00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:47.199 Did the disciples do greater works than Jesus? 00:22:47.199 --> 00:22:49.559 I mean, Jesus walked in water. 00:22:49.559 --> 00:22:53.039 Jesus turned loaves and fishes to feed 5,000. 00:22:53.039 --> 00:22:54.759 Jesus raised the dead. 00:22:54.759 --> 00:23:00.159 They did parallel works to that, but they didn't do greater works than that. 00:23:00.159 --> 00:23:03.720 The church of Christ generally, since then, hasn't done these amazing things. 00:23:03.720 --> 00:23:04.960 What does it mean? 00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:14.119 It surely has to do with the mission of the church, the worldwide spread of the gospel, 00:23:14.119 --> 00:23:20.799 that because we have the Holy Spirit in us, we also have the privilege of passing on the 00:23:20.799 --> 00:23:29.159 gospel and seeing amazing results of that gospel happening, which of course was first 00:23:29.159 --> 00:23:30.680 fulfilled at Pentecost. 00:23:30.680 --> 00:23:35.759 When Jesus died, how many were there at the cross? 00:23:35.759 --> 00:23:38.240 Oh, just a handful. 00:23:38.240 --> 00:23:44.519 He had hardly any followers at the end of his life, but in one sermon, 3,000 people were 00:23:44.519 --> 00:23:47.759 converted when Peter preached. 00:23:47.759 --> 00:23:52.599 Jesus never had that kind of fruitfulness, never had that kind of harvest, because that 00:23:52.599 --> 00:23:54.879 wasn't his calling. 00:23:54.879 --> 00:24:00.200 His calling was to come to be crucified and to be raised on the third day and ascended, 00:24:00.200 --> 00:24:04.960 but he's handed that privilege through the indwelling of God's Spirit in us, the privilege 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:09.000 of seeing his kingdom come. 00:24:09.000 --> 00:24:15.640 He empowers us to do that great kingdom work, to fulfill the great commission that he has 00:24:15.640 --> 00:24:21.960 gone to heaven, to enable the Spirit to come into our lives that we cooperate in. 00:24:21.960 --> 00:24:28.280 I do think, and I'm very guilty of not doing this, I do think we need to pray for conversions 00:24:28.280 --> 00:24:34.320 and live in the recognition that we have this calling far, far more. 00:24:34.320 --> 00:24:38.920 We've been lulled into thinking that this is the Christian Ice Age. 00:24:38.920 --> 00:24:40.440 I don't know why. 00:24:40.440 --> 00:24:42.400 Why have we been lulled into thinking that? 00:24:42.400 --> 00:24:48.080 That's bad theology, and it's therefore bad practice, because bad practice always follows 00:24:48.080 --> 00:24:49.080 bad theology. 00:24:49.080 --> 00:24:55.720 It's vital for us to realize that we are empowered to do this great work, greater works even 00:24:55.720 --> 00:24:58.640 than Jesus to see people coming into the kingdom. 00:24:58.640 --> 00:25:02.560 It's not for us to decide that, well, it's not for this generation, we're going to do 00:25:02.560 --> 00:25:04.280 lesser works. 00:25:04.280 --> 00:25:11.880 Now, this city and the people we rub shoulders with every day are living in a spiritual desert. 00:25:11.880 --> 00:25:19.800 We have the water of life, and He calls us to pour our lives into their lives, because 00:25:19.800 --> 00:25:25.760 we have had the Holy Spirit pouring our lives, Spirit of truth and of power. 00:25:25.760 --> 00:25:30.400 So He empowers us to be those who spread the gospel and see fruit for that. 00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:36.000 He also empowers us to obey, verses 20 and 21 says, in that day you will know that I 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:40.360 am in the Father, you are in me, I am in you, whoever has my commandments and keeps them. 00:25:40.359 --> 00:25:47.000 He is who loves me, and He who loves me will be loved by the Father, and I will love Him 00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:49.119 and manifest myself to Him. 00:25:49.119 --> 00:25:58.399 And there's this whole emphasis of being empowered to keep His commands, to… the law of God 00:25:58.399 --> 00:26:01.439 is written on our hearts, and our hearts are changed. 00:26:01.439 --> 00:26:09.639 Again, we were reminded this morning, and He enables us, He helps us to obey with a thankful 00:26:09.640 --> 00:26:19.880 heart, not a desperate one, but it's impossible to obey the living God without Him. 00:26:19.880 --> 00:26:22.200 It's impossible. 00:26:22.200 --> 00:26:23.720 He empowers us to do that. 00:26:23.720 --> 00:26:26.120 He helps this Holy Spirit, helps us. 00:26:26.120 --> 00:26:28.360 He helps us to fight legalism. 00:26:28.360 --> 00:26:34.160 He helps us to fight drudgery and cold obedience. 00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:42.640 He enables us to have a heart that is responsive through a recognition that to obey God or 00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:48.560 to love God is to obey Him, and to obey Him is the outworking of love in our hearts. 00:26:48.560 --> 00:26:55.200 And He also empowers us, we are strong if only we realize that He empowers us to know 00:26:55.200 --> 00:26:56.200 peace. 00:26:56.200 --> 00:27:02.800 Verse 27, He says that I give you peace not as the world gives, let your hearts neither 00:27:02.799 --> 00:27:05.639 be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 00:27:05.639 --> 00:27:12.879 So He empowers us to live with an unusual peace. 00:27:12.879 --> 00:27:15.039 It's not anything we would look for naturally. 00:27:15.039 --> 00:27:17.960 It's not anything we would find naturally. 00:27:17.960 --> 00:27:25.200 It's a peace that transcends our material reality, and it's a peace that's inexplicable 00:27:25.200 --> 00:27:28.799 in the popular culture in which we live. 00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:39.359 But it's a realistic peace because we recognize that we have this great reconciliation with 00:27:39.359 --> 00:27:46.079 the Father again as we were reminded of this morning, and much of what I say is dovetailing 00:27:46.079 --> 00:27:52.599 that our completeness, our wholeness is when we are facing and looking at the Father, and 00:27:52.599 --> 00:27:59.679 that will be ultimately complete when He returns. 00:27:59.679 --> 00:28:05.799 Fearful yes, troubled yes, anxious yes, with all the multitude of life's challenges, but 00:28:05.799 --> 00:28:11.719 as we take them to Him and as we leave them at the foot of the cross, He gives us a peace, 00:28:11.719 --> 00:28:22.559 the peace and power of the living God as our helper, the victory through whom is promised. 00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:28.919 So the Holy Spirit as our helper is great because it reminds us that we are never alone, 00:28:28.919 --> 00:28:31.000 and it reminds us that we are strong. 00:28:31.000 --> 00:28:37.200 And we need to remind ourselves of these truths because they don't come naturally for us. 00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:41.359 I wonder what is your God mindset? 00:28:41.359 --> 00:28:49.759 It's really good to be reminded that He's your helper, that as God the Holy Spirit, with 00:28:49.759 --> 00:28:55.400 the mystery as it were, He's leading the way for the Trinity to be in your heart and to 00:28:55.400 --> 00:28:58.400 be in my heart. 00:28:58.400 --> 00:29:06.160 We have Him gifted to us this resurrection life ever being our helper, knowing His truth, 00:29:06.160 --> 00:29:07.759 His promises. 00:29:07.759 --> 00:29:14.240 Repeat them, memorize them, speak them into your doubts every day, and remember that we 00:29:14.240 --> 00:29:21.480 grasp them with the eye of faith that faith is required in this. 00:29:21.480 --> 00:29:27.599 Don't expect God to be in our lives the same way as even the best friend that you have on 00:29:27.599 --> 00:29:36.240 this earth in His fallen humanity can be, live by faith and not by sight, which is why 00:29:36.240 --> 00:29:38.359 we encourage one another in this way. 00:29:38.359 --> 00:29:46.079 And can I just ask who is your helper? Who is the person that you depend on for life 00:29:46.079 --> 00:29:47.079 and for eternity? 00:29:47.079 --> 00:29:55.839 There's only one person that you can call on that will never let you go, both in life 00:29:55.839 --> 00:30:02.079 and on into death, so that even through the valley of the shadow of death, we're not alone. 00:30:02.079 --> 00:30:07.199 And that is the great hope, and that is the great help we all need in our lives. 00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:08.559 Let's pray. 00:30:08.559 --> 00:30:15.960 Father God, we ask and pray that you would teach us just to be assured by your truth. 00:30:15.960 --> 00:30:22.200 We know what it's like in our lives when we close the Bible so often and leave it closed, 00:30:22.200 --> 00:30:28.319 when we don't have that spiritual discipline of going to your Word, praying for the Spirit 00:30:28.319 --> 00:30:32.400 to open your Word and teach us and lead us. 00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:38.200 And that is closed when we have turned our backs, then things do become silent. 00:30:38.200 --> 00:30:41.320 It does become such a battle. 00:30:41.320 --> 00:30:45.120 Remind us that that is not you who have turned your back. 00:30:45.120 --> 00:30:48.320 That's not you who are disinterested or far away. 00:30:48.320 --> 00:30:54.120 But Lord, help us to live by faith and persevere in that. 00:30:54.120 --> 00:30:56.440 Buy your spirit and in your strength. 00:30:56.440 --> 00:31:00.320 You've promised us your Holy Spirit as our helper. 00:31:00.319 --> 00:31:07.079 It's such an amazing truth that the King of Kings, that the sovereign, eternal, infinite, 00:31:07.079 --> 00:31:15.159 glorious God is so committed to little people like us in this remarkable way. 00:31:15.159 --> 00:31:17.639 He will not let us go. 00:31:17.639 --> 00:31:25.119 And there's this trinitarian smile of advocacy on our behalf when the accuser of the saints 00:31:25.119 --> 00:31:28.480 falsely tries to bring us down. 00:31:28.480 --> 00:31:32.880 Lord, help us to doubt our doubts and believe our beliefs. 00:31:32.880 --> 00:31:35.360 Buy your grace and in your spirit. 00:31:35.360 --> 00:31:39.319 May we see things more clearly as every day goes by. 00:31:39.319 --> 00:31:40.799 We ask it in Jesus' name. 00:31:40.799 --> 00:32:00.480 Amen.