The Promise of the Holy Spirit (John 14:8-17)

Pentecost (23^rd May 2010)

The Promise of the Holy Spirit (John 14: 8-17)

 

 ⁸Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."

 ⁹Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? ¹⁰Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. ¹¹Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. ¹²I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. ¹⁴You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

 

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

 ¹⁵"If you love me, you will obey what I command. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— ¹⁷the 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.

 

Last Sunday we heard a sermon from Andrew on the prayer of Jesus.  We have been told that Jesus had prayed for two things:  the first is that we may be one - be of one heart and mind, unified and together.  The second thing he prayed for was for us to be where he is.  Our ultimate goal is to be where Jesus is and we must stay focused in him in our journey through life.  

This morning as we celebrate the Pentecost, we are reminded of the promise of Jesus.  In John 14:17, Jesus said, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever...” 

Jesus has taken care of these disciples. He has taught them and nurtured them, and soon he would have to leave them. Jesus knew they could not make it on their own. So on the last days of his earthly ministry he began to teach them about another helper.  So in John 14:18 he said, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

How was he going to come? He would come in the person of the Holy Spirit.   The word that John used is “Parakleetos” (Paraclete) and is translated as Counselor, Comforter, or Helper.  It is a combination of “para” meaning “beside” and “kaleoo” meaning “I call”. It refers to one called along side to help. It was sometimes used as a legal term for a defense attorney. Therefore, it is sometimes translated as “Advocate”.

Jesus promised his disciples that he would send to them someone who would do for them all the things he had been doing for them while he was with them.   He said, “I will ask the Father and He will give you another Comforter...”

We all know about this: we studied this in Confirmation Classes or even Sunday School; and we mention Him in our prayers.   Why do we have to preach the Holy Spirit again and again?  It is because the Holy Spirit is important to us and we easily forget.  

The disciples were worried about what they were supposed to do if Jesus were to leave them.  But Jesus told them not to worry because he would send another helper to lead them.  And true enough on Pentecost Day (50 days after the resurrection), there was an outpouring of the Spirit as we have heard in the first reading just now.  And that was the beginning of the new life of the disciples and other followers of Jesus.

Every time when we celebrate Pentecost we read that story to remind us what living the Christian life is all about. It is living a life that is guided by the Holy Spirit.  Without the Holy Spirit to strengthen us, encourage us, lead us, and guide us, it is impossible to live the Christian life.  Yes, we still survive and we still can do things what many other people are doing.  But none of us is able to live godly life without the constant help of the Holy Spirit.  We often forget this: we think that works gets done because we work hard.  We think that things are done well because we are smart thinkers. 

On the other hand, we can also find ourselves very depleted and discouraged because things don’t go the way we want them to be ,and we think that we are failures and hopeless.  That is what we shall experience when we try to do everything in our own strength and wisdom.  That is why the Holy Spirit has to be preached over and over again: so that we don’t become proud of our success or feeling hopeless because we fail.

What Jesus said in verse 16 is important.  He said that God would give us another Counselor to be with us forever.  That tells us that the Holy Spirit is committed to help us.  He is not just with us when we feel spiritual or close to God.  He is not just with us when we are at our best or when everything seems fine.  He abides in us and he comes to be with us forever.

Jesus also refers to the Holy Spirit as “the Spirit of Truth.” He is one we can trust because he will not lead us astray.  In fact, Jesus says in verse 26, He “will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you.”  Without the help of the Holy Spirit, I cannot preach the message of the Gospel.  And without the help of the Holy Spirit you also cannot understand the message. 

We live in the world that has been blinded by the devil.  That is why when we watch TV, go online, or read the newspapers; there are a lot of news about lies, deceptions, and frauds, about people cheating one another, or about business people trying to rip their customers.  A few days ago I was reading Yahoo news titled “10 ways you are getting ripped off: airline club membership, fitness shoes, college textbooks, travel insurance, ready-to-drink baby formula, credit card gift cards, pre-packaged deli meat, germ-fighting supplements, title insurance, and cable television.   There are scams like work-at-home offers, counterfeit prescriptions, guaranteed high-yield investments, and Ponzi Scheme. Sometimes people send you letters, emails or mobile messages that said you won big prize money.   There are even religions that are ready to lead people away from the truth.

Truth is not something you arrive at by intellectual capacity alone.  Even when people tell you the truth, there may be hidden motives behind the truth, as in the case of sales gimmicks. And because there are so many things that claim to have the truth, we need the Spirit of Truth to reveal to us, what is really true.

The Spirit of truth is also called the “Holy Spirit”.  In Romans 1:4 He is referred to as the “Spirit of holiness.”  He comes into our lives to separate us from the spirit of the world - to set us apart unto God, to purify us, to change us into the image of Christ. The truth is we can’t make ourselves holy.  You and I can be religious or appear to be good persons in the eyes of other people, but we can only become holy because of the work of the Holy Spirit.  When we trust the Holy Spirit and obey Him, he will work His nature in us and we will be holy. We will bear the fruit of His character—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  (I shall explain this further in my sermon next Sunday, when I discuss on the work of the Holy Spirit.)

Today we just want to look at the promise of the Holy Spirit.  I have to deal with this issue because there are many Christians who are not sure whether they have the Holy Spirit or not.  Jesus has promised to send the Holy Spirit and that He will take care of us, strengthen us, and lead us in the way we should go. 

That promise was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost, when the disciples and many other believers were gathered in the upper room.  Acts 1: 2-4 says, “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”  That was their initial experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

But later in Acts 4 when Peter and John and the others praying; “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God boldly” (Acts 4: 31).  They were all filled with the Holy Spirit!  But were they not filled with the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost? Yes. Then did the Holy Spirit leave them between Acts 2 and Acts 4?  No.

What does that tell us? It tells us that the experience of the Holy Spirit is not just once-in-a-lifetime experience. Just because you already have the experience before, it does not mean you will not experience it again.  The work of the Holy Spirit is continuous process, bringing you into deeper personal relationship with God, and so we have many experiences. 

One important point that I need to share with you about the Holy Spirit this morning is what Jesus said in verse 15 and 16: “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.”   Peter later acknowledged this link between the gift of the Holy Spirit and obedience in Acts 5:32 when he says, “We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him."  

We do not earn the Holy Spirit. He is a gift. But there is a connection between our obedient response to God and the gift of the Holy Spirit. So when we talk about the Promise of the Holy Spirit we also need to talk about our ability to obey the command of God, and that obedience is related to love.  We need to love God first and that enables you to obey.  However, if you obey God for any other reason, it is not going to work.  I say so because you can obey God out of fear of punishment or hell. You may obey God because you expect some blessings or rewards.  

When we try to do the commandments for any other reason than love, we find ourselves trapped in legalism.  That was what happened to the Pharisees.  They believed that God rewarded of those who diligently seek Him.  They believed that obedience to God means being committed to a set of religious doctrines and rituals.  And what happened to them?  They drew near to God only with their lips but their hearts were far from Him.  Jesus has a description of them in Matthew 23:27-28: "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”

Legalism produces a kind of outward show of obedience and righteousness. But in reality that obedience is incomplete. It is not in the heart.  We do it because it feels good or that it makes us look good.  It is possible also for Christians to obey God like that.  And such obedience cannot be sustained for long.  You will give up the moment you encounter problems and difficulties.  You will give up the moment you find something else more attractive. You will give up when you realize that people are no longer paying attention to you. 

Love is important because that is where we find lasting obedience.  And this love begins with a revelation of God’s love toward us.  1 John 4: 19 says, “We love him because he first loved us.”  Our relationship with God begins with God because God is love.  That is the New Testament motive for obedience.  You start to obey when you realize how much God loves you — not because you deserve it, but because He just loves you.

So if we have never experience the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we need to check our reasons for obeying God. If love is missing, the Holy Spirit will not be at work in our lives.   When you really love someone it is your desire to please that person.  Likewise, if you love God you will simply want to delight the heart of God.  When your heart is filled with love toward God, you don’t have to checks the rules and regulations before you decide what to do.  You won’t need people to tell you to do the right thing.  You do it because you love Jesus and you want to please him in anyway you can.

This love is important because without it this church would not survive.  In church there will be problems and challenges, but the Holy Spirit continues to do his work in the church for the sake of people who still love God.   

There is one final thing that I need to mention about love.  Love as mentioned in the Bible is something far greater than sentiment and emotion.  It involves feeling, but it is far more than that.  Biblical love causes me to do those things that God has commanded because I want to please Him. I may struggle some in my efforts to do it. But I want to keep on doing it.  

And because biblical love is more than emotion, our love has to be judged in relationship to other people. It means: Don’t brag around telling people how much we love Jesus.  Show that love in your relationship with one another.  That was what Andrew mentioned last Sunday when he spoke about unity and fellowship, and living in harmony with one another, serving one another in love, submitting to one another and be kind and compassionate to one another. 

What happens when we respond to God’s love by loving and obeying Him?  John 14:21 “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."  When we respond in love and obedience toward God our soul are opened to more, and the result is further manifestations of Holy Spirit in our lives.   

If we have been coming to church on Sundays, and we don’t experience the working of the Holy Spirit, something is not right.   We need to question our motive for obedience.  Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 5: 8?  He said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”  It starts with a right motive - love, and love leads to obedience.  And because of our obedience, God will show himself to us.  

Here is a wonderful progression of events:  (i) God first revealed his love; (ii) we respond to that love with obedience; (iii) more of God’s love flow into our lives and hearts along with a greater manifestation of Jesus.