The Disciple Jesus Loved Tells All!

Spirit Sightings!

John 14:15-28

Last week when we were doing set-up here at the Middle School, I had set up the sound board, the computer and the video projector. If you’ve never noticed, some time take a look at the back of that table in the back of the room – there are over 35 cables dropping from the back of that table. I had them all in place, ready to go, I walked around the front of the machine, and began to turn on switches – but nothing happened. I checked all the cables – I checked the power line - they were all plugged in – then I noticed that the little black switch on the surge protector was turned off – one flip of one tiny switch, and all was well. No matter how much care I took in making sure all the lines were plugged into the right spot would not help if the power wasn’t making it through.

As we pick up our study of the memoirs of the Disciple Jesus Loved, we find a group of men who feel like they have just been unplugged from their power source. They have spent the last three years of their lives following Jesus. They are convinced that He is the Son of God, that He is the promised Messiah, come to deliver God’s people from oppression, but Jesus has just hit them with one bombshell after another. First, He got up from the dinner table and washed their feet, in an act of humility that a great leader should never have done. Then He tells them that one of them is going to betray Him, and turn Him over to the religious authorities. And then, He tells them that He is going to die, that He is not going to be with them, that they will look for Him and not find Him, and that where He is going they cannot go! They are shocked! Talk about feeling disconnected, let down and powerless – these guys are stunned!

That is why in this portion of Scripture Jesus says in John 14:1 and again in verse 27, “Don’t let your heart be troubled.” He has given them words of comfort and promise. He will come again for them, while His earthly life is going to end, the story is not over. And today, we will see, He gives them an even greater words of comfort and promise – He promised to send the Holy Spirit. There is a lot of confusion about the Holy Spirit in some circles today, so let’s look to Jesus for the answers.

Turn in your Bibles to the Gospel of John, chapter 14, and follow along as I read for you from verses 15 – 28

[Read 14:15-28]

There are three names given to the Holy Spirit in this passage, and each one gives us a glimpse into who He is, and what He does:

Helper (vs. 16)

Jesus tells the disciples that he will request the Father to send them “another Helper.” This helper will be with them forever. In your Bible the word “helper” may be translated “comforter, counselor, advisor or advocate.” The Greek word is parakletos, and perhaps the best way to understand it would be “encourager.” Because the word means literally, “to come along side to assist.” It was a word used for an attorney who stood along side an accused person to defend them, as well as when a soldier came along side to help a wounded comrade.

The word “another” means “another of the same kind.” The Spirit of God is not different from the Son of God, for they are both God. The Spirit of God had been with the disciples up until this time in the person of Jesus, but now He would be in the disciples in the person of the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus knew that as long as He was here on this earth, trapped in this bag of bones, that He was limited in the scope of His ministry. He was only able to be in one place at one time. He could pour Himself into only so many people within the constraints of this body. That is why he spent those years teaching and developing a few people into the ones who would later turn the world upside-down with their ministries. But because He had taken on this human form, His impact was limited. The only way the gospel could be spread throughout the world was for Him to be removed from this world physically, so that the presence of God could be in this world spiritually by the indwelling of Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, in each and every believer. 

When Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to His disciples, and to us, He did not promise to send a Teacher, though that is something the Holy Spirit does. He did not promise to send an Accuser, though the Holy Spirit does convict of sin. He did not even promise to send a source of power, though the Spirit does distribute gifts among believers to empower the church. No, when Jesus was teaching His disciples on the night before He died, when He knew that they were about to face a time when they were going to feel like abandoned orphans, disconnected from their power source, He promised them a HELPER.

And if Jesus sent us a helper, then what is the implication? WE NEED HELP! We can't do it alone! The Victorious Christian life that seems so far removed from our reality is not something that we gain because we try real hard; it is not something that comes because we put forth our best effort and hope that God blesses it. Jesus implies in these verses that, in fact, it is not something we can do at all - we need help! In fact, as we saw last week, Jesus said to the disciples, “apart from me, you can do nothing.” And that help comes in the form and person of the Holy Spirit. And the great news is that if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, He is already within you! Paul asks this question of the church in Corinth, and he poses it to us today, "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" Last week, Jesus said that we must “abide in Him” – remain connected to him like a branch to a vine – and today we have His promise that he will abide in us – by the presence of the Helper – the Holy Spirit.

This is shown in chapter 16:7, when Jesus said, “It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you, but if I depart, I will send Him to you.” The Holy Spirit is sent by the Father, at the request of the Son, to encourage us, to come along side us, as our divine Helper.

Secondly, the Holy Spirit is described in verse 17 as

The Spirit Of Truth

I was watching one of the news programs this week, and the commentator was interviewing people on the street about the upcoming presidential election. There are so many people who don’t know what to believe. They hear conflicting stores about candidates on each side, and people just want the truth. And it is not just in politics, that’s just an easy example. We live in a time when lies are so common that no one expects the truth any longer. Some have gone so far as to make truth an abstract rather than an absolute. “You can have your version of truth, and I’ll have mine.” 

But Jesus proclaimed Himself to be “the way, the truth and the life.” There is nothing abstract or relative about that. When Jesus is rejected, truth is rejected. Conversely, when Jesus is received and embraced, truth becomes a part of our lives. What that translates to is that Christians should be known in every aspect of life as truth-loving, truth-telling people. The Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of Truth, lives with in us to correct us when we are wrong, to guide us into truth. The Spirit will never lead us to do anything contrary to the Word of God, or against the will of God. When you hear someone tell you that the Holy Spirit told them to divorce their wife, or cheat on their taxes, you can be sure that that was not the Holy Spirit – it may have been a spirit all right, but it was not God’s Spirit!

Thirdly, we see the name

Holy Spirit (vs. 26)

As Christians, we do not only need to have an advocate and comforter, nor do we only need a spirit of truth. We need to have a presence within us that is Holy. God’s will for each of us is to be sanctified – to be made holy. That is not something that we can do ourselves – it is God who sanctifies us, and he does it by indwelling us with His own presence – the presence of the Holy Spirit. 

What is it that really makes something holy? When Solomon built a temple in Jerusalem for God it was a magnificent place. Gold and bronze and fine linen and majestic woodwork was throughout the place. It was like no other place. Then the people of Israel gathered together to dedicate the building to the Lord, and Solomon prayed, and offered the building to God. At the end of his prayer, Solomon said,

Now therefore,

Arise, O Lord God,

To your resting place,

You and the ark of your strength,

I don’t know what Solomon expected, but God did exactly what he asked! Chapter 7:1 says,

“When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple, and the priests could not enter the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house.”

It was not the gold, or the bronze, or the fine furnishings, or the elaborate craftsmanship that made the temple holy, it was the presence of God that made it holy! And if we are going to be holy people, we need to pray a similar prayer that Solomon prayed.

Now therefore,

Arise, O Lord God,

To your resting place,

You and the ark of your strength

But now that prayer is about a different temple – our own bodies. “What? Did you not know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” 

Now, one of the attributes that we believe about God is that He is omnipresent. He is everywhere at all times. So wasn’t He really already in that temple Solomon prayed? Yes, He was. He was there, but after Solomon prayed – the place was filled! That place was made holy because the Holy God filled every corner, every crevice of it! He took possession, totally inhabited every part! And that is exactly how we are made holy – by the work of the Holy Spirit living and filling every part.

There’s a sad thing that happens in many marriages. After a while, they tend to drift apart. They have their own jobs, their own friends, and their own activities. They live in the same house, sleep in the same bed, and share household duties, but they are more like roommates than husband and wife. They still have a marriage, but they don’t have a relationship. 

Sadly, a similar thing happens in the life of many believers. At salvation, the Holy Spirit comes to live within the Christian; God Himself comes to live inside our human spirit. He is our helper, our comforter, our teacher, yet many believers never experience a practical awareness of the Holy Spirit’s presence. They have a union with the Holy Spirit, but no relationship.

In the 2:7 series, we are presented with a story that I want to share with you:

Read My Heart, Christ’s Home.

This morning, you may be in one of two places. Perhaps you are sitting here and you can almost audibly hear the knocking of Jesus on your heart’s door. You have never let Him in. You have never accepted his forgiveness of sins, and made him the Lord of your life. You have never known the assurance that after this life is over, you will have eternal life with Him. You have never known the presence of the Holy God of the Universe living within you. Answer the door. Open it and let Him come in, and begin that relationship with you that He desires.

Or you may be in the other place. You’ve opened that door, but haven’t given Jesus complete possession of your life. There are areas you are keeping under lock and key. You have a union with Christ, but not a relationship. Your life is not something that could be called “holy.” This week, I came home from a late evening meeting, and Carol informed me that she was doing some “fall cleaning,” in the upstairs bedrooms. She wants to do a “clean sweep,” and get rid of some stuff that we don’t need – clutter in our house. 

Maybe it’s a good time to do a clean sweep of our lives. What areas are we keeping closed and locked? What kinds of trash is cluttering up our lives? It is time to give Jesus total access to every part of your life. Turn over the keys, give him ownership. Allow the Holy Spirit to be your helper, guide you into truth, fill every corner, and make you into a holy temple of God. It’s not something we do, it’s something we allow Him to do in us. Let’s pray.

Prayer.