·
Interestingly,
Jesus began John 14 with, “let not
your hearts be troubled”.
·
And He
finishes up with “let not your hearts
be troubled” in verse 27.
·
In
effect, He feeds the disciples a “comfort sandwich”.
·
The
reason He does so is because of His coming departure via the cross.
Thus far the “comfort
sandwich” has been made up of the following:
·
He is
going to prepare a place for them (John 14:2)
·
He will
take them to be with Him (John 14:3)
·
If you
know Him you know the Father (John 14:7)
·
If you
have seen Him you have seen the Father (John 14:9)
·
They
will do greater works than Jesus (John 14:12)
·
Jesus will
do “whatever” they ask (John 14:14)
And throughout His
attempts to comfort, Jesus also made clear the relationship between a love for
Him and a submission to His commandments.
·
This
relationship itself is a form of comfort for the disciples.
·
Why?
·
Having a
desire to deny what they want and seek what Jesus’ wants is evidence that they
love Him.
·
After
all, they have already given up the last three years of their lives on His
account.
·
This
action is indicative of their love for them, maybe not a mature love, but love
nonetheless.
·
And
importantly, after Jesus’ departure, there is work to be done and they are the
ones to do it.
Jesus’ also tells
them that this comfort will be activated, “because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12).
·
In other
words, the “comfort sandwich” will be theirs when He is glorified.
·
What does it mean for Jesus to be glorified?
·
When He
is crucified – resurrected – exalted to the right hand of the Father.
Now, today’s text gives
us the foundation upon which everything He has promised will be secured.
·
The
giving of the Holy Spirit.
·
Something
alluded to throughout John’s Gospel.
·
John 7:39 (ESV) — 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom
those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been
given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
D.A. Carson gives us
a the following segue into today’s text:
·
His true
followers will love him; they will obey him; and he on his part will secure for
them, from the Father who denies nothing to his Son, another Counsellor – D.A. Carson.
1) JESUS PROMISES TO GIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT
John 14:16–20 & 25-27 (ESV) — 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will
give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 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. 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will
see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know
that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you…25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with
you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy
Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things
and bring
to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give
to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be
troubled, neither let them be afraid.
There are a lot of
ways we can get into this text.
·
For
example, Jesus is once again teaching that there are only two “whoevers”, like
He did in John 3.
·
You are
either the “whoever” that “knows”
the Spirit or you don’t – there is no neutral ground.
·
Jesus
also contrasts the peace He gives versus the peace the world offers.
o Philippians
4:7 (ESV) — 7 And the peace of
God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds
in Christ Jesus.
·
And
remarkably, we also have in this text the contrast between the Spirit of the
old covenant that “dwells with you”
and the Spirit of the new covenant that “will
be in you”.
But, what I want to
look at are the two roles Jesus’ says the Holy Spirit will play when sent to
the disciples.
·
Holy
Spirit as Helper
·
Holy
Spirit as Truth
Holy Spirit as
Helper:
·
The
Greek word Jesus’ uses to 1st describe the Holy Spirit (vss. 16
& 26) is “parakletos”.
·
It’s has
legal overtones and describes “one who is called to someone’s aid” – BDAG.
·
And
specifically in our text, Jesus is saying the Holy Spirit will be sent to
appear on Jesus’ behalf as “mediator, intercessor, helper” – BDAG.
We have just spent 7
weeks on the subject of sanctification.
·
One
thing we should be certain of is that both for the disciples and for us, the
Holy Spirit is what energizes our will and desires.
·
The Holy
Spirit “comes along side” us that we might grow in the likeness of Christ.
·
The Holy
Spirit helps us in sanctification.
·
The Holy
Spirit intercedes for us in prayer when we don’t know what to pray.
And obviously there
is so much more to be said about the role of the Holy Spirit in our Christian
walk.
·
But we
will stick to the text at this point and highlight one specific way the Spirit
“helps” the disciples.
“…he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I
have said to you” (John 14:26).
·
Jesus formally establishes the chain of custody
in the transmission of God’s word.
·
The Father gives words to the Son; the Son gives
words to the Spirit; the Spirit gives them to the disciples.
·
This is one crucial reason why the transmission
of God’s word through Scripture is reliable.
BTW – Carson is careful to point out that the Spirit’s role
in this regard was NOT to bring new revelation.
·
“The
Spirit’s ministry in this respect was not to bring qualitatively new
revelation, but to complete, to fill out, the revelation brought by Jesus
himself” – D.A. Carson.
·
If the Holy Spirit wasn’t bringing new
revelation, why would one ever believe that Joseph Smith or Charles Taze
Russell would do so?
Moving on…John has
even alluded to the success the Spirit has had in bringing to rememberance:
·
John 2:19–22 (ESV) — 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this
temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20
The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and
will you raise it up in three days?” 21
But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his
disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the
Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
·
John 12:16 (ESV) — 16 His disciples did not understand these
things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered
that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.
Now on to the second
thing Jesus says about the Spirit in our text.
Holy Spirit as
Truth:
·
In verse
17, Jesus refers to the Spirit as the “Spirit
of truth”.
·
A Spirit
that the world cannot receive because “it
neither sees him nor knows him”.
·
In other
words, there is a difference between “knowing” the Spirit and knowing about the
Spirit.
·
Why is this distinction important?
·
This distinction is significant because it
reveals that the Spirit is not simply a theological and spiritual truth, but a person
of truth “to be experienced” – D.A. Carson.
·
In other
words, for the believer, the Spirit will be active in our lives in a personal
way.
·
And one
specific way the Spirit will relate to us, Jesus tells us, is by testifying to
the truth of Christ.
o BTW – paralleling how Christ testified to the
Father and vice versa.
What truth does the Holy Spirit personally communicate to
those who know Him?
·
John 15:26 (ESV) — 26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will
send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father,
he
will bear witness about me.
·
The Holy
Spirit is the personal apologist for the truth and person of Jesus Christ.
This is why Jesus
can say in verse 20, “In that day you will know that I am in my
Father, and you in me, and I in you”.
·
Jesus is
saying that when the Spirit comes, He will reveal the truth of all Jesus has
been teaching about Himself.
In other words, the
presence of the Spirit means that Christ:
·
Resurrected
·
Ascended
to heaven
·
Exalted
to the right hand of the Father
·
Spirit Comes
= Jesus’ Glorified
Did the Spirit come?
·
Acts 2:1–4 (ESV) — 1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they
were all together in one place. 2
And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it
filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested
on each one of them. 4 And they
were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the
Spirit gave them utterance.
Pentecost confirmed
for the disciples that Jesus was the real deal – the Jewish Messiah.
·
And even
though Jesus was gone, He had sent the Spirit of Truth.
·
The
Spirit of Truth would testify to them and the world about the truth of Jesus.
·
All that
they had given up and all that they were about to sacrifice was legitimized at
Pentecost.
BTW – Importantly,
as Jesus promised, they were not left alone; He did not forsake them.
·
A
concept that had been in view since the days of Moses.
·
Joshua 1:5 (ESV) — 5 No man shall be able to stand before you
all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I
will not leave you or forsake you.
·
Hebrews 13:5 (ESV) — 5 Keep your life free from love of money,
and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake
you.”
Significantly, the
disciples were the only people in history that knew the truth of Jesus both
through walking with Him for three years in person and through the testimony of
the Holy Spirit.
·
This is a
startling statement if you think about it.
·
It is
startling because of its implications for us.
We need to think
deeply about this for a moment.
·
Both your love for Jesus and everything true
you grasp about Jesus comes from what?
·
Is it Jesus’ testimony of Himself that has
brought you to a belief in Christ?
·
Or, is the Holy Spirit’s witness about Jesus
the reason for your love and intimate knowledge of Jesus?
This means that so
much of what we attribute to the work of Christ should really be attributed to
the Holy Spirit.
·
We
constantly sell the Holy Spirit short, when He in fact is for us the very
presence of God in our lives.
·
The Holy
Spirit has regenerated our hearts.
·
The Holy
Spirit has elucidated the profound truths of Scripture to our minds.
·
We know
Christ because the Holy Spirit has made Him known to us – “he will bear witness about me”.
·
We seek
to obey Christ because the Holy Spirit energizes our desires and inclines our
hearts toward Christ (Ezek. 36:27, Phil. 2:13).
We often complain as
Christians that we don’t really see the Spirit working in us or that we don’t
know the Spirit.
·
When the
fact of the matter is, the love and knowledge you have for Christ is because
the Spirit is personally involved in your life.
·
Whatever
you know and trust about the things of God can be sourced to the personal work
of the Holy Spirit in your life at this very moment.
·
If you
are a believer, you are immersed in the Holy Spirit.
·
For us
to say we feel like we don’t know the Spirit would be like the disciples saying
they didn’t know Jesus.
·
It is
ridiculous.
Following the
completion of this discourses “comfort sandwich” in verse 27, Jesus has some
minor chastising to do.
2) BELIEVE WHAT
CHRIST SAYS
John 14:28–31 (ESV) — 28
You heard me say to you [John 8:21], ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’
If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for
the Father is greater than I. 29
And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place
you may believe. 30 I will no
longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no
claim on me, 31 but I do as the
Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.
Rise, let us go from here.
Jesus began with and
spent a considerable amount of time encouraging the disciples.
·
But in verse
28 He finally calls them out on their love deficit.
Jesus’ words convey
to us that He had shared His interpretation of the facts, but the disciples
balked at embracing them.
·
They
were still holding out hope in their version of reality.
·
They
were guilty of “wrong thinking”.
·
“Yet, as
Jesus reminds them, and as Paul would have agreed (Phil. 1:23), being with God
is better by far, both for Jesus and for his followers, who subsequent to his
exaltation will be able to draw on the assistance of both the exalted Jesus and
the indwelling Spirit” – Kostenberger.
In fact, the best
thing that could happen for the disciples is Jesus’ glorification.
·
“…the
transformation of the disciples’ understanding can be said to turn on the
glorification of Jesus (12:16)”, the “coming of the Paraclete (16:12–15)”, and
“on Jesus’ resurrection (2:22)” – D.A. Carson.
·
Christianity
does not begin without the unfolding of these events.
o Without the final obedient act of Christ in
submitting to His crucifixion.
Right Thinking for Us:
·
Stop
devaluing the role and presence of the Holy Spirit in your life.
o Your interpretation of the facts is simply
wrong.
·
You are
who you are in Christ because of the Holy Spirit’s “coming alongside” you on
Christ’s behalf.
·
This is
the truth of the matter, whether you feel it or not.
·
Accept
it, trust it and believe it.
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