I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life, Part Three

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 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. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

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. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘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.

4 But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.

The Work of the Holy Spirit

“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: 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 go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

We are given two manifestations of an abiding presence; A helper and Christ Himself.

A Helper – Vs. 14:15-17; 25-26; ; 16:4-15 (Five Identities of the Helper)

The Helper: The Spirit of Truth – 14:15-17

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

If you love me, you will keep my commandments

If you love – conditional, subjunctive, possible….IF

YOU WILL…Future, active indicative

Love is proven/revealed by keeping /obeying commands.

Obedience reveals TRUST; FAITH

E.G. – Teaching kids to ride bike, they trust me to not let them fall and be there even if they do.

Obedience flows from trust and love, desire to please.

Opposite also true…disobedience reveals lack of love and faith.

Obedience reveals reality of relationship; presence of Holy Spirit reveals reality of relationship. ALL ABOUT RELATIONSHIP.

Begins whole section with an emphasis on relationship.

Take back to all previous points – Believe in God; RELATIONSHIP; I go to prepare a place, that I may take you to be with me; RELATIONSHIP; Prepare way to Father; RELATIONSHIP; Assurance of provision; RELATIONSHIP.

Important to clearly understand next statement…

Must understand!

We replace relationship with church attendance, scripture reading, memorization, and study, etc.

Failure to see our faith as a relationship to God affects everything. E.G. Church Vision

AND I will ask the Father and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever…

Unlike previous verse, this is future active indicative, NOT SUBJUNCTIVE.

AND I will ask…Not conditional on works but flowing out of the reality of relationship.

Obedience reveals love and faith, reveals relationship.

NIV Application Commentary - The Spirit’s gift in these verses is controlled by verse 15a, “if you love me.” The gift, then, is an outgrowth of the loving relationship between Jesus and his disciples, not an entitlement earned by the disciple.

Our abiding presence of a helper and of Christ himself are framed in the context of relationship.

Relationship to God – FIRST!

Relationship to Others, church body is extended family, community. (Esp for those who have no family near, unsaved, or broken family)

Church is failing at relationship. Locally and nationally.

It takes work; relationships get messy

We are proud

We are selfish

We are comfortable

We like our traditions

Change is coming to our church

Relationships require us to change.

Church in NY: Visitors were told the seats they sat in were somebody else seat; Visitors can come and go without so much as a greeting.

If we love God, we will keep his commandments and seek to build the community He intended when He established the church.

Jesus responds to our love, not rewarding us for our works.

Helper promised only to HIS OWN. Obedience reveals faith and Holy Spirit indwelling.

Relationship….

Even if it seems out of place at first glance, it is not. He even returns to this theme of relationship in verse 21.

21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.

Reverses order – puts commandments first, then love.

Here is God’s response…

And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

Loved by Father and manifestation are RESPONSES to our love, not something earned.

22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

Context of relationship…if we love God, He gives a Helper, makes His home with us. Not earned, God responds to our faith, love, and repentance.

What would happen if we viewed our marriages as nothing more than a legal contract to acquire assets we desire?

There is no intimacy.

How many of your current relationships do you feel safe and secure in sharing the darkest, deepest parts of yourself with?

Why do we then think we can do the same to our Savior?

Another – besides Himself. A different helper. He has been fulfilling that role but is about to go away and send another.

Helper – Paraklete - Greek literally means “one who is called to someone’s aid” – Also translated advocate, counselor, comforter. ALL of these are probably in mind. They each have strong emphasis but fall short if we take only one specific meaning.

To be with you forever…This one will not go away or leave. SAME word as eternal. (AN ETERNAL ABIDING PRESENCE WITH US)

Even the Spirit of Truth

“Even” supplied by translators. Not there.

NASB, that; NIV, the; NLT, He is the Spirit; NKJV; the Spirit

Best translated without “even”

Spirit of Truth, referring to Holy Spirit,

Vs. 26a

26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit,

WHO ALSO IS TRUTH, like the Son. HE IS TRUTH, He will Guide in Truth (see more on this later)

Helper is HOLY SPIRIT.

Holy Spirit has been given to all believers.

Consider the following:

Romans 5 - Peace with God Through Faith

5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Ephesians 1 - 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

1 Cor 6:19-20 - 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1 Tim 1:14- 14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

Evidence that the Holy Spirit has been given and does indeed indwell and abide with us, as Jesus promised.

Some would say the Holy Spirit does not indwell at the moment of salvation and does not come until sometime later.

Indwelling presence gives hope: 2 Cor 6:10, Paul says, sorrowful yet always rejoicing; Sorrowful in that we deal with the burden of the list, and the burden of false brethren, and the burden of our own sins, and the burden of the immature, yet always rejoicing because Christ is our comfort, strength, example, pattern, redemption, etc.

The helper comes in context of relationship, cause he says…

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.

RELATIONSHIP…cannot possess a helper you don’t see or know.

You know Him and he dwells with you (in the person and work of Jesus as He is with them)

And he will be in you…they will know him more intimately when he comes to dwell in them.

Promised a Helper, the Spirit of Truth…secondly, in the context of relationship, He is the teacher.

The Helper: Teacher – 14:25-26; 16:12-13

16:12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

I have spoke while with you BUT (Contrast between their roles) the Holy Spirit will teach and bring to remembrance all I have said. – PROVIDES AID FOR OUR FORGETFULNESS and failure to understand

He will teach, will bring to remembrance, he will guide (literally lead) into all truth….

EG- When Gabe was baby, Kelly and I could not understand, but Austin and Abbey could and would tell us what He wanted and needed. They served as teachers and illuminators helping us understand.

In same way, Spirit illuminates, teaching and granting understanding.

Father will send in Jesus name – In His authority, honor, and power.

Relationship as Helper and teacher. Teachers have relationships with students.

EG – Senior English teacher giving me a gift (did not do for all)

Relationship enables teaching and instruction…builds relationship when one is instructed and taught. Creates bond, debt, intimacy.

Not speak of His own authority but of the Father and Son’s authority. (In the same way Christ operated under His father’s authority and will)

Question: Is this only for the apostles to whom He is speaking, or all believers?

To whom did the Holy Spirit come? ALL! Reference passages mentioned above indicating we all possess the Holy Spirit.

Consider also Acts 2

The Coming of the Holy Spirit

2 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.

Accused of being drunk

Peter preaches

29 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

Promise of Spirit applied to all, so is the promise to teach and guide into truth

1 Corinthians 2

Wisdom from the Spirit

6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written,

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,

nor the heart of man imagined,

what God has prepared for those who love him”—

10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

Paul speaking, Paul was not present at John 14-16, nor was he an apostle. Did not convert until after Jesus ascension and Pentecost.

14:26 – Reminded of what I taught you, is explicitly tied to apostles and to those who actually heard his teaching.

16:12 - Guiding you into all truth – to all.

We cannot be reminded of things we never heard, but we can receive illumination, taught, and guided into truth through the Word of God.

For us? Partly Yes, Partly No.

Application: Are you being teachable? Are you willing to hear and be taught by the Spirit? Do you ask God for enlightenment and understanding as you read and study the Word of God? Do you plead and beg for wisdom, discernment, truth, and conviction? The Holy Spirit is the means by which this is granted. Do we seek it? Do you apply and live out what the Holy Spirit teaches?

Not only He is the Spirit of Truth guiding us into all light, He is the testifier of God.

The Helper: Testifier of God – 15:26-16:4

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. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

16 “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. 3 And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. 4 But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.

Deal with briefly, will be returning to later

Context: True Vine, Branches. Abiding in God, Bearing Fruit, Loving one another, Being hated by the world, enduring persecution and death.

BUT…The world hated Christ without cause, BUT, NEVERTHELESS, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, whom the Father will send after the Son returns to heaven, will bear witness of Christ and who Christ was, as will they through the indwelling of the Spirit and their ministry of the word.

Bear witness – give evidence, testify, confirm – Same word we translate for martyr. Martyr’s bear witness through their death for what they stand for.

Holy Spirit validates and testifies to who Christ is! Affirms all Christ taught and did.

One of the crucial and necessary roles of the Spirit is this ministry of confirmation, of bearing witness to the person and work of Christ.

Bearing witness to the person and work of God, the Holy Spirit continues and enhances the work Christ began by convicting of sins.

Here is the relational part….in order to bear witness about someone, you must have a relationship.

E.G. – References are people you know and who know you well enough to speak of your character and person.

Christ says, they will kill thinking they are doing it for me. But they FAILED TO KNOW ME, FAILED TO KNOW MY FATHER.

They kill and destroy those who know Christ precisely because THEY DON’T know Him. They have no relationship with Him and are threatened by Him.

Relationship begins with the conviction and repentance of sin.

The Helper: Convictor of Sin – 16:4-11

The Work of the Holy Spirit

Focus on vs. 8-11 – Study the rest more in depth later (in connection with chapter 15, point 7.

WHEN HE COMES, He will convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment.

Sin

When, not if

Convict – Refute, expose, lay bare, detect, reprove, rebuke, discipline or chastise.

World – Unbelieving world, unsaved. (Vs. 9, concerning sin because they don’t believe me; ruler of this world; word often used to refer to unbelieving world.)

Sin – Missing the mark (Rm 3:23; visual of arrow falling short of target)

Convict – reveal guilt with intent to restore and reconcile.

Conviction of sin a gracious act, leading men to repentance, salvation and the Father.

Conviction is always constructive not destructive. (at least in intent and motive)

This is the work Christ began, Holy Spirit will continue…preaching repentance from sin.

Because they don’t believe in me.

Sin prevents and destroys faith. Conviction is needed because sin interrupts relationship to God.

John connects belief in God to repentance of sin. They need conviction and repentance because they fail to believe in Him.

Conviction of sin is about drawing them to repentance and faith; RESTORED RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.

New Grace Movement – All that is necessary for salvation is believing in God. Actually sinful to preach repentance and sin. Yet salvation is about repentance not mere belief.

Holy Spirit’s role, conviction of sin. Necessary for salvation.

Righteousness

Convict – Same as before

Righteousness – that which is right, just, innocent, good. That which is sinless and pure.

Seem odd to talk about conviction of righteousness?

Not really.

Religious leaders had their own declarations of their righteousness; WE have our own declarations of righteousness.

Jesus came to expose the filthiness of that righteousness.

BUT “Because I go to the Father and you will no longer see me,”

Holy Spirit continues that work.

Judgment

Convict – Same as before

Judgment – distinction, discrimination, judgment, decision, award; used in judicial process, trial, legal matters, etc. Administration of justice, what is right, good, fair, and just rewards or consequences for actions.

Because the ruler of this world and all who follow him are to be judged.

In like manner to the conviction of the worlds false righteousness, the Holy Spirit convicts the world of their immoral, impure judgment; their unrighteous judgment.

E.G. – legalizing of abortion; same sex marriage; making divorce easier;

The ruler of this world already stands condemned and judged and he is the standard by which the world judges. If he stands judged and condemned, and he is the standard for the world, what does that say?

Holy Spirit reveals the perverse and immoral judgments of the world; he convicts those.

The Helper: Convictor of sin, righteousness, and judgment. In attempt to reveal guilt and draw sinners to repentance, reconciliation, and restored relationship to God the Father.

Finally, The glorifier.

The Helper: Glorifier – 16:14-15

14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

What is glorification? It is the proclaim and revealing of what is worthy, valuable, and produces worship.

When we glorify something, we don’t give it glory; we simply reveal the glory and worth it has.

Holy Spirit will glorify Christ. How? By taking what is Christ’s and revealing it to the disciples, to us.

Ties Father to Himself (all the Father has is mine) and ties Himself to Spirit (will take what is mine and declare it to you)

Spirit glorifies Christ by revealing Christ.

RELATIONSHIP! This is about a person, not a thing, way of life, or religious order.

Spirit pours out all of who the Father is, to the disciples and us.

Remember, this is primarily applied to the immediate audience of the disciples in the teaching, recall, etc. While some portions may be applied to us, it is primarily for them.

Christ, God, Spirit are glorious. We don’t have to make it so; we simply reveal and expose what is!

5th cure for a troubled heart: An Abiding Presence

Helper: Spirit of Truth

Helper: Teacher

Helper: Testifier of God

Helper: Convictor of Sin

Helper: Glorifier

Key: Relationship.

Ultimately, the cure for a trouble heart is not in a 12 step program, in a list of things to do, in a key verse to memorize, or even in the counselor’s office (though these are not necessarily bad or wrong and can be useful), it is in the PERSON of JESUS CHRIST. The cure for troubled hearts, the key to all of life, is in understanding and enjoying relationship with the person of Christ. (expand more in message of chapter 15, abiding in Christ)