The Spirit of Truth
Notes
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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.
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Setting the Stage
Setting the Stage
Jesus is calling the Eleven’s attention to His death on the Cross that is at hand.
He is preparing them for His departure, ascension.
He is calling them to recognize that He is/should be the exclusive object of faith…
In order to be in a reconciled relationship with God.
Jesus is the true & exclusive object of faith in God.
Now we read in…
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
Do you feel your natural instinct?
Do you feel your instinct to self righteousness kick in with a thought of doing to earn?
Even as Christians, who relish in the doctrine of justification…
We still hear…you will keep my commandments…
And, we start asking, what do i need to do to earn/keep God’s favor.
Or maybe you responded with a thought of despair…
—> I can’t do that.
And, then we lose joy, lose hope, walk away from the privilege of fellowshipping with God.
I want us to see this as not a command to earn/keep the favor of God…
But to train yourself that obedience for a Christian is…
An Indicator of Love for Christ
An Indicator of Love for Christ
And not a condition that threatens exile.
The threatenings of God’s commands for Christians has been quenched by Christ on the Cross.
Christ is not threatening the disciples here.
He’s properly defining love.
The verb for keep here is an indicative, not an imperative.
Meaning, this is not a command that Jesus is giving.
It is a fruit that Jesus is saying will manifest itself in those who love Him.
Jesus is also not saying here that we will obey perfectly.
Christ came, and died for His people because of our inability to obey perfectly.
The word here for keep means to keep in view, to watch over in order to protect.
(3 ways of righteous = God’s, pursue holiness, situational)
So, what Jesus is saying is…
—> obedience to Christ will be important to us.
We desire to study it.
We desire to meditate on it.
We desire to protect it.
We desire to guard our hearts with it.
His commands are a light unto our path.
Now, Jesus is about to leave them.
They will no longer enjoy His incarnate presence on earth.
So, He is preparing them for how they should conduct themselves in His absence.
—> He’s commanded us to love one another.
And, now, He says if they love Him…
—> It will manifest itself in obedience.
In contrast with the world, especially today…
The world defines love as sentiment and emotion.
The Bible defines love as moral action.
The world defines love as feelings.
The Bible defines love as covenant behavior.
And, we live in a culture that has heightened feelings to a hyper level.
So much so, that the horrific consequence is that our culture is largely ruled by how we feel.
But, the Bible calls us to be ruled by what we know.
The Bible doesn’t call us to feel about God.
The Bible calls us to belive Him.
The Bible doesn’t call us to feel good about the gospel.
The Bible calls us to believe the gospel.
Now, let me insert that belief will and should drive feelings.
But, honestly, in our fallen condition we often don’t feel like we should.
And, so the Bible calls us to step out of or away from the way we feel when it contradicts Scripture…
And believe what Scripture says over how you feel.
As R.C. Sproul once stated…
I don’t always feel God’s presence. But, God’s promises do not depend upon my feelings, they rest upon His integrity.
Jesus knows the disposition of His disciples.
They will be tempted to give way to grief and distress at His leaving them.
They will be tempted to forget that the true test of love is not endless lamentation.
But, Jesus is teaching them that love for Him is truly and best expressed through practical obedience to their Master’s commands.
Love is not best displayed by lamentation.
Love is not best displayed by words of praise.
Love is not best displayed by pomp and circumstance.
—> There is a time for those things if motivated by love.
But, Jesus is teaching us that love is best displayed through obedience.
What kind of obedience?
Not a justifying obedience.
Not a courtroom declaration of guiltlessness.
But, an obedience of knowing God’s will is best for us…
And, so it is an obedience of God’s will guiding us.
His will being pursued by us.
Out of love for Him for the justification and reconciliation we have with God in Christ.
So, what Jesus is teaching is this…
To love the Father is to love his children.
To love the Son is to love his followers.
To love one another is to love the Father and the Son.
To obey Him, expresses love for Him.
Large task, right?!
Large task, right?!
But, even admitting that we cannot/do not keep Christ’s commands perfectly or even close…
Even feeling the comfort of the New Covenant and knowing our security in Christ…
Just to pursue it, we need help.
And, so we read…
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
Why is this Comforting/Helpful?
Why is this Comforting/Helpful?
Jesus is everything to them
Jesus is everything to them
Think about their life the last three years.
They’ve been at Jesus side consistently.
They’ve seen the miracles He’s performed.
They’ve seen Him stump the RL’s.
They’ve seen Him vanish through a crowd and mystify the RL’s who could not lay hold of Him.
Think of all they’ve learned:
on the long journeys.
around the camp fires.
around the table at meal times.
They’ve asked questions —> He’s had the perfect answers.
They’ve has fears —> He’s calmed them with perfect comfort.
They were lost. Now, they are found.
He has the words of Life.
They know they need Him.
They know they never want to experience His absence.
The Dangers Ahead of Them
The Dangers Ahead of Them
They’ve been told one of them will betray Jesus.
Peter’s just been told he’s going to deny Jesus three times.
They know there is dangers ahead.
What about the RL’s? Who will handle them?
What about the mob?
All those fears would overwhelm us.
But, I want to speak about another reason.
We Desire to Honor Christ
We Desire to Honor Christ
We know that we are weak...
We know…we do the things we don’t want to do/we don’t do the things we want to do.
Even though, as Christians, we’ve been born again…
Our sin nature is still very strong.
We have a battle that rages within us that unbelievers have no concept of.
The flesh is raging against our spirit.
We have this example of the power of the flesh in the gospels…
Not but a few hours from the time stamp of our passage…
Without the physical presence of Christ Peter denied Christ three times.
In every true Christian there is…
Not just a desire for the omnipotent God:
to be with you
to help you
to protect you
to guide you
But, there is a deep, intense, sincere fear of letting Christ down.
But, here, we have this promise from Christ that the Helper will be with us, forever.
And, Paul puts this comforting thought like this…
13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
This is Paul’s description of what Jesus is teaching and will continue to teach us of the work of the HS in the life of believers.
Let’s think about this…
Let’s think about this…
I want to repeat what I’ve already stated to hopefully help it stick.
Sometimes we don’t feel the presence of Christ.
Sometimes we don’t feel the HS working in us.
But, we have the promise of Christ that He is with us, always.
That He will never leave us, nor forsake us.
And, so we must cling to what we know…
Not how we feel.
We must read, repeat, meditate, pray over, cry out with, cling to the promises of God over our feelings.
Because the promises of God are not fulfilled by our feelings, but by the character of a holy God.
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit
Now let’s look at Who it is that will come from the Father?
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.
Another Helper
Another Helper
So, with Jesus ascending, back to the throne in heaven…
The Father is going to send another Helper.
Here we see all three persons of the Godhead as three distinct persons.
The Son ascends.
The Father sends.
The Spirit comes.
Jesus is going to build upon this to give us a much clearer understanding of the Holy Spirit…
And, His role in the New Covenant people of God as we continue to progress through John’s gospel.
The New Covenant Benefits
The New Covenant Benefits
The HS is a promise of the NC.
As we read in passages like…
33 … I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
This is the work of the HS to call us out of darkness into light.
40 I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.
This is the work of the HS dwelling/residing within every believer.
8 I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me.
This is a constant communication of the HS to every believer.
And, if I might add, our awareness is heightened of this great truth in the ordained means of the Church and the preaching of God’s Word.
You’ve had a bad week as a Christian.
You feel your sin.
You feel the many ways in which you have failed Christ.
Come, hear the Word of God preached.
Come, hear the gospel of forgiveness.
Come, hear the benefits of Christ.
Come, be reminded that you cannot be exiled from the NC.
Come, feel the love of Christ through the fellowship of believers.
Come, taste and see a foretaste of better things to come.
The Apostle Paul says…
16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
The HS not only applies the benefits of Christ to us…
But, the HS communicates those benefits to us for us to be reminded and to believe.
To feel the comfort of knowing that we are Christ’s…
And Christ is ours.
That we are the children of God.
But, not only will He help/comfort the people of God…
Jesus tells us a characteristic of the other Helper, the HS.
He is…
The Spirit of Truth
The Spirit of Truth
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.
He communicates to us the truth of God’s Word and who Jesus is.
One of the weapons in the armor of a Christian is, as Paul puts it…
17 … the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
The weapon of the HS is the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
So, by the power of the HS wielding the sword:
The Word of God, which God has chosen to manifest His power.
The Word of God confounds those who deem themselves wiser.
The Word of God exposes the secrets of the heart.
The Word of God is able to convert the soul.
The Word of God is the primary means to communicate comfort to the children of God.
In this, we can see the important and beautiful benefits of the Word of God:
being read
being taught
being meditated upon
being hidden in our heart
being believed.
The Spirit will communicate truth to us, which will contrast and correct worldly speculation and wisdom.
We have the Spirit of God which testifies to our spirit that we are the children of God.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth.
—> God is truth.
The Holy Spirit takes Christ’s place with the disciples and within the disciples.
And, the presence of the HS is equal to the presence of the Son in all the Godhead’s attributes.
And, if the HS is the Spirit of Truth…
Truth, therefore, is something to be received and obeyed…
Which is exactly the kind of help “the other Helper” intends to offer the disciple.
What a salvation we have!
Let’s think about this...
Let’s think about this...
The HS is to be Experienced
The HS is to be Experienced
I think that a missing element of the modern Christian church is a lack of acknowledged experience with the HS.
I’m not talking mystical, phenomena.
I’m talking about the convicting, convincing, comforting, guiding, experiential relationship we have with the HS of God.
The HS is meant to be experienced.
The HS helping, comforting, etc. …
Is not just a Creedal Doctrine that we give the nod to and really don’t experience.
If it’s that, an empty creed.
If it’s not something we experience as believers…
Then this is an empty promise by Christ to the eleven and to us.
And, there is no comfort, nor help from the HS.
We should be sensitive to the guiding presence of the HS.
And, the more we know the Word, the more sensitive we can be that it is the HS prompting us.
And, the more we can be aware of the HS comforting us with truths of our relationship with Christ…
And, the benefits that we have because of our union with Christ.
All that we need, we have in Jesus.
And, all that we have is applied and communicated to us, as believers, by the Holy Spirit of God.
What a salvation!
What a Savior!
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
