How Much has the Holy Spirit Taught Us?

Just to refresh us on what Pentecost Sunday is; it is when the Church gathers and remembers the events of , when the disciples received the promise of the Holy Spirit.

records that . . .

Acts 2:1–3 NIV - Anglicised

Acts 2:1–4 NIV - Anglicised

1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

And I do want to point out that the “day of Pentecost,” was not just a one time thing that was going on.

Acts 2:1–5 NIV - Anglicised

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 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. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.

The Jews had celebrated the Pentecost for centuries.

Historically, Pentecost marks the 50th day after the end of Passover and was a celebration of God’s provision for Israel.

So, this was a happy and festive time.

And our disciples, being Jewish were also gathered there celebrating Pentecost with everyone else, when God once again changed the world.

Because at that moment the Church went from a rag-tag group of disciples to the powerful, Spirit filled, Bride of Christ.

It was then that the Church as we know it was born.

Over the centuries the Church has waxed and waned but the same Holy Sprit that showed up that day in Jerusalem is the same Holy Spirit that is supposed to be present in every single Church in the world.

And the power of the Holy Spirit that enabled these disciples to do miraculous things on that day and moving forward, is no different that the Holy Spirit today.

The Church is not supposed to be a watered down version of what it once was.

The Church is supposed to be the same powerful, world-changing Bride of Christ as it was then.

But, in many instances it is not.

In many cases, the Church has seemed to lose it’s power, it’s influence, it’s strength.

And there have been papers, books, and all sorts of ideas as to why.

And if you sum it all up, it boils down to the Church not being responsive and open to the Holy Spirit.

The Church has abandoned the Spirit and went its own way, which is what we are going to be looking at this morning.

So, this morning if you have found it in your Bible, I’d invite you to stand if you are able as we begin to talk about How Much Has the Holy Spirit Taught Us?

Again, we are in , verses 25-27, and Jesus is addressing his disciples . . .

Scripture Focus

John 14:25–27 NIV - Anglicised

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Another Counselor

Now, I read just a snip-it of a teaching session that Jesus had with his disciples.

On this occasion, Jesus was taking the opportunity to teach the disciples about the things to come.

As the time of his crucifixion was drawing nearer and nearer, we actually see Jesus’ teaching to the disciples on these things pick up and increase.

The reason being was that Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen and he wanted his disciples to be as prepared as possible as well.

So, on this occasion, Jesus is actually going to be teaching them about the Holy Spirit and the importance of the Holy Spirit once he is gone.

So, if we back up to verse 15 of that same chapter Jesus tells his disciples this . . .

John 14:15–17 NIV - Anglicised

15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you for ever— 17 the 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.

John 14:15

Now, immediately here we see what I was talking about earlier with regard to the Church and the Church’s loss of power in the world today.

The very first thing Jesus tells them here is . . .

John 14:15 NIV - Anglicised

15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command.

And the lesson for us is that love is demonstrated by obedience.

If we are going to say we love Jesus, then we have to ask ourselves are we obedient to Jesus?

If we are going to say we love God, do we obey God?

Because one of the chief problems today is we want to proclaim our love by mouth but there is nothing there to back it up.

In , Jesus says this . . .

Matthew 15:8 NIV - Anglicised

8 “ ‘These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

You see, we can say we love God all day long but what we say really doesn’t matter.

The condition of our heart is what matters.

And someone who says they love God but goes out and just lives however they want, is basically lying to themselves.

They are trying to fool themselves into believing that all they have to do is proclaim love and that is all there is too it.

Let’s think about it in human terms. How do we know our significant other loves us? Is it just because they tell us every once in a while?

And as a man, I know that ladies like to hear it and our attitude sometimes is “I told you once and if anything changes I’ll let you know.”

But husbands, there’s nothing wrong with telling your wife you love them.

But, honestly is telling them enough?

No! Words are cheap. It is how we demonstrate that love that matters.

And Jesus tells us that we demonstrate our love for him by being obedient to His commands, which honestly are quite simple.

Jesus’ commands to us are . . .

Matthew 22:37-

Matthew 22:37–39 NIV - Anglicised

37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’

Love God with all we are and demonstrate that love by loving others.

That is why John tells us that . . .

1 John 4:20–21 NIV - Anglicised

20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

1 John 4:20

So, this morning , first question is do you say you love God?

How are you demonstrating that love?

It is harsh to say, but if you are not obeying Jesus’ commands, then you are a liar.

You are deceiving yourself and in the end it will not pay off.

And the reason this is important for the Church and the Holy Spirit’s presence in the Church is because the Church is not the building , the Church is the people.

You are the Church.

And if you are not right with God, then the Church is not right with God.

And if the Church is not right with God, then the Holy Spirit is not present in the Church.

And the power of the Holy Spirit is diminished in the Church as a whole.

In of the KJV, the Bible says they were there in one accord.

Now, that doesn’t mean that they showed up in a Honda Accord, or that Jason Accord gave them a lift.

What that means is that they were gathered together with a common mindset, a common interest.

They were not divided or fractured.

They were unified.

And today, if the Church wants to realize the power of the Holy Spirit, then the Church has got to get together.

The Church has got to be unified.

And I am talking about the ENTIRE BODY OF BELIEVERS that is “The Church.”

Because as long as the Church is fractured and splintered and not being obedient to the commands of Jesus Christ, then the Church will continue to operate and “half power.”

But it starts with each one of us.

It starts right here.

We can’t push it off on the church down the street.

Each and every one of us bears some responsibility here.

So, the question remains, are we being obedient to the commands of Christ?

The Gift of the Spirit

Now, after Jesus had stepped on their toes a bit, he now tells them of one to come.

Now, keep in mind, they didn’t know when, but here is Jesus’ promise . . .

John 14:16–17 NIV - Anglicised

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you for ever— 17 the 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.

John 14:16-

You see, Jesus has already filled them in on the fact that he was leaving soon.

And they were having a hard time with this concept and to be honest were probably a little afraid.

But Jesus tells them he will give them another counselor or teacher, one who will be with them forever.

And this is something that Christians need to hear.

We often think that at times when things are going rough that God is nowhere to be found.

The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit is with us.

The Holy Spirit does just say, “this looks bad, I’m out.”

That is not how it works.

Even when the world has abandoned you rest assured GOD IS WITH YOU.

God is right there and God is not going anywhere.

No matter how bad it gets, God will pull you through it.

Satan will try to convince you otherwise, but I’m going to tell you the worse it gets, pray more.

Because what Satan is trying to do is to cut off that line of communication between you and God.

And I am not saying pray for God to take it all away and God will.

I’m telling you to pray that God reveal himself and pray for God’s presence.

Because God is there and God will get you through it, whatever it is.

Another important point here that Jesus makes is that he refers to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Truth.

This is vitally important in the world that we live in today.

There are so many lies and so much deception around us, how do we discern what the truth is?

We have to be aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

But that also means that the Holy Spirit has to be abiding with us.

And before the Holy Spirit can abide with us, Jesus must be our Savior.

WE HAVE TO FIRST HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD!

And there are so many people out there have this idea that if they are good enough, moral enough, friendly enough, it doesn’t matter what they believe.

Yes it does.

In the Scriptures just before our passage Jesus tells the disciples that . . .

John 14:6 NIV - Anglicised

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:8 NIV - Anglicised

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

Jesus is the ONLY WAY. Regardless of what lies the world wants to spread.

Jesus is it.

But Jesus also says here in verse 17 that the world cannot accept him, [talking about the Holy Spirit] because it neither sees him nor knows him.

However, for the Christian, you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

Does the Holy Spirit live with you this morning?

Does the Holy Spirit live IN you this morning?

Listening to the Spirit

Now, in verses 18-24, Jesus spends time explaining to the disciples that even though he is leaving because of the Holy Spirit, they will not be orphaned or abandoned and explains to them that he is going to the Father but coming again.

And there is this back and forth about Jesus being revealed as the Messiah and how all of that will come about.

But this morning we are going to skip down to verse 25, where we read from in the beginning.

And again Jesus tells the disciples . . .

John 14:25–26 NIV - Anglicised

John 14:25-

Again, he is teaching them these things while they are together because Jesus knows what is about to take place.

Jesus even knows what is going to take place on the Day of Pentecost.

But he also tells them something else about the Holy Spirit here.

He says that . . .

John 14:26 NIV - Anglicised

26 But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

The Holy Sprit will teach them and remind them of everything that Jesus had taught them.

And the Holy Spirit does the same thing for us.

Part of the role of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers is to:

Teach us

Guide us

Direct us

Mold us

Remind us

But, we have to listen to what the Holy Spirit is trying to teach us.

We have to actually be open to the teaching of the Holy Spirit.

And part of our problem is we don’t want to listen.

We want to just do our own thing , our own way.

That typically doesn’t work too well for us.

Not only does it not work well, but it also diminishes the power of the Holy Spirit in the Church.

We are creatures with Free Will.

Having a Free Will means that we have the ability to choose to listen or not.

Jesus tells us that . . .

Matthew 13:15 NIV - Anglicised

15 For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’

Matthew

We are like the Jews lots of times, we stop up our ears and close our eyes to the truth of God.

The Holy Spirit tries to teach us but we refuse to learn.

We refuse to listen to what God has to say to us.

And the result is not the Church at Pentecost, but rather this watered down 21st century version that is weak and barely hanging on.