Sermon Tone Analysis

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

John 14:15

The disciples’ perspective is quickly matching to the reality.

Their hopes for the conquering Messiah have faded and now the reality of Jesus’ words that He will soon be leaving them are becoming very clear.

Jesus, in His love and care, meets their fears and doubts with the promise that they do not head into this new phase of life alone.

Jesus promises that they will receive the Holy Spirit, the paraclete, advocate who will be with them and in them.

This is no small promise.

In the Old Testament, the presence of God is a sacred gift given only tot he people of Israel and was dependent upon the faithfulness of the people to be maintained.

We see throughout the Old Testament, the fear of the people to lose the presence fo the Lord.

Jeremiah 11:

Ezekiel

Psalm 51

Jesus then comes and now we experience Emmanuel, God with us.

For many of us, this is the fulfillment of the gospel, this is the good news, but stopping at God coming to be with us is to stop short of God’s plan.

Jesus says he must go so that the gospel will be made complete and the God who was once far off, separated from His creation, will not only come near to his creation but he will indwell his creation.

We are indwelt by the God of the universe.

It does not end there though.

The word that Jesus uses to

In Christ though, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit.

No where that we go and nothing that we face do we head into alone.

We do not have to call upon the Lord to come and bestow His presence upon us.

We instead are indwelt with God Himself.

Every moment, the ones that we desire His presence and the ones that we do not, are lived out in the presence of the Lord.

Fear is not held at bay because we have the hope that God will come and save us from our circumstances, we do not have to fear because God is with us right now.

To Truly Love We Must Respond

John 14:19-

John 14:

The love that Christ has for us is centered on His relationship with the Father.

When Jesus was grieved, very grieved, grieved to the point of death, He went to the Father and leaned on Him for strength.

When the crowds wanted to deter from the course that God had laid out and make Jesus king by force, Jesus went to the Father to persevere.

Jesus was dependent upon the Father and it is out of his dependence upon the Lord that He is capable of fulfilling God’s plan.

In other words, It is Jesus’ love for the Father that moves Him to surrender to the plan of God and sacrificially give of Himself fully to its completion.

The love that Christ has for us is centered on His relationship with the Father.

When Jesus was grieved, very grieved, grieved to the point of death, He went to the Father and leaned on Him for strength.

When the crowds wanted to deter from the course that God had laid out and make Jesus king by force, Jesus went to the Father to persevere.

Jesus was dependent upon the Father and it is out of his dependence upon the Lord that He is capable of fulfilling God’s plan.

In other words, It is Jesus’ love for the Father that moves Him to surrender to the plan of God and sacrificially give of Himself fully to its completion.

In the same manner, Jesus points us to the truth that our love for Him is most fully understood as we respond in fulfilling His plans.

We can not fully experience the love of God without surrendering to His plan and giving of ourselves to one another.

God’s love is designed to be more fully understood as we rely on Him and we witness His plan at work through us.

We Have What We Need

John 14:25-

Jesus is sending to us the Holy Spirit, or the advocate.

Back in verse 16, He says that the Holy Spirit is another advocate.

We have two advocates.

Legal term referring to legal counsel.

Our first is Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father making our case to the Lord.

Our case is not built upon mercy.

For many of us, this describes our relationship with God.

We are focused on God’s mercy.

Our greatest fear is that we will continue to sin and that at some point, God’s mercy will run out, He will grow tired of the fact that I have made the same mistake over and over again and His mercy will find its end and I will be separated from God. Jesus’ case though is not asking for mercy.

Jesus argues the perfect case before the Father, the case of justice.

There is no possibility for condemnation and judgment because as Jesus advocates for us before the Father, Jesus states that our punishment has been paid.

The wages of sin is death and Jesus has died in our stead.

God can not be a just and good God and punish twice for the same crime.

There is another advocate, legal counsel who instead of sitting at the right hand of the Father and pleading our case, this advocate indwells our hearts and pleads our case to our own hearts.

He teaches us what Jesus has commanded, what he has told us about who we are now.

When we fall short, he pleads with us to be reminded that Christ has died.

When we are tempted, he reminds us that the old has passed away and we are new creations.

He shifts our eyes upward and makes our hearts believe that we are children of God.

He moves us to prayer.

Prayer as coheirs.

We have the relationship that Jesus had with the Father.

When we cry out Abba, Father, Daddy, His ear bends low to hear from his children.