Sermon Tone Analysis

God The Holy Spirit --- Inside and Outside

John 14:15-27

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—”

John 14:16

We have been spending a last few weeks looking at the Apostles’ Creed.

We have learned that the early church used this creed as a teaching tool and a baptismal confession.

We have learned that the creed is trinitarian in form.

It teaches us about God--the creator and sustainer of all things.

It teaches us about Jesus Christ, God’s one and only Son who came to earth, suffered and died, then ascended to heaven where He sits at the right hand of God the Father to intercede for us.

There have been some deep, theological concepts about Jesus that were wrapped up in just a few lines: incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and judgement let alone the second coming!

Join me as we read the Apostles’ Creed.

The Apostles’ Creed

1.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth;

2. and in Jesus Christ, His only (begotten) Son, our Lord;

3. who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary,

4. suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried;

He descended into hell;

5. the third day he rose again from the dead;

6.

He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

7. from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

8.

I believe in the Holy Ghost,

9. the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints,

10. the forgiveness of sins,

11. the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting.

Amen

Just a quick note on Line 6: He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

Okay—to sit at someone’s, anyone’s right hand, used to be an honor.

It was a sign that the person on the host’s right had special honors.

God the Father has bestowed the highest place of honor upon Jesus—who sits at God’s RIGHT hand.

Line 7: from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead:

Many of you have asked me this very question, “What does it mean when we say ‘quick’?” I’m happy to report that it’s just another word that was used for LIVING!

The “quick” and the dead means the living and the dead; and, in the Creed, we declare that, in time, Jesus will judge us all-- the living and the dead.

We know that Jesus is full of “grace and truth” and that Jesus is light and in Him is no darkness.

I believe this means that we can trust that we will be judged with grace and truth.

To me, it is joy to trust that there is someone who knows us and understands us completely who will judge us with grace and truth.

Last week we looked at why the ascension is important.

We learned that the ascension was important for two reasons.

First, the ascension is important because it tells us that Jesus’ earthly ministry was completed, that Jesus has gone to be with God the Father to begin His heavenly ministry of interceding for us.

(What a powerful thought.

Jesus ascended into heaven and now prays for us.

Listen to Webster’s definition for “intercede”: to intervene between parties with a view to reconcile differences.

Mediate.

Can I get a huge AMEN on that?

Jesus is intervening between God the Father and you and me so that we—God the Father and you and me—can reconcile our differences?!) Second, the ascension is important because Jesus’ earthly ministry has now been delegated, given, to us.

When Jesus ascended into Heaven, His message and ministry was delegated to us.

We are called to do what Jesus did! Wow! How does that make you feel?

How do we do the same thing that Jesus did?

Let us turn to Gospel of John and see what Jesus told His disciples.

Let us pray … “Come, Holy Spirit, fill our hearts and minds.

Empower us with Your Holy Boldness.

Inspire us to go out and sow seeds of faith.

Amen.”

Now we will read from the book of John 14:15-27.

Dare I share that in Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of THE LAST SUPPER---John is supposedly the one to Jesus’ right hand!

Just something to mull around in your mind right now!

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

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 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.

18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me.

Because I live, you also will live.

20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.

He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.

Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” 23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.

My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.

These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you.

26 But the Counselor, 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.[i]

The Person of the Holy Spirit

In Genesis 1:2 we read; “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”

In Luke 1:35 we read; “The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

The Spirit also came to Samson and he demonstrated miraculous strength.

The Spirit enabled Joseph to interpret puzzling dreams and to withstand the hostility of his brothers and Potiphar’s wife’s sensual temptations while in Egypt.

The prophets declared the Spirit as righteousness and felt the Spirit within them.

The Spirit enabled David to conquer one crisis after another.

The Spirit of God devastated Saul of Tarsus as he went to persecute the believer’s and later cleansed and commissioned Paul to proclaim the gospel.

Jesus was sustained by the Holy Spirit in the wilderness and when Jesus came to His hometown of Nazareth He declared: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach”—which is Isaiah 61 and Luke 2.

The language of the Apostles’ creed reminds us that the work of the Holy Spirit is not finished.

The same Spirit was brooding over creation and Mary is also brooding over you and me.

The same Spirit that filled Samson, Joseph, David, Rahab, Ruth, Boaz and all the men and women of the Bible is the same Spirit that fills us yet today.

The Spirit of God is currently brooding over you and me and wants to create in us a community formed in the image of Jesus.

Stop and think about that for a minute.

The God who created the universe and all the galaxies wants to create in you and me His very own image.

In verse 15 Jesus had just spoken of the disciples’ love for Him and here reveals His love for them.

Jesus wants them to be like Him.

He will “ask the Father.”

What a powerful word picture of Jesus as the intercessory, the One who stands in our place, and speaks to the Father on our behalf.

Could this be why the ascension was necessary?

So that Jesus can mediate for us?

Jesus can reconcile our differences.

The Greek word for “Comforter—also Advocate or Helper” is ‘παράκλητος [parakletos /par·ak·lay·tos/].

It is a Greek word that has many meanings and is very difficult to translate into in English; it cannot be exhausted by any one word in our language.