Sermon Tone Analysis

Come Holy Spirit

John 14:15-27

“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.”

John 14:23

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

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.”

Let us turn to Gospel of John and hear what Jesus told His disciples in 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]

This morning I would like to give you three “P’s” of the Holy Spirit: The promise of the Holy Spirit, the person of the Holy Spirit, and the Power of the Holy Spirit.

Let me tell you a story of a simple, illiterate man who was converted through the work of the Salvation Army.

He went regularly to the Salvation Army church.

One day he came home rather sad.

His wife said, "What's the matter?"

He said, "I've just noticed that all the people in the Salvation Army wear red sweaters, and I don't have a red sweater."

She said, "I'll knit one."

So she knitted him a red sweater.

The next Sunday after he went to church, he still wasn't happy.

His wife said, "What's wrong this time?"

He said, "I just noticed all their red sweaters have yellow writing."

They were both illiterate, but she said, "Don't worry about it.

I'll embroider some writing on for you."

She had no idea what the yellow writing on the red sweater of a Salvation Army man said--Any of you know what it is?

They have a yellow circle, and in it, BLOOD AND FIRE.

That's their motto.

(Unbutton the jacket of a Salvation Army man when he's ringing his little bells sometime; tell him you're just checking.)

The man's wife had no idea what the letters said, and she couldn't read anyway.

So copying a sign from a store window opposite their home, she embroidered the words of that store sign onto his red sweater.

When he came back the next Sunday, she said, "Did they like your sweater?"

"They loved my sweater.

Some of them said they liked my sweater better than their sweater."

What neither of them knew was that the sign on the store window she had copied read, THIS BUSINESS IS UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT.

That's what it means to trust in God alone.

That's what it means to know Jesus as Lord.

That's what it means for the Holy Spirit to fill you: this business under new management.

THE PROMISE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Word of God promises us the Holy Spirit.

The words “Holy Spirit”, or “Spirit of God”, or “the Spirit of the Lord” are used 131 times in the Bible.

In our Old Testament reading from the prophet Joel, God promises the Holy Spirit; “Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.”

What a wonderful promise --- God will pour out His Spirit upon all people!

Jesus, the night before He is about to die for our sins, offers us the promise of the Holy Spirit.

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.

This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.

You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.”

Jesus gives us another advocate --- the Holy Spirit who will be with us forever.

That is a powerful and comforting promise.

We will not be orphaned --- we will never be alone!

We always have the promise of the Holy Spirit.

When I think of the promise of the Holy Spirit, I think of Alka-Seltzer.

Alka-Seltzer promises fast relief for fever, body aches, headaches, runny nose, sore throat, and coughing.

Alka-Seltzer promises healing, wholeness and comfort.

So often we have the medicine for healing, but we do not open the package.

Let me show you (drop an unopened package of Alka-Seltzer into a glass of water) there will be no power, no healing, and no comfort if the package is never opened.

Yet there is a promise for comfort if we just open the package (open a package of Alka-Seltzer and put it in a glass of water) and see the promise for healing, all we have to do is open the promise.

THE PERSON OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

So what is this promise?

Better yet, who is this promise?

When Jesus says that He “will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.

This is the Spirit of truth,” what does He mean?

I believe that we need to look at a few of the Greek words that are used in this sentence.

The first word that we should see is the word “another” in the Greek, the word is “allos.”