The Helper
Jn. 14:15-17
8/11/02
The Helper
Intro. series
Pick up in John 14, where we were a month ago, on a three week series on the Holy Spirit. In the midst of a passage where Christ is laying out important words. Parting words. "Articles of faith" for His disciples.
Articles of faith are usually thought of to separate:
"We're right-you're wrong!" (truth /falsehood & light/darkness)
Not so with these. Believe this and you will find strength and comfort.
l. preparation of an eternal home with the Father (14:2)
2. promise of an event - Christ's coming (14:3)
3. practice of prayer (14:12-14)
4. personal helper (14:15-17)
(read Jn. 14:15-17)
A fresh look at the person and work of the Holy Spirit is very much needed for several reasons.
1.) To know God.
The Holy Spirit is one of the persons of the triune Godhead. Equal in essence and very being with the Father and the Son. If we would know God, then we must know the Holy Spirit.
-(We can't neglect the Holy Spirit and know God as fully
as He desires us to at this time.
-If we are going to know the Father beyond mere cognitive data, the way that we will do this is by relating to the Person of the Holy Spirit whose mission it was to reveal Christ, whose mission it was to glorify the Father.
2.) To be holy.
The Holy Spirit is the sanctifier in the believer
-He customizes the process of becoming Holy
-He develops Christ-like character in the Christian.
-understand and cooperate with His works/promptings
-can learn bushels of Bible info., rejoice, etc., but
will not grow until you learn to relate to Holy Spirit
3.) To serve fruitfully.
The Holy Spirit is the source of the believer's power for service.
The Holy Spirit is not a force out there in the universe.
"Whenever I hear it said that God gives us power "to use" or "to draw upon," my hackles rise, because it seems so clear to me that the New Testament teaches us to think of the Spirit and his ministry in terms of a personal sovereignty whereby he uses us, not we him." -J.I. Packer
fresh look... (cont.)
-we cannot serve God apart from the person of the Holy
Spirit.
4.) To counteract the neglect.
Of the three persons in the trinity, the Holy Spirit has been most neglected by many believers.
ill.) If the Holy Spirit were withdrawn from the average Bible-believing church, 95% of the work would go unchanged.
"Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit says the Lord.
“Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.”
Jn. 15 Apart from me you can do nothing...
5.) To correct the errors.
It was the observation of a prof I had in seminary that the modern charismatic movement moved into that void. The evangelical church had grown weak in its worship and in its emphasis upon relating to the Person of the Holy Spirit experientially. Personal relationship was not emphasized. Cognitive understanding of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit was the focus.
But, the Holy Spirit is a person, He is not a doctrine. It needs to be understood that the Bible does give us certain information, doctrine, about this Person that we need to understand cognitively, but, full knowledge of the Holy Spirit is ours by walking with this Person as we would any friend.
We are not a charismatic church. We recognize the divisive nature of the charismatic imbalances and excesses. We believe that the supernatural sign gifts were given for a limited duration of time for a revealed purpose. They were to authenticate the Apostolic messengers. Not the message, but the messengers. Today, we have the completed canon of Scripture. Our lives and activities must be tested for authentication up against that.
Heb. 2:4 "God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will."
Tongues were also a sign to the unbelieving Jews.
I Cor. 14:22 "So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to unbelievers; ..."
We would draw a distinction between miracles, which occur frequently, and the gift of miracles.
This morning we'll not do an in-depth study of the Holy Spirit's work...rather, we want to examine the circumstances and the revelation of Scripture with regard to the announcement of the Spirit's coming. In so doing we will gain insight into why the Spirit came.
I. The Prodasis (v.15)
There is a great big “if” in the spiritual life.
At first, v. 15 seems to be a statement that doesn't fit,but as you read on...a concept begins to emerge that is vital to understand.
-(only touched on today--v. 21,23,24 cornerstone upon which others line up) grammatically connected to the next two verses; in thought to the next 6 verses (Pastor Mike will pick that up next week):
vss. 15,16 “if you love me, you will... (keep [accept, obey, guard over] my commandments.”
then...I will (ask the Father)
He will (send the Spirit)
cycle Holy Spirit will (be with you forever)
(Helper enabled to keep commandments)
Christ doesn't request; This is not "Let's make a Deal"
He deserves and states! if...this will happen
paraphrase
"If by an act of your will you have placed your love on Christ, you are going to do what He wants you to do."
Ill. After 23 years in the ministry –I have heard all the excuses- most of them in my own soul- as to why I can disobey and still love God.
repeated concept (v.21,23)
-he who is "having" (Characteristic of life) my commandments
memory, meditation, availing your thought processes to what Jesus said, ”he who keeps my commandments (receives, obeys, guards over) -he is loving in a position of knowing God intimately
(-a sense in which God loves everybody-Jn. 3:16
another sense in which God is known more intimately by those who love Him as this verse explains.
turn to I Jn. 2:3
ill.) a lot of water passed over the dam
John, having kept Christ's commandments all his life
Read I Jn. 2:3 "And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.
4 The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is
not in him;
5 But whoever keeps His Word, in him the love of God has been truly perfected."
keeping His commands will not be without trouble
II. The Personal Helper v.16
v. 16 I will ask... another Helper
volumes written on these two words
1.) "another"-allos 'another of the same kind'
'another just like the first one'
(James Boice ill.) play a tape for your friend (Rich Mullins)
he's captivated by it; you give it to him. "I can buy another one"
-go to the store, "You remember that tape Ibought the other day, I'd like another one just like it!"
If the Holy Spirit is another "Helper," who was the first helper?
Obviously Jesus Himself I Jn. 2:1 "We have an advocate"
The Holy Spirit is going to be of the same nature as Jesus; i.e. Divine.
All of this talk about "another helper" a Holy Spirit, etc.
was very unfamiliar to Christ's disciples.
Throughout the O.T. age and the gospel period the Holy Spirit's relation to men other than Christ was individual and sovereign. i.e. some were filled with the Spirit but only a few:
It was according to God's sovereign plan and individual according to that plan.
John the Baptist Luke l:15
Elizabeth Luke l:41
Zacharias Luke l:67
Simeon Luke 2:25
This being very foreign territory for them, Christ begins to prepare the way for the Holy Spirit's ministry that lay ahead of them.
John 15 "branch abiding in the vine" is a word picture that Jesus gave to help His disciples grasp the importance of this relationship with the Holy Spirit.
2. He is our "Helper"
Paraclete. (Paracletos)
Originally used of a legal assistant or advocate. "One called to the side of..."
What is the general idea that Holy Spirit wanted to convey to us about Himself in this term?
Some have used the word "Comforter". This traces back to Wycliffe's english translation. At the time the word "comfort" was a stronger term. (Latin, con, "with" and, fortis, "Strong") It denoted "Strengthener, Helper". Comforter in our day is a soft word. It tends to convey one who merely plods along in a difficult situation. Passively holding the hand in the pain. Paraclete is not this, but, rather one who provides the assistance that will deliver from the difficult situation. We are overcomers. We overwhelmingly conquer through the Strength of the Strengthener, the help of the Helper.
v. 17 names the Helper - "Spirit of Truth"
Titles are numerous and used to designate an aspect of His being
Spirit of Glory I Pet. 4:14
Spirit of Life Rom. 8:2
Spirit of Holiness Rom 1:4
Holy Spirit Matt. 1:20
Holy One I Jn. 2:20
Spirit of Wisdom Eph. 1:17
Spirit of Wisdom & Under-
standing Isa. 11:2
Spirit of Counsel & Might Isa. 11:2
Spirit of Knowledge and
Fear of Lord Isa. 11:2
Spirit of Grace Heb. 10:29
Spirit of Grace and
Supplication Zech. 12:10
Spirit of Adoption Rom. 8:15
Spirit of Faith II Cor. 4:13
but, He chose here to call the Spirit. "Spirit of Truth"
Why? Hunch:
1.) We need to recognize that none of us has had a perfectly true thought in our lives.
- faith is a mixture, love..., understanding
We as depraved sinful beings have a propensity away from the truth toward falsehood.
- Our intellect is darkened - we distort all truth
The deeper you excavate into your soul, the more you are made aware that there is a lot of falsehood in each of us, even the best of us are tainted by falsehood, lies, rationalizations.
ill.) A few hours prior to this these men were arguing about who would be the greatest - lives full of subtle falsehoods.
-Judas'betrayal & Peter's denial- deceptions that had to be brought to light & dealt with
2.) 16:13 (read)
They were not left to their own devices
ill.) No way that they would have been able to be unified as they waited for Pentecost -tired, hungry,
14:26 (read) teach, remind
they began to get Christ's ministry into perspective
Trans. One, at this point, may have been tempted to think that the golden age had finally come.
Truth reigns supreme. Helper has come. Wrong!
III. The Problem (v.17)
Not only does Jesus say that the world won't receive the helper but they don't have the ability to!
The "world-system" (Cosmos) dominated by Satan does not have the power to recognize the Holy Spirit because (two things)
1. They can't see Him
"theoreo" -scrutinize
ill.) uncomfortable talking about Holy Spirit in the presence of unbelievers
"Do you believe in ghosts?"
yes, let me qualify that
ill. only a problem in Western society, empiricism
ill.) Jesus cast out a demon (Mt.12)
- Pharisees attributed the power to Beelzebub Jesus warned them any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be
2. They can't know Him
You can't put together facts and come up with the Holy Spirit's presence. Scientific process won’t reveal Him.
Like so many other things in Christ's life "You believe and then you will see"! not vice versa
ill.) Remember day of Pentecost. Sure enough! The "world" attributed the miraculous sign miracles to something they were familiar with. "These men are drunk!"
Get a glimpse of the quandary that Christ's disciples throughout the ages have found themselves in!
The very source of energy: The very source that enables a believer to keep (guard over) God's commands, is the very Person that the world does not have the ability to understand.
The world looks at the life of a believer and cannot understand what makes him tick!
ill.) Vance Havner told) A parade in which a young man was participating in one of the marching bands.
"He was marching to the drumbeat of a different world!"
How is it with you? v.17) We know Him because...
v.16,17 3 prepositions with (_meta) in fellowship
by (_para_) in personal presence
Vincent suggests in ( ev_) is Source of life
The most important relationship we have to nurture is our relationship with the Holy Spirit. Personal Sovereign.Strengthener. Helper. How is it with you?
Further Rev. - we can grieve, quench, lie to, resist the Holy Spirit. That prompting of your heart, that desires to lead you into truth is the Holy Spirit ministering.
What will be your response?