Sermon Notes for June 3, 2001

Portraits of Jesus

“Are You Making the Futile Attempt

To Live the Christian Life On Your Own?”

John 14:17-31

James (“Quick”) Tilliswas an Oklahoma cowboy who began his boxing career in Chicago. He recalls being quickly cut down to size upon his arrival into the Windy City. “I got off the bus from Tulsa with two cardboard suitcases under my arms in downtown Chicago, and stopped in front of the Sears Tower. I put my suitcases down and I looked up at the tower and said to myself, “I’m going to conquer Chicago.” “When I looked down the suitcases were gone.”

Introduction

A. Our FEAR of the Holy Spirit

There seems to be two extremes in the Body of Christ today.

a. There are those “running to” the Holy Spirit

They can’t get enough of Him
The Toronto Blessing
The Pensacola Revival
Pentecostal churches are growing rapidly around the world

b. There are those “running away” from the Holy Spirit

If there is any hint of emotionalism or a change in tradition, there is a real fear
If someone senses a”moving of God” in your life, some show real concern
Someone has said that the Trinity of the Fundamental Church is:

a. God the Father

b. God the Son

c. God the Holy Bible

The church needs to be taught about the person of the Holy Spirit

a. I ask men in my discipleship ministry if they thought of the Holy Spirit as an

“it” or a “He”

More than half of these men say “it”
Do you realize what the difference between an “it” or a “He” is?

b. As one little girl was repeating the Apostle’s Creed in church one day said:

“I believe in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy TOAST!”

J.I. Packer – “Christian people are not in doubt as to the work that Christ did; they know that He redeemed men by His atoning death, even if they differ among themselves as to what exactly this involved. But the average Christian is in a complete fog as to what work the Holy Spirit does.”

B. Our FRIEND the Holy Spirit

1. Jesus helps us understand the Holy Spirit better when He says in Vs. 16 – “And I

will ask the Father, and He will give you another counselor to be with you

forever.”

When Jesus uses the words another, He could have used two different greek words:

1. heteros – would mean another of a different kind

Everyone in this church may want an apple
And I may give MOST of you a red delicious apple
However, I may run out of red delicious apples and give the rest granny smiths. “Another of a different kind”

2. allos – would mean another of the same kind

You all would get red delicious apples
They are “more of the same kind”

b. Jesus used the word allos – more of the same kind here

1. What Jesus is saying is that another counselor JUST LIKE HIM will be

given to the disciples after He leaves this earth

2. So, you can think of this “second” counselor JUST LIKE YOU THINK

ABOUT THE FIRST – JESUS!

The Holy Spirit is not similar
But HE IS THE SAME!

2. After all, Jesus would not leave His disciples in the “hands of a stranger”

I. The Holy Spirit, THE PARACLETE

A. You CAN’T live the Christian life without Him

1. The disciples are fearful at this point. In John 14:31-38, Jesus is making some

fearful points:

Vs. 33 – “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will

look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now; where I am

going, you cannot come.”

a. After three years of ministry and service together…

b. After leaving their jobs and security…

c. After learning a whole new way of life and thinking

d. Their master and mentor is leaving them and they can’t follow

e. There clear assumption is that they will be left ALONE

1. Like the baby sea turtles that are hatched near the ocean, most will not

make it

2. They obviously fear their future

2. The disciples express their fear. Peter asks a very childlike question; Vs. 36 –

“Lord where are you going?”

After all of the times that they had spent together, they still didn’t get it
It’s as if they are hearing this for the first time

1. Imagine a father telling his young children that he is divorcing their

mother

2. or a parent is dying of cancer

3. as far as they are concerned, when a person leaves, THEY LEAVE!

They knew nothing about a Counselor, a Holy Spirit
As far as they were concerned, He was leaving and wouldn’t come back

B. You WON’T live the Christian life without Him

1. Jesus informs them that they will NOT be left alone. The Father will send you

a helper – in Greek – a paraclete; comforter

The meaning of the word

1. The Latin word for comfort - comfortis

cum – with
fortis

1. fortification

2. fortress

3. strength

c. Thus – “one to put a ramrod down your backbone”

2. The Greek word parakletos

para – alongside
kletos

1. One who was called out

2. One called alongside of

The Greek understood this word as used in a court of law

1. One who would be called out if you had to go to a court of law

2. One who would help defend you

Also, to the Greek, the word paraklete was an ancient warriors term

1. Greek soldiers went into battle in pairs

2. When the enemy attacked, they could draw together back-to-

back, covering each other’s blind side

3. One’s battle partner was the paraclete

4. Our Lord does not send us to fight the battle alone

The application of the word

1. NOT only will the disciples NOT be left alone

2. They will have a lawyer, an advocate, who will come up alongside of

them when they were in need

2. And this helper will deal with them JUST LIKE JESUS HAS

Have I been there for you?
Have I loved you?
Have I guided you?
NOTHING WILL CHANGE!!

II. The Holy Spirit, THE PRESENCE

A. They Will Be CLOSER to Jesus!

1. In all actuality, after Jesus leaves, the disciples will be much, much closer to

Jesus than even now

Look at these verses

1. Vs. 16 – “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another

Counselor to be WITH you forever”

The Greek word – meta
He will be in the midst of all of you, all the time

2. Vs. 17b – But you know Him because He lives WITH YOU

The Greek word - par
He will be by you

3. Vs 17c – and He will be IN YOU

The Greek word - en
the preposition in; or within

b. Look at the three words

1. Jesus is using all three words because:

He wants them to fully understand that not only will He be around and with them
He will literally be IN THEIR VERY SOULS!
At this point in their spiritual lives, they are more limited with Jesus being physically there than when He leaves
For when He leaves this earth, He will send this counselor TO BE IN THEM!
Kent Hughes - The logic of our text tells us that having the “Counselor” or, as in some translations, “Helper” (the Holy Spirit), is the same as having Jesus physically accessible, only better. Imagine he is in Jerusalem. All the airlines would be applying for routes to the Middle East. You would not be able to book a seat on a plane. Steamers, passenger liners, the trains of Europe and Asia would all be moving toward Jerusalem. And even if we ever managed to get close to where Jesus was, there would be long convoys and great crowds of people. We would come to see Jesus, but it would be nearly impossible to get within arm’s reach of Him. But we have access to the Holy Spirit right now and always. He is at our side. Even better, not only is the Holy Spirit just like Jesus, but his function is to be our “Counselor” or “Helper” or “Comforter.”

2. Jesus also uses these words because:

If He just uses the word “with”

1. That limits God to being only around them and not within them

2. He is fully with AND within them

But if Jesus uses the word “in”

1. That limits Jesus to their physical bodies

2. When He is much more present than that

B. They Will Be CONTINUALLY With Jesus

Vs. 16 – “He will give you another Counselor who will be with you forever”

1. WHAT AN IMPROVEMENT!

not only is The Holy Spirit going to be with and in them
The Holy Spirit WILL NEVER LEAVE THEM!

2. The MAJESTY of the Trinity – the “ECONOMIC Trinity”

The Father creates and sustains the world
Jesus comes to this earth to die for our sins and returns to heaven to intercede for us
And then the Holy Spirit ENTERS OUR VERY BODIES to abide and dwell in our very souls!

3. I love what an early church Father said of the Trinity; The Church

father Tertullian conceived a brilliant analogy for expressing the Christian

experience of God. Imagine God the Father as the sun, the source of all

light and life. God the Son is akin to the sunbeam going forth from God,

bringing light and truth. God the Holy Spirit is the warmth of the

sunbeam striking one’s face. And yet the sunbeam touching the face is

intimately bound to the sun from which it sprang.

4. Do you realize what Jesus is saying to His disciples?

Through the power of the Spirit, GOD IS LIVING WITHIN YOU!
AND HE WILL BE WITH YOU FOREVER!
GOD IS ALWAYS IN YOUR LIFE!

1. WHY, OH WHY DON’T WE REALIZE THAT?

2. AND WHY, OH WHY DON’T WE LIVE AS IF THAT WERE

TRUE!

III. The Holy Spirit, THE PEDAGOGUE

A. We CAN’T Teach Ourselves

1. Not only will the Holy Spirit of God indwell our very lives

2. He has a task to do – HE WILL TEACH US ABOUT GOD

You see, you don’t have a clue how to live the Christian life
You mistakenly think that YOU must make all of the decisions and you must be perfect
Because it will be obvious who teach themselves –

1. me – Brad R.

2. Driving range – two bad golfers

NO, He must teach us

1. The great missionary-evangelist E. Stanley Jones told of a

missionary lost in an African jungle. After wandering in the bush for

hours on end, he finally happened upon a native hut. To the

missionary’s great relief, the tribesman agreed to lead him to

civilization. For more than an hour, the native cut and hacked his

way through the dense undergrowth. Finally, worried that perhaps

his guide was unreliable, the missionary said to him, “Are you quite

sure this is the way? I see no path.” “Bwana” the native answered.

“In this place there is no path. I am the path. Follow me!”

2. Swindoll – Imagine yourself asking for directions in a strange town.

Suppose the other person says: “Take the first left here and go left at

the second intersection. Turn right at the second street and go left

when it makes a Y, and then go right.” Chances are you’ll get lost

halfway there. But suppose that person says: “Follow me. I’ll take

you there.” In that case, the person is the way. And that’s precisely

the case with Jesus. He doesn’t point the way in the distance or draw

us some impersonal map. He takes us by the hand and leads us. If

you’re lost, or if you’ve played the prodigal and simply strayed, Jesus

is the way home to the Father—the only way. Won’t you place your

hand in His and let Him lead you there?

B. We DON’T Have to Teach Ourselves

1. Notice the two areas that the Holy Spirit will teach us

Vs. 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”

He will teach you all things

1. WHAT does the Scripture say that the Holy Spirit teaches us?

regenerate us
convict us of sin
comfort us
manifest Jesus in us
empower us to witness
change our character
put to death evil desires
teaches us to pray

2. How does the Holy Spirit teach us?

Through His written Word - the Bible

1. as we spend time in meditation and study

2. God will bring a truth to us at unique times

b. Through His living Word - Jesus

1. The Holy Spirit will bring to mind new thoughts and ideas

2. It will dawn on you

3. How has the Holy Spirit taught me?

I think about what I knew before I became a Christian

1. 20 year high school reunion – voted the least changed

2. When in actuality, I was the most changed

He does that in all of our lives. “I first heard the gospel on the way home from high school one day, and after arguing for forty-five minutes with the Baptists who shared it with me, I walked home trembling. Although I had been an atheist and found their arguments unconvincing, the Spirit was pressing me for a decision and would not stop pressing until I surrendered or told him to leave me. Within an hour I fell to my knees on my bedroom floor and asked God to save me. Instantly I felt something rushing through my body that I had never felt before, and I quickly jumped to my feet, wondering what was happening. I resolved to be a Christian henceforth, although I was not yet certain of all that this commitment entailed. On Sunday I went to church, and a pastor prayed with me to accept Christ.”

b. He will remind you of all things

1. Jesus is telling His disciples that all of the things He had taught them,

will be taught to them again and again

2. Not only are we not to be our own teachers, but our teacher will go over

and over it UNTIL we get it!

Me and math

1. Always over my head; physics, chemistry, trig.

2. Always a tutor

Me and patience

1. Do you ever feel that you have a “spiritual learning

disability?”

2. The Holy Spirit will make sure that we “get it.” That is His job

3. That is EXACTLY what happened to the disciples in John 2:20-

The disciples didn’t understand what Jesus meant about the Temple
Until after He died; then it all made sense to them

2. It is His task to teach us!

IV. The Holy Spirit, THE PEACEMAKER

A. The Disciples NEEDED Peace

1. The last thing that Jesus said to them was that they would have peace in all

of this

After all, look at EVERYTHING they have just heard

1. He is leaving them and they can’t come with Him

2. He will send the “Holy Spirit” who they don’t understand at all

3. Their world is going to be turned upside down

They needed to hear that they would be given peace

2. But notice what kind of peace this was

It was not the peace of the world

1. Does the world give peace?

ABSOLUTELY it does
Jesus says Himself that this world gives peace

1. The Romans called it Pax Romana; the peace of river

2. Rome had “earned” this peace by their swords

c. What is the world’s peace?

1. The world’s peace is based on what I can see:

a. money

b. houses

c. security

d. health

e. success

f. Don’t tell me that people aren’t happy when they:

1. Win a million dollars on Survivor

2. Win a national championship

3. Get married

4. Have a baby

5. Win the lottery

2. But the world’s peace is physical and fleeting

But it was the peace of the Holy Spirit

1. Notice the words in Verse 27 – “Peace I leave with you; my peace I

give you”

This peace is a gift FROM JESUS

1. It is not something that we, as Christians, must generate or

work for

2. The words mean:

a. “I leave with you”

1. To let go of; to yield

2. To leave when departing

3. A Present Active Indicative

b. “I give you”

1. To bestow; grant

2. To furnish; to give someone as their own

3. Present Active Indicative

The peace that Jesus experienced was a peace DESPITE:

1. All of the accusations made against Him

2. No place to lay His head at night

3. The fact that He will be arrested, beaten and crucified over the

next 15 hours and HE IS STILL AT PEACE

4. Our lives are not always “peaceful”

Carson – I think of a Christian police office in Canada

whose career was blighted for years by a senior officer who loathed his integrity. I think of Joni Eareckson. I think of a Christian couple in England whose first child was stillborn and whose second child died at the age of seven weeks. I think of a thoughtful Thai who, when he became a Christian faced overt persecution from his close-knit Buddhist family. I think of a school teacher in Quebec who lost his job because he became a Christian. These people, and many like them, are living proof of the truth that Jesus gives peace.