Jesus speaks of The Holy Spirit

[0:00] don't be doing any calculations usually have three points and it'll take about half an hour don't be calculating us out to 90 minutes we won't be here for 90 minutes from now i want to begin today by by um testing your memories and uh i want to ask a question that will maybe test the memories of the older generation more so than it will test the memories of of our generation and the generation below me sadly um the shorter catechism question number six i'm just glancing across the room to see if i can see um the the cogs turning question number six is how many persons are there in the godhead the shorter catechism for those who don't know it's something that was written years gone by uh to help the children to to grasp and remember and think through spiritual truths i think we would struggle with it you know as adults today uh sadly um but this was a little book written for the children essentially um and question number six is how many persons are there in the godhead there are three persons in the godhead is the answer the father the son and the holy ghost and these three are one god the same in substance equal in power and glory so today with john chapter 14 open uh before us i want to to consider very uh briefly the the person and the work of the the holy ghost or the holy spirit um in reading around this sermon today i read of many people who were saying that uh the holy spirit is often described as the shy one or the elusive one within the trinity i listened to one or two people who i was talking to in advance of teaching this sermon and they said that the holy spirit is not something really we hear much about we've not had much teaching over the years about the holy spirit and the in the particular background this question uh was from uh there was a book in 2009 i think it was that was written by a minister called francis shan the title of the book was forgotten god forgotten god and he was writing specifically about the holy spirit and i think that's probably a fair title we often overlook the holy spirit in a way that we don't overlook the father and the son and yet the holy spirit is always at work he has been from the beginning and he is presently and he will be as we sang in that hymn uh weaving the spirit until the work on earth is done he's always at work and yet his work is is largely hidden from us and it's mysterious to us jesus when he speaks to nicodemus he he makes that plain nicodemus is trying to come to terms with spiritual basics even though he was one of israel's teachers he was the top teacher and jesus is speaking to him of the work of the spirit in john 3 8 and he says the wind blows whatever it pleases you hear it silent but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going so it is with everyone born of the spirit so god the holy spirit we cannot see him we cannot

[4:03] with our finite minds understand him we understand in some measure but only a a small measure and yet without the holy spirit we would be absolutely in the dark spiritually speaking the book that we have in our hands that we were talking about with the children we talk about sunday by sunday we don't pick another book off the shelf sunday by sunday to study we come back to the the same book the same bible because it's the spirit inspired word of god the spirit is the one who took hold of people and inspired them to write these truths that will endure eternally if you're sitting here today and you know that you're a sinner you know that your heart is sinful you know that you sin in thought and in word and in deed it's not because you have been given a particular intellect it's because the holy spirit has shown that to you it's his work because you can sit with people in different places and you can talk till dawn till dusk about their sin and their need of christ from you without the spirit they won't accept it they can't see it if you can see jesus this morning if you understand something of the work that he's done on the cross for you that is the work of the holy spirit if you have an interest in the things of god and you sit here today not because you have to but because you want to it's because the holy spirit himself he's drawing you he's drawing you to himself he's drawing you to christ he's drawing you to receive the love of the father if you're born again if you're a christian that's nothing that can be used to boast yourself in if you're born again it's the work of the holy spirit and going back to the upper room in john 14 jesus he's sitting with these troubled disciples they're fearful they're anxious they're all at sea in terms of their experience and as they're thinking about the future as jesus is going away they're terrified and yet jesus reassures them by teaching them about the holy spirit in verses 17 to 19 jesus is explaining to his disciples i'm going away but you will you will still know me in fact you'll know me better than you ever did know me and i will still be with you i'll be more with you than ever through the work of the holy spirit so jesus is saying to the disciples because of the spirit do not let your hearts be troubled so this morning in a sense we sit with the disciples in the upper room and we're given the privilege of just listening in as jesus teaches them and teaches us about the holy spirit who he is and what his work is so nine points we'll see how far we get in the time that we have but i think we should move through it all because i could teach a sermon on each point but i want to just touch on each point almost like a bullet point the first point and they'll be on the screen just because there's so many of them the first point is that the holy spirit he is god he is god he's not a lower league deity he's not one who runs the errands of god but he is god himself god

[8:04] god is father son and holy spirit that's not hierarchy that's equality but there's distinction within the people the persons and the work of the godhead so the holy spirit he is god he is distinct from but equal with god the son jesus and with god the father the holy spirit is god he is god not it i've even in the last few years here listened to people speak of the holy spirit as it the holy spirit is not it the holy spirit he is a person he is god the holy spirit is not some cosmic force but he is god and he is here and i think we should pause just for a second to just allow that truth to penetrate if in one of these empty chairs jesus god the son was sitting can you imagine the sense of awe in this place can you imagine how we would feel if jesus was physically present here with us in this room today imagine if you were able to go up to jesus and listen to the the words that come from his tongue imagine if you could see the colour of his eye imagine you could take him by the hand and shake his hand imagine you could listen to the tone with which he speaks what a sense of awe there would be if jesus himself was in this place standing at the lector or sitting in one of these chairs and that would be right and it would be proper to have that sense of awe and reverence but let's take the reminder that one who is equal with the son and equal with the father he is present he is present in this place he is not visible you cannot see him in a chair but he is here because his promise is that where two or three meet in the name of jesus he will be here and he will seek to lead us and worship he the holy spirit is god and he is here the second point is he is counselor if you look at verses 16 and verse 25 in your bibles you'll see that verse 16 jesus speaking to the disciples says and i will ask the father and he will give you another counselor the word is parakletos in the greek it means another counselor of the same type it's not a different type jesus is speaking of another of the same type i will ask the father and he will give you another of the same type counselor verse 26 jesus again speaks of the counselor the holy spirit now if you have a different translation there you might have a different word that's used in the more modern niv the word advocate is used in the esv the word helper is used in the authorized version the word comforter is used and that just shows that that's a difficult word to

[12:04] translate in the greek but the best translation i think actually is counselor because it encapsulates the double meaning of the word in the greek he is counselor he god the holy spirit he is our counselor and we can apply that in the legal sense and he is our counselor and we can apply that in the sort of emotional and supportive and medical sense if you get yourself into trouble and you end up having to appear in court you won't stand on your own in a courtroom but you will take someone in to be your counselor you will take someone in who will speak in your defense and will guide you through what's a very onerous process who will protect you and will speak up on your behalf that's your legal counsel and God the Holy Spirit he is our counsel he is our counselor and he does all these things in terms of that sense of the word he defends us when we are in trouble he affords us the protection that we need when we can't find it any other place he's the one who guides us through difficult troubled waters he's the one who gives us the words to speak

[13:28] I was in correspondence with one of the a younger man who was away on a trip was anxious about what will he say when he gets into that situation as a Christian where people are saying drink drink drink drink you know take a drink get drunk what will I say what will I do Holy Spirit as his counselor when he is in that corner will give him the words and the protection and all that he needs in that situation to glorify God he is our counselor now when we think about legal counseling we think about somebody we don't know we go to an office in store we knock on the door we pay them an absolute amount full of money and they come alongside us for a wee while and they get us out with fix and we never see them again in the Jewish legal system that didn't happen the legal counsel was your best friend and the system was set up in such a way for the layman to come in and to represent his best friend so you went to the person who knew you best the one you could rely on the one who would speak up for your character and he or she would stand with you he in these days would have stood with you as your counsel and the

[15:03] Holy Spirit he is our counselor he is our shield he is our defender he is our guide he is the one who puts words in our mouths he is our counselor in that legal sense but he is also our counselor in the emotional sense take the police for example Gordon if there is a situation in the vicinity and there is huge trauma and there are police officers who are involved in that trauma then they get through the trauma but once they come out the other side of it they will be told you need counseling you have been through something awful and you need to be counseled through this you need to be supported and you need to be guided and you need somebody to come alongside you and to listen to you and to be tender with you and to be sensitive towards you and God the Holy Spirit he is that counselor although he is the God of the universe he comes gently alongside us as individuals and he ministers that comfort that peace that heavenly counsel he is our counselor and in both cases he comes alongside us

[16:24] I think that's important for us to see he doesn't stand way off at a distance and bark decrees from afar he comes to our aid he comes close he is with us he's even in us as our counselor you know when you are having a hard time and you're struggling and you get a card in the post it means a lot it's a source of encouragement you're having a battle and you feel a little isolated and somebody picks up the phone and phones you that too it's a little encouragement but when you're really struggling and you get a knock on the door and somebody takes the time to actually come to you and sit with you and take your hand and put their hand on your shoulder and uphold you through these hard times that is a thousand times more supportive and comforting than the distant alternatives and God the Holy

[17:45] Spirit that's how he comes he comes alongside us he is with us he is in us as our counselor and that's just scratching the surface is where that means so the Holy Spirit he is God he is counselor the third point is he's always present I've touched that already verse 16 makes clear that he is always present we're not always acutely aware of his presence but he is always present Jesus said I will ask the father and he will give you another of the same type of counselor to be with you forever not for a wee while but forever we've been in Psalm 46 over past weeks and Wednesdays and God the Holy Spirit he is that ever present helper who is close at times close at hand in times of distress he is always present and that is such a comforting fact his omnipresence the omnipresence of God the Holy

[18:58] Spirit surely that has to be such a comfort to us today there's nowhere we can go there's nothing that we can be involved with when he's not there with us that also can be an unsettling fact that can be a challenging fact because we remember day by day he is always there so he sees everything and he hears every word you and I speak and he scans our hearts constantly and he knows our motives and he reads our thoughts he is ever present so he can be encouraged and pleased with us as we live and he can be grieved and quenched as it puts in the Bible by the way that we live as Paul speaks just remember that God the Holy

[20:01] Spirit is always present with us people say highland hospitality is the best kind of hospitality and somebody comes to say you want to open your home to them you want to make them feel as at home and comfortable as they possibly can be see the question remember the ever present guest in your life is the Holy Spirit I need to remember that you need to remember that he comes verse 23 to make his home with us our bodies as Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 6 19 they become temples of the Holy Spirit and that should encourage us to be careful how we live all of the time not just when we're seeing each other but all the time there's a book that was written by brother

[21:07] Lawrence entitled practicing the presence of God and when we live that consciousness of the presence of God with us that should change everything even the mundane things if you're a driver and you drive along between here and Leaverborough often do you drive differently when there's somebody in the car with you as opposed to when there's no one in the car with you picture the scene you're driving to Leaverborough you've only got 30 minutes to do it and you see four camper vans up ahead you trundling along looking at all the countryside and you come up close to them and they don't move and you kind of go around the side and they don't move somebody's sitting in the passenger seat with you what are you saying very little you may boil within but you say very little but if there's nobody there in the car and you're seeing these four camper vans and you're seeing the time ticking on and your lateness becoming worse you're in the cabin saying come on would you move shift you're getting more and more furious as the time goes on you're boiling with anger and out comes

[22:37] Mr. Angry as you're revving the car and you're beeping you'd never do that with somebody with you but even demanding things remember I speak to myself first God the Holy Spirit he's with us even as we drive the car and that should challenge us things but then think about the comfort of this when we are going through life and we come to a scary point when we're struggling because we're waiting for potentially bad news when we're feeling our health fail when we're struggling with different kinds of relationships when we're in a situation or work and we just can't do what we're going to us to do we feel that panic and that fear rising and we think if only I had somebody with me who could actually reassure me in this situation but I'm on my own but if you're a Christian you're not on your own because God is with you in fact God the Holy

[23:50] Spirit is in you and the one who is in you 1 John 4 4 is greater than the one who is in the world who may be attacking you at your moment of weakness when you remember that fear to some degree dissolves and we're able to hear Jesus' words from the disciples do not let your hearts be troubled so who's the Holy Spirit he is God he is counselor he is the one who is always present fourthly he is the truth giver verse 17 Jesus says and I will ask the father and he will give you another counselor to be with you forever the Spirit of Truth God the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth and that in itself means there is truth we didn't have to say that maybe in days gone by but we have to say it today there is such a thing as truth we live in an age where things that are truth things that are true are constantly challenged and everything that we know to be true even within ourselves it seems to be constantly challenged and shifting and changing and morphing into different forms truths even facts that were always accepted as truth such as boys who were born as boys are boys and girls that were born as girls are girls even these basic elemental things these truths they are constantly challenged and given support in our legal system truth goes out the window and when we hear these kind of things happening that is the spirit of this age at work that is not the spirit of God at work truth is not contextual truth does not shift and change truth is not relative truth is absolute and the

[25:56] Bible which is the spirit inspired word of God is the means by which you test something as to see whether or not it is true you want to know the person standing at the lectern whatever you are is telling the truth have your Bible check every word me first because this is where there is truth the Holy Spirit inspired word of God he is the one who gives us the truth you know I've heard people over past years dressing up on truth with all kinds of religious language I've heard people saying things like well you know I think Jesus would approve of my way of thinking I may have different ideas about gender fluidity or human sexuality but I think Jesus would approve of my way of thinking I think this is true and yet we hear

[26:57] Jesus' words in this passage saying if you love me you will obey what I command and where do we hear his commands in the Bible I've heard people dress up on truth by saying well I think the Holy Spirit has inspired me to think in this new and loving and courageous way that never really was explored in days gone by I would respond to such people by saying how do you know the Holy Spirit has inspired me I know the Holy Spirit inspired the Bible but why are you so sure that the Holy Spirit is inspiring your new bizarre way of thinking see the fact is if your thoughts or mine or anybody's thoughts are clashing with God's spirit inspired word no matter how much conviction and how much warmth people may speak with it isn't truth

[28:03] God's word must always prevail so test everything you hear against the Bible the Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth and he has revealed that truth to us in the spirit inspired word of God he is the truth giver verse 4 that's the fourth point the fifth point is he is the life giver and I want you to jump forward to Romans chapter 8 for a minute please and then we'll jump back to John chapter 14 so keep your finger in John chapter 14 so Romans chapter 8 he is God the Holy

[29:04] Spirit he is God he is counselor he is always present with us he is the truth giver he is the life giver look at Romans chapter 8 and at verse 11 says there and if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who lives in you now that verse is just epic in its proportions in that verse we learn that the spirit raised Jesus from the dead and we learn that the spirit lives in you if you believe in Jesus and he is the one who gives us life and then if we jump back to John chapter 14 we read verse 9 and we just see how the logic of verse 9 fits so plainly with the logic of what Paul explains in

[30:07] Romans chapter 8 Jesus takes that truth of Romans 8 applying it directly to us he says because I live you also will live so what does the spirit do he gives life he gives abundant unending resurrection life and we see that truth demonstrated such powerful way in Christ resurrection and we share in that spirit given life when we turn from sin and we put our faith in Jesus because we receive that same Holy Spirit and he is the one who gives life D.L.

[30:58] Moody the American evangelist said this someday you will read in the papers D.L. Moody of East North is dead don't you believe a word of it he says at that moment I shall be more alive than I am now I shall have gone up higher that is all out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal a body that death cannot touch that sin cannot taint a body fashioned like unto his glorious body D.L.

[31:29] he says I was born of the flesh in 1837 I was born of the spirit in 1856 that which is born of the flesh may die but that which is born of the spirit will live forever because the spirit he is the life giver sickly he is teacher verse 26 but the counsellor the holy spirit and the father will send in my name will teach you all things and when you see my head going down before I teach every single week that's what I'm praying that I'm not standing here for no reason that I'm not standing here in vain I pray every week as I come and sit in that chair that the holy spirit that god himself will be our teacher

[32:31] I try my best to be clear I try my best to set out things as clearly and as engagingly as I possibly can as I'm called to 2 Corinthians 4 that god the spirit is teacher I'm not your teacher he's the one who brings my dull words to life he's the one who causes scales to fall from eyes he's the one who unblocks ears he's the one who wakes people up he's the one who gives understanding because he god the holy spirit he's his teacher what do you teach us seventh point he's the reminder he's the reminder verse 26 but the counselor the holy spirit whom the father will send you my name will teach you all things and he will remind you of everything I have said to you think about the disciples how often they needed the same old reminders whatever Jesus said it seemed like it went in one ear and out the other ear he would say things so powerfully and so plainly and yet it just wouldn't stick time and time again Jesus was teaching them the same things and they seemed to forget almost instantly the god the holy spirit

[33:57] Jesus is teaching them here he would be the reminder of the disciples the work that Jesus was doing he would continue he would take Jesus teaching that that was stored up in the in the gray cells and later on he would remind them of it and he would breathe life into it because he is reminder so take some encouragement from that if you're a student or a teacher some days if you're anything like me you'll sit down with your cup of coffee in the morning and your devotional time and you read the bible and it it doesn't connect with where you are on that day in that moment you read it and you walk away and you think well I didn't get a whole lot from that today for honest there are days like that we just don't really understand the passage we didn't really seem to connect with the passage when that happens what do we do well we just keep on reading that's what we do because the word that you read today that didn't connect today may be just the word that you need to hear and retain tomorrow tomorrow and god the holy spirit tomorrow takes that word and lifts it and brings it to life and applies it to our situations in the moment that we need it so that we can be strengthened through it so keep on reading because the spirit is the one who is the reminder and if you're a teacher if you're teaching your children or your grandchildren as you should be and as

[35:35] I should be keep on teaching keep on reading even though they sit there picking their noses and pulling off their nails and nipping each other and paying not a bit of interest keep on teaching even though they may be banging their heads off the walls in that room at the bathroom thinking this is the point that nothing is going to keep on teaching because who knows when god the holy spirit will bring these words his words to the memories told you a story maybe before about roddy roddy studied economics he was a bit of a hippie he finished his degree and he had no interest at all in teaching economics so he took a guitar and a toothbrush and he cut a plane to america he wanted to be a rock and roll star and he ended up doing pretty well going from club to club he toured america he got paid well he had quite a fan base one evening in a motel somewhere in the middle of america he suddenly realized everything i actually wanted i got why did i feel so miserable and a verse that a sunday school teacher had given him 30 years prior was taken to him by the holy spirit and he fell to his knees in tears and he gave his life to the lord sunday school teacher long gone did she ever know not in this world she just kept on teaching teaching roddy who had no interest until the spirit took the word and applied it to his life he is reminder eighthly he is peace giver verse 27 peace i leave with you my peace i give to you i do not give to you as the world does do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid over the last few months in tarboard we just seem to have been going to wake after wake and funeral after funeral i think that's doing the murder there a few weeks ago he said this was the 16th funeral he'd had this year 14 of which were connected with this locality and there's been such grief and there's been such brokenness and such sadness what do we need we need peace we need the peace of god we need the assurance of eternal life and the holy spirit is the one who's able to give us that jesus went to the cross to pay the price to meet the terms of peace so that our sin could be taken away and so that his life and his comfort and his peace could be given for us but the spirit as he shows us our needs and as he shows us christ is the one who's able to give us that peace and we need it he's the peace giver and finally and perhaps this is the most staggering thing of all he can be known he can be known at that intimate personal level i think it was last year that prince charles came to the distillery in like different places and if you were a prince charles fan and if you wanted to get close to him you couldn't have you'd get so far but there

[39:36] was police there and there was security people there and there were railings there and there's only certain things you could say and you can't get near him a couple of years ago in torridum when i was still there three four years ago now probably guy ripsy and david betton came to the torridum hotel to film an advert for for some aftershare guy you couldn't get near them you couldn't get within ten miles of the area there's fans all over the place but they just couldn't get near and yet these are just low level celebrities who will come and then go guy ripsy david betton nobody's interested anymore but you couldn't get near them the amazing truth is that god can be known god can be known the god of the universe who sets the stars in place the god who created everything from nothing and who holds it together that god father son and holy spirit you can know him you can be closer to him than you are to your spouse verse 17 jesus says 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 god in you god can be known you have the free will this morning to determine not to know him you have the free will to walk out that door and say i will not accept him you have the free will to walk out that door saying i will harden my heart a little bit more this week but why would you do that i can't understand why would you do that why would you do it again why when you look to the cross and see the love of the father and the love of the son why when you think about god the holy spirit who offers to be your counselor and your ever present helper and your teacher and your reminder and your life giver and your peace giver why would you resist him so let me finish just by saying don't resist him today if you hear his voice through the spirit inspired word of god as the spirit himself takes it to you turn from your sin put your faith in christ and receive and pray that you and i will keep on being filled with god god the holy spirit and may god bless these thoughts on his words i had these