05 17 2020 - HALL Wesleyan Church Message - Pastor Dan - John 14:15-31

05-17-2020 

HALL Wesleyan Church

Pastor Dan's Message

John 14:15-31 (ESV)

This is when Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit.

¹⁵ ‘“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, ¹⁷ even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

¹⁸ “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹ Yet a little while and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. ²¹ Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” ²² Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” ²³ Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word, and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. ²⁴ Whoever does not love Me does not keep My Words. And the Word that you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.

²⁵ “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. ²⁶ But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. ²⁷ Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do, I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. ²⁸ You heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. ²⁹ And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. ³⁰ I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on Me, ³¹ but I do as the Father has commanded Me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.”

SO - What is Correct? – Should we say: the “Holy Ghost” or the “Holy Spirit”?

The English terms "Holy Ghost" and "Holy Spirit" are complete substitutes or replacements of one another: But one derives from the Old English ‘gast’, and the other from the Latin loanword ‘spiritus’. Just like in the word of ‘pneuma’, they both refer to The breath, To its Amazing animating power, And to the soul.

It is within the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, where it includes the concept of:

o   God the Holy Spirit,

o   Along with God the Son

o   And God the Father.

And it was the Theologian Vladimir Lossky, who argued that while in the act of the Incarnation, it was God the Son who became manifest as the Son of God, but - the same did not take place for God the Holy Spirit. See – He remained unrevealed. Yet, as we have in 1 Corinthians 6:19, it is the God the Spirit Who continues to dwell in bodies of the faithful.

Welcome to … Hall Wesleyan Church of Delphos

Yes – We are In the Rural Country

But we are also – Right in the Middle of God’s Land.

Welcome once again to our Online Sharing of Our HALL’S Message.

Next week …

·         (Reopening - SUNDAY - May 24th at 11:00) (Stay Safe)

·         (If staying at home a little longer makes you more comfortable…)

·         I am planning on Posting the message in exactly the same manner as we have been for these past weeks so …

I have mentioned this before and it is still true today. God allows us to live out our lives, YES - With our Victories and YES – Even with our Failures. All the way through our lives, God gives us choices to make and with those choices, sometimes we choose poorly and, in those mistakes, we have the opportunity to learn from them. So, one could look at their life as one Giant Lesson after another. But as I mentioned last week, The KEY to this is The ONLY Way in which we can learn from our ‘God Given Personal Lessons’ and to grow in the right direction of making more good decisions than bad ones, ONLY Comes from us being Totally and Truly Honest with ourselves.

YES - It is Just as IF we are in School and IF we are Not Honest with ourselves, we do not learn. In other words, IF we cheat - just so that we get by, then that is exactly what we get. YES - We go through Our LIVES BUT we remove ALL of the possibility of us learning from our mistakes and accomplishments? THE KEY IS HONESTY! WE MUST BE HONEST WITH OURSELVES!

But – That is Also where the “rubber meets the road”. The hard part of Learning from our own ‘God Given Lessons’, is the Part - of us BEING Honest with ourselves.

So, don’t you agree with me – Honesty Is Truly the BEST POLICY?

But – Let me ask you, what do you see when you take a Good-and-Hard-Look at our World?

Just to help us to get started, allow me to Point out the Obvious: “Our World Is Evil!!!”

Let me give you an example which will explain my answer.

Just the other day, two young men who live within a large city, had the desire to go downtown. But their problem, as they saw it was that neither one of them had a vehicle of their very own. Now, they could have taken the city metro bus but for whatever reason, this seemed to remove some of their manhood. So, as the only option which they saw was to find a car which they liked, and take that vehicle away from it’s owner by force. Their first attempt ended poorly. They shot and killed this victim while still sitting in his car so the upholstery was now - messy. But they learned from that first attempt so their second effort was a success. They first pulled the driver out of the vehicle, and then they shot and killed him. So, at the end of this story, we had two innocent men lose their lives just because two other men didn’t want to take the bus. However, in the end, those other two also lost their lives as well.  

But you say, I am not that – and YES, I am going to use the ‘S’ word, - STUPID! But – Aren’t We?

We are now living in such a Troublesome World! It is not only Disruptive but so Combative. It is an Angry World, full of Evil. Those who live here are so Fearful and life is so Conflicted within this World!!!

But – Once Again, You are probably thinking, YES – the World may be that way! BUT NOT the World in which I live in. I am most certainly - Not that way!

OK – Just to Let you know - I Do Understand what you are thinking. BUT – Just For a Moment, Let’s go back and take another Look at this World which you and I DO Live in.

Within Your World, when WE ARE Faced with a Difficult Challenge, What Do YOU Do? How Do YOU Act?

Remember how we started off today – We Need to be HONEST with ourselves.

SO, With Honesty as our Pen, What do YOU Do when we are faced with a challenge?

Do You Work and Work Well with the others as ONE TEAM? Or do You work by Yourself to solve how the problem Affects You? As an example of Selfness!

As You work, Do You share Your Ideas with others so All Can Learn? Or is it more of a Stealing of their ideas so you can advance?

Now Pastor Dan – You are being so NEGATIVE! And yes, I am.

But – the Truth is – These are the Feelings and the Actions of this World. And Because we live within This Evil World, these same traits become Very Attractive to us, so much that They actually Become Our First Nature.  

So, the Question Becomes: What does this all have to do with our Scripture for Today?

And that is a Very Good Question.

When we read John 14:15-31, What is the ONE-MOST-IMPORTANT-THOUGHT that you come away with?

¹⁵ ‘“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, ¹⁷ even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

¹⁸ “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹ Yet a little while and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. ²¹ Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” ²² Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” ²³ Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word, and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. ²⁴ Whoever does not love Me does not keep My Words. And the Word that you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.

²⁵ “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. ²⁶ But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. ²⁷ Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do, I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. ²⁸ You heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. ²⁹ And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. ³⁰ I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on Me, ³¹ but I do as the Father has commanded Me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.”

Just as a Visual Aid, let me start with offering you a picture to look at. These types of pictures are called Stereograms. These are designed so that there is a picture within a picture. If you look just right, another 3D image will just pop right out at you. (It helps if you to try to focus you vision directly before the picture itself.)

Do you see it? Do you see Jesus on the cross? I am using this as a Visual Aid in an attempt to help illustrate that even if we think we do, we don’t always see the True Picture or the Full Truth. That is even when it is just Right there, Right there in front of us.

Within our Gospel, did you pick up on Jesus making a number of similar and seemingly conditional statements?

·         ‘If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper (Counsellor) to be with you forever …’ ^{[14:15 ,16]}

·         ‘Whoever has My commandments and keeps (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 manifest (show) Myself to him’ ^[14:21]

·         ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep My Word (obey my teaching). My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with (in) him. Whoever does not love Me does not keep My Words. (He who does not love me will not obey my teaching).’ ^[14:23,24a].

·         ‘If you loved me you would have rejoiced, (be glad that) I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I’ ^[14:28b].

And just as a note: we also have similar statements made in Chapter 15.

So, what do you think?  Does it not seem as if Jesus is not making Four spiritual reality statements which are conditional or dependent upon certain actions on our part?

The reality of our love for Jesus is expressed in:

[1] Our obeying what He commands or obeying His commandments. ^{[ 14:15 ,21],}

[2] Our obeying of His teaching or of us keeping His Word. ^[14:23,24a]

[3] And of our celebrating reaction of Him going to the Father ^[14:28b].

But – what about us Being SAVED by our FAITH and Not our Works or by the Things that we do?

We find this answer within the Book of James 1:22-23, “But don’t just listen to God’s Word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the Word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror.”

SO, we have: The gift of the Spirit, Who

·         Is dependent upon our obeying what Christ commands. ^[14:16]

And for us to be loved by Christ and the Father

·         It too is dependent upon our following Christ’s Commandments. ^[14:21]

Christ showing Himself to us

·         Is dependent upon our obeying his commands. ^[14:21]

The Father loving us

·         Is also dependent upon our action of obeying Christ’s teaching. ^[14:23]

The Father and Christ coming and making their home

·         Within us is dependent on our obeying Christ’s teaching. ^[14:23]

NOW, this leads us to an Elephant-In-The-Room type of question. To Whom - does Christ promise the indwelling Holy Spirit to? Is it to all believers? Or is it to a special group of believers who have met certain conditions?

Just a few moments ago, we talked about the act of BEING SAVED by our Faith and NOT by our Works. And this is echoed within Jesus’ Word as recorded in John 7:38-39,

“Anyone who believes in Me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from His Heart.”

(this is talking about the Holy Spirit Who has not yet come.)

Christ makes it quite clear that the Spirit would be given ‘To those Who Believe’ in Jesus.

And within our Gospel for today, Jesus most certainly - does not revoke this, BUT He expresses this by using different phrases which ultimately Reveals or Defines more clearly what it means “To Believe in Him”.

Consequently, we have corresponding Actions as well as Attitudes which all Express and Supports the One Truth:

§  BELIEVE in Jesus.

§  LOVE Jesus.

§  OBEY Jesus’ Commands. (Keep His Commandments)

§  Obey Jesus’ Teaching. (Keep His Word)

And Right Here - THIS Is Where Most of Us Get Messed Up! That is, on the last two,

·         OBEY Jesus’ Commands. (Keep His Commandments)

·         Obey Jesus’ Teaching. (Keep His Word)

These Two – Show us, or Maybe I should Say, It Spells It Right on Out for Us: That OBEYING the Truth is the Exact Same thing as BELIEVING the Truth!

To Really Hear HIM - Is to Believe In HIM; And to Believe In HIM - is to Obey All of HIS Commandments

I Can Not Stress This Enough! To Believe in HIM is to Obey HIS Teachings! AND By Obeying His Teachings you are Believe in Him! This is So Essential for us to not only Understand but to Apply to our Way-Of-Life. To do - All of this - Is to LOVE Him. The Holy Spirit is thus given, to those who Truly BELIEVE in Christ.

NOTE: Those who Superficially or may we say Casually Believe in God or Jesus Christ or even the Holy Spirit DO NOT Receive the Spirit.

James 2:19:

“You say you have Faith, for you believe that there is a God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.”

Those of us who Believe just because we Want the ‘benefits’, the Spirit does not come.

The Spirit only comes to those Who KNOW that they stand Face to Face with God.

Jesus called the Holy Spirit, the ‘Helper’ or ‘another Counsellor’. ^[16]

We find a KEY word used here and that is “Another”. By using this word, Jesus is telling us that the Spirit is ‘One of the same kind’ as Himself.

Jesus is not ONLY telling us the most obvious, That the Spirit is God but also:

·         One who is called alongside

·         An Advocate

·         An Intercessor

·         One who pleads your case for you

·         A comforter

·         The Truth

o   Yes, the Spirit is all of these just as Christ is.

BUT - Where does the Spirit come from?

Today, within John’s Gospel, we find Jesus coming very close to the day when He is returning to the Father and to the Father’s Home. And When He does:

·         He will ask the Father and the Father will send the Spirit. ^[14:16]

·         The Father will send the Spirit in the name of Jesus. ^[14:26]

·         Jesus will send the Spirit to them from the Father. ^[15:26]

·         The Spirit goes out from the Father. ^[15:26]

·         Jesus will send the Spirit to them. ^[16:7]

So, this is telling us that the Spirit comes from both, The Father and the Son.

But - What does it mean to ‘HAVE’ the Holy Spirit?

In John 14:15-31 Jesus describes the coming of the Spirit to the Believer in the following terms:

·         It is the Spirit who comes ^{[14:16 ,17]}

·         It is Jesus who comes ^{[14:18, 28]}

·         It is Jesus who lives in the believer ^[14:20]

·         It is the Father & Jesus who come & make their home in the believer ^[14:23]

GOD Lives in the believer, the Father, Son and Spirit, all LIVE within the believer.

BUT - the God part who is designed to live within us Belongs to the Spirit, but because of the Unity, and of the identity of the trinity, it is also the Father and the Son who live within the believer.

This Gift of the Spirit makes each individual believer a housing for the place for God.

This Gift of the Spirit makes each individual believer, and all believers corporately, the Holy Temple of God.

Just as we visited earlier about the Stereograms, (Remember - The picture within a picture), this Gift of the Spirit of God living within us, it is ONLY for believers; ‘The world’ cannot receive Him, Nor can it even know Him.

Believers, on the other hand, do know the Spirit, and they already have the presence of the Spirit with them. ^[14:17]

What did Jesus mean when He said:

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in Me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. ^{[John 14:12]}

In the teaching about the Gift of the Spirit, Jesus was explaining that with having the Spirit in the Believer even with Jesus returning to the Father, the Presence of Jesus would still be with them and the Presence of the Father would be with them through the Holy Spirit.

YES - Jesus is going away, but He is not leaving His disciples as ‘orphans’. He is going to return with the Spirit and He is also bringing the Father with Him. It is for this reason He says that His disciples:

o   Should be glad –

o   They should rejoice that He is leaving

o   And going to the Father

o   So, all three can be with them. [14:28].

I believe this gives us a greater realization of the relationship between the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit and the believer.

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you.

Not as the world gives do, I give to you.

Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

SEE - The world only gives on the basis of performance or merit.

Jesus gives on the basis of his atoning sacrifice.

The world gives only to take away if one is no longer worthy of the gift.

Jesus gives the Holy Spirit, and the ensuing peace, forever.

And now for the Question which I leave to You for today is:

What does Jesus’ Teachings of the Holy Spirit

mean to YOU

AND within Your Personal Life?

God Bless