1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:05,480 Let's look at John chapter 14 verses 15 to 31, and really John 2 00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:09,000 chapters 14 through 16 go together because it's the 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:13,880 overall arching theme of Jesus teaching about the role and the 4 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:16,480 person and the work of the Holy Spirit. 5 00:00:17,080 --> 00:00:20,000 So give your attention to the reading of God's Word. 6 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:24,000 If you love me, you will keep my commandments, and I will ask the 7 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:27,440 Father, and He will give you another helper to be with you 8 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:30,680 forever. Even the Spirit of Truth, whom 9 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:34,720 the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows 10 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:37,960 Him. You know Him, for He dwells with 11 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:42,880 you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. 12 00:00:43,160 --> 00:00:47,520 I will come to you yet a little while, and the world will see me 13 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:50,640 no more. But you will see me because I 14 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:54,080 live. You also will live in that day. 15 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:58,880 You will know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in 16 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:01,840 You. Whoever has my commandments and 17 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:06,160 keeps them, He it is who loves me, and he who loves me will be 18 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:10,800 loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to 19 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:14,080 Him. Judas, not Iscariot, said to 20 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:15,920 him. Lord, how is it that you will 21 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:18,880 manifest yourself to us and not to the world? 22 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:22,840 Jesus answered him, If anyone loves me, He will keep my word 23 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:27,160 and my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our 24 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:31,040 home with him. Whoever does not love me does 25 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:35,560 not keep my words, and the word that you hear is not mine, but 26 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:38,600 the Father's who sent me these things. 27 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:42,680 I have spoken to you while I am still with you, but the Helper, 28 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:46,480 the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name. 29 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:50,200 He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance 30 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:57,120 all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you, my peace 31 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:01,400 I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give 32 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:04,200 to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, 33 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:08,039 neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, I'm 34 00:02:08,039 --> 00:02:10,039 going away, and I will come to you. 35 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:14,160 If you love me, you would have rejoiced, because I'm going to 36 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:17,160 the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 37 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:21,160 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it 38 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:23,680 does take place, you maybe leave. 39 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:26,440 I will no longer talk much with you. 40 00:02:26,640 --> 00:02:28,760 For the ruler of this world is coming. 41 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:33,200 He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, 42 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:35,880 so that the world may know that I love the Father. 43 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:40,440 Rise, let us go from here. This is the word of the Lord. 44 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:43,560 All right? And you may take your seats and 45 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:46,920 we're going to jump right in. When it comes to the Holy 46 00:02:46,920 --> 00:02:52,200 Spirit, there's either an overemphasis upon him or there 47 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:58,120 is an under emphasis upon him. My Greek professor at the ETS 48 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,440 named Doctor Wallace. He shared with us in class his 49 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:06,520 concern about the under emphasis of the Holy Spirit in the 50 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:10,560 Evangelical Church and he later wrote an article about it that 51 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:12,920 he entitled Who's Afraid of the Holy Spirit? 52 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:19,160 The uneasy conscience of a non charismatic Evangelical. 53 00:03:19,920 --> 00:03:23,720 And in it what he does is, he argues, the danger of a purely 54 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:28,800 rational approach to the scriptures without realizing the 55 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:34,360 relational aspect of the Spirit who inspired these scriptures. 56 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:39,040 He says under emphasizing the Holy Spirit can lead to a purely 57 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:43,440 intellectual approach to God. We're one's relationship to God. 58 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:47,360 It's rationally based on how well we can interpret and 59 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:51,600 control the text and keep our doctrine in line. 60 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:56,400 But then on the other hand, we have an overemphasis on the Holy 61 00:03:56,400 --> 00:04:00,400 Spirit, which when I was doing campus ministry at Baylor, I 62 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:05,600 heard a sermon from a pastor in the church who actually said 63 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:08,240 this. He says when you got Jesus, you 64 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:15,040 got the peanut butter, but to have a really good sandwich you 65 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:19,680 need the Jelly. The Holy Spirit's the Jelly. 66 00:04:21,079 --> 00:04:24,360 Now whether this pastor knows it or not, he did something that 67 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:30,240 the Holy Spirit would never do and that is elevate himself 68 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:35,080 above Jesus. So instead of arguing for a 69 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:38,280 balanced view as if we need to tone down our emphasis on the 70 00:04:38,280 --> 00:04:41,440 Holy Spirit or we need to ramp up our emphasis on the Holy 71 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:44,360 Spirit, I just think we better need to understand who the Holy 72 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:49,280 Spirit is and what his role is. Remember where we are. 73 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:53,520 We're in chapter 13 after washing the disciples feet. 74 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:56,800 Jesus says one of you is going to betray me. 75 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:03,240 And then as Judas leaves, Jesus explains that the hour for the 76 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:06,440 Son of Man to be glorified has finally come. 77 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:11,120 Jesus says, I'm going to be leaving you and where I go, you 78 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:16,040 cannot follow me at this time. And then Peter, he wants to 79 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:17,760 know, well, why can't we follow you? 80 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:22,200 And then he boldly proclaims, I will lay down my life for you. 81 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:29,080 And Jesus says, Peter, tonight you're going to deny ever 82 00:05:29,080 --> 00:05:34,000 knowing me three times. So the disciples, their hearts 83 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,200 are all troubled. They're confused, they're 84 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:41,440 uncertain, they're fearful of what lies ahead because Jesus is 85 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:44,160 talking about departing and leaving them. 86 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:48,160 I mean, for three years they have been with him. 87 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:52,960 They have enjoyed his presence. They've seen him teach, they've 88 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:57,160 witnessed his power, they've seen his love, his compassion in 89 00:05:57,160 --> 00:06:01,000 the way he deals with people. Jesus has turned their worlds 90 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:04,360 upside down and then built them back up. 91 00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:10,120 They've come to believe and trust that he is God's Messiah. 92 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:15,000 But now he's talking about leaving them, going back to his 93 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:18,880 Father, and they can't follow him at this time. 94 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:22,760 So what does all this mean? I mean, if he leaves, what's 95 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:27,080 going to happen to us? Is Jesus abandoning us? 96 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:31,840 Are we going to live as orphans, left to ourselves, with no one 97 00:06:31,840 --> 00:06:37,040 to lead us? But in chapter 16, verses 6 98 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:39,840 through 7, listen to what he says, because I have said these 99 00:06:39,840 --> 00:06:42,400 things to you, talking about His leaving. 100 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:47,880 Sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the 101 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:52,480 truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. 102 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:57,120 For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. 103 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:01,120 But if I go, I will send him to you. 104 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:04,880 See, what they think is to their disadvantage. 105 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:09,520 Jesus is actually saying they're better off if I go. 106 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:15,040 You see, if I do not go, then I cannot send the Holy Spirit. 107 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:21,800 So having the Holy Spirit it's actually an advantage over 108 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:27,040 having Jesus's pre glorified body with them. 109 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:33,960 Let that sink in for a moment. Most people think that the 110 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:37,200 disciples had it better than we do, right? 111 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:42,600 Because they visibly saw Jesus, they touched Jesus, they were 112 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:46,360 eyewitnesses to everything he did and said. 113 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:50,120 See, none of us have had the privilege of physically seeing 114 00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:52,360 Jesus. And we think that if we did, 115 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:55,560 wouldn't it be so much easier, right? 116 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:57,760 Seeing is believing after all, right? 117 00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:02,400 And if I could just see Jesus like they did, I wouldn't 118 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:05,800 struggle so much believing in him. 119 00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:11,280 If I could see Jesus just like that, I wouldn't doubt so much. 120 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:15,520 May it be easier for me to live with him if I just physically 121 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:18,520 saw him, because I would know him better. 122 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:23,080 But what Jesus is teaching his disciples and what he's teaching 123 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:26,920 us is that when he sends the Holy Spirit, they would actually 124 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:32,440 know Jesus better. They will better understand who 125 00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:37,159 Jesus is and the significance of what he came to do. 126 00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:41,760 They would better understand the intimate relationship that Jesus 127 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:44,720 has with the Father. They would better understand the 128 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:48,720 relationship that the Father and the Son have with them. 129 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:55,320 So rather than losing Jesus, they will actually gain him in a 130 00:08:55,360 --> 00:09:00,200 more intimate way. Now, before we look at how the 131 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:04,280 Holy Spirit's presence is to our advantage, we have to deal with 132 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:06,160 something that's very misunderstood. 133 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:10,080 And because it's misunderstood, many Christians misapply this to 134 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:15,000 their lives and misunderstand what role the Holy Spirit plays. 135 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:19,360 Many people have interpreted the Spirit's work in chapter 14, 136 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:23,840 verse 26 as a direct application to all believers. 137 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:28,040 He will teach you all believers all things. 138 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:32,920 And then they also look at chapter 16, verse 13 to prove 139 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:36,640 this as well, where Jesus says the Spirit will guide you into 140 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:41,920 all truth and He will declare to you the things that are to come. 141 00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:45,880 So many people believe that Jesus is speaking to all 142 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:51,040 believers here, so they've used these verses to argue that the 143 00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:57,800 Spirit speaks directly to us without the mediation of God's 144 00:09:57,800 --> 00:10:04,520 written word. That he reveals new revelation 145 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:10,880 to people concerning what God's will is for certain aspects of 146 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:15,800 their life. Now I want to just briefly argue 147 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:20,280 that what Jesus says here about the Holy Spirit has a direct 148 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:23,920 application to the disciples first. 149 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:29,360 And because it does, it applies to us in a slightly different 150 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:32,120 way. See first and foremost the role 151 00:10:32,120 --> 00:10:35,040 of the Holy Spirit in John 14 through 16. 152 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:40,120 It's meant to be a direct application to the disciples 153 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:45,880 because they were going to be the ones who write down the New 154 00:10:45,880 --> 00:10:52,200 Testament, the inspired New Testament from the Holy Spirit. 155 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:57,440 In chapter 14, verse 22, Jesus is asked why does he plan to 156 00:10:57,440 --> 00:11:01,480 reveal himself to the disciples and not to the world? 157 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:06,800 Jesus's answer at the end of verse 24 stresses that his words 158 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:10,480 that they hear, it has divine origin and authority. 159 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:12,280 Why? Because they're the Father's 160 00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:16,080 words. All that Jesus said and taught 161 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:22,120 was inspired by the Father. He only speaks what He hears His 162 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:26,640 Father speak. So what makes verse 26 so 163 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:31,440 important is that this inspiration, it doesn't cease 164 00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:36,800 with Jesus's departure. Because when the Holy Spirit 165 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:41,480 comes to and dwell Jesus's disciples, he, the Holy Spirit, 166 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:47,760 will teach the disciples all that Jesus taught. 167 00:11:48,280 --> 00:11:54,880 The Holy Spirit will remind the disciples of all that Jesus did 168 00:11:54,880 --> 00:12:00,000 and said. Therefore, Jesus is manifesting 169 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:02,720 Himself to His disciples and not to the world. 170 00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:05,360 Because when he departs, what's he doing? 171 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:13,920 He's now giving His authority to be His witnesses to His 172 00:12:13,920 --> 00:12:18,520 disciples. So they now are going to 173 00:12:18,520 --> 00:12:23,560 continue Jesus's work through their witness. 174 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:28,440 The disciples are going to manifest Jesus to the world 175 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:32,080 through their teaching and their written testimony. 176 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:35,400 See in the four Gospels, what do we have? 177 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:38,720 We have the written form of what the Spirit reminded the 178 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:42,920 disciples concerning all that Jesus said and taught. 179 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:49,320 Which means because of the Spirit's direct work in the 180 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:53,160 disciples to write the New Testament as a witness to 181 00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:57,000 Christ, the spirits work in our lives. 182 00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:02,920 It cannot be separated from the words that He inspired the 183 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:09,160 disciples to write. In other words, how do I 184 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:11,840 simplify this? The Holy Spirit does not give 185 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:15,800 Christians today direct new revelation. 186 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:24,600 He helps us to better understand and personally and subjectively 187 00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:28,680 experience the revelation already written. 188 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:35,400 And yes, I did say subjectively experience, which makes us 189 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:39,640 Presbyterians nervous. I'll explain this more in a 190 00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:43,240 minute, but look at what he calls the Holy Spirit in verse 191 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:46,520 16 and verse 26. It's the Greek word paraclete. 192 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:50,920 It's one called alongside in order to help. 193 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:57,640 This is why some have translated it helper, counselor, advocate, 194 00:13:57,760 --> 00:14:02,520 or comforter. And in chapter 15, verse 26, 195 00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:05,960 Jesus says that when the Helper, the counselor, the Advocate, or 196 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:10,920 the Comforter comes, whom He will send the Spirit of truth, 197 00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:13,200 who proceeds from the Father. Listen to this. 198 00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:18,520 He, the Holy Spirit will bear witness of me. 199 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:24,360 That's his role. His role is to take what is 200 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:29,440 Jesus is and make it known to you. 201 00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:35,360 Now don't miss this, this helper, this counselor, this 202 00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:39,360 advocate, this comforter, the spirit of truth who proceeds 203 00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:42,360 from the Father and bears witness about Jesus. 204 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:48,200 He's the one who's not just going to come alongside to help 205 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:51,320 us to understand and know Christ better on occasion. 206 00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:57,560 But according to verses 16 to 18 of chapter 14, what will He do? 207 00:14:57,560 --> 00:15:04,440 He will and dwell forever. Those who believe see Jesus's 208 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:07,520 departure. It means that you are not left 209 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:13,840 as an orphan because Jesus is going to come to you and the 210 00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:18,920 person of the Holy Spirit. And when he comes to dwell 211 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:27,440 believers, he will never leave. See, look again at verse 16, the 212 00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:31,000 Holy Spirit, He's not a different kind of helper than 213 00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:34,480 Jesus is. Jesus is saying, I'm not going 214 00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:37,360 to send you another helper of a different kind. 215 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:42,160 I'm going to send you another helper of the same kind. 216 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:45,800 The Holy Spirit will be your helper. 217 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:49,080 He will be your advocate. He will be your counselor. 218 00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:53,040 He will be your comforter, just as I have been. 219 00:15:55,680 --> 00:15:58,840 He's going to continue my ministry in you. 220 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:03,480 So this helping, this advocating, this counseling, 221 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:09,200 this comforting role of the Holy Spirit has an inward subjective 222 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:15,800 aspect to it and an outward objective aspect to it as well. 223 00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:19,240 And the only way I can explain this is with an illustration. 224 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:24,520 Golly, when I first saw the movie Saving Private Ryan long 225 00:16:24,520 --> 00:16:30,040 time ago in the theaters, it gave me a knowledge of war. 226 00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:37,040 But sitting on the same row with me was an elderly man who was 227 00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:42,200 weeping and wailing bitterly throughout that whole 24 minute 228 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:44,640 scene when they invaded Normandy. 229 00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:47,920 And I didn't find out why until after the movie. 230 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:55,680 Because he was there. I knew about war from what I was 231 00:16:56,040 --> 00:17:02,600 watching. This man subjectively experience 232 00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:10,839 the reality of war because he was there, the Holy Spirit. 233 00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:22,200 He works inwardly in us in such a way that we subjectively and 234 00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:30,760 emotionally experience the truth about who Jesus is and the 235 00:17:30,760 --> 00:17:37,120 implications of what he's done. In other words, he subjectively 236 00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:43,080 enables us to feel the reality that God loves you. 237 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:49,640 Listen to how Paul puts it in Romans 5 verse five. 238 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:54,800 He says in hope it does not put us to shame because God's love 239 00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:57,880 has been poured out into our hearts. 240 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:07,480 How through the Holy Spirit who's been given to us so Paul 241 00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:11,120 was saying our hope and God will never put us to shame because 242 00:18:11,120 --> 00:18:17,320 the God we hope in proves to us that he loves us by giving us a 243 00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:22,840 personal experience of his presence through the Holy Spirit 244 00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:28,000 God. In other words, he gives a real 245 00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:35,040 subjective experience where we actually feel the love of God in 246 00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:41,640 our hearts and we are inwardly comforted by the Holy Spirit, so 247 00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:49,920 we know God is with us. Jesus says it this way in our 248 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:53,960 text, verses 20 through 21. In that day you will know that I 249 00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:56,840 am in the Father, and you are in me, and I in you. 250 00:18:57,360 --> 00:19:00,720 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, He it is who loves 251 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:06,680 me, and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will 252 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:15,120 love Him, and I will manifest. I will make myself known to Him. 253 00:19:17,560 --> 00:19:26,560 How do we know all these things? Understanding, knowing, and 254 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:30,520 experiencing the intimate relationship that Jesus has with 255 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:36,720 His Father and that He and His Father has with us is dependent 256 00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:39,160 on the presence of the Holy Spirit. 257 00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:45,760 Look at verses 26 through 27. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, 258 00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:49,480 whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all 259 00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:51,920 things. He will bring to your 260 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:54,640 remembrance all that I have said to you. 261 00:19:55,040 --> 00:20:05,080 Peace I leave with you notices, My peace I give to you. 262 00:20:06,840 --> 00:20:10,880 Not as the world gives to you do I give to you. 263 00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:18,200 Let not your hearts be troubled. Neither let them be afraid. 264 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:22,720 How do we not let our hearts not be troubled? 265 00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:27,040 How is fear driven from our hearts? 266 00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:30,480 How do we know we have peace with God? 267 00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:41,360 Because through the Word of God, inwardly and subjectively, we 268 00:20:41,360 --> 00:20:45,720 experience the reality of God's love for us through the Holy 269 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:49,080 Spirit. In other words, what does the 270 00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:55,360 Holy Spirit do? He helps us, He counsels us, He 271 00:20:55,440 --> 00:21:04,960 advocates Jesus to us. He comforts us with the reality 272 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:09,000 of His presence and gives us His peace. 273 00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:15,680 But don't miss this, this subjective experience that only 274 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:19,320 the Holy Spirit can produce. Music can't produce it. 275 00:21:20,360 --> 00:21:25,080 Mysticism can't produce it. Getting alone and trying to get 276 00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:29,440 into a state of a higher spiritual plane can't produce 277 00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:34,640 this. Notice that this objective 278 00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:38,120 experience that only the Holy Spirit can produce, it's not 279 00:21:38,120 --> 00:21:43,240 separated from the objective historical facts of Jesus's 280 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:49,680 life, death, and resurrection. In other words, the Spirit does 281 00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:55,120 this work through the words that He inspired the disciples to 282 00:21:55,120 --> 00:22:00,640 write. This is why John 14 through 16, 283 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:07,120 it has direct application to the disciples first, and why the 284 00:22:07,120 --> 00:22:11,320 spirits work in US. It's not separated from His work 285 00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:16,640 in them. The Holy Spirit taught them all 286 00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:21,040 things concerning Christ. He brought to their remembrance 287 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:25,080 all that Jesus said and did. He bore witness to Christ. 288 00:22:25,080 --> 00:22:28,560 Why? So that through their words he 289 00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:36,160 would now bear witness about Christ to us, the Holy Spirit. 290 00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:38,920 In other words, he does not speak forth new revelation. 291 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:48,240 He helps, He counsels, He advocates, He comforts us with 292 00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:51,640 the words about Jesus already written. 293 00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:56,560 The Holy Spirit's purpose, in other words, Jesus is going to 294 00:22:56,560 --> 00:23:03,120 say, is to glorify me, is to take what is mine and make it 295 00:23:03,120 --> 00:23:09,040 known to you. How does he do this? 296 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:12,800 By taking the recorded historical facts about Jesus's 297 00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:18,320 life, death and resurrection and opening the eyes of our heart to 298 00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:27,040 see the meaning of it. To make these truths more real. 299 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:33,240 Where we actually subjectively experience and inwardly feel the 300 00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:38,160 reality of these truths so that because of these truths we 301 00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:43,920 actually experience and are convinced that God loves us. 302 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:49,040 Which means you and I cannot experience the love of God being 303 00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:53,360 poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit apart from the 304 00:23:53,360 --> 00:24:02,200 words about Christ. This is my sophomore year at 305 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:05,800 Penn State when I injured my neck and this ended my athletic 306 00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:08,480 career. Not wrestling. 307 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:12,760 Gave me more time to get involved with the campus 308 00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:16,920 ministry, which I did, and from my experience with this campus 309 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:20,640 ministry, I was sensing God was calling me into ministry. 310 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:24,880 I was planning on going on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ, 311 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:29,280 but because of some sin issues I was told by Crusade that I had 312 00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:32,720 to wait a year to get my moral life together. 313 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:38,920 So after I graduated I stayed in State College for a semester to 314 00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:42,000 work on my relationship with God and to work on the relationship 315 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:47,360 I had with my girlfriend hoping that we would get married and 316 00:24:47,360 --> 00:24:50,920 then after a year I would be accepted on staff with campers 317 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:54,080 to save for Christ. But during this time my neck 318 00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:58,400 started getting worse and worse. I found out that I had to get it 319 00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:02,600 operated on and it would be a year long recovery. 320 00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:06,480 Two days after I found out about my neck, the girl that I was 321 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:11,960 dating broke up with me and in my anger I hit a cinder block 322 00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:18,360 wall, smashing both knuckles and breaking these two bones in 323 00:25:18,360 --> 00:25:22,800 three to five places. This happened at midnight and I 324 00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:26,720 had to drive home to Pittsburgh, which was 3 1/2 hours away to 325 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:31,520 get it fixed. On that painful drive home I was 326 00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:34,600 hit with the reality that my life and my sin had gotten out 327 00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:38,400 of control. I was struggling to believe how 328 00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:45,040 in the world could God love somebody like me and all that 329 00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:49,000 was going through my head on this back roads in Pennsylvania 330 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:54,400 was Psalm one O 3, Psalm one O 3, Psalm one O 3. 331 00:25:55,360 --> 00:26:03,760 I've never read Psalm 1O3I pulled over, pulled out my Bible 332 00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:11,840 and I began to read these words. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and 333 00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:14,840 all that is within me. Bless his holy name. 334 00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:19,280 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of his benefits. 335 00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:23,480 And now he's going to list them. Who forgives all your iniquity? 336 00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:28,600 Who heals all your diseases? Who redeemed your life from the 337 00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:32,320 pit? Who crowns you with steadfast 338 00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:37,800 love and mercy? He made known his ways to Moses. 339 00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:43,240 Now he's reflecting on Exodus 32 through 34, where God reveals to 340 00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:49,440 Moses the meaning of His name, Yahweh, His acts to the people 341 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:53,640 of Israel, the Lord Yahweh's merciful and gracious. 342 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:58,240 He's slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 343 00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:02,960 He will not always have a case against us, nor will He keep His 344 00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:06,720 anger forever. He does not deal with us 345 00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:12,160 according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 346 00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:16,960 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His 347 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:21,600 steadfast, loyal, covenant love to those who fear Him. 348 00:27:22,360 --> 00:27:26,960 As far as the east is from the West, so far has He removed his 349 00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:32,000 transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to 350 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:36,800 His children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear 351 00:27:36,880 --> 00:27:41,360 Him. I wept like a baby. 352 00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:47,400 I don't know for how long, but when I read these words, 353 00:27:47,960 --> 00:28:01,240 inwardly I knew I'm OK with God and God's OK with me in spite of 354 00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:07,800 my sin. Because of Jesus, I was at peace 355 00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:15,680 with God, He was at peace with me, and I actually experienced 356 00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:21,440 His peace. Brothers and sisters, why is 357 00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:30,160 Jesus leaving his disciples? Because he's going to die for 358 00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:34,120 his disciples to pay for their sins. 359 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:38,600 Penalty. Three days later, after paying 360 00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:42,400 that penalty, God raised his son from the dead. 361 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:47,480 Right now, his son is seated at the right hand of God the Father 362 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:49,400 Almighty. And what is he doing? 363 00:28:49,720 --> 00:29:00,720 He's sending forth His Spirit to indwell believers to assure 364 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:11,800 them, to comfort them, to help them understand and know all 365 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:15,840 that Jesus has done to save them. 366 00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:25,760 And because He has saved them, they are His forever and ever. 367 00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:34,920 Amen. Let me pray Father, thank you 368 00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:39,880 for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Thank you that He takes what is 369 00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:44,560 Jesus's and He makes it more real and more clear to us. 370 00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:50,840 So now I ask that as we are about to partake of this meal, 371 00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:56,320 that you would in fact do that to all who trust in Him. 372 00:29:57,320 --> 00:29:59,920 Make real the reality of your love for them. 373 00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:03,160 We ask this in Jesus name, Amen.