We have been discussing the Holy Spirit the last few weeks because I really want to equip You with every Spiritual Gift found in the Word of God. We discussed a few adjectives describing the Holy Spirit and how the Holy Spirit operates in our lives. Tonight, I want to bring Your attention to when Jesus talked about the Holy Spirit because He says something that will totally blow Your mind in John 14. We are going to spend the majority of the night in this chapter, so please start making Your way there as we open with a word of prayer.
What I’m about to tell You is going to rock Your world for Jesus! Let’s begin by reading a fairly large section of John 14 but it will lay groundwork for tonight’s teaching. We are going to begin in John 14:15 through verse 31:
“If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.” Judas (not Judas Iscariot, but the other disciple with that name) said to him, “Lord, why are you going to reveal yourself only to us and not to the world at large?” Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me. I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you. “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again. If you really loved me, you would be happy that I am going to the Father, who is greater than I am. I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do happen, you will believe. “I don’t have much more time to talk to you, because the ruler of this world approaches. He has no power over me, but I will do what the Father requires of me, so that the world will know that I love the Father. Come, let’s be going.
I understand this a lot to take in so let’s break down a few verses.
Jesus was talking to His disciples here. Think of this as a President’s final address to the nation. However, Jesus says something that really sets the stage for eternity here. Verses 16-18 really speaks volumes to me personally:
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.
Jesus asked Daddy-God to send us a helper – who? The Holy Spirit! Jesus knew life would get difficult – even unbearable at times. This is why He says in John 16 verse 33: I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
The next point I want it make is extremely important and it may take You a moment to fully understand it. You see church, if Jesus did not die a horrific death and leave the earth, we would not have need of the Holy Spirit.
Let’s go back to what Jesus said in verse 27 and 28: “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again. If you really loved me, you would be happy that I am going to the Father, who is greater than I am.
Let’s read it in the Amplified Bible: Peace I leave with you; My [perfect] peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. [Let My perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage and strength for every challenge.] You heard Me tell you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming back to you.’ If you [really] loved Me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going [back] to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
We do not have anything to be afraid of folks! We have something in us that no one can take from us. Do You know what that is?? The Holy Spirit!
As we close this series, I want to take the final moments of our time tonight to just love on Him. In Daddy-God’s infinite Wisdom, He gave us the Holy Spirit to help us along this journey we call life. We must use every tool in our arsenal to combat the devil, this includes the Holy Spirit.