The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 9: Holy Spirit

Episode Date: June 4, 2023

The Spirit of God in you is greater than the circumstances around you. This world has trouble. God offers peace that transcends understanding.

Amen and amen. What a good one. And then Coach Cowley went on to be the Bible teacher at Providence High School, and so he teaches my kids the Bible. Praise God for that. Hey, grab your Bibles. I hope you got them. John chapter 15 is where we're going to be.

We're going to pick it up in verse 18. We're in the ninth week of this series. Anything is possible. And we've been studying nine miracles that reveal God's heart for you. And we have seen the miraculous. Just during this series, we've seen 383 people surrender their life to the Lord of Jesus Christ. Amen. In case you missed it, two weeks ago, we baptized 1,125 people. And so, on the heels of talking about the miraculous in the scriptures, you may be asking, so now what?

So now what? I feel like that might be the question that the disciples felt like they had when they're coming off of what's called the Mountain of Ascension. After the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and he gathers about 120 disciples or so. Just on the other side of the Mount of olives, and he gives them the great commission. Therefore, we'll go and make disciples. We're going to find out in the text that we read today that he makes this promise, you, the disciples, are going to do even greater things than I have done. And then he says, so go and make disciples, everywhere you go to the very ends of the earth, teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you, baptizing them in the name of the Father,

of the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and lo, I will be with you to the very end of the age. And then the Bible says that he ascends to the right hand of God, the Father. Doesn't say exactly how it happened in my mind it's iron man just he takes off the Bible says and some saw and believed it seems like you would believe doesn't it if you saw a dead man on the cross buried and then three days later walking around in Jerusalem and then tell you all right I'm going to the father and just as I am going I'm going I'm going and then he just rocket man's up and you're like all right I'm in but then the Bible says there's some other people say to see all the same evidence and it says and some doubted Some people are like, I don't know, man, I'm not sure.

And so then the disciples who believe are like, so now what? What are we going to do? How are we going to accomplish all that Jesus has commanded us to accomplish? Well, he had given them the answer to that back in John chapter 15. It's actually John chapter 14, 15, and 16. All of this is called the upper room discourse, which is a weird thing to call it. but that's what it is. And what Jesus is trying to equip his disciples for

is what they are about to walk through as disciples. And so part of the reason that we end this series and that the last chapter of the book is on the gift of the Holy Spirit is because one of the definitions of the miraculous is when the supernatural invades the natural. And what can be more supernatural than the spirit of God and what is more natural than you?

And for every single believer in Jesus, the supernatural spirit of God invades. invades and dwells within the believer. This is why First Great Thean 6 will say that your body is a temple. That has nothing to do with what you look like in a bikini. Can I get an amen? Praise God for that. All right.

And so what Jesus is going to tell them in John 15, 14, 15, and 16, I am sending the Spirit of God to you. Now we're going to pick it up in John 15, 18, and he is giving them the context that is the reason that we need spirit of God. Now, just before this in John 15, it's super sweet, man. It's super sweet. Jesus is like, abide in me, and I will abide in you. It's like a garden, and the father's the gardener, and I'm the vine, and you're the branches, and if you'll just stay close to me, I'll stay close to you. And I call you my friends, because that's what you are. You're my

friends, and everybody's hugging and got a little tear, and John's a little, you know, he's choked up a little bit. And then just out of nowhere, it takes his hard and left turn, and he gets It's real bitter, real quick. He says this. He's prepping them for what they are about to go through. And he says this, if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. They're like, wait, what happened to all the friend talk? He's like, get ready.

What you're about to walk into is that this world is going to hate you. But don't be shocked. Don't be surprised. Because before they hate you, first they hated me. Let me ask you a question. Does the world hate you? Does the world hate you? It's not a fun situation.

These days, it's very easy to tell if the world hates you. They'll tell you, right here on your phone. I'm telling you. And it's tough as anybody thinks they are. It ain't fun when you get hated. When people, you know, write blogs and pick it and do tweets, all the things, man. And we live in a totally different day, right?

People's opinion today are instant, global, permanent, and unfiltered. I mean, just 20 years ago, if somebody hated you, and wanted to tell the world they hated you. First of all, what influence do they have? They could tell their three dumb friends, and there's four dumb people they hate you. Whatever, man. Just ignore them.

Pray for them. Or if they wanted to write a nasty thing about you, they would write a letter to the editor of the paper, but there was an editor. And they would read it and be like, this is dumb, who cares? Not today. Now, Jesus says that if you're going to follow Jesus,

then this world who does not follow Jesus will hate you. Why does the world hate the follower of Jesus? Here's why. Because this world's view is antithetical to the gospel. So our MO as believers towards this world is that we are to love the people of this world because and the way that Jesus first loved us. That every single human being you have ever come eyeball to eyeball with is an image bearer of the almighty God. Sin fractured that.

So this person you can come eyeball to eyeball with regardless of what they look like as compared to you, vote like as compared to you, think like as compared to you, believe like as compared to you, is irrelevant in regards to your love for them because they bear the fingerprints of the Almighty God. They have the divine in them. Therefore, we are to love one another like Christ's first loved us. Sin fractured that and then Jesus came on a rescue mission to seek and save us. And so we treat them the way Jesus has treated us. That is our MO. The M.O. The M.O. The M. of this world is exactly the opposite. The MO of this world is there is no God,

and that you and I are semi-advance yet totally accidental primates, and I am the center of all my own morality, and there's my favorite part, the culture says, there is no truth while simultaneously demanding their rights. These things are completely opposite. And therefore,

the world will hate us. And no wonder our world's in chaos. I mean, for an entire, generation when you tell a group of children that they are nothing but purposeless animals then they grow up why are we surprised when we act like it and so Jesus is like this is what we're dealing with here verse 19 if you were of the world the world would love you as its own but because you were not of the world but I chose you out of the world therefore the world hate you now you may be sitting there going well the world don't hate me okay

is it because you belong to the world? Because our world is not neutral. There is a drift in this world. There is a drift in this culture. And it does not drift towards godliness. It only drifts away from godliness. We should know this very well. We're beach people, all right?

You know, like when you put your kids in the beach and you're like, hey, listen, look at me, look at me. Me and mama are sitting right here by that umbrella. Do you understand? And then your kids don't pay attention, right? And what do they do? Like everybody around them drifts at the same. same time so they don't realize they move and then they get up over here and I'll be like,

where'd y'all go? Listen, dummy, we didn't go anywhere. We have been stationary and you are adrift. When you look at our culture, it's always going to drift away from godliness. And the reality is, are you fighting the current or are you just going with the flow? You see, maybe the world doesn't hate you because you are indistinguishable from the world. If you don't get a bloody nose every once in a while for fighting back and pushing against this godless culture, then it could be because you just belong to the world. This is a big, fat warning. Verse 20, remember the word I said to you.

A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. Let me give you a little context of what he's talking about. Because sometimes what will happen is some like, there will be some believers, some Christians, and they're jerks to the world. They're like jerks for Jesus. And then when the world hates them bad,

they're like, ha, see, Jesus said that's how you're going to be. That's not what Jesus is talking about here. The context by which he's saying, a servant is not greater than his master, is back at the beginning of the upper room discourse, which is in John chapter 13. And what Jesus does in John chapter 13, the Bible says that Jesus,

knowing all authority in heaven and earth, had been put under him, he showed the disciples the full extent of his love. And you know what the full extent of his love would? He did not preach another sermon. He didn't do a miracle. He wasn't like, wash this and just levitate the table. He didn't do that.

The Bible says he gets up from the table. He dresses himself as a servant, and he washes his disciples' feet, including Judas, who he knew was going to betray him. He washed his feet, too. And then he says, a servant is not greater than his master. I have set for you an example. You will be blessed as you do likewise. So when we are loving and serving this world, he's saying, the world's still going to hate you.

Why? You see, what we have been called to do as believers is this, is we are supposed to love people unconditionally and reject the systems and values of this world wholeheartedly. That's what we're supposed to do. But what a lot of church folks do is they adopt the systems of this world wholeheartedly and reject categories of people. undeniably. That's what happens. And, you know, so many people are like, well, not me. No, no, no, no. I'm not just a part of this world. Okay, let's talk about the big three. You may want to pull your shoes off so I can just step right on the toes. You ready for this? Let's just talk about money and sex and power. And I know you're like, I thought this was about

the Holy Spirit. Oh, he's about to work. You ready? Let's talk about money and sex and power. There's so many people that show up to church, you know, several times a quarter, claim to be Christians, but when it comes to money, we act exactly like the world acts when it comes to possessions and money. Did you know that the average Christian gives less than 2% to charity? To charity. That's not even to the church. There's like good giving and gospel giving, and if you bound it all up together, then the average Christian in America gives less than. and 2% to charity and feels really good about it. Simultaneously declares yourself generous

and then spends 98% of the money on you buying crap you don't need to impress people you don't even know online that don't even know you. And then it's anytime I bring up money at church, people are like, see, they only want you money. You only want your money. God's got plenty of money. He don't need your money.

But God says he wants your heart and where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. And he knows that you spend all your money. trying to grab on the stuff and that stuff grabs on to you and no one can serve two masters. Don't be greedy. It's like the world is greedy. Or sex.

Let's talk about that. That would be fun. We live in a world that says, hey, listen, all right, I'm into the Jesus thing because, you know, forever's a long time and hell is hot. So I'm okay. But when it comes to sex and sexuality, God, who are you to tell me who to love and who are you to tell me who I am? I can tell you who he is, the almighty sovereign maker of heaven and earth. That's who he is. And you say, well, okay, okay, no, but I believe in Jesus and I'm a Christian, but I do what I want with who I want when I want.

You can do that. You can do whatever you want. You just can't claim him as Lord and do whatever you want. I mean, Luke, in the gospel of Luke, Jesus says, why do you call me Lord and not do what I say? So many believers, man, do sex exactly the same way the world does? Do you know when the crusaders would get baptized? They would profess Jesus of Christ as their Lord and Savior. and when they got dunked under the water,

they would hold their sword out of the baptism. To say, I'll believe with you at all this, but I'm about to do some shady stuff with the sword. In our culture, if we were honest, people would get baptized with their wallet in one hand and the sexuality in the other. And I'm just here to tell you, if he ain't Lord at all,

if he ain't Lord of all, he ain't Lord at all. Let's talk about power. So many others are on the exact same rat race that everybody else on the planet is, but we got a fish on our minivan, so we think we're safe. I mean, stepping over people to get the job. Jesus in Matthew 20 says,

the Gentiles lowered their power over one another. It shall not be so among you, except we clamor for the same power and the same recognition and the same likes and the same approval. You see, so. And trust me, man, if you get outside of the current,

of our current culture, it will try to whip you back in to submit. Mission. Verse 21. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, on account of Jesus' name. Because, here's why, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Neither do we. Verse 23, whoever hates me, hates my father also. You see this? Jesus will not allow himself to be divorced from God the Father. If you hate Jesus, you hate God the Father.

Actually, you could take the word hate out and just put blanks there. And however you feel about Jesus is what you feel about the Father. If you hate Jesus, you hate God the Father. If you love Jesus, you love God the Father. You reject Jesus, you reject God the Father. You ignore Jesus, you ignore God the Father. You deny Jesus, you deny God the Father. You know Jesus, you know God the Father.

Some people think all roads lead to heaven. Jesus does not think that. He thinks he and the Father are one. Verse 24, if I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my father, but the word that is written in their law must be fulfilled. They hated me without cause.

Now, if you're sitting there, listening to Jesus, or if you're sitting here going, I thought this was about the Holy Spirit. What are we talking about? You may be looking at Jesus going, well, this seems like a terrible outlook, Jesus, a very bleak outlook. So if we obey you, we're going to be hated. So what do we do? How do we pull this off?

Seems like we need help. Do you have help for us? And Jesus is going to say, that's a great question. Verse 26. But when the helper comes, some translations translate this word here, helper as counselor or advocate or comforter. And all of them are really good translations. You know why? Because we need help, and we need counseling, and we need an advocate, and we need to be comforted.

The Greek word here for Spirit, for the Spirit of God, the helper, the Greek word here is Pericles. I'm going to teach you a little Greek, okay, so buckle up. And I'm going to teach you the way I learned it. A hundred years ago, back in the 1900s, when I was in seminary, I had to memorize all these Greek words. And the way it always worked for me was like word association. And so you're never going to forget this, all right?

And if you were around several years, I'm going to call it, you could already teach you. I could bring you up here and you can teach it. The word is pericleat. So 150 years ago, when I played high school football, I needed help. And so you know what I needed help with? I needed help on the field, so I needed a pair of cleats. That's how you remember, periclee. Because what do a paracletes do? A pair of cleats will keep you grounded on the ground. Because if you ran out there in your cowboy boots and then somebody hit you, they'll push you all over the place. And we live in a world that's trying to push you all over the place and try to lie to you and tempt you.

And so you've got to be grounded, not in the dirt. You've got to be grounded in the very word of God so that you can do what Paul says in Ephesians chapter 6, that you can stand firm against the enemy and his evil schemes. So if you're playing linebacker and the fullback comes at you, you can stand firm and you can eat it up and then you can make the tackle. You've got to have a pair of cleats for that.

And the other thing, a pair of cleats will help you do when you're playing football is they'll help you change direction. If you've just got regular sneakers and you will go out there, your feet will slip, you'll slide all over the place, and you can't go in the direction that your team needs you to go. And when you're submitted and surrendered to the Spirit of God, not only does He help you stand firm on God's Word, but you get the instruction from the Word of God and the nudge of the Holy Spirit, and you were going this way, and now you can go that way and change direction, and a pair of cleats

will help you do that. That's why the Paraclete is our helper, and we need to help, rooted in the Word of God, and go into the direction that he's called us to go. Paraclete. And I may need more cardio because I'm kind of tired. I moved one yard. It's incredible. incredible. So Jesus is going to send the helper, the Holy Spirit. But when the helper comes,

whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. Notice every time the Bible talks about the Holy Spirit, it's not an it. He's a he. He's the third person of the Trinity. The Spirit of God is not like a potion that runs out and then you come to get topped up every weekend. That's not how it works. He is the third person of the Trinity. And it says this, and the Holy Spirit will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. So in our time together, I am going to talk to us about the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church and in the life of the believer.

And this is not an exhaustive study of the Spirit. It's not an exhaustive pneumatology time here. it's only what Jesus says about the pericles in John 14, 15, and 16. That's all we're going to look at, okay? Because one of the things that will happen is oftentimes when you talk about the spirit, depending on how you grew up, it influences what you think his role is in the life of the believer. All right? And some people have different ideas about what the primary evidence of the Holy Spirit and the life of the believer is.

In fact, when I got saved, it came as a shocker. to my high school. I mean, I was like terrible, went off the summer cat, came back, still terrible, but forgiven for it. All right. And so, word got out of my high school that I got saved. And this guy, this real charismatic guy, came up to me. And I remember he said, I understand you became a Christian. I was like, yeah, I totally did. And he said this, did you receive the full gospel? And I didn't know that was code. Some of you know what I'm talking about. I didn't know it was code. And I was like, I don't remember any blackout dates on the thing. I think I'm all in. What are we talking about? Okay.

And so what he was talking about is in his tradition, what they believed the primary evidence of the Holy Spirit was. Okay, so any Pentecostals in house, okay? All right, of course, woo, yep, here you are. Now, a lot of Pentecostals believe that the primary evidence of the Holy Spirit is like signs and tongues and, you know, really expressive worship.

And when it gets real rowdy, you know, when you're on about your third lap and somebody's got the banner, you feel like, oh, he's here, okay? And God bless you. We love you, glad you're here, we learn a lot from you. You know, just if you take a lap, make it as big as mine was, and if you got a banner, just do it back there in the corner for my sake, please.

That's fine. Now, what about a Baptist? Any recovering Baptist in the house, all right? Yep. I know you're recovering because you made noise in church. Look at you, all right, so welcome. The primary evidence of the role of the Holy Spirit in the Baptist is defined by what you don't do. That's what it is.

If you don't smoke, drink, or chew, or go with girls who do, he is flowing in your life, that's it, all right? Now, what about if you're like from a reform tradition, like a Presbyterian? You're not going to say anything. Take a note real quick, okay? Listen. How do the Presbyes know when they have the spirit?

They don't know. They don't. They have no idea. They don't know. However, they believe in him. They believe in him all the way. Can write many papers about it, and it's like your medulla abangata.

You know what's in there. You don't want to live without it, and it's probably important, but that's about it. Okay, so, So most of the time, when we talk about the role of the Holy Spirit, most of the time what people want to do is reduce him to what you get out of it. Most of the talk about the Holy Spirit's role in the church, everybody immediately goes to what is called the gifts of the Spirit,

which is crazy because one of the things that we're going to find out very clearly is that all the Spirit wants to do is make much of Jesus, but most of the people that talk about spiritual gifts want to talk about what they got out of the So you've got to be real careful with this. He just wants to edify Jesus. He wants to edify the church, not make much of you. And so just in case you don't know what spiritual gifts are, there is no one list in the Bible.

You've got to put together about three or four different places to come up with a list. But every believer, every follower of Jesus has at least one spiritual gift, and no believer has all the spiritual gifts. And we all need each other, and we're put together like a body for the edification of the church

and the glory of God. That's the purpose of the gifts. It's not like a superpower so that you can show off. It's that you're trying to show off Jesus. And if you want to know what your gifts are, we do have a spiritual assessment online on our website, C-O-E-22.com slash spiritual gifts. But let me just warn you

any time you take one of those assessment tests, all right? They are not infallible. And in fact, when I was in college, I mean, you know, kids that grew up Baptist that get to college, all they want to do is learn about the spiritual gifts, man. And so I went to the spiritual gifts assessment camp with a bunch of college kids. And so they had this spiritual, like this test you could take. And they had, I mean, they gave more credit than the Bible does

to the spiritual gifts. You know what I mean? And so I didn't know. And so I take the whole test and I get my assessment back. And it tells you, your primary spiritual gift is. And it's me and one of my college roommates. And he looked terrified. I mean, he just looked absolutely terrified. And I was like, dude, what did you get? He was like, what did you get? I was like, I got martyrdom. Which is awesome, but you use it once and you're out. You're done with your whole, yeah. And I was like, well, what did you get?

Straight up, he's like, celibacy. And I was like, I'd rather have martyrdom, bro. I'd rather have, so, all right. Now, according to the scriptures, the primary sign of the spirit, of God is not a gift that you have. The primary sign of the Spirit of God is evangelism. I mean, in chapter 15, verse 27, what we just saw it say is this. He says, I'm going to send you the helper, and here's what he's going to do. First thing out of Jesus's mouth is he's

going to bear witness about me, and you will also bear witness. It's the first thing he does. Why? Because the Spirit of God just wants to shine the light on the Son of God. Or like, Like, think about it, in Acts chapter 2, when the Spirit of God falls, what's the first thing that happened? Peter preaches a sermon and 3,000 people get saved and baptized. In Acts chapter 1 8, the Bible says, and you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth. In Matthew chapter 28, at the end of that, after the great commission, Jesus gives the great promise, and lo, I will be with you always.

Jesus, how are you going to be with me always if you're going to heaven? Because I'm going to spend the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, to be within every single believer to help you accomplish the Great Commission. The primary evidence of the Holy Spirit is this, is sharing the gospel. That's what he says. Chapter 16, he keeps going. He says, I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogue.

Now, we hear that today and be like, that's fine, I'll just. watch online, but it was way worse. Everything centered, your whole life centered around the community that centered around the synagogue. Like the groceries that you would buy, the people you could marry, the friends that you have, it all centered around the synagogue. And here's what Jesus is saying. It's going to cost you a lot.

It's going to cost you everything to follow me. I can remember like four or five years ago of me and I think Pastor Adam and Pastor Britt were doing a pastor's conference. in East Africa and Uganda. And I said to this pastor who had walked like 18 miles to be there for three days. And I was like, it must be incredibly difficult to be a pastor in Uganda.

And immediately his response was it must be impossible to be a Christian in America. And I was like, what? No, it's awesome. That's why we're here. Like we got on a plane, we came over here, you know, we're teaching the classes. I was like, what are you talking about?

And he goes, well, the fundamental message of Jesus is that you had to sacrifice everything to follow him, and it cost you virtually nothing to follow him in America. So, help me understand. So he is warning them of the price that it will cost them. Then he says, indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. Now, pre-9-11, we thought, well, that isn't applicable anymore. But there's a group of people that believe by killing people that didn't worship their God, their God was somehow happy about it. That ain't our God. There is one God we know whom through the person and work of Jesus Christ, period.

He says, indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God and they will do these things because they have not known the Father nor me. But I have said these things to you that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told them to you. I did not say these things to you from the beginning because I was with you. But now I'm going to him who sent me and none of you asked. me, where are you going? But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper, the paraclete, will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.

They're confused. They're looking at them. They're like, hold on. And Jesus says, no, no, no, no. It is to your advantage that I go away. Based on that verse right there, a friend of mine, and J.D. Greer has preached here five or six times. He wrote a book called Jesus Continued Why the Spirit in you is better than Jesus beside you. Because what a lot of people would say, if you've got to vote, like if God says, okay, what would you rather have?

Would you rather have the Spirit in you or Jesus beside you? Like Jesus could be your roommate. In fact, his book starts off this way. What would you choose? And a lot of us think, well, I think I'd rather have Jesus as my roommate. Think about how amazing that would be, right? Like if you ran out of food, really Jesus, we don't have enough food.

He could feed the whole church with just two little chicken minis. And he did miracles on the Sabbath, so he could get some chick-fil-A on Sunday, praise God, right, and just hand them out. He'd be, that'd be sweet. Or Baptist, if you were at a party and you ran out of wine, he'd be like, hey, Jesus, he'd be like, let's keep going, all right? Or if you didn't have money for taxes, you could go fishing and find your tax payment in the fish's mouth. He did that one time.

or I love this one man if your dog died and Jesus got home from work he'd be like Jesus my dog died and he'd be like I catch you man Lazarus come forth and your dog just come back from the dead and for your cat people you bet Jesus my cat died he'd help you dig a hole put it in there right

I mean he'd be real helpful so while while it might seem awesome that you had Jesus in the flesh next to you Jesus says it's to your advantage that I leave because when I leave I am going to send the helper the paraclete

the Spirit of God, to not just hang out with you next to you and room with you, but to live on the inside of you. And in chapters 14, 15, and 16, he gives 10 reasons why it is to your advantage. Typically when I preach, I don't do like top 10 list or anything like that, but there's 10 reasons here. If you're a note taker, you're going to love this. And it's not an exhaustive list. He never specifically talks about the gifts of the Spirit here. Paul's going to explain that later, like in Corinthians and some other places. But here are the 10 reasons it is to your advantage.

roles of the Holy Spirit in you and in our church. Number one, and if in no particular order, this is how I wrote them down. Number one, to empower you to share your faith. We already covered that one. That's John 1527. That's one. Number two, the reason is to your advantage

for us to receive the Holy Spirit is because the Spirit of God is God's presence inside of us. This is how he accomplishes the Great Commission. when he says, lo, I will be with you always to the very ends of the age. And why is it advantage that God would be with us? It's because wherever perfect love is, the spirit of fear ain't. And Paul tells Timothy, God did not give you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love

and of a sound mind, that fear is not a feeling, fear is not even a personality makeup. Fear is a spirit that does not come from God. And the spirit of God in the believer is like turning the lights on in a dark room. When the light comes on, man, the darkness has got to go. And so he will tell Joshua, in like Joshua chapter one before he's about to do the greatest thing he's ever been called to do, he tells him three times, be strong and courageous, strong and courageous, strong and courageous. Why?

Because he's weak and afraid, we can afraid, we can afraid. And God does not give him a pep talk. He doesn't like, you know what, Josh, you got this, because you're strong enough, you're smart enough and doggone it people like you. It's not what he says. He doesn't say, look inside you. Uh-uh, terrible place to look. He says, be strong and courageous for I am with you.

And that God is perfect love, and wherever the perfect love is, it drives out fear, that the Spirit of God, the helper, is God's presence with the believer. The third one is this, according to John 1426, that the Spirit of God will teach us and bring to remembrance the things that Jesus wants us to know. He says it this way in 1426, but the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will sin in my name, he will teach you all the things and bring to you to remembrance all that I have said to you. This is why we say it around here all the time, man. My sermons are moderately delivered, exceptionally received.

The only reason they're exceptionally received is because you have the Spirit of God. That the Holy Spirit is the real preacher here, not me. I can expose you to the Word of God. Be like, here's where they were and here's when it happened. I cannot expose the Word of God to you. That's what the Spirit of God does. If you've ever learned anything at this church, it's because the Pericles, the Spirit of God,

helped you learn to think Jesus in that moment wanted you to know. The fourth thing, according to John 14, is this. Is that he is going to give you peace. Now, we're going to come back to that one because that's how he ends it in John chapter 16. But in 14, he says, peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you, not as the world gives, do I give?

Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. Wherever the spirit of God is, there is a spirit of peace. Now, back to chapter 16, verse 8, he says this, and when he, talking about the spirit, again, not an it, it's not some kind of magical potion that you run out of, but the third person of the Trinity. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. There's three right there. Concerning sin because they do not believe in me, concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer. concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. So number five is this, maybe put 5A.

5A is that the role of the Spirit is to convict the world concerning sin. Now, do you see the number one sin that he convicts not believing in Jesus? That is the root of all sin. Before you ever get to like lust and greed and covetousness and all these kinds of things, the root of all of this is if you'd really

really believed, if you really trusted that Jesus was your greatest treasure, then we would not struggle with all those other things. Now, the Spirit of God does not condemn, because condemn says you were unfit for use. And the Bible tells us in Romans 8.1, therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. But the Spirit of God convicts us of sin. And conviction of sin is a warm invitation from Jesus, the good shepherd, to say, you're going the wrong way. And the path that you are on, it may feel like fun and freedom for a minute, but it can only lead to bondage and destruction. And at the end of this road is nothing but a place where you are killed, stolen from, and destroyed. That's just where it leads. And if you have ever been convicted

of your sin and go, uh-oh, I need to do something different, that is a gift of the Spirit of God in you saying, why don't you turn and come back to me? And anytime we obey the voice of the good shepherd, only leads to the abundant life. That's it, man. That's it. And so a part of the Spirit's role is to call us to repentance. Now, not only does he convict us

concerning sin, but also convict us concerning righteousness. Because, like, where did your joy come from? If the only thing the Spirit of God did is tell you all the things you're doing wrong. He also tells you who you are in Christ. He says that he is going to convict the world concerning righteousness, and if you are in Christ, you have been made the righteousness

of Christ. In other words, when God looks at you, he doesn't see your sin. He sees the propitiation. Jesus made the full and final payment that satisfies the law and justice of God. So if you are in Christ, he sees you as fully satisfied. Therefore, you can't dissatisfy God. You can't. And the Spirit of God reminds us, no, no, no, I used to be a crooked and to pray, but wretched, black-hearted sinner, and now I am more than a conqueror, and I am holy and blameless. And those are the whispers of the Holy Spirit. He also convicts concerning judgment. That's right.

He says that the Spirit of God will show up concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. There is coming a day of judgment. And if you have not submitted and surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, then you will be under the same judgment as the ruler of this world. I mean, Isaiah, who wrote the book of Isaiah, he was a prophet. He's a pretty impressive guy. When he encountered the true and living God, his instinct was to say this,

woe is me, for I am lost, I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the king the Lord of hosts. So newsflash. If you're a believer, if you're in Christ, this is as close to hell as you will ever be. if you are not a believer in Jesus, this is as close to heaven as you will ever be.

And there is coming a day of judgment where you will stand before God and give an account. And I know what I bring it up, people are like, are you trying to scare me? You should be freaking terrified. You should sleep with a bike helmet and one eye open and a cup on going, oh, okay, because I'm telling you.

And yet, even if I yell at you and point out all your sins, here's the reality, I can't convict you of any of that. and me pointing out how hellbound you are won't change anything. It's God's kindness that leads us to repentance. That's what Romans chapter one says. It's his kindness that leads us to repentance. That is the work of the Holy Spirit inviting you to turn away from a pathway

that not only leads to death and destruction in this world, but leads to an eternal destruction and damnation we call that hell. And he, regardless of how long you've been on the way, the path or how deep you're down the path or how bad the path your own is. The conviction of the Holy Spirit is a warm invitation to turn around and come home to a Heavenly Father who loves you and he demonstrated it with his son Jesus Christ on the cross. Verse 12, I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will

speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come. The seventh thing is that the Spirit of God will guide you in all truth. He will guide you in all truth. You see, we've got more information than any group of people have ever had and we have less wisdom in our world than ever. And the Spirit of God guides us in all truth. By the way, Jesus doesn't just say true things. Jesus says he is the truth. And this idea that the Spirit of God guide you. In the sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, Blessed of the Meek.

We don't love the word meek, because we think, you know, it rhymes with weak and who wants to be weak? But meek doesn't mean weak. Literally in Greek, that's a lot of rhyming words, in it. Literally in Greek, it's like a bit bridled horse. And have you ever been on a really well-trained horse? Did you know that a well, like a horse that will put a rider on it

and take a bit, lives longer, is stronger, can do way more work. And a well-trained horse is still just this power. It's actually stronger than before it turned over the reins of his life to his master. And a well-trained horse, man, the cowboy on the horse, the rider on the horse, all they've got to do is slightly tug the reins one direction or the other, and the horse will go in the direction that the rider says I'll go. That's what meekness is.

It's turning over the reins of your life to your heavenly father, trusting that he will always and only lead you in the right direction. When I tattooed Acts 1124 on my arm, it says, and he was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. That's the kind of man I want to be. I want to be the kind of man that has turned over the reins of my life to God, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, all he's got to do.

He got to whip me and jerk my head all around. All he's got to do is go, that's it, man. And whatever direction he sends me in, that's where I want to go. Because the reality is that there is an enemy, and he's a liar, and he's really good at it. And he's always trying to bait us down a road that if we go down that road, it's death and destruction. And the Spirit of God every single time goes, no, not that way.

This is the way to life. Listen, every single time some famous pastor fails and falls and then they start doing Netflix videos about them and stuff, people on our staff would be like, Pastor, what happened? What happened? I'm like, here's what happened. I know, I know exactly what happened. They're like, you know, I know exactly what happened. What?

You go, here's what happened. they began to go down a path because they believed the lie of the enemy and the spirit of God stepped in and went, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. And they went, get off me. I got this. The three most dangerous words a believer can ever hear

say, I got this. I'm here to say, I ain't got this. I need a helper. I need a pericle. I need someone to grab the reins of my life and go, no, no, no, no, no, no. You're going to turn. I'm going to guide you to the truth.

That's part of what the Spirit of God does. May we be a church that the Spirit of God does not have to yell at us to get us to obey, but just the slightest little, come on, the slightest little nudge. I'm telling you, this week, I dare you, when you feel that little nudge to make the call or share your faith or pray for somebody, obey the Spirit of God and go in the direction that he says go. Verse 14. The Spirit of God, he will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

All that the Father has his mind, therefore I said that he will take. take what is mine and declare it to you. The eighth thing, according to Jesus in this text, that the Spirit of God does is he leads us to worship Jesus. He leads us to worship Jesus. You see, every time I talk about the Holy Spirit, there's always somebody in the church that comes to me and goes, we don't talk about the Holy Spirit enough.

I check. The Holy Spirit doesn't want us to talk about the Holy Spirit very much, only as much as the Bible does. He only wants to point it all to Jesus. If you cast the Holy Spirit in a play, He would be a tech guy in the back, running the spotlight, and all he would do is focus all of the attention on Jesus. That's what he would do.

That's what he always wants to do. So be careful of the person that always wants to talk about the Spirit and point it at themselves. That's not what the Spirit wants to do. He wants to help us glorify God. And I get it, man, I get it. Sometimes it's hard to get your mind around one God and three persons, and I know it's difficult to understand,

but I need you to think about it like this. I don't get it. You're never going to fully get it. You got like a Dixie Cup-sized brain standing in front of the Atlantic Ocean going, it won't fit. You think? Some of you took two tries at the eighth grade. You might not get your mind around the almighty everlasting God. But there's one God and three persons, God, the Father, God, the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

And they are in a perfectly submitted love relationship with one another and in need of nothing. And I know sometimes we think like, okay, the Father's the main one and Jesus is a nice one. and the Spirit's the weird one. That is not how it goes. The Holy Spirit always points us to Jesus for forgiveness and worship, and Jesus always wants to bring us to the Father for identity and healing,

and the Father sins the Holy Spirit to help us know who Jesus is for our salvation, and they are always constantly working in conjunction for our joy and salvation and the glory of God. So he leads us to worship Jesus. Verse 16, in a little while, you will see me no longer and again a little while you will see me

he's talking about his death and resurrection and so some of the disciples said to one another what is this that he says to us a little while and you will not see me and again a little while and you will see me and because I'm going to the father and so they were saying what does he mean by a little while

we do not know what he's talking about you ever been there in church you're ever been sitting there and be like what number we own we do not know what he is talking about Okay. If that's you, you can make a great disciple. These are the apostles.

And they're like, we have no idea what he's talking about. So what you do is you just ask Jesus because he has given you the helper to teach you the things that he's talking about. And if you don't get it right now, it's just not what he has for you right now. You ever read reading your Bible? And you read a passage you've read a thousand times.

And then all of a sudden you're like, oh, that makes sense. This is exactly what is happening. And so Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him. He always knows. And so he said to them, is this what you were asking yourself? What I meant by saying a little while and you will not see me and again in a little while

you will see me. Truly, truly I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy. He's talking about the crucifixion, there's sorrow, and then the resurrection, there's joy. And then here is the example, that he gives. Look at this. He says, when a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her

hour has come. Can I get an amen to all the mamas, from all the mamas? Listen, man, if you're young and you have these romantic visions of what it is like to deliver a baby, you better get them out of your head right now. The two words Jesus is going to use is anguish and sorrow. And I've obviously never experienced, I witnessed it twice, I'm all set for the rest of my days, okay? I mean, I had very little, I was there at the beginning, and then I drove taxi until they came home. That's pretty much how my role went. And it ain't beautiful, man. It's awful.

It is stressful. They're screaming, just crying, and that was just for me. That was just, oh, okay. But when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish. That's what he's saying, okay? Why? For joy that a human being has been born into the world. Okay, one little sidetrack, give me a minute.

For what has been born into the world? A what? A human being. What about an hour before it was born? What was that? A human being. What about two months before? Human being.

What about nine months before? The Bible wants you to know that from the moment of conception, that is a human being that God is knitting together in his mother's room. Okay, so. So she no longer remembers the anguish for the joy that a human being. It's not just a human being. It's her human being.

Has been born into the world. And so when she holds that baby, this is why she can have a second child. Because the joy set before her so far exceeds the torture and the pain and the anguish that she had to go through to get one. She's willing to sign up for it again. I mean, thinking about this. Now, you can't go too dupe with this because every ill. of who God is breaks down somewhere. But when a man and a woman

to love each other get married and make a baby, it is a reflection of the Trinity. When Gretchen and I got married, we made a vow. It was me and her and God. That's how you make a vow. And when we got married, we did not cease being who we are. She's still her, I'm still me. And yet, the Bible says in this weird arithmetic

that one plus one equals one, that the two have become one. Even though we got separate social security numbers and all that. And then out of an overflow of our love for, one another, we literally created image bearers that we love and then they, you know, aggravate us for the rest of our life, all right? And so Jesus is saying, all right, listen, what I'm about to go through is going to be the most anguishing thing in all of eternity, but for the joy set before

me, it's worth it. Do you know what the joy set before him? He's saying kind of like, it's like I'm about to go through childbirth, but I'm going to get to hold you as my son or daughter. That's what he's saying. Verse 22. So also, you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. Because they can't take Jesus from us, because the Spirit of Jesus lives in us. In that day, you will ask nothing of me, truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.

What a promise. Whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. And then he says, until now, you have asked nothing in my name. But they've asked for stuff. They just didn't ask of the father and in Jesus' name. They were asking of themselves in their name. I mean, they asked for all kind of things. Like two of the brothers asked, they made a power play one time, Matthew 20.

They're like, hey, mom, go talk to Jesus and see if we can be like senior VP of Jesus Incorporated. It's like an original helicopter mom. And Jesus like, no way, man. I'm not giving you that. Peter asked, hey, can we live up here on the mountain of Transfiguration? It is good that we are here. We'll just sleep up here with tents.

He's like, what are you talking about? Dummy? All the ministry happens down there. Shut up. Okay? One time the disciples were offended because these people rejected the gospel and they were like, Jesus.

We were doing our quiet time in Kings and we read about Elijah and he brought fire down on their heads. Do that. He's like, no, it's not what I'm doing. So this isn't like a, you know, this isn't like you figure out the combination and you pray the right prayer

and tickle me Jabez, and all of a sudden, here comes the cash and Cadillacs. It's not how it works. He says, until now you've asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive that your joy may be full. The Holy Spirit helps you pray. This is what he's saying. The Spirit of God is going to help you. And the Book of Romans says, and when you don't know what to pray,

the Spirit of God is going to even give you the words to pray. And he says, I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father. And in that day, you will ask, in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf. For the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed

that I came from God, I came from the Father, and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father. And some clicks. They're like, oh, you're not from Bethlehem? He's like, no. I'm from heaven and I'm going back to heaven. verse 29 and his disciples said oh now you were speaking plainly and not using figurative speech

we really appreciate the seven i.m. statements that are in john but we're not going to understand them for a long time they went right over our head and he says now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you this is why we believe that you came from god and jesus answered them do you now believe behold the hour is coming indeed it has come when you will be scattered each to his own home and will leave me alone, yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. And then here's the last thing. This is the 10th thing, he says,

that the Spirit of God is going to do. He says, I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. That's it, number 10. That the spirit in you is better than Jesus beside you because that means peace resides inside of you. in the world you will have tribulation. So don't be shot, don't be surprised.

It's not getting better. In the world, you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world. That at the cross, Jesus is going to purchase for you peace and the kind of peace that transcends understanding, and he's going to send the Spirit of God to guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. And the whole point is that the Spirit of God in you is greater than any of God. circumstances around you. This world has trouble. God offers peace that transcends all understanding. So let me ask you, if you're a Jesus follower, if you're not a Jesus

follower, I would beg you, you're on a peace quest right now anyway, but you think cash and prizes a boat and a house and destiny is going to give it to you. I promise it won't. I promise. The peace is not found in a set of circumstances. Peace is found in a person in his name is Jesus. And if you're like, uh-oh, something's happening in here, that is the conviction of the Holy Spirit in your life right now. Like real time you were experiencing exactly what Jesus said was going to happen. An invitation to turn away from this world, turn to him, and he will receive you with open arms. So let me ask you if you're a believer, you need peace? Jesus gives this beautiful invitation in Matthew 11. He goes, come to me all you who are weary

and heavy burden, and I will give you, here's what he says, rest for your soul. I don't even know what that means, really. Sounds awesome though, doesn't it? It's how you have peace down like at the deep inside level. And you will not know peace if you don't know Jesus because you won't have the spirit of God in you. It goes all the way back to the very beginning,

in the beginning, God speaks everything to existence. And he goes, it's all right, it's good. But he's better than good. So he gathers together the dust of the earth, the Adam is the Hebrew word. That's where we get the name Adam. And there's a shell of a man, but the Bible says he's not yet a living creature. And so God the Father, through the spoken word who is Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, while the Spirit is hovering over the deep, there they are, all one God, three persons at creation.

And God the Father leans down nostril to nostril with the very first human being. And the Bible says that he breathes the ruah of life into him. That word ruah can mean breath or spirit. Close, face to face. And he to the very first human being. And Adam opens his eyes and you know what he has? I mean, what's he worried about? He's not worried about anything.

He's not anxious about anything. He's not comparing himself to anybody. He is in this perfect face-to-face relationship with his creator, and it is completely 100% fulfilling, and all he knows is the peace of God because the spirit of God is in him. For anybody that has put their faith in Jesus Christ,

the moment you surrender your life to Christ, then God Almighty deposits. He breathes the spirit of God into your nostrils so that we can be reconciled to God, and the result of that, that regardless of our circumstances is a peace that transcends understanding. Doesn't even make sense in this world. And he puts that deposit in you.

And then one day, you know what you do when you put a deposit down like on an apartment? It's so that when you come back to move in, that's your apartment. God puts a deposit of the spirit of God in you so that when we breathe our last here on this planet, the next breath we take will be in the very presence of God. will be reunited with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in perfect peace forever. That's the offer of God, the Father, to anyone who would believe. In this world, you will face troubles of all kinds to take heart for Jesus has overcome this world.

He says, my peace I give you. Let me pray for you. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we thank you that you are the of peace. God, we thank you for the gift that is the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. Not just the gifts that we receive because the Spirit lives in us, but the gift of the Spirit himself. Lord, I pray that we would be totally and completely wide open to the guidance of the Spirit of God in our life. God, may we be a church where every follower of you is so dialed in to the nudges and the whispers and the still small voice of the Spirit of God in our

that we would immediately feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit be able to turn away from the lies of the enemy and turn to you because it'll never be the circumstantial changes that make the difference. God, what we need is we need you. Holy Spirit, you are welcome here always and forever, not only in the presence of the gathered saints, but deep down in the soul of us as believers in you.

Jesus, we love you. We thank you that you loved us first. that you went to the cross and we thank you that you went to the right hand of God the Father and for the last 2,000 years you have had his right ear interceding for us right now and God we thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit may we never squander or squelch that gift may we walk may we walk in step with the spirit because God we ain't got this we need a helper we need a parakely we pray this in Jesus name amen Church, would you please stand as we respond?

There's a couple things that the Spirit of God is about to help us to do right now. One of them is going to help us worship Jesus. And so we're going to join our voices together and we're going to make much of the one that the Spirit of God in you wants to shine light on. That's what worship is. And he also helps us to pray.

So whether you need to just come down here and thank him for just the blessings that are overflowing in your life, or if you're in a place where you say, I don't got this and I need help, won't you come and won't you pray and allow the Spirit of God in you help you to pray

and ask things of the Father in the name of Jesus. And we're going to bring, we're going to bring our ties and our offerings, our first and our best as an act of worship to just once again declare, God, we treasure you way more than any of the treasures here on earth. So let us sing, let us bring, let us pray. Let's respond.