Holy Advocate

It's Pentecost Sunday!

Transcript

Gospel according to John, chapter 14. The gospel according to John, chapter 14.

And when you found John 14, go ahead and stand for the Gospel reading this morning.

Notice these words as found in John 14, verse 8. Follow along here with me. This is the word of God. Philip said to Jesus, lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied. Jesus said to him, have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me?

Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak on My own, but the Father who dwells in Me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.

But if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in Me will also do the works that I do. And in fact will do greater works than these. Because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in My name so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

If in My name you ask me for anything, I will do it. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to be with you forever. This is the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you.

He will be in you. Drop down to 25. I've said these things to you while I am still with you. But the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you.

My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created and you shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy his consolation through Christ our Lord. Amen. And you can be seated.

Well. Happy Pentecost. This is one of three central movements in the Christian year and of our Christian faith that particularly emphasizes one of the Persons of the Holy Trinity. And of course, Christmas is always a big deal because it is the Incarnation. Where the Father sends his Son.

And of course, Easter is a big deal because now the incarnated Son of God rises from the dead and is glorified by the Father and then says that he is going to ascend so that the Father and he will send the promised Holy Spirit, in which case happens 10 days after his ascension. So 10 days ago was the ascension of Christ. 50 days ago was Easter. Can you believe that? But it is so.

And so we have these markers which actually are represented here in our pyramids, the colors and the flags back here or banners. And these remind us of our Christian year. We begin with Advent, preparing our hearts for Christmas, which is represented as the white, moving us then into the time of Epiphany, which is green. And then, of course, we go into Lent, which we're back to purple, and then back to white with Easter, which we've been throughout the past seven weeks now. Red for fire, red for the Holy Spirit and his descent today as tongues of fire, or as he descended on Mount Sinai in fire, or the pillar of fire, or elsewhere in the Scriptures, where you have the temple which was fire.

Okay? And so we have the Holy Spirit, not all of a sudden appearing just in the New Testament, but rather all throughout the Old Testament. But he was with those people and now is in his people, the Church now, because of Pentecost, because of the descent of the Holy Spirit, as I often teach about Christ. Descent coming down for us, and then ascent, rising for us, and then the Spirit's descent, but then also the Spirit's ascent as he brings us up to God. If you notice, there, there's a V formed for Christ as he descends and then ascends, and then a V formed with the Holy Spirit, where he descends and now ascends with us.

As you know, the Bible ends, as we read last week, with come, Holy Spirit. Right? But also this come, Lord Jesus, because the Spirit and the Bride say, come, Lord Jesus. So now the Spirit is crying out within us with our Spirit that Christ come again to end human suffering, to end evil forever and darkness forever, where there will be no night. Well, you put both of those bees together, and what does it form?

A W for the win. Right? Yes. Notice this. We have two dissents and two ascents, and it forms a win for us humans because we have two advocates, don't we?

Say amen or. Yes. Right. Christ and the Holy Spirit. Right.

Notice how he says he will send another advocate, which means we already have one who is Christ Jesus, who has united himself to humanity in his own Person. So the Divine Son from eternity begotten, eternally joins himself to human nature, to human flesh. So that now God has united himself with humanity and raised us up to heavenly places, because he took that human nature, resurrected it, glorified it, and then ascended to the Father. So he's drawn humanity up from the depths, up from death, into new life, in fact, into the very life of God. Which is why Jesus is the one mediator between God and man.

He is the high priest, not one of many, but the high priest. Because in his person he has two natures, one divine, one human, united in his person. And this is what we believe, of course, and we've taught this before, but I taught the kids that. Oftentimes I'd say kids, students, teens included. As you know, when you cross 40, everybody becomes a kid that's under 18 is essentially.

But you'll see in pictures and icons this symbol or this symbol or this symbol. And it's not Jesus throwing up a peace sign, you know, or St. Paul, like peace in the Middle East. That's not what's going on there. Instead, it has three persons, one God, one God, three persons and the two natures of Christ.

Notice in all of those representations with your hand, you can actually form just that the Father did not unite with humanity. The Spirit did not unite with humanity. Christ did. And so what we have in the Scriptures, as we kind of pull back and look at the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and their work on our behalf, we have this God above us who is the Father, God with us, who is the Son, and then the Holy Spirit who is God in us.

You see, God has been about our salvation, and it is God who saves us. And this God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And that Jesus that was seen 2,000 years ago and started the church and officially today, we recognize as the Church's birth, as His Spirit descends. For he told his disciples, you'll remember, in Acts and at the end of Luke, because, well, Luke was written, or Acts was written by Luke, right? Is he says, wait for the promise of the Father.

What was this promise? The greatest promise of all. The. The one that we needed more than any thing was the Holy Spirit in us. This is what was longed for.

In fact, this is what the whole Old Testament is pointing toward. The whole thrust of the law is moving us to understand that the law is not just externally to be followed, but rather internally. And so all of a sudden, now God can be known not through external causation or the effects of nature. And we deduce that back transition, trace the cord back to the wall and the Source himself, God, but rather now God can be known from within. This is why the prophets will say things like, no one will need to teach you anymore because it will be from within that we know Him.

It's an inner knowledge once we are born of the Spirit. And so I want to give you a few sort of borders, if you will, of the Spirit's work in our life. And then I want to look at the fruit of the Spirit to end our time this morning as we celebrate his coming. Number one is this. He is the Spirit of truth.

And we find that here in our text today, don't we? When he comes, he will teach us everything Jesus says. Think about that. He will teach us everything that Jesus was teaching and more. And then also reminding us.

I don't know about you, but I need reminders. Does anybody else? In fact, I oftentimes set alarms or set notes and people put post it notes on things or stuff on my desk. So I can't miss it because, well, if you know me for more than a week, you'll know I need reminding in my life. Okay?

That's just the nature of my life. I have so many plates spinning that I forget some and they're wobbling. Okay, and some of you can say, amen, brother. That's why I need reminders. Aren't you glad that God sends His Holy Spirit to remind us?

Amen. Praise God. We need reminders because we can so easily get distracted with frivolous things. And so this Spirit of truth makes us intimate with God when He comes. He unites us to all that Christ did for us.

So here's all of what Christ accomplished when he said it is finished, but it's applied by God's spirit of truth in us also. Not only is God's truth known, but in the Holy Spirit. But also we see the power of God manifest when the Spirit comes. Now, power is often misunderstood, but understand it as potential. So when we say you have the power to do this, that means now you're capable of it.

You have potential to do it doesn't mean that it is done. It simply means you have the potential to do it. And so that when the Holy Spirit comes now we can forgive others in a way we never have before. Now we can practice the fruit of the Spirit in our life in a way that that was not manufacturable by us. And if you've ever tried to do the list of the fruits of the Spirit, well, good luck on Your own.

Okay? We realized very quickly we need an inner help. We need God's potential help. And that is exactly what the Holy Spirit comes to do. He comes to make holiness possible in the human life.

The Bible says of God, I am holy, therefore you be holy. He's not mocking us. That's an invitation to be holy. Now, oftentimes we get holiness wrong. And although we don't want to go far down this road today, let me just say it's not tiptoeing through life, trying not to do things.

Holiness is not just turning away from sin, but it's turning to all of the potential things that God has for us. It's a human life fully on fire with all that God has for you. And could we say it this way? He has things for you that he doesn't have for me. And we're not supposed to be jealous of this or embittered about it.

He wants to use you, but a version of you that is filled with God's Holy Spirit, that's the best version of you. Because none of us were created to be by ourselves, with ourselves alone. In fact, our very existence is due to another, isn't it? And that is the nature of reality. And so holiness is not some sort of just law abiding, tiptoeing through trying not to mess up here or there.

But rather it is a force within the world to cleanse the world of sin, to cleanse the world of unrighteousness by good works, by suffering with Him. As our text today said, anytime you see an if, that makes it conditional, right? If you suffer with him, if you suffer with Him. Oftentimes that's the point where we question God though, isn't it? It's the point where we begin to say, where are you, God?

And he's trying to say, I'm making you holy through this, if you'll abide.

So his power in our life now also his purity. His purity oftentimes we see as cleansing. And I think that's right. But, but it's a cleansing of all the many, to the one. So it gathers up all of the variations and complications and distinctions and divisions in our life, the things that we compartmentalize.

It draws them all to one. The kind of oneness, in fact, that Jesus says he has with his Father. That kind of oneness is pure because it's one thing. So that when you go to the grocery store, for instance, and you buy pure sugar, it doesn't mean it's sanctified sugar, right? Like it's somehow been.

It was something else and then was cleansed to be something. No, it means this. It's one thing. There's only sugar in that bag. That's pure oneness.

That's the kind of oneness we are to be about. Not distracted, not looking to the left and to the right, but focused on the One, the highest good. And then in focusing on him, we then will turn around and see each other in a new light as we love God and then love our neighbor as ourselves. So purity has to do with being about one thing, being one with God. And then when the Spirit comes, he brings the presence of God.

You don't get part of the Spirit when you're saved, part of the Spirit when you're sanctified, part of the Spirit later on. Rather, you receive all of the Spirit, but He doesn't have all of you. That's the problem. The problem is not on God's end, but rather on our end. For instance, when the children of Israel were delivered from Egypt, weren't they actually out of Egypt?

Yes, they were. They were in the desert, okay? They were free. They were across the Red Sea. And yet what did they find at work in them?

Egypt. They continued to act like they were in Egypt. And so we need a second touch from God. But that doesn't mean we get more of the Holy Spirit. He gets more of us.

If you notice, the language for the Holy Spirit is that of pouring, like pouring out liquid. That's why we even talk about being filled with the Spirit. Right? And the more our container is clean and open and capacious, the more he's able to fill us with His Holy Spirit. We don't get more of the Spirit and He gets more of us.

All right? And it says it's these encounters, like what we just heard from the students, that. That are experientially a phenomena that no one can deny. In other words, none of us would say to them that didn't happen because you can't hear what's within them.

They have that as a foundation for their life in the Holy Spirit. God has spoken to me. And that is a beautiful thing. And that is brought about by encountering the Holy Spirit. And then the Spirit comes to do something that I think is very apropos for our own time, and that is this.

He comes to rid us of fear and anxiety about relationship with God. In other words, he comes to bring assurance and adoption. Have you noticed that when the Spirit comes, He comes to assure us that we are His. And he does that by Calling us into his own family to be adopted into the family of God. Isn't that what our Romans reading said?

After all, those who are led by the Spirit of God are what children of God. For you did not receive notice this, a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. But you received a spirit of adoption. And then we cry out abba, Father. And he begins to bear witness in our spirit that we are children of God.

And so we are children by adoption, not by birth, but rather the new birth, which is the second birth, which is being born again, born of the Holy Spirit. And then a good indicator for those of you who like lists. And because we live in an area where there's lots of engineers, people tend to like lists here. Okay, well, here's a great list. You ready?

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. This is the fruit of the Spirit. When he comes to our lives, these are the kinds of things that he begins to produce in us in a way that we cannot attribute to ourself. In other words, we find a love at work. We find a love at work that we know is not our own.

Have you ever had this happen? If you have, you know that the Holy Spirit is at work in your life, you all of a sudden find that you wouldn't normally have done that, but now there's this new desire to see that through. So we think here of love and of loving, for instance, one's neighbors. This of course would include basically all of the fruit of the Spirit, by the way. That's why it's sort of the cardinal one.

Love is the greatest of all the list, okay? In fact, all the others are encapsulated within love, truly. But love, in short, is to will the good of the other. It's to not be concerned with one's self, self interested or self centered concerns, but rather for the other person. Now just imagine if we could turn ourselves inside out in that kind of way, wouldn't that solve pretty much every problem we have relationally?

It would. Now we live in a fallen world, so we can't expect that of unbelievers. And in fact, the scriptures lead us to believe that we shouldn't expect that from unbelievers, but we absolutely expect it from believers. We ought to see God's fruit coming out of our lives in these particular ways. And of course, love is the cardinal one, but also joy.

Christians should be joyful. If you don't find joy at work in your life, then plead with God's Holy Spirit to bring it about like actually pray this list here, look at it this week and say, lord, I really don't know that I have joy, but I want it. I want your joy. Not some sort of fading emotion, but a lasting joy. The kind of joy that Jesus has going to the cross for the joy that was set before him.

He went to the cross. The joy. How is there joy in suffering except by God's Holy Spirit? And he can bring it about. The Scripture says in Psalm 16:11, in your presence there is fullness of joy.

Fullness, joy of joy. Do you have joy this morning? What about peace? Peace. The Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount says we are to be peacemakers.

In other words, everywhere we go, we ought to be bringing about peace and not consternation. Order out of disorder. And of course that can happen in a lot of ways, but it must certainly happen in our relationships. We ought to seek peace with one another. Paul says, are you a peacemaker or do you like the drama?

Do you like stirring things up? Because that is not of God.

Gossip would be anti peace. Putting things where they're ordered. Shalom, that great Hebrew word for peace would be the opposite to disorder things on purpose.

We've all seen it. Where someone withholds information to confuse another just to show them up. That's a great evil. Dear brothers and sisters, you're playing with someone's character in those moments. That's one thing to joke, but not to get ahead.

That's selfish and it's self centered. It's not peaceful. Of course, a big part of peace is forgiveness. If you want to bring peace to a relationship, there must be forgiveness that's offered and there must be forgiveness that's received.

Patience. He was hoping I wouldn't get to that one right.

Of course, the list is for all of us. But in our day and age, when everything is snap, snap and easy, we become demanding, we become impatient. And what we end up doing is stepping on others to get our way. If we could step back and actually look at it, we're snap, snap. And if the server is not serving us at the pace we want, we get angry, we lash out, we withhold.

You know what I think the Christian thing to do is? In fact, when a server's not doing great and hasn't struggling is to give them a bigger tip and say, God bless you. Everybody has bad days. Why does everybody have to be on your time? Patience is a tough one.

Here's what the Lord says in the Old Testament. The Lord is slow to anger. If you're quick to anger. Let's pray today that the spirit would begin to bear that fruit. Now, typically in this list, it all hits somebody between the eyes, you know, or in the gut.

Takes the breath out, right?

Some of this stuff here does for me.

If it does understand, it doesn't mean you don't have the Holy Spirit. But he's still working on you. You remember that song, he's still working on Me. Yeah. That's for all of us, isn't it?

But don't shove it aside and say, yeah, well, that's just how I am. Because this list is who you're called to be. The potential is there. And so you may have to come. And I have to do this oftentimes, you know, with my kids, I'm like, hey.

In fact, in my letter to Jackson that, you know, I broke down giving and writing and doing, I have to say, like, hey, you know my deficiencies, man. You know, where I'm weak. So long as we confess those things, he is faithful and just to forgive us, notice and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Isn't that good news? Because I dare say that all of these, by the way, these are not suggestions, right?

This is like if you live in Jesus, this is the result that should be coming out of your life. And when it's not, it can become sin. Like, you know, there's sins of commission that you commit, but there's sins that you don't do. Those are omit. These things should be coming out of our lives, and when they're not, we need to repent and believe that the Holy Spirit can come and give us the power to be patient or to be kind.

Don't we need a little kindness in the world? I mean, the vitriol online, I can't even watch the news in any form hardly anymore, right? You just get worked up. All kind of hate in the world. Listen, let's dial it in and be kind, especially to those that don't deserve it.

Isn't that like the. Like the scripture says things like this. It's. It's. Who gets a benefit from being kind to people who are kind to you?

The Christian thing to do is to be kind to people who aren't kind of, in other words, praying for an unruly neighbor. Right? No matter if it's a co worker or a family member. Neighbor is a generic term here in the scriptures that means the next person that gets on your nerves.

It's bearing with people which is difficult. Amen. Amen. Be kind do justice, love, kindness. Micah 6:8.

What about goodness? Pursuing goodness, pursuing good things. There's so much raunchy, nasty, anger filled fake stuff on our phones and we just absorb it all. We just eat it up content wise. It's coming through our eyes, into our soul.

Pursue goodness. Pursue goodness. It's not that we have to be somehow celibate from all things in the world, somehow detached from all things in the world. It's that we pursue goodness. There is goodness in the world.

God has made all things to draw to be good and to draw to the good one. And we must pursue that. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me, the psalmist says, and then faithfulness, of course. Great is your faithfulness, O Lord, keeping our promises, showing loyalty to our friends and our family. Faithfulness.

Faithfulness is probably the one most repeated word perhaps in the Old Testament about God. He is faithful. So therefore we are to be faithful. Gentle. Gentleness.

A gentle answer turns away wrath.

That's a tough one, isn't it? Especially when we know we're right. We can be gentle though. Why do we have to be angry about it? Why do we have to show the other person up?

Why do we have to destroy a relationship? Let's be gentle even in our correction. You would want somebody to be gentle with you as they corrected you, wouldn't you? Therefore be gentle one to another. And then self control, of course, in a world run amok with whatever we want on demand right here, whatever we want, without any sort of self control, we try to put, we buy apps even to try to control ourself.

I mean, just think about that for a second. Like we're out of control. Literally. Okay, Our kids are out of control. Practice self control.

And guess what? When the Holy Spirit comes, that's one of the things he comes to do, is bear forth the fruit of a self controlled life. Brothers and sisters, we need all this fruit in our life. And we will only find this fruit, the fruit that lasts by receiving God's Holy Spirit. So do you have the Spirit today?

Are you born of the Spirit? Do you know the new birth? Has he birthed within you His Holy Spirit? That spirit of truth that brings God's power and presence and purity? The wind of God that we saw blow through on the day of Pentecost, the very breath of God.

Do you know it? Has he assured you by the witness of his spirit to your spirit, that you are children of God? Then let's live into that. Let's look like our Father who is in heaven, who Jesus says the Father and I are one. We've been adopted.

And we can see the effects of God in other brothers and sisters. And rather than wish we were them, let's let the Holy Spirit form in us this fruit. And may he do so. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

Total Duration 00:33:48