The Comforter Has Come

Transcription

1 The following sermon was preached at Redemption Baptist Church on Sunday, 24 January We encourage you to look up the Scriptures that are referenced. May the Lord speak to your heart as you study His Word. The Comforter Has Come John 14:16-18 We are continuing on in our study of the important truths that Jesus taught His disciples on the night of the Last Supper. The first ground-breaking truth that Jesus revealed to His disciples was the fact that He was about to leave them, and go back to His Father s House (in Heaven). However, He promised that He will one day come again to receive them unto Himself. Jesus then claimed that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no man comes to the Father except through Him. Jesus then began to outline some of the privileges and responsibilities that He would give to His disciples after He was gone. For one thing, He said that His disciples would do greater works than He did! This does not mean that they would do more spectacular miracles than Jesus did, or even that they would do more miracles than Jesus did. In fact, Jesus wasn t talking about physical miracles at all. What Jesus was saying was that His disciples would lead far more people to the knowledge of salvation than He did during His lifetime. The number one work that Jesus came to this earth to do was to seek and to save the lost: and this is what He has commissioned Christians to do, as well. We can t save people; but we can lead them to the Saviour by sharing the Gospel with them. Jesus also taught His disciples a new truth concerning prayer: namely, they were now to pray to the Father in His name. This means not only that we should say the words in Jesus name as we pray, but that we should pray by His authority. To pray in Jesus name means to pray with His authority upon our prayer; and in order to pray with Christ s stamp of authority upon our prayer, we need to pray according to His will not demanding of God, but humbly asking that His will be done. When we pray in Jesus name (asking for His will to be done), we can be sure that God will answer our prayer because God will always do His will! Finally, Jesus told His disciples that if they loved Him, they should keep His commandments. Obedience to Christ is the litmus test of true love for Him. Now, this morning, we are about to launch into a whole new set of truths: truths about the Holy Spirit. The title of this message is The Comforter Has Come. Read John 14:16-18 I. Who is the Comforter? The disciples were very sad that Jesus was about to leave them; but Jesus had some words of comfort for them. Not only did He promise that He will come back one day and receive His people to the Father s House; but in the meantime, He promised to send them another Comforter. That Comforter is the Holy Spirit. The Father sent the Son into the world; and now that the Son has returned to the Father, He has sent the Holy Spirit to us.

2 Now, every Christian needs to know what this name Comforter means. It comes from the Greek word parakletos; and parakletos literally means one who comes alongside. It has the idea of a friend who comes alongside you to help you, strengthen you, and encourage you. By the way, there are several ways that the translators of our Bible could have translated this word. Let s look at another verse where this same word, parakletos, is used, and see what English word we find there. Read 1 John 2:1 In this verse, the word parakletos is translated as Advocate. The word advocate can mean a defence lawyer ; but basically, it means the same thing as Comforter. It means a friend who comes to help you in time of need. By the way, our English word Comforter is rather interesting. Our word comforter comes from two Latin words con and fortis. Con means with, and fortis means either to be in company with, or to strengthen. That s a perfect name for the Lord Jesus Christ, isn t it? Christ keeps company with His people, and He strengthens them. Christ is our Parakletos. He is our Comforter our Advocate. And everything that Christ is to us, the Holy Spirit is, as well. Christ has sent the Holy Spirit to keep company with us, and to strengthen us. Now, before we talk more about who the Comforter is, I d like to make clear what the Comforter is not. First of all, the Comforter is not an impersonal force or energy. He is a personal Being; and He is God. We who know Christ as our Saviour need to be ready to defend that truth, because there are many false religions out there who teach that the Holy Spirit is merely some kind of impersonal force (like electricity), and not a Personal God. The Jehovah s Witnesses teach this. The Mormons teach this. Many other cults teach this. And, tragically, these cults are making a lot of converts. People in these cults are very well versed, and very ready to defend their false doctrines; so how much more should we who know Christ be prepared to show them the truth? The Apostle Peter said that we should be ready always to give an answer to every man (1 Peter 3:15). Do you care about the souls of the people who are trapped in these cults? If so, then please pay close attention. You are about to be given some ammunition from God s Word so that you can defend the Bible s teaching about the Holy Spirit. Now, I m going to jog your memory a bit. If you ve ever studied a foreign language in school, you ll remember that nouns have three genders masculine, feminine, and neuter; and the pronoun agrees with the gender of the noun. Well, the Greek word for spirit is pneuma; and it so happens that the word pneuma is not masculine or feminine: it is neuter. Therefore, cults such as the J.W. s say, See? The Holy Spirit isn t a Person. The Spirit is just a force. The Holy Spirit is an it, not a he. And to prove their point, they go to verses such as Romans 8:16. In that verse the Apostle Paul says that The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. Oh, no! Are the J.W. s and Mormons right? Is the Spirit just a thing, and not a Personal Being? Not on your life! You see, what these cults fail to mention is that oftentimes, the gender of a noun doesn t necessarily mean anything. For example, in Latin, the word for

3 sword is gladius. A gladius is, obviously, a thing; yet, the gender of the word gladius is masculine. (In Latin, you would call your sword him instead of it. ) In German, the words Weib, Fräulein, and Mädchen all mean woman or young lady ; yet, grammatically, these nouns are not feminine; they are neuter! Does this mean that a young lady is a thing, and not a person? No! It simply means that in the German language, these nouns are neuter. Well, that s the way it is with the word spirit in Greek. In Greek, the word Spirit is a neuter noun. That s why in our Bible, the pronoun it is often used when talking about the Holy Spirit. The translators of our Bible simply followed the neuter gender of the Greek pronoun, and carried it over into English. But this does not mean that the Holy Spirit is an impersonal force. The Bible clearly teaches that the Holy Spirit is a Person. Now, usually, Jesus used the pronoun it when He was talking about the Holy Spirit, because that is correct Greek grammar. But, on the night of the Last Supper, Jesus broke the usual grammar rule. Three times when He was talking about the Holy Spirit, He used the pronoun ekeinos which means he. Read John 14:26 / John 15:26 / John 16:13-14 Three times, Jesus called the Holy Spirit He instead of it even though this is incorrect grammar in the Greek language. It seems that Jesus was trying to make a point, doesn t it? The point is that the Holy Spirit is a Person, just as the Father and the Son are. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit speaks, teaches, and testifies. He intercedes on our behalf; He guides us; and He calls us to service. We are told that the Holy Spirit grieves when we sin; He groans with us when we are sad, and don t know how to pray. In Acts 5, we are told that the Holy Spirit can be lied to. (By the way, in that same passage, we are told that the Holy Spirit is God.) The Holy Spirit comforts believers; and He is angry with sinners. We are told that the Holy Spirit created the world along with the Father and the Son. It should be no surprise, then, that we are also told that the Spirit has a will, a mind, and unspeakable knowledge. The Holy Spirit can be resisted by sinners who do not wish to submit to Him. He can be blasphemed, and insulted. We are told that the Spirit commands; He restrains evil; He convicts and reproves men of sin, and convinces them of truth. We also are told that the Spirit loves. None of these things could be done by an impersonal force. A force such as electricity doesn t love, or grieve, or speak, or teach, or have a will and mind. Only a personal being does these things! The Spirit of God is a Personal being. He is God! Now, there is something else that the Comforter is not. I m almost embarrassed to have to point this out: but the Comforter is not.muhammed! Yes, you heard me right. The Muslims, in their attempt to convert people from the Western world, often use John 14:16 to try to convince people that Jesus prophesied the coming of their false prophet, Muhammed. How do they defend this? Well, for one thing, they say that the word parakletos isn t correct. They say that his verse was purposely changed somewhere along the line by the Christians, because they wanted people to believe that the Comforter is the Holy Spirit. They say that the word parakletos was originally paraklutos, which means praised one ; and they say that this praised one is their prophet, Muhammed! There isn t a single ancient copy of Scripture that uses the word paraklutos in John 14:16; but they still insist that the Christians changed it.

4 Now, to us who know Christ, the Muslims interpretation of this verse is so obviously wrong, that it is laughable. However, if we care for Muslims souls and we do then we d better be ready to give an answer about this verse when we talk to Muslims, because there is a very high probability that they will bring up this verse. How can we show a Muslim that the Comforter is not Muhammed? Well, first of all, you need to get them to read the whole verse, and the surrounding verses, carefully; and then, ask them some simple questions. The first question that comes to mind is this: If Muhammed be the Comforter that Jesus is telling us about, would we not have to conclude that Muhammed is the Holy Spirit! Jesus clearly said that the Comforter is the Spirit of truth. Secondly, if Muhammed be the Comforter, would we not have to also conclude that Jesus is the one who sent Muhammed? Jesus clearly said that He would send the Comforter! Now, to a Muslim, this would be absolutely unthinkable! They do not believe that Muhammed was sent by Jesus, because they view Jesus as inferior to Muhammed! Yet, there it is, in ink: Jesus said that He would send the Comforter. So far, Muhammed just doesn t seem to fit into this verse. But there s more. Let s look again at verse 16. (Read verse 16 again.) As you read this verse, another important question come to mind: Namely, To whom was Jesus speaking? He was speaking to all His followers, of course; but He was, first and foremost, speaking to His own Apostles. Jesus specifically said that He would send the Comforter to His Apostles. Now, did Muhammed ever come to the Apostles? No, he didn t. He couldn t have come to them, because he wasn t even born until nearly 600 years later long after the Apostles were all dead! Furthermore, Muhammed can t dwell with anyone forever. Muhammed couldn t have abided with anyone in the 600 years between Christ and Muhammed, because Muhammed didn t exist yet! And he hasn t abided with anyone since his death in 630 A.D., because he is still dead! Are there any more reasons why the Comforter cannot be Muhammed? Yes, there are. Look again at verse 17. (Read verse 17 again.) You ll notice that Jesus said that the Apostles knew the Comforter already. In other words, they had a personal knowledge of Him a relationship with Him. They were able to have a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is God. The Holy Spirit is infinite, eternal, omniscient, and omnipresent; and thus, He is able to have a personal, intimate relationship with millions of people at the same time. Now, contrast that to Muhammed. Did the Apostles know Muhammed? No, they never knew him, because he didn t even exist yet! And even if he had been around in their day, he certainly could not have had a relationship with anyone beyond his lifetime, because he is not infinite, eternal, omniscient, or omnipresent! My friend, the Comforter is not just a force ; and He is not Muhammed. He is the third Person of the Triune Godhead. The Bible says, For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one (1 John 5:7). The Holy Spirit is co-equal with the Father and the Son in being, essence, power, and glory. Everything He does, He does in unison with the Father and the Son. By the way, let s take another look at verse 18. (Read verse 18 again.) Now, think about this. Jesus had just told His disciples that He would soon leave them, but that He would send the Holy Spirit to them

5 shortly after He had left. Yet, in almost the same breath, He said, I will come unto you. Now, which was it? Was the Holy Spirit going to come to them, or was Christ going to come to them? The answer is: Both! Christ did not come to them in the flesh; but He, being God, came to them in His own divine Spirit. This shows, once again, that Christ is distinct from, yet equal with, the Father and the Holy Spirit. Everything that they do, they do together: and this includes indwelling of Christians. The Bible teaches that all three members of the Trinity live inside Christians. First of all, the Father lives inside believers. Read Matthew 10:18-20 The Bible also teaches that the Son lives inside believers. In Galatians 2:20 Paul said, I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Let s look at one more Scripture that teaches that the Son lives inside us. Read Romans 8:9 We ve seen who the Comforter is: He is God, and none else! But what does He do? That is what we are going to look at next. II. What does the Comforter do? The Holy Spirit does many things for God s people. First of all, the Holy Spirit comforts God s people! The Holy Spirit is our Advocate the one who comes alongside us to strengthen us by His companionship. He imparts to us the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance). He changes us into Christ s image (in other words, He moulds our character to be like His). (See 2 Corinthians 3:18.) He brings to our remembrance the things that Christ has taught us. As we will learn when we get to verse 26 next week, He teaches us all things that Christ has commanded. Our souls need God s Word as desperately as our bodies need food to live; and it is the Holy Spirit who illumines our minds, so that we can understand it rightly, and eat God s Word. Just as Christ was with His disciples in the flesh for three years, and was a constant Comfort to them, so the Holy Spirit has been sent to comfort God s people. We have not been left alone in this world. By the way, that word comfortless in verse 18 literally means orphans! Jesus promised His disciples that they would not be left as orphans. We who are saved have not been left alone in this devil-infested world like little infants without a parent: God is with us! His Spirit is with you at all times, Christian. You can take comfort in that! What else does the Spirit do? Well, Jesus said that the Spirit would abide (or dwell) with Christians forever. In other words, He doesn t leave us! That s good news, is it not? Through all your sin and failure, Christian, He abides with you. You cannot lose your salvation! Through all the trials and dark times in your life, He abides with you. The moment you believed on Christ, the Holy Spirit came to live inside you; and He has sealed you until the Resurrection Day. He is the earnest, or down-payment, of your salvation. His abiding presence in your body is the proof that you have been saved forever.

6 Read Ephesians 1:12-14 Every Christian in this room needs to be grounded in sound doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit. As a church, we need to be collectively grounded in this doctrine, as well. For example, we d better be sure that the songs we sing in our worship time teach right doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit. Most churches these days sing CCM songs (Contemporary Christian Music); and most of these songs teach false, heretical, or, at best, questionable doctrine about the Holy Spirit. For example, in the song Holy Spirit Rain Down, the lyrics say: Holy Spirit, rain down, rain down, Oh, Comforter and Friend, How we need Your touch again. Holy Spirit, rain down, rain down. In the song Come, Holy Spirit, the lyrics say: Come, Holy Spirit, I need you; Come, sweet Spirit, I pray; Come in your strength and your power; Come in your own gentle way. Now, I don t know if you noticed any problems with those lyrics; but I did. My question is this: Where, exactly, do the writers of these songs think that the Holy Spirit has gone? Do they think that He s gone away? Jesus promised that the Spirit would abide with us forever; yet, these lyrics imply that He somehow isn t with us. Are these song-writers saying that the Holy Spirit has gone away from Christians in some sense, and that He can come back to us only when we have an emotionally charged praise and worship service, with plenty of drums and loud amps, and the right mystical atmosphere? That surely seems to be their message, because that is exactly what CCM musicians say about their concerts! They say that they are ushering Christians into an encounter with God through their music. Folks, this is heresy! The Bible says that the Holy Spirit lives in believers, and in each and every true, Biblepreaching church. We don t need to conjure up the Holy Spirit with repetitive, emotional music, or be ushered into His presence with the help of praise and worship leaders. We need simply to humble ourselves before God, and submit ourselves to Christ and His Word! Now, there is another important truth we need to see concerning the Holy Spirit. That truth is that He dwells within Christians. He s not only with us; He is in us. (Read verse 17 again.) At the time when Jesus made this promise, the Holy Spirit was not living inside the disciples. In Old Testament times, and even during Christ s earthly ministry, the Holy Spirit did not live inside believers. The Holy Spirit was with believers, and near them. He was always right beside His people, to give them light and understanding of His Word. There were even periods of time when He came upon His prophets, and lived inside them temporarily. For example, in 1 Samuel 16:13 we are told that when David was anointed king, the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. In Ezekiel 2 and 3, we are told that the Holy Spirit came into Ezekiel in order to empower him to prophesy. In Ezekiel 2:2, Ezekiel said, And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me. Only a short while later, in Ezekiel 3:24, Ezekiel records, once again, that the Spirit of God entered into him. The Spirit came into Ezekiel for a while, and then left, and then came back into him for a while, and left again. This was how the Spirit worked with His people before Christ s resurrection. Needless to say, Jesus promise that the Spirit would live inside them permanently must have been amazing to the disciples. This was an entirely new thing! Let s take a look at when this promise was fulfilled.

7 Read John 20:19-22 (This is when the Holy Spirit came to live inside the Apostles. This happened on the day of Christ s resurrection.) Read Acts 2:1-4 (This is when the Holy Spirit came to live inside all the other Jewish believers. This happened 50 days after Jesus resurrection.) Read Acts 8:5-6, 12, [This is when the Holy Spirit came to live inside the Samaritan believers (who were half Jewish). This happened about a year after Christ s resurrection.] Read Acts 10:44-48 (This is when the Holy Spirit came to live inside fully Gentile believers Romans, particularly. This happened about 10 years after Christ s resurrection.) Read Acts 19:1-7 (On this occasion, the Holy Spirit came to live inside Greek believers. This happened about 20 years after Christ s resurrection.) For the first 20 years or so after Christ went back to heaven, the Spirit took up residence in these different groups of people in slightly different ways; but each time the Spirit came to live inside another group of believers, there were visible, miraculous signs to accompany it. For the non-jewish groups, the Apostles actually had to put their hands on the people (or, at least, be present) in order for the Holy Spirit to come into their bodies. God did it in this way in order to make two important points: 1. That He had accepted both Jews and Gentiles; and 2. That the church was His new institution His new Temple. In the Old Testament, the Temple was a physical building. It was the place of worship. Today, the Temple is each and every local, Bible-believing church. This was the point that God was making. But now, the point has been made. That is why there is no more speaking in tongues, or sound of rushing wind, or flames on Christians heads. Today, there is no need for an Apostle to come and lay hands on believers in order for them to receive the Holy Spirit. When a person believes on Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside that person immediately; and He abides with that believer forever. Being saved, and having the Holy Spirit in your body, is a wonderful thing. As for myself, I ve been saved for 32 years; and I can testify that there is nothing else that can compare to having your very best Friend living inside me! Every single day the Holy Spirit comforts me, teaches me, and guides me in the way I ought to go. And He never, never leaves me! Conclusion: Now, perhaps some of you don t have a clue about anything that we ve talked about this morning. You hear the words all right, and you understand English; but it makes no sense to you. You cannot personally relate to these truths, or connect with them in any way. Why? Because you ve never been saved. The things of God make no sense to you, because you do not have God s Holy Spirit to enlighten your mind as to its meaning. That is why Jesus said that the world cannot receive or know the Holy Spirit. (Read verse 17 again.) In 1 Corinthians 2:14 the Apostle Paul said, But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Because you look at this world with your natural reasoning, which is blinded by sin and unbelief, you cannot understand the things of God. But it doesn t have to stay that way. The Holy Spirit is speaking to your heart at this very moment. He is convicting you of the fact that you need to repent of your sin, and put your complete trust in Christ to save you from

8 your sins. Even now, He is shedding light on God s Word, and showing you what you need to know about salvation. If you will heed His call, and believe on Christ, He will come into you, and abide with you, and flood your heart and mind with spiritual understanding. This Book, which never really made sense to you, will suddenly come alive! I can tell you this with confidence, because it happened to me! It has happened to every other true Christian in this room. Won t you come to Christ, and be saved? Christian, perhaps the Lord is speaking to your heart this morning. Maybe you are resisting the Holy Spirit s conviction in some area of your life. He s telling you that you need to confess a sin in your life, and get it right; but you are quenching Him. Maybe the Spirit of God can t speak to you very much, because you aren t reading His Word very much. Maybe you don t know much about the doctrine of the Holy Spirit; and you realise that you are vulnerable to false teaching. Maybe you need to be grounded more in the teaching of who the Holy Spirit is, and how He moves, and what He wants to accomplish in your life. Whatever the Lord is speaking to you about today, respond to Him!