By Rev Charles Seet

Preached at / Published Life BPC 10.45am Svc, 2010-04-18

Text: John 14:15-31

Some years ago there was a statement in a Watchtower publication that went like this: 'The holy spirit is the active force of God. It is not a person but is a powerful force that God causes to emanate from himself to accomplish his holy will.' (Reasoning from the Scriptures 1985, 81). Some time ago, one of the original 'apostles' of Mormonism described the Holy Spirit as a force like 'magnetism' or 'electricity.' He spoke further of the Spirit as 'a divine fluid' and 'impersonal energy.' There are those who say, 'We have been baptized by Christ in conversion, but the baptism of the Spirit comes later.' They then say that the evidence of the baptism of the Spirit is speaking in tongues or falling backwards which they call 'being slain in the Spirit.' Some of them talk about receiving more and more of the Spirit as if He comes in bits and pieces. One man even called himself the 'Holy Spirit bartender' as he claims to dispense the Spirit to people at his meetings.

There is perhaps no area where there is more confusion today than the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Many are misled by wrong interpretations of Bible passages which teach about the Holy Spirit. We need to hear what our Lord Jesus Himself taught about the coming of the Holy Spirit. One passage where this can be found is John 14:15-31. What this passage reveals about the promised Comforter or Holy Spirit can be arranged under 3 headings: (1) The Divine Identity of the Comforter, (2) The Delightful Blessings of Having the Comforter; and (3) The Designated Recipients of the Comforter. We shall begin by considering

1. The Divine Identity of the Comforter

He is not an impersonal force or influence but a living person. This can be seen quite clearly in verse 26 of our text 'But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.' An impersonal force or influence cannot accomplish the functions mentioned here of teaching and bringing things to remembrance. Only a person can do them. Furthermore, in this verse the Holy Spirit is mentioned together with 2 other persons - the Father and the Son, Jesus who was speaking these words. And that means that the Holy Spirit must be a person as well. 

This verse also shows us the Trinity at work, and the Holy Spirit is the 3rd person in the Holy Trinity, after God the Father and God the Son. From the rest of the Bible we know that there is only one God in 3 persons, and that all 3 persons in the godhead have always been working to accomplish the will of God.

The Holy Spirit has been at work since OT times. When the heavens and earth were created, 'the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters' (Genesis 1:2) After man sinned, the Spirit of God strove with people who were sinning against God (Genesis 6:3). Later on, when Israel grew into nationhood, the Spirit empowered certain individuals to be judges, prophets and kings over God's people, and they were able to accomplish special feats by His power. And when John the Baptist came on the scene to introduce Jesus as the Messiah of Israel, he said that Jesus would baptize people with the Holy Spirit [John 1:33 'And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.']
Since the Son baptizes people with the Holy Spirit, and v.26 tells us that the Father sends the Holy Spirit, the Spirit must then be subordinate to the Father and to the Son. The Son Himself is subordinate to the Father, since He says at the end of v.28 that the Father is greater than Him. But please understand that this subordination of the Son and of the Spirit is purely functional. It does not imply that one is inferior to the other. All 3 persons - the Father, Son and Holy Spirit - are equal in nature and substance, and to be equally honoured and worshipped as God.

In v.26 Jesus said that the Father would send the Holy Spirit in His name. This sending took place later on, after Christ had resurrected and ascended, at an event known as Pentecost. And Jesus refers to this event in v.20 when He said, 'at that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.' After Pentecost had taken place the Spirit of God worked in an unprecedented way, in and through the disciples and other believers. He transformed them and forged them into a growing spiritual movement that started in Jerusalem and spread to Judea, Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 1:8). The full account of this can be found in the book of Acts.

Perhaps you may be wondering why Jesus called the Holy Spirit the Comforter in vv.16 and 26. This term is used only 2 more times in John's Gospel for the Holy Spirit, and nowhere else in the Bible. It is translated from the Greek word parakletos and it means 'someone who is called to be at one's side'. But we notice that in v.16 Jesus calls the Holy Spirit 'another Comforter' implying that there is already an existing Comforter. Who is this existing Comforter? One clue is found in the word 'another.' It is translated from a Greek word which means 'another of the same kind'. And this points to Jesus as the existing Comforter. 

1 John 2:1 confirms this for us 'My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.' Here Jesus is called an Advocate. This is actually from the same Greek word 'parakletos' which is translated as 'Comforter' in John 14. And now Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will be the same kind of Comforter as Him. This helps us now to understand-

2. The Delightful Blessings of Having the Comforter

In v.26 Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would be sent 'in His name'. This means that The Spirit would be acting on behalf of Jesus to take over His work on earth - He is the same kind of Comforter as Jesus because He would be everything that Jesus was to the disciples. That was the best comfort they could have at that moment. Jesus had been abiding with them for 3.5 years, teaching them, helping them, praying for them, and sending them. He had been their Comforter. But now He was giving His 'farewell' message to them. And if you look at v.27 you will see the words, 'Peace I leave with you.' This is like usual parting words Jews would say to bid farewell whenever they leave each other 'Shalom!'

The disciples were naturally fearful that their Comforter was leaving them. From the words of v.27 we know that their hearts were troubled and afraid. In a few moments Jesus would say, 'Arise, let us go hence.' (v.30) They would then leave that upper room to go out into the darkness of the night, cross the brook Kidron and arrive at the Garden of Gethsemane. There Jesus, their beloved Comforter, would be arrested by the Jews, bound and led away to be tried and crucified. 

Then what will become of His disciples after that? Who will take care of them? Will they be left 'comfortless'? Will they become like poor orphans who are bereaved of their parents? No. Jesus will not leave them 'comfortless'. He tells them that another Comforter who is like Him will come to abide with them forever. 

But this Comforter will go one extra step further than what the Lord Jesus had done for them. Jesus had been dwelling WITH the disciples. But according to v.17 the Holy Spirit will dwell IN them. This means that they will always have the Comforter with them everywhere they went. Even when the disciples were scattered far away from each other to distant corners of the earth later on in disseminating the Gospel message, each of them would not be left comfortless, but they would have all the comfort and help they needed through the Holy Spirit abiding in their hearts all the time. This is true now of every born-again Christian - We have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us forever (v.16). He never leaves us at any time. This debunks the idea that one must be baptized or anointed with the Spirit many times in one's life. It is once and for all.

In addition to that, the Holy Spirit would do a special work in these original disciples of Christ: He would enable them to remember everything that Jesus had taught them throughout the 3.5 years He had spent with them. We see this in vv.25-26 'These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.'

This then became the basis for what was written in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John later on. Sometimes we wonder how these 4 gospels could capture all the exact words that Jesus spoke at each occasion. It is as if someone had brought along an electronic voice recorder wherever Jesus went and painstakingly transcribed everything He said into writing, including His 3-chapter long Sermon on the Mount. But the accuracy of all the material in the 4 gospels depended purely on the memory of the disciples who were first-hand witnesses of what Jesus said and did during His time with them on earth. How would they be able to remember everything accurately as the gospel accounts were actually written years later?

Our human brain is marvelous organ. It is capable of storing up everything we have heard, seen and experienced in our lifetime (like some people who have 'photographic memory'). But most of us often can't remember every little detail because the data retrieval system of our minds is underdeveloped and inefficient. And even those who have exceptionally good memories would not be able to match what the disciples remembered.

It was the Holy Spirit did that to the disciples' minds. He enabled them to remember exactly what they had seen and heard accurately as if it was an instant replay of the event. Now, this supernatural ability was not meant for us. It was only for the original disciples because they were the key eye-witnesses for the rest of humanity, of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God's revelation of His Son to this world for all generations to come depended on them. If they had a vague memory of what Jesus said and did, their eye-witness testimony would no longer be trustworthy.

The ability to remember is not the only ability that the Holy Spirit gave them. In verse 26, Jesus also states that the Holy Spirit would teach them all things. This means that He would enable them to understand the true meaning of everything that Jesus had said and done. This became the basis for the epistles of the New Testament. The disciples could not fully understand all that Jesus said and did while He was with them. At times they had been quite dull and slow to understand and had to ask Jesus to explain further. But after Pentecost took place, the Holy Spirit opened their understanding and they were then able to teach and preach not just the facts but the meaning behind them. 

Both of these things - teaching the disciples all things, and bringing all things to their remembrance - show us that the Holy Spirit was the One behind the writing of the Scriptures. The Bible that you hold in your hands is therefore not a man-made book. Everything that is recorded in the Scriptures is entirely accurate, reliable and true because its real author is the Spirit of Truth. That's what Jesus called the Holy Spirit in v.17. When you read the Bible, you can have the fullest confidence that it gives you, among other things, a permanent truthful record of the words, works and teachings of Jesus because of the Spirit's work in the writers' lives. How thankful we ought to be for this!

And the Holy Spirit does more than that. He also makes Jesus real to us and enables us to relate to Him. In v.21 Jesus said 'I will manifest myself to him'. This becomes possible only through the Spirit. Jesus also said in Matthew 28:20 'I will be with you always, even unto the end of the world.' How can this happen when Jesus ascended up to heaven? Only through the Spirit. The Holy Spirit's work is to make Christ real to us so that we focus on Christ, not Him. It is not His work to glorify Himself, but to glorify Christ. John 16:14 'He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.'

In fact the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ so much that He is called the 'Spirit of Christ' in Romans 8:9. So Christ is made real to us through the Holy Spirit. And not only Christ, but the Father as well, because Jesus said in v.23 'If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.' Therefore all 3 persons of the Trinity are abiding in us through the Spirit. Isn't it exciting to know that the Triune God, the God whom we worship, dwells within the heart of every believer? The Father, the Son and the Spirit has made you their abode - what a glorious privilege this is! It is certainly one that we should not treat lightly. Now we go on to....

3. The Designated Recipients of the Comforter

There are two contrasting groups of people in the whole passage with regards to the Holy Spirit. 

The first is the unbelieving world. It cannot see Him (v.19) know Him or receive Him (v.17). The things of the Spirit are totally unintelligible to the world. That is why the Bible makes no sense to many people when they read it. To them, it is only a collection of sayings and stories. That is also why some people ridicule our faith saying that it is only a crutch for emotionally weak people and they don't need it. That's how they will see it, without the Holy Spirit.

From v.27 we learn another thing about the world: It can never give us the peace that Jesus gives. The world does offer its own kind of peace but we should not be fooled by it as it will turn out to be a false and short-lived peace, e.g. by emptying your mind in transcendental meditation, or by getting yourself high on drugs or alcohol to seek relief from stress and distress. Many who search for inner peace are taken in by the things of the world and their lives are destroyed. 

And this is because the world is under the evil influence of its prince who is mentioned in v.30. Satan is the prince of this world who opposes Christ and keeps the people of the world under his control. And if there is anyone here who is still unsaved please listen to this. As long as you remain an unbeliever you are under the prince of this world. He will make the most attractive offers to you like fame and fortune to keep you from turning to Christ. And you may think that what he offers is good. But don't be deceived! The prince of this world is a defeated prince. He is on his way to his doom and he wants to bring everyone down with him. Though he tried his utmost best to oppose Christ there was no way that he could overcome Him. Christ has won the victory! So stop being of the world and under its prince. Change your allegiance. Come to Jesus right now by believing in Him alone for your salvation. Then you will no longer belong to the world, but to the other group mentioned in the text: the disciples of Christ.

Only those who are true disciples of Christ will know and receive the Holy Spirit. And when do they receive the Spirit? At the moment they believe in Christ. John 7:38-39 makes this clear 'He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.' But how can we tell if we have truly believed in Jesus? The answer is: If we love Him. This is mentioned 3 times in the passage (vv.15,21,23). These same verses also show us how we can tell if we really love Jesus: If we keep (obey) His commandments. Verse 15 'If ye love me, keep my commandments.'

Verse 21 'He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me.' Verse 23 'Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words.'

When Jesus says the same thing 3 times like this, we better pay attention! The main point here is that a true disciple of Christ will love Him and obey Him. Christianity is a personal relationship with Christ. We should be growing in our love for Him and obedience to Him every day. Christ wants us to be aflame for Him and committed to godliness (which is our church theme for this year). That's actually the same as saying, 'Love Christ and keep His commandments!'

And Christ Himself has set the best example of love for us. It is found in v.31 'But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do.' And what commandment was Christ talking about that the Father had given Him? He had kept all the commandments of God perfectly throughout His life. And now as He reached the end, there was only one commandment left for Him to obey - to go to the cross and make an atonement for sinners. And because He loved the Father, Jesus willingly became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8). This is because His death on the cross would bring far greater glory to the Father than any other work of God.

Now in the same way that Christ loved the Father and obeyed Him, we are to love Christ and obey Him. Doing this may at times mean being humbled, or deprived of some things we would like to have, even the comforts of life that we claim as our right to keep. This was the issue faced by the disciples in the Upper Room. Look at what Jesus said to them in v.28 'If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.' The disciples were sad to see their Master leave because they thought of their own need for help and comfort. But if they had been more mature in their love for Him, they would have been glad to see Him leave, knowing that it will bring His exaltation at the right hand of the Father. 

Has your love for Jesus matured to this extent? How much do you want to see Christ exalted? Do you desire it so much that you would not even mind giving up your own personal comfort for Him? Let us be aflame for Christ. 

Thus we have seen that all true disciples of Christ will receive the Holy Spirit to dwell in them forever right from the moment they believe in Christ. We have also seen that to believe in Christ is to love Him. And we have seen that true love for Christ will eventually produce two results in us - obedience to His commandments and denying self for Him. 

Now that you have seen all this, the question you need to answer is: Are you a true disciple of Christ? If you are, then you have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you, and with that, you have the blessings that He brings into your life including His comfort, His power to do God's work, and the privilege of fellowship with the Triune God. What joy it is for us to have the Comforter in us! May we always be thankful for the Holy Spirit's work in our life.

And besides that, there is one more thing that all true disciples of Christ will receive from Him. And I would like to end the sermon with this thought. Let us look at verse 27 where Jesus said, 'Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.' This Peace of Christ is the peace that Jesus Himself had as He prepared to go to the cross of Calvary to make atonement for our sins (v.27). Despite knowing that the prince of this world was coming soon to rally the unbelieving world against Him, and despite knowing all the agony He was going to suffer, our Lord Jesus was able to go through this crisis well with this wonderful divine peace. Now He says to His disciples, 'This peace that I have - My peace - I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.' 

Perhaps there is someone in our midst who needs this peace right now. Perhaps you came here this morning with a very troubled heart because of some difficult trial you are going through or because of some unexpected developments in your life that have shaken your faith to its very core. This peace of Christ is available to you now through the divine Comforter who dwells in you - it is part of the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22. Commit all your cares and trials to Him now, and let that peace keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.

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