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Showing posts with label The Comforter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Comforter. Show all posts

Sunday, December 9, 2018

Jesus Sent the Holy Spirit

Jesus Promised Another Comforter

Book of John 14:15-31


We know that as Christians, the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost or the Spirit of Jesus or the Spirit of truth, they are all one and the same person will come to live within us.

He is the promised "Comforter"!

He is not an "it". He is a person!

In the words of Jesus, The Holy Spirit could not do His work until Jesus ascended back to Heaven.

John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

The truth is without the Lord Jesus Christ these disciples were nothing but ignorant fishermen.

The truth is without Jesus Christ we are even worse than these fishermen, they at least had spent time with Christ Jesus.

We may not understand it, but the truth of these things is, that at this time we are better off without the presence of Christ Jesus because now we can be filled with the Holy Spirit who will never leave us!

And the death of every Christian is a loss to this world we live in!

To be honest the Church could not grow if Jesus was still upon this earth because He could not be worshipped in Spirit and truth.

These disciples needed to know all these things as Jesus explained them.

We all need to understand that it is far better at this time that Jesus is our Mediator and our High Priest, ready to defend us at all times in Heaven and our profit is far greater in Spiritual things.

Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Let's Begin:

*****Joh 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

The truth of our relationship with God is that our "Faith" cannot grow unless we keep the commandments of God.

We have no work at all to be reconciled to the Lord, but our "Faith".

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

We do have a work to do after we are reconciled to the Lord and it begins with keeping the commandments of the Lord!

Without this then we can go no further!

This is not picking and choosing what we obey, this is being obedient to all the Word of God, rightly divided!

Doing this is saying "I love you Lord"! Being obedient is not an option for each believer, it is a must!

Notice this is not saying you are perfect, this is saying "I love you Lord"!

*****Joh 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

Without loving God the Son and being obedient to His commandments, we can never know God the Holy Spirit!

The love of Jesus is being devoted and making a commitment and this is what the Holy Spirit will teach us once He lives within us!

God the Holy Spirit comes to live within us to help us in any way possible to get closer to the Lord, who will one day deliver us to God the Father.

Luk 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

All the things true of the Holy Spirit are true of the Lord Jesus Christ! Why?

*****Joh 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

The Holy Spirit will reveal the truth of Jesus Christ!
The Holy Spirit will testify of the truth of Jesus Christ!
The Holy Spirit will defend the truth of Jesus Christ!

I you do not love Jesus Christ it is impossible to have the Holy Spirit living within you!

If you cannot love the Son of God, Jesus Christ, then you cannot know God the Father, it’s just that simple.

1Jn 4:6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
1Jn 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
1Jn 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

For those 11 disciples the Lord Jesus Christ was their first Comforter and the Lord promised He would not leave His disciples without a Comforter.

*****Joh 14:18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

The Lord Jesus Christ completed His work for our salvation before He went back to His Father's House.

The Rapture of the Church cannot come to a reality until the Holy Spirit completes His work on this earth!

Gen_6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

Again

Act 7:51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

Remember verse 3

Joh 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

God will never break His promise!

*****Joh 14:19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
Joh 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

It would be only a few days that Jesus in that body of flesh would part ways, at His death.

We can believe that only His true disciples could see Jesus after His resurrection. There is no record in the Scriptures to tell us that any of the lost saw Jesus after He arose from that grave.

Those in the world will never see Jesus again until the White Throne judgment.

Rev 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

It is only those that believe who see Jesus in His Spiritual self and one day after death or after the "Rapture" of the Church, who will see Him then face to face.

1Jn_3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

At salvation we are filled with the Holy Spirit if we have placed our "Faith" in the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is the Holy Spirit who lives in us, that will never leave us!

Joh 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
Joh 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Joh 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

Again we see Jesus pray to the Father that we join Him in Heaven and our Father in Heaven always grants the Lord Jesus what He ask for!

As far as our Heavenly Father is concerned, we are already His, but we just haven't come face to face with Him yet.

Col 1:26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Col 1:28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

How do we know that these things are true?

*****Joh 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
Joh 14:22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?

So how do we know we are in the family of God?

We keep the commandments of the Lord? These commandments include all the 10 commandments.

Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

If we love the Lord enough, we can be saved from everlasting death and this is the beginning of our faith!

Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Rom 10:10 "For with the heart" man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Then we must do the work that pleases God!

1Jn 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
1Jn 3:19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
1Jn 3:20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
1Jn 3:21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
1Jn 3:22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
1Jn 3:23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
1Jn 3:24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

There is no other way to please God!

This Judas that asked this question was Judas Lebbaeus whose surname was Thaddaeus.

The world hates the Lord Jesus Christ because they cannot see, feel, or touch the Lord Jesus Christ as the Christian believer can!

Not many of us keep all the commandments as we should, and I dare say there is no one living who can truly say they keep them all because they would be lying if they said so.

We are still sinners save only by God's "Grace" but we are certainly to try to obey them all. This would be part of our sanctification.

How did Jesus answer?

*****Joh 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, 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.
Joh 14:24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.

So many people just do not get this, or they reject it. Keeping the Word of God is essential for the Holy Trinity to live within us. Just ask Jesus!

This is the only way Christ Jesus will reveal Himself to those who love Him and not to the world!

We do not just have the Holy Spirit living within us but the entire Triune God!

If we expect the blessings of God, then we should be careful what we put into our bodies and where we take our bodies.

Those that have the Holy Trinity living within them will be in church at the appointed times to be fed the Word of God.

When we are unwilling to do what the Lord ask us to do why should we expect Him to Mediate for us when times are hard!

Joh 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
Joh 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

Love and obedience are tied together, if we want to serve the Lord. Remember Adam was not obedient, and this is why sin entered into the world to begin with!

1Jn 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
1Jn 3:19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
1Jn 3:20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
1Jn 3:21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
1Jn 3:22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

There are some churches who use nothing but the red letters but seems to me this is rejecting everything the Lord says here.

*****Joh 14:25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
Joh 14:26 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.

If we want to know what the Holy Spirit is going to reveal to us, then we had better read all the Scriptures, because the Lord Jesus Christ can be found from Genesis to Revelations!

The Holy Spirit is the teacher that the Lord Jesus Christ has given to us and all the teachings came from our Father in Heaven.

The Holy Spirit will teach us about truth and about life! This includes principles and conduct and morality and behavior.

The Holy Spirit will help us to remember what God has said and when we are brought before the Magistrates, it is the Holy Spirit who will give us the words to say.

1Co 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
1Co 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Luk 12:11 And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say:
Luk 12:12 For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.

This is the only way we can have that sure peace with our Heavenly Father and our God!

*****Joh 14:27 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.

Again we see those words "let not your heart be troubled".

This means we should never have to worry about anything if, "IF" we do as the Lord has taught us to obey.

Pride got Lucifer and he is now known as Satan.
Disobedience got Adam and his son became the first murderer.

We should ask ourselves, what is going to get us in trouble with a God who would much rather offer us blessings.

There are no words to describe the love God has for His children!

What is true peace? It is when we are interwoven with God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and all our brothers and sisters in Christ!

The Old Testament said God be with you and the New Testament says God be within you!

There is the peace with God:

Rom_5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

There is the peace of God:

Php 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Php 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Our Savior is much greater than this world we live in:

Joh 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

We can have perfect peace when our minds stay with the Lord.

Isa 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

The Lord tells His disciples that He had to go back to Heaven for all these things to make an impact upon mankind and they have but there is still coming a time when the Lord will return.

*****Joh 14:28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
Joh 14:29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.

We should not miss the fact that Jesus saw the cross as just going home. When this world has done all it can to us our mind should be on, we are going home!

It’s hard to rejoice when a child of God, who is well loved goes home to be with the Lord, but when the sadness is gone it should be replaced with rejoicing and we can actually see them again.

It was by God the Father's will that all these things have been put in place:

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Those who have rejected God even after seeing His power in Creation will never understand the truth of God. What we have already seen is nothing compared to what all those who love the Lord will see one endless day in the future!

That word "again" in this passage was added by man so let’s read this Scripture without it.

Jesus said: "I go away, and come unto you"

Jesus Christ was "glorified" at the Cross of His death and "glorified" again at His resurrection. It was that "glorified" Savior that went back to Heaven and within each believer!

It was not until all these things came to pass before these disciples knew the truth of these words of Christ.

This is the reason they could serve in the work of the Lord without fear and this is why the Church was born to never die!

*****Joh 14:30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.
Joh 14:31 But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.

Satan used all the power that he possessed in an attempt to stop the Lord Jesus from completing what He came to do, and Satan failed because no one can win against the power of God.

Satan used every human he had, the hard-line Jews, the High Priest, the Pharisees, the Sadduccees, and Pilate and even Judas who made a bad choice, but Jesus had no sin and there was nothing in Jesus to attract Jesus to sin.

Jesus had no guilt and no corruption, and these are the same things He has given to us in our battles with Satan.

By the "Grace" of God we have no sin, no guilt, and no corruption because our Lord gave us "Grace" the gift of God!

If we just do as the Lord has said and love with all our heart and be true to the "Grace" of God, we have no reason to be angry with this world because this world has nothing in us.

Pass all these words along as best we can to whosoever will listen and we to will soon be going home.

Glory be to God the Father and His plan for this world!

Amen

Let's pray!