John 14:12-31
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. 25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.
In April of last year a Massachusetts man named Rick Hill was vacationing at Waikiki Beach in Hawaii with his family. While walking on the beach, they stopped a man named Joe Parker and asked him if he would take their picture. The man said he would. As he prepared to take the picture, instead of, “Say cheese!” he said, “Say Leominster!”
When he said that, Rick Hill asked him why he would say something so unusual. Joe Parker replied that Leominster was the name of his hometown in Massachusetts. Rick Hill responded with amazement that they were from the neighboring town of Lunenburg. As the men talked further they realized that they knew some of the same people. During their conversation, one of the men mentioned his father, Dickie, which was the nickname of Dick Halligan. At saying this, a sense of the surreal fell over the conversation…because the other man’s father was also named Dickie, Dick Halligan.
Suddenly the two men understood something almost unbelievable: they were half-brothers. They were family. They were family and they had discovered one another 6,000 miles from their homes!
That is an amazing story! The men said that they had a vague awareness that they might have a brother somewhere, but they had never met until this chance encounter. Their meeting floored them both, just as it floored me when I first read it.
Somehow I cannot help but think that many Christians have a similar experience with the Holy Spirit. We are vaguely aware that the Holy Spirit is there, but oftentimes believers do not really feel as if they have met, and certainly not as if they know the Holy Spirit. But then it happens: somewhere in many Christians’ journeys, they finally meet and know the Holy Spirit. In truth, He has been there since the moment you embraced Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, but because of our negligence in teaching the Holy Spirit, we sometimes feel, when we first begin to understand His presence and His power, as if we have just discovered a long-lost family member. Furthermore, when Christians who have not been taught about the Holy Spirit finally come to understand who He is, they may feel like Rick Hill and Joe Parker must have felt when they first met: surprised, enthused, overwhelmed…but also a bit regretful that they may have missed out on a good bit that they could have experienced if they would have known one another earlier.
My prayer this morning is that you will come to understand and know the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. In saying this, let me acknowledge two important things. First, I believe, as I mentioned earlier, that we receive the Spirit when we are saved. I believe, therefore, that the Holy Spirit, from the moment of conversion, desires to be understood and known. He is not hiding from you. He is not playing games with you. He is not the shy member of the Trinity! While His purpose is never to draw attention to Himself, but rather only and always to Jesus, it is clear that the Lord did not intend the character and work of the Holy Spirit to be a hidden mystery. The Holy Spirit wants you to understand what He is doing!
Secondly, I would like for us to acknowledge that Satan, the devil, does not want us to understand who the Holy Spirit is and what He is doing. In fact, the devil hates the person and work of the Spirit and desires for the people of God to either (a) remain in ignorance of the Spirit or (b) become inordinately fixated on the Spirit instead of the Jesus to whom the Spirit points. Both are tragic errors, but I believe Satan desires ignorance most of all. This is because there is a liberating, freeing, empowering dynamic that comes when we understand who the Spirit is and what He is doing.
The Holy Spirit is a great weapon against Satan. That does not mean we use Him. That means, rather, that He empowers us! So the devil does not want us to know Him and does whatever He can to combat our understanding of Him.
In his wonderful book on the Holy Spirit, Forgotten God, Francis Chan said this:
If I were Satan and my ultimate goal was to thwart God’s kingdom and purposes, one of my main strategies would be to get churchgoers to ignore the Holy Spirit. The degree to which this has happened (and I would argue that it is a prolific disease in the body of Christ) is directly connected to the dissatisfaction most of us feel with and in the church. We understand something very important is missing. The feeling is so strong that some have run away from the church and God’s Word completely.
I believe that this missing something is actually a missing Someone-namely, the Holy Spirit. Without Him, people operate in their own strength and only accomplish human-size results. The world is not moved by love or actions that are of human creation. And the church is not empowered to live differently from any other gathering of people without the Holy Spirit. But when believers live in the power of the Spirit, the evidence in their lives is supernatural. The church cannot help but be different, and the world cannot help but notice.[1]
The latter half of John 14 contains an amazing teaching from Jesus on the person and work of the Holy Spirit. To the end that we might know Him, that we might know better the Jesus to whom He points, that we might be better equipped to follow Jesus in the world today and that we might be better enabled to overcome the wiles of the devil, let us see what Jesus reveals about the Spirit.
I. The Holy Spirit Empowers the Believer for Greater Works (v.12-18)
Remember that Jesus is preparing His disciples for the events of the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension. He will be leaving them, as He has already said. Naturally, this created a crisis moment in their minds. For if this miracle-working, Kingdom-proclaiming, storm-calming, devil-destroying Jesus was actually going to leave them…then where exactly would that leave them?!
After all, Jesus was the Lord who did amazing works, not the disciples. Jesus was the one with power, not the disciples. Jesus always knew what to say, not the disciples.
Or so they thought.
Jesus knew their thoughts and knew their fears, so He turned His attention to their concerns and spoke of a great gift He was going to give them.
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
This is an astounding teaching! Against their fears at Jesus’ departure, He speaks a word into their lives that would further deepen their understanding of just what our relationship with Jesus is like and in what way it operates. Specifically, He tells them that they will do greater works than He has done. How so? I think we can best get at the answer by taking verses 12-18 in reverse order. Consider:
· v.16-18: God the Father will send God the Spirit.
There is a very old and very contentious debate in Christian history about whether the Holy Spirit proceeds from “the Father” or from “the Father and the Son” (the filioque controversy). I lean toward the latter view because of the unity within the Triune God and the way in which the Holy Spirit continues the work of the Son. Furthermore, I do not take v.18 as purely eschatological. Rather, while there seems to be a clear reference to Christ’s second coming in v.18, it can also be said that He is referring as well to His coming through the Holy Spirit.
The important point, though, is to see that God gives the Holy Spirit to His people.
· v.15: God the Father will send God the Spirit to those who love God the Son.
The “you” in v.15 refers to those who love Jesus. It is important to understand that the Holy Spirit is not a universal gift. It is a selective gift. It is given only to those who know and love Jesus Christ. This is why Jesus says, in v.17 that the world cannot receive the Holy Spirit. They cannot, because the world neither believes in nor loves Jesus. In other words, the Holy Spirit is given to the church.
· v.13-14: God the Father will send God the Spirit to those who love God the Son so that the works of God the Son can continue in and through the lives of all who believe.
I am reading our text backwards because it is important to understand that the works we do through the power of the Spirit that are spoken of in v.12 are directly linked to belief and love for the Son. The Bible never presents a mechanistic view or understanding of God. The Holy Spirit is not an ATM machine and Jesus cannot be manipulated by anyone. But if we love the Son and keep His commandments, our desires will conform to His desires and He will grant what we desire. He will grant it through the Spirit in the name of the Son and for the glory of the Father/
· V.12: The works that God the Son continues to do through the power of God the Spirit for the glory of God the Father will exceed the works that He did in His incarnation.
When we understand this, we are now ready to approach v.12.
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
To love Jesus is to love the Father who sent Jesus. To love God is to desire what God desires. To desire what God desires is to ask Him to complete His work in the world now. To ask God to complete His work in the world now is to ask Him in the name of Jesus to work through the Holy Spirit. To open ourselves to the power of the indwelling Spirit is to become a conduit through which God does mighty things!
As Jesus said, His disciples will do even greater things than He did. What on earth can this mean?
Of course, as the verse that follow verse 12 show, the greater things we do are not in opposition to the things Jesus did. On the contrary, they are necessarily a continuation of the things Jesus did, for only those who love Jesus receive the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, unlike Jesus, the works we do are not germane to us and do not arise naturally from our person. They were germane to Jesus. The works arose from who Jesus is! But the works we do, while greater, are gifted works, works granted to us and worked through us. And who gives the gift of works and their fruit? Jesus!
So in what way are our works greater than Jesus? They are so in a few different ways:
· The quantity of our works are greater than those of the incarnate Jesus.
The Lord Jesus walked upon the earth as an incarnate man for just over thirty years. While many followed during those years, the Christian movement has since exploded in its number of adherents. Our works are greater now because, frankly, there are now more believers to work! Jesus does not begin today with twelve, but with millions! The quantity of our works should far exceed the number of works committed by a much smaller number of disciples.
· The breadth of our works are greater than those of the incarnate Jesus.
Also the breadth of our works is greater than those works committed in the days of Jesus. In the days of the incarnate Jesus, the work of the gospel was much more geographically limited than it is today. Today, disciples of Jesus are spread throughout the earth into every corner of the world! Our works are greater because they involve more disciples spread over more areas than they were spread in the first century.
· The presence of our works creates greater surprise than even those of Jesus.
Finally, consider this. While the watching world was shocked and amazed at the works of Jesus the Son, it was, of course, natural that Jesus the Son would do the works of the Father. Jesus could do the works of God because Jesus is God. But consider how much greater the surprise is at our works! Our works our greater precisely because our works are much more unlikely! It is amazing that Jesus did the works He did. It is utterly flabbergasting that He would equip us to do any works at all!
Dear church, when you come to God the Father through the cross and resurrection of God the Son you receive the indwelling and working presence of God the Spirit. The Holy Spirit works within us to do works, and even greater works, properly understood, than the works that Jesus did. This is because it is Jesus who is working through us, and there are more of us through which He works. Do not neglect the work of the Spirit. You were saved so that the Lord God might transform you through the Spirit in the name of the Son to do great and greater things!
You can never be without the Spirit what you are with the Spirit. Os Guinness has passed on anecdote from Lyndon Johnson.
President Lyndon Johnson used to tell a story of a preacher who prepared a stirring but rather complicated sermon that required notes. Unfortunately on his way to church he dropped the notes, and they were eaten by a dog. Unabashed he climbed into the pulpit and said, “Brothers and sisters, I’m afraid a dog ate my sermon notes on the way to church. I’m just going to have to rely on what the Holy Spirit tells me, but I promise I’ll do better next week.”[2]
We laugh…but we wince. For we could and can never do better than the work of the Spirit! Have you considered what the Holy Spirit wishes to do in and through your life? Have we as a church considered that yielding to the Holy Spirit is the greatest and wisest thing we can do?
The Spirit works. Let the Spirit work!
II. The Holy Spirit Confirms Our Relationship With the Triune God (v.19-24)
The Spirit works. The Spirit also confirms. Jesus continues:
19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
The disciples were facing many fears and were asking themselves many difficult questions. Who will carry on the work that only Jesus can do? When He leaves, how will we continue to know Him, love Him and have a relationship with Him?
Jesus answered the first question in v.12-18. We will continue the works of Jesus as He continues to do what He has always done through the power of the Holy Spirit residing within His followers.
But what of the second question: When He leaves, how will we continue to know Him, love Him and have a relationship with Him?
To this, Jesus points again to the Holy Spirit. The ministry of the Holy Spirit negates any fear that our relationship with Jesus will be severed by taking up residence within all who come to Jesus.
How does the Holy Spirit confirm our relationship with the Son?
· The Holy Spirit keeps Jesus ever before our eyes.
19a Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me.
· The Holy Spirit draws us further into Christ and establishes Christ’s presence within us.
19b Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
· The Holy Spirit reveals Jesus to us as we walk with Him.
21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
· Through the Holy Spirit, the Lord God lives within His people.
22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
It is a marvelous and stupefying truth: that the Lord God most high not only confirms our relationship through the Holy Spirit, but, through the Spirit, He strengthens it, intensifies it, develops it, grows it, sustains it and sweetens it.
The Holy Spirit is not a static, immobile gift. The Spirit is not an “it” that is dropped in the believer’s life, He is a “He” who lives in the believer, and, with Him, brings the authority and peace and presence of the Triune God Himself.
This does not mean that the Christian becomes, himself, divine. We do not become gods. We remain the creation and He remains the Creator. But through the indwelling Spirit the Lord takes up residence within us and begins transforming us from the inside out. He is the expanding, changing, house-rearranging Spirit who never leaves us as He found us.
Yes, the Lord Jesus ascended to Heaven. Yes, He will come again. In the meantime, though, He truly has not left us as orphans. He is with us, within us, breathing life into us, teaching us, challenging us, convicting us, guiding us, leading us, giving peace when we follow, withholding peace when we turn from our Lord, whispering consolations when we are troubled, shouting warnings when we stray into dangerous territory. Through the Holy Spirit our relationship not only continues, it thrives!
I do not know if I can adequately communicate this truth. It is a marvelous comfort. What this means is that God in His mercy has given us the gift of Himself to such an extent that it is as if we were physically walking with, talking with, fellowshipping with and communing with Jesus. The Father and the Son are present through the Spirit!
You can know Jesus…today…now! You can walk with Jesus…today…now! You can have a relationship with Jesus…today…now!
This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
III. The Holy Spirit Gives Us Peace Through Remembrance and Hope (v.25-31)
The Spirit works. The Spirit reminds. The Spirit also gives peace through remembrance and hope.
25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
I have occasionally had grieving spouses tell me in private that they feel guilty that they can no longer remember the face of their departed loved one. They struggle to remember and they struggle to see. This does not happen always, but, when it does, it is nothing about which to be ashamed. It is simply an acknowledgement of the fact that there is no substitute for raw physical presence and while the true love that spouses share cannot be defeated, even by death, it is never again, on this side of Heaven, as it was when the deceased spouse was physically present. After all, we are physical people and the physical is what we cling to.
Jesus, of course, knew this about His creation. So the Holy Spirit was given to keep the memory of Jesus white hot within the hearts and minds of the disciples. “He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”
I have also seen grieving friends and spouses and loved ones take some physical token of their dearly departed and hold to it or wear it or store it somewhere safely as a physical link to the past. Perhaps a ring, or a Bible, or an article of clothing is taken so that when it is worn or held it helps the grieving person remember.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord Jesus has left us a superior reminder of who He was and who He is: the Holy Spirit. This is where our relationship with Jesus is different from our relationship with one another. Your spouse cannot give you his soul to live within you. He can impact you. He can leave His mark. Your soul can be deeply affected by him. But when he or she dies, their soul departs for glory.
Not so with Jesus. He is able to depart and impart. He leaves, bodily, but He gives spiritually. He takes up residence within us. So the Holy Spirit reminds us and comforts us daily with powerful remembrances of Jesus.
Furthermore, He continues the teaching ministry of Jesus in our lives! “He will teach you all things.” The Spirit’s voice is not past tense. It reminds us of what was taught and it teaches us what is being taught. To be sure, what is being taught will never conflict with what was taught, but as He draws us further into God’s revealed truth, He teaches us deeper in the ways of the gospel of grace.
And what is the result of this amazing ministry? Listen:
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.
Peace. Peace through remembrance. Peace through the abiding presence of the Spirit.
It is a peace that cannot be found anywhere else: “Not as the world gives do I give to you.”
It is a peace that drives out all fears: “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
It is a peace that strengthens belief: “And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.”
We need the Spirit’s work in our lives!
At the beginning of this sermon I quoted Francis Chan’s wonderful book, Forgotten God. I would like to conclude with another observation Chan made. It is a simple observation, but profound, and I offer it to you as a challenge. Here is what he said: “I have yet to meet anyone with too much Holy Spirit.”[3]
Indeed! Nor have I. Nor have I ever seen it in my own life. But I pray that God’s Word this morning has convicted us all of our great need for the Holy Spirit.
If you have trusted in Jesus Christ, the Spirit lives within you, and, with Him, all of the hope and joy and peace of the Triune God. The Spirit works and confirms and reminds. He produces fruit, seals us in Christ and strengthens our relationship with Jesus.
He is the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity, the indwelling God.
Let Him have His way in your life today. Let Him do His work today. Let the Holy Spirit of God give you the peace of Christ today.