FBCWest 592 | Another Helper
Recorded On: 02/04/2024
Bulletin
Hymn # 35 “How Great Thou Art”
SCRIPTURE READING – John 4:23 & 24
Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Pru Hungate
Praise and Worship
“Holy Forever”
“Love Is War”
“God You Are”
Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“Another Helper”
“Way Maker”
Benediction “The Lord’s Prayer (It’s Yours)”
Sermon Notes
John 14:16 & 17 Jesus will ask the Father to give us the Holy Spirit as a Helper
John 14:18 – 20 Jesus did not leave them or us as orphans He will come to us?
John 14:21 Loving Jesus is not words but obeying Him
John 14:22 The question what has happened that Jesus is not going to disclose Himself to the world
John 14:23 & 24 Jesus does not answer the question, instead repeats Himself and adds keeping His words results in the Father loving us
John 14:25 & 26 The Helper will teach us and bring things into remembrance what Jesus taught
John 14:27 Jesus gives us a better peace
John 14:28 They should rejoice that Jesus is going away because He is going to the Father
John 14:29 & 30 Jesus told them before it happens so that they may believe
John 14:31 Jesus does what He teaches us to do
Scritpures
Transcript of Service
Jesus has been telling his disciples that he's gonna be leaving them and going to the Father. Because of this, they've been fearful and troubled. Jesus then tells them something that perhaps we need to listen, because there are times when we think things are happening as they are, are the best. But Jesus tells them, if they'd love them, they would want him to go, because there's a benefit with him leaving. Come and listen to what that benefit is, for them and for us.
And so if you have your Bibles,
and you should, turn to the Gospel of John,
chapter 14, and we're gonna start with verse 16.
Now the context, Jesus is still celebrating Passover with his disciples, and he's been, teaching them both verbally and by actions, and he's also told them things that are gonna happen in the distant future and in the near future.
And that has caused the hearts of his disciples to be fearful and troubled. So he keeps trying to reassure them that it'll be okay,
that things will be fine.
And so as a part of that reassurance, he's gonna now say the following.
I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper, that he may be with you forever.
So God tells his disciples that he's going to be going away, but while he's away, they're going to have another helper, another one who will assist them and guide them and be with them in times of trouble. And then he explains who that is. That is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him or know him, but you know him because he abides with you and he will be in you.
I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.
After a little while, the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live, you will also live.
And so he tells them that this helper that he is going to send them is the Holy Spirit, and that they won't be orphans, that they won't be alone, and therefore they can. But the world will not receive this Holy Spirit, will not receive this helper, but they will, because they've seen God and know God, and because of that, they will then receive the Spirit. Now I'm going to meddle.
This is not the first time that God has sent a helper.
Back in Genesis chapter two, God observed that it was not good for man to be alone.
So he gave him and made out of his rib a woman who we call Eve to be his helper.
Now if you recall the story of Genesis, it didn't go so well.
This helper is not gonna be like that helper.
Now I wanna say this and this is where I'm meddling. I'm not gonna speak to those who aren't Christians, I'm speaking to those who are Christians.
Perhaps men, husbands,
if you love your wives as Jesus loved the church,
there wouldn't be Christian divorces.
Women, wives, perhaps if you helped your husband not dictate to your husband, not take his place, but help him, there would be fewer Christian divorces.
Now let me speak to those of you who are Christians and not married.
If you are a unmarried woman, unmarried woman, seek a woman who will be your helper.
There's a lot of women out there who want what they want
and are looking for you to fulfill all of their needs and desires at once, but have no desire to help you. Women, single women,
when you're looking for and dating that guy,
you need to be dating a person who potentially and then will love you like Jesus loved the church and gave himself for her. So when your date demands things of you because you should love him,
then you know he doesn't love you the way Jesus loved the church. And then if you eliminated those people, perhaps then there would be fewer Christian divorces.
Fortunately, when God sent a woman to be a helper, that was his intent.
When he sends himself the Holy Spirit, that not only is his intent, but his realization that he has sent the Holy Spirit to us to help us, that we are no longer orphans, that we're no longer alone in the world waiting for Jesus to return, but that Jesus has sent and asked for the Father to send the Holy Spirit that he might help us. And he's gonna tell us all the things that he's gonna be doing to help us.
And that day you will know that I am in my Father and you and me and I in you. So when the Holy Spirit comes, you're gonna know this, that you're gonna know that Jesus is in the Father and that the Father is in him and then he is in us.
There is that unity of that. And the Holy Spirit then tells us and confirms to us that Jesus is God.
And then he confirms and tells to us that Jesus loves us and as we have the saying that Jesus is in my heart, that is where we get it, that he resides in us. And it is the Spirit that reminds us that we are not alone, that we are not orphans. And when this world seeks to kick us in the teeth, we say fine, because I have a Father that loves me.
And he hasn't left me alone. Nothing can separate me from the love of my Father. Because not only does he love me, he gave his Spirit within me so that I might know him and be confident in him and know that I am not an orphan, that I am not alone, that I am his.
He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my Father and I will love him and I'll disclose myself to him. Now notice, we love, and I keep repeating this because Jesus keeps repeating it, but the church seems to ignore it. We love to sing about how much Jesus loves us
and we repeat it and we are reassured. And yes, he does, and he loves us more than we know. We can sing it all day long and we still don't know the depth and the breath and the awesomeness and the wonder of how much he loves us. But we ought to in turn love him.
And we love him not by just singing songs of saying that I love him, but we do his commandments.
We show love.
Talk is cheap. I can tell my wife I love her and I'm sure she appreciates that. But if I tell her I love her and then go out and do my own thing, I don't think she'll be convinced that I love her.
It's when did I show her love, when I do things for her and I make sure she's safe and I make sure her needs are done and that I love her the way Jesus loved the church, that is doing love. And Jesus is saying, I don't wanna do this, Jesus is saying, I don't wanna hear lip service.
I'm gonna know that you love me and you're gonna know that you love me because you keep my commandments.
And again, that's where, and I'm meddling again and that's where the church, we wanna do what God wants us to do as long as it's what we wanna do.
But when he wants us to do something we don't wanna do, then we get off the reservation.
We start becoming prodigal kids and we wander off and we make all kinds of excuses. And we say that Jesus loves us and he does and that my salvation is secure and it is, but then we just do what we do.
Jesus, you wanna show me you love me? Keep my commandments.
And in case you forget, I'll give you a few of them
that you believe in him,
that you believe that the Father sent him and that he and the Father are one,
that you love one another as he has loved us and given himself for us,
that you love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul and all your strength.
These are the things that he has told us to do and there are times that we don't wanna do them. Our marriages get a little rocky and so we walk away. Rather than say, no, Jesus compelled me to love her. Yeah, well, Lord, but it's hard. Guess what the church is too, but he still loves us.
Let us show him that we love him, not by being pharisaical and keeping his commandments, but keeping his commandments because they are not do this or don't do that as far as whether we worship on Saturday or Sunday or whatever, the commandments are that changes who we are, that we are him, that he dwells in us and that we should be, I wanna use a biblical word
that we don't like to hear, that we are peculiar people.
We're different, but quite frankly, if you see a crowd of people, you could pick out the Christians if you wanted to, if your life depended on it because we all seem to be the same.
I bet you if Jesus walked in a crowd, everyone would know that Jesus walked in a crowd
and we're supposed to be like him.
Judas, not as scary as it, said to him, "Lord, what then has happened that you are going to disclose yourself to us and not to the world?"
I love this question.
What has changed?
Judas, not as scary as it, nothing.
This has been the plan all along.
Jesus was gonna come and teach his disciples so that they would be prepared to do his ministry after he leaves and the part of the purpose is for him to do what he's doing, to sacrifice himself for us that we might be saved, that we might be able to be with him and the Father forever and ever and ever. Nothing has changed. But you see, Judas, not as scary as it, had his plans, his desire, the Messiah was going to set up his kingdom here on earth and these 12 guys, actually 11 because the other one was gonna go portray him, were going to be had dudes, that they were going to be ministers and officials in this kingdom.
What's changed that you're revealing it to us but not to the world? Nothing, he's been telling us the world doesn't get him.
Quite frankly, we don't get him.
"Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone knows me, he will keep my word
"and my Father will love him."
There it is again.
If we keep his word, Jesus loves us, the Father loves us.
"And we will come to him and make our abode with him."
Notice, he says that if you keep his word,
and unfortunately, I've been faithful to God several times, he's saying we need to keep his word. He's saying we need to keep his word.
Not only will the Father love us,
it will be true, Emmanuel, God with us, because they, the Son and the Father will come and make their, they will live in us.
We always say, "Jesus lives in us." It's the Father also and the Spirit. We get all of the Godhead in us if we love him and we love him by keeping his commandments.
It doesn't mean that they show up as visiting guests.
Doesn't say that they'll rent a room.
Doesn't say that they'll come to pay us a visit. It says that they will dwell, that they will make their house our bodies.
No wonder the Scriptures talk about that our bodies are the temple of God.
And we treat them as if they're our own possession.
But the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are dwelling with us.
So what did you do Saturday that you wished the Father, Son and Holy Spirit weren't there?
Because they were. (sniffles)
He who does not love me does not keep my works.
So now he's gonna use the negative.
Or he said, "If you love me, you'll keep my works. If you don't love me, you won't."
And the word which I, what you hear is not mine, but the Father who sent me.
Saying, "I'm not speaking on my own initiative.
This is a Father, Son and Holy Spirit combined discussion and direction."
He is communicating to us what it is the Father desires of us.
It's not just His word.
It's the entire Godhead's word.
These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you, He says, "I'm teaching you now because I've been living with you guys.
And I've been telling you that I'm leaving.
So I've dwelt with you and taught you,
and lived with you, and not only taught you by word, but taught you by deed as well.
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 said to you." The Helper is truly a helper.
The Father is sending the Holy Spirit, whom the Son has asked Him to send. So notice the Trinity, which the word doesn't appear in the Bible, but the concept, the theology of it is the same, that it's the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They're all God in three persons, and how that works, and how I try to explain it, I will then become a heretic because I can't explain it, but it's a fact that He keeps combining Father, Son and Holy Spirit, all three of them. He says, "But this Helper, the one who is better than Eve, the one who will come, and He will not only be in His name." Notice, Jesus said, "If you ask anything in my name,
I will do it." He's saying, "The Holy Spirit is coming in His name, which means He is going to be like the Son. He's gonna do everything that is directed by the Father and the Son to dwell in us, that we might know His words and be brought to remembrance.
So He will send Him, and He will teach you all things."
Because Jesus wasn't able to explain everything all at once, and they keep seeming to forget things. So He says, "So He will teach you all things,
so He's gonna remind us that the Father seeks worship by truth and the Spirit. He's gonna tell us that we're to love one another. He's gonna remember all these things and bring into your remembrance all that I said to you.
Because I'm sure during some of the dark days, they didn't catch it all, or maybe John heard it, but Matthew was convinced about doing something else, and He's gonna bring into remembrance all these things."
Notice He's a better helper, because Eve, when spoken to by Satan about the plan, she didn't give the correct answer.
Either she made it up, modified it, or Adam didn't give the right message to Eve.
The Holy Spirit isn't gonna give us the wrong answer or the half right answer. The Holy Spirit is gonna cause remembrance of these things.
That is why we need to be very conscious about searing our conscience, because sometimes it's the Holy Spirit saying, "Maybe you shouldn't do that.
"Maybe those words that are about to come out of your mouth "should stay in your mouth.
"He will teach us all things "and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." And there are times when things will arise, and I'll remember a scripture that I hadn't thought of or read for a very long time,
because the Holy Spirit's trying to help me out.
"Peace, I leave with you."
Jesus says, "Your heart's a trouble.
"Believe in me, believe in the Father.
"I'm going to leave you with peace."
He goes, "My peace I give to you, "not as the world gives do I give to you."
He's saying, "I'm gonna give you my peace."
But what's Jesus' peace?
That He is comfortable and comforted in the Father,
that He knows all things,
and the Father is sovereign overall.
And nothing happens without the Father's permission.
And so we can have peace in a war-torn world,
a world that is going to and fro with,
and if we didn't need peace now, I don't know when.
You hear on the news and how so many various generations, Gen Z, Gen X, Gen whatever,
they're all anxious about things.
They're anxious about the climate, anxious about the cost of buying a home, anxious about this and that, and they're anxious and anxious and anxious.
Jesus says, "I'm gonna leave you my peace."
Not like the world gives you, because the world only gives us peace for a short time.
There's only a few years between, about 20 or so between World War I and World War II.
World War I was the war to end all wars.
How'd that go?
Jesus said, "I'm not looking to just for cessation against us. I am giving you peace and reconciliation with the Father.
Do not let your heart be troubled,
nor let it be fearful.
And again, if we didn't have his peace, there would be a lot to be afraid of. There's a whole, like I said, whole lot of people afraid for everything.
But one of the reasons
is this whole world could blow up.
And Jesus told us, he is gone to prepare a place for us
so that where he is, we might be also and that we might dwell in the house of the Lord forever. So blow up the world, not my home.
I'm only gonna be here a few more years anyway.
Keep trying to get a little,
little healthy, not doing all that great, but I'm trying. Because it'd be nice to be around a little longer to see some of the future generations of me, not care less about the world, but I'd like to see my grandkids do well and whatever, but the Lord willing.
But if I'm not, it's okay.
Because I'll see him from heaven.
So I'll be in a better place.
So my heart currently is not troubled.
As long as I trust him, it won't be.
You heard that I said to you, I go away and I will come to you.
If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father. For the Father is greater than I.
Now their hearts are troubled and their hearts are fearful because this one that they have dedicated their lives to for the last three and a half years or so said he's going away and they don't know what their position is going to be.
Is the world gonna hate them and reject them and whatever and the world's gonna hate them and reject them? They don't know what's next.
Jesus is saying, guys,
you should be joyful that I'm leaving
because what's going to take my place is greater.
You see, I'm walking with you physically,
but the Holy Spirit is gonna walk and abide in you inside.
You're going to be better off.
And it's interesting, the disciples are much like us. We see the current situation. If we like the current situation, we don't want it to change. If we don't like the current situation, we want it to change. But the situation is he's saying,
yeah, you may be comfortable with me, but if you'd love me, you'd love the fact that I would now get to go to my father.
Love means what's best for you.
And Jesus says, if you love me, what's best for me is for me to return to the Father.
And I'm not leaving you as orphans because I'm gonna give you the Holy Spirit, which is better for you.
Jesus says, "I'm not leaving you as orphans." And in less than 24 hours from this moment,
they're gonna see another lesson of where it seems that the world's darkest day will take place.
And defeat will seem to be obvious.
And depression and sadness will grip.
But three days after that,
it will show that what seemed to be an ignominious day
was the greatest thing that ever happened
because now we can be called children of the living God, that we can have His Spirit dwelling within us, and that we will have eternal life, and that we will dwell in His house forever. So God is teaching us that sometimes really bad things that seem to us to be really bad things are really victorious things
because He does what He says and does what He promises.
Now I've told you before it happens so that when it happens, you may believe.
Notice He says, "I told you now so that you might believe now." He goes, He understands.
They got all those emotions and all those things. They're fearful and they're troubled and they don't understand what's going on and things are gonna be different.
He's saying, "Guys, I know where you are,
but I told you so that after it happens and the Holy Spirit brings it into your remembrance, you go, "Oh, I can trust Him," because He knows what tomorrow holds. And as the song says, "And I know who holds tomorrow."
I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming
and he has nothing in me. Jesus says, "There is not a compromise. There's not a little good and a little evil. Evil is evil and Jesus is the truth, the way and the life."
Nothing that Satan brings will do any good thing for you and has nothing in it for him. So He makes it, there is a separation. We sang, "He is holy, holy, holy. He is separated from evil.
But so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commands me."
So He does by deed what He teaches us to do.
He does what the Father directs Him to do, commands Him to do, therefore He loves the Father. He doesn't just say it, He does it, and He shows it as an example, so that when the Father or the Son tells us what to do, we do it to show that we love Him.
And then His last comment is, "Get up, let us go from here." So now they have ended their official Passover meal and teaching, and now they're going to leave and go to where we will know as the Garden of Gethsemane. But while they travel, Jesus is going to continue to teach, and He's going to pray for them.
And an amazing thing we'll see in a few weeks, and He will pray for you.
We remember the Lord's Prayer.
We remember in the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed, "Father, if it be your will, let this cup pass before me."
But He has a very lengthy prayer.
And He prays for His disciples and for us.
What a God that we worship and adore.
How great is our God.
How great Thou art.
And not only is He great,
but He has taught us that we are His,
and He has shown us that He is a way-maker.
And when things don't seem to be working out, or God seems to be in absence,
it reminds us that even in chaos,
God is holy, and He provides a way.
And all God's people said.