John Lesson 38

Introduction

Very pleasant, good day, and welcome to Let the Bible Speak. I encourage you to get your New Testaments and open to John the 14th chapter, where we shall be studying in the lesson of day, a very important study concerning the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus said that was the comforter that he would send in his name to be with the apostles. And furthermore, we shall learn in this lesson concerning what really love of the Lord means. Do you love the Lord? There are those who claim to love him, but by their actions they prove that they really do not love him. It’s only lip service that they get. We’ve been studying through the Gospel of John in the verse by verse analysis. We call the program Let the Bible Speak, because we’re convinced that the only way to really know the truth is to study each verse in its proper setting and its context, not to just lift one verse here and ray it to a verse from over there somewhere, but rather to take each passage in its proper setting and to make the proper application as it is given according to the inspired word of God.

1. I Will Pray the Father for Another Comforter

And if you have a Bible and are able, we believe that you’ll get more out of the lesson by turning and reading in John chapter 14. Going to begin this evening by reading from verses 15 through 17. John 14, beginning in verse 15, where Jesus said, If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever, 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. Now Jesus spoke about another comforter who would come. You may recall in our earlier studies that that this scene is at the Last Supper.

In fact, beginning in John chapter 13 and in verse 1, we observe that it was the time of the feast of the Passover, and Jesus had eaten the Passover feast with them, and then afterwards he began to sell them some words that would bring comfort to their hearts. He told them that he was about to leave them. But his parting words should also give them assurance and comfort them in the realization that he was going. Now, of course, within twenty-four hours after these statements, Jesus was crucified. But the passages from John chapter 13 through chapter 18, in fact, this whole section in the Gospel of John all is recorded, or it takes place at these last hours with the apostles. Now telling them he was about to leave, in John 14, he says, I’m not going to leave you desolate.

I’m not going to leave you without some help. I’m leaving you. But I’m going to pray the Father that he will send a comforter. In fact, he uses the word another comforter. Jesus himself is described as a comforter in 1 John chapter 2 and in verse 1. It is the same word that is translated there, advocate, at least the King James Version translates it advocate. The word that given here, it may be also translated paraclete. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are both described as as the comforter, the paraclete or the advocate. Literally the word means that one who shall come to the side of another, or come to the aid of another. And so it is that Christ says, I’m going to pray the Father, and he will send you another comforter, or one who will come to your side, and one who will be your aid.

2. Who Is the Holy Spirit and What Is His Work

Jesus was leading. But they would not be left without help. Now, of course, identified that he was speaking about the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that would be their comforter. Who is the Holy Spirit? What is the work of the Holy Spirit? There is much talk these days, and many people who who say they believe in the Spirit, but but they do not understand really what is the work of the Spirit. Let’s look quickly at an analysis even in John chapters 14, 15, and 16, in this same setting, where Jesus tells them about the Holy Spirit several different things. In this very verse 16, he calls him a comforter. And as we’ve said, that word comforter means one who will come to your aid.

But now later in the same chapter in verse 26, Jesus says, 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. So the comforter would teach them all things. It was his work to bring all things to their remembrance. There are those today who claim to have the Holy Spirit, at least in the same sense that the apostles did, or they’ll read these verses, and they’ll make application as though Jesus was making these promises to any and to everybody. But when we read verse 26, surely we can understand that he was not promising to every believer hereafter, that they would have the Holy Spirit in the same sense that the apostles did.

These promises were made to the apostles. And one way to prove that is the statement in chapter 14 and verse 26. Is there anyone today who remembers all that Jesus said? Is there anyone today who does not have to study the Bible, the Word of God to know what is the will of God? Or indeed there are none today who have the Holy Spirit in that sense. So the comforter, the Holy Spirit, to be given with the apostles or given to the apostles and to be with them, would teach them all things and bring all things to their remembrance. They were the special ambassadors of Christ. They had a special mission. And as they went out to preach the gospel, they needed some inspiration. They didn’t have a New Testament like we have to read, and so they needed this particular and special guidance, a miracle of God through the Holy Spirit, but they needed that kind of guidance to teach them and to bring all things to their remembrance.

In John 15 and in verse 26, Jesus said, When the comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. Now the Holy Spirit would have as that work to testify of Jesus Christ, to bear witness of him, that he is the Son of God. And then in John chapter 16, there are two different verses that furthermore define the work of the Spirit in verses 7 through eleven, where he said, 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 them unto you. And when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment, of sin because they believe not on me, of righteousness because I go to my father, and ye see me no more, of judgment because the Prince of this world is judged.

Now one translation gives this that he will convict the world, whereas King James says he will reprove the world. The idea is the same. He’s going to convince or to convict the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment to come. So the work of the Holy Spirit would be to teach that gospel as revealing the truth that would indeed convince men of their need to turn to Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life. And then in John 16 and verse 13, another of the characteristics of the works of the Holy Spirit is described. When Jesus said, How be it, when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come.

Now that passage declares unto us that the Spirit is another being or person of Godhood. He’s not the Father, and He’s not the Son. Jesus uses this language.

The Holy Spirit is not Christ, the Holy Spirit is not the Father. But it is His work to reveal or to speak all truth, to guide them into all truth, to convict the world, to testify of Christ, to teach them all things and bring all things to their remembrance, and to be as a comforter, an aid at their side. Indeed, that basically describes who the Holy Spirit is and what the work of the Holy Spirit is. And as we come and follow the word of God in that line of thought, we can understand that the Holy Spirit, a person or being of Godhood, came as a revealer of truth. Jesus called him the Spirit of truth. It is his work primarily to reveal and to make known the very book that we are studying from, the Bible.

3. I Will Not Leave You Comfortless

It is the product of the Holy Spirit. And the means by which today you can come unto the Father. Now noticeing a little bit further in our text of John 14, in verses 18 through 20, Jesus said, I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. Verse 19, yet a little while and the world seeth me no more, but ye see me, because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. Now not only would they have the Holy Spirit to guide them and to be with them, for Jesus said, Even I shall come to be with you. I will not leave you desolate. But Jesus was going to come back in a higher and a in a richer union and way than he had ever been with them before.

He doesn’t mean I’m going to come back and walk in the flesh with you, for he did not come that way except for a few days after his resurrection and before his ascension. But Jesus continued to be with them in a in a spiritual sense. In fact, he and the Father are both with them, as these verses so indicate. In verse 21, he said, Here is the one with whom he shall abide, he that hath my commandments and keepeth them. He it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved by my father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. In verse 23, he said, 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.

You see, there’s the plural use. It says Father and Son, we will come unto him, and we will make our abode. It’s not that the Father is the Son, and the Son is the Father. It’s not that the Son is the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is the Son, but rather there’s Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And all three are referred to in this passage, where Jesus is saying to his apostles, I’m going to leave you, but you’re not going to be left desolate or helpless. There will be the Holy Spirit who will come, and the Holy Spirit is going to guide you into all truth and reveal all things that you need to know in preaching the risen Savior. But also as you keep my will, the Father and I both will abide with you and be with you in a spiritual fellowship, in a spiritual union.

4. If You Love Me, Keep My Commandments

Now, in verses twenty-one through twenty-four, he speaks about those who really have this union, how that is that they would have it. When he said, 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. Judas saith unto him, not Hiscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? And Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man loves me, he will keep my words. And my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. 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.

Jesus Christ, in these few verses, really defines for us what it means to love him. Do you love the Lord? There are many today who claim that they love the Lord. In fact, they they give lip service, oh, love you, Lord, love you, Jesus, love you, God. But they don’t mean it. They prove they don’t mean it by the fact that they are not really keeping his word. Jesus in verse 15 said, If you love me, keep my commandments. In verse 21, he that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. In verse 23, if a man love me, he will keep my words. How much clearer can those passages be? And then to the negative side in verse 24, he that loveth me not, keepeth not my sayings.

You can say you love the Lord, but if you’re not willing to say, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? I’ll keep it. There are many people who say they love him, but they’ll find in the Bible since commandment they don’t really understand or don’t want to obey. And they say, Well, I just don’t believe that’s necessary. Or I just don’t believe they must do it that way. They prove by the rejection they don’t love him. In John 15 and verse 14, Jesus said, Ye are my friends, if ye keep or do whatsoever I command you. In first John chapter 5 and in verse 3, Jesus said, This is the love of God that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous. They’re not burdensome.

If we really love him, we’re glad to keep his word. It doesn’t become a burden and a hardship upon us. Do you really love him? Then do what he said in the way he said it. In 1 John 2, verses 3 through 5, Jesus said here the Bible said, Here’s the way to know him. Hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He that saith I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him. Are you really walking in him? Have you come to him in simple faith, believing Christ to be the Son of God?

Repenting of your sins, are you willing to confess Christ as a Son of God? Have you been baptized into Christ? Now, as a Christian, are you living faithfully, keeping his word? Or have you begun to live for self and reject Christ and let him out of your life? You’re the one who makes the choice. You’re the one who proves whether you really love him or don’t love him. Jesus said in Luke 6 46, Why call me Lord Lord, and do not the things which I say. In a moment we’re going to be back, and we’re going to talk a little bit more about what the Holy Spirit does and how it is that we’ll prove our love by following the precepts given by even the Holy Spirit.

5. The Spirit Will Guide You Into All Truth

Do you know of anyone who can remember all that Jesus said without having to study the Bible? Well, probably not, because there is no one today who has the Holy Spirit in the same sense that the apostles had it. When Jesus promised the apostles that he would send another comforter, he said in John chapter 14 and in verse 26, the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. Now, Jesus said this unto them while he was present with them. That’s verse 25. But what he promised them was that the comforter would come after he had departed. And after he had departed, that comforter would bring all things to their remembrance.

There are those today who like to claim that they have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And yet the very ones who claim to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit cannot do the same things that those apostles who received that baptism of the Holy Spirit and in Acts chapter 2. They cannot do today what the apostles did then. Actually, the baptism of the Holy Spirit has never been commanded by the Lord for all believers of all ages. The baptism of the Holy Spirit did come upon the apostles in Acts 2, and we do read about it in Acts chapter 10 on Cornelius and his household. But it is never commanded for believers, and never do we read about all believers receiving a baptism, that is an overwhelming from heaven.

In fact, what we do read is that the apostles themselves had the promise that the comforter would come and that comforter would be with them and guide them into all truth. They had a need for revelation of the word of God. And that’s what the Holy Spirit did, to reveal the truth unto them that they might be able to speak it to others and to write it, so that you and I even today might understand who the Lord is and how to come unto him in obedience. Indeed, we learn a very important principle here in this passage when he speaks about the Holy Spirit guiding them into all truth. And that is that none other than the apostles, none other than those guided by the Holy Spirit, can speak truth, that is God’s truth, that spiritual truth that shows us the way unto him.

If you want to understand what is God’s will, then you come to the Bible, and you follow only the Bible. In John sixteen and verse thirteen, Jesus said, When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. He won’t speak of himself, but but that which he shall hear is that which he shall speak. Now the Holy Spirit was to guide the apostles into all truth. Not some of it, not part of it, but all the truth, that is that which leads unto eternal life. If you want to find it, it’ll be contained in the Bible that has been revealed by the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians chapter two and verses eleven through thirteen. The apostle there in fact said that the Word of God is is is revealed by the Holy Spirit in such a way that