Because of the Gift of the Holy Spirit

Have you ever done a project or a job, and you were able to complete the project and get it done, but you learned after the fact about a tool that was available for you to use that would have made it a whole lot easier to accomplish?

• You probably have stories like that, that fit in different kinds of categories or levels of significance.

For example, I grew up mowing lawns like a lot of kids in order to earn some money. Well, I had never used anything but a push mower, until I came out to Indiana for college at Purdue University. I wasn’t mowing in order to earn money anymore, but I remember mowing my in-laws yard and I got to use a riding mower…

• The job certainly can be accomplished with a push mower, but wow a riding mower really makes it a whole lot more enjoyable and quicker!

• But then when I was hired to start our men’s residential addiction ministry—Restoration at Bethany Farms, I had to start caring for the grass on that property and we had zero turn riding mowers to use!

• Again, the job can be done with a push mower…but once you’ve been on a zero turn mower it’s pretty hard to ever go back to push mowing.

I’m pretty sure if Erika and I were to move to a house with a tiny, postage stamp yard, I’d have a zero turn mower! I just don’t think I can go back to pushing a lawn mower…

Or here’s another example…and maybe you can relate to it if you have a frugal bone in your body like myself…

• Especially growing up in my parents house, and through college and seminary at Faith at wasn’t going to spend a nickel on anything extravagant…or really a nickel on anything that wasn’t totally necessary.

• For example the only reason for heat in an apartment was to keep the pipes from freezing…no reason to waste money keeping the thermostat over 56 degrees in the winter…

Or food…no reason to waste even a quarter on anything food related that isn’t needed to keep you alive!

• Well, for a cheap guy like me, you can imagine when my wife—we were dating at the time—introduced me to Aldi, I was in heaven! The food prices were so incredibly cheap I could cut my already non-existent food budget even further!

• Now it wasn’t a very big issue because I didn’t buy much food, but every now and then it got a little challenging to carry all the food to the check out and then out of the store in my arms…I could do it, but it was certainly challenging sometimes without a cart or without bags…keep in mind I’m an Aldi noobie still at this point…

After going a couple of times, I finally learned from observing others that I could actually take empty boxes off the shelves! That was a really game changer in my grocery shopping experience…

But the next game changer in my grocery shopping experience at Aldi came, when my father-in-law was poking fun at me for being “cheap” and he said something like, “You probably don’t even use a cart at Aldi because you don’t want be away from your quarter that long while it’s left in the cart dispenser waiting for you to return the cart when you’re done.”

• All jokes aside, what he told me was revolutionary…I, for over a year, had never used a cart and had specifically thought to myself, “I’m never going to pay $.25 for a cart!”

• But what I didn’t know until my father-in-law’s joke, was that you actually got the quarter back when you returned the cart!

I no longer had to try and carry all my groceries in my arms, I could actually use a cart, because it didn’t cost me any money to use!

I’m sure there are plenty of other stories we could compile where having the right tool made all the difference in the world. Sometimes we know that tool exists and we don’t have access to it and we have to figure out how to get the job done without it. But sometimes…like my Aldi experiences, the cart was my to use freely! I just didn’t understand that it was really FREE to use!

Well friends, imagine we’re not talking about something a whole lot more serious. Imagine we’re talking about getting surgery done…I’m sure if you’re getting a procedure done by a surgeon you’d want your doctor to have the very best tools at his disposal as opposed to just making it work with steak knives and sowing thread…

But even more important than that would be understanding what tools we have at our disposal as a believer in Christ in order to live for the purpose and mission that God created us for!

Over the past 10 months we’ve studied verse by verse through the Gospel of John and our theme has been enjoying life in his name!

That theme came right from the gospel of John where he says in John 20:30–31 Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; ³¹ but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

Then, after finishing the gospel of John 2 weeks ago, Pastor Brent lead us through a passage in 1 John 3 helping us understand how if we truly believe that Jesus is the Christ—the Son of God, then we must be transformed by that belief…and friends that is absolutely true.

This week I want to quickly look at the theme of the Holy Spirit in the gospel of John, and then do a quick character sketch and comparison of the disciples before and after the Holy Spirit comes in order to help us see what kind of tool…what kind of gift and promise the Lord has given believers by sending His Holy Spirit to dwell inside of us!

Friends, my contention is that often times as believer’s, that our misunderstanding or minimal appreciation for the indwelling presence of God through the Holy Spirit makes are efforts to grow more like Christ and overcome temptation painfully difficult and futile often times.

I’m hoping that by the end of this message you will have a lot more appreciation of the Holy Spirit and understanding of the kind of tool that God has given to you to help you in this life to live for his glory.

Before we hit our 2 main points, lets do a quick sketch of the Spirit in John:

First, John the Baptist tells us that he has been told by the Lord, that whoever the Spirit comes down and REMAINS on, that person is God’s chosen one.

John 1:32–34 John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. ³³ I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

Apart from the Spirit coming down and remaining on Jesus, we wouldn’t have known Jesus was the chosen one. The OT expectation that John picks up on, is that a Spirit anointment chosen one would come.

We seen in John 3:34–35, which comes in a section that explains how Jesus is greater than John the Baptist…John the Baptists prepared the way for Jesus, but Jesus greater because he’s not of earth but from above. They read:

John 3:34–35 For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure. ³⁵ The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.

When John says, “He gives the Spirit without measure,” he probably means God the Father has given to the Son—Jesus, the Spirit without measure. The Spirit not only remains on Jesus but he has the limitless supply of the Spirit, which becomes very evident in how Jesus lived.

In the OT, the Spirit coming upon certain individuals in order to set them apart for specific tasks and offices was part of the OT expectation. For example, the Spirit of God was on Moses to lead the people and in Numbers 11:16–17 The LORD therefore said to Moses, “Gather for Me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and their officers and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. ¹⁷ Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit who is upon you, and will put Him upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you will not bear it all alone.

So what we see is, God was going to take some of the Spirit and spread it out on 70 others to help Moses lead…the Spirit wasn’t given without measure here, and also as we see in the New Testament, the Spirit was given to all the saints.

This is one of the exciting realities we see being unfolded with Christ’s coming in New Testament. The Spirit is to be given to all those who believe in Jesus!

For example, John 7:37–39 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. ³⁸ He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ” ³⁹ But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Pastor Aucoin, spoke to us about one rite in the Feast of Booths that had to do with lamp-lighting and their expectation for the glory of God to come back to the temple someday. Jesus ultimately is that light. But this feast is also known for a water pouring ceremony as well to which he is probably directly addressing.

One commentator says on this passage:

Not only does Jesus become the new temple according to John 2:18–21, but in John 7:37–38 Jesus claims that He fulfills what the temple rites foreshadowed. Moloney explains, “Within the context of a Jewish feast marked by libations and the promise of the coming Messiah who will repeat the Mosaic gift of water Jesus presents himself as the source of living water.” When Jesus stands and cries out on the last and greatest day of the feast that anyone who is thirsty should come to Him and drink (7:37; cp. Isa 55:1), He appears to be directly addressing the water pouring ceremony that took place at the feast of tabernacles (see m. Sukkah 4:9). The necessity for the people of God to participate in Israel’s national worship has been replaced by the necessity to come to Jesus and drink from Him (note the imperatives in 7:37), that is, to believe in Him (ho pisteuōn eis eme, 7:38). Finding in Jesus what was formerly available through Israel’s national celebration is the fulfillment of Old Testament eschatological promises. (James M. Hamilton Jr., God’s Indwelling Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Old & New Testaments (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2006), 118–119.)

If I could say it this way…and this analogy certainly fails to a certain extent, but if Jesus is the water that we must drink from, then the Holy Spirit is the vessel, or the dispenser or the water line that allows us to actually drink and be satisfied!

In the hours leading up to being betrayed and crucified, Jesus taught his disciples many things. We have some of the most extended teaching on the Holy Spirit from Jesus recorded in that discourse from John 14–16.

In one such place…which if I had to pick what text I’m thinking of when I started putting this sermon together, it was John 16:7 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.

We learn that the Helper will guide us in truth, and teach us. We learn that the Spirit teach us. We learn that the Spirit will not leave us alone as orphans, for God’s presence will live and make his home with us—inside of us! We learn that the Spirit will convict us of sin and judgment and righteousness.

We learn much about what the Spirit will do when he comes, but what I want to do now, is not talk so much about “what the Spirit does” but SHOW what the Spirit does.

The way I want to show what the Spirit does, it by showing the disciples before and after the Spirit. There isn’t just one passage or one simple text in order to do that, and that’s why we are bouncing around so much. But my hope is that by covering broadly the character of the disciples before the Spirit comes and indwells them and after, that you’ll see that the kind of transformation they have is the kind of transformation you can have as well if the Holy Spirit does indeed reside in you!

So briefly, with the time we have left, 2 Advantages of Christ leaving that are made clear by the disciples transformation after receiving the Spirit.

• There are a lot more than 2, but we only have time for 2.

The first advantage to advantage of the Holy Spirit coming is that he transforms our fear into courage.

The disciples show us that Holy Spirit transforms our fear into courage

The disciples’ transformation cannot be explained by anything other than the fact that Jesus really did rise from the dead as he said. But their transformation is also not even fully explained simply by Jesus’ resurrection.

Even after Jesus was raised from the dead and he appeared to them, they do not become the courageous, standing in the face of persecution, pillars and apostles of the church that we read about in the New Testament until after the Holy Spirit comes!

Friends, this is very, very interesting and more than interesting I am hoping that you’re going to see that perhaps the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit is like that cart at Aldi…it’s there, it’s available, and there is absolutely no reason not to use it! The Spirit that comes and indwells the disciples is the same Spirit that God gives to all believers. So the transformation that disciples go through is the same kind of transformation the you can have through the power of the Spirit and that God wants you to have!

So let’s take a quick look at the disciples fear…

Their Fear

1. The disciples flee from Jesus

First, we see it very clearly when they flee from Jesus when he is arrested and betrayed by Judas in the garden the night of the Passover.

Mark 14:49–52 Every day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize Me; but this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures.” ⁵⁰ And they all left Him and fled. ⁵¹ A young man was following Him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body; and they seized him. ⁵² But he pulled free of the linen sheet and escaped naked.

• You ask, who’s this naked guy that flees Jesus? What’s the point of that? I think the point is that those who were with Jesus was so determined to get away that they were willing to do whatever it took to flee.

• Which on the one hand you can’t totally fault them for…other than the fact that just hours earlier this was the conversation they had with Jesus…

Mark 14:27–31 And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, because it is written, ‘I WILL STRIKE DOWN THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP SHALL BE SCATTERED.’ ²⁸ But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” ²⁹ But Peter said to Him, “Even though all may fall away, yet I will not.” ³⁰ And Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you, that this very night, before a rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny Me three times.” ³¹ But Peter kept saying insistently, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And they all were saying the same thing also.

Hours later, they had the opportunity to prove their loyalty, and love courageously to Jesus as they had just declared…but instead of courage they withered in fear and ran for their lives…

As we just read, Peter who does show some level of courage in the garden by cutting off a guard’s ear, is shown to much less courageous than we’d expect someone like Peter to be…

1. Peter denies Jesus

Just as Jesus predicted…for sake of time we can only look at the end of his denials of Jesus, but in Mark we see that Peter emphatically denies Jesus, which is the exact opposite of his courageous promise to Jesus that even if he must die with Jesus, he will not fall away…

Mark 14:71–72 But he began to curse and swear, “I do not know this man you are talking about!” ⁷² Immediately a rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, “Before a rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” And he began to weep.

The denial of Peter in many ways is representative of the disciples as a whole. Humanly speaking, Peter is the most bold of the disciples. So what we have here is one of Jesus’ closest disciple’s and one of the most bold disciples, caving into fear.

All of that is somewhat understandable because after all the good news doesn’t really become clear until after Jesus is raised from the dead! But the most striking part of the disciples fear, is how it persists even after the evidence of the resurrection and after Jesus appears to them!

1. The disciples are hiding after Jesus’ resurrection appearances to them

A few weeks ago we saw how his disciples are afraid, even after the women have declared the tomb is empty, Mary has declared she has seen Jesus, and Peter and John have verified the empty tomb. Yet we still read on the day of the resurrection….

John 20:19 So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

You’d think after Jesus appears, that they’d be courageous and out proclaiming that Jesus is alive, but instead we read…

John 20:26 After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”

Their courage slowly grows with each appearing, and even after the ascension of Jesus, but when the Holy Spirit comes in Acts 2, that’s when we see the disciples truly transformed!

Their Courage

1. They publicly proclaim Jesus

They are no longer locked in a room…they aren’t hiding anymore. As soon as the Holy Spirit comes, the lid cannot be kept on the disciples anymore and the world, literally the world gets turned upside down by the proclamation of Jesus Christ!

Acts 2:6 And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language.

Acts 2:41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.

Here’s the point, 3000 souls were saved that day! That’s way more than can fit in this room! The disciples are not hiding, they are not privately devoting their lives to Jesus and piestically living for Jesus at home but not in the public square…no they are boldly living for Jesus for all to see.

And their message is direct and bold…

Acts 2:22–24 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— ²³ this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. ²⁴ But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.

We see just a couple chapters later, that they boldly address the authorities that were responsible for putting Jesus to death…you’d think if they were to be afraid of anyone it would be the corrupt officials that orchestrated the crucifixion of God’s chosen one! But they aren’t afraid anymore, now that the Spirit has come!

1. They boldly acknowledge Jesus before the authorities

We read about Peter and John being arrested and boldly defying the authorities command to not teach in the name of Jesus anymore in chapter 4 of Acts.

And then in the very next chapter all the apostles are arrested AGAIN, and we read about their boldness and courage in v.27ff.

Acts 5:27–33 When they had brought them, they stood them before the Council. The high priest questioned them, ²⁸ saying, “We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” ²⁹ But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. ³⁰ The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. ³¹ He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. ³² And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.” ³³ But when they heard this, they were cut to the quick and intended to kill them.

Acts 5:39–42 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God.” ⁴⁰ They took his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them. ⁴¹ So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. ⁴² And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

Now, I want you to ask yourself: For those of you who believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that you’re a Christian…is their evidence of boldness and fearlessness for the sake of Christ because of the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit inside of you?

• Would people at your workplace know that you are a follower of Jesus Christ?

• Would people at school or on your sports and clubs teams know that you’re a follower of Jesus Christ?

• Would your family know that you are follower of Jesus Christ?

And if the answer to those questions is no, or maybe or sort of, can I ask you why it wouldn’t be clear? Is there fear to stand up for Jesus because you don’t want to be made fun of, or thought of as weird, or be excluded?

Friends, can you I ask you to let the example of the disciples before and after the Holy Spirit as well as the Holy Spirit’s promised work to convict bring you to place of repentance and a commitment to boldly live for Jesus at home, at work, at school, with friends, and everywhere.

Jesus told us, John 16:7 …it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.

You have help through the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of you.

Well, another advantage of Christ leaving and sending the Spirit to indwell us is the transformation from confusion to clarity.

The disciples show us that the Holy Spirit transforms confusion into clarity

As we’ve studied throughout John, we’ve seen the disciples confusion. Even D.A. Carson in his introduction to the gospel of John comments that,

No Gospel preserves more instances of misunderstanding and of failures to understand than does John. (D. A. Carson, The Gospel according to John (The Pillar New Testament Commentary), p.98.)

And lest we get the idea that his disciples are just thick headed…practically the entire nation misunderstands Jesus, which is ultimately why Jesus is crucified in the first place. But the surprising aspect of the disciples confusion is how much time they spent with Jesus teaching them specifically and so plainly for 3 years!

But one of the expectations and advantages of the promised Spirit is that the Spirit will bring clarity!

John 16:12–13 “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.

Quickly, let’s reminder ourselves of the disciple’s confusion before Jesus’ comes…

Their Confusion

The most glaring confusion they have is regarding Jesus’ mission.

1. Jesus’ mission

Mark 8:29–33 And He continued by questioning them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.” ³⁰ And He warned them to tell no one about Him. ³¹ And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³² And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. ³³ But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

Talk about missing the mark…Jesus plainly states his mission of dying on the cross, but after 3 days rising again, and Peter believes that Jesus is confused and so Peter rebuked Jesus!

Have you ever been there? Were you knew for sure, I mean 100% beyond a shadow of a doubt, only to find out later that you actually were wrong…

Before the Spirit comes there are glimpses of hope and clarity with the disciples…but that’s all they are, just glimpses…

The disciples are also confused after Jesus’ resurrection!

1. Jesus’ resurrection

This is the amazing part of the confusion is that they are confused when things are happening just as Jesus said…

John 20:6–10 And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there, ⁷ and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. ⁸ So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed. ⁹ For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. ¹⁰ So the disciples went away again to their own homes.

Luke 24:13–24 And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. ¹⁴ And they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place. ¹⁵ While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them. ¹⁶ But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. ¹⁷ And He said to them, “What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?” And they stood still, looking sad. ¹⁸ One of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him, “Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?” ¹⁹ And He said to them, “What things?” And they said to Him, “The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, ²⁰ and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him. ²¹ But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened. ²² But also some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning, ²³ and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive. ²⁴ Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said; but Him they did not see.”

There is certainly excitement and growing clarity over time as Jesus appears to them after the resurrection, but when the Holy Spirit comes that when the clarity of God’s plan and mission really come alive.

Their clarity

1. God’s plan and mission

We see it so obviously in how the disciples preach in Acts after the Holy Spirit comes, versus how they were talking before the Holy Spirit came.

For example, the first sermon after the Holy Spirit comes is delivered by Peter and he uses the simple, straightforward minor prophet text of Joel 2 as his debut preaching text!

• I remember in seminary when Pastor Green was giving us pointers on going to candidate for churches as people were applying for jobs…he suggested preaching a passage that if all you did was read the text, it would make a great sermon…something like Romans 8. Just read it and you’ll get the job…

Not Peter…he grabs Joel 2 connects the dots, that the Holy Spirit is being poured out, because the Holy Spirit anointed Messiah—Jesus—has come and has now poured out the Holy Spirit on all flesh…not just leaders and prophets and kings, but on everyone that calls on the name of the Lord to be saved, who is Jesus!

The disciples clarity sky rockets after the Spirit of Truth, comes and indwells them!

We can also see their clarity as they rejoice in the face of persecution.

1. Rejoicing in the face of persecution

Much different than fleeing from persecution, they seem to be encouraged by persecution, because they have newfound clarity of the good news of Jesus Christ and their calling as his messengers and witnesses.

We read this earlier, but as a reminder we see in Acts 5…

Acts 5:40–42 They took his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them. ⁴¹ So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. ⁴² And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

What accounts for this kind of change in the disciples? It is certainly the concrete belief and reality in the resurrection of Jesus, but it really happens when God sends the promised Holy Spirit to dwell inside of them.

That’s the same kind of clarity that can come for us through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. It doesn’t mean that all our questions are answered immediately…it doesn’t mean that through he Holy Spirit we are going to know everything that there is to know.

• We see over the course of Acts and various parts of the New Testament the disciples growing more in their understanding.

But I do want to ask you, if you have the same indwelling presence of God inside of you—the Holy Spirit—the wonderful counselor, are you studying and reading the Bible like your expecting to be able to understand it more and more and more?

• My point is, it’s a pretty common complaint that the Bible is hard to understand and is confusing…and I’m not going to stand up here and tell you that’s not true…but I do want to ask you, if you have allowed that to cause you to give up on studying his word and reading the Bible on your own?

Friends, if you’re a believer in Christ he has sent the Spirit of Truth to dwell in you forever in order to teach you what God has spoken to us!

John 16:13–15 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. ¹⁵ All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.

Friends, God has paid for a 24/7 personal tutor, that is all knowing, and all powerful and given him to you so that you would have clarity in the things that God has spoken to us.

This is a whole lot better than a zero-turn mower, or free cart at Aldi…if God has given you His Holy Spirit, do not resign yourself and give up seeking to know and understand his word.

• There is no reason to doubt that you’ll grow in your understanding and clarity and that your confusion will be replaced with clarity and confidence if have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit!

This is what God wants for you. This is what God has purchased for you through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. The same Spirit that God gave the disciples is the same Spirit he gives to you who believe in Jesus!

I hope we don’t walk away from this thinking…wow the apostles were amazing people…I hope instead we walk away with confidence in our amazing God who would grant us his Holy Spirit so that we can be transformed from fear and confusion to courage and clarity.

John 16:7 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.