The Power of the Holy Spirit

Stay strong and carry on. Good morning everybody. I want to start this morning with a story and it's a story that I love to retell. I heard it first from my friend John Ortberg. It's a story about a friend of his named Danny and this happens when Danny went inside of a cave. Danny went spelunking with a friend of his. Raise your hands if you know what spelunking is. Yes, it's cave exploring and Danny went spelunking with a friend of his who was a really like professional level cave explorer. He'd been to all kinds of caverns all over the world and he said Danny this is a cool one because it starts a little bit drab but if you keep going to the end of this particular cave you get to a cavern that well, you've got to see it to believe it.

The only problem is it's a little tricky to get there but are you into it? Danny says yes and his friend says are you afraid of caves? Danny says no. He says are you ready for this? Danny says yeah let's go. So they go into this cave and these aren't these are not images of Danny but just to kind of help you picture what happened next. Danny and his friend go into the cave it gets narrower it gets lower pretty soon they have to crawl on their hands and knees pretty soon they are combat crawling on their elbows pretty soon they are on their backs in this cave and they're pushing themselves forward with the soles of their feet and pretty soon it gets so narrow that Danny has to exhale to be able to move because if he inhales he is stuck like a cork in the neck of a bottle and so he has to exhale to scooch forward a few inches and then he inhales again and gets stuck by the cave walls in the dark.

Some of you are going through sympathetic claustrophobia right now I can see the beads of sweat right? So it's in that moment that Danny's friend says to him Danny this is very very important are you listening to me? Danny says yes he says I want you to keep focusing only on my voice because if you listen to anything else if you listen to the voices in your head if you listen to the emotions in your heart you will never make it out. He says you can't see me right now but I am right here I am guiding you I have been through this you can trust me just keep listening every moment to my voice.

Danny died in that cave no just kidding I made that part up I couldn't resist Danny made it through and it was glorious where they were going but he was only able to keep going because he knew there was somebody with him even in the dark a guide. Well listen maybe you right now are in the dark of a tunnel metaphorically but man it is dark guess what you're not alone either you've got a guide right there helping you and that image is a metaphor for the truth that Jesus tells you in the passage of scripture we're looking at this morning grab your message notes that look like this stay strong and carry on that's the title of our series in what's known as the upper room discourse this is in the gospel of John chapters 13 through 17 and here is the context for this so Jesus knows that he's being hunted.

Jesus knows that one of his closest friends one of his disciples Judas has just slipped out to betray him to the authorities. Jesus knows he's going to be arrested Jesus knows that in just a few hours he is going to be executed and so in the gospel of John what happens is Jesus gathers his remaining 11 friends together and he's telling them I'm about to leave you in a few hours and the movement is going to be in your hands and he tells them how to stay strong and carry on in his absence and one of his main themes is this you are not alone say those words out loud with me you are not alone.

Now Jesus has been hinting at this all throughout his little pep talk to these disciples that there's he's not just going to leave them with words with ideas with concepts he's actually going to send a person to be with them spiritually for example back in John 14:16 he says I will ask the father and he will give you another what helper to be with you forever the spirit of truth and then about 10 verses later verse 26 of John 14 he says but the what helper the holy spirit whom the father will send in my name he will teach you all things and a chapter later John 15:26 he says but when the helper comes whom I will send to you from the father the spirit of truth that proceeds from the father he will bear witness about me.

So there's been all these hints and statements the holy spirit is coming this that the helper is coming three times already and now we're at the fourth time that Jesus talks about this helper this this holy spirit who's going to come for them we're in John 16:6–15 so if you got your bibles turn their bible apps open to that because Jesus here says I've been hinting at this now I'm going to elaborate on what this means to you the holy spirit now in my observation as a pastor there's two groups of Christians when it comes to the holy spirit it seems like to me some who can't stop talking about the holy spirit and those who never talk about the holy spirit and the people in the second group kind of think the people in the first group are are crazy and the people in the first group kind of think the people in the second group are dead and we got both groups here in this church today.

And those of you in the first group when you realized I was speaking of the holy spirit this morning and it dawned on you you thought at last we've been ignoring this truth you're practically speaking in tongues right now just because we're talking about this and others are in the second group are thinking oh I'll just try to awkwardly and uncomfortably endure this and hope René doesn't bring it up again for another year and I was kind of raised in the second group yet you know if Jesus brings something up not once not twice not three but four different times in like a 20 minute talk it's probably pretty important in fact it's probably essential.

So let's unpack what he said here we pick it up in verse six Jesus says but because I have said these things to you what things well um I'm gonna be betrayed I'm gonna die you're mostly gonna die all of you you're gonna be hunted down you're headed into a very dark time right now where people are gonna think they're doing a service to God by killing you so it's about as bad as you can imagine because I've said these things to you sorrow has filled your heart I guess so now the word fulfilled there means controlled there's there's no room for anything else in that moment in their hearts this is Jesus for I see you're a little freaked out so he says nevertheless I tell you the truth now Jesus always tells the truth so what's he saying here he's saying this is a life-changing truth listen very carefully to what I'm about to tell you because you're gonna go through this dark tunnel but if you hear what I'm telling you right now it's really really really really really going to help you.

But what he says next is shocking what he says none of them believed at that moment he says it is to your advantage that I go away how in the world was it to their advantage that Jesus would leave them? Jesus is saying though that it's to their advantage that he would now leave them and go to the cross and be executed he says for if I do not go away the helper will not come to you well that's a little confusing but let me show you kind of through a deep historical dive how the early Christians came to understood understand this sentence let me show you a floor plan of the ancient temple in Jerusalem you would go in this way past all these gates and barriers different people could go different lengths into the temple there's stairways and eventually behind a veil there was the holy of holies in the sanctuary and in the holy of holies the holy spirit of God dwelled in all his pure holiness and only the high priest could go in and only once a year and only after he was covered with a sacrifice of atonement for his sins that's how holy that place was.

Because the sinfulness of human beings and the holiness of God just could not coexist in the same spot it would be like matter and anti-matter in fact there was a thick veil or curtain that was that was many stories tall super thick that separated the holy of holies from the whole rest of the world that's how sacred and holy it was but within a few hours after Jesus left them he went and died on the cross and the bible says that by his death on the cross this was the last ultimate final sacrifice for the sins of all mankind so that now in God's sight he sees us as righteous as holy as blameless we're covered by the righteousness of Jesus Christ and made holy in God's sight it's just astonishing and the bible says that's why at the moment of Jesus's death the veil in the temple tore into signifying that the holy spirit was coming out like a wind like a fire and the bible says now you are God's temple and God's spirit dwells in you.

Now you you are as holy and sacred as the holy of holies and the temple of God it's astonishing and you can say well not me you're you're talking about some saint you're talking about mother Teresa you're talking about you know somebody like that when does that happen the bible says in Ephesians 1:13 when you believed you were marked in him with a seal the promised holy spirit the moment you said Jesus I place my trust in you God says now the fullness of my spirit is inside of you you're as holy as the holy of holies not because you're perfect that has nothing to do with it it's because now because of what Jesus did for us on the cross God sees us as purified before him holy and blameless that's astonishing isn't it and this is why Jesus says it's to your advantage that I go away because of this the holy spirit's coming on out of that holy of holies and he's dwelling inside of you in power.

Now notice the word that Jesus Christ has used now several times to describe the work of the holy spirit what word is it helper the Greek word is paracletus and in this word is wrapped the key message about the holy spirit's role in your life he helps me say he helps me he helps me you have a helper Jesus didn't again didn't just leave them with an ideology he left them with a personal holy the holy spirit of God parents of toddlers you have a helper parents of teenagers you have a helper teenagers you have a helper students you have a helper going through grief you're not alone you've got a helper going through recovery that's a dark tunnel you have a helper you're not alone you're never alone you've got the powerful holy spirit of God in you and around you and leading you and guiding you.

So how does the holy spirit help me listen how the holy spirit helps us this is a subject as big as God but let me just look at a few key verses in the new testament i'm just going to summarize them i put them in your notes but look at this the holy spirit encourages me counsels me prays for me empowers me comforts me dwells in me guides me fills me with hope gives me joy and peace strengthens me helps me in my weaknesses gifts me with abilities this is what you've got living the Christian life is not up to you in your own power you are empowered by the holy spirit of God and believing that being aware of that will make all the difference in your Christian life.

Now there are some specific ways that Jesus says in our text this is like the whole Bible view but in our text in those those 10 verses today Jesus has some specific ways that he wants the disciples to know that the holy spirit is going to help them and help you and me in our Christian mission so let's dig into those i'm going to spend most of my time on the first point because this is huge it's inspiring this can change what you see your whole life as a believer number one the spirit brings me to Jesus the holy spirit brings me closer and closer and closer to Jesus Christ and i see this as a pastor all the time let me just give you one recent example so after every service the pastors meet people at what we call the after party in the lobby and this one sunday a couple of women come up to me one is a younger woman maybe in her mid-20s 30 years old and an older woman at least a generation older but you can tell they are best friends and they come up it's the first time ever here at twin lakes church and we have a little gift bag for them we get into a conversation and they're kind of laughing they say you know we are not church people this is literally our first sunday in church in probably decades and i said oh well yeah how'd you hear about the church and they look at each other they say well I hesitate to say this because you might think that we're crazy but the younger one says I woke up this morning and I'm stretching in bed and she said it was like a voice in my head that said go to church and she said I'm like that's ridiculous I got up and made the coffee she said I couldn't get this thought out of my head go to church go to she's like no I don't like church never go go to church.

So she said I thought just kind of as a laugh I'd call my friend here and they know each other through a 12-step group and she said I thought I'd call my my friend here and just she would crack up because she knows me I never go to church and so she said hey good morning you'll never guess the thought that just keeps going through my head this morning and her friend said let me guess go to church because that's the thought that's popped into my head this morning and they were both a little bit freaked out and they just said well what church should we go to I heard that twin lakes church does all this stuff for the hungry let's try that and they showed up and I've seen them almost every week ever since.

Now what do you call that what do you call that was that coincidence that was the holy spirit bringing them pulling them to Jesus Christ this is real and he wants to comfort the disciples it's not up to you you don't you don't have to go out into the world you know trying to be mr persuasive genius the holy spirit's going going in front of you Jesus specifically says in verse eight and when he comes he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment concerning sin because they don't believe in me concerning righteousness because I go to the father and you will see me no longer and concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged.

Now let's unpack those five verses specifically because he says there's three kind of stages the first thing he says is the holy spirit's going to convict or convince concerning sin because they don't believe in me what's this look like let me tell you a true story about a man named thomas terence the thomas was raised in mobile alabama and as a teenager he opposed the desegregation of his high school rather violently by the time he was 21 years old he had joined the ku klux clan and he and another member of the clan conspired to firebomb a jewish synagogue and it was a sing operation set up by the fbi they were arrested but then they fought back someone was killed in the shootout but he was captured and sentenced to the notorious mississippi state penitentiary then he escaped and there was a manhunt he was called the most dangerous man in alabama another shootout another person was killed he was recaptured and he spent the next three years of his life in solitary confinement just to get past the boredom he picks up a bible and starts to read and let me tell you what happened next in his words he says that's where I was ambushed by the holy spirit my eyes began to be open and I began to see what I'd never seen before the meaning of those words became clearer to me and I became convicted of my sins which I think is a crucial part of true conversion my heart was moved with sorrow for my sins and I got on my knees one night and prayed a very simple prayer I asked Jesus to forgive me of my sins and take over my life something changed inside of me and I haven't been the same since that was 50 years ago and he says and this happened basically without much meaningful contact with any other person was the work of the holy spirit in prison.

He renounced the clan once he got out of prison he joined a racially diverse church he studied for the ministry he became a pastor he co-wrote a book with black civil rights leader and pastor john perkins on racial reconciliation he got a doctorate he became the director of the world-renowned c.s. lewis institute for a couple of decades and then he went back into pastoral ministry and he has a twin lakes church connection many of you know matt and janice bakaro very involved in the church janice is on our board they were married by thomas tarrant he was their pastor in washington d.c he just republished his book consumed by hate redeemed by love how a violent plansman became a champion of racial reconciliation what happened to him was exactly what jesus christ promised.

Let's revisit those words that's where I was ambushed by the holy spirit I'm sure people had tried to convince him before this that he was wrong about his racism the holy spirit though did the job by the way let's go back to the verse Jesus says and to his disciples there in that upper room and you will go out of the world and you will convict that you will get into people's faces and you will convict them of their sin oh well no that's not what he says is it who will convict the world of sin he will the holy spirit will that's his job you don't have to do the holy spirit's job he does a much better job at this than you and I do we got another job Jesus gave us to share the good news to bear witness to what Jesus is doing in our lives to love our neighbors and we were contented with the holy spirit when he does these things do you see that?

Let me just give you an example after so many examples of all of these points after the saturday night service one night a man walks up to me with a big paper bag that's full of something I look into it it's full of marijuana and I said is this your offering why are you handing this to me what's happening right now and he says no he says I just I'm so convicted of this I just I'm putting it on the altar I need to give this up to the lord we prayed I told him about the recovery groups and I afterwards I said I gotta ask you something I don't remember preaching about pot lately so how how did this how did you come to this conclusion and he said yeah you didn't say a word about this but I gave my love my life over to Jesus a few weeks ago here and ever since then it's like Jesus has been telling me somehow I've been feeling inside of me Jesus saying you know I love you but this is this is going to get in the way and it's time to put childish things behind you you've done that long enough now let's be a grown-up man and get rid of it.

I didn't I didn't have to say a thing he turned his life over to Christ and then the holy spirit convicted him of sin and then the next thing Jesus talks about is concerning righteousness now I don't think he means he's going to convict people that they need to live morally upright lives and try harder along with most interpreters I believe Jesus is saying he's going to convince people that they are covered with the righteousness of Jesus Christ you ever had one of those moments when you've been full of shame and all of a sudden reading scripture or praying it's you've had like this illumination moment that there is now no condemnation for you in Christ Jesus and you and it's like the sky is bluer the grass is greener because you realize God has forgiven you and God loves you and God receives you and accepts you that moment is a gift of the holy spirit these he's convincing you of your righteousness imputed to you by Jesus Christ and that follows a logical path doesn't it first I'm convicted of my need and then I'm convinced of God's provision and then he says concerning judgment now he's not talking about fear of coming judgment I mean there is a coming judgment but this is about a past judgment he says he's going to convince you of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged.

Jesus every time he uses this phrase the ruler of this world he is talking about the devil about satan and about all of the essentially satanic systems of of oppression whether they're governments or something else that stem from that root of evil and what he's telling the disciples in this context is you guys are going to see a lot of evil and it's going to look like and it's going to look like evil is winning but the holy spirit is going to remind you that evil does not win the ruler of this world is already judged these are death throes that he's going through right now.

I was reading just yesterday something by martin luther king jr somebody asked him how do you not despair in your fight back in the 60s and he said this it was a great quote he said because I know based on scripture that evil will not win he said this if I can find the quote I read it down he says evil will not survive this is our hope this is our conviction this is why we do not despair god has a great plan for this world and in his plan evil will be defeated so do you see the progression I'm convicted of my need I'm convinced of God's provision and then I'm confident that God will win these are ways that the holy spirit brings me to Jesus.

Now second and we're going to take these final points real quick number two the spirit teaches me about Jesus right what did thomas tarrant say my eyes began to be open I began to see things I'd never seen before that ever happened to you when you're reading the bible that's a gift to the holy spirit Jesus says in verse 12 I still have many things to say to you you can't bear them now but when the spirit of truth comes he will guide you and all the truth for he won't speak on his own authority but whatever he hears he'll speak he will declare to you the things that are to come.

He's saying those 11 men that were in the room that he was addressing these guys some of them are going to write what you and I know is the new testament these characters who seem to like never get what Jesus is saying but Jesus is saying the holy spirit's going to inspire every word you write and it's going to be amazing and it is amazing right two thousand years of best seller status has proven that and the same holy spirit that inspired every word can illumine every word to our minds the spirit teaches me about Jesus.

Now let's be fair all this holy spirit stuff for the people in that second group raises a much of red red flags because it seems like it opens the door to con men and cult leaders who say well the holy spirit told me that you need to divest yourselves of all of you that filthy lucre that's been accumulating in your bank account and send it all to my ministry or you know the holy spirit told me that I am the final prophet of God and so you've got to follow every single word I say and become a member of my cult or whatever so so what are the guardrails right well Jesus gives us a big hint the spirit always focuses me on Jesus he says in verse 14 he will glorify me that word means to magnify to zoom in on just to just focus on Jesus Christ because he'll take what is mine and declare it to you all that the father has is mine therefore I said he'll take what is mine and declare it to you the spirit focuses on Jesus Jesus focuses on the heavenly father.

If somebody comes up and says that they've got a word from the spirit and it's a distraction from Jesus Christ just stay away there's a lot of nonsense going around in the name of Christianity you know we are Christians we're focused on Christ it's in our name so don't let yourself get distracted by whatever people claim the holy spirit has shown them unless it magnifies Jesus Christ.

Now one final thing I want to show you and I wish somebody had shown me this it would have saved me so much inner turmoil about the holy spirit notice that Jesus keeps saying he will he will teach he will bear witness he will convict he will guide he will declare he will not he might not he could not he will if you are somehow tuned into the magic spiritual frequency he just will this is really important because there's a myth in Christianity that I was caught up in for many years you know I when I left kind of the holy spirit averse upbringing that I was raised in in Christianity I kind of went a little bit too far in the other direction as one does right in our spiritual journey and I I got in so obsessed with I've got to perceive the holy spirit's guidance at every single decision and it became paralyzing I became afraid to make any decisions if I didn't somehow perceive the holy spirit guiding and moving me and for years I was really trapped honestly I think I I almost lost it uh being so into this because of this myth the myth that I need to feel the spirit guiding me or I'll miss it.

The truth as I came to understand is that God's work is not bound by our feelings God's plan is not hostage to our emotions let me repeat that God's work is not bound by our feelings God's plan is not hostage to our emotions and when you think about it this is exactly the point that Jesus Christ is making in this text isn't it these promises Jesus gives to the disciples about the spirit they're not meant to make them worried oh we might be missing out on this stuff he promised they're meant to give them confidence that no matter how bad things get for them the spirit is at work even if we do not sense him in the moment.

So many times in my life there's been things that happen only looking back do I realize it was the holy spirit leading it's just one example one easter sunday morning we did five services because we were still doing a sunrise service the kids were little laurie had come to the sunt saturday night services and uh she was waiting for me with the van running out here in this back parking lot why we were going to catch a south southwest flight to phoenix to visit her family so she had the kids all strapped into their car seats she had the luggage in the van she's looking at her watch come on René the sermon's too long-winded as usual in the last service and she's she's like waiting for me and so I close in prayer during the final song I just split out the side door she's like the van's already moving get in the car and I jump in we drive over the hill we get there late we run through security we're at the southwest airlines gate we're the last people onto the flight so they have to split us up you know how southwest seating works and so I'm alone separated from my family stuffed into the the the detested southwest middle seat and I just flopped in there and I'm kind of in a bad mood and the the the young woman who's staring out the window I I turn to her and I say how are you you know just a token how are you you know how does you don't hope they actually answer you and and she turns to me and she says not too good I said oh no I mean I was sitting there going you know Jesus may have risen but I'm dead that's how I was feeling at that moment and so and so she turns to me and she says I I I just feel like there's something missing in my life this is as much as I can recall the precise words she said she said I feel like there's something missing inside of me that humans are meant to experience and somehow here on easter sunday morning there's something about easter that could provide hope for me if I understood its message and I just wish there was someone who could explain the message of easter to someone like me.

She looks at me I said let me switch seats with my wife can you believe that and we got into a great conversation the whole way to phoenix but listen when I walked onto that plane I wasn't going lord lead me to the one who was the most needy lord let the divining rod of your spirit inside of me pull me toward the one no not you sir oh this this woman over here I just plopped down into that seat wasn't even thinking about it but the holy spirit was still at work because that's the promise of Jesus Christ.

So when it comes to the spirit don't wait for a feeling but be open to opportunity because they're all around you all the time because he is at work listen I'll close with this very quickly I but last weekend I got to visit my relatives in switzerland and I want to thank mark for doing a phenomenal job with the sermon got to see my cousin and uh it was so fun to see my cousin and my aunt and uncle and the whole extended family it was just just super phenomenal but the flight over there was on swiss on swiss airlines 777 and it's an 11-hour flight and um a few years ago about 2008 I went through about two years where all of a sudden I had a fear of flying crippling full of anxiety uh now thank god I'm completely over it but I want you to imagine something imagine 2008 René getting on this airplane this is a flight that goes over the arctic circle so that if the plane dies and you survive nobody's going to get to you you're doomed right this is what would have been going through my head the every little turbulence I would have been like we're going down landing I would have been thinking we're going through some of the tallest mountains on the planet to find the landing strip just completely anxious.

Now imagine 2024 René getting onto that plane I can tell you I didn't I wasn't nervous at all I slept half the way I loved it enjoyed the swiss chocolates it was just phenomenal right now the actual reality for both 2008 René and 2024 René were actually exactly the same same aircraft same safety record great swiss pilots delicious chocolate same exact reality but the lived experience of those two René's was completely different why 2008 René thinks that a turbulence you know experience could knock a plane out of the sky 2024 René knows that these planes can fly through hurricanes right 2008 René doesn't know the truth 2024 René knows that being up in an airplane is actually the safest thing 2024 René knows that crossing the street in front of your house is more dangerous than flying it's all about what you believe and know to be true that changes your lived experience.

Why do some Christians go through life with trepidation with a lack of confidence they're twitchy and worried and others seem to be serene compare it comfortably serene and confident it all comes down to that first phrase Jesus said I tell you the truth if you believe Jesus was telling you the truth that you are not alone you are empowered you have a guide he goes before you to prepare opportunities that reality is the same whether you know it realize it experience it or not all of us who believe have that truth have that reality but staying aware of it really believing it changes your lived experience of your life.

You may be in a cave right now you have a guide who's right next to you even though you might feel upside down and backwards and in a tight spot you know what he's whispering to you right now I'm right here you can't see me but you have a helper so stay strong and carry on.

Let's pray heavenly father thank you so much for the promise of the holy spirit and god I pray that we would stay aware of it that we would live in the reality of your guiding presence that whether we feel it or not we would have confidence that you are always at work and especially for those going through a cave time right now I would pray that they would know that they are not alone that their guide that their helper is right there with them and we give you Thanks for this Lord in Jesus' name, amen.