Podcast Host (0:03)

Welcome to Mariners Church Weekend Message Podcast, inspiring people to follow Jesus and fearlessly change the world. Discover your purpose and get connected by visiting MarinersChurch.org or click the link in the show notes.

Jared (Lead Pastor) (0:24)

Amen. Oh, my goodness. What a beauty it is to sing a song like that. To be gathered together as the church on a great Sunday morning. Would you remain standing as I read our text that we're going to be studying today? This is John, chapter 14. Jesus is gathered with his disciples in the upper room, and this is what he says. If you love me, you will keep my commands and I will ask the Father and he will give you another counselor to be with you forever. He is the spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn't see him or know him, but you do know him because he remains with you and will be in you. Amen. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. My name is Jared. I'm lead pastor of this congregation, and I am really excited about studying this passage with you. Today we're in a series called the Week that Changed the World. We're looking at the last week of Jesus public ministry on earth. There's more writing about this one week, even more words from Jesus himself in this one week than any other in which he ministered. And so it's not only worth our time to study, but there's so much that we can learn and we can unpack. Now, what Jesus is acknowledging to his disciples in this passage is that he is about to leave them. The time in which they spent together was about to come to an end. Now, you and I have probably experienced in our own lives these moments where good things have to come to an end. Think about that vacation that you love so much, right? Day two or three, you're just enjoying it, and you're thinking, I hope this never ends. I want to be on vacation forever, right? You felt that before. The problem is, if you did that, you're no longer on vacation. You've just moved, right? Like, you moved. And guess what came with you. All of your problems, like your vacation, ends the minute you decide it's never going to end because you're there. Okay? So that's how vacation works. Think about this. Your favorite television show. You watch a show, and the series one is just so amazing, you can't wait for season two. Then season three comes, and you're just like, I hope this show never ends. But all good things come to an end. And in a TV series, it's always season four. Season four. Is when the writers go on strike, the actors give up, the producers are done. They're just like, forget about it. Right? Season four is always the downturn. I think about this in my relationship with my wife. There are seasons in a relationship. When we were dating, I. I knew pretty quickly that this was the person I wanted to marry. And I couldn't wait for the dating season to end because that means that we would be engaged. And if you've been engaged, you know, you can't wait for the engagement season to end because then you get to be married, right? Like, there's. There's a good thing that has to come to an end. And my wife and I had several years of being a young married couple in ministry here prior to kids coming along. And it was a great season. And yet we knew we wanted to have a family. And so when my wife became pregnant, the good season had to come to an end for something next to happen. And then kids came along, and now we're raising a teenager, and all good things must come to an end. Am I right? So even the public ministry of Jesus, it was not only a good thing, it was like the greatest thing, right? But even that had to come to an end. And so what Jesus is about to teach his disciples is that while his time on earth in close proximity to them was coming to an end, another was coming. That the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, was going to be replaced with the bodily human form of Jesus. The Spirit is coming, and what he's about to teach them is that is far greater. So there are three things that I want us to pull out from the text today. All of the reading that we're going to do today is the words of Jesus. It's a beautiful weekend to be able to celebrate just the words of Jesus together. And I want you to see what he teaches about the Holy Spirit. So the first is that the Holy Spirit comforts. All right, so here's John 14:15. I read the first part of this already to you. But he says, if you love me, you will keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another counselor to be with you forever. He says, if you love me, keep my commands. It's not about the emotion of love or just the feeling of love. What he's saying is, if you love me, do the things that I said. And if you do those things, what will happen is the Holy Spirit will come and the Spirit will be with you forever. Now he says, the name for the Spirit in this passage is translated as counselor. It's a Greek word that has several different interpretations. Our Bible translation, the CSB puts counselor. Others might say helper or advocate. Many say comforter. So it can be applied or translated in a number of ways. But you get the picture of what the Spirit is intended to do. Our chosen text is called it the counselor, and many are the comforter. Now, I like those words because a counselor and a comforter, that's somebody who comes alongside in a time of challenge, of struggle, of grief or loss. And we want to be counseled, we want to be comforted. But the challenge is that when you and I think of the word comfort, very quickly, we make the leap to being comfortable. We think that comfort is when you and I feel the most comfortable. Like, imagine you in your. In your happy comfort spot. Right now. You're imagining somewhere soft and cozy. You're surrounded in a barefoot dreams robe, like you've got slippers on and a warm, you know, cup of tea in front of you. Like, that's comfortable. Is that what the Spirit does? Well, if you really understand where the word comfort comes from, the last four letters of comfort is the word fort. That should give you an indication of what the word actually means. It's not about soft and snuggly. It is about strength. A fort is a sign of strength. It is about protection and provision and surrounding. What Jesus is saying is about the Holy Spirit is, yes, the Spirit will comfort you in your time of need, but his comfort is the kind of strength that you need in order to endure and to carry on. He will be your strength. It's less of a snuggie. It's more of a suit of armor. All right? That's the kind of strength that the Holy Spirit is given. Why would we need that kind of strength? Because Jesus reminds us in another text that there is an enemy as well, that while the Holy Spirit is unleashed into this world, there is also an enemy, the accuser. The one who whispers, lies in your ears and wants to interfere with your relationship with God. The enemy is out there. The Spirit gets to be with you. Which one is going to have your heart? So then Jesus carries on and he wants to help them further understand the comfort that comes from the Holy Spirit. Verse 18 says, I will not leave you as orphans. I am coming to you. In a little while, the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live. You will live too. And on that day, you will know that I am in my Father. You are in me, and I am in you. Now, the word orphans is a really powerful word. Some of us will resonate deeply with this from personal experience or close proximity. But an orphan is one in which a person has lost their parents. They have no longer someone to care for them, to provide, to protect, to instruct, or to guide. But what Jesus is saying is, I'm about to leave, but I am not going to abandon you. I am departing. And yet another is coming. You are not an orphan because of the Holy Spirit. You are alive in Christ. You will be provided for. You will be protected. You will be guided. You will be instructed. The Holy Spirit will do all the things that Jesus was doing for the disciples, but he will now be able to do that for all. Another is coming. You are not alone. You are not abandoned. He has not left us. This is good news for you and I. Now, when I think about my childhood, I think about some of the vacations that we went on. And we were from humble places, and I know that because most of our vacations, I slept in a sleeping bag. That's how, you know, when I got married, I no longer slept in a sleeping bag. My wife says we stay in hotels now, and the hotels always face inward to a hallway, which is the difference between a motel and a hotel. I learned this when I got married. But when I think about my childhood, my childhood was spent sleeping in trailers and sleeping bags. And one of the places that we would go to is a little town on the way to Phoenix. It's just over the border on Arizona. It's called Quartzsite. Anyone ever been to Quartzsite? No, you've never been there. You've only driven past it at 85 miles an hour. And it's better that way. Okay? Now, Quartzite is basically this. It's dirt and it's a swap meet. Okay? Like, that's. That's what you do there. Okay? And so my cousins and I, we would go out in the dirt. And then my. My mom and my. My aunts and my grandma, they would go to the flea markets and they would buy turquoise and topaz and whatever else you get in the gemstone world out there in Quartzite. Now, this is. Let me show you a photo of me and my cousins out there in the desert of Quartzite. This is exactly what it is. Okay? It's all you need. You don't need to go now. Okay? So we would go out into the desert and we had these little motorcycles. And I can remember one time learning how to ride this bike, but got it started, and I decided I Was maybe like, I don't know, 9 or 10 years old. I'm gonna go out kind of on my own. And I just sort of took off out into the desert. Unsupervised childhood. And so I got out there and I came around to turn and I got a little scared. I let off the throttle and the bike stalled on me. And as I stood it back up, it was one of those kickstart ones. And I'm just like. Like I'm sweating and I'm crying at the same time, and I'm trying to get this bike started, and I couldn't get it going. And so I just laid it down and I just thought, this is my life now. I live in the desert. I've got to figure out how to make shelter. Like, I'm gonna need to start a fire and figure out water. Like, this is it, right? And it's in that moment when those vultures were circling overhead that I'm like, I can't die. And so I remembered that my grandfather had taught me how to whistle. Like, not. Not like a cute whistle, like. Like the dad on the sideline of a football game whistle, right? Fingers in the mouth, just going for it. And so I just unleashed as many whistles as I could. And off on the horizon, this dust cloud starts to form. And it's my cousin on motorbikes. They're coming. My grandfather's running through. My grandma's in a moo moo and some fresh turquoise. They're coming to my rescue. I mean, it was amazing. It was amazing. My mom's here. She's dying right now. She's not in her moo moo stage yet, but it's coming. I can feel it. So we. It's a. It's a memory that I cherish about my family, though, because while I was alone and left for dead for probably 15 minutes, they came running. They came running. And this is. This is how I think about what Jesus is saying to his disciples. While you may think you're about to be alone, another is coming to your rescue. To be with you, to be in you. It's an amazing promise. It's one in which that changes every aspect of our life. And it's not just something about a future state, even for his disciples, as Jesus was teaching them, he is saying, don't you understand? This is, like, good for you right now. There is an empowerment of the Holy Spirit that is really good for you. And sometimes when I read this text, I have this thought, perhaps you have as well. Where I just thought, wouldn't it have been better if for some reason, like, Jesus could just endure in human form, like, from then till now? Or perhaps you just would come now and in human form, he could be here and he could use the gift of technology to get the message out. Like, imagine if Jesus had a YouTube channel or an Instagram, like, feed. Wouldn't that be killer? Like, you'd wake up in the morning, you could have a cup of coffee, and you could be like, what's Jesus up to today? And you could see him teach, and you can see him, like, walk on water and heal people. And you would be overwhelmed. Every morning I would be like, look at, look at Jesus do his thing. Why didn't he? Well, here's the problem. Even now, as recent as this morning, I'll be scrolling Instagram and I see a video, and I have to ask myself, is this real? Like, is this AI generated? Where did this come from? What is the algorithm trying to get me to believe? I am so skeptical of everything that I see now. And so it is actually better that Jesus did not stay. Instead, he gave us the Holy Spirit. Why is that better? Because Jesus was one man in human form. The Holy Spirit is indwelled in every believer all at the same time. That means that a person of the Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit is indwelled within every believer. It means that it is the air in which we breathe. We see stories all the time. We become the body of Christ, his hands and his feet at work all around us at all times. Jesus was able to magnify the proclamation and the declaration of the Good News, for through every believer at all times. This is far better. So then, what does the Holy Spirit do? Here's what verse 25 is for you and I who have the Spirit. He says this, I have spoken these things to you while I remain with you. But the counselor, the Holy Spirit, who the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything. If you have a physical Bible circle, teach and remind you. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don't let your hearts be troubled or fearful. You see, he's showing that the work of the Holy Spirit is to teach and to remind. Now, Jesus says in there, he says, peace, I leave with you. At some point today, you will probably say the word goodbye. You'll either text it, you'll say it to somebody on the patio after church today, you'll say goodbye. What you may not realize is that goodbye is shorthand for the phrase God be with you. It's condensed into goodbye. So when you say goodbye, you are literally saying someone in shorthand. God be with you. In this passage, Jesus says, peace, I leave with you. And it is capital P, peace. It is the Holy Spirit that he is leaving with us. He is literally leaving the Holy Spirit with us. So that the Spirit indwelled within us can teach and remind. So to teach means that as you and I read the words of Jesus, we continue to study God's word. The Holy Spirit will help us to apply. We will gain in wisdom and insight the word of God in our life today practically. And then to remind. And I'm so grateful for reminding. Because as I even look at the disciples, as they're walking with Jesus, like I look at them and I go, these guys are forgetful. They seem to be distracted. And they're like always hungry. Like, what's going on with the disciples? And I find great comfort. Cause I think that's how I live my life too. Distracted and hungry, right? So as I just look at them, that's so great. Because the Spirit is going to remind us at all times. He is there to remind us of the good news of Jesus and that God is with us at all times. Here's what Charles Spurgeon said about the coming of the Holy Spirit. He said, between Christ on earth and his disciples, what a distance there was in his descent. So when Jesus came very near to them. But yet you always perceive a gulf between the wise master and the foolish disciples. Now the Holy Ghost annihilates that distance by dwelling in us. That is the gift that Jesus gives. That's the first point Jesus, the Spirit comforts. It's the longest point, I promise. It's getting a little faster from here. But the second one gets a little deeper and a little more challenging. Because we're about to see that while the Spirit comforts, the Spirit also convicts. Here's John, chapter 16. In verse five again, Jesus's words, He says, now I am going away to him who sent me. And not one of you asks, where are you going yet? Because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away. Because if I don't go away, the counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness and judgment about sin. Because they do not believe in me about righteousness because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me. And about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. So Jesus is again setting up to them the work and the role of the Holy Spirit. And he says something really interesting there at the beginning. He refers to them as, I'm about to leave, and no one's asking where I'm going. That's because just two chapters earlier in John 14, he says, I am going away. I'm going to my Father and I'm going to prepare a place for you. They were not wondering where he was going. And yet he still acknowledges that the pending departure of Jesus has caused great sorrow in his disciples. They are feeling this dread, this worry, this concern that Jesus is about to leave them. So he acknowledges that, and yet he does something, if you caught it, that's so backwards, it's so upside down from our understanding in life, because he says, I am leaving and it's gonna be better for you. Now think about if you've ever been through the experience in life of losing someone close to you over a long period of time, somebody who is suffering towards the end of their life, whether that's from old age or from disease or cancer or something, it is horrible. It's one like the worst human experience is watching someone that you love for a long period of time. At the end of their life, you have this thought that the merciful God would take them. Because you know, for the one who believes in Jesus, that on the other side of death is going to be a new life in which they are going to be raised in a life with Jesus, it is going to be better for them. We believe at the end of their life, it will be better for them. He would be an evil person of which none of you are. Where you would think, I can't wait for them to go because it's going to be better for me. We don't have that thought. And yet that's what Jesus is teaching them. I must die for your benefit. I am departing, and it's going to be better for you. You see, Jesus wanted to teach them this very complex thing, that in his departure, something better was coming. Now, when I was a high school pastor here, we used to play a game called Bigger or Better. We'd gather teenagers all together. We'd break them off into teams of four or five students, and we'd give them something small, like a paperclip or a pen. And the challenge was easy. You have one hour, go out into the neighborhood, knock on the doors and trade your small item for something bigger or better. And so they'd knock on a door, I have a pen. Do you have anything bigger or better? And someone would go, yeah, sure, here's an old baseball glove. And then you take the old baseball glove, you go next door, and they go, sure, here's a toaster that doesn't work. And they would just keep trading, right? And eventually these kids would all start making their way back to the house and they would be like, wheeling an old barbecue down the street. Like, they'd have a giant kayak with a hole in it. Those big stuffed animals from the fair that no one ever wants anyway. Like, they'd come walking down the street, and you really got a sense of all the junk in the neighborhood. It was really, really a fun snapshot. Now, as they came, you would then vote which was bigger or better. What Jesus is teaching his disciples is that while Jesus is great, I mean, like, to be in proximity with the. The. The human of Jesus would be insane. And yet what he's saying is something better is coming, that the Holy Spirit is actually better. Why would he say that? One thing I've already shared with you is that because Jesus was one person on earth, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God himself could be in all believers all at the same time. There is a multiplication effect that is unbelievable and something that one person could not do. The second though, is that it will require you and I to have faith. Not just sight. Just turning on YouTube and watching Jesus channel would not develop ourselves. Our spiritual growth would be inhibited. Instead, we have to have faith, and that's a key part of our own spiritual development. And then lastly, there's probably more to it, but think about the indwelling of the Spirit. We are able to tap into some things that we couldn't manufacture for ourself. All of a sudden, we have more wisdom, we have more insight. We have more endurance and patience and peace and kindness. We have the fruit of the Spirit available to us in a world in which we did not create it for ourselves, but we tap into an external source who is God himself, who allows us to, through the work of the Holy Spirit inside of us, to have things we could never create for ourselves. This is far better. Now Jesus then says, the Holy Spirit will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment. Here's a simple way to think about this. Sin is the truth about the world. Righteousness is the truth about God. And judgment is the inevitable collision of those two things. Sin and righteousness cannot coexist Therefore, something must change. So the Spirit convicts us. Convicts meaning, awakens us, stirs us, causes us to feel a gentle rebuke when it is needed, causes us to think and to feel the difference of us, how we interact with each other. When we bump into one another, the Spirit helps refine us. The church word is sanctify us as we grow more like Jesus throughout the duration of our life. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will call your attention to things. In fact, even when you take communion, Scripture advises us or actually instructs us that before you take communion, you would pause, examine yourself, say, spirit, will you work within me? Bring anything to the surface of my mind in which I need to deal with before I take communion? Do I need to forgive somebody? Do I need to confess anything? Do I need to make myself right before God before I sit at his righteous table and dine with Him? You see, that's the work of the Holy Spirit. In fact, even Eric, as he talked, he taught this. A couple weeks ago with the flipping of the tables in the temple, he called out five tables up front. If you missed that message, I really want you to go back and listen to it. It's an amazing one because it calls out the things of which we tend to put in front of us and God. Things like approval and comfort and busyness and control and bitterness. And the Spirit wants to flip those tables in our life. The Spirit wants to convict us of those things. You see, conviction means that we don't just give ourself the excuse of saying, I know, I know, I'm a person who makes mistakes all the time. No, no. For the person who has given their life to Jesus and the Spirit of God is within you, you don't just make mistakes. The Spirit will tell you you are actually running from God. When you continue to do those things, you are rebellious, you are a prodigal. And it awakens us to turn away from the places we've been going to turn back to God. Because when we turn back to God, our Heavenly Father is already running towards us. You see, the conviction, the way in which the Holy Spirit convicts us, is not towards condemnation. We, we are convicted. So we turn towards God where we can experience his grace. That's the invitation of the Holy Spirit. Now, when you think about, in a legal system, conviction, somebody who is convicted is judged and ultimately lives out of punishment. There's consequences to their actions. In our spiritual life, the Spirit convicts us. But there is something standing in the gap between conviction and final judgment. And his name is Jesus. Jesus is the one. That as the Spirit convicts us, we can turn our eyes towards Jesus. And he says, you are mine, I love you. I have paid the price already for you. We do not have to experience the eternal separation that comes in final judgment because he has already proclaimed victory on our behalf. That's what Jesus does. So the Spirit comforts, the Spirit convicts. And then finally the Spirit sends. Here's what happens in John chapter 15, starting in verse 26, when the counselor comes, the one I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father. He will testify about me and you will also testify because you have been with me from the beginning. Testify meaning continuing the good work of Jesus. The proclamation and demonstration of, of a redeemed person in the name of Jesus. What he's teaching his disciples is the Spirit is coming. But that does not mean that you are done working. It's actually your time to shine because the Spirit is going to indwell within you. The Spirit is going to do work in you and through you. It's not that the disciples get to just sit back and go like, thank you. I'm so glad the Holy Spirit is coming. Let, let the Spirit do the work and we'll just see what he does. And we'll be here hanging out. Not at all. They were invited into the story. In fact, they were called with an invitation to go do the work, to be the hands and feet of Jesus. And so in Acts chapter one, that's where we get a picture of the indwelling of the Spirit. Here's what it says in verse eight. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. What Jesus is saying is that the Spirit is sending you indwelling within so that we might collaborate in the work of the kingdom. We are the body of Christ. We are his hands and feet, and we are sent into all the world. You see, when something is within us, something inspires us and calls us to do the work that Jesus has for us on this earth. It's so powerful inside of us that we can't, we can't contain it. Even if we, even if we tried. I love this Old Testament passage. This is Jeremiah. He's a prophet. This is what he says about the word of God. He says, his word burns in my heart like a fire. It's like a fire in my bones. I am worn out trying to hold it in I can't do it. That's the picture that Jesus is talking about. That the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is like a fire that is giving us authority, not authority for our own benefit and good. While he wants to provide and take care of us. It is not ever just intended for you and I. It is intended that you and I the work in and through on behalf of others. You see, Jesus was talking about in Jerusalem. That's the city that they're in. Judea and Samaria, that would be their state or their country. And then to the ends of the earth, he does not say if and. Or he says and Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. The invitation extends to all for all. So that you and I might be able to serve all. A couple. About a year ago, I was driving in town and I saw a car. I wish I got a photo because it was so incredible. I was driving behind like a Mazda that had. That's not important. That had, that had a license plate, not the frame. The actual plate was a heart. And the word cheese. Like, this person loves cheese so much that they pay every year for that to be their vanity plate. And I just was like, wow, that is an amazing love of cheese. That they want everyone behind them to know I love cheese, right? And I just, I had to think to myself, do I love anything as much as this person loves cheese? Like, I don't know, maybe Jesus, but come on, that's a, that's a love right there. But it got me thinking. There are things that you and I do love in life. We have a hobby or a sport or a favorite team. Like, we have things in life that we love so much that it just like oozes out of us. We can't wait to talk about those things. It might be your education, it might be your career, a professional change that just made a high profile relationship. What you're passionate within you is inevitably going to come out of you. And what Jesus is teaching is, he's saying, when the spirit of God is within you, you can't contain him. He will come out of you. It will show up in your relationships, in your conversations and how you act online and how you work in your office. He will come out of you for the sake of the ends of the earth. Now, this weekend, we are celebrating our global outreach partners. Because of the work of the Holy Spirit at this church. For decades, we have had so many great global partners all around the world. We have pastors and local churches that are doing unbelievable work and we love sharing those stories with you. And this weekend we are featuring or spotlighting our partners in Mexico. Just two hours south from us. We have partners led by pastor Daniel Nunez and his wife Yoli. They are amazing people. They are absolutely amazing. And God has given them a vision to plant churches to care for the people of Mexico. And in fact, in 2006, I had the opportunity of taking some high school students down to Mexico where I met Pastor Daniel for the very first time. And he was sharing with us that God had given him a vision to plant 50 churches. And I was like, this is amazing. As a young 20 something at the time, I, I was overwhelmed at the vision to plant 50 churches. And I got to see the work that they do. It's real. These are real churches and real people. They are meeting people's needs and caring for them. And so as we heard this, this thing of, of 50, it was overwhelming. I was just there last month with pastor Daniel and he introduced me to the lead pastor of church number 62. It's unbelievable in 20 years to plant 62. 63 is coming along later this year. And Daniel's vision now goes far beyond 50. They are now believing that God will give them all the means necessary to plant 500 churches. 500 churches where they're going to care. Yes, it's beautiful. They run one day outreach programs where. Or outreach where they reach out to the community. They invite kids in and they put on like puppet shows and they get to share the gospel with them. They meet the physical needs of people in their community. They also provide homes for people who need to be cared for. In fact, as a person within their community needs a home, they buy the land, the family buys the land and the church comes and blesses them with a home on top of it. And we've gone down over weekends where we have been able in just two and a half days to see a foundation on the ground. And when you walk away, you're handing them keys to a house. It's unbelievable what you get to be a part of. And I want to invite you into this. So just before, just before I take a second and walk you through how I want you to see the beauty of the people that we get to serve down in Mexico. Let's take a look at this.