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[0:00] Amen. We're back to John chapter 14. We're working our way through verses 15 to 24, which we started last week and we didn't get very far, but I think we'll finish up this section this morning.

[0:11] Help my unbelief. You know, y'all, the Bible is deep. I get into this, I don't know how you read the Bible, but when I read the Bible, it grabs me and God brings me up short and I have to meditate for a minute.

[0:32] Some of y'all know what I'm talking about. So I'm doing this with you and sometimes it slows me down, but I want to try to get through this section today. I really want to do that.

[0:43] All right. So y'all pray for me and we'll make it. Hear now the word of God. If you love me, you will keep my commandments and I will ask the father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever.

[0:58] Even the spirit of truth who the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him for he dwells with you and will be in you.

[1:14] I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me because I live. You also will live in that day.

[1:30] You will know that I am in the in my father and you and me and I in you. Whoever has my commandment and keeps them. He it is who loves me.

[1:41] He who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and manifest myself to him. Judas, not Iscariot, said to him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world?

[1:59] Jesus answered him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him.

[2:14] Whoever does not love me does not keep my words and the word that you hear is not mine, but the father's who sent me.

[2:28] That is the word of the Lord. Please be seated. Thank you, family. Thank you, praise team, once again for leading us to such beautiful music.

[2:38] Amen. Amen. Amen. Anyone here, I want to see hands. I'm just curious. Anyone here ever gets stuck in the elevator?

[2:52] I see a couple, oh, more than I, ooh, a few people, more than I expected. It's never happened to me. But I imagine it's kind of nerve-wracking. I suspect that anyway.

[3:04] I heard about a group of people recently who experienced this. They were stuck between floors. So they started crying out and banging on the doors and crying, Help! Help! We're here! We're here! Help us! We're here!

[3:21] Some were actually crying because they were scared. Some people get terrified in enclosed, small spaces. But there was one guy in this elevator, Bill, one guy.

[3:34] One guy who was calm, cool, collected. He just, he walked to the other side of the elevator and picked up the phone. Security answered, Sir, how can we help you?

[3:52] He told them the car was stuck between floors 11 and 10. They said, got it. We will be right there. Everybody at that moment in the elevator felt a little stupid.

[4:06] But they let out a deep sigh at that point and calmed down. And they waited for help to come because they knew help was on the way.

[4:18] They calmed down. Because they knew help was coming. Here's the final thing, though, about that. They had to believe help was coming.

[4:30] They had to believe it. You see, it's one thing to tell somebody help is coming. It's another thing if they don't believe you. They had to believe that help was actually coming.

[4:45] Because if they didn't believe it, they would still be in a panic. Our Lord Jesus promised us help from on high.

[4:57] Sometimes he wants us to cry out for that help. Because that reveals our faith in him. But then you have to be willing to wait. Knowing help is coming.

[5:12] Why? Because Jesus promised help. So are you trusting in the Lord's help this morning? Or are you trusting in your ability to fix whatever it is?

[5:28] Are you banging on the doors? Crying out to the wrong group for help? Have you picked up the phone and called Jesus?

[5:41] And asked for his spirit to help you? In our passage, I'm not going to do a lot of review, but in our passage, the spirit is called the helper because he gives us what we need to obey slash, that's not there, slash, experience Jesus.

[6:02] Obey slash experience Jesus. You see, Christianity is not a bunch of rules and regulations and principles for good living.

[6:12] It has those, but that's not what it's about. Discipleship to Jesus is meant to be an experience. You see, at the new birth, or being born again, this Holy Spirit makes you spiritually alive so you can hear and see Jesus and enter his kingdom.

[6:36] You see, without that, you're spiritually dead. And you can't hear or see Jesus. And you don't even, only kingdom you know about is the kingdom of America. And then at the same time he opens your eyes and makes you alive, the spirit also does something.

[6:54] He does a lot of things at this point, but one thing in particular, he showers you with God's love. Romans 5, 5, God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

[7:11] This is an experience now. Now, it can be dramatic. Like, my conversion was dramatic. Now, people have more dramatic experiences than I have, that's for sure.

[7:22] But it also could be pretty chill. But it's still an experience. It is something that God does to you. Not something you do to yourself.

[7:34] It's something that God does himself to transform you, or I should say, begin a transforming process in you. It doesn't matter how old you are.

[7:48] Age might determine how much you experience the experience, how much you realize the experience. You know, because little kids, when they come to faith in Jesus at five, they may not have much, they don't know much about the experience.

[8:03] But if you came to Jesus in your teens, in your 20s, or even older, believe me, you recognize something was different.

[8:16] You realize someone had happened to you. Someone had cut you off. You were going one way, and all of a sudden, God has stepped into your life.

[8:32] You know when that happened, if you were older. Because walking with Jesus is meant to be an experience. And now, now, now your life, you want to obey Jesus.

[8:45] You want to follow Jesus. You want to be like Jesus. It's your life's desire to be his, and to follow him wherever he leads. So the Lord, in order for that to happen, he gives you, Jesus says, he would ask, and the Father would give you the helper.

[9:06] Now, here's the thing. I didn't talk about this last time, so we're going to talk about it this time. The word helper has great meaning. Now, if depending what version of the Bible that you have, there's a different word here.

[9:18] All right? If you have the King James, it's comforter. If you have the NIV, it's counselor. If you have the New Living Translation, the word is advocate.

[9:32] If you're using the message, which is kind of a paraphrase, it says friend. Now, the Amplified Bible, if some of you have the Amplified Bible, it can't make up his mind.

[9:43] So it just says comforter, advocate, intercessor, counselor, strengthener, and standby. Because the word there, parakletos, the word for parakletos, is a big word.

[9:59] Now, literally, it means to be one called alongside, to support, to encourage, to assist. In a legal setting, it would mean to plead your case or to advocate for you.

[10:18] See, that's why the translations have all these different words. Because it's all there. Now, here's the thing. The King James has the word, I like the King James here, because it has the word comforter.

[10:31] Jesus is giving us the comforter, right? That's right. That's a good translation. It's no problem with that. But the word itself, if you like me, you like words.

[10:42] And the old English word for comforter breaks down into two words. Come, C-O-M is with, and fort.

[10:56] You know what a fort is, right? A fort is that place of safety. It's that place where you are strong, where you are mighty, where your group is safe.

[11:12] And it's a place where if the enemy attacks, that's where you go. You go to that place where you are protected. The word comfort literally means with strength.

[11:26] With strength. With strength. Now, the spirit then, which the King James is correct, totally correct, he comes alongside the disciple of Jesus to strengthen you, to support you, to assist you, and yes, even to advocate for you.

[11:50] And he's the father's gift. Jesus said, I will ask the father, and he will give you another comforter. He didn't say you had to earn him.

[12:02] He didn't say you had to speak in tongues to get him. He didn't say you had to make a pilgrimage to get him. The spirit is the gift of God to the people of God.

[12:13] And Jesus here calls him the spirit of truth. That's significant too. All what our Lord commands us is truth, and the spirit will therefore help you to know what is true, but not just to know what is true, but to apply the truth, and to also be sure if this truth is coming from Jesus.

[12:40] So the spirit is there to strengthen you with truth, to comfort you with truth, to come alongside you with truth, because that's what you need to know.

[12:59] Jesus called the devil the father of lies, and the whole world, John says in 1 John, lies in the power of the evil one. What you need to know every day is the truth.

[13:16] Jesus said he is the truth. So the spirit reveals Jesus, the truth, to you, so that you can walk, not in the darkness, but walk in the light.

[13:27] So you can make decisions and choices, not based upon what the world says is the most popular idea at the moment, not based upon advertising, that you can make your life choices.

[13:44] Whether you choose a spouse, like the Griggs did, raise your hand up there, Griggs, come on now, newlyweds, newlyweds, come on, get your hands up, daughter, come on, that's right. They chose each other as Jesus brought them together in truth.

[14:05] The fallen world we live in can be a very demanding, discouraging, and dangerous place, especially for those of us who are seeking to follow Jesus.

[14:21] But Jesus has sent us help. He sent us the help we need, the spirit of truth, so that in the midst of all these choices, you can choose A, you can choose B, you can choose C, or you can choose Jesus.

[14:41] And sometimes, sometimes, mama, sometimes, listen, mama, word, sometimes, choosing Jesus, I'm not sure which one. Because sometimes, the enemy will send me ideas that kind of sound like Jesus.

[14:59] So how do I know which one is Jesus? The spirit of truth helps me come to the word of truth and figure out which one is Jesus.

[15:10] That's called, here's a big word, that's called discernment. Because sometimes, you gotta be honest, sometimes you're sitting there and you're going, and you're going, so what do you turn?

[15:28] Do you, do you stay in that elevator, banging on the wall, or should I say, banging your head against the wall to your semi-conscious and then you choose something?

[15:43] Do you listen to the people in the elevator who are banging their heads against the wall and get their advice? Or do you pick up the phone and call Jesus?

[15:56] Call out to the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth, and say, lead and guide me into the truth. Show me as I'll open the word. Show me which way.

[16:08] Speak to me so I'll know. Whatever hardship you are facing as a disciple of Jesus, you have a helper in you. Jesus said, he'll be with you forever to give you what you need to stand and to go on.

[16:25] I'm reminded, as I'm talking about the devil here, I'm reminded of Ephesians 6, right? Be strong in the Lord. Literally, the idea behind it is a passive. It's be made strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

[16:42] Where does that come from? The spirit of Jesus, the spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit living in you is the one who makes you strong.

[16:57] But listen, this help now, we've got to be clear. Our Lord is being very clear here. This help is only for his followers. Because in the passage here, he says that there's some group that will not receive this help.

[17:19] Verse 17, even the spirit of truth who the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him for he dwells with you and will be in you.

[17:29] You see, Jesus says the world can't receive the spirit of truth. By world, what does he mean by world? The earth? No, not this time. The world, here's the technical word in particular that speaks of this world order, this world system.

[17:43] That meaning, that meaning the philosophies, the ideas, the governments and ways of living in this world that leaves God out. Worldliness, when I was a kid in a Pentecostal church, worldliness was women wearing pants.

[18:03] God bless their hearts. But that's not worldliness. Worldliness is the way you think, the way you choose, the way you love, the philosophies that guide your life that leave God out.

[18:22] They don't even believe that, those philosophies don't even believe that God exists sometimes. people and say, why can't they, why not then? Why can't they, why can't they experience the spirit of truth?

[18:34] Because they reject the truth who is Jesus. This means, family, that whatever ideas and philosophies the world produces must be viewed by us with a grain of salt sometimes.

[18:47] There will be some truth because something's called common grace. God gives everybody a little bit of truth. All right? The Bible don't tell you how to build a car.

[18:59] I'm not going to the Bible to find out how to build a car. I'm going to Ford. Because God has given engineers and people some knowledge.

[19:11] But how do you drive that car? What attitude do you drive that car with? Do you obey the rules of the road when you drive that car?

[19:23] You see, now I need Jesus to help me with that. Because I get road rage. Somebody knows what I'm talking about. There'll be some truth.

[19:34] Listen, but because the world rejects the spirit of truth, it will always go wrong at some point. At some point, the world's philosophies, the world's ideologies, the world's, that will sound good at some point, but at some point, because it rejects the truth, at some point, it's going to break down.

[19:56] You need something that won't break down. Something to put your feet upon. You want to build your, Jesus said in Matthew 7, you want to build your house upon the rock.

[20:07] The rock in Matthew 7 are his words. The spirit comes to help you to build your house, your life, upon the truth, the rock of Jesus, so that when the world's ideologies come your way, you can say, hold it now.

[20:25] You got some good stuff there, but hold it. No, no, that breaks down. Now, I can't go that direction. too many of, too many Christians.

[20:38] It breaks my heart, and I'm trying to be, I'm trying, I can get tricked too, don't get me wrong. I'm just saying, but too many of us are listening to the philosophies of the world. Let me just be clear in how we understand sexuality, how we understand sex, how we understand identity, how we understand government, how we understand, should I just go on?

[21:01] We're listening to the world's thinking, and we're destroying ourselves. Some years ago, I remember, I was doing premarital counseling.

[21:15] Oh, by the way, no charge for this. If you're thinking about getting married, my young friends out here, and some of you may be older, but if you're thinking about getting married, get premarital counseling before you get engaged.

[21:29] That's the new city mantra. Get it before you get engaged. You say, but why, Pastor Kevin? Because once you put a ring on that person's finger and tell all your friends you're getting married, and then you get premarital counseling, you're getting married just because you just, everybody knows.

[21:48] And the counseling will do you no good. Because you're not going to listen because you're in love. Don't tell anybody and just get counseling.

[22:00] Don't tell anybody. Don't buy a ring because then you'll find out if you're really ready. Okay? Couple, back to that story. I'm sitting in my office, I'm counseling this dear couple, and see, I tell you, the Spirit of God will lead you.

[22:17] I just started looking at them at one point and something was wrong in my spirit. And so I asked one simple question. I looked at her and said, where do you live?

[22:30] She broke down in tears. Why? She was living with him. And that's not the way. That's not the way of the word of the Lord.

[22:44] Now they made a change after that, so praise God. They heard the word and they made a change. But here's the thing, we tend to fall for the enemy's lies because we're trying to be pragmatic.

[22:55] We're saving money. You can save all the money you want. But if you disobey the Lord, he will put a hole in your wallet.

[23:12] He wants you to follow him because he wants to bless you. He knows what's best for us. I don't know what's best for you, but Jesus does. And if we follow him, we walk in his blessing, in his grace, and we walk in the light.

[23:28] But if we reject his ways and do it our way, we end up walking in the dark. And you know something about walking in the dark? Thank you, sir.

[23:41] You stumble. Or at least you hit your big, you hit your little toe. Oh my gosh. Hit that little toe and your whole body just seizes up. I'm just trying to help somebody.

[23:51] I don't know who's out there. I don't know. Just be careful that you don't, you listen to the world's ideologies and philosophies and self-help groups and philosophies and psychologies and sociologies that have some measure of truth.

[24:05] Amen! But if you're not discerned, looking at that through the glasses of the spirit of the word, if you're not looking, just so you can filter through what's not good and get to the heart of it, if you're not doing that, then you will end up falling into a pit.

[24:32] Colossians 2 says, our hearts may be, Paul labors here, he says, that our hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance, of understanding, look at all these big words, of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

[24:59] I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to a human tradition or according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ.

[25:22] For in him, Christ, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. Listen to this. And you have been filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority.

[25:36] You see, that's what Paul was, and remember, in Paul's time, the Greek philosophers, Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, they died, but their impact had continued into that, so they knew about philosophy.

[25:52] And we still, we still bite off of their teachings. He knew exactly what he was talking about. And those philosophies just changed shape. They changed clothing.

[26:03] They still exist today. There is some truth, but it always breaks down. And Paul says, don't be taken captive by these plausible sounding arguments.

[26:15] Sounds good to the ear, but it's not good. How are you going to know? Because you, if you come to the word, calling upon the spirit of truth to help you, he will guide you.

[26:35] Who are you calling? Help has been given to all of us who follow Jesus. Help has been given. The help that we need but who are you listening to?

[26:51] Who's captivated your mind and your thoughts? Hebrews 13, 5 and 6 reminds us, keep your life free from the love of money.

[27:06] That's a philosophy. More money, better life. Get money. Get more money. Show me the money. Eh. Eh?

[27:19] Keep your life free from the love of money. There it is. Boom. Bam. But so what's the, so what's the opposite? And be content with what you have. That's a dirty word.

[27:34] Content. Someone asked a famous billionaire some years ago, sir, how much money is enough? His answer was, just a little bit more.

[27:48] That's our, that's America. Welcome, welcome. That's us, y'all. That's the, we are, we are just, we are the just a little bit more people. Keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have for it.

[28:04] He has said, Jesus has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper.

[28:17] I will not fear what can man do to me. You got the help you need.

[28:29] The Lord is your helper. The spirit of truth is the helper. You don't have to live for material possession. You don't have to be trapped in the get more, just a little bit more philosophy.

[28:44] Or any other, the other philosophies that are out there that are telling you how to get your best life now. You need, you, oh, you're not, what? I had the privilege of going to Penn State University and Temple University.

[29:03] fun places. Met my wife at Temple. And, um, I, I remember I saw you college students out there and I know you, I know you go to Covenant, some of you, but you don't have these issues there, of course.

[29:18] I was on the board for eight years, just so you know. We're going out. What are you going to do? Man, we're going, we're going, we're going, we're going to get lit, baby.

[29:30] I mean, we got, we got three kegs. We got, we're going to get some, we got some, you know. We got that brown water. Sometimes it's like drinking yellow water, if you know what I'm saying.

[29:47] It'll treat you. Drinking that brown water and we're going to have, we're going to have a party. And then, and then, yeah, we just have, blew off some steam. The finals are over. Midterms or whatever are over.

[30:00] Yeah, we're going to get, yeah, we're going to have a great, we're going, we're going pubbing. We're going to go from pub to pub, club to club. And we're going to just, we're going to get lit.

[30:11] Now, you're sitting there, not having a good time is a great thing. Bible doesn't forbid alcohol, unless you're underage.

[30:22] But what are we talking about here? Are we talking about having a good time? Are we talking about getting inebriated?

[30:35] Are we talking about getting a little bit outside of ourselves? Sometimes you need the spirit of God to help you understand what a good time is.

[30:53] The world will tell you what a good time is. And the spirit of God will also tell you what a good time is. Sometimes it gets hard to make the choice, but the spirit of God will help you stand.

[31:06] He will strengthen you. He will, and when you, and when you look like a fool, he will, he will comfort you because you will like a fool if you don't go.

[31:18] It's okay. And by the way, if you have to stay home alone, you are not alone. But I feel so lonely.

[31:31] I understand. I've been, I know what lonely feels, I understand. But listen, how I feel and what the truth is are two different things sometimes. I may feel lonely, but the truth is you are not alone.

[31:45] And sometimes you may have to just go to God. Say, spirit of God, help me to know I'm not alone. Help me to know I did the right thing before you.

[31:57] You see, Jesus says, if you love me, keep my commandments. Lord, I love you. I made the decision. I chose this path because I love you. Help me. Sometimes you're going to have to make that kind of choice.

[32:17] Just keep living. And you're going to make it a lot of times too. You're going to make this choice a lot of times in this fallen world. Lord Jesus, I love love for you.

[32:28] Help me, spirit of God. I'm going your way. And I know it's going to make me look stupid. I know it's going to make me feel lonely. I know it's going to make me misunderstood. I know someone's going to turn away from me because they want me to do something that I can't, that I will not do because I love you and I'm going to lose them.

[32:49] And he will strengthen you. Call out to him and he will strengthen you. He will fortify you.

[33:02] He'll protect you. He'll protect your mind and your heart so you don't give your heart away to the wrong thing or the wrong person. Jesus promised us help, y'all.

[33:16] The world can't receive this help because the world doesn't accept Jesus. It rejects the Jesus of the Bible and creates his own Jesus that just loves everybody and is so meek and mild and he just never judges anybody and he just, he everybody's friend and whatever you need, just call Jesus.

[33:38] that's the false Christmas Jesus. Jesus. But the Jesus of Scripture is much better than that.

[33:55] For he went to the cross that you may have life. He rose again from the dead to make sure you got life and he sent the Spirit of God to you to make, to help you connect with that life.

[34:06] That Jesus loves you enough to tell you the truth and that Jesus loves you that even when you make the wrong decision, he still won't let you go because the Spirit of Truth is with you how long?

[34:20] David prayed in Psalm 51 after he had sinned with Bathsheba. He said, take not your Holy Spirit from me. That's how he prayed. Now listen, how, why did he pray that way?

[34:31] Because he had seen what happened to King Saul. Remember, David was apprenticed under King Saul and he was, you know, helping him deal with his madness. You see, Saul had sinned against the Lord and he took his Spirit from him and the evil Spirit came upon Saul.

[34:48] So David saw what would happen if God took his Spirit from him. So he's praying, please Lord, I know I sinned against you but don't take your Spirit from me.

[34:59] Here's the thing, brothers and sisters, in the new covenant, you never have to pray that way. But you do need to repent. You never have to worry that he'll take his Spirit from you.

[35:12] He said he'd be with us forever. He's the down payment of our inheritance. He's the guarantee that you're going to get from here to there.

[35:24] He's the one who lives in you to make you new, to make you want to follow Jesus. No, he's not going to, he's the one that adopts you. He's the Spirit of adoption who comes upon you to make you a child of God.

[35:37] So, no, he's not going to leave you. But he will convict you. He will wear you out in love so that you'll repent and turn back to the truth.

[35:56] Aren't you glad we have a Father who loves us like this? Aren't you glad that Jesus promised us this Spirit and not the Spirit of the age which changes every few years?

[36:10] this Spirit will never change. He will always lead you to the truth. He will always remind you and apply to you the love of Jesus so that you can grow in your love of Jesus.

[36:27] I didn't get where I wanted to go but that's all right. It's your fault. Maybe you need prayer today. Maybe just, I'm just saying y'all, come on now, let's be real.

[36:40] Maybe, I know you pray for healing but maybe you need prayer because man, you gotta make some tough choices. When you don't know which way to go, you're trying to figure it out. Maybe you need prayer for discernment, for wisdom.

[36:52] If you want prayer for that, will you just come on down front and elders will come down and pray with you. If you come down, they'll come down. So if you, there's no, we just wanna pray for you.

[37:03] All right? So if you get there, if you feel like that's where you are, come on down, we'll pray. And I'm gonna pray right now and then we're gonna sing and make melody to the Lord and then we'll have a benediction. But if you want prayer, if you want prayer because you're in a tough spot and you're trying to figure out, Lord, which way to go, come on down.

[37:19] Let us pray for you. Praise team is coming now. This is not like the Billy Graham crusade where David moved first. No, this is not like that. But if you want, if you're, God help us.

[37:30] The things we do. But if you want help, the Lord is here to help you. Father, as we come to the end of this message, Father, Lord, I really wanted to go a little bit further, but Lord, I just felt my heart go out to my brothers and sisters and Lord, I pray that I know I spoke from your word.

[37:51] I pray, Lord, that this word will go down deep, deep in people's hearts. And Father, if I somehow screwed up and said something I shouldn't have said, I pray for your forgiveness and pray that your people would ignore it and hear the truth.

[38:08] Lord, somebody today is going to be, either God is going to make a choice or needs to make a choice or is coming up to making something that's a choice that's really important, Father, and they need your guidance.

[38:20] Will you please help them? Help them. Thank you, Spirit of God. Thank you for never giving up on us. Thank you that you will never leave us nor forsake us, Lord Jesus, and your Spirit is proof of that.

[38:35]  May we hear our cry. Amen.