Sermon by Pastor Brent Kompelien

November 19, 2023

INTRO

1. Good morning! I’m Pastor Brent, its so good to be with you. I’m excited for Soup and Pie Night this evening. It is so important that we come together as a church family to give thanks to the Lord for who He is and what he has done for us. Enjoying some good food together is certainly one way to express our gratitude to the Lord.

2. ILLUST — In February 2018 I had just reached a painful end to our last church planting project in San Francisco. I was struggling, my family was not doing well, and it was clear the Lord had slammed the door shut on our hopes of starting a new church. This was just weeks before we learned about New Life, yet at this moment I was so discouraged.

1. On February 7 I got on the bus early in the morning to head downtown for a meeting and I was reading my Bible. A guy sat down next to me and immediately said, “Hey, is that a Bible?” “Yes.” “Ah, hey brother! I have my Bible too.”

2. His name was Joaquin and he told me his story about coming to faith in Christ the previous year and how he is in a discipleship training class at his church. When I told him I was a church planter, he immediately stopped and put his hand on my arm and prayed for me. He prayed for encouragement, strength, wisdom beyond my years, and the presence of God through the Spirit.

3. After he finished praying, he looked up and caught my eye and he said, “Be encouraged. God says he will never leave you nor forsake you. Where he leads, he feeds.”

4. I explained to him how the last month has been really hard and that I was grateful for the encouragement. He replied, “It’s the Lord. I usually take the earlier bus, but I woke up late this morning. So it was God who put me on this bus!”

5. I’ll never forget the promise from Deuteronomy 31 that Joaquin shared with me that day that also is a promise for you: God says to you, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

3. Right up front, I want to tell you one of the most important things you can know about being a follower of Jesus: You are not alone.

1. Yes, we have each other here in the Body of Christ, and that is a wonderful gift…but that’s not what we are talking about this morning in our passage.

2. Most fundamentally, you are not alone because when you trust in Jesus Christ by faith, you have the personal presence of God indwelling in you: The Holy Spirit.

4. We’ve been working our way through Jesus’ teaching to his disciples in the Upper Room on the evening before he goes to the cross. And the disciples are discouraged, confused, and they are struggling to grasp what Jesus is telling them. You see, Jesus essentially says, “I’m about to leave as I go to the cross, rise from the dead, and ascend to be with the Father. Oh, and by the way, when I’m gone people aren’t going to treat you well. You will encounter struggles, you will get discouraged, you may even wonder how you can go on day-by-day as my followers. But remember this: You are not alone. I will send you The Holy Spirit.”

1. Friends, you may be discouraged this morning. You may be hurting. You may be encountering illness, struggles at work, frustrations in your family, or you might even be questioning how you can go on trying to follow Jesus day-by-day.

2. I want you to know this: The presence of God is not distant, the power of God is not hidden, and purposes of God are not unclear. The Advocate, the Helper, the Comforter is near. The Spirit of Truth is part of God’s plan for his people. He is the reason you are not alone.

5. Open with me to John 15:26. We will be reading John 15:26-16:15, which is a specific passage about the work of the Holy Spirit. Previously in John 14, we focused on the person of the Holy Spirit and we spent time learning about the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Today’s passage focuses, however, on the work of the Spirit. What does the Holy Spirit do? Let’s read. READ John 15:26-16:15.

ORG SENT — When we examine this passage, Jesus helps us understand the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit’s role as our Advocate and Comforter is three-fold: Bearing Witness (15:26-27), Convicting the World (16:1-11), and Guiding the Disciples (16:12-15). This is how we will tackle this passage today.

MAIN 1 — Bearing Witness (15:26-27). (SLIDE 2a)

1. In verse 26, the first thing to notice is that Jesus repeats the name of the Holy Spirit that he used prior in chapter 14: the Advocate. Some of your Bibles say Helper or Comforter.

1. This word Advocate means = (SLIDE 2b) One who is called to someone’s aid, who appeals on behalf of another.

1. When we encountered this word in chapter 14, we learned that it is a deeply personal word, and the key to understanding it is grasping our desperate helplessness and need. Remember: You are not alone. God has sent his Spirit to come to our aid.

2. Did you notice the Trinitarian shape of this “sending” in verse 26? The text says that Jesus sends the Holy Spirit from the Father. There is a sense in which all three persons of the Trinity are in union with each other and working as one to bring about the purposes of God.

3. And did you notice what the role of the Spirit is? (SLIDE 2c) To testify about Jesus.

2. This word “testify” is a key concept in the gospel of John. John uses this word 31 times in his gospel. It is a central part of John’s understanding of Jesus, and Jesus himself uses this word over and over again.

1. Testify is typically a legal word. It is like being a witness on the stand testifying about the truth of who someone is or how events really happened.

2. KEY — This is the key whenever this word is invoked: (SLIDE 2d) When someone testifies about what is true, there must be a verdict. Giving testimony implies that a decision must be made about the truth of who someone is or what they have done. Remember what we learned last week: You can’t be neutral about Jesus!

3. This is important, because here’s what you need to know about John’s gospel: The purpose of John’s gospel is evangelistic. John say in chapter 20:31 that he wrote this book “that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

4. In other words, there must be a verdict; there must be a decision. In John’s gospel the Pharisees and leaders of Israel think they are putting Jesus on trial, but in reality Jesus is putting the world on trial! (SLIDE 2e) Who is right? Either the the kingdom of this world is right or Jesus and the Kingdom of God is right. It can’t be both.

3. And so, here we see the primary role of the Holy Spirit: To testify that Jesus is who he says he is! And to bear witness to the glorious reality of the supremacy of His Kingdom!

1. But look at verse 27. READ v. 27. Don’t miss this: We also are commanded to testify about Jesus. This is the only function of the Holy Spirit that overlaps with us. It is not our job to convict the world or to speak or illuminate Jesus’ words, as we will see later in this passage. But here, we have the same task: Testify about Jesus!

2. In other words, your life is a living witness. Your words and deeds are to display the verdict of the Lordship of Jesus in living reality. Your whole being is to be a monument to Jesus; you are living proof that the free gift of salvation by grace through faith is true, and your actions as a follower of Jesus are to cause people around you to be confronted with the same decision: Is Jesus right? Or is the prince of this world right?

3. But in all this, remember: You are not alone! The Spirit testifies about Jesus. It is actually through the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying work in you that you can testify at all! And as the Spirit works in our lives, we bear witness to the truth of the gospel.

2. In light of this call to testify, we need to ask ourselves: Whose job is it, ultimately, to work in the hearts of people when a verdict must be decided? The Holy Spirit.

MAIN 2 — Convicting the World (16:1-11). (SLIDE 3a)

1. In verse 1, we see the purpose of why Jesus is telling his disciples about the role of the Holy Spirit, especially as they encounter opposition and persecution. He doesn’t want them to become disillusioned or discouraged and fall away. READ vv. 1-4a.

1. There is a key word here that I want to draw your attention to: “service”. Jesus warns that some people will even kill followers of Christ thinking they are offering a service to God.

1. The best example of this is Saul (later known as the Apostle Paul). He literally stood by, approving of the stoning of Stephen in Acts 8.

2. (SLIDE 3b) The word “service” is one of the words used in the New Testament for “worship”, as in Romans 12:1 where we are called “to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

2. This is a curious and painful reality that the disciples were about to face: It was likely that their own Jewish friends and family would disown them or even try to kill them, thinking that they were doing God’s will.

1. KEY: There is a double-meaning here with this word “service/worship”. In the eyes of those who don’t agree with the verdict that Jesus is who he says he is, the death of Christians is thought to be worship to God, but they are deceived. Yet ironically, when we consider the martyrs of the early church, the death of Christians is in fact a service of worship to God, just not in the way the persecutors thought! It is an act of supreme devotion that truly does honor Jesus! As he said, “You must deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me.”

2. Yet in this high and difficult calling, Jesus still tells his disciples that he is leaving and that this is necessary in order for the Holy Spirit to come. Why is that?

1. There is a theme across the Old Testament that pointed to this reality. Over and over in prophecies about the coming of the Last Days, sometimes called the messianic age or the dawning of the Kingdom of God, it was said that God’s Spirit would indwell God’s people.

1. Ezekiel 36:26-27 is a perfect example. The Lord promised, (SLIDE 3c) “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”

2. There is this sense that the new people of God, constituted under a new covenant, submitting to the Lordship of the Messiah, will receive a new heart and be born again to new life, and that this will be brought about by the regenerating work of the Spirit of God himself.

3. Here’s the point: Jesus says in verse 7 that this is for our good because the Spirit’s convicting and guiding work goes far beyond the expectations of the disciples who could not imagine what it would be like for the Spirit of God to ignite a world-wide response to the message of the gospel. In this new reality the truth about Jesus reaches far and wide through the Spirit-empowered ministry of the church.

3. You see, Jesus looks at his discouraged and frightened disciples who are about to form a new community of faith that testifies about Jesus, and makes sure they know one thing really clearly: (SLIDE 4a) It is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict the heart, not yours.

1. Remember, John’s gospel demands a verdict. The world, through the influence of Satan has tried to say to Jesus, “You are wrong.” But Jesus’ resurrection and ascension prove that he is who he says he is! And the Holy Spirit will continue this vindication of Jesus in three specific ways, as verse 8 says, “When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment.” Then Jesus explains each of these three realities:

1. (SLIDE 4b) Sin (read v. 9) — The core of the world’s sin is unbelief in Jesus.

2. (SLIDE 4c) Righteousness (read v. 10) — The world needs to see Jesus’ supremacy as God’s Son, sitting at the right hand of the Father with all authority and power.

3. (SLIDE 4d) Judgment (read v. 11) — Satan does not have the final say; he is condemned!

2. IMPORTANT — We must understand, just like the disciples, that the Holy Spirit does the work of convicting us of our sin, of our lack of submission to Jesus, and of the false claims of the evil one. Through the Spirit of God, the verdict is in: Satan has lost, Jesus has won!

4. Armed with this knowledge, we need to see the last part of our text which shows how the Spirit guides Jesus’ disciples.

MAIN 3 — Guiding the Disciples (16:12-15). (SLIDE 5a)

1. Imagine this moment. If you look at verse 12, I can just picture this scene. Jesus is having an intimate conversation with this disciples. He is sharing all this new information with them, he is alluding to his impending death on the cross, he is telling them he is going away, and he warns them about the persecution they will face and the threats on their lives. And you can see the fear and anxiety and confusion welling up from within them. You can see it in their eyes.

1. And Jesus’ heart of compassion is so tender: “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear” (v. 12). You can see that he pausing to just look them in the eyes and say, “I know friends, this is hard.” Then he reminds them again about this most important reality: You are not alone.

1. The Spirit of Truth will guide you, He will speak Jesus’ words, He will glorify Jesus through you. KEY: The Holy Spirit’s ministry is Christocentric (SLIDE 5b). He is all about bringing attention to Jesus and guiding us to know and love Jesus.

1. In other words: (SLIDE 5c) The truth that characterizes the Holy Spirit is centrally the truth about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

2. ILLUST — Theologian and pastor J.I. Packer says his classic book Keep in Step with the Spirit that the Holy Spirit’s ministry is a “floodlight ministry” (SLIDE 5d) and Jesus is the one highlighted by the beam of light.

1. In other words, you may not see the beam of light, but you certainly see the One whom the beam illuminates. And light always overcomes darkness, as the Holy Spirit always shines glory upon Jesus and guides us to know what is true about Jesus and what Jesus has done for us in the gospel.

2. APPLY: When you are discouraged, when you are facing difficulty, when conflict or failures arise, or when this world seems to have pronounced its verdict, remember this promise of God that my friend Joaquin reminded me of years ago: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

1. Jesus has made good on this promise by sending the Holy Spirit to be with us as our Advocate, our Helper, our Comforter, and to draw us into intimate fellowship with Christ. It is the Spirit who will guide us into all truth.

2. Again, John’s gospel makes this so clear: There must be a verdict. It is the Holy Spirit who will shine a light on the answer: Jesus is Savior and Lord.