Jesus & the Holy Spirit (03/06/2005)

Turn with me again this morning to John chapter 14 if you would and in verse 1

Let's read Starting with verse 1. We'll review a little bit and read down through there in case you weren't here last time and Today we want to cover specifically verses 13 through 23

But we'll read down through there. So follow along and we'll read together

Let's have a word of prayer first though and then we'll begin father we thank you for your word We thank you that it is why we meet together not only to fellowship with one another and With you but to learn of you as we read your words

So we ask that your Holy Spirit would teach us the true sense of these verses Teach it as you meant for us to know it on this day and we ask it in Jesus name

Amen, let's start with John 14 and verse 1 and read together

Let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me

If you remember last time we did a word study on that word. Also, you could read it this way

Let not your heart be troubled You believe in God? believe even so in me

In verse 2 says in my father's house or many mansions if it were not so I would have told you

I Go to prepare a place for you Verse 3 and if I go and prepare a place for you

I will come again and receive you and to myself and where I am there ye may be also and whether I go, you know and the way, you know and Thomas saith unto him

Lord We know not whether thou goest and how can we know the way and Jesus said I am the way and the truth and the life

No man cometh unto the father by me the word the little word D is important in that verse in verse 6 because it shows that Muhammad is not the way

Buddha is not the way Confucius is not the way None of the great isms or religions of the world are even a way because Jesus says

I am the way And he says no man comes to the father, but by me that excludes all other religions in the world

The world today doesn't like that message the world today likes to picture that all the great religions could come together in the same place and Each leader from each could give a nice little message and we can all head for the same place

We're just going different directions the same way different ways to the same place.

That's not what Jesus said So you got to figure out who Jesus was either he was who he claimed to be or he was a liar

But one thing is he is not just one of many ways to God He is the only way that's what he himself said now we as we follow this study, we've been studying the very nature of God and how

God exists and As we study that we see more and more why it is that Jesus has to be the only way

Because a man cannot take us to a pure holy God a man like Buddha who ate a little bit too much anyway

Cannot take us to a pure and holy God Confucius may have some nice sayings

But so does William Buckley and even Bill Clinton comes up with a nice saying from time to time

And I don't believe either one of those two can take us to God So we find as we study the nature of Jesus Christ We see why it is that he is the only one who can take us to God because he's the only one that was a

God man he was fully man, but he was also fully God at the same time in one being and Therefore he came forth from God Jesus himself said

I proceeded forth and came out from God He is the only begotten that means he issued out from God.

He's the same essence there is only one God and so we've been studying these issues and So the word thee is so important in verse 6.

I am the way there aren't 15 ways. I Am the truth you can't find truth from other sources

Only to the extent that the other sources mimic the truth that comes from God's Word and they do that from time to time

That's why if you go and you look at some of the false cults 90 % of what they say may be true Probably not 90 % but some of it is true

But Jesus said it's the leaven you have to watch for The false part.

He said it's like leaven and it grows and it corrupts the whole thing Jesus is the only one who can say

I am the truth And then he says I'm the life and after all that's the reason he can take us to God The others don't promise to give you life

Know where do they promise that but Jesus is life. So therefore if you have son you have life

Verse 7 if you had known me Jesus told Thomas and the others ye should have known my father also and from henceforth, you know him and have seen him

It's good that we review verse 7 because it's important to understand the difference between knowing and seeing

This word no in the Greek language means to perceive with the intellect to perceive with the mind and This word

C is the word or oh, which literally means to stare at or to discern clearly with the eye

So if you've looked at Jesus Christ You have done two things you have known the father with the mind, but you have seen the father with the eye

That's what Jesus is saying If now he says it even more clearly as we go on But I want you to remember the two concepts of knowing

God with the perception of the mind because a little later in this passage when we get down to the comforter

You're going to learn that he is God known He is God perceived with the mind

Jesus was God seen with the eye now He was also God perceived with the mind and how can that be?

Someone tell me why when you look at Jesus you have both You have not only the perception of the mind of God you can you can know

God's mind You can know God when you see Jesus, but you can see God. Why do you have both with him?

Whereas with the Holy Spirit you only have one Yes, that's why you can see him, but why can you know

God when you see him? Because he's all he is he has the

Holy Spirit without measure He has the Holy Spirit without measure.

We have the Holy Spirit by measure He had him without measure.

He was all of the fullness of the Godhead in a body So therefore when you talk a little bit later in this passage, we're going to talk about the

Holy Spirit He is everything Jesus was except for the part of being able to see him.

You cannot see the Holy Spirit So Jesus was everything the

Holy Spirit is plus being able to see so you can perceive that's the Greek word here where it says you can know him

You can know him By Jesus because he's full of the Holy Spirit But you can also see

God when you look at Jesus because he's man. Also. He's physical you can look at him so Jesus is

God seen and God known and The Holy Spirit is

God known Are you with me you will get to that in a minute and I want

I'm glad we reviewed it because when we get to The part about the Holy Spirit will make more sense. Now, let's go to verse 8

Philip sayeth unto him Lord show us the father and we'll quit asking you these questions

Now this answer of Jesus is an answer of love but also

I won't say rebuke but correction

Jesus Said unto him I have been used with you so long and yet Hast thou not known me

Philip? Who is the me? That Philip didn't know

He didn't know who Jesus was So Jesus is gonna tell him he said he that hath seen me hath seen

The father that's with the seeing of the eye. I Believe it's the only way we will ever see the father

But it's all we need the only way we ever need to see the father Because Jesus is the father seen does that make sense?

Jesus told Thomas this he said how can you have walked with me all these days and not understand that when you look at me?

You are looking at the father Now He goes on he says he that hath seen me hath seen the father and How sayest thou then show us the father?

Believest thou not that I am in the father and the father in me The words that I speak unto you

I speak not of myself there why because it's the father talking when Jesus's mouth moves

The works that I do are the father's works. It's the G. It's the father's works

When Jesus hands are moving In this world Now that's very telling about our understanding of how

God exists with regard to the father and the son The son is the father seen

Now I have to say that I love to go and read what the thought the church fathers have written in the creeds about the

Trinity But I believe that if we read these scriptural passages we come to a better understanding of God than if we read their words

Because they would not allow for the son to be the father Would they?

They would not allow that and yet Jesus allows it Jesus says when you look at me you are looking at the father

Later he says I and the father are one and Then he shows that when

I speak words, it's the father's words. You're hearing when I do works. It's the father's works

The word works in the Greek is Ergon we have the word erg in physics if you've taken physics before it's a measure of work

Moving one an object from one place to another in space and time It's the measure of that and the energy behind that comes from the father

When Jesus made things happen in this physical world It was the energy of the father and the work of the father that was making it happen

Jesus said now let's move on because we we've covered that already verse 11 Believe me that I am in the father and the father in me or else believe me for the very works sake

Believe me if you don't believe it because I'm telling you who I am Then believe it because you're seeing me do things that a man cannot do

Alone, only God could do some of the things you've seen me do. That's exactly what he's saying. So I must be

God Truly truly I say unto you he that believeth on me the works that I do shall he do also and Greater works than these shall he do because I go unto the father and we would get to the place a little bit later in This passage where we talk about the coming of the

Holy Spirit. We'll see why this verse can be true Verse 13 and whatsoever you shall ask in my name that will

I do That the father may be glorified in the Son now Why what teaching do we see in verse 13 that would all by itself prove that Jesus is

God? Who's answering the prayers here

Jesus You can ask whatsoever you shall in my name that will

I he didn't say that will the father do He said that will I do That will

I do that the father may be glorified in the Son. So if he can answer prayers he is

God Verse 14 if ye shall ask anything in my name,

I will do it. Well, who is he? He is the father seen

So the father is doing it. But so is Jesus doing it because he is the father seen

You find as you study with these things in mind going all the way back to Genesis and all the knowledge that God gives us about himself and about the

Creation is that you'll understand that Jesus proceeded forth and came out from God as the father seen

Because he created the physical universe everything you can see and can't see there are things too small for us to see

Jesus created all of the physical things of the known universe If you love me keep my commandments

And I will pray the father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you forever

Now we start to see the mention of the Holy Spirit up into this point in this passage

We've talked about the father and the son Now we talk about the Holy Spirit and the

Trinitarian teaching of course speaks of The father the son and the

Holy Spirit being but one God. I Will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever

So that tells us that Jesus of one thing was a comforter When he was with his apostles on the earth walking he comforted them

You remember that the Apostle John would often sleep with his head upon the chest of Jesus Beautiful picture of the comfort that he brought to this man and so when he leaves and goes back to heaven, he says

I'm going to send another comforter a Comforter that's comforts like I comfort

Even the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not

Now what would have happened if God had not sent Jesus Only the

Holy Spirit had come There would have been no

God seen would there there would only been God known with the mind

God did send his son to this earth He was born in the manger If you go in and you read the very first verses in the book of 1st

John is beautiful because it talks about how we handled life with our hands

We saw him with our eyes our hands have handled the

Word of Life So Jesus was not only God seen he was

God touched He was God experienced with all of our senses and Then when

Jesus went back to be with the Father in the third heaven, he sends the Holy Spirit and Then he says but you have to understand that the world will not receive him because they can't see him

The world only believes in something they can understand what their senses The world cannot live by faith

But he says The world will not receive him because it seeth him not neither knoweth him

But ye know him now look at this for he dwelleth with you And he shall be in you at the time when

Jesus was speaking to his Apostles They were still living in what we call the

Old Testament economy You didn't have the indwelling Holy Spirit yet.

You didn't have that until the day of Pentecost Which was coming in their future. So Jesus tells them the

Holy Spirit Dwells with you even now What does that tell us the

Holy Spirit dwelt with the believers of the Old Testament? He was alongside them

He was as if you could walk with Jesus physically and have him at your side

Except he was invisible That same Holy Spirit was there for the

Old Testament Saints. He was there for these Apostles before the day of Pentecost But Jesus said it's expedient for you that I go into heaven for this reason because if I go

He can come and instead of being with you he can live in you

What a huge difference It's wonderful to have God with us. He is with us today

He is not only within you he is with us so there is a sense in which we are a church corporately and we can come and worship him as a group rather than as Only as an individual we can come together and not only have

God in us. We can have God with us side by side sitting between us in the pew

All around us because the Holy Spirit is omnipresent with regard to the physical universe

He is not omnipresent with regard to everything God made though, because he obviously is not in Satan and He is not in hell

He's only with regard to spirits He only dwells in an omnipresent way with regard to the believers

God's own children. He's elect So you have

God beside you and within you that's what the word baptized means

Immersed You are immersed in God at the time you first truly believed

You were immersed in God by the Holy Spirit because he came and dwelt inside you not only was he around you

But he was within you Jesus made this great promise to the apostles as a thing that would come in their lives

For you it happened the day you were saved at the moment of your salvation the

Holy Spirit came to dwell in you That means that your spirit and his spirit become one

That's why the Bible says when you get saved that God gives you the divine spirit the divine nature.

I should say How can you have the divine nature? How can

I have the divine nature? It is impossible unless The Spirit of God is made one with my spirit or with yours and that's how it works

All of this was foreshadowed or foretold here by Jesus It was prophesied that just a few days out.

This would happen to you. He says I will not leave you comfortless. I Will come unto you

Now this gets kind of interesting Explain to me How Jesus can say on the one hand that I'm going to send a comforter and he will come unto you and he was with you, but he shall be in you and we're speaking of the

Holy Spirit and He turns around in the very next verse and he says I will come unto you

So who is it coming to you the Holy Spirit or Jesus? Which person is it? Do you see how confusing it is if we use the word person in the sense that they used in the creeds and we try

To use the modern English word person. It doesn't make any sense because when we say a person we meet him we mean a separate person

It can't be that way Because Jesus says when the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in you.

I am coming to be with you Do you see that? Jesus is all of the fullness of the

Godhead bodily When the Holy Spirit comes to live in your life

The same person that Jesus was comes to live in your life except without the body Do you see that without the part you can see

The real self his real self comes and lives with you I will come to you yet a little while and the world seeth me no more

The world is not going to see the man the God man Jesus Christ until he comes again

He is coming again in the same fashion that he left us But while he is currently in the third heaven with the father the world cannot see him anymore

But you see me Now, how can that be? Why is it the believer can see him but the world can't

Because He comes to dwell within your hearts by the Holy Spirit his spirit

Do you remember when we first started this study? We went into the book of Revelation and we saw the throne of God and there were seven

Lamps in front of the throne of God and the Bible says those are the seven spirits of God Doesn't mean there are seven

Holy Spirits. It means the Holy Spirit is complete It's the complete Spirit of God the number seven being the number of completion in the

Bible and then it said and we look over here and we see the Lamb as If slain who is that?

The Lamb is whom Jesus and it says when you look in the eyes of the

Lamb You see what the same seven spirits that you see in front of the throne of the

Father That Is the same Holy Spirit the same spirit because Jesus and the

Father are one essence One substance one spirit one person as we would use the word person today

Now remember in the Latin and in the Greek in the in the first second third century. The word person was persona

Which is a slightly different meaning than the modern meaning of person So It's not you could think of it this way

God is just one person if you want to use the word like we use it today But he exists or manifests himself in three distinct ways

The Father the Son the Holy Spirit you can do that all at once Who can give me an example of when he did that all at once?

The baptism of Jesus That's right. Jesus was in the water a

Voice came from heaven saying this is my son in whom I'm well pleased and the Holy Spirit descended upon him as a dove all at one time three different personas one

God Now as we look at this

He says I will come unto you in verse 18 I will not leave you comfortless yet a little while and the world seeth me no more

But ye see me because I live ye shall live also At that day you shall know that I am in the

Father and ye in me and I in you now remember He's already taught us this idea when he was talking to Thomas earlier he said don't you believe that I am in the

Father and the Father in me and He left the teaching there for a little while Trying to get

Thomas to understand that teaching Thomas can you understand that when you look at me? You're seeing the

Father? Now he comes down and he says I'm going to send the

Holy Spirit who will be with you And then he will be in you and then he says then I will be with you and I'll be in you

And now verse 20 he says at that day that what day is he referring to I Think he's referring to the day of Pentecost when the

Holy Spirit comes to and dwell the believer He's telling them you can't quite understand this yet because you're not in dwelt by the

Spirit He's with you, but he's not in you But when that come day comes and God comes to dwell in your life

In your life and your your body becomes the temple of the Living God Then you will understand better what

I meant by God is in me And I'm in him because he says the same will be true in a sense at that day

You shall know that I am in the Father and ye in me and I in you now the same relationship that Jesus had with the

Father you will have with Jesus and Because you have that relationship with Jesus he then takes you to the

Father Why is that because we're fit we're not just spiritual beings we're physical as well are we not

And so Jesus being the God -man is the intercessor between us and God We are in Christ Christ in us and Christ is in God and God in him

So thereby we are with the Father and in the Father through being in Christ This is why

I believe that Jesus proceeded forth and came out from God It has to do with the physical universe and the creation of it and this earth and men

If you read Proverbs chapter 8 you'll see that Jesus says I was with the Father before any of this stuff was made and He said my delights are with the sons of men and he says my pleasure is on the earth, that's where the men are and So Jesus the

God -man Has an affinity towards his sheep which is us physical slash spiritual beings and That's the way

Jesus is the Father is not a physical slash spiritual being what is he? pure spirit

And so it required an intercessor or as Job said a days man.

Oh That there were a days man between me and God that could reach down and take my hand and reach up and take

God's and bring us together and Job learned a little bit later. There was such a one and it was the

Messiah None other than Jesus Christ Now let's read on because this gets amazing

He that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me Now let's stop a minute review what is he said so far in this passage he said

I'm going to leave the planet First before he said that who did he say he was

He said I'm God Exhibited before your senses on the planet in space and time.

That's who I am. If you've seen me, that's who you've seen Then he says I'm going to leave the planet and go back to be with God from whom

I proceeded forth and came out from Then He says

I'm going to send a comforter We know that's the Holy Spirit from other teachings in the

Bible And he says when he comes to you. I Will come to you that amazing

He says he will be in you and then he turns around like versus I will come to you now Let's go further because it just it's just it gets more amazing

He that has my commandments and keeps them he it is that loves me who's talking

Jesus is talking. What is his great commandment? Believe on whom he on who sent me

Whosoever it lives and believes shall never die

He that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loves me and he that loveth me shall be loved by my father

I Will love him and will manifest myself to him

Judas saith unto him now. This is not Judas Iscariot, but the other Judas Lord How is it that you will manifest yourself unto us and not to the world now?

You see I believe that Judas this is not the bad Judas by the way This is the one who wrote the book of Jude if I'm not mistaken.

I believe that Judas understood That Jesus was

God manifest in the flesh at this point God manifest in the flesh Because he asked the question if you're not here, how will

God manifest himself to the world? Doesn't that make sense that he would ask that? If you are

God seen what was Jesus name? What did the name the name Jesus mean? Can you remember the name

Jesus what does it mean? Excuse me Jehovah saves that's his name and his title was

Emmanuel. What does it mean? God with us and And so doesn't it make sense that Judas would say well if God with us is leaving and going back to heaven

How will God manifest himself to the world anymore? It's not such a bad question.

I think it was the right question, wasn't it? Jesus answered and that's why we're glad he asked that question so we could hear the answer

Jesus answered and said unto him if a man loved me He will keep my words, what are his words basically, let's just say the gospel message and My father will love him

Now look at this phrase And we will come unto him and make our abode with him

Now you have a uniplural God the same one you see in the first chapter of first few verses of Genesis Elohim It was a

Hebrew word that was one God, but it was a plural word and now we see

Jesus saying that at this point when I go back to be with heaven in heaven with the

Father and The Father sends the Holy Spirit to you and you're born again already

These these apostles were saved but they had to wait for Pentecost because they were coming out of the

Old Testament They were in a time of transition For you today this happens at the point of salvation

You don't have to wait for the Holy Spirit to come in a later date. He comes at the moment you believe That's proven in Acts chapter 10, by the way

But at this point he said he is going to come now. He says when he comes to you

He is coming to those of you who have kept my commandments who believe in me as the

Messiah And he says because you are a believer you love me

And you keep my word, which is my gospel and My father will love you because of that you see how he's the days man

He now has brought man and the father together he's brought physical man together with a spirit being and We will come unto him and make our abode with him

He starts off and says I'm gonna send the Holy Spirit. He'll be with you Then he says in the next verse well,

I will be with you and then he says The Father and I and the

Holy Spirit we will be with you So you can't just say it's the

Holy Spirit that lives in us but yet you can say it Why? Because if it's true that Jesus is all of the fullness of the

Godhead bodily It's also true that the Holy Spirit is all of the fullness of the Godhead spiritually

Because there's only one God ladies and gentlemen there aren't three There is only one

He manifests himself as the Son of God. He manifests himself as the

Holy Spirit He manifests himself as the father. He can do that all at one time

He can do it at separate times The father can dwell wherever the third heaven is while the

Holy Spirit is omnipresent and everywhere While Jesus is in one place All at the same time all one

God So when the Holy Spirit dwells in your heart, it is all of the fullness of God that lives in you

If Jesus walked physically into our church today Or better yet if he came again and we

Were raptured up into heaven or into some quadrant out here to be with him and could look at him physically

We would be looking at all of the fullness of God. I'm not saying you would see all of God because that's our limitation

It's not his though because he is all of God Because he includes the father

He Includes the Holy Spirit which is everywhere at one time and he is God seen and sensed with our senses

Now we're about out of time today but I want to The next time we'll finish this passage where we'll speak more specifically of the

Holy Spirit because we've spent so much time Speaking of Jesus the Son of God But I want to review a couple of verses with you that we've already covered after having gone through this passage and See if they're not very very clear

First when we're talking about who is Jesus? We talked about his name

Jesus Yeshua It means Jehovah saved

Remember then we talked about his title Emanuel which means

God with us and Then we went to first Timothy 3 16 and it says very clearly that without Controversy great is the mystery of godliness

God was manifest in the flesh The word manifest in the

Greek is fun arrow. Oh, which means to render apparent He is

God rendered apparent to the senses So if we use

Bible language who is Jesus he is God Manifest in the flesh if we look at John chapter 1 in verse 1 in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was

God. How can he be both God and with God at the same time? How could he do that if he's two specific individual people

Like we come to think when we use the word three persons I'm not against using the word three persons as long as you understand doesn't mean a person like me and you

It doesn't mean a distinct separate person What it does mean is that in the beginning?

When the physical universe was about to be spoken into existence at some point prior to that The eternal son proceeded forth and came out from the father and was begotten of the father and was there with the father

But he's the same stuff that the father is He's the same essence

The same substance because there's only one God He is God manifest in the flesh

He is God manifest in the physical and therefore he being the physical

Manifestation spoke the physical worlds into existence and that's why Jesus is the creator of everything that is

He is the creator of everything seen and unseen Everything on the earth and in heaven.

He is not a created being like some of the cults say that he is But neither is he a second

God There's only one Jesus was with God and the word was

God and the same was in the beginning with God All things were made by him and without him was not anything made

That was made and then we looked at Hebrews 1 3 It says Jesus is the brightness of God's glory in the express image of his person

Now the word person there You can use it in the true sense of the word

God is one person. He is one living Entity he is life

Jesus is said to be the brightness of his glory and the express image of this one person

So he is not a second person in that sense depending on how you define the word of course

But if you're using it to mean one individual thing Jesus is not a second individual thing.

He is the express image of the first thing, which is fought the father God there aren't two gods

Now I believe if I had lived and you had lived in the first or second century we would have been emphasizing the three personas

Because the great heresies of that day denied the existence of Jesus being God But today we live in a day that is confused and uses the

Father the Son the Holy Spirit and goes like this Like there are three gods

So we bring the balance back towards the truth, which is that there is one

Person and G and that is the father and Jesus the express image of that person Now if you meet person in the in the terms of persona, which was the

Latin word used by the early fathers There are three personas, but one essence one God Because who can remember what the word persona actually means?

It's a mask. It is a face if you want to put it in scriptural terms.

It is a manifestation and So God is one

God who manifests himself in three distinct personas the Father the

Son and The Holy Spirit and all of these verses make sense if we understand it that way

Colossians 1 15 Jesus is the image of the invisible

God He is the image he is the likeness the word image is icon in the

Greek it means a likeness a statue if you will a Physical manifestation of the true person

He is the image of the invisible God the firstborn of every creature This is why

I think that your physical eyes will never see the invisible father, but you will see him in Jesus and Since Jesus is the father

Made apparent to the eye you will be perfectly content because you are seeing

God So don't ever go around say well, I'll never get to see God You will see God the first thing you will see when your heart stops beating and stays stopped for one beat

Is you're going to see God? You're gonna be looking in the face of Jesus and he would say to you just as he would to Thomas How can you say let me see

God have you not known me You've walked with me all your life on the earth. Have you not known me?

If you look at me you have seen God Or by him were all things created that are in heaven that are in earth visible and invisible

Colossians 118 he is the head of the body of the church Colossians 2 9 in Him dwelleth all of the fullness of the

Godhead in a body You're not going to ever see three gods

It's one God There's only one he manifesting himself to us because of our limitations not his because of our limitations

He manifests himself before our eyes as the Son of God he manifests himself to our hearts and minds as the

Holy Spirit and Yet each is all of the fullness of God being manifested to us

Can you think of the darkness that we would be in? Without the

Word of God that tells us these things Without the living Word of God Jesus whom we saw and felt and laid our hands upon life

Can you imagine the darkness humans would be in without him having come? Without this written word that you hold in your lap today and without his spirit, which is one with your spirit within you

So that now you can know him in a way that even the Apostles didn't know him at the time Jesus said these verses they didn't know these things yet about I and the

Father the Father and me and you and me They couldn't understand that yet, but you can You don't fully understand

But you can understand more and more of it every day as you walk on this earth your entire lifespan

This particular topic is one that you will not get to the end of but you will make progress

In every step of the way, let's stand and have prayer together We'll finish this study next time on the last verse is the passage where we focus more on the

Holy Spirit Father we thank you for your word. We thank you for How clear it really is in?

Lord we as men as we try to describe these things We really sometimes muddle it up more than we help and we notice that our church fathers

Sometimes are that way But as we go back to your word, and we just simply read the scriptures

We see who you are Lord give us further and deeper understanding of how you exist for you are the one we are interested in You have called us to yourself

Father I pray that it was if there's anyone in our congregation today that does not have that sense in their own heart

They are not drawn to you. They they don't even sense that they know you that your

Holy Spirit would move upon their lives and Draw them to the Lord Jesus Christ that they might receive him as their personal

Lord and Savior and then no life Lord, I pray that you would go with us into our time of fellowship.