Text: “the Counsellor,
the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all
things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” John 14.26
Lawyers
handling the case said: “We are pretty sure the inheritance is theirs........ There
is no need for anyone else to be informed.”
Geza Peladi one of the
brothers told TV reporters “We knew our mother came from a wealthy family but
she was a difficult person. She later abandoned us and we lost touch with her......
”
What
is the inheritance ?
You
know, according to the promise of Jesus in John 14 that’s what the disciples there
in the Upper Room in
In those deeply intense moments in the
Upper Room, had Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, and then Jesus told the
disciples, that in the deep, loving dynamic purposes of the living God - He was
to leave them soon. There was no sign of danger, and nothing seemed to have gone
wrong. Yet, Jesus, we are told, said to
the disciples ‘I
will be with you only a little longer.’ Here in the Upper Room, as they listen in silence Jesus tells the
disciples He is leaving, but, as we have seen over the past weeks, Jesus never
fails to show His love and care for the disciples......... and He now does this by promising them a
wonderful inheritance - the gift of the Spirit.
And
in John 14.26 Jesus teaches the disciples what the Spirit will do, what the
work of the Spirit will be.......... Jesus says:
John 14.26 ...the Counsellor,
the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in my name, will
teach you all things and will
remind you of
everything I have said to you.
Here,
Jesus declares that the Spirit will do two things...........
first He will teach you all
things and
second He will
remind you of everything I have said to you.
Let’s
take the second action of the Spirit, and then we will come back to the other word
of Jesus.........
Just
to be brief what does Jesus mean when He says the Spirit will remind you of everything I have said to you.... well, though these words of Jesus are brief.... they are of
great importance...... and its this..... that all four
gospels, Matthew Mark, Luke and John contain just exactly that..... everything that Jesus said..... as the early Church, as the
apostles were remembered it...... now see - what Jesus is saying here in John’s
gospel is that when the apostles came to write down all that Jesus had said, they
were not simply writing a book of history, or a the life story of Jesus........
no, far deeper than this,
the gospels we have before us..... are the
work of the Holy Spirit, shaped, created by the Spirit...... that’s what Jesus says
to His disciples..... when you recall, when you
remember, when you write you will be reminded of
everything I have said to you....
by the deep, profound, work of the Holy Spirit........
so, see - that’s what these gospels are, they are the books, the
testimony, the work of the Spirit, as Jesus promised.
But Jesus also says these
words
about the Spirit, which are also of deep and special interest
the Spirit, says the Lord
Jesus will teach you all things
What does this mean ?
It means this, that
the Spirit, says Jesus,
will teach us, guide us in faith, build us in faith and in the deep things of the
gospel
A while back I was speaking to
an African pastor, who
has a great passion for the Church in
A mile wide, an inch
deep....... that is, the Church has spread out over
It has breadth, it needs depth,
breadth
and depth.
You know, in the New Testament, there is breadth and depth to
what
the Spirit does...........
Take the Book of Acts, there we have the dramatic, dynamic work of the Spirit
in breadth. In Acts 1 and 2 we see all the believers, the Church gathered
together in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and with the sound of a rushing
of a mighty wind, and holy fire………..the Holy Spirit is poured out upon them.
Then the Church begins to spread out in breadth........ in
the Spirit. From the first chapter of
the Book of Acts to the 28th and last chapter…. we find the Holy Spirit driving
the Church as it spreads and broadens out. Philip runs away down to
the
Breadth... but there is also
depth to what the Spirit does..........
Another dimension to the work
of the Spirit, here in the Lord’s words in the gospel of John. What then is the
work of the Spirit in John’s gospel ? Jesus tells
us...........
the Holy Spirit, whom the
Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, He will lead you into
all the truth.........
What does this mean ? The Spirit will teach you all things, He will lead you into all the truth.........? It means this - that the Spirit leads us into all the truth and so our knowing and understanding become deeper……….
as
the Spirit works in us…….. our faith deepens
Though the message of the Cross might be a hindrance to some and nonsense to others,
as Paul says, the Spirit reveals to us the Cross of Jesus and its meaning,
the death of the Lord Jesus and its meaning,
as
the Spirit works in us, so we come to see the glory of the Cross.
as the Spirit works in us so we come to know the wonderful, the incomparable treasures of faith and understanding.
As the Spirit works in us so
we come to understand how broad and long, how high and deep is Christ’s love
That’s why Paul can say in
Ephesians 3, Paul says: I pray that you together with all God’s
people may have the power to understand how broad and long, how high and deep
is Christ’s love……… Here, Paul is praying for the Spirit’s work in
Many in the Church, many who spoke
at this year’s Assembly, watch and pray, for the Church to recover its
strength, to spread out once again over this land, renewed, remade by the
Spirit. The Holy Spirit driving the Church to spread and broaden out.
Breadth... and rightly so........ ,
but there is also depth to what the Spirit does..........
we also need to hear anew and afresh the words of Jesus in John 14
of how His Spirit will teach us, lead us into all the truth.........
so that our knowing and understanding will become deeper……….
ever deepening for the difficult times ahead...........