A sermon based on John 14:15-21, Rev. J. Orlando Flahn
INTRO: Rich and Patty White traveled to a third-world country to adopt a little girl named Olona. After two years of effort and endless paperwork, the Whites finally stood before a judge who read solemn words from an official document: “Inasmuch as Olona Morgan is orphaned and unwanted by any family in this country… Inasmuch as no citizen of this country wishes to have Olona Morgan…” As the recitation ended, officially granting them custody, the loving couple dropped to their knees, embraced their new daughter, and promised, “You will never have to hear the word ‘unwanted’ spoken of you again.”
Back home in Tennessee, they gave their daughter a new name: Hope White.
Shelly writes, “You and I are unwanted orphans in a hostile universe. Dearly loved, sought after, and claimed, we are God’s children. We have been given Christ’s name as our own. We are secure because of him. On the authority of Jesus, we rest in confidence that we are more precious than we dared dream.”
Last Sunday, we learned that Jesus told His disciples He was going away, and their hearts were filled with fear, anxiety, and discouragement. Many of us can relate to their feelings—they had left everything to follow the long-awaited Messiah, and now He was telling them He would leave them, like “orphans,” to face a future that suddenly seemed uncertain and hopeless.
After all, what could compare to having the Lord Jesus with them—walking beside them, talking with them, and sharing life together for three and a half years? Yet Jesus calmed their fears and asked them to trust Him.
Today, Jesus invites us to focus on the reality that we, as His followers, are never left alone. This is the first of several passages on the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room Discourse. Up to this point in John’s Gospel, little has been said about the Holy Spirit, except for what Jesus said to Nicodemus in private, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (3:5-6 ESV).
Jesus assures us that we are eternally bonded with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, regardless of what we are going through. There is a bond between us and the Triune God, an eternal mystical relationship, rooted in the love of God that is shed abroad in our hearts.
In that moment, the disciples heard Jesus speak about the coming of the Holy Spirit. He assured them that the Spirit’s presence would be even greater than His physical presence among them.
How could that be? Many of us would prefer to have Jesus with us in His physical body rather than the Holy Spirit, whom we cannot even see. That’s exactly how the disciples must have felt. Holy Spirit? Who is He? But Jesus knew better and assured His disciples that the Holy Spirit would be preferable to His remaining with them in His physical body.
While this may be hard for us and for His early disciples to understand, I tell you, the Holy Spirit’s ministry in the life of the believer is better than the earthly ministry of Jesus.
We are not diminishing or taking anything away from the sacrificial ministry of Jesus on earth. We know fully well that without God the Father sending God the Son, Jesus Christ, to earth to pay the awful price to redeem us from sin, there could be no present ministry of the Holy Spirit. God’s entire plan to rescue the world from sin rests on the redemptive work of Christ.
But in the dispensation of the ways the Godhead works, once the work of Jesus Christ was done, it was to our advantage for the Son of God to return to the Father so that He would send the Holy Spirit to take His place.
It is important to understand the value of the Holy Spirit’s work. When Jesus was on earth, He could be in only one place at a time as the Son of Man. Sometimes we might imagine that seeing Jesus physically in front of us would be the ultimate experience. Yet Jesus Himself said it is better to have the Holy Spirit. He said, “But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you.” (John 16:7 NLT)
So, we see a few benefits in today’s gospel lesson that explain why Jesus says it is to our advantage to have the Holy Spirit with us today.:
THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES TO BE IN US AND TO BE WITH US FOREVER (14:16-18):
In verse 15, Jesus begins, “If you love Me, obey My commandments.” Genuine love for Him is shown through our obedience—when we are truly bonded to Him, our love will be evident in how we keep His commandments.
In verse 21, Jesus reiterates, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
So, out of this bond of love, Jesus promises that He will ask the Father to send what you truly need most: your greatest Helper/Advocate/Comforter, the Holy Spirit, who is best for us.
In verse 17b, Jesus says, “For He (the Holy Spirit) will dwell with you and will be in you.” Then Jesus boldly declares in verse 18, “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.”
APPLICATION: My friend, we are never meant to be alone in this hostile world. Day after day, no matter what we face, this is the promise of Jesus: we are not abandoned. God’s Spirit comes to comfort us in our trials and tribulations (2 Cor 1:3-5). Do not believe you are alone, for you are loved by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—even in your hardest moments. The Triune God will never leave you orphaned.
The gift of the Holy Spirit is what we need most in the absence of Jesus’ physical presence. The Spirit comes to live within us and be with us forever.
In OT times, God’s Spirit came upon some believers for special enablement to accomplish specific tasks, but after Pentecost He indwells every believer permanently (Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 12:13).
That’s why Christ’s departure was essential so that each believer could receive the eternal presence of the Holy Spirit.
TO GUIDE US INTO ALL TRUTH (v 17a; 16:13-15):
Jesus refers to Him in verse 17a as the Spirit of truth. Later, in John 16:13-15, Jesus says, “When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth.” The Spirit of truth takes what is objectively true and makes it real and personal in each believer’s life, leading us into a deeper knowledge of God’s truth.
Why is this ministry of the Holy Spirit necessary? John writes, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1) The Apostle Peter also warns, “But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. 3 In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.” (2 Peter 2:1-3 NLT)
Without the Holy Spirit’s ministry revealing God’s truth to His church, errors would prevail….
HE SEALS US TO BE PARTAKERS IN GOD’S DIVINE NATURE (vs-19-21):
Jesus’s promise not to leave us orphaned is not only about waiting to welcome us into the Father’s presence in heaven when we die. It is also about making us partakers of the divine nature of the Triune God here and now, through the abiding presence of the Spirit.
Listen: God isn’t going anywhere… we are bonded in Him… The Holy Spirit is the active agent in our mystical union—baptizing and uniting us to Jesus Christ, sealing our salvation, and enabling intimate communion with the Holy Trinity.
APPLICATION: So, how about you? Are you feeling alone or abandoned today? Jesus promises to be with us just as He was with the disciples—though we cannot see Him, He lives with us by His Holy Spirit.
Conclusion:
Leslie B. Flynn tells the story of an orphaned boy living with his grandma when their house caught fire. The grandmother, trying to get upstairs to rescue the boy, died in the flames. The boy’s cries for help were finally answered by a man who climbed an iron drainpipe and came back down with the boy clinging to his neck. Several weeks later, a public hearing was held to determine who would receive custody of the child. A farmer, a teacher, and the town’s wealthiest citizen all gave reasons they felt they should be chosen to give the boy a home. But as they talked, the little boy’s eyes remained fixed on the floor. Then a stranger walked to the front and slowly took his hands from his pockets, revealing severe scars. As the crowd gasped, the boy cried out in recognition. This was the man who had saved his life. His hands had been burned when he climbed the hot pipe. With a leap, the boy threw his arms around the man’s neck and held on for dear life. The other men silently walked away, leaving the boy and his rescuer alone. Those marred hands had settled the issue. (Our Daily Bread, December 26 Source Bible.org)
The scars on the hands of Jesus are proof that we are not left alone. He continues to be with us through the Holy Spirit as our comforter.
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