The Helper, The Spirit of Truth

5-19-24

Hoonah-Hadley

John 15:26,27-16:4-15

Call to Worship Psalm 104:24-34

Daily Verse John 15:26

“But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.” Other versions substitute “Helper” with “Comforter”, or “Counselor”. Help is to give aid, to assist. To further the progress or advancement of. The Meriam Webster Thesaurus used the word “servant”. Other definitions, to prevent, change, rectify. God’s word, the teachings of His Son, is, and are as a matter of fact as you’ll find. They are true, trustworthy, certain, applicable, profitable, and timely. When God says a thing, you can count on it, take it to the bank, it is living and active, designed for correction, reproof, advancement. When Jesus says the “Helper” will come, He will, trust that He will. And this not just any helper, but “Helper” with a capital “H”! Help sent from the Father. “Father”, capital “F”, God. God sends us help. Why does He send us help? Because we need help. Some questions are in order as we get going here. Where do we go for help? To the doctor? Lawyer? Banker? Mechanic? Preacher? Neighbor? Friend? Of whom do we seek counsel? Who do we seek in our hour of need? Where do we find comfort, healing, restoration when we are broken, lost? Psalm 27:4 “One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. To behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.” There is no other hope, no other cure, no other help that does what the One that God sends does. He sends help.

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Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”  The Helper is the “Spirit of truth”, capital “S”. Just for the record, “the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” in the beginning in Genesis 1:2. The Spirit is present in the second verse of the bible and nearly the last. Revelation 22:17 “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.” The Helper, the Spirit of truth, a very present help in trouble, comes to assist, aid, comfort, counsel, to further our progress and advancement, to prevent, change, rectify, to serve, and then some. What does the Spirit require of us? “Come!” “Thirst”. “Desire”. Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” The bookends of the bible are 3 in 1, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. And here we are in the gospel with Christ teaching us, reminding us that the Spirit will come, “He” is sent from the Father, and “He will testify of Me.” (Christ) John 3:32-34 “And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies…He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.” John 4:24 “God is Spirit…” Father, Son, Holy Spirit, 3 in 1. He will and He does testify of Christ. Acts 20:22-24 “And see, now I go bound in the spirit…except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city…which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”  Where ever God is, the Spirit is and where ever the Spirit is, “He” testifies of Christ. Acts 21:11 “Thus says the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit has and will come, and He will testify to the truth, of Christ. By the way, just for good measure, Jesus is the “Word” and the “Truth”. 

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Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me…to the end of the earth.” The Holy Spirit is given to us so that God’s people may bring God’s word to God’s world. We’ll not pretend to understand the “if”, “how” or “why” some may walk in light of Acts 1:8 and others do not, but God sets it before us to ponder and ask the question, is He talking to me, to you? Now we understand Jesus is speaking to the apostles here, but are we not in the hearing of His word today? Has He not called us, elected us, predestined us, chosen us, sent us? Maybe the question is, are we the “you” in Acts 1:8? 1 Cor. 6:19 “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” We can chew on this for a while and allow the digestive process to have its sanctifying work within us. Sanctification is a real transformation, not just the appearance of one. The basic meaning of “sanctify” is to set apart to God, for His use. Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son…these He also called…”  A preacher walked into an airport one day with luggage and a bible in his hand, and as he approached the check-in counter a woman came to assist him. She asked, “are you a preacher?” He said, “I am”. She said, “I can feel it.” If the Holy Spirit does indeed dwell within us, if we are sanctified, set apart, His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, is that power come upon us sufficient to light our lamp for all the world to see?

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John 16:7 “Nevertheless I tell you the truth…the Helper…I will send Him to you.” Here’s the thing about God every time, He sends help, a counselor, a servant, a comforter, a substitute, and so much more, but all these things come under His eternal canopy without bounds, “the truth”. The flesh, the world, the enemy has us in constant turmoil and bondage, deceiving us, lying to us, leaving us sick, broken and wanting. God, the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ His Son, team up and break the chains of that bondage with the “Truth”. Psalm 31:5 “Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.” Psalm 33:4 “For the word of the Lord is right, and all His work is done in truth.” Fact: there is nothing, not one thing available to humanity that takes the clouds of darkness away except God’s “Truth”. 1 John 5:6 “…And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.” What is the Spirit? The Spirit is “Truth”, and it is this truth that sets us free, nothing more, nothing less.  John 16:8 “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” We can pray about these things and hope for them, we can neither stop it, delay it, or speed it on its way, but we can trust the certainty of it. Vs. 9 “of sin, because they do not believe in Me.” The evidence is mounting, the verdict is in, there are those that simply do not believe in the “Truth”.  Romans 1:25 “who exchanged the truth of God for the lie.” Proverbs 23:23 “Buy the truth and do not sell it.” Of all the things we covet, of all the things we purchase, store up where moth and rust corrupt, the one thing with the best return is a gift, paid for, bought with a price, doesn’t cost us a nickel but will save our souls. Vs. 13 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth.”

Help is on the way. 

Amen.