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Read John 17:7-15

The God who gives

 Genesis 22:8 “God himself will provide a lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” V14 So Abraham called that place ‘The Lord will provide’  And to this day it is said: “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided”

The mountain in v2 is called Moriah, which is identified in 2Chronicles 3:1 as the temple mount or as it is currently, where the Dome of the Rock is. It is a theologically strategic place and it is a place where God provides. It is the key to the revelation of God. He is the God who gives. All other world religions, including Atheism, are about what we have to do. Christianity is birthed in Judaism which is about the God who provides. By Jesus’ time, that vital concept was lost and Judaism had been reduced to a set of rules about what I have to do to please God.

John 3:16

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Once again he is the God who gives. In this case it is not a lamb that was substituted but Jesus himself. Our gospel is unique. It is about what Jesus does for us and what he gives us. After refreshments this morning you need to be back in here, celebrating Communion. Jesus sat with his disciples and taking the bread said to them “ This is my body, given for you”. We will receive bread and wine to remind us that our salvation is not about what we do, but what God has given.

Jesus freely came “to give his life as a ransom for many”

To quote Jesus’ own words in Matthew 20:28 & Mark 10:45.

Luke 11:13

If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’

That gives a somewhat different line to Father’s Day. Our heavenly Father is the God who gives. And most of all he gives his Holy Spirit to his children.

Our God is the God who gives. And he gives himself. To be in us and with us for ever.

Now we discover there is more! God not only gives His Son to give us life but he gives us his Holy Spirit to live the life he created for us. And that is not all! Jesus also promises that he has prepared a place for us in heaven so that we can be with God forever!

He is the God who gives! Therefore our gospel is about receiving NOT doing. There is nothing you can do to earn your salvation except repent and ask for it. . There is nothing you can do to receive the Holy Spirit but ask for him.

 And you will not be painting and decorating when you get to heaven Jesus has it all prepared for you. Adam was created on the sixth day. And on the seventh day God rested and invites humanity to join him in that rest. He has completed the creation. He has completed the work of our salvation. You are tasked with receiving and enjoying his presence forever.

 Secondly Jesus is quite clear that his continued presence is by way of the Holy Spirit.

John 14: 15-20

¹⁵ ‘If you love me, keep my commands. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you for ever – ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. ¹⁸ I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹ Before long, the world will not see me any more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ On that day you will realise that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

 Either Jesus is confused or he explicitly states that the Coming of the Holy Spirit and his presence are one and the same thing. The disciples walked and talked with Jesus day by day. We are invited to walk and talk with Jesus everyday but through the Holy Spirit. Instead of a physical presence we have a spiritual presence.

 There is a great temptation to imagine that this is some licence to have some super-power and use it like Super-man, Super-woman, Spider-man, Banana-man, The Force and so on. But we are not invited to receive special powers, we are invited to receive the Holy Spirit. He is God and therefore our relationship with him is dictated by his character.

 In this passage we read:

 Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; ¹⁰in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; ¹¹and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

God has an agenda for this world! It is a saving agenda but it begins with conviction of sin, righteousness and judgement.

The word convict is better translated expose. The Holy Spirit is here to expose sin, righteousness and judgement. He is to do in the spiritual realm what the papers are meant to do in the political realm – to expose what is really happening.

First thing to notice is that in exposing sin we see what is really at stake.

 Sin is about not believing in Jesus. It is more than breaking the Big 10 commandments. It is about whether we have put our faith and trust in Jesus.

 Secondly righteousness is about Jesus. The Holy Spirit will expose righteousness because Jesus is no longer walking around being righteous and demonstrating what righteousness is.

 Thirdly he will expose judgement as judgement on the ruler of this world. The upstart, revolting Satan is judged and all who sign up to his values.

This is a very different description of the world to the one we are familiar. It is not first world or developed countries , the second world or developing Countries and third world  or the under resourced and unable to develop countries. It is not about United Nations or NATO or EU or Pan African Alliances or Pacific rim or spheres of influence or Christianised nations, Islamic nations, Hindu nations, Buddhist nations or Atheistic nations. I know it is hard to step back from it but Brexit is a side show. What matters is not what the nature of your alliances are but are you believing in Jesus, are you seeking to live the righteous life like Jesus have you changed sides in the battle between God and the Devil.

That is a huge change in thinking and we need to remind ourselves of these things. And that is where the Holy Spirit is vital in our thinking.

 ¹²"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. ¹³But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. ¹⁴He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. ¹⁵All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

He is the great revealer. Jesus is the truth. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. He reveals Jesus to us

In John 14:26 we read

But the Advocate, 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.

Notice the dual action. He will reveal and he will remind. The Bible is the record of God’s dealings with man. Reading them is living the life of the Spirit, being reminded of what Jesus and God has said. But that is only part of the work of the Holy Spirit. He also interprets God’s words for the situations we face. The Bible does not mention much of what we call our life. There are no phones, social media, high speed transport links, no microwaves and so on. But we are not left with an obsolete gospel. The Holy Spirit is with us to teach us how to live the Jesus-life – to be righteous in the 21st Century.

Secondly he is here to teach you what to say. In Luke 12:11-13 ¹¹ ‘When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, ¹² for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.’

Please take note of the fact that all those Jesus said these words directly to ended up in prison at some time in their lives and all but John were executed. What you should say is not necessarily going to placate your accusers or get you off the hook.

But it does encourage us when we bumble through explaining what we believe. We are witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus by virtue of the fact that the Holy Spirit lives in us.

Thirdly he is with us to be the one who communicates with us so that we can be with Jesus, every moment of every hour. The word translated in the NIV as Advocate is paraclete. At the heart of its meaning is someone who comes alongside us, as an advocate does in Law but the Holy Spirit is alongside us for more than just legal reasons. He is alongside us to encourage, rebuke, direct and sustain us. Our spiritual life is him resonating with our spirits. Listen to these words from Romans 8: 15-18

¹⁵ The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

There is a similar statement in Galatians 4:1-6.

And how do we receive the Holy Spirit? As a gift from Jesus. In John 20:22 we read

And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’

John does not report anything supernatural about this and it is quite clear that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church at Pentecost and there were supernatural signs then. The point I am making is not the timing or the supernatural happenings that accompanied the baptism of the Holy Spirit but that Jesus breathed his Spirit into his disciples. Just like that!

It is for us to receive him; to welcome his presence, his influence and his character. And so we can cry. “Come, Lord Jesus, pour out your Spirit on us today” not because we are deserving, because we are not. Or because we are spiritual types, because we are not but because Jesus wants us to receive himself and the Holy Spirit to enable us to live as were created to live, to walk the ways of righteousness because we have the Holy Spirit leading and guiding us each step of the way.