“Better than Jesus?”
John 16:7-15 - October 21, 2018
Message 1 of 5 in the Sermon Series: “Supernatural: Capturing the Power of the Holy Spirit”

The Passion Day

The last 24 hours of Jesus’ life prior to his crucifixion.
John devotes 7 full chapters of scripture [1/3 of the Gospel of John] to the 24 hours of ‘the passion day’ of Jesus. [John 13-19]

John 14:1a—“Do not let your hearts be troubled.”

John 16:7-15—“But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹about sin, because people do not believe in me; ¹⁰about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; ¹¹and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

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 the 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 glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. ¹⁵All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

1. Better than Jesus.

John 16:7—“But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”

“very truly”– Jesus knew he was getting ready to say something that would be difficult to believe.

Jesus told his disciples that the Holy Spirit in them was better for them than Jesus beside them.

“advocate”[Gr. ‘Parakletos’] – Counselor, intercessory representative, helper, one who encourages and comforts.

Every Christian has every ounce of Jesus at the same time through his Holy Spirit.

2. Talks to my Heart.

John 16:13—“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the 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.”

I come to the garden alone,
While the dew is still on the roses;
And the voice I hear, falling on my ear,
The Son of God discloses.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

He speaks, and the sound of His voice
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing;
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.

I'd stay in the garden with Him
Tho' the night around me be falling;
But He bids me go; thro' the voice of woe,
His voice to me is calling.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

John 14:26—“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all thingsand will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

“Those who have received the Holy Spirit are aware of a power dealing with them and working in them. A disturbance, something, someone interfering in our lives. We are going along, and suddenly we are arrested and pulled up, and we find ourselves different. That is the beginning; that is what always happens when the Holy Ghost begins to work in a human being. There is a disturbance, an interruption to the normal ordinary tenor of life. There is something different, an awareness of being dealt with—I cannot put it better; that is the essence of the Holy Spirit dealing with us.”

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in Christ: Studies in 1 John (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2002), 386.

3. Connects me to God.

John 14:15-18—“If you love me, keep my commands.¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—¹⁷the 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.¹⁸I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

John 16:1—“All this I have told you so that you will not fall away.”

Let’s Back Up to Go Forward:Christianity is hard; sometimes you want to quit.

Galatians 6:9—“Let us not become weary in doing good,for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

John 14:18—“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

Because of the Holy Spirit, you are never alone.

Israel 2019

Worship Experience Pastor Christian Newsome

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