112. Beginner Bible Course: Jesus describes the Holy Spirit (the “Helper”)

EPISODE 112:  a simple Bible overview of...JESUS DESCRIBES THE HOLY SPIRIT (THE ‘GAME CHANGER’)

The course of human history, some things have been discovered that could only be called Gamechangers. The classic example is the Mesopotamians inventing the wheel about 3000 years before Christ. Another game-changer was paper invented in China about a hundred years before Christ and its kissing cousin Gutenberg's printing press in 1435. Those were both game changers, the steam or combustion engine Fleming's discovery of penicillin in 1928. And as I'm clicking my mouse to record this on my computer, I can't help, but think semi-conductors silicone Valley bell labs.

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00:00:45

That was a game changer. In our last episode, Jesus is speaking to his disciples in an upper room the night before his death. And he introduces them to a gamechanger, perhaps the most stunning game-changer spiritually speaking. It's the wheel. As Jesus passed the common bread and cup around the table, he serves up the first Lord's table or communion to his disciples. This cup is the new covenant in my blood. We learned about that new covenant in essence, that new covenant was this God, the father will accept the blood of his sinless son. Me once for all, for those who believe that in itself is a game changer.

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00:01:27

Formerly God would put a bandaid on sin of his people with the blood of an innocent sacrifice. But now that will be no longer necessary at all. After a once for all sacrifice, namely the spilling of the blood of Jesus, but there's more in the new covenant that was prophesied in the old Testament and will be clarified in a few moments by Jesus in the upper room, Jesus said, I will put my spirit in you. God's spirit will move in. He will carve his laws and desires on our hearts and he'll give us the desire and ability to follow that heart carved law to live lives that are pleasing to God. The new Testament letters are quick to add.

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00:02:08

They will not be perfect lives, but there'll be growing that direction and they'll be covered by Jesus blood lives. Jesus is now about to turn toward the subject of the Holy spirit with his disciples in the upper room. The term spirit was used over 250 times in the old Testament. Most of those times it was small as spirit. It was speaking of a life or the personality or a soul of a person, but a number of times in the old Testament, you'll find it capitalized. God is not referring to a general principle of life or personality or soul. He's referring to the third person of the triune.

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00:02:48

God, we saw this in Genesis one at creation. We saw it in Exodus when God placed a special anointing of his spirit on Bezalel the one who craft the tabernacle. We see the spirit capital S coming on some of the deliverers of Israel, the judges, we looked at these judges in episodes, 48 and 50. Those judges were not exactly candidates for spiritual person of the year. The capitalist spirit also is said to come upon saw and in the words of Samuel to change him into another man. But that same capitalist spirit also left.

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00:03:28

Saw the capitalist spirit shows up throughout the profits. Two chapters we've looked at several times are Isaiah 42 and Isaiah 61 in Isaiah chapter 42. Speaking of the Messiah, the suffering servant, God makes it clear. I will put my spirit upon him. And in Isaiah 61, the passage that Jesus chose when he preached in his hometown church of Nazareth, the I'm here to bind up the broken set, free the captive and proclaim the favorable year of the Lord passage. It begins by saying the spirit of the Lord is upon me. When we turn the pages to the new Testament, the word spirit occurs another 200 plus times this time it's almost always capitalized.

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00:04:15

The person of God, the spirit spoke to her, led people around the birth of Jesus at Jesus' baptism. The spirit descended on Jesus and remained in the form of something like a dove. We learned that the spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted or tested in Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus, the seeking Pharisee, the one he had at night, Jesus told Nicodemus you can't get into the kingdom of God unless you're born again by the spirit. The gospel writers tell us Jesus drove out demons by the power of the spirit. In all these incidents, the spirit was capital S the person in one of Jesus' parables.

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00:04:58

He gave an example of a persistent person, pestering someone to get their way. He then applied it toward prayer saying if you people being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy spirit to those who ask? That's not only capital S spirit. That's encouraging us to ask the father for this spirit in John chapter six, the define the relationship talk. Jesus had an episode one Oh one, the feeding of the 5,000 man in the wilderness. I am the bread of life. Eat my flesh talk. Jesus ends that crucial and difficult conversation with this statement.

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00:05:41

Human effort accomplishes nothing. It is my spirit that gives life another capital S with that, as a background, let's go back to the upper room and listening on what Jesus says as he clarifies this new covenant. He's told the disciples. Once my blood is shed for the remission of people's sins, then I'm going to send to you my Holy spirit smack dab in the middle of this conversation. Jesus says a remarkable things to his disciples who were in a word distraught. I tell you the truth. It is better that I go away for. If I go away, I will send the helper.

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00:06:22

Can you imagine those disciples? They had to be thinking, wow, that's real spin. You've been telling us you're about to leave, to be tragically, crucified, and die. And now you're telling us cheer up guys, this is really good news, but that's precisely what Jesus is telling them in the upper room. Once my blood covers your sin, you'll be Holy to God and God can move inside you. Now in John 14, 15, and 16, Jesus makes some remarkable statements about who the spirit is and what he will do. Let's take a look at the who before the do Jesus calls him the helper.

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00:07:03

We have a joke in my family. Anytime we're doing a ton of work to lift each other's loads, we'll say I'm a good helper. If you were eavesdropping, you'd say that's really cute. They really adore each other. And we do. There's nothing insulting at all about that term. The Holy spirit is Jesus helper, and he's a good helper. Jesus is about to tell them just a few of the amazing ways the helper will help them. But when we get to the new Testament letters, you'll be stunned at how many ways the Holy spirit helps us. Jesus also tells his disciples. He's the spirit of truth.

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00:07:44

He will translate my truth or guide you into it. If you've ever been on a tour and you had an excellent tour guide, you know what this means a good tour guide can recreate. The historical moment can create a setting for understanding and can leave you with a vivid memory of that moment. I've heard many people come back from a tour guide of the Holy land Israel and say, I've studied the Bible my whole life, but sitting there on that hillside at Capernum or at Jacob's. Well, the Bible came alive to me and it moved the last 12 inches from my head to my heart. That's the Holy spirit, the spirit of truth.

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00:08:26

Our tour guide, Jesus also said, no, this about the Holy spirit. He works behind the scenes. He will take those things that are mine, and he will deliver them to you. And we'll do so in a way that glorifies me, not himself. It reminds me of operating software under a computer program. You're using humming in the background. We'll learn more about the who of the Holy spirit capital S in the history book of acts that we'll study next. And in the 21 letters at the back of your new Testament, Jesus then speaks a little bit more about what the Holy spirit will do that will make it better for the disciples that Jesus leaves.

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00:09:12

The spirit will always be present with you. There were times with the disciples that they weren't with Jesus. Remember them out in the boat, on the Lake. Remember them being sent out in pairs to the various villages. Jesus says that won't be true of the spirit. Capital S he will abide in. You dwell in, you remain in you. That's a game changer from the old Testament where God's spirit would come upon a person for a mission or a period of time. And then depart Jesus expands his statement, guiding them into all truth. By telling them he will make plain to you. The things of God, perhaps a better translation would be because of him. The things of God will make sense.

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00:09:54

The light will come on further. Jesus said not only well, the things I taught you make sense to you because of the spirit, but he'll help you recall all the things that I've said to you and having recalled the things that I said to you. He will also give you confidence of their truth. Bring to mind, make them clear, give you confidence. That's the Holy Spirit's job. When the disciples were listening to Jesus, they had a lot of huh kinds of moments. Jesus says, after I go in the spirit comes, it will be a game changer for those ha moments. Now I should be quick to say they still had a few of those huh moments.

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00:10:35

They'll continue to be the, the cycles as they move forward for decades to come. Because while redeemed they're still broken, Jesus then moves to the job description of his Holy spirit. For all people. The Holy spirit will convince the world of sin of righteousness and of judgment. The Holy spirit will help people see God is Holy awesome in his holiness. The Holy spirit will convict us. There. We are not. We are sinful broken and therefore separated from this. Holy God and third, that there is a huge chasm between a Holy God and sinful us a chasm.

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00:11:20

God never intended a chasm. God wants to bridge, which is the third job of the Holy spirit to convince the world that either I must pay for that sin, or Jesus must pay it for me. If you're listening to this podcast and you've come to the realization sometime in your life, that God is Holy and you are a sinner and you're separated from God because of that. Sin coming to that conclusion was something the Holy spirit did for you. We'll see in Paul's letter to the Ephesians, our ability to embrace the new covenant, to believe on Jesus for the remission of our sins. It was the work of God's spirit. Those are the reasons Jesus gave to his distraught disciples in the upper room about the game changer that was about to happen to them.

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00:12:07

Jesus then makes one more incredible statement to the disciples. When my helper comes, you'll do greater things than I ever did. There must have been a few rolling eyes at that one too, but they won't roll their eyes for long. If you fast forward to acts chapter two, which probably happened within two months of this night in the upper room, Peter stands up and gives a sermon. It's not a long sermon. It ain't all that great. Either. He cites a couple of old Testament passages that Jesus is the promised Messiah. Then he gets in the face of this vast crowd by saying, you crucified the Messiah. You nailed him to a cross. Luke, the writer of acts tells us the crowd was pierced to the heart.

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00:12:51

They cry out loud. What must we do to fix this? Peter gives his answer. And Luke tells us that day 3000 people entered the new covenant. They trusted the shed blood of Jesus for the remission of their sins before a Holy God. We're also told some of those in the crowd where the very priests that screamed, crucify him. What had happened? A game changer. Luke tells us this and Peter filled with the Holy spirit spoke. And as Peter finished his short and not all that great sermon, what caused those people in the crowd to have their hearts pierced?

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00:13:33

Where did that pierced heart conviction come from? Anyway, it came from the helper and he's a good helper in he is, but before the helper can come, they have to lose their beloved rabbi to death. It's going to be an excruciating weekend. And Jesus probably only has about an hour left to talk to his men before being arrested by a mob. It's definitely going to get worse before it gets better for the disciples. We'll take a look at what Jesus says to his apprentices in that last hour, before the mob comes in our next wordpicture.