I Am Going - Part 1

Bryan Chapell: He will help you. He will come to you. As Jesus is saying, this is not some sort of abstract, ethereal, impersonal force. This this is somebody who is real, who is personal, who will come to you and will minister in my name, so much so that it will be as though I have come to you, not by the external expressions, but by my spirit ministering within you.
Guest (Male): So glad you joined us for today's Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of pastor and author Brian Chapell. In today's episode, Pastor Brian shares a lesson from John 16:5. Dr. Chapell shares how by way of the Holy Spirit, it is as if Christ is with us in every moment. You can find this lesson and many others when you visit unlimitedgrace.com. And while you're there, look for Dr. Chapell's book Grace at Work. In this book, Pastor Brian shares how your work is a unique opportunity and calling for displaying God's character and care. Let's hear now from Dr. Brian Chapell as he shares the lesson I Am Going.
Bryan Chapell: The account of a pastor. Sarah was new in our city and had recently endured a hard breakup with her boyfriend. She had no friends in our city, and she was under tremendous stress in her new job. She began to spiral down into a serious depression. She was in trouble, but even admitting that was terrifying, and she struggled to do it. All the memory verses of her youth now failed her. She couldn't muster the strength even to pray. When she came and told me her story, it was clear that that we were going into a dark place where the birds do not sing and the sun was not shining. After listening patiently to Sarah, I said, I know it feels as though someone has put a blanket over your soul and that God has turned his back on you. I've been there, too. But God has not gone anywhere. He is still with you. She listened patiently, but with a slight nod and an expression that also said, yeah, yeah, I've heard all that before. It's just not working for me now. So I introduced Sarah to a woman that I knew who would understand, someone who had been to the depths and back, someone with whom she could open up without fear of rejection or judgment, someone who would love her and pray with her and study the scriptures with her again, even though she was not a very pleasant person to be around at this time. A few weeks ago, Sarah came forward for a communion service. And there was something different in her. The circumstances of her life had not changed much at all. But the touch of the Holy Spirit was evident in her life. It's common for us to talk about the work of the Holy Spirit in church circles, but but what does that mean? Who is this Holy Spirit? It's so much easier to identify with the persons of the Godhead that are the Father and the Son because we have images and relationships that communicate to us who that is. But when you talk about the Holy Spirit, that seems something ethereal and neutral and strange. We don't know if we're talking about Casper the Friendly Ghost or the Force in Star Wars. I mean, what what what is this Holy Spirit that we're talking about? Jesus is telling us in this passage that though he is going away, he will send the Holy Spirit to minister in his name as his very presence to us so that no matter where we are and what we struggle with, it would be as though by the voice of Jesus inside ministering to our hearts, by his heart with us, by his spirit, Christ would be with us in every step of life. This is not something impersonal. It is it is the powerful presence of Christ made known by the spirit of God. And here in John 16, Jesus, who tells his disciples, you are going to be going through some tough times, but but I will be with you, is explaining how that is possible by telling us of the task and the person of the Holy Spirit. What after all is the job of the Holy Spirit? If you had just walked through this passage, you would see he's meant to come to us and to convict our world and ultimately to complete in us the work of Jesus Christ. That that job as it were is simple to express, but dear to our understanding. I mean, what would it mean to you if you actually understood the job of the Holy Spirit was to come to you, no matter where you were, what you're struggling with, with the presence of Christ? It's actually what Jesus is saying. If you take what the Spirit is to do, no place better than in verse 7. Jesus says, I tell you the truth, it's to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the helper will not come. But if I go away, I will send him to you. Now now even the name is expressing to us something of the task of the Holy Spirit, the helper. Different ones of you will have different Bible translations, and so you're taking a a Greek word that is the word paraklete, which means called alongside and trying to find a way to translate that in a way that makes sense to us. In in the Greek language, it's actually a legal term for someone who would come alongside of you when you were on trial or in a court situation, in trouble in some way. And so some of your Bibles will identify the helper as the advocate or the counselor, not as in psychological counseling, but like an attorney. The counselor will come to be with you. Some of your Bibles, if it's a King James version, will identify the Holy Spirit as the comforter, one who when you're in trouble comes to help you by giving you comfort. And now just to play on that for a moment, here's here's just an anecdote that has nothing to do with the sermon, but it was too good to pass up. Okay, you ready? When one of you heard that I was going to be speaking on John 16 about the Holy Spirit, which in the King James version is identified the comforter, I was I was sent this account that there was a a Bible teacher that had a student turn in a paper, and the student that turned in the paper had the phrase in it um Jesus came to take away our guilt. But there was a typo in the paper, and so it said Jesus came to take away our quilt. And the sharp Bible teacher said in the notes, that's okay, he promised to send us his comforter. See, wasn't that worth it? See? The notion of a helper truly is there. And the reason for the help is expressed not just in the name, but in the circumstances that Jesus is describing. Why would we need such a helper? Jesus is going. Remember, he says that, verse 5, now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you ask me where are you going? But because I have said these things, sorrow has filled your heart. It's the time of Passover. We're in the middle of a series of passages that are describing everything from the moment that Jesus washed his disciples' feet, then celebrated the Last Supper with them, and then finally utters a prayer for them before he is going. This is to be a time of celebration. This is the Jewish Christmas party. This is the time in which we are to celebrate the release from slavery of the ancient people of Israel. And yet Jesus is saying, though you are celebrating, I'm telling you some, I'm going. And he has already expressed to them, I am going to where the chief priests and the scribes will cause my death, and the people of the city will spit on me, flog me, crucify me. And here in this celebration meal, he sang it all again, and they are so filled with sorrow they can't even speak. And Jesus saying, but it's for your good because though I am going, there is someone I'm going to send to help you even through this. And the problem is not merely that Jesus is going, but that troubles are coming. Verses 2 and 3 of chapter 16. Jesus is saying to these disciples, they, that is my enemies, will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think that he is offering service to God. It's so interesting that in the church today when we try to recruit disciples, it's so easy to talk about how easy life will be, how Jesus will make everything smooth and pleasant. And Jesus when he tries to recruit disciples say, they're going to kill you. They will cast you out of the synagogues. You will be persecuted. I promise you that's what's going to happen. But despite the persecution that you will face, I will send a helper. And I will be present by the one who comes to help you even in the worst of your trials. And the nature of that trials is even discouraging to us if you think of what it's saying. Who is going to be doing this, all the persecution of Christ's disciples? Those who think they are serving God. Listen, some of you are here in this church today because you're you're just beginning to explore again the things of God. And somewhere in your past there there was a church or a family, people who believing they were doing service to God hurt you. And you're just finding your way back here, wondering if these people are any different and this place is any different. And I cannot assure you that you will not experience hurt even here even again. But what I can assure you is what Jesus is promising, that that there may not be an absence of external pressure, persecution, force, and unfairness. But inside would be the ministry of Jesus himself because he said in John 14, just getting into this, he said, I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. And now he is explaining how that happens. He will come to us in the person of the Holy Spirit. It is so interesting that in this passage that is talking so much about who that Holy Spirit is, the helper, the comforter, the advocate, that every time Jesus describes the Holy Spirit, the pronoun that he uses is a masculine singular, he will help you. He will come to you. As Jesus is saying, this is not some sort of abstract, ethereal, impersonal force. This this is somebody who is real, who is personal, who will come to you and will minister in my name, so much so that it will be as though I have come to you, not by the external expressions, but by my spirit ministering within you. You will begin to know that I am with you regardless of what you must face. And that's a promise not just because of bad things that may happen, but because of things that are internal to us as well.
Guest (Male): You're listening to Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of pastor and author Brian Chapell. Sometimes your job can feel merely like the daily grind that's needed to provide for family or pay the bills. Yet you can worship God by your work, rising above drudgery, duty, or self-interest with the understanding that your job is a unique calling for displaying God character and care. Your work becomes worship when you see the glory beyond the grind, the mission in the mundane, and the grace at work. This is the focus of Pastor Brian Chapell's book Grace at Work. As a thank you for supporting our ministry here at Unlimited Grace, we would like to send you a copy of this book to encourage you and help you understand how your work fulfills God's purposes, even if it calls you to labor in difficult places or for difficult people. You can request your copy of Grace at Work when you donate online at unlimitedgrace.com or by calling 844-41- Grace. That's 844-414- 7223. And now more from Brian Chapell on today's Unlimited Grace.
Bryan Chapell: I wonder if some of you flinched when I read verse 5. Verse 5 as Jesus is talking about him going away, he concludes this way in verse 5, I'm going away to him who sent me, and none of you ask me where are you going? And you may remember that a few weeks ago we read a passage of scripture in which somebody very explicitly asked Jesus at this very dinner, where are you going? You want to see it? It's it's in John 13. If you look in John 13 in verse 36, Jesus has at this point earlier in this meal announced to his disciples that he 's leaving. And in verse 36 of John 13, Simon Peter said to him, Lord, where are you going? I mean, it's the very same question. Jesus answered him, where I am going, you cannot follow me, but you will follow afterward. Peter said to him, Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you. Jesus answered, will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times. Now it's later in the meal, and Jesus has said again, I am going away, and none of you ask me where are you going? And you can just kind of hear the disciples, well, sure, we heard what happens when we ask where are you going. You know, I don't want to hear you say to me what you said to Peter. And so nobody answers. But the reality is they will all betray him. Every single one of them will abandon him. Every single one will turn their backs. Every single one will let him suffer alone. And for these who will betray him, what does Jesus promise? I will send a helper for you. He knows who they are. And he knows what they will struggle with are not just bad times, but difficulties within their own hearts, the betrayal that's in them as well. And the wonderful thing that Jesus is saying to you and to me is he is not waiting for us to qualify to some level of of spiritual hierarchy before the Holy Spirit will work in our hearts. That what God is saying is I give the Holy Spirit for the bad times and the difficult people, too. Even those who would betray me. And folks, that's all of us at times. That God is promising his Holy Spirit not for those who have reached some level of perfection, but for those who struggle, those whose lives are not right. But he is saying, listen, I don't know what you're facing and I don't know what's in you. But my Holy Spirit is coming to help you. A number of you teased me for being a lifetime Cardinal fan. But but the reason for that, and some of you will know, I was raised in the South. And for a long time before expansion, St. Louis was the southernmost and the westernmost team before expansion. And that means it broadcast across the South. And and kind of my experience as a child was listening to Harry Caray and Jack Buck on the radio in the kitchen as my father would listen to the game at nights. And and as I got a little older and and I could remember a particular TV ad that that went across the screen at some point. It was somebody who wonderfully captured kind of the experience of so many different people in so many different settings. The the TV screen showed firemen in a firehouse around a table listening to the voice of Jack Buck. A plumber under a sink, radio going, listening to the voice of Jack Buck. Family to barbecue, radio turned up, listening to the voice of Jack Buck. And the the message was, no matter what you're doing, no matter your circumstance, there is a voice that can reach you. That was for the baseball Cardinals. Jesus says it's from heaven itself. That your circumstances may be awful, and you may have failed God yourself. But regardless of those circumstance, there is the voice of the Holy Spirit in the amazing and in the mundane, where the mother is dealing with diapers and dishes, where the father is wondering whether or not he should stay any longer in a place that is so hard, where a businessman is using profit to care for hurting people and it doesn't seem that anybody notices at all. That the promise of God through Jesus is that the Holy Spirit is whispering in our tears and shouting in our triumphs, I am here for you. I am here. And I'm not waiting for you to get to some place or some level of spiritual hierarchy. I am here for you. I am sent to help you by Jesus himself. And when he comes, what then is his job? That's verse 8 as Jesus in chapter 16 and verse 8 says what the Holy Spirit will do. When he comes, this Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Now for those of us long time in the church, it's kind of easy to interpret those words a certain way. When the Holy Spirit comes, his job is to convict the world of sin, what it's doing wrong, and righteousness, that is you haven't done enough right things, your lack of righteousness, and judgment that is held to come for those who have not claimed the name of Jesus. And let me say, while all of those things are true, it is too easy an interpretation of this passage. That word convict is again a legal term. Remember, the Holy Spirit comes to be our advocate. He also comes to convict the world first of sin. That's easy. We recognize the job of the Holy Spirit is to make us aware of how our lives are not right before God, that he is holy and we are not. And and that is something the church can sometimes be mistaken about, that that we believe, so we will not turn off people who we want to come to our church, that we can't talk about sin. And we recognize, should recognize that the very job of the Holy Spirit is to open people's hearts to the reality of sin so that they will long for and seek the grace of God in the gospel. In fact, you you just never have a time in which people who are being brought to an awareness of the grace of Jesus Christ are not saying, I suddenly recognized I was a sinner before God. I needed Jesus because I knew sin was in my life. That is the actual job of the Holy Spirit. And and we can make a mistake of never touching on sin for the sake of for the sake of offending people. And and we should just recognize that's what the Spirit uses to bring a reality to the understanding of grace. But while one mistake is to never touch on the subject of sin, another mistake is to never get off of it. As though we think by our emotion or force of argument that somehow we are going to convince people of their sin. I mean, I so much appreciated Mike Jackson's prayer earlier urging us to pray for the young people to whom he's ministering by saying, you know what, we can't change people. It's only the Holy Spirit who can do that. And we must recognize that that what we are asking the Spirit to do when we talk about sin is to convict people of things we cannot convict them of. But then if they are experiencing that guilt for sin, we have this amazing privilege of saying, you know what, if if you're worried about your guilt of sin, praise God. You could not have experienced that guilt for sin if the Holy Spirit were not working in you. It's the Spirit's job to convict you of sin. So if you are feeling the weight of sin in your life, in which we sometimes say I don't I'm not sure I'm a Christian, I'm I'm not sure I should come to the church, I'm not sure I'd be involved because I have sin in my life. I want to say, are you concerned about sin in your life? Yes. Praise God. That's the evidence of the Spirit in you. You could not feel that were it not for the Spirit at work in you. And so we have to tell people when they feel that conviction of sin, you have to know that's the Holy Spirit directing you to the grace of God. We we we don't stay on this theme if there's something the Spirit's meaning to direct you toward. Now I'll tell you something, not all people feel that conviction of sin. And so the job of the Holy Spirit is not only convict of sin. Remember, there was something next. The Spirit's job is convict of sin. What was the next thing in the list? Righteousness. That's interesting. Not your lack of righteousness. The job of the Holy Spirit is to convict you of your righteousness, to to bring to to light, to to expose for what it is, to prove the necessity of convicting your righteousness. You know that. Isaiah 64:6 says what? All our righteousness is only what to God? Filthy rags. And yet our tendency is to say, I'm okay with God because of what I've done. I I'm I'm I'm righteous. And and what happens when God is truly at work among a people is we begin to repent of our righteousness, not just our sin.
Guest (Male): That's Pastor Brian Chapell, and you've been listening to Unlimited Grace. If this message has been an encouragement to you, you can find a collection of more valuable resources at unlimitedgrace.com. When you visit, you will find today's message and many others from Pastor Brian. Please be sure to join us next time as once again we endeavor to put Christ at the center of our efforts so that lives might be transformed by his unlimited grace. This ministry is brought to you by Unlimited Grace Media and continues to be made possible with your generous financial support.