There Is A Redeemer
Pentecost Sunday
Light of Christ Anglican Church
Dr. Douglas H. Ludeman, III May 19, 2024
SCRIPTURE: John 14:8-17
Most of you are looking at me and thinking, “What is he doing up there?” Well, guess what? I’m wondering the same thing. I have never done this before. But, Mike came to me and said he and Teresa were going to be gone on May 19th for their Anniversary and would I considering preaching for him. When I told him I would, I had no idea that I would be following the Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba who is like the most famous Anglican in the World!
Don’t worry, I won’t sing!
Well, I’m happy to be up here and I know that you will be kind. You all are my people! I’ll explain that later.
Let’s pray. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. In Jesus name, Amen.
We will be looking at our Gospel reading this morning in John 14:8-17.
This comes from a section in John that is called the Upper Room Discourse.
Jesus is celebrating the Passover meal with his disciples on the night before his arrest and crucifixion. It is an extended time of extraordinary teaching and encouragement from Jesus. This Table talk, as some have called it, is recorded in John 13 through 17.
The disciples were troubled. The reality of Jesus going away is crashing in on them. Now is the time, Jesus told them. Jesus was trying to encourage them to hang in there. He told them not to be troubled.
In Chapter 17 there is a prayer. The ‘High Priestly Prayer’. Jesus prayed for His disciples in front of them. It is an amazing prayer. But, the reason I mention it is that He also included us in the prayer! In John 17:20, Jesus prayed, “I do not ask for these only, but for those who will believe in me through their word...” This means that as He speaks these words of encouragement to the future apostles here in this ‘Table talk’, He is also including you and me.
In these verses we do find much encouragement:
First, Jesus revealed the Father to His disciples and us.
Second, He gave them and us work to do.
Third, He promised them and us help.
First, He revealed the Father to His disciples and to us. Verse 8. Philip requests, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Verse 9. Jesus said, “Have I been with you so long and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the father.”
“Whoever has seen Me has seen the father.”
The Bible tells us that God created men and women in His image to have a relationship with himself. But, because of rebellion and sin, we are estranged and separated from Him. God, however, promised that he would send a savior to redeem us from our sins and restore us to the fellowship with God that we were created for. This savior is Jesus Christ, the son of God. He came on the greatest rescue mission there ever was. Sent by the Father, He went behind enemy lines. Conceived by the Holy Spirit, he took on human flesh and lived in the world. While in the flesh, he not only spoke the truth of God, but he revealed the nature of God in his person. John 1:18, "no one has ever seen God; Jesus, the only God who is at the Fathers side...has made him known.” Hebrews 1:3, “Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.” In 2 Corinthians 4:4, Paul says Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God.
Jesus is the photograph. God, the Father, is the negative.
Everything Jesus was, said and did revealed His father. His heart is the Father’s heart. Jesus said, “Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father.”
But, as if that wasn’t enough, He also taught us to relate to His Father as our Father. He referred to God as Father 165 times in the New Testament. In these 10 verses God is called Father 11 times. He taught us to pray to “our Father”. On the morning of the resurrection, when Mary first saw Jesus outside the tomb after His resurrection, Jesus told her, “Go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” He called His disciples Brothers! He said His Father was their Father!
By nature we are not children of God. It is only because of the rescue work of Christ as our Savior and the presence of His Spirit in us that we are able to have a Father-child relationship with God. We become part of His family. Some of us may not have had a good father experience but all of us have an idea of what a good father should be.
Family, could there be a better Father than our one and only Father in heaven? This is the Father Jesus reveals!
Second: Jesus gives His disciples and us work to do.
Notice in Verse 10, that God the Father works. Jesus said, “The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does His works.”
Notice also that Jesus is working! Verse 12, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do.”
So what is the work that Jesus gave His disciples and us to do? Well it must of had something to do with the work that Jesus was doing because He said it is “the works that I do.”
What was Jesus’s work? In John 12:47, Jesus said that He came into the world to save sinners. In John 10:25, “The works that I do in My Father’s name bear witness about me.” Jesus work is to accomplish our salvation - to save us as sinners and all that involved - and to bear witness to who He said He was.
What is the work that Jesus gives His disciples and us to do?
In John 6:28, Jesus was asked, “what must we do to do the works of God?” Jesus said, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him who He has sent.” Then a couple of verses later Jesus adds, “This is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life.”
The disciples work was and our work is to receive the free gift of salvation by saving faith, and by being saved, witness to who Jesus is and what He did. That includes keeping His commandments as He said in verse 15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” His marching orders become our marching orders. As we grow in Christ His concerns become our concerns. We begin to love what He loves and hate what He hates. Jesus is saying, “When you believe in Me, I will work in you, and your works like mine, will bear witness to me.”
John Calvin said that the kingdom of God right now is invisible. Our job as the visible church is to make the invisible kingdom of Christ visible.
Verse 12 But, Jesus said, “greater works than these will he do...” What in the world?
A famous preacher, H.A. Ironside said,
“As a result of his 3 1/2 years of ministry, when he left this scene, he said goodbye to a group of about 500 disciples. There were doubtless a few more scattered about, but not very many. Very few saw in him the revelation of the father - but go on a few days – 50 days later-Peter and the rest of the 11 stand on the day of Pentecost and the third person of the Trinity comes upon them in power, and they are prepared to witness for him. They preached a crucified and risen Christ and what happened? 3000 believed! Probably more in that one day than all the 3 1/2 years of our Lord’s ministry. When Jesus left He committed the gospel to a little group of 11 men in order that they might carry it to the ends of the earth. At that time the whole world, with the exception of a few in Israel, was lost in the darkness. But within 300 years, Christianity closed nearly all the temples of the godless Roman Empire, and numbered its converts by millions. These were the greater works and down through the centuries he still carries on this ministry.”
These collective works are the result of the church’s witness-bearing mission as the body of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. This remains the work of the church today.
Family, what an honor and a privilege it is to have this work to do!
Third: Jesus gives His disciples and us help.
First, He gives the disciples and us help in prayer.
Verse13 Jesus said, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.”
This the first time the disciples were told to pray in Jesus name. What does this mean? To pray in Jesus name is to pray in His authority as our mediator and high priest at the right hand of God. It is not something that is tacked on to the end of a prayer that has no meaning. It is not a signature on a blank check. The only way to come into God’s presence is on the basis of what Jesus has done once and for all. Even in prayer, “No man comes to the Father but by me”, Jesus said.
Jesus is about to go to the Father in heaven. He is leaving the disciples on Earth. He is saying, “I will be finished with the Earthly work that the Father sent me to do on your behalf. You will soon know me as the rescuer that brings you to God. I will be taking my place at His Right hand to reign and rule. You can still talk to me. The lines of communication are not only still open. Actually, they will be better than ever! The Father loves you and I love you. Our rescue work on Earth is still going on. We will accomplish it through you. You are going to need help. The world is a tough place. I know this. It is full of sin and suffering and opposition. I promise you I will help you. Ask me anything in my name and I will do it! I love to help. Helping you glorifies my Father and your Father.”
Family, God loves to hear our prayers! This is what Jesus said.
Second, Jesus helped His disciples and us by sending the Holy Spirit.
Verse 16, “And, I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper...”
Well, here is the Holy Spirit on this Pentecost Sunday. Actually, this ‘Table talk’ discussion that Jesus had with his disciples in John 13-17 includes some of the most extensive teaching in the Bible about the person and work of the Holy Spirit. And there is so much to say.
Jesus introduces the Holy Spirit as ‘Another’ Helper. Up until now, Jesus was their Helper. Jesus was going to the Father. He will ask the Father and He will give the disciples ‘another’ helper. “Another” of the same kind. After Jesus takes His place on the throne, He and the Father will send this ‘another’ Helper of the same kind as Jesus. This helper will not be a mere stand in like a substitute teacher. Jesus is saying, “I am leaving you as a Helper, but don’t worry! You will get another Helper just like Me to take my place. He will help you just like I helped you.”
Verse 16 and 17: Jesus said, “He will be with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth...You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
Jesus called The Holy Spirit, “He”. Don’t miss this. The Holy Spirit is a person. The Third person of the Trinity. He is not an impersonal force.
Jesus called The Holy Spirit, ’The Spirit of Truth’. Your Helper will be trustworthy.
Later in this Table talk in John 16:13, Jesus said,
“When the spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the father has is mine; therefore, I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you."
The Holy Spirit inspired the disciples and others to record what they saw and heard God say and do as He revealed himself in History. This how we got the Bible. The Holy Spirit is the author. Every original word. All true. Not only that, but the Holy Spirit illuminates the Bible for us. He helps us to hear, receive and properly understand what the Bible says. He especially shines a spotlight on Jesus and the good news of the cross that God saves people through the crucified and risen Christ. He is the agent of our sanctification. That maybe why He is called the ‘Holy’ Spirit. The Holy Spirit uses the truth of the Bible to make us more like Jesus. On Instagram I saw the students at the NNKCS sing when Archbishop Kaziimba visited this past week. They were singing, “Read your Bible everyday so you can grow.” There is so much truth in that. When the Word of God comes together with the Spirit of God, BOOM, there is new life. There is growth!
Verse 17- Jesus said, “You know Him, for He dwells with you, and will be in you.”
The disciples already knew the Helper that they will receive! Jesus is saying, ”This will make you feel better. This Helper that is coming-You already know Him!” They knew Him because He already there in Jesus.
The Holy Spirit was given to Jesus to indwell Him and empowered Him for His work at His baptism. Remember when Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove?
By the way, notice how Jesus got a dove and we get fire? Something to think about. but I’m thinking it has something to do with purification. Not only do we need help and power like Jesus, but we need some cleaning up.
The Disciples already knew the Holy Spirit because He was in Jesus. But, after Pentecost, the very same Spirit that indwelt Jesus would indwell the disciples and all of us who have believed into Christ. God, the Holy Spirit, would indwell them. And us!
The word “dwell” is the root word for home. When the Holy Spirit dwells in us, he makes His home there. He has moved in! There is intimacy in that. Just as a family lives together in a home, the Holy Spirit lives with us. This home is filled with love. Romans 5:5: “God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” And, He is not leaving. Jesus said, “He will be with you forever.” He has moved in for good. Whatever the address of your heart is, that is the Holy Spirit’s address. And because the Holy Spirit is God Himself, He brings us into union with each member of the Trinity. This is how we can say we are “in Christ” because the Holy Spirit of Christ is the same Spirit that dwells in us. What a blessed home He makes when He comes to live in us. You know this because of the fruit He starts growing in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Can you believe it! Christ lives in us by His Spirit.
Finally, the Spirit of God dwells in you and me so we have a union with another don’t we. On the day of Pentecost when we saw the Holy Spirit poured out on those disciples in the upper room we saw fire divide up and split up into individual tongues that touched each individual disciple. When you trace those individual tongues back up, you see they all come from one source. This is a great visual for how you and I as individual Christians are united by one common Lord Jesus who indwells each of us by His Spirit.
That is why I said you are my people at the beginning. The same Holy Spirit that is in you is in me! Christ is in us by His spirit, uniting us in Him as the Church, the Body of Christ and one another, empowering us to do His work!
This is Pentecost Sunday. The Holy Spirit has been given. The spirit of truth indwells us. Christ lives in us and we in Him.
Church Family, can you believe it!
As the worship song, “There is a Redeemer” proclaims,
Thank You, O my Father, For giving us Your Son, And leaving Your Spirit ’til Your work on earth is done.
