This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of “The Holy Spirit” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, February 4, 1996.
About this sermon
In John 14 Christ’s coming physical absence brings an advance: greater works, greater access, and a glory his presence alone could not yet show. Verse 15 ties love to obedience, and 14:16-17 exalts the Spirit outright. By departing, Christ gives more of himself.
Sermon transcript
Tonight I would ask you to turn to Luke’s Gospel, chapter 11, as we begin. This is Luke, chapter 11, beginning with verse 9. He would give your attention to God’s holy and fallible word. And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds. And to him who knocks, it shall be opened.
Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish. He will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” And then turning over to John chapter 14, beginning at verse 1. John 14, verse 1. Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.
In my Father’s house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
And you know the way where I am going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going. How do we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man, no one comes to the Father but through me. If you had known me, you would have known my father also. For now on, you know him and have seen him. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. Jesus said to him, Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own initiative, but the Father abiding in me does his works. Believe in me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me.
Otherwise, believe on account of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, that he may be with you forever. That is, the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it does not behold him or know him, but you know him because he abides in you and will be with you.
Bless us, O God, in our confidence that we are your children. Even as children, O God, correct us that we, being reproved by you from your word, would show ourselves those willing sons and daughters in your household. Lord, work in us even as the word is read to us and as it is proclaimed to us that we might be strengthened in our resolve to live for you. Dear Lord, we also pray for those who are without faith But it might please you to draw those who are yet to be drawn into your kingdom by the preaching of the word. And may it please you, O God, to use the ministry of this church and other churches to do just that. We pray this through Christ. Amen. Let me remind you, as we begin our message this evening, about the outline of John’s Gospel. It is a very simple outline.
The Gospel opens with its famous prologue, chapter 1, verses 1 through 18, a section well worth committing to memory, and I’m sure that some of you have done just that. Prologue then is followed by the first main section of the Gospel, the 19th verse of that first chapter through the conclusion of the 12th chapter.
And this section has been called the Book of the Signs by some commentators, some authorities on John’s Gospel. It has been called the Book of the Signs because in it Jesus, by many signs, shows himself to be the Word, or God himself made flesh. And as the Word, or God himself made flesh, Christ comes to his own, but we are told his own do not receive him. This first section, then, the Book of the Signs, is followed by a second section, beginning with the thirteenth chapter and running through the conclusion of chapter twenty. And this section has been called the Book of Glory, because in it Jesus brings to light the glory that belongs to him, even as he comes to that glory through his death, resurrection, and ascension, for the purpose of bestowing his glory upon his own people, God’s elect.
Finally, we have Chapter 21, of which we spoke this morning. which functions as a postscript or an epilogue of sorts to the gospel, or maybe much better, as the gospel’s conclusion, in which, as we saw this morning, we find an accounting that summarizes the gospel and speaks effectively about the continuing ministry of the Church, even as Jesus Christ is the source and substance of that ministry. Therefore, we have for our outline of the gospel, the prologue, the two main sections of the gospel, the book of signs and the book of glory, then the conclusion, chapter 21.
Our interest presently is in the second main section, chapters 13 through 20, the book of glory as we have identified it. and specifically what this section of the Gospel has to say about the Holy Spirit. You may recall that our study of the earlier chapters in John yielded for us the intention in those chapters with respect to the Holy Spirit as the Holy Spirit was particularly considered in relationship to the missionary appeal to an unbelieving world, or an unbelieving populace. While in these latter chapters now, in the Book of Glory, the Holy Spirit is introduced to us more in terms of the pastoral ministry of the Church. The Holy Spirit has great significance for the Church. as he is introduced in this section, the latter section of John’s Gospel, particularly beginning here in chapter 14, and that in light of Jesus’ announcement of his departure out of this world.
Jesus tells us, as he has told the disciples in this context, he is going away to prepare a place for his own. in chapter 14. But now it is especially with his departure in view, and with that departure as imminent, that Jesus labors to communicate this precise truth.
Namely, his physical absence will not mean a retreat in the program of redemption or a diminishment in the blessings to God’s elect. His physical absence will not mean a retreat in the program of redemption or a diminishment in the blessings to and for God’s elect. Rather, Jesus’ physical absence will mean an unprecedented advance in God’s program, and it will mean the arrival of a day of unparalleled, unequaled glory. Jesus’ physical absence will mean an unprecedented advance in God’s program, and it will also mean the arrival of a day of unequaled glory. for God’s people.
In chapter 14, verse 12, Jesus says that he who believes in him will perform signs like his, or, he goes on to say, even greater works than he performed because he goes to the Father. Now, I know how this text has usually been interpreted, at least in this century, by those who have been part of the Holy Spirit movements. In fact, we have on the east side of Pittsburgh a very large congregation with a corollary large school, which is called Greater Worth. This church or assembly with school is playing upon this passage. and playing upon it in charismatic and Holy Spirit theology ways. The greater works, of course, are those that belong to the explosion of charismatic visitation that this century has witnessed.
But, of course, we have taken these words a little differently and have seen them in terms of the unrestricted advance of the Word of God to the ends of the earth, so that now there are those who are being gathered in from the four corners of the earth, those gathered in being God’s elect for his assembly. This advance, these greater works in light of what Christ now does from heaven, specifically through the Holy Spirit, that which he did not do while he was here present physically in the earth.
Now in verses 13 and 14, Jesus announces new and unparalleled access. Not just the fact that the advance is considered in terms of the greater works which the church will do, But now Jesus moves on in verses 13 and 14 to speak of new and unparalleled access in a new day of prayer.
Ask me anything, he says, putting it in the most extreme language, in order that we might not miss the point. Ask me anything, he says, and I will do it. So startling is this revelation that Jesus doesn’t hesitate to repeat himself. saying the same thing again there in the 14th verse, as it were, that he said in verse 13.
So, no, we are not retreating in the program of God. We are not in an era in which the blessings are diminished for us because Jesus has gone from us here physically and is now in heaven. We are living in a day of unprecedented advance, and this is being brought out by Jesus as he speaks to his disciples prior to his departure.
In verse 15, he will reign things in a bit. On the background of these statements, these rather startling statements that he has made in verses 13 and 14, He will reign things in a bit by reminding his disciples that this new and unparalleled day of access for prayer is not devoid of covenantal reality, that it is an obedient love, that it is a love intent upon obeying Christ’s commands. This then becomes the identifying mark for those for whom the new day of prayer will be this unprecedented advance. Now, it should be noted here that the covenantal dress in which this new day of access in prayer is presented in verse 15 of that 14th chapter has its own superlative features. Yes, it’s coming in covenantal language, but even with the language covenantally conditioned as it is, it will present to us the superlative character of that which has come by virtue of Christ’s departure for heaven and the advent of the Spirit.
The covenantal love spoken of here in the fifteenth verse is specifically directed toward Jesus himself. Note here, this is no general type of love for God. It is not a love for God even generally conceived, nor is it a love directed toward God specifically in terms of the restrictions of the Old Testament revelation. It is a love that is directed toward Christ. “‘If you love me,’ says Jesus, Jesus boldly calls for love that is directed specifically toward him. Along the same line, Jesus connects love for him with obedience to his commands.
What’s more, here is no general type of obedience to moral principles generally conceived. Much less is it obedience specifically defined or qualified by the Old Testament law or the restrictions of the Old Testament law. Instead, Jesus is introducing the covenantal obligation laid upon his people as obedience to his own commandments.
These commandments specifically focus in him what he has said, built upon who he is and what he has done. What Jesus is doing here has nothing to do with destroying the law, God forbid. He has said elsewhere that he did not come to destroy the law or the prophets. Rather, he has said in that same context that he has come to fulfill the law in the remarkable, refreshing, invigorating, liberating day of the arrival of God’s kingdom, the arrival of God’s new covenant in him.
John 14, 15, therefore, is framed in covenantal language in order to make it plain that the new and better day that comes with Jesus’ departure, the day of greater works done by those who belong to him, the day of unprecedented access and response in prayer, is the day of the arrival for the substance of the new covenant. the reality of the New Covenant has now appeared. Indeed, as John himself has already said in his prologue, the law, that is, the Old Covenant, came through Moses, but grace and truth, that is, the New Covenant, came through Jesus Christ. Chapter 1, verse 17. My friends, now that Jesus has returned to the Father, the grace and truth of the new covenant bursts forth from heaven upon us in that marvelous way.
Now, in verses 16 and 17, Jesus specifically relates the arrival of the day of greater works, of unprecedented access and response in prayer. and of the New Covenant to his own prayer to the Father who, in answer to his son’s request, will give him neither snake nor scorpion but the Holy Spirit.
Or as he is identified here, the helper or the paragon. Now it’s not my intention this evening to get into a full exposition of what that name which Jesus gives to the Spirit means. My intention in what remains of the message this evening is to speak about Jesus’ method. You will note that Jesus here presents us with a rather strange construction.
He says that he will give to his church another helper. You may be asking yourself the question, well, if he’s going to give to us another helper, who is the first? Obviously, the first helper, or the first paraclete, is Jesus himself. Jesus is the original paraclete He is the original helper and comforter, who upon his departure sends to the Church someone like himself.
Jesus and the Holy Spirit, therefore, according to this language, are to be seen on a line, having parallel identities, parallel ministries. there is something extraordinary about Jesus’ construction at this point. For it’s as if there is a certain exaltation for the Spirit, a deliberate and certain exaltation for the Spirit, in what Jesus says. You see, the tendency in the Church, in part, will be towards an improper subordination of the Spirit to the Son, just as it will be towards an improper subordination of the Son to the Father. Earlier in this chapter, Jesus has told Philip, “‘He who has seen me has seen the Father.’” Verse 9. And here, Jesus will introduce the Holy Spirit as that other paraclete, that other helper, that other comforter, who seemingly stands at a higher level because, as verses 16 and 17 say, he, unlike Jesus, will abide with the Church forever. The extraordinary and superior, quote-unquote, ministry of the Holy Spirit is presented to us against a background that we find repeated often in the biblical story of salvation. Consider.
Moses gives way to another, Joshua, who administers the entrance of the Old Testament church into the Old Testament inheritance. Moses, one servant of God, gives way to another, Joshua, who has, seemingly, a higher ministry. Moses brings the people of God up to the border of the promised land. It is Joshua who takes them in. Moses is one paraclete. Joshua is another.
Consider Elijah. Elijah gives way to Elisha. Elisha appears to do greater works because he has the double measure of the Spirit. Elijah’s ministry gives way to the ministry of Elisha, and it seems as if Elisha’s ministry has the greater power and impact and significance, as if it were the higher, as if it were quote-unquote superior.
Consider John the Baptist and Jesus. John the Baptist gives way to Jesus. He says, you might recall earlier in the third chapter of John, I must decrease, he must increase. Jesus’ ministry is, of course, by far superior to that of John the Baptist. You understand what is going on as we see these matching pairs. We read in them the transition that is being worked out in the history of salvation. The old gives way to the new. The older, indicative of limited service, gives way to the new and to the unprecedented service that is rendered. The prior is limited in glory. The new comes with unprecedented and unparalleled glory.
So it is. seemingly, with Jesus and the Spirit. Jesus’ ministry in the flesh gives way to his ministry in the Spirit. And it is almost as if Jesus, in describing the advent of the Spirit, makes himself the lector in the service of the extraordinary and unique ministry that is about to burst upon earth. this speaking of the grand, eloquent humility of Christ himself. It does not mean that Jesus is any less God. It doesn’t mean that in the ministry of the Spirit we do not see the ministry of the risen, ascended Christ at work.
It is a method by which Christ, in his teaching of his disciples, will endeavor to convince them that what is coming for them is unprecedentedly glorious. For in the Spirit, the Church receives such comfort, such encouragement, such exhortation as was never dreamed possible, even by those in Old Testament times. In this spirit, the Church receives the day of greater works, the day of access and response in prayer, the day of the fulfillment of the new covenant. In other words, such a day, as Christ indicates, could not arrive unless he goes away.
It is very improper for us to mope about as if ours were a lesser and an inferior day in God’s dealings with his church in the world. It will not do for us to mope about as if ours were a lesser and inferior day in God’s dealings with his church in the world. This is no lesser day. This is no inferior day. This is the greatest day. You are privileged to live in the greatest period of human history.
According to God, in keeping with the program of salvation, you are living in the day of the Spirit. And because that is true, greater things are now being done than were done in the days Because that is true, you have access to God in a way that even our forefathers in the Old Testament did not have. And you have the promise of response from Him in a manner that they never received. Because this is true, you are living in the day of the reality of the new covenant.
You may want to think about what that means. Specifically, in light of Jeremiah 31, it means the wiping away of sin and the most intimate knowledge of God. Such is your privilege. Now, will you not celebrate that privilege and delight in it to the full.
Our Father, we are caught off guard by Jesus’ words often We may even think that his words trip up our theology and our doctrine. We know, however, O God, that the truth of the doctrine we have embraced stands, for our Christ is one who is equal with the Father and the Spirit, and surely this truth cannot be refuted for the Word of God upholded. At the same time, O Lord, we would marvel at the way in which Jesus presents the Spirit and his relationship to the Spirit. We would delight in the nuances of his language as he forces us to consider not only his humility and his service in the interest of the greater day, but also as he forces us and presses us to acknowledge the content and substance of that greater day as it is ministered to us in the spirit.
Therefore, Lord, be patient with us. We allow our spirits to be overcome by cares and concerns of this world, we are often distracted by sin that confuses us and upsets us, and sets us at a place that is far removed from you, seemingly. But Father, we pray that we would not mope about as if we were in a lesser day, and as if we were far removed from the glories, the true and real glories of the Kingdom. Instead, O God, may our faith be alive and vital, awake to these wonderful things, these superlative wonders of your kingdom and of your covenant that are ministered to us now in the Holy Spirit. Lord, help us lest we feel sorry for ourselves. Rather, O God, may we turn to you and rejoice in your work. and that to the full, even as you have revealed that work to us through Christ and his word. This we pray in Jesus name. Amen.
The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.