The following sermon was presented by the Reverend John W. Howe, Rector of Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia, on May 1, 1988. The title is The Holy Spirit and Obedience, and the scripture reference is the Gospel of John, chapter 14, verses 15 through 21. 

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to John. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another counselor to be with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.

You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you desolate. I will come to you.

Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me because I live, and you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I in you. He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.

And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. The Gospel of our Lord. You might find it helpful to turn with me to the passage that Jamie just read to us from John chapter 14. I want us to note one very important thing. Very simple, very basic, very important.

I need to set it into context. And that is that in speaking with his disciples, the Lord Jesus described three distinct relationships that any of us might have with the Holy Spirit. The first two are mentioned in verse 17.

He says the world doesn't see him, doesn't receive him. Basically the world is not even aware that there is a Holy Spirit. But he says, you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

Those are the first two relationships. He dwells with you now, and he will be at a point in the future in you, with you and in you. Most people, I think, have very little consciousness of the Holy Spirit prior to becoming Christians.

and many don't have much clarity about him for a good while after that. I think it's not accidental that for most of Christian history he's been called the Holy Ghost. He is a ghostly figure.

He is ephemeral. He is not clear and distinct in our understanding. And that's for a very good reason.

The Holy Spirit does not call a lot of attention to himself. his principal ministry is to glorify Jesus he's pointing away from himself and I'm always suspect when any so-called Christian or spiritual or renewal movement begins to concentrate overly much on the Holy Spirit because it's very easy to get that out of balance the Holy Spirit is pointing away from himself he's glorifying Jesus but scripture makes it very clear that he is ever present he is ever and everywhere present he's there in the very beginning it says in the opening words of scripture in the beginning god created and the holy spirit was there brooding over the face of the deep and we see him moving throughout the Old Testament as he comes upon and anoints and empowers and inspires various people in their ministry, principally the leaders, prophets, priests, kings, judges, singers, warriors, and so on. You probably remember a certain incident in Jesus' ministry where a man named Nicodemus has an encounter with him late at night, and they begin talking about the Holy Spirit, and Jesus says you can't see him you don't know where he's coming from you don't know where he's going to but you become aware of him it's kind of like the wind when it blows through the trees you see the effect ruffling the leaves in the breeze the Holy Spirit is like that you don't know where he's coming from where he's going but you see him stirring things up perhaps the best summary statement on the whole subject comes when St. Paul is speaking with some philosophers in Athens, and he actually quotes to them from one of their own poets.

And he says, whether you realize it or not, every single one of us lives and moves and has his being in the dimension of the Holy Spirit. He is everywhere. You may not know that.

You may not recognize it. But he is there, and we live in him. He is with you.

That's the first relationship. The disciples knew that. They were beginning to know that.

They had seen him at work. They had seen him in Jesus' ministry. They had experienced something of his empowering in their own ministry.

Some of them had been present at Jesus' baptism when the Holy Spirit came down in bodily form as a dove and rested upon him. They knew his touch in their own lives. They knew the Holy Spirit was with them.

Do you? Do you know that the Holy Spirit is with you? It's a very frightening prayer when you stop and think about it.

We begin every service on Sunday morning. Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires are known, from whom no secrets are hidden. The Holy Spirit is there.

He's with you. Perhaps it's the beginning of your walk with God to begin to realize that that's the dimension in which we live. We live in the dimension of God's Spirit.

We are transparent to Him. But Jesus said, knowing that the Holy Spirit is with you isn't enough. He shall be in you.

And in making that comment, He's pointing to what transpired on Easter evening. And we've stopped to think about that several times now. You recall how the disciples were huddled in a little upper room, locked door, fear of the Jews.

Maybe what happened to Jesus is going to happen to us. And all of a sudden, there he is right in their midst. Locked doors are no problem to him.

And he comes in and it says he breathed on them the Holy Spirit. He said, receive into you the Spirit of God. It was a kind of a recapitulation of creation itself.

You remember back in the book of Genesis, the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being. You may or may not be aware of the fact that there is actually a play on words going on here In Hebrew, in Greek, and in Latin, the same word can be translated wind or breath or spirit. In Hebrew, it's ruach.

In Greek, it's pneuma. In Latin, it's spiritus. It's the same word.

So when it says Jesus breathed on them, you could translate that he spirited upon them. What mankind lost in the fall, that personal indwelling of the Spirit of God, when our spirit in essence died, Jesus restores. He breathes into us, He spirits into us new life, and we're made new creatures in Him.

And in fact, that's what it means to become a Christian. You could not properly call the disciples Christians in the full New Testament sense of the word until this moment. Even though they had known Jesus and participated in his ministry, and even though from the moment he entered the room they were eyewitnesses of his resurrection, it wasn't until the Spirit of God invaded their personalities that they became Christian in the New Testament sense of the word.

there's a phrase that the media has picked up in the last few years and I don't know about you but every time I hear it it's like fingernails on the blackboard when they talk about born again Christians because from a biblical point of view there isn't any other kind that's redundant you see what most folks think that means is some kind of a cataclysmic emotional experience well you may have that or you may not. That is not what it means. What it means is the Holy Spirit has come to live inside me.

And it's not how that happens. It's not when it happens. It's that it happens.

Whether you can pinpoint it exactly, whether it involved going forward at a Billy Graham crusade, whether something happened to you at your confirmation, or whatever, it's that it happens. The Holy Spirit has come to live inside me. That's what makes me a Christian.

That's what it is to be born again. There isn't any other kind. Have you been born again of the Spirit of God?

I trust that's been your experience. That's the second relationship with the Holy Spirit. Number one, He is with you.

Number two, He shall be in you. You might well ask, what more could there be? I'm sure that was the disciples' question as well.

We've spent three years with Jesus. We've not only seen, but we've participated in His ministry. We've been a part of some of His miracles.

We've helped Jesus feed thousands with a couple of loaves and fishes. We've seen Him heal the sick and still the storm and raise the dead. We are eyewitnesses to His resurrection.

And now the Spirit of God has come to live inside of us and make us new creatures, and give us the power to forgive people's sins, what more could there be? Well, I commented two weeks ago that Jesus' next to last words, just before he ascended into heaven, were these. Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you.

Stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. the first chapter of the book of Acts picks up where that leaves off the disciples were still asking him the question Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel and Jesus' answer was it is not for you to know times or seasons which the father has fixed by his own authority but you shall receive what? power when what?

The Holy Spirit has come upon you. And that's the third dimension. Or the third relationship.

Number one, He is with you. He is with all of you. He is with everybody.

He has been all along. He always will be because He's here, there, and everywhere. We live and move and have our being in the dimension of the Holy Spirit, whether we know it or not, whether we like it or not.

He is with you. That's number one. Number two, He shall be in you, which happened on Easter evening.

and which happens to each of us as we become Christians and the Holy Spirit makes us new people. Number three, He shall come upon you to empower you for your ministry just as He came upon Jesus. Did Jesus know that He lived and moved and had His being in the power of the Holy Spirit?

Of course He did. Was He born of the Spirit? If anybody was ever born of the Spirit, of course Jesus was.

He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. But he didn't begin his ministry until the Holy Spirit came upon him and anointed him with power from on high. Do you begin to see what I'm saying?

He gives gifts, supernatural gifts for ministry. Because he doesn't want us to begin our ministry in our own strength any more than he wanted Jesus to begin his ministry in his own strength. I trust that by now it's at least beginning to be evident to all of us that this is normative, biblical Christianity.

That it is the desire and the delight of the Lord Jesus both to breathe his spirit into us and to pour his spirit upon us. Please don't miss it. Please don't miss it.

Don't settle for less than everything God has for you. Don't settle with being at the first stage of just knowing that the Holy Spirit is there. Don't settle at the second stage of allowing Him to come into your personality and make you new from the inside.

But I don't want any more. Don't settle. For less than the full equipping of the Holy Spirit.

I invited folks to stay at the end of the service a couple of weeks ago and pray with some people here at the communion rail. if they had never previously come into that dimension of empowering. And I issue that invitation again.

We would be thrilled to pray with you and for you that the Holy Spirit might anoint you with power for ministry. Tonight is the night in the Life in the Spirit seminar which is devoted to doing precisely that. And it should be a very important evening for many, many people.

I hope you'll hold them in your prayers. the Lord Jesus delights to pour out His Spirit. That is normative, biblical Christianity.

He is with you, He shall be in you, and you shall receive power when He comes upon you. You get it? Having said all that, I want to make my one point.

John 14 verse 15. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. Jesus spoke those words to his disciples prior to the crucifixion, prior to the resurrection, prior to breathing the Holy Spirit into them on Easter evening prior to pouring out the Holy Spirit upon them on the day of Pentecost what he says is he who has my commandments and keeps them he is who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my Father and I will love him and manifest myself to him and how does he do that?

by sending the Holy Spirit A lot of people seem to think that the baptism of the Holy Spirit comes first and obedience comes later. Hello? That's not how Jesus puts it.

His next sentence is, if a man loves me, he will keep my word and my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him. I have no doubt that receiving the Holy Spirit and being anointed with the Holy Spirit makes the whole business of discipleship a deeper joy, but it is not a shortcut to it. obedience is obedience don't look for God to zap you and make it easy it's costly a lot of people wonder how is it possible that some of the best known and most illustrious and admired Christian spokesman and evangelist would fall so far from grace.

How, if they have the Holy Spirit, could they be doing that? Same way you can. The Holy Spirit does not short-circuit obedience.

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. The last verse of the song we just sang was, May love prepare a place in which the Holy Spirit makes me dwelling. May our love for Jesus make us fit vessels for the Holy Spirit to come and live within us and manifest Himself in great power.

It's not the other way around. The Holy Spirit can come upon anyone and can move that person in wonderful ways in preaching the Gospel and healing the sick. And that doesn't mean that that person is more holy or a better person than somebody else.

Anointing for ministry is one thing, and obedience to the commandments is another. You can quench the Spirit. You can grieve the Spirit.

But you understand what I'm saying? Obedience is an act of the will. It's not a matter of God coming in.

I've heard people pray, oh Lord, just come in and take over. Have you ever heard that? You don't do that.

There is somebody else, but it's in the other direction. Who would love to come in and take over? God doesn't do that.

He does not manipulate. He does not pull strings. He doesn't turn you into some sort of an automaton or a robot.

It's as if you love me. Keep my commandments. And I will love you and come and manifest myself to you.

So it's a two-fold message this morning. seek all that he has for you seek the fullness the empowering of the Holy Spirit don't close off your life and say thus far and no farther don't say that I want all that God has I want all of the Holy Spirit that God will give I want all of the gifts that he'll give I want him to be able to do in and through me whatever he wants to do and I want to look back it's appropriate to ask the Lord help me to do that of course it is but it's your decision if you love me do what you know I'm asking you to do the far ahead of you Father, apply that word in each of our lives at the point of need. We settle for such sloppy discipleship.

Lord, whether it be in our relationships with members of the opposite sex, whether it be in the handling of money that you have entrusted to us, whether it be in the use of our tongues, whether it be in some area of our lifestyle, whether it be as parents or as children or as husbands or wives. Lord, apply that word to the point of our need. For we do love you, Lord.

That's why we're here. And we want to keep your command. So we ask you to pour out your spirit and be glorified in our midst.

For Jesus' name. Amen.