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our Bibles and as we always do read the entire chapter beginning in verse number one fall on silently with brother Daniel as he reads John 14 starting in verse number one let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me in my father's house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you 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 unto myself that where I am there ye may be also and whither I go you know and the way you know Thomas saith unto him Lord we know not whither thou goest and how can we know the way Jesus saith unto him I am the truth I am the way the truth in the life no man cometh unto the Father but by me if he had known me you should have known my father also and from henceforth you know him and have seen him Philip saith unto him Lord show us the father and it suffices us Jesus saith unto him have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou not known me Philip he that has seen me hath seen the father and how saith thou then show us the father believe it's about not that I am in the father and the father in me the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself but the father that dwelleth in me he do with the works believe me that I am in the father and the father and me or else believe me for the very works sake verily verily saying to you he that believeth on me the works that I do shall he do also and greater works than these shall he do because I go unto my father and whatsoever shall ask in my name that will I do that the father may be glorified in the son if ye shall ask anything in my name I will do it if ye love me keep my commandments and I will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter that ye that he may abide with you forever even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither know with him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you yet a little while in the world seeth me no more but ye see me because I live ye shall live also at that day you shall know that I am in the father and ye and me and I in you he that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that love with me and he that loveth me shall be loved on my father and I will love him and will manifest myself to him Judas saith unto him not a scariot Lord how is it that thou will manifest thy self unto us and not unto the world Jesus answered and said unto him if a man loved me he will keep my words and my father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him he that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings and the world which ye hear in the word which he here is not mine but the fathers which sent me these things have I spoken unto you being at present with you but the comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the father will send in my name he shall teach you all things to bring all things to your remembrance what serve I have said unto you peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as a world giveth give I unto you let not the heart let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid ye have heard how I had said unto you I go away and come again to you if he loved me you would rejoice because I said I go unto the father for my father is greater than I and now I have told you before I come before it come to pass when it is come to pass you might believe hereafter I will not talk much with you for the prince of this world cometh and he hath another he has nothing in me but the world main but that the world may know that I love the father and as a father gave me commandment even so I do arise let us go hence brother Madison we pray for us father in heaven once again we thank you for the opportunity to hear your word preached tonight we ask Lord that you would fill Pastor Anderson and give him great understanding to impart upon us and Lord God we thank you for the doctrine that is preached from this pulpit every week we love you and we ask all these things in Jesus precious name amen amen John chapter 14 the part of the chapter I want to focus on is their beginning in verse number 16 where the Bible reads and I will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever I want to preach about the comforter tonight the comforter now the word comforter in the Bible has a little bit broader of a meaning than the way we would use it today in 2021 obviously today's meaning of comforter you'd probably think of someone at a funeral maybe someone has died and people are sad and so people come to comfort them make them feel better or sympathize with them and that is certainly one of the meanings of comforter that's used in the Bible because job talks about how his three friends are miserable comforters and so that's part of comfort but also the word comfort includes strengthening exhorting encouraging comforting it means all of these things and you could look at the word comfort and see that the last four letters of comfort are our fort you know we think of a fort or a fortress as being something strong imparting strength and that's what the Holy Spirit's ministry is when he indwells the New Testament believer so he says in verse number 16 I will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter then he may abide with you forever now the reason that he says here another comforter is because it is someone other than himself he is obviously a great source of comfort to them because he's there with them exhorting them strengthening them helping them and he's going to leave he's gonna depart this world he's of course gonna die and be buried rise again and eventually ascend up to the father and then he will send another comforter who will be with them forever because he's not going to be there forever he says yet a little while and you see me no more they've walked and talked with Jesus for the last three and a half years he's about to be gone but he's gonna leave and he's gonna send the comforter to be with them and then he tells who the comforter is it says in verse 17 even the spirit of truth we would typically call him the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you so the Holy Spirit has dwelled with them so it's not that they've never met the Holy Spirit or that the Holy Spirit is completely foreign or new to them first of all we know that Jesus Christ is of course filled with the Holy Spirit above all measure God gave not the spirit by measure unto him and of course even in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit would come upon men of God and they would do great work such as preaching or maybe fighting a physical battle the difference here though is that the Holy Spirit is actually going to be in them he said that he has been with you but he shall be in you he already dwells with you but he shall be in you now flip back if you would to John chapter 7 just a couple pages back in your Bible look at John chapter 7 and this is when Jesus is preaching at the feast where a lot of the Jews have come to worship at the annual feast and it says in verse 37 in the last day that great day of the feast Jesus stood and cried cried there of course means that he's just yelling it has nothing to do with tears or weeping he cried saying if any man thirst let him come unto me and drink he that believeth on me as the scripture has said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water but this spake he of the spirit which they that believe on him should receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified so until Jesus glorified the Holy Ghost is not yet given but we know that the Holy Spirit was already around just like he said he dwells with you but he shall be in you now in the Old Testament when the Holy Spirit would come upon men like Samson Saul David all kinds of prophets and warriors that was a temporary thing the Holy Spirit would come upon them they would be filled with the power of God and then that could depart because if you remember when Saul disobeyed the commandment of the Lord then the Spirit Lord departed from Saul and then the Spirit of the Lord dwelled upon David from the time that he was anointed with oil by Samuel and if you remember David was afraid of this in Psalm 51 when he had sinned with Bathsheba he said take not thy Holy Spirit from me because he had the Holy Spirit's power upon him and he didn't want to lose that because that's a temporary thing but that is a completely different phenomenon than the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament which did not come until after Jesus was glorified because he said here the Holy Spirit was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified but here's what a lot of people get mixed up on they think that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament replaces the Holy Spirit upon you from the Old Testament or the the filling of the Holy Spirit from the Old Testament but in reality both of these two phenomena exist side by side in the New Testament so in the Old Testament you have men of God where they're filled with the Spirit of God to do some great work preach the sermon fight the battle that didn't go away in the New Testament but it was augmented you have this additional thing of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit now the difference with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is that it's permanent and it's it's every believer that's indwelled by the Holy Spirit so even if you have a believer even if you have someone who's saved and they're just completely not right with God they're walking in the flesh they're not obeying the commandments of God they are still indwelled by the Holy Spirit they don't have to worry like David you know Oh take not thy Holy Spirit from me about the indwelling because no matter what sin they commit he will never leave them nor forsake them they're always gonna be indwelled that's why the Bible says if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he's none of his every believer is indwelled by the Holy Spirit the moment that you got saved the Holy Spirit came in and dwelled you and he is permanently there and will never leave he is the earnest of our salvation he's the down payment we've been sealed by that Holy Spirit of promise unto the day of redemption and so that is a guarantee that will never be broken he will never leave us or forsake us and so that's the indwelling of the Holy Spirit now one of the things that we see if you flip over to John chapter 20 is that in John chapter 20 they receive the Holy Ghost because of the fact that Jesus has died on the cross he's been buried he's risen again and so now he's gonna give them the comforter now if you remember what he said back in chapter 14 he said he dwelleth with you and shall be in you I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you now he's not gonna come to them and permanently be their comforter because the Holy Spirit and Jesus are not the same person just like God the Father and Jesus are not the same person because we believe in the Trinity three persons one God okay obviously Jesus is not God the Father Jesus is the Son the Holy Spirit's the Holy Spirit okay so that's why he said I'm gonna pray the Father and the Father is gonna send another comforter other than himself but when he says I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you it's because he's going to come to them after the resurrection he's not just gonna leave him comfortless he's gonna come to them and impart unto them the comforter he's gonna impart unto them the Holy Spirit who's gonna be with them forever and is not leaving so look down at your Bible there in John chapter 20 in verse number 21 the Bible reads then said Jesus to them again peace be unto you as my father had sent me even so send I you and when he had said this he breathed on them and said unto them receive he the Holy Ghost so it's pretty clear right in chapter 14 he promises that the comforter is coming and then in John chapter 20 we have the fulfillment of that he doesn't leave them comfortless he shows up and he says receive ye the Holy Ghost but stop think about this this is in the upper room this is before he ascends up to heaven he already delivered on his promise to give them the comforter but yet he tells them to wait for the promise of the father Terry at Jerusalem he tells them don't leave Jerusalem stay at Jerusalem until you have been endued with power from on high so Jesus breathing on them and telling them to receive the Holy Ghost does not give them the power that they're still waiting for that power comes on the day of Pentecost right so even after they've already received the Holy Ghost in John chapter 20 what are they waiting for something else okay because this right here in John chapter 20 is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit like we all have this is the Holy Spirit inside them now that Jesus has been glorified they're indwelled permanently by the Holy Spirit but what's gonna happen at the day of Pentecost is basically like unto that Old Testament phenomenon where the Holy Ghost comes upon them in mighty power the way the Holy Ghost came upon Samson the way the Holy Ghost came upon Saul David Oded the Prophet you name all the different people in the Old Testament that had the Holy Spirit upon them in mighty power so he tells them John baptized with water but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence when the day of Pentecost is fully come they're all assembled together in one place and the Bible talks about how there's a mighty rushing wind and tons of fire resting upon them and they're all filled with the Holy Ghost but even though they're filled with the Holy Ghost in chapter 2 and that's them quote being endued with power from on high yet in chapter 4 we see some of those exact same people praying for the power of God and the Bible says when they had prayed the place where they were assembled together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spake the Word of God with boldness so you see how they're filled with the Holy Ghost in Acts chapter 2 but then those same people get filled with the Holy Ghost in Acts chapter 4 why because this is not a permanent phenomenon but a temporary phenomenon so the point that I want to make here is to clear up any confusion about the difference between the indwelling of the Holy Spirit versus the Holy Ghost upon you or the fullness of the Holy Spirit just as in the Old Testament the fullness of the Holy Spirit or the power of God upon you was temporary it's still temporary in the New Testament you know where where someone could get up and preach a sermon with power and they could go out soul-winning and be filled with the Spirit of God and be used greatly by God in that way but if they start living a life of sin they could lose that power and they could not be filled with the Holy Ghost they could be walking in the flesh that's why the Bible tells us be not drunk with wine we're in his excess but be filled with the Spirit if it was automatic if you were just automatically filled with the Spirit he wouldn't command you be filled with the Spirit if it were just totally automatic now here's what is automatic the indwelling of the Holy Spirit so if you get saved you believe on Christ you are indwelled by the Holy Spirit that's just a for sure thing and I don't care how bad you get the Holy Ghost will never leave you or forsake you but does that mean you're filled with the Holy Spirit no does that mean that you have the Spirit of the Lord upon you like the great prophets of old no that is something that they had to wait for even after they got the indwelling in chapter 20 they didn't get the power until Acts chapter 2 he said wait for the promise of the Father of course they disobeyed the Lord because not only did they wait in Jerusalem to receive the power of the Holy Spirit but then like 20 years later they're still there and that was not God's plan God told me go into all the world he told them go teach all nations and yet they're like okay apostle Paul you go do that and a lot of them ended up staying in Jerusalem for way too long because they were really just supposed to wait till the day of Pentecost and then they were supposed to get out there and evangelize the whole world and eventually they did that because as you study the scripture you can see that eventually Peter made it outside of Jerusalem and he's preaching to the Gentiles like he's supposed to and he's in Asia Minor and even probably made it into Rome if you believe that that's the reference in 1st Peter chapter 5 when he talks about the Church of Babylon greeting them very likely to be referring to Rome so if you would go back to John 14 with all that in mind or John 15 actually I just want to kind of lay that foundation so we understand the Comforter what is the ministry of the Comforter what is the Comforter's job why leave us with the Comforter what's the benefit the Bible says in John chapter 15 verse 26 but when the Comforter has come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall testify of me and ye also shall bear witness because you've been with me from the beginning so the Bible says that the Comforter is going to testify unto the Apostles of Jesus and that they also will bear witness because they've been with him from the beginning so if you think about it the Apostles are going to be going around the world eventually and preaching the gospel right away they're going to be preaching the gospel in Jerusalem and the surrounding areas and they're going to be preaching about Jesus well here's the thing you know human beings are not necessarily going to remember everything that they experienced with Jesus or they might not remember the important things or everything that they need to remember and so the Holy Spirit is going to be there to bring things to their remembrance he's going to testify to them of Jesus now they're going to be able to testify because they were actually there you know they walked and talked with Jesus for three and a half years and so they're going to bear witness about Jesus they're going to talk about the things that Jesus taught and did but they're also going to have the Holy Spirit to remind them of important sayings of Jesus and stories about Jesus if you think about it you know sitting down to write the book of John for example you know John isn't in his own human wisdom going to be able to remember everything and obviously we believe that the Bible is inspired by God and so the Lord led him and gave him the words to put down on the page because he's not necessarily going to know what God wants him to include what God doesn't want him to include it's not like he just wrote it on his own just he just sat down hey I'm just going to tell the story from my perspective you know the Bible is inspired by God and so those things were brought unto his remembrance as an apostle so that's one of the things that the Holy Spirit did was to remind them of these things so that the four Gospels could be written so that they could write their epistles and so they could just preach you know day in day out week in week out they're preaching about Jesus and these things would come back to their mind the Holy Spirit would do that for them he said what does that have to do with us well obviously you know we're not painting scripture we're not divinely inspired to write down you know the gospel according to whoever but the Holy Spirit still has that same ministry for us that he will actually bring things to our remembrance from the Word of God so for example let's say I'm out soul winning and talking to someone and then just boom the perfect verse pops into my head that that person needs to hear and it just rolls off my tongue because the Holy Spirit brought that to my remembrance or let's say I'm up here preaching and I'm preaching away on a certain subject and then boom that subject triggers a certain verse and God brings a certain verse to my mind that's just the perfect verse for that situation or maybe I'm with someone who needs to be encouraged or maybe someone needs to be corrected on something and then that verse pops into my mind a lot of times that's the Holy Spirit bringing those things to your remembrance the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit it's the weapon that the Spirit is using so the Spirit's going to take the Word of God and use it now if you never read the Bible the first time then how's the Holy Spirit gonna bring things to remembrance right in order to remember something it has to be there in the first place so we want to read a lot of Bible listen to a lot of preaching and then the Holy Spirit will bring those things to our remembrance he'll jog our memory but more important than that he will actually help us to understand the Bible and we'll get to that a little bit more later but flip over if you went to chapter 16 chapter 16 so the first thing we saw in verse number 17 of chapter 14 is that the Holy Spirit is going to indwell the believer and then we saw in chapter 15 that not only is he going to comfort the believer which would mean to strengthen him exhort him encourage him and just the standard definition we would think of comfort him you know when he's sad or depressed or going through a hard time he brings comfort but not only that he will also testify of Jesus Christ and bring things to our remembrance about Jesus and about the Word of God we'll look at chapter 16 verse 7 nevertheless I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Comforter will not come but if I depart I will send him unto you this is a pretty startling statement stop and think about how cool it would be to actually be with Jesus physically walking with Jesus you're walking by the Sea of Galilee you're watching him in action as he witnesses to people you're listening to him preach he's on the boat and preaching and you're all on the shore just Wow the ultimate preacher the ultimate soul winner you ask him questions and and just wisdom is rolling off his lips you know that everything he says is right on I mean how great to have that resource of Jesus right there with you physically there I mean what if Jesus were here right now and we can just talk to him ask him any question go out soul winning as his silent partner for a while but yet and the Bible is always telling us the truth my friend the Bible is right you know what the Bible says the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is actually superior to having been on this earth walking with Jesus as one of the twelve disciples that's a pretty startling statement but he tells them hey it's expedient for you that I go away because then you get the Comforter now that's kind of hard to believe isn't it that having the Comforter is better than hanging out with Jesus having the Comforter inside you though actually is better let me see if I can shed a little light on this but first of all even before we understand it we should just believe it anyway because if the Bible says that it's true Jesus telling them look because they don't want to lose Jesus they don't want him to go away they want to keep him around if we were there we'd want to keep him around too but he says no no you're gonna mourn you're gonna weep you're gonna be sad that I'm leaving but it's actually expedient for you that I go away because if I don't go away you don't get the Comforter but if I leave I'm gonna send him what is so great about the Comforter that it's worth Jesus being physically absent but I think this might help shed a little light on it think about how many times the disciples are clueless in especially the Gospel of Mark's account where you're kind of just thinking like come on guys don't you get it and and and he's explaining things and he's doing things and so many things are going over their head aren't they and they're just not getting it and and sometimes that you look at it like wow how can you not get this but that's because you've got the Comforter and this is why this is such an advantage having the Holy Spirit inside you opens up the scriptures unto you in a way that when you don't have the Comforter you know you can't see these things that you do see with the Holy Spirit so the Holy Spirit illuminates the scripture opens our eyes to things in the Bible helps us understand the Word of God testifies of the Word of God now look obviously Old Testament Saints they had some understanding of scripture of course and they had enough understanding to be saved they had enough understand to call upon the name of Lord they had enough understanding to look forward unto the Messiah and to be saved by his future work on the cross his death burial and resurrection but they saw through a glass darkly we see face-to-face we see very clearly much more clearly than the disciples did and much more clearly than any other Old Testament Saints did and you know what that's a major privilege that's a major blessing so don't downplay the Comforter because if you stop and think about just how cool it would be to be physically hanging out with Jesus the Comforter is better okay as hard as that is to believe the good thing is someday we'll have both right you know we up in heaven we'll be with Jesus and we still got the Comforter so we got both but think about it if we were with Jesus and we didn't have the Comforter a lot of stuff that he says is gonna go over our heads so you say oh it'd be so cool to be able to ask Jesus any question except sometimes you might not understand the answer because he's speaking in all these parables and dark sayings and saying all these cryptic things sometimes and the disciples are scratching their heads we've got it all laid out more clearly in the Bible it's all printed and bound nicely here I can hold it in my hand I can take it with me I can search it using electronic tools and most importantly I have the author living inside of me I have the Holy Spirit of God spoon feeding this to me every day making sure that I get something making sure that I understand something you know if I read my Bible and and don't get anything out of it you know it's like what that doesn't happen think about it I mean if you sit down and actually read the Bible I guess if you read the Bible didn't get anything out of it you maybe you're zoned out maybe you're not paying attention maybe your heart's kind of somewhere else but I mean if you actually approach the Bible with a desire to learn and you pray and read your Bible you know I believe you're guaranteed to get something out of it you know how could you not when the Holy Spirit's there ready to tutor you in the Bible you know how many times have we tried to learn a subject on our own and it just goes over our head and and and you know you have to seek out some help some guidance the Holy Spirit is that guide inside of us so so not only do we have this amazing treasure of the Word of God I mean just having a book that contains absolute truth on the shelf is already an amazing privilege but how much better when there's someone to explain it to you and someone to teach and I'm not talking about me I'm not even talking about your parents I'm talking about the Holy Spirit of God and the Bible says unit you have no need that any man teach you you have no need than any man teach you but as the same anointing teaches you of all things and is truth and is no lie and even as it hath taught you you shall abide in him the anointing is the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit will teach you to where you don't even need a man to explain it to you that's why I believe that in your personal Bible reading time you should have the Bible and nothing else there are people that we learn from you know you come to church and and I preach to you and hopefully you learn from me you learn from other brothers and sisters in Christ and you know some people like to read a lot of books about the Bible but folks if you want to read a book about the Bible that is never a substitute for reading the Bible itself don't just read a book about the Bible read the Bible and here's the thing I also would avoid study Bibles commentaries for your Bible time I'm not saying that you'd never reference something as a tool or some but here's the thing you need to have a time each day where it's just you and the Bible with no third party and let the Holy Spirit teach you the Bible you don't need a man it's like well I can't understand the Bible unless I've got these notes and this commentary and then either a you're not saved or B you're just you're just deluded and and lacking the confidence in the Holy Spirit to teach you the Bible you don't need that stuff take the training wheels off your Bible okay get a Bible without training wheels that's just the text of Scripture and let the Holy Spirit have a chance to teach you without Schofield budding in Spurgeon budding in and interrupting you you know you're trying to read the Bible hey read the Bible in peace by yourself with the Holy Spirit and so I don't know if I'm qualified are you saved you're qualified to read the Bible on your own and look I'm not saying you're gonna understand everything I don't understand everything you know somebody asked me a Bible question last week and you know what I told them I don't know somebody asked this what they asked me you smarty-pants out there that know everything you can you know oh that that's an elementary question somebody it's they asked me you know in Genesis chapter 9 you know why is it that Canaan gets cursed instead of ham you know I mean hams the one who did it but it's like cursed be Canaan you know and and here's the thing I mean I've got my ideas I've got my theories but I can't really give a firm answer on that so I'd rather just say you know I don't think that's clear I don't know you know hey the woman ought to have power on her head because of the angels good luck with that verse you know there are things the Bible I don't understand and there are a lot of things that I used to not understand but now I do understand but here's thing when I read the Bible I don't worry about what I don't understand I just take what I do understand and I grow on that and here's the thing you might come to one of my sermons and something in my sermon goes over your head so what did you understand anything I preached you know just take what I did preach that you could understand and apply that learn from that grow on that and when you read your Bible just find what you do understand read the Bible and I guarantee you God will teach you something but here's the thing you're not going to understand the mysteries of the universe overnight you're not going to learn the whole Bible overnight it's a slow process line must be upon line precept upon precept line upon line you learn the Bible over a lifetime I study the Bible every day and I'm constantly learning new things I can even go to some of the most familiar books Genesis I mean how many times have I read through Genesis but yet new things are jumping out of me you know I it's funny I go to do a Christmas sermon you know every year you got to do the Christmas sermon and it's like you've done so many sermons on the birth of Christ and you start running out of ideas you know of how we can approach this thing of the birth of Christ but I tell you what it I open up Luke 2 we've heard it a million times open up Matthew 1 heard it a million times and it's it's like every year there's always something that jumps out at me or something that I understand in a new way and you know what that is that's the Holy Spirit giving me something new because I'm going back and reading about this is a book you can read over and over again and you always get something new out of it and it's because there's a person there spoon feeding you that new thing it's not just that you know I'm just really perceptive so I just keep seeing new things because I'm just really perceptive like no no it's the Holy Spirit there that says okay here's something new and he shows you something new and the next time he shows you something new so it's guaranteed to be a worthwhile read you're never gonna read the Bible and it'd be a waste of time like well that was just a good review session but I didn't really get anything new you're guaranteed to get something new now I remember when I was a teenager being worldly wanting to just kind of have fun play video games just waste time with my friends I remember preachers would always say read the Bible until you get something out of it so I'd always just go straight to Proverbs because I was like I'm gonna get something out of it real fast and then I can go back to swimming and playing outside and whatever so it's just like straight to Proverbs or I'd go straight to 1st 2nd Timothy Titus like read the Bible until you get something out of it I was like done that's great that verse you know I'll meditate on that we don't want to go to we don't want to do that they want to read a serious amount of Bible and you know what I believe is a good amount of Bible for you to read to set this as your minimum once a year cover to cover okay that's doable that's reasonable and I'll tell you what if you read it less than that you know you're not really gonna learn the Bible as well because it's like by the time you get back around to things it's been years since you read the other things and you lose context you know if you read the whole Bible every year you're kind of keeping it in context where you you you get the big picture you see the forest for the trees and obviously as a pastor or a missionary or you know other people that are deeper into this kind of stuff or deeper into the work of Lord or maybe you're training for those things you know you're gonna read them more than that but I think for a godly layman man woman boy girl you know obviously it's not in the Bible telling you hey this is how much you're supposed to read but you know I would like to challenge you to make that your minimum I think every man woman boy and girl can do that because it's about 15 minutes a day 15 maybe 20 minutes a day and anybody can carve out that time to be by themselves and read the Bible for 15 20 minutes a day and get through it cover to cover once a year because you know I don't want to get up and say hey read it till you get something out of it because that's too that I mean I get something out of it fast and then I'm not reading enough so I want to get a lot of some things out of it you know so so I would just say read your day portion you know get on some kind of a plan and everybody's different and and some people like to do it just start in Genesis and end in Revelation that's not really my personality I find that I read more if I read what I feel like reading and I just have a checklist to make sure I hit it all and before I start doing it again I make sure that I don't just avoid certain books or something so I have a checklist where I check it off but I I jump around you know I basically just whatever book I'm in the mood for because I find that if I'm in the mood for it then it's a pleasure and I read more I enjoy it but whatever your system maybe you do it as a as a as a rigid schedule maybe you read what you feel like and just kind of keep track of it on a chart I like to use Excel spreadsheets to keep track of my Bob already because I'm kind of a dweeb like that but the point is however you do it read a substantial amount of Bible and I guarantee you you're gonna get a lot out of it because you've got the author sitting next to you explaining it to you and you know what I'd rather have that even than walking and talking with Jesus because you know Jesus talking to me this is Jesus talking to me except if I was walking and talking with Jesus I'd be one of those disciples that people are shaking their head about like why doesn't Steve Anderson get it just like we look at sometimes Peter or John like come on guys pay attention we would have been the same way okay because the comforter gives us this incredible amount of understanding that we might take for granted you know I got saved when I was six years old so I can't even really remember a time when I didn't understand the Bible because I've always had that comforter with me back to some of my earliest memories because obviously I don't have a lot of memories before I was six so I've understood scripture and you're you that are saved you understand scripture but some of you could probably hearken back to a time before you were saved to remember not understanding the Bible you know my wife she told me that she made some attempts to read the Bible before she was saved and she she read it read a couple chapters and said you know I don't get it it went over her head she lost interest right away after she got saved she opened up the book of John John chapter 1 because I told her after she got saved I said hey here's where you start you know book of John because she wasn't really that familiar with the Bible and didn't really grow up being taught these things and grew up in an unsafe home she started reading John chapter 1 and it was just like boom I understand it and it was an exact chapter didn't you try to read that exact chapter previously or was it something else that you read yes she had tried that exact chapter John chapter 1 unsaved went over her head saved she's like whoa I get it I see it so you know she has a first-hand understanding of what I'm talking about the comforter versus sans comforter you know you're gonna understand a lot more when you're saved and it dwelled by the Holy Spirit but you know what some of you might just be letting that go to waste because you're not reading the Bible and it's like the tutor is waiting for you you know the the comforter is waiting for you that he's waiting to sit there and expounded to you and you're not even calling upon him you're not even letting him get into action you're quenching him when he wants to teach you the Bible so I want to encourage you to read the Bible this year and take advantage of this wonderful gift that's been given and if you ever you know take this for granted think about how this was compared favorably with having Jesus physically with you hey you'd rather that I go away so you can get the comforter it's that good to be indwelled by the Holy Spirit so let me read that again and I hope this really sinks in verse 7 nevertheless I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you and when he is come he will reprove the world of sin so what's interesting here is that we see that the Holy Spirit has a ministry to the saved that's what we've been talking about all evening but he also has a ministry to the unsaved the Holy Spirit actually has a ministry to the unsaved now it's not the same ministry that he has to the safe because to the saved he opens our understanding of the scripture well guess what unsaved people that's not happening they don't read the Bible and understand it we just talked about that but he does yet have a ministry to the unsaved and it's a ministry of reproof he reproves them right because it says when he has come verse 8 he will reprove the world now what does it mean to reprove someone it means to tell them that they are wrong he tells you that you're wrong if you're unsaved he tells you that you're wrong he reproves the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment there are two words in the Bible reprove and rebuke and they pretty much mean the same thing rebuke is probably sterner then then reprove just because it's got that like buke syllable that just just the onomatopoeia it just sounds harsh rebuke reproof is a little softer but it's the same thing you know it's telling somebody that they're wrong you know as a preacher I'm told to preach the word and to reprove and rebuke and exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine the Holy Spirit testifies under this world that they are wrong he doesn't open up the scriptures to them the way he does to a saved person that's why they need us to open the scriptures to them that's why we go out and knock on people's doors and actually show them the gospel preach them the gospel God has chosen to manifest his word through preaching and the Bible says when the world by wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe so God uses preaching the preaching of the gospel in order to get people saved why because that's a saved person who's got the Holy Spirit expounding it to them so they're benefiting from the Holy Spirit in you they don't have the Holy Spirit indwelling them opening the scriptures to them so your Holy Spirit anointing is there to expound it to them and they get saved hopefully sometimes they do sometimes they don't you know it depends on whether or not they believe but what we see here is that the Holy Spirit does have a ministry to tell the world that they're wrong now look it's possible to know the problem without knowing the exact solution right you know a lot of preachers preach a lot of things that show that they understand the problem but then they give the wrong solution you know a lot of people know the problem of you know we're sinners and we're doomed to hell without Christ but then they have the wrong solution they have workspace salvation or the sacraments or whatever it's a wrong salvation instead of salvation by faith a lot of people know that there's something wrong with our country they know that there's something wrong politically they know there's something wrong with our government they know there's something wrong with the Democrats and that there's something wrong with the Republicans but if you ask them okay how do we fix it they might just say well I don't know or they might give you a goofed up answer of how to fix it so knowing the problem is one thing knowing the solution is another thing mankind knows there's a problem you know that's a universal feeling or knowledge you know how often do you run into somebody who claims that they never sin I'm perfect I never sin I've never said now it happens it's out there but but is it just constantly happening to you out so winning or is it kind of rare I mean for me is it different in Uganda good night these bunch of Rwandans on their high horse they think they're perfect they think they walk on water you know that's crazy they're crazy good night but well and not in America though thank God we at least have that level of sanity you know when we ask people do you think anybody is without sin they're no way you know hey have you ever sinned up all the time you know they recognize that right away and you know whenever people scoff at that I'm always just blown away like thinking like are you that stupid like are you crazy because I'm thinking about myself you're thinking about yourself do you ever just find yourself thinking man I'm pretty good I don't even say you know we're constantly like oh man I messed up or it look the thought of foolishness is sin how many times you just think something stupid you know I don't know about you but when I have dreams at night I almost always remember my dreams when I first wake up and they're always stupid I mean how you know you always dream something stupid it doesn't make any sense and I'm thinking to myself I have all these stupid thoughts we are constantly coming short of the glory of God we're constantly not doing things we should do doing things that we shouldn't do thinking stupid things that we shouldn't think and I'm thinking myself you'd have to be literally insane to think that you don't sin because it's so obvious that we sin all the time it's just so obvious and clear and that's why you know I mean the Holy Spirit's got some work to do in Rwanda okay he needs to start reproving those people of sin because I'm telling you you know the average Joe in this one I mean they must have been brainwashed to think that way by some kind of false religion or so I just can't get over this I'm sorry but you know if you think about when you go out soul winning 99% of the time people easily know that they're a sinner so they've got the problem but does that mean they have the solution no you're there to give them the solution and you explain the solution to them and oftentimes it's totally new to them and they've never even heard the gospel they've never even heard about salvation but even beyond going out soul winning in the United States and asking people if they know they're a sinner I think just even in the deepest darkest jungle even in some tribe out there I think deep down man knows that there's there's something missing something's wrong I need something I need salvation I need redemption why because otherwise explain a billion Hindus you know what I mean why are there a billion Hindus because they know they need something they know that there's some kind of a god or some kind of an after you know they know there's something out there but they've got all the wrong answers they've got idolatry and false religion and so forth so you know the Holy Spirit's out there basically reproving the world of sin so that's why no matter how backwards someone is they they pretty much know that murder is wrong we could pretty much go anywhere in this world do they at least know that in Rwanda that murder you know murder they pretty much know that murder is wrong they know that stealing is wrong they know that adultery is wrong these things are universally known they know that the sodomites are wrong these things are just common sense universally known because the Holy Spirit does reprove the world of sin he reproves the world of sin because they believe not on me of righteousness because I go to my father and you see me no more of judgment because the prince of this world is judged so verse 8 says when he's come he'll reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment so unsaved people they do benefit from the ministry of the Holy Spirit in some sense because he's reproving them of sin of righteousness and of judgment but that's not enough for them to get saved on their own without someone bringing them the gospel it's not enough to just be out in the jungle reproved of sin righteousness and judgment it's like okay what do I do where do I go you know and so that's where the missionary comes in that's where the sole winner comes in that's where you and I come in to bring the gospel to the lost and if our gospel be hid it's hid to them that are lost the God of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not we need to shine the light of the glorious gospel but the Holy Spirit does have a ministry to the unsaved that's just reproof the ministry to the saved is different to us he's the comforter he's opening our understanding he's teaching us he's testifying unto us look what the Bible says in verse 12 I have yet many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now how be it when he the spirit of truth has come he will guide you into all truth and here's a key point that I want to make here or that the Word of God makes for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak and he will show you things to come he shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you here's what is so key about this when the Bible says that the Holy Spirit does not speak of himself we don't want to misunderstand the word of there it's not saying he's not gonna speak about himself because he does speak about himself he is the author of the Word of God holy men of God speak as they were moved by the Holy Ghost does the Bible talk about the Holy Spirit yeah the Bible talks about the Holy Spirit so what that's the Holy Spirit talking about the Holy Spirit so yeah he does speak about himself in the sense that the Bible talks about him and he led the Scriptures to be written in that way when the Bible says he does not speak of himself the of there is the source he's not speaking from himself he's it's not coming up you know when the Bible says we're to be of God and not of the world you know what does that mean it's talking about you know there's a certain ideology that the source of that ideology is this world and then there's a certain ideology where the source is God the Father and we want to be of the Father we want to be of God we want to be different than this world and so the Bible is saying here the Holy Spirit's not going to speak of himself meaning that he's not going to make up things on his own and just basically just come up with his own revelations for you what is the bot get the context he'll not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak do you see the difference there he does not come up with things on his own to reveal to us but rather whatsoever he hears that he speaks and he will show you things to come and then look at verse 14 this is reiterated he shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine he shall receive of mine and just show it unto you so the Holy Spirit is basically taking what he gets from Jesus and revealing it unto us now why is this important why am I making a big deal about the fact that he does not speak of himself and if you know if you speak Spanish you you probably understand this use of of who here speak Spanish tonight couple people you know if you want to say where you're from you'd say soy de Arizona and that means I'm of Arizona you know or I'm from Arizona but that word day also means of you know it's the same word of or from or whatever and and so that's the way this of his functioning here you know he's not gonna speak of himself from his own self but rather he's gonna take of mine and show it to you whatsoever he hears that's what he's gonna speak the reason that's important is because we have people getting extra biblical revelations oh well the Holy Spirit told me XY and Z but in reality that's not how the Holy Spirit works he doesn't just start talking to you and telling you stuff out of the blue what he does is he takes of mine Jesus said he'll take of mine and show it to you so he uses the Word of God to speak to us he used he basically speaks to us the words of Christ the things of Christ because Jesus is the word you got the father of the word and the Holy Ghost well do a little fill in the blanks if it's the father of the word the Holy Ghost we know that Jesus is the word and so Jesus the word made flesh and dwelled among us and so he's gonna take of the Word of God and show it unto us and so when people just start telling you these extra biblical revelations or special revelations well well the Holy Spirit told me you know to do XY and Z you know chapter and verse please on that because a lot of times these extra biblical revelations conflict with what the Bible says and I saw a great quote on Facebook where it said you know if extra biblical revelations conflict with the Word of God they're false and if extra biblical revelations line up with the Word of God then they're unnecessary think about it if they contradict the Bible they're wrong and if they're saying the same thing the Bible says we don't need them because we've already cut the Bible so count me out of trying to receive extra biblical revelations you know I believe I've got everything I need right here now you well you don't believe in the Holy Spirit to reveal and teach you hey the Holy Spirit is revealing things to me every day teaching me every day comforting me every day but he's using this to do it this is the sword that he uses this is the sword of the Spirit this is his instrument this is what he takes of this and this is a lot of material for him he's got 31,000 some verses to work with he doesn't just speak of himself just coming up with new things he takes of Christ's Word and he shows it unto us he explains it he expounds it and that keeps him busy I mean he's got a great ministry to teach and expound this giant book of amazing truth and so extra biblical revelations beware of them Oh God told me X Y & Z you better check that with Scripture and and here's what I used to think I remember when I was a teenager I had this thought when I'd hear people saying Oh God told me this God told me that God told me this here's what I thought I thought we'll slow down let me take out my pen and let me write that in the back of my Bible because it's God's Word right and I'm just gonna keep I mean my Bible should come with a whole bunch of blank pages in the back for everything God keeps telling you God told me this God told me that slow down let me write that down because we're we're penning new scripture if it's supposedly the Word of God we better all write it down we better all keep adding and and folks it's not the way it works with the Bible is complete you know there was a time when God was revealing new scripture but sorry Joseph Smith sorry Brigham Young that ship has already sailed okay we've got the whole Bible and you can tell just by reading the Bible that it's it's done you know Genesis to Revelation it's just it all fits real neatly and it's like the next thing we're looking for is even so come Lord Jesus and the book of Revelation you know this is what's at hand this is what's happening and you know the end that's my Bible at the end says the end you know so it's not like oh another Testament of Jesus Christ and isn't it funny how the Old Testament is constantly prophesying of the New Testament but isn't it funny how the New Testament never tells us hey there's a Third Testament coming hang out for it hey the Book of Mormon's coming hey the Quran's coming why doesn't it tell us that the Quran's on its way or that the Book of Mormon's on its way because it's not on its way it tells us that we're gonna see him when he comes in the clouds you know the this same Jesus which has taken up from you into heaven so shall come and like manners have seen him go into heaven Jesus Christ is gonna come in the clouds the trumpets gonna sound that's what we're we're waiting for okay and so I also have an issue when people say oh I saw Jesus Jesus came and appeared to me and talked to me I always ask this question did he have long hair well yeah you know or somebody sent me a picture I drew I saw Jesus and here's what he looked like long hair I'm thinking myself well the Bible teaches that it's a shame for a man to have long hair and so why would Jesus have long hair and in fact if you study that scripture he specifically says that we are not to cover our head meaning long hair in the context he said we ought not to do that because we're in the image of glory and God well if there's anybody that was the image of glory of God it was Jesus Jesus was the express image of his person so why would he tell us hey don't have long hair men because you're the express image you know you're you're in the image of glory of God but then the guy that's the express image you had long hair that makes no sense if Jesus had long hair why do that well have short hair because you're in the image of God who had long hair it's me it's madness folks you've seen a bunch of pictures of Jesus with long hair that's some dude doing a self-portrait is what that is some white dude with blonde hair and blue eyes doing a self-portrait or drawing his queer buddy or something because the fact that a lot of those Renaissance painters were literal queers look up Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo and all the other Ninja Turtles and guess what you know these guys are not godly men they're feminine dudes so they're painting a Jesus in their own image you know have you ever have you ever seen where sometimes you know you go to a black church out of black Jesus Asian Church has the Asian Jesus Latino Church has the Latino Jesus and then white people have the white Jesus blonde hair blue eyed Jesus folks we don't know what Jesus looked like I don't care what he looked like if it was important what he looked like the Bible would describe him the Bible gives a lot of physical descriptions of a lot of people we don't get a physical description of Jesus walking and talking on this earth because you know what we're not supposed to obsess over how he looked we're not supposed to make a graven image of Jesus or have some icon of Jesus that we bow down to or something it doesn't matter I don't care red yellow black and white Jesus transcends all that he's the son of God he's the savior of the world God's house a house of prayer for all nations doesn't matter we shouldn't be dividing over racial issues and trying to figure out you know who gets to claim Jesus for their race you know if you take pride in your race you're fool because of the fact that we're all one blood red and yellow black and white doesn't matter and so the point is that Jesus Christ is the image of God we don't know what he physically looked like but I'll tell you one thing he didn't have long hair I'll guarantee you that because of the fact that he looked like everybody else because when they had to identify him in the Garden of Gethsemane what they say Judas is gonna kiss him the one that I kiss arrests the one that I kiss why didn't he just say get the guy with the long hair see the dude with the long hair that's him spot him a mile away he's the one with the man bun or whatever he didn't say that because Jesus didn't have long hair but yet people have these visions of Jesus going but I always say to them you know well you saw Jesus did he have long hair yes and okay wrong guy you saw Absalom in a vision and the thing is you know I don't believe that Jesus Christ appears unto people today because Paul said last of all he was seen of me I'm the I'm the least the apostle he was the last apostle who saw the resurrected Christ the next time anybody sees him everybody's gonna see him when he comes in the clouds every eye shall see him that's what I believe the scripture clearly teaches and so how did I get off on that though the Holy Spirit's not gonna speak of himself he's gonna take the word of Christ and show it unto us he's gonna testify of Christ and he glorifies Christ you know he's constantly pointing us to Christ teaching us about Christ giving us the Word of Christ and I don't know what that had to do with the visions of Jesus and think oh yeah the extra biblical revelations right Oh Jesus told me this and I saw him and he appeared to me and everything like that I don't believe in that I don't believe that we are receiving extra biblical revelations like that I believe the Bible is complete and that the Holy Spirit does not speak of himself but that rather he takes the Word of God and reveals it unto us we've already got the word right here it's bound in a nice volume Genesis to Revelation and it's been done for you know how long well over 1900 years has been done and so don't try to add the Quran or the Book of Mormon or anything else to it because it's a done deal let me just quickly finish up with the passage here it says he shall glorify me verse 14 for he shall receive of my and shall show it unto you so he'll take the Word of God and show it to you be like if I took my Bible and we've all you know I've done this a million times right take the Bible and hey can I show you something in the Bible I show it I explain it and and sometimes people will say wow I've never seen that before well that's what the Holy Spirit the Comforter is doing he shows us the Bible in our quiet time in our personal devotion and we're like wow I've never seen that before how many times have we had those mountaintop spiritual experiences where it's just us in the Lord reading our Bible and wow I've never seen that and God is teaching us that is the Comforter that's the Holy Spirit and maybe those of us who've been saved for a really long time we might take it for granted sometimes that of course we understand the Bible I mean it's right there you know just read the thing yeah but we don't understand that we've got a major major help in the Holy Spirit teaching us and that unsaved people when they read oh I read the Bible in prison three times but then they know nothing of the things of God why because they forgot a key ingredient the Comforter they didn't have the Holy Spirit guiding them he shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you all things that the Father hath are mine therefore said I that he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you so the the Comforter is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit it's what makes us as New Testament believers understand so much more than the Old Testament believers understood even more than the twelve disciples understood walking and talking with Jesus what a privilege what a blessing not only and I focused a lot on him helping us understand the Bible but he's also there just to encourage us cheer us up motivate us sometimes when we go to sin and and he'll make us feel guilty that we're about to sin or sometimes we're feeling down or gloomy and he could bring a verse to our mind that would just encourage us and and get us out of that funk that we're in and and encourage us and and maybe motivate us prompt us to get out and do something for the Lord and so the Comforter is very important has a very key role to play in our Christian lives and the best part is he's included you know this isn't some other add-on with our salvation you know batteries not included or something like that or you know this is an accessory that you have to get later the good news is that the Comforter comes in the basic package of getting saved right when we get saved just just simply just believing out Jesus Christ the Comforter is part of the free gift you know the eternal life is the free gift the Comforter is part of that now the fullness of the Holy Spirit that's in the extended plan that's the extended package that's an accessory that takes a little more work at you know prayer reading your Bible walking with God in order to be filled with the Spirit but thank God for the basic package the Comforter we can all open our Bibles and read it and understand it that's awesome in and of itself and it's just always great to know that we're never alone no matter where we go we're never alone the Holy Spirit's always with us and the best part is he seals us under the day of redemption guarantees that we could never lose our salvation because he's our guarantee you know I mean I don't want to well I better not you I was gonna say no it's I don't want to I don't want to go there you know signs when you're preaching on the fly you know you can get into trouble so want to make sure that I stick with what's in the notes right but anyway the point is that the Holy Spirit is guaranteeing our salvation teaching us the Bible he's our friend he comforts us he reminds us of things he brings things to remembrance and it's just such a privilege what a blessing now obviously we want to go beyond that and be filled with the Holy Spirit but the Comforter himself being with us is such a privilege we need to read our Bibles so that he can do his work he's not gonna be able to do much if we don't read our Bible because he doesn't speak of himself so I don't need the Bible the Holy Spirit's just talking to me all day just telling me stuff and he's gonna he's not gonna speak up he's gonna take of mine and show it to you so read the Bible so that the Comforter can do his thing let's buy rides and have a word of prayer father we thank you so much for the Comforter thank you for eternal life salvation and and thank you Lord for the Comforter the Holy Spirit the spirit of truth Lord thank you for a person guiding us into all truth and not just a person but a divine person but actually the Holy Spirit God himself guiding us into all truth father we thank you for Jesus Christ dying for us and we thank you for the other Comforter that we have in the Holy Spirit Lord please help us every day to to read your word so that we can take advantage of his ministry and also not only that Lord please help us when when we are led by the Holy Spirit when the Holy Spirit brings things to our remembrance or hits us with the Bible verse Lord help us to obey the Spirit help us obey the Holy Spirit when he's rebuking us when we're about to sin or encouraging us when we're down help us to listen to the Spirit and what he says to the churches and what he says to us individually and in Jesus name we pray amen all right we're gonna sing one more song let's sing a very appropriate song 349 Oh where bro Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh