John 15:26-16:4
English Standard Version (ESV)
26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
16 “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. 3 And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. 4 But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you. “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.

Title: When the Helper Comes

SOS is the international signal for distress. When the helper comes there will be distress. That’s why you need his help.

When the Holy Spirit fills us we will have…
1. Support
2. Objective – purpose or mission
3. Safeguards – protections from losing our faith

I used the acronym SOS. Which is a distress call in time of danger. It was originally adopted by the Germans in 1905, but by 1908 it had become the international signal for distress.

Who can do the Morse Code for SOS? [take volunteers]

The SOS distress signal was communicated using Morse code distress signal (• • • – – – • • •). three-dits/three-dahs/three-dits
In popular usage, SOS became associated with such phrases as
• "save our ship"
• "save our souls"
• "send out succour"
Succor –
1. help or assistance, esp in time of difficulty
2. a person or thing that provides help

3. to give aid to [from Old French sucurir, from Latin succurrere to hurry to help, from sub- under + currere to run]

Jesus will save our souls. And he is the one that sends out succor, the person of the Holy Spirit who provides us with help and assistance, especially in times of difficulty.

Jesus makes it clear that there are great dangers ahead for the saints. But we will have support and safeguards that will help us in completing our objective.

1. Support (26)

26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

If you are going to make it in this life and be fruitful for Jesus, you will need:
• Help
• Truth
• Knowledge (about Jesus)

You will get all of this from the Holy Spirit.
• Helper: RC Sproul was talking about how the Holy Spirit is our Comforter:
o Come: latin – cum, meaning with
o Forte: latin - forte meaning strength. From this word, we get the word “fort” or “fortress”.
o The Holy Spirit comes beside us with strength. He is our ever present help in time of danger.
o Psalm 18:1-3
1 I love you, O LORD, my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.

• Spirit of Truth: The Holy Spirit guides us into truth. Helps us discern between truth and error. Illuminates the scriptures.
• Once, when a stubborn disputer seemed unconvinced, Lincoln said, "Well, let's see how many legs has a cow?"
"Four, of course," came the reply disgustedly.
"That's right," agreed Lincoln. "Now suppose you call the cow's tail a leg; how many legs would the cow have?"
"Why, five, of course," was the confident reply.
"Now, that's where you're wrong," said Lincoln. "Calling a cow's tail a leg doesn't make it a leg."
- Bits and Pieces, July, 1991.
• While an estimated 74 percent of Americans strongly agree that "there is only one true God, who is holy and perfect, and who created the world and rules it today," an estimated 65 percent either strongly agree or somewhat agree with the assertion that "there is no such thing as absolute truth." - George Barna, The Barna Report: What Americans Believe, 1991.
• In this day and age, how important it is that we have the Spirit guiding us into truth.

• Bears witness about Me: The Holy Spirit doesn’t draw attention to himself…but rather he draws attention to Jesus Christ. Sometimes you hear about churches that say, “We have the Holy Spirit.” Or, “We are a Spirit-filled church.” Here’s the acid test… If you are truly a spirit-filled church, you are going to be OBSESSED with Jesus! Because the Holy Spirit is OBSESSED with Jesus. If you’re obsessed with the Holy Spirit, you will grieve the spirit. He’s not about bringing attention to himself. He bears witness about Jesus! A Holy Spirit obsessed church will have a tendency to overly focus on manifestations, healings, and miracles. A Father obsessed church, will have a tendency to overly focus on holiness often at the expense of grace and mercy. The Holy Spirit does not bear witness about himself, and he doesn’t primarily bear witness about the Father. His OBSESSION is to turn people’s attention to Jesus Christ and his cross, for at the cross we see the greatest manifestation of the work of the Spirit, the Holiness of the Father and the love of our God! Let us be a spirit-filled church that is completely obsessed with Jesus Christ. This is what will be most pleasing to the Spirit of God.

• The Ragamuffin Band – “Make Me an Instrument”:
Lord, make me your instrument….
Christ within me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ above me,
Christ beneath me, to my left and my right, Christ where I lie and where I arise,
Christ in the hearts of all who think of me, Christ on the lips of all who speak of me,
Christ in the eyes of all who see me---
Make me Your instrument, Lord!

2. Objective

27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

• Bear witness: The Holy Spirit bears witness to the disciples about Jesus, and the disciples bear witness to the world about Jesus. The Spirit works in our hearts to teach us of Jesus Christ, and then we become mouthpieces of the Spirit as He uses us to bear witness to others.
• Why the disciples? Jesus says “because you have been with me from the beginning.” I think it’s clear that Jesus means from the beginning of his ministry, not the beginning of creation or the beginning of time. They’ve been with Jesus during his earthly ministry. They’ve seen his works and heard his teaching. Therefore, they are the most equipped to bear witness about him. They are still not yet equipped enough, but once the Holy Spirit fills them in Acts 2, then they will be ready to bear witness to the world.

3. Safeguard (16:1-4)

1 “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.

• Danger of Falling Away: Jesus is teaching them all these things because he knows there is a danger that they will fall away. They will be kicked out of the synagogues, hated, tortured, and killed. Due to these great challenges, there is a likelihood that they will fall away. Apostles  Apostate
• Are you talking about losing your salvation? But these are the elect, the chosen of God. There’s no way they can fall away. Once saved always saved. What about the security of the believer? I do believe in the security of the believer, but I do not believe in it because there is no danger of Christians falling away. There is great danger of Christians falling away. Jesus said these things because he was concerned about that VERY REAL DANGER. Why is there no way a true Christian will actually fall away? Not because there is no danger. But because Jesus will protect us from falling away. He won’t let us fall away. This is our hope. He will keep us. How does he protect us? One way he protects us from falling away… is that he teaches us. Verse 1, “I have said all these things…”
• Said these things: Jesus said these things because he was concerned about them falling away. What things does he say? He teaches them about the Holy Spirit, about loving each other, abiding in Christ, and abiding in the love of Christ. Because if they don’t know these things they won’t remain Christians.

TRANSITION: Jesus knows the great difficulties his followers will face in this life and he teaches us to prepare us for those battles and to protect us from losing our faith in times of struggle.

• Out of Synagogues: The synagogues were the spiritual and social center of the Jewish society. If you were Jewish in this time period…you hang out with, you do business with, you celebrate special occasions with…the people you know from synagogue. To be kicked out of the synagogue is to lose your circle of friends, to have your whole support system pulled out from under you. It is to be ostracized from the dearests of friends, from parents, children and society. It was to be excommunicated or dis-fellowshipped. You don’t get invited over anymore. Some people won’t do business with you anymore. They won’t let your kids play with their kids any more. They treat you like a disease…because you’ve been infected with Jesus.
• Kill you: Jesus knew the disciples would face the danger of physical harm, torture and death. As Karl shared last week, all the disciples except for John died a martyr’s death. James was beheaded. Peter was crucified upside down. Even John was boiled in oil, but miraculously he survived. Over the centuries, the gospel has been spread by men and women who were willing to suffer and die for the cause of Christ.
• Offering a Service to God: Notice how vehement this hatred is for the believers. This wasn’t just, “Those Christians bug me.” Jesus says they kill you, and when they do, they will think they are offering a service to God. This is zealous hatred. These Christ haters have a passionate drive like Muslim jihadists and Japanese kamikazes. These are people on a mission or crusade against the followers of Jesus. They have dart boards at home with your picture on them.

TRANSITION: Why so much animosity against the saints? You’ve heard the saying, “It’s all in who you know.” [VERSE 3]

3 And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.

• Illustration: Business deal that was getting held up this week. The other side wanted a lawyer involved. It was getting complicated until they found out that I was a Christian. They loved Jesus so they loved me! Those who know Jesus are our allies, but often those who do not can become our greatest enemies. These persecutors Jesus speaks of don’t know the Father or the Son. That’s why they do these things.
• The Father, Nor Me: This is a reminder to us that it is a package deal…If you have the Father, you get the Son. If you know Jesus, you know the Father. If you don’t know Jesus, you don’t know either the Father or the Son.
• Jewish and Muslim “Brothers”: A friend of mine told me, “I think we’ll see Jews and Muslims in heaven. They worship the same God.” You may have heard people talk about Jews and Muslims as if they are “brothers” because they worship the the God of Abraham and Moses. Jesus makes it very clear that they are not our brothers. They do not worship the same God. You cannot reject Jesus Christ and claim to be a follower of the God of Abraham and Moses.
o John 15:23: Whoever hates me hates my Father also. (John 15:23)
o John 8: The Jews say to the Jesus: 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” 54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ 55 But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. (John 8:53-59)
o If you don’t receive Jesus, you are not worshipping the God of Abraham or the God of Moses. And you are not worshipping the true God.

TRANSITION: The disciples are going to face harsh attacks…and many of these attacks will come from people who claim to worship the God of Abraham and the God of Moses… and Jesus is preparing the disciples for this persecution. [VERSE 4]

4 But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you. “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.
• Said these things: This is a protection for the disciples. They are going to face fierce hatred and attacks. People will argue, “Even Judas…one of the 12 betrayed Jesus. How can he be the messiah?” “He died on a cross like a common criminal? How can he be the Christ?”  The disciples can respond: “It was all in his plan! He told us ahead of time.”
• I did not say these things from the beginning: Because I was with you.
o He didn’t want them worrying about him leaving
o Or fretting over Judas or the persecution they’d face
o I imagine his presence meant… a greater level of safety and shielding from this persecution. I was with you. You weren’t going to face all this hostility while with me.
o Jesus is using discretion: He has much to say to them but he doesn’t say it all at once.
o John 16:12: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.”
o Little by little he revealed more and more to them. Earlier on in his ministry, they didn’t need to know about Judas, the cross, him going away, but now they do. Jesus has even more to share with them, but they can’t handle it yet, so he’s going to wait and reveal more to them through the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, after his departure.
o Use discretion in how much info you share: Jesus is a good example to us. Use discretion in how much information you share with people. Karl mentioned last week that when he got saved the Lord had a lot of work to do, but he didn’t do it all at once. You may have some people in your life that are your little projects… Use discretion on how much truth you give them at any one time.
o Proverbs 29:11: A fool utters all his mind, but a wise man keeps it in until afterwards.

SOS – Despite the dangers you face…
1. Rest assured that the Holy Spirit will be your SUPPORT.
2. As the Holy Spirit bears witness to you, you will complete your OBJECTIVE by bearing witness to others.
3. Have confidence that the Holy Spirit will SAFEGUARD you from falling away by reminding you of the teachings of Christ.