Here's Pastor Alan Wright with today's blessing, a biblical faith-filled vision for your life. May the joy of Easter overwhelm the weariness of all that's been hard and long and sad. I love the description of the women at the empty tomb. They departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran. Matthew 28, verse 8.
Ran. Really? Two modest, well-garbed first-century Jewish women running through a garden, past the villagers, through the alleys. They'd been through too much, the betrayal, the bogus trial, the whippings, the bleeding, the dying. of the Messiah they love so purely and deeply.
The empty tomb, the angel, the sudden realization that he's alive. made their hearts pump because they were alive. May you be more alive than ever. In the joy of Easter. Pastor, author, and Bible teacher Alan Wright.
If we could opt for us having the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, Or we could have Jesus in the flesh leading our service today, we're better off. with the Holy Spirit. There's so much more. The Holy Spirit, you see, is the Spirit of Jesus Christ. That's Pastor Alan Wright.
Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt. Excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, Abide, taken from John 14 through 17, as presented at Renolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire broadcast today, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now, which can be yours for your donation this month to Allen Wright Ministries.
So as you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. At any point, contact us at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org. Or call 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860.
More on this later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching. Here. is Alan Wright. Did they saw him Love the least of these, and they lived in the affection of Jesus.
You got to think about all these disciples and what they had had. They'd been protected by Jesus in a thousand ways. He'd hushed a storm. They'd watched him cast out demons. They had walked with him as he healed the sick.
touched lepers and instead of becoming infected, healed the lepers. The joy that he brought, he was the life of the party. He was never worried. They got to hang around with the only man since before sin who never worried. That was Jesus.
He was an ultimate non-anxious presence. They got to be around this beautiful, steadying personality, constantly being reassured by his peace. And he didn't treat them like servants. He treated them like friends. They had a share in what was happening.
These disciples had never felt so valuable, never felt so affirmed, never felt so purposeful. They had given up their ordinary lives to follow this rabbi and They were. They were invested. And this mission and all of their hopes rided on his victory and success. And now he is telling them, I'm leaving you.
And he says, Don't worry, it's better that I go. You just can't let your heart rush past that statement. You have to stop and let yourself try to feel what the disciples were feeling. when he said that. They had him.
within arm's reach. They'd had him. within a hand's clasp. They had him audibly. They had him physically.
They had him visually. And he said he's leaving. But it's better that I go. I don't even think they had ears to hear the part about it being better that I go. It made me think of being a fourth grade, and my dad says he's leaving home.
It's just in that moment all you can hear, is this the most devastating news that you could hear. A person who's so important to you is not going to be there. That's what they hear. But what Jesus is wanting them to know And he wanted them to know it now so that when the Holy Spirit comes, they'll remember this is exactly what he said. Is it the second part of verse 7?
If I do not go away, The helper will not come to you. But if I go, I'll send him.
So there's only one reason that is to your advantage, Jesus is saying, and one reason only. It's not because we have a good succession plan. It's not because we've got good processes in place for church growth. It's not because we've got good core values that we've articulated and our organization will continue to thrive. No.
There's one reason Jesus says that it's good that I go. that I ascend to heaven, and that is the helper will come. This is the way Jesus saw the coming of the third person of the triune God as the best thing that could ever happen to you. Isn't that something? I mean, what this means, y'all, is Like if you can envision When you've gone through a hard time, and there's a part of you that just felt like, if I could just have Jesus.
Just right here with me, just to talk to about this. Or have him lay hands on me. Or just comfort me in this. If I could just. Have him.
You know, you ever feel like that? Or have you just could say, you could have Jesus all day in the flesh, in person tomorrow with you. and spend the day with him. And you think about all that that would mean to you. I really think that what Jesus is saying here is that Nonetheless, as much as you envision how wonderful it would be to have him in the flesh as a person with you.
It's to your advantage that he's not. I heard someone put it this way, and it kind of bends your mind to say it, but it's like. Therefore If we are not now experiencing in the Holy Spirit, every bit as much or more. than the delight and power. of what we would experience if we had Jesus.
In the flesh, in person with us, then we have not yet experienced the fullness of what Jesus is promising in John 16. Which sometimes makes me think I've experienced about 1%. of what Jesus has said he wants us to experience. What he's saying here, it's mind-boggling, but I think surely means this. That if we could opt for us having the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
Or we could have Jesus in the flesh leading our service today, we're better off. with the Holy Spirit. There's so much more. The Holy Spirit, you see, is the Spirit of Jesus Christ. This is why we saw earlier in John chapter 14 Jesus said, I'll ask the Father.
He'll give you another helper to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you.
So, Jesus is saying this quite clearly: that in the coming of the Holy Spirit, it is Jesus coming. When Jesus says, I'll come to you, He's not here talking about the end of the age. He's talking here about I'll come to you at Pentecost in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit The Holy Spirit, the Parakletos, is the Spirit of Jesus. He's God.
Acts 16, verse 6. They attempted to go in Bithynia, but look, the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. I love that. The Holy Spirit's the Spirit of Jesus. Or, like in Philippians 1.
Verse 19. I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, This is Paul describing the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Or Romans 8.9. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.
So here He is called the Spirit of Christ. Or in Galatians, He's the Spirit of His Son. Because your Sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son. Into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 2 Corinthians 3:17.
Now the Lord is Spirit. The Lord is spirit.
So he's the Lord. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. In other words, the Holy Spirit is Jesus in the spirit. This is why Jesus could say, it's better that I go. Because he was coming back, but he was coming back by means of the Holy Spirit for every believer.
Meaning This is why we say we have Jesus in our heart. We have the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of. Jesus Christ. And we have Jesus. And we have him all the time.
We have him everywhere. This means the Holy Spirit. is not a force. He's not a substance, even though we talk about be poured out, Holy Spirit, or fill us up, these things sound like a liquid or something. He's not a liquid.
He's not a robot. He's not artificial intelligent. And he certainly is not an it. He's a he because he's a person. He does what a person does, he grieves.
He speaks. He yearns. He prays. He is the third person. of the triune God.
He is the spirit of of Jesus himself. And he's come. He's come to every believer. And so, what Jesus is showing us then in this text about the Holy Spirit. Is maybe one of the most important things you could ever know of the Holy Spirit, and that is that the Holy Spirit.
Because he is the Spirit of Jesus. is really drawing attention to the Son of God. and to the finished work of Jesus. This is what we see in the continuation of our passage at verse 8: that when He, the Holy Spirit, when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Concerning sin, because they do not believe me, concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you'll see me no longer.
concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged.
So Three powerful ministries. The word is conviction. It could also be translated convincing. showing forth in convincing ways. Three things the Spirit of Jesus is doing: convicting the world concerning sin.
And then concerning righteousness. and then concerning judgment.
So sin and righteousness and judgment. First, concerning sin, verse 9, because they do not believe in me. And then at verse 10, concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you'll see me no longer. And verse 11, concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
So, three works of the Holy Spirit highlighted by Jesus: conviction of sin as regards those who don't believe in Jesus. conviction of righteousness for all who do believe. And judgment as regards the ruler of the world. Again, Dale Bruner's translation is so helpful. He writes, When that, this is his translation of these verses, when that person arrives.
He will show you how wrong the world is about what is wrong. Sin. about what is right, righteousness. and about who won. Judgment.
About what is wrong, namely that they do not believe in me, about what's right, namely that I'm going to the Father and you no longer seeing me. And about who won, namely, that the ruler of this world has been soundly condemned. About what's wrong, namely, they don't believe in me.
So. As regards to the conviction of sin, What are you saying here? is that what's wrong At the core of all things that are wrong is that people don't yet know me. That's what's wrong. He's saying something of such massive importance here.
That the whole problem of the world is that the world does not know Jesus, the whole root of all things that are wrong. Is this really what is wrong? Yeah. There are a lot of things that are wrong. Of course there are many things that are wrong.
You could get a long list of hate and racism, abortion, sexual confusion, rebellion, murder, hypocrisy, religious shame, poverty, injustice. All of this list goes on and on endlessly. But what is really wrong, Jesus says the Holy Spirit is going to convince and convict of. Is that people don't yet know me? They don't believe in me.
Okay. That if that happens, then everything else changes. This means that the primary task, therefore, of his body on earth is not to correct the world about. Issues as much as it is to introduce people to Jesus and to herald Christ. Don't say that you shouldn't speak up about issues.
I think we should. But the Holy Spirit wants to show the world what's so wrong. And what is so wrong. He says, is they don't know the wonderful Messiah. And then Jesus says, the Holy Spirit's going to show you what's right.
So that for every believer The righteousness of Jesus is imputed to the believer and becomes credited to you as if you were righteous. That Jesus is going to the Father and we belong to Him, the Holy Spirit has a work. in the life of the believer showing you on an ongoing basis. that you belong to him. that you're a child of God.
that everything about Jesus is right. and that his gift to you in his saving work, His forgiveness of sins and the imputation of his own righteousness. It means for the believer That the Holy Spirit is not primarily following us around. to tell us everything that's wrong with us. Jesus has repeatedly said that he is the Spirit of truth and he'll teach you.
So I like to think of the Holy Spirit. as the best teacher in the world. And this means, as I read someone who said this week, the Holy Spirit... will help you Discover what needs to be done in a better way, and we'll teach you. But the Holy Spirit is not a nag.
He's a beautiful teacher. And as you know him and you love him, you'll want his teaching. You would like very much In any arena of your life that you would like to get better in, if you could have whoever was the master teacher of that arena in your life. If they would come and teach you, you'd give almost anything for that, wouldn't you? The Holy Spirit is that to you.
So God does not want us walking around primarily With a sin consciousness, but more with a righteousness consciousness that we've been set apart as holy unto God. and that everything about Jesus is right, and he wants to continue to teach us and lead us into that.
So in that sense, I love And I want to love. Anything that's wrong in my life for the Holy Spirit to show me so that it can get better. And we all have that.
So he's come and he convinces or convicts the world in regards to sin. that the problem is sin. Nobody comes to know Jesus. Until the Holy Spirit convinces that person the problem is sin. You think all these other things are the problem, but the problem is sin that has separated you from God.
And until you come into a A knowledge of Jesus that sin is going to continue to be your problem. But as regards the believer, he says, I'm going to the Father. And the righteousness of Jesus has become our righteousness, and the Holy Spirit wants to convict you or convince you of that day in and day out. And then Verse 11 Concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. It means that Jesus has conquered.
And the Holy Spirit. is going to make that known.
So What are you saying? It's better that I go. The best thing that ever happened to you would be that I go and the paraclete will come. He'll convict the world about the main problem behind it all, that people don't yet believe in me. and they don't know about the power of the blood that I've shed.
They don't know about the power of knowing me as Savior, and that's what they need to know. But the Holy Spirit is going to be at work in the world, convicting and convincing people who are far from me that they need me. And he'll herald And proclaim and keep convincing you and all believers of what is right, of me, the way and the truth and the life, and he'll keep drawing you to my heart. And then the Spirit will be at work convincing people that the devil has been defeated and that I've been victorious.
So What is this? primary work of the Holy Spirit that he's describing. It all is about Jesus. Jesus is the answer, Jesus is righteous, and Jesus is victorious.
So What I'm only gonna say Is that the reason it is better that Jesus physically left the earth is because Jesus came spiritually back to the earth in the Holy Spirit? And in an unprecedented new era of a new covenant, because we have been so thoroughly justified, just as if I'd never sinned, that there has been a restoration. A fellowship with God. That is something the earth hasn't seen since before there was sin in the world. Pastor Alan Wright, our good news message from the teaching today, Good Thing Jesus Left from the series Abide.
Please stay with us. Pastor Alan is back here joining me in the studio, sharing his parting good news thought for the day in just a moment. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing.
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Back here now with Pastor Alan in the studio as we place the bookmark here. Good thing Jesus left. And I ask, with the ancient Greek philosopher, say what?
Well, you think about all the people of great leadership positions that leave, and everybody's like, please don't leave.
Sometimes, though, we can look in the natural to see where.
Something actually grew or expanded for some reason afterwards.
Well, when Jesus left, the earth so now The body of Christ was not dependent upon the physical presence of the Son of God, but instead We, by the mystical abiding in Christ and Christ abiding in us, have Him with us all over the world, at all times, in all places where the body of Christ is.
So the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, is the very Spirit of Jesus. And I think that's just very important to remember, Daniel. It's one of my favorite phrases for the Holy Spirit. He's variously called the Spirit of Jesus or the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Spirit of Christ throughout the New Testament.
So he is Jesus, but in spiritual form. That's who the Holy Spirit is. And so he's with us. And because Jesus is not here physically, there's no limit on the presence of Jesus. That's why it was good for Jesus to go away.
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