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As we come to look in God’s word, I want share Isaiah 32:6, “A fool speaks nonsense to keep a hungry person unsatisfied and to withhold drink from the thirsty.” So, if there’s anybody hungry to know the Lord and thirsty to know the Lord, and if I don’t present the Lord, I’m a fool. The Bible says you’re a fool to keep a hungry person hungry and a thirsty person thirsty. As we present the Lord, that will satisfy your hunger and your thirst.
Let’s pray together and commit our time to the Lord. Our Father, we thank You for the indwelling Holy Spirit who always unveils the Lord Jesus in a fresh way to our hearts. We ask You once again to meet us where we are and take us where You’d have us and show us the Lord Jesus and then grace us to walk in the light as He is in the light, for each of us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
We welcome you to our meditations on the Lord Jesus through the gospel of John, and we’ve come to very precious chapters, five wonderful chapters, chapters thirteen through seventeen. These chapters describe the transition; He has just finished His ministry to the world, and now He turns to His own, and He begins to share precious things. In chapter thirteen He is only hours from the cross, so we see where that is. John 13:1, “Now, before the feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come, that He would depart out of the world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world; He loved them to the end.” I suggested that these five chapters, if they were a book, that they were five chapters of a book, the theme of that book would be “The Full Explanation of the Exchanged Life”. These chapters are so full of spiritual truth, you can almost start anywhere in these chapters and expect a blessing because these are just that full. But in our reverent handling of these five chapters, we’re going to look at it as if it were a book, outside the gospel of John, just a wonderful book, a book with a title, a book with a theme, a book with sections, chapters and so on, and we’ll develop it that way.
Last week we began to look at the book, this full explanation of the exchanged life, and I attempted to focus on the most basic, the most cardinal, the most fundamental truth of the exchanged life. This is essential; there is no exchanged life apart from this truth; this is vital. It might be to those of us who grew up in Christian circles old hat, but to those disciples in that day this was brand new, and that is that the Holy Spirit is a Person; it’s in the neuter, and it means wind and it means breath. They always thought that when the spirit came on Samson or came on Gideon, that it was just a power; they thought it was a thing, some attribute of God—some power or wisdom or skill or counsel or comfort, something that God would give a person if they were in need. But if they were ever to understand the exchanged life, they needed to know and we need to know that the Holy Spirit is more than an attribute of God; it’s not just love, it’s not just fruit, it’s not power or wisdom or skill. It’s a Person. When we closed, I pointed out that that Holy Spirit is not only a Person, but that Person is God Himself. 1 Corinthians 2:11, “Who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him. Even so, the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.” You ARE a spirit; God is Spirit; that’s who He is and that’s His life. The real you when you die, your spirit goes to be with the Lord; that’s you. And God has a spirit.
When we think of the Spirit of God, not only is the Spirit a Person, but that Spirit is God, and according to John 16:7, “I tell you the truth, it’s to your advantage that I go away. If I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. If I go, I will send Him to you.” The Holy Spirit is a Person, and that Person is God, and He lives in you. And then one more thing we looked at in John 14:16, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever.” The Holy Spirit is a Person, that Person is God, and that Person lives inside of you, and it’s forever. He will never leave; He will never forsake you.
When we closed, we looked at two symbolic acts. One was in John 20 when He breathed on them, John 20:21, “Jesus said to them, ‘Peace be with you; as the Father sent Me, I also send you.’ When He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” That was in the beginning of creation; He breathed into a clay form of man, and that man became alive, and now He’s looking at His disciples and He says, “You are as dead as Adam was before I breathed into Him, and now I’m going to receive the Holy Spirit, and I’m going to breathe on you, and you are going to become a new creation.”
That was the first object lesson, and then the second one, the symbolic act, was forty days later when He ascended. During that forty days He appeared eleven different times, and they were in the process of learning that He’s gone, but He’s not gone; He’s still here. He kept showing up. He was appealing to sight; they could see. And He would hold out His hands, “Put your fingers in My nail prints, put your hand in My side. I want you to know that things are going to be different, but I’m still here.” And then they said, “He’s gone,” and then He shows up, “He’s here and I saw Him,” and Mary said, “I saw Him,” and Peter said, “I saw him and He’s here, and He’s not here, and He’s here, and He’s not here.” Finally, the climactic act when He ascended, Acts 1:9, “After He said these things, He was lifted up, and while they were looking on, a cloud received Him out of their sight.” That little expression “out of their sight” becomes crucial because never again are they going to see Him with these eyes. There’s a new relationship now, and He was getting them ready for it, “He’s here, He’s gone, He’s here, He’s gone,” a lot of different times, and then finally the cloud delivered Him, praise God, out of sight but not out of heart; He’s with us.
One more item of review, and that is that the indwelling Spirit would be in them forever. As He discovered this indwelling Spirit to them, He included the full truth of what is implied in the Person who is God, who is in my heart, who is in my heart forever. What does that mean? And so, now we’re going to look at John 14:18, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” That’s not the second coming; we don’t deny the second coming. He’s coming again, but when He said, “I will not leave you as orphans,” He’s talking about that He’s going to the Father, send the Holy Spirit, and He Himself will come and live inside of you. And then He added to that verse John 14:23, “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, He’ll keep My word. My Father will love him, and we will come to Him and make our abode with Him.’” So, who lives in our heart? The answer is that Jesus does; the answer is the Holy Spirit does; the answer is that God the Father does. The Trinity lives in our heart—the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Now, God is One, and I’m not going to pretend to unfold to you the mystery of the Trinity; I just take it by faith. I’m not going to use the feeble illustration, they all break down, “It’s like water and it can be steam, and it can be solid, and it can be liquid, and they’re one, and they’re still H2O,” and all of that kind of thing. I’ve heard so many illustrations, like the three parts of an egg and three parts to your finger, and all that kind of stuff. All I’m telling you is that the Trinity lives in your heart.
Deuteronomy 6, “Hear, oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.” Jesus called that the foremost commandment, Mark 12:28, “One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, ‘What commandment is the foremost of all?’ Jesus answered, ‘The foremost is “Hear, oh Israel, the Lord our God is One Lord; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and all your mind, and with all your strength.”’” There are not three Gods; there’s only one God, and He lives in your heart. It’s not like one third of God lives in your heart; all of God lives in the Christian.
Some would suggest that you can have Christ in your heart, but that in another time in your experience you have to invite the Holy Spirit into your heart, at a different time. Romans 8:9, “You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God indwells in you, but if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, He does not belong to Him.” If you don’t have the Holy Spirit, you’re not saved. You can’t have Christ and be saved and not have the Holy Spirit. You have the Holy Spirit. When you got saved, you were baptized in the Spirit, and as you go on you are going to be filled with the Spirit, and if you’ve got a job to do, you’ll get anointed with the Spirit, and we’ll get into a lot of that. But God is One, and because of that, every time Jesus appears, so does the Father and the Holy Spirit. And every time the Father appears, so does Jesus and the Holy Spirit. And every time the Holy Spirit appears, they’re One; they’re one in purpose, one in heart, one in will, and the Father and Jesus appear with the Holy Spirit. John 10:30, “I and the Father are One.”
So, in that connection, and here’s where we need to understand His explanation, because all of God lives in your heart, automatically all the attributes of God are in your heart already. Galatians 5:22, “The fruit of the Spirit is love and joy and peace and patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” That’s all in your heart if the Holy Spirit is in your heart. Now, you might not be realizing all of that, and we’ll get into that, as well. The Life of God is the source of all the attributes of God, and He wants that real in our heart. That’s enough by way of review. Now let’s go to our new material where He begins to explain this indwelling, the fulness of God in my heart.
You know, there is in the minds of some, some confusion, because there’s all of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit lives in my heart, how shall I understand that? Where should my focus be? I know there is a lot of emphasis placed on the Holy Spirit. We should focus on the Spirit of God. 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You’re not your own.” Our body is the temple, the dwelling place, the house of God, and yet the Apostle Paul seems to emphasize to focus on Christ; Christ lives inside of me. So, where should my gaze be? Should I be looking at Christ? Should I be looking at the Holy Spirit? Is it the same thing? How does he explain it? Galatians 4:6, “Because you are sons of God, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts.” Is it the Spirit of Jesus? Are they different? Romans 8:2, “The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the Law of sin and death.” So, when we focus on Christ, is that the same thing as looking to the Holy Spirit?
The emphasis in the New Testament clearly seems to be to run the race fixing your eyes upon Jesus, fixing your eyes on Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:30, “By His doing, you are in Christ Jesus.” When you go through the epistles, and I’m going to machine gun this, everything seems to focus on union with Christ, union with Jesus. The epistles emphasize that. We are to believe in Christ, we died with Christ, we rose with Christ, we ascended with Christ, we’re seated with Christ, we are sons in His Sonship, we’re coheirs with Christ, we’re righteous in His righteousness. The Bible says that the churches are in Christ Jesus, and persons are in Christ Jesus. We are bound in Christ, we are presented in Christ, we’re rooted in Christ, we’re built up in Christ, we’re perfected in Christ, our ways are in Christ, our conversation is in Christ, our faith, our hope, our love is in Christ, and in the Lord we are to speak in the Lord and walk in the Lord and labor in the Lord and suffer in the Lord and conquer in the Lord and rejoice in the Lord. In the Lord we are to receive one another in the Lord. We are to get married in the Lord. Wives are to submit to their husbands in the Lord. Children are to obey their parents in the Lord. We’re to do everything in the Lord. We die in the Lord, we’re asleep in Jesus, we reign in life in Christ Jesus. So, the question is why all the emphasis in the epistles on looking to Jesus, and all the emphasis on the Holy Spirit when it’s talking about the temple that He lives in?
The Holy Spirit is a Person, and that Person is God, and that Person lives in you and will live in you forever. We need to understand that the Holy Spirit that was sent by the Father by His Son who came willingly into our heart came into our heart with a ministry. What is His ministry? That’s part of this explanation. John 14:8, “Phillip said, ‘Lord, show us the Father. It’s enough for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been so long with you and yet you’ve not come to know me, Phillip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father?”’” John 14:26, “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He’ll teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” John 14:26, “When the Helper comes whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me.” John 16:14, “He will glorify Me; He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things the Father has are Mine. Therefore, I say He takes of Mine and He will disclose it to you.”
When the Holy Spirit came into your heart, He came in with a ministry; He came in with a purpose, and that purpose is to reveal Jesus, to disclose Jesus. In God’s revelation of Himself to man, He has made Christ central in the Godhead. There is no other way to know God except through Jesus. He’s a Mediator, and that’s it; there’s no other way. “No one comes to the Father but by Me.” All my dealings with God are through Jesus. All God’s dealing with me are through Jesus. So, what’s the ministry of the Holy Spirit? The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, the epistles are going to develop this.
I’ll just mention it, but we’re going to learn about walking in the Spirit, praying in the Spirit, fellowshipping in the Spirit, being transformed by the Spirit, putting to death the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit of God, and even being guided by the Spirit. The Spirit of God did not permit them to go to a certain place. What does it mean to be baptized in the Spirit and filled with the Spirit and anointed with the Spirit and sealed by the Spirit and to quench not the Spirit and to grieve not the Spirit? And what are the gifts of the Spirit and what is the fruit of the Spirit and how am I and you a letter written not with ink by with the Spirit of the Living God? There’s so much about the Holy Spirit. If we’re to understand the exchanged life, now we’ve not only to know God lives in me but I’ve got to know the ministry of the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 3:18, “Grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now until the day of eternity.” So, what’s this ministry?
I told you and I think you know it; there’s no other way to know God except through Jesus. All the knowledge of God you’ll ever have, even in eternity, is through Jesus. I can’t know God except through Jesus. Now listen, and may God burn it in our hearts. I can’t know Jesus except by the Holy Spirit. I can only know God through Jesus, and the Holy Spirit came into my heart to show me Jesus because I can’t know Jesus apart from the Holy Spirit. When Jesus lived the exchanged life on earth, the word was, “Listen to Him; hear Him,” but now the Holy Spirit lives in my heart, and Jesus walking among the churches said, “Let the churches hear what the Spirit has to say to the churches.” Things are different; I can’t know God except through Jesus, but there’s not a possibility in the world to know Jesus apart from the precious Holy Spirit. Ephesians 2:18, “Through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” I only know God as well, as personally, as intimately as I know Jesus, and I only know Jesus as well, as personally, as intimately as the Holy Spirit reveals Him to me.
We’re going to develop that a lot more, but we may say we receive Jesus in my heart, but the question comes… Listen to Galatians 4:19, “My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you.” You say, “I know Jesus; He’s my Savior,” but is He formed in you? See, it’s the Holy Spirit’s ministry to form Christ in you. We need revelation, we need eyesight, we need the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of our heart, and that’s why Ephesians 1 where Paul prayed, “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so you will know what is the hope of His calling, the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and the surpassing greatness of His power to those that believe.” It is the blessed ministry of the Holy Spirit to enlarge our vision of Christ. It’s a mistake to think, and I was led astray on this, that every time I had a spiritual problem, my problem was that I was holding back, and I wasn’t surrendering to the Lord. I was surrendering to the Lord, but my vision of the Lord was that big. I didn’t need more surrender; I was totally surrendered to a Christ that big. I needed a greater vision of Christ to whom I could surrender, and Christ by the Holy Spirit is being formed in us.
You say, “I’ve seen Him as Savior,” but have you seen Him as Lord? The Holy Spirit will show Him as Lord, and as priest, and as prophet, and as potter, and as smelter, and as door, and as vine. Every title and every description on Christ, it’s the Holy Spirit’s total ministry to unveil Jesus to us, and the more we see Christ, the more we surrender. If I surrender to one horsepower, I’ll do a lot of pushing, but if I surrender to a hundred horsepower, I’m going to do a lot of riding, and that’s exactly what the ministry of the Holy Spirit is. I can’t know Christ apart from the Holy Spirit, and He continually shows me through revelations of Jesus, through the word. The more I see Him, the more I’m conformed to Him, and Christ is being formed.
We have a lot of emphasis, “Grow in the Lord.” That’s only half the truth, but let the other half be true. Let the Lord grow in you. We need to be men and women of one book and trust the Holy Spirit to unveil Christ so that we can continually have Christ formed in us, and then we are surrendering to that revelation.
I want to focus on a title that was used over and over again. Just for interest, have you heard the word “Paraclete”? I think almost all of you know that precious word. Alright, that’s the word that’s used here. John 14:16, “I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper,” that’s the word Paraclete, “that He may be with you forever.” John 14:26, “The Helper,” the Paraclete, “the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He’ll teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all I’ve said to you.” John 14:26, “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me.” John 14:7, “I tell you the truth, it’s to your advantage that I go away. If I do not go away, the Paraclete, the Helper will not come to you. If I go, I will send Him.”
In the New American Standard Version which I am using, we have the word “Helper”, and we’re told by Greek scholars that there’s a Greek rule that it can be another of the same kind or another of a different kind. For example, if I had a knife and I said, “Bring me another weapon,” and you brought me a gun, that would be another of a different kind. It’s still another. This word, “I’m going to send you a Helper, another of the same kind.” In other words, “It’s going to be just like Me.” That’s what Jesus said. That was the promise that He would send a Helper of the same kind. But some don’t translate like “Helper”. Some transliterate. There are some who just say “Paraclete”, “I’m going to send the Paraclete.” Many transliterations, that’s when you don’t translate names and places, like “Abba”; that’s just a transliteration. The Sabbath, Manna have meanings, but they’re just transliterations.
By using a transliteration, at least you don’t get a mistranslation, but on the other side you also don’t get a thrilling truth. We need it to be interpreters. Paraclete has a meaning. If you look up the word it’s, “Someone who walks along side.” You’ve probably heard that description. Jesus, hours before His death, pouring out His soul to His disciples, His own, He wants to communicate who this paraclete is; He wants them to know exactly, and not in a general way. What meaning did Jesus have in mind hours before His death when He said to His disciples, “I’m going to send you another of the same kind, just like Me, another Paraclete, somebody to walk alongside.” King James translates it “Comforter”, “I’m going to send you another Comforter.” If you have the RSV or the NIV they say “Counselor”. Wuest actually uses that, “Another Counselor of the same kind.” The New English Bible or the Life Recovery Bible translate it “Advocate”. Some don’t know how to translate it, like J. B. Phillips and he says, “I’m going to send you another person.” He didn’t know how to interpret it. Are you familiar with the Amplified Version? They cover all the bases. Here is the Amplified Version, “I will send you a Comforter, Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby.”
Actually, the word Paraclete is large enough to embrace all of those names. It actually can, but there is one word that goes to the heart to what Jesus had in mind. Now, the disciples were sad because He’s leaving; so, they can use a Comforter. And the disciples were weak, and, so, they could use a strengthener. In other words, any of the words would fit their needs; they needed all of that. Do you know that only five times in the New Testament we have the word Paraclete? Only five times, and four of them are in the gospel of John, and in this section. I already read those four verses. Where is the only other time that it’s mentioned? The answer is that John is the author, and it’s in 1 John. In 1 John He uses the word in such a way that you don’t have any doubt what He means. 1 John 2:1, “My little children, I’m writing these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have a Paraclete,” that’s the word, a Comforter, a Helper, an Advocate with the Father, “Jesus Christ, the righteous.” It’s exactly the same word, but here the meaning is clear. The Greek dictionary translates this “Intercessor or Counselor” in the sense of a lawyer, one who gives legal advice. If you sin, you have in heaven a defense attorney. You have a lawyer; you have an advocate. What is my hope if I sin? The answer is that I have an attorney, the Lord Jesus Christ, standing at the right hand of God, and He is going to plead my case. He’s not going to try to say that he’s innocent; He’s going to plead His wound; He’s going to plead His merit; He’s going to plead on the basis of that I’m a forgiven sinner, but He’s going to defend me. He’s going to stand up for me; He’s going to be my advocate. He’s looking out for my interest or my good. He is my advocate in heaven. He’s my lawyer and He’s going to defend my name, my character, my cause; I have an advocate in heaven.
Well, 1 John 2:1 says that if we sin, we have a lawyer. Jesus said that I’m going to send you another lawyer, just like Me. So, now you’re going to have one in heaven and you’re going to have one in your heart. I know Jesus is my advocate in heaven. The word Paraclete, the promise of another just like, I’ve got an advocate in heaven and I’ve got one in my heart. So, I’ve got a question. Why do I need two? Why do I need two heavies? I’ve got one in heaven; isn’t He doing a good job? He’s gone. Why do I need two? John 14:16, “I’ll ask the Father, and He’ll give you another Advocate, another Helper. He’ll be with you forever.” Of the same kind. If Jesus is doing such a great job, why do I need another? The answer is that I don’t. Then what’s this all about?
Let me put it this way. My advocate in heaven, my lawyer, my defense attorney, who is His client? It’s me; I’m His client. The Advocate in my heart, who is His client? It’s not me; it’s Jesus. Jesus is His client. I have Advocate in heaven standing up for me, but I have an advocate in my heart who is going to stand up for the Lord Jesus; He’s going to defend His name. He’s going to defend His interests, and He’s going to defend His cause, and He’s going to defend His property, He’s going to look out for the Lord Jesus. So, the difference is that there are two Advocates, one in heaven, and that’s my Advocate, and one in my heart, who is going to represent the Son of God. That’s His ministry, to reveal Christ to me, and stand up for His interest. John 16:14, “He will glorify Me; He’ll take of mine and disclose it to you.” The Advocate in my heart, only in one sense, but He’s not for me. He’s in my heart to fight for Jesus; He’s in your heart to fight for Jesus. He’s not going to defend my name. To be honest, He doesn’t care about my reputation. If I’m dragging His clients name in the mud, He’s going to deal with me and He’s going to chasten me. He’s standing up for His client. Every time I go against Jesus, His lawyer comes after me, and He’s going to protect Jesus. Whose interest? Is it my health or my prosperity or my success or my popularity or my reputation or my name or my ministry or my anything? If it goes at cross purposes with His client, He’ll knock it out from under me, and He’ll knock it out from under you.
The Holy Spirit is representing the Lord Jesus. You remember the Lord one time said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan. You are not setting your mind on God’s interests.” The Holy Spirit has His mind set on God’s interests. Once again, we have two advocates. One is in heaven and one in our heart. They’re different clients. The client of the Holy Spirit is the Lord Jesus. One of the things He is looking out for is His inheritance, His estate. He’s protecting His property which, I remind you, is you; you are His inheritance, and you are His property. When the Holy Spirit fights for the Lord Jesus, He’s also fighting for you. Pull out all the stops and believe this with all of your heart, God has turned over our lives to the Holy Spirit. That’s why Jude 1 says, “We are being kept for Jesus.” At the end of Jude it says, “by Jesus,” but Jude 1:1, we are being kept for Him. The Holy Spirit is keeping you for Christ, for Jesus. You don’t have, and I’m not trying to insult you, but we don’t have any intrinsic value. Our only value is the One we’re being kept for, and we’re being kept for the Lord Jesus. Please take it seriously because the Holy Spirit does and God does.
A couple of weeks ago I showed you how vital the exchanged life was in comparison to the love of God, that He couldn’t love you anymore, and He couldn’t think beyond salvation. He came to the end of His thoughts, to the end of His love. What emotion comes to your heart if you hear that God loves you with an everlasting love? How does that strike you?
Lillian’s grandfather lived with us for about six years. He lived to be one hundred and six. He didn’t come to Jesus until he was in his seventies. He was German, so he spoke with a half English half German accent. Every time we talked about Jesus, he would go like this, “Oh, that gives me happy feeling in my heart. That gives me happy feeling.” When I think about the love of Jesus, it gives me happy feelings in my heart. Do you know what I’m saying? But listen to this verse from James 4:5, “Do you think the scriptures speaks to no purpose. He jealously desires the Spirit that He made, to dwell in us.” Here’s Kenneth Wuest translation, “Do you think the scriptures says in an empty manner and to no purpose, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit who has been caused to make His permanent home in us has a passionate desire to control us to the point of envy.”
Let me put it in simple words. The Holy Spirit that lives in your heart is a jealous Holy Spirit, and He’s jealous for Jesus. Usually, we think of jealously as not good, and being bad because we think in terms of suspicion and sinful desire, but words like jealous and lust and envy have a good side. People often say to me, “I covet your prayers.” Well, “Thou shalt not covet,” but there’s a good way to say covet. God’s love is a jealous love. Just listen to these verses. Exodus 34:14, “You shall not worship any other God, for the Lord is jealous, is a jealous God.” Deuteronomy 4:24, “The Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” God not only loves you, but He loves you with a jealous love. They tell us that in the Hebrew that it’s zealous vigilance—zeal and jealous, jealous and zealous come from the same route. I’ll tell you, when someone says, “The Lord loves you with an everlasting love,” I say that gives me happy feelings. Someone says, “God loves you like a consuming fire,” that doesn’t give me happy feelings. That makes say, “Wow, that’s a tough love.”
Let me give you two definitions of jealous, and then we’ll wrap it up. I can’t pronounce the Hebrew word, but it’s a word that means “insistence on exclusive devotion”. That’s jealousy; insisting on exclusive devotion, and the other definition is “exacting exclusive devotion and intolerant of rivalry”. The One who lives in my heart is insisting that Jesus has exclusive devotion. He’s insisting that there is no rivalry; He’s intolerant of rivalry. Asap came to that place, “Whom am I in heaven but You; beside You I desire nothing on the earth.”
God’s love is full of grace, but there’s also government. You know that Adam sinned, and God made him that raiment out of animal skin; that’s grace. Then He said, “Get out of My garden.” That’s government. Both are true and God has a wonderful love that gives you happy feelings, but God also has a jealous love that He insists that Jesus be your one and only. The Holy Spirit lives in your heart as the lawyer of the Lord Jesus, and He will deal with you so that there is no rivalry; it’s just Jesus. That’s the difference between prominent and preeminent. Prominent is one among men; Jesus doesn’t want to be prominent in your life or mine. He wants to be preeminent—the one and the only. The Holy Spirit lives in our heart to make that true. Hebrews 12:29, “Our God is a consuming fire,” and He will burn away everything that contradicts our union with Christ.
Let me close with this. If the Holy Spirit is a jealous God living in my heart, and I allow myself to be conformed to Christ, who will that look like? 2 Corinthians 11, this is Paul, “I’m jealous for you with a Godly jealousy. I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. I’m afraid as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” If Christ lives in my heart, the jealous Holy Spirit, and I’m conformed to Christ, I’ll be jealous for you, and you’ll be jealous for me, and you’ll want each of us to be so encouraged to say, “Don’t take your eyes off Christ. He demands exclusive devotion; He’s intolerant of rivalry. There’s nothing else; it’s just Him. Look to Christ.”
So, now we’ve only begun to explain it. This is the full explanation. The Holy Spirit lives in you, the Holy Spirit is the Advocate of the Lord Jesus to defend Him. I can’t know God without knowing Jesus. I can’t know Jesus without the Holy Spirit. Praise God we’ve only begun the explanation. There’s more and we’ll pick it up next week.
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your word, not what we think it means, not what we hope it will mean, but everything You’ve inspired it to mean. We ask You to work that into our lives. We thank You that we can trust You to do this. Continue to prepare our hearts as we study together this wonderful section in Your word. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.