Darren Tappouras - The Power of His Presence - Class 3

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   As an introduction to his talk, we’re going to take a reading from John chapter 14 and we’re going to read the 1st 23 verses. John 14. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me, in my father’s house and many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you.

2. 0:27

   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, ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest? And how can we know the way? Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and 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 suffice us.

3. 1:16

   Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you? And yet hast thou not known me, Philip, he that hath seen me, hath seen the Father. And how sayest thou then? Show us the Father. Believest thou are 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 doeth the works.

4. 1:46

   Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, or else believe me, for the very work’s sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I shall do, he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, Because I go unto my Father, And whosoever ye shall ask in my name, whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do. And the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever.

5. 2:37

   Even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it saith 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 yet a little while, and 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 my father, and ye in me and I in you.

6. 3:14

   He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me shall be loved of my father, and I will love him, and I will manifest myself in him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscarius, Lord, how is it that thou will manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, and he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will be.

7. 3:53

   And we will come unto. Him and make our abode with him. Thanks, brother Darren. Excellent thanks, brother Jeremy. And good evening once again, my dear brothers and sisters, and the Lord Jesus Christ and dear young people. We are, of course, continuing our consideration of the presence of God, and in a previous class we. Define the presence of God and compare it to the English word close or closeness.

8. 4:27

   And we talked about the fact that you can be close to somebody in two different dimensions. You can be spatially close to somebody in the proxim, in someone’s proximity, in their face, as a, as a as a term that is sometimes used. And you can also be close to someone in the sense of a relationship that you are.

9. 4:50

   You have a close friendship or or or a close relationship in a a relational sense. And so exactly as how as the English word has those two dimensions to it, so does the idea of God’s presence. And throughout Scripture, I might just play with the screen because I’m not getting what you’re getting up there, so I might just have to.

10. 5:15

    OK, throughout scripture those two dimensions are are emphasised. So the idea of the proximity, closeness to God is spoken of in terms of God dwelling with us, God never leaving us, God never forsaking us. God being with us in our lives, us in Him and and Him in us in, in those sorts of words that we saw particularly read in our reading tonight. And also the other idea of,

11. 5:47

    sorry, just recreating this, the relationship aspect of Presence was considered last, I think our last class we looked at the New Covenant and how we are in a relationship with God in that way. So this chart, hopefully we’ve all got the same thing on the screen that I’m looking at now is our road map, I suppose for our our thoughts as we move our way through this session. The presence of God seen.

12. 6:12

    Relationally, as we’ve looked at already, now, we’re going to look at it in a spatial perspective, and those two dimensions leading to the temple concept that we are the temple of God, which we’re not going to get to in our series here, but maybe another time we can follow that through. So we’re going to look tonight, particularly at the proximity dimension, if you like, of God’s presence.

13. 6:36

    And of course, this will involve the idea of God’s Spirit now before we. We go into this subject, we’re just going to lay out a few assumptions, things that we of course don’t believe about the Spirit and we don’t have to come back to them and qualify ourselves all the way through. Of course we don’t believe that the Holy Spirit gifts are available to believers today as they were in the 1st century to the the Apostles and those that received the gifts from them.

14. 7:03

    We do not also believe the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. Nor do we believe there is some sort of Holy Spirit indwelling that guides us and gives us direction and answers that question and makes decisions for us in our life. So let’s put a pin in those things. They’re stated as as things we do not believe. We want to focus more on things we do believe and look at what scripture tells us about that.

15. 7:27

    So we have considered. This is driving me nuts. I don’t know why this is happening, but I’m getting all my screen fully revealed and at once here so we’ll try and work our way through it. I have to keep turning around.

16. 7:44

    The presence of God was lost of course, and access to the presence of God was lost right back in early the early chapters of Genesis. So right back when scene entered the scene, because of the shame felt by Adam and Eve, they hid themselves from the presence of God and. Subsequent to that, they were then banished, as it were, from the place of God’s presence, from the garden itself.

17. 8:09

    Then, as we continue further through the book of Genesis, the situation even deteriorates. More than that, and we come to Chapter 6 of Genesis, the famous chapter that leads us into the the flood story. And God is is of course, very upset with the the state, the moral state of the world, and He. Makes the observation of man’s hearts evil continually and he’ll restate that after the flood of as well. And there’s this statement made in Genesis 6 verse three that God says my spirit will not always and the authorized version has strive with man that that word is probably translating just about every other translation of the Bible as to dwell or abide.

18. 8:54

    And so God is saying, I’m not going to dwell, I’m not going to abide with man. Not only was this relationship fractured in Eden, but even now there’s a further gulf between God and man. And so Genesis 6 verse three says that the Lord said my spirit shall not abide in man forever for his flesh. And there was a a a related consequence of that if you like in in in man’s age was there defined as 120 years and so. This relationship breakdown leads us to where we are today. And so part of the gospel message is is re binding that relationship that has fallen away and we want to sort of think about that tonight and think about that as a major component of the gospel.

19. 9:48

    We often think of the gospel in terms of the message about Jesus Christ, of course, which it is, and and salvation through him and. Forgiveness of sins through him, etcetera and the coming Kingdom. But repairing that relationship is a big and a fundamental part of the gospel message itself. Just to also start our thinking tonight, I want us to maybe recalibrate the way we think about God and we’re tonight focusing on the spatial connection with God and wants to maybe rethink the idea that. God is in some sense billions of light years away outside our universe, which is apparently 12 1/2 billion light years. Travelling at the speed of light will take you 12 1/2 billion years to reach the known edges of our universe, and God is outside of that.

20. 10:39

    And so we think in terms of our prayers and our connection to God and this huge spatial separation between US and God, and we think of God in terms of Him in heaven. Having some sort of incredible vision, some sort of incredible perception that he’s able to look down on us and hear our words and see what we’re doing in that sense.

21. 11:02

    And there’s a little song we sing in the Philippines with the kids that goes be careful, little hands what you do because the father up above is looking down in love. So there’s this idea that God’s way way up there and he’s looking at you and he’s observing what you’re doing. And he can also pick up through his power what you’re saying and even thinking. What we’re going to present tonight is it’s a little bit more sophisticated than that.

22. 11:25

    However, the dimensions in which God is in and and God operates and how he interacts with our dimension in time and space, we do not understand. We’re not even pretending to understand. But God is not billions of light years away and and picking us up through some sort of mechanism. God is here with us, and that’s that’s what Scripture presents.

23. 11:47

    Is not very far from every one of us. And that is a a, for me, a bit of a recalibration as to how we interact with God. We’re not sending up packets of of prayer to him as if it’s like some information highway that we’re sending to him. We are in His presence.

24. 12:05

    He is here literally, and we’re in in and in some way we are. We are in His presence and interacting with him now. He’s one of the most famous preaching campaigns. Ever undertaken in Acts 17. It’s poor preaching to Oh dear, OK is that OK? Because it’s like I’ll just send someone up. No worry thank you.

25. 12:34

    Paul’s Paul’s of course he’s preaching to non Jewish people. He’s preaching to Pagans and particularly philosophers in Athens. They have no Old Testament background. He’s not appealing to messianic prophecies and and trying to show that Jesus is a Messiah, he’s introducing the unknown God to them from scratch. Now, the pattern of his presentation initially would reflect what I would give, I suppose at a seminar or a lecture at my own ecclesia. So he starts off saying God made the world, this unknown God that you don’t really know about.

26. 13:06

    He made the world, He made everything in it, and in fact he made you, He made humans. Should that work now? We’re still in play. Let’s give it a go. I just. It’s just the same stuff. Oh, yeah, That’s better. That works better than what you had. Yep. No, that’s good. Thank you.

27. 13:23

    Sorry about that. Does that work too? Yep. That that’s good. That’s good. So now. OK, Brilliant. Brilliant. So he gets to the point he’s he’s gone through this seminar presentation, if you like, and he’s introduced God, this creator of heaven and earth. And he’s made man, he’s giving him certain limits and and boundaries in his habitation.

28. 13:50

    And then he said then he gives the reason for it. He says this is the reason God’s created this planet and he’s created the humans who inhabit it. He says that’s that this is this is the reason. So remember he’s preaching to non biblical people giving them a reason for this unknown God. He says that.

29. 14:13

    Man should seek God. That’s at the very heart of what God’s trying to achieve here. And he says perhaps feel their way towards him, and that that would feel it. It’s a word that some commentators say describes a blind person feeling their way, feeling structure as they try and find their way. Through a building or through a through a city, they’re looking for structure and they they they’re touching it to find their way.

30. 14:41

    They’re groping in that sense, they’re verifying with their touch. And he says, God made us all made the world that we might reach out for him and and touch him and not just feel our way towards him, but he says, and find him and find him. That’s that’s the point. And then he goes on to say, well, we’re talking about the spatial connection of to God, he says, in fact.

31. 15:05

    Actually, he’s not very far from each of us, for in him we live and move and have our very existence, and we are in fact his children. So you can see Paul is highlighting this, this feature of the gospel and the feature of God’s objective in reaching out to humans that they might feel their way back to him. And it’s repairing, of course, what was lost back in. Back in Genesis isn’t it?

32. 15:34

    And and repairing that gulf again Ephesians 4 is probably a well known verse says there’s one God and Father of all and that theme runs through Ephesians of fatherhood of God. Again we saw that was a new covenant concept that God is a father and has an intimate connection to us. The relational presence of God. He’s our father, the Father of all who is above all, through all and in new all.

33. 15:58

    And so there’s this spatial. Terminology used to describe God in relationship to his creation. However, that works in physics or metaphysics we don’t really know, but we are told by the inspired word that God is not far from every one of us and he’s in all and through all the the the the relationship between the Spirit and God has has been hard to explain, and I’m in Sunday school. I think instructor uses the analogy of the sun and it’s rays, the light or the heat that comes from the sun, which is not a bad analogy.

34. 16:37

    However, there is a sense that the light or the photons if you like, of light that come from the source from the sun, they are not actually the sun are they? They are something that proceed and they are disconnected from the sun as they move. It apparently takes 8 1/2 minutes for a photon of light to reach our planet.

35. 16:58

    And they can be blocked with a cloud or or a mountain or something can stand in their way and block them and cast a shadow. So it’s not analogous to a level that that really explains the connection between God and his spirit in in my opinion. Anyway, I came across another

36. 17:17

    analogy if you like, or another comparison made in this booklet called the Declaration, which probably the older. The other guys here might remember, and it’s published by Robert Roberts and it again, he’s trying to describe what the Spirit is in relationship to God. And to cut a Long story short, the the clause here that talks about the Spirit says the distinction between the Father and the Spirit is not that they’re two people, as the Trinitarians believe, he says. The former, which is God, is in this description is spirit in focus, so intense as to be substance. OK, so when we think of God, he is spirit. And remember Jesus says in John 424 God is spirit. The art is not in the original, it’s an italic. So God is spirit.

37. 18:03

    But Robert Roberts is saying he in the substance in the person of God that his spirit concentrated so intense as to be substance. And the latter he says is spirit in diffusion. So it’s not in it’s not substance and it’s continually outflowing it’s. It’s continually connected to to the source. It’s not, it’s not like a photon of light that that that is removed from the source and continues on.

38. 18:28

    And he says it forms a unity. And he might think, why are we getting into all this language and getting bogged down in this terminology? I’m trying to get us to think about the Spirit not as something separate from God, but actually God himself. And so when we read about the spirit doing something, it’s actually God.

39. 18:48

    It’s not some other entity or some other power. When the spirit reveals something to somebody, it’s actually God. When the spirit inspires someone, it’s God himself. And so, to use this analogy of Robert Roberts, you have God in heaven, if you like, described a spirit in focus, so intense to be substance, and proceeding from him his spirit in diffusion.

40. 19:10

    Which is a nice way to think of it, but both ends of that. Of that spectrum, if you like, are God. The substance of God in heaven is God, but so is the Spirit. When God is here in our midst, when God does things in our life or in in the world, it is God doing that.

41. 19:29

    It is. It is God. And so it’s just just a little bit of sort of for me, a little bit of calibration for us to think about that reality that God is Spirit. And together himself, a substance and his spirit that proceeds from him are one and and it is God himself. As we move our way through the Bible, we get some definitions of spirit in connection to presence and it starts to tell a story.

42. 19:59

    So we have in this very famous Psalm when it comes to the presence of God. This is probably one of the most famous passages. It’s the Psalm that talks about where can I go from your presence? And and it gives all these hypothetical options. Can I go? Down to the sea can I go up into heaven? Can I go to the east, the West?

43. 20:15

    And God is there everywhere. And it uses a Hebrew parallelism in in that Psalm that helps us get a a handle on what’s happening here. So the right of the Psalm says where can I go from your spirit or where can I flee from your presence? And in this parallelism we have a synonym, don’t we? We have spirit being synonymous with the presence of God. So we God’s spirit is active or

44. 20:44

    there in spatial terms, God is there, it is God. It is God’s presence that is there with us. Another Psalm, Psalm 51. Before I comment on this Psalm, when we move into the New Testament, the terminology is going to change dramatically. In the Old Testament, it’s spirit and there’s only two occasions in the entire Old Testament where we have the term Holy Spirit.

45. 21:09

    It’s not until we get to the New Testament when Holy Spirit becomes so prevalent in the in the in the text. So we’ll look quickly at these two places in the Old Testament and again, we’re getting this new covenant emphasis, aren’t we? Something that was there in shadow in prophetic terminology, pointing forward to something else, describing the Holy Spirit of God does not become actual and realized until we get to the New covenant and things then dramatically change. So here’s the famous reference.

46. 21:41

    I’m sure all of you would remember this in Psalm 51, David, saying do not cast me away from your presence paralleled with and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. It’s the first time in the Bible Holy Spirit is used in this, in this Psalm. So we’ve got the the synonym emphasized there, the concept of God’s presence and his spirit, but not just his spirit. Now we’ve sort of taken it up a notch to something called the Holy Spirit as we move our way through the story. Just a couple of quotations as we go through tonight. And I’ve recommended this book before, Brother Alfred Nichols on the Spirit.

47. 22:21

    And he says there, and this is very helpful, what he said in Scripture of the Spirit, in the in the natural life, like we know about the Spirit of God holds everything together. If God was to withdraw his spirit or flesh would perish. The Spirit maintains the universe, if you like. What he said of the Spirit in the natural life, however, can be said of the Holy Spirit in the spiritual life.

48. 22:47

    For it is the very breath of the spiritual life. It quickens. It is the presence of God. It is his personality, his very self. So here we’ve got some interesting terms to try and pass out, I suppose. I mean pass out, I mean pass out trying to divide. We’re trying to work out this idea of God’s Spirit, and we might align that with a term we we sometimes use of God’s omnipresence, if you like, with the Holy Spirit and God’s presence, his relational presence with his people. And to try and try and explain that in some way, I’ve put together this little diagram.

49. 23:30

    Of course God’s God’s spirit, if you like, fills heaven and earth and God is aware of every little thing that happens. He’s aware of a Sparrow that falls and dies in some marketplace in the Middle East. God gets feedback and he’s aware of that. And the life force of that Sparrow is somehow connected to the very, very spirit of God.

50. 23:51

    So he he pervades all, of course. And so all he’s aware of everything. He’s aware of all human activity and all events that take place in our planet. And we saw Paul’s words in Acts 17. In him, we, me and the philosophers in Athens, live and move and have our being. That applies to everybody. However, there are certain people that are in a relationship with God.

51. 24:18

    They have a covenant relationship, as we’ve looked at already, and they are also in God’s presence, but in another way. They are in His relational presence or his Holy Spirit. And so His Holy Spirit is what connects them to God in a very unique way, different than everyone else and every other animal and every other human and the rest of creation, something called the Holy Spirit.

52. 24:45

    The covenant relationship brings that into effect, and God himself is now near them and in proximity to them and in their life in a in a very real and tangible way. We may not be aware of that reality, sorry, but it doesn’t change the the facts of the case. God’s presence is there, whether we’re have a heightened awareness of it or whether we don’t.

53. 25:09

    Once we are in relationship with Him, His Holy Spirit is in our life. I’ll give you an example. Again, my examples are not perfect, of course, but I’m trying just to make it understandable. When Patrick was younger, he was used to play soccer and he was very good, and occasionally I used to go and watch him play.

54. 25:29

    I wish I could go back in time and watch him play more, but dad was always busy, so I would only do it on a very infrequent occasions. But I would go and watch him play soccer and I would stand on the sideline and of course I would watch him as he played that game.

55. 25:43

    There was all the other boys playing with him, two teams of boys running around. And of course, because I’m his father, he’s my son. There’s a relational connection and my presence was with him as events unfolded on the field. Patrick was busy, Of course. He’s trying to play a game. He’s got a strategy, he’s got a coach yelling at him, he’s got other players that are wanting to pass the ball to him and set plays, etcetera. He he most of the time didn’t even notice I was there. So I’m on the sideline watching.

56. 26:13

    He’s focused on the game and he’s most of the time unconscious of my of my actual presence. He would know if I’d gone off to get a sausage sandwich or or or whatever. He he was not aware, but when I was there he was not aware. And he’s unconscious of my presence. And in a sense we are like that in our life. We’re busy.

57. 26:32

    We’ve got jobs, we’ve got bosses, we’ve got businesses, we’ve got families, we’ve got responsibilities and we are often busy in our life. Just because we’re not aware and not not conscious of God’s presence doesn’t mean it’s not there. Occasionally in the game, particularly if Patrick had done something well, he kicked the striker for most of his career and he would sometimes kick a goal and he would look for me and scan the crowd and he’d smile and I’d excellent and there was a moment we’d have a nice moment where he would smile at me.

58. 27:06

    That made him feel good and I’d feel good that he’d look back at me and he’d done well and there was a connection there that worked for both of us. We’ll both pleased by that. That connection that happened when the presence was made. He was aware of the presence and that we connected in that in that way and he’s encouraged by my presence.

59. 27:26

    In fact there’s there’s academic studies on the the the home team advantage if you like or where where a team plays in front of their their home crowd with their relatives and their friends and supporters that their performance is is enhanced dramatically. It’s a phenomenon and and and no doubt it’s it’s linked to this this concept of being aware of of our presence. So I the father and watched him throughout the game. He’s in my presence, in my concerning my care. I love him.

60. 27:59

    He’s my son. We have this relationship, but often he’s not even aware that I’m even there. So my presence constant, even if he doesn’t notice it and when he does look back at me, there’s this connection that makes us both happy. Now making us both happy is what we’re going to look at in our in our next study.

61. 28:16

    But today we’ll just focus on on the connection. So what have we seen so far? We’ve talked about the spirit of God actually being God. God doesn’t have some inanimate power that he sends out like electricity to do his work. He is the one. It is him when the Spirit does something or or he’s acting or involved.

62. 28:37

    So it is God himself. Look at the way the Spirit is talked about. Particularly in the Old Testament, we start to get a picture of the Spirit and and and what God is doing. Remember when you read Spirit, you can read God if you like, if that, if that helps. In Genesis one, verse two, we’re told the earth was without form and void. Darkness was on the face of the deep and the spirit of God was hovering.

63. 29:04

    The spirit of God, in a sense. The the word pictures it sort of comes down and hovers and the Hebrew word there is like a bird fluttering. In fact, Young’s literal has fluttering the spirit of God fluttered like a bird. And God’s spirit is described there as as coming down and and being concerned and overwatching this, this new planet that would start to take form before him and right through the New Testament. This idea of God’s Spirit is connected to the to the overshadowing aspect of a bird.

64. 29:37

    So I quickly rattle off some of these verses. You’ll know them very well or have heard heard of them before. I should say Jeremy 32 as an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young. That’s how God cared for Israel. Exodus 19 You’ve seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagle’s wings, and bought you to myself.

65. 29:57

    Psalm 91 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. He shall cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you shall take refuge. See some of the words that are coming through. Refuge and and comfort and and and protection. Psalm 17.

66. 30:15

    Keep me as the apple of your eye. Hide me under the shadow of your wings. Same idea there. How excellent is your loving kindness, your your chess head, your covenant connection. Oh God. Therefore the children of men put their trust. So there’s trust, you know, which is the underlying idea of faith, isn’t it?

67. 30:31

    Put their trust under the shadow of your wings. Be merciful to me, oh God, be merciful to me, for my soul takes refuge. My soul, my my emotions. My inner heart takes refuge in the shadow of your wings. I’ll take refuge till the storms of destruction pass by. Let me dwell in your tent forever.

68. 30:45

    Let me take refuge in the shelter of your wings. For you have been my help. You see these these ideas that have been just cascading through these verses Here you’re my help. And in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy. And then we’ve got a motion attached here to the to the overshadowing protection from from God and God’s spirit. Now we come to the second occurrence of the the term Holy Spirit in the Old Testament and it’s in Isaiah 63 and it’s a it’s recounting the experience of Israel in the wilderness and I’ll quickly read what’s on the screen there. He remembered the days of old Moses and his people saying where is he who brought them out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock?

69. 31:31

    Where is he who put his Holy Spirit within them? Now what’s this talking about? The Holy Spirit was put within them. Is that talking about individuals in Israel that had the Holy Spirit put within them? It’s not necessarily talking about that under the Old covenant. Most of the language and the terms are corporate. They’re referring to Israel as a as a corporate son. And when God put His Holy Spirit in them, it was His very presence, the Shekinah presence of God that was in their midst, which was in the Tabernacle that was in their midst. But not the court or the Holy Place, not just the Most Holy Place.

70. 32:15

    It was in the actual Ark within the Most Holy Place, in the in the mercy seat. God’s presence was in their midst, was in them. In that sense.

71. 32:26

    So God put his Holy Spirit within them, and he also overshadowed them with His Spirit. And we have the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire that overshadowed the camp of Israel as well. So God is in their midst and He’s over them. There’s this picture of protection like we saw in the verses that referred to the overshadowing nature of God, like a bird over it’s young and God being in their midst.

72. 32:53

    As Isaiah 63 says, Brother Nichols says God was present by putting his Holy Spirit in their midst. He was present. That was his presence. But notice how highly mediated that presence was and how restricted it was. The presence of God was was limited in its access and and it was locked away and and not very rarely was it accessed in in that in that direct way under the old covenant. And he says we’ve already seen that the Holy Spirit is the equivalent to the presence of God. So when Isaiah 63 is talking about God putting his Holy Spirit in their in their midst, it’s God’s presence that was there.

73. 33:33

    But in a sense that presence was there, but they did not have immediate access to it in that in that absolute sense there was barriers to access to and restrictions and conditions on that. On the presence, as we said on the old covenant, we’re talking about a corporate son, we’re talking the promises of Israel are aggregated into a into a group. In the new covenant, there is an individual aspect to it. Remember we looked at the New Covenant terminology. Jeremiah 31 quoted Hebrews 8, etcetera. There’s this idea that under the New Covenant no one needs to say to their neighbour, know the Lord. For everyone in that Covenant relationship knows the Lord from the least to the greatest.

74. 34:19

    Everyone has direct access to the Lord. It it it’s a this, the the, the Spirit of God now is individualized in a sense, not just put into a a box in the midst of the camp. And so as individuals under the New Covenant, we are still overshadowed, but individually overshadowed by the presence of God and by the Spirit of God.

75. 34:42

    And his Spirit is in us as well. And so God’s Spirit is all around us and and and his presence is with us in a in a dimensional way, in a spatial way that we we find hard to articulate. But it’s it’s true, it’s real. We can sing about it and talk about it in our in music and worship, but it’s hard to sort of put into straightforward words. Here’s some well known words.

76. 35:06

    Hymn one, O 1. Within thy circling power, so that circling power above and around on every side we find thy hand awake, asleep at home abroad, I am surrounded still with with God. And then there’s some other words from that hymn. Lord, thou has searched and seen us through. So God’s spirit is right through thine eye commands with piercing view our thoughts before they are our own or to the distinctly known.

77. 35:34

    And so God’s Spirit when it comes to the natural world, God’s Spirit is everywhere but for his people that are in covenant with Him. It’s His Holy Spirit that is in our life, through our life, over our life and over and above all things. Just want to finish up with some thoughts from the reading that Jeremy read for us tonight from John chapter 14. These words of Jesus are are profound and and deep and when you think about the the juxtaposition of these words how how important and vital they are when you think about where they stand in the history of of God’s redemption and his and his work with his son.

78. 36:21

    So chapter 13 of John is the Last Supper and it also contains Jesus washing the disciples feet but it’s the Last Supper chapter. And then chapter 18 the narrative takes up again with Jesus arrest in the garden. So the narrative’s interrupted from the Last Supper to Jesus arrest with these four chapters. What like what?

79. 36:48

    What vital position they have don’t they in the. In the whole Bible stories inserted here in this incredible narrative where the the universe was, was focused on this, this, this moment in history and we now have this incredible narrative, the last words of Jesus. Chapter 14 starts with those famous words. I go to prepare a place for you and we’ll talk about that in a minute. Chapter 15’s got the discourse on the vine. Jesus saying I am the vine, you are the branches. And this abide with me, abide with me, abide with me, abide with me.

80. 37:20

    That runs all the way through that chapter. Chapter 16 takes up more references and information about something called the Comforter, which we’ll talk about in a minute. And then chapter 17 is a basically a prayer that Jesus makes on behalf of both his immediate followers but all his believers throughout all time, that God would be in them and they would be in him and he would be in them. So this is phenomenal scripture, isn’t it? This is a lot of what you might call inspired real estate. Here you’ve got 4 chapters, relatively long, 30 There’s more than 100 verses here.

81. 37:57

    This is a bigger section of inspired scripture than some of the New Testament epistles and books just inserted here in the Gospel of John. But the difficulty has been, and I found this in my life as well. How relevant are any of those words to us? It’s Jesus talking to his immediate disciples or apostles directly.

82. 38:20

    I sometimes over the years felt a bit uncomfortable when words are taken from that section of scripture and there’s some beautiful songs about peace I give you. Not not peace that the world gives you, but peace I give you and and and other references abide that him, abide with me, that are no doubt taken from this part of scripture.

83. 38:37

    And we think is this scripture for us really? Is it? Is it just historical, divine, historical information about what Christ did for his followers, immediate followers, or is this relevant for us? And that’s a that’s an interesting question. There are hints in this section that the words in this particular discourse in the in the final prayer of chapter 17 are applicable to all believers at some level.

84. 39:08

    In the very first chapter in John 14 and verse 23, Jesus makes his statement, says, and the King James says, If a man love me and keeps my words, my father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode or dwelling with him. Now most other translations have any man or anyone.

85. 39:33

    So here the application of these words takes a wider scope, doesn’t it? All of a sudden we’re not just talking to the 12 apostles and the immediate followers of Jesus. Jesus is now referring to any man God, and Jesus can dwell with them. And then at the end of the discourse in the final prayer in John 17, Jesus makes this beautiful statement.

86. 39:56

    He says he’s praying for his followers and he says neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word that they all these and those who believe later on. That’s. That’s you and me, isn’t it? Thousands of years later, we’ve we’ve believed because of the apostles word that they all may be one as thou father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in US. So we start to see there’s there’s words here that are universal in the sense of universal to believers of all time.

87. 40:34

    And yet there’s some other words in this discourse that are definitely only relevant, in a sense, to the immediate apostles. So what we have as we read through this section is intertwined in this section of scripture is these these two concepts that come over time and time, and they sort of intertwines with each other.

88. 40:57

    And that one one will become prominent, then fade away, and another one will take its place. And there’s these two concepts. One is the abiding presence of God in the life of a believer and something called the Comforter that would come and be sent by God. What do we make of these two things and and which ones, if any, or either or both, or one or the other, can we take to our own hearts as a promise from God? Now, one of the best books I’ve found if you really want to, if I often realize I prattle on a bit and it might be not that easy to understand what I’m saying. So if you want to look this up in more detail, it’s an awesome book written by Brother Edward Whitaker and Reg Carr that I think explains this phenomena really well. The reason I think they did so well is because these articles were originally serialized in the Testimony magazine and they also interacted with feedback from correspondence. Like people would write in as these articles were being written and as they’re writing about these chapters, of course they’re getting they’re saying the comforter in these chapters is the apostles and this relates to the apostles and it’s not relevant to us today.

89. 42:12

    And then the correspondence, the people are coming back at them and pushing back saying but but, but, but there’s too much grandeur and power and and profound language here to just to to ignore this. And so they’ve done a stellar job in in working their way through these things. And so I’ve just given you a summary here.

90. 42:35

    They say once it is recognized that the abiding, which we’ll talk about in a minute in the comforter are separate phenomena. And the latter was miraculous, that’s the comforter. The entire teaching of John 14 to 16 becomes clearly harmonious. So we can see these two themes interweaving. Once we we identify the two, we can make sense of what’s going on. So how can we tell which one is related to us and which one isn’t?

91. 43:04

    Well, they suggest this mechanism, which is which really works. And I’ve I’ve test, tested it and ran it through the run it through the computer and it and this is it actually works. So they say the Lord consistently throughout this section uses two different verbs in connection to these two distinct phenomena. Whenever Jesus is talking about the abiding presence that God dwelling in with His people or being in his people, he uses the verb I or God or God and I or we will come into your life, we will come to you. When the Lord is talking about the Comforter, he says I will send so and you can follow it through and it definitely works. It definitely works all the way through. So you can read through John 14/15/16 and 17 and see the way the comforter is referred to.

92. 44:04

    Just for those who don’t know much about the comforter, it’s it’s the word comforter. The word Paracletos is probably better translated as advocate. It’s like a solicitor or a lawyer who would speak on your behalf and that brings comfort to you when you’ve got, if you’re in a pickle with the law and you’ve got a good lawyer, then that does bring comfort and take some pressure off of course.

93. 44:25

    But it has the idea of someone coming alongside you. That’s what para, as in Paracletos means, coming along beside you and helping you out. What it’s referring to, Jesus is saying you, you going to be scattered, you’re going to be shocked, you’re going to be totally dismayed, and you’re going to want to give it all away.

94. 44:45

    But I’m going to send you help. I’m going to send you this Paracletus, this, this, this Comforter or this Advocate that’s going to be with you and help you carry out this mission to be those who are witness to me throughout the world, these uneducated, mostly fishermen, without any formal education, any resources, any ability. You were going to change the world. You’re going to turn the world upside down. And I’m going to inspire you to do that through this comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, gifts, the Holy Spirit, the power of the Holy Spirit.

95. 45:14

    And so when we read the Comforter, as we work our way through that section of Scripture, we’ll always see the word send or give. It’s something, It’s direct, a direct power given to the recipient, direct ability given to the 1st century believers to be able to do certain things we’ll look at in a moment. But when you read about the abiding presence, God abiding with us, it’s I will come or God and I will come into your life. And a good way to think of this is bifocal glasses. I’ve got, I’ve got trifocals at the moment. So bifocals mean you can have a a long distance portion of your glasses or a shorter distance section of your glasses. So as you’re reading this section for the historical background to the work of the apostles, you can read about the Comforter and read that is the primary interest as you read through the passages.

96. 46:12

    Or you can look for the abiding presence of God and in a sense gloss over the Comforter sections, knowing that they’re important, but they are referring to the Apostles and see what power is in the other parts of those chapters that refer to all believers. So let’s quickly talk about the Comforter. For those who may not have heard much about it, here’s the references to the Comforter that run through 14/15/16 and 17 of of John’s Gospel and you can see there it’s God sending the Comforter to them.

97. 46:44

    Haven’t got time to go through all those. Now actually if you’ve got your Bible there, just have a look at John 14 and you’ll see the miraculous nature of what the Comforter would do and the very practical benefits that the Comforter would bring to those apostles. So chapter 14 and verse 26. But the some translation of Helper or Advocate or Comforter that the the the Comforter which is the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name.

98. 47:17

    Look what he will do. He will teach you all things, so you’ll have all this knowledge supernaturally or miraculously inserted. He will bring to your remembrance everything that I said, so you can see there is a miraculous element to the work of the Comforter. It would enable these uneducated men to be able to bring to mind the words of Jesus, not just to teach and preach, but also to write the gospel message that we have preserved for us today.

99. 47:44

    And so if you read everything the Comforter would do, you can see the emphasis of the Comforters. Work has to do with words. It’s about bringing things to remembrance that Jesus did. It’s about allowing them to speak. It’s a source of truth that will enable them to to to make statements about sin and and and righteousness and and condemn the world for for for it’s sin and it would guide the disciples in truth.

100. 48:11

     And so it’s a source of truth. It’s words, it’s the words of Jesus. It’s divine words about about righteousness and sin and you can see in the the swap out that we often do when we read about the spirit. We swap out often those spirit references and replace it with the Bible which we sometimes refer to as a spirit word.

101. 48:30

     And in this case the swap out is quite legitimate. What the Comforter did for the apostles we now have in the written word of God, the all the teachings of Jesus, the words of Jesus, the power of the word. It is all available for us in in God’s Word. So the Comforter was a phenomena that was relevant to the early believers would have died out towards the end of the 1st century as the the apostles who had the power to pass it on would die and it it led to the gospel going throughout the world and also the word of God being written. The Abiding presence, however, is something different. The key verse for me that explains what the Abiding Presence is all about is a little it’s it’s right at the end.

102. 49:17

     Towards the end, in chapter 16, Jesus says these words. Remember, this is before his arrest, before. At this point, Peter thinks he’s impregnable and he’s going to do all this stuff and stand up for Jesus and give his life. So they’re yet to be scattered and tested in this way, so they don’t really feel what’s about to happen.

103. 49:35

     So Jesus says the hour is coming and now is that you will be scattered, each to his own, and you will leave me alone. And that’s literally what happened, isn’t it? The disciples ran for their life. Peter hung around, but then denied that he knew Jesus, but that would all desert him. And Jesus says, yet I am not alone. I’m not alone because my father is with me, he’s with me. And Jesus went alone to the to Caiaphas, to the Sanhedrin, to Herod, to Pilate.

104. 50:18

     He stood there alone. He was taken alone, thrashed and alone. He had a crown of thorns thrust upon his head. Alone he was he was beaten alone. He was tortured on a on a on a excruciating in excruciating agony. He was alone, but he wasn’t really alone, He says. I’m not alone. My father.

105. 50:37

     My Father wasn’t just watching from heaven. My Father was with me, and so we start to get an idea of what Jesus is talking about, the language of the abiding presence. He’d he would experience it himself. And so if you’ve got your balls, let’s go to John 14 and remember, we’re talking about the spatial, the spatial presence of God, he says in verse chapter 14, verse one, let not your hearts be troubled because he knew what would come upon them.

106. 51:06

     He knew what was going to face them. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believing God and believing me also in my father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. And I’m going. So notice these spatial directional words. I go to prepare a place for you. But I’m going to come back again, and I’m going to receive you to myself. That where I am, you may be with me also Now sometimes we can read that without without Christadelphian lens. It’s sort of easy to read that and think about he’s talking about going away and then coming back at the second coming, coming back in the Kingdom.

107. 51:52

     It’s not if you read carefully what’s taking place here. It’s all temple language, Jesus is saying in my father’s house. The only other time he uses that phrase, you remember he says my father’s, that you’ve made my father’s house a den of thieves. And also at the age, age of 12, he says I must be about my father’s house. I know that King James has business, but it’s actually my father’s house.

108. 52:16

     So when Jesus talking about my father’s house, he’s talking, he’s talking about something that was the temple, but that would change. Remember, he said destroy this temple in three days. I’ll raise up a new temple. And the narrator says he was talking about the temple of his body. That body was not just his personal body. The body of Christ is his people, his ecclesia. So in my father’s house are many mansions or or that just means dwelling places.

109. 52:48

     It doesn’t spatially, it’s not spatially coherent because mansions are bigger than houses. And so you think what’s going on here? But he’s saying there’s something called my father’s house and there’s dwelling places within my father’s house. And the way I think of it is there’s believers in different parts of the world. There’s there’s a room here at river.

110. 53:06

     There’s a room at gospel. These rooms have been prepared by by the Lord Jesus Christ. And I’ll come again and he says, and where I am, I’ll be there with you. So His presence will be with us. As I said, this is not the second coming. This is Jesus coming back in us in some way, in His presence, coming back in the Father’s house in the temple of God and being with us.

111. 53:31

     If you want to a good exposition on that rest of scriptures does a good job explaining that there’s other beautiful language here referring to the abiding things like John 14 verse 18. I will not leave you as orphans. I’m not going to leave you as orphans. I’m not going to leave you as lost souls. I’m going to abide with you.

112. 53:53

     I’m going to come to you and I’m going to dwell with you. And that’s relevant to all God’s people throughout all time. Let me just make a comment. I forgot to say that when Jesus said I’m not alone because my father’s with me, The fact of his father’s presence and his father’s company did not stop the negative things that happened to him.

113. 54:16

     He still believed his father was with him and he was in the presence. Literally his father was with him, and yet he still endured negative and terrible things. So we’re not looking for some, the spirit of some panacea that’s going to make everything good happen in our life. But God’s Holy Spirit is with us.

114. 54:35

     It’s there, and it’s been promised by the Lord here. So he says, I go and I’m going to come again, that we might be together. It’s interesting. Thomas says, where are you going? And and Jesus says where I’m going, the way you know, which is intriguing, intriguing words. And Thomas says, how can we know the way? And Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me. So you can see he’s using spatial language of coming and going.

115. 55:09

     But it’s about a relationship with God through Jesus, isn’t it? He is the way in this, this spatial connection with with God. And so we’re running out of time. But all the way through these chapters I and my father, my father in me, and then getting to the point where it’s I and my father, my father in me and I in you.

116. 55:28

     And then 1423 we, my father and I, will come and dwell with someone who believes and and that is the dwelling promise of of God, relevant and and and very powerful in the life of of all believers. This, this presence and connection with God. Jesus says we will come and dwell with him. And there’s this oneness, there’s this connection that that runs through all that.

117. 55:54

     And as you read through that section of scripture too there’s so much power and emotional power. I mentioned the the little prayer. Jesus says that the. The peace I give you not as the world gives. He’s talking about of course his world which was the old covenant world. The old covenant world could not give this peace that the new covenant would bring. And the and the repetition of rejoicing and joy and peace and fulfilment that runs through that section Talk is highlighting the fact that if we appreciate and are aware of the presence of God and believe it in faith, there is a power to it that helps us immensely and incredibly in our life. Just to finish up, here’s a beautiful little reference from Melva Purkis in The Life of Jesus. Of course, Melva does like to get to the emotional reality of these stories and these narratives and he says he comments on this, this discourse that runs from chapter 14 to 17. He said Jesus told them of the reason for his going away. It was to prepare abiding places in the House of God. Then he spoke to them of the coming of the comfort of the Holy Spirit that would dwell with them and bring to their minds all that the Lord had done and said so. That was back then.

118. 57:12

     Then we got this intermediate section here, Brother Perka says. He promised that he would manifest himself to them in words. These words have encouraged the aspirations of disciples ever since. As the Comforter we inspire these words, both preached and written. And then He brings us to the next paragraph and quotes. 1423 If any man love me, He will keep my words and the Father will love him and we will come and make our abode or our dwelling with Him, probably each disciple, in moments of supreme dedication, experience of fulfillment of that promise.

119. 57:51

     Nor is it beyond our reach with sustained prayer and steady dedication that may come a rare moment of spiritual ecstasy when we know the promise has been fulfilled and life is transformed for us. Pretty powerful words, aren’t they saying that these words are relevant to all believers and they are incredible spiritual power both both emotionally, spiritually and powerfully in in the life of a believer.

120. 58:18

     So just to finish up, probably 2 practical takeouts when it comes to becoming aware of the presence of God in our life, one suggestion is when you pray to God just to change the the mindset a little bit. Instead of thinking of this prayer traveling to heaven through billions of light years, think about the reality that God is actually there in the room with you. So if you’re in your room praying, you’re in your boat praying, you’re on the sitting on the seashore praying, talked as if God is actually there.

121. 58:54

     He’s literally, he is literally there. He is there. And it’s not like you sending up packets of information billions of miles away. It’s God is there present with you. And and that helps, I think for me to develop an intimacy with God in that way. But also reading the Bible, you can read the Bible to learn stuff and that’s good.

122. 59:16

     It’s very wholesome and good and powerful. But why don’t you try, as I’ve been trying to do, reading the Bible in God’s presence, as if I’m reading with him. It’s God’s word that he’s provided, and God is in the room with me as I’m reading. So I’m reading the word. It’s his thoughts, his ideas, and he’s there as I’m reading.

123. 59:39

     It’s not just an education process. I’m not just taking in data and information and trying to look for types and connections. I’m reading with God at that time, and I think there’s a power in becoming more aware of the the reality of the presence of God. It’s it’s real. And just to finish up, there’s a there’s a contentment that comes with being in God’s presence.

124. 1:00:01

     Remember, Jesus says I’m not really alone, All these shocking things are going to happen to me, but I’m not alone. And there are references like this in Hebrews 13. God has said I will never leave you or forsake you.

125. 1:00:17

     That’s a power, brothers and sisters and young people, that you can live your life by now. It doesn’t mean bad things won’t happen. It doesn’t mean God’s going to step in and save you from negative implications. And literally this verse says the opposite. Actually, it says so that we might boldly say the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man shall do to me, what men did to his son, what men do to us today, what men have done to our brothers and sisters in times past, and persecuted and abused people and ridiculed them.

126. 1:00:54

     The effects of what men will do is something we have to live through. The presence of God doesn’t wrap us in cotton wool and remove those things. But it’s a power knowing that as you go through those things, God is with you. He is there. He will never leave and forsake you. And we had time to flesh out that Hebrew studying quote because it starts off with covetousness.

127. 1:01:15

     He says come in with the exact words, but don’t be covetous and worry about possessions and things like that, that nature. And then it says, because I’ll and and then he goes on to say for I’ll never leave you or forsake you, so don’t even worry about physical things. So I’m not going to leave you or forsake you. And even if men abuse you and use you so it’s gone from covetousness and possessions now through to suffering, violence and abuse.

128. 1:01:44

     Because all of them, all of them can be endured. All those things can be endured. Lack of physical things right through to physical abuse can be endured with contentment. If we remember that God will never leave us or forsake us so that we might boldly say, boldly say you can say it as you’re being burnt at the stake and the flames are ripping through your body. And you can boldly say God will never leave and forsake me. That’s that’s the power of this.

129. 1:02:10

     This is the reality of this regardless of what men will do to you And Hebrews talks about the the fact that a true a believer when they appreciate this, even the fear of death is something that’s reduced and they don’t feel the the power of that and the bondage of that. I think I’ve given you this example of in previous sessions, but I always am amazed by this reality. And I went to the Colosseum, I think with some of the guys here and just walk through those little tunnels and those little alleyways and thought about the believers that were were were taken in front of these crowds and just ripped apart by lions. And there’s this statement from a historian that says the Christians could not be intimidated by the lions even when they were given opportunity to recant and save their lives. They didn’t.

130. 1:02:55

     And they sang as they entered the arena because of the words fear not, I am with you. The fact that Jesus was with them, they believed with all their hearts and they bet their life on it. But they still got eaten by the lions. They still got destroyed and ripped apart, but they always knew and believed the reality that God was with them. Imagine you’re on a plane and all of a sudden the the captain on the plane says we’re flying over Ukraine. We’ve just received news and missiles being fired at us. We have 3 minutes before we’re all going to die. Has God forsaken you in that moment? Or you scream to God to save you from the rocket attack and somehow miraculously get you out of that? Maybe that would that would be quite OK. But there could be a deeper sense of serenity and surrender, knowing that God is with you regardless what happens, God is with you.

131. 1:03:53

     If you die, you die. God has not forsaken you. He’s been with you all your life. His Holy Spirit has been with you. You’ve been. You’re about to be wheeled in for an operation and it could be a life threatening 1 and you pray and hope that you survive it and that the doctors are successful. But as you’re wielding to the operating theatre, you know God is with you, literally with you at that time. And there’s an incredible power to that reality that is transcendent, isn’t it?

132. 1:04:22

     There’s this peace of God that passes understanding. So brothers and sisters, sorry I’ve gone a little bit long. We’ve touched on the presence of God in two dimensions, the relational presence of God seen through the New Covenant, and the fact that the Holy Spirit is literally in US and above us and through us and over us, and God is with us in our life and abides with us as well. Thank you.