“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper,
to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth . . . .
I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
John 14:15-17a, 18

These words of Jesus are meant to be a great comfort to us as Christians as we live our lives for Christ in the here and now. Hopefully you will remember the context! Jesus has just informed the disciples that He’s leaving them (John 14:33). The cross is within sight! Very soon He will be taken from them, crucified, die, rise from the dead and ascend to the Father’s right hand. That’s why He came – “to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). That’s how He will win our salvation! And that is why He must leave them.

But the disciples understand very little of that at this point. All they’ve heard is that He’s leaving. And it has frightened them! That’s why He must comfort them as he does in John 14:1, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” He’s saying to them, “I know it sounds like I’m abandoning you, but really you’ve got to trust Me! I’ve made provision for you for after I’m gone. I’m not leaving you alone as orphans. I will come to you and continue to help and sustain you as you keep looking to Me!”

And church, surely you recognize that we are in that same place. It’s a scary world. And in the midst of this scary world with its constant stream of bad news and ever-increasing cultural opposition to truth, it can feel like we’re on our own. Sometimes, I am sure, you feel like you’re on your own! But the Lord who loves you and gave Himself for you has made provision for us. He’s given us help! – no more than that! – a Helper in the Person of the Holy Spirit whom He promised to send to be with us! This morning we want to look at the nature of this help and the Person of this Helper in a way that I hope you will find encouraging as you seek to live a Christ-centered life in this broken world.

He will not abandon His people nor leave us without the help me need!

Pastor S. Scott Lee