The Holy Spirit Frees Us From Being Orphans

I'd like you to turn with me, please, to John's Gospel, chapter 14, John 14. These are the last words of Jesus to his disciples on the last day he was with them. And so John 14 to 17 is very precious. It's the only long sermon of Jesus that we can read other than the Sermon on the Mount. These two sections, Matthew 5, 6, and 7, and John 14 to 17 are very important because those are the only full length sermons of Jesus that we find in the Gospels. And particularly the words that he spoke to his disciples just before he left them, he knew he was going to be crucified that next morning. And so his words are very significant and important. And for the first time, he speaks to them about the Holy Spirit. If you turn to John 14, he first tells them about the importance of keeping his commandments. John 14, verse 15, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. Now that's something which we've spoken about much. Think about it for a moment. There are many people who say that they love Jesus. Perhaps all of us say that. And Jesus will say to us, if you really love me, you will keep my commandments. Now I've taken that, first of all, to mean that if I love him, I'll find out what his commandments are because I can't keep them until I first find out what those commandments are. So a person who does not read the scriptures day by day to find out what God's commandments are, he's telling a lie when he says he loves Jesus. You got to think of that yourself. I mean, don't reply to anybody else. Ask yourself, in the light of this verse, if you love me, Jesus said you'll keep my commandments. Do you know what those commandments are? Do you know all of them? And if I don't even bother to find out what those commandments are, I can't really say I love him. How can I keep them if I don't know what they are? So that is why I say it's very important to read the scriptures. It's a pity when I hear people who say they don't have time to read the scriptures. They're so busy. I ask them, do you have time to eat your food every day? Oh, yes. Why? Because that's necessary. What about the Bible? Not so necessary every day. Once in a while. Anyway, I hear the message in the meetings once a week. That's about enough. But I want to tell you, my dear brother, sister, I don't care who you are, even if you think you're a good brother or sister in RLCF, if you don't have the habit of reading the scriptures every day, I would very lovingly tell you, you are a backslider. Please, maybe once upon a time, you were close to the Lord, but today you're a backslider. If you want to come back to the Lord, begin with saying, Lord, I want to read the scriptures every day, at least some portion of it, and meditate on it, because I want to know what your commandments are. And then the next step is I want to try and obey them. Thus, I will prove my love for you. And that applies to all of us. And those of us who are parents, if we don't do that, you can't ask your children to read the Bible if you don't read it yourself. You can't ask your children to keep the commandments if you don't. They're not even trying to keep them yourself. But when you study the commandments, I know when I started considering what the commandments of Jesus were, I found that they were so difficult to obey. The Ten Commandments in the Old Testament were easy, except the last one, the tenth one, where you shall not lust, that's not that easy to keep. I mean, you can lust after money, you can lust after things that God has forbidden. It's not that easy to keep. But the other nine are easy to keep. But Jesus lifted that standard in the Sermon on the Mount and said, that's just the righteousness of the Old Testament. My commandments are far higher than that. How much higher? When you think of the Ten Commandments at a certain height, that's what Moses taught. And Jesus is as much about Moses as these commandments are about those Old Testament commandments. So what is the difference between Christ and Moses? It's so vast. And that's the difference between Christ's commandments and the Old Testament commandments. We got to see that, first of all. I want to speak a little bit about the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit. But I believe it starts here. I'll tell you why. Because when you go to the next verse, John 14 and verse 16, you need to see the connection between that and verse 15. I will ask the Father, and he will give you a helper. Why do you need a helper? It's the person who is sincerely trying to obey verse 15. You know, like you shouldn't get angry. You shouldn't lust after women. You should not let anybody know how much you pray or fast or give. You should not be anxious. You should not love money. You should not judge others. I'm just repeating the things that I found in the Sermon on the Mount. And anybody, anyone who sincerely tries to obey that will discover, like I discovered, you just can't keep it. It's impossible. That's what Paul discovered in Romans 7. So when you discover it's impossible, what do you do? And I'll tell you what I have found most Christians in the world, what they do. They just leave it. Well, it's impossible. I mean, God cannot expect anyone to live by those standards. But Jesus said, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. So we live in a Christendom which does not take the words of Jesus seriously. I'm coming to the matter of being filled with the Holy Spirit. It's all connected. It's connected to having a passionate desire to obey all of Jesus' commandments. There are many who seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You ask them why? Have you ever heard anyone reply, because I want to keep all the commandments? I've never heard anyone tell me that is the answer. Why do you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Because I want to keep all the commandments and I can't keep them. I want to live at peace with my husband and wife at home every day without ever quarreling or raising my voice. That's why I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I've never heard anybody give that reply. They want excitement. They want to speak in tongues. They want some type of supernatural experience of power. But see the connection. The helper here in verse 16 is the Holy Spirit. And it's in connection with verse 15 that he says, I'll pray the Father will give you a helper. So who's the person who's asking for a helper? The person who's trying to obey verse 15 and finds he cannot and says, oh God, please help me. And Jesus says, OK, I'll pray the Father. He'll give you another helper. Another means just like Jesus. Jesus was the first helper. You know, when Jesus was around the disciples, it was very easy to keep the commandments. I can't imagine any of those disciples getting angry and shouting at somebody else when Jesus was physically present there. I don't care how much of a slave to anger you are. But if Jesus were physically present in your house, I can guarantee you will not lose your temper. I can guarantee that even if you've been a slave to that all your life. Just imagine if Jesus were physically there between you and your husband or you and your wife, do you think he would ever raise your voice at your partner? Never, never, never, never. What does that prove? It proves that you don't really have the presence of Jesus there in your home, even though you think you have. Why is that? Because you're not filled with the Holy Spirit. And why is that? Because you're not earnestly seeking to keep his commandments. If you did, you would be in such desperate need. You'd say, Lord, I'm failing. I need a helper. Then you will receive the helper. That's the meaning of thirsting. Jesus said, if anyone thirsts, thirst for what? I would connect it with John 14, 15. Thirst to keep my commandments. Do that from today, dear brother, sister. Thirst to humble yourself. Thirst to follow Jesus in his humility. And you will find how difficult it is. And you'll really cry out for a helper. I'm giving you my testimony. That's the thing that brought me to desperation. 48 years ago, that made me cry out to God saying, Lord, I cannot keep your commandments. I'm failing and failing all the time. I'm born again. And my whole life is one endless circle of sinning, repenting, asking forgiveness, sinning, repenting, asking forgiveness. It's not a merry-go-round, but a very shameless going around. And then God met with me when he saw that I was sincerely wanting to keep his commandments. And I believe there's no partiality with God. He'll do the same for you. Absolutely. But begin at verse 15. If you love me, keep my commandments. Then ask the Lord, Lord, what are your commandments? Start with Matthew 5, 6, and 7. Read there and sincerely say to the Lord, Lord, I love you. You died for me. I love you. I want to keep your commandments. Go through those commandments, and you will come to desperate need. You know, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, I used to wonder in the early days, why did Jesus leave that Sermon on the Mount as if open-ended and never tell us how we can keep them? That's the biggest question that comes to me at the end of that Matthew 5, 6, and 7. How can I keep them? Then I discovered after many years, there is a verse at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew chapter 7, towards the end, he says, ask and you will receive. Aha. So that's what I'm supposed to do at the end. Lord, I can't keep these commandments. Then ask, and I will give you. Now we come to verse 16. I'll ask the Father, He'll give you another helper. That helper will be with you forever. I praise the Lord that for the gift of the Holy Spirit has changed my life, changed my ministry, changed my family life, and that's how the church started getting built. And everything in my life turned around completely after I was filled with the Holy Spirit 48 years ago. And so I want to encourage all of you to take this seriously. I'll praise the Father. He'll give you another helper, and that is the Spirit of truth, verse 17, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him or know Him. But you know Him. Right now He's with you. One day on the day of Pentecost, He'll be in you. Now He's with you. As long as He's with you, you can't overcome. You know, even He was with them and Peter denied the Lord, and among them, even the Last Supper, you know what they were doing at the Last Supper while Jesus was going to talk about all this? They were not seeking for the Holy Spirit. At that table, they were discussing who is the greatest, who's going to take over when Jesus goes away. You know, there are such thoughts in the minds of many believers in many churches. How much am I respected in RLCS? How much do the other people respect me? Do they respect me highly or they treat me as an unimportant brother? Yeah, that's the type of thing the disciples discussed before they were filled with the Holy Spirit. And if you think thoughts like that, I want to tell you that is a clear proof that you're not filled with the Holy Spirit. If your mind is on how important am I recognized by others as an important person in the church, that is the same thing those disciples were thinking about at the Last Supper. And Jesus said, you need a helper. You folks need to be filled with the Holy Spirit because those are not my thoughts, the Lord says. You've got satanic thoughts. Who's more important? And who's most important? And how much do people respect me? And all this garbage. Christendom is full of it. If you're a follower of Jesus, it should not be there in your life at all. It should be zero. That you don't have the slightest desire to be considered important in the church. What did Jesus say? When you go to a feast, don't go and sit at the most important table. Go and sit towards the end. It's the same principle we must follow throughout. And if you take that low place, God gives grace to the humble. There's a verse which I've often quoted, particularly of late in Psalm 138. Some verses keep coming to my mind again and again. And one of them is this. I would leave it with you. Psalm 138 and verse 6. It's very similar to 1 Peter 5 verse 5. 1 Peter 5 verse 5 says, God gives grace to the humble and he resists the proud. This is something like that where it says, even though the Lord is exalted, he regards the lowly or the humble. He's close to the humble person. But the proud person, he keeps far away. Did you hear that? God is close to the humble person, but he keeps proud people far away. And what I see from that is, first of all, for myself, I don't want to be far away from the Lord even a single moment of my life. But if there's pride in me, God will keep me far away. You can pray as much as you like and know as much of the Bible as you like, but God will keep you far away from him. But if you're lowly and humble, he will regard you, you'll be near him. And I want to be near him. That's the first thing. And the second thing is I want to be like God myself. And because I want to be like, I want to have God's character. And so that's what I do. If I see a proud brother, I keep him far away because that's what God does. If I sense that a brother is proud, I keep him far away. And I see a brother who's really humble, I draw near to him. That's just like being God. I would recommend that you do the same. Ask God to show you who are the proud. Stay away from them. Keep them far away. Preach to them, but preach to them from a distance. Don't let them get near you. That's how I see it. Jesus kept proud people far away from him. How close could the Pharisees come to Jesus? They could hear his message, but they couldn't come near him. No. It's the ones who were broken and humble who were near him all the time. All the others he kept far away. So please remember that. And if we take that place, it'll be very easy for us to receive the Holy Spirit as well. And we'll find it when God gives us grace in that position of humility. Grace we can keep those commandments. And I want to come to this particular verse. That is John 14 verse 18, where the Lord says, I will not leave you as orphans. Now this is in connection with the Holy Spirit. Remember, I will come to you. I'll come to you how? I'll come to you through the Holy Spirit. If you're lowly, humble, I will come to you and I'll dwell in you and fill you with the Holy Spirit. And then you will not be orphans. It's very interesting that the Lord uses the word orphans. It's the only time that word comes in the New Testament. And Jesus said it in connection with the Holy Spirit. And he said it in connection with the time when he was leaving. See, until that time, Jesus was with them. He was like their father and their guardian and everything. And they felt so secure. You know, there's a storm in the lake. If Jesus was there, it was fine. There were demon possessed people or sick people or all types of problems. Jesus was there. Not enough food for the people. Jesus was there. Everything is fine. But now he was going away and they really felt like orphans. And he said the Holy Spirit is going to come and replace them. You will not be orphans. You will not feel insecure. You will not fear in the midst of a storm because the Holy Spirit will be there. You won't see him like Jesus. You could see Jesus, but he'll be there. The meaning of not being an orphan. Being secure in Christ. That's the security the Holy Spirit brings. Now, I don't know whether you've had much contact with orphans. But orphans are people. There's certain things you see in orphans. Orphans are very possessive. They like to be friends with one or two people. Very close with some people. And they'll keep others at a distance. And that's one mark of an orphan Christian. He'll only be close to certain people. And he doesn't want those people to be friends with anybody else. You must be my friends and nobody else's. It's a mark of an orphan. It's very exclusive. Possessive. And if you're like that, you're an orphan. And the Lord said he doesn't want you to be an orphan. An orphan is very insecure because they never had a father or mother. They're always insecure. They don't know. There's a lot of anxiety. Anxiety is one of the primary characteristics of an orphan because they grew up without parents. Imagine if, think of your own children, how secure they are in your home. Because they can always run to you when there's a problem. They can come easily. Imagine if there was no father or mother there. Your children are there. What would they do? They wouldn't know where to go. Even if they're in an orphanage, so many other orphans, they don't have that personal affection. In an orphanage with 100 orphans, how can anybody take care of them? And this is the condition of many, many believers. God doesn't want us to be like that. Insecure. He doesn't want us to be possessive. An orphan will be very possessive of their possessions. They will never share anything they have with others. If you're a Christian like that, you're an orphan. You're possessive about things, possessive about people. You're an orphan. One who's a child of a father, a child of a rich father, is never possessive about people or about things. And so we need to ask ourselves whether there are any of the characteristics of an orphan in us. And if so, that is an indication. That we need the power of the Holy Spirit. The Bible also says that we are heirs of the kingdom. An orphan doesn't have any inheritance. He's no father, no mother. And so he has no inheritance. Whereas we, the Bible says we are heirs of Christ and heirs of God's kingdom. And so there are so many things in God's kingdom that are ours. That's what the Holy Spirit comes to show us. There's nothing that you need that your heavenly father cannot supply you. When a man is filled with the Holy Spirit, he knows the truth of one verse. And that verse is Philippians chapter 4 and verse 19. It's a tremendous verse if you can believe it. It will remove all insecurity from your life. Insecurity of an orphan will disappear from your life. Philippians 4.19. My God will, will means absolutely, definitely, certainly will supply all. And that's a very important word. A-L-L. All your needs. Not your requests and desires. Not everything you want. But everything you need. Not all you ask for, but all that you need. If I ask God for 10 things and God sees I need only two of those things, he'll give me those two. The rest, I mean, there are extra things God may give us, but needs are guaranteed. Spiritual needs, physical needs, emotional needs, intellectual needs, financial needs, whatever it is. All your needs are guaranteed because I'm not an orphan. An orphan doesn't know where to turn when he has a need because he has no father, no mother. So that's why the Bible says when the Holy Spirit, you know, Romans 8.16 says when the Holy Spirit comes into us, the first thing he does is he cries out, Abba, which means daddy, father. You know, why does he say that? Why is that the first thing that happens when the Holy Spirit comes within us? Romans 8.16, sorry, verse 15 says the Spirit comes in and cries out, daddy, Abba, father. The proof that I'm no longer an orphan. You see the connection there between what Jesus said in John 14.18 and Romans 8.16. The Holy Spirit makes us aware of a loving father in heaven. Now we can read the passages that Jesus said about a father and try and remember all that. For example, he said that if you being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children. If your child asks for bread, you will not give him a stone. If he asks for an egg, you will not give him a scorpion. If he asks for fish, you will not give him a snake. He used examples. You know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your heavenly father give good things or the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? Now, all of us have read those words umpteen times in our lives and heard them. But to live in the constant awareness of that in the time of trial and testing, maybe in your place of work and there's a need there. Maybe some need in relation to your work. Maybe you're facing a problem. Maybe you're going to lose your job or you don't have one and you're looking for one. Do you believe this is true that my God will supply all your needs? If a father sees his son wanting a job and the father is running a business, won't he give his son a job in that business? We must know our heavenly father like that. And there is absolutely no way to know him like that without the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit alone comes within us and cries out, Daddy, dear brothers and sisters in the days to come with insecurity abounding around us and the world around us drifting more and more in a way from Christ and Christian standards. You will find yourself in your place of work in many, many difficult situations. And you won't know what the answer is if you are not already filled with the Holy Spirit. And if you have any type of responsibility in a church, oh boy, it's going to be really tough. I know a little bit of what that is. The type of questions that sincere believers asking, particularly in the matters of after they are divorced about remarriage. What if I'm divorced and remarried? If my unconverted days, I was like that. I did it. Now I come to the church. What shall I do? What is my position? You won't know the answer if you don't know the word of God. You don't know the part of the Holy Spirit. I'm just taking an example. We find all types of questions like this in the letters that we get in response to all the videos that are on YouTube. We get letters, lots and lots of them every single day. Scores of them every day. And hundreds of them in a month. And some of them are going through such difficult, complicated situations. Christians, particularly in their marriages. You really need the Holy Spirit's wisdom to be able to answer them. Well, don't say you're not an elder. If you're a brother in the church or a sister, don't leave the job to the elders. You must be available to help the needy. Why aren't you growing up to say, Lord, I'm available to you. I want to be available to you. I don't want to sit in the church for 10 years and say I'm just warming the chair every Sunday. I want to be available to you. Tell me what I can do. Not just do a few things inside the church building, but say, Lord, help me to be one who can meet the need of others who are in need. And there are people all around you in your place of work or among your relatives who are in need. And you must always say, Lord, make me a witness to them. Help me to show Christ to them by my life and challenge them. And for that, we need to ask, believe that God will supply our need. I remember when I started ministering the word, I said, Lord, my great need is that I'm so shy to get up and speak. And secondly, I don't know what to say. I stumble along when I have to say something. Please give me the power of the Holy Spirit. That's what I prayed. 60 years ago. I want to encourage you, my brothers and sisters. Please seek God and say, Lord, I want to experience the reality of this in my life. That I will not behave like an orphan at all. Fill me with the Holy Spirit. Help me to believe that I have a father in heaven who cares for my every need and will supply it. In Matthew chapter 6, you remember how the Lord taught us to pray? He said, don't pray like the others. Don't pray like the Pharisees. He said, Matthew chapter 6. He first told them how not to pray. And then in Matthew 6 verse 5, he said, when you pray, don't pray like the Pharisees, which is just to show others that you pray. That is a very, very difficult command to obey. I remember the days when I began to pray in public, when I was a young man, and I was praying in public. And it says here in Matthew 6, 5, they pray. See, if you read it, Matthew 6, 5, they pray in order to be seen or heard by men. That's a characteristic of a Pharisee, a hypocrite. Matthew 6, 5. Don't be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray in a way to be seen by men or heard by men. And when I began to pray as a young man, the early days of my being born again, after every prayer, I would come back home and say, Lord, I prayed before men. I wasn't talking to you. I was very conscious that other people were listening to my prayer. And I was praying to impress them. I'm ashamed of it. Lord, forgive me. How many times have you asked the Lord to forgive you for praying and being more conscious that other people are listening to your prayer and trying to impress them? It's a sin. It's an absolute sin. But I see so many Christians are doing it all the time. They never repent of it. It took me a long time to get free from it, I'll tell you. And I would never have got free from it till today if I hadn't battled it and confessed it to the Lord. I have a feeling that many of you have not been freed from it even now. Ask yourself, whenever you pray in public, even in a small prayer meeting, are you conscious of Jesus and your Heavenly Father? Or are you conscious of the other people sitting around you, listening? To whom are you praying? These are the things that show us that we are orphans. We need the Holy Spirit. Take it seriously. I believe that most Christians are not filled with the Holy Spirit. Because they're not eager. They don't come to a place of need in their life. Jesus said, if any man thirsts, let him come to me. Thirst is, Lord, there's something dry in me. I'm thirsty. I want your power. I'm not satisfied with the way I am. That's the mark of a man who's thirsty. Lord, I am not satisfied with the way I am. You know that I say that to the Lord even today? I'm thirsty for more. God's filled me with the Holy Spirit, but I realize that it's not a once-for-all experience. The real translation of Ephesians 5, verse 18 is, be being filled with the Holy Spirit. Or in other words, be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit. It's not just a once-for-all event. Why do we need to be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit? Because if you take up the cross, now if you don't take up the cross, then you'll always be the same capacity. When we are first born again, our capacity to receive the power of the Holy Spirit, to use an illustration, will be like a cup. How much water can you fill in a cup? A certain amount. You say, Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit. Okay, He fills you. The cup is full. But if you remain like that after 20 years, okay, the cup is fully filled with the Spirit, but the capacity is only of a cup. You could be an orphan in 101 ways. But Jesus spoke then in John 4 about a well. Imagine a well asking to be filled with water. Wow. That is so much more. So if God can increase your capacity from a cup to a well, from John 3, where they're born of water, and John 4, to the well of water. Let's see, He spoke to the Samaritan woman. Then you need to pray again, Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit. And then you move on to chapter 7, where the well becomes a river, and many rivers point. Then you really need to be filled with the Holy Spirit again. So a true, a Christian who's walking with the Lord, his capacity will be increasing constantly. Constantly. And therefore, he'll be constantly praying, Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit. Constantly, eagerly seeking. Lord, there's more, there's more and more. And if you are like that, my dear brother and sister, let me tell you something. If you continue like that, I think of some of you who are young. You've got your whole life ahead of you. Think if you start now to go that way, let me tell you in Jesus' name, there is no limit to how much God can do through you. You'll be able to enter heaven one day with tremendous joy that the Lord is able to accomplish so much through your life. Even if you're a sister. Even if you're an old sister and you can't do very much more, never mind. God can do amazing things. That Samaritan woman was probably an older lady having been married five times. I don't know how old, he may have been in her 50s. But the Lord used her mightily to bring revival to the city of Samaria. So there's no limit to what God can use if you can come to the Lord saying, Lord, I don't want to be an orphan. I want a hunger and thirst after you. I want the power of the Holy Spirit to flow through me like a river, like many rivers. I don't want to live insecure, afraid of men, seeking the honor of men. I want to come praying in this way. My father who art in heaven, my father who loves me intensely, if I ask him for bread, he will not give me a stone. If I ask him for the Holy Spirit, he will not give me an evil spirit or anything. He will give me the Holy Spirit. But I have to thirst. And my father is one who is in heaven. He runs the universe. That's one thing Jesus taught about our father. When we pray to him, we must know not just our father, but our father who art in heaven. One who can solve every problem, meet every need, handle any situation. If I believe him like that, I will not be an orphan anymore. I will not behave like an orphan. I'll be very secure in my life. I will not want to hang on to certain people and only be friends with them. No, I'm perfectly secure. I don't want anybody's approval. I won't be going around looking for people's approval. I'll only want God's approval. I won't be wanting to impress anybody in the church. Orphans are always seeking to impress somebody. A lot of people who get up to preach in the pulpit, they want to impress. I know because I did that in the early days when I was an orphan. If somebody asked me to speak, I'd get up and say, well, I got to impress people here. By what I say, okay, God is merciful with us. That's how we all start. But what I say is we shouldn't be there always. Okay, for a time we are babies, but we should be growing up. Many of you have been for years, Christians for years. You've been born again years ago. You should have got over a lot of those characteristics of an orphan. Be secure in the love of your heavenly father. He knows your needs and he will meet them. My God will supply all your need according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. Think of this matter of anxiety. That's another thing that an orphan has. Be anxious about so many things. What will happen? If this happens, what will happen? If that happens, what will happen? Your mind, does your mind work like that? Mine used to work like that. I'll tell you honestly, as a Christian, I was thinking of all types of eventualities or possibilities and what do I do there? What do I do here? That's exactly how an orphan is because he doesn't have a father. But think of your little children at home. Are they always wondering what will happen if this happens? No, they say, dad is here. He takes care of all that. It's a wonderful thing to have a dad. I don't want to be an orphan. I don't want any area of my life to be characteristic of an orphan. To me, it's an insult to God. Let me repeat that. It is an insult to God, my father, if I live here like an orphan. Think of your own children. And you provide for them so much, you fathers and mothers. How you care for them and provide for them. And think of your children behave insecure before others. Then they talk to others. I don't know what will happen. I don't know whether my dad will care for me. I don't know whether he'll let me down. How will you feel if that's how your children feel about you? That you may ditch them or you may not care for them or not provide for them. Leave them in the lurch. How would you feel? Dear brother, that's how God feels. When you think that he's going to just leave you in the lurch and drop you somewhere. Take you halfway across the river and dump you saying, I'm fed up with you. But a lot of Christians are like that. How do I know? Because I was like that. But I tell you, it's gone from my life. But I had to battle it, battle it, battle it. And I want to encourage you to battle this, what I call the orphan syndrome. The characteristics of an orphan. You can meditate in your own mind what an orphan is like, even though you're not an orphan. I was never an orphan, but I can meditate on what an orphan can be. Think of a person who's got no father and mother. And who's been put in an orphanage. Never known what it is from babyhood. Maybe his parents died and never known mom hugging him. And he's grown up in an orphanage, insecure in the midst of a hundred others. No father or mother. And think of the characteristics of that and ask if any of those characteristics are found in you. Say, Lord, it is an insult to our heavenly father. Just like your child will be insulting you if they behave like orphans. They say, well, I have a need, but I don't know whether my dad will provide it. I don't know. You feel like that about some need in your life, physical need, any need of anything. Sickness, for example. Sickness comes to all believers. I'm not saying the Lord will heal us of all our sicknesses. Two of the greatest servants of God in the New Testament were Paul and Timothy. And what we read about them is both of them had a sickness from which they were not healed. That didn't make them insecure. Yeah, Paul had a sickness, a thorn in the flesh, he calls it. He prayed and prayed and God said, no, he was secure. It's okay. God will give me grace instead. I'm quite happy. He had no complaint after that. He was not an orphan. God did not heal his sickness, but he gave him grace instead. Timothy, Timothy had a stomachache. I don't know how many times Paul laid his hands on Timothy and prayed for him. The guy was never healed. Finally, Paul tells him in 1 Timothy 5, well, yeah, I couldn't heal you, but go and take some medicine for your stomach's sake so that you don't have to live with that constant stomach pain all the time. Timothy lived with stomach pain, and yet he was one of the finest Christians in the New Testament. And Paul was the other who had a sickness from which he was never healed, even though he prayed and prayed for it. But he was not insecure. God gave him something better than healing, his grace. And I'm sure Timothy got the same. That's what I've always prayed. You've heard me say this before. Whenever I'm sick, I always pray for healing. I say, dad, I tell my father in heaven, I'm asking you for bread. You won't give me a stone. I'm asking you for an egg. You won't give me a scorpion. I'm asking you for healing. And if grace is more necessary for me than healing in this particular situation, I want grace. Like Paul, give me what I need, and I'll be perfectly happy. I'll be perfectly content to keep that sickness all my life. Like Paul was, if you feel that what I need is grace in this situation, and I need this little sickness to keep me humble or something, sure. I will not be an orphan. I will not live in insecurity. Oh, why didn't God heal me? Why didn't God heal me? Never. Because I say, Lord, you choose. I will not choose. I ask for healing. But if you think grace is better, give me grace. Keep the sickness with me. Fine. So I believe that is the right way to pray from what we see the example. That's why we have the example of Paul and Timothy and all given to us in Scripture so that we can be encouraged. There is an answer in Scripture to every problem I have ever faced in these 63 years I've been in a Christian. I'm not exaggerating. There is an answer to every problem I have faced. But if I had not read the Bible, I would not have known where that answer was and what that answer is. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, for every temptation of the devil, God had already written an answer in Scripture 1,500 years earlier through Moses in the book of Deuteronomy for every temptation that is going to come to Jesus 1,500 years later. And if Jesus had not read the book of Deuteronomy, he would not have had that answer. But because he had read the book of Deuteronomy and knew it by the age of 12 when he was 30 years old and he was tempted and the devil flung a temptation at him, he immediately had an answer. The Holy Spirit reminded him. Deuteronomy chapter 8, no chapters those days, but what it says there, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from God's mouth. For everything, there was an answer. And when the devil quoted a scripture, Jesus said, it is written, you shall not tempt the Lord your God. You shall worship only the Lord. He had an answer for everything. It was written 1,500 years earlier, but he knew it. That's why I say in our case also, there is an answer for everything that we face in life in the Bible. And if I know where to find it, if I haven't read it, then I'm stuck. And then I'm discouraged. And when I'm discouraged, I will easily lose my temper because I'm insecure again. I'm an orphan. So if you trace it, a lot of our problems, as I've observed Christians through the years in my own life, I've come to see one thing that many, many, many of our sins and our problems are because of insecurity. We are insecure like orphans. So let's seek with all our heart to be free from that orphan syndrome. The Holy Spirit has come as a helper. I'll give you another helper, which means the Holy Spirit going to me as I understand it, he was saying, I'm going away, but I'll give you another person just like me, the Holy Spirit. And he will replace me. In other words, when you're in the boat again in the middle of the lake and there's a storm, I'm not there, Jesus said, but the Holy Spirit will be there. And that'll be just like me being there. And when you're stuck in some other situation, and just like me being there, the Holy Spirit will be there. That is the meaning of I will give you another helper just like me. And God's given us that helper. Open your heart and thirst for that and say, Lord Jesus, I want this. I want to live my Christian life in such a way that I'm always aware that you're there whenever I face a problem, whenever I doubt, you're there. It's just like if Jesus were physically there. I imagine sometimes if I were there with Jesus in Nazareth and in Galilee, walking around with him, any problem that might go to him and say, Lord, here's a problem. He can do that today. That's how the Holy Spirit is there to help us. The Christian life is far more exciting and wonderful than we think. Now, let me say one closing thing. If you are not experiencing it, please listen carefully. If you are not experiencing the presence of the Lord near you, there's only one reason. There's pride in you and God is keeping you far away. Psalm 138, verse six. He keeps proud people far away and the Lord is far away from you because you're proud about something or the other. Maybe you're proud about your face or your race or your intelligence or your spirituality or your Bible knowledge or the church you belong to or something or the other or how you're so smart and how you've accomplished so much or how you've made so much money or I don't know what, whatever stupid thing the devil makes us proud of. The Lord will keep you far away. He keeps the proud far away. Then you know how to come near to him, humble yourself and come near to him and his grace will be yours in abundance and you will not be an orphan anymore. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, please help us. It's in broken words that I've tried to communicate what I have felt is the burden of your heart for this evening. Take these feeble words and apply it by the Holy Spirit, Lord, that no one will feel condemned because there's no condemnation in your message. There's challenge but no condemnation. Help everyone here to be able to cry out, Abba, Father, Daddy, I need you. You offer the Holy Spirit freely. Help us, Lord, each one, not to seek for experiences but for the Holy Spirit to make the presence of Jesus real to us to be with us everywhere. Thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.