Who and Why?

“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another helper, to be with you forever. For He dwells with you and will be in you.” John 14:16-17

I am glad today that through the work Jesus did on the cross… our fellowship with the Father has been restored! I am thankful to know God AND to know His Spirit and presence. The Holy Spirit has come! And He is who we are talking about for the next several weeks in our morning services.

Jesus promised His disciples that the Spirit was coming. But before the Spirit could come, Jesus had to leave.

His death, resurrection, and ascension made the way for our sins to be forgiven. In this forgiveness, our fellowship with God is restored… His Spirit moves in and dwells in our hearts forever!

Remember what we said last week: God NEVER meant for us to do life on our own! We were not created to be in separation with God, we were created to be in fellowship, to be in relationship with God.

We broke our fellowship with God through sin. Jesus restored our fellowship with God by laying down His life. We come back into fellowship with God the moment we place our faith and belief in Christ. He did the work. He paid the price. We receive the benefit. Jesus took on our earned wage of sin and gifted us eternal life.

The door has been opened! The Spirit has come and is now available! Jesus did the work that we might receive Him, now we will talk about what the Spirit has come to do in and through our lives.

This morning we begin to answer the question who exactly is the Holy Spirit? Not only will we look to answer this question but we will also talk about why it is that we need the Holy Spirit in our lives.

As we dive into these two questions, I want to first bring up our main text. Turn with me in your Bible to John 15:26-27

John 15:26–27 NIV

26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.

Jesus gives some insight regarding who the Spirit is and why we need Him in our lives. We are going to dive into this text to bring clarity in hopes that our lives would be more open to what the Holy Spirit desires to do in us and through us.

Who is the Holy Spirit?

It is very important for us to understand the the Holy Spirit is not an it, but is a person who is part of the triune existence of God.

Throughout the Bible we see God in operation as three persons: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. It is God in three persons and we refer to this truth as the Trinity.

The word Trinity does not appear anywhere in Scripture, but it is evident throughout all of Scripture.

There are multiple places in the Bible where the Trinity can be seen in operation, we will look at a couple of examples in a moment. But for now, we simply need to understand that the Spirit is not an it… but a person.

We see Him in operation all throughout Scripture and now… because of what Jesus has done, we can know Him on a personal and corporate level.

His personal work in the life of the believer:

The Spirit of God dwells in the hearts of those who believe in Jesus.

The Spirit of God moves in us - in a personal form of ministry, and also through us - as we minister to others.

His corporate work in the life of the church:

The Spirit of God is known in our times of worship and preaching of the Word. We can sense His leading, His guiding, and His move as we gather together.

The Spirit of God helps us to receive God’s Word and to apply it to our lives. He draws us closer to God and closer to one another.

These are just a couple of things we know about the Spirit through our personal experiences and corporate times of worship. I also want us to see what the Word tells us about the Holy Spirit so look again with me at our main text.

John 15:26 NIV

26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.

Immediately we can see three truths about who the Holy Spirit is.

One, He is identified as the Advocate.

An advocate, by definition, is one who DEFENDS or maintains a cause or proposal. Another definition says one who SUPPORTS or promotes the interests of a cause or group.

So… what is it or who is it that the Advocate is defending or supporting? What cause, proposal, or interest is He maintaining and promoting? That would be the cause and the person of Jesus Christ! That would be the love and the authority of God the Father!

This Advocate is sent to us in a similar way that a lawyer is appointed or chosen to assist us in legal matters. They are… the experts.

In a court setting, the lawyer is your advocate for the judge and jury. He or she is there to support and defend your position.

In a spiritual setting, The Spirit is our Advocate from on high… defending and supporting God’s will, God’s Word, and God’s way for our lives.

How exactly does the Advocate do this? Our main text gives the answer and that brings us to trait number two:

Two, the Spirit will testify about Jesus.

The Spirit of God will testify of one cause alone: the cause of Christ. He will give testimony to our hearts, minds, and souls regarding the character and nature of the One who died to set us free.

To testify is to do what? It is to make a solemn declaration under oath for the purpose of establishing a fact.

When the Spirit of God testifies to our souls, He is working to establish fact within us regarding God in whatever situation we might be facing.

He will speak to us directly in our hearts, He will speak to us through the Word of God, He might even speak to us in our time of worship or through a conversation with another believer.

The Spirit of God is sent by Jesus that He might testify to us His knowledge and wisdom regarding the Father. His testimony is NOT based off anything in or of this world, His testimony is based off truth - GOD’S TRUTH. Which brings us to the third revelation in John 15:26.

Number Three, The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth.

The Holy Spirit CANNOT TELL A LIE. Nor will He speak ANYTHING or testify of ANYTHING to our lives that isn’t God’s truth.

Everything the Spirit leads us or guides us to do will line up perfectly with God’s Word. Everything Word of counsel, every moment of conviction, every nugget of wisdom given or direction revealed will ALWAYS be in perfect alignment with God’s Word and Will for your life.

IF you ever hear a “word” that goes against the Word of the Lord, IT DIDN’T COME FROM GOD. God gets blamed for a lot of things He had nothing to do with!

The Spirit of God will FOREVER testify according to GOD’S TRUTH> He will NOT guide you according to the world, He will NOT guide you according to culture or trends, and… He will NOT guide you according to you personal preference.

Some of us struggle to hear and receive His testimony when it goes against what we want… but I promise you, the Spirit will speak and give you what you need.

His guidance IS truth. His testimony IS truth. He is… the Spirit of truth!

These are but a few example of who the Holy Spirit is… and we will continue to talk about who He is in the weeks to come. But this morning, in light of the few things we just looked at, I want us also to consider why it is that Jesus sent Him. I want us to answer the question...

Why Do Believers Need the Holy Spirit?

Beginning with the question why… I want us to consider something very important: Jesus did not begin His ministry on earth UNTIL the Spirit descended upon His life. Jesus moved, operated, ministered, etc all under the anointing or guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit came to Christ at His baptism in water. We see this in Luke 3:21-22

Luke 3:21–22 NIV

21 When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

In this moment, we see a couple of amazing things.

First, we see the presence of God’s triune existence.

Jesus (the Son) had just been baptized.

The Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus.

The Father speaks out to Jesus.

Second, Jesus receives the Holy Spirit.

John testifies in John 1:32 that the Holy Spirit not only came to Jesus but he “remained on Him.” The Spirit did not leave Jesus. Why was Jesus able to receive the Spirit in this moment? Because He was without sin.

Remember, Jesus was fully God AND fully Man. He would need to rely on the Spirit in the days ahead throughout His ministry.

I mention this quick truth to offer this consideration: IF Jesus needed the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit as He carried out the will of the Father, then we as followers of Christ will need the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit as we live life in pursuit of the Son.

We are called to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow Jesus. And God has given us His Spirit to help us remain faithful in this pursuit.

Believers today should not shy away from the source of help that Christ depended on. Jesus was led by the Spirit of God throughout His entire ministry.

We are living in a difficult time! We are living in a day where new challenges pop up daily and darkness seems to be on the rise! We know today: The only hope we have… is Jesus. The only help we have… is the Holy Spirit.

And this difficult time… began the moment Jesus ascended into heaven. That marked the beginning of what we know as the last days. And Jesus expressed to His disciples that these days might prove to be… challenging.

THIS DOES NOT MEAN that we will not see God on the move! In fact, it means we will see God do some amazing things! However, Jesus made it clear that the world would be troublesome for believers - specifically Christians.

So what are believers to do? Well, we need to remember two very important things:

First, as believers, we will have trouble in this world. But take heart, JESUS HAS OVERCOME THE WORLD! (John 16:33)

Second, as believers, our hope is in Christ and our help is in the Spirit. And… God is the giver of both.

John 3:16 tells us that God Gave His Son to us because of His love for us. God the Father gave us the Son to do a work only He could do.

God the Father is also the source of the Spirit. Jesus identifies the Spirit as our “helper” or as we will see in a moment, the “Advocate.” Psalm 121:1-2 gives insight that God is the source of our help.

Psalm 121:1–2 NIV

1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Like Jesus, the Spirit is given to do a work only He can do!

Our main text for today, John 15:26-27, reinforces this truth. It tells us the Spirit comes from the Father and is sent by the Son.

Again, we see the Trinity in full force here.

When the Advocate comes - Who is the Advocate? The Holy Spirit!

Whom I will send - Who is sending the Advocate? Jesus, the Son!

From the Father - Who is the source of the Spirit? God the Father!

So consider this: When we receive the person of the Holy Spirit, we are receiving the a full work of the Trinity in our lives!

Jesus is SENDING Him to you. The Father is RESOURCING Him for you. The Spirit is HELPING within you.

When you receive Him, it is undeniable evidence of God the Father, the Son and the Spirit at work in your life!

When the Advocate comes, we receive the daily help we need to navigate this world.

AND… God has not placed us here just to make it through a tough world… He has placed us here with purpose.

We are not called to simply survive… we are called to overcome. In Christ, we are not labeled as survivors… we are labeled as what? MORE THAN CONQUERORS! Christ Himself called us to be the light and salt of this earth.

The Advocate, who is the Holy Spirit… will help us in this calling! Remember the second half of our main text in John 15:27

John 15:27 NIV

27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.

Jesus tells His disciples to testify… to tell the world of what the had experienced and what they knew regarding Jesus. As the Spirit gives testimony to believers, so are believers to give testimony… to unbelievers.

The Spirit is given to us with intentionality and purpose. IF we choose to ignore this purpose… we are missing out on a large part regarding why He is given to us!

Which leads me to remind us again that the Holy Spirit wants to do a work IN you… and He wants to do a worm THROUGH you. But you must be willing to receive and pour out what God is pouring into you!

Closing

So we move to at time of application and prayer with this question in mind: Are you ready and willing to receive what the Spirit God has promised you?

Salvation, or having a relationship with Christ is the requirement. Our relationship with Christ opens the door to our reception of the Spirit.

If you are a believer… His Spirit is already in you!

If you are a believer and… you are struggling to to hear from Him, then there may be some things you need to address.

The Word tells us that the Spirit will speak, or testify, to us. He will guide and direct according to God’s truth.

If you are struggling to hear from Him, there might be a couple of reasons why.

One, our lives can become so busy with other things that we simply cannot hear what the Spirit is saying because of all the other… noise. Perhaps it’s a matter of tuning out the noise and tuning into His voice.

Two, we can knowingly ignore the voice of the Spirit until we become numb or indifferent to His leading. The Spirit cares enough to speak, but we don’t care enough to hear. We simply choose not to receive what He is speaking to our hearts.

Three, our relationship with the Lord may not be where it needs to be. You might be good at going through all the motions, but routine does not equal relationship. God doesn’t want your works… He wants your hearts. Maybe you need to get some things back online with the Lord.

Whatever the case, I believe God wants to pour His Spirit out into our lives today.

Are you willing to silence the noise so you can hear Him?

Are you willing to make the choice to listen and obey?

Do you need to give your life to Him or rededicate your life to Him?

God has promised you His Holy Spirit. Let’s position ourselves spiritually that we might receive what God wants to pour out!