The Work of The Holy Spirit
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So today is a beautiful day right? Blue skies, the sun is out the temperature is comfortably in the 70’s today. last week the weather was not quite like this right? in fact the past two weeks were pretty rainy and Chilly. In fact it rained so much that it impacted the city's drainage system and basements were flooding in certain parts of the City.
All of this rain effected me. fortunately my houses basement did not flood, however I manage several other properties around the city and four of the houses basements flooded.
When I recieved the first call letting me know that the basement was flooded I thought ok, I will send my trusted maintenance person who I know has a pump to get the water out of the basement and assess the issue. He had a small pump that could start to pump the water out with but not at a very fast rate. I then got three more calls that three other properties had the same issue.
So I called the contractor and he said he had more pumps that were more effective and that he would bring them, he would have to take the smaller one and come back with 4 larger pumps to out all of the basements at the same time.
When he took the smaller pump out of the first home the tenant was a bit upset and nervous about what would happen. However when the for pumps were placed in the four houses they were more effective then just rotating one pump between the houses.
Today we are going to talk about the gift of the Holy Spirit and how Jesus going to the Father and sending the Holy Spirit to help each believer is a more effective way to build the Kingdom of God.
Big Idea- The Holy Spirit was sent to help believers do Gods will and to convict the world towards repentance.
Take Aways
The Holy Spirit helps believers to live for Christ.
The Holy Spirit shows us that we are guilty of sin and draws us to repentance.
The Holy Spirit helps us understand God’s Will and accomplishes His mission for us.
Our main text today is coming from John 16:5-15 . Before we get into the text, I am going to give a little background on what is going on around the text so we have a good idea of where we are in the overall story of the Bible. What happened before this passage is that Jesus had entered Jerusalem on a donkey during his triumphal entry. He had then gone with the disciples and had the last supper with them. During the the last supper Jesus taught the disciples many things and he identified Judas Iscariot as the one who was to betray him and Peter as one who would deny him three times.
During this time Jesus says that he will be returning to the father several times, he said it once Judas left to betray Him, and he said it again in response to the other Judas (Not Iscariot who was the betrayer). Judas asked Jesus how Jesus would show himself to those who loves Jesus and not to those who do not?
Jesus responded teaching the disciples about the relationship of believers to Christ letting them know that believers will bear fruit as they are connected to the Vine who is Jesus. He then teaches the disciples about the relationship of believers to each other, to the world, and the promise of the Holy Spirit.
Then In John 16 Jesus gives the disciples a warning that the disciples would be put out of the synagogues and that people who do not know God will kill them thinking that they are serving God. He said that He did not tell the disciples these things in the beginning because he was with them, and now we are to our text.
“But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
Here we see that the disciples have sorrow in their hearts because of what Jesus has told them. Many people read this verse in isolation and believe that they are sad only because Jesus is leaving, which is one of the reasons for their sorrow. However right before Jesus says he will go away, Jesus has let the disciples know that they will be killed and persecuted because they are followers of Christ.
“These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.
“And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.
The persecution that Jesus speaks of here is not limited to the Apostles or the disciples who were with him at that time. All followers of Christ will experience persecution.
Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
So here we see that believers who are living for Christ will suffer persecution. This is not referring to people who purposefully do foolish things to annoy people or to be controversial or draw attention to themselves and not to Christ. This is also not talking about people who think that they are Christians but they are not, those who call themselves Christians but live a life that is pleasing to the World and its ideologies that are opposed to God. Those who desire to please man and not God. These are called nominal Christians, Christians in name only or cultural Christians.
What 2 Timothy 3:12 is talking about are true believers who have made Christ the Lord of their lives, living a life to please Him above all else.
Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
This reaffirms the statement that Jesus made in John 16:1 as well as what Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:12.
But how should our hearts be, knowing that we will suffer for serving the Eternal God who is all mighty, and who created everything and is over everything?
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
We continue to love and serve God no matter what, nothing should come between us and God.
The disciples also had sorrow because Jesus said that he was leaving them. The disciples had been with Jesus for about 3 years. They were with Him daily learning from Him, walking with Him being in His presence growing a strong relationship with Him. They were sad that he would not be with them.
The disciples also knew Jesus was the Christ and they walked with him daily. They are wondering what they would do without him?
In verse 5 Jesus says that he will go away to Him who sent Jesus. So you may ask who sent Jesus?
You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.
Jesus is going to the Father and the Father is in heaven. So we see here that as Jesus is talking to the disciples he is looking past the death and resurrection and he is letting them know about his ascension. When he goes up to heaven to be at the right hand of the Father.
Jesus also lets the disciples know in verse 7 that it is to their benefit that the he goes to be with the Father because then he will send the helper.
So what or who is this helper?
Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.
The helper that Jesus is talking about is the Holy Spirit.
In verse 7 Jesus said it is to the disciples advantage that he leaves and sends the Holy Spirit. There are benefits to having the Holy Spirit for a believer who is working to live a life for God. One of those is that the Holy Spirit is that it transforms the believer and allows us to display the fruit of the Spirit.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
The Holy Spirit transforms believers and gives us the power that we need to live a life for Christ.
I remember when I gave my life to Christ. I could see the power of the Holy Spirit change me. I saw the fruit of the spirit start to show in my life. This transformation impacted how I treated others and even how I saw other people. Instead of seeing them as inconveniences and tools I saw them as people made in the image of God and I had love and compassion for them. Now although I saw the fruit of the spirit and the work of the Holy Spirit in my life he continued and continues to transform me to be more like Christ. That process is called sanctification.
Back to our text John 16:8-11
And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
In verse 8 when it refers to the world, it is referring to non believers and the word that was translated to convict in the NKJV comes from the Greek word “elecho” which means to expose, reprove, convict or correct.
This correction or conviction to the world is not random, but the Holy Spirit works through the hearing of the Word of God to convict and to correct those who do not believe.
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
The Word of God shows us that standards of God and His perfection. Conviction and awareness of sin comes through the hearing of scripture. The Holy spirit works through the word of God to expose our sin so that we may repent and follow Christ.
I grew up going to church and I heard the word of God and I understood what sin was and that sin was not good. I heard the word and knew it was the truth but I decided that I would rather live for myself instead of living for God and one day when I was on my death bed I would give my life to Christ and go to heaven. I made that decision probably in my pre-teen or teen years. Over time I continued to go to church and hear the gospel because it was the what all decent people did in my mind whether they were saved or not.
I was living in sin, and I did not think much about it. Although I heard the word of God all of my life and I knew that all sinners would end up separated from God for eternity and would be cast in the lake of fire. That did not change my decision because I wanted to rule my own life, I wanted to be my own God and then submit to the true God in the end.
But one day, when I was 24 years old I went to church after going through a series of relationships where I kept finding myself getting in relationships, and breaking up with the young ladies after taking it too far in the first place and hurting them deeply.
I went to a church service and when I went back home to my apartment alone I was convicted of my sin by the Holy Spirit. All at once the feelings of guilt and shame and the knowledge that I was sinful and that at my state of being there was nothing I could do to get better. I knew that if I continued on my own then I would continue the same cycle of sin causing pain to myself and others. The Holy Spirit Convicted me and brought the realization of sin in my life to me.
I know knew that I needed Jesus and he was the only one who could help me. I wanted to live a life that was good and pleasing to the Lord. I repented and gave my life to Christ that night.
This is the power of the Holy Spirit, and the work that it does in the life of unbelievers. The Holy Spirit convicts us so we can repent and follow Christ going from death to life.
In the main text John 16:9 it says.
of sin, because they do not believe in Me;
Unbelief is the sin that condemns, this is the sin that closes the door to heaven and opens the door to hell. People don’t go to hell because they smoke, get drunk, listen to music that opposes the word of God or because they curse.
These things are a bi-product or a result of their unbelief. People go to hell and are separated from God for eternity because they reject placing their faith in Christ. They do not believe.
But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
Having faith in Christ is necessary for salvation, believing on Him is the only way that we can be saved.
Back to the main text John 16:10
of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more;
The Holy Spirit convicts, corrects and exposes the world in regards to righteousness. The world believes in a form of righteousness, however it is not true righteousness. The world has a form of righteousness that is relative. When people do things that are generally good towards others the world enjoys it and promotes it.
The Righteousness of Christ is perfect and absolute.
Now someone may say what is righteousness anyway? Being righteous is to live in a way that is morally upright and correct according to the Word of God. Perfect righteousness is to perfectly live out the entire Law of God. Jesus is the only one who lived a perfectly righteous life.
Jesus’s Ascension to heaven or his rising to heaven completed the glorification process and he was fully glorified. Jesus glorification proved his perfect righteousness.
Psalm 24:1–4 (NKJV)
The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell therein.
For He has founded it upon the seas,
And established it upon the waters.
Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
This is Jesus, He is the one who ascends into the hill of the Lord and stands in His Holy Place, Jesus has the pure heart and clean hands.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Jesus is the only one who lived a perfect life of righteousness. In fact that is the reason why he came here on earth to dwell with us. He came to be the light, to live a life of righteousness to minister to the world and to die for our sins and be raised up so that we may have a relationship with the Father and dwell with him for eternity.
People do not place their faith in Christ because of unbelief and because they have a confused view of righteousness. The Holy Spirit shows the righteousness of Christ to the world through the Word of God and he convicts the world of righteousness.
Back to the main text. John 16:11
of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
The world is convicted of judgement because the ruler of the world is judged. The ruler of the world is Satan. Because of the work that Christ did in this world and on the cross Satan’s defeat has been sealed. Satan has already been judged and he now lives on borrowed time where he and his angels will be eventually cast into the lake of fire.
hebrews 2:14-18 says.
Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.
The world is convicted of judgement by the Holy Spirit so that they know that there is judgement and they can repent and be saved. When they are saved the Holy Spirit comes along side of them and helps them to live a life of righteousness for God.
Back to our main text John 16:12-15
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
Verse 12 highlights an important point for the development of a believer. In this verse we see that Jesus did not just dump all truth onto the disciples as once. But he taught them truths as they needed to know them and as they grew and developed spiritually. The Holy Spirit does the same in regards to our knowledge of the Word and of our spiritual growth and the showing of the fruit of the spirit in our lives.
If you have been saved for a while you will notice that there were certain sins that you wrestled with in the beginning of you walk that you don't have as big of an issue with now. However over time the Holy Spirit uncovers other areas of sin in your life, other areas where you need to be refined and sanctified. This is the work of the Holy Spirit and it does not happen all at once.
It is the same with the Word of God. When you first start to walk with Christ you do not understand much in the Word of God. But then you begin to read and study the word and you know a little more, and God brings brothers and sisters who are further along then you in this walk who also help you to understand the Word.
When the scripture says that the disciples could not bear them know he ment that they could not bear all of the information at once. He also ment that they needed the Holy Spirit to effectively do the work that Jesus had for them. This applies to believers today as well.
Verse 13 says John 16:13
However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth and he does not speak on His own authority just as Jesus spoke on the authority of the Father when he was here on this earth. The Authority that He speaks on is the same Authority that Jesus spoke on. This is the Father. The Holy Spirit leads us and guides us in truth in order to accomplish the will of God. So everything that the Holy Spirit leads us and guides us to will lign up with the Word of God.
Many times you will hear people saying the Holy Spirit told them to do this, or the Holy spirit is leading them to that. But what they are saying that they Holy Spirit is leading them to is completely contrary to the Word of God. If something is leading them or telling them something that does not lign up with the Word of God then it is not the Spirit of God.
Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.
“These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
The Holy Spirit reinforces the Word of God and empowers us to live it out.
He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
When the gospel is communicated and is believed it brings Glory to God. The Holy Spirit will will glorify God through teaching believers more about Gods truth then Jesus had time to while he was on this earth.
This is shown through the writings of Paul or Peter where the Holy Spirit was able to give us more information about Jesus and the revelation of Jesus then we had previously but this was done through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Take Aways
Take Aways
The Holy Spirit helps believers to live for Christ.
The Holy Spirit shows us that we are guilty of sin and draws us to repentance.
The Holy Spirit helps us understand God’s Will and accomplishes His mission for us.