Parting Words-Part 8-When the Comforter is Come

Introduction- John 16:4-10

Last week we looked at Jesus promise to His disciples that they would face persecution.

He told them of this coming persecution that they might not be taken by surprise when it came.

This persecution was essentially due to their identification with Jesus and the distinction that their lives presented to the unbelieving.

We spoke of the fact that so often you and I have not faced persecution because this distinction and identification with Christ has been lost to a great degree.

May we continue to purpose to follow Christ and may we accept that this will cause us to be distinct from the unbelieiving world.

Now Jesus begins again to speak again of the coming of the Comforter (The Holy Spirit).

He begins with another reminder that He will soon be departing and an accompanying effort to get them to see that it is ultimately best that He should depart.

Following this, He begins to detail the role that the Holy Spirit will fill in the world.

Jesus Exhortation (Vs. 4-7)

As this conversation with the disciples continues the time of Jesus’ departure draws ever nearer and certainly this must have been weighing upon the mind of the savior as He communicates these important truths to His followers.

He had intentionally waited until these moments to share the truths that He now shares with them because they were not needed so long as He remained with them.

Now that His departure is at hand they would need to know these things in order to understand the events that would follow after.

Jesus here plainly states that He is going and that He is returning to the one who sent Him (God the Father).

Yet in these final moments none of His disciples appear to be concerned with where He is going as they had been before. Now their hearts are filled with sorrow and all it seems all that they can think about is the fact that He will no longer be with them.

It is easy to understand why the disciples would be filled with sorrow. We must recognize that the disciples did not have what you and I have, they had no way of knowing how everything would ultimately work out.

They struggled, as you and I would have, to see how it could possibly be better for Jesus to go than to remain with them.

Yet Jesus assures them that it is best that He should go because this is what will bring to fruition the promise of the Comforter who will come.

There are many today who make outlandish claims of seeing or speaking with Jesus but this is not what we need for we have the Comforter who dwells within us.

When Jesus’s work upon Earth was completed He ascended back to the Father and it was only then that the Spirit of God descended and now dwells within every believer.

How thankful we should be for this new spiritual economy which gives us the opportunity to enjoy the presence of God every moment of every day!

Now we need to consider the ministry of the Holy Spirit upon His coming.

Jesus Explanation (Vs. 8-10)

Jesus provides a detailed explanation of the ministry of the Holy Spirit first in the world and then specifically in the lives of believers.

Today we will only have time to deal with His ministry in the world which Jesus shares in three simple statements.

Jesus says that when the Holy Spirit is come, he will REPROVE the world of three things of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.

It will help us to understand this ministry as we understand the word REPROVE as it is used here.

This word is a legal word that means “to bring to light, to expose, to refute, to convict and convince

The Holy Spirit is here essentially pictured as a prosecuting attorney laying out the evidence to the world.

The idea here is not that His work is to condemn sinful humanity but to present the case to them that they might be convinced of the truth and as a result that they might believe on Jesus Christ as savior.

We must remember that the Spirit of God operates in and through believers as He carries out this ministry in the world.

Now let us examine the three words and the corresponding statements that Jesus gives with each of them that we might have a clearer understanding of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the world.

Jesus ties the reproof of sin with the fact that they do not believe in Him. The root of all sin is unbelief and the sin that ultimately seals the fate of lost humanity is their rejection of Christ and their refusal to believe in Him.

The Spirit of God empowers believers to witness of Christ and in this the world is confronted in their sin and presented with a choice to either believe on and receive Jesus Christ or to reject Him refusing to believe.

Then Jesus says of righteousness because He returns to the father to be seen no more.

The fact that Jesus ascended back to the Father was the absolute proof of His righteousness even though the world had condemned Him as a blasphemer and a sinner.

The unbelieving world does not now see the righteousness of God as revealed in the physical person of Jesus Christ but we who have believed now declare that true righteousness only comes by Jesus Christ.

As we allow Jesus to live through us His righteousness is on display in stark contrast with the feigned righteousness of lost humanity.

In Jesus is revealed what true righteousness is and how it is to be obtained, only through faith in Him!

Then finally Jesus speak of Judgment and connects this with the fact that “the prince of this world (Satan) is judged.”

The judgment spoken of here is not the final judgment of mankind but is the judgment of Satan which took place when Jesus Christ finished the work which He was sent to accomplish.

Jesus death and resurrection sealed Satan’s fate and broke the chains of sin which had held humanity in bondage for so long.

Satan is a defeated foe and as such men now have the opportunity to be saved from sin for all eternity through faith in Jesus Christ.

As believers we demonstrate this fact as the Spirit of God works within us giving us victory over sin and setting us free from its bondage which once held us.

The victorious life of the believer in Christ is the proof positive that Satan has now been defeated and will ultimately be fully and finally judged.

“When a lost sinner is truly under conviction, he will see the folly and evil of unbelief; he will confess that he does not measure up to the righteousness of Christ; and he will realize that he is under condemnation because he belongs to the world and the devil. The only person who can rescue him from such a horrible situation is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. There can be no conversion without conviction, and there can be no conviction apart from the Spirit of God using the Word of God and the witness of the child of God.” -Wiersbe

Conclusion

We who have believed are a privileged people to have the opportunity to have the Spirit of God now residing within us.

This is better even that having Jesus walking beside us.

Yet we need also to understand the purpose of the Spirit’s coming as He operates here in the world.

His intent is to reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment revealing the truth to them that they might be confronted with their need of the savior.

This He does primarily through the lives of believers as we witness of Christ and His power to save from sin, to make righteous, and to deliver from judgment and bondage those who will turn to Him in faith.

The Spirit of God does not merely empower and enable us for our own benefit but rather for the benefit of those who have not yet trusted Christ that they may be made aware of their lost condition and their need of the savior.