2017.09.03                                         John 16: 1-15

                 The Ministry of the Holy Spirit

Good Morning…. I am glad to be with you this morning… I have Good News for You! His name is Jesus… We are on a great adventure… We are Experiencing the Life and ministry of Jesus… Jesus continues to Transform hearts and minds… by the Power of His Holy Spirit working in and through the Word of God… We are studying a very important section of the Word of God…  Jesus has told them that He will send the Spirit of Truth… The Holy Spirit will continue Jesus´ work on the earth through the disciples… There is a lot of confusion about The Holy Spirit… That is why this section is very important today… Because Jesus Himself teaches us the truth about the work and Ministry of the  Holy Spirit… Look with me at John 16… v1-4…

John 16: 1-4                          NKJV     slt 2000

1 “These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. 3 And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. 4 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.

v1… that you should not be made to stumble…

In the Greek…  skandalethron was a  Crooked stick that when bumped would cause the trap to catch you…

v2a…  They will put you out of the synagogues… Jesus warned His disciples of coming opposition because He did not want them to be surprised by it… He knew that they would be forced out of the Synagogues because of Him… 

 v2b… The time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service… That time happened right away as Paul the Pharisee was a fervent hater of and persecutor of Christians before he met Jesus on the road to Damascus… Acts 8:1-3… Since then there have been many who persecute and kill genuine because they think God is pleased…

v4… When the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them… Jesus warned them to prepare them for the very hard times that were coming…. He would not be there to take the hatred on Himself… So it would all be poured out on His disciples…

 Let´s look at the next section… John 16… v5-7….

John 16: 5-7                    NKJV slt 2000

5 “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 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.

v6… But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart…   They were filled with sorrow at the moment… And in the next few days it would get much worse…. but their future was bright and secure…    Jesus’ departure was an essential step in their growth as disciples…. The Holy Spirit would take the lead in the birth and ministry of the church… 

v7a…  Nevertheless…   Nevertheless is one of the great words of the Bible… meaning despite all of this trouble… There is good news…  

v7b… I tell you the truth… Jesus says…. Listen trust me… It seems like the end of the world…   

v7c… It is to your advantage that I go away… Our advantage…. A Good thing for us… Nooo… This is a Disaster for us….. How will we go on… Jesus spends a great deal of time comforting them… Earlier that evening… He told them… I will not abandon you as orphans… I will come to you… John 14: 15-18…

John 14: 15-18                          NKJV  slt 2000

15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

Heavy theology here… I am going away… But I will send the Spirit of truth…. The HS… He is with you already… Because I am here… And when I depart…. He will be in you…  v18… I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you… 

Awesome…. Let´s go Back to John 16… V7…

v7d…  For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you… Jesus had a plan… but they couldn’t understand it…  

v7e… I will send Him to you… Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to His disciples when He departed… This is what would make it to their advantage that He departed from them… Jesus meant that the presence and work of the Holy Spirit would actually be better for believers than His physical bodily presence…

Better in these ways

1 It was better because Jesus can be with every believer all the time... Jesus promised, For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them… Matthew 18:20… That was not a promise He could keep while he was living here… But now He can… and He is with everyone of us all the time…

2 It was better because now we can understand Jesus better... We have the Holy Spirit living in us to remind us of what Jesus said…. And to help us understand and want to obey Him… Phil 1:6… 

3 It was better because now we can have a more trusting relationship with God... We have a stronger walk of faith because we are trusting in Jesus… Even tough we can not see Him with our eyes… We walk by faith and not by sight… 2 Corinthians 5: 7… If Jesus were here with us bodily… We would be   tempted to walk by sight… and not by faith…

4 It was better because Jesus’ work is better understood as He is enthroned in the heavens… Jesus total victory is clear when we remember that Jesus is now in heaven… He is seated at the right Hand of God Almighty… He finished His work of Salvation on the cross… Now He is our faithful High Priest and advocate in heaven… Interceding for us with the Father…

5 Better because When the Holy Spirit came to live in them and empower them… they were wise and bold and giving... Before Jesus went to the Father…  the disciples were confused and fearful and selfish… Let´s go to the next section… v8-11…

John 16: 8-11                            NKJV  slt 2000

8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

 v8… And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment… This is a statement of eternal truth… Sin is the truth about man… righteousness is the truth about God… judgment is the inevitable combination of these two truths…

v8a… He will convict… The ancient Greek work translated convict can be translated…  expose… to refute, and to convince… This is the work of the Holy Spirit in the world and in individual hearts… to convince and convict humanity of our hopeless sinful condition… and Persuade us of our desperate need for a Savior… 

That is why it is a serious thing to resist and reject this convicting work of the Holy Spirit…

 “The Holy Spirit Spirit is the ‘advocate’ or helper of all who believe in Jesus…  He is our Anwalt who defends us before God…   But for unbelievers who refuse to repent… He acts as lawyer for the prosecution…

When the Holy Spirit showed me the sin and pride and rebellion that was in my heart…. I found myself flat on the ground… I was Genuinely slain in the Spirit… Sorrow repentance weeping and crying to the Lord for mercy and forgiveness... There are a few Biblical accounts of people on their face before the Lord… Daniel 8: 17,18… Acts 9: 3,4… Rev 1: 17… None of them have any holy laughter or barking or anything like what you see on youtube… Instead these accounts are marked by fear and a genuine sense of sinfulness and a willingness to listen to and obey God… There is no showing off…. No pride… no look at me…. I am under the power… There are some genuine reports of people being slain in the spirit in times of revival… These genuine events were always marked by tears of repentance and conversion…

v8b… Of sin, because they do not believe in Me… It is unbelief… the rejection of Jesus… which ultimately proves one to be guilty… 

v8c… Of righteousness, because I go to My Father… Jesus ascension to heaven demonstrated that He had perfectly fulfilled the Father’s will… And that He had proven Himself to be the righteous one… The only Redeemer of humanity…  The Holy Spirit shows the world not only the righteousness of Jesus…  It clearly shows us our own ungodliness and sinfulness…  

 v8d… Of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged… Jesus is declaring the defeat of Satan… He is proclaiming the death of death in His death and resurrection… Every prophet that has ever lived has had the same message…  Judgement is certain… Repent… the kingdom of heaven is at hand… The judgment of Satan himself… means that there will be a final judgment for all who refuse to repent…  The Holy Spirit warns the world of this coming judgment…

Let´s look at the last section for today… John 16: 12-15…

John 16: 12-15                        NKJV  slt 2000

12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 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. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.

v12… I still have many things to say to you… Jesus said that His own teaching was incomplete… There is much more for you to learn… He is pointing to the writing of the New Testament… He is declaring that the disciples themselves will be taught by the Holy Spirit and that when they write down what they have seen and heard…. They will increase the understanding of the things of God for generations of new believers…. The entire Church will benefit from their ministry… Paul and all of the other New Testament writers taught us the many things that Jesus said and did… As the Holy Spirit helped them to remember and as He applied those truths to their ministries and lives…

For example…  they didn’t know that some of the customs and commands in the OT would be fulfilled by the person and work of Jesus…  And would no longer be binding under the New Covenant…

They didn’t know that God would bring Gentiles into the New Covenant community as equals…  without have to first become Jews… That was unheard of…  

v13a… He will guide you into all truth… The Greek phrase here… means ‘all the truth’… Complete and sufficient truth about the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ... In one sense… this phrase… All the Truth… was fulfilled when the New Testament was completed… In another sense the Holy Spirit continues today to personally lead us into truth… He opens our hearts and minds to the things of God… We learn to compare scripture with scripture… We use the Word of God as a mirror… It shows us what is wrong with our lives…. It corrects us… It equips us to do the work of the ministry… 2 Timothy 3: 15-17…  Remember…. There is no such thing as a new revelation that contradicts the Word of God… No prophesy can ever be  in opposition to the Scripture… This Book is God’s supreme and perfect revelation… There is no new scripture being written… Do not waste your time with someone who says they have a new word from God… There is an old saying in The study of the Bible… If it is new… It is not true… If it is true… It is not new…

Those people who claim to have new revelation… Joseph Smith (Mormons)… Mary Baker Eddy (Christian Scientists)… The Jehovah´s witnesses… Benny Hinn… The Holy Spirit did not tell Benny Hinn that the trinity is really 9 persons not 3… They are all false teachers who make those claims…  We know because The Holy Spirit has a very specific task… next part of this verse…  

v13b…  He will not speak on His own authority… He will glorify Me… He will take of what is Mine and reveal it to you… The Holy Spirit’s ministry is revealing Jesus to us… He has been sent  to bear testimony of Jesus (John 15:26)… The holy Spirits purpose is always the same… to reveal Jesus as Savior… redeemer and judge….

Many people speak of dreams and visions… Of incredible experiences…  Revelations like 9 foot tall Angels standing next to them… They proclaim  that they came from the Holy Spirit… They magnify themselves As great men of God because of these experiences… But many of those supposed revelations of the Spirit say nothing or almost nothing about Jesus Himself…

v13c… He will tell you things to come… This refers to the birth of the church and the last days… This Christian dispensation…  Most importantly… We will learn more about Jesus and His wonderful plan of Salvation for a lost and dying world…. We will come to understand why He poured His grace and mercy out on us…

v14-15…  He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you…

v14… He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you…  The Holy Spirit never points to Himself…. The Holy Spirit never glorifies Himself…. Just as Jesus points to the Father…. The Holy Spirit points to the Lord Jesus… And Jesus says…. As the Holy Spirit points to Me… We are both pointing to the Father…   

v15… All things that the Father has are Mine.  This is proof that Jesus is equal with God… I and the Father are one…

Close

As we study this last night that Jesus spent with the Disciples… Jesus is warning and comforting them… He is telling them that they will not survive without Him… And that is why He will send them the Holy Spirit to help them… He will abide with them forever… They… We… have no chance of living this Christian life without the Holy Spirit´s help and abiding presence in us… It is part of His plan to finish the work that He has begun in us… Phil 1: 6…  Paul wrote about it to every church… I would like to close by looking at what Paul wrote to the Galatians about the need of the Holy spirit… Look with me at Galatians 5… v16-26…

Galatians 5: 16-22                    NKJV   slt 2000

16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

 Look at the contrasts between the Works of the flesh and the Fruit of the Spirit in these verses…

The active work of the Holy Spirit continues to mould and shape our hearts… To help us run from sin and temptation… To form us into His image day by day… We need to Walk in the Spirit… moment by moment…

Let´s pray…