Getting To Know The God In Us The Person Of The Holy Spirit (part 1 - Who Is He?) Just who is the Holy Spirit? That’s a big question, one as big as God Himself. If you want to know someone, often the first step is to be introduced to them by someone who already knows the person well. During His years of ministry on earth, Jesus knew the Holy Spirit better than any human ever had or has since. So maybe the best place to learn about the Holy Spirit begins with Jesus and the words He used to introduce the Spirit to the disciples, in John chapter 14. John 14-16 gives us a record of Jesus’ conversation with His disciples at the Last Supper. Jesus isn’t publicly teaching a large crowd of casual followers and curious gawkers on a Galilean hillside. He’s not debating the Pharisees or speaking in parables to the Sadducees. Instead, Jesus is in a small room, having dinner with His closest friends. He knows that in just 12 short hours, He will be put to death on a cross. In this unbelievably serious moment, a leader who knows He is about to be killed gives His followers vital instructions and information. Jesus begins with words of comfort: “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. I’m going away, but I will come back.” Then in John 14:16-17 NLV, Jesus gets to the core of what He wants these men to understand: 16. Then I will ask My Father and He will give you another Helper. He will be with you forever. 17. He is the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot receive Him. It does not see Him or know Him. You know Him because He lives with you and will be in you. Look at the word “Helper.” The person the Father will send sounds mysterious, but Jesus tells the disciples that the role and nature of this person is to “help.” Jesus also assures them that the Helper won’t be a complete stranger. “You know Him,” Jesus says. How could they already know this coming helper? Jesus explains by saying, You know Him because He lives with you and will be in you.” “Lives with you” is in the present tense, but the phrase “will be in you” is clearly future tense. At the moment Jesus was speaking, the disciples had experienced the Helper living with them because He lived in Jesus and was with them to a certain extent. But the Helper was about to be sent in a way that would make Him not only “with” them but “in” them. Although Jesus spoke these words to a small group of His closest friends and followers, they are also meant for us. The truth of the Holy Spirit’s living with and in us assures us that we never have to feel alone. What Kind Of “Help” Will The Holy Spirit Provide? Jesus gives part of the answer to this question in, John 14:25-26 25. “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. 26. 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. This is the second time Jesus chooses the word “Helper” to describe the One the Father is sending. Here Jesus lists two of the many ways this person will be of help First, “He will teach you all things” What an incredible promise. There’s no subject that God is not an expert in. He has all the answers. The second way the Holy Spirit helps is by bringing “ to your remembrance all things that I [Jesus] said to you. This is one reason the Gospels are so detailed and in such agreement about the words of Jesus. The Holy Spirit helped the disciples remember everything He said to them. A little later in this conversation with the disciples, Jesus gives the third mention of the coming Helper being sent from the Father: John 15:26 26. “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. Notice that Jesus calls Him “the Spirit of truth.” Jesus presents the Holy Spirit to us as the ultimate answer to overcoming and undoing the work of satan, the great deceiver and John 8:44 “the father of lies.” For thousands of years, sense the fall of Adam and Eve; mankind had stumbled in the darkness of the devil’s lies. Then Jesus, who declared Himself to be John 14:6“the way, the truth, and the life” announced that He would soon be sending a helper who would make it possible to live a life free from deception. In John 16:7, Jesus gives the disciples His most thorough introduction to the Holy Spirit. “I tell you the truth. It is better for you that I go away. If I do not go, the Helper will not come to you. If I go, I will send Him to you.” Jesus starts out saying, “I’m telling you the truth.” He knows that the next words that come out of His mouth will truly seem unbelievable to the disciples. The disciples were grief stricken at the idea of Jesus going away from them. They loved Him. They depended on Him. He was their miracle-working leader. How could it possible be good that He is about to leave them? Jesus immediately explains that only if He goes to the Father can the Helper be sent. Jesus continues explaining more ways the Holy Spirit will provide help, but first lets look at John 16:12-14. Jesus tells them, 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. Jesus wants to tell the disciples the whole amazing story of what lies ahead, but He knows that the truths He wants to deliver would overwhelm and confuse them at this moment. But He has good news for them. Who better to deliver important truths than the Spirit of truth? “When He…has come, He will guide you into all truth,” Jesus says, “All truth.” That’s one of the benefits of having a friendship with the Holy Spirit. No wonder Jesus refers to Him as the Helper. Jesus mentions yet another form of help the Spirit will provide: He will tell you things to come. Jesus is saying, “The Holy Spirit will tell you the future.” Would it be helpful sometimes to know what’s around the corner? Have you ever been blindsided by some event and thought to yourself, If only I’d known this was coming, I’d have been better prepared? I have. A key role of the Holy Spirit is to lead us supernaturally into truth and reveal what lies ahead. The Greek word translated “helper” in these verses is parakletos. It only appears five times in the New Testament and we just looked at four of them. This word is used when talking about a person who pleads your case like a lawyer before a judge, or someone who goes before you to intercede with someone on your behalf. I like knowing that the Holy Spirit is interceding and pleading for me. The key message about the Holy Spirit’s role is very simple: He helps me. He helps me know what to say and do when I’m speechless. He helps me know when to speak and when to keep my mouth shut. I’ve had times when I didn’t know what to say and He has put words in my mouth that the person I was with needed at the time. Other times He has stopped me from putting my foot in my mouth. And there have been times when He has tried to stop me and I put my foot in my mouth anyway. If we will listen to Him, we will discover how wonderful it is to have a helper. Does the Holy Spirit really speak to us in such a clear way? Yes! The truth is that most of us don’t have any trouble believing that God speaks to us. We get frustrated because we don’t know exactly what He’s saying. Just about everyone has a desire to hear with confidence the voice of God. Who wants to stumble through life without the benefit of the clear direction and inward peace that comes from hearing God’s voice? The great news is that God doesn’t want that for us either. Hearing God’s voice is vital to breaking out of old comfort zones and into exciting new levels of effectiveness. Hearing God and responding to Him can take us to new places of intimacy and purpose in Him. Hearing God’s voice begins by recognizing which member of the Trinity is given the task of speaking to us in this season of history. It is, of course, the Holy Spirit. The Father is on His throne. Jesus has been seated at His right hand and, according to Hebrews 10:12-13 will remain there “waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.” The Holy Spirit, however, is active and present and commissioned to interact with us on the earth today. As we read, Jesus went away so the Spirit could come to us and live in us. He leads us into all truth, shows us things to come, reveals heavenly mysteries, and imparts vital direction. The main reason many people aren’t sure if they can really hear the voice of God is because they refused to engage and embrace the member of the Trinity whose job it is to speak to them. Now let’s go back and look at John 16:8-11. In these four verses Jesus gives us additional detail about how the Holy Spirit helps us. In fact, He mentions three more key aspects of the Helper’s ministry. Let’s read it and then analyze it one piece at a time. John 16:8-11 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. Conviction Jesus names three areas in which the Holy Spirit will “convict” the world: sin, righteousness, and judgment. What does Jesus mean by the word convict? To our modern ears this word makes us think of a criminal prosecution. However, Jesus is talking about conviction in the sense of “belief” or “persuasion.” Convict means to convince. And in this role of helping, the Holy Spirit will convince the world of God’s truths concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. He will persuade people that certain things are true. In verse 9, Jesus says the Holy Spirit will convict the world “of sin, because they do not believe in Me.” We need to understand that when the Holy Spirit convicts lost people of sin, in other words, convinces them that sin is ruling their lives, that’s a good thing! This conviction is the only way people become aware that they need a Savior. The truth is no one ever believes in Jesus as Savior without first coming to the conviction that they need a Savior. That’s the Holy Spirit’s job. I was sitting at my living room table when the Holy Spirit finally convicted me that I needed a Savior. I was raised up in church, but it was at that moment that I was completely and thoroughly convinced that I was a sinner and I needed Jesus. I have many great memories, but that was the greatest moment of my life. Think about the hour you were saved. Do you remember the conviction, your overwhelming sense of need? That was the Holy Spirit leading you to Jesus! In fact 1 Corinthians 12:3 says that, “No one can declare that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” Righteousness The Holy Spirit also convicts us of righteousness. Before we dig in to this particular ministry of the Holy Spirit, we need to have a clear understanding of what the word “righteousness” means. In spite of what a lot of people believe, righteousness doesn’t mean “right behavior.” Yes, it’s good to have high moral standards, but that’s not righteousness. Instead, righteousness means having a “right standing” with God. I want you to understand that this verse doesn’t say the Holy Spirit will convict us of the need for righteous living. Yes, a right standing with God will indeed lead to righteous living, but that’s not the message in John 16:8-11. What Jesus is saying is that the Holy Spirit will convict the world of righteousness because, “I go to My Father.” The reason we can have a “right standing” before God is because Jesus ascended to the Father and sits at His right hand as an eternal reminder that our sins have been paid for. If you have trouble with this look up Hebrews 10:8-14 in your study time. When Jesus says the Holy Spirit will convict us of righteousness, He is referring to the fact that we all need to be convinced that righteousness exists, that it’s even possible to have a right standing with God. On top of that, once we’re born again, the Holy Spirit’s role is to convince us that we have been made righteous through the blood of Jesus Christ. He helps by providing an inner confidence of the wonderful reality of, 2 Corinthians 5:21 For [God] made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Understanding that you have been made righteous is a wonderful gift. The Holy Spirit helps you become fully convinced that you have a right standing with God, and you can come to His throne with confidence and full assurance that you are received, welcomed, and embraced by Him. Judgment The Holy Spirit was also sent to convince the world, John 16:11 “of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” To understand this aspect of the Holy Spirit’s activity, we need to know who Jesus refers to as the “ruler of this world.” A number of Bible passages establish that He is talking about satan. In John 12:31,Jesus says, Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. In John 14:30 He says, I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. This is clearly the enemy Jesus is talking about. satan was the ruler of the world, but he was judged two thousand years ago through Jesus’ sacrifice and victory over death, hell, and the grave. The Holy Spirit convicts us of this truth by convincing us that the former ruler of this world, satan, has been judged and kicked out. He no longer has any authority in our lives. He’s an outlaw. It can be easy to misread and misunderstand the Holy Spirit’s role. We’ve just looked at how the Holy Spirit comes to “convince” us of sin, righteousness, and judgment. But many people interpret these verses to mean that the Holy Spirit’s basic message is, “You’re a horrible person. God is mad at you. And He’s going to get you.” That’s not the Holy Spirit’s ministry at all! In fact, that is satan’s role. The Bible calls him, Revelations 12:10 “The accuser of our brethren” If you allow him, satan will keep you feeling unworthy of God’s acceptance and unwelcome in His presence by reminding you of every time you’ve blown it. The Holy Spirit was sent to make us aware that we’re lost and in need of Jesus; to lead us to Him; than to persuade us that we are in right standing with God through Him; and, finally to fill us with conviction that satan is a defeated enemy who no longer has any authority over us. When you open yourself to this ministry of the Holy Spirit, you’ll find that He helps you in every area of your Christian life. That makes sense, because He is our Helper. He is that and much more!
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 04:51:44 +0000
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