"Our Helper In The World"

John 16:5-15

5 “But now I am going 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 “But 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 go, I will send Him to you. 8 “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; 11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. 12 “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. 15 “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.

I received my instruction in Pastoral Theology at L.I.F.E. Bible College which was at that time located in Glendale, a suburb of Los Angeles. It is the school of the Foursquare denomination, founded early in the last century by evangelist, Amiee Semple McPherson.

Now, by God’s grace and calling, and I might add, by His placement, I am a Southern Baptist pastor of the finest congregation in all of Christendom.

Owing to my strange and diverse history I have been in position to hear and be a part of all the debates and arguments that rage around the doctrines of the Holy Spirit.

Now every believer, of course, should have studied and prayed and come to a conviction concerning the doctrine and theology of the third Person of the Trinity, just as every believer has a duty to know what they believe and be able to articulate what they believe on all the essentials and even the more peripheral positions of Christianity on the knowledge of God and the Scriptures.

But I can’t help feel grieved in my spirit over the debates that have raged over the Spiritual Gifts and the operation of the gifts, specifically tongues for some reason, and all the time and energies that have focused on those debates rather than focusing on the Person of the Holy Spirit of God whose commission from Jesus is to point us to Christ and to lead us into all truth concerning Him. That’s all important! And we so often miss it.

So let’s just get to the text and find out what Jesus told us about the Helper He would send, and what was important in His mind for us to know; more specifically, for His Apostles to know as the time drew near for His departure.

THE ADVANTAGE GAINED

The end of this earthly fellowship is near and Jesus is speaking to them very clearly now. There are things He wants them to understand because He knows that very early on following His departure the persecution is going to be aimed at them.

The world hated Christ and so it should not come as a surprise that the world hates those who are His, and the more identified His followers are with Him the more they will be treated exactly as He was. Do you think the martyrs of the ages are great because they were martyred?

No. They were martyred because they were great for Christ in the first place.

If there seems to be no troubles in your life and you’re sailing along fine and your personal goals are being met and your finances and your health are good and there’s hardly a wrinkle in your life as the days go by, and you think it is all a reward of sorts for being a good Christian, think again.

Jesus told them they would be ousted from the synagogue, that they would be killed, and that the ones killing them would think they were doing God a favor.

Now they’re kind of bummed.

In chapter 13 when Jesus talked about leaving Peter asked Him where He was going. In chapter 14 when Jesus talked about leaving Thomas asked Him where He was going.

Now here He is once more speaking of going to the One who sent Him and they’re all so busy worrying about their own future they don’t have any questions for Him. Might be just more bad news. Don’t ask.