A WONDERFUL TRADE-OFF
John 16.5-15
S: Holy Spirit
C: Jesus will send the Holy Spirit
Pr: THE HOLY SPIRIT IS OUR FRIEND.
?: How? How does He act as our friend?
KW: Responsibility
TS: We will find in our study of John 16.5-15 three responsibilities taken up by the Holy Spirit that shows us He is our friend.
Type: Propositional
The ____ responsibility is…
I. CONVICTION
II. DIRECTION
III. REVELATION
PA: How is the change to be observed?
Version: ESV
RMBC 04 February 07 AM
INTRODUCTION:
Sometimes, we just need help.
ILL Help (H)
Did you hear about the teacher who was helping one of her kindergarten students put his boots on? He asked for help and she could see why. With her pulling and him pushing, the boots still didn’t want to go on. When the second boot was on, she had worked up a sweat. She almost whimpered when the little boy said, "Teacher, they’re on the wrong feet." She looked, and sure enough, they were.
It wasn’t any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on. She managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on – this time on the right feet.
He then announced, "These aren’t my boots." She bit her tongue rather than get right in his face and scream, "Why didn’t you say so?" like she wanted to.
Once again she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off. He then said, "They’re my brother’s boots. My Mom made me wear them."
She didn’t know if she should laugh or cry. She mustered up the grace to wrestle the boots on his feet again. She said, "Now, where are your mittens?"
He said,” I stuffed them in the toes of my boots..."
Sometimes, we just need help.
TRANSITION:
We are returning to our series on John that started in December 2000.
We have been doing some studying in it every year since (though last year there was only one message out of John).
Lord willing, we will finish it this May.
And as we continue over the next several weeks, the passages will line up nicely with Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday.
Today, we return to chapter 16.
We are coming in at the end of a section that started in chapter 14.
It is in these chapters…
1. Jesus is giving His final teaching before the cross.
He knows there is a painful parting ahead.
He is leaving them.
And it is going to be difficult.
They are going to behave poorly in the crisis that is looming before them.
Yet, in the big picture of things…
2. It is going to be better when He leaves.
Jesus, in fact, says that it is necessary.
No doubt, this announcement that He was leaving seemed disastrous to them.
In three years, they had learned to depend on Him for their very lives.
The thought of being separated had to strain them emotionally and mentally.
Have you ever thought that it would be so good just to be with Jesus, like the disciples, just to sit and talk and ask questions?
I am sure many of us have thought that from time to time.
His departure, though was for their profit, as it is for us.
For Jesus could only be in one place.
Whom He was sending, the Spirit, could be everywhere, always available.
The disciples would come to realize that God’s concern was to bring about the full salvation for all people.
Jesus was going to have to die.
The atonement was needed.
And when that occurred, the Holy Spirit could come.
This being so, I want us to realize today this simple truth, that…
3. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS OUR FRIEND.
The Greek word that is used by John here you may have heard before.
It is paraclete.
It basically means “to be called to one’s side.”
And many good words are used to translate it…
…Comforter
…Helper
…Advocate
…Intercessor, and even
…Companion.
These translations are powerful descriptions of the Holy Spirit’s ministry to us.
ILL Holy Spirit (S)
Jurgen Moltmann in describing the Holy Spirit says He “is the loving, self-communicating, out-fanning and out-pouring presence of the eternal divine life of the triune God. By the Spirit, God draws near to the creature and mediates a knowledge of divinity in a hundred thousand ways.”
That description sets up the question we are asking today which is how?
How does the Holy Spirit act as our friend?
Well…
4. We will find in our study of John 16.5-15 three responsibilities taken up by the Holy Spirit that shows us He is our friend.
(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) 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 go, I will send him to you. (8) And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: (9) concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; (10) concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; (11) concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
(12) I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. (13) When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. (14) He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (15) All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
OUR STUDY:
I. The first responsibility is CONVICTION.
At this point, the Holy Spirit acts as our prosecutor.
It is a description of one that cross-examines and refutes an opponent.
Interestingly, He does this as our friend!
He shows us who we really are rather than what we pretend to be.
Good friends are the ones that can tell us bad news.
This what the Spirit does for us.
And He tells us that…
1. The greatest sin is unbelief.
The greatest fight each one of us has is to get rid of our self as center.
It is the Holy Spirit that brings this conviction.
He is God, and I am not.
Again…He is God, and I am not.
It is a point that John has made previously (3.18)…
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
Ultimately, the lack of belief is the unpardonable sin.
If you do not believe, then there is no hope for you.
The second conviction the Holy Spirit gives us as our friend is that…
2. We have no righteous standing before God without Jesus.
The Spirit opens our eyes to our need for a Savior.
We need the righteousness of Jesus.
We need His perfect sacrifice.
Because…
We simply are not good enough.
We can’t just try a little harder and it will be okay.
Perfection is the standard.
God’s perfection.
And the Holy Spirit convicts us that our righteousness is not even close to Jesus’.
But that is not the end of the story.
Before Jesus came, God spoke through Ezekiel saying that help was coming (36.26-27)…
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
It is because of what Jesus does on the cross that we are able to obtain this righteousness.
The Holy Spirit shows us our need, and then gives it to us.
The final act of conviction the Holy Spirit gives is that…
3. Justice will have its place.
There is judgment.
And that means that we need pardon.
So if anyone gives in to the authority of Satan, instead of trusting in Christ, they are condemned with him.
The evil one is overthrown.
It is a fact.
Don’t be on his side.
The great truth about this is that God wants us to be in right relationship.
He will bring us to repentance.
And once we belong to Him, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
II. The second responsibility is DIRECTION.
1. We are given a source of truth.
Now the disciples have not been able to get it all yet.
Jesus has spent a lot of time with them, and given them a lot of information.
But it was not coming together for them.
It was going to in the future, but not now.
Jesus going to the cross was just too much for them, even though He said it was necessary.
We have the privilege, as well, to have this resource of truth.
The true truth is not about political correctness.
It is not about tolerance and living the philosophy of “let it be.”
The true truth is what God has revealed to us.
You see…
2. We have a guide for our lives.
ILL Holy Spirit (S)
You may remember Jim Lovell as one of the astronauts of Apollo 13. He was portrayed by Tom Hanks in the movie, Apollo 13. Before the Apollo 13 mission he was asked by an interviewer if he had ever had a close call while he was a pilot, and this was the story he shared.
“I remember this one time I’m in a banshee at night in combat conditions, so there’s no running lights on the carrier. It was the Shangri-La and we were in the Sea of Japan. My radar had jammed and my homing signal was gone because somebody in Japan was actually using the same frequency. So it was leading me away from where I was supposed to be, and I am looking down at a big black ocean.
“So I flip on my map light, then suddenly, zap, everything shorts out right there in my cockpit. All my instruments are gone, my lights are gone, and I can’t tell even what my altitude is. I know I am running out of fuel, so I am thinking about ditching in the ocean.
"I look down, and then in the darkness, there’s this green trail. It’s like a long carpet that’s just laid out beneath me. It was the algae — it was that phosphorescent stuff that gets churned up in the wake of a big ship. It was leading me home.
“If my cockpit lights hadn’t shorted out there’s no way I would have been able to see that. You never know what events that transpire to get you home.”
The Holy Spirit works like that algae that led Jim Lovell back to his carrier.
He leads us in uncertainty.
He illuminates the path before us.
He leads us to follow in the footsteps.
He leads us home.
It says in Psalm 23:3: “He guides in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”
The Spirit leads us deeper and deeper into the truth.
He takes the words of Jesus and places them in our hearts and helps us apply them to our lives.
We are not alone in our decision making.
Our Friend is our helper.
III. The third responsibility is REVELATION.
The key is Jesus.
The Holy Spirit draws our attention to Christ.
He makes Jesus a reality to us.
This gives us a lesson about the Trinity.
You see, there is no division in the Godhead.
Each is His own person with a unique ministry.
In their council of eternity past, this is the way that the Holy Trinity has chosen to reveal themselves to us.
The Holy Spirit is second to none, not even the Father and Son, yet He humbles Himself to speak only at their initiative.
Woolsey
ILL Holy Spirit (S)
James Packer shares the story of how he was meditating on the Holy Spirit one night before a message:
“I remember walking to church one winter evening to preach on the words, “He will glorify me” (John 16:14), seeing the building floodlit as I turned a corner, and realizing that this was exactly the illustration my message needed. When floodlighting is well done, the floodlights are placed so that you do not see them; in fact, you are not supposed to see where the light is coming from; what you are meant to see is just the building on which the floodlights are trained.
"The intended effect is to make it visible when otherwise it would not be seen for the darkness, and to maximize its dignity by throwing all its details into relief so that you can see it properly. This perfectly illustrated the Spirit’s new covenant role. He is, so to speak, the hidden floodlight shining on the Savior.” (Your Father Loves You by James Packer, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986, page for February 1)
APPLICATION:
1. We need to take advantage of the advantage.
As I mentioned before, I don’t know if you’ve ever longed for the physical presence of Jesus, but Jesus says this way is actually better.
It is to our advantage that the Holy Spirit has been sent.
It is like this…
As fully human, Jesus was limited in time and space.
The Holy Spirit is now present everywhere simultaneously.
Jesus concentrated His time and effort on a few people.
The Spirit fills all who welcome him, and changes us from within.
Jesus’ specific ministry of dying and rising again was beyond the comprehension of even His closest followers.
By ascending to the Father, He leaves the Spirit free to testify to this miracle, to guide and direct us in applying this marvelous truth.
The Holy Spirit is our friend.
So…
2. When we submit to the Holy Spirit, we have all the help we need.
You see, we need to remember that even though the Holy Spirit is available, it does not mean He is in charge of us.
We can still be wrestling for control of our lives, and not submitting to His rightful place above us.
ILL Holy Spirit (S)
Over a hundred years ago, a committee of ministers in a certain city was discussing the possibility of having D. L. Moody to serve as the evangelist during a city-wide evangelistic campaign. Finally, one young minister who did not want to invite Moody stood up and said: “Why Moody? Does he have a monopoly of the Holy Spirit?” There was silence. Then an old, godly minister spoke up: “No, he does not have a monopoly of the Holy Spirit; but the Holy Spirit has a monopoly of D. L. Moody.”
Does the Holy Spirit have a monopoly on your life?
Is the Holy Spirit controlling you?
Are you filled with His presence?
Again, He is available.
Finally, I want to note a point that connects with our previous studies in January…
3. We have unity, because the Holy Spirit has established our equal dependence on Him.
Anytime we think we are better than someone else, it is an act of disunity.
It is an act against the Holy Spirit, because it is the Holy Spirit who makes unity possible.
We all have the same need.
We all need to be in right relationship with God.
We are sinners in need of a Savior.
We need the life God has to offer us.
It is then we are able to worship in spirit and truth.
COMMUNION:
Church is a plural affair.
We are designed for community.
And it is here we find our most essential unity.
It is in Jesus.
It is He who makes us a people of the table.
We come together to remember Jesus, to worship Him, to be a grateful people and feast together on His grace and mercy.
This is what makes us a community today.
Those of us that know Jesus are invited to share in the elements of the table.
You do not have to be a member of this church to partake, but we do ask that you have a relationship with Jesus.
If you do not know Jesus, that is, you have not received Him as your Savior and Lord, you do not trust Him with your life, that is, you have not been changed by the message, just let the elements pass by.
Please wait until the time comes when you do have that personal relationship with the Lord Jesus.
We practice “communion” because we are to remember the death of the Lord Jesus.
We take the bread to remind us that it was by the body of our Savior that our salvation came.
He died in our place.
He became our substitute.
Being led in prayer by ____, let us take a moment and thank Him for being our sacrifice.
(Prayer)
The apostle Paul writes, "The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."
Let’s partake together.
We take the cup to remind us that it was by the blood of our Savior that our salvation came.
He died for our sins.
He became our sacrifice.
It is here we rejoice in the forgiveness we have received.
____ will now come and lead us in prayer.
Again, the apostle Paul writes, "In the same way, after supper he took the cup saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."
Let’s partake together.
1 Cor 15:57-58
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
BENEDICTION:
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
RESOURCES:
SermonCentral:
Goettsche, Bruce The Help We’ve Always Longed For
Grant, Steve Simala Ready or Not, Here I Come: Spirit and the World
Patterson, Allen The Work of the Holy Spirit
Rickman, Mike You Won’t Even Know I’m Gone
Tanner, Clark Our Helper in the World
Wilkins, Mike Knowing the Holy Spirit
Woolsey, Mark 0504 Easter IV: The Holy Spirit
Yates, William Role of the Spirit
Books:
Hughes, R. Kent. John: That You May Believe. Preaching the Word. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1999.
Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to John. The New International Commentary on the New Testament, ed. F. F. Bruce. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1977.
