The Holy Spirit: What He Does
John 16:7-15
The Second in a three part series of messages on the Holy Spirit…
1. Who He is (John 14:15-26)
2. What He Does (John 16:7-15)
3. The Source of His Power (Romans 8:1-17)
Last week we learned about who the Holy Spirit is. I think you would agree, God’s Holy Spirit is someone we as Christians would not want to do without for even a day, much less a week…
But if that is so, why do we LIMIT His effectiveness in our lives…and in the lives of others?
Why does it seem that some Churches go out of their way to kill the Holy Spirit of God?
Are the manifestations of God so scary that we treat them as if they were housed in Pandora ’s Box?
As the Apostle Paul would say…”God Forbid”!
I think it is more of a lack of knowledge and a lack of understanding…There is an old axiom that “knowledge is power”, and that is never truer than when man attempts to learn and understand the things of God!
Over these three weeks we are going to learn a lot about God’s Holy Spirit, Who He Is, What He Does, and The Source of His Power.
I hope once we have learned more about this third Person of the Trinity, we will open our lives up to Him the same way we opened our lives up to Christ…because…He can make just as big a difference in the lives of the believer…as Jesus can in the lives of non-believers!!!
Just as Jesus can completely transform the life of the non-believer, The Holy Spirit can completely transform the life of the believer…IF WE WILL LET HIM!!!
John 16:7 - 15 (NKJV) 7Nevertheless 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. 8And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11of 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. 13However, 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. 14He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He £will take of Mine and declare it to you.
The Work of the Holy Spirit,
1. The Holy Spirit comforts and helps believers.
Jesus said a surprising thing: "It is expedient for you that I go away." It was for the believer’s good (profit, advantage) that Jesus would leave the world.
Note the additional weight and emphasis Jesus gave to the fact: "I tell you the truth." It may be difficult for a person to see and understand, for it seems that we would be much better off if Jesus were here physically and bodily. Some people even cry out for His presence, for some sight, some vision, some dream of Him.
But Jesus said that it was best that He leave and not be physically present. Why? There is one supreme reason: if He had not left, the Holy Spirit would not have come. The believer is better off with the presence of the Holy Spirit than he is with the presence of Jesus.
Now note. How can such a statement be made? How can the believer be better off with the Holy Spirit than with the physical, bodily presence of Jesus?
1. Since Jesus departed, we now have a glorified and exalted Lord. We have a Lord who rules and reigns and controls all: who is able to fulfill all His promises and meet our desperate need for life—life that is both abundant and eternal.
2. Since Jesus departed, we now have an Intercessor before the very throne of God. We have a Person who is touched with the feelings of our infirmities, because He was tempted in all points just as we are.
Hebrews 4:14 - 16 (NKJV) 14Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
a. No matter where you are.
b. Or what you are faced with.
c. Or what you are tempted with.
d. Or how bad you are hurting…
e. No one understands like Jesus…no one cares like Jesus…no one cures like Jesus!
3. Since Jesus departed, we now have the presence of the Holy Spirit with us at all times. Jesus in His human body could be only in one place at a time; but the Holy Spirit, who is Spirit, is able to be with all believers at the same time no matter where they are.
4. Since Jesus departed, we now have a real gospel to proclaim, the gospel of the risen and exalted Lord who is able to give eternal life to every person who calls upon Him.
5. Since Jesus departed, we now have the world-wide work of the Holy Spirit, His work of...
• convicting and convincing • helping and guiding believers • glorifying Christ
2. The Holy Spirit convicts and convinces the world.
The word "reprove" (elegxei PWS: 3257) means both to convict and to convince a person.
⇒ Convict means to prick a person’s heart until he senses and knows he is guilty. He has done wrong or failed to do right.
⇒ Convince means to hammer and drive at a person’s heart until he knows the fact is true.
The Holy Spirit convicts and convinces the world of three things: sin, righteousness, and judgment.
1. There is the conviction of sin.
a. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of its sin, that man is sinful.
The Holy Spirit convicts a man that he...
• misses the mark, that is, comes short of the glory of God.
We must understand that we in our witness are not supposed to CONVICT people of their sin…that is the Holy Spirit’s job…ours is to merely tell the story!!!
• trespasses, that is, wanders off the right path.
• transgresses, that is, breaks the law of God.
b. The Holy Spirit convinces the world that a man’s unbelief is wrong. The Holy Spirit convinces the world that Jesus really did die for sin. The Holy Spirit takes a man who does not believe on Jesus and convinces him that Jesus is the Savior—that his sins are really forgiven when he believes on Jesus.
We do not even do the convincing…UNLESS it is BY OUR WALK!!!!
2. There is the conviction of righteousness.
a. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of its lack of righteousness, that a man has no righteousness whatsoever that is acceptable to God. The Holy Spirit convicts a man that his righteousness...
• is self-righteousness only.
• is human righteousness only.
• is the righteousness of works that are only human and therefore have an end.
• is the righteousness of human goodness and therefore passes away when he dies.
• is inadequate, insufficient, and unacceptable to God.
b. The Holy Spirit convinces the world that Jesus’ righteousness is acceptable to God. The Holy Spirit convinces a man...
• that Jesus really was received up into heaven by the Father because He was righteous.
• that Jesus has secured righteousness for every man.
• that man can approach God through the righteousness of Jesus.
• that Jesus is the Ideal and Perfect Man, the very Son of Man Himself. (See note—•John 1:51.)
3. There is the conviction of judgment.
a. The Holy Spirit convicts the world that judgment is coming, that a man is to face the personal judgment of God. The Holy Spirit convicts a man...
• that he is both responsible and accountable to God and man.
• that there is to be a real day of judgment sometime out in the future.
• that he is to stand face to face with God and be judged.
Romans 14:12 (NKJV) 12So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.
Hebrews 9:27 (NKJV) 27And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
b. The Holy Spirit convinces the world that Jesus has borne the judgment of sin and death for man. The Holy Spirit convinces a man...
• that Jesus died bearing the penalty and judgment of sin for him.
• that Jesus, by His death, destroyed the power of Satan over sin and death.
• that man can be freed from sin and death, that he can be forgiven for his sin and given eternal life through the death of Jesus.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
3. The Holy Spirit guides believers through three things.
1. The Holy Spirit guides by speaking the truth. Christ said that He had many things to say to the apostles, but they were not able to "bear" (handle, grasp) them, not yet.
He would share them later through the Holy Spirit.
Christ tells the Spirit what to say and how to guide believers. Christ, of course, is the One who knows the infirmities and the needs of men.
This should cause our hearts to leap with great joy and confidence, for the Lord knows exactly what we face—knows by experience.
2. The Holy Spirit guides by leading into all the truth. The Holy Spirit is called "the Spirit of Truth." He speaks only the truth and guides into "all the truth."
The truth, of course, is Jesus Christ Himself. The Spirit leads the believer to Christ, the Truth, and teaches him "all the truth" about Christ.
John 15:26 (NKJV) 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.
3. The Holy Spirit guides by showing (announcing, declaring) things to come. After Jesus arose, the Holy Spirit was the One who led the apostles to write the New Testament and to foresee the things revealed in its pages. Since that day, the Holy Spirit is the One who takes the things revealed in the Word and shows (declares, announces) them to the heart of the believer.
1 Corinthians 2:9 - 10 (NKJV) 9But as it is written:“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”£ 10But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
Thought 1. Note two critical facts.
1) The believer must be dependent upon the Holy Spirit’s leadership in learning the truth.
2) The believer’s growth is progressive, coming only from the Holy Spirit’s opening up the Word to him.
4. The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ and only Christ.
Note that the Spirit "receives" of Christ and shows (declares) it to believers. This means that He receives and declares...
• only what Christ is.
• only what Christ did.
• only what Christ said.
The Holy Spirit was sent in Jesus’ name to proclaim Jesus alone. He, the Spirit of Truth, leads believers to Christ, who alone is the Truth. He did not come to proclaim a movement and message of His own, but to proclaim the movement and message of Christ.
John 14:26 (NKJV) 26But 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.
Note the phenomenal claim of Jesus. All that the Father has is His. He is the Son of God, the Son of the Father. Note another fact: Christ is declaring that there is perfect unity in the Godhead.
All things of the Father...
• are the things of the Son, of Jesus Christ Himself.
• are the things shown and declared by the Holy Spirit.
CONCLUSION
In Conclusion this morning, if these were the only things the Holy Spirit did, it would still be an amazing work…but there is one more thing that the Holy Spirit does that ought to make all of us shout!!! He seals the believer into the Family of God!
Ephesians 1:13 - 14 (NKJV) 13In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14who£ is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. …Have you been sealed…or are you locked out??????
