Title: Embracing the Holy Spirit - Person of
Theme: To get into the lives of people the importance of seeing the Holy Spirit as the comforter.
Text: John 14:15-17
Offering
(Malachi 3:8-11) Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings, ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of host, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts. (KJV)
God wants to bless us, do we have the faith to give.
Review
Last week we began our series on the Holy Spririt called: Embracing the Holy Spirit. We sometimes limit our understanding and relationship with the Holy Spririt to gifts.
Last week we learned a little more about the fruit of the spirit.
Galatians 5:22-25 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.
This Sunday I want to get a better overview of who the Holy Spirit is. He is obviously part of the trinity. So we know there is a role He plays in the lives of the believer.
John 14:15-17 "If you love Me, keep [83] 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.
John 14:26 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.
John 15:26 "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.
John 16:7 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.
Introduction
Last time we came together we discussed the Holy Spirit as God and a part of the trinity. We also talked about how he can be blasphemed. Tonight I want to look into that word comforter more.
The word comforter is from the Greek word par-ak’-lay-tos. It is used four times in scripture all in the writings of John. Three times it is translated comforter (John 14:16,26; 15:26; 16:7). In 1 John 2:1 he translates the word advocate. This is important because it gives us a better understanding of the role that the Holy Spirit plays in our lives. First he is our Comforter and then he is our advocate. Let us look at these words.
Comforter
The word comforter in this context means “called to one’s side”. It is as Jesus is saying there is going to be one who will be called to your side. We talked about this last time. We have the Holy Spirit who stands beside us in our darkest moments. This is important to us but as we discussed it was more important to the disciples who was about to lose the physical presence of Jesus. They were grieving and this promise of a Comforter was a promise of assurance that they would not have to face this world alone.
As the comforter we learn that he is our companion.
This is what Jesus meant in verse 17 when he spoke of the Holy Spirit as one who “dwelleth with you”. He is our companion. One whom we trust in and depend upon. He is one who walks with us. It was God intention from the beginning to walk with man. This is what He did with Adam, he walked with Adam at certain times during the day. He spoke with Adam as I am speaking to you. Yet Adam was perfect. This was broken after the fall. This relationship changed.
So he sent us Immanuel “God with us”. Jesus began to fulfill the desire to walk with man. Then he promises the Holy Spirit. For me it is a privilege to know that God walks with me. As the old song go, “And he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own”.
He is our helper
The word comforter also gives us the idea of helper. Not only is he there beside us but he is helping us. This gives us the idea that not only do we not have to “do it alone” but we have someone who knows what they are doing and is willing to help. That is this “Holy Spirit” the comforter.
Oh how important this role is. He is our helper. He is the one who will lead us to make the right decision. He is the one who will guide us.
As the comforter we learn that he is always present.
The second characteristic that is shown as him being the comforter is that he is present with us and plays and active role in our lives. Now it is good to have a companion but the Holy Spirit is more than a companion he is active. He is active in our lives he is active in the church.
Holy Ghost active in the church.
This happened in the new testament church. As Peter was conducting a service in Jerusalem it appears that he is presiding over the service. In walks Ananias and Sapphria and Peter asks a interesting question “Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?”. What he was saying is that when it comes to matters of God there is a higher power who is present. Our worship becomes a problem when we don’t see the work of the “higher power” the Holy Ghost. The wrong and sin seemed to be committed against the pastor or the church but it was actually committed against the Holy Ghost. You don’t want to offend the Holy Ghost.
Yet this was not uncommon when the church was praying the Holy Ghost told them to send out Paul and Barnabas to do the work of the Lord. In Acts 15 the Holy Ghost must have participated in the discussion because when they were done we read “it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us.”
He is our teacher
With this idea of being present and active we learn that he is our teacher. Jesus said in 14:26 “He shall teach you”. As a Christian and better yet as a Spirit-filled believer this book becomes more than words, paragraphs, and pages but it becomes alive. It becomes alive with the very presence, personality, and character of God.
We come to understand that he wrote the text book as Peter said in 2 Peter 1:21
“ For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake [as they were] moved by the Holy Ghost.” (2 Peter 1:21 AV)
Read “When human understanding is insufficient, the Holy Spirit enhances our ability to comprehend. He illuminates the dark passages according to (1Cor 2:14). In John 14:26 we are told that he is the teacher of the book. He is the guide who know s the way according to (John 14:17, 16:26, 16:13). ;When we are unable to verbalize our feelings the Spirit teaches us (Luke 12:11, 12) better yet when we are unable to pray the spirit helps us according to Romans 8:26,27)
He is our advocate
This leads us to our final meaning of the Greek word par-ak’-lay-tos. It means comforter but it also means advocate. He is our advocate. The word advocate according to Webster’s Dictionary means “one that pleads the cause of another, one that defends or maintains a cause” We read this in reference to Christ in 1 John 2:1.
He pleads our cases before us and represents us.
Romans 8:26-27 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us [21] with groanings which cannot be uttered. (27) Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Conclusion
This morning I talked about “Secrets to Joy in Christ”. This is one of those secrets that we don’t always get. People are so lonely yet they don’t have to be. Christians sometimes feel so alone yet they don’t have to. We have the comforter, the holy spirit who is there beside us.
But by contrast, Scripture tells us that God’s Spirit is a living, personal piece of God that lives in us. He has feelings and character We’re told that this Spirit can:
1. Speak to us. 1 Tim. 4:1
2. Teach us. John 14:26
