Tonight, we will see the clearest revelation of the Holy Spirit given by the Lord Himself. He had already revealed who the Person of the Holy Spirit is back in John 14. Now, He reveals the WORK of the Holy Spirit.
READ v. 7. We know that it is the Holy Spirit who comforts and helps us. Jesus says, “It is for your good that I am going away.” It was for the believer’s good that Jesus would leave the world. That was probably hard for the believer to understand that we would be better off if Jesus left. But Jesus said it was best that He leave and not be physically present. Why? Because if He had not left, the Holy Spirit would not have come. We, as believers, are better off with the presence of the Holy Spirit than we are with the presence of Jesus.
How can the believer be better off with the Holy Spirit than with the physical, bodily presence of Jesus? Let’s look at 5 ways.
1. Since Jesus left, we now have a glorified and exalted Lord. We have a Lord who rules and reigns and controls all. We have a Lord who is able to fulfill all His promises and meet our needs for life.
2. Since Jesus left, we now have an Intercessor before the very throne of God. We have a Person who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses—all because He was tempted in every way just as we are.
3. Since Jesus left, 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 left, 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 left, we now have the worldwide work of the Holy Spirit. That work is the convicting and convincing the world, helping and guiding believers, and glorifying Christ. Remember, Jesus called the Holy Spirit the Comforter.
READ v. 8-11. Now I just said that the HS convicts and convinces the world. Convict means to prick a person’s heart until he senses and knows he is guilty. Convince means to hammer and drive at a person’s heart until he knows the fact is true. Jesus says that the HS convicts and convinces the world of 3 things: sin, righteousness, and judgment.
1. First, there is the conviction of sin. The HS convicts the world that man is sinful. It is the HS that makes us realize that we have missed the mark, that is, fall short of the glory of God.
2. The HS convinces the world that a man’s unbelief is wrong. The HS convinces the world that Jesus really did die for sin. The HS takes a person who doesn’t believe in Jesus and convinces that person that Jesus is the Savior—that his sins are really forgiven when he believes on Jesus.
3. There is the conviction of righteousness. It is the HS that convicts the world of its lack of righteousness, that is, that we have no righteousness whatsoever that is acceptable to God. The HS convicts a person that his righteousness:
• Is self-righteousness. In other words, the best we can do as humans is self-righteousness. That’s when a person believes that their good works will make us look good before God. We know that isn’t the case. So it is the HS that convicts us that if all we have is self-righteousness, that is inadequate, insufficient, and unacceptable to God.
4. The HS convinces the world that Jesus’ righteousness is acceptable to God. That Jesus really was received up into heaven by the Father because He was righteous. That Jesus has secured righteousness for us. That man can now approach God only through the righteousness of Jesus.
5. The HS convicts the world that judgment is coming and that we are going to face the personal judgment of God. A person is convicted to the point that they know they are both responsible and accountable to God and that there will be a real day of judgment sometime in the future and that we will stand face to face with God and be judged.
6. The HS convinces the world that Jesus has borne the judgment of sin and death for man. That Jesus died bearing the penalty and judgment of sin for man. The HS convinces the world that Jesus, by His death, destroyed the power of Satan over sin and death and that man can be freed from sin and death, that he can be forgiven for his sin.
READ v. 12-13. The HS guides believers through three things.
1. The HS guides by speaking the truth. Jesus said that He had many things to say to the apostles, but they weren’t able to bear then, not yet. I wonder what these things were that Jesus felt would overload the apostles at this point. Jesus would share these things later through the HS.
This means that Jesus tells the HS what to say and how to guide believers. Jesus knows the weaknesses and the needs of men. He knows by personal experience. So, He is the One who is appointed by God to instruct the HS in His guiding ministry. This should cause our hearts to leap with joy because the Lord knows exactly what we fact—he knows by experience.
2. The HS guides by leading into all the truth. The HS is called the “Spirit of Truth.” He speaks only the truth and guides into all the truth. The truth is Jesus Christ Himself. The Spirit leads the believer to Christ, and teaches him all the truth about Christ.
3. The HS guides by showing things to come. After Jesus arose, the HS was the One who led the apostles to write the NT and to foresee the things revealed in its pages. Since that day, the HS is the One who takes the things revealed in the Word and shows them to the heart of the believer.
We need to note that in order to learn the truth, the believer has to be dependent upon the HS’s leadership. Another thing we need to note is that the believer’s growth is progressive, coming only from the HS’s opening up the Word to him.
READ v. 14-15. The HS glorifies Christ and only Christ. He makes Christ known and shows it to believers. The HS was sent in Jesus’ name to proclaim Jesus alone. He didn’t come to proclaim a movement and message of His own but to proclaim the movement and message of Christ.
Lastly, note the claim that Jesus makes. All that the Father has is His. He is the Son of God, the Son of the Father. Jesus is declaring that there is perfect unity in the Godhead. All things of the Father are the things of the Son, and all things of the Father are the things shown and declared by the HS.
Throughout the centuries there have been debates and misunderstandings concerning the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Some think of The Holy Spirit as an “it”, an impersonal being or a “divine force.” He is neither. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity—just as much God as the Father and the Son.
The deity of the Holy Spirit ought to be clearly recognized in Scripture. We have talked about most of these. Look at these facts: Christ is born; the Spirit is His forerunner. Christ is baptized; the Spirit bears witness. Christ is tempted; the Spirit leads Him up. Christ ascends; the Spirit takes His place.
What great things are there in the character of God which are not found in the Spirit? What titles which belong to God are not also applied to Him? He is called the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, the mind of Christ, the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of adoption, of truth, of liberty; the Spirit of wisdom, of understanding, of counsel, of might, of knowledge, of godliness, of the fear of God. This only begins to show how unlimited He is.
So to wrap this up let’s summarize.
THE HOLY SPIRIT CONVICTS THE HEART (vv.7-8).
The Holy Spirit reveals to us our inability to save ourselves.
THE HOLY SPIRIT CONVINCES THE HEART (vv. 9-15).
The Holy Spirit convinces us of our need to believe.
The Holy Spirit reveals the evil of rejecting God’s message.
The Holy Spirit reveals the holiness of God.
The Holy Spirit reveals the victory over Satan.
The Holy Spirit convinces us of our present and future victory (vv. 12-15).
SO,
1. The Holy Spirit guides us.
2. The Holy Spirit speaks to us.
3. The Holy Spirit reveals God’s glory to us.
4. The Holy Spirit gives us all things.
The Holy Spirit is able to move upon the human heart in ways that we often would not believe prior to seeing it take place. But He does so in a powerful way to make us aware of His presence and of our own needs. One such example is found in the following story.
Sociology professor Anthony Campolo recalls an incident that happened in a Christian junior high camp where he served. One of the campers was a boy with spastic paralysis. This made him the object of heartless ridicule. When he would ask a question, the boys would deliberately answer in a halting, mimicking way.
One night his cabin group chose him to lead the devotions before the entire camp. It was one more effort to have some "fun" at his expense. Unashamedly the spastic boy stood up, and in his strained, slurred manner -- each word coming with enormous effort -- he said simply, "Jesus loves me -- and I love Jesus!"
That was all. Conviction fell upon those junior-highers. Many began to cry. Revival gripped the camp. Years afterward, Campolo still meets men in the ministry who came to Christ because of that simple testimony. "Jesus loves me -- and I love Jesus!" That is truly witness to the moving of the HS.
