A. Once there was a teacher who saw one of her students sitting there without a pencil doing nothing while the rest of the class was working on their assignment.
1. The teacher asked, “Where’s your pencil?”
2. The student answered, “I ain’t got no pencil.”
3. To which the teacher explained, “How many times have I told you not to say that? Now listen. I haven’t got a pencil. You haven’t got a pencil. They haven’t got a pencil.”
4. Looking perplexed, the student exclaimed, “Well, what’s happened to all the pencils?”
B. I’m sure that teacher was a bit exasperated at that point, don’t you think?
1. Students can really frustrate teachers and I’m sure I exasperated many of my teachers.
2. There have also been times when I gave my teachers a good laugh, like the time I gave an unintentionally humorous answer to a test question in my college psychology class.
a. The question was: What are the causes of depression?
b. My answer was: My list included decapitation. (I meant to put dismemberment)
c. Obviously, there’s a big difference between the two: one leads to depression and the other results in death.
C. Today, I want us to talk about the fact that the Holy Spirit is our teacher.
1. And like the teacher and student in the story I started with, I am sure that many of us have exasperated our teacher, the Holy Spirit.
2. Last week, we started a new sermon series about the Holy Spirit.
3. Last week, we explored the fact that the Holy Spirit is a Person and is God, a member of the Godhead; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
4. We also talked about the fact that the Holy Spirit is our helper who comes with power.
5. As our helper who comes with power, the Holy Spirit helps us in many different ways.
6. Today, we want to understand how the Spirit is our teacher.
D. We’ve all likely had some really good teachers.
1. Some of them were good teachers because they really cared about us and showed special interest in us.
2. Others were really good teachers because they were experts in their fields and were gifted in presenting and explaining their subject.
3. When I was a freshman in college I signed up for New Testament Greek.
a. Unfortunately, before the end of the first semester, I had to drop the class.
b. The problem was probably mostly mine, as I probably wasn’t ready to apply myself the way I needed to in order to be successful.
c. My teacher was an expert in ancient languages, but I’m not sure he was gifted in organizing and presenting the material in a way that I could understand it and learn it.
4. When I was a junior in college I gave Greek another try under a different teacher.
a. This teacher wasn’t an expert in ancient languages, but he had been an engineering major before he did his master’s and PhD degrees in Bible, and so he presented the material in a very organized and understandable way.
b. I was a little older and more disciplined, but I also was able to grasp the concepts of the language in a way that I hadn’t under the previous teacher.
c. This time I passed with flying colors and got all A’s.
E. Good and skillful teachers make a big difference, right? Now consider the fact that the Holy Spirit is the best teacher ever.
1. The Holy Spirit cares more than any teacher and the Holy Spirit is truly an expert about spiritual things.
2. Also, consider the fact that the Holy Spirit lives inside of us and is our personal tutor.
3. What an amazing opportunity for us to learn and to grow from our teacher, the Holy Spirit!
F. Let’s take a few minutes and look at what Jesus taught about the Holy Spirit as our teacher.
1. It was during the last night before Jesus’ arrest that Jesus conveyed this important information about the Holy Spirit to His disciples.
2. Let’s start with John 14:16-17: 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. 17 He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you.
3. Let’s notice a number of important things that we learn from this passage.
4. First, notice the unity of the Godhead – notice how the trinity works together in cooperation.
a. God the Son asks God the Father to send God the Holy Spirit.
5. Second, we notice that the Holy Spirit is called the paraclete.
a. The word translated “counselor” is the word paraclete – which is a word that appears only 5 times in Scripture and Jesus used it 4 of the 5 times it is used.
b. Translations have used different and yet similar words to express the idea of paraclete; including: helper, comforter, counselor, advocate, and intercessor.
c. A more literal meaning is “someone called to stand by you” – para (beside/alongside) and kalein (to call).
d. How wonderful that we are not alone that the Holy Spirit is our divine companion who keeps us company.
e. And if that’s all the Holy Spirit was, our companion, that would be good, but He is more than that.
6. Third, we notice that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth.
a. As the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit will be the teacher of truth.
b. A few verses later in John 14, Jesus explained: 25 “I have spoken these things to you while I remain with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you. (Jn. 14:25-26)
c. Notice again the cooperation in the Godhead – The Father sends the Spirit in the name of the Son.
d. Notice that Jesus said that the Spirit will teach the apostles all things and will remind them of everything that Jesus had taught them.
e. The Spirit’s role with the apostles was so important as the Spirit delivered to them the inspired Word of God that included the things Jesus had taught them and the other important things that Jesus didn’t have a chance to tell them.
f. With the Spirit’s help, the apostles were able to accurately teach God’s word and write down God’s word so that it could be passed on to us down through the ages.
G. As Jesus continued to teach about the Spirit as teacher that final night with His disciples before His arrest, He said: “When the Counselor comes, the one I will send to you from the Father —the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—he will testify about me. You also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.” (Jn. 15:26-27)
1. Here we see that Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the counselor (paraclete) again, and we notice again that Jesus and the Father are both involved in sending the Spirit.
2. We also notice that the Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth and that He will testify or teach about Jesus.
H. A little later that night, Jesus said: 7 Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment: 9 About sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; 11 and about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.” (Jn. 16:7-11)
1. I’m sure that the disciples found it hard to believe that it was better for them for Jesus leave them, but the truth was that the coming of the Holy Spirit would be better than the ongoing, physical presence of Jesus.
2. Notice what the Spirit was going to do after He was sent: He would convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment – How’s that for being a good teacher?!
I. Then Jesus continued: 12 “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t 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, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. (Jn. 16:12-14)
1. Notice that Jesus had many more things to teach them, but it was more they could handle at the time.
2. Jesus said that when the Spirit of Truth comes, He would guide them into all truth.
3. Notice again how the Godhead works together – The Spirit speaks the things that He hears discussed together with the Father and the Son.
4. And the Spirit’s purpose won’t be to bring attention to Himself or glorify Himself, but to glorify the Son.
5. J.I. Packer, the famous theologian of the second half of the 20th century said this about the Holy Spirit: “It is as if the Spirit stands behind us, throwing light over our shoulder, on Jesus, who stands facing us. The Spirit’s message to us is never, ‘Look at me; listen to me; come to me; get to know me,’ but always, ‘Look at him, and see his glory; listen to him, and hear his word; go to him, and have life; get to know him, and taste his gift of joy and peace.’ ”
6. And that’s exactly what has happened…when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the apostles on the Day of Pentecost and Peter stood up and preached the gospel, Peter didn’t focus on the Sprit, but being led by the Spirit, Peter pointed people to Jesus.
7. And that’s what the Spirit continues to do – He points people to Jesus.
J. So, in summary, on the night before Jesus was arrested, He promised His apostles that the Holy Spirit would enable and equip them to remember, write, and apply the life and teaching of Jesus.
1. The Holy Spirit guided them to write the New Testament.
K. But what about for Christians today, how does the Holy Spirit continue to be our teacher?
1. Back in the Old Testament, when God was talking about the New Covenant that He would bring in through Jesus, God said: 26 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will place my Spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes and carefully observe my ordinances.” (Ezek. 36:26-27)
2. For us today, God has placed the Holy Spirit in us, and the Holy Spirit enables us to understand and live out God’s Word as we follow Jesus.
3. The truth of the matter is: without the Holy Spirit’s help, we would not be able to completely understand or obey God’s Word.
4. In 1 Corinthians 2, Paul explained it this way: 9 But as it is written, What no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has conceived—God has prepared these things for those who love him. 10 Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, since the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except his spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. 13 We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. 14 But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually. 15 The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, and yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone. (1 Cor. 2:9-15)
5. There are so many powerful and helpful truths about the Spirit in these verses.
a. First, God has so many wonderful things prepared for those who love Him and the Holy Spirit knows all about them, because the Spirit is God and knows all the thoughts of God.
b. Second, we have received the Spirit who comes from God and the Spirit teaches us the things of God and helps us to understand them.
c. Third, the person without the Spirit of God cannot completely understand the things taught by the Spirit.
6. Let me point our attention to one final passage from 1 John 2.
a. The apostle John wrote: 26 I have written these things to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. 27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you don’t need anyone to teach you. Instead, his anointing teaches you about all things and is true and is not a lie; just as it has taught you, remain in him. (1 Jn. 2:26-27)
b. Notice what John was communicating to the Christians he was writing to.
1. First, there were some people who were trying to deceive Christians.
2. Second, those Christians needed to rely on the Holy Spirit that they had received.
3. Third, the Holy Spirit was able to teach them about all things and they didn’t need anyone to teach them.
4. Fourth, the most important thing the Holy Spirit teaches us to do is to remain in Jesus.
c. This does not mean that we won’t learn a lot from others who are taught of the Holy Spirit.
1. If John had thought that others didn’t need learn from him at all, then he wouldn’t have written this letter of the Bible.
2. Nor does this mean that being taught by the Spirit will be done without the written Word of God.
3. The Bible is the very place the Holy Spirit leads His pupils and it is the instrument through which He instructs them.
4. The Spirit will never teach us something contrary to the written word.
L. What a blessing it is that God has not left us on our own.
1. Aren’t you glad Jesus didn’t head back to heaven saying, “Well, that’s it. I’m going back to heaven and now you’re on your own.”
2. Instead, Jesus gave us His very presence through the Holy Spirit who is our all-knowing, all-wise teacher, who lives in us.
3. When we aren’t sure which route to take, the Spirit is here to guide us.
4. When we don’t know the words to speak, the Spirit will help us to know what to say.
5. When we feel discouraged, the Spirit reminds us of the truth that helps us to keep going.
M. The Holy Spirit is our expert helper and teacher.
1. Let’s imagine you are a serious golfer and you go play a round of golf at a very expensive and difficult country club golf course.
2. If you’re a smart golfer, then you will hire one of the experienced caddies offered by club.
3. The caddy will not only carry your bag, but the caddy will teach you how to play the course.
a. The caddy is an expert and knows everything about that golf course.
b. The caddy knows which club to hit and where to hit the ball.
c. The caddy knows how fast the greens are and which way they turn.
d. To not ask for the caddy’s help would be foolish.
4. For us not to consult the Spirit of God would be even more foolish and tragic.
a. The Spirit is available to teach us and guide us and we will be blessed if we allow Him so do so.
5. It is our privilege to stay in mindful communion with Him – day by day, and moment by moment.
a. That’s some of what it means for us to live by the Spirit and keep in step with the Spirit.
6. At any moment we can ask for help from the Spirit; we can ask…
a. What should I learn from this? What are you trying to teach me?
b. Which way should I go? Which decision should I make?
c. How am I supposed to respond to this challenge?
d. What should I say in response to their question or their statement?
e. What Scripture should I use to minister to this person?
7. The Holy Spirit is ready to teach us and help us, but we have to look to Him and expect that He will come through for us if we ask.
a. Jesus said, “Ask and you shall receive…”
b. If we ask the Spirit to teach us, He will.
8. But we have to begin with a humble and child-like spirit.
a. If we think we know it all and can handle it ourselves, then we won’t look for God’s help.
b. But in contrast to that, if we are humble and know that we don’t know it all and can’t handle it, then we will be hungry and thirsty to be taught and we will be willing be willing to be led.
c. Humility is the soil out of which the fruit of the Spirit can grow.
9. Let’s be good students who learn from the Holy Spirit, our teacher.
Resources:
Help Is Here, Max Lucado, Thomas Nelson, 2022
Forgotten God, Francis Chan, David Cook, 2009
The Holy Spirit is the Best Teacher, by Shana Schutte,
https://www.wisdomhunters.com/the-holy-spirit-is-the-best-teacher/
https://www.gotquestions.org/teach-you-all-things.html
