“The Work of The Holy Spirit”
John 15:26-27, 16:5-15
Because there are denominational groups who spend a great deal of time talking about the Holy Spirit, we sometimes become reactionary in that we don't like to talk about the Holy Spirit very much at all. But Jesus talked about the work of the Holy Spirit in no uncertain terms in the hours just preceding His death, thus teaching that this is a subject of preeminent importance for us to consider.
We have now come in our study to the evening just prior to the crucifixion. It is 10:30 or 11:00 p.m. on Thursday night. In just a few minutes Jesus will go to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. A few minutes after that Judas will kiss His cheek and set in motion the whole cycle of events that lead to the crucifixion.
To set the stage we want to return to what Jesus has said recorded in verse five, “But now I go away 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 depart, I will send Him to you.”
We need to remember that Jesus is talking to His Disciples on the night before He is crucified. The Disciples are heart-broken to hear that He is leaving. They are scared to death. They are shock-ed and confused. Their master, their Lord, the only begotten Son of God, is going to be taken away from them. Nothing about this makes sense to them. They literally huddle like scared sheep around their shepherd in the blackness of night. They are scared to leave Him.
Of course, the Lord knows all of this and moved by their distress He speaks to His grieving Disciples; He reassures His Disciples and speaks not only of the troubles the Disciples will face but of the resource they will have in the person of the Holy Spirit with which to face them.
You will recall that in John 14:16-18 Jesus made His first promise of the Holy Spirit when He said, “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. (18) I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
They are waiting for an explanation. It was indeed necessary for the Lord to explain why it was important for them that He return to the Father.
In verse seven Jesus says, “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.”
Perhaps no words were ever harder to receive and believe for the Disciples. How could that possibly be true? How could anything be better for them than the physical presence of the Son of God? In their hearts they no doubt believed they would much rather have the Lord’s physical presence with them than the promise of an invisible Holy Spirit. In fact, I am fairly certain that if we took a vote and asked, “Would you rather have the Holy Spirit inside you or have Jesus sitting next to you?’, all of us would vote to have Jesus, the Son of God, right here so we could talk to him. That's understandable. We all think it's better to have the Son of God in our midst.
But Jesus said it is “to your advantage” or literally “it is expedient for you” that I should go away. But how could it possibly be expedient for them to lose their greatest source of support and hope? Jesus said, it is better for you that I should go because if I don't go I cannot send the Holy Spirit, but if I do go I will send the Holy Spirit, He will not only be with you but He will be in you. If the Lord remained with them as they desired, they would have His physical presence from time to time. But if He went through with the program and plans of the Father, then in due time the Holy Spirit would be given, and He would be with them without interruption. We still don’t understand completely why it was necessary for Jesus to go away in order for the Spirit to come. It is enough for us to know that this was so.
This morning, I simply want to address one question: What is the Holy Spirit doing in the world today? I cannot pretend to cover the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in this one lesson. But we do find in our text today the longest discussion of the ministry of the Holy Spirit found in the Gospel of John. This morning, we will discover two things about the Holy Spirit’s Ministry.
First, we want to return to Chapter fifteen and pick up the two verses we skipped over last time 15:26-27 which read, “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. (27), And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”
Jesus is speaking of a future time at which there will be a fuller manifestation of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is spoken of at times in the Old Testament (Gen 1:2, Jud 14:6, Ps 51:11) and there is reference to Him during the time of Jesus ministry, but the spectacular activity of the Holy Spirit begins with the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two.
Then after telling His Disciples about future persecution (16:1-6) He returns with more instruct-tion about the Holy Spirit in Chapter 16:7.
First, The Holy Spirit’s Reproving Ministry. (16:8-11)
Most people think that the work of the Holy Spirit in the world today relates primarily to help-ing the Christian feel better about themselves. Many people assume that the Holy Spirit was given to help us feel good about ourselves. Perhaps in part this because of the KJV translation of the promise of coming of the Holy Spirit as “another Comforter” some Christian’s may have come to believe that the function of the Holy Spirit is to make their lives more comfortable. In verse eight the Lord explains what the Holy Spirit will do when He comes into the world. “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteous-ness, and of judgment (9) of sin, because they do not believe in Me; (10) of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; (11) of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged”
That phrase “sin, righteousness and judgment” in verse eight simply seem to be three subjects that He just pulls out of the air. But when you continue reading, you discover that Jesus explains each word. He explains sin in verse nine, righteousness in verse ten, and judgment in verse eleven.
• He will convict the world of sin. (vv. 8-9)
“He will convict the world of sin… (9) of sin, because they do not believe in Me”
The first work of the Holy Spirit in an indivi-dual’s life is that of conviction. A person must see themselves as God sees them and become conscious of their own lostness and desperate need.
In verse eight the reader is told that the Holy Spirit will “… convict the world of sin…” I'd like to encourage you to underline a phrase in verse eight – “he will convict the world of sin.” Then circle the little word (convict.) This word is translated in various ways in the various translations of the Bible, the KJV translates it “reprove” and New American Standard renders it “convince.” The problem is that there is no one English word that can translate it adequately. This word (elegxei) comes to us from the courtroom. It is a word which describes what the prosecuting attorney does as all the evidence comes in and he piles it up. Fact upon fact, until finally, the enormity of the evidence is so overwhelming that the jury is forced to say, I find you guilty beyond any reasonable doubt. It’s a word which means to convict of guilt in a court of law. It means to amass the evidence to produce a guilty verdict!
But more than that, this word means to present the evidence in such an overwhelming fashion that even the defendant is compelled at the end of the trial to step up and say, “I admit it. I confess. I am guilty.” I think that the Apostle Paul had the same principle in mind when he wrote in Romans 3:19-20, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. (20) There-fore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.” Paul is saying that regardless of whether we ever listen to the conviction of the Holy Spirit in this life there will be a time when every mouth shall be shut, in that no more excuses be given for why we did not admit that we were sinners in need of a Savior.
It sounds rather simplistic but, No person is ready to be saved until they first are convin-ced that they are lost.
In verse nine Jesus is not saying the Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin in a general way (though He does that). He is talking here about a very specific sin because He says, “because they do not believe in Me.” There is one sin which in its effect is greater than all the rest. It is the sin of refusing to believe in Jesus Christ. Yet people in the world today would say it's foolish to talk about not believing in Jesus as if it were a sin. Does the average unbeliever look on unbelief as a sin? Not at all, in fact it is just the opposite. They often look upon unbelief as a sign of intellectual superiority. They think that it is a matter of pride that they are an agnostic or atheist.
But the fact is that this is “the” sin that damns; an unforgivable sin. God will forgive us of all our sins except the sin of refusing to believe in Jesus. John Philips makes this comparison, “It is like a man who has a deadly but curable disease. He goes to the doctor who prescribes a remedy but the man refuses to take it! He dies of his disease, not because he had the disease but because he refused (spurned) the remedy…. Those who will not believe in the Son go to a lost eternity – not because they are sinners but because they have refused God’s remedy.” [John Philips. “Exploring the Gospel of John.” (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1989) p. 303]
• He will convict the world of righteous-ness. (vv. 8, 10)
“He will convict the world …. (10) of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more”
There seems to me to be a two-fold implic-ation to this verse. First, the Holy Spirit allows the individual to see the inadequacy of their own right-eousness. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 3:21-22, “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed…. (22) even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe….”
Secondly, the Holy Spirit shows the sinner that the only sufficient righteousness is that of Christ alone. As Paul said in his letter to the church at Philippi, “And to be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.” (Philippians 3:9)
• He will convict the world of judgment.
(vv.8, 11) “He will convict the world… (11) of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”
The Holy Spirit convinces the world that there is such a thing as judgment. The judgment of Satan and the breaking of his power at the cross is proof of that. The word translated judgment is (krisis) and the verb here is perfect tense which points to past action permanent results. While Jesus was on the cross Satan threw everything he had at Him and when Jesus died for a brief three days Satan may have had the illusion that he had won. But then Jesus rose from the dead and accor-ding to Ephesians 4:8 “when He ascended on high, he led captives in his train…” (NIV). Jesus led a victory parade into Heaven and Satan stands judged, He is a defeated foe.
Not Only the Holy Spirit’s Reproving Ministry but …
Secondly, The Holy Spirit’s Revealing Ministry. (16:12-15)
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. (13) However, 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. (14) He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. (15) All things that the Father has are Mine. Ther-efore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”
There are two key words used to describe the revealing ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul states in 1 Corinthians 2:9-10, “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.” (10) But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.”
• The first key word is found in verse thirteen
in the word “guide.” I want to encourage you to circle that word. This word in the original Greek is (hodegeo) meaning “to lead the way.” Warren Wiersbe puts it this way, “He teaches us the truths we need to know, when we need them and when we are ready to receive them.” [Warrren Wiersbe. “Be Tran-sformed” (Colorado Springs, Cook Communications, 2005) p. 58]
The Spirit will never guide in contradiction to the written word of God. Sometimes someone will claim to have received a special revelation from God, referred to a “word from God” which is contradicted by the written word of God. It may be a revelation but if it is in contradiction to the written Word, it is not from the Holy Spirit!
That means that the Holy Spirit is never going to give isolated truth. He will not come out with some startling, brand new, different revela-tion which has never before been heard. You will not be receiving any new truth, but rather as you grow in your dependence upon the indwelling spirit of Jesus, you will begin to understand and see the things of God that have been there all along. And the Holy Spirit is guiding God’s people to this day.
• The second word used to describe the revealing ministry of the Holy Spirit is the word “declare.” This word is found in verse fifteen, “All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.” Circle the word “declare” in your Bibles. The word “declare” is also translated “disclose” in the NASV. This word carries the idea of “announce-ment,” of the unveiling or unpacking of all that has been declared by Christ.
Scofield in the notes in his reference Bible states that Jesus in His last discourse with His disciples (The Olivet Discourse - chap 14-17) outlines in advance the three elements that make up the New Testament; (1) historical – “remind you of everything I have said to you” – (14:26) The of course is the substance of the Gospels (Matt, Mark, Luke and John) and Acts. (2) doctrinal- interpretation of the historical facts - “teach you all things” (14:26, 16:14) This is done in the Epistles, which tell us why Jesus died and what the full implications of this are. and (3) prophetic – “tell you what is yet to come” (16:13) found in various place is the Gospels (Matt 24-25, 1 Cor. 15), but particularly in the Book of Revelation. [Scofield Reference Bible. (New York: Oxford Press, 1909) note on John 16:12]
The reason all of these things are revealed (historical, doctrinal and prophetic) are not just in order that the believer might “know” these things but according to verse fourteen, “He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” These things are revealed in order that Christ might be “glorified.” That is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to bring glory to Jesus.
Application
I want to close this message with one simple application. It is true that this passage is primarily about the work of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts men and women of sin, He nevertheless does it through believers. As Paul says in his letter to the church at Corinth, “You your-selves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. (3) You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. (2 Corinthians 3:2-3) Remember you are the best Christian some people know!
