The Promise (part 2) The H.S. Purpose
Pastor Glenn Newton 6-1-03
JN 16:5 "Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, `Where are you
going?’ 6 Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. 7 But I tell you the
truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not
come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the
world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 in regard to sin, because
men do not believe in me; 10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father,
where you can see me no longer; 11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this
world now stands condemned.
JN 16:12 "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he,
the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he
will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring
glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that belongs
to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it
known to you.
Intro.
A young boy was at Disneyland enjoying Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck and the rides
and the popcorn and the fanfare and didn’t notice that he had become separated from his
parents. He was enjoying the hustle and bustle of Disney life until he looked up and
discovered that his parents were not there.
Once this boy discovered he was not in fellowship with his parents anymore, Disneyland
turned into a Disney disaster. All the sudden, the cotton candy wans’t sweet, the rides
were not fun, and Mickey Mouse was no longer cute, because Mom and Dad were
nowhere to be found.
THAT’S THE GREAT TRAGEDY OF OUR WORLD: people so busy enjoying the
rides and the thrills and the bright lights that they haven’t even noticed they are not in
fellowship with God. They are so busy eating their cotton candy of life, riding the Ferris
wheel of entetainment, and going up and down the roller coaster of pleasure that they
haven’t even noticed God is not in the vicinity anymore.
That young boy at Disneyland needed to come face to face with two realities before he
could get help. First, he needed to discover he was lost. And second, he needed
somebody to lead him back to his parents.
The Bible declares that, apart from God, all people are eternally lost. They are forever
separated from the life of God. They need to know they are lost, and they need to know
the way back home.
This is where the Holy Spirit enters. He is the Champion of the lost and found. His
unique task is to bring men and women front and center before Jesus Christ: to bring the
Lost into a saving relationship with Christ and to keep the saved in constant fellowship
with Christ.
As we begin this second part of this series on “The Promise”.... Today we are
going to focus on the Purpose for which the Holy Spirit was given to us. Last week, we
talked about the Holy Spirits Presence... and how we need to walk minute by minute in
step with the Holy Spirit as He guides us, teaches and encourages us. How did your walk
go this week?
Next week we will talk about the Holy Spirit’s Provision.... All those things He produces
in our lives.... you won’t want to miss.
This morning as we turn our attention to the Purpose of the Holy Spirit... I want you to
know there is no way for me to cover all that there could be included in this subject in one
sermon, and even in 100 sermons...... So today I am going to give you two main ideas that
are connected to the purpose of the Holy Spirit.
First, the Holy Spirit is the Great Convicter.
How many of you have found this to be true in your Christian experience.... and even in
your pre-Christian experience, right?
In our passage this morning we read in verse 8 about this purpose of conviction, listen:
8 When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and
righteousness and judgment:
The key word is convict. This conviction is synonymous with the word
convincing. The job of the Holy Spirit is to make absolutely clear the spiritual issues of
life and to call for a decision. Are you praying for a lost loved one or friend? We should
be.... and we need to pray that the Holy Spirit would go and perform what He has been
given to us to do.... To bring conviction in the lives of our loved ones and friends.. amen?
I can promise you the Holy Spirit will be faithful.
The reason your here today... the reason your a Christian today is because the Holy Spirit
did his job... he was faithful... he convicted you and allowed you to see your need to be
saved... Right?
The truth is unsaved people walk around in a spiritual fog or daze, not really
understanding what God expects from them. You hear it every time you talk to an
unbeliever.... Just ask the unbeliver.. “Are you going to Heaven?”
“Well, I sure hope so. I think so.” When you ask him/her what she is pinning her
hopes for heaven on, he may tell you, “I try to keep the 10 commandments. I go to
church. I’m doing the best that I can.” It becomes very clear that they are in a spiritual
fog.
The Holy Spirits job is to make the issue clear and to jar people loose of their
misconceptions about the good news of the gospel. But in order to do this, He must get
their attention.... he has to break through that fog that blinds the unsaved...... The Word
teaches us that He will convict in three important areas;; In the area of Sin, in the area of
Righteousness, and in the area of Judgement.
We understand how he convicts us of sin....We understand that we are in need of
forgiveness because of the conviction that the Holy Spirit brings.
In the area of Righteousness... It’s the Holy Spirit’s Job to convince people that Jesus
Christ is the only perfect Righteous One who has ever lived, the only One who has
perfectly measured up to God’s Holy Standard. This sets Jesus apart from all other
so-called Messiahs. You can go anywhere and find a self-appointed messiah, so the
Question is what makes Jesus the real Messiah?
What makes Him the Righteous One? What sets Him apart? Jesus answered that Himself
when He said, “10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where
you can see me no longer; You see, it’s the resurrection and ascension of Christ that
puts Jesus Christ in a class by himself.
Muhammad talked a good talk, but when he died, no one ever saw him again.
Buddha looked very comfortable, but when he died nobody could locate him again.
Confucius had many wise and creative sayings, but when he went to the grave nobody
could hear from him again.
But Jesus died on Friday and got up on Sunday and showed himself alive to more
than 500 people...... The reason that I’m a Christian today is because the tomb is empty.
Jesus Christ has beaten death and can lay claim to being the Righteous Standard of God.
The Holy Spirit convicts us that Jesus Christ is the Righteous One, so in turn we need to
heed what Jesus has said, and still says today too us, amen?
There’s so much more to say about the Holy Spirit’s purpose with conviction, but I must
move on because I want to share one more aspect of the Holy Spirit’s purpose...... One of
the Holy Spirit’s Purposes is to Help us Experience the Spirit’s Power.
Yesterday, all it would have taken was about a two hour power failure and we all would
have realized how much we benefit from an invisible resource called electricity. Electricity
has power within itself. Stick a peice of metal in one of your homes electrical outlets
and you will become one of the lights in your home.
We can see visibly what this invisible power resource does for us..... It cools and
cooks our food. It can freeze water and make bread pop out of a toaster... When it’s dark
the lights come on, all because we have available to us an invisible power.
The wind is another good analogy for the Spirit. Wind has a life of it’s own.
Sometimes it is gentle and still and we hardly know it exists. At other times it blows so
viciously that nothing can withstand it’s power. So when Jesus was likening the Holy
Spirit to wind, Jesus was speaking of a Person with enormous power.
But the invisible, available power we have in our homes is nothing compared to the power
that all of us who know Jesus Christ have in our lives in the Person of the Holy Spirit. He
is the invisible presence and power of God. He is God. The Spirit is deposited in the life
of every believer at the moment of salvation. So as Christians we have Royalty living
within us, the indwelling Holy Spirit. Acts 1:8 tells us about the Power of the Holy Spirit
and how it will enable us to carry out God’s Mission. Listen.
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
The clear teaching here is that the disciples would not have power until the Spirit
came. This power is not simply a concept for you to understand, but it is a reality that you
need to experience. We cannot talk about spiritual power without talking about the Holy
Spirit who is the source of that power.
The Holy Spirit provides the Christian with a Powerful Presence. In Acts 1:4
Jesus commanded the disciples not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had
promised, and then in verse five Jesus repeated the promise of the Holy Spirit’s coming
saying, “You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
In other words, there’s no way for you to accomplish the Kingdom work that I’ve
created you to do without the infilling power of the Holy Spirit. Remember what Jesus
said in John 14:18? He promised, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
Jesus said He will come.... Jesus comes to us through the Holy Spirit, what we are talking
about is having the very Spirit of Chrits living in us.... does that excite you?
See, if you have the Holy Spirit living in you, you have as much of Jesus as those
first disciples had, even though Jesus lived among them for more than three years. He is
with you right now in the Person of the Holy Spirit. There is no such thing as wishing
Jesus were here.... He is. If you want to be close to Christ, you must walk step by step,
day by day, minute by minute with His Holy Spirit.....
God has called us to be a Powerful People, being led by His Powerful Presence...
His Spirit, the Holy Spirit. The disciples were a weak group of men. Peter denied Jesus.
The other disciples left Him because they feared the Jews. They ran until the Spirit came.
They recieved the Holy Ghost power, and it made the Holy Spirit difference in
thier lives. Recieving this power has nothing to do with your education, or lack there of,
you can have all the training in the world and still be a defeated Christian. But if you have
been with Jesus, somebody else is going to know it. If you have been with Jesus, it’s
going to be evident that something powerful is at work in you.
We spend alot of time trying to change our personalities, trying to fix ourselves.
But the Bible says when the Spirit took over the apostles, there was a personality change.
All of the sudden these spaghetti kneed Chrisitians stood up with their shoulders squared
and spoke up for Christ.
Where did they they get that kind of power? The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will
change you, your personailty if He can get hold of you. So if you and I don’t have a
relationship with the Spirit, we are going to be defeated spiritual wimps, always running to
the next conference or program, or latest book, to see if it can do for us what only the
Holy Spirit can do.
The Holy Spirit can make the insecure person secure, the fearful person confident.
Personality change is his specialty, But He only does it if you are doing kingdom work.
He is not going to do it so you can win a personality or popularity contest. But when the
Spirit goes to work in your life, things change.
How many of you ever saw Crocodile Dundee? It’s been on TV a hundred times
I’m sure by now, there is a scene in which Dundee, this guy from Austrialia is walking
down the street in NY with his girlfriend. Some guys jump out to rob them, and one guy
pulls a knife and says, “Give me your money.”
Dundee’s girl screams, “Oh, he has a knife.”
But Dundee isn’t impressed much with the knife. He says, “That’s not a knife.” Dundee
reaches behind him and pulls this huge knife out of his belt and says, “This is a knife.”
The thief looks at Dundee’s knife and takes off. What would normally bring fear
did not bring fear to Crocodile Dundee, because he had something bigger and better
working on his side.
Friends, you have someOne, bigger and better working on the inside. Therefore,
God does not want you to be intimidated out of being the person He has saved you to be.
If you are doing the powerful Kingdom work God has called you to do and you have the
Powerful presence of the Holy Spirit, you are a spiritually powerful person.
Many Christians are not engaging the Power in their life... and there wondering why their
Christian experience is so dull or dead.... it’s not because the Spirit is lacking anything, it’s
because we are not allowing the Holy Spirit total control of our lives and living in
communion with Him.
Too many times were trying to get somewhere by using the Spirit’s power only when we
feel like it or when we are in trouble. But it doesn’t work that way.... If you are going to
experience the benefits of the Holy Spirit’s power, He must have more of you. You don’t
need more of Him.... He’s already enough.
The key to enjoying the Spirit’s power is obedience. This is why Jesus told His
disciples that their love for Him would be measured by their obedience. When you and I
obey, the Holy Spirit empowers, because through obedience we join with the Spirit’s
agenda of glorifying Christ.
He is available to make you all He wants you to be, but only as you obey.
Let’s stand this morning, we are going to close in prayer in just a moment, but I want us
to take a moment and as Nola plays.... Just ask the Holy Spirit to convict you of any area
that your not being obedient....... maybe there’s not one.... The Holy Spirit is not going to
make one up..... So if He points out something you can be sure that He’s right. Let’s bow
our heads and just have a time of listening to the Spirits voice......Are there areas of
disobedience? If so... it can be changed....Just Pray and ask God to forgive you for this
disobedience and ask the Holy Spirit to empower you to overcome that failure and to help
you moment by moment to be sensitive to Him.
