The Work of the Holy Spirit
John 16
5"Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ’Where are you going?’ 6Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. 7But 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.
8When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; 10in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
12"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13But 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. 14He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. (New International Version)
We all know the Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity, but what is His role in the life of the believer. Jesus shared with His disciples on His last night with them before He was crucified about the Holy Spirit and how He would strengthen them in adversity.
No doubt the disciples would become afraid and disillusioned when Christ was arrested and crucified. They had spent three years with Him, and suddenly the One whom they believed to be Messiah would be taken away from them. What would they do?
Of course we know that after the crucifixion of Christ, He rose again and spent some time with the disciples, but He soon ascended into Heaven. I am sure after the ascension the disciples must have felt all alone again. Jesus knew the disciples would feel alone, but He also knew they would not be alone.
He knew the Holy Spirit would come and empower them to do the same work He did on the earth. On that last night with the disciples Jesus explained the role the Holy Spirit would play in their lives. Jesus listed three tasks the Holy Spirit would do in His work on earth.
I. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin (Jn 16:8-11)
John 16
“When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; 10in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.”
The American Heritage dictionary defines convict as meaning to “find or prove guilty of a crime.” The Greek word for convict is elencho. This word can mean to “expose, rebuke, convince, or prove guilty.” The Spirit does not merely point out our sin, but rather brings us to an undeniable realization of our shame and guilt before God.
Indeed, conviction of sin occurs when we see ourselves in the light of a Holy God. In the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a science fiction book written by Douglas Adams, there is a device that is considered the worst form of torture a person could be subjected to—the Perspective Vortex.
What the Perspective Vortex does is show its victims the entire infinite, unimaginable universe, and where they are in perspective to it all with a tiny marker that says “You are here.” The shock of beings seeing themselves in perspective to the entire universe would be so great that it would destroy their brains.
The main character of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is Zaphod Beeblebrox, an alien with two heads and an ego of cosmic proportions. Well, at one point in the book, Zaphod is sent into the Perspective Vortex. Instead of being destroyed by it, however, he comes out thinking he is the greatest thing in the universe.
When I think of the reality of facing God, however, it is quite a different story. God in one way is like the perspective vortex in Douglas Adams’ story. When we stand before God in light of His holiness and majesty, we see ourselves for who we really are. In our sinfulness, we are completely undone in the light of a Holy God. This is what happened to the prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah 6
Isaiah’s Commission
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory."
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." (New International Version)
Isaiah in this passage says: "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined!” He says the word “Woe!” which in Hebrew means ôy, which can be translated alas or in trouble. This is a strong word in the Hebrew. Brown-Driver-Briggs states that it is an “impassioned expression of grief and despair.” Isaiah also says that he is ruined. The Hebrew word for ruined is dâmâh. This word also has a very strong meaning. It can mean ruined, undone, be brought to silence, or destroyed. This is the same word used for destroy in Jeremiah 6:2:
“I will destroy (dâmâh) the Daughter of Zion, so beautiful and delicate.” –NIV
In Isaiah 6:5, Isaiah is literally saying that he is devastated. Isaiah is a prophet of God. Isaiah is probably one of the most righteous men in all of Israel; and yet, when he stands in the light of a Holy God, all he can see in himself is depravity. He is completely devastated with the presence of sin in his life. Isaiah would later write:
Isaiah 64
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away. (New International Version)
There is the idea among people today that if they are basically good, they can get to Heaven, but this is a lie from Hell. I am sure that Isaiah was more righteous than most people. How many people do you know get a vision from God like Isaiah or even the calling he had? Nevertheless, even Isaiah saw the depravity of his sin in light of a Holy God.
We may not have a vision of Heaven that Isaiah had, but the Holy Spirit is here to show us what Isaiah discovered—the depravity of his sin. We then realize the truth that is in Romans 3:23: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (New International Version)
What is the convicting role of the Holy Spirit?
A. He reveals our sin
B. He reveals our depraved state in relation to God
C. He convinces us that we need salvation
D. He reveals that Jesus is the only way of salvation for us
II. The Holy Spirit guides us in all truth
“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.”—John 16:13
A second role the Holy Spirit has is in guiding us in all truth. Jesus knew the disciples would be confused and afraid when He left them, He wanted to assure them the Holy Spirit would come into their lives as a guide to direct them in all truth as He had.
The Holy Spirit is there to guide us in a dark and confusing world.
Illustration: You may remember Jim Lovell as one of the astronauts of Apollo 13. He was portrayed by Tom Hanks in the movie, Apollo 13. Before the Apollo 13 mission he was asked by an interviewer if he had ever had a close call while he was a pilot, and this was the story he shared.
“I remember this one time I’m in a banshee at night in combat conditions, so there’s no running lights on the carrier. It was the Shangri-La and we were in the Sea of Japan. My radar had jammed and my homing signal was gone because somebody in Japan was actually using the same frequency. So it was leading me away from where I was supposed to be, and I am looking down at a big black ocean.
“So I flip on my map light, then suddenly, zap, everything shorts out right there in my cockpit. All my instruments are gone, my lights are gone, and I can’t tell even what my altitude is. I know I am running out of fuel, so I am thinking about ditching in the ocean.
"I look down, and then in the darkness, there’s this green trail. It’s like a long carpet that’s just laid out beneath me. It was the algae—it was that phosphorescent stuff that gets churned up in the wake of a big ship. It was leading me home.
“If my cockpit lights hadn’t shorted out there’s no way I would have been able to see that. You never know what events that transpire to get you home.”
The Holy Spirit works like that algae that led Jim Lovell back to his carrier. He leads us in uncertainty. He illuminates the path before us. He leads us to follow in the footsteps. He leads us home. It says in Psalm 23:3: “He guides in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”
I like to think of the Holy Spirit as like a white water river guide. Recently, I was reading about white water rafting and the role river guides have in this sport. Before embarking upon a white water course, participants are briefed on various commands by the guide.
When the guide calls out left turn or right turn, rafters need to be ready to respond to the command. When the guide calls out “Stop,” rafters are to just relax and let the raft float until the guide decides what to do next.
The guide may call out “Back Paddle,” the strongest stroke a paddler can employ. In a frantic situation, the guide may call out “High Side!” He or she will do this when the boat is about to be wrapped onto a rock or pulled into a brewing eddy. Rafters are to immediately respond to this command by shifting their weight to the high side.
Another command a guide may give is “Dig.” When the raft gets stuck in a hole where the foam is, rafters can paddle all day and get nowhere. They have to paddle deeper over the side until they reach the force of fast moving water.
The point is that rafters really have to trust and obey the commands of their guides. White water river guides know the course of the river. Experienced river guides know where eddies and sharp rocks are. They know the course of the river and the hazards of the river.Most importantly, they know what their crews need to do to avoid those hazards.
In much the same way, the Holy Spirit guides us down the river of life. Like the white water guide, the Holy Spirit will call out to us to paddle this way or that way to avoid a dangerous rock or eddy.
He will call out to us "Dig!" to paddle deeper when we are stuck in a hole and He will call out to us “High Side!” when we approach a situation perilous to our spiritual lives.
The problem is that we don’t take the time to listen to our River Guide. We think that we can steer the boat on our own and that often gets us into trouble. Most of us would never think of going white water rafting without an experienced river guide; and yet, many of us often try to traverse the river of life without listening to our Guide.
III. The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus
John 16
“He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.”
I sometimes think this is one the church has forgotten. We see among some Charismatic and Pentecostal churches such a strong emphasis on the Holy Spirit. I believe there are many good Charismatic and Pentecostal churches; however, there are some who seek the presence of the Holy Spirit so they can receive spiritual gifts.
It becomes in these churches spiritual gifts that get the spotlight and not Jesus. There are some that seek the Holy Spirit so that their churches will grow and become renowned for being “Spirit-filled churches.”
There are pastors that seek the Holy Spirit so they will be exalted from the pulpit. Unfortunately, there is a groupie mentality where some of these “Spirit-filled” evangelists are concerned. I have attended services led by such evangelists. Unfortunately, more attention is directed to the evangelist in the expensive suit than to Jesus.
Again, I am not saying that all Pentecostal and Charismatic pastors are bad—there are many good ones. The point, however, is that the Holy Spirit does not move upon individuals or even churches so that they will be glorified. I feel that many evangelical pastors also seek the Holy Spirit so that their ministries will be exalted.
We as believers, however, need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, not so that we will be exalted, but rather so that Jesus will be glorified in our lives. If we get noticed, glory to God! If not, that’s OK, too. The point is that Jesus needs to be glorified in our lives. The glory of Jesus is what many in the world are seeking, not a contrived glory that we see in many churches and ministries today.
James Packer shares the story of how he was meditating on the Holy Spirit one night before a message:
“I remember walking to church one winter evening to preach on the words, “He will glorify me” (John 16:14), seeing the building floodlit as I turned a corner, and realizing that this was exactly the illustration my message needed. When floodlighting is well done, the floodlights are placed so that you do not see them; in fact, you are not supposed to see where the light is coming from; what you are meant to see is just the building on which the floodlights are trained.
"The intended effect is to make it visible when otherwise it would not be seen for the darkness, and to maximize its dignity by throwing all its details into relief so that you can see it properly. This perfectly illustrated the Spirit’s new covenant role. He is, so to speak, the hidden floodlight shining on the Savior.” (Your Father Loves You by James Packer, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986, page for February 1)
The function of the Holy Spirit is thus to convict us of sin, lead us in the footsteps of Jesus, and to glorify Jesus in the world and in our lives.
