Purposes Of The Holy Spirit

Like I said last week, we all live with a certain level of stress. Due to our responsibilities and obligations, on a daily basis we are pulled in different directions. And as we were able to determine, the weight of these things slowly begins to fall on our shoulders and that causes our faith to weaken. This is of course due to the constant battle that we all fight on a daily basis with the flesh. This of course is not something easy. The reason why this battle is not something easy is because sometimes we find it difficult to leave behind the old man. It becomes difficult to leave behind old friends, customs, and rituals. But, how can we leave behind the old man for ever? This is the question that we will be exploring today. Today we will discover how we can get rid of the old man, so that we may get to be what god wants us to be. Let’s now turn to the Word of God.

John 16:7-15 - 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. 8And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. 12“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13However, 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. 14He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.

When we skim through these verses, in them we find some words from the Lord that don’t appear to make too much sense. I say this because here we see that the Lord said “It is to your advantage that I go away.” But how could this statement be true? How can the Lord leaving be to our advantage? In all reality there are four excellent reasons that make this statement very true. The first reason is that since Jesus departed from this earth, now we have a glorified and exalted Lord. Now we have the Lord that reigns and controls everything; we have the Lord that keeps His promises and meets our needs. Look carefully to how this is very well reflected in Ephesians 1:20-22 when we read “which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 22And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church.” The second reason is that since Jesus departed from this earth, we now have the Lord that intercedes for us before the throne of the Father. Not only this, but we don’t have an indifferent intercessor, we don’t have an intercessor that does not understand us, but was have the Lord that knows our battles and desires because just like all of us here, He was also tempted. Look carefully at how this is very clearly stated in Hebrews 4:14-16 when we read “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” The third reason is that since Jesus departed from this earth now all of us have obtained the privilege of being called sons of God, and we have received the gift of eternal life. Look at how this is clearly stated in Romans 5:8-10 when we read “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” And also in Galatians 3:26 when we read “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”