The Help That You Need Series

Each one of us needs help from time to time. Of course, for most of us that’s the last thing we’ll do – that is, ask for help. We want to be independent rather than dependent on anyone.

That can be see clearly near the end of life when oftentimes individuals are faced with breaking up house keeping and need to live with another family member – we’ll push it to the limit to keep from having to move in with another. Independence rather than dependence motivates us.

However, God created us to be dependent beings. We are to be dependent on God for everything and interdependent upon one another as human beings.

Another way we refuse the help we need is to the opposite extreme. There are those who in life become dependent on other human beings for everything. That’s what we call co-dependency. But, again – God created us to be dependent upon Him for everything and interdependent upon one another.

So, what is “The Help That You Need.” The help that each one of us needs more than anything else is the help of the HELPER – the Holy Spirit! John 14:26a in the NASB reads, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, who the Father will send in My name…” Helper is one way to translatethe first word in this verae and is one of the names of God. It reveals His character, His attributes, something about God’s nature.

Now this word in my Greek dictionary is Parakletos. It comes from the Greek parakaleo which is the combination of para meaning by the side and kaleo meaning to call, thus to call to one’s side. Parakletos means to call hither, toward or to speak to, to speak cheerfully to, encourage. It is a verbal adjective, that is he who has been or may be called to help, a helper. Jesus indicates that this is whom the Father will send when He returns to the right hand of the Father.

So based on the Word of God let me suggest to you this morning that:

I. You Need the Holy Spirit to Help You Know God

I remember a couple of experiences early in my life when God began teaching me to learn to listen for His voice and to turn to Him for help. One was when I was outside playing on a sunny day. We had a maid, Beulah, who watched over us during the weekdays. Mother of course had 5 children in 6 years and 9 days, so we were door steps and difficult to watch at best.

As I was playing I heard a voice call, “Bruce, Bruce.” Well, I took off running into the house to Beulah as she was ironing and said “Here I am, what do you want?” She replied, “I didn’t call you, go back out and play.” My insistence was, “Yes you did, I heard you call my name.” “I didn’t call you, go back out and play,” Beulah said.

Another time I was riding one of our Shetland ponies, Trigger or Sugarfoot. They were prone to buck you off from time to time and one of those occasions occurred. Well, as I hit the ground I heard someone call my name, “Bruce.” I rolled over to see who it was and no one did I see. However, when I looked back the pony had just stepped where I rolled from. In God’s grace, He was teaching me to learn to listen to His voice and to trust Him to protect me. God was teaching me to depend upon Him for the help I would need in living life.

John 16:5-11 also reveals the truth that:

II. You Need The Holy Spirit to Help You Know

That You’re a Sinner

Without the convicting and convincing presence of the Holy Spirit you will never come to understand that you are a sinner and in need of a Savior. You see, every person who is born into this world is born with an evil nature, a sinful nature. And what does a sinner do? Sin! But the truth is, you’re not a sinner because you sin. It’s the other way around. You commit acts of sin because you are a sinner. You are a sinner because you were born that way. It’s in our spiritual genes. We’ve all inherited Satan’s evil nature. Ancient Israel’s King David referred to this when he said, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5). The fact is, we’re all born sinners. A sinner is a person who is born with an evil nature. And because we’ve all been made sinners by birth, we’ll inevitably live sinfully – unless of course we experience the new birth.

Now, it’s the job of the Holy Spirit to help you know that! It’s His job to convince you and convict you that you are a sinner, that you’re dead to God and alive to Satan. It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convince you that you will die physically one day and go to Hell which was originally prepared for the Devil and his fallen angels, not for mankind.