John 16:1-15 ā¢ November 11, 2020 ā¢ w1309
Pastor John Miller continues our study through the gospel of John with a message through John 16:1-15 titled, āThe Coming Comforter.ā
We just briefly went from John 16:1-4 last Wednesday night and didnāt really teach on it, but it really ties in with what we covered the week before. Letās read John 16:1-7. Jesus is speaking, āThese things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.ā That statement goes back to John 15. Jesus has been speaking to them about the worldly persecution, opposition, and hatred that will be vented on them by the world. He says, āI told you these things that you would not be offended,ā in my King James Bible the word is scandalizo, where we get our word stumble or to be tripped. Heās saying, āI donāt want you to be offended,ā or stumbled or scandaled, āI want you to be aware of what is yet future.ā
Verse 2, āThey shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service,ā notice that He affirmed that they would be killed. All of the apostles but the apostle John suffered martyrdom. It says, āAnd these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.ā It makes it very clear that their anger and hatred is because they know not the Father or Him.
Verse 4, āBut these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I go my way to him that sent me,ā referring to the Father, āand none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?ā in other words, youāre not really specifically asking Me where youāre going or delving into where Iām going. They were upset that He was leaving, and when He said that He was going to the Father, He said, āIām the way, the truth, and the life,ā but they didnāt really go on to inquire or question about that thing.
Verse 6, āBut because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient,ā or profitable or beneficial, āfor you that I go away,ā they probably didnāt believe that, but thatās the truth, and He explains why, āfor if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart,ā or I go away, āI will send him unto you.ā In reality, John 15 ends at John 16:4, but all of it continues to flow and tie together by Jesusā warning them about the persecution that they will endure. He breaks it down and says, āThey shall put you out of the synagogues.ā In John 9, there was a blind man healed, and he was giving Jesus credit for healing him. What did they do? They excommunicated him, which was a very serious thing to happen to a Jew, to be excommunicated from the synagogue, so they put him out of the synagogue. Then, He says, āā¦the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you,ā and we know that Stephen and James were martyred, āwill think that he doeth God service.ā What a great description of Saul of Tarshish, who became Paul the Apostle. He was actually killing Christians thinking that he was doing a service for God, which goes to show you that itās not enough just to be sincere, you must be right as well. A lot of people are sincere, but theyāre sincerely wrong. Itās not enough just to say, āIām sincere,ā you must be right; and Saul was wrong about Jesus and who He was.
Jesus says, āBut these things have I told you,ā because I donāt want you to be stumbled or offended, āBut because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.ā He continues to deal with a group of disciples that were filled with sorrow. Jesus now makes it clear that He is leaving them and was going back to the Father. In verse 6, āBut because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.ā You can imagine how they were heavy-hearted.
The phrase āsorrow hath filled your heart,ā literally in the Greek gives the idea that thereās room for nothing else. It has completely captivated and controlled them, and thereās room for nothing else. I donāt know if youāve ever been there, I have and Iām sure you have, when youāre just filled with grief, sorrow, worry, or fear, and thereās not any room for anything else. It just completely consumes you. Jesus is going to move into the doctrine of the Holy Spirit which I believe is the answer for a sorrowful heart. In John 14, He said, āLet not your heart be troubled,ā sorrowful or afraid, āye believe in God, believe also in me.ā He went on to describe that thereās a place called heaven that He would prepare and come again to take us to heaven, so having your mind on heaven can heal a sorrowful heart. At this point, He mentions to them that Heās going to send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, because in their sorrow, grief, and fear thereās nothing more important for us than to be filled with the Holy Spirit and let His comfort come into our lives as we rely upon His strength and His power.
Jesus is going to move into the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. What He does is actually say, āIt is expedient,ā good, āfor you that I go away,ā verse 7. As I pointed out, they probably thought, Yeah, thatās easy for You to say. How can it be good for us that Youāthe Messiah, the Mashiach, the Anointed One, the One who came to deliver Israelāare going away? We want You to stay, overthrow the Romans, set up Your Kingdom, and sit on the throne of David. In verse 7, Jesus says, āIt is expedient,ā or profitable, āfor you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you,ā if I donāt go away. This is something thatās important to understand theologically and biblically that Jesus had to leave and go to heaven and be exalted at the right hand of God the Father.
Something you donāt hear a lot taught, preached, or mentioned, that is, not only do we have in the Bible the incarnation, which is a latin word that we use for God becoming flesh, (thatās what the word incarnate means, in flesh, God became a man) we also have the crucifixion where Jesus died on the cross for our sins. We all know those doctrines well. Then, we have the resurrection. I donāt know why, itās not even Thanksgiving and Iām getting excited about Easter right now, maybe because Iāve been so cold lately. Itās like, āEaster, come quickly.ā I actually view Easter, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, as the grandest of all. Yes, thank God Jesus came and thank God Jesus died; but if He hadnāt risen from the dead, it would mean nothing. All our hopes are built on an empty tomb. If youāve ever been to Israel and had the privilege of going to the Garden Tomb and walking into that tomb and seeing He is gone, Heās not there, joy and praise comes to your lips that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead.
Not only do we have the resurrection, but then we have whatās called the ascension. Years ago I did a study in depth on the ascension of Christ and was just blown away about all the implications that Christ ascended visibly, bodily, back into heaven. You can read the event in Acts 1. Not only do we have the ascension, but it goes one step further, we have whatās called the exaltation; that is, Jesus seated at the right hand of God the Father, which is the place of power and the place of honor and the place of authority. Jesus didnāt go back to heaven and just kind of hang out. He went back to heaven and is seated in the place of authority. Thatās why when we say, āJesus is sitting on the throne,ā itās so true. He became a man, died for our sins, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and right now Heās exalted at the right hand of God the Father. And, guess what? Heās coming back! Amen? He is coming back, and we should never lose that blessed hope of the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
In order for the Holy Spirit to come, Jesus had to leave. If Jesus had stayed on earth, then He could only be with His disciples bodily at one place at one time; but if He would go to heaven and send the Spiritā¦now, if God the Father (weāre going to get a lot of Trinity doctrine tonight) sent God the Son, and He went back to heaven, then God the Son sent God the Holy Spirit. God the Father sends God the Son, God the Son goes back to heaven and sends God the Holy Spirit; and He comes in His fullness, in His power on the day of Pentecost. Very few Christians understand the full significance of Pentecost, Acts 2. We get all enamored by the speaking in tongues and the sound of the great wind, but that was the birthday of the church. That was the day the church was born and the body of Christ was formed; and Christ, the head, became the living head of His living church. All that the Holy Spiritās doing in the world today is in, through, and by His church; and we go out with Godās powerful Word and we proclaim. Weāre going to see tonight that the three main aspects of the Holy Spiritās work in the world is all using His Word as He works through the church.
Thereās so many little avenues and roads that are going through my mind right now. If I seem like Iām rabbit trailing just a little bit, itās because all this theological truth just comes together in this passage where, āI will send him unto you,ā the Comforter, verse 7, āfor if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.ā Jesus promised to send the Comforter. I want to get a little background before we break down verses 7-15. Turn with me to John 14:26. I want to show you who the Comforter is. In this verse, Jesus said, āBut the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,ā Spirit, āwhom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.ā I just wanted to point out in verse 26, we covered it a couple of weeks ago, that the Comforter is the Holy Spirit.
The word āComforterā is the Greek word parakletos which means someone who comes alongside of you to comfort, help, and strengthen you. If you had a real difficult task ahead of you and a friend calls and says, āIām going with you tomorrow. Iām going to be with you and Iām going to hold your hand,ā or āyou can lean on me,ā thatās the Holy Spirit. Wherever we go, Heās there to lean on, to help us, to carry us through.
Look at John 15:26, āBut when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father,ā Jesus sends Him from the Father, thatās why He makes reference to the Father sends Him in My name, āeven the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: 27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.ā Again, He mentions the parakletos, the Comforter.
Let me give you some bullet points, rapid fire, about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Godhead. I mentioned the Trinity, we have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. There are different ways to describe that, but thatās, I believe, the most theologically biblically accurate. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spiritāthree separate Persons, all of them divine but only one God. I know that this is hard to get your mind wrapped around, but thatās basically what the Bible teaches. We donāt have to understand that, we just have to accept that. In this technologically complex culture that we live in today, thereās a lot I donāt understand.
I was in my car the other day, and it has one of those screens on the dashboard thatās a computer with all this information. My son-in-law was typing stuff into that and I said, āIāve been driving this car for six years, and Iāve never even touched that screen.ā I thought I might have a low tire. He says, āHey Dad, you can check your tires,ā Iām like, āWhoa! Wow! I didnāt know that.ā I have a smartphone, but Iām a dumb guy. I have a computer and know how to turn it on and just do a couple of simple things. It has all this ability, but it just kind of lies dormant because I donāt know what Iām doing.
The Holy Spirit is the parakletos, the Comforter, the third member of the Godhead. I donāt understand, but I worship Him. I love that hymn where we sing, God in three Persons, Blessed Trinity! How beautiful that is. I donāt have to understand God. If God were small enough for me to understand, He wouldnāt be big enough to meet my needs or to be God; so we just worship our triune God.
Secondly, the Holy Spirit is a Person. In John 14:6, we have the personal pronoun āhe.ā As a matter of fact, all through this passage tonight and in every verse about the Holy Spirit, āAnd when the Comforter is comeā¦he shall testify of me.ā Thatās a personal pronoun. In the Greek itās the word ekeinos, āhe shall testify of me,ā not it. The Holy Spirit is not a force, Heās the third Person of the Godhead. He is also divine. He is God. In John 14:16, Jesus said, āAnd I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter,ā and we pointed out then that the āanotherā there means another of the same kind. Also, in John 14:17, the reference āā¦for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.ā Thatās my fifth point. He dwells with you, He is in you.
Every Christian has the Holy Spirit living inside of them. This is why I donāt believe itās accurate to ask a born again Christian, which is the only kind of Christians there are, if you have the Holy Spirit. If they donāt have the Holy Spirit, theyāre not a Christian. Sometimes theyāre referring to the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and I understand that, but every Christian has the Holy Spirit. The question actually should be: Does the Holy Spirit have you, not do you have Him, but does He have you? Is He controlling and empowering your life? He is in every believer. Write down Romans 8:9, āNow if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.ā Lastly, in Ephesians 5:18, He wants to fill the believer, and the Scriptures command Christians there to āā¦be filled with the Spirit.ā
Turn back with me to John 16, and letās talk about what the Holy Spirit will do when He comes. Jesus said, āIāve got to leave you so that I can send the Comforter; and if I donāt leave you, then the Comforter will not come.ā What will He do? Three things. He will convict, verse 8; He will guide, verse 13; and He will glorify, verse 14. āAnd when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment,ā weāre going to look at it, and, āā¦he will guide you into all truth,ā and then āHe shall glorify me,ā Jesus Christ. All three of them He does through the Word of God. If youāre taking notes, write down the first, He will convict the world, verses 8-11. He comes into the world to convict the world. What you also have here in these three categories is the Holy Spirit convicting the unbelieving world of sin; the Holy Spirit and the believer, guiding them in truth; and then you have the Holy Spirit and Jesus, glorifying Jesus, all again, through the Word.
Letās read verse 8. He says, āAnd when he is come,ā again the personal pronoun āhe,ā āhe will reprove,ā the word better translated convict or convince, āthe world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 Of sin, because they believe not on me; 10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. 12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.ā I wanted to stop at verse 11, āOf judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.ā Notice in verse 7, Jesus said, āā¦I will send him unto you,ā and in verse 8, āAnd when he is come,ā so Jesus sends the Spirit, the Spirit comes.
Now, you might say, āWell, I thought the Holy Spirit, being God, is omnipresent and Heās everywere,ā and you would be right. āWell, why would Jesus say, āHe will come to you?ā If Heās omnipresent, Heās in the world, Heās everywhere.ā God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit all possess the same divine attributes; that is, Theyāre all-present, except for when Jesus laid that aside and took on humanity. Jesus is referring to, and this is what I was alluding to earlier, the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost to be in the world in the body of Christ, the believers, in a unique way He was not in the Old Testament.
The church is a New Testament doctrine. Itās referred to in the Bible as a mystery. A mystery is something that in ages past was not made known but is now made known unto the people of God. Was the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament? Yes. It is my conviction that in the Old Testament believers could have the Holy Spirit in them but werenāt regenerated like we are today in the church. The Holy Spirit didnāt come to live in all Christians. He didnāt abide inside of them. He would come on kings, on priests, on prophets, but He could leave them, too. Thatās why David said in Psalm 51, after he committed sin with Bathsheba, āā¦and take not thy holy spirit from me.ā
I donāt believe the Holy Spirit will be taken from a Christian. Once youāve been regenerated He comes to abide with you forever and youāre sealed until the day of redemption; but you can grieve Him, quench Him, lie to Him, and you can blaspheme Him. I only say that because you need to understand that the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament and His work was different in the world than it is in the New Testament. Thatās why weāre so privileged today. Even John the Baptist didnāt have privileges that we have, that we can actually be the temple of the living God, that He can abide in us. He abides in us individually and corporately as the church. Thatās why thereās the dynamic when Christians gather, like we have tonight, because we all have the Holy Spirit, we are all the temple of God, and Christ is among us in a glorious and special way.
Jesus is referring to Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit would come in His fullness. He would fill and baptize them into the body of Christ and unite them to Christ the living head. The Holy Spirit does not work in a vacuum, He uses the individual believer and the church, the body of Christ, as a witness in the world today. When Jesus was leaving in Acts 1, He said, āā¦and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.ā What we do today, we do in the power of the Holy Spirit as His church in evangelizing, in witnessing, in preaching, and teaching the Word of God.
The Holy Spirit is come, in this passage, verse 8, āā¦he will reprove,ā or convict, āthe world of sin,ā stop right there. The word āreproveā or convict means to rebuke or to place guilt or prove guilt or blame on an individual. What itās talking about is the non-Christian comes under conviction or becomes convinced that they are a sinner before God. Now, thereās no way to become a Christian or be converted without the Spirit doing this in the heart of an individual. You canāt manipulate or trick them or just say, āPray a prayer. Jesus, come into my heart,ā and, āwelcome to the family of God. Youāre saved.ā No. They must first come to God borne out of a sense of sinfulness; and they will only have that sense of sinfulness, if itās a work of the Holy Spirit and they have a Godward conviction, āIām a sinner. I need God.ā
I will never forget, Lord willing, as long as Iām alive and I have my faculties, how as a senior in high school I just came under conviction. I was having a good time until that happened. I couldnāt party anymore. I couldnāt do what I wanted to do anymore. I just became convicted. The night I graduated from high school, all my friends were going to party and have a great big bash. I went home, sat in my bedroom, opened up my sisterās little paperback Bible she left on my bed (which I still have in my office), and I just read and wept. I couldnāt figure out whatās happening. Whatās going on? Whatās going on with me? Whatās happening? It was such an amazing time in my life because all of the sudden I had this awareness, I am a sinner, I need God in my life. I am going to hell if I donāt repent, if I donāt trust Jesus. Thatās what the Holy Spirit does, and what a blessing that is when He comes and convicts and convinces you.
I want to point something out in verse 9, and weāll get there in just a second, āsinā is singular. āOf sin, because they believe not on me,ā and in verse 8, āā¦he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.ā It doesnāt say, āsins,ā it says āsin.ā Heās not just convicting you because youāre getting drunk or sleeping around or you have a filthy mouth or youāre stealing things, He comes to convict you of sin, that you are separated from God, in a deep and powerful and profound way. Those are the fruits of being a sinner. Heās not talking about individual sins, Heās talking about just that youāre a sinner before God because you inherited that sin nature from Adam. He comes to convict the world of sin. What a blessing that is.
Itās not our job to convince somebody theyāre a sinner. If you have an unsaved friend or family member or someone youāre trying to share the gospel with and youāre praying for their salvation, these verses are your powerful prayer weapon. Get on your knees and say, āLord, convince them they are a sinner and they need You. Convince them of their unrighteousness. Convince them theyāre headed for judgment so that they will turn to You and get saved.ā Thatās the only way you can be converted. If you come to Jesus like, āYeah, Iāll try Him out. That sounds cool. I want to be part of the gang,ā you donāt come borne out of a sinful heart. Thatās why the Beatitudes where, āBlessed are the poor in spirit,ā starts with that. Completely poverty-stricken before God, you must come as a sinner. You must come and reach out an empty hand and take what only Christ can give.
What does the Holy Spirit convict the world of? Three things. Notice it in verse 8, āā¦of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.ā Now He breaks it down for us. Letās look at the three categories. Verse 9, āOf sin, because they believe not on me,ā when Jesus describes this, it could be a little bit of a challenge to understand what Heās saying here. Simply stated, Heās saying that the sin is not so much the individual sins youāre committing, but itās the sin of unbelief. Itās the sin of not trusting or believing or putting your faith in Me. Youāre a sinner, and the only way to be saved is to put your faith in Jesus Christ. Notice what Jesus said, āOf sin, because they believe not on me.ā Itās not so much the individual sins that youāre committing, itās the fact that you are not trusting and believing in Jesus Christ.
Now, I believe that this is tied in with the unpardonable sin which is the continual, ongoing rejection of Jesus Christ. The unpardonable sin isnāt getting super drunk, and Iām not by any means encouraging that by the way. Donāt take my words out of context. The unpardonable sin isnāt sexual immorality, although itās sin and separates you from God. The unpardonable sin isnāt saying something bad. The unpardonable sin is not believing in Jesus. The only sin that will damn your soul to hell is the sin that you wonāt repent of, that is, believing in Jesus Christ saying, āI donāt trust Him. I donāt believe Him. I donāt put my faith in Him.ā You canāt go to heaven. You canāt be saved. Jesus makes it clear here that they will be convicted because theyāre not believing or trusting in Jesus Christ. In John 3:16, it says it so well, āFor God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.ā If you donāt believe in Him, you will perish; so He convinces you that you have not trusted Jesus, you havenāt believed in Him.
Then notice the second sin, verse 10, āOf righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more,ā again, as you read that you say, āI donāt know what āgo to my Father, and see me no moreā has to do with righteousness.ā What Jesus means is the fact that He goes back to heaven, ascends back to the Father, is an indication that He is righteous and is accepted back to heaven by the Father. Let me put it this way: He is the righteous standard that God the Father will accept. How righteous must I be? As righteous as Jesus. Impossible, except, back up to verse 9, by believing. Heās actually saying, āThe fact that I ascend back into heaven means that this is the acceptable standard of righteousness; and if you donāt have that righteousness, which has to be imputed to you by faith, you canāt get to heaven.ā Write down Philippians 3:9 where Paul says, āā¦not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith,ā it only comes by believing in Him. Thatās the righteous standard.
Thirdly, in verse 11, āOf judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.ā So, verse 9, āOf sin, because they believe not on me; 10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.ā Who is āthe prince of this world?ā The āprince of this worldā is referring to satan. Earlier in the gospel, we actually got that he was called the āprince of this worldā where he was cast out as the āprince of this world.ā Satan has been judged; and if God the Father has judged the devil, He will judge all those who reject God the Son, Jesus Christ. If God judged the devil, He will judge you. Itās actually a reference to the judgment that will come.
Now, satan is still loose and wreaking havoc in the world, but guess what? Heās already lost. Iāve heard of satanists who believe that theyāre going to win in the endāhow deceived can you be? Heās already been defeated. Havenāt you heard about the resurrection? Demons were celebrating when Jesus was crucified, and three days later they were not very happy. Up from the grave He arose, and in the cross Jesus defeated the devil. Heās divested him of his power. Heās only waiting for His coming again when He will actually bind satan for a thousand years, heāll be loosed for a short season to tempt those in the Millennium, but then he will again be thrown into the lake of fire which burns forever and ever and ever. Satan is the defeated foeāhe cannot win, he will not win.
The judgment is a reference to the future judgment. So, sin, then I need His righteousness, I will be judged. These are the things the Holy Spirit does in the world to convince and convict unbelievers, āYou need Jesus Christ.ā We canāt trick or manipulate people into heaven or conversion, we must pray that Godās Holy Spirit convicts them, draws them, saves them, and brings them out of a sense of sinfulness and the judgment of God. I want you to note the logical order here. As I said, theyāre sinners, they need righteousness, and the judgment is coming. God doesnāt just convict us because He wants to make us miserable, He convicts us so He may convert us.
Weāre going to move through these second two points quickly; that is, secondly, He comes to guide us, verse 13. He says, āHowbeit,ā however, āwhen he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you,ā thereās that phrase. First, He will convince or convict; secondly, He will guide. Now, Heās speaking to believers and what He does for Christians. It says, āā¦he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.ā Jesus actually says that the Spirit of truth will come. Heās coming to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment; and then Heās coming to guide the believer into truth. Heās the Spirit of truth. Verse 13, He comes to guide us into all truth. How does He do that? Through the Bible, the Word of God; not just subjectively, but in the clear teaching of the apostles as found in the Scriptures which He inspires.
I want to break it down for you, verse 13, āā¦he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself,ā the second thing, ābut whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak,ā and thirdly, āhe will shew you things to come.ā All of these three in verse 13 tie in with the Bible and the Holy Spirit. If you want to understand the Bible, you have to understand the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit inspired the authors of Scripture. In 2 Timothy 3:16 the Spirit of God actually spoke through them. It says, āAll scripture is given by inspiration of God,ā that word āinspirationā means to breathe out, so they breathed out the ScripturesāGod breathed out, the Holy Spirit, they wrote the Scriptures. In 2 Peter 1:21, they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. When it says, āā¦he will guide you into all truth,ā no doubt, the disciples writing the Scriptures would have truth from the Spirit of truth; and the Bible doesnāt lie, itās the Spirit of truth. When we study the Bible, He leads us into truth.
The Holy Spirit āshall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hearā¦and he will shew you things to come.ā Itās speaking of the Scriptures and the revelation under the inspiration of the Spirit that is recorded in the teaching of the apostles and in the Scriptures and then out to the book of Revelation itself. So, we have the doctrine of inspiration, the doctrine of revelation, and we also have the doctrine of preservation, that He will show us the truth and things to come.
How does the Holy Spirit guide, teach, and lead us? By the Bible, Godās Wordāillumination, application, transformation. We have inspiration, then we read the Bible and it gives illumination, then the Spirit of God brings personal application and it results in the transformation of our lives. Youāve heard me say it many times: The Spirit of God works through the Word of God to transform the child of God into the image of the Son of God.
Thirdly, what is the Spirit doing in the world? Well, hereās the third statement, āHe shall glorify me,ā verses 14-15, āfor he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.ā When they wrote the Scriptures, the Spirit of God showed them, brought things to their remembrance, and they wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which is God superintending the human authors so the things they wrote were the very words of God.
I know Iām repeating myself, but I want to drive home these points. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment; guides the believer into truth, transforms their lives and guides them in His Word; and thirdly, He comes to glorify Jesus. The primary way that He does that is in the pages of the Bible and in the lives of Christians. Jesus Christ is glorified in His Word. Jesus said, āSearch the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they,ā that is, the Scriptures, āare they which testify of me,ā they point to Me. Thatās why if you want to get closer to Jesus, if you want to be more like Jesus, if you want to be more in love with Jesus, spend time in the Book, the Bible, the Word of God.
You canāt just throw the Bible on a shelf and say, āItās just me and you, Jesus, just hanging out. Everythingās cool. Weāre going to hang out. Itās just going to be me and You,ā and Godās just going to come and reveal Himself to you. Heās going to show up in your room while youāre shaving and talk to you or something. I know He can do that, but thatās not really how it often works. We donāt have personal visitations or manifestations. He comes to us in the Person of His Spirit, and His Spirit works through the Scriptures. He doesnāt just work in a void. If you want more of God in your life, the Spirit of God or the power of God, immerse yourself in Godās Word and surrender daily to the Holy Spiritās power.
This āā¦glorify me,ā brings us right back again to the Bible. Like a spotlight, the Spirit focuses on Jesus yet calls no attention to Himself. I mentioned it last week I think it was, where we talked about the work of the Spirit is to glorify Jesus. Thatās what the Spirit has come to do, Heās come to glorify Jesus.
Let me give you an example in the Old Testament when Abraham sent his servant to get a wife for his son Isaac. The servant encountered Rebecca. What does the Bible say the servant told Rebecca about Isaac? Heās amazing. Heās awesome, and pulls out jewelry and talks about his majesty, splendor, glory, and all that stuff. What does the Holy Spirit do today but talk about Jesus. Amen? He talks about Jesus, and His beauty, His loveliness, and His glory. Thatās what the work of the Holy Spirit is todayāto magnify and to glorify Jesus. Again, how does He do that? In the Bible, in the church, and in the individual believerās life.
This is why the church is so important. On the day of Pentecost, the church was born; at the rapture, the church will leave this world. Do you think this world is pretty crazy right now? If you were to be here, and I hope and pray to God youāre not, but if you were to be in this world after the rapture, it will be the darkest most demonic, wicked time in human history. Jesus said, āAnd except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved.ā It will be the darkest most demonically energized period in human history because the church, the light of the world, is taken out, the salt of the earth is taken out. What a horrible place to be.
Itās all about right now the fact that the church is in the world, a city set on a hill. We have the Holy Spirit, we have Godās Word, weāre light in the midst of darkness, and weāre to let our light shine; so we need to hang onto that truth. No matter how dark the world gets, weāre still in the world, weāre not of the world, weāre to let our light shine, and weāre to walk in the power of His Spirit. Weāre to be filled (Ephesians 5:18) with the Spirit. What does the Spirit come to do? Verse 8, āAnd when he is come, he will reprove,ā convict the unbeliever, āof sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.ā He comes to guide the believer āinto all truth,ā speak to the believer of the glories of Christ, and (verse 14) āHe shall glorify,ā or extol or magnify Jesus Christ. Again, all three of these are in, by, and through His precious Word. Letās pray.
Pastor John Miller continues our study through the gospel of John with a message through John 16:1-15 titled, āThe Coming Comforter.ā