June 5, 2016 Praise God for the Joy of today.

John 16: 5-15 Spirit of Truth

John 16: 5-15 Spirit of Truth

In John 16: 5-15, Jesus is talking to His disciples on the night before He is crucified. The disciples are heartbroken to hear He is leaving. They are scared to death. They are shocked and baffled, confused and disoriented. Their Master, their Lord, the miracle working Son of God, is going to be taken away from them. They understand nothing and it makes no sense to them at all. They are waiting for an explanation. In these stressful moments Jesus says, “But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, Where are you going? But because I said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart” (16:5-6). He has told them He is going back to the Father but they are preoccupied with their own fate. This caused them to miss the positive implications of Jesus’ departure.

His departure had great implications for them and for the continuation of His mission. They were caught up with their own sorrows. Consequently, they don’t realize that Jesus’ departure and their own suffering is the best in the spiritual realm. What seems like the worst thing may actually be the best thing. In 16:7, Jesus says, “But 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 go, I will send Him to you.” Why is it better to have the presence of the Helper? Because the Holy Spirit will not only be with them as Jesus has been, but in them as well (cf. 17:23, 26). We tend to think that it would have been more advantages to have lived when Jesus lived, to have seen Him, touched Him, and heard Him.

But it’s more advantages that He left and sent the Holy spirit But it’s more advantages that He left and sent the Holy spirit. Even with the Holy spirit the presence of Jesus is with us, inside each and every believer right now. These are the best days to be living in. Jesus now speaks of two major advantages of the Spirit’s coming: He convicts the world (16:8-11) and He will reveal truth, therefore communicating to believers (16:12-15). First, Jesus focuses His attention on how the Holy Spirit convicts the world. In 16:8, Jesus says, “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” Verse 8 summarizes the Holy Spirit’s role in the world. The word convict comes from the drama of a courtroom trial. It refers to what a prosecuting attorney does.

An attorney argues the case piles up fact upon fact, truth upon truth, irresistibly building his case till the defendant is found guilty. It’s done in such a way that even the defendant says, “I admit it. I confess. I am guilty.” Jesus expounds on 16:8 in 16:9-11. Jesus explains what it means to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. 1) Concerning sin-because they do not believe in me. 2) Concerning righteousness-because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me. 3) Concerning judgment-because the ruler of this world has been judged.

Knowing this we must: (1) Pray for those in your life who have yet to believe in Christ. (2) Proclaim Christ as the only way to God. (3) Share the bad news before you share the God news. So the first major advantage of the Spirit’s coming is His involvement with the world. The second major advantage of the Spirit’s coming is that He communicates the truth (16:12-15)

In 16:12 Jesus says, “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” Speaking to the disciples, knowing they are distracted and disillusioned, understanding the juncture of their spiritual maturity He say this. He longs to share the truth but He will only do so only when they are able. In 16:13, Jesus says, “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” This is not a promise to the individual believer or the church at large. This is a promise to these eleven men, which as we know benefits the church at large.

This is not a promise to guide them into what ever of this world they might want to know but the truth about God’s Son. In Christ we receive knowledge in spiritual decision making, the Christian walk, God himself, and all the knowledge we need to withstand our enemy, and experience the blessings in Christ Jesus. Church you hold in your hand the promise Christ made to the eleven. The Holy Spirit of truth came and revealed to them and other chosen ones like Paul, God’s will for us. That is the foundation the church is built upon even as we sit here today. The very will of Christ, the Holy spirit has shared for us to know even what Christ would have wanted to say to the Apostles on that night before He was betrayed.

In 16:14 Jesus says, “He will glorify Me, for He will take of mine and will disclose it to you.” The Holy Spirit’s primary job description is to glorify Jesus. In 16:15 Jesus says, “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.” Here there Spirit is seen in complete submission to and in harmony with the Son and the Father. The Spirit’s function is to reveal the Son in all that He is to believers. Yet, in revealing the Son, the Spirit is actually revealing the Father because all that the Son has comes from the Father.

Thoughts for us: 1)Christ kept His promise in sending the Holy Spirit Thoughts for us: 1)Christ kept His promise in sending the Holy Spirit. (Acts2) 2)The Holy Spirit has done what Christ said He would do.(Truth) 3)The Holy Spirit continues to work in this world and in us. 4)It was to theirs and our ADVANTAGE that Jesus went to the Father, so the Helper the Holy Spirit would come.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A GOD SEND THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A GOD SEND! If the Holy Spirit is to serve as an advantage in our life, we must ask the Helper to help. This isn’t really tough. In your daily life, we ask others to help. If there is a jar we can’t open, you ask for help. If your climbing a ladder, you ask someone to steady it. If we have computer problems, if we are traveling and get lost, we ask for help. To succeed in life, knowing we don’t have all the necessary skills to pull off everything in life, we ask for help. The same is true in our walk of faith even if all truth has been revealed. We can’t do it ourselves, so we need to ask the Holy Spirit for help. Not in the “Hamburger Helper” sense where we throw a meal together. Rather God sent the Holy Spirit to consume us and do His work in and through us.