Grace Fellowship Church Pastor/Teacher - Jim Rickard Sunday, December 19,

John 15:26 The Spirit Leads in Triumph!

John 15:26, “Whenever the Helper (God the Holy Spirit) comes, whom I (Jesus) will send to you all from (the source of) the Father, that is, the Spirit of Truth, (Bible Doctrine), who proceeds from the Father; That One will bear witness concerning Me.”

Principles: 1. The antidote to the antagonism of the world is found in the Word, vs 25, and the witness of the Holy Spirit, vs 26.

2. The terms “Advocate, Counselor, Helper”, all add to our understanding of the Third Person of the Trinity, but they don’t tell the whole story.

3. This verse tell us of the Spirit’s work of testifying about Christ.

4. He gives that testimony through the apostles and disciples of the Church Age.

5. PARAKLETOS has a legal associations. 6. The Spirit’s task is the conduct of the case of Christ before the world.

7. We are to leave the ultimate defense of Christ to His powerful pleading through us, rather than trying to fight against or clean up the devil’s world.

8. The PARAKLETOS builds an Edification Complex of the Soul, (ECS), in the + believer so that he can stand up against the pressures of Satan’s Cosmic System.

9. To build our ECS we need the Grace Apparatus for Perception, (GAP), [the teaching ministry of God the Holy Spirit] to teach us the Word of God.

10. Once we have learned and stored God’s Word within our soul we are able to be a witness for the prosecution in the appeal trial of this Angelic Conflict.

11. “Whom I will send”, tells us what Jesus will do for the apostles, and us, after His Resurrection and Ascension. [Give us His Spirit!]

12. Verses 26 and 27 are evidence that God’s plan will continue on the earth after Christ has ascended via the ministry of the Spirit and the ministry of the + believer.

John 15:27, “And you also will bear witness, because you all have been with me from the beginning (of My ministry).”

Principles: 1. This is a reference, first of all to the disciples. When the Church Age begins they will bear witness of Christ. Acts 2:1-47; 5:32

Acts 5:32, “And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

2. This witnessing principle has been perpetuated from the disciples right down to us today.

3. Two things that counter- attack the antagonisms from the devil’s world: the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the witness of the gospel through the individual believer.

4. The testimony of the Spirit and of the disciples is, as Christ said “of Me.” That’s the fundamental message of Christianity. [It is of Christ!]

5. Any message that fails to set forth truly and triumphantly the sovereign and saving Messiah, Jesus Christ, can hardly claim to be the witness that pleases Him, or the witness of the Spirit of God.

John 12:32, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”

6. When we preach our own experiences, people may be interested, but it awakens no real sense of need for a savior in them.

7. But once Jesus Christ is “lifted up,” the Spirit of God creates an awareness of the need for Him.

8. The creative power of the redemption of God works in the souls of men only through the preaching of the gospel.

9. It is never the sharing of personal experiences that saves people, but the Truth of redemption.

John 6:63, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”

Grace Offering

Grace Fellowship Church Sunday, December 19, 2010 Tape # We are Witness of Christ Upper Room Discourse, Part 453 John 15:27; 6:63; 12:32; Acts 2:1-47; 5:32 James H. Rickard Bible Ministries 2010