“I Believe – the Holy Spirit”

Scripture: John 16:4-15

“We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.”

The Passover Supper is over, and Jesus is nearing the end of those final hours before he leaves for the garden of Gethsemane. And as a critical part of the lesson he is leaving with his closest friends, he tells the disciples that the Holy Spirit – the “Spirit of Truth” – will be coming soon, and that his primary purpose will be to “testify about [Jesus]”.

This is God’s promise to the fledgling Church – that they will never be left on their own. Earlier that evening, Jesus promised them “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:15-21) Throughout the ages, it was seldom that God was not with the people. The Spirit led them through the 40 years of their wilderness journey. Even when Judah was taken into captivity by Babylon, the Spirit went with them to nourish and sustain the people during those 70 years. The Spirit spoke through the prophets over and over, and it was only during the 4 centuries between the final prophecies of Malachi and the birth of Christ that Israel was allowed to flounder as a nation, and even then, the Spirit may have been working within the lives of the faithful few.

After Christ’s resurrection and ascension, the Spirit would officially arrive, and the Church would faithfully follow. It’s strange that it wasn’t until then that people began obeying God’s call, but regardless, the Spirit began his new work, and The Way of Christ began to prosper. Jesus had proclaimed that this would happen – that the Spirit would testify about Christ to the faithful, and that they would also testify to the world. But even with the power of the Holy Spirit working for them, life would never be easy or safe again.

Read John 16:4-7

The fact that after Jesus had left them, and would be sending the Holy Spirit to guide them in ministry, the faithful still didn’t actually understand what the presence of God’s Spirit would mean for them. And in his saying that it would all be for their good –both in his leaving and in the Spirit’s coming – they would remain focused on their past with Christ, instead of on the future that would bring Spiritual power and blessings yet unknown to them. Jesus’ success at bringing people into his presence had been minimally successful – following his ascension, we read in Acts that only about 120 believers were still holding together in faith (Acts 1:15). But at Pentecost, we read that 3,000 gave their lives to Christ (Acts 2:40-41). Unfortunately, at the Passover feast, the disciples were still focused on having the flesh and blood Jesus leading them, and the unknown Spirit was just that – an unknown.

How could this “Counselor” be as good for them as Jesus had been? How could his death be cause for rejoicing? The time had come for hard and pointed teaching, and even though Jesus had explained the importance that had been placed on his death and leaving several times, it still seemed to be only a finale, and nothing even close to the beginning of a new phase in faith. They didn’t want a Counselor, or an Advocate, or a Spirit, or anything else for that matter – they wanted, and thought they needed, Jesus. They were getting used to Jesus’ style and Jesus’ approach, and they didn’t want to lose that.

But the point that they were missing was that as long as Jesus was present in the world, the Spirit could not be sent to them, and ministry for them could never be all that it was intended to be. So far, Jesus had been doing the bulk of the preaching and teaching and healing and leading, and that was comfortable, even though it was a little confusing at times. But the reason for this Spirit was even more confusing. They didn’t understand that when Jesus left the earth, it would be their time to pick up the mantle of ministry, and they would need the Spirit of God to help them to accomplish all that was needed in the name of Christ.

But another truth for us today is that the word that has been translated as Counselor or Advocate actually means far more than that. The translated word is “Paraclete”, and the context that this word brings should have been more than sufficient to help them understand. It would imply “Teacher”, and “Witness”, and “Enabler” and “Encourager”, and “Consoler”, and “Helper”, and “Exhorter” But more on this later.

Read John 16:8-11

In John 7:37-39, the Lord expands on the theme of “living water”. He says “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” (Isaiah 55) This means that by faith, anyone who believes in Jesus as Lord and Savior, will receive “living water” – the Holy Spirit – from Christ. And this living water, or Holy Spirit, if you will, will only be given to those who have given their lives to the Lord.

Non-believers were given Jesus, and he must be the entry point for a Godly life. If we don’t accept Christ as the “Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6), the Spirit can never testify within and through us! Without Jesus, we are still citizens of earth, and God can never be in us. The Lord’s work of truth, and the conviction of sinfulness, must be carried on through the Living Water, through the power of the Holy Spirit working within us.

And Jesus tells us that this revealing will be evidenced in three ways, through which the Paraclete will continue to proclaim Jesus as “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” for each of us:
1) John writes that sin is our failure to believe that Jesus is exactly who he says he is. He is saying that our failure to believe that Jesus is the incarnate Son of God is the source of all sinfulness in the world, and that in believing, our sinful ways are overcome. The Holy Spirit is the truth and power behind this new hope in our lives.
2) Conviction in righteousness does not come by our good works, but rather by faith in Christ’s sacrifice and ascension. Christ’s death isn’t defeat – it is God’s righteous act on our behalf. It is also evidenced in the ascension, through the Lord’s words “I go to prepare a place for you”. (John 14:1-4) Godly righteousness will be conveyed to us in Christ’s return to claim his faithful.
3) Our guilty lives will be saved from the judgment, by faith in Christ, while all non-believers will only receive condemnation as citizens of Satan’s world. Believers in Jesus Christ will know his glory; non-believers will only know the same penalty that Satan has already been sentenced to.

The world will continue to be judged by the way, the truth, the life of Jesus Christ, and it will be accomplished through the testimony of the Holy Spirit.

Read John 16:12-15

Once again, the Spirit will continue the work of Christ by enabling humanity to know the truth and word of the Lord. So this Power of God will not only work to convict the world of their false ways, he will also be working within the believing community to strengthen us, to enable us, and to nourish us in faith. The lives of the disciples, and of all who would, one day, put their faith and trust in Jesus, can only withstand the onslaught of worldly hatred when the presence of the Holy Spirit has brought that life-giving “water” to us.

But Jesus wants us to know that the Spirit will not be bringing some new teaching, or some different truth to our lives. He will be reminding us of Jesus, and helping us to understand his teaching, and enabling us to live a Christ-like way as we journey within this lifetime. The Spirit of God is our future hope as we live out our faith in the Lord Jesus, and Christ tells us that he is our “Spirit of Truth” – he provides vision within Christ’s teachings.

We also read that the Spirit will share what is true, as well as what is to come. We need to see this as one more aspect of his teaching and reminding us of what Jesus has already revealed, and not something new and previously unknown. It may be to minister within the context of today, it may be an ability to reach out to the people of earth in a different way so they can understand what Jesus is for them, but truth is still truth, and that can never change.

And this is a further proclamation regarding the unity of God in Three Persons. Wisdom and truth is one in each. Salvation is one in each through the Son. Glory is one upon each. And the Spirit’s work within each of our lives, on behalf of the Father and Son, reminds and proclaims the teaching and salvation of Jesus Christ.

So the question that I expect each of you is asking yourself right now is this – “How does the Spirit do all of this?” “How do I experience the Spirit in this life?” The truth is that this will take more time and space than we have for today, so we will consider these issues after I return from the mission trip in three weeks.

So wait with Godly patience, and Christian expectation!