Naylor Community
Christian Church
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to John 16:7-15
John 16:7-15
New International Version
7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your
good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you;
but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world
to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin,
because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going
to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because
the prince of this world now stands condemned.
12 “I have much more to say to you, more
than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will
guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only
what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me
because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15
All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will
receive from me what he will make known to you.”
-- In 2007,
life in the African country of Malawi changed
dramatically -- for a long time, this country had hovered on the brink of
famine -- the people there toiled in poverty and were only able to survive because
they received food and resources from other countries -- but in 2007, things
changed
-- beginning that year, Malawi stopped
receiving hand-outs from other nations -- they sold more corn to the U.N. World
Food Program than any other country in southern Africa and also exported tons
of corn to Zimbabwe – and this trend of self-sufficiency and independence has
continued to this day
-- how did
this happen? -- how did this country go from being a welfare state existing in
poverty to a country that was not only self-sustaining, but capable of reaching
out and exporting food to other nations? -- the answer is quite simple -- the
dramatic change came from nothing more miraculous than fertilizer
-- Malawi's
president got tired of begging for charity so he pushed for the expanded use of
fertilizer and fertilizer subsidies -- the government encouraged the farmers to
start using fertilizer, and it made all the difference – where before, a field
would barely produce enough of a crop to feed the farmer and his family, it now
produced two and three times as much, enabling the nation to not only feed its
own people, but to help other nations as well by exporting the extra food to
them -- their once depleted soil has become a source of renewed life and
livelihood – and, for the first time in its history, Malawi went from just
being a consumer to a major producer and exporter of food to the continent of
Africa1
-- for
those of us seeking to become better disciples of Christ – to grow in our faith
and in our fruitfulness in the kingdom -- the same principle that Malawi used to
better their situation applies to us – adding
spiritual fertilizer to our lives can move us from famine to feast -- from
being consumers -- people who just take up space in the pews -- to being
producers -- people who multiply and who produce fruit for the kingdom of God
-- Jesus
knew of our tendency to become comfortable -- complacent -- stagnant -- to
become routine in our spiritual lives -- this has been a problem in the church
all the way back to the days of Moses -- this tendency to complacency causes us
to trade in vibrant spiritual lives for the dryness of religion -- it causes us
to trade in knowing God in a real and personal way to just being satisfied with
going through the motions on a Sunday morning
-- Jesus
knew that we were going to need His continual presence in our lives to keep our
soil productive -- He knew that we were going to need the constant inflowing of
His life into ours to help us be true disciples -- and so He sent us spiritual
fertilizer -- He sent us the Holy Spirit
-- I was
listening this week to a teaching from Francis Chan, one of my favorite
speakers and authors – he was speaking on the subject of the Holy Spirit, and how
necessary it was for Christians to have the Holy Spirit in our lives – filling
us and sanctifying us and making us fruitful and productive Christians
-- the message really touched me
– and so I thought it might be something that all of us needed to hear – to be
reminded of – so, for the next few weeks, we’re going to spend some time
talking about the Holy Spirit and His ministry and His role in our lives as
followers of Christ
II. The Holy
Spirit
-- when I
talk to people about God, nothing seems to confuse them more than the idea of
the Holy Spirit -- growing up, it seemed to me like no one ever talked about
the Spirit -- and when they did, they called Him the "Holy Ghost,"
which just made it all the more confusing and mystical
-- when
you're 7 years old and the preacher is saying you need the Holy Ghost, I can
tell you, that's the last thing that you want in your life -- I was always
scared of ghosts -- holy or not -- and I sure didn't want one hanging around
with me day in and day out
-- our
tendency in the church is just to ignore those things that we don't understand
or don't like -- so for a long time, the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit was not
addressed from the pulpit or in religious writings -- Francis Chan addressed
this issue in his book, "Forgotten God"
-- he said
that we focus a lot of our attention and our teaching and our study on Jesus
and on the Father, but we neglect the Holy Spirit – based on my experience, I
can say that is certainly true – although that was not always the case
-- if you
look at Scripture, the one defining characteristic of the early church was the
presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives and in their churches -- everything
that the Apostles and the early church accomplished -- the miracles -- the
rapid growth -- the ability to love their enemies and face trials and
persecutions that we can only imagine -- all of it was only possible through
the very real power and presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives
-- so, just
who is the Holy Spirit? -- the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity
-- and let
me just remind you of this church doctrine so you don't misunderstand what we're
talking about when we talk about the Trinity -- the word, "Trinity,"
is not found in Scripture, but its existence is clearly expressed all the way
back to the beginning of Genesis 1
-- in
explaining the mystery of the Godhead, the writers of the Bible affirm that the
Godhead is comprised of one God who exists as three persons -- the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit -- these are not three gods -- there is only one God,
who expresses Himself in this way -- each person in the Trinity is distinct in
function, but they share the same deity and reflect the attributes of the one
living God
-- this
means that the Holy Spirit is fully and completely God -- just as the Father
and the Son are fully and completely God -- it is perfectly acceptable to pray
to the Holy Spirit just as you pray to Jesus or to the Father
-- the Holy
Spirit is not just a force or a power like some denominations and some cults
teach -- He is not impersonal or unthinking -- the Holy Spirit is a person,
just like Jesus – He experiences emotions – the Bible says He can be grieved and
He can love – so, make sure you get this – the Holy Spirit is alive -- He is a
living being -- the very presence of God in our lives
-- I like
the way A.W. Tozer explained the Holy Spirit in his book, "The
Counselor," -- Tozer wrote: "Spell this out in capital letters:
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A PERSON -- He is not enthusiasm -- He is not courage -- He
is not energy -- He is not the personification of all good qualities, like Jack
Frost is the personification of cold weather -- Actually, the Holy Spirit is
not the personification of anything...... He has individuality -- He is one
being and not another -- He has will and intelligence -- He has hearing -- He
has knowledge and sympathy and ability to love and see and think -- He can
hear, speak, desire, grieve and rejoice -- He is a Person."
-- the Holy
Spirit has intellect, emotion, and will -- He speaks to us -- He has feelings
-- He can love -- He can be grieved -- He can be hurt -- He has all the
characteristics of God because He is God -- He is omniscient – omnipresent –
and omnipotent -- all-knowing -- ever-present -- and all-powerful
-- but as
the third person of the Trinity, He has specific roles and functions that He
accomplishes in our lives and in the life of the church --this is what I want
us to look at in this passage from John 16
III. Scripture
Lesson
-- before
we look at this in more detail, let me give you the context and background of
the verses that we read -- these verses were given by Jesus on Thursday night
of Holy Week -- Maundy Thursday -- the day that Jesus and His disciples shared
the Last Supper in the Upper Room and the day that He was betrayed by Judas
Iscariot and turned over to the High Priest and the Romans
-- as this
passage opens, the last supper is over -- Jesus has washed the feet of the
disciples -- Judas has left to go to the temple to betray Him -- and now Jesus
and His remaining disciples are making their way to the Garden of Gethsemane,
which is located on the western base of the Mount of Olives
-- as they
are walking along, Jesus is sharing with them His final instructions and His
final teachings to help them understand what is about to happen and what it
means for the Kingdom of God -- He has told them that He is going away and that
this is the plan of God the Father -- and to calm their fears and to make sure
they understand that He will never leave them or forsake them, He shares with
them now a teaching about the coming of the Holy Spirit
-- if you
would, look back with me again at verse 7
7 But very truly I
tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the
Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
-- the
disciples were distraught at what Jesus had been saying to them all night --
they couldn't understand why He was leaving -- they couldn’t understand why He
was saying that He had to die -- don't forget, the disciples are still living
on the mountain of Palm Sunday -- they are still expecting Jesus to start a
revolution and conquer Rome at any moment -- they have no idea that Good Friday
is coming -- they have no idea what Jesus means when He says that He must die
and then rise again on the third day
-- this is
a man that they had lived with for three years -- a man that they knew
intimately -- a man that they knew was from God -- some of them, I am sure,
thought He was God at that time, even though they did not have a full
understanding at this moment
-- Jesus
knows He’s leaving – He knows how His disciples are going to take it – so, after
sharing with them the news of His death and departure, Jesus takes a moment to encourage
them -- to lift up their heads -- to help them see that things are really going
to be better when He leaves
-- He tells
them here "When I leave, I will send the Counselor to you -- He cannot
come while I am here -- but when I go to the Father, I will send Him to
you"
-- the
Greek word that Jesus uses here in this verse to describe the Holy Spirit is
"paraclete" -- it means counselor, comforter, advocate, and helper
-- these
were all roles that the Holy Spirit had performed in the past in the lives of
God's chosen people as He would come upon them -- men like Moses and David and
Samson -- but in the times before Jesus, the Holy Spirit did not indwell
believers – He was not always present with them – He would only come and rest
on them to empower them as they served God's special purposes and accomplished
His will
-- this
anointing of the Holy Spirit – the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives
-- could be taken from them -- that is why David wrote in Psalm 51:11 after he
sinned with Bathsheba and killed her husband, "Do not cast me from your
presence or take your Holy Spirit from me."
-- but
Jesus is telling the disciples and us here that things are changing – after His
death and resurrection – after His ascension – the Holy Spirit would come to be
with the believers forever – but, He was not going to come like He did in times
past – He wouldn’t just come for a short and temporary time – instead, He was
coming to indwell them – to live within them -- for the first time in history,
the Holy Spirit would reside within us and become a part of us
-- as it
says in John 14:17, the Holy Spirit lives with and within believers – it is
that within part that Jesus is speaking of here – the indwelling
of the Holy Spirit living within believers would fill them with
the very presence and power of God in their lives
-- the
Bible makes it clear that when you are saved -- when you respond to Jesus' invitation
to come to Him for salvation and the forgiveness of sin -- at that very moment,
the Holy Spirit comes to indwell you – to live within you
-- that is
why Jesus said it was good for the disciples and us that He was physically
going away -- this way, the Holy Spirit would be a part of our lives at all
moments and at all times -- when Jesus was on earth, God incarnate in a human
body, He was bound in one place at a time -- He could not be in multiple places
-- but in the person of the Holy Spirit -- living in us -- He could
-- verse 8
8 When he comes, he
will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and
judgment:
-- as our paraclete, the Holy
Spirit ministers to us with His presence as our Counselor and Comforter and
Advocate -- these are the three overarching purposes for which He came -- the
roles and functions that God intended the Holy Spirit fulfill in us and in the
life of the church as He worked in us and through us to accomplish His will
-- and it
is this presence of the Holy Spirit – lived out in this way within the church
of Christ --that convicts the world of sin
– seeing the very presence of
God in His people demonstrates God’s righteousness and judgment – and the world
is convicted of its sin and feels the weight of guilt that comes from
disobedience to God’s law and unbelief in Jesus as the Savior of the world – so,
the Spirit within us is given to help the world respond in faith and repentance
to the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary
-- in a
nutshell, the Holy Spirit has come to empower the witness of Christ on earth
among non-believers -- using us -- His church -- as His voice and His hands and
His feet to reach out to a people who desperately need the grace of God in
their lives
-- in the
rest of these verses, Jesus dives deeper into what this means and how this
looks
-- verse 9
9 about sin, because
people do not believe in me;
-- the Holy
Spirit has come to convict the world of its sin of unbelief -- the Holy Spirit
is here to speak in counter to those people who tell us that there are many
paths to God -- who tell us that all religions lead to God
-- Jesus
says here that it is a sin to not believe in Him -- to not recognize and trust
in Him and His saving grace for our salvation and the forgiveness of sins
-- ever so
often, people ask me about the unpardonable sin that Jesus mentions in Matthew
12:31-32 -- the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit -- the only sin that Jesus
says cannot be forgiven
-- and I
explain to them that the reason that this is the only sin that can't be
forgiven is because it is the sin of unbelief -- if someone doesn't believe in
God -- if someone doesn't believe that Jesus died for their sins and doesn't
accept His forgiveness and His Holy Spirit in their lives, then they can't be
forgiven
-- but God,
through His prevenient grace, works in the life of all people to reach out to them
and show them the truth of the gospel and to convict them of their sin of
unbelief so they might respond and turn to Jesus for salvation
-- He does
this through the presence of His Holy Spirit in His church – that is why this
sin is described as the blasphemy of the Spirit – it is the rejection of the
message of the Spirit given through God’s people to the world
-- verse 10
10 about
righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no
longer;
– it is human nature to compare
ourselves to others – it is part of our nature to look at someone else and to judge
them and to assume that we are better than them or more righteous than them
because we seem to be more spiritual or we seem to be less sinful than they
-- think about Jesus’ story of
the Pharisee and the tax collector from Luke 18 – both of them went to the
temple to pray – and the Pharisee’s prayer to God was to point out just how
much more righteous he was than the lowly and sinful tax collector – the
Pharisee left thinking that he was righteous because he was better than another
-- the Holy Spirit points us to
the righteousness of Christ and shows us that He is the standard against which
we are to measure ourselves – we are not to measure ourselves against anyone
else – but only against Jesus
-- as God's
standard of righteousness -- completely and totally sinless – Jesus
demonstrated what was required by the Father to be considered holy and
justified in His eyes
-- a life without any sin at all
-- holy perfection – something that no one could ever live up to on their own
-- and then Jesus went to the
cross – sacrificing Himself and giving His very own body and blood – that we
may receive His righteousness and thereby attain the required righteousness
demanded by the Father
-- the Holy Spirit has come to
show the world that Jesus is the righteousness of God – and when we see that –
when this is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit – we are convicted of our lack
of righteousness in the eyes of God – we see who we truly are in God’s eyes –
and we come to understand that there is no way that we can gain righteousness
and justification and salvation by comparing ourselves against others
-- the Holy Spirit opens our
hearts and our eyes to the truth that the only way to obtain the righteousness
of God is to receive that righteousness from Jesus as imputed righteousness
-- Romans 10:3-4 says, "Since
they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish
their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. -- Christ is the end of
the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes."
-- showing the world the truth of
righteousness in Christ is one of the main roles of the Holy Spirit in the
church
-- verse 11
11 and about
judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
-- the presence of the Holy
Spirit in the church reveals to the world the righteous judgment of God on sin
and death and Satan
– for those people still in the
grasp of Satan’s power – who are still in bondage to sin and death – the Holy
Spirit shows that God’s judgement has come
-- His presence reveals the
gospel to a world under condemnation – and it shows that the victory has been
won – that Jesus has destroyed the power of Satan and that the curse of sin and
death on all creation has been overcome and lifted through the blood of Christ
-- His presence in the church is a sign of hope
because He shows that the prince of this world now stands condemned and that
salvation and the forgiveness of sins can be received through Christ
-- verse 12
12 “I have much more
to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth,
comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he
will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He
will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make
known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the
Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
-- the Holy
Spirit has come to speak the truth of God in our lives and in the lives of this
world -- leading us and those around us into the truth for the glory of Christ
Jesus
-- His
purpose is to lift Jesus up -- to proclaim the work of the Father through Jesus
so that all might be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth
-- and He
does it through us – the church of Christ – indwelt and filled with the power
and presence of the living God – the Holy Spirit
IV. Closing
-- turn over to Romans 8:11 and we'll
end there
Romans 8:11
New International
Version
11 And if the Spirit
of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ
from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of[a] his
Spirit who lives in you.
-- if you
watch any of the medical dramas on TV -- "House" or "Grey's
Anatomy" or any of the others -- you might have heard them mention the
acronym "FTT" – it stands for "failure to thrive" -- and it
addresses the condition that affects newborn infants who, for some unknown
reason, do not grow -- they don't gain weight -- they don't respond to stimuli
-- they don't begin living -- and without immediate medical attention, many of
them die
-- John
Ortberg mentioned this in an article for Leadership Journal -- he said that FTT
was a perfect diagnosis for many people in our world today -- people who just
go through life without living -- people who are born and live and die without
ever experiencing the true, abundant life that Jesus offers
-- let me
quote from this article -- "Thrive is a life word; a word full of shalom
-- Thriving is what life was intended to do, like a flower stubbornly pushing
through a crack in the sidewalk. -- It is why we pause in wonder at a human
being's first step, or first word; and why we ought to wonder at every step,
and every word. -- Thriving is what God saw when he made life and saw that it
was good. --"Thrive" was the first command: be fruitful, and
multiply."2
-- so, what
does it mean to be alive? -- what does it mean to thrive in a spiritual sense?
-- St.
Irenaeus said, "The glory of God is man fully alive" -- in other
words, a person who is alive is doing more than just trudging through life -- they
are doing more than just merely existing
-- a person
who is alive is doing more than just waking up in the morning -- going to work
-- and then going to bed at night
-- a
Christian who is alive is doing more than just getting up -- going to church --
and then going home again
-- to be
fully alive means that you have been joined with the eternal -- that you have
been given a glimpse of the presence of God -- in nature -- in people -- in
your life -- and in that moment, you felt more truly alive than at any other
time in your life
-- Dr. Tony
Campolo told about the time he had a moment in eternity at the top of the
Empire State Building -- a time when he was caught up in the glory and the
majesty of creation -- how looking over the edge of that building at creation
was a moment in which he was so fully alive, so fully aware of the presence and
the majesty and the glory of God, that he knew it would always be a part of him3
-- in her
book, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard used the idea of trees being alive
with light to express the same idea
-- it is
that moment when you see and know and realize life – when you see and know and
realize the presence of God and the reason for it all – that moment when all is
right with the world
-- that is
what the Apostle Paul is trying to get us to see in this verse -- he tells us here
that through the Holy Spirit living within us we have life -- that through the
Holy Spirit we no longer are failing to thrive, but we have become truly alive
-- through
the Holy Spirit, we see and experience and live life as never before
-- J. B. Phillips wrote in,
"Plain Christianity," "Every time we say, "I believe in the
Holy Spirit," [as we recite the Apostle’s Creed], we mean that we believe
that there is a living God able and willing to enter human personality and
change it"
-- the
reason we have been given the Holy Spirit is to change us -- to make us alive
-- to make us like Christ -- to lead us into the full and abundant life that
Jesus said He had come to give us -- and to make us better able to serve those
around us
-- as we
are filled with the Holy Spirit, we become more aware of God's presence in our
lives -- more aware of those around us who need His touch and who need to hear
the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ
-- and we
become empowered to be His witnesses and to be Christ's hands and feet in this
world -- changing it and changing those around us as we seek to follow Christ
in all our ways
-- it is
the Holy Spirit working in the life of the believer who changes the church --
and it is the Holy Spirit working in the life of the church who changes the
world
-- every
revival that has ever been seen -- every outpouring of the presence of God
leading to repentance and salvation and life-transforming power has been
through the direct work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of God's people
-- if you
want to be truly alive -- if you want to experience revival in your life and in
the life of this church -- then you must be filled with God's Holy Spirit --
not just indwelt -- but filled -- baptized in His presence
-- this
means that you are filled with the joy and peace and presence of God -- that
you are submissive to God and empowered to serve Him where He calls -- this
means that you are living in faith -- not just on Sundays, but every day of
your life
-- as John
Piper points out, "this should be our aim, our goal, our great
longing."3
--
it won't happen every day -- we won't go through life filled with the presence
of the Holy Spirit -- but there will be those times when we are truly alive --
when we are experiencing eternity in our lives -- when we are empowered and
filled to overflowing with the presence of God and are able to reach out and
touch that one person -- to speak the words of grace that they need to hear --
to minister to their need and point them to Christ
-- it is
those times that we should be living for -- striving for -- aiming for with our
lives as we seek the Holy Spirit's presence
-- it is
those times that we and the church were created for
-- I
believe in the Holy Spirit -- I trust in His power and presence in our lives --
and I pray that we would be filled to overflowing with His goodness and grace
so that we might be truly alive and serve God more effectively with our lives
-- so that we might see revival break out in our homes and in our church and in
our community -- so that we might see lives changed and hearts transformed for
Christ
-- I
believe in the Holy Spirit – and I long for His presence and His power to be
made manifest in my life -- do you?
-- let us
pray
References Cited
1<Source:
2
John Ortberg, "Ministry and FTT," LeadershipJournal.net (June 2008)
3Campolo,
Tony. Let Me Tell You a Story.
4Sermon, "Be Filled with the Spirit,"
by John Piper. <www.soundofgrace.com/piper81/030881m.htm>
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