Key verse: John 16:7 – “Nevertheless, 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.”
When thinking about the Holy Spirit often we do not give Him the respect and honour that is due many times treating Him as a minor player or even ignoring Him altogether in God’s work. However it is important for us to remember that He is part of the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit and does deserve respect and honour. We should note that both Jesus and the Holy Spirit were present when God created the world, John 1:1-2 says of Jesus that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” and the bible speaks of the Holy Spirit in its very first verse saying “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” Genesis 1:1, so we see like Jesus the Holy Spirit has always been there. Of all the gifts given to mankind by God after Jesus ascended to heaven, there is none that is greater than the presence of the Holy Spirit and I hope we can explore what that gift means to us.
The Holy Spirit has many functions, roles, and activities. He works in the hearts of all people everywhere. Jesus told the disciples that He would send the Spirit into the world to “convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” v8. It is the Holy Spirit who applies the truths of God to the minds of men by convincing them that they are sinners and by responding to that conviction in bringing men to salvation. Jesus tells us that, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” v13, by doing this the Holy Spirit reveals God in Scripture and instructs us in matters of doctrine, worship, and Christian living. One of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to go before us, leading the way that we should go, and helps us to be able to remove those obstacles that effect our walk with God. Before Jesus ascended to the right hand of God in heaven, He told His disciples that He would never leave them alone that the Father would send the Holy Spirit to guide all those who believe in Christ alone (John 14:26). This promise was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost (which we will be celebrating on the 19th May) when the Holy Spirit came upon and empowered the people of God in Jerusalem at that time.
At the moment of salvation the Holy Spirit takes up residence in the hearts of the people of God and seals them with the assuring promise that they are eternally children of God, Romans 8:14 says “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God”. The Holy Spirit is vital in the Christian life because, without the Spirit in our lives we would be stumbling about blind and lost. The Holy Spirit reveals who Jesus is, our text confirms this saying “when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me” 15:26. The Holy Spirit does this by convincing people of the deity of Jesus, His incarnation, that He is the promised Messiah, His exaltation at the right hand of God, and eventually His role as the judge of all. All showing the glory that is Christ’s in all things because “He (the Holy Spirt) will glorify me (Jesus), for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” as it says in v14.
For 3 years Jesus had been with the disciples guiding, teaching and preparing them for the day He would go back to heaven and He says this “I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Councillor, to be with you for ever” John 14:16 (RSV). The Greek word translated ‘councillor’ means someone who comes alongside and who encourages, a fitting word for what the Holy Spirit does. One of the Holy Spirit’s main aims in the life of the Christian is to produce fruit in their lives and as we grow with Jesus the Holy Spirit begins to produce this fruit in our lives that others will see – Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control Gal 5:22-23. Paul makes clear that these fruits of the Spirit are not works of the flesh they are not produced by anything we can do, but are products of the Holy Spirit’s presence in the lives of the people of God. The Holy Spirit is our helper and teacher John 14:26 tells us that “the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”
The Holy Spirit confirms our salvation and the promise of eternal life because “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it” Ephesians 1:13-14. The Holy Spirit assists us in prayer by encouragement because “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” Romans 8:26. Growth in the grace of God is to be seen as another marker of the Holy Spirit’s active presence in the life of a Christian. It is the Holy Spirit who strengthens us against the flesh’s desires, who leads the Christian into righteousness so that these desires become less and less evident in their lives. Paul highlights this in Galatians 5. The Holy Spirit is also a gift-giver. “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.” 1 Cor 12:4-11. These spiritual gifts are given to Christians as He determines in His wisdom, to each one of us He has given gifts to use for God’s glory.
To re-iterate the Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity and there is so much more within the bible that speaks of Him and about what He has and is doing in the lives of Christians. I would like to close saying God’s word is alive and we are told to faithfully sow the word trusting that it will always achieve what God has intended it will do. It is the Holy Spirit that takes what has been sown and transforms that to the fruit of repentance, it is the Holy Spirit that testifies of Christ and Jesus told us this saying “he will bear witness about me” John 15:26, which is why the Holy Spirit points us to the finished and sufficient work of Christ, alone.