John 16 teaches about the Holy Spirit. in less 24 hours Jesus will be dead. In three days, He will rise victoriously. In two months, He will ascend back to the Father.
The biblical premise of this message is to understand a biblical view of the Holy Spirit and the way He leads us into deeper life.
From chapters 14-17, Jesus prepares the disciples for “the big test.” A lot of what Jesus teaches in these final moments is about God the Holy Spirit.
So let us look at 3 ministries of the Holy Spirit of God.
- Lean into the comforting ministry of the Holy Spirit
John 16:6-7, “Yet, because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you.”
His ministry is to comfort, my job is to lean into that comfort. Jesus tells the disciples about the Counselor because “sorrow had filled their heart.”
Halfway through Chapter 15, Jesus tells his disciples that there will be people who are against you, Jesus calls them the world. They will hate you because they hated Me.
Some people loved Jesus; some people hated Jesus. It seems like in Scripture few people had no opinion on Him. Chapter 16 says how they will kick you out of the synagogue. It does not seem like a big deal but for a Jew, this was life. It was as if they were being cut off from society.
Some of you are feeling the same way the disciples did. Maybe you are filled with sorrow, anxiety, worry. If you go back 2,000 years ago, Jesus recognizes where His disciples were emotionally at and speaks to it. Jesus always meets you where you are.
John 16:4 says, “But I have told you these things so that when their time comes you will remember I told them to you. I didn’t tell you about these things from the beginning, because I was with you.”
Jesus does not want us to be surprised. When you stand for the gospel, there will be times people will not like you. If you never have conflict with the world, it means you are going the same way. When the world hates you, Jesus says, I will then send you the counselor.
Jesus purchased peace on your behalf on the cross, then sends the Holy Spirit so you can experience this peace.
- Don’t harden yourself to the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit
John 16:8-11, “When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment: About sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; and about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.”
In the Bible we see one God who has eternally coexisted in three different persons. It is important to remember that the Holy Spirit is not a force. He is a person, a He. The Bible says that we can grieve Him and quench Him. Grieving the Holy Spirit is doing things He told you not to do. Quenching the Holy Spirit is not doing things He told you to do.
The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin to draw us near to the Father. The Holy Spirit’s work is to make us more like Jesus so we can experience more of the abundant life.
The Holy Spirit convicts us of righteousness. This means that we will not be judged according to how we measure up with our neighbor. But how we measure up against God.
- Listen up to the guiding ministry of the Holy Spirit
John 16:12-15, “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything the Father has is mine. This is why I told you that he takes from what is mine and will declare it to you.”
Jesus wants to speak to you. He gives direction with clarity. His Words, the Scriptures are the guide that points me in the right direction. God can also use circumstances and people to help us find direction.
The Holy Spirit’s job is to spotlight Jesus. It is not about the signs of the Spirit as much as it is about the grace of Jesus. Everything points to Jesus.
Jesus says in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me those who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest for your souls.”
Pastor Chris Williams
To learn more about Pastor Chris and his teaching, visit us on the web at fcfamily.org and make sure you subscribe to receive these weekly encouragements in your inbox.
