SS10-05-03
“THE SPIRIT CONTINUES JESUS’ WORK.”
John 14: 15-17, 25-26; 16: 12-15, 7, 8-ll.
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO JOHN 14.
Just before Christ was crucified, He gathered His disciples and taught them some very important truths that had to do with their immediate and long-term future. A major truth was His promise of the coming of the Counselor, the Holy Spirit. He would take Jesus’ place and continue His work on earth. His ministry would be to the disciples in whom He would live and to whom He would reveal all truth. He would also minister through them, convicting the unbelieving world of sin, of their need for the Savior; and of the reality of the judgment of God.
God was in Christ who came to His world and accomplished His earthly ministry. Then, God sent the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, to the church and to each believer. He is doing His earthly ministry today. He lives in believers, teaches them the things of God, and works through them to bring lost people to Christ. Believers who are sensitive to the Spirit will feel love and compassion for the lost and will reach out to win them for Christ.
Many people in our society have no inkling of what is meant by “the Holy Spirit.” They have had no experience with the Spirit of God. Unfortunately, some of these are in the churches. Someone has said that if the Spirit were taken out of some churches, most of their activities would continue without any sense of loss.
This four-session study of “Life in the Spirit” shows the vital importance of the Holy Spirit. The first lesson, “The Spirit Continues Jesus’ Work”, is based on the Paraclet passages in John 14 & 16. This study throughout the rest of October is designed to help us “allow the Holy Spirit to continue Jesus work through us”; “Appreciate the new life the Spirit gives to those who believe in Jesus;” “to live as God desires through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit;” and “to live as mature Christians.” “He who has the Holy Spirit in his heart and the Scripture in his hands has all he needs.” (Alexander MacLaren)
I would hope that this study may do what J.I. Packer says in his book, “Knowing God.” He wrote, “No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God. But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it. He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe…The most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and Him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity.” That is what we will be doing in this four session topic.
It is the Holy Spirit, according to 1 Cor. 12:8-28 that endues the members of the body of Christ with spiritual gifts, or enablements for a varied service
PLEASE READ JOHN 14: 15-17.
Many Christians misunderstand the wonderful person and important work of the Holy Spirit. How grateful we ought to be that Jesus told us much about the Holy Spirit in John’s Gospel.
In Vs. 15 there seems to be a most abrupt change of subject, and many have been puzzled in finding the connection. In the opening verses of Chapter 14 the apostles were troubled at the prospect of their Master’s departure, and this evidenced their deep affection for Him. Here in Vs. 15 He desires their affection. Their love for Him was to be manifested by a glad and prompt compliance with His commandments.
The leading subject of the context is a call to faith in an ascended Christ. In Vs. 14a, faith is evidenced by praying in His name. In John 13:34-35 Jesus commanded the disciples to love one another. Here in John 14: 15 He spoke of their love for Him. Indeed their love for one another would be the fruit of their love for Him. Vs. 15 states a basic assumption of such love. Those who love Jesus keep His commandments. Keep means “obey,” “preserve,” and “pass on to others.” An increase of love will evidence itself by doing His will. If I love Him I can never cease to love Him, and if I never cease to love Him, I shall never cease to obey Him.
Now in Vs. 16 Jesus reveals His love for His disciples, evidenced by His asking His Father for One who should shed abroad the love of God in their hearts and thus empower them to keep His commandments. Until now Christ has been their Comforter, but He was going to leave them; therefore He asks the Father that another Comforter be sent. The sender is the Father. The One sent is the Holy Spirit. The Father and the Holy Spirit are persons within the Trinity of God. Christ prays in Vs. 16 and as a result the Father sends the Spirit. These persons are coeternal.
The Greek word “Paregori” in Col. 4:11 is translated “Comfort” and means to appease, soothe or console. When used as a noun it means One who exhorts, admonishes or encourages another.
There is a child’s sedative that comes from the word Paregori that is called “Paregoric.”
When my brother’s wife was a child her father was pastor of an Assembly of God church. When they were ready to go to church the mother would give each of the children a teaspoon of Paregoric and the opium in it would cause the children to sleep throughout the service. People marveled at what good children the preacher had. None of them ever became addicted.
The “Parakalea” type of comfort in Vs. 16 comes as a result of the presence of the “Comforter.” The word emphasizes that the Holy Spirit is a “comforter” because of His presence in a person’s life and/or in a situation. Distress may come into the Christian’s life, but because of the presence of the Holy Spirit the situation is dramatically changed. Comfort is a reality because the Holy Spirit is present.
Many times we may not know the means by which we may be comforted. The moment of grief in one’s life may be overwhelming. Tragedy may be all too real for an individual, yet comfort can become a reality through the Holy Spirit.
The phrase, “I will come to you” stresses the continuing presence of Christ. The Holy Spirit is a member of the Godhead—a divine Person and not a mere force or influence. In Matt. 28:20 Christ stresses He will always be with the Christian. He will not leave the Christian at any time. Paul wrote in Col. 1:27 “Christ liveth in Me.” That is why Christ could promise in Heb. 13:5, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.”
In Vs. 17 the Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of Truth; whom the world is unable to receive, because it cannot see Him, or know Him: But you know Him because He remains with you, and shall be in you.”
The “Spirit of Truth” is a name given the Holy Spirit by Christ which not only dictates the standard for the Christian’s life but the way in which the Christian knows that standard. The Holy Spirit is the bearer of the standard of the truth of God. In a world of relativity and change the Holy Spirit bears the unchangeable standard set by the God of truth.
The Christian knows that God is the sole author and sustainer of truth. He also recognizes the need to rely upon God’s truth as the standard for living. Christ tells the disciples these things in John 14. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”
Christ further tells the disciples that the world will not know the truth. The disciples will know the truth by the means God has provided. The means is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The method by which the Christians knows the standard of truth is not some knowledge of morality and other worldly methods, but by the Holy Spirit.
In Vs. 18 Jesus says “I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you.” The marginal reference is preferred: “I will not leave you orphans.” This looks back to John 13:33 where the Lord had addressed them as “little children.”
The experience of Pentecost was foretold in Matt. 3: 11 when John the Baptist told those being baptized, “He (Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Luke in Acts 2:3-4 pointed out that “when the tongues like flames of fire rested on each of the disciples they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different languages as the Spirit gave them ability for speech.”
PLEASE READ JOHN 14: 25-26.
Vs. 25 reminds us that Jesus was a Teacher. This verse probably focused on what He taught His disciples on that night; but it looked back over a ministry that included many teachings, and it foreshadowed the teachings after His resurrection but before His ascension.
The phrase in my name used previously in VV. 13,14, means that the Spirit would be Jesus’ officially delegated representative to act in His behalf. Jus as Jesus Him self demonstrated the personality and character of God to men, so after His departure the Holy Spirit would make the living Christ real to His followers.
Two striking examples of that are recorded in John 2: 22 where we are told, “When therefore He was risen from the dead, His disciples “remembered” that He had said this unto them.” Again in John 12:16 we read, “These things understood not His disciples at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of Him.” One of he most important roles of the Paraclete as Teacher would be to remind the disciples of the sayings of Jesus.
This provided the basis for the preaching and teaching of the apostles. Eventually this became the way in which the Spirit inspired the writing of the Gospels. Just as the O.T. Scriptures were inspired, so are the N.T. Scriptures. Thus we can read either Testament with assurance of divine inspiration under the Spirit’s direction.
PLEASE TURN NOW THE JOHN 16.
PLEASE READ JOHN 16: 12-15,
In John 16: 7 Jesus pointed out the necessity of His leaving His disciples. Unless He went away, the Paraclete (comforter) would not come; but if He departed, He would send His Holy Spirit to them.
The work of the Holy Spirit is a critical part of the plan of God. The Holy Spirit calls people out of sin and empowers them to service. The work of the Holy Spirit is recorded in Scripture. The work began at creation and continues today.
The work of the Holy Spirit is the power behind the proclamation of the Gospel. The Christian gains comfort from the work of the Spirit. The sinner is convicted as the Spirit works in his or her life. The Church must recognize, understand, and depend on the work of the Holy Spirit.
PLEASE READ JOHN 16: 7.
This lesson is about continuing Christ’s work by His Spirit after Jesus had returned to heaven. The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is one person in the eternal Godhead. He was at work in the O.T. times and during the ministry of Jesus. However, His primary work was to be in the age of the Spirit foretold in Joel 2:28-32. That age could not begin until the revelatory and redemptive work of Jesus the Son was finished. The age of the Spirit began on the Day of Pentecost.
Two new realities about the Spirit began on that day. One is that the Spirit was endowed with a new ministry as a result of the saving work of Christ. The other was that each believer in Christ received the Spirit. These factors were why Jesus departure helped the disciples,. It cleared the way for them to be Spirit-filled witnesses to a lost world.
But what did the Lord mean? How was His going away give the apostles gain? Notice that tHe did not say, “It is expedient for you that I go away to Him that sent me,” as He had said back in 16:4. He said in Vs. 7, “It is expedient for you that I go away.” I believe that Christ intentionly left it abstract, “whither” was He going when He spoke these words. Ultimately, going to the Father, yes!, but “before” that He must go to the cross. Was not His first reference then to His impending death? And was it not highly expedient for the disciples and for us; that the Lord Jesus should go to and through the suffering of Calvary?
But while His first reference was to His death, doubtless He also looked forward to His return to His Father. It was expedient for his disciples that the Savior should take His place on High. After Christ is ascended and the Spirit descended, the apostles were new men.
PLEASE READ JOHN 16: 8-11.
The witness of the Spirit in the world has to do with three things: sin, righteousness and judgment. These are inter-related. Sin, the fact of failure all men know, whatever name they give it. Righteousness as an ideal is admitted if the fact of sin is recognized. If there is no such thing as righteousness, there is no such thing as sin. Judgment is the principle at work everywhere in human thinking, which differentiates between right and wrong.
Said Jesus, When the Spirit is come; these are the things He is going to deal with in the world, the things that constitute the cardinal consciousness of every human being, when that human being gives attention to its spiritual nature.
Then He told them what the Spirit would have to say concerning those things. “Of sin, because they believe not on Me.” Jesus said in effect, My being in the world has created a new center of sin, and given a new meaning to sin; and the Spirit is coming to show the world that sin, now, is rejection of Me. Sins are symptoms. Sin is a malady. Because of the coming of Jesus into the world, sin, which blights and blasts and may damn, is rejection of Him. All sins can be dealt with if men believe on Him.
The Spirit would also witness concerning righteousness. “Of righteousness, because I go unto the Father.” Righteousness would now have a new interpretation, and a new potentiality, because He was going back to the Father. There was the Cross. That is the way He was going. It was in His mind all through these intimate conversations and discourses. He was going that way, and because of that, because He was going through to the Father, victorious, righteousness would be made possible. His resurrection and return to the Father was proof of His righteousness. In Me, said Jesus, is the power that enables for righteousness. I am going to the Father, and through Me righteousness has been set forth before the world. In Me, said Jesus, the fact of the condemnation of evil and the glorification of righteousness is seen Now Christ offers imputed righteousness to all those who believe. (Rom. 3: 21-22.)
And of judgment. The Spirit was coming to show to the world that this principle of discrimination had its central manifestation in the fact that the prince of this world was judged and condemned. Sin brings judgment. This is proven by the judgment that fell on Satan, the prince of this world. At the cross he thought he had gained his greatest victory. But it turned out to be his greatest defeat. There he was judged and condemned.
. At this point our Lord made this revealing statement: “I have many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now.”
It was something said, as it were, in passing. Jesus looked at His apostles: He had told them these things. He knew how frail they were, how faulty they were, how they were failing to comprehend His teaching. He understood it all, and yet with great tenderness He said, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now.”
A little earlier He had said, “They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you, shall think that he offereth service unto God. These thing will they do, because they have not known the Father, nor Me. But these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.”
There were things Jesus did not tell them at first. He did not tell them of the hostility that would come. He never told them about His own Cross, until He had been with them three years. And now He was going and He said, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now.” A wonderful principle is revealed there, namely that He tells us things, reveals things to us, as we are able to bear the revelation. I look back over my life,. Thank God that He did not tell me all about it at the beginning. He teaches us, as we are able to bear.
Yes, but that is not all. “Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of truth is come, He shall guide you into all the truth; for He shall not speak from Himself; but what things so ever He shall hear, these shall He speak; and He shall declare unto you the things that are to come.”
Do not exhaust that phrase, “the things that are to come,” by making it a prophetic reference only. It is that, but it is far more. Look at that group of men. When He left them, they had very little idea how to proceed, except that they must do so in the power of the Holy Spirit. All subsequent unveilings to the Church of God as to methods of work and service, have come by the growing interpretation of the Spirit.
“He shall show you things to come.” In that word of Jesus we find warrant for many things the Church of God, in the line of true authority, and under the guidance of the Spirit, had to do in the running centuries, for which we have no instruction in the words of Jesus.
He will guide you. A guide always means a pilgrimage, and a guide always means a process. The whole church of God today has a fuller apprehension of truth than had those twelve men. The Spirit has been guiding us into the truth.
Finally, in this regard, the whole mission of the Spirit is to glorify Me, said Jesus, by interpretation of the things of the Father which are all mine. The world is hostile, but God so loved it that He gave His Son. The world is hostile because of its ignorance of God, and of His Son. Out into the world He sent His own son, in partnership with the Spirit of God: and the ministry of the Spirit in the world is to deal with the cardinal elements of spiritual consciousness; sin, righteousness, and judgment, and relate them to Him.
And what about the disciples? The Spirit needs them. It is through them the work must be done, and in order that they may do it, Jesus went away as to bodily presence. The Spirit came to guide them into truth, to show them, all the way, things that are to come; and that, in order that the Christ may be glorified; and in the glorification of the Christ, the things that are the things of God, be revealed to the world.
In the following verses Jesus predicted His death and resurrection. The apostles were at a loss as to the meaning of His words. Jesus then used plain speech and closed the chapter with the beautiful words of departure in Vs. 33. “These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me you shall have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world.”
APPLICATIONS:
How grateful we Christians ought to be that Christ has sent the Holy Spirit in power into the world and into our lives. One of the greatest things the Holy Spirit does is to teach us the things of Christ. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that a lost person comes to have saving faith in Jesus Christ. The Spirit’s primary purpose is to glorify and magnify Christ and not to glorify Himself. We Christians can witness but only the Holy Spirit can make people be convicted of sin and turn to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. We Christians need to learn more about the person and work of the Holy Spirit.
NEXT SUNDAY WE CONTINUE OUR STUDY OF “LIFE IN THE SPIRIT.” “THE SPIRIT GIVES NEW LIFE.” JOHN 3 AND ROMANS 8 ARE TWO CHOICE CHAPTERS IN ALL THE BIBLE. A.V. DAUGHERTY 10-05-03