The Counselor – The Holy Spirit

John 14

[Jesus is preparing his disciples for his departure. These 3 chapters John 14-16 is really an essay on the Holy Trinity. Jesus speaks in depth about the relationship and the roles of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If anyone ever tries to dispute the divinity of Jesus or the Holy Spirit just tell them to read John 14-16, the evidence of Christ's narrative is really indisputable.

Jesus Opens with "Let not your hearts be troubled", then proclaims "I am the way the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father but by me".

In verse 11 Jesus says "I am in the Father and the Father is in me", verse 9 "if you have seen me you have seen the Father."

Verse 12 Jesus says that whoever believes on him would do greater works than him. As we have said before that Greek word for believe is "pisteuó" which means to trust in. Then he commands them to pray to the Father in the name of the Son, so that the Father would be glorified in the Son.]

¹⁵ "If you love Me, keep My commandments. ¹⁶ And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—

[Jesus calls the Holy Spirit by different names, Helper or Counselor the word means an advocate. Notice he says "another", indicating the Holy Spirit was to replace Jesus in presence, to continue the work of God with the disciples. He says the Spirit will "stay forever", this is different from the Old Testament where the Spirit would come upon men for a specific purpose then depart. This is to be a permanent indwelling of the Spirit.]

¹⁷ the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. ¹⁸ I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

[Jesus says the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. This is the same Greek word "alétheia" that Jesus calls himself in verse 6. Only the disciples of Jesus can receive the indwelling of the Spirit the world cannot, furthermore Jesus says you will know the Spirit, he will be familiar to you, because he already dwells with you and later he will be in you. Then he says I will not leave you comfortless, or fatherless, literally you will not be orphans, because the Spirit will be your guardian. "I will come to you" the word for come is "erchomai" we have seen this word before in the Healing-of-the-centurion's-servant, when he sent representatives to speak for him to be his proxy. The Holy Spirit is both the spokesman and legal guardian representing Jesus, to his disciples. Skip down to verse 25]

²⁵ "These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. ²⁶ But 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 things that I said to you. ²⁷ Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

[Jesus said after I am gone the Spirit will be sent by the Father in my name. He will be your teacher, he will cause you to remember my words. This is how the Gospels were written, the Spirit helped them remember all the things that Jesus taught them. I teach you for 30 or 40 minutes a week, Pastor Haley does the same. But as long as you read and study the Bible, the Spirit can teach you all the time. Knowing the Spirit is always there for us should give us peace. This is the continuing ministry of Jesus in our lives, how can we be fearful when we know this wonderful advocate, counselor, teacher, and guardian, representing Jesus, dwells within all who trust in Christ. Skip to the end of John 15]

John 15

²⁶ "But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. ²⁷ And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

[Right before this Jesus tells his disciples how the world was going to hate them, just as it hated him. But notice how this works. The Spirit is sent by Jesus, From the Father. The Spirit testifies or gives evidence of Jesus to his disciples, and the result is for Jesus' disciples to be witnesses of all that Jesus has done.

My working definition for the ministry of the Holy Spirit is "the power of God to do the will of God". I think you can see how that applies here. The Spirit does not do the witnessing for us, but empowers us to share the impact of faith-in-Christ on our lives. ]

John 16

[At the beginning of John 16 Jesus is dealing with the sorrow his disciples were feeling from all the talk about Jesus going away.]

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 depart, I will send Him to you. ⁸ And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: ⁹ of sin, because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰ of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; ¹¹ of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

[While Jesus was alive in the flesh, the Spirit was always with him. But Jesus says here his going away through the death, and resurrection, will allow the Spirit to come into all of Jesus followers. Again we see the ministry of the Spirit in evangelism. To convict or convince of sin, righteousness, and judgment, the essential truths for fallen men so see their need of redemption.

Without Christ, we are all guilty of sin and are unable to escape it's hold on our lives. Righteousness is beyond our grasp, only God is righteous. In Judgment we understand the only way to escape our guilt, and obtain righteousness, is by surrendering to God's judgment, confessing our guilt, receiving mercy from the righteous judge Jesus Christ. None of this is possible without the convincing ministry of the Holy Spirit.]

¹² "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

[Again we here of the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit, the disciples were not yet ready to here all the things Jesus had to teach them. But through the Spirit he could continue to teach them. The Spirit though with us is still part of the Godhead communicating with the Father and Son. He teaches in will and knowledge of God so there is no contradiction between the Spirit and God's written word. Here Jesus even predicts his final Revelation to John when he say the Spirit will teach you of "things to come".]

¹⁴ He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.

[The Spirit does not glorify himself, he glorifies Jesus, just as Jesus glorified the Father. Any ministry that glorifies the Spirit is not of God, because that is not the ministry of the Holy Spirit.]