God’s Holy Spirit is our Helper

John 16:1-15

1 "These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. 3 And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. 4 But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.

"And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.

The Work of the Holy Spirit

5 "But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?' 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 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.

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. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.

God’s Holy Spirit is our Helper in time of need and His word to help us heed.  Jesus warned the disciples that many would reject Him and them because they followed Him.  He wanted them to know they would certainly suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12) to set their expectations on this reality so they would not be unnerved and caused to stumble by thinking all would be smooth sailing in the stormy seas of this world in opposition to Him and them for their testimony of the gospel.  He told them that some would be out to kill them as if that honored who they imagine God is.  We see that through history among the early Roman empire to the Roman church which lost its way and led to the inquisition to torture and kill innocent believers in the name of God to Islamic fundamentalists killing to gin their god's favor.  The world is not to be tamed by the gospel because it is fundamentally opposed to Christ and His gospel of grace and righteousness through redemption that cannot be earned and because of the roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8, Rev 12:17) who is our real and active enemy in the world.  All these who oppose Jesus and the gospel do these evil acts because they do not know God as their Father and reject Jesus as the Son of God who is the Christ-Messiah.  But following Jesus is far from hopeless once we count the cost of eternity against the temporary (2 Corinthians 4:17-18) sufferings of this life.  “Therefore we do not lose heart” we are told.  We can realize this because the Spirit of the living God has come to live in us till the end to help, comfort, encourage, and guide us.  Jesus as our helper ascended back into heaven so God could then descend into us as the Spirit to walk with us as Jesus had done, yet as unseen as the wind and invisible to our sight.  He uses us through the gospel preached to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment as He is revealed in his absolute holiness and all of us as absolutely sinful and corrupt to the core in the fallen nature we inherited from Adam’s disobedience.  Sin means that the world continues to reject Him and His word.  Righteousness means that the work Jesus alone could do to cover and atone for our sin is seen only in Christ as we are in Him through acceptance instead of rejection.  Judgment means that the devil who temporarily has been allowed to rule the world will be cast down into an never ending torment which all others who disbelieve and reject Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God who alone is our redemption, will face.  There is much more to hear just as the disciples were told then and we now have the promised presence of God’s Spirit in us to take God’s word and translate it into meaningful understanding for us to be able to live rightly in response to the work of our salvation earned by Christ alone for all He calls to Himself.  He resides permanently in all true believers to show us what is true as we read His word and put it into practice.  He is our heavenly translator of what to do and intercessor when we fail.  He takes all what God our Father wills for us as Jesus the Son has told us and tells us what is all means and how to live it with discernment of truth and error that we might follow Him as well-pleasing children.  God’s Holy Spirit is our ever present helper (Hebrews 4:16) in time of need in time of need and throughout all of life by whom we approach God’s throne of grace and mercy.  What a wonder He is!