Who is the Holy Spirit

John chapter 14 if you have your Bibles John chapter 14 We're continuing in this series here through the gospel of John, but in particular We've been looking over the last several weeks at chapters 13 to 17 chapters 13 to 17 in the gospel of John are known As the upper room discourse. This is when Jesus shares a Passover meal with his disciples in this upper room in some unnamed house in Jerusalem This will be the last Passover he shares with his disciples before he's crucified. So this is a very Intimate time of just ministering to his disciples by the time we get here to chapter 14 Judas has already exited the room. He is now Going to betray Jesus. He's gathering a some troops together of Roman soldiers They're gonna march to the garden of Gethsemane. He will betray Jesus with a kiss. So Judas has Departed the scene now and Jesus is still here having this very tender personal conversation with now the 11 instead of the 12 and that's What is known now as the upper room discourse these five chapters 13 to 17. Well when we come here to chapter 14 Jesus is going to emphasize a Subject that he speaks of Through the rest of this discourse more than any other particular topic So it's an important topic and if you'll notice with me John 14, I'll start reading at verse 15 Jesus says this if you love me Keep my commandments and I will pray the Father and he will give you another Helper circle that in your Bibles helper Some translations NIV say counselor if you have King James Bible, it says comforter So helper counselor comforter depending on what translation you're reading He will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever 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. I will not leave you orphans I will come to you so that word helper in that I'm reading from New King James Version or Counselor or comforter in the original Greek language is the word para kleitos para kleitos from two Greek words power-up meaning near beside around or with and Kaleo meaning to call so Jesus is referring to the Holy Spirit who is called alongside of us

To be our helper to be our counselor to be our comforter And this particular word para kleitos in the original language is used only five times in the New Testament Four of those five times are found right here in the upper room discourse and Jesus mentions it each of the four times I'm going to show you the other three. We've looked at the first time he's mentioned there, but now go further down John 14 Look at verse 25 Jesus says these things I've spoken to you while being present with you, but the helper there's the word again Para kleitos 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 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 you have heard me say to you I am going away and coming back to you If you loved me you would rejoice because I said I'm going to the Father for my father is greater than I Go to chapter 15 now if you would please chapter 15 Jesus mentions the helper a third time in verse 26 He says 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 and you also will bear witness Because you have been with me from the beginning and then one more time look at John 16 go to chapter 16 and starting at verse 5 Jesus says But now I go away to him who sent me and none of you asks me where are you going? But because I have said these things to you sorrow was filled your heart Nevertheless, I tell you the truth It is to your advantage that I go away for if I do not go away the helper there it is for the fourth time The helper will not come to you but if I depart I will send him to you and when he has come he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment Of sin because they do not believe in me of righteousness because I go to my father and you see me no more Judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. I Still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now

However, when he the Spirit of truth has come he will guide you and do all truth for he will not speak on his own His own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak and he will tell you things to come he will glorify me For he will take of what is mine and declare it to you all things that the father has are mine Therefore I said that he will take of mine and declare it to you So your attention, please Jesus is basically saying to his disciples who are naturally sad that he's talking about leaving them And he comforts them The leaving of them is a reference to the fact that he's about to be crucified and he's going to rise from the dead and Then later 40 days later. He will ascend back into heaven So he's going to be departing from earth and going back to heaven from which he came Those disciples are naturally distressed at hearing him talk about going away and Jesus is comforting them saying listen Don't be alarmed and and don't be grieved. Don't be sorrowful because I will not leave you as orphans I'm going to still be with you. My presence will be with you in The form of the Holy Spirit and he speaks to them about one who will come when he leaves who is a helper who was a counselor who is a Comforter and so today we're going to be talking about this subject that Jesus spent the most time talking about when you look at the References and verses to the Holy Spirit. We're going to talk about today I've entitled who is the Holy Spirit now all you charismatics are like about time. Praise God. Hallelujah And all you Presbyterians are like, oh no, okay, it's gonna be fine Relax because we're just gonna look at what the Bible says about the Holy Spirit But since Jesus spent so much time talking about the Holy Spirit in this upper room discourse It's good for us to talk about him as well. Let's first pause and pray Father it is good to be in your house. It is good to just come before you and settle our hearts and and Just submit ourselves to your word today as we read it and Lord we pray for comprehension that you would speak to our hearts that we would understand the importance of the Holy Spirit and So Lord open our hearts and our minds and our eyes to See and hear and receive what you would have to say to us today as you shared with your disciples so long ago Lord You still are sharing it with us today as your followers So teach us we pray about the Holy Spirit and we thank you in Jesus name and everybody said amen. I I Have found over the years of ministry that when the subject of the Holy Spirit comes out

Church goers typically fall into three categories Related to the topic of the Holy Spirit. They are either the uninformed the misinformed or the well-informed The uninformed just simply don't know about the Holy Spirit because they've never been taught perhaps you've come from a church where Maybe they didn't even teach much about the Bible in general or maybe they taught very little about the Holy Spirit Maybe you haven't come from a church at all. You're brand new to church in general to Christianity You're curious or you are a believer, but you've never really been taught about the Holy Spirit So that's the uninformed. They just don't know Then there's the misinformed and the misinformed I have found in my experience of ministry are on two extremes of the spectrum They're either in the camp that says well the things of the Holy Spirit the gifts of the Holy Spirit the power of the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit that whole topic is really kind of relegated to biblical times and it just you know It doesn't really apply to us today and the gifts of the Spirit aren't really around and and all these different things They know about the Holy Spirit They just don't think that the Holy Spirit is relevant or the gifts of the Spirit are available today on the opposite end of the spectrum There seems to be a preoccupation with the Spirit where people have an overemphasis of the Spirit and they are very curious about supernatural manifestations what I have found about that end of the spectrum is that unfortunately in a desire to see various spiritual Manifestations sometimes some people start to run after all kinds of manifestations Some of which are not at all of the Holy Spirit But they are spiritual and those kind of things kind of attract us and intrigue us But because people are not discerning and wise about the Holy Spirit They're misinformed and therefore sometimes they go in search of these powerful things that don't really have a biblical basis So the misinformed are on both ends of that spectrum My hope and desire is that we would be well-informed people that we would have a balanced understanding the Holy Spirit is, the role of the Holy Spirit. I could do a whole series on this related to the gifts of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit. There's not time for all of that. We're going to just be looking at what Jesus says here in John 14, 15, and 16 about the role of the Holy Spirit. Now, before I even

talk about the role of the Holy Spirit, just because again there might be some here that are uninformed about the Holy Spirit, I first want to spend just a little bit of time talking about the person of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is a person. If you notice, all through our reference to the Helper, personal pronouns were used. He, the Helper, He, the Helper, He. Jesus always talked about the Helper, the Holy Spirit, as a person. And so, who is the Holy Spirit? Number one, the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. What is the Trinity? The Trinity is one God, one God, who reveals Himself in a plurality of three persons. So, there are times when you read your Bible, you're going to read about God the Father. There are other times, like today, we're talking about God the Son, Jesus, and the things that Jesus said in this conversation with His disciples. And then God also reveals Himself as God the Holy Spirit. One God who reveals Himself in three different ways. Now, I've said this illustration before, but again, for the benefit of those of you who are uninformed about the Holy Spirit, one of the best illustrations I have found to grasp this concept that there's only one God who reveals Himself in three persons is when you take a light and you pass it through a prism, that light refracts into three primary colors. It's the same light revealed in three different ways. So, that's probably the closest we can come to what really is a spiritual mystery. This is God who is a singular God. You know, sometimes other faiths, like Muslims sometimes accuse Christians of worshiping three different gods because we talk about God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. And we're not talking about three different gods. We're talking

about one God who reveals Himself in three ways. And you'll notice the verse that I have up there is Genesis 126 where God in the creation story said, then God, Elohim in the Hebrew, God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Now, notice those are plural pronouns. Why is one God using plural pronouns? Because it's an expression of how God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit are one God who reveals Himself in three different persons. In fact, the very next verse, Genesis 127, it switches to singular pronouns. It says this, so God created man in His own image. In the image of God He created him, male and female, He created them. It goes from plural pronouns in Genesis 126 to singular pronouns in Genesis 127 to express this whole concept that even though God reveals Himself in three persons, He's one singular God. Number two, the Holy Spirit has always existed being co-equal and co-eternal with God. It's not like suddenly one day the Holy Spirit came. In fact, sometimes you can read your New Testament Bibles and you get to the story of Pentecost in Acts 2 and people are likely to think that's when the Holy Spirit first came. But that isn't true. We see Him in the Genesis account in Genesis 1 verse 2, the earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And so because the Spirit is God, He doesn't just suddenly appear later. He's a part of the triune Godhead. There are different times in the Old Testament where the Spirit of God would anoint specific people. Now, it is true that when you get to Acts 2 the Spirit of God comes upon all believers. But the Spirit has always been around. Number

three, all three representations of the Trinity are present at the baptism of Jesus. Here's what Mark says in Mark 1, 10-11, and immediately coming up from the water, He, that is Jesus when He was being water baptized here by John the Baptist, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. And then a voice came from heaven, You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And on that scene you have Jesus, of course, God in flesh as the second part of the Trinity, God the Son. You have God the Father whose voice is being heard speaking from heaven. And you have God the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus. Number four, the Holy Spirit is not an it, or just a force. He has all the attributes of personality. We see In the Bible, he has a mind. That's in 1 Corinthians 2.11. Paul writes, for what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God. The spirit of God knows the things of God. He has a mind. Also, he has a will. In 1 Corinthians 12.11, it says, but one in the same spirit works all these things, distributing each gift one individually as he wills. He has a will. And he also has emotion. Paul warns us in Ephesians 4.30, don't sin against God and thereby grieve the Holy Spirit.

So the Holy Spirit can be grieved. These are all the attributes of personality. So don't refer to the Holy Spirit as some it or force or just power. The Holy Spirit is a person, the third part of the Trinity. And so that's just a basic introduction to who the Holy Spirit is in terms of the person of the Holy Spirit. Now let's talk a little bit about the role of the Holy Spirit that Jesus discusses in this discourse with his disciples. For you taking notes, I'm gonna share five simple things with you. The role of the Holy Spirit, right here from John 14 is the first one. The saving role of the Holy Spirit. Look back there at John 14. Well, I have the verse on the screen for you so you have no effort to make at all. Look at the screen. It just simply says this, John 14, the latter part of verse 17, for he, that Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit, for he dwells, that's present tense, with you, and will be, future tense, in you. Okay, this is what Jesus says. The Holy Spirit presently is dwelling with you, but in the future, he will be in you. Now, the Holy Spirit is unseen, but he is all around us. He is here now.

He is present now. He dwells with us. This is the preposition that Jesus uses in the present tense. He says, listen, the Holy Spirit is dwelling with you. Para is the Greek word. He is around us. He is near us. And what is the work of the Holy Spirit being around us and near us? Well, to use an old term, he is wooing us. He is drawing us. He is leading us. He is influencing us. What is the ultimate purpose of the Holy Spirit? He wants all to be saved, so he is drawing us and leading us to Jesus. So, listen, if you have a relationship with Jesus, if you've come to trust Christ as your Lord and Savior, no one comes to trust Jesus as Lord and Savior, except that the Holy Spirit was first working in your heart to draw you to Jesus. Para, he is with you presently. In fact, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 12, three, no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. So it's God's Spirit who starts to draw us. And then when we come to that place of surrender, kind of that come to Jesus literal moment, right, and we put our faith in Jesus, then here's what happens.

The Spirit of God comes in us. See, as Jesus was talking to his disciples in the upper room, he was talking about a time in the future, not too distant, when after his crucifixion and resurrection, they would then believe in him as the Messiah who died on the cross for their sins. And when they exercise their faith, believing in him as Messiah, who died on the cross for their sins, they would become saved. And when you become saved, when they became saved, when people become saved, then the presence of God inhabits our souls, our spirit. We receive the Spirit of God, and he comes in us. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3.16, do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? So before we become believers, the Holy Spirit is around us, working on us, you know, whispering to us, drawing us to come to receive Jesus. Then once we exercise our faith and trust Jesus, then the Holy Spirit comes in us. Now, listen, there's a third interesting preposition that Jesus uses that we'll get to when we get to the book of Acts, but I'll just briefly mention it. He says here in John 14, the Spirit is with you, that's the first preposition.

Then the Holy Spirit will come in you, that's the second preposition. And then in Acts 1.8, after saying all this, just before Jesus ascends back to heaven, he says to his disciples, now I want you to wait in Jerusalem for the gift that my father promised, for you will be filled with power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And it's a different preposition. Greek. It's epi in the Greek, E-P-I. The Holy Spirit comes upon you. He's talking about the empowering work of God's Spirit. Not just the indwelling of God's Spirit when you get saved, but the empowering of God's Spirit, which is otherwise known as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now, we'll get to that when we get to the book of Acts, okay, in about like 10 years. So, you have to wait. Actually, it's just around the corner. It's not too far away. But for today's Bible study, we're just going to look at the things that Jesus said. That's the first thing Jesus said, the saving role of the Holy Spirit. Nobody comes to faith in Jesus except that the Spirit of God bore witness to our hearts. And then by God's Spirit, we were able to make that confession of faith. Number two, Jesus says there's a teaching role of the Holy Spirit. In John 14, 26, He says, 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. Isn't that good to know that the ability to comprehend the things that are spiritual? Like when you read your Bibles, do you ever just, you know, think like, how

do I understand all this? Well, it's the Holy Spirit that helps us. The Holy Spirit teaches us the things of Jesus, helps us to comprehend our Bibles, and helps us to remember these things. We will call to account these things in our minds that Jesus has taught us, that we have learned from our Bibles, because it's the work of the Holy Spirit. The ability to understand what Jesus says comes from the Holy Spirit. The ability to remember the things that Jesus says comes from the Holy Spirit. Why? Because the things of the Spirit are discerned by the Spirit. See, before you become a Christian, and you don't have the Spirit of God, spiritual things seem foolish to you. They seem, you know, archaic. They seem outdated. And you might even, before you're a Christian, make fun of people who are Christians. And you think, you know, like, why do you need that whole Christian stuff, and the Jesus thing, and whatever. If it works for you, fine. But, and then if you come to that place where you surrender your life to Jesus, then it's like you get it. Like a light bulb goes off, and you're like, suddenly I see the world differently. I understand the world differently through a whole different lens. And it's the Spirit of God who brings that kind of understanding to our hearts that we lack without Him. This is why Paul would write in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14, that the man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned. So, it's the Holy Spirit that helps us to understand. He's the one who teaches us. Number three, there's the testifying role of the Holy Spirit that Jesus talks about here in John 15, 26. He says,

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. And you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. And so Jesus says, look it's the Holy Spirit who testifies about who Jesus is. And then we as the vessels inhabited by the Spirit of God are then going to be used by Him to testify of Him. The very ability to testify to people about Jesus comes from the Holy Spirit. So, listen to me on this. That stranger on the subway, or that neighbor, or that classmate of yours in school that you have a burden for, that you want to talk to Jesus about, but you think to yourself, I'm not sure if I have the right words. I don't know really how to say all this, and I'm going to stumble, and they're going to ask me theological questions I won't be able to answer. Let me just tell you, put all that to rest because the people that God wants you to speak to, to testify of Jesus, you will be enabled by the Holy Spirit. He will help you. He will speak to your heart. He will give you the words. He will bring to your memory the verses that you need to share. In fact, Jesus said in Luke 12, verse 11 and 12, He said, now when they bring you to the synagogue and magistrates and authorities do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. For, this is Luke 12, 12, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. Now, Jesus in Luke 12 was talking about in the event that we are persecuted for our faith, don't worry about how to stand firm in the faith because the Holy Spirit will help us. But in general what He's saying is whenever you need to testify about Jesus, don't worry about how to say it, or what to say

because the Holy Spirit will help you with all of that. The key is at least be willing to talk about Jesus. Do you know how much the enemy wants us to keep our mouth shut about Jesus? Of course. And the enemy is going to whisper lies into your head. Things like, you don't know your Bible well enough, and you haven't been a Christian long enough. Enough and the times that you sin against God you're disqualified from ever talking about Jesus like all the guilt all the inadequacies Everything that Satan can use to try to intimidate you from ever opening your mouth to talk about Jesus He will use and I just want to remind you and encourage you The Holy Spirit is greater than the voice of the enemy and the Holy Spirit will speak to you The words that you need to testify about Jesus Just open your mouth and start talking about him and watch how God will use you for his glory Number four we see the convicting role of the Holy Spirit in John 16 7 and 8 Jesus said 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 and when he has come notice he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment Now why those three things? Because the Holy Spirit will convict us of sin to help us understand the true nature of man he will convict the world of righteousness to help us understand the true nature of God and He will convict the world of judgment And Jesus adds in verse 11 because the ruler will be the ruler of this world of this age will be judged He's talking about Satan because The truth about judgment is that Satan will face an ultimate judgment and all who follow Satan Will likewise be judged in a similar way. So the Holy Spirit helps us to understand all this Holy Spirit helps to me to understand my sinful condition and the righteous nature of God and Because God is righteous and I'm a sinner the Holy Spirit helps us to understand why we need a Savior who is Jesus Who died on a cross for our sins?

If you don't like coming under conviction Then you are missing out on a wonderful thing that God has given us Because he loves us so much that he doesn't want us to stay as we are in our sins So he brings us under the conviction of the Holy Spirit when you dishonor God or disobey God. There's a reason you feel guilty It is the work of the Holy Spirit to bring conviction to your heart. Why do I say don't despise? Conviction here's why because if you ever get to the place Where you no longer care about right and wrong Because you just want to do whatever you want to do and you get a calloused heart about that. You know, what? What psychologists call that they call that a sociopath? When someone no longer has an ability to understand right from wrong. That's a sociopath or a psychopath Here's what the Bible says about that individual that person has a seared conscience And how do you get a seared conscience when you habitually? Continually turn a deaf ear to the conviction of God and decide you're gonna do it the way you want to do it You get a seared conscience, which is to say that your conscience becomes cauterized and you become Desensitized to what is right and wrong you have no more moral compass So welcome conviction because you know what it says it says that God loves you enough that he's bringing Conviction to your heart so that you might turn from what you're doing and get right with him conviction is a wonderful thing It's the father saying to you. That's not right I want you to turn from that and come back to me and that's the work of the Holy Spirit to bring Conviction finally number five and then we'll have communion together The guiding role of the Holy Spirit, this is so important John 16 13 Jesus says when the Spirit of truth has come He will guide you into all truth He will guide you into all truth. I Think it is no mystery That we are living at a time when there is an assault on truth and a war on common sense If there ever was a time that we needed the guidance of the Holy Spirit into all truth it is now People are being deceived in our world They are being deceived into believing lies lies about gender

lies about marriage lies about sexuality lies about life and choice and It's not just that the culture is perpetrating the lies They are also normalizing the lies celebrating the lies and Shaming you if you do not embrace the lies This is what is happening right now Which is why we need the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth when you look at the culture around you and You see some of the things that are happening and you're like shaking your head and you're squinting your eyes you're like what? What in the world, why are they saying that? Why are they doing that? Why are they embracing this? Why are they believing that? You think to yourself, like, why do they believe these things? And you're appalled by it. I'm telling you, they either lack common sense or the Holy Spirit, or both. I had a friend who used to attend here until they moved out of the area, now they live in Charlotte, North Carolina. I had him, he called me over the summer, and he says, I need a little guidance on this one. He says, our five-year-old son, five years old, is in a kindergarten class with another five-year-old boy whose parents are transitioning him into a girl. Five years old, shame on those parents. If that does not shock you and appall you,

you are either lacking common sense or the Holy Spirit, or both. And I say that as a direct, you know, kind of just being direct, but at the same time, I want you to know, like, you can come to the place where when you surrender your heart and life to Jesus, that your eyes will be open and the Holy Spirit will give you understanding of what truth is, because we're living in a very relative world and they wanna redefine what truth is. And truth by itself is non-negotiable. And we are believing lies, truth, you know, we are believing the lies, hook, line, and sinker. And so my friend said to me, you know, here's the decision we have to make. We don't want our five-year-old son to see this five-year-old friend coming in now wearing a dress and girls' patent leather shoes. And I'm like, you're right. And he says, so we just wanna make sure before we pull our son out, that we're not being, like, extreme or over the top about this thing. And I said to him, listen, and I say this to any of you, at some point, right, at some point, we have to see strange and curious and confusing things in our world. But for as long as you can protect the innocence of your children from the confusion of this chaotic, deceitful, evil world, do it.

Protect your children. And so they pulled their son out of that class because, you know, it's not like they're gonna convince the parents to do differently. So they have to consider their own child. We're living in very, very difficult times to navigate. But thank God he's given us his spirit, that we can be guided into all truth. We have God's spirit to be able to be wise and discerning about these things. And then to be able to pass it on to the next generation. Jesus, even when he concludes this, we'll get to it later, not today, when he concludes this Upper Room Discourse in John 17, 17, he prays. And he prays to the Father for all believers. And he says, Father, sanctify them by your truth. And he adds, your word is truth. May God sanctify our hearts with the Holy Spirit. We need him in this hour like never before. Amen? Let's pray together, and then we're gonna have communion together. Lord, we thank you for your Holy Spirit, who saves us, who teaches us, who testifies of Jesus, who convicts us when we sin, who guides us into all truth. Thank you, Lord. May we never quench the Holy Spirit.

May we never grieve the Holy Spirit, or turn a deaf ear to the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit. But may we walk in step with your Spirit, being sensitive to the things of the Spirit, Lord. Thank you for not leaving us as orphans, but that your very presence is with us, and in us, and upon us. We praise you, Lord. Fill us afresh with your Holy Spirit today. And we give you praise and glory in Jesus' name.