Grace, mercy, and peace be with you from God the Father and from the
Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. Today we turn our attention to the sixteenth
chapter of the Gospel of John, beginning with the fifth verse, as
follows:
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 has
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 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; of 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 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. 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. Here
ends our text.
If you had to choose one word to describe life in our world of today, I
think the word might well be fast-paced. There are so many things going
on in our lives that it sometimes seems like 24 hours is too short a
day, and 7 days is too short a week. One sociologist recently predicted
that, in the next century, time will the most sought-after commodity in
our society - it will become even more important than money.
I read a good example of this in a Christian magazine lately. A young
mother, with 3 pre-school children, had written in to the editor
complaining that she never had any free time. With all the feeding,
cleaning and housekeeping, whole weeks would pass by without she and her
husband ever having a moment away from home.
The editor's response surprised me - he said they should hire a helper.
It wouldn't need to be all that expensive, he said; it might be as easy
as paying a high school student to clean house and take care of the kids
one afternoon a week. After all, what price can you put on your peace of
mind? The chores of home life can be a lot more tolerable, he said...if
you know your helper will arrive eventually to take up the slack.
Wouldn't it be nice to have a helper? In our text for today, Jesus finds
His disciples down and out, and depressed...and sadly in need of some
kind of helper. They're sad because He's just told them that He'll be
leaving soon to return to His Father in heaven. How will they manage
without Him, they wondered?
What will become of the Kingdom work once He was gone? It seems like a
very dark future, but Jesus tells them not to despair: He will lighten
their burden, take some of the pressure off. He will send them a Helper.
The Helper Jesus is referring to is the Holy Ghost, and His arrival is
something the disciples can look forward to with joy. The work of the
Helper is something that had great significance, not only for those
disciples, but for us, too. -Let's find out why. Our theme today is:
"THE PROMISE OF A HELPER"
Jesus said the Holy Ghost would be...
I. A convincing witness to the world
II. A guiding light to believers
In a lot of ways, the Holy Ghost is the "silent partner" of the Trinity.
We mention Him briefly when we say the Apostles' Creed, and we might
refer to Him in our prayers every now and then...but other than that, we
really don't pay much attention to Him. And that's a shame, because His
work is so important in our lives. It's true that Jesus died to redeem
us from our sins, but without the Holy Ghost, that redemption could
never be ours! -That's because the Holy Ghost is the One who works faith
in our hearts to believe in Jesus as our Savior.
Even besides that, though, the Helper's work can be seen going on all
around us. In what ways? Well in the first place, the work of the Holy
Spirit serves as a convincing witness to the world, believers and
unbelievers alike. Jesus said to His disciples, And when He (the Helper)
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; of judgment, because
the ruler of this world is judged.
Did Jesus' prediction come true? It certainly did! Today we celebrate
the festival of Pentecost, the birthday of the New Testament Christian
Church. On that day, the promised Helper arrived in force. It was on
Pentecost that the disciples - those rude, uneducated men - were
transformed by the Spirit's power. They became eloquent preachers of the
Gospel. They turned into powerful writers, thru whose pens the Holy
Ghost has given us the Bible. And ever since that day, the Holy Ghost
has proven to be a convincing witness to the world - a very convincing
witness, indeed!
Do you remember how the men in Jerusalem reacted to Peter's Pentecost
sermon? With the Holy Spirit speaking thru his lips, Peter told them
flat out that they were sinners; sinners who had committed the terrible
crime of crucifying the innocent Son of God. "Know assuredly," Peter
said, "that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and
Christ." Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said
to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we
do?" Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." Acts
2:36-38.
Those men were convinced. In their hearts, the Holy Spirit had convicted
them of their sin. And that powerful Word of God continues to convict
the world to this day. Look around you - the world is filled with people
who know they're sinners, but don't know what to do about it.
Psychiatrists make a great living at trying to convince people they
shouldn't feel guilty. But even they themselves admit they don't have
much success. There's only one sure cure for guilt, and that's trusting
in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
And the Holy Spirit, working through the Word of God, testifies to the
world that that righteousness is available to everybody. It's there,
free for the taking. Jesus' death on the cross, says the Spirit, thru
the Apostle John, "...is the payment for our sins, and not for ours only
but also for the whole world." I Jn 2:2. His rising from the tomb, and
His ascension to the right hand of God is proof positive that Jesus'
life was a "mission accomplished."
This the Spirit proclaims thru the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans:
"Jesus our Lord...was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again
for our justification." Rom 4:25. He did what He came to do; that is, He
provided us poor sinners with a way out of the punishment of sin.
Finally, the Spirit is a convincing witness "...of judgment, because the
ruler of this world is judged." Just as the Lord predicted in the Garden
of Eden, Jesus crushed the power of Satan with His triumphant death and
resurrection. Yes, the devil is powerful; yes, he's dangerous, and
stalks about like a ferocious lion, looking for his prey. He still bends
all his efforts on dragging the souls of sinners to hell. He's condemned
to spend eternity in torment there...and he'd like to take you with him.
But Satan is no longer has absolute control. Because of Christ, we can
beat him!
Are you a fan of old horror movies, like I am? Maybe you recall those
old Dracula films that starred Bela Lugosi. I remember that the evil
vampire was always trying to get at some innocent person, but he could
never enter his victim's house until he had been invited in. Well,
that's all nonsense and fairy tales, of course. But I'll tell you what
isn't a fairy tale: the power of our adversary the devil. He is more
cunning, more sinister and evil than anything that any writer of fiction
can dream up. But since Jesus won His great victory on the cross, the
only way Satan can reign in your heart...is if you invite him in.
Unfortunately, that's just what a lot people in our world have done.
They've rejected the forgiveness that the Lord offers through Christ.
They've dedicated their lives to getting money, or power, or pleasure.
They've refused to let Jesus be the King of their heart and have, in
effect, invited Satan to reign there instead. In his letter to the
Ephesians, Paul says that these people have "...their understanding
darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance
that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart; who, being
past feeling, have given themselves over to licentiousness, to work all
uncleanness with greediness."
"But," he goes on, "you have not so learned Christ." Eph 4:18-20. We've
learned about Jesus, and the freedom from sin that is offered in His
blood. We've acknowledged Jesus as our King, and we've vowed to struggle
against the devil and his temptations all our lives long. But again -
who is it who taught us about Jesus? The Holy Ghost! To the world at
large, the Helper is a convincing witness of sin, and of righteousness,
and of judgment. To us believers He is something more: the Helper is our
guiding light.
Jesus said, "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." These
apostles Jesus was talking to had a important assignment to fulfill -
many of them would serve as penmen for the Holy Spirit. They would later
write down the very thoughts and the very words that the Holy Spirit
breathed into them. These inspired words from God would eventually be
gathered into the sacred book we know as the New Testament. And through
those apostles and evangelists - through this Book - the Holy Ghost is
still guiding us in all truth, right down to this very day.
"Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path," the
Psalmist once said. As a Christian, you can say that, too! You don't
have to be a victim of the aimless, frantic life of those we see rushing
about us today. Because Jesus promised you a Helper. In the Holy
Spirit's inspired Word, you can find the answer for every problem that
confronts you in life. Here is a guidebook on raising children...a
manual on how to have a successful marriage...a clear, step-by-step
blueprint about just what kind of life will make you a satisfied,
fulfilled, happy person. But don't take it from me - check it out for
yourself! Use the guidance that the Holy Spirit offers in His Word. Get
on a regular schedule of Bible reading in your home, if you're not on
one already. See if it doesn't make a world of difference in your
attitude and outlook.
And you know, of course, that the Bible can do even more for you than
that. It not only a guide for this life, it's also a guiding light to
eternal life. The Helper, Jesus said, "...will glorify Me, for He will
take of what is Mine and declare it to you." The most important thing
the Holy Ghost does for us is teach us about Jesus. He leads us in the
way of everlasting life - and there's no "self-help" book that can claim
to do that!
At the dawn of the Reformation in England, when the Bible had just been
translated into English, the great Book was chained to a pillar in a
huge cathedral in London. It's said that the people would come every day
from miles around to listen to the pastor read from it the Words of God
- Words that they could finally understand in their own language. They'd
stand there on the cold stone floor, hour after hour, listening with
rapt attention. And if the reader ever paused, they'd shout, "Read on!
Read on!" -The situation has changed since then, hasn't it? Now each of
us has a copy of this precious Book in our very own homes. I beg you:
don't take it for granted! See it for what it really is: it's the
guiding light that brightens our dark way in life. It's the fulfillment
of a promise Jesus made long ago...the promise of a Helper!
