Today within many conservative evangelical assemblies there are unnumbered multitudes of faithful Bible believers who know God the Father and God the Son but do not really know God the Holy Spirit. They may have a doctrine about Him but do they really know Him? He is a wonderful loving, sensitive and divine being who is Himself God, and equal with God and the third member of the Godhead. He has all of the exact same divine and eternal attributes as God the Father and God the Son have and wants us as believers to get to know Him better.
The Lord Jesus Himself spoke about the Holy Spirit especially in John’s gospel. He called the Holy Spirit the Comforter. This term was not speaking about someone who would mollycoddle believers in an indulgent or overprotective way but someone who would interact with believers in such a way that they would be empowered to witness, to work and to serve the Lord Jesus and to uplift Him before men.
Now the word “comforter” John uses in his gospel can be translated “Paraclete” literally; “One called alongside to strengthen another.” It also can be translated “Paracletos” or “advocate” which is used in 1 John to refer to the Lord Jesus who represents and defends us in God’s law court in the heavens. Not only is the blessed Holy Spirit the comforter but a fortress against spiritual attack. (Isaiah 59:19b) He supplies the spiritual weapons and armour we need to demolish spiritual strongholds in our lives and in the lives of others. (2 Corinthians 10:4) While the Word of God teaches us many things about the person and work of the Holy Spirit we will briefly look at what John says in his gospel about this Paraclete Himself. Let’s begin…
Firstly, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and is given to those who obey the commands of the Lord Jesus.
(John 14:15-17a) “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another comforter, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth.”
It is the Holy Spirit alone who can empower us as believers to obey the Word of God and we must be willing to be taught and led by Him. If we are not fully surrendered to Him then we will not know God’s power operating in and through us effectively. We are also told that the Holy Spirit is only given to those who obey God. (Acts 5:32) While we are not perfect and at times we do sin and miss the target, as it were, if our desire is to please the Lord and completely open to the blessed Holy Spirit then He will do what is necessary to enable us to be more obedient to the Word of God and help us to get to know Him better. If we knew God’s Word better we would know much clearer the guidance and voice of the Holy Spirit individually and corporately when the local body of the Messiah meet together.
The early Church leaders consulted Him directly and He spoke to them and they followed unreservedly what He instructed them to do. (Acts 15:28) We may be asking God for guidance but if we are not obeying the guidance He has already given us in His Word then He will not give us further guidance. This not only applies to our personal spiritual journey with the Lord but also to an assembly corporately. Sadly, there are multitudes of church leaders who are making decisions that are not from the Holy Spirit, consequently you have people in positions within local assemblies that are neither called nor gifted for the tasks they have been assigned.
Secondly, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth sent from the Father and the one who goes out from the Father and one who testifies about the Lord Jesus.
(John 15:26) “But when the comforter comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.”
Now the blessed Holy Spirit will always draw people’s attention to the Lord Jesus, not to himself nor to His gifts or to those exercising them within the local assembly of believers. He will determine the gifts needed within each local assembly of believers and that for the common good of everyone present in the meeting. (1 Corinthians 12:4-7) We do not get to pick or choose what gifts we would like. The Holy Spirit is sovereign in this matter and He will gift us along the lines of the service and ministry God has chosen for us. The gifts will differ according to God’s grace. (Romans 12:6-8)
Thirdly, the Holy Spirit convicts the world of guilt in regards to sin and about the need for righteousness and of the judgement to come.
(John 16:8-11) “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.”
The first and foremost sin that the Holy Spirit convicts an unsaved person about is of their unbelief in the Lord Jesus as their rightful saviour, lord, sin bearer and of their need for Him in their life. We can preach against the sins of the flesh such as immorality, adultery, laziness or gluttony and there is a place for this, but unless there is a heartfelt repentance and a saving faith in the Lord Jesus first there will be no real and lasting spiritual reformation deep down on the inside of a person or a changed life that conforms to the Word of God.
The average unsaved person has no real idea of how serious sin is or of the eternal consequences of living under its power. Man’s greatest need is righteousness before a righteous God and needs to see firstly his own lack of it and the availability of it to all whom repent and have faith in the Lord Jesus to save them from the power and penalty of sin. (Romans 3:21-24) Only the blessed Holy Spirit can bring this about. “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” (Luke 18:27) An acceptable prayer to the Lord is “Lord, show me myself” and then after that to say “Show me Yourself.”
We are also told that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of judgement because the prince of this world has been judged. The unsaved person has little or no realization that they will be judged, and that how they have responded, or not responded down here in this life to the salvation offered in the Lord Jesus, will determine their eternal destiny. While God in his foreknowledge knows the final destiny of every human being He still gives people the choice to accept or reject Him. Hell is a real and tangible place of torment that will ultimately be thrown into the lake of fire along with the devil, his angels and all who have served them in this life. (Revelation 14:9-11; 19:20; 20:11-14)
The Holy Spirit convicts an unsaved person about the awful nature of their sin before a Holy God and its consequences and that without the righteousness God offers they will live forever in a place of conscious torment from which there is no way out or reprieve offered. As it is written; “It is appointed for man to die once and after that comes judgement.” (Hebrews 9:27) When a person is born again and receives the gift of the Holy Spirit they become aware of the one who leads the whole world into sin and death and who is the god of this world and the prince of the power of the atmosphere above the surface of the earth. (Ephesians 2:2)
The saved person also sees that at the cross Satan was judged and that all who turn to the Lord Jesus for salvation will be rescued out of Satan’s clutches and from the power and penalty of sin. (Colossians 2:13-15) They will have a new Lord and master. They will be “Under New Management.” The old life of wilful and perpetual sinning will be gone and the brand new start in life in the Spirit will have begun. (2 Corinthians 5:17) (1 John 3:5-10)
A salvation that leaves a sinner wallowing around in their sin is not Biblical salvation. As it is written; “He will save his people from their sins” both from its power and eternal consequences and at the rapture and resurrection from its very presence in the life.
Now it needs to be said that very believer in the Lord Jesus has two natures. There is the old sinful nature and the new divine nature which is the very righteousness of our Lord Jesus Himself and these two natures are in conflict with each other. (Galatians 5:16-18) While we still have our fallen nature to deal with on a daily basis, it can only be subdued by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-25) (Romans 8:12-14) It has been said that the nature we feed the most is the one that will ultimately control us.
One thing to keep in mind is that the Holy Spirit will do His convicting work through us as believers. We are His instruments He uses and the seed of life is the Word of God which the Spirit Himself waters in the receptive soil of the human heart. We of ourselves cannot convict people of sin. We may try to hang guilt trips on them even unintentionally but there will be no deep and eternal spiritual work done deep down on the inside of them. This deep spiritual transformation is solely the work of the blessed Holy Spirit.
Fourthly, the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth, reveal to us what is to come and bring glory to the Lord Jesus.
(John 16: 12-15) “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.”
We are told again that not only is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, but one who will lead us into all truth. He will always speak what is true. He will never teach false and untrue things or half-truths. Tragically today the wider Body of the Messiah is infested with false teachers and so called ‘apostles’ and ‘prophets’ claiming to speak and act by the Holy Spirit but whose teachings are unbiblical. They may have so called miracles, signs and wonders and manifestations and so called “utterances” of one sort or another and claim that they have the Holy Spirit.
We know from scripture that Satan can counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders because he masquerades as an angel of light and so do those who serve him even unwittingly in some cases. (2 Corinthians 11:13-15) Added to this they are into all kinds of counterfeit signs and wonders, a trademark of the last days and that which will pave the way for the coming of the man of sin.
Those who refuse to receive a love of the truth, as it is revealed in the Lord Jesus and in the Word of God, will go to hell and ultimately into the lake of fire. To them God will send a powerful delusion so that they will no longer be capable of believing the truth even when they hear it. Those who do not believe the truth stand condemned and God calls it loving wickedness. (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)
Also in John’s gospel in this passage of scripture that the Holy Spirit never speaks for himself but only what He hears from God the Father and God the Son because the Holy Spirit Himself is God. Also He has the capacity to reveal the future. He will take everything that belongs to the Lord Jesus and reveal it to us. He will never advertise His gifts or those whom He gives His gifts according to His will and not ours. (1 Corinthians 12:11) So then He will always glorify and uplift the Lord Jesus before others, never Himself, His gifts or those exercising the gifts.
Added to this He always has in mind the interests of the Body of the Messiah corporately and loves to minister to and among the Lord’s people especially when they meet together for fellowship and worship and edification. This kind of interactive worship where the local Body of the Messiah corporately edifies itself in love is only possible when the members are filled with the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 5:17-21)
Only the blessed Holy Spirit can reveal to us the deep things of God because He is God the Spirit and knows the thoughts, the feelings and the purposes of the other two members of the Godhead. They are completely one in every way. (2 Corinthians 2:10) If He knows the deep things of God then He most certainly knows all about us. You may know God the Father and God the Son and know that the Holy Spirit lives in you but do you know Him in the fullness of his divine power, in His personality and enabling? Have you ever been filled with the Holy Spirit or do you feel that there is something lacking in your Christian witness and work for the Lord?
When sitting in a traditional Church service, have you ever wondered what a real Spirit filled meeting would be like? Sadly, many believers just sit in the pews week by week and if they are honest go through the same routine. They may worship the Lord in their hearts but are strangers to the dynamics of Spirit filled; Spirit led worship when they meet with other members of the Body of the Messiah.
The blessed Holy Spirit is a wonderful divine, loving, sensitive and powerful one who has all the marks of personality and wants to go to work in and through the Body of the Messiah. He is one who wants to get a hold of us and use us according to His good acceptable and perfect will and impart to us spiritual gifts to bless others and the one who wants us to get to know Him better! Do you know the Paraclete?
