FBCWest 596 | The Holy Spirit’s Tasks
Recorded On: 03/03/2024
Bulletin
SCRIPTURE READING – Psalm 34:1 - 9
Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Pru Hungate
Praise and Worship
“Holy Forever”
“Love Is War”
“The Lord’s Prayer (it is Yours)”
Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“The Holy Spirit’s Tasks”
PRAYER TIME / Time of Reflection
“Sweet, Sweet Spirit”
Benediction “Praise You Anywhere”
Sermon Notes
John 16:1 - 4 There will be a price to follow Jesus
John 16:5 – 7 It is advantageous that Jesus goes because He is sending the Holy Spriit as a Helper
John 16:8 – 11 A listing of the tasks the Holy Spirit will do
John 16:12 & 13 The Holy Spirit will also guide the disciples in all truth and disclose what is to come
John 16:14 & 15 The Holy Spirit wil glorify Jesus and take what Jesus has said and done and disclose it to theml
Scritpures
Transcript of Service
Jesus has been teaching his disciples about the distinction and interaction between the disciples and themselves and the disciples and the world. He's now going to go talk about the help of the Holy Spirit and in that he's going to say that the Holy Spirit has different tasks. Tasks for the world and tasks for the disciples. Come and hear what these tasks are and what the difference is.
Again, this is still on the evening of Passover celebration that the disciples and the Lord did and they are continuing their journey to the Garden of Gethsemane and he continues to teach them because this is the last opportunity before his crucifixion to do so and as he gets closer and closer what he has to say becomes more and more important and relevant and sometimes he adds things like he told us before and then he told them another couple of times that they we are to love one another as he has loved us and he's taught a little bit about the Holy Spirit and other things and he's going to continue emphasizing and filling that out as he does so and so again part of this is as he's traveling and so in in the Gospel of John chapter 16 verse 1 it says, "These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. They will make you outcasts from the synagogue but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God." So Jesus is telling them
that the time is getting worse for them because they're going to be considered outcasts in the synagogue which means in essence they will be
excommunicated and we kind of not understand that and fully because we live in pretty much a secular society and so whether you go to church or don't go to church the culture doesn't care but in this situation if you get kicked out of the synagogue everybody knows it and it's harder for you to do what you need to do and to have a living and whatever because they're going to treat you as again as an outcast and so Jesus says that times are gonna come when that happens and so it's going to be socially and economically difficult but not only this when they do that they're going to think they're rendering service to God that God is appreciative of what they're about to do so when they kick the disciples out of the synagogues and do the rest of the things that they're going and to kill them they're going to think praise the Lord we're doing good things these things they will do because they have not known the Father or me so he wants them to understand that their activities even though they think they're do rendering service to God they're not because doing this makes it very clear that they don't know the Father and they don't know Jesus his Son and again Jesus always makes it evident that he and the Father are one if you don't know the Father you don't know him you don't know him you don't know the Father it's never a doubt he always includes that the two of them are that and so when people talk about God but they don't talk about the Son of God they don't know God they don't know the Father because they don't know the Son they don't know the Son because they don't know the Father but then he's going to say this but these things I have spoken to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you of them so he's saying I'm telling you this so it's not going to take you by surprise now unfortunately in the Christian church today suffering and persecution will take us by surprise because everybody says to become a Christian and one of the reasons why they tell you to become a Christian is because you're gonna have a wonderful abundant life and everything's gonna be wonderful and hunky-dory and God is just gonna bless you with all kinds of things and you're gonna be rich and famous and well-loved by everybody except that's not Christianity and he's telling his disciples that these things are coming and he's telling them ahead of time so that when they happen it's not great well wait a minute we don't understand we thought the kingdom was coming and we're going to be a part of the kingdom and we're gonna be rulers and all that and it's gonna be all cool and Jesus no I'm telling you this so that you keep from stumbling but he says these things I did not say to you at the beginning because I was with you Jesus was protecting them from the evil of the world and the evil that was going to come now he is talking to his disciples at the same time there has not been since Jesus's death burial and resurrection a time or some place that his disciples have not been suffering persecution sometimes we think in America we've had great success and is a quote-unquote a Christian nation and we have the advantages of all of those things and so when people malign us or whatever we think of that as persecution and not really and yet there are places throughout the world from the time of the disciples on where his followers have lost their heads been burned at the stake have suffered at the hands of evildoers even today young women are kidnapped and raped sold into slavery simply because they profess the name of Jesus we get very comfortable but I suspect that there is a time coming if not in my lifetime in the lifetimes of my children and grandchildren where things will get even harder and Jesus is saying following him ultimately is an abundant life because it has purpose and meaning not only in this world but the one to come but everything is not going to be wonderful here when the evil one is running amok but I'm now going to him who sent me and none of you asked where are you going now when I read this I go wait a minute is this a problem in the scripture because I remember back in chapter 14 when Jesus says that do not let your hearts be troubled believe in God believe also me where I am going but when the question was asked the question wasn't where are you going the question was we don't know where you're going how do we know the way see the disciples I don't think they've ever asked the right question so let me give you an example if I tell you that I am going on a trip and I want you to follow me I'm gonna leave Sunday afternoon after church and I want you to follow me on Wednesday and you asked me well we're not sure where you're going we don't know the way so I tell you we'll take interstate 5 that's wonderful but if you don't know where I'm going you don't know which direction to go because interstate 5 will take you to the Mexican border or it will take you to the Canadian border so knowing the way doesn't necessarily help you now if I tell you I'm going to San Diego then we need to head south or if I'm telling you that we're going to Reading or some place up north you know the go north they don't ask the right questions and Jesus says you haven't asked me where I'm going you've asked away and I've told you the way the way is me I am the truth I am the lie I'm the resurrection I'm it I'm the way but they still don't know where Jesus is going because I have said these things to you sorrow has filled your heart see it's like saying to someone that that you care about you to judge your love that they're gonna leave for a while and you love them so much you miss them and you don't want them to go but maybe if they say I'm going and there's going to be a great reason for them to going maybe you won't be sorrowful so they haven't asked Jesus where he's going therefore they have sorrow because they don't understand the benefit for Jesus and the benefit for them that Jesus is going to where Jesus is going but I tell you the truth it is to your advantage that I go away he's telling I'm leaving and it's to your advantage now I bet to a person there the eleven disciples that are there I bet their first reaction is how can that be you've you've been our teacher you've been our guide you we've seen miracles and we've seen you heal and we've seen you do all kinds of things and we've seen you teach and we are different now than we were how can it be better if you're not here for if I do not go away the helper will not come to you but if I go away I will send him to you so Jesus says there is an advantage that I go away and the advantages the helper comes now the advantage with the helper is that the helper dwells with us no matter where we are when Jesus was in his earthly ministry the situation was when the disciples were close to Jesus then Jesus was close to them but when they're out fishing or doing ever whatever else they were doing they were separated but by the helper coming the helper will be with them to help them to assist them but if I go I will send him to you so notice that Jesus I'm the one sending it's a father the Son and the Holy Spirit but he is sending this helper for us and he says and went and he when he comes will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment so Jesus is saying that the helper has a specific task and well he has some jobs to do he the jobs that he has to do at this point is to convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment you see the Holy Spirit is doing something in the world separate and apart from we the believers now we the believers tend because we read the scriptures and we see and it increases our faith and it does these things and it helps our lives we think well if we just give the Bible to non-believer he will or she will then have faith Paul is writing this gospel so that we might have faith but the scriptures alone doesn't generate faith because there have been a lot of people who have read the Bible and they'll be proud of us a lot read it once or twice or whatever and I've throughout history you'll have people who are supposedly great theologians and and priests and pastors and when you read their writings they have no clue what the scriptures have to say in reality because it's the Holy Spirit that does so and so Jesus is going to say this concerning sin because they do not believe in me now I want you to notice this concerning sin because they do not believe in me he didn't say because of sin because they do all kinds of terrible things he doesn't say because you don't live a good life the Holy Spirit is convicting you the Holy Spirit convicts you because you don't believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that the Father sent him that's the conviction because let's face it we who are believers and those who aren't we're sinful yes the Spirit will then with us believers will convict us of our sin so that we might cease from it that we might not only cease from but be dead to it but the Holy Spirit's task if you will number one is to convict the world because they do not believe in Jesus and concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you no longer see me Jesus is righteous because his death burial and resurrection confirms that his teachings and who he is is true and that he is the righteousness of God and that our faith in him then applies to our righteousness and he's saying the Holy Spirit convicts of sin and also tells them if you don't believe the death burial resurrection of Jesus again there is no righteousness and concerning judgment oh the one we don't like because the ruler of this world has been judged Jesus's death on the cross puts an end to Satan he has been judged guilty and the Holy Spirit makes that abundantly clear and plain I have many more things to say to you but you cannot bear them now there have been other times Paul has written things in his letters and he goes oh that I wish I could say more but you can't bear them now why because they're not mature let's face it telling them that life is not going to be easy once he goes is a tough lesson because I thought you're the Messiah and therefore we were going to be the kingdom and we were going to sit on your right hand on your left hand and we are going to be it now you're telling us they want to kill us throw us out of the synagogue and do all kinds of things Jesus goes yeah there are a whole lot of more things I want to teach you but you're already overwhelmed but see Jesus doesn't leave them there he doesn't say well good luck guys I know you're immature you're gonna stay in your immaturity hope you have a good life but when he the Spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth so the Holy Spirit has a job has tasked for the world to convict of sin and about righteousness and about judgment to the world and then he has tasks when it comes to we believers first is that he would guide us to truth into all truth
so the things that they can't bear now the Holy Spirit is going to teach them the things that they can't do now the Holy Spirit will say that's true that's false one of the best distinctions I can tell you is when I read quote-unquote the Gospel of Thomas his spirit told my spirit I can't say what I want to say was junk it was kind of episode of the Twilight Zone but his spirit tells us what is the truth that is why I say reading the scriptures without the Holy Spirit leading and guiding us is just reading words but the Holy Spirit teaches us truth for he will not speak of on his own initiative but whatever he hears he will speak and he will disclose to you what is to come so Jesus says the Holy Spirit is going to continue to teach but he's not going to speak on his own Jesus says Jesus didn't do or say anything on his own initiative he did what it was the father said to say and do the Holy Spirit is only to tell us what the Sun tells us to do that's why unfortunately most Baptist churches don't have a good understanding of what the Holy Spirit is and most Pentecostals churches don't have a good understanding of what the Holy Spirit is because they want to magnify the Holy Spirit and the Jesus says the Holy Spirit is going to not speak on his own initiative but he will speak in the clothes what is to come so he's going to tell us what is going to happen he will glorify me for he will take a mind and will disclose it to you see the Holy Spirit job is to magnify Jesus so when we magnify the Holy Spirit we're not magnifying Jesus of what the whole purpose of the Holy Spirit was to do was to magnify Jesus so we're getting off course if we're magnifying the Holy Spirit we appreciate the Holy Spirit because he tells us what is truth he discloses it to us and he is able to reach us to all truth and that he is as the scriptures will later tell a a pledge a down payment of the fact that we are the Lord's because his spirit dwells in us he will glorify me
unfortunately again all too often we want to glorify each other or ourselves
Jesus has come to glorify the Father and the Spirit has come to glorify the Son all things that are the all things that the Father has our mind therefore I said that he takes a mind it will disclose it to you so Jesus everything the Father is has said has been given to me and I have then returned it to the Holy Spirit so that he might disclose it to you you see people who love to criticize disciples like to criticize this by saying well your faith is blind you just grab onto something no no the Holy Spirit is disclosing things to us we don't believe because we're hoping that it we believe because we've responded to what the Sun has said and what the Spirit has said faith is not blind faith is not walking in hope faith is walking in response to what God has said
and the Spirit has led us into truth so that we know so for instance one of the hard things that we have difficulty doing as Jesus taught previously we're to love one another disciples not the world we're to love it to one another as he has loved us and have given himself for us why do we know that's true because he said it and the Holy Spirit has confirmed it and Jesus is but death burial and resurrection again confirms it so we respond to his teachings not because he's a good teacher but because he's the Son of God because quite frankly if I were to go into a class to learn how to be a good lawyer and all they teacher talked about was how somebody else ought to be a good lawyer I know what good is the class Jesus says I'm supposed to put you first and me last well quite frankly as far as the world's concerned that's not great teaching but if he is the Son of God and he is then it's true teaching because the destination and the purpose is not to have a wonderful now but see him face to face to have him say to us well done good and faithful slave and how is it that we do that because he has taught us the first shall be last and the last shall be first he has taught us not only are with the love the Lord our God with all heart all of mine our soul and all strength and to love one another love our neighbor as ourselves he's also taught us to love our brethren as he has loved us he has taught us that he has given us talents to invest in our lives and we are to be accountable to what he has given us so that when he comes he will hold us into account and hopefully we will have something to return back to him in honor of him acknowledging the stuff that he gave to us wasn't ours it was his and we were good stewards of it see he teaches things and we need to understand these things and the Holy Spirit comes and discloses it to us and tells us what's true and tells us what's not and will cause things to become to our memory much of what I'm sure John wrote he wasn't taking notes but the Holy Spirit said remember when Jesus taught this yeah I need to write that down remember when Jesus did that yeah I need to write that down remember when this you can you can ignore that because that's not going to give us any more faith okay I won't write that down and he writes down what the Holy Spirit tells similarly Matthew does the same thing though he doesn't tell us he's writing it that we might increase faith he writes it down so that we might have another perspective from the Spirit who Jesus is Luke checks everything out it's a bunch of sources says whatever and writes it down according to the Holy Spirit so that we might know again another perspective of who Jesus is and with Matthew I'm sorry and Mark Mark writes a little less people say that Mark got his stuff repeated maybe maybe I don't know but the Holy Spirit was the one who directed them and then people like Paul comes along and the Holy Spirit guided Paul what to say some of this stuff is hard as a matter of fact a lot of people in our culture don't like what Paul has to say you know he messes up our culture and then there's this writer of Hebrews the Holy Spirit does all these things and then Peter and Jude the Holy Spirit comes to teach and we are to take that information and the best way that we know that the Spirit lives in us is that the Jesus and the Holy Spirit has impacted our lives we are now different than we were before he helps us there have been times when I have counseled people and all of a sudden scriptures that I hadn't thought about in a long time apply in this situation and I talk about those scriptures because the Holy Spirit brought it into my memory Jesus is going to tell his disciples there's not a time when they're gonna put you on trial don't worry about what you're gonna say beforehand the Holy Spirit will guide you to what to say yes Peter tells us that we need to give an account for the faith that we have that's different that's an accounting of faith why is it that I believe when I'm on trial the Holy Spirit is going to take over but we need to have our lives evident that we are a people we are disciples the people
not the world other disciples want to be a part of see I've gone to a lot of groups and they're nice people and whatever but I was it's not like gee I want I want to be a part of this group you know maybe there was some advantage to it maybe I could get some business or whatever but there was no whatever but a body of believers there ought to be this attraction to say I want to be with them because not on do I feel loved I am loved and when I fall short they understand that they fall short instead of condemning me they help me to be better that this place is not a morgue but a hospital we don't kill you we try through the Holy Spirit and his teaching to make you better so that we're not all hypocrites just some of the time and that's the task of the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit has a task for the world and the Holy Spirit has a task for us
let that task be a sweet sweet spirit in this place and all God's people say