By Rev Charles Seet

Preached at / Published Life BPC 10.45am Svc, 2010-06-27

Text: John 16:5-15

We ought to be very thankful for the Holy Spirit. Someone has said, 'Of all the gifts given to mankind by God, there is none greater than the presence of the Holy Spirit.' However there is much confusion today about the work of the Holy Spirit. In some churches there is hardly any mention about Him, giving the impression that the Holy Spirit is not important at all. On the other end of the scale, there are churches where such great emphasis and attention is given to the Holy Spirit that He is even more important than Christ! And there are many who think that the Holy Spirit works only when they have some special sensation or ecstatic experience like speaking in tongues or falling backwards. To them, the Holy Spirit cannot be at work unless there is some supernatural or miraculous manifestation. 

This morning we will learn that the most important works of the Holy Spirit are not in things like these, but in what He does in the hearts and minds of sinners to bring them to faith in Christ, and in what He does to provide guidance for us and to promote the glory of Christ. Let us turn our Bibles to John 16:5-15 and read it (Read).

The passage begins with the response of the disciples to the news that Jesus was about to leave them. They were filled with sorrow (v.6). This was despite the many assurances they had received from Him - e.g. that He was going to prepare mansions for them in His Father's house, and would return to take them there one day (14:2,3). Why were they so sorrowful? Because they kept focusing on themselves and their own loss. For 3 years they had been with Him , serving Him, and learning from Him that they could not accept his departure. The answer Jesus gave them in v.7 addressed this point well 'It is expedient for you that I go away.' It will not be your loss but your gain.

He encouraged them to look forward to the coming of the Comforter who is the Holy Spirit - one who never leave them, and one who can only come if Jesus left them. Then Jesus informs them of 3 important works that the Holy Spirit will do when He comes.

I. He Proves the Guilt of the World (vv.8-11)

In v.8 Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will reprove or convince the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. This prophecy began to be fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. After the disciples were empowered by the Holy Spirit and a huge crowd had gathered to see what had happened, Peter stood up all filled with the Spirit and began to preach to them, beginning in v.14 of Acts chapter 2. Let us see what happened at the end of his preaching in Acts 2:36-37 'Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?'

You will notice that Peter addressed the crowd as 'the house of Israel' and that he charged them for having crucified their own Messiah. Perhaps some of them had been among the unbelieving Jews who vociferously shouted, 'Crucify Him! Crucify Him!' when Pontius Pilate brought Jesus out to them 50 days earlier (Luke 23:21). And perhaps most of them had not been there when all this took place, but when they heard about the actions taken against Jesus they had approved of it because of their own unbelief. But now as the Holy Spirit convicted them of their sin, they were all pricked in their heart. They felt the tremendous weight of their guilt and could not bear it. They were so convicted of sin that they exclaimed in great desperation, 'Men and brethren, What shall we do? What shall we do?'

Since then, many more unbelievers have come under the same kind of conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit. Paul the apostle was one of them. At first he was the greatest persecutor of all Christians, and his sole aim was to annihilate the church. But after Christ met him on the road to Damascus, Paul realized that he was guilty of such great sins that he even called himself the 'chief of sinners' (1 Timothy 1:15). And after he was saved he went on to become the chief of soulwinners for Christ. There are countless testimonies of people who went through a radical 180 degree change like this. 

Some of them, like St Augustine and John Newton, were living in gross immorality before they were saved. Others like the Hmar tribe in northeast India and the Auca Indians in Ecuador were depraved headhunters and bloodthirsty cannibals before their conversion. 

In most of these examples, the lives of those who were converted were just like the rest of the world. They were wallowing in sin, unbelief and selfish rebellion against God just like the rest of the world. They wouldn't listen to anyone who tried to tell them their faults. They were under Satan's influence and were spiritually blind to their hopeless condition. It was impossible for them to see the sad state they were in. How could they ever change? How could they be convinced to see how sinful they really are? 

This is where the Holy Spirit's all-important work of convicting sinners must come in. This work can be understood better from the meaning of the word 'reprove' in v.8. It is a legal term which means 'to pronounce a judicial verdict which is beyond all doubt.' The Holy Spirit does not merely accuse sinners; He brings them to such an inescapable sense of their own guilt and shame that they have no excuse and no choice but to admit their sin. What the Holy Spirit does is just like Nathan the prophet saying to King David, 'Thou art the man!' (2 Samuel 12:7) And that made David confess immediately, 'I have sinned against the Lord' admitting his guilt of adultery with Bathsheba.

In any court of law, the task of proving someone guilty belongs to the public prosecutor. Through the skilful use of questions the prosecutor must be able to obtain responses from the defendant which will convince the court beyond all doubt that the defendant is absolutely guilty as charged. However the prosecutor has one serious limitation - He can only prove the guilt for crimes involving acts that are committed. No prosecutor in the world can prove a person guilty for the thoughts, motives and attitudes of his heart - attitudes such as unbelief. 

The Holy Spirit is the only One who can discern the innermost thoughts and intents of the heart and convict sinners of unbelief. Verse 9 says that He reproves the unsaved of sin because they do not believe in Jesus Christ despite all that Christ had said and done to prove that He is the Son of God. Unbelief is the most basic and fundamental of all sins of the human heart. It is so deeply ingrained in every person that Romans 3:11 and 12 says, 'there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way.' Unbelief causes men to distrust God, and to doubt His Word, His love, and His power. In its worst form unbelief even makes men deny God's existence. That is why Charles Spurgeon called unbelief the king of all sins, the epitome of guilt, the number one sin and the masterpiece of Satan.

That's not all that the Holy Spirit convicts sinners of. Verse 10 says that He also reproves them of righteousness. Before Jesus came into this world, the only standard of righteousness in existence was God's Law. Through this Law the world became aware of how far short it was of God's righteousness. But since no one had ever kept God's Law perfectly, this laid open the excuse for us that God's righteousness is humanly unattainable and much too high for anyone to reach. 

Anyone can then plead at God's bar of justice that no human being can ever attain such righteousness. But now that Christ has come, this excuse no longer holds, because He lived on earth as a human being just like us and yet He kept the Law of God perfectly without any flaw. In v.10 He says, 'I go to my Father.' This implies that He does not fall short of God's righteousness at all since He has complete access to the Father. His righteousness is therefore a proven righteousness which becomes a new standard of righteousness for us which leaves us with no excuse. Therefore whenever Christ is shown to unbelievers in all His righteousness, the Holy Spirit can use this to convict them of their failure to be righteous. 

The next verse (v.11) goes on to say that the Spirit convicts the world of judgment. And the reason given is that the Prince of this world is judged. Who is this Prince of this world? It is the Devil. Ever since He tempted man to sin against God in the Garden of Eden, he has been influencing and leading the world to rebel against God. Everyone who is without Christ is actually under Satan's jurisdiction whether they realise it or not.

And because they are under him, they will ultimately share the awful judgement he receives from God. That judgment began at the Cross where Jesus died, and it will reach its climax when Satan is cast into the Lake of fire and brimstone (Rev 20:10). And all unbelievers will then end up there with him (Rev 20:15). Therefore whenever Satan's judgement is declared to unbelievers, the Holy Spirit can use this truth to convict them that they too will face the most awful judgment and eternal torment because of all their sins.

Thus we have seen that the Holy Spirit reproves sinners of 3 things - of sin, because they have not believed in Christ; of righteousness, because they have not been as righteous as Christ; and of judgment, because they belong to the Devil and will share his awful end.

And now it may be that someone here is being convicted of these 3 things right now. Perhaps the Holy Spirit is speaking to you (just as the prophet Nathan said to David), 'You are the man! You are the one who still refuses to believe in Jesus for your salvation, even though you have learned so much about Him here in church. You are the one who claims to be righteous and doesn't need salvation, but look at the righteousness of Jesus and you will see how untrue that claim is. You are the one who insists on staying under the Devil's jurisdiction - but how sad it will be for you when you share his judgment.'

Dear friends, if the Holy Spirit is working in you now and your heart is pricked by His reproof, please listen to Him and admit that you are guilty of these things. Admit that you are a helpless sinner, that your righteousness is like filthy rags and that you desperately need to be rescued from Satan's grip. That is the very first step you must take to be saved. Only after that can you take the next step, which is to make Jesus Christ your Saviour and Lord. This is done by trusting Him completely and asking Him to save you. 

And when you are saved, the Bible says that something very wonderful happens: The same Holy Spirit who had convicted you of your sins will stay in you forever and give you that assurance that you are saved (Romans 8:15,16). And whenever you read or hear God's Word with understanding, He will use it to make you more and more righteous and less and less sinful. He does this by convicting you of any sins that you may commit after you are saved. He may convict you even through messages that are preached from this pulpit.

Some of us who heard Professor William Harding's messages came under such conviction when he preached the Word concerning the Lord's harvest last week, and concerning building Christian relationships at our recent church camp at Awana. The many hands that were raised during the prayer time at the end of each message indicate that the Holy Spirit was working in our midst. This ongoing work of the Holy Spirit to deal with the sins of believers is called sanctification. And everyone who has believed in Christ is still undergoing this work. 

None of us are perfect yet because the Holy Spirit is not finished with us yet. He is still working in us. One of the many blessings that we have from His work in us is guidance. The Holy Spirit is the best guide we can have for our journey through life.

II. He Provides Guidance for the Disciples (vv.12-13)

Three weeks ago when my family and I went for a vacation in Japan, we had an excellent tour guide. He was a young Japanese man who spoke good English. As he guided us and 3 other families through each stage of the tour we really learned a lot about each location and even what to do, what to see and what to eat at each of them. He told us everything that we needed to know for a journey that took us through cities and towns, to the countryside and even up to the highest mountain in Hokkaido. He also made sure that we were all safe by reminding us to put on our seatbelts when travelling in the coach and to put on additional clothing when the weather was cold. He was a really good tour guide who was with us for 8 days.

But no human guide can ever be better than the spiritual Guide that every believer has - the Holy Spirit who is with us forever! He dwells in us and guides us right through our journey of life (cf. Romans 8:14). And if we are sensitive to His leading we will learn many precious lessons in every stage of our journey of life, and we will be kept safe from harm and danger in the most difficult parts of our journey. So we must depend closely on the Holy Spirit's guidance every day.

But what does the Holy Spirit use to guide us? He uses His written Word, the Bible. And interestingly, the Bible is itself a product of the Spirit's guidance. We see this in v.13 'Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth' This particular promise was meant specifically for those first disciples of Christ. What Jesus said to them in the preceding verse (v.12) makes this clear 'I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.' Jesus was referring to all the spiritual truths He had been giving His disciples throughout the 3 years He had spent with them. Now Jesus says that there were still a lot more spiritual truths for them to learn, but they were not ready to receive them yet. Why? Because these truths could only be understood under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. 

It was only after Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on them that they could understand all things and teach them to the church. Why did these disciples need to be specially guided into all truth? Because they were to write the books of the New Testament. They would be inspired by the Holy Spirit to write not only what they had personally seen and heard from Jesus Christ, but also the full meaning and application of His work, His life and His mission. 

The four gospels and the book of Acts were the disciples' factual accounts of what they had seen and heard both during and after the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ. But the explanation of what all these means is contained in the epistles or letters they wrote - beginning with the book of Romans and ending with book of Jude. These epistles contain all the spiritual truths that the Holy Spirit guided them into, as Jesus had said in v.13. 

What about the very last book of the New Testament - the book of Revelation? Its 22 chapters are mostly about things to come. They are prophecies about events that will take place when Jesus comes again. And this is probably what Jesus was referring to when He said at the end of v.13, 'and He [i.e. the Holy Spirit] will shew you things to come.'

Therefore here in these two verses, John 16:12-13, Jesus had actually foretold the writing of all 27 books of the New Testament. And from this we know that the New Testament was written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit teaching and guiding the writers of these books, none of them could ever have been written. The same thing is true of the rest of the Bible. All 39 books of the Old Testament were also written by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This is mentioned in 2 Peter 1:21 'For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.'

From all this, we can better understand how immensely important the work of the Holy Spirit is to us. He not only convicts sinners to bring them to salvation in Christ. He also guides and nourishes them after that with the written Word that He Himself inspired. Isn't it wonderful to see what great work the Holy Spirit does in our lives? But how are we responding to His work? Since we know that the Holy Spirit guides us through the Bible, do we spend sufficient time to read it, hear it, study it, meditate on it and apply it in our daily life?

Do we really 'desire the sincere milk of the Word, that we may grow thereby' as 1 Peter 2:2 says? Dearly beloved, if you really want to experience more of the Spirit's work in your life, you have to spend more time in His Word. You have seen that you need this if you want to be guided by Him safely through your journey of life. But you also need this if you want to receive His comfort in your moments of grief and pain. Verse 7 tells us that He is the divine Comforter who is sent to us from Heaven, but what does He use to give us His comfort? His written Word (cf. 1 Thess 4:18). 

You also need to spend time in His Word if you want to be fully equipped by Him to witness for Christ effectively. In last week's message we learned from Professor Harding about the need of the harvest of souls. In today's message we learned that the Holy Spirit's work of convicting sinners is necessary for that harvest. He alone can make sinners feel the weight of their guilt so greatly that they turn to Jesus for salvation. But what does He use to do this to them? His Word. And someone has to do the work of bringing that Word to them.

You will notice that v.8 of our text says 'when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.' But who does the Holy Spirit come to? Is it the world of sinners? No, because the preceding verse makes it very clear that Jesus will send the Holy Spirit to His disciples, and not to the world. This means that the Holy Spirit will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment through His disciples on earth. The Word which we bring to the world is the means by which He reproves the world.

Wherever the Gospel message is proclaimed faithfully, the Holy Spirit works through it to bring sinners under conviction. And our responsibility in witnessing is simply this: To be equipped with the Word to share the Gospel with others in the Spirit's power. The Holy Spirit will then do His work of convicting them in His own good time and according to His own sovereign will. We are not responsible for the results (how many people got saved), but only for bringing the Word to sinners. And as we do that, Christ will be glorified by the Holy Spirit working in and through us. This brings us to the last and most important work of the Holy Spirit.

III. He Promotes the Glory of Christ (vv.14-15)

Verses 14-15 reads, 'He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.'

The Holy Spirit did not come to glorify Himself, but Christ. And the way that He glorifies Christ is by showing or revealing everything that belongs to Christ - everything about His person, His life, His work, His character His love and His power. In our study of John's Gospel over the past 3 years we have been discovering so many amazing truths about our Lord Jesus Christ. We had seen Him as the eternal Word of God, as the Light of the world, and as the Lamb of God. We had seen that He is the Living Bread, the great 'I AM', the Good Shepherd, the True Vine, the Way, the Truth and the Life. All these speak to us of the glory of Christ. And I trust that the Holy Spirit is using all these wonderful truths to glorify Christ in our life. 

We can think of at least 4 ways that He does this. Firstly He glorifies Christ by making Him real to us. We need that in order to abide in Christ. Secondly, the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ by making us see how lovely Christ is to us, so that we will desire Him and love Him above all things. Thirdly, He glorifies Christ by revealing to us how highly exalted He is - that He is now the ascended and glorified Lord of all. That makes us obey Christ and surrender all that we have to Him. And fourthly, the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ by changing us into the image of Christ, so that Christ can be seen in us. The more we read His Word and walk in the Spirit the more we will bear the fruit of the Spirit which makes us like our Lord Jesus Christ.

There are many more ways that the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ in our lives, but these should be sufficient to make us appreciate the importance of the Holy Spirit's work in us. We who are the Lord's disciples today can now understand why Jesus had said in v.7 that it was expedient for us that He went away. Now that we know about the work of the Holy Spirit, we should be most thankful that Christ left the disciples and ascended up to Heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to us.

We have seen 3 important works that the Spirit does - Firstly, He proves the guilt of the world (vv.8-11). Secondly, He provides guidance for the disciples of Christ (vv.12-13). And thirdly, we have seen that the Holy Spirit promotes the glory of Christ (vv.14-15). May the Holy Spirit do a mighty work in our midst today.a

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