The Beauty of Jesus : Giver of the Holy Spirit : Gospel of John

Well, this morning we’re wrapping up the series that we’ve been in for a number of weeks on the beauty of Jesus.And as we’ve looked through the pages of scripture in John’s Gospel, isn’t that true?Jesus is so good.Jesus is so beautiful.The teachings of Jesus are amazing.You know, even if I wasn’t his follower, even if I didn’t believe that Jesus is who he claimed to be, that he’s the son of God, I think if I had a rational mind, I could still look at the teachings of Jesus and go, “Wow.This really beneficial for humanity.This is really beneficial for civilization.”Sadly today, instead what we see is persecution and hatred and an- a, a real, uh, spiritual atmosphere of anti-Christ, anti-Christianity.And it’s not rational at all.We know that it’s spiritual.We know that there is a god of this world that works against the true God.right.And God has allowed that.We live in a time where you get to choose.Can you say that to yourself?”I get to choose.”I get to choose.You know, I get to choose to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, or not.That’s the world that we live in.That’s the world that God has created.And I love the Gospel of John.Jesus is so beautiful.He’s the living water, he’s the bread of life, he’s the great I Am.Before Abraham was, he said, “I Am.”And Jesus is the only doorway to Heaven.He’s the only way, he’s the truth, he’s the life.There’s so many beautiful teachings about Jesus in the Gospel of John.And this morning, as we look at John Chapter 16, we’re gonna focus on Jesus as the giver of the Holy Spirit, Jesus as the giver of the Holy Spirit.Let’s stand and read from a portion of scripture in John 16, Verse 7-11.This is John 16, Verse 7-11.And we stand in the House of the Lord because we believe that the Word of God is inspired, it’s God-breathed.We believe the Word of God, the Bible, is useful for teaching and correction and, and to guide our lives, so we stand to honor the Word of the Lord.John 16 Verse 7.”But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away.Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you.But if I go, I will send him to you.When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment.About sin because people do not believe in me, about righteousness because I am going to the Father where you can see me no longer, and about judgment because the prince of this world now stands condemned.”Lord Jesus, thank you for your teaching on the Holy Spirit.Thank you that when you were preparing your disciples for your death and for your resurrection, and that you would go away to the right hand of the Father, thank you, Lord, that you told them about the Holy Spirit, that the Spirit would come to comfort, to guide, to counsel, to strengthen.Lord, I pray all over this congregation this morning and online that you would help us to just be open to more of the Holy Spirit in our lives.We need you.You’re the greatest gift.You’re the greatest gift of all, Holy Spirit.And we want you in our lives, and we’re open to you in our lives.Work in each person today, we pray, in Jesus’ name.Amen.Amen.Lord bless you.I’m sure everybody’s getting ready for Christmas, and so I began to think about Christmas presents.And from the time I was a boy, in my household at least, we would alwaysEveryone except my mom, I think my mom would prepare, but everyone else, it was usually the last week or the last weekend, we were running around buying presents because we hadn’t really prepared or planned and we were justIn our f- family culture, you know, when it was Christmas morning, everybody had a g- had to have a gift under the Christmas tree.And so, we would, would go and buy little things and big things.And it’s interesting, over the years, I remember how we used to play games with how we would wrap the presents.And so, I remember one year for example, um, we wrapped a leather coat in a large box.It was for my dad, very nice leather coat, but we l- we wrapped it in a box and put bricks in it.This way, he couldn’t guess what it was.And so we would do this all the time.I remember one time I bought my brother a saddle.We had some horses.We lived out on Route Z in Columbia, out here in the northeast part of Columbia, and IWe had 2 or 3 horses, and I had been somewhere and saw this saddle and I thought, “I’m gonna get this saddle for my brother.”But instead of just setting it out, I, uh, put it in like a big trash barrel-and then wrapped the trash barrel.And so this was kind of a fun tradition at my family when we were growing up that you would wrap presents in such a way that the person really couldn’t figure out what was gonna be the best present.Now, I wanna come back to this later, but let me just say, don’t reject the gift because of the wrapping.Don’t reject the gift because of the wrapping.Everywhere in scripture, the Bible teaches us, Jesus said to us, “I’m gonna give you the Holy Spirit and it’s gonna be good.””It’s gonna be good for your Christian life.”And yet, many people today in churches all across America and all across the world will reject receiving more of the Holy Spirit into their lives because of the wrapping, so to speak.The, maybe, maybe experiences they’ve seen.I can tell you for a fact right now, if you just go onto YouTube and just, just Google Pentecostal churches, th- there’s some really kinda weird stuff that’ll come up.And, and it can really lead people astray to think, “Oh, my goodness.If that’s what the Holy Spirit is, is doing, or if that’s all the Holy Spirit is doing, then I- I’m not sure about the Holy Spirit.”So I wanna encourage us as a church, and as believersAnd, and let me just say biblically, if you’re a believer, if you’re in Christ, you have the Holy Spirit- Yes.in you.Yes.That’s what the Bible teaches.Yes.And Jesus said in John Chapter 7, He said, uh, that “when you walk with me, it’s gonna be like rivers of water bubbling out.”So the Holy Spirit, if you’re in Christ, you’re in the Spirit.I- if you’re in Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit at work in your life.And Jesus promised us that as we walk with Him, the Holy Spirit is gonna be a part of that walk.It’s, the Holy Spirit is gonna be a part of walking with God, and it’s gonna be like water that just bubbles up out of you.So please, don’t reject the greatest gift because maybe your brother wrapped it in a wrapping paper that you can’t figure out what it is.Right?And I’ll, and I’ll come back to that.L- let’s think about what’s going on in John Chapter 16.I hope you have your Bibles, and I hope you’re turned to John Chapter 16, but in John Chapter 14 through 16And, and really it could be known as the last discourse, or the last sermon of Jesus in John’s gospel.It’s kind of the last, because when you get to John 17, then He prays for His disciples and He prays, uh, for the world.But then after that, it’s the Passion Week, right?And so in John Chapter 14 through 16, we have really kind of the final words of Jesus to us in the Gospel of John.And in these chapters, Jesus has set His faceEver since John 12, He has set His face to the cross.Amen.Remember John Chapter 12 Verse 20 through 26 where he says, “Unless a kernel of wheat goes into the ground and dies, it, it remains single.But if, if it, if it goes into the ground, it, it’s gonna produce much life.”And He’s talking about the cross.He’s talking about, “I’m, I’m going to the cross, and I’m gonna produce, produce so much more fruit because I have been willing to obey the Father and lay my life down at the cross.”So Jesus is very focused on the cross.But His disciples, we remember from a couple weeks ago, John 14, His disciples are troubled.Because more and more HisThey’re realizing, “Well, Jesus is talking about going to the cross.Jesus is talking about going away.This is not what we thought was gonna happen.We thought Jesus was gonna be our king on Earth right now.We thought He was gonna be a political ruler.We kn- we know He’s a spiritual leader.We know He’s a great rabbi, but we were looking to Jesus to be something a little different.”And increasingly in these chapters, Jesus is talking about the cross.He’s talking about going away.And so places like John 14, 1, 16 Verse 20, we see that the disciples are troubled, they’re grieved.They’re struggling to understand.”Jesus, what are you up to?”So in the midst of that, Jesus promises hope, and He promises the Holy Spirit.Look at John 16 Verse 33.This is at the very end, and it kind of summarizes some of what Jesus has been saying.But in Verse 33, “I’ve told you these things so that in me you may have peace.In this world you’ll have trouble.But take heart, I have overcome the world.”And so in all of these chapters, Jesus is saying, “Hey, persecution’s gonna come.Trouble’s gonna come.I’ve been with you, but I’m going away.”The disciples are troubled, they’re grieved.But then really what Jesus is trying to say, “Hey, have hope.Have hope because I’m gonna overcome the world.And even though you’re gonna face difficulties and trouble and trials and tests, uh, I’m gonna give you a testimony through that.”It’s not really in my notes, but let me just pause to say, if you’re going through a test- Yes.that’s okay.Yes.It may not feel okay.But that’s okay, because God’s giving you a testimony.Amen.And you may even in your emotions or in your mind have moments and seasons where it’s like, “God, I don’t even want this.I don’tI know you’re working, but I didn’t choose this,” is what I’m trying to say.Just hold on.Just hold on in the midst of that test, because there’s a testimony coming.There’s strengthening coming.God is at work in your faith.God is at work in your life.And so if you’re going through a test, hold on.Jesus has already overcome, and He’s gonna bring some of that overcoming power into your life.You’re gonna see the other side of that test and you’re gonna have a testimony.So in the midst of persecution, in the midst of being thrown out of the synagogue, in the midst of all the difficulties that these early disciples were gonna face, Jesus says, “Take heart, I’ve overcome the world.”And as a part of giving them hope, Jesus promises them the gift of the Holy Spirit.Look with me there at John Chapter 14.John Chapter 14, verse 15 through 17.”If you love me, keep my commands.”I love that scripture.And then verse 16, “I will ask the Father and He will give you another Comforter or another Advocate.”You’ll notice in the different versions there’s a lot of different translations, because the Greek word, and we’ll talk about it, Paraclete, it’s kind of ait’s a very rich word.It’s not easy to translate, because there’s so manyso much rich- richness in the meaning.”I’ll give you another advocate to help you and to be with you forever.The spirit of truth.The word cannot acceptc- cannotThe world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, but you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you.”Jesus there is promising the disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit.And so before we get into a- sp- the specifics of John Chapter 16, I wanted to share some general truths about the Holy Spirit.So the first question, who is the Holy Spirit?Well, the Holy Spirit is God.And I’m gonna go through these very quickly or we’ll be here, we’ll be here till 2, 2 o’clock.So, so I’ve got about 8 general truths about the Holy Spirit and then we’re gonna get into John Chapter 16, okay?So who is the Holy Spirit?Well, the Holy Spirit is God.And we see that throughout scripture.We see that in creation.We see that at the baptism of Jesus.We see that even when the disciples are taught how they should baptize those who are gonna be baptized.Matthew Chapter 28, verse 19, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”The Holy Spirit is God.The second truth that’s really important about the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit is a person.So the Holy Spirit is not it.The Holy Spirit is not a thing.The Holy Spirit is not even just a feeling.I need you to hear me say that.Now, the Holy Spirit, because He’s a person, the Holy Spirit has intellect.The Holy Spirit possesses knowledge, omniscience.The Holy Spirit has personhood.So when the Holy Spirit interacts with you as a believer, it will impact your emotions.The Holy Spirit can certainly touch your emotions, without a doubt, but the Holy Spirit can also touch your mind.Amen.Because the Holy Spirit has thoughts.I mean, the scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit can even, in the last days, give you a dream or a vision.I- I’ve been praying that more actually and as I sleep at night, “Lord, help me to, when I wake up in the morning, go, ‘Okay, Lord, thatyou spoke to me last night and I’m gonna goI’m gonna go do something with that.'” Now, praise God we’ve got the word, because any time the Holy Spirit speaks to our heart or our mind, we need to make sure it lines up with the word of God.Amen?Amen.Because I call it dirt and divinity.Some of you have heard me say this before, “I’m dirt, He’s divine.”Right?So I was made out of clay.I was made out of dirt.So sometimes I hear from the Lord and I really get it just right.Other times, maybe I don’t get it just right, or maybe the timing’s off orAnd so we have to- to- to receive from the Holy Spirit with a sense of humility.Yes.He’s divine, I’m not.I don’t ever want to be in a place where it’s like, “Man, when I hear from God, you can just forget about your Bibles because pastor spoke.”No, when pastor’s speaking, I want you to open your Bibles up and make sureBecause I believe God is prophetically anointing and working through us as we speak or as we sing or as we serve the Lord.He’s empowering us, He’s anointing us, but we always need to make sure, “Lord, does that line up with what revelation you have already given in your word?”So the Holy Spirit is God, the Holy Spirit is a person, but more importantly, what does the Holy Spirit do?Or what is the role of the Holy Spirit in your life as you walk with Jesus?What- what is the work of the Holy Spirit?And this is where I’m gonna go very quickly, and I- I keep saying that to myself, but if I try to teach through each one, we- we’ll be here for quite some time.Number one, the Spirit gives life.Genesis Chapter 2, verse 7, “And God breathed the breath of life into Adam and he became a living being.”He became a living soul.So the Holy Spirit is involved in giving physical life, and the Holy Spirit, Romans 8:11, “If the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwell in you, it will quicken, it will quicken your mortal bodies.”It’ll cause something in you to come alive.So we could go to John 3 or Romans 8 and we could see that it’s the Holy Spirit of God that actually makes you come alive spiritually.The Bible says that if you’re walking around in sin, you’re dead.That’s what the Bible teaches.You may have physical life, but spiritually you’re dead.But when the spirit of God comes in-you come alive.That’s what Romans 8:11 is talking about, you come alive to God.Secondly, what is the work of the Holy Spirit?And I love this one.The Spirit makes Jesus real.The Bible teaches us that there are spiritual realities that a human being can’t even comprehend or understand until the Spirit of God comes in.That’s what it means to be born again, John Chapter 3.But first Corinthians 12, Verse 3, “Therefore, I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus be cursed,’ and no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.”What is Paul saying?It’s the Spirit of God that brings the reality of Jesus to you.So that you can with sincerity and by faith say, “Yes, Jesus is King.Jesus is Lord.”You know, sure, we can say whatever we want flippantly.That’s not what Paul’s talking about.Paul’s saying for someone to actually say and really believe that Jesus is Lord, that’s a work of the Holy Spirit.The Holy Spirit makes Jesus real in our lives today.third, the Spirit comforts and convicts.And we’ll unpack this a little more, but John 14, Verse 16, just like Chapter 16 as well, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another helper,” another comforter, another advocate, another counselor, it’s translated so many different ways, “to be with you forever.”I’m so thankful for that promise.We’re not orphans.We’re not left alone.Jesus ascended to the, to heaven, but He, He sent the Holy Spirit.The 4th, uh, work of the Holy Spirit is the Spirit reveals truth.The Spirit reveals truth.In fact, in John 14:17, the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth.Number 5, I guess number 6, I got more here than I thought.Uh, number 6, the Spirit baptizes and anoints.Look at this Old Testament passage.And of course, we know Acts 1:8, but, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses,” right?”In Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the world.”We know that one, but it’s first Samuel 16:13, this is when David was anointed.So, “Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on, the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David.Samuel then went to Ramah.”And so we have this just beautiful, uh, history in the Old Testament of the Holy Spirit coming on priests and kings and prophets so that they could receive an- an anointing and an unction.That’s like power.Uh, uh, uh, an enabling, an- an unction is an enabling to do what God has asked you to do.But the big difference in the New Testament is it’s no longer just kings, priests, and prophets.It’s every believer.It’s not just the pastor who gets baptized in the Holy Spirit.It’s not just the pastor who gets anointed to- to serve God, to witness, to share with friends, to speak the Word of God to others.But it’s every believer.It’s every believer in the family of God.You have an anointing that can bubble up in you.You have a baptism in the Holy Spirit that can bubble up in your life.Amen.We just have to be more open and more humble saying, “Lord, I need you.”It’s one of the reasons I love getting the church serving, because what happens to me when I try to serve the Lord in spiritual things, I start to feel pretty weak.I remember the first time as a young pastor, I maybe was 22, the lead pastor was busy and there was a gentleman who was very sick, and so I was asked to go over and pray for him at the home, and by the time I had got there, he had already passed.And I was only about 22, and Jenny would remember, I came home crying that day because I had felt so weak.I kn- I knew from that experience, “Lord, I need more of Your help, more of Your Holy Spirit to know how to minister to people, how to help people who are grieving, how to help people,” ’cause, uh, his wife was there and she was grieving.And so, I wanna encourage you, if you want more of the Holy Spirit in your life, step out by faith and start serving the Lord.Amen.Step out by faith and start serving people around you.Step out by faith and start serving in the church.Start speaking the word to other people.Start sharing your faith with other people.I remember as a young man going street witnessing, and that was another eye-opener for me.As I would try to minister to people on the street, I began to realize, “My words aren’t very powerful, but the word of God that I had memorized and would speak to people, very powerful.”I began to realize that I needed to pray.I needed to fast.I needed to ask for the Holy Spirit to be with me, to help me, because there was no power in me.But there was a power of the Holy Spirit that could flow through me- Come on.if I would make room for the Spirit in my life.And I’ve been on that journey for 35 years, making room for the Holy Spirit to work in my life.You see, the Holy Spirit can baptize us.The Holy Spirit can anoint us for service.We also know that the Spirit intercedes for us.Look at here, uh, Hebrews Chapter 7 Verse 25.This is the Living, New Living Translation.”Therefore, He is able once and forever to save those who come to God through Him.”He being Jesus.”He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.”What’s an in- interceder?Uh, intercessor, sorry.It’s someone who stands in the gap, amen?It’s someone who goes to God on your behalf and just prays and pleads and asks and requests.That’s what Jesus does for us.That’s what the Holy Spirit does for you and for me.He’s ever-interceding.And then the Holy Spirit also gives gifts for ministry.And I don’t have time to unpack all that this morning, but we can look at places like first Corinthians 12, Ephesians Chapter 4, Romans Chapter, uh, 12.There, there are gifts the Holy Spirit wants to give to His church.Yes.Wants to give to individual members to lift up and build up the church.So, now let’s turn to John Chapter 16, from the passage of scripture we read, and let’s learn more about what Jesus taught about the Holy Spirit.The first truth we see here in Chapter 16 Verse 1 through 6, and I didn’t read this passage but I wanna read it now, ’cause I think this is really important.The Holy Spirit is for everyday life.I think sometimes, if we’re not careful as Christians, especially for those who’veWe- we’ve grown up in church and we’ve, we’ve grown up to kind of understand the Holy Spirit, we’ve grown up to understand that, well, the Holy Spirit is at least a part of our church experience, our worship experience.But the truth in scripture is, the Holy Spirit wants to be a part of your everyday life.Your personal life.The Holy Spirit makes Jesus real to you, and He wants to be a part of your personal life, your everyday life.And you see, when Jesus, in John 16, gave this teaching on the Holy Spirit, the disciples were going through it.They- they were, they were struggling.They were having troubles in everyday life.Let me just read these verses.Verse 1, Chapter 16.”All this I’ve told you so that you will not go away.”Jesus is concerned for His disciples.He doesn’t want them to fall away.He doesn’t want them to be troubled.Verse 2.These are some tough things, talking about persecution.He says, “They will put you out of the synagogue.”So, some persecution can even come from religious leaders.Have youCan you imagine?Have you ever been persecuted or betrayed or had people work against your faith, and theyIt’s kind of a surprise because it was someone close to you or maybe it was someone you knew?Yeah, some of the kids are elbowing their dads and saying, “Yeah, Dad,” you know?That’s supposed to be funny.It was to us.Um, no, your dad’s just helping you.Uh, but here in Verse 2, it’s, “You will be put out of the synagogue.”The disciples were gonna go, go through that.In factAnd, and check this out.Wow.”The time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.”Friends, it was true in the first century and it’s true in our century.Deception is real.Deception is real.There are people todayI’m reminded of the sad, sad day when Charlie Kirk was assassinated.And why?Because he stood on campuses and spoke with young people about what he truly believed, that it would be good to get married, it would be good to have kids, that Christianity is beneficial to, to America.And he was assassinated just because he spoke up.It makes me think of this verse.”The time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.”What deception.That’s what the disciples in the first century were up against.Verse 3.”They will do such things because they do not know the Father or me.I’ve told you this so that when their time comes, you will remember that I warned you about them.I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, but now I’m going to him who sent me.None of you asked me, ‘Where are you going?’ Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things.”So, His disciples are going through everyday problems.They’re struggling with the fact that Jesus has been talking about the cross.He’s saying, “I’m gonna go away.”They’re grieved, they’re troubled.And in that context, Jesus gives this teaching about the Holy Spirit.It’s in that context that Jesus says, “I’m going away, but the Holy Spirit is coming.”That’s the second truth.The Holy Spirit is gonna be good for you.Amen.I love that.Look at verse 7.As Jesus goes on, he says in verse 7, “But very truly I tell you, it is good that I am going away.Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you.But if I go, I will send him to you.”The ESV says, “To your advantage.”And so the Greek word is, to your advantage, it’ll be to your prosperity or to your benefit.And can you imagine that?I call this, I think the holy handoff, right?So here’s Jesus who has been their rabbi, the miracle worker.Uh, they are more and more, as you go through the pages of the gospels, they are believing in Jesus.They are coming to the point where like, “Wow, Jesus, you are the Messiah.You’re a miracle worker.The things that you are teaching, you’re teaching them with authority.And clearly, you’re from God.”They’re buying into Jesus.But now Jesus is saying, “I’m going to the cross.I’m gonna lay down my life for the sins of the world.And then I won’t be around here any longer.”And so they’re grieved, they’re troubled.But in the midst of that, we have this amazing promise and this amazing handoff.Jesus is going to the Father.And when he goes, here comes the Holy Spirit.Here comes the Holy Spirit to be with you and to bring good into your life.And that’s the words of Jesus.Jesus says to you and to me that it will be to your advantage.How could anything be more advantageous than Jesus being with us here this morning?Amen.And so to me, it seems that what Jesus was saying as in the f- in the flesh, I can be at one place at one time, but Church, when we leave here today, Jesus is going with all of us.How is that?How is that possible?The Holy Spirit.That’s what Jesus meant, I think.Jesus could be i- in the flesh.He could be only in one place at one time.And he’s saying, “After I fulfill my mission, I’m gonna ascend to the Father, and the Father and I, we’re gonna send the Holy Spirit.And now, wherever my followers go,” wherever you go today, sleep, get up, eat, recreate, spend time with friends, go to work, “wherever you are, the Holy Spirit is right there with you.”That’s right.Right there with you.Again, friends, I can still remember the change in my own heart as a 10-year-old boy.It was a green station wagon.I love telling this story ’cause there’s no green station wagons anymore.And when I rode home in that green station wagon, after walking the aisle and giving my heart to Jesus, so that church that morning when I was about 10 years old, the joy that I felt, something had changed.That was the Holy Spirit.That was the beginning of my journey walking with the Holy Spirit.And if you’ve not given your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, I want to ask you this morning, would you take a step of faith and turn over your life to the Lord so that the Holy Spirit can come in and begin to bubble out of your life?You’re not gonna find fulfillment in other things.You’re not gonna find joy in other things.If you try to live life your own way, you’re gonna end up dissatisfied.You’re gonna destroy your life in sin.It might begin merry and seem like a party.But sooner or later, if I live my life my own way, on my own terms, like the prodigal son of Luke 15, I’m gonna end up lost.I’m gonna end up hurting.I’m gonna end up broken.The only way to have true joy in life, the only way to have true blessing and goodness in your life is to turn over your broken life to the Lord Jesus Christ.That’s right.Because when you come to Jesus, Jesus says, “I’m gonna send the Holy Spirit.”right.”I’m gonna spend, uh, send the Spirit of God that created the universe, that parted the Red Sea”John says, “That was in the beginning with the Word, I’m gonna send the very Spirit of God to be at work in your life.”Friend, we need more of that.Yes.We need more of the Spirit of God in our lives today, because it’s gonna be good for us.If you wanna live a good life, if you wanna live a transformed life, if you wanna have the advantages that God wants to have for your life, y- you need more of the Holy Spirit.A third truth that we see in this passage of Scripture is one of the primary works or roles of the Holy Spirit, what does the Holy Spirit do in our lives, is the Spirit is the convictor.The Holy Spirit will convict you.Look at, look with me at, uh, chapter 16, verse 8 through 11.”When he comes, he will prove the world.”Now, that’s the NIV, prove.I like the word convince.The Greek word here, uh, means to convict or to convince.And I really like this idea that what the Holy Spirit is doing in the world today, and what the Holy Spirit is doing in our lives today, is the Holy Spirit is convicting us and convincing us regarding sin and regarding Jesus and regarding judgment.And I’ll come back to each one of those.Let me re- read it again.Verse 8.”When he comes,” the Holy Spirit, “he will convict or convince the world, uh, or prove that the world is in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment.”And I’ve got ESV on the screen, and I actually like that version much better.Verse 9.”‘About sin because people do not believe in me.'” Let me pause there to say, the greatest sin in your life this morning is not some habit.It’s not some attitude of the heart of hate for somebody or lust or pride.The greatest sin in John’s Gospel that Jesus shares with us is unbelief.Unbelief.The Bible teaches us that when we have faith, that’s what unlocks the salvation of God in our lives.That’s what unlocks the redemption of God in our lives.So when you allow sin to rule over you, when you allow sin to master you, be it lust or anger or pride, irresponsibility with your money, whatever it may be, whatever is bringing destruction into your life.What, what is sin?It’s when we miss the mark.It’s when we violate the will of God and the plan of God and what God’s best is for your life.And when you allow sin to rule over, over you, what you’re really doing is you’re saying no to faith.You’re allowing doubt, you’re allowing unbelief to reign and rule in your life.And that creates a platform for the enemy to work in your life.So what’s the antidote?Jesus.What’s the antidote?The Holy Spirit.How do you invite Jesus and the Holy Spirit into your life to deal with your sin, to deal with your brokenness?What do, what do I have to do, Lord?Faith.It’s not just, “Well, I’ve gotta stop lusting.”You’re gonna wait a long time if it’s just you thinking you’ve got enough strength to be a better person.”Well, I’ve just gotta stop being so angry all the time.”Okay, that’s, sounds good.But what God really expects of you is faith.To believe in the promises of God.To believe in the gift of Jesus.To invite Jesus into your life.To come to the foot of the cross, and yes, lose yourself in Jesus.What do I mean by that?When we try to live life in our own way, on our own terms, we think that my plan is better than God’s plan.But when we come to the cross, the cross is a place of sacrifice.We sacrifice ourselves.We lay down our life.We say, “Lord, I don’t have a life if I don’t have a life in you.I’ve messed it up.I’m broken, I’m hurting, I’m lost.I’ve messed up my life.Jesus, I need some help.”We come to the cross.We sacrifice.And then the, the Bible says we take our cross and we begin to follow Jesus.In other words, we don’t just get up and forget the cross.But we begin to live at, really in the foothills of the cross, so to speak.We, we begin to live in view of the cross, knowing that as I lose myself, my selfishness and my own ways and my sinfulness, as I lose that at the foot of Jesus, that’s when I really begin to live.Friends, if you want more of the Holy Spirit in your life, you gotta walk by faith, not by sight.You gotta walk by faith and not by sin.If you’re living in sin, God’s gonna seem really, really distant.You ever been there?Come on.There’s many of us here today that can testify.We’ve been there.There’s many.I’ve heard your stories.When we were living in sin and we had an area of our life that we’d, we’d given over to the enemy.We gave up, and we just are being ruled by some sinful emotion, sinful attitude, sinful behavior.And as long as we allow that in our life, that, that makes God seem really, really distance, d- at a distance.But it’s faith that brings God into our life.It’s faith that unlocks the salvation, the redemption, and the rescue that Jesus wants to bring into your life.And when Jesus comes into your life, the Holy Spirit will come into your life.When Jesus comes into your life, the Holy Spirit will come into your life, and He’ll walk with you and talk with you.And, and He’ll fellowship with you, and He will strengthen you, and He’ll give you the joy that you need.I love this passage of scripture, because the primary work of the Holy Spirit is to convict us of sin, to convince us.And so, He works on our conscience.He works on our conscience to remind us that sin is doing us no good.I have a little quote here that kinda summarizes these verses.It goes like this.”The Spirit will bring home to every believer’s conscience, number one, an awareness of sin and a desire to repent.”That’s what the Holy Spirit does.The Holy Spirit doesn’t condemn us and leave us in guilt.The Holy Spirit convicts us and produces a new heart in us that says, “Lord, I’ve gotta repent.I’ve gotta run from this.I’ve gotta run to you.I wanna live right.I don’t wanna live mastered by sin.”So the Holy Spirit produces an awareness of sin and a desire to repent.Secondly, the Holy Spirit produces a realization of, of relief and joy in the righteousness of Jesus.Now, I wanna, I wanna look at that.Look with me at verse 9, and then verse 10.”About sin, because people do not believe in me.”So what’s the greatest sin?Unbelief?But then, Jesus goes on and teaches us that the work of the Holy Spirit is also about righteousness, but then it says, “Because I’m going to the Father, where you can see me no longer.”So who’s righteousness?You see, most of the time, when we think about this word righteousness, we think about right living and right behavior before the Lord, and that’s certainly true.But I really think in this passage, what Jesus is saying is the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life is the Holy Spirit convinces the world, in other words, before we became Christians, and then continues to work in the believer’s heart.It’s the Holy Spirit that is convincing you and convicting you that Jesus is who He said He was.That’s what that means.That, that the Holy Spirit, when He begins to work in your life, He draws you away from sin.He convicts you about sin, and, and misbehavior and missing the mark, but He also begins to convince you that Jesus is the Messiah.That Jesus is the righteousness of God.That Jesus is your savior.He’s your rescuer.So it’s the Holy Spirit that begins to convict and convince an unbeliever that, yes, Jesus is the one.He is the way.You see, so many truths that we have in scripture are not naturally understood.They have to be spiritually understood.Well, how is that possible?The Holy Spirit.The Spirit of God begins to work.I love John Chapter 3, where Jesus also taught, “You can’t see the wind, but you can see the leaves moving.”Boy, that’s true in my backyard.And that’s true with the Holy Spirit, and that’s true in your life.If you will make room for the Holy Spirit in your life, no, you can’t, uh, you can’t see God.He’s a spirit.You can’t see the Holy Spirit.He’s a spirit.But you can sure see what He does.You can see the work that He does in your life when you make room for the Holy Spirit.And so, the Spirit will convict you of sin and of righteousness, and also of judgment.And that’s, I believe, in Verse 11.Look with me.”And about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.”And so, as Jesus talks about judgment, and the Bible tells us in Hebrews that it’s appointed unto man once to die and then the judgment.And I don’t have time this morning to unpack the current debate on YouTube about hell.Have you been watching any of that?I don’t know if you’ve seen, there’s been some interestingKirk Cameron came out with something about annihilationism, which by the way, doesn’t make him a heretic, but it is different than the traditional view of hell.And I, again, I don’t have time to teach on heaven and hell this morning.I believe in a real hell.I think that’s what Jesus taught.I think that’s what the Bible teaches.But here’s what I know for sure.There’s a judgment.The Bible says, in so many places, “It’s appointed unto man once to die, and then, and then the judgment.”We will all face judgment.You will be judged for your choices, to believe or not to believe.You will be judged for how long you allowed your, your life just to wander around and be ruled by sin.Come on.Corinthians, Paul talked about even those who are Christians and ha- and when they get to the judgment, it’s not any longer a judgment of whether you’re gonna be saved or not, but Paul talks about how your works will be judged.Did you serve the Lord with the right motives?Did you serve the Lord at all?Did you represent the Lord?We will all face a judgment.So church, will you let the Holy Spirit convict you?You know, even in the Old Testament, how many times the Old Testament saints, the word of God was, “Stop being stubborn.”Lord, help me not to be stubborn.If the Holy Spirit is convicting me, I wanna respond to that quickly.In fact, I love it whenever the Holy Spirit convicts me or convinces me or speaks to me, because then I know, yep, Holy Spirit’s in my life.He’s working, ’cause He won’t let me do that.He gets all over me when I get that bad attitude, or when I wander a little bit.The Holy Spirit starts speaking, and then I know, yes, I’m, I’m walking with the Lord, ’cause the Holy Spirit’s right there in me.Talking to me, speaking to me, directing me.The Holy Spirit will convict you.I think I had some of this summary on the, on the slide there, but I’m gonna keep moving.Number 4, the Spirit will guide you into truth, and I love this.Verses 12 and 13.”I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.”I’m so thankful Jesus said that, and I think it’s especially appropriate when you’re trying to teach on the Holy Spirit, because there is so much more I need to say to you.Jesus is gonna teach us some things here about the Holy Spirit, but I hope to do a series in 2026 on the Holy Spirit.There’s so much more we need to learn about the Holy Spirit.”I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth.For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come.”I love that.Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit is all about Truth.Truth with a capital T.Uh, the enemy of your soul is all about deception.He’s the father of lies.But the Holy Spirit of God is up- into truth.And then Jesus tells us He’s not gonna come up with some new truths, but He is gonna focus on the truth that I’ve already taught you.Wow.So, and that’sAnd that other passage talks about another comforter.Why is it another comforter?And the Greek word there is another of the same kind.So the Holy Spirit is just like Jesus.The Holy Spirit wants to work in your life just like Jesus worked in the disciples’ lives when, uh, He walked the Earth 2,000 years ago.The Holy Spirit is another comforter, just like Jesus, and He wants to lead you into truth.He wants to lead you into the truth that can set you free from sin, set you free from deception, and too often and too long, we live lives where we, we, we believe in an error.We believe in something that’s not true, and we internalize that, and then the enemy gets a foothold in our life.And maybe, maybe you’re here this morning and, and you grew up in a home where, um, you just started to believe over time, “I’m just not good at anything.”Or, uh, “I’ll never amount to anything.”Friends, that’s not true.That’s not true.Maybe you grew up in a home where you struggled with your identity, for various reasons, and then because of public schools and our current culture, you began maybe to experiment with other identities as it related to your gender, and before long, you started believing something that’s not true.You see, the Holy Spirit, if we’ll let the Holy Spirit and Jesus, the Word of God, into our lives, the Holy Spirit will begin leading you into the truth, and the truth will be good for you.The truth will set you free.That’s what Jesus said.”You will know the truth and it’ll set you free.”John 8, verse 32.And so what is the role of the Holy Spirit in your life and in my life today, is to lead us into truth.And fifth, and finally, the Spirit will glorify Jesus.Verse 14 and, and 15.”He will glorify me because it is from me that He will receive what He, what He will make known to you.”There it is.”All that belongs to the Father is mine.That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what He will make known to you.”So what is the role of the Holy Spirit?The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus in our lives.The Holy Spirit makes Jesus real in our lives.The Holy Spirit makes it possible for you to have a living relationship with the God of the universe so that your life is being changed day by day to become more like Jesus, to find more fulfillment, more joy every day.I wanna ask Will just to slip to the piano this morning.Play something softly.And I wanna give us an opportunity from our hearts, hearts of faith, to just say, “Holy Spirit, I, I need more of you in my life.”Holy Spirit, I- I want more of you in my life.Remember that illustration I shared, uh, as I opened up- upuh, my own childhood with Christmas presents and wrapping paper?And I really believe in, and I don’t know how many new people, you know, you’re new to the faith.In- in any given Sunday, I know, we’ve got people who have been walking with Jesus for years.You’re- you’re here and I’m glad you’re here.And you have experiences where you’ve been to revivals.You- you’ve- you’ve seen the Holy Spirit do things.Some that you’re like, “Yes, that’s God.”Others, you’re like, “Ah, I don’t know if that’s God or not.”Right?But I mean, you’ve got some experiences and that becomes wrapping paper.That’s- that’s what I’m talking about.That’s- that’s your wrapping paper.That’s- that’s the conThat’s how you understand what maybe the Holy Spirit wants to do.Some of you might be here today, and you are totally new to this Christianity thing.Like, maybe you heard about it, but you’re just trying to sort out, what does it mean to be a Christian?What does it mean to follow Jesus?And I certainly don’t know much about the Holy Spirit.And so, I understand we have many different types of people here this morning.But I- I wanna encourage you, don’t reject the greatest gift that you could ever receive because of the wrapping paper.That’s right.You know, I grew up in a Pentecostal church.We went to Nazarene Church, Pentecostal Church, uh, Assemblies of God, went- went to a Baptist church at one time.I’ve been to a lot of different churches growing up.And I’ve seen some things that really wanted, made me want to chase after God and go, “Man, I want more of that.”But I’m gonna be honest, I’ve also seen some Christian lives and some things in church where it’s like, “Yeah, I don’t want none of that.”Maybe it wasn’t so much what happened, but maybe it was how I saw them live after what happened in church where there was a move of God and then I got to know that person.I thought, “Well, they’re not even faithful to their wife.”I mean, I’ve seen some things.And so, I just wanna encourage us this morning, don’t say no to the greatest gift, which is the Holy Spirit in your life, just because of the wrapping paper.Now, I’m gonna have some fun with you before we pray.There’s a statistic that says one in 3 people in the world are weirdSo I want you to look to your left and I want you to look to your right.And if it’s neither of them, it’s you.And so, I say that the mor- this morning to just try to re- try to remind us, the Holy Spirit’s not weird.Amen.We can get weird with the Spirit.I mean, I’ve seen that.And anything I say, I could say it just a little bit wrong, so please understand, I got a whole lot more I need to teach y’all on the Holy Spirit.But please don’t reject the Christmas present because of the wrapping, because at least the way we did in our home, you don’t know what’s in there anyways.We maybe put bricks in there.The Holy Spirit’s gonna be good for your life.Amen.Will you stand with me this morning?I wanna first invite anyone that’s here today, and you just need to turn your life over to Jesus.Could we just have everybody bow their heads and close your eyes and just begin to pray for every person in this house of God this morning?Are you here this morning and it’s your day to just say, “Jesus, I’m coming to the cross.I need you in my life.I need you to rescue you from- rescue me from my sin.I’ve messed it up and I want Jesus in my life.”Would you just look up at me?I’m gonna look over the sanctuary just for a moment.Would you just look up at me and say, “Pastor, I’m coming to Jesus.I want Jesus in my life.”Would you look up at me, nod at me or something?Let me know.Thank you.Thank you.Thank you, Jesus.Anybody else?You want Jesus in your life.You want Jesus in your life.Anybody else this morning?Lord, we pray for each person today who needs to come to Jesus.We need freedom from our sin.We need conviction, and we need the, the power that comes from the Holy Spirit to repent and turn to you.We need salvation.Thank you, Lord.And then, for all of us this morning, if you would just, by a simple step of faith, step out to this altar this morning and say, “Pastor, I, I, I’m available.I want more of the Holy Spirit in my life.”Would you just step out and say, “Holy Spirit, I need you.Holy Spirit, I need you to lead me.Holy Spirit, I need you to sanctify me.I need you to anoint me.I, I need you to be my intercessor.Holy Spirit, I need more of you in my life.”Thank you, Lord Jesus.Thank you, Lord Jesus.I’m gonna pray a simple prayer, and I really wish this morning I could just go down and lay hands on each one of you, but because of my, my hip, and it’s getting better, praise God, every day, and I’m thankful for that.Amen.God is good.But I would love to go down and pray for each one of you, and I just wanna pray a very simple prayer for all of us today to receive more of the Holy Spirit.And remember, if you’re in Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit.The Holy Spirit is already working in your life.But there is more.There’s an anointing.There’s a baptism that’s available to you, and we don’t have to focus on the wrapping.Let’s focus on the gift.And so I’m gonna pray, and when I pray, I want you to receive by faith.How do we receive salvation?By faith.How do we receive healing?By faith.How do we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit or an anointing that comes from God?By faith.Let’s pray.Holy Spirit.You see your children here today, each one.Holy Spirit of God, we need you.Holy Spirit of God, we want you to be at work in our lives.Holy Spirit, I pray for each and every person at the altar and in this house of God this morning.Holy Spirit, would you pour out your presence, your baptism, your anointing on each and every person?And Lord, would we just receive by faith?Holy Spirit, come.Holy Spirit, come to sanctify.Holy Spirit, come to strengthen.Thank you that you are the Paraclete that comes alongside to strengthen us.Church, would you just begin to pray for others around you, that they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit?Holy Spirit, we want more of you in our lives.Holy Spirit, come.If you wanna slip out from your seat and pray for someone that’s up here, I encourage you to do that.Holy Spirit, come.We receive by faith.We receive your comfort.We receive your conviction.We receive your baptism.Lord, I pray that you baptize us in the Holy Spirit.Lord, I pray that you would anoint us with your Spirit to serve you.Holy Spirit of God, we need you in our lives.We want you in our lives.We want more of you.Thank you, Lord Jesus.Thank you, Lord Jesus.And we believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit.And as you’re praying and as you’re seeking the Lord, if the Lord drops words or a language or syllables into your mind and into your heart, just begin to speak that out.Just begin to speak that out by faith.Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit of God, we need you.We want you in our lives.Holy Spirit.Come, Lord.Minister.Minister, Lord Jesus.Holy Spirit, bring healing.Holy Spirit, bring healing into our lives.We just receive everything.Everything you have for us today, we receive from you.Come, Holy Spirit.We need you.Come, Holy Spirit.We need you.Thank you, Lord Jesus.Thank you, Lord.Lord Jesus, we’re so thankful that when you went to heaven, you didn’t leave us as orphans, you didn’t abandon us, but you sent to us the Holy Spirit of God.And so, Spirit of God, we pray that you us, that you would bubble up out of us, that you would empower us and convict us to serve you and to live for you.Thank you, Lord.Thank you, Lord Jesus.We’re gonna continue to pray.We’re gonna continue to seek the Lord.If you need to go, God bless you.Have a great week.Merry Christmas.I am Pastor Tom Ragsdale.I’m Pastor Elvis Bennis.And we’re from Columbia first Assembly.We are a church that’s on mission with Jesus.Our vision is simple: we wanna make Jesus famous in your heart and in our community.Absolutely.Thank you so much for connecting with us online.We would also love to connect with you in person.We are located at 1100 North 7th Street, right in the heart of Columbia, Missouri, right across the street from Hickman High School.So if you’re in the Central Missouri area and you’re looking for a home church, come hang out with us.If you’re just connecting online and you’re nowhere near us, then please connect with us in the comments.If you have a prayer request, if you have a question, if you’re, if you’re wondering anything about the Lord or Christianity, please let us know and we will be happy to engage with you in the comments.We believe God’s doing something special at our church, and we want you to be a part of it.We’re a multi-generational church.We have people from all different backgrounds.We’re, we’re a church of the Word.We’re a church of the Spirit.We believe Jesus can transform your life.That’s why we’re on mission with him, and we wanna help you know God, we wanna help you grow in God, and we wanna share hope in our community.So, connect with us, and we wanna connect with you.Awesome.Have a wonderful and a blessed day.