Wednesday in the Word...John 15:26-16:11...What is going to happen to us?!?

Jesus tells His disciples that Someone and something is coming toward them.

The introduction of the Holy Spirit by Jesus to His disciples and to us should give us great comfort but it also puts us face to face of why we will need the Holy Spirit.  Jesus will share with His disciples what is their fate as He has been sharing His fate in the near future.  I keep reminding myself that it is God's plan and He is in control and therefore don't veer from what He has said.  Stand rather than stumble.

Today's Wednesday in the Word covers John chapter 15 and verse 26 through chapter 16 and verse 11, which reads,

v.26, 27 - "When the Helper comes, whom I send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning."

If my numbers are right, Jesus has told His disciples about the coming Holy Spirit at least 7 times with the first being back in chapter 7 and verse 39.

But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Jesus continues to unfold for the disciples what the Holy Spirit would be doing.  This time Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit's involvement in their witnessing and testifying of Jesus.  The Holy Spirit will be speaking the truth and testifying of Jesus at the same time that they will be doing the same.  The end of the Great Commission in Matthew chapter 28 is, 

"...and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

When we open our mouths and speak of Jesus, the Holy Spirit is doing the same in the heart of the hearers.  The Holy Spirit is actually ahead of you before you ever have the opportunity.  You are not alone when you have an opportunity to say something about Jesus.  May this instruction from Jesus about the Holy Spirit bring us more boldness to step into those conversations.

v.1-4 - "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.  These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me.  But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them.  These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you."

So many things here that Jesus is sharing with His disciples as they travel to the Garden of Gethsemane and His betrayal by Judas Iscariot.  The knowledge of what is coming for them is to help them to keep their eyes on the mission.  Jesus ventures into the realm of the suffering that they will go through.  

They will be outcasted from the synagogue and therefore outcasted from society.  Those that do this will think that they are actually serving God by getting rid of the Christians who are speaking of Jesus as the Messiah.  We see the example of this with Saul also known as Paul.  It was his duty and worship of God to get rid of these Christians before his Damascus Road conversion event.  The world would be a better place if these Christians were not here.  As absurd as that sounds in relationship to what Christ-like character brings to our world and communities, some of those words are coming out of people's mouths today.  When someone is denied a government office because they hold Christian values, we see that this type of persecution is still around.  

Why are they doing this?  They don't know the Father or Jesus.  Jesus lets His disciples know this and us too so that we and they would remember that they have an hour coming, an hour of judgment.  The realization of an end before an almighty and just God keeps us from stumbling when persecution is against us even holding onto the name of Jesus.  We continue to stand with a testimony and witness externally knowing the Holy Spirit is doing the same internally.  We are praying that they would come to know the Father and the Son.  

When Jesus was with them, He was protecting them.  They didn't need to know this warning because He was there in their presence.  But now He would be physically gone and the Holy Spirit would reside within them to stand instead of stumble.  How many times did Jesus protect His disciples when they had no idea what was going on behind the scenes and in the heavenly realms?  Remember, the witness of Jesus continues on in the midst of persecution.  We are not to loose sight that the persecutors need to know about the Father and the Son.  May we say along with Jesus and Stephen, the first martyr, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do" and "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!"

v.5-7 - "But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?'  But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.  But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you."

The focus has come off of Jesus and where He is going to what is going to happen to them.  Maybe they were stuck on those words in verse 2, "everyone who kills you."  Who said anything about us getting killed?  Jesus has been speaking about Himself getting killed but now we are in the mix too?  The disciples are hearing about their fate for the cause of Christ.  They will not only take the words of Jesus to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth but they will also die for those words.  

The temptation to run will be great and they will succumb to it but prior to this action, Jesus continues to tell them about the Holy Spirit who will come in His place.  They will not stand alone.  The advantage is that now they will have the Spirit within them wherever they go.  No matter the dangerous circumstance, the Spirit will be with each one of them.  They will be split up and travel to different regions but the Spirit will be with them all.  The disciples seeing a physical Jesus, in one place at one time, now talking about leaving would start to feel the lose of His presence.  But...an advantage was coming with the Spirit to provide for every Christian His help in their time of need.

v.8-11 - "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged."

Jesus gives a mini sermon on the Holy Spirit and what He will be doing.  This is a typical 3 point sermon with a summary start and then an explanation of each point.  Stretching out over each point is the action of convicting and this word also includes the word "convincing."  The Holy Spirit will be convicting and convincing the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment.  

The first convicting and convincing is to do with sin, the sin of unbelief.  The Holy Spirit will be about the business of proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah, the Anointed One of God, sent by God for the forgiveness of sins.  The Holy Spirit will be busy dealing with this heart matter.

The second convicting and convincing is to do with righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus.  The One who died on the cross, died there because He was the only one able to do what needed to be done.  His righteousness is the only perfect righteousness that will satisfy the wrath of God.  Much convicting and convincing by the Holy Spirit will be enacted in our world that has us good enough on our own merits.  

The third and final convicting and convincing is to do with judgment, Satan's and those who side with him.  Satan's fate has been decided, past tense, and therefore any who side with him will go where he is going.  The convicting and convincing of judgment is to see you either go with the righteousness of Jesus or the judgment of Satan.  What is needed?  A belief is needed rather than an unbelief in who Jesus is.  

I would say, the Holy Spirit's hands are full but we as Christians also have the same sermon to preach.  There is a Jesus and there is a Satan.  There is a heaven and there is a hell.  What is the difference between the two?  One, heaven, is possible because of Jesus' righteousness and one, hell, is the result of our original state of sin and therefore just judgment for those who don't believe in the only righteousness provided by the loving just Father.

This is what we and the Holy Spirit are to be about as He resides within now that Jesus is physically gone from the earth's presence.  The promise is His coming again and also that He resides alongside of the Father interceding for us.  Now we know of the love of God, the intercession of the Son, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  

Adam