JESUS TEACHES THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

John 16:1-33

Key verse 16:23,  33b

“In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” v33b.  But take heart! I have overcome the world.

Today’s word is the last discourse in the upper room, just before Jesus was arrested  Fear and anxiety loomed large among the disciples. At this time, Jesus taught them so that they may not go astray during the time of cross and further they may be strengthened in facing the coming persecutions. He taught them that they may be certain of the future through the Holy Spirit, how they must view the coming suffering, and what is the final ending point of this departure. In the end, the disciples understood Jesus’ departure in Godly perspective.

1. The troubles in the disciples(1-5)

John 14, 15, 16 are bundled together as the upper room discourse. Here Jesus and his disciples had a very intimate setting where the disciples raised questions from the bottom of their hearts. Their troubled hearts were evident in their questions. Peter said, Lord why can’t I follow now? I will lay down my life for you. Thomas said’ Lord we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?. Philip said, “Lord show us the Father and that will be enough for us. So Jesus made the first teaching session. Here  Jesus ended his teaching in today’s word.

V1-4. ¹"All this I have told you so that you will not go astray. ²They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. ³They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. ⁴I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at first because I was with you.

The primary goal of this teaching was for them not to go astray during Jesus’ absence—especially during his  arrest and crucifixion.  The worst of  the situation will come when the world reject them as their own—throwing them out of the temple, out of their society. The persecution will mount to killing of the believers. Obviously what was yet to come is not just a departure of Jesus.  There will be a significant threat to their lives. How did they take this warning?

V 5  ⁵"Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' ⁶Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief.

They were so overwhelmed by grief that they even lost their train of thought.  They didn’t know what to say or ask.  In such moments of fear and grief, nothing can be accomplished or be built upon. This is how Jesus started the second session.  In this second discourse, Jesus taught them three things: The holy spirit,(6-15) why such persecutions(because I am going to the Father 16-22), and then things about that day, day of the Lord (23-27).

2. the work of the Holy spirit(6-15)

V7⁷But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

Whenever Jesus says that he is telling the truth, it is very serious. We must pay attention to it. The truth is that Jesus must go in order for the Holy spirit to come. Here As we look at the word carefully, it is said in very negatively engaged terms—unless I go, the Counselor will not come. One word, His going is a must for the Holy Spirit to come. When he says that ‘he was going’,  he meant that he was going through suffering and death on the cross and then to the Father. This does not mean simple departure or his absence. He is going the way of life, the way to the Father.  While he was going, he will do a very important thing for them. He will give his life as a ransom on the cross. It is for them. Without this redeeming work of Jesus, the Holy spirit won’t come to them. So Jesus must go. It is for their good. When he comes what he will do? Holy Spirit will do something to the world, and other things to disciples. First, what Holy Spirit will do to the world. V8 ⁸When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment. The Holy Spirit will deliver a guilty verdict to the world. Till now they played innocence, while they are doing evil. They played naïve but they cannot do any more. They are judged to be wrong, bad, and wicked by the HS. This verdict is the beginning of the eternal judgment.  You know that the world is already under the judgment. Conviction notice is in the mail. It will be delivered to all men one by one. It is the last and final message from God. So, it is very important for the world how to respond to this conviction. Also it is very important for them to know that the world is under the conviction of guilt.

Then what are the specifics of the conviction of guilt?  V9-10 ⁹in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; ¹⁰in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; ¹¹and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. Three things—they are sin, righteousness and judgment.

Some raise a rhetorical question, What is sin? In the old testament sin is defined as any violation of the ten commandments. But men’s wickedness devised a cunning way to debase this law. Here Jesus said that sin is unbelief in Jesus. God sent Jesus, the full message of salvation, an exact representation of God himself. But they rejected Jesus, rejecting God. This is sin.

In regard to righteousness— because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer Righteousness is a big question. Who is right by whose standard? When we listen to many people, we come to realize that each has developed his own righteous way of life.  But it says that no one is righteous. Not a sing one. But righteousness of God is revealed in Christ. Christ gave his life on the cross with the charge of blaspheme. The charge was made by religious leaders and by many people around them.  The righteousness of men killed Jesus. But this is  proved to be wrong. Rather Jesus who gave his life on the cross was righteous. His resurrection proves all these. Jesus is the one who was crucified for sins of men. So he is the only one righteous.

In regard to judgment—because the prince of this world stands condemned. The prince of this world is Satan.  Satan exerted his best in crucifying Jesus on the cross. This was the ultimate weapon of Satan. But the death that Satan brought upon Jesus was nullified by the power of God through the resurrection. The ultimate weapon of Satan was destroyed. This is the judgment that God is speaking to the world.  Through the power of resurrection God delivered the verdict— death along with its agent. Satan shall be destroyed. The world must know this. Anyone who does not join in Jesus, shall remain in the fading power of Satan under judgment.

All these three specifics are related to what Jesus was about to do—his suffering, death and resurrection. Like this Holy Spirit works most of his mission on the work of Jesus on the cross. To the world He delivers conviction of guilt, to the believers He delivers the truth and power of salvation of the cross. Of the same cross, Holy Spirit  delivers two different messages.  For the disciples it is a comfort that the world that persecute them is convicted of guilt. At the same time their inner being is filled with the power of salvation through the Holy Spirit. I remember the days when I came to know Christ for the first time.  Though I knew the message of the Gospel, I could not accept the cross of Jesus. Why does his death have anything to do with me and my sin? While I was playing innocence, my heart was burdened with guilt. Strangely my heart was so much sensitized to the sin in me.  It became so annoying to a point that I could not function daily activity properly. By God’s grace, God worked on my heart to save me from my sin and death through the HS. Now the Holy spirit is the source of joy and understanding of heavenly truth. Praise God for the work of the Holy Spirit!

How does the Holy Spirit delivers the truth and power of salvation?

V12,13 ¹²"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.

Through v 12, we can learn that the knowledge of cross is too much for them to bear.

V13 ¹³But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

Here what the Holy Spirit will do is detailed.

a. He will guide you all truth. Here all truth means truth about the cross. When they saw Jesus being crucified, they were appalled. They did not know what to make of it. But through the H.S, God revealed the truth—what Jesus suffered from, why he was sentenced to death for the charge of blaspheme, why he was crucified, and then resurrected. As far as the disciples concern, Jesus’ death is most uncertainties. But the Holy Spirit will guide them all truth.

b. He will not speak his own; he speak only what he hears: it simply means that HS does not create his own message. All of his message is done and created by Jesus. One word, apart from Jesus, HS does not have any message. What is the implication? If you want to know and receive the HS, learn Jesus and try to accept his message in your heart. Then the HS will help you.

c. He will tell you what is yet to come. As we noticed in the disciples, uncertainty of what is yet to come create a great anxiety. But Holy Spirit is the assurance of the things that is yet to come.

Then through this kind of work, what do the HS trying to achieve? What is his goal?

V14-15 ¹⁴He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. ¹⁵All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

The primary purpose of Holy Spirit is to bring glory to Jesus.  At first how was his glory taken away? He was mocked and spat on. One said, if you are the Christ, come down and save yourself? Truly his being was denied. But the Holy Spirit upholds the glory of Jesus. First by convicting the world of guilt regarding every aspect of its treatment , next by revealing who Jesus is to our hearts;  as the Son of God, the one who gave his life for the sinners, the one who is sitting at the right hands of God, the one who will come as the judge to judge all men in flesh. He is God almighty, our redeemer, our Lord. The Spirit speaks to our hearts that He is our Lord and Savior. His glory will be so full that we can not contain his power, his glory and his goodness within ourselves. It explodes through our mouth praising God in his honor and for his glory.

3. Because I am going to the Father(16-22)

The work of the Holy Spirit is clear. He will guide you to all truth. Wait on him! Before he comes, Jesus must go first. The time is at hand. Now Jesus comes back to present. He explained what would happen now.

V16 -18 ¹⁶"In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me." This was very intriguing word to the disciples. So they kept on asking among themselves, “ what does it mean “in a little while”?

Here, the first little while is the time from now until his death. The second little while is the time from his death to his resurrection. What will happen in the first little while? Jesus answered this in v 20

V20 ²⁰I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.

This is the time they will see Jesus arrested and put on trial. They will see him being sentenced to death and crucified. John and Peter will watch at this. His heart will be broken.  Like this Jesus would breathe his last and buried in a tomb. This is a little while. But it would be the time of utmost sorrow and pain. But how does Jesus view this time of pain and sorrow?

 V21 ²¹A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.

Jesus saw this as a period of birth pain. The birth pain is the worst of all. But it is transient—only lasts several hours. It is gone as soon as the baby is born. Another word it is transient, short and passing quickly to ultimate goal—birth of a new baby. It is a sure process to a birth of a new baby.

Disciples mind was so much hung up on the imminent pain and sorrow. But they must accept that it is a must process, it is very transient; soon the pain will be over with the coming of joy and glory. Why? Because this is the way to the father. There was time of pain for his disciples. Like wise there is time of pain for us. The worst being the persecution. But all the pain must be understood as a process to go to the Father.

Since I come to believe in Jesus, I have several things that I causes me pain to do. Writing testimony or daily bread and early morning prayer are being the least. The most pain comes from campus visiting. I fear rejections. But if there is no cross, there will be no resurrection. Then how could Jesus go back to God and face him.  But all these are part of birth pain. Soon a time will come to pass all these things. We will see the time of the Lord.

4. that day(23-28)

v23-24 ²²So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. ²³In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ²⁴Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

Soon after the little while, Jesus will come back in resurrection. The grief and sorrow will disappear like morning mist. Joy overflow in their hearts. Nothing can take away this joy. It is named as that day or the day of the Lord.

How did Jesus characterize this day?

1.  Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. this means that they have direct access to God the father. We can count him as our father and we become his children. Further more Father himself loves us; is willing to give whatever we ask. 

2. Ask and receive and joy will be complete; this relationship is not just in paper. It is firmed and substantiated by receiving what we asked for. In this way His presence is real, his approval of us is assured and our joy become complete

3. There will be no figurative talk—there is a great barrier between God and us as of today but that day, there is no such barrier in communication—plain language will be good enough

Isn’t this the day that the disciples were eagerly waiting for? It is coming very soon.

What does it mean to us?

Until now I said that that day is here since the day of Jesus’ resurrection. Actually that day is coming in the future as well. That day we have in is the shadow of that day that is yet to come—the second coming of Jesus. Many are incomplete now but on that day we will be complete. In between now and that day, as Jesus said, there will be persecution. It is sure to come to us. It is not an option but a way to life and to the Father. It is the way of God for us to be a witness of this great truth—the cross of salvation. It is foolishness to those who perish. But it is the strength for those who put their trust in Him. The counselor is here with each of us, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. He is willing to give us truth, and He is willing to empower, and to reveal what is hidden. The Father is eager to give whatever we ask. Why do we fear anymore? We must get out of my own way. We must take giant step to the way of Jesus.

5. Take heart! I have overcome the world(29-33)

V28 ²⁸I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father."
This is the summery of whole discussion—Jesus’ departure,  coming of the Holy spirit, persecutions, are directed for Jesus’ going back to the Father. Anything we can not answer, any uncertainty must be understood in the context of this purpose of God.

How did the disciples fare?

V29-30 ²⁹Then Jesus' disciples said, "Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. ³⁰Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God." Truly they understood everything in God’s ultimate purpose.

In this great purpose of God how did Jesus do?

V 32-33 ³²"But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.
³³"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Let’s give our attention to what Jesus said “Take heart!  I have overcome the world.”