Sound The Trumpet : The Holy Spirit's Ministry

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“The Holy Spirit's Ministry”
by Hugh Davidson
October 4th, 2009

The Holy Spirit’s ministry

John 15:26-16:11,^”But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.”

We assume that the book of John was written sometime around the close of the century and that many of the believers were being persecuted for their faith. So, John was writing to strengthen the faithful by quoting Jesus where He said, I’ve told you these things so you wouldn’t be offended. The Greek word for offended is ‘scandalized’ and it means to be made to stumble. So, the disciples were not to be surprised that people would try to kill them in the name of religion and history verifies that this is exactly what happened. And let’s face it; all kinds of atrocities have taken place in the name of religion because false religion always persecutes those who speak God's truth. He says, they’ll put you out of the synagogues. Now, this meant a big deal to these people because they were not only raised to attend the synagogue every Friday evening but even their education took place there. This is where they learned to read and write. Just to show you what the average Jew thought of the synagogue, one of their rabbi’s said that prayer was not effective unless it was offered in the synagogue. In other words, if you wanted God to listen to your problems you had to go to the synagogue to pray. And besides this, the early church used the synagogue for their initial place of meeting.

Jesus also said there is a time coming when people will actually thinking they’re doing God a favor or doing service for God by killing you. And the word He uses for service is the one that describes what a priest did when he served at the altar of God. Now, that doesn’t make an awful lot of sense to us in our present situation but Jesus went on in verse 3 and says, "These things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me." And what He saying is; these people will claim to be serving God but they don't have a clue as to who God is. Listen, a commitment to external religion is no guarantee that anybody is a true believer. And then in verse 4 Jesus says, "These things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you." And what He was saying was that when He had been with the disciples, He was the object of the world's attacks but after He returned to the Father, the disciples would become the focus of the world’s hatred. And then in verse 5 He says, now I’m going back to where I’ve come from and no one even asks Me where I’m going. This shows us that they were more concerned about the fact that they were being left alone than where He was going. And He says because I’ve said these things sorrow has filled your heart but I’m telling you the truth, I have to go away because if I don’t go the Holy Spirit won’t come but if I go I’ll send Him to you. "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth." Jesus continued in verses 7, "It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.” He knew it was best for them for Him to return to the Father because the Holy Spirit would then come to dwell in them. And then the Holy Spirit would help them deal not only be the witnesses they were sent to be but also He would help them deal with the problem of sin. And then in verses 8-11 it says, “And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.”

Now, the key to understanding verse 8 is the Greek word translated "reprove" because it has two meanings which are to condemn and to convince. In the first sense it speaks of convicting with a view toward judgment or sentencing. It's a courtroom term. The judge used it to declare a person’s guilt and then pronounce his judgment and this tells us that the Holy Spirit reproves men by declaring them guilty and men deserve this condemnation because they have rejected Jesus Christ. Although it is the Holy Spirit who makes the declaration, He is not the One who carries out the condemnation because that responsibility belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And the second term is convinced. So, the Holy Spirit condemns men for sin and then He convinces them that they need Jesus Christ. The condemning work of the Holy Spirit happens first and the convincing or the conviction comes afterward. If we don’t respond to His convincing then we will end up being condemned. And here we are told that the Holy Spirit uses three things to convict men and these are sin, righteousness, and judgment.

In verse 9 He says, "Of sin, because they believe not on me." This tells us that the basic problem of all unbelievers is that they don’t believe they’re really sinners in the sight of God. There was a man named Dennis Lee Curtis who was arrested in 1992 in Rapid City, South Dakota for robbery. Curtis apparently had scruples about being a thief. In his wallet the police found a sheet of paper on which were written his philosophy of life. And this is what it said, “1. I will not kill anyone unless I have to. 2. I will take cash and food stamps but no checks. 3. I will rob only at night. 4. I will not wear a mask. 5. I will not rob mini-marts or 7-Eleven stores. 6. If I get chased by cops on foot, I will get away. If chased by vehicle, I will not put the lives of innocent civilians on the line. 7. I will rob only seven months out of the year. 8. I will enjoy robbing from the rich to giving to the poor.”

Personally, I think he should have gotten some credit for writing all this out but the fact was; when Dennis Lee Curtis stood in front of a judge, his personal code of conduct didn’t really matter. He wasn’t judged by his own standards; he was judged by the higher law of the land. And so when men stand before God, no one will be judged by the code of morality they have written for themselves but by God's perfect law. I like how a poet once wrote, "Some men die in ashes; some men die in flames. Some men die inch by inch playing silly games." And that’s what people are doing when they’re trying to devise a way that God will overlook their sin.

The problem is people have no sense of sin. We notice here in verse 9 that it doesn’t say "sins" but "sin." You see, our business is not to convince the world of its sins but of the basic, fundamental sin of unbelief. All of our sins are the result of our sin of unbelief and in the final judgment a person either goes to heaven or hell depending on whether his sin was forgiven because he believed in Jesus Christ. Someone once asked me if they’d go to hell for smoking and I said, “You won’t go there for smoking, you’ll just smell like you’ve already been there.” You see, it’s not what we do but what we are. We’re either forgiven or we’re not.

The Holy Spirit reveals our sin so we can see and act upon our need of forgiveness and cleansing. So the ministry of convincing is an act of love because without it, man would continue on a sure and steady course to hell. The Holy Spirit convicts, or convinces the world of sin by producing in people a sense of guilt and wrongdoing. He uses this conviction to cause nonbelievers to see their need for Jesus Christ. Some well-meaning but misguided believers turn to pressure tactics to lead someone to the Lord. Yet, we can actually hinder the process of conversion when we interfere with the Holy Spirit's work in this way. The Holy Spirit will also only convict a person of their sin for only so long. When a person no longer feels any guilt or remorse for his or her sin, it is an indication that this person is no longer under the Spirit's conviction. And by refusing to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, this individual is calling the Holy Spirit a liar and he stands condemned.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was said to have played a practical joke on twelve of his friends. He sent them each of them a unsigned telegram that said, "Flee at once…all is discovered." And within twenty-four hours, all twelve of his friends had left the country. This tells us that everyone is conscious of their sinfulness and the fact that one day we’ll all stand in the presence of God.

In World War II, the American and British prisoners in one camp had built a homemade radio. One day, they heard the news that the German High Command had surrendered and the war was over. They roared in celebration; men walked around singing and shouting, waving at the guards, even laughing at the dogs. They knew something the Germans didn’t. Three nights later, the Germans finally heard the news. They fled into the dark, leaving the gates unlocked. The next morning, the Brits and the Americans walked out free. Yet they had truly been set free three days earlier by the news that the war was over. And we’re in the same situation. We have a joy that the world knows nothing about and they can’t understand it because they don’t know the source of our joy.

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13