Sunday, 9 May 2021

The promise of the Holy Spirit

This coming week we will be celebrating and remembering the day Jesus ascended into heaven. When He spoke to His disciples about the fact that He was going away, He also gave them the comfort that the Holy Spirit will be sent to be with them. He never intended to leave us alone when He returned to His Father. Amongst other scriptures we can read about this promise in John 16:5-15:

5 “But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, grief has filled your heart. 7 But I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I am leaving; for if I do not leave, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. 8 And He, when He comes, will convict the world regarding sin, and righteousness, and judgment: 9 regarding sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 and regarding righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you no longer are going to see Me; 11 and regarding judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.  12 “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them at the present time. 13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take from Mine and will disclose it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine; this is why I said that He takes from Mine and will disclose it to you.

In this scripture we are told a lot about who the Holy Spirit is and what He is doing - let us summarize:

He is our helper, and He will convict the world (us) regarding
  1. Sin - because the world does not believe in Jesus, but the Holy Spirit will come and convict us of sin so that we will understand why we need Jesus as our Saviour.
  2. Righteousness - because Jesus, Who is our righteousness, has returned to the Father and until He comes again, the Holy Spirit will be here to convict us of our own unrighteousness so that we can accept the gift of righteousness that Jesus offers us.  
  3.  Judgement - we will be convicted of judgement because the ruler of this world has already been judged when Jesus overcame death and sin. 

Furthermore the Holy Spirit is described as the Spirit of Truth, that will guide us in all truth.  Jesus says here that the Holy Spirit will not speak out of His own but as He hears from God Himself, so He will speak and disclose this truth to us.  Jesus explains that the Holy Spirit will always glorify Him.

What and amazing Gift did God give us when He gave us His Spirit!  The One who discloses the glory and fullness of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ to us! 

Come, let us worship our God with Jason Upton when he sings this song about the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit:

 Father, Son, Spirit - Jason Upton

 





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