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What role does the Holy Spirit of God have in your life? I have asked this question to a lot of people over the years, and I have heard a lot of different answers. Some people say that the Spirit of God tells us when we sin. Others say along a similar line, that the Spirit is our conscience, telling us wrong from right, good from evil. And of-course there are others still who just plain have no idea what the Spirit is for, or if the Spirit of God even exists today at all.
What I want to share with you today, is what the Bible says about the Spirit’s Role in our life today, and how the Spirit of God interacts with us. Jesus said that it would be better for us when He departed, because He would give us another Comforter, that being His Spirit – and He didn’t leave us guessing about who this Comforter was or what role the Spirit would have. So we shouldn’t be hesitant to look at it.
So let’s begin today with those verses of scripture where Jesus Himself speaks about the Holy Spirit, in John 16:7-14:
“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 to you; but if I depart, I will send him to 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 you see me no more;
Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.
He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it to you.”
Alright, now there is a lot here… so we will take it in small bites, starting with verse 7, where as I mentioned at the start, Jesus said that it is expedient (or beneficial) for us that He departs, because if He doesn’t depart, the Comforter will not come. Now why? Why won’t the Comforter come to us unless Jesus departs? Because according to Colossians 2:9, while Jesus was on the earth, the Spirit obviously fully indwelt Him! The full-power of God and ministry of the Spirit was contained within the earthly vessel of Jesus! While Jesus was on the earth, you would either need to go find Him, or have Him come to you in some fashion.
However, after He departed, His Spirit will indwell not just a single vessel, but many… why? Because you have become a new creation, the old person is dead and the life you live now, you live through Him. Today you are the temple of God, you are the very body of Christ Jesus today and so really the Holy Spirit is still indwelling Jesus, just on a much broader scale!
So now, with Him inside of you, what is His role? If we don’t understand this, we will never be able to reach full intimacy with God. It will harm and hinder our relationship because either we won’t know how to communicate with Him, or we won’t recognize what He is saying to us – and there are many people stuck in this place today.
Thankfully, Jesus doesn’t leave us wondering about the role of His Spirit in us… take a look at verse 8, because it says something that a lot of people have misunderstood over the years: when He comes, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment:
Now I want you to notice something here… Jesus did not stop speaking after saying this! But so many people stop here and then they become confused because they are trying to lift a fragment of what Jesus was saying out of context as if this one verse was a complete thought, but no… Jesus isn’t finished, so let’s keep on going with verses 9 through 11:
Of sin, because they do not believe on me
Of righteousness, because I am going to my Father and you will not see me anymore
Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged
As we read the complete statement of Jesus without taking any of it out of context, we can clearly see that He is talking about three distinct roles of the Holy Spirit, for three distinct people groups. So the question then becomes, which group are you in?
The first group is the one which the Spirit will convince of sin, Jesus calls this group “they that do not believe on Him”. Do you believe on Jesus? Are you trusting in His finished work and His promises for you? If so, then you are not in this group. The Holy Spirit will show unbelievers their sin for the express purpose of leading them to their Savior. Once you believe on Him, then you are no longer in this category.
Now the third group is the group that the Holy Spirit will convince of judgment. It’s a very specific bit of information about judgment – that the prince of this world is judged. It’s not judgment regarding your sins, or your failings, it’s judgment regarding Satan and his doomed reign. The fact that the devil is defeated and has been spoiled by Jesus! It’s the victory chant of every true believer in Christ, and the warning cry to everyone who still hasn’t seen the writing on the wall.
This leaves only one remaining group in verse 10. The second group, which I saved for last on purpose, is the one that the Holy Spirit reminds of righteousness. This is the group that every single believer is in, right now. Every person who believes on Jesus, has His righteousness accounted to them for all time – and that is what the Holy Spirit convinces us of. And Jesus tells us exactly why the Spirit does this: Because I am going to my Father, and you will not see me any more. We will no longer see His gentle smile, or His approving nod; but His Spirit will always be with us, to comfort us and remind us that we are accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6), completely sanctified and holy (Hebrews 10:10), and entirely complete in Him (Colossians 2:10).
In verses 12 through 14, we see some additional expansion of precisely what the Spirit will do for us as believers, and notice that Jesus says: I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all truth… now notice what Jesus is saying here, because some people think that Jesus just totally shut up His mouth and ended all speaking when He ascended to Heaven, and when the “red letters” stopped then so did Jesus. There are entire denominations that believe that today. However, that’s not what Jesus Himself said here! Notice that He says that He has many things to say, but we couldn’t bear them at that time… why? Because the Spirit of Truth was not inside of us yet – but when He comes, He will guide us into all Truth. He won’t speak of Himself, but whatever He hears from the Father, and He will also show us the things to come.
This echoes the statement that Jesus made earlier in John 5:30, but He does nothing of Himself. His Spirit in us will also operate the very same way.
Then Jesus goes on to say, that The Spirit will glorify Him, because the Spirit will receive of Him and show it to us. Our communion with God through His Spirit actually glorifies Jesus! Because it testifies that Jesus has actually finished the work, and made us righteous and holy… fitting vessels for His Spirit to indwell. This is precisely why the Spirit will not convict you of sin, but will convince you of righteousness… because Jesus has already completely removed your sin! You are not an unrighteous vessel – the Spirit of God would not indwell such a place! No. You are righteous and holy, with the very Spirit of God on the inside of you – and He will take every opportunity to remind you of that fact! And by Him doing so, it actually gives Jesus glory because it testifies of His finished work on the cross for you!
And with this, also comes a myriad of other blessings that only a living, active and loving Spirit of God can provide:
All of the gifts listed in 1st Corinthians chapter 12. They have not ended, just as the Spirit hasn’t ended. He distributes those gifts, for the common good of all of us.
In Romans 8:26, the Spirit helps us to pray, when we in our own thinking and intellect do not know what to pray, and by praying in the Spirit we can pray for things totally beyond our natural understanding. Make no mistake, that is an awesome gift, worthy to be very grateful for!
Further up, in Romans 8:15, we see that the Spirit also testifies of us, that we are not children of slavery or children of fear, but we have received Sonship… we are children of God and His Spirit in us, allows us to cry out “abba” which in Hebrew is more like “daddy” or “papa” – it doesn’t carry with it the idea of a distant title of Father like someone somewhere up in Heaven that we can’t see or know or talk to… but daddy, someone that you can run to, and wrap your arms around, and sit in His lap, and share your day and your life with. Not someone to run away from in fear, but someone you can run to with joy and happiness! That’s the meaning of the very verse of Romans 8:15 and 16! We have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but we have received the Spirit of sonship, by which we can cry, abba. Verse 16. The Spirit itself, bears witness with our Spirit that we are the children of God.
What an awesome truth. And it’s all because of the finished work of Jesus Christ for you, and the reality of His Spirit indwelling you, presently!
A little bit further up in Romans 8:11, we can see that the very same Spirit again, the same one that raised Jesus from the dead, dwells in you and also continues to quicken which means “gives life” (revitalizes, regenerates and rejuvenates) your mortal body. Catch that last part, because this is talking about your mortal body. Not your divine body up in heaven some day – no this is your mortal body right now… it’s the Spirit of Christ inside of you that makes this happen. This is a promise for you today, and very view people are availing themselves of it.
These are all benefits of the finished work of Christ and His Spirit indwelling you. This is the Spirit’s Role in your life today. It’s time for us to start realizing that these things are ours. They haven’t ended, they are here now, because Jesus kept His promise. He has sent His Spirit, and we have the supreme honor and privilege of being the recipients and vessels for the very Spirit of God!
So I encourage you today: receive His Role in your life, and with all sincerity I say to you…
be blessed.