The Help of the Holy Spirit

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. John 14:16-17

For the past few weeks I have been trying to show us how much we need the help of God in these last days.

Let me review for you. We have talked about:
Now all that I have preached in the past few weeks has been to help us in these last days. We all know that we are facing perilous times.
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God ; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 2 Timothy 3:1-7
The word perilous in the Greek means : Reducing in strength, difficult or dangerous times.

The odds are against us making to heaven on our own. We need help. With that in mind I want to talk about the help of the Holy Spirit for the believer.
Let not your heart be troubled. John 14:1
We are living in very troubled (perilous) times.There is no promise that things will get any better until we get out of this world in the rapture.
If you love me keep commandments. John 14:15
For the children of God that keep His word there is a promise of a helper.

Persecution Foretold.
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. John 16:1-7
We get the feeling that Jesus is very aware that He is running out of time. He feels the need to warn them of upcoming persecution, not simply from an evil world, but from a religious people also.

The disciples were going to face things that they had never faced before and Jesus knew that they couldn’t face them alone. They would need a helper.

Promise of the Holy Spirit.

God gave us a promise in the Old Testament.
I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Joel 2:28
Jesus gave a promise to His followers.
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name. John 14:26
But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father. John 15:26
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. John 16:7
Let's look at work of the Holy Spirit.
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. John 14:16-17
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. John 16:13-15
  • He is to be an abiding presence.
  • He is the Spirit of truth.
  • He will guide you into all truth.
  • He will show you things.
  • He will glorify Jesus.
The mission of the Holy Spirit is to guide us into the truth of Jesus.
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: John 16:7-8
With the awakening of the spiritual side of man there comes to him a threefold consciousness.
  1. A consciousness of Sin.
  2. A consciousness of righteousness.
  3. A consciousness of Judgment.
All of this is brought by the Holy Spirit which leads us to Jesus.

The Holy Spirit's Progression in the Lives of People.
Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. John 14:17
The work of the Holy Spirit starts before conversion. In verse 6 the word "reprove" means "convict" us. We use the term our "conscience" troubling us. The Holy Spirit brings conviction to our hearts that leads us to salvation.

The Holy Spirit leads us to confession of our sins and our faith for salvation.
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. John 16:13
The Holy Spirit guides and abides within us in our Christian walk.
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. Matthew 3:11
For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. Acts 1:5
The baptizing of the Holy Spirit is a continuing of the work of God in the heart of the believer.
Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them. Acts 19:4-6
If we study the scriptures we will find out that the next step in our walk with God after conversion is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

William Greathouse in his book The Spirit Filled Life gives us four steps in this progress:

1. I must be in a state of conscious acceptance with God before I can be filled with the Spirit.

2. Only those who have a spiritual thirst are filled with the Spirit.
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) John 7:37-39
3.We must be fully surrendered to the will of God.

E. Stanley Jones wrote: "Pay the price of a complete surrender. I mean surrender and not dedication. In dedication you still have your hands on the gift-in surrender you let go. The gift doesn’t belong to you any more- it totally and wholly belongs to another. You now lead a Spirit-led life, instead of a self-led life. You substitute one will for two wills. You say to yourself, 'Let go, let God.' You put yourself at the disposal of the Divine. You surrender for better or for worse, for richer or for poverty, in sickness and in health, in life and in death-you will keep yourself only unto Him. He has you."

4. We must appropriate the Holy Spirit by faith.

After conversion there comes a time in our walk with God that we make a choice to accept the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. By faith we say to the Holy Spirit, "Take my life and fill it with thy presence! You take control of my life."

As I study the word of God I find that the work of the Holy Spirit in my life requires a total giving of my whole heart and life to God and when I gave Him my will He gives me his Spirit to live within me.

In my Christian experience God by His grace saved me and when I gave Him my life He filled me with His Spirit. As I walk with Him each day He shows me the next steps I need to take in my way to heaven.

Have I arrived to where I need to be with God yet? No!

But each day He is helping me to walk in the light of His word and the Holy Spirit is teaching me.

This scripture shows the difference between a life in the Spirt and a life in the flesh.

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: Romans 8:1-16
He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? Acts 19:2
The greatest help we can find in these days is having the Holy Spirit living within us and walking each day in the word of God.

Our Text again: "For he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."

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