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Reading:
John 15 v18 - 16 v15
Main
Themes:
Christians will experience opposition [1] [3]
[14]
Who is a Christian [2]
How to live - responding to opposition [4]
How to live - turn to the Holy Spirit for help [5] [9]
[15]
The three signs of an effective evangelist [6]
How to live - Preaching about Jesus [7]
How to live - letting the Holy Spirit counsel you [8]
How to live - letting the Holy Spirit disciple you [13]
Holy Spirit instruction concerning Sin [10]
Holy Spirit instruction concerning Righteousness [11]
Holy Spirit instruction concerning Judgement [12]
This
passage from the Gospel of John shows us two things:
-
Expect
Hostility
-
Expect
Help
Three
questions
1.
How does opposition to Christianity show itself?
2. What responses can a Christian adopt to the world?
3. What help is available?
The
Holy Spirit will give us a right
idea about three things:
-
sin
-
righteousness
-
judgment
Expect Hostility - Opposition [1]
Jesus says opposition is inevitable. Jesus wants Christians to know the
truth. He wants every Christian to be clear about the cost of bearing
Jesus' name in this world.
Who
is a Christian? [2]
How
does opposition to Christianity show itself? [3]
1.
Religious people
-
Jesus
said that the opposition to Christianity is religion. The greatest
antagonism will be from religious people and be in the name of God.
-
The
history of 2000 years, shows that the enemy of Christianity has been
religion. It is religious people who dislike Christians. It's those
who profess to know God that will provide opposition to Christians.
-
Jesus
said they will expel you from the their religious places. They will
kill you and in doing so think they are serving God. It takes a
religion to produce an inquisition. The Holy wars have been in the
name of religion. History shows religious people persecute Christians.
Why?
Verse
2 "In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he
is offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have
not known the Father or me. I have told you this, so that when the time
comes you will remember that I warned you."
These people persecute Christians because they don't know the Father or
Jesus.
Example
of the life of Paul:
-
One
of the first men to oppose Christians was Paul. He believed that there
was a God but didn't know Jesus. Paul was a man who devoted his life
to God.
-
He
put Christians away and put them on trial. It was only when he got to
meet Jesus did he realise he was wrong. It was only when he had a
personal relationship to God, did he find out.
2.
Non-Christians
Around
the world many people are persecuted for their faith by non-Christians.
There was an article on persecution of Christians in the Guardian
newspaper as recently as 4th June 2002.
Why
is there no opposition to Christians in England?
Five
different attitudes that a Christian can adopt to the world [4]
1.
Retaliation
2.
Isolation
3.
Adaptation
4.
Christianisation
5.
Evangelism
-
The
Lord's attitude was not retaliation, but evangelism and witness. We
are told to go into all the world and witness to the truth about Jesus
Christ.
-
Our
task is get into the world.
Expect
Help - How? - The gift of the Holy Spirit [5]
"I
will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you".
He
is unknown to the world
"The
world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But
you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you."
[7]
Preaching
- Proclaim Jesus
-
"Unless I go away, the
Counsellor (Holy Spirit) will not come to you" (verse 7). It
is this going away which will make the ministry of the Spirit possible.
The ministry of the Spirit is to proclaim Jesus. The ministry of the
Spirit is to release the power of the promised Kingdom of God in the
world.
-
The Holy Spirit will testify to the good news of the death and
resurrection of Jesus, proclaiming it like a preacher.
"He
will bring glory to me by taking from you what is mine and making it known
to you." (verse 14)
Testifying
to Jesus
"When
the Counsellor comes, ... he will testify about me. And you also
must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning."
(John 15 v 26-27).
The
Holy Spirit will testify to the truth.
[8]
Counselling (verses 8-11).
-
The Holy Spirit imparts as well as proclaims. He does not remain in a
pulpit but comes down among us. This coming down is the Spirit's ministry
in the world i.e. in the hearts of people listening. He is an evangelist
who also does the counselling by applying his message personally to his
hearers.
-
The Spirit will convict the world of
guilt (verse 8). It means to show someone
their sin and call them to change.
The
Holy Spirit [9] will give us a right
idea about three things:
-
sin
-
righteousness
-
judgment
Sin
[10]
"to
convince"
-
The
Greek word for "to convince" (verse 8) that John uses means
both to convict, that is, to show that something is wrong - as well as
to convince that is, to demonstrate the truth of something.
-
The
weakness of our witness in the world lies along these lines. We fail
to convince people of their need of Christ and we fail to convince
them of the truth about Christ. The Holy Spirit is given to God's
people to do these two things.
-
We
notice that people' greatest sin is to fail to believe in Jesus (verse
9).
-
The
Holy Spirit alone can show people the seriousness of unbelief. The
world needs to be convinced also that the death of Jesus death was not
the end or failure of his mission.
Note
verse 10.
Idea
of sin
-
In
relation to sin, the Spirit will expose guilt, because men do not
believe in Christ (verse 9). The guilt which the Spirit exposes is that hidden
guilt which we refuse to own up to.
-
We
will never convince anyone of sin. Only the Holy Spirit will convince.
The greatest sin is indifference to Jesus. The Father sent his only
Son and people do not care and are not interested. The Holy Spirit
will convince the world.
Righteousness
[11]
-
Righteousness
refers to the righteousness of Christ. Righteousness is not trying to
do your best. It is not possible. Doing our best will not get us into
heaven.
-
It's
the Holy Spirit that will convince people of righteousness.
-
Faith
in Christ counts for righteousness; it is the imparted righteousness
of Christ.
Judgment
[12]
[13]
Discipling
(see John
16 v 12-16)
The
Holy Spirit is our guide
"But 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." (verse 13)
-
If
we try to guide ourselves, we fail to see what is there. As the Spirit
of truth, he only guides into us into all truth. He will show us what
is in God's word. He leads us to understand and apply the truth of
scripture.
-
He
will speak only what he hears. Jesus cannot say everything they need
to hear at this point, since they are in no position to receive or
grasp it. Later they will be, and the Spirit will share Jesus' words
with them.
In
summary, the Holy Spirit
-
Takes
Jesus place and makes him real. He applies the gospel. He guides us
into all truth.
-
The
second resource that God provides for us is the gift of the Son. The
work of the Spirit culminates in his glorifying Jesus through
"taking from what is mine and making it know to you."
(verse 14)
Summary
Expect
Hostility [14]
1.
Opposition to Christianity can show itself through religion.
2.
Remember that there are five possible different attitudes that a Christian can adopt to
opposition from the world, some of which are more constructive and helpful
than others.
Expect
Help [15]
3.
The Holy Spirit will give us a right
idea about three things:
-
sin
-
righteousness
-
judgment
4.
He will Glorify Christ
ref: 9th
June 2002
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