Robert Morris — Who Is He?
I'm talking about the Holy Spirit, and I want you to know a little bit about who He is. Now, we're going to read in John 14, 15, and 16. This is a conversation that takes place, most theologians believe, in the last 12 hours, some would say 15, 14 to 15, of Jesus' life. Chapter 14, He's in the room, the upper room, we would say, even though it's not the one at Pentecost — an upper room in a home, at the Last Supper, talking to His disciples. At the end of 14, in Verse 31, He says, "Arise, let us go from here", so they start going to the Mount of Olives.
Again, most theologians believe that Chapter 15, He starts it when He enters the garden, because He stops maybe beside an olive tree. He starts with "I am the vine, you're the branches". You've read that in John 15. So, John 14, 15, and 16 are the last things that He says to His disciples before He's crucified, and the main context of what He says is, I'm going away, don't be troubled though, because I'm going to send someone else. And He's introducing them to the Holy Spirit. So, John 14, look at Verses 16 and 17. He says, "And I will pray the Father".
Now, that might not jump out at you, but it jumps out at me because I would think it would say, and I will pray to the Father. But, just to give you a little background of this word, this is not the normal Greek word for pray. This is a word that simply means ask. Most of the time, it's translated ask, so when you read it that way, it makes more sense. He says, "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper". Notice the word Helper. We'll see it four times. "That He may abide with you forever. The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him", I'm underlining these words He and Him for a reason I'll tell you in a moment. "But, you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you".
Now, here's the reason I underlined the words He and Him. The Bible never, ever refers to the Holy Spirit as it. Never, because He is not an it. He is a person, and if you don't see Him as a person, then you won't develop a personal relationship with Him. You develop personal relationships with people, with persons, and so it's very important to understand, He is the third person of the trinity. All right, now look down at Verses 25 and 26 of John 14. "These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper", second time He uses that word, "the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things". That's incredible! "And bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you".
Then look at Chapter 15, Verse 26. "But when the Helper", third time we've seen that word, "comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me". And then look at Chapter 16, John 16:7. "Nevertheless I tell you the truth". In other words, it's going to be hard for you to believe what I'm about to tell you. "It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper", fourth time we've seen the word, "will not come to you, but if I depart, I will send Him to you". Now, we're going to read Verses 8 through 11 in a moment, later in the message, but look down at Verse 12 now, of Chapter 16. "I still have many things to say to you".
Now, I want you to think about what you're reading in the Bible right now. Jesus said, "I still have many things to say to you", watch, "but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak". Now, that settles all argument about whether the Holy Spirit speaks, because Jesus said He will speak. "And He will tell you things to come".
So, He's going to talk to us. Okay. This word, Helper, that we saw four times, it's only in the Bible five. We just read four of them. It comes from a Greek word, parakletos. I'm saying it to emphasize both parts of the word that makes up the word, all right? Parakletos. You've heard people say paraclete. That's an English pronunciation of it, but parakletos is the Greek word. Para means alongside, kletos means to come — to come alongside. In other words, Jesus said I'm going to send you someone who's going to come alongside you, and He's going to help you. So, this word can be translated helper. It can be translated consoler, intercessor. I'm going to send you another consoler. I'm going to send you another intercessor. I'm going to send you another advocate.
It's translated in 1 John as advocate, okay? But, the Old King James, which many of us grew up on that, translates it as something that you might remember. It translates this word as comforter. I'm going to send you a comforter. Now, I remember when I thought about that, all of us probably have something in our homes that's called a comforter. Right? When Debbie and I first got married, we lived in a trailer, and all of our bedding, our dishes, they were all handed down. So we had, really, a bedspread. We didn't have a comforter, we had a bedspread. We went over someone's house, they were showing us around. They had this thick comforter, and Debbie said to me that night, she said, "You know, I really want to buy a comforter", and I said, "Hey, that's great"! I thought that thing was beautiful, you know?
So, she bought a comforter. I went to work. I was working for my father's company in the land surveying division. I was a surveyor. I wasn't even saved at the time. We'd been married a few months. And so, I came home that night. She said, "Come see the new comforter". Went in, saw the new comforter. Wow, it's great! Then we ate some dinner, watched some TV, then we go in to go to bed. And when I walked in, you're not going to believe what happened. Someone had stolen our new comforter! And, put the old bedspread back on the bed. Where's our new comforter? And Debbie went like this to me. And I don't know why you women do this, but she goes, "Pfft"! She said, "Robert, that comforter is not for use, it's for looks"!
I have since discovered we have many things in our home that are not for use, they're for looks. We have towels that you can use that I can't use. Those are the guest towels. Don't touch the guest towels, Robert. But, go back now to her original statement about the comforter when we were first married. Here's what she said. "That comforter is not for use, it's for looks". How many believers have a comforter that's not for use, but just for looks? Hear me. The Holy Spirit is not for looks. He's for use. He wants to empower us, and to enable us, to live this life.
So, let me tell you three things about who He is, alright? Here's number one, He's my Helper. He helps me. He helps me to know what to say. Sometimes someone will ask you to pray. You've had this happen. And you will pray, and a Scripture will come to your mind, and you'll pray that Scripture, and at the end, they'll say to you, I can't believe you said that Scripture. I read that Scripture this morning. I can't believe you said it. And of course, I say, well, I'm a great person! No, I say, well, it was the Holy Spirit. How else could I say the same Scripture that you just read? How could I say that without the Holy Spirit?
So, He helps me to know what to say sometimes. He helps me know what not to say sometimes. You come home, and your spouse has had a long day, and you start to say something, and the Holy Spirit says, "I wouldn't go there if I were you". So, He helps us. But, I want to show you, John 16, three ways specifically that He helps us. And again, I want to use this as an analogy of how we have misunderstood the Holy Spirit and how He's gotten a bad rap in the church. So, John 16, look at Verse 8. "And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment". So, He's going to convict the whole world of three things — sin, righteousness, and judgment.
Now, again we've seen these negatively, but they're not negatively. The next three verses explain each one, and it has the word because, and because helps us to understand. So, look at Verse 9. "Of sin, because they do not believe in Me". Okay, let me tell you why God convicts you, why the Holy Spirit convicts you, of sin. Because if you don't understand and believe that you're a sinner, you'll never believe you need a Savior. See, you can't get saved until you know you need a Savior. So, the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin.
I got saved in a motel room. Most of you have heard that. I got saved in Jake's Motel. I was not in church when I got saved. I'm sorry, by the way. And you don't have to be in church to be saved. You know that, don't you? You know, you don't have to die in a funeral home. It's convenient, but it probably won't happen. But, I wasn't in church when I got saved. I was in a motel room. Let me tell you what I remember most about that motel room — the conviction. If you've been saved, you know what I'm talking about. You felt so convicted! That's the Holy Spirit.
As a matter of fact, 1 Corinthians 12:3 says, "No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit". It's the Holy Spirit's job to lead us to Jesus. So, that's why, see, this is not negative. He's going to convict the world of sin, because they don't believe in Jesus, so that we'll believe in Jesus. All right, here's the next thing He does, Verse 10. "Of righteousness, because I go to my Father and will see you no more", and not talk to you anymore. I'm going to my Father.
Okay, so you're not going to see me. You know why? Because I'm going to be at the right hand of the Father. I'm going to be making intercession for you. I'm going to be bringing the two together. You can't have a relationship with a holy God because you're sinful. I'm going to take care of your sin. From now on, you and the Father can talk and have a relationship. So, I'll be with the Father. Righteousness — He said I'm going to convict them of righteousness, not righteous living. Now, the Holy Spirit does convict us of righteous living. I believe we should live righteously, but that's not what this is talking about. Righteousness. Righteousness means right standing with God.
Now, and let me give you another word, by the way, for convict, that maybe you can remember, convince. When you're convicted, you're convinced. If you have a conviction, you're convinced in that area, that you should live a certain way, okay. He wants to convince you that because you have believed in Jesus, you are now in right standing with God. Think about that. That's a pretty good conviction to have. So, He convicts us of sin so that we'll believe. Once we believe, He convicts us. Now we're in right standing with God. And then, look at Verse 11. "Of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged". The ruler of this world is judged, and at this point, the ruler of the world was Satan, at that point.
And let me show you why we know that. John 12:31, "Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out". And then, John 14:30, "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming and he has nothing in me". So, He's talking about Satan. He's telling them, listen, Satan is about to be dethroned. I'm going to take away his authority. I'm going to strip him, and make a public show of him, and take away all of the authority he has, and I'm going to take dominion back.
So, let me tell you how we've misunderstood what the Holy Spirit does. This is the way many people have understood this. You know the Holy Spirit comes to convict you of sin, righteousness, and judgment. This is the way we've understood it. He's coming to convict you that you're a sinner, that you're not living right, and God's going to get you. You're a sinner, you're not living right, and God's going to get you. No, that's not it. He's coming to convict you of your need for a Savior, and once you accept that Savior, He convicts you that you are now in right standing with God, and now that you're in right standing with God, He also convicts you that Satan has had all of his authority taken away and has no more authority over you. That's what He wants to convict you about.
So, He's my Helper. He helps me. Here's number two. He's my friend, and He's not weird. He's not weird! I know this, because He's my friend. Now, here's the problem. We've seen people who talk about the Holy Spirit, and they're weird. Right? Can I tell you something? They would be weird without the Holy Spirit! They are just weird people. You know, there's a poll out that shows one in three people are weird. No, it's true! One in three are weird. Okay, I want you to do something. Look to the person on your left. Just look to the person on your left. Now look to the person on your right. Okay. Now, if neither one of them look weird, I'm sorry, that's actually not true. It's not one in three, it's one in two.
All right, here's the point. Okay. Many, many people see weird people, and they think the Holy Spirit must be weird. If you don't hear anything else today in this message, hear this. You can be a normal person and believe in the person and the power of the Holy Spirit. You don't have to be weird. You don't have to be goofy. And again, I'm not trying to make fun of a conviction that a group of people have. I'm just trying to say, Satan twists it and he says to the rest of us, ah, if you believe in the Holy Spirit. Please hear me. You can be normal and believe in the Holy Spirit.
Who do you think made us afraid of the Holy Spirit? Satan. I mean, because when the first church received the Holy Spirit, they had thousands saved in the day, healed the sick, cast demons out of people, raised the dead, and turned the world upside down. That's what was said about Him. These who have turned the world upside down have come to our city too now. The power of the Holy Spirit, the power of the Spirit. So, when the power of the Holy Spirit, the revelation, the understanding of the Holy Spirit was returned to the church, mainly around the 20th century, the turn of the 20th century, late 1900s, early 2000s, when people began to understand, I think Satan said I've got to mess this up, so he created all of this controversy, he put the focus on one gift, and he got people afraid of the Holy Spirit, and he's done a good job.
We even say things, and again, I'm not trying to put down those that use this language, but we use the word evidence. I'd rather use the word benefits. Here's the reason. First of all, I don't think you should put the focus on one gift, although that gift is valid. It has not passed away, if you've heard that. Nothing has passed away. Heaven and earth will pass away before one word of this book will pass away. But, here are some evidences, or benefits, of the Holy Spirit. One is power. You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, power to witness, by the way — specifically, power to witness. Another one is love. 1 Corinthians 13 talks about love. 12 and 14 talk about the gifts, and in 13, Paul says, if you don't have love, I don't care how many gifts you have. You need to have love. Fruit is a benefit of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit. And then gifts, and that's all of the gifts, not just one. Power, love, fruit, and gifts.
So, Here's number three. He's my God. He's my God. Now, I just want to show you how some of us have been taught negatively about the Holy Spirit. When I say He's my God, if I said the Father is my God, and you don't have any problem with that. Or if I said Jesus is my God, and you don't have a problem with that. But, if I say the Holy Spirit and you have a problem with it, something's wrong. Because, He's part of the trinity. There are many, many verses that talk about the trinity. In the ones we just read, let me show the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in one verse. One verse. John 14:16, "And I", that's Jesus, "will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper". There's Jesus, Father, and Holy Spirit, same verse.
John 14:26, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name" — Holy Spirit, Father, Jesus, same verse. John 15:26, "But when the Helper comes", that's the Holy Spirit, "whom I", Jesus, "shall send you from the Father". And then, here's one where the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are actually all in the same place at the same time, and many of us have never connected it. It's when Jesus was baptized, in Luke 3:22. "And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form, like a dove upon Him", that's Jesus, "and a voice came from heaven which said, "You are my beloved Son, in you I am well pleased". The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit defer to one another. The Father glorifies and magnifies the Son, the Son only does what the Father says, the Son tells you that the Holy Spirit is coming when He's coming, the Holy Spirit leads you to Jesus.
If we could listen in on a conversation between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, it would sound something like this. You know, you're wonderful. No, you're wonderful. No, you're wonderful. No, you're wonderful. No, you're wonderful. God. Here are two verses that outright prove that the Holy Spirit's God. Acts 5:3, "Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit"? And then, Verse 4 says, "You've not lied to men, but to God". You lied to the Holy Spirit, so you lied to God.
I read something years and years ago in a commentary. I wrote it down, and then I kind of rewrote it because it was Old English and it was hard to understand. So, this is not something I wrote, but it's something that I changed a little bit that a commentator wrote, alright? But all of these sentences have a Scripture to back them up, and many of these sentences have multiple Scriptures to back them up. So, let me read to you about the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit intercedes through us on earth. The Holy Spirit calls and qualifies ministers for their work. It is the Holy Spirit who makes them overseers over the flock. He hears, speaks, teaches, and guides us into all truth. He glorifies Christ, receives from Christ, shows us Christ, and brings all of Christ's words to our remembrance. It is better for us that Jesus left so He could come. He shows us things to come, knows the deep things of God, searches all things, and reveals all things. Where He is, there is liberty. The writers of the Bible spoke as they were moved by Him. We are warned not to grieve Him or quench Him. The sin against Him is unpardonable, because sin against Him is against the only one who can reveal the Son to us. Unless a man is born of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. We are convicted by Him, born again by Him, led by Him, filled with Him, and sealed by Him.
Is that good? That's the Holy Spirit. So, let me tell you one more thing. I was ministering in a church one time, years ago, and it's back when ministers would sit on the platform. And so, I was seated on the platform. It was another church that I was visiting to speak. And during worship, I saw this lady in the congregation, and the Holy Spirit spoke a Word to my heart. So when I got up to speak, I said to her, "Ma'am, would you stand up? The Holy Spirit's giving me a Word for you". She stood up and I said to her, "During worship, I saw you, and the Holy Spirit said to me, "Robert, do you know her past"? And when I said that, she literally put her head down, I think in shame, obviously.
But you have to understand, that's not where the Holy Spirit left it. So, I said to her, I said, "The Holy Spirit said to me, "Robert, do you know her past"? And I said, "No, Lord, I don't". And He said, "Hmm, neither do I". And I said to her, "Now ma'am, I know God's omniscient. I know that, and I know He knows everything. But the Bible says that He has chosen to remember our sins no more, and God wanted me to tell you, since He's chosen not to bring it up again, why don't you start choosing not to bring it up anymore"? And she got this big smile on her face. See, the person who told me to say that is not a weird person. He's a wonderful person, and He wants to get to know you better.
The Holy Spirit is our Helper, our friend, and our God. I'm so grateful that you watched, and I'm so grateful that you are hungry to know God and to know the Holy Spirit. I want to encourage you to do something, and that is to get the entire series, "The God I Never Knew". The reason is that many, many times, we watch a program and we hear something, and God starts something in us, but we don't allow that to grow or to be finished in us. And as I said, I grew up thinking that the Holy Spirit was weird, or someone to be afraid of, but He's not. He's a wonderful person, and I know that you want to know Him better.