John 14:16-18 The Great Disconnect John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 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. 18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. In this text, Jesus was introducing His disciples to the Holy Ghost. One of the most important and misunderstood topics in the Bible is the Person of the Holy Spirit. I would like to speak about Him for a few moments; and in doing so, mention what I believe to be the Great Disconnect. Let me say up front that the Holy Ghost is God. He is not merely an influence; but a divine Person, coequal and co-eternal with the Father and the Son. Believers can be robbed of a real relationship with the Holy Spirit if they consider the Spirit to be an impersonal influence, power, or energy. Having said that, I will acknowledge that it seems strange to have to introduce God the Holy Spirit to anyone so late in the Bible. After all, we are on the last earthly day of Jesus ministry and approximately 2\/3s of the way through the entire Bibleand we are just now meeting God the Holy Spirit? In answering that, I will simply say two things: 1. While the disciples may be just meeting the Holy Ghost here, He has been seen all through the Old Testament. a. The first time was in \\#Ge 1:2\\. Ge 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. b. Like so many people from whom we benefit every day, we do not have to know their names, their families, or their life stories to be helped by them. (1) Bank tellers, clerks, stock boys, police, fast-food workers and so many, many more. (2) They help us, maybe repeatedly and regularly, but we never really meet them. c. So it is with the Holy Ghost. We may just be meeting Him, but He has been here all the time. 2. We did not meet God the Son until at least Matthew 1. a. Bible students knew He was coming. b. Astute Bible students may have even figured out WHEN He was coming. c. But they did not meet Him until Matt 2:1 because that is when He was born. The bottom line, we should let introductions confuse us. The Holy Ghost has always been here, always been God, and always been helping people know the Father better. So lets spend a few minutes together looking at who the Holy Ghost is. I. It is the Holy Spirit who teaches us. Joh 16:13 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. A. Notice the phrase, "He will guide you into ALL truth" B. I think we preachers receive too much credit. 1. Preachers do not convince people of Bible truths. 2. Preachers preach and teach the truth. 3. But if anyone gets it, it will be the Holy Spirit that explains it to them. C. I am about to reveal a truth from the Preachers Most Secret and Hidden Code Book. 1. Here it is: Preachers are worthless unless the Holy Ghost shows up. a. Without the Holy Spirit, preachers are of less worth than a trade-school instructor. (No insult to the trade-school teacher. They are very valuable, giving students an opportunity to find a career, which is far more valuable than the preacher without the Holy Spirit.) b. Without the Holy Spirit, preachers are of less worth than a used-car salesman. (At least with a used-car salesman, you can get a used car.) c. But if the Holy Ghost does not show up, all you will get is a 45 minute message of words and phrases that wont help you one bit. 2. Biblical truth, life-changing truth, eternal truthmay be dancing around you like bullets at a target range, but you wont understand a word of it unless the Holy Ghost makes it understandable to you. a. This is His job, His work, His ministry; and I think He delights in doing it. b. Our charismatic friends point out that we need the Holy Ghost to speak and interpret unknown tongues, but the truth is we also need Him to interpret the Bible truths we hear in our native tongues even more. c. If He is not here, the light will not come on, and we all wasted our time. (1) The preacher wasted his time preparing to preach. (2) And all the people wasted their time in listening to the preacher preach. D. If the Holy Spirit is here and doing His work, you should be understanding what I am saying. If He is not, you will be looking at your watch and wondering what is for lunch. II. After that, it is the Holy Spirit who reproves us. A. In John 16:8, Jesus made a second work of the Holy Spirit. John 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: B. The Holy Spirit "reproves." 1. That word means to convict, convince, rebuke, show fault. 2. I believe there are two parts of reproving. a. The Holy Spirit convinces. (1) Knowing something is not the same thing as being convinced it is true. (2) Concerning the Corona Virus, I believe I have heard just about everything that has been said, but I am not convinced what is true. (3) I know facts, but I am not convinced. (4) There are many people today who know Bible truths. (a) If they know Bible truths, the Holy Spirit had to walk by them. (b) But many of them still need to be convinced that what they know is really true. (c) That would be part of the work of the Reprover. b. But here is where the disconnect starts. (I find this all very perplexing.) (1) The Holy Spirit must guide us to spiritual truth, but not all who hear the truth will believe it. (2) They will not all be convinced. (3) It is obvious that the Holy Spirit did a work in revealing the truth. (4) The perplexity is in why did He not also convince them it was true and should be believed. (5) Yesterday, Brother Richard met a husband in the backyard who was an atheist and a wife in the front yard who attended Metropolitan Church of God. (a) One professed to be an adamant believer while the other was an adamant unbeliever. (b) Is that not perplexing to you? (c) How can a family be half convinced of truth? (d) Why would the Holy Spirit leave it that way? (e) But the Great Disconnect gets worse. c. But the Holy Spirit must also convict a person of spiritual truth. (1) After a truth is known and believed, the Holy Spirit must still make us aware of our guilt in spiritual matters. (2) Knowing and even believing spiritual truth without it effecting us is of no value to us at all. (3) In short, it is the Holy Spirit who takes the Word of God and makes its truths hit home. (a) In this duty the Holy Spirit is much like the prosecuting attorney. (b) It is upon Him to prove the case of guilt upon the sinner. (4) The Bible even tells us what tools He uses to accomplish this feat. (a) Sin – He shows us what wrong is. (b) Righteousness – He shows us what right is. (c) Judgment – He shows us what will happen if we do not leave the sin and turn to righteousness. (5) This is the very essence of conviction. d. The Holy Spirit guides some to the truth and even to believe, but He does not seem to convict them of the truth. (1) That the Holy Spirit has done a work in them is evident, else they could not believe the truth and would not even know it; but why did He stop short of bringing to conviction over the truth? (2) This is a mystery, one that as a pastor, I deal with regularlyalthough I know it is just as true of me but I do not see it. (a) Pastors preach truth that is accepted and believed but there is no conviction. (b) The Holy Spirit must be there or else there would be no understanding and believing, but that is where it stops. (c) People get the truth, understand it, believe and say "Amen!" to it, and then like a car with no gasoline, there is no action. (d) Most perplexing. (e) This is the great disconnect; but lets go on to the third work of the Holy Ghost. i. First, it is He who teaches us all spiritual truth. ii. Second, it is He who reproves us. III. After that, it is the Holy Spirit who saves us. John 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. A. Here Jesus referred to Holy Spirit even before He formally introduced the disciples to Him. 1. As I have already said, the Holy Spirit was seen through out the Old Testament. 2. He came on men (and perhaps woman as well) to give them the ability to know and to do things. a. Even lost Pharaoh knew the only way Jacob could know what his dreams meant was if "the Spirit of God" were in him. \\#Ge 41:38\\ b. When the Spirit of God came upon Balaam, he knew the mind of God \\#Num 24:2\\; otherwise, Balaam had nothing helpful to say. c. Samson was as weak as any other man until "the Spirit of the Lord" came upon him. \\#Jud 13:25\\ 3. In John 3:5, Jesus taught Nicodemus that no one can be born again (saved) unless the Spirit of God does a work. B. Over the years, many have debated what it means to be born of water; but I have never heard a debate about what it means to be born of the Spirit. 1. This passage does not tell us exactly what the work of the Holy Spirit in in the new birth process. 2. I believe it would be the two works of the Spirit that we have just mentioned: teaching and reproving. 3. But the text makes it clear that His is an essential work in the salvation process, so much so that Jesus called salvation, being "born of the Spirit" in \\#John 3:8\\. C. But now the Great Disconnect gets even wider. (This I have seen.) 1. The Holy Spirit brings truth to the unbeliever. (At times, I have been the instrument that the Holy Spirit used to accomplish this task.) 2. Then, the Holy Spirit turns on the understanding low beam and the convicting high beam. (You could literally see it happening!) 3. But then, even with conviction being present, there is no salvation. a. Oh, to be so close that you expect to see a person saved but dont. b. How is that possible? (1) The truth was there. (2) Understanding and acceptance of the truth were there. (3) Conviction was there. c. They filled the room. Their presence caused tears, earnest contemplation; but thenno conclusion. d. It is so perplexing. It is the Great Disconnect. D. Now, let me deviate here for a minute. 1. I am attempting to point out the disconnect in the work of the Holy Ghost. a. Why does the Holy Spirit not finish the work He starts? b. It seems more than obvious that He is present. c. A work IS started, but it is LEFT incomplete. d. That is the disconnect. e. I have one more disconnect to point out, but first let me offer one reasonthe only reason I can figure as to why there the Holy Spirit disconnects before the work is complete. 2. I think its possible that the Holy Spirit disconnects because the people break the connection. a. I do not think the Holy Spirit will carry you further than you want to be carried. b. This is just me guessing. I have not discussed it with others. c. And I am thinking that some may hear the truth, but will never understand the truth because they dont want to understand the truth. d. Then I am thinking some may understand the truth but may never be convinced that the truth is true because they do not want to be convinced. e. And I am thinking that some who hear, understand, and even believe the truth but will not be convicted by the truth because they dont want to be convicted. f. And I am thinking that some who hear, understand, believe, and even be convicted but will not be saved because they do not want to be saved. g. And I am thinking that is all very, very sad for the they are disconnecting themselves from the Holy Spirit, the only One who could bring them to forgiveness and eternal life. h. But all of these are the disconnects of the lost. i. Lets consider a fourth work of the Holy Ghost which is for those who profess to be saved but can also seem to result in a Great Disconnect, IV. After that, it is the Holy Spirit who converts us. Joh 12:40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. A. This verse is not directly talking about the work of the Holy Spirit, but of the Devil; yet, it is indirectly giving us another word salvation: conversion. 1. The word means to revert, to come or go again, to turn about. 2. In short, it means to change. 3. This is not a separate work of salvation. 4. It is the work of salvation. B. Yet, here is the Great Disconnect. 1. So many claim Jesus as their Savior but there never seems to be a conversion. 2. That perplexes me. 3. If the Holy Ghost is saving people, how can He not also be changing people? 4. This conversion may or may not be seen in your life style, but it will always been seen in your heart. a. Religion is replaced with relationship. b. Works are replaced with worship. c. Profession is replaced with possession. d. Duties are replaced with devotion. c. Philosophies are replaced with Bible precepts. C. So here are the four works of the Holy Ghost. 1. The Holy Ghost brings you to the truth. 2. Then, if He pleases and you allow it, the Holy Ghost uses that truth to reprove you; which means He both convinces you the truth is so and convicts you that you are guilty in the matter. 3. Then, if He pleases and you allow it, the Holy Ghost saves you. He changes your destiny from hell to heaven, from damnation to salvation, from death to live. 4. But at the same time, if He pleases and you allow it, the Holy Ghost converts you. He changes you, at least in your heart so that you are a new creation in Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
John 14:16-18 The Great Disconnect John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 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 … Continue reading “John 14:16-18 – The Great Disconnect – Bible study”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}