The Gospel of John Lesson 69 (03-30-14) John 16:7-11 cont.

The Gospel of John Lesson 69 (03-30-14)

Lesson 69 – John 16:7-11 cont.

What Jesus says here in John 16:9 is huge encompassing more than just a debate concerning the unforgivable sin. If we were to stop for a moment and ponder and consider the implications of what Jesus is saying here in this one short comment or statement it is incredible. What He says and implies here in this one small verse relates to every aspect of God’s relationship and connection with man…including our perspective and method of service doing the Lord’s work following conversion.

His comment here in v. 9, although we may see it from the perspective of the sin of unbelief relation to sin and salvation, the sin of unbelief in reality is connected to so much more. It is true that the biggest and most important consequence of the sin of unbelief is the sin of unbelief concerning accepting or rejecting Jesus’ offer and work of salvation. Believing the Holy Spirit’s witness and testimony concerning Jesus being God’s Messiah that has come to make payment for man’s sin brings to us the free gift of God’s salvation and forgiveness.

However, the sin of unbelief does not end there. Although, believing in Jesus and His work on the Cross removes any possibility of committing the unpardonable sin, belief and unbelief continues to play a major part in our Christian life. Belief or unbelief in all areas of our life is the basis for all of our decisions and in the end will determine our level of success in life and in our service to the Lord. It is ‘unbelief’ when the Spirit witnesses to us the truth or the way we should go that keeps us from God’s blessing and His good will in our life.

It is important to understand and apply what is implied in these passages. The work and ways of the Holy Spirit is foreign so different to the way we think and how we operate in this world. This is a world that says ‘show me’ demanding the physical tangible proof of what they claim is reality. However, the work of the Spirit is a witness and proof to the soul. It is a witness of and from God which is accessed only by belief or faith. However, this believing or faith produces tangible results. Jesus refers to these tangible results as fruit in chapter 15.

It is interesting that those who demand proof have been shown more than enough for them to believe the truth and even if more proof was given in reality they still would not believe. Jesus attests to this in Luke 16:19-31 where the rich man asks God to send Lazarus to witness to those still on earth receiving the reply that if more testimony and facts or proof were give that yet they would not believe. It is the condition of the heart in unbelief that keeps God at a distance and is unforgivable. It was the Pharisees that kept saying to Jesus in essence, “give us more proof…show us plainly if thou art the Christ”, Jesus already giving them more than they needed to believe when considering the witness and help of the Holy Spirit.

Even today those in unbelief question God concerning His methods asking God to show Himself more plainly, wanting Him to satisfy their standard of reason wanting to measure and analyses God before they will believe. The rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar asks what man thinks are some good questions wondering why Jesus chose to come at a time when so few could see Him instead of coming at a time such as we live in today with mass media where He could have taken His message directly to so many more people.

The answer to man’s question is found right here in John 16:9. It is by faith that we see and know God and not by knowledge or experience alone. This is the mystery of God and the expressed job of God’s Spirit to reveal Him to those who will believe. If what the Bible says is true reason alone will not be enough see God and believe or know Him. Those who found God by faith must be careful not to replace the work of the Spirit which is seen with the eyes of faith for the world’s standard of God needing to prove Himself.

It is by the work of faith that God has chosen to do His work on earth. This brings us to the necessity of and reason for Jesus leaving during the Church age. If Jesus had remained during the Church age the exercising of faith would have been difficult. If Jesus did not leave the second time, or at His ascension, all we would have to do is to go find Jesus, or watch Him on the local media, and physically look at Him to believe.

Some would argue that there were those who did not believe even though they saw Jesus while He was on the earth at His first coming. However, following His resurrection, to not believe would have been difficult. They had just seen, lived out and witnessed His death and resurrection surrounded by many miraculous events. Jesus being removed during the Church Age would have been necessary for the Spirit to do His work witnessing to the heart of man of the reality of Jesus by faith instead of sight. Because of the basis of the Holy Spirits method of working, instead of man asking for more tangible physical evidence he should be asking for more of God’s Spirit and His revelation of what is true. Acts 2:16-8

This brings us back to the three fold work of the Holy Spirit mentioned in John 16:7-11. Jesus tells His disciples that when the Holy Spirit arrives that this is how He will be known to them telling them to be aware and to be looking for evidences of His presence and His work. He told them to watch for Him as He is actively at work reproving the world of sin, teaching God’s standard of righteousness and judging this world concerning its offenses. It is my opinion that Jesus tells them this so that when He, Jesus, is gone that they in seeing where the Holy Spirit is at work they might go and join Him in His work. Now things get interesting.

In these verses Jesus narrows down where the Spirit will be at work and what He will be doing making it easier for Jesus’ disciples to see and locate Him. But, not so fast. Jesus told Nicodemus in chapter 3 of John’s Gospel that the Holy Spirit and where He goes and what He is doing is like the wind and is hard to follow. Jn. 3:8 Of course for Nicodemus having an unregenerate heart it was impossible see or figure out what the Spirit was up to.

But, to a believer, and, to a trained eye and to someone with some experience Jesus tells them that if they know what they are looking for that they will be able to see evidence of the Holy Spirit at work and will be able to not only know where He is at work, but can follow the signs of His activity to where He is going.

This type of thinking is totally contrary to the Church at large in our day. We are often found donating our time to the first noble cause that comes along in the church or that is associated with the church chalking it up as duty done for the day or week as being my part. As good as it is to want to be a part and help out this is not what Jesus is talking about when He calls us to abide in Him in chapter 15 and join the Holy Spirit in His work in chapter 16.

To Jesus abiding was joining. It was the getting into it with Him (Matt. 11:29), not going off and doing our own thing and calling it serving God. Jesus told His followers to abide and learn and know where He was at work and to be there, going with Him. They knew where the Holy Spirit would be because Jesus had just told them what He would be doing and to just look for these things…you can’t miss Him.

But wait a minute. Although it sounds easy it is not that easy. If we go back to Jesus’ comment to Nicodemus in John 3:8 relating the activity and work of the Holy Spirit to the wind we find that the wind is a mysterious thing and is not always so easy to spot and tell what it is doing and where it is going next.

When Jesus told Nicodemus that the Spirit of God’s actions and work was like keeping track of the wind his response in 3:9 was one of bewilderment and perplexity as if to say I am doomed, I will never be able to figure this out. Nicodemus responds in v. 9 by saying, “How can this be?” Really what he was saying was that using his normal intellectual approach to figure this mystery out he would not be able to come up with an answer. It did not fit into his way or process of thinking,

As Jesus continues His dialog with Nicodemus Jesus challenges him further. Nicodemus was a very learned man. Being a Pharisee and one of Israel’s religious leaders one would have thought with all of that teaching and head knowledge that he would have been able to understand what Jesus was talking about. But, this was not the case. Nicodemus really had no clue…even as a well educated leader.

In vs. 11 and 12 of John chapter 3 Jesus challenges Nicodemus to go further in his thinking and understanding making a bold statement to him telling him that He was speaking from a position of experience in God and how He, God, works and compares Nicodemus’ understanding of this topic with just being book learning not always having practical application.

This is the work of the Holy Spirit…and this too is our challenge when attempting to join the Wind or the Holy Spirit. We cannot do God’s work our way. Even though we have good intentions and want to serve God we all too often try to apply the tools of fact and reason that we have learned living in this world only to be frustrated with marginal results. What Jesus was referring to in John chapter 15 was abundant fruit. All too often in my personal journey I must admit that I have been met with frustration in the lack of fruit from after so much effort and work. However, I must admit that I did not fully understand this principle of joining Him instead of doing something for Him. Abiding does make a difference.

However, in abiding there is a very important principle that cannot be overlooked that makes all the difference in our success in ministry with Him. We must be careful to not miss it. Here it is. We must do our work when abiding in Him in faith, doing simple and seemingly often unimportant things as the Spirit prompts us while abiding believing that even though we think that we could have come up with a better more grandly executed plan that the simple act initiated by the Spirit’s prompt is not only enough, but is just right.

So often walking with God and His Spirit we are prompted to do seemingly simple unimportant things only to see God use our action or deed to bring someone closer to Him. It is like a small breeze of the wind that can turn into something with some power. This is the mystery of walking and abiding with God and joining the Holy Spirit.

But, again it is not always so easy to figure out where the Spirit is at work. I am all too often like Nicodemus not always being able to read the wind to know what it is doing. But, I am getting better at it. Reading the wind takes some practice, and, so it is concerning joining the Spirit. Understanding God’s ways and the moving of the Spirit takes some practice and it takes time abiding with God to get to know His ways learning to abide even more closely with Him. This does not mean that we just chuck all that we have learned and start from ground zero. But, being with God we will learn better ways to apply what we have learned, God using them to produce fruit for His Kingdom.

In looking for God and where He is at work it is often good to ‘test or look for the wind’ to see where He is at work using John 16:7-11 as our guide. Jesus told His disciples to be looking for these things that are found in these verses. He tells them that when you see them, go join what is going on to test and see if God is there at work asking what He would like you/us to do.

(We will discuss some additions points concerning our active involvement with the Holy Spirit and His work as addressed here in John 16 in our next study.)