Day 43: How Is the Holy Spirit At Work NOW?
Today, we begin to take closer look at the work of the Holy Spirit. The reality of the Holy Spirit and His work is one of the most neglected topics in some circles. But we need to know how the Spirit is at work in order to grow in the Way of Jesus. Jesus reveals that He would send the Spirit to work both 1) in the World and also 2) in His people. First, we focus on what Jesus teaches about the Spirit’s work in the World.
WORDwork:
John 16:7–11
[Jesus said] I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send Him to you. 16:8 When He comes, He will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment: 16:9 About sin, because they do not believe in Me; 16:10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see Me; 16:11 and about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
Why is it an advantage that Jesus returned to Heaven?
Who did He promise to send?
What three things will the Spirit do to the World when He comes?
How does Jesus explain these three works of the Spirit?
The Spirit Was Sent by Jesus.
When Jesus returned to Heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to begin a new phase of His ministry on Earth. The Spirit had already been “with” Jesus and His disciples (He was even present in the Old Testament era) but after Jesus’ ascension, the Spirit would be sent for two purposes: 1] to indwell and empower Jesus’ people, and 2] to prove to the World that Jesus is The True Way of Life. We will discuss the Spirit’s indwelling Jesus’ followers in the next couple of lessons. Today, we are going to discuss the Spirit’s work in the world.
The Holy Spirit has both an “internal ministry” to all those who are In Christ and He has an “external ministry.” In this passage, Jesus teaches about The Spirit’s “external ministry” to the World. Jesus refers to the Spirit as the “Counsellor” in this passage. The term has also been translated as “Helper” or “Comforter” or “Advocate.” In the context of John 14-16, Jesus speaks about the Spirit as His final witness; the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth is present in the World comforting and counseling those in Christ with the Truth of Jesus. He is also present in the World rebuking and proving that those who reject Jesus are not living in line with the truth, in line with reality.
The Spirit proves the World wrong concerning Sin.
This first thing that Jesus tells us about the Spirit’s work to the World is that He “proves the world wrong concerning sin, because they do not believe in me.” When the Truth of Jesus is spoken and proclaimed, the Holy Spirit is present giving witness that this is indeed truth. When people reject this truth, the Spirit “convicts” them, witnesses to their spirit that what they are doing is wrong. The Holy Spirit is telling those who reject Jesus that what they are doing is wrong. Before we placed our ultimate and final confidence in Jesus, we all experienced this ministry of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit proves the World wrong concerning Righteousness.
Jesus also says that the Holy Spirit will, “prove the world wrong concerning righteousness because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer.” Remember our definition for righteousness:
Righteousness is thinking and doing
1) the right thing, 2) in the right way,
3) at the right time, 4) with the right motivation.
Jesus was sinless and righteous in all that He did. As He walked on Earth, people could see a perfect example of what God the Father and Creator had intended for humanity to be. Now Jesus is in Heaven and there is no human being on Earth who is perfectly righteous in all that they do.
We have often heard people say, “I would never become a Christian because they are all a bunch of hypocrites.” Now while this may be true on some levels, the Holy Spirit is there proving them wrong; Jesus is the ONLY perfectly righteous person, and He is the One we are all called to follow. Now, through the work of the Spirit, Father-God is showing people that they are wrong when they look to any other source of “righteousness” other than Jesus. To be right—in a right relationship—with Father-God, we must all go through Jesus.
The Spirit proves the World wrong concerning Judgment.
Finally, Jesus tells us the Holy Spirit proves that the world is wrong in their view of judgment because “the Ruler of this World has been condemned.” Part of the Satanic strategy in our current age is the lie that we can do whatever we want to, we can follow any way of life we want to, and it will all turn out OK for everyone in the end. This is a lie and the Spirit is here to give witness that this is a lie.
Satan, the ruler of this World, who seeks to blind the minds of those who do not believe in Jesus (see 2 Corinthians 4:4) has been condemned. He has been exposed for the Liar, Murderer, and Destroyer he is. Because of this, the Holy Spirit is now at work in the World when the truth of Jesus is proclaimed showing that Satan’s lies are lies.
Because of the Spirit’s work in this area, everyone who hears the Truth is confronted with the reality that there will be a judgment for us all. As Paul says in Acts 17, “God has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man He has designated by raising Him from the dead.” People may try to deny this, but the Spirit is present telling them this is wrong.
We have discussed this because we believe it is important for you to see that the Spirit is at work in our World both proving the World wrong in its lies and also illuminating the truth about Jesus. Tomorrow, we will look at how the Spirit works to illuminate the truth about Jesus.
Could you explain what we have discussed to someone else?
What are the three primary ways the Spirit is “proving the world wrong”?
*You can find a complete list of all the MilktoMeat readings here.
