August 26th

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to On the Way with Tony Crisp. Each weekday, Dr. Crisp will be discussing biblical passages, people, places, and prophecies. Tune in daily to start your day right and deepen your understanding of how to better walk the way and enjoy the journey. Here's your host, Dr. Tony Crisp.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Welcome to On the Way. This is Tony Crisp, and this is the 365 Bible Reading Plan. Today is August the 26th, and our chapter for today is John chapter 16. Actually, the chapter begins in verse 26 of the last chapter, chapter 15. Let's get right to it. Jesus is in the closing hours of his earthly life. He is saying those things which are most precious to him, the things that he so wants to impart to his disciples in the closing hours before he faces the cross and death, burial, and then the glorious resurrection. And so he has been talking to them about abiding in him, about the process of maturity and growth and all of the things that we talked about in the last podcast in John 15 and more that we just didn't have time to cover. But when we come to verse 26 of John 15, Jesus talking about the Holy Spirit said, But when the helper 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 you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. Now let's just take these two verses and deal with them in a way that will help us in the verses to follow, and for especially the book of Acts, we will better understand what is happening if we can just understand a couple of concepts and terms. First of all, it says, but when the helper comes. Now the word helper is sometimes translated comforter in some versions. It's translated counselor in some versions. But the word is parakletos. Parakletos is a compound Greek word para, of course, is a preposition, which means beside of or along with. The concept is that someone or something is beside something else. Then the word klatos is a particular derivative of the word kaleo. Kaleo means I call. Call as in asking someone to come to you or to come out of something. The word call, I call. And so parakletos or parakaleo means one called alongside. One called alongside to help, one called alongside as a counselor, one called alongside to stand and put his arm around another. This is the term parakletos, one who is called alongside. Parakleo to call to someone's side, or I call to someone's side. All of these are in the same family. And so the paracletos is the word for the Holy Spirit. Now as we go through this chapter and the others, we're going to have to deal with this concept of the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit. The word ghost was understood in the Middle Ages and during the Reformation and Renaissance period as a spirit. So therefore, the King James Version and other versions of that era translated the word Numa, which is the word for spirit or breath. They translated that ghost. When I first was converted and became a follower of Jesus in my late teens and when I was 19 and 20, 21 years old, in the hills of East Tennessee where I grew up, often somebody would say, Well, that's the Holy Ghost. And they would stress holy, these are the Holy Ghost. Then they would talk about the Holy Spirit. They didn't like to say Holy Spirit, and they even heard one preacher say the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit's two different things. This is a bunch of hogwash in cultural Christianity. This is error. It is doctrinal heresy. The word pneuma is the word spirit. Now, if you want to say ghost, that's fine, but you need to understand the word is spirit. The Bible teaches that God is not a ghost in the sense that we use ghost in our language by definition or connotation. It is a spirit, and sometimes the word pneuma speaks of our breath. Jesus talked about it as the wind. That's the whole concept of spirit. God is spirit. His very nature is spirit. And so the paracletas, the holy spirit, the hagias pneuma is holy spirit. He's different than any other spirit. He is the very spirit of God, the very essence of God. And if you will allow me to, I'll remind you of this, especially throughout the remainder of the book of John and in the book of Acts, which we will begin next month. This is so very important that we understand this concept. The Holy Spirit is not it. The Holy Spirit is not radar. The Holy Spirit is not the force. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Living God. He is God. He is God in spirit, the Spirit of God. So when he says the helper comes, when the helper comes, the helper, the comforter, the counselor, the paracletos, he's talking of the Holy Spirit. And this is confluent and consistent throughout the Bible. Consistent, confluent throughout the New Testament. Consistent, confluent. Confluence means it's from one end to the other, it's the same, and it flows throughout in the Gospel of John. And so Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, he issues from the Father. This is the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit of truth. He designates this helper, this paracletos, as the spirit of truth. And it should have in your Bible a capital S because it's not man's spirit, it's not a spirit, it is the Spirit of God, and it is capitalized to show deity. He will testify. The word is martyr. I bear witness. He will witness. He will be a martyr of me. Now we think the word martyr has to include death. It doesn't. That's the connotation. That's not the definition. The word martyr or martyrio, I witness, means I testify, I bear witness. Now the reason it has the connotation of death as a martyr is simply because those who bore witness of Jesus in the New Testament era usually had to seal that testimony with their life. So someone who dies for their faith came to be known as a witness, or and to use the Greek term that we do, martyr. But it means by definition to bear witness, to tell someone of something that you've experienced, something you have seen. It's the same word for a witness in a courtroom of some an account of something that you have experienced. And then he goes into chapter 16, what we call chapter 16, verse 1. It's all the same thought. These things I have spoken to you that you should not be made to stumble. In other words, don't get wrapped up in things you don't need to and let someone deceive you. They will put you out of the synagogues, that is the Jews. Remember, for the first eight to ten years, there were only Jews that made up the church of Jesus until Cornelius, which was eight to ten years after the resurrection, ascension of Jesus, before the first Gentile came into the church. They, that is, other Jews, will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. By the way, the same thing's going on today outside the Western world. They think that they're doing God a favor if they put to death Jews and Christians. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor me. In other words, they're lost. They are wandering around in darkness, they're stumbling around. This is why they do that, is because they don't know God, not because they know him and doing him a service. They don't know him. But these things I have told you that when the time comes you may remember that I told you of them. Jesus said, I'm telling you this now because there's coming a day when this is going to happen. And I want you to remember that I prophesied and told you this. Why? Because prophecy is nothing more than history and a historical event written before it happens. After it happens, it's called history. Before it happens, it's called prophecy. So he's telling them this. Now listen to this. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning because I was with you. He said, I'm I wasn't telling y'all this. You know why? Because they couldn't handle it. They couldn't take it. Sometimes people just say, Well, I want the truth. And I feel like Jack Nicholson said, You can't handle the truth. Because that's the reality of it. Jesus didn't give them the whole load. People are not always ready to receive truth. And so we have to be discerning. We have to use proper judgment. We have to love people enough to tell them the truth, yes, but we have to love them enough and be walking with God close enough to where we can discern how much truth they can take. Because sometimes truth is overwhelming. And just because you know the truth doesn't mean someone else can handle it. And you have to have a great close walk with Jesus and be in tune with his spirit to have the discernment to know, pastor, teacher, when you tell people the truth. It doesn't mean that you don't tell them the truth. You tell them what they can bear. But we don't just unload on everybody all the time. You don't do that with a child, do you? You don't tell them things that you would tell them when they are a teenager or when they're an adult. Why? Because you're discerning. They're still growing up, they're still forming, their minds are not ready to handle that. Well, the same thing's true in the spiritual world. But then we come to verse five, and he says, But now I go away to him who sent me. And none of you ask me where are you going? Now why would that be? And the reason is because I have said these things to you, sorrows filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage, it's to your profit that I go away, for if I do not go away, the paracletos, the Holy Spirit will not come to you. But then he says, But if I depart, I will send him to you. You see, the Holy Spirit was with them, but he was going to be in them, and Jesus says this in another place in the Gospel of John. And so here's what he said. He says, I will send him to you if I depart. Now, when he has come, he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin because they do not believe in me, of righteousness because I go to my Father. And you see me no more, of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. Now this is all the time we're going to have to deal with these passages today. So I want to go back and just deal with these last couple of verses that I just read because it's very important. It's important for those who are children of God to understand it, and for those of you who are listening, and you really don't know whether you're saved or not, you really don't know whether your sins are forgiven, you really don't know if you've truly given your life away to God, then listen to me very closely. When the Holy Spirit comes, here's what Jesus said. He will convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Now the word convict there is the word electro, and that word means to convince with evidence and with proof. The Holy Spirit is going to convince the world, all of the world, everyone, he's going to convince people of what? Of sin, of righteousness and judgment. Now the word sin is the word hamartia. Hamartia is again a word that is not easily recognizable even to Greek students, especially if they've never studied morphology and roots and uh really the radical meanings. But the word hamartia comes from the word meros, M-E-R-O-S. Meros means a part of something or a share of something, to uh be a part of something. And then you have an alpha privative on the front, an A, an alpha, and when that's an attachment to the prefix of a word, it is the prefix of a word, then it negates whatever it is tied to and negates the concept. So a meros means not a part of. The whole construction means then that you're not a part of it, or you missed it, or you're left out. And it came to be known as something that is missing. And then it meant the missing of a mark, like in a target. So hamartia sin is that you were not a part of it. You didn't hit it. You did not hit the target. You shot your best shot, but you it wasn't enough. You fell short. And so the word hamartia down through the legacy of language became synonymous and definitive for the word sin because it meant to miss the mark. In other words, you're excluded. You didn't have a part. Why? Because you did not hit the mark. You were not a part of the target. You didn't make it to where you could stick as glue or stick into the target as an arrow does. And so the whole concept of sin is that you didn't make it. You missed the mark. You came up short. That doesn't mean that you didn't try. It just means that trying's not good enough. You see, sin is missing the mark. Sin is that you do not measure up. Sin is that you and I miss the mark. We can live the very best that we can with great intentions. It's not enough. Why? Because our good intentions and our good living will never take away the penalty of sin. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. So the Holy Spirit convinces us that we are sinners, that we've missed the mark. And so there is a sense of guilt when God shows us that we have fallen short of not any righteousness, but as we'll see in Romans chapter 3, his glory, his righteousness. No one measures up to the righteousness of God Himself. You might be as good as any other human being. That is not the basis and the metric for getting into heaven and being right with God. Of righteousness. The Holy Spirit's going to show us that we are not righteous, that we're unrighteous. You know that. Nobody might have to convince you of it because you know it. Of judgment. And so then he goes on to explain that. He says the Holy Spirit, when he comes, he's going to, with proof and with evidence, show us beyond any doubt whatsoever, not a reasonable doubt, but beyond any doubt, that we have fallen short of the glory of God. We have fallen short. We are not as righteous as God. And he is the standard. He is the paradigm. He is the template. And so this is what Jesus is saying. Everyone knew that he was speaking to. And he said, The Holy Spirit is going to come, this paracletos, he's going to show us what it means to sin, what righteousness is in judgment, and then he explains it in verse 9. He said, Of sin because you do not believe in me, of righteousness because I go to my Father. And of sin because the Prince of this world, the ruler of this world is being judged. So very quickly, let me go over this. What is the sin that the Holy Spirit particularly deals with in relationship to those who do not know God? The fact that they do not trust the Lord Jesus, they do not trust God's provision. They do not trust the Messiah to save them and forgive them. They're still trying to work out a deal with God. They're trying to work their way to God. They're trying to get to God some other way. You see, the Holy Spirit primarily deals with not sins in the life of an unbeliever. Why? Because your sins, those particular sins, just like you cannot just say, well, this person's sin, so they're going to hell. This person made this sin, so they're going to hell. This sin's not good enough to send you bad enough to send you to hell. This sin is not bad enough to send you to hell, but this one is no. The sin that causes a person to miss heaven and to end up in hell is the sin of failure to trust in God's provision in Jesus Christ for salvation. Of sin because they believe not in me. They don't trust me. You see, you can't get to heaven except through Jesus. You can't get to heaven by good works. The only way you can get to heaven is not by keeping the instruction of Moses because you've already messed up on that. You've not done everything you need to do. The Bible says to the one that knows to do good and does it not, to him, it's sin. So we've sinned by sins of omission and commission. But all of those things are beside the point to some degree. The sin that makes the difference between heaven and hell, between righteous and unrighteous, between meaning in this life, purpose in this life, and lack of that is your relationship with Jesus Christ, whether you're trusting him. So this is who the Holy Spirit and what the Holy Spirit deals with in the lost person's life and the person that is not walking with God is that Jesus is the only way, and that without Him, without trusting Him, it's sin. Of righteousness, how's a man made righteousness? A man is made righteous by trusting in Jesus. Because you see, not only does God forgive us of all the sins that we've ever done or ever will do the moment that we become a follower of Jesus, but the Bible says he puts on our account the righteousness of Jesus. Because Jesus rose from the dead, he lived in perfect obedience to God, paid for his own sins when he died, the wages of sin is death. He didn't die for his own sins. He didn't die to pay the penalty for his own sins, but for your sins and mine. And God declared him to be the Son of God according to Romans chapter 1 and verse 4 by raising him from the dead. And because he is alive, he gives to us, places on our account those who become followers of Jesus, he forgives our sin, and he places on our ledger in heaven his earned righteousness. So that when God looks at your account and God looks at my account, he sees the righteousness of Jesus, and that's the basis and the standing upon which we stand before God. Of judgment, the devil and all of his angels are going to be judged and cast into hell. And those who follow in his footsteps of rebelling against God, doing their own thing, trying to go their own way, trying to put God out of their lives and not do it God's way, you see, that's who hell is prepared for. The Word of God says that hell was not prepared for us, but for the devil and his angels, his messengers, his followers. And so the Holy Spirit is dealing, no doubt, with some of you right now. You may be in Gaza, you may be in Iran. We know you're listening. You may be in Turkey, you may be in Azerbaijan, you may be in the Philippines, you may be in Germany or another European nation, you're somewhere in the Middle East, you're somewhere here in America, you're in New York, you're in New Jersey, you're in Illinois, you're in Washington State, you're in Canada. Wherever you are, God is right there. And you know, you know right now, if you've ever given your heart and life to Jesus Christ. If you've never truly become a follower of Jesus right now, ask the Lord Jesus to forgive you of your sin of disbelief and unbelief and trust him completely right now with your life and give him the rest of your life and devote the rest of your life to him. And God will forgive your sin. He will put on your account his righteousness that he earned. It's not about you, it's not about me, it's about him. And you will never face the judgment as Satan and his angels. Listen, this is the greatest news about the greatest story, about the greatest person, about the greatest gift that has ever lived and been given. And for those of us who are followers of Jesus, this is a clarion call. Quit playing games. Get serious with God. God loves you. He has a plan for your life. You will never know that plan until you say yes to Jesus before you ever know what it is. And if you know what it is and God's revealed that to you, say yes, Lord, I will do it. For on the way, this is Tony Crisp.

SPEAKER_00 22:41

Thanks for listening to On the Way with Tony Crisp. Tune in every weekday for information on biblical passages, people, places, and prophecies. Fridays are for your questions. Email your questions to questions at TonyCrisp.org. Then just listen for your question to be answered on Friday's podcast. That's Questions at TonyC R I S P dot org. Thanks for listening and have a blessed day on the way.