The Holy Spirit – Simply True

Wanting what the Holy Spirit can do

I’d like to share a brief series on how the Holy Spirit is given to us, and how he works in our lives—taken from John’s Gospel. But first, let’s take a moment to consider how significant the Spirit is in our walk as Christians.

God ‘pours out’ his Spirit on Pentecost day, just a few weeks after raising Jesus from death. We know that this death and resurrection has changed everything—for the whole world really, but particularly for us believers. But the same is true when God pours out his Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

Let’s see how this works out.

What has happened to Jesus has demonstrated how much we hate God. But his resurrection is a decisive victory over our perversity. That’s the best news ever! And God has put him in charge of everything from then on.

But now, the evidence of this victory is that God pours out his Spirit on everyone who turns from their godlessness[1]. The Spirit will begin the enormous task of renewing and transforming the whole creation.

This is the way God fulfills his promise to create a loving and faithful people[2]. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin[3]. It is he who enables us to call Jesus Lord[4]. He makes forgiveness real by coming to us as a presence[5]. He enables us to call God Father in the same way Jesus did[6].

Because the Spirit lives in us, our whole life is a sacred space where pollution is out of place[7]. We can begin to produce fruit that has a definite ‘made in heaven’ label on it[8]. And much else besides—as we shall see.

The question for us all is this: do we want this change? Do we know ourselves well enough to know that change is going to have to be by a presence and an energy that comes from above?

It’s important to get this clear because the world around us, and our own nature, teach us to live by what we see, and especially by what we can do. But no one can be a Christian in this way. The Christian life is a ‘top-down’ life. Everything essential comes from God.

So, we must always be expecting the Holy Spirit to be supplying what we can’t do—within us as well as by us. Effectively, every Christian needs to know that their life is an ongoing miracle—quiet perhaps but still a miracle.

What others need to see in us is not what we have made of our lives but what God has done. If they see our good works, it needs to be clear that they are seeing what has come from above[9].

Here’s an example of what I mean—from Luke’s Gospel. The disciples have seen Jesus rejoicing in the Holy Spirit while praying to his Father[10]. That must have been an amazing experience. A little later, they ask Jesus to teach them to pray and Jesus says that his Father will answer them willingly. He will give his Spirit to them. They will relate to the Father, and pray to the Father, just as he did[11].

Isaiah warns against wanting something that is not of his Spirit[12]—something that comes from us rather than from above. It’s possible to think we are pleasing God by reading the Bible as a text book and then going through the motions of doing what it says, while, all the time, our desires are fixed on something else.

In a similar way, Paul warns the Galatians not to try to finish their Christian lives using their own ideas and energies rather than what the Spirit supplies[13].

So, in these few articles, let’s ask God to show us, and encourage us, to believe that the same real and intimate relationship that Jesus has with his Father, by the Spirit, can be ours also. Then, it will be clear to us, and to others, that our godliness is exactly that—us being full of God—full of his Spirit, and full of the naturalness and energy that he creates.

[1] Acts 2:33

[2] Ezek. 11:19; 36:27

[3] John 16:7-8

[4] 1 Cor. 12:3

[5] Acts 2:38

[6] Gal. 4:6

[7] Rom. 8:9-16; 1 Thes. 4:7-8; 2 Thes. 2:13; 1 Pet. 1:2

[8] Gal. 5:22-23

[9] Matt. 5:16; 1 Cor. 2:4-5

[10] Luke 11:21

[11] Luke 11:1-13

[12] Isa. 30:1

[13] Gal. 3:3

We all need the Holy Spirit

We’re setting out to discover what the Gospel of John tells us about the Holy Spirit, starting with what John the Baptist has to say in chapter one.

There are three players in this scene—John, Jesus and various Jews. And the story shows that the presence and power of the Holy Spirit is needed by each one.

These three experiences demonstrate that the Christian life is not an ethic or ideology or an experience to seek. It’s a life from God. And God graciously provides this by sending his Spirit in abundance.

First, John needs to be filled with the Spirit.

John is not full of himself and his place in history. He’s full of what God has promised—in Isaiah and in other prophecies. The Lord is coming to comfort his people[i].

John has been directed by the Spirit all his life[ii]—and it shows. He understands that God is coming to put all their terrible past behind them. He sees the need for Israel to be ready to greet him, and that he is the voice to announce that the Lord is near.

John understands that his baptism in water isn’t the comfort and renewal God is promising. That will require a special coming of the Spirit to launch people into a new life—a baptism in the Spirit.

And, best of all, he’s expecting the Lord to be revealed. And this Lord is already among the people gathered around John[iii]. The Lord is a man! But John is not relying on Jesus being his cousin and a better man than himself to guess that Jesus must be the one[iv]. The Holy Spirit will need to reveal this.

And he does. The Spirit alights on Jesus, visibly—in the appearance of a dove. Now John knows that Jesus is the one who will bring comfort to the world, and will baptize believers in the Holy Spirit.

Events like this are not the sort of thing we imagine. Our thinking tends to build on what we can do and what we deserve, and what we see and feel. But the coming of the Lord, and the salvation he has for us don’t come in the ways we imagine. They are revealed by the Holy Spirit. John has needed this help at every point.

Then Jesus also needs the Spirit.

It may seem surprising to say Jesus needs the Holy Spirit, but there are reasons why this is so.

First, Jesus can’t simply ‘do his own thing’. Prophets, priests and kings in Israel’s history needed God’s anointing, and needed to be filled with the Spirit to fulfil their role. In this way, people could recognise that their leaders were acting for God.

When the Holy Spirit alights on Jesus, he is appointed to all three offices. As prophet he will speak God’s word. As priest he will make atonement for the people, and as King he will rule over God’s people. Jesus needs this anointing to begin his work.

Second, God is revealing who he is—not a solitary Deity but a community of persons. The Father sends, the Son comes and the Spirit enables. As he is in his very being, so he is in the way he comes to save us. For God to reveal who he is, the Spirit must be part of the action.

Third, Jesus has come among us as a human being—a second Adam. His task is to be a real man—made in God’s image. His goal is to make us like himself—a re-formed humanity. So, he must live among us as a man. He must be dependent on the Holy Spirit.

From this point, it is clear that the Spirit enables everything Jesus does, especially being the Lamb of God who bears away the burden of sin that we carry[v].

But now, we also need the Spirit.

John is very aware that he can only baptize in water. This won’t bring about the changes that are needed! Israel is religious but they’re living as though God is not around. They don’t love him. John’s baptism is ceremonial. The Spirit baptism will be a new creation.

Three years later, the time comes for John’s prophecy to be fulfilled. Jesus has been killed by the very people God prepared to receive him. Spiritually speaking, they need a heart transplant!

And this is what the Holy Spirit’s coming is all about—providing broken and barren people with a new heart and a new spirit. It is what had been fore-told centuries before[vi].

Just as God breathed life into Adam, so Jesus will breathe spiritual life into us—the Holy Spirit[vii]. Apart from this, we are dead to God.

On this day, when the church is born, everyone who is baptized in Jesus name is forgiven. But this forgiveness is conveyed to them by receiving the gift of the Spirit[viii]. Jesus has been the Lamb who bears away the sin of the world. He has ascended to God’s right hand, and he has poured out this gift for our blessing[ix].

We may get baptized in water. We may be a church worker. We may believe everything in the Bible. But none of these things can make us alive to God. Only the Spirit can do this.

And, like John the Baptist, it is right that we feel unworthy to be Christ’s lowliest servant. Just look at who he is! And see what he has sent!

The visible life we live as Christians is flowing to us from Christ—through the Spirit he has sent. So, the Spirit comes to us full of all the blessings Christ has won for us. And this new life in the Spirit flows through our whole being. It flows back to God in praise and out to others in service. Jesus Christ is remaking the world we broke!

[i] Isa. 40:1, 3

[ii] Luke 1:15

[iii] v. 26

[iv] Matt. 3:14

[v] Heb. 9:14

[vi] Ezek. 36:27

[vii] John 20:22

[viii] John 2:38

[ix] Acts 2:33

New life by the Holy Spirit

We’re finding out what John’s Gospel has to say about the Holy Spirit. And from here on, it’s Jesus himself who is our teacher. He tells us here that we need a new birth—a work that only the Holy Spirit can do.

Being given an opportunity to start one’s life again is something we may not have thought about, but Jesus says it’s essential.

The enquirer in the story, Nicodemus, is an impressive character. He’s a scholar and a member of Israel’s ruling council. He’s willing to check Jesus out when most of his peers are jumping to conclusions. Later, he asks them if it is right to condemn Jesus without calling him in for questioning[i]. We’d say he’s a good leader.

But he’s looking for a world ruled by God—God’s kingdom, because that’s the entry point for what Jesus says to him. But to be part of God’s future, Jesus says he needs a life built by God—a work of the Holy Spirit.

Of ourselves, we can only produce earthly things. We need to be born from above. This is the only way we will either see or enter God’s kingdom.

This seems ridiculous to Nicodemus, and perhaps to anyone who hasn’t already been born again. Our natural bent is to rely on things that are visible and manageable. But a human being can only do human things. The Spirit, like a wind, can do what God wants to do in us, unseen but powerfully.

Jesus is not being ridiculous or obscure. Nicodemus is ‘a teacher of Israel’ and should know that God has promised to renew Israel[ii]. He is going to wash Israel with water so they are clean, and send his Holy Spirit so they have pure hearts. That’s why Jesus says Nicodemus needs to be born of water and the Spirit.

Israel at that earlier time was thoroughly compromised by idols and passions[iii]. They deserved God’s judgements, not his blessings. But God would renew them by his Holy Spirit.

We get accustomed to leaving God out of everything and arranging life around ourselves, and yet we still think we are entitled to be part of a wonderful future. We have no idea of how impossible it is for us to be part of the future God is making.

The fact is, we don’t deserve to share in God’s kingdom. We wouldn’t enjoy it there. We wouldn’t even survive there.

So, we need to be born again. That means that nothing we’ve done up until now counts. It means that nothing we do now can make it happen. But, without this we’ll never see the wonderful future God is making, let alone enter it.

As we’ve noted, Nicodemus should understand all of this, because it has already been revealed. In this sense it’s an ‘earthly thing’. And Jesus wants to reveal more—what he calls ‘heavenly things’[iv].

Jesus has come from heaven, and here’s what he wants us to know.

He must be lifted up like a snake on a pole. He’s using an event from earlier in Israel’s history[v] to tell us that he will be lifted up, and that we’ll need to look at him. We’ll need to see him being crucified for us, and to trust him to save us from our miserable lives.

This is the truth the Spirit will bring home to us[vi]. And this is how the kingdom is established.

By what Jesus does, we are washed clean. Satan has no hold over us. We are newly created as grateful and willing children of God. Reborn—by the Holy Spirit. We can see God’s kingdom. And we have entered it.

It helps to remember the way Jesus is born. The Holy Spirit ‘overshadows’ Mary, so her child will be holy, the Son of God. Mary can only say, ‘Let it be so to me according to your word’. This is effectively what we need to say. This is the way a Christian life begins. But it’s also how our lives are now to be lived—dependently, humbly and gratefully. We continue as we began[vii]. All of life now will be by the Spirit—walking in step with him, being led by him, and even being filled with him[viii].

[1] John 7:51-52

[2] Ezek. 36:25-27

[3] Ezek. 36:18

[4] Vv. 12-13. Jesus comes from heaven. No-one else has gone there and returned.

[5] Num. 21:9

[6] John 16:7-9

[7] Gal. 3:2-3

[8] Gal. 5:16-26

Life overflowing—John 4 & 7

We’re finding out what the Apostle John tells us about the Holy Spirit in his Gospel.

And here, in two episodes, Jesus shows us that real life and worship flow from receiving God’s gift of the Holy Spirit—an eternal life. The alternative is a life hijacked by things we can see and control.

The first account happens in Samaria[i]. The second at the temple in Jerusalem[ii]. It helps if we look at them together.

In the first episode, Jesus meets a woman by a well and asks for a drink, but, as the story reveals, he knows she is thirstier than he is. And he wastes no time in directing her attention to a new way to live.

She is surprised that Jesus speaks to a Samaritan woman. Jesus says if she knew who he was, she would ask him for living water. But there’s a way to go before she will understand this.

A life lived horizontally, with no access to God, is no real life at all. This woman needs to be saved by a drink from God’s ‘well of salvation’[iii]. She needs God himself to come to her, like running water, bubbling up within her as life that will be forever.

On the second of the two occasions we are looking at, Jesus is in the temple for a Feast day and offers ‘living water’ to everyone there. So, we know this offer is being made to us all. And John identifies this water as the Holy Spirit.

What difference does it make to us, to receive this gift of the Spirit? We know that no human being can live another person’s life for them. If we attempt to take responsibility for something they should do, we do them damage.

But life is God’s to give, and Jesus is the giver, and the gift is the Spirit. Only the Spirit can work things in us that we should do and must do. And he never intrudes on the responsibility given to us.

The woman of Samaria has no idea of a world above her that intersects with her daily life. When Jesus offers her God’s gift of living water, she merely asks if Jesus is greater than Jacob who is thought to have dug this well.

So, Jesus makes his offer of water more explicit—not a temporary quenching of thirst but an ongoing supply within her as life that is eternal.

The woman still thinks of physical things. But Jesus asks to see her husband—all the time knowing her difficult history.

And then, Jesus fills in her partial story—about her five previous husbands and now a partner. She can see that Jesus is a prophet! But still, she prefers to think horizontally. Or perhaps, to divert attention from an awkward truth! She asks about the proper location for worship—Samaria or Jerusalem.

Jesus tells her what God has revealed to Israel. And he adds, that a new era is beginning. People are going to worship in spirit and truth. They will really worship from their hearts! This will never be the case without the help of the Spirit[iv].

It’s so easy to reduce everything—including God—to things we can understand and control. But they don’t bring us to God. And oftentimes, they don’t even work—like the marriages this woman has had.

This has always been our problem. Like people in Jeremiah’s day, we turn away from God who is the fountain of living water for us, and we dig tanks that leak[v]. In other words, we prefer idols we can make and control, rather than turn to and trust in the living God.

Our need is so deep! We are made in God’s image. We need to hear him speak. We need his blessing. We need to call God ‘Father’! If we don’t know him, and if we’re not full of him, we remain discontented and must create something else to be wonderful or great or powerful.

So, Jesus must baptize us in the Spirit. Only this will free us from the bitterness and disappointment and shame of the past. Only this will open us up to God who loves us, and to people who need us[vi].

Something has happened to this Samaritan woman. She returns to her community. She talks. People listen. What amazes her is that Jesus has known her whole sorry story and still offered her a life from heaven.

She’s come to the well in mid-day heat—perhaps to avoid contact with other women. Now, she has a message, an eagerness, a hope, a credibility. ‘Have we found the Messiah?’ she asks.

And the town comes out to see for themselves.

God’s gift of the Spirit is the way we ourselves become real—real worshippers of God and real people to others. What now comes from us, surging up from within us, is in fact the Spirit of God being God to us.

When this promise of living water is repeated in Jerusalem, John explains that the Spirit is not yet given because Jesus is not yet glorified.

Already, plans are afoot to kill him. But this death will be his glory—and ours. He will be the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world. The Spirit will be given when Jesus has made an offering for sin.

Do we know who this Jesus is—the Messiah, the Lamb of God, the Baptizer in the Spirit? If we do, he gives us living water, springing up within us—life that is eternal. We are washed clean. We call God Father. We worship truly. Our life is on track. Others can see that we are renewed. Rivers of living water are pouring to us, and from us. As a postscript to this episode, Jesus explains to his disciples that it’s time for a harvest of souls to be reaped—starting with this woman. We don’t know how the following months work out in this town in Samaria, but we know that, later, when Philip visits this area as an evangelist of the risen Christ, many receive the word with joy[vii]. Perhaps the seed has been sown by this woman, and Philip reaps the crop.

[i] John 4:1-30

[ii] John 7:37-39

[iii] Isa. 12:2-3

[iv] Phil. 3:3

[v] Jer. 2:13; 17:13

[vi] Isa. 58:11

[vii] Acts 8:4-8

The fellowship making Spirit—John 14

Here is some of the best news about the Holy Spirit that we have. Jesus sends him to us as another Helper, like himself.

Because he lives in us, we truly know our Lord Jesus Christ and the Father, and ourselves participating in relationship with them. All of this is miracle. And all of this is God’s kindness to us.

It’s good to realise that Jesus tells us these things at a time when everything is falling apart for the disciples. Official hatred of Jesus is at boiling point. Jesus has told the disciples they will all fail badly. And Jesus says he’s going to leave them.

They need some help! But Jesus doesn’t give them a motivational seminar! He doesn’t gift his disciples with special powers. He promises to send them another Helper—like himself. And he promises them a future so joyously related to God that their troubles will seem quite different. They will be seeing life as God does, rather than from below.

These verses have special relevance to the disciples. They are being prepared—as apostles—to declare and explain and record all that Jesus will accomplish. They will need the Holy Spirit’s help to do this[i]. But the same Spirit is promised to everyone who turns to Jesus Christ for forgiveness and new life[ii].

When it comes to knowing God, Jesus has been the go-to person for the disciples. If they have wanted to know how God rules the world, Jesus tells them—or shows them. If they have wanted eternal life, Jesus grants it. If they have wanted to pray, Jesus teaches them how. And much besides. No wonder they don’t want him to leave!

But Jesus insists it will be better if he goes and the Holy Spirit comes.

He says that the disciples already know the Holy Spirit. They have been watching him at work in Jesus—directing and empowering all he has done. But this same Holy Spirit will soon be in the disciples.

This is what Jesus opens up for us too. It’s what we need—even more than having Jesus physically present. And here’s why.

In the first place, we need the Spirit to come to us because, when he does, Jesus has come to us. And we are alive to God[iii].

We’re not accustomed to talking about people being in one another. In fact, it sounds intrusive. But when it comes to God the Father and Jesus his Son, and the Holy Spirit, this is the language we need. And Jesus uses it freely[iv].

It’s love language. God doesn’t text us. He doesn’t outsource his saving work to the church. He comes to us, as Spirit, in communion with the Son and the Father. We are being treated as family—God’s family.

So, the disciples won’t be abandoned like orphans. The Spirit will come. And in this action, Jesus will love them and reveal himself to them[v]. It won’t be ‘like old times.’ It will be better.

This is true for us too. We are Christians because Christ has sent his Spirit to be in us. And he hasn’t come alone. Jesus has come to be in us, full of the new life he has created in his own flesh—a life freed from sin and set apart for God[vi].

And we know we are in Jesus. We are not alive because of what we do. He has embraced us—complete with our corruptions and frailty[vii]. He has welcomed us, chosen us and laid down his life for us. And through this journey, he has taken us to his Father—purified. And he is happy for it to be so. These chapters of John are full of his affection.

In the second place, we need the Spirit to come to us so that our understanding of God can grow. The Spirit enables us to see that the Son has always been living in his Father. And we know that the Father has always been living in his Son. This living in another didn’t begin with us[viii].

Jesus has shown us what it is like to live in his Father. He loves him. He looks at what his Father is doing and delights to share in it[ix]. He can’t do anything without his Father[x]. He asks to be vindicated by his Father[xi]. The idea of ‘being his own person’ would never have occurred to him.

And Jesus has shown us what it is like for the Father to live in him. The disciples should have recognised this[xii]. What they had seen in him was all produced by the Father. And it’s still true now. When we ‘see’ Jesus, we have seen the Father[xiii].

But when Jesus sends the Holy Spirit, we can see all this. We know that the Son is one with the Father in being God, one in love, one in action. And we know that the Father who loves his Son now loves us who are trusting in his Son[xiv].

This is why Jesus can be so emphatic at the beginning of this chapter in telling the troubled disciples not to be troubled. And why? Because there is plenty of room in the Father’s house for them all. The Spirit comes as the fellowship maker[xv]. In this ‘God-family’, everyone knows everyone—really and deeply!

Jesus is describing a relationship that is more than knowing about God or doing something for him. It’s having fellowship or communion with him. God has fellowship within himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are knowing this, not as something to work out but as something to appreciate and to share in.

In the third place, we need the Spirit to come to us because he replaces our old self-satisfaction with love for Jesus. Like Peter and the other disciples, the life that was focused on ourselves needs to die. Jesus asks us to abide in his love[xvi], to love him by doing what he says[xvii] and to love one another[xviii].

And he knows that we will love him[xix]. And we realise that in listening to Jesus, and obeying him, we’ve been loving him[xx]. We’ve seen the smallness of living by what we can create because we’ve started to admire and be captured by Jesus. And we are starting to live in a family of God where everything is as it should be, including us.

We tend to live in our accomplishments and human relationships and wonder why we are always on the edge of unsatisfied. Here’s why. We are built to know God and be known by God[xxi]. Remember Jesus saying to the disciples, after a very successful mission, don’t be happy because evil spirits are obedient to you. Rejoice that your names are written in heaven[xxii].

I’m glad that the Father sent the Son to tell us these things and to bring them into being[xxiii]. And I’m glad our three-personed God has sent his Holy Spirit to live within us so that what we know is not a theory or an accomplishment. It’s all love.

This is what we have been born for. And it’s more important than success or safety.

[i] John 14:25-29

[ii] Acts 2:33, 38-39

[iii]John 14:6, 18-19

[iv] One person being in another is used 15 times between 14:11—15:10, besides other ways of saying the same thing.

[v] John 14:21

[vi] John 16:13-15

[vii] John 13:38; 10:14-15

[viii] John 14:20

[ix] John 14:20

[x] John 5:19; 8:28

[xi] John 12:17-32

[xii] John 14:8-10

[xiii] 2 Cor. 4:6

[xiv] Eph. 1:6

[xv] 2 Cor. 13:14

[xvi] John 15:9-10

[xvii] John 14:15, 21-24

[xviii] John 15:12-17

[xix] John 16:27

[xx] John 21:15-17

[xxi] Gal. 4:9

[xxii] Luke 10:20

[xxiii] John 14:24

The Holy Spirit convicts the world—John 16

I wonder if you feel daunted when you hope to persuade a friend to trust in Jesus Christ? The task seems to be impossible. But Jesus said the Holy Spirit would do the work of convicting—that is, bringing the truth before someone so that they can’t avoid it.

This is what Jesus tells the apostles before he leaves them. They have watched Jesus work in Palestine for three years, demonstrating that God’s kingdom has arrived and that everyone should repent. There have been successes, but the opposition is murderous.

If Jesus is now leaving, what chance do the disciples have of making any impression on fellow-Jews, let alone the rest of the world?

Jesus speaks to their dismay by saying he will send the Spirit[1]. He explains that the Holy Spirit will show the world that their sin is wrong. And he will reveal where real righteousness can be found. And he will awaken consciences to the judgement they are under[2].

These are the things we find impossible to do. Everything in the enemy camp conspires to deny these propositions. Aren’t we basically good? And who’s to say what is right and wrong? And again, aren’t threats of a deity who judges merely ways to control us? Without the Holy Spirit to do the convincing, people will hide behind reasoning like this and see no reason to trust in Christ.

But there are reasons why the Spirit can do this, and they all have to do with Jesus Christ.

The Spirit convicts people of sin because they don’t believe in Jesus. If they hear the story of the life he has come to bring[3] and won’t trust him, they commit a concrete, visible sin. They are already condemned[4].

We need to trust the Holy Spirit to bring this home to people we speak to—even if we have to suffer, and wait.

And people are convicted of righteousness because Jesus has not only been raised from the dead but been taken to the Father. We can’t see him anymore. The matter of righteousness has been taken out of our hands.

The world argues endlessly about what is right and wrong but God says his Son is what righteousness is all about. He has done what is good. He has loved his Father. And God has vindicated him by raising him from the dead[5]. And it is righteousness for us too if we will believe it[6].

Again, we need to talk about Jesus and how God has declared him to be right. We must walk in the confidence of those whom God has justified and not be anxious about the taunts of unbelievers. The Spirit will bring conviction to all whom God chooses.

And people are convicted of judgement because the Prince of this world is judged. Satan loses his power—especially his power to accuse—when Jesus is lifted up on his cross to die for our sins and is raised again[7]. This judgement of Satan is not something we can see. It is something Jesus tells us.

We live among many false judgements[8]. Some say we are only answerable to ourselves. Others that we are answerable to them! It can be very confusing, and confronting! The reason we are so tender at this point is that Satan is always accusing us. And he knows enough to keep us on edge and running to someone for approval.

But what if Satan is judged? What if he is no longer able to accuse us? What if the sins he knows we have committed have all been washed away? One judgement—the judgement on Christ who bears our sins, silences all the other accusers.

This is what we need to live in and to explain to others. And our confidence that we have been saved is a sign to them that they remain condemned[9].

See how Peter preaches on the day the Holy Spirit is poured out.

He tells people what Israel has done with Jesus: ‘You killed him!’ He tells people where Jesus is: raised up from death and ascended[10]. He tells people that Jesus is installed as Lord, seated by God[11]. The ruler of this world‚ Satan— has been cast out[12].

He and the other apostles are bearing witness[13]. But then, so is the Holy Spirit[14]. He creates the situation in which the apostles can speak. He enables their speaking so that they are believably truthful[15]. And he makes it effective in all those God chooses to bless[16].

The Spirit deals with the heart, and conscience—closer to a person than we can come[17].

How we need the gift and the ministry of the Holy Spirit! Without him, we ourselves lack the joy and the certainty of belonging to God. And the world is not impressed with our lack of conviction.

This is a matter that should be close to our hearts.

In a final reference to the Spirit in John’s Gospel, Jesus breathes on his apostles and says, ‘Receive the Spirit’[18]! He anticipates the coming of the Spirit and wants them to be ready.

The church does not take over from Christ. The Holy Spirit does. In the same way that the disciples relied on the physical presence of Jesus, we rely on the Holy Spirit for every aspect of our life and ministry. He is the Leader.

Without him, we languish in our own spirits. We mistake our actions for God’s. And we limp in our approach to the world.

We need to be full of this life from God—full of his goodness to us and full of expectation of what he will do among those to whom we bear witness. We are following the Holy Spirit!

I’ve just talked to someone helping with translating the Bible for first nations people in Australia. She told me how warmly and widely their New Testament is being received as a phone download by local people. ‘It’s great to see the work of the Holy Spirit’ she said. Wherever people are taking the gospel seriously, the Holy Spirit is at work.

[1] John 15:26

[2] John 16:7-11

[3] Acts 5:20

[4] John 3:16-21; 15:22-24

[5] Acts 3:14; 7:52; 22:14; 1 Tim. 3:16

[6] Rom. 4:5, 25

[7] John 12:31-33; 14:30

[8] Cf. John 8:16; 12:48

[9] Phil. 1:28

[10] Acts 2:24-28

[11] Acts 2:33-35

[12] John 12:31

[13] Acts 2:40

[14] John 15:26-27

[15] Acts 2:4

[16] Acts 2:39

[17] Cf. Luke 12:10

[18] John 20:22