Before we can get into the work of the Holy Spirit in the world, I want to give you some important information regarding the work or the mission of the Holy Spirit in general, and then we will dig deeper into each one. In the Gospel of John and in the book of Acts we are told of the three-fold relationship of the Holy Spirit in the world today, and so lets begin in John’s Gospel and we are going to see two of these aspects in which the Holy Spirit is working, what He is doing.

In John 14:16-17 we read , "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever--the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you." Jesus is saying that He is going to send a helper, a comforter to be with them, but why? Because Jesus said earlier in John chapter 14 that He is going away and He did not want to leave them as orphans, all alone. Thus, He was sending the PARAKLETOS or the comforter which speaks of one who is "called alongside to assist".

Now this comforter, also called the Spirit of truth, is the Holy Spirit. And when Jesus said that He would send "another helper" He used a very interesting Greek word for "another". You see, there are two different Greek words for "another". The first is HETEROS which speaks of another of a different kind. For instance, if I bought a car that was a lemon, when I wanted to buy another car, I would not want to buy the same kind of car but a different one. This is not the Greek word that Jesus used here in John.

He used the Greek word ALLOS, which means another of the same kind. Again, if I bought a car and loved it, it worked beautifully, it ran without problems, when I needed a new one I would buy another car, the same kind, not a different one! That is how the Greek word ALLOS is used.

And so Jesus was saying that He was going to send a comforter, the Holy Spirit, who was exactly like Jesus, and thus, He is God! The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, and thus, has the same attributes and qualities as Jesus, although His work, as we shall see, is different.

In John 14:17 we are told two aspects of the Holy Spirit’s workings in the world. We read of the Holy Spirit that the disciples will "...know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you." You see, He dwells "with" you and He will be "in" you! Now some like to skip over this, ignore this, and yet it is important for us to understand.

Jesus used two different Greek prepositions which designate the different relationships of the Holy Spirit towards us. PARA is the Greek word which speaks of the Holy Spirit dwelling "with" us. EN is the Greek word which speaks of the Holy Spirit dwelling "in" us.

The third relationship of the Holy Spirit in our lives is found in Acts 1:8, where Jesus said "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." The Greek word that Jesus used here is EPI, which means "upon" or "over you". And Jesus is saying here that not only will the Holy Spirit be WITH you, PARA. Not only will the Holy Spirit be IN you, EN. But the Holy Spirit will also come UPON you, EPI, to empower you to be witnesses of Jesus.

Now in this study we are going to focus upon one aspect of the Holy Spirit, and that is the Holy Spirit dwelling with us. We will cover the other two relationships in further studies. But here we are going to be focusing on the Holy Spirit drawing us to Christ. How is this done? Listen to what Jesus said in John 15:26, "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 in John chapter 16, Jesus explains to us this relationship that the Holy Spirit has in drawing us to Christ, what He is doing in us. We read beginning in verse 7, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And 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." John 16:7-11.

Here we see three things the Holy Spirit is doing in the life of the unbeliever, as He comes alongside to draw us to Christ. He will convict the world of - SIN, RIGHTEOUSNESS, and JUDGMENT. Lets look at these a little closer:

1. THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL CONVICT THE WORLD OF SIN - JOHN 16:8-9

There are many sins out there in the world. We see the sin of stealing, of covetousness, of adulatory, of homosexuality, of lying, of murder, of drunkenness, and the list can go on-and-on. But that is not what is being spoken of here and the reality is, that none of the above sins will cast us into Hell.

Now some may be taken back by that, but listen carefully to what I am going to say. The only sin that will keep you out of the kingdom of God is unbelief! That is the only one that will keep you out of heaven, for all other sins can be forgiven by Christ. That is what Jesus said in John 16:9, "of sin, because they do not believe in Me." Now, of course it is our sin that separates us from God. The Scriptures say "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned." Romans 5:12. But we can receive forgiveness for those sins through Christ, as Paul said "For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation." Romans 5:10-11.

Again in Matthew 12:31 we read "Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men." What is Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? It is rejecting the work that the Holy Spirit is trying to do, lead you to Jesus, the Messiah. If you reject that you are lost and you will die in your sins!

Now don’t think I am trying to negate sin, or water it down, or make it of no real importance. Of course sin is important. Sin means "missing the mark" and it was a term that was associated with archery, and thus, missing the mark meant missing the bull’s eye, which would be perfection. Paul said in Romans 3:23, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." We all have missed the mark of perfection and because of that we can not stand before a holy and righteous God. Thus, the only way you could stand before God is if you were perfect. And if you think you are, the sin of pride just took you out of that position!

It is like Isaiah 59:1-2 says, "Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear." Thus, the work of the Holy Spirit as He dwells with us, is to convict us of sin, to show us that we can do nothing with this condition we have without Him stepping in and cleansing us from our sins and imputing His righteousness into our lives.

A great example of this is seen in Acts chapter 2, on the day of Pentecost. As the Holy Spirit empowers the believers, Peter launches into a sermon that cuts right to their heart and exposes their sin of unbelief to the 3,000 people that were there that day. Peter said "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know--Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it." Acts 2:22-24.

And Peter doesn’t stop there. He continues to speak to them showing them that Jesus is the one the prophets spoke of, and he ends by telling them that they crucified their Messiah and Lord! The result of this is seen in Acts 2:37, and no Peter did not have to go to sensitivity training classes! We read "Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’"

Notice what happened here, CONVICTION! Big time conviction, they were cut to the heart. The Holy Spirit cut away the hardness around their heart as they heard the Word of God and their desire was "What shall we do?" You see, at this point they saw themselves as sinners that were separated from a holy Godand they desired to get right with God and be healed of this

condition they were in.

So what does Peter tell them to do? Go light some candles? Say a few "Hail Mary’s" and "Our Fathers"? Just think positive thoughts? Not at all! He tells them to "...‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for [because of] the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’" Acts 2:38.

They were told to turn to God, move towards Him instead of away from Him. It is as Paul tells us in Romans 10:9-10, "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." To get saved you need to confess before God that you are a sinner and ask Jesus to be Lord and Savior of your life. When you do, God is standing there with complete forgiveness!

Thus, all our sins are open to God’s gracious forgiveness, except one, and that is the rejection of what the Holy Spirit is trying to do in your life, drawing you to Jesus. Again, Jesus said in John 3:16-18, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

2. THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL CONVICT THE WORLD OF RIGHTEOUSNESS - JOHN 16:8, 10

When God received Jesus up into heaven He was setting the standard of righteousness that a man would have to meet to be accepted before God. You see, only one man has ever attained that kind of righteousness, and that was Jesus. Notice what Hebrews 4:15 says, "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." Jesus was without sin, inherited or acquired! Again we see this in I John 3:5, where John tells us "And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin."

On the other hand, in speaking of our righteousness, Isaiah tells us "But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags..." Isaiah 64:6. When compared to a holy and righteous God, we are filthy! In fact, when they were translating the Scriptures into English, the King James translators toned down the thought. It should be that "all our righteousnesses are like used menstrual rags!" Yes, it is repulsive, it should be!

And you see, sin is missing the mark, where righteousness is hitting the mark. Thus, it doesn’t matter how much you miss the mark, you can be as close as a millimeter, but you didn’t hit it, and you are not righteous before God, no matter how many good works you do!

So what can we do? Paul tells us in II Corinthians 5:21, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Do you see what happens here? When we come to Christ, receive that free gift of God, the forgiveness of sins found in Christ, we are no longer standing in our own filthy righteousness, but the righteousness of God that has been imputed to us by God. That is the only way we can be righteous and stand before God.

You see, when we stand in the righteousness of man, comparing ourselves to man, and always picking someone who is not as good as we are, we look good. We would never compare ourselves to someone like mother Teresa, for that would make us look bad. But the righteousness that God accepts is perfect righteousness that is not based on man, but upon God.

And so if we stand in the light of God’s righteousness, having it shine upon our lives as we stand before Him in our own righteousness, we would look very bad, all our imperfections would be shining before Him. It is as Hebrews 4:13 says, "And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account."

But if we stand in the righteousness of God that has been imputed to us by Christ, we are seen as perfect as the blood of Christ cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Think of it this way, when we look at our face in a mirror in the natural light we look good. But if we turn up the lights, all the imperfections, pimples, blemishes, and-so-on, show upon our face. Christ takes those imperfections away, so we are perfect, without spot or blemish before Him, not because we are so good, but that He is so good and loves us so much that He paid the penalty for our sins so that we can be as white as snow. What a comfort that should be to us. It is as John 3:36 warns us, "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

And so the Holy Spirit reproves the world of righteousness by pointing us to Jesus, who was accepted by God and is seated at the right hand of the Father. Unless you obtain that kind of righteousness, you will never get to heaven and you will never attain that kind of righteousness apart from Christ!

3. THE HOLY SPIRIT REPROVES THE WORLD OF JUDGMENT - JOHN 16:8, 11

This is all based upon the fact that when Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, paying the penalty for our sins, the prince of this world, Satan, was judged. He lost his power in our lives. He lost the power to force us to do those things that are contrary to God’s righteousness.

Listen to what Paul said regarding this issue in Colossians 2:13-15. We read "And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it."

Jesus disarmed the power of Satan in our lives, that old nature that was subject to sin and Satan, and nailed that to the cross. Paul said in Romans 6:6, "knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin." No longer are we in bondage to sin, slaves to sin, but we have been set free by Christ. And as Paul said in II Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." May we truly believe that and apply that truth in our lives, we are a new creation in Christ, being transformed by Him into a thing of beauty for His glory!

Now for those that reject Christ, they are still in bondage to sin, living with that old nature, that flesh nature that seeks to satisfy self instead of God. Again, listen to the words of Jesus in John 3:17-20. He said "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed."

The world is still under the power of Satan, but the Holy Spirit desires to release them from those chains that are binding them, those sins that are keeping them in bondage. But He won’t force you, and if you continue to reject the work of the Holy Spirit in your life He will reprove you of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment!

You see, you can reject the work of the Holy Spirit. As I have said, the Holy Spirit will never force you to believe in Christ. He draws us to Christ and then we must act upon that and take that step of faith. It is as the writer of the letter to the Hebrews said, "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’" Hebrews 3:7-11.

The writer is driving home the point that if the Holy Spirit is calling, don’t harden your hearts to Him. Don’t fall into unbelief, for if you do you will be like the children of Israel and their failure at Kadesh Barnea, which led to their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. He is trying to tell us not to repeat the experience that happened to Israel in the wilderness. They ended up dying in unbelief, never entering that rest that God had for them and has for us. Don’t make the same mistake, respond to the Holy Spirit’s work in your life, which is first and foremost, drawing you to Christ!

Now in Regards to sharing our faith, I like what R. A. Torrey said in his book "THE PERSON & WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT". He said:

"If you wish men to get a true view of Jesus Christ, such a view of Him that they may believe and be saved, it is not enough that you give them the Scriptures concerning Him; it is not enough that you give them your own testimony. You must seek for them the testimony of the Holy Spirit and put yourself into such relations with God that the Holy Spirit may bear His testimony through you. Neither your testimony, nor even that of the written word alone will effect this, though it is your testimony or that of the word that the Holy Spirit uses. But unless your testimony and that of the word is taken up by the Holy Spirit and He Himself testifies, they will not believe...It is our part to hold up Jesus Christ, and then look to the Holy Spirit to illumine His face or to take the truth about Him and make it clear to the hearts of our hearers. He will do it, and men will see and believe. Of course, we need to be so walking toward God that the Holy Spirit may take us as the instruments through whom He will bear His testimony." (pp. 81, 85).

What an important lesson for us to learn and apply. It is never us, it is always the Lord working through us. Let His Spirit work in you and through you.

Now when a person receives what the Holy Spirit is doing in their lives, drawing them to Christ, they are saved and the Holy Spirit will indwell them. In Ezekiel 36:26-27 we read "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them."

Obviously, in this portion of Scripture God is speaking to the nation of Israel and what will happen to them as they turn to the Lord and receive Christ to be their Savior. But this is also happening on a daily basis as people are opening their hearts to Jesus by the revealing of the Holy Spirit, and God gives them a heart transplant and puts His Spirit inside them.

In fact, that is the second aspect or work of the Holy Spirit, now in the life of the believer. Jesus said in John 14:7 that the Holy Spirit will not only be "with" you, drawing you to Christ, but once you accept the work of the Holy Spirit into your life, accept Christ to be your Lord and Savior, He then will be"in" you! It is the Greek preposition EN. This will be the focus of our next study, the Holy Spirit indwelling the life of a believer.

Let me leave you with this story showing you the desire of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Holy Spirit in opening the eyes of someone born blind. And folks, we have all been born blind, in a spiritual sense of course, until we saw our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit opened our eyes, just as He did with this man.

"One Sunday morning, a Roman Catholic priest appeared before a congregation of a thousand persons in an Illinois town and said, ‘My people, I resign my priesthood, though I have been here thirty years.’"

"At their earnest request he gave his reasons why he did so: ‘Last night I spent every hour praising God. All sleep had left me. After reading the New Testament I saw that salvation is in Jesus Christ, and is the gift of God’s eternal love. Penance is not in it. Purgatory is not in it. Absolution is not in it. On my knees in my room I accepted the Gift, and I love the giver. I walked the room most of the night saying to myself: ‘I accept the Gift, and I love the Giver.’"

"And thus for an hour and a half Father Chiniquy expounded to the people the grace of God. At the close of the sermon he asked how many of them would join with him in accepting the Gift and loving Giver. Every man, woman, and child, except about forty, responded. And there is a Presbyterian church today."

- A. C. Dison

The Holy Spirit is drawing men and women to Christ and when a person responds, there is a change in their life, and it does touch those around them as they allow the Holy Spirit to not only work in them, but through them, submitting themselves to be vessels to be used by God. As the Holy Spirit tugs on a persons heart, it is as Jeremiah 29:13 says, "And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." Without His drawing, we would still be lost in our sins!