Why Do I Need the Holy Spirit?

Pastor Mike will be speaking on Why Do I Need the Holy Spirit?. He will be in John 14: 15-27.

That no matter what adversity I walk through, no matter what trial I endure, no matter what I encounter, that God is not only with me, but He is in me, empowering me to endure, empowering me to handle this situation right, empowering me to honor Him.

Hello this is Pastor Mike Sanders and this is Hope Worth Having. We are delighted that you can be with us and we are looking forward to what God has for us today as we study the Bible together. Today we are going to be in the Gospel of John chapter 14 verse 15 -27 and we are asking this simple question, why do I need the Holy Spirit?

Why do believers need the Holy Spirit? We are going to try to answer that question as we look into the Word of God this morning. Sometimes we have stereotypes when it comes to the Holy Spirit, but I want us to get our understanding and our theology about the Holy Spirit who resides in every believer from the Word of God.

So grab your Bible this morning, get a pen and paper and let’s start learning together on why we need the Holy Spirit. If you have your Bible this morning I want you to join me in the Gospel of John chapter 14.

I want to talk to you this morning about why do I need the Holy Spirit in verse 15 of John chapter 14. Jesus said, if you love me keep my commandments and I will pray the Father and He shall give you another comforter that He may abide with you forever.

Even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth Him not and neither knoweth Him, but you know Him for He dwelleth with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless.

I will come to you yet a little while and the world seeth me no more, but you see me because I live you shall live also. The Holy Spirit is a person, He is the third person. person of the Trinity. The scripture reminds us in 1 Corinthians 2 11 for what man knoweth the things of man except the spirit of the man which is in him even so no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God.

Sometimes we have stereotypes of the Holy Spirit. We have different thoughts and images and maybe perhaps even myths of what we believe about the Spirit of God but this morning I want you to understand that there within the Godhead is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit that they are three distinct persons yet they are one.

They are one in their purpose in that the Father, Son, and Spirit all desire that men and people should come to saving grace in Jesus Christ. They are one in essence that whatever is true of the Father in the Son is also true of the Spirit in the fact that we say that the Father is holy and the Son is holy and so is the Spirit.

They are one in their attributes and that when we say that the Father knows all things, that we say the Son knows all things and the Spirit knows all things and so you and I this morning recognize that they are three distinct persons yet they are one in unison and the mind cannot fully comprehend.

The mind cannot fully grasp but the Bible is clear that the Holy Spirit is a person, the third person of the Godhead, the Trinity. The scriptures tell us again in 1 Corinthians 2, 4 and 5 that Paul the Apostle said that my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words or of human wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and the power that your face should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

There is a desperate need in the church for the manifestation of the power of the Spirit of God. The scriptures again remind us in 1 Corinthians 4 that the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.

Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church as the church experiences as you and I as the church we are the church as we experience the Holy Spirit we will experience the presence of God and the power of God in our life and so this morning I want through our text to make the case to you as believers on why we need the Holy Spirit and I submit unto you first of all because I need a counselor who is with me forever.

Notice again in verse 16 that the scripture says Jesus himself said I will pray that the Father shall give you another comforter. circle that word, highlight that word because it is the Greek word parakaletos and it means the helper.

Sometimes it is translated in the Bible as comforter or advocate and it is in reference to the Spirit of God and what Jesus himself is saying is that upon his departure after his crucifixion and resurrection and ascension into heaven that he would give them someone else and it would be the third person of the Trinity that it would be the helper it would be the comforter and so you and I must recognize this morning that we have the Holy Spirit that lives within us and he is here to counsel us he is here to comfort us he is here to be our advocate and so this morning each and every one of us we need a helper we need a counselor we need an advocate we need someone to help us to be all that God wants us to be And that is through the power of the Spirit of God that lives inside of every person that is truly believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Do not diminish the ministry of the Spirit of God in your life. Do not diminish the ministry of the Spirit of God in the life of the church in an effort to make sure that we are not chaotic, in an effort to make sure that we are not confusing.

Sometimes the body of Christ, the people of God can diminish the work of the Spirit within their heart. The scriptures teach us in verse 15, Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. The only way that you and I in the flesh could ever obey God is through the power of the Spirit.

Obedience to God is not something that you and I can just simply manufacture. Obedience to God is not something that we just naturally do. It is something that is a work of the Spirit of God within us.

Obedience is the hallmark of genuine saving faith in the life of a believer because the Bible teaches us that we’re called to obey Him. Jesus himself said in Luke six, verse 46, why call you me Lord, Lord, and you do not the things which I say.

You can’t run around and say that I’m a believer, I’m a follower, and I love the Lord, but that you live in disobedience consistently and constantly to the word of God. That cannot be true in your life, but when you have the power of the Spirit of God inside of you, He counsels you, He helps you make right decisions, He helps you to live obediently to God, He helps you to honor God in every choice that you are making in your life.

Our love for Jesus is seen in our obedience to the commands of Jesus, but as Jesus is calling us to obedience, He is connecting it and tying it to the comforter, to the counselor, to the advocate, to the one who helps us.

It helps us and it is the power of the Spirit of God that helps us to obey Jesus. This is why as believers we come every day and saying, Lord, we want you to help us to obey you today. We want you to help us to be all that you have called us to be.

When you yield your life to the counselor, when you yield your life to the power and the presence of the Spirit of God in your life, then, my friends, you will experience the height of a relationship with Jesus Christ that surpasses any relationship on this world and a relationship that helps you to live with meaning and purpose and to accomplish what God has for you.

If Jesus owns your heart, then you will live for Him. And the question is, are you willing to surrender your life and let the Spirit of God manifest obedience in your life? The second reason that I need the Holy Spirit is not only that I need a counselor, but I need someone to guide me into all truth.

Look at verse 17 again. The scripture says to us that even the Spirit of truth, when we describe the Holy Spirit, He is the Spirit of truth. The Spirit is the source of all spiritual knowledge. You will never max out your Christian life until you are living in full submission to the Spirit of truth.

The Bible tells us in Romans 8 .14, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. The true children of God are led by the Spirit of God, and they are guided into all truth. Remember what Jesus taught us about truth.

He taught us first that the truth will do what? It will set you free. It’ll set you free from the bondage of sin in your life. It’ll set you free from all the wrong thoughts that have taken strongholds into your life.

It’ll set you free from the challenges and the obstacles of life that are hindering you and holding you back from being what God wants you to be. Jesus sets us free, and Jesus reminds us that He is the truth, that Jesus is the truth, His words are truth.

And the Bible tells us that the Spirit of God will lead us into all truth. The Spirit of God will lead us into all truth. Jesus promises to lead us through this confusing world. How many times have people said to me, Pastor, I don’t know the will of God.

I don’t understand what God wants me to do. I am struggling with a decision. I am at this point and crossroads of my life that I can’t figure out what my next step is. And I tell them, listen, the answer is for you to seek the Spirit of God to lead you through this world.

It is the Spirit of God, the truth that will lead you. Remember what the Scripture says in 1 Corinthians 2 .14, that the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, meaning the unbeliever, the natural man, not the carnal man, but the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him.

What is foolish to the world is wise to God, nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned, and this is what you need. You need the discernment of God to guide you in truth, and the only way that you will have the discernment of God is for you to ask the Spirit of God to lead you into all truth, for he is the Spirit of truth.

Have you opened your life to the leadership of the Holy Spirit of God in your life? Have you surrendered your life and said, Holy Spirit, lead me today into truth? Lead me to make great decisions that honor Christ.

Lead me to make good choices that bring glory to God. Lead me in truth today that I may live the life that you have called me to do. Every day you and I have goals, we have agendas, we have schedules, we have things to get done, but listen to me my friends.

The Bible says man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. So you have plans, I have plans every day. My schedule is already planned out for tomorrow. It’s planned out for Tuesday and on throughout the week, but listen to me more than the schedule that Mike has on the Google Calendar.

What’s more important is that the Lord lead my steps, amen? That’s true for all of us. So Lord lead the right people into my path. Lead me to the right people. Let me interact, let me say what you want me to say, not what the flesh says, not what the world says, but I wanna say what the spirit of truth is leading me and guiding me today to say.

And that requires that you and I live in full submission to him and that we live in full surrender to him. That every day as I just taught in the membership class that we live by Romans 12 .1. I beseech you therefore by the mercies of God.

That is that my motivation to surrender and be submissive to the spirit is because God has been so good to me, amen? He has been merciful to me. He has shown his grace to me. He has shown his kindness to me.

He has shown his goodness and surely the mercies of God and the goodness of God will follow me all the days of my life and God has been so good to me and so Lord, here is my life I submitted unto you.

The Bible says in Romans 12 .1, I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present or that you relinquish, you let go of your life. That you present yourselves as a living sacrifice, not a dead sacrifice.

We got enough dead beats. What we need is to be a living sacrifice. Here is… is my life, Lord, I offer it unto you. And the Bible says this is your reasonable service. Some translations put it, this is your act of worship to God.

And so in the Old Testament, they brought sacrifices. In the New Testament, we are the sacrifice. We sacrifice our life unto God. We offer praises and thanksgiving and say, Lord, here’s my plans, but I submit my Google calendar to you today, Lord.

Here it is, my iPhone schedule. Here it is, Lord, and whatever and wherever. And if you need to change things, if you need to move things, if you need to shift things, then Lord, I wanna ask you to do just that for me.

Number three, why do I need the Holy Spirit? Because I need to be empowered to live the Christian life. Again, we come to verse 17 and we note that Jesus says, whom the world cannot receive, meaning the world can’t receive the spirit of truth because it sees him not, neither knows him, but you know him.

See, you’re a believer, he lives in you, you know him. For He dwells with you, He’s not only with you, but He is in you. He is with you and He is in you. Jump to verse 18. I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you.

Jump down to verse 23. Jesus said, if a man loved me, he will keep my words and my Father will love him, we will come unto him and make our abode or our dwelling with him. Verse 24, He that loves me not and keeps not my sayings and the word which you hear is not mine, but the fathers which sent me, God abides with His people.

Christians are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. God is not contained to a building. He is not contained to a room. He is not contained to a particular place, but He lives within all those who love Him and follow Him and are sold out to Him.

He is with them, He lives with them. He lives inside of them. Listen, we have to be careful, church. We say to people, I’m going to church. You’re not going to church, you are the church. People say, this is the sanctuary of God.

Friends, listen to me, I hate to break your heart, but this is not the sanctuary of God. This building is not a sanctuary. This building is a building dedicated to God for God’s purposes and God’s use, but you are the sanctuary of God.

Your body is the sanctuary of God and the Spirit of God lives inside of you, my friends. And wherever you go, God goes with you. And that’s a double -edged sword. It is a wonderful thought to think that no matter what adversity I walk through, no matter what trial I endure, no matter what I encounter, that God is not only with me, but He is in me, empowering me to endure, empowering me to handle this situation right,

empowering me to honor Him. But it is a double -edged sword in that if I choose to go to the wrong places and if I choose to hang out with the wrong… people and if I choose to be a part of the wrong things in this world that God is with me and he is in me and I am defiling the temple of God and the presence of God and the sanctuary of God and there is nothing that should grieve not only the Spirit of God but the heart of God’s people more than for you to be a part of things and me to be a part of things that are dishonoring to God and so we recognize that we are the dwelling place that God has made his home in us by the presence of the Spirit and this Spirit wherever I go good bad and ugly he is in me and he is with me and because he is in me because he is with me he is the source of all of my spiritual power that I have the Bible tells us to live is Christ friends that’s a very difficult statement to live as Christ because in our humanity and in our flesh we fail so many many times,

right? But it is through the power of the Spirit that we can truly live for Christ, that we can live as if Christ was living in us and through us. The Holy Spirit is the power of the church. This power is not only manifested in that we come together and worship Him, we worship Him in spirit and in truth.

This power is not only manifested as we pray and serve, but this power is manifested as we fan out into our communities, as we fan out into our homes and our workplaces, as we go and do the things that God has called us to do each and every day, no matter how monotonous they may be, how mundane they may be, how exciting or not exciting they are.

We are called to live in the power of the Holy Spirit and it is the Spirit of God that empowers you. Listen to what Paul said in Ephesians 3, 16, that his prayer for the believers at Ephesians was simply this, that he, referring to the Father, would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with the might through his Spirit in the inner man.

And so tomorrow you may be in the hospital, tomorrow you may face troubles and trials, but may God grant you the strength with his might through his Spirit in the inner man. May he help you, empower you to be what he’s called you to do.

For we must recognize as believers that without the Holy Spirit the task of being what God has called us to be is impossible. We need the Spirit of God. This is why in Acts 1, 8, the Bible says you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, into all Judea and Samaria and unto the end of the earth.

Listen my friends, the way that I am able to be a witness in my adversities, in my trials, in my problems, in my triumphs, in my transitions in life, in all of my great experiences in life, the way…

that I can be a witness is through the power of the Spirit and I need the Holy Spirit to empower me. And often when I visit the hospital and I was just up in Carlisle a few days ago visiting the hospital for one of our members and I prayed and I said, Lord, may this person be a lighthouse for you even as they lay on this sick bed, even as they struggle through the trial of surgery.

May the power of the Spirit manifest joy, peace, God’s goodness and grace to every person that walks in. Some of you are complaining because you’re going through this trial and you say, God, why are you doing this?

I don’t have all the answers of why God does anything. He is God. He can do whatever he wants. Amen. I mean, within the scope of his nature and the boundaries of his attributes, God could choose to do, but if God chooses to take Mike out of this world very soon, that’s his choice.

Don’t worry, my friends. To live is Christ and to die is what? all my friends when mike enters into the pearly gates i certainly will be surprised but i’ll tell you this i will not be disappointed or sad be sad for yourself because you’re still here but all i’m saying to you is this that if you’re trying to do the lord’s work and you’re trying to live for the lord on your own you will miserably fail you must have his power the holy spirit is our resource and so what task has god given you what role has he given you what responsibility has he given you are you a parent today are you a spouse today has god called you to singlehood has god called you to a new ministry has god elevated you has god demoted you has god put you on the sick bed has god put you on top of the mountain wherever he has put you through the power of the spirit you can glorify him to live the christian life the fourth reason that you and i need the holy spirit is because i need to be taught god’s truth we already talked a little bit about truth but let me just break this down a little bit verse 25 and 26 these things have i spoken unto you being yet present with you but the comforter the holy spirit the advocate the helper which is the holy ghost whom the father will send in my name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever i have said unto you some of you are popping every vitamin and supplement you can to make sure you don’t forget but the greatest memory prescription is the holy spirit because the holy spirit is not only one to help us remember but he is one to teach us all of god’s truth the spirit always works in conjunction with god’s word now i am disappointed with many believers sometimes because i feel like they do not rely upon the spirit for god’s truth and that is that they become enamored with speakers and preachers and teachers and They rely too heavily on man and not enough on the Spirit of God to teach them all things in God’s truth.

I’m not trying to negate the role of a Bible study leader, a pastor, or a teacher within the church. They all have their roles. God has a giftedness and God raises up people to teach us the word of God.

But please remember that the greatest teacher the Scriptures teach us is the Holy Spirit of God. And the Holy Spirit is never wrong, amen? Now you and I sometimes may misunderstand, misinterpret, mistranslate, all that can be true, yes.

But the Spirit of God is your teacher. The Scripture says in 1 Corinthians 2, 12 and 13, now we have not received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with… spiritual. Jesus reminds us of this truth in our text today, that He will not only bring all things into remembrance to us, meaning the spiritual things, but He will teach us all things.

The Spirit of God will not only help you remember what you have learned, but He will teach you all that you need that you might live a godly life and a life honorable and glorifying to Jesus Christ. You say, man, if we just had a better Sunday school teacher, if we just had a better Bible study leader, if we just had a better pastor to teach us the Bible, people complain about their teachers, they complain about their pastors,

and I tell them, my friends, whatever the deficiency of the human teacher is, is supplemented and fulfilled in the role and the ministry of the Bible works in conjunction with the word. And the reason that some of you are not learning is because you’re not opening the Bible.

I know that you open that Bible app on Sunday, but it hasn’t been opened all week. But on Sunday, you found time to open the Bible app because you’ve got one of those phones that can open up 10 apps at a time.

And so while you got the Bible app open, you got your social media app open and you got your other texting messages. And again, the Spirit of God can’t teach you right now because you’re more focused on social media.

The Spirit of God can’t teach you right now because your mind is not focused on spiritual things. You have not surrendered. You didn’t come in this morning and say, Holy Spirit, teach me your word, as it is proclaimed, as it is taught, as it is explained to us, teach me your word.

But this is what he does personally and corporately, that as we open our Bibles and we come to the word of God, that our prayer is God, Holy Spirit, teach me through your word. My friends, when I come to the word of God, I’m not looking for a pick me up.

I am saying, Holy Spirit of God, would you. please expose me? Would you please help me see the things that I need to confess and the things that I need to change and the things that I need to work on in my life so I can be more like Jesus in my life?

I do not come to the Word of God simply saying, oh I got to have some donuts and chocolate cake today, but that’s pretty much the diet of the average Christian. I do not want you to forget these words in verse 13 of 1 Corinthians 2 in which the Apostle Paul says that the Holy Spirit teaches comparing spiritual things with spiritual and that is simply this that as we dive into the Word of God, these spiritual truths,

we compare them with the Word of God. The Spirit of God leads us. Why do you inundate your sermons with the Word of God? Because we compare spiritual things with spiritual things. that as we open the Bible, we don’t take one verse and build our own theology, but we take all the Bible verses and we take it in light of the entire scriptures.

Any of us can say something, make a statement, take it out of context, and that it can be misunderstood, misinterpreted, mischaracterized, misapplied, right? So it is true with God’s word. You can take one statement and you can mischaracterize it, misapply it, misinterpret it, and as a matter of fact, you start living a life that is not true to the word of God.

People say, I can do all things, and so they jump out of an airplane with no parachute. You cannot jump out of an airplane without a parachute and live. What God is saying to us is that you and I can live the godly life, the Christian life.

We can live a life of faith in Christ. I can do all things through Christ, who what strengthens me? I can make it through this challenging time in my life. I can make it through this transition in my life.

I can do all things through Christ. Yes, that’s the proper application because that’s what the scriptures teach us consistently through the word of God, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things.

So as I come to the word of God, the spirit of God reminds me of other verses. The spirit of God teaches me what this verse is saying in context and in light of other things that God has already taught me.

He is not introducing new theology to me. He has not somehow given me a secret that nobody else knows in the world. No, my friends, we are learning from the Holy Spirit as we are comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

This is our job. This is our task. This requires to be more committed to the word of God and more devoted to his truth in our life and not just simply trying to get a little bit of Jesus to help me through.

There is a desperate need in the church for the manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to be able to experience the great work of the Spirit. Spirit of God within the Church. The reason the Church is so anemic is because it is relying on the methods of mankind rather than upon the power of the Holy Spirit.

And as you and I lean upon the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit is able to help us live obediently and to help us to be faithful for the Lord Jesus Christ. How wonderful it is to know that the Spirit of God is a counselor and a comforter to all who trust in Jesus Christ.

Now we want you to know that we have a website and it is important for you that as you are learning and growing that you get to that website, Hopeworthhaving .com and check out all the resources that are available to you.

All these resources are designed to let the Word of God and the Spirit of God to work effectively in your heart and to draw you closer to Christ and to be more like Jesus. We encourage you to take advantage of this website, Hopeworthhaving .com.

The website’s recently been upgraded, and so I know there’ll be a lot of things that you will surely enjoy. So if you haven’t been there in a while, go back and check it out. If you’ve never checked it out, check it out, HopeWorthHaving .com.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.