716
THE KING’ S BUSINESS
love and joy are the blessed results o f such experience. 4. The union o f believers one with another, IS :12-16. The union o f Christ with believers nat urally leads to consideration o f their rela tion one to another. This unity we are to understand as being unity o f life, purpose, and motive, just as Christ and the Father are one. 5. The hatred o f the world towards Christ and His disciples, 15:18-25. Does the world still hate Christ? Why is the Church not suffering the hatred of the world ? Has the world or the Church , changed? (1 John 3:13, 14). Friendship with Christ is compensation for the enmity o f the world (James 4 :4 ). If-Christians were true to their Lord, bold in confessing their faith in Him, courageous in rebuking the iniquity o f wrong doers, then we would find that the world has not changed in its hatred towards Christ and His people. , 6 . The coming and mission o f the Holy Spirit, 15:26-16:15, cf. 14:25, 26. (a ) The Spirit is a person. Note the prominence o f thé personal pronoun “he” which occurs ten times in verses 13-15. Note also the personal char acteristics and offices: He declares, guides, teaches* and convinces. The Spirit takes the place o f Jesus Christ; only a person can take the place o f a person—the Spirit is anûthér comforter. (b ) The work o f the Spirit with refer ence to Christ ( 14:26 ; 15:26; 16:13-15). The Holy Spirit bears witness to Christ; He glorifies Christ; He does not speak of Himself. May this not be the reason why the worship of the Spirit* is a somewhat concealed truth : He points t o Christ? Spirit-filled men will ex;alt Christ. Were the Holy Spirit to draw attention to Him self He would not be fulfilling His office work, which is to - draw the attention of men To Christ and His finished work.
(c ) The work o f the Spirit with fef- ererice to the believer, 14:26; 15:26; 16:13- 15. The Holy Spirit reveals Christ to the believer. Without the Spirit’s revelation no man could see Christ as Saviour (16:7- 10; 1 Corinthians 12:3). He guides the believer unto all truth, teaching him not only the meaning o f Christ’s redemptive work o f the past and refreshing his mem ory with reference thereto,! ' but _ also revealing to him “things to come.” (d ) The work o f thè Holy Spirit with reference to the world, 16 ¡(Ml. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of three great facts : o f sin; righteousness, and judgment. O f sin as pertaining to man; of righteousness as pertaining to Christ; of judgment as pertaining to the devil. O f. sin : the sin in which all other sins are embraced—unbelief in Christ; o f righteous ness : the righteousness in which all other righteousness is manifested and fulfilled— . the righteousness o f Jesus Christ; o f judg ment : the judgment in which all other judgments are decided and grounded—the J judgment o f the devil. The Spirit convicts man o f sin, shows him how to get a right eousness to cover it, and how to get vic tory over the enemy o f his soul. 7. Sorrow turned into joy, 16:16-24. How full is* this section o f comforting truths ! The absence o f Jesus is sorrow, : but His presence brings fulness o f joy. The disciples would see Him again. This prom ise was fulfilled when they saw Him after Hfs resurrection, but perhaps the larger and more "blessed fulfilment o f the "promise 1 remains for the future day when, seeing Him, they shall be like Him. 8 . The summing up o f the discourse, 16:25-33. Here we have the promise o f a clearer revelation,’ and assured answer to prayer; a declaration o f the divine origin ánd mis sion o f the Christ—a clear declaration o f deity; triumph amid it all. (Continued next month)
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker