Holy Spirit Conviction:

Context:

• Jesus explained the importance of abiding in Him.
• He then warned the disciples that they would be hated.
• He also assured them that the Helper would be sent.

John 16:1-4 “...I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you...”

Why was Jesus telling the disciples about abiding, persecution, and the Helper?

• He didn’t want them to fall away.

Why was there a danger of them falling away?

• They would be put out.
• They would be killed.

Who would mistreat the disciples, and why?

• Do people who don’t know the Father or the Son mistreat those who do know them?
• How could they possibly think that they are “...offering service to God...” by killing people?

Who mistreats disciples today, and why?

What does Jesus expect His followers to remember when they are persecuted?

• That He was killed.
• That He warned them that they would face the same treatment.
• He never instructed them on how to escape persecution.

John 16:5-6 “...But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart...”

What was the result of Jesus explaining His end and the disciples future?

• Jesus was to be taken, and things would change.
• Sorrow filled their hearts.

Did the disciples understand what was to take place?

• They didn’t even know the right questions to ask.

Do we even know the right questions to ask?

John 16:7-11 “...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 go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged...”

What was the advantage of the departure of Jesus?

• The coming of the Helper

What does the Helper do for the world?

• Convict the world of sin.
• Convict the world of righteousness.
• Convict the world of judgment.

How are people helped to believe in Jesus?

• It starts with conviction of sin.
• The Holy Spirit is an expert at convicting the world of sin.

What did Jesus resurrection and ascension accomplish?

• He was crucified on a cross as one who was unrighteous.
• His resurrection and ascension proved His righteousness.
• The Holy Spirit convicts the world of His righteousness.

What did judgment on the ruler of this world accomplish?

• Jesus took judgment upon Himself on the cross.
• Death was thereby defeated.
• The Holy Spirit convicts the world of its upcoming judgment.

Acts 17:30-31 “...The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead...”

Can you convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment?

Have you tried?

Love Hate Existence:

Context:

• Jesus had just explained that abiding in Him produces fruit that remains.
• He then commanded that His followers to love one another, as He had loved them.

John 15:18-19 “...If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you...”

Does following Jesus insure love?

• Abiding in Jesus allows believers to love one another.
• Abiding in Jesus allows believers to love the world like the Father loves His world.
• Abiding in Jesus brings forth the world’s hatred.

Who and how does the world love?

• The love of Jesus and his followers is agape - unconditional concern for the welfare of others. No hooks.
• The love of the world is phileo - the love of friends, or brothers. With conditions.
• The two types of love are not the same.

Why does the world hate (miseo) the followers of Jesus?

• They have been rescued from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of the beloved son.
• They are not friends of the world’s brotherhood.

John 15:20-21 “...Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me...”

Why should followers of Jesus expect persecution?

• Jesus was perfect, and yet was persecuted.
• Those who despise Jesus, will also despise His followers.
• Persecution comes from those who simply do not know the Father, who sent Jesus.

What changed Saul the persecutor to Paul the proclaimer of gospel truth?

• He met Jesus.
• He came to know the Father who sent Jesus.

John 15:22-25 “...If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’ ...”

Why didn’t the haters and persecutors of Jesus’ day have an excuse for their sin?

• They had observed the works that no one else did.
• They saw, yet hated both Jesus and the Father, without a cause.

Do current haters and persecutors have an excuse for their sin?

• Have they seen kingdom works?
• Do they hate both Jesus and the Father without a cause?

John 15:26-27 “...But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning...”

Who sends the Spirit of truth?

• Jesus sends Him from the Father.

How does the Holy Spirit cause current haters and persecutors to have no excuse?

• The Holy Spirit bears witness.
• The Holy Spirit helps followers of Jesus bear witness.
• People are exposed to the Kingdom, therefore having opportunity to move from phileo to agape.

Fruit that Remains:

Context:

• Jesus is the Way the Truth, and the Life.
• The Holy Spirit is the Helper sent to “dwell with” and “be in” believers.
• Those who love Jesus keep His commandments.
• Disciples are to relate to Jesus, each other, and the world.
• Fruitfulness is not just desired, but expected.

John 15:1-2 “...I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit...”

What three characters are present in these verses?

• The true vine - Jesus.
• The vinedresser - the Father.
• The branches - those connected to Jesus.

What happens to those who bear no fruit?

• They are taken away. NIV says they are “cut off”. 
• What do you think it means to be taken away from the vine?

What happens to those who bear fruit?

• They are pruned.
• Why? To bear even more fruit.

What do you think pruning feels like? Uncomfortable?

Is pruning a one time project? Ongoing. Regular.

John 15:3-5 “...Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing...”

What makes a person clean?

What is the word of Jesus that makes a person clean?

What makes bearing fruit possible?

• Abiding in the vine.

What does abiding in Jesus produce?

• MUCH fruit.

What can be accomplished apart from Jesus?

• Nothing? Nothing of importance? Nothing good? Nothing that should be?

John 15:6 “...If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned...”

To what does failure to abide in Jesus lead?

• Withering, gathering, burning.

John 15:7-10 “...If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love...”

What glorifies the Father?

• Bearing much fruit.
• Proving to be disciples.

How does abiding in Jesus affect a person’s prayer life?

• To dwell with Jesus is dwell with His words. 
• An abider wishes appropriately, asks appropriately, and it is done. 
• To be properly connected to Jesus is to bear much fruit.

How does keeping the commandments of Jesus affect a person’s love life?

• To dwell with Jesus is to pray appropriately.
• To act appropriately is to dwell in the love of Jesus.

John 15:11 “...These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full...”

Why is Jesus discussing fruitfulness and abiding?

• Jesus wants His joy to be in His disciples.
• Fullness of joy comes from the fruitfulness of abiding.

John 15:12-17 “...This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another...”

What is the greatest display of love?

• To lay down your life for your friends.

What does this look like? More concern for others than self?

How did Jesus display His love?

• He calls His disciples friends.
• He laid down His life for His friends.

What does Jesus offer His disciples?

• Everything He hears from the Father.
• The opportunity to bear fruit THAT LASTS.
• Brotherly love.

Loving Jesus:

John 14:15-17 “...If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you...”

What happens when people love Jesus?

• They keep His commandments.
• The Father gives the Helper.

Who doesn’t get the Helper? Why not?

• The world cannot receive the Spirit.
• The world can’t see or know the Spirit.

John 14:18-21 “...I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him...”

Who loves Jesus?

• Whoever has His commandments and keeps them.

What are the commandments of Jesus?

• In general, all that He said during His earthly ministry.

• Matthew 22:37-40 “...And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets...”

• John 13:34-35 “...A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another...”

What are the benefits of loving Jesus?

• Being loved by the Father.
• Having Jesus manifested.

How are we to love one another?

• “...just as I have loved you...”
• We are to love as Jesus loved.

John 14:23-24 “...Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me...”

How does Jesus manifest Himself to those who keep His word?

• The Father and Son come and dwell with them.

What does failure to keep the words of Jesus indicate?

• That a person does not love Jesus.

John 14:25-26 “...These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you...”

Who is the Helper, and what is He sent to accomplish?

• The Holy Spirit whom the Father sends.
• He teaches all things.
• He brings to remembrance those things that have been taught.

John 14:27-31 “...Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here...”

How does the peace given by Jesus differ from the peace given by the world?

• The world is full of trouble, and the world’s peace requires all trouble to cease.
• Jesus offers peace in the midst of trouble, in the depths of one’s heart.

What trouble were the disciples about to face?

• The loss of their teacher.

What did Jesus expect of them?

• That they would remember what He said and believe.

What did Jesus say about the ‘ruler of this world’?

• He had no claim on Jesus, but Jesus intended to do as the Father commanded.

What do you have to say about the ‘ruler of this world’?

Does he have a claim on you? Are you intent on doing as the Father commands?