"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. "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." Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, "Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?" 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. "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." (John 14:16–26, ESV)

1. Who is the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is the personal, divine resident of the Christian’s heart.

A. Personal

"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." (John 14:17, ESV)

Proof the Holy Spirit is a person:

-He speaks (Acts 8:29)

-He gives spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12:11)

-We can grieve the HS (Eph. 4:30)

-We can outrage the HS (Heb. 10:29)

-the HS loves (Rom. 15:30)

-the HS helps us (Rom. 8:26-27)

B. God

"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever," (John 14:16, ESV)

The cause of Jesus’ crucifixion was His claim to be God in the flesh. This was considered to blasphemous.

"Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."" (John 8:58, ESV)

"The Holy Spirit can’t be pumped and scooped. He can’t be slung around, gathered up, or dispensed. He’s not pixie dust. There’s no such thing as the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is not a thing at all, but the very presence of the personal God Himself—with us, in us, and around us." -Jared Wilson from "Supernatural Power for Everyday People

2. What Does the Holy Spirit do?

A. The Spirit of Truth

"For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." (2 Peter 1:21, ESV)

"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." (John 6:63, ESV)

The Holy Spirit at one level is the Author or Scripture.

But, He’s also the lens through which we read and understand Scripture.

When you have the Holy Spirit living in you, you understand Scripture in a deeper way because you aren’t reading it for facts of feel good moments.

Instead, you are interpreting the rest of the world through the lens of Scripture.

B. A Counselor

Greek word for Holy Spirit: parakletos

"para" means "to stand alongside"

"kaleo" means "to declare, to call, or to argue"

The best way to translate parakletos is:

"I’m going to send you another legal advocate"

"The Holy Spirit’s job is to defend you against the enemies here on earth, but especially the enemies inside your own heart." -Tim Keller

"For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"" (Romans 8:15, ESV)

"The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God," (Romans 8:16, ESV)

Paul is telling us that our hearts are filled with doubts, and the Holy Spirit comes in and says, "No. There is no reason to doubt. You are His. You are loved."

"for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart" (1 John 3:20a)

The gospel doesn’t make sense because it doesn’t follow natural law/order.

We want to earn grace.

We want to deserve grace.

The Holy Spirit come in and argues on our behalf.

He makes the case for us.

The most important phrase in Christianity is "It is finished"

The Holy Spirit is your permanent, legal advocate.

He’s a permanent friend who is willing to do interventions on you all the time.

3. How can we receive what the Holy Spirit gives?

"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper," (John 14:16a)

"My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." (1 John 2:1)

We need an advocate, because God is a just God.

When we stand before a holy and just God, we stand condemned in our own sin.

The good news we see in this verse, is that we have the greatest advocate standing before the court representing us. He’s actually making the case for us.

When you trust Jesus as your Savior and when He becomes your legal advocate, it means the justice of God is on your side.

The scales are tipped and no amount of good or bad deeds can change those scales.

"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you." (John 16:13–14, ESV)

The Holy Spirit’s job is to say, "Look at Jesus! Look what Jesus has done for you! Do not fear. There is nothing that can be done to change the fact that you are mine. You have been redeemed."