I remember explaining to someone later about this profound spiritual experience that I’d had. Then they asked me about what drug I had been given! It was Demerol. It may have been a profound spiritual experience, but it also the result of a powerful chemical on my brain! The tears of joy were a result of the drugs that they had given me! Ec-sta-cy! But I do have an unforgettable thankfulness that Mike Goodyear had been standing beside me when I needed him.

Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as one who stands beside us in our need. Look at 14:15-17.

15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth.

The Greek word translated “advocate” that Jesus uses is “Paraclete” = one who stands beside. It suggests many ways that the Holy Spirit comes beside us in our need.
• That word was used of an attorney who defended a person in a courtroom. Everyone needs an advocate sometimes.
• I think of a person in a hospital, especially if in a lot of pain or drugs that leave not thinking straight. You need someone by your side, an advocate.
• The word was translated as Comforter in the KJV.
• Some other translations use the words Helper or Counselor.
• The Holy Spirit is God present, beside us to help us as our strong defender and guide.

The disciples would soon need someone to stand beside them. The setting of these chapters of John’s gospel is the night before Jesus’ arrest, trial, and crucifixion. Jesus was preparing them for his departure. He was giving them comfort in their sadness and grief. He didn’t want them to think that they would be abandoned and left alone. Look at John 14:18.

18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

Notice that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are somehow intimately connected. If the Holy Spirit is present, Jesus is present. When we say Jesus is here, we mean the Holy Spirit is here.

Just as Jesus had been sent by the Father, the Holy Spirit is sent from the Father through Jesus.

14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever.

15:26 When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.

16:7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

We are not left alone. Jesus’ departure meant the Spirit’s coming. Let’s examine some of the ways that the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete that Jesus has sent from the Father, comes to help us.

1. The Holy Spirit helped the disciples remember and record the truth about Jesus.

Jesus came to bring true knowledge about God.
• Jesus was “one with the Father” in purpose and action.
• He demonstrated God’s power in what he did.
• He unveiled God’s truth in what he said.
• He put in action God’s love in the way he cared for us all the way to the cross.

The impact of Jesus’ life must have been overwhelming. He worked so mightily, he spoke so wisely, and he had cared so deeply! And yet his disciples could not possibly understand or even remember all of it. And when you read the gospels, you see how dull, self-centered and misunderstanding the disciples were. To think that Jesus entrusted these guys to tell the world about himself! That’s scary!

Thankfully, he did not leave the disciples to their own devices. Jesus didn’t abandon them to their own faulty recollections and partial insights. Jesus didn’t leave them alone. Instead, he sent the Paraclete to help them in their need. John 14:25-26 makes this very clear.

25 "All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

Teaching and reminding were crucial tasks of the Holy Spirit. For three years Jesus had taught the most profound lessons people had ever heard. Much of what he said the disciples did not really understand. In fact they frequently misunderstood and had to be corrected.
• They thought that Jesus’ kingdom was a political one, and they vied for positions of power in it.
• They resisted the thought of his death, thinking it meant defeat for his program.
• Time and again his words were too deep, his thoughts too high for them to grasp.
• Yet now that he was leaving, they were responsible for interpreting his words and deeds to the whole world.

No wonder they needed God’s Spirit!

The Spirit did the job well. The Church expanded; Jews and Gentiles believed the message; the Scriptures were completed. Of course, some men and women misunderstood the Christian faith. Sure, there were controversies. But along the way the Spirit did his work and the faith that Jesus passed on to the disciples was preserved and passed along from generation to generation, from continent to continent, until it reached you and me.

And now the faith has come to us. The apostles' recollections of Jesus and their interpretations of his story come down to us in the New Testament. What they once misunderstood was made clear. What they had been in danger of forgetting was etched in their memories. We have it in writing.

Now the Spirit that Jesus sent has another task to perform:

2. The Spirit helps us by being the Living Link between the ancient person of Christ and our hearts today.

Look at 16:14-15.

14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.

The kind of knowledge that we need is more than the knowledge you can receive in a history classroom. Even the words on a page of the very best Bible translation are not enough in themselves. We need more than intellectual knowledge. Information about Jesus is not enough— it wasn’t for the disciples! We need hearts that are made new: “the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.”

Prayer needs to be part of Bible reading and study! We understand the Bible much the same way we understand other written messages. But the Bible’s message goes deeper than the mind to our will. You don’t understand it until you live it! For that we need the Holy Spirit.

What a difference this makes when we share our faith in Jesus! Compare:

• On your own: Evangelism is an impossible task and yet it is our responsibility.
• With the Advocate: Evangelism is what God does. We are called to be available as his junior partners.

We are partners with the Holy Spirit in evangelism. The Holy Spirit is the primary witness. We’re there to do our part.

John 15:26    “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.

The Holy Spirit does the convincing. That’s good because it’s not more evidence that people need. It’s the blindness of sin removed. We can’t do that— that’s the work of the Holy Spirit.

John 16:8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

The Holy Spirit as Advocate will prove the world wrong when it comes to Jesus.
• About sin (verse 9): the sin of all sins according to John’s gospel is not to believe in Jesus.
• About righteousness— Jesus is going to the Father, raised from the dead, his claims vindicated and proved right and the world wrong.
• About judgment: Jesus is victor, and the prince of this world, Satan and all his minions, are condemned.

Who can open a person’s eyes and heart to all that? Not us! We can argue someone into faith. We can remove some misunderstandings and our lives can give a person reason to be interested. But the Holy Spirit does the convincing.

Prayer, then, is crucial in evangelism. The Spirit helps us come to grips with the sin in our lives. The Spirit opens our eyes to the truth about Jesus. Do you have a list of people that you are praying for that they become Christians? Pray that the Holy Spirit would lead them to faith in Jesus.

This brings us to one more great truth about the Holy Spirit.

3. The Spirit does not draw attention to himself but to Christ.

The Spirit does not offer a new or “deeper” truth. The Holy Spirit’s task is to bring closer to Jesus.

15:26    When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.

16:12    “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

According to Jesus, the Spirit does not draw attention to himself. He is content to “bring glory” to Christ. “He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears….”

Here are some questions you might ask to test whether if some ministry is of the Holy Spirit:
• Are you trusting Christ more?
• Are you growing in freedom from fear and condemnation and living as a child of God?
• Are you growing in freedom to obey Christ more deeply?

And what Christ says he has received from the Father. This is a powerful picture of what we mean when we say God is Three in One, the Trinity.

God does not leave us alone. The Paraclete is Christ’s Spirit present to help us know Christ. He is here now!