Tonight's Bible Study Notes:  

Theme Passage

Isaiah 32:15 (NLT2)  until at last the Spirit is poured out on us from heaven. Then the wilderness will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.

Today’s Text

John 14:16 (NASB)
John 14:16 (NASB)  "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;

The Lesson

The Holy Spirit is Here to Help

The Holy Spirit is here to help. Not as a subordinate, but as a supervisor, a sanctifier, a support, a sustainer, a strengthener, an energizer, an edifier, an enabler, enricher, a counselor, consoler, comforter, and confronter.

The Holy Spirit is as much God as the Father and the Son. It does diminish Him to say to call Him our helper, because God has often described Himself in such a manner. He described Himself in this manner to encourage His children to look to Him for help.

Psalm 121:1-2 (KJV)
Psalm 121:1 (KJV)  I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
Psalm 121:2 (KJV)  My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.

Exodus 18:4 (KJV)
Exodus 18:4 (KJV)  And the name of the other was Eliezer; for the God of my father, said he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh:

Eliezer - from <H410> ('el) [God] and <H5828> (`ezer) [help]; God of help; Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary.

Psalm 54:4 (KJV)
Psalm 54:4 (KJV)  Behold, God is mine helper: the Lord is with them that uphold my soul.

Hebrews 13:6 (KJV)
Hebrews 13:6 (KJV)  So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

It is not demeaning to say the Holy Spirit is our help, it is simply descriptive of His activities and assignment in the Godhead.

John 14:16-17 (NASB)
John 14:16 (NASB)  "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
John 14:17 (NASB)  that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

Another Comforter (allon paraklēton). Another of like kind (allon, not heteron), besides Jesus who becomes our Paraclete, Helper, Advocate, with the Father (1 John 2:1, Cf. Romans 8:26-27).[1]

Romans 8:26 (NASB)  In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;

Help - sunantilambanomai  Definition: to take hold with at the side, hence to take a share in, generally to help:-- [2]to take hold of opposite together, i.e. co-operate (assist)[3].

John 14:16 (NASB)  "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;

John 14:17 (NASB)  that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

Establishing Lines of Communication – Who is the Holy Spirit? The Spirit of Truth

1.  First understand who He is. He is the Spirit of Truth. His primary role is to help us understand the truth which is God’s word.

John 14:17 (NASB)  that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

2.  The Holy Spirit is not here to reveal secret truths, never revealed in the scriptures. He is here to teach and reveal the truth found in the God’s word, the Bible.

John 14:26 (NASB)  "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 said to you.

John 16:13 (NASB)  "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.

3.  The Holy Spirit is here to help us to know Jesus, who is the truth.

John 15:26 (NASB)  "When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,

John 16:14-17 (NASB)
John 16:14 (NASB)  "He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.
John 16:15 (NASB)  "All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.
John 16:16 (NASB)  "A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me."
John 16:17 (NASB)  Some of His disciples then said to one another, "What is this thing He is telling us, 'A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me'; and, 'because I go to the Father'?"

What happen when Jesus went to the Father? The Holy Spirit began to indwell the believer.

John 16:7 (NASB)  "But 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.

Between the ascension and the day of Pentecost they could not see Jesus. But now after Pentecost we can see Him now through the eyes of the Holy Spirit.

John 16:17 (NASB)  Some of His disciples then said to one another, "What is this thing He is telling us, 'A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me'; and, 'because I go to the Father'?"

The same Jesus found is the scripture is the same Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father, that Holy Spirit reveals to us today. It is by the Holy Spirit that we hear from Jesus.

Hebrews 13:8 (NASB)  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

4.  The Holy Spirit is here to help us to reveal truth to the world (unbelievers), about sin, righteousness, judgement, and the role Christ plays in all three. The Holy Spirit helps us to Harvest.

John 16:7-11 (NASB)
John 16:7 (NASB)  "But 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.
John 16:8 (NASB)  "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;
John 16:9 (NASB)  concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;
John 16:10 (NASB)  and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me;
John 16:11 (NASB)  and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

5.  The Holy Spirit helps us to Pray.

Romans 8:26 (NASB)  In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;

6.  The Holy Spirit helps to live Holy. How? He Frees us from the Bondage of Sin.

Isaiah 61:1 (NASB)  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners;

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (KJV)
2 Corinthians 3:17 (KJV)  Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
2 Corinthians 3:18 (KJV)  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Romans 8:1-4 (KJV)
Romans 8:1 (KJV)  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Romans 8:2 (KJV)  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:3 (KJV)  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Romans 8:4 (KJV)  That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Romans 8:13-14 (NIV)
Romans 8:13 (NIV)  For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live,
Romans 8:14 (NIV)  because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Galatians 5:16 (NIV)  So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

Galatians 5:19-25 (NIV)
Galatians 5:19 (NIV)  The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;
Galatians 5:20 (NIV)  idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions
Galatians 5:21 (NIV)  and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:22 (NIV)  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Galatians 5:23 (NIV)  gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:24 (NIV)  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.
Galatians 5:25 (NIV)  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.