The night of Jesus’ betrayal was a night when He needed the disciples more than any other night.  He knew that beginning with this night and continuing through the Passover, He, as the Lamb of God, would die for the sins of the world.

In the Garden, He felt the weight of the sin of the world. The disciples are sleeping when prayer was needed as it is written that, in the Garden, Jesus’ “heart and soul are breaking under the load of sin.” –The Signs of the Times, December 9, 1897. “The divine light of God was receding from His vision, and He was passing into the hands of the power of darkness. . . . The wrath that would have fallen upon man, was now falling upon Christ.” –Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, p. 203

That night, of all the nights, He needed His friends more than at any other time. Have you ever been in a situation where you needed your friends to be with you for support? Have you ever felt the necessity of opening your heart and talking to your best friend? For Jesus, sadly, that night His friends, the disciples, were not connecting with what He was going through at all. Prior to this Jesus knew that they needed a friend after He would leave the earth, and so He began talking with them about the Holy Spirit. He shared with them how the Holy Spirit would be in His place—the true Vicar of Christ, and how He would ask for the Father to send the Holy Spirit to be with them. There are three chapters in the Gospel of John, chapters 14, 15 and 16, written about the Holy Spirit and His work in us.

Jesus said in John 14:16 “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever.” And verse 17, the last part; listen to this statement made by Jesus Himself, “. . . for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” Now, this is an important statement, because Jesus initially said that the Holy Spirit will be with you, but now He says He will be (or dwell) “in you”. This is an important change from “with” to “in”.

The Holy Spirit was with them throughout the ministry of Jesus—now He would be in them after Jesus left. Wonder of wonders that God desires to live “in us”; not just “with us”. In the Gospel of Matthew there is recorded a prophecy which was fulfilled regarding the coming of the Messiah that was first given through the prophet Isaiah 800 years earlier. “Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14. Regarding the name Immanuel we read in Matthew 1:23, last part; “. . . which being interpreted is, God with us.” This was fulfilled when Jesus came and dwelt among them; and after His ascension Jesus promised to dwell in them through His representative, the Holy Spirit.

So that night, just prior to His Gethsemane experience, He promised that the Holy Spirit would come to dwell in them. That Holy Spirit He called “the Spirit of Truth”. The Spirit of Truth reveals Jesus and His truth. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”

Everyone who has decided to be more faithful to Jesus Christ, to show more kindness than before, to pray with tears for the work of God, has been moved by the Holy Spirit. This Holy Spirit is a wise and gentle part of the Godhead or Divinity. It is He that also inspired the writing of the Bible. Very little is said about Himself. Why? Because He exalts Jesus and His truth.

Why do we need the Holy Spirit? The Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as to babes in Christ. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” 1 Corinthians 2:14–15; 3:1, 3.  Here we find much important truth. What the Apostle said is that there are three stages:

  1. One is the sinful man or natural man.
  2. The spiritual or he that is spiritual.
  3. The carnal person or spiritual in theory, but sinful in practice.

For this reason Paul said to the Corinthians, I cannot speak to you as anything but carnal people—people who are professing to be Christians, but in their personal lives their behavior did not correspond with their profession.

We can break this down in these two ways as there are two natures leading to these stages of experience. The sinful nature leads to a carnal or fleshly experience. The spiritual nature is able to war against the sinful nature which will lead to a perfect and glorious nature.

Carnal people are people who are ambivalent, people who have not entirely surrendered to the Lord and hold back things to themselves, even though they appear to be religious. The trusting nature (or spiritual man) is a totally different nature and will eventually lead to a perfect man because his lifestyle is molded by the Holy Spirit.

This natural man needs to be brought into contact with Jesus just as Nicodemus did in his midnight conversation with Him. “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Jesus answered and said to him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:5, 3. What Jesus is saying to us in these words is that we need to be born again, and this is clearly seen in the words of Jesus as referring to baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit, to fit us to walk with Jesus. To emphasize this point read Acts 2:37–39, where you will read of the magnificent preaching of Peter.

Jesus said, in John 16:7–8, something remarkable regarding the work of the Holy Spirit. In v. 7 He says that it is to your advantage that I go away. How could Jesus say that “it is better if I go than if I stay?” It is because, if Jesus goes then the Holy Spirit will be given to them in full measure.  Jesus said, I will send Him to you “the church,” but He will convict “the world”. How do we explain that God is sending the Holy Spirit to “the church” in the process of convicting “the world”?  He does not say that He is going to send the Holy Spirit to the world; He said that the world will be convicted by the Holy Spirit. What Jesus is saying is that the Holy Spirit is given to “the church”, “to you”.

This will be manifested as such: as He convicts His people and the disciples are converted, the world begins to notice. The world says, “Wait a minute, there is something in your life that is different; something is different about you.  And the world will be convicted of their own sin as they watch the people of God surrender all to Jesus.

“I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them.” Ezekiel 36:27.  In other words, it will be a natural outflow of the work of the Holy Spirit in my life to be obedient to Him, to follow Him, to want to do what He wants me to do. Does this not happen to you? When you really love somebody and you care for them you do not count the cost. You long for opportunities to be blessed. “And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be My people, and I will be your God.” Ezekiel 36:28.  Is this not wonderful? In our relationship with God we can read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and it will be revealed that there is a condition that is required if we wish to be one of God’s people. We must accept God’s standard and obey it with all our heart, mind and soul, and it is the Holy Spirit who leads us to obey!

Do not let anyone tell you otherwise. Do not let anyone say to you that we are people of the Spirit, therefore we do not need to obey God. No! It is because we are people of the Spirit that we want to obey Jesus. Because He (the Holy Spirit) exalts Him (Jesus) before us. He draws us to Him.

Can anyone reject the Holy Spirit?  David said, “Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.” Psalm 51:11. David seemed to know that it was possible for him to reject the Holy Spirit. He said, “Do not take the Holy Spirit from me.” In Genesis 6:3 we read: “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” Noah, for 120 years, preached that there was one more chance for the people of God to be saved. Unfortunately most rejected the message and then it was too late because that door was closed by an angel of God.

We all need to examine ourselves and ask, “How long it has been since God has been talking to us about something that we have hesitated to respond to?” Even the Devil himself will recognize his need to have surrendered to God. How many appeals did God make to you based on what you know you should surrender? It is important to yield to Him right now—not next week, or tomorrow, or even in an hour. That is why the people in Noah’s time committed the unpardonable sin. They rejected God’s messengers and mocked them. We see from the Bible that the unpardonable sin is not murder (as did Moses), is not lying or deception (as did Jacob). Is it denying Christ? Peter said, “Even if they will deny You I will go to prison for You; I will die for You.” What did Jesus tell Peter? “Before the rooster crows two times you are going to deny Me three times.”  We may be great sinners but we have an even greater Saviour. Amen! We have a wonderful Saviour, my friends.

What is the unpardonable sin? The Bible does mention it. In 1 John 5:16, the Bible clearly teaches us that there is a sin that will lead unto death, and there is sin that does not lead unto death. “If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death; I do not say that he shall pray for it.” However, we do not always know if someone has committed the sin unto death, so continue to pray for your loved ones who are not in the faith. One day they may turn back.

In Matthew 12:31–32 we read of the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. “Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speakeath a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? Remember, it is the Holy Spirit that convicts us of sin. In John 16:8 it says that He will convict the world of three things. He convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment. The Holy Spirit is the One who exalts Jesus and is the One who leads us to Jesus. So the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is saying “no” to the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. “I am not going to listen to God anymore. I do not care anymore about Jesus and His truth spoken through God’s messengers.”

There is a point beyond which a sinner cannot be restored, for he no longer responds to the pleadings of the Holy Spirit.    

You do not want this happen to anyone, do you? It is easy to think that it will not happen to anyone that we know (especially in the church), but we need to recognize that if we understand something clearly from the Bible, and refuse to move forward with it, we are playing with fire. We are saying that we do not really want to listen and respond to that counsel—a continued, sin-hardening of the heart. That is the unpardonable sin; the sin against the Holy Spirit.

We have the example in the Bible of Saul, the first king of Israel. Samuel, the prophet of God, came to him, informing him of the verdict from God for what he had done. Saul knew very well that only the priests were allowed to offer sacrifices. The prophet of God rebuked the king, asking him what he had done. Samuel wanted the best for this man. In 1 Samuel 15:22 we read that honouring what God says is really the most important thing; more important than sacrifice. “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”

After Samuel died Saul was very distressed and the Bible says that the Spirit of God no longer walked with him. He was on his own. And because he was on his own he did something that was clear in his mind that was wrong. He knew that there was no life after death, and that Samuel was actually dead, but he still went to a witch, asking for Samuel to be brought back. He needed some counsel. He knew in his mind that this did not happen, and that it was a demon who would impersonate Samuel. “But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.” 1 Samuel 16:14

I encourage you to not let this happen to you. Every time the Holy Spirit talks to you and appeals to your heart and you close it, saying, not today, maybe tomorrow—maybe when the situation changes or maybe when it is a more convenient time for me, then I will pay attention to it.

There is another example in the Bible in Acts 24:25, where we read of a man named Felix, having the opportunity to receive the truth; to receive Jesus. But when Paul told him about righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered; “Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.” The Bible records nothing about this man having a more convenient time. No call was made for Paul to come speak to him again. His time and opportunity was right there at that moment but he refused the opportunity to be saved.

“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2. When you read the Bible you feel convicted by the Holy Spirit to respond to God. The time to do it is now—today—this very moment. It is now that He is speaking to you and you are listening to Him.

May our loving Father and Saviour Jesus Christ give us all the ability to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit at all times when He speaks to us. AMEN!

Nicholas Anca