Our Advocates

The Holy Spirit is our Advocate

• parakletos - "one called alongside" (sent by the Father & by the Son); "helper, counselor, comforter, encourager"; in a legal sense, one who stands with us, who represents us, who counsels us, who knows what we do not know, and who understands what we do not understand, and who defends us
• John 14:15-17, 26 "If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. … But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you."
• John 15:26 “But I will send you the Advocate—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me."
• John 16:5-10 “But now I am going away to the one who sent me, and not one of you is asking where I am going. Instead, you grieve because of what I’ve told you. But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me. Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged."

The Holy Spirit convicts the world (convict - to find fault with, to correct, to bring to the light, to expose, to call to account, show one his fault, reprove, etc.)

1. Of its sin - refusal to believe in Christ
   1. John 6:29 Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.”
   2. John 3:18-21 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”
2. Of righteousness - Jesus reconciles us to the Father
   1. Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.
   2. 1 Corinthians 1:30 God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.
   3. 2 Corinthians 5:21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin,[a] so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
3. Of the coming judgment - the sentence has already been pronounced
   1. John 12:31 "The time for judging this world has come, when Satan, the ruler of this world, will be cast out."
   2. John 25:31-33 “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left."

The Holy Spirit intercedes for us

• Romans 8:26-28 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Jesus Christ is also our Advocate (remember in John 14, Jesus said he will give us another advocate)

• 1 John 2:1-2 My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.