Chapter Sixteen
Verses 1-3
Jesus preached to His disciples that He would send them a Comforter so that they would not be "offended." By using this word, Jesus meant that His disciples, and His Church, would need the power of God in their lives so that the persecution that would come upon them from the world would not cause them to lose their faith. Whenever worldly people ridicule and outright persecute His believers, they can rely on the comfort and encouragement supplied by the Holy Spirit in order to continue in the faith and never give up.
Jesus did teach that initial believers who fail to commit their whole lives to Him will not receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and in time of persecution, they will lose their faith and their salvation by grace. Matthew 13:20-21. Jesus gives His gift of the Holy Spirit only to believers who have committed their whole lives to Him for eternity. Mark 8:34-38; Acts 1:1-9. When Jesus comes to make His final judgment, He will be ashamed of those initial believers who lost their salvation by grace because they became ashamed of Him. Mark 8:38. But believers who have been baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ can never lose their salvation by grace even if they backslide into the ways of the world. They can never lose their salvation by grace because the Holy Spirit has washed away all of their sins and evil with the spiritual blood and water that flowed from Jesus on the cross. The Holy Spirit has the power to change the physical blood and water from Jesus' cross to spiritual blood and water. That cleansing by the Holy Spirit can never be undone. God knows to whom He should give His Spirit, and those to whom He should not give His Spirit. Hebrews 10:12-18; II Timothy 2:10-13. God will severely punish backsliders for their correction, but He also knows exactly how to cause every backslider saved by grace to repent and return to complete faith in Him when He Raptures His Church. Hebrews 12:3-15; Ephesians 5:25-27. Whenever a backslider repents and returns to an active faith, Christ will forgive that backslider and return him to full fellowship with Him. Matthew 26:75. Tribulation saints can be saved by grace, but they must endure to being martyred or to the end of the Tribulation period to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and eternal salvation by being washed in the blood of Christ. Matthew 24:11-13; II Thessalonians 2:6-8; Revelation 7:9-17. Tribulation saints who lose their faith will also lose their salvation by grace. Matthew 22:9-13.
Jesus then made a remarkable prophecy which history has proven to be true to this day. If Jesus had been an ordinary human, His prophecy about the future persecution of His followers could have been merely fortunate guesswork, but when Jesus prophesied that those who persecute His believers will think they do it in God's service, that happened to be an exact detail that no ordinary human would have ever thought of. This prophecy alone proves that Jesus had to be God in human form. Saul of Tarsus, and other Jews, persecuted and killed the first Christians. The pagan Romans persecuted and killed Christians in the service of their gods. In the middle ages, a hierarchical religion persecuted and killed Christians and claimed they did it in the service of God. But many lay Catholics, who were true Christians themselves, vehemently opposed the Inquisition and the persecution of their fellow Christians.
Religions may claim that they know God, but Jesus informed His followers that religious people will not know Him or His Father. Christianity has formed itself into many religions and denominations, each with its own traditions and religious practices, but no one can come to know Christ and His Father through religious practices. John 14:6. John the Baptist formed religious practices when he baptized in water to symbolize remission of sins, but when Jesus came on the scene, John pointed directly to Jesus as being the Savior of the world. John 1:25-36. Jesus then formed followers around Him who knew Him personally. John 1:37-51. Religious practices can be used in the worship of God, but in order for any person to become saved by grace, that person must come to know Christ as his own, personal Savior. John 14:6. Salvation by grace will come to any person immediately upon sincere repentance and faith in Christ as his Savior. A person who comes under the conviction of the Holy Spirit must humble himself to Christ, repent of his sins and evil, and believe that only the person of Christ can save him from eternal death and give him His own everlasting Life. John 3:3; John 3:16; Luke 18:9-14; Romans 10:8-13; John 5:24.
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