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The Ministry of the Holy Spirit

Introduction

In the previous lesson learned about the Holy Spirit who is the 3^rd person in the Godhead, and learned of Deity, personality and revelation in the Scriptures. Now we will learn further about the Holy Spirit and His work in the context of our lives as individual Christians.

The Old Testament foretold His pouring

In the Old Testament The Holy Spirit came on individuals temporarily, generally for a particular task and for a period of time, as it was in the case of Saul, (1 Samuel 16:14) and Samson (Judges 16:20).

Throughout its pages the writers of the Old Testament expressed a longing for help, God’s power, and an ultimate relationship with Him. The psalmists and the prophets poured out their hearts over and over and God responded unerringly. God’s interventions were attributed to the Spirit of the Lord, God’s Spirit, the Spirit of God, or simply, the Spirit. Only three times is the “Holy Spirit” used in the Old Testament (Psalm 51:11; Isaiah 63:10). The New Testament uses “Holy Spirit” over 250 times when referring to God’s Spirit. ^¹

Just as the truth of the Trinity is hinted at in the Old Testament but awaits its fullest expression in the New, so with truth about the Holy Spirit. His personality and deity are evident in the Old Testament, but the full expression of His activity is given only in the New Testament. The New Testament completes this picture.

The Spirit’s work in the Old Testament was foretelling the sublime fulfillment of God’s covenant promised to Israel and poured out on “all people.” ^²

Isaiah 44:3
Ezekiel 36:26-27
Joel 2:28-29

Arrival of the Promised Gift

Following His death and resurrection, Jesus gave His disciples His last instructions: “Wait for the gift my Father promised…you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 1:4-5)^³

Acts 2:4 (Joel 2:28-32)
Acts 2: 36
Acts 15:7-10

The Ministry of the Holy Spirit

A. Among non-believers

You may be surprised to know that the Spirit is involved in the unsaved world. He works among the unsaved at all times. As a matter of fact, in one of the letters to the Thessalonians, we read that He is actively involved in restraining sin (2 Thessalonians 2:7) Do you have any idea how much evil would be on this earth if the Spirit of God were suddenly removed? His omnipresence is like a worldwide envelope of righteousness, a bubble of invisible restraint. He holds a great deal of evil in check. But when He is removed, literally all hell will break loose on this globe!^⁴

But the Holy Spirit’s work does not merely stop with restraining all wickedness in the world, John 16:8-13 gives Jesus’ outline of the Spirit work so far as humanity is concerned:

The Holy Spirit convicts of guilt in regard to sin (John 16.8-9). Without the unveiling of the Holy Spirit we would not believe we are really sinning. Why should the sight of a man crucified 2,000 years ago tear at the heart of people centuries later? This is the work of the Holy Spirit or else we would not know of our need of a Savior.
The Holy Spirit is the one who brings conviction of sin to an individual (John 16:8; Acts 2:37). Whenever a person comes to a sense of his own sinfulness, whether by the preached, written, or personally spoken word the Spirit of God has been at work.
The Holy Spirit convicts of righteousness (John 16:11). The meaning of this is only clear when we see the righteousness of Jesus Christ, who gave His life for the world. The sting of sin and the imperative of righteousness for all of us is found on the cross. The Spirit’s work is to reveal what the holiness of God desires for us The Spirit’s work is to reveal what the holiness of God desires for us. Through Christ’s death He gives to us His righteousness; He makes us sensitive to any antithesis (the direct opposite of something, Webster) of God’s revealed righteousness.^⁵
The Holy Spirit convicts of judgment to come (John 16:12). Only through the work of the Spirit in our lives can we understand the imperative of judgment. In the moral world, the prospect of judgment is certain and brought Jesus Christ to take our judgment upon Himself on the cross. Through the Spirit, we are thus awakened to faith in Jesus. Through the Spirit, we recognize the crucified Jesus as the risen and ascended Lord. Through the Spirit, we say “Yes” to Jesus from the depths of our hearts.^⁶

B. Among Believers

1. Regeneration

One of the most important areas of the Spirit’s work is with respect to God’s plan of salvation, which is unveiled in John 16:7-8, by whom sinners are born into God’s kingdom (John 3:5-8).

The conviction by the Holy Spirit is His work of regeneration, the new birth: “So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). He indwells everyone who is in the church of Jesus Christ by the new birth. It is empathically true that if anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ” (Romans 8:9). Equally true is that every Christian has the Holy Spirit with His counseling, help and conviction, beginning from the time of belief and commitment.^⁷

Regeneration is something that God does through the power of the Holy Spirit, (Titus 3:5-6), the power that enables us to be “born again” or “born from above,” as is Jesus’ discourse with Nicodemus (John 3). Being regenerated does not mean that we are no longer tempted to sin; the tendency to sin lives on. The apostle Paul wrote, “ I do not do what I ant, but I do the very thing I hate” (Romans 7:15). Being regenerated means that we are no longer controlled by sin or are “slaves” to sin. (Romans 6:20-23).^⁸

2. The Sealing of the Holy Spirit

A seal was an ancient device, usually a signet ring or cylinder seal engraved with the owner’s name or with a particular design used to seal goods, demonstrate ownership, attest a document’s authenticity, or impress an early form of a trademark.

The seal indicated ownership and security. It is the guarantee of future blessings. The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is God’s promise of our inheritance I the future! ^⁹

The Bible also tells us also that we are baptized with the Holy Spirit upon the moment of our conversion upon which we are also sealed until the arrival of our ultimate redemption in the End of the Age. (Ephesians 1:13-14; 1Corinthians 12:13).

3. The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit

1. Romans 8:9 - The Bible also tells us that there is a special relationship between the individual Christian and the Holy Spirit which can be summed up in the theological term which is called sanctification, which comes from the word sanctify, which means “to make holy.” It refers to the Holy Spirit’s continuing work that enables believers to grow in purity. As with regeneration, sanctification does not mean that one no longer sins. The battles in the flesh continue, but through the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit the Christian grows in obedience to God and in righteousness and in holiness. Thus it is completely impossible for a person to be a Christian and not be indwelled by the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:12-14

IV. Our response – to be filed with the Holy Spirit

Ephesians 4:30
1 Thessalonians 5:19
Ephesians 5:18

To be filled with the Spirit is to be “under His total domination and control.”

“To be filled with the Spirit involves confession of sin, surrender of will, intellect, body, time, talent, possessions and desires. It requires the death to selfishness and the slaying of self-will.”

“To be filled with God’s Spirit is to be filled with His Word. And as we are filled with God’s Word, it controls our thinking and action.”^¹⁰

When the Holy Spirit does His work of producing His fruit in us, we find that all the fruits in Galatians 5:22-23 are ours as we submit to the mind of Christ, the example of His life, and the internal guidance of the Spirit.

Every Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and He is a constant guide to the individual Christian: “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Romans 8:14). We are instructed to “live by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16). His leadership is one of the signs that an individual is really a child of God: He leads us today as He led and guided the early Christians in the Book of Acts. ^¹¹

Application - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Notes:

1 Little, Paul – Know What You Believe p. 84

2 Ibid

3 Ibid

4 Swindoll, Charles – Growing Deep in the Christian Faith p.184

5 Ibid

6 Myers, Benjamin - http://faith-theology.blogspot.com/2006/09/theology-for-beginners-16-spirit.html

7 Ibid

8 Schwarz, John – Handbook of the Christian Faith p. 199

9 McArthur, John – Fundamentals of the Faith p.50

10 McArthur, John

11 Ibid

The Holy Spirit: An Introduction

Introduction

Of the three persons in the Godhead – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – the Holy Spirit is doubtless the least known and understood. Yet He is most vitally and intimately involved in our initial conversion and birth into the family of God and in our ongoing development as Christians. Our awareness of His work in our lives as Christians can ripen into a relationship with Him that brings us power, joy and hope.

Of primary importance is the truth: the Holy Spirit is as much a person as God the Father and God the Son. He is not an impersonal “it,” nor an influence, a phantom or an apparition.^¹

The Holy Spirit is God. The Bible identifies Him as one of the three Persons existing as one God that is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. ^²

In Christian theology the study of the Holy Spirit is called pneumatology, from two Greek words, pneuma meaning "wind," "breath," or "spirit" and logos meaning "word," or "logic." Generally this includes such topics as the personality of the Spirit, the deity of the Spirit, and the work of the Spirit as presented in the Bible.^³

The Person and work of the Holy Spirit

“We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father [and the Son], who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. “^⁴

How, therefore, can we come to a right knowledge, as revealed by God, of the Holy Spirit? First, we must accept that the truth of the existence of the third person of the Trinity is at the heart of the most impenetrable divine mystery. Certitude about the existence of the Holy Spirit and His activities can never be found in the realm of speculative or positive theology. ^⁵ It can only be found in God’s self-revelation in the Scriptures.

A. The Holy Spirit

The Old Testament calls it Ruach (Hebrew). The New Testament calls it Pneuma (Greek). We get the word Pneumatic (of, relating to or of using air or wind, Webster) from the New Testament Greek word. The English Bible however doesn’t translate either one as air. Usually, its breath. “God breathed into man the breath of life.” Or its called wind. “Like a mighty wind”. Or it is translated spirit – as in the “spirit of man” or “the Holy Spirit.”

A number of synonyms are used for Spirit – words like helper, advocate, comforter, convicter, restrainer, exhorter, and reprover.^⁶

B. The Holy Spirit is a Person

1. John 14:14-17 depicts Him using pronouns like “He” or “Him” are used to refer to the Holy Spirit rather than “it.”

2. The Holy Spirit exhibits attributes of personality

Intellect. The ability to know and understand reality. (Romans 8:27; 1 Corinthians 2:10-11)
Emotion. The ability to experience emotion. (Ephesians 4:30)
Volition. The ability to determine or act decisively. (1 Corinthians 12:7,11; Acts 13:2 ; 15:28-29)

C. The Holy Spirit is God

1. The Holy Spirit exhibited divine attributes

Omniscience – (Isaiah 40:13-14)
Omnipresence – (Psalm 139:7)
Eternality – (Hebrews 9:14)
Truth – (1 John 5:6-8; John 16:13)

2. Statements of His Deity

1 Corinthians 3:17
Acts 5:3-4

D. The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament

The Holy Spirit – Holy “Ghost,” from the Old English gast, meaning “spirit” – is the Third Person of the Trinity. In the Old Testament, the Spirit was active in creation (Gen.1:2 ; Psalm 104:30; Psalm 33:6; Job 33:4), in the lives of the Judges (Judges 3:10; 14:6), in the lives of the kings (1 Sam. 16:13-14), and in the lives of the prophets (Isaiah 61:1) ^⁷

Furthermore the Holy Spirit also gave wisdom and skill for particular works including those of a non-spiritual nature (Exodus 31:2-5).

The work of the Spirit also inspired the prophets. Which can be noticed whenever a prophet would proclaim “Thus saith the Lord!” (Numbers 11:29; Ezekiel 2:2; Acts 28:25)

E. The Holy Spirit in the New Testament

1. The earthly ministry of Christ

In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit was the creative agent in the conception of Jesus (Luke1:35), was present in Jesus’ baptism (Luke 3:22), and was active in the lives of the apostles (Acts 2:4). ^⁸

2. The Holy Spirit Bears Witness of Christ

The Holy Spirit attests that Jesus is the Christ (John 15:26). He also discloses or reveals Christ (John 16:14). He will not speak of Himself but of Christ (John 16:13).

The Holy Spirit Working among the Disciples

When Christ left the world, He committed His cause to His disciples. He made them responsible for going and making disciples of all nations. “Ye… shall bear witness,” He told them in the upper room (John 15:27 KJV). “You will be my witnesses…to the ends of the earth,” were His parting words to them on Olivet, before He ascended (Acts 1:8). Such was their appointed task. But what sort of witnesses were they likely to prove? They had never been good pupils; they had consistently failed to understand Christ and missed the point of His teaching throughout His earthly ministry; how could they be expected to do better now that He had gone? Was it not virtually certain that, with the best will in the world, they would soon get the truth of the gospel inextricably mixed up with a mass of well-meant misconceptions, and their witness would rapidly be reduced to a twisted, garbled, hopeless muddle?

The answer to this question is no – because Christ sent the Holy Spirit to them, to teach them all truth and so save them from error, to remind them of what they had been taught already and to reveal to them the rest of what their Lord mean them to learn. “The Counselor… will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26). “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when the Spirit of truth, comes He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears” (that is He would make known to them all that the Father had instructed Him to tell them: see John 12:49-50; 17:8,14) “ and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to Me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you” (John 16:12-14). In this way “He will testify about me” (to you, my disciples, to whom I send Him); and (equipped and enabled by His testifying work.) “you must also testify (15:26-27)

The promise was that, taught by the Spirit, these original disciples should be enabled to speak as so many mouths of Christ so that, just as the Old Testament prophets had been able to introduce their sermons with the words, “Thus saith the LORD Jehovah,” so the New Testament apostles might with equal truth be able to say if their teaching, oral or written, “Thus saith the Lord Jesus Christ.”^⁹ (2 Peter 1:20-21)

As Chuck Swindoll interestingly points out:

“ Let me pass along something I hope you never forget. If you get involved in a ministry that glorifies itself instead of Christ, the Spirit of God is not in that ministry. If you follow a leader that is getting the glory for that ministry, instead of Christ, the Spirit of God isn’t empowering his leadership. If you’re part of a Christian school or a mission organization or a Christian campaigning ministry in which someone other than Christ is being glorified, it is not being empowered by the Spirit of God. Mark it down: THE SPIRIT GLORIFIES CHRIST.” ^¹⁰

Our proper response

Do we honor the Holy Spirit by recognizing and relying on His work? Or do we slight Him by ignoring it, and thereby dishonor not merely the Spirit but the Lord who sent Him?

In our faith: Do we apply the authority of the Bible, the prophetic Old Testament and the apostolic New Testament, which He inspired? Do we read and hear it with the reverence and receptiveness due to the Word of God? If not, we dishonor the Holy Spirit.

In our life: Do we apply the authority of the Bible and live by the Bible, whatever anyone may say against it, recognizing that God’s Word cannot but be true, and that what God has said He certainly means, and He will stand behind it? If not, we dishonor the Holy Spirit, who gave us the Bible.

In our witness: Do we remember that the Holy Spirit alone, by His witness, can authenticate our witness, and look to Him to do so, and trust Him to do so, and show the reality of our trust, as Paul did, by eschewing the gimmicks of human cleverness? If not, we dishonor the Holy Spirit.

Can we doubt that the present bareness of the church’s life is God’s judgment on us for the way we have dishonored the Holy Spirit? And, in that case, what hope have we of its removal till we learn in our thinking and our praying and our practice to honor the Holy Spirit? “He shall testify…”

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.”^¹¹