The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit

Part Six

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

We have learned that the Holy Spirit is our Advocate and that He indwells us when we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior. We have also learned that the Holy Spirit is instrumental in the process of us coming to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. He energizes the truth in our mind. He convicts us of sin which causes us to repent and turn to Jesus. After this the Holy Spirit begins a process of spiritual regeneration within us. He encourages us to grow spiritually into the image of Christ. At our conversion we are baptized into the Body of Christ with the Holy Spirit by Jesus Christ. Thus we receive the Holy Spirit as a gift from God when we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. The Holy Spirit separates us from sin and death. We are also sealed with the Holy Spirit and this guarantees that we will always belong to the Lord. This establishes the fact that our salvation is secure. Finally the Holy Spirit gifts us for service so we can minister to other followers of Christ. He distributes spiritual gifts to each Christian so that they can minister to others in unique ways to build up the Body of Christ, His Church.

 

After salvation takes place in the life of a follower of Christ the Holy Spirit proceeds to minister to us in seven critical areas to foster growth in our Christian life. In the last segment of this series we learned that the Holy Spirit brings us intimacy with God and that He also illuminates Holy Scripture to us so we can understand what it says regarding holy living and our calling to become like Christ. Now we will cover other ministries the Holy Spirit carries out in our lives as followers of Jesus Christ.

 

The Holy Spirit’s Ministry Area Number Three

The Holy Spirit Glorifies & Magnifies Christ to Us

 

Jesus told his disciples that He would send a Counselor to them from the Father. When Jesus made this statement He was referring to the Holy Spirit, our Counselor and Advocate. John 15:26 “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, He will testify about me.”

 

Here Jesus gives one of the reasons that the Holy Spirit was to come, to testify of the person and work of Jesus Christ. To testify is to give a testimony of truth or fact under oath. One of the ministries the Holy Spirit has in the life of a follower of Christ is to give evidence of Jesus Christ’s divinity and His ministry to us. He teaches us about Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit does not come to testify of Himself. He is to magnify Jesus. He is to teach us more about Jesus from God’s Word for we are called to be Christ-like in all we do, both in deed as well as in thought.

 

The Holy Spirit is also called the Spirit of Truth. He speaks and teaches about the truth and the ultimate truth is the truth of the gospel that saves us from our sin through the grace and mercy of God the Father, provided for by Jesus, the Son of God.

   

John 16:13-15

“But when he, 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, 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. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.”

 

Here in this passage John the apostle wrote the phrase, “He will bring glory to me (Jesus Christ).” The Holy Spirit is to bring glory to Jesus by magnifying Christ in the illumination and explanation of God’s Word to us. His purpose is to draw attention to who Jesus was and is as well as how He lived and died. This enables us to live like Christ, to seek to be like Christ in thought and action. As Christ is magnified and gloried to us we desire to conform to His image, think like Him, live like Him and love like Him.

   

Paul in writing to Timothy about Jesus Christ explains in another way how the Holy Spirit magnifies Christ to us.

1 Timothy 3:16

“Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.”

 

Here Paul is speaking about the foundation of our faith, the basis for all we believe, Jesus Christ our Savior upon which our faith stands. Jesus appeared in bodily form as God in the flesh. Notice then what Paul says. He states that Jesus was “vindicated” by the Spirit. Vindicated here means deemed righteous, holy and/or godly. The Holy Spirit continues this ministry of vindication of Jesus Christ in the life of every Christian for all eternity. His ministry is to magnify Christ continually in our lives. He wishes to teach us about Christ, encourage us to conform to His image and love God and others as Jesus would.

 

The Holy Spirit wishes to magnify and glorify Christ for at least two reasons. First, so that we will see Jesus Christ as our authority and submit to His will. As a Christian we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, but we must also accept Him as our Lord and Master. He owns us because He paid the debt for our sin (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). We belong to Christ and should seek to serve Him in all we do. Often we view our service and obedience to Christ as optional or when it is convenient. The Holy Spirit wishes us to understand that we should seek to obey Christ in all we do, all the time. This not only brings glory to God and pleasure to Christ, but also gives us the most fulfilled life we could ever possess. Secondly the Holy Spirit magnifies Christ to us because Jesus Christ is our model, example and pattern for living out our life as a believer.  2 Corinthians 3:18 communicates this truth when it says, “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” The more we see Christ through the ministry of the Holy Spirit and seek to walk, talk and think as Jesus, the more we become like Christ and reflect His heart, mindset, principles and love. This is similar to Moses on the mountain as he reflected God’s glory after His encounter with God.

 

The Holy Spirit’s Ministry Area Number Four

The Holy Spirit Guides Us Into God’s Will

 

We know that the Holy Spirit reveals the truth of God’s Word to us but He also uses God’s Word to guide us in the will of God. God’s will is not specifically what job to take, house to buy or city to live in, it is much deeper than that. God’s will is to be conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). Paul asked other believers to model themselves after him, because he was modeling himself after Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1). Often we have role models we pattern ourselves after because they reflect Christ in their lives as they live out the will of God, which is to be holy as God is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16). As we fulfill this all encompassing will for our lives, the other decisions we make will fall in line with what will be most beneficial for us. When we think like God because we are guided in God’s Word by the Holy Spirit, we will make wise decisions in all areas of our lives and thus fulfill God’s will for our lives. Ezekiel spoke of how a close relationship with God can change us.

 

Ezekiel 36:26-27

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”

 

While this is speaking of God’s chosen people, the Jews, it also applies to us as New Testament followers of Christ.

The Holy Spirit not only helps us to know God’s will by teaching us God’s Word. He also enables us to do God’s will with the power He gives us if we willingly submit to Him. This takes place as we apply God’s Word to our thoughts and actions.

Paul tells us in Romans 8:14, “because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” When we rely upon the Holy Spirit to guide us, we become more and more aware that we are part of God’s family because we are walking in the will of God as we seek to be like Christ.

   

Colossians 3:16 commands us to let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly and Ephesians 5:18 commands us to be filled with the Spirit. So as we allow the Holy Scriptures to dwell within us as the Holy Spirit teaches through them, we will be filled with the Spirit and God’s will for our life will be laid before us. The Psalms have numerous examples of how we are led in the will of God through the direction of God’s Word and we are led by the Word as the Holy Spirit guides and teaches us in it.

 

Psalms 143:10 – “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”

       

Psalms 119:133 – “Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me.”

   

Psalms 51:6 – “Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.”

   

As we are taught by the Spirit in the Word of God we can examine our hearts and minds and act in accordance with Christ’s example. A.W. Pink described the process in this way,

 

“Those who are directed by this divine Spirit are moved to examine their hearts and take frequent notice of their ways, to mourn over their carnality and perverseness, to confess their sins and earnestly seek grace to enable them to be obedient,”

 

As we are obedient to God’s Word we live out the will of God in our lives. You know you are fulfilling the will of God when you are walking as Christ walked and as the Holy Spirit directs you.

 

Questions to ask if you wish to be led by the Holy Spirit in God’s will:

Do you find yourself always wanting to examine your heart to be sure your motives are right?

Do you take frequent notice of the way you’re conducting yourself?

Do you confess sin and shortcomings eagerly to God?

Do you earnestly seek the grace of God in your life so that you can be obedient?

If you ask these questions of yourself, that’s evidence that you’ve yielded your life to the control of the Spirit, you’re moving in the Spirit. And that’s the way you’re going to know the will of God.

We continue next time with more ways the Holy Spirit ministers to us as followers of Christ.