A Theological Check-Up: Do You Really Believe? Part 9: The Holy Spirit

The Apostles’ Creed says, “I believe in the Holy Spirit.” I find it interesting that the Holy Spirit is left to the end of the creed.

Many have referred to the Spirit as “the forgotten God” or “the forgotten Third.” Granted our primary attention should be given to the Lord Jesus. We are also clearly told in the Upper Room Discourse (John 14-16) that the Spirit will be sent to glorify the Son. But “primary” attention does not mean exclusive attention.

Jesus-followers should know and worship God the Holy Spirit (because He is divine). We should develop a relationship with Him because He is personal. We can speak to Him, listen for His promptings, and not grieve Him. Developing a relationship with God the Holy Spirit involves learning about His ministries to us and to the world — and co-operating with Him!

IF we say that we “believe” in the Holy Spirit, what does that mean? It must mean more than believing facts about Him. It must mean that our lives will daily be impacted by His indwelling, filling, convicting, illuminating, comforting, confronting, assuring Presence!

A few questions about your relationship with God the Holy Spirit:

1. Do you ever pray directly to Him? Do you ask Him to bring conviction of sin to those you love who are outside of Christ?

2. Do you thank God the Holy Spirit for the spiritual gifts He has given you (Romans 12, I Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, I Peter 4) to serve the local church? Are you using those gifts?

3. Have you ever grieved the Spirit of God? What did you do about it?

4. When you are reading or studying Scripture, do you pray for the Spirit’s illuminating ministry to you? Can you give an example of His answering your prayer?

Today’s Challenge: Write out a prayer to God the Holy Spirit. It might relate to His ministry of conviction or comfort or challenge. Post that prayer in the Comment section below if you wish.

 

The Spirit, the Preacher, and the Word (Part 11)

Friends: We are almost finished with our study of the Holy Spirit and the preacher as seen in the Upper Room Discourse. There are several other texts which we will look at in our subsequent posts, but we have been concentrating on John 14-16.

We learn a great deal about Jesus’ sending the Spirit as His replacement and as our Teacher. We see in John 14 that the Holy Spirit is a gift to the disciples, requested of the Father by the Son (14:16). He comes to help and to indwell Jesus’ followers (14:16) as the Spirit of truth (14:17). He is the manifestation of the absent Christ to them (14:18) so that they will not be orphans.

Sent from the Father, the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, will teach the disciples all things and will remind them of all Jesus had taught them (14:26).

In John 15 we learn that the Spirit of truth whom Jesus will send from the Father will testify about Christ (15:26). That is His curriculum. And the disciples are to pass on that testimony (15:27).

John 16 has the most information about the Spirit of God and the disciples. We learn —
1. It is for the disciples’ benefit that Jesus is going back to the Father, for “unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you” (16:7). The Holy Spirit’s presence necessitated Jesus’ absence.
2. The Spirit’s work will be that of proving the world wrong! The world is wrong regarding sin and righteousness and judgment (16:8). Each of these areas is explained: the world is wrong about sin because people don’t believe in Jesus; about righteousness because He is going to the Father where the disciples can see Him no longer; about judgment because the prince of this world now stands condemned (16:9-11).
3. The Spirit’s guidance is promised — “He will guide you into all the truth” 16:12). He won’t speak on His own but will only speaks what He hears and will tell you what is yet to come (16:13). There is on-going communication between the members of the Trinity!
4. We learn that the Spirit’s role is to glorify the Son (16:14). Jesus says, “He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you” (16:14).

 

The Spirit, the Preacher, and the Word (Part 10)

What a privilege to study the Spirit of God! We’ve seen much in these posts on His ministries to believers. Preachers are a sub-category of believers, right? So the work He does in believers He does in preachers!

Let’s look at the third area in which the Spirit proves the world wrong: the issue of JUDGMENT!

²⁶ “When the Advocate 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. ²⁷ And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. . . . ⁷ But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ about sin, because people do not believe in me; ¹⁰ about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; ¹¹ and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

¹² “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. ¹³ But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the 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. ¹⁴ He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. ¹⁵ All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

 

 

 

 

The Spirit, the Preacher, and the Word (Part 9)

The American humorist Will Rogers once said, “I refuse to accept my religion from anyone who earns his living only by the sweat of his jaw!” Preaching is incredible risky business. We want to be Spirit-led, Spirit-enthused, and Spirit-pleasing, don’t we?

Jesus’ Upper Room Discourse tells us some of the ministries of the Third Person of the Trinity. But how does He relate to our preaching? Let’s look at our section of that discourse one more time . . .

²⁶ “When the Advocate 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. ²⁷ And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. . . . ⁷ But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ about sin, because people do not believe in me; ¹⁰ about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; ¹¹ and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

¹² “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. ¹³ But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the 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. ¹⁴ He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. ¹⁵ All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

 

 

 

 

The Spirit, the Preacher, and the Word (Part 5)

As we look at our next section of the Upper Room Discourse (John 15:26-27 and 16:7-15), we continue to ask, “How does the Spirit of God assist the preacher in his ministry?  In what ways can those of us who preach depend more fully on the Holy Spirit?”

²⁶ “When the Advocate 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. ²⁷ And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.  . . . ⁷ But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ about sin, because people do not believe in me; ¹⁰ about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; ¹¹ and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

¹² “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. ¹³ But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the 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. ¹⁴ He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. ¹⁵ All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

 

 

 

 

The Spirit, the Preacher, and the Word (Part 4)

In his book Fishers of Men, William Barclay wrote, “You will find a certain type of preacher and evangelist who claims that he is entirely dependent on the Holy Spirit. It is a blasphemous thing to saddle the Holy Spirit with the blame for rambling, wearisome, and unprepared effusions.”

If God is a God of order, then we would expect God the Holy Spirit to assist the preacher in studying for, developing, and delivering his best understanding of the biblical text. Let’s think about this section of John 14 in Jesus’ Upper Room Discourse once more . . .

15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

 

 

The Spirit, the Preacher, and the Word (Part 3)

We are working our way through some of the biblical material on the Holy Spirit. In our last post, we saw a number of ministries He has toward the believer in general.

But what are His specific ministries toward the preacher? Let’s look at our first section of the Upper Room Discourse once more . . .

15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

 

 

The Spirit, the Preacher, and the Word (Part 2)

Biblical Eldership Resources (website: http://biblicaleldership.com/) recently published my “10 Steps to Better Preaching.” They have asked me to deliver two messages on the topic “Faithful Preaching and the Power of the Spirit” at their conference in Rochester, NY, in March.

I am looking forward to preparing these messages — and these posts are part of my work toward that goal. I want to think with you about some of the critical questions concerning preaching and the Holy Spirit, such as —
(1) How do I know I am preaching in the power of the Holy Spirit?
(2) What is involved in His illumination ministry?
(3) How does the Holy Spirit make a difference in our preaching?

Let’s look at our section of John 14 once more . . .

15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

 

 

The Spirit, the Preacher, and the Word (Part 1)

Friends:  I have been asked to participate in a March conference with Biblical Eldership Resources.  I will be presenting two messages on the subject of preaching and God the Holy Spirit.  In light of that assignment, I want to take a number of posts to think through some passages that may shed light on the awesome task of proclaiming God’s Word.

Jesus’ “Upper Room Discourse,” as you know, deals with a variety of subjects, not the least being the coming and ministries of the Third Person of the Trinity.  Let’s look at several verses in that discourse which is found in John 14-16.

Jesus gives an amazing promise in John 14:

15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

 

 

Time for a Great Quote: A.W. Tozer on Christian Growth!

This is one of my favorite Tozer quotes.  A couple of questions occur to me.

1. Am I an honest man?
2. Is my Bible open?
3. Am I asking God the Holy Spirit to speak to me through God’s Word?
4. Do I want to stay “just as I am” or change to become a little bit more like Christ?
5. Am I ready to take notes on what God tells me through His Word?
6. Have I become accustomed to complaining about the faults and foibles of OTHERS instead of asking how I need to change?
7. Do I have the courage to show the notes that I take about myself to someone else who loves me and will pray for me and for my growth?

What questions occur to you?