"If we think of the Holy Spirit only as an impersonal power or influence, then our thought will constantly be, how can I get hold of and use the Holy Spirit; but if we think of Him in the biblical way as a divine Person, infinitely wise, infinitely holy, infinitely tender, then our thought will constantly be, 'How can the Holy Spirit get hold of and use me?" -R.A. Torrey
After reading Part I of this series, you should be well aware that the Holy Spirit is not an it but a Person. I repeatedly stress this point because so long as we subconsciously think of the Holy Spirit as an it or gift, we will never treat Him as a Person nor seek a relationship with Him. So long as we consider Him a "lesser god" or an experience, we will use Him instead of being used by Him. But the life that Jesus lived on Earth gives us a very different picture of what our attitude towards and relationship with the Holy Spirit should look like. 1 Peter 2:21 states that Jesus is the example we ought to follow in life. We know this to be true. Therefore if we want to know what the correct image of the Holy Spirit should be, we must look at Him through the eyes of Jesus. And one thing is evident in Scripture, Jesus never once considered the Holy Spirit an it (though He descended upon Him in the form of a dove) nor did Jesus limit Him to an experience (though He baptized Him in the river Jordan). Jesus saw the Holy Spirit for what He truly is-- a Person!
What does He do?
By this point you may be thinking, "Ok. I know the Holy Spirit is a Person but what exactly is His purpose here on Earth?" That is a great question and the appropriate answer is found in John 16:8-11. In this passage, Jesus is speaking to His disciples about His impending departure and the coming of the Holy Spirit whom He calls Helper (we'll discuss the meaning and impact of this word in another post). Jesus tells His followers the following, "And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged." In this passage we see the three main roles of the Holy Spirit here on Earth. First up, He deals with sin.
Burden for salvation
One of the main responsibilities that the Holy Spirit has is to lead people to Jesus. The Holy Spirit has a great burden for the salvation of human souls. So much so that the Scriptures record that "the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." (Rom 8:26) The literal Greek translation of the latter part of this verse really shows the extent of the burden that is placed on Him. The literal translation would say something like this: inexpressible sighs (brought by circumstances creating great pressure). He carries a heavy burden for our souls. Yet the Holy Spirit, as important and necessary as He is in our lives, will never glorify Himself. He will always point us to the Son. He will guide our eyes to the work that Jesus completed on the cross and its significance in our daily lives. Speaking of the Spirit Jesus said to His disciples, "He will glorify Me..." (John 16:14). The Holy Spirit accomplishes the task of leading us to Jesus by placing conviction in our hearts when sin is present. Who is the one that lead you to Jesus? Was it a friend, parent, or preacher? Or was it the Holy Spirit that introduced you to Jesus through the mouthpiece of these individuals? We must understand that even if an individual led us to say the sinner's prayer, neither he nor she introduced us to Jesus. Only the Holy Spirit can fulfill that role.
Conviction not Condemnation
Have you ever felt an uneasy feeling inside of you that you should not do something that you know to be wrong. Maybe you are about to step into an R-rated movie that contains graphic scenes, or you find yourself reaching for the liquor cabinet one too many times, or perhaps you get caught doing something wrong and feel the only way out of it is to lie to your spouse. You immediately sense a nudging inside that what you are about to do is wrong. You feel an internal stop sign telling you to walk away, get help, or confess your fault. That is the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to your conscience and bringing conviction into your life to prevent you from sinning. Many good and faithful Christians honestly believe that the Holy Spirit does not speak to them. However, if we are truly born again, this is not the case. The problem is that we think the Holy Spirit is going to bang us over the head, scream in our ear, or send some supernatural sign as in the Old Testament. We often want the supernatural and end up missing the Spirit's voice. Though I am fully convinced that the Holy Spirit can speak to us in any way He chooses including some of the more supernatural ways I listed, He often chooses to speak to us in that "still small voice" (1 Kings 19:12). When Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would convict the world of sin what He meant was that He would be the one responsible for bringing sinners to repentance. Please do not misunderstand me. Repentance is a choice of our will, however, we will not be able to truly repent of our sins until the Holy Spirit puts His finger in our faults bringing the conviction needed for us to repent of them. Now this conviction is quite different from condemnation. The Bible says in Revelation 12:10 that the enemy is "the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down." The devil loves to accuse and remind us of our faults. He does not fight fair. The enemy will always play both sides of the fence. On the one side, he will entice us to sin and if we give in to it, you'll find him standing on the other side accusing us of our sin and bringing shame and condemnation because of it. 2 Corinthians 7:10 gives us a clear difference between these two principles. It states, "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death." The devil's condemnation will always separate us from a loving Father (example: Adam and Eve hid from the presence of God in the garden Genesis 3:8) but the conviction of the Holy Spirit brings us to genuine repentance (example: Saul encountering the Lord on the way to Damascus Acts 9:3-6).
How do you know God is real?
Have you ever had an unbeliever ask you this question? Perhaps an unsaved friend or your longtime coworker. They seem interested in hearing more about Jesus but they always ask the same question. "There are so many religions and gods in this world, they ask, how do you know that Jesus is God?" Well how do we typically answer them? I guess that some of the popular answers include: because I believe what the Bible says about Him or because Christianity would not have survived as long if this wasn't the case or because He did x y and z miracles for me. The list could go on and on of all the ways we can try to reason the fact that Jesus is God. However, when we look at the lives of the apostles and early church members in the book of Acts we see that they preached the Gospel with boldness and conviction. This was quite different from what they portrayed when Jesus was on the Earth. When Jesus was arrested in Gethsemane, the Scripture records that all the disciples "forsook Him and fled" (Mark 14:50). Even Peter who so ardently and publicly professed his unending devotion for His Rabbi, denied Him three times reneging on his previous statement (Luke 22:61-62). However when the Holy Spirit came upon these same men, the cowardly suddenly became bold and the inconsistent became true to his word. Who made the difference in these men's lives? The Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit that made Jesus real to them in a way that Jesus, being in the flesh, was not able to.
Inner certainty
The second important role of the Holy Spirit is to bring conviction or faith that Jesus is real. Unlike the first century Christians, we do not see Jesus in the flesh walking the streets of our city. Growing up in church as a teenager, I often thought how awesome it would be for Jesus to physically be here on Earth. My inward thoughts went something like this "things would be much easier if I could only talk to the Lord and hear Him speak to me in person". I believe many Christians think the same. This wishful thinking, though it comes from a good heart, is not in line with Scripture. Jesus said of the Holy Spirit, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you" (John 16:7). We know that God does not lie (Numbers 23:19). So if Jesus said it is better that He goes back to Heaven so that the Holy Spirit comes to Earth, we must believe His words.
A Radical Change...
While Jesus was on Earth, no lives were transformed! Think about that statement for a minute. Sure, there were physical healings and forgiveness of sins for many (i.e. woman caught in adultery John 8:3-11) but there was no inward change in any of these individuals. Take for example the twelve disciples. These men probably saw more miracles, healings, and salvations than you nor I will ever see in our lifetimes yet during His hour of need, each and everyone of them (including John the disciple whom He loved) left Him and ran away. Not one disciple stayed with Jesus in the hour of temptation. But after the Holy Spirit descended in that upper room, the same men that were hiding for fear of the Jews became bold and mighty witnesses of Jesus. In fact, history records that many of these same men were martyred for preaching the Gospel. Why? What changed? How did these men change so radically and in such a short period of time? The Holy Spirit made Jesus real to them. So long as they heard the external Jesus (while He was on Earth), their lives remained unchanged. But when the external became the internal (by relationship with the Holy Spirit) everything in their lives suddenly changed. The words of Jesus now made sense. What was once confusing suddenly became crystal clear. The Holy Spirit revealed Jesus to their inner man. So it is in our lives. How do we know that Jesus is God's only son? Because we know, that we know, that we know, that we know. How do we know that we are really saved and on our way to Heaven? Because we know, that we know, that we know, that we know. The Holy Spirit is the only one that can truly convince us that Jesus is the Son of God and the only way to the Father. Salvation is not a mental belief but an inward conviction that only the Holy Spirit can impart to our spirit man. The apostle Paul explains this by writing, "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children" (Romans 8:16). So when someone asks us next time 'how do you know you are saved? or how do you know that Jesus really is the Son of God?' You can tell them 'Because the Holy Spirit revealed it to me'! That is what happens at salvation. First the Holy Spirit reveals to us our sin nature. He brings conviction to our hearts which leads us to repentance. Then He bring us to Jesus and introduces us to Him. There is only one way that we can know that Jesus is real without seeing Him physically and that is by direct revelation from the Holy Spirit. The apostle Peter explains this in 1 Peter 1:8, "Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy". Once again, we see this truth: only the Holy Spirit can make Jesus real to us.
Life After Death?
As Christians we know that life does not cease at our death. We know that the minute we breathe out our last breath, eternity begins. The unsaved, for the most part, do not have this view in mind. Most believe that their death will bring an end to them. I've heard many a person state the following "I only have one life to live so I might as well live it to the fullest". This phrase and ideology is usually in connection with giving in to temptation or indulging in sin. The truth is that whenever we lose sight of eternity, we have a tendency to become self-absorbed and engulfed with whatever we are facing at the moment. If we ever think that the only thing that is real is the material world in which we now live, we will never strive to live godly lives. Why should we bother to serve and follow the Lord if there is no life after death? Why bother die to self and live a crucified life if our actions do not have eternal consequences? The enemy has carefully inserted this lie into the minds of millions of people throughout the centuries. The Scriptures specifically contradict this fallacy in 1 Corinthians 15:29-32 by saying, "Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die'". If eternal life does not exist, then let's just do whatever we want because 'we only have one life to live'. The third role of the Holy Spirit is to refute this lie also.
Past and Coming Judgment
John 16 states that the third role of the Holy Spirit will be to convict the world "of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged". What does this mean? I believe the meaning of this passage is two-fold. After convincing the sinner of his/her sins by bringing conviction into their heart, the Holy Spirit proceeds to illuminate the inner man into knowing that Jesus is Lord. The Holy Spirit takes the blindfold off of us and shows us that Jesus is real. In his final step, He does two things. First He reveals to us that Jesus Christ won the ultimate victory at Calvary's Cross. He tells us that the ruler of this world was judged and defeated on Golgatha. He shows us that satan is a defeated foe and Jesus is the victor "having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross" (Colossians 2:15). The Holy Spirit lets our inner man know that we are on the winning side and that satan has no legitimate power over us! This is great and joyous news. As the first part of this passage dealt with a past event, the second refers to a future judgment. The Holy Spirit will also reveal (I continue to use the word reveal because when the Holy Spirit speaks to us He speaks to our inner man/spirit and the words He says come to us by revelation) to us coming judgment. He makes eternity real to us and shows us that one day we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ where we will have to give an account for our words and actions (Matt 12:36-37). Living with this reality imprinted in our hearts should make a difference in the way we conduct our lives. The Holy Spirit shows us a glimpse into eternity and then proceeds to help us each day to be able to stand before Jesus and hear the words "well done, good and faithful servant!" (Matt 25:23). I am fully convinced that without the Holy Spirit, we could never make it to Heaven. He is our eternal Helper!
You need Him.
Reader, I hope that after reading the words on this page, you have come to understand the importance of the Holy Spirit and His role in our lives. Always remember: the Holy Spirit is a Person (co-equal with the Father and the Son)and is the only one that can make Jesus real to me. Without the Holy Spirit breathing His life into us, Christianity would become just another religion. That's how important He truly is. I want you to know that the Holy Spirit yearns to build a life with you. He loves you so very much, dear friend, that He is willing to sit patiently year after year waiting for the day that you begin to talk to Him as a Person. He is so gentle, loving, and compassionate that you will never find another lover as worthy of your time and affection as Him. He has become my best friend and my prayer is that He will be yours too!
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