HOLY SPIRIT
HOLY SPIRIT
April 12, 2015, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
I invite you to join us as we go on a quest these next few weeks seeking the Holy Spirit for deeper intimacy and relationship with Him and His Redemptive Work as the Third Person of the Godhead.
We are blessed that the Holy Spirit drew us to Jesus to receive our salvation. We are born again, filled with the Holy Spirit and operate in many of the Holy Spirit giftings, power, grace and truth. However, in order for the church universal to break through into the Glorious Church, we must have more of His light and glory.
The work of the Holy Spirit is calling sinners to repentance and faith in Christ; and uniting them to Christ as the head of the body, his church.
The whole work of Christ is redeeming sinners out of this human race to be his church and joint heirs with Him in His Kingdom.
In the new creation under the New Testament, it is the purpose of God that each Person of the Trinity is revealed to the church.
After Christ finished his work of redemption, and ascended into heaven, the task of carrying on and completing the work of salvation is undertaken by the Holy Spirit in the disciples of Jesus Christ throughout the church age.
Before his death Christ promised the Holy Spirit to his disciples.
John 14: 15-17: “I will pray to the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not, neither knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you, and shall be in you.”
After his resurrection, he told them not to attempt to start their work of witnessing to the world until they had received the promised Holy Spirit.
Acts 1:4-5: “…Jesus commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, says He, you have heard of Me. John truly baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days from here.”
The “Parousia” – presence of Jesus Christ is with us and in us by his Spirit.
Acts 2:17-19: “It shall come to pass in the last days, says God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: On my servants and on My handmaidens I will pour out in those days of My Spirit; and they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood before that great and notable day of the Lord comes.” (Joel 2:29)
Mt. 28:19: “Go; teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.”
3:38: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
The Holy Spirit does nothing contrary to what is taught in Scripture. Any spirit that contradicts Christ and Scripture is not from God.
The Holy Spirit’s great work is to glorify Christ. He is given to us that we might bring glory to Christ. He comes to show forth Christ’s truth and grace, not to speak of Himself. He reveals no other truth, gives no other grace but what is in, from and by Christ.
Whatever he hears he will speak. “When He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth; for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak; and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify Me; for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it to you”
He makes Christ glorious in our eyes. He is given to us so that as Christ’s people, we will bring honor to our glorious Savior, Lord and King.
In the Charismatic renewal through a mighty outpouring of the grace and giftings of the Holy Spirit, we received all of the precious gifts of the Holy Spirit. These gifts though poured out in grace and received in grace have been used and abused for many motives and agendas other than to glorify Jesus Christ and build his church.
By this great grace of outpouring, we have been blessed with miracles, signs, wonders, visions, healings, prophecies and most of all Jesus’ Parousia. However, the carnal soul has chased gifts giving place to magnifying the gifts and the ministers who were anointed to edify, build up, and mature the Body of Christ.
Many who were called into the Charismatic Renewal have camped there and continue camping around the gifts. The Holy Spirit is leading us to use His precious giftings to save souls, as well as heal and mature the Body of Christ that through His gifts His Kingdom on earth will be catapulted into the realm of Glory.
This glory is not to glorify our gifts and callings, but like the Holy Spirit, we are to work together with the Holy Spirit to glorify Jesus Christ.
How does the Holy Spirit do this? Jesus said, “He will glorify me, for he will take of what is mine and declare it to you.” (Jn. 16:14).
“He will take what is Christ’s and declare them to us”.
What are the things he will show us? My things’, says Christ. Things of Christ are grace and truth. Jn. 1:17: “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” All power in heaven and earth has been given to Jesus Christ. The whole counsel of God is in Christ Jesus.
The Holy Spirit showed Christ’s truth to his disciples by revelation, for he is the author of all divine revelations. The Holy Spirit pours out sanctifying grace and extraordinary gifts to His Church.
Jesus said, “All things that the Father has are mine. Therefore, said I, That He shall take of Mine, and shall show it to you.” (Jn. 16:15).
As the Holy Spirit represents Christ and takes his place, so he does everything for His Church through all ages that Christ did for his disciples (Jn. 16: 13-15). He reveals no other truth, gives no other grace but what is in, from and by Christ.
By this rule we can test every spirit whether it is of God or not.
Whatever He hears, he will speak. Jn. 16:13: “When he, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth; for He shall not speak of Himself; for whatsoever He shall hear that shall He speak…”
The Holy Spirit hears the whole plan and purpose of the Father and the Son concerning the salvation of the church. The Holy Spirit has infinite knowledge of the eternal purposes of the Father and the Son.
How much of the things of Christ are to be shown to believers? “All things that the Father has are mine.” All things that are mine.”
All things that the Father has as God are the Son’s. “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.” (Jn. 3:35)
All the effects of the love, grace and will of the Father, from eternity needed to bring his elect to eternal glory were given to Jesus Christ. The things of the Father, now made the things of the Son, are actually communicated to us by the Holy Spirit. It is by the Son only that we have access to the Father. The son is the treasury of the things of the Father. From Christ the treasury, the Holy Spirit takes the things of the Father and shows them to us, and works them in us.
The Holy Spirit teaches us how to pray and what to pray for. If anyone despises or scorns the Holy Spirit, they are really doing it to the whole Godhead. That is why the sin against the Holy Spirit is unpardonable.
Any grace we find in ourselves, or any gracious work that is done in us, is always to be recognized as the work of the Holy Spirit.
Some people speak and judge moral virtue as if it were something they could produce by their own effort; but all moral virtues are graces of the Holy Spirit. As the Spirit of grace, the Holy Spirits makes know to us the gracious free love, favor and power of God toward us, in us and on us.
All the work the Holy Spirit does is governed by his sovereign will which no-one can resist. Ro. 9:18-19: “He has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom he will He hardens. …For has resisted His will?
When the gospel is preached and people are called to repent, his revealed will is made known. In refusing to repent, people resist his revealed will. Others eyes may be blinded, hearts hardened, not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, be converted and be healed. There are some scholars who refer this to the Lord’s “secret will”.
It is the same with all his works. In some he may enlighten their minds and bring conviction of sin to their souls, but not do his work of regeneration in them without which they cannot see the kingdom of God. In others, he makes all his works to result in their final and full salvation.
This is what Paul teaches concerning spiritual gifts. The Holy Spirit gives his gifts according to his own sovereign will.
We must never let go the truth, which is indeed the Holy Spirit who works all spiritual good in us. In my flesh dwells no good thing.
We are not sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves. Our sufficiency is from God.
To say there is some good in us which is not the work of the Holy Spirit destroys the gospel and denies both that God is the only good and that he alone can make us good.
God promises to work in us what He requires of us. Scripture is full of examples of people being commanded to do what was impossible for them to do. Yet, when the obeyed, they found the dunamis power of God enabling them to do the impossible.
Our duty is to attempt to obey God’s commands. His work is to enable us to obey them. So those who sit back and do nothing---because they say they can do nothing until God works grace in them---show they have no interest or concern for the things of God.
Where a person does nothing, the Holy Spirit does nothing also.
Although there is no grace in a believer except by the Holy Spirit, yet to grow in grace; and to thrive in holiness and righteousness, depends on the believer using the grace he has received.
When we see and understand the works of the Holy Spirit, we learn His power and those things which are His. Jesus said, “I will send the Spirit of Truth and he will testify of me, and you also will bear witness” (Jn. 15:26).
The people whom the Holy Spirit enables to witness recognize we can do so only because the Holy Spirit indwells and empowers us. The Holy Spirit is still enabling Christians to do miraculous signs and wonders. The Holy Spirit enables us to bear witness of Christ by preaching, the gifts of the Spirit, Praise, Worship; but more important that Christ’s grace and truth is revealed in our lives.
The world and the apostate church do not recognize the testimony of the Holy Spirit in creation, the Word of God, testimony, or conscience.
“How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by them that heard Him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs, wonders, divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will?”
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture from K.J.V.
I entered into the labors of John Owen – The Holy Spirit (1616-1683). Comments and conclusions are my own and are not the views of Rev. Owen.