The ministry of the Holy Spirit to the believer is to reveal the Son.

Class Outline:

Tuesday September 6, 2022

On the night of His betrayal, Jesus said of the Holy Spirit:

 

JOH 16:12-15

“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He takes of Mine, and will disclose it to you.”

 

The main theme of the Spirit’s ministry to the church is to reveal the Son.

 

Without seeing this main theme of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, no part of His ministry can be properly understood. What I mean by the parts are power, performance in service, purity of motive and conduct, guidance for decisions, teaching for wisdom, understanding Scripture. All of these are a part of the main thrust of what the Spirit is doing for us. If we fail to focus on the main reason for them, we tend to isolate one or two and without the others, we end up on the wrong place.

 

Part of the whole, when it comes to truth, always leads us away from where we need to be. It’s like trying to travel to a place you’ve never been with part of the directions while key parts are left out.

 

He shall glorify Me. How? He shall take of Mine and disclose it to you.

 

What did Jesus mean by “what is Mine?” All that is true of Him as God the Son, the Son of Man incarnate, the Creator, Master, Lord, and our friend and husband; our Savior from guilt and the power of sin; our High Priest and King; the One who suffered and died for us on the cross; our Prophet, mediator, giver of the New Covenant, our life ad hope, the author and completer of faith, and the one who will some day bring you to be with Him and share in His glory.

 

Now, the words “what is Mine,” has come to mean, “What is yours” by virtue of our relationship to Him through His death.

 

This is what the ministry of the Holy Spirit is meant to reveal. And, since we are in possession of these things by virtue of our being in union with Christ, then knowing these things turns out to also be knowing ourselves, not our old self, which has been crucified, but our new self. The revelation of the Son and the Father and our new self in Them is the reward for the life of faith and obedience.

 

Vs. 15 is something like a footnote. In order that the full scope and implications of the word “mine” in the previous sentence should not be missed:

 

“All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He takes of Mine, and will disclose it to you.”

 

Vs. 15 is to warn us against supposing that what Jesus is and does is in any way exceeded by what the Father is and does.

 

The Father’s attributes, claims, powers, plans, prospects, and glories are not in any way greater or extend further than the Son’s. The Son and the Father are co-equal.

 

JOH 5:19-23

Jesus therefore answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner [The Son has to be God to do that]. 20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing [that’s what it takes to know everything]; and greater works than these will He show Him, that you may marvel. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. 22 For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, 23 in order that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.”

 

The Holy Spirit’s mission is to reveal the Son and Father to us, but only the Son knows all things the Father is doing. We do not. In fact, no member of the church has a perfect knowledge of the revealed Scripture. There are some doctrines that are clear and known (or at least should be) by all members of the church, like salvation is by faith in Christ, that Jesus is God and Man in one Person forever, etc., and this principle of the main theme of the Holy Spirits ministry. We call doctrines like these foundational and they are clearly revealed. But no one knows every aspect of them. And there are many more doctrines that have inherent mystery to them. To the mysteries not revealed in the Scripture, no one knows them.

 

But there is a reality of life with the Trinity that is unmistakable.

 

The Holy Spirit reveals the Son to us, which in turn reveals the Father. By that revelation, we converse with Them accordingly.

 

Is there anything better than this? To converse with Them is to worship Them, enjoy Them, be blessed by Them. No matter how thorough or accurate my theology is, the life of Christ lived is unmistakable. Now, don’t get me wrong. We do not dismiss sound theology, but in fact work hard in the Scripture to establish it as sound and accurate, but it will always lack full soundness and all accuracy, which is why we never stop learning, and we never stop learning the same passages and doctrines throughout our lifetime.

 

But if we’re not actually seeing the Son and the Father, all of our theology was a waste of time.

 

Disclosing the Son and the Father is the main reason for the ministry of God the Holy Spirit to us.

 

Sin, doubt, fear, selfishness, lusts, ignorance, distraction, all get in the way of our revelation of Them. In light of that, are any of them or all of them remotely worth it?

 

And further, not only is the theology or knowledge of every believer lacking in some way, so is our performance or conduct.

 

Know and remember this - none of us bowl a perfect game. None of us can even discern that we have done anything that we could confidently say is perfect, or even if we thought it might be, we know that that perfection didn’t last long before some selfish motivation or sin or doubt or godless thing or thought invaded our consciousness. I don’t say this to lead us into lazy, slack, pleasure seeking lives that we might call Christianity, just like our last statement concerning knowledge should not make us lazy students of God’s word.

 

It is to show us that we are every moment of every day dependent upon the grace and mercy of God.

 

The Father to whom the Son and Spirit continually pray for us. The Son who is our model and author of our faith. The Spirit who works from within to show us the Son and therefore the Father. Without their grace, mercy, and forgiveness, not only would we have nothing, but the church would never have existed.

 

So, what is the essence, heart, and core of the work of the Holy Spirit in the church? Is it power, teaching, leading, performance in service, purity of life? Yes.

 

But is there one divine strategy that unites them all. Something we can refer to so that we avoid the tendency to focus on one aspect of the Spirit’s ministry to us while ignoring others?

 

The ministry of the Holy Spirit to the believer makes known the personal presence of the risen, reigning Savior; the Lord Jesus Christ.