The Holy Spirit: Power Presence and Purpose Part 6

The Person of the Holy Spirit Part 4

The third characteristic of the Holy Spirit is that He teaches men.

When the Holy Spirit teaches, it can be in various ways, from giving understanding and wisdom, to outright teaching believers in general, to giving believers the words which they must speak when confronted with opposition as we discussed in the previous post.

Nehemiah 9:20, “You also gave your good Spirit to instruct them, and did not withhold Your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst.”

John 14:26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”

So not only does the Holy Spirit teach us all things, He likewise brings to our remembrance the things that Jesus said. It is often that someone comes for counseling on a certain matter, that they approach me and just want to pour their heart out, and in an instant, without my having thought about it, a certain Scripture passage comes to the forefront of my mind, a certain parable that Jesus spoke, or a certain thing that He said, that brings comfort and understanding to the person I am counseling.

If you think about it, you too will realize just how often the Holy Spirit brings to your remembrance certain things that Jesus said or certain scripture passages that minister to you in the hour of your need. It is not your intellect, it is not your memorization techniques, it is not your aptitude for remembering vast quantities of data, it is the Spirit of God, it is the Holy Spirit, the Comforter who brings these things to your remembrance, that you may be strengthened, and encouraged.

The fourth characteristic of the Holy Spirit is that He testifies.

There are various things of which the Holy Spirit testifies, but first and foremost He testifies of Christ.

John 15:26, “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.”

The Holy Spirit also testifies in heaven and on earth. He is not relegated to one of two realms, but freely testifies or bears witness both in the heavens, and here on earth.

1 John 5:7-8, “For there are three who bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one.”

The fifth characteristic of the Holy Spirit is that He helps us in various ways.

One of the names of the Holy Spirit is the Helper, and it is by no means a hyperbolic name.

One of the most important ways in which the Holy Spirit helps us is that He convicts the world of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment. The Holy Spirit shows us the reality of our fallen state, and He reveals to us the paramount need for Christ.

John 16:8-11, “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.”

The Word also tells us that the Holy Spirit helps us to pray, as well as comforts us in our time of need, trial and hardship.

Ephesians 6:18, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.”

Acts 9:31, “Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.”

As we can clearly see, the Holy Spirit is not just some inactive entity, not just some static presence that does nothing and says nothing, but rather a very involved and perpetually present Person tasked with comforting the church, helping the church, encouraging the church, guiding the church, and even rebuking the church after the ascension of Christ. Jesus promised that the Helper would come; Jesus promised that the Comforter would come, and true to His word He came, in a very real and powerful way.

John 14:16-18, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”

Although we could spend a few good days on these three verses alone, I just want to highlight a few important truths that Jesus Himself spoke concerning the Helper, or the Holy Spirit that was to come.

First, Jesus said, that the Helper, or the Holy Spirit that the Father would send or give us, would abide with us forever. Jesus used the word ‘forever’!

There was no expiration date, there was no limited time offer, there was no clause in the contract that specified it was for one generation and then the Helper would simply return to the Father which had sent Him. Jesus said He would abide with us forever.

Forever is defined as without ever ending, eternally, or for everlasting time. So either Jesus was a liar, or the men going on about the Holy Spirit no longer being active within the congregation of the redeemed are. Sure, I could have sugar coated that a little, but truth is truth, and I just don’t have the energy to strap on the kid gloves every time a sensitive or controversial topic is discussed.

It’s that simple: either Jesus lied, or men are lying today!

Jesus said the Helper would abide with us forever, and I for one choose to believe the words of Jesus rather than the words of men. Call me silly, call me stunted, call me narrow minded, but in my estimation Jesus has a better track record as a truth teller than those who are attempting to deny the person and work of the Holy Spirit for today.

The second thing that is of great import within these three verses is that the world cannot receive this Helper whom the Father would send. The world neither sees Him, nor knows Him, and so trying to explain the Holy Spirit, the presence of the Holy Spirit, or the power of the Holy Spirit to those of the world, would be like trying to teach your poodle linear algebra.

This is largely the reason the world’s first tendency is to mock, ridicule, and scorn anything having to do with the Holy Spirit. They can neither see Him, nor know Him, so how can they believe or receive Him?

The third thing that I wanted to point out concerning this passage is that Jesus said the Spirit of truth, the Helper, the Comforter dwells in us. He is not something that flutters about during especially convicting church services, He is not something that is present only when a special speaker comes to our church, the Holy Spirit dwells in us, He lives in us, our hearts are His home, and He is with us in perpetuity.

We are not orphans, we are not alone, we are not left to float upon the sea of this world on our own, with God watching from above crossing His fingers hoping that we make it to shore. The Holy Spirit is among us, His presence is real, His work is undeniable, and the power to which the children of God have access to trough Him, is beyond the understanding of many.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.