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Subject 8 : The Holy Spirit
[8-13] The Works and Gifts of The Holy Spirit (John 16:5-11)
(John 16:5-11)
“But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 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.”
What are the works of the Holy Spirit?
He convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.
He convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.
In Genesis 1:2 it is written, “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” We can see from this passage that the Holy Spirit doesn’t dwell in hearts full of confusion and sin, but only lives in the hearts of those who believe in the beautiful gospel. However, many people in their confusion and emptiness fall under the influence of fanatical faiths, saying that they want to receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit while having sin in their hearts.
The spirit received in a state of fanatic ecstasy is not the beautiful Spirit. The work of Satan rests on the lawless believers of fanaticism, and fanatical people are easily falling under the influence of his tricks and power. But the Holy Spirit is the Person God who is intelligent, emotional and has a definite will. He worked with God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ in creating this world. We will now learn about what kind of work the Holy Spirit has done in this world.
The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin
What is the very first work the Holy Spirit does? He convicts the world of sin. The people who are convicted by Him are those who don’t accept the beautiful gospel of Jesus’ baptism by John and His blood on the Cross. He convicts all sinners and the sins of those who don’t believe in the beautiful gospel of the water and the Spirit.
He convicts the world of God’s righteousness
What is the second thing the Holy Spirit does? He bears witness to God’s righteousness and Jesus’ achievement in saving sinners from their sins. John 16:10 says, “Of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more.” We have to know what the righteousness of God in the Bible means. It means the truth that Jesus took away all the sins of the world through His baptism by John and that whoever believes in Him can become the righteous through God’s grace. Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and accepted all of the sins of the world, shed His blood on the Cross, was resurrected and became the Savior of all sinners. This is the beautiful gospel God gave us. Jesus took away all the sins of the world through the water and blood according to God’s will and became the Master of our lives.
The Holy Spirit helps people believe in the gospel of Jesus’ baptism by John and His blood on the Cross, thus helping them gain forgiveness for their sins. You should know that the works of God in the Trinity are complementary. The Holy Spirit works for the beautiful gospel, making people believe in the love of God. He also guarantees the true beautiful gospel of the water and the Spirit to be true.
He convicts the world of judgment
What is the Holy Spirit’s third task? He destroys the works of Satan. Satan whispers into people’s thoughts, saying, “You can believe in Jesus, but just think of Christianity as one of the many earthly religions.” Satan tries to hinder people from believing in Jesus’ baptism and His blood on the Cross so that they won’t be able to obtain forgiveness for their sins even if they believe in Jesus. Because Satan reduces Christianity to an “ordinary” religion, many people fall victim to Satan’s deception that the reason for believing in Jesus is to be good people. However, the real purpose of believing in Jesus is to be born again as righteous people.
You should not have false faith. False faith cannot make you sanctified no matter how much you believe in Jesus. If you have false faith, you won’t know or see Jesus clearly due to Satan’s lies. The Holy Spirit becomes the guarantee of salvation for those who have been saved by believing in the beautiful gospel of the water and the Spirit. All the beliefs of those who have sin in their hearts are useless.
The Holy Spirit testifies to the truth of the beautiful gospel. Jesus was baptized to take away all the sins of the world and He was crucified to pay off the wages of sin. The Holy Spirit testifies to this truth. The Holy Spirit advises all the people of the world to be forgiven for all their sins by believing in the true gospel. However, we should keep in mind that the Holy Spirit convicts and judges those who don’t take the beautiful gospel into their hearts.
Everyone should have the blessed faith
What is the blessed faith? It is the faith that leads us to receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit through the forgiveness of sin. However, we see many Christians throughout the world who still have sin in their hearts, even though they maintained their belief in Jesus over a long time. The longer they believe in Jesus, the more sinful they become. The biggest problem that hinders them from being delivered from their sins is that they think speaking in tongues and having visions is proof that they have received the Holy Spirit. They are unaware of God’s judgment for their sins.
Many people in this world can’t distinguish the work of the Holy Spirit from Satan’s work. Satan’s work leads people into a state of confusion by giving them false beliefs and then leading them on towards destruction. This is what Satan tries to achieve by turning against God. Satan causes people to fall under the influence of superstitious beliefs and takes them as his slaves. Satan instills in them a desire to experience supernatural miracles and wonders by causing them to think that such experiences are more valuable than receiving the indwelling of the Holy Spirit through the faith in the beautiful gospel.
However, the Holy Spirit allows people to see God’s world through the Word. Through the Holy Spirit, they come to know and believe that God created man, that God loves them, and that God wants to save them. His plan for sinners was for Jesus Christ to save them from their sins through the gospel of the water and the Spirit and to invite them to live in His love by faith.
1 Peter 3:21 says, “There is also an antitype which now saves us ― baptism.” Also, 1 Peter 1:23 says, “Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.”
The work of the Holy Spirit is to enlighten man on the truth of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, and to make them believe those truths. The Holy Spirit lets them know about God’s judgment and that they can be delivered from their sins by believing in the beautiful gospel of Jesus’ baptism and His blood on the Cross. The Holy Spirit gives them the knowledge that He is within them when they have faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
So far we have looked at the deeds of the Holy Spirit. All the people in this world can have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and God’s love only when they have obtained the forgiveness of sins by believing in Jesus’ beautiful gospel of the water and the Spirit.
The Personality of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is Almighty God. He possesses the essential characteristics of personality, namely, intellect, emotion, and will. Because the Holy Spirit possesses intellect, He even searches the deep things of God (1 Corinthians 2:10) and the hearts of men.
Because the Holy Spirit possesses emotion, He is pleased with those who believe in God’s word, but sighs deeply against unbelievers. Also, the righteous can feel God’s love through the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is also called “the Comforter.” This means that the Holy Spirit helps the righteous in difficulties, and brings victory to them, fighting off their enemies. He possesses intellect, emotion, and will just as we humans do, and He dwells in those who believe in the beautiful gospel of the water and the Spirit.
The work of the Holy Spirit is as follows
The Holy Spirit allows people to realize the truth of the forgiveness of sin and dwells in the hearts of believers. His work is to testify to the truth that Jesus took away all the sins of mankind through His baptism and His blood (1 John 5:6-8). He also comforts His servants and saints in any trouble and strengthens them to stand again. He Himself intercedes for them when they don’t know what they should pray for (Romans 8:26). And He gives rest to the righteous in God’s church and leads them to the abundance of His words (Psalm 23).
The work of the Holy Spirit related to the Bible
The Holy Spirit leads the righteous to recognize and believe in the truth in their hearts and to preach it to others. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).
“Search from the book of the Lord, and read: Not one of these shall fail; not one shall lack her mate. For My mouth has commanded it, and His Spirit has gathered them” (Isaiah 34:16).
“Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20-21).
The Holy Spirit had inspired the servants of God to write God’s word so that we could read it. He introduces people to the gospel of the water and the Spirit and leads us to preach it to the world. Therefore, even though the righteous may suffer many trials in their lives, they are able to overcome them thanks to the power of the Holy Spirit.
The gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit
The gifts of the Holy Spirit means the abilities He gives to the saints to spread the beautiful gospel of God to others. The saints therefore devote themselves to God’s work with the gifts He gives, and the Holy Spirit helps them give glory to the Lord. “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all” (1 Corinthians 12:7).
The purpose of the gifts of the Holy Spirit was to equip the saints with faith and help them run the race that was ahead of them (Ephesians 4:11-12). The Holy Spirit gives capabilities to God’s servants and the saints to help them in spreading the gospel. The church of God is a community of the saints who are sanctified in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:2).
Each Christian who has received the Holy Spirit should behave according to his given position and duties, since Jesus Christ is head of the church. The Holy Spirit gives spiritual perceptiveness and ability to the saints so that they can work for the Kingdom of God. He does everything in order to manifest the glory of the gospel that God gave us. He says, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).
The different kinds of gifts of the Spirit
There are 12 different kinds of gifts of the Holy Spirit. We can see in the Bible that these gifts appear in a variety of forms to different people. A lengthy list of the gifts appears in Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, and Ephesians 4:11. The following are the nine Spiritual gifts that are spoken of in 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
1) The word of knowledge: This gives us the Spiritual inspiration to understand the gospel of the water and the Spirit and lets us preach this beautiful gospel.
2) The word of wisdom: This is the ability to settle the numerous problems that come up in the life of the righteous through the written words of God.
3) Faith: The Holy Spirit gives strong faith and confidence to saints so that they can perform the miracle of saving souls from their sins and Satan. A righteous person can have their sins forgiven and heal their spiritual disorders through the power of faith.
4) Healings: The Holy Spirit gives the ability to heal the righteous people through their faith in God’s word.
5) The working of miracles: This is the surprising gift that allows the saints to do works of God by believing in God’s word. A miracle is something that happens supernaturally through faith, exceeding the bounds of human knowledge of natural law.
6) Prophecy: At this time, only those who believe in and obey the word of God can prophesy according to what is written. The words of someone who has beliefs that are not based on what is written in the Bible cannot be true prophecy. God’s servants, who have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, preach God’s word and thereby edify and exhort them to do His work through the church, which is God’s body. The Holy Spirit gave this ability to God’s servants and the saints.
7) Discerning of spirits: This is the ability to determine whether someone has had his sins forgiven. It is possible for us to be led astray by Satan if we don’t possess this gift. Because the world is under Satan’s control, we can only possess this gift by believing in the beautiful gospel that God gave us and thus overcome the trials, burdens and evils in this world. A righteous person receives this gift by believing in the true gospel. He can thus tell whether someone has sin in his heart.
8) Speaking in tongues: The Bible tells us about speaking in tongues: “I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue” (1 Corinthians 14:19). A saint should know that it’s much more important to understand God’s word of truth than to speak in tongues that he himself is unable to understand. He should therefore abstain from speaking in tongues.
9) Interpreting other tongues: This gift was given to the disciples to allow them to preach the gospel in the time of the early church. Nowadays the Holy Spirit spreads the gospel through the ministry of translation and interpretation of messages into various languages. There is no need for an interpreter when the person who preaches the gospel can speak all other languages. However, when we are faced with language barriers, God always allows us interpreters to fulfill His work. God does not work in disorder or in states of ecstasy. The Holy Spirit works in the beautiful gospel and also leads the saints to translate the gospel into various languages.
What are the fruits of the Holy Spirit?
Regarding the fruits of the Holy Spirit, the Bible tells us, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is not law” (Galatians 5:22-23).
1) Love: True love is for the righteous to save all sinners from their sins by preaching the beautiful gospel of the water and the Spirit. Because righteous people possess the beautiful gospel that is the true love of Jesus, they preach the gospel of true love and possess true love for other souls.
2) Joy: This is the indescribably glorious happiness gushing out from deep down in our hearts when we are born again. The righteous person who has been forgiven for all of his sins has joy in his heart (Philippians 4:4). Because there is joy in the hearts of the righteous, they have the ability to share their joy with other people.
3) Peace: This is the heart of comfort that is given to the righteous person who has been forgiven for his sins by having faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The Holy Spirit causes the righteous to preach the beautiful gospel of peace. People who have heard this beautiful gospel of peace are able to lead others to overcome the sins of the world and to have a powerful sense of faith and confidence in the gift of salvation. The righteous people that make peace between God and mankind are called sons of God (Matthew 5:9) and lead others to receive the forgiveness of sin (Proverbs 12:20). The Holy Spirit causes the righteous to lead righteous lives and bless others with peace by spreading the beautiful gospel.
4) Longsuffering: The fruits of longsuffering are in the hearts of the righteous, who have been delivered from their sins by believing in the true gospel. We can possess this fruit by fostering a long-lasting sense of fellowship with the Holy Spirit. There is a heart of longsuffering and patience in the righteous.
5) Kindness: God had mercy on us when we were full of sin and delivered us from all our sins through Jesus’ baptism and His blood on the Cross. We can love and have mercy on others because Jesus had mercy on us and blotted out all our sins, and because we believed in Him and received His grace. The righteous have hearts full of kindness and the fruits of the beautiful gospel.
6) Goodness: Goodness here means “virtue.” Righteous people have goodness and faith in the Lord deep in their hearts.
7) Faithfulness: Faithfulness means a heart full of faith in God. The faithfulness in a saint comes from being loyal to Jesus.
8) Gentleness: This means having the ability to fully understand others and hold them warmly and tenderly in our heart. The righteous have hearts to love their enemies and pray for their deliverance.
9) Self-control: Self-control is the ability to regulate oneself, to avoid leading a dissolute life and instead to live one of self-control and temperance.
Being filled with the Holy Spirit
What is the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit? Receiving this blessing allows saints to live as Jesus Christ’s disciples, joining themselves to the church of God. The Holy Spirit enables the righteous to become instruments of righteousness and to dedicate themselves to fulfilling Christ’s will. The will of the righteous is controlled by the Lord’s will, and they willingly dedicate all their possessions and talents to Him. The Holy Spirit causes the righteous to lead lives devoted to overcoming the sins of the world with a sense of victory, joy and confidence, not spiritual poverty, defeat or frustration (Romans chapter 7).
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The fullness of the Holy Spirit leads the righteous to preach the gospel.
The Lord gave a powerful sense of faith to those in whom the Holy Spirit dwells. And God gave the right to become His children to those whose sins are forgiven by their faith in the beautiful gospel of Jesus (John 1:12). The righteous people who have become God’s children through faith can preach the beautiful gospel in this world.
Righteous people have the ability to defeat Satan through the gospel for the forgiveness of sins. They also have the power to heal spiritual illness (Mark 16:18), to trample on Satan’s powers (Luke 10:19), and to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Revelation 22:14). Righteous people live with the same authority as kings by believing in God’s words of promise (2 Corinthians 6:17-18).
The Holy Spirit causes righteous people to cast off all their worldly lusts. He also leads us to preach the true gospel (Galatians 5:16).
The Holy Spirit causes the righteous to read and believe in the beautiful gospel and to teach it to others (1 Timothy 4:13).
The Holy Spirit assembles the righteous at God’s church every day (Hebrews 10:25).
The Holy Spirit causes the righteous to confess their sins (1 John 1:9) in order to make their hearts manifest by the light of the truth (Ephesians 5:13).
The Holy Spirit guides the righteous to the right path in their lives (Psalm 23).
The Holy Spirit tells the righteous not to quench His gifts (1 Thessalonians 5:19).
The Holy Spirit does great works through the wonderful gospel (Mark 16:17-18).
The Holy Spirit leads the righteous to live as the Lord’s disciples by joining them to God’s church. He leads the righteous to live spiritual lives of preaching the beautiful gospel and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is the work of the Holy Spirit through the wonderful gospel (1 Peter 2:9).
He is working in the hearts of the saints at this very moment. Hallelujah!
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