The Blessings of the Holy Spirit
Third Study in this series
Introduction
So far in our study, we have viewed the Holy Spirit as a promise both in the Old Testament and of Jesus, culminating in the outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (notes HERE). Then we talked about \ the person of the Holy Spirit - who is the Holy Spirit - and we noted His work as a Divine Person who helps and intercedes on our behalf.
In this lesson we want to study the Scriptures to see what the Holy Spirit is doing - how does the Holy Spirit bless us today - in what ways is He a blessing to us?
In Acts 2:38 we are told that when we repent and are baptized, “in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” This is a meaningful gift that has much to do with how we live our lives for Jesus. Bobby Valentine: “It is quite clear in any reading of the Scriptures that believers actually need the Holy Spirit in and among them.”
So what are some of the blessings of the Holy Spirit?
1. He Gave Us The Word.
Jack Cottrell: “If one were to ask me what I believe is the most important thing the Holy Spirit has ever done for us, I would answer immediately and with conviction: He gave us the Bible.”
The Bible writers were inspired by the Holy Spirit to communicate the will and word of God.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
2 Peter 1:20b-21 “...No prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own Interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
The Holy Spirit inspired the prophets (1 Pt 1.11) and the Gospel that is his sword (Eph 6.17).
Walvoord’s definition of inspiration: “God so supernaturally directed the writers of Scripture that without excluding their human intelligence, their individuality, their literary style, their personal feelings, or any other human factor, His own complete and coherent message to man was recorded in perfect accuracy, the very words of Scripture bearing the authority of divine authorship.”
Without the Holy Spirit, we would not have our Bible. The clearest and most valid communication from God is through the life and teachings of Jesus as recorded in the Bible.
2. Baptism.
We read previously Acts 2:38, which connected the giving of the Spirit with baptism.
1 Corinthians 12:13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.
We fail to refer to ‘baptism of the Spirit’ because of the use of Charismatics of that term - often referring to a misconception that the baptism of the Spirit is a special circumstance only enjoyed by a few Christians and with outward acts such as “tongues”. However, the Bible does not designate Baptism of the Spirit as something special or different from salvation.
Walvoord: “Scriptures make it plain that every Christian is baptized by the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation. Salvation and baptism are therefore coextensive, and it is impossible to be saved without this work of the Holy Spirit. … [it is] the universal work of the Spirit in every believer.”
Christians are never exhorted to seek the baptism of the Spirit.
Valentine: The Holy Spirit is the active agent in our baptism. The Holy Spirit is the one who imparts the new life of Christ to us. It is the Holy Spirit who becomes the bond uniting the baptized with Christ and with other Christians. Baptism is the work of God’s Spirit.
3. Sanctification.
When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, all aspects of our Christian life will be affected. Sanctification has at least three aspects:
Positional - you were saved, set apart for God. (1 Corinthians 6:11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.)
Progressive - growing in our spiritual life as we walk with God. (Galatians 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness…”)
Ultimate - when we have walked from this life into the promises of heaven.
Sanctification, as we want to think of it, has to do with a fundamental change in character, the fruit of the Spirit growing in our life. Sanctification is the process of making us holy. What the Holy Spirit begins in his work in baptism is carried on by the Holy Spirit throughout our lives. Three example areas of sanctification:
Assurance. Assurance is the privilege of every Christian. Walvoord “One of the precious realities of fellowship with God is the assurance that he is ours and we belong to Him. To this important fact the Spirit bears His witness.” Romans 8:16 “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God…”
Love. Romans 5:5 “...God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Love is the acid test of discipleship and the greatest of all Spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 13:13 “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” Where the Holy Spirit is … there is love.
Morality. The Holy Spirit is the basis of Christian ethical conduct. Romans 8:5-6 “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”
4. Worship.
Christian worship is offered by us in the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
John 4:23-24 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Paul declares we “worship by the Spirit of God” (Phil 3.3). We offer “Spiritual sacrifices” to God (1 Peter 2:5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.)
Specific “acts” are even offered “in the Spirit” or “with the Spirit”
1 Corinthians 14:15 I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.
Ephesians 5:18-21 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Be Filled with the Spirit. Stott suggests four results of the fullness of the Spirit:
Spiritual fellowship - “addressing one another” - true fellowship is expressed in
common worship.
Singing and making Melody - “The Holy Spirit loves to glorify the Lord Jesus,
manifesting him to his people in such a way that they delight in singing his
praises.
Spirit-filled believers give thanks always for all things. “Whenever the Holy Spirit
fills believers, they thank their heavenly Father at all times for all things.”
Spirit-filled believers submit to one another. “Submission is such an important
part of Christian behavior that the verb occurs thirty-two times in the New
Testament. Not self-assertion but self-submission is the hallmark of the
Spirit-filled Christian.”
He goes on to say, “Our first duty is reverent and humble submission to the Lord Christ. We should submit to others right up to the point where our submission to them would mean disloyalty to Christ.”
Cottrell: “...means to take full advantage of the already-present and available power of the Spirit who resides within us. In terms of our bodies or our lives as the house in which the Spirit dwells, it means that we must open up all the rooms in this house to the Spirit’s presence. We must give him access to and control of all our parts of our lives. Until we do, we are not filled with the Spirit.”
Being filled with the Spirit expresses itself in worship. Walvoord “True worship in the fullest sense of the word is possible only for those who are filled with the Spirit.”
5. Prayer.
Prayer is offered to God “in the Spirit”.
Ephesians 6:18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
Jude 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit…
DeWelt: “We do know how to pray for some things, and in such we have no need or promise of help - but when we know not how to frame the petition to the throne of grace we have the blessed assistance of the Holy Spirit.”
Intercession. The Holy Spirit intercedes when “we do not know how to pray as we ought”
Romans 8.26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
Walvoord: “Prayer is vitally related to the progressive sanctification of the Christian, prayer being the very breath of the spiritual life and development.”
Conclusion
1. Valentine: The above themes may be summarized up in the thought that the Holy Spirit is the source of Spiritual strength for living the Christian life – the power to see it through (Eph 3.16,17).
2. Garth Black: God, through the Holy Spirit, sanctifies as much of man’s life as is fills as much of the human heart as is opened to him. So Christian growth consists of this - that as more and more of the heart is opened to God, the more the Christian can be sanctified. Sanctification cannot be forced upon an unyielding Christian.”
Resources
Black, Garth. Empowered by the Grace of God. Tate Publishing, 2014.
Cottrell, Jack. The Holy Spirit: A Biblical Study. College Press, 2006.
Dewelt, Don. The Power of the Holy Spirit. College Press, 1991.
Stott, John. Baptism & Fullness: The Work of the Holy Spirit Today. InterVarsity Press, 2021.
Valentine, Bobby. The Messianic Age is the Age of the Holy Spirit: Fourteen Spirit Saturated Themes of the Christian Life.
Walvoord, John F. The Holy Spirit, Third Edition With Appendix. Zondervan, 1974.