Chapter 17

The Holy Spirit

Perfecting Believers

The Holy Spirit works in the believer to do two things: first, to bring him to maturity in Christ; and second, to work through him to help other people. In this chapter we will discuss the Holy Spirit's work of perfecting believers to be like Christ, that is, bringing them to spiritual maturity.

To get that result He does a number of different works in the life of a Christian believer yielded to Him. This involves His ministries of filling, anointing, sanctifying, illuminating, and interceding.

The Holy Spirit Fills

In the previous chapter we discussed the filling of the Holy Spirit. We learned that the Scripture is clear that every Christian has the Holy Spirit living within him. But it is equally clear that some Christians are filled with the Holy Spirit and some are not. If every Christian were filled with Him, then there would be no reason for the Bible to command us to be filled.

The filling of the Holy Spirit is an act of the Spirit of God by which He controls the life of an individual who yields voluntarily to Him. It is so natural in expression that sometimes a person does not know that he is filled by the Holy Spirit. At other times, it is a very dramatic experience which varies from person to person. Through the filling of the Spirit, God works to bring believers to maturity in Christ and then to make them productive in the kingdom of God.

On the day of Pentecost, all Christians in the house where they were gathered were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2). They came under His gracious power and began to carry out the will of God. Prior to Pentecost they had been frightened, hiding behind locked doors. Remember that Jesus had just been crucified and certainly many of the rulers and people did not want to hear any more about Him. But the moment the apostles and disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, they exhibited great boldness and began witnessing with power to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Proper Motivation to Seek Filling — There are a number of reasons for desiring the fullness of the Spirit. Simon wanted power to bestow the Holy Spirit by laying his hands on people — apparently to make a name for himself (Acts 8). That was not a worthy motive. It is the same today. Some desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit in order to experience some spectacular or miraculous gift. That is not a worthy motive for seeking Him.

The Bible indicates three reasons why one should desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit:

	1.		To produce the fruit of the Spirit in order to live a life pleasing to God (Galatians 5:22-23).
	2.		To be enabled to exercise the gifts of the Spirit, not for personal pleasure or pride, but for the building up of the body of Christ Ephesians 4:11-12).
	3.		To have power for witnessing (Acts 1:8).

If you desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit for these reasons and have never asked to be filled, you may pray something like this:

"Heavenly Father, Your Word commands me to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I offer myself to You completely. Please fill me with your Spirit so that I may live a holy life pleasing to you. I desire to exercise the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given me for the glory of Jesus Christ and the good of His Church. Please enable me to be a powerful witness for Jesus wherever I go. Thank you, Father, for the gift of Your Spirit and His filling. I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen."

If you ask that in simple faith, God will answer you. Don't always expect some explosive experience. Accept by faith that God will answer your prayer because He says He wants to do it.

The Holy Spirit Anoints

An anointing is special power or ability given to someone by the Holy Spirit for a particular task. Jesus told those in His home town, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden" (Luke 4:18). Jesus specifically claimed the anointing of the Holy Spirit for the power to fulfill the ministry which God had given Him. Luke, the physician, later in Acts 10:38 states, "You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was with Him."

Christians are anointed by the Spirit of God to understand the truth. His anointing is especially important when it comes to understanding the truth or error of what is being taught about the Word of God. The Apostle John told us:

1 John 2:20-21

20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.

21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.

Thus, the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to distinguish truth from error as we hear men teach different doctrines. Many people still follow false doctrine either willfully or because they are out of fellowship with the Lord. In that condition, they do not recognize error when it is being taught.

The Holy Spirit Sanctifies

The word "sanctify" means "to be set apart unto God." Like many other spiritual benefits, it has two aspects: positional standing before God and progressive state of life.

Positional/Standing — The book of Hebrews teaches that every one who has faith in Jesus has been sanctified once for all. Hebrews 10:10 says, "By this will [God's] we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Notice the past tense in that verse. Verse 14 informs us, "For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified." And we are told in verse 29, "How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?" Thus, there is a sense in which every Christian is fully, completely, and finally sanctified once for all. This is called positional sanctification. It is the sanctification that Jesus gives us because we trust in Him.

Progressive/State — However, the working out of positional sanctification in experience is something else again. The Holy Spirit, through His sanctifying work, enables us to have in our daily experience that which Jesus purchased for us by His blood. He continues to show us our sin, enabling us to confess it and repent so that we become more like Him. God is interested in purifying the saints and He is doing that by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. Christians are chosen "according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit" (1Peter 1:2). Read more about sanctification in chapter 36.

The Holy Spirit Illuminates

He also perfects believers through teaching and revealing the truth of God to them that they could not otherwise learn. This process is called illumination. Paul teaches this concept in 1Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 2:9-10

9 … "Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man,
All that God has prepared for those who love Him."

10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

The Spirit of God uses the Bible to reveal to us the glory of God and the glory of the age to come which we will share when Jesus Christ returns. Few other things give us as good a reason to live for the Lord as this one does. Paul prayed for the Christians in Ephesus that God would give to them "a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of" Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:17). We also ought to pray that God would open our eyes to the truth through the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit Intercedes

Prayer is another way by which the Spirit of God perfects the people of God. Ephesians 2:18 teaches that we have access through Jesus to the Father by one Spirit. The throne of God is as close to us as the Holy Spirit who actually lives within us. Not only does He give us access to the Father, but He also prays for us Himself. Paul teaches in a familiar Romans passage, "the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words" (Romans 8:26). This verse is discussed in more detail in chapter 11 under the heading, "He Prays for Us."

In addition to the Holy Spirit interceding for us, we are told to pray in the Holy Spirit for other believers. For example, Paul commands us to pray in the Spirit for others in view of spiritual warfare. He writes, "With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, [spiritual warfare] be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints" (Ephesians 6:18). Thus, the Spirit uses us to intercede for others.

Make It Personal

This chapter dealt with several aspects of the Holy Spirit's work of perfecting God's people. The main lesson we must learn is that He is more than adequate to meet our every need. However, He will not do it by forcing Himself upon us. He is kind and gentle, insisting on our voluntary submission to Jesus and His Word. When we seek to live for Him, all the power of God through the Holy Spirit is at our disposal to help us. Won't you yield to Him today?

Romans 15:13

13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Do you know for sure that you will spend eternity in Heaven? The Bible speaks clearly about how you can know for sure if you are Heaven-bound. Click here to learn more.

Return to top of page
Return to How Not to Get Burned table of contents.