REVIEW
Today, we are continuing our look at what the Holy Spirit has been commissioned to do for us. And the purpose of this particular series of teachings on the Holy Spirit is for us to study the variety of things that the Lord Jesus told us that His Spirit would do for us. So, we are looking at how He is here to teach us, remind us, guide us into all truth, convict us, glorify Jesus through us, etc. And as I have made the point of already, it is essential that we understand each of these things that His Spirit was commissioned to do for us because if we feed our spirits on these things, then we will have the necessary faith to receive them in our lives. You see, if we don’t ever hear these things, how can we expect to have faith for them? In other words, if faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17), then how will we have faith for these things if we don’t hear them? We won’t. So, that is why we are camping on these various things that the Lord told us that the Spirit of grace wants to give us. So, we learned in part one of this series that His ultimate commission is to be our own personal and internal apostle. Yes, He was commissioned from heaven and sent to the earth to, similarly to an apostle, to start, establish, and build up churches—that is, to build the Lord’s church one brick at a time (through changing each and every one of our lives and conform us into the image of Christ). But as we’ve seen already—the fact is, we are told some very specific things by the Lord Jesus Christ that the Holy Spirit is commissioned to do for us in John chapters 14-16. So, what we began doing over the last couple of weeks is going through some of these things so that we are more aware of these things that He is assigned to perform in each of our lives. We saw in John 14:16-18 that one of the general things that He has been commissioned to do for us is to abide with us forever. That means that He is not “flighty”—that is, He is not quick to leave us just because we made some mistake. No, the Holy Spirit sticks with us forever—which would have been good news to Jesus’ disciples because they were faced with the sobering fact that Jesus would soon be leaving them. Therefore, for them to be told first that this other Helper was going to be with us forever would be very good news. In other words, He was not going to leave after three years. Then, last week, we saw that the Holy Spirit is specifically commissioned to teach us all things. In John 14:25&26. Jesus was still in the middle of teaching His disciples for the last time and said, “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. 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.” First of all, we saw that in verse 25 Jesus said— “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you…” And we saw that the phrase “These things” is a specific referring to everything from what Jesus was currently teaching them here on this night recorded in John chapters 14-16 to everything that Jesus had taught them during His entire earthly ministry. But the time was fast approaching that He would be leaving them and returning to His Father, and although He had taught them many great things while being present with them, He had not taught them everything there was to know. And we saw that part of the reason for this was because His disciples were unregenerate all during His earthly ministry. Therefore, they, as natural, carnal people, could not effectively understand all spiritual truth. Jesus alluded to this in John 16:12 when He said, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” The word “bear” here describes taking something up by the hand. So, I believe a good translation of this verse is— “but you cannot handle them now.” And the reason they could not “handle” these things was because they were still carnal and sold under sin. As I stated last week, trying to feed spiritual teaching to carnal people is like trying to feed a T-bone steak to a baby: they can’t handle it! So, although Jesus could not teach them all things during His earthly ministry, the day was soon coming that they would be born again and would be in the position to bear and handle all spiritual truth. This is why Jesus went on to say— “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things…” Now notice how Jesus said that the Holy Spirit was being sent by the Father in His (Jesus’) name. Now does this mean that the Father said from heaven, “Holy Spirit, go to the earth, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”? No, I’m certain that is not what He did. But that’s what we often do when we do things in the name of Jesus. What we need to understand is that when we do and say things “in the name of Jesus” that doesn’t mean we are just tacking that phrase to the end of our word or deed. No, Jesus was literally saying that the Holy Spirit was being sent in His place. So, that verifies what we have been learning—that the Holy Spirit and Jesus are One. If you have seen One, you have seen the other. We have established that already. But guess what else this should show us? If the Holy Spirit’s being sent in Jesus’ “place” (i.e. name) further verifies that they are One, then what about all of those Scriptures that show us that Jesus’ disciples are also sent out in His name? The lightbulb should come on for us that us doing things in the name of Jesus (i.e. in His place) is truly us doing things like Jesus Himself were doing them! Amen! You see, the Holy Spirit being sent in Jesus’ name doesn’t make Him less than or inferior to Jesus, does it? No! So, us being sent out in His name should show us the same! Yes, we are in good company with the Holy Spirit. Amen? So, we saw that what Jesus was telling us in this verse is that the Holy Spirit would continue to teach His disciples as Jesus had taught them until they had learned all things. In other words, part of the Holy Spirit’s commission was to finish teaching Jesus’ disciples the truths of the New Testament that Jesus had begun to teach them while He was on the earth with them. Therefore, one thing we should take away from this is that the things Jesus taught His disciples in the Four Gospels is not everything. What do I mean by that? I mean, the teachings of Jesus were simply an introduction into New Testament teachings, but were by no means all that we need to learn. I bring this out because I know of a lot of people who hang their hats on the Gospels and the sayings of Jesus. This is where they pitch camp. But we can clearly see right here that the Four Gospels are not all the things we can and should learn. We need to also learn all the things that the Holy Spirit continued teaching Christ’s disciples. Now of course I was not trying to discourage anybody from reading the Gospels. My point was simply that the Gospels are essentially the incomplete message of the New Testament. They are certainly essential to our New Covenant doctrine, but we need what was revealed after Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection through the Holy Spirit. Amen? Now it is quite obvious by studying the content of the New Testament epistles that the Holy Spirit had indeed fulfilled this commission to teach them all things! After Jesus’ disciples (such as Peter and John) received the Holy Spirit, He began to systematically teach them the full council of God. Then the Holy Spirit inspired some of them to pen letters that would be canonized forever as New Testament Scripture. During this time, there were others who also received the Holy Spirit and were taught even deeper truths of the gospel of Christ and were inspired to write them down as well. And then we went over to First John chapter two and saw further how the Holy Spirit teaches us: We saw in First John 2:27— “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things…” Now the anointing is a specific reference to the Holy Spirit—for the Holy Spirit is referred to as “oil” elsewhere in God’s Word. But notice what John said is a benefit of Him abiding in us: He said that we do not need anyone to teach us. Now some have mistakenly interpreted this to say that we do not even need teachers in the Body of Christ. Those who believe this reject the teachers God has placed around them because, in their arrogance, they think all they need is the Holy Spirit to teach them. This is not what this Scripture is saying! All the apostle John was saying was that we do not have to have teachers. In other words, we who have the Holy Spirit are not limited to being taught by other human beings. You see, the key word in First John 2:27 is “need.” Now as I made the point of last week, I believe we use this word far too loosely. And I used an example to illustrate this since we are talking anointing oil here. What if I said, “I need someone to come change the oil in my car for me.” The truth is, none of us really “need” someone to do that for us. We could do some research and study up on how it’s done if we were put into the position that we “needed” to. Say, for example, you were stranded in the desert and had to do it yourself. And you had the oil, the tools, and all the information of how to change it. If we were in this situation, I bet we could change our oil. Therefore, technically, we don’t “need” anyone to change our oil for us. But does that mean that it is not appropriate or even helpful to have others do it for us? Wouldn’t it be a better stewardship of some of our time to get someone else to do it? Sure, it would! Well, this is how we need to read this verse. Sure, if we were stranded on the Isle of Patmos and had no anointed preachers to teach us, we have the unlimited resources of the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit abiding within us to teach us. Sure, we have the oil, but that doesn’t mean that good anointed teachers are not helpful for our spiritual growth and do not provide us with a more “advantageous” way of being taught by the Lord. So, just as all we need is the oil to change our oil, all we need is the Anointing Himself to be taught. However, having an anointed teacher to learn from is akin to having a professional mechanic to change our oil for us. Praise God! But then we looked at how the apostle John went on to say at the end of this verse: “but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things…” Now notice that John referred to the Holy Spirit who will teach us all things as “the same anointing.” By using the word “same,” I believe John is comparing the anointing of the one teaching to the anointing of the one being taught. In other words, He is referring to having the Holy Spirit abiding in you and also being taught by someone ministering by the same Spirit. You see, this is the best way to be taught the Truth in my opinion. Why? Because when you have the Holy Spirit in someone else teaching you and the same Holy Spirit on the inside of you teaching you, you are more likely to not miss the truths He wants you to get. Again, sure you can have the Holy Spirit teach you directly, but a “can’t miss” way to be taught by Him is to have a personal relationship with the Teacher on the inside of you and to sit under good, Holy Spirit-inspired teaching. Then, its going to be hard to miss what He wants you to learn. And we saw that another important truth to notice in this phrase is found in the word “concerning” (NKJV). Remember that when Jesus gave this commission of the Holy Spirit, He just told His disciples that the Holy Spirit would teach them all things (John 14:26). But here, John said that He would teach us “concerning” all things. Why did John add this word? There are two very reasonable answers to that question: For one, I believe it is because John wanted to dispel another common error of false teachers: You see, many false teachings come from “revelations” that heretics supposedly receive which go totally beyond what is written in the Scriptures. In other words, false teachings rarely ever stay within the boundaries of the Bible. They are oftentimes a product of an idea or philosophy and sometimes are even a result of some spectacular dream or vision that they had. So, when John said that the anointing would teach us “concerning” all things, he was referring to the things that the Holy Spirit had already revealed to the apostles and were communicated to us by the apostles. So, Jesus told His disciples that the Holy Spirit would teach them all things, but John is telling the church that the Holy Spirit would teach us “concerning” all those things that He taught them. You see, this is how this promise affects us: We have the Holy Spirit abiding in us to teach us all things, but He is only going to teach us within the boundaries of all the things that have been written. So, how does He do this? Well, it might be that as we are reading the apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians and we come across a certain verse, that we have another truth come up in our hearts. Then we discover that it was in the apostle John’s first letter. So, as we look at it, it further clarifies what Paul was saying in Galatians. That is one of the ways that the Holy Spirit teaches “concerning” all things. But another possible explanation of this word “concerning” is in how the anointing can and will teach us concerning even the error that we hear. Let me explain: Say we are sitting in a meeting and someone is teaching us. And this teacher is saying some things that don’t seem right. We can’t explain it, but there is simply no peace, joy, etc. on the things we are hearing. Then, when they make a point, we have one, two or even three Scriptures come up in our hearts that contradict what they were saying. What is happening here? There is a good chance that the Holy Spirit on the inside of us is teaching us “concerning” the error that we are being taught. Church, this is the Holy Spirit’s job—to teach us truth on the inside, even when we are being taught error on the outside. Therefore, we can learn well even when we are sitting under bad teaching. But as we learned, the best way to learn is to sit under good anointed teaching while listening to the Anointing on the inside of us! He will always confirm the anointed Word! Praise God! HIS COMMISSION TO REMIND But this week, I want us to go back in John 14:26 and notice how Jesus also said at the end of this verse regarding the Holy Spirit that He will— “bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” So not only did Jesus promise His disciples that the Holy Spirit would teach them all things, In the same breath, He also promised that the Holy Spirit would remind them of everything that He had already told them. So, that means that He would specifically bring to their remembrance all of the things that He had taught them over the past three years. Now you do understand that during that three-year span, Jesus’ disciples did not have the privilege of writing down what Jesus was teaching them at the time, don’t you? I’m sure that they sometimes had to put their heads together to remember what Jesus had said just a week before. But Jesus was assuring them here that they need not worry if they did not take notes of what He had taught them because the best note taking system—the Holy Helper—was coming to remind them of all the things that He had spoken to them! So how does this commission of the Holy Spirit apply to us? I mean, if we weren’t there to be personally taught by Jesus during His earthly ministry, what does the Holy Spirit remind us of? I believe this promise has a couple of different applications to us today: THE FOUR GOSPELS For one, I believe that this can apply to us is like so: If Jesus then said that another commission of the Holy Spirit was to remind His disciples of the things that He had previously taught them, then wouldn’t it stand to reason that what is recorded in the four Gospels are what the Holy Spirit reminded them of? That’s right: What we have recorded in the four Gospels and have been canonized as Holy Scripture are a literal fulfillment of this commission of the Holy Spirit to remind Jesus’ disciples of what He had taught them. So, with this being the case, the Holy Spirit fulfilling His commission to remind us of the things that Jesus taught 2,000 years ago would be Him reminding us of the things that are written in the four Gospels. Let me give you an example to illustrate how this might work: Say, for instance, you were telling another believer about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit but they were afraid that if they prayed to receive the Holy Spirit that they might open themselves up to something bad. But while they were explaining their apprehensions, the Holy Spirit quickens Luke 11:11-13 to you that explains how if no natural parent would give their children something harmful if they asked for something beneficial, how much more will our Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask Him!?! You then quote this saying of Jesus to them and immediately all those apprehensions leave and they are ready to receive. That would be an example of the Holy Spirit bringing to our remembrance the things that Jesus had said. RHEMA REMINDERS But I also see this as applying to whatever things that the Lord has specifically spoken to us individually. For example, if we have been walking with the Lord for any amount of time, we have had Him speak certain things to our hearts whether it be an exhortation, rebuke, or just simply a truth that we needed at a specific period of time. Well, the Holy Spirit’s commission is to remind us of those things when we, through the weakness of our flesh, forget what He has told us. For example, say at some point in our life we were struggling with kidney stones. And then as we inquired of the Lord as to why this was happening, the Lord spoke to our hearts the word “potassium”—and we realized that He was letting us know that we need a little more potassium in our diet. Of course, we might have had no idea that a lack of potassium is connected with kidney stones. So, instead of simply obeying what the Lord spoke to us—maybe writing it off as not being “spiritual” enough—we go about our business and ignore what we heard in our heart. But then a year or so later, as we are continuing to struggle with the same kidney stone issues, the Holy Spirit gently reminds us of what we heard previously. Then, we recognize that this must have been the Lord, and we begin eating foods that are high in potassium or start taking a supplement—which completely eradicates the issue. That would be a good example of the Holy Spirit’s commission to remind us of things that the Lord already told us. Another good example is with the things that the Lord has spoken to us through the gifts of the Spirit working through other people—such as a prophecy, word of wisdom, etc. Say, someone gave us a word in the past that God is taking us to the other side of some particular trial that we are going through. But then as time passes, we start becoming “weary in well doing.” You see, sometimes we go through difficult times, and when we are in the middle of the storm, sometimes we need a little reminder of the promises God has spoken into our lives in order to receive strength to make it through those trials. So, the Holy Spirit speaks to our hearts the very same words that were given to us in that prophecy—thus reminding us of what He had already spoken to us through one of His vessels. Mind you, it might be the other way around as well. Perhaps, He spoke a word to your heart originally. And then as time passed, you forgot that He had said what He did to you. So, the Holy Spirit inspires one of His servants to give you a word that reminds you of what He already told you personally. But the fact is, how the Holy Spirit chooses to remind us is up to Him. My point is that our spiritual antennas just need to be up so that we are in the best position possible to receive His wonderful reminders. Now it needs to be said here that this should not promote laziness on our part, to where we don’t do our part in reminding ourselves. We absolutely should do our best to keep the things the Lord has spoken to us in front of our eyes, so we don’t ever forget them. But the fact is, we are in this natural body and our tendency is to forget things. So, this commission of the Holy Spirit is there to help us in those times where we may have dropped the ball and where we need supernatural recall. These are what you call “rhema reminders.” WHAT IS A RHEMA? This is what I believe the apostle Paul meant when he described our lone piece of offensive weaponry in Ephesians chapter six. If you recall, in Ephesians 6:17, he told us to take “…the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” Notice what Paul calls the Word of God here: He calls it “the sword of the Spirit.” Why does he call it “the sword of the Spirit”? What does the Holy Spirit have to do with God’s Word? I believe what we are talking about today is a big part of this: You see, as we are learning, He is commissioned to remind us of the words of our Lord. So, the Holy Spirit’s job is to take the Word of God, and put it in our hands so that we can use it as a sword! You see, I believe the Amplified Bible brings this out best: It translates this passage as, “and the sword that the Spirit wields…” What this means is that it is the Holy Spirit who wields the sword from its sheath (i.e. drawing it out for us to put into use against the enemy). Therefore, when we are confronted with various trials & temptations, we need that Word from God to combat them with. That is when the Holy Spirit is there to pull that “Word” out of your belt of truth and put it in your hand to use. He is here to bring Christ’s words to our remembrance to combat the enemy with in those times. Thus, the importance of having our belt of truth on first. Do you remember how God’s Word is called the truth (John 17:17) and how we described our belt of truth as partly consisting of the written Word of God? Well, if we do not have our belt on (i.e. we do not spend time in the word of truth, reading, studying, and meditating) then the Holy Spirit will not be able to draw those timely words from our sheath. Why? It is because He will not have as much to work with when you need His help due to the fact that He has a limited amount of truth to recall to you. You see, you can only be reminded of what you have heard. Likewise, if you are not making it a practice to hear the Word of God and if you are not moving towards discovering the truth, then the Holy Spirit will have a hard time fulfilling that part of His ministry in your life. Therefore, it is imperative that we spend time in God’s Word because the Holy Spirit has more of an opportunity to draw out the specific Scriptures that we need when situations arise. And we need to spend time with the Lord, learning how to hear the voice of the Spirit, so that we know when He is giving us a word for the fight. He will draw out that sword that we need to wage war against the many different devices of the enemy at the right times! Thank you, Lord, for the Holy Ghost! This point is also brought out in the Greek word Paul used for “word” in Ephesians 6:17 when he described our sword of the Spirit as the Word of God: When Paul identified the sword of the Spirit, the Greek word he used for “Word” was rhema. He did not use the word logos which is the Greek word commonly used to describe the written Word of God. He used the word rhema which describes “a spoken or quickened word.” I believe there are two reasons for this: Number one, it is because our spiritual sword is us speaking God’s Word out of our mouths! Just like the Master verbally responded to the temptations of the wicked one in the wilderness with “It is Written, It is Written, It is Written,” likewise we wage a good warfare with our words as we speak God’s Word. For example, if you are being tempted to be down, discouraged and depressed, what should you do? You grab yourself by the ear and say, “NO! It is written, rejoice in the Lord always! So, I will rejoice right now! Flesh, I don’t care how you feel! You are not my Lord—Jesus is! So, I will rejoice in Him right now!” Amen! But the other thing that I believe this rhema describes is it is the sword which the Spirit wields, as I previously stated. In other words, when the Holy Spirit draws a Word from God out of our sheath at those moments when it is needed, He is quickening a word to us—that is, He is making a Scripture come alive to us so that we can use it in our specific situation. Therefore, He is putting a “(S)WORD” from God into our hands so that we can use it to combat the enemy! And that is when we need to speak it out of our mouths, as I just made the point of. In fact, we see in Luke 12:11-12 that He will do this when it comes to our “rhemas” when we are speaking to people: Jesus said, “Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” What Jesus was teaching us, His disciples, here is that we need to put more dependence on the Holy Spirit to give us the words to speak than we do on our own natural preparations. Sure, I want to stand before you today having studied and being as prepared as I need to be, but as the old adage goes—you prepare like there is no Holy Ghost, but you preach likes there’s nothing else but the Holy Ghost! So, yes, we need the Holy Spirit to remind us of these truths so that we can wage a good warfare—whether that be Him giving us the Word to speak to the devil and our flesh or Him giving us the Words to speak before men. But there are also other benefits to being reminded. Let’s look at some of them: MIXING MENTAL ASPHALT I love what the apostle Paul says in the beginning of Philippians chapter 3: “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.” (Philippians 3:1) Notice how the Preacher begins this chapter with the word “Finally…” I find that quite comical that even the great apostle Paul did the same thing that just about every other preacher does—essentially say “In conclusion” when he still has two chapters left to share. 😊 But my point is that after he tells them to rejoice in the Lord, Paul goes on to say, “For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.” Now the fact is, this is how most people view “reminders”; they see them as “tedious”—that is, as wearisome, monotonous or boring. When we remind people of something, what is a general response we get? “I know” (with a little attitude). But what should our response be when someone reminds us? We should genuinely thank them! And why? Well, have we ever forgotten anything before? Has there ever been a time where we wish someone would have reminded us of something because we indeed forgot and suffered the consequences for forgetting? I’m sure we all have. So, what humility would do is thank the person for the reminder since there just might be the slightest chance that we could forget. So no, repeating and reminding is not something that should grieve us (unless of course it is them telling us the same story or joke for the umpteenth time😊). However, Paul went on to say it is “safe.” The Greek word that he used which is translated “safe” here is where we get our word asphalt from. So, what Paul was saying here was that the more we are reminded of certain truths, the more they become cemented on the inside of us. Yes, being constantly reminded of truths such as this will cause those things to become more solid in our heart similar to the hardening process of asphalt. So, while there are some things we need to forget and never dwell on, there are good things which we should constantly be reminded of. Now it is worthy to note the specific truth that the apostle Paul just gave the Philippian Church before he made this statement, that it was not a tedious thing to write the same things to them. Again, he began Philippians 3:1 with— “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord…” Have you ever noticed how this one exhortation— “rejoice in the Lord” —is one that we need to constantly be reminded of? Yes, this is one exhortation that we should have repeating on our playlist over and over again. The reason for this is because our carnal tendency is to not rejoice in the Lord. Yes, our flesh tends towards only rejoicing in our circumstances and when we feel like it. (And I’d be willing to bet that there is someone hearing this right now that is having this particular commission of the Holy Spirit that we are studying today working in them at this moment. Yes, I believe He is reminding some of us today to rejoice in the Lord. Thank you, Holy Spirit!) Now, we see the apostle Peter referring to the importance of being reminded twice (imagine that) in his second epistle. In the first instance, he said that he would not be negligent to remind them of the things he already said to them, even though the recipients of his letter knew and were established in the present truth (Second Peter 1:12). So, as we made the point of last week from Hebrews 2:1, even when we think we know the truth, we still need to continue hearing it and even more diligently, because that carnal part of us is oh-so-quick to forget. In fact, Peter goes on to say in verse 13 that by reminding them of these truths, he was attempting to stir them up. He repeats this in Second Peter 3:1 when he says, “Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder).” So, we see that being reminded of truth has a similar effect on our minds as a spoon has on a pot of soup. If you allow soup to just sit stagnant in the pot without ever stirring it, a film will develop on the top; but if you stir that soup occasionally, you will keep it fresh and tasty. Likewise, as we from time to time stir up our minds with the truths that we might already be established in, we again purify our minds. Amen. FINALLY! So, what have we seen thus far—that reminders do three things: Number one, they equip us in times of need—putting a sword in our hands to combat thoughts, fears, and temptations with. Number two, they “cement” those truths in our heart—further establishing them in us. And number three, they “stir up” those truths in our mind—thus making them pure & fresh. So, why would we ever see a reminder as something that is unnecessary and pointless? I’ll tell you why—pride. Let’s not be like that, church. Let’s operate in humility and invite the Holy Spirit and even the people in our lives to remind us of the things that we need to remain fresh in us and that we need to be further established in. Amen? You see, we not only have the Holy Spirit here to teach us, we also have Him here to remind us. He will remind us of everything from what the Lord has spoken to us individually to what the Lord has spoken to us all as revealed in the Gospels. His commission is to remind!
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REVIEW
Today, we are continuing our look at the advantage that the Holy Spirit gives us in our Christian walks by studying what He has been commissioned to do for us. So, the title of this Holy Spirit series is— “The Commission of the Holy Spirit.” In this series, we are looking at the variety of things that the Lord told us that He would do for us—such as, teach us, remind us, guide us into all truth, convict us, etc. And as I made the point of last week, it is essential that we understand specifically what the Lord told us that His Spirit was commissioned to do for us because if we feed our spirits these things, then we will have the necessary faith to receive them. Amen? Now since we are using this word “commissioned,” we defined it. We saw that it has different meanings depending on the context it is used in, but it basically means “to formally choose someone to do a special piece of work.” We could say that it means to be “ordered, authorized, or appointed to do something.” In other words, when one is commissioned to produce something then that means that they have been appointed to perform certain duties. Therefore, the Holy Spirit has been specifically called and commissioned to do certain things. We could call Him the “Commissioner of Christ,” and we will find out why throughout this series of teachings. So, we learned what His ultimate commission is by spending our time last week looking at what the Holy Spirit’s calling is. And we found in First Peter 1:12 that the Holy Spirit was “sent” from heaven—the word “sent” coming from the Greek word apostello. We saw how this word can more specifically be defined as “to commission, to set apart for a special service, or to send out with a mission to fulfill.” Word Meanings in the New Testament by Ralph Earle defines it as to “send on a mission, or with a commission.” And we saw how this word “apostello” is akin to the Greek word used to translate “apostle,” which literally means “sent one.” So, Strong’s describes this office as a “commissioner of Christ.” So, the Holy Spirit is essentially fulfilling the office of an apostle. Yes, He was commissioned from heaven and sent to the earth. To do what? Similarly to an apostle, He was sent from heaven to foreign soil to start, establish, and build up churches. Now I am not talking about physical church buildings. I am talking about the true Church, the Body of Christ. The Holy Spirit’s commission is to start churches—that is, to draw people to the Lord Jesus Christ and to regenerate them through the new birth (John 3:6 & Titus 3:5-6). The Holy Spirit’s commission is to establish those churches—that is, to teach and council those He has regenerated, thus making disciples out of them. He does this by teaching us, reminding us, and guiding us into all truth. And, last but not least, the Holy Spirit’s commission is to build these churches up—that is, to strengthen and edify these believers so that they will grow and reach their full potential. And we learned that the Holy Spirit most certainly does this through power—that is, with accompanying signs, wonders and miracles which are His gifts (faith, word of knowledge, working of miracles, gifts of healings, etc.). So, the Holy Spirit is an apostle in every sense of the word! Therefore, having the Holy Spirit is like us having our own personal and divine “apostle.” Yes, He is the One who got us started in our Christian walk by coming to this earth from heaven and drawing us to our Lord and Savior. But He did more than that: He is the One who keeps us progressing on the path of life by teaching, encouraging, and strengthening us. He is our Rabbi—our own personal, internal apostle. I believe this is the best summary of His commission. But the fact is, we are told some very specific things by the Lord Jesus Christ that the Holy Spirit is commissioned to do for us in John chapters 14-16. So, what we began doing last week is we began going through some of these things so that we are more aware of these things that He is assigned to perform in each of our lives. Last week, we saw in John 14:16-18 that one of the general things that He has been commissioned to do for us is to abide with us forever. That means that He is not “flighty”—that is, He is not quick to leave us just because we made some mistake. No, the Holy Spirit sticks with us forever—which would have been good news to Jesus’ disciples because they were faced with the sobering fact that Jesus would soon be leaving them. Therefore, for them to be told first that this other Helper was going to be with us forever would be very good news. In other words, He was not going to leave after three years. We also learned in John 14:18 that Jesus promised not to leave them “orphans.” No, He promised to come to them—and I believe in the person of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we have the Lord with us forever—never to leave us nor forsake us. He is faithful! HIS COMMISSION TO TEACH Now the next thing that the Holy Spirit is commissioned to do for us is found in John 14:25&26. Jesus was still in the middle of teaching His disciples for the last time and said, “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. 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.” First of all, notice that in verse 25 Jesus said— “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you…” The phrase “These things” is a specific reference to everything from what Jesus was currently teaching them here on this night recorded in John chapters 14-16 to everything that Jesus had taught them during His entire earthly ministry. But the time was fast approaching that He would be leaving them and returning to His Father, and although He had taught them many great things while being present with them, He had not taught them everything there was to know. Part of the reason for this was because His disciples were unregenerate all during His earthly ministry. Therefore, they, as natural, carnal people, could not effectively understand all spiritual truth. Jesus alluded to this in John 16:12 when He said, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” The word “bear” here describes taking something up by the hand. So, I believe good translation of this verse is— “but you cannot handle them now.” And the reason they could not “handle” these things was because they were still carnal and sold under sin. You see, trying to feed spiritual teaching to carnal people is like trying to feed a T-bone steak to a baby: they can’t handle it! So, although Jesus could not teach them all things during His earthly ministry, the day was soon coming that they would be born again and would be in the position to bear and handle all spiritual truth. This is why Jesus went on to say— “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things…” First of all, notice how Jesus said that the Holy Spirit was being sent by the Father in His (Jesus’) name. Now does this mean that the Father said from heaven, “Holy Spirit, go to the earth, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”? No, I’m certain that is not what He did. But that’s what we often do when we do things in the name of Jesus. What we need to understand is that when we do and say things “in the name of Jesus” that doesn’t mean we are just tacking that phrase to the end of our word or deed. No, Jesus was literally saying that the Holy Spirit was being sent in His place. So, that verifies what we have been learning—that the Holy Spirit and Jesus are One. If you have seen One, you have seen the other. We have established that already. But guess what else this should show us? If the Holy Spirit being sent in Jesus’ “place” (i.e. name) further verifies that they are One, then what about all of those Scriptures that show us that Jesus’ disciples are also sent out in His name? The lightbulb should come on for us that us doing things in the name of Jesus (i.e. in His place) is truly us doing things like Jesus Himself were doing them! Amen! You see, the Holy Spirit being sent in Jesus’ name doesn’t make Him less than or inferior to Jesus, does it? No! So, us being sent out in His name should show us the same! Yes, we are in good company with the Holy Spirit. Amen? So, what Jesus was telling us in this verse is that the Holy Spirit would continue to teach His disciples as Jesus had taught them until they had learned all things. In other words, part of the Holy Spirit’s commission was to finish teaching Jesus’ disciples the truths of the New Testament that Jesus had begun to teach them while He was on the earth with them. Therefore, one thing we should take away from this is that the things Jesus taught His disciples in the Four Gospels is not everything. What do I mean by that? I mean, the teachings of Jesus were simply an introduction into New Testament teachings, but were by no means all that we need to learn. I bring this out because I know of a lot of people who hang their hats on the Gospels and the sayings of Jesus. This is where they pitch camp. But we can clearly see right here that the Four Gospels are not all the things we can and should learn. We need to also learn all the things that the Holy Spirit continued teaching Christ’s disciples. Now of course I am not trying to discourage anybody from reading the Gospels. We absolutely should make Jesus’ teachings in Matthew, Mark, Luke & John a steady part of our diet. However, what I am saying is that they are not to be all we feed on. For example, vegetables are good for you and you should certainly incorporate them into your diet. But even eating only veggies can make one a little out of balance in their diet. Heck, even the Bible says that he who is weak eats only vegetables (Romans 14:2) 😊! No, I am just joking, but my point is that only having one good thing in your diet has its setbacks too. We need to be well-rounded. But along those lines of dieting, let me encourage you with something: Live in freedom. Don’t live under those self-imposed laws that say, “You can’t have this or that!” Let the Holy Spirit lead you. Use wisdom, but not at the risk of placing yourself under a law. In my opinion, even the stress and anxiety of abstaining from certain things have harmful effects on us far worse than the foods we put in our bodies. I for one believe that when we cooperate with the laws of the land, but enjoy the journey, then we will see the fruit we desire in our lives. Just a good word of wisdom. But my point is that the Gospels are essentially the incomplete message of the New Testament. They are certainly essential to our New Covenant doctrine, but we need what was revealed after Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection through the Holy Spirit. Amen? Now it is quite obvious by studying the content of the New Testament epistles that the Holy Spirit had indeed fulfilled this commission to teach them all things! After Jesus’ disciples (such as Peter and John) received the Holy Spirit, He began to systematically teach them the full council of God. Then the Holy Spirit inspired some of them to pen letters that would be canonized forever as New Testament Scripture. During this time, there were others who also received the Holy Spirit and were taught even deeper truths of the gospel of Christ and were inspired to write them down as well. By far the greatest example of this was the Apostle Paul: The Holy Spirit taught him so many great New Testament realities such as justification by faith etc. that even Peter thought some of his teachings were hard to understand (see Second Peter 3:16), and what was so amazing about this was that Paul never even walked with Jesus! But this is the power of the teaching commission of the Holy Spirit! It doesn’t matter if you have not had all the advantages that others have had in regards to education and other privileges; if you have the Holy Spirit, He is the only teacher you need to be filled with all the wisdom of God! THE ANOINTED TEACHER This is what the apostle John meant in First John 2:27 when he said— “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things…” Now the anointing is a specific reference to the Holy Spirit—for the Holy Spirit is referred to as “oil” elsewhere in God’s Word. But notice what John said is a benefit of Him abiding in us: He said that we do not need anyone to teach us. Now some have mistakenly interpreted this to say that we do not even need teachers in the Body of Christ. Those who believe this reject the teachers God has placed around them because, in their arrogance, they think all they need is the Holy Spirit to teach them. This is not what this Scripture is saying! All the apostle John was saying was that we do not have to have teachers. In other words, we who have the Holy Spirit are not limited to being taught by other human beings. You see, the key word in First John 2:27 is “need.” Now I believe we use this word far too loosely. For example, since we are talking anointing oil here, what if I said, “I need someone to come change the oil in my car for me.” The truth is, none of us really “need” someone to do that for us. We could do some research and study up on how it’s done if we were put into the position that we “needed” to. Say, for example, you were stranded in the desert and had to do it yourself. And you had the oil, the tools, and all the information of how to change it. If we were in this situation, I bet we could change our oil. Therefore, technically, we don’t “need” anyone to change our oil for us. But does that mean that it is not appropriate or even helpful to have others do it for us? Wouldn’t it be a better stewardship of some of our time to get someone else to do it? Sure, it would! Well, this is how we need to read this verse. Sure, if we were stranded on the Isle of Patmos and had no anointed preachers to teach us, we have the unlimited resources of the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit abiding within us to teach us. Sure, we have the oil, but that doesn’t mean that good anointed teachers are not helpful for our spiritual growth and do not provide us with a more “advantageous” way of being taught by the Lord. So, just as all we need is the oil to change our oil, all we need is the Anointing Himself to be taught. However, having an anointed teacher to learn from is akin to having a professional mechanic to change our oil for us. Praise God! So, again, John was simply saying that we do not have to be totally dependent on man teaching us. That is all. He was not saying that it is non-beneficial to listen to the good anointed teaching that is available to us. As a matter of fact, if you look at the context and what John said next, the meaning of this verse becomes even clearer: If you back up to First John 2:18, you will see that the apostle John began talking about the spirit of Antichrist that these believers were dealing with. He said, “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.” Now what this verse is saying is that the more “antichrist activity” that we see in the world reveals to us how close we are to the end. And, church, if the “last hour” was 2,000 years ago, then technically we are not even living in the last days. No, we are not living in the last days, we are living in the last minutes if not the last seconds of the last days! But this verse also shows us that the Antichrist himself is not all that we should be concerned with; no, there is a spirit of antichrist that is already here with us today. And what is this? Well, it’s “anti” “Christ”—meaning, it is against the Christ. Therefore, this spirit of antichrist is here to deceive us, and what it is going to propagate is that Jesus is not the Savior (i.e. there are other ways to be saved, deceiving us to trust in other things for our salvation, etc.), and that Jesus is not Lord (i.e. it denies His Lordship in our lives—thus, denying obedience, not doing what He said, etc.). But this spirit of antichrist is also “anti-anointing” (Christ referring to the Anointed One and His anointing). Therefore, the spirit of antichrist will strive against the Holy Spirit and His ways and workings. Yes, it will seek to convince people to deny the power of His resurrection. The apostle John goes on to say in verse 19 that “they went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.” So, these who had the spirit of antichrist actually came out of the Christian camp! Therefore, guess where this spirit of antichrist generally comes from? It comes out of the legitimate truth. In other words, the lie will have an element of truth in it. So, the antichrist a lot of times begins with being in Christ, and then the truth gets perverted and they begin to preach & teach false doctrine. In other words, false doctrine a lot of times comes out of good, sound doctrine. So, just because someone is in the church and calls themselves a legitimate Christ-centered ministry, does not mean that they are legitimate. Then in verse 20, John says, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.” Now that is a BIG BUT! The apostle John is basically saying, don’t be worried and don’t freak out--because this is what we have: We have an anointing from the Holy One and we know all things! What does this mean? Well, having the Anointing—the Holy Spirit who was sent from our Holy God—means that we have the One on the inside of us that knows all things. Therefore, we know all things as we know the One who lives within us who does. You’ve heard me say that I don’t have to know everything; I just need to know the One who does. Therefore, this shows me that my ability to not be deceived is directly tied to knowing the Spirit of truth Himself The more I know Him—the Spirit of truth—the more I will know the truth and the less likely I am to be deceived by error. Amen? Now I know that the Bible does prophesy that even the elect will be deceived in the last days. But the more we know the Anointed One and His anointing, the less likely we will be deceived when that time comes. The Holy Spirit’s commission is to keep us from stumbling in error and darkness. John goes on to say in verses 21-23: “I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.” In other words, knowing Jesus and the Word are what will keep us from deception. Jesus is Lord and Christ, and whatever takes us away from that truth is a lie. Then, in verse 24, he says, “Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.” The wisdom we can gain from this verse is that we are to keep in us the truths that we know God has already revealed to us. Always remember: we are told to give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard (Hebrews 2:1). Sure, we want to grow. Yes, we desire to learn more. But not at the expense of forsaking the things we have learned. As John promises us here, when we let the truths God has already taught us abide in us, we will abide in the Son and in the Father. Amen. And here is another good nugget of wisdom: In verse 25, the apostle John says, “And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.” It’s all about eternal life! So, what is eternal life? Jesus taught us in John 17:3 that eternal life is knowing God the Father and Jesus Christ, His Son. No, it is not just knowing about God; eternal life is knowing God personally and intimately. Just learning about God can result in always learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth. Sure, there are things we need to learn about Him, but the first priority is knowing Him experientially. As we come to know the Lord, we are fulfilling the purpose of Christianity. So, my point is that in the context, John was warning against the deception of false teachers. This is why John says in verse 26, “These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you.” (Now back to verse 27) … And in all likelihood, when he said that we do not need that anyone teach us, he was likely refuting one of the heresies of these false teachers that in order to understand spiritual things, they had to learn it from them. You see, false teachers will try and make you totally dependent on them. They will try and deceive you into thinking that they have the corner on the truth. They will even try and discourage you from studying the Word for yourself and to lean on them to interpret it for you. Notice how the apostle John went on to say in First John 2:27, “but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things…” First of all, notice that John referred to the Holy Spirit who will teach us all things as “the same anointing.” By using the word “same,” I believe John is comparing the anointing of the one teaching to the anointing of the one being taught. In other words, He is referring to having the Holy Spirit abiding in you and also being taught by someone ministering by the same Spirit. You see, this is the best way to be taught the Truth in my opinion. Why? Because when you have the Holy Spirit in someone else teaching you and the same Holy Spirit on the inside of you teaching you, you are more likely to not miss the truths He wants you to get. Again, sure you can have the Holy Spirit teach you directly, but a “can’t miss” way to be taught by Him is to have a personal relationship with the Teacher on the inside of you and to sit under good, Holy Spirit-inspired teaching. Then, its going to be hard to miss what He wants you to learn. Another important truth to notice in this phrase is found in the word “concerning” (NKJV). Remember that when Jesus gave this commission of the Holy Spirit, He just told His disciples that the Holy Spirit would teach them all things (John 14:26). But here, John said that He would teach us “concerning” all things. Why did John add this word? There are two very reasonable answers to that question: For one, I believe it is because John wanted to dispel another common error of false teachers: You see, many false teachings come from “revelations” that heretics supposedly receive which go totally beyond what is written in the Scriptures. In other words, false teachings rarely ever stay within the boundaries of the Bible. They are oftentimes a product of an idea or philosophy and sometimes are even a result of some spectacular dream or vision that they had. So, when John said that the anointing would teach us “concerning” all things, he was referring to the things that the Holy Spirit had already revealed to the apostles and were communicated to us by the apostles. So, Jesus told His disciples that the Holy Spirit would teach them all things, but John is telling the church that the Holy Spirit would teach us “concerning” all those things that He taught them. You see, this is how this promise affects us: We have the Holy Spirit abiding in us to teach us all things, but He is only going to teach us within the boundaries of all the things that have been written. But another possible reason is to show us how the anointing can and will teach us concerning even the error that we hear. Let me explain: Say we are sitting in a meeting and someone is teaching us. And this teacher is saying some things that don’t seem right. We can’t explain it, but there is simply no peace, joy, etc. on the things we are hearing. Then, when they make a point, we have one, two or even three Scriptures come up in our hearts that contradict what they were saying. What is happening here? There is a good chance that the Holy Spirit on the inside of us is teaching us “concerning” the error that we are being taught. Church, this is the Holy Spirit’s job—to teach us truth on the inside, even when we are being taught error on the outside. Therefore, we can learn well even when we are sitting under bad teaching. Praise God! So, church, we have the Holy Spirit here to teach us! He will teach us concerning all those wonderful mysteries we have recorded in the New Testament epistles and He will teach us through the many anointed teachers that are in the Body of Christ today! Hey, He will even teach us concerning the bad things we hear. His commission is to teach us—in both the good and the bad environments. Let Him fulfill His commission to teach you today! INTRODUCTION
Today, we will be essentially continuing our look at the advantage that the Holy Spirit gives us in our Christian walks by studying what He is commissioned to do for us. So, I am titling this Holy Spirit series— “The Commission of the Holy Spirit.” In this series, we will look at the variety of things that the Lord told us that He would do for us—such as, teach us, remind us, lead & guide us into all truth, convict us, etc. It is essential that we understand specifically what the Lord told us that His Spirit was commissioned to do for us because if we feed our spirits these things, then we will have the necessary faith to receive them. Amen? How many of you could stand to have the Holy Spirit teach you more? How many of you would like for Him to glorify Jesus a little more through your life? Well, have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to us today and in the coming weeks, and I believe you will experience more of a manifestation of these things He is commissioned to do in our lives. REVIEW Now before we move forward into all of these things, it is important that we go back and review what we learned in our last series—because it “dovetails” into this new series: Again, in John 14:16, we saw how Jesus said, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—” So, if the Holy Spirit is “another Helper,” then that must mean that there was an original Helper, right? In other words, since Jesus uses the word “another” here, then that indicates that the Holy Spirit is not the first Helper to come on the scene. So again, who was the original Helper? JESUS! Yes, Jesus was that other Helper! Therefore, Jesus was stating in John 14:16 that the Holy Spirit, who would come after His departure, would be “another Helper” like Him. So, we saw that there are two different Greek words that could be used to translate the word “another.” One was heteros and the other was allos: The word heteros means “another of a different kind.” This is where we get our English word “heterosexual” from, which is someone who is attracted to another (human being) of a different kind (of sex). The other word is allos and means “another of the same kind.” More specifically, allos described another of the same kind that is essentially an exact representation, a duplicate, or even a twin. This is the Greek word that Jesus used when He referred to the Holy Spirit as— “another Helper!” So, Jesus was not saying to His disciples that the Holy Spirit was just some other kind of Helper, but rather the Holy Spirit is the exact same kind of Helper that He had been to them for the past three years! In other words, the Holy Spirit is an exact duplicate of Jesus – His identical twin, if you would! Glory! So, just like when Jesus said in John 14:9 that if you have seen Me you have seen the Father, likewise, if you have seen the Jesus, you have seen the Holy Spirit! Yes, He is here to mirror the Lord Jesus Christ to us! Therefore, the Holy Spirit is to us today what Jesus was to His disciples! But here is the point I wanted to get to: The term “Helper” again comes from the Greek word parakletos, and this word is a compound that comes from the Greek words para and kaleo. The word para is a preposition that describes “coming alongside of.” The other word, kletos, literally means “to call,” but not to call like you would call your dog or call your friend; in this instance, it denotes “calling with purpose or intent.” Therefore, kletos describes more of a “vocation, a career, or a mission.” If you recall, Paul used this word to describe how he was “called to be an apostle” (Romans 1:1). So, again, this describes God calling Him, not just to get his attention, but as Paul goes on to say in this verse, to “separate (him) to the gospel of God.” (Now this example of Paul being called to be an apostle is an important part of today’s teaching, so remember that) THE HOLY SPIRIT’S CALLING But in the example that we are looking at, it is not a man who is called; it is the Holy Spirit! So how does this apply to the Holy Spirit? It shows us that He has a calling, just like Paul was “called” to be an apostle, and like you and I are called by God to do certain things and fulfill certain positions in God’s kingdom. And that is something that we do good to realize: that we all have a calling. It is not just those who stand behind the pulpit or the podium who are called; everyone who is a child of God is called to do something. I have noticed that those who know they are not called to teach, preach, sing, or play an instrument seem to feel insignificant. But that is not the case. As someone who is called into the five-fold ministry, I can guarantee you that you are important. I cannot do the things I do, if I do not have a team around me—whether that be someone helping with the media during the service, cleaning the toilets before the service, or ministering at the altars after the service. It is all important. So, just know that you fulfilling your part & portion is extremely significant in the whole grand scheme of things, and you will be rewarded for it to boot. Also, remember that because Jesus was a beloved Son and God is pleased with Him, I am a beloved son and God is pleased with me. As we look at our lives, we need to magnify God's goodness, not our weakness. We need to focus on what Jesus has done. Magnifying Him gives us the grace to overcome every weakness. We reflect what we behold, changing from glory to glory. If you don't like what you are getting, start focusing on God's goodness in that area to start bearing fruit in that area. So, since the Holy Spirit has a “calling” then that means that He is “commissioned” to do certain things for us. And as we have seen, the first thing He is commissioned to do is to be para us—that is, He is called to be by our side to be our ever-present Helper in our needs. But there are some very specific things that He helps us with. And that is what we are going to look at in the coming weeks. Now since we are using this word “commissioned,” let’s define it: It has different meanings depending on the context it is used in. It means to formally choose someone to do a special piece of work. You could say that it means to be “ordered, authorized, or appointed to do something.” In other words, when one is commissioned to produce something then that means that they have been appointed to perform certain duties. And, saints, the Holy Spirit has been specifically called and commissioned to do something. And can you guess what that is? Let’s look at First Peter chapter one and find out: In First Peter 1:10-12, after encouraging his readers to persevere through their trials & tribulations in order to receive the end of their faith—that is, the salvation of their souls—he begins to expound on this salvation that they had experienced. He says, “Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into.” When the apostle Peter refers to “this salvation,” he is obviously talking about the salvation that you and I are currently experiencing right now! Yes, this is the grace that Peter said has come to us in this hour! So, the gist of what Peter was saying here is this—that many of the prophecies that were given through the major and minor prophets were not things that Israel would see fulfilled in their dispensation. These prophets inquired of the Lord and also searched the Scriptures themselves to find out when these things concerning both the sufferings of Christ and the good things that would come as a result of His suffering might come to pass. But the Lord showed these prophets that it wasn’t going to happen in their lifetime but, rather, to a future generation were these things going to come to pass. Therefore, these things that were given through them were written for us who are now experiencing the good news they spoke of! Glory to God! And Peter said that the blessings of salvation that we are walking in today are things that even angels desire to look into. Now this phrase— “things which angels desire to look into” —describes how a child might curiously peer over a gate to see what was on the other side. Church, even the angels of God are interested in the glorious salvation that you and I have! This is one of the reasons I believe that the cherubim are positioned in such a way on the top of the arc of the covenant—that they might peer over into the mercy seat and see the glorious covenant that has been established between Christ Jesus and God the Father! So, you could say that the Church is God’s University for angels. Hallelujah! So, my point (and the apostle Peter’s point) is that what we have today is far better than even what they had under the Old Covenant. Yes, if any of those prophets could have switched places with any of us, they would have. We are blessed, blessed, blessed! And why? It is because, for one, we have been born again and made children of God. Oh, what manner of love has been bestowed upon us that we are called children of God. That means that we have become partakers of His divine nature. Yes, His seed remains in us! I am God’s son. Glory! Therefore, this means that we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ Jesus. Yes, we have an inheritance reserved for us in heaven! And not only are our sins covered, but they have been washed away. He doesn’t remember our sins or lawless deeds anymore! We have been saved from our sins—past, present, and future. But guess what else we have under this New and Better Covenant? Notice again, that small and seemingly insignificant phrase at the end of verse 12: In First Peter 1:12 Peter talked about how those who preached the gospel to the recipients of his letter did it through the Holy Spirit Who was sent from heaven. Church, there is a powerful description of the Holy Spirit’s commission contained in these three words— “sent from heaven.” The word “sent” comes from the Greek word apostello, and can more specifically be defined as “to commission, to set apart for a special service, or to send out with a mission to fulfill.” Word Meanings in the New Testament by Ralph Earle defines it as to “send on a mission, or with a commission.” This word “apostello” is akin to the Greek word translated as “apostle,” which literally means “sent one.” Now some people do not believe that the position of an apostle is an active office in the Body of Christ today. These believe that the apostles of the New Testament were the last of the apostles and since they have passed away, all of the signs, wonders and miracles of the New Testament have passed away as well. I could not disagree with this belief system any more emphatically. I heard once that man a went to a church service where the preacher was preaching against miracles in the church today saying that they passed away with the last apostle, then this man had an open vision of a flashing, neon sign above the podium that said, “The last apostle isn’t dead yet.” No, this is just man’s attempt to explain their lack of experiencing the things they read in the Book of Acts. But the truth is, all of God’s gifts and graces are still with us today. Now there are others who go to the other extreme—not only believing we still have the office of apostles today, but self-appointing “apostles” left and right in their churches and denominations. You will find some of these wearing tailored suits, embroidered with “Apostle such and such.” And it’s a good thing they put that on their suits because you wouldn’t be able to tell they were apostles by their fruit. Amen? No, church, that is just man’s attempt to confer titles on one another and on themselves. The truth is—if you are an apostle, then you will do the work of an apostle and have the fruit of an apostle. So, what is the fruit of an apostle? Let’s look at this in detail because in seeing what the office of an apostle does, we can see what the Holy Spirit is commissioned to do: As I’ve said already, the term “apostle” literally describes “a sent one,” but more specifically, it is one sent with a message—for the word suggests one who is a messenger or a missionary. Strong’s describes this office as a “commissioner of Christ.” Now while a missionary can be an apostle, this does not mean that all missionaries are apostles. So, don’t get confused there because there is certainly more fruit that comes through the office of an apostle. We will get into some of these things momentarily. But the fact is, one thing that an apostle does is he is sent to foreign soil with the gospel of Christ. So, how does this apply to the Holy Spirit? Well, where was He commissioned from? Heaven! So, next to the Lord Jesus, He was the original Sent One from heaven to the earth. And why is an apostle sent to foreign soil? It is to preach the gospel to those people with signs & wonders. So, an apostle is someone who is sent to foreign soil to start, establish, and build up churches. Likewise, the Holy Spirit was sent from heaven with a similar mission to fulfill. That mission was (and still is) to start churches, establish churches, and build up churches. Now I am not talking about physical church buildings. I am talking about the true Church, the Body of Christ. The Holy Spirit’s commission is to start churches—that is, to draw people to the Lord Jesus Christ and to regenerate them through the new birth (John 3:6 & Titus 3:5-6). The Holy Spirit’s commission is to establish those churches—that is, to teach and council those He has regenerated, thus making disciples out of them. He does this by teaching us, reminding us, and guiding us into all truth. And, last but not least, the Holy Spirit’s commission is to build these churches up—that is, to strengthen and edify these believers so that they will grow and reach their full potential. And the Holy Spirit most certainly does this through power—that is, with accompanying signs, wonders and miracles which are His gifts (faith, word of knowledge, working of miracles, gifts of healings, etc.). So, the Holy Spirit is an apostle in every sense of the word! Therefore, having the Holy Spirit is like us having our own personal & divine “apostle.” What do I mean? I mean that He is the One who got us started in our Christian walk by coming to this earth from heaven and drawing us to our Lord and Savior. Not only that, but He is the One who keeps us progressing on the path of life by teaching, encouraging, and strengthening us. He is our Rabbi—our own personal, internal apostle. I believe this is the best summary of His commission. Some believe that it would have been so wonderful to walk with Jesus and be one of His disciples. Others would certainly settle to be the apostle Paul’s son in the faith, having him instruct them. But, church, I am here to tell you that what we have available to us is far better than having another physical person with us, even as great as the apostle Paul, Peter, John, or even Jesus. The Holy Spirit is our apostle, and He will do the work of an apostle in us and through us if we will let Him. He was sent here for you. Let Him be your apostle today! |
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