What the Holy Spirit has done for us in the past

Common Grace: this is the ministry of the Holy Spirit in which He makes the gospel a reality in the mind of the unbeliever. The message of the Gospel is a “spiritual thing” and therefore cannot be understood as a reality in the mind of the unbeliever. 1 Cor 2:9-14 (a paraphrase of Isa 64:4), “‘Things which the eye has not seen and the ear has not heard, in fact it has not entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who keep on loving Him. But God has revealed [them] to us through the Spirit; for the [human] spirit investigates all things, even the deep things of God. For who among mankind understands human matters except the man’s inner self [spirit] which [is] in him? In the same manner also divine matters no one comprehends except the Spirit of God. Now we have not received the spirit of this world [cosmic thinking], but the spirit which [is] from God [the Holy Spirit], in order that we might understand the things which have been graciously given to us by God, which things we are also communicating, not by means of the teachings from human wisdom, but by means of the teachings from the Spirit by explaining [comparing, combining, interpreting] spiritual things to the spiritual ones. But the soulish man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and so he is not able to understand, because they are spiritually examined.”

Efficacious Grace/Regeneration: the faith of the unbeliever comes from a spiritually dead person. Therefore, that faith is spiritually dead. We, as unbelievers, cannot effect our own salvation. Therefore, the Holy Spirit takes the faith of the spiritually dead unbeliever and makes it ‘effective’ for salvation. God saves us; we cannot save ourselves. This is why our faith is not a “work” producing salvation. It is God the Holy Spirit’s work. Efficacious grace is the theological term for the delineation of the work of the Holy Spirit related to faith in Christ at the point of salvation. This is part of the regeneration of the human spirit. (There are at least thirty-nine things that God does to and for us at salvation, but that will be another lesson). The faith of the spiritually dead person would be ineffective without help from the Holy Spirit. But because we are spiritually dead, we are incapable of understanding the call. Being dichotomous, we cannot understand spiritual phenomena, having no human spirit, 1 Cor 2:14. So God the Holy Spirit acts as a human spirit to make the Gospel understandable to the mind of the unbeliever. Regeneration is the function of the Holy Spirit creating a functioning human spirit in the soul of the new believer. He turns the human spirit back on. It was turned off when the man and women sinned in the Garden of Eden.

The Baptism of the Spirit: Jn 14:20; Acts 1:5; 1 Cor 12:13. This is one of the seven ministries of the Holy Spirit at salvation, whereby the invisible omnipotence of the Holy Spirit takes every believer and enters him into union with Christ. That is a real identification. You were really taken at salvation and really put into union with Christ. This is the ministry of the Spirit whereby the Spirit enters us into union with Christ. “One faith, one Lord, one baptism.” The Greek word BAPTISMA means the identification of one thing with another resulting in a change.

Acts 1:5, “for on the one hand John baptized with water, but on the other hand you will be baptized by the Holy Spirit within a few days.’”

Jn 14:20, “In that day you will know that I [am] in My Father, and you [are] in Me, and I [am] in you.”

1 Cor 12:13, “For indeed, we all have been baptized [identified] by one Spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks or slaves or freemen, in fact we were all caused to drink one Spirit.”

The baptism of the Spirit is one of the guarantees of our eternal security. We are in union with Christ and nothing can change that union, Rom 8:38-39, “Therefore, I stand convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers of angels, neither current events, nor future events, nor demonstrations of power, neither heaven nor hell nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which [is] in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The Sealing of the Spirit: this is God’s guarantee of our eternal salvation; therefore, it is our eternal security. The concept of sealing comes from the Roman Empire’s practice of putting a wax seal on documents that were sent by a person to guarantee the accuracy and truthfulness of the contents of the message or promise or military orders.

Eph 1:13, “In Whom, when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in Whom also, when you had believed, you were sealed by the Holy Spirit with reference to the promise.”

Eph 4:30, “Furthermore, stop grieving the Holy Spirit, the God by whom you have been sealed to the day of redemption [the Rapture of the Church].”

2 Cor 1:21-22, “But God [the Father] who strengthens us in Christ along with you, and has anointed us [baptism of the Holy Spirit], who also put a seal on us and has given us the Spirit in our hearts [the filling of the Holy Spirit in the lobe of the soul] as a guarantee [down payment].”

Rom 8:23, “You have been sealed to the day of redemption.”

What the Holy Spirit is doing for us in the present.

The Filling or Help and Empowering of the Spirit: The fact that there is a filling of the Holy Spirit is noted in:

Acts 9:17, “Then Ananias departed and entered into the house, and after laying his hands on him he said, ‘Saul, brother, the Lord has sent me, Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, in order that you may regain sight and may be filled with the Holy Spirit.’”

Eph 5:18, “Furthermore, stop becoming intoxicated with wine, because of which is wastefulness, but be filled [influenced] by the Spirit,”

Note again 1 Cor 2:12-15, “Now we have not received the spirit of this world [cosmic thinking], but the spirit which [is] from God [the Holy Spirit], in order that we might understand the things which have been graciously given to us by God,”

1 Cor 2:13, “which things we are also communicating, not by means of the teachings from human wisdom, but by means of the teachings from the Spirit by explaining [comparing, combining, interpreting] spiritual things to the spiritual ones.”

1 Cor 2:14, “But the soulish man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and so he is not able to understand, because they are spiritually examined.”

1 Cor 2:15, “But the spiritual man examines [and discerns] all [spiritual] things, yet he himself is examined [and discerned] by no one.”

In this passage Paul describes two people: (1) ‘the soulish man’ (the unbeliever, who has a body and soul, but no human spirit and (2) ‘the spiritual man’ (the believer, who has a body, soul, and human spirit). At salvation the Holy Spirit regenerates our human spirit so the Holy Spirit can teach the human spirit ‘the things of God,’ that is, spiritual information (which things are foolishness to the mind of the unbeliever. The filling of the Spirit is directly related to the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit (more about this below).

The Greek word used by Paul here is the second person plural present passive imperative from the verb PLĒROW, which means “to fill” and in the passive voice “to be filled.” The idea here is one of influence. Just as a person is under the influence of alcoholic beverage, so the believer is to be under the influence of God the Holy Spirit. The idea of ‘filling’ is used for our concept of being influenced by someone or something. Thus we are to be “influenced” by God the Holy Spirit at all times. Being influenced by the Spirit is the same thing as “walking in the Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit helps us by His teaching our human spirit and then to keep on being fully influenced by that teaching to execute the will of God expressed in that teaching. For example, how do we know how to love God without knowing the following passages from the apostle John: 1 Jn 5:2-3, “By this we have come to know that we keep unconditionally loving the children of God: whenever we unconditionally love God and we carry out His orders. For this is unconditional love for God, namely, that we might continue to observe His orders, and His orders are not difficult.”

The Holy Spirit provides the help in understanding the will of God and in executing the will of God. This is the spiritual power for the execution of the plan of God for your life, which glorifies God forever.

The Indwelling of the Spirit: this ministry is mentioned in:

1 Cor 6:19-20, 3:16, “Or do you not understand that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you, Whom you have from God and you are not your own? For you were bought for a price. Now by all means honor [DOXAZW, which means “to praise, honor, magnify; glorify someone] God in your body.” The Holy Spirit indwells our body in order to provide a temple for the indwelling of the Shekinah glory, that is, the indwelling of God the Father and God the Son. The Holy Spirit provides a ‘holy of holies’ in us for the residence of the other members of the Trinity. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is also a sign of the royal family status (all Church Age believers are spiritual royalty (1 Pet 2:9, “You [are] the elect people, the royal priesthood…), which is superior to being in the family of God, as believers in past dispensations were. In the Millennium, all believers are filled with the Holy Spirit, but no millennial believer is indwelt with the Holy Spirit. There was no indwelling of the Holy Spirit until the Church Age. Believers in the Old Testament were empowered by the Holy Spirit at times.

The Teaching of the Spirit: the Holy Spirit is our mentor, our guide, our teacher of the spiritual things of God. When a pastor-teacher teaches the word of God to a group of believers, the Holy Spirit takes spiritual information and makes it understandable to our soul and helps us remember it and combine new information with previously learned spiritual information resulting in spiritual growth. The Spirit also helps us remember this new spiritual information for application to the events of life, especially to combat the false doctrine, lies, and misinformation of Satan his agents. The Holy Spirit helps us learn new spiritual information and relate it to old information so we can apply it to our spiritual walk and thus glorify God by what we think, which effects what we do.

Everything the Holy Spirit does for us is directly related to our spirituality. He creates it, teaches it, empowers it, corrects it, guides it, and helps it, This is why Jesus said, “I will also ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, in order that He may be with you forever; the Spirit of Truth, Whom the world is not able to receive, because it does not see Him nor know Him; you know Him because He dwells with you and will be in you.” Jn 14:16-17.