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THE BIBLE AND THE HOLY SPIRIT’S WORK
A. Introduction: We have been working on a series about reading the Bible relationally, and this is our last
lesson. My hope is that this approach to reading will help you read the Bible more effectively.
1. When you read relationally your goal is more than gaining information about God. You goal is to
deepen your relationship with Him through the words which He inspired. II Tim 3:16
a. When you read relationally, it isn’t about getting to the end of a chapter, but rather it’s about
taking time to fellowship with Almighty God through His Word.
b. In relational reading, you prayerfully think about the Lord, with the awareness that He is with
you, and wants to show you something about Himself through His written Word.
1. God reveals Himself to us through the Scriptures so that we can know Him and have a living,
vital relationship with Him. Jesus said that the Scriptures testify of Him. John 5:39
2. Jesus said: John 6:63—All the words through which I (Jesus) have offered myself to you
are meant to be channels of the spirit and of life to you, since in believing those words, you
would be brought into contact with the life in me (J. Riggs Paraphrase).
2. The Bible brings us into contact with God through the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is
the One who inspired the words of Scripture and He is the One who helps us understand them. He
is also the One who makes Jesus real to us through the Scriptures. In this lesson we’re going to
focus on the work of the Holy Spirit in our relationship with God.
B. In this series we’ve been looking at the account of the Last Supper to help us understand relational
reading. Let’s review a few key points. The Last Supper took place the night before Jesus was
crucified. At this meal, Jesus had much to say about the Holy Spirit.
1. Jesus told His twelve apostles that He was going to leave them, but He assured them that He would
not abandon them. He promised that He and the Father would send the Holy Spirit.
a. God is Triune. He is One God who simultaneously manifests as three distinct, but not separate,
Persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
1. These three Persons each fully possess one Divine nature. The Father is all God. The Son
is all God. The Holy Spirit is all God. This is a mystery beyond our comprehension.
2. All three Persons were and are involved in our salvation. The Father (in love) planned it.
Jesus, through His death and resurrection, purchased (or provided it). The Holy Spirit
produces (or applies) the effects of Jesus’ sacrifice in our lives when we believe on Jesus.
A. God’s plan has always been to unite Himself to men and women through shared life—
eternal life, the life in God Himself.
B. Sin has made this impossible. But Jesus died to pay for sin and open the way for men
and women to be indwelled by the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit.
b. Jesus said to His apostles: The Holy Spirit dwells with you and will be in you (John 14:17,
ESV). They didn’t understand it then, but Jesus was assuring them that through the work of the
Holy Spirit, He and the Father would be in them as well: When I am raised to life again, you
will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you (John 14:20, NLT).
1. Jesus was referring to union with Him. He meant that you will be united to me and the life
in me. Later in the evening, Jesus referred to Himself as the Vine and believers in Him as
branches, picturing shared life through union. John 15:5
2. Word pictures like Vine and branch fall short when we talk about how a Transcendent,
Infinite, Eternal God interacts with finite, created beings. But through the Holy Spirit’s
work, all who believe on Jesus are united to God the Father and God the Son.
2. The Holy Spirit applies the benefits of Jesus’ sacrifice at the Cross by uniting all who believe to the
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Lord. These are many lessons for another day, but note two points about the Holy Spirit’s work.
a. Jesus said that to enter the kingdom of God, men and women must be born of the Spirit or born
from above (born again, John 3:3-6). This is the work of the Holy Spirit: Titus 3:5—It was not
because of any good works that we ourselves had done, but because of his own mercy that he
saved us through the washing by which the Holy Spirit gives us new birth and new life (NLT).
b. Once we are born of the Spirit (indwelled by Him) He works in us to empower us to live lives
that are pleasing to God, as He restores us and undoes the damage done by sin. Paul wrote:
3. At the Last Supper, the apostles didn’t understand much of what Jesus said. But He told them that
understanding would come, and promised that He and the Father would send the Holy Spirit.
a. At Jesus’ first meeting with these men on resurrection day, He gave them the Holy Spirit. He
said to them: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so send I you”. Then he breathed
on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:21-22, NLT).
b. The Bible doesn’t tell us exactly what happened here. But it seems that this is the point at
which these men believed on Jesus (that is the resurrected Lord) and they were born of the Spirit.
1. It is also a beautiful parallel to what happened when God created the first man, Adam, and
breathed into him the breath of life (Gen 2:7). God’s creation (humankind and the planet)
has been marred by sin. However, resurrection day was the beginning of a new creation.
A. Paul wrote: I Cor 15:45-47—The first man, Adam became a living person. But the last
Adam—that is Christ—is a life-giving Spirit…Adam, the first man, was made from the
dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven (NLT).
B. Jesus went to the cross as the last Adam—the representative of the entire human race.
And He rose from the dead as the second man—the head or beginning of a new creation.
2. Through faith in Jesus, sinful men and women can be restored to their created purpose as
God’s holy, righteous sons and daughters, who then live in loving relationship with God their
Father as they bring Him glory and honor.
c. But there was more to the apostles’ experience with the Holy Spirit after resurrection day. Jesus
will send them out to tell the world what they witnessed—His death and resurrection.
a. These men have a life changing message to proclaim. Because of what Jesus accomplished
through His sacrifice, forgiveness of sin is now available to all who believe on Him. Yet
Jesus told them to wait in Jerusalem until He and the Father sent the Holy Spirit.
b. This promise was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost when the apostles and other disciples
were filled with (baptized in) the Holy Spirit (lessons for another day). Acts 2:1-4
C. Here’s the point for our topic. Jesus promised His followers that He would continue to reveal Himself
to them through His Word, and that they would have direct contact with Him through the Holy Spirit.
1. As human beings, we have the capacity to reason and to recognize truth. When you reason, you
examine evidence and draw conclusions.
a. Reason is a God-given function. But reason is not all sufficient because there are things we
cannot know or perceive through our senses or obtain through reasoning.
b. God is Transcendent (completely other than us), Invisible, Infinite, Omniscient, Omnipresent,
and Omnipotent. There are truths about God and His plans and purposes that we can’t know
unless He reveals them to us (such as where we came from, why we’re here, where we’re going).
c. This kind of truth is called a mystery—a secret in God that we cannot know through our physical
senses or our reasoning abilities. God must reveal it, or make it known to us.
1. We have a God-given capacity built into our nature to receive revelation from Him, to
receive knowledge from God apart from our senses and our intellect. Note this example.
2. Not long before Jesus went to the Cross, He asked His apostles: Who do you say that I am?
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Simon Peter replied: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus answered him,
“Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but
my Father who is in heaven” (Matt 16:17, ESV).
A. God revealed to Peter something intuitively that he would not have otherwise known.
We have the capacity to receive intuitive knowledge from God. Intuition is defined as
knowing immediately and without conscious reasoning (Webster’s Dictionary).
B. That’s what happened to Simon Peter. The Father enlightened Peter, or gave him light,
and revealed to Him who Jesus is. Peter didn’t make a volitional thought (a thought he
willed) or a reasoned out thought. He knew because God the Father revealed it to him.
C. Let me be very clear. I am not saying that every idea that pops into your head is God—
because it’s not. I am saying that this capacity to know something spontaneously
enables us to commune with God. (lessons for another day)
2. God’s plan of salvation is a mystery. A mystery is a secret hidden in God that has now been
revealed—His plan to incarnate, die as a sacrifice for sin, and then rise from the dead. Note what
Paul wrote about the message that he and the other apostles preached.
a. Rom 16:25-26—(The gospel that I preach) is the message about Jesus Christ. It is in keeping
with the mystery that was hidden for a very long time. The mystery has been made known
through the writings of the prophets (NIRV).
b. I Cor 2:7-8—The wisdom we speak of is the secret wisdom of God, which was hidden in former
times, though he made it for our benefit before the world began. The rulers of this world would
not have understood it; if they had, they would never have crucified our glorious Lord (NLT).
1. I Cor 2:9-10—That is what the Scriptures mean when they say: No eye has seen, no ear
heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. We know
these things because God has revealed them to us by his Spirit, and his Spirit searches out
everything and shows us even God’s deepest secrets (NLT).
2. I Cor 2:12—And God has actually given us his Spirit (not the world’s spirit) so we can know
the wonderful things God has freely given us (NLT). (This refers to things He has provided
for us through salvation.)
3. We have the capacity to receive intuitive knowledge from God the Holy Spirit about Jesus. The
Holy Spirit is here primarily to testify of Jesus, to make Jesus known to us—not to tell us who to
marry, who’s going to win the next election or which job to take; or to reveal some hidden
knowledge that no one else has ever seen before.
a. Jesus said: But I will send you the Counselor—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from
the Father and will tell you all about me (John 15:26, NLT).
b. Jesus said: When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not be
presenting his own ideas; he will be telling you what he has heard…He will bring me glory by
revealing to you whatever he receives from me (John 16:13-14, NLT).
1. God the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus to us primarily by opening our understanding of the
Scriptures. Paul the apostle used the Scriptures to preach Jesus to people. Acts 17:2-3
2. Note what happened when Paul preached at Philippi. Acts 16:14—As (Lydia) listened to us,
the Lord opened her heart and she accepted what Paul was saying (NLT).
c. The Holy Spirit is here to reveal Jesus, to help us know Him (the Truth), through the written
Word (which is the Truth). The Scriptures testify of Jesus. John 14:6; John 17:17; John 5:39
1. The Holy Spirit inspired the Scriptures and works through them to provide the benefits of
salvation: I Pet 1:23-25—(You have) been born again, not of corruptible seed but
incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever…and this is the word
by which the gospel was preached to you (NKJV).
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2. Preaching is the proclamation and explanation of facts about Jesus—who He is (God
Incarnate), what He did (died and rose again), and the meaning of these facts.
4. But there is more to the Holy Spirit’s work. Knowledge of God (accumulation of facts about God)
is one level of knowing God. I know that He is with me and in me because the Bible says so.
a. That’s good. But it is even better to be conscious or aware of the fact the God is with you and in
you, to have an increased awareness (consciousness) of what is a fact: He is with me and in me.
b. To be conscious means to be aware of something to the point where it affects your view of
reality and your actions. Note what Paul wrote about living with consciousness of God in you:
1. Col 2:6—Since, then, you have received the Christ, even Jesus the Lord, conduct yourselves
in the consciousness of union with Him (Wade).
2. In the context of abstaining from sexual sin, Paul wrote: Are you not conscious that your
body is a temple of the Holy Spirit that is in you, whom you have as a gift from God (I Cor
6:19, Williams).
A. Paul prayed for Christians: That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory
may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes
of your understanding being enlightened (Eph 1:17-18, KJV).
B. Paul was praying for people who are already born of the Spirit and baptized in the Spirit.
This prayer gives us insight into why the Holy Spirit has come—to make real Jesus us
real to us and to make real in us what God the Father has provided through His Son Jesus.
c. At the Last Supper Jesus said: Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me.
And because they love me, my Father will love them, and I will love them. And I will reveal
myself to each one of them (John 14:21, NLT)
1. God loves everyone. He can to nothing but love, because He doesn’t have love, He is love.
Jesus’ statement refers to experiencing God’s love. Experience is the conscious perception
of a reality or apprehension of a reality or an event (Webster). The Holy Spirit is here in
part to enlighten us or to make Jesus real to us in our experience.
2. Paul prayed for Christians: May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you
will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with all the fullness of life and power
that comes from God (Eph 3:19, NLT).
D. Conclusion: When you read relationally your goal is more than gaining information about God. You
goal is to deepen your relationship with Him through the words which He inspired.
1. The Holy Spirit is here to reveal Jesus, to help us know Him through the Scriptures, but also to help
us know Him intuitively and to experience Him—to know that we know that we know Him. He’s
more than a set of facts. He is a Person, a Being, who wants relationship with you.
a. You can’t operate this at will or make this happen. The Holy Spirit gives revelation as He wills
and you must expose yourself to the means by which this happens—the Scriptures.
b. On resurrection day, Jesus went through the Scriptures and showed His apostles how He had
fulfilled everything that was written about Him. Then He opened their minds to understand the
Scriptures (Luke 24:44-45). The Holy Spirit is here to do the same for us.
c. When you read you are gathering information through your sense of sight. Next you think about
what you’ve read (use your reasoning ability). Then the light bulb goes on—the Holy Spirit
enlightens you. You have revelation from the Holy Spirit through the Word of God about Jesus.
2. Take time to read God’s Word. Ask Him to help you, to give you understanding of what you are
reading. Recognize that you are interacting with a Person who wants to reveal Himself to you.
3. Take time to commune with Him, to sit quietly in His presence. He says: Ps 46:10—Be still, and
know that I am God (KJV).
