I. THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT IN THE UNIVERSE. Psa_33:6 — "By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." Job_33:4 "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life."
First Proposition: The creation of man and the material universe is effected through the agency of the Holy Spirit.
In Col_1:16 RV ("For in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him and unto him;") all things are said to have been created in the Son. In Heb_1:2 ("Hath in those last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds") God is said to have made the worlds (or ages) through Him. In the first passage given above the word as well as the Spirit is mentioned in connection with creation. (Compare to Gen_1:2-3.)
The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all active in the creative work. The Father works through His Word and His Spirit. <19A429> Psa_104:29-30 — "Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth."
Second Proposition: The maintenance of living creatures is through the agency of the Holy Spirit. Gen_1:2-3 — -"And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." Gen_2:7 — "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."
Third Proposition: The development of the present order of things from the early chaotic, undeveloped state is effected through the agency of the Holy Spirit.
Seemingly, each new and higher impartation of the Spirit of God brings forth a higher order of being — inert matter, motion, light, vegetable life, animal life, man (the new man),Jesus Christ. This is biblical development, as distinguished from the godless evolution so popular today. This, however, is only hinted at in the Bible.
The Word of God is even more plainly active in each stage of progress in creation. "God said" occurs ten times in Genesis 1.
II. THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT IN HUMANS IN GENERAL. Joh_15:26-27 — "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning." Act_5:30-32 — "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him."
First Proposition: The Holy Spirit bears witness to the truth regarding Jesus Christ.
At first sight this testimony seems to be confined to the believer, for Joh_15:26 says, "Whom I will send unto you" (i.e., of course, believers), but in the next chapter, verses 7-8 ("Nevertheless I tell you the truth.., if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you: but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin"), where the Holy Spirit's work in the world is distinctly described, it says, "I will send him unto you." The truth seems clearly to be that the Spirit works in the world through the believers to whom He is sent. If we as believers realized the utter dependence of the world upon us for the Spirit's gracious work, we would be more careful to see that the Spirit found in us an unobstructed channel. How slowly the world comes to know Jesus because of the unfaithfulness of the church. Joh_14:17 — "Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." All truth is from the Spirit — He is "the Spirit of truth" but it is His especial work to bear witness to Him who is the truth — Jesus Christ.
It is only through the testimony of the Spirit that we ever come to a true knowledge of Christ. (See 1Co_12:3.) If you wish others to get a true view of Jesus Christ — such a view of Him that they may believe and be saved — you must seek for them the testimony of the Holy Spirit.
Neither your own testimony, nor even that of the Word alone, will effect this — though it is your testimony or that of the word which the Holy Spirit uses. But unless your testimony and that of the word is taken up by the Holy Spirit and He Himself testifies, they will not believe.
This explains why it is that one who has been long in darkness concerning Jesus Christ so quickly comes to see the truth when he surrenders his will to God and seeks light from him. (Compare to Joh_7:17 and Act_5:32.) It also explains why it is that when you have shown a man the truth about Christ over and over again and he has seen nothing, suddenly it all bursts upon him, and he sees and believes. The Spirit has borne His witness to Christ. It was not merely Peter's words about Christ that convinced the Jews of the truth concerning Christ on the Day of Pentecost. It was the Spirit Himself bearing witness. If you wish men to see the truth about Christ, do not depend upon your own powers of expression and persuasion, but cast yourself upon the Holy Spirit and seek for them His testimony. This is the cure for both ignorance and skepticism concerning Christ. (Compare to Joh_7:17.)
The testimony of the Holy Spirit to Christ is different from His testimony to our sonship. That we will consider later. Joh_16:8-11 RV — "And he, when he is come, will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and ye behold me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world hath been judged."
Second Proposition: The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.
He convicts (that is, convinces with a convincing that is self-condemning) the world of its sin in not believing on Christ. (Compare to Act_2:36-37 — "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?") He convicts the world of Christ's righteousness attested by His going to the Father, the coming of the Spirit being in itself a proof that Christ has gone to the Father. (Compare to Act_2:33 — "Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.") He convicts the world of judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. He was judged at the cross. (Compare Col_2:15 — "And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.") Joh_12:31 — "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out." Heb_2:14 "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil."
It is our responsibility to preach the word and look to the Holy Spirit to produce conviction. ( Act_2:4; Act_2:37). Often the reason we fail to produce conviction is we are trying to do it ourselves. Let us not forget on the other hand that it is through us that the Spirit produces conviction ( Joh_16:7-8).
III. THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE BELIEVER. Tit_3:5, RV — "Not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost." Joh_3:3-5 — "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I saw unto thee, Except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born again when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of God."
First Proposition: The Holy Spirit makes anew or regenerates the believer. (Compare to Rom_12:2 and to 2Co_5:17.)
Regeneration is the Holy Spirit's work. Regeneration is the impartation of life, spiritual life, to the one "dead in trespasses and sins" ( Eph_2:1). It is the Holy Spirit who imparts this life. ( Joh_6:63 — "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.") In 2Co_3:6, we are told that the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. This is sometimes interpreted to mean that the literal interpretation of the Scripture kills, but that the interpretation that gives the spirit of the passage gives life. It means nothing of the kind, as the context shows. This is a favorite perversion of Scripture with those who do not like to take the Bible as meaning just what it says. Still another false interpretation is that the letter means the old covenant and the law. But this is not the thought. The contrast, as is seen in verse 3, is between the mere word written with ink, and the living word written in the heart "with the Spirit of the living God." This much is true in the second interpretation, that the law was "the ministration of death" (v. 7), because it was unaccompanied by the Spirit's power; and the gospel is a ministration of life, because it is a ministration of the Spirit. But the gospel is a ministration of the Spirit and of life only when the gospel is preached "not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power" ( 1Co_2:4); or as Paul puts it in another place ( Thessalonians 1:5) when the gospel comes "not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost." The mere letter of the gospel will merely condemn and kill unless accompanied by the Spirit's power. The ministry of many an orthodox preacher and teacher is a ministry of death. It is true the word of the gospel is the instrument God uses in regeneration (Compare Jas_1:18; 1Pe_1:23; 1Co_4:15), but it is not the bare word, but the word made a living thing in the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. No amount of preaching, no matter how orthodox it may be, no amount of mere study of the Word, will regenerate unless the Holy Spirit works. It is He and He alone that makes a man a new creature. This He is ever ready to do when the conditions are supplied.
But just as we are utterly dependent upon the work of Christ for us in justification, so we are utterly dependent upon the work of the Holy Spirit in us for regeneration. Regeneration is the impartation of a new nature — God's nature ( 1Pe_1:4). It is the Holy Spirit who imparts this to us, makes us partakers of the divine nature (see Luk_1:35). It is done through the Word ( 2Pe_1:4; 1Co_4:15). To put it in a word: the human heart is the soil, the preacher or teacher is the sower, the word of God is the seed, the Spirit of God quickens the seed, and the Divine nature is the result.
The Spirit of God dwells in the one thus born of the Spirit. ( Corinthians 3:16 — ''Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?") Some say that it is not the individual believer, but the church who is thus indwelt by the Spirit of God. But Corinthians 6:19 ("What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?") shows that Paul conceives of the individual believer as the temple of the indwelling Spirit. In the indwelling of the Spirit we have an advance upon the work of regeneration.
In the indwelling Spirit is an abiding presence ( Joh_14:17). The Holy Spirit dwells in every one who belongs to Christ ( Rom_8:9 — "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his").
The Corinthian believers were very imperfect believers, but Paul told them that they were temples of the Holy Spirit even when dealing with them concerning gross immorality ( 1Co_6:15-19). The Holy Spirit dwells in every child of God.
In some, however, He dwells way back in the hidden sanctuary of their spirit and is not allowed to take possession as He desires of the whole man — spirit, soul, and body. Some, therefore, are not distinctly conscious of His indwelling, but He is there. What a solemn but glorious thought. If we are children of God we are not so much to pray that the Spirit may come and dwell in us; for He does that already. We are rather to recognize His presence, His gracious and glorious indwelling, and give Him complete control of the house He already inhabits, and strive to so live as not to grieve this Holy one, this Divine guest. We shall see later that it is right to pray for "the filling" or "baptism" with the Spirit. What a thought it gives of the hallowedness of life and of the sacredness of the body, to think of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. How carefully we ought to walk as not to grieve Him. How considerately we ought to treat these bodies, and how sensitively we ought to shun everything that will defile them.
This indwelling Spirit is a source of everlasting satisfaction and life. Joh_4:14 "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (From a comparison with Joh_7:37-39, it is plain that the water here spoken of is the Holy Spirit.) The one who drinks of this water "shall never thirst" or literally shall not thirst unto eternity. He has a fountain within, now with no need to go outside for satisfaction. He is independent of environment for life and joy. Why then do so many professed Christians run to the world for their satisfaction? Rom_8:2 — "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death."
Second Proposition: The Holy Spirit sets the believer in Christ free from the law of sin and death.
The law of sin and death is addressed in Rom_7:9-24