Causing Us to Grow
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Week 4 – At Work in the Life of the Believer: Causing Us to Grow Review and Introduction John 14 A. Setting the stage 1. Jesus’ last discourse (Jn.13-17) 2. The disciples needed great reliance on Jesus and His promises to them. 3. There are difficulties involved in His departing from them. Though they had seen Him for a long time, that would soon change (2Co.5:16). It would now be a walk by faith. Yet, they wouldn’t be left as orphans, the Helper would be sent. From being carried like lambs (Isa.40:11) to walking by faith like sheep (Jn.10:27). 4. The 3-fold work of the Holy Spirit is (Jn.14:25-26; 16:12-15): to teach and guide us into all truth, to remind, and then reveal. 5. There is danger of relying on man to do the work of the Holy Spirit. 6. There is value of commitment to a local body, which is the workplace of God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit Helps Us Grow A. (Jn.14:26) Brings all things to our remembrance 1. God promises the Holy Spirit to a group who had always relied on Jesus to have the answers, to do all the talking, and have the power to meet the needs of men. 2. What a blessed promise for those with terrible memories, like us and the apostles. 3. There is importance in learning to hear God’s voice (Heb.5:13-14) as He reminds us of His Word. 4. The apostles had received similar promises before (Mt.10:17-20). So we see Paul before King Agrippa and King Festus giving his defense by the Holy Spirit (Acts 25-26). 5. The only prerequisite of being reminded is the fact that it must once have been known. If never known, the proper word would be “learn” and not “remind.” B. (Jn.14:26; 16:13a) Teaches us and guides us into all truth 1. The most important element in our lives is our concept of God and our understanding of who He is biblically. The disciples had been with Jesus for a long time, yet had much to learn as we are told by Luke (Acts 1:1-2). 2. Yet for many, the work of the Holy Spirit is frustrated by a lack of diligence in studying the Word of God, even as we read (Hos.4:6) of famine in the land for the Word of God. 3. Jesus said we should come and learn of Him (Mt.11:28-29). We must stay teachable and reachable if we are to grow in the ways of the Lord (2Pe.3:18). Knowing Him is vital in serving Him (2Ti.3:16-17). 4. Paul prays for the new saints in Colosse (Col.1:9-12). 5. (1Cor.2:7-14) Paul has awesome insight into the work of the Holy Spirit. a) (1Co.2:7-10) Paul compares the believer, who has been born again and has the Holy Spirit living within them, with those who have no relationship with God. b) (1Co.2:11-12) This is a reference to the glorious relationship believers have with God as the Holy Spirit reveals these things to us. c) (1Co.2:13-14) When the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within you, He brings the ability to understand spiritual things (Lk.24:44-45). Though God may use men to bring forth His Word, it is the Holy Spirit alone who can instruct us in our walks (1Jn.2:27). 6. So the Holy Spirit has come to feed us our spiritual food that brings us life (Job 23:12) (Deu.8:3). 7. What distinguishes us as believers is our trust and confidence in God and His Word (Jn.17:17). C. (Jn.16:12-13) Tells us of things to come 1. As we grow daily, we go from milk to meat as the layers are pulled back. 2. We see the future becoming clearer as we study, hear, and listen (Deu.29:29). Conclusion and Review A. Next week: The Holy Spirit at work in the believer will work to conform us to Jesus’ image by helping us put on the new man. Transcription of 15TS303 June 17, 2015 Var. Scriptures “At Work in the Life of the Believer: Causing Us to Grow” All right. Let’s open our Bibles tonight to John 14; and also if you can find 1 Corinthians 2. Those will be the two sections of Scripture we’re going to be turning with you to tonight. Review and Introduction We’ve committed ourselves, for fifteen weeks, to study the Person and the Work of the Holy Spirit. I don’t know if there isn’t a more important topic for the church, and I hope that, by the time we are done, we will have not only addressed every issue or question you might have had in regards to who He is and why He does what He does, and how can He use me, to the questions that always come up about speaking in tongues and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And we will spend a whole week on each one of those topics, for sure. So far, we’ve gotten three weeks in. We began looking at who the Holy Spirit is – that He isn’t just a force, He’s a Person; and He’s not just a Person, He’s God. He’s the third Person of the Godhead. We spent the second week looking at (in the order that we should) His work in the world – about convicting of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment; of restraining evil and how the Holy Spirit’s function today is that of holding back that which the enemy would like to see happen. Last time, we stopped to consider what happens in your life the moment you get saved. And we talked about nine specific things that happen in your heart the moment you give your life to Christ – from getting a new heart, to being given a new Spirit, to being made the temple of God who now comes to live in you, sealed by the Lord, a new creation. He is the pledge or the down payment that God will finish the work that He has started. He is in you to begin to bear witness that you belong to Christ. He begins to do that work of teaching you that you’re adopted into His family. You’re given eternal life. All of that by the Spirit of God – the moment that you believe. In the weeks to come, like I said, we’ll hopefully cover all of the other topics. But tonight, we want to take the next progressive step in the work of God’s Spirit, and that is once you get saved, and all those good things happen to you, one of God’s greatest interests is to teach you His Word. And the Holy Spirit is really that Person by whom God seeks to bring you to know Him better – through His Word and to grow up your faith. God has shown you your sin, He has shown you His Son, He’s convicted you, you’ve turned to Him. And now, as the Holy Spirit moves in and sets up shop, you become a project of God. You become a vessel through whom God will work. But in order to do so, He first prepares the vessel. And one of the works of the Holy Spirit, and a large part of that process, is re-educating you in terms of the light that God gives. Spiritually, all you used to see was what you saw from the darkness of your flesh. What you understood was what the world understood. You made up things as you went. Everybody agreed that must be right. And now you come to the Lord and, in the light of His presence with you and the Holy Spirit in you, you begin to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. So tonight we want to specifically talk about how the Holy Spirit causes us to grow by teaching us the Bible. And we’re going to start here in John 14. It should be fairly familiar ground to you because it’s a place we spent two years together on Sunday mornings, recently. All of the notes that you have tonight have all of the Scripture references, have all of the headline points. So you don’t have to worry about taking too many notes unless God just really puts something on your heart. John 14 – Setting the Stage 1. But we’re here in John 14. You might remember – if you don’t, I’ll remind you just quickly – these chapters (13-17) took place all in one evening, all on the night that Jesus was to be betrayed and then taken and, in the morning, killed. They take place in the Upper Room; they take place on a walk through the Kidron Valley up to the Garden of Gethsemane. It is John’s recording of the last conversation Jesus had with His disciples prior to the cross. It is His basically saying to them, “I’m leaving, and here’s the plan.” For 3½ years they had relied upon Him. If they had problems, He fixed them. If there were storms, He calmed them. If there were demons, He delivered them.