The Person And Work Of The Holy Spirit

by T. M. Hyland | Category: The Person And Work Of The Holy Spirit | Aug 1944

Now we proceed to consider

THE HOLY SFIRIT'S PRESENT WORK

as it was revealed to the apostles on the night of the betrayal. During His earlier ministry the Lord had made many references to the Spirit and His work. But He reserved for those solemn, closing hours of His earthly ministry the disclosure of the complete revelation. There, at that momentous phase in the development of the Divine purposes, the Son of God, with the prescience of Deity, announced the coming to earth of the Spirit of God. The Spirit had been at work in human affairs ever since He "moved upon the face" of the primeval deep. He it was who "strove with man," who "came upon" Gideon, upon Samson and many another, and who "spake by the prophets." But now He was to come to earth in a way He had never before come. He was to come as personally and as definitely as the Son had come; with a mission as clearly defined and as Divinely ordered as His. But the presence of the Holy Spirit, though as real and as personal as that of the Incarnate One in the days of His flesh, was to be unseen in a corporeal sense. He was to come not by incarnation but by effusion. And that form of manifestation, selected with Divine wisdom, was as necessary and as fitting to the great mission the Spirit was to undertake, as was incarnation to our blessed Redeemer.

But the coming of the Spirit was to await the Lord's ascension to the Father;

"If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I do, I will send Him unto you."1

The promise on the night of the betrayal was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost; and it is to the period after Pentecost we must look to see the Spirit at work in the plenitude of His power.

The Lord revealed two phases of the Spirit's work; firstly, His mission to believers, and then to the world. We will first consider briefly

1 John 16.7.

THE SPIRIT'S WORK IN THE WORLD.

"He, when He is come, will convict the world."1 He will convict. Alford says it is difficult to give in one word the deep meaning of the -Greek here. It embodies the ideas of "convince" and "convict." "A convincing unto salvation, a convicting unto condemnation." Note the universality of His operation, "He ... will convict the world." Wherever men are, of whatever race or colour, station or character, there will He -be at work. Observe, too, the certainty of the word," "He will convict." There is no possibility of failure here. Men may fail, but He never will. In His great work He may employ human instruments, but He is not dependent on them. And -wherever the servant of God may be sent by Him with the message of Life, be it to" earth's darkest place," he will discover that the Spirit of God has been at work there before him. Yes, the Spirit of God is working; working on the men and women, the boys and girls, whose lives touch yours and mine in the daily round. May-be to-day He will desire to employ you or me to work with Him in act or word to someone; may we not fail Him! Should we not look for and expect to see Him carrying out His great mission in "the world"? How blind we often are! we need spiritual sight and sensitiveness to discern His ever gracious dealings.

The Lord revealed the purpose of the Spirit's convicting work to be threefold

"He ... will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement."

Of sin: This world does not recognise the real nature of sin. Wrongdoing between man and man is acknowledged, and arrangements are made for its adjustment, but with sin, as between man and God, the world is little concerned. This very indifference is in itself an indication of the awful nature of sin. It springs from unbelief, and unbelief in the face of a divine revelation is the crowning evidence of human guilt. To this end the Spirit works, said the Lord, to convict "of sin, because they believe not on Me." And when the Spirit of God brings home to the inner consciousness of a man this feature of sin in his own case, no matter how he may have appeared in the eyes of his fellow men, whether virtuous or profligate, or at whatever station between those two points, from his heart will come the cry, "What must I do to be saved?

Of righteousness: Not only does this world fail to recognise the real nature of sin; it also fails to discern true righteousness. Mere human morality bears no relation to the righteousness of God. This world's reaction to the manifestation of divine righteousness by Christ is described thus by the apostle Peter:

"Ye denied the holy and righteous One, and asked for a murderer and killed the Prince of Life."2

1 John 16.8. 2 Acts 3.15, 16.

And here heaven and earth are at cross-purposes; for the Outcast of earth has become the Enthroned One of heaven. It is of heaven's verdict the Spirit will convict, said the Lord : "of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and ye behold Me no more."1 Blessed work of the Spirit this! "He will convict ... of sin and of righteousness." He will not only reveal to man that he is "an enemy of God," "a child of wrath" ; but He will also reveal" Jesus Christ the Righteous," who is "with the Father,"2 and, more wonderful still, He will show that His perfect righteousness is available, a complete answer to man's direst need. We will need this ministry of the Holy Spirit, not only at the outset of our Christian life, but during its course; - for as believers we may become "hardened by the deceitfulness of sin,"3 or having "begun in the Spirit" we may seek to become " perfected in the flesh."4

"May He convince us of our guilt

And speak of Jesus' blood,

And to our wondering view reveal

The mighty love of God."

Of judgement: Sin and righteousness are eternally opposed; compromise between them is impossible. And the final issue is not in doubt-indeed it has already been decided. Two great personal protagonists; the prince of this world, Satan, the champion of evil, and the Son of God, the Vindicator of divine righteousness, have met in fearful conflict. The battle raged throughout the whole of the Lord's earthly life, and culminated at the cross.

Blessed be God! righteousness triumphed; its mighty Upholder was completely victorious. Sin was dragged into the light, exposed, discredited, defeated, condemned; and divine righteousness, the antithesis of sin, revealed, triumphant, honoured, glorified.

"His be the Victor's name

Who fought the fight alone,

Triumphant saints no honour claim,

Their conquest was His own.

By weakness and defeat

He won the meed and crown,

Trod all our foes beneath His feet

By being trodden down."

Oh, ye who take the side of evil now, heed the Spirit's convicting voice! Your Goliath has failed. Defeated and condemned, he but awaits the execution of his sentence at the appointed time. The righteousness of God's attitude to sin, and to all who side with sin, has been for ever established; the eternal necessity of righteousness for ever demonstrated. Such is the Spirit's witness. "He ... will convict" said the Lord, "of judge meat, because the prince of this world hath been juiged."5

1 John 16.10.2 1 John 2.1.3 Hebrews 3.18.

4 Galatians 3.8.5 John 16.11

Need we stress here the necessity for deep exercise on the part of those essaying to proclaim the Gospel, regarding the Spirit's threefold conviction. It may well be that failure, both in regard to the number of converts, and to the depth of their spiritual convictions, is traceable to neglect of these fundamental elements of Spirit-given ministry. For if we cease to feel the weight, the necessity, the urgency of these deep and solemn matters of sin, of righteousness and of judgement, to which the Spirit's convicting is directed, then there will be a corresponding decline in the spiritual power of our preaching.

We will now refer to those passages of the Lord's discourse to His apostles on the night of the betrayal which deal with

THE HOLY SPIRIT'S WORK IN THE BELIEVER.

"The Comforter," said the Lord, "will be with you for ever,"

"be in you,"

teach you all things,"

"bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you," bear witness of Me,"

"guide you into all the truth,"

"declare unto you the things that are to come,"

"glorify Me."

Thus are described those functions belonging to the Spirit's office as the Paraclete, the Supplier of comfort and strength to the believer. He will be a Teacher and a Guide. In H is great teaching work He will operate with Divine skill upon the human faculty of memory, ever and always be the faithful Witness to the absent Redeemer. And He will not only illuminate the believer with Divine teaching from the Word in regard to past and present things, but will also, from His infinite knowledge of the eternal purposes of God, declare the things that are to come. Further, He will not only "teach," He will "guide." He will show the way, and then guide us in it. And where will He lead us ? Into all the truth. Mark, not " to " merely, but " into " ! Truth is eternal, and the Paraclete is the Spirit of truth. If we follow our Guide we shall enter into and become united with "the truth."

T. M. Hyland | Aug 1944
The Person And Work Of The Holy Spirit