The Spirit and The Word (2)

Introduction

Christianity has in a sense become bipolar over the past hundred years or so. At one time it was normal for Christians to recognize the role of the Spirit in our lives and the word of God, but with the rise of Pentecostalism much of Christianity has moved to the polar extremes on these issues. Some want the Holy Spirit and only the Holy Spirit; others want the objective facts of the word of God. They say let’s put aside all that experience stuff. Both are wrong. More often than not though, we tend to gravitate to one or the other side often without knowing we have drifted. Consider these statements that you may have heard from some sincere Christians in the past:

I know the Bible says this, but the Spirit is leading me to do this instead. Galatians 1:8 “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”

The Spirit is leading me to love people and not be so judgmental; so those verses don’t apply.

I don’t need someone to teach me the bible, I have the Holy Spirit.

You are quenching the spirit by questioning what I am doing.

Meanwhile we have the example of the Pharisees who knew and searched the scriptures according to Jesus, but they resisted the Holy Spirit. Some might say:

Just study your bible and don’t worry about all that walking in the Spirit stuff.

God only directs you through a specific bible verse. (Example of when this is not true- something inside says go give that person a tract. We aren’t quoting Acts 1:8 in our heads.)

If you don’t have a bible verse for it then it isn’t God’s will- (there is no bible verse telling you which college to go to, the bible gives wisdom for making decisions, but it doesn’t give in detail every decision we should make)

Both are ditches to avoid. Word without Spirit is dead Orthodoxy and Spirit without Word is mere Subjectivism. Just like last Sunday night where we looked at the relationship of God to the Bible; I would like us to look at the relationship between the Holy Spirit and the Word of God because they go hand in hand.

The Spirit is the author of Scripture

The first place to begin is with the authorship of the Bible. We will look at this in more detail in another message, but the bible is credited with being a product of the Holy Spirit.

2 Timothy 3:16 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” claims that all of it is breathed out by God, inspired. When you read about the Holy Spirit, he is constantly spoken of as wind or breath. The wind bloweth where it wills and no man knows it. In fact the Hebrew and Greek words for the Spirit are the words for breath or wind. This analogy is important because the Holy Spirit is the breath of God which gave us our bibles.

Later in 2 Peter 1:21 “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” The men who wrote scriptures were not really the authors of scripture; rather they wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. One of the best illustrations of this is a sail boat. When you take a sail boat out on the lake or the ocean that boat will just sit there if there is no wind. For it to move, the wind has to catch the sail and propel it along.

The act of inspiration is like that. The men wrote using their knowledge, skills, grammar, vocabulary; but they were propelled along to write every word they wrote so that it was the very words of God.

This is important because the Scriptures are the record of the Spirit’s inspired words. Unlike men, the Spirit doesn’t lie, he doesn’t contradict Himself or change His mind; so whatever the Holy Spirit might reveal to you personally will never contradict the revelation of His word. He is the author of this book; so if you want to be led by the Spirit that is going to involve this book right here.

The Spirit reminds us of the words of Scripture

Some of us are better than others at bible memory. But one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is to remind us of what the bible says.

John 14:26 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” Jesus here was primarily speaking to his disciples and yet I think there is still an application in our lives as believers. Throughout our lives, we have read a lot of scripture.

If you grew up like me, you went to Awanas or something like that where you memorized a lot of bible verses. if you were to ask me to quote all those verses today, I wouldn’t do so well. I especially have a good general knowledge of what they say and what book of the bible they are in, but the specific words aren’t always there.

I don’t think this means the Spirit will cause you to have perfect recall of the words themselves. But the Spirit is going to remind you of the teaching of the word of God.

Take for example the proverb in the bible that says Proverbs 19:19 “A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment: For if thou deliver him, yet thou must do it again.” You read this in your devotions one day and didn’t necessarily sit there and memorize it. Rather you meditated on it and it made an impression on you. Later that week, your best friend who is always losing his temper and blowing up gets thrown in jail for a domestic disturbance. You’ve been here before; it seems like he has a consistent cycle of doing this. When you get there to bail him out, you are about to pay the fine when you are reminded about this verse that says if you bail him out you are going to have to do it again and again. The words don’t necessarily come to mind exact, but the verse does come to mind in that moment when you need it. The Spirit reminds you of the teaching of the word.

The Spirit helps us understand the words of Scripture

This same verse promises that he would teach us all things. Teaching isn’t instantaneous and it is directly tied in this verse to reminding us of scripture, but the Holy Spirit takes the word and helps us to understand it. That is what a good teacher does. A good teacher doesn’t sit in front of a bulletin board back turned to the class and just speak and write. He engages with the students to help them understand the material. He isn’t a lecturer; he is a teacher.

Later in John Jesus would give this promise: John 16:13 “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” An essential part of his ministry is to lead us to truth.

1 Corinthians 2:12–14 “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

Notice here the Holy Spirit teaches us, but what is he teaching us? The things that are already freely give to us of God- the words which the Holy Ghost taught through the apostles. This passage ground the teaching ministry in the word of God as it was revealed through the apostles. But not everything in the bible is easy to understand. Anyone who tells you it is, it lying or hasn’t read the bible fully. Peter claimed that in Paul’s writtings there were things hard to be understood. And so we need the Holy Spirit to teach us.

Doctrinally, we call this the work of illumination. When the Holy Spirit shines a light on the truth of the word and opens it up for us. David prayed for this in:

Psalm 119:18 “Open thou mine eyes, That I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.”

So when something is difficult to understand like the book of Isaiah, really any time you read the word of God it is helpful to pray: “Lord open my eyes so I can see what you have for me in your word today.”

The Holy Spirit convinces us of the truth of the words of Scripture

Not only does he teach us and open up the meaning of scripture to us, but he convinces us of its truth. Have you ever read a passage and thought that can’t really be true. I’ll give you a common example in culture today. The bible in Romans 12 tells us to not repay evil for evil but rather to do good. Most people in our day and age would look at that and say “well you are letting them walk all over you, that can’t be right.” If their thinking is dictated by culture and not the word of God they ignore that passage. But the Christian reads on and sees that indeed though it may look like you are letting them walk over you, you are actually overcoming their evil with your good. You aren’t allowing them to decide who you are and how you will act. The Christian also sees the redemptive power of love in that situation.

The bible says that when the gospel came to Thessalonica it wasn’t just a dry dead bible study.

1 Thessalonians 1:5 “For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.”

The Holy Spirit confirmed the word of the gospel to them and pressed it in on their hearts. According to 1 Cor 2, the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God. That means he rejects them, but the spiritual man is convinced of the truth and has the mind of Christ.

The Spirit’s primary tool is the Word of God

Ephesians 6:17 “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:”

In Ephesians 6, we read about spiritual warfare and the armor we are given to wage that war. Almost every piece of the armor is defensive except one the sword of the Spirit. Whose sword is it? the Spirit’s. Now what is this sword: the verse tells us in more detail than any of the other verses do that this is the word of God.

How does the Spirit give you strength to resist temptation? by the word

How does the Spirit counsel you about a certain direction in life? by the teaching of the word

How does the Spirit conquer the lies of Satan? by the word

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” This word is powerful and active because it is wielded by the Spirit and has His power upon it.

In 1 Peter 1:23 “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” We see that it is the tool by which men are born again.

The Spirit has other ministries that are not necessarily word oriented like gifting us for service, but his primary work is done through the words of scripture. His active, powerful words. Remember God acts and relates by use of words.

Conclusion

I could give you more but we are out of time tonight; so I’ll list them:

the Spirit helps us apply the Word

the Spirit gives us strength to obey the Word

The Spirit shows us Christ through the Word

The Spirit causes us to bodly declare the Word

One last connection I want to draw in conclusion: compare Eph 5:18 and Col 3:16 to see that being filled with the Spirit is accomplished through the Word. If we want to relate to God’s Spirit, experience His fullness in our lives, we cannot separate the Spirit from the Word. If we have Spirit without word, it is being like a anchor-less boat easily deceived by other voices impersonating the Spirit. If we have Word without Spirit, we have a dead lifeless orthodoxy. It is like keeping your dead dog in his dog house because you can’t stand to dispose of the body. There is no life. Fido will not get up and play fetch. We need both Word and Spirit because they work hand in hand.

To use a final illustration, the Word is like fuel and the Spirit is like the fire. Fuel without fire is cold while fire without fuel dies out.