The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit (Part 2) — J.B. Rowell

The Holy Spirit as the Divine Teacher

The 16th chapter, and the 15th verse, All things that the Father hath are mine. Therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and show it unto you. Why, bless your heart, that's just what I need all the time.

I can't see how I could possibly get along without the Divine Teacher. Not any one of us. Because we have to go out into a world where there is hatred, where there is atheism, agnosticism, every ism unto the sun, all marshaled against the Son of God.

Christ's Triumph Over the Kingdoms of This World

But finally he will overcome, when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. It's grand to be on his side now, and to give your life in ever deepening devotion to the Son of God.

The Holy Spirit's Ministry in Preaching Christ

And to realize that what the Holy Spirit's ministry is, is your ministry. And when you stand up to preach, never be satisfied with something that just skips over the scriptures and skirts the idea of presenting Jesus Christ and the blood atonement.

But realize that it is the work of the Holy Spirit to use you in this great ministry to reach the hearts of men and women for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And so the Holy Spirit can illumine the mind and reveal Christ to it.

The Holy Spirit Reveals the True Christ

This is, it doesn't reveal something new about Jesus Christ. The Roman church has many false ideas, and that is one of them. And that is that the priests, the popes, the cardinals and so forth, they have a certain ability according to the teaching authority of their church, whereby they can lay hold of a word in the Old Testament or anywhere else, and they can magnify it and magnify it until, why they've got the doctrine of the Virgin Mary being the mediatrix between God and men.

Don't you believe it? The Holy Spirit doesn't lead into the truth just in that way. He has one purpose, and that is to magnify the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we must remember this, that the Holy Spirit's text is Christ.

Christ as the Theme of the Whole Bible

Christ in his word, Christ in his work. Christ in his redemptive plan and purpose. Christ in his coming to save sinners. Christ in his intercessory ministry. Christ in his glorious return. This is the text of the Holy Spirit.

Here you have the text in your own Bible. And when you think of a text, don't think of a verse snatched out of its context. Don't think of a verse isolated from its context. But remember that every verse is a part of the whole.

In fact, according to the original and the full intention, the entire Bible is the text from which we are to quote and from which we are to preach. And preaching, we are preaching one person, the Lord Jesus Christ.

As we think of the Lord Jesus Christ, we must think of it in this way, that God the Son reveals and glorifies the Father. The Holy Spirit reveals and glorifies the Son. And so there is this cooperation in the work of reaching the lust for Christ.

The Holy Spirit's Inspiration and Illumination of Scripture

I know I have a scripture here which is unfathomable, and you simply cannot exhaust it in a short time. But there are just a few things I must pass on to you before I conclude. And one is this, the Holy Spirit revealing and glorifying Christ.

He inspired the only revelation we have of Christ. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. The Holy Spirit alone can illumine the one revelation we have. If you haven't got the light of God upon the Bible, you won't understand it.

That's why the Bible critics of our day, they try and discover this that is wrong and that that is wrong. They don't know the meaning of it. If they could see this and that in the light of the one person who fills the book, then the Lord Jesus Christ would be the answer to their criticism, and He would be the light on that which has darkened their own understanding.

No mind can grasp the fact of Christ apart from the Holy Spirit. And so, when we bow our hearts in prayer, we do it in utter dependence upon Him. Oh, I love that scripture. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities.

For we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us according to the will of God. Oh, with groanings that cannot be uttered. He that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for us according to the will of God.

And to think that you have that intercessor, to think that you have this great intercessor, and you, and you, and everyone in this auditorium. Why should we talk about our weakness? God is not dependent upon you or your weakness.

Why, please your weakness in His presence, and He'll cover you, enfold you, indwell you with almighty power. And if only our hearts were freshly yielded to the omnipotent Spirit of God, there wouldn't be a thing impossible in the plan that God has for your individual life.

Dependence on the Holy Spirit in Preaching

But if you try and follow out some scheme or plan of your own, you'll utterly fall and fail and flounder and be lost in your own endeavor. But God is wanting to speak to us. I caught this thought too out of the scripture which came refreshingly to my own heart, that if the Holy Spirit may not speak from Himself, then how dare any man try to speak from himself?

What power have you to stand up and preach to reach the soul of a man, a man or a woman, on his or her way to eternal hell without Jesus Christ? How dare we preach in our own name? We cannot do it. He does not speak from Himself.

He never speaks as independent of the Father, nor independent of the Son. And neither can you preach as independent of God the Father, and of God the Son, and of God the Holy Spirit. And if you go forward with that conviction in your own soul, you will be following in the steps of the Lord Jesus Christ, and relying upon the Holy Spirit who will glorify Christ in the lives of His own.

Yielding to the Spirit's Quickening Power

Oh, I wish we could bow our hearts, even in this moment, and say, Lord, that's the longing of my soul. I long with all my heart that God shall be glorified in my life, that the Holy Spirit of God shall do something for me.

Come with fresh, quickening power into my heart. Banish from my thinking every false notion, everything that is contrary to the will of God, that I may show forth the praises of Him who has called me out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Yes, it takes the light, the illumination of the Holy Spirit to give the enlightening and to give exalted views of Christ. Oh, that's what we need, exalted views of Christ. Flesh and blood doth not reveal this unto thee.

No, you can live in this school from now until next year, and all that you'll get here will never do this work for you apart from the Holy Spirit. And when He gives you exalted views of Christ, oh, you'll come to love Him.

I love Him, I love Him, because He first loved me and purchased my salvation on Calvary's tree. Oh, go around the grounds, into your rooms and sing it to yourself, I love Him. Why do you love Him? Because He first loved you.

It was because He comes to drench your soul with the very love of God and the quickening power of God the Holy Spirit and turn you loose in a world like this, that you may be ministers of His matchless grace for the gathering of the lost before it is too late.

The Spirit's Work in Understanding Christ

No human insight unaided by the Holy Spirit cannot discern the glory of Christ's person, the glory of Christ's redemption, or the offices of the Holy Spirit. We cannot understand a solitary thing. The Holy Spirit's office will inspire your affections, and then you'll understand the word to set your affections on things above and not on things on the earth.

And that is His purpose for everyone. I would conclude with a word, and that is this. As you think of yourself as an individual, do you think I dare say this? That as individuals who have been born again of God's Holy Spirit, we belong to Him, we've been united by an eternal bond to the great head of the Church, Jesus Christ.

You as a believer, you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, this divine teacher whose one office is to minister the glories of Christ to your own soul. I want you to think in this way, of God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and you.

The Believer's Eternal Purpose to Glorify Christ

That's the work that God has for you to do, to go out with that consciousness upon your own soul, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the individual believer. And as I said, God the Son reveals the glories of the Father, and the Holy Spirit reveals the glories of the Son, and the Holy Spirit reveals the glories of the Father and the Son to, and in, and through the believer.

Program? Is that the infinite purpose of God for you? Why, that takes all the meanness, all the averageness out of your life. There's nothing cheap about a child of God. No, he belongs to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the eternal purpose of revealing and preaching the truth, which will glorify the Lord Jesus Christ now, and on, and into all eternity.

This is the work that he has for you then. He shall glorify me, and now he sends you out in the great ministry to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. This cannot be too much emphasized. I would exhort you to do with this scripture, as I did with the one, was it yesterday, the day is past so fast, and to just marshal these several truths regarding the Holy Spirit in a circle about your own name in the center.

Live in it, appropriate it, and say, Lord, I cannot do without thee. Do make thyself real to my own heart, that I may go out with a passion for the reaching of the lost to Christ. All this afternoon I want to bring before you the Holy Spirit in his great ministry, and ministering through you in the great sphere of personal evangelism.

Surrendering to God's Larger Calling

But it's time for us to take our stand for these tremendous truths and possibilities in Christ. And I conclude with this thought, there comes a time when with entire confidence in the Lord, we take a step forward, not satisfied with the past.

God's future for you is brighter, larger, a much wider horizon than ever you have conceived up to this moment. And he has this for you as an individual, not an isolated one here or there, but God wants to enfold you in his eternal program.

And when we aspire to the higher purpose, to show forth his praise, when we aspire to the high purpose, to glorify Christ, I ask, what will you do with this opportunity? What will you do with this opportunity?

As I've said before, this moment may be your last. God doesn't promise you another service in the tabernacle here. He doesn't promise you another time. This is the moment. Now is the time for thee, and I ask you, you young men and women, on the basis of that scripture that I've given you, can you not say, yes, I declare myself in wholehearted surrender to the will of God in his divine purpose for me.

That I may not hold back from the opportunity of yielding myself into his sovereign hand. That his will may be done in my life and that he may be glorified in my life as I go out to live to his glory.

A Call for Young People to Yield to the Holy Spirit

Is that the longing of your heart? I'm going to ask you, young people, will you rise to your feet in testimony to this right now? Any of you? Say, yes, this is the longing of my heart. This is the longing of my heart.

Only as the Holy Spirit of God moves in upon us can we catch the vision of all that God intends for us. And as he comes into your hearts afresh, I beseech of you to remember each other in prayer. There isn't one of you but what you will be tempted afresh by the devil.

He'll seek to waylay you. He'll seek to destroy this opportunity. He will seek to spoil you in some way. But you can come into the presence of the Holy Spirit of God and say, Lord, save me from being spoiled.

Lord, save me from being tampered with by the devil. Lord, keep me, maintain me in the glorious liberty of a child of God that I may go out to minister the things of Christ. Our Heavenly Father, bless this multitude of young men and women.

Prayer for the Young People's Spirit-Filled Lives

As they have stood to their feet in the declaration, the free, spontaneous declaration of their desire to be found loyal to thee in thy sovereign purpose for their lives. Our Father, do thou bless this band of young men and women.

That their hearts shall be filled with such a holy love for the Lord Jesus, the one who loved them. That all their problems shall be settled. All those doubts and misgivings and fears shall be done away with in the light of thy presence.

And in the glorious experience of the infilling, the indwelling, the overflowing of God the Holy Spirit in their lives. And all with the passion that Christ may be glorified in and through them every one.

So bless these young people, Our Father, to thy glory. In the all-worthy name of the Lord Jesus we ask it. Amen.