If our study of God’s Word isn’t ultimately leading us to a deeper, abiding love for Jesus, then we are missing the point of Bible study.
Welcome back to the fourth week of our series on the Holy Spirit. We’ve read. We’ve studied. I pray we’ve learned. But more than anything else, I hope that our love for the Lord Jesus Christ has grown. This is why we study. This is why we dig into the Word of God…so that we can come to know the God of the Word and grow in our love for Him.
So far in our study of the Holy Spirit, we have learned that He is the author of Scripture, He is our Guide, our Comforter, our Counselor, and our Advocate. How has this knowledge of who He is increased your love for the Lord? Because knowledge without love only puffs up.
“And if I were to have the gift of prophecy with a profound understanding of God’s hidden secrets, and if I possessed unending supernatural knowledge, and if I had the greatest gift of faith that could move mountains, but have never learned to love, then I am nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:2 TPT
So, let’s keep studying to know Him and love Him more! This week, we are going to look at two more titles or roles of the Holy Spirit: He is the Convicter of sin and the Indweller of believers.
- The Convicter of sin
“But here’s the truth: It’s to your advantage that I go away, for if I don’t go away the Divine Encourager will not be released to you. But after I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He comes, He will expose sin and prove that the world is wrong about God’s righteousness and His judgments. “‘Sin,’ because they refuse to believe in who I am. “God’s ‘righteousness,’ because I’m going back to join the Father and you’ll see me no longer. “And ‘judgment’ because the ruler of this dark world has already received his sentence.” John 16:7-11 TPT
I love how the Holy Spirit is translated here in The Passion Translation: The Divine Encourager. Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit, and then told His followers what the Spirit would do for them when He came: He would expose sin (convict). Conviction is not condemnation. I think it is so important for us to make that distinction. Condemnation comes from the Enemy and often is about sin that we have already confessed. Conviction comes from the Spirit and is about current sin that hasn’t been repented of. It’s crucial that we are able to recognize the difference because if we don’t, the Enemy will get us trapped in a pit of shame and guilt, neither of which are from the Lord.
The conviction that comes from the Holy Spirit is ALWAYS intended to bring us to repentance which 2 Corinthians 7:10 tells us will lead to salvation. A humble, teachable Christ-follower welcomes the conviction of the Holy Spirit because it has the ability to produce righteousness in us.
- Indweller of Believers
“You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who lives in you.” Romans 8:9-11 NIV
I just love this! God chooses our mortal, fallen, weak bodies to be His dwelling. His Spirit makes His home IN US. This is what it means to be indwelled by the Spirit, and because He lives in us, His power is made manifest through us. He directs, guides, comforts, influences, and produces fruit in us. Think about that…we have access to so much power through the Spirit. Do we live in such a way that reflects that power and authority?
We have so much to think about and chew on this week in our study, so much application from the Word. I am praying for each one of you today as you read these words that the Spirit in you would produce much fruit through you.
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