What do you think is the most important thing about you?
What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us – A.W. Tozer
What you think about God is the foundation of your beliefs about life, family, identity, purpose, etc. Then your beliefs, in turn, set the course for how you live your life. In other words, your view of God affects every decision you make and every action you take.
In this post – and the upcoming posts – we’ll take a look at our view of the Holy Spirit. You’ll find it is often shaped by old covenant traditions rather than new covenant truths.
Seeing the Holy Spirit through the lens of grace without a mixture of law allows revelation of the Holy Spirit and His work to become clear.
Here is the start of a list of 18 things the Holy Spirit most definitely does not do.
He does not:
1. Convict you of your sin
Jesus has forgiven all your sins – past, present, future – by the sacrifice of Himself (Heb. 9:26, 1 John 2:2). How could the Holy Spirit convict you of something that is done away with? How could He convict you of something He chooses not to remember (Heb. 10:17)?
John 16:8-10 says the Holy Spirit convicts unbelievers of the sin of unbelief in Jesus but that He convicts you, as a believer, of your righteousness.
You are freed from sin and made righteousness (Rom. 6:6, 2 Cor. 5:21). The only thing the Holy Spirit convicts you of is your righteous nature. He shows you that you are acting like someone else when you sin by convicting who you really are.
The reason you sense an internal conflict when you sin is because the Holy Spirit is reminding you of who you are thus making you aware you’re not acting according to your righteous nature.
He isn’t a Fault finder who’s pointing out your faults. He’s called a Comforter for a reason 🙂
2. Keep a record of your sin
You are not defined by behavior, but birth. You might occasionally sin (external) but the Holy Spirit has cleansed you from all sin – once for all times (internal).
Since your new birth you are a blameless, innocent and clean saint, regardless of what you do or don’t do.
The Holy Spirit remembers your sin no more ( Heb. 10:17). He is not forgetful, but love keeps no record of wrongs (1 Cor. 13:5). God has reconciled the world to Himself and is no longer counting men’s sins against them (2 Cor. 5:19).
How could the Holy Spirit keep a record of sin that’s been cleared 2000 years ago?
Your record is forever cleansed from sin.
You are clean.
You are sin-free before God.
There is no video recorder in heaven recording your life which after your death will be played on a big screen showing everyone all the sins you’ve committed while on earth.
Under the Law, people’s sin was forgiven till the next trespass which resulted in sin-consciousness. Under Grace, however, people’s sin are totally forgiven and forgotten (Heb. 8:12) which results in “no-sin”-consciousness.
3. Make you aware you’ve blasphemed against Him, thus committed the unforgivable sin
The issue with “the unforgivable sin” is not whether you’ve done something that God can’t or won’t forgive because He has already forgiven all sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). God doesn’t consider anyone as unforgiven because of Christ’s successful work on the cross.
However, unbelief in Jesus Christ is the only sin that Jesus couldn’t die for. Since this is the only sin that God can’t forgive, the singular sin the Holy Spirit convicts unbelievers of is the sin of not believing in Jesus.
Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is a lifetime of rejecting the Holy Spirit’s work of conviction for our need for the Savior, and thus committing the unforgivable sin. A believer, however, can never commit the sin that can’t be forgiven since they have received God’s complete forgiveness.
4. Empower you to strive for sanctification (or holiness)
Sanctification is not a process. It’s a Person. Jesus is your sanctification (1 Cor. 1:30).
Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him (Col. 2:6).
Did you fast, pray or act holy to receive Jesus? I don’t think so. You received His Spirit by faith, not by works (Gal. 3:14).
Just as you’ve done nothing for your justification, so you need to do nothing for your sanctification. You can’t work at your sanctification because there’s nothing you can do that can make you more sanctified.
The Holy Spirit doesn’t empower you to strive for sanctification (or holiness) through fasting, praying, acting holy etc., but rather empowers you to rest in the fact you are already sanctified.
Holy living doesn’t come from trying, but trusting. Trust in the fact you have been sanctified and allow Christ to live His holy life through you (Heb. 10:14).
5. Wait to see if you drop the ball enough times and waste your eternal position
When you were saved you were sealed with the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30). The Holy Spirit personally guarantees your salvation and inheritance (Eph. 1:13-14, 2 Cor. 1:22).
Eternal security does not depend on you or what you do, but on Christ and what He has done. It’s not about your faithfulness but His. 1 Cor. 1:8 says, “He will keep you strong to the end…” Jesus did the job that you couldn’t do, and He is faithful to keep you safe.
You didn’t save yourself, and you can’t keep yourself saved (Eph. 2:8). Your Christian walk is not about trying to maintain salvation but being maintained by Salvation.
Yes, we have the need to abide, overcome, obey, endure and persevere, but who will meet these needs? “My God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19). How many of your needs must you supply to stay qualified for the Kingdom? None of them!
What’s your part in this? Just receive what God has already provided in Christ from a place of restful trust.
6. Make decisions for you
The Holy Spirit has brilliant ideas about every subject matter. He is the Great Adviser who never runs out of ideas. As you ask the Holy Spirit for advice about anything, He will share His wisdom, but He won’t make the decision for you.
Your decisions are your decisions. You decide who to marry, which job to take and where to live.
However, the Holy Spirit deeply cares about you, isn’t afraid of questions and loves to share His thoughts whether it be about big decisions or minute details of your life. Just ask Him. He’s got a lot of awesome things to say.
Click here to read part 2.
