"The Helper"

In my last blog post about the name of "Jesus" through out the Book of Acts to the Revelation of Jesus Christ being forever yoked to the name "Christ" and "Lord" and "Savior" we saw that Simon Peter first proclaims this truth in the gospels when asked by Jesus, "But who do you say that I am?"  

"You are the Christ the Son of the living God," Simon Peter replies. And Jesus answers him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven." ( Matthew 16:13-16 ) 

Peter not only acknowledges that Jesus is the Christ ( the Greek word Christos meaning Anointed One - the Hebrew equivalent Messiah ), but he declares that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is divine. And Jesus tells Peter that God revealed this to him. 

Throughout my life, six decades on this planet, in church all of them, I have heard many things, some quite fanatical, attributed to God the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer, but the greatest work He does is connecting a lost soul to the finished work of Jesus Christ. 

Even though Christ's work is finished, we are still lost, dead in our trespasses and sins, unable to reach the cross until the Holy Spirit regenerates our hearts, giving us faith to believe in the Lord Jesus, granting us repentance, so we can be adopted into the family of God as his dearly beloved children to live with Him forever. 

"Salvation is of the Lord."  ( Jonah 2:9, Psalm 3:8 ) 

"Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you." ( John 16:7 ) ( We see here that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son. ) 

And even if our theology isn't filled out on the matter, that's okay. Repent and believe - you can fill in the blanks later as you begin your journey as a student of God's Word. For now: Our Sovereign God had the plan, Jesus carried it out, and the Holy Spirit yokes us to the work and stays with us forever. 

Paul explains it to Titus this way as he reminds him what to teach Christ's sheep: "But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." ( Titus 3:4-7 ) 

It seems this vital work of regeneration is often overlooked in the church, and ironically, no other spiritual work in the Holy Spirit can be done without His initial working in our dead, dark hearts to bring us from death to life. Jesus came to give us abundant life, but without the Holy Spirit yoking us to Him, we remain spiritually dead. 

Since this truth seems to be largely ignored or possibly misunderstood in the Western church, we neglect to thank God for the move of his Spirit to actually save us in the first place. 

In the often quoted passage of Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus wasn't referring to physical rest when he spoke to them, although physical rest certainly comes from the knowledge of Christ, he was teaching them that being yoked to him, trusting him, brings the only peace possible with God and rest for their souls - the eternal rest that comes from knowing our sins are forgiven by Christ and not from any work we could do to earn out salvation. 

And we see in Titus and other Scriptures that the Holy Spirit yokes us to that beautiful, eternal rest in Christ. 

This is the greatest miracle that could ever be accomplished in a person's life. In fact, without this one, nothing else that happens really matters. That's why this work of the Holy Spirit along with the preaching of the Gospel should be at the center of everything we do. 

Because there's nothing as precious as hearing someone whose heart has been changed by the power of the Holy Spirit say, "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God." 

It is written that it even makes angels rejoice. 💜

Happy Weekend, Friends! 

This was our first sheep, an Icelandic ewe. She is the reason we still have a touch of thick wool in our Katahdin flock. ( HBF Archive Photo )