The Holy Spirit testifies to us

21 November 2012

 

Opening Prayer/Worship

 

Song: I love the Man from Galilee

 

Theme: Be filled with the Holy Spirit

 

Topic: The Holy Spirit testifies to us

 

Reading: Hebrews 10:11-25

And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins.¹²But when Christ^* had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, ‘he sat down at the right hand of God’,¹³and since then has been waiting ‘until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.’¹⁴For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.¹⁵And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,
¹⁶ ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds’,
¹⁷he also adds,
‘I will remember^* their sins and their lawless deeds no more.’
¹⁸Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

 

¹⁹ Therefore, my friends,^* since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus,²⁰by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh),²¹and since we have a great priest over the house of God,²²let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.²³Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.²⁴And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds,²⁵not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

 

Introduction

Continuing on the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, today we will be discussing on how the Spirit of Christ constantly brings to our remembrance what God did for us on the cross of Calvary.  How He loves us so much that He will never allow anyone to perish, who confesses and believes that Jesus is Lord; that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life and that no one comes to the Father except through Him.  It is through the testimony and work of the Holy Spirit in our lives that we have the confidence to approach God boldly just as the Scripture declares that we should.  It is through the voice of the Holy Spirit that we are constantly reminded that we are sons and daughters of the Most High God.  Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, our faith is continually built up and made perfect.  The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives ensures we have uninterrupted fellowship with our Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.  He reminds us daily that the price for our sins has been paid in full; that we are forgiven and redeemed, and that we are co-heirs with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.

 

Questions/Discussion

1. What does the Holy Spirit testify to us about, and how does He do it? 

Jeremiah 31:31-37

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.³²It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband,^* says the Lord.³³But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.³⁴No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord’, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

³⁵ Thus says the Lord,
who gives the sun for light by day
and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
the Lord of hosts is his name:
³⁶ If this fixed order were ever to cease
from my presence, says the Lord,
then also the offspring of Israel would cease
to be a nation before me for ever.

³⁷ Thus says the Lord:
If the heavens above can be measured,
and the foundations of the earth below can be explored,
then I will reject all the offspring of Israel
because of all they have done,

says the Lord.

 

Hebrews 9:11-28

But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come,^* then through the greater and perfect^* tent^* (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation),¹²he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.¹³For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified,¹⁴how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit^* offered himself without blemish to God, purify our^* conscience from dead works to worship the living God! ¹⁵ For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, because a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant.^*16Where a will^* is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established.¹⁷For a will^* takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.¹⁸Hence not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.¹⁹For when every commandment had been told to all the people by Moses in accordance with the law, he took the blood of calves and goats,^* with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people,²⁰saying, ‘This is the blood of the covenant that God has ordained for you.’²¹And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent^* and all the vessels used in worship.²²Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. ²³ Thus it was necessary for the sketches of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves need better sacrifices than these.²⁴For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.²⁵Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own;²⁶for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself.²⁷And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgement,²⁸so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

 

John 15:26-27

‘When the Advocate^* comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf.²⁷You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

 

2. Why do we need to be reminded continually of what the Lord has done for us in Christ?  

Hebrews 10:19-25

Therefore, my friends,^* since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus,²⁰by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh),²¹and since we have a great priest over the house of God,²²let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.²³Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.²⁴And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds,²⁵not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

 

John 1:1-4, 10-18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.²He was in the beginning with God.³All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being⁴in him was life,^* and the life was the light of all people. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.¹¹He came to what was his own,^* and his own people did not accept him.¹²But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God,¹³who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son,^* full of grace and truth.¹⁵(John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ’)¹⁶From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.¹⁷The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.¹⁸No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son,^* who is close to the Father’s heart,^* who has made him known.

 

1 John 2:20-29

But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and all of you have knowledge.^*21I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and you know that no lie comes from the truth.²²Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ?^* This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.²³No one who denies the Son has the Father; everyone who confesses the Son has the Father also.²⁴Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father.²⁵And this is what he has promised us,^* eternal life. ²⁶ I write these things to you concerning those who would deceive you.²⁷As for you, the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and so you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, abide in him. ^*28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he is revealed we may have confidence and not be put to shame before him at his coming. ²⁹ If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who does right has been born of him.

 

3. How do we apply in our lives this Ministry of the Holy Spirit?  

1 Samuel 2:1-10

¹ Hannah prayed and said,
‘My heart exults in the Lord;
my strength is exalted in my God.^*
My mouth derides my enemies,
because I rejoice in my^* victory.

² ‘There is no Holy One like the Lord,
no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.
³ Talk no more so very proudly,
let not arrogance come from your mouth;
for the Lord is a God of knowledge,
and by him actions are weighed.
⁴ The bows of the mighty are broken,
but the feeble gird on strength.
⁵ Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
but those who were hungry are fat with spoil.
The barren has borne seven,
but she who has many children is forlorn.
⁶ The Lord kills and brings to life;
he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
⁷ The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
he brings low, he also exalts.
⁸ He raises up the poor from the dust;
he lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes
and inherit a seat of honour.^*
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
and on them he has set the world.

⁹ ‘He will guard the feet of his faithful ones,
but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness;
for not by might does one prevail.
¹⁰ The Lord! His adversaries shall be shattered;
the Most High^* will thunder in heaven.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth;
he will give strength to his king,
and exalt the power of his anointed.’

 

Jeremiah 29:11-14

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.¹²Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you.¹³When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart,¹⁴I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

 

1 Corinthians 15:1-8, 12-28

Now I should remind you, brothers and sisters,^* of the good news^* that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand,²through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.³ For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures,⁴and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.⁶Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters^* at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.^*7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.⁸Last of all, as to someone untimely born, he appeared also to me. ¹² Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?¹³If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised;¹⁴and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain.¹⁵We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.¹⁶For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised.¹⁷If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.¹⁸Then those also who have died^* in Christ have perished.¹⁹If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. ²⁰ But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.^*21For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being;²²for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.²³But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.²⁴Then comes the end,^* when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power.²⁵For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.²⁶The last enemy to be destroyed is death.²⁷For ‘God^* has put all things in subjection under his feet.’ But when it says, ‘All things are put in subjection’, it is plain that this does not include the one who put all things in subjection under him.²⁸When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all.

 

Intercession/Worship

 

Conclusion

The Holy Spirit reminds us daily that we are the children of the Most High God.  Let us then approach Him through our prayers, praises and worship, confident that the Lord Who called us has made a way for us to fellowship with Him through Christ and in Christ, now and always. Amen.

 

Closing Prayer

Father we are so grateful to You for constantly reminding us of Your great deed of mercy and love towards us.  Enable us to listen and hear with gratitude to You, the voice of Your Holy Spirit within us at all times. This we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.  Amen.