The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit Lesson 17 start
Courtney Hemenway · Nov 7, 2021
Holy Spirit (2021-23), No. 38
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926192454686

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

All right, well, I have to clean up a little thing. I listened to the tape last week. So I have to clean up something. I feel very special in that Mike wrote a question, especially for me, question nine, I think it was, about discernment. Well, I must clean up the fact that Mike said that I possess special powers. I do not possess special powers.

That was a, you know, yeah. Oh, I think, okay, okay. Let me clarify that then. That is incorrect, regardless of how he wants to think about this, that is an incorrect assumption or recalling of what went on. In fact, it was exactly, and what Jim said in the meeting and Mike wholeheartedly agreed with, was the fact that sometimes with a false teacher or somebody to teach you, you don't know, but you just know it's wrong. And that's what I was expressing.

And as the elders here have determined in 1 Corinthians 12 about discernment, that was what I was talking about, about discernment. The elders in Verne had decided that that gift had gone away. So I was asking about that and just the fact that there's times that I just, especially at our old church, I was in leadership and just there were people that were accepted and yet I just The Holy Spirit was prompting me, these are just not, they're not teaching right. Or I just, and others were accepting them.

And so that was what I was saying is that the very thing that you guys were talking about is exactly what I was saying. Not interpreted that I have special powers or that I think I have special powers. So I just wanted to clarify that before we get too far along. that I did listen to the tape and it was a good class. I would have had a lot of comments too about things, but I just wanted that on the record that I do not possess special powers or that I think I possess special powers.

So we're now in lesson 17. On the the person and work of the Holy Spirit, and this is in chapter 3 of write-outs book again Lesson number 17 question 1 are there instances instances in scripture where the believer prays to the Holy Spirit? So can anyone point to a verse that shows a believer or anyone? Praying to the Holy Spirit Anybody have a verse I get by the silence, that is a no. Nobody can point to one. So, the other question I have is, who do we pray to? Do we pray to the Lord? Do we pray to the Father? Who do we pray to?

I pray to the Father. Okay. Through the Son. Yeah. With the help of the Holy Spirit. Yeah, any other comments on that? Thoughts? Jim, were you going to say something? I couldn't hear Mike, but I was just going to say, John, 16, 17, where the Lord teaches us to pray to the Father and ask for things in His name. But I would also add, I love to talk with the Lord Jesus as often as I can as well.

But I feel like I'm learning that there's two different entities, and it's really special. It's like the Father is the vine dresser and the Lord is the vine. And it's just really cool that they're both so active and full of love. So I think we talked to both of them, but I think the father's the man in a lot of ways. He just is the man. What was that? Your father is not a man. Well said. I know what you meant. Cheryl's calling it a tough, tight game here. Yeah, I know. You got to be careful what you say. That is true though, Cheryl. I must agree. That is true.

No, I think that's something that, you know, not dogmatic about it, but I think the instances, and we'll see a little bit in the next question, in the next couple of questions about that, that it's to the Father, but there's not an instance where we can say that the Holy Spirit, we pray to the Holy Spirit, that for sure.

And I think there's instances, most of the references I looked up, it's to the Father, not to Jesus. I don't think that precludes us from talking to the Lord, but I think that the prayer requests are to the Father, and there's verses that we pray in the name of Jesus, ask in my name. Well, it's asking who? Asking the Father in Jesus' name.

So, Rite Out puts it this way. I'll ask if you ever notice that there is no instance in scripture of prayer to the Spirit, that He is divine, is God, we saw at the outset, and yet He is never addressed in prayer. So there isn't, from all scripture, we don't see anywhere where we pray to the Holy Spirit, which, when you think about it, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, he's indwelling us. Where's it going if he, you know, we're praying to him, we're praying to the inside of us, the life of Christ in us through the indwelling spirit.

So, various reasons and why. Again, they're all trying God, they're all the same, but they have different, process or whatever. Job descriptions. Yeah, job descriptions. Yeah, I didn't want to kind of get it down to the base level of a job description. But yeah, different things that they do. So question two. Courtney? Yeah.

It seems to me that the Holy Spirit is always ministering in the background, and that's his purpose. He's not to exalt himself. He's to exalt the Father through Jesus Christ. That's why we don't pray to the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is not portraying himself in that light. He's not portraying himself as an outward entity, drawing attention to himself.

Everything is drawn to the Father. The Father is to be glorified. We'll see that, when he's explaining about the helper coming. It's that he's revealing all about the Father. Yeah. That's his job. As a background entity, you know. As the instrument of which revealing what he knows of the Father. All that the Father knows. He's pointing all our attention towards the Father.

Yes. And Jesus Christ. Right. Not to himself. Right. So yeah, it makes sense that we're not We're praying still to the father because that's his job is to focus us into and we'll see in Romans eight what his job is. So my son was instructing me yesterday. He said, dad, we pray to the father in the name of the son through the Holy Spirit.

I'm like, well, you got a point there. I don't know. I've got to have to look at that. But that's what that's really. And I can't remember it is ask. ask anything in my name and i can't remember if it does say that through the spirit i think i think i have to look back at first but i think that's it that's you know sometimes to me actually that's what i pray is to the father in the name of the lord jesus by the holy spirit i don't think that's wrong i think that's that's really the process it's through the holy spirit will see that romans eight uh... eight twenty six that that's his process is to bring forth our prayers.

So what is the reason for this? Jim's giving us some, what are your thoughts about this? Is that correct? Everybody agrees with that, that it's not to the spirit. We pray to the father and there's the reason for that. Is it kind of the indwelling and what we've discussed? Any other thoughts on that? And I'll get to what Rideout's thoughts are. Yeah, I think Radov's thoughts are really clear. Yeah.

That he's in us and he forms and guides our prayers. So if he's the guy, if he's in us, number one, then why would you pray to him? Right. That's what I was saying. If the indwelling, where are we going? So, um, it would seem kind of weird that, that, uh, um, If he's the director and the enabler of everything we're doing prayer-wise, then why would we talk to him? Because he's pointing us somewhere else. Which we'll see in Romans 8, in the 8th passage, that'll really clarify that. So, Rydad has this. Now there is a divine reason for this, which is clear and beautiful once you see it. The Spirit is here.

As to his work, he is in us. He forms and guides our prayers. He is in them, and therefore they are not addressed to him. Once this fact is grasped, and we'll see the unscripturalness of addressing the Holy Spirit, he is the one who, as it were, is speaking in us. Let it not be thought for a moment that this degrades the blessed holy one. We know he is divine, is omnipresent. We know when we address God, he is God, but I speak of his distinctive place and work in this present dispensation.

He dwells in the church and in the believer. He is the power for all service, prayer, and praise, but not the object. So again, does everybody agree with that assessment that he has? I think that was pretty good. I think he is God, he's fully part of the triune God, but it's not who we address in prayer. And we'll see that as we go along in the next question.

So there are a lot of things that would be clarified as we get into question three, which is read Romans 8, 26 through 27. What is the Holy Spirit's job down here when it comes to prayer? What is the Lord's job when it comes to prayer? So I'll read Romans 8, 26 and 27.

In the same way, the spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the spirit is, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. So here the Holy Spirit is involved with praying, but not that we pray to the Holy Spirit, but he intercedes for us in our prayers. So again, in this one, from the Romans passage, who are we praying to?

What does it say? Not directly, but we'll get to it. Who does it say we're praying to in Romans 8, 20, it would be 27. crickets go ahead it's interesting that twenty-seven says that the spirit searches the hearts knows what the mind of the spirit is it's not which which translation here eight twenty-six yeah twenty-seven see he who searches the hearts yeah who's the he I think it's the Holy Spirit.

I think it's the Father. It's the Father. Yeah, and I'll break this down. It's the Father. He who searches the hearts, because that makes sense. It knows what the mind and the spirit is. So the person being prayed to is He who searches the heart. know what the mind of the spirit is. So it's God the Father. And so the one who searches his heart, so who is that? It's God the Father. If we look at 1 Chronicles 28 9, as for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, that's God, and serve him with a whole heart and a willing mind, the Lord, and this is actually Yahweh in the Hebrew, so God, searches all hearts and understands every intent of the thoughts. So the one who searches the heart is Yahweh, God.

So it's God the Father is in Romans 8, 26. God the Father, he who searches the hearts, God the Father, searches the mind of the spirit. In another scripture, Philippians 4, 6, we also see praying to God the Father. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. That's God the Father. So again, the one who searches the heart in Romans 8, 26 is God the Father.

And then he's the one who searches the mind of the Spirit. So again, it's a demonstration that in the prayer, we're praying to God the Father. And the interesting part is how the Holy Spirit is part of that. So let's start. Whose heart is being searched? Yeah, the person who's praying, he searches the heart of the one who's praying. So God the Father is searching your heart. Interesting. I brought this up in the Romans class. It's like, does that make you uncomfortable?

How cool that the Holy Spirit is helping us pray, too, because the all-powerful knows what we need. My prayers are so lousy half the time, and I get sidetracked. But the Holy Spirit is right there helping me. He's talking with God the Father. This is what this cat needs, man. I'm going to bring that out.

I think that's an important point that in this whole praying part and what the Holy Spirit's role is and how we respond. But it's interesting that God the Father is searching the believer's heart. What's he looking for? Well, the second part of that is the Holy Spirit's mind. But he's looking at the believer, so this is the individuality. God the Father is looking individually at our hearts. And then who does he rely upon for what we need? The Holy Spirit. How cool is that? You know, I said, is anybody uncomfortable with God searching your heart? Can you, is there anything you can hide from God? So, you know, he knows everything about us. Inside and out. He created us, but he searches our heart. He knows our very essence. David said that. Yeah. And, and he's one who follows. It wasn't even a dwelf. Right. It wasn't even exactly.

So, I mean, that's really cool when you think about that, that, that God, the father searches our hearts, but he searches the mind of the spirit. So, um, so now, now why is he searching a heart? Is it, is it to see what we need? He's the vine dresser. Okay. Expand on that. How's the vine dresser in layman's term? What's he doing for you? He's pruning away the things that are unnecessary that don't bring forth more fruit from Christ, our life. So is he searching our hearts to see what we need? Is that what he's doing? Well, see what we need from his perspective, not mine. That's what we'll find out. I need a lot of things in my mind. There are a lot of things I need in my mind. And yet, is that what God thinks is the best for me? When I think what I need?

I think he's searching the heart. Knowing the mind of the spirit, he's looking for the mind of the spirit in us. That's the key. He's not looking at what we need, what we think we need. It's what the Spirit, indwelling us, is telling the Father that we need. If we carefully look at the passage again, and he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is. He's searching the mind of the indwelling spirit. He's not going to my heart and saying, you know, let's see what you think. He's going to the indwelling spirit who is intimately involved, obviously, with each and every one of us and knows exactly what we need. Do we need a trial? Do we need a blessing? Do we need guidance? Do we need scripture? Do we need, the Holy Spirit is the one relaying that to the Father.

As we see, you know, in the verse about, you know, Uh, well, yeah, the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. So, Jimmy, I go back to yours that, you know, my, you know, your prayers over here and over there and all this. Um, I think it's important to know that we can pray for anything that that I know that I pray a lot of times what I need and what I think I need and what is bothering me or what I want to talk to the Lord about. I think that's where the Holy Spirit intercedes. He brings whatever the correct response is to me through whatever my prayer is.

Do you want to go ahead? That was right there as well. My question has been formulating. Does he always let me in on what he and the father are doing? I think sometimes. Well, yeah, I mean, because I, you know, like I go around and say, look, you know, the Daddy needs a new pair of shoes. And the Holy Spirit says, the last thing you need is a new pair of shoes.

But see, I think in maturity, and that's where I think it's to where we can, and I'll get to the verse about prayer and supplication. Make all your requests known. Make all your requests known. I want to really emphasize that. I don't want, it goes back to the intimacy with God. Do I have to come with the perfect prayer to him? No. Do I have to formulate it in just the right words? Do I have to make sure it's exactly what the spirit thinks I need? So that's really where my question is. As I go to them and say, well, here's the circumstance that I think I need to be praying about. However, I recognize Romans 8, 27. I know what you're doing.

Maybe I ought to just sit here and be quiet for a minute and listen and see what direction you would want me to go in. Because I don't want to pray outside what the Holy Spirit thinks is the best thing that he has told you is for me. Well, again, it's what we'll see, and it's gonna blow down to another verse about be anxious for nothing. I'm gonna get ahead on the question, on an answer to another question, but be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. So it's in everything. You don't have to be perfect. You don't have to, you know, I want a new car tomorrow. You know, the answer is probably no. But can I rest in that?

And it's the second part of that verse about anything you ask. It's the second part. And what is it that he gives you? What's verse seven? The peace that passes understanding. That's what he gives you. And the peace of God which passes all comprehension. What will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus? That means whether it's no, maybe, the car shows up. The car doesn't show up. You're still, you have peace. Because you know, that wasn't what the father had for me.

So I can ask anything, but I have peace knowing that whatever I ask, and we'll get, go back up to the verses here. Well, we'll get to it in a little bit about, when we ask and I'll get to another verse, it talks about when we ask and what the response is. Why would God do that about searching the mind of the spirit? Why would God do that instead of searching our hearts for our needs? Because he knows better.

A lot of laughing going on here. Yeah, yeah. I go back to the Job speech. How good were you? Where were you when I created the world? Do you think you're a pretty smart dude? Where were you when I created the earth? Where were you when I put him into place?

We obviously don't know what's best for us. I think a lot of our prayers are not requests for things as much as they are, well, Lord, I'm in a trial here. And do I even pray that I get out of it? I mean, what do you do? And the question also is, do we know what we need or what is best for our spiritual growth? Right. We don't. We don't. A lot of times. And this is from Mike when I was first coming here on the Tuesday studies.

Pray for Fred, who is in a trial. Get him out of that trial. Is that what we should be doing? We could come with that request, but that may not be the best thing. Fred may be going through that trial because the Lord wants him going through that trial, and he's using that for his purposes. That's why a lot of when I pray, because of all that, is if it's your will. And we'll get into verses that specifically address that. If it's your will, well, we prayed for that on the COVID people. If it's your will, or Lent.

If it's your will, get him out of it. That's a perfectly valid request. But that allows God to do His will. Do His will. And we'll see that we're asking according to His will. That's how we ask. That's what the Spirit's job is, is to refocus our feeble groanings and all that to do the Father's will.

I think also, go ahead, Jim. I got a question. Wouldn't it be incumbent on us to be searching the word to know what God's will is so we can pray according to God's will? Yeah, I think that's right. And always going to his word is key. But what about COVID?

Where's that in 1st Californians 2.6? There's things we're not going to understand His will and we just have to leave it up to Him. But see, we can be comforted by knowing God's will will be done no matter what we pray. And that's where we'll get to these verses, the comforting part. And that's why I read that one. It's to guard your heart. To give you peace and to guard your heart. That's when we come with prayers. It's that I know I'm communicating with the Father through the Holy Spirit, and I can rest in whatever answer he comes with.

The rest comes from searching God and knowing God. If you're not searching God's word and you don't know what to do, then you're not going to have rest. Yeah, and we'll get to about asking according to His will. There's verses we'll touch on about you're asking according to His will.

That's how we do it, and that's like I said. Mike, sciatica, pray that if it's God's will to get you through sciatica quickly and to comfort you in the process. I don't want to say just get rid of it, even though that's what he wants. Roger's going to talk about some this morning. We talked about the last couple of weeks that the trials and sufferings are so that we can be comforted of God, which qualifies us to comfort somebody else with the same comfort that we got. See, I think that's one of the key verses, to give you comfort in a trial. I think that's really key, because if I'm going through something, and I don't know why, but if I read that, it could be that a week, a month, a year, 10 years from now, somebody's going through that, and I can comfort them.

That's why I called you first. Yeah, that's right. But that's, that's the key, I think, is that, you know, that's a really key thing that your trial, maybe going through because you want to, you're going to be helping somebody and how God comforted you. Yeah.

That's an incredible gift. I think of some of the things even with Ethan and how God comforted you through that. I don't think you could have gotten through that without the Lord. In ways that we can't explain, that may be used in the future for you to comfort somebody going through the same thing. That's a key. That gives comfort that maybe why you went through that is that at some point God's going to use you to comfort somebody in the same situation. And you know it doesn't have to be in the exact same situation where there's a couple in this church. uh... that really comforted me because uh... they dealt with uh... uh... a family member with alzheimer's and they knew what i was going through yeah you know it's the same thing not the exact same circumstances but the circumstances were there they went through a trial and they could empathize with me you know it's just it was very comforting so which also comforts you in the trial that like i said i if i'm going through something I think, well, I know it hurts and it's going through it, but I may be used in the future. That comforts me during the trial. Let me see if I can get through this. The question was, do we know and or need what's best for our spiritual growth? Newell went through this. Primarily because we do not know how and what to pray for as we should.

For he himself intercedes for us with unutterable groanings, yet according to God. It is God the Father here that is searching the hearts. He who searches the hearts, God, knows what is the mind, intent or bent, as hidden in those sighs, of the Spirit. That is, God the Father, who searches the hearts of His saints, understands the intent or bent of our unutterable prayers, unutterable because we do not know the particular things we should pray for in connection with a certain circumstance. For He knows the mind of the Holy Spirit praying for us.

And in our stead, in our prayers, in the case of the above-mentioned items for prayer, the Holy Spirit praying according to the plan of God for our lives. So again, that's, I think that was, you know, we don't know, but we rely upon the Holy Spirit to take whatever our prayer is and bring it to the Father. And I think the back one is to comfort us in that trial. So, so we, we see here from the Romans passage, the Holy Spirit is our intercessor down here.

So what about Christ and his work in heaven? What does Christ, Job description. He's the advocate. The advocate. The intercessor. So, in Hebrews 722, therefore he is able to also save forever those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. It's Hebrews 722. Another scripture on Christ's intercession. First John 5, 13 through 15. And this is the one.

This is the one about asking in accordance with his will. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life." This is a confidence, confidence which we have before Him, that if we ask anything, anything, according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request which we have asked from Him. So it's, again, anything we can bring in prayer to Him. But if it's in accordance with his will, it's done.

If it's not, it's the Holy Spirit bringing forth what is God's will in this instance and giving us comfort, giving us peace, guarding our hearts during that trial. So again, the thought is we're asking in accordance with, if it's in accordance with his will, you know, God, I wanna meet three people a day and give them the gospel. Three people show up. Awesome. That was his will. He heard me, and that was it. And that was in accordance with his will. God, I want a car tomorrow. That's probably not happening. So again, not in accordance with his will.

He hears us when it's in accordance, but he also hears the Holy Spirit from the Romans 8 passage. So Rite Out adds this. You've been struck with this double provision. The gift of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12 are in Ephesians 4, the gifts of Christ on high. In the first case, it is administration. In the latter, source.

In somewhat the same way, Christ is before God, maintaining us through all our journey, in all our weakness, our great high priest ever liveth. And in the beautiful language of the type, bears his people, graven in the jewels of his own glory, upon his shoulders of strength and his heart of love. He's the intercessor. He's the one who is in heaven today, your advocate before the father. Amazing peace, knowing that. He's the one advocating for us right now in heaven.

So, we will start with question four next week. Any other final comments before we... I was going to say that the work of Christ as advocate before us is not dealing with trials. Or sin. It's dealing with the accusation of sin. Right, accusation. But it's been paid for. Yeah. Yeah. You know, the sins have been paid for. The accusations of sin he's defending. Right. Right. Did I go over? All right, let's close in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you.

We thank you again for just the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and what that means. And as we pray, even now, the Holy Spirit is interceding, and you are searching his mind for what is best for us here. And what a comfort and what a rest. As we've said in here, or what you have said in your scripture, just about bringing all prayer and supplication before you. We can bring anything before you. What comfort that is.

You want that intimacy so much that we can call you Daddy, Abba Father, and that intimacy that we can come before you. And yet it is the Holy Spirit whose mind you search for what is best for us and what is in accordance with your will. And we thank you for that, that the answer is going to be no, maybe, wait, all sorts of different answers, but you guard our hearts knowing that we can come before you with these requests, and the answers will be in accordance with your will. So we just thank you for that, we pray for the next meeting, with Roger bringing the message, we just pray, bring it accurately before us and prepare our hearts to receive it. We thank you for this time, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So we'll start with question four next week. Thanks, Courtney. Thanks, Courtney. Thank you, Courtney. Record.