The Holy Spirit is God who is present with us always, God who lives in us (John 14:16-17).
The job description of the Holy Spirit:
- To teach us all things, reminding us of everything Jesus said (John 14:26).
- To testify about __________ (John 15:26).
- To convict the world of guilt in regard to sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8-11)
- Sin: by exposing unbelief, and calling all to believe in Jesus.
- Righteousness: by revealing all attempts at personal justification bankrupt, and by revealing Jesus as the only one who can justify us before God.
- Judgment: by revealing that Satan stands under the judgment of God and that he has been defeated through the death and resurrection of Christ – his reign in the earth is coming to an end.
- To guide us into all truth (John 16:13, John 14:6).
The Holy Spirit promises to work through the “means of grace” to bring us to faith in Jesus, keep us in the faith, and build up the church in love.
- He works through the written Word, the Bible, which He Himself has inspired (2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:21).
- He is the gift given in Baptism (Acts 2:38-39), who breathes faith and reminds us that we stand under the perfect and complete forgiveness that Jesus has won for us.
- He is the one who calls us to believe Jesus’ words concerning the Lord’s Supper, when He says that the bread and the wine are His true body and blood, given and shed for the forgiveness of sins.