Week 2 | The Greatest Teacher | Caitlin Nunez | The Greatest Help | #BibleStudy

the father will send in my name he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that i have said to you um yes i'll just read the john 14 26 scripture again it says but the help of the holy spirit whom the father will send in my name he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that i have said to you and today we're going to be focusing on the part of that passage which says he will teach you all things so um if you're taking notes if you're watching online on our stream or in person um my title for today's bible study is going to be the ultimate teacher the ultimate teacher and i want to start today just by covering and recapping some of the things that we've probably learned over the last few preachings and teachings about who the holy spirit is so we see that the holy spirit is called our advocate in some translations in john 14 26 we see that he is our advocate one who is able to stand in our place to help us to aid us um to guide us in all things we also have the helper which is what our theme is based on he is the divine he is god himself but he's also the divine assistant and aide of god in our daily lives as believers we see what mk covered on sunday that he is god in acts 5 verse 3 to five um when people are being rebuked about lying to god there's reference to lying to the holy spirit and so we see the divinity of the holy spirit there as well but what our key focus today is gonna be on the holy spirit as the spirit of truth and this is referenced in john 15 verse 26 because we'll be exploring how the holy spirit teaches us the word of god helps us to discern error from the truth and also teaches us how to apply that truth so just to start us off i want to go into just some definitions so that we're all on the same page about what we mean when we say teacher or teaching so just in the basic english dictionary to teach means to give someone knowledge or to train someone or to instruct and the word that is used here in the greek in john 14 26 where it says to he will teach you all things is didasco that's d-i-d-a-s-k-o and that literally means to impart instruction to instill doctrine into someone the thing taught or enjoying to explain or expound a thing or to teach one something now the reason i want to make this key distinction with teaching is that this ministry or this dimension of the ministry of the holy spirit is different from what we were thinking about last week which was remembering or reminding and it's also different from inspiration which we see often in preaching or the divine inspiration of the holy spirit through the gift of prophecy but when we're saying that the holy spirit is the teacher he is the one that actually helps us to look into the word of god and break it apart and expound it so that we can really see the intentional and initial meaning and purpose of what god was speaking through the authors of the texts so this is what i would say is the intentional tutoring and personal instruction of the spirit of god now just to um layer further lay the foundation before we move into some of the main aspects of the holy spirit as teacher i just wanted to touch on why this scripture was so important or this admonishment was so important to the disciples that it was directed to at the time in the context um the reason why the idea of the holy spirit being a teacher and being there consistently to help them to understand and to remember the teachings of jesus was important um was for three reasons the first i would say is that it gave the disciples assurance that their personal discipleship will continue it was a real comfort to them because jesus was telling them the man the rabbi the leader that they had been following for three years now and had been gleaning intensely from was suddenly telling them that he was going to have to leave them but they were going to be comforted knowing that they would not be forsaken and that their training their continued personal discipleship to be able to build what god was telling them they would build they wouldn't be alone in that and their own personal development and discipleship would not cease at that moment the second reason why it was really important to the disciples that were hearing that phrase was that because of their role in writing scripture they would be the ones who god would choose to write the scriptures we see the letters um that are written in the new testament the gospel and narratives that have been written and penned on paper they would have divine authenticity and authority because it was the holy spirit that would inspire them so this was a really important promise that was given to the disciples because of their role as human beings they may have had a fallible memory they were prone to forgetfulness and biases could have seeped in but the fact that jesus made this promise to them that they would be taught and would remember everything that jesus had said we are able now to trust the perfect knowledge and wisdom of the holy spirit and not necessarily the writers that god chose to use as vessels and then the third thing that i would say um was really pivotal and key for the disciples that jesus saying this is that they would not be abandoned in their mission to build the church and to contend for the faith so this statement that the holy spirit will be there the helper will be there to teach you and to help you and to bring everything to remembrance gave them a shorty and it gave them confidence that they wouldn't be executing their great commission powerless but they would have the help of the holy spirit not only in healing the sick or building communities of believers or even suffering through the persecution that they would one day suffer but they would have his help to remember and to receive divine teaching that would go on to impact thousands and even millions of believers decades later so it's really important that when we're looking at john 14 16 we remember that this was a promise and an admonishment that jesus gave to the disciples and it actually meant so much for those disciples directly that we're hearing it because of where their current part was they were scared they were fearful and they were probably um not confident as to how they would deal with such a shift and a change in their leadership so now that we've understood what it meant for the disciples in john 14. i want to go into a breakdown of what it means for us now so as christians as believers those who are in christ jesus what does it mean for us to have the holy spirit and to trust and believe in him to help us to understand the scriptures so the first thing i want to cover is who does he teach who does the holy spirit teach now this was something that as i was studying um was actually quite tricky for me to kind of unravel but i encourage you to also study into it yourself personally but the first and most obvious set of people that the holy spirit teaches are the saints the people of god those who have received salvation through and by jesus christ and we have the scripture in first corinthians two if you want to go there um it's verses 12 to 13. first corinthians 2 verses 12 to 13. and i'll just read it it says now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit who is from god so that we may know the things freely given to us by god which things we also speak not in words taught by human wisdom but in those taught by the spirit combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words so their paul is alluding to the fact that those whose eyes have been unveiled those who have been saved and are in christ jesus who have the spirit of god are those who are directly taught by the spirit of god it in fact took the holy spirit for them to even understand spiritual truths and if you look in that passage in first corinthians 2 there's quite an extensive outline of why to the natural man the things of the spirit are foolish and they don't make sense they can't fully comprehend them and in fact they find them very opposed to their own thinking system or their own logic but once one receives the spirit and the veil is taken off of their eyes they're now able to understand the wisdom and the knowledge of god and then the second set of people that i was thinking about whether the holy spirit teaches them or not is unbelievers so those who are not saved those who are not born again of the spirit and i very much believe from what we see in scripture that the holy spirit speaks to unbelievers he can affect them he can influence them and his role is ultimately to lead them to salvation um and what i think we see from john 16 verse 8 to 9 and where it says and when he comes this is in reference to the holy spirit it says he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment concerning sin because they do not believe in me so what we really see is that the ministry of the holy spirit's the unbeliever is to reveal the truth that god is indeed victorious in the conflict with the devil the unbelieving world will be convicted of their sins by the work of the holy spirit so in other words he will show them their need for salvation through jesus christ so although this is not teaching in the typical sense that we as christians expect the holy spirit to teach us the holy spirit gives unbelievers revelation which in itself is a form of teaching but because unbelievers or those who are not in christ and have not received the spirit of god are still stubborn to the spirit of god he's not necessarily going to teach them a whole extensive bible study but the fact that he convicts them and shows them the light of god and the light of salvation is in itself a form of revelation and therefore teaching so there is a bit of a distinction there um and it's something i encourage you to look into a bit further you know how does the holy spirit interact with those who are not part of the family of god yet and what does that look like and how does that differ from when he speaks to those who are in the fold the next thing that we'll move to is what does the holy spirit teach and this is quite a simple question but something that a lot of people differ on um in terms of what is it that the holy spirit can reveal to you are there limits to what the holy spirit can reveal to you there's a lot of questions within the wider kingdom of god and a lot of separations and divisions that have been caused by what people think about what the holy spirit teaches um now something that we have to remember is that the holy spirit will never contradict the divine word that he inspired um in first peter it talks about how the word of god is inspired by the holy spirit the scriptures are inspired by god himself and so anything that is completely contradictory or not the absolute truth or represents the whole counsel of god in scripture that is not something that will come from the holy spirit and i've split this question into two sections so i've said that the holy spirit teaches us revelation so these are things um or ideas or principles or understanding that we are able to gain from the scriptures and then i also want to go into how the holy spirit teaches us application how he teaches us the how not just the what not just the principles or the ideas or the concepts of god but also the how so i'll start with the revelation the first revelatory thing that the holy spirit teaches us is revelation of the things of god so this is referenced in the scripture as the mysteries of god this can be the person and the attributes of god so the fact that god is love the fact that god is kind the fact that god is a judge the fact that god is omnipotent these are all truths and revelations that the holy spirit illuminates to the believer in greater detail as they grow in their walk the holy spirit is also the one who knows the heart and the mind of god so he's able to reveal the heart of god meaning he's able to reveal the burdens of god the things that are grieving god the things that make god cheerful and delight in his people first corinthians 2 verse 10 says for to us god revealed them through the spirit for the spirit searches all things even the depths of god so the holy spirit is the one who knows the depths of god the bible talks about how the knowledge of god and knowing god there's no there's no limit to it he's unsearchable he's we will never be able to know the fullness every single thing about god in this lifetime because he's too big to know but we have what the bible says jesus who is the image of the invisible one so when we look at jesus we are able to see what our heavenly father looks like and does and what he prioritizes we also know that the spirit is able to understand and discern the will of god we see that from a passage in romans 8 26 to 27 where it says likewise the spirit helps us in our weakness for we do not know what to pray for as we ought but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words and he who search his hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit this is the key bit because the spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of god so there in that last um phrase of verse 27 although this passage is talking about the spirit's role in intercession and in prayer for the saints and how he helps us when we're too weak and we don't really know what to pray for or how to pray there's a key bit there at the end that assures us of the fact that the spirit of god knows how to pray because he knows the will of god he knows the perfect will of god so even though the bible tells us that we and james sometimes pray a myth we as human beings are able to pray outside of the will of god we're not praying in accordance with the holy spirit but when we lean on and rely upon the holy spirit we can be trusting that we are praying according to the will of god so on a very basic level we can just be reminded of the fact that the holy spirit knows the perfect and complete and good will of god the second thing that the holy spirit reveals to us which is the most precious thing that he teaches to us is the revelation of christ this teaching and the knowledge of this is what really distinguishes believers from those of the world who only find knowledge in matters of the world this means that the work of the holy spirit is a continuation so we know that the holy spirit will not contradict something that jesus has already spoken he will not contradict something that god has already determined and established in the scriptures or through the ministry ministry of christ the son so we know that he is continuing what jesus has already taught the spirit does not just wipe the slate clean and try to begin something again um a theologian and his last name is morris he says the spirit will not dispense with the teachings of jesus the teaching to be recalled is his so he doesn't just discard something because now he's permanently on the earth dwelling in the in the heart and the the spirit of his believers but he he's continually um helping us to apply it and to understand what jesus has already established in ephesians 1 17 it says um paul is praying for the believers in ephesus and he says that the god of our lord jesus christ the father of glory may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him and whenever i read that scripture i'm always convicted and reminded of the fact that the primary subject of knowledge that the holy spirit gives to us is knowledge of the son of god and we can't afford especially in this day and age where there's so much to consume there's so much information to learn there's so many theories and philosophies we cannot afford to know a lot about everything else except from our savior um the apostle peter and even the apostle paul a lot of the times in the new testament epistles they often admonish and exhort the believers at the end of their letters to tell them to grow in the grace and knowledge of our lord jesus christ because our understanding of jesus his ministry his person his will his desires his heart for us is something that we have to continue to build on we can't learn a certain set of ideas or principles about jesus in our first couple of years of being saved and then feel like there's nothing else to learn or to pursue or to understand but it's something that we have to be continually growing in and that's what paul is praying for those believers in ephesus that they will receive the spirit of wisdom and of revelation not just in random theories or worldly ideologies but in the knowledge of him in the knowledge of christ so i encourage you to really take inventory into what you really spend time growing in your knowledge of what do you spend time learning about what are you actively seeking understanding about on a daily basis um i saw and one time on social media that um i passed i can't remember who it was but they tweeted that you know if students can understand all of these dynamics about you know physics and astrology and law and all these other subjects you know we can't afford to say that they won't understand theology you know they won't understand the scriptures they won't understand the bible you know especially for young people out there maybe there are leaders listening to this as well challenge your young people to dig deep into the word of god they are they are really understanding and working and writing essays very very complex things academically so don't you know belittle the fact that with the spirit of god they will also be able to understand the depths of the meat of the word of god and they don't need to settle for the milk the second thing that i want to move to is that application so we know that the holy spirit teaches us revelation so he teaches us the what he tells us what it is that we need to know about god about christ and about his heart and purposes and then the second thing is the application side of it so the holy spirit is the one who firstly teaches us how to live a life of godliness and godliness is literally god likeness how to walk in a manner that is reflecting the image of christ as the book of romans talks about um i'll read ezekiel 36 27 it says i will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will be careful to observe my ordinances and what i've um realized as i've been studying through the old testament is that more than any other prophet ezekiel really emphasizes the role of the holy spirit the role of the spirit of god in regeneration and the sanctification process of a believer when god places his spirit in his people they're able to follow his decrees they're not powerless in their sin they're not powerless in their flesh but they're able to actually obey him and to keep his commandments so for those of you who didn't catch that reference it was ezekiel 36 27 and we have this same principle and idea mirrored in the new testament in galatians 5 verse 16 where it says but i say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of your flesh it doesn't say try as hard as you can and you will not just gratify the desires of your flesh or think about being holy and you will not gratify the size of your flesh but it says to walk by the spirit it's the spirit of truth that teaches us how to apply the truth in moments of intense temptation moments where we want to disregard what we know to be true and to follow our own way or the way of the world so the desire of your flesh may be to be envious of somebody but the holy spirit in that moment can teach you how to rejoice with that person he can teach you how to be content in your current circumstance the desire of your flesh may be to compromise your sexual boundaries for a temporary moment of pleasure but the holy spirit can teach you how to flee you for lust and exercise that self-control so the holy spirit is not the spirit of god that just says here's the principle here's the idea now you go and execute it in your own strength and in your own ability but he's the one who brings the revelation and also brings the power to apply that thing to the glory of god the holy spirit not only tells us the what but he empowers us by showing us how because the reality is to know the truth and to live out the truth are two different things a lot of christians especially those who have grown up in church and are very familiar with certain bible passages or even just biblical principles that people in the world sometimes follow but have no real conviction or backing as to why they believe that you know that doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to live that thing out and you know really stand by it when times get tough or pressure really hits or temptation is really strong but with the holy spirit we're able to walk in the way of godliness galatians 5 25 says if we live by the spirit let us also keep in step with the spirit to keep in step with the spirit literally means to attentively follow and the greek word used here is scotchio which means to walk in line behind a leader to walk in line behind a leader so when it says to um keep in step with the spirit it means to walk in line behind a leader and that leader is the spirit so as the holy spirit leads us and teaches us the way of godliness we obediently follow you know if you watch a line where you know soldiers are walking or any type of line where let's say the teacher is walking and students are following you know there's there is consequences for if you walk out of line or if you go to the side or you're not following the direction of the leader so as you're living your life and making decisions and you know really trying to follow the spirit of god and not compromising your walk i encourage you to think when i'm saying i want to keep in step with the spirit am i walking in line behind my leader you know if i say that jesus christ is the master of my life he's the one who dictates what i do and what i don't do what i allow and what i entertain then we need to be walking in a line behind that leader the second thing that i saw in scripture for how the holy spirit helps us to apply the word of god and apply the revelation of god and was something that was very interesting but i thought it was significant was that the holy spirit has a key role in teaching believers how to answer persecutors now this is something that i guess is not as pertinent to us living in the western world where thank god we have a lot of freedom to exercise and practice and be open about our faith but as believers we also have to be mindful of some of the challenges that our brothers and sisters in other countries are going through and also guard ourselves and prepare ourselves for a time when we may also be experiencing that level of persecution in mark 13 verse 11 jesus says when they arrest you and hand you over do not worry beforehand about what you are to say but say whatever is given you in that moment in that hour for it is not you who speaks but it is the holy spirit and again in the mirror text for that in luke 12 verse 12 it says for the holy spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say so when we say that the holy spirit's enroll in teaching is to also help believers to answer persecutors we're really seeing that jesus was saying to them that before the jewish authorities before the gentile courts the disciples were able to refuse anxiety they didn't need to have it all figured out because the holy spirit would teach them what to say in those moments there was an expectation that jesus was putting in the hearts of his disciples that they would receive opposition they would receive opposition from you know the gentiles city halls and they would also receive opposition from religious leaders about the movement and the truth that they were proclaiming but he assured them that in the midst of that the holy spirit would teach them and this is an example of when the holy spirit teaches you something in a moment he gives you the words right there and then something that you may have not prepared for you may not feel exactly ready for but the holy spirit's ability and power to teach you something that maybe would have taken an hour three hours four hours to prepare he can teach you that in a second um you know that is the power of the holy spirit i want to read a quote from barclay regarding these verses about what jesus says to the disciples in the fact that the holy spirit will teach them what to say if they're being persecuted he says it was not the humiliation which the early christians dreaded not even the cruel pain and the agony but many of them feared that their own unskillfulness in words and defense might injure rather than commend the truth it is the promise of god that when a man is on trial for his faith the words will come to him and i love that because he really puts the emphasis on the fact that the early christians weren't thinking about looking silly or not having the words because they would look bad but it was really that they wouldn't be able to contend for their faith and stand up for what it is that jesus had taught them correctly or adequately um and that's something that in with jesus saying don't worry the holy spirit will teach you he will give you those words he will literally put the words in your mouth if you are put on trial that was something that was so comforting to them now this is not a justification and a lot of people use this for you know poor preparation for preaching the word or teaching the word unprepared this in the context is really about persecution and the promise and the comfort that we can have as believers around the world that the holy spirit will teach us in the moment so it's not a justification for poor preparation but rather it's a promise of strength and guidance and unlimited wisdom that we receive from the teaching of the holy spirit if we are persecuted and we have an opportunity to testify of jesus okay the next thing that i'm going to move on so we've looked at who the holy spirit teaches okay we've looked at what the holy spirit teaches so we've looked at the revelatory aspect of it and we've looked at the application aspect of it and i'm gonna move to when and where does the holy spirit teach when and where does the holy spirit teach and the very short answer to this is anytime and anywhere i was i could look through the whole scripture and pull out every scripture but we won't have time to fill out every single scripture in the different locations the different times the different circumstances in which the spirit of god ministers to people and gives them instruction teaching conviction revelation but what this means for us is that we need to be open and ready to receive his teaching his correction his guidance and instruction at all times our openness to the spirit of god speaking it cannot be confined to our own personal devotional time with him it can't be confined to a moment of prophecy in the midst of a sunday service we have to be expectant on the holy spirit to teach us in our daily lives in the mundane when we're at work when we're at university when we're resting with our family our heart has to be open our spirit has to be open to be ready to receive that revelation so i encourage you to really think about what is your engagement with the holy spirit like daily do you find yourself pausing and speaking to him and asking him what he's saying what he thinks about a particular circumstance how often do you actually call upon him throughout the day you know do you allow yourself to get flustered and frustrated in circumstances and not actually say you know holy spirit what are you trying to teach me in the midst of this or what do i need to remember in the midst of this sticky situation and also ask yourself how likely are you to turn to the holy spirit to help you to process a situation or to help you navigate something that is quite emotionally complex you know something that i've um often found is that when i'm feeling extremely overwhelmed whether it's with work or with studies or with ministry or whatever it is i've got going on i can continue to get flustered for hours and hours and hours or i could just take two minutes to stop to pause to pray and to call upon the holy spirit and to ask him for wisdom to ask him for peace and clarity and it's like all of those emotions get sorted in those two minutes but sometimes we're so set on just getting things done or we're set on doing it quickly or just powering through it that we fail to be vulnerable in that moment and just say holy spirit i'm i'm not doing well at this or holy spirit i can't do this so i encourage you you know really think about if you're open to the teaching and the ministry of the holy spirit on a day-to-day so like i said the teaching ministry of the holy spirit is not confined to you sitting in your bedroom studying the scriptures i think especially when we're looking at the teaching of the holy spirit we think that that's our setting aside saturday morning five hours gonna be in the word that's when the holy spirit will teach me and he will teach you in those moments and i trust that he will continue to teach you in those moments but there are also moments where you're at a family function and somebody says something that really gets to you and instead of popping off or instead of being offended the holy spirit in that moment can teach you something you know that is also the ministry the teaching ministry of the holy spirit in action and we can't downplay that he can illuminate the word of god to you everywhere and anywhere i know that from walking with jesus for a few years he can illuminate something to me in the supermarket whilst i'm at university whilst i'm doing anything he can literally speak and show you something and reveal something to you that maybe hadn't made sense for a long time but we have to posture ourselves to listen to not be so cluttered with music and tv and media and all of these things that can so easily distract us from listening into the voice of god in acts 13 verse 2 it says while they were worshiping the lord and fasting the holy spirit said set apart from me barnabas and saul for the work to which i have called them and i love that scripture just as an example of um the fact that the apostles here they were worshiping the lord and fasting and they were able to hear the holy spirit telling them instructing them to do a certain thing so i encourage you you know if you are finding it really hard to receive the teaching ministry of the holy spirit or you feel like it's quite hard to hear the voice of god and discern what he's saying in his current season of your life to spend time worshiping spend time fasting you know spend time decluttering and getting rid of some of the distractions that may be keeping you from really being able to steal your heart to listen to what he's saying because here we have an example where you know they were just having church as normal they were there um in i believe it's a church in antioch and they were just worshiping fasting communing as believers and the holy spirit gave them a very significant instruction set apart for me barnabas and saul for the works which i called them that was the really clear directional leadership instruction that they were able to receive because they were postured in a place of worship and fasting so if you are finding it hard to receive that teaching ministry i encourage you posture yourself this week you know forsake some food social media whatever it is that is distracting you and can help you to get closer to higgi's voice it's true so now that we've looked at when and where does the holy spirit teach i want to move into some points of why does the holy spirit teach why does the holy spirit teach it's easy to kind of just go through what the holy spirit teaches and the extensiveness of his wisdom and his knowledge and how much he knows but i think it's important to remember why he was sent to teach us and the whole purpose of his role and the first one i have here is to glorify the son he teaches to glorify the son and to bear witness of him this is um significant and we see it in john 15 26 it says when the advocate comes whom i will send to you from the father the spirit of truth who proceeds from the father he will testify about me he will testify about me so the holy spirit comes in obedience to the direction of god and we see throughout scripture and even now in new testament christianity that everything the holy spirit does is consistent with the testimony of the nature of jesus his job is to tell us to show us who jesus is and um the bible even said that he doesn't testify of his own accord he doesn't testify on his own authority but he testifies in accordance to what the father tells him to say which best witness to the son of god so we need to be very clear in the fact that if spiritual things happen or spiritual supposed things happen that are not consistent with the nature of jesus it's not the holy spirit doing it you know it can be a different spirit it can be just man man-made flesh it can be all other types of sources but when it's a manifestation or a evidence of the holy spirit it will be in alignment with the nature of jesus and with the testimony of who jesus is throughout the scripture he is the one who will testify of jesus in all that he does so what we see a lot of the time is people um excusing a lot of abusive negligent um very weird and strange spooky practices in the name of the holy spirit but none of that really lines up with jesus and his ministry and what we see the new testament apostles exercising and walking in as they were building the church so we really need to be mindful of that when we see something um you know in a communal setting or even if we have another believer around us who you know may be getting engulfed into a certain doctrine or a certain practice to really you know confront that and be willing to challenge that you know if they're using the holy spirit and abusing the spirit of god and saying it's the holy spirit it's the holy spirit and to you know justify things are just not of god then we need to be able to come back to this scripture and say the holy spirit will testify of jesus he will not do anything that is contrary to the nature of jesus another thing that we see here um in the holy spirit's role and why he teaches to glorify the son and to bear witness of the son is the fact that when we as believers bear witness about christ through evangelism from teaching through preaching through using our different gifts and influence to spread the word of god the holy spirit is working through our words so when we teach and preach the word of god with accuracy when we share the gospel with our friends our co-workers our family we can trust that the ministry of the holy spirit is working through us because as we are sharing the truth the spirit of truth is the one who's backing it you know you may not have all the words you may not be the most eloquent person or you may not feel like you are the most equipped to share the gospel but i want to assure you today that you are not because you have all the words or you're the most articulate person in the world but because you have the spirit of truth because you have the spirit of god and you've been saved by him you can confidently bear witness about christ because his role is to bear witness about christ so as you have that desire to do that yourself he will work through you and minister the correct words as needed the second reason i have here for why the holy spirit teaches is to so i said first is to glorify the son and the second reason i have as to why the holy spirit teaches is to equip the saints to understand the word of god now this is important because we don't live out merely what we know we live out what we understand and that's something that i really want believers and everybody listening tonight to really think about and soak in and just meditate on we don't just live out what we know we live out what we understand we can even though it's difficult share what we know if somebody relays knowledge to us we can regurgitate it you know if we've heard it enough times or we're really sharp and we have a good memory of what somebody has says you know chinese whispers you can if you know what that person has said you can you know say it you can you know sometimes the chinese listen it doesn't work and then people end up with the wrong message but if somebody tells you something you can relay a message and that's what happens with a lot of us and why sometimes our growth in christ is stunted and we're not able to see the fruit that we want really being produced in our lives it's not because we're not reading our bible or we're not hearing the word of god or we're not hearing great sermons but sometimes it's that we're not understanding it we're not really looking at the scripture and just saying okay yeah i've read that before i know what god wants i know what god is saying but we're not really understanding it and sometimes when i find that i'm struggling with something or i'm falling short in the area one of the things that i go back to is god do i really understand what you what you mean when you say this do i really understand your will concerning this area do i really understand your heart for this sin um because sometimes like i said it's not that we don't memorize the verse or we don't know the scriptures in five different translations but it's the fact that we don't understand what one meant and really as first corinthians 2 was alluding to it's only the spirit of god that can bring that understanding it's only the spirit of god that can take us from just reading something memorizing it being able to regurgitate it for years upon years but then actually taking that and applying that into our lives where it goes from head knowledge to heart knowledge and it overflows into our actions james 1 verse 22 says be doers of the word and not hearers only and i want to encourage you and submit to you today that the role of the holy spirit the reason why he teaches is in order for us to really live out that scripture to be doers of the word and not hear us only because it's easy to hear it's easy to receive and get in loads of scripture getting loads of great one-liners from preachers but to actually go home and apply that thing when there's so much pressure to not do it there's pressure to walk the other way there's pressure to conform to the world there's pressure to act in a way that is in complete opposition and contrast to the ways of god in those moments we need the holy spirit to help us to be doers of the word and we only do and live out in our conduct what we truly understand and believe in romans 8 14 it says for all who are led by the spirit of god are the sons of god the holy spirit helps us as saints of god to live out our identity our sons as sons of god we have the spirit of god and we are expected to walk by the spirit of god you know that verse there in romans 8 14 it's saying it's almost like they're simultaneous things if you are a son of god you will walk by the spirit of god if you have the spirit of god it means you are a son of god so you know you can't be somebody who is proclaiming sonship but is constantly walking by the flesh you know that's not going to work and what the holy spirit's role is is to help us to live up to that identity god has declared you as a son he's adopted you he's brought you into the fold now as part of the family of god you're a child of god but now you have to go from a child of god who does what they want and gives into their various lusts and passions and actually walks in accordance with the spirit and that's what the teaching ministry of the holy spirit does he teaches you how to do that how to live up to your kingdom identity how to not live below what it is that god has called you to because when we think about it when we're walking in cycles of habitual sin when we're giving in to the enemy when we're falling short in areas that we really should be maturing in and overcoming it we're really living below the identity that god gave us you know we're not just disappointing god and grieving god and we are you know his heart is broken when we are sinning and we're we're doing things that are very contrary to his heart for us but when we think about it even from an identity level and a personal level we're living below what we are called to what we are called as as sons of god because we are expected to be led by the spirit you know in the book of philippians paul says walk in a manner that is worthy of your calling so when you are called by god when you are called by god as a son as a servant as someone who can be used by god as a vessel there is a standard um that you will be taught and led by the spirit of god the spirit also explains to believers the spiritual realities of god's kingdom with spirit taught worth we saw that earlier in first corinthians 2 verse 13 there is no way that you can comprehend the wonders or the realities of god's kingdom without the spirit revealing them to you and that is why we can see countless theologians over the many years read study and you know even teach the bible and they're unbelievers they don't they might know the academic side of it they might be able to break down something and know all the hermeneutics but it doesn't become life to them they're not able to see the living word that is within that text and they're not able to really understand the greater concept of redemption because it's not personal to them it's not something that has been made a spiritual reality in their spirit but when we have the spirit of god and he's equipping the saints to understand the word things that are maybe past our logic things that are very alien to us and very hard to understand in our natural minds suddenly we're able to understand them not because we all of a sudden got smarter when we got saved you know but it's because we now have the spirit of god who teaches us spiritual things and then i'll just move on to the last subheading of um what we're going to look at there's a few points that i want to cover here um which is how does he teach so this is the final section looking at how does the holy spirit teach how does he teach so we know that he teaches in many different ways through many different means and but the first one that i will say this is more the way in which the holy spirit teaches but the holy spirit teaches by the wisdom of god the holy spirit teaches by the wisdom of god in um isaiah 11 verse 2 it says the spirit of the lord will rest on him the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and strength the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the lord and this is a prophetic word in isaiah concerning jesus who was the coming messiah and in this passage we see the several dimensions of the power of the holy spirit and what jesus was able to walk in with his leadership with his plans with his holiness because of these this part of the holy spirit that was upon him we see that he is the spirit of wisdom and understanding and that made jesus the perfect counselor the perfect teacher there was no gap in jesus's knowledge because the spirit of the lord was upon him you know all of these things that we see about the spirit of the lord they're culminated in jesus christ and then we see in another passage in isaiah um isaiah 40 verse 13 to 14 this is one of my favorite passages in scripture i think it says who has directed the spirit of the lord or as his counselor has informed him with whom did he consult and who gave him understanding and who taught him in the path of justice and took him knowledge and informed him of the way of understanding you know this verse shows us that even with all of the world's knowledge even with all of the earth's knowledge and worldly wisdom from bang we could never tutor or instruct the lord yes we can never outsmart god there is nobody on this planet no matter how many degrees they have no matter what they've invented no matter what it is that they do or proclaim that they have knowledge-wise they will never ever be able to be on a level where they can outsmart and teach god and that's why the the title of my bible study today is the ultimate teacher because there are smart people on the earth god has given us wisdom the ability to think critically the ability to think logically the ability to invent and create but ultimately as isaiah says there is nobody who can counsel the lord there is nobody that god has gone to and said i don't know what to do about this situation can you give me wisdom the same way we run to our wise counselors and we won to our friends and our pastors and our leaders god has never had to do that because he is his knowledge and his power is infinite god needs no counsel no instruction no teacher and no one to show him the way of understanding and that is something that is encouraging to know as somebody who is being treated and taught by the holy spirit you know we can take courage knowing that we do not serve a god or we are not led and taught by a spirit with a single ounce of ignorance you know there are many teachers and everybody as humans we're all ignorant in some area in some topic in some subject in some area of life and the way the world operates we don't know something we are completely ignorant to how planes work or how the skies are or how animals are you know there is always something that we will not know but god the creator the almighty god there is nothing outside of the bounds of his knowledge and understanding and that is so encouraging because when we're saying that he is our teacher the spirit of the lord is the one who helps us to understand things it means that his ability to help us to teach us is not only restricted to descriptions right it's not only restricted to helping us to understand okay what does john 13 verse 3 really mean although that is you know one of the primary ways in which he disciples and instructs believers in christ and it is very important that we're relying on him to do that but we can also rely on him to teach us in our education at university in our jobs in the different businesses that we're building there is wisdom and knowledge in our perfect god because he created it all he knows the ins and outs the functionings of everything that even goes beyond what we don't even know he knows what we don't even know that we don't know if you get what i mean so even when books professors ministers all of these things fall short of completely accurate and full knowledge the holy spirit knows all things yeah and he can teach us all things this is good and it's beautiful as a believer to remind yourself every day that i have the perfect resource dwelling on the inside of me you know resources are great books are great teachers are great but i have the perfect source of all knowledge all wisdom that is dwelling on the inside of you and that's something that you can take comfort in another way that the holy spirit teaches we're looking at how the holy spirit teaches so we've looked at the fact that he teaches by the wisdom of god he doesn't just speak frivolously he doesn't just teach out of ignorance but he teaches by the wisdom of god the completeness of god's knowledge he teaches us through discernment he teaches us through the power of discernment and discernment is the ability to distinguish what is of god and what is not the spirit of truth himself helps us in this task and he simultaneously helps us to do this whilst also living out the fruit of the spirit now i'll say this because discernment i think is something that is extremely misunderstood in the christian community sometimes we think discernment is just you know us feeling a bit funny about something but you know we have no real scriptural backing for why we feel funny about someone or you know there's there's a lot of random myths about what discernment is and a lot of the time we find that as believers we're really prone to coming out of godly character in the name of discernment yes you know we'll say the holy spirit is helping me to discern that person or discern that teaching or discern whatever and you know we use that as a justification to no longer be kind to no longer be loving and to no longer exercise self-control you know it's one thing to have discernment to perceive something okay the holy spirit has maybe shown you something but it's that same holy spirit that will now help you to navigate that with wisdom with gentleness with self-control so it's important that when we say discernment we don't mean criticizing we don't just mean calling people out for the sake of it you know but we mean being able to distinguish what is the truth what is of god and what is not what is the spirit of error now hebrews 5 14 says but solid food is for the mature for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil so there we see that even the writer of hebrews is saying that part of discernment and the power of discernment that the holy spirit gives us is that ability to distinguish between good from evil but something that i realized today even as i was looking at this was that mature believers those who are now in a place where they can receive the solid meat the solid food the weightier more complex heavy things are in the scripture it says there for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice constant practice and i think that's something that we should really um zoom into and think about because sometimes especially when we first start our walk with god um we're in quite a vulnerable place because we're not really anchored fully yet in truth and it's hard to distinguish what is right there's so many teachers there's so many sermons there's so many resources you know but the scripture is saying that you know those who are mature those who are able to have solid food it takes practice it takes that consistent practice of relying on the holy spirit to show you to discern what is true and what is not what is good and what is evil and even further than that what is truth and what is merely truth you know because sometimes things appear true you know they are wrapped in a good package of christianity or christian words but when you actually look at it biblically there's no backing for it or the scripture it actually says something completely contrary but because we're so used to hearing it or it's something that we've just taken as truth because we've heard so many pastors say it you know we're not really able to discern as accurately um but i want to encourage you that you know even as paul prays for the um believers in philippi he says that um it's my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment you know he prays for their discernment and you know hebrews talks about the fact that our powers of discernment need to be trained the holy spirit is the one who can teach you the scripture show you the truth anchor you in that so that you're able to recognize what is wrong and what is false you know i have a lot of people um especially young people that always ask me you know caitlyn how do i know when something is false doctrine you know sometimes we get very excited about trying to find false doctrine and um you know what i always tell them i said the starting point is that you need to know the truth the starting point of discerning and rejecting false doctrine of false teaching especially in this generation where it's a bit harder because everything sounds so good and appeals to our flesh is really knowing the truth because you can discern that something is wrong or you can pick up on the fact that hold on that's not biblical but just because you've done that doesn't that doesn't add anything to your face that doesn't add anything to your spirituality or your maturity in christ what is going to mature you is being able to discern that that teaching was wrong or something that was said was inaccurate now what is the truth that i need to apply and solidify in my own walk so i encourage you you know i know some people in their walk they get into this mode of just trying to find false teachings and call out false teachers but i encourage you you know in the midst of being weary and being on guard for those things focus on knowing the truth because when you know the truth you can spot the lie you know you don't need to go looking for the lies you'll instantly be able to pick it up by the power of the holy spirit in you when you've been immersing yourself in the word of god long enough someone can say something and you immediate a scripture will come to you that immediately contradicts that you know i've had that so many times and i don't go out there looking for false teaching i've just heard someone say something and i've literally been like um but philippians 1 7 says it's just in your mind you already know what the truth says so you can reject either that part of the message or just that point doesn't mean you need to reject the whole thing but you know you're able to know the truth and discern it properly um the next way in which the holy spirit teaches that i've got here which is very um kind of obvious to us but something that we need to remind ourselves of continually is free people the holy spirit teaches us three people the holy spirit is the one who enables ministers to teach romans 12 7 is talking about the gifts of the spirit or the gifts of grace um and it says the one who teaches in his teaching so this is about us using our spiritual gifts and one of the gifts that is mentioned there is the gift of teaching the ability to expound the ability to um minister the word of god in a way that will bring understanding and revelation to its hearers and then in first corinthians 12 verses 4 47 it says now there are varieties of gifts but the same spirit and there are varieties of service but the same lord and there are varieties of activities but it is the same god who empowers them all in everyone to each is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good and i love that because we see in romans 12 7 that there is the gift of teaching you know even in ephesians 4 we see that there's an office of the teacher we see that there's um a place for teachers in the church and then in first corinthians 12 we see that every spiritual gift everything that is deposited inside of believers according to the spirit's will is given by the spirit and it's given for the common good it's given for the use um so that people can be edified and people can grow in their walk so the holy spirit is the one that gives people to teach the holy spirit is the one who enables people to teach you anoints people to teach um so when you see people teaching or preaching or ministering or sharing the word of god hopefully um you know if they're pure-hearted and walking by the spirit it's the holy spirit that is really enabling them and empowering them to be able to break down the text to bring understanding and revelation jesus and i want to make this point here just under this point of the holy spirit teaching us and the ministry the teaching ministry of the holy spirit being through people is that spirit-filled teachers are those who teach both accurately and passionately accurately and passionately and the reason why i say that is because sometimes i think that we judge teachers or those who minister the word of god only based off of one of those things so we might say because somebody is super passionate or super zealous or the way in which they minister the word of god their style is quite electric um you know we immediately think that you know they're they're accurate and everything that they're saying is correct or we're more inclined to believe that they know what they're talking about um but then we can also have people that maybe don't preach or teach with as much passion but they're extremely accurate what they're saying is correct what they're saying is bible it's biblically sound um but you know we write them off because you know they don't seem like a preacher or they don't um present themselves like a teacher of the word of god but we really have to get rid of those very worldly and carnal mentalities and when we're saying to the lord lord show me you know what teachers i can trust show me what teachers i can sit under and be poured into you know we're really looking for spiritual teachers those who are both accurate those who are full of the spirit they're passionate and zealous about the things of the spirit and because we are exposed to so many teachers in this generation you know from older teachers more seasoned and experienced teachers who have been teaching for many years those who are only budding and growing in their teaching ministry um but regardless of who we listen to whether it's online or in our local communities we really need to test what they teach by the foundation of god's word so no matter what their style looks like um or you know how much they shout or don't shout we really need to be thinking is this person spirit filled based on what they are actually teaching okay and then the last thing that i will just cover in how the holy spirit teaches is through the anointing in us through the anointing in us this is the final way that i want to cover for how the holy spirit teaches um mk touched on this on sunday as well in such a great way which i thought was awesome in first john 2 verse 27 it says but the anointing that you have received from him abides in you and you have no need that anyone should teach you but as his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and is no lie just as it has taught you abide in him and mk touched on the fact that in this context um we see that the believers were surrounded by lots of false teachers lots of antichrist teachers that were raising up and trying to distort the gospel message and the word of christ that had already been established and taught and one thing that i see through this scripture in first john is that the anointing is our protection against deception the anointing in us which is the holy spirit on the inside of us is our protection against deception so even when we are trying to discern and um really understand and comprehend what god is saying through a particular message or something that we hear we don't have to do it from a place of fear and skepticism we can know that and be assured of the fact that the holy spirit the anointing on us is our protection against deception believers have the resource within them to be able to discern that tribal error you know i'm not saying that you don't need to use resources or have teachers because you know we see that the bible has gifted us um with teachers in the body of christ but we don't need any message that diverges from the gospel we don't need any type of extra special thing on the inside of us except from the holy spirit who is able to teach us all things so because of the anointing of the holy spirit that's given to all believers we are able to know the truth understand the truth and apply the truth so like i said this is not to say that teachers are unnecessary but it's to say that the anointing on the inside of us is more powerful than any false teaching or any type of message that tries to divert us away from the gospel of truth so i hope that has encouraged you all i just want to summarize quickly um what we looked at so we looked at the fact that the holy spirit teaches the saints and he also teaches unbelievers through revealing them revealing to them the salvation of christ and convicting them of sin we looked at the fact that he teaches us revelation that he teaches us the what the principles the ideas the concepts of god but he also teaches us how to apply those things to live a godly life we looked at the fact that the holy spirit teaches us any time and anywhere and that we need to really do some reflection this week on how much we really avail ourselves and open our hearts to receive that ministry on a daily basis we looked at some of the points as to why the holy spirit teaches he teaches to glorify the son he teaches to equip the saints to understand the word the key thing being understanding because that impacts our doing and then lastly we've just covered how does he teach he teaches by the wisdom of god he teaches us through the powers of discernment that he gives us he teaches us through people and he teaches us through the anointing that has been given to us through the seal of the promised holy spirit so i hope that tonight has really given you just a more detailed and in-depth understanding of the teaching ministry of the holy spirit and i'm sure that next week and as we continue this series um of the greatest help you'll be able to really understand more dimensions and elements of the holy spirit because this is this is just him teaching and look how much the scripture says about it look how much we can get from the understanding and the wisdom that we get from the holy spirit as our ultimate teacher so i just want to pray for everyone and then we can close for tonight and you can get on with your evenings heavenly father we thank you so much your god for tonight lord we just honor you and we worship you we thank you that you are a faithful god we thank you lord that you are a living god who still speaks who still moves and who still teaches his people lord we just thank you for the teaching ministry of the holy spirit we thank you lord god that he is our ultimate teacher we thank you that the spirit of god is full of wisdom knowledge understanding and revelation everything that we could ever need to know is found in you father god i pray over everybody who's in this room tonight and those who are listening online even those father god who are watching the replay and i pray with god that they would have a greater understanding and appreciation for the teaching ministry of the holy spirit god i pray that their hearts and minds would be open to receive your teaching your instruction your wisdom in their day-to-day lives i pray father god that you would bless them with a true rich understanding of your word that father they would not be confused they would not be discouraged they would not feel your god um just hopeless lord in their pursuit of you and understanding your truth but god i prayed that tonight would have brought up inside of them god a new zeal and a new passion to trust you as their teacher to ask you the hard questions to run to you for the wisdom lord god to be able to believe lord that when you have said that your spirit will teach us all things and bring to remembrance of the things your god you are not lying so we pray father that you would continue to be glorified in our lives as we continue to study your truth apply your truth and share your truth with the world your god we pray that your spirit will empower us and your spirit or god will be our ultimate teacher in jesus name i pray amen fine

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Length: 68min 55sec (4135 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 15 2021