What it means to be initiated into the secret of the mystery. Part 7. The Doctrine of the Mentorship of the Holy Spirit

GRACE BIBLE CHURCH
Robert R. McLaughlin Bible Ministries
The Tree of Life is a weekly teaching summary.
The Tree of Life from the week ending 03/13/05
What it means to be initiated in the secret of the mystery. Part 7. 
The Doctrine of the Mentorship of the Holy Spirit.

JOH 14:11-16, "Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; otherwise believe on account of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater {works} than these shall he do; because I go to the Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do {it.} If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. And I will ask the Father [remember that all prayer requests go to the Father], and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
The word helper is the Greek noun parakleton meaning, a helper, someone to assist, or a mentor. JOH 14:17, the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive [only the believer can receive God the Holy Spirit], because it does not behold Him or know Him, {but} you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you.
This has led us to the Doctrine of the Mentorship of the Holy Spirit.

Definition: The Holy Spirit as our mentor is describing the ministry of God the Holy Spirit as the paraclete or helper, the teacher and counselor of every individual believer. The mentorship of the Holy Spirit is our real teacher and the one who gives us ultimate discernment. 1JO 2:19-20, They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.

1JO 2:26-27, These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.
The Greek word for anointing is chrisma, a special endowment of the Holy Spirit. The mentorship of the Holy Spirit is the means of enabling believers to possess knowledge of doctrine.

Point 2. Our Lord's Prophecy of the Mentorship of the Holy Spirit.

The Lord made a prophecy in JOH 14:16-17. The phrase "because He lives with you" describes the ministry of the Holy Spirit to the disciples during the dispensation of the hypostatic union. This was the most intimate ministry of God the Holy Spirit towards man prior to the Church Age. The disciples didn't have this, although they could have.LUK 11:13, "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall {your} heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?" They didn't ask for the Holy Spirit even after our Lord died and was raised from the dead. In JOH 20:21-22, Jesus therefore said to them again, "Peace {be} with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you." And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit."

Back in JOH 14:17, "the Spirit of truth, whom the world is not able to receive, because they neither see Him nor do they know Him, but you know Him because He lives with you, and will be in you." This is a reference to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Every member of the Trinity indwells every believer during the Church-age, a radical change from anything in the past and a part of the uniqueness of the Church-age.

Point 3. The Indwelling and Filling of the Spirit Related to Mentorship. 

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit must be distinguished from the function of the Holy Spirit as a part of your spiritual life. The Holy Spirit indwells the believer's body (ROM 8:10; 1CO 3:16, 6:19-20; 2CO 6:16) creating a temple for the indwelling of Christ as a guarantee of blessing and to provide a permanent base for the Holy Spirit's availability as your mentor. Our Lord said to His disciples that they would receive the power of the Holy Spirit before He ascended into heaven and before the Church-age began (ACT 1:8). This indwelling of the Spirit is permanent, which is why it is never commanded in the Bible. It is permanent whether the believer is carnal or spiritual, winner or loser. However, the filling of the Spirit is mandated in EPH 5:18. The filling of the Holy Spirit has to do with the Holy Spirit controlling the soul. Sin causes the filling of the Spirit to be replaced by the control of the sin nature. The command of GAL 5:16to keep walking by means of the Spirit is the function of and the divine power for the spiritual life.

Point 4. God the Holy Spirit as our mentor is our teacher of the word of God.

1CO 2:9-10, but as it stands written, "What the eye has not seen and ear has not heard, in fact it has not entered into the heart of mankind, what God has prepared for those who love Him. But to us for our benefit God has revealed them through the agency of the Spirit; for the Spirit investigates all things, even the deep things [our portfolio of invisible assets] from God." The Spirit dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along. Apart from the mentorship of God the Holy Spirit the believer is helpless to understand and execute the PPOG for the Church Age.

1CO 2:11-12, For who among mankind understands the thoughts of mankind except the soul [Pneuma] that is in him? Even so the message from God no one has known except the Holy Spirit from God. But we have not received the human I.Q. of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things which have been graciously given to us by God.
God the Father gave the Church God the Holy Spirit as our mentor and this is unique to the Church-age. Our Lord also says that both the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit to be available as our mentor, and only after this were the Lord's disciples able understand the word of God.

1CO 2:13-14, which things we also do communicate in words taught by human wisdom, but in doctrines taught by the agency of the Spirit, interpreting spiritual doctrines to spiritual persons. But the soulish person does not receive the things from the Spirit of God; because to him it is senseless, furthermore he is not able to understand it [Bible doctrine and the spirit filled life], because it is investigated in a manner caused by [filling of the] Spirit. The unbeliever cannot understand doctrine because he does not have the mentorship of God the Holy Spirit. 1CO 2:15, But the spirit filled believer investigates all things [pertaining to doctrine], but he himself is investigated by no one[privacy of the priesthood].

Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God's Spirit is doing, and can't be judged by unspiritual critics. The filling of the Holy Spirit plus human I.Q. equals spiritual I.Q. The added teaching ministry of the Spirit equals the execution of the PPOG. 1CO 2:16, For who knows the thinking of the Lord, that he should instruct Him?  But we keep on having the thinking of Christ."

Back in JOH 14:26, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and He will cause you to remember all that I have said to you." If you do not give Bible doctrine its rightful place as the #1 priority in your life, you have rejected the mentorship of God the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit is also the divine author of the infallible word of God. JOH 16:12-14, "I have many things to teach you, but you are not able to bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth; He shall glorify Me; because He shall receive from Me [My message], and He will report it back to you."

The first advent of the Holy Spirit occurs at the beginning of the Church-age after the first advent of Christ had occurred. The second advent of the Holy Spirit occurs at the beginning of the Millennium after the Second advent of Jesus Christ. There also is a special ministry of God the Holy Spirit in the Millennium that does not exist after the Church-age and that is the emotional appreciation of the presence of Jesus Christ ruling the world at that time.

The Greek verb for guide is odegeo meaning the Holy Spirit would guide the disciples with the interpretation and formation of the N. T. canon, as well as our ability to understand doctrine. What He hears and will speak to Church-age believers is the unfinished message of our Lord Jesus Christ found in the epistles. In JOH 19:30, the work for salvation was finished, but the mystery doctrine of the Church-age would not be finished until the apostle Paul arrived on the scene and fought the good fight, finished the course, and completed mystery doctrine. The disciples couldn't understand it! It took resurrection, ascension and session and then God the Holy Spirit was sent as a mentor to all believers but used only by those who are positive toward doctrine.

JOH 16:14 says, "He shall glorify Me; because He shall receive from Me [My message] and He will report it back to you." You cannot glorify God nor fulfill God's plan unless the Holy Spirit is your mentor. God is perfect and His plan is perfect, therefore when a perfect plan exists there must be a perfect power to execute it since we are imperfect persons.

Point 5. The first part of the Holy Spirit's mentorship is the mechanics for the doctrine of inspiration.

2TI 3:16-17, "All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness [virtue], that the man of God may be proficient [well-advanced, skilled, mature, an expert], equipped for every good production."
The Greek word inspired is theopneustos meaning God-breathed. God the Holy Spirit, as the Mentor, supernaturally directed the human authors of Scripture with our Lord's complete message, which they inhaled. This information was exhaled into the canon of the N. T. It was recorded with perfect accuracy in the original languages of the N. T. (Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic). God the Holy Spirit did so without waiving their intelligence, literary style or any other human factor of expression. The disciples, through the ministry of God the Holy Spirit, were now able to understand and put in complete and accurate writings. Man is the instrument of the Word of God but not the author (2PE 1:20-21).

Point 6. God the Holy Spirit as Our Mentor Prays for Us.

The Holy Spirit has to pray for us because we don't know how to pray, and often we do not have the necessary information to pray under certain circumstances. In this important function, God the Holy Spirit, our parakleton, assists us, ROM 8:26, And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness;
The word for helps is the Greek verb sunantilambanomai meaning to aid, to help in obtaining something, to render assistance in time of need. The Holy Spirit has a phenomenal prayer ministry for believers and comes to our rescue as our mentor. God the Holy Spirit does not help where He is not wanted, except in the time of special need. He is personally interested in helping you out in a prayer situation even if you do not know what prayer is all about. We usually pray on the basis of our desires rather than using the power options and spiritual skills, our parakleton lends us a helping hand.

The great nemesis of the spiritual life is ignorance of doctrine. The vast majority of believers fail to know about the spiritual life. Knowledge is essential especially concerning your eternal destiny. Most individuals pray of the basis of their desires under the ministry of the sin nature and its lust pattern. JAM 4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

ROM 8:26 says, for we do not know how to pray as we should but the Spirit Himself [our mentor] intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words; No one truly knows how to pray as they should, this should be a source of comfort to those who have been plagued by a guilt complex concerning your prayer life.

It is comforting to know that when you're totally confused and all you can do is groan, God the Holy Spirit lends a helping hand. God the Holy Spirit intercedes as a substitute for us when we are motivated to pray but do not know how to pray. Our Lord Jesus Christ as our High Priest also makes intersession for us at the right hand of the Father,HEB 7:24-25, On the other hand, He abides forever; consequently, He holds His priesthood permanently.  Therefore, also, He is able to deliver completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for us.

Our prayers often fail simply because we fail to concentrate on doctrine under the power of the Spirit, therefore we fail to metabolize and apply doctrine, and thus we fail in prayer. Remember to express the will of God in your prayers rather than your own will in any given matter. The Holy Spirit's ministry of prayer for you cannot be squelched or grieved. He will not violate your free will but He will pray for you. He continues to make intercession for you when you are out of fellowship and He does this for you regardless of your volition. ROM 8:26-27, "And in the same way the Spirit also lends us a helping hand with our weaknesses; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words; and He [God the Father] who searches the hearts[stream of consciousness] knows the mindset of the Spirit, because He [God the Holy Spirit] intercedes [as a substitute ] for the saints on the basis of the will of God."

JOH 14:16-18, "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is} the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, {but} you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

The Greek verb for leave is aphiemi meaning to depart, leave behind, forsake. Then we have the Greek word for orphans which is orphanous meaning without help, fatherless, without a teacher, guide, guardian. This is anticipation of the ministry of the Holy Spirit that TLJC is leaving for the Church age. He'll be in heaven at the right hand of the Father, but, He does not leave us without help. Remember He said Heb3:5, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,"
He's going to come back so He tells us that now in the middle of verse 18, I will come to you, a reference to the Rapture of the Church. So Our Lord says, "I am going to leave you behind now, but during the Church age I will not leave you without help, and then I will come back, face to face with you"   Rapture of the Church. He's going to meet us face to face, not on the earth, but in the air, 1TH 4:13-17; 1CO 15:51-57.

JOH 14:19, "After a little while the world will behold Me no more; but you {will} behold Me; because I live, you shall live also." The Greek word micron means a short time or a little time. The word for behold is the Greek verbtheoreo meaning to discern, consider, view mentally, to study attentively. In other words, they were and we are to see Him mentally, we see Him through Bible doctrine. We haven't seen the resurrected Christ, we live in the Church age. Therefore, by taking in Bible doctrine, and developing divine viewpoint we see the unseeable, we see through the eyes of the soul.

JOH 14:20, "In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you." The phrase in that day means literally beginning on the day of Pentecost, the Church age, you shall know. When Jesus says He is in the Father, we go back to His oneness and equality with the essence of the Father. Then the phrase, and you in Me, this is a radical change, for the first time in history Jesus Christ is in God, and you are in Christ. This is a reference to your position in Christ and therefore, the doctrine of positional truth, a relationship you can never get out of. You are perfect right now through the baptism of the Spirit, you are in union with Christ and that union is perfect right now.
Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship and the basis of that relationship is that Christ is God, and we are in Christ.

One of the most important mystery doctrines of the Church-age is the doctrine of the baptism of the Spirit and our positional truth. At the moment of salvation God the Holy Spirit places every believer in union with Christ. 1CO 12:13, For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. It is the baptism of the Spirit that is in view not water baptism. In fact, in 1Co 1:12-17, Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, that no man should say you were baptized in my name. Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, that the cross of Christ should not be made void.

In the early church, prior to the completion of the canon of Scripture, water baptism was a legitimate way of teaching the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That was the only purpose of water baptism, designed to teach the importance of a new dispensation. Water baptism was a ritual and all ritual is designed for teaching and application. The only ritual for us today is the communion service, designed for us to remember Christ. So, the baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs only in the Church-age and this is how you became a new creature or a new spiritual species. 2CO 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new [spiritual] species. The old things have lost their power; behold, new things have come." The baptism of the Holy Spirit is also taught in ACT 1:5; Joh  14:20. At the moment of entering the believer into union with Christ (positional sanctification), the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit creates a new spiritual species through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The new spiritual species is designed for unprecedented availability and delegation of divine power. What you can do in the energy of your flesh cannot make you a new creature in Christ Jesus. Being made a new creature in Christ Jesus depends on the power of the Holy Spirit.

These old things which have lost their power refers to:

1) Pre-salvation influences, which may continue if there is no perception of doctrine and spiritual growth. 2) Our position in Adam and resultant spiritual death, ROM 5:12, 1CO 15:22, In Adam all die; in Christ shall all be made alive. 3) The old sin nature. ROM 6:7, for he who has died [with Christ through baptism] is freed from the sin nature. You can have victory over your lusts, anxieties, fears, insecurities, hatred, bitterness and anger, if you desire to. 4) Genetic, environmental, and volitional handicaps. 5) The function of human power in Satan's cosmic system. By negative volition, you get under Satan's power, but divine power has superseded cosmic power. 6) People emphasis taking priority over God emphasis. The provision of divine power to the royal family of God makes it possible for relationship with God to take precedence over relationship with people.

These new things that have come refers to:

1)  The baptism of the Spirit. 2) The PPOG. 3) The unique equality factors in the PPOG. 4) Our very own portfolio of invisible assets prepared for us by the omnipotence of God the Father. 5) Our unique royal commissions of royal priesthood and royal ambassadorship. As a royal priest, we represent ourselves before God. As a royal ambassador, we represent God before the world. 6) The unique mystery doctrine. 7) The indwelling of all three persons of the trinity. 8) The unique availability of divine power. 9) Understanding that we live in a dispensation of no prophecy, only historical trends. 10) This is the dispensation of invisible heroes. Throughout the Church-age, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the basis for forming the Royal Family of God and the universal body of Christ.

For a detailed study order tapes 0190-1292 - 0190-1294