TEEN TREE 
OF LIFE
THE HOLY SPIRIT
Part 6
June 24, 2018
BEFORE we begin, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, take a moment to name your sins to God the Father. This will allow you to be filled with the power of The Holy Spirit as you read this booklet (EPH 5:18 & 1JOH1:9). IF YOU HAVE never believed in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you have that opportunity right now. Simply tell God the Father that you are believing on His Son Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you make that decision, you are now a believer and will always be a child of God! When you die, you will spend eternity with Him forever in heaven! (JOH 3:16 & ACT 16:31)
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with The Holy Spirit of promise [Efficacious Grace]. (EPH 1:13) We are now going to look at the Efficacious Grace Ministry of The Holy Spirit. At the point of faith in Christ, the unbeliever has made a decision to believe in Christ. Because this faith comes from someone who is spiritually dead, God The Holy Spirit must make the faith effectual (having effect) for Salvation; this is the doctrine of Efficacious Grace. Without this Ministry of The Holy Spirit, there is no validity in the faith of an unbeliever. There is nothing valid in what an unbeliever does or thinks, as far as a relationship with God is concerned. But The Holy Spirit makes this faith effectual in every case! From human viewpoint, we simply believe in Christ for Salvation. From Divine viewpoint, the very second we believe, God The Holy Spirit makes that faith effectual. He carries us into Salvation!
The Sealing of The Holy Spirit is a guarantee of the validity of Efficacious grace. It is real and actual, and something that cannot be taken away. It is a guarantee of Eternal Salvation. It is a guarantee of Eternal Security. It is the guarantee of your very own Portfolio of Invisible Assets, which include your escrow blessings for time and eternity. The Invisible Assets are those Divine Assets provided by God The Father in Eternity Past for the execution of His Pre-Designed Plan in the believer’s life. God the Father found the way for His justice to provide perfect fantastic blessing to His Righteousness without any compromise of His Essence.
Now we are going to look at The Holy Spirit and Evangelism. Evangelism is the spreading of the good news that Jesus Christ died for our sins and was raised from the dead according to the Scripture and, that as the reigning Lord, He now offers the forgiveness of sins and the liberating Gift of The Holy Spirit and Eternal Life to all who simply believe on Him! There are three Grace Functions of Divine Sovereignty in Evangelism. The first is the Ministry of God The Holy Spirit in making the gospel clearly expressed and easily understood. The second is the invitation of God the Father and God the Son to believe in Jesus Christ, classified as the Divine Call. The Divine Call is having been given the ability to understand the Gospel. And the third is the omnipotence of God The Holy Spirit in making faith in Jesus Christ effective for Eternal Salvation. It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2Thes 2:14)
Therefore, the spiritually dead person can listen to the Gospel and believe in Jesus Christ for Salvation. But these decisions are powerless to provide Salvation apart from the Work of God. Efficacious Grace emphasizes the total helplessness of the spiritually dead person. No matter what a spiritually dead person can do, it is not Salvation. Salvation is accomplished by faith alone in Jesus Christ and this is something that God The Holy Spirit can make effective: For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (EPH 2:8-9)
Jesus’ prophecy concerning the common and efficacious grace Ministry of The Holy Spirit can be found in JOH 16:7-11: “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.”
The only sin for which Christ was not judged on the Cross is UNBELIEF. In the presentation of the Gospel, personal sin is not an issue. Changing someone’s behavior or making up for sins, have no part in presenting the gospel because all personal sins were judged on the Cross. Since Christ was our substitute and was judged for our sins on the Cross, “sin” in JOHN 16:9 (see above) refers specifically to one sin only: the sin of unbelief, the refusal to believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior. It is also called blaspheming and resisting The Holy Spirit. So, personal sin is not an issue for Salvation with regard to changing your behavior away from sin in order to be saved, or to make amends for your sins through good works, or even to confess your sins. Personal sin is never an issue in the gospel, other than the fact that Jesus paid for them all, once and for all time!
A spiritually dead person is incapable of doing anything for Salvation. If you add anything to faith, like works, confession of sin, etc., then there is no Salvation. It is faith alone in Christ alone that brings you Salvation. You must remember this when communicating the Gospel as an ambassador for Christ. Again, the issue is faith alone in Jesus Christ.
Spiritually dead mankind cannot produce a righteousness which is satisfactory to God. There is a barrier between God and man. The barrier is sin leading to unrighteousness and that barrier was removed by the Work of The Lord Jesus Christ upon the Cross.
As a result of our non-meritorious faith in the Work of Christ upon the Cross, we are saved. We then share equally in God’s Righteousness. This qualifies us for entrance into heaven. So, through the Righteousness of Christ, we receive the imputation of God’s Righteousness for Eternal Life.
Therefore, the second part of the Convicting Ministry of The Holy Spirit is to convict (convince) every member of the human race of the fact that we are all sinners, and therefore unrighteous in and of ourselves. ROM 3:10 states: “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE.” Only Jesus Christ is and was righteous enough to pay for our sins, where through faith in Him, we gain God’s Perfect Righteousness and Eternal Life.
The person who rejects Jesus Christ as Savior, following the pattern of fallen angels in rejecting Christ, will share in the condemnation and Eternal Judgment of Satan and the fallen angels.
REV 20:15 tells us: If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. The Book of Life is a registry of everyone who has believed in Christ. So, the Convicting Ministry of The Holy Spirit reveals the impending judgment of Satan and the fallen angels and all unbelievers, in the hope that it will lead man to believe upon Christ to avoid that judgment.
The Convicting Ministry of God The Holy Spirit, under Common and Efficacious Grace, is the work of The Holy Spirit to the body and soul of the unbeliever. His work is to bring the Gospel message of Jesus Christ to reality for every member of the human race. In Common Grace, He causes unbelieving man to understand the Gospel message as the Spirit convicts him that his personal sins were paid for at The Cross; of his unrighteousness and inability to save himself; and of the eternal judgment that awaits Satan and the fallen angels and all who follow in their footsteps by rejecting Christ as their Savior. Then in the Efficacious Grace Ministry of The Holy Spirit for all unbelievers who do come to believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior, He makes their faith effective for their salvation, giving them Eternal Life.
The Holy Spirit is an amazing person. We are so blessed to have Him as our Mentor!