The Submissive Spirit

Our topic is how Jesus proceeds from God, but let’s talk now about the Holy Spirit. Maybe you didn't know, but He helps us get an understanding of Jesus' relationship to God. Particularly, since he has a role in the Father-Jesus hierarchy, he impacts our own role.

First of all, the Spirit serves Jesus. Now, that inspires us to serve Jesus too. Specifically, the Spirit inspires us to be submissive to Jesus. Obeying Jesus is hard, but the Spirit can cure the rebelliousness of our hearts because he lives there--and from our hearts he inspires obedience to Jesus.

Now, the Spirit Himself is a paragon of obedience. Although you likely never thought about why the Spirit obeys Jesus, let’s do that now. Let’s reflect upon why he’s so obedient to the Lord Jesus--and we'll state the reason from the start:

The Spirit's obedience is due to the fact that the Father gave Jesus complete authority over the Spirit.

Jesus Said So

That's right. Jesus got his authority over the Spirit from the Father. We know this not only because Jesus exercises authority over the Spirit in practice, but because Jesus outright said that the Spirit belongs to him now. You may have ignored the passage in the past, but that’s what Jesus meant when he said:

All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said ‘the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you’ (John 16:15).

Now, let's be good interpreters of the Scripture and interact with the passage by having a Q&A, shall we? Here it is:

Question #1: According to his own words, why did the Lord say ‘the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you’?

Answer: Because ‘all that belongs to the Father’ also belongs to Jesus. See it again:

All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said ‘the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you’ (John 16:15).

Question #2: Who authorized Jesus to have control of all that belongs to the Father?

Answer: The Father did. There is no one greater.

Question #3: And to whom or to what is Jesus referring to when he says all that belongs to the Father?  Remember, he said: 'All that belongs to the Father is mine.' Who or what belongs to the Father which now also belongs to Jesus?

Answer: The Holy Spirit. The context is clear that Jesus is speaking of the Holy Spirit. Read it again:

All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said ‘the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you’ (John 16:15).

From Me To You

Furthermore, the Spirit himself puts his new subordinate position to Jesus on display (showing us that his relationship to Jesus is one of submission) by taking from Jesus and delivering to us. In other words, the Spirit gets the blessings, anointing, revelations, Word, and salvation of Jesus, and then delivers them to us.

Jesus very carefully crafted his statement when he said ‘the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.’ And he intended that the from and the to might signify something important. They signify that the Spirit is now the intermediary between us and Jesus. Do you get that?

The Holy Spirit now connects us to Christ. That’s a very important way the Holy Spirit serves Jesus now. He acts as the intermediary between Jesus and us. He's the go-between. Without the Holy Spirit, you don't have Christ. But with the Spirit, Christ is in you.

Jesus: Lord of the Holy Spirit

So, again, let's be as clear as can be: Jesus has authority over the Holy Spirit. That shouldn't be hard for you to understand since Jesus is seated at the right hand of God and now exercises authority over everyone. Now, you probably already knew that everyone means you, me, demons, and angels--but did you know it includes the Holy Spirit? Because it does!

Behold the vastness of Jesus' authority. God made Jesus Lord, supervisor, and boss even of the Holy Spirit!

In fact, in the entire Universe, the only Being over whom Jesus does not have authority is the One who gave him authority, the One God and Father of All. The One God is the Lord of All. Now, Jesus is Lord of all too--with one exception, God. The Father is the One Being in the Universe not under Christ's authority.

Important Stuff

Is this important to you? Well, if it isn't, then consider how important Jesus' sovereignty was to the Apostles. Peter went out of his way to include a clear statement regarding Jesus' authority over the Holy Spirit in his famous Pentecost sermon.

It was in that milestone message--one of the greatest sermons ever preached--on the birthday of the Church, that Peter proclaimed the truth that Jesus is now Lord of the Holy Spirit, declaring this:

Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear (Acts 2:33).

Q&A

Again, let's do some hermeneutics. Let's interpret Acts 2:33 with some simple questions and answers. Try responding to the questions. According to the text:

• What did Jesus pour out?

  Answer: the anointing for tongues

  
  

• Who/what caused the anointing?

  Answer: the Holy Spirit

  
  

  With his death and resurrection complete, the New Covenant established, and having received all authority in Heaven and Earth from the Father, Jesus decided that it was time that believers could finally qualify for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Jesus made that determination, and with his newfound authority over the Spirit, asked God to send him down to us from Heaven.

• 
  

  

• Who belonged to the Father?

Answer: the Holy Spirit because Jesus 'received' the Spirit from the Father

• To whom does the Spirit also belong now?

  Answer: to Jesus

  
  

• What does Jesus do with the Holy Spirit?

  Answer: He anoints us, giving us power.

Again, the unforgettable words Peter preached at Pentecost are:

Exalted to the right hand of God, he [Jesus] has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear (Acts 2:33).

Not With Ink, But...

Another way to understand this new relationship Jesus has with the Holy Spirit is to see the Holy Spirit as Jesus’ ink--like the ink that flows from a pen. Why? Because with the Holy Spirit, Jesus writes upon our hearts. In other words, the truths Jesus revealed to us, the revelations he sends us, and the inspiration we feel through the Scriptures come from Jesus wielding the influence of the Holy Spirit over us like a poet wielding a pen.

That’s why Paul wrote:

… you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the Living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts (2 Corinthians 3:3).

So, we are a letter from Christ which he wrote with the Holy Spirit.

Do you get it? Jesus is working through the Holy Spirit to transform us from the inside. He writes on our hearts. We are a letter. That might sound cheap to you because letters are simple cheap things we compose with an inexpensive piece of paper these days. But in Biblical times you had to use an expensive papyrus scroll. Jesus writes on the papyrus of our hearts, marking them with the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit is like a quill in the hands of Jesus. The Spirit's revelatory anointing is the ink. The Spirit's message is indelibly marked on your heart, and it cannot be blotted out.

The Spirit of Christ

So, Jesus ministers to us by means of his Spirit. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ twice (Romans 8:9 and 1 Peter 1:11) and the Spirit of Jesus Christ once (Philippians 1:19) in the Bible.

For the Spirit to be the Spirit of Jesus means that Jesus is the Holy Spirit’s boss--his authority. Jesus kindly and gently tells the Holy Spirit what to say and do. For example, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to us. That's why Jesus made these two statements:

He [the Holy Spirit] will glorify me [Jesus] because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you (John 16:14).

… the Helper, the Holy Spirit… will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I [Jesus] said to you (John 14:26; NKJV).

Christ in You

This relationship is so tight, and in it the Holy Spirit is so obedient, that we say the Lord Jesus Christ is in you through the Holy Spirit! And we say it because the Bible said it first. Notice the comparison Paul makes in Romans 8 when he uses the Spirit of Christ parallel to Christ in you in a very powerful way. Paul makes it obvious that the Spirit of Christ, who is the Holy Spirit, is Christ in us!

Paul wrote:

… if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then… (Romans 8:9-10)

We repeat: The Spirit of Christ is the Holy Spirit. And when he is in you, Christ is in you! Why? Are Christ and the Holy Spirit the exact same Being? No. There is One Lord and there is One Spirit. One plus one equals two. Jesus and the Spirit are two, not one.

Nonetheless, when the Spirit is in us, Christ is in us because the Spirit is completely obedient to Jesus. He only does and says what Jesus tells him. He represents Jesus faithfully.

A Faithful Representative

When Jesus said that he stands at the door and knocks, he meant for us to understand that the Holy Spirit wants to enter our hearts because 'the Lord is the Spirit.' You and I are supposed to understand that wherever the Spirit is, Jesus is being fully represented. Christ is there.

From that truth you can deduce that Jesus wants the Holy Spirit to enter our hearts. How so? Well, Jesus said:

Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with me (Revelation 3:20).

Similarly, when Jesus says that he and the Father will come to us, and dwell with us, he again means through the Holy Spirit. Remember that Jesus asked the Father, and the Father sent the Spirit to us. So, they collaborate in the sending of the Spirit. It's cooperation.

The Spirit of God / The Spirit of Jesus

Are you following?

You will if you understand that the Holy Spirit is both the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Jesus. The Spirit belongs to both of them, so the Holy Spirit can be sent by either Jesus or the Father. He represents both of them like a U.S. Ambassador represents two different individuals. An ambassador represents the U.S. President but also the Secretary of State. He carries out the will of both of them. He aligns with both of them.

And you'll note that the Spirit represents Jesus and the Father with high fidelity. That is, he faithfully reports to us everything they say through him. That's precisely why Jesus spoke of both Jesus and the Father making their dwelling place the hearts of those who believe in Jesus. Read it here:

If anyone loves me, he will keep my Word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him (John 14:23).

What Jesus meant was that the Spirit (faithful to both the Father and Jesus) would live within us.

So, now you know, that's Jesus talking about the Holy Spirit. You probably didn't know it before.

Can’t Do Anything

Now it's time for a review.

Most people think that Jesus performed miracles, healings, signs, and wonders through his own power. These are the same people whose interpretation of Jesus' miracles is that he did the miracles “because he was God.” They credit his calming the sea, walking on water, the multiplication of the loaves, his miracles, healings, and even his resurrection to himself.

But they’re very wrong—as wrong as two left shoes. Not one of the miracles Jesus performed were performed in his own strength. Quite the contrary. Jesus reinforced the correct interpretation of Scripture, and the correct notion of who he is, when he told his followers:

By myself I can do nothing... (John 5:30)

All the miracles Jesus performed, he performed with God's power--the anointing the Father gave him. Technically, Jesus' miracles were not from him, but from God. And God was acting through the Holy Spirit.

Jesus had nothing of the divine nature when he came to us in the flesh. Zero, zilch, nothing! And that truth—the truth that Jesus was conceived and born 100% man, a man with the same nature as you and me, the human nature of sin—is the root of all sound Christian doctrine. It’s called the doctrine of Christ (Hebrews 6:1; 2 John 1:9-10). You must embrace it, or you will not be successful in the war against sin.

Peter Explains the Relationship

Let's examine how Peter explained Jesus' power and, along with it, the Doctrine of Christ. He preached a message long before Christian doctrine got corrupted by the watered-down message you hear today. Peter explained to thousands of people, among whom 3,000 believed that 'God anointed Jesus... with the Holy Spirit' and that was Jesus' source of power.

Peter explained:

... how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the Devil, because God was with him (Acts 10:38).

Did you get that? The official message of the Church, delivered by the man handpicked by Jesus, Peter (the "Rock"), was that Jesus healed people ‘because God was with him.’ Accordingly, the day the Church was born, Peter began his unforgettable sermon with the carefully calculated words:

Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know (Acts 2:22).

Do You Know?

Did you get that last part? Peter concluded his message with the words ‘As you yourselves know.’ Now, that means that the Jews of Peter’s day already knew these truths, and they did—but do you know them?

Nobody in society today knows the Bible better than Evangelicals, but almost no church-going Evangelicals know this vital truth—a truth that all the Jews of Peter’s day were aware of.

In fact, the situation is much worse than ignorance. Most Evangelicals deny this doctrine after hearing it. They oppose it!

The Truth Is the Truth

Regardless of the opposition, the teaching remains true. It doesn’t matter how many people deny it, ignore it, or fervently oppose it. We'll still proclaim it. It's hard, but in spite of the blindness that pervades Christian churches today, we’ll declare the Truth.

So, to help you be grounded, here’s a short list of the teachings to which you must cling tightly:

1. Jesus was conceived, lived, and died 100% human / 0% divine—a man among men.

2. God demonstrated to the World his approval of Jesus by giving him the Holy Spirit.

3. Jesus performed supernatural wonders such as miracles and healings.

4. God deserves the credit for the supernatural works Jesus did.

We get these points from Peter, the first leader of the Church, because he preached each of these points on Pentecost--back when for everyone it was obvious. Today it's not so obvious anymore. Lots of false doctrine has clouded people's understanding.

Serve Christ

But what about you? Do you believe that '... God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit... (Acts 10:38)?

And do you believe that now... 'All that belongs to the Father' belongs to Jesus? And do you believe that when Jesus said ‘the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you’ (John 16:15), that Jesus meant to say that everything the Spirit tells us, the Spirit gets from Jesus?

If you do believe, then you've come to understand how the Spirit works in service to Christ. He does that to equip us to serve Christ better too. So, let's go and do just that. Let's serve Christ.