I Believe in the Holy Spirit - Part 2: Work
After completing the lesson, the student will be able to:
Describe how we have been justified
Identify the means that the Holy Spirit uses to sanctify us.
Explain the role the Holy Spirit plays in our redemption.
List the ways that the Holy Spirit works in your life.
Define justification, sanctification, redemption, repentance, assurance, and means of Grace.
In our last lesson, we discussed the person of the Holy Spirit, and we headed to scripture to teach us about Him. We learned several of the names found in scripture for the Holy Spirit, that He is fully God, and that He lives inside of every believer. Now, we will shift our focus from who the Holy Spirit is, to the work the Holy Spirit does.
Justification
One word you will often hear in relation to the Holy Spirit’s work is Justification. Justification is God’s declaration that you are righteous for Christ’s sake. God can justify sinful people because He paid the ultimate price for their sin when Jesus died on the cross. When you are justified, you are acquitted of your guilt, forgiven of your sins, and thereby made righteous in the eyes of God. No longer does God look toward you as an unworthy sinner, but as if you had never sinned. Without Jesus’ death and resurrection no one could be justified.
Unfortunately many people today deny Christ and refuse the justification won through Christ’s death on the cross. Instead, they try to “justify themselves” before God. Justifying themselves means trying to explain and minimize their sin. Maybe you have said or heard someone say…
“I try my best to be a good person.”
“I’m better than my friends.”
“It’s not like I’ve ever killed anybody.”
“It is just a little sin.”
Statements such as these are examples of people trying to justify their sin. However it is important to understand that all attempts to justify ourselves will fall short.
Justification is unique because it was accomplished in an instant and it was fully complete. There is no process to become justified, or any steps you need to take. You are either justified through Christ or you’re not. There is no middle ground. The very moment a broken and repentant sinner believes in the promise of grace through Christ’s death on the cross they are instantly, 100%, and fully justified.
Read the following passages and write down what each teaches us about justification.
Sanctification
Where justification is instantaneous and complete, sanctification is an ongoing process that the Holy Spirit works in the life of a believer. Sanctification is the process of being set apart, consecrated, and made holy. Sanctification is never complete on this side of eternity. This means that until we enter heaven, the Holy Spirit will continue the work of setting you apart and making you holy throughout your entire life. Sanctification begins immediately after the work of justification, and it involves the inward spiritual transformation resulting in living a life that reflects Christ.
Read the following Scripture passages, and write down what each teaches us about sanctification.
Read Romans 8:7-9, and then answer the following questions
Repentance
Another aspect of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives is Repentance. Repentance has two parts: the first is contrition (or terror) which strikes our conscience when we know we have sinned; and the second part is faith, which comes when we hear the Gospel and we believe our sins are forgiven in Jesus. We don’t make ourselves repent, and we aren’t the ones who decide to repent, but it is the Holy Spirit who convicts us of our sin, and turns us to our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Not only does the Holy Spirit bring us to Repentance when we are first saved, but He continues to bring us to repent on a daily basis. In another part of the Small Catechism, Martin Luther says:
“the old Adam in us should be drowned by daily sorrow and repentance, and die with all sins and evil lusts, and, in turn, a new person daily come forth and rise from death again.”
Read the following passages of scripture, and write down what each teaches us about repentance.
Assurance
Assurance is simply a personal confidence and sure hope that Jesus has truly saved you from your sins and made you His child. The Holy Spirit is the one who seals us with the promise of the Gospel, and guarantees that, when God promised that your sins are forgiven, it is true!
Read the following passages below and then provide a short summary of what each passage says about faith and salvation:
Means of Grace
When the Holy Spirit works in our lives, He doesn’t just magically or mystically do all of these things. Instead, He uses the “means of Grace” to accomplish all of this spiritual work in our lives. The “means of Grace” is defined as those ways or vehicles, instituted by Jesus, that God uses to give us the forgiveness of our sins, life, and salvation.
The three Means of Grace are:
The Word of God
Baptism
The Lord’s Supper
As you desire to have the Holy Spirit working in your life to sanctify you, call you to repent, and give you a confidence in your standing before God, you don’t need to wonder if He is working. Instead, go to those places where you KNOW He is at work: God’s Word, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. Spend time reading the bible, going to church to hear pastor give sermons, and attend a variety of bible studies or Equipping classes (like Confirmation!). If you don’t know if you’ve been baptized or not, ask your parents if you have been. And when you have been trained, take the Lord’s Supper with the rest of the congregation. It’s through these Means of Grace that the Holy Spirit is working in your life.
