One other thing that the Holy Spirit did in the past that He is no longer doing is the revealing of the New Testament Scriptures to the apostles and the other writers by inspiration. Perhaps the best reference that we have is 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” and that inspiration of God, of course, came through the Holy Spirit. [“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”]

We want to look now at the PRESENT WORKS of the Holy Spirit. Is the Holy Spirit doing anything today? Had He done it all in the past and has nothing left to do? Well, the answer is an obvious “No!”

First, let’s go back to the promise that Jesus made to His apostles in John 14 and verse 26. He says, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” So there is the promise that Jesus made: the Helper—the Holy Spirit—would come to the apostles. At least part of the work that the Holy Spirit would do for the apostles would be to remind them of all things—remind them of the things that Jesus had said.

And then we are reminded of what Peter has to say in 2 Peter 1, verse 21, where he talks about those men who were inspired of God and how that was accomplished. “For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” Well, we see the work of the Spirit here regarding holy men of God. He’s speaking of the prophets of old, but this is applicable to Peter, as well as to the other apostles, and the other writers of the New Testament.

Then we might look at passages such as 1 Corinthians, chapter 2, verse 13, as we are considering the role that the Holy Spirit has, the work that He does through the Word even today. Paul writes, “These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” So Paul is saying here that the things he is saying, the things he is writing (and he IS writing here to communicate with the church in Corinth) are of the Holy Spirit.

Now turn to Ephesians, chapter 3, beginning with verse 1: “For this reason I, Paul the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles—if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets; that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the Gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.”

And finally in this regard, a very familiar passage to us is 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verses 16 and 17. Here Paul, again referring to what is revealed, what he has written, and what the others have written as well, will say, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

“All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God…”And how was that done? It was done through the Holy Spirit. What has been written, what has been preserved for us here in the Bible, is a product of inspiration. That inspiration is of the Holy Spirit. God directed the Holy Spirit and He inspired these writers.

In thinking about the power, and influence, and the ability of the Word inspired of the Holy Spirit to convict, consider Acts, chapter 2, the Day of Pentecost. That promise that Christ had made for the coming of the Comforter, the coming of the Holy Spirit, in power has just come to pass. Peter and the apostles now have the full measure of the Holy Spirit. They are inspired of the Holy Spirit. What Peter speaks are not his own words, but the Words of God. So he stands there on the Day of Pentecost and he begins to preach the first Gospel sermon ever. He will quote Scripture. He will quote from the Old Testament the Prophet Joel. He will quote from the Psalms of David. He is building the case against those Jews who are present there on that occasion—that they had rejected the Messiah, that they had been party to the crucifixion of Jesus, to His death—quoting the Old Testament and those Messianic prophecies. And his words that he speaks are inspired as well. What is the result? Look at Acts 2, verse 37: “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart,” the New King James’ translation says. The old King James’ translation says, “they were pricked in their heart.” “And they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what should we do?” Was the Holy Spirit at work there on this occasion? You bet He was! He used a combination of those things revealed before time, those things written by those holy men that Peter talked about in 2 Peter 1, verse 21 that we cited a moment ago, and his own inspired words. And the result was, there were at least 3,000 that were convicted on that day because of the work of the Holy Spirit, through the Words that were written and the Words that were spoken.