UNIT 13

THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT IN THE CONSCIOUS MIND

For the areas of the mind that are below the level of consciousness, God must take the initiative and cleanse and heal us by His Holy Spirit. God must deliver us. God must heal the hurts, and God must help us to extend forgiveness to those who have sinned against us or abused us. The Spirit of God must express the nature of Christ and manifest the gifts and enablings of Christ through us.

However, for those areas of the mind that are above the level of consciousness, we must assume more responsibility by taking the initiative and actively cooperating with the Spirit to effect the renewal process. The renewal of that part of my mind which is above the level of consciousness--the SUPEREGO--is my responsibility, and how I relate to the world through the EGO is a result of my decisions.

In discussing the work of the Holy Spirit in the renewing of the Superego, we must analyze two vital areas of our personalities, the Conscience and the Ego ideal. We have acquired our concepts of right and wrong and our moral values from parents, teachers, peers, or other significant persons in our lives. We have probably never taken the time to formulate a precise, logical, definitive value system of our own. Rather, our values are a hodge-podge of concepts pieced together. Many times we accept as true what society has legislated as being true without questioning the validity of the supposition. However, as Christians, we must bring this patch-work of ideas into harmony with the truth as it is revealed in Christ Jesus.

For many of us, our self-concept, our self-image, has been defined for us by our parents, who handed us a script which we are expected to act out on the stage of the world. We are not sure who we are. We feel as though we are chameleon-like individuals trying to adapt to whatever social situations we find ourselves in. We do not know who we are or who we want to be. Even the churches hold forth so many pictures of Christ that we find it difficult to know who the "Christ of the New Testament" is so we may follow Him.

Sometimes I wonder where all of my ideas about God came from. I have had to change my mind many times as the Spirit would reveal Jesus in a new glory (II Cor. 3:18). Often, I have made the statement that probably no two churches preach the same Jesus. Each church seems to see Him differently, and each stresses a different aspect of His person and work. I am not saying this is bad, but I believe this is why it is so important for us to allow the Holy Spirit to renew our minds and bring about a transformation of our lives in harmony with the Word of God. Each of us, as a child of God, should desire to serve the Father "In Spirit and In Truth."

CHRIST IN THE CONSCIENCE

In the Old Testament we find that a way was provided for dealing with both the conscious and unconscious sins through a two-fold sin offering. If a person committed a specific type of conscious sin, he would bring a corresponding type of offering, an ephah of flour, a dove, or a lamb. But for the unconscious sins of the people, the high priest entered the Holiest of Holies once a year to offer a blood sacrifice for their errors--their sins of ignorance. Their consciences were never purged from the knowledge that they were sinners so they could never get free from a consciousness of sin. They could only roll their sins forward for another year. So every year the high priest offered the sacrifice and took the blood into the Holiest of Holies to atone for the sins of the people. The writer to the Hebrews states graphically that,

Our great salvation purges our conscience. We need not go around with the consciousness that we are sinners because our consciences are purged. If we sin, we repent. But we need not go around feeling guilty or condemned. The Holy Spirit is purging our consciences from dead works to serve the living God. We have a two-fold atonement. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from the sins of which we are not conscious--our sins of ignorance, our errors--and for those sins that we knowingly commit, we repent and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in the cleansing us from all sin.

CHRIST OUR ETHICAL TEACHER

The Holy Spirit reveals Christ, the Word, as our ethical teacher who renews and regenerates every part of the personality. For that part below the level of consciousness--our desires, our instincts--Christ is formed in us and His nature changes our natures. In us the fruit of the Spirit is borne and the gifts of the Spirit operate. There is forgiveness and cleansing for all of the hurts, all of the trauma. All of this is in the sub-conscious. For that part above the level of consciousness, the Holy Spirit helps us to gain a proper understanding of right and wrong and to accept the truth as it is revealed in Jesus Christ. The conscience is that part of our minds that contains our ethical value system. The values in our consciences are learned. We were not born with a value system; we were born with the ability to know right and wrong, but what we believe to be right and wrong, we have to learn. We all have different concepts of right and wrong. Our conscience sets the standards of what we believe to be moral and what we believe to be immoral. Therefore, our consciences--our knowledge of right and wrong--must be conformed to the written Word of God and Jesus Christ becomes our ethical teacher.

The conscience is like a tape recorder. We play tapes about things that are right and about things that are wrong. Paul teaches us:

Charity, or love, is the end of the law and it is the fulfilling of the law. We must have a good conscience. But without God, we cannot depend on the conscience, for there are three things that can happen to it. The conscience can be defiled, seared, or shipwrecked. That is how tender it is.

First, we may defile the conscience. If we defile it, it will not be pure. Paul warns the Corinthians that they could go to the market, buy meat that had been offered to an idol, eat it, and not feel condemned because they believed an idol was nothing. However, one of their brothers might do the same thing and defile his conscience.

Paul recognized there were differences of opinion concerning what a person should eat or drink and which days a person should keep holy. However, if a person practiced something that was questionable for him, he risked defiling his conscience. So it is for us. Most of the time, Satan does not try to get us to do something very evil; he just starts weakening the conscience, encouraging us to defile it. He puts doubts into it.

Second, we may sear the conscience. The Spirit gave Paul a prophecy concerning the latter days:

Their conscience was seared so that it had no feeling. If a person suffers a severe burn, scar tissue forms and that portion of the skin loses much of its feeling. So it is with the conscience. Paul told the Romans that God punishes sin by sin, and the process is in three stages. When the Gentiles knew God they did not glorify Him, so

If they continued to reject God, then

Finally,

When men reject God and do not glorify Him or acknowledge Him, God gives them up physically, emotionally, and mentally.

Ultimately, the conscience may be shipwrecked. As Paul warns Timothy,

The crux of the matter is faith, for if we do not believe that our lifestyle is pleasing to God, but we continue to live in it, we will shipwreck our conscience and cause our minds to become reprobate. Paul emphasizes this to the Romans,

As the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit comes to renew our consciences, to purge our consciences from dead works to serve the living God. He begins to reform the conscience around the values and the absolutes of God's Word. And, we, instead of taking the value system of our parents, our culture, our peer group, or our world, bring our consciences into harmony with the truth of Jesus Christ. If we want to know what good is, we look at Jesus. If we want to know what truth is, we look at Jesus. If we want to know what righteousness is; we look at Jesus. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, reveals Christ the Word to us so that we might have the mind of Christ, that we might have His righteousness imputed to us, and that we might have His grace teach us how to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world (Titus 2:12). This is the work of the Holy Spirit in the conscious mind--reproducing the ethical values and moral teachings of Christ, the Word of God, in our consciences.

CHRIST IS MY EGO IDEAL

The work of the Holy Spirit in the EGO IDEAL is very exciting because He is conforming us to the image of Jesus Christ. Our EGO IDEAL is our self image, our visualization of ourselves as we want to be. All of us pattern our lives after various ideals whether they are as we visualize ourselves as being or what our parents have programmed us to be.

Some children might as well wear a sign on their backs that says "be stupid", "be late," "kick-me," "be perfect," or "be lazy." Their parents have told them that they are stupid so long that they go around thinking "Oh, I'm stupid. You can't expect anything from me. I am stupid." Others have a "kick me" sign on their backs. "It doesn't make any difference what I do, kick me, I am a failure." Other children have been given good life scripts. They have been told that they have many sterling qualities--intelligence, beauty, wit, grace. They have been programmed to be doctors, preachers, lawyers, or business people. Whether we have been handed a good, bad, or indifferent script, we are living out the image that we have of ourselves. That is why it is important to bring the EGO IDEAL into harmony with the vision that God has for our lives in Jesus Christ.

To maintain a proper self-image is probably one of the most difficult things for a young person to achieve. When I was a young man, there were very few

life-styles from which to choose. Today, however, there are dozens. A new style may develop in California or New York, television will spread it across the nation, and young people in the remotest areas will adopt it immediately. This constant changing of life-styles makes it difficult for many young men and women to know who they are. Even in the church world, we find such a variety of expressions of what a "Christian" should be or should do that it is difficult for an individual not to be in conflict concerning his life-style. Many Christians suffer from a feeling of guilt and unworthiness.

We all pattern our lives after some ideal, whether consciously or unconsciously. We are reaching out toward a self-image which we use to pattern our lives. We either pattern our lives according to what the world says, what Satan says, and what self says, or we pattern our lives after the Word of God, after the Holy Spirit, and after the Lord Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, most of us are conscious of what Satan thinks about us. He continually reminds us of our fears, our doubts, our failures, our weaknesses, and our sins. He wants us to believe we are unloved, unacceptable, unworthy, unrighteous, and unappreciated. He torments us with the past, harangues us with the

present, and distresses us over the future. But he is a liar, the accuser of the brethren, and a slanderer. He comes to kill, to steal, and to destroy (John 10:10).

On the other hand, many of us do not understand what God thinks about us. God does not parade our inabilities and weaknesses before us, but, rather, He constantly reminds us that we are "complete in Christ Jesus."

Earlier I discussed the importance of repentance (changing your mind and bringing it into harmony with the word of God) and confession (speaking the same thing about the situation that God speaks). In no other area of Christian experience are these concepts more important than in the development of the EGO IDEAL. We must change the negative images we have about ourselves as well as any positive images if they are contrary to the will of God for us, in order to bring our self-image into harmony with the Word of God. A self-image based upon the Word of God must be our confession.

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul gives this witness:

Paul says that the grace of God, which was bestowed upon him by the Lord Jesus Christ, was given to make him a complete person in Christ. Since that grace was not bestowed upon him in vain, Paul had become, and was a partaker of, everything that Jesus Christ died on the cross both to make him and to provide for him. This is Paul's confession: "I am everything and I have experienced everything that the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ have provided for me; not one of the provisions of God's grace has been in vain; I have received them all." What a testimony! What a confession!

In the letter to the Romans, Paul makes a statement about the Sonship of Jesus:

Jesus could make two confessions: 1) According to the flesh He was the seed of David, and 2) According to the Spirit He was the Son of God. Very few times did Jesus confess anything according to the flesh nor did He echo what the religious leaders said about Him. Jesus made his confession according to the Spirit. He confessed that He was the Son of God. He confessed that He did the works and spoke the words of His Father. He confessed that He came from and would return to His Father. He confessed that He and His Father were one. Every confession was made according to the Holy Spirit and not according to the flesh. This was the confession of Jesus.

Earlier we talked about the faith of Abraham. If he had made his confession according to the flesh he would have said, "I am about a hundred years old, and Sarah is old and barren." However, he confessed according to the Spirit, according to the promise of God, and said, "I am the father of many nations." Paul emphasizes that Abraham staggered not at the promise of God but was strong in faith. Abraham made his confession according to the Spirit: I am the father of many nations.

As children of God, we also have two confessions: 1) We may say, "I am what I am according to the flesh," or, 2) We may say, "I am what I am according to the Spirit." God has given us His Spirit that we "might know the things that are freely given to us of God" (I Cor. 2:12) in order that we might make our confession according to the Spirit. If we are not experiencing the fulness of the grace of God, that portion of the grace of God is bestowed upon us in vain.

CHRIST LEFT US AN EXAMPLE

The total provision of the grace of God is for the purpose of making us Christlike:

Christ is our example. The Greek word for example is "hupogrammon"--a writing template. In order to learn how to make certain characters, one placed a piece of paper over the hupogrammon and traced the outline of the letter. Thus, the admonition to the Christian is that Jesus is our hupogrammon--we place our lives over His and trace the outlines of His life on ours.

WE ARE TO BE CONFORMED TO HIS IMAGE

In his letter to the Romans, Paul establishes the fact that God desires His children to be conformed to the image of Christ:

John echoes these words in his writings:

Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, relates the process by which the

transformation is taking place:

Paul used the image of a mirror to enable the Corinthians to see how the Spirit was transforming them. He writes, "Now we see through a glass (mirror), darkly" (I Cor. 13:12). Our vision of Jesus is only a reflection of His true glory; however, He wishes to reflect the image of that glory in every child of God. Every time we see Jesus in a new experience, in a new relationship, in a new glory, the Spirit of God transforms us into His image, reflecting His glory from glory to glory or from each new experience to the next new experience. The complete transformation will be accomplished when we no longer see a reflection of His glory, but when we see Him face to face at His second coming. Then, the transformation will be complete, and Paul says that not only does the Christian groan within himself but that "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain" awaiting the final transformation, the transformation of the body (Rom. 8:22-23).

THE EGO IDEAL IS RENEWED BY THE KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT WE ARE IN CHRIST

In his letter to the Colossians Paul states that:

In light of the fact that "in Christ" is the fulness of God, that "of his fulness" has the Christian received, and that each Christian is "complete in Him," we conclude that we have a complete perfect salvation "in Christ." Therefore, it is necessary for every believer to know and comprehend what God has made us "in Christ."

In Ephesians, Paul reveals the believer's standing "in Christ":

OUR STANDING IN CHRIST

In the Lord Jesus Christ, I am:

OUR NEW CHARACTER IN CHRIST

We are new creations in Christ. The world had never seen anything like a Christian until Jesus rose from the dead. He is the firstborn of many brethren (Rom. 8;29); the first born from the dead (Col. 1:18). On the cross, Jesus broke down the middle wall of partition that separated Jew and Gentile, and in Himself he created a new man, a new kind of person (Eph. 2:13-15). Some of the many different "identities" that believers assume when they are in Christ include: son of God, heir of God, joint heir with Jesus Christ, witness, member of His body, temple of God, stone, king, priest, branch of the vine, sheep of His fold, bond servant of God, ambassador of a king, steward of God's house, and citizen of the heavenly country. Each of these "identities" enables the Christian to play a unique role in the great drama God is producing on the stage of the world.

OUR ENABLINGS IN CHRIST

Jesus told His disciples that "all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." He delegated this power and authority to the church. The Scriptures are replete with references to the power and authority given to the believer in the

name of Jesus. One of the most eloquent statements ever penned is in the letter of Paul to the Romans:

Jesus told His disciples:

One spring I planted mustard seed in my garden. I plowed a furrow in the ground with a garden plow, poured the tiny seeds into the palm of my hand, then scattered them in the furrow I had made. As I covered them with dirt, in my mind I heard them cry, "What in the world are we going to do now." The seeds were under clods of dirt which were many hundreds of times larger than they, and for the seeds to come up seemed hopeless. However, the seeds didn't worry or fret, they just lived. Finally, they placed their leafy arms against the clods and let the power of the life which God had placed within them exert power against the dirt. One day the seeds pushed the clods out of the way, their leafy arms waving above the ground, and I heard them testify, "We made it. Hallelujah!" Within each believer, as within each seed, is a principle of the life of God which is stronger than any force or power that can be against it.

Jesus said,

Jesus was the "corn of wheat" that God planted in the earth, and, from that planting, God is reaping a harvest (John 12:24). He planted a Christ, and He is harvesting Christians (little Christs). He planted an all powerful, victorious Christ; He will harvest an all powerful, victorious church.

The promise of the Holy Spirit was primarily one of receiving power:

This power is inherent in a benediction Paul pronounced on the Ephesians:

The great miracles that are beyond the comprehension of the believer are going to be brought into existence through the believer by the power of the Holy Spirit working in him. This may be the reason Paul exhorted Timothy to

If this is the gift of the Holy Spirit that Paul exhorts Timothy to stir up, then every believer needs to heed the admonition. As a young man, I worked as a roustabout in the oil fields. After we drilled a well to a certain depth, we had the well-shooter come out to "shoot" the well. A charge of dynamite and nitroglycerin was lowered to the bottom of the well and detonated in order to fracture the rock and allow the oil to flow freely. As the shooter prepared the charge, I must admit that I felt very uneasy. He would place sticks of dynamite on a board, slice them with a knife, and drop them in the torpedo he was making. Then, he took the container of nitroglycerin and poured the bluish-green liquid into the torpedo. There was enough power in those explosives to obliterate the hillside. I protested his slicing the dynamite on the board. His answer was that he was not exerting enough force to make it explode. Paul's admonition to Timothy took on new meaning.

There was enough power resident within those explosives to destroy everything around that drilling rig; however, until that power was stirred up, nothing happened. When the shooter lowered the torpedo to the bottom of the well and detonated it, the whole hillside shook. There is enough power resident within the church to wreak havoc with the gates of hell, if the believers would stir it up. Stir up the gift of God that is within you. God will do the "exceeding abundantly above" through the power that works in us.

Paul expressed the secret of his victorious life in the letter to the Colossians:

Some know how to prosper, but are not able to suffer want. Some live in need, but are not able to believe for sufficiency. The Apostle Paul had learned that Christ enabled him to meet every situation in life victoriously. His testimony was that "I am able for anything through the Lord Jesus Christ who gives me power."

This brings us full circle: We have a complete perfect salvation in Christ Jesus. Again I quote the Apostle:

The reality of that complete perfect salvation is certain if I have Jesus Christ formed in the depth of my being by the Holy Spirit, if the fruit of the Spirit finds expression through my life, if the enablings of Christ are manifest through me by the Spirit, if Christ the truth is in my conscience, if Christ the life is the ideal in my ego ideal, and if Christ lives in me. Then, the life my ego expresses to the world will be the life of Christ. Because Christ lives in me, I can be open and honest with the world because when the world looks at me, they will see Jesus.

The reality of such an experience is the reason Paul could say,