The verses in the Scripture reading concerning the functions of the all-inclusive Spirit were selected from the entire New Testament. I would encourage us all, especially the young people, to remember all these verses. If possible, it would be good to learn to recite them. In each of these verses, there is a crucial word or phrase with which we must be impressed.
In the previous message, we saw fifteen items concerning the all-inclusive Spirit. The first item is that God is Spirit, and the last item is that the Spirit is the processed and consummated Triune God. These two items are the alpha and the omega of the points concerning the all-inclusive Spirit. The alpha is God being Spirit, and the omega is the Spirit. In this message we want to see the functions of the all-inclusive Spirit.
The functions of the all-inclusive Spirit involve God's economy in His Trinity. God is uniquely one, yet in His Godhead there are three. The Divine Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—is for God's economy. Regretfully, the term economy is mostly missed today among Christians, even though it is strongly revealed in the New Testament, especially in Paul's writings (Eph. 1:10; 3:9; 1 Tim. 1:4). The Trinity is for God's economy, and God's economy is for His heart's desire. The greater a person is, the more and higher his desires and aspirations are. God is so great. He is thoughtful and full of desire. God's economy is for Him to carry out His desire.
According to the revelation of the Bible, God as the Father, in the first person of His Godhead, made an economy, a plan, in eternity past to work out something for His heart's desire. The Father is altogether related to the divine plan, the divine economy, the divine arrangement. After the making of such a plan, God as the Son came in the flesh to be a man for the purpose of fulfilling the Father's plan to carry out His economy. God as the Father made an economy, and God as the Son came to accomplish this economy. Then God as the Spirit applies to us what God as the Son has accomplished. We need to remember these three simple points—God as the Father planned, God as the Son accomplished, and God as the Spirit applies what the Son accomplished. Today we are in the stage of the Spirit's application. The Spirit's application of what the Son has accomplished is the function of the Spirit.
The function of the all-inclusive Spirit is His commission. He has been commissioned by the Godhead in His Trinity to come to function in applying what God the Son, Christ, has accomplished according to what God the Father has planned in His economy. Today we are under the application of the Third in the Godhead, who carries out what God in the second person has accomplished according to what God in the first person has planned in His economy. We have to cover all of this when we speak about the function of the all-inclusive Spirit.
This brief fellowship covers the entire Bible. The Bible first shows us God's plan in the person of the Father. Then the Bible unveils to us God's accomplishment of His plan in the person of the Second in His Trinity. Then the third person comes to put everything of the Second's accomplishment into our experience. This is the function of the all-inclusive Spirit.