Tim Keller | May 6, 1990
Though there’s probably at least a hundred things the Spirit does, the main thing the Spirit does is he makes Jesus real to you. Everything else the Spirit does, all the fancy names we come up with–illumination, regeneration, sanctification–every other word you may hear me say and everything you hear anybody else say, it all boils down to that.
When the Spirit of God made Jesus Christ not merely an intellectual concept or something on the periphery of your life, but rather when he made him glorious, the most important and significant thing in your life, that’s the day you moved from being a nominal Christian to being someone transformed by the power of the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit’s main job in our life as Christians is to make Jesus more important to us, which changes us from the inside out. It helps us really get and apply God’s rules, which results in spiritual growth. But, it’s important not to think that having strong spiritual experiences means we’re mature. We need to base these experiences on what the Bible teaches, and know that when we’re full of the Spirit, it gives us confidence and courage.