SERMON: SHAPED BY THE SPIRIT

 

Naylor CommunityChristian Church

 

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to John 14:16-26

 

John 14:16-26 (NIV)

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever--

17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.

20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?"

23 Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

25 "All this I have spoken while still with you.

26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

 

            -- a few years ago, I was sitting in the living room doing some work on the computer when I heard this little tapping on a window near me -- it just kept on and on, and at first I thought maybe it was the wind blowing a limb against the house -- but then Brooke's cat heard it and climbed up on the back of the couch to listen and I could tell there was something there by the way she was acting

            -- so I quietly made my way over to the window and peaked over the edge of the couch -- and sitting there on the window sill was a Carolina wren -- Brooke's cat had torn the screen on the window one day when we left it open, and this wren had found the opening and was in the process of building a nest between the screen and the glass of the window

            -- a few days later I snuck around outside to peek in the nest and the mother bird flew away, letting me see the four eggs she had laid in the nest -- we left the nest undisturbed until the young fledged and flew away

            -- I really like birds -- I like to watch them and to hear them singing in the trees -- I know Brooke's cat felt differently about it, but it made me feel special that this wren decided to move into our home and share her life with us -- to be a small part of our life in this way, if just for a little while

 

            -- this idea of someone coming and making their home with us and sharing their life with us is really an apt description of the Holy Spirit’s role in our lives, for it is God sharing His life with us through the presence of His Holy Spirit within

            -- as we have discussed in this series, when Jesus ascended to Heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to live with us -- to move into our bodily homes -- so that He might share His life, His power, and His presence with us

            -- as I'm sure you all remember from the story of Pentecost from Acts Chapter 2, after Jesus left the disciples and ascended to heaven, the disciples were all gathered together in one place praying and studying God's word

            -- suddenly, the room where they were at was filled with the sound of a rushing wind and what seemed like tongues of fire came in and fell on each of them -- immediately, they were indwelt with the Holy Spirit and they began to express the power of God through prophecy and the speaking of tongues as the Holy Spirit came to share His life with them

            -- the disciples rushed out into the street and Peter preached his first public sermon under the inspiration of the Spirit -- resulting in over three thousand people being convicted of their sins and turning to Jesus for salvation as their Messiah and their Savior

 

            -- keep in mind that these are the same men who fled the Garden of Gethsemane in fear when the Jewish soldiers came to arrest Jesus -- the same men who we see hiding in their homes after the crucifixion for fear that they would be arrested and crucified next -- the same men who denied Jesus when others sought to accuse them of being His disciples

            -- but now we see them boldly proclaiming Jesus as Lord and Savior -- as the true Messiah of Israel -- in the streets of Jerusalem in defiance of the priests and the Sanhedrin and the Romans

 

            -- what made the difference in the lives of these disciples? -- what changed them from being scared and spineless followers of Jesus to becoming people that the Romans said were turning the world upside down with their message and their lives?

-- what led them to abandon all for the sake of Christ? -- to endure persecution and hardships -- to experience joys and fruitfulness in their ministries -- to walk hard paths and experience everything from the valley of discouragement to the mountaintop of success?

            -- there can only be one answer -- on that day in Jerusalem -- the first day of Pentecost following the ascension of Jesus -- something happened -- Someone happened

            -- Someone came to make His home with them -- to share His life -- His power -- and His presence -- and that made all the difference

 

            -- from that moment on, they were filled with the Holy Spirit and forever shaped by His presence into something abnormal -- into people who didn't look or act or believe like those around them but who marched to a different beat and followed a different drummer

            -- we shouldn't be surprised at this -- because this is just what Jesus promised His disciples here in this passage from John 14

            -- before the cross -- before the arrest in Gethsemane -- before the beatings and the persecution and Jesus' death and resurrection, Jesus promised His disciples that He would send Someone to be with them forever -- Someone who would dwell with them and in them and who would shape them through His power and presence into the people that God wanted them to be

            -- and that is exactly what happens when the Holy Spirit comes to live with us -- to make His home in our bodies -- and to share His life and His power and presence with us -- with you and with me and everyone in this church

 

II.  Scripture Lesson (John 14:16-26)

            -- so, for the last several weeks, we have been discussing the Holy Spirit -- we began by talking about who the Holy Spirit is -- how He is the third person of the Trinity -- God Himself -- and then we discussed what it means for the Holy Spirit to truly manifest Himself within us -- about how we can allow the Holy Spirit to baptize us and fill us with His presence and His power in such a way that we resemble the disciples at Pentecost -- and then we concluded last week’s message by discussing how we are called to walk with the Spirit and by led by His presence to follow God and God’s commandments

-- this morning, as we close this series, we are going to take a few moments to go a little deeper and discuss the actual ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives -- the role that He takes to lead us into complete submission and surrender to Christ and how He empowers us and works in our lives to make us into the men and women God desires us to be

 

            -- let’s begin by looking at this passage in John 14 again -- turn back to John 14:16-17

 

John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever--

17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

 

 

            -- this passage takes place in the context of the upper room on the night that Jesus was betrayed -- a lot has happened by the time Jesus shares these words with His disciples

-- Jesus had modified the age-old traditions of the Passover Meal and introduced to His disciples the sacrament of the Last Supper -- using the elements of the bread and the wine to symbolically portray what was going to occur on the cross of Calvary as Jesus gave His very own body and blood to atone for our sins and to win the victory over sin and death for us

-- He had already taken the role of a slave -- a doulas -- and wrapped Himself in a towel and washed each man’s feet individually -- symbolically cleansing them of their sin and washing them through His power and His presence

-- by this time, Judas Iscariot has already left the group -- Satan had entered him and Judas had gone to the temple to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver -- preparing to lead the Jewish guards to the Garden of Gethsemane so that they could arrest Jesus and take Him before the Sanhedrin

-- all of this has happened as Jesus foretold -- and Jesus is feeling the weight of the moment -- He knows what is about to happen -- He knows He is facing arrest and persecution and crucifixion -- He knows the torment of the cross lies before Him and that His time with the disciples is short

-- so, in these final moments, Jesus pours out His heart to this handful of men -- to those who had been with Him over the past three years -- who had followed Him through the good times and the bad -- the men that Jesus had chosen to be His apostles who would carry His message of forgiveness of sins and salvation to the world after His death, resurrection, and ascension

-- here in this moment, He shares with them a few final thoughts about the Holy Spirit and how their lives were going to change forever from the moment they left the Upper Room

 

-- the thought of Jesus leaving them is more than they can bear, so as this passage opens, Jesus speaks words of comfort and encouragement to them to let them know He is not abandoning them -- He may be physically absent from them, but His Spirit will come to live with them and in them forever

            -- the word that Jesus uses here to describe the Holy Spirit is the Greek word, "parakletos" or “paraclete” -- I mentioned this word paraclete in our first message in this series -- in our English translations of the original language, we render this word in a few different ways to try to capture the meaning from the original Greek -- counselor, comforter, advocate, helper

            -- Jesus' use of this word here gives us an insight into why the Holy Spirit was coming to live with us -- the purpose and role that He would fulfill in our lives in order to bring honor to Christ Jesus

-- as our paraclete, the Holy Spirit would fulfill several different roles for us as God’s very presence and power in our lives

 

            -- first, depending on context, the word paraclete could refer to a legal advocate for someone -- they were the counsel for defense -- in other words, a paraclete was the person who stood by another person's side and defended them in a court of law

            -- spiritually, when Satan accuses us and tries to condemn us before God, it is the Holy Spirit who stands up and defends us

            -- when the devil whispers words of guilt and discouragement and doubt into our minds, it is the Holy Spirit who speaks to our hearts and tells us the truth -- it is the Spirit who reminds us that we are forgiven -- that the price has been paid and that we are redeemed through the blood of Christ -- it is the Spirit who tells us we are loved with an everlasting love -- it is the Spirit who tells us the truth when the world whispers lies

            -- the Holy Spirit advocates on our behalf -- He defends us from the attacks of this world and the evil one

 

            -- second, the word paraclete could be referring to an intercessor -- someone who intercedes or who speaks on behalf of someone else

            -- we normally think of prayer when we hear the word intercessor, but the true definition refers to anyone who speaks on behalf of another person -- of course, in this case, it refers to the Spirit speaking to the Father on our behalf

            -- in Romans 8:26-27, Paul wrote that the Spirit intercedes for us in accordance with God's will -- he says that the Spirit helps us in our weakness -- that when we don't even have the words -- when we don't even know what to pray -- the Spirit prays for us with groans that words cannot even express

 

            -- finally, the word paraclete was also a general term for a helper -- for someone who stood in and assisted another person -- usually not in the role of a servant -- but in the role of a peer who was willing to give of their time and energy to help another person in their life -- like a mentor or a coach

            -- we are told in the Bible that God has gifted all of us with at least one spiritual gift -- there are several passages in the New Testament that discuss spiritual gifts -- Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, or 1 Peter 4 -- and if you read through these passages, you see one spiritual truth that comes from them -- as we have discussed before, spiritual gifts are not talents that God gives us -- He doesn’t turn us into Marvel superheroes with these spiritual gifts -- it’s not something that we can do on our own -- rather, these are the actual manifestations of the Spirit within us

            -- in other words, we're not the ones doing anything -- it is the Spirit within us who helps us to manifest the power of God in our lives -- it is God Himself working in us and through us to accomplish His will and His purposes

-- remember my analogy of the glove? -- a glove is powerless on its own -- it can't do anything -- until you put a hand in it -- we are the glove and the Holy Spirit is the hand -- and it is only through Him working through us that we ever accomplish anything for God

 

            -- now, if you were to take all these definitions of paraclete and blend them together, you would begin to see the overall picture of ministry that the Holy Spirit accomplishes in our lives -- He lives within us to serve as our Counselor -- our Comforter -- our Advocate -- our Helper -- and our Intercessor

-- it is the Holy Spirit and He alone that has brought about the church of Christ on earth -- it is the Holy Spirit who shapes the church and gives life and power to it -- apart from the Holy Spirit, we are not the church -- we are only a gathering of people who may look spiritual, but who do not have any power or the presence of God within

 

            -- the world doesn’t understand any of this -- when they see Christians -- when they see the true church of Christ doing great things for God -- doing things that just don’t seem possible -- that don’t make sense to the world -- they don’t understand it -- they can’t -- because they don’t see the Holy Spirit and they don’t know the Holy Spirit

-- if you remember, several years ago, a man went into a one-room Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and took the children hostage -- eventually killing five girls between the ages of 6 and 13 before he committed suicide

            -- for weeks, the nation was fascinated with this story -- not so much the horrific story of the events in the schoolhouse, but the story of how the Amish parents and the Amish community responded with forgiveness and love to the Roberts family in the aftermath of the event

            -- while the rest of the nation expressed anger and outrage for what happened, the Amish community that experienced such great loss reached out with forgiveness and reconciliation to the family of the gunman -- just hours after the shooting, members of the Amish community visited the gunman’s widow, parents, and in-laws and prayed with them and extended forgiveness to them

-- and the world lost its mind -- they could not understand that -- they could not grasp how these people -- who had lost their children in such a horrific way -- would reach out to the killer’s family and pray with them and for them and offer forgiveness and comfort to them

-- that’s because the world does not know the Holy Spirit -- as Jesus says here, they can’t see Him and they don’t know Him -- so they don’t understand what is going on when the Holy Spirit is made manifest in the church today -- when His presence empowers us to do things that are not humanly possible, such as forgiving our children’s killer and his family

 

-- keep in mind that there is a difference between knowing someone and knowing someone -- between head knowledge and heart knowledge -- it is one thing to know with your head that the Spirit is the third person of the Trinity -- part of the Godhead -- God Himself dwelling within us

-- but it is another thing to know the Spirit personally and intimately -- to know Him and to be known by Him -- the word Jesus uses here in this passage carries the same meaning that is used in Genesis when it says that Adam knew Eve -- it is knowing someone intimately -- making them part of yourself -- one with you -- so that the difference between you and them disappear -- that it was Jesus is talking about here -- that is why He sent the Spirit to us -- and that is what the world is missing today

-- before we move on, ask yourself this question -- do you know the Holy Spirit in this way or do you just know about Him?

 

-- verse 18-20

 

John 14:18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.

20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

 

            -- can you imagine the heartbreak and confusion of the disciples as they heard Jesus' words in this passage? -- for three years they had been as close with Jesus as anyone in that day could -- for three years they had lived with Him, day and night, sharing His meals, listening to His teachings, watching His ministry unfold -- most of them believed Him to be their Messiah, even if they misunderstood what the Messiah's true role was to be -- He had become their all in all -- their world -- their life

            -- and now Jesus is telling them He is going away -- He is going to physically leave them and the world would not be able to see Him any longer -- but He tells them they would see Him through His Spirit within them -- that even though He has left, He is going to come to them again -- He is going to show Himself to them and when He returns as the Spirit, they will recognize Him -- they will know Him -- and they will be one with Him as He is one with the Father

 

            -- this reminds me of the story of the great Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen -- Amundsen was the first to discover the South Pole and the magnetic meridian of the North Pole -- on one of his trips Amundsen took a homing pigeon with him -- when he finally reached the top of the world, he released the pigeon and sent it back home to Norway

            -- imagine the delight of Amundsen's wife back in Norway when she looked up from the doorway of her home and saw the pigeon circling overhead -- no doubt the first thought in her mind was, "He's alive!"

 

            -- that's what Jesus is telling the disciples here -- I am leaving you --you won't be able to see me in the normal way, but you will see me through My Holy Spirit and you will know I am with you

            -- just as the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus as a dove when He was baptized, the Spirit would descend on His disciples through a physical manifestation at Pentecost -- with a mighty rushing wind and in tongues of fire --so they might exclaim to the world, "He's alive!"

 

            -- one more thing I want to point out here -- notice in verse 18 that Jesus says "I will come to you" -- not someone else -- Jesus would come to us

-- this shows that the Holy Spirit is Jesus -- just not in human form -- as He implies in verse 20, all three persons of the Trinity -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- are all interconnected -- they are three in one -- and they dwell within us to empower us and shape us and form us in this life

 

            -- verse 21-26

 

John 14:21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?"

23 Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

25 "All this I have spoken while still with you.

26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

 

            -- how do you know if you have the Holy Spirit within you? -- the answer is clear -- Jesus tells us right here --if you have the Spirit within you, then you will obey God -- you will follow His commands -- you will be in relationship with Him

            -- Henry Blackaby points out that "obedience is the outward expression of your love for God" and that if you have an obedience problem, you really have a relationship problem -- if you don't obey God and do His will, it is an indication you don't have a mature relationship with the Father

            -- the Holy Spirit is evidence of our faith -- He is proof that we belong to the Father

            -- in 2 Corinthians 1:21-22, Paul tells us that God put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit -- as a seal of our inheritance

 

            -- if you have been saved -- if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior -- the moment you receive Him you are indwelt with His presence as the Holy Spirit

            -- and it is the Holy Spirit within you who enables you to obey God's commands and to truly love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength

            -- that doesn't mean that Christians don't sin -- that we won’t stumble or get our feet dirty when we walk and live in this fallen world -- just having the Holy Spirit within us doesn’t make us holy and perfect immediately

-- all of us will continue to sin from time-to-time -- we will continue to stumble and do things our own way rather than God’s way -- but now, because we have the Spirit within us, we have the capacity and the ability to choose a different way -- to repent when we sin -- to get up and dust ourselves off and allow the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us and lead us into conformance with God’s word

            -- Jesus said that if we love Him, we will obey Him -- the only way we can do that is through the power of the Spirit within us -- the Spirit gives us the power to choose obedience rather than disobedience -- to choose to turn away from temptation and sin rather than to blindly give in to the evil desires of our hearts

            -- it is the Spirit who teaches us to follow Christ -- it is the Spirit who reminds us of the Word of God and what we should do when we are tempted -- and it is the Spirit within us who walks alongside us -- who forms us and shapes us through His power and presence and transforms us into new creations as we follow seek to follow Jesus

 

III. CLOSING

            -- let’s wrap this up -- I heard a story about two guys from south Georgia who were traveling together on vacation -- they had decided to see each of the great natural wonders in the United States and were headed to Niagara Falls

            -- as they got out of the car following the beautiful drive from Lake Erie to the falls, they were filled with awe at the size and power of the Niagara River -- it was so much larger and so much more impressive than anything we have down here

            -- they were really impressed with the rapids just above the falls and the massive mist cloud that always hangs over the drop-off -- and the roaring thunder of the falls as they hit the rocks below

            -- one of the men said, "Just look at that -- That has to be the greatest unused power in the world"

            -- the other guy replied, "No, I think you're wrong -- the greatest unused power in the world is the Holy Spirit of the living God"

 

            -- in the Christian life, we are not called to be passive responders to the presence of God -- but rather, we are called to be active participants -- the Bible tells us that we are to be holy as God is holy -- but this implies a responsibility on our part

            -- Albert Einstein once wrote that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing every time but expecting different results

            -- if we want to see the same power that God expressed through Peter and the disciples on that first Day of Pentecost -- if we want to see this world turned upside down for God -- if we want to see our lives and the lives of those around us changed for the better -- then we can't keep doing what we've been doing -- we have to do something different -- we have to allow the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us -- we have to see Him and know Him and be in relationship with Him

 

            -- the Holy Spirit is the great power in our lives -- but we have to connect to Him -- we have to open ourselves up to His presence -- we have to listen when He speaks -- we have to do what He says -- or nothing will ever change in our lives or in this world

            -- so, this morning, as we close in prayer -- I want to ask you to respond to God's word -- to open yourself up to the Holy Spirit who is within you

-- ask Him to fill you with His presence -- ask Him to give you His wisdom and understanding -- ask Him to speak truth in your life -- and ask Him to empower you so that you might be all you can for Christ

            -- let us pray

SERMON: THE HOLY SPIRIT AND US

 

Naylor Community Christian Church

 

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to Ephesians 1:13-14

 

Ephesians 1:13-14

New International Version

 

13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

 

-- The last thing a police officer trying to chase down a suspect in a high-speed pursuit needs to see is a warning that their patrol car is running low on gas—or on battery power -- But that’s exactly what happened one night in Fremont, California, a few years ago -- a Fremont police officer was pursuing a suspect in his department’s Tesla Model S patrol car when he noticed it was running out of battery power

-- The officer radioed in to dispatch that he might not be able to continue the chase -- he told dispatch that he was down to six miles of battery left on the Tesla, so he was probably going to have to stop pursuit in just a minute

            -- it didn’t really matter, though, because the department called off the chase for safety reasons when the suspected felon began driving on the shoulder of the highway -- they were worried that his actions at high speed might endanger someone else -- they eventually found the vehicle crashed into bushes, but the driver had fled the scene and was not found

            -- the officer in the Tesla eventually found a charging station in San Jose to power up his car -- a police spokesperson said, “We have no written policy regarding charging, but the general guideline is that it should at least be half full at the beginning of the shift.” Apparently, the Tesla had not been recharged after the previous shift before the officer took it out, so the battery level was lower than it should have been. A spokesperson couldn’t provide details on why the car wasn’t properly charged.¹

 

-- this story points out the need to always make sure you are charged and ready to go -- that you have the power that you need to get the job done -- whether that’s chasing bad guys in California or just getting up and going through your day here at home

-- we need power in our lives -- supernatural power -- that never runs out and that is always there for us -- if we are going to succeed in our spiritual lives

            -- last week, we began a series of messages about the Holy Spirit -- we began by diving into the Book of John to learn who the Holy Spirit was -- we talked about how He is a living being -- the third person of the Trinity -- God Himself, living within us -- indwelling us -- and serving as our paraclete -- our counselor -- our comforter -- our advocate -- and our power

            -- when we talk about the power of the Holy Spirit, we need to remember that His power comes from who He is -- He is not an impersonal power or force like some cults in our area teach -- He doesn’t endow us with supernatural abilities -- but it is His power working in us and through us that changes us from the inside out and gives us the strength and the ability to do what Jesus commanded us to do

            -- this morning, we’re going to spend some more time talking about the Holy Spirit and His presence in our lives -- not so much from the standpoint of who the Holy Spirit is, but from the perspective of how Christians should connect and relate to the Him

            -- the thing to remember -- the thing to keep in mind as we go through this study -- is to remember that it's not enough to just know about the Holy Spirit -- we have to know the Holy Spirit -- personally and intimately -- if we want to live the life that Christ has called us to live -- if we want to see His power manifested in us and through us so that we can live successful lives for Christ -- if we want to make sure our spiritual batteries never run out of power again

 

II.  The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit

            -- before we talk about obtaining and wielding the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives on a daily basis, let’s take a moment to talk about the moment when the Holy Spirit takes up residence in the life of a believer -- because that’s the starting point

            -- without the Holy Spirit present in your life, there is no power -- it’s like you don’t even have a battery in your heart to begin with -- there’s no need worrying about how to keep your battery charged, if you don’t have one

            -- so, let’s talk about how we receive the Holy Spirit in our lives

            -- here in this passage from Ephesians, Paul explains to the church of Ephesus, and to us, how the Holy Spirit becomes a part of our lives

 

            -- look back at verse 13a

 

13a And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation.

 

            -- Paul tells us here that we are "in Christ" -- we are connected to Him -- we become part of Him and He becomes part of us when we hear and receive the word of truth -- the gospel of our salvation -- when we repent of our sins and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and ask Him to forgive us of our sins and to give us His righteousness and eternal life

            -- to be saved means that you have been justified by Christ -- your sins have been forgiven -- and you stand before God as a new creation -- buried with Christ through His death to be raised to new life with Him through His resurrection

            -- as Paul says elsewhere, "it is not I who live but Christ who lives in me"

            -- so, what we see here in the start of verse 13 is a description of the point of salvation -- the moment when we believe and are saved through Christ's justifying grace

 

            -- now, look what happens at that moment -- look at the rest of verse 13

 

13b When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit

 

            -- “when you believed” -- other versions say, "having believed" -- having been justified -- having been saved -- being “in Christ”

            -- "having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal -- the promised Holy Spirit"

            -- at the moment of salvation -- at the moment you make the decision to receive the offer of salvation and the forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit is given to us -- He comes to indwell us -- to live within us -- as a seal -- as a mark on our life -- identifying us as Christians -- as those who are "in Christ" -- and bringing with Him the very power and presence of God to dwell with us always

 

            -- verse 14

 

14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

 

            -- Paul says the Holy Spirit is our deposit that guarantees that we are part of the family of God -- that proves that we are saved

            -- over in Romans 8:9, we read that if you don't have the Spirit, you are not in Christ

            -- what this tells us is that the Holy Spirit is given at salvation -- if you are a believer in Christ -- if you have been saved through His justifying grace -- then you have the Holy Spirit living within you

 

            -- there are several denominations in our area that have a different teaching about the Holy Spirit -- they teach that the receiving of the Holy Spirit is separate from salvation -- and that it is always accompanied by miracles and signs, especially the ability to speak in tongues -- they call this the "baptism of the Holy Spirit"

            -- now, according to what we just read, the Holy Spirit is not something you get at a later date -- it is not something that is only given to certain people -- the Holy Spirit indwells all believers at the point of salvation

            -- so, what's the deal with the baptism of the Holy Spirit that these other Christians talk about? -- obviously, it is a real experience of the Spirit in the life of these believers -- but if the term, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, doesn’t describe what happens when the Spirit comes to indwell the life of a believer at salvation, what is it referring to? -- and how do we receive this baptism of the Holy Spirit?

            -- well, that brings us to the first way that Christians are called to relate to the Holy Spirit in our lives -- to be charged up by Him -- and that is by being "filled with the Holy Spirit"

 

III.  Filled with the Holy Spirit

            -- if you would, turn over to Acts 6:1-7 and let's look at what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit

 

Acts 6:1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

 

5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

 

7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

 

            -- in these verses, we read the story of an early conflict in the church about whether the widows of the Grecian Jews -- those Jews who spoke Greek and were part of the diasporo -- the Jews who lived outside of Palestine -- were being treated the same as the widows of the Hebraic Jews -- the Jews who lived in the Holy Land and who spoke Hebrew or Aramaic

            -- in order to settle the conflict, the apostles gathered all the disciples together and told them to choose seven men from among them who were known to be "full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom" and to make them responsible for taking care of this particular ministry

            -- one of these men was Stephen, the first martyr in the church -- we read a further description of Stephen in verse 8 as Luke begins the narrative of Stephen's arrest and speech to the Sanhedrin, and then his death at their hands

            -- look back real quick at verse 8

 

Acts 6:8 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people.

 

            -- when other Christians speak about being baptized in the Spirit, what they are referring to is someone living like Stephen, with visible signs of the Spirit in their lives -- so, the term “baptized” is synonymous with being “filled” by the Spirit -- it is a real experience for Christians and for the church

-- but our fellow Christians who emphasize this baptism of the Spirit err in two ways -- first, they err by saying that only certain people can be baptized or filled by the Spirit -- this is not true -- as we will see as we go through this, all believers have the Holy Spirit indwelling them, so all believers can experience the baptism or filling of the Holy Spirit in their lives -- in fact, this is commanded of us

 

-- secondly, they err in their assumption that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a one-time event -- it is not

-- more than likely, your spiritual life is not going to be one where you are continually filled and experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit at all times and in all places, even though the ability and potential is still there

-- the reason for this is because we are still human and we still have this sin nature impacting us and limiting our ability to fully live into who God wants us to be which prevents the Spirit from filling us in those moments

-- in reality, we move in and out of the experience of the Holy Spirit filling us and empowering us with His presence -- He is always there, but there are times when we quench His power in our lives and when His power is not made manifest because we are hindering Him from working in us and through us

-- there will be times we are filled with the Holy Spirit and there will be times we will not

-- so, to sum up, everyone can experience being filled or baptized by the Holy Spirit in their lives -- it is expected of us

-- but the filling or the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not a one-time event, as some teach, but something that we experience when we are in the place in our lives where God is able to move in us and express His presence and power in this supernatural way

 

-- moving on, there are a couple of things we can learn here about what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit:

 

            -- first, we see that not everyone in the church was filled with the Spirit at the same time -- as we learned from the passage in Ephesians and as the Bible teaches in other places, everyone there had the Holy Spirit within them

-- every disciple -- every Christian -- is indwelt by the Holy Spirit -- but everyone in the church in Jerusalem that day was not filled with the Holy Spirit at the moment when they were selecting seven men to serve in this particular ministry

            -- that didn't make them any less Christian -- meaning that not being filled with the Spirit didn't take away their salvation or the forgiveness of their sins -- they still had the Spirit within them -- they were still sealed by His presence and were still guaranteed their eternal inheritance

            -- but it does mean that they were not living up to their potential in Christ -- their batteries were drained

            -- think back to the story of the police officer I told you about at the beginning of this message -- He had batteries inside his car -- but they were not charged -- he had the potential for power, but he couldn’t use the power because they were not filled

            -- that’s what we’re talking about here

 

            -- in Ephesians 5:18, we are told to be filled with the Holy Spirit -- it should be noted that this is a command, not a suggestion -- in other words, being filled with the Holy Spirit is not just a good idea -- this is something that God commands and expects from all His people -- this is something that He expects from us

            -- to carry this a little farther -- the Greek word that Paul uses in that verse is in the present tense -- you could actually translate it as "be continually filled with the Holy Spirit" -- in other words, being filled with the Holy Spirit is not a one-time act -- it is not something that you go and do one time, get the t-shirt as a souvenir, and then go home

            -- no, we are commanded to be continually filled with the Spirit -- and, if we are not, then we are not living the lives that Christ called us to live -- in fact, we are living in disobedience to His command -- this is what happens when we don’t keep our spiritual batteries charged

            -- as I said, that’s the experience of most of us, even though God desires for us to grow in grace and mature to the point where His presence and power are made manifest in our lives at all times

 

            -- secondly, looking back at this passage here in Acts, we see that being filled with the Spirit gave these men wisdom and the ability to do ministry for Christ -- which gets to the definition of what being filled with the Holy Spirit or baptized by the Spirit actually means

            -- when Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit, Luke tells us that he did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people -- now, in truth, it wasn't Stephen who did this but the Holy Spirit working through Him -- Stephen was the vessel -- the Holy Spirit was the catalyst and the power that brought about these wonders and signs

            -- to be filled or baptized with the Spirit means that you are opened up to the power of the Spirit within you -- it means that you are letting the Spirit control you -- that you are submitting to God's presence in your life and allowing Him to live through you -- you’re allowing Him to charge your spiritual batteries

            -- in the Bible, the word that we translate as "power" -- especially in reference to the power of God in our lives -- is the Greek word dunamis -- this is the word that we get our English word, "dynamite," from

            -- in other words, it is the explosive power of God being made manifest in our lives -- so, to be filled with the Spirit means that you are completely filled with the power of God -- it means that we have God's unlimited strength at our disposal

            -- the point here is that we can do nothing apart from God -- alone, there is no power in us -- there is no power in the church -- our power source is God and God alone

            -- if we want to be who He called us to be -- if we want to do what He called us to do -- if we want to live in obedience to His commands -- we must be filled with His presence to the point that we allow Him to control our lives and to work through us as He did these men

 

IV.  Walk with the Holy Spirit

            -- so, we are called to be filled with the Holy Spirit -- but there is another calling related to the Holy Spirit’s presence in our life that we are also called to fulfill which is related to being filled with the Spirit -- and that is the calling to walk by the Holy Spirit or to be led by the Holy Spirit

            -- here’s the difference between being filled by the Spirit and walking with the Spirit:

-- when we talk about being filled with the Holy Spirit, we are referring to the dunamis -- the power within -- we are talking about allowing the Spirit's presence and power to be made manifest in our lives so that we see great wonders and miraculous signs and God’s presence in our lives, just like Acts 6:8 says was true about Stephen

            -- but, when we talk about walking with the Holy Spirit or being led by the Holy Spirit, we are talking about controlling that power and using it for a specific purpose or function

            -- in other words, it is the application of the power of God to accomplish God’s will or plan in our lives

 

            -- keep in mind that Jesus saved us for a reason -- He didn't just save us so that we could go to heaven -- if that were the case, then we would probably just vanish and go straight there when we get saved

            -- no, Jesus left us here on earth for a reason -- in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus said that He was leaving us in the world so that we might be sanctified by the truth and accomplish the purposes for which He was sending us

            -- and over in Ephesians 1:10, we read that we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do

            -- we cannot do good works -- we cannot do great wonders and miraculous signs apart from the Spirit -- it is only when we are filled with the Spirit that we have the power to make a difference in the lives of other people and to do what Jesus called us to do -- and it is only when we walk with the Spirit that we are capable of using that power in effective ways

 

            -- if you would, turn real quick over to Galatians 5:16-25 and I'll try to bring this to a close

 

Galatians 5:16-25

New International Version

 

16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever[a] you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

 

19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

 

            -- doing a great disservice to this passage, let me just walk you through the high points quickly -- when we talk about walking with the Spirit or being led by the Spirit, we are talking about using the power of God in our daily lives -- of applying the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the mission of Christ

            -- in verse 15, Paul says that if we live by the Spirit, we will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature -- all of us -- even those of us who have received Christ as our Lord and Savior and who may have been Christians for years -- all of us still have sin in our lives because all of us still have that sin nature that makes us sinners -- that makes us do things that are disobedient to God's commands

            -- in our own strength, we do not have the power to conquer sin -- we don't have the power to turn away from the desires of our own flesh -- it is only when we are filled with the Spirit and have His power at our disposal that we are capable of choosing life instead of death -- choosing to obey God rather than to gratify our own evil thoughts and desires

            -- Paul goes on to tell us what those sinful desires look like -- we don’t need to go over them -- they’re obvious -- we know them -- we see them -- we experience them in some degree in all of our lives

-- but thankfully, Paul doesn’t end there -- he closes this passage by showing us a better way -- he tells us what the fruit of the Spirit looks like -- what happens in our lives when we let the presence of God change us and be made manifest through us

            -- when you are led by the Spirit and walk with Him, your lives are characterized by the fruit of His presence -- the very attributes of God that He makes manifest in our lives -- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control

            -- Paul tells us in verse 25 that we should keep in step with the Spirit -- we should be fruit trees for Christ -- our lives should reflect His presence, His nature, and His attributes -- and if we are led by the Spirit -- if we allow Him to fill us and to led us and to direct our paths, then we should see the fruits of the Spirit in our lives -- they should pour out of us and through us to others

            -- these are gauges that we can use to measure our walk with God -- we may not perform miraculous signs like Stephen -- we may not speak in tongues like Paul -- but when we are filled with the Spirit and our batteries are fully charged -- when He is leading us and directing our paths so that we do what He wants us to do -- these fruits will be evident to everyone around us

-- if our lives aren't showing these fruits, then we are not filled with the Spirit and we are not walking with Him -- these fruits show where you are in your relationship with God

 

            -- one other note on this -- in Matthew 7, Jesus said that we would know them by their fruit -- we misapply that verse all the time -- we assume that the fruit Jesus is talking about are the good things that we do for Him -- and we judge others based on whether we see things we associate with spiritual success or not

            -- for example, we judge how good a pastor or a church is based on several factors that we can see and measure -- without a doubt, pastors and churches are judged based on their size -- on the number of people that attend every Sunday

-- I’ve been in meetings with people and pastors from other churches, and one of the first things they always ask is “how many people do you have?” -- when I tell them we are a small congregation of about 10 people, you can see the look in their eye -- they think to themselves that I am not successful and have no value, and they quickly turn away from me to someone who does have a lot of people and power and influence in the community

-- we are also judged by the amount of money we have -- the number of programs we advertise in our bulletins -- how visible we are in the community -- do people know us and see us?

-- and when we find a church and a pastor that meets all those criteria, we think, “they are successful” because they are meeting our metrics of what is important about a church -- we think, “you can certainly see the fruits of their ministry” -- but how the world defines success is different from how God defines it

            -- these measures of success -- these types of fruit -- the number of people -- the amount of money -- the number of programs -- this is not the type of fruit that Jesus was talking about in Matthew 7

-- by those measures, Jesus’ ministry was a complete and total failure -- He ended up with only 12 followers, and one of them betrayed Him -- they had no money -- no large church to meet in -- the priests and the Pharisees looked at Jesus and dismissed Him because He didn’t look successful in their eyes -- He wasn’t bearing their type of fruit

 

-- no, the fruit that Jesus was talking about in Matthew 7 was the fruit of the Spirit -- the nature and attributes of God expressed within the church and within the individual

            -- it is a fact that good things can be done by non-believers -- good things can be done by believers without any of the fruits of the Spirit being evident -- as Paul pointed out in 1 Corinthians 13, you can do great things -- you can look very successful in the eyes of the world -- but if you don’t have love -- the very first fruit of the Spirit mentioned here -- it means nothing

            -- in other words, doing things and having a lot of people and a lot of money doesn’t necessarily mean that you are successful in the eyes of God and fulfilling His will

            -- think about the Pharisees -- if you looked at the Pharisees and what they were doing, you would have thought, “These men have it all together -- they are successful in the eyes of God -- this is the picture of what God wants us to look like”

-- but Jesus rebuked the Pharisees because they were keeping the letter of the Law, but not the spirit of the Law -- they were obedient and following all God’s commands, but they were far from His presence -- they had the fruits of man, but not the fruit of the Spirit

 

-- to be known by your fruits means that others look at you and they see the fruits of the Spirit in your life and in your church -- love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control

            -- these are the fruits that we are looking for to see if someone is walking with God or not -- not how big their church is or how much they seem to be doing

-- these are the fruits we should be striving for in our lives -- and these fruits are only produced when we surrender to the presence of the Holy Spirit and allow His power to fill us and lead us and be made manifest through us

 

V.  Closing

            -- let me close by sharing with you a few thoughts from Zac Levi, the star of the NBC spy comedy Chuck -- if you're familiar with this show, Zac plays the role of an average guy whose life gets turned upside-down when he gets thrown into a role as a government spy -- in an interview a couple of years ago, Zac made the point that what his character was going through on the show was not that different from what he himself was going through when he suddenly found himself the star of a TV show.

            -- "Just as Chuck was struggling through the newfound world of spydom, I was struggling with a newfound world of celebrity." -- But despite his near-celebrity status and the unique pressures and temptations that come with life in Hollywood, Zac has been able to survive because he is grounded by his faith, his family, and an intimate church community.

            --The key -- Zac says -- is to remain sensitive to the Holy Spirit in whatever you say and do. -- "If you're someone who puts their faith in Jesus, then trust him in being led. -- To me, it's not rocket science. Go about your day putting your faith in God and standing on truth. -- It's pretty easy: are you a jerk or not? -- Are you doing things to benefit you or others? -- Are you available to be part of the solution and not the problem? -- your life is God's, so let him do as he wills with it."²

            -- I think that last quote from Zac Levi sums up this morning's message -- "your life is God's, so let him do as He will with it" -- be filled with the Spirit -- be filled with His dunamis  -- His power -- and let Him use that power through you and in you to do great things for Him

            -- this is the essence of a Spirit-filled life -- this is what it looks like when we let the Spirit keep our batteries charged -- when we let Him fill us with His power and presence and lead us to do what God wants us to do

-- this is what we are called to be -- so, as we leave here today, I want you to take a moment to think about where you are with God -- where you are with His Spirit -- are you Spirit-filled at this moment? -- are you living for Christ as He intended?

-- or are your batteries about to run out? -- if so, then let me encourage you to go to Him and ask Him to do whatever is necessary to cleanse you and fill you with His presence, so that you might be fully charged with His power and so that the fruits of the Spirit might be made manifest in your life

-- all of us can live Spirit-filled and Spirit-led lives -- we just have to surrender to the Holy Spirit and walk in relationship with Him -- all of us can do it -- all of us can experience it -- so, let’s make it happen

            -- let us pray

 

 

1 Ben Feuerherd, “Cop’s Tesla runs out of battery power during high-speed chase,” New York Post (9-25-19); Joseph Geha, “Fremont police Tesla runs low on juice during high-speed chase,” Mercury News (9-24-19)

2 Rich Tatum, Grand Rapids, Michigan; source: Carl Kozlowski, "The Life and Faith of 'Chuck' Star Zac Levi," Relevant magazine.com (January/February 2010)

 

SERMON: I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT

 

Naylor Community Christian Church

 

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to John 16:7-15

 

John 16:7-15

New International Version

 

7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

 

12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

 

            -- In 2007, life in the African country of Malawi changed dramatically -- for a long time, this country had hovered on the brink of famine -- the people there toiled in poverty and were only able to survive because they received food and resources from other countries -- but in 2007, things changed

-- beginning that year, Malawi stopped receiving hand-outs from other nations -- they sold more corn to the U.N. World Food Program than any other country in southern Africa and also exported tons of corn to Zimbabwe – and this trend of self-sufficiency and independence has continued to this day

            -- how did this happen? -- how did this country go from being a welfare state existing in poverty to a country that was not only self-sustaining, but capable of reaching out and exporting food to other nations? -- the answer is quite simple -- the dramatic change came from nothing more miraculous than fertilizer

            -- Malawi's president got tired of begging for charity so he pushed for the expanded use of fertilizer and fertilizer subsidies -- the government encouraged the farmers to start using fertilizer, and it made all the difference – where before, a field would barely produce enough of a crop to feed the farmer and his family, it now produced two and three times as much, enabling the nation to not only feed its own people, but to help other nations as well by exporting the extra food to them -- their once depleted soil has become a source of renewed life and livelihood – and, for the first time in its history, Malawi went from just being a consumer to a major producer and exporter of food to the continent of Africa¹

 

            -- for those of us seeking to become better disciples of Christ – to grow in our faith and in our fruitfulness in the kingdom -- the same principle that Malawi used to better their situation applies to us –  adding spiritual fertilizer to our lives can move us from famine to feast -- from being consumers -- people who just take up space in the pews -- to being producers -- people who multiply and who produce fruit for the kingdom of God

            -- Jesus knew of our tendency to become comfortable -- complacent -- stagnant -- to become routine in our spiritual lives -- this has been a problem in the church all the way back to the days of Moses -- this tendency to complacency causes us to trade in vibrant spiritual lives for the dryness of religion -- it causes us to trade in knowing God in a real and personal way to just being satisfied with going through the motions on a Sunday morning

            -- Jesus knew that we were going to need His continual presence in our lives to keep our soil productive -- He knew that we were going to need the constant inflowing of His life into ours to help us be true disciples -- and so He sent us spiritual fertilizer -- He sent us the Holy Spirit

 

            -- I was listening this week to a teaching from Francis Chan, one of my favorite speakers and authors – he was speaking on the subject of the Holy Spirit, and how necessary it was for Christians to have the Holy Spirit in our lives – filling us and sanctifying us and making us fruitful and productive Christians

-- the message really touched me – and so I thought it might be something that all of us needed to hear – to be reminded of – so, for the next few weeks, we’re going to spend some time talking about the Holy Spirit and His ministry and His role in our lives as followers of Christ

 

II.  The Holy Spirit

            -- when I talk to people about God, nothing seems to confuse them more than the idea of the Holy Spirit -- growing up, it seemed to me like no one ever talked about the Spirit -- and when they did, they called Him the "Holy Ghost," which just made it all the more confusing and mystical

            -- when you're 7 years old and the preacher is saying you need the Holy Ghost, I can tell you, that's the last thing that you want in your life -- I was always scared of ghosts -- holy or not -- and I sure didn't want one hanging around with me day in and day out

            -- our tendency in the church is just to ignore those things that we don't understand or don't like -- so for a long time, the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit was not addressed from the pulpit or in religious writings -- Francis Chan addressed this issue in his book, "Forgotten God"

            -- he said that we focus a lot of our attention and our teaching and our study on Jesus and on the Father, but we neglect the Holy Spirit – based on my experience, I can say that is certainly true – although that was not always the case

            -- if you look at Scripture, the one defining characteristic of the early church was the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives and in their churches -- everything that the Apostles and the early church accomplished -- the miracles -- the rapid growth -- the ability to love their enemies and face trials and persecutions that we can only imagine -- all of it was only possible through the very real power and presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives

 

            -- so, just who is the Holy Spirit? -- the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity

            -- and let me just remind you of this church doctrine so you don't misunderstand what we're talking about when we talk about the Trinity -- the word, "Trinity," is not found in Scripture, but its existence is clearly expressed all the way back to the beginning of Genesis 1

            -- in explaining the mystery of the Godhead, the writers of the Bible affirm that the Godhead is comprised of one God who exists as three persons -- the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit -- these are not three gods -- there is only one God, who expresses Himself in this way -- each person in the Trinity is distinct in function, but they share the same deity and reflect the attributes of the one living God

            -- this means that the Holy Spirit is fully and completely God -- just as the Father and the Son are fully and completely God -- it is perfectly acceptable to pray to the Holy Spirit just as you pray to Jesus or to the Father

            -- the Holy Spirit is not just a force or a power like some denominations and some cults teach -- He is not impersonal or unthinking -- the Holy Spirit is a person, just like Jesus – He experiences emotions – the Bible says He can be grieved and He can love – so, make sure you get this – the Holy Spirit is alive -- He is a living being -- the very presence of God in our lives

 

            -- I like the way A.W. Tozer explained the Holy Spirit in his book, "The Counselor," -- Tozer wrote: "Spell this out in capital letters: THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A PERSON -- He is not enthusiasm -- He is not courage -- He is not energy -- He is not the personification of all good qualities, like Jack Frost is the personification of cold weather -- Actually, the Holy Spirit is not the personification of anything...... He has individuality -- He is one being and not another -- He has will and intelligence -- He has hearing -- He has knowledge and sympathy and ability to love and see and think -- He can hear, speak, desire, grieve and rejoice -- He is a Person."

            -- the Holy Spirit has intellect, emotion, and will -- He speaks to us -- He has feelings -- He can love -- He can be grieved -- He can be hurt -- He has all the characteristics of God because He is God -- He is omniscient – omnipresent – and omnipotent -- all-knowing -- ever-present -- and all-powerful

            -- but as the third person of the Trinity, He has specific roles and functions that He accomplishes in our lives and in the life of the church --this is what I want us to look at in this passage from John 16

 

III.  Scripture Lesson

            -- before we look at this in more detail, let me give you the context and background of the verses that we read -- these verses were given by Jesus on Thursday night of Holy Week -- Maundy Thursday -- the day that Jesus and His disciples shared the Last Supper in the Upper Room and the day that He was betrayed by Judas Iscariot and turned over to the High Priest and the Romans

            -- as this passage opens, the last supper is over -- Jesus has washed the feet of the disciples -- Judas has left to go to the temple to betray Him -- and now Jesus and His remaining disciples are making their way to the Garden of Gethsemane, which is located on the western base of the Mount of Olives

            -- as they are walking along, Jesus is sharing with them His final instructions and His final teachings to help them understand what is about to happen and what it means for the Kingdom of God -- He has told them that He is going away and that this is the plan of God the Father -- and to calm their fears and to make sure they understand that He will never leave them or forsake them, He shares with them now a teaching about the coming of the Holy Spirit

 

            -- if you would, look back with me again at verse 7

 

7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

 

            -- the disciples were distraught at what Jesus had been saying to them all night -- they couldn't understand why He was leaving -- they couldn’t understand why He was saying that He had to die -- don't forget, the disciples are still living on the mountain of Palm Sunday -- they are still expecting Jesus to start a revolution and conquer Rome at any moment -- they have no idea that Good Friday is coming -- they have no idea what Jesus means when He says that He must die and then rise again on the third day

            -- this is a man that they had lived with for three years -- a man that they knew intimately -- a man that they knew was from God -- some of them, I am sure, thought He was God at that time, even though they did not have a full understanding at this moment

            -- Jesus knows He’s leaving – He knows how His disciples are going to take it – so, after sharing with them the news of His death and departure, Jesus takes a moment to encourage them -- to lift up their heads -- to help them see that things are really going to be better when He leaves

            -- He tells them here "When I leave, I will send the Counselor to you -- He cannot come while I am here -- but when I go to the Father, I will send Him to you"

 

            -- the Greek word that Jesus uses here in this verse to describe the Holy Spirit is "paraclete" -- it means counselor, comforter, advocate, and helper

            -- these were all roles that the Holy Spirit had performed in the past in the lives of God's chosen people as He would come upon them -- men like Moses and David and Samson -- but in the times before Jesus, the Holy Spirit did not indwell believers – He was not always present with them – He would only come and rest on them to empower them as they served God's special purposes and accomplished His will

            -- this anointing of the Holy Spirit – the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives -- could be taken from them -- that is why David wrote in Psalm 51:11 after he sinned with Bathsheba and killed her husband, "Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me."

            -- but Jesus is telling the disciples and us here that things are changing – after His death and resurrection – after His ascension – the Holy Spirit would come to be with the believers forever – but, He was not going to come like He did in times past – He wouldn’t just come for a short and temporary time – instead, He was coming to indwell them – to live within them -- for the first time in history, the Holy Spirit would reside within us and become a part of us

            -- as it says in John 14:17, the Holy Spirit lives with and within believers – it is that within part that Jesus is speaking of here – the indwelling of the Holy Spirit living within believers would fill them with the very presence and power of God in their lives

            -- the Bible makes it clear that when you are saved -- when you respond to Jesus' invitation to come to Him for salvation and the forgiveness of sin -- at that very moment, the Holy Spirit comes to indwell you – to live within you

            -- that is why Jesus said it was good for the disciples and us that He was physically going away -- this way, the Holy Spirit would be a part of our lives at all moments and at all times -- when Jesus was on earth, God incarnate in a human body, He was bound in one place at a time -- He could not be in multiple places -- but in the person of the Holy Spirit -- living in us -- He could

 

            -- verse 8

 

8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment:

 

-- as our paraclete, the Holy Spirit ministers to us with His presence as our Counselor and Comforter and Advocate -- these are the three overarching purposes for which He came -- the roles and functions that God intended the Holy Spirit fulfill in us and in the life of the church as He worked in us and through us to accomplish His will

            -- and it is this presence of the Holy Spirit – lived out in this way within the church of Christ --that convicts the world of sin

– seeing the very presence of God in His people demonstrates God’s righteousness and judgment – and the world is convicted of its sin and feels the weight of guilt that comes from disobedience to God’s law and unbelief in Jesus as the Savior of the world – so, the Spirit within us is given to help the world respond in faith and repentance to the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary

            -- in a nutshell, the Holy Spirit has come to empower the witness of Christ on earth among non-believers -- using us -- His church -- as His voice and His hands and His feet to reach out to a people who desperately need the grace of God in their lives

            -- in the rest of these verses, Jesus dives deeper into what this means and how this looks

 

            -- verse 9

 

9 about sin, because people do not believe in me;

 

            -- the Holy Spirit has come to convict the world of its sin of unbelief -- the Holy Spirit is here to speak in counter to those people who tell us that there are many paths to God -- who tell us that all religions lead to God

            -- Jesus says here that it is a sin to not believe in Him -- to not recognize and trust in Him and His saving grace for our salvation and the forgiveness of sins

            -- ever so often, people ask me about the unpardonable sin that Jesus mentions in Matthew 12:31-32 -- the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit -- the only sin that Jesus says cannot be forgiven

            -- and I explain to them that the reason that this is the only sin that can't be forgiven is because it is the sin of unbelief -- if someone doesn't believe in God -- if someone doesn't believe that Jesus died for their sins and doesn't accept His forgiveness and His Holy Spirit in their lives, then they can't be forgiven

            -- but God, through His prevenient grace, works in the life of all people to reach out to them and show them the truth of the gospel and to convict them of their sin of unbelief so they might respond and turn to Jesus for salvation

            -- He does this through the presence of His Holy Spirit in His church – that is why this sin is described as the blasphemy of the Spirit – it is the rejection of the message of the Spirit given through God’s people to the world

 

            -- verse 10

 

10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer;

 

            – it is human nature to compare ourselves to others – it is part of our nature to look at someone else and to judge them and to assume that we are better than them or more righteous than them because we seem to be more spiritual or we seem to be less sinful than they

-- think about Jesus’ story of the Pharisee and the tax collector from Luke 18 – both of them went to the temple to pray – and the Pharisee’s prayer to God was to point out just how much more righteous he was than the lowly and sinful tax collector – the Pharisee left thinking that he was righteous because he was better than another

-- the Holy Spirit points us to the righteousness of Christ and shows us that He is the standard against which we are to measure ourselves – we are not to measure ourselves against anyone else – but only against Jesus

            -- as God's standard of righteousness -- completely and totally sinless – Jesus demonstrated what was required by the Father to be considered holy and justified in His eyes

-- a life without any sin at all -- holy perfection – something that no one could ever live up to on their own

-- and then Jesus went to the cross – sacrificing Himself and giving His very own body and blood – that we may receive His righteousness and thereby attain the required righteousness demanded by the Father

 

-- the Holy Spirit has come to show the world that Jesus is the righteousness of God – and when we see that – when this is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit – we are convicted of our lack of righteousness in the eyes of God – we see who we truly are in God’s eyes – and we come to understand that there is no way that we can gain righteousness and justification and salvation by comparing ourselves against others

-- the Holy Spirit opens our hearts and our eyes to the truth that the only way to obtain the righteousness of God is to receive that righteousness from Jesus as imputed righteousness

            -- Romans 10:3-4 says, "Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. -- Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes."

            -- showing the world the truth of righteousness in Christ is one of the main roles of the Holy Spirit in the church

 

            -- verse 11

 

11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

 

            -- the presence of the Holy Spirit in the church reveals to the world the righteous judgment of God on sin and death and Satan

– for those people still in the grasp of Satan’s power – who are still in bondage to sin and death – the Holy Spirit shows that God’s judgement has come

-- His presence reveals the gospel to a world under condemnation – and it shows that the victory has been won – that Jesus has destroyed the power of Satan and that the curse of sin and death on all creation has been overcome and lifted through the blood of Christ

 -- His presence in the church is a sign of hope because He shows that the prince of this world now stands condemned and that salvation and the forgiveness of sins can be received through Christ

 

            -- verse 12

 

12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

 

            -- the Holy Spirit has come to speak the truth of God in our lives and in the lives of this world -- leading us and those around us into the truth for the glory of Christ Jesus

            -- His purpose is to lift Jesus up -- to proclaim the work of the Father through Jesus so that all might be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth

            -- and He does it through us – the church of Christ – indwelt and filled with the power and presence of the living God – the Holy Spirit

 

IV.  Closing

            -- turn over to Romans 8:11 and we'll end there

 

Romans 8:11

New International Version

11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of[a] his Spirit who lives in you.

 

            -- if you watch any of the medical dramas on TV -- "House" or "Grey's Anatomy" or any of the others -- you might have heard them mention the acronym "FTT" – it stands for "failure to thrive" -- and it addresses the condition that affects newborn infants who, for some unknown reason, do not grow -- they don't gain weight -- they don't respond to stimuli -- they don't begin living -- and without immediate medical attention, many of them die

            -- John Ortberg mentioned this in an article for Leadership Journal -- he said that FTT was a perfect diagnosis for many people in our world today -- people who just go through life without living -- people who are born and live and die without ever experiencing the true, abundant life that Jesus offers

            -- let me quote from this article -- "Thrive is a life word; a word full of shalom -- Thriving is what life was intended to do, like a flower stubbornly pushing through a crack in the sidewalk. -- It is why we pause in wonder at a human being's first step, or first word; and why we ought to wonder at every step, and every word. -- Thriving is what God saw when he made life and saw that it was good. --"Thrive" was the first command: be fruitful, and multiply."²

 

            -- so, what does it mean to be alive? -- what does it mean to thrive in a spiritual sense?

            -- St. Irenaeus said, "The glory of God is man fully alive" -- in other words, a person who is alive is doing more than just trudging through life -- they are doing more than just merely existing

            -- a person who is alive is doing more than just waking up in the morning -- going to work -- and then going to bed at night

            -- a Christian who is alive is doing more than just getting up -- going to church -- and then going home again

            -- to be fully alive means that you have been joined with the eternal -- that you have been given a glimpse of the presence of God -- in nature -- in people -- in your life -- and in that moment, you felt more truly alive than at any other time in your life

            -- Dr. Tony Campolo told about the time he had a moment in eternity at the top of the Empire State Building -- a time when he was caught up in the glory and the majesty of creation -- how looking over the edge of that building at creation was a moment in which he was so fully alive, so fully aware of the presence and the majesty and the glory of God, that he knew it would always be a part of him³

            -- in her book, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard used the idea of trees being alive with light to express the same idea

            -- it is that moment when you see and know and realize life – when you see and know and realize the presence of God and the reason for it all – that moment when all is right with the world

 

            -- that is what the Apostle Paul is trying to get us to see in this verse -- he tells us here that through the Holy Spirit living within us we have life -- that through the Holy Spirit we no longer are failing to thrive, but we have become truly alive

            -- through the Holy Spirit, we see and experience and live life as never before

 

            -- J. B. Phillips wrote in, "Plain Christianity," "Every time we say, "I believe in the Holy Spirit," [as we recite the Apostle’s Creed], we mean that we believe that there is a living God able and willing to enter human personality and change it"

            -- the reason we have been given the Holy Spirit is to change us -- to make us alive -- to make us like Christ -- to lead us into the full and abundant life that Jesus said He had come to give us -- and to make us better able to serve those around us

            -- as we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we become more aware of God's presence in our lives -- more aware of those around us who need His touch and who need to hear the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ

            -- and we become empowered to be His witnesses and to be Christ's hands and feet in this world -- changing it and changing those around us as we seek to follow Christ in all our ways

 

            -- it is the Holy Spirit working in the life of the believer who changes the church -- and it is the Holy Spirit working in the life of the church who changes the world

            -- every revival that has ever been seen -- every outpouring of the presence of God leading to repentance and salvation and life-transforming power has been through the direct work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of God's people

            -- if you want to be truly alive -- if you want to experience revival in your life and in the life of this church -- then you must be filled with God's Holy Spirit -- not just indwelt -- but filled -- baptized in His presence

            -- this means that you are filled with the joy and peace and presence of God -- that you are submissive to God and empowered to serve Him where He calls -- this means that you are living in faith -- not just on Sundays, but every day of your life

            -- as John Piper points out, "this should be our aim, our goal, our great longing."³

                    -- it won't happen every day -- we won't go through life filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit -- but there will be those times when we are truly alive -- when we are experiencing eternity in our lives -- when we are empowered and filled to overflowing with the presence of God and are able to reach out and touch that one person -- to speak the words of grace that they need to hear -- to minister to their need and point them to Christ

            -- it is those times that we should be living for -- striving for -- aiming for with our lives as we seek the Holy Spirit's presence

            -- it is those times that we and the church were created for

 

            -- I believe in the Holy Spirit -- I trust in His power and presence in our lives -- and I pray that we would be filled to overflowing with His goodness and grace so that we might be truly alive and serve God more effectively with our lives -- so that we might see revival break out in our homes and in our church and in our community -- so that we might see lives changed and hearts transformed for Christ

            -- I believe in the Holy Spirit – and I long for His presence and His power to be made manifest in my life -- do you?

            -- let us pray

 

References Cited

¹<Source: Houston Chronicle, 12/2/7, p.A28>

² John Ortberg, "Ministry and FTT," LeadershipJournal.net (June 2008)

³Campolo, Tony.  Let Me Tell You a Story. 

⁴Sermon, "Be Filled with the Spirit," by John Piper. <www.soundofgrace.com/piper81/030881m.htm>