The Gift of the Holy Spirit

SERMON: 2008-09-21--ac0802--the-gift-of-the-holy-spirit SOURCE DURATION: 00:30:33.000 PROPOSED CUTS: 1 CONFIDENCE: 1.00 APPROVED: false REASON: Candidates 0 through 14 are continuous speech forming the conclusion of the sermon (likely a prayer or benediction). Candidate 15 is blank audio, marking the transition from spoken word to non-sermon material (silence/music), making candidate 14 the last segment of the sermon. Acoustic segmentation found sustained music at the end edge and moved the boundary to the adjacent transcript segment. ACOUSTIC EVIDENCE: available ACOUSTIC MUSIC INTERVALS: 00:26:26.760-00:30:32.360 ACOUSTIC SPEECH OVERLAP: yes ACOUSTIC BOUNDARIES APPLIED: end Inline CUT markers identify each proposed audio boundary after the relevant word. --- ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT WITH PROPOSED CUTS MARKED --- Well, as we take a few moments in the time that remains this morning to look at some of these verses that we have read together, I want to point out two observations concerning the person and the work of the Holy Spirit. Observation number one, the job of the Holy Spirit is to bear witness to Jesus. Listen again, how Paul puts it in verse 3 of 1 Corinthians chapter 12, "I tell you, no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, 'Jesus, be cursed.' And no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit." That doesn't mean that an unbeliever can't mouth the words Jesus is Lord, but an unbeliever cannot confess that Jesus is Lord, because if he confesses it, then he's no longer an unbeliever. Jesus, in John chapter 15 verse 26, makes the same observation concerning the job of the Holy Spirit. He says when the counselor or the comforter, the Greek word is paraclete, one who comes alongside whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. The job of the Holy Spirit is always to point to Jesus. What are the fundamental truths of the Christian faith is the Trinitarian nature of God. That is to say, God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three persons, but not three Gods, rather one God. Can't get our heads around that. One of the best ways to understand it, I always say, is to try to put the Trinity in the context of what each person of the Godhead does. And if God the Father is the one who desires and generates life so that we can become his children, then the Lord Jesus is the one who makes it possible for us to become his children by his incarnation, his life, his death, his resurrection, and his ascension on high. Jesus does the work so that sins can be dealt with and righteousness reestablished. And then it's the Holy Spirit who comes along and who applies the benefits of Christ's salvation to your life and my life. He is the one who actually interfaces with us in real time and space, and he is the one who does the work to make us the children of God. And for our purposes this morning, there are effectively three ways in which the Holy Spirit applies to your life and my life the benefit of Christ's salvation. The first is he shows us our sin and misery. Listen to how Jesus puts it, John 16 verse 8. This is from the New Living Translation, but the other translations echo this very closely. When he comes, that is the Holy Spirit, he will convict the world of its sin and of God's righteousness and of coming judgment. The Holy Spirit's job is always to begin by showing us our true condition. The reason for that is unless we understand our true condition, we will never come to faith in Christ. Because part of being fallen is that our eyes are closed, we are blind, and we tend to think we are much better than what we are, and we think that if there is a God in heaven, surely my good deeds will outweigh my bad deeds and somehow God will take me into his eternal presence. If you don't believe that, think back to the last funeral service of an unbeliever that you have attended. Isn't it true that in North American culture virtually everybody gets talked into heaven? The lack of discernment in our culture is phenomenal and I understand the complexity of funeral services and I understand the need for comforting people, but the reality of scripture is that by nature we are conceived and born in sin. Diagrammatically, as you know, I like to picture it this way, we are alienated from God, we are under Satan's power, we are selfish to the core, we live in conflict with each other, and we are subject to the law of sin and death. Let sin and death run its course in your life and in my life, in our society, and in the nations among the world. And what happens is that everything falls apart and so the Holy Spirit comes along and he begins to tug at our hearts, he begins to tug at our consciences, he begins to show us all is not well in Eden, there is a snake in the grass and he convicts us of our sin and our misery. Very important to understand that because a lot of people think the first job of the Holy Spirit is to make you feel better and yes, he wants to make us feel better, but only on the basis of truth. And so whether in a dramatic fashion he pulls the rug out from underneath us or if by gradual conviction he shows us our sin, the Holy Spirit has a way of letting us know there is more to life than what you are experiencing, you are sinful through and through, God is angry with you on account of your sin and you need to find a way of escape. And so the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost as he was poured out on the church and Peter preached the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, what did the men and women who were gathered there confess? What must we do to be saved because they were smitten to the heart? One of the reasons the church in North America is as tepid and weak as it is sometimes is because our understanding of our sin and misery is so incredibly shallow. The deeper our conviction, the greater our need for Jesus. So the Holy Spirit comes along and he convicts us of sin, that is how he points us to Jesus and then of course in the context of that, that's precisely what he does. He points us to Jesus. Because you see, to know your sin and misery and not know the antidote to sin and misery is to be worse than not know your sin and misery at all, isn't that true? I mean it's like you've got some kind of serious illness and to discover that you have a serious illness and there is nothing that can be done about it is more unsettling than not to know that you have the illness at all and to live in ignorance. I mean it'll catch up on you sooner or later, but at least you're happy until you find out. And so it is what's sin and misery. But the Holy Spirit doesn't rub our noses in our failures. Don't ever think that he takes the delight in rubbing our noses in our sin and don't ever think that he takes the delight in pulling the rug out from underneath us and to show us how difficult life can be. It's all for the purpose of pointing us towards the Lord Jesus. Scripture puts it this way, I love this verse in Acts chapter 4 verse 12, Peter is preaching after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, salvation is found in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. It's only the name of Jesus. So the Holy Spirit will always point us to Jesus and the reason that's so important is human nature being what it is, it's hard enough for us to be convicted about our sin and misery, but once we know our sin and we experience the miseries of life, what do we do? We try to find solutions. Well we try to find solutions to our problems every which way apart from God through faith in Jesus. And so I have financial problems and I try everything that I can to solve those problems. I have an illness and I run everywhere under the sun in order to try to find a cure. Prayer may well be one of the last resources of the natural man. Even the nations of the world know that there is trouble in paradise, but that doesn't mean they turn to the God of creation or the Jesus of our redemption, but instead they keep hoping that some new leader or some new political system or some fancy scientific discovery is going to break the power of the curse and bring redemption to the world. Now understand, God uses many wonderful things to make our lives easier, but at the end of the day, the only name that can bring salvation is the name of Jesus. And so when the Holy Spirit is at work in your life or the Holy Spirit is at work in the lives of your children or the Holy Spirit is at work in the lives of your neighbors, not only will He let them experience the pain of life. They will also come along and open their eyes to the reality of Jesus. Means somewhere along the line, people have to hear the message. Means somewhere along the line, the Holy Spirit has to open hearts to the message so that Jesus is no longer just a cuss word or an historical figure who lived a long time ago. The Holy Spirit has to come along and He has to make Jesus real. And in making Him real, the Holy Spirit then produces faith so that by faith I can repent of my sin, put my trust in Jesus, and experience the power of His salvation. One book that I've just finished reading is a book by Nick Ripken, which is a pseudo name called The Insanity of God, a true story of faith resurrected. It's really a description of how God keeps faith alive in the persecuted church and how miraculously and powerfully the Spirit of God is at work in the most painfully imaginable places in the world, the most hostile places in order to bring people to faith. And he tells the story of one man who lives in one of the most intensely Muslim countries in the world. He doesn't identify what the nation is, 24 million people who live there, only three known Christian believers, if you can believe that. And he tells the story of this one man whose discovery of sin and misery had become overwhelming. He said, "Five years ago, my life was in ruins. My wife and I were always fighting, I was ready to divorce the woman. My children were disrespectful, my animals were not growing or multiplying, my crops were dying in the fields." And he says, "So I went to the imam of the nearest mosque for help." The imam, who also functioned as the local spiritualist, told him, "Okay son, here is what you need to do. Go buy a white chicken, bring it to me, and I will sacrifice it on your behalf. Then go back to your village to meditate and fast for three days and three nights, and on the third day you will receive the answer to all the problems that you are having with your wife, your children, your animals, and your crops. Don't you wish it was that easy?" Well he did exactly as he was told. He went back to his village, he meditated, he fasted, and he waited. And then as he explained, "I will never forget, on that third night, a voice without a body came to me after midnight. That voice said, 'Find Jesus, find the gospel.'" Now remember, this guy had never heard of Jesus, didn't know who he was, didn't know what the gospel was, had never seen a Bible, but he fully intended to obey because the voice continued, "Get out of bed," this is at 12 midnight, "go over the mountain, walk down the coast to such-and-such a city where he had never been. When you get to that city at daybreak, you will see two men. When you see those men, ask them where such-and-such a street is, they will show you the way. Walk up and down that street and look for this number. When you find the number, knock on the door, and when the door opens, tell the person why you have come." So that's what he did. And sure enough, finds the number, knocks on the door, an older gentleman opens the door and says, "Can I help you?" The younger man declared, "I have come to find Jesus. I have come to find the gospel." In a flash, the old man's hand shot out from the darkened doorway. He grabbed him by the shirt, dragged him into the apartment, slammed the door behind him. And as the man released his grip, he explained, "You Muslims must think I am a fool to fall for a trap as transparent as this." The very startled and confused traveler replied, "I don't know if you're a fool or not, sir. I just met you, but here is why I have come." And he told the older man the story of how he had come to be there that day. The Holy Spirit of the living God had led this young Muslim man through his dream and vision and his obedience to the home of one of the three believers in his 24 million people group. Stunned, the older man explained the gospel to this young Muslim man, led him to Christ, and for the next two weeks, the old man discipled this new convert in the faith. All the while, his wife had no idea where he was. So she was more than a little bit surprised when he came back home. We read stories like that. We say to ourselves, "Why doesn't that happen to me or why don't we hear more of that in our world?" And the answer, I think, is pretty clear. Where sin abounds, grace abounds more. And the greater the stronghold of Satan, the more drastic has to be the activity of God in order to bring us from slavery into freedom. That is the job of the Holy Spirit. He points to Jesus by showing us our sin and misery. He points to Jesus by creating faith in us that there is salvation in no other name. And then thirdly, he comes to live within our hearts. Listen to John 14, 16, and 17, the words of Jesus, "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another counselor to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him, for you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you." There you have the genius of Christianity. The genius of Christianity is that God doesn't just control our lives from out there. He doesn't just give us the law. He doesn't even just give us the prophets who interpret the law and who tell us how to live, no, he comes to live within our hearts. And by the power of his presence within us, he changes us from the inside out. He is at work in us, says scripture, both to will and to work according to his good pleasure. Ezekiel the prophet, years before this actually happened, foresaw that day when he said, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws." The gift of Pentecost is the gift of the Holy Spirit who has come to live within our hearts. I think we'll stop there, pick it up Lord willing next week as we consider how the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to empower us for service and in preparation for that, do me a favor and read the next couple of verses that we're going to be looking at. There are different kinds of gifts, but the same spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. That is 1 Corinthians chapter 12, the verses 4, 5 and 6. Take a close look at that and ask yourself the question, what really is the point of what God is trying to say to us in that scripture in terms of what it is to live the Christian life? In the meantime, let me end with this. We can talk about the Holy Spirit from now until whenever. There is no substitute for the experience of the Holy Spirit in your life. And it's been my experience that the degree to which we experience the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit is very much related to our surrender to Jesus. So on this Pentecost Sunday morning, would you ask yourself these questions? Would you ask yourself the question, have I ever given my life to Jesus? That is to say, have I repented of my sin? Have I understood my sin and misery? Have I embraced Jesus as the only one who can save me? Then secondly ask yourself the question, are there things in my life that I'm holding onto that I know God wants me to give up? I'm not asking if you can give them up. I'm not asking if it is a struggle or if even you want to give them up, but engage God on that issue and say, "Lord, help me to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus." And then just ask Him to give you grace not only to yield that, but to fill you with His Holy Spirit and to change your life from the inside out. We'll talk more about that Lord willing next week, but I can tell you that when He touches your life in power, you will never ever be quite the same again, amen? , amen? I'm not asking if you can give them up, but engage God on that issue and say, "Lord, help me to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus." I'm not asking if you can give them up, but engage God on that issue and say, "Lord, I'm not asking if you can give them up, but engage God on that issue and say, "Lord, I'm not asking if you can give them up, but engage God on that issue and say, "Lord, I'm not asking if you can give them up, but engage God on that issue and say, "Lord, I'm not asking if you can give them up, but engage God on that issue and say, "Lord, I'm not asking if you can give them up, but engage God on that issue and say, "Lord, I'm not asking if you can give them up, but engage God on that issue and say, "Lord, I'm not asking if you can give them up, but engage God on that issue and say, "Lord, I'm not asking if you can give them up, but engage God on that issue and say, "Lord, I'm not asking if you can give them up, but engage God on that issue and say, "Lord, I'm not asking if you can give them up, but engage God on that issue and say, "Lord, [PROPOSED CUT 1 START at 00:26:26.760; remove through 00:30:33.000] I'm not asking if you can give them up, but engage [CUT] God on that issue and say, "Lord, I'm not asking if you can give them up, but engage God on that issue and say, "Lord, I'm not asking if you can give them up, but engage God on that issue and say, "Lord, I'm not asking if you can give them up, but engage God on that issue and say, "Lord, I'm not asking if you can give them up, but engage God on that issue and say, "Lord, I'm not asking if you can give them up, but engage God on that issue and say, "Lord, I'm not asking if you can give them up, but engage God on that issue and say, "Lord, [BLANK_AUDIO] [CUT] [PROPOSED CUT 1 END at 00:30:33.000; resume after this marked segment]