The Holy Spirit at Work in Our World Today
John 16:7-11 (Plus multiple Scriptures)
Series: God’s Spirit at Work in Our World
Sermon by: Rick Crandall
(Note: This sermon was originally preached at McClendon Baptist Church on April 19, 2000. The version below was updated for a recent lesson.)
*Peter Marshall was one of the greatest preachers of the 20th century, and one of the great things about him was his gift to make people aware of the presence of Jesus Christ.
*One of Dr. Marshall’s best-known sermons was called “The King Is in the Audience.” He preached it every year, and he would say, “The King is in the audience, walking these aisles or sitting beside you. You may whisper your own prayer to the King now.” Heart-searching silence would follow. One woman said, “We seemed actually to feel Christ beside us, -- to hear the rustling of His robes.” (1)
*We should often feel Christ’s presence, because by His Spirit He is here. The Holy Spirit is here right now just as surely as we are here, so we are trying to get to know Him better.
*The wonderful truth is that God’s Spirit has always been at work in His world. We have already looked at the work of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament and in the life of Jesus Christ. From Christ’s conception to His resurrection and every step along the way, the Holy Spirit was there for Jesus. And today He is here for you.
*God’s Word shows us at least 15 ways that the Holy Spirit is at work in our world today. Let’s focus on a few of those ways.
(The complete list of 15 is posted at the end of this sermon.)
1. First we see that the Holy Spirit gives conviction.
*Jesus talked about the conviction of the Holy Spirit in John 16:7-11. Here the Lord called His Spirit by a name that means “Helper,” “Comforter” or “Counselor,” and Jesus said to His disciples:
7. Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
8. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
9. of sin, because they do not believe in Me;
10. of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more;
11. of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
*The Holy Spirit is still in the world today, seeking to convict people of their own sins and of the coming judgment. He shows us the seriousness of our sins.
*But the most important work of the Spirit in the world today is to shine the light on Jesus Christ. It’s not enough to be convicted of our sins. We must also know God’s desire and His design to save us from our sins. So the Holy Spirit convicts us of the incomparable righteousness of Jesus Christ.
*The Spirit convinces us that the Lord’s perfect righteousness made Him the one and only perfect sacrifice for our sins. The Holy Spirit shows us the salvation we can have through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And the Spirit convinces us that the Lord’s righteousness becomes our righteousness, when we place our faith in Jesus.
*The Lord summed up this crucial work of His Spirit in John 16:14 where Jesus said, “He (the Holy Spirit) will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” The Holy Spirit is at work in the world today, seeking to convict people of their sins, Christ’s righteousness and the coming judgment. He gives conviction.
2. And when we respond to the Holy Spirit’s conviction, He gives us regeneration.
*The Holy Spirit makes us part of the family of God. Think for a moment about how you become part of a family. Basically, there are only 3 ways: marriage, birth and adoption. God uses a spiritual version of all three to help us become a part of His family. For example, Jesus is called the Bridegroom, and the church is the Bride of Christ.
*And we are spiritually born into God’s family through the Spirit’s work of regeneration. Jesus talked about this new birth in John 3:5-7. There the Lord told Nicodemus:
5. “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
*When we trust in Jesus Christ, we receive God’s kind of eternal life through a new, spiritual birth. This is the miraculous gift called regeneration. It is absolutely essential for salvation, and it is always the work of God’s Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul affirmed this truth in Titus 3:4-7, where he said:
4. When the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
5. not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
6. whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7. that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
*The Holy Spirit gives regeneration.
3. But He also gives spiritual adoption.
*The Holy Spirit adopts believers into the family of God. Listen to what Jesus said about His Spirit in John 14:15-18. There the Lord spoke to His followers and said:
15. "If you love Me, keep My commandments.
16. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—
17. the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
18. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
*In verse 18 of the KJV Jesus told His followers, “I will not leave you comfortless.” That word “comfortless” is the word picture of an orphan left with no one to give care and comfort. In fact, the original word is “orphanos,” where we get our word “orphan.”
*This verse gives absolute assurance that Jesus will never abandon those who trust in Him. When we receive Christ, He comes to us through His Spirit and adopts us into the Family of God. Paul echoed this great truth in Rom 8:14-16 where he said:
14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
15. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."
16. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
*I have heard adoptive parents talk about the boundless joy they had on the day their dream of adoption came true. But God has infinitely greater joy when He adopts us into His family. And when we trust in Christ, God adopts us into His family through the work of His Holy Spirit. So God can say, “I will not leave you comfortless. I will not abandon you as orphans.”
*The Holy Spirit helps put us in the family of God. He gives adoption.
4. And He gives us spiritual revitalization.
*After giving the new spiritual birth to believers, the Holy Spirit gives us times of refreshing and spiritual renewal. Paul mentioned this renewing in Titus 3:5-6, where he said that Christian salvation is:
5. not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
6. whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
*Christian: I guarantee you that there will be times when you will need spiritual renewal. Maxie Dunnam tells about a good kid who was not usually ugly or mean. But one day he got in trouble for pulling a little girl’s hair.
*Mom asked him, “Son, why did you do it? That’s just not like you.”
-He replied, “Mama, I just got tired of being good all the time.” (2)
*Sometimes we tend to get tired in the Christian life. That’s why in Gal 6:9 Paul warned: “Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”
*God knows that we tend to grow tired. The fire starts to grow cold.
-Maybe we are too busy with other things.
-Maybe we are neglecting the Word of God and prayer.
-We may be sick, discouraged or under a lot of stress.
-Someone may have let us down or hurt us badly.
-Maybe we let someone else down, and we are worn out with guilt.
*There are many reasons why we will need renewal. God knows that, and by His Holy Spirit, He is ready to give us the renewal we need. The Holy Spirit gives us spiritual revitalization.
5. And He gives us sanctification.
*In 1 Corin 6, the Apostle Paul listed some common and very ugly sins. Then in vs. 11, Paul tells believers: “Such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”
*The Holy Spirit gives sanctification to Christians. But what is sanctification? -- It is simply us being made holy by God. Those words are related in the original language. Anytime you see the words “holy” or “saint,” you are in the area of sanctification.
*And sanctification is something that you have got to have, because God’s holy standard is perfection. That’s why in 1 Peter 1:16, God says: “Be holy, for I am holy.”
*Think about God’s holiness. Bruce Goettsche explained: “Of all the attributes of God, holiness is the one that seems to take center stage. In the Hebrew language the way you emphasized a word was to repeat it.
*For example if you said a rock was big it would mean one thing. If you said the rock was big, big, you would mean it was a really big stone. But if it was big, big, big, it would mean that it was a gigantic boulder.
*In Isaiah 6 and in Revelation 4 the angels declare that God is "holy, holy, holy". This is the only attribute of God that is emphasized in this way. God is never called "love, love, love," or "mercy, mercy, mercy". But He is called “holy, holy, holy.” -- And He tells us to be holy. (3)
*Without Jesus we could never measure up to God’s absolute holiness. But in 2 Thess 2:13-14, Paul tells believers:
13. We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth,
14. to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
*Paul says that Christians are sanctified by the Holy Spirit. This sanctification is in part a brand new position in life. When we receive Christ as our Lord and Savior, God spiritually puts us in Jesus. Right in that moment, we stand before the Lord holy and righteous, because the Father sees us in Jesus.
*That’s why 1 Corin 1:30 tells believers: “You are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”
*Sanctification then is a new position in life. -- But it is also a life-long process of God being at work in my life. So 2 Corin 3:18 tells Christians: “We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
*And in 1 Thess 5:23-24, Paul prayed this prayer for those Christians: “May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.”
*God will do it! -- And how? -- Through the work of His Holy Spirit in our lives. The Holy Spirit gives us sanctification.
6. And He makes us His habitation.
*In John 14:23, Jesus said: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” The last thing Jesus said in Matthew’s Gospel was: “I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”
*Christian: Jesus Christ assures you that by His Holy Spirit, the Lord will be with you in every situation in life. He will even be with you when things seem hopeless.
*Have you ever been in a situation that looked hopeless? Daniel Cave certainly has. Six years ago, Daniel was on his very first skydiving jump in Washington State. -- On the way down, his parachute failed to open.
*Daniel didn’t fall 35 feet or 350 feet. -- He fell 3,500 feet to the ground! That’s almost three quarters of a mile, but Daniel miraculously survived!
*While he was still in the hospital, Daniel was interviewed by Matt Lauer from the Today Show. And Daniel said that he experienced extraordinary comfort as he prayed on the way down.
*Daniel told Matt Lauer about his prayer this way: “I said, ‘OK, well, I trust you. I believe in you. And if there's any way, I'd love to see my family again. -- So help me out here.’”
*Then Daniel said: “I just felt – I got to say, I just felt like the biggest hug in the world and just this warm embrace. It was the most amazing thing ever. And at that point, I thought, either way, this is going to turn out good, soooo... -- And here I am. I don't know how.”
*Daniel came away with only a broken leg, a broken jaw and some internal injuries. He said, “I can't explain why I'm not just mush.” (Daniel also said that his first skydive was his last skydive.) (4)
*But listen again to how he felt God’s presence on the way down. Daniel said: “I just felt like the biggest hug in the world and just this warm embrace. It was the most amazing thing ever.”
*God was with Daniel. And if you have trusted in the Lord, then no matter what you go through, His Holy Spirit will be right there with you.
-Whatever you go through,
-Wherever you are,
-Whatever task God calls you to undertake,
-Whatever trial you have to endure,
-Whatever stumble you make,
-Whatever delights you enjoy or heartbreaks you suffer -- the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ will be right there with you.
*This is the work of God’s Spirit in our world.
-Let’s pray.
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*List of 15 ways that the Holy Spirit is at work in our world today:
1. Conviction (John 16:7-11)
2. Regeneration (John 3:3-8 & Titus 3:4-7)
3. Adoption (John 14:15-18 & Titus 3:4-7)
4. Revitalization (Titus 3:5-6)
5. Sanctification (1 Cor 6:11; 2 Thess 2:13-14; 2 Cor 3:18; 1 Thess 5:23-24)
6. Habitation (John 14:23; Matt 28:20)
7. Teaching (John 14:26)
-His teaching is consistent with Scripture (1 Corin 2:12-16)
-His teaching is a continuation of the Savior’s work (Acts 1:1-5; Acts 10:9-20)
-What did the Holy Spirit teach Peter?
8. Guidance (John 16:12-13; Acts 16:6-7)
9. Empowerment (Acts 1:8; Luke 24:49)
10. Filling (Eph 5:18-21)
-This is a matter of awareness of the Spirit and control by the Spirit of God.
-How do we know we are filled with the Holy Spirit? -- According to Eph 5, the evidence is a song in our hearts, plus gratitude and humility
11. Sealing (2 Cor 1:22; Eph 1:13-14; Eph 4:30)
12. Consolation - comfort (John 14:15-18)
13. Prayer Assistance (Rom 8:26)
14. Gifts (Rom 12:3-8; 1 Corin 12:1-11; Eph 4: 7-16)
15. Fruit (Gal 5:22-23; Eph 5:8-10)
END NOTES:
1. Original source unknown
2. ChristianGlobe.com sermon “Why Being a Christian Has Worn You Down - v1” by Maxie Dunnam - 1 John 4:7-21
3. “The Holiness of God” by Bruce Goettsche - Isaiah 6:1-8 - 6/25/2000
4. “Skydiver's desperate prayer answered - Felt 'warm embrace' as he survived spiraling plunge to Earth” - Posted: August 16, 2005 - 5:00 p.m. Eastern - WorldNetDaily.com
