Introduction
“A king who wished to express his affection for a private soldier of his army gave him a richly jeweled cup, his own cup. The soldier, stepping forth to receive the gift, exclaimed shamefacedly, "This is too great a gift for me to receive." "It is not too great for me to give," the king replied. So Christ offers us this infinite gift of the Holy Spirit to cleanse and fill our hearts and to abide with us. Think then how much He must have cared that we receive it.”
Background
In our text we see the magician of the ancient Roman world, Simon Magus trying to purchase the Holy Spirit. He is rebuked strongly by the Apostles. In fact, this is where the phrase simony comes from in the Church, when some sort of ecclesiastical office or rite is attempted to be bought or sold.
For our purposes here, we will not spend a lot of time dealing with the history of Simon Magus, though there is a great deal of literature and what some refer to as possible folklore about this man in antiquity, even in the writings of the Church Fathers. Suffice it to say that the spirit of simony remains alive and well in the form of the so-called prosperity Gospel, which is really no Gospel at all.
Neither the Holy Spirit nor the blessing of God is available for purchase or resale. We do not give financially the Lord in order to receive a blessing. We cannot purchase the power of the Holy Spirit in any way. The Holy Spirit is the very presence of God dwelling within believers.
CIT: The Holy Spirit is not a thing or a force that can be purchased.
CIS: Life in the Spirit is the inheritance of God in Christ to every believer.
Exposition
Holy Spirit’s General Work: There is a great deal of things that could be said of the Holy Spirit. We could talk of the intricacies of the relationship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; the Trinity. We could get sidetracked with a debate over speaking in tongues and whether such gifts are for today.
We could do all of that and still leave here without any deeper understanding of what it is that the Holy Spirit does in the world and in us or how to grow in both our understanding and experience of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
That’s why I want to focus on the general Scriptural motifs with regard to the Holy Spirit. That is, let’s look broadly at what the Bible says about the Holy Spirit. Here are seven umbrella categories, under which could be found countless more.
(1) In Zechariah 4:6 we see that the Holy Spirit is the arm of the power of God. “So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.” (NIV) The real power in the universe is the arm of the Lord moving as the Holy Spirit sweeps, moves, crushes, lifts up, and empowers according to the sovereign will of God.
At times the Holy Spirit moves and crushes armies, as in the Old Testament when God gave great military victories to the people of Israel though they were a small people, usually outnumbered and often outsized.
The power of the Holy Spirit doesn’t always move in dramatic ways. It has been well said that even “A giant feels the sting of a bee.” Sometimes God moves with great precision to accomplish His will. The key for our purposes here is that whether in dramatic fashion as with the armies of Israel or as the still small voice guiding our decision, moving us this way and that way, it is the Holy Spirit, the same one that presently dwells within me and within you that is the arm of the power of Almighty God!
(2) In Matthew 12:28 it is clear that the Holy Spirit destroys demonic strongholds. Responding to the claim of the Pharisees that Jesus cast out demons by the power of Satan, Jesus says “But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (NIV84)
Twelve step and other life recovery programs have the ability to help a man or woman bound in addiction see a way out, but only the Holy Spirit has the power to crush the bondage of addiction. Professional counseling has the ability to highlight our need for change, but only the Holy Spirit transforms.
It seems fair to expect the unbelieving world to struggle in this sin-sickened, broken world, striving in the limited power of self against the overwhelming power of the enemy. The world is in the world. People who are apart from Christ are like sailors lost at sea, without hope of spiritual power in this life and salvation for the life to come.
The trouble is that most believers are just the same way. Speaking in spiritual terms, how like boys thrilled to find a small seashell along the ocean’s edge are we, blissfully unaware of the vastness of an undiscovered ocean of mystery and bounty right in front us. How like blind men are we as we wade in the ankle high waters of self-empowered living while the depths of the ocean of the Holy Spirit empowered life lies only a few feet beyond?
Friends, I have no desire to speak of you in vague terms about an indistinct mist of a Holy Ghost somewhere, out there, in some kind of mysterious spiritual fog.
The Christian life which is lived devoid of intimate knowledge of the Holy Spirit is a vacuous Christian existence! While we do well not to over spiritualize every vas that falls in our house or every ill wind that blows, what a tragedy it is that most of only know of the distant story of another who is led by the Spirit, rather than knowing His leading ourselves.
(3) In John 15:26 we see that the Holy Spirit testifies of Christ. (4) In John 16:8 we see that He convicts the world of sin. (5) Further in Romans 8:11 we see that it is the Holy Spirit that raises us to new life; that is, the new birth that comes when our spirits are reborn to new life when we place our trust in Christ by faith.
The Holy Spirit testifies of Jesus – to the world and to us! The Holy Spirit convicts of sin – to the world and to us! He raises us to new life when we are reborn by faith in Jesus Christ!
Christian, if you don’t know and have never known the intimacy of fellowship with the Holy Spirit, how can you know, I mean really know, that you are saved? How can you know when you are in grievous error and sin? How can we experience new life in Christ apart from intimacy with the Holy Spirit when it is the Holy Spirit that brings that new life and that new life is all about life in the Spirit?
I’m not implying or even suggesting that life is the Spirit, knowledge of salvation, or conviction of sin is a feeling. Never mistake the Holy Spirit’s presence for a feeling. Feelings, deep spiritual movements, moods, and sensitivities are among the ways that we learn to respond to the Holy Spirit in us.
We have often neglected to teach about the Holy Spirit in Evangelical Christian circles. Some have only defined our doctrines of the Holy Spirit by saying that we are not Pentecostals. That’s a sad reality because all Christians are in one sense Pentecostals. In Acts Chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit descended and empowered the Church.
We not interpret those events on Pentecost exactly the same as our denominationally Pentecostal brothers and sisters in Christ, but we are filled with the same Holy Spirit, empowered to the same degree; invited to the same feast.
(6) In Romans 8:26, under the inspiration of this same Holy Spirit who dwells within each one of us, the Apostle Paul says that the Spirit helps us pray.
Spiritual empowerment is the result of the Holy Spirit’s presence within us. No believer can successfully navigate the treacherous roads of this life apart from the presence of God residing, empowering, living, guiding, from within.
(7) Finally, in II Corinthians 3:6 we read that “He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (NIV84)
Commenting on this passage of Scripture, the late J. Vernon McGee of the “Through the Bible” radio broadcast says: “"Not of the letter, but of the spirit." In the Old Testament, and specifically in the Law, the letter kills; the letter of the Law actually condemns us. The Law says that you and I are guilty sinners. Those letters which were written on the tablets of stone condemned man.
The Mosaic Law never gave life. That is the contrast he is making here. The letter kills. "For the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." I have often challenged congregations to name somebody who was saved by the Law. Did you know that even Moses, the law-giver, could not be saved by the Law? Do you know why not? He was a murderer!
Also David broke the Law even though he was a man after God's own heart. Friend, you can't be saved by keeping the Law. The Law kills you; the Law condemns you.”
Last week, and throughout this sermon series really, we spoke of the different between religion and the life of Christian in Christ by faith. Religion, law, leaves us doing it on our own but the Holy Spirit, when He comes, He brings life.
Many Christians live as though they have been reading from the inversed, backward, Bible translation. In John 10:10 what is it that Jesus says? The thief comes to give, bring life, and build up; I have come that they may have death, bound in shackles of the law? No.
Jesus says that our enemy, that is “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (NIV84)
Περισσός, perissos, per-is-sos': in the sense of beyond; superabundant (in quantity) or superior (in quality); by implication excessive.
While we wade over here in the moderate waters of the shallows of “do it our self” and “in our own strength,” the Holy Spirit hovers nearby, our immediately available yet most often untapped resource for empowerment in this life.
The question for today is whether our lives will become consumed by the Holy Spirit or if we will be consumed by the world around us!
The question is, will we grow in our dependence upon our excessive God or remain comfortable in a sometimes life of faith, with a little smoke and a little heat, devoid of the consuming fire of the Holy Spirit.
Conclusion
“The Church needs at this time to prevent the godless world saying, “Where is thy God?” There is a story that seems to represent the situation in the Church truthfully, it would seem. A very busy mother went into her room one day at twilight to write a letter.
She sat at her desk absorbed in filling page after page of notepaper. After some time she heard a sigh close at hand and turning her head, she saw her little son cuddled up in an armchair. “Why, sonny, how long have you been there?” she asked. “All the time, mamma,” he said, “but you have been too busy to notice me.” Ask God how long He has been with us, and He will say, All the time; His presence undiscovered because even the Christian people have been too busy to notice the fact—busy with their own affairs, and losing sight of the presence of God.”
We have been so busy doing it in our own strength that we have left Him undiscovered in the corner of our lives. We have tried to cut corners, buying into prosperity schemes of wicked and false preachers who suggest that the power of God is for sale like some kind of forever sharp set of steak knives at a flea market.
Speaking of the Holy Spirit, in I John 2:27, we are told: “As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit – just as it has taught you, remain in him.” (NIV)
Outline
I. Holy Spirit Not For Sale.
a. Simon Magus & Other Charlatans. (Biblical Context)
b. Prosperity Preachers. (Modern Context)
II. Holy Spirit’s General Work. (TCR Bible, 1601)
a. Scriptural Motif.
i. Zechariah 4:6; the power of God.
ii. Matthew 12:28; destroys demonic strongholds.
iii. John 15:26; testifies of Christ.
iv. John 16:8; convicts the world of sin.
v. Romans 8:11; raises us to new life, the new birth.
vi. Romans 8:26; helps us pray, spiritual empowerment.
vii. II Corinthians 3:6; gives life, Spirit-filled living.
III. Holy Spirit Power.
a. Holy Spirit properly understood.
b. Holy Spirit properly engaged.
c. Holy Spirit driven life.
