Opening illustration: “What the Church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use—men of prayer, men mighty in prayer” (E.M. Bounds). The church is going in the wrong direction. It only needs the Holy Spirit, and everything will change. The greatest example is found in Acts 2 and the lives of the apostles therein.
Introduction: The Spirit of God is always the spirit of liberty; the spirit that is NOT of God is the spirit of bondage, the spirit of oppression and depression. The Spirit of God convicts vividly and tensely, but He is always the Spirit of liberty. God who made the birds never made birdcages; it is men who make birdcages, and after a while we become cramped and can do nothing but chirp and stand on one leg. When we get out into God’s great free life, we discover that that is the way God meant us to live "the glorious liberty of the children of God." (Oswald Chamber)
What role does the Holy Spirit play in our freedom?
1. He will convict us of our SIN (John 16:8)
Conviction is not CONDEMNATION. No. Rather, conviction is ILLUMINATION. Thus, when the Holy Spirit brings conviction, it is UNTO LIFE. The gospel is the GOOD NEWS unto those – and only those – who believe.
Conviction is a revelation of the Truth to a person – both about themselves and about Jesus Christ. Conviction will always carry BOTH. In fact, the real essence of conviction is that a person sees their unbelief – in the light of seeing Jesus Christ as their Savior.
If I saw only my sin it would result in condemnation – there would be no redemption in Christ to turn to. But if I saw only Christ and not my sin – there would be no repentance. And actually, it isn’t possible to see Christ but not my sin. If I think that is what I’m seeing – Christ, and not my sin – I’m deceived.
Think of conviction as meeting Jesus Christ – of actually experiencing Him. It really is that. Conviction isn’t merely a doctrine. It is the Holy Spirit revealing to me Jesus.
What does it produce? “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10)
What is the process like?
Human beings commit many SINS. We do many things that violate God’s holy law. But all of these are really the outcome of THE SIN. THE SIN is that we violate God Himself. We do this by continuing to live life on our own terms. We live independently of God. This is THE SIN. The Bible calls this, "unbelief."
Unbelief is the opposite of belief, or faith. So, it is important to first understand what God means by the term, "faith, or belief."
When we hear the word BELIEF, we tend to think of believing THINGS. To us, belief is limited to things that we consider to be true. But in the Bible, the word BELIEF means much more than that. "Belief," in the Bible means to, "have faith." And FAITH in the Bible carries more than just intellectual assent that something is true. Rather, "faith," includes a full surrender to God.
To put my faith in God through Jesus Christ means that I rest my whole self upon Him. But note that this really means unconditional surrender. Too many Christians think that faith in God means that we trust Him to do what we ask. No. Faith means that I put my whole self in His hand for HIS WILL. In short, faith means I give MYSELF to God.
The world is a sinful place, and one of the Holy Spirit’s tasks is to convict the world of its sin. No amount of preaching, pleading, or pointing of fingers will bring about the conviction of sin, unless the Holy Spirit is at work in the sinner’s heart. It is the Spirit’s job to convict. And what is the most basic sin of which the world is guilty? Jesus specifies it as unbelief.
Now notice: Adam was created one with God. That meant he was spiritually alive. But Adam sinned against God by declaring independence from God. That resulted in spiritual death. That was THE SIN. It was THE SIN OF UNBELIEF – unbelief being a refusal to surrender to God. And it resulted in DEATH. But now, through Christ, faith is surrender back to God. The result is that I am delivered from spiritual death, and once again come alive through Jesus Christ.
What we see here is that faith is NOT a force we generate. Faith is not merely a, "belief system." No. Faith is a relationship word. Faith denotes a relationship of trust, dependence, but more, a relationship of full surrender to God. Faith means I belong to God.
So now we have a better idea of what God means by FAITH and UNBELIEF. Faith is a trust, dependence, and SURRENDER to God. The result is LIFE. Unbelief is a refusal, neglect, or surrender to God – or to put it another way – unbelief is independence against God. The result is DEATH.
2. He guides us to the TRUTH (John 16:13)
The designation, “the Spirit of truth,” implies, of course, that there is such a thing as knowable, unchanging truth in the spiritual realm. The fact that the Spirit communicates this truth by speaking shows that the truth is expressed by words and sentences that can be understood. That should not need to be affirmed among evangelicals, but the spirit of postmodernism has infiltrated the church so that fewer than one out of three who claim to be born again believe that there is such a thing as absolute moral truth. Among Christian teenagers, only 6% believe in absolute moral truth!
This de-emphasis on truth has also led to a de-emphasis on doctrine. The common refrain is, “They will know that we are Christians by our love, not by our doctrinal agreement!” A shorter version is, “Doctrine divides; love unites.” So, we’re being encouraged to set aside the areas where we disagree with other Christians and come together around the things that unite us. Many even apply this to justification by faith alone and other vital truths that divide Roman Catholics and Protestants.
A major portion of the New Testament is written to warn us about false teaching. For example, Paul warned about the antichrist, who will come (2 Thess. 2:10-12) “with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason, God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in wickedness.” Not believing the truth of the gospel results in judgment!
When Jesus says that the Spirit will reveal to the apostles “what is to come,” He probably includes prophetic teaching. But in this context, it mainly refers, as D. A. Carson explains (The Gospel According to John [Apollos/Eerdmans], p. 540, italics his), “to all that transpires in consequence of the pivotal revelation bound up with Jesus’ person, ministry, death, resurrection and exaltation.”
The Holy Spirit has not given new, authoritative revelation since the completion of the canon of Scripture. As Jesus affirmed (John 17:17), God’s Word is the truth. Psalm 119:160 puts it, “The sum of Your word is truth.” That truth is sufficient for life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3). We need to ask the Holy Spirit to give us understanding and illumination as we study the Scriptures, but He is not giving new revelation on a par with that given to the apostles and prophets as contained in the Bible.
Illustration: Also, the Spirit does not reveal anything to anyone contrary to Scripture. For example, I’ve had a young woman tell me that the Lord told them that they could marry an unbeliever. But that’s contrary to His written Word (2 Cor. 6:14), and so it was not the Holy Spirit who revealed that to them. The Holy Spirit guides us in all the truth, which is now contained in the written Word of God.
3. He helps us to understand the SCRIPTURES (1 Corinthians 2:10-14)
What is Scripture? Scripture is normal, logical communication. It is abnormal only in its revelatory nature, not in the manner it uses human language to communicate actual thoughts. Therefore, it is possible for the man without God’s Spirit (the unbeliever) to mentally grasp the meaning of Scripture, at least in terms of its logical content. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
This explains why an unbeliever can write a perceptive biblical commentary. Likewise, Mark Twain, an avid unbeliever, said, “It is not those passages of Scripture I do not understand that bother me, but those that I do understand.”
Still, the man without God’s Spirit cannot understand God’s Word in the fullest sense, for he does not and cannot have a real appreciation of the spiritual implications of biblical truth, especially in relation to himself. He may grasp the thoughts, but he misses the spirit, the life-changing purpose behind the thoughts. In that sense he comprehends the raw concepts, but he does not truly “see.” Hence, the man without the Spirit of God cannot truly understand (fully grasp or appreciate) the things of God.
Many people have adopted a view where they are waiting for the Holy Spirit to speak, either verbally, in a vision, or through an “inner light.” They read books by people who confidently say they are speaking on God’s behalf.
Emboldened, the reader may eagerly await, create, or fabricate a revelation from God. The desire to hear the Spirit speak is admirable. But the ironic truth is that the Spirit has already spoken. He has spoken in His Word.
If I expect direct revelation to me, who needs a Bible? I can simply ask God to speak, while I fail to study and absorb the vehicle through which He already has spoken. This shortcut or circumvention of direct revelation might be exciting, but it is a lazy man’s approach, and a dangerous one. If I would listen to the voice of the Spirit, I should “put my ear” to the Word of God. Why wait for the Spirit to speak when I have in my hands what He has already spoken?
The distance between me and God’s revelation is the distance between me and my Bible. Don’t misunderstand. I know that the Holy Spirit leads me and illuminates me every day. The bottom line is that the Holy Spirit will never give new revelations that are contradictory or veering away from God’s truth. And when you know the truth, it shall set you to have freedom in Christ.
Application: The absence of the Holy Spirit is the presence of the demonic spirit in our lives. Result: No Freedom!
The absence of the Holy Spirit comes with a heavy cost but the presence of HIM will bring about FREEDOM in our lives through:
o Conviction of our SIN.
o Guide us to the TRUTH.
o Assist us to understand His SCRIPTURES.
Do you have the presence of the Holy Spirit? The test will be the FREEDOM that you enjoy in your life through Him.
