It was Christmas day, and a woman’s teenage son had given her a Christmas gift. She was surprised because she knew he didn’t have much money to buy a gift, but she smiled and opened the brightly wrapped box. Inside the box she found two AA batteries along with a note which said “Gift Not Included.” (Reader’s Digest 1/95 p. 127)
One of the frustrations for young parents is buying Christmas gifts for their child and putting them under the tree - and THEN their child opens it on Christmas the toys don’t work! And why won’t they work??? – there’s no batteries inside. So, they go rummaging through the “drawer” looking for batteries. And if they can’t find any they have to wait until the next day because nobody’s open on Christmas. They have a gift for their child, but it has no power. It won’t work because there were no batteries to power the toy.
Now, the Bible tells us we have a GREAT GIFT from God. The gift is Jesus, and He was wrapped in swaddling clothes and was placed in a manger. We have salvation… because Jesus died and rose from the grave, and because of Jesus, we have a new life. But in order to live that new life to its fullest, we need to have HIS power in our lives. And that power comes from the Spirit.
You see, we were never intended to do this Christian thing all by ourselves, and that’s why Jesus said He would send us a HELPER. “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” John 14:16-17
You see… the Spirit of God is our HELPER. He was given to us to be kind of like our power source. The Spirit becomes the power that HELPS us to live for Jesus.
For example: Galatians 5:25 tells us that we need to WALK in the SPIRIT. We need to spend time praying to God and reading His word and hanging out with fellow Christians. And if we walk with the Spirit this way, He begins to change us. And when the Spirit changes us, we’ll begin to reflect the fruit of the Spirit. So, when we do it right - when we focus on walking with God’s Spirit - we won’t even have to think about it, we’ll just naturally become known for our love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23
You see, the presence of God’s Spirit living inside of us changes us. And that Spirit is a reflection of what Adam and Eve lost when they were kicked out of the Garden. They had WALKED with God and TALKED with God. But when they sinned… they lost that
But now - through Jesus - we’ve gotten that closeness with God BACK.
Now, this sermons series is entitled “God With Us”, and it’s based on the verse from Matthew 1:23 that says “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
And when I began working on this series – the first sermon focused on the idea that God walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the Garden. God spent quality time with them. And I believe that THAT IMAGE (that God wanted to be with Adam and Eve) was the motivation for the words of an old Gospel hymn that speaks of being in the Garden with Jesus. Sing it with me:
“I come to the Garden alone, while the dew is still on the Roses. And the voice I hear, falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses. (Verse) And He walks with me and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own. And the joy we share as we tarry there none other, has ever known.”
Now, that hymn was talking about the closeness WE can have with Jesus. And I’m convinced that imagery was borrowed from Adam and Eve’s experience. They walked with Him and they talked with Him, and THAT’S what I want to do!
But I was a bit shocked to find that there are preachers, teachers and theologians that had a problem with that idea. They didn’t believe God wanted to be around us.
On the internet I found at least 2 theologians that (rightly) pointed out that Genesis doesn’t actually SAY that Adam and Eve communed with God - that they walked and talked with Him. And therefore (those theologians boldly said) God probably didn’t do that. Those theologians spoke of a God who was THERE in the Garden, but He didn’t really want to spend any time with Adam and Eve, because essentially – God kept His distance.
Now, I love theology (theology is the teaching of the Words about GOD) and that’s what preachers and teachers in church do all the time. But I’m NOT always excited about theologians because theologians can feel they need to carve out a niche for themselves to prove they’re smarter than other people. And so they tend to come up with ways to make you question what you believe.
SO, BE CAREFUL OF THEOLOGIANS.
And then there was a short conversation I had with a fellow preacher on Facebook. He objected to my referring to God walking and talking with us. Now I’m sure he didn’t mean to come across like he did, but I felt he was portraying Jesus as a cold and distant statue standing off in a corner somewhere. A Jesus who didn’t really want to spend any time with us.
But I don’t believe that! I believe in a Jesus WHO DOES want to spend time with us. Just think about this: This kind of thinking (that those theologians/ and that preacher believed) says that “God so loved US that He gave us His only begotten Son” … but He doesn’t want to spend time with us? Seriously? Does that make any sense to you? It doesn’t make any sense to me! I’m convinced that God DOES want to spend time with US! And the ultimate proof that God desires to be with us… (to walk /talk with us) is that (when we became Christians). God placed HIMSELF inside us!
The Spirit Of God came and dwelt with-in us. Acts 2:38 tells us that we were to "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Thus, when we repent of our sins and are baptized into Christ the Holy Spirit comes and dwells within us.
Now the Spirit wasn’t meant to JUST a decoration for our lives. Jesus said the Spirit’s purpose was to be our HELPER. In other words, the Spirit was given to us to DO stuff in our lives.
So, what is the Spirit supposed to do? For one thing – the Spirit was sent to lead us. Romans 8:14 says “All who are LED by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” The Spirit leads us thru the Scriptures but also by intervening in the events of our lives. For example, in Acts 16:6, Paul had intended to go into Asia to preach BUT “(they had) been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.”
The Spirit also convicts us of our sins. John 16:8 tells us “He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” ILLUS: I have a Jeep Renegade that has an intriguing warning system that nudges my car away from the edge of the road. The system is designed to recognize the white line on the side of the road, and when I get too close to that line, the car literally pushes me back into the main road. In the same way, the Spirit’s job is to help me by pushing me back away from sin – warning me that I am too close to being in danger of sinfulness.
Roman 8:26 comforts us by saying that “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” When I pray, I don’t even have to worry if I can’t find the words to express myself. I don’t even have to speak. It’s like I have a direct line to God (via the Spirit) and God automatically understands my sorrow or joy because the Spirit intercedes for me in my prayers.
And I could go on and on about the things that the Spirit does for us, but I want to focus on this morning is THE most important thing the Spirit HELPS us with. And the most important role of the Spirit is to be the seal of our salvation.
Ephesians 1:13-14 says - “In (Jesus) you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it…”
The Spirit is our Seal and our Guarantee of our salvation. He marks us as belonging Jesus. Thus, when we stand before the throne of God at the end of time, God won’t look at your past to judge you. He’ll look FOR the Spirit who marks you as HIS. I won’t be able to get into heaven without Him.
ILLUS: I once talked to a charismatic preacher who said that folks didn’t have to the Spirit to be saved. In other words - folks could FIRST be saved and THEN receive the Spirit. And yet… that’s not what Romans 8:9 says: “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ DOES NOT BELONG to him.”
You can’t be a Christian if you don’t have God’s Spirit within you.
Now, oddly enough, even some of the greatest preachers and theologians of our day don’t understand that. Alistair Begg is a popular preacher on the internet, and he once explained his view of the salvation based on the story of the thief on the cross. Now, as you may recall, the one thief beside Jesus repented, and asked “Remember me when you come into your kingdom." To which Jesus replied: “This day you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:42-43
Begg (like many other preachers and theologians) used the thief as an example of HOW to become a Christian.
I was listening to another preacher on the internet who said that the thief received Christ by Faith… and was saved on the cross. And then that preacher continued and said: “The only thing the thief COULD do to be saved, was the only thing WE MUST do to be saved.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cfqhp4if08)
And that’s what Alister Begg believed. In Begg’s video, he said he’d seek out that thief and ask him some questions: “You’ve never been to a Bible study. You’ve never got baptized. You didn’t know a thing about church membership. AND YET… YOU MADE IT! How did you make it? On what basis are you here?
(And then Begg paused, and speaking as the thief) “The man on the middle cross said I could come.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk9wgjboed8)
Now Alister Begg was only echoing other preachers and teachers. Begg believed that the way the thief made it to heaven was an example… of how WE can make it to heaven. But, the only problem is… that’s not true. The thief did not become a Christian on the cross. He died as a saved JEW, but not as a converted Christian. In other words, its REALLY bad doctrine to say that we can become saved like the thief was.
How do I know? Well, because, to be a Christian you need to have the Holy Spirit and the thief never got THAT.
In John 7:37-39 we’re told “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’"
Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet THE SPIRIT HAD NOT BEEN GIVEN, BECAUSE JESUS WAS NOT YET GLORIFIED.”
The Spirit was not given until Jesus was glorified, and Jesus wasn’t glorified until He ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. Then (and only then) was the Spirit given, and THEN, and only then were people able to became Christians.
The first Christians were those baptized Christ at Pentecost. There were NO Christians until that happened.
CLOSE: But Begg did get something right. He closed his message by saying that the only way that we can get to go to heaven is because “The Man in the Middle Cross said we could come.” And that’s true. But Jesus said that the way you are assured of heaven was this: “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved…” Mark 16:16
