Basic Training: The Holy Spirit is Our Guide
JOHN 14:16-18, 25-27; I CORINTHIANS 6:19-20
INTRODUCTION: Man on the Street video: “What is filled with the spirit?”
There were actually some pretty good answers to that question in those interviews but most of the people asked, either didn’t have any idea or thought being filled with the spirit had something to do with your personality or was something you drank.
That there was confusion is not surprising. Admittedly this is kind of a mystical subject. There are some things we talk about in the Church that are very logical and tangible but this subject is kind of mysterious and hard to understand. That’s why I think it is crucial that we understand the importance of the Holy Spirit.
Recently I heard an amazing story of human strength. Four soldiers in Afghanistan were riding in a jeep when suddenly they were ambushed. They were on a narrow mountain road and the only way out was to go in the opposite direction, but there wasn’t room to turn the jeep around without going over the side. Terrified, the four jumped out, each grabbed a corner of the jeep, physically lifted it up, turned the vehicle 180o and raced to safety. When they got back to their base they bragged about what they had done to their buddies but nobody believed them. So they said, "Well, come outside and we’ll show you we can do it." But when they tried to do it a second time they could not lift the jeep one inch off the ground. What they were able to do when they were terrified and the adrenalin was coursing through them, they could not do under normal circumstances. Well, the purpose of this message this morning is to teach or remind you that God has promised something that can empower you to do more than you think is possible. You see, we have a tendency to focus on the negative, "I can’t change my habits," "I can’t cope with this problem," "I can’t overcome these difficulties." But Phil. 4:13 says, "I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me.”(GW) So, let’s look at God’s Word and see that if you are in Christ, you have an inner, spiritual resource that enables you to do more than you think imaginable.
I. IDENTIFICATION: WHO IS THE HOLY SPIRIT?:
Let’s begin by identifying who, or what the Holy Spirit is. Maybe it’s easier to begin by explaining what the Bible says the Holy Spirit is NOT.
1) The Holy Spirit is not just an emotion. Sometimes, if a church service is particularly lively or moving I’ll hear someone say, "This Spirit was sure in this place today." And I think I understand what they mean but what does that say if the service is boring or doesn’t stir the emotions? And if it is something supernatural doing that shouldn’t everyone be so moved? I’m reminded of the woman who came out of church one Sunday with her 14 year old boy and said to the preacher: “Pastor, that was a great message. I’m overflowing with the words you gave. I’m just so filled with God’s love because of what you said, just filled to the brim.” The Pastor looked at the teen and said, “What’d you think son?” and he said, “Yeah, I got my belly full too!” You see passages like the one we see from 1 Cor. 6 tells us that the Holy Spirit dwells within us. So, He is always in any place where Christians are whether it is an emotional experience or not. Now, don’t misunderstand, the Holy Spirit can certainly stir the emotions. Gal.5:22 lists the fruits of the Spirit and many of them we would identify with our emotions: joy- love-peace- self-control, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that they are the Holy Spirit, Himself. The Holy Spirit is not simply an emotion and ...
2) The Holy Spirit is not just an influence. Some think that the Holy Spirit is simply our conscience. If you’ve ever seen Pinnochio you probably remember Jiminey Cricket singing, "Let your conscience be your guide." Once again though that confuses function with identity. The Holy Spirit, as we shall see in a moment, certainly convicts us through our conscience but He is not simply an influence.
So, what is the Holy Spirit? Well, the Bible makes it very clear that the Holy Spirit is not a what but a who. The Holy Spirit is: (1) a person. God’s Word says He does what a person does- In Jn. 14:26 it says He teaches, He reminds. In John 15 Jesus says, the Holy Spirit testifies about Him, Acts 16 tells us that he leads and forbids. The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit has the characteristics of a person too- Rom. 8:27 -the Spirit has a mind, Rom. 15:30- the Spirit loves, Eph.6:30 - the Spirit can be grieved, Acts 7:51 - He can be resisted. Not only does He do what a person does and have the characteristics of a person but each time the Bible describes the Holy Spirit it uses a masculine pronoun. It is never neuter as if He was a thing. A good example of this is in Jn 14:17that we have printed for you. Underline the times it refers to the Holy Spirit as a person. "He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world at large cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you do, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.”(NLT) Five times within that one verse the Spirit is referred as a "He"or a "Him."
But He is more than just a person He is (2) a divine person. The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit has Deity like that of God and Jesus Christ. Listen to the attributes that the Bible give Him: He is eternal (Heb.9:14); He knows what God knows (1 Cor. 2:10-11) Psalms 139 tells us that the Holy Spirit is omnipresent, everywhere. We are even baptized into His name- Matthew 28:19 says we are to make disciples and baptize them into "...the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."(NIV) So, the Spirit is a Divine Person. In fact, notice in our text in Jn 14:16 that Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit as being sent by the Father (God).. "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor." Then in vs:17b Jesus says: "...he lives with you now and later will be in you." But then Jesus also says in vs:18-"No, I will not abandon you as orphans - I will come to you." Now, wait- "How can the Holy Spirit be from God and live in the disciples but also be Jesus?" Jesus does say, "I will come to you." Well, this is what is commonly referred to as the Trinity: No, not that Trinity! (Pic of Matrix’s Trinity) This Trinity: God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches they are somehow One and yet three. How can that be? Well, I’d ask you to listen carefully because I’ve got a 3- word answer that may clear this up. "It beats me!" I’m not sure exactly how it all fits together. I like what the late Roger Chambers, used to say. He said: “Shortly after getting to heaven I’ll have a flat forehead.” “A flat forehead? someone would ask. Roger would say, “Yeah, because when I get to heaven I will think about all the things here I didn’t understand and once there everything will make sense and I’ll walk around going: ‘Now I understand!’" (hit forehead) There are some things that we will only understand after we go from this life to the next. Some things we must accept by faith. I think this is one of them. But the Bible is very clear that the Holy Spirit is a divine person who dwells within every Christian.
II. FUNCTION: WHAT DOES THE HOLY SPIRIT DO?
What is His function? Well, let’s look at that in two parts. 1) His primary function is to bring glory to Jesus. John 16:12-14- “I have a lot more to tell you, but that would be too much for you now. When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into the full truth. He won’t speak on his own. He will speak what he hears and will tell you about things to come. He will give me glory, because he will tell you what I say." (GW) In John 15:26 Jesus says when the Spirit comes "He will testify about me." In our text (14:26) He says the Spirit is sent, "as my representative." The Holy Spirit does not replace Jesus and certainly does not displace Him. He comes and represents Jesus’ interests. The Spirit doesn’t bring a new message, He simply reminds and clarifies the message that Jesus brought. The Spirit’s primary task is to glorify Christ! He is not interested in establishing Himself, but in promoting Jesus. You see we shouldn’t overemphasize the Spirit or focus on the Spirit as an end in Himself. Those who give more emphasis in their teaching or faith to the Holy Spirit than Jesus are missing the Spirit’s most fundamental and primary work: the glorification of Jesus Christ. That’s why it follows, that if the Spirit lives within us, our main purpose is also to glorify Jesus in all we do. The Holy Spirit lives within us to help us do just that. But while the Holy Spirit’s primary work is to bring glory to Jesus, He also has functions in every individual Christian. Let’s survey Scripture and list 6 things that the Holy Spirit promises to do for us.
1) He convicts us of sin. John 16:7-8 reads, "He (Holy Spirit) will come to convict the world of sin, to show the world what has God’s approval, and to convince the world that God judges it. He will convict the world of sin...” (GW) Wayne Smith, a preacher for many years in Lexington, Ky, whose church has multiple morning services, tells about a college girl who came to the early service and heard the sermon. She said, "I heard that morning about how we need to humble ourselves before God and respond to Him in faith, confessing His name and be baptized and I wanted to go forward in the worst way. But something inside me kept whispering, ‘No, you need to wait awhile, you need to learn some more,’ so I didn’t go forward. All the way home that kept gnawing on me, convicting me, so I went for a drive and came back to the next service. I sat through the same sermon again and when it was over I came forward and was baptized. I’m so glad I did." That’s a good example of the Holy Spirit working through the conscience to convict. He does that before you become a Christian & continues to work that way after you surrender to Him, convicting showing us what has God’s approval.
2) The Holy Spirit enhances our personality. Gal.5:22- "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." (NIV) When we exhibit rudeness, selfishness, anger, impatience -we’re out of control! Out of the control of the Holy Spirit. Being a Christian is not just coming to Church and singing songs, praying and listening. Listen, Jesus wants to be Lord not only of your position in Christ but also of your disposition in Christ.
3) The Holy Spirit guides us in our daily lives. In Acts 16 it is clear that Paul was forbidden by the Holy Spirit to go into Asia and was guided instead to Macedonia. In John 14:26 Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will "teach and remind." The Holy Spirit today helps us to apply the Bible to our personal lives and guides us in God’s will.
I look back over my life and I can see several decisions that I believe were made with the help of the Holy Spirit’s guidance, but two stand out. My H.S. days were spent dating one girl. As we went to separate colleges, she to UF and me to ACC, we talked seriously about marriage. But Cathy was not a committed Christian and during that freshman year in Christian College I realized that we couldn’t get married under those circumstances. Now, I could of said, "Who knows, maybe she’ll come around." -OR- "I’m sure that she’ll get serious about her faith after we’re married." But 1 Cor. 6:14 says, "Don’t be teamed with those who do not love the Lord..”(LB) So, after some long talks that summer I broke up with her for good, hard decision. I went back to ACC, discouraged, and guess who was in that years freshmen class? Deb. But all did not go well. We dated for a couple of years, we were on and off and the summer before my senior year we broke up and she went home to Boca and I stayed in Atlanta. I made it through most of the summer, thinking of her but not calling. So the Lord spoke to her and said, "Beg him to call you, beg him to marry you.." That’s not true. In fact, it just so happened I was without a date for a banquet our church was having and the minister of the Church, Fred Kelly said, "Tim, you’re a smart guy but when it comes to relationships, you may be the most thick headed, person I know. The girl you need to ask to this banquet is in Boca, you ought to just fly her up here to the banquet and once she’s her ask her to marry you." It was like a light came on. I can remember thinking, “Wow! All of a sudden I don’t want to do anything else!” Well, I called, she came, I asked, she said yes and our three kids have Fred Kelly to thank. Actually, I believe that the Holy Spirit worked through Fred to nudge me to realize that I was going to miss out on the best earthly thing that has ever happened to me.
And then, looking back, I think I was guided by the Holy Spirit to re-enter the ministry after 12 years in law enforcement. I had finally gained enough seniority to have weekends off. It was at that time that a small church in Ft. Lauderdale called me and asked me if I would preach for them, for just a couple of months while they looked for a minster. But they couldn’t find one in a couple of months and I ended up preaching for them for a year. A man who one day came off the street and heard a sermon gave his life to Christ. Jay told me months later that it was God speaking through that sermon that convicted him and helped him turn his life around. He couldn’t believe I was just a sub and as he said, “You’re not doing right by not preachin.” I believe the Holy Spirit used that extra time and those people to nudge me and say, “It’s time, I want you back in the pulpit.” It is incredible the little decisions that you make that effect you for a lifetime. Now, I can’t tell you exactly when the Holy Spirit will nudge you through someone else or circumstances. I think those things are maybe best seen as you look back. I don’t think every decision is Holy Spirit inspired. We had a girl in college that said the Holy Spirit told her what to wear every morning. If that’s true the Holy Spirit and I have completely different tastes in clothes. I don’t have all the answers to the timing of His guidance but the Bible teaches that He will guide you, so be open and sensitive to His leading.
4) He intercedes for us in prayer. Romans 8:26-27- "And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don’t even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.” (NLT) The Holy Spirit is our prayer partner. How wonderful God is to provide such matchless assistance in prayer.
5) The Holy Spirit comforts us. Jesus in John 14 calls the Spirit- "The Counselor." Counselor is the Greek work “parakleet” which means “to come along side.” I heard James Dobson the other day talking about his time in the hospital after his heart attack several years ago. One day he was so lonely that he asked God to send Him someone. When he got back from some tests there in his room sat a preacher that had come a long way to see him. Dobson asked "What brings you all this way today?" And he said, "I was praying this morning and I just felt strongly that you might be lonely, so I came." The Holy Spirit guided one and in doing so brought comfort to the other.
6) The Holy Spirit will one day raise us from the dead! "And if the Spirit of God, who raised up Jesus from the dead, lives in you, he will make your dying bodies live again after you die." (Rom.8:11 -LB)
Now, just think of all the things the Holy Spirit does for us. He convicts us of sin, He enhances our personality, He guides us in God’s Will, He intercedes for us in prayer, He comforts us in our trouble, He raises us from the dead and more. So, it is important to understand...
III. PARTICIPATION: HOW CAN WE BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT?
First, let’s understand what the phrase "filled with the Spirit" means. Paul, in Ephesians 5:17-18 says, "So do not be foolish but learn what the Lord wants you to do. Do not be drunk with wine, which will ruin you, but be filled with the Spirit.” (NCV)
The comparison here between wine and the Spirit helps explain the phrase. If we talk about someone who is filled with liquor we mean that he’s lost control and the liquor is controlling his actions. If we talk about someone being filled with love we’re talking about someone whose actions are dominated by that love. And when the Bible talks about being filled with the Spirit it means that we are to be dominated by the Spirit. We allow Him to control us. So, how can we be sure we are "filled," controlled by the Spirit? Several things we need to do. I want you to see 3:
1) Comply with God’s conditions to receive it. The Bible teaches that every person that submits to Christ will receive the Holy Spirit at their conversion. Gal. 3:2-3- Paul says, "Tell me this one thing: How did you receive the Holy Spirit? Did you receive the Spirit by following the law? No, you received the Spirit because you heard the Good News and placed your trust in Christ. You began your life in Christ by the Spirit."(NCV) The Holy Spirit came at the beginning of their relationship to Christ. So, the first step is to comply with God’s conditions, that is, place your trust in Jesus, to receive the promise of the Holy Spirit as described in God’s Word. And once you have done that don’t doubt God’s promise.
2) We need to saturate our minds with Scripture. Ephesians 6:17 says that "take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."(NLT) Maybe the most powerful way the Holy Spirit works is through the Word. When we read, study and memorize the Scripture we allow the Spirit to fill our life in a very meaningful & special way. Col.3:16- "Let the Word of Christ - the Message - have the run of the house, let it enrich your lives and make you wise.”(MSG)
3) You need to empty yourself of any known sin. If you want a drink but you have an unclean vessel your not going to get drinkable water when you try to fill it. You’re going to get dirt, hair, lint and any other debris that’s in there. And before you can be completely filled with the Holy Spirit you have to empty your life of deliberate, continual sin. 1 Thess. 5:19 says that we can "quench the Spirit." Eph.4:30 tells that our sin "grieves the Holy Spirit." You see, we are to conduct ourselves with gratitude, for having this honored and heavenly Guest. After all, our Corinthian passage tells us that our bodies don’t belong to us but are God’s and He has placed within us His Spirit. It is possible to have the Holy Spirit in us but not be filled with the Holy Spirit because we are quenching Him by the sin in our lives.
I think the problem for many people is that they’re afraid to give Jesus their entire life, afraid to say, “Lord, I’m completely yours, fill me with your Spirit.” They think if they do that he’ll make them miserable- make us give up that pleasure that we know is wrong- OR- send us as a missionary to Iraq -OR pick out some ugly girl or boring guy to marry. But let me ask you something- If you were a parent and your child came up to you and said, "Dad, Mom, I love you so much. Will you list 10 things that I could do for you?" Would you say, "How can I make this child miserable?" "What do they really NOT want to do?" No, your going to say, "What can we do together that can really be meaningful?" "What do they enjoy doing?" Listen, God is a perfect, loving, Heavenly Father, He’s not going to make your miserable. Satan’s the expert in misery, not God! Martin Luther once had a dream where he was in his house and saw Jesus coming up the walk toward his door. Luther examined his surrounding and realized that everything was an absolute mess. Clothes were thrown over the furniture, old food was sitting out, trash was everywhere. And he thought, "How am I going to let the Lord of Life, Jesus Christ, come in to a mess like this.” He hurriedly tried to straighten up but the more he picked up the greater the mess became. Finally, Jesus was knocking at the door. Luther, resigned himself to the mess and as he opened the door, he said, "Jesus, come on in, if you think that you can come into a place like...” and as he turned he saw that everything had been put into order, everything in it’s proper place. The house was immaculate as Christ entered in. Oh, people, we make such a mess of our lives when we try to straighten them by ourselves. But if you will submit to Jesus, open your heart to Him, He will make you immaculate, by cleansing you from sin and giving you the Holy Spirit to comfort, guide and establish you as a new creature. Let’s close by reading this great passage from Eph. 1:13- "And now you also have heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago.” Let’s read this last sentence together: The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us everything he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people." (NLT)
