What You Need To Know About The Holy Spirit Chuck Sligh, Part 2 Series

What You Need to Know about the Holy Spirit

Chuck Sligh

Parts 2

TEXT: Acts 1:8 - “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

INTRODUCTION

Illus. - An American was showing an English gentleman the Niagara Falls one day. The American said to his English friend, “Come over here and I’ll show you the greatest unused power in the world!” Taking him to the foot of the Niagara Falls he said, “There it is—the greatest unused power in the world.” The English gentleman watched in awe the mighty, thunderous falls for a few seconds, and then replied, “Ah, no my brother, not so! The greatest unused power in the world is the Holy Spirit of the living God.”

Last Sunday we began studying about the Holy Spirit.

1. We began by examining WHO the Holy Spirit is. We saw two things about who he is:

First, that He is a PERSON—not some impersonal force or entity.

Second, we saw that the Holy Spirit is DIVINE—that is, He is just as much God as God the Father and God the Son.

2. Then we examined WHEN the Holy Spirit came, which is found in verses 4-5 of Acts 1.

In these verses Jesus promised a “baptism with the Holy Spirit”, something that is greatly misunderstood in our day. We discovered that the baptism with the Holy Spirit is not an individual experience that a person has after his salvation, but a collective event that occurred once in history—on the day of Pentecost—when Jesus baptized ALL believers of EVERY age with the Holy Spirit at the same time. Since that day the Holy Spirit has indwelt every believer the moment he puts his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now let’s think about the WHAT the Holy Spirit DOES in our lives. The Holy Spirit is a person, but what does this person DO? Jesus promised that when He left, He would send another comforter. But why?...

What is the role of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers and even non-believers?

What are His activities that affect our lives personally?

The activities of the Holy Spirit on earth can be broken down into two categories:

His activities in your life as a believer

His activities in the lives of non-believers

Let’s begin with…

I. THE ACTIVITIES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN YOUR LIFE AS A BELIEVER - If you are a Christian, there are a number of activities of the Holy Spirit in your life.

1. The first is TO KEEP YOU ETERNALLY SAVED - Ephesians 1:13 - “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.”

What does Paul mean when he says that believers were “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise”? A seal in New Testament times signified a finished transaction. In those days, when a business deal was completed, instead of signing their signatures, as we do today, they used a seal. A seal was a signet or a ring that made a distinctive impression in soft clay. It was applied to the clay and attached to the contract, signifying that the parties to the contract would fulfill the terms of the contract. Though they’re no longer made of clay, even today, when important legal documents are processed, they are stamped with an official seal to signify the completion of the transactions.

1.

So what Paul was saying when he said you were “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” is that when you trusted in Christ and were saved, that “closed the deal” between you and God and you entered into a permanent partnership with God that cannot be dissolved. In other words, the deal is “DONE”! The matter of your eternal salvation is finished—settled— IMPOSSIBLE to undo or reverse. God will not go back on the terms of His contract.

What was that contract? Jesus said in John 3:15 - “That whosoever believeth in him [i.e., Christ] should not perish, but have eternal life.” The contract is this—If you trust in Christ who died for your sins as your Savior, He promises He will save you for all eternity.

And God doesn’t go back on His Word! “Let God be true and every man a liar,” says Romans 3:4. Titus 1:2 tells us that God cannot lie. God never changes His mind and will never cancel the contract of eternal salvation.

What this means, practically speaking, is that you can never be lost again once you have been saved! You can never “lose” your salvation. It’s settled--the transaction is done! It’s SEALED! Hallelujah! Paul put it this way, “Being CONFIDENT of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you WILL perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” (Philippians 1:6) What a promise!—I am sealed for eternity with the Holy Spirit!