The Holy Spirit (3)
Making Sense of Salvation • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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So we are moving into future areas of salvation.
There is one thing that Grudem doesn’t really go into in his book and there is one thing that I think he goes too much into in his book.
Tonight we want to take a look at the person of the Holy Spirit. There is not intended to be an exhaustive study into the Holy Spirit, but a focused look at the work of the Holy Spirit in the working of Salvation beyond what we have already discussed.
We have already talked about regeneration being a work of the Spirit that brings you from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive. The last couple of weeks as we discussed sanctification, we talked about the Holy Spirit’s role in sanctifying us and giving us the power and strength to kill sin in our lives.
But I think it is important to look as the verses about the Holy Spirit coming to dwell within us.
First let’s look at the promises of the Holy Spirit to come.
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
All of these passages are future tense. Things that the Holy Spirit will bring into our lives once what happens?
What are the actions of the Holy Spirit that Jesus promises in these passages?
Another promise of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us goes back further.
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
This is a promise of what we often call the New Covenant.
What are the promises of the Holy Spirit here?
All of these promises are looking forward to what to be fulfilled?
Jesus’ birth?
Jesus’ life?
Jesus’ death?
Jesus’ resurrection?
Jesus’ ascension?
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
But before He ascends, Jesus gives His disciples a gift early.
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
Luke records this same event with a slight difference.
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,
I believe that this is the disciples true moment of salvation.
They followed Jesus, they heard Him teach, they saw His life and miracles, one fell away.
But those who stayed didn’t understand everything about salvation through Jesus yet.
They didn’t, even at His death understand all that was happening.
Back when we talked about conversion and the gospel call, we talked about what was necessary for a person to know and believe to be saved.
We said,
All people have sinned.
All people have sinned.
The penalty for sin is death.
The penalty for sin is death.
Jesus’ death on the cross paid the penalty for our sins.
Jesus’ death on the cross paid the penalty for our sins.
God raised Jesus from the dead.
God raised Jesus from the dead.
So, at this moment at the end of John and Luke, they understand that they are sinners, they know that the penalty for sin is death, they saw Jesus die on the cross for their sins, and they see Jesus resurrected from the dead.
All of the boxes are checked for the disciples to understand and believe in order to be saved.
Thus, Jesus breaths on them and they receive the Holy Spirit to dwell within them.
Paul in Eph tells us this is what happens at the moment of our hearing the gospel and believing.
In him 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, to the praise of his glory.
The doctrine is called the indwelling of the Spirit.
So at the moment of salvation, the Spirit of God comes and dwell within you.
What does that mean to you??
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
How do these verses make you think about the last few weeks talking about sanctification?
In him 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, to the praise of his glory.
And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
Sealed means in order to mark a person or thing; hence, to set a mark upon by the impress of a seal, to stamp: It means a stamp of ownership.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
This same word is used as the mark of the beast and those who belong to the Lord. This is a seal or indication that you belong to Jesus.
What does that make you think about the assurance of your salvation?
Now, the word guarantee means something a little different.
first installment, a deposit which guarantees, a sure down payment, a pledge
The first or the initial installment of the Holy Spirit.
What does a deposit mean?
The down payment meaning, there is more to come.
Now, does a guarantee or a deposit mean that there is investment and a promise of the rest?
Yes!
Now, let me ask a question, how and when can we get the rest or more?
Its not about receiving more of the Holy Spirit, its about letting go of more of your desires and will and surrendering more of your life to to His leading, His guiding and His power.
How? How do we receive more of the Holy Spirit’s leading, guiding and power in our lives?
We first have to recognized that there is a battle waging within us every day.
Last week we talked about the desires of our heart. Did any of you think about identifying the desires in you heart before you did or didn’t do something?
Were you able to take your actions back to the desire center?
That is the battle field. The heart. The competing desires within your heart. One side striving to live for the Lord, to be a virtuous person, to be a good father, a good husband, a good Christ follower.
The other side, is selfish, prideful, thinking of yourself and what you want before everyone else, and yes, even to that which is sinful and even evil.
The heart is where those two main desires square off.
By yourself, you are powerless against your fleshly desires.
But through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, there is super natural power within you to defeat the desires of sin within your heart.
It starts like we talked about last week, praying and asking the Holy Spirit to remove those sinful desires.
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
This verse is not talking about Him giving you whatever you heart desires. That would be dangerous!
This verse is saying that He can and will give your heart new desires for Him and you will delight in Him.
Remember the Eze 36:25-27
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
So, it starts with prayer, asking the Holy Spirit to give you the new desires of your heart to cause you to walk in His statutes and obey His rules.
The next thing that you can do to have more of the Spirit’s leading, guiding and power is to set you mind on things of the Spirit and stop thinking about fleshly things.
We talked about this last week, right.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
We set our minds on the Spirit more when we take things out of our lives that cause us to not think about Him and put disciplines in your life to think about God more often.
We talked a lot about this one last week.
But another way that you can experience more of the Holy Spirit in your life is by walking in the Spirit.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
What is the difference between thinking about the Spirit and walking by the Spirit?
Walking is an action. Its obedience to the prompting of the Spirit. Its the moments that you have asked the Spirit to change the desires of your heart, you are setting your mind on spiritual things as you go through your day, and then the Spirit of God prompts your heart to do something in the moment.
Its the moment that the Spirit says, pray for that person. Give that person the cash in your pocket. Invite that person to church. Start a conversation with that person. Share the gospel with that person.
Walking by the Spirit is actually obeying those promptings of the Spirit in the moment.
The last way that we will cover about how to experience more of the Holy Spirit is to go through all of those steps in preparation for a moment of being filled by the Holy Spirit, for Him to speak through you or for Him to control what you do.
Its a moment of complete immersion in the Spirit that is powerful!
Some people call this baptism of the Spirit.
But it is a moment of complete surrender to the Spirit and He says or does something through you that you can’t even begin to take the credit for because it is all God.
I have had many moments like this in my life but its been a little while for me.
There are moments in sermons at time that I feel this way. That the Spirit is in complete control.
There has been times in some interactions with people that the Spirit will speak a word through me and its exactly what they needed to hear.
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
The proper Greek of that phrase is “Be, being filled”, meaning to be continuously being filled by the Spirit so that you are always ready and prepared for moments that the Holy Spirit has a divine interaction for the benefit for others.
Ideally, we as a church, each member is exercising their spiritual gifts in ways that are filled by the Spirit.
Can you imagine a church like that?
So, in order to experience more of the Holy Spirit, leading, instruction and power in your
it starts by asking the Spirit to remove desires in your heart that are not of Him and give you the desire to be used by Him.
Then you spend more time thinking about God and the Holy Spirit. Set your mind on Him. Put disciplines in your life to help you do that. And remove distractions in your life that cause you to think of other things.
Then walk in obedience to the promptings of the Spirit. Put your yes on the table in the morning and don’t take it off all day. If He says go or say, obey.
Then sit back and watch in that moment the Spirit of God fill you to the point of overflowing His love, grace, truth and mercy on those around you.
Then at the end, you can know that you can take no credit for what He did. It was all Him.
