Dependance on the Spirit

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. [1]

15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will bea in you. [2]

26 “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. [3]

Outline

Introduction –

Last week in the paper I read a story about a man who reported that his late model BMW was stolen from his townhouse during the night.  The police didn’t have much trouble finding it, since someone had driven through a fence and into the pool of the complex.  Later that week it came out that the owner himself had sunk the car.  Why is it so difficult to do the right thing and to live a life of godliness?

Ever felt asked to do something that you were not given the right tools to accomplish? 

• Pentecost Sunday is next week and we are going to look at why the Holy Spirit has been given to us.
• Jesus told his disciples that it was for their benefit that he left and the Holy Spirit came
• John 16:6

7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world of guilta in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; 10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. [4]

• Jesus dies so that the Spirit could live within us.  He died to make us clean enough for the Spirit, he left to make room for the Spirit. 

Maybe we don’t have the right tools or maybe we are not using the tools we have in the right way. 

Video

Body

What is the role of the Holy Spirit in your life?  The world is difficult enough to live in and to try and live for Christ, but to try and do it without utilizing all the tools the Lord has given to us is even harder.  According to Gordon Fee when it comes to living in a way that pleases God, the purpose is to glorify God; the pattern is the life of Jesus Christ; the principle is love; and the power is the Holy Spirit.  The first three are often very clear to us, but what about the fourth one?  What about the power of the Holy Spirit in your life?  Every person who becomes a Christian has the Holy Spirit come and dwell within them, but for what purpose? 

The goal is that that fruit of the Spirit would be found in all of our lives.  But, we are not supposed to nor can we bring that fruit about on our own.  Does that mean that we are completely passive that we just sit back and let it happen and great fruit will appear in our lives?  No that is not the case at all.  Think about the illustration of fruit.  What if the vineyard, or grove, or orchard is left all to itself and never tended, what is going to happen when you go to harvest the fruit?  There will be some, but not as much as their could be and every year there will be less and less.  There is work to be done. 

What the Holy Spirit Does for us: (The tools that we have)

• The Holy Spirit gives us the power to live a holy life.  (1 Thess 4:3-8)
• To disregard this instruction is to disregard God who has given his Holy Spirit for the purpose of making us Holy. 
• How many have ever bought a game or a toy and the warning on the box said “batteries not included.”  The manufacture is telling you that the device is not going to perform the way it should until you put the power in.  This device has everything it needs to accomplish the work it was designed to do within this box, accept it does not have the power to make them happen.  The manufacturer has spent countless hours designing and assembling this device and it maybe able to do amazing things, but not until you add the batteries.  The Holy Spirit is the batteries that people need in order to live a loving life, a Christ like life. 
• 2 Peter 1:3 “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”
• Repeat this after me, “God has given me….Everything I need…for life…and godliness.”  What has God held back from your ability to live a godly life?  Nothing.  That kind of leaves us without room to make excuses doesn’t it? 
• But you don’t know the background I came from.  You do not know what this person did to me.  You do not know what I did with my body or what I have seen with my eyes, or what I have thought with my mind.  You do not know the things that I have experienced or the diagnosis that has been given to me or what I have gone through.
• God has given you and me everything we need in order to live a life of godliness.
• But, my mom was this way, or my dad was this way and this is our family history.
• God has given you everything you need to life and godliness.  It is not a heartless condemnation, it is a beautiful promise of hope.
• You might read through that list of fruit of the Spirit and think, not me, not me, not me, but God has given you everything you need to desire those things and to become those things.
• This does not mean that once a person accepts Christ and the Holy Spirit enters their heart that they become Mother Teresa.  We know enough people, including ourselves to know that is not the case.  It does mean that we now have the necessary equipment and power within us to make the decisions that will make us more like Christ.

• The Holy Spirit teaches us the content of the Gospel.
• 1 Cor. 2:13 - 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.[5]
• Imagine you are reading a book and come to a place that you do not understand something, or are particular challenged by how something might effect you, what do you do?  What if you could ask the author what he meant by that particular passage?  The same Holy Spirit that inspired the words of the Scriptures is the same Spirit which is with you and me when we read them. 
• One of the things that makes the Bible such a unique book is that the Holy Spirit is with Christians to help them understand and apply the Scriptures.  So before you read it, you should ask the Lord what He wants to speak to you through His Word today. 

• Knows you and prays for you
• Romans 8:26,27 – “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.”[6]
• God’s Holy Spirit dwells in you, knows you intimately, and makes intercession for you.
• Now I don’t know how all of this works, since the Holy Spirit is God is that God talking to Himself?  There is an intricate relationship between the trinity where they are one God and all God, but distinct persons.  So that Jesus when he was on this earth got away regularly to pray and have conversations with the Father. 
• It does to me emphasize the importance of prayer.  It tells me that prayer is more than telling God something as if He did not already know it, and it is more than reminding ourselves of something.  If the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us and if Jesus prayer when He was on this earth, then God hears and responds to our prayers. 
• The Holy Spirit is there to pray for things that you do not even realize that you need to be praying for. 

• Gives Direction
• Acts 13:2-4 - While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. 4 The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. [7]
• From simple things in life to major life decisions the Holy Spirit lives within you in order to guide and lead you. 
• We do not know whether this was an audible voice or if everyone there just knew this within there own Spirit, but it is interesting that they tested it by continued prayer and fasting to make sure they had the mind of God together. 
• When the Holy Spirit directs you in a major area of your life, major family decisions, leaving a job, moving to another part of the country do you find other people to test the word and pray with you?  Or do you just assume that you are infallible and this is what God said so this is what we are going to do?  Even the elders in the first church continued to fast and pray to make sure they had the mind of the Spirit on these things. 
• It is also in small things as well.  “Lord I want to be a blessing to someone today, please lead me to someone who I can be a blessing to today.”  “Lord you have been so good to me, bring someone across my path that I can be good to today.” 

Our Responsibility to the Holy Spirit (Using the tools in the right way)

2 Peter 1:3-9

• In 2 Peter we read about the fact that God has given us everything we need, but there is more to that passage.

NIV

3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. [8]

• Peter is saying that because Christians have the resources of the power and the promises of God that it is only right we make every effort to be like Jesus. 
• In the movie the Rookie Jimmy Morris is a high school teacher and baseball coach who does not realize that in him is the ability to throw a baseball over 90 miles per hour. 
• Peter, who denied Jesus while he was on trial, says that God has given us EVERYTHING we need for godliness and life.  Maybe then, we do not need any more of God to live the life God wants for us, but God needs more of us. 
• For me I compare it to preparing a sermon.  God has given me everything I need to prepare a sermon to preach.  He has given me books and software, and the Scriptures, and the Holy Spirit.  But, just because I have all that given to me does not mean that I can sit and expect a sermon to appear in my computer every week without putting any work in. 
• For you it might be like building a house, raising children, assembling a presentation, or mowing the lawn.  Just because you have been given the tools does not mean that they will do the work for you.
• God will do for you what you cannot do for yourself, He sometimes will do for you what you can do for yourself, but most the time He will not do for you what He has given for you to do.  I might do something once for my son to show him that he can do it, but after that I expect him to do it for himself.

One strategy for godliness – Set your mind on things above

Romans 8:5,6

“Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind of sinful mane is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;”[9]

• What is your mind set upon?  Is your mind set upon the things of God or the things of this world? 
• If there are two dogs fighting within you which one are you feeding the most?
• We have a responsibility to decide what our mind and hearts are focused upon.  There are so many things in this world that vie for space in our heads.  Who is renting space in your head?
• Philippians 4:8,9 – “…think about these things”
• Be careful little eyes what you see, be careful little mind what you think.

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[1] The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Jn 14:25-26

a Some early manuscripts and is

[2] The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Jn 14:15-17

[3] The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Jn 15:26-27

a Or will expose the guilt of the world

[4] The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Jn 16:6-15

[5] The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. 1 Co 2:13

[6] The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Ro 8:26-27

[7] The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Ac 13:2-4

[8] The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. 2 Pe 1:3-9

e Or mind set on the flesh

[9] The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Ro 8:5-6