How Can I Better Understand the Holy Spirit?

How can I better understand the Holy Spirit? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Well, hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. This is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day.

We'd love to hear from you. Our phone lines are open right now. We'll be taking calls for the next 25 minutes or so. So now is the time to call. It's 1-833-843-2673.

Or you can spell it out, 833-THE-CORE. You can also post your question on one of our social media sites. And of course, you can always email us at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, here's a voicemail from one of our listeners.

This is Donald in Nebraska. Question for you, Pastor. When someone dies, a believer, that is, their soul as well as an unbeliever's soul goes somewhere. We know scripture says in 2nd Corinthians 5, 8, absence from the body present with the Lord. Also talks about that in Philippians 1, 21 to 23. Also in Luke 23, 43, where it says, to one of the thieves on the cross today, today you will be with me in paradise.

So my basic question is, is it instantaneous? Immediately, immediately, your last breath here, your first breath would be with the Lord if you are a believer. No time, of course, in any place called purgatory or anywhere else, because his death on the cross will be sufficient.

Thank you for your help there, sir. I reject the idea of purgatory, on the basis of what? You brought it up, the fact that Christ's sacrificial death for us is sufficient to cleanse us of all of our sins. It doesn't just cleanse some sins and then we kind of have to work to make up the rest of what's needed.

The author of the Hebrews said in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 3, it says, know, make up the rest of what's needed. The author of the Hebrews said in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 11, this is speaking of Christ's high priesthood, he says, every priest stands daily at his service offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God waiting from that time until his enemy should be made a footstool for his feet, for by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. In other words, it's the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for the remission of our sins that makes us fit to stand in the presence of God. And that sacrifice perfected for all time those who are being sanctified, that is the children of God. And so this is something that happens instantaneously, immediately in the presence of the Lord, and it's one of the great hopes that we have as followers of Jesus. Thank you for your question.

Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you have a question about the Bible, doctrine, theology, something going on at your church, something happening in your own Christian walk, we'd love to hear from you. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also email us at questions at corechristianity.com. Here's a question from Brenda. She says, I've lived the past 12 to 14 years in fear that it's too late for me. I listened to one of your broadcasts and another listener said he was worrying if God had turned him over to his sin.

I'm worrying about that too. I was in church. I heard the word, partook, and fell away. I don't feel saved and I don't act like it. I'm struggling with Hebrews 6, 7 through 9. I want more than anything to be saved. Brenda, my heart goes out to you and one, I'm just thankful that you long for the grace of God, long for salvation. If you were blind to the Gospel, if the Spirit of God was not at work in your life, I think you wouldn't care about any of these things, but the very fact that you have this sense of conviction and you're saying, man, I want more than anything else to be saved. Let me just say to you, when you go to Jesus, he doesn't cast you out. See what you heard me say to the other individual who called us or reached out to us in John chapter 6, Jesus says, the one who comes to me I will in no wise cast out. A lot of people are afraid, have I totally sinned away the grace of God?

Is it that now I can't come to him anymore? One of the texts that people go to is Hebrews chapter 6. They read that passage and they think, oh no, have I done what's being described there in verses 6 and following. Let me just read the passage for those who are unfamiliar. He says in chapter 6, I'll start a little bit earlier in verse 4, it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift and have shared in the Holy Spirit and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come and then have fallen away to restore them again to repentance since they are crucifying once again the son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

Four, the land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed and its end is to be burned. Okay, so a couple of things here. Does this mean that if somebody falls away, if they deny the Lord, that they're eternally condemned and there's no hope for them? Well, think about Peter. I mean, Peter denied Jesus while he was being crucified and yet what did Jesus do?

He pursued him. And it sounds to me, Brenda, like Jesus is pursuing you, calling you back to himself. You recognize that you've sinned, that you've denied the Lord and maybe it was for a long period of time yet even now you sense his conviction, you realize that you need him. I want you to know that his grace is for you and that the blood of Jesus Christ is sufficient to cleanse all of your wanderings.

Don't doubt that. Don't despair and think, oh, my sin is just too great. That's what the devil would want to convince you of. The devil would want to convince you that you're such a great sinner that not even Jesus could save you.

That's a lie. Your sins are no match for the blood and grace of Jesus. If you will but go to him and say, Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy upon me a sinner.

He hears your prayer and he receives you and forgives you when you call upon his name. And so that text is not saying that if we fall away or if we go into a pattern of sin that we're eternally condemned. Specifically there, the author of the Hebrews is talking to a group of people who were denying Jesus altogether and the gospel, who didn't want his atoning work or sacrifice. They were saying, we're going to trust in our own works. We're going to go back to the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament.

And that's what they were putting their confidence in. And so he's giving them these stern warnings because he's saying, in doing this, you're rejecting the sacrifice of Jesus for you. And so that's what we mustn't do. That's what you mustn't do by giving way to despair, by thinking that the sacrifice of Jesus for you wasn't sufficient. It is sufficient, Brenda, receive the grace of God by faith.

God bless. Boy, that is so well said, and that really speaks to the importance of understanding the context of particular verses. We get a lot of calls about the unpardonable sin.

Have I committed the unpardonable sin? And then you often point people to the explanation of what Jesus was saying to the Pharisees at that time. I think there's a lot of people that will read into scripture, apply it to their own personal situation, and then misapply it or misunderstand it, and then live in fear like Brenda was.

Yeah, absolutely. And as I said, I think it's one of the tactics of the evil one to lead us into despair. Some of that, Bill, is rooted in pride when we think, I'm just too bad. My sins are so bad.

There's no hope for me. Well, what you're doing is you're making your sin out to be greater than the cross of Jesus Christ. And so there actually is this tragic irony.

There's this pride there. And even that, we have to confess it and say, Lord, I've thought too highly of my sin. I've viewed it as a mountain that's too great even for your forgiveness. I repent of that. I recognize, Jesus, that you are able.

In fact, you're the only one who is able. And I fall down at your feet. And when we do that, we recognize that that mountain of sin, that mountain of sin that is too much for us, more than the hairs of our head, that that was taken by Jesus on the cross, and that we can receive his grace and forgiveness by faith. Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We'd love to hear from you. If you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, your own personal Christian walk, here's the number, 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Bill calling in from Missouri. Bill, what's your question for Adriel? Hey, Pastor, how are you, gentlemen, today? We're doing well, Bill. How are you doing?

Oh, just trying to get through it like everybody. So I was raised Roman Catholic in my late 50s and trying to atone for a lot of my past discretion from my early teenagers all the way up to now, and I've been trying to pray more to accept the Holy Spirit to guide me in my decision-making. I just listened to your last comment, you know, raised Roman Catholics, we were taught that the mortal sin is unforgivable to take the life that God created, like suicide. And so that was, I've kind of gone against the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church because there's something, listening to you guys and comparing the two just doesn't make sense.

You make more sense than what I've been brought up with, if that makes sense, if that's a fair statement. But having the Holy Spirit in me, I still make bad decisions occasionally. I try to live a righteous life, but I'm not, and I do things or think things or say things that I know God wouldn't want me to, but I sometimes I don't have filters between my brain and my mouth, and I just wonder, does God see that I'm trying? Let me just say, yes, the Lord sees that you're trying. He sees you, He sees the struggle that you're experiencing, the longing that you have to follow the Lord, to obey Him, but then that battle that you experience, it's like, man, my flesh, these desires, these thoughts, they still creep in, and it's frustrating.

It's frustrating. You just think, what am I supposed to do? A wretched man that I am, who will deliver me? Right there, I'm quoting from the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans, Romans chapter 7, the end of chapter 7. This is Paul, and he's talking about that battle that you described, Bill, the battle between the flesh and the spirit, how we want to follow the Lord faithfully, but we still find ourselves sinning.

And he says, towards the end of chapter 7, I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand, for I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? God, who's going to save me? Even as a Christian, even as someone who's regenerated, has the gift of the Holy Spirit, I still have these desires that are disordered, I still struggle with sin.

Wretched man that I am, who's going to deliver me? What does Paul say? Verse 25, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. He's talking about that battle. By the way, he also brings that battle up in the book of Galatians, where he says, walk by the Spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh, and he uses language very similar there. It's talking about Galatians chapter 5 verse 16, 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.

Well there it is right there again. And so God knows our frame, as the psalmist says, he remembers that we're dust. That never excuses our sin.

That doesn't mean it's okay. But you need to recognize that the Lord is gracious and merciful. I'm grateful to hear that you've been encouraged by the broadcast, and I just want to go back to you really quickly. Bill, have you found, it sounds to me like you're studying the Bible, you're coming into a deeper understanding of what God's word teaches, have you found a church, a solid Christian church where God's word is taught, where you're able to fellowship and keep growing together with other believers? I'd like to, that's why I'm a truck driver, so I listen to you guys, pardon the term, religiously. As a Roman Catholic and married to a Roman Catholic wife, it's kind of frowned upon, to be honest with you, even though I think I would get more out of a different church, I just don't feel like I can.

So my time behind the steering wheel, listening to you guys, fills me with a lot of the information that I need to move forward in my private life. What you just said really nailed down, and I just wrote down those passages so I could study it more that you just quoted there, but I also was brought up to believe, correct me if I'm wrong, Jesus forgave the two men that were crucified next to him, and one was I believe a thief and one was a murderer, if I remember right. He forgave them on the cross. But I've read somewhere that if you keep asking for forgiveness for the same sin that you do over and over and over and over again, that eventually it's not going to get forgiven. Well I don't know where you read that in particular.

I don't think that that's true at all. I mean, Jesus, when he's speaking to Peter in Matthew chapter 18, Peter comes to him and says, Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother and sister when they sin against me? Up to seven times? And there presumably the sin is the same sin.

It's the same thing. And Jesus says, I tell you not seven times, but seventy-seven times. I mean, sometimes that's the battle, and it's not that you're just giving in to sin. God forbid that we do that, but there's a struggle, a battle with the same sins. And sometimes by the grace of the Holy Spirit, as Paul describes later in Romans chapter eight, we pray, God, by your Spirit, put to death this particular struggle that I have here. Grant me grace.

Help me, Lord, to walk in the light, to follow you. And that's a process. It's what we call sanctification, that process of inward renewal. And the Spirit of God does indeed work in our lives, and we can see and do see growth and grace. And when we see that, we realize, man, there are a lot of other areas in my life where I'm seeing, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, that I need to grow. It's like the game whack-a-mole.

You think you get one, and then another one pops up, and then you get that one, and another one pops up. That's what sanctification looks like. And over time, God, by His Spirit, is opening our eyes, opening your eyes, revealing to you, okay, here are the things you need to bring before me. But when you come to Him, even if it's with the same sin, broken and contrite of heart, when you say, Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner, He doesn't say, oh, this sin again?

Really? You're going to come to me with this one again? No.

No. He's gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and mercy. And when you come to Him truly, confessing your sins, He forgives you. Now, we can come to God and pretend like we're confessing our sins. There's a difference between repentance and remorse. There are some people who just, I just don't like the repercussions to this behavior.

I'm upset about the fact that I'm getting punished because of these things. It's not true conviction and confession. It's just remorse, just sort of like Judas in the New Testament. But when you come before the Lord, broken and contrite of heart, when you say, God, I confess that this is a sin, and I hate that I struggle with this, and I'm bringing this to you again for the fourth time, for the fifth time, for the hundredth time, have mercy upon me, a sinner. Don't think for a minute that you've exhausted the grace of God. Instead believe that that grace is for you, Bill. And I want to take just a moment to pray for you, for your family, that God, as you continue to study his word, would bless you and sanctify you and give you an understanding more and more, and that he would open the doors.

I know it sounds like it's difficult because of your work situation, but that he would open the doors for you to find a solid church where you're going to be able to meet with other Christians and be encouraged and grow under the ministry of the word. And so, brothers and sisters, let's pray for Bill as he's out there as a truck driver studying the scriptures and wanting to love Jesus. Let's pray that the Lord blesses him and strengthens him. Father, we lift our brother up to you. Thank you for him.

Thank you for his question. Thank you, Lord, for the ways that you've been at work in his life, sanctifying him, leading him into a deeper understanding of your word. And I pray as he reads your word, Lord God, that he would experience your grace at work in his heart more and more each day, that he would come into a deeper understanding of the gospel, deeper confidence in the work of Christ for him and the fact that his sins are forgiven. And I pray, Lord, even as he longs to follow you faithfully, that you would continue to sanctify him, that by your spirit, whatever those sin struggles are that he has in mind, that by your spirit you would put to death those things and cause him, Lord, to walk by the spirit day by day, strengthening him, encouraging him out of, Lord, just this sense of gratitude because of your great love and mercy for him. Would you bless his family? Would you open the doors, Lord, for him to find a church where he is going to be able to continue to grow in his relationship with you and learn more about the scriptures and be encouraged in his faith? And would you even soften his wife's heart as well as they open up your word together, seeking to honor you and to follow you, Lord Jesus, be with Bill and bless him, we pray. Amen.

Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Want to mention we have some great Bible studies available through our website, corechristianity.com. Love to have you check those out, and they will help you grow in your faith, whether individually or perhaps in your small group. Yeah, we do have these Bible studies. Sorry, Bill, I was just about to take a swig of my coffee, and then I realized you were handing it off to me, but we do have these Bible studies that are excellent, really excellent Bible studies and sort of books, theology studies, 10-week studies through the core doctrines of the Christian faith or even how to interpret the Bible, how to understand the different genres of scripture. We really have a few different things to offer you available for a gift of $15 or more over at corechristianity.com, and it's one of the ways that you can keep growing in your understanding of the faith as you seek to honor the Lord and to understand his word. Check it out, corechristianity.com forward slash studies.

Let's go to a voicemail from one of our listeners. This is from Bill. I was wondering about the Holy Spirit in the book of John when John baptizes Jesus, the Spirit of the Lord comes down upon Jesus as he calls it the Holy Spirit. Did the Jews before the baptism of Christ know the Holy Spirit? Next, when Jesus starts the Nicodemus, he tells him he has to be born of water and the Spirit, but I don't see that he explains that anymore. As the narrative goes forward, the disciples apparently are baptized, and they are baptizing other people, but the book of John doesn't mention the disciples employing the Holy Spirit. And finally, at Pentecost, although the apostles have been baptized by the Spirit, the Spirit revives them a different way, and finally when Jesus leaves, after all these people have been employed by the Spirit, Christ says, I will leave behind the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit. I didn't understand all the differences in the Holy Spirit. Well, there's one Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity, God, God himself, sent to us to comfort us, to strengthen us, to establish us in the truth, and so with regard to those passages, I mean, you have different things taking place. If we're talking about the Spirit of God descending upon Jesus like a dove at his baptism, you have a lot of imagery there of where did you see the Spirit hovering over the waters in the Old Testament? You have a picture of creation there at the very beginning, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. You also think about the dove with Noah's flood, this picture of new creation, and so you're getting the imagery of new creation there, and that's precisely what Jesus is talking about with Nicodemus. You have to be born again, born of water and the Spirit, and so the Spirit is the Creator's Spirit who brings about the redemption, the new creation that God had promised in the prophets and all the way back in the book of Genesis, and so the Spirit of God accomplishes that in and through the means that God has given to his people. That's the preaching of the word. That's the administration of those ordinances that Jesus has given to the church like baptism and the Lord's Supper. And again, you're getting that sort of picture there in John chapter 3. You have to be born of water and the Spirit. And then Jesus promises in his upper room discourse, as you mentioned, to send the Spirit.

He says, I'm not going to leave you as orphans. I'm going to come to you. I'm going to send the Spirit to you.

And it's interesting because in that context, that's when he instituted the Lord's Supper, and so we see that the Spirit of God is at work in and through the world, in and through the church today, throughout the world, through the preaching of the word of God, through the administration of the sacraments, that we can have a real experience with God the Holy Spirit, and he lives in us through the work of Jesus Christ. God bless. Thanks for listening to Core Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at CoreChristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar, or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.