The Holy Spirit, to use the technical word, the Holy Spirit illuminates us. He gives us light. He gives us understanding. He imparts the ability to grasp truth that God has revealed in His Word. The Holy Spirit, that third person of the Trinity, accomplishes many things in the true Christian, but He also works in a powerful, corporate way in the Church. And that's Pastor Don Green's focus today as he continues in his ministry of teaching God's people God's Word. On the Truth Pulpit. Hi, I'm Bill Wright, and we're presenting more of a series titled The Holy Spirit Today. And Don, for those just joining us in this series, speak again if you would briefly as to why this topic is so important.
Glad to do that, Bill. You know, my Christian brother, sister joining us on the broadcast today, I just want to say this. People speak and think so carelessly about the Holy Spirit in the Church today.
You've been conditioned to think about Him in spectacular ways and emotional ways. But the real work of the Holy Spirit is distinct from those kinds of counterfeits. We want you to know the truth about the Holy Spirit and His work today. Here's Bill to help us get started.
Okay, Don. And friend, have your Bible open and ready as we join Don Green now in the Truth Pulpit. Last time we looked at regeneration, indwelling, and sanctification. Today we want to continue on and build on that. And last time you could say that we looked at the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer, kind of looking at the way the Spirit applies salvation to an individual heart. And what He does, He comes and indwells an individual believer, has a sanctifying impact on the individual believer. The Spirit of God regenerates us and indwells us. And what follows is a work of sanctification that ever conforms us to closer conformity to the image of Christ. Now, we want to build on that and expand it out a little bit, because what happens when a church comes into being like Truth Community Church? Well, a true church, the true members of a true church are true Christians, which means that all of us that have been born again participate in a common life in Christ. We have been given the same gift of salvation, worked out in our hearts by the same Spirit, and we enjoy the same benefits.
I don't have a better salvation than you do, you don't have a better one than I do. God has saved us in perfection, and so we share in that forgiveness, we share in the indwelling Spirit, we share in the eternal purpose of God that He works out among His people from eternity past into eternity future. We're greatly blessed to share in all of these great gifts together. And what that means is we come together as the people of God, as we come together in the context of a local church.
This is so important in this individualistic day and age in which we live. It is not simply that God is doing a work in us individually as if we were 250 different silos on a field someplace. There is a corporate work of the Spirit that takes place that we need to understand, that we need to respect, that is going to reprove, correct, and help us as we go through it here today. Now, as the Spirit indwells us, we're going to cover four aspects of the work of the Spirit here today, looking toward a corporate dimension to this work.
And first of all, what is true of every believer? There is a work of empowerment that the Holy Spirit does. There is a work of empowerment that the Holy Spirit does. The Holy Spirit gives us the ability, gives us the strength to serve God in the Christian life. And I'm just going to touch on this, I'm going to tap it very lightly and move on.
Every point from last week and this week could and in some ways should be the subject of a multi-message series in and of itself. We're just tapping on things to remind us of what the Spirit does through His work in the life of believers. In Philippians chapter 2, if you would turn there with me. Philippians chapter 2, this work of empowerment that the Holy Spirit does for us, remembering that it is the Spirit of God who is in us, who is working in us.
The Apostle Paul tells the Philippian church, we're going to study this letter after this series is over eventually. Philippians chapter 2 verse 12, So then my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my presence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Now, beloved, something that I just want to point out to you here is that as magnificent as the work of the Spirit of God is in our hearts, as magnificent as His ministry is to us, we need to understand that the holy nature of what He does in us is grounds for fear and trembling.
That is what Paul says, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. I said at the beginning that we need to deal with these matters earnestly. We need to take them seriously.
We need to not treat them lightly. Apparently, what the work of the Spirit does has an impact on life that we are to respond to, that we are to build our lives in obedience to. Paul says, just as you have always obeyed, now obey in my absence, and here's the obedience I'm looking for.
Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. The very nature of the august, majestic salvation that God has given to us in Christ. Oh, it fills us with joy for sure, but we understand that there is a corresponding responsibility to let the work of the Spirit have its way in us, to cooperate with that work of the Spirit in our sanctification, and to follow in loving obedience to the work of the Spirit. That's critical to what we're going to say later. And so we don't treat this lightly, we don't treat it flippantly.
We realize that this calls for our earnest response. Now look at verse 13 with that said, looking at the work of the Spirit in the church today. For it is God who is at work in you, it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
This is a wonderful truth. Yes, we need to work out our salvation, not in the sense that we're going to add to the work of Christ, not that we're going to earn it, not that we're going to lose it if we stumble in sin, but rather there is a recognition of responsibility that what God has given to me is meant to be lived out and to be grown into in life. God is at work in you, and so this is a wonderful truth. This is an encouraging reality as we seek to grow spiritually, as we worship individually and corporately on a Sunday morning, for example. As you grow in Christ, as you evangelize the lost, as you deal with adversity, as you study Scripture, you are not alone in that. The Holy Spirit is with you to provide a supernatural help, a supernatural empowerment, a supernatural enablement that lifts you beyond your natural abilities and helps you to grow in a way that you could not do if you were simply doing it in your own effort. This is the work and the ministry of the Holy Spirit in believers and among his body, the body of Christ. The indwelling Spirit carries us. The indwelling Spirit helps us, assists us in that process of sanctification, in that process of spiritual growth. Jesus described the Spirit in this way in John 14 verse 16. He said, "'I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper that He may be with you forever, that is, the Spirit of truth.'" Beloved, that's really precious. The Lord Jesus, the eternal Son of God, expressing in what he says here, he says, "'I recognize that you're going to need help in the life that lies ahead.
I've provided for you in advance. I've asked my Father to give you the Spirit and the Spirit will be to you as one who helps you. The Spirit will assist you. He will guide you and He will be with you forever. Once you have the Spirit, He doesn't leave. He may bring discipline into your life as you stray into disobedience and sin, but He's always having that sanctifying influence.
He's always having that helping ministry in the life of true Christians. And therefore, we are not seeking our spiritual growth in our own power. It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.'" S. Lewis Johnson, who is now with the Lord after many decades of great and fruitful and wonderful ministry, said this, and I quote, he said, "'The disposition to be obedient to the Word of God is something the Holy Spirit gives us. So internally and irresistibly we are wrought upon by the Holy Spirit that we are led, guided, and enabled to do the work of God.'"
End quote. And so we have this eternal Holy Spirit working in us to advance our progress in the Christian life. That's wonderful, isn't it? Isn't that an encouragement when you're struggling, when you stumble, to realize that the Spirit of God is given to you, not as a referee, not as an umpire to judge you when you fall short to throw a flag on you, but rather to help you, to undergird you, to strengthen you in the midst of that. How great the love of the Father to give us a salvation like this, not only to take away our sins at the cross, but to give us His own Spirit to help us live out the work that He first began in us. Blessed be His holy name. So, my friends, my brothers and sisters in Christ, when you are weak, when you are discouraged, when you have stumbled, you may ask for help from the Holy Spirit to empower you with the assurance, with the knowledge, with the expectation that God will gladly answer that prayer.
I'm reminded of Matthew 7, which we studied several months ago. Ask and it'll be given to you. Seek and you will find.
Knock and the door will be opened for you. This is in the context of the work, the ministry of the Holy Spirit. God, I need the help of your Spirit to grow. I need the help of your Spirit to come out of the sin in which I've stumbled. And so we have one upon whom we can call.
It's not that you need more rules to help you be sanctified. It's that you have a Spirit that is willing, able, and given to you for exactly that express purpose, to give you power that you lack that you might grow in a way that you otherwise would not. Blessed be His name. How does He do that and what does the work look like?
Well, let's go to a second point. There is a work of the Spirit that we could call His work of instruction. His work of instruction. You know, if you are a Christian and you've been a Christian for any length of time, you should be able to look back and say, you know what, I understand things now that I didn't understand before. There are aspects of Christ in Christian living. There are aspects of the attributes of God and the work of Christ on the cross. I understand things today that I didn't understand some time ago.
Well, why is that? How does that happen? Where does that growth in understanding come from? Well, the Spirit of God, that is part of His ministry to believers. He guides us into all the truth by giving us the desire and the capacity to understand the Word of God.
Truly, my friends, and just speaking very broadly here, I've said this many times, I should say it a lot more than what I do. One of the marks of a true Christian that is present in every true Christian without exception, because it is the nature of the ministry of the Holy Spirit to do this, is to have some kind of a hunger and a desire for Scripture, to know it, to understand it, to read it, to want to be instructed in it, to learn from it, because, and if you think about it, it could be no other way. If the Spirit of God delivered for us the Word of God, which He did, then the Spirit of God comes to indwell true believers and to shape their desires by His work in their hearts.
Well, what's the outcome of that naturally and understandably and logically going to be? The Spirit of God is going to place in your heart desires for the things of God. Where are the things of God found? Where the Spirit of God revealed them in what we hold in English as the 66 books of the Bible. And so, when you see someone who has an earnest desire for Scripture, a seemingly unquenchable thirst for Scripture, you're seeing the mark of someone who's truly been born again.
When you see someone who that's just foreign to their life, it has nothing to do with what motivates them, what they care about at all. I'm speaking in absolute terms to allow some room for different measures of growth at different periods of time, but when you see an utter absence of that, there should be an immediate concern that that person has never been truly saved, because the Spirit of God works in us to instruct us and to lead us into the Word of God. He does that individually, and when the Spirit of God is at work in a true church, He's doing that corporately in the life of a true church as well. Let's look at a couple of Scriptures to see this. Look at 1 John 2. 1 John 2, beginning in verse 20. 1 John 2, verse 20, where the last living apostle said, You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.
I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. You see, the Holy Spirit abides within true believers. He indwells them.
He continues with them. He remains with them, and He has given us help, and part of His ministry is so that you would know the truth. And John says here, writing to true Christians, he says, You have the Holy Spirit. You have this anointing from Him, and He has given you a knowledge and an understanding of the truth. And so he can go on to say in verse 27, he says, As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you, but as His anointing teaches you about all things and is true and is not a lie and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. The Spirit of God teaches true believers. The Spirit of God abides in them, and He imparts truth to them. He opens their mind and communicates understanding. He conveys understanding to the mind and into the heart in a way that secures their understanding of the truth that He Himself revealed. Now, as I've said in the past, the fact that John says you have no need for anyone to teach you doesn't mean that we're supposed to go off by ourselves and live the Christian life in isolation.
It's not that. God has given pastors and teachers, Ephesians chapter 4, to teach and instruct the church to build them up and to help them to grow in maturity. But what John is saying is you don't need special revelation from self-appointed prophets who don't truly know God. You don't need something outside of Scripture because you have already been given the Holy Spirit, and as He communicates an understanding of the Word, you have all the spiritual resources that you need.
Think about it. Again, as I've said in the past, if John meant absolutely that they needed no teacher whatsoever, he wouldn't have written this letter to them. He wrote the letter to them to instruct them. And so we understand that he's talking about we don't need outside sources of revelation to give us secret knowledge that we otherwise would lack. God graciously in Scripture, God graciously by the Spirit, has given us all that we need for life and godliness within the four corners of the 66 books of the Bible.
And we stand on that and we stand only there. And we reject everything else that claims to be revelation from God. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 2 as we see this ministry of instruction that the Spirit gives to us. In verse 7 of 1 Corinthians chapter 2, 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 7, Paul says, We speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory, the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood, for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
But just as it is written, verse 9, look at this is so precious. Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him. God has a special gift that is reserved only for true Christians and it is called an understanding of his revelation. To be able to read the Bible with understanding, to be able to understand unseen things that are hidden from unsaved people, to understand eternal matters while you are living in a temporal life is a great majestic gift from God that we take all too lightly, I'm afraid. But it is a gift from God.
Now how are these things communicated to us? Is it because of our superior intellect? Is it because we tried harder? Because we were somehow more worthy?
No. Verse 10, For to us, to true believers, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God who alone knows the thoughts of God is the Spirit of God who indwells you as a Christian, the Spirit of God who was involved in your regeneration. And what is his purpose for us now that we have received the Spirit? Verse 12, Now we have received not the Spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God.
We have received him. He is God's gift to us. And what does the Spirit of God do for us? What is part of his ministry to us? In what capacity does he deal with us?
Look at the end of verse 12. So that, for this purpose, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God. The Holy Spirit, to use the technical word, the Holy Spirit illuminates us. He gives us light. He gives us understanding. He imparts the ability to grasp truth that God has revealed in his Word. So, if you are one of those that I described earlier, you have a hunger for the Word of God, you can say I've been growing in the Word of God over the course of time. God's Word makes sense to me. God's Word matters to me. God's Word is important to me. Beloved, what you need to see is that is the evident mark of the work of the Holy Spirit in your life and you give thanks to him for that.
Now, third point. We saw his work of empowerment, the work of instruction. Now we're going to look at the Spirit's work of filling. The Spirit's work of filling. And as I'm speaking here, I invite you to turn to the book of Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. Christians are to be filled with the Holy Spirit as their pattern of life. And you say, well, what does that mean?
What does that look like? Well, let's take a moment to unpack this. It is the will of God for us. Verse 17 of Ephesians chapter 5. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
What is that will? Paul describes it. He expands on what he's saying in verse 18. He says, and do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. Don't be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit. These are parallel concepts that help us understand what Paul means by being filled with the Spirit. In the Church corporately, the Holy Spirit empowers and instructs, as we've been reminded today here on The Truth Pulpit. Pastor Don Green will show us two more works of the Spirit next time as we move further into our current series, The Holy Spirit, today.
We hope you'll join us then. Meanwhile, we invite you to visit our website, thetruthpulpit.com. There you can download free podcasts or find out how to receive free CD copies of Don's series. And if you want to go even more in depth, you'll also find the link, Follow Don's Pulpit. That'll take you to Don's full-length weekly sermons, not subject to the time editing needed for radio broadcasts. By the way, if you're in the Cincinnati area, check out the service times for Truth Community Church, also on our website. And plan a visit. We'd love to welcome you. Again, that's all at thetruthpulpit.com. I'm Bill Wright, and you're invited back next time as Don continues teaching God's people God's word here on The Truth Pulpit.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-05-25 06:02:59 / 2023-05-25 06:12:15 / 9