Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
West Lafayette, Ohio
May 22, 1983
Why I Believe in the Holy Spirit
John 14 & 16; Romans 8:9, NIV
Of the three persons in the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - the Holy Spirit seems to be the least known and understood today. Yet the Spirit is the one part of the Trinity that is the most intimately involved in our being born again and our being brought into the family of God. The Bible says that an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit brings us power, joy and hope. When we neglect the Spirit, through ignorance or indifference, we guarantee we will be spiritually poor.
One area of confusion about the Spirit is who he is. Many Christians tend to speak of the Spirit as an impersonal "it." They give the impression that the Holy Spirit is not a real being but is only a personification of God's power or influence. Misunderstanding also stems from the fact that the work of the Holy Spirit is not as visibly prominent as the work of the Father or the Son. His job is never to call attention to himself. In John 16:13 Jesus says about the Spirit:
"He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me...."
Despite the Spirit's lack of prominence, he is as much a person as God the Father and God the Son. This is the true sense of a person - not arms and legs, but personality, intellect, and will. Jesus says in John 16:7 that the Spirit will take Jesus' place when he is gone:
"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."
The Spirit is a person and he is more - he is God. Turn to Acts 5. In this passage a man named Ananias tries to deceive the church. In verse 3 Peter says to him:
"Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit...."
But in verse 4 Peter says:
"You have not lied to men but to God."
Peter is specifically identifying the Spirit as God here. The apostle Paul also calls the Spirit, God, in 2 Corinthians 3:17.
The Holy Spirit is mentioned in the Old Testament but only in a vague way. In the Old Testament the Spirit came on particular people for particular tasks. If the Israelites were getting wiped out by enemies, the Spirit would come on a person like Gideon and give him the power to bring victory. While people could have an intimate relationship with the Spirit, like King David did, the fellowship was not as personal or permanent as it is in the New Testament and today. In the Old Testament the Spirit came upon individuals temporarily and then, when he was no longer needed, he withdrew. Samson's tragic downfall resulted from the Spirit's withdrawal.
The Old Testament prophets predicted that in the future the Spirit would fill everyone who believed in God [Joel 2:28-29]. The Spirit wouldn't be for just prophets and kings. This prophecy began to be fulfilled when Jesus came. He was completely dependent on the Spirit. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, led by him, anointed by him for power in his ministry and raised from the dead by him. Just before Jesus went up to heaven he told his disciples in Acts 1:4 that they should not leave Jerusalem until they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. In verse 8 he says:
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses...."
The disciples received this power on the day of Pentecost and the same power is available to believers in our time.
It's one thing to see what the Spirit did in the past but what does he mean to us today? The Spirit works on us before we ever become a Christian. The key verse on this is found in John 16:8 where Jesus says,
"When he [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment."
The Spirit convicts people of sin. NO man can really see himself as God sees him apart from the working of the Holy Spirit in his heart and mind. The Spirit lays bare the heart of man, exposes his sin, and pronounces him guilty before God. This is a disturbing experience for any person. They may lose their sleep or their appetite. They certainly lose their peace of mind. But the Holy Spirit shows a person their sin only so that they will seek the Savior. A Christian once said, "Before the Holy Spirit can be the Comforter he has to be the Discomforter. He upsets us merely that he may set us up." Perhaps someone here today is experiencing this. You come to church to feel good but you leave with this tight, unsettled feeling. It may be because there is something in your life which is not right with God. The first thing to get settled is your salvation. Jesus goes on to say in John 16:
"In regard to sin, because men do not believe in me...."
Refusal to accept Christ as your savior is the greatest sin of all. As soon as a person puts his trust in Christ he is sealed by the Holy Spirit. A seal is a symbol of a finished transaction, of ownership, and of security. Because we are sealed by the Spirit, we can have certainty and assurance of salvation. As Paul says in Romans 8:16:
"The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children."
At the same time that we accept Christ we experience the baptism of the Spirit. God sends his Spirit to live in us, to motivate us and to give us power to serve him. All believers share in the Spirit, despite their varying degrees of maturity, strength and devotion. Among many Christians there is confusion concerning baptism in the Spirit. Pentecostals and others say the Spirit comes on a believer after conversion, maybe years later. When the baptism comes, they say it is followed by tongues or miracles. There are a few passages that may seem to support this interpretation but on closer study the support disappears. The clear teaching of the Bible is that God sends us the Spirit when we accept Christ as our Savior. If you don't have the Spirit, you're not a Christian. It's as simple as that. Note what Paul says in Romans 8:9:
"And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ."
The baptism in the Spirit happens once and is never repeated. There is, however, an aspect of the Spirit which is repeatable. This is known as being filled with the Spirit. On the day of Pentecost the disciples were filled with the Spirit. A few days later, in a dramatic prayer meeting, they had such an experience again. The filling of the Spirit implies being given power and boldness for God's service, and strength to meet particular crises. It is possible, and it sometimes happens, that the baptism of the Spirit and the infilling of the Spirit takes place at the same time. They don't have to happen at separate times but the filling of the Spirit is an experience to be repeated as often as necessary in the life of each believer. According to a literal translation of Ephesians 5:18, we are to "keep on being filled."
The Holy Spirit is not a substance but a person. The fullness of the Spirit is not a matter of our receiving more of him. Instead, it is a matter of relationship. To be filled with the Spirit means we allow him to occupy, guide, and control every area of our lives. His power can then work through us, making us fruitful and effective for God. At the same time, God floods our hearts with joy. This filling applies not only to our outward acts but to our inner thoughts and motives. When we are filled with the Spirit, all we are and have is under God's control. The test as to whether or not you are filled with the Spirit is not whether you've been given a particular supernatural gift or have received an external sign but whether or not you have given yourself wholly and without reservation to God. Are you genuinely willing that God should control, absolutely and entirely, your life?
Many believers come to a point of utter frustration as they try to serve God simply because they fail to realize the need to be filled with the Spirit. If you're not filled with the Spirit you cannot act in God's power. Just as we cannot save ourselves apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, neither can we live the life of victory or serve the Lord effectively without the Spirit. When we learn to trust him fully, allowing him to work through us, we are freed from the frustration of trying to accomplish spiritual, eternal results solely through our human ability - or as I should say, inability.
Many Christians never seem to attain to the fullness of the Spirit. I think their problem can be illustrated by the Eastern Front in World War II. Early in the war Hitler's armies invaded Russian and blasted their way to the outskirts of Moscow itself. In the process the Germans wiped out dozens of Russian divisions and millions of men. In order to survive, the Soviet Union drafted young men from the most remote areas of the country. These tiny villages were so backward the people got their water from wells and streams. They couldn't read or write. But these young men were given guns and were thrown against the Nazis. The tide of the war turned and finally it was the Russians who were on the outskirts of Berlin. As they entered the city they went on a rampage. They ransacked every home and store and oddly enough the item they stole the most was water faucets. Their armored tanks were piled high with bathtubs and sinks. American soldiers who were present couldn't understand this so they asked about it. Invariably, the simple Russian would reply: "at home I have to walk a great distance for water, even in the coldest winter. But here you just turn a little faucet and water comes right out of the wall. I'm going to put this faucet on the wall of my shack in Siberia so I can have water whenever I want it." [adapted from Cornelius Ryan's book, "The Last Battle."] We laughed at their ignorance but many of us act the same way in our spiritual lives. Instead of connecting up with the reservoir, we just take the faucet or a piece of pipe. In other words, instead of receiving the Holy Spirit in his fullness in our lives, we are satisfied with a temporary emotional experience, or a little blessing, or the overflow of someone else's supply. No wonder we soon run dry in our spiritual lives!
God wants us to be channels attached to infinite resources, so that we may have an abundant supply for ourselves. More than this, we may have a surplus to share with others. We will not only be filled, we will overflow.
What kind of relationship do you have with the Spirit? Have you been baptized into the Spirit, so that he lives in you? If you have never surrendered to Jesus Christ and made him your Lord and Savior, you do not have the Spirit. You may think you do but you're only deceiving yourself.
For those who are Christians, have you been filled with the Spirit? To the point of overflow? Does he motivate you and guide all your thoughts and actions? Or are you pretty much a carnal Christian, one who follows your sinful nature?
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Typed on March 14, 2006, by Sharon Lesko of Ledgewood Baptist Church, New Jersey
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