Why is it on the one hand that here is a very vibrant, growing Christian, excited about the Christian life?
And on the other hand, here’s someone else, who’s sort of down, dragging, sort of despondent, no excitement at all about the fact that they’ve been saved.
Or here’s someone who is very vibrant about their Christian life, because they have a sense of direction.
They know where they’re going. They’re excited about it. They have a purpose in life.
Their life is very fruitful, and they’re seeing the results of that fruit.
Is someone else whose life is barren. They have no sense of purpose, no sense of direction.
They’re sort of floundering around in life and waste did their god given talents and gifts and skills, or here is a church, for example, that is growing They’re making disciples.
They worship with joy and enthusiasm, and they’re reaching out to a lost world for people to understand what it means to receive Jesus Christ as their savior.
On the other hand, the block down the street, wherever it may be, there’s another church still stayed sort of slightly dead.
Let’s say they’re going to sleep in a way.
And there’s not a whole lot happening, and the worship service is very dead. Nobody’s preaching the gospel.
Then we wonder what in the world’s happening.
Well, there’s a very distinct difference between this kind of Christian, that one, this kind of church, and that one.
And the difference is their relationship to the Holy Spirit.
Many of them have no earthly idea what he’s about.
Many people who sit in choose week after week after week cannot even tell you who he is.
And though he is a vital part of everything in the word of god, including the very inspiration of the word itself.
They don’t know who he is. Yet, Jesus said some very strong things about that.
Now, this is the second message in our series entitled living in the power of the Holy Spirit.
And just to catch you up for a moment, the first message, the promise of the father, we identified who he is, who is this holy spirit, promise of the father.
A person of the trinity, the seal of the child of god, our helper, our teacher, our guide, many areas of our life in which he is personally involved every single day, and yet many people don’t have any idea who he is.
And the question may be, well okay. So that’s who he is. Why did he come?
Why is he here? Why is he working in our lives?
You’ve got god, the father, and god that somebody need anybody else.
God, the father, seated, listen, see donors thrown in the heavens, Jesus ceded the father’s right hand, the Holy Spirit in this life on earth working in his children.
Why did god send it? That’s the theme of this message and the title is simply this, the mission of the spirit.
And I want you to turn it to your will to John chapter 16.
And if you recall, we mentioned many of these verses in the first message about who he is.
And I want you to notice in this 16th chapter, beginning in verse 5, what Jesus says.
He says, but now I’m going to him who sent me And none of you asked me where are you going?
But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart, but I tell you the truth, It is to your advantage that I go away.
For if I do not go away, the helper, speaking of the Holy Spirit, will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.
And he, when he comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.
That is, he says, this is the reason I’m sending him. Very specifically why I’m sending him.
So if someone were to ask you today, Well, you Christians believe in the Holy Spirit, who is he in a way?
Or what is he? Could you answer that question?
Could you say to them, well, he’s the promise of the father, and the he is a he’s a person of the Holy Spirit.
And he’s our seal under the day of redemption.
He’s our guide, our teacher, he’s our helper, He is the divine energy and authority by which we carry out the work that god has called us to do.
And if they said to you, then than than exactly tell me why he’s here.
We wanna answer that question because you see, he didn’t just show up.
In the book of Genesis, he’s in the first chapter involved in creation.
All through the Old Testament, he’s involved in the life of the prophets, He’s the one who’s speaking the message to them.
The scripture says, for example, that the Holy Spirit came upon David and anointed him.
And the spirit of the lord came upon Gideon to lead his people to freedom.
And, uh, all through an old testament, you find the spirit of god anointing and coming upon people.
In the new testament, for example, he’s the one who conceives into in the virgin Mary’s womb, the lord Jesus Christ, And then you see the Holy Spirit coming upon him and anointing him for this work at his baptism.
Then up in the wilderness, the Holy Spirit is with him.
The Bible says, And then you read that 4th chapter of Luke when he comes from the wilderness, full of the Holy Spirit, this, uh, the scripture says, full of the Holy Spirit to do the work that god’s calling to do, and he was not long, uh, into that.
And the scripture says that his fame went about everywhere.
And then the Bible says that he went into the temple, and they handed him the book, and he opened it to Isaiah.
And this is what he read. The spirit of the lord is upon me.
Because he had anointed me to preach the gospel as part of what he read there.
So when we asked the question, well, when did he show up?
He’s always been here carrying out the ministry that the father has given him.
And so then, of course, we see him working in, uh, with his disciples, it’s sort of explaining to them who he is.
And then, of course, at Pentecost, he comes in this awesome miraculous fashion to indwell from that moment on every single believer.
Because Romans chapter 8 tells us that the Holy Spirit indwells the heart of every single believer.
Now the reason it’s important that you and I know why he came is for the simple reason.
Many people are trying to do what they’re doing, apart from the Holy Spirit, and absolute failures at it, can’t figure out why their life isn’t fruitful.
Why don’t they have the peace and the joy and the happiness and all the rest that ought to be in the life of a Christian?
So what’s wrong? And a major part of what’s wrong is, their understanding of who the Holy Spirit is, and their relationship to him and how to relate to him and how to allow the Holy Spirit to release his power that is his authority, his wisdom, his knowledge, his understanding through them, to other people.
So when the question comes, why did he come? What’s his mission?
And so the first thing I would say is simply this.
The ministry that he came because the ministry of the Holy Spirit is essential to our salvation.
And somebody says, no, wait a minute.
I got saved a long time ago, didn’t know anything about the Holy Spirit. So did I.
When I was age of twelve, the lord Jesus Christ spoke to my heart one Sunday morning.
I went to the altar, knelt down, ask the lord Jesus Christ to forgive me of my sins.
How much did I know? Very little except that I was a son of Jesus died for my sins, and that if I ask him to forgive me of my sins that he would and he would save me, and that is exactly what happened.
If you just said to me now, Well, tell us about the Holy Spirit.
I’d have probably said who, because I didn’t know. Here’s what I want you to remember.
You do not have to understand what I wanna share this morning in order to be saved.
But once you are saved, it is very important that you and I understand what is the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer, and also what part is it that he plays, and does he work in a person’s salvation?
Because he has the vital part. And somebody says, well, I’ll tell you what.
I’m gonna get safe when I get good and ready, and the answer is, no, you’re not.
You say, well, doesn’t the Bible say who’s the upper call upon the name of the lord should be saved.
That’s exactly what it says. But first of all, who creates the desire in your heart to be saved.
And if you recall what Jesus said in this 6th chapter, uh, but John, here’s what he said.
He said, no one in verse 44, no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day.
Well, who is it that draws him?
It is the work of the Holy Spirit in this life that draws a person to listen, to even desire to be saved.
It is his work. It is the work of the Holy Spirit.
Now let me show you why that’s true.
In ephesians chapter 2, for example, if you turn there for a moment, look at a couple of verses here, because here, Paul describes the condition of the unbeliever.
And he puts it this way.
He says, for example, in this, uh, second chapter, he says, you were dead in your trespassing in sins in which you formally walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that’s now working in the sons of disobedience.
How can a dead person who’s dead the spiritual things have any desire for spiritual things?
You cannot, apart from the Holy Spirit.
Because you see, when a person says, I’m gonna get saved when I get ready. Yes.
You get saved when you get ready to answer the call of the Holy Spirit in your life, then you’ll be saved.
Jesus said, you know what? No one can unless unless the father draws them, unless he draws them.
That is the work of the spirit.
For example, not only does he say we are dead in trespasses and sins, but in Romans chapter 3, he describes god’s view of a person who’s lost, and I want me to at all accept and look, if you will, in the 10th verse, and he says, there is none righteous, no, not one.
There’s none who understands. There’s none who seeks after god than a list of other things.
He says, and the path of the and the path of peace they have not known, and there’s no fear of god before their eyes.
How can a person, there’s no desire for god isn’t seeking god who’s dead in that trespasses and sins, how can that person be saved, not apart from the drawing of the Holy Spirit of god?
So if you, my friend, you had, once in a while, have this feeling in your heart and you have this this sudden interest your heart.
I will, what about this salvation? What about Jesus? What about the cross? What about the resurrection?
What about all of these things? That’s the spirit of god. Beginning to do his work in your life.
And apart from the Holy Spirit, there’s no such thing as a dead person becoming a live person and filled with new life and a new spirit and eternal life sealed with the spirit of god apart from the work of the Holy Spirit.
You say, well, Now if a person’s dead, how they’re gonna be saved if they don’t understand?
This is exactly what Paul is referring to, and I want you to look, if you will, First of all, in, uh, look in 2nd Corinthians, uh, chapter 4 for a moment.
And, uh, this, again, is proof that the person apart from the Holy Spirit cannot be saved because here’s what he says.
Chapter 4 verse 4, uh, or verse 3 of 2nd Corinthians.
And even if our gospel is veiled, that’s hidden, it is veiled to those who perish you.
In whose case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel, the glory of Christ, who is the image of god.
Now watch this. This is the reason that people who are not Christians, people who are unbelievers, sometimes very antagonistic, sometimes just ignore us.
And ignore the gospel nor Christ. The reason to act the way they act is they’re blind.
Now if you said to them, Well, you just blinded, of course, they’d object to that and tell us that we’re just prejudice.
Say, well, it’s here I am prejudiced that I wanna see everybody understand who Jesus is.
Yes, at that prejudice count me in. But my friend, here’s what god says.
Not what I think, but god says, you have been blinded by Satan to the truth of the gospel, your eyes have been veiled from the truth.
And therefore, we should be a little bit more, probably a little more understanding of lost people.
We realize, you know what? Unless the spirit of god works in their heart, unless he unbails the truth, unless he shows them what’s going on, they can’t know.
You know what they’re doing? They’re just doing what comes naturally. They go by reason. They go by rationality.
If it’s not reasonable and not rational, then forget it.
And you recall, for example, in the first, uh, chapter of, uh, first Corinthians that Paul referred to this when he talked about the Greeks and and, uh, how they looked at things.
And is what he said. He said, the preaching of the gospel to these people is absolutely foolish.
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are believing and who has saved, it’s the power of god.
So, for example, think about how foolish the gospel is.
You mean to tell me that this god whom you say is a god of love, infinite merciful, just, and all these things.
If he’s a god of love and he’s a good god, then why would a good god take his only begotten son, his perfect son who had never sin, send him into the world, let him be mistreated, hanged on a cross that is crucified on the cross, almost strip naked, and jeered and mauled and blooded up and crowned and, uh, finally, uh, uh, javeling in his side and finally he dies, you mean to tell me that’s a god of love.
That’s absolutely ridiculous because no father on earth would do his son that way. Correct. Correct.
But what you don’t understand is the mind of god and why did it.
What you don’t understand is the love of god to a rational human mind human thinking That’s irrational.
But to a wonderful god who loves us unconditionally, who loves us enough to sacrifice his own son for our salvation, it is perfectly reasonable, but it’s the spirit of god who must unveil your eyes.
There are many other things that you won’t understand about the gospel. Many other things you won’t understand about truth.
And now, there’s things about truth that you you will not be able to grasp until the spirit of god does something in your heart.
And that is illumin your mind to the truth.
And, for example, Paul in 1st Corinthians again, in that second chapter, if you’ll notice there for a moment, what he says, in, uh, speaking again to that Corinthian church and lots and lots of groups there who had all kind of distorted ideas about truth.
Here’s what he says. In verse 14, though, he’s prefaced it, uh, with some other things about the holy spirit.
Here’s what he says. But a natural man. Now what’s a natural man?
A natural man or woman is a person who just does what’s natural. They live by their own fallen nature.
Their own fallen nature. We’re not told by the spiritual efforts, but a fallen nature.
Every person comes in this world with a bent away from god because we have a sinful nature.
So he says the natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of god for their foolishness to him or her, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
Spiritually understood. So when a person who is unsaved begins to talk to you about your Christian life, they began to criticize things about, what you believe, and you try to explain it.
They don’t understand. I don’t wanna hear any more of that because it doesn’t make, you know, what?
You just hung up on this and you’re weak, or you wouldn’t have to lean on Jesus.
We think, praise god, I’m leaning on him. Yes, I am. You know what?
It, uh, it doesn’t make any sense to them. You believe in a resurrection of a dead man?
I mean, I mean, all the things you you believe that god’s gonna provide all your needs.
That’s where you get that from.
You believe you can just pray up and disguise somewhere, and somebody’s gonna hear you next year.
In other words, it all is foolishness of them because they think they’re gonna live their life and have peace and joy and happiness and prosperity and all the rest.
They don’t need god. Isn’t amazing, have people who do not need him.
Suddenly, they come to the end of life. Money doesn’t count. Prestige doesn’t count. Popularity doesn’t count.
Nobody can keep them alive one more second, but the god whom they’ve rejected.
All of a sudden, their mind gets changed sometime, not all the time.
Who is it that it lomens the mind of a man or woman or a young person?
For example, how can how can how can a child let’s just say six or seven years of age understand enough genuinely understanding enough about their sin, their guilt at that age to want to receive Jesus Christ as their savior, and place their trust in him at a young age and all their lives, attempt to live for him.
That is the work of god.
And you see, it is the work of the Holy Spirit that in lumen your mind.
Listen, the reason you even understand John 3 16 is the Holy Spirit.
That e the reason you understand the scripture is the Holy Spirit. He’s the teaching, as I’ve said before.
I’m not the teacher. The Holy Spirit is the teacher. I’m just a mouthpiece for the truth.
It is the spirit of god who must teach you the truth.
The spirit of god who must open your mind in heart to help you realize what is the truth.
Apart from the Ministry of the Holy Spirit, there is no understanding of the things of god.
So First of all, that’s Illumination. And second, it has conviction.
And this is what he says, the 16th chapter 8 verse, he says it’s it’s for your good that I depart.
When I depart, I’m gonna send the Holy Spirit. Here’s what he’s gonna do.
He’s going to convict you of sin of the righteousness of Christ and of the judgment to come.
So why does a person wanna become a Christian?
Because the Holy Spirit, it lumens their mind, and they begin to understand something about Jesus and about god.
And next thing, you know, they began to feel guilty because they read the scripture.
They heard the word of god.
And they look at the light that they’re living versus the light that god talks about and what happens the holy spirit convicts them of their sin guilt becomes a part of their thinking.
And all of a sudden, this assurance they thought they once had is no longer there.
Then sometimes he creates fear in their life. Of death and facing god without salvation, without the lord Jesus Christ.
The conviction of sin is the work of the Holy Spirit.
And you have seen people who have done all kind of bizarre things.
Take other people’s lives, believe all kind of things, do all kind of acts that to us are totally unacceptable.
And what’s the problem? The problem is they have no conviction about it at all.
Even if the spirit of god has illuminated out their minds to help them see that it’s wrong, have no conviction.
The conviction is the work of the Holy Spirit.
Now listen, How does that work when a person has the illumination of truth?
You don’t need a whole lot of truth. Illumination of truth And that person rejects the little light they have.
What happens? No conviction. They began the terrible process of doing what hardening their heart to the wooing of the spirit of god.
When that person is willing to open their heart, by their choice. What happens is they begin to feel guilty.
They begin to understand that they’re they’re living against god. They’re in opposition to god.
They’re rebelling against god, the out of the path and will and purpose and plan of god in their life.
There’s great conviction. When that illumination moves into conviction, the spirit of god, convicting their heart, then what does he do?
He gives them the he gives them the innate ability.
That is He gives them the gift of repentance and the gift of faith.
He says, for my grace, you say through faith, that not of yourselves. It’s a gift of god.
Not of works less than a man should boast.
That is our very faith and our capacity to repent of our sin is the gift of god is the work of the Holy Spirit, for example.
And I think what’s brought this delight to me personally over the years is simply this.
How many letters from men in prison who’ve lived very, very sinful wicked, violent lives, who, upon hearing the gospel, either many times or sometimes just once or twice, trusted the lord Jesus Christ as their personal savior, repented of their sin, placed their trust in him, and are saved.
And now living a Christian life in prison.
How can a person who’s lived a violent life, sinful life, wicked life, absolutely told her in rebellion toward god, then all of a sudden, something happens the illumination of truth, the conviction of sin, and then think about this because repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin.
You can’t have one without the other. If a person repents is because they believe.
If they believe, listen, repentance is a part of that.
And so repentance and faith that is turning from the life that I have lived before.
And, look, turning to the lord Jesus Christ because I trust what he says, because I trust in him, I’m gonna turn.
You can’t separate the 2. Though we can define the difference in one means turn and when placing our trust in, those 2 come together.
Why? Because the holy spirit enables gives to them the gift of faith and repentance to respond to the illumination of the conviction that god has brought about in their life.
And so what happens now, they have something new going on inside of them.
Because you see, one of another one of the works of the Holy Spirit is is what?
Gee listen, granting them granting them new life.
Now the simplest and the best and most popular verses to turn to would be John chapter 3.
We all know John 316. But I want you to leave me this 1st past discipline.
Jesus is talking to Nickadema, Separris, and he says to Jesus.
Now, uh, he says, We know that you’re a man come from god because these miracles that we see.
Jesus went straight to the point.
He says, except a man be born again, He cannot see the kingdom of god nor can he enter the kingdom of god.
Then he makes this statement. He says, that which is born of a flesh is flesh.
That which is born of the spirit is spirit. That is what’s what happens.
And that is when a person illuminants mine convicted and yields to that conviction.
Here’s what the spirit of god does.
The spirit of god brings a regeneration that is the spirit of god gives new life to that person.
Now they have a new spirit. They have the life of god living inside of them.
And that’s when Jesus said I’m abiding in you and you and me.
What happens when your person receives Jesus Christ is their savior? What does the Holy Spirit do? He absolutely regenerates.
That is he gives new life so that every single believer is dwelt by the life of god.
And what happens is the Holy Spirit comes into indwellers, and he makes it very clear in many scriptures that every single believer is entwelt by the spirit and sealed by the spirit of god until the moment god takes them home.
The work of the Holy Spirit in Salvation. So you take the Holy Spirit out of Salvation.
You can’t get saved. What did he say? He said, twice here.
He said, you can’t under stand the truth apart from the Holy Spirit. Now is the Holy Spirit withholding Truth?
No. The Holy but Jesus said this way, He says, unless my father called you, you’re not coming.
What I want you to say is this, you can’t be saved apart from the minister of the Holy Spirit, no matter who you are, Listen, it would then make a difference if you’ve preached if you’ve preached in a in a pulpit in the churches for years years years, you can’t be saved until the spirit of god draws you, listen, by his awesome power and love to understand the truth, be convicted of your sin, accept the gift of repentance and faith and what?
You have a brand new life. And apart from the Holy Spirit, You cannot.
Now that’s the first reason he sent him.
First reason he sent the holy spirit, the minister of the holy spirit, in our salvation.
The second reason he sent him is the minister of the Holy Spirit in our sanctification.
Somebody says, well, don’t give me don’t give me any big words.
I’m gonna cut it down to just the very small, loving word. Sanctification means holy.
You say, when I can’t be holy, hold it. Watch this.
The word holy means something has been separated unto for another purpose beyond the normal thing.
For example, the 7th day, according to the Old Testament, was a holy day separated.
Listen, it was a day, just like other days, but a day that was sanctified.
It’s the 7th set apart for the worship of god.
There were, for example, many vessels in the Tabernacle temple that were holy set apart only for the use of the uh, high priest who only came in once a year.
The holy of holies, the place only came in once a year, set apart by god, the symbol of the presence of god for them.
Now I want you to remember this carefully, listen carefully.
The moment you trusted Jesus Christ as your savior, you were sanctified.
Now watch this carefully. There are 3 aspects of sanctification.
The moment you trusted Jesus Christ is your personal savior.
God Listen, god set you apart as a child of god and seals you with a Holy Spirit of Promise.
First, in ephesians chapter 1 verse 1340. He sealed you as a child of god.
So every single believer is sanctified, positionally, That’s our position. What’s your position, sanctified?
But there’s another aspect of sanctification, and that’s listen. The progressive work of the Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit set you aside as a child of god. And then what happens?
That begins his progressive work in your life. You say, well, what’s his progressive work?
Well, you were saved at some point in your life. Did you just stay there?
That you just said that I’m saved locked in now. I’m a child of god.
I’m on my way to heaven. And, uh, there I am. No.
What did Jesus say to his disciples and apostles?
He said, As you go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things that I’ve commanded you I’ll be with you every step of the way.
Now the work of the Holy Spirit, from the moment you saved who who got you saved, he begins the work of sanctification, progressive sanctification in your life, which means that god’s, listen, that he is up to what the father set as a goal for every single one of us.
Romans 8 verse 29. He predestined you and me to be conformed to the likeness of his son, which means what?
That the Holy Spirit is working in your life in my life in order to do what, to bring us into such a relationship of intimacy with him, that our character begins to reflect the character of Jesus.
Our behavior begins to reflect the behavior of Jesus, our conduct, our conversation, He says, listen, he predestined us to be conformed to the likeness of his son.
So what does he do? Well, he continues some of the work that he was and when you and I were saved.
Listen, it is the Holy Spirit who gives you understanding when you read the word of god.
Without the Holy Spirit, you can’t understand it. And this is why some people say, my goodness. You know what?
I read that over and over and over again. I didn’t get that. The spirit of god.
This is why you and I can read a passage many, many times, come back to 500th time and say, you know, I never saw that before.
That’s the work of the Holy Spirit.
That’s why, for example, listen, You can sit here week after week and listen to the truth of the gospel.
One person hears one thing. One person hears something else. What’s the Holy Spirit doing?
The spirit of god’s taking the word of god and applying to the individual life according to the need and according to what he knows that person needs at that point in their life.
The Holy Spirit is in the process of progressively sanctifying us. What’s he doing?
Weeding out those things in the light that don’t belong there. He’s pruning out the things that don’t help us.
He’s sending us off, and none of us like saying, we’d like to be polished with a nice silky cloth.
And you know gets out the sandpaper. What’s the sandpaper about?
The sandpaper is about, you know, what he wants us to be.
The sandpaper says there’s some needs in your life.
And when he starts subtracting from your life, he’s trying to get your attention.
For example, when you step out of his will, what’s the Holy Spirit He’s doing his job.
What is that to convict us of sin, even after we’re saved?
To show us the truth of god’s word, show us his path, show us his way, show us his will, that’s his work.
Does he not say trust in the lord with all your heart? Lien not to your own understanding.
In all your ways, acknowledge him, he’ll direct your path, who’s who is it’s directing our path?
It is the spirit of the living god who indwells us to guide us, teach us, and help us.
He’s just doing his work. That’s who he is. So what is he doing?
He’s just doing what he was called to do, promise to do, and that’s his ministry here on earth.
So that He not only came for our salvation, he came for our sanctification.
And if you’ll think about it, what’s he doing?
He’s trying to get us in a position whereby that you and I are pleasing to god in our life.
And, um, we want to live the kind of life that pleases him.
And until this happens in your life until you realize it. Listen. Why is all that true?
Here’s the reason because you can’t live the Christian life apart from the Holy Spirit. You cannot.
Somebody says, well, I am. No. You’re not. You can’t. Listen.
Where did you get the strength the determination, the will, the deep hungering, thirsting, yearning, desire in your heart, to read the word of god, to learn spiritual principles, to apply them to your heart.
That’s the work of the Holy Spirit.
You cannot live the Christian light of par life apart from the Holy Spirit. That’s his sanctifying work.
Now proof of that is this.
Look at the disciples, for example, they walked with him, they heard him, face to face and first and and first John chapter won his how John said it.
In those days, he said, this word of life whom we’ve heard with their ears, and that word is in the perfect tense, which means he’s still ringing in my ears.
That that we have seen with their eyes, we can still see him.
And we have touched and handled of the word of life speaking of Jesus when he was walking with him.
They walked with him. They heard him. They saw people healed blindness and lame and walked on water, raising lazarus.
And you know what? Were they ready to do what Jesus calling to do? They were not.
For example, here’s Peter who sees all of this, and what is he saying to Jesus?
Jesus said now, The son of man must die and be crucified.
And, uh, coming in, Peter said, it’s not gonna happen. Now wait a minute.
Here is this fisherman telling the son of god what’s gonna happen, what’s not gonna happen.
So what does he do? You think, okay, after all that, he’s learned his lesson, and the very night that Jesus needs him the most, what’s he doing?
Saying, I don’t even know this guy. Don’t blame me. I don’t even know it.
What are all the rest of them doing?
When they come after him, Pete, at least, gets in a good fight, is give is always give Pete a little credit.
At least he had the courage to fight.
Now wasn’t the right thing, but to him at that moment is the right thing because his savior, the lord Jesus Christ, he’s ready to fight.
But now when you get Peter by himself, a little teenage girl frightened him.
Oh, I I don’t even know who he is. And then they all leave him.
They they listen, they can’t even stay awake.
Were they ready to do what the lord Jesus called them to do? No. They weren’t.
They could even live the god in life. They could even be faithful to this man.
Work of the Holy Spirit?
Bringing us to the realization, you can’t live a Christian life.
And I can tell you, it took me years before I came to that conclusion.
I grew up in a fellowship for people, who believe that, you know, if you do this and you do that and you do the other, then everything’s gonna be fine, but you have to do it.
And so I can remember It was in my 3rd church before it ever hit me.
God didn’t expect me to try to I used to fast.
I had a travel trailer parked up my backyard.
I’d go up there fast and pray and beg and plead god to do this and do that and do the other.
And you know what? Some I still fail.
And what really got my attention was I was preaching through the book of Galatians, and I was coming to this 5th chapter And I remember thinking one day when I was praying, oh, Jesus.
What am I gonna do when I get to the 5th chapter?
And you talk about the fruit of the spirit as love and joy and peace and goodness and self control, lord, I don’t have that.
Not all the time, every once in a while, I get a good glimpse of that.
And here I am getting ready to tell these people, this is what you will do.
And, lord, you’re not even doing it in you’re not even doing it in my life.
Well, I’m gonna tell you how it got got me.
He waited till the week before the summer was to be preached.
1 Friday night, walked in my study, just had a little study out in the backyard, in my house in Miami.
And, I just had a tay I had a door for a table because I didn’t want anything to distract me, concrete floor.
And I read one chapter, of they found the secret.
First chapter in the book, I thought, oh, Jesus, have I been going the wrong way Have I been preaching stuff that wasn’t quite up to what I should have been preaching because I didn’t know it?
And I realized that night, he never intended for me to live a Christian life.
He intended for me to surrender my life to him so that he can live through me what I would never be able to do myself.
And it was one of the most freeing moments of my life, and I can tell you until you reach that point that you can’t, But he will, he can, and he desires to, you’re gonna struggle over things that you don’t need to struggle over.
The progressive work of the Holy Spirit is what, shaping us, conforming us, keeps it illuminating our minds and hearts to the truth so that We come to the realization that it’s Christ in us through the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit living the life of Jesus Christ through us it’s his power and his authority, and his anointing, and and his work in our heart.
If you could live in any other way, you would have seen something totally different in the lives of these saints of god and the especially of these disciples because there’s no way.
And so the work of the Holy Spirit, Salvation, sanctification.
If somebody says, well, what does that sanctified life look like? Well, there’s a picture of it here.
Turn a few articulations chapter 5 for a moment.
Does this mean that all of this will be true in your life all the time? No.
But it simply means this. There’ll be enough evidence in it that anybody who knows you will see these qualities exercised in your life In other words, it’s a lifestyle for us.
It is a lifestyle for us is what it is. We’re not perfect. Sanctification doesn’t mean perfect.
It means to be set apart by god for god.
Listen to be conformed to the image of god, his son.
You wanna see what a person who is sanctified and being progressively sanctified, here’s what you’re gonna see in their life.
Look at this, if you will, in Galatians chapter 5. Verse 22, notice how it starts.
Not the fruit of the believer, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentle, self control.
In other words, these are the qualities that god is working on.
Sanding, sifting, building, entrenching in our thinking, how do we treat other people? How do we treat them with love?
What does he want us to enjoy in life?
Joy and peace and patience and to be kind to other people and patient toward them, to be good to others to be faithfulness to god, to be gentle in other situations.
In circumstances, under self control, whose control, not self control, but the control of the Holy Spirit.
Is that just some some fantasy.
That is the clear word of the living god, and here’s the thing about it. I’ve lived long enough.
I’ve been a Christian, for 60 years, and I can tell you, you can mark it down.
That passive scripture is absolutely true.
When you allow the Holy Spirit and you understand his work, You understand his power.
He will begin to work those traits into your life like you have never been able to imagine because I can remember thinking, god, it’s hopeless.
I’ll never be able to be that? Well, I’m not saying that I am. I can tell you this.
He’s working on me. And you you and I will never get to the place where we say, well, I’ve arrived, and you just fell off the cliffs, which you did.
Because one of the works of the Holy Spirit is to keep us dependent upon him.
Because you see, once you think that you are there than you’ve been deceived.
All of us need him every day.
The progressive listen, The work of the Holy Spirit position is an act.
He sets you apart as a child of god.
The progressive work of the Holy Spirit is that which continues all of our life until the last moment.
And so, listen, positionally, Wanna, progressively a lifetime, and ultimately, when we die, we’ll glorify into absolute perfection.
Why did he come? He came to sanctify us to make us like his son.
As the 3rd reason, he came the minister of the Holy Spirit. Listen. And that’s service.
Because every single one of us is called to serve the lord.
You say, when I got ahead and called me, yes, he has. Well, what’s he called me to do?
Now I can’t answer that question. But I can tell you this. And I know this to be true.
You see, if I tell you something I can’t prove it by scripture, you have a right to object.
But if I can prove it by the word of god, you need to listen carefully. Is what he says.
For by grace, are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it is a gift of god, not of works, lest any man should boast.
Now for unbelievers, I want you to turn to the next passage.
I know it by heart, but I want you to look at it.
In ephesians chapter 2 verse 10, here’s what he says. Watch this.
Having said that we are saved by grace, then here’s what he says.
Not as a result of work so that one may boast. Watch this, but we are his workmanship.
He’s working on us. Created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of good works, which god, for ordain, that we walk in them.
That is it’s a lifestyle. Why did god save you?
Many people have the idea that god saves them to keep them out of hell.
That’s not the reason he saves us. Listen. That’s a byproduct. He saves us. Listen. Because he loves us.
And he saves us, listen, why?
Because he is glorified in taking a sinful vile wicked human being or just a person who maybe is young is sinful and doing what, transforming their life, because that’s what salvation is.
Salvation is this. Let’s miraculous transformation that takes place in a person’s life when they by faith in the lord Jesus Christ and repentance of their sin receive him as their savior, lord, master.
And so what is he doing? He saves us, created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of good works.
Now what all those work? Is what we do. Make a mistake.
We make the mistake of saying, well, you know, servants of god are those who stand on platforms and sing and play and do these things.
You know who a servant of god is? Every single person’s ever been saved is a called servant of god.
Time. Now let me ask you a question.
Would you not agree that being a godly mother or a godly father in this day and time, raising godly children We have to go to school and be taught things that you do not believe, live in this society where there’s awesome peer pressure, where there’s immorality all around them, and all kind of pornography, and all kind of drinking drugs, raising godly children, and this society is probably one of the most difficult jobs that exist.
You don’t think that takes the Holy Spirit?
Then one of the reasons our kids send such a message because too many parents don’t realize, god will teach you how to raise your own children.
God will show you how to raise them up God will work his awesome work in your life if you let him do it.
And so godly mothers, godly fathers, listen, That that is an awesome sense of service. That’s just one.
Teachers, for example, you may teach in a secular school. You don’t need the Holy Spirit?
Well, they don’t let us talk about Jesus.
Listen, you may not be able to talk about him, but you can live it out.
And there are ways to say and live it out with kindness and love that somebody says, you can learn something different about her, something different about them.
There are all kinds of ways for god to work out his works in their life.
What I want you to say is this, you’ve been called to do something. Now think about it.
Every single one of us is called to be, listen, a living testimony of the Christ who lives within us, our conversation, our conduct, our character, that in itself, listen, There’s passive service, and there is listen.
There is active service. Active service is something I choose to do because god wants me to do passive services.
I’m gonna live it out every day.
Somebody who sees you, somebody who watches you, somebody relates to you, somebody in your school, somebody in your business, somebody in your office.
Listen. They’re watching you. You’re serving god in some ways don’t even realize the kind of impact that you’re having because they’re not gonna tell you.
Now watch this. Sometimes, those people, because they are shy intimidated, a little bit rebellious, they’ll ask you, well, uh, well, how’d you spend how’d you spend your Sunday?
Now that’s what they ask you.
What they really wanna know is What is it about you Christians? And what is it?
What are you feeling? Sometimes they’ll go way around the bush over here because they don’t wanna come up and face truth, and what they really wanna know is they wanna know who is it in you that causes you to behave the way you behave, look the way you look, act the way you act.
Listen. Say the things that you say, and there’s awesome sense of peace and contentment and joy you’re having.
What’s that all about? Do you think they’re gonna walk up to you and say, want you to tell me why you’re so peaceful and joy and happy in life.
More than likely, they’re not. But you have a responsibility to listen He ever responsibility.
Remember, the Holy Spirit in you is going to enable you.
He’s going to enable you to say the right thing. There’s somebody told the apostles.
He said, the Holy Spirit will teach you in the same hour what you ought to say.
And don’t think I haven’t claimed that verse millions of times. Lord, now what about this?
The Holy Spirit will teach you the same hour what you ought to say.
There are times when somebody walks up to you, ask you a question.
It’s an awesome opportunity to witness for Christ.
And here you are just sort of like you got marbles in your mouth.
When somebody opens the door, here’s what you do immediately. The Holy Spirit speak through me.
Do you think he’s gonna say nothing doing? No. He’s not. He’s going to listen.
He will say things through you you hadn’t even thought about.
He’s gonna bring scriptures to your mind that you thought you’d forgotten. He’s listen.
He the the engines begin to turn up in you.
When god opens the door of opportunity, he intends you to step through it.
When people, for example, who even rebellious toward the things of god, he will open a door.
And when he does, listen, you know why this if you don’t bear witness of your faith in Jesus Christ, you’re afraid.
You’re afraid of failure, afraid of criticism, Listen, well, didn’t you say a while ago that you could be passive?
I didn’t say that was your primary thing. I said all of us are passing witnesses of some sort.
But we have opportunities to share the gospel.
And one of the works of the Holy Spirit is to do what?
Illuminate our minds, our sensitivity to give us a discerning spirit, a discerning spirit is a spirit.
Listen, that is able to understand from the point of view of the Holy Spirit.
What is this person really saying? What are they really asking me? What what’s really their true need?
What’s really going on in their life? The spirit of god will give you discernment in those situations and circumstances.
And this is why many people who are not pastors and teachers and all the rest who live out in the secular world, they’re awesome witnesses.
Absolutely. Have the most awesome effect on other people because god has equipped them because they wanted to be equipped.
They wanted to do it. They’ve maybe fumbled and and made some mistakes to begin with, but they knew that god had called them to share their faith.
And so they keep doing it until it becomes not polished. Listen, but powerful.
Now the reason I know you can’t serve god, apart from the Holy Spirit successfully.
Now there are a lot of people who think their success Let me just clarify something.
The size of a church doesn’t make doesn’t declare whether it’s successful or not.
The question is, what did god require for church? Then you decide whether it’s successful and are they doing that?
The success of a person doesn’t mean that they’re a success because they have a position.
They have people in positions who have no business being there. It is in position. It isn’t eloquence.
It isn’t charm. It isn’t charismatic this and charismatic that. You know what?
God uses us and makes us effective.
Listen, not on the basis of what the world thinks, but on the basis of what god thinks.
And you know what he’s looking for?
Men and women who are willing to humble themselves before the living god and acknowledge their absolute dependence upon the Holy Spirit.
Those are the persons that god is going to make a success in whatever they do in life.
And remember this that I if you wanna know what a distorted view of success the world has, Look who they make heroes out of.
Look who they make heroes out of. And you and you’re not you know what?
They’re making heroes out of me. We don’t thank god that’s not the way we live. Thank god.
That’s not what we want in our life. Thank god it doesn’t fit us.
Now here’s the reason you cannot do the work of god’s success for the apart from the Holy Spirit.
You wanna know that said amen? Here’s a reason.
If we could, those disciples watched him walk on water, heal the sick, sight to the blind, take 5 loaves and 2 fishes, and feed over 5000 people.
I mean, one miracle left or the other, Now if you think about all the things that Jesus told them and shared with them that we don’t know is not in the word of god, nobody was sitting there taking dictation, Don’t we wish they were, but they weren’t.
Now after 3 solid years of living with this man, quiet times, out there efficient.
Not you and we don’t think about Jesus laughing. Jesus had to laugh.
And the reason I know he he had to have peace on the inside and contentment and laugh of the kids when they come to him.
Children are not attracted to people who are down in the mouth or who are so serious about godly holy things that there’s no place for kids in that life.
They are not attracted to them, and they were attracted to Jesus. But, you know, here’s what he said.
Here’s the reason I know you can’t serve god successfully apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. Real simple.
Here’s what he said to them. After he arose from the dead, here’s what he said.
Sit down in the city of Jerusalem. Don’t go at that preaching and teaching.
Don’t try don’t don’t do any of that.
Sit down in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed and dude with power from on high.
Until the Holy Spirit comes upon you and equips you and enables you to do the work that I’ve called you to do.
Don’t go out there doing it. Don’t do it. Sit down.
You’d think they ought to be out there just telling everybody about Jesus. He said, mm-mm. Don’t do that.
You’re not ready. And I think sometimes when a fellow gets a degree from seminary, and he thinks he’s ready, you know what?
He didn’t know what Redding he was when he started. He might have some information, but you know what?
Till the spirit of god anoints him until the Holy Spirit comes as to the Holy Spirit who is in his life, begins to to nance him for the work.
Jesus, listen. How did he begin this ministry? God baptized the Holy Spirit anointed him for the work.
Took him up in the wilderness for 40 days.
The Bible says the spirit of god led him around for 40 days and satan tempted him.
What was he doing? Anointing him, preparing him, so that when he launched the ministry, his name went everywhere, not to listen, and they saw all kind of things happening.
People being healed, preaching the truth of the gospel, And then just like in every situation, he said some things that didn’t like.
And the implication that Gentiles could be saved, they wanna stoned him to death.
Jesus knew what they were gonna face. He said, you’re not ready.
Until the Holy Spirit fills you, enables you, equips you, and empowers you to do what I’ve called you to do because I’ve called you to an impossible task.
Now think about this. With no television, no radio, no tracks, no paper, no typewriters, no computers.
No telephones, no cell phones, not even books like we have.
Here’s he made the most ridiculous challenge. Listen this.
To that handful of people, not as many as who are sitting right here, he said.
Going to all the world, preach the gospel of every creature. You gotta be kidding.
As you go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all the things that I’ve commanded your law.
I’ll be with you all the way even at the end of this age.
You gotta be out of your mind.
This group of uneducated fishermen, tax collectors, and you name it, have the commission to get the gospel to the whole world.
Now that did not mean that they were to go to China, United States, Great Britain.
Now what he meant was that they were to go. And as they went, what would happen.
1 would believe, 2 would believe, 4 would believe, 8 would believe, 16, 32, 64, and on on and on.
And what happens here 2000 years later, we’re talking about the same commission, the same holy spirit, the same Jesus, the same god.
But think about this. It was an absolutely impossible task.
He’s telling this group that they had to go into all the world and preach the gospel every creature.
First of all, I think I’m not gonna live that long, lord.
It’d be amazing if you and I knew what they really thought when he said that. What?
Because you see, somebody could have said, well, Jesus, you you never went more than sixty miles from home, and are you telling us to go into all the world?
Here’s what he gave him.
He gave them an impossible task, but he gave him the Holy Spirit.
And the Holy Spirit makes everything impossible possible. So how are we doing it today?
Well, they were telling it one person to another.
And then there were parts that they could ride on.
Did some of those they they had those in those days, but not like we have.
Trax, then electricity.
And now we got cell phones, computers, radio, television, And you know what? We’re the 1st generation, but we can.
The 1st generation that can get the truth of the gospel, isn’t into every single nation, into every single tribe, and every person on the face of this earth, listen, is being able to hear the gospel that some unwritten languages won’t be long for before those people fully understand.
But, listen, god is doing this awesome work of doing what, fulfilling what he told them.
But what I want you to say is this.
He said to them, he said, that’s the commission, but you can’t even do that.
He said, beginning in Jerusalem, Judaism, most parts of the earth. Now he he could have said this.
Look, you’ve watched all this. You’ve heard what I said. Now here’s what I want you to do.
Start in Jerusalem, tell everybody you know.
When you think you have finished in Jerusalem, then go to Judeel, then go to Samaria.
Here’s what he said. He said, I want you to go into all the way.
I want you to begin right here. He didn’t say to stay there till you finish.
He knew, watch this, that they were not ready to do the very work for which he had trained them for 3 solid years, they weren’t ready to do it.
Until the Holy Spirit came upon them.
How do I know that you and I are not ready to do the work that god calls us to do apart from the Holy Spirit?
You say, well, you know, if I’m not ready, then I’m not responsible. Oh, yes, you are.
You and I are responsible. The difference is this.
We either do it effectively by what, by leaning upon, relying upon the Holy Spirit of God to work through us, all we try to do in our own strength, and we’re failures at it.
What I want you to say is this. That’s why he sent him.
That’s why god, the father sent the Holy Spirit to do what, to equip us.
And to enable us to serve him successfully, whatever that may be.
You said, well, the only thing I do is I park cars, you know, you park people.
They they come up in an automobile, but you park in people.
Well, I why do I need the Holy Spirit for that?
Because you can do it with a smile when you don’t feel like it.
You do it in the rain just as droplets. You do it in the sunshine.
I can think of a lot of things that a man who parks, listen people, their automobiles on Sunday morning to be full of the Holy Spirit, It’s that first it’s that first thing that people see and feel and touch in a person’s life that affects them, whether they’re gonna come in the door or you can go through every single responsibility that a believer has.
And when the spirit of god is undergirding you, whether it’s a student in school, whether it’s a teacher, whether it’s a homemaker, businessman, finance, you name it.
The spirit of the living god will enable you equip you, and lumen your mind and heart to make wise decisions.
He will transform your life, your work, and you think about this, salvation, Listen, is an act of faith.
Sanctification is the walk of faith. And service?
What is that? That’s the work of faith.
Faith in the power of the Holy Spirit to enable you to do what god wants you to do.
And here’s what happens. When the Holy Spirit is working through your life, is what you can expect.
You tired times, but you won’t burn out.
You’ll face obstacles, but you won’t give up.
You’ll find yourself oftentimes having to wait that you won’t manipulate circumstances.
You’ll find yourself sometimes in stress, but what happens?
You find yourself stressful and you think, oh, god, how can I do this?
But what happens is you won’t get desperate and do something foolish. You’ll find yourself at times feeling helpless.
But never hopeless. Why?
Because you have the Holy Spirit, living inside of you, he came to Savior, He came to sanctify you, and he came to equip you to do what god called you to do.
So what’s our excuse? We don’t have any.
You just have to decide am I willing to do one of the most fascinating and exciting things in the whole world?
And frankly, I don’t know if anything any more exciting than this, I’ve had a lot of exciting experiences in my life, but think about this.
Tell me what would be more exciting than for you to come to the place in your life that you fully surrender your life to the lord Jesus Christ as best you know how.
Totally surrendered. And then you say, lord, I want you to work in my life, and I’m gonna watch your work.
Let me tell you something.
You will be so surprised at what god will do in your life when you turn it all over to him and you say, god, now I’m gonna watch your work.
I’m still amazed.
After being a Christian 60 years, I’m still amazed at times.
God, watching you work is the most awesome thing But you see, listen, if you’re so enmeshed in the things of the world and daily activities, you don’t give any time to him to listen to him to read his word, and to ask him for your divine guidance.
You know what? He’ll work things in your life. You don’t even give him any credits.
You don’t even see god in that because you’re self centered.
I challenge you to surrender your life.
Absolutely completed to the Holy Spirit who saved you is in the process of sanctifying you and we’re doing awesome work through you you said you saw how is he gonna do that?
You know what? He doesn’t promise to tell us how. He just promises to do his work.
And the only listen, Watch this carefully.
The only thing that’s keeping you from reaching your full potential in life, no matter who you are, is your unwillingness or your ignorance of the work and the power and the willingness of the Holy Spirit, Deuce, to transform you, And then to utilize your abilities, your capacities, your gifts, your knowledge, your understanding, your experience.
That there is awesome work. You do not want to come to death.
We’re all gonna be there at some point.
You do not wanna come to death and look back and think, uh, if I hadn’t been afraid If I had just been willing to launch out, if I had just not given an excuse, you don’t wanna live that kind of life.
You wanna come to the end of life and say, god, yes, I was afraid.
And god, I did fail, but I wanna thank you that in the midst of my fear, I followed you anyway.
When I didn’t see my way clear, I did it in a way.
When I knew that I couldn’t do very well, I tried anyway.
You and I wanna come to that place in that life when we looked back.
And we’re able to say, not that we’re a sinless, not that we’re perfect, not we’re not gonna get there, but god is best I know my heart.
I did what you said, and I can face you and thank you with that.
Amen? You do not wanna come to death any other way.
And the wonderful promise we have are the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit to make it a living reality.
Father, how grateful we are When I think about what you’re willing to forgive us for, put it behind us, what you’re willing to teach us in granted in our thinking?
The opportunities that lay before us because you place them there.
And when we think about what you’re willing to do in the life of any individual if we’re willing.
We’re awed by that father, humbled by it all, And I pray that the Holy Spirit will sink the truth of this message so deep.
It’s inescapable. Thank you that we can watch you work and know in our heart.
Your work is the best work. And we thank you in Jesus’ name.
Amen.