Sunday
Morning Bible Study
July 4, 2004
The Work of the Holy Spirit – pt. 2
Illustration
Once upon a time there was a shepherd tending his sheep at the edge of a
country road. A brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee screeches to a halt next to him.
The driver, a young man dressed in a Briani suit, Cerutti shoes, Ray-Ban
sunglasses, Jovial Swiss wrist watch, and a Bhs tie gets out and asks the
shepherd, “If I can guess how many sheep you have, will you give me one of
them?” The shepherd looks at the young man, then looks at the sprawling field
of sheep and says, “Okay.” The young man parks the SUV, connects his notebook
and wireless modem, enters a NASA site, scans the ground using his GPS, opens a
database and 60 Excel tables filled with algorithms, then prints a 150 page
report on his high tech mini printer. He then turns to the shepherd and says,
“You have exactly 1,586 sheep here.” The shepherd answers, “That’s correct! You
can have your sheep.” The young man takes one of the animals and puts it in the
back of his vehicle. The shepherd looks at him and asks, “Now, if I guess your
profession, will you pay me back in kind?” The young man answers, “Sure.” The
shepherd says, “You are a consultant.” “Exactly! How did you know?” asks the
young man. “Very simple,” answers the shepherd. “First, you came here without
being called. Second, you charged me a fee to tell me something I already knew.
Third, you don’t understand anything about my business - and I’d really like to
have my dog back.”
Are you learning to recognize the Holy Spirit by what He does?
He’s not a consultant like the one in our story. He doesn’t come in to you if He’s not
called. He doesn’t charge a thing. And He knows more about your business than
you do.
We’ve talked about the Holy Spirit as a person. He’s not some impersonal
force, He’s a real person. We have a relationship with real people. And we’ve
talked about the deity of the Holy Spirit. He isn’t just any old person, He’s
God.
We’ve been talking about the Work of the Holy Spirit. Last week we talked about
how the Holy Spirit brings conviction, how He points to Jesus. The Holy Spirit
gives us assurance about our relationship with God. He teaches us and guides
us.
1. Comforter
(John
14:16-18 KJV) And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide
with you for ever; {17} Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot
receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he
dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. {18} I will not leave you comfortless:
I will come to you.
(John 14:18 NLT) No, I will not abandon you as orphans--I will come
to you.
another – allos – another
of the same kind
Comforter – parakletos –
called to one’s side to help
Jesus had been the one that was there to help them. He’s answered their
questions. He taught them the truth. He showed them how to live. He’s given
them guidance.
And now that He’s about to leave them, He wants to reassure them that He’s
not going to leave them all by themselves.
Wouldn’t it have been incredible to have lived with Jesus for three years?
Ask Him any question? We have the Holy Spirit, the “other” comforter alongside
us.
Illustration
One of the big fads for the rich and famous is to have a personal
trainer. This person comes to your house
and you pay them to make you exercise and get you in shape.
In a way, the Holy Spirit is kind of like our own personal trainer. His goal is to get you in shape spiritually.
No longer alone.
Sometimes we can get quite uncomfortable being alone. We tend to turn on radios or TVs to make
noise so we won’t feel alone.
Some people like to call people up or have people over so they won’t be
alone. They will plan things for every
night of the week so they won’t be alone.
But what if God wanted you to be alone with
Him?
When Elijah was at one of his low points in life, he found himself on the
run. He ended up in a cave in the desert
where he complained to God.
(1 Ki 19:11-13 KJV) And he
said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD
passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces
the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind
an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: {12} And after the
earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still
small voice. {13} And it was so, when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face
in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And,
behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?
God was not in the big wind, the earthquake, or the fire. But God did begin to speak through this
“still, small voice”. God told Elijah
about what he needed to do. God told
Elijah about people he needed to speak to.
God told Elijah that he wasn’t alone. but there were still 5,000 left who hadn’t
bowed their knee to Baal. God spoke to
Elijah through the still, small voice.
(Psa 46:10 KJV) Be still,
and know that I am God:
2. Prayer
(Rom 8:26-27 KJV) Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities:
for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself
maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. {27} And he
that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he
maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
We have a hard time knowing how to pray. Why?
We ask with the wrong motives. (James 4:1-3)
We don’t understand what really needs to be done.
Illustration
In his book Maverick, Ricardo
Semler tells of a lesson he learned working at Semco: “We were in yet another meeting ... when we
came to the purchase of $50,000 worth of file cabinets. Several departments had
been waiting months for the cabinets and in desperation had decided to pool
their requests. ...
“We didn’t buy a single new file cabinet that day. Instead, we decided to
stop the company for half a day and hold the First Biannual Semco File
Inspection and Clean-out ...
“Our instructions were simple: We told everyone to look inside every file
folder and purge every nonessential piece of paper ...
“I was one of Semco’s biggest file hogs, with four large cabinets and a
request for two more. After our cleanup, I trimmed down to a single cabinet,
and that was pretty much how it went throughout the company ... The cleanup
went so well that when everyone had finished, Semco auctioned off dozens of
unneeded file cabinets.” Sometimes what we think we need isn’t what we really
need. When we pray, we learn to distinguish between needs and wants.
-- Terry Fisher, Milford, Ohio.
Leadership, Vol. 15, no. 4.
Illustration
William Hendrickson illustrated this
ministry of the Spirit by telling of a pastor who became seriously ill. The congregation dearly loved him and prayed
earnestly, “Lord, please restore him to health.” But he died. At the funeral, a minister who had been the
pastor’s lifelong friend spoke lovingly and with insight. He said, “Perhaps some of you are in danger
of arriving at the conclusion that the heavenly Father does not hear
prayer. He does indeed hear prayer. But
in this case two prayers (may have been) opposing each other. You were praying, ‘O God, spare his life, for
we need him so badly.’ The Spirit’s
groaning prayer was, ‘Take him away for the congregation is leaning too heavily
on him, not upon Thee.’” The Father
answered the prayer that the Spirit offered on their behalf.
The Holy Spirit knows what God’s will
is. He knows what to pray for.
Sometimes He prompts us, giving us an
idea to pray for somebody.
Sometimes we just groan or even pray in
tongues, and while we’re groaning, He’s praying.
3. Fruit
Jesus said you could tell a tree by the
kind of fruit it produces. An olive tree produces olives. A lemon tree produces lemons. A cherry tree produces cherries.
If the Holy Spirit is really at work in
your life, then He will produce certain kinds of thing in you. These aren’t
things that you have to work at to manufacture; they are things that happen naturally
because the Spirit is working in your life.
(John
15:1-8 KJV) I am the true vine, and
my Father is the husbandman. {2} Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he
taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may
bring forth more fruit. {3} Now ye are clean through the word which I have
spoken unto you.
Branches that are bearing fruit are going to be cut back from time to time
so they will produce more fruit. If the
branch gets too “leafy”, the life of the vine is spread too thin and the fruit
suffers. Jesus “cleans” or “prunes” us
through His Word.
{4} Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch
cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye,
except ye abide in me. {5} I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth
in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can
do nothing.
The word “abide” simply means to “stay
put”, “remain”, or “stay connected”.
We bear fruit simply by staying connected to Jesus.
{6} If a man abide not in me, he is cast
forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the
fire, and they are burned.
Branches that are severed from the trunk simply wither and die. They are useless, good as dead.
{7} If ye abide in me, and my words abide in
you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. {8} Herein is my
Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
When your life is connected to His
Word, you’ll bear fruit. God desires
that you bear much fruit.
What are you connected to?
Illustration
Any thief knows that the easiest way to
steal gasoline from a car is to siphon it from the other guy's tank into your
own. Stick a rubber hose in his gas
tank, suck on the other end of the rubber hose until you get a mouth full of
the gas, then spit it out. From then on
the gasoline will flow into your tank. A
thief decided to siphon gas from Dennis Quiggley's motor home in Seattle. When
Dennis, inside the motor home, heard the noises outside he investigated and
discovered the thief curled up on the ground violently vomiting. Intending to suck up the contents of the gas
tank the thief had put his hose into the wrong hole -- and had sucked up the
contents of the sewage tank instead. The thief, a boy 14 will not be prosecuted,
Dennis and the police agree that he has suffered enough.
Associated
Press, 8/7/91
When we are connected to the Holy
Spirit, He produces fruit in our life:
(Gal 5:22-23 NLT) But when the Holy
Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, {23} gentleness, and
self-control.
Unconditional love for people who don’t deserve it. Joy and peace in dark
stormy times. Patience with difficult
people. Moral integrity when others
cheat (kindness), uprightness in heart and life (goodness), others can count
you being dependable, gentleness when you ought to be rough, self-control when
you want to give in.
The more we let the Holy Spirit work in our lives, the more of this He’ll produce
in us.
Is your life producing fruit?
In Living
Faith Jimmy Carter writes:
A group of Christian laymen involved in
missionary work approached a small village near an Amish settlement. Seeking a
possible convert, they confronted an Amish farmer and asked him, “Brother, are
you a Christian?”
The farmer thought for a moment and
then said, “Wait just a few minutes.” He wrote down a list of names on a tablet
and handed it to the lay evangelist. “Here is a list of people who know me
best. Please ask them if I am a Christian.”
Sometimes we’re not so honest about ourselves. What would others say about
your life? What would those who know you best say?
4. Holiness
“Holiness” or “purity” is not an optional thing for a Christian. It comes
with the territory.
(1 Th 4:3-8 KJV) For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain
from fornication:
Another word for “fornication” is “immorality”. It simply means sex outside of marriage.
{4} That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in
sanctification and honour;
God wants you to know how to handle your own body (vessel).
{5} Not in the lust of concupiscence (“lustful passion”),
even as the Gentiles which know not God: {6} That no man go beyond and defraud
his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as
we also have forewarned you and testified. {7} For God hath not called us unto
uncleanness, but unto holiness. {8} He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not
man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.
God’s will is for us to be holy. It’s
not an option. Here, in writing to the Thessalonians, Paul talks about not
living in immorality as an example of holiness. But holiness goes far beyond
the issues of immorality. Holiness is that place where you don’t feel like you
have to hide anything from God.
If you have a problem with wanting to
be holy, your problem isn’t with me, it’s with God. Your problem is with the
“Holy” Spirit, whose purpose it is to produce holiness in your life.
Holiness should never be about being
better than someone else. Our heart
should never be to be “holier than thou”.
Or, “At least I’m not as bad as so-and-so”.
The goal of holiness is to be more like
our Father.
(1 Pet 1:14-16 NLT) Obey God because you are his children. Don't
slip back into your old ways of doing evil; you didn't know any better then.
{15} But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God--who chose you
to be his children--is holy. {16} For he himself has said, "You must be
holy because I am holy."
When Jesus comes into your life,
everything changes.
Illustration
In his early life, the great German
sculptor Johann von Dannecker gained a reputation for his statues of Ariadne
and the Greek goddesses. Approaching his
prime, Dannecker felt he ought to devote all his strength and time to the
creation of a masterpiece, so he set about to carve a figure of Christ. Twice he failed before he finally carved a
statue so perfect that when people gazed upon it, they were moved to adore the
Savior it portrayed. Years later,
Napoleon sent for Dannecker and asked him to “make for me a statue of Venus for
the Louvre.” Dannecker refused, sending
the French emperor this message: “Sir, the hands that carved the Christ can
never again carve a heathen goddess.”
Illustration
Oswald
Chambers (1874–1917) wrote,
It is quite true to say, “I can’t live
a holy life,” but you can decide to let Jesus make you holy.
That’s what happens when you let the
Holy Spirit do the work He wants to do in your life. He makes you more holy.
5. Preservative
I believe that when Christians are present in a society, the Holy Spirit
will work through them as a preservative in that society. Jesus said,
(Mat 5:13
KJV) Ye are the salt of the earth
As wicked and immoral as our society is, I believe this preserving work of
the Spirit through us has kept our nation from going even farther off the deep
end.
I believe that the work of the Holy Spirit through the church is what is
keeping the antichrist from taking power.
(2 Th 2:7 NLT) For this lawlessness is already at work secretly,
and it will remain secret until the one who is holding it back steps out of the
way.
The “one that is holding it back” is the work of the Spirit through the
church. When the church is removed from the earth in the Rapture, the
antichrist will step onto center stage in the world.
Frankly I’ve become a little disappointed with the relationship with
politics and the church. I’ve felt that
there have been times when certain politicians or certain political parties have
only tried to take advantage of the church.
Yet one way God can use Christians in
the United
States right now is through their voting. We have a special system of
government. You are the core of the government. The people that make decisions
are people that are elected to represent you. When you look at the last
Presidential election and how it hinged on a few hundred votes in Florida, it reminds us how important our vote is.
I believe every Christian of voting age
ought to be registered to vote and ought to vote in every election. Please
understand, I’m not talking about voting Republican or Democrat. I’m talking
about voting as a Christian. Be a preservative.
Illustration
Christianity is not just a
high-sounding ritual which we perform on Sundays. Christianity is abiding by
Biblical standards of personal holiness and in turn seeking to bring holiness
into the society in which we live.
--
Loving God, Charles Colson