The Indwelling Spirit
(Pastor Terry Reese, Valley GBC of Armagh, PA; 2/6/22)
Intro: The Power from on High.
Acts 1:3-8 ESV He presented himself alive
to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days
and speaking about the kingdom of God. (4) And while staying with
them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the
promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; (5)
for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit
not many days from now.” (6) So when they had come together, they
asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
(7) He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons
that the Father has fixed by his own authority. (8) But you will
receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the
earth.”
John 15:5 ESV I am the vine; you are the
branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit,
for apart from me you can do nothing.
We need such power! Hyper Freewill advocates
demur at the idea that God modifies or influences our wills—but what else is
Christianity about? Regeneration, Sanctification, Glorification… Thankfully, God
assumes control our lives, overpowers our stubborn hearts, and transforms us!
Amen!
We have also been given a great task: to be the Lord’s witnesses & faithfully represent Him unto a lost and dying generation that, by nature, hates Him! We need POWER to fill an otherwise impossible mission!
1Cor 2:14 ESV The natural person does not
accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is
not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
Acts 1:8 ESV But you will receive power
when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Matt. 28:19-20: "Go therefore and make
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and
lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
I.
The Promise of the Holy Spirit, fulfilled at Pentecost; a NEW thing!
John 16:6-7: "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 will
not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
The
permanent and universal indwelling of Christian Believers is a uniquely post-Pentecostal
(Acts 2) ministry of the Spirit. A key passage that anticipates and describes
this mystical union is John 14:16-20:
"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, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him,
but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. I will not
leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will
no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. In
that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.”
II.
The contrast of the Old Testament.
The indwelling of the Spirit was known
in OT times, but in a markedly different manner than what we encounter
in the NT, in that it was characterized by the fact that it was 1) selective, 2) temporary, 3)
not a distinctive mark of one’s spiritual condition.
The Spirit’s abiding Presence within New
Testament Era believers is unlike the Spirit’s temporary “coming upon”
certain select individuals in Old Testament Times on various special
occasions for the special purpose of empowering them for specific,
temporal ministries (cf. Judges 14:6, 1 Sam. 11:6, Ex. 31:1-5).
Examples:
o The first Judge, Othniel,
was empowered to defeat Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia (Judges 3:10)…
o In Judges 6:34, the
Spirit comes upon Gideon to empower him to deliver the nation from
Midian.
o The Spirit of the LORD
came upon Jephthah (Judges 11:29), leading him to victory against the Ammonites.
o The Spirit came upon
and physically empowered Samson (Judges 14:6, 19)…
o Saul was empowered against
Ammon (I Sam. 11:6)…
o Bezalel, the son of Uri (Ex.
31)…
2-5:
"See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of
the tribe of Judah. I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in
understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship, to make
artistic designs for work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, and in the cutting
of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, that he may work in all
kinds of craftsmanship.
Generally presented in temporal terms: associated
with particular tasks or ministries—and could be lost!
1Sam 16:14 Now the Spirit of the LORD
departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the LORD tormented him.
Ps 51:11 Cast me not away from your
presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
III.
The Spirit in the Ministry of Christ.
Christ was Deity, in-and-of Himself—yet the Messiah
also ministered in the power of the Holy Spirit in the Days of His Humility,
availing Himself as a True Man to the same spiritual provisions made available
to the Lord’s servants today.
Isa 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I
uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he
will bring forth justice to the nations.
Isa 11:1-2 There shall come forth a
shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
(2) And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of
wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of
knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
Without getting into great detail, the Spirit
was present in the life and development of Christ from beginning to end—and His
reliance upon the Presence of the Spirit foreshadows the proper role of Spirit
in our lives. Ryrie:
“If
the sinless Son of God used these ministries of the Holy Spirit, how can we
expect to live independently of His power?”—Basic Theology
IV.
The Spirit in the NT: His post-Pentecostal ministry.
A. At Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, we see the Spirit coming in in Acts 2, ten days after the Ascension, in fulfillment of Jesus’ Promise to send the Paraclete.
B.
NT Distinctives.
In marked contrast, New Testament Era Spirit-indwelling is universal unto all members of the
Household of God, and is permanent in nature (John 14:16, Eph.
4:30). Thus, both individually and corporately, Church Age believers literally
become living Temples, or Houses of God (1 Cor
Again,
this indwelling is a gift unto all who believe, granted at
salvation (John
John 7:37-39 On the last day of the feast, the
great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me
and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart
will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom
those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been
given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Such passages as Rom. 5:5, 1 Cor. 2:12, and 2
Cor. 5:5 speak with the assumption that the Spirit is the common possession of
all who believe.
Indeed, even the less-than-mature but genuine
believers of Corinth (I Cor.
Gal 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works
of the law or by hearing with faith?
Indeed, not to possess the Spirit is the
certain mark of an unsaved person (Rom. 8:9).
Rom. 8:9: “However, you are not in the
flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if
anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”
The Presence of the
Spirit is offered as the certain Pledge, the unbreakable Seal, the utterly
undeniable Proof that in point-of-fact, we truly belong to God!
1John 4:13: “This
is how we know that we abide in Him and He in us: He has given us His Spirit.”
Eph 1:13 In
Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the
guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise
of His glory.
V. Applications.
A. We need to acknowledge our need for & dependency upon the Spirit! The Spirit was given for a reason and a purpose! To rule, to counsel, to guide, to lead, to instruct, to illuminate from His Word, to edit our prayers…
B. We need to be conscious of the great fact and approach it with a holy reverence! God’s people have come to take this for granted: we are privileged to serve as living Temples of the Holy Ghost! We ALONE amongst the Human Race! What grace; what an outpouring of unmerited favor!
C. We need, as proper hosts, to be mindful of our Divine Guest! What kind of home and environment do we provide for Him? Where is our hospitality?
Yet, we take His Holy
and Divine Presence within us for granted—just one more proof of
our inestimable need for Him!
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