The Spirit's Work in Individual Believers

 

The Spirit’s Multi-Faceted Work in the Life of Believers

(Pastor Terry Reese, Valley GBC, Feb. 20, 2022)

 

Text: Gal. 5:16-26.

 

Intro. William Carey, in a message delivered unto the Baptist Association Meeting at Nottingham, England on May 30, 1792, said "Expect great things; attempt great things." This he said, in order to inspire and encourage his brethren to launch out into the world, with regard to the missionary enterprise.

 

God has lofty expectations for us, and has given us an astoundingly high bar: to effectively serve as ambassadors, representatives, and witnesses for our Lord Jesus Christ both at home and abroad. But to do this requires power—the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4-5, 8, John 20:22, Mark 16:17-18, Matt. 28:20)!

 

Divine Goals: It is God’s will that we be as One, both spiritually and experientially… that we build up one another… that we be progressively sanctified… that we mature… that we reflect the beauty of Christ…

 

 

The Spirit’s Multi-Faceted Work in the Individual Christian Believer

  

1. Regenerates - John 3:5, Titus 3:5

Ezek. 36:26-27: I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.

 

John 3:3: Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."

 

Titus 3:5-8: ⁵He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, ⁶whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

 

Regeneration: a theological term describing rebirth; To be “born again” is to experience a new generating or second genesis; a new beginning. Regeneration by the Holy Spirit is a radical change into a new kind of being; we are changed from spiritually dead human beings into spiritually alive human beings. The Spirit recreates the human heart, quickening it from spiritual death (Eph. 2:1, 3, 5) to spiritual life.

 

2. Indwells - 1 Cor. 6:19, Rom. 8:9

Firmly to be believed, but hard to conceive, best apprehended through metaphors; indwelling is the abiding presence of the Spirit.

 

1Cor 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?

Rom 8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

 

This truth is humbling, encouraging, and demanding.

3. Baptized “in” or “with” the Spirit - 1 Cor. 12:13

1 Cor. 12:13  For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

Eph. 4:4-5: There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism

 

The baptism of the Holy Spirit may be defined as that work whereby the Spirit of God places the believer into union with Christ and into union with other believers in the body of Christ at the moment of salvation.

 

We are immersed into the universal church. ALL genuine believers are incorporated into the Body of Christ; the Spirit is the Body’s organic vitality. We are surrounded by the Spirit’s very life and power. We are united to one another in the Spirit.

 

4. Seals - Eph. 4:30

Eph 4:30  Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.

Eph 1:13-14  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.

 

The Holy Spirit is referred to as the “deposit,” “seal,” and “earnest” in the hearts of Christians (2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30). The Holy Spirit is God’s seal on His people, His claim on us as His very own; the “earnest” money or “pledge,” given in advance as a security or down payment for the rest. The gift of the Spirit to believers is a down payment on our heavenly inheritance, which Christ has promised us and secured for us at the cross. It is because the Spirit has sealed us that we are assured of our salvation. No one can break the seal of God.

 

5. Fills - Eph. 5:18

Eph 5:18  And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit…

 

A matter of control; apart from Christ, we can do nothing (John 15:5). The Spirit controls the believer’s life—his thoughts, speech, attitudes, conduct, and labors. Note the descriptive consequences of the Spirit’s fullness…

 

Eph 5:18-21  ¹⁸And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, ²⁰giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

 

A continuing obligation and repeatable experience… We should be so completely yielded to the Holy Spirit that He can possess us fully and, in that sense, fill us.

 

6. Leads, or guides - Rom. 8:14

Rom 8:14  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

 

A matter of both guidance and submission to his influence and control. The Spirit is represented as influencing, suggesting, and controlling. He uses a variety of means to accomplish this.

 

Our gracious, loving Guide, whose “leading” is enjoyed by all in whom is the Spirit of God’s dear Son, shows that they also are “sons of God.”

 

7. Imparts special gifts - 1 Cor. 12

1Cor 12:4-7  ⁴Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;  ⁵and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; ⁶and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. ⁷To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

 

The differences between spiritual gifts and talents:

1) A talent is the result of genetics and/or training, while a spiritual gift is the result

of the power of the Holy Spirit.

2) A talent can be possessed by anyone, Christian or non-Christian, while spiritual

gifts are only possessed by Christians.

3) While both talents and spiritual gifts should be used for God’s glory and to

minister to others, spiritual gifts are focused on these tasks, while talents can be used entirely for non-spiritual purposes.

 

There are three Biblical lists of the “gifts of the Spirit:”

1) Rom. 12:6-8: prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leadership,

and mercy.

2) 1 Cor. 12:4-11: the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, healing,

miraculous powers, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues.

3) 1 Cor. 12:28: healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

 

8. Teaches & illuminates - John 14:26

John 14:26  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my Name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

 

1 Cor. 2:12-16: But we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit from God, so that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God. Which things we also speak, not in words taught in human wisdom, but in Words taught of the Holy Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. But a natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But the spiritual one discerns all things, but he is discerned by no one. For "who has known the mind of the Lord?" "Who will teach Him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

 

1 John 2:27  And the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone teach you. But as His anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and as He taught you, abide in Him. [cf., v. 20]

 

Rev 2:11  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

 

9. Sanctifies - 2 Thess. 2:13

2Thess 2:13  But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

 

10. Produces Fruit - Gal. 5:22

Gal 5:22-23  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

 

11. Witnesses - Rom. 8:16

He bears witness to the fact of our redemption…

Rom 8:15-17  For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"  The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

1John 4:13  By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

 

The Holy Spirit furnishes evidence to our minds that we have truly been adopted into the Family of God. Is the Fruit of the Spirit present in our lives? Some introspection is required!

 

12. Intercedes - Rom. 8:26

Rom 8:26  Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

 

He edits and makes acceptable our prayers before the Father.

 

Barnes:

The reasons why Christians do not know what to pray for may be,

(1) That they do not know what would be really best for them.

(2) They do not know what God might be willing to grant them.

(3) They are to a great extent ignorant of the character of God, the reason of his dealings, the principles of his government, and their own real needs.

(4) They are often in real, deep perplexity. They are encompassed with trials, exposed to temptations, feeble by disease, and subject to calamities. In these circumstances, if left alone, they would neither be able to bear their trials, nor know what to ask at the hand of God.

 

13. Raises and changes the body - Rom. 8:11

Rom 8:11  If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.