In this study we are going to be looking at the second of the three fold relationship of the Holy Spirit in the world today. Two of these are given to us in John 14:16-17, where Jesus said: "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever--the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you."
The first aspect, which we studied last time, is where the Holy Spirit comes alongside us to draw us to Christ. Once we receive the love of Christ in our lives, accepting Him as Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit then comes in us. In John 14:17 Jesus told his disciples that the Holy Spirit "will be in you" and Jesus used the Greek preposition, EN when He spoke of the Holy Spirit being "in" us.
The reason that Jesus said the Holy Spirit "will be in you", speaking of a future time, was that He had not gone to the cross of Calvary yet, dying and paying the penalty for our sins. The Holy Spirit indwelt believers after He went to the cross and rose from the dead, not leaving His disciples as orphans. Jesus told them in John 16:7, "Nevertheless 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 depart, I will send Him to you."
Thus, at this point, they were still considered Old Testament saints, for the Holy Spirit would not come in them until after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And in John 20:19-22 we read of when the Holy Spirit indwelt the believers, prior to the day of Pentecost. We read "Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ Now when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’" When Jesus said this, the Holy Spirit indwelt these disciples and they became New Testament saints!
Today, once you accept Christ as your Savior, once He is in your life, as you receive the work of the Holy Spirit, you then come into the second relationship of the Holy Spirit, where the Holy Spirit comes IN you! It is as Paul said in I Corinthians 6:19, "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?"
Thus, the mark of every believer is that the Holy Spirit indwells them. If the Holy Spirit is not in you, then you are not a believer. Paul makes this point very clear in Romans 8:9-11, when he said, "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you." Without the life that the Spirit of God gives you, you are not born again, as Jesus said in John 6:63, "It is the Spirit who gives life..."
In knowing that, lets take some time to look at the various workings of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer.
1. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS OUR HELPER
Jesus, as He told His disciples that He was going away, and where He was going they could not follow at this time, encouraged them by telling them He was sending them a Helper, the Holy Spirit. You see, the Holy Spirit, which is exact in nature, attributes, deity, as Christ, was coming to help guide them, and us in our Christian walk.
Let me give you an example of what I mean from the life of D. L. Moody:
A lady once came to Mr. Moody and said, "Mr. Moody, I do not like you."
He asked, "Why not?"
She said, "Because you are too narrow."
"Narrow! I did not know that I was narrow."
"Yes, you are too narrow. You don’t believe in the theater; you don’t believe in cards; you don’t believe in dancing."
"How do you know I don’t believe in the theater?" he asked.
"Oh," she said, "I know you don’t."
Mr. Moody replied, "I go to the theater whenever I want to."
"What," cried the woman, "you go to the theater whenever you want to?"
"Yes, I go to the theater whenever I want to."
"Oh," she said, "Mr. Moody, you are a much broader man than I thought you were. I am so glad to hear you say it, that you go to the theater whenever you want to."
"Yes, I go to the theater whenever I want to. I don’t want to." replied Mr. Moody!
As the Holy Spirit indwells believers, He guides us in the things we should and shouldn’t do. And if God has placed that upon your heart, don’t do them. Don’t resist the work that the Holy Spirit is doing in your life.
2. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS OUR TEACHER
Do you ever wonder how unsaved people, and even saved people can read the Scriptures and come up with the most weird ideas about what the Scriptures say? Why does that happen? Because these things are not within our reach by human intelligence or human experience. They are reveled to us by the Holy Spirit. As Paul said in I Corinthians 2:10-14, "But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
Do you see what Paul is saying? The Holy Spirit teaches us the things of God as we read His Word. He opens up the truths of God to our hearts and our lives. As Jesus said in 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 things that I said to you."
Again, now in I John 2:27, John is speaking of the anointing, which is clearly a reference of the Holy Spirit, said "But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him." Notice, John was speaking of the false doctrine that is out there and then tells us not to get caught up into it, instead get into the truth, the Word of God and allow the Holy Spirit to teach us all truth. As I John 5:6 says, "...And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth."
Not only does the Holy Spirit help to open our hearts to the truths of God, but also He helps us to remember or bring to remembrance the things we have learned. As we have already read in John 14:26, Jesus said "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 things that I said to you."
Now the downside of that is if we don’t read the Word of God, then the Holy Spirit is not going to bring to remembrance that which we know nothing of. Let me give you an example of what I mean.
Stephen, in Acts chapter 7 is brought before the Sanhedrin, the religious counsel, and he gives us a insightful account of Jewish history from the birth of the Jews from Abraham till the coming of the Messiah. Stephen knew the Scriptures and as he was brought before this counsel, the Holy Spirit brought to remembrance that which he already knew, and with boldness he spoke those words. That portion of Scripture is a great commentary on the Old Testament and gives us some interesting insights to what was taking place back then. And the Holy Spirit will do that with each of us, bring to remembrance those things we need to know in a given situation!
3. THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL GUIDE US
So often in life we come to a place in the road and don’t know which way to turn. And it can be frustrating not to know what to do because the obvious is not always the right way. As Christians, we don’t need to worry, or wonder, or at least we shouldn’t. Jesus said in John 16:13, "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come."
Notice that the Holy Spirit will guide us in all truth. How does He do that? In Hebrews chapter 5, verse 14 we read "But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." The "solid food" spoken of in this verse is the Scriptures, the Word of God. You see, the more you dig into the truths of God, found in His Word, the more you are going to be able to discern right from wrong.
You see, you are taking what you have learned, what the Holy Spirit has shown you, and putting it into practice, putting it into your daily life. And like a muscle, the more you exercise it, the stronger it will get, and the same is true of spiritual discernment. The more you apply God’s Word to your life, the stronger you are going to get. You see, it is as Pastor Chuck said in this simplistic and yet profound statement: "It is the Spirit of God working through the Word of God in the hearts of the people of God." As David said, may we believe and apply to our own lives, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Psalm 119:105.
Again, listen to what Peter has to say in regards to what has been given to us, to guide us in all things. We read in II Peter 1:2-4, "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."
Notice, this "divine power" is speaking of the Holy Spirit guiding us in maturity in the Lord, towards that divine nature instead of depravity!
4. THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL CONFORM US INTO THE IMAGE OF CHRIST
Too often we see that salvation is the beginning and ending of our faith. Not true! Hebrews 12:1-4 says, "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin."
You see, once we are saved, once the Holy Spirit comes inside of us to take up residence in us, the sanctification process begins. You see, God, by His Spirit, is conforming us into the image of Christ, which is a life-long process, but don’t lose hope. Paul tells us in Philippians 1:6, "being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."
Turn to Ephesians chapter 3, and lets begin reading in verse 14. Paul said "For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height--to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:14-21.
Like it or not, once we are saved we are on display for the world to see Christ in us, which is accomplished as we yield ourselves to the guiding of the Holy Spirit. That word "dwell" in verse 17 speaks of settling in or making onself at home. Thus, Paul is saying that Jesus should feel perfectly at home in our hearts, in our life.
Again, once you are saved, that sanctification process begins. As Paul said in Ephesians 4:17-24, "This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness."
You see, God is cleaning you up, setting you apart for His use, as a vessel of honor, not from the outside, but beginning on the inside, He works on our hearts, and that will then overflow to the outside, in our actions. God wants to do abundantly in our lives, but He won’t force Himself. He wants to conform us to His image, but we need to submit to His Spirit to guide us and conform us. As Paul said in II Corinthians 3:18, "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."
5. THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL PRODUCE FRUIT IN OUR LIVES
Now this is done by the Holy Spirit producing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. And the fruit of the Spirit is love, AGAPE love, sacrificial, unconditional love. Jesus said in John 13:34-35, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." Another way to look at this is as pastor Skip Heitzig said, "The fruit of the Spirit is the character of Christ in the life of a follower of Christ."
Lets read Galatians 5:16-26 to see what this is all about. We read "I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another."
Now some attempt to curb certain behaviors through counting to ten before they respond, therapy, self-help groups, running away from a given situation, and-so-on. And at times they may find very good results. You may become nicer, but that is not the fruit of the Spirit, it is the flesh trying to control itself, it is imitation fruit. And if you really think about it, all you have changed is your outward behavior, your heart is still unchanged.
Think of it this way. My wife has a wax fruit basket at home that looks very real, so much so you might eat it, my dog tried! But as good as that wax fruit looks on the outside, the inside is very distasteful. And that is what we try to do with the flesh, make it look good, but God wants us to crucify it. You see, as a result of abiding in Christ, being attached to Him, you are going to bear fruit, not imitation fruit!
When you look at Galatians chapter 5, you see that the flesh and fruit are very different. It is "the works of the flesh". That is it is made in our lives because of our egocentric attitude. Things that come out of workshops are made of dead materials, even wood is dead before it is used.
But it is "the fruit of the Spirit" which is grown and not made out of dead works, and too often we look to the gifts as a visible sign that person is saved, filled with the Spirit. How wrong that is. A tree is not known by its gifts but by the fruit it produces! That is the proof of a life surrendered to Christ, yielded to the Holy Spirit! And this fruit is born as we are attached to Christ, the vine of life, as John 15:4-5 says "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."
And as we are attached to Christ, yielding to His Spirit, John 15:8 tells us what that does. We read "When you bear (produce) much fruit, My Father is honored and glorified, and you show and prove yourselves to be true followers of Mine." (The Amplified Bible).
As I have said, the fruit of the Spirit is love, it is singular, not plural. Thus, the 8 things that follow love in Galatians 5:22-23 are 8 characteristics or manifestations of love that is seen in the life of a believer. I like the way that D. L. Moody put it. He said:
Joy is love exalting
Peace is love reposing
Longsuffering is love untiring
Gentleness is love enduring
Goodness is love in action
Faith is love on the battlefield
Meekness is love under discipline
Self-control is love in training
In Knowing that, that these are characteristics or manifestations of love, then we can go to I Corinthians chapter13:4-8a, and again look how love is manifested in the life of a believer. In fact, this portion of Scripture gives to us the definition of what Agape love is all about. Beginning in verse 4 we read, "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails..." In our studies we have seen that the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity, has been sent to us to draw us to Christ. Once we come to Christ the Holy Spirit comes inside us, we, in a sense are a temple of God, and God’s desire is to make us like Himself by transforming us by His Spirit, so that we might bear much fruit.
And as we submit to the Holy Spirit’s guiding, He will be our helper in doing what is right, and keeping us away from that which is wrong. The Holy Spirit will be our teacher revealing the truths of God from the Word of God. He will bring to remembrance those things we need to know in a given situation. The Holy Spirit will guide us down the right path as we gain spiritual discernment that is according to the Word of God. And the Holy Spirit is conforming us into the image of Christ as we submit to Him. It is out of this relationship that the fruit of the Spirit naturally grows in our lives!
I love the way that T. J. Bach puts it. He said: "The Holy Spirit longs to reveal to you the deeper things of God. He longs to love through you. He longs to work through you. Through the blessed Holy Spirit you may have; strength for every duty, wisdom for every problem, comfort for every sorrow, joy in His overflowing service."
As I bring this study to a close, please listen to this story of Wilbur Chapman. It goes like this:
In one of Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman’s meetings a man arose to give the following remarkable testimony: "I Got off at the Pennsylvania depot as a tramp, and for a year I begged on the streets for a living. One day I touched a man on the shoulder and said, ‘Mister, please give me a dime.’
"As soon as I saw his face, I recognized my father. ‘Father, don’t you know me?’ I asked. Throwing his arms around me, he cried, ‘I have found you; all I have is yours.’ Men, think of it, that I, a tramp, stood begging my father for ten cents, when for eighteen years he had been looking for me to give me all he was worth!"
So the heavenly Father is waiting for you. Why not receive the unsearchable riches in Christ now? Folks, God wants to make us like Himself by transforming us by His Spirit that we might bear much fruit to His glory!
In our next study we are going to be looking at the third working of the Holy Spirit, that is the empowering of the believer by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses of Christ, as Acts 1:8 says, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."