SPIRITUAL
FULLNESS AND PERSONAL HOLINESS
Galatians
5:16; Ephesians 5:18
I remember the first time my Dad let me mow the grass. The task of cutting an entire lawn with an
old push mower was virtually impossible for a little kid but with his close
supervision and the power mower, the impossible became possible. I still remember putting my hands on the
cross bar behind the mower, my Dad standing behind me and him placing his hands
over mine on the bar. In a few short
steps, I was mowing…or at least that is how it appeared to me. The truth is that the strength I did not
have to push that big old mower was provided by my Dad, doing for me what I
could never have done on my own…nor would he have expected me to do. And the power of the mower cutting the grass
completed the work. The vibrating of my
hands under my Dad’s as we held onto the handle gave me a sense that we could
take on whatever task was before us!
All I had to do was keep in step with my Dad.
You may have said at some
point in your life as a follower of Christ, “Living the Christian life is
hard!” The truth is that it is impossible…unless you discover that God
never intended for you to do it on your own.
What God calls us to do, He equips
and empowers us to do!
God calls us to an impossible
task…becoming holy just as He is holy.
But He then shows us how and provides the power…all we need to do is be
willing to “keep in step with the
Spirit!”
Galatians 5:16, 25
16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not
gratify the desires of the sinful nature...
25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step
with the Spirit (NIV)
As we have
examined the subject of holiness over the past few weeks, you may have
concluded that holiness is God’s desire for us, that holiness is a vital part
of our calling to be followers of Christ—but you have no intention of pursuing
holiness, making any changes in your life, or getting more serious about
ridding your life of what is unholy—all because you view holiness as an
impossibility.
THESIS: Personal holiness cannot become a reality
until we are yielded to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
To be able to understand this concept
more fully, we will break it down into two major headings, one for our study
today and one for our study next week.
We must learn how to recognize and surrender to THE SOVEREIGN DOMINION
OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. And we must learn
what it means to set up and secure THE SACRED DOMAIN OF A HOLY LIFE.
I. THE SOVEREIGN DOMINION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
--Until we have an appreciation and understanding of the
work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, the dream of pursuing holiness and the
desire of becoming holy will frustrate rather than fulfill us.
--How many Christians do you know—perhaps even you—who are
so overwhelmed by the impossible call of God to holiness that they never make
any attempt to do what He requires?
--This morning, I want to review for our benefit and mutual
encouragement what God’s Word tells us about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in
our lives.
--This cannot be an exhaustive study of the full biblical
doctrine of the Holy Spirit but I want to point out four basic issues that
relate to the matter of our personal holiness.
--How can we be holy unless we are equipped and empowered to
be by God Himself in the personal presence of the Holy Spirit?
A. To be worthy of the Holy Spirit
--No one is worthy of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our
lives because our sin nature rendered us unfit candidates for One whose very
name declares His nature—Holy Spirit!
--Please make note of the fact that the Holy Spirit is a
person, the third person of the Trinity, and as such is not just a cosmic force
or power—He is Holy Spirit and should not be referred to in an impersonal
manner (some persist in speaking of the Spirit as “it” instead of as “He”).
--How then can we expect any help from One of whom we are
utterly unworthy and upon who we have no claim?
Eph. 1:13-14 13In
Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your
salvation — having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit
of promise, 14who is given
as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own
possession, to the praise of His glory.
Have you noticed how differently men and women prepare for having
guests over? At least in our house,
Cathy goes all out to make sure everything is perfect for their arrival. Although our house is always clean (she makes
sure of that!), everything gets a special touch up when we know guests are coming.
In order for the Holy Spirit to
come and reside in us, the dwelling place needs a major clean-up—something only
Jesus Christ can do. To be worthy of
the presence of such an exalted person as God Himself, we must be made worthy
by being made clean!
--By trusting in Jesus Christ for our salvation, we have
been made worthy of living by the Spirit, with the Spirit and in the Spirit
because the cleansing power of the blood of Christ removed from us all that
made us unworthy.
--Until the death of Christ on the cross, the human heart
could not be pure and undefiled because the penalty had not been fully paid,
but now we have been made worthy by the grace of Jesus Christ to receive “the
Holy Spirit of promise.”
1 Cor. 6:11 And such were some of you; but you were washed,
but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.
--Therefore, to be worthy of the Holy Spirit’s ministry in
our lives, we must first be forgiven for our sin and cleansed from
unrighteousness by the blood of Jesus Christ—putting our faith in Him and
receiving Him as Savior.
B. To be indwelt by the
Holy Spirit
--As wonderful and reassuring as it was to have my Dad’s
hands resting on mine when I first tried to mow the lawn, God’s plan goes far
beyond an external presence—He comes in to reside in our hearts, to abide in
us.
John 14:16 “And I
will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with
you forever; 17 that is the
Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him
or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you.
--Somehow we have cultivated the notion that God is out
there somewhere, removed from us and remote to us, but the fact remains that
when we become followers of Jesus Christ He comes and establishes His place
within us.
1 Cor. 6:19 Or do
you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom
you have from God, and that you are not your own?
--Can you see why we have to understand more about the
ministry of the Holy Spirit if we are to grasp God’s plans for us to become
holy?
--We are never alone, never apart from His presence, never
separated from His love, never cut off from His power!
--He is there and His presence forces the issue of personal
holiness in a way that nothing else can.
The news announced this week
that cameras are being set up to monitor traffic to catch those who run red
lights. By putting up the signs, many
will stop who fear being found out. The
clear evidence of cameras to prove our guilt makes us think twice before
running the light! They have the same
effect of seeing an officer of the law by the road and the impact that has on
how fast we drive.
Just think of all the things that
you would only do in complete privacy!
Think for a moment of all the secret sins of your heart and mind that
you allow to continue because no one else knows. Think now of what it means that God not only is “out there”
watching, but that He has an inside seat from which all things are known.
He will never leave us or forsake
us…not just to keep us from doing wrong, but to make His love known to us, to
enjoy intimate fellowship with us, to show us the way we should walk to enjoy
the greatest delights of life.
C. To be filled with the Holy Spirit
--As wonderful as it is to know that we have the Holy
Spirit, God Himself residing in our hearts, as we study the scriptures we soon
discover that He wants to FILL US with His presence.
--When He comes, we receive all that He is—but
unfortunately, He does not necessarily receive all that we are and so He commands us to be filled with the
Spirit.
Eph. 5:18-21 And do
not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your
heart to the Lord; 20 always
giving thanks for all things in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; 21 and be subject (submitting)
to one another in the fear of Christ
--The verb form in 5:18 is a present imperative passive
giving the command an on-going sense—“be
being filled” as an action that must be continued.
--Why? Because we
are constantly in need of being filled again because sin and unholy elements
persist in displacing the dominion of the Holy Spirit.
A glass that is filled with water cannot contain rocks or sand or even
dirt and still be completely filled with water. Everything that is not water must be removed and the water level
brought back up to full.
Until we confess our sin and turn
away from it, remove it and are filled again, we cannot say that we are filled
with the Holy Spirit, nor can we expect that measure of holiness that would be
present otherwise.
--When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, the holiness of
Jesus Christ fills us and we become holy as He is holy—something we cannot be
apart from the abiding and filling presence of the Holy Spirit.
--Evidence of that will be seen in the results that Paul
notes in the balance of this section of Ephesians 5:
1. Speaking
--Listen to the way people speak, what they talk about, how they
express themselves and see if you can understand how different they would be if
they were filled with the Holy Spirit!
--Gone would be the coarse language, the impure subject matter (5:4),
the selfish conceit, the hurtful and unkind gossip (4:29), the critical
attitudes (4:31)!
--In their place you would find joyful words full of the delight of the
Lord, saturated with graciousness and kindness, words that build up instead of
tearing down.
2. Singing
--Whether you have a singing talent or not, the person who is filled
with the Spirit will have a perpetual song in his heart.
--Music plays in the hearts of those whose hearts have been united with
Christ’s in the spiritual harmony of holiness.
3. Giving Thanks
--The life that is filled with the Spirit recognizes that all things
are from the Father and therefore deserve our gratitude, humbly expressing our
thanks.
--Even in hard times when we cannot understand where God is taking us,
what means He is using, how He maintains His sovereign control—we can still
give thanks because we trust Him and by the fullness of the Spirit we can rest
in Him thankful that He really is in control.
4. Submitting
--Since one of the clearest signs of a heart that does not belong to
Christ and is not filled with the Spirit is willful rebellion and an
independent spirit, whenever we find a submissive heart and a
sweet-yieldedness, we may conclude that God is the One making that possible.
--Holiness without the fullness of the Spirit is impossible, but God
has designed the way of holiness so that all who belong to Christ may enjoy the
blessing of a holy life!
D. To be empowered by the Holy Spirit
--Still
you may be hesitant about your ability to do the impossible, to become holy,
even after what we have already seen of the role of the Holy Spirit in our
holiness.
--That
is why we conclude this morning with a reminder that all the ability, all the
power, all that you will ever need to become holy as He is holy has been
granted to you in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Luke 24:49 “And
behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to
stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
Acts 1:8 8but you shall receive power when
the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the
earth.”
--In
our day, we have watched with disappointment as the power of the Holy Spirit
has been frequently abused by many in the body of Christ who prefer
sensationalistic displays of signs and wonders instead of the steadfast
consistency of personal holiness.
--The
power of the Holy Spirit in our lives enables us, empowers us, to practice our
faith in such a way that we indeed are Christ-like in our character and
conduct—in other words He makes holiness a practical reality in the life of any
believer willing to appropriate the power He gladly gives to all who desire to
pursue God’s call to holiness.
Sometimes we need to remember what Jesus said about coming to Him with faith like a child. When I think of that day with my Dad introducing me to power mowing, I am struck by how much I want to experience that same kind of help from the Helper of my soul, the Holy Spirit.
If I expect to be holy as He is holy,
once I have embraced the truth of His abiding presence and abundant power, my
calling becomes much simpler. He has
called me to holiness and has provided the way to holiness: I must keep in step with the Spirit, just as
Paul said. Then His hands on mine, His
heart over mine, His thoughts my thoughts—all for me to be like Jesus Christ in
all His ways!
What a delight to know that the sovereign
dominion of the Holy Spirit in my life will lead me in the way of holiness!
Providence
Baptist Church
© David Horner 2003
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