The Spirit’s Power In Us (1)

Last Sunday’s sermon was preached by Pastor Harry on “The Spirit’s Power In Us (1)” (1 Corinthians 12:3; John 15:26; John 16:8-11; Titus 3:5; John 4:14). The sermon and the whole service can be watched on our WIC YouTube Channel:

Last week I was comparing God’s work of salvation of a person’s soul with the cleaning of a dirty cup. The cup represents us, who the Bible tells us are desperately wicked, and stained with sin. If God wants to dwell in us, He can’t do so, unless our cup is cleaned. I was saying that the One who cleans up our stains is Jesus Christ – and He does that in two stages. Firstly, His atoning death on the cross is like the washing-up liquid that removes all stains. And it is indeed effective in making us clean; but in itself it’s not enough, unless someone is using a cloth to scrub away the stains, and make the cleansing real. So a strong hand is needed – and that strong hand is Jesus Part Two. In other words, His Holy Spirit, who comes to us and has the power to really remove the stains of our sins, by focusing His spotlight on those sins one by one, until we learn to no longer give in to them and be dirtied by them. And that’s what I observe in my own life. It’s a very slow process, of course.

 

So the Holy Spirit within us is responsible for bringing about so many changes in us. But even before He comes to a person, and turns them into a proper believer, He’s at work from the outside, as it were – convicting people of their sins. John 16:8-11 in our reading describes this best of all. Christ’s Spirit “convicts the world of its sin”. “World” is a word used to describe those who haven’t yet come out of it; those who don’t yet believe in Christ. Jesus says that the great sin that people have is that they don’t believe in Him: “The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in Me”. Lack of faith is the great sin of the world. What happens in a spiritual awakening is that an unbeliever – or one who hasn’t cared about Jesus at all – is suddenly overcome by a conviction that they’re on the way to hell, precisely because of their unbelief. They might throw themselves on the ground in spiritual agony, and cry out loud, and even scream to God to have mercy on their souls, because they realize that they are perishing. That’s what the Holy Spirit does. He shows us the terrible danger we are in, if we do not have faith in Jesus.

 

Some people might feel uncomfortable at this teaching. But if so, then that’s a good thing! – because if we don’t have faith in Jesus, and pass away tonight, then yes: the Bible says that our rejection of Jesus condemns us to destruction, in whatever form that may be. John 3:18: “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”. So are we going to be among the living, or the dead? The two separate paths begin in this life, and eventually separate forever after death. No one can get from heaven to hell, or from hell to heaven. The story of the rich man and Lazarus teaches us that, in Luke chapter 16.

 

And of course, once Christ’s Spirit is in you – as a born-again person (the fancy word for that is “regeneration”) – there’s no way you can curse Jesus, or say He’s not Lord. Christ in you cannot curse Himself! Those who say that Jesus is not Lord obviously don’t have God’s Spirit within them. That’s how we can distinguish the regenerate from the unregenerate – because Jesus is Lord, and the regenerated person knows this instinctively, and doesn’t have to debate it with others.

 

Christ’s Holy Spirit has the power to make people new – to regenerate them. He can take anyone who is dead in their sins and unbelief, and make them alive. Jehovah’s Witnesses will immediately stop being Jehovah’s Witnesses; Muslims will immediately stop being Muslims; Hindus will immediately stop being Hindus; and atheists will immediately stop being atheists. It’s God’s supernatural work. He can take a spiritually blind person and instantaneously transform them, so that that person will think God’s thoughts; will will what God wills; will love what God loves; and will hate what God hates. Why? Because Christ Himself is now in that person in the form of His Holy Spirit.

 

It is true that I can stand here and preach the best ideas and thoughts from the Bible; but none of that is going to make any lasting impression, unless Christ’s Holy Spirit comes into you, and transforms you from within. Christianity is entirely a supernatural faith, in its essence. Human reason and Bible knowledge do play their part – but it’s God who changes who we are. Whether we like it or not, we are all totally dependent on Christ’s Spirit to save us from condemnation and destruction.

 

God’s Holy Spirit is the most wonderful, most satisfying thing that anyone could ever have. In our last quotation from today’s reading – John 4:14 – Jesus says: “Whoever drinks the water that I shall give him shall never be thirsty; the water that I shall give him will be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life”. Eternal life, eternal happiness, comes only through the Spirit of Jesus Christ: the Spirit is the water. Nothing else satisfies our deepest longings. If we have the Spirit, we will never thirst.

 

Dear Friend, do you have that fountain within yourself? Is it springing up into everlasting life? Are you saved? If not, then all you can do is humble yourself and turn to God and cry out to Him to have mercy on your soul, and to make Jesus real to you. He will do that, if you really mean what you say. And you can count on Him – because in no one else is there such power, as there is in Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. Amen.