The Holy Spirit at work

Ephesians 1:13-14; I Corinthians 12:13

          We tend to think of the Holy Spirit as the junior partner of the Trinity.  The Father performed all the spectacular events in the Old Testament, and the Son came to earth and demonstrated His glory and died for the salvation of the world.  And the Holy Spirit?  He has been sent to sort of clean up, fill in, or maybe “baby-sit” the saints until the end when Christ comes back and we all go to heaven.

            That is a mistake because in reality the Holy Spirit is the LIFE of God and the POWER of God on earth.  We forget that the Holy Spirit was the one involved (with the Father and the Son) in the creation of the world; that all through the Old Testament He created, directed and energized; that He came upon Moses, Bezaleel, Samson, Gideon, Samuel, among others, enabling them to accomplish what God wanted them to do; and that all the prophets spoke under His direction; the Bible you hold in your hand is a product of the Holy Spirit guiding certain writers in what they wrote, that Jesus Himself came through the Virgin birth by the power of the Holy Spirit, that all of His ministry was performed in the power of the Holy Spirit, not in His own power, that His resurrection was engineered by the Holy Spirit, that we are born again by the Spirit, that the One who is restraining the sin in the world is the Holy Spirit, the One who created and directs and fills the church is the Holy Spirit.

          Junior partner He is not.  Rather than Junior partner, He is the one from which all life comes, from which all energy comes, from which all ministry comes, the One who directs and completes our prayers, the One who fills the church with the Glory of Christ.  His ministry is absolutely incredible.  He is God ALMIGHTY.

          There is a time in history when His role on earth changed.  That time was the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), when the Holy Spirit came.  Before that day, statements about the Holy Spirit sounded this way:

          Luke 24:49 - And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.

          John 14:16-17 – "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever -- 17 "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.”

          John 16:7 - Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

          Acts 1:5 - For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

          Acts 1:8 - But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

          Do you see what they are saying?  They promise that Someone will come who will bring power from on High, who will bring wisdom, and who will dwell in the disciples.

          Now look at how the statements changed after Pentecost:

          Ephesians 1:13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

          I Corinthians 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. 12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body -- whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free -- and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

          What’s the difference?  The promise before Pentecost was, “He will come,” “He will do,” “He will lead you into all truth,” “He will glorify Me.”  The statements after Pentecost are more often, “He has,” “You have been sealed by the Holy Spirit,” “we all have been baptized into one body by the Holy Spirit.”

          What happened at the day of Pentecost?  That was the day when the Father sent the Holy Spirit into a “full-time” ministry on earth.  He is here to seal and indwell every believer, to convict the world of sin, to baptize every believer into the body of Christ, and to direct His church into outreach around the world.  That’s His full time job as of the day of Pentecost in the year 30, or 31, or 32 AD. 

          I’d like to talk about two of the enormous ministries the Holy Spirit has, which usually go right over our heads because we don’t stop to think about their significance.  The Holy Spirit “seals” us and the Holy Spirit “baptizes” us.

I.  The HOLY Spirit SEALS every believer.

          Ephesians 1:13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

          The verse says, “you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.  What does that mean?

          A.  His presence makes us God's possession.  A SEAL is an instrument of stone or metal that is engraved with a figure and used to impress that figure on clay or wax which is affixed to a document or other object to verify its authenticity.  A seal showed something was genuine, it showed ownership (like a cattle brand), it showed security (documents couldn't be opened until the proper time), it showed someone's authority (Pharoah gave Joseph his seal when he made him second in command).  We do this today.  The back of your computer or your stereo has a seal on it that says “warranty voided if this seal is broken.”  That seal guarantees that the parts inside have not been touched. 

          When you were saved, you were sealed by the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit IS the seal - "You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit."  Every believer has the Holy Spirit living in Him.  Rom 8:9 says "if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.  "Christ," as someone said, "has no unmarked sheep" (D. MacCorkle on Ephesians, 45).

          I was in the parking lot, walking into Home Depot the other day and saw a Home Depot credit card on the ground.  I picked it up and it had written on the back in pencil, $50.  So I took it in and asked the cashier to check as to how much money was on it.  As I expected, there was nothing on it. 

          Why did I pick it up?  Because it wasn’t sealed.  No one had it, there was no name on it, and it was lying on the pavement.  That’s your life before Christ.  You are a $1000 or $100,000 bill lying on the ground for anyone to take – unprotected, undesignated, unidentified.  But when you trusted Christ, the Holy Spirit immediately put a mark on you by entering your life.

APPLICATION - This is an important issue, because there are many people who don’t know whether or not they are really saved.  Do you realize you have been “sealed?”  Notice what it says, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed.”  It says that one is sealed the moment one believes.  It’s an automatic.  Every believer has been sealed by the Holy Spirit, has been indwelt by the Holy Spirit, whether they want to or not, whether they know about it or not, whether they pray and ask Him to seal them or not. 

          Can you remember when you heard the word of truth?  That’s where it all began, the day when you listened to the word of truth.  After you believed, received Christ, you were sealed, whether you felt like it or not.  What is it like to have the Holy Spirit in my heart?  He gives me new desires, new motives.  He brings a new conviction of sin.  Have you worried about your sin?  Have you thought about the commands you have broken?  That is an indication of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

          B.  His presence assures us about the future.  He is the “guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”  Notice the words, “guarantee,” and “until.” 

          The word “until” is a time word that tells you how long the guarantee lasts.  “Until the redemption of the purchased possession.”  How long is that?  As far as I can tell, the redemption is going to take place when you get to heaven.  What this is saying is that when you trust Christ, the Spirit of Christ seals you until you get to heaven.  Notice that four chapters later, Paul repeats the statement.  He says in 4:30, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

          Do you see the point?  Eternal life is intended to be eternal.  If it is not, it’s got the wrong name.  Do I believe “once saved, always saved?”  Yes.  Here’s why.  When the Holy Spirit comes in as the “seal” He doesn’t leave.  I didn’t bring Him in by anything I did, in fact I didn’t even know about His coming when I trusted Christ.  And I certainly can’t push Him out by anything I do or don’t do.

          Now that doesn’t mean I can do anything I want to do because I have my ticket to heaven.  I have the Holy Spirit in me, and He can’t tolerate sin.  And He will spank me and make me miserable, and weak and sick, and even take me home to heaven early if I persist in sin.  He is here to do a job as the HOLY SPIRIT, and don’t think He can’t do it.  And He is in your life PERMANENTLY.

          But I also wanted to notice the word, “guarantee.”  That’s the word, “earnest,” “pledge,” “deposit guarantee” in the NIV, or “first installment” in the RSVP.

          When you put "earnest" money down on a contract, you do it to demonstrate your seriousness about the contract.  If you are selling a house for $200,000 and the person says “I want to buy it,” and puts down $10 so that you will hold the house for him, you would say, “you are not serious about this contract because that is not enough earnest money.”  But if someone came to buy it and put down $20,000 earnest money, you would say, “he is serious about this purchase.”  Words are usually cheap, money adds significance to the words.

          How serious is God about finishing the covenant He has made with us?  What has God given as “earnest” money to show His intention of fulfilling the contract?  Answer?  The Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is the earnest, the down payment of our inheritance.  Think about what God is saying here.

          Donald Grey Barnhouse told the story about a man living in the desert in Australia.  He is out in the middle of no where, living in a shack and one day someone drives up and knocks on his door.  The person asks him for his name, his parents’ names, and his grandparents’ names.  He then announces that he has a distant relative who has included him in his will.  He says, “putting the will through probate will probably take up to two years, but I have been sent here to give you the down payment of the will.  The rest will come whenever probate is finished.  He then sits down and writes out a check, hands it to the man and drives off.

          The man looks at the check written out to him, and the amount is $14 million dollars.  What is his first question going to be?  “If the down payment is $14 million, what is the inheritance like?”  That is the exact question to ask here, “if the down payment of our inheritance is the Holy Spirit, God Himself, what in the world will the inheritance be like?”

APPLICATION - Have you ever thought about what it means to have the blessed “seal” of the Holy Spirit on you and in you?  You are HIS!  HE is IN you to bless you and accomplish in you what you would never be able to do alone.  There is no reason why we shouldn’t be happy and contented in Christ Jesus.  Unhappy Christians are ignorant Christians.  They don’t realize what they have – WHO they have.

II.  The HOLY Spirit baptizes every believer. 

I Cor. 12:13 –  For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body -- whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free -- and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

Let me point out three of the features of this verse:

          A.  “We all” – that fact that Paul was a southerner is not surprising.  It is the fact that he includes everyone.  “We all.”  Does Paul know who he is speaking to?  He’s writing to Corinth, a church in trouble.  These are people are carnal, divided, in different kinds of sin, with problems that he doesn’t know if they are going to be able to solve.  “We all?”  He obviously intends to include every believer in the church, no matter what condition they are in.  This is a universal blessing that every Christian receives.  Whether or not they recognize and appreciate what has happened to them, they have been placed into the body of Christ by baptism.

          What does this mean?  It is similar to the symbol, baptism.  The act of baptism includes 4 parts, (1) someone, placing (2) someone else, in (3) an element, (4) for a purpose.  On March 26^th, I baptized Jordan Hinshaw and Britney Baldwin in water for a purpose – into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which was their statement of faith in and obedience to Jesus Christ.  In this case, Jesus Christ baptizes the believer with the Holy Spirit (the element) into the body of Christ.  The purpose of the baptism is to incorporate every believer into the body of Christ.

          If you’ve trusted Christ, you are a member of the church, the body of Christ.  That’s why you should join a local expression of the universal body of Christ.

          B.  “One Spirit . . . One body” – this action of the Holy Spirit is unique – placing us into one body.  There are not specialty bodies, and age-divided bodies, and race-divided bodies.  We were all lumped together into ONE body, Jews, Greeks, slaves, free, Romans, Marylanders.  It is something that has happened to every believer.  John R. W. Stott points out, “so the baptism of the Spirit in this verse, far from being a dividing factor (some have it, others have not), is the great uniting factor (an experience we have all had)” (quoted from David Howard, By the Power of the Holy Spirit, 34-35).

          Notice the emphasis in the context on “one” in verses 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 20, 25.  It’s a picture of unity – just like your physical body, many different shapes and sizes of parts, but designed and placed together in such a way as to work as a unit. 

          David Howard, who is the Missions Director for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship talks about being on a college campus when a student said to him, “brother, would you be willing to pray with a group of us?”  He entered a secluded classroom where several students had gathered for prayer.  They spent ten or fifteen minutes praising God, praying, singing individually together, and then the spokesman turned to David and said, “are you ready now, brother, to receive the baptism of the Spirit?”

          David responded by saying, “I have already received the baptism of the Spirit.”  “When?” they inquired.  “When I became a Christian,” David responded.  “Oh, but that isn’t what we mean,” they said.  David knew what they were referring to, a baptism that would take place after Salvation, and would be evidenced by speaking in tongues.  These students believed that unless they saw David speaking in tongues, he had no evidence that he had been baptized by the Spirit (David Howard, By the Power of the Holy Spirit, 27-28).

          Notice what that concept does.  It divides the body of Christ into those who have (the experience) and those who don’t have.  There is one group of those who are in the body (of “baptized” believers) and another group that is waiting to get in, or hoping to get in, or ignorant of what’s involved in getting in.

          This passage states that the baptism of the Spirit is the one great unifying factor.  We are together in one body.  There are no “junior” bodies, or “halfway” bodies.  We all belong!  We are all in!  And the Holy Spirit has placed us into this one body so that the body can become the major focus of our lives and ministries.  The Holy Spirit is energizing His church to accomplish the work of God on earth.  He did not spend the time and energy baptizing you into the body only to have you ignore the body.

          C.  “Have been baptized” – What happened when Jesus was baptized?  Do you remember the incident at the Jordan River with John the Baptist?  The Holy Spirit came upon Him in the form of a dove, and the Father spoke from heaven saying, “this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”  The very next thing in the Gospel of Mark is that the Holy Spirit drove Him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  And when He returned, it says that He returned in the power of the Spirit. 

          What do we learn from this event?  That the church is an extension of what started when Christ came to earth.  He was the prototype.  He came to be baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit, who empowered Him for this marvelous ministry of spreading the brilliance and beauty of God by fixing peoples’ needs.  But now the physical body of Christ is no longer on earth.  On the day of Pentecost, it was replaced by the corporate body, a community of believers working together as one.  Previously the ministry of Christ was confined to Palestine, but now Jesus has become the head of a new international body of Spirit-baptized disciples sharing the amazing glory of His risen life.  So Jesus continues His ministry now in the world through a community that lives by the power of the Holy Spirit.  That’s why He can say, “where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them’”(Matt 18:20)

 (ideas from Clark H. Pinnock, Flame of Love, 114-115).

          So it doesn’t matter how weak you are.  It doesn’t matter how small we are, or how insignificant everything looks.  People say, “but what can one person do?”  The expected answer is, “nothing really.”  Unless that one person is empowered with Almighty power.  What can we do to reach our neighborhood for Christ?  We may not even know our neighbors.  They may not want to listen to us.  Ah, but this is not our job, this is the Holy Spirit’s job.  Our responsibility is to ask Him, “Lord what would You have me to do?”  “What would You have me to say to them?”  Our responsibility is to pray that the Holy Spirit will use our lives and witness as He convicts them and opens their hearts to the gospel.

          Why?  Because the Holy Spirit has sealed us with His presence.  And the Holy Spirit has baptized us into the body of Christ.

05/07/06, BBC am

TheHolySpirit02.MEF, 05/24/06