John 16:8-11; John 7:37-39; Romans 8:5-8.
This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, April 16, 2023.
We will continue to look at the great love of God towards humanity, but now we are going to emphasize our response to God's great love. God's amazing overture of love calls for a response from each one of us. Tragically, some reject His love. How can we say no to such a love? Yet, people do it every day.
Our focus today will be on becoming a people of the Spirit of God. This wording is group-oriented, but we should also personalize it. I want to be a person of the Spirit of God.
This is as opposed to being a person of the flesh. I will talk more about this later, but we should recognize that those who live for their flesh will end up serving the purposes of the devil, the prince of the power of the air, and the god of this world. Through our bondage to sin, the devil manipulates us on levels that we are not fully aware. However, the Christian is given freedom from that by the Spirit of God.
Let's look at our first passage.
In this passage, we have Jesus explaining to his disciples that he will send another "comforter" to them after he leaves. This is described further in verse 13 as the Spirit of Truth. There is no question that this is speaking of the Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of God.
The word translated as "comforter" is a word that describes someone who comes alongside of you for what you need. Since our needs are various, it is sometimes translated as Counselor, Advocate, Helper, etc. The Holy Spirit is all of these things and more. The translation is not as important as understanding what it is saying. The Spirit would come to help them similar to the help Jesus was giving them, i.e., another Helper to be in his stead.
This sets up a great act of God's love. He sends His Spirit to dwell within those who put their faith in Jesus. This Spirit would then fill God's people to overflowing. Thus, God's love took on the nature of a man, sacrificed that life on a cross for you and me, and then takes up residence within us by His Spirit. No one back then deserved this, and we have not arrived at a place where we deserve it today. God simply loves us this much.
Ultimately, humans were designed to operate within intimate relationship with God. The humbling thing is that we go all over the place morally and spiritually when we do not have a relationship with God. Without a faith relationship with God by the Holy Spirit, we are forever put off-balance by our flesh through sin. If it weren't for the gracious work of God's Helper, the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of God, we would never see our need for believing in Jesus.
In John 16, we see that the Spirit of God is working on people even before they believe in Jesus. Verse 8 tells us that the Spirit helps unbelievers through the work of conviction.
What is meant by conviction? The context would influence what is mainly in view. In this case, it is not a Judgment Day senario, but the Spirit working on the heart of an unbeliever in the present age.
There are typically three aspects that are tied to this biblical word translated as "convicted." The first has to do with exposing them to the truth. As unbelievers, we work very hard to avoid such exposures to truth. We often minimize, or ridicule, them as they surface in our life and in our mind. We will typically create mental refutations to these exposures to truth.
However, the second aspect kicks in with the Holy Spirit refuting our refutations of the truth. A person may respond in resistance to the Spirit's work of conviction, but they are being hemmed in by Him as life shows them the emptiness of their "fig-leaf" philosophies. This continues an ever tightening case by the Spirit of God in a person's heart that continually brings them back to a decision point. We either are moved closer to God or further away. No one remains static precisely because of the work of God's Spirit.
This brings us to the third aspect of conviction. It has to do with the concept of proving the truth. This doesn't mean that the person must surrender. It just means they reach a point where they are convinced that they do not have a good answer, and the truth stares them in the face proven by God. God will not force anyone to love Him. We all still have a choice. However, to reject God over the top of such conviction is to sear your own conscience, to cauterize your own spiritual eyes, and to harden your heart.
This work of the Holy Spirit's conviction is happening in everyone's life until the day that they die. We can often underestimate just how much the Holy Spirit has worked on people that we think will never be open to the Gospel. Some shout the hardest against the Gospel because they are fighting what they secretly know to be true in their heart, and yet don't want to accept it.
Now that we have dealt with what conviction is, there are three particular truths that the Spirit is working to expose, to refute, and to prove to them.
The first of these is sin. The Holy Spirit convicts sinners of the truth of their sin. Our society makes a big deal over defining sin. It wants to define sin because then you can game the system in order to declare yourself not a sinner. Such definitions are based upon the whims and desires of society, or even myself personally. Such definitions can never be trusted because a future society (tomorrow, next year, decades, or centuries later) will come up with different ones. You can never trust such definitions.
This is why the heroes of yesterday are often crucified as the blasphemers of today. For example, many women who fought for feminism through the last half century are now being thrown under the bus today for the new and improved righteous cause of transgenderism. I am not commenting on either, but rather, I am pointing out the unstable nature of such ungodly definitions.
Thus, the Spirit convicts unbelievers of God's definition of sin. That is often done through the effects of the sin and the things they experience throughout life. By the way, the worst sin really is unbelief. The two thieves on the crosses next to Jesus were both sinners. However, the difference was that one believed on him and the other didn't.
We could bring up the Apostle Paul as well. He is forgiven of murder because he put his faith in Jesus. However, he is not running around pretending like that is no big deal. Rather, he pleads with others to join him in this deadly serious love of God.
The second thing the Holy Spirit convicts people about is righteousness, first, that they have none, and second, that Jesus has enough to save all of us. Most humans are inclined to think that they are good enough, whether they believe in heaven or not. Notice that Jesus says that the Holy Spirit convicts us of righteousness because Jesus went to the Father. While Jesus was still on this earth, the people could see for themselves the righteousness of God. Even sinners instinctively knew that there was something convincing about the righteousness of Christ that was missing in the lives of the Sadducees and the Pharisees. With Jesus gone, the Holy Spirit is needed to replace that perfect witness. We need the righteousness of Jesus.
The third thing the Holy Spirit convicts the unbeliever of is judgment. He convinces us that God's judgment is looming over the heads of the whole world, but also ourselves individually. He connects this to the fact that the ruler of this world has been judged. He refers to the devil here, who is the ruler by the fact of his manipulation of sinful men. If the ruler of this world is judged, then so too are those who serve his purposes. The Spirit of God convicts us that we are on the wrong side and will not survive judgment, whether globally or individually.
Let's go to our second passage.
A convicted sinner is readied and prompted to come to Jesus in faith, to switch their allegiance to Jesus. In this passage, Jesus gives a promise to those who will come to him in faith. That promise is the Holy Spirit.
Jesus pictures the Spirit as a river of living water flowing out of the heart of a person who comes to Jesus and drinks of him. Just as a watershed captures the water that falls upon it and channels it through the ground to streams, then to creeks, and eventually to a river, so too the believer will receive water from Christ that will come forth from their heart like a river of living water. Some rivers are bigger than others, but he speaks of the Holy Spirit who is immeasurable by definition.
This reminds me of Ezekiel 47. There, he has a vision of water coming out from the threshold of the temple. The further out it goes the deeper it becomes, until it ends up at the Dead Sea. It begins to cure the waters of the Dead Sea until all manner of fish and plants are living in and around it.
This is a picture of the individual who has the river of living water, the Holy Spirit, springing up within their soul. Believers should not be a Dead Sea that hoovers up all the grace that God sends its way, but without cooperation with the purposes of God. We can be like a person eating a plate of "grace" with our head down crying out, "I'm running out; Give me more!" God help us to wake up to the vast volume of grace that He is pouring out upon us, and see it for what it is, a holy thing from Him. May we treat it as such.
Instead of fighting against the external workings of the Holy Spirit as unbelievers do, the believer is pictured as cooperating with the internal working of the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit that led us to believe in Jesus will now work within us to make us a new creation: a disciple of Jesus, and a child of God. We allow the Spirit of God to spring up within us, and then flow out through us to be a blessing to the people around us. We are to be a source of the Spirit of God to the people in our life.
Yes, it is true that they don't need people to have the Holy Spirit working upon them. However, the work of the Holy Spirit on their conscience is like mercy drops in the dessert. It is not intended to take the place of our submission to God's will. The Spirit of God ALSO wants to work through us so that they will hear from Him like a river of living water. That is so much better than an either-or scenario.
Jesus is telling us that we will become like a river of living water if we come to him in faith. This is God's purpose and plan. It will always be more than you ever knew it was because you are cooperating with an unlimited being. You may feel like you really messed it up. Yet, ten years later a person is sharing a testimony about how the Spirit of God really broke through to them by your willingness to be used of God.
Yet, even Christians have their struggles with the work of the Holy Spirit in their life. This brings us to our last passage.
In many passages, the apostles use the words body and flesh. The body speaks of the organized system of physical appendages, organs, and other things, working together in a body system. It emphasizes the natural and physical aspect of a human, pretty much what you thought.
Flesh can be used as a synonym for body, but also can take on an added sense that body does not have. It can point to a nature that is rooted in the body, its senses, and desires. It is sometimes translated as "sinful nature," and this is close. It would perhaps be better to think of it as a nature that is rooted in the bodily sense, which leads to bondage to sin. This nature is bent towards the pleasures of the body as opposed to what? It is as opposed to being rooted in God Himself, the Spirit.
This is what Paul is talking about when he says that our flesh is hostile to the Spirit of God. We use our body against God's work, but that resistance is directed by an inner nature that is rooted in the wrong thing.
For an unbeliever to surrender to the Holy Spirit, there must be a dying to the desires of the flesh, and a coming alive to the Spirit of God. This internal battle may have been won at the moment of believing upon Jesus. However, there is still a battle to be fought.
The Holy Spirit takes up residence within the believer and begins to teach them to root themselves in Him, in Christ, instead of in the desires of the flesh. Though the flesh has been defeated at this point, there are still innumerable ways in which our inner man is rooted in the sense of our body. Over time, the Spirit helps us to gain victory over the flesh, i.e., less and less roots down into our sensual nature, and more and more roots into the Spirit of God.
I like the image of Joshua leading Israel into the Promised Land. It is full of giants and walled cities, i.e., strongholds, but God has promised to giving them possession and victory little by little. It didn't happen all in one day, otherwise they would not have been able to truly possess the land. Similarly, Yeshua leads us into the inheritance of our own soul by placing his Spirit within us to help us gain the victory one day at a time, one battle at a time. This will only be done by a person who lives for the Spirit of God instead of living for the flesh.
In verse 5, Paul talks about what we set our minds upon. A person of the flesh thinks about the things of the flesh. They are motivated by a lower nature that is rooted in the body. It prompts their purpose and desire. It supplies the "strength" and vigor that they have for going after these things. Such people spend their lives seeking to maximize their pleasures and minimize their pain.
This doesn't always look the same. There are some unbelievers that are extremely self-disciplined in order to make money. Their life may look extremely disciplined compared to another person who is a believer. We can make our life look extremely noble by working for the most pleasure for the most people. However, if all of this is driven by our flesh, then it is still for ulterior motives.
Contrarily, a person of the Spirit has their mind set upon the purposes and desires of the Spirit of God, which are the purposes and desires of Jesus, which are the purposes and desires of the Father. God wants us to help one another to walk by faith in Jesus in love for Him and one another.
Of course, we must be alert to the tactics of the devil, who uses the world around us as pressure and temptation to live for the flesh. They fill their minds with all manner of fleshly things, but not of God.
So how does this look? Let's use the example of planning for dinner. Both the spiritual and the fleshly will eat dinner. We will die if we go too long without eating. Thus, the Bible in no way pictures a super-spiritual person never eating. They will fast from time to time, but they won't entertain notions of never eating. So, the true difference between fleshly and spiritual thinking goes to the purpose and desire behind it. The fleshly person only thinks about things of the senses like: what food would I rather taste tonight, what food would best impress so-and-so, etc. In fact, people may fight and argue over what is for dinner because they are rooted in the flesh. However, a Christian should not think like this. We eat in order to better serve the Lord and bring honor to Him. We make sure that the people we love in our life are getting the nutrition and sustenance that they need because that is part of a parent's duty to their children and dependents. All things are spiritual things if you are a spiritually minded person. Whereas, all things are fleshly, including church, worship, prayer, etc., for those who are fleshly minded. This is why some Christians in churches will fight over the style of music, color of the carpet, who gets the solo, etc. Let us always ask the question of our Lord, "How can I best please you and honor you in this?
In verse 6, Paul emphasizes that each of these lives has an effect. A life of the flesh is death. It doesn't just produce death. The underlying verbiage says that it is death. We must ask ourselves, "What is the fruit of my life?" Is it pouring death into my relationships and soul? The fleshly mind can never fix the spiritual problems of humanity. It can only double down on the problem and create an even worse hell on earth. In our great human wisdom, we make decisions based upon our gigantic fleshly appetites and hope for Utopia. We can build all the hospitals we want and even create buildings for mixed worship of all religions, but these things will only bring about more spiritual death.
However, a life of the Spirit is life and peace. We could even add Galatians 5:22, which speaks of: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. All of these are different facets of God's life, the living waters of His Spirit. It is possible to enjoy all of the goodness of God's creation and still miss His heart. This is because we become too enamored with His gifts, and fail to look to the Giver behind the gifts. It isn't always an either/or situation, but if we were forced to choose between Jesus and all of the comforts and pleasures this life offers, we should choose Jesus. Yes, God made us to be able to bodily enjoy many things in this world. But, He never intended us to be rooted in those pleasures and to live for them.
This brings us to the last question brought up by Paul's words. In verse 7, the question is this. To what am I hostile, and to what am I submitted? The fleshly mind is at odds and hostile to the things of God. The woman who broke the flask of oil upon the feet of Jesus did so because the Spirit of God moved upon her to do so. However, fleshly minded disciples nearby judged her and openly castigated her for her actions. The flesh always persecutes the Spirit.
James touches on this in James 4:4. He warns us that friendship with the world is enmity with God. He then boldly states that whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God! He is talking to Christians. We should note how he addresses those "worldly Christians," adulterers and adulteresses! To live in such a way is to be unfaithful to the Lord Jesus and the Spirit of God that He has placed within us. Our proper place as a child of God is serving the purposes of our Lord and following His Spirit. Instead, we are like a wayward spouse, and a prodigal son. When Christians fall back into fleshly living, it is called spiritual adultery. We become led by the lusts of our flesh, the lusts of our eyes, and the pride of life. We may even make it look noble by loving each other in our sin more than the Lord who calls us to help one another live holy.
The grace of God is that Israel did not cease to be Israel when they failed. When Christians fail, the Spirit of God works discipline in their life in order to bring them back to God. When God convicts us, it is always, "Take my hand and live! Let me save you!" He didn't hang on the cross for us to be an adulterer, and He didn't supply His Spirit for us to ignore Him and live for the flesh. However, His had can only save us in this life. We should take hold of it today!
This world cannot be saved with more flesh, even a fleshly life that is covered over with a veneer of Christianity. I believe that this is what the high priest represented in the days of Jesus. He was internally a fleshly, spiritually plundered man, but it was covered over with a veneer of God's commands and duties. He looked like he was serving God to some, but others saw through it. When God showed up in the person of Jesus and through the power of the Spirit of God, he had nothing internally to hold up that veneer. He folded and caved in spiritually. His following of God crumbled before the truth of what he really was. Christians can be in danger of walking this same path.
Praise God that our eternity does not depend upon just one of our choices. However, we want to take every single choice seriously, every single day.
May God help us to be a people of the Spirit of God instead of a people who are ruled by the flesh, and therefore, the devil. Let's be a people who are led by Christ through his Spirit to do the works of our Father in heaven.