Spirit of Holiness and Power

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This is the 5th message in a series of messages regarding sanctification. This sermon addresses the need for humans to experience a transformation in heart and spirit.

Written Excerpts:

Introduction:

We’ve been speaking for a few weeks now about the matter of sanctification and what it really involves. I have been sharing ideas that were presented in a book by Dr. John Oswalt titled, “Called to Be Holy.”

Last week we were discussing the fact that many Christians use the cliché, “Nobody’s perfect,” as an excuse for attitudes and behaviors that are completely inconsistent with the life and spirit of Christ.

Some even excuse behavior that is clearly condemned in God’s Word, but they somehow think God will exempt them from judgment because one day they prayed for forgiveness and claimed faith in Jesus Christ, and… “after all, nobody’s perfect!”

We shared some biblical examples of individuals who were described in the Bible as “perfect.” We pointed out that these individuals were not absolutely perfect, nor did they live with zero mistakes, but their hearts were totally submitted and committed to loving God and doing His will as they understood it.

They may err unintentionally, but they faithfully attempted to live pleasing to God at all times, and they operated from a heart that was totally devoted to the Lord, i.e. their motives were pure.

We ended up last week by referring to Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:48 – “Therefore, be ye perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.”

The verse is structured as a command, but Jesus is obviously not demanding perfection in our performance to the same degree as God. No, (when we understand the statement within its context) He seems to be emphasizing the fact that God’s love for people is not mixed, diluted, or tainted, so our love for Him and for our fellow man should be the same kind.

It should be a love that is not divided or diluted with self-centered or rebellious motives.

Before we continue today, I want to repeat a quote from Dr. Oswalt that I read at the close of the message last week because it fittingly introduces the point of the message today.

(Oswalt) Such a life [of perfection] is still possible and it is still expected by God. It is possible to be perfect – whole, complete, undivided – in our devotion to Him, and [even] if our obedience is … unintentionally limited by matters beyond our control, such as ignorance or imperceptions, it is nevertheless possible for a person to give an obedience which is perfect, that is, flawless, utterly without blame. However, that kind of heart and that kind of a life are never merely the result of human effort…

Human efforts will fail every time. We who have trusted in Christ, yet find ourselves in dire need of a “heart transplant” (from a stony heart to a fleshly heart); we must have a supernatural work of God’s Spirit within us to perform what we cannot do for ourselves.

So, in the short time we have today (because of sharing communion today), I want to begin exploring what the Bible says about the work of the Spirit in our hearts and lives.

I.                    Uses of the word “spirit.”

The word “spirit” has various meanings and uses in the English language.

“spirit of the meeting” – the general trend of a group of people; the atmosphere prevalent in the meeting.

“a lot of spirit” – the particular energy of an individual or group or even an animal; expressing life, liveliness and vitality.

“the human spirit” – that something that makes a human alive and is radically noticed when it’s gone, i.e. when the person dies.

“good food and spirits” – reference to beverages that have the capability to bring someone under its influence; to alter the mood and behavior.

Brings us to a text that was read earlier in the Scripture reading for this morning:

Ephesians 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

Paul is urging the Ephesian Christians to avoid allowing themselves to come under the influence or control of mind-altering spirits, but to submit themselves and allow themselves to be controlled and influenced by the Holy Spirit.

Additional Hebrew meanings:

“breath” – similar to the “human spirit” i.e. something that leaves for the last time when a person dies. “God breathed into Adam the breath of life and he became a living soul.”

“wind” – invisible power that moves things and can do great damage. You can’t see it, but you can sure see its effects or impact.

We have already used the word “heart” to describe the part of us that is the center of the personality, the will and the affections, but the spirit of a man is that which gives us life, vitality, and the ability to communicate with or be influenced by the spirit world.

II.              Problems in the spirit of man.

The last couple of weeks we have spoken often about the problems we humans have in our hearts.

We naturally struggle with divided hearts, stony hearts, rebellious hearts, etc.

The Bible reveals that the spirit of man is also defective.

Notice how some of the OT writers characterized the spirit of man centuries ago.

A.Spirit of prostitution

Hosea 4:12; 5:4 My people ask counsel from their wooden idols, And their staff informs them. For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray, And they have played the harlot against their God. ⁴"They do not direct their deeds toward turning to their God, For the spirit of harlotry is in their midst, And they do not know the LORD.

The prophet is talking about a general spirit of faithlessness that exists in the people of Israel.

A tendency to decide for themselves where their true pleasure lies and refuse to be “bound” to only “one true husband.”

This a spirit that abandons the one true love and insists on expressing its “freedom” to find pleasure wherever it pleases.

(Oswalt) The result is that our gifts are squandered on those who do not care for us, who only wish to use us.

How unspeakably sad it is when we witness this literally in a man or woman who continues to chase one lover after another.

It is equally sad when a person that professes to know Christ refuses to remain faithful to Him, but seeks to find spiritual pleasure and satisfaction in other “lovers.”

B.      The spirit of impurity.

Zechariah 13:2 (NKJV) "It shall be in that day," says the LORD of hosts, "that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered. I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land.

God seems to be saying that there is such a thing as an unclean or impure spirit that prevailed in the people, which was evident in their worship of idols, and it needed to be purged from the land.

Just note that in the NT, esp. the Gospels, the use of the term unclean spirit most often was used to denote the activity of demons or demonic spirits.

I can’t say for sure whether this is implied in the references in the OT.

III.        Help from the Spirit of God.

(Oswalt) The Hebrew people realized that their problem was one of the spirit. If … they were ever to fulfill the spirit of the covenant and serve God with perfect hearts in flawless obedience, then something was going to have to be done about the human spirit. This is nowhere more clearly revealed than in Psalm 51.

Psalm 51:7-12 (NKJV) ⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. ⁸ Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice. ⁹ Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. ¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. ¹¹ Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. ¹² Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. [or, sustain me with a willing spirit.]

After his fall into grievous sins, King David realized that he needed and wanted God to do a radical work in his heart and to his spirit.

He prays for God to create in him a clean / pure heart, which would coincide with what we talked about last week – a heart that is whole, unmixed or undivided by other affections.

But, he also prays for God to give him a “right spirit,” or a “steadfast spirit.”

(Oswalt) The sense of the Hebrew word is of being solidly fixed or established. David realized that the only hope of having a genuinely pure heart, [i.e.] one which belongs to God through and through, [it is only] if something fairly radical is done to his human spirit.

David not only prays for God to give him a spirit that is fixed and steadfast in God, but he prays for a spirit that is willing and generous.

He wants a spirit that is free to give himself away in God-inspired generosity precisely because he is supernaturally fixed upon God.

We said earlier that this change that is needed clearly cannot be achieved by mere human effort. God’s Spirit must do a supernatural work in our lives and that can only happen as we submit completely and unconditionally to the work of the Spirit.

Conclusion:

We are going to continue further on this matter of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives at a future service, however, we’ll be taking a break from this series for a couple of weeks as we do our VBS program and then we’re going to have a group from New Destiny here.

But, after that we’ll come back to this subject and explore more of what the Bible has to say about experiencing God’s grace in changing our spirit to be loyal and faithful to Him.

May God’s Holy Spirit convince us of our need for a radical transformation of our spirit in order for us to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect.