Tag Archives: Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit Speaks

If anyone tells you that apart from faith in Jesus Christ there is no concern or consequence, he is a liar. Apart from Christ, you are spiritually dead in your trespasses and sins, walking in the way of this world and living like a disciple of her prince in complete disobedience to God (Eph. 2:1-2). If anyone tells you that apart from faith in Jesus Christ that you are truly free, he is a liar. Apart from Christ, you are a slave to the passions of your flesh, carrying out the sinful desires of your body and mind, and deserving the wrath of almighty God (Eph. 2:3).

The Spirit of Truth

At the beginning of his first epistle, the apostle John explains his purpose for writing: “that your joy may be full” (1 John 1:4 KJV). John writes for our joy. And who wouldn’t want to have joy fully? But to be clear, the joy John describes is not joy as the world understands it, since John says, “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). No, the joy John describes is rooted in Christ, who is “from the beginning,” whom John and the other apostles heard, and saw with their eyes, whom they looked upon and touched with their hands, the living “word of life,” Jesus Christ himself (1 John 1:1). Just as they enjoyed in-person fellowship with Jesus, John desires for us, that all who are “of God” would enjoy a fellowship of obedience to Christ, love for the body of Christ, and discernment in living for Christ, all of which gives us Christ-exalting joy (1 John 1:3-4).

The Goal of Our Election

In conclusion, let us consider a few ways in which we witness the Holy Spirit’s work in our holiness. First, the Holy Spirit’s work in our holiness is witnessed in delivering us from the “desires of the flesh” (2:16). Since our flesh has been crucified, the Holy Spirit turns our desires from the things of the flesh to the things of the Spirit. This doesn’t mean that the desires of our sinful flesh are eliminated. Surely, the desires of the flesh lurk in the dark recesses of our sinful flesh, but the Spirit leads us away from those dark corners into the light. The Holy Spirit directs us to what we rightly “want to do” (5:17) in Christ. And when we do this we build holy habits, not by self-reliance but Spirit-dependence.

The Good Life

The Holy Spirit “helps us in our weakness” (8:26). The subject is the Holy Spirit, who as the “Helper” whom Christ promised and sent (John 14:16), helps us. The inspired implication is we need the help. But if “we have been justified by faith” and at “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1), and if there is “now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1), and if we are children and “heirs of God” (Rom. 8:17), what help do we really need? Should we believe as we often act, or pray the cowboy prayer, “Give us rain and a little luck, God, and we’ll do the rest”?

If Children, then Heirs

While we may have a tendency to overcomplicate it, the gospel is quite simple. As the Apostle Paul articulates it in the fifth chapter of Romans, “since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (5:1). Quite simple indeed. But, as simple as it is, what flows from it is multiplicitous.

The Spirit is Life

In conclusion, let me encourage all of us who are tempted to set our minds on the things of the flesh yet have the Spirit of Christ to remember, reflect, realize, and rejoice. Remember that you belong to Christ. You are not your own but were bought with his blood (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Reflect on the reality that the very Spirit of God dwells in you, a guarantee that you are his child and an ever-present reminder that he is with you, even to the end of the age (verse insert). Realize that “although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life.” Regardless of how you sometimes feel, you are in fact alive in Christ. And rejoice that “he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4), and the power of his presence transcends all the trials this world has to offer. So, let him who is greater do greater things in and through you, as you set your mind on the things of the Spirit. For, the Spirit is life.

Behold, Your King is Coming

Gone is the King’s colt and in its stead a white horse. Gone is the image of a humble servant but now a conquering king. Gone is the fickle crowd and instead the armies of heaven. Gone is any question of who this is or of his authority, for he is coming in triumph. Behold, your King is coming: “King of kings and Lord of lords.”