Holy Spirit – Simply True

We’re alive—because of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:1-17)

We’ve come to the part of Paul’s letter to the Romans where he tells us how ‘new life in the Spirit’[i] actually happens. In other words, this is how to live as a Christian. We belong to Christ because we have received his Spirit.[ii] That’s our new life. And now, we are to continue as we began.[iii]

We need to know what God has done (vv. 1-4), what has happened to us (vv. 5-11), and what we should do (vv. 12-17).

What God has done begins with him not condemning us. There’s no other starting point for us sinners. Those who try to stir us to action by making us feel guilty (what the world is doing all the time) are doing devil’s work, not God’s! And those who punish themselves to generate more effort will probably give up eventually. God has no other way to have people doing his will than by beginning with no condemnation.

What God has done is to send us his Son. He gives him a body like ours—not sinful as our flesh is, but like ours so that he can feel the effects of what sin does. He bears our sin. God condemns our sin, in his flesh. That’s why there’s no more condemnation of us. To ignore this, or work around it, is not only ungrateful and unbelieving. It’s useless.

And then God sends his Spirit—as life itself. He is nothing less than the outpouring of God’s love.[iv] And he hasn’t come as a mood changer. He’s come to be our Helper—as Jesus was to the disciples when he was physically present[v]. He enables us to know God and his salvation. And he also teaches us to love God and his will, and enables us to live in tune with that. We’re under a totally different regime[vi].

In this way, and no other, God has done what his law couldn’t do. Now, we will truly fulfil the righteous requirement of his law.

Our obedience in this life is never complete. But it’s real. And the blood of Christ cleanses all our sins—as they happen[vii]. Condemnation never gets a look in.

God doesn’t rescue us just to toss us back into the mess we made of our lives. And freedom is not choosing our own life style! It’s being liberated from condemnation and doing what we are created to do.

This is a massive claim and we need to know how it works out.

So, we look at what has happened to us.

What God has done means that there are now two kinds of people. There’s Spirit people as described above, and flesh people, meaning everyone ese.

What’s important to flesh people is things that can be seen, controlled and indulged—and certainly not God or his commands. There’s no way they are going to spend their lives pleasing God. But to choose this is to choose death—walking.

What’s important to Spirit people is what the Holy Spirit reveals and does. This way is life and peace—as we have already seen[viii].

Paul is confident that people reading his letter belong to this latter group—people like ourselves. The work of the Spirit in our lives is evident. He is creating new life in us—and all because we are justified—righteous in God’s presence.

We belong to Christ. Christ has come to us and lives in us. And even though we are still sinners (remember chapter seven!), and going to die, the Holy Spirit who is given to every believer, guarantees we will be raised from the dead—like Jesus.

With a life like that, isn’t that what you would set your mind on?

So then, what should we do?

If we’ve understood the gospel as God’s power[ix], and God’s grace[x], and God’s presence and God’s future—not just an ideology, we’ll know that we owe our old life nothing!

Rather, we owe everything to this beloved Holy Spirit. This is short-hand for saying we owe everything to what he has brought to us—God and Jesus and righteousness.

If we now set our minds on this, and if we say ‘No!’ to our miserable former selves, we will have life from God.

Look at it! We’re God’s children! His Holy Spirit doesn’t just rely on the psychology of gratefulness to make us obedient. He forms in us the same cry he formed in Jesus—‘Father!’ And, like him, we want to do our Father’s will. We’re happy to be slaves of Christ but don’t feel or act like slaves. There’s no anxious fear here!

And being part of this family has a future. We’re going to share with Christ in the family inheritance. There’s some suffering to endure—and Paul is going to talk about that in a moment. But if we set our minds on what the Spirit is about, we’ll share in the coming glory with Christ.

Every day, we will need to ask ‘What is important in this moment of my life? Where is my life coming from?’ What will be important when this coming day arrives? And every day, we will need to answer, ‘I’m going to listen to the Holy Spirit’.

[i] Rom. 7:6

[ii] Rom. 8:9

[iii] Gal. 3:3

[iv] Rom. 5:5

[v] John 14:16-17

[vi] This is probably what Paul means by ‘a law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus’.

[vii] 1 John 2:1

[viii] Rom. 5:1-11

[ix] Rom. 1:16

[x] Rom. 5:15

[i] Rom. 7:6

[ii] Rom. 8:9

[iii] Gal. 3:3

[iv] Rom. 5:5

[v] John 14:16-17

[vi] This is probably what Paul means by ‘a law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus’.

[vii] Rom. 5:1-11

[viii] Rom. 1:16

[ix] Rom. 5:15

Wanting what the Holy Spirit can do

I’d like to share a brief series on how the Holy Spirit is given to us, and how he works in our lives—taken from John’s Gospel. But first, let’s take a moment to consider how significant the Spirit is in our walk as Christians.

God ‘pours out’ his Spirit on Pentecost day, just a few weeks after raising Jesus from death. We know that this death and resurrection has changed everything—for the whole world really, but particularly for us believers. But the same is true when God pours out his Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

Let’s see how this works out.

What has happened to Jesus has demonstrated how much we hate God. But his resurrection is a decisive victory over our perversity. That’s the best news ever! And God has put him in charge of everything from then on.

But now, the evidence of this victory is that God pours out his Spirit on everyone who turns from their godlessness[1]. The Spirit will begin the enormous task of renewing and transforming the whole creation.

This is the way God fulfills his promise to create a loving and faithful people[2]. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin[3]. It is he who enables us to call Jesus Lord[4]. He makes forgiveness real by coming to us as a presence[5]. He enables us to call God Father in the same way Jesus did[6].

Because the Spirit lives in us, our whole life is a sacred space where pollution is out of place[7]. We can begin to produce fruit that has a definite ‘made in heaven’ label on it[8]. And much else besides—as we shall see.

The question for us all is this: do we want this change? Do we know ourselves well enough to know that change is going to have to be by a presence and an energy that comes from above?

It’s important to get this clear because the world around us, and our own nature, teach us to live by what we see, and especially by what we can do. But no one can be a Christian in this way. The Christian life is a ‘top-down’ life. Everything essential comes from God.

So, we must always be expecting the Holy Spirit to be supplying what we can’t do—within us as well as by us. Effectively, every Christian needs to know that their life is an ongoing miracle—quiet perhaps but still a miracle.

What others need to see in us is not what we have made of our lives but what God has done. If they see our good works, it needs to be clear that they are seeing what has come from above[9].

Here’s an example of what I mean—from Luke’s Gospel. The disciples have seen Jesus rejoicing in the Holy Spirit while praying to his Father[10]. That must have been an amazing experience. A little later, they ask Jesus to teach them to pray and Jesus says that his Father will answer them willingly. He will give his Spirit to them. They will relate to the Father, and pray to the Father, just as he did[11].

Isaiah warns against wanting something that is not of his Spirit[12]—something that comes from us rather than from above. It’s possible to think we are pleasing God by reading the Bible as a text book and then going through the motions of doing what it says, while, all the time, our desires are fixed on something else.

In a similar way, Paul warns the Galatians not to try to finish their Christian lives using their own ideas and energies rather than what the Spirit supplies[13].

So, in these few articles, let’s ask God to show us, and encourage us, to believe that the same real and intimate relationship that Jesus has with his Father, by the Spirit, can be ours also. Then, it will be clear to us, and to others, that our godliness is exactly that—us being full of God—full of his Spirit, and full of the naturalness and energy that he creates.

[1] Acts 2:33

[2] Ezek. 11:19; 36:27

[3] John 16:7-8

[4] 1 Cor. 12:3

[5] Acts 2:38

[6] Gal. 4:6

[7] Rom. 8:9-16; 1 Thes. 4:7-8; 2 Thes. 2:13; 1 Pet. 1:2

[8] Gal. 5:22-23

[9] Matt. 5:16; 1 Cor. 2:4-5

[10] Luke 11:21

[11] Luke 11:1-13

[12] Isa. 30:1

[13] Gal. 3:3

We all need the Holy Spirit

We’re setting out to discover what the Gospel of John tells us about the Holy Spirit, starting with what John the Baptist has to say in chapter one.

There are three players in this scene—John, Jesus and various Jews. And the story shows that the presence and power of the Holy Spirit is needed by each one.

These three experiences demonstrate that the Christian life is not an ethic or ideology or an experience to seek. It’s a life from God. And God graciously provides this by sending his Spirit in abundance.

First, John needs to be filled with the Spirit.

John is not full of himself and his place in history. He’s full of what God has promised—in Isaiah and in other prophecies. The Lord is coming to comfort his people[i].

John has been directed by the Spirit all his life[ii]—and it shows. He understands that God is coming to put all their terrible past behind them. He sees the need for Israel to be ready to greet him, and that he is the voice to announce that the Lord is near.

John understands that his baptism in water isn’t the comfort and renewal God is promising. That will require a special coming of the Spirit to launch people into a new life—a baptism in the Spirit.

And, best of all, he’s expecting the Lord to be revealed. And this Lord is already among the people gathered around John[iii]. The Lord is a man! But John is not relying on Jesus being his cousin and a better man than himself to guess that Jesus must be the one[iv]. The Holy Spirit will need to reveal this.

And he does. The Spirit alights on Jesus, visibly—in the appearance of a dove. Now John knows that Jesus is the one who will bring comfort to the world, and will baptize believers in the Holy Spirit.

Events like this are not the sort of thing we imagine. Our thinking tends to build on what we can do and what we deserve, and what we see and feel. But the coming of the Lord, and the salvation he has for us don’t come in the ways we imagine. They are revealed by the Holy Spirit. John has needed this help at every point.

Then Jesus also needs the Spirit.

It may seem surprising to say Jesus needs the Holy Spirit, but there are reasons why this is so.

First, Jesus can’t simply ‘do his own thing’. Prophets, priests and kings in Israel’s history needed God’s anointing, and needed to be filled with the Spirit to fulfil their role. In this way, people could recognise that their leaders were acting for God.

When the Holy Spirit alights on Jesus, he is appointed to all three offices. As prophet he will speak God’s word. As priest he will make atonement for the people, and as King he will rule over God’s people. Jesus needs this anointing to begin his work.

Second, God is revealing who he is—not a solitary Deity but a community of persons. The Father sends, the Son comes and the Spirit enables. As he is in his very being, so he is in the way he comes to save us. For God to reveal who he is, the Spirit must be part of the action.

Third, Jesus has come among us as a human being—a second Adam. His task is to be a real man—made in God’s image. His goal is to make us like himself—a re-formed humanity. So, he must live among us as a man. He must be dependent on the Holy Spirit.

From this point, it is clear that the Spirit enables everything Jesus does, especially being the Lamb of God who bears away the burden of sin that we carry[v].

But now, we also need the Spirit.

John is very aware that he can only baptize in water. This won’t bring about the changes that are needed! Israel is religious but they’re living as though God is not around. They don’t love him. John’s baptism is ceremonial. The Spirit baptism will be a new creation.

Three years later, the time comes for John’s prophecy to be fulfilled. Jesus has been killed by the very people God prepared to receive him. Spiritually speaking, they need a heart transplant!

And this is what the Holy Spirit’s coming is all about—providing broken and barren people with a new heart and a new spirit. It is what had been fore-told centuries before[vi].

Just as God breathed life into Adam, so Jesus will breathe spiritual life into us—the Holy Spirit[vii]. Apart from this, we are dead to God.

On this day, when the church is born, everyone who is baptized in Jesus name is forgiven. But this forgiveness is conveyed to them by receiving the gift of the Spirit[viii]. Jesus has been the Lamb who bears away the sin of the world. He has ascended to God’s right hand, and he has poured out this gift for our blessing[ix].

We may get baptized in water. We may be a church worker. We may believe everything in the Bible. But none of these things can make us alive to God. Only the Spirit can do this.

And, like John the Baptist, it is right that we feel unworthy to be Christ’s lowliest servant. Just look at who he is! And see what he has sent!

The visible life we live as Christians is flowing to us from Christ—through the Spirit he has sent. So, the Spirit comes to us full of all the blessings Christ has won for us. And this new life in the Spirit flows through our whole being. It flows back to God in praise and out to others in service. Jesus Christ is remaking the world we broke!

[i] Isa. 40:1, 3

[ii] Luke 1:15

[iii] v. 26

[iv] Matt. 3:14

[v] Heb. 9:14

[vi] Ezek. 36:27

[vii] John 20:22

[viii] John 2:38

[ix] Acts 2:33

The Holy Spirit convicts the world—John 16

I wonder if you feel daunted when you hope to persuade a friend to trust in Jesus Christ? The task seems to be impossible. But Jesus said the Holy Spirit would do the work of convicting—that is, bringing the truth before someone so that they can’t avoid it.

This is what Jesus tells the apostles before he leaves them. They have watched Jesus work in Palestine for three years, demonstrating that God’s kingdom has arrived and that everyone should repent. There have been successes, but the opposition is murderous.

If Jesus is now leaving, what chance do the disciples have of making any impression on fellow-Jews, let alone the rest of the world?

Jesus speaks to their dismay by saying he will send the Spirit[1]. He explains that the Holy Spirit will show the world that their sin is wrong. And he will reveal where real righteousness can be found. And he will awaken consciences to the judgement they are under[2].

These are the things we find impossible to do. Everything in the enemy camp conspires to deny these propositions. Aren’t we basically good? And who’s to say what is right and wrong? And again, aren’t threats of a deity who judges merely ways to control us? Without the Holy Spirit to do the convincing, people will hide behind reasoning like this and see no reason to trust in Christ.

But there are reasons why the Spirit can do this, and they all have to do with Jesus Christ.

The Spirit convicts people of sin because they don’t believe in Jesus. If they hear the story of the life he has come to bring[3] and won’t trust him, they commit a concrete, visible sin. They are already condemned[4].

We need to trust the Holy Spirit to bring this home to people we speak to—even if we have to suffer, and wait.

And people are convicted of righteousness because Jesus has not only been raised from the dead but been taken to the Father. We can’t see him anymore. The matter of righteousness has been taken out of our hands.

The world argues endlessly about what is right and wrong but God says his Son is what righteousness is all about. He has done what is good. He has loved his Father. And God has vindicated him by raising him from the dead[5]. And it is righteousness for us too if we will believe it[6].

Again, we need to talk about Jesus and how God has declared him to be right. We must walk in the confidence of those whom God has justified and not be anxious about the taunts of unbelievers. The Spirit will bring conviction to all whom God chooses.

And people are convicted of judgement because the Prince of this world is judged. Satan loses his power—especially his power to accuse—when Jesus is lifted up on his cross to die for our sins and is raised again[7]. This judgement of Satan is not something we can see. It is something Jesus tells us.

We live among many false judgements[8]. Some say we are only answerable to ourselves. Others that we are answerable to them! It can be very confusing, and confronting! The reason we are so tender at this point is that Satan is always accusing us. And he knows enough to keep us on edge and running to someone for approval.

But what if Satan is judged? What if he is no longer able to accuse us? What if the sins he knows we have committed have all been washed away? One judgement—the judgement on Christ who bears our sins, silences all the other accusers.

This is what we need to live in and to explain to others. And our confidence that we have been saved is a sign to them that they remain condemned[9].

See how Peter preaches on the day the Holy Spirit is poured out.

He tells people what Israel has done with Jesus: ‘You killed him!’ He tells people where Jesus is: raised up from death and ascended[10]. He tells people that Jesus is installed as Lord, seated by God[11]. The ruler of this world‚ Satan— has been cast out[12].

He and the other apostles are bearing witness[13]. But then, so is the Holy Spirit[14]. He creates the situation in which the apostles can speak. He enables their speaking so that they are believably truthful[15]. And he makes it effective in all those God chooses to bless[16].

The Spirit deals with the heart, and conscience—closer to a person than we can come[17].

How we need the gift and the ministry of the Holy Spirit! Without him, we ourselves lack the joy and the certainty of belonging to God. And the world is not impressed with our lack of conviction.

This is a matter that should be close to our hearts.

In a final reference to the Spirit in John’s Gospel, Jesus breathes on his apostles and says, ‘Receive the Spirit’[18]! He anticipates the coming of the Spirit and wants them to be ready.

The church does not take over from Christ. The Holy Spirit does. In the same way that the disciples relied on the physical presence of Jesus, we rely on the Holy Spirit for every aspect of our life and ministry. He is the Leader.

Without him, we languish in our own spirits. We mistake our actions for God’s. And we limp in our approach to the world.

We need to be full of this life from God—full of his goodness to us and full of expectation of what he will do among those to whom we bear witness. We are following the Holy Spirit!

I’ve just talked to someone helping with translating the Bible for first nations people in Australia. She told me how warmly and widely their New Testament is being received as a phone download by local people. ‘It’s great to see the work of the Holy Spirit’ she said. Wherever people are taking the gospel seriously, the Holy Spirit is at work.

[1] John 15:26

[2] John 16:7-11

[3] Acts 5:20

[4] John 3:16-21; 15:22-24

[5] Acts 3:14; 7:52; 22:14; 1 Tim. 3:16

[6] Rom. 4:5, 25

[7] John 12:31-33; 14:30

[8] Cf. John 8:16; 12:48

[9] Phil. 1:28

[10] Acts 2:24-28

[11] Acts 2:33-35

[12] John 12:31

[13] Acts 2:40

[14] John 15:26-27

[15] Acts 2:4

[16] Acts 2:39

[17] Cf. Luke 12:10

[18] John 20:22

9—Sharing life with God

The thing that’s unique about us Christians is that we know God. In seeing Jesus, we have seen the Father (John 14:9). We can approach him, love him and make requests.

From the beginning, Satan has sought to undermine this relationship, and Paul has shown us how to deal with his strategies. Now he tells us we’ll need to be praying as well (Ephesians 6:18).

You’ve probably noticed that in this letter of Ephesians, Paul doesn’t just tell us something and assume we know. He prays (1:15-17; 3:14-16). He knows that only God can reveal himself. This is true about every part of our Christian life. We are always needing things that only God can do. So, we need to share in this praying.

Here’s the directions Paul gives us.

First, pray in the Spirit on all occasions!

Prayer is not just closing our eyes and saying prayers. It will include that but it’s more a way of life that’s been opened up to us by the Holy Spirit.

If we check back in this letter, we’ll get some idea of what prayer in the Spirit might look like. The Spirit is giving us a taste of the life God is planning for us (1:13). He’s enabling us to know God as our Father (2:18) and to believe Christ is living in us (3:16). And he showing us we all belong together as God’s people (4:3).

Without this work of the Holy Spirit, we forget who we are and can easily become engrossed—and upset—with all the things going on around us. And then we’re in no mood to pray!

That’s why we shouldn’t grieve the Spirit (4:30). Rather, we should be filled with him (5:18). We are being kept in relationship with our Saviour and our Father by his presence (2 Corinthians 13:14). If we make it our business to enjoy this, it’s not a burden to share our life with God. It’s a relief. It’s a joy.

We need to throw open the windows or our stuffy lives and let some fresh air in. God means us to live by the wind of his Spirit, even while we are living in the messiness of this present life.

I hope this is the way you see prayer. If it isn’t, perhaps you could ask the Lord to show you something new about himself. God is the natural habitat for every human being. A Christian is, simply, someone who is counting on this being true.

Second, use all kinds of prayers! And make all sorts of requests!

Jesus says ‘Pray like this…’ and gives us a pattern for our praying (Matthew 6:9-13). It’s starts with things that are for God’s glory and authority and follows with all the things we are needing—including forgiveness.

So, with this pattern in mind, there’s lots of things we can say in our prayers. The main thing is that we are being real. The almighty God is our Father. He’s the only one who can make a difference. He gives good gifts. And he doesn’t want us to be anxious about ourselves. That’s why we need to trust him with everything we’re concerned about. Everything!

Third, persevere in prayer!

This means keeping on trusting when ‘the heavenlies’ seem unreal, keeping on hoping when nothing seems to be happening and going on loving when it’s not producing any response.

This also means praying whether we feel like it or not. The world tends to live by its feelings. And this makes us weak. If we believe God loves us, that he’s given up his Son for us, that he is interested in what we think and what we want, then we will pray. We don’t have to feel anything. We have to believe.

None of us finds this straight-forward. The idea that some people are special and find it natural to pray and that other are practical and find it hard is just not true. We all have spiritual tardiness (Paul calls it our ‘flesh’). So, we need to encourage each other and keep listening to God’s word.

This perseverance means a lot to God. It shows him that our faith is genuine (1 Peter 1:6-7). And it’s very important for us too. It produces the character that is appropriate to our future life in God’s presence (Romans 5:3-5).

Fourth, pray for all of God’s people!

When we pray for our fellow Christians, we are not just being kind to them. We are helping in the business of God having a company of people who love and serve him.

Paul calls us all ‘saints’—that is, God’s holy people. This doesn’t mean we are perfect. It means we are chosen by God to fulfill his purposes. And God is eager that we live in this way. So, there is plenty for us to pray for!

Looking back over these last few articles, we have seen what God has done to have us strong in our Saviour, Jesus Christ. We are protected from evil powers because we’ve taken up all that God has done for us in him. We are protected because we’re being shaped by this gospel rather than by the world. We can stand firm because we’re using his weapons—not our own.

And now, by our prayers, we are ready to stand in the days God is giving us on earth.

In one sense, we are never ready to live—not by ourselves. But God has provided all that we need. And he waits to hear our prayers. So, we are always ready.