The Manifold Grace of God
1 Peter 4:10 (Audio Only)
Message #3
This is our third message in the Holy Spirit series. I am excited about how the series is going. Last week we did “The Holy Spirit at Work in The World,” and today, we do the Holy Spirit at work in your life. And we are moving toward the specific gifts of the Holy Spirit. It’s very important that we lay a foundation before we get to the gifts. We need to know what the Holy Spirit does in our lives. We need to know him better and his role better. We need to understand the foundation of the Holy Spirit’s work that our lives in Christ rest on.
And so, I pray today that you’ll see that you cannot live for Christ without the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. You cannot be a disciple; you cannot have a relationship with God without the work of the Holy Spirit – that is how critical the role of the Holy Spirit is in our lives. Without him, you have religion. With him, you have intimacy and a relationship.
In 1 Peter 4, verse 10, we find the manifold grace of God. We’re going to focus on that phrase in this verse. The context of 1 Peter Chapter 4 is actually the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And we’re moving toward them, but today, we are going to focus on this one phrase to lay a foundation for it. It is really a continuing effort to demystify the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And so, the more that you know the Person of the Holy Spirit, and the more that you are aware of his role, then the more likely you will be comfortable when we start speaking about the specific gifts of the Spirit.
1 Peter 4:10 (NKJV)
10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
The manifold grace of God. Speaking of this phrase, Chuck Smith says this. What a glorious phrase. It captures so beautifully the rich array of spiritual blessings that God lavishes on his dearly beloved children. And I do mean lavish. For God spares no effort in his holy desire to bestow upon us his very best.
The manifold – the many folded – many-layered. The incredibly diverse and varied gifts of God. And what a crucial role the Holy Spirit plays in those gifts getting to us.
Hebrews 4:16 (NKJV)
16 Let us therefore come boldly (with confidence) to the throne of grace, that we may… find grace to help in time of need.
Grace is something that we don’t deserve. It is receiving something that we don’t deserve. I’ve mentioned before my good friend Walt. One of his favorite studies is entitled “Much More Grace.” And boy, we need to understand that everything that comes from God comes from his grace. From his desire to give us gifts that we don’t deserve. But these gifts are given to us because without them, we can’t live for God. It’s impossible to live for God without his grace poured out upon us.
So, today we are going to look at some foundational gifts of grace that come via the Holy Spirit into our lives. Five foundational gifts of grace, necessary for us to have any type of intimacy or personal relationship with the Lord; necessary for us to live in Christ, and to walk in the Spirit.
5 Foundational Gifts of Grace
1). The Holy Spirit SEALS us
Ephesians 1:13 (NKJV)
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,
Sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, The first foundational gift of grace. The picture that Paul is using (and remember Greek is a very pictorial language) with that word sealed is that of a king’s signet ring. Maybe you’ve seen this, where when a king wanted to make known his ownership of a possession, they would put a wax seal on the possession, and he would put his signet ring in that seal. And so, people would see the mark of the king on that possession. It was clearly a mark of ownership. It was also a mark of security and protection. So, if somebody saw the king’s signet ring seal on a possession, they would know that if they messed with that possession, they were messing with the king, that his security and his protection went with that possession by the mark of his signet ring.
The seal of ownership. Paul says in Ephesians; we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. We have the mark of the King on us. That seal IS the Holy Spirit.
Romans 8:15 (NKJV)
15 …but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
And when we find ourselves crying out to God, “Abba, Father,” that’s a mark of the ownership of God on our lives.
1 Corinthians 6:19 (NKJV)
19 … your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own
We do not have ownership of our lives anymore. If we do, then we are our own lord. If Jesus is our Lord, then he is our owner, and the mark of his ownership is the Holy Spirit in our lives. We belong to God.
But not only is the Holy Spirit a mark of ownership in our lives, but it’s also a promise.
Ephesians 1:14 (NKJV)
14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
Guys, The Holy Spirit is our guarantee. The guarantee of our inheritance. Study 1 Peter Chapter 1 about our inheritance in Christ. It is an unbelievable inheritance, our redemption, our eternity. And the Holy Spirit is our guarantee. That word can also be translated as “our earnest” or “our down payment.” Now we’ve heard that term “earnest money” used. It’s used in our culture a lot for real estate and other things, where you give earnest money guaranteeing the completion of the transaction.
Well, in Greece today, they use that word, “earnest.” But they use it for an engagement ring. And they call what we call an engagement ring; they call it an earnest ring because that ring is a guarantee to a woman that there is a marriage coming. And the Holy Spirit, guys, is our “earnest ring.” He is the guarantee from God that there’s a marriage supper coming.
Romans 8:16 (NKJV)
16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
It’s the Holy Spirit that gives us that promise that there’s a day coming when we’ll wake up, and we’ll see the King of kings face-to-face. What an incredible gift of grace for each one of us.
2). The Holy Spirit REVEALS to us and TEACHES us the things of God
So, it is the Holy Spirit’s role to seal us and to guarantee us of our coming redemption, our inheritance in Christ. It is the Holy Spirit’s role to reveal the things of God to us.
John 14:26 (NKJV)
26 He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
John 16:13 (NKJV)
13 (Jesus says) when the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth;
It is the Holy Spirit’s role to teach us. To reveal the things of God to us, to guide us into the truths of God.
Let’s look at a great text in 1 Corinthians Chapter 2 about the foundational need for the Holy Spirit in our lives.
1 Corinthians 2:9 (NKJV)
9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God
God must reveal the things that he has for us because in our understanding, we can’t understand him. In verse 11, Paul is going to use a human example, saying, “If this is true for us as humans, how much more true is this statement for God?”
1 Corinthians 2:11-12 (NKJV)
11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so (in the same way) no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
Now, if you weren’t aware of the role of the Holy Spirit, that should stump you to read in the Bible that no one knows the things of God... It’s a pretty serious statement … no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. If that’s true, then how can we know God? We continue reading (which is always the best thing to do when you have a question – you read the next verse).
12 Now we have received (not learned, not some type of intellectual understanding) (“received” as a gift), not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
We cannot learn about God. That’s a pretty heavy statement. You cannot intellectualize your way to God. You cannot figure God out – you don’t have the ability. You have, by nature, the spirit of the world, man’s wisdom, man’s intellect. And in man’s intellect, we cannot know God. We cannot learn the things of God. It is only by supernatural revelation that we know the things of God. We receive the things of God. When we talk about intellectually knowing God, we always use the demons as examples because they believe, but they haven’t received (and can’t) receive the Spirit. They’re not going to heaven. Intellectualizing doesn’t “get it.” It’s received supernaturally.
1 Corinthians 2:13-14 (NKJV)
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
The great spiritual truths of God, we don’t speak in man’s wisdom because man’s wisdom doesn’t do it. We don’t receive the Spirit through our intellect. Man’s wisdom is natural; the things of God are spiritual.
14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
In your nature, you can’t even receive the things of God. You can receive the things of religion, you can go to church your whole life, you can be active in the church and be very religious, but you don’t have the ability to receive the things of God without the Holy Spirit in your life because they are spiritually discerned. Without the Holy Spirit, we would be clueless about the things of God. And that may help you understand when you meet people (or know people) who are clueless about the things of God, and they say, “It just doesn’t make sense to me. How can God this? Or how can God that? I just don’t understand God.” I’m not sure why we think we need to understand God, and second of all, in our own wisdom, we can’t understand God. The things of God must be spiritually discerned. We need the revelation knowledge of the Holy Spirit to discern spiritual things.
1). He seals us
2). He reveals the things of God to us
3). The Holy Spirit ENABLES us to pray
It is the Holy Spirit’s role to enable us to pray. Prayer is a supernatural communing with God. It is a miraculous thing for a sinful man or woman to be able to commune intimately with a holy and a perfect God. We could not commune with God without the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Now, let me just say, God hears all prayers because he’s omniscient. Because he is omnipresent, he hears them. However, we can also pray our entire lives and never commune with God. Because true prayer is not a string of words said with your eyes closed. Understand? True prayer is not something you say; true prayer is a condition of your heart. It’s an intimate communing. It’s an intimate connection with God, your Father. And true prayer can only happen through the empowering, the enabling of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 8:26(a) (NKJV)
26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought,…
The weakness that Paul is talking about that the Holy Spirit helps us in is knowing what we should pray for. And notice it says, we do not know what we should pray for as we ought,… It doesn’t say that in that off chance, every once-in-awhile when you don’t know what to pray for, then the Holy Spirit steps in and helps you. It says we do not know. It is a conclusive statement we do not know what we should pray for. In our own nature, we don’t even know what to pray for. In our own intellect, in our own understanding, we don’t know how to pray.
How often (and I want to encourage you to pray more, not less) do we start our prayers with a shopping list, a “needs” list? “Okay, God, I don’t have a lot of time, so here’s what I want. And I want it all in Jesus’ name, amen.” And then we wash our hands and think, “Okay, I got that done. It ought to be coming any time.” Don’t hold your breath. God is waiting until we understand something very, very critical. And that is that the role of prayer is not getting our will done in heaven as we would have it on earth. Prayer is getting God’s will on earth, as he would have it in heaven. Period.
George Müller says, Ninety-five percent of knowing the will of God is crucifying our own will.
As soon as you have no will of your own, you are ninety-five percent to understanding the will of God. That is phenomenal.
The purpose of all prayer, always, is to align our hearts with the heart of God. It is the ONLY purpose of prayer, to align our hearts with the heart of God. His will is immeasurably better for us than our will – will ever be. And the role of prayer is to get us in line. We are one hundred and eighty degrees out of God’s will when we are demanding our own will.
Romans 8:26-27 (NKJV)
26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us (that is the fix, the repair, for us not knowing what we should pray for) with groanings which cannot be uttered. (There’s some grammatical Greek there which would indicate that those groanings are not ours, they are the Holy Spirit’s groanings)
27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
This should be our only goal in prayer, to make intercession according to the will of God. It’s so hard for us to just get to the point where we say, “God, your will truly is better for me than my own.” Ninety-five percent of our prayer relationship with God is just getting to the point where we say, “Not my will, but thy will be done.” And it’s the Holy Spirit who makes intercession according to the will of God. The only way that prayer becomes communion with God is when that prayer is led by the Holy Spirit, our hearts being aligned with his.
So, let me just share with you a little cycle of prayer that is really, really clear in the Bible. It’s not taught that often because, quite frankly, people don’t want to hear it.
Here is the cycle of prayer.
1). True prayer starts in the heart of God (not us)
2). Our hearts are aligned with his heart so that his will and his desires are transferred to our own heart via the Holy Spirit
3). We pray back to God the desires that he has put in our heart, and when we pray his will back to him, that completes this supernatural circle that accomplishes the mighty, miraculous things of God in our lives.
But the hard part to understand is that it starts with God, not with us. And the thing that opens the floodgates in prayer is when we’re praying back to God his own will. That’s what brings the power of prayer.
In 1 John 5:14-15 (NKJV), it says, we know he hears, and when we pray his will, we know that we will receive what we’ve prayed for. Why? Because we are praying his will. What caused us to pray his will? The Holy Spirit in our life interceding for us, praying for us. All we have to do is pray God’s will, and we’ll get what we pray for. As soon as we accept his will, we know that we have what we pray for because it’s his will.
1). He seals us
2). He reveals the things of God to us
3). He prays for us
These are foundational needs in the Christian life, none of which you can have without the Holy Spirit overflowing at work in your life.
4). The Holy Spirit EMPOWERS our witness
We talked two weeks ago, in Acts 1:8, and I made a big deal of this because it really hit me hard. Jesus says, don’t start the church. Don’t go be witnesses. Don’t do anything until the Holy Spirit has endued you with power; until you are clothed with power from on high – then you can go be my witnesses to the outermost ends of the earth. But before that, it’s better for you to just sit down in a room and don’t touch anything. Just don’t move until the Holy Spirit comes on you. I think that’s very powerful – it really spoke a lot to me.
We are called to be witnesses but not until we are endued with power from on high. Why? Because without the Holy Spirit, quite frankly, we’re horrible witnesses for Christ. Have you ever seen a bumper sticker on a car that says, Know Jesus – Know Peace, and the driver is honking and screaming and giving people sign language and driving like maniacs? Obviously, they haven’t read the bumper sticker. Sometimes it’s best for us to be no witness than to be a bad witness. But that’s not what we’re called to do. We’re called to be a good witness.
A good witness comes from being empowered by the Holy Spirit. The greatest thing that could happen in your life is for someone to come up to you and say, “Man, something’s different about you. What is it about you? Because I see something going on different in you that I can’t really understand.” And that’s when you start saying, “Let me tell you. I received Jesus Christ as my Savior. Everything is new; everything is different.” Then they say, “Wow. I knew it was something.”
But if you go up to someone and say, “Yeah. I started going to church.” And then you continue on living the way you were living before you said that, they’re thinking, “So what? So, he got religious.” There’s no witness there.
But when the Holy Spirit changes your life, it’s the most powerful witness you could ever have. Paul is speaking in the following verse.
1 Corinthians 2:4 (NKJV)
4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
It is the Holy Spirit, alone, that enables you to be a supernatural witness for Christ. So that people don’t say, “Well, yeah. He has kind of gotten religious. He’s not doing some stuff anymore.” And then they go to saying, “Man, there is some radical change that has taken place in their life! I’m not sure what it is, but they’re sure different.” That opens the door. That’s what happened on the day of Pentecost when Peter stood up and preached. Everybody’s was saying, “Man, we don’t know what’s going on, but it’s weird. Maybe it’s this. Maybe it’s that.” What caused them to be drawn to the witness is seeing this supernatural change. It’s the same thing that draws people to Christ in our lives, seeing a supernatural change as we are endued, as we are clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit.
So, the fourth foundational gift of grace, the Holy Spirit empowers us to be a witness. In fact, we can’t be a witness for Christ without him.
Again, here are the foundational needs for the Holy Spirit.
1). He seals us
2). He reveals the truth to us
3). He prays for us
4). He empowers us to be a witness
As I’m going through this, my prayer really and sincerely (and the reason I am taking some weeks to do this) is so that you build a foundation of knowledge of the Holy Spirit. It’s so you don’t just say, “Yeah, the pastor went through the gifts of the Spirit. Whatever. Now we’re on to some good stuff.” The gifts of the Spirit – the actual gifts –have maybe too light of an impact on us because we see the Holy Spirit pigeonholed over here. And so, we say, “Yeah, I’ve read the gifts of the Spirit once or twice – whatever.” They don’t affect our lives.
But if we will understand that our lives are interwoven with the Holy Spirit, that we can’t live without a daily pouring out of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can’t live for Christ without him. All we can do is be religious without him. If we will build that foundation in our lives, then when the Holy Spirit does start working, it will be a natural outpouring.
The final foundational gift of grace… This is the overwriting; this is the all-encompassing gift of grace.
5). It is the Holy Spirit who TRANSFORMS us into the image of Christ
It is the Holy Spirit’s role, it is the Holy Spirit’s job, to transform us into the image of Jesus Christ. It is his overall work in our lives. And everything else he does as we go into the gifts and how he works in our lives, it’s all for one ultimate purpose, and that is to transform us into the image of Jesus Christ.
When I taught “The Role of The Holy Spirit” about a year and a half ago, this was the Most Important Point – let me give it to you again because repetition is the mother of learning.
The whole of the occupation of Christianity is to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.
That’s it. It’s not to get anything. It’s to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. The whole of the occupation of Christianity – for now, and for eternity – is to be transformed into the image of Christ. It is the Holy Spirit’s role to accomplish that in our lives. That’s how vital his role is.
Here’s another quote from Chuck Smith’s book, “Living Water.” The primary work of the Spirit in the life of every believer is to conform him or her into the image of Jesus Christ. Everything the Holy Spirit does in our lives is intended to serve that goal.
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV)
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
There’s no higher goal, no higher calling in the Christian life than to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. It is the Holy Spirit’s role to do that. And so, the more you desire to grow in your transformation into the image of Christ, the more you need to know of the Holy Spirit’s role in your life. There are three steps in this verse to being transformed into the image of Christ.
1). Coming into his presence with unveiled face
I could go back and tell you about Moses, but let me just say Jesus rent the veil that separated the glory of God from sinful man from top to bottom so that we have the confidence to enter into the presence without the veil – behind the veil Hebrews says. Please also know that sin puts that veil back up. Not on God’s part, on your part. But as we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us, and that veil remains down, and we stay in the presence of God with unveiled face.
2). The mirror that reflects the glory of the Lord is the Word of God
It’s right here. As you gaze, as you behold Jesus Christ in the Word, consuming the Word, being consumed, being occupied with Jesus in his Word, then the third step is:
3). As you behold more and more of the glory of the Lord, you are supernaturally transformed into his image.
So, it’s not about “trying.” It’s not about “doing.” It’s not about “becoming.” It’s about “being.” It’s about being in the presence of the Lord. It’s about being occupied; it’s about being wholly consumed with Jesus Christ. It’s very difficult for me to explain to you the criticalness of this statement. But there are three things I’d just like to share with you about that.
1). If we are occupied with ourselves, even if it is for a worthy cause such as self-improvement, we will eventually end in defeat and disillusionment – every time.
2). If you are occupied with others, including serving others, you will be disappointed usually sooner than later.
3). IF you are wholly and completely occupied with Jesus Christ, if your entire focus is on him, beholding his glory, then you will be transformed into his image by the Holy Spirit.
It’s by just being occupied with him. “I just want to know Jesus. I know all that stuff is going on, but just give me Jesus! Let him be the whole of my occupation.” And the Holy Spirit will transform you from glory to glory into the image of Christ. A phenomenal gift of grace that our only role is to be consumed with Christ, to focus our lives on him, and the Holy Spirit does the rest.
Everything we need to live the Christian life – this is a very big statement, so don’t miss it – comes through the vehicle of the Person of the Holy Spirit. Everything. Including the Word of God because you can’t even understand the Word of God without the work of the Holy Spirit.
1). He has sealed us – we are marked with ownership by him
2). He is the only one who can reveal the truths of God to us
3). He is the only one who can pray for us
4). He empowers us to be a witness
5). He is the only one who can conform us into the image of Jesus Christ
It’s a very crucial role that the Holy Spirit has in your life. All you need to do is ask him to do his work in you. All we need to do is say, “Holy Spirit – come! Fill me to overflowing. Do your work in me. Fill me until out of my innermost being bursts, gushes, rivers of living water.”
If you will let him, he will empower you. He will enable you. And most importantly, he will transform you into the image of Christ.
And so, I pray today that you’ll see that you cannot live for Christ without the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. You cannot be a disciple; you cannot have a relationship with God without the work of the Holy Spirit – that is how critical the role of the Holy Spirit is in our lives. Without him, you have religion. With him, you have intimacy and a relationship.
In 1 Peter 4, verse 10, we find the manifold grace of God. We’re going to focus on that phrase in this verse. The context of 1 Peter Chapter 4 is actually the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And we’re moving toward them, but today, we are going to focus on this one phrase to lay a foundation for it. It is really a continuing effort to demystify the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And so, the more that you know the Person of the Holy Spirit, and the more that you are aware of his role, then the more likely you will be comfortable when we start speaking about the specific gifts of the Spirit.
1 Peter 4:10 (NKJV)
10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
The manifold grace of God. Speaking of this phrase, Chuck Smith says this. What a glorious phrase. It captures so beautifully the rich array of spiritual blessings that God lavishes on his dearly beloved children. And I do mean lavish. For God spares no effort in his holy desire to bestow upon us his very best.
The manifold – the many folded – many-layered. The incredibly diverse and varied gifts of God. And what a crucial role the Holy Spirit plays in those gifts getting to us.
Hebrews 4:16 (NKJV)
16 Let us therefore come boldly (with confidence) to the throne of grace, that we may… find grace to help in time of need.
Grace is something that we don’t deserve. It is receiving something that we don’t deserve. I’ve mentioned before my good friend Walt. One of his favorite studies is entitled “Much More Grace.” And boy, we need to understand that everything that comes from God comes from his grace. From his desire to give us gifts that we don’t deserve. But these gifts are given to us because without them, we can’t live for God. It’s impossible to live for God without his grace poured out upon us.
So, today we are going to look at some foundational gifts of grace that come via the Holy Spirit into our lives. Five foundational gifts of grace, necessary for us to have any type of intimacy or personal relationship with the Lord; necessary for us to live in Christ, and to walk in the Spirit.
5 Foundational Gifts of Grace
1). The Holy Spirit SEALS us
Ephesians 1:13 (NKJV)
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,
Sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, The first foundational gift of grace. The picture that Paul is using (and remember Greek is a very pictorial language) with that word sealed is that of a king’s signet ring. Maybe you’ve seen this, where when a king wanted to make known his ownership of a possession, they would put a wax seal on the possession, and he would put his signet ring in that seal. And so, people would see the mark of the king on that possession. It was clearly a mark of ownership. It was also a mark of security and protection. So, if somebody saw the king’s signet ring seal on a possession, they would know that if they messed with that possession, they were messing with the king, that his security and his protection went with that possession by the mark of his signet ring.
The seal of ownership. Paul says in Ephesians; we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. We have the mark of the King on us. That seal IS the Holy Spirit.
Romans 8:15 (NKJV)
15 …but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
And when we find ourselves crying out to God, “Abba, Father,” that’s a mark of the ownership of God on our lives.
1 Corinthians 6:19 (NKJV)
19 … your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own
We do not have ownership of our lives anymore. If we do, then we are our own lord. If Jesus is our Lord, then he is our owner, and the mark of his ownership is the Holy Spirit in our lives. We belong to God.
But not only is the Holy Spirit a mark of ownership in our lives, but it’s also a promise.
Ephesians 1:14 (NKJV)
14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
Guys, The Holy Spirit is our guarantee. The guarantee of our inheritance. Study 1 Peter Chapter 1 about our inheritance in Christ. It is an unbelievable inheritance, our redemption, our eternity. And the Holy Spirit is our guarantee. That word can also be translated as “our earnest” or “our down payment.” Now we’ve heard that term “earnest money” used. It’s used in our culture a lot for real estate and other things, where you give earnest money guaranteeing the completion of the transaction.
Well, in Greece today, they use that word, “earnest.” But they use it for an engagement ring. And they call what we call an engagement ring; they call it an earnest ring because that ring is a guarantee to a woman that there is a marriage coming. And the Holy Spirit, guys, is our “earnest ring.” He is the guarantee from God that there’s a marriage supper coming.
Romans 8:16 (NKJV)
16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
It’s the Holy Spirit that gives us that promise that there’s a day coming when we’ll wake up, and we’ll see the King of kings face-to-face. What an incredible gift of grace for each one of us.
2). The Holy Spirit REVEALS to us and TEACHES us the things of God
So, it is the Holy Spirit’s role to seal us and to guarantee us of our coming redemption, our inheritance in Christ. It is the Holy Spirit’s role to reveal the things of God to us.
John 14:26 (NKJV)
26 He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
John 16:13 (NKJV)
13 (Jesus says) when the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth;
It is the Holy Spirit’s role to teach us. To reveal the things of God to us, to guide us into the truths of God.
Let’s look at a great text in 1 Corinthians Chapter 2 about the foundational need for the Holy Spirit in our lives.
1 Corinthians 2:9 (NKJV)
9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God
God must reveal the things that he has for us because in our understanding, we can’t understand him. In verse 11, Paul is going to use a human example, saying, “If this is true for us as humans, how much more true is this statement for God?”
1 Corinthians 2:11-12 (NKJV)
11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so (in the same way) no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
Now, if you weren’t aware of the role of the Holy Spirit, that should stump you to read in the Bible that no one knows the things of God... It’s a pretty serious statement … no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. If that’s true, then how can we know God? We continue reading (which is always the best thing to do when you have a question – you read the next verse).
12 Now we have received (not learned, not some type of intellectual understanding) (“received” as a gift), not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
We cannot learn about God. That’s a pretty heavy statement. You cannot intellectualize your way to God. You cannot figure God out – you don’t have the ability. You have, by nature, the spirit of the world, man’s wisdom, man’s intellect. And in man’s intellect, we cannot know God. We cannot learn the things of God. It is only by supernatural revelation that we know the things of God. We receive the things of God. When we talk about intellectually knowing God, we always use the demons as examples because they believe, but they haven’t received (and can’t) receive the Spirit. They’re not going to heaven. Intellectualizing doesn’t “get it.” It’s received supernaturally.
1 Corinthians 2:13-14 (NKJV)
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
The great spiritual truths of God, we don’t speak in man’s wisdom because man’s wisdom doesn’t do it. We don’t receive the Spirit through our intellect. Man’s wisdom is natural; the things of God are spiritual.
14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
In your nature, you can’t even receive the things of God. You can receive the things of religion, you can go to church your whole life, you can be active in the church and be very religious, but you don’t have the ability to receive the things of God without the Holy Spirit in your life because they are spiritually discerned. Without the Holy Spirit, we would be clueless about the things of God. And that may help you understand when you meet people (or know people) who are clueless about the things of God, and they say, “It just doesn’t make sense to me. How can God this? Or how can God that? I just don’t understand God.” I’m not sure why we think we need to understand God, and second of all, in our own wisdom, we can’t understand God. The things of God must be spiritually discerned. We need the revelation knowledge of the Holy Spirit to discern spiritual things.
1). He seals us
2). He reveals the things of God to us
3). The Holy Spirit ENABLES us to pray
It is the Holy Spirit’s role to enable us to pray. Prayer is a supernatural communing with God. It is a miraculous thing for a sinful man or woman to be able to commune intimately with a holy and a perfect God. We could not commune with God without the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Now, let me just say, God hears all prayers because he’s omniscient. Because he is omnipresent, he hears them. However, we can also pray our entire lives and never commune with God. Because true prayer is not a string of words said with your eyes closed. Understand? True prayer is not something you say; true prayer is a condition of your heart. It’s an intimate communing. It’s an intimate connection with God, your Father. And true prayer can only happen through the empowering, the enabling of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 8:26(a) (NKJV)
26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought,…
The weakness that Paul is talking about that the Holy Spirit helps us in is knowing what we should pray for. And notice it says, we do not know what we should pray for as we ought,… It doesn’t say that in that off chance, every once-in-awhile when you don’t know what to pray for, then the Holy Spirit steps in and helps you. It says we do not know. It is a conclusive statement we do not know what we should pray for. In our own nature, we don’t even know what to pray for. In our own intellect, in our own understanding, we don’t know how to pray.
How often (and I want to encourage you to pray more, not less) do we start our prayers with a shopping list, a “needs” list? “Okay, God, I don’t have a lot of time, so here’s what I want. And I want it all in Jesus’ name, amen.” And then we wash our hands and think, “Okay, I got that done. It ought to be coming any time.” Don’t hold your breath. God is waiting until we understand something very, very critical. And that is that the role of prayer is not getting our will done in heaven as we would have it on earth. Prayer is getting God’s will on earth, as he would have it in heaven. Period.
George Müller says, Ninety-five percent of knowing the will of God is crucifying our own will.
As soon as you have no will of your own, you are ninety-five percent to understanding the will of God. That is phenomenal.
The purpose of all prayer, always, is to align our hearts with the heart of God. It is the ONLY purpose of prayer, to align our hearts with the heart of God. His will is immeasurably better for us than our will – will ever be. And the role of prayer is to get us in line. We are one hundred and eighty degrees out of God’s will when we are demanding our own will.
Romans 8:26-27 (NKJV)
26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us (that is the fix, the repair, for us not knowing what we should pray for) with groanings which cannot be uttered. (There’s some grammatical Greek there which would indicate that those groanings are not ours, they are the Holy Spirit’s groanings)
27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
This should be our only goal in prayer, to make intercession according to the will of God. It’s so hard for us to just get to the point where we say, “God, your will truly is better for me than my own.” Ninety-five percent of our prayer relationship with God is just getting to the point where we say, “Not my will, but thy will be done.” And it’s the Holy Spirit who makes intercession according to the will of God. The only way that prayer becomes communion with God is when that prayer is led by the Holy Spirit, our hearts being aligned with his.
So, let me just share with you a little cycle of prayer that is really, really clear in the Bible. It’s not taught that often because, quite frankly, people don’t want to hear it.
Here is the cycle of prayer.
1). True prayer starts in the heart of God (not us)
2). Our hearts are aligned with his heart so that his will and his desires are transferred to our own heart via the Holy Spirit
3). We pray back to God the desires that he has put in our heart, and when we pray his will back to him, that completes this supernatural circle that accomplishes the mighty, miraculous things of God in our lives.
But the hard part to understand is that it starts with God, not with us. And the thing that opens the floodgates in prayer is when we’re praying back to God his own will. That’s what brings the power of prayer.
In 1 John 5:14-15 (NKJV), it says, we know he hears, and when we pray his will, we know that we will receive what we’ve prayed for. Why? Because we are praying his will. What caused us to pray his will? The Holy Spirit in our life interceding for us, praying for us. All we have to do is pray God’s will, and we’ll get what we pray for. As soon as we accept his will, we know that we have what we pray for because it’s his will.
1). He seals us
2). He reveals the things of God to us
3). He prays for us
These are foundational needs in the Christian life, none of which you can have without the Holy Spirit overflowing at work in your life.
4). The Holy Spirit EMPOWERS our witness
We talked two weeks ago, in Acts 1:8, and I made a big deal of this because it really hit me hard. Jesus says, don’t start the church. Don’t go be witnesses. Don’t do anything until the Holy Spirit has endued you with power; until you are clothed with power from on high – then you can go be my witnesses to the outermost ends of the earth. But before that, it’s better for you to just sit down in a room and don’t touch anything. Just don’t move until the Holy Spirit comes on you. I think that’s very powerful – it really spoke a lot to me.
We are called to be witnesses but not until we are endued with power from on high. Why? Because without the Holy Spirit, quite frankly, we’re horrible witnesses for Christ. Have you ever seen a bumper sticker on a car that says, Know Jesus – Know Peace, and the driver is honking and screaming and giving people sign language and driving like maniacs? Obviously, they haven’t read the bumper sticker. Sometimes it’s best for us to be no witness than to be a bad witness. But that’s not what we’re called to do. We’re called to be a good witness.
A good witness comes from being empowered by the Holy Spirit. The greatest thing that could happen in your life is for someone to come up to you and say, “Man, something’s different about you. What is it about you? Because I see something going on different in you that I can’t really understand.” And that’s when you start saying, “Let me tell you. I received Jesus Christ as my Savior. Everything is new; everything is different.” Then they say, “Wow. I knew it was something.”
But if you go up to someone and say, “Yeah. I started going to church.” And then you continue on living the way you were living before you said that, they’re thinking, “So what? So, he got religious.” There’s no witness there.
But when the Holy Spirit changes your life, it’s the most powerful witness you could ever have. Paul is speaking in the following verse.
1 Corinthians 2:4 (NKJV)
4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
It is the Holy Spirit, alone, that enables you to be a supernatural witness for Christ. So that people don’t say, “Well, yeah. He has kind of gotten religious. He’s not doing some stuff anymore.” And then they go to saying, “Man, there is some radical change that has taken place in their life! I’m not sure what it is, but they’re sure different.” That opens the door. That’s what happened on the day of Pentecost when Peter stood up and preached. Everybody’s was saying, “Man, we don’t know what’s going on, but it’s weird. Maybe it’s this. Maybe it’s that.” What caused them to be drawn to the witness is seeing this supernatural change. It’s the same thing that draws people to Christ in our lives, seeing a supernatural change as we are endued, as we are clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit.
So, the fourth foundational gift of grace, the Holy Spirit empowers us to be a witness. In fact, we can’t be a witness for Christ without him.
Again, here are the foundational needs for the Holy Spirit.
1). He seals us
2). He reveals the truth to us
3). He prays for us
4). He empowers us to be a witness
As I’m going through this, my prayer really and sincerely (and the reason I am taking some weeks to do this) is so that you build a foundation of knowledge of the Holy Spirit. It’s so you don’t just say, “Yeah, the pastor went through the gifts of the Spirit. Whatever. Now we’re on to some good stuff.” The gifts of the Spirit – the actual gifts –have maybe too light of an impact on us because we see the Holy Spirit pigeonholed over here. And so, we say, “Yeah, I’ve read the gifts of the Spirit once or twice – whatever.” They don’t affect our lives.
But if we will understand that our lives are interwoven with the Holy Spirit, that we can’t live without a daily pouring out of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can’t live for Christ without him. All we can do is be religious without him. If we will build that foundation in our lives, then when the Holy Spirit does start working, it will be a natural outpouring.
The final foundational gift of grace… This is the overwriting; this is the all-encompassing gift of grace.
5). It is the Holy Spirit who TRANSFORMS us into the image of Christ
It is the Holy Spirit’s role, it is the Holy Spirit’s job, to transform us into the image of Jesus Christ. It is his overall work in our lives. And everything else he does as we go into the gifts and how he works in our lives, it’s all for one ultimate purpose, and that is to transform us into the image of Jesus Christ.
When I taught “The Role of The Holy Spirit” about a year and a half ago, this was the Most Important Point – let me give it to you again because repetition is the mother of learning.
The whole of the occupation of Christianity is to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.
That’s it. It’s not to get anything. It’s to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. The whole of the occupation of Christianity – for now, and for eternity – is to be transformed into the image of Christ. It is the Holy Spirit’s role to accomplish that in our lives. That’s how vital his role is.
Here’s another quote from Chuck Smith’s book, “Living Water.” The primary work of the Spirit in the life of every believer is to conform him or her into the image of Jesus Christ. Everything the Holy Spirit does in our lives is intended to serve that goal.
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV)
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
There’s no higher goal, no higher calling in the Christian life than to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. It is the Holy Spirit’s role to do that. And so, the more you desire to grow in your transformation into the image of Christ, the more you need to know of the Holy Spirit’s role in your life. There are three steps in this verse to being transformed into the image of Christ.
1). Coming into his presence with unveiled face
I could go back and tell you about Moses, but let me just say Jesus rent the veil that separated the glory of God from sinful man from top to bottom so that we have the confidence to enter into the presence without the veil – behind the veil Hebrews says. Please also know that sin puts that veil back up. Not on God’s part, on your part. But as we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us, and that veil remains down, and we stay in the presence of God with unveiled face.
2). The mirror that reflects the glory of the Lord is the Word of God
It’s right here. As you gaze, as you behold Jesus Christ in the Word, consuming the Word, being consumed, being occupied with Jesus in his Word, then the third step is:
3). As you behold more and more of the glory of the Lord, you are supernaturally transformed into his image.
So, it’s not about “trying.” It’s not about “doing.” It’s not about “becoming.” It’s about “being.” It’s about being in the presence of the Lord. It’s about being occupied; it’s about being wholly consumed with Jesus Christ. It’s very difficult for me to explain to you the criticalness of this statement. But there are three things I’d just like to share with you about that.
1). If we are occupied with ourselves, even if it is for a worthy cause such as self-improvement, we will eventually end in defeat and disillusionment – every time.
2). If you are occupied with others, including serving others, you will be disappointed usually sooner than later.
3). IF you are wholly and completely occupied with Jesus Christ, if your entire focus is on him, beholding his glory, then you will be transformed into his image by the Holy Spirit.
It’s by just being occupied with him. “I just want to know Jesus. I know all that stuff is going on, but just give me Jesus! Let him be the whole of my occupation.” And the Holy Spirit will transform you from glory to glory into the image of Christ. A phenomenal gift of grace that our only role is to be consumed with Christ, to focus our lives on him, and the Holy Spirit does the rest.
Everything we need to live the Christian life – this is a very big statement, so don’t miss it – comes through the vehicle of the Person of the Holy Spirit. Everything. Including the Word of God because you can’t even understand the Word of God without the work of the Holy Spirit.
1). He has sealed us – we are marked with ownership by him
2). He is the only one who can reveal the truths of God to us
3). He is the only one who can pray for us
4). He empowers us to be a witness
5). He is the only one who can conform us into the image of Jesus Christ
It’s a very crucial role that the Holy Spirit has in your life. All you need to do is ask him to do his work in you. All we need to do is say, “Holy Spirit – come! Fill me to overflowing. Do your work in me. Fill me until out of my innermost being bursts, gushes, rivers of living water.”
If you will let him, he will empower you. He will enable you. And most importantly, he will transform you into the image of Christ.