The Blessing Of The Spirit - Part 1

Last Sunday we were thinking about the ministry of the Holy Spirit and I feel more and more that the Lord wants us to consider seriously why he sent the Spirit to earth in the day of Pentecost and as I have often said, what Israel would have been if they didn't have the law, the church is without the Holy Spirit. You see, Israel could do without many things. For example, they could do without the land of Canaan because they had the law even in the wilderness and they were okay. But if the law was taken away from them, that was the end of Israel as a nation. The thing that distinguished Israel was not that they did a lot of good things or they prayed, but they had the law. And the thing that should distinguish us as Christians in the new covenant is the exact equivalent of the law, the Holy Spirit. You know, the Jews made much of the law. It was a big thing. They gloried in the fact that of all the people on the earth, we alone have the law of God. And all that is a picture of how we should value the Holy Spirit. And I really believe that the reason for many of our problems is because we have not given the Holy Spirit his rightful place in our life or in our ministry. We have chosen to ignore him. So let me share with you a little moment along that line. In Galatians chapter 3, first of all, you know, Galatians like Hebrews and like 2 Corinthians 3, these are some New Testament passages that contrast the old covenant with the new covenant. And in Galatians 3, you know, he talks about law and spirit almost right from the beginning. Verse 2, did you receive the spirit by keeping the works of the law? You know, a lot of people who think that I can receive the Holy Spirit if you do certain things. No, it's like a whole lot of people who think they'll get forgiveness of sins by doing certain things. No, it's by hearing with faith. How did we get salvation? Hearing with faith. How do we get the Holy Spirit? Hearing with faith. What do people get when they try to get forgiveness of sins through keeping the law? Nothing. What do people get when they try to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit by fulfilling certain conditions? Nothing. So, and he says further, if you began by the Spirit, when you were baptized in the Spirit, you think later on in life you're going to know, okay, we started with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but now we sort of have to keep certain commandments in order to be perfect. No, you're not going to be perfected by the flesh. And if we are not becoming more and more perfect, becoming more and more like Christ, the reason is here. Are you so foolish, Galatians 3:3, having begun in the Spirit, are you going to be perfected by the flesh? That means your new birth is called being born of the Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, you couldn't have been born again. Do you know that? I mean, as much as Mary could not have had a baby as a virgin without the Holy Spirit coming upon her. As impossible as that. I mean, however much Mary prayed and fasted, nothing would happen. It's not praying and fasting that brought the body of Jesus into Mary's womb. It was the Holy Spirit coming upon her. And that's a picture of how the Holy Spirit seeks to bring us to new birth. So, if we begin in the Spirit, that means you're born again by the Holy Spirit. How can I make myself a child of God? That's impossible. The Holy Spirit comes and makes me a child of God. And he says, you started right. Now, after that, are you going to become holy by doing certain things? See, that's what all false religions teach. All false religions teach that you can make yourself holy. You can improve your conduct, maybe your character, but you can't change your nature. Only God can do that. Conduct and character are on the outside. Nature is something within. You can't change that. And we should never mistake a change in our outward conduct and being better behaved and learning to say thank you and sorry and being gracious and nice. That's not Christianity. That's just civilization. Christianity is a change of nature. Only the Holy Spirit can do it. And if you're not progressing in the sense of coming to greater and greater victory in our lives over things that defeat us, that's what it means to press on to perfection. He says probably it's because you don't seek the help of the Holy Spirit in this process. And then you're exactly in the same category as those other people out there who think that, you know, there are even Christians who think you burn candles and do some novenas and things like that and you become a child of God or sprinkle some water on a child. It's no different from that, really, except that you believe that the new birth is by the Holy Spirit, but afterwards you've got to perfect yourself by the flesh. I think it's a very common mistake among many Christians. So, I think that's also the reason why many Christians don't experience miracles in their life. Because it says in verse 5, how does God do miracles among you? Is it by keeping certain works or by faith? You know, if I think that if I do certain things, God will do a miracle, that's back to salvation by works. It is by faith, dependence on the Holy Spirit. Then he gives us the example of Abraham. How Abraham was justified by faith, just by faith, just not because of any works. And in other places he says how Abraham was 430 years before the law came. Then he says if you really get back under the works of the law and think that you're going to please God by a lot of works that you do, verse 10, all the works of the law are under a curse. A curse, why? I mean, why would that be a curse if a man kept the Ten Commandments? The curse is if a man thinks that he's going to be acceptable before God by keeping those commandments. Those commandments were really an expression of something that had to be done externally so that people could live together in society without killing each other and committing adultery with everyone else. That would be confusion. So it brought a certain order into Israel, it didn't make them holy. And even if a man kept all the Ten Commandments, he couldn't go to heaven. Think of the rich young ruler who couldn't become a disciple of Jesus even though he did so many things from childhood. So everyone, the reason is, it says here, everyone who does not keep every single thing written in the law to perform it, verse 10, is cursed. So in other words, if you keep the law, you've got to keep the whole thing. And nobody could keep it. And if you broke it once, that was it, you're finished for life. So no one can be justified by the law. But the Bible, even in the Old Testament, says in Habakkuk, the righteous man shall live by faith.