Reminders About the Holy Spirit and the Life of Godliness (II)

Greetings, Friend.

My earlier letter on the topic Reminders About the Holy Spirit and the Life of Godliness concerned The Person of the Holy Spirit. Jesus declared in Matthew 12 the Holy Spirit can be blasphemed, sinned against, and stated such an act unforgivable. It is this very same Spirit Christians receive as a seal of our redemption. Remarkably, Christians, who know full well the forgiveness of their sins, maintain the capacity to grieve and reject the Holy Spirit in their lives. Why would we ever do that! Receipt of the Holy Spirit is God’s gift and promise. (Acts 10:45, 2:33) The New Testament refers to the Spirit over 220 times. It is the Flesh, dear Christian! Only the fallen fleshly nature would dare dismiss such a remarkable gift. Yet, in the end, it could do nothing else. It is the flesh.

In this second of four parts, The Power of the Holy Spirit, I show that the Holy Spirit acting with power naturally follows from His person. The Spirit’s nature and desire is to act dramatically for God, to pursue and accomplish God’s plans and empower God’s people. This was clearly seen with Jesus. Look at this record of the Spirit’s power:

Matthew 12:28, “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God.” Romans 8:11-12 “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead.” 1 Peter 3:18 Christ, “being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.”

Returning to Matthew 12, the passage I used to contemplate the person of the Holy Spirit, the work of God’s Spirit now draws our attention. People brought Jesus a demon-possessed man. (v.22) Jesus healed him. Amazed by the miracle, the crowds questioned if Jesus was the anticipated Son of David; their messiah. The act was public and undeniable, which troubled the observing Pharisees and scribes. They must challenge the event, but how? Their reasoning directed an attack not at the fact of the man’s changed life but at the cause of the change. These religious leaders, prized in their knowledge and wisdom, attacked the miracle’s source. It was Satan’s power that did the miracle! (v. 24, 26) Jesus would be discredited and any notion of him as Israel’s messiah dismissed.

Jesus being Jesus overturned their faulty argument. He advanced his knowledge and wisdom by challenging their claim that the miracle’s source was satanic. The religious leaders heard Jesus’ paralyzing words that would have entered the ears and in fear stopped the heart! To say that God’s work by His Spirit was really the work of Satan, this accusation is sin, and such a sin that would never be forgiven! Stunned, the religious leaders struggled to reason, the crowd also considering both paths: Satan or God’s Spirit? The religious leaders could not be sure. Conviction was weak. Theirs was an argument of convenience. (see also Matthew 21:23-27) Yet, the miracle really happened, and Jesus did it. Jesus was confident! He stood his ground! The argument ended! The power was of God’s Spirit!

But there is more for us here, a second critical characteristic to understand. God’s Spirit “invaded” Satan’s stronghold and freed the demon-possessed man. Heaven and Hell face to face! Power against power! Might against might! Good verses evil! The Holy Spirit demolished the demonic grip! Delivered the man! The Spirit shattered the doors of strong man’s (Satan’s) house, bound that man, and plundered his goods. (v. 29) God’s power was unquestionably stronger than Satan’s. As Jesus argued, the miracle could not be attributed to Satan, for Satan would not free his own! The multitudes upon witnessing the miracle, the argument, the humiliation of the self-righteous Pharisees and scribes were likely now even more amazed, asking anew if Jesus was the Son of David! God was glorified! God’s Spirit is all powerful and delivers from the demonic!

The Spirit of God dominates a second dreadful foe—death. God’s Spirit raised Jesus from the dead! (R0m 8:11, 1 Pet 3:18) The Father decreed it (Acts 2:24), but the Spirit gave the lift. Death could not hold Him! The Spirit’s power was too great! Death, another stronghold, was Spirit raided. God’s Spirit smashed its doors then lifted our Savior to life and glory! God was, and is still, glorified! (Rom 8:11, 1 Co 15:22) As it is with Jesus, so it is with His followers. God’s Spirit is our surety. (Eph 1:13-14)

The Spirit was essential to Jesus’ earthly ministry. Consider the following.

The Holy Spirit came upon Mary, the power of the Highest overshadowing her, for the conception of Jesus, the Son of God. (Luke 1:34-35)

Jesus being baptized was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, then He returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee. News of Him went out through all the surrounding region, and He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. (Lk 4:1, 14-15)

Jesus proclaimed: “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.” (Lk 4:18)

The crowd was amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, “What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.” (Lk 4:36)

And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all. (Lk 6:19) . . . Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.” (Lk 8:46)

Nevertheless I [Jesus] tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper [Holy Spirit] will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. (John 16:7-8)

And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” . . . But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1:4f)

God’s Spirit was the agent (the Person) and Power whereby the second person of the Godhead was conceived in Mary. God’s Spirit set Jesus apart and empowered his ministry. When Jesus drew near the end of His earthly work, He introduced and endorsed the Holy Spirit and the Spirit’s ministry to the disciples. From that time (Acts 2:1f) till now, the Spirit has been faithfully pursuing His task of witnessing Jesus Christ to the world.

Demonic powers and death are no match for the person and power of the Holy Spirit! Mighty foes like these lose their grip on mind and heart when He is near. Yet now we turn to a third foe, even a fourth, that God’s Spirit pursues. The eyes of our understanding must be keen. Yes, enemy three is a unique one indeed, holding a privileged status concerning where God’s power goes to liberate and free. The Spirit’s plan of engagement will differ. Deliverance from demons and death were displayed to the world as a physical win, seen with physical eyes. But where we go now, and the battle we observe, take us beyond the natural to the realm of the heart, where what’s spiritual is key and godly living the Spirit’s victory.

Galatians 5:17, “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another.”

The demonic and death witnessed their captives aided and freed. Neither could challenge God’s power. Now we’ve reached the Christian, a special class or breed. Here is one powerful enough to withstand God’s Spirit. Why such a difference? This you will want to know: Deliverance from the flesh, a different type of foe, must be desired and willed by the one needing to be freed. Deliverance here is an ongoing joint effort between the Christian and the Holy Spirit. God’s application of liberating power from the flesh is different from what we’ve previously seen. Remarkably different!

In the remainder of this letter, and in the next, the heart’s interior, and sometimes the mind, will be our focus. We’re looking inside. What I call the “fleshly estate of the heart” is a condition still very present and very strong in the Christian, even though God has saved and broken sin’s dominating power. Our flesh is natural to us distinct from God’s redeeming work and influence. It is our motivating force for life which seeks interests and pleasures according to its nature or build, and principles. The flesh encourages thoughts and actions aimed at satisfying its desires, which feed a gnawing hunger for fulfillment and exaltation. It does not regard God. It wants to rule, and it cannot share its glory with another. Therefore, like the demonic and death, for one to be freed and God glorified, the flesh must be conquered.

Death to the flesh is isolation, being unnoticed and unwanted, crucified—dead. For this to happen, the essence of a soul—the deepest layer of a person’s self-existence, one’s seat of life—would need a replacement for the flesh, require different things to desire; one would need a different nature, a different presence. Now we begin to see how God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, enters the battle. The word used in Galatians 5:17 is “contrary” to the flesh.

Christians should convincingly know their deliverance by God. Forgiveness of sin, love in the heart, and God’s laws on both mind and heart should be real to some degree. Jesus’ description in Acts 26: 18, if literal, does not exempt a person claiming to be a Christian from knowing key changes! Godly elements attended to, watered and warmed by God’s Spirit grow to influence a Christian’s pursuit toward what is of God and away from what is of the flesh. (Col 3:1-5; Rom 8:5; Gal 5:25, 16) Thus, the flesh starves. Eventually its stirrings, its voice and power exhaust. Godly graces and affections now fuller in the heart and soul, where the flesh once ruled unchallenged, taste sweet to the Christian, who wants to see them live and flourish into fruit. Such would be a joyful outcome for the Holy Spirit!

For this battle with our flesh to require God’s Spirit, it simply must be more severe and important than we understand. Wouldn’t we normally race toward such deliverance and never look back? Sadly, and regrettably, for most, the answer is “No.” We Christians can and do grieve and reject the Holy Spirit. We can and do refuse His person. We do reject His power. In Galatians 5:17, God kindly shows us that it is the Spirit’s might that we so desperately need. His is the only force suitable to successfully fight our flesh. This fact alone should tell us something about ourselves. We need God’s power and deliverance within. God assigns His Spirit this task, the very One who conquered the demonic and death. Here is the battle for our hearts! Death to the flesh through life in the Spirit! God be glorified!

Dear Christian, you must know salvation is from God, outside of one’s self, as is that spring from which godly passions and desires flow. God puts His principles in the mind and heart. The Holy Spirit is (relationally) placed so deep in our hearts that He presses the flesh, not only with power but with the love of God, comfort (help), truth and witness to Christ. These can overwhelm and fill the heart upon the fleshes’ retreat, also illumine the mind, so we follow the Spirit’s lead to God’s truth and Jesus. The Spirit witnesses Christ to the world and to our Christian minds and hearts, because both need and depend on Jesus as the way to the Father. More on the Spirit’s engagement of the flesh will follow in part three, The Presence of the Spirit.

There remains but to expose the fourth foe: self-righteous legalism. Recall the Pharisees and scribes, the “so called” gate-keepers of God’s kingdom, attacked the validity of Jesus’ healing the demon-possessed man. How does God’s Spirit deal with such darkened and destructive attitudes and doctrine? He uses people and truth.

The Holy Spirit empowered Jesus. Jesus publically confronted the legalist’s charge, overturned their logic, and warned them of sin’s ramifications. Matthew 23 contains a fiery and staggering list of charges against the Pharisees and scribes. They misunderstood God’s revealed will. This corrupted their minds and hearts. They pursued self-righteousness which created a way of life of severe demand for one’s self and all others. Then they imposed the same framework on others under the cover of God’s will! The New Testament records show this had detrimental effects on the people. Yet the leaders could not help but throw a heavy yoke on people. They were committed to the letter of the law, not its spirit. The letter brings death; the Spirit life. (2 Cor 3:6)

Jesus continually confronted their hypocrisy and twisted doctrine. Yet, at the end, He prayed the Father would forgive them! The flesh and sin were aggressively at work, or else Jesus’ prayer for forgiveness makes no sense. They knew neither him nor the Father. Yes, God’s Spirit uses Persons, like Jesus, in whom His Power resided, to Prosecute judgment against self-righteous legalism. But there were others.

Consider the disciple Stephen, in Acts 6 and 7. He recounts a beautifully detailed history of Israel leading up to his crushing charge against the high priest and others, “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in the heart and ears!” (Act 7:51) Wow! What an indictment and charge of guilt! The charge was blistering and true, yet it remained incomplete. Stephen, filled with the Spirit (Acts 6:5, 10), releases his final blow . . . “You always resist the Holy Spirit”! So here, as in Matthew 12, that which is credited to God’s Spirit is denied, rejected and dismissed by Israel’s leadership. To Stephen’s pronouncement they lunged with enraged fury to destroy him, but not before Stephen’s final witness. “But, he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and said, ‘Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God!’” (v. 55-56) God’s Spirit powerfully proclaimed against self-righteous legalism! God was glorified!

A final word: God’s Spirit labors against legalism using Spirit-led people who walk in the Spirit to prosecute judgment against it. If you know the story of Stephen, you know about Saul, who became the apostle Paul. He stood witness at Stephen’s death. I will not review what you already know of his labors against this enemy, except to say that after his conversion, Paul was filled with the Spirit. (Acts 9:17) He is then found “in the synagogues” preaching “that He [Jesus] is the Son of God.” (9:20) The Spirit’s work continues. God was glorified!

Dear friend, as you know from examining your own life, as I by examining mine, the Holy Spirit with His conquering and delivering power does not automatically overtake our flesh, instill in us godly passions and desires that we joyfully act upon. Most of us are more likely identified with the flesh’s passions than those of the Spirit and the new man the Scriptures talk about. (Eph 4:24, Gal 5:25) Yet we have the person and power of God’s Spirit. What restrains us from pursuing God and the godly life?

In the next letter, the third part of Reminders About the Holy Spirit and the Life of Godliness, I consider the Presence of the Spirit and our flesh. There is also another layer to the Spirit’s work which I will cover. This goes interestingly beyond the individual.

God’s best to you.

Carl