Monday, July 02, 2012,
7:42 a.m. – The Lord woke me this morning with the song “There is a Redeemer” playing in my
mind. I can’t recall the last time I heard that song by Keith and Melody Green.
There is a Redeemer
/ Melody Green / Keith Green
Jesus my Redeemer,
Name above all names,
Precious Lamb of God,
Messiah,
Oh, for sinners slain.
Thank you, oh my Father,
For giving us Your Son,
And leaving Your Spirit,
'til the work on earth
is done.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Acts 1:1-11 (NIV 1984):
In my former book,
Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day
he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to
the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men
and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a
period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while
he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem,
but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.
For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the
Holy Spirit.”
So when they met
together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the
kingdom to Israel?”
He said to them: “It
is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own
authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and
you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the
ends of the earth.”
After he said this, he
was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
They were looking
intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in
white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here
looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven,
will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
My Understanding: In
this song “There is a Redeemer,” the authors thanked God the Father for giving
us Jesus Christ as our perfect Lamb sacrifice for our sins to redeem us from
the ultimate penalty of our sin (eternal damnation and eternal separation from
God), and to set us free from the control of sin over our daily lives. Jesus
Christ, God the Son, our Lord and Messiah, was crucified on a cross for our
sins. When he died, he took upon himself the sins of the entire world. He
buried our sins with him in that grave, yet he rose from the dead triumphant
over death, hell, Satan and sin. Hallelujah!
The authors did not stop there, though. They also thanked
God the Father for leaving his Holy Spirit with us and in us until his work on
this earth is completed, and until Jesus Christ returns to earth for his bride,
to judge, and to set up his millennial kingdom reign on the earth. The theme of
this passage of scripture in Acts, chapter 1, centers on this subject of the
Holy Spirit and his working in our hearts and lives, and speaks, as well, as
did the authors of this song, about Jesus’ return one day when we will see our
Lord face to face.
In Acts 1, Luke wrote about how Jesus, following his death
and resurrection, had appeared to his disciples numerous times over a period of
forty days. On one of those occasions he spoke with them concerning the Holy
Spirit whom he had promised to send to them. He instructed them not to leave
Jerusalem, but to wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Then, he said, “For
John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy
Spirit.” John the Baptist had said this, too, about his baptism of people with water
in contrast to Jesus’ baptism of us with the Holy Spirit. So, the disciples had
heard this before. And, then Jesus told them that when they received the
promised Holy Spirit, i.e. when he came upon them, they would be Christ’s
witnesses to the ends of the earth.
As I read this passage this morning, in combination with the
lyrics to this song, the Lord Jesus gave me a picture of the lesson he wanted
me to learn and to share from this today. First of all Jesus spoke with his
disciples about the gift of the Holy Spirit they were to receive, and then he
talked about some of the effects of receiving this gift of the Holy Spirit –
they would be empowered by the Holy Spirit to be Christ’s witnesses to the ends
of the earth. And, the song spoke of God the Father leaving his Spirit here for
us to complete the work Jesus had begun until Jesus Christ returns one day for
his bride. So, with that in mind, the Lord led me to look into his word to see
what it taught concerning the receiving of the Holy Spirit, the filling of the
Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit’s working in our hearts and lives, and what our
response should be to the Holy Spirit’s work in our hearts and lives.
Receiving the Holy
Spirit (baptized with the Holy Spirit)
First of all, the Holy Spirit is a gift from God the Father.
We can do nothing within ourselves to earn or deserve the Holy Spirit within
our lives. Yet, Jesus Christ has laid down requirements for receiving this
gift, which is the same as receiving the gift of salvation, because when we
believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes within the
life of the believer. We must have believing faith in Jesus Christ that
demonstrates itself as genuine through repentance (turning from sin), and
obedience to Christ and to his commands. We must die to our old lives of sin,
be transformed in heart and mind by the working of the Holy Spirit in
regeneration (new birth), and we must put on our new lives in Christ Jesus, “created
to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:24). This is what water
baptism signifies, and this is what it means to be baptized with the Holy
Spirit.
When we are baptized with the Holy Spirit in regeneration
(new birth), we choose to no longer live according to the sinful nature, but
according to the Spirit. We now have our minds set on what the Spirit desires,
not what our flesh desires. We submit willingly to Christ’s commands and we
choose to live to please God in all we do. We choose to put to death the
misdeeds of our fleshly bodies, so that we might live eternally with God.
Instead of allowing our flesh to lead and rule our lives, we now yield to the
Spirit of God as the boss of our lives. [See Romans 8] We understand that when
we were outside of Christ that we were slaves to sin and depravity, and that
through faith in Jesus Christ, by his grace, we have been freed from the
control of sin over our lives. So, we count ourselves dead to sin, but alive to
Christ. We no longer allow sin to reign (rule; control) our lives, so that we
obey its evil desires, but we now offer ourselves to God as instruments of
righteousness, holy and pleasing to him, no longer conformed to the pattern of
this world. [See Rom. 6; 12:1-2]
Being filled with the
Holy Spirit
The scriptures also teach about being filled with the Holy
Spirit. This is separate from being baptized with the Holy Spirit in
regeneration (new birth), in that it is an ongoing process. In other words, we
receive the Holy Spirit when we receive Christ. He comes within us, indwells
us, empowers us, sets his seal of ownership upon us, and he transforms us into
new creatures in Christ Jesus. Yet, salvation is a process of being transformed
into Christ’s image, and, although the Holy Spirit is within us, we are to be
continually being filled up in measure of the Spirit within us. In Ephesians
5:18 we read that we are not to get drunk on wine, which leads to wickedness,
but we are to “be being filled” (literally) with the Spirit.
If we read this Ephesians passage in context, we get a
bigger picture of what this “be being filled” with the Spirit entails.
Ephesians 4 speaks much on the subject of putting off our old lives of sin,
being transformed in mind, and putting on our new self in Christ Jesus. It
speaks of how we need to stop lying, and we need to tell the truth. We need to
stop stealing, and we need to work and give to the needy. In our anger we
should not sin. We should not do anything to give the devil a foothold (grip) in
our lives. We should not allow unwholesome talk to come out of our mouths, but
only what is helpful for building others up in the faith. We should be kind,
compassionate and forgiving, instead of demonstrating bitterness, hatred, rage
or malice against others. In all that we do, we should not grieve the Holy
Spirit who sealed us for the day of redemption.
We were once darkness, but now we are children of light, so
we should live as children of light in all goodness, righteousness and truth,
and we should find out what pleases the Lord. We need to be careful how we
live, not as unwise, but as wise. We are not to be foolish, but we are to
understand what the Lord’s will is for our lives. Ok, then it says we should
not get drunk on wine but we should “be being filled” with the Holy Spirit. The
contrast is clear! Drunkenness expresses itself in something else being in
control of our lives (other than Christ), which leads to all kinds of evil. We
are out of control. One of the characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit is
self-control. Instead of being controlled by evil, we should be under the
continual control of the Holy Spirit of God. This is what it means to be filled
with the Holy Spirit. It is not an emotional experience. It is dying to self
and it is living for God.
The Working of the
Holy Spirit
Wow! There is not enough space or time here to list all the
things the Holy Spirit does. I have already mentioned some. He also teaches us
all things about God and reminds us of the words of Christ. He gives us the
words to say when we are brought before rulers on account of our testimony for
Christ. He empowers us to be Christ’s witnesses. He encourages, strengthens,
warns of danger, gives hope and healing, serves as our conscience, gives peace
and joy, sanctifies and makes us holy, fills us with deep conviction concerning
the things of God that must be shared with others, comforts, leads, guides and helps
us where we need help, gives us spiritual gifts (see Rom. 12; 1 Co. 12; Eph.
4), and he convicts us of sin, inspires and instructs us in the way we should
go, exhorts, chastises and speaks words of judgment, too, to his church (see
Rev. 2-3).
Our heart response to
the Holy Spirit’s work
We need to remember always what Jesus Christ did for us in
saving us, not just from the penalty of sin, but in freeing us from the control
of sin so that we are free to love, serve and obey him, and to walk in daily
fellowship with him. We need to remember that the Holy Spirit of God now dwells
within us and we are the temple of God, we were bought with a price, and we are
no longer our own. So, we are to honor God with our lives by fleeing from the
temptations to sin, and by living to please God in all we do. We must walk now
by the Spirit of God, so that we don’t gratify the desires of our sinful
nature. The Spirit of God and our sinful nature are in conflict with each other
and cannot coexist. We must now focus our minds, hearts and attention on building
ourselves up in our most holy faith and on praying in the Spirit of God,
believing God to do the work within us as we cooperate with his work.
My Desire /
Lillian Plankenhorn
My desire, to be like
Jesus
My desire, to be like
Him.
His Spirit fill me,
His love o'erwhelm me;
In deed and word, to
be like Him.
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