Yielding to the Spirit of Truth (part 1)

Ten Ways the Holy Spirit Works in Us

9.12.2021

Introduction

In a strange way today, we seem surrounded by lies, distortions, deceptions, and twisted truths that only present a partial picture of whatever we are dealing with.

I was listening yesterday to Lester Sumrall from over 40 years ago. He said you can become so accustomed to listening to lies and deception that you can come to a place that you do not recognize truth when you hear it.

We have an internal antidote for today. He is the Spirit of Truth.

The Holy Spirit brings to us The Eternal Presence: we have the same problems others have, but, we have different answers…

Exodus 33:16 (NLT)

For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?

There is such a distinction between how a believer deals with stress and how a person who doesn’t know Jesus deals with it.

Overeating, alcohol, drugs, porn, sex. Pain looks for pleasure.

Psalm 16:11 – In your presence is fullness of joy; pleasures forevermore.

He wants us to bring the pain of living into His Presence!

Acts 4:13 (NLT)
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

If you will walk with God, you will be a cut above the crowd. And God can use you to minister hope and faith to those responding in fear to the challenges that we all face right now.

In an age of great change, challenge, and danger, God has given us a personal coach to help us navigate through these troubled times.

Notice what Jesus said:

John 14:15-18-ESV

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. (16) And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, (17) even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. (18) I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

Helper (Olive Tree Enhanced Strong’s Dictionary)

g3875. paraklētos; an intercessor, consoler: — advocate, comforter.

AV (5) – comforter 4, advocate 1;

summoned, called to one’s side, esp. called to one’s aid, one who pleads another’s cause before a judge, a pleader, counsel for defense, legal assistant, an advocate, one who pleads another’s cause with one, an intercessor of Christ in his exaltation at God’s right hand, pleading with God the Father for the pardon of our sins

in the widest sense, a helper, succourer, aider, assistant – of the Holy Spirit destined to take the place of Christ with the apostles (after his ascension to the Father), to lead them to a deeper knowledge of the gospel truth, and give them divine strength needed to enable them to undergo trials and persecutions on behalf of the divine kingdom.

John 14:16 (AMP)

And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever—

John 14:15-18 (TPT)

Loving me empowers you to obey my commands. 16–17 And I will ask the Father and he will give you another Savior, the Holy Spirit of Truth, who will be to you a friend just like me—and he will never leave you. The world won’t receive him because they can’t see him or know him. But you will know him intimately, because he will make his home in you and will live inside you.

18 “I promise that I will never leave you helpless or abandon you as orphans—I will come back to you!

There are 2 major works of the Holy Spirit in the believer: There is the Spirit within you, and the Spirit upon you.

Within

The indwelling of the Spirit comes at the moment of the new birth and changes your character.

Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Samson, all OT people didn’t have the Holy Spirit in them.

1 Corinthians 12:13 (NKJV)

For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

1 John 4:4 (NKJV)

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

Upon

The baptism with the Holy Spirit comes after the new birth, and provides the power of God for ministry to others.

Acts 1: 4-5 (NKJV)

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; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Today let’s look at the Holy Spirit’s indwelling.

God breathed into Adam the breath that gives human life.

Genesis 2:7 (NLT)

Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.

After His resurrection, Jesus breathed on the disciples and gave them spiritual life!

 

John 20:19-23 (NKJV)

Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Here are 10 ways the Holy Spirit works in us.

1. The Holy Spirit creates unity in the body of Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:13 (NLT)

Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:13 (AMPL)

For by [means of the personal agency of] one [Holy] Spirit we were all, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, baptized [and by baptism united together] into one body, and all made to drink of one [Holy] Spirit.

 

Ephesians 4:3-4 (AMPL)

Be eager and strive earnestly to guard and keep the harmony and oneness of [and produced by] the Spirit in the binding power of peace.
4 [There is] one body and one Spirit—just as there is also one hope [that belongs] to the calling you received—

There is a kindredness that you feel with believers, regardless of where you are in the world.

2. The Holy Spirit gives us the desire to be like Jesus.

Romans 8:9 (NKJV)

But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

Galatians 2:20 (NKJV)

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

James 1:21 (NLT)
So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.

2 Corinthians 3:18 (MSG)

All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.

 

3. The Holy Spirit produces in us a sense of being right with God.

Titus 3:5 (NLT)

He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.

If you beat yourself up every time you make a mistake, the Holy Spirit will lead you back to the Word, back to being forgiven…

Salvation, then regeneration.

 

4. The Holy Spirit seeks to keep us pure.

 

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NLT)

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 (JB Phillips)

God’s plan is to make you holy, and that entails first of all a clean cut with sexual immorality. Every one of you should learn to control his body, keeping it pure and treating it with respect, and never regarding it as an instrument for self-gratification, as do pagans with no knowledge of God. You cannot break this rule without in some way cheating your fellow-men. And you must remember that God will punish all who do offend in this matter, and we have warned you how we have seen this work out in our experience of life. The calling of God is not to impurity but to the most thorough purity, and anyone who makes light of the matter is not making light of man’s ruling but of God’s command. It is not for nothing that the Spirit God gives us is called the Holy Spirit.

 

5. The Holy Spirit will lead us away from the harmful effects of our culture.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 (NLT)

Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? 15 What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? 16 And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: “I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 17 Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them,” says the Lord. “Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you. 18 And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters,” says the Lord Almighty.

In all we do, we are to bring attention to Jesus. Does how I dress, what I do, where I go bring glory to Jesus?

 

6. The Holy Spirit will give us a sense of belonging with the Father.

Galatians 4:6 (NLT)

And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”

Romans 8: 15-16 (ESV)

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

I spent most of my childhood feeling like I didn’t belong anywhere, nursing a sense of rejection.

I never had that sense of belonging until I met Jesus.

 

7. The Holy Spirit will give you an overcoming attitude in life.

1 John 4:4 (NLT)

But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.

In one of the darkest moments of my personal life, the Holy Spirit rose up within me, and helped me out of it!

This is what He gave me during that time:

Psalm 27:5 (God’s Word)

He hides me in his shelter when there is trouble. He keeps me hidden in his tent. He sets me high on a rock.

 

Psalm 34:19 (NKJV)

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all.

 

Psalm 37:39-40 (NKJV)

But the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; He is their strength in the time of trouble. 40 And the LORD shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, And save them, Because they trust in Him.

 

Psalm 46:1 (AMPL)

God is our refuge and strength [mighty and impenetrable to temptation], a very present and well-proved help in trouble.

 

Psalm 50:15 (NKJV)

Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.

 

Psalm 86:7 (NKJV)

In the day of my trouble I will call upon You, For You will answer me.

 

Psalm 91:14-16 (NKJV)

Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. 15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. 16 With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.

8. The Holy Spirit will urge you to watch your words.

Ephesians 4:29 (AMPL)

Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk [ever] come out of your mouth, but only such [speech] as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God’s favor) to those who hear it.

Matthew 12:35-37 (NLT)
A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.

Slander and character assassination are popular today. When you don’t agree, vilify. It’s the spirit of the age. Resist it!

9. The Holy Spirit removes the desire to sin from deep within our spirit nature.

Romans 8:13 (NLT)

For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.

Romans 2:28-29 (NLT)

For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision. 29 No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.

1 John 3: 4-10 (NLT)

Everyone who sins is breaking God’s law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God. 5 And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in him. 6 Anyone who continues to live in him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is. 7 Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. 8 But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. 10 So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.

For me, no more desire to lie, cheat, smoke, lust, curse.

10. The Holy Spirit will lead you into unselfish love for others.

Romans 5:5 (ESV)

And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

1 John 3:14 (ESV)

We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.

I looked for flaws in others before Christ. Downed others to lift myself.

I saw people differently. I saw them through the eyes of love. God made them. God loves them. And, so do I. It was revolutionary.

Action Points

1. Can you ever say that you are alone in dealing with life issues once the Holy Spirit indwells you?
2. The Holy Spirit within us develops our character. The baptism with the Holy Spirit clothes us with God’s very power!
3. Are you giving the Holy Spirit the right of way to guide your life?