A Community of Faith - part 5

God, the Empowering Spirit

Are you familiar with the old hymn, Victory in Jesus? The chorus goes like this:

Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior forever

He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood

He loved me 'ere I knew Him and all my love is due Him

He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood

It’s a beautiful song and a whole lot of fun to sing when it’s done with an upbeat tempo. There’s a jazz version by Bart Millard that is really fun.

There’s really only one problem with the song. Many Christians do not actually experience that victory in Jesus. And I don’t think that it is necessarily because they aren’t actually saved, though that could be the case. I think it’s because many Christians forget the Christian walk is not meant to be lived alone. We think of God the Father off somewhere in heaven waiting on us. We think of God the Son coming to us 2000 years ago, but now He is raised in Heaven, and we can pray to Him. But we forget that God the Holy Spirit is right here with us. We are not alone, and our prayers are heard. But that victory comes when we lean into the Spirit and follow His leading.

Today, we are going to look at the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. Let’s begin reading the statement of faith in the Baptist Faith & Message, and then we will break it down to discover how this statement emerges from Scripture. But much more than understanding how a statement emerges from Scripture, what we will discover is how God, through His Holy Spirit, empowers believers to live the transformed, victorious life promised in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

C. God the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Savior, and effects regeneration. At the moment of regeneration He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.

Truth and Divinity

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth.

Two particular passages speak to the Spirit’s role in illuminating truth to humanity. The first is found in John 16.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 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.

John 14:16-17

Jesus explains in John 16 the Holy Spirit will continue the mission of salvation by empowering and indwelling His disciples. He is called “Helper,” a Greek title that signifies someone who comes alongside another. It is similar to the “second in command” or “right hand man” who gets things done, but there is a difference in our relationship to the Holy Spirit. We take commands from Him. Because our sin corrupts our way of thinking, we have to rely on the Spirit’s leading in order to live the life Jesus calls us to. Paul speaks to this in Galatians 5 which we will look at in a moment.

The second passage is found in 2 Timothy 3.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

2 Timothy 3:16

The Holy Spirit has been empowering and illuminating Truth to humanity since the beginning. “All Scripture” means exactly that. The Bible is God’s Word, God’s message, to humanity. Though we acknowledge God used humans to record the history and revelation of God’s work, we also know that God inspired them to write, and to write accurately. Thus, the Scripture is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training.

We know the truth because God has revealed the truth through His Holy Spirit.

He can reveal Truth (with a capital T) because He is God. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 2:10-11.

these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

1 Corinthians 2:10-11

There is always a rabbit hole kind of trap in attempting to describe the nature of God, which is why the notion of Trinity can be so daunting, but Paul gives a illustration here that can be helpful. Humans have body and spirit. No one can really enter our thoughts and know us like we know ourselves. Only our spirit can search our minds, and yet, we would all acknowledge that our spirit is just as much “us” as our body. Likewise, the Holy Spirit can search the thoughts of God because He is just as much God as God the Father and God the Son.

The reason we can trust in the power and knowledge of the Holy Spirit is because of the Spirit’s Divinity.

Salvation and The Spirit

He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Savior, and effects regeneration.

Return with me to John 16. We looked at this chapter in its entirety a few years ago in our walk through John. By the way, if you are curious about those messages, you can find them on the church’s website. We weren’t videoing services back then, so you’ll have to actually read the sermons, but they’re there if you are curious.

And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

John 16:8-11

Jesus marks three ways the Spirit convicts humans. First, He convicts sin, because our sin clouds our ability to recognize Jesus. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit works against our sin to open our eyes. Second, He convicts about righteousness, meaning He helps us understand what it means to live in God’s image as righteous people. Third, He convicts in light of judgement, “because the ruler of this world is judged.” That last one points to a supernatural truth that many in today’s world struggle to understand. There is evil in this world, and that evil has a name—Satan, the ruler of this world. He has been judged by Christ, and the Holy Spirit helps us overcome his evil rule. Paul refers to this truth in Colossians.

[Jesus] disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Colossians 2:15

When Christ overcame death, He also overcame the source of death which is sin and the demonic powers of this world. Now, Christians can have that same victory and power because the Holy Spirit indwells us and convicts the powers of this world.

Next, the Spirit calls men to the Savior and effects regeneration. Back to John 16:

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

John 16:13-14

The Holy Spirit always points people to Jesus. No matter what good and how good someone does or claims to do, if they do not point people to Jesus, then they are not working by the Spirit. This truth helps keep us as Christians on track. Sometimes Satan does not use something “evil” to distract us. It can look really good on the surface, but if that thing draws us away from the mission of proclaiming salvation through Jesus Christ, then it is from the devil.

Discerning the work of the Spirit from the work of Satan boils down to the question, “Will people know more about Jesus through this work?”

The last bit in the BFM is best found in Romans 8. Of course other verses point to the same truth, but it just so happens Paul has a whole chapter in Romans on this very doctrine. Turn with me to Romans 8 and hold a finger there while we read the statement.

The BFM reads:

At the moment of regeneration He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church.

Once a person in regenerated by the Spirit through faith in Christ, they are baptized into the Body of Christ—meaning once we are saved, that’s it, we’re in Christ. We are not saved and then hope to really be saved. We are in Christ, and we are free. Look at Romans 8.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Romans 8:1-4

The work of Christ opened the door for the work of the Holy Spirit. In fact, if you read these verses carefully you see the work of the whole Trinity in it. “God has done what the law…could not do.” God the Father sends God the Son, “in the likeness of sinful flesh,” who condemns sin in order that the requirements of the law can be fulfilled in us through the Spirit setting us free. Once freed by the Spirit through Jesus Christ, we are then able to walk according to the Spirit in righteousness.

Notice what comes first—faith. We are not saved because we start cleaning ourselves up and then Jesus decides to be with us. No, we surrender in faith as we are, warts and all. Then, we are set free, and last, we live righteously through faith.

The Christian life doesn’t work, nor can it, without the Spirit indwelling believers.

Too many Christians get caught up in a thought pattern that is completely pagan and completely opposite the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The thought is that if we do the right things and check all the right boxes, God will bless us. Dear friend, that is a lie from the pit of hell.

The blessing has already come. His name is Jesus Christ, and through Him we have access to the Holy Spirit, God Himself, Who lives in us and through us and is all the blessing we will ever need. The reason so many Christians fail to experience the Holy Spirit is because they are too busy walking according to the flesh. They are distracted by the things of this world and its problems.

Last, the BFM reads:

He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.

We know we will be raised up on the Last Day because the Spirit indwells us. HIs presence in our lives is the guarantee that we will be raised up and transformed to be more like Christ.

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Romans 8:9-11

Notice how Paul once again goes back to the resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus changes everything, including our eternal destiny, and it guarantees our destiny. If the Spirit can raise Jesus from the dead, then we can rest assure that He can raise us as well. And, if He can raise the dead, then we can rest assure that He can help us live out the Christian walk we are called to live.

Oh, how I wish we had more time to dive into Romans 8, but quickly skim with me. Paul talks about how we are debtors to live according to the Spirit because it is the Spirit that gives us live and adopts us to be children of God. And if we are children of God, then we are heirs with Christ in the eternal Kingdom of Heaven! And the Spirit helps us in our weakness. He intercedes for us when we pray, but do not know what to pray. He is always active in the believer’s life.

But before we end today, I want you to be sure you don’t miss out on the greatest doctrine we have as Christians and baptists. It is the Gospel, the Good News, and Paul describes it so well beginning in verse 31.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:31-39

The Good News is God is for you! He is on your side! No matter what you’ve done, what you’ve believed, or what you’ve been told, God loves you! He proved that love by sending His Son to take your place on a cross. When you surrender to Jesus Christ asking for forgiveness and eternal life, He grants it to you—not because of anything you do or will do, but simply because the price has already been paid.

So who can accuse God’s people? No one.

So who can condemn God’s people? No one.

Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Not tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger or sword!

Through all the pains of life, we are more than conquerors because God loves us. He sent His Son to die for us. His Spirit raised Jesus and will raise us.

It is through the Spirit that live and conquer today, and it is through the Spirit we will live in heaven through eternity.

Take a look at this picture. This is a photograph of the moment when Cassius Clay knocked out Sonny Liston for the title. I love this shot because you can see the determination in Clay’s face, steel-eyed against Liston as if saying, “You don’t want to get up!”

A fellow youth minister showed me this photo many years ago after using it as an illustration in a sermon much like this one. He asked his congregation, “Which one of these could represent you and which one would represent Satan?” Many Christians live like evil is on top. We are on the mat just wishing we had the strength to stand up against our sin and the evils in this world.

But that’s not the Truth.

The truth is Christ has conquered sin and death. And the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is in you, if you have surrendered to Jesus and become a child of God. The truth is in this illustration, the one who is in Christ stands atop the fallen devil. If you think you are defeated, if you think there’s no hope for change or for a better life, then you have been lied to.


When Christ sets you free, you are truly free—including free from the powers of evil.

If you have not trusted in Jesus, find your freedom today.