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The Dynamic Comforter
A Biblical study of what happens when the Holy Spirit indwells a believer.
Presenter: Casey Harms
Location: Mentone Seventh-day Adventist Church, Mentone, California, USA
Publication: GreatControversy.org 2005-08-08 03:58Z
Type: Sermon
URL: http://www.greatcontroversy.org/gco/ser/har-comforter.php
NOTE: To best grasp the flow of this sermon, please download the accompanying handout: http://www.greatcontroversy.org/ser/pdf/comforter.pdf.
Introduction
If ye love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more; but ye see Me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you. He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him (John 14:15-21).
In this study, we will focus on the work of the Holy Spirit within us. What does the Holy Spirit actually do to us when He comes into our life? An understanding of our message title will help guide our understanding. It calls the Comforter, or the Holy Spirit, dynamic. The opposite of dynamic is static. Something that is static does not work or change; it only persists in a constant state. Something that is dynamic, however, is something that is marked by continuous activity or change.
The Comforter is not only dynamic of Himself, but He is dynamic in His working within you. What I mean by that is just this: it is impossible to have the Holy Spirit living within you and be living a life that is not sanctified. Any Spirit that resides within you, even if you call it the Holy Spirit, that gives an ecstatic feeling or produces radical behavior but does not bring the life into conformity to the will of God, is not the Holy Spirit. It is impossible to have the Holy Spirit living within you and be living the same type of life that you always have. Some things change in your life, some things are removed, some things are added, but things do not stay the same. Why is this such an important point? Because the Bible says that without holiness no man shall see God (Hebrews 12:14).
Three fundamental changes are involved when we come to Christ: our privileges, our companionship, and our allegiance. And the Holy Spirit is closely involved with each one of these things.
Our study takes place in the 14th chapter of the gospel of John.
The Exegetical Key: Chiastic Structure
John 14 is home to an intriguing literary phenomenon called a chiasmus, or a chiastic structure. The name comes from the Greek letter chi which looks like an X. The reason that letter was chosen is that chiastic structure follows the pattern of an X, a pattern of mirror-imaging. A good example of this is Jesus’ statement that the first shall be last, and the last shall be first (Matthew 19:30). In this, the order of keywords was reversed.
Chiasmus can be expanded to allow the reversal of related ideas rather than specific words. This form is often used to stress the importance of a central concept, while at the same time portraying several other important and closely related ideas. Chiasm typically follows a format such as ABA, where B is the central idea while A is a similar idea placed around the central idea.
This study acknowledges the chiastic structure of our passage. The accompanying handout will serve as a map to the passage that will receive our attention. Later on we will be making comparisons between groups of verses, and a knowledge of the chiastic structure will explain why certain verses are related to other verses.
Turn to the fourteenth chapter of John and compare it with the handout. The main structure appears in verses 15 through 21, and is then repeated in verses 23 through 28. The passage follows a pattern of ABCDCBA. D is the central concept, while A, B, and C are the surrounding related ideas. It is helpful to read the structure on the handout in vertical lines, since each letter occupies a unique level in the stack. The words in boldface type show the links to the other verses on the same level of the structure. Below is a brief summary:
A section: vv. 15, 21, 23. Key concepts: love; obedience.
B section: vv. 16, 20, 26. Key concepts: Father; abiding with.
C section: vv. 17, 19, 27. Key concepts: world; us.
D section: vv. 18, 28. Center of chiasmus. This is the key concept of the entire passage.
Using the Key: Christ’s Main Point, Section D: Christ Lives His Life in Us
Now, we are going to unpack this passage section by section, proceeding in reverse order. We’ll start by looking at part D, verses 18 and 28. This whole passage is about the Comforter that Jesus is going to send. Jesus is going away and He’s going to send Someone else to take His place. But something incredible happens in this verse. If Jesus is gone to heaven until some later time, and the Holy Spirit is here instead, then why does Jesus say what He does in verse 18? “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” Not “He will come to you,” but “I will come to you”!
Through the Spirit’s agency, Christ is personally with us, though not in the flesh. This, of course, creates an interesting situation because we cannot understand how Christ can be omnipresent through the Spirit. It does, however, give us comfort that God cannot be limited to time and space. He is personally interested and involved with your life right now and all the time if you will let Him.
The Holy Spirit is Christ's representative, but divested of the personality of humanity, and independent thereof. Cumbered with humanity, Christ could not be in every place personally. Therefore it was for their interest that He should go to the Father, and send the Spirit to be His successor on earth. No one could then have any advantage because of his location or his personal contact with Christ. By the Spirit the Saviour would be accessible to all. In this sense He would be nearer to them than if He had not ascended on high (Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 669).
Having established that Christ lives inside of us, let us take it one step farther. While on this earth, Christ lived a life that was completely pleasing to God. His Father’s will was fulfilled every step of the way from the manger to the cross. But if that is the kind of life that Christ lived on this earth, is it not logical to conclude that if Christ is living inside of you, the kind of life that Christ lived in the flesh is the same kind of life that He will live inside of you? If this were not so, then the whole concept of the indwelling Christ being portrayed in this verse we’re studying is meaningless, for Christ cannot live a life of sin in you; neither can He live in a life of sin, as it is written, “Your iniquities have separated between you and your God” (Isaiah 59:2). So understand this: you do not have righteousness in your life because you make yourself have it; you have righteousness in your life if you cooperate with the life that Christ is attempting to live in you. Your will is not coerced, but your will is necessary. There is no automatic action here in that you suddenly become better in life and character without diligent effort on your part. But as you will to follow the Lamb wherever He goes, the Lamb can live the same life through you as He did during the incarnation.
Keep in mind that you are not a battery. Or, in more theological language, grace is not infused into you.
The Bible does not teach that having the Holy Spirit means that we own God’s power within us, it having been given to us so that it is now personally ours to use as we please. No, we are not batteries, but intelligent light bulbs, intelligent because we can choose whether to be in the socket at any given moment. So long as we are powered by God, we can shine for Him.
Righteousness by faith is not a term denoting a stack of paperwork, something that is only true in heaven but not on earth; it is a term describing an active process that happens in your own heart by the power of Jesus. The Gospel offers the kind of righteousness that is not just legally applied in heaven, but is in fact applied in our lives. Christ’s ultimate goal is to make us righteous. Isn’t that a glorious possibility? This is not salvation by works, but simply real salvation by faith, for it is Christ that dwells in your hearts by faith (Ephesians 3:17).
Now, there are three specific things that happen when Christ lives within us, and these will be the main areas of our study.
Christ Changes Our Privileges. [Chiastic Section C]
Your privileges are changed. Another way that you might want to think about it is that your status or your rank is changed, and changed for the better. Of course, that makes sense because Jesus is a much better King than Satan could ever be. Satan gives all of his subjects eternal death, whereas King Jesus gives all of His subjects eternal life.
What privileges are changed? Look in your Bible again at John 14, this time focusing on the C section of the chiasmus, verses 17, 19 and 27. Remember when we were going through the first time that there were two key words to watch for: “world” and “you.” There is contrast here, for as a believer you should no longer be like the world; you are in the world, but not of it (John 17:14). Let’s read through these verses and unpack the contrasts.
Verse 17: We find that the world cannot receive the Spirit, but we can. Why? Because it does not see Him, and does not know Him. So we can conclude that we must be able to see and know the Holy Spirit in order to receive Him. But how does one know the Holy Spirit? Our text says that we know Him because He dwells in us; in other words, we know Him because He is received by us. Here is a striking paradox which the western mind has trouble reconciling. It seems like these statements are contradictory, but there is actually a way to reconcile them. All of these things occur simultaneously. Seeing, knowing and receiving go together and cannot be separated. They are all in the same package.
What is seeing? Seeing is discerning the presence of something. More than touching, smelling, or hearing, seeing something makes it tangible and real to your mind.
What is knowing? Knowing is understanding something. When you really know your multiplication tables, you fully understand that 4 times 3 equals 12.
What is receiving? Receiving is accepting into your possession. Receiving a new idea means to allow it into yourself and make it a part of you.
One cannot really understand the Holy Spirit without seeing and receiving it. One cannot really see the Holy Spirit without knowing and receiving it. One cannot really receive the Holy Spirit without seeing and knowing it.
What does this mean? Logical arguments alone cannot prove to you the truths of the Gospel. Do you really want to know Christ? Then don’t wait until you have sought out every opinion before you give Him your all. Instead, give Him your all, and then you will know that you don’t need any more opinions because you will know for yourself. To you who will surrender to Christ, but not to those of the world, is given the privilege of really knowing God, really having something to live for, really having a hope knowing that this world is neither your home, nor your unconquerable grave.
The world’s motto is, ‘Seeing is believing;’ the truth is that ‘believing is seeing.’ The world does not believe, and so it does not really see; it only imagines. It is not content with a God whom it cannot see, and therefore it manufactures gods. Out of its own imagination it makes images, and worships them. The Spirit, however, can be received only by faith, and whoever believes endures as seeing the invisible. All who believe may know the presence and voice of the Holy Spirit just as surely as they may know their most intimate friends, and even more so, since they can have no other friend so intimate…. Do you ask how you will know Him? Believe and you will know for yourself, as no one can tell you (Ellet J. Waggoner, Waggoner on the Gospel of John, p. 126).
Verse 19: We find that the world cannot see Jesus, but we can. The world could see Christ because He was material, something tangible that even the unconverted could see without difficulty. However, when Christ left to go back to heaven, the world could no longer see Him. But what does the Bible say? We can still see Him! Just as when we have seen Christ we have seen the Father (John 14:9), when we have seen the Spirit we have seen Christ. Faith has the wonderful characteristic of enabling us to see spiritual things.
Verse 27: We find that the world cannot know peace, but we can. And not just any peace, but the very peace that Jesus had. You see, there are two kinds of peace. Worldly peace, which really is not truly peace but in fact only self-deception, and Heavenly peace, the kind of peace that is not troubled, nor afraid, because it trusts in God.
We are not to believe that we have peace because we have no trouble; but since Christ has given us His peace, we are not to be troubled, no matter how great the trouble. Jesus had trouble more than any man, and yet He always had peace. Christ put the devil to flight; thus we can know that we are secure in Him (Ellet J. Waggoner, Waggoner on the Gospel of John, p. 129).
So now we see these three things that the world cannot have, but we can. 1) The world cannot receive the Spirit; 2) the world cannot see Christ; and 3) the world cannot know peace.
Obviously then, the world is in real trouble. So what are you going to do about it? Is it fair for you have the remarkable privileges just described and not do anything about it? Is it possible for you have the remarkable privileges just described and not do anything about it? Jesus is not walking this earth anymore. In this age, the best way for the world to learn about Jesus is by you. The Bible says that you are the light of the world. It also bids to go and teach all nations. Privileges give us responsibility. But the Gospel shouldn’t be a burden! If we really love Jesus we should want to tell others about Him.
Christ Changes Our Companionship. [Chiastic Section B]
Privileges aren’t the only change; something happens to your companionship, too. Turn to John 14 verses 16, 20 and 26, we are now to section B of our chiastic structure. We’ll start with verse 16. It is in this verse that we begin to find something very interesting; notice the very first words, “And I will pray the Father.” The word “pray” means to ask, to entreat, to implore. This is still in common usage, as you may hear someone use the phrase “What pray tell is that?” This simply means, “Please tell me; I beg to know.”
Now why do you suppose that Christ asks the Father? Is not Christ the omnipotent God? Quite simply, He is, but here we begin to discover something of the plan of salvation that is key. It turns out that Jesus is our go-between, He is our mediator. He is performing the service that the earthly priests did in the earthly sanctuary, mediating between the people and God. This passage is rather suggestive of a sanctuary. Again, we find a similar statement in verse 26 when we read that the Father sends the Holy Ghost in the name of, or on account of, the Son.
On a side note, this is not the only way that the Holy Spirit is connected to the sanctuary. Recall the threefold function of the Spirit as outlined in John 16, which is to convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. These three things relate well to the three parts of the sanctuary: the courtyard, the holy place, and the most holy place, respectively. The courtyard was where the sacrifice for sin was offered; the holy place was where righteousness was obtained; and the most holy place was where the Day of Judgment occurred.
So Jesus is asking the Father to give us the Holy Spirit in His stead, which in our verse Jesus calls “another” comforter. Why is it another comforter? What was the original comforter? In 1 John 2:1 we find that “if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” But the word translated “Advocate” in 1 John 2 is the same word translated “Comforter” in John 14. The presence of Christ brings comfort, as the Bible says in Isaiah 40, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God” in a prophecy about Christ. The Holy Spirit is the Comforter that continues the work of the first Comforter. Moreover, this Comforter never leaves us, a concept very similar to that of Matthew 28 when Jesus says, “lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). The Holy Spirit that is always with us conveys the never-ending presence of Christ.
What does this companionship do? The answer is in verse 20. “At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you.” It is by the Holy Spirit that we know that we are in Christ. We do not have to guess about it. The Holy Spirit gives us faith, and this should be no surprise, for faith is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). It is by the power of the Holy Spirit working in us that we can stand on the promises of God and take Him at His word.
Is our knowledge that we are in Christ based on fantasy or reality? The way we know it is based on reality is by living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. If we truly surrender ourselves to all the ramifications of truth as found in the Bible, then we can know beyond a shadow of doubt that we are safe in Christ.
Two other things that this companionship does are found in verse 26. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit will 1) teach us all things, and 2) bring everything that Christ has said to our remembrance. True knowledge can only be gained by God, for spiritual things are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14). And God will continue to teach us all things about Himself, both here on the earth, and forevermore in heaven. Since God is all-powerful and all-knowing, there will never be a time when we have exhausted the knowledge of God.
As a very practical application here, we cannot study the Bible and expect to learn the truth because of our smartness. It is the Holy Spirit that teaches us truth, and so we should ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit before opening the sacred pages of the Bible.
The other thing was that the Spirit brings everything to our remembrance. Now we can understand this verse in several different ways, and I think that each way is appropriate. I just want you to see that there is more than one way to look at it.
Perhaps the most obvious understanding is that in times of need pieces of scripture can be flashed back to memory. The Scriptures are the word of God, are they not? And Jesus is God, is He not? So then, all of Scripture is what Jesus has said. This particular understanding is perhaps best shown in Mark 13:11. “But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do you premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.”
Remembrance of the Word also aids in fighting off the devil, for the Bible is the sword of the Spirit, something which every soldier of Christ must have. And David writes, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee” (Psalm 119:11).
In this passage we also have a wonderful promise for those who memorize Scripture. Sometimes it is tempting to think that our minds simply cannot hold anymore. But we have the dual promise that God will both teach us all things and bring all things to our remembrance.
Another understanding, and one that fits very will with the context of verse 20 that we just looked at, is that when certain things come to pass, the Holy Spirit can remind us that Jesus had told us about them beforehand, and thus our faith can be strengthened. We see this happening several times in the book of John. One occurrence is right here in John 14 in verse 29, “And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.” Again, in the third chapter when Christ cleansed the temple, his disciples remembered that it was written “the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up” (John 2:17).
Later on in the same chapter, it talks of the disciples remembering that Christ spoke about destroying the temple and rebuilding it in three days by saying, “When therefore He was risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said” (John 2:22). This is why an understanding of prophecy that is already fulfilled, that is fulfilling, and that will be fulfilled can help our faith so much. God’s word never fails.
Keep in mind however that the Holy Spirit cannot bring to mind those things that have not already been placed there. If we do not study the Bible, filling our mind with the words of God, then we will have no safeguard against the enemy in the day of trial. Now is the time to prepare; don’t wait.
This is so very practical to the believer. The Spirit leads us into all knowledge, and can remind us of that knowledge at the appropriate times. Thus, not only are we are given an incredible safeguard against Satan’s myriad schemes, but we are also drawn closer to God in faith.
Christ Changes Our Allegiance. [Chiastic Section A]
Privileges change, companionship changes, and so does allegiance. Turn back to John 14, verses 15, 21, 23 and 24. We are going to find out three Biblical things about obedience.
Have you ever wondered about that word obedience? Doesn’t it sound a lot like the word legalism? Are the two the same or not? What is the difference? I’ll give you a definition for legalism at the end, but even if you thought the word “legalism” when I said “obedience,” let’s see what the Bible has to say.
Verse 15: “If you love Me,” the verse says, “keep My commandments.” You may or may not be aware of this, but there is reasonable evidence that this verse could also be translated as “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” The former translation brings out the concept that our active cooperation is required. We and God work together. The latter translation brings out the concept that obedience is the natural outworking of love. Do you love Christ? The keeping of the commandments proves that you do. Paul tells us that we are servants to whom we obey (Romans 6:16).
Question: of which commandments is this concerned? There are two basic commandments: we are to love God, and we are to love our fellow man. On this, says Christ, hangs all the law and the prophets, for you cannot have love for God without also being willing to cooperate with His revealed will. The Ten Commandments, written in stone by the very finger of God Himself, are the basis of moral conduct for all of Scripture (Matthew 22:37-40).
Certainly, no person could rationally argue that God approves of stealing. No person could rationally argue that God approves of cheating on your spouse, or murdering, or blaspheming His name. Jesus in fact taught even more specific applications to these laws during His life that are not explicitly spelled out in the Ten Commandments. If anything, Jesus heightened the obligation to keep the law (Matthew 5:17-48)! To the young ruler who came to Jesus wondering what he must do to be saved, Jesus indisputably referred him to the Ten Commandments (Matthew 19:16-21). Paul asks whether we who are experiencing the grace of God are at liberty to transgress the law, then answering his own question by saying, “God forbid!” (Romans 3:31; 6:15). Again he says, “Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God” (1 Corinthians 7:19).
This verse means a lot to Seventh-day Adventists because we keep the Sabbath as a token of our love toward God. According to John 14:15 are we to keep all but one of the commandments? Are we to keep all of them, but with modifications? No, and this, you see, is the very reason why we keep the Holy Sabbath day on the seventh day of the week rather than the first.
Nowhere in Scripture is there any command to change the Sabbath day. Instead, we see that God created the Sabbath in the beginning, before sin ever came into the picture. We see that the Sabbath was kept since Creation long before there ever was a Jew. It was kept by Adam and Eve; it was kept by the children of Israel before the tables of stone were given them on Mount Sinai. At Mount Sinai, Jesus commanded that we remember and keep the Sabbath. Jesus kept the Sabbath during His earthly ministry. Jesus kept the Sabbath even in death while He rested in the grave. The Sabbath observance was continued in the New Testament church. Jesus says in the book of Revelation that His followers, even down to the end of time, will still keep it. The holiness that God originally placed on the seventh day of the week has never been changed, except by man.
We keep the Sabbath on the seventh day of the week because we love Jesus, and will obey Him rather than man. And we keep not only the Sabbath commandment, but all the other nine, all because we love Jesus.
Thus, we find the first Biblical point about obedience: Obedience demonstrates our love for God.
Turn over to verses 21, 23 and 24. Here we have the same thing as in verse 15, but with two more pieces of information. Here we find that having God’s commandments does not equal keeping God’s commandments. This is what James was speaking of when he said that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:20). It is not so much the profession that counts to God as what really happens in the one who professes. God wants to know if we really love Him, not just if we say we do.
In verse 23, we begin to see a relationship between keeping the commandments and our assurance of God’s presence with us. It is true that God loves everyone, and yet on the grounds of this verse I would claim that the kind of love for God that manifests itself by willing obedience, the kind of surrender that seeks to please God in all things, brings us into a closer relationship with God than we could otherwise have. After all, sin is the transgression of the law, and God certainly does not want us to sin, for He said to those that He healed, “Go, and sin no more” (John 5:14; 8:11). Jesus wants us to love Him. He wants us to obey Him. He wants to reclaim that which was lost by sin. This is really what it gets down to. God is not arbitrary in His commands; He knows what is for our own good, and He wants to actually save us from sin.
Thus, the second Biblical point about obedience is that love-inspired obedience brings us into closer communion with God.
Finally, we can put these verses on obedience together and ultimately nail down the concept that obedience is a condition of salvation. Love and obedience are so completely connected that you absolutely cannot have one without the other. In fact, you cannot even have one before the other. The reason is very simple: if obedience comes after love, then the logical conclusion is that you are able to love God while still in known disobedience. What then would love be? Nothing at all. If love comes after obedience, then of what value would the obedience be? Of none at all.
It is certainly the case that the opposite of verse 21 does not equal a saving experience. God cannot save us when we do not love Him, and God cannot save us when we aren’t surrendered to Him. God cannot save us in our sins. If He did, He would simply re-introduce the sin problem because God never coerces the will, and the Bible has already made it plain that we have no excuse whatsoever for sin (1 Corinthians 10:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 1 John 3:9; Jude 24). That means God doesn’t even expel sin from our lives without our will. In order to finally keep the universe safe from sin (Nahum 1:9), if God saved people in their sins, He would have to coerce their will to remove the sin from their lives.
Obedience is a condition of salvation; it is not a sufficient condition, but a necessary condition. A sufficient condition would mean that nothing further would be necessary before the result would follow. A necessary condition means that the result cannot follow without that condition being met, but that further conditions must also be met before the result can follow. So when we say that obedience is necessary but not sufficient, that means that it is not our obedience that actually saves us, but we cannot be saved without obedience.
Verse 21 seems to tell us that God specially loves those who obey Him. Does God really love us more? Think of it this way. God hates sin, and sin is the transgression of the law. Therefore, if we are not in harmony with the law of God, there is sin in our life, and although God loves us and desires to save us, He still hates the sin. However, if we love God, surrender ourselves to Him, and lovingly obey His commandments, He saves us from our sins, and that sin that He hates is no longer present with us. Instead, He sees is own image reflected in as in a mirror. It is in this way that the Father specially loves those who obey Him. He is able to accept them because they are no longer in rebellion against Him. He does not love us more, but He has less to hate.
So we have the third Biblical point about obedience: obedience is one of the conditions of salvation.
It is interesting to note that after making these statements about obedience we find a remarkable case of Jesus teaching by example. Of course Jesus’ life in general was an example, but here we find a very specific act. It is as if He was saying “I’ve told you all these things in theory, but so that you can understand that what I said really translates to practicality, watch what I do.” Take a look at verse 31. Jesus demonstrates loving obedience. If Jesus goes to all this effort to teach loving obedience, and then even specifically brings out something in His life as a practical example, aren’t you led to believe that obedience is incredibly important?
Biblical obedience is not cold, either. Jesus tells us of the peace we have in John 14, and the joy we may have in John 15, yet many who strive to obey God’s commandments have little of these. What they lack is the exercise of faith; faith in our Savior who has offered the perfect sacrifice for sin, faith in Christ’s promises to sanctify believers no matter how sinful they have been. They claim little, when they might claim much, for there is no limit to the promises of God (see Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 563).
So as I asked before, isn’t this legalism? Does the Bible teach legalism? The Bible teaches what we’ve just studied, so that must not be legalism. Love works with obedience.
What then is legalism? If we have love without obedience then we really have no love at all. If a gospel teaches love without obedience then we have a false gospel and cheap grace. However, if we have obedience without love, or without faith, then we have a legal religion, or legalism, a system of thinking that obedience has the power to save us from sin. Obedience is not legalism; obedience as a savior from sin is legalism.
It is by disobedience that sin was introduced; therefore, Jesus must bring us to obedience.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we find each of these ways that the Holy Spirit affects our life in a very dynamic way leading to a fundamental concept: the case of the disappearing human.
With Christ living His very own life through us, that life of surrender to God, of separation from the ways of the world, of loving obedience, we can say with John the Baptist, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Christ must appear, but we must disappear.
The Holy Spirit does not work in us statically, but dynamically. The Holy Spirit is someone that really works inside of us and changes us. Privileges change, companionship changes, allegiance changes.
Christ coming into my life by the Holy Spirit means being brought into deeper communion with God, being turned upside down, being radically changed; it means a person living inside of a person, the Divine within and overshadowing the human.
“How is this practical?” you ask. It is practical because of the endless possibilities that accompany the reception of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised that whosoever hungers and thirsts after righteousness will be filled (Matthew 5:6). Do you hunger and thirst after righteousness? Jesus promises that whoever asks anything in Christ’s name according to His will, that God will do (John 14:14; 1 John 5:14), and we know it is God’s will to give us righteousness because the Bible promises it. We need not have any hesitation to claim the promise. So, if you surrender yourself to God and plead to be filled with the Holy Spirit, you can be assured that it is God’s will.
It is also very practical because this consecrated life that we’ve been studying is the key characteristic of the final generation on planet earth, which we have the opportunity to be. The power of the gospel must be demonstrated, and so God will finally say to Satan, “Have you considered my servant _______?”—insert your name (Job 1:8; 2:3).
Won’t you surrender everything to God, and let Jesus live His life through you?
What would keep you? GCO
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