Today is the first message in a new series called “Knowing the Holy Spirit.”
We talk a lot about spiritual gifts and being filled with the Holy Spirit, which is so important. But it’s time for us to deepen our relationship with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is who God sent to occupy our own spirit. He literally made His home on the inside of us.
Whether we know it or not, the Holy Spirit is right there with us in everything we do, and everywhere we go. He knows us inside and out. But do we know Him?
When it comes to the Holy Spirit, He is one of three things to you:
From my own assessment of the American church, I estimate 80% view the Holy Spirit as a mysterious colleague, 19% as an inspiring celebrity, and 1% as an inseparable friend.
Here at NoLimits, I estimate that 10% of you view the Holy Spirit as a mysterious colleague, 80% as an inspiring celebrity, and 10% as an inseparable friend.
This isn’t to put anyone down. We simply need to assess where we are to get where we need to go.
Let me help you figure out where you are.
Have you ever worked with someone a bit on the strange side? You had to associate with them occasionally, but you kept your distance whenever possible. Maybe there is someone like that at church?
When you understand the Holy Spirit is part of Christianity but get weirded out by spiritual gifts (like prophecy, healing, and speaking in tongues) you probably view the Holy Spirit as a mysterious colleague.
Now, think of your favorite actor, musician, or well-known preacher or prophet. These are people you respect and admire. And although you’d like to be their friend, you know it will never happen.
So when you get excited about others operating in spiritual gifts - and maybe even operate in them yourself at church - but don’t experience the Holy Spirit in daily life, you probably view Him as an inspiring celebrity.
Lastly, think about that person in your life you can count on. They are always there when you need them. They tell you the truth even when it hurts. You trust them with your deepest secrets.
If you go to the Holy Spirit for comfort when your hurting, for direction when making decisions - if you accept His convictions and work to honor Him in how you live - you view Him as an inseparable friend.
Do an honest assessment. Who is the Holy Spirit to you?
If you engage with this series, you will know the Holy Spirit as an inseparable friend, your best friend who is always there for you and will never move away.
How do you build a friendship? By spending lots of time getting to know each other. So let’s start this journey of getting to know the Holy Spirit through the scriptures.
When first getting to know someone, one of the first things we ask is what they do for a living. Although not the best question, what we are really trying to figure out is their purpose in life.
A more appropriate question would be, “What is your purpose in life?” or “Why are you here?” But, that’s a deep question we hesitate to ask. It feels more invasive than “What do you do for a living?”.
Nevertheless, let’s start by asking that question about the Holy Spirit. Why are you here? What is your purpose in my life?
Ephesians has the answer.
Ephesians 1:13-14 CSB - In Christ you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.
We just discovered the foundational purpose of the Holy Spirit. He is the seal of our salvation and He is the down payment of our inheritance. Let’s dig into these two things.
In biblical times, a seal was a unique stamp used to make an impression in clay or wax. It was usually attached to a possession or document to give it authenticity, ownership, or authority.
As a believer in Christ, you are now God’s possession. He has stamped you with the Holy Spirit to declare three things:
The evidence of the Holy Spirit is the proof of your salvation. The moment you are saved through your faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to live in your spirit. He makes your spirit His home.
Before Christ, your spirit was ugly and headed toward hell. With Christ, the Holy Spirit moved in and renovated everything with the finest, eternal materials. Way better than Joanna Gaines.
The sin that used not to bother you now grieves you. You become aware of your bad attitudes and transform them into the fruit of the spirit.
All of a sudden, you are interested in developing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Some experience immediate deliverance from bad habits when they get saved. Most simply get annoyed with their ungodly behaviors and attitudes and have to go through the process of finding freedom.
Either way, the Holy Spirit provides evidence of your salvation. You can’t get away with things like you used to. Something inside of you is now calling you to pursue the ways of God.
If there was no evidence of the Holy Spirit to prove your salvation, you probably didn’t get saved. Instead, you settled for a counterfeit of asking for forgiveness but not declaring Jesus as Lord.
If you truly believe in Jesus Christ, you would declare Him as Lord of your life. That’s why Lordship is a required ingredient of salvation. It is an inescapable response to your faith in Christ.
I mean, think about it. Faith in Christ means that you believe God sent His only son to be sacrificed for your sins. He was then raised from the dead with your salvation in hand.
You were on your way to hell with no way out, until Jesus Christ. But now you can simply receive the gift of salvation by believing in Jesus.
Do you really think that you can receive that amazing gift and then say, “Thanks, Jesus! Now you stay over there while I do my own thing.”
No! If this is how you live your life, it's because you really don’t believe in Jesus. You might think it’s a good idea. But you have yet to recognize how much you need Jesus.
You are a wretched sinner headed to hell until you give your life to Jesus. There’s no way out other than Jesus.
If you don’t give your life to Jesus, you will spend eternity suffering in hell. Hell is a place where you have no purpose and no one knows your name.
It’s where you are constantly thirsty but there is no water to drink. It is where you are always tired but there is no sleep. It’s where you are separated from God forever and tormented by fear and darkness.
Even if you are better than most people around you, you are a sinner. No one lives a perfect life. And God requires perfection. So He made a way for perfection to be restored through Jesus Christ.
So let me pause right here and ask, is there anyone whose faith has just been stirred up? Jesus is no longer just a good idea, but someone you actually want to follow. If that’s you, decide right now to give your life to Christ.
The evidence of the Holy Spirit in your life is proof that your salvation is authentic and genuine.
You are now owned by God almighty. You are His and He identifies you as His own. And you have been adopted into the family of God. This is what God wanted to do, and it brings Him great pleasure.
On top of it all, you now carry the authority of Christ. He has delegated His authority on the earth to you. You don’t have to put up with nothing from the devil. Use your authority!
So, when the Bible says you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit, here’s what it means:
If you asked the Holy Spirit what He did for a living, here’s what He would tell you:
“I am the original fixer-upper. I moved into your spirit and made it perfect. My immaculate home in your spirit is the proof of your salvation. God now sees you as His flawless possession.”
Wow. What a friend. Not only does He seal your salvation, but He also serves as the down payment of your inheritance.
Ephesians 1:14 CSB - The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.
When I first read this, it brought up a question. What kind of inheritance are we talking about here?
The best way to find out is to study each place that same word is used throughout the Bible. So I went through the New Testament and found each time inheritance was mentioned.
It didn’t take long for it to come into focus. I’ll take you to two places in scripture that make it plain.
1 Peter 1:3-5 NLT - All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.
This scripture reveals that our inheritance is our salvation. More specifically, it is the fullness of our salvation.
Our inheritance is heaven when we finally live in the fullness of God’s benefits and blessings. It’s when we are redeemed from earthly suffering.
Our salvation has been purchased. Paid in full by the blood of Christ. But we will not experience the fullness of our salvation until heaven.
The book of Hebrews confirms:
Hebrews 9:28 NLT - Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him.
Once again, we see that our salvation is not revealed until the last day when Jesus Christ returns. It’s not that our salvation isn’t secure. We just won’t experience the full benefit of our salvation until heaven.
So, what kind of inheritance are we talking about? The fullness of our salvation. Let’s go back to Ephesians so it can all come into focus.
Ephesians 1:14 CSB - The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.
Until the redemption of the possession. This means we already possess our inheritance. We are just waiting to redeem it.
We took the youth to Dave and Buster's this past Wednesday. It was a lot of fun. But I sure was overstimulated when it was all said and done.
As you play games, you win tickets. Back in my day, you’d get actual paper tickets and shove them in your pocket. These days, they get loaded onto a gaming card that looks just like a credit card.
When you are done playing games, you take a look at all the tickets you possess. The tickets are yours. They belong to you. But the only reason you are excited about the tickets is that you can redeem them for something in the store.
When you give your life to Jesus, you possess salvation. It belongs to you, just like those tickets. But one day, you’ll redeem those tickets and step into your eternal inheritance.
That’s exciting in itself. But get this: you have already been given a down payment of your inheritance. You don’t have to wait until heaven to experience the benefits of your salvation.
A down payment is a portion of what’s to come. When I put a down payment on a house, it is a portion of what I will pay for the house.
We’ve already been given a portion of everything we will have in heaven. But it can only be accessed through the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is how we access the benefits of our salvation. We’re talking about peace, healing, wealth, closeness with God, joy, purpose, and love.
If we don’t know the Holy Spirit, our life will be void of the benefits of our salvation.
Let me put it to you this way. To the measure we know the Holy Spirit is the measure we live in the benefits of our salvation.
We have a great inheritance waiting for us in heaven. When we experience the fullness of our salvation, it will be beyond what we could ever imagine.
Until then, let’s make the most of that down payment. Let’s be intentional about accessing the benefits of our salvation through the Holy Spirit.
That’s why we are getting to know the Holy Spirit. If you asked the Holy Spirit what He did for a living, here’s what He would say:
“I am the original fixer-upper. I moved into your spirit and made it perfect. My immaculate home in your spirit is the proof of your salvation. God now sees you as His flawless possession. Now that that’s done, I serve as the down payment of your inheritance. As you allow me, I’ll show you what heaven is like.”
When the Lord led me to do this series, I didn’t understand at first how this tied into the prophetic word He gave me about the manifest goodness of God. Now I know.
Knowing the Holy Spirit is how we experience the manifest goodness of God. Because to the measure we know the Holy Spirit is the measure we live in the benefits of our salvation.
