Can't Without the Spirit

Joel Gorveatte · Tidal Church Moncton · March 20, 2022 · United We Stand series

Joel Gorveatte teaches from Acts 19, John 14 and Galatians 5 on who the Holy Spirit is and what He does. Standing united and loving people well is impossible on our own, but the Spirit helps us understand Scripture, live God's way and serve.

More from Joel Gorveatte · The United We Stand series

Topics: Holy Spirit, Relationships, Discipleship

Transcript

[0:00] Bonjour tout le monde, ha ha, ça va bien? Are you ready? Here's the question. Are you ready to study God's Word today? Now, I'm not sure if some of you just haven't been here in two years or I just don't recognize what the bottom half of your face looks like. But man, we are so glad to see you and we're so glad to be able to provide a mask and distancing section so whatever your needs are, we want to have a place for you here today. So, today we are in week, what is this, four, I guess, of our series called United We Stand.

[0:46] United we stand, loving people even when we disagree. Now, what we're going to talk about today is kind of like a surprising term, because today we're going to talk about how it is impossible for us to actually do that. How it is impossible for us to stand united as the church of Jesus Christ and how it is impossible for us to love people even in our disagreements without the power of the Holy Spirit.

[1:31] We can't do it without the Holy Spirit. We will fail every time we try, and that's what we're going to talk about today, why we so desperately need the Holy Spirit. And so, let's go ahead and start in Acts chapter 19:1-2, where Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus, and there he found some disciples and he asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" And they answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."

[2:18] And so, it says that Paul went to Ephesus and he found these Christians who had surrendered their lives to Jesus. They had even perhaps become part of the church, but they were totally unaware of the power and person of the Holy Spirit, and as a result, they were missing out on some of who God is and what He wants for us. And maybe that's where some of us are today as well. Maybe you've given your life to Jesus, maybe you've even committed to be part of a church, and yet like these new Christians in Ephesus, maybe you don't know much about the power and person of the Holy Spirit, and as a result, perhaps you are missing out on some of the fullness of who God is and what He wants for your life.

[3:12] And so, what we're going to do today is try to answer three questions. First, we're going to talk about who the Holy Spirit is, and then we're going to answer the question, what does He do? And then finally, we're going to ask, what should we do about it? And my hope is today that some of you might experience by the time we're done today something of the fullness of Christ and the fullness of the Holy Spirit, perhaps more than you have ever experienced before. And so, the first question: Who is the Holy Spirit? Who is the Holy Spirit? Well, to get started, we're going to look at just a second at John chapter 14.

[3:58] And in John chapter 14, let me set the scene of what we're going to find here. In John chapter 14, Jesus, you know, He ministered with His disciples for like three years. They walked with Him, they talked with Him, they ministered with Him, He taught them, and then He sat them down one day at kind of a turning point in His ministry relationship with them. And He sat them down and He said, "Look, guys, you need to understand something. I'm not going to be here on this earth with you forever." And He began to explain to them in ways that they did not fully understand that Jesus was going to need to die for the forgiveness of our sins, that He would be resurrected again to life, and that then He would ascend to heaven.

[4:47] And all of a sudden, when they realized a little bit, even though they didn't understand at all, that basically He was saying, "I'm not going to be with you here like this face to face forever." It kind of freaked them out. And they're like, "Jesus, no, please don't leave us. What are we going to do without You?" And so Jesus comforted them with these words, John 14:16-17. He said, "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever, the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, but you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you."

[5:43] And then in verse 26, Jesus says, "The advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." And so let's go back to verse 16 and we're going to break this down. Some of you, hopefully you really dig it when we get into like the original text and whatever. If you don't dig it, hopefully you will understand why it's helpful by the time we finish this in just a minute. But let's talk about what we find here. When Jesus says, "I will give you another advocate," what does this mean? Some English translations, instead of advocate, in fact, if you have different translations of the Scripture, maybe you're reading from the King James Version or whatever English or French or Spanish translation or whatever language you might be reading. In English, some use the word comforter or counselor, another counselor.

[6:48] And so in English, advocate and counselor are kind of somewhere between like a lawyer and a therapist, right? And so somewhere between a lawyer and a therapist, what you might find is someone who listens to your problems, someone who helps you when you're in trouble, someone maybe who gives you guidance and advice in your life. And certainly that is part of who the Holy Spirit is. But I think it's so much more than that and that sometimes we miss something in our attempts to translate the Greek New Testament, the original language, into our more modern languages.

[7:36] And so let's look at the original language here in Greek for just a second. When Jesus said the Holy Spirit is another advocate, He used two words. The first Greek word is allon or allos. And it's not just, you know, it means another, but it's not just any kind of other. Many times it means another of a kind. And you'll find allo in some of our English words, usually in science. And I don't even remember all of them, but like allo, alloism and allo. Anyway, I even this week looked up biology and chemistry and some of the words that use allo. And I don't even remember all the words, but basically it has to do with a type.

[8:25] For example, let's say that I go to your house for small group. And for small group you have set out two platters. Maybe somebody brought a warm freshly baked plate of ooey gooey chocolate chip cookies. Can I get an amen? And somebody else who doesn't know Jesus brought a veggie tray. Okay, I'm kidding on that one. And so which one am I going to choose? I'm going to choose sanctified what? Chocolate chip cookies. This is not rocket science. Okay, this is not a trick question. And so here I am, standing there eating my chocolate chip cookie, and you start to get worried about me because I'm over there making noises.

[9:14] And then you come over and say, Joel, is everything all right? Can I get you something else? And I say, why yes, please, as I've got chocolate dripping down my chin. And I say, yes, please, thank you. I will have another. Now, when I say another, do I mean just another anything? Do I mean I want another something this time from the veggie tray? No, I mean I want allon. I want another of the same kind as this one. Catch me now. So when Jesus says that I am leaving, but I will send one, the Father will send one who will be with you, and He will be another of the same kind like Me.

[10:01] The Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three of the same kind. But what about the second word, translated advocate? Well, Jesus here uses the Greek word paraclete. Paraclete, it's the combination of two words, para and cleaton. Paracleton, and the first part para means with, or beside, or alongside. Now, you know this word in English, because in English we have words that we put with para, like for example, paralegal. What is a paralegal? It's someone who works alongside a legal professional, or paramedic.

[10:50] What is a paramedic? It's someone who works alongside a medical doctor or in the medical field. Sometimes we call ministries that work out in the community or in missions that are not a particular local church. We call them para church ministry, because they work alongside the church in ministry. And so para means with or alongside. And then the second part of that word, cleaton, comes from a root that means like calling out, like hello out there. Or calling, even more specifically, maybe calling someone unto yourself. And so the Greek here says allon, another maybe of the same kind, para, one who is alongside and cleaton, one who is calling out to you.

[11:49] Are we getting somewhere now? Is it starting to be helpful? And so when the Holy Spirit comes alongside of you, what is He calling out? William Barclay says a paracleton is an encourager, one who puts courage into the fainthearted, one who makes a very ordinary person able to deal with perilous and dangerous situations. That's what the Holy Spirit is for you. And so Jesus says to the disciples, He says, look guys, My work on earth is almost done. But do not worry because the Comforter will come, the Holy Spirit who will be with you, who will come alongside of you and be in you and will be calling out to you, not just with any words. You see, when God speaks, He speaks from the words that created the very universe. God spoke His words and darkness came into light. He spoke and created the mountains and the heavens and the sea.

[13:09] God spoke into the darkness and said, let there be light, just as He spoke into nothingness and it became something. And God speaks into the ugliness of your sin. And when you surrender to Him and invite the Holy Spirit to come in, He wants to take the ugliness of your sin and turn your life into something beautiful. Isn't that good news? Isn't that what we need? And so the way that we live our lives and our culture, we run around after success and sports and relationships and money and sex and we're so hungry to be noticed.

[13:54] We're looking for someone to validate us. We want to know that our lives really matter for something. And Jesus says, oh, but if you will listen, if you will cry out to God and surrender yourself to Him and listen, you will begin to hear the Holy Spirit come alongside of you and be with you and speak words of conviction and power and hope into your life. Allon Paracleton, another advocate. But how? What exactly does the Holy Spirit do?

[14:42] Well, it's kind of like the little boy who one day his teacher in class asked the children, what do you want to be when you grow up? And one little boy said, teacher, when I grow up, I want to be possible. And she said, possible? What do you mean? And he said, well, my mother always says, child, you are impossible. And so when I grow up, I want to become possible. And you need to know that without the Holy Spirit, there are things that are impossible for you. But when the Spirit begins to move, they become possible in our lives. And there are three things in particular that I want to show you in Scripture the Holy Spirit does in us.

[15:29] Number one, the Holy Spirit gives power to understand God's Word. In 1 Corinthians 2:14, it says, "The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, but considers them foolishness. And without the Spirit cannot understand them because they are discerned only how?" Only through the Spirit. But let me ask you, do you ever get frustrated reading the Bible? Because it just doesn't make any sense sometimes. You're like, "I just, it just looks like foolishness to you." And it's like you're trying to read and it's like the lights are turned off.

[16:16] And you're like, well, somebody give me a flashlight so I can kind of see what these words actually mean. And one of the things the Bible says the Holy Spirit does for us is when we receive the Holy Spirit, it's like the lights start to come on. He illuminates the Scripture and you read this book and stuff that didn't make sense before starts to come alive in you. Now, don't get me wrong. You still have to study. You still have to do the work. It's still valuable and necessary many times to understand the context, but the Holy Spirit makes this book come alive in you, which is why I love this book so much and I hope you love it too. So number one, the Holy Spirit gives power to understand God's Word. And number two, the Holy Spirit gives power to live God's way. The evidence of the Holy Spirit is a change in your life. Galatians 5:22 and 23 says, "When the Holy Spirit controls our lives, He will produce this kind of fruit in us.

[17:24] Love." We become more loving when we're filled with the Holy Spirit. Joy. We become more joyful, which is different than happiness, right? Happiness is based on circumstances. Joy is an internal quality that is a gift from God. Peace. We become more peaceful. Patience. We become more patient. Kindness. We become more kind. Goodness. We become more courageous to stand up for good. Faithfulness. We become more faithful and committed. Gentleness. We become more gentle. And self-control, we become what?

[18:13] More self-controlled. That's what it looks like when you're filled with the Holy Spirit. And so whenever you find yourself becoming less loving, oh come on now, whenever you find yourself becoming less joyful, less peace -filled, less patient, when you become less kind, when you're becoming less courageous to stand up for the good, when you're becoming less faithful and committed, when you're becoming less gentle, when you're becoming less self -controlled, that is a warning sign that maybe we are not as surrendered to the Spirit, in seeking the fullness of His Spirit, in the way that we need to. And number three, the Holy Spirit gives power to do God's work. Some people say, "Oh, I just, I can't do ministry.

[19:10] I'm not smart enough, I'm not strong enough, I'm not good enough, I'm not intelligent enough, I'm not gifted enough." Listen, the Bible says, God says, when you make yourself available to His Kingdom, He gives you spiritual gifts that are used to build up His Church. 1 Corinthians 12:4 and verse 7. "Now God gives us many kinds of special abilities, but it is the same Spirit who is the source of them all. The Holy Spirit displays God's power through what? Through each of us as a means of helping the entire Church." And if you keep reading through this chapter in the next verse, it starts listing some of the special gifts and abilities down through the rest of 1 Corinthians 12.

[20:01] It starts talking about how God within the Church gives some people a specific ability to teach in a way that is gifted and anointed. And some He gives the ability to lead specially. Some He gives the ability to pray with an extra dose of faith and God's power that is more than just every other Christian. Some He gives the ability to be outrageous financial givers beyond what God calls others to give. It lists that some have a special heart of compassion for those who are hurting. He gives some a specific word of knowledge from God, and the list goes on and on. The point is that God gives each and every one of you, every single person who comes to Christ, God gives you at least one spiritual gift that was designed not for you, not just to build your kingdom.

[20:55] It's not to build your business, even though many times your spiritual gifts God will use to bring success and abundance out in the world. But listen, that's not its purpose. The purpose of a spiritual gift is in order to build up His Church and advance the mission of Jesus in the world. And that happens within the walls of the church. And it also, yes, happens in your school. And it begins to work with God operating through your spiritual gift to advance His kingdom in your business, in your workplace, in your community, in your family. So He gives us the power to do God's work. And then let's look back real quickly at the three. So being filled with the Holy Spirit gives us power to understand God's Word, power to live God's way, and power to do God's work.

[21:52] Listen, wherever you are on your spiritual journey, whether you are brand new to all this Jesus stuff, or whether you've been walking with Jesus for 70 years, this ought to excite us and light a fire under us to see what God wants to do. It is not about your strength. It's not about your ability. It's not about our intelligence. It's not about our talent. It's about the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us. Let's hear an amen. Amen. Okay. Amen. Which, by the way, if you're new around church too, amen is an ancient Hebrew or amen Hebrew word that means let it be so or I agree. So if you feel weird saying amen, you can say, yes, or I agree, or give it to us, Joel, or whatever it is.

[22:43] Okay. Let me run through seven things that are good to know. Number one, the Spirit's fire is quenched by doubting. We're going to talk through these in just a minute, but let me show you first. Number two, don't believe without testing from Scripture. Number three, the Holy Spirit helps us see the world through God's eyes. Number four, the Spirit's work will always bear the Spirit's fruit. Number five, a bad attitude grieves the Spirit. Number six, Spirit filling comes not by trying harder, but by receiving more. And number seven, spiritual power comes in obedience to His leading. And so let's look at those really quickly from Scripture.

[23:30] Number one, the Spirit's fire is quenched by doubting. 1 Thessalonians 5:19-20. You've been able to sit for a little while. And so just to make sure everybody's awake and connected with the Word of God, let's read this one out loud together. Okay. Wherever you are online with us, if you're watching this later in the week, or maybe you're live right now in the live stream with us, wherever you are, let's read this out loud together. Altogether, 1 Thessalonians 5:19-20 says, "Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt." And so do you know that sometimes the Holy Spirit does stuff that stretches our faith and even makes us uncomfortable?

[24:17] When you read the Bible, sometimes the Holy Spirit really does give like miraculous words to people. Sometimes even like prophecies and knowledge of insight about things that you shouldn't be able to know otherwise. That sometimes the Holy Spirit really does do miraculous healings. And those miracles don't happen apart from faith. If we do not believe it, we cannot receive it. But here's the key. Here's the problem. The problem is that sometimes, can we just be really honest? Sometimes people are claiming the Holy Spirit, but faking it.

[25:06] Is that okay for me to say out loud? But see, sometimes people are just showing off. And so how do you know the difference between what is from God and what is just people faking it? How do we know if something is really of the Spirit or if it's somebody acting and showing off? And I would remind you, first of all, is it promoting the fruit of the Spirit that we talked about before? But secondly, this verse tells us how. So let's go back to 1 Thessalonians 5:19. We just read it out loud together. But now we're going to complete the rest of what it says in the next verse. So let's read this out loud, and then we'll keep going into verse 21.

[25:51] Here we go, all together. It says, "Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt." But what? "Test them all. Hold on to what is good." So number two, don't believe without testing from Scripture. Listen, I don't care how exciting something seems, what you saw on YouTube, what you heard, how charismatic or impressive somebody is, how much it makes you feel good. Listen, if it does not line up with Scripture, then it is not from God. Okay, number three, Holy Spirit helps you see the world through God's eyes. You begin to see and understand things that other people do not.

[26:43] John 16:8, when Jesus told them that the Comforter, another Advocate, will come. He said, "Because when I leave, and when the Spirit comes," John 16:8, "When He comes, He will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin." See, the world is very convinced that it is in the right about sin. But when you have the Holy Spirit, He begins to show you what the world says is right, often is not. He proves the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment. You begin to see and understand things that other people don't see and understand.

[27:31] Number four, remember the Spirit's work will always bear the Spirit's fruit. If it is not promoting the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, then it is not of God. Some people claim to be of God, but they're all puffed up and arrogant and condemning, and that's not of God, because number five, a bad attitude grieves the Spirit. Look at Ephesians 4:30-31, "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, 31, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice."

[28:16] See, when you talk bad about people, when you carry a chip on your shoulder, when you have a critical attitude, you are breaking God's heart, because what happens is, instead of working with Him, you start working against Him, because God is trying to build His kingdom, and you're tearing it down. And that's what we've been talking about as we wrap up this series that we've been walking through called United We Stand, how the Spirit of God wants to bring the church together in unity to love one another, and show the world what His love is really about. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't correct and admonish one another. We should. Absolutely. But with a heart of love and charity, rather than condemnation and criticism.

[29:06] Number six, Spirit filling comes not by trying harder, but by receiving more. Galatians 3:2-3, this is what we're driving home to today. Galatians 3:2-3 says, "Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, by just trying harder, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish that after beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?" See, we are not filled with the Holy Spirit by our human effort. Daily prayer and reading God's Word, and worshiping with the church and being in spiritual community are good, but listen, they will not automatically fill you with the Holy Spirit.

[30:02] But here's what happens. Doing those things can actually help you though. Listen, that's what helps get you many times in the position to hear from God and receive His Spirit. And so what happens is this, listen, the more we learn and pray and study God's Word and go to church and small group and those things, again, we are not filled with the Spirit by doing those things. You can do them in your entire life and never experience what we're talking about. But by doing those things, we can become more receptive to receiving from the Holy Spirit and being filled with Him. And finally, number seven, spiritual power comes in obedience to His leading.

[31:00] In Galatians chapter 15, or I'm sorry, in Galatians chapter 5 verse 16 and 25. What I want to do is just ask if we could read this out loud together. This is our last passage today. Let's finish strong. Galatians 5 verse 16 and 25 says, "I advise you to obey only the Holy Spirit's instructions. He will tell you where to go and what to do. And then you won't always be doing the wrong things your evil nature wants you to. If we are living now by the Holy Spirit's power, let us follow the Holy Spirit's leading in every part of our lives." And so whenever you feel promptings from the Holy Spirit, maybe telling you to do something, maybe convicting you of sin or challenging you to step out in faith. If the Holy Spirit is speaking to you and you keep ignoring His voice again and again and again, the Bible even speaks of something called the hardening of our hearts.

[32:16] But the good news is the more you surrender, the more you invite Him to fill your heart and your mind, your body and your soul, the more you surrender and invite Him to come in and take control, the more He gives you those three things that we talked about. The Holy Spirit gives power to understand God's Word. And that's what we need in this confusing world. We need to better understand the Word of God. The Holy Spirit gives us power to live God's way because I don't know if you figured this out like I have, but it's not always easy living out what Scripture calls us to do and be.

[33:12] But holiness is not by human effort, it's by surrender and His power. And then the work of the Christian, the work of the church, the work of the mission of Christ to serve others, to be the hands and feet of Jesus to our community and to the world. He gives us power, spiritual gifting power to do His work. And as we head into a whole new season as a church, I'm so glad.

[33:58] I was going to teach on this later, but as soon as I knew that this Sunday was on the calendar with everything changing and some of you we may haven't seen in person in a while that we might see again and just says that we can do new ministries in ways that we haven't been able to for a long time, even two years, many of the things that we want to be able to get back to doing again here in the future. But the reason I changed literally what I was going to talk about today when restrictions changed and new opportunities arose for us is because I had this compelling conviction that I would say is from the Holy Spirit that there was a danger in this new season that we start doing more rather than trusting more. That we start busying our schedules rather than quieting our spirits and that we get so wrapped up in the expectations of all the new opportunities that life without as many restrictions may lead to for many in the room today and those online.

[35:13] And in the midst of all of the excitement and busyness that might await some of you and for us as a church in particular because there are a lot of things that we look forward to being able to start up again in the coming days. But we are in great danger if we do those things in our own effort and what we need more than anything in these coming days is a move of the Holy Spirit. Let's stand together. Amen. Let's stand together.

[36:07] So what do we do about it? What we're going to do is worship for just a few minutes to sing these words preparing our hearts, seeing these words as a prayer, an invitation. And then I want to give you advance warning right now, in just a few minutes I'm going to lead you in a prayer if you would like as a Christian. Now if you're not a believer yet in Jesus, if you've not surrendered to Jesus, we are so glad you're here, we're so glad you're with us online. But understand that what we're talking about today is specifically for believers who have not yet experienced the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

[37:01] And so wherever you are on that spiritual journey, whether you're a seeker or a longtime follower of Jesus, let's start with this invitation as we prepare our hearts.