The Holy Spirit in the life of the believer part 1………Now let us turn in our Bibles to John 14:16, where Jesus, talking to His disciples said,

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but you know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. (John 14:16-17)

We often hear people talk about the baptism, or the filling, or whatever you want to call it, It is the relationship that a believer can have with the Holy Spirit.…It is the releasing of the Spirit and the out-flowing of the Spirit from one's life. …It is one thing to be filled and another thing to be overflowing. …It is one thing to have the Spirit indwelling me and coming into my life and another thing to have the Holy Spirit flowing forth out of my life. …It is that work of the Holy Spirit in my life that we would like to take a look at. And then we will look at the gifts of the Spirit and how the Holy Spirit flows forth from my life and the various gifts of the Spirit. We will be looking at that inward work of the Holy Spirit.

In this phrase, “another Comforter,” the word “another” there in the Greek is allos, which means “of the same kind, or equal quality.” It means another of the same order, the same kind, or equal quality. There is an additional Greek word that is translated “another,” and that word means of “a different quality.” You can have another. You know, you might be going to pick up a Hertz rental car and the employee says, “Well, you have ordered a little compact Geo, but we happen to be out of that right now. But we can give you another car, a Lincoln Town Car, for the same price.” That kind of “another” would be the word heteros. It is not the same quality or the same kind. If you had ordered a Town Car and they said, “Well, we cannot give you that, but we will give you a Cadillac or something.” Then that is sort of the same quality (allos).

So, when Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit being of the same quality, He is actually here ascribing to the Holy Spirit, the quality of divinity. He is declaring that the Holy Spirit is God. “I have been with you. I am going away. I will pray the Father, He will give you another [allos, of the same quality, the same kind] Comforter.”

The word “Comforter” in Greek is paraklete, which means, “one who would come alongside of you to take up your case, or to plead your case,” or, as it is used here, “to aid you in any way.” Now I am going to pray the Father. He is going to give you another Comforter, one with the same quality, who will aid you in any way.

Now Jesus has been talking to His disciples about His being betrayed, being put to death. He has been telling them that He is going away and where He is going they cannot come right now. And they do not understand Him. They cannot comprehend the delay of the establishing of the kingdom. In their minds, Jesus is still going to set up the kingdom almost immediately. When He talks about going away and says you cannot come now, it troubles them. When He talks about death, it troubles them. And so, at the beginning of this chapter, He said, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” For they were indeed troubled. He said He was going away to prepare a place for them. That He would come again and receive them unto Himself. But these are mysterious sayings. These are troubling sayings for the disciples.

You see, Jesus had been a real defense for the disciples. The scribes and the Pharisees liked to pick on them. We read in Mark 9, where Jesus saw a great multitude of people gathered around the disciples and the scribes were there questioning them. It had created sort of a big crowd. And you know when you get people arguing, often a crowd will gather. And Jesus came up and He said, “What are you talking to them about? -they are My little lambs, you do not pick on them!”

And the religious leaders would say to Jesus, “Now why do Your disciples eat with unwashed hands?” Well, Jesus always had such a good defense. He could just lay it out and silence them. The scribes and Pharisees asked, “Why do Your disciples do that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day?” And Jesus talks about David eating showbread, which was not lawful, and so forth. He was such a powerful defender.

Now how are they going to defend themselves against these scholars when they have not had the same advantage of an education within the religious schools-within the Scriptures? And if He is talking about going away then, what are they going to do when the Pharisees come and challenge them or the scribes challenge them? They are troubled about this and rightfully so.

But Jesus is saying, “I will pray the Father and He will give you another Comforter; one who is alongside to plead your case; one who will be here to help you and to aid you.” Jesus went on to say,

But the Comforter, [this one who comes alongside to aid you, to plead your case. And here He identifies Him.] which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said to you. (John 14:26)

So, the work of the Holy Spirit within the life of the believer is comforting; just the name “Comforter” itself implies one who will be there to plead your case and to aid you in any way.

But now He is going to also teach you all things. Now Jesus, even at this late date said, “I have many other things to say unto you, but you are not able to take them now. You are not able to receive them. But the Holy Spirit is going to come. He is going to teach the disciples and He will aid them in the understanding of the Scriptures. They will not have to really worry about their lack of understanding. Jesus said, “For as I have taught you, so shall He teach you.”

To study the Bible is a tremendous privilege. It is a marvelous book. The more I study it, the more I am amazed at this book. It is a blessing indeed. To aid and to assist in the study of the Bible, it is handy to study the original languages in order that you might be able to milk from the original languages some of the little nuances that do not translate well into English. And there are those little nuggets that you discover every once in a while. I know that there have been times when I have felt that it is wonderful I had studied Greek, so I can find these blessed little nuggets of truth. I studied Greek. I did not say I learned Greek, but I studied it. I am not a natural linguist. Languages are extremely difficult for me. My brain is not constructed properly to learn foreign languages. There are other areas in which I find a natural aptitude, but not in linguistics. Yet I have had enough Greek that I can dig into it, but it is tough. However, in digging through the Greek you find a nugget and it is worth digging to find these nuggets every once in a while

When I was pastoring years and years ago in Huntington Beach, we had a blessed saint of God there in the church who only made it through sixth grade. She was from Oklahoma and after she had gone through sixth grade, she quit school. And she loved the Lord. She was a real saint of God. And I would be studying in Galatians and digging through the Greek and trying to find some of these little nuggets of truth that show up in the Greek language. And I would get hold of one of those and I would think, my, this is wonderful! It is great to know a little Greek. And she would say, “Brother Smith, I was reading the other day in Galatians and I read this and I thought, you know, this must mean…”-and she would come out with the same truth. And I thought, it is not fair! All of the midnight oil and trying to maintain a grade in Greek, and here she just gets it without any Greek.

But this is what Jesus is saying. The Holy Spirit will teach you. And so He is saying to the disciples, “You do not have to worry about your lack of understanding of the Scriptures. As I have taught you, He is now going to teach you.” In First John 2:27 John said,

But the anointing which ye have received of him [that is, the Holy Spirit] abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

So you really do not need any man to teach you. You know, this is interesting because practically every cult insists that you do need man to teach you. They are heavy on selling you their books, getting you to read their books. Why is it so necessary to read their books? It is necessary because you would never come to the same screwy interpretations that they have unless you were led to them by their books. I am not at all afraid of what you will come to believe if you just read the Bible. I have no qualms in just saying, “Well, read the Bible!” I believe that as you read the Bible and ask the Holy Spirit to teach and instruct your heart, that He will lead you into all truth.

Now this idea that you have no need, that no man should teach you, in reality God has established in the church teachers. Pastor-teachers were appointed for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry. But it is an interesting thing, that though we may be teaching the Word of God and the truth of God’s Word, unless the Holy Spirit bears witness to the truth in your own heart, you are not going to really learn. It is the Holy Spirit that actually teaches us the Scriptures. And how great it is to have the author of the Scriptures to help us understand what He wrote!

You know, sometimes when I read a book I would like to talk to the author and ask, “Just what kind of a point were you trying to make? What are you trying to say?” How wonderful it is that we have the author of the Bible, the Holy Spirit, to teach us!

In Mark 12:36, Jesus declared that the Holy Spirit spoke by the mouth of David. In Acts 1:16, Peter declared that the Holy Spirit spoke by the mouth of David. And going back to Second Samuel 23:1-2, as you deal with the last words that David spoke, David declared that the Spirit of Yahweh spoke by him. So, David declared that he was speaking by the Holy Spirit, Peter confirms it, and Jesus settles it, declaring that he spoke by the Holy Spirit. On the one end of the line, the Holy Spirit provided the inspiration. On our end of the line, He provides the illumination. He inspired it, but He illumines it to my heart. And that is what Jesus is saying,

The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14:26)

Have you ever had the experience of talking with someone and suddenly you begin to quote a Scripture you did not know you knew? That happens to me so often. I will start to quote a passage of Scripture and it just keeps rolling out. And I did not really realize that I had memorized that Scripture. Yet, in that time the Holy Spirit just gives you that recall and the remembrance of those passages of Scripture.

Now Paul writes about the Holy Spirit enabling us to understand the Word of God. In 1 Corinthians 2:9, he said,

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, the ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by is Spirit: For the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. (1 Corinthians 2:9-12)

The Holy Spirit, which we have received, is to help us so that we might know the things that God has freely given unto us. Paul said,

Which things also we speak not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing the spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:13-14)

Now one of the problems that we have today is that there are men who have spent years in the study of the Scripture in seminaries. They teach in seminaries. They are known as scholars and they have studied the original languages. And they have written many books about the Bible, about particular texts in the Bible. But there is one big problem: they are not born again. And so, they are looking at the Bible purely from a humanistic standpoint. And it causes them to be so brazen as to assert that they can tell you which of the statements Jesus really said and which ones were just written by the apostles and ascribed to Jesus. And they can tell you how many different authors the Book of Isaiah had. And they can tell you all of these things about the Bible, as though they are the final authority.

There is one problem-major problem-with telling a person what part of the Bible is genuine and what is not. And the major problem with that arrives the moment I set myself up as a scholarly authority. These scholars have studied the styles in the Hebrew and so forth; and so, with the change of style, they say the difference in writers becomes obvious. They can show you the different changes of style in the writing of the Hebrew; and thus, it is obvious that the one writer of Isaiah only wrote so much and that others took care of the rest. So, they say, you cannot really trust this and you cannot trust that, but their opinion you can accept.

Or with the words of Jesus for instance, it is the same as these fellows have just done. When anybody sets himself up as an authority to tell you what part of the Bible is genuine and what is spurious-the minute they set themselves up as that kind of an authority, the Bible no longer becomes the authority. They become the authority. But the problem with that is that these authorities are arguing with each other. So, which authority do I believe? The whole ultimate end of the matter is total confusion.

Now I believe that if I cannot trust the whole thing, I cannot trust anything. But I believe I can trust the whole thing (that is, the Bible). I have no problem at all trusting the entire Bible as being inspired by God, the inerrant Word of God. I do not have any difficulty with that at all. And I am glad that I do not.

Now, in reality, a Spirit-filled child of God, like this woman I mentioned in Huntington Beach who was filled with the Spirit, in love with the Lord and in love with His Word-she is a truer guide into the truth of God than some fellow with a PhD, who is not born again but knows the original languages. Because the natural man does not understand the things of the Spirit, neither can he know them. They are spiritually discerned. If you try to understand the Bible, apart from the help of the Holy Spirit, you are going to get into all kinds of weird things. All of the weird twists come from people who have not the Holy Spirit, but with the natural intellect and the natural mind are trying to comprehend spiritual things. And so that is why Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would teach us. We did not have need that man should teach us. God has revealed His truth unto us by His Spirit, because He searches the deep things of God.

We certainly see this manifested in the Book of Acts. We see how the Holy Spirit brought to their remembrances remote and obscure passages of Scripture, but gave real sense to them. When Peter spoke, every time he spoke he was quoting Scriptures. He had a tremendous working knowledge of the Scriptures. He was enabled by the Holy Spirit to just quote large passages of Scriptures, as well as making sense and application out of remote, obscure passages. When he gathered with the disciples and the Holy Spirit was poured upon the church, the crowd was sort of mocking him. They were saying, “Well they have some new wine.” Peter began to explain to them, quoting quite extensively from the prophecy of Joel, showing to them exactly what was going on. They were saying, “What meaneth this?” And he said, “This is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel.” And then he quotes the prophecy.

But then as Peter goes on to preach to them about Jesus. He begins to quote from the Psalms, how that David, by the Holy Spirit spake saying, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither will you allow the Holy One to see corruption.” And he is quoting passages of Scripture all the time, as the Holy Spirit brings to his remembrance, as the Holy Spirit gives him understanding, and application of the Scriptures.

When Stephen was facing the Jewish council, as he was challenged by those of the synagogue, it says they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. Here were all of these leaders of these various sects, Libertines and so forth. And Stephen, though just a deacon in the church, has such an anointing of the Holy Spirit, such wisdom, that they were not able to resist. They could not hold up to this fellow.

And then when they brought Stephen before the whole council, he went right from Genesis through the Prophets. He just really laid out the Scripture in a masterpiece, as he showed to them how their illustrious fathers were as blind as they were. “You keep talking about, well our fathers this and our fathers that, but your fathers sold Joseph for twenty pieces of silver to be a slave in Egypt, not realizing that God had ordained him to preserve the family.” And it was not until the second time around that they recognized the position of Joseph. He was ordained of God for the purpose of leading the family. They had rejected that. When he told them of his dreams they rejected Joseph as the leader. However, the second time around they saw how God had anointed Joseph, but they were blind to it the first time.

Moses thought that the Israelites would understand that God had chosen him to lead them, but they did not. He fled for his life and was gone for forty years. It was not until the second time around that they recognized that Moses was indeed God’s chosen leader.

The first time around, they rejected Jesus. The second time around, they will recognize Him. Stephen said, “You are following a pattern of your fathers.” And so he said, “Which of the prophets did not your fathers stone or imprison?” And he said, “But you are worse than them because you killed the One they were all prophesying of.” That did not go well with them. But it was masterful. It was absolutely masterful.

And we read in Acts 7:55-56,

But he [Stephen] being full of the Holy Ghost, [this was at the end of the message]-looked up steadfastly unto heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold I see the heavens open and, the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.”

Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit had inspired and put together that whole message and the Scriptures in such a masterful way.

The Holy Spirit would inspire their responses to charges that would be leveled against them. Jesus said,

And when they bring you into the synagogues, and unto the magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what things ye shall answer, or what ye shall say: for the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say. (Luke 12:11-12)

Jesus was telling them “The Holy Spirit will be there to defend you, to give you the words. You do not have to think up fancy little speeches. The anointing of God’s Holy Spirit will come upon you and you will have the answers and the responses.”

We have already seen how the Holy Spirit aided in the case of Stephen. But then we also read concerning Peter, when he was brought before the Jewish council because of the healing of the lame man:

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit said, “Ye rules of Israel, if we are called this day in question because of the good deed done to this lame man.” (Acts 4:8-9)

Then Peter went on to preach to them such a convincing, masterful defense, that they marveled at his responses because they perceived that he was ignorant and unlearned.

In John 16:13-15 Jesus said,

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that He shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.

So the Holy Spirit is guiding them into all truth.

And then the Holy Spirit is bringing Jesus’ words to their remembrance. In John 2:22 we read,

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.

You see He said He would bring to their remembrance the things. And when Jesus rose, then they remembered. Oh yeah, I remember He said that. But it was the Holy Spirit quickening their memory.

In John 12:16 we read,

These things understood not His disciples at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.

At first they did not understand when Jesus was talking about these things. But later on, after Jesus was glorified, the Holy Spirit then brought it back to their remembrance and put the whole thing together for them.

So the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is first to illuminate the Word of God to his heart. It is to aid in the understanding of the Scriptures and to help in the defense of the Scriptures, bringing to remembrance the Scriptures, the Word of God. And thus, this glorious work of the Holy Spirit in our lives regarding our study and our understanding of the Bible.

Father, we thank You for the help of the Holy Spirit. And Lord, we look to You and we rely upon You for that help. And we thank You that You have given to us the Spirit to teach us all things, to guide us into all truth, to help us in seeing the proper application of the church. Lord, we pray for the mind of the Spirit and the understanding of the Spirit, so that we would not make the mistake that so many do, going to the Scriptures with the natural mind and wisdom. But Lord, going and understanding our need of the Holy Spirit to illuminate that which He inspired in the hearts of the writers. In Jesus’ name, Lord, we thank You and we bless You for the Holy Spirit and the help that He gives to us and the understanding of all truth. Guide us, Lord, into Your truth. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Holy Spirit in the life of the believer part2…Let us turn in our Bibles to Acts 1, as we continue on the subject of the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. Last week we saw the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer as teaching and instructing us in the things of God and in the Word of God. Tonight we would like to look at the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer as He empowers us to be witnesses.

In Acts 1:4, Jesus was with His disciples and He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem until they had received this baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now the disciples asked Jesus a question that was irrelevant to what He was talking about. It was an important question-one that Jesus was very concerned about. But their question was not relevant to what He was talking about-their receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They said, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

Now this is what they were expecting the Lord to do. They did not expect Him to be crucified. They were expecting Him to restore the kingdom to Israel, so that Israel might rule over the world with their righteous King according to the promises concerning their Messiah. And Jesus had been talking with them for forty days, concerning the kingdom. But now He is talking to them about another subject, and that is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

It is interesting how often we can get diverted from the main topic by an interesting question on a subject that we really love. And so, often we get so far afield of the original issue, that we forget what the actual issue was. Jesus dismisses their question without really any explanation and He comes back to the subject at hand: their receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And in verse 8 He declares,

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

So the baptism of the Holy Spirit was to give them power to be witnesses unto Jesus throughout the entire world. It is interesting as we follow the story in the Book of Acts that, first of all, they did bring witness of Jesus to Jerusalem-so much so, that they were accused of “filling the city with this Man’s doctrine.” When persecution arose in Jerusalem, the church was scattered abroad throughout all of Judea. And they went everywhere preaching the Word. And so they began to spread the message into Judea. And we find in the record in Acts that Peter went down to Lydda and met with certain disciples there. While he was there the disciples in Joppa called him over to minister to one who had died in Joppa. And so, there were these pockets of believers throughout Judea.

Then we read that Philip went unto Samaria and preached Christ unto them. And then as we get into Acts 13, we find the Holy Spirit saying, “Separate unto Me, Paul and Barnabas for the ministry where I have called them.” And they fasted and prayed and then laid hands on them and the Spirit sent them forth. And they began the task of carrying the gospel unto the uttermost parts of the earth. And for the most part, the rest of the Book of Acts has to do with Paul’s missionary journeys, as he is carrying the gospel to the world. Now this was all done through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is through the power of the Holy Spirit that they were enabled to take the gospel to all the world.

So, many people associate witnessing with just the verbalizing of your faith, or your testimony, to someone else-talking to them about the Bible, about Jesus Christ, about salvation, about God’s gift of eternal life. And we think of witnessing only as verbalizing to others concerning their need of Jesus Christ. But witnessing is far more than just giving a person an invitation or telling someone about Jesus Christ. A more powerful witness than simply telling someone about Jesus Christ is a believer living the life of Jesus Christ before them.

I was up at the high school camp yesterday, enjoying a wonderful day with those beautiful young people. It was a thrill to see the work of God’s Spirit in their lives as we ministered to them yesterday. A young girl came up to me just as I was leaving last night and she said, “Pastor Chuck, I want to witness to my brother and I do not know how to witness to my brother.” I told her, just live the Christian life before him. Let him see what Jesus has done in your life. And that is the strongest witness that you can possibly give to him.

When we talk about being a witness for Jesus Christ, we are talking about the life that bears witness for Jesus Christ. Often times, what we say is thoroughly discredited by what we are and by what we do. You see, you can be witnessing to someone verbally and you can be telling them how wonderful the work of Jesus Christ is in your life. “He gives you such glorious peace and you need to know this peace of Jesus Christ.” But that witness can be discredited if, while you are working beside them, any time any little irritant comes along and you blow up, and you get mad, and yell at everything and everybody, and then you say, “but Jesus gives you such glorious peace.” Or if you are talking about the joy of the Lord and you are always going around grouchy and grumpy and snapping at everybody-what you say will be meaningless to them because of what you are. So, it is extremely important that our life bear witness of the peace of Jesus Christ and the love of Jesus Christ. And then they will see, as it is worked out in our lives.

It is interesting that people get a lot of weird ideas concerning the Scripture and think that they have received some revelation from God. And many times they feel that they need to share this revelation with the church. We get requests quite often from people who want to come and share some revelation of scriptural truth to the body of Christ here. They want to share some twist on an interpretation that they got in some kind of a dream. I think it was more inspired by the In-n-Out burger with onions than it was by the Spirit. Often I will say to them, give us the opportunity to observe how this truth has affected your walk and your life. Let us see how it has brought you closer to Jesus. Let us see the peace and the joy that it has brought into your life. And when we see the fruit of this truth in your life, then we will be coming to you and asking you to share with us just what is it that makes you different.

It is important that our lives agree with our testimony. And that is what a real witness is. It is when your life is in agreement with your testimony and they can see it worked out in your life. They can see the example of it in your life. That is why Paul said to Timothy, “Be thou an example unto the believer.” And when Paul talked to the elders of Ephesus, he said, “I was with you teaching you and showing you. My life was the demonstration of the truth that I was sharing with you.”

In the Book of Revelation, it speaks of Jesus as the faithful and true witness. He was a faithful and true witness of the Father. So that if you want to know what God is all about, and if you want to know what God is like, you can look at Jesus and discover exactly how God thinks-how God feels and what God is like. He was a faithful and true witness of God. So much so that when Philip said to Him,

Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, ‘Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou [then], Show us the Father?’ (John 14:8-9)

Jesus could declare that because He was a faithful and true witness. You can know what God is like by looking at Jesus.

The name Christian was coined in Antioch by the world. As they observed the lives of the believers in Jesus Christ, they called them Christians, which meant Christ-like. It is wonderful when the world gives you that title. It is not something that you have to go out and declare. Well, I am a Christian, are you? Are you Christ-like? It is glorious when that title is given to you by others after having observed your life. They say, “Oh, he is a real Christian. He is really like Christ.”

If a person would say to you, “Oh, but I would love to see Jesus Christ,” You should be able to say, “Well, if you have seen me…” You see, that would be a faithful and true witness. Jesus was able to say that of the Father. “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” He was a faithful and true witness of the Father.

Now He wants you to be a witness of Him. He wants your life to be so like His, that it is a witness of Him. And people will know what He is like as they observe you. And if you want to take a test of self-examination, just read 1 Corinthians 13, removing the word charity and inserting your own name, and you will find out how true a witness you are. You see, you can take out the word charity and insert the name Jesus and you do no violence to the text at all. It flows. It fits. But unfortunately, when we insert our name it does a lot of violence to the text. But that is an indictment against us. It means that we have not yet yielded fully to the work of the Holy Spirit, who God has sent to help us, to give us the power to be witnesses.

Several years ago someone wrote a book on the imitation of Jesus. And the book suggested that before you responded or reacted to the various circumstances, adverse and others, that you first ask the question: What would Jesus do? And then seek to do what Jesus would do in those circumstances. Well, I can assure you that if you want to become totally frustrated, just try it. Just try in your own ability to imitate Jesus Christ. Try to respond and to react as He did and as He has commanded us to do. Jesus: who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; who said to us in Matthew 5, “Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who despitefully use you, and so shall you be the children of the Father.” And if you just try to live like Jesus, try to act like Jesus, you will find that it is an impossible task in your own ability or self control.

Paul the Apostle tried to imitate Christ. And he writes in Romans 7 about his experience. He said in verse 15,

For that which I do, I allow not: [In other words, I am doing things that I really don’t want to do.] For what I would, that do I not. [I am doing the things I do not want to do. I am not doing the things I do want to do.] But what I hate, that I do. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. (Romans 7:15-18)

This was Paul’s struggle. The will is there-“that which I want to do, I do not do. That which I do not want to do I am doing. It is because of the sin that dwells in me, this sinful nature.”

Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. (Romans 7:20-22)

I listen to the law of God. I hear what Jesus says and I say, “Yes! That is right. Yes, I want to do that. Yes, that is the way I want to respond.” That is the way I want to react. That is the kind of a person I desire to be-kind and loving and forgiving and generous and compassionate, merciful. That is the kind of person I want to be. I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law that is working in me, that wars against the law of my mind and brings me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my body. Paul cried,

Oh, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Romans 7:24)

I am living in an unredeemed body that is still in rebellion against God-a body that does not want to serve or be subservient to the Spirit. I am living in a body that wants to usurp authority and control over my mind and over my life with body appetites that are demanding fulfillment. And my spirit yearns after God, to be like Jesus. But when I try, I find that this other nature, the nature of my flesh, is there battling against the desires of my spirit.

In Matthew 26:41, Jesus said to Peter, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” And all of us have experienced that. It is not my mind that really is in rebellion against God. In my heart I desire to please God. I want to serve God, but there is the battle that goes on between the flesh and the spirit. And these two are contrary, so that Paul, in writing to the Galatians says, “We do not always do what we would.” In fact Paul says even stronger, “so that you cannot do the things that you would.” It is because of this battle between the desires of the spirit and the desires of the flesh.

Thus it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that I can have and experience victory over my flesh and over the desires of my flesh. The writer of that hymn, “Have Thine Own Way Lord,” really struck the right chord. I think it is the third stanza where he wrote,

Have Thine own way, Lord. Have Thine own way. Hold o’er my being absolute sway. Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see Christ only, always, living in me. (Adelaide Pollard)

It is only as I am filled with the Spirit and as I am yielding to the Holy Spirit that I can then, through the power of the Spirit, be a true witness.

Jesus said,

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me. (Acts 1:8)

But I cannot be a witness apart from the power of the Holy Spirit. The word power in the Greek is dynamis, from which we receive our English word, dynamic. And so, you will receive the dynamics-and how we need the dynamic of the Holy Spirit in our lives, in order that we might be true and faithful witnesses of Jesus.

Now in the life of Peter, we see a classic example of a man who has the right desires, but lacks the power of the Holy Spirit, so that he cannot do that which he wanted and desired so desperately to do. Jesus, the night He was betrayed, as He was eating supper with the disciples, He said to them, “All of you are going to be offended tonight because of Me.” And Peter said, “Lord, though they all are offended, I would never be offended.” And Jesus said, “Peter, before the rooster crows you will have denied Me three times.” Peter said, “I would never deny You! If they would kill me I would not deny You. If they were torturing me, I would never deny You!” And Peter was expressing the desire of his heart: to be a faithful witness of Jesus Christ. That was the heart of Peter, not to deny Jesus, but to be a faithful witness.

And yet, we find Peter standing outside of the house of the high priest where Jesus has been brought before the religious tribunal, this august body of religious leaders, and they are trying Him in this mock trial. And as Peter is standing outside with the soldiers, warming himself by their fire, a young maiden comes up to Peter and says, “Aren’t you also one of His disciples?” Peter says, “No. I do not know Him.” A little later she comes back and she says, “I am sure I have seen you with Him.” He says, “No, no. You do not know what you are talking about. I do not know Him.” And finally the soldiers say to Him, “You must be one of His disciples. You have a Galilean accent.” And Peter begins to swear, denying that he ever knew Jesus. And the rooster begins to crow.

Peter was sincere. When he said, “Lord, if they would kill me I would never deny You,” he was talking from his heart. He was expressing the desires of his spirit and his heart, of being faithful to Jesus. His spirit indeed was willing, but his flesh was weak.

Now it is a few weeks later. The scene is the same. The religious council of Jerusalem has gathered together. But this time Peter is not outside, he is a defendant standing before them. And the prosecuting attorney asks him a very leading question. “Tell us, by what power or by what name did you make this lame man walk?” And then we read,

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, ‘Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; be it known unto you all, and to all of the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.’ (Acts 4:8-12)

And Acts 4:13 says, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter…” What a changed man! What is the difference? He has received what Jesus promised. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be witnesses unto Me.” And here we see Peter giving a very powerful and dynamic witness of Jesus Christ to these men who, only a few weeks earlier, were standing outside of that august body where he was cowed into a denial of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit is given to you as a gift of God to empower you to live as a witness for Jesus Christ and to share that witness verbally with others. But as we said, what you say can never be greater than what you are. What you are oftentimes speaks much louder than what you say.

A little bit further in Acts 4, we again see the boldness it takes to witness. Peter was threatened not to speak any more of this man in the name of Jesus. They commanded him not to speak or teach, but Peter and John answered and said,

Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. (Acts 4:19-23)

They reported their whole experience before the chief priests and the elders. And when the people heard what was going on, the persecution that was beginning, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord. And they prayed,

And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spake the word of God with boldness. (Acts 4:29-31)

They were filled with the Holy Spirit, which gave them power to speak the word and to witness with boldness. Jesus said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you shall be witnesses unto Me,” We need that power of the Holy Spirit to overcome the weakness of our flesh.

Shall we pray?

Father, we thank You for the promise. And Lord, we are aware of the warfare that goes on within us. We are aware of the weakness of our flesh. But Lord, we are also aware of the yearning of our heart and of our spirit to be, Lord, a witness for You. Lord, we recognize that we cannot do it in ourselves. We have tried, Lord, and like Peter we have ended up frustrated. We find this other law at work that when we would do good, evil is present. The law of the flesh is warring against the spirit. Lord, we need the dynamic of Your Holy Spirit. And so we come tonight, Lord, and we ask You to have mercy upon us and our weaknesses. And we ask, Lord, that You would fill us with Your Holy Spirit, that we might have that power to be the kind of witness that will bring glory and honor unto Your name. We desire to be faithful witnesses of what You are and bearing that witness before others. Help us, L