The Gift of Salvation

Summary: If not for the Holy Spirit, our eyes would not be open to the truth and we would not receive salvation.  Let us follow this Wisest of Guides into life free, abundant and everlasting.

Scripture focus: John 14:18-31; Acts 15:22-29

Date: Sunday, 20 June 2010 (St John’s Sutherland, 7pm)

How Does the Holy Spirit Guide Us to Faith?

Over the last two weeks, I have been trying to lay the groundwork for investigation into the unique relationship that is available to the followers of Jesus with the Holy Spirit.  At the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon the first believers and ushered in a new age of the Holy Spirit and the Church.  That new age was promised by God, that the followers of Jesus would be blessed far beyond anything known by those faithful to God had hitherto experienced.  At Pentecost, that promise came true and we are the benefactors.

However, we would do well to remember that promise comes with a condition, of sorts:

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

Indeed, as we now consider together the stories of those first followers of Jesus, we will see that they did experience great power through the Holy Spirit and accomplished great things in Jesus’ name, for the Kingdom of God.  Yet, even those wonderful miracles were not arbitrary.  The Holy Spirit gifted those first followers with great power for the purpose of sharing the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection throughout the known world … and the sharing of that good news did indeed spread far and wide!

For a better sense of the intentions of the Holy Spirit, consider the case of coded messages that can only be understood with the help of a cypher.  Like such cyphers, an important job of the Holy Spirit is revealed by Jesus, when he said,

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.  He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.  (John 16:13)

Let us consider together how the Holy Spirit convicts and guides us towards comprehending the truth about human nature and the world we live in, so that we might better appreciate the gift of our salvation and why we really do need to share that good news far and wide.

The Holy Spirit Convicts

In the common grace of God, the Holy Spirit operates in the world, exercising a moral influence, restraining sin, maintaining social order, and promoting civil righteousness.¹ Now, you might look around you, at the state of the world, and wonder when and where does the Holy Spirit restrain sin?  It certainly doesn’t look that there is much restraint at all.  How, then, does the Holy Spirit restrain sin in the world?

Remember that, of the Holy Spirit, Jesus promised that, “the true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world” (Jn 1:9).² That “true light” is the Holy Spirit and, as Jesus said, “gives light to everyone”, and she did so even before Pentecost.  So, according to one commentator, “it is the light that is in conscience and there is that light of conscience in every person born into this world”.³

The next way that the Holy Spirit works in the world to restrain sin is through the laws and governments of the nations.  The apostle Paul reminded us of God’s direct influence on governments when he wrote, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established …” (Ro 13:1–4).  Despite the apparent inefficiency, ineptitude and/or illogic of the various laws under which we are forced to operate, it was God’s intention that we have boundaries to manage our behaviour for, as Paul continued, “whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong”.

Similarly, we can perceive the working of the Spirit in public opinion and in culture.  Even the occasional expression of social consensus reveals that society has a conscience and tends towards righteous attitudes and actions, even if it doesn’t always actually get there.  If you think the world is a messed up case now, just imagine how much worse it could be if the Holy Spirit did not work in the world to soften those effects.  She does do for the express purpose of bringing men and women to repentance (Ro 2:4).  Even as God pours his blessings generally on the world, for the common good, he does also, by his Spirit, bless the world in restraining sin from its fullest expression; but, we would do well not to take this effect for granted for, “my Spirit will not contend with human beings forever, for they are mortal” (Ge 6:3).

That was all before Pentecost, however.  What we’re really interested in is what happened afterwards.  The difference is particularly noticeable, I believe, in this area precisely.  Where once the Spirit restrained sin, post-Pentecost she ‘steps up’ and now actively convicts of sin:

When [the Advocate, the Holy Spirit] comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. (John 16:8–11)

Now isn’t that a more proactive and even aggressive stance taken by the Holy Spirit?  I don’t think it would be fair to say that this didn’t happen to some degree before Pentecost, but, the point is that, after Pentecost, the Holy Spirit would do this much more determinedly, given that we are now much more closer to the final judgement.  Now, is that time that the people of this world really had better take more seriously the call to repentance and reconciliation with their Creator.

We see, then, as recorded in the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit both directly, and through the first Christians, convicting people of their need to ‘get right with God’.

Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples … As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.  He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:1–4ff)

In this example, the Spirit very directly intervened with Saul, who later became the apostle Paul, and mediated Christ, convicting Saul of his sinful behaviour against the Christians.

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road —the desert road— that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”  So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch … (Acts 8:26–27ff)

Here the Spirit directed Philip where to go, so that he might be ‘in the right place at the right time’ and share the Gospel with an important Ethiopian official.  The Holy Spirit cooperated with Philip, to convict and baptise that man, and then “the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away”, only to have appear at another town called Azotus (Ac 8:39-40).

We might say that the Holy Spirit would no longer be happy to wait for the people of God to finally accept their call to preach the good about Jesus, and would instead actively intervene in the world to prepare them for receiving that good news when it comes (cf. Ro 1014-15; 1 Pet 1:12).

The Holy Spirit Guides Into All Truth

Even more than simply convicting men and women, boys and girls, of their sin and unrighteousness, the Spirit, post-Pentecost, actively work to guide us towards Truth.

When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father —the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father— he will testify about me. (John 15:26–27)

All this I have spoken while still with you.  But 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.  (John 14:25–26)

The Holy Spirit will more actively teach people what they need to know, helping them to understand their need of salvation.

An example of this process at work can be seen in the story of Jesus, who, within days of his resurrection, appeared to some of his disciples, as they made their way from Jerusalem to their home in Emmaus.

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.  As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them.

He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!  Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”  And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.  Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.  They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:13-15, 25-27, 30–32)

It seems to me that the clue to the presence of the Holy Spirit, and how she convicts and guides people into understanding the truth about Jesus, is in the disciples statement, “Were not our hearts burning within us?”  As Jesus shared with them the truth about himself, it was the Spirit confirming the truth of what he was saying and did so directly with their hearts.  That very same convicting and truth-revealing power is available to everyone.  The Spirit is at work in the world, even now and perhaps even in spite of Christians, convicting the world and preparing them to hear and to receive the good news about Jesus.

Another way the Holy Spirit guides people into truth occurs within the Church and her reflections upon Jesus and his mission:

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment … One day … he had a vision.  He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”

About noon the following day … Peter went up on the roof to pray … he fell into a trance.

While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you.  So get up and go downstairs.  Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”

“As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning.  Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit’. So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?” (Acts 10:1, 3, 9–10; 10:19–20; 11:15–17)

I’ve had to pick out the important parts of the story, but, essentially, the Spirit blessed with a vision both the apostle Peter and Cornelius, a non-Jewish person.  In so doing, she was bringing those two people together, so that Peter could share the good news about Jesus with Cornelius.  When he did, the Holy Spirit came upon Cornelius.

This is important because, from this scenario, the Holy Spirit was guiding Peter, a pre-eminent leader amongst the first followers of Christ, towards understanding that God wanted even people who were not Jewish to hear about Jesus and to be saved.  In the Holy Spirit had not acted in this way, we, who are gathered here today, may never have heard about Jesus.

Of course, not even Christians get the message right the first time:

Certain individuals came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.”  This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them.  So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.

The apostles and elders met to consider this question.

“It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.  You will do well to avoid these things.” (Acts 15:1-2, 6, 28–29)

In this passage is recorded the first really serious doctrinal dispute that the first Christians faced together, one that would radically alter their mission.  To settle this dispute, they did not really on their own wit and logic, but prayerfully sought, and felt they received, guidance from the Holy Spirit.

This example is in stark contrast to the scene that we considered in my first sermon of this series, when the apostles met in the Upper Room, before the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, and tried to decide whether to replace Judas the traitor or not.  As it is written,

Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart.  Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.”  Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles. (Acts 1:24–26)

It’s not that they didn’t want to do the right thing; but, they did not have the privilege and blessing of the Spirit’s intervention and guidance before Pentecost as they did afterwards.  Given that the Spirit herself later picked Saul (aka Paul) to replace Judas, suggests that perhaps the apostles did not then get the issue resolved right (Ro 1:1).

We see, then, from the witness of the first Christians, as recorded in the book of Acts, the Spirit was poured out on the world for, among other things, to guide people into truth, by both convicting of sin and by helping to sort through the issues of doctrine and practise that the Church faces.

Conclusion

The Holy Spirit, then, truly is a wonderful gift of salvation.  On the one hand, the Spirit guides and prepares people for responding favourable to the preaching of the word about Christ, and then guides and prepares the people for God for faithful living and mission in the world.  In other words, the Spirit convicts people of their sinfulness and disposes them to seek the righteousness of God, even if they are not sure why they might prefer good morals over other possible courses of action.  Then the Spirit calls and directs the people of God to share the good news about Jesus, to which those prepared respond favourably because they have already been primed to recognise the truth when it comes their way.

The Church also is not left without a witness.  As the people of God seek to live righteously, letting “our light shine before others, that they may see our good deeds and glorify our Father in heaven” (Mt 5:16), we know that we are called to reflect God’s image in the world, regardless of any opposition.  As it is written,

You will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name.  And so you will bear testimony to me.  But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves.  For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.  (Luke 21:12–15)

We can be confident then when we attempt to share the good news about Jesus and to represent the Kingdom of God in the world if we are certain that we’ve sought the guidance and favour of the Holy Spirit.

Let us then reaffirm our desire for the Spirit of God to be in our life and in our church.  Let us pray the following prayer entitled, “Mighty River, Mighty Fire” , which I have used each week, as a way of capturing what I believe is our collective heart’s desire.  Let’s pray it together in unison:

O Spirit of God, mighty river,
flow over me, in me, through me.

O Spirit of God, cleanse me,
purify the channels of my life.

O Spirit of God, bear me along
with your flood of life-giving service.

O Spirit of God, mighty river,
bear me down to the ocean,
the ocean of thy love.

O Spirit of God, mighty fire,
glow in me, burn in me,
until your radiance fills my soul.

O Spirit of God, mighty fire,
may your light illuminate my mind.

O Spirit of God, mighty fire,
may your heat consume my will
until I burn for you.
May the flames of your love
ever blaze upon the altar of my heart.

O Spirit of God, mighty river,
flow over me, in me, through me. (Charles Devanesan, 1994)

Endnotes

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