Running To Win

Dave McAllister: Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. We're studying the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian, and the acronym FIBS provides a way to remember his four key ministries.

Today, Erwin Lutzer tells us what they are and how they should impact your life. To learn more, stay with us. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line.

Pastor Lutzer, what can we as believers do to make sure the Spirit has full reign in our lives?

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Well, you know, Dave, I'd like to emphasize the fact that the Holy Spirit was not given just to the godly people. He was given to all of us who know Christ as Savior, and He was given so that we would become godly. So we come as we are, but we bring everything. We leave it at the foot of Christ, confessing our sins, trusting Him, and learning to walk in the Spirit.

Now, this is one of the last days we're making this special resource available for you. It's a book by Pastor Warren Wiersbe entitled Be Joyful. Actually, it's a commentary, a very readable commentary, on the book of Philippians. Chapter titles include "How to Win the Race," "Living in the Future Tense," "You Don't Have to Worry," and so forth. For a gift of any amount, we're making it available for you. And I want to emphasize that this is one of the last days that you can get it through this ministry.

Here's what you do. You go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Let me remind you that no matter what you are going through today, God has given us resources so that we can be joyful.

You know how valuable God thinks your body is? He thinks it's so valuable that someday it's going to be raised and recreated like unto the body of Jesus Christ, because God says, "I redeemed you, body, soul, and spirit." And the day is coming when you're going to be fully and totally redeemed. Even your body is going to be redeemed. Isn't that wonderful?

And meanwhile, the Bible says also that we are sealed by the Spirit. If you try to remember the four ministries of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian, think of the word FIBS. Now, you know that we're opposed to fibs. We don't like fibs. But if you think of the word FIBS—filling, indwelling, baptizing, and sealing. Today we're speaking only about indwelling, but it has implications for all the other ministries.

And He says, "You're sealed until the day of redemption." It means that we get to heaven and we are registered mail. We will arrive safely because the Spirit has come to stamp upon us the purpose and the will and the power of God all the way to the pearly gates. And He never leaves us and He doesn't forsake us. So why is it that you aren't smiling this morning? All of us should be. How privileged we are.

Now, we've stressed the location of the Spirit. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We've stressed the ownership. We are the Spirit's temple. We belong to the Spirit. Now we want to discuss the intention of the Spirit. We are God's temple or we are the Spirit's temple. What happens in a temple? Worship. Temples are built to house gods. And that's why you were built so that you could be a house for God in this world.

Now, this is the Spirit's home. If you look at me, you are now looking at the Spirit's home. As I look at you and I'm trying to look at as many people as I possibly can, I'm looking at where the Spirit dwells. And I see people here—the Spirit dwells in you, the Spirit dwells in you, the Spirit dwells in you. And you're a temple and you're a temple. You're all temples if you've trusted Christ as Savior.

But the question before us is this: How welcome is the Spirit in our homes? Have we welcomed Him? Remember this now, you can see this juxtaposition. Here you have the Holy Spirit. And He's not called the Holy Spirit just because He needs a designation. He is entirely pure and holy, entirely. There is no defect. There is no darkness in Him. He is God.

Here you have the Holy Spirit, and He has to coexist in our lives with all of our self-will, with all of our sin, with all of our compromises, with all of our rationalizations. Can you even imagine the grief of the Spirit? That's why the Bible says, "Do not grieve the Spirit." And in context there in Ephesians, it's talking about bitterness and anger and evil speaking, all of those things that you haven't forgiven.

You know those sins that you have so conveniently rationalized all of your life that you even think that standing in the presence of Jesus sometime you'll be able to persuade Jesus that it was okay to hang on to those sins. Do you have any sins like that? You're absolutely convinced. Do you realize the grief of the Spirit having to put up with all that? That's why when He's grieved, He doesn't depart. He doesn't leave. He just pulls back. Because He's a gentleman, He's not like demons who possess, who control, who are obsessive. No, no, no, He's gentle, and you have to sometimes be quiet and very honest before you know His work.

Why does the Spirit grieve? Why do we grieve the Spirit? Why does He experience such grief? First of all, because of what He knows. Those of you who are parents and you have teenagers, shall we say, and you have a teenager who's gone into the world, they've left the church and they've left you. And you grieve. Why do you grieve? Well, two reasons that I can think of is, first of all, you grieve because of what you know.

You know that the far country isn't good. You know that there in the world all of the wells are dry. You know that sin is never good. It always has hidden repercussions that boomerang in ways that are unpredictable and haphazard. You know that. Think of how accurately the Spirit knows that. The Holy Spirit knows that sin is but a front for God's sworn enemy, Satan.

Satan hates God. Satan uses sin in the lives of believers to try to thwart God's plan. And he does it by trying to make sin look good so that we don't fear it. And the Spirit knows that. Yet there's the Spirit having to live with all of those compromises and the sins that we will not deal with. No wonder the Spirit is grieved. He's grieved because of what He knows. He's also grieved because He loves.

The reason we grieve for a child is because we love that child so much. If you didn't love, well, then who's going to shed a tear over that? Why is it that David grieved so long and hard after Absalom? The Bible says David loved Absalom. So after Absalom died, "Oh, Absalom my son, my son, would God I had died for thee." You see the grief of this man. Why? Because he loved.

Now, think of how much the Holy Spirit loves you. The Spirit loves you in ways that no human being can love you. The Spirit loves you as Jesus loves you because the Trinity has taken up residence within you. And therefore because He loves you, He is grieved when you go your own way. And at the end of the day, when you actually think your way is better than God's and you say to yourself, "I'm going to do my own thing," and the Spirit has to put up with it, no wonder He is grieved.

In the Old Testament book of 2 Chronicles chapter 34, there's an interesting story. They want to fix the temple. And in order to fix it, they have workmen working, but they also have to carry junk out of it because the nation had really fallen morally and spiritually and the temple was kind of like a garage. You don't know what to do with this? Oh, just put it in the temple, there's lots of room.

So here you have workmen carrying stuff out of the temple, and they eventually uncover the law of God. And they say, "Guess what? We found the law of God." And then they stand up and they read the law of God, and people begin to repent. By the way, check your bulletin for this, though not this moment, please. Did you know that the entire New Testament is going to be read in this sanctuary in the not-too-distant future beginning at four o'clock in the morning with Pastor Huts, ending with me nine o'clock at night, and in between maybe 60 or 70 readers? And we want you to be here on that Saturday for as long as you can be, just to listen to God's word being read. Maybe it'll also trigger repentance.

But they come across the law of God. And they say, "What do you know? We actually found a Bible in the temple that had been long since forgotten." And they begin to read it. You know, maybe it's time that your temple was cleansed. And if you begin to seriously cleanse your temple, the devil is going to stand there at the door watching you carry all this junk out, and he's going to say, "So you actually want to get rid of that bottle, that secret addiction that you have that nobody knows about, secret alcoholism? Are you actually serious about that?"

"Do you realize how dumb you're going to look tomorrow and how sheepish when you're going to be dragging that thing back in? You know that pornography that you want to get rid of? Oh, you've tried to get rid of that before. Oh sure, you're going to cleanse the temple. Sure, you're going to confess. Isn't that wonderful? But you know what? You're going to be dragging that stuff back in there." So the devil's going to be there saying, "You can cleanse the temple all you like, but you're going to need this stuff."

I'm asking us today by the Holy Spirit to not listen to that voice. I'm asking by the power of God that we say we cleanse it even if it should become polluted again. We cleanse it again because we refuse to accept the idea that the blessed, holy, Holy Spirit has to live with the sins and the compromises with which we have become comfortable. Because you and I might be comfortable with our sin. The Spirit isn't.

Now, when do you cleanse the temple? When do you cleanse your house? What about the Lutzer family? When does the place get cleaned up? Well, it depends a little bit on whether or not you're talking about the standards of Mrs. Lutzer or Mr. Lutzer. That is a difference in our home. But one thing is sure: when we have guests, it's cleaned all the time at some point. But when we have guests, boy, the house really gets it. That's the time when I get the vacuum cleaner out and we really begin to do some work at the house.

Princess Diana died a tragic death. She also lived a tragic life. Many of us grieve over her death because we think of all that could have been if she had lived differently. But let's suppose that at some point when she was alive, she said she'd want to spend a weekend with you. Can you even imagine how your house would look as you prepared for royalty? My Christian friend today, royalty has taken up residence in your body.

As God had said, "I will dwell in them and I will walk in them and I shall be their God and they shall be my people." Tragic if we treat the blessed Holy Spirit of God without giving Him the kind of welcome and home that He desires. Three very quick life-changing lessons. First of all, we don't have to beg the Spirit to fill us. It's not as if the Spirit is reluctant. When we ask the Holy Spirit, when we ask God to send His Spirit with power, we're not begging.

What we're asking for is God to teach us the kind of repentance that would welcome Him, because He is resident with a desire to be president. It's not as if He's reluctant and says, "Well, I don't want to fill these people, but they begged me." No, no, no, the Spirit desires to reproduce the character of Jesus in us. So it is not as if we have to beg the Spirit. If we're not experiencing the Spirit's power, it's because we've not taken advantage of all of the different means that God has given us to prepare for the Spirit's work: the cleansing and the word of God and other means. We're not taking advantage of that. It's not a reluctance of the Spirit. All of the responsibility at this point rests on our shoulders.

Second, walking in the Spirit is an exercise of faith, not feelings. Let's suppose that there are people here for sure today who've never trusted Christ as Savior. Now, in order to trust Christ as Savior, what you need to do is to depend upon the work of Jesus. You need to transfer your trust from yourself to Jesus. Give up all hope that your works are going to save you. Put all of your trust in what Jesus did and embrace that for yourself.

Now, let's suppose you do that and after you've done that you say, "Well, I don't feel any different." What we need to do is to make sure that faith has been transferred. But even if you don't feel different, that's not really the issue. The real issue is whether or not you have savingly believed in Jesus. In the very same way, sometimes we don't experience the Spirit's power. I have to tell you that often in the morning, especially because suddenly I've become so old, often in the morning I get up and I don't have a heart that's hot for God.

I'm just wondering if I can shuffle into the bathroom and shave. But that's not the issue. The issue has to do with faith. F.B. Meyer said that on one occasion he was saying to the Lord, "Oh, Lord, if there is anyone that needs the filling of the Spirit, it is I, but I am too weary. I am too nervously run down to agonize." And it was as if God told him, "Look, as you received forgiveness from the dying Christ, so receive the Spirit's fullness from the ascended Christ."

You see, we depend upon the cross for our forgiveness and we depend upon the exaltation and glorification of Jesus, who on that basis sent the blessed Holy Spirit. We receive that by faith too. So it doesn't matter how I feel per se, but I can say, "Father, I don't feel filled with the Spirit, but at this moment I receive the Spirit's filling in obedience. As far as I know, being obedient, I want to receive the Spirit in faith."

And for those of us who sometimes experience jet lag, as Mary Walchol does when she goes to Africa and minister. Mary, I've often thought of the fact that even though we get tired, I rejoice in the fact that the Holy Spirit of God is never tired. Isn't that amazing? So we're always dependent upon the work of the Spirit. But you see, in order to experience the Spirit's power, He is so gentle that amid all the noise of the world, amid all of the things unless you're taking out time to be silent in prayer and in the word, you can just keep grieving Him until the day you die and you'll make it to heaven. But it'll be kind of pitiful when you have nothing to show Jesus.

My time is over, so I'll now give you the last point but to simply tell you this, that years ago in the pyramids in Egypt, when those bodies were discovered, you know, the mummies—when they were discovered, they discovered that how many years would that be ago? Let's suppose that the pyramids are 2,000 years old, 2,000 years before Christ I mean, and then you add another 2,000—we're talking four or five thousand years. They discovered grain that was put alongside some of those mummified corpses. Imagine grain. They took it and they put it in soil, they gave it some sunshine, and they gave it some moisture, and the grain grew. Amazing.

There are Christians in whom the blessed Holy Spirit of God dwells. But Jesus said, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone." All of that power, all of that life is confined because they march through life grieving the Spirit continually. No time for God, no time for the Spirit, no time for confession of sin. They are their own and they march along through. Because they've never taken the time to die to self-will, our own plans, our own ownership, and because we refuse to do that, we abide alone.

I do have to tell you this in conclusion: the Spirit always points to Jesus. There was a man who had a homing pigeon, and that pigeon would—he'd take it into the desert, he had a string tied to its leg. The pigeon would circle and then head for home, and then he'd gently pull it back because he knew that that was the direction he was to go. The Holy Spirit is a dove, a bird that is very sensitive. And if you let that dove go, he'll always keep pointing to Jesus.

Because Jesus said, "The Spirit will not speak of himself, but he will testify of me." And the Spirit within the members of the Trinity is willing to do that, no great attention to Him, but keep pointing to Jesus. So I end this message, particularly to those of you who've never trusted Christ as Savior, to point to Jesus. Because when you receive Him as Savior, it is then that you are born again and in that instant, that nanosecond, the Holy Spirit of God comes to dwell within you and take up His residence until the day you die. Sealed until the day of redemption. Bottom line: sensitivity to the Spirit. Noise, self-will, struggle because we want our own way. Spirit says, "I'm here, but I'm not doing what I can do." Yieldedness, faith, obedience, confession—you shall be a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Dave McAllister: The other day I had a discussion with a religious leader, and he is somewhat well-known, and he argued that there was no such thing as instant conversion. But of course there is. Jesus talked about the new birth. He spoke about the fact that if we believe on Him, we are saved. All throughout the epistles. So I want to ask you this question today: Are you saved? Are you born again by the Holy Spirit? If so, you are indwelt with the Spirit.

And if you want to know how to live out the Christian life, I'm holding in my hands a book, and this is one of the last days we're making it available, entitled Be Joyful. It's a book by Dr. Warren Wiersbe. Sure hope that you have a pen or pencil handy because here's how you can get info as to how this resource can be yours. Go to rtwoffer.com—that's rtwoffer.com—or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. Right now, go to your computer and type in rtwoffer.com. Find out how this can be yours.

You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. What is sin? It means missing the mark God has set for our behavior. Sadly, many people trivialize sin, even believers. But sin is so serious that God sent His only Son to pay the penalty ultimate justice demands. On our next Running to Win, a look at the sin we rationalize. Thanks for listening. This is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.