Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: The call of God on our lives is to be a spirit-filled church. The call of God on our marriages is to have spirit-filled marriages. The call of God on us as individuals is to be spirit-filled people.

Greg: Thank you for joining us on Truth That Changes Lives. Pastor JP Jones is the senior pastor of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, and a professor in Biblical Studies at Biola University. Today on Truth That Changes Lives, Pastor JP will be giving us a message from a series entitled "Foundations." Let's listen in as JP gives us part one of "The Holy Spirit."

JP Jones: Here is a passage of scripture where the Apostle Paul takes this truth about the Holy Spirit, unpacks the work of the Spirit, and then describes how people respond differently to that work of the Spirit. You see, there is a unique ministry of the Holy Spirit. This passage just gives us a glimpse at that ministry.

Primarily, what Paul is saying is the Holy Spirit reveals God. That's his job. He is a revealer. The word that is used here is apokalypto. The verb apokalypto means to unveil or to reveal. It is where we get the word apocalypse, like the book of Revelation or the movie Apocalypse Now, whatever your background might be.

God reveals things through the Holy Spirit. God reveals himself to us by means of the Holy Spirit. God reveals himself to his church by means of the Holy Spirit. It says here in this passage that this revealing work of the Holy Spirit is with respect to the deep things of God. The phrasing here, when it says that these things are revealed by the Holy Spirit, that is in grammatically what is known as the aorist tense in Greek.

In the Greek language, there are two ways of describing action. One is looking at action as one picture, snapshot, or one completed event. Another way of describing action in the Greek text is as a continuous motion, like something you might see if you were filming it with a video camera. When it says here that the Holy Spirit reveals to us, it is in what is known as the aorist tense. It is one snapshot. All that God has to reveal is revealed to us by means of the Holy Spirit.

But when it says that the Holy Spirit searches the deep things of God, that verb to search is in the present tense. What that means is the Holy Spirit continuously is searching out, drawing out, and making known to us all that God wants us to know. God has revealed everything he is going to reveal to us, but there is an ongoing searching, working, and manifesting of the Spirit in the church and in the life of the believer.

It is with respect here to the deep things of God. Let me ask you: how many of you at some time in your life have had some question about God, some question about scripture, some question about God's will, or some question about the truthfulness of Christianity? If you have ever asked any kind of question of a spiritual nature, raise your hand. Every one of us here. Guess what? The Holy Spirit reveals the answer.

Even the deep things: the nature of God, the essence of God, the ways of God, the kingdom program of God, the covenants of God, the promises of God, the truths of God, the specific direction God has for me in my life and my marriage, and the specific direction God has for our church. The Holy Spirit reveals the deep things of God. Now, follow the logic of the Apostle Paul here in 1 Corinthians chapter 2.

God reveals these things, he says, through the Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. He says as an example, who can really know a person but that person himself? Right now, we are a gathering of people here and you are looking clean-cut, spiritual, and positive. But who knows what is really going on in your heart? You might be thinking I am a jerk. I know no one would really be thinking that, but you can be within a group of people and have your own private thoughts.

Only you really know you. Paul uses that illustration to say only God really knows God. Left up to our own, we would never discover God. We are dead in trespasses and sins. We are separated by the fact that he is infinite and we are finite. On our own, we would not discover God. But God loves us. God created us to know him. God wants people to be in a relationship with him, so God reveals himself.

God the Holy Spirit makes known to us who God is. God the Holy Spirit makes known to us the ways of God. God the Holy Spirit reveals God to us. So we have received not the spirit of the world, according to verse 12, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we might know the things freely given to us by God.

It is great. God wants us to know him. He wants us to know his plan. He wants us to know his will. He has actually given us the Holy Spirit to personally indwell us and to guide us in the process. In fact, Jesus said in John chapter 16, he is the Spirit of truth who guides us into the truth. God did not just give us some facts without any context.

If you see me or our children's pastor today acting a little different, nostalgic, or emotional, it is not because of the big decisions that are before us as a church. It is because yesterday we dropped off our daughter Kylie to college. We sent her off, and on Monday, Dino drops off his daughter to college, our niece, and sends her off to college.

I have to tell you, I am a big baby. I have been crying all week over the fact that my daughter is going off to college. In fact, two nights ago, I get in bed and I made the mistake of going by her room and looking at the empty room. I hopped in bed, turned out the lights, and my wife says, "What's wrong? What's wrong?" I say, "I'm just crying." She says, "Oh, I thought you were having a heart attack."

Without apology, I am sad that my daughter is going off to college. Now, it is also exciting to send your kid off to college. You raise your kids to grow up to be adults and to live lives that are filled with hope and joy. She's made great decisions about where she wants to go to school. So we are up getting her dorm room all ready and meeting her new roommate and her parents.

I could sit down with her new roommate and I could have just written out a bio sheet about Kylie and handed it to her. "Read that bio sheet. Those are some things that you can know about her." She would get a certain perspective about my daughter, her new roommate. But don't you think it would be different if I sat down with her, went over that bio sheet, and talked about each one and what that really meant, why I wrote that fact down, what that story really brings out, and the whole context behind that?

What it was like for her to go to the grammar school that she went to, and the high school, and to be a cheerleader, and to unpack all of that stuff and explain it personally? God did not just give us a book of facts. We have a book. We have truth. But you know what else? God gave us the Holy Spirit, who makes these facts known and real, explains them, interprets them to us, gives us the backstory behind it, and shows us how it relates to us personally.

The Holy Spirit makes these truths come alive. He is the author, but it is not just facts. It is life-giving truth made known and revealed by the Holy Spirit, who reveals the deep things of God to us. God wants you to know him, not just know about him, but really know him. So he has communicated to you in this book, but he gives you the Holy Spirit to understand this and to understand it for you personally, and for us to understand it for us as a church.

We can know the deep things of God, and enjoy God, and be transformed by that knowledge, so that with unveiled faces we behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, and so that we are being transformed from glory to glory by the Lord, who is the Holy Spirit. Paul says here in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 that God reveals these things by the Spirit. We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God so that we might know the things freely given to us by God.

This is the word charizomai. It is grace-gifted. God has grace-gifted us things and he wants us to know all that he has grace-gifted us with. So he's given us the Holy Spirit to reveal them to us so that we might appreciate them and be transformed by them. We have received the Spirit who is from God so that we might freely know all the things that have been given to us by God.

Even though that is true, people respond differently to who the Holy Spirit is and what the Holy Spirit has revealed. In fact, Paul lists three kinds of responses that people have to the person and work and ministry of the Holy Spirit. The first response is to reject him. He says in verse 14, "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

Paul says "the natural man." He uses the word in Greek psuchikos. Psuche is the word soul. Psuchikos means soulish, soul person, or soul man. When I was a younger person, there was a song: "I'm a soul man." Everyone over 45 is nodding, "I remember that song," and everyone under 45 doesn't remember that song. Anyway, "I was educated at Woodstock, my staff loving, it just don't stop, I'm a soul man."

That word has nothing to do with that song or anything to do with that concept. Psuchikos, soulish, means the totality of your life is just in your natural physical soul-life. It is describing the person who has no spiritual life. They have soul-life, they are alive physically, but they are not alive spiritually. Ephesians 2:1 says we were dead in our trespasses and sins. Apart from a relationship with Jesus Christ, people are dead spiritually.

Some people are natural. They have no spiritual life; therefore, spiritual things are foolishness to them. They cannot understand them because spiritual things can only be understood by means of the Spirit, and they have rejected the Holy Spirit. I do not mean to sound in any way judgmental, but some people, passively and some people actively, just say no to God. They reject the revelation of the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ is Lord and the only savior.

One response to the person and work and ministry of the Holy Spirit is to reject him. If that is you, then according to the Bible, you are natural. You have physical life, but you do not have any spiritual life. Here is another option that is presented, another category, another type of spiritual experience: we can surrender to him. Verse 15, "But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ."

Now the term that Paul uses is not psuchikos but pneumatikos. Pneuma is the word for Spirit. Pneumatikos means spiritual, of the Spirit. Some people are surrendered to the Spirit. They receive the Spirit, they are humble before the Spirit, they obey the Spirit. The Spirit leads and directs their life such that they are spiritual. You can reject the Holy Spirit, or you can surrender to the Holy Spirit.

You can follow the Holy Spirit's leading in your life. You can say yes to the Holy Spirit as he reveals Jesus Christ, and you can receive Christ as your Lord and savior, and you can be in an abiding relationship with the Spirit day by day, moment by moment, following the leading that he provides and the teaching that he gives you from scripture. You can be surrendered to the Holy Spirit and be spiritual.

Paul even says in this passage that this type of person actually has the mind of Christ. This type of church, a spiritual church, has the mind of Christ when they are surrendered to the Holy Spirit. But there is one other option. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you're still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there is envy and strife and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?"

He does not use the word natural. He does not use the word spiritual. He uses the word carnal. This is the New King James Version. In the NIV, it uses the word worldly. In the New American Standard version, it uses the word fleshly. The word is sarkikos. Here is what Paul is doing. He has been saying all this truth about the Holy Spirit, and then he describes three responses to the Spirit: psuchikos, pneumatikos, and now sarkikos.

Who is this sarkikos person? Paul says they are Christian. "I, brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual." Then you would think he is going to speak to them as natural. No, they are Christians. They have not rejected the Holy Spirit, but you know what they have done? Resisted the Holy Spirit. You can be a follower of Jesus Christ and resist the Holy Spirit.

You can be a dealmaker with God. "God, I'll give you this part of my life, but I want to hold on to this part of my life. God, I'll give you this decision, but I want to have this decision. I'll worship you on Sunday, but do what I want to do on Monday. I'll look at your word and see what it says about how I should lead my family, but I want to do what I want to do with my finances." It is trying to make deals. It is negotiating. It is compromising. It is resisting full surrender.

What Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 is, "I, brethren, wanted to speak to you as spiritual men. You are brothers and sisters in Christ. You've come to salvation in Jesus Christ and I wish that you were living in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, but I couldn't say that. In fact, the only term I can think of to describe you is sarkikos." Now, just think about that for a moment.

In Romans chapter 8 and in Galatians chapter 5, Paul uses this same word, sarx for the flesh and sarkikos for fleshly behavior, to describe a whole lot of bad stuff. To be fleshly is to be selfish, arrogant, prideful, lustful, unbelieving, critical, divisive, and self-centered. So before you think you are one of those carnal Christians, is that what you want?

Paul says that with remorse and grief. "I wish I could describe you as spiritual people, but I have to describe you as carnal." If any church identifies itself as carnal, it needs to get on its knees and repent and ask for Jesus to be the Lord and for the Holy Spirit to fill them. If any believer acknowledges that they are carnal, they should do that with repentance and confession and asking for the Holy Spirit's power and surrendering to the Holy Spirit's lordship.

We can respond differently to the Holy Spirit. He is the third person of the Trinity, co-equal with the Father and the Son. He reveals God to us. But we can reject him, we can surrender to him, or we can resist him. And it really comes down to this for all of us, wherever we are in the spiritual journey. So whether you came here this morning as a devoted follower of Jesus, or you came as someone struggling, or you came as someone who's a seeker: the answer for all of us is the same. Surrender to the Holy Spirit.

The call of God on our lives is to be a spirit-filled church. The call of God on our marriages is to have spirit-filled marriages. The call of God on us as individuals is to be spirit-filled people. Ephesians 5:18 says as a command, "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit." God's will for us right now is to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

It is the old Fizzy principle. There used to be this little drink that came out like Kool-Aid called a Fizzy. It was a little tablet like an Alka-Seltzer tablet and it had a different flavor, and you dropped it in water and it fizzed. If it was root beer, it fizzed root beer. If it was grape, it fizzed grape. If it was cherry, it fizzed cherry.

When you dropped the tablet in the water, it just started being released in terms of the actual component of the tablet until the water took on the full flavor. When we become followers of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes into our lives and he begins to transform our personality, our thoughts, our priorities, our actions, and our words, so that they reflect Jesus Christ. And the only thing that would stop that from happening would be for us to resist.

If that is you, stop resisting. Surrender every part of your life, every area of your life, every decision. Surrender, so that the Holy Spirit can do what the Holy Spirit does: reveal the deep things of God and transform you to become more like Jesus Christ. That's what it comes down to for every one of us, whether we've come here this morning as someone who doesn't know God, or someone who's been struggling in our walk with God.

Surrender to the Holy Spirit. It's like the closing part of Bruce Almighty when Jim Carrey, playing Bruce, has come to the end of his rope. He's walking down the road, it is raining, he goes down on his knees: "I surrender!" Remember what happens? A big truck just runs him over. BAM! In the fantasy that it creates, he meets God and he finally is at peace and his whole future turns around because he surrendered. God's intention for our church is to surrender to the Holy Spirit. And God's intention for our lives is to surrender to the Holy Spirit.

Greg: What a great message for all of us today. Pastor JP provides us with great insight. That is why we'd like to make it available to you on CD. Just get in touch and mention today's date. We'll send it your way for just $5. Or if you'd like to support this ministry, you can write us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653. Or give us a call at 949-916-0250. For your gift of $25 or more, we will send you a signed copy of JP's new book, Facing Goliath.

Please join us every Sunday at 9:00 or 11:00 AM at Crossline Church in Laguna Hills. The address is 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653. Or check us out on the web at Crosslinechurch.com. We are going to get to the address and phone number again in a moment, but before we do that, Pastor JP, do you have any insight from today's message?

JP Jones: Thanks, Greg. We're talking about what the Bible teaches concerning the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God. He is the third person of the Trinity. He is not a force, an "it," or a power; he is God himself. And he is a person. He is to be worshiped, loved, and followed. In fact, he is the one who reveals Jesus Christ to us. Jesus said in John 14, 15, and 16 that the Holy Spirit is the helper, the advocate, the counselor, and that he would be with us and he would be in us.

He is the Spirit of truth who guides us into all truth. And Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and chapter 3 that there are three types of response to the Holy Spirit and his ministry. One is the natural man. That is the person who does not have the Holy Spirit, the non-believer. He is separate from the Spirit's working. Two is the spiritual man. That is the person who has received the Holy Spirit at salvation and is empowered and filled with the Holy Spirit.

Three is the carnal man. That is the person who has the Holy Spirit because they are saved, but because they have yet to surrender to the Spirit's control, they are really living in the flesh rather than living in the power of the Spirit. As you are listening to this message, the Holy Spirit is working and speaking. You are either a natural person, a spiritual person, or you are a carnal person.

Take the next step. Surrender your life to Jesus Christ and ask the Holy Spirit to fill your life. Would you pray with me? God, I pray for every person listening to this message that they would internalize the message of the Spirit to their own life. If there is anyone who needs to call on you for salvation, they would do so right now. If there is anyone who needs to thank you for your work in their life, they would do so right now. And if there is anyone who needs to repent and surrender to the Spirit's control, they would do so right now. Thank you, Holy Spirit. You reveal Christ. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Greg: We want to help you in your relationship with Christ. Please get in touch with us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653. Or call us at 949-916-0250. On the internet, you will find us at Crosslinechurch.com. We hope to see you at one of our services every Sunday at our new campus in Laguna Hills. For more information and directions, please go to Crosslinechurch.com. Please join us next time on Truth That Changes Lives.