Purpose, Work, and Goal

of the Holy Spirit in Your Life

Why Did God Give Us His Spirit?

Isaiah 61:1-3

DATE: 20 Feb, 2000 AM PLACE: BBC Blarney

I. Introduction ()

A. Not talking about the grace or the gifts of the Holy Spirit, or even the fruit of the Spirit - but rather, His Purpose, His Work, and His Goals for our lives

B. A lot of people talk about God, and Jesus, and even the Holy Spirit - but when examined, they are empty of all three - they are only religious; not Christian!

C. Every Christian has the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:9)

D. The question is: How much of the Christian does the Holy Spirit have?

E. When we better understand what God's Spirit is trying to do in our lives, we more easily yield to His hand - we more easily trust Him!

II. Background

A. The Person of the Holy Spirit

1. Not a power, or force in the universe - yet the most powerful force in the universe (Gen 1:1-3)

2. The Holy Spirit is God (1 John 5:7)

3. He is a Person (Jn 15:26). What does that mean? He interacts with you in a personal way - not like electricity, or wind, but as God who knows you

B. Easy to overlook the presence of the Holy Spirit - Why?

1. Because we have not learned to yield to Him and His work. He is working on everybody - trying to draw people's attention to their sinfulness, and God's coming judgment.

2. Because our desires are usually only for what we can see, instead of for what is eternal

3. Because we have not valued what He is trying to do in our lives. That's the reason for this message. You see, we end up

a. Frustrating the Holy Spirit

b. Grieving the Holy Spirit

c. Quenching the Holy Spirit

C. It is time that we yielded to the Holy Spirit - like the clay yields to the hand of the Potter

1. Yield to His Purpose in our lives

2. Yield to His Work

3. Yield to His Goal and Design

III. Message - Purpose, Work, and Goal of the Holy Spirit in Your Life (Isaiah 61:1-3)

A. The Purpose of the Holy Spirit in the Life of the Christian (Isa 61:1)

1. To anoint - don't be afraid of that word, "anoint" - to enable you (2Cor 1:21,22) is all it means.

a. Holy Spirit is likened to oil - Refreshes you, so you can go further, and go on in the heat of the day

b. All God's servants were anointed with oil, to show that God had empowered, enabled them to do His will - whether it be as king, or priest, or prophet

c. The same is true with Christ's servants - as husband, wife, pastor, soul-winner, teacher, student, employee, etc.

2. To appoint - He is the "Boss Man." He has given each a task - a job to do

a. The Holy Spirit is not to be a Santa, or Genie in your life - a supplier of your prosperity, and your every wish to consume upon your lust

b. But rather a supplier of your jobs to do for the Lord. A supplier of direction - a coordinator. He not only supplies the task, but also the ability - the anointing

1) You see, if the Holy Spirit was allowed to appoint the tasks of each of our lives, we would be unified - like a team - that is what Christianity is supposed to be: ambassadors of Christ

2) If the Holy Spirit is ignored, we can never fully represent Christ

c. The Holy Spirit attempts to keep you on track, and keep reminding you of God's will, His word, and His plan in your life

1) And He does that only as you learn God's word

2) And only as you obey it

3) It is not for the neglectful hearer

B. The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Life of the Christian (Isa 61:1-3)

1. Exemplified by the Lord Jesus (Lk 4:18,19).

a. All the following things were going to be accomplished first and foremost by Jesus

b. They were used to show and prove that Jesus was the Messiah

c. They are to be used to show that you are following Him - these are the identifying marks of Biblical Christianity (Rom 8:14).

2. Practical in every Christian's life - ought to be natural in the life of the Christian - four things:

a. Preaching good tidings from your lips

1) Everybody knows how to murmur and complain, and talk bad about people and life in general - never have to be trained!

2) But the Christian has Someone inside of him or her that has some great things to say (1Cor 12:3) - not cursings

3) Not always taken well (2Cor 2:15,16) - some take it only negatively

4) But the meek, humble, insecure take it as it is - the good news!

5) The heavens declare the glory of God - but only the Christian can declare the love of God, and the open invitation of salvation in Christ!

6) Every Christian, who is yielded to the work of the Holy Spirit in their life, will get the urge to open their mouth and warn, urge, challenge, and plea with their generation for Christ!

b. Binding up the broken-hearted with your heart

1) How do you help folks who hurt so desperately?

2) Again, only by you studying this Book, and growing in faith and learning the lessons of comfort yourself (2Cor 1:3,4). You cannot be used of God, until you have had your own heart bound and healed

3) Many don't want their heart healed - only want external healing. They are too used to their pain, and would miss it if it were to disappear - they need to be lovingly bound up (bandaged) so that they can heal. There never were any "good old days." People have always hurt. The answer has always been only Jesus!

4) Bind up people's lives with the word, and with prayer for them!

c. Proclaiming - give them sure hope - declaring with all authority:

1) Liberty to the captives (Heb 2:14,15; Jn 8:36)

2) No more prison to the bound - no more condemnation/wrath of God to the believer (Rom 8:1)

3) The acceptable year of the Lord. There is a time that God accepts anybody - like an amnesty

4) The coming day of the vengeance of our God

a) Must have a balance in our message - the day of grace one day will be over. You cannot only talk about the love of God outside of the context that God is still holy, and righteous, and is Judge!

b) There is no need for God without an awareness that he makes the rules, and holds each of us individually responsible for our actions (Heb 2:3)

5) You can speak on all these things with all authority because you have God's final authority - the word of God!

d. Comforting those that mourn

1) When was the last time you comforted someone - with real comfort - not just words, but truth, and assurance?

2) I fall short in this category. But the Holy Spirit is quite capable of doing this through me, and any Christian, if we are yielded!

3) It is part of the fruit of the Spirit - gentleness!

4) You have an answer for every situation, and disaster in Christ!

3. The Lord Jesus did all of these things everyday of His ministry. And He did them by the power of the Holy Spirit, to show us a good example.

C. The Goal of the Holy Spirit in the Life of the Christian (Isa 61:3)

1. Transform You - make you like a mighty oak tree - a tree of righteousness with deep roots, and a full life

a. Bit by bit - Oh how we wish we could be free from all the rubbish of our old lives

b. Exchanging - to appoint the substitution of:

1) Beauty for Ashes - takes us out of the ash heap, and makes something beautiful out of our lives

2) Joy for Mourning - the Christian's attitude changes because of Christ in their life. Not that you won't ever be sad again, but that you can always exchange that sorrow, and mourning for Joy, anytime you want it!

3) The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Praise from our life is like a very attractive garment - not glitter, but God's glory

c. It happens as we yield to His dominance, His Lordship (Mt 11:28-30), and swap our old yokes, for His lighter ones!

2. Glorify the Lord.

a. The Holy Spirit doesn't honour Himself, or His work - He seeks to honour the Father and His Son

b. When the Holy Spirit is working on your, it is to show off God's handiwork, and to attract attention to Him

IV. Conclusion -