THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE SPIRIT OF POWER, JOY AND HOLINESS

I Thessalonians 1:5, 6

5. For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.

6. And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost.

Acts 1:8

8. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.

Acts 2:1-4

1. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

2. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

3. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

4. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Luke 24:49

49. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.

Acts 4:31

31. 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.

I Peter 1:2,8

2. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

8. Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

II Thessalonians 2:13

13. But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.

I Thessalonians 5:19

19. Quench not the Spirit.

In these Scriptures we have presented three aspects of the Holy Spirit. We see Him as the Spirit of power, as the Spirit of joy, and as the Spirit of holiness. First Thessalonians 1:5, 6 reveals the fact that the Holy Ghost had wrought a mighty work in the conversion of the Thessalonians. A genuine transformation had taken place. Regeneration is a great work of grace indeed. Sanctification is also a great and marvelous work of the Holy Spirit in the human heart. Regeneration and sanctification are two entirely different works of grace. Regeneration is a judicial act of God in forgiving us all our transgressions, wiping out every guilt; it is a complete pardon, with all condemnation taken away.

Sanctification is a ceremonial act of God whereby the heart is cleansed from all inborn sin, the nature is made pure, and by this act man becomes partaker of the divine nature.

The Thessalonians were regenerated. The joy of the Holy Ghost is not found in a sinner, and a regenerated person is not any longer a sinner. A sinner has sorrow and condemnation when the Holy Ghost speaks.

THE SPIRIT OF POWER

The Apostle attributes the conversion of the Thessalonian Christians to the power of the Holy Spirit. So wonderful was their awakening and turning to God that he could say of them: "From you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing." This remarkable transformation of the Thessalonians the Apostle attributes entirely to the power of the Holy Spirit, giving the Word such authority that they received it as a direct message from God. And it so thoroughly transformed them, so completely changed their manner of living, that the Thessalonian church was spoken of all over that part of the country.

The same Gospel is ours today, and the same Holy Ghost is here to make it just as powerfully effective as in the days of the Thessalonian church. By the power of the Spirit the hearer of God's truth is brought face to face with the authority of God, while the speaker of God's truth is quite lost to view. When that is done, such conviction lays hold on the hearer that in seeking release from the burden of guilt and sin, he makes a complete surrender and the experience of the Thessalonians is repeated. Those people received the apostle Paul as God's messenger, and through his powerful message the Holy Spirit was enabled to lead them into a genuine experience of salvation. Not just a profession of religion, nor a life of mere passivity, but a genuine reality.

The word "power" is from the same Greek word from which our word "dynamite" is derived. The word is dunamis. So the power we refer to is one that breaks up things, as dynamite does.

It breaks up the conscience and convicts of sin.

It breaks up the heart and melts it to repentance.

It breaks the fetters of sin, habits of life, the bonds of Satan.

It relieves the captive and sets him free.

And then not only does the Word speak to men of much assurance, but it produces in them assurance. It was this which caused these Thessalonians to become bold missionaries proclaiming the Gospel through Macedonia and Achaia. They were not just professors of religion without possession.

Regeneration actually does marvelous things for an individual. The Apostle Paul declared that "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (II Cor. 5:17). New habits, new likes and dislikes, new ambitions, new outlook upon life. In fact the whole life is transformed.

The power of the Holy Spirit is not the kind of power that enables one to be a successful politician. It is not the power that will enable one to do great physical stunts. It is not the kind that will make one a favorite social leader. It is the power that will enable one to defeat the devil; it will enable one to live right, to serve God acceptably.

THE JOY OF THE SPIRIT

One of the first results of the conversion of the Thessalonians was the Spirit of joy which they received. "Ye . . . received the word in much affliction, with joy in the Holy Ghost."

The spirit of gladness is one of the immediate fruits of the Holy Spirit. When the terrible load of sin and guilt is lifted, and the sentence of death, that had been pronounced against all sinners, is suddenly canceled, there is great reason for joy and gladness. A moment before this takes place there is gloom, sadness, and a terrible foreboding. But when the Holy Spirit applies the power of the Gospel in regenerating power, the gloom, sadness and fear are suddenly gone and a wonderful gladness leaps forth to take their place.

The new life is essentially a joy-life. The joy of the Holy Ghost is not a natural emotion, and is not dependent upon circumstances or pleasant surroundings. Jesus said: "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full" (John 15:11). Jesus here speaks of a remaining joy. It is not like the pleasures of the world that are quickly followed by regrets and sorrow. It is a joy that is "in you," and therefore not dependent on outward things or circumstances.

In the case of the Thessalonians, their joy, though in immediate contact with much affliction, was in direct contrast to it. It was suffering in the form of persecution, loss of friends, danger and death. But all this only developed a deeper joy-increased the flow of divine joy. So it has ever been. The Christian life is an everlasting paradox. "Sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things" (II Cor. 6:10). That Christians rejoice in trouble is truly a mystery which the world cannot understand. It cannot be explained in human language so that the world can understand it. Neither could the world understand it though a language could be found that would explain it. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned, declared the Apostle Paul. And when we come down to facts, we cannot understand fully ourselves how Christians can find gladness in their hearts when trials come their way. But theirs is a song in the night. Certainly a Christian's joy is a fountain in the desert that flows from no visible source, and flows according to no prescribed channel. It is an artesian well, gushing from the rocky depths without the mechanism of pumps. It is glad just because there is a gladness there that comes from heaven. We know where this joy comes from, and who imparted it; but just how it works is not so easily explained.

This joy is a fortune even amidst depths of penury. It is an antidote to temptation and sin. It is an inspiration for service. "The joy of the Lord is your strength" (Neh. 8:10).

SANCTIFICATION OF THE SPIRIT (II Thess. 2:13)

The first thing that strongly impresses a candid reader of this verse is that sanctification is here spoken of, in emphatic language, as an essential part of salvation. How anyone can expect salvation, and yet be indifferent to sanctification is very difficult to understand. The work of sanctification is attributed to the Holy Spirit. "Sanctify" implies at least two things on man's part; "to separate from," "to dedicate to. First we must lay off, or separate from, the old life of self. There are some things we cannot consecrate to God, but we must lay them down. God cannot use them. We dedicate to God that which He can use, or can enable us to use in His service. The old sin offering could not be laid upon the altar. It was unclean. It had to be carried outside the camp and there burned. So we cannot consecrate our carnal nature; we must put it off, must be separated from it, must die to it.

Secondly, there is the dedication to God-consecration. This is the place for the burnt-offering. This offering was laid on the altar, and was accepted as a sweet-smelling savour. So when we have "laid off" and "died out," we offer our entire being in Christ to God and He accepts it as a sweetsmelling savour.

Thirdly, God sanctifies us by giving us the Holy Spirit. This is the sanctification of the Spirit. It is God's province to sanctify. He shows us our need of sanctification. He shows us God's provision for our sanctification. Then when we come to Him, He accepts us and makes real the transaction into which we have entered. He puts to death our life of self, and He enters into our hearts and dwells there. Now our real growth in grace begins, and the church has yet to learn the possibility of the length and breadth and height and depth of that growth.

A PRACTICAL APPEAL ("Quench not the Spirit")

Our study of this phase of the Holy Spirit's office work closes with this appeal. In view of the three blessed aspects of the Holy Spirit and of the Spirit's work, how tender and solemn the appeal. While this command primarily refers to the church collectively, it also refers to the individual. We can so hinder and disobey the loving leadings of the Holy Spirit, that we may quench His holy fires and disappoint His great purpose of love. One has said; "The Holy Spirit is like a sensitive lover. A woman's heart is not won by a violent assault, but by the gentle approaches of respectful, sensitive, and considerate love: and, at any point along the way, she can check and chill the advances of the heart that woos her, until at last she quenches the love that would have laid all at her feet." Just so the Holy Spirit comes to us with gentle and respectful monitions. He will accept no sacrifice that is not freely given. He will require no obedience that is not gladly rendered. But He does ask us for obedience and sacrifice as proof of our love. Here it is where disobedience and refusal may come in. We may shrink from the Holy Spirit's gentle leadings. We may refuse the trial through which He would bring us to some glorious victory, and choose the easier path. But in so doing we grieve the Holy Spirit.

There are those who have become so hardened through grieving the Spirit that He is no longer speaking to them, but they do not even realize their loss. This is, indeed, a sad state to be in.

It is possible to take a piece of iron, heat it red-hot, and then plunge it into water to cool it -- and doing this so often that at last the very metal scales off like ashes, and the temper and substance of the iron becomes corroded and destroyed. It is possible to wear out our hearts by disobedience and repeated chills of divine love, until, at last, there is nothing left but dross.

Finally: We may quench the Spirit in those whom we contact. We may hinder the work of God in human souls. We may hold back the church from victory. We may paralyze the whole church body by staying in a state of chronic spiritual disease. Moses, Caleb and Joshua were held back in the Wilderness for forty years by Israel's unbelief.

O God, help us to fan the flames of divine life and power in our own and in others' hearts, until it burns not only with the light of Pentecost, but as light of the beacon watch-fires of the Advent Morning.