"...I Will Put My Spirit In You..."
Ezekiel 36:25-28 “I
will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you
from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new
heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone
and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you
to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” NIV
This morning I begin
with confession. The Spirit of the Lord
is holding me accountable in your presence.
As your pastor, I have brought you the best of myself in service to the
Kingdom of God. Yet in my prayers before
the Holy Spirit, I am hearing a different prayer springing forth from my
heart. In those prayers, I have heard words,
my words of confession and disappointment.
These words from my heart acknowledge a shift in the season of this
fellowship and my own life. There is a
deep realization that God is calling us, you and me, into a deeper presence in
His Holy Spirit, to be more precise, the Lordship of the Holy Spirit. Some would rejoice and yet, I have come to
learn His calling involves radical change through radical events, deep soulful
disturbances, life-altering events, a stripping away of self, so I know I am
naked in His presence…a nakedness of confession and dependency! As your pastor, I want you aware I have been
through this at different points in my life, but each prior experience was an event
that dealt with me alone. I am so aware
this time is not for me alone; in the role of pastor, I will be leading you
into a deeper presence of the Holy Spirit.
It is with great trepidation and wrestling that I have finally submitted
myself to the Holy Spirit. You see the
Holy Spirit is too alluring; as a man, the call of the Holy Spirit is to
intriguing to ignore, for me it is impossible to resist when He calls me in
this way. Therefore, I come alongside Him and this time I am asking you to join
us in this new season…receiving the Spirit of the Lord!
“It is unfair”
These words haunt me, spoken by one of our leaders regarding the sermons I have been preaching! “It is unfair to the people who are hearing the call, who are accountable for what is being preached and taught.” Stunned, I did not understand, and then as he shared another question, “how do we live, how do we do all this?” These questions shook me at my core. Have I been preaching a law? Have I been calling for obedience and not give the assurance of capacity? These questions, the Holy Spirit used to cause soulful disturbances in my own spirit.
In the early
mornings, in the middle of the night, prayer would erupt from lips, seeking
more of His presence for all of us. Yet
even this was not enough. The Holy
Spirit insisted I search more deeply for Him in scripture. The Holy Spirit challenged me to discard past
theological boundaries and to see the openness of the Kingdom of God, which He,
the Holy Spirit, was establishing for the glory of God.
While wrestling with
these powerful intrusions, I began to discover different scripture hidden from
me by my own blindness. With each
morning, the Holy Spirit opened passages, asking me to explore what these verses
mean in the contemporary! As I studied, I
began to sense the openness and the vastness of the Kingdom of God. One morning I became so frustrated, I
declared “it is too big, I cannot wrap my head around all this, too much too
fast, I am not that smart, please be more incremental, smaller portions, I
really need to taste all this in much smaller portions.”
So, the Spirit leads
to me Ezekiel and I am saying to Him, “you think this is more
incremental?” Sensing the hovering of
the Holy Spirit over my personal chaos, I find myself intrigued by the phrase
“My Spirit”. Herein I began to discover
the answer to the questions ushering us into this journey.
Ability through the Spirit!
Ezekiel 36:25-28 “I
will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you
from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new
heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone
and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you
to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” NIV
These verses speak of
the person of the Holy Spirit in a very revealing way. In these verses, there is great hope and
capacity for each one. I am so excited
by the work of God revealed in these verses.
You and I are fresh creations; being made fresh, alive and responsive!
Consider the following:
·
Washed and
cleansed from all impurities and addictions
·
A new heart
and a new spirit
·
Hearts of
stones replaced with hearts of flesh
·
My Spirit in
you
·
Moved to
follow His decrees
·
Careful to
keep His laws
Two Great Themes
In these phrases, there are two great themes. These two themes are:
·
Salvation
·
Lordship of
the Spirit
We are such a foolish people because we lack perspective, so much of our western culture is void of humility. Our spirit of self-reliance robs us of understanding the spirit of benevolence in these passages. There is so much “lordship” woven in each phrase! Frightening to me is our own rebellion precludes us from running to receive the gifts of salvation and lordship, gifts being extended to each of us. We are the generation of salvation without lordship! Consider the following:
Salvation is in these
verses is as follows:
·
Washed and
cleansed from all impurities and addictions
·
A new heart
and a new spirit
·
Hearts of
stones replaced with hearts of flesh
Here is a most
beautiful picture of grace for life.
From death to a resurrected life, we are a new creation. Cleansed and life afresh, not just revived
but new! A new heart and a new spirit,
the significance is the seat of our demise is removed and a heart of flesh
formed and placed in each person receiving salvation! The heart of flesh is the seat of intellect,
emotion, wisdom and life! We need new
hearts of flesh, with the capacity to receive the Spirit of the Lord!
The Necessity of the Spirit of the Lord
If salvation was
sufficient, then why is the Spirit of the Lord necessary? There is a critical aspect to these verses;
The Lordship of God and it must not be ignored.
My Spirit in you
Moved to follow His
decrees
Careful to keep His
laws
What do we say to
these phrases? After salvation, God’s Spirit
is necessary for capacity to obey! Here
is the conflict, when we live in the realm of salvation; we relegate ourselves
to our own definition of salvation. Yes,
I read scripture and decide for myself which of the great noble truths I will
embrace into my life! Like Adam and Eve
content with realm of salvation in the Garden of Eden, they wanted the knowledge
of good and evil! They refused, turned
their backs on life, the fruit of life from the tree of life. And you and I, in our own self-righteousness,
shake our heads, wondering how could they be so foolish. Yet, this is our testimony as well. Life is in the Spirit of the Lord! Therefore, no matter how many great and
inspiring sermons we preach and hear, they are all in vain if we do not have
the Lordship of the Spirit ruling our lives!
No matter what great truths from scripture speak to my heart, to my
soul, without the Lordship of the Spirit, it is in vain.
As Solomon with all his wisdom declared,
Eccl 1:14 14 I have seen all the works that are done under
the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. KJV
Eccl 1:14 14 I reflected on everything that is accomplished
by man on earth, and I concluded: Everything he has accomplished is futile -
like chasing the wind! (NET)
So many Christians
are chasing the wind. Without the
Lordship of the Spirit, we feel justified to determine our own lives. Well, where did that get us the first
time? But you say “I am saved!” “It is
different now.” Really? Somehow, we think that salvation allows living
life on our own terms. Our messages of
personal prosperity, of our dreams, our goals and even our achievements serve
only to harden our hearts to the Lordship of the Holy Spirit! The reality of salvation and Lordship of the
Holy Spirit centers on following God’s decrees and careful keeping His law. So how do we respond to the Lordship of the
Holy Spirit? How can we truly live
without the Lordship of the Holy Spirit?
Are we afraid of the Holy Spirit because He insists on Lordship?
The Good Gift!
Jesus calls the Holy
Spirit a good gift, a special gift from the God who gives it to those who ask:
Luke 11:13 "…13 If you then, being evil, know how to
give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give
the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" NKJV
The Holy Spirit is
present, ready to be received, to give capacity to follow the decrees of God,
to carefully follow His laws...will you receive the Holy Spirit? The sad commentary on all this is that so
many Christians live a life like Adam and Eve after the Garden, a life of waiting
and personal tragedy, but we do so out of choice! The Gift of the Holy Spirit
is ours for the asking…Adam and Eve lived on the goodwill of a prophecy and the
sacrifice of animals… your Father is offering you the Holy Spirit…will you
receive Him?
by Grace Alone!
www.hcfcc.org
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