Saturday, April 19, 2014

"WHY IS THE HOLY SPIRIT ?"

1. Nature of the Holy Spirit
Clearly the first would be that he is holy. Of course the Holy One is offended when those he indwells prefer to wallow in things that to him are filth and stench. The altogether pure and Holy One stoops to indwell, but we entertain and harbour offensive things in our thought life, to injure him.

2. What He Has Done for Us

The Holy Spirit will also be grieved when we trample on all his past work in our souls. It was the Spirit who opened our hearts to the Gospel by a regenerating act, softening our antagonistic wills, opening our eyes to our spiritual predicament, bringing us under deep conviction of sin, and showing us Christ the Lord, as the only Saviour. We then yielded to Christ, and pledged ourselves to him, but now we pay no heed to the Spirit’s continuing shepherding, and in practical terms we barely acknowledge his existence.

3. What Christ Has Done for Us

The Holy Spirit will equally be grieved bearing in mind all that Christ has done for us. Who knows more than he and the Father how great a price the Saviour paid for the redemption of each single soul? The eternal, crushing weight of sin was taken by Christ to redeem us, so that he is ours, and he will be our visible King in the eternal glory. But how do we repay him? So often by an inconsistent walk, treating slightly the duty of stirring ourselves to holiness, and serving our earthly interests with greater fervour than the work of the Lord.

4. The Consequences for Us

The Holy Spirit is undoubtedly also grieved for our sake, because he knows the consequences we bring upon ourselves by neglecting his promptings, such as the loss of assured communion with God, the loss of instrumentality for the Gospel, the loss of response to prayer, and the loss of deep Christian joy.

5 Harm to the Gospel

Surely, also, the Holy Spirit will grieve because of the blow our poor spiritual walk delivers to the cause of Christ, as younger believers receive from us no example of holiness and zeal, and as watching eyes, especially unconverted people close to us, see our coldness and inconsistency

No comments:

Post a Comment