Lititz United Methodist Church Sermon Archive

This is the fourth sermon in a series on the Holy Spirit. Today I want to think with you about allowing the Holy Spirit to control our life, and what happens as a result. In Ephesians 5:18 it says, “Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit.” We are commanded to be filled with the Spirit. It’s like, if we’re going to get drunk, get drunk on the Spirit! The goal of every believer should be to be filled with the Holy Spirit!

Sometimes we live in a way that hinders the Spirit from filling and controlling us.
Ephesians 4:30 instructs us, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.” 1 Thessalonians 5:19 warns, “Do not quench the Spirit.” We can cause the Holy Spirit to be sad, and grieve over us! We can quench the Spirit’s presence and power in our life, as water quenches a fire.

Think about it: What might be some ways we cause Him to grieve, or quench His influence? Perhaps when we get so caught up in our own pursuits that we ignore Him.
Or when we fail to nurture the life of the Spirit in us through prayer and meditation.
Or when we feel the Spirit prompting us to do something and we don’t do it. Or when we deliberately sin and do what we know is wrong, or not in keeping with God’s will.

Thinking of ways we can grieve or quench the Spirit brings up the subject of the sin against the Holy Spirit (or, the unpardonable sin). Is there a sin that we can commit that God does not forgive? Yes there is. Jesus once said, “Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come”
(Matthew 12:31-32). According to Jesus, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven except one: blasphemy against the Spirit. (Blasphemy means to curse or revile, to speak irreverently or with contempt). This is a serious matter, to say the least!

What is this sin against the Spirit that is so bad it will not be forgiven? This topic is mentioned in three gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke. In Matthew and Mark, the context
is this. Pharisees were accusing Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, when indeed He was casting out demons by the Holy Spirit. So, this suggests that the unpardonable sin might be attributing to Satan what is actually a work of the Holy Spirit.

In Luke the setting is different. Luke brings together a number of isolated sayings of Jesus. The teaching about the unforgivable sin follows immediately after Jesus teaches that whether we acknowledge or deny Him before people will determine whether He acknowledges or denies us before the angels of God. Here, it seems the unpardonable sin is connected to whether or not we acknowledge or deny Christ before people.

In neither case does Jesus tell us plainly what this sin is!
So, what is the unforgivable sin? As in all sound Biblical interpretation, we have to take these verses and compare with them with the rest of Scripture. Throughout the Bible it says forgiveness is available to all who repent. When do we remain unforgiven? When we do not repent!

There is a lot of truth in the classical interpretation that the unpardonable sin is not one isolated act, not one specific sin, but to persistently, repeatedly ignore or resist the Holy Spirit as He prompts us to repent and turn to the Savior. In other words, there is no one isolated act that we can point to and say, “There it is! That’s the unpardonable sin!”

To commit the unpardonable sin is to become so hardened in our sinful attitudes and behaviors, so resistant to God, that we lose all sensitivity to the Holy Spirit as He tries to break through and bring us to repentance and faith in Christ. It is when we remain so hardened and blinded to the Spirit’s work that we even say what the Spirit is doing is evil, or we regard the Holy Spirit with irreverence and contempt. The sin becomes unforgivable because we so persist in our hardness of heart that we shun the goodness and grace of God, and never do repent, even to our dying day. I agree with a pastor friend who has said,
“If you are afraid that you’ve committed the unpardonable sin, you haven’t!”

The way to make sure we are not guilty of the unpardonable sin is to recognize our need, ask for forgiveness, and yield to the Spirit as He prompts us to believe in Jesus and follow Him.

Let’s move on. When we become a believer and confess Christ, the Holy Spirit comes in and wants to begin to get control of our life. The more He fills us, the more it will show in the way we live. The Bible calls this behavior or character under the domination of the Spirit the fruit of the Spirit. This subject is dealt with in the fifth chapter of Galatians.

When we become followers of Jesus, there are two different natures at war within us, vying to get the upper hand. There is the Spirit of God, prompting us to do what God wants. But, there is also our sinful human nature that’s still very much a part of us. The Apostle Paul calls this “the flesh”. By “the flesh” he does not mean skin, but rather our fallen sinful nature - unredeemed human nature - human nature without God. It is the
unconverted nature that still wants to maintain control of us.

Galatians 5:16-17 speaks of this: “Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want.” Paul then goes on to give a sample of what we will be like when the “flesh” or unredeemed nature is in control rather than the Holy Spirit. “The activities of the lower nature are obvious. Here is a list: sexual immorality, impurity of mind, sensuality, worship of false gods, witchcraft, hatred, quarreling, jealousy, bad temper, rivalry, factions, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like that. I solemnly assure you,
as I did before, that those who indulge in such things will never inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21 Phillips Translation). This is quite a list of uglies, isn’t it!

So, if my lifestyle is marked by all types of immoral, deviant behaviors, who is in control?
The Holy Spirit? No! If I am jealous and envious, who’s in control? If a group of people are caught up in bickering, quarrels and factions, we can be sure it is sinful human nature dominating, not the Holy Spirit.

On the other hand, how can we know when the Holy Spirit is in control of our life? Is there a way to gauge this? Yes there is. It is the “fruit test”. Jesus said, “By their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:16). When the Spirit reigns within us there are nine fruits that become evident. They are listed in Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

The first fruit of the Spirit mentioned is love. The Greek word is “agape”. This word does not describe the love that is a warm fuzzy feeling toward someone, not the love we feel towards people we like or are naturally fond of. Rather it means acting unselfishly, with the interest of the other person at heart. Agape love is often difficult. It is being kind to those who hurt us, blessing those who curse us, praying for those who despitefully use us. I cannot love people with this kind of love without the power of the Spirit working through me! I once heard a preacher talking about the Holy Spirit giving us power to love. He said, “You need the Holy Spirit…because some people are just impossible to love.” When the Spirit controls us, we will be marked by this kind of love.

Joy is the next fruit of the Spirit listed. Joy is not the same as happiness. Happiness depends on outward circumstances. Joy is rooted in our relationship with God, and having God’s Spirit abiding in us. Most normal people can be relatively happy when things are going great. But when the Spirit is in control, we can experience joy even in the worst of times.

Peace is a fruit of the Spirit. The word for peace here does not mean the peace we might have when we are soaking up the sun on the deck of a Carnival Cruise Lines ship, freed for a week or so from the normal cares of living. It is not the absence of trouble or difficulty, but rather the inward tranquility and sense of wellbeing that comes from God. When the Spirit is in control, we will have that peace that the world cannot give and the world cannot take away.

Another fruit of the Spirit is patience. The Greek word used here could be translated “even-tempered” or “long-tempered”. It is especially patience with people. I need the Holy Spirit to give me patience when I drive! Don’t pull out in front of me then poke along! How much patience do we have with our children? With that testy neighbor? With others in the church? When the Holy Spirit rules we will be more patient with people.

Then there is kindness. Sometimes are just so unkind in the things we say and do – often to people closest to us. The Spirit of God makes us a kinder person.

Goodness is a fruit of the Spirit. The word used here is a general word describing goodness. When self, or our sinful nature, is in control, our language can be filthy, our thoughts unclean, our desires and actions not very pure. But when the Holy Spirit is in control, there is a goodness and wholesomeness about us.

The next fruit of the Spirit on the list is faithfulness. This means we are trustworthy, reliable, and faithful to our responsibilities. Am I faithful to the responsibilities God and life have placed in my hands? I talked to someone recently who expressed remorse that he had not been very faithful of late in carrying out his responsibilities to the church. Can people rely on us? When we say we will do something can we be trusted to carry it through? A pastor I know talked of one man in the church in this way, “____ makes a lot of promises, but he doesn’t deliver much.” Faithfulness is something the Holy Spirit produces when He rules in our inner life.

Gentleness. This is a Greek word hard to translate into English. It carries with it the idea of being modest, teachable, courteous, considerate, submissive to God. The opposite of this fruit is to be proud and haughty and non-submissive. If I’m inconsiderate towards you, if I act arrogantly, if I’m too bull-headed to see anyone else’s point of view but mine – who’s in control? The Spirit or the flesh? Well, the flesh, because the fruit of the Spirit is gentleness.

Finally, a fruit of the Spirit is self-control. This means we have mastered our desires for and love of pleasure. It is self-control for the purpose of achieving some greater goal. There are many areas where self-control is necessary if we are to be useful servants of the Lord: self-control in our desire for material things, in eating and drinking, in our sexual urges, just to name a few. A beggar came up to a lady on the street and in a sorry-sounding voice said to her “Lady, I haven’t eaten for three days.” She replied wistfully, “Oh, if only I had your will power.” When the Holy Spirit is in charge of us, self-control is one of the fruits.

So, these are the nine fruits of the Spirit. Now let me ask you, aren’t these qualities to be admired and desired. Wouldn’t you like your spouse to be this way? Wouldn’t you be pleased if your children grew up with these qualities? Wouldn’t it be nice if your boss, your customers were like this? Wouldn’t it be a different world if the Holy Spirit, rather than sinful human nature, were controlling people! Think how much of a difference each of us can make for good in the world if we allow the Spirit to control us!

The test of how much the Spirit fills us is not whether we claim the Spirit’s guiding us,
not whether we point to some wonderful spiritual experience we have had, not whether
we speak in tongues. The proof is whether the fruit of the Spirit is evident in the way we live at home, at work, in school, in church, at parties, and whatever we do. Jesus said, “By their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:16).

How can the Holy Spirit control more of my life? In Galatians 5:16 it says, “Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.” As the Spirit urges us to do the God-thing, we must do our part and try to resist the urgings of our sinful nature. Galatians 5:24 says, “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” This promises that through the power of Christ our old sinful nature can be crucified and put to death. Now the sinful nature will always be with us in this life, and in a sense it will always be a battle, but each day we can claim Christ’s promise of victory.

Harry L. Kaufhold, Jr.
Preached at Lititz United Methodist Church January 30, 2005

“The Holy Spirit”

“Bearing Fruit: Making a Difference”