Robert Jeffress - You're Richer Than You Think
Hi, I’m Robert Jeffress, and welcome again to «Pathway To Victory». As a pastor, I’ve listened to many struggling Christians tell me how they’re longing for something more. No, they weren’t talking about more money or a nicer home or more success. These are unsatisfied Christians who are looking for a deeper sense of God’s supernatural presence in their everyday lives. Well, if more sounds out of reach for you today, then let me assure you, it’s not. My message is titled, «You’re Richer Than You Think,» on today’s edition of Pathway To Victory.
An old Indian chief living in Oklahoma was thrilled when he struck oil on the small parcel of land that he owned. Suddenly this Indian chief was richer than Jed Clampett, and he had always wanted more than anything a shiny red Cadillac automobile and now he had the money to purchase it. So one day he went down and he pulled out a wad of $1000 bills and he bought a shiny new red Cadillac automobile. The chief was so proud of his new car. Every morning at 10 o’clock he would get in his car and he would drive around the town square in that small city in Oklahoma.
And the old chief while driving the car would open his driver’s window and he would wave at folks on the left and then he would open the passenger window and he would wave at folks on the right and sometimes he got so distracted he would actually lean out of the driver’s window and he would start talking to the people on the town square and they would talk to him back. But nobody was really too concerned about the chief’s erratic driving patterns. Instead, they would simply smile and wave back at him as they watched him in his shiny new red Cadillac being drawn by the two horses he had attached to the front bumper. You know, a lot of Christians are like that old Indian chief. They saunter through their Christian life, convinced that they can travel no farther and no faster than they’re traveling right now.
They have no idea of the tremendous spiritual horsepower that’s available to them. Instead they have convinced themselves that they can never experience any miraculous answers to their prayers, they can never experience victory over temptation in their life, they can never expect God to speak to them in a supernatural way. Instead, they just travel around in the same circle, year after year. But there are some Christians who want more in their Christian experience. They long for more power in their prayers. They long for more success in their struggles. They want to experience more joy in their worship. Perhaps you’re one of those people. And sometimes when we want more we look around and we see some Christians jetting past us, whizzing by us in a faster model of Christianity, and we wonder, well, maybe what’s wrong is I have the wrong kind of Christianity. Maybe I need to trade in my faith for a shinier, a newer model.
Well, before you do that, it’s important to read the owner’s manual and understand the power that is available to you already. If you want more than you’re experiencing in your Christian life right now, what you really are longing for is the power of the Holy Spirit. And today we’re going to begin a brand new series of messages I’ve titled, «Unleashed: Experiencing the Power of the Holy Spirit in Your Everyday Life». And as we begin our study today, we’re going to answer two essential questions about the Holy Spirit of God. If you have your Bibles, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 12 as we discover why it is you’re richer than you think. 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
The first question we’re going to look at briefly today is who is the Holy Spirit? If indeed the answer to the greatest longing you have in your life right now is the power of the Holy Spirit, we need to understand who the Holy Spirit is, and I want to make two statements this morning about the Holy Spirit. First of all, the Holy Spirit is God. The Holy Spirit is God. I have a pastor friend who grew up in the Southern Baptist Church, and he said, «You know, whenever we heard the Trinity talked about, we never heard about the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Instead of a Trinity, it was presented to us as a dynamic duo, the Father and the Son, but we never heard anything in our church about the Holy Spirit of God».
Unfortunately, that is the trend in too many Baptist churches and too many Evangelical churches. Afraid of the excesses of some believers when it comes to the Holy Spirit, other believers have just ignored him altogether. There are people who go through church without ever hearing a word about the Holy Spirit of God. That is a tremendous mistake because the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is God. He is not inferior to the Father or the Son. He is equal to God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son. How do I know that? Jot down a couple of scripture references that mention the Holy Spirit of God is equal to God. Genesis 1, verse 2 reminds us that the Holy Spirit was involved in creation. Moses wrote, «The earth was formless and void and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters».
Who was that Spirit of God? He’s the Holy Spirit of God. Or in Matthew 28, verse 19, Jesus said when you baptize, «baptize in the name of God the Father, the Son, and,» who? «The Holy Spirit». Or remember the apostle Paul equated the Holy Spirit with God in 2 Corinthians 13, verse 14. He wrote: «The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you». Remember the story in Acts chapter 5, verses 3 and 4 about Ananias and Sapphira? Ananias and Sapphira had made a pledge before the whole church that they were going to sell a piece of land and give all the proceeds to the church’s building campaign they were having back then. And Ananias and Sapphira, even though they publicly made this commitment, they sold the piece of land, they kept back a portion for themselves. What happened to them?
Verses 3 and 4 of Acts 5: «Peter confronted them and said, 'Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart as to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? '» And then in verse 4 he says, «You have not lied to men; you have lied to God». Do you see that? He says, «Why did you lie to the Holy Spirit»? And then he says, «You’ve not lied to men; you’ve lied to God». The Holy Spirit is God. What does that mean to me? I want you to think about this: the same power of God that flung billions of galaxies into existence with a single word, the same power of God that changed 5 loaves and 2 fish into enough food to feed 25,000 people, the same power of God that lifted Jesus Christ out of the grave, that same power of God is in you right now if you’re a Christian. The power of God resides in you.
Isn’t that a terrific thought? That’s why the Holy Spirit being God is so important to us. He is in you. There’s a second truth about the Holy Spirit we need to understand. Not only is the Holy Spirit, God, the Holy Spirit is also a person. And that’s why whenever the New Testament talks about the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is never referred to as it. It is always referred to, the Holy Spirit, as he. He is a person. Now what do we mean, «the Holy Spirit is a person»? Well, intellect, emotions, and will is what makes us a person, it distinguishes us from objects. It’s the same way with the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God possesses an intellect, that is, he thinks, he understands, he comprehends, the thoughts of God.
Jot down 1 Corinthians 2, verse 11: «For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, the thoughts of God no one knows, except the Spirit of God». The Holy Spirit of God can understand what we can never understand, and that is the thoughts of God himself. Secondly, the Holy Spirit possesses a will, that is, he makes decisions. One of the decisions he makes is what spiritual gifts he’s going to give to individual Christians. It’s the Holy Spirit of God who decides what gifts you receive. First Corinthians 12:11 says: «But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills».
And then number three, the Holy Spirit of God possesses emotions. He can actually feel things. One of the things the Holy Spirit feels is deep sorrow when we sin as a Christian. When you as a Christian sin, and think about this, any sin you engage in, you are taking the Holy Spirit with you to be a part of that sin if he’s living in your life. That’s why Ephesians 4, verse 30 says: «Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed in the day of redemption». The next time you’re tempted to enter into sin, ask yourself, do I feel comfortable making God a partner with me in this sin? «Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God».
Who is the Holy Spirit? He’s God, he is also a person. Now the second question. How and when do we receive the Holy Spirit in our lives? How and when do we receive the Holy Spirit in our lives? If indeed the deepest longing we can be filled by experiencing the Holy Spirit, don’t you think it’s important to ask and answer the question, well, when do we receive the Holy Spirit of God in our lives? While every Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, not every Christian is empowered by the Holy Spirit. While every Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, not every Christian is empowered by the Holy Spirit. We’re kind of like that old Indian chief. We have the spiritual horsepower, it’s not an it, it’s a he. He’s available to us, but very few Christians are accessing the power that he has made available to us.
Now I want you to look at verse 13 of 1 Corinthians 12. Paul explains the process by which the Holy Spirit sets up residence in every believer’s life. In verse 13, he writes: «For with one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit». We can have diversity, but there still has to be unity, unity in diversity. Well, how in the world do you have unity in diversity? Paul says, «Just look in the mirror». Look at yourself, look at your body. You’re not all one, you’re not one giant ear or one giant eyeball or one giant nostril. Your body consists of a variety of different parts, and yet all of those parts are functioning together for the same purpose. Now that’s the way the church is to be.
Look at verse 12 of 1 Corinthians 12: «For even as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ». Just as the human body has a variety of parts that are working together for one purpose, so does the body of Christ, the church. Many different kinds of people all joined together for one purpose. And the way the church comes together from a diversity of backgrounds to be one is with the baptism of the Holy Spirit of God. Now there are four words in this verse I want you to write down to understand, key words to understand. First of all, the word «baptized». «For with one Spirit, we were all baptized,» with one Spirit.
Now that word «baptized,» as you know, is a transliteration of the Greek word «baptizo,» it’s exactly like it sounds in Greek, baptizo. And the Greek word «baptizo» doesn’t mean a variety of things. It means one thing and one thing only. It means to immerse. When you trust in Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit of God changes your spiritual color completely. He immerses you, he pours over you, he transforms you from a guilty, rebellious enemy of God into a forgiving, obedient disciple of Jesus Christ. That’s what happens. Your spiritual color is changed forever. But not only that, the baptism with the Holy Spirit not only changes us but, get this, the baptism with the Holy Spirit joins us to Jesus Christ, the head of the body, and to other Christians who are already part of the body of Christ. Do you understand that?
The baptism, the immersion with the Holy Spirit of God, changes our spiritual color, changes us individually, but it also joins us together to Jesus Christ and other believers. And that’s why Paul says, «For with one Spirit, we were all baptized». Now, the second word in this verse to understand is the word «by,» B-Y, that little preposition, «For 'by' one Spirit». Did you know that the Bible never speaks of the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Never. Some translations translate it that way, but it’s a mistranslation. It is never the translation, «of the Holy Spirit». This word translated «by» is a word that is best translated «with»: «For with one Spirit». By is not a good translation because people misunderstand that word «by».
When you use the word «by» it appears that the Holy Spirit is the one who is baptizing us. No, instead, with that candidate there is always a baptizer, somebody who does the baptizing. It is either I or someone I’ve designated. We are stand-ins, very poor stand-ins, but we are stand-ins for Jesus Christ himself. We are picturing what Jesus does for us. When we trust him for salvation, he is the one who baptizes us. And he baptizes us with the Holy Spirit. That water is not the one who does the baptizing. It is what we baptize with. The water represents the Holy Spirit of God. My point is, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is accomplished by Jesus. It’s what he does for us. And you see that all throughout scripture.
Jot down Mark 1:8. John the Baptist said, «I, John, baptize you with water; but Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit». Do you see that? That’s why we never pray to the Holy Spirit of God, asking him to baptize us. No, Jesus baptizes us with the Holy Spirit. The third word is the word «were». «For with one Spirit, we 'were' all baptized». Notice that is past tense. It’s denoting an action that has already taken place. There were no Corinthian Christians who were sitting around waiting for the Holy Spirit to come into their life. In fact, it is something that had already taken place, «For with one Spirit, we were baptized».
In his excellent book, «God in You,» David Jeremiah gives three categories of verses in the Bible dealing with the Holy Spirit. And it’s important to be able to classify these verses because there’s a lot of confusion about this topic. David says some of the verses are verses of expectancy. Those are verses mainly in the Old Testament and some in the Gospels that anticipate the time when the Holy Spirit will come and set up residence, will indwell every Christian. For example, Joel chapter 2, verse 28: «And it will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind». God is looking forward to that time when he would pour out his Spirit on all believers.
In Luke chapter 3, verse 16: «John answered and said to them all, 'As for me, I baptize you with water; but one, '» talking about Jesus, «'is coming who is mightier than I, and He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.'» Even in the New Testament, in the Gospels, they were looking forward to with expectancy, the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Secondly, verses that deal with experience, verses that teach us about the experience of the Holy Spirit. These are verses in Acts that record the actual coming of the Holy Spirit in the believers' lives and, of course, that happened at the Day of Pentecost when people believed, thousands believed, and they were baptized immediately with the Holy Spirit of God.
Peter looks back on that experience of Pentecost, and he says, «And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, 'John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'» And then thirdly, verses of explanation. These are verses in the New Testament that deal with the benefits of experiencing the baptism with the Holy Spirit or the empowering with the Holy Spirit. We’re gonna talk about the difference in 2 weeks. The baptism with the Spirit is something every believer experiences, but only a few experience the filling or the empowering of the Holy Spirit. These are verses of explanation.
For example, Romans 6, verses 3 to 4: «Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of God the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life». After Acts chapter 8, the pattern is clear. The moment somebody trusts in Christ, he is baptized with the Holy Spirit of God, and that leads to a fourth word in this verse that’s key to understanding this whole principle, and that is the word «all». «For with one Spirit, we were 'all' baptized into one body».
You know, that one little word «all» should drive a stake through this idea that is out there that the baptism with the Holy Spirit is a special experience reserved for only a certain class of Christians. It’s kind of like a spiritual upgrade for that group of Christians who want to have a first-class relationship with Christ and are willing to pay a little bit extra to experience it. No, the Bible says it’s part of the basic package, «For with one Spirit we were all baptized into one body».
I want you to turn over for just a moment to 2 Peter chapter 1, verses 3 to 4. Peter writes, «Seeing that God’s divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these things, He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you have become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust».
Now I want you to underline in verse 3 this phrase, «He has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness». Do you realize what that passage is saying? If there’s one truth I want you to walk away with today, it’s this: God has not shortchanged you if you’re a Christian. God isn’t over here reserving something extra that you need to beg him and ask him to do in your life. He has granted to you everything you need to lead a supernatural, a fulfilling existence, while here on Earth. He has granted to you everything pertaining to life and to godliness. Everything he has given you is all wrapped up in the Holy Spirit of God.