# The importance of the Holy Spirit

Category: Holy Spirit
Key Passage: John 16
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: May 7, 2023

Turn your Bibles if you would to John chapter number 16, John chapter number 16 in God’s word this morning. We’re going to start a new series. I do not know how long it will last, but I feel like the Lord would like us to focus for a bit on the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

The ministry of the Holy Spirit. And, of course, the Holy Spirit is God. He’s part of the Godhead. And Acts makes it very clear He is God. But sometimes I think we kind of skip over the Holy Spirit and the importance of the Holy Spirit. And sometimes some churches that really make a circus show out of some things the Holy Spirit did, it really scares us Baptists from speaking of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, but it is a vital part of the Christian life. And we must be in tune with, led by, empowered by, comforted by the Spirit of God. And it’s just vital. So I want to focus on that.

I think sometimes we’ll focus on it for a couple weeks. It gets our mind, our hearts going that way. So we’ll try to do that on Sunday morning for a bit here. We’re starting this morning in John 16. By the way, John 14, 15, and 16 are great chapters about the Spirit of God. But look at this, if you will. We’re in John 16. And we’re going to start in verse number seven. Verse number seven. If you’re there already, would you say amen? Amen.

Good deal, it sounds like you’re there, and I don’t hear any pages turning either. You’re honest this morning, what about that? You usually say we’re there, and then pages are still turning, so you’re on board this morning. That’s great. Would you please stand if you’re able to as we read God’s Word together this morning? In the book of John, chapter number 16, and we’re going to start in verse number seven. John 16.

Good deal. We’re staying just trying to show the word of God respect. We won’t stand the whole time. Just about 45 minutes we’ll be standing. You know, not me. I won’t be. I’m teasing, of course. But just while we read our text verse, verse number seven there. And the Bible here says, nevertheless, Jesus speaking, nevertheless, I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away.

Kind of time out for just a second there. Jesus has been with them for three and a half years, His apostles, disciples there. Wouldn’t it be amazing to be with Jesus? Who would have liked to have been there when He took, you know, what was it? Five loaves and two bluegill? You know, five catfish biscuits and two little bluegill fish, and He fed thousands, literally.

Who would have liked to eat some of that food? Man, I like to eat a little bit of that. I mean, Jesus has got to be a great cook. He does everything right, so I like to eat some of that, you know. Spice or grilled catfish, Cracker Barrel. Come on now, that’s what I’m talking about right there, you know. Get extra spice on it. That’s good stuff now, you know. But they were with Jesus. At one point, they needed money to keep the IRS happy, IRS of that day and time. And He said, “Go catch your fish. And look in its mouth, there’ll be money in there.” Who would like to do that? I’d be fishing all the time, you know. Where’s Pastor? On the lake, you know, trying to pay for the new building, you know. Wouldn’t it be awesome to be with Jesus? And He personally trained them. That’d be amazing.

And yet Jesus is saying it’s better for you if I leave. I mean, there must be something mighty good that’s going to kind of replace, if you will, Jesus. That’s what He’s telling them. It’s expedient for you when I go away. What would cause Jesus to say that? And it’s just amazing.

He tells us, look back there, if you will, verse number seven: Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter. Notice that’s a capital C. It’s a name, a personal name of someone. Who is He talking about? Help me out. Who is He talking about, the Comforter? Who’s the Comforter?

The Holy Spirit. And He said, if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. I love this promise right here. But if I depart, and He did, but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. You have the right to have the power in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit because of Jesus.

You’ll never get the indwelling at salvation and the empowering to live for the Lord by your merit. You get it by Jesus. Everything in the Christian life, you get it by Jesus. And I mean that when I say that. He said, “If I depart, I will send Him unto you.” That’s amazing. He’s explaining that’s why it’s the best if I leave because the Holy Spirit will come. There must be something to us Christians having the indwelling of the Spirit of God.

Let’s keep reading verse and break. And when He, that’s the Holy Spirit, is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin? Why does He convict the whole world of sin? Because they believe not on Me. We’ll mention that at the beginning of the message. Of righteousness because I go to My Father and you see Me no more. How do we know what righteousness is by Jesus? We can’t see Him anymore. So the Holy Spirit guides us to righteousness because Jesus has departed.

Well, it’s the last part of judgment, verse number 11, because the prince of this world, that’s Satan, the prince of this world is judged. Satan’s going to be judged. And by the way, don’t follow these comic strips that put Satan on some throne in hell. He’ll be in the lowest, worst, awfulest part of hell. Even the kings of the world will laugh at Satan. “You’re the one that tricked all and deceived all the nations to look at you burning and weeping and wailing and gnashing.” And Satan will have the worst part of hell. So don’t fall for that.

But what are you saying here? He’s going to look—if Satan is going to be judged, you and I now will not be judged for our sins as far as eternity. Jesus has borne those sins if you’re saved. But a born-again Christian can sure get taken out of the woodshed.

But before that happens, before that happens, the Holy Spirit, you know the Holy Spirit, this is what it does. It’s a still small voice, but you’ll hear this: “Uh-uh, uh-uh, don’t you do that. You know, if you do that, it’s not going to turn out good.” Anybody ever heard that voice?

That’s one of the jobs of the Holy Spirit. And that’s me speaking of there. And because Satan’s not going to get by with it. And yes, yes, and I want to clarify, just a brief moment, take me a second, explain. You won’t have the judgment of your sins, but you’ll have the chastising, chastening. The way I always explain it is, if for a Christian, this is the way it works for a Christian: If we went to Walmart, our son, our daughter, is little bitty back of the day, and they break some one of these $700 TVs, you know, and the manager comes and says, “Sir, your son broke that TV, you got to pay for it.” And I go rob a bank, I pay for it, you know. It’s paid for. Well, we go home, there’s a real, real, real good chance you’re going to get a good, good whipping when they get home. The TV’s already been paid for.

And if you’re a born-again Christian, your sins are already paid for, but I chastened my children for them to learn from that so they don’t do it again. God chastens us, but not to pay for our sins, the wages of sin, death—Jesus already died on the cross for our sins. But to chasten us, to correct us so we grow from it. And the Holy Spirit reminds us of that. Okay. Payments paid for, paid in full by Jesus. It is finished.

Chastening that does happen to a born-again Christian, I understand. But just for a bit, let’s focus on this thing, the ministry, the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

It is amazing that Jesus said it is expedient for you. It’s the best thing for you if I depart because I’ll send Him, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to you. Someone called the day and time we live in, the charts we’ve showed many times with a couple weeks, we call it the Church Age. Someone called it the Age of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is working in a great, great way in our day and time. It is the power of the church. It’s the power of God working in our day and time. It’s a power of God working in His people.

Now, the major job of the Holy Spirit, look back in verse number eight right there. The major job of the Holy Spirit is right here. Many jobs, but this is probably His priority or His major, His first thing. Verse number eight: When He has come, He will reprove—notice He mentions this first—He will reprove the world of sin.

Now, why of sin? Why does He reprove the world of sin? Verse number nine: Of sin because they believe not on Me. That’s Jesus. First thing, listen, the first or primary job the Holy Spirit does is He convicts the whole world of sin.

That’s why people in some remote island somewhere where maybe they’ve never heard the name of Jesus, they’ll know they need some kind of a Savior because the Holy Spirit has convicted them or a sinner. I tell a story often. It just always comes my mind along this line. But one of our missionaries, Michael Williams, he was in Ghana, West Africa, I believe it is. I always get Ghana and Guyana mixed up. There’s one in West Africa, focusing on a tribe down here. There’s a lake up here, and he always thought about going to that lake, and it just felt led, always to go to this lake up here.

Finally, he had a day apart, a day or two, and he went up to this lake up here, and there was an older man. No one had ever given him the gospel, but he knew he needed a Savior because the Holy Spirit reproves the world of sin. And so this older man, he heard the gospel, he was so glad to hear of it, and he said, “You know, for years, I’ve been going out apart away from everybody and praying to whoever’s up there, to the God, whoever it is, and say, ‘Would You show me the truth? Would You show me’—he didn’t say these words because he didn’t know these words—‘how to get to You, how I can get saved?’” He didn’t say those words because he didn’t know it, but he knew he needed a Savior.

By the way, it was not a coincidence that God led that missionary to that man because that man had taken the light of creation and the light of the Holy Spirit reproving the world of sin. And when you take the light and you want it, you accept it, God gives more light. God heard that man’s prayers. Father, I don’t always fall in line with something that said God didn’t hear the prayers that unsaved. That’s not necessarily biblical. Bible never says that.

But friend, God heard those prayers and He sent that missionary up there and he got saved. But I’m getting off course here a little bit too much. But here’s what I’m getting at: The Holy Spirit reproves the world of sin. Everybody in the world. Why? Because they believe not in Him. See? And so the Holy Spirit, that’s His main job.

By the way, when you get saved, He moves inside. Before that, He’s not working outside and He’s convicting. You can know a lot about God and it can be drawing. He draws every person in the world. By the way, don’t fall for this that only certain people can get saved. No, no, no, no. You say, “Well, they can’t get saved unless they’re drawn.” You’re absolutely right. The Bible says that, but the Bible says, Jesus said, “And I, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men.” It falls in line with Him and reproved the world of sin. No, everybody’s been drawn by the Holy Spirit of God because they need His Savior and He’s knocking. And when they get saved the Holy Spirit, He moves inside of them. He indwells them. That’s why the Bible says, “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?” Yeah.

And that’s why He says, “Glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are God’s.” He’s bought you with the price. First Corinthians 6:19–20. He’s bought you with the price. With the Holy Spirit, He moves inside of you. See?

Now, so if you’re a born-again Christian—you don’t have to raise your hand, but just think about it—if you’re born again, if you have a time in your life you can look back to this time, “I went to Jesus for my salvation.” I don’t remember the date I got saved. I don’t remember if it was a Sunday night or Wednesday, but I got saved. Hey, praise your Lord. When that happened, whenever you got saved, the Holy Spirit moved inside of your heart. Your body is His temple. See, He indwells you. He lives inside of you.

Now that’s so very, very important. He does so many things living inside of you. By the way, let’s go back just to touch the tabernacle. He told us He wants you to build the tabernacle. Brother Bill did a great job. I preached on that a couple weeks ago when I was out in my knee, he wasn’t here, but it’s happening. Why did He have them build the tabernacle? Exodus 25, I think it was, verse number eight. Why? Because He wanted to dwell among them. He wanted to be close to them. And now your body is the tabernacle of God. He lives inside of you. He wants to dwell among you.

So Jesus said, “It’s better for you that I depart.” Why? Because when I depart, I’ll send the Holy Spirit, and He’ll live inside of you. Isn’t that amazing? God living inside of you? That’s why if any man be in Christ, he’s a new creature. Why? Because God moved inside of him. And all things have passed away; behold, all things become new. How? God moved inside of them. That’s why you’re regenerated when you get saved. You’re a born-again Christian. Now,

We’re going to spend just a couple of weeks talking about some of the things the Holy Spirit of God would like to minister to you. He’s living inside of you. God’s dwelling in you. If somehow we can spiritually, not physically, but if we can spiritually kind of cut apart your chest like to do an open-heart surgery, look inside there, God would be living in there.

By the way, He sealed you unto the day of redemption. We can quench and grieve Him, but He’s sealed like you seal an envelope. And it’s sealed. This one is not sealed. And you’re supposed to take that off? Oh, it didn’t mean to do that. I really didn’t mean to do that. Something fell out of that. And, oh, well, we might as well sell it now, right, you know? But we sealed that, and I say, “RCBC Church membership information letter,” and it’s supposed to be sealed until we give it to someone. And it makes it to its destination and they open it up. You’re sealed by the Spirit of God until the day of redemption. Until you make it home with Jesus, and He’s going to open it up. By the way, He’s going to give you rewards on that day. A wonderful, wonderful day. But the Holy Spirit has sealed us in the day of redemption.

What are some of the ministries that the Holy Spirit would like to do in your life? And if you’re born-again Christian, what would He like to do in you? Would you all think like that? Would you look over in Ephesians chapter number three? Thank you for sticking with me through kind of an introduction about the ministry or ministries of the Holy Spirit. It is so very, very important that you let Him minister in your life. It’s vital. It’s vital.

Ephesians chapter number three, if you would please. Ephesians chapter number three, and would you look in verse number 16? Ephesians 3, verse number 16 of God’s word. If you’re there, would you say, amen? Ephesians 3, look at verse number 16.

The Bible there says that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory. Watch this, here it is: to be strengthened with might by His Spirit. That’s a ministry job of the Holy Spirit. Strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.

Anybody out there you agree with me that life has a way of knocking you down? Anybody? Wow. If you’ve never been knocked out completely knocked out for a couple of minutes, I’m going to just flatten with a steamroller—not a roller coaster, but a steamroller, that’s what I mean. You just get flattened by a steamroller, you know. Takes me a minute. You know those big words get me every time now, you know? If you’ve never been flattened like that by life, hang on, it’s coming for you.

But some people seem to have something that just helps them get back up. I have a strong inner man. Or maybe I should word it this way: something in their inner man is strengthening them. That’s one of the jobs of the Holy Spirit. He likes to strengthen your inner man, and you’ll need it. The world will knock you down. People will knock you down. Our own sin, our own flesh will knock us down. Our failures will knock us down. Families will knock us down. Relatives will knock us down. Relatives will knock us down. It’s just part of life. You’re going to get knocked down.

But the Holy Spirit is something that wants to strengthen your inner man. John Wesley, a great, great preacher years gone by, a great, great preacher. He—I want to read for you in his diary almost a month of his testimony he gave. Now this is his preaching schedule, and there were periods that God just used him greatly. Back in the day, he’s the one that started the Methodist Church back when it was just straight down the line, you know, so much better. But John Wesley, let me read for you in his diary what he said about a month, just talking about how in the world could this guy keep going? Would you listen?

“Sunday, May 5th, preached at St. Anne’s. Asked not to come back anymore.” Okay. Not what we hear of the great John Wesley.

“Sunday evening, May 5th, preached at St. John’s. Deacons said, ‘Get out and stay out.’” Wow. Wouldn’t you like that to preach somewhere? Both times? Both services.

“Sunday, May 12th, a week later, preached at St. Jude’s. Can’t go back there either.”

“A week later, Sunday morning, May 19th, preached in St. Somebody else’s—I can’t say it. Deacons called a special meeting and said, ‘I cannot return.’”

“Sunday night, May 19th, preached on the street, kicked off the street.” Wow.

“Sunday, May 26th, preached in the meadow. Pastor chased out of the meadow as a bull was turned loose during service.” A lot of people just decided to quit, wouldn’t they? I mean, wow.

“Sunday, June 2nd, preached at the edge of town, just edge of town, kicked off the highway.” Listen to this: “Preached June 2nd, same Sunday night, preached in a pasture, 10,000 came to hear Me.”

And God used him to reach thousands upon thousands. Now what was it that gave a man like that the strength after he got kicked out, kicked out, don’t come back, don’t come back? I mean, he tried to go out in a meadow and a preacher let the bull loose on him. I mean, just what? What kept him? The Holy Spirit. It is the thing—it is God. I shouldn’t say a thing. It is God that will strengthen your inner man.

You said, “Preacher, I’m just so weak, I’m so weary, I’m tired of life, I’m tired of problems. Everywhere I look, there’s problems. I mean, my marriage is just—we can’t get our head above water, just finances, help.” What is the thing that can keep you just strong in your inner man? The Spirit of God. He is the one that—by the way, all need strength in the inner man. He is the one that can bring you strength like nobody else.

Sometimes we just lose our desire. I just have a little strength to get up, yeah, but I don’t want to get up. I’ve lost my desire. The Spirit of God is the one that gives you the desire to get up. He strengthens our inner man.

The Spirit of God is wonderful. Did you notice what He said there in Ephesians 3:16? Would you look back at that? That’s just that last part. Ephesians 3:16. What did you see it? To be strengthened—by the way, that’s typically when you’re out of strength—to be strengthened with might by His Spirit. You say, “I don’t have any strength left.” That’s all right. He’s got strength left. And here’s the thing that’s inside of you at the very, very core of you that would give you the power to get up when the world says, “Forget it, fall on it, tight. I’m fed up with it all.” Here’s the one that will—time and time again—it’s the Spirit of God.

I thought about yesterday our ladies, they had a wonderful tea, and I appreciate all the hostesses and all the ladies that made it happen to have a great, great time at this thing. What a wonderful thing. And three guests from Miss Barbara Austin and Miss Williams, I think it is now, and another, Miss—oh, I forget her name—but the three guest ladies that were there, all great ladies. They all speak out a little bit; they’re all preachers, and I’m joking about that. They speak to lady groups.

But, you know, two of those ladies have lost their husband, husband of a lifetime, basically. I know both their husbands, great men, first husbands. One’s not married, one is remarried. But I’m saying, what causes a lady that lost her husband of a lifetime that she loved dearly? What is the strength that she had to get back up? After she—I think the one that I know the best, I knew her husband, very good, and they raised her kids together, and you’re getting older in life, and by the way, he had exercised, and he really had really gone very healthy on his eating and all that, and boom, just died of a heart attack. Shock the world.

What can help a lady like that when your husband that you’ve devoted your life to and sold out to the Lord with? What causes you to get up when I guarantee she didn’t want to get up? The Spirit of God. He can strengthen your inner man.

You say, “Pastor, I don’t have a good childhood. I don’t have roots of royalty. Man, I got roots of ghetto, you know. And man, you talk about problems in my past, my family and all. Man, I got it. You talk about baggage? I got baggage galore. My baggage is a weight down an elephant, you know.” How can somebody like that live for God and keep getting up and up and up and up? By the Spirit of God. He will strengthen your inner man.

I thought about a lady. She has just a house full of kids. Her husband is wanting to start a church. He’s very busy. I think he’s a good husband. I’m not trying to take away from him, but he’s just busy. He works a regular job, trying to get the ministry. He’s busy all the time, and they have a special needs child. And, boy, that can add so much. I went out to eat with a family, and boy, you’re talking about struggles and hard times. What would cause a lady like that to keep getting up and being a gracious lady for the Lord? Really, it’s just kind of humanly beyond humans. The Spirit of God can strengthen your inner man. He can give you something where everybody’s like, “Whoa,” because it’s not you. It’s the Spirit of God living inside of you. He wants to strengthen your inner man.

I thought about a pastor. We mentioned a Sunday school with a pastor, a good man, Steve Goldforth, but if you know him. But buried his granddaughter about a year ago, buried his sister a little over a week ago, and now he’s burying his daughter Wednesday. And I’ve texted; we’ve talked Monday; we’ve texted. And what gives a man—he’s so gracious in him, and he’s making it. How does he have the strength to do all that? He has something inside of him strengthening his inner man. It’s the Spirit of God. And friend, He is there for you to strengthen you. Young people, young people up here on the front, look right here. All the young people right here on the front. Hey, when life’s just got you down, if you’re a born-again Christian, God’s living inside of you, and He can strengthen your inner man like nobody else. He can give you something. He can strengthen your inner man and give you something to go on and go on and go on.

Would you look over in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11? We’re going to change to the next ministry just a moment here, but I want you to see this. Apostle Paul, what a great Christian he was, Apostle Paul. God used him to pen 13, probably 14 books in the New Testament. Help me out. How many books are there in the New Testament? Twenty-seven. So if he penned 14 of them, he penned over half the New Testament. Started probably 13 to 20 churches. He spread the gospel over the western part of the world, really, eventually to us. There’s a great, great Christian, Apostle Paul. But I want you to see some of the hard times he had.

Look in 2nd Corinthians 11 and would you look in verse number 24? 2 Corinthians 11, and would you look in verse number 24 of God’s word? 2 Corinthians 11, verse number 24. This is Paul giving a little testimony about his life, what all he’s been through, or some of the things he’s been through. He says, “Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.”

That—it’s not quite like a cat of nine tells like the Savior went through, but I always think of if you took a cane pole and you just beat someone with a cane pole. You can break bones like that; you can put welts all over the body. It’s kind of like that. Paul went through that five times. Some of you mathematicians, what’s five times thirty-nine? Good deal. You’re the same. Hey, I run out of fingers, amen. I’ll tell you how much of this: It’s a whole lot, amen. There it is, a whole lot.

Let’s keep reading what he’s been through. “Five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods.” By the way, I’m sorry. The first one, the stripes, the 39 stripes, is more a little bit along the line of cat of nine tells. The thrice was a beating with rods was more like with a cane pole. “Once was I stoned.” Now, stone—what does that stone mean? I think the city was in Lystra, and they came with big boulders, big rocks, big stones, and they threw it on the hall to the point. This is people that—they killed people like that. They thought he was dead. People that experienced—they thought he was dead. In fact, eventually they kind of—he went out and dragged outside the city of Lystra for dead. I think as we were talking about later on, he says, “Whether in the body I have the body, I cannot tell. Whether I was dead or alive, I don’t know.” It’s kind of hanging in between life and death. He just talked about that. Okay.

He says, “Thrice was I beaten with rods. Once was I stoned. Thrice I suffered shipwreck.” Three times in a shipwreck. I mean, out in the ocean, just trying to live. “Night and day have I been in the deep.” He said, “I don’t know about you. Anybody ever out there and they say, ‘You know, if you just relax and, you know, breathe in deep and, you know, you can float.’” And this is my always my response to it: “How can I relax when I’m drowning?” You know what I’m talking about? Anybody out there have a hard time floating? Man, floating stuff, it doesn’t work for me. You know what I mean? Give me a life jacket or something, you know? I mean, but he spent a night and day in the deep.

And he’d been through so much. Another passage, I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. In other words, he said, “I got scars on my body.” Now, what would cause a guy like that that’s been through all that to keep getting back up? He did it over and over again.

At one point, he was in prison. He was in jail for preaching the gospel. He’s in jail, and the Bible says at midnight, he prayed and sang praises to God. How did you do that? I always think midnight. That’s significant to me. I think it took him a while to get there. I think another thing that’s significant about it, he prayed first, and then he sang praises. I think he got in tune with the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit strengthened his inner man. That’s the only way he could pray and sing praises when you’ve been beaten and put in jail. He thought he was going to die the next day. The Spirit of God—he made a wrong move, I believe. I think I can prove it from the Bible. He made a wrong move later on in his life when he went back over to Jerusalem. He had so many people that were Spirit-filled, don’t go back there. He went anyway. And so really, he goes back to Jerusalem and this mob just gets a hold of him, about to kill him, you know. The soldiers rescue him, and he tries to give this speech, and it really didn’t turn out good. They had to put him in jail, and eventually over to Rome, and eventually he may got out a little bit between there, but eventually he got killed, you know, by Nero and all that.

But he’s in prison, and a little bit he could say, “Well, it’s my fault. I was warned so many times not to go to Jerusalem by Spirit-filled people.” You know how it is when you make a mistake? When you make a mistake, it makes it worse. If you’re in a car wreck, it’s bad enough, but if in your car wrecking it’s your fault, it isn’t that bad. And if you drive long enough, good chance you’ll be there. I’ve been there before. That makes it worse when it’s your fault, you know?

And so Paul is there, he’s in prison, and he can’t hardly get out; he’s got to go to court. And yet in court, he stands up and he gives a great gospel message while he’s in court. How can he do that when he’s really—it’s his fault he’s there? Because he has somebody, something, strengthening his inner man: the Spirit of God. Even when you mess up and you’ve got problems galore and you say, “Well, that’s my own fault,” God Almighty will forgive and He’ll strengthen your inner man. He is so able to do that.

The last part of his life, he’s in jail. And yet while he’s in jail and all this he’s been through—and by the way, so many people had left and departed from him—sometimes we think his life ended glorious. It didn’t really end glorious. He’s kind of in prison. Now they let people come in and visit him, but a lot of people left him. He’s kind of ministering somewhat on his own, and he’s got the church he’s writing to, but he’s kind of alone in prison. Yet at the end of his life, God uses him to pen—and somebody says maybe his greatest book, of course, it’s all from God—but 2 Timothy, man, he’s writing that book, and he said, “I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith, I have finished my course.” He said, “Hey, there’s a crown of righteousness laid up for me.” How can a man be like that when he’s about to die? He knew he was about to die; he’s in prison. Boy, just so many problems in his life. He could only do that because God Almighty was strengthening his inner man.

It’ll give you strength. The Spirit of God is living inside of you to give you strength. At the last days of his life, over in Acts 20, he says, “Hey, all these problems,” he said, “none of these things move me. I’m still ready to serve God. I don’t care what comes. I’m going to serve Him. I’m going to do it right. I’m going to please Him.” He had something strengthening his inner man. The Spirit of God does that.

Now let’s get one more thing. We’re not a Baptist preacher today; we’re only covering two points. What about that? Something’s wrong here this morning, you know? Would you go back over to John, John 16, and we’ve already emphasized, we’re going to emphasize it again. We’re going to cover this last point, and we’re going to get some fish, spicy-a-grilled fish, and whatever we’re going to get. John, John 16, look at verse number seven. John 16, verse number seven. John 16:7.

He says there, he says, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth”—this first verse we read—“it is expedient for you that I go away.” For if I go away, the what? Comforter. Would you look in John 14? John chapter 14. John chapter 14:16. “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another what? Comforter.” Would you look at verse number 26? Verse number 26. “But the what? Which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.”

And I want you to notice one of the jobs of the Holy Spirit is He is a Comforter. He can give you comfort like no man, no lady. Praise the Lord for good, wonderful wives, good, wonderful husbands that comfort each other, but a husband and wife can’t compare to the Spirit of God. He’s the Comforter.

You’re going to get hurt in life. Can I just say that? You’re going to get hurt. Can I clarify something here? We’ve got a little bit of time. Can I clarify something here? You all with me this morning? You know, you remember that verse, you probably remember that verse on 119:165: “Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them.” Remember that?

When I played football, just intramural football in college, and it was flag, but we had helmets and all that. You could hit each other. You just couldn’t tackle. You’re not supposed to tackle. You understand what they’re saying? And then line us up, then one team on this side, one team on this side, and make us quote that verse. That’s how I know that verse: a bunch of guys fixing to knock, try to knock each other’s blocks off. “Great peace out there was love thy law, and nothing shall offend them,” you know? So when so-and-so knocks your block off, you’re not going to get offended, are you? You know, they go through that a little bit. And I understand, and I’m not trying to nitpick, but “offend” is a little bit different than we think of in our day and time.

You know, we think of offense. “Why are you offended me? I got my feelings hurt.” Well, getting your feelings hurt and offended is two different things biblically. Offending is when there’s a stumbling block that causes you to stumble, you fall, you don’t get up. That’s a true biblical offense.

And I clarify that because sometimes we think, “Well, if I’m spiritual enough, nobody will ever hurt my feelings.” Friend, that’s not true. We sometimes equate it like that. If you’re human, you’re going to get—and you’re healthy—you’re going to get your feelings hurt for it. You understand that. That’s just part of life. Every once in a while, your husband and your wife is going to hurt you. And I’m saying, she hurt me; I hurt her. I’m trying to make that right, baby. Try to crack a joke here. Come on now, you know. What’s going to happen?

And somebody’s going to do something. And by the way, Steve Goldforth said him earlier, I guarantee you, praise the Lord, he’s not offended; he’s not stumbled; he’s still living for the Lord, but he’s hurting. I promise you. And that’s healthy; that’s right. And you’re going to get hurt. If you lost a loved one, I understand tomorrow you’re going to say, “Well, life’s wonderful.” No, no, that’s not human, friend. And it’s all right to hurt. That’s okay. It’s not a sin. If somebody hurts your feelings, that’s not a wrong thing, and they kind of bother you, but that’s all right. That’s just being human. That’s the way healthy humans operate. But if it offends you and it causes you to stumble, not get back up, now that’s the sin.

But the thing is when you get hurt by whatever happens in your life, and it will happen in your life, you get fired from your job or you get laid off, that’s going to hurt.

I was a southern boy up in northwest Indiana and thought I was going to have a good time driving my rear-wheel-drive car in the snow. You know where that’s going. And some of you are going to enjoy it. And I went around, and I got off my second shift job, and I went around that curve, and I fishtailed like I wanted to fishtail, you know. I was having a ball. And I went to correct that thing; it overcorrected, and I introduced the front part of my car to a telephone pole. They were not friends; they didn’t like each other. Did that hurt? You better believe it hurt, man. Hurt my wallet, hurt my pride, hurt just about everything, you know? And that’s all right; life’s going to do that to you. But what I’m saying is you have a Comforter when you’re hurt.

People are going to disappoint you. People are going to break your heart. People you love, you looked up to, they’re going to—“I can’t believe this.” Those things are going to happen. But when you’re there, when you’re triggered, when you’re down, when things are just bothered, sometimes you don’t understand what’s going on, can I say during that time, go to the Comforter? He is there to comfort you during that time. That’s the key time to go to. He is the Comforter.

This old world, that’s so often when they’re down and they’re just discouraged and they blow—and someone did them wrong and those things happened and they realize, “Man, I can’t believe that that really was wrong what they did.” I mean, they go through all those things in life. That’s when you’re tempted to go back to addictions. That’s when you’re tempted to spend your life in bitterness. That’s when you’re tempted to eat and eat and eat and eat and eat. Anybody out there? Come on. I’ve been guilty of these things.

That’s when you’re tempted. You know, some people just when they’re down, they got to go buy something. And their finances will be in good shape, but every time they’re down, the way they kind of get past it, you know, they’re self-medicating, go buy something. You don’t know about y’all out there.

So many people, they’ve tried to overcome a habit, a sinful habit of life, and they’re doing good until problems come, and that’s just the normal course. They go back to these things here. But here’s what I’m saying: It is very key when you’re going through those times, you realize the Comforter, the Comforter. “I need to get to the—I need to talk to the—I need to find out what’s going on with the Comforter. I need to find out if I’ve quenched the dreams that He’s living inside of me.” You know, we do now nowadays sometimes we get like that.

Come on. I know, man, he said, literally, he did this, I think it was on his iPad. He said, “I did it for hours, days and days,” until he got tendonitis, literally. That’s honest, true. He played pickleball. He said, “I can’t play pickleball right now because I did this so much. I got tendonitis.” Come on now. You’ve been there before now. Don’t look at me like that.

And I’m saying when we’re down, we’re prone to these things, and I understand being down. That’s not a sin to be down, but how you handle it and go to the comfort of this inside of you—man, I need something from You. I’ve got to have You, Lord. And you learn to pour your heart out to the Lord, and He can comfort you like nobody else. Nothing else. The Comforter.

Help me out. What have we just discussed this morning? Two main ministries of the Holy Spirit. Yes, to see people say, we’ll talk about that in future. But the first one we talked about this morning, what is it? He wants to strengthen the what? Inner man. You realize how so much of the Holy Spirit is behind the scenes, and that sometimes He’s forgotten about and we don’t deal with it. That’s why we have some of the problems on the surface because underneath, and the Holy Spirit can fix and solve inner problems. What does He do? He strengthens the inner man. And then second of all, He is the what?

That last song we sang this morning, congregational song, “It Is Well With My Soul.” Amazing song. Many of you know it. But a man named Spafford, he was an attorney in Chicago and a real estate agent, and a good godly man, very good Christian. And their four-year-old son, he got pneumonia and sickness. Then their four-year-old son passed. Well, that’s enough. Then in 1871, the Chicago fire, the great Chicago fire, and he lost so much through the Chicago fire. He’s a real estate agent, a successful lawyer. Four-year-old son died, and then he lost so much in the Chicago fire, and he thought, “Well, you know, it would be good for my family if we just got away.” He had some business to take care of. Chicago Fire just happened, whatnot.

So he sent his wife and his four girls across the ocean. “Should y’all go ahead? I’ll meet you over there. I had some last minute business we’ve got to take care of. And you go over there, and I’ll meet you.” And, of course, back in that day and time, they didn’t have jets flying across the Atlantic Ocean very much at all, you know. They didn’t have it at all back then.

And so his wife and his daughters got on the ship, and they’re traveling over. Very tragic, that ship collided with another ship, an iron ship. And I remember right, they say in 12 minutes the ship that his wife and his daughters were on sunk. Quickly went down to the ocean. And, of course, he’s still in Chicago; he doesn’t know about it at that time.

Someone rescued his wife. A couple of them got rescued, and his wife was one of them. A man in a boat just went out, and he said, found a lady; she was still alive, and he pulled her in, and she made it. And she sent a telegram back to Spafford. And this is the words: “Saved alone. What shall I do?” Son died a little before that. Chicago Fire, lost so much, and now his four daughters drowned in the ocean.

Of course, the first thing he did, found the next ship sailing could be with his wife. Everybody knew it was, of course, big news, and everybody knew what was going on. The new hymn. And so when they’re traveling in that ship, and they got about the best they could tell where his daughters had gone down and died, they went and they got him, “Mr. Spafford, the best we can tell, this is where your daughters died.” I say, Mr. Spafford went out, got out of his cabin—he had been alone in there, just a godly man—and he went out on the deck of that ship where his daughters, the water grave. And, of course, he was praying. And the supernatural Comforter gave him the song we just sang. And the song that’s comforted thousands for over 100 years on that deck, he said, “Just God gave it to me: ‘It Is Well With My Soul.’”

“When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, ‘It is well with my soul.’” How? Strengthened his inner man and the Comforter.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, please? You hear this morning, and you say, “Preacher, I do have God living inside of me, the Holy Spirit. I have been saved. There was a time I went to Jesus, and I trusted Jesus as my Savior. I know God is living inside of me. I am a born-again Christian.” I know that you this morning. You slip in that prayer, “I know I’m saved.” I know I’m saved. Many, many hands. I know I’m saved. God bless you. Thank you so very, very much. You can put your hands down.

Can I remind you, you have God living inside of you? It can give you strength when you say, “If people don’t know what I’m going through, I don’t think I can make it tomorrow.” I understand, but there’s something inside of you, God, that can strengthen your inner man. “I’m so broken, I’m so weary, so tired. I’m so bitterness welling up inside of me. What can I do?” You have the Comforter living inside of you.

You say, “Preacher, I’m going to seek the Spirit of God to strengthen my inner man. I’m going to ask Him. I know He wants to. That’s one of His ministries.” I’m going to ask Him, “Would You strengthen my inner man?” That’s going to be one of my prayers. I’m going to ask You, especially during tough times, “Lord, I’m relying on You. I’m asking, would You strengthen my inner man?” God spoke to my heart about that. If that’s you this morning, you slip your hand up. “That’s me. That’s me. I’m going to ask, I’m going to seek for the strengthening of the Spirit of God. Strengthen my inner man.” Oh, that’s so important. He will. He is able.

One of His jobs He likes to do. Thank you so very much. Maybe here this morning and say, “Preacher, I’m going to seek His comfort rather than me going to all the things that I do, and some of them are not wrong, not trying to say that. But I’m going to go to the Comforter when I’m down, I’m discouraged, I’m triggered, I’m in a bad moment. I don’t even know I’m there, but I’m going to go to the Comforter and say, ‘Would You do something? If I’ve offended You, grieved You, quenched You, please help me get right because I need Your comfort.’ And I’m going to seek for the comfort of the Spirit of God when I’m down. I’m going to do that.” That’s you this morning. You slip your hand up. “I’m going to do it, Lord. Remind me when I’m down not to go to all the things, but to go to the Comforter.” That’s you this morning. You slip your hand up. Anybody else? He’s got the answer. I’m disappointed in myself sometimes. I go everywhere else but to God and to the Comforter. Shame on me. Thank you so very much. You can put your hands down.

One last question. You’re here this morning, and you say, “Preacher, I don’t know that God’s living inside of me. I don’t know that I’m saved. I don’t know that I’m a born-again Christian. I don’t have a time that I can look back on. I’m not sure to go to heaven that Spirit of God lives inside of me. I’m not sure I’m saved.” If that’s you this morning, you slip your hand up. “I’m not sure.” If that’s you this morning, you slip your hand up. You’ll slip your hand up. I’m not going to ask you. I’d love to pray for you. I don’t know that I’m going to heaven. Anybody like that? Anybody like that? If you’re not sure you’re going to heaven, just slip your hand up. Slip it up.

Hey Christian, He’s living inside of you. He can strengthen your inner man. He can comfort you like nobody’s business. Would you please stand? Would you please stand? We’re going to have a word of prayer. Would you come just say, “Holy Spirit, I want to get to know You more. I want to yield to You more. I want You to work in my life more.” Would you talk to Him? He is God. Would you just say… I think maybe the greatest sin we do against the Holy Spirit is ignore Him. Would you just get to know Him a little bit? And we’re going to have an invitation. Would you come spend some time with the Lord this morning? Would you do that? Let’s pray, and you come.

Father, thank You for Your love. Thank You, Father. Thank You, Jesus. Oh, thank You for sending Your Spirit. And now, Lord, we yield to You. Holy Spirit, we yield to You. And would You minister in a great way in these few minutes? Well, well, thank You for what You do. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Would you come spend some time with the Lord? Strengthen the inner man or woman. Bring me that comfort. Draw me unto Him. Get to know Him. He can give you something nobody else can. How in the world do these great Christians keep going? They got something to strengthen their inner man and a Comforter, a Comforter.

We’re going to be done. Years ago, we had a little blow-up clown, and it was one of those clowns you blow up, and you can kick it and hit it and knock it down, and it keeps coming back up. You don’t tell me, it was about three or four feet. And they’re like, “Man, what makes this thing keep coming back up?” And down the bottom, there was just a layer of sand that just kept it coming back up. And you get a Christian that’s strengthened by the Spirit of God and is comforted by the Spirit of God. He’s going to get knocked down, but keeps coming back up. He may land on his backside a little bit here and there, but he just keeps getting back up, and the Spirit of God can do that for you. And we’re going to spend some time just focusing on the ministries of the Spirit of God. He’s living inside of you. And so much I want to say, but we want you to come back tonight, amen. So I don’t want to spend too long because that fish is getting cold, right? Amen? And so let’s go get it. Glad you’re here this morning. And be back at your place, 5 o’clock tonight, choir practice at 6 o’clock tonight for service. And thrilled to see every person here. We’re glad you’re here. What a blessing you are. Brother Jim Rennick, would you dismiss us in a word of prayer? Please, brother.

Original File: The importance of the Holy Spirit - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Sunday AM 05072023