The Ordinary Signs of the Spirit | John 16:4–15 | Pastor Ben Nistor | May 18, 2025

You may be seated. That's my prayer this

morning that every heart in this room

would confess that Christ is Lord. And

so let me pray for that. And let's pray

as we begin to hear from God's word.

Father in heaven, by your spirit now,

help every heart in this room confess

that Jesus is Lord, that he is the

Christ, that he is the savior of the

world. Lord, that cannot happen apart

from your spirit. It cannot happen by

doing good things. It cannot happen by

attempting to be righteous. It can only

happen by the renewing of your spirit,

through the revelation of the word,

through the conviction, and through the

holiness that comes from your spirit.

And it's in his name that we pray now.

Amen.

Well, this week I need to tell you that

I have experienced the ordinary signs of

the Holy Spirit in this

church. This week as these men are

coming to the front to give you an

outline, I want to share with you some

amazing ordinary signs that the Lord

gave me through our church

body this week.

Ricky and Natalie

Rodriguez sent an encouraging message to

their community group to encourage their

faith and to spur them on to meet. That

is an ordinary sign of the Holy Spirit.

This week, I noticed many of our staff

members at our church gifted

administratively, beginning with Marcy,

including Tia, including Alisa and Anna

and Anna and Anna. We have three Annas

on

staff. I noticed the ordinary sign of

the spirit in the fact that these ladies

are gifted administratively.

this

week. It's incredible,

friends. I observed the ordinary signs

of the spirit as I woke up each morning

and read from the book of Numbers. God

spoke to me through his word.

this

week in our church family, the people

that were

suffering, the people that were

struggling with sin, the people that are

suffering from relationship

problems. I experienced the ordinary

signs of the Holy Spirit in the

healing council of words.

I observe the ordinary signs of the

spirit in the love that I witnessed this

week in our church

body. This morning, I want to remind you

that the ordinary signs of the spirit

are what sustains Sheridan Hills Baptist

Church.

the ordinary signs of the spirit's

outworking in your life and in my life,

convicting us of sin, leading us to

repentance, allowing us to bear fruit,

kindness, love, peace, joy, patience,

faithfulness, goodness,

self-control. Those are the beautiful,

ordinary, powerful outer workings of the

Holy Spirit in our midst.

I remember as a child as I was preparing

for this an encounter I had with a

childhood friend. I was in the Romanian

church and this friend invited me to

their church. And I remember this was

the first time I had ever heard speaking

in tongues done in a public service.

And if you've never done that, if you've

never experienced the speaking of

tongues in a public service, I will tell

you my

experience. The first thing that

happened was fear. I remember being

afraid and not knowing what was going

on. There were people speaking in all

sorts of tongues and I couldn't

understand them. And I was 9 years old.

I thought, "What is happening here?" I

was confused. I was dazed.

But the other thing that happened

immediately was my friend leaned over

and said, 'It's okay. We're

praying. I said, 'You guys pray like

this. That's not how we pray at home or

at at my

church. And they said, it's okay. Don't

worry about it. I'll explain more after

the service. So, I remember my friend

patiently walking me through their

service. It was a new experience for me.

It was a new tradition.

After the service, we went to lunch. And

at lunch, everything seemed fine,

normal. I leaned over to my friend and

said, "Why don't you guys pray at your

table at home the way you guys pray in

the church?" And she said something to

me that has stuck with me to this

day. We only do that at church. We don't

do that anywhere else.

I

thought,

"Wait, aren't we supposed to be

spiritfilled all the time? Why is there

one language at home and another

language at church?" Oh, no. My my

parents don't do that at home. That's

church

stuff. I remember thinking as a

nine-year-old, do I know spiritfilled

Christians? if if you don't if that's

what spiritfilled means, do I know

spiritfilled

Christians? And I remember stepping back

and thinking as a

nine-year-old, I I guess I don't really

know too many spiritfilled Christians

that do it in both places. I I guess

that's that's that group and we're

another group. So, naturally, as a

nine-year-old and this morning, I want

you to ask the question, what does it

mean to be spiritfilled?

What does it mean to experience the

ordinary signs of the Holy Spirit in

your daily life? Church family, we

cannot be confused about the ordinary

signs of the Holy Spirit. We have to be

clear because the scriptures are clear

about the ordinary

signs. Friends, this week in our church,

I

experienced many, many, many

spiritfilled

Christians. And they didn't speak in

tongues.

They didn't prophesy a new

word. They simply followed the ordinary

signs of the spirit. So let's get into

our text. Before we do that, I want to

just re review last week the advent of

the spirit that the old testament

promises the coming of the messiah but

also the coming of the holy spirit. This

is what pastor Andrew preached on last

week that God's salvation comes yes

through the vicarious substitutionary

atonement accomplished through the

virgin birth. the sinless life, the

sacrificial death, the burial and

victorious resurrection of Jesus Christ.

But but when Jesus Christ ascended, he

sent his Holy Spirit to be with us, to

indwell us, to walk with us, to fill us

with the ordinary signs of God. And so

right right after Jesus teaches the

disciples in John 14:15, the text that

John 14:15

we looked at last week in John 16, Jesus

again revisits the idea of the Holy

Spirit coming. And this is John 16:4

John 16:4–5

to5. It's on your outline and it's on

the screen in front of you. Starting in

verse four, this is Jesus speaking to

his disciples. Listen to what he has to

say.

I did not say these things to you from

the beginning because I was with you. So

what is he talking about? This is the

upper room discourse. This is the room

from John 13 to18 where Jesus is

preparing his disciples for his

departure, his death, his resurrection

and ascension. And he's telling them,

look, I'm leaving after I die and rise

again. I'm leaving. And here Jesus says,

I did not say these things to you from

the beginning. all those things from

chapter 13 to 18 in the Gospel of John

because I was with

you. Verse 5, but now I am going to him

who sent me and none of you asks me

where are you going. Verse 6, but

because I have said these things to you,

sorrow has filled your heart. You see,

they were sad that Jesus was

leaving. But look at what Jesus says.

It's surprising in verse 7. Do you see

that on your outline? In verse 7, he

says, "Nevertheless, I tell you the

truth. It is to your advantage that I go

away." Can you underline

that? Did you hear what Jesus just said?

It's so striking and you'll miss it if

you don't pay attention. It is better

for me to leave, Jesus says to his

disciples, than for me to stay. It is

better for me. It is an advantage to you

for me to go. Why? He says in verse 7,

for if I do not go away, the

helper will not come to you. You see,

it's a greater advantage for Jesus to go

so that he can send the helper. This is

the Holy Spirit. You can write up there

above the word

helper. But if I go, I will send him to

you. Verse 8. And when he comes, he will

convict the world. I've made it bold,

but you can circle it. What will the

Holy Spirit do when you when Jesus

leaves? He will convict the world

concerning sin and righteousness and

judgment. Concerning sin because they do

not believe in me. Concerning

righteousness, because I go to the

Father, and you will see me no longer.

Concerning judgment, because the ruler

of this world is

judged. Verse 12, I still have many

things to say to you, but you cannot

bear them

now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he

will guide you. Circle that. He will

guide. When the spirit comes, he will

guide you into all the truth. For he

will not speak with his own authority,

but whatever he hears, he will speak.

And he will declare to you the things

that are to come.

What else will he do? Verse 14, he will

glorify me. Jesus says that the role of

the spirit is to glorify him. Circle

that for he will take what is mine and

declare it to you. All that the father

has is mine. Therefore, I said that he

will take what is mine and declare it to

you. Do you see how the father, the son,

and the holy spirit are working

together? The father gives to the son.

The son receives. The son emanates the

father. To the spirit. The spirit looks

back at the son and says, "All that you

have, I'm going to share with the

world." And so the spirit comes and he

declares Christ. He glorifies him. So

what are the sure signs then or the

ordinary signs of the spirit in the

Bible? Well, let's look at this briefly,

this overview. There are over 240

explicit actions of the spirit in the

Old and New Testaments. There's 240 of

them. The dominant action of the spirit

in both testaments is giving revelation.

Now, that doesn't mean the book of

Revelation. That means all of God's word

from Genesis to Revelation. That whose

job was that? It was the spirit's

job. God, the spirit speaks through the

prophets and apostles to give the word.

That's in 2 Peter 1:21 and 2 Timothy

2 Peter 1:21 2 Timothy 3:16

3:16. We have the Bible and we have the

revelation of the word of God. It's the

complete, whole, perfect, sufficient,

accessible word of God. And that's

because the Holy Spirit gave it to us.

Amen. The Holy Spirit also empowers

individuals in both testaments. You see

this with Moses's life. You see this

with David. You see this with Jesus the

Messiah. You see John the Baptist. And

you see the apostles. The spirit comes

and empowers

individuals. But the Holy Spirit also

participate in creation. In Genesis 1:2,

Genesis 1:2

we see the spirit is hovering over the

waters.

The Holy Spirit gifts skills to

craftsmen in Exodus 31. Who's going to

build the tabernacle? Who's going to

build the temple eventually? It's these

skilled craftsman that the Holy Spirit

gave the gift of craftsmanship to. And

the Holy Spirit also dwelt with God's

people. In the New Testament, the second

most frequent action of the Holy Spirit

after giving revelation is making

believers

holy.

Those two things, revealing the word of

God, the will of God, and making you

holy, those are the two most talked

about actions in the

Bible. Here's some language. The spirit

fills

people. The spirit produces fruit in

believers. The spirit indwells. The

spirit regenerates. The spirit assures.

The spirit convicts. And the spirit

illuminates. I'm going to I'm going to

say that again. The The Holy Spirit is

interested in yours and my

holiness. The Holy Spirit fills people.

He helps produce fruit in believers. The

Holy Spirit indwells. The Holy Spirit

regenerates. The Holy Spirit assures.

The Holy Spirit convicts and

illuminates.

Can you write off to the side good

news? It is good news that we have a

helper. Apart from this helper, we

cannot do these

things. But the helper

comes and he doesn't walk with us. He

lives in us.

The Holy Spirit's signs can be

categorized in two ways. Okay. So when

we talk about the Holy Spirit, we can we

can describe the Holy Spirit's actions

as extraordinary or

ordinary. Extraordinary signs usually in

the Bible

usually occurred during transitional

moments. Let me give you one example.

How many times was the world

created? Once. Wouldn't you say that's

transitional? We went from

disorder. The spirit hovers over the

water and creates what?

Order. Brings the world together.

Organizes the day and the night.

Organizes the different the different

species in their domains. Land, sea,

sky. Who did that? The spirit.

Let me give you another example. How

many times did Israel escape Egypt?

Once. Who did that? Who led Israel out

of

Egypt? The Holy Spirit. Wouldn't you say

that's transitional? That's a period of

time. Let me give you another example.

Who

empowered John the Baptist while in the

womb of his mother?

Who empowered John the Baptist to when

he's born live and dedicate his life to

ushering in the

Messiah? Who did that? The Holy Spirit.

Luke chapter 1 and two tell you that.

Luke 1 · chapter mention

Wouldn't you say that's transitional?

Did John the Baptist come alive again

and do that again? That's one time.

These transitional moments in God's

redemptive plan were

always always in the

scriptures, whenever you see them, the

spirit is there working out God's

redemptive plan. The day of Pentecost,

how many times is that going to

happen? Once. How many times is God

going to send his spirit to empower the

disciples so they can go out into the

world in Judea, Samaria, and all the

ends of the earth? One time in Acts

Acts 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2, the spirit fills these

disciples. They turn the world upside

down and they go and they proclaim the

truth. So these extraordinary signs are

usually during transitional periods in

God's redemptive plan. And they served

to order or reorder God's people for

ongoing ordinary work for a given period

of time.

So, I've given you some examples there,

but let me give you the explanation of

what the ordinary signs are. The

ordinary signs in all of these periods

of God's redemption, they usually follow

this pattern. Are you ready for it? This

is the how the spirit works. He

reveals, then the spirit gives life. He

generates life or life generation and

then sustains ongoing

sanctification. Those three things every

transitional period you'll see the

spirit is there giving revelation life

generation and ongoing

sanctification. Those are ordinary.

Those are typical. Those are assured.

You can be sure that whatever the spirit

is, there's going to be revelation.

There's going to be life. And there's

going to be ongoing sanctification,

ongoing sustained help in

holiness. Often today, Christians tend

to overemphasize the spirit and his

extraordinary signs. Listen carefully.

Today, Christians overemphasize the

extraordinary signs that the spirit

committed in these transitional periods

to the woeful neglect of the ongoing

ongoing ordinary signs of the

spirit. Did you hear that? We often

neglect the ordinary signs of the Holy

Spirit and elevate the extraordinary

signs that occur during these

transitional periods. So, why is that

important for Sheran Hills Baptist

Church? It's important because we may

dangerously elevate extraordinary

experiences. Listen carefully. We may

dangerously elevate extraordinary

experiences over the ongoing ordered

ordinary signs of the Holy Spirit.

For example, in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 12:14

12:14, you might be surprised to know

that the spiritual gift that Paul

emphasizes is not prophecy or speaking

in tongues. It's what?

Love. Why? Because love is an ordinary,

ordered, ongoing work of the spirit. And

when you lose that, it doesn't matter

how you sound in the church. That's

right. And it doesn't matter what

revelation you have. If you don't have

love, you're a noisy gong.

So love is the thrust of the spirit in

our midst. Sheran Hills Baptist

Church. Have you the gift of

administration? If you have no love,

it's

useless. Have you the gift of healing?

Without love, it's useless.

Paul is showing us that extraordinary

experiences do not do not negate the

need for ongoing ordered ordinary signs

of the Holy Spirit. And that's important

because there's two ways we know this is

the case. The the first way or number

two here is that Jesus promises that the

spirit will show signs after his

departure, soon after his departure. And

I'm going to show you five signs and

then I'm going to show you we're going

to end with ongoing signs of the Holy

Spirit. So we're going to move pretty

quickly here. So there's two periods of

time that I want you to kind of get.

What did Jesus describe would be the

ordinary signs that we should look for

in the spirit? And after the spirit

comes, what are the ordinary signs for

the church today? Those two things. So

what did Jesus say in John chapter 16?

John 16 · chapter mention

Let's look at these five signs. So the

sure signs of the spirit soon after

Jesus' departure. There's five of them.

Sign one, two, and three are all the

work of conviction. So let's look at

carefully at what happens in verse eight

and n in John 16. And the text is on the

bottom under each point. It you can turn

back and forth or have your Bible open,

but the text is also there and it'll be

on the screen. The first sign that Jesus

tells us that the spirit is in our midst

is that there's conviction

uh over sin in the world. So the spirit

will convict the world over their sin.

Where do we get this from? Verse 8. What

did the Holy Spir What does the Holy

Spirit do? He will convict the world

concerning sin. And then he gives an

explanation concerning sin. Why does the

Holy Spirit so interested in convicting

the world over their sin concerning sin?

Because they do not believe in

Jesus. So it makes sense if if the

spirit wherever he goes, he reveals the

word of God. He generates life and he

helps ongoing holiness, it makes sense

that the Holy Spirit would convict of

sin because sin is what blocks me and

you from having a renewed life in

Christ. It's amazing that the Holy

Spirit would do this for us. Now, this

immediately is fulfilled in Acts chapter

Acts 2 · chapter mention

2 when Peter preaches and the people are

convicted of their sin in their heart.

This happens right after Jesus leaves

and the day of

Pentecost. It's it's immediate

fulfillment. The second sign is that the

spirit convicts the world over their

self-righteousness. Remember that the

Pharisees and the scribes did not think

they were doing something bad when they

killed

Jesus. Paul himself did not think that

he was doing something bad. In fact,

Paul believed by persecuting Christians,

he was doing something zealous for God.

He was self-righteous.

So the spirit will convict the world not

just for their sin but concerning their

righteousness concerning righteousness

because Jesus says,"I go to the father

and you will see me no longer." It's an

interesting phrase. Why will the spirit

convict them of righteousness? Because

they won't have Jesus to see anymore.

They won't be able to look at the cross

and say, "This man died a righteous

death." They now have to be pierced by

the spirit. The spirit now has to do the

ongoing work of reminding the world that

you cannot be righteous in your own

merits. You have to trust in the merits

of Jesus Christ. He died a righteous man

so that you and I, unrighteous people,

can become righteous. Where do we see

this most clearly in the book of Acts?

In my opinion, it's when Paul is

convicted of his own self-righteousness

in Acts chapter nine when he realizes

the huge mistake he made in persecuting

the church because Jesus appears to Paul

and he says, "You're persecuting me."

And Paul says, "Oh my goodness, I did

not know that." And he repents and he

turns to to faith in Jesus Christ. We

also see this in Philippians 3:4-9 when

Philippians 3:4–9

Paul says, "All of who I am from the

tribe of Benjamin. I'm a Pharisee of

Pharisees. I have all the credentials to

promote my self-righteousness. And he,

you know what he says about his own

self-righteousness? He says, I count

them all as a trash

heap compared to knowing the surpassing

knowledge of Jesus Christ. You see, it's

Christ's righteousness that you need for

God to be pleased with you. It's not

your

own. It's not your families. It's not

your parents. It's not your child's.

It's not your uncles or your

grandparents. It's not that you grew up

in this church or in another church. The

righteousness you need is the righteous

representation of Jesus Christ. You need

that. You and I need that to be saved.

And that's the spirit's work. He's

willing to do that for you. If you look

at the spirit and you say, "I am

self-righteous, and I need to be

trusting in the righteousness of

Christ." The spirit, that's the spirit's

work. It's his ordinary work to change

your heart from being self-righteous to

becoming humble in Christ. The third

sign, so the spirit convicts of sin, of

self-righteousness, but also the spirit

will convict us of our judgment of

Christ. Now he says here in verse 8, he

will convict the world concerning

judgment. In verse 11, he says

concerning judgment because the ruler of

this world is judged. So what are we to

think of this? Remember, Satan, Satan

thwarts, attempts to thwart God's plan

of redemption through Christ. And the

fact that Jesus died and then rose again

destroyed the destroyed Satan's plan. So

Jesus says, "Look, Satan's plan failed.

Do you think yours and my plan to judge

the Christ is going to succeed?"

Absolutely not. So he's judging our

judgment of Christ. In Acts chapter 4,

Acts 4 · chapter mention

Peter confronts Israel's leaders for

judging Jesus Christ wrongly. You can

also see 1 Corinthians chapter 2:8 where

Paul says, "If the rulers of this world

knew what they were

judging, they would never have done it.

But because they were ignorant and they

judged Christ, do you judge Christ in

your heart? Do you think you don't need

him? He's worthless to you? Do you

dismiss him as another sage? Do you

dismiss him as a teacher from the

ancient world? Do you say, you know, I

heard his way, but my way is better?

That judgment, that judgment the Holy

Spirit will convict you of. Where do I

get this from, too? In the scriptures,

we get this from, but we also sing this,

friends. I I love the hymn, How Deep the

Father's Love. Listen to this verse.

This is verse two. Behold the man upon a

cross, my sin upon his shoulders. Listen

to listen to what you sing and I sing.

Ashamed I hear my mocking

voice. Call out among the scoffers.

That's what we do. We sit in judgment of

Christ's work. We say that's not

sufficient. That that's not good. We

judge him. That's our judgment. And not

notice here what we say by faith. It was

my sin that held him there until it was

accomplished. His dying breath has

brought me life. I know that it is what?

Finished. The spirit will convict you of

your sin, of your self-righteousness,

and of your wrong judgment of Christ.

And the spirit turns that away. Instead

of sin, he gives you righteousness.

Instead of self-righteousness, he gives

you humility. And instead of judgment,

he says confirmation. This is the true

Messiah. Then the fourth sign then is

that the spirit guides his people in all

truth that is bound to Jesus Christ. So

one of the things that we need to be

careful of is that the spirit doesn't

operate apart from the father and the

son's revealed will in a lot of

movements today we see that the spirit

is doing something altogether different

from what the father and the son have

done in the

scriptures. Let me convince you better

yet let Christ convince you that that is

not how this operates. That this is not

how this works. When the Spirit of truth

comes, he will guide you into all the

truth. Who's the truth?

Jesus. For he will not speak on his own

authority. Often when I hear name it and

claim it, people walking on the

streets talking about the work of the

Holy Spirit, they act as if the Holy

Spirit is under his own

authority, as though there is a new way

of doing things. And it's not tethered

to the truth, to Jesus

Christ. He will not speak of his own

authority, but whatever he hears, he

will speak and he will declare to you

the things that are to come. The modern

movement that I'm describing and

characterizing and criticizing removes

the spirit from the father and the son

and says there's a whole new thing

happening. It doesn't match what's

happening in scripture. It's a whole new

thing. We we don't separate the father

and the son and the holy spirit. We keep

them together because that's what the

father and son are. They're together.

They're united in their mission, in

their will, in their effort to see

people hear the truth. After the

resurrection, ascension, and Pentecost,

we see the spirit going down and

empowering the early disciples and the

and the church. Peter goes and preaches

to Cornelius in the power of the spirit.

And there's

revelation, there's conviction of

sin, regeneration of life, and ongoing

holiness. We see that pattern repeated

over and over again this morning as you

heard two testimonies. You heard

conviction of sin, renewal by the spirit

in life and ongoing repeated ordinary

signs of walking in holiness. That is

what the spirit does. He guides his

people in all the truth. And then

finally, the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus

Christ by declaring all that he is and

does. I love this. This is John 16:14-1

15. Uh Jesus says, "He the spirit will

glorify

me." If you were if you were ever

wondering what is the Holy Spirit

concerned with

most, it's this to make much to make

known to make visible display in our

minds and our hearts Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit is what presses you and

me to look to

Christ. Not to our

experiences, to the

cross, not to our own efforts and

strength and power and might, but to the

resurrection, to the finished work of

Jesus Christ on the cross. And in the

resurrection, he will glorify me. He

will take what is mine and declare it to

you.

Verse 15, all that the father has is

mine. Therefore, I said that he will

take what is mine and declare it to you.

Do you see those are the three things

that the spirit does? He convicts, he

guides, and he glorifies. The spirit is

doing those ordinary works at Sheridan

Hills Baptist Church. I praise God for

that. I praise God for many of you

brothers and sisters, covenant members

of Sheran Hills Baptist Church who allow

the spirit to convict you, to guide you,

and to help you glorify the Lord Jesus

Christ. You are following in the

ordinary works of the Holy Spirit in

your life from this moment on till the

day we die. The spirit will keep doing

that. He will keep convicting. He will

keep guiding and he will keep glorifying

the name of Christ in our

church.

So what then are the sure ordinary signs

of the spirit in the church today? I'm

going to give you at least six. Okay,

stick with me. Okay, the what we just

talked about was immediately fulfilled

after Jesus ascended into heaven. The

spirit came and did all these

works following Paul's conversion. Do

you know what Paul's first first act is

after he's converted and after he's

spent some time to conileles and and the

scales come off of his eyes? You know

what the first thing Paul does? He goes

to proclaim Jesus Christ. That is a

spiritfilled man.

So, if you want to be spiritfilled, if

you want to be a spiritfilled believer,

listen to what I'm about to say. The

sure signs of the spirit in the church

today, there's six of them that I want

to share with you. The first one is this

on page three. The Holy Spirit still

reveals the beautiful truths of

scripture.

I'm going to use the book of Galatians

which is a powerful book not just on

faith and law but on the work of the

Holy Spirit in the life of a believer.

And so all of these come from the book

of Galatians. So let me share with you

where I get this from. Paul is rebuking

the Galatians. He says, "Oh foolish

Galatians in chapter 3, who has

bewitched

you? It was before your eyes that Jesus

Christ was publicly portrayed as

crucified." Let me ask you this. Paul

says to the Galatians, did you receive

the spirit by works of the law or by

hearing with faith? In other words, Paul

is

asking, how did you become a believer?

Was it through your effort or was it

through the revealed scripture from the

Holy Spirit that pointed to Christ?

What's the answer, church

family?

B. By the revealed word of God. By the

revealed truths of scripture, by

pointing these early Galatian believers

to Jesus

Christ, does the Holy Spirit still

reveal his beautiful truths to you? I

love what George said. Did you catch

what he said? He said, "I used to read

the Bible. I used to read the Bible and

I didn't come away with understanding

and now your testimony was, now I read

it, and I grow in it." Why? because the

spirit still reveals beautiful truths in

this

word. The second thing that the Holy

Spirit still does today is the Holy

Spirit still performs the greatest

miraculous act of

salvation. Do you know what's more

fascinating than healing?

Seeing a lost sinner separated eternally

from God saved. Amen.

That's more miraculous.

That's more

miraculous than raising a dead little

girl. That's more

miraculous than hearing a a spoken

tongue that has never been discovered

before.

all of a sudden make sense to

you. Bridging the gap that's eternal

between God's holiness and my sinfulness

is a

miracle. And Jesus Christ performed

that. Look at this. The Holy Spirit

turns a spiritual slave into a son and

daughter. In Galatians 4:4-7, when the

Galatians 4:4–7

fullness of time had come, God sent

forth his son, born of a woman, born

under the law to redeem those who were

under the law, so that we might receive

adoption as sons. And because you are

sons, listen to this. God has sent the

spirit of his son into our hearts

crying, "What? Aba, father, you are no

longer a slave, but a son." That's a

miracle.

And if a son than an heir through God,

how did that happen? The Holy Spirit

still performs

miracles. The third thing I want to

point to you is that the Holy Spirit

still gives the transformative gift of

sanctification, being made

holy. This is in Galatians chapter 3

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

2:3. It's a it's a logical question Paul

is asking the Galatians. He says, "Let

me ask you this. Did you receive the

spirit of works by the law? Or did you

receive the spirit by works of law or by

hearing the faith? And then he corrects

them. He says, "Are you foolish?" Or

another way to say this is you're

foolish having begun by the spirit. In

other words, having been given life

generation, spiritual bridging of the

gap between an eternal, holy God, and

you, a sinner, having begun by the

spirit, are you now being perfected,

being made holy? You can write

underneath that by the flesh on your

own. Are you being made holy now by

yourself? By your works. What's the

answer, church family? No way. It's the

spirit of God who gives the

transformative gift of holiness of

sanctification. The implication is of

course no. The spirit saves and

sanctifies.

Well, the fourth thing I want to show

you here is that the Holy Spirit still,

and praise God for this, the Holy Spirit

still wages war against sinful flesh.

Friends, this week I experienced the

ordinary sign of the Holy Spirit. The

way I know I have the spirit is because

I have a flesh in my body, in my mind,

in my heart. This sinful flesh that I've

crucified with Christ that still wages

war against the spirit. So in my heart,

I feel a tension. I felt tension this

week to live for God's glory which

competes with my flesh which says don't

live for God's glory live for your

glory. And these two clashed and that

inside of me wells up a

war. I wonder if you have that war

lingering inside of your

heart. How do I know there's a war that

we should feel and experience as

Christians? Because Galatians 5:16 says

Galatians 5:16

this on your outline there. It says, "I

say walk by the spirit and you will not

gratify the desires of the flesh. For

the desires of the flesh are against the

spirit and the desires of the spirit are

against the flesh. For these are opposed

to each other to keep you from doing the

things you want to do." Do you think

that's going to cause

tension? It's absolutely going to cause

tension. When I want to sin, the spirit

says, "No.

When I want to be righteous, the flesh

says

no. There's a torment in the soul and

the spirit is waging war against our

flesh. Can you say amen to that? Without

the spirit, you and I would be dead in

our

sins. The fifth thing I want to see I

want you to see here is that the Holy

Spirit still provides spiritual

gifts. Isn't this amazing?

Not just at Pentecost, but

now perhaps more than ever, the spirit

gives good gifts. Look at this. The

fruit of the spirit is

love,

joy,

peace,

patience,

kindness,

goodness,

faithfulness,

gentleness,

self-control against these

things. Is anybody ever going to come to

you and say, "Stop being so

kind. You're too kind.

I need you to be a little less loving.

Okay, you're too loving and it's really

dampening the mood of the room.

Okay, I love what Paul says to to young

men in Titus. He gives lists to the

older women, the older men, and then to

the younger women. He gives like seven

or eight things for each. And then for

the younger men, he just goes to them.

He goes, "I need you to be

self-controlled. That's it. I don't need

anything else from you. Just be

self-controlled. He wants to emphasize

Paul. In other words, in all these other

lists that he gives in Titus and 1

Timothy and and all these other lists,

he wants you to see that there's an

ongoing ordinary sign of the Holy Spirit

in your life. It's the spiritual gifts

of fruit. Do you have love? Do you have

gentleness? Do you have kindness in your

life? Is that what

rules? I know in my life these are gifts

that need to be

ongoing. I may be tempted to get angry.

I may be tempted to be impatient. My

flesh wants to wage war against the

spirit. What does the spirit do? He

gives gifts. He says, "Here's some more

grace. Here's some more love. Here's

some more patience. Here's some more

gentleness. Here's some more

self-control." The Holy Spirit still

provides spiritual gifts. It's amazing.

And finally, the Holy

Spirit, this is

important, the Holy Spirit still

prioritizes

spiritfilled

community. This is at the end of the

letter of Galatians, if we live by the

spirit, Paul writes in Galatians

Galatians 5:25

5:25, "If we live by the spirit, let us

also keep in step with the spirit." Now,

he's going to describe what that means.

What does it mean to keep in step with

the spirit? What does it mean to be

spiritfilled?

Let us not become

conceited, provoking one another,

envying one another. Brothers, if anyone

is caught in any transgression, you who

are spiritual should restore him in a

spirit of

gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest

you two be tempted. Bear one another's

burdens, and so fulfill the law of

Christ. You see how the law of Christ is

given to the spirit. The spirit comes

and fills us.

Spiritfilled law of Christ living in our

community so that we can bear with one

another. So that we don't have to envy

each other. So that we don't become

conceited. So that we're not tempted. So

that we can restore each other. That is

what we need, brothers and sisters.

Spiritfilled community. We need more of

that, not less of

that. In order for that to happen, we

need the ongoing ordinary signs of the

Holy Spirit.

Do you have the Holy

Spirit? Here's some important questions

for you to answer. Do you have the Holy

Spirit? Let me let me ask you this first

one. When you sin, do you sense an inner

tension or are you numb to your

sin? Do you sense only

guilt? When you have the Holy Spirit,

when you

sin, you

immediately sense this rush of

guilt and immediately run to

Christ. Do we always run to Christ? Do

we always? Of course not. But when you

have the spirit, there's a war inside of

you. We're not playing church here. We

don't just have gifts for church that we

don't do at home.

We have real ordinary signs flowing,

courarssing through us. The same spirit

that raised Jesus from the dead, that

same person is living in you. And if

that person's living in you, you better

believe there's going to be some

tension. Do you have that tension? And

if you have it, that's a sure ordinary

sign that you have the spirit. Another

ordinary sign of the spirit is this.

Number two, do you call Jesus

Lord? and not just call him Lord. Is he

really your Lord? Did you know 1

1 Corinthians 12:3

Corinthians 12:3 says the only way that

you can call Jesus Lord and live like it

is by the

spirit? You can only do that. You can

only say Jesus is Lord by the

spirit. Jesus says, "Many will say to

me, Lord,

Lord, what will be the deciding factor

whether they're spiritfilled or not?" Do

you have the spirit? Do you call Jesus

Lord and really live like it? And then a

final diagnostic question is, do you

seek to use the spirit for your

purposes? Is he a genie? Is he a

force? Is he somebody there at your beck

and call to do what you want?

Or are you interested in the spirit's

purpose? What is the spirit's purpose?

It's to glorify Jesus. Remember this,

the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus. You

better believe that if you have the

spirit, that's going to be your goal,

too. Sheridan Hills church family, I am

part of a church that is filled with

spiritfilled Christians.

And I can tell you that when I think of

many of your lives and as I've reflected

over this last week, beginning with my

brother pastors who I serve with who

want and make the aim of their

ministries Jesus Christ, to our staff,

to our deacons, to our community groups.

I am so grateful that the Lord is using

ordinary signs in our church to remind

us of his ongoing work of holiness, of

revelation, of

conviction, of truth so that we can be

who he wants us to be. All that the

spirit does is to glorify Jesus. Let's

glorify Jesus as a church family. Amen.

Let's stand for prayer.

Father in

heaven, thank you for sending

Christ. Lord Jesus, thank you that when

you came to

earth, you did not seek to do your will.

You came to do the will of the

father. Many times you told us that your

aim in your earthly life was to obey the

father's will.

Lord Jesus, thank you for teaching us

that the will of the spirit is to do

your will and spirit, spirit of our

living God. We thank you for now filling

us to look to Christ who looks to the

father and who declares his will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

Thank you triune God, father, son,

spirit for this magnificent work,

ongoing work in our lives. We do not

deserve the sanctification of the spirit

and we do not deserve the salvation of

Christ. And in your infinite wisdom, in

your kindness, in your

love, you sent Christ to die for

sinners to commit the greatest

miracle, which is to save sinners so

that these sinners can be washed,

sprinkled in the blood of Christ,

renewed, regenerated, and sanctified by

the spirit for all

eternity. That is your work, God, and we

thank you for it. Make Sheridan Hills

what you want it to be. Fill us more

with your spirit, not less. We ask,

Lord, that we would not grieve the

spirit. We ask that we would not quench

your spirit, but Lord, that we would be

convicted, that the truth would guide

us, that it would lead us to new life,

and that Lord, it would result in the

ongoing work until we wait for Christ to

come back in Jesus name. Amen.