Lesson 3

The Promise --- Spirituality

Jeremiah 17:5-10 John 7:37-39

The only way any Christian can run his race and expect to win is by plugging in to the energizing power of God the Holy Spirit. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we are energized. Our sin nature is rendered inoperable (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 5:16; 1 John 3:6), and we are able to run toward the goal. When we are not filled with the Holy Spirit, our flesh is in control, and we are 100% out of commission as far as God is concerned. Apart from the filling of the Holy Spirit, there is no growth, no service, no blessing, no reward. Satan's cosmic system opposes spirituality--the filling of the Holy Spirit--at every turn. The enemy does not want us to understand the simplicity of God's promise of power.

Jeremiah vividly describes the curse that comes with confidence in human strength. Trying to solve the problems of life by relying on human good, human intellect, human technology: human strength, is stepping outside the power sphere of God. If we think we can fight the spiritual battle in human strength, we are dead wrong.

When we discount God and turn our backs on the source of all goodness, all truth, all knowledge, all peace, we guarantee misery for ourselves. Any person or any nation who places faith in human strength will be cursed, and no one can blame God, because the curse is self-induced.

The result of reliance on human strength is isolation and spiritual dryness. Life will be unbearably harsh and utterly fruitless. The one who chooses this path will not see prosperity, the blessings of God. When we are where God wants us to be, we receive maximum blessing, because that is the place where God determined from eternity past to drop our supplies. If we are not receiving blessings, it is because the blessings are being dropped for us from the grace of God, but we are somewhere else. We have been distracted, misplaced, and are at the wrong place at the wrong time. God has promised to do everything necessary to make us great in His plan. If we want to do things our way, His prosperity will be there, but we will never see it.

On the other hand, if we realize that we are powerless and that only in divine strength can we stand, then God declares us blessed. "Trust" is batach, the Hebrew word for wrestling faith. To trust in the Lord is to fight our battles relying on divine power. We humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and cast our cares on Him, because He cares for us (1 Pet. 5:7). We take our problems, our pressures, our adversities and body slam them on the Lord, remembering that the battle is His (1 Sam. 17:47).

To illustrate the blessing of trust in the Lord, Jeremiah describes a desert where the river is the only source of life. The river is a picture of God the Holy Spirit. Everything outside the bounds of the river is nonproductive. But by the river a glorious tree is planted; this fruit tree is a picture of the believer living by faith. The roots of the tree reach toward the river, illustrating the supply system that comes through spiritual growth. As the invisible root system grows, so does the tree, but the root system is always greater than the tree--there is more underground than there is aboveground. The supply system is invisible; the production is visible. For the Christian, inner character and greatness will always be more than that which is visible to other people.

When Jesus told Nicodemus "that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6), He was drawing a line and saying that everything on one side is death and everything on the other side is life. On every page of the Word of God, we are shown the contrast between the two— between darkness and light, hate and love, the cosmic and the divine, the visible and the invisible, the sinking sand and the solid rock. The following are only a few of the Biblical terms synonomous with spirituality and carnality and their effects.

1. Filled with the Spirit versus controlled by the old sin nature (Eph. 5:18)

2. In the Spirit versus in the flesh (Gal. 5:16-17)

3. The energy (or works) of the Spirit versus the energy of the flesh (Eph. 3:20) (The Greek energeia, translated "works" in this passage, is the source of the English words "energy" and "energize".)

4. Being in (or having) fellowship versus being Out of fellowship (1 John 1:3-7)

5. Godliness versus ungodliness (1 Tim. 3:16)

6. Spiritual versus carnal (1 Cor. 3:1)

7. The spiritual man versus the natural man (1 Cor. 2:14)

8. Walking in the light versus walking in the darkness (1 John 1:6-7)

9. Walking by faith versus walking by sight (2 Cor. 5:7)

10. Divine good, divine production versus human good, human production (Eph. 2:10) ("Good works" in this passage is from agathos, which refers to absolute or intrinsic good, and ergon, "work, enterprise, production.")

What makes a person spiritual? Some people would look to externals for the answer—they would say a person is spiritual because of the pious way he dresses or talks, the things he does or does not do, the places he goes or refuses to go. Others would say a person is spiritual simply because he believes in and seeks to tap some sort of higher power in the universe. Webster’s dictionary vaguely defines spirituality as "sensitivity or attachment to religious values."

God’s definition is anything but vague. According to the Bible, a person is spiritual when—and only when—he is filled with the Holy Spirit. Spirituality us an absolute—at any moment of time we are either one hundred percent filled with the Spirit and therefore spiritual, or we are not filled with the Spirit at all and are therefore carnal (1 Cor. 2:14-15, 3:1-4; Gal. 5:16-17, 6:1).

At the moment of salvation, every believer is indwelt by God the Holy Spirit. Indwelling is a once-for-all thing; it cannot be changed or lost. The Spirit indwells every believer all the time (Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 6:19-20; Gal. 3:2, 4:6). But with the indwelling, an inner conflict begins between the Holy Spirit and our old sin nature. Our volition—our freedom to choose-is the arbiter in the conflict. We decide moment by moment who will be in control of our soul.

So, the filling of the Spirit is a matter of choice. We are commanded to be filled (Eph. 5:18), and we choose every day whether to obey that command or not. The command in Ephesians 5 is in the passive voice, indicating that the filling of the Holy Spirit is a gift which we can receive or reject, but cannot earn. Like everything else in the Christian life, the filling of the Holy Spirit comes one way: by grace through faith. We lose the filling of the Spirit by choosing to grieve or quench the Spirit through sin or apathy (Eph. 4:30; 1 Thess. 5:19). We regain it by choosing to confess, which results in our being cleansed from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9; Prov. 1:23).

Being filled with the Spirit is not an end in the Christian life, it is the means to an end. The Holy Spirit is not given to us for nothing; He is given to us to provide power for life. Our goal is to bear fruit (John 15:4-5); the fruit described in Galatians 5:22-23 is the character of Jesus Christ. Spirituality—the life that is produced by the consistent filling of the Holy Spirit—is the life of Christ in us.

The heat in Jeremiah 17:8 is a picture of testing, crisis, temptation; the year of drought refers to extended times of pressure. The green leaves are proof of the strength and health of the tree. The maturing believer will be spiritually strong, healthy, and vibrant in spite of testing. He will not only not be anxious or worried, but will also not cease to yield fruit.

Anxiety-worry-and divine production cannot coexist. Divine production requires the filling of the Holy Spirit. We are either controlled by the Spirit--spiritual--or controlled by the flesh--carnal--at any point of time. Worry is a mental attitude sin. Sin takes us out of the divine power sphere. Therefore, it is impossible to be worried and at the same time to be the channel of divine production.

The fruit that the believer will not cease to yield as he draws power from the stream is the fruit of the Spirit described in Galatians 5:22-23--love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. "The fruit of the Spirit" in this passage is singular; it is one fruit, produced like grapes on a cluster.

In the physical realm fruit bearing takes time. We see signs of fruit on a young tree, but full, ripe fruit is found only on a mature tree. In the spiritual realm, as young believers when we are filled with the Spirit we will show signs of fruit. If we continue to choose to walk in the Spirit, we will grow, and the maturing fruit will be an evidence of our growth. At no time can we produce the fruit of the Spirit in our own energy. Jeremiah explains why we so desperately need the divine system of power.

The heart--referring here to the inner man, the place where thinking takes place--is aqob, "deceitful," "fraudulent," "supplantive." The mind without faith is under the dictates of the sin nature and absolutely cannot be trusted.

Not only is it more deceitful than anything else, it is anash, "incurable," "malignant." Who can understand the heart of man? No one but God. Only God knows our real inner workings, and without God we could never understand ourselves. Without the convicting and teaching and illuminating minis tries of God the Holy Spirit in our lives, we could never understand who we are and why we do the things we do.

"Search" means "to look for content." "Test" means "to diligently examine with the intent of finding function." God, of course, always knows what is in our hearts, but He wants us to know. He wants us to understand what is on the inside and who is in control there. We will never know what is going on in our souls until God brings it out. So He tests us by putting us sometimes in adverse situations, sometimes in prosperous situations, giving us the chance to apply what we know (Heb. 4:13).

The ultimate purpose of God's searching and testing is to give to each o~ us according to our ways, according to the results of our deeds. "Ways" refers to content. "Deeds" refers to function. God is not concerned only with what we do, but much more with how we do it. The Lord Jesus Christ told Nicodemus that there are two kinds of life: physical and spiritual. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh," He said, "and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6). Nothing that we do in the power o~ the flesh is acceptable to God (Isa. 64:6). Only what is produced by the Spirit o~ God through us is worth anything.

The thirst Jesus is talking about is spiritual. The Lord phrases His invitation in a conditional sentence. "if any man is thirsty" is a third-class condition that means " maybe you are thirsty and maybe not." The verb dipsao, "thirst," is a present active subjunctive. The subjunctive mood indicates potential. The active voice indicates that this is a matter of personal choice. We decide whether to be spiritually thirsty or not.

If we decide that we will be thirsty, then we decide whether we will quench our thirst or not. The solution to thirst is to take a drink. The phrase, "let him come to Me," reminds us that there is only one place where our thirst will be quenched--in Christ. In the imperative mood, it is the Lord's command to us. Pine, "drink" is a present active indicative. Again, the active voice indicates that we make the choice of whether or not to drink. In verse 38 Jesus makes it clear that to drink means to believe. Faith is analogous to the drinking that quenches our thirst.

Every one of these verbs--"thirst," "come," "drink," "believe"--is in the present tense, indicating continuous action. We choose whether we will keep on being thirsty; we choose whether we will keep on coming to Christ and drinking; we choose whether we will keep on believing. Only through moment-by-moment faith in Christ can we quench the moment-by-moment thirst of the soul.

John makes it clear that the Holy Spirit, who would be sent to indwell every believer after Christ's crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, is the source of the rivers of living water. Only faith can open the floodgates in our souls and release the power of the Spirit of God to flow through us.

Water in Scripture is sometimes a picture of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:17; Joel 2:28-32).

1. Water is an absolute necessity of physical life; the Holy Spirit is an absolute necessity of spiritual life. There is no spiritual life apart from the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit and no spiritual production apart from the filling of God the Holy Spirit.

 

2. Water quenches physical thirst; the Spirit satisfies the soul.

 

3. Water washes; the Spirit sanctifies. Just as we need the daily application of soap and water to cleanse the body, we need the constant application of confession through which the Holy Spirit cleanses our souls.

 

4. Water refreshes the body; the Spirit renews the soul. If we will allow Him to do what He was sent to do, God the Holy Spirit will renew our soul when it is aching under the blows of life.

 

5. Water is a source of power; the Spirit is the source of power for living. We can harness the power of a river and produce enough electricity to light up a city. We can harness the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives and light up the world around us.

1. Be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). "Be filled’~ is the present passive imperative of pleroo, a word that means "to fill a deficiency, to fill with quality, to fully influence, to fully possess." The present tense tells us to keep on being filled. The passive voice means that we do not produce the filling, we receive it. The imperative mood means that this is a command from God. We are commanded to keep on being fully controlled by the power of God the Holy Spirit.
2. Grieve not the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30). "Grieve" is Iupeo and refers to the kind of grief and sorrow someone feels when he loses a loved one. This is how the Spirit of God responds to us when we are in carnality. By using a negative with a present imperative, Paul is ordering the Ephesians to stop doing something they are doing. "Stop grieving the Holy Spirit!" The context tells us that grieving the Spirit has to do with sin.
3. Quench not the Holy Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19). Sbennumi means "to extinguish," as one would douse a fire. "Do not douse the fire of God the Holy Spirit." Again, the present imperative with the negative is a command to stop doing something; some in the Thessalonian church were apparently making a habit of quenching the Spirit. The context of the verse tells us that "quenching" has to do with indifference toward the Word of God. We cannot get lax in our dedication to the Word because only the Word can maintain the steam of the filling of the Holy Spirit.
4. Walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16). Peripateo, "walk," is a present active imperative. The active voice tells us this has to be a personal volitional decision. The present tense tells us to keep on choosing to walk this way, to make this a way of life. The imperative is a command from God. To walk in the Spirit means to live every day in the power of the Holy Spirit.

When we grieve God the Spirit, when we quench His power in our lives, then we are not filled with the Spirit; we are out of fellowship. The solution to being out of fellowship is simply confession, which always brings restoration (1 John 1:9). When we live in fellowship, filled with the Spirit of God and obedient to the Word of God (1 John 2:3), our sin nature is rendered inoperable (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 5:16; 1 John 3:6).

"Grieve not," "quench not," "walk in" the Spirit—all in the active voice—are personal decisions that will result in our consistently being "filled"—passive voice—with the Holy Spirit.

Jeremiah 17:5-10

Unit 3, Lesson 3

2. Based on the illustration of Jeremiah 17, describe the life of the person who relies on human power. Describe the life of the person who relies on God’s power.

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3. What does the river in Jeremiah 17 illustrate? In what New Testament passage does Jesus talk about this same river?

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4. What is the fruit that the believer living by the river will produce?

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5. What is the Biblical definition of the "heart"?

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6. What produces sprititual thirst in a beliver?

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7. How is water a picture of the Holy Spirit?

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8. What four commands must we obey in order to harness the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives?

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9. What is the difference between the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the filling of the Holy Spirit?

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10. Describe a "spiritual" person. How does one become spiritual?

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11. Name at least five Biblical terms that are synonomous with spirituality.

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12. How would you explain spirituality to a friend? What Scriptures would you use to back your claims?

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