This sermon emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit in softening our hearts, giving us compassion for others, empowering us to be witnesses for Christ, and uniting believers as one body. It highlights the importance of allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us to love the lost, receive power, spiritual gifts, and maintain unity. Additionally, it explores how the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, draws people to Christ, enables the new birth, and makes a confession of faith in Christ possible.

See, the Holy Spirit is there to soften our heart, to give us a heart of love, a heart of compassion. Jesus looked upon those multitudes of people, it says he was moved with compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. We can have that same compassion. If we allow the Holy Spirit to give us that heart of love, and as I've said previously, if you don't have that heart of love, then everything you do trying to reach the lost, preach to them, invite them to come to church, it just comes across as a religious exercise. It makes you feel good that you went out, talked to somebody about Jesus, doesn't do them a bit of good because they don't feel the love, they don't see the concern, they don't see the compassion. But the Holy Spirit working in our hearts can give us this heart of love for the lost. And I think that's critical. If you don't have that, ask the Holy Spirit to give you that heart of love for your neighbor, your co-workers, people in your neighborhood, people in your family. Not the ones that are easy to love, but the ones that are difficult to love. We don't need the Holy Spirit to do things that we do on our own, we need the Holy Spirit to change us, to enable us, and to equip us to do what is impossible to do on our own. Number five, the Holy Spirit gives us power to be witnesses for Him. Power to be witnesses for Christ. Acts 1a, Jesus says you will receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon you to be witnesses, first in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and even unto the uttermost parts of the earth. So He said, wait in Jerusalem, don't leave Jerusalem until you're filled with power from on high. And that's what we see happening in Acts chapter 2. That same power is available to you and to me today because the need today is just as great as the need was then. We cannot rely upon our own strength, our own intelligence, our own financial resources to do the work that God has called us to do and to live the life that God has called us to live. We must rely upon the Holy Spirit to fill us and to empower us to be witnesses for Christ and to live the life that He has called us to live. And along with that, number six, the Holy Spirit empowers us with spiritual gifts, with miracles and with healing and laying on of hands, with words of knowledge and words of wisdom and prophecy and all of the spiritual gifts. And some people say, well, I don't believe that the spiritual gifts are for today. I don't believe that tongues are for today. I don't believe that the Holy Spirit is for today. Why not? We still have the same need. The needs haven't changed. The people haven't changed. We still have the same needs and God still has the same desire to pour out His Spirit upon all flesh. So why in the world, again, would you limit God because you can't get your mind wrapped around the idea that God wants to pour out His Spirit upon all flesh, that God wants to produce spiritual fruit in your life. He wants to bless you with spiritual gifts and for you to be able to use those gifts to be a blessing to other people in the body of Christ and to the rest of the world. Those disciples there in the book of Acts chapter two, they were a testimony to the whole world. It wasn't just a personal revival that they had, but they were using what God had given them and blessed them with to bless other people. That's the purpose of spiritual gifts, is to encourage and edify and strengthen the body of Christ. Yes, but it's also to help us and to aid us in being a witness to the lost. Finally, the Holy Spirit binds us together as one body in Christ. One body in Christ and the surest sign that we are walking in the flesh and that we are carnal is the fact that we're not in unity. And by unity, I don't mean like-mindedness in that we all agree on the same Bible translation. We all agree on the same doctrine. We all agree around the same teaching, but like-mindedness in the sense that we are all baptized into one Lord, one faith, one spirit. First Corinthians 12 13 says, by one spirit, we were all baptized into one body. By one spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and have all been made to drink into one spirit. For in fact, the body is not one member, but many. So we are many members and many different members, many different opinions, and yet one body in Christ. And that's what we have to focus on. We have to focus on things that bind us together in Christ, and only the Holy Spirit can empower us to do that. Have you ever been in a group or with other believers, and there was a difference in belief, a difference in practice, a difference in worship? And so you sense the clash there. But at the same time, you sense that the Holy Spirit was there binding you together, and there was a love that you had. A love that was more important than what you were in disagreement about. A love that bound you together in a way that overshadowed whatever differences that you might have had. That's the power of the Holy Spirit, working together to bind us together into one body in Christ. And it's so critical in these last days. We've got to stop dividing the body of Christ based on stupid things, and begin to focus on the things that we are in agreement on, so that the Holy Spirit can empower us and give us strength to be witnesses and ambassadors for Him in these last days. And we can't do that if we're fighting with one another. Now these, and there are many others, trust me, but these are seven ways that the Holy Spirit empowers believers. But what about what the Holy Spirit is doing in unbelievers? Because remember we read, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. And then he says, I'll pour out my Spirit upon my manservants and my maidservants. So it's all flesh, and then it's His servants. See? So how is God working with unbelievers? How and to what purpose does God pour out His Spirit upon all flesh? Now, word of caution. John 14, 17. When God says, I'm going to pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, He is not suggesting that He is going to fill everybody with the Holy Spirit in the same sense that you and I are filled with the Holy Spirit. John 14, 17. Well, going back to 16. John 14, 16. Jesus says, I will pray the Father and He will give you another helper that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive. That's the difference. Whom the world cannot receive. Why? Because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. So there's a difference in how the world relates to the Holy Spirit compared to how the body of Christ relates to the Holy Spirit. We can, as the body of Christ, as believers in Jesus, we can receive the Holy Spirit. We can be filled with the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit is known by us and dwells within us. The world, on the other hand, cannot receive the Holy Spirit because it doesn't see Him and it does not know Him. So the world can't receive the Holy Spirit in the same way that you and I receive the Holy Spirit. That requires a new creation. It requires a new heart to receive the Holy Spirit. So the world doesn't have access to that. But that doesn't mean that God is not working through the Holy Spirit in their life. So what is He doing? Well, number one, and probably most critically important, the Holy Spirit is working in the lives of people who don't even believe in order to restrain the full effect of evil. There's a restraint on evil. Now, when you look at the world, sometimes you wonder, right? But just think of how bad things would be if it were not for the Holy Spirit, if it were not for the presence of God, if it were not for you and I as the light of the world being a witness. Think of how bad it would be then. With no check, with no restraint, with no boundary. But that's the way society is trying to go. That's the direction it's trying to go in. It doesn't want any restraints, doesn't want anybody to tell them what to do, doesn't want any restrictions. But yet the Holy Spirit is working to provide a restraint on the full effect of evil that people are capable of. How do I know this? Because John 16, verse 7, Jesus says, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send him to you. And when he has come, he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Here we have right here an example of why God is pouring out his spirit upon all flesh in the last days. It's not just to give you and me power to be witnesses and to produce spiritual fruit and all those other wonderful things that we just talked about. It's for another purpose as well. God pours out his spirit upon all flesh. Why? So that he can convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin, because they do not believe in me. Of righteousness, because I go to my father and you see me no more. Of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. See, the problem with a lot of liberal philosophy and liberal moral philosophy today is they're trying to establish a false basis for right and wrong. And it's a basis that says, we don't need God to tell us what's right and wrong. Right and wrong is relative. It depends on the situation. It depends on how you feel. And so with that approach, we can justify just about anything. So one way that the Holy Spirit is working in this world is to convict the world of sin. First of all, there is such a thing as sin. There is an absolute moral standard laid out by God that says this is right and this is wrong. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin. It tells us that there is such a thing as sin. There is such a thing as a moral standard. There is such a thing as commandments that were handed down by God that says, don't kill, don't steal, don't commit adultery. There is a sense of right and wrong. There is a morality in this universe that was established by God. And when we violate that, it's sin. And so the Holy Spirit, one of his functions is to convict the world that there is such a thing as sin. Now they can resist that all they want to, but deep down, their very resistance to the idea demonstrates that they know deep down that there is such a thing. He will convict the world of sin and of righteousness. Just as there is such a thing as sin, meaning God is not pleased with this behavior, God does not approve of this behavior, there is such a thing as righteousness. So sin and righteousness, the Holy Spirit is teaching everyone to the extent that even if they go against what the Holy Spirit is teaching them, they still know deep down inside of them that there is a right and there is a wrong. And the Holy Spirit is there to convict, to convict, to convict. And then of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. Now a lot of people take this judgment and they think, yeah, the Holy Spirit is there to convict you that you're gonna go to hell if you don't become a Christian. But what I see here in this word judgment, it's Jesus didn't say that he would convict the world of their judgment, the Holy Spirit is convicting the world of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. In other words, the purpose of convicting them of judgment is to say, turn from your wicked ways, return to the Lord, repent and believe the gospel because the way that you're going, you're heading for destruction because the ruler of this world is judged. And so our message is to enter into the kingdom of God, enter into a new world where righteousness dwells. But you see, the Holy Spirit is doing that. He's teaching people by convicting the world. That's why God is pouring out his spirit upon all flesh. Does that make sense? Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. But without the Holy Spirit working in the lives of those who don't believe, they're never going to believe. And whatever you and me say is not going to have any effect unless the Holy Spirit is there to convict of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. Secondly, the Holy Spirit is drawing all men to Christ. The Holy Spirit is drawing all men to Christ in Revelation 22, 17. Revelation 22, 17. It says that the spirit and the bride say, what? Come, not go away, not go away. We're full, we don't want anybody else or we're too holy for you sinners to come and be among us. No, it says that the spirit and the bride say, come and let him who hears say, come and let him who thirsts come, whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. The spirit and the bride say, come. And I would suggest to you that the Holy Spirit is always, always, always calling out along with the bride of Christ, the body of Christ, which is what you and I are. We are also to be inviting people to come, to come and drink of the water of life freely. And the reason we are saying that and the reason we give that invitation is because the Holy Spirit likewise is inviting all people to come and to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, which is Christ. So without the Holy Spirit drawing people to Christ and revealing Christ to them, they're not going to be saved. In fact, and the third thing is the Holy Spirit makes the new birth possible. Jesus said in John 3, 5, that unless you are born of water and of the spirit, you cannot enter into or see the kingdom of God. So the Holy Spirit has to be working in someone's life to do what, to convict them of sin, righteousness and judgment, to draw them to the Lord by highlighting their hunger and their thirst and saying, here's the solution. And it's the Holy Spirit who makes the new birth possible. All of us were able to enter into the kingdom of God because we were born of the spirit. The spirit is just as the Holy Spirit was hovering over the chaos of Genesis 1. It says, in the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was chaotic, void. Darkness was upon the face of the deep and the spirit of God brooded over the waters. God said, let there be light and there was light. In the same way, the Holy Spirit is brooding over the darkness and the chaos of this world because God has poured out his spirit upon all flesh to prepare them for you and for me to go and reveal Christ to them and to show Christ to them. But if we can't go, or if we won't go, God's not just going to shrug his shoulders and say, oh, well, I tried. He's going to seek and save the lost and he's going to look for that lost sheep until he finds him and brings him home. And if that means that he has to reveal himself through visions and dreams to Muslims in a nation that Christians aren't allowed, that's what God will do. You see, the whole point of this is it's not by might, it's not by power, but it's by my spirit, says the Lord. So get it out of your head that it's up to me and you to somehow find the superhuman strength to do it in our own power. It's nothing to do with you and me. It has to do with us yielding and surrendering ourselves to a power that is much greater than ourselves. It's not by might, it's not by power, it is by my spirit, says the Lord. Finally, the Holy Spirit is working with unbelievers because it is the Holy Spirit who makes a confession of faith in Christ possible. 1 Corinthians 12, 3 says that no one can say Jesus is Lord. No one can say Jesus is Lord without the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit has to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Holy Spirit is drawing all men to Christ. The Holy Spirit is making the new birth possible. And the Holy Spirit is making that confession of faith to be able to call out upon the name of the Lord and be saved and to call Jesus Lord and to make him Lord of my life. It's the Holy Spirit within a person that empowers them and enables them to do that genuinely. It's just like that old song says, all over the world, the spirit is moving. All over the world, like the prophet said it would be. All over the world, there's a mighty revelation of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. TheSchoolOfChrist.org