Deep inside our inner being, we need true healing and power. As Christians, the Spirit is already within us, searching our hearts, transforming our desires, and changing our attitude toward others. Pastor Lutzer highlights four word pictures in Scripture which represent the blessed Holy Spirit. What would God find if He looked within us?
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Transcript: Welcome to “5 Minutes with Pastor Lutzer.” I’m so excited that you are with us because I believe that God is going to use His word to strengthen our faith and most of all to conform us into the image of Jesus Christ as we do this series on the blessed Holy Spirit. It’s entitled, “When the Spirit Has His Way.” What I’d like to do in the next few moments is to give you some representations of the Holy Spirit as they are found in the Bible. We’ll interpret each very briefly and then next time we’re going to be speaking about the companionship of the Holy Spirit, but for today the representations.
First of all, the Bible speaks about the Holy Spirit as oil. We speak about the anointing don’t we? What does oil represent? Well, it has medicinal qualities. It was used especially in ancient times for people who were sick. They were anointed with oil. And oil soothes, it brings healing, but in addition to that we think of oil in people’s lamps. You remember the story that Jesus told about the ten virgins and five of them had oil in their lamp and the other five didn’t. So the Holy Spirit of God brings us comfort. The Holy Spirit of God also enables us to shed light.
So one of the representations is oil, another is water. You remember in the Old Testament God says in Ezekiel, “I’m going to pour water upon you and I will cleanse you.” And then it goes on to talk about the cleansing of the Holy Spirit and we’re going to be saying more about water because it really does represent the Holy Spirit.
Another example of a representation is wind. This is very fascinating. I wish I had time to turn to it but we must hurry on —except that it is found in John 3, where Jesus said, “The wind blows wherever it wills and so is everyone that is born of the Spirit.” The wind is invisible. Nobody has ever seen the wind, by the way; we have seen the effects of wind but you can’t see wind but also wind has a tremendous amount of power. And even though we know a lot about storms today and weather, there’s still a sense in which we have to wait to see what the weather does. The wind blows wherever it wills.
And you know that verse of scripture, also there in John 3, where Jesus said, “Unless you are born of water and the Spirit, you’ll not see the kingdom of God.” Some people say, “Oh that means baptism because the word ‘water’ occurs.” No, I don’t believe that it does. Did you know that in the text there, the word “wind” and the word “Spirit” is the same word? So what Jesus is saying is unless you are born of water and wind, both of them are representations of the Holy Spirit, unless you are born of water and wind, you will not enter into the kingdom of God.
Well, we must hurry on and I want to emphasize today that there’s another representation and that is fire. And fire can be understood in two senses. n the Old Testament, when fire came upon the altar it was a testimony of God’s approval, but you and I know that fire can also be a testimony of God’s great judgment, because “our God is a consuming fire.”
There’s something else I want to point out and that is that the Holy Spirit is often times represented as a dove. Why? Because doves are very sensitive birds; they get their feelings hurt very easily and so I want to introduce you today, as I conclude, with sensitivity toward the Holy Spirit.
Now, next time we’re going to be talking about the companionship of the Spirit, but I want you to do something. I want you to ask God to look into your life. Say to the Lord,
“Search me, oh God, and see if there be any wicked way in me.” Invite God to search you. He’s already done it but then you and I have the opportunity of seeing what He sees. And allow the fire of God to burn all of the garbage, all of the impurities out of our lives, because remember the Holy Spirit of God is sensitive and the Bible says even as we learned last time, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by which you have been sealed onto the day of redemption.”
Be sure to join me again next time. We’re going to be speaking about the companionship of the Spirit. The Spirit is not some force out there. The Spirit is a personality and you and I have found in the Spirit, the gift of the Spirit, we have found blessed companionship. That’s what Jesus taught. I hope that you join us next time but for today you just go with God.