You’re His and He’ll tell you so often.

Steve Brown:
Your His and He’ll tell you so often. Let’s talk about it on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
That was Steve Brown. He doesn’t want to be your guru, and he’s not trying to be your mother. He just opens the Bible and gives you the simple truth that will make you free. Steve’s a lifelong broadcaster, author, seminary professor, and our teacher on Key Life.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. We’re going to different texts in the Bible as we’re looking at one of the most significant doctrines in the Bible, and that’s the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit begins by being involved in creation and ends by entering us. The Holy Spirit is living in me. We saw yesterday that the Holy Spirit convicts the believer of sin, John 16:8.

And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin.

Now, that’s talking primarily about those who are not believers, but it also applies to a believer. Did you hear about the man who was drunk and his wife who was a Christian had asked, can I pray for you? And he was going through the DTs and it was a hard time. And so, he assented for her to pray for him. And so, she knelt down beside him, looked up into the heavens and said, Dear Lord, My husband is drunk and he pulled her blouse and said, Honey, don’t tell him I’m drunk. Tell him I’m sick. I want you to know that’s kind of what the Holy Spirit does. He doesn’t let you use rationalizations. He doesn’t let you make excuses. He doesn’t let you back off and said, I really meant, the Holy Spirit says, this is the way, walk in it. And when you’re not walking in it, I’m going to let you know in a loving and kind way that you’re not walking in it. Let me show you something else that’s really important. The Holy Spirit, not only convicts. The Holy Spirit confirms, in II Corinthians 1:21 through 22, Paul writes.

Now he who establishes us with you in Christ has anointed us in God, who has sealed us and given us the Spirit and our hearts as a guarantee.

Do you ever sometimes wonder if you’re saved? You struggle with assurance of that sort of thing? Let me tell you, there’s something that is really good and that is that God will tell you over and over and over again that you’re his. Charlie and Ruth Jones are friends of mine. They are some of the finest and most gifted dramatists in the country. And they do sketches that are amazing and sometimes profound. And one for which Charlie and Ruth are known more than any other is Billy. And Billy was picked up at the hospital and adopted. And Billy struggles all of the time with whether or not he belongs. And the whole sketch is built around the parents saying to him in a thousand ways, You’re mine. I picked you out. You’re mine. And Billy at the end rejoices because of one thing, he belongs to them. We can rejoice in the same thing. I’ve probably told you the story before about the boy who worked for months making a toy boat. It was so cool, and he took it down to the seashore and put it in the water, and it worked. I mean, it was so nice, and then a wave grabbed it and took it out a little further. And then another wave came along and took his little boat out a little further and to his horror, as he watched the little boat, it disappeared over the horizon. He was sad and devastated because he loved that boat. One day, he was downtown and walked by a pawn shop. And to his amazement, he saw his boat in the window of the pawn shop. And he rushed in and said to the pawnbroker, That’s my boat out there! I made that boat. And the pawn broker said, it may have been your boat, but it’s not yours now, it’s mine. And if you want that boat, you’re going to have to buy it back just like everybody else. And so, what he did is he began to mow lawns and he began to walk dogs and babysit and do chores just to get enough money so he could go into the pawn shop and buy the boat back. And that’s what he did. He finally had enough money, went into the pawn shop, put the money down and took the boat out onto the sidewalk. And as he was walking away, he was looking at the boat he was holding in his hands. And he said, little boat, I made you, I lost you, I found you, and now you are mine, all mine. I love that story because that’s exactly what God does for me. And he does it through his Spirit, the seal of the Holy Spirit that Paul talks about. Do you sometimes wonder if you’re saved? Sometimes wonder if you really belong to him? Do you sometimes think that maybe you don’t? Do you struggle with assurance? Go to him because it’s a prayer that he answers every time. Father, remind me of my name. Remind me who I am. Remind me that I am yours. Let me show you something else about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit not only convicts and confirms, the Holy Spirit conforms. I John 3:2 through 3, and you’ve heard me quote it a lot because it’s one of my favorite verses.

It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He appears, we will be just like Him.

I’m, as I said earlier, I’m better than I was. And he had to show me, because righteousness very rarely can define itself. But I’ve noticed that God is making me more and more like Jesus. Galatians 5:22 through 26.

The Fruit of the Spirit is love and joy and peace and long suffering and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self control.

One could say the action of Jesus, because it’s what he is, is love and joy and peace and long suffering and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self control. You want to see what that means, look at him. You want to see what it’s becoming, look at me. Because that is what God is doing in the life of every believer. And that includes me. John Eldredge, in one of his books, talks about the beautiful outlaw experiencing the playful, disruptive, extravagant personality of Jesus. What is that? That’s the Holy Spirit. And that’s the Holy Spirit making His people more and more like His Son. You know, one of the good things, and there are not a lot of them, about being old is that I’ve seen the end of the story in a thousand different places. I served one church for over 20 years. That meant that I baptized the babies and saw them go to school and grow up. And even did the marriage ceremony when they got married. And so, I could watch, and some of the worst, it’s the microphone, and some of the worst, most recalcitrant kids in our church turned out to be some of the finest Christians that I know. What happened? I don’t know? But I know that the Holy Spirit was involved, and the Holy Spirit was working in the lives of those kids. And bringing them into conformity with the joy and peace and love and long suffering and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self control which defined Jesus himself. And so, the Holy Spirit convicts. He lets us know when we’re out of line, when we’re doing it wrong, when we’re sinning. He confirms in the middle of that, that we belong to him because he knows if he has conviction without confirmation, that we’re his, it’ll destroy us and then he gets to work and he conforms us to Jesus himself. Doesn’t yet appear again, I John 3:2 through 3, what we’re going to be like, but we know that when he appears we will be like him. And if you listen to what I taught you on this edition of Key Life you know that he’s doing that right now, making you like him. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
The Holy Spirit convicts, confirms, and conforms. Man, what a great reminder that is. Thank you Steve. If you’re just joining us, we’ve recently started a new series on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, and it is so good. Hope you will continue with us. Do you ever stop and consider that Jesus is actually alive and active right here and now? We sometimes take that for granted, right? But in one of Steve’s sermons based on Luke 4, he reminds us of that mind blowingly good news. Can we send you that sermon on CD for free? Did you say? Yes. Great. Then call us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that CD. To mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, just ask for your free sermon CD called When Jesus Leaves the building. And finally, if you value the work of Key Life, would you join us in that work through your financial support? You could charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or you can now give safely and securely through text. Just pick up your phone and text Key Life to 2 8 9 50 that’s Key Life, one word or two words. It doesn’t matter. Just text that to 28950 and then follow the instructions. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.