Preached in Markham Baptist Church, February 11, 2007

When you became a Christian two wonderful things happened to you.  The first, we celebrate all the time – the forgiveness of sin.  You were made into a new creation when you believed in Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord.  But we all need to recognize that this is not all that has happened to us when we became a Christian.   In fact we may even call this secondary – and I don’t want to belittle the significance of the forgiveness of sin and the wonder of it – but the forgiveness of sin is not what makes you a Christian nor does it fulfill the purpose of being a  Christian.

The forgiveness of sin is wonderful and thanks be to God for it – but it is only a means to an end. It makes possible the second great thing that happened to you when you became a Christian – are you ready for it?  The second great thing that happened to you when you became a Christian is that God’s Holy Spirit, the very character and life of Christ, came and moved into your life.  If you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit now lives in you. 

We know this to be true because Peter preaches to the crowds and they are convicted by his message and they say, “What shall we do?”  And he replies, “Repent and be baptized, everyone one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.  And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  (Acts 2:38)   

If you have confessed Jesus Christ to be your Saviour and Lord you have received the Holy Spirit. This the great thing that has happened, because it is the Holy Spirit in us that enables us to live the Christian life.

It is because of the Holy Spirit in you that you are able to live a holy life. It is because of the Holy Spirit in you that you are able to replicate the character of Christ.  Without the Holy Spirit in us we cannot be like Christ, because we do not have His character.  But because the Holy Spirit, the character of Christ, is in you, you can be like Christ. 

This morning I want to help you understand this and take it and begin to live in the wonder and power of this truth.  Intimacy with God is possible not only because God wants to be intimate with us, not only because God has done away with sin and declared us holy through faith in Christ’s sacrifice, but intimacy with God is possible because He has given us His very self in the person of the Holy Spirit to live inside us.

Now all of this is reflected for us in the wilderness tabernacle. You will remember that we have passed the altar and the perfect sacrifice has been given for us in the person of Jesus Christ.   We have washed in the bronze basin and do so daily, but now we are able to step into the tabernacle proper, the tent at the far end of the enclosure.  This is a tent that is divided into two rooms. The first room is called the Holy Place and the second Room is called the Most Holy Place.  The entire structure is about 45 ft by 15 feet by 15 feet high.  The Holy Place is about double the size of the Most Holy Place. 

As we pull back the curtain and enter the Holy Place the first thing we see is three pieces of furniture, but our eye is immediately drawn to the a large golden lampstand. It illuminates the whole room.  It is made out of one piece of gold. It is not molded but hammered into shape. There is a central shaft, and from the central shaft there are three lamps on the right and three on the left.  It is richly adorned with gold carvings of almond blossoms and buds.  At the top of each of the branches there is a small almond-shaped bowl which holds oil, the wick is put in the oil and lit and is able to continue to burn as long as there is oil in the lamp. 

Now if you’ve grown up in the church you recognize the symbolism of light right away.  You know that Jesus said that He is the light of the world (John 8:12).  But more, we understand that God’s people are called light.  Isaiah wrote of Israel, “Arise, shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.  Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.”(Isaiah 60:1-3) In the New Testament Jesus calls us the “light of the world”. (Matthew 5:14).

He told us to let our “light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) In the book of Revelation we have Jesus standing among the seven golden lampstands and he says, “The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.” (Revelation 1:20)  The lampstand is God’s people.

But I want us to focus on the energy source this morning.  If we are the light of the world – if we are to reflect the light of Christ how do we do this?   

Turn over to Exodus 27 and you discover the power source for the lampstand in the tabernacle – verse 20 – 21.  The only way for this lamp to burn is if oil is continually poured into the cups with the wicks.  Oil is the source of its power.

You need to know that throughout Scripture the Holy Spirit is known by several images, a dove in the gospels, fire in the book of Acts but also he is known as oil. As that substance is poured out, it points us to the fact that the believer has been given the ability to be all that God wants him or her to be, to be like Christ and thus shine like Christ.   We know that David was anointed with oil – it is a picture of God’s Holy Spirit empowering him to do what God calls him to do. 

This picture is especially made clear to us in Zechariah 4:1-6.  Here the prophet Zechariah is a man of God at the time that the Israelites have come back from captivity and they are trying to rebuild the temple. But they have let things slide and Zechariah receives a vision from God.

At verse 11 he asks a question and he receives the answer. These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord. In the immediate context it refers to God’s two leaders of the day, but there’s more to it than that. What are these leaders anointed with? They are anointed with the oil. They are anointed not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord.

Oil is a symbol of the Spirit of God.   Those wicks on the lampstand were only able to burn as the oil was poured in.  So it with you and me.  It is the Holy Spirit that gives power to the Christian to be the Christian.  So Jesus says to His disciples in Acts 1:8, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Now all of this may be very interesting and very theoretical, but what does it have to do with anything?  Well lets consider what we have so far.  We have the truth that when we became a Christian that we have been given the Holy Spirit and that He lives in us.  Second we have discovered that if we are going to shine the light of Christ, it is the Holy Spirit who enables us to do it. 

This is where we need to take it from here and move it to here. This is where we need to pray – “O Lord open the eyes of my heart Lord.  Take this truth and make it a living reality in me.” 

Consider it - you have the Spirit of the living God living in you.  We read in Scripture, “Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you.” (I Corinthians 3:16)  You are the temple of the living God.

It’s as if Paul is incredulously asking – You do know don’t you that God lives in you by His Spirit?  And we say, yeah, well what difference does it make? 

Well it changes the whole focus of our lives.  It changes, for instance the focus of your attempts to be like Christ.    

I mean, here I am trying to live the Christian life, and here we are trying to reflect the light of Christ trying to lead a holy life, trying to do all the right things – trying to be kind to my neighbour, trying not to think lustful thoughts, trying not to be materialistic, and along comes Scripture and says, the Holy Spirit lives in you.  And we come to realize that we have the focus all wrong – I’ve been focusing on trying, when I should have been focusing on surrendering.  It’s not more willpower that I need, it is more of the Spirit’s power that I need. And that can only be had as you and I surrender ourselves to Him.  

This is what Scripture means when we read in Ephesians 5:18 – be filled with the Spirit.  Like the candlesticks, we cannot produce light on our own. We shouldn’t even try because it’s impossible. Instead, what we need to do is look to have our lives filled with the Holy Spirit - that is, depend on the Holy Spirit. 

Listen you did nothing to get saved. Jesus Christ did it all for you on the cross – all you needed to do was surrender your will. And it is the same for reflecting the saved character. You can do nothing but surrender to the Holy Spirit who lives in you. 

The truth is you have all of the Holy Spirit that you need – the question is does He have the whole of you?  Have you surrendered your will, your lusts, your greed, your desires, your ambitions, your joys, your home, your family, your work, your wallet  – have you surrendered it all to Him?  You cannot produce the light of Christ by trying – it is through surrender to the Holy Spirit that His oil is able to set us aflame. 

Practically speaking that is amazingly freeing – to know that the power to overcome temptation, the power to be shaped into the image of Christ, the power to reflect His character is in you through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  You don’t have to try, you don’t have to struggle – simply give yourself to the Holy Spirit who lives in you. 

Now it not only changes your focus as you seek to be like Christ.  It also changes your focus from self-promotion to glorifying Christ.  As a Christian don’t you get upset with yourself when you blow it – and you say, “O there I am promoting my self again, there I am promoting my agenda again.  I wish I could focus on Christ more.  Why am I so selfish?” 

And the good news is that you have the Holy Spirit in you.  And what does the Holy Spirit do?  Very simply, the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit draws us to Christ, He magnifies Christ, He lifts up Christ, He gives us power to live like Christ – He gives us the ability to shine like Christ - His focus is Christ. He is the Tiger Woods of the Trinity. When Tiger Woods plays golf you can see he has one objective, his concentration is intense. Tony was telling me that he got to meet Tiger Woods not long ago, and Tiger would mingle with the crowd and he was friendly and a regular guy. But as soon as Tiger was finished and it was his turn to step up to the tee, you could just see his ability to turn off all distractions, turn off all noise and focus on one thing – and so it is with the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit has one purpose and one purpose alone – to glorify Jesus Christ.

Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit comes “He will guide you into all truth.  … He will bring glory to me…” (John 16:13,14)   

I find it fascinating that the golden lampstand in the tabernacle was placed directly across from another piece of furniture and its light shone on it constantly. It is the table of showbread – but do you know what the table to showbread points us to? Jesus Christ, who is the bread of life.   

You want to focus on Christ more and grow intimate with God?  Don’t you know that you have the Holy Spirit of God living in you?  Pray, O Holy Spirit I surrender myself to you today that you may you do your work in me glorify Christ in me today.

The Holy Spirit is the oil that gives power to the light. This truth changes our focus – from self-effort to surrender to the Holy Spirit;  from self promotion to Christ glorifying. And doesn’t the truth of the Holy Spirit living in you change our defeatist attitude to victory? 

I mean the whole idea that we can’t do this and we can’t do that and the whole idea that we’ve tried before and it didn’t work.  Or we just know that it won’t work so we won’t try it. We’re too small as a church – when we get bigger we can do those things. When we have more money in the bank, more people in the pews.  It’s a defeatist attitude.  I love that word to Zechariah, not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord.    

I have to confess that I don’t remember it often enough and am often feel defeated.     During this past year it has been my privilege to get to know Charles Price and last month I was sharing with him a dream that I have which I felt I couldn’t accomplish.  And I was comparing myself to him (to Charles) and I was saying, “Charles I don’t speak like you, I can’t preach like you, I don’t have the Biblical knowledge that you have and so on – and I don’t think I can do this.” And he said, “I used to talk just like that.  But then I read 1 Corinthians 1:26 – ‘Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.’  And when I read that I circled all the things that described me.  And then I read on.

“But God chose the foolish things of this world to shame the strong.  He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are so that no one may boast before him.”  (1 Corinthians 1:26)

And Charles said, “I’m preaching on the signs of Jesus in the gospel of John and the first sign Jesus performed was changing the water to wine.  Tom, all we can ever offer to God is water – but miraculously when we offer it to him he changes it to wine!”

When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, Jesus said, you will receive power. We have this great power working in us, and here we allow ourselves to be discouraged and hampered by ignorance, by unbelief, self doubt, by small hearts that are afraid to take God at His word.

I recently read of how old sailing ships that crossed the ocean near the coast of Brazil would become desperate for fresh water.  No one really knows who many perished of thirst off the coast of Brazil in those days.  But the ironic thing is that though they were at sea, they were actually sailing over fresh water along the coast of Brazil, for the mighty Amazon river rushes out to sea with such great force that it carries its fresh water over two hundred miles out to sea.  Imagine men dying of thirst while sailing upon fresh water.

And so we as individuals have this great resource in us – we as a church have this great resource Is it any wonder that Peter would write, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”  (2 Peter 1:3)  The Holy Spirit in you changes everything.                                               

But it is also a truth that makes the promises of Scripture possible.  You know we hear the promises of Scripture like, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.  He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the son may bring glory to the Father.” (John 14:12)  And we think, how can this be?  How is it possible?  And the answer is – it is only possible because the Holy Spirit of God lives in you. 

Surely we don’t have that kind of power? But Scripture keeps coming back to us saying, yes it is true! The same power that raised Christ from the dead is available to you. (Ephesians 1:19-22)  And we say – how can this be?  It is through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will receive power, Jesus said to His disciples.  This power is only possible because of the Holy Spirit.  There is a power that resides in us – and it is not our strength, not our might, but the Holy Spirit.  And He brings the promises of God to bear in our lives.        

Well what does this power look like?  Do I believe it is the power of the miraculous?  Certainly – I believe our God is able to do all things as His people have faith in Him.  But I consider such miracles to have a minimal  and transitory impact on our world. Some folks talk about the miracles in the book of Acts and say that the church should experience that kind of power. Peter’s mere shadow was enough to heal the sick and cause demons to flee.  The blind received their sight, the lame walked. A woman was raised from the dead in Lydda, prison walls and murder plots, snakes and fever were all impotent when confronted with the mighty working of God’s power through the Holy Spirit. 

As wonderful as all of that is, I don’t think it’s the kind of power we need in our North American culture. I think our culture is much like ancient Egypt – when Moses performed all those miracles, people’s hearts only hardened and besides, Pharoah’s magicians were able to replicate most of Moses’ miracles.  So today, I don’t think it will be miracles that will win our calloused culture.

No, the power we need is far greater than that – it is the power to serve, the power to wash another’s feet even though we may not like them. It is the power to love the unlovely that is needed. it is the power to forgive the one who has wronged us. It is the power of the Holy Spirit in Paul and Silas to sing joyful hymns while chained to a prison wall.  It’s the power to be peaceful in the midst of chaos. It is the power to be patient with those who try us. 

It’s the power to be kind to the forgotten, the least and the lowest. It’s the power to be good when the temptation is to be bad - the power of faith in the midst of doubt. The power to be gentle toward those who are rough.  It is the power of self control in the face of temptation.  It’s the power of Stephen to endure when persecuted; the power to continue on in proclaiming the gospel when ignored; the power to give when society tells us to get.

It is the power to stand for truth when people inside the church and outside the church tell us the truth is relative; the power to pray on and grasp hold of the promises of God when God seems so far away.  It’s the power to not grow weary in doing good.  It’s the power to stand our ground when the day of evil comes and after you have done everything to stand firm. 

That is the power that we need. It’s that kind of power the world takes notice of and that kind of power has been lacking in our churches. 

But ironically it is the very power that we have – for the Holy Spirit lives in us.   The promises we are given in Scripture are made possible because of the Holy Spirit living in us. It’s not because we are loved more than another, it’s not because we have tried a little harder.  It’s because we have surrendered ourselves to the Holy Spirit.

I’m trying to give you practical applications of all this – the lampstand in the tabernacle points us to all this - but there is more. If the Holy Spirit lives in us - if the Holy Spirit is our energy source - then that means that we don’t have to settle for church to be the way it is. 

We don’t have to sit in our pews listening to the stories of how God moved in the past and deny God an opportunity to move through us today.  Why?  Because we have the Holy Spirit living in us.  We have this incomparably great power at work within us. 

We don’t have to settle for watered-down, powerless, lifeless Christianity so that our lives never change, our habits are never transformed – why? Because the Holy Spirit lives in us.  The Holy Spirit of God lives in us! 

We don’t have to worry about how we are going to accomplish a task that glorifies Jesus Christ – we don’t have to worry about where we will get the resources – why?  Because we have the Holy Spirit of the living God.

Some of you have a passion for the church of God and I thank God for you. You have tasted the goodness of God, you know the Holy Spirit lives in you and you have experienced His grace – but you want more of God and because you love the church of Jesus Christ you long for the church to know more of God. So pray, pray, pray – O Lord let the fullness of the Holy Spirit rest upon Markham Baptist.  Let the fullness of your Spirit come upon our pastor and our staff.  Let your spirit rest on our deacons and our leaders.  Let every those caught up in self and sin and who are depressed because they can’t live the Christian life know your Spirit – let the oil of Your Spirit come upon Your people – fuel your church Lord that it may set ablaze for You.  

And that’s the key, isn’t it? The lampstand in the tabernacle needed to be constantly fed with the oil, the lamps were to never go out.  And so with us.  We have been given the Holy Spirit but we must never extinguish the Holy Spirit. And we can do that – it is possible to extinguish His flame in us.   How is it done?  Let’s put the question in the positive – how can we fan into flame oil of the Holy Spirit?  By Surrender.  By constantly asking Him to fill us.    We don’t have, because we don’t ask.  So pray, pray, pray.  Ask for the fullness of the Holy Spirit to come upon us.  Let it begin with you and let it begin with me. 

Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - February 2007

[Home] [Coming Up] [Programs] [Sermons] [About Us] [Contact Us]