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Subject 8 : The Holy Spirit
[8-12] To Live Your Life Full of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:1-8)
(Titus 3:1-8)
“Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.”
How can we live the life full of the Holy Spirit?
We should understand the will of God and preach the gospel according to it.
We should understand the will of God and preach the gospel according to it.
Those who believe in Jesus and have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit must live a life full of the Holy Spirit. For Christians, a life full of the Holy Spirit is what God requires. We must follow His orders. Then how can we live a life full of the Holy Spirit? We must pay attention to what the apostle Paul said about this.
What is needed to live a life full of the Holy Spirit?
In Titus 3:1 Paul said, “Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work.” First of all, he told us to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey and be ready to do good works. What he meant was that we cannot live a life full of the Holy Spirit if we disobey the laws of the world. Of course, if the rulers of the world and the laws run counter to the truth, we ought not to obey them. But if the laws do not violate our faith, we must obey them to serve the gospel in peace.
We are the ones who received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. How would we be able to live a life full of the Holy Spirit if we broke secular laws? Therefore, in order to live a life full of the Holy Spirit, we must follow the laws of the world. Those who receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit must obey the social norms. We can walk with God only when we keep the laws of the world.
Suppose one of us had committed a crime on the way to the church. Would he be able to serve the Lord with comfort? How on earth would he be able to live according to the Lord’s teachings if he lived outside the law? We must not violate social norms while walking in the Spirit. Nothing good comes of violating the law. We must keep the peace by obeying the law. We must strive to live upright lives while preaching the gospel. To live with the fullness of the Holy Spirit, it is wise for the saints to abide by the laws of society.
We must keep humility within our hearts
Paul said, “To speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.” To live a life full of the Holy Spirit, we must speak evil of no one, be peaceable, gentle and show humility to all men.
In the hearts of those who are born again, there is humility, self-control and gentleness. This is possible because of the Holy Spirit that dwells in us. Paul told us that we must not undermine the gospel by fighting with each other. Of course, we must fight when the social law goes against the gospel. But when it does not do so, we must live peacefully. We must cause others to think of us, “Although he seems wild as a lion at times, he is really peaceful as a dove. His belief in Christianity perhaps makes him polite and a man of sense.”
There is no gentleness or humility in the lusts of the flesh. But through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and through the Lord who saved us from our sins, we can be gentle to others. Forgiving someone who has done a terrible wrong to me is real “forgiveness” and treating him with humility from deep inside myself is real “humility.” It is not humility for me to pretend to be kind to someone when I really have a hatred for him. Having a heart full of humility and forgiveness is the inward morality of the born again Christians.
We must also have gentleness when people do us wrong. As long as they don’t attempt to hinder the gospel, we must be gentle to everyone. But if they do, we must replace the light of gentleness with the light of the truth. Gentleness is found only in the truth of God, so those who oppose, interfere with or slander the word of God don’t deserve to be treated with gentleness.
God does not forgive those who oppose Him but makes them pay the price. God told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you” (Genesis 12:3). People who oppose the gospel of the truth have no way to be saved. They will not be able to avoid the disaster that will ruin not only their lives but also up to third generations of their descendants.
Why do we have to be tolerant and humble? As it is written in Titus 3:3, “We ourselves were also once foolish disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.” We were just like these people before we were born again. So we must tolerate and forgive them because we were once like them.
In Titus 3:4-8, it says, “But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.”
According to the Bible, God did not save us from our sins because we did good works. He gave us the blessing of being born again because He loved and pitied us. In other words, Jesus Christ came to this world, was baptized, died on the Cross, was resurrected, and thus washed away all our sins. Jesus was resurrected and now sits at the right hand of God. By rising again from the dead, all of the uncompleted things in the world were perfected.
God blessed us with the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ our Savior. Jesus Christ was baptized by John to take away all the sins of the world and died on the Cross so that all our sins could be forgiven. We were saved and have become righteous.
The Bible also says, “We should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” This means that we, as the heirs of God, are the ones that inherited all His wealth and glory. To lead this kind of blessed life, we must live life in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. You must believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, be forgiven for all your sins and preach the gospel to others.
Therefore, having been forgiven for our sins, we must work for the benefit of others, we must keep the laws of the world and preach the gospel to those who are looking for God. And we must forgive people who do us wrong and treat them with goodness and humility so that they cannot interfere with the preaching of the beautiful gospel. “These things are good and profitable to men.” If you long for the fullness of the Holy Spirit, you must remember what Paul said to us. This might not sound like anything special, but these are very important words.
Since we are living in this world, we cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit if we are in conflict with others by disobeying the rules of this world. Therefore we must obey the law unless it conflicts with the word of God. We must obey the laws of this world. Even if we have faith, obeying the law is the better choice if we wish to live lives that are full of the Holy Spirit. For us to do good works, we must obey the laws of the world and get along with our neighbors.
Do you want to live a life full of the Holy Spirit?
Ephesians 5:8-11 says, “For you were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.” This passage tells us to walk as children of light and bear the fruits of the Spirit.
Then Ephesians 5:12-13 says, “For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.” Paul says here that all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light. If a righteous person cannot live righteously, he will be exposed either by God or himself. What happens when a person is found to be doing the work of darkness, and then is rebuked by the light? After admitting his mistakes, his heart is lightened when he faces God again. “All things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.” It is good to be exposed to the light. Then we can admit our transgressions and return to God.
If we really want to live a life full of the Holy Spirit, we must have kindness in our hearts. Even if someone has no sin in his heart, it does not mean that he doesn’t have to be kind. We must live with goodness and kindness in our hearts. We must preach with wisdom and pray for people who do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit so that they can understand it and be forgiven for their sins. And we must not harm others either. We must eat, sleep and live for the gospel and serve others as well.
To live a life full of the Holy Spirit, we must think of the importance of time and serve the beautiful gospel like men of wisdom. When we love the world, we are subject to the trickery of darkness and can be negligent in doing the work of God. Therefore, we must fix our eyes on the Lord and do what He wants. While believing in the salvation that God gave us, we also must be watchful at all times. A man of wisdom of the Spirit should be devoted to preach the beautiful gospel worldwide before the world becomes filled with darkness.
Understand the will of the Lord
We must try to find out what pleases God. We must learn what He wants us to do through His church and words. We should know what we can do to please God and figure out His will for us.
People who are forgiven for their sins are the ones who are born again and those who are born again are the ones that have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Those who have the Holy Spirit within are truly holy people and children of God. They must live a life full of the Holy Spirit. This is the duty of all the saints. We should not waste our abilities and energies on ourselves, indifferent to the needs of others. We ought not to hinder the works of God by going along with the stream of the times.
If we have been sanctified and received regeneration through the love of God, we must become a good person in order to continue and carry out His work. If we have become children of God by believing in Him, it is right for us to be people of goodness.
The flesh of God’s children is far from perfect but it pleases God; provided we are concerned about the will of God and do good things. But even the ones who are born again are apt to do evil to others if they live only for themselves. “Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18) means that we must not become drunk with the lusts of the flesh but must do the works of goodness.
Paul said in Ephesians 5:19-21, “Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.” If we want to live a life full of the Holy Spirit, we must believe in and preach the gospel of salvation and reveal what God has done for us.
God blesses us whenever we pray and He has recorded all these blessings in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs for us to praise Him in one voice. We must commend, thank and praise Him. We can live blessed lives full of the Holy Spirit when we pray for those who are not yet saved and for each other. We must thank God from deep inside our hearts and respect Jesus Christ, who saved us. With these thoughts in our hearts, we must be able to admit our wrongs, express our appreciation for the cleansing of our sins and obey Him. This is what it means to live a live full of the Holy Spirit.
We must serve the beautiful gospel for the rest of our lives
We must plan good works and pursue them for the greater glory of the beautiful gospel. Being joined to God’s church, we should pray together and call on God to save the souls of everyone. There are still many people who couldn’t be born again because they do not know the beautiful gospel even though they have looked for God. We must pray for these people, saying “God, please save them too.” And we must not pursue selfish things but offer our properties in serving the gospel to save the lost. Living for the souls of others and for the expansion of God’s Kingdom is doing good work.
Doing this kind of work means living a life full of the Holy Spirit. Living with the fullness of the Holy Spirit does not mean having the ability to speak in tongues and perform miracles, rather learning how to please God. It means believing in the salvation God gave us, praising and glorifying God with poems and psalms. To thank, praise and glorify God with all our heart, and to serve Him with our bodies as instruments of righteousness is the will of God. Following His orders means living a life full of the Holy Spirit.
To live a life full of the Spirit, we must obey one another. If someone gives us advice, we must listen to what he says. In the same way, if I give advice to him, he should listen even if he does not agree with me. Likewise, we must live a life full of the Spirit by obeying each other and doing the work of God.
Living a life full of the Spirit means glorifying Jesus Christ
Living a life full of the Spirit means keeping the commandments of Jesus Christ. Let’s find out what this means by reading Ephesians 6:10-13. “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”
What does it mean to live a life full of the Spirit? It means being strong in the Lord and having faith in His power. It means living by the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us and not by our own will alone. Moreover, it means living a life of prayer. By praying, we can live a vigorous life receiving the various abilities and blessings God gives. Living this kind of life means putting on the armor of God. We are so weak that even if we try to walk with Him, to serve and obey God, we cannot live a life full of the Spirit unless we hold on to His words.
Belief in God’s words is essential to boosting our spiritual power. Even if we have faith, we must put on the whole armor of God by saying, “I am sure it will be as it is recorded in the words of God.” This is the faith that enables us to live a life full of the Holy Spirit.
Are any of you having problems living this kind of life? Then remember the words of the Scriptures and put on the whole armor of God. God told us to put on His whole armor. By taking words deep inside your heart, you will learn what it means to put on the whole armor of God. Regardless of our environment and what other people say, we must hold on to the words of God. In this way, we will live a life full of the Holy Spirit.
Where can we get this belief? Revelation 3:22 says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” We should listen to what the Spirit says to the church. In other words, we couldn’t hear the words of God nor live a life full of the Holy Spirit but for the servants of God. Through whom does the Holy Spirit speak? God speaks to the saints and all the people of the world through His servants in His church.
That is to say, you should believe that the teachings of God’s church are surely based on the words of God. You need to accept the teachings of the church with this faith in mind. If the Holy Spirit didn’t dwell in a preacher, it would be possible for him to teach his own thoughts. The preacher who has the indwelling of the Holy Spirit preaches God’s words under the control of the Holy Spirit. If he does not do so but preaches biblically groundless words, the Holy Spirit stops him because He dwells in his heart.
The Holy Spirit is God. The authority of God’s servant is exceedingly great because God dwells in him. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ said to Peter “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 16:19). The keys to Heaven are the gospel of the water and the Spirit. In other words, this gospel is the key to entering Heaven. God gave the authority to preach the word of God not only to Peter but also to every servant of God and all the saints, as long as they are born again and have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
To live a life full of the Holy Spirit, we must put on the whole armor of God. If we don’t have faith, we must keep the teachings of the church in mind every day by believing in the authority of the church and of the servants of God. Even if the sermon that you hear today is of no use and not directly related to your life, you must listen to it anyway and take it into your heart. Find the words in the Bible that are needed in your everyday life. Hold on to them. In this way, you will be a person of faith. Then you will be able to live a life full of the Holy Spirit, walk with God and win the battle against the principalities and rulers of darkness in the world.
You may have been confused because you were told that you should obey the rulers of the world but now I say that you should fight against the rulers of darkness of the world. In Roman times, the Roman Emperor called himself God and the law required all people to treat him as a God. But this was something the Christians could not do because it was against the word of God. So Christians during that time had no choice but to fight the Roman Emperor, who made people bow to him as if he was a God.
In order to win the fight with the devil, we must believe in and hold on to the word of God. If we live according to God’s word, we will obtain His blessing and be able to beat the devil. Even if we are saved, we will lose the war against Satan unless we hold on to the word of God. God alerts us, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). A person who does not believe in the word of God can be easily attacked by the devil.
Even Jesus couldn’t have fought off Satan if it were not for the word of God. “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4). He drove away the devil through faith in what is written. And what about us? We have a lack of wisdom and are incomparable to Jesus. Therefore, we must believe in and hold on even more strongly to the word of God.
We should not just say, “I think the words are right but I can’t believe in it entirely.” We must hold on to the words. “I believe everything will turn out to be true as it is written.” This is the proper faith and allows us to put on the whole armor of God. People who say, “Everything will be exactly realized as our Lord said” will be blessed. If one holds on to God’s word and relies on it, things will turn out well according to his faith. Even if the devil tries to tempt us, he will certainly go away if we say, “I believe in the word of God. I believe His words are the right answers.” This is the way to win the war against the devil.
We must hold on to the word of God
“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:13-17).
In the passage, “Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth,” the word of God is compared to a belt girding one’s waist. This means that we must gird our minds with the word of God. He is telling us to follow the words of truth so that we can be at one in mind with God. But as this belt fits tightly around the body, we must also tightly attach ourselves to the word of God. When we are at one in mind with God, we naturally become able to believe and say, “I believe everything will turn out well. I am sure everything will be realized just as God said.”
Next, we have to put on the breastplate of righteousness. We must put on the breastplate of the gospel of the water and the Spirit that says God has saved us. We must gird our waists with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness. We must put on the breastplate of precious jewels. We must put them on in the belief that God has forgiven all our sins. We must believe the word of God with all our heart. We must also preach the gospel of salvation that gives peace.
After holding all the words above, we should shoe our feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, and go preaching the gospel of salvation that gives God’s peace to all the people. If we have been saved from our sins, we come to confess the belief through our mouth. And every time our sin and evil are revealed, we must wipe them away by ruminating on the truth that God has already forgiven all our sins. He did so through Jesus’ baptism and His blood on the Cross. We must live a life of glory by thanking God. We must preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which gives peace to everyone who has not been delivered from his sins.
Above all, we must fight the wicked with the shield of faith. When Satan attacks, we must drive him away with the shield of faith in one hand and the words of truth in the other.
Then we must put on the helmet of salvation. We have to accept the words of salvation, saying, “I was saved from all my sins through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. God forgave my sins in this way.” We should recognize the truth in our head. We must make the word of God, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit our weapons against the devil.
If Satan attacks us, we must draw the sword out and beat him down. “God said this! And I believe it is so!” We drive Satan away through faith in God’s words. If we believe in the words of God and draw your spiritual sword, Satan will flee screaming “Ouch! How it hurts.” We can beat off any kind of Satan’s attack if we only believe in the word of God.
You should live such a religious life confessing, “My flesh is far from perfect, but I am a person of God who has received redemption. I live by faith, holding on to the words that God has told me.” If we have this kind of faith, we can drive Satan away with the sword of truth every time he comes to harass and interrupt our faithful lives. Satan does not even blink if we counterattack with mere earthly words. Thus, we must fight him by saying, “This is what God said.” Then Satan will surrender before the authority of God’s word.
If we want to live a life full of the Holy Spirit, we must pray to God that the church, all the saints and the servants of God would devote themselves to preaching the gospel. By saying a prayer like, “Let me boldly reveal the secrets of the gospel,” we will live a life aimed at serving the gospel. This is a life full of the Holy Spirit. Living a life full of the Holy Spirit is essential to all the saints. If we are to be true saints, we must live a life full of the Holy Spirit. Living such a life is essential to all the saints, just as receiving the remission of sins is essential to every soul. This is God’s order.
Those who have been saved from their sins but do not know how to lead a faithful life must know that they have to live a life full of the Holy Spirit. This is what God wants. Saints must live a life full of the Holy Spirit, which is the will of God. A life full of the Holy Spirit promotes the saints to preach the gospel by doing good works. They love to preach the gospel, pray to God, and to believe in and hold on to the words of God. We must put on the helmet of salvation and the breastplate of righteousness and drive Satan away by saying, “I am righteous all the time.”
Since the saints have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, they walk in the Spirit and are able to receive the power of the Holy Spirit. They are doing His work with the blessings of God earned by the prayer of faith. And they should walk in the Spirit until they defeat Satan and stand before God. The people who can put on the whole armor of God are only the born-again Christians who can live a life full of the Holy Spirit.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). The battle of those who are born again is not the battle of flesh and blood. However, the battle of those who have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is against the spiritual hosts of wickedness and against those who interrupt our faithful lives, do not serve the gospel and disturb us.
When we go out to fight the spiritual war for the gospel of the Lord, we must put on the helmet and the armor of the Spirit. If we just wear ordinary clothes in this war, we will be wounded. Thus, we must put on the armor. We need swords, shields and helmets. To win the war, we must be perfectly prepared before battle. We must put on the breastplate, gird our waists and wear shoes on both feet. Then, with sword and shield in either hand, we must defeat our enemies. This is a life full of the Holy Spirit.
We must keep the beautiful gospel
Paul told us, “That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us” (2 Timothy 1:14). What is the good deposit? It is the gospel of the water and the Spirit that saved us from our sins. In Titus 3:5 it says, “He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” Our Lord washed away all the sins that we had committed in this world, died on the Cross and was resurrected. We must keep this beautiful gospel. We must put on the helmet of salvation and the breastplate of righteousness and gird our waists with truth. We must believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
After arming ourselves in this way, we must win the battle against Satan. Only then will we be able to achieve victory and share it with others. We will have to fight many spiritual battles against Satan and take many trophies away from him until the day we will enter the Lord’s Kingdom, which is our inheritance. The more battles we win against our opponent, the easier the next fight will be. We must all pray for His Kingdom to prosper and flourish. Then we will have gained a life full of the Holy Spirit.
We must not be satisfied with being forgiven for our sins but must live a life full of the Holy Spirit. For the gospel and our good works, we must believe in the word of God. We must be led by the Holy Spirit and live by keeping God’s word and believing in it, so as not to lose the fight against Satan and be ruined.
Do you understand me? Only then will we have lives full of the Holy Spirit. I hope that you will also serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit and depend on and follow the word of God. Let’s all do the work of saving souls from Satan. We can lead lives full of the Holy Spirit until the Lord comes again. To receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit is the second commandment that God gave us. Thank Him. We can have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit due to the remission of sins in our hearts. And if it were not for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, I couldn’t begin a life full of the Holy Spirit. I thank God for letting us lead lives full of the Holy Spirit.
Do you believe that you can have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? To those of us who have been forgiven for our sins, we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. But those who haven’t erased their sins do not yet have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Those who do not know or do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit do not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. All the people in the world will be cast down to Hell if they do not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Since we have no sin in our hearts, we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And because the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts, we can live a life full of the Holy Spirit. We, who have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, must obey the desire of the Spirit in order to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The more we obey the desire of the Spirit, the stronger our faith is becomes like a warrior of full uniform. But if we fail to obey the Spirit, it is the same for us as to be taking off our armor.
Let’s grow through the words of the Holy Spirit and become a person of faith. When we hear the words of the Holy Spirit, our faith develops because God says “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Therefore, even if Satan attacks us, we are protected by our faith in these words. Satan cannot attack those who have been armed with the shield of faith by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Faithful people have the power to fend off Satan’s attacks with their faith.
Let’s lead lives full of the Holy Spirit with faith. A life full of the Holy Spirit implies a life preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit faithfully all over the world. Such is a life full of the Holy Spirit.
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Copyright © 2021 by The New Life Mission