THE ONE NECESSARY THING

 THE ONE NECESSARY THING

When Jesus made His appearance on the earth as the Messiah, His ministry was always linked with the Holy Spirit. 

John the Baptist prophesied it. 

John 1:32–34 (NKJV) And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. 33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

Luke 3:16 (NKJV) John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Jesus taught His disciples about the Holy Spirit.

Luke 11:13 (NKJV) If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

Acts 1:4–5 (NKJV) And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Today, Pentecost Sunday, is the celebration of when these things became true. 

Acts 2:1–4 (NKJV) When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Today, we are confronted with Paul’s commandment to believers everywhere. 

Ephesians 5:18 (NKJV) And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,

All of these passages teach us that being filled with the Holy Spirit is the one necessary thing. 

Andrew Murray says it this way in his book, The Full Blessing of Pentecost. 

It is to the effect that the one thing needful for the Church, and the thing which, above all others, men ought everywhere to seek for with one accord and with their whole heart, is to be filled with the Spirit of God.

J. Oswald Sanders agrees with him in his work, Spiritual Leadership.

Spiritual leadership requires Spirit-filled people. Other qualities are important; to be Spirit-filled is indispensable.

What does it mean to be Spirit filled? Jesus gives us many insights.

John 7:37–39 (NKJV) On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Jesus says that the filling of the Spirit is a continual artesian well that refills itself. When the Spirit flows out of us it is constantly being replaced with more! The more we pour out, the more we have in reserve!

Paul said the same thing in the Ephesians passage we read earlier. We don’t just get filled once, we get re-filled constantly. It is a present progressive verb, “be being filled”. 

Jesus goes on the describe how the Spirit will work in our lives. 

John 14:16–17 (NKJV) And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

The Spirit is with you and will be in you. In Acts 1:8, Jesus talks about another work of the Spirit. 

Acts 1:8 (NKJV) But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Jesus describes three distinct relationships: with you, in you, and upon you. He aligns those again in John 16. 

John 16:7–16 (NKJV) Nevertheless 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. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

Let’s look at those three relationships more closely. 

1.    The Holy Spirit is with us to convict (convince) us of sin. 

Notice, sin not sins. We are all aware of our failings, our individual sins. But the Holy Spirit has come to reveal to us our very nature. Without Jesus we can do no good thing. We must depend totally on Him. 

Notice He shows us our unbelief. Not believing is the root of all sin, all disobedience. 

2.    The Holy Spirit is in us to convict (convince) us of righteousness, our right standing with God.

The Holy Spirit now comes to show us that we have a new nature in Christ. Because of what Jesus did, we stand right with Him. We have access to Him in prayer. We have fellowship and intimacy with Him. We do not have to believe the lies of the enemy that we are always guilty and have no right to go before God. 

He brings us to a point of believing because all things are possible to those who believe!

3.    The Holy Spirit comes upon us to convict (convince) is that we have power over the enemy because he has already been judged!

The enemy is a defeated foe. The anointing of the Holy Spirit empowers us to do the works of Christ. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. What will we do when the Spirit comes on us? The same thing!

Mark 16:15–18 (NKJV) And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

How do I live filled with the Holy Spirit?

1.    He is a gift.

a.    Cannot be earned. 

b.    Just ask.

c.    Believe.

2.    He is a person. 

a.    Build a relationship.

b.    Invite Him in. 

c.    Don’t offend Him.