Receiving the Spirit’s Power
We've spent the week talking about dealing with sin - recognising it, repenting of it, and trusting God for remission. But this is not enough on its own, because even having come this far in dealing with your sin, temptation never leaves. Sin keeps coming at you, wanting to re-enter your heart and make you sick again.
This is why the final and essential step is this: receiving the Holy Spirit.
Let's read that verse from Acts one more time: "Peter replied, 'Repent and be baptized, every 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)
Not only do you need to trust in the blood of Christ to take away your past sins - you need to trust in the Holy Spirit as the one to keep you from present and future sins. Like two pills to take every day! Faith in the forgiveness of past sins, and faith in the power over present and future sins.
A Gospel That's Only Half the Story
For too long, we have heard a message from the church that God will forgive your sins but never break their power. He won't really cast them into the sea - He'll just overlook them. You'll still be sinful, we've been told. The Doctor doesn't actually heal your disease; he just changes your medical records. God doesn't cure us, He just changes our record - He puts Jesus' perfect record in our file, and instead of seeing our sickness, He sees Jesus' health and credits it to us.
Friends, I believed this for a long time, and I lived with such guilt. I kept embracing sin, thinking I shouldn't, but God will forgive me anyway - Jesus' record will cover mine. It was an awful cycle of guilt, repent, freedom, guilt, repent, freedom - and so on. But then I learned that with the gift of the Holy Spirit, I could live without the sickness coming back.
Set Free From Sin's Power
Here's how Paul puts it: "Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin - because anyone who has died has been set free from sin." (Romans 6:1-7)
Our sickness has been crucified. Sin done away with. We are no longer slaves to sin - we have been set free from it. The Holy Spirit is able to keep us from giving in to temptation. With Him dwelling within us, we can be holy.
Do you believe this? Have you received the Spirit of God - not just believing that His presence will strengthen you, but trusting that His Spirit will keep you from bringing that sickness back into your life?
We will never be perfect like Jesus. He had perfect knowledge of all things and made no mistakes - we can't match that. But we can live cured of the sin problem. We can live healthy, and free lives!
How do we deal with sin? We recognise it. We repent of it. We trust Jesus for the cure and remission of sin. We receive the powerful indwelling Spirit - and every day we walk on in victory because of our faith in what He has done.
Forgiveness of past sin is only part of the story - the Holy Spirit's indwelling power is what keeps you walking in freedom every day. Receive Him today, and live the cured, healthy, free life God has always intended for you.