Why Do We Need The Holy Spirit?

Paul Harvey once told the story of Alexandra Flynn of Fremont, Nebraska, who tried in vain to attend her 2002 homecoming dance. She left home in high spirits, but she did not have her high school ID with her. When the man at the door refused her admission without her ID, she went home to get it. Unable to find it, her mother went with her back to the dance to identify her and to explain. Again, the daughter was refused admission without the ID. Even though Alexandra Flynn of Freemont High was Student Body President, played cello in the All-state orchestra, was on the Honor Roll, was the school's number one cheerleader, and she spent hours decorating the gym for the Homecoming Dance, she was still not admitted.  Did I mention she was homecoming queen?  But, she never did get in.   

The Bible is clear.  When your life is over, it doesn’t matter if you think you’re headed to the Big Dance in Heaven.  It doesn’t matter if you’ve worked really hard to get there.  It doesn’t matter if your mom or some other family member or friend tries to vouch for you.  It doesn’t matter if you have some exalted position in the church.  Jesus is your ticket into Heaven.  If you know Him as your Savior, you’re in.  If you don’t have Jesus, you’re out.

I’d be willing to bet that many of you are aware of that, although it is a highly controversial belief.  If that is new information for you, or if you do not have that knowledge that you are going to heaven when you die, I'd love to talk further with you.  But by and large, Christians have done a good job of proclaiming that message: Jesus is the only way to get into heaven.  But is that all He does for us?  Do we just accept Christ as the Savior of our souls, then go on to live our lives as normal, only to “cash in” that Jesus ticket when we get to the Judgment Seat?  That isn’t even remotely what the Bible says about being a Christian.  In my sermon text for this Sunday--John 14:16-18--Jesus tells the disciples that a significant portion of being a Christian is having the Holy Spirit living inside of you.  1 Corinthians 3:16 says your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit—it’s where He lives.  Romans 8:9 says in black and white that if you don’t have the Spirit living in you, you don’t belong to Christ.  Acts 2:38 and several other scriptures let us know that the Spirit comes to live in us from the time we first give our lives to Jesus.  And He has promised us right here in John 14:16 that the Spirit will be with us forever.  The question I want to look at today is: why?  Why do we need the Spirit, once He has led us to salvation and given us this new life?

As we continue to study the attributes of God here at WBC, this Sunday I'll begin a series looking at who the Spirit is, and what He does in our lives.  I hope you'll be there!