July 19, 2020 -- John 5:21 -- The Holy Spirit: the permanent guest

For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.

John 5:21 English Standard Version

Perhaps you have heard this old saying, which is credited to Benjamin Franklin: Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days. Hearing this we might chuckle awkwardly and self-consciously, because we have both been guests and have had guests over to our homes. Basically we can be kind and patient for a limited amount of time and then we are ready to cut loose and be ourselves and when our guests tap-dance on our last nerve we get frayed and snap at them.

Notice what Jesus is promising here. When the Father raises the dead—which He does in Jesus Christ—the Son will raise the dead and give life. In we rise from the deadness of our sin and rise up as a new creation, forgiven and free from the punishment that our sins deserved. Such sins have been fully punished in and on the Person Jesus Christ. So that life He gives us is the very presence of the Holy Spirit.

The very presence of God lives not in our home, but in our most intimate inner self. We can’t keep up appearances with the Spirit. Instead, we will very soon show our weaknesses, our flaws and our defects and our great need for His presence. That is the point. When the Son of God gives us new life, we will see in ourselves all the things that are leading us back to sin, back to the arms of the devil and the gaping maw of hell.

The Spirit of God is not afraid or intimidated or too weak. The Spirit of God is given precisely because we need His help. In order for us to live full-out in salvation, we need to have the worst of ourselves exposed, brought to the healing presence of the Spirit Who cleanses us, every part, from the inside out.

Jesus, Resurrection Power and Life, thank You for the gift of the Holy Spirit. We confess how much we want to hide and hold onto our old selves—forgetting that we were on the express trip to sin, hell and heart-ache, and death. Thank You for the new life You bring and guard in us by Your Spirit, the Helper. Blessed are You, Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDGE_lRI0E