May 24, 2026

“The Spirit of Holiness”

Message by Rev. Alan Perkins

Good morning! Today is Pentecost Sunday, the final Sunday of the Easter season, which began on Resurrection Sunday, or Easter. Christians refer to this day as “Pentecost” after the Greek work for fiftieth, because it is 50 days after Easter (if you include both Sundays in the total). Pentecost is often called the “birthday of the church”, because it was the day on which the Holy Spirit was given, and on which the public ministry of the church began. I’ll read the account of this day from the book of Acts, chapter two, verses 1-8:

1 When the day of Pentecost came, they [that is, the disciples] were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 

5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?  

At this point, Peter rose to speak, and he told the crowd that what they were seeing and hearing was actually the fulfillment of an 800-year-old prophecy. The prophet Joel had foretold that in the last days, God would pour out his spirit on all people. Peter then proclaimed that the resurrection of Christ was the fulfillment of other ancient prophecies concerning the Messiah, and he concluded, starting in verse 36 of Acts chapter two:

36“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” 37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

38 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. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

Here’s some background. Pentecost falls on a Jewish holiday called the Festival of Weeks. That is why Jerusalem was filled with people from all over the known world; because this was one of the three times in the year when Jews were required to travel to the temple in Jerusalem to offer sacrifices. 

The Jewish Festival of Weeks was a harvest festival, and it included the offering of loaves of bread, symbolizing the first fruits of the harvest. And so the 3,000 who were baptized on this day were a kind of spiritual harvest; they were the “firstfruits” of all those who would come to know Christ. And so the church was born. Since that day, Pentecost has been a symbol of the unity of the church in the midst of diversity, because the church includes those from “every nation under heaven” (v. 5). Pentecost also represents the Holy Spirit empowering God’s people for the task of evangelism and world missions, as we heard last week. 

And so there’s a lot here in Acts 2 that we could talk about; more even than I’ve mentioned. But what I’m going to focus on this morning is what the gift of the Holy Spirit means to each one of us as followers of Christ—and specifically, how the Spirit enables us to walk with Christ in holiness and obedience. 

First, I want to emphasize that every believer, every true follower of Jesus Christ, has the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. And furthermore, every believer has all of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit doesn’t come in installments, and he doesn’t come with only part of his power. Because he is a person; he isn’t some kind of spiritual essence or influence. And so wherever he goes, all of his power goes with him. You may be familiar with the doctrine of some of our Pentecostal and Charismatic brethren, that there is a “second blessing” or a “second work of grace” in which the Holy Spirit comes on some believers for holiness or a fuller Christian life. They would say that this “second blessing” could happen many years after someone’s conversion, or perhaps never. They base that teaching on some incidents in the book of Acts, in which the Spirit was given later to those who already believed, such as the Samaritans in Acts 8 and Cornelius’ household in Acts 10. But those people were receiving the Spirit for the first time, not the second time, so it wasn’t a “second blessing” at all. And the lapse of time between their initial conversion and their receiving of the Holy Spirit had a specific purpose in the early days of the church, to demonstrate to the apostles that God was accepting into the body of Christ every kind of ethnic group, including Samaritans and Gentiles. And so it wasn’t intended to be the pattern for believers generally. 

Therefore, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ; if you have repented of your sins and have placed your trust in him for salvation, then you have the Holy Spirit. You have all of him, and he comes with all of his power. Now, are there times when we don’t have a strong sense of the Spirit’s presence in our lives, when God feels distant? Of course. But that’s just a part of the normal ups and downs of our relationship with God. If you want examples, read Psalm 13 or Psalm 22, where David laments that he feels far from God. And on the other hand, are there times in the life of faith when we experience God’s presence and power in a special way? Of course. All of us have times when we feel God’s presence more intensely than at other times. But that’s not a second filling of the Spirit; it’s just the normal experience of walking with Christ, day to day. The Christian life is a relationship, and in any relationship, there are times when you feel closer, and times when you feel farther away. 

Why does all of this matter? Why is this not just quibbling over doctrine? It matters because this means that once you have trusted in Christ, you have everything you need to walk with him in holiness and obedience. You don’t have to wait for some other experience. You have everything you need to fight against the sin and corruption that remains in your heart. You have everything you need to fellowship with God, and to experience his love for you. You have everything you need to serve, and to sacrifice, and if needed, to suffer. Because you have the Holy Spirit. All of Him. And there’s nothing else that will happen, or that needs to happen to enable you to receive all of God’s power and blessings. Let me give you some Biblical evidence for this. Romans 8, starting with verse 6:

6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.  

13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

In verse 9, Paul tells us that, “if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.” And so there is no such thing as a Christian who does not have the Holy Spirit. “Christians” and people who have the Holy Spirit are one and the same group.
But note what else Paul writes here. Those who are in the realm of the flesh, those whose minds are governed by the flesh, are hostile to God. They don’t submit to God’s law, and in fact, they are unable to do so. Those are people who do not have the Spirit; in other words, unbelievers. They cannot please God. And if they continue on that path, they will die.  But those who do have the Holy Spirit—believers—are those who “put to death the misdeeds of the body”. And the outcome of that path is life. These are two different classes of people. And so if a person’s life gives no evidence of a desire to live a holy and pure life; if they are not obeying God or submitting to him, then what they need is not a “second blessing”, or some kind of spiritual booster shot. What they need is to be saved. Because their life indicates that they likely are not in a relationship with Christ, whatever they may claim. 

Now, does that mean that we can look at someone and judge whether or not they are in the faith? No. We are not anyone else’s judges, and only God can see into someone’s heart.
That’s not why these verses are in the Bible. These verses are in the Bible so that each one of us will consider whether our life is consistent with someone who has the Holy Spirit. Because if we have the Holy Spirit, we will be seeking to obey God. And if we are not seeking to obey God, then the evidence suggests that we do not belong to Christ. And if you determine that’s the case, you need to repent and trust in Christ for forgiveness. 

So, if all of us who are followers of Christ have the Holy Spirit—if we have all of him, and He comes with all of his power, then what does that mean for our daily lives? One thing it means is that we have the power to overcome sin. In Romans 8:7, we just read that “The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.” Unbelievers are literally unable to submit to God or to obey God. Now you might say, “Wait a minute. I know some good people who aren’t Christians. Good, moral people.” And that’s true. People who don’t know Christ, and who don’t have the Holy Spirit, can live upright and moral lives. But nothing that they do pleases God. Why? Because their upright and moral lives aren’t an expression of faith, or obedience to God. They may be conforming to social norms, or following a personal code of conduct, or living the way they were raised by their parents. But they aren’t acting in faith. And so they cannot please God. In Hebrews 11:6, we read this:

6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

But the good news is that those who have the Holy Spirit; that is, all believers, have the power to overcome sin. We are no longer under the dominion of sin. We are no longer slaves to sin. We can fight back, we can resist temptation, we can choose to obey God, and we can overcome sin. Sin is not our master. Paul gives us this assurance in Romans 6:

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

And so the Holy Spirit has set us free from our previous slavery to sin; he has released us from sin’s absolute power. And he has given us the ability to choose to offer ourselves to God to do what is right, rather than offering ourselves to sin, to do evil and wickedness. By the Holy Spirit’s power, we have true freedom of choice. Before we came to faith in Christ, before we had experienced the new birth, we had no choice. We could only sin. We were unable not to sin. Literally everything that we said or did was sin, because none of it came from a heart of faith, as we just read in Hebrews. In addition, Romans 14:23 tells us that “everything that does not come from faith is sin.” 

Let me go a little deeper into this point. Adam and Eve in the garden were able to sin, and also able not to sin. They were created in a state of innocence. But they chose to sin, and in doing so, they brought all of their descendants, all of humanity, under the power and dominion of sin. From that point on, the only thing that human beings apart from God could do was sin. They could sin fast or slow, they could sin in this way or that, but they could not do anything truly righteous or pleasing to God. All they could do was sin. 

And that includes all of us before we came to faith. We could do things that are considered “good” from a human point of view, things that were morally positive or which benefited other people, actions which demonstrated courage, or selflessness, or kindness. But from God’s perspective, none of those things are truly good. They are still sinful, because they aren’t done from a heart that seeks to obey and glorify God, a heart of faith. 

That was before we came to faith. We had no ability, no power, to obey God or to please God. But now we do have a choice. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, who lives in us, we have the ability to reject sin and to choose obedience. We can “offer” ourselves either to sin or to God. So, what does that look like? Do we instantly lose all sinful desires? Does it suddenly become easy to always do what is right? If only that were true. No, it’s still a struggle. Sometimes, it’s two steps forward and one step back, and sometimes, it’s one step forward and two steps back. There are victories and setbacks. As Peter writes, 

“Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.” (1 Peter 2:11)

Our struggle against sin is a war. And we need to treat it as such. But because we have the Holy Spirit, we have the power to succeed. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, is actively supporting us in that struggle; he is supplying the power for us to persevere. He knows what we’re going through; he understands temptation. As we read in Hebrews 2:18:

“18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” (Hebrews 2:18)

And then later in Hebrews, chapter four, verses 15-16:

“15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:15-16)

So keep praying and striving after holiness, knowing that the power to prevail in your struggle against sin is living within you. And don’t give up, even when you fail, but keep striving. 

Now, I could stop here, and this would be a pretty standard message on overcoming sin. But I’d like to go just a little deeper. Because everything I’ve said so far assumes that holiness, and overcoming sin, is something that we all desire. That as Christians and as followers of Christ, we desire that our lives will be increasingly free of sin. But that’s not really the case, at least not for all of us, all the time. Often, the real issue isn’t that we struggle to overcome sin. Often, the root issue is that we don’t really desire holiness in the first place. I don’t mean that we desire the opposite; to be wicked or sinful, just that we often lack a desire to be holy. And without that desire; without that intention and will, we will see no change; we will experience no increase in godliness. So there must be, first of all, a desire to overcome sin and a desire to be holy. 

In the book of 2 Thessalonians, Paul reminds those to whom he is writing of the coming judgment of God against those who do not know him or obey him. Paul gives them assurance that in contrast, when Christ returns, he will be glorified in those who have believed in him. And he tells them this, in 2 Thessalonians 1:11:

11 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. (2 Thessalonians 1:11)

In other words, in light of the fact that Christ is coming—both to render judgment and punish those who do not believe and obey, and also to be glorified among those who do believe—in light of the fact that Christ is coming back, we should strive to be worthy of his calling. We should desire goodness, and we should be active in good deeds. But catch the key word here: “desire”. His prayer is that God would bless their desire for goodness, that is, their desire for holiness. What did Jesus say in the Sermon on the Mount? “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6). And so my question to you is this: do you strongly desire holiness, godliness, righteousness?
Is that something that you hunger and thirst for? Because if not—if you are indifferent to overcoming sin and living a holy life, then you will not succeed in doing so. Because it requires work. It requires intention. Here is what Paul writes to Timothy:

22 Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (2 Timothy 2:22)

Righteousness in our conduct and experience, as opposed to the legal, or positional righteousness that we have in Christ, is something that we have to “pursue”. It doesn’t just happen. And it won’t happen unless we strongly desire it and pursue it. 

But why should we? Why should we ardently desire holiness? Why should we pursue righteousness in our conduct? Why does it matter? 

Here’s the answer. The author of Hebrews writes,  

14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14)

This is the crux of the issue. This is what it all comes down to. Without holiness we can’t know God. That’s true in a future sense. Without the perfect and complete holiness that we will have when Christ returns, when we are fully and completely transformed into his image, we can’t enter heaven. But it’s also true here and now, in our experience. If we accept ongoing sin in our lives; if we make our peace with sin, so to speak, so that we don’t try to root it out of our life as long as it doesn’t cause us too much trouble; if we choose to tolerate sin in our life instead of warring against it and striving against it by the power of Holy Spirit—if we do that, then we will not know what it is like to have fellowship with God. Because “without holiness no one will see the Lord.” 

In Matthew 5:8, again in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Why? Because God is not willing to have fellowship with those who harbor sin in their hearts. As the Psalmist writes in Psalm 66:18, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened”. In other words, if instead of striving against sin, and hating it, and despising it, and doing everything we can, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to eradicate it from our life—if instead of doing that, we cherish our sin, and protect it, and take care to preserve it, so that we can continue in it, then God will not listen to our prayers. Because we will not be in fellowship with him.

Now, to a sincere Christian, the prospect of being separated from God, of being out of fellowship with God, is a terrible thing. When God the Father hid his face from Jesus on the cross, he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). And my hope is that this is something which all of us would desire to avoid at all costs. Because to be separated from God, to be separated from Christ, is to be separated from the source of our life. But to be in fellowship with Christ; to be united with him in faith, is to have his life in us, coursing through our veins, empowering our actions. Here is how the Psalmist expresses that desire:

1 As the deer pants for streams of water,
    so my soul pants for you, my God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
    When can I go and meet with God? (Psalm 42:1-2)

And so my hope, again, is that this Psalm expresses your desire, that deep in your soul you thirst to know and fellowship with God. Otherwise, everything I have said this morning will have fallen on deaf ears. Because if there is not a desire in your heart to know God and to fellowship with him, then there will be no desire for holiness. And in that case, the Holy Spirit—who is called the “Spirit of Holiness” in Romans 1:4—in that case, the Holy Spirit and the power that he gives us to overcome sin will be of no benefit to you. 

Let’s summarize. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles, and then upon all those who believed in Christ, about 3,000 people. And since that day, two thousand years ago, God has been gracious to give the Holy Spirit to all who trust in Christ. One of the many blessings that the Holy Spirit gives us is the power to overcome sin, and
to walk in holiness and obedience, more and more as we grow in faith and spiritual maturity. But in order for that to happen, we have to desire that it happen; we must “hunger and thirst” for righteousness; we must desire to know God. 

So what if that isn’t the case? What if we look into our hearts and we have to acknowledge, honestly, that this desire just isn’t there? That we don’t strongly desire holiness, and that we don’t thirst to know God? What about the times when you feel spiritually dry, and you realize that you don’t even care that you are spiritually dry? In that case, I have good news. We don’t have to somehow generate that desire. We don’t have to pretend that it’s there when it isn’t. Instead, we can pray to God that he would give us that desire. And God will answer that prayer. Our model is the prayer of David in Psalm 51. I’ll read verses 10-12.

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11 Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Now, thankfully, unlike in the Old Testament, when the gift of the Holy Spirit was selective and temporary, we don’t have to worry that God will take him from us. Just as our salvation is permanent, so also the gift of the Holy Spirit is permanent. Nevertheless, most of us will find ourselves needing to pray something like this, many times in our journey through this life. Because there will be times when we feel far from God, times when we don’t feel God’s presence in our lives. But wherever you find yourself this morning, whether you feel close to God or far from him, you can pray this prayer. You can pray that God will purify your heart; that he will strengthen you spiritually and make you steadfast in following him. You can pray that he would not remove you from fellowship with him, but that he would restore the joy of your salvation, and give you a spirit that desires to follow him in holiness and obedience. 

The First Baptist Church of Richwood - May 24, 2026