Essentials #7: HOLY SPIRIT | 10/24/2021
Various passages | 10/24/21 | Thad Yessa
Many Christians rarely think about the Holy Spirit. God the Father we know about. God the Son we think about all the time. But God the Holy Spirit? There are fewer songs to him, fewer meditations about him, and fewer churches named after him. He’s mistaken for the force from Star Wars. He’s confused with a ghost in paranormal activity. Oftentimes, he’s just ignored or forgotten, and this makes sense. Since he is an invisible spirit, it can be hard to relate to him and his work in our lives. You may know him by name and know that he’s mentioned during a baptism but have no idea who he is, how he is at work in your life, or whether or not you should even care.
We should be asking ourselves why that is the case, some may say it’s because we simply don’t have as much Scripture dedicated to talking directly about the Holy Spirit, which if we look simply at word count, I can see how one draws that conclusion. I think this is less likely the case: I think could be a couple of options, we have seen what we would classify as abuse in the name of the Spirit through the charismatic movement and desire to NOT follow in those footsteps. When someone brings up the Holy Spirit, they immediately jump to speaking in tongues, healings, prophecies, and yes, those are things that the Holy Spirit gives and equips, but it isn’t who He is. Or, in desiring to remove ourselves from the charismatic movement, we have become self-reliant. We begin to rely on our own strength and our own ability. The evangelical church is the biggest at fault, want to grow the church, hire a marketing team, want people to stick around, find a guy who is a polished communicator and tells some funny stories. Do you want a big kids ministry? Build a slide from the second floor to the first floor. And boom you have grown a church all without relying on the Holy Spirit. Or perhaps in your own life, you go through life and don’t ask the Spirit for help, or guidance and things seem easy. You don’t have to worry about telling your co-worker about Jesus because you ignored the nudging so much you don’t even notice it anymore. You don’t read your Bible because you don’t understand it and the pastor will explain it on Sunday. So this morning I want to introduce or re-introduce you to the Person of the Holy Spirit. Because if our desire is to grow in our knowledge of God we cannot ignore the Holy Spirit.
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So let’s open our Bibles and meet God the Holy Spirit
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.
25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me,31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.
John 14: 15-31
WHC STATEMENT: The Holy Spirit was sent by the Father and the Son, to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The third Person in the Trinity awakens and regenerates those who are being saved, indwells every believer, distributes spiritual gifts, produces spiritual fruit in the lives of the redeemed, and guides, instructs, equips, and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service.
The CHARACTER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that there is one God eternally self-existing and fully expressed in three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each member of the Godhead is equally God, each is eternally God, and each is fully God -- not three gods but three Persons of the one Godhead. Each Person is equal in essence as each possesses fully the identically same, eternal divine nature, yet each is also an eternal and distinct personal expression of the one undivided divine nature.
The Holy Spirit, then, is fully God, He is not one-third God, but fully God. He is not a JV member of the Trinity.
In the Old and New Testament books the Holy Spirit is referred to as “he,” and throughout the New Testament, he’s referred to as a person (John 6:63; 14:26; Rom. 8:11, 16, 26; 1 John 5:6). What we see when we read our Bibles is that the Holy Spirit can be grieved, resisted, and even insulted. An impersonal force cannot do these things.
Second, before ascending to heaven, Jesus said he was going to send the Holy Spirit to be a counselor like him (John 14:26). In John that we read refers to the Spirit as “Helper, Comforter, Advocate” Another way to read it is the One who comes alongside. He is coming to fill a void that Jesus has currently been filling for the disciples, the presence of God, but not as the person of Jesus, but the Person of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is also capable of teaching (Luke 12:12). Unlike gravity—an impersonal force— can neither counsel nor teach people, the Holy Spirit can do both.
In these two ways, we can see that the Holy Spirit is WAY more than a force—he’s the third member of the Trinity.
In fact, we are introduced to the Holy Spirit on the first pages of the Scriptures:
“ In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Genesis 1:2
The Spirit eternally existing brings forth out of chaos, beauty.
Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature (Genesis 2:7).
God formed the physical body of Adam from the ground and then breathed His breath of life into Adam so that he could become a living being.
But what about the CAPACITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT?
When I say capacity I don’t mean limitation, because if the Holy Spirit really is God, then He has no limitation, but by capacity what is the maximum amount of work that can be produced, what does the Holy Spirit actually do:
I think it’s a two-fold answer to summarize what the Holy Spirit does, He saves and sanctifies.
Now if you are familiar with the Bible you might be thinking, hold up...doesn’t Jesus save us? The answer is YES!
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Ephesians 1:3-14
The Father: Salvation originated with the Father.
Ephesians 1:3–6 tells how the Father chose us before the foundation of the world, and predetermined our adoption as His children through Jesus Christ. The Father is the administrator of salvation, and he oversees the process from beginning to end.
The Son: Salvation is brought to fruition in the Son.
Everything the Father does for our salvation, he does through Christ. The work of the Son means redemption, adoption to the Father, reconciliation, sanctification, and glorification (Ephesians 1:7-12). It operates horizontally as well as vertically, and it is for Jew and Gentile alike. It is through the Son that we achieve salvation and come into a full relationship with the triune God.
The Spirit: Salvation is communicated by the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit changes us from the inside out, performing the gracious act of regeneration. He awakens us as our statement of faith states to our sinfulness and need for someone else other than ourselves to save us.
And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment (John 16:8).
The same Spirit that brought order to chaos and made dirt come to life, takes our dead, hardened, sinful hearts and makes them beat with life that only God can give.
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)
With this awakening and regenerating comes the gift of faith and the spiritual ability to believe in the Resurrection. Through the Holy Spirit, our salvation becomes a present reality, applicable to our lives in our own specific context. It is the work of the Holy Spirit along with the Father’s plan, and Son’s sacrifice that makes salvation possible (Ephesians 1:13–14).
But it doesn’t stop there, Spirit then begins the work of sanctification. Because God is not a god who is content to leave you where you are, but instead wants to make you better!
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact, the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. Romans 8:1-11
Because of what has happened through Jesus on the cross and the Spirit’s work in our hearts we now have instead of the spirit of flesh in us, the Spirit of God. Now God is not a long way off or in a special place but He has come to dwell in our hearts. In the Old Testament, God dwelled in the Tabernacle and the Temple, but when Jesus died on the cross we read that
“The curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.” - Matthew 27:51
Fulling what Jesus told the woman at the well in her questioning of where we worship God. “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:23)
That means when we feel most alone, most unloved, most uncared for, God is with us in that very moment.
Not only does the Spirit indwell us but he also gifts us!
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. 1 Corinthians 12:4-11
Pastor Sam Storms gives this definition for spiritual gifts: “Spiritual gifts are capacities or abilities imparted to Christians by the Holy Spirit to enable them to exceed the limitations of their finite humanity in order to serve other believers to the glory of God. Paul says they are a “manifestation of the Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:7a). In other words, the Holy Spirit himself is manifested or disclosed or displayed in some concrete and tangible way when the gifts are exercised. Spiritual gifts, therefore, are designed to draw attention to the Holy Spirit and to alert us to his presence and power.”
So the Holy Spirit imparts on ALL believers spiritual gifts for the purpose of not building up ourselves but so that we can Glorify God and Serve others. Now in the list of spiritual gifts it can be very easy to recognize some giftings in other or perhaps be jealous of the giftings of others but our giftings are NOT about us they are about God and His church. We should recognize the great grace that we have received and that every ability I have is a gift from God to make me flourish, serve your church, and glorify God. We should rejoice that God has gifted every believer differently so that the church can accomplish His purpose in unity and reach a lost and dying world. If you find yourself wishing for a different spiritual gift, remember first that God has given you your gifting, and second take it the Spirit and ask him to work in you.
As the Spirit works to sanctify us, making us more like Jesus there should be certain indicators of that change.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Galatians 5:22-25
In reading these verses we need to take a real long look in hearts and ask the question, when people look at me, talk to me, spend time with me, are these nine fruits evident in my life. Because I can tell you that they are not in mine and that’s a problem. If the Spirit is working to change us to be more like Jesus and what that looks like are these fruits, our lives don’t there is only one answer to why that is the case, we are gratifying the desires of our flesh. Why do we do this, because we forget what Jesus has done for us!
James says that each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. (James 1:14-15)
As we grow older in our Christian faith these fruits should become more and more evident.
The Spirit not only indwells, disperses gifts, grows us to look more like Jesus, but also guides, instructs, equips, and empowers. Now I could spend a whole sermon on each of these, but for sake of time won’t.
But how do we recognize the Spirit’s guidance? How do we discern between our own thoughts and His leading? After all, the Holy Spirit does not speak with audible words. Rather, He guides us through our own consciences (Romans 9:1) and other quiet, subtle ways.
One of the most important ways to recognize the Holy Spirit’s guidance is to be familiar with God’s Word. The Bible is the ultimate source of wisdom about how we should live (2 Timothy 3:16), and believers are to search the Scriptures, meditate on them, and commit them to memory (Ephesians 6:17). The Word is the “sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17), and the Spirit will use it to speak to us (John 16:12–14) to reveal God’s will for our lives; He will also bring specific Scriptures to mind at times when we need them most (John 14:26).
Knowledge of God’s Word can help us to discern whether or not our desires come from the Holy Spirit. We must test our inclinations against Scripture—the Holy Spirit will never prod us to do anything contrary to God’s Word. If it conflicts with the Bible, then it is not from the Holy Spirit and should be ignored.
It is also necessary for us to be in continual prayer with the Father (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Not only does this keep our hearts and minds open to the Holy Spirit’s leading, but it also allows the Spirit to speak on our behalf:
“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will” (Romans 8:26–27).
THE CONTROL OF THE SPIRIT
-Spirit-filled life.
You will start each morning with a desperate dependence on the help of the Holy Spirit.
Your life will demonstrate more and more of the walk of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and will be more and more conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 3:18).
Your prayer life and study of God's Word will become more meaningful.
You will experience His power in witnessing and your desire to see the lost saved (Acts 1:8).
You will be prepared for spiritual conflict against the world (1 John 2:15-17); against the flesh (Galatians 5:16-17); and against Satan (1 Peter 5:7-9; Ephesians 6:10-13). (Spare no arrows)
You will experience His power to resist temptation and sin (1 Corinthians 10:13; Philippians 4:13; Ephesians 1:19-23; 2 Timothy 1:7; Romans 6:1-16).