What We Believe about the Holy Spirit

 

We Believe in. . .
God, The Holy Spirit
Acts 19:2
 
When we talk about God most people think about God the Father and perhaps they picture Him on His throne, dressed in robes of white with a long flowing beard. Others, when they think of God, think of Jesus, and everyone at one time or another has seen what some artist thinks Jesus must have looked like, but when someone mentions the Holy Spirit what comes to mind?
 
Today, as we continue our series on ‘These Things We Believe”, we come to the third message on God. Today we will concentrate our thoughts on the doctrine of God the Holy Spirit, often referred to as Pneumatology, literally meaning, “A word about the Spirit.”
 
The confessional statement which we as Southern Baptist set forth as being descriptive of our doctrine is the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. It has this to say about God the Holy Spirit.
 
“The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Savior, and effects regeneration. At the moment of regeneration He baptizes every believer into the body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption.
His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism and service.”
 
The fact of the matter is that many Christians know a lot about Jesus, they understand less about God the Father but God the Holy Spirit is somewhat of a mystery to them. They have heard about Him, sang about Him and read scriptures where He is mentioned, but if the truth be known, their understanding of His person and His work remain somewhat obscure in their minds.
 
The purpose of our study this morning will be to try and come to a better understanding of how God the Holy Spirit reveals Himself to us through His word.
 
Again, since the Holy Spirit is fully God, it would be impossible for us to be exhaustive in our scope so, because of our limited time I will try and show you several things about the Holy Spirit about which every believer should be aware.
 
That was an important consideration as the early church began. In fact, it’s addressed in Acts 19:1-2.
 
TEXT
 
Who is the Holy Spirit? We talk about the Holy Spirit, songs are sung about the Holy Spirit, you have heard about the Holy Spirit. The question we want to answer is, Whois the Holy Spirit?
 
 
 
In response to this question of Paul's, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed, these disciples said we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.
 
I think these words epitomize the widespread ignorance there is today in religious circles concerning the person and the work of the Holy Spirit.
 
If a church does not understand the part the Holy Spirit plays, then the church will never be what God intends for it to be. The excitement, the joy, the power, the convicting presence which comes when the Holy Spirit is in a place is absolutely essential if a church is to be what God wants it to be.
 
The same is true on a personal level as well. If a person does not understand the presence and power and purpose of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life, they will never mature and develop into the child of God that He has designed them to be.
 
The Spirit of God has given us Acts 19, I believe as an indicator of the significance and importance and  role of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer.
 
There are several reasons why the book of Acts is in your Bible. One reason is very apparent. It shows us the spread of Christianity from Jerusalem to Rome. Acts 1:8 it says, you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you and you will be witnesses unto me in Judea, Jerusalem, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth.
 
And that's one of the reasons why you have the book of Acts in your Bible.
Another reason is to tell us who the Holy Spirit is and what the Holy Spirit has come in to this world to do.
 
As I understand the Bible there is a three-fold ministry of the Holy Spirit in today's world:
 
First of all, there is His restraining ministry. The
Holy Spirit of God is present in the world to restrain the effects of the fall and the onslaught of sin.
 
You may think conditions are bad in the world today -- and they are. But when the Spirit of God is withdrawn from the world and great tribulation sets in upon this earth and the world does not have the restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit, you are going to see what kind of world it will be without the presence of God's spirit. There is the restraining work of the Holy Spirit tonight.
 
Then there is also the reproving ministy of the Holy Spirit. God's Spirit is in this world to reprove, to convict people of sin.
 
Jesus said in John 16:8, and when He, the Holy Spirit is come, He will reprove the world of sin, righteousness and judgment to come. That just simply means that it is the role of the Holy Spirit to make a person aware of the fact that he is a sinner; that he needs something in his life that he does not have and to point that lost sinner to the Lord Jesus who is able to save. 
 
Anybody who is ever saved has first of all been convicted by the Spirit that they are a sinner and they need Jesus as their Savior. The restraining ministry of the Spirit. The reproving ministry of the Spirit and then
The regenerating ministry of the Holy
Spirit. Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3, you must be born again of the Spirit.
 
When you realize that you are a sinner and that you
need Jesus as your Savior, you repent of your sins and by faith you invite Jesus into your heart, the Bible says at that moment you are regenerated, you are made new. 
 
You become a member of God's family on the basis of a spiritual birth. You were born into your mother and father's family by means of physical birth. You are born into the family of God by means of a spiritual birth. So, there is the regenerating ministry of God's spirit in our hearts.
 
That experience of salvation means that when you are saved, at the moment of your salvation the Holy Spirit comes to live in your heart. You may not understand Him. You may not be aware that His presence is there, but if you are truly born again God's Spirit dwells in your heart and he is very real in your heart. The Holy Spirit has come to make real in you what Jesus did for you at the cross.
 
Now with that in mind, I want to be very practical in this message today. I want you to understand that there resides in this blessed person of the Holy Spirit everything you need to live the way God wants you to live and to face every problem and every difficulty that you face.
 
I want to explain to you as simply as I know how who the Holy Spirit is.
 
 
Turn with me to John 14:16-17
 
These are the words of Jesus, and He begins with
 
1. A Promise
 
Jesus made a promise. He said “I'll pray to the Father and he will give you another comforter”. We know who the comforter is here because of verse
26.
 
The word, comforter is a compound word in the original language that's made up of a preposition and a verb. The preposition means to come along side of. The verb means to call. You put them together and it means “one who is called alongside of”.
 
Jesus said I'm going to give you someone who will come alongside of you. I'm going to give a helper to you. I'm going to give you an advocate. I'm going to give you a lawyer to plead your case. I'm going to give you a blessed comforter. He's talking about the Holy Spirit.
 
Did you notice that Jesus in that 16th verse says, "I'll give you another comforter." If he is going to give them another comforter, it means they have already had a comforter, didn't it?
 
We know that was Jesus. Jesus walked with these disciples and talked with them for three years. He was right alongside them to help them. Now Jesus is fixing to go back to heaven. But I wants us to know we don't' have to worry, he is going to give us another comforter. There are two words translated “another” in the New Testament.
 
One of those words means another of a different kind. For instance you might say I traded cars. I say
what kind of car did you trade for? Oh, I had a Dodge and I traded it for a Mercedes Benz. That's another of a different kind. You had a Dodge and traded it for a Mercedes.
 
But suppose I should say to you, I traded cars. You say what did you trade for?  I say I had an '05 Dodge and traded it for an '09 Dodge.
 
I traded, but I traded for one of the same kind. Another of the same kind. That's the word Jesus is using right here. He is saying I'm going to give you another Comforter just like the one you had. He is saying the Holy Spirit is going to be just like me.
 
Sometimes we think it would be great to have lived when Jesus lived. Wouldn't it have been wonderful to have been on the earth when Jesus was here? But did you know that Jesus Christ when he was on this earth voluntarily limited himself to time and to space.
 
That means that in the flesh when Jesus was in Nazareth he couldn't be in Jerusalem at the same time. It means in the flesh when Jesus was down at the river Jordan he couldn't' be on the mountain of transfiguration. He was limited by time and space because of his humanity.
 
Now Jesus is saying I'm going back to heaven. I'm going to give you another one just like me – the Holy Spirit. He will be with you wherever you are, wherever you go, whatever the circumstances are I am going to give the Holy Spirit and he will be with you forever.
That's good news to know that I have the very presence of God in my life on a permanent basis and everywhere I go the Lord goes with me.
 
Not only that, when He’s with me here in Ardmore, at the same time simultaneously and in fullness, He is with Booker Banda in Africa and Todd Liston in Idaho and Tommy         in Arizona. 
 
That is the Promise of the Holy Spirit. 
 
The Old Testament had made the promise of the Father that the Holy Spirit would come.
 
John the Baptist picked up that same promise and said, he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
 
Now Jesus said in answer to His prayer, the Father is going to give the Holy Spirit.
 
Look at verse 20
 
Jesus said at that day you will know. What was that
day?
 
That day was the day of Pentecost. On that day, the Heavenly Father, first person of the Trinity, in answer to the prayer of Jesus, God the Son, second person of the Trinity, poured upon his believing church the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, God the Spirit, the third personof the Trinity. 
 
God kept his promise.
 
 
 
Secondly, Jesus also talks about
 
2. The Personality of the Holy Spirit.
 
Verse 17
 
He refers to the Holy Spirit as a person. Did you notice there that Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as a person? Jesus called the Holy Spirit Him. The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is a person. He is the third person in the godhead. The Bible teaches that God is one God and yet he reveals himself in three distinct personalities.
 
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
 
When we baptize a new believer, they are baptized, at the command of Jesus, in the name of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
 
How can God be one God and yet three personalities? I don’t know! I can't explain it to you.
I can use some feeble illustrations like one man being son, dad and husband. Or an egg being shell, yolk and white. But they all fall short. 
 
 You mean, preacher, you believe what you don't understand? That's exactly what I'm telling you.
You mean you don't have all the answers about how God can be one God three personalities? I not only don’t have all the answers, I don’t have any answers!
 
I just know the Bible teaches that and I believe what the Bible teaches whether I understand it or not bny faith. And if you’ll come to God and know eternal life, you’ll have to come the same way. 
And before you write that off and say you can’t believe in something you don’t understand, I’ll remind you that you do it all the time. 
 
For instance, electricity. They say that when one molecule of electricity touches another molecule of electricity it produces an electrical current. 
 
Have you ever seen a molecule of electricity? Do you understand why it goes that way instead
of that way?
 
I don't understand electricity, but I believe in it so much that I depend upon it every day. I’m frustrated and limited when it’s not available. 
 
I don't understand how a brown cow can eat green grass and give yellow butter and white milk. But it happens. You believe in a lot of things you don't understand.
 
The Bible says the Holy Spirit is a person just like God the Father is a person. The blessed Holy Spirit is not an “it”. It is not only impolite, it is theologically incorrect to refer to the Holy Spirit as an “it”.
 
Sometimes people refer to the Holy Spirit as if we are talking about some force or as if we mean some influence or some power. No. The Holy Spirit is a personality, not an it, but a “he”.
 
You deny existence if you deny personality. No personality, no existence.
 
Some of you brought your preschool baby to the nursery or extended care.
 
How would you feel if that preschool worker had taken that precious little darling and say what a cute "thing" you have there. Never seen an "it" that looks as good as "it" does.
 
You would be insulted. I will have you know Mortimer is not an "it" he's a person. You don't refer to people as an it, you refer to them as a he or a she. That’s why the weak-minded arguments of those who would defend abortion are so insulting. They deny the dignity and sanctity of life.
 
The same is true with the Holy Spirit. If you a born-again child of God, then God Himself, in the person of the Holy Spirit is living in you.
 
That means that God who created this universe, the
God whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain has condescended to come to dwell in fullness down in your heart and life.
 
Man what a doctrine! No wonder the gospel is called “Good News”! That's the solution to every problem I have or ever will have. God the Holy Spirit is alive in my heart.
 
Do you see the difference between a person and an it? That means the Holy Spirit bears all the marks of personality. What does it take to be a person? You have to have a body. No you don't have to have a body to be a person. Paul, talking about the death of a believer said, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
 
That simply means that when you die you are going to come out of this old body.
 
Will you be a person or a non- person at that time? A body is not essential to personality. Visibility is not essential to personality. In fact the real me is invisible. The outward me, the mythical me is only an indication of the real me that is on the inside.
 
So, the Holy Spirit, though he does not occupy a physical body is a very real personality. He has mind. We are told about the mind of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit makes intercession for us. The Holy Spirit has intelligence. The Holy Spirit has emotion. He has feeling. The Bible talks about the Spirit of God making groanings that cannot be uttered.
 
The Bible says in Eph. 4:30, to grieve not the Holy Spirit. That's a tender word. That's the kind of word that would be used when a boyfriend hurts his girlfriend. He grieves or he hurts her. It's the kind of a word that would be used to describe a son who says something hateful and ugly to his mother. It's a love word. The Holy Spirit is capable of being grieved.
 
The Holy Spirit has emotion. The Holy Spirit has a will. He is able to do things. He prompts us to do things. God's Holy Spirit lives within our hearts to seek to lead us to do the will of God. That's what the Holy Spirit wants to lead you to do - the will of God in your life. Jesus said, Him, the personality of the Holy Spirit.
 
Here's the third thing I want to say about the Holy Spirit. First, we have the promise of the Holy Spirit,  Jesus said he would come.
 
Then we see the personality of the Holy Spirit,
Jesus said he was a real person.
Number three, notice
 
3. The Presence of the Holy Spirit.
 
Look again at verse 17, the last part of the verse. Jesus is discussing the presence of the Holy Spirit.
 
"For he dwells with you and willl be in you."
 
Jesus is talking to the disciples before Pentecost. The day of Pentecost hadn't happened. Jesus, talking to the disciples before Pentecost said, He, the Holy Spirit dwells with you.
 
But then he says and he shall be in you. See the difference? Before Pentecost the Holy Spirit dwelt with believers. After Pentecost the Holy Spirit is going to dwell in believers.
 
That's the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the Old Testament when it talks about the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of people it primarily talks about the spirit coming on somebody.
 
For instance, remember Samson - the strongest man that ever lived. When I was a boy and they talked about Samson in Sunday School I had the idea that he looked like Hulk Hogan. I could just visualize him to be about 6'10" - 350 pounds with muscles where I don’t even have places. 
 
I’ve come to believe that is inaccurate. That's not the way it was at all. Samson didn't look like a strong man. He wasn't strong because he pumped iron. The Bible says the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him.
That's where he got his strength. He got his strength in the exact same spot we get your strength.
 
Listen: You are not strong enough to live the Christian life. You may be like a lot of ther people who say, “Well I’d get saved, but I can’t live it.”
 
Well “Duh!” Of course you can't. Nobody can in and of themselves. If you wait until you get good enough and strong enough to live the Christian life you will die and split hell wide open. It doesn't work that way.
 
The strength to live the Christian life is made possible in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Samson was strong because the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him. He got himself in the lap of Delilah and she clipped his locks and he lost his separation and his dedication to the Lord.
 
When the Philistines came and attacked him the Bible says old Samson shook himself just like he always did. Going to go out there and mop them up, but the Bible says that God had exited the premises. The Lord was departed from him. 
 
In his own strength without the Spirit of God coming upon his life he was weaker than other men were and he couldn't win the battle. God came on men through the Holy Spirit. 
 
Remember what David prayed in Psalm 51:11. He prayed in that verse to the Lord after he had sinned, Take not thy Holy Spirit from me. David knew, in those days, that God could withdraw His spirit.
 
God could take his mantle of power. God could remove his presences from the life of a believers. So he said Lord don't take your Holy Spirit from me.
 
Do you realize that a New Testament, saved by grace, born again believer, you will never experience what David and Samson did?   I don't care how you
may have sinned. I don't care how you may have broken the heart of the Lord, you will never be separated from the presence of God. 
 
Why? Because verse 17 – he dwells with you - that's pre Pentecost - and shall be in you - that's post Pentecost.
 
That just simply means that the Spirit's presence is in your heart. He dwells in your heart and he will never, no never leave you. That's who the Holy Spirit is. He is God Himself alive in your heart as a believer.
 
That just means that everything you need is made available in the Holy Spirit.
 
The Holy Spirit is called the spirit of Truth. That simply means that you don't have to be deceived. You have the Spirit of truth in you.
 
The Holy Spirit we are told is the Spirit of faith. That simply means that you do not have to be discouraged. God's spirit of faith is in you.
 
He is also called the spirit of grace. That means you don't have to be disgruntled. The Spirit of grace is in your life.
 
 
He is also called the Spirit of holiness. That means you don't have to be defiled in your life. When temptation comes knocking at your door as a Christian, you don't have to answer the door, you can send the blessed Holy Spirit to answer the door.
 
Friend, have you experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit? Does God's spirit dwell in your life?
Preacher, you just said he did. You just said if I'm a born again believer, God's Spirit dwells in my life.
 
But the word, dwell, is a most interesting word. It is a word that really means to be at home in. We talk about our houses. We call them dwellings. That's why we use that word. That means to be at home.
 
Let's just suppose that you were invited to go to live in someone's house. The evening you are to move into that house you come into the den and you are looking forward to living in that house. You think, I'm kind of hungry. I think I'll go in the kitchen and get something to eat. But you find that the door of the kitchen is locked and you can't get in. You say, well, that's very unusual, I guess I'll go in and take a shower. You go to the bathroom and you discover that the door is locked and you can't get into the bathroom.
 
So, you say, I think I'll just go on to bed and get a good night's sleep. You go to the bedroom and pull on the bedroom door and find out they have locked you out of the bathroom.
 
Get this, you are locked out of the kitchen, you are locked out of the bathroom, you are locked out of the bedroom. You are living there, but your activity is greatly restricted.
If you are a born again, blood-washed, child of God, God's spirit dwells in your heart. But you, as a believer, have the option of locking some of the doors of the rooms of your heart and pushing the Holy Spirit off into some little corner of your life.
 
What the Holy Spirit wants to do is for you to say, Dear Blessed Holy Spirit,
 
I've made a mess of my heart's home. I have just wrecked this old house something terrible. But, blessed Holy Spirit, you are the third person of the Godhead. You are God, come to live in my heart and to work in and through me and make me what I ought to be. Blessed Holy Spirit, I open up all the doors of my heart. Take control of my heart. That's when the Christian life takes on excitement and begins to have victory on a daily basis.