Sermon Tone Analysis

! I.     Introduction

When I was in Bible School, a group of us attended a Pentecostal church.

We went out of curiosity and wondered what we would see there.

I have to admit that I don’t really think that I experienced the power of the Spirit of God in that church that morning.

It seemed to us more like a bunch of noisy people.

There have been other times when I have experienced the power of God at work.

In 1971, we attended a denominational youth retreat in Banff.

At that meeting, it was evident that God was at work in many lives.

People’s hearts were being changed and the worship services even had to be adjusted because of what God was doing.

It is one of the most powerful experiences of the activity of the Holy Spirit that I have ever had.

One person suggested that the practicing creed for many Christians is, “I believe in God the Father, I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s Son’ but I wonder about the Holy Spirit.”

Gordon Fee tells of a time when he was in church on Pentecost Sunday.

A children’s story was being told about the Holy Spirit and the imagery was being used of the Spirit being like the wind and the point that was being made was that just like the wind is very visible in its effects even though it is itself invisible, so we can see the work of the Holy Spirit but He is invisible.

A 6 year old boy blurted out “But I want the wind to be un-invisible.”

Please read with me article 2:3 of our confession of Faith which speaks of the Holy Spirit.

“We believe that the Holy Spirit exists eternally as one of the persons of the Trinity, co-equal with the Father and the Son.

He convicts the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgement to come.

He indwells believers and is the guarantee of their salvation.

He encourages, comforts and guides them into the truth.

He empowers for service and enables believers to live holy lives (Matthew 28:19; John 16:7, 8, 13; Acts 1:8; 5:3-4; Romans 8:1-4; I Corinthians 3:16; II Corinthians 3:3, 17; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 1:13-14).

This morning, we want to think about who the Holy Spirit is and what He means in our lives.

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II.

God Present

Have you ever said to someone, “can you come with me, I don’t want to go alone?”

Whether it is to go for a ride, for a walk, to an appointment, we enjoy being with people.

I often think of people who are in a personal care home or a hospital.

Sometimes we go to visit them and we think that we have to make conversation, but I am convinced that just as much as conversation, they appreciate our simply being there with them.

We all appreciate presence.

The first truth we will look at this morning is that the Holy Spirit is God present with us.

When God created Adam and Eve, the Bible tells us that He was present with them in the garden of Eden.

When they sinned, that fellowship was broken.

In Genesis 3:10 Adam said to God, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

That is the indication that Adam and Eve did not want God present because they were guilty.

Since that time, people have shied away from the presence of God, but God wants to have a relationship with His people.

The Bible demonstrates this in many places.

After the fiasco with the golden calf in Exodus, Moses wondered how he would lead the people through to the promised land if God did not go with them.

In Exodus 33:14 God promises, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

After the tent of meeting had been built by Israel in the wilderness, we read that God was present with His people in this tent of meeting.

After Solomon built the temple, we read in I Chronicles 3:`6 that “the glory of the Lord filled the temple.”

From that time until the glory of the Lord left the temple because Israel sinned, the people of Israel had a powerful sense of God present with them in the temple.

Ezekiel is written after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and the people were devastated and many of the wondered where the presence of God was.

In Ezekiel 40-48 there is a wonderful picture of a restored temple which is a promise that God would once again be present with His people.

The fulfillment of that promise is, however, different than might have been expected.

In the New Testament we find that God is no longer present with His people in one location on earth in a temple.

Now, the people of God are the temple of God and God is present with his people by His Holy Spirit indwelling each of them.

I Corinthians 3:16 says, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” From the time of the coming of the Holy Spirit and to the present day, we, the people of God, are God’s temple and God lives in that temple by His Spirit.

The Spirit of God is God present with His people.

It is very important that we do not speak of the Spirit of God as “it” but that we recognize that God’s Spirit is the very personal presence of God here with us now.

One writer says, “Surely the reality that God is personally present in and among us should encourage us through the pressures and weaknesses of our present life, not to mention revitalize us when our shoulders droop and our hands grow weary.”

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III.

Agent Of Salvation

We are thankful for that presence, but although sometimes presence is just that, presence, often it is much more, it is also doing.

God is present by His Spirit, but He is also doing.

The Spirit is the agent of God’s activity among us.

How is that true for each one of us?

It is true first of all in that it is the Spirit of God who is the agent of salvation.

How does the Spirit bring about salvation in a person?

!! A.       Agent Of Conviction

The work of the Spirit in an individual begins with the work of convicting.

John 16:7, 8 says, “…Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment…”

In order for a person to come to Christ, they first of all need to know that they are sinners.

We will not convince people of their sin by our condemnation.

Whenever a person comes to the conviction of sin it is because the Holy Spirit has been at work.

In fact, apart from the Holy Spirit, people do not really know the truth about sin, righteousness or judgement.

The Spirit convicts people in several senses.

The Spirit helps people realize that they are sinners.

He presses upon their conscience the reality of God’s standards.

When they understand them and that they cannot meet them, they are ready for God’s help.

The Spirit helps them understand that as they are, they are under God’s judgement and when they know that they are under wrath, they are ready to trust in God’s help for salvation.

Before we became followers of Christ, the Spirit of God had already done His work in our hearts.

Whenever we meet someone who is ready to receive Christ by faith, God’s Spirit has already been at work in their heart.

!! B.       Agent Of Rebirth

Just as the Spirit is the agent of conviction, the Spirit is also the agent of rebirth.

We do not save ourselves.

We do not change our hearts.

We may change our minds, but we are not Christians until we have been changed by the work of the Holy Spirit.

Titus 3:5,6 makes this very clear when it says, “he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.

He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit…” Salvation is the renewing work of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes I wonder if we ask the wrong questions.

We ask people, “have you made a commitment to Christ.”

Now there is no doubt that we need to believe in God, but I think the important question really is “have you, by faith, allowed the Spirit of God to change your heart?”

That is what it means to be born again.

The work of the Spirit of God in salvation is so important that Romans 8:9 says that “if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.”

I believe that it is very important for us to recognize that the work of rebirth is the work of the Spirit of God.

So first of all, we recognize that the Spirit of God is present with us doing the work of salvation.

As we witness to Christ and as people put their faith in Christ, the Spirit of God has already been at work convicting of sin and at the point of belief, doing the work of renewal.

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IV.Accompanying Friend

Just as the Spirit has been powerfully present with us in our salvation, so God’s presence continues with us in our Christian life.

One writer speaks about the Spirit as a “vital experienced reality in believers lives.”

The Spirit is God present with us as an accompanying friend.

What does that mean to each one of us?

!! A.       Relationship With God

            God is essentially a relational being.

We see this particularly in the relationship of Jesus with the Father.

The presence of the Spirit of God with each of us indicates this relationship.

In Romans 8:26,27 we have words which describe the relationship.

There we read, “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.”

The Spirit, who Himself knows the thoughts of God because He is in an intimate relationship with God, is at work in us helping our prayer because He is also in an intimate relationship with us.