The Holy Spirit: God in Us

John 14:16–17 KJV 1900

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

Introduction

Gather

• Pencils and paper.

• Hat or container.

Steps

1. Before class, cut several strips of paper. On each piece, record the name of an object. Include heavy, light, small, and big objects. Consider the following: bowling ball, pencil, piece of luggage, baby, pillow, coffee cup, laundry basket, pair of shoes, pile of coins. Put the strips of paper in the hat or container.

2. Students take turns drawing a slip of paper out of the container. Students act out picking up the object and carrying it across the room and back. The rest of the students guess what the student is carrying based on his or her actions.

3. Talk about the activity.

ASK: How did you guess what the student was carrying? By observing the students’ actions.

ASK: Which objects were the easiest to guess? Why?

4. Transition to Bible lesson.

We have learned from experience the effects objects we carry have on our bodies. The Holy Spirit lives with us all the time. We “carry” His presence with us everywhere we go. His presence should affect our actions and daily walk. Others should see us and recognize the Spirit’s invisible presence in us. This lesson will help us recognize what the Spirit’s presence in our lives should look like.

The Holy Spirit’s Person

Personal pronouns

Some false religions teach that the Holy Spirit is merely an influence or a personification of some attribute of God. Jehovah’s Witnesses, for example, believe the Holy Spirit is simply God’s active force in the world. They deny the personality of the Spirit. In so doing, they distort, ignore, or misinterpret clear Scriptures that are important to a believer’s salvation and Christian experience.

The Holy Spirit, like God the Father and God the Son before He took on flesh, lives as a spirit with no physical body. But having a physical body isn’t a requirement for being a personal being. The Scriptures unmistakably ascribe personality to the Holy Spirit.

John 16:13–15 KJV 1900

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Jesus used the pronouns “he” and “himself,” rather than “it,” to refer to the Holy Spirit.

Those pronouns are reserved for persons, not things or forces. Jesus used them on purpose to help us understand the Holy Spirit lives as a person.

Since the Scriptures are inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit used the pronoun “He” to refer to Himself. It would be impossible for a force to have self-awareness.

Personal actions

As a person, the Holy Spirit has intellect, emotion, and will. The Scriptures make that abundantly clear.

Intellectually speaking,

The Holy Spirit knows truths and searches the deep things of God.

1 Corinthians 2:10–11 KJV 1900

But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

The Holy Spirit’s intellectual capability is beyond our comprehension. We can’t even imagine everything He knows about God.

Ephesians 4:30 KJV 1900

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Emotionally speaking,

The Spirit grieves when believers ignore His warnings and choose to sin.

An impersonal force couldn’t feel grief or any other emotion.

The Holy Spirit uses His will to distribute spiritual gifts to believers.

Spiritual gifts are Spirit-given abilities for serving God. They include giving, teaching, showing mercy, evangelizing, pastoring, exhorting, and ministering. Our gifts come to us from the Spirit at the point of salvation. we see these listed in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11.

As already noted, John 16:13–15 records that Jesus used personal pronouns to refer to the Holy Spirit. In that same passage, Jesus called the Holy Spirit a helper Who is like Him, implying the Spirit is a person. Jesus went on to promise the Spirit would come alongside the disciples and help them. Specifically, the Holy Spirit would show the disciples things to come and reveal God’s truths to them. Such actions belong to a person, not a feeling or an influence.

The Holy Spirit’s Deity

Divine actions

The Holy Spirit is a member of the Trinity (Matt. 28:19) and shares the same nature and majesty as God the Father and God the Son. He is fully God and can do what God alone can do.

Genesis 1:1–2 KJV 1900

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Following the initial statement of God’s creative activity, we are told the earth was without form and void. The remainder of Genesis 1 describes God’s activity to make the earth inhabitable for humans. The earth didn’t stay formless for long. The Genesis account says the Holy Spirit moved on the face of the waters, which at that time covered the earth. The word translated “moved” describes the brooding of a hen on her eggs prior to the hatching of the chicks. That picture suggests that the Holy Spirit was doing more than merely gliding along the face of the waters.

The Spirit established life on earth during the creation week.

Obviously, such actions are inherently divine. Psalm 104 echoes the truth of Genesis 1.

Psalm 104:27–30 KJV 1900

These wait all upon thee; That thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them they gather: Thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: Thou takest away their breath, they die, And return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: And thou renewest the face of the earth.

The physical creation, especially animal life, depends on the Spirit for sustenance and renewal. Again, such action is divine.

At the beginning of the Church Age,

The Holy Spirit enabled the apostles to preach boldly, heal the sick, and speak in languages they had never learned.

(Acts 2:3, 4; 3:6; 4:13). The Spirit also moved some of those men to write the Word of God (2 Pet. 1:20, 21). The Spirit’s divine presence and actions made the difference.

Divine attributes

Naturally, the Spirit’s divine actions are coupled with reports of His divine attributes.

The fact He is called the “Holy” Spirit means He shares God’s perfection and complete separation from sin.

(Titus 3:5).

Hebrews 9:14 KJV 1900

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

The Holy Spirit has the same omnipotence as God the Father.

In the book of Job, Elihu equated the Spirit of God with the “Almighty” (Job 33:4). The name “Almighty” refers to God the Father’s unlimited power.

The Holy Spirit’s Work

the Holy Spirit participated in creation by establishing life on earth (Gen. 1:1, 2). He is also active in giving spiritual life and helping believers grow in the Lord.

Active in salvation

John recorded the Holy Spirit’s part in a sinner’s salvation.

John 16:8–11 KJV 1900

And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

Jesus said the Holy Spirit leads people to salvation as He convicts them of sin. He helps them understand their need for a Savior and how to meet that need through faith in Christ.

When a person responds in faith to the gospel,

The Holy Spirit brings about the person’s new birth.

Jesus made that truth clear in His conversation with Nicodemus in John 3.

When people accept Christ as Savior, the Holy Spirit instantaneously indwells them. He places them in the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12, 13) and gives them a new nature with divine qualities and the desire for righteousness (2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:24). All that is included in being “born again.”

The Holy Spirit seals believers, assuring them of their eternal life (Eph. 4:30) and inheritance as children of God (Rom. 8:16, 17).

Active in sanctification

The Holy Spirit indwells believers and performs the work of sanctification in them. To “sanctify” means “to set apart unto God as holy.” God desires for believers to be set apart for His use.

The Holy Spirit is essential to the sanctification of believers.

The Spirit uses God’s Word to produce spiritual qualities in believers.

Paul called those qualities the “fruit of the Spirit.”

Galatians 5:16–23 KJV 1900

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Scripture is the Holy Spirit’s sword (Eph. 6:17). He wields it to convict us of sin and purify our lives (John 17:17). Believers who don’t read and study God’s Word regularly won’t see much spiritual fruit in their lives.

To help in the sanctification process, the Spirit helps believers understand Scripture. He illuminates the Bible’s truth so we can rightly apply it to our lives.

1 Corinthians 2:12–14 KJV 1900

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Sanctification doesn’t automatically happen. The Holy Spirit won’t produce fruit in our lives if we don’t yield to the Spirit’s control.

Sanctification isn’t about trying in our own strength to become a godly person. It is about putting our faith in God. No true change happens apart from the Spirit working in our hearts.

Either at death or at the Rapture, we will be glorified, meaning fully sanctified and separated from sin forever (1 John 3:1, 2). Praise God we will ultimately become perfectly holy, never to sin again.

Philippians 3:21 KJV 1900

Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

Active in service

As mentioned earlier, the Holy Spirit gives each believer spiritual gifts to use in service for the Lord.

The Spirit empowers the believer in the exercise of spiritual gifts to make them effective.

The Holy Spirit equips believers by empowering them with God’s strength beyond whatever they thought imaginable.

Ephesians 3:20 KJV 1900

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

We must be careful to serve God in the power of the Holy Spirit. Depending on our own strength will cause us to become weary and give up (Gal. 6:9, 10).

When Jesus returned to the Father in Heaven, God sent the Holy Spirit to live in believers. The Spirit comes along side us to help us in our daily Christian walk. He guides us in God’s truth and empowers us to obey the Lord. The Spirit’s presence in our lives should make us different from the world so that they question why we act and speak the way we do and why we have joy and hope.