Who is the Holy Spirit

As we have been going through what are essentials of the faith, what are Hills we need to die on. What are things that we can not compromise on? There are certain doctrines, certain beliefs in the bible that we need to stand on. We may not always know at first what these are but as we read the Bible and come to understand what it says we learn what it is we are supposed to believe.

It may be possible for instance for someone to come to faith in Jesus and never have heard of the HS. It is possible that they could be a follower of Jesus, new in their faith and never have been taught about the HS. They don't believe in the HS yet because they are so new, having an incomplete understanding of the HS that they just don't know. This in itsel is not a sin. But when this new believer does learn about the HS and who He is and what He does, then for the believer to say “ no that is not true, there is no such thing”, This is when it becomes a sin. The HS and a biblical understanding of it is essential to our faith.

There has been a lot of confusion surrounding the study of the HS. Many people that believe different things have argued about it for a while now. This is a doctrine that even sometimes causes division. but what we are going to cover are the basics, what we know as essentials. What we are going to go through today is that the HS was sent by God to indwell the Follower of Jesus as a counselor to empower us to live for God and convict us when we stray away.

The Indwelling of the Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Christ and that He is an abiding helper, teacher and guide (Rom 8:9-11).

First we deal with the indwelling of the HS. To do this we go back to when Jesus was leaving the earth. We do see mention of the HS in the OT at times, giving the people the strength that they needed to follow God. But what we see in the time that Jesus promised that there would be a helper that would come when He left to go be with God. In the gospel of John we read of this promise.

John 14:15–18 CSB

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. 17 He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you. 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you.

Love God and love others by keeping the commands that where handed down to us. Though vital to the faith that we have for those that keep the commands of God and become His children. But the promise was there for the HS to come. Called the counselor, comforter or advocate. the meanings are similar. Jesus promised to be there temporarily but would return someday. The HS would be with them forever. The world, those that did not live for God would not receive Him because they did not know and follow Jesus but those that follow Jesus are promised the HS.

We have gone over this a little bit, one thing important to remember that we have gone over is that the HS is fully God as will as being a separate being. And Jesus promised us that He would not leave us alone, the comforter, the counselor, the HS was sent to dwell in us as followers of Jesus.

We see the first time the HS indwelt believers in the book of Acts during Pentecost.In Acts Chapter 2 we read about this. during the feast of first fruits we see the very first believers get indwelt by the spirit as was promised.

Acts 2:2–4 CSB

2 Suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were staying. 3 They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each one of them. 4 Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them.

Quite an amazing experience. The word for tongues here means different languages. and the miraculous happened as they where speaking languages they didn't know and everyone there heard the gospel proclaimed in there own languages.

This is how they would know when the Holy Spirit was upon them. It was the first time for this to happen and what signs of God if any would accompany it? (descriptive, one time thing as it was the coming of the spirit). This was a sign to the disciples that this permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit was of God. the prophecy spoken of by John the Baptist came true. That The disciples would be baptized through spirit and fire.

the promise of the HS indwelling us happens when we become children of God. The second we confess/repent and turn our lives to Jesus we are promised the HS will indwell us. This means that we are no longer creatures of mere flesh and blood but we are now united with God through His spirit.

This means that we are to flee sin, to flee sexual immorality and the things that would putt us away from God.

1 Corinthians 6:18–20 CSB

18 Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body. 19 Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.

flee sexual immorality we are told, flee away from sin in general. We do this because as followers of Jesus our bodies are temples of the Spirit and we need to make sure we are filling them with things that Glorify God. Our lives are no longer our own.

We start out by learning that as followers of Jesus we are all indwelt with the HS, the spirit of God that is sent to guide and comfort, to empower and convict.

maybe when you became a believer nothing super miraculous happened and that is okay. What happened at Pentecost was not prescriptive but descriptive. It wasn't the rule but rather happened for a reason. Sometimes we see some of the miraculous like in that day but it is not the rule as to what happens. We should not strive to see it happen above all else if that is Not what God wants for us.

the goal we need to realize first of all is that in the indwelling of the HS in our lives, we need to glorify Him in all we do. Part of the essential teaching of the HS is that we will be glorifying Him in all we do. For our lives are no longer our own. Is your life about you or is it about the glory of the Lord.

The Holy Spirit empowers

many people do many different things to empower them to help complete a task. When I drive a long ways to help me fulfill my task and stay alert I eat sunflower seeds or consume copious amounts of caffeine. before a workout or for a pregame ritual to pump themselves up people may listen to upbeat music, consume a pre workout drink. we do many things to empower ourselves to fulfill a task when we need that little extra boost.

We are told we are indwelt by the HS upon salvation, and when that happens it is to empower us to fulfill the will of God in our lives. We do not have the power to do this on our own.

It is hard to write a just one sermon on the HS. He is what makes us Holy and puts us on the path of holiness, becoming more and more like God. He regenerates us, the us makes us into a new creation. Behold the old has gone and all things have become new. The HS imparts new life unto us, which is what often we hear called being born again. New life, new spiritual life.

1 Corinthians 12:4–5 CSB

4 Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are different ministries, but the same Lord.

1 Corinthians 12:6–7 CSB

6 And there are different activities, but the same God works all of them in each person. 7 A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good:

The hS gives us all gifts, the purpose of which is to glorify God, to edify the church and to fulfill the will of God. This is to empower us to fulfill the will of the Lord and do all of these things,

Did you think that God would leave us to do all the work on our own? the point is that we are not meant to do it by our own power. We tend to want to seek the more miraculous gifts. Like the gift of healing, or maybe tongues or discernment. but not everyone has been given these things. I would love to be able to raise people from the dead but that is not mine to do.

some people are given the gift of mercy or hospitality, or teaching. Some people are gifted as maintenance men, or prayer warriors. the point is that we are all different in the body of Christ. It is an essential to understand that the HS gives us gifts, not for ourselves but to glorify God and to fulfill His will and to edify the church.

the gifts we are given and the fruit in our lives of the spirit show that we are children of God. It is essential to know that the HS empowers us to live for the Glory of God. But it is a beautiful thing as well. We need to realize that we do not need to do it on our own. The HS will empower us to live for God as how children as we follow His will.

The Holy Spirit convicts

to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8-11),

Who likes to be told when they are doing something wrong? I am sure most of you love it when people nicely remind you what you are doing wrong and then you promptly thank them and then go fix it. or maybe it is more like “grumble grumble, thank you so much”.

The work of the HS in our lives is an essential belief. He indwells us upon salvation. He makes us a new creation but putting us on the process of becoming more and more like Jesus. as evidence that we are believers and followers of Jesus we see the fruit of the spirit in our lives, lives that are lived out for Jesus.

The last thing I want to go through, is that the HS convicts us when we go astray.

John 16:8–9 CSB

8 When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment: 9 About sin, because they do not believe in me;

John 16:10–11 CSB

10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; 11 and about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

I find it amazing that the HS can convict us of our sin through reading the word of God, but man does it suck. I hate being convicted of what I have done wrong, it is not fun. But it is essential to follow the convicting f the spirit when we are living a life of sin.

even in the life of the Believer will we be convicted of all the wrong that we have done so that we can make it right and continue on the process of living a life for God.

I remember once being in England and having the opportunity to talk to a class full of kids. We where technically not supposed to share the gospel ,but we thought then why invite missionaries to come talk to the class. A few of the kids asked us what some crazy Canadians where doing in England and we told them the message that we had come to share, we shared a short version of the gospel with them. After the teacher came up to us in the Hallway and scolded us by saying “how dare you tell me what to believe, you have no right”. We never told Him like that, but I do believe that he was being convicted of His sin.

We must be in prayer that the HS will work in our lives and convict us when we do wrong and need to deal with it. Not a fun prayer to prayer but oh so essential. If we want to live lives for God we need to makes sure we bring our sins to Him as well.

did you know you can grieve the HS, or hinder prayer and the work of the spirit in your life?

the consequences of living a life of sin and not listening to the convicting of the spirit is that we can hinder the work of the spirit in our lives. in Ephesians 4 it talks about this. If we walk in the old way of life instead of in our new life in Jesus we can grieve the HS. This si the only hindrance to the spirits work in our lives, continuing in Sin.

So What?

The work of the HS is a difficult thing to understand, but there are 3 aspects of the work of the spirit that are essential to understand.

The Holy Spirit indwells believers.

We don't have to strive to try and live a life for God on our own, we do not need to rely on the strength of God. as followers of Jesus we are all indwelt by The HS upon salvation. There is no need to wait for some miraculous experience the bible has promised and we have received.

The Holy Spirit empowers.

The Holy spirit enables us to live a life for the glory of God for the will of God. We are empowered to live a life as the temple of God for the glory of God through all the spirit does in our lives. What we have been given is to be used to further the Kingdom of God. We are empowered to glorify God.

The Holy Spirit convicts

when we are doing wrong the HS convicts us when we live a life of sin. When reading through the word of God if we are being convicted on something we are doing or not doing then pray about it, ask God if there is anything in your life that needs to change. Sin is a hindrance to the work of the spirit in your life.

This is an essential, a hill worth Dying on. Going from Here how can you stirve to live your life for the glory of God.