The Divine and Personal Nature of the Holy Spirit (2)
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Most Christians are not joyful persons because they are not holy persons, and they are not holy persons because they are not filled with the Holy Spirit, and they are not filled with the Holy Spirit because they are not separated persons.
The Spirit cannot fill whom He cannot separate, and whom He cannot fill, He cannot make holy, and whom He cannot make holy, He cannot make happy!1
A. W. Tozer
As the third member of the Trinity, the holy spirit is a person and is also personal.
We see this in a few different ways.
First, 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.
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you.
What we’ll see today, the Holy Spirit can be grieved, resisted, and even insulted. An impersonal force cannot do these things. Only a person can.
Second, before ascending to heaven, Jesus said he was going to send the Holy Spirit to be a counselor like him .
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.
The Holy Spirit is also capable of teaching .
For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what must be said.”
Unlike gravity—an impersonal force—that 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.
To place a nice bow on this topic, here are 4 more references to the personal nature of the holy spirit:
He speaks.
Throughout the bible, we see the Holy Spirit speaking to people either to warn or to guide them for the building of the church age.
Peter said in Acts 1:16 that the Holy Spirit spoke through King David.
In Acts 8:29, we see that the Spirit told Phillip to run up to the chariot.
Acts 10:19, the Holy Spirit advised Peter that three men were looking for him. And then again in Acts 11:12.
In Acts 13:2 we see the Holy Spirit set apart Paul and Barnabas for the work of the ministry.
Acts 21:11, the Holy Spirit warned Paul not to go to Jerusalem.
Acts 28:25-26, spoke through Paul to remind the Jews what Isaiah had prophesied.
All of this was just in the book of Acts. And yet still there are people that will say that the Holy Spirit does not speak today.
To that I say, read your bible. If the bible says it can happen back then, it can happen today.
Many of us have experienced this without even knowing it. The Holy Spirit constantly speaks into our personal lives.
5801 The Spirit of God has the habit of taking the words of Jesus out of their scriptural setting and putting them into the setting of our personal lives.
Oswald Chambers (Lecturer and Missionary)
He can be grieved.
The Holy Spirit is grieved when people behave in ways that are contrary to spiritual improvement, or when they disobey the Word of God.
And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by him for the day of redemption.
Some ways that people grieve the Holy Spirit include:
Lying: The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, so lying grieves him.
Creating strife: The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of peace, so creating strife grieves him.
Allowing anger to linger: Allowing anger to linger and give occasion to sin grieves the Holy Spirit.
Giving the devil space: Giving the devil space in one's life or a foothold to influence them grieves the Holy Spirit.
Plotting revenge: Plotting revenge grieves the Holy Spirit.
Slandering: Saying false, hurtful things about a person's reputation or character grieves the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is a personal being who has feelings about people's actions. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit rejoices when people are obedient to him, and grieves when people admit anything into their minds and our hearts that is unworthy of their calling.
He loves .
Last week I said that the Holy Spirit was God and had the same characteristics. If that is the case, in 1 John the bible says that God is love. So if God is love, so must be the Holy Spirit.
Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in prayers to God on my behalf.
The Holy Spirit shows love in many ways, including:
Producing love in the heart
The Holy Spirit produces love in the heart through faith in Jesus and his word.
Communicating the love of the Father
The Holy Spirit communicates the love of the Father.
Loving Jesus
The Holy Spirit loves Jesus more than anyone else and wants to share that love with others.
Loving people
The Holy Spirit loves people and wants to teach others to love people the way he does.
Seeking out people in sin
The Holy Spirit patiently seeks out people when they are in sin and away from God.
Transforming people
The Holy Spirit regenerates people and transforms them into the image of God's Son when they trust Christ as their Savior.
The Holy Spirit is a person with emotions and the ability to love. The Christian life is a love relationship made real in the heart by the Holy Spirit.
7244 Love is not the work of the Holy Spirit, it is the Holy Spirit—working in us. God is love, he doesn’t merely have it or give it; he gives himself—to all men, to all sorts and conditions.
Joseph Fletcher
He can be resisted
“You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always resisting the Holy Spirit. As your ancestors did, you do also.
According to the Bible, one can resist the Holy Spirit by:
Disobeying God
The Holy Spirit's work can be halted when people refuse to obey God.
Grieving the Holy Spirit
When people harbor bitterness or malicious words, they are resisting the growth the Holy Spirit is working in them.
Quenching the Holy Spirit
The promptings of the Holy Spirit can be stifled, just as a fire can be quenched. For example, not obeying the impulse to pray can quench the Spirit.
Insulting the Holy Spirit
A person insults the love of God by saying that they do not need God's gift of salvation.
I say therefore that he sins against the Holy Spirit who, while so constrained by the power of divine truth that he cannot plead ignorance, yet deliberately resists, and that merely for the sake of resisting.
John Calvin (French Reformer)
