Sermon Tone Analysis

*SCRIPTURE*:     Acts 19:1-2 and John 14:16-18 NASB (9-4-05)

 

*TITLE:*                *Who is the Holy Spirit?*

 

*INTRODUCTION*:       Christians differ on the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.

Have you ever met the Holy Spirit?

Do you know who He is?  Can you share with others the truths you know about Him?  Can and will you tell others where He lives or what He does or what He is like?

If you can’t, then do not feel that you are alone, for there are many other sincere Christians who cannot answer the question, “Who Is The Holy Spirit?

This is disturbing according to a new nationwide survey conducted by The Barna Group indicates that most adults remain confused, if not daunted, by the concept of a person having the Holy Spirit.

In its report of February 20, 2006, it concluded by those surveyed that only 9% of Christians are being guided by the Holy Spirit."

*Illustration:*         There was a quote I saw the other day which said “The average church member’s understanding of the Holy Spirit is so vague it is nearly non-existent.

As a Christian, we need to know that the Holy Spirit has been a part of the Trinity of God since the beginning of time.

Trinity is a word not found in Scripture, but used to express the doctrine of the unity of God as subsisting in three distinct Persons.

This word is derived from the Gr.

trias, first used by Theophilus (A.D. 168-183), or from the Lat.

trinitas, first used by Tertullian (A.D. 220), to express this doctrine.

The propositions involved in the doctrine are these: 1.

That God is one and that there is but one God (Deut.

6:4; 1 Kings 8:60; Isa.

44:6; Mark 12:29, 32; John 10:30).

2. That the Father is a distinct divine Person (hypostasis, subsistentia, persona, suppositum intellectuale), distinct from the Son and the Holy Spirit.

3.

That Jesus Christ was truly God, and yet was a Person distinct from the Father and the Holy Spirit.

4. That the Holy Spirit is also a distinct divine Person.

The word “spirit” (in Hebrew, ruach, is cited some 378 times in the OT, 11 Aramaic; in Greek, pneuma, it is cited some 379 times in the NT) is the word used from ancient times to describe and explain the experience of divine power working in, upon, and around men, and understood by them as the power of God.

There are three basic meanings evident in the use of spirit from the earliest Hebrew writings.

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*During the Period of the Judges.

*

 

(1) Wind of God.

It was a wind from God which moved on the face on the earth (Gen.

1:2)which caused the waters of the flood to subside (Gn 8:1), and which blew locusts over Egypt Ex 10:13) and quails over the camp of Israel.

It was the blast of his nostrils which separated the waters of the Red Sea at the exodus (14:21).

(2) Breath of life.

The breath of God constituted man as a living being (Gn 2:7).

It is one of the earliest perceptions of Hebrew faith that man lives only because of the stirring of the divine breath or spirit within him (6:3; Jb 33:4; 34:14, 15; Ps 104:29, 30).

Later a clearer distinction was drawn between divine Spirit and human spirit, and between spirit and soul, but at the earliest stage these were all   more or less synonymous manifestations of the same divine power, the source of all life, animal as well as human (Gn 7:15, 22; see Eccl 3:19, 21).

(3) Spirit of ecstasy.

There were occasions when this divine power seemed to overtake and possess an individual fully, so that his or her words or actions far transcended those of normal behavior.

Some examples of this were: Sampson, who with the Spirit of God was able to kill thousands of the enemy by pulling down the pillars of the temple of Dagon (Judges 16:28-31).

Then there was David who with the strength of God was able to kill the giant who came against God.

*During the Period of Monarchy*.

The transition from the charismatic leadership of the judges to the institution of a hereditary monarchy, the issue was raised whether an anointing with the power of God was the qualification for kingship or part of the coronation ceremony itself

 

*From the major prophets onward*, however, talk about the Spirit becomes much more cautious.

For Isaiah, the spirit was that which characterized God and distinguished him and his actions from human affairs (Is 31:3).

Later the adjective “holy” appeared as that which distinguished the Spirit of God from any other spirit, human or divine (Ps 51:11; Is 63:10, 11).

*In the NT the spirit is called:*

 

*The Spirit of the New Age*.

The most striking feature of Jesus’ ministry and of the message of the earliest Christians was their conviction and proclamation that the blessings of the new age were already present, that the eschatological Spirit had already been poured out.

*The Spirit of New Life*.

Since the Spirit is the mark of the new age, it is not surprising that the NT writers as a whole understood the gift of the Spirit to be that which brings an individual into the new age.

John the Baptist described the way the coming One would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Mt 3:11).

According to Acts 1:5 and 11:16, this imagery was taken up by Jesus and the promise seen as fulfilled at Pentecost—the outpouring of the Spirit here being understood as the risen Christ’s action in drawing his disciples into the new age, in initiating them into “the last days” (Acts 2:17, 33).

*The Spirit of the New Covenant*.

The life that begins with the Spirit depends on the Spirit for its continuance (Gal 3:3).

As Christ fulfilled his mission in the power of the Spirit (Heb 9:14), so the person “in Christ” can only live life as a Christian out of the same Spirit.

Jesus had promised the inspiration of the Spirit in times of trial (Mk 13:11), and the first Christians found this to be fulfilled in their own experience (Acts 4:8, 31; 6:10; 13:9).

*Manifestations of the Spirit*.

When the first Christians, like the ancient Hebrews, spoke of the Spirit they were thinking of experiences of divine power.

*The Fellowship of the Spirit.*

It was out of this shared experience of the Spirit that the earliest Christian community grew and developed—for this is what “the fellowship (koinōnia) of the Spirit” properly means, common participation in the same Spirit (Phil 2:1; Acts 2:42; 1 Cor 1:4–9).

As it was the gift of the Spirit that brought those in Samaria, Caesarea, and elsewhere effectively into the community of the Spirit (Acts 8, 10), so it was the experience of the one Spirit that provided the unifying bond in the churches of Paul’s mission (1 Cor 12:13; Eph 4:3, 4; Phil 2:1).

*The Spirit of Christ*.

The most important development and element in earliest Christian understanding of the Spirit is that the Spirit is now seen to be the Spirit of Jesus (Acts 16:7; Rom 8:9; Gal 4:6; Phil 1:19; 1 Pt 1:11; see also Jn 7:38; 15:26; 16:7; 19:30; Rv 3:1; 5:6).

It is this more precise definition of the Spirit that provides the Christian answer to the other OT problem: how to recognize the experience of the Spirit to be such.

The answer is partly that the Spirit is to be identified as the Spirit which bears witness to Jesus (Jn 15:26; 16:13, 14; Acts 5:32; 1 Cor 12:3; 1 Jn 4:2; 5:7, 8; Rv 19:10), but also and more profoundly, as the Spirit which inspired and empowered Jesus himself.

Thus the Spirit is to be recognized as the Spirit of sonship—that is, as the one who inspires the same prayer and brings about the relation with God as Father that Jesus enjoyed (Rom 8:15–17—“fellow heirs”; Gal 4:6, 7).

The Spirit is to be recognized as the power of God that transforms the individual into the image of God, that makes the believer like Christ (2 Cor 3:18; Rom 8:29; 1 Cor 13; 15:44–49; Phil 3:21; Col 3:10; 1 Jn 3:2).

This brings us back to some conscientious Christians whom Paul has met in Ephesus that did not even know that the Holy Spirit existed.

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Paul has just arrived in Ephesus on his third Missionary journey, he had visited it during his second Missionary journey; to begin a major evangelistic effort.

Apollos, who had been there, had left for Corinth.

Apollos was a learned and eloquent Jew from Alexandria in Egypt and an influential leader in the early church.

Well-versed in the Old Testament, Apollos was a disciple of John the Baptist and "taught accurately the things of the Lord" (Acts 18:25).

However, while Apollos knew some of Jesus' teaching, "he knew only the baptism of John" (Acts 18:25).

When Aquila and Priscilla, two other leaders in the early church, arrived in Ephesus, they instructed Apollos more accurately in the way of God (Acts 18:26), and according to Scripture he showed others that Jesus was the Christ John had talked about.

Apollos was used greatly by God to strengthen and encourage the church.

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He had studied at the famous library at Alexandria.

Alexandria is the place where the Seventy (Septuagint) has translated the Hebrew Bible into the Greek.

Apollos was in an environment which was conductive to studying Scriptures.

A possible influence on Apollo's life was Philo, the Jewish philosopher who was an eloquent preacher.

When Paul had arrived in Ephesus he was informed there are other "disciples" like him in the area.

He was elated with joy, however, he soon discovered:

 

These twelve men (verse 7) had an understanding of Christianity much the same as that of Apollos before Apollos had met Aquila and Priscilla.

Paul entered into conversation with them to find out just where they stood in relation to the gospel.

Like Apollos, they knew only the baptism of John into repentance.

More, they had never heard of the Holy Spirit, which seem strange because John the Baptist had preached about the Holy Spirit as well as the coming of the Messiah (Matt.

3:11).

The Holy Spirit had come after Pentecost and these 12 men had been baptized unto repentance by John under the Old Covenant, which ended with Jesus.

(Heb.

10:1-18).

John had told them in Matt 3:11, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Once they understood this through Paul’s instruction, they put their trust in Jesus of whose coming their teacher John the Baptist - had spoken about.

Therefore, they believed (v.4) were baptized (v.5) and received the Holy Spirit (v.

6).

The believers at Ephesus were aware of their need to live a better life, but they were not aware of the power of the Holy Spirit to enable them to do so.

Their experience demonstrates the truth that without the Holy Spirit we cannot please God.

Thus, without the Holy Spirit we are incomplete Christians.

In fact, Scripture tells us in John 4:24, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

The norm of Christian experience is a cluster of four things: * Repentance, faith in Jesus, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

*

 

Thus it is vitally important that we, like the believers at Ephesus, find the answer to the question “Who Is The Holy Spirit?”

 

*I.

The Holy Spirit Is Personal*

 

A.

John 16:13-14 says, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.

“NKJV

 

B.