Spirit of God

Introduction

We are turning our attention to the Holy Spirit today and I came across a short video of Francis Chan on the subject. He says: “When we speak of the Holy Spirit, let’s remember that He is a peroson, not an it, not a power...” The third person of the Trinity is God. He is unique unto Himself, distinct from the Father and from the Son, and yet all three are one and the same God for we do not worship a multitude of gods, but One God. The Holy Spirit might be talked about in the least anthropomorphic terms (anthropomorphic meaning describing with human characteristics), but this is all the more reason to strive to understand this unique part of the Godhead.

Today, our primary passage comes from John 14:16-31. We will look at what Jesus has to say about the Holy Spirit and the unique relationship He has with the Holy Spirit. But as usual, I want to cast a much wider net over scripture and try to bring in other passages into our discussion from other parts of the Bible. So, be prepared for some page turning or to jot down some references to dig deeper into later this week.

The Holy Spirit, perhaps more so than the Father and the Son, has a direct impact in our lives. It is through the Spirit that we connect with Jesus and with the Father. It is through the Spirit that we are guided, gifted and can glorify God. And it is the Holy Spirit that the Father gives to those who ask in the name of Jesus.

Today we learn more about the Holy Spirit. He is our Helper and friend!

Helper

John 14:16–31 NIV

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me. “Come now; let us leave.

Jesus is preparing His disciples for what is about to happen. He is moving steadily to the cross and has been revealing this for some time now. Clearly, the disciples are having a hard time comprehending what Jesus is saying, but one of the comforts that Jesus offers is that they will not be left on their own after He is taken away from them.

Jesus Himself will ask of the Father to send “another Helper.” While there is no word “Trinity” in the Bible, verse 16 speaks of all three parts of the Trinity. Father, Son and “Helper.” This is a unique word used of the Holy Spirit and is translated differently depending on the Bible you hold in your hands. You might see “Helper” or “Advocate” but clearly Jesus is talking about a divine being that will be with the disciples spiritually through every trial they will face. Jesus clearly identifies this “Helper” in verse 17 as the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot receive this spirit so long as the world is ruled by the father of lies. But those of us who believe in God and believe in His Son Jesus Christ can also believe in the Holy Spirit who is present and active with us.

But the Holy Spirit is the present and active force with the disciples when Jesus is no longer phyically with them. You catch a hint of this in verse 26 where Jesus says “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” Jesus will not be with them for much longer, but the Holy Spirit will and He will help them remember what Jesus taught, and in addition to all that, continue to teach them all that they need to know that they have not yet had opportunity to learn! Jesus and the Holy Spirit seemingly can’t be both present at the same time with the disciples. Look at...

John 16:7–15 NIV

But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

According to John’s gospel, Jesus had to return to the Father so that the Spirit could be sent. In a way, this makes sense for the majority of Christians. Jesus, as fully human, could only be in one place at a time. Jesus is also fully divine by the way. The Holy Spirit is not confined to a physical body and thus is better sutied to being everywhere that believers are.

We could dig in deeper and really try to figure this mystery out, but it is well beyond the scope of this message today and so I will trust that the curious will dig deeper. For the rest of us, let us continue to trust that God is bigger than we could ever comprehend and we can be grateful that He has chosen to reach out to us and reveal as much about Himself as He has!

Gift Given To Everyone

Did you know that the Holy Spirit was promised as a gift back in the Old Testament? And that the promise was for everyone, not just the nation of Israel? Joel 2:28-29

Joel 2:28–29 NIV

“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

The Holy Spirit is promised to everyone… to all people. God, through the prophet Joel, is promising the Holy Spirit to anyone and everyone.

Notcie too the things that hapen when that Spirit is poured out. Men and women will prophesy and see visions! The Holy Spirit unlocks the supernatural! And praise be to God that each of us has been given a gift from the Holy Spirit to be used to glorify God and to build His church!

Receive the Spirit

I will acknowledge that as Baptists we get a little uncomfortable when we start to talk about the Holy Spirit. We don’t fully know what to make of it or the signs that accompany the movements of the Spirit. We tend to be a people of the Word and the Word became flesh and so if there were a part of the Trinity we gravitated towards it would be Jesus. But the Spirit is different. But the Spirit is still God. So, how do we receive the Spirit? It’s not an intellectual thing you do. The Holy Spirit is a real being and can dramatically affect our ability to understand God and His purposes for our lives. Let’s look at a couple of passages that talk about receiving the Holy Spirit.

Acts 19:2–6 NASB95

He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.” Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying.

Notice how this group of believers had a very simple faith. They heard about John’s baptism of repentance from sins and so they were doing what they knew how to do. They practiced baptism and they would have lived out the faith as they understood based on simple, yet incomplete teaching. Ephesus would later become a very important centre for Christianity, but as the good news about Jesus had only just begun to spread far and wide, it would take time before these outlying churches would gain ready and regular access to the gospel and to trained disciples who could train disciples.

But how did they receive the Holy Spirit? Their teaching was further explained and they were baptized into the name of Jesus Christ, but then what? Verse 6 says that Paul laid his hands upon them and the Holy Spirit came upon them and they began doing miraculous things!

This passage describes how the Spirit of God is given through the laying on of hands to the believer. There are a great many other passages that talk about laying on of hands and receiving of the Spirit. This is but one example. But how else might we receive the Holy Spirit?

Luke 11:11-13 describes how the Father delights to give the Spirit to those who ask.

Luke 11:11–13 NIV

“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

The Holy Spirit is a gift that the Father is ready to give to any who ask for it. It delights God to give of Himself to His children! This verse explicitly states that the Father gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask. So, I ask each of us this, how often do we ask for Him? I confess that I could be much better about asking for the Holy Spirit to fill me on a regular basis. But this is something that we need to be doing privately, corporately, and as we saw with the last passage, with the laying on of hands!

Evidence of the Spirit

Now that we know what it takes to receive the Holy Spirit, we need to look at what that ought to look like in our lives. Now to be sure, each of us is going to receive a different spiritual gift. You won’t all speak in tongues despite what some denominations have tried to teach. But, here are some scriptures that might shed some light on what to expect.

Acts 4:31 NIV

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

Now, the sign of the building being shaken is pretty spectacular, but notice what else it says, particularly after it says they were filled with the Holy Spirit. What did they do? They began to speak the word of God with boldness. This is a key component that I can’t emphasize enough. The Spirit of God points to the Son of God who points to the Father God.

Acts 5:41 NIV

The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.

The context of this passage is the disciples getting into trouble for preaching about Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is going to radically change how you view your circumstances. For the disciples, they were in trouble… arrested and flogged for speaking about Jesus. Praise God that they were released, but as they went on their way, what did they do? They rejoiced in the persecution because they what? They were considered worthy to suffer shame for His name! That’s not something someone says for any reason! A sane and rational person doesn’t rejoice in their suffering. But for a Christian filled with the Holy Spirit, it is an indicator that they are doing something right… that if the Lord Jesus was persecuted and put to shame, and if we are persecuted and put to shame because of speaking boldly about Jesus, then we are becoming more like Jesus!

Notice the trend of the Spirit pointing to Jesus.

Acts 6:7 NIV

So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

Notice the impact of Holy Spirit empowered preaching! The Word of God spreads because people can’t help but respond to it. It’s not a matter of them thinking with their heads about the words being said, but it is a matter of God speaking to hearts in a way that can’t be explained by human reasoning. A sign of the working of the Holy Spirit is that the local church grows! People will come to faith when they see the Spirit of God moving amongst His people! And notice in this passage who it is that is coming to faith. It is the priests… the very ones at the center of so much of the persecuting. They are beginning to see the truth of the Word of God and the message of Jesus Christ!

One of the signs of the Holy Spirit at work in the lives of believers is to watch for how God’s people become obedient to the faith!

Galatians 5:16 NIV

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Another evidence of the Holy Spirit is to see fleshly desires die away. If you are struggling with sin in your lives, ask for the Holy Spirit to fill you up! Ask for the church to lay hands on you and to fill you up! And as the Spirit comes in, that which is unholy gets out! The desires of the flesh go away!

And the best evidence of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer is in the Fruit of the Spirit which is just a few verses later.

Galatians 5:22–23 NIV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Conclusion

We have worked our way through a great many passages that all talk about the Spirit of God. He is a real being, part of the Trinity and as mysterious as they come. And yet, it is the Holy Spirit that connects us with God and enables us to be here learning more about Him.

We walked through some passages in John that indicate the Spirit could only come after Jesus went to sit at His Father’s side. But in those same passages we saw that it is the Spirit who will teach us what we need to know, that will remind us of what we already know so that at the right time we will have the exact right answer to give to those who need to hear it.

We also walked through some verses in Acts that demonstrate what a Spirit filled life might look like and how we might invite the Spirit into our lives so that we too can do amazing things for God’s kingdom. That involved prayer and laying on of hands. I want to end the service with an altar call of sorts where those who want can come to the front and be prayed for with the laying on of hands and invite the Holy Spirit in to move in might and powerful ways.

And we also looked at a couple verses in Galatians 5 that painted a picture of what a Spirit filled life might look like where the desires of the flesh melt away and the Fruit of the Spirit is made manifest.

It is through the Spirit that we connect with Jesus and with the Father. It is through the Spirit that we are guided, gifted and can glorify God. And it is the Holy Spirit that the Father gives to those who ask in the name of Jesus.