Holy Spirit Intro

Intro-

We are starting a series tonight on the Holy Spirit and for the next several weeks we will be gaining some insight into the role of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers.  

I’ve had several conversations over the role of the Holy Spirit in a believers life.

We need to understand that there are a lot of different ideas about the role of the Holy Spirit and many of those ideas create boundaries that form denominations and will many times shape your understanding of the work of the Spirit in the lives of believers.

So tonight my hope is that we have a better understanding of who the Holy Spirit is, so that in these following weeks we can talk about He interacts in our lives and answer some questions about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit and how they manifest in our lives.

First of all the Holy Spirit is a not a bird - now that is how we see him much of the time isn’t it.  We get this imagery from scripture in Luke 3:22

Luke 3:21–22 (NLT): 21 One day when the crowds were being baptized, Jesus himself was baptized. As he was praying, the heavens opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit, in bodily form, descended on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.” 

The problem is that the Holy Spirit wasn’t a dove it descended like a dove

The Holy Spirit is not fire.

We get this imagery from Acts 2

Acts 2:3–4 (NLT): Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4 And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. 

Again, it was like flames or tongues of fire.

Each one of those are a descriptor of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in a way that we would understand and yet doesn’t fully describe what He looked like let alone who He is.

So, what is the Holy Spirit? - Actually that isn’t even the right questions.  The Holy Spirit isn’t “it” but a “who”

Who is the Holy Spirit.  He is a part of the trinity - our understanding of the existence of one God in three distinct yet wholly cooperative persons.

He has his own will, yet His will coincides and never contradicts the other parts of the trinity.

He is not just the moving of God, or the manifesting of the power of God, He has a will, He has emotions yet is not a separate entity from the Father or the Son.

He can be saddened

Ephesians 4:30 (NLT): 30 And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. 

His will can be resisted 

1 Thessalonians 5:19–22 (NLT): Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. 20 Do not scoff at prophecies, 21 but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. 22 Stay away from every kind of evil. 

Acts 7:51 (NLT): 51 “You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit?

He can be lied to

Acts 5:3–4 (NLT): Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. 4 The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!” 

We see here two things number one that you can lie to the Holy Spirit but also that He is God

This idea (that the Holy Spirit is a distinct yet wholly integrated member of the trinity-one God three distinct persons) is incredibly difficult for people to comprehend so we give examples to help us describe and understand this concept. 

Like water (ice, steam and water) or an egg (shell, yoke, white stuff) or a three-leaf clover or whatever you have heard which are fine but we really need to understand that God isn’t like those things, He is unlike anything else that has ever existed.

But so much of who we are as human beings want to categorize and comprehend everything and we are plagued by doubt, confusion and bitterness because so much of what is around us we really can’t explain and that is certainly true with God.  Which is why those two passages we used in Luke and Acts says what the Holy Spirit was like.

For us today the work of the Holy Spirit is an added element to the reality of salvation.  It is for those who want to go a little deeper or are more serious about their faith, but for Peter and for Christ himself it went hand in hand with the reality of salvation.

Listen to what Jesus says about the importance of the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

John 16:5–11 (NLT): “But now I am going away to the one who sent me, and not one of you is asking where I am going. 6 Instead, you grieve because of what I’ve told you. 7 But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. 9 The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me. 10 Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. 11 Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged. 

Jesus has just told his disciples that He is going away but they are staying behind and will be persecuted and face difficulty but even with that it is better.

Why - because the advocate (comforter, encourager counselor) won’t come unless He goes. 

Many of us would say man I would love to walk with Jesus for just one day, right - to have Him by our side but Jesus says “no” it is better that I go, because when I go you will receive the comforter or advocate - The Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit will convict, draw people and work people into their righteousness.  

We are able to be righteous because we have the presence and work of the Holy Spirit.

The person, presence and work of the Holy Spirit is essential to our walk of faith we can do nothing apart from His presence.

I want to fast forward to the day of Pentecost after our earlier passage.

Acts 2:14–21 (NLT): Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, “Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. 15 These people are not drunk, as some of you are assuming. Nine o’clock in the morning is much too early for that. 16 No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel: 17 ‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. 18 In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike— and they will prophesy. 19 And I will cause wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below— blood and fire and clouds of smoke. 20 The sun will become dark, and the moon will turn blood red before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives. 21 But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ 

Fast forwarding to verse 38

Acts 2:38–40 (NLT): 38 Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God.” 40 Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!” 

So for Peter the gift of the Holy Spirit is a natural outflow of our faith in Christ.

So according to Peter you must repent and be baptized (believing in Jesus) and if you do that the reward according to Peter is not going to heaven although you do it is the gift of the Holy Spirit - it is the in-dwelling in-filling of the Holy Spirit that is what comes from salvation and is the reason why we can be in relationship with God.

It is a natural outflow it is a promise Repent believe and be baptized (repentance) and you will receive the Holy Spirit.

In context Peter was referring to the demonstration of that promise that they were seeing right then and there.  Peter fully believed that the manifestation of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that day was a part of the promised blessing that comes from turning from our sins and turning towards Christ.

For many people salvation is about a ticket out of hell.  We don’t want to go to hell so we say a prayer and think that everything is okay yay we are going to heaven, but it isn’t about that - sure that is an result of our salvation, for some it is about forgiveness from sin and yes we do receive forgiveness from our sins when we place our faith in Christ and repent but that isn’t what all of this is about our faith in Christ is about having a relationship with God, it is being in-filled with his presence and experiencing the reality of heaven, the reality of communion with God on a ever-increasing daily basis.

Listen to how Paul puts it in a letter to some Christians living in a town called Ephesus

Ephesians 3:14-21

Ephesians 3:14–21 (NLT): When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. 20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen. 

What Paul wants for these fellow Christians is for God to increase their inner strength through the Holy Spirit in their hearts.

It is a strength required to face the difficulties that Jesus warns His disciples about in the Gospel of John.

It is that strength that is the heart of faith and if that is strengthened in us then Christ will make His home in our hearts - It’s a fellowship it’s relational - He won’t just send us to heaven and He won’t just forgive our sins He will bring heaven to earth by making His home in our hearts.  As that happens we will deepen not our forgiveness or even righteousness although those are true we will deepen our understanding of how much God loves us.  

It is all relational when we are filled with His spirit we start to see how much God loves us our relationship deepens and we that happens we will be made complete.

This isn’t about going to heaven as much as it is about heaven entering us and allowing us to experience right now just a hint of what we will have for all eternity but that is only possible through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in a believers life.

The Holy Spirit’s in-filling, His presence in us is the promise, it is the relationship that God desires with is people.

We see it in Exodus, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and finally Revelation where it says that “He will be our God and we will be His people” 

It doesn’t happen some day, it isn’t just about the future it is about experiencing that relationship now for all eternity and that happens by the gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

So where do we go from here.

I want us to understand that the Holy Spirit isn’t some scary thing the is abnormal.  Rather the opposite.- The Holy Spirit is described as a comforter and advocate a counselor He is not someone to be feared but rather welcomed as a normal partner in our Christian experience.

Without Him we could not live the life that God has called us to live, we could not experience the fellowship with God that we are supposed to experience.  We could not see the truth that God wants us to see.

The outpouring or in-filling of the Holy Spirit is essential, powerful, empowering and normal for a believer in Jesus.  

Not only for that day in Jerusalem but thought the history of the Church right on through until today and that same reality is available in all its fullness and wonder today.  

It is nothing to be feared, it is a part of the wonderful promise of being in fellowship with God and experiencing who He is today and throughout eternity.