Jesus & The Holy Spirit
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Stories
Stories
Well Hey everyone! It’s so good to be with you tonight. My name is Jake Augeri and I’m the High School Pastor here at Red Mountain.
We’re in a series called Stories right now. What we’re doing throughout summer is taking the time to look at different stories that occur as we peruse through the Bible. A lot of times, if you’ve grown up in the church (or maybe if you’ve even just heard the stories), it’s easy to believe that you know the general gist of what it is you’re reading and it’s easy to simply read right through it.
I love this because a lot of times, if we’re honest with ourselves, we haven’t really done the hard work to think through or examine what’s really going on and what that may mean for our lives.
So over the first couple of weeks, Matt walked through the creation story and unpacked a healthy way for us to view one another through a healthy grid of gender & partnership.
Then last week, Matt went over Cain & Abel and unpacked the realities behind the fact that the very blood of humanity cries out from the ground.
Tonight, we get to talk about the Holy Spirit . The Holy Spirit is one of those interesting topics that we think about and talk about some times, but it seems as though we never really know exactly what His deal is & what His actual job is.
So tonight, what I hope to do is to unpack a Biblical Theology of the Holy Spirit & work through a couple of key texts.
Then we’re going to talk about the relationship that Jesus has with the Holy Spirit and how the two interact relate with one another.
So tonight, what I want to suggest is two things:
1.) When the Son of God entered into our world as Jesus of Nazareth, He had no more access to the Father than you and I do today.
2.) The reason this is true is because of the presence of the Holy Spirit living inside of followers of Jesus.
We’re going to be primarily in Luke’s Gospel starting in Chapter 3 in verse 21.
Ok so as we get started, right away, we want to put ourselves in a position where we’re thinking and reading this like someone in the first century would have.
John the Baptist was speaking in Israel to primarily Jewish people. It’s important for us to understand what the current state of the Jews were in that time to fully understand the implications behind what’s happening here.
It’s really important for us to understand the nature of how the Holy Spirit operated in the Hebrew Scriptures.
What we see happen is the Holy Spirit or Ruach was hovering over the waters in creation and intimately involved in the process of creation. One writer says this about the Spirit of God:
“God is power; he is the ultimate in vital energy (), and his Spirit is the fullness of creative power universally present. From the chaos the Spirit of God created cosmos. The Spirit, as the source of all energy and life, impregnated, as it were, the deep nothing ness or formless void, and out of it came forth at the divine behest the vast realm of created order.”
So the spirit is involved in creation. Then we see that there are different touches with the Spirit as the Scriptures progress.
He comes upon people to empower them for specific tasks:
The Lord said to Moses, “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft.
In
This also happens to the judges of Israel . This was to Samson as God was using him in a mighty way.
When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands.
The Spirit of God also came on Kings. For example in the live of Saul., Israel’s first king.
Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.
Lastly, we see that the Spirit of God would come upon prophets.
Here
But as for me, I am filled with power,
with the Spirit of the Lord,
and with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob his transgression
and to Israel his sin.
So there’s a ton of different ways that the Spirit interacted and worked with the nation of Israel.
It was sporadic and yet intentional and very strategic for the betterment of humanity and the nation of Israel. And yet, one of the things that was true is it was not permanent.
One of the realities that the Old Testament speaks to and points forward to is a Messianic figure who would bring salvation & healing to the Nations.
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.
They shall build up the ancient ruins;
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.
Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks;
foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;
but you shall be called the priests of the Lord;
they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God;
you shall eat the wealth of the nations,
and in their glory you shall boast.
Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion;
instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot;
therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion;
they shall have everlasting joy.
For I the Lord love justice;
I hate robbery and wrong;
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
Their offspring shall be known among the nations,
and their descendants in the midst of the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge them,
that they are an offspring the Lord has blessed.
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to sprout up before all the nations.
So they were waiting for a messianic figure who would rule the world in justice and righteousness.
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Not only were they looking for that, but they were longing for a filling of their own lives by the Holy Spirit.
paints this incredible picture.
Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”
Ezekiel 37:11-14
So fast forward to our passage for tonight. We have this incredible picture of the Spirit of God descending on Jesus like a dove.
You are my beloved Son. With You I am well pleased.
Imagine what this must have been like for Jesus. Jesus was a jewish boy & so chances are, he would have had the entire Old Testament memorized by this point. To go into the wilderness to be baptized because that’s what many people from the nation of Israel were doing and then to have this fascinating moment occur.
And so we need to catch the gravity of the moment here.
In the same way the Holy Spirit would come upon the figures we just read about, the Holy Spirit was coming upon Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus was a man. He was human like you & me. He had flesh & bones.
What I want to suggest is that this is a moment where Jesus comes to understand more fully what He was called to do.
let’s jump down to starting in Verse 1
So there’s this awesome moment that Jesus has where the Spirit of God comes upon him & he hears the voice of the Father speaking His identity over him and the first thing the Spirit does is to drive him in to the wilderness.
And yet, our Bible don’t do the best job of translating this, becuase at a first glance, the general appearance is the Spirit says head on out to the Wilderness and have fun.
But the original language suggests that Jesus was being led by the Spirit for forty days in the wilderness. The Holy Spirit didn’t just leave once He sent Him out, but was present and walking with Him throughout the temptations.
Jump down to verse 14.
Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit. Then we go on to read about all of these incredible things that Jesus does & I think it’s really important for us to recognize that these things are done because of the power of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ life.
So one of my professor’s used to say, “ Jesus was the perfect Spirit-filled man. He provided an example of what it looked like to be filled with the Spirit & to allow Him to color & shape all of our lives.”
So.. Jesus lives a Spirit filled live. Eveyrthing that He did, He did by the Spirit.
Even His resurrection from the dead was something that was brought about by the Spirit of God. Paul tells us that in Romans.
So Jesus was a perfect Spirit-filled man. He accomplished what the Messiah was supposed to accomplish and yet the promise of the Spirit bringing life to people yet that we read about in hasn’t come to fruition. That brings us to .
As a result of the filling of the Spirit in , we see that those who become followers of Jesus are now filled with the Spirit.
So tonight, what I want to ask is are we stepping into a life that’s filled with the Spirit.
Are we people who are engaging with the Spirit in such a way that our lives are characterized by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control.
Those fruits are always such an interesting list in that we tend to try and want to just put those things on and say ok, today I’m being loving & gracious.
What Paul has in mind is that we would be so saturated in intimacy with the Spirit that we are surrendering to His will and direction & every moment.
In our decisions, are we listening for the Spirit’s voice?
As we plan our day, are we listening for who the Spirit may want us to engage with?
As we think about rhtyhtms & patterns, are they saturdated by the Spirit?