Sermon Tone Analysis

I. DEFINITIONS

In the Old Testament, God’s presence was revealed to the nation of Israel in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

When the tabernacle, and later the temple, was completed, God’s presence resided in the exclusive area called the Holy of Holies.

With the coming of Jesus, however, and the instituting of the New Covenant, the New Testament relates how God fulfilled the promise made to His people long beforehand.

Instead of manifesting Himself to the masses, God took up residence within each believer, Jew or Gentile.

And today, He is at home in the heart of each Christian.

God accomplishes this by means of His Holy Spirit—if you are a believer, you are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit!

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?”

1 Corinthians 6:19

Holy Ghost—the third Person of the Trinity.

His personality is proved

(1) from the fact that the attributes of personality, as intelligence and volition, are ascribed to him (John 14:17, 26; 15:26; 1 Cor.

2:10, 11; 12:11).

He reproves, helps, glorifies, intercedes (John 16:7–13; Rom.

8:26).

(2) He executes the offices peculiar only to a person.

The very nature of these offices involves personal distinction (Luke 12:12; Acts 5:32; 15:28; 16:6; 28:25; 1 Cor.

2:13; Heb.

2:4; 3:7; 2 Pet.

1:21).

His divinity is established

(1) from the fact that the names of God are ascribed to him

(Ex.

17:7; Ps. 95:7; comp.

Heb.

3:7–11); and

(2) that divine attributes are also ascribed to him,

omnipresence (Ps.

139:7; Eph.

2:17, 18; 1 Cor.

12:13);

omniscience (1 Cor.

2:10, 11);

omnipotence (Luke 1:35; Rom.

8:11);

eternity (Heb.

9:4).

(3) Creation is ascribed to him

(Gen.

1:2; Job 26:13; Ps. 104:30), and

the working of miracles (Matt.

12:28; 1 Cor.

12:9–11).

(4) Worship is required and ascribed to him

(Isa.

6:3; Acts 28:25; Rom.

9:1; Rev. 1:4; Matt.

28:19).

A. Who Is the Holy Spirit?

• The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Trinity—the triune God.

God the Spirit is coequal in power and glory with God the Father and God the Son.

In several books of the Bible, all three members of the Trinity are mentioned together.

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

2 Corinthians 13:14

• The Holy Spirit is the active presence and power of God in the life of an individual.

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.”

Ephesians 3:16

• The word translated as “holy” comes from the Greek word hagios, which means “set apart to or by God.”

The words holy, hallow, saint, and sanctify are all derived from this same root word.

— The Holy Spirit is set apart from all other spirits.…

He is like no human spirit or demonic spirit.

“We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.”

1 Corinthians 2:12

— The heavenly Father is referred to as hallowed, set apart … like no other father.

“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.’

”

Matthew 6:9

— All authentic Christians are, according to the Bible, saints, indicating that they are set apart from sin and set apart for God.

Especially in times of weakness, the Holy Spirit intercedes on behalf of believers to help them do the will of God.

“The Spirit helps us in our weakness.…

The Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.”

Romans 8:26–27

— All authentic Christians are in the process of being sanctified.

The Spirit of God provides the power for believers to be set apart for His primary purpose and works in them to conform them to the very character of Christ.

Sanctification is not a onetime act but is rather the process of changing the believer over a period of time.

“From the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.”

2 Thessalonians 2:13

• The English word translated as “spirit” comes from the Greek word pneuma, which means “wind or breath.”

— The wind is invisible, but you can see the effects of the wind.

— The wind is powerful because it causes movement and change.

— The Spirit of God, with invisible power, moves a sinner toward the Savior and a believer to be more like the Savior.

“The wind blows wherever it pleases.

You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.

So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

John 3:8

QUESTION: “What is the difference between the Holy Spirit and the Holy Ghost?”

ANSWER: There is no difference.

Both “spirit” and “ghost” are translations of the same Greek word pneuma.

Today the term Holy Ghost can be confusing.

The English word ghost carries the connotation of being a spook, goblin, or disembodied spirit of a deceased person wandering the earth … something to be feared.

However, when the King James Version of the Bible was translated in 1611, the word ghost simply meant the invisible part of a person.

For example, when facing death, Jesus cried,

“Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and … he gave up the ghost.”

Luke 23:46 KJV

To avoid confusion, most modern translators choose to translate pneuma as “spirit” instead of “ghost.”

Translating the Greek word as “ghost” has this disadvantage as well: In order for the meaning of the text to be understood, the word ghost would need to be preceded by the word holy, whereas using the word spirit requires only an uppercase “S” to show a clear reference to the Holy Spirit.

B. How Does the Bible Describe the Holy Spirit?

Are you confused or unsure about who or what the Holy Spirit is?

New Testament word pictures reveal Him to be gentle as a dove and mighty as the wind.

The Holy Spirit, however, is not merely a supernatural power or an invisible force.

He is a person, One whose name is presented in more than 35 different ways in Scripture.

These names serve to define His position, His character, and His work.

• His Position

— He is the Spirit of God the Father.

“For it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”

Matthew 10:20

• His Position

— He is the Spirit of Jesus the Son.

“You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.

And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.”