THE TRIUNE GOD: GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT-

E. Y. Mullins writes of the Holy Spirit, “The Holy Spirit creates the spiritual union between the believer and Christ by his regenerating act. He forms the Christian consciousness in terms of fellowship with God, of sonship, of growing moral likeness to God in Christ. He sustains the inner life of Christians in all stages of its development from beginning to end…His work is absolutely essential to the success of the gospel.” [E. Y. Mullins, The Christian Religion In Its Doctrinal Expression (Philadelphia, PA: The Judson Press, 1917), 211.]

There is much confusion on the teachings of the Holy Spirit in the Church today. Yet, as a convention of Baptist churches, we all hold to the Baptist Faith & Message, which has been the focus of our study for the past four weeks. We are working our way through this confession, because it is important to understand the teachings of the Scripture in a systematic way. That is, it is essential that we interpret Scripture by Scripture, as an older, well-tried Confession states. And as we discuss this BF&M, we must remember its foundation: the Word of God. This statement, to which over 47,000 churches ascribe, is based solely in the teachings of the Bible. And when and if this BF&M departs from Scripture, we must depart from the BF&M.

We are covering what we believe about God. On God, the BF&M states,

There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.—Baptist Faith & Message 2000

Now, you will notice at the end of the introductory statement on God reference is made to the Triune God, which is our focus for three weeks. We have already examined God the Father and God the Son, but now we will devote our time to God the Holy Spirit. This is the Third Person of the Trinity. On God the Holy Spirit the BF&M states,

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Saviour, and effects regeneration. At the moment of regeneration He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.—BF&M

With our time, we are going to break down this statement into manageable phrases and see exactly what is taught from the Scriptures, and then we will end our time with how this looks in our daily lives. Doctrine is always practical.

I. GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT: WHO HE IS

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine.

The first statement on God the Holy Spirit is that He is God! He is truly God. He is present at the Creation of the world () and of man (). You can see His power displayed throughout the Old Testament with special fillings, such as when the Spirit of the LORD came upon Samson. We see marks of divinity, such as omnipresence in . God the Holy Spirit is fully divine.

There are several passages of Scripture to which we could turn, but for now, let these suffice. It will also become evident as we make our way through the BF&M that God the Holy Spirit is truly God.

While the BF&M focuses on God the Holy Spirit as being God, it spends the majority of its treatment on the work of the Holy Spirit. This, according to the Scriptures, is the Holy Spirit’s work: to exalt the Son as He works in the hearts of men.

II. GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT: WHAT HE DOES

Our second, and expansive description of the God the Holy Spirit focuses on what He does. The Holy Spirit is constantly at work, whether at the beginning in creation or as the story of redemption progresses. We must remember, as we learned about in our first two sermons, that the Scriptures, as well as God’s working with humanity, occurs in time. That is, God works in history to develop, reveal, and execute His mission of redemption. As such, the work of the Holy Spirit is key.

A. God the Holy Spirit’s work in and through the Scriptures

1. God the Holy Spirit’s Work in Inspiration- ;

He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures.

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

2 Peter 1:21 ESV

For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

In our first two sermons, we addressed the BF&M’s statement on the Scriptures. One of the statements we examined concerned this work of the Holy Spirit: inspiration. That is how we received the Scriptures. God breathed them, calling back to mind the creation of Adam in . And this process used the individual writers, their personalities, education, etc. to produce the sacred Scriptures. The image Peter offers is that of a ship being carried by the currents in the ocean.

2. God the Holy Spirit’s Work in Illumination-

Through illumination He enables men to understand truth.

1 Corinthians 2:10–14 ESV

these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

The Holy Spirit also works through the Scriptures in a process called illumination. Charles Ryrie, a noted theologian, describes illumination as “generally the concept [that] relates to the ministry of the Holy Spirit helping the believer to understand the truth of the Bible.” -Charles Ryrie

Ryrie, Charles Caldwell. Basic Theology: A Popular Systematic Guide to Understanding Biblical Truth. Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1999.

In other words, we need the Holy Spirit to understand the sacred Scriptures. If we do not have the Holy Spirit, we cannot understand the Scriptures. The natural man lacks the Holy Spirit, a teaching of which we shall address presently, and as such lacks the ability to know the Scriptures.

3. God the Holy Spirit’s Work in Conviction-

He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.

John 16:7–14 ESV

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

We see in this passage that God the Holy Spirit will convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment. One commentator describes this as a scene in a courtroom. “The conviction of sin are the charges the defendant is indicted. Righteousness is the standard to which the defendant is to conform. Judgment is the rationale the presiding judge uses to render the verdict.”

Borchert, Gerald L. . Vol. 25B. The New American Commentary (Nashville: TN, Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2002), 165.

We learn from that passage that the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth (16:13), and from that God’s Word is truth, a statement that is well-documented by the whole of Scripture. Comparing this passage with , we see that God the Holy Spirit is at work even among those individuals who have not the written Word of God. The 10 Commandments are written into the hearts of all men, and it is the means by which the Holy Spirit convicts.

Borchert, Gerald L. . Vol. 25B. The New American Commentary (Nashville: TN, Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2002), 165.

4. God the Holy Spirit’s Work in Salvation- ; ;

He calls men to the Savior, and effects regeneration. At the moment of regeneration He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ.

John 16:7 ESV

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

Romans 10:14 ESV

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

Ephesians 2:8 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment, which, by God’s grace and through Spirit-enabled faith, we can be saved. This is why it is important for the Church and the Christian to use the Word of God. Paul places its supremacy at the highest level when speaking of our missionary work. While we certainly want to build relationships and cultivate friendships, the God-ordained, Spirit-enhanced tool for conversions is the Word of God.

As a part of this we see the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The BF&M ties this, accurately in accordance with the unfolding plan of redemption particularly observed in the book of Acts, with the immersion of the individual into the Body of Christ (immersion and baptism being synonomous). We could say more here, but let us move on to the next work of the Holy Spirit.

B. God the Holy Spirit’s work in and through the Christian

While God the Holy Spirit’s work is interwoven in and through Scripture, He also works in and through the believer. There are several ways in which He does this.

1. God the Holy Spirit’s Work in Cultivating Christian Character-

He cultivates Christian character...

There is much that we must address here, but first let’s look at the cultivation of Christian character. The Holy Spirit is the means by which Christians become more Christ-like. It is the fruit of the Spirit, showing how God-dependent we are.

2. God the Holy Spirit’s Work in Cultivating Christian Comfort-

He…comforts believers...

Romans 8:26–27 ESV

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

The Holy Spirit comforts, He helps us in our weaknesses.

3. God the Holy Spirit’s Work in Cultivating Christian Purpose- ,

He…bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church.

The Holy Spirit bestows gifts for the members of the church for a purpose: to edify the body of Christ. Paul makes the analogy of the body having many different members (arms, legs, eyes, etc.) to the Church. The goal was the edification of the church (14:12), which is an interesting work that means to build up. Like the construction of a house requires the building of walls and a roof, so too, the church requires the building of itself into the image of God. The Holy Spirit is the member of the Trinity which distributes these gifts to the church. You can see this in . There are other passages that address the spiritual gifts, but our focus is on the Holy Spirit who gives them to the Church for mutual edification. It is the Holy Spirit who gives the gifts to the Church. We must never forsake the Holy Spirit.

This also highlights the importance of the Church, and while we are suspending public gatherings, we must remember that the Church is the assembled body of Christ. Wireless capabilities are wonderful tools, but not replacements, for the Church.

4. God the Holy Spirit’s Work in Sealing the Christian-

He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption.

In this passage of Ephesians, we learn that the Holy Spirit is the seal and the down payment (the “pledge”) of what is to come. Just as the guards sealed the tomb where Jesus laid in order to keep it secure, the Holy Spirit seals the believer to be delivered to God the Father and God the Son (again, see ). This is such a beautiful picture of the Holy Spirit’s work in the life of the believer.

5. God the Holy Spirit’s Work in Culminating the Christian- ; ; (cf. )

His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ.

The fact that Christians have the Holy Spirit indwelling them shows God’s work will be realized, that one day Christians will be like their Savior. The goal of will be realized, and the Holy Spirit is the proof (the guarantee) of that.

6. God the Holy Spirit’s Work in Enlightening and Empowering the Christian for service- ; , ;

He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship evangelism, and service.

2 Timothy 1:14 ESV

By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

Acts 13:2 ESV

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

In each case we see the Holy Spirit’s working in and through the believer. Our natural abilities and gifts, apart from the enlightening and empowering of the Spirit of God, are worthless.

CONCLUSION

So, what does this all mean for daily life? I find it difficult to summarize this large amount of biblical teaching and tremendous truth. However, for the sake of time and simplicity, I want to offer three ways this affects us daily.

Realize that God the Holy Spirit is truly God and is at work in unseen ways.

Rejoice in the down payment of the Holy Spirit, knowing that one day your struggle with sin will be no more.

Cultivate the fruit of the Spirit in your daily life (focus on one fruit and seek to change your life by it for a month)