The Promise of the Holy Spirit
Notes
Transcript
What’s up guys, so last week we wrapped up our one week study on Solomon’s wisdom on friendships. We looked in the book of proverbs and looked at his wisdom in regard to friendships. And as I always say, wisdom is useless unless you use it. Wisdom is useless unless we use it. Unless we use, and unless we apply the wisdom that we learn, it is useless and there is no point in studying. Right?
So last week what did we learn? Anyone remember? Right so we saw that a godly friend: warns at all times. Hebrews 3:12-13 says this 12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” That a godly friend warns when there friend is in danger in regard to sin.
Then we saw that a godly friend has a pure mouth. Meaning godly friends do not gossip or cuss but uplift and build one another up with their words. 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.- Ephesians 4:29
Finally we saw that a godly friend: loves at all times. That a godly friend puts others first at all times. Not just part of the time or when they need something from the other person. But at all times, even when it is inconvenient for them. Or even when it will cost them . 13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. - 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
So those were the points we saw last week and we were examining our friends that we have now and how godly of a friend we are. We were asking, “Are my current friends like that? Do my current friends line up with that?” and we asked that about ourselves. “Are we like that? Do we line up with what God’s Word says about friends. So I pray that the Word of God is in your heart when it comes to making decisions about friends because like what Solomon says, “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm” Or in other words, the people who you spend your time with will determine the direction and quality if your life. This is so so so crucial to get and to live out.
So this week, as you can probably tell, we are starting a new series for the month of November called “The Helper”. And during this series we are going to be looking at the role of The Holy Spirit. What His role is. It is so important to know His role because the Christian walk is lived through the power and the work of the Holy Spirit. You cannot live the Christian life without the Holy Spirit and as a matter of fact you cannot even be a Christian without the Holy Spirit. He has such a crucial and important role and I don’t think He is talked about enough in the church today. And whenever He is talked about, people attribute things to the working of the Holy Spirit that are not really of the work of The Holy Spirit. So it is really important we get it right and biblical. and once we understand His role, it is really going to help us with our walk with the Lord.
So let’s get started, the first place we see the Holy Spirit is all the way back in the beginning in the book of Genesis. He is seen in the second verse of the entire Bible. In Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 Moses records, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without for and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Genesis 1:1-2 Then if you hop up to verse 26, Moses records “26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Genesis 1:26
So we see from all the way since the beginning of time the Holy Spirit has had a role in creation. By protecting and participating in creation of the earth and in the creation of man. In verse 26, it says “The God said, “Let us” What does Moses mean by us? He means the trinity. This is the first reference to the trinity in the Scriptures. And we won’t get super in detail on the trinity but the trinity is God in three persons. We have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Father is God, The Son is God (Jesus) and The Spirit is God. They are all equally God. They are all in relation to one another. They don’t exist apart from one another. And it isn’t three different gods, but it is One God in three different persons. They all have a different role. And now and the rest of the month we are going to look at God - The Spirit and His role.
So tonight I am going to be in John chapter 14. And this is God the Son- Jesus talking in the upper room just hours before He is arrested and handed over to be tried tried and crucified. He is talking to the twelve disciples and says this, “15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. John 14:15-17
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
So He starts off by saying, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” It’s pretty obvious what He is saying here. If you love Jesus you’re going to do what He says. You can’t say you love Christ and not do what He says. So many people say they love Jesus but don’t do anything that He says, or they’ll say “oh yeah I’m a Christian” and live like the devil. And Jesus would say to that person, No you are not a Christian. You do not love me. Loving Christ is inseparable from obedience. You will obey and listen to Him if you love Him.
Then He says, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” So Jesus is saying that He will ask God the Father to send the Helper. and that is the title of our series. And greek word for Helper here means “to come alongside to help” Why do you think Jesus calls the Holy Spirit, “The Helper”? Because like I mentioned earlier. You cannot do the Christian life alone. You need help. You cannot overcome sin in your own strength. You cannot be a witness in your own strength. You cannot receive the comfort you need to get through some of the things apart from the Holy Spirit. In other translations He’s called the Advocate and the Comforter. These are all things that He does, The Helper, to help you do God’s will.
The Jesus says in verse 17, “he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither see’s him nor knows him” So world cannot receive the Holy Spirit. Only true born again believers have the Holy Spirit. But notice here Jesus calls the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth. Why does He call Him the Spirit of truth? Because He is saying the Holy Spirit is the source of truth in communicating truth. People cannot know and understand divine truth apart from the Holy Spirit’s inspiration. So that is going to be our first blank. 1. THE SOURCE
Check out what Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
He says “All Scripture is breathed out by God” What’s He saying? He doesn’t mean that Jesus came down and literally breathed on Paul’s parchment papers. No he’s saying that all Scripture is inspired by God. Inspired by the Holy Spirit. Remember Jesus ascended into heaven and was not in the flesh for all of the NT apart from the gospels. So it had to be the Holy Spirit inspiring the writers. And same with the OT and the entire Bible. Jesus said that