Text: John 14:15-18;16:5-16
WHO IS THE HOLY SPIRIT?
Come with me for a moment to the upper room, and think of the last night of Jesus' life. It is not what you would call a mountain-top experience for the disciples. A whole range of emotions sweeps over those who have followed him faithfully for the last three years. They are challenged as he washes their feet; they are comforted as he breaks the Passover bread. They are confused as Judas is revealed as a betrayer, and Peter is told that he will deny Jesus three times at the rising of the sun. And they are distressed as Jesus speaks of leaving them.
Footnotes:
But before the end of the supper, they discover that this is not an end, but a beginning to a whole new era. For on that night Jesus introduces his disciples to the person and work of the Holy Spirit. He assures them that they will not be left alone, but that he will send another who will be with them at all times, in all places, and in every situation. Up to this point, if the disciples needed help, they needed only to turn to Jesus. Up to this point, if they were lonely and needed a friend, they needed only to turn to Jesus. Up to this point, if they were discouraged, they needed only to look to Jesus for encouragement. When they were afraid, Jesus was there to calm their fears. Whatever they needed, Jesus was able to provide it for them. Now he was leaving them, but he says, "I will ask the Father and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever." So, no matter what your problem, no matter what your circumstance, no matter what your trial, frustration, or irritation, this Counsellor will be with you. The Greek word for counsellor here is paraclete. In some versions it is translated "helper", in others, "advocate", all of them reflect the idea of one who comes alongside to help, to enable. This is important to understand, for when Jesus went up into the heavens he did not leave you and me alone, he did not leave us as orphans, but asked his Father to send another, and that other is the Holy Spirit. I have told you that when you became a Christian, Jesus Christ took up residence in your life. This is how he does it, he lives in you and me through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit now lives in you and is your helper, counsellor, and advocate, to enable you and me to be more like Christ, to give us victory over sin, the flesh, and the devil. It has been said that we "need Jesus Christ for our eternal life and we need the Holy Spirit for our internal life."1 Let no-one here fear the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will not make you go wacky. The Holy Spirit is essential for us to live the Christian life. We cannot do it in our own strength, or in our own power. The Holy Spirit is God's gift to you and we must seek to live in dependence upon him. Now, since the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in our lives, we should take time to get to know him. So, the focus of our teaching this morning is "Who is the Holy Spirit?" Well, we learn from our text that the Holy Spirit is a person and not a force; he is not an "it". There is a number of cults in our world who contend that the Holy Spirit is nothing but a force, or a power, or an influence. But this is a great insult to God, as it is an insult to reduce any person to an "it". And it simply is not true, for the Holy Spirit is a person, and has all the attributes that we consider essential in the definition of a person.
And later we see the Holy Spirit forbidding Paul to enter into Asia.
Only persons can intend to do things. So, God's word teaches us that the Holy Spirit has all the attributes of personality. He has a mind, emotion, will, and is able to communicate. In our "Star Wars age" it is important for us to understand that the Holy Spirit is not a force. "Luke trust the force. It runs strong in your family, it does. It is all around you, in the trees and in the rocks; it flows from one being to another. Trust the force Luke." [Yoda voice] There is a smidgen of truth in that, as it applies to the Holy Spirit. There is power in the Holy Spirit; he is the source of the Christian's power. We must trust in the Holy Spirit. It is only as we trust the Holy Spirit that we are able to live the victorious Christian life and ultimately overcome the powers of darkness. There is a smidgen of truth here, in "Star Wars theology". But there is a whole truck-load of falsehood as it applies to the Holy Spirit. We must understand that Scripture teaches, our Lord teaches, that the Holy Spirit is a person. And this is good news for you and me because we cannot relate to a force. If the Holy Spirit of God is a person, it means that God can be known. Just as we get to know another person, so we can get to know God. The two, of course, aren't equal in quality, but the truth is the same; God can be known. He chooses to reveal himself, and we respond in wonder, love, devotion, and faith. God can be known; he is not this elusive force that we somehow must try to capture. No, the Holy Spirit is a person to be known. Now you will notice that I am using the words: God, Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit, interchangeably. That is because they are one. And this brings us to the mystery of the Trinity. The word trinity speaks of the fact that God is one in essence, yet plural in personality. It is a great mystery. C.S. Lewis says that the truth of the trinity is perhaps the greatest argument against people who say that Christianity is a human invention. He says that if Christianity was something we were making up, of course we could make it easier. But it is not. We are dealing with fact. Of course anyone can be simple if he/she has no facts to bother about. The trinity is a mysterious fact. But while the truth of the trinity is mysterious, we are not left without illustrations in our world to help us understand. We live in a triune universe, made up of space, matter and time. Space is triune: length, breadth, and height. Matter is triune: energy, motion and phenomena. Time is triune: past, present, and future. More simply, the egg is triune: the eggshell, the egg white, and the egg yolk. Each is distinct, yet together they make one egg. The truth I want us to grasp is that the Holy Spirit is God. The two are co-equal. In Acts 5:3-4 we see that lying to the Holy Spirit is the same as lying to God. "Annanias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God." Then, as we study Scripture, we discover that the Holy Spirit has all the attributes of God.
Many of us are trying to flee from God. We can't do it. The Spirit of God is everywhere, convicting, moving.
In the book of Revelation the Holy Spirit is spoken of as having seven eyes. This is symbolic language, indicating that the Holy Spirit sees all and he knows all. Nothing is hidden from his searching glance and his perfect knowledge.
The Holy Spirit is co-eternal with God the Father and God the Son.
He is referred to more than 100 times in Scripture as the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of God. Scripture says, "Be holy for I am holy." And it is the Holy Spirit who imparts to us the holiness and the righteousness that we must have, which the Lord Jesus Christ provided when he died on the cross. It was provided for us by Jesus Christ on the cross, it is imparted to us by the Holy Spirit. Who is the Holy Spirit? He is the divine third person of the Trinity; he is God himself. The question may now arise, "Why did the Holy Spirit come?" Jesus says in John 16:7 that it is for our own good that he goes away. "Unless I go away," Jesus says, "the Counsellor will not come to you." (John 16:7) (NIV) Why did Jesus tell his disciples it was better for them that he leave and the Holy Spirit come? It is because when Jesus was here on earth, his deity was clothed, or encased, in his humanity. Philippians 2:5-8 makes it clear that Jesus Christ willingly poured the fullness of his deity into the location of his humanity. As a result, Jesus could not be in more than one place at a time. His deity was always where he was humanly. But now the Holy Spirit has come and as the Holy SPIRIT our Lord is able to be in you, and at the same time in me, and at the same time in a believer in Hong Kong. The advantage is that the Holy Spirit is not limited to space and time, and can be with each one of us simultaneously. The great truth is, as Tony Evans points out, "Since the Spirit is in you, he is wherever you happen to be, going wherever you happen to go. All of God that you ever want to have, if you come to Christ, is in you. You are never at any point in a situation where you have less access to Jesus Christ than the next Christian." 2 This leads us to ask, "What is the purpose of the Holy Spirit?" Jesus tells us, "He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you." (John 16:14) (NIV) The Holy Spirit has one overarching goal. If you want to sum up what the Holy Spirit is about, he is about glorifying Christ. That is, he promotes Jesus Christ; he advertises Jesus Christ; he puts Jesus Christ on display. People say, "Pastor, you focus on Jesus Christ an awful lot." Yes. It is because the good news that we Christians have been graciously given is about Christ. The word of God focuses on Christ; the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ. The Spirit does not put himself on display; the Holy Spirit does not put his gifts on display; he does not put his power on display. Jesus says that he doesn't even speak on his own initiative (John 16:13). Any time there is an emphasis on the Spirit that supersedes the centrality and priority of Jesus Christ, it is not a work of the Holy Spirit, because the purpose of the Spirit is to glorify Christ. How does he do this? How does he advertise Christ? He comes and lives in you and me and transforms our lives into walking billboards. We become living testimonies to the reality of Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit creates a Christ-like character in us. It has been said that the world has five gospels to read to find out about Christ. There is Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and there are God's people. And the world will most likely never read the first four. God's people, transformed by the power of the Cross of Christ, are being transformed by the presence of the Holy Spirit living in us. So that when we offer a cup of cold water to those who thirst, they see Christ. When we offer grace to a fallen person, he or she sees Christ. When we practice patience in the midst of difficulty, those around us see Christ. We cannot reproduce the character of Jesus in ourselves, it is only accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit living in us. I have not exhausted these texts - there is much yet to say about the Holy Spirit's guidance. Jesus says that the Holy Spirit "will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13) (NIV). And there is the Holy Spirit's enabling power to bring into remembrance all that Jesus has taught (John 14:26). This morning though, let no-one be afraid of the person of the Holy Spirit. As we continue to study the person and work of the Holy Spirit during the next number of weeks, may we desire that he fill us, guide us, and glorify Christ in us. Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - April 2001
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