"Doctrine Matters: The Holy Spirit (1)"
December 2, 2007

Pastor Phil Stevenson

Date:  Dec. 2, 2007

Sermon Title:  Doctrine Matters:  The Holy Spirit

Text:  Selected Texts

WEFC

Introduction:

            “Several years ago … the comic strip “Family Circus” depicted a youngster listening intently to the pastor’s sermon. Suddenly his ears caught a term he didn’t understand.  The boy turned to his mother and whispered to her that he knew the Father and the Son.  “But who is the Holy Spearmint?” he asked.” (Created for Community, Stanley Grenz, p. 153)

            I’m sure the mother’s answer would have been simple and straightforward, “It’s not Holy Spearmint.  It’s Holy Spirit.”  But I wonder if the little boy’s question would still remain, “Ok, then, who is the Holy Spirit?”  It’s a question worthy of an answer.  And I hope that we can provide at least a partial answer to that question this morning.

            Here’s what our denomination’s proposed statement summarizing the biblical doctrine of the Holy Spirit says:  (It’s printed again on the back of your sermon notes insert for your benefit.)

            We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service.

            Now that’s a brief statement packed with some profound truths about the Holy Spirit.  And as you can see the Biblical basis for such a statement is substantial.  Once again I would encourage you to use these references to go deeper and explore what we will only scratch the surface of this morning and next Sunday. 

Unfortunately, I fear that we have too little understanding of the work of God the Holy Spirit.  It’s possible that we have even fallen into the pattern of the little boy and too often say we know the Father and the Son but who really is the Holy Spirit? 

            Before we try and answer that question this morning let me give you 2 important reasons why I think careful consideration of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit matters so much for our lives today.

            1.  To some degree our cultural atmosphere is growing more and more open to considering the reality of a spiritual dimension to life.  Many people are looking for spiritual experiences to help them find meaning and purpose beyond their mundane and material existence.  Post-modernism has pushed for the rejection of the enlightenment mindset of modernity that set forth human rationalism as the defining authority.  The trend these days is to be much more open to spiritual explanations of meaning and existence than to simply rely on secular humanistic explanations.  Unfortunately, however, this does not always translate into the pursuit of biblical truth or an openness to the Holy Spirit.  One Gallup poll recorded that at one point 78% of Americans saw themselves as spiritual people. That sounds like a very positive number.  But 56% of those people went on to say that in solving life’s problems they were more likely to rely upon themselves than upon an outside power like God.  (Above All Earthly Pow’rs, David Wells, p. 112)

            My point is simple.  People are looking for spiritual answers but they’re not knowing where to turn for solid truth.  And my question is could you help them if they asked or if you had the opportunity?  Could you tell them who the Holy Spirit is, what He is like and what’s important to Him?  This is one reason Doctrine Matters.  People are searching and we have answers.        

            2.  There’s a second reason I think this doctrine of the Holy Spirit matters.  I think it’s fair to say that currently, at this point in the history of mankind, the Holy Spirit is the most active and ever-present person of the Trinity in the created world we live in.  What I mean by this statement is that the manifestation of God’s presence today and the fulfillment of His will is being carried out by the Holy Spirit.  It is the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, who is fulfilling His role of accomplishing the work of the Trinitarian God in the world today.  Let me try and put this into perspective for you another way.  As we look at the Revelation of God’s Word we see that in the Old Testament the primary Divine Actor is God the Father.  He is the one who is directing and instigating the redemptive plan in human history.  Though the Spirit and the Son are present and manifest themselves with different people and in different times and places, it is primarily God the Father who has center stage, calling the people of Israel and preparing the way for the Redeemer.  In the Gospels, the incarnation occurs and God the Son enters human history and takes center stage.  Jesus, Immanuel, God with Us, in obedience to the Father and empowered by the Spirit, carries out the work of redemption through His authoritative teaching and demonstrations of supernatural power, culminating in His death on the cross, His resurrection from the death, and His ascension back to the Father in Heaven.  The focus of the Gospels is to reveal this atoning work of the Son.  But once Jesus ascends to heaven, the Holy Spirit is sent.  And from the book of Acts and throughout the Epistles we see the work of the Spirit displayed.  It is the Holy Spirit who is actively doing all that our statement of faith expresses: convicting, regenerating, baptizing, adopting, indwelling, illuminating, guiding, equipping, and empowering.  This is the age in which we live now.  One day the Lord Jesus will return and eventually we will see in Heaven the fullness of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but for now the Holy Spirit is the Divine Actor most prevalent and active in carrying out the will of God.  Don’t you think it would be wise for us to understand who He is and what He is up to in our lives and in the world today?

            So let’s consider the person of the Holy Spirit.  Who is He?  What are His intentions?  And what’s His highest priority? 

1.  The Nature of the Holy Spirit is Divine.

            The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force flowing from God.  He is not an it.  And we should never refer to the Holy Spirit as “it”.  Perhaps some of our shortcomings come about because of our inability to understand the imagery of God as a Spirit.  God the Father and God the Son are easy images for us to understand.  We can easily conceptualize a father/son relationship but it’s hard for us to picture a father/spirit relationship or a son/spirit relationship.  The King James Version perhaps has contributed to this difficulty for those of us who are accustomed to the Holy Spirit also being referred to as the Holy Ghost.  I don’t know if you’re like me or not but when I think of a spirit or a ghost my tendency is to think of a demonic or angelic spiritual being.  And if this is the way we look at the Holy Spirit we will definitely be demeaning His true nature. 

The nature of the Holy Spirit is Divine.  He is not a created being with limitations.  He is God.   And since He is God He possesses the attributes of God.  What comes to your mind when you think of the attributes of God?  Do think of … 

• Eternal:  Just as the Father and Son are eternal so is the Holy Spirit.  Genesis 1 says that before the creation of the world the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.  Hebrews 9:14 says, “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death….”  It was through the eternal Spirit that Christ offered himself before God.

• Creator:  There are several passages that refer to the creative ability of God’s Spirit.  I already mentioned Gen. 1:2 but Job 33:4 says, “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”  Not only is the Spirit responsible for physical life but He is the one responsible for Spiritual life as well. When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus He said, “Unless a man is born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  …unless one is born of the water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”  It is the Spirit of God that brings about spiritual life.  (See also Romans 8:11)

• Omniscient:  We also know that the Holy Spirit is divine because He is alone knows the mind of God.  1 Cor. 2:10-11says “The Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God…no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.”  Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of truth and said that he would guide the disciples into all truth.  “…whatever He hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” (John 16:13) How can He do that?  Because He is divine and knows all things.  He’s omniscient.

• Omnipotent:  When we think about this season, celebrating the birth of Jesus, we celebrate a miracle of magnificent proportions.  God becoming a man through a virgin birth.  Who accomplished that miraculous conception?  The Holy Spirit, the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  The Holy Spirit has the power to transform individual lives, to bring about conviction, to gift people with spiritual abilities that do not become a reality without His involvement. The Holy Spirit is omnipotent, all powerful.

• Saves:  Titus 3:4-5 includes the renewing work of the Holy Spirit as the means by which we experience the mercy of God that saves us.  “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.”  

• Omnipresence:  Psalm 139:7-8 “Where shall I go from Your Spirit?  Or where shall I flee from your presence?  If I ascend to heaven, you are there!”  To go from God’s Spirit is to go from God’s presence. The omnipresence of God is a reality because His Spirit is everywhere.

There are many other attributes that demonstrate that the Holy Spirit is divine in His nature.  And it is the role of the Holy Spirit to manifest these attributes of God in our world today.  God, through the person of the Holy Spirit is displaying His divine nature in the world today.  And His intention is not to be aloof and far from us but, and this is what I want us to understand more clearly, The intention of the Holy Spirit is to be intimately involved in our lives.

2.  The Intention of the Holy Spirit is Intimate Involvement.

            This is the encouragement that Jesus gave the disciples on the eve of his death.  I’m reading from John 14:15-17.  What an amazing promise this is when we truly grasp it.  The intention of Jesus leaving the disciples was not to leave them alone but instead to provide a means by which they could experience a Helper of the same kind as Him in the person of the Holy Spirit.  And this Helper would not be limited by a physical body like Jesus was but instead would be able to actually dwell with the disciples and to be in them. 

            This is the intention of the Holy Spirit for every person who repents of their sin, puts their faith in Jesus Christ and receives the forgiveness that Jesus purchased through his death on the cross.  That’s exactly what Peter told the crowd when they asked what they should do to be saved.  “Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2) On another occasion Jesus said that the intention of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.  When you experience the guilt of something done wrong that’s the intimate work of the Holy Spirit in your life.  When you sense that there is a righteous standard to live up to and that one day you will be held accountable for your actions, that’s the work of the Holy Spirit in your soul. He’s calling you to repentance and stirring within you faith to believe.  But the goal is not just conviction to make you feel guilty it is conviction to urge you to repent and believe in the work of Jesus Christ. What Peter was describing Paul later explained to the church at Ephesus with these words, “In Jesus, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is a guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” (Eph. 1:13-14) 

            When we hear the word of truth and faith is born in us to believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit seals our hearts to God.  He becomes the indwelling guarantee that we belong to God and that we will be brought to the place of our final inheritance.  The intention of the Holy Spirit is to be intimately involved in our lives so that we might enjoy the down payment or the first installment of what is to come in Heaven. 

            This is why the Holy Spirit is the agent by which we experience transformation.  He is the one who guides us into all truth now so that we might rejoice over all the truth that is to be revealed to us at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is the one who bears witness to our spirit that we are children of God and urges us to cry out to God the Father with the intimate cry of Abba, Father!  He wants us to experience intimacy with the Father now because that is our future for eternity, and intimate eternal relationship with God. 

The intention of the Holy Spirit is intimate involvement in every dimension of our lives.  And when we begin to see this it becomes incredibly exciting.  I’m trying to grow in this awareness in my everyday experiences.  Probably where I experience this most is when different people ask to talk with me or pray with me on whatever occasions.  This is often how it works for me.  Someone asks if they can get together sometime and talk.  Sure, let’s do it.  I may have no idea what’s on their mind or I may have no idea exactly what I’m going to have to offer them.  So I just begin to pray.  Holy Spirit I need your help.  I don’t know what the need is and I don’t know what the solution is going to be but you do.  I will often pray before we start talking.  Holy Spirit take control of this conversation.  Bring to my mind verses of Scripture that will be helpful.  Give me good questions to ask.  Give me proper responses to questions asked.  And then I just get to watch the conversation unfold.  Often times some of you apologize for taking my time. 

Relay my encounter with a gentleman last week.  He asked for prayer and told me how he had sensed God wanting to let go of some of the things he was holding on to during the time of prayer when I had us all hold out our hands before the Lord to allow Him to give or take away whatever He desired.  None of that was planned.  I sensed that that was what we should do.  And God used that to speak to this man’s heart and later he told me that he wanted to confess his sin and let go with witnesses who could hold him accountable.  Several us did that.  What a privilege to interact with the Holy Spirit of God in that way!  This is the intention of the Holy Spirit.  The divine presence in our lives today wants to be intimately involved and is intimately involved in every dimension of our lives. 

            I appreciate the clarity which John Stott speaks to this truth.  “Without the Holy Spirit, Christian discipleship would be inconceivable, even impossible.  There can be no life without the life-giver, no understanding without the Spirit of truth, no fellowship with out the unity of the Spirit, no Christ-likeness of character apart from his fruit, and no effective witness without his power.  As a body without breath is a corpse, so the church with out the Spirit is dead.”

            Finally let me say this one last thing about the Holy Spirit and this will lead us into our communion time.

3.  The Priority of the Holy Spirit is to Glorify Jesus Christ.

            Again, just before Jesus left His disciples he said to them, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot hear 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.”  (John 16:12-14) 

            The great priority of the Holy Spirit is to take all that is of Jesus Christ and declare it to us to glorify Jesus  in our midst. 

            You can see this priority imbedded in the Great Commission.  Mt. 28:18-20  “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.”  How is Jesus with us always?  It is through His Spirit that He is present.  And it is His Spirit who will empower the disciples to go and baptize and teach.  Acts 1:8 “And you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, land you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.”

            The great passion of the Holy Spirit, His number one priority is to empower every person to become a testimony, a witness to the saving work of Jesus Christ.  His priority is to make you and me a display of the grace and mercy of God as given through the saving work of Jesus Christ so that Jesus is glorified.

            On Sunday nights the youth who are involved in Thrive have been working through a book and video series by John Piper called Don’t Waste Your Life.  In that book he uses a helpful illustration to explain what it means to glorify Christ.  Piper says a synonym for glorify would be magnify.  The Holy Spirit’s highest priority is to magnify Jesus.  But there are different ways that you can magnify something.  You can magnify something very small if you use a microscope or you can magnify something very large and very far away by using a telescope.  Magnifying Jesus is like using a telescope.  The Holy Spirit’s highest priority is to take the largeness of what Jesus has done even though it was accomplished far away from us and bring it into view and focus so that we might understand and embrace its magnitude now.

            This is the Holy Spirit’s priority.  He will glorify me, Jesus said.  And rightly so because as these elements represent it was the work of Jesus that brings us into right relationship with God.  It was through His shed blood and through His broken body that our forgiveness has been purchased.  And right now in this moment the Holy Spirit is here with this priority He wants to glorify Jesus before the eyes of your heart.  His intention is to be intimately involved with you wherever you are so that you might become a testimony of the gracious work of Jesus Christ. 

            Perhaps you’ve never really understood that your sin has kept you separated from God, then I urge you to listen to the conviction of the Holy Spirit in this moment.  He wants you to confess your sin and seek His forgiveness.  He wants you to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and trust Him for your salvation. 

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