Good evening again, welcome. Ordinarily we teach through book
in the Bible. We finished our series through
First Corinthians. We're taking six weeks to do a
study on the Holy Spirit, and then we'll be back in the book
of Second Corinthians. So tonight I'd invite you to
open your Bible to John chapter 14.
Let's move this down a bit. I'm going to read a number of
scriptures to begin with and now again form a bit of a backdrop
tonight. The title of the message is who
is the Holy Spirit and what does he do?
We'll revisit a little bit of what we covered last week.
So if you missed last week, that's OK.
You'll get a nice little summary as we're looking at the Holy
Spirit who's who's often been titled the Forgotten member of
the Godhead. John 14 verse 16.
Jesus said I will pray the Father and he will give you
another help at capital H that he may abide with you forever.
The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it
neither sees Him nor knows him, but you know him, for he dwells
with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans, I
will come to you. Verse 18, Move ahead to verse
25. These things I've spoken to you
while being present with you. Verse 26 But the Helper, the
Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will
teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things
that I said to you. We've head into chapter 15 and
verse 26. When the Helper comes, whom I
shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who
proceeds from the Father, He will testify of me, and you also
will bear witness, because you have been with me from the
beginning. And then move ahead into John 16
and last verses We'll read together verse 7.
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth.
It is to your advantage, maybe your Bible translation, as it is
expedient or it is beneficial for you, that I go away.
And the disciples would have been shaking the head going, ah,
I don't think so. Look what he says.
For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you.
But if I depart, I will send him to you.
We'll explain this a little more later on.
When he has come, verse 8, He will convict the world of sin
and of righteousness and of judgement of sin, because they
not, do not believe in me of righteousness.
Verse 10 Because I go to my Father, and you see me no more,
there's 11 of judgement, because the ruler of this world is
judged. Verse 12 I still have many
things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
However, when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide
you into all truth, but He will not speak on His own authority.
But whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will tell you
things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will
take of what is mine and declare it to you.
Jesus. In these words, in what is
called His farewell discourse, which is from John 13 through to
17. He's preparing His disciples for
His departure, first of all by way of the cross and His death
and His burial, and then His resurrection, but then His
ascension into heaven, and readying them for the fact that
He must depart, but that in order for Him to go, somebody
else would come. And His name is the Holy Spirit.
We commence this last week and he introduces that is Jesus, the
Holy Spirit as another helper. The word in Greek is paracletos
who will come to comfort, guide and empower them to come
alongside is literally what it means.
I don't know if you've ever experienced that, where somebody
has been of great comfort to you and for you maybe in time of
mourning or in time of doubt or uncertainty, and they've just
been able to to just be there to be alongside you, to support you
and to help you in that way. And Jesus said that he would not
leave his disciples as orphans. And so the Holy Spirit would
bring comfort to them. He would come alongside and be
there in the absence of Jesus, that Jesus would not leave them
without some help, without some assistance.
And the Holy Spirit is in mind that he would come and that he
would be with them. Billy Graham in his book I
recommend to you on the Holy Spirit, observe that that
humanity, mankind has 2 great spiritual needs.
He said firstly forgiveness and secondly goodness.
The forgiveness we experience through the finished work of
Jesus Christ on the cross that what Jesus did and accomplished
there brings to that great need for you and I forgiveness in our
lives. Christ's work at Calvary but
goodness comes to us at Pentecost through the falling of
the Holy Spirit where the Holy Spirit is in US and working out
that sanctification process making us more like Jesus Christ
and again the Holy Spirit is is often a misunderstood entity
being people have this vagueness about him.
What, what is the Spirit? What is the Holy Ghost is the
King James words him and emotionalism and mysticism seem
to abound. And we must remember that we're
not guided by our experiences, though valid at times they they
are and might be. But we must think biblically and
theologically about the Holy Spirit in particular.
So two key questions guide this message tonight.
And again, revisit some territory from last week.
Number one, who is the Holy Spirit #2 what does the Holy
Spirit do? Firstly, the Holy Spirit, He is
a person. The Bible tells us in no
uncertain terms when Speaking of the Holy Spirit that He is a He,
not an It. There are personal pronouns that
are utilised in discussion about the Holy Spirit used in our
reading that we just went through.
He will be with you. The Greek ikanos means a He, not
an It, and many people talk about the Spirit in that way, as
an it, as an entity, in that, in that vagueness of terminology.
Secondly, the name paracledos in Greek again that Jesus gave of
the Holy Spirit, it implies personhood, because the very
functionality of paracledos is to bring comfort.
A force has great difficulty bringing comfort into our lives,
but a comforting presence, a person who walks alongside us,
paracledos can do that. Thirdly, he speaks.
Revelation chapter 2, verse 7 says he who has an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
As we've been studying through the Book of Revelation, we've
been seeing that repeated again and again and again in Christ's
messages to the church. The Spirit communicates to us
through God's Word. John 1613 says he will not speak
on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak.
Did you know that the Holy Spirit speaks?
That it is possible for you and I to hear the Holy Spirit
communicating to us? When the Bible is taught, when
the Bible is preached, when the Bible is heard, when you read
the Scriptures, the Spirit of God takes the word of God and
speaks to the child of God. You are hearing God the Holy
Spirit speak to you when you read the Bible.
Some people say, well, I want to hear God speak to me audibly.
I want to hear the Holy Spirit speak to me audibly.
Let me tell you, read the Bible out loud then and you'll hear
God speak to you audibly. If you want to hear God speak to
you, get into the word and the Holy Spirit is speaking as we
study God's word. Fourthly, he testifies of Jesus
Christ. John 15 verse 26, you know the
Holy Spirit never points to himself, He always points to
Jesus. John 1526 says the Spirit of
truth that proceeds from the Father.
He will what testify, witness, declare of me.
You know that means that the Spirit is always talking, is
always pointing, is always directing you towards Jesus, who
he is, what he has done, what he has accomplished.
You know, one of the most important roles of the Holy
Spirit is to point people to Jesus Christ.
We'll get into that later. That's part of his convicting
work in wooing people and in drawing them unto salvation.
And the Holy Spirit never points people to himself.
And so when the Holy Spirit is moving in a church or in a
person's life, again, all praise, all focus, all glory is
on who Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit witnesses, the Holy
Spirit testifies, the Holy Spirit points to Jesus.
And so if you ever go to a church service where the focus
is on an individual or on a person or on a group, anything
other than Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit is not a part of
that. The Holy Spirit's focus is about
drawing our attention to worship and to honour and the praise of
Jesus. Fifthly, the Holy Spirit, he
leads, he actively guides us as believers in decisions and
direction. If you're ever lost and, and
wandering around and and trying to figure out what to do and
where to go, seek out the wisdom, the guidance, the
leading of the Holy Spirit. Remember the story in the book
of Acts where Philip is being used by God mightily in a
particular area and the Holy Spirit draws him to to head to
encounter a fellow, an Ethiopian eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to
seek out God and Jesus, namely, and he's reading and it.
And it tells us there in in the book of Acts, verse 29, that the
Holy Spirit said to Philip go up to the chariot and and speak and
minister to this bellow. And it was the leading of the
Holy Spirit in that situation. Romans 814 puts it this way.
As many as are led by the Spirit.
These are the children of God. So you and I, our lives as sons,
as daughters of God are to be LED, are to be guided by the
Holy Spirit. And in that guidance, sixthly,
he guides us into truth. If you're trying to figure out
in a day and age where there's so much fake news, so much false
information, so much misinformation, I don't know if
you've ever been duped or if you've ever been conned in any
particular way and, and how you feel robbed of, of innocence
and, and robbed of certain sort of faculties in your mind.
I can't believe I was deceived or duped in that way.
The Holy Spirit will never do that to you.
The Holy Spirit speaks, He leads and he guides into truth.
And this particularly isn't an in illumination.
That's the word I was trying to spit out illumination and
application of Scripture. Jesus said John 1613.
When he, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all
truth. 7th we touched on this again last week.
He can actually be lied to. The story in the book of Acts
chapter 5 of Ananias and Sapphira who conjured up this
story to try and deceive the early church and Peter when
questioning them on it said that you have lied to God and namely
you have lied to who? The Holy Spirit.
You know you can't lie to an it, you can't lie to a force, but
being a person, the Holy Spirit was lied to in that example, in
the book of Acts chapter 5 and in our lives.
The 8th point on this is that he can be grieved.
You know, our sin, our sins of Commission, what we commit, our
sins of omission, what we failed to do can actually cause grief,
hurt, wounding to the Holy Spirit who indwells us.
Ephesians 4 verse 30 to 32, it says do not grieve the Holy
Spirit of God. And then in those verses Paul
tells us what will grieve the Spirit of God.
He says it's bitterness, it's wrath, anger, clamour, evil
speaking, malice, and then he says to offer a flip side of of
what we're to focus on instead that what would please the Holy
Spirit. He says instead be kind to one
another, tender hearted, forgiving one another.
Why even as God in Christ forgave you.
These, you see, are the attitudes of the hearts and
lives that please the Spirit of God.
But the flip side of that, when we hold bitterness, when we have
wrath, when we have anger, when we're not forgiving, when we're
evil, Speaking of others, particularly brothers and
especially brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Oh, it grieves the Holy Spirit. Many of you who are parents, you
know, when your children fight with one another, how that
breaks your heart to see that conflict in the home.
And I think that's just a, a glimpse of the Holy Spirit's
heart towards us as, as the people of God, when there are,
are those attitudes in our hearts towards each other as the
family of God. And so these attitudes in our
hearts cause grief to the Holy Spirit of God.
And, and like a dove that he was, he's very sensitive and
he'll fly away. And, and there's in that sense,
a sense of, of, of losing the presence of the Spirit in our
midst as a consequence. So we don't want to grieve the
Holy Spirit, rather instead be kind and forgiving and
tenderhearted. 1 towards another.
And ninthly, on this point of the of the Spirit's personage,
he can be blasphemed. Matthew 12 verses 31 to 32.
Jesus said that a rejection of the Holy Spirit's work of
conviction would be attributed to, and he calls it blasphemy of
the Holy Spirit. And that is the unforgivable,
unpardonable sin that that any human being can commit.
Jesus, in fact, said that if you were to sin against the Son
himself, Speaking of Himself, then it can be forgiven if you
desire and seek it. But if you reject and are
dismissive of the Holy Spirit's work, and He's convicting power
in the way that He points to Jesus as the need and as the
solution for salvation, if you reject that, then then that
rejection is unforgivable. Persistent rejection of His
conviction can harden a heart beyond repentance.
So if the Holy Spirit in this way with all of those elements
is a person, then that means that He deserves our respect,
our attention, our focus, our reverence, our worship when we
dig into the the divine personage that He is, our honour
and devotion and love and obedience.
So let's look at this other aspect, the divine person that
is the Holy Spirit, because Jesus firstly called him when
Speaking of the Holy Spirit, another of the same kind in John
14 verse 16. And what that means is that the
Holy Spirit is equal in nature to the Son Jesus and equal in
nature to the Father God. You know, that's why when we
baptise, we baptise what we do it so in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
It would in fact be blasphemous of us to bring the Holy Spirit
into that if he were not divine, wouldn't it?
It would be an insult to God the Son.
It would be an insult to God the Father for us to bring in the
Holy Spirit and equate Him as divine if He were not so.
And so Jesus said another of the same kind, a helper I will send
and the Father will sin. So let's look at some of the
attributes of deity that are in the divine person of the Holy
Spirit. He is eternal.
Hebrews 9 verse 14 makes reference to the eternal Spirit.
He is omnipotent. That means all powerful.
We attribute that to God the Father.
We understand the power of Jesus as we read through the Gospels,
but the Holy Spirit is all powerful.
In Luke chapter one, verse 35, when the Angel Gabriel visited
Mary and gave the promise of of the what we call the Immaculate
Conception, Gabriel said that it would be the work of the Holy
Spirit in bringing about this Immaculate Conception, that the
Holy Spirit in power would come upon you, Mary.
We're told in Psalm 139, verse seven that the Holy Spirit is
omnipresent, that there is nowhere that we can go on the
face of this planet that we can escape from the presence of God,
namely the Holy Spirit. Where can I go from your Spirit
or flee from your presence? Psalm 139, verse 7.
And in that the same attributes that we've spoken of God's
omnipotence, God's omnipresence, and now we have God's
omniscience that He is all knowing one.
Corinthians chapter 2 verse 10 to 11, when Speaking of the Holy
Spirit, says God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.
For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of
God. For what man knows the things of
a man except the spirit of a man, which is in him?
Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
So the argument that Paul has there of the Holy Spirit is
this. Maybe you've had conversations
with people where you go, you don't know what I'm thinking.
And they presume to assert certain thoughts into your, you
know, vocabulary as you've expressed things, but they don't
know exactly your thoughts. And so Paul says just as a man
knows their thoughts and the spirit of the man knows that, so
too the Spirit of God knows the deep things of God, possessive
of that all knowing capacity of God, the omniscience, He is in
fact called God. In Acts 5 verse 3 to 4, when we
spoke of the example of Ananias and Sapphira lying to the Holy
Spirit, Peter again said you've been lying to God, emphatically
declares the Holy Spirit is God in that.
And then going all the way back to the book of Genesis, we see
that he is involved in creation, active in creation alongside the
Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit.
It's said there in Genesis one verse 2 was hovering over the
waters. And so to again, like I said
last week, to deny the personhood or deity of the
Spirit, the Holy Spirit is heretical.
It's not optional for us as as those who name the name of
Christ to purport to be believers, to deny that the Holy
Spirit is God. He is essential to Christian
faith and our lives as followers of Jesus.
So that's to revisit some territory from last week and now
for the rest of our time together.
Let's let's really dive into in a bit more detail.
What does the Holy Spirit do? We've understood that he's a
person, that he's a he, that he is divine.
And we could take many weeks to answer this particular question
about what it is that the Holy Spirit does.
Again, we could go all the way back to Genesis chapter one,
verse 2, where he's part of the creation of the heavens and the
earth. We could go all the way through
the Old Testament and into the Gospels and see the way that the
Holy Spirit worked in humanity and in the world.
An amazing study would be to actually look at the Holy
Spirit's work in the life of Jesus here on earth, and that
might be a wonderful study for us into the future how it was
that Jesus was led by the Spirit.
How it was that Jesus was filled with the Spirit, how he was
anointed by the Spirit. So what does the Holy Spirit do
again? Jesus said in John 16 verse 7, I
tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away.
And the disciples again shaking their heads, freaking out,
misunderstanding that. How could that possibly be so
Jesus? Jesus, did you just say that it
would be better for us that you go away?
I don't understand. I can't compute that.
How? How would that be?
And that's why Jesus later sorry earlier said John 14 verse 27.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
And then in verse 3 of John 14, I go and prepare a place for
you. I will come again and receive
you to myself that where I am there you may be also.
So in in that text, what we read earlier, what I'm reminding you
of here in John 14 and and into 16, Jesus really wants his
disciples to know something significant, don't you think?
He said it was important, beneficial, advantageous
expedient that I go away and that somebody else come in my
stead. So why is it that for Jesus to
go away the the comforter who is the Holy Spirit to come?
If Jesus departs, the Holy Spirit would be there.
Why is that beneficial? I don't think we think about
this or fully understand this a lot.
So let me hopefully help explain it.
Why was it better expedient, advantageous for Jesus to go
back to the Father and not stay with the disciples?
I mean, he could very well have in resurrected form, could be
here on the earth now for some 2000 years in his physical
resurrected body. So let me explain this two
reasons. First, if Jesus went back to the
Father and sent the Holy Spirit, then here's what happens.
The presence of Jesus is universalized.
You know, when Jesus was on earth in his resurrected body,
if he was in Galilee, he wasn't in Jerusalem.
If he's in Jerusalem, he wasn't in the Galilee region.
That means if he was still on the earth now, 2000 years later,
in Galilee or in Jerusalem, he wouldn't be in secret harbour.
But when he went back into heaven, sent the Holy Spirit,
wherever you go, wherever you travel, Jesus is there.
Isn't that awesome? And so it universalizes the
presence of Jesus, and hand in hand with that second, it
internalises the presence of Jesus.
Christ is now in every believer. And we talk about Jesus Christ
being in US, right? Christ goes with you wherever
you go. That couldn't happen if Jesus
didn't go back to heaven and send the Holy Spirit.
That's why Jesus said it was better for you and on top of
that final preparatory comment before digging into this further
John 1412. Again, he's upper in discourse.
Jesus told his disciples that through the Holy Spirit coming
upon them greater works than these.
All that Jesus had done individually present on earth.
You will do because I go to my father.
He didn't mean greater in equality, but greater in
quantity because the disciples, they, you and I, the disciples
today will take the Holy Spirit with us and go around the world.
That's why in Acts One, verse 8, He told them not to move out of
Jerusalem until what? Until they had received the Holy
Spirit, that He had come upon them, and then they would be
witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost
parts of the earth. And so the coming of the Holy
Spirit was significant. On the day of Pentecost, the
Church was born. Christ's presence was
universalized and His presence was internalised in every
believer. So the first category of the
work of the Holy Spirit I want to focus our attention on now is
the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures.
Let's look at the Holy Spirit's work in the Scripture.
The Holy Spirit is instrumental, is pivotal, pivotal in the
inspiration that makes these more than just words on a page.
That makes this the living Word of God, the divine Word of God.
John 14, verse 26. Jesus said to his disciples the
help of the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name.
He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all
things I said to you. So this is a reference to their
ability to have Holy Spirit recall in writing the Gospels
that we read of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and then on through
into the epistles as Paul would write, as Peter would write, as
James would write, and so on. And to write about Christ and
the words that he spoke and revealed that ability, that
capacity was through inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Now, it could secondarily be applied to you and I to us, but
it's primarily applied to the apostles in their work in
writing the Scriptures. They would have perfect recall
of everything Jesus said, of everything Jesus did, and of
everything that he taught them that would be applicable and
beneficial for us to receive as the word of God as we know it
now in the Canon of Scripture. The classic passage on the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures is this second
Peter chapter 120 to 21. And Peter says this, knowing
this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private
interpretation, which means that they, when they wrote the
Scripture, didn't make it up and didn't invent it and didn't
write out of their own mind. Oh, I think this will be good.
I think this will be beneficial and helpful for them to know.
It was the Holy Spirit. Four, he goes on.
Prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God
spoke as they were moved. And what that phrase meant means
moved there, means carried along or borne along by the Holy
Spirit. And so when the Scriptures were
written, the writers were carried along, were borne along
by the Holy Spirit in that process.
And what that picture is, is of a sailboat with the wind filling
its sails and carrying the boat over the water.
And so when they wrote the Scripture, the writers were
being born along, carried along, guided, directed by the
Comforter or Helper, the paracledos, the third person of
the Trinity, who would bring to remembrance all that Jesus
spoke. And so we can say and know that
all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God, the Holy
Spirit. And not only inspiration, but
secondly, on that illumination he reveals God's truth to us
from Scripture. One Corinthians chapter 2, verse
9 to 13. There are two important
doctrines of the Holy Spirit in relation to this in in the
inspiring and illuminating of the Scripture.
You see, the Holy Spirit gives revelation, that means unveils
what was mysteriously unknown before and makes it apparent,
makes it evident for us. And he gives illumination.
So revelation and illumination, Paul says, but as it is written,
eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart
of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him.
Now this verse is often quoted. You might have it as a memory
verse and know it right. And many people stop right there
on that verse and they say that, well, when we get to heaven, you
know, we can't imagine what we'll see there.
And you know, it gives us hope in that way.
We can't imagine what we're going to hear or what it'll be
like. We can't imagine in our hearts
what God has prepared for us. But you know, that's actually
not what that verse is about because notice verse 10.
But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.
Why? For the Spirit searches all
things, yes, the deep things of God.
For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the
man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things
of God except the Spirit of God. And so the natural mind, the
natural eye of the human heart, the human eye cannot imagine the
things of God. But God has revealed them to us
by His Holy Spirit, illuminates for us.
Where once before it was a mystery, unknown, we couldn't
ascertain it, but now through the Scriptures we have that.
And so verse 12, now we have received not the Spirit of the
world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the
things that have been freely given to us by God.
So this is the doctrine of illumination.
The Holy Spirit gives us the things of God.
Verse 13 These things we also speak not in words which man's
wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing
spiritual things with spiritual. So this is teaching that the
Holy Spirit not only inspires Scripture, but also illuminates
it for us. You have as as a child of God
with the the Spirit within you, you have the Spirit of God
explaining the word of God to you.
That's why before you were a Christian, when you tried to
read the Bible, it was like gobbledygook.
What is this about? And, and your mind would just
fog over and, and the words would be difficult to ascertain.
Or you could maybe deduce bits and pieces of narrative and
characters and who said and did what.
But the the power of the word of God needs the Holy Spirit, the
regenerative work that happens. Thirdly on this transformation
happens. You know the Holy Spirit makes
us more like Christ as we behold him in the word. 2 Corinthians 3
verses 17 to 18. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and
where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, freedom.
But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the
glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image
from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
You know what that means? That means that when a Christian
reads the Bible, you not only have illumination, oh, I see
that, I understand that, I know that, but you have
transformation. Now because of that, God's word
starts to do a work in your life to bring about change that is
radically for the better and for the good in your life and flying
on out to others. It's like seeing Jesus in a
mirror and we're transformed into his image and likeness.
I, I, I want that. I need that God help me to be
more like this in that way. And the Holy Spirit enables,
empowers you to do that. He transforms you and I.
So that's His work in the Scriptures.
Let's look at His work in salvation.
Conviction takes place in John 16 verse 8 to 11.
Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit convicting of sin, convicting of
righteousness, and convicting of judgement that would be brought
to light in our lives. You know you cannot become a
Christian apart from the Holy Spirit.
You can't think yourself, Oh, I've, I've studied all of the,
the religions of the world and I've read so many books and I, I
feel like that this is probably the most sensible thing, not to
dismiss the intellect in that, but it is, it is the divine work
of the Holy Spirit in, in bringing about the convicting
work in our lives of sin and of righteousness and of judgement
that sits upon us. You don't just try Jesus.
You don't just give him a chance in your life.
You don't come to Jesus because you want to be wealthy or
healthy or wise. You know, I think there's some
good words here in that and you know, I'd like to apply that
now. You come because the Holy Spirit
identifies of sin in your life and identifies of God's
righteousness and if he standard and of the judgement of God that
sits heavy upon sinful, depraved humanity, that the heart is
deceitful and desperately wicked and that without a Saviour we're
lost and, and, and we're doomed in our sin and in our depravity
and, and, and the failings and fallings of humanity.
And so the Holy Spirit convicts or convinces you that you need
salvation and that Jesus is the answer your Saviour.
That's the work of the Holy Spirit in convicting and then in
doing that, the Holy Spirit secondly brings about the the
regeneration. Jesus said to a fellow called
Nicodemus who knew all of the Scriptures.
He had been studying the Old Testament.
He knew it inside and out. And he came into the cover of
night and Jesus said to him, Nicodemus, you what?
You must be born again, and to be born again you must be born
of the Spirit. Where once you were born of
water, now you need to be born of the Spirit regenerated anew.
That, that. That's what we're talking about
here. It's not by works of
righteousness, Titus 35 says, which we have done, but
according to his mercy. He saved us through the washing
of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.
This is one of the great verses of the work of the Holy Spirit
in our lives. He washes us, cleanses us,
regenerates us, makes us new. That means to give new life,
literally to regenerate. So before you were saved, the
Bible declares that you were dead in trespasses and sin.
Oh, you were alive physically, but you were like a walking
zombie, dead on the inside, and you needed to be born again in
your spirit. And the moment you believed and
trusted in Jesus as the Christ, you were regenerated.
And that regenerative work is the work of the Holy Spirit.
And Jesus told Nicodemus that unless one is born of water and
the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.
That's what constitutes being saved.
It's a divine work. It's the work of the Holy
Spirit, who is God. He does what God can only do.
He gives life to dead sinners. He regenerates and then we're
indwelled. That means that the Holy Spirit
comes and sets up residence in our lives.
The Bible tells us that every believer is the temple of the
Holy Spirit. A temple was in ancient times a
place physically on earth, set aside as a sacred space, where
it was felt that whatever deity was worshipped there was
actually present in that place considered a holy ground.
And so for the Bible to declare that now you and I as believers,
as followers of Jesus, that our bodies are now temples of the
Holy Spirit, it tells us that the presence of the divine in
the Holy Spirit indwells us. Romans 8 verse 9 says you are
not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of
God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the
Spirit of Christ, he is not His. It's pretty clear.
And in that indwelling the the next component of the work of
the Spirit in our salvation is of what's called sealing and
guaranteeing. This speaks of security and
assurance of salvation. And you can read into Ephesians
chapter one, verse 13 and 14 in detail about this.
But let me explain that in in those times, particularly if
you're a merchant, but if you're an owner of any any property or
goods and you were shipping said property around parts of the
empire, you would seal it with your mark as a sign of
ownership. And it would also function as a
guarantee in in many contractual arrangements that you would
follow through on on words agreed upon as a part of that
contract that that you know, my word is my bond.
And so for the Holy Spirit to be a seal, a guarantee is in our
lives as believers that just as Jesus said, I've begun a good
work in you, I'm going to be faithful to complete it here,
have the seal, the guarantee of the Holy Spirit.
And he said that I will go and prepare a place for you that
where I am, you may be also. Let me give you the guarantee
that you will arrive, that you will get to the destination of,
of being with me for all of eternity.
That's the seal, that's the guarantee, the work of the Holy
Spirit. And so at times when you doubt
or when you question or you wonder, am I saved?
Is, is God really real? You know, is, is what the Bible
says and speaks of? No, you must remember that.
The seal and the guarantee of the Holy Spirit's presence in
you. No, He's there, He's present and
he's going to get me through to the end.
He's promised it. It's as good as done.
The seal, the guarantee of the Holy Spirit.
And we have fifthly and finally on, on this particular point,
the filling of the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 5, verse 18, where it
speaks of being not drunk or controlled by wine.
And, and Paul uses that example. We all know what somebody looks
like and sounds like an axe and behaves like when they're
intoxicated, when they're under the influence of alcohol.
And it starts to take control over their faculties, effects
their movement and their thinking and their behaviours.
And, and some people become all sorts of things that they're not
ordinarily when they're under that, when they're not under the
influence of alcohol. And so using that understanding,
he is saying not to get out of control, though some people
misinterpret that text in the way of, of saying, well, you
know, see, I'm, I'm filled with the Holy Spirit and they start
acting all crazy and weird. But the opposite is that a life
that is filled by the Holy Spirit is controlled, is under
the influence of the Holy Spirit and, and the fruit, the the
evidence of the Holy Spirit is that we have a life that is
filled with the fruits of the Spirit.
Lovejoy, peace, all of those fruits that we read of being
attributed to the Holy Spirit. That's how you know, oh, I'm
filled with the Holy Spirit. Not because you're flipping
around and rolling around on the floor and, and doing cartwheels
and speaking all sorts of weird things saying, oh, I'm, I'm Holy
Spirit controlled here. That's out of control.
We're to be controlled by, filled by the Holy Spirit.
That means that he influences our thoughts, our actions.
Our attitudes, they're all under the power of the Holy Spirit.
It's about surrender, it's about our emotion being guided and
directed by Him. So that's the work of the Holy
Spirit and salvation. And then lastly, we'll look at
his work in sanctification and service.
Sanctification John 1717 Galatians 522 to 23 in our lives
the Holy Spirit is transforming us, is making us more like
Christ he produces fruit evidence in our lives that we
are no longer what we used to be.
Many of you here could testify of the work of the Holy Spirit
in your life. Where if you were to have
somehow time travelled back to yourself five years ago, 10
years ago, and were to tell that former self that you would be
what you are now, or you'd be scoffed, you'd be laughed out,
you'd be derided, you'd be mocked.
But now the Holy Spirit is doing the work in your life,
sanctifying you, changing you, transforming you, making you
more like Jesus Christ. And again, it's evident by the
fruit of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 522 to 23 of love, of
joy, of peace, of long suffering, where previously you
would have flipped out and gone crazy and just doing all sorts
of things where where there wasn't kindness, but now you
found it within yourself, man, that that colleague at work or
that boss, they've said something insulting
deliberately. They're being passive aggressive
and now you just don't. I don't know why.
I just feel like I need to be kind to them.
That's the Holy Spirit in you, transforming you, faithfulness,
gentleness, self control, all of those things as evidence of the
transforming work, the sanctifying work of the Holy
Spirit. And then the the empowering
lastly on this now of the Holy Spirit for you and I to be
about. We learnt this morning of the
Great Commission that we're called to the mission that Jesus
has given to us. You know what?
We can't do that in our own strength.
We need the Holy Spirit's help to do that again.
That's why Jesus told the disciples explicitly, don't go
out yet until the Holy Spirit comes upon you.
And it's with the Holy Spirit's power that then we're able to
serve in the mission that God has called us to go out into all
of the earth and make disciples of all men, teaching and
preaching and declaring the things of Jesus, the gospel
message. So the Spirit is active in our
lives. His work, what is it?
He grows us, He matures us. If we're unsaved, He witnesses
to us and woos us and draws us to the need of a Saviour.
And then he transforms us. He regenerates us.
And so again, we, we must not resist or quench the work of the
Holy Spirit or grieve Him. All of these are wrapped up in
what it is that the Holy Spirit does.
I want to close with John 16 verse 13 to 14.
Again Jesus said, however, when he, the Spirit of truth has
come, He will guide you into all truth.
He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He
hears, He will speak and He will tell you things to come.
He will glorify me. So He will take of what is mine
and declare it to you. Again, the number one purpose of
the Holy Spirit is to glorify Jesus.
Holy Spirit's ultimate purpose, goal, reason for doing all that
he does, motive is to go. How can, how can I get them
closer and more connected to Jesus?
You know, there's the love that exists in the Godhead between
the Father and the Son and, and the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit loves Jesus and he loves nothing more than us as
believers, that the sons, the daughters of God to fall all the
more in love with Jesus and to experience that which the Holy
Spirit knows about Jesus. And so the question is this, not
just do you have the Spirit, but does the Spirit have you have
you yielded control of your life to him?
John 737 to 39. Jesus said a number of things,
but particularly out of his heart will flow rivers of living
water. You see that the water is the
Spirit's power flowing in and out through you.
So today, I hope that you've been more than informed about
who the Holy Spirit is, more than just understanding what the
Holy Spirit does, but that you, as a consequence of this, invite
more and desire more the fullness and influence of the
Holy Spirit in your life. Become more intimately
acquainted and aware of Him and of His power, available to you
as a son, as a daughter of God.