Meet the Person, the Holy Spirit
“Anyone who does not know the Holy Spirit as a person has not attained unto a complete and well rounded Christian experience. Any one who knows God the Father and God the Son and does not know God the Holy Spirit, has not attained unto the Christian conception of God, nor to a fully Christian experience.” R A Torrey
I want you to imagine you are one of the Disciples who followed Jesus faithfully as He ministered throughout Judea and Samaria. You were a believer in Him as the Messiah. You were willing to follow Him as He set up His Kingdom. He was your everything.
Then comes that horrible night when He is taken away. All you dreams are shattered as you watch as they crucify the one you thought was the Messiah of God.
You join the others in hiding as you wonder what to do with your life. For three days you are in a panic. Then you hear the news. Jesus is alive! You rush over to where He is, and you see you touch, you know He is alive!
But later, Jesus meets with you and tells you that He is going away. He is going to His Father. Here is what He says:
Luke 24:44-49 (ESV) Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
John 14:15-18 (ESV) “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another paraklētos, 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. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
John 15:26-27 (ESV) “But when the paraklētos comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
John 16:7-8 (ESV) Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the paraklētos 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:
John 14:26 (ESV) But the paraklētos, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
I. The Importance of Knowing the Holy Spirit as a Person.
Real Worship
- Worship is meant to be Personal and Transformational.
- Theoretical worship vs. Experiential Worship
- Influenced by your perception
- When we view the Holy Spirit as an ‘IT’, our worship is impersonal and without life changing effect
- Rob a Divine person of proper worship
- Rob a Divine person of proper love and obedience
- We supposedly Worship the Holy Spirit every time we sing the Doxology:
Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all creatures here below,
Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts,
Praise Father Son and Holy Ghost
Growth as a Christian
- If you see the Holy Spirit as an influence or power…
- How can I get a hold of the Holy Spirit and use it?
- How can I get More of the Holy Spirit?
- If we see the Holy Spirit as a person…
- How can the Holy Spirit get hold of me and use me?
- How can the Holy Spirit get more of me?
- Wrong attitudes of seeing the H.S. as an influence
- Self Confidence
- Self-exaltation
- Act as though you are superior
- Right attitudes of Seeing the H.S. as a Divine Person Living in You
- Self-renunciation
- Self-humiliation
- Act with a sense of being a vessel for the Divine.
To Experience the Fullness of Christ
- Life Changing Encounter
- The Point of Jesus in John 3
John 3:2-8 (ESV) This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
We MUST EXPERIENCE God for ourselves!
The Proof of the Person of the Holy Spirit.
- All Characteristics of Personality are attributed to the Holy Spirit
What Makes a Person a Person?
- Knowledge
- Feeling
- Will
A Person Does Not Need a Body
- We will not have our fleshly body for a long time, but we will still be a unique person.
- If you have knowledge, feelings and a will, you are a person whether you have a body or not.
The Bible Proves the Person of the Holy Spirit
KNOWLEDGE
1 Corinthians 2:11 (ESV) 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.- WILL
1 Corinthians 12:11(ESV) All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.- The Holy Spirit gets hold of us and uses us according to His Will!
- You cannot get hold of Him!
- MIND WILL AND EMOTIONS
Romans 8:27(ESV) 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.- Mind is the Greek word “phronema” which has in it all three-knowledge, feeling and will.
- Rom 8:7 – The mind of the flesh is enmity means that the whole moral and intellectual life of the flesh is enmity against God.
- LOVE OF THE SPIRIT.
Romans 15:30 (ESV) I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf- Not a mere influence of power
- He is a divine person, loving us with the tenderest of love.
- Have you thanked the Holy Spirit for His Love?
- INTELLIGENCE AND GOODNESS
Nehemiah 9:20 (ESV) You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. - A PERSON WHO GRIEVES OVER OUR SINS
Ephesians 4:30 (ESV) And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.- He Goes with us wherever we go
- He desires us to please Him with our lives.
The Holy Spirit is a Person of the Trinity
- Genesis 1:26 (ESV) 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 1:1-3 (ESV) In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said (The Word of God-the Logos), “Let there be light,” and there was light.
- Elohim is plural for “Gods”
- THERE IS A PLURALITY OF PERSONS IN THE ONE GODHEAD
- Read Deuteronomy 6:4. The word for God used in “The Lord (Jehovah) our God (elohim) is one Lord” should actually be translated Gods. Elohim is a masculine plural noun used 2,600 times in the Old Testament. Why would the Holy Spirit use a plural noun to describe the ONE TRUE GOD? .
Many Actions are attributed to the Holy Spirit that only a Person can perform.
- 1 Corinthians 2:10 (ESV) these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
- The Holy Spirit who Himself searches the deep things of God and then He reveals to us the things which He discovers.
- Romans 8:26 (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.
- The Holy Spirit Prays for us here on Earth
- Jesus Christ Prays for us from Heaven
- John 14:26(ESV) 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 that I have said to you.
- He teaches us
- He reminds us. ______________________________________________________
- John 16:12-14(ESV) “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.
- He is our personal Teacher
- He reveals to us what He hears!
The Holy Spirit holds an Office that only a person can hold.
John 14:16-17(ESV) 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.
- He is ANOTHER Comforter, just like Christ
- Not an influence, but a PERSON, who makes His Home in our lives.
- Christ is a Divine Person, and He sent ANOTHER Divine Person to take His place!
- Comforter is ‘parakletos’, “one who stand’s alongside another”
- Same as Advocate in 1 John 2:1 (if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.)
- Jesus is the one who came alongside the Boat in the midst of the storm
- Comforter – Parakletos
- Different from parakaleo (one you call upon for comfort)
- Not someone who you call upon when you need Him.
- It is His Purpose to be always at your side!
- We are indwelt, we are sealed.
- He is our Constant Companion!
Would Your Life Change if You Knew the Holy Spirit as a Person?
- Insomnia
- Loneliness
- Communion of the Holy Spirit in times of loss
- Heartache
- No Fear
It was New Years Eve, and we had our whole family over at a friend’s house in Blue Springs. It was after mid night, and we started to take the hour trip home to Overland Park. The weather turned nasty, and the drizzle that was falling started to freeze. We were on I-70 close to Independence, when the highway became a sheet of ice. Cars where sliding everywhere. We were only going 30 miles an hour, and were in a big conversion van. I was scared out of my mind. My wife was yelling, some of the kids were crying. All of a sudden the van started sliding. I had lost control and nothing was working to stop the van. We started sliding sideways down the highway into the cars ahead of us. I just said Lord, we are in your hands. Just when it looked like we were going to crash into a car or a guard rail, the van came to a sudden stop. We had come to a place under an overpass that had not iced up. Hallelujah! I had a quick word of praise and prayer with our family, got the van headed the right way and we slowly made our way home. It took over two hours, but I was no longer afraid, for I knew the Holy Spirit was with us. I had remembered what RA Torrey had said about a time he had to hike along a river bluff for 4 miles after midnight with no moon.
Loving the Word with the MudPreacher 