Message for THE LORD S DAY MORNING, February 19, 2012 SERIES: Getting To Know the Holy Spirit MESSAGE 1 Christian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, North Carolina by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister Who Is The Holy Spirit? (Message 1 in Getting To Know The Holy Spirit Series) John 14:15-18; 25,26 This morning I would like to begin a series of messages entitled: Getting To Know the Holy Spirit. The average Christian knows so little about the Holy Spirit, He is often referred to as The Forgotten Person of The Godhead. It seems that when it comes to teaching on the Holy Spirit there are two extremes. One extreme is to teach nothing at all about the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately this is the position many of our Churches of Christ and Independent Christian Churches have taken. This lack of teaching has led to a gross ignorance about the Holy Spirit. The other extreme is the approach used by many charismatic groups today and that is to teach a lot of misinformation about the Holy Spirit, which has led to wild fanaticism and uncontrolled emotional outbursts by those claiming to be in the Spirit. I saw such a display as this at a Revival meeting I went to about a year and a half ago. The Revival was in one of our sister Churches of Christ. They actually had two preachers preach that night. Both messages were powerful and inspiring. But at the end of the service a rather large black woman came down front saying the Holy Spirit had commanded her to say something to us.
She began hollering and screaming to the top of her lungs. She would shout something she claimed the Holy Spirit told her to say and want us to repeat the words after her. The more the woman talked the more hysterical she became. And the whole time she was yelling I was thinking of that verse in I Corinthians 14 where Paul said, A woman should keep silent in the Church. In hindsight I wish I had confronted that woman with that scripture and told her to be silent and sit down. But she was about three times bigger than me and I thought she might beat me up. Sadly, the hysterical display of that woman that night completely drew attention away from the two wonderful sermons that had been preached and brought the service to a very confusing and chaotic conclusion. It is my prayer that this series of messages from God s word will give us a much better understanding of the Holy Spirit and clear up some gross misunderstandings about the Holy Spirit which are widely popular today. This morning in our first message in this series I would like to answer one simple question: WHO IS THE HOLY SPIRIT? First of all, the Bible teaches us.. I. The Holy Spirit is A DIVINE PERSON 1. The scriptural teaching that God is three Persons in One is hard for many of us to wrap our minds around. The Bible teaches us there is only one true God. Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel; the LORD our God, the LORD is one! Isaiah 46:9 For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me. 2. But the Bible also teaches us that God is Three Persons in one. God the FATHER, God the SON, and God the HOLY SPIRIT.
-In Colossians 2:9 Paul speaks of the three-fold nature of God as the Godhead. Colossians 2:9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the GODHEAD bodily. -If you will go back to account of the Creation in Genesis you will see that God referred to Himself in the plural. Genesis 1:26 Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. Stop and think about it. You and I are three persons in one. We have a mind, a body and a spirit. Why is that? Because we were created in the image of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. -When Jesus gave the Great Commission in the Gospel of Matthew He said.. Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 3. The Holy Spirit possesses all the divine qualities of God the Father and God the Son. (a) The Holy Spirit is ETERNAL. Hebrews 9:14 (NKJV) how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (b) The Holy Spirit is ALL-PRESENT (omnipresent) Psalm 139:7 (NKJV) Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? (c) The Holy Spirit is ALL-KNOWING. (omniscient) 1 Corinthians 2:10,11 (NKJV) But 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 the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things
of God except the Spirit of God. (d) The Holy Spirit is ALL-POWERFUL. (omnipotent) In Genesis 1:2 we see the powerful role the Holy Spirit played in the creation of this world: Genesis 1:2 (NKJV) earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Job 33:4 (NKJV) The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of God gives me life. (e) The Holy Spirit never CHANGES. (immutable) I Corinthians 12:4 (NKJV) There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 4. If you still have any doubts that the Holy Spirit is God, consider the tragic account of Ananias and Sapphira in fifth chapter of the Book of Acts. Remember they lied about the monitary gift they had given to the Church? Acts 5:3,4 (NKJV) But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God. Peter clearly equated God and the Holy Spirit as one in the same. 5. So who is the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is God. Secondly, the Bible teaches us. II. The Holy Spirit Is A DEFINITE PERSON 1. A lot of times you will hear Christians refer to the Holy Spirit as an it. The Holy Spirit is not an it, the Holy Spirit is a person.
A hammer is an it. A screwdriver is an it. A shirt is an it. A vacuum cleaner is an it. The Holy Spirit is NOT an it! The Holy Spirit is a real, live, breathing, functioning being. The Holy Spirit is MALE in gender, not female. Look once again at our scripture text in John 14: John 14:16-18 (NKJV) And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, 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. Five times in these few short verses the Holy Spirit is referred to as Him or He, not it. 2. Consider the various characteristics of a person we see in the Holy Spirit. (A) The Holy Spirit HEARS and SPEAKS. John 16:13 (NKJV) However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. (B) The Holy Spirit has a MIND. (Remember earlier scripture.) 1 Corinthians 2:10,11 (NKJV) But 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 the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. (c) The Holy Spirit also has EMOTIONS. Ephesians 4:30 (NKJV) do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. This verse is telling us the Holy Spirit can feel grief and sorrow and sadness, just like you and me. We will look at this more in depth in the message on The Sins Against the Holy Spirit.
(d) The Holy Spirit has His own WILL and makes DECISIONS. The apostle Paul writes in Acts 16:6 (NKJV).. When they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. The Holy Spirit HEARS and SPEAKS. The Holy Spirit has a MIND. The Holy Spirit has EMOTIONS. The Holy Spirit has His own WILL and makes DECISIONS. (e) The Holy Spirit also LOVES. Romans 15:30 (NKJV) I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me, The Holy Spirit loves you and me! Isn t that a wonderful thought? We think about the love of our Heavenly Father. We think about the love of Christ. But how often do we think about the love of the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit Is A Divine Person The Holy Spirit Is A Definite Person And thirdly, the Bible teaches us.. III. The Holy Spirit is A DISTINCT PERSON 1. God the Father has many distinct names that apply to no other. -He is called Jehovah -He is called Yahweh -He is called Heavenly Father. -He is called I AM. -He is called Elohim
-He is called Everlasting Father. These are just a few of the distinct names of God in the Bible. 2. Likewise God, the Son, Jesus Christ has many distinct names that apply to no other. -He is called Immanuel -He is called Savior -He is called the Messiah and the Anointed One. -He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. -He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. -He is called the Bread of Life..the Light of the World.. the Good Shepherd.the Vine..the Great Physician. the Rose of Sharon..the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. the Lamb of God the Prince of Peace the Resurrection and the Life..AND SO MANY MORE. In fact there are over one hundred names and titles for Christ in the Bible. 3. This brings us back to the Holy Spirit. Just like God the Father and God the Son, the Holy Spirit has many distinct names that apply to no other. -The Spirit of GOD. (Genesis 1 & 2) -The Spirit of CHRIST. (I Peter 1:11) -The ETERNAL Spirit. (Hebrews 9:14) -The Spirit of TRUTH. (John 16:13) -The Spirit of GRACE. (Zechariah 12:10) -The Spirit of LIFE. (Romans 8:2) -The Spirit of GLORY. (I Peter 4:14) -The COMFORTER. (John 14:26 King James Version) -The COUNSELOR. (John 14:26 New International Version) -The HELPER. (John 14:26 New King James Version) No one bears these distinct names given only to God s Holy Spirit. All of these precious names reveal the wonderful co-existing relationship the Holy Spirit has with God the Father and God the Son.
*********************************************** The Holy Spirit is A Divine Person The Holy Spirit is A Definite Person The Holy Spirit is A Distinct Person ******************************************** C O N C L U S I O N The true story is told of a Christian writer who once stayed in the home of a Christian family. After showing the writer to her bedroom, the hostess said, We are honored to have you staying in our home with us. Please enjoy this bedroom as if it were your own. But we ask that you do not come into our kitchen. And we ask that you not come into our living room. That is where our family meets. After the hostess left the room, the author thought to herself, I m not welcome in their kitchen. I m not welcome in their living room. I m only welcome in this tiny little bedroom. I don t feel welcome here at all. You and I have the most honored guest living within us, the precious Holy Spirit of God. He is with us every where we go. He comforts us when we are sad or lonely. He strengthens us when we are weak. He loves us when it seems we haven t got a friend in the world. He guides us when we have lost our way. He convicts us when we have done wrong. He helps us when we feel completely helpless. The question I want to leave you with this morning is this: Is the Holy Spirit an honored guest in your life or is He like an unwelcome tenant?