Part 2-Who is the Holy Spirit?

P.M. Sermon

Spring Hill, TN

1/21/07 p.m.

Series: “Discovering the Holy Spirit” (Pt. 2)

Text: Various texts

Summary: In PART 2 of this series, we explore the personality of the Holy Spirit (a helpful resource used in this sermon was Jack Cottrell’s The Faith Once for All page 284-286).

“Who Is the Holy Spirit?”

Introduction:

A. Putting a Face with the Voice

1. For years, I have listened to Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace radio program.

2. I became well acquainted with his friendly and likeable voice projected across the airwaves.

3. I had never seen a picture of Dave before, but I had a concept of him well ingrained in my mind from years of listening and I felt confident that I knew what he was like.

4. But then I saw I picture of him. He looked NOTHING like I had imagined!

5. It was a strange feeling to actually SEE for the first time, someone that I thought I knew really well.

B. Various Concepts of the Holy Spirit

1. This may be the very feeling that you experience as we discover the Holy Spirit together; it may be that you actually SEE what the Holy Spirit is all about from God’s word, and He may be very different than you imagined.

2. There are many various concepts about the Holy Spirit within Christendom today.

3. The Jehovah’s Witnesses assert in their Watchtower publication that “the holy spirit is the active force of God. It is not a person but is a powerful force that God causes to emanate from himself to accomplish his holy will” (Reasoning, pg. 81; qtd. by Jackson, “False Ideas About the Holy Spirit” Christian Courier Dec. 1998).

4. Mary Baker Eddy, founder of “Christian Science,” characterized the third person of the Trinity as “Divine Science” (Jackson, ibid).

5. Parley Pratt, one of Mormonism’s original “apostles,” once described the Holy Spirit as a force like “magnetism” or “electricity” (ibid.).

6. Some have described the Holy Spirit as being the emotion of love that exists between God the Father and God the Son.

7. The Holy Spirit is not simply the love of God, the mind of God, or even a “glorified ‘it’” (Boles, The Holy Spirit 27).

8. When the Bible describes the Holy Spirit it describes HIM as a person. But the Bible further instructed that the Holy Spirit as a divine person.

I. The Holy Spirit is a Person

A. A Spiritual Being is Personal By Nature

1. The Bible never describes spiritual beings as being impersonal.

2. When the Bible discusses spiritual beings (souls of men, angels, demons, God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Satan, etc.), they are always seen to be individual personal beings.

3. God, Satan, nor the Holy Spirit are ever described as “it” in Scripture.

4. In John 14:16, Jesus describes the Spirit as “allos parakletos” (“another Helper”).

5. In two ways this describes the Spirit as a person. First, a “parakletos” is a “counselor for the defense” like an attorney, which is a personal concept.

6. Second, the word “allos” means “another of the same kind;” that is, the Spirit would be a Helper (Advocate) of the same kind as Jesus himself had been (cf. 1 John 2:1).

7. Thus, like Jesus, the Spirit is a personal being.

B. The Holy Spirit Has Characteristics of a Person

1. Intellectual activity. The Holy Spirit is described as “knowing” the thoughts of God (1 Cor. 2:10-11).

2. Volitional activity. He has the ability to make choices as seen in his choice to send Barnabas and Saul “for the work to which I have called them” (Acts 15:2).

3. Speaking ability. The Holy Spirit spoke to Philip and told him to “Go up and join” the chariot of the Ethiopian treasurer (Acts 8:29).

4. Teaching ability. Jesus told the apostles that the Spirit would “teach” them all things (John 14:26).

5. Emotional ability. He experiences emotions and feelings such as love (Rom. 15:30) and grief (Eph. 4:30).

C. The Holy Spirit is Treated Like a Person

1. The Spirit was lied to (Acts 5:3).

2. The Spirit is moved to action (Acts 5:9).

3. The Holy Spirit may be blasphemed (Matt. 12:31).

4. The Spirit can be insulted (Heb. 10:29).

5. The Spirit is called by various names. In the OT: “Spirit of God,” “Spirit of Yahweh,” and the “Holy Spirit.” In the NT: “the Spirit,” “the Holy Spirit,” “Spirit of holiness,” “Spirit of God,” “Spirit of the Lord,” “Spirit of Christ,” “Spirit of truth,” and “Spirit of Life,”

6. Since the Bible presents the Holy Spirit in terms of being a person, we must never refer to Him as an object. We should never refer to Him as “it” but always with the personal pronouns “he,” “his,” and “him.”

II. The Holy Spirit is a Divine Person

A. The Holy Spirit is Treated as Divine. Divine characteristics attributed to God (the Father) are also attributed to the Holy Spirit.

1. Holy Spirit is Eternal. Like the Father (and the Son), the Spirit is said to be eternal in nature (Heb. 9:14)

2. Holy Spirit is Omniscient. He also possesses limitless knowledge, knowing even the “deep things of God” (1 Cor. 2:10-11).

3. Holy Spirit is Omnipresent. Also, He is simultaneously present everywhere; it is impossible to flee from his presence (Ps. 139:7-10).

4. Holy Spirit is Omnipotent. The Spirit is limitless in power with the Father and the Son, able to create anything (Psalm 104:30).

5. Blaspheming the Holy Spirit. The fact that Jesus says the worst of all sins is blaspheming the Holy Spirit, demonstrates that the Spirit is divine (Matt. 12:31-32).

B. The Holy Spirit is Called God (Acts 5:1-4)

1. When Ananias lied about the selling price of his property, Peter proclaims that he had lied to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3).

2. Then Peter says that “You have not lied to men but to God” (Acts 5:4).

3. Peter understood the Holy Spirit as being God.

C. The Holy Spirit is Co-Existent with the Father and Son

1. The nature of the divine Trinity is difficult for our minds to comprehend.

2. The Bible clearly teaches that there is but “one” true God (Deut. 6:4; 1 Cor. 8:4).

3. Yet, God is presented as being equally existent in three personalities: Father, Son (Word), and Holy Spirit.

4. In order to comprehend this concept, some have used the illustration of water. Water can be present in three forms: liquid, vapor, ice.

5. However, this may be somewhat misleading as some religious groups teach that God has manifested himself in three “modes” throughout time. It is asserted that he was “the Father” in the Old Testament, “the Son” in Jesus Christ, and now “the Spirit” in the church today.

6. This is a false concept as the Bible presents the Son and the Spirit as being co-existent with the Father. This is clearly seen at Jesus’ baptism (Luke 3:21-22) in the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19), and in Peter’s instructions (1 Peter 1:2).

7. The three are equal, yet they are distinct from one another.

8. The Holy Spirit is certain a divine person, and deity is always worthy of our worship and praise.

Conclusion:

A. The Spirit is not a “Ghost.”

1. You may have noticed that the King James Version has the phrase “Holy Ghost” while most modern versions give “Holy Spirit.”

2. The original meaning of the English term “ghost” simply meant a spirit or soul.

3. However, modern English equates the word “ghost” with a spooky, ghoulish figure to be feared.

4. For this reason, most modern translations give the term “Holy Spirit” rather than “Holy Ghost.”

5. The Holy Spirit is not something to be feared and avoided, rather He is a wonderful comfort to the Christian that is to be accepted and embraced.

B. The True Identity of the Holy Spirit

1. Perhaps your conception of the Holy Spirit has been challenged tonight.

2. You may have discovered from our study that the Spirit is someone different than you expected him to be.

3. In this lesson, the Bible has revealed to us that the Holy Spirit is not some force, or some characteristic of God, or even a “glorified it.”

4. Rather, the Holy Spirit is a portion of God Himself that is co-existent and equal with God the Father, and God the Son.