The Person And Work Of The Holy Spirit

Temple Baptist Church - 6-23-2010

Ephesians 1:13-14

Introduction:

A. Very little is preached on the Person and work of the Holy Spirit; therefore, most believers do not fully understand either who He is or what He does. Very little preaching has been done on His Person and work which has added to the confusion.

B. The Pentecostal and Charismatic movements place a wrong emphasis upon the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost) as well as giving Him credit for things that He does not do. Their emphasis is upon unknown tongues and gifts that no longer exist in this church age.

1. People are “slain in the spirit” though there is not one reference to such action in the Bible. I have only found people slain by the Spirit.

2. People speak in an “unknown tongue” while breaking every rule in the Bible given to regulate tongues in the first century.

3. People speak of “Holy Ghost Revivals” which glorify the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit never calls attention to Himself in the bible and always points people to Christ. He always magnifies the Person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

John 16:13-14 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. (14) He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

4. People do things that are against clear Scripture while placing the blame for their unscriptural acts on the Holy Ghost while our Lord said that the Scripture cannot be broken.

5. While they place an improper emphasis on the Holy Spirit, others often do not place enough emphasis upon Him.

C. First of all, let us look at what the Holy Spirit is not:

1. He is not Non-Existent! There are many who simply deny the presence of a triune God. Such cults as Jehovah’s Witnesses and the “Jesus Only” branch of Pentecostalism deny the trinity.

2. He is not simply an Influence! There are those who say that the Holy Ghost is not a person but just the result or influence of the powerful working of God. I have hands and those hands are able to influence or do things. This is their perspective.

3. He is not your Conscience! No doubt He is able to influence, convict, or persuade your conscience but lost people have a conscience as well as the saved.

D. Here are just some of the Holy Spirit’s characteristics:

1. The Holy Spirit is a Person.

a) He can be grieved - Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. (Grieve means to be in heaviness or to make one sorry! When Esau married one of the daughters of the land, it was a “grief” to his parents. The Holy Spirit has feelings.)

b) He can be resisted - Acts 7:51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. (Resist means to oppose or to be in opposition to. The Holy Spirit has a will or purpose.)

c) He can be quenched - 1 Thessalonians 5:19 Quench not the Spirit. (Quench means to extinguish or to put out. The Holy Spirit can be ignored or supressed.)

d) He can be blasphemed - Mark 3:29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: (Blaspheme means to defame or speak evil of.)

e) He can be lied to - Acts 5:3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

f) He speaks - Acts 13:2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

2. He is God. All through the Bible, we find evidence concerning the plurality of God.

a) As God He is eternal - Hebrews 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

The first mention of the word God is found in Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God.” The word for God is Elohim which is plural.

Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image…”

Genesis 11:7 Go to, let us go down…”

1) The first mention of the Holy Spirit is found in Genesis 1:2 which says, “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” (Capital “S” is a direct reference to deity.)

2) The last mention of the Trinity - 1 John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

b) As God He is omniscient - 1 Corinthians 2:10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

c) As God He is omnipotent - 1 John 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

d) As God He is omnipresent - Romans 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

E. A good theological statement concerning the trinity of God is this: God is one God, manifesting Himself in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. These three are co-equal in all power and attributes.

F. There are many aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit. His work is both a past and present work but I want to deal with His work in the life of both the saved and lost:


1. He Aided In Creation - Genesis 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

2. He Inspired The Scripture - 2 Peter 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

2 Samuel 23:2 The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.

3. He supplied the Holy Seed of the Woman - Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

4. He Strives With The Sinner - Genesis 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

5. He Convicts And Convinces The Sinner - John 16:8-11 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: (9) Of sin, because they believe not on me; (10) Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; (11) Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

6. He Converts The Sinner - John 3:3-7 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (4) Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? (5) Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (6) That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (7) Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

7. He Baptizes The Convert Into The Body - 1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

8. He Seals The Believer - Ephesians 1:13-14 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

2 Corinthians 1:22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. (Down payment or a pledge of good faith.)

9. He Indwells The Believer - Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (20) For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

Romans 8:9-11 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (10) And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (11) But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

10. He Gives Assurance To The Believer - Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

11. He Transforms The Believer - 2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

12. He brings liberty to the Believer - 2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

13. He Guides The Believer - Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

John 16:13-15 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. (14) He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. (15) All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

14. He Helps The Believer In Prayer - Ephesians 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

15. He Prays For The Believer - Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

16. He Fellowships With The Believer - 2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

17. He Fills The Believer - Ephesians 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

18. He Produces Fruit In The Believer - Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, (23) Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

19. He Gives Discernment To The Believer - 1 Corinthians 2:13-14 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. (14) But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

20. He Gives Gifts To The Believer - 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. (5) And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. (6) And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. (7) But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

21. He Teaches The Believer - 1 John 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

1 John 2:20 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.

1 Corinthians 2:7-10 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: (8) Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (9) But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (10) But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

22. He Anoints The Believer - Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; (Approval, choosing, and empowering for service.)
Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Acts 13:2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

23. He Comforts The Believer - John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

24. He Gives Boldness To The Believer - Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

Conclusion: This is not intended to be a complete study on Pneumatology or the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit but simply meant to enlighten us as to the wonderful work that He does in both bringing us to Christ and meeting every need until we get home.