Thanksgiving - 2016 - I Am Thankful For The Holy Spirit Who Resides Within Me

Temple Baptist Church - 11-6-2016

John 3:1-16; John 16:5-14

 

Introduction: 

 

a.  Thanksgiving will be here before we know it and it begins the most wonderful time of the year for me.  I love it because, to me, it is all about my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ and a wonderful time for the family.

 

b.  This is the third message concerning the spiritual blessings that God has bestowed upon.

 

1.  The Father loved me before I ever knew Him.  He knew that I would one day choose Him and give to Him both my heart and life.

 

2.  The Son, Jesus Christ, loved me enough to go to Calvary and die in my place and for me sin.

 

3.  This morning, I want to thank the Lord for the blessed Holy Spirit Who lives within me.  This will not be a study of Pneumatology as that would take weeks.

 

c.  There is much misunderstanding about the Person and work of the Holy Spirit.

 

1.  There are those who put an unbiblical emphasis upon the Holy Spirit.  The result is drawing attention to the Holy Spirit instead of Jesus Christ.

 

2.  There are those who put no emphasis upon the Holy Spirit.  The result is the elevation of self.

 

3.  There are those who put a proper emphasis upon the Holy Spirit.  The result is the elevation of the 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.

 

d.  Our Lord spoke of the Person and work of the Holy Spirit in our text.

 

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.  (The words “he will reprove” goes with all three of the works of the Holy Ghost cited in these verses.  There are three uses of the word “of” followed by three uses of the word “because.”)

 

1.  The Holy Spirit reproves the world of sin because “they believe not on me.”

 

2.  The Holy Spirit reproves the world of righteousness because “I go to my Father (the gospel), and ye see me no more (faith cometh by hearing not sight).” .

 

3.  The Holy Spirit reproves the world of judgement because the prince of this world is judged (and those who reject Christ are judged with Him).”

 

d.  At the moment of salvation, the believer is baptized into the body of Christ by the Holy Ghost.  This is not some charismatic experience but is a Biblical reality!  It amazes me that many deny the baptism of the Holy Ghost. 

 

Romans 6:3-4  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?  (4)  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  (Baptized into Jesus Christ, not baptized into a local church by water.)

 

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.  (The word “Spirit” is a direct reference to the Holy Spirit.  Paul was not baptized into the church at Corinth and yet he included himself by using the words “all” and “one body.”  All references all of the saved and one body is the body of Christ.)

 

e.  In John 16:7, there are a couple of things that I want to reference as I thank the Lord for the Holy Ghost Who lives with me.  “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.”

 

1.  “Nevertheless I tell you the truth!”  This is a strong statement because we realize that all Scripture is TRUTH!  When the Lord says something of this nature, we need to pay close attention to what follows.

 

2.  “It is expedient for you that I go away.”  The word “expedient” means advantageous, beneficial, or to help.  What could be more important than to have the Lord Jesus with them?

 

3.  “for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you!”  The Lord said that the Comforter (the Holy Ghost) was more beneficial that the Lord Himself residing with the believer.

 

f.  I thank God for the Holy Spirit because:

 

1.  The Holy Spirit indwells me.  John 14:17  Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.  (I thank the Lord that I know the Holy Spirit.  The word “dwelleth” is in a continuing present sense.  He came to live within and never leaves nor forsakes me.  Where I go, He goes and I will never walk alone.  In the 23^rd Psalm, David said, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil: for thou art with me!”)

 

2.  The Holy Spirit seals me.  Ephesians 4:30  And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.  (I thank God that I am eternally saved, not place on probation.  As salvation cannot be merited by good works, neither can it be kept by good works.  Salvation is an act of God, not man.)

 

3.  The Holy Spirit teaches me.  John 16:13  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. 

 

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.  (The Holy Spirit was the Author of the Word of God and, therefore, the One who interprets it!  The natural or unsaved man cannot receive it because it is spiritually discerned through the Holy Ghost who lives within the believer.  I have no problem understanding God’s Word.)

 

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.

 

4.  The Holy Spirit guides me.  Galatians 5:16-18  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.  (17)  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.  (18)  But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.  (That “small still voice” is always present when I make decisions.  Too oft, I make the wrong decisions but—when I do—it is because I chose to ignore the Holy Spirit.)

 

5.  The Holy Spirit comforts me. John 16:7  Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.  (The Consoler!  How often have I gone to the home of someone who are received bad news or had a death in the family and find that the Comforter was already there with them.  When we do not know what to say or what to do, the Holy Spirit speaks in a language that the world neither hears nor understands.  He comes along beside off us.  I think of friends who do not know what to say but just stand beside of us with their arm around of our shoulder.)

 

2 Corinthians 1:3-4  Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;  (4)  Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

 

6.  The Holy Spirit frees me.  2 Corinthians 3:17  Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.  (I thank the Lord that I gave been made free!  This is never liberty to sin but liberty to serve.  I am not bound by the Law; I am not bound by a system of do or don’t; I am free to serve the Lord.)

 

7.  The Holy Spirit improves me.  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.  (When filled with the Spirit, we have love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.)

 

8.  The Holy Spirit reproves me.  John 16:8  And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:  (One of the characteristics of salvation is a sensitivity to sin.  The Holy Ghost convicts the believer of sinfulness.  I love it!)

 

9.  The Holy Spirit strengthens me.  Ephesians 3:16  That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

 

10.  The Holy Spirit give me hope.  Romans 8:15-17  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.  (16)  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:  (17)  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.  (One day and could be today, I will be finally home!)