Reading:
John 3:1~21
Hosea 4: 6 says: My people are destroyed for lack of
knowledge…
Nowhere is this more evident amongst God’s people than when
it comes to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
2
Tim 4:3 For a time is coming when people
will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their
own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their
itching ears want to hear.
Proverbs
29:18 When people do not accept divine
guidance they run wild…
So our plumbline for what is true about The Holy Spirit, His
character, His purpose, His attributes is based on what the word of God says because All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us
what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us
when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 2 Tim 3:16
Not
everything I have to say is popular.
However there is evidence for everything I will teach about the Holy
Spirit in God’s word, the bible, & we are not free to pick & choose
just because we don’t like something.
So
we will start at the beginning. In
Hebrew the word for spirit is haRuach; Holy Spirit is Ruach ha~Kodesh.
The
first use of this word is found in Genesis 1:2.
It can mean breath, wind, mind, spirit.
It is used in a variety of ways but it is always talking
about the very life force of God Himself.
The Greek equivalent that we find in the New Testament is pneuma, while
Jesus uses the term paraclete which means comforter, intercessor, advocate,
helper strengthener. It is a legal term
because the Holy Spirit does 3 things: John 16:…7"But I tell you the
truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I
go, I will send Him to you. 8"And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness
and judgment; 9concerning sin, because
they do not believe in Me;
The
ruach imparts the divine image of God to man. This has always been true. Remember God breathed life, His life, into
Adam & he became a living being.
Under the new covenant the Holy Spirit makes us a new creation, a
creation able to respond to the promptings of God through the impartation of His
Holy Spirit into our lives. 2 Corinthians 5:17
Under
the old covenant God designated a special dwelling place for Himself in the
midst of His people after Moses pleaded with Him to dwell amongst His people
& you can read about that in Exodus 34:9.
The tabernacle was built so that God could dwell in the midst of a
sinful people without consuming them, & eventually the temple became His
dwelling place & you can read in 2 Chronicles 5 how the Glory of God filled
the temple after Solomon dedicated it ~ so much so the priests were not able to stand. Eventually the temple was
destroyed. God’s presence departed from
the temple & never returned. This
is the pattern. God’s dwelling place was
always meant to be with His people.
I
want you to see the O.T pattern because when we come to the N.T both Peter [1 Peter 2:5] & Paul [1 Cor
3:16/17] agree that Believers have become God’s temple, a living house for His
Holy Spirit.
John
3:1 ~ 21 tells the story of Nicodemus. In verse 3 Jesus tells Nicodemus very
plainly "I tell you the truth,
unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God."
All
our understanding of God & scripture comes to us through the ministry of
the Holy Spirit in our lives. Again
& again scripture teaches that the natural man cannot understand the things
of God, only the spiritual man can. We
must be born again. We must be born of
the Spirit.
Why? Because it is perfectly possible to believe
& yet not be saved. James 2:9 You say you have faith, for you believe that
there is one God. Good
for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.
In
Acts 2 we read how the Holy Spirit is given & received but we will start
with John 1:12 where it says: But to all who believed him and accepted
him, he gave the right to become children of God.
We
know that faith comes by hearing & hearing by the word of God Romans 10:17... that is, the word of faith which we are
preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as
Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be
saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in
righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. Romans 10:9/10
This
is what Peter did on receiving the Holy Spirit & what we see described in
Acts 2. He preached
the word & the Holy Spirit convicted his hearers of their of sin. They then asked,[2:37] what then must we do? Peter replied, "Each of you must repent
of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for
the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit.
We
receive by faith. We never ever go just
on our feelings or our experience. We
can be deceived by both. Always we go by
what the word tells us & the word tells us we receive by faith.
And
there is always evidence of our having received the Holy Spirit. The most controversial one is the evidence of
speaking in tongues which we see numerous times in Acts. I am not going to
argue with anyone about it. It is there
in the word. The word says
God does not change so I see no reason to believe tongues has ceased.
However
there are less controversial evidences.
I will give you just 3:
Romans
8:16 ~ For his Spirit joins with our
spirit to affirm that we are God's children.
Acts
1:8 ~But you will receive power when the
Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about
me everywhere--in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of
the earth."
Galations
5:22/23 ~ But the fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things
there is no law.…
You
see when you walk by the Spirit of God you have the mind of Christ ~ 1 Cor 2:16
&
you
begin to look more & more like Christ.
You produce fruit ~ good fruit.
You have the same resurrection power Christ has. Scripture tells us we can pray for the sick
& they will be healed, not because of anything wonderful in us but because
Christ lives in us & we do the things he did: John 14:12
whoever believes in me will do
the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these,
because I am going to the Father. When we ask in
Jesus name it is granted; John goes on
to clarify so that the son might be glorified ~ & because the Father loves
the Son.
I
am going to say something that should be obvious but sadly is not: The Holy Spirit is for believers. The power & fullness of the Holy Spirit
is for believers but ~ it is our job
to receive. He gives us boldness: to approach the throne of Grace [Hebrews
4:16] & to witness
[Acts 1:8] For the Spirit God gave us
does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.Romans
8:15
When
Jesus sent the Holy Spirit on those first disciples no~one was in any doubt
that something had happened to them.
They acted like drunk men. They
spoke in other tongues. They became
suddenly bold. And all down the ages all
sorts of people have evidenced the baptism of the Holy Spirit: Martin Luther, The Hugenots in France; The
Quakers in England; The Methodists; the Salvos ~ every great movement within
the Church Universal, every renewal, has seen as people come under the
conviction of sin by the power of the Holy Spirit they fall down; they
prophesy; they speak in tongues. They
have been jailed, martyred, persecuted & all down the ages the cry has gone
up: These that have turned the world
upside down are come hither also;
In every age the
Holy Spirit has driven men & women to minister to the afflicted &
dying, the poor & outcast & the hallmark of their being was joy &
joy is the 2nd fruit of the Spirit.
James
tells us that faith without works is dead ~ not because we are saved by works,
we are not, but because works is the outflowing of a Christ filled life where a
person walks in obedience to the instructions of the Holy Spirit.
If
you want a litmus test as to how much you have of God’s Spirit controlling your
life you only have to check your life against Galatians.
Are
you walking in Love ~ as defined by 1 Cor 13 ~ not the namby~pamby stuff the
west defines as love?
Is
your life defined by joy? Joy, not
happiness, so that you are able to rise above your circumstances?
Do
you have peace?
Do
you consistently practice patience, kindness, gentleness & self~control?
I
always find God is incredibly clear ~ & He wants us to know too. God’s
children bear His imprint, & produce the fruit of His Spirit. The world
looks like their father, the devil, too. Whose likeness do you bear?
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