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What
Do I Need To Know About The Holy Spirit?
Faith Community Church, Pipestone, MN
October 28, 2001
John 14:18 I will not leave you comfortless [orphans]: I will come to you.
I. What THE DISCIPLE
knows about the Holy Spirit's Presence
A. The Holy Spirit is now present with every believer and
dwells within the believer.
The Holy Spirit is available to every believer in a new way. He is present with the believer, and dwells within the believer!
John 14:17 He abides with you, and will be in you.
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.
I Corinthians 6:19 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?
B. The Holy
Spirit fills the believer’s thirst for God.
The Holy Spirit so fills the believer that He will overflow from the believer’s heart with blessings to others. Jesus addressed a crowd of people during the Feast of Tabernacles. The priests had been involved in a ceremony which signified God’s provision of water for the thirsty Israelites in the time of their desert wanderings and it was an appeal for rain to bring in the next harvest. Jesus stressed that He could provide refreshing for those with an inner spiritual thirst. An abundant supply of the Spirit was to be available to the believer who asked Jesus to meet that deep inner spiritual need. In Scripture, the Spirit is symbolized by rain and water.
John 7:37-39 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) Isaiah 44:3-4; 55:1-2.
C. The Holy Spirit is available to believers upon request.
Throughout the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit had ‘come upon’ people He chose. He had not been available to all believers. However, Jesus made the surprising announcement to His disciples that this was about to change!
Luke 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
Jesus instructed the believers to pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit, Luke 24:49; Acts 1:5, 8. On the eve of Pentecost, they were doing exactly that, and God answered their prayer by sending the Holy Spirit, Acts 1:13-14. We find the Early Church continually praying this prayer for the Holy Spirit;
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 Acts 8:15-17; 9:11, 17.
The Holy Spirit came on the Jewish Feast of Pentecost to fill the first believers, Acts 2:1-4, in fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy of Joel 2:28-29. Since then, the Holy Spirit has continually come to fill the believer. In fact, believers are challenged by the command of Ephesians 5:18; ... be continually filled with the Spirit.
II. WHAT JESUS TAUGHT ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT AS THE PARACLETE
Our Lord taught about the Holy Spirit in John 14, 15 and 16, where He refers to the Holy Spirit as the paraclete, meaning ‘called alongside.’ The Holy Spirit is One who is called to come alongside the believer to comfort, strengthen, guide, counsel, intercede and witness. Jesus gave us four unique ‘Paraclete Sayings’
A. What we learn from Jesus’ first saying about the Paraclete.
John 14:15-18 If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 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. 18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
1. The believer who loves Christ will keep His commandment to receive the Holy Spirit, cf., John 20:22.
2. Jesus prayed to the Father to send the Holy Spirit to His followers.
3. The Holy Spirit is a gift from God the Father.
4. The Holy Spirit is identified as another, allos, another of a similar nature. The ‘other’ Helper is identified in I John 2:1, the only other place in Scripture that the word paraclete is used. This, of course, refers to Jesus and is translated ‘Advocate’. Thus Jesus is ‘one-called-alongside’ God the Father as our Advocate. The Holy Spirit represents the Father to believers, while Jesus represents believers before the Father.
5. The Holy Spirit is the believer’s Helper.
6. The Holy Spirit will remain with the believer forever.
7. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, John 14:17; 25:26; 16:13.
8. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, cannot be seen, known and received by the world.
9. The Holy Spirit will indwell the believer and be personally known by the believer.
10. Jesus promised His followers that He would not leave them as orphans, but would come to them by means of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Jesus, Acts 16:7; Galatians 4:6; The Spirit of the Lord, II Corinthians 3:17, and the Spirit of Christ, Romans 8:8-11; I Peter 1:11.
B. What we learn
from Jesus’ second saying about the Paraclete.
John 14:25-26 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. 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. The Holy Spirit, the believer’s Helper, would be sent by the Father in Jesus’ Name.
2. The Holy Spirit will teach the believer all things. The Spirit searches all things and thus knows even the depths of God, I Corinthians 2:10.
3. The Holy Spirit will bring all spiritual things to the believer’s memory as they are needed.
4. The Holy Spirit will remind the believer of things which Jesus taught.
C. What we learn
from Jesus’ third saying about the Paraclete.
John 15:26-27 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: And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.
1. The Holy Spirit, as the Helper, will be sent by Jesus to the believer from the Father.
2. The Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of Truth, proceedeth from the Father.
3. The Holy Spirit will bear witness to Jesus Christ.
4. The Holy Spirit will empower the believer to bear witness to Jesus. The Old Testament Law required that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed, Deuteronomy 19:15; Matthew 18:15-16; II Corinthians 13:1; John 5:31-37; John 8:12-18. Thus, the Holy Spirit’s witness through the believer and the believer’s witness become two witnesses.
D. What we learn
from Jesus’ fourth saying about the Paraclete.
John 16:7-15 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. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 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 show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.
1. Jesus must ascend to Heaven before the Holy Spirit can come to the believer.
2. The Holy Spirit will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. The greatest need for the present day is a conviction of sin. The chief sin, the basic sin, is unbelief; the unwillingness to believe. It is a refusal to accept Christ’s finished work and the free gift of His righteousness which frees the sinner from the judgment to come. It must be remembered that while it is the Holy Spirit who convicts men of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment, He does it through us, i.e., through those who already believe on Jesus Christ.
3. The Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of Truth, will guide the believer into all truth.
4. The Holy Spirit will speak what He hears from the Father, the deep things of God, I Corinthians 2:10.
5. The Holy Spirit will enlighten the believer regarding things to come, i.e., prophecy.
6. The Holy Spirit will glorify Jesus. He accomplishes this by disclosing Christ’s thoughts to the believer as Jesus said; For he shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you, John 16:14-15. This is the pinnacle of the Holy Spirit's work.
Life Application
It is well to remember that the Holy Spirit comes to the believer as a free gift. He comes to indwell the believer’s body and is replenished through repeated infillings. No one is worthy as an individual to receive the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is not earned, deserved, merited. As a free gift, the Holy Spirit is priceless and must be yearned for, diligently sought, highly valued, and warmly received.
The Holy Spirit was the spiritual force of the Early Church. When the early believers were full of the Holy Spirit, they were all said to be full of wisdom, Acts 6:3; full of faith, Acts 6:5; full of power, Acts 6:8, and full of joy, Acts 13:52. This is the refreshing, which the Church needs today. Heed the challenge for your life and be ye continually filled with the Spirit, Ephesians 5:18. Practise prayer and fasting until you have your refilling.