Getting To Know The Holy Spirit Of God Series

Getting to Know the Holy Spirit of God

The Gospel of John

John 14:15-26

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - August 16, 2017

(Revised February 18, 2020)

BACKGROUND:

*Please open your Bibles to John 14 as we continue to focus on the night before Jesus died on the cross for our sins. This is one of 6 chapters in John's Gospel that focus on that pivotal night. Here in the last few hours before the cross, Jesus spoke to His disciples about the most important things, and one of the most important of all was the Holy Spirit of God. God wants us to know His Holy Spirit in a close, personal way, and tonight's Scripture can help us. Let's get started by reading John 14:15-26.

MESSAGE:

*This evening the Lord has given me the privilege of talking about the most important person in this room. It’s not me. It’s not you. And if you look around, you won’t see Him, because the most important person in this room is someone you have never seen.

*The Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ is here with us tonight. And though we have never seen Him, He is here, just as surely as we are here. God wants us to know Him in a close, personal way. And these verses help answer three crucial questions about God's Holy Spirit.

1. FIRST: WHO IS THE HOLY SPIRIT?

*The short answer is God. The Holy Spirit is God, and the Lord helps us see this truth in vs. 15-18. Jesus said:

15. "If you love Me, keep My commandments.

16. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper (or "another Comforter"), that He may abide with you forever

17. even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

18. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you."

*Then in vs. 22, one of the disciples asked the Lord, "How is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?" And in vs. 23, Jesus said, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and WE will come to him and make OUR home with him."

*One of the most wonderful truths about being a Christian is that when we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, God the Father and God the Son both literally come to live in our hearts. And how do they do that? -- By the Holy Spirit of God. This truth shows us that the Holy Spirit is also God.

*The Holy Spirit is not an "it," though sometimes the Bible uses this pronoun to describe Him. The Holy Spirit is God. He is not a "force" like they had in the Star Wars movies. He is not just a source of power like electricity.

*The Holy Spirit is God the "Helper" (or God the "Comforter" in the KJV). And in vs. 16, when Jesus said, "I will send you another Helper," the original word for "another" means "another of the same kind." And since Jesus is God, then the Holy Spirit is also God. He is God everywhere.

*This fact takes us to the Trinity, because we have to ask: How many Gods are there? -- Of course, the correct answer is one. The one and only God exists as a Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one God, three persons.

[1] AND THOUGH THE WORD "TRINITY" IS NEVER FOUND IN THE BIBLE, THE EXISTENCE OF THE TRINITY IS SURELY CONFIRMED IN GOD'S WORD.

*One of the best examples is at the Lord’s baptism. This event is recorded in all four Gospels, and Matthew 3:16-17 says:

16. Then Jesus, when He had been baptized, came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.

17. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.''

*Here we see God revealed to us as a trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God has confirmed the trinity to us, and there is much more evidence in His Word. Nave's Topical Bible gives over 50 references that point to the Trinity.

*Scriptures like Luke 1:34-35:

34. Then Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?''

35. And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God."