“The Nature of the Holy Spirit”
April 6, 2008
“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” Acts 2:1-4
For almost a month after the resurrection of Jesus, the disciples had seen Him; they had heard Him talk; they ate with Him and heard His instructions to them. He prepared them for His departure. He gave them a mission – to go into all the world and make disciples and teach them to be obedient. But before He sent them out – He knew this was an impossible mission for a worldly crew. So just before He ascended into heaven before their very eyes – He gave them these instructions:
“… "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."
Acts 1:4-5
Jesus asked them to do spiritual things they were unable to do in their flesh. He asks us to do the same things. It did not take me very long as a new Christian to realize I was unable to do what Jesus, through the Bible, was asking me to do. It was humanly impossible to live obediently with a sinful nature. My heart was God’s, but my nature was a slave to sin. It was demonstrated every time I stubbed my toe and a curse word came out. It was demonstrated every time lustful thoughts came to mind. It was demonstrated every time I felt hatred for my enemies. I related to Paul who said:
“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” Romans 7:24
Well, God has a solution. He would not call us to follow Him in this sinful state. He would not call us to live a life of defeat and failure. He is too good for that. He loves us too much for that. The solution is ‘through’ Jesus Christ – and is found in the person of the Holy Spirit - who is the Lord, (2 Corinthians 3: 17-18 NIV). The Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus are one and the same. They are two parts of the Trinity – so I do not think it does any injustice to the Triune God-head to think of Jesus and the Holy Spirit as one. So our need is Jesus. Our need is the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
John 13:16-18
Did you notice Jesus’ promise? He said, “I” will come to you – not “the Holy Spirit” will come to you. Why did He put it like that? Because they are one. And Jesus needed to leave this world where He was limited by the physical nature of being God incarnate – so He could come to us in the form of the Holy Spirit of God. And He does just that in our Scripture. The Holy Spirit comes to earth to do what Jesus could not do as a human. He can now fill us with Himself. He can come into our lives and hearts as Spirit and indwell and live in each one of us. As Jesus, God could die for us – as the Holy Spirit, He can live in us.
As the Holy Spirit makes His entrance into this world, He does it in three dramatic ways – Wind, Fire, and language. Each of these three have great significance for us. Let’s look at wind, first. Our Scripture says,
“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.”
In this day and age, one of the most powerful forces on earth was the wind. All of those men and woman gathered together in that upper room, had experience with wind. They had all huddled together in fear with the sound of the wind blowing around their flimsy tent or through every crack of their crude homes. Many of them had sailed ships on the ocean and knew what a blast of wind could do. And now they heard a sound like the blowing of a violent wind. But the strange thing was that it was “inside” the house where they were sitting. Nothing was blowing around or moving like it would with a regular wind storm. But the sound filled the whole house. It must have been like a freight train going by or a jet bussing your house. The sound filled the place up.
I imagine their first instinct was one of terror. That would have been the appropriate response when hearing that sound. But nothing was flying around. There wasn’t any danger of projectiles hitting them – because there wasn’t any. I think they got the point. The point was POWER! The first thing the Holy Spirit revealed about Himself – was power. The POWER is in the Holy Spirit. Do you need power to stop sinning? Do you need power to overcome an addiction? Do you need power to live the way you know God wants you to live? Do you need power to do what you know God is asking you to do? The power is in the Holy Spirit. What you need is the Holy Spirit.
The second revelation of the Holy Spirit about Himself was fire. What does fire have to do with the Holy Spirit? The Early Church knew. In their day and age, they didn’t have dishwashers or wash machines. They didn’t have soap or bleach like we do. If they wanted to purify something – they used fire. And they knew they needed purifying. They knew they were selfish and self-centered. They knew they were carnally minded. You only have to read the bible and they readily confess it. They tell stories on themselves like James and John jockeying for position in the coming Kingdom. Like Peter failing Christ. Like all of them running and hiding in fear. SELF preservation was on their minds. It was all about them and what seemed to be best for them. Now Jesus had come back to life and commissioned them to do His work. They could only do it with a pure heart. They could only do it with the Holy Spirit.
Fire Purifies – and the only way we can purify our hearts and our lives is through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will search out the deep dark secrets of our soul. The Holy Spirit will convict us and convince us of our sin – if we want Him to. Jesus said,
“But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” John 16:7-11
One of the Holy Spirit’s jobs is to purify us. But He can only do it with our permission. He leads us to truth. He leads us to know God’s will. But we still have to submit to His cleansing hand. And sometimes that a painful process. In the Old Testament it talks of a refiners fire. Malachi says,
“He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.” Malachi 3:3
Everyone in this day and age knew about the refiner’s fire. They had all watched as a silversmith took a piece of silver and placed it in the fire until all the impurities had been burned out of it and all that was left was pure silver. They all knew the Holy Spirit would use anything He had to – to purify them. Trials, temptations, tribulation – God used it all to purify them. And it was only when they were pure that the Holy Spirit could indwell them and, consequently, empower them to do the things God wanted them to do.
The third revelation of the Holy Spirit about Himself was the miracle of languages. You need to understand these people that had gathered in the upper room. They were all Jews. Everyone else was a Gentile – and a Jew would have nothing to do with a Gentile. The bible illustrates that fact many times. The Holy Spirit, enabling those filled with His Spirit, to speak in many languages was communicating the ‘universality’ of the blessing. In other words, the Holy Spirit and Salvation was for all who sought it. That is why the miracle at Pentecost was the ‘hearing’ more than the ‘speaking’. The bible says,
“Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?” Acts 2:7-8
The revelation was that the gospel was for all people and not just for the Jewish folk. Some people, well intentioned, immaturely focus on the speaking in unknown languages. They miss the point. It was the ‘hearing’ in their own language that was really significant. Salvation is for all who will come. The Holy Spirit will set anyone on spiritual fire who comes. And it is easy to determine when something is aflame. It ignites other material. Any fire that does not spread will eventually go out. The Holy Spirit reveals that if He possesses us; if He indwells us – we will not only receive power like the wind and be purified with fire – but we will also spread what we have to others. A fire spreads to anything next to it that is flammable. Any fire that does not spread will eventually go out. A church without evangelism is a contradiction in terms - just as a fire that does not burn is a contradiction.
When the Holy Spirit comes He will empower us for Holy living; He will purify our hearts and minds, and He will communicate the Good News through us. The Bible says:
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8
“After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” Acts 4:31
Notice that the thing the Holy Spirit did through them, when they were filled, was not to go into an emotional frenzy or have another prayer meeting or even go someplace to pray in a new prayer language. What happened was that the spoke the word of God boldly. They became witnesses all over the place. That’s what God wants us to do through the Holy Spirit. He wants to give us power to live a holy life. He wants to purify us. And He wants us to be His witnesses. But you have to have something to witness about. Do you? Let me ask you a question. Have you received the Holy Spirit in your life? Paul found some believers who had not. Listen:
“While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?"
They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." Acts 19:1-2
You know what Paul did. He shared the Good News with them and the Holy Spirit came upon them, too. Just because you are a Christian – it does not mean you are filled with the Holy Spirit. Just because you are a Believer – it does not mean you are filled with the Holy Spirit. The evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit are the fruits of the Holy Spirit listed in Galatians 5. You can even have some of the ‘gifts’ of the Holy Spirit and not be filled with the Holy Spirit. To be filled you need to first know you need the power to do what God has communicated He wants you to do.
Secondly, You need to realize a need for purifying and be willing to be cleansed of all that would cause you to be impure.
Third, you have to be willing to be His witnesses wherever and however He wants you to do that. If you meet that criteria – you may receive the Spirit in your life. Jesus told us what we need to do. He said,
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" Luke 11:9-13
From this Scripture, it seems to me, all we have to do is ask in faith. If we believe God’s Word and ask – the Holy Spirit will come. God promises it. Let’s ask.
“Is Your All on the Alter”
