The Holy Spirit: Who He Is
John 14:15-26
The First in a three part series of messages on the Holy Spirit…
1. Who He is (John 14:15-26)
2. What He Does (John 16:7-15)
3. The Source of His Power (Romans 8:1-17)
One of the things Christian people struggle with the most is God’s Holy Spirit…It’s kind of like studying the book of Revelation. So many have shrouded it in mystery that most folks don’t even try to understand Him.
Even the phrase…”filled with the Holy Spirit” invokes fear and misunderstanding even among the churched.
The manifestations of the Holy Spirit have been abused by unscrupulous ministers and wolves among the flock until the genuine filling of the Spirit is filled with suspicion and ridicule… How sad…
The greatest help that we as believers will ever receive this side of heaven is the very presence of God Himself in the person of The Holy Spirit.
He is where our understanding, our comfort, our answer to prayer, our very knowledge of the things of the Lord come from.
He is conviction for sin, healing for our hurts, and the power to radically transform ourselves into the very image of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In this scripture Jesus reveals to us the identity of the Holy Spirit.
John 14:15 - 26 (NKJV) 15“If you love Me, £keep My commandments. 16And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17the 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. 18I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. 19“A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 20At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” 22Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23Jesus answered and said to him, “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. 24He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me. 25“These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. 26But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
1. The Requirement!!! You cannot know and experience the Holy Spirit of God without a Love for the Lord Jesus Christ!!!
1. Obedience is not optional for believers. Jesus stated a simple fact that must be clearly understood: "If you love me you will keep [tērēsete PWS: 2224] my commandments." This is the correct translation. Jesus is not giving an optional commandment, "If you love me, [then, optional] keep my commandments." He is saying that the man who truly loves Him will keep His commandments. To the believer, there is no option. He loves Jesus; therefore, he keeps His commandments. In this the believer is not claiming perfection, but he is claiming to love Jesus and to believe with all his heart that Jesus is the Son of God. Therefore, he diligently seeks Jesus, and he seeks to please Him in all that he does.
2. In other words, if a person is not saved, He will never experience the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit…
3. Without the Holy Spirit of God living within us, we would be absolutely miserable…Why?
4. Because every good thing we can experience in this life is a direct result of God dwelling in us…
5. Listen as Jesus describes who the Holy Spirit is, and ask yourselves this question this morning…as we look in on the attributes of who He is…would I like to be without that???
2. First of all Jesus says the Holy Spirit is our Comforter, and Helper…
1. The Holy Spirit is the Comforter
Comforter (paraklēton PWS: 637): one called in, one called to the side of another. The purpose is to help in any way possible.
(1) There is the picture of a friend called in to help a person who is troubled or distressed or confused.
(2) There is the picture of a commander called in to help a discouraged and dispirited army.
(3) There is the picture of a lawyer, an advocate called in to help a defendant who needs his case pleaded.
There is no one word that can adequately translate paracletos. The word that probably comes closest is simply Helper.
He Walks with me…(Right beside me…never forsaking me…never leaving me…24/7/365)
He talks with Me… (He speaks to my heart to provide comfort…He brings healing when I hurt)
He tells me I am His own…(He witnesses to me that I am one of God’s children…I belong)
The Joy we share…(there is no greater joy in the world than when I am in close relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God…He overflows my cup…)
None other shall ever Know!!!(The lost world will never know the peace and the joy that this Comforter can bring to the soul of mankind)
2. The receiving of the Holy Spirit is conditional. Note the conjunction "and." It is the person who loves Jesus who is given the Holy Spirit. Note also that the Spirit is given because Jesus prays for us. He is our Intercessor, the One who pleads our case. It is not that God is unwilling to give the Holy Spirit. That is not the point. The point is that Jesus Christ is our Mediator—our Intercessor—is the only One who makes it possible for us to receive the Spirit (cp. 1 John 2:1-2). If a person truly loves Jesus, that person is given the Holy Spirit.
3. The source of the Holy Spirit is "the Father." It is the Father who gave the Son, and it is the Father who gives the Holy Spirit. The picture is touching in that God is seen longing ever so deeply...
• to give the Holy Spirit to those who love His only Son.
• to do everything He can for the person who loves His Son, and of course the greatest thing God can do is to put His Spirit into a person.
James 1:16 - 17 (NKJV) 16Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
4. The Holy Spirit abides forever with the believer. His presence continues and never ends. The idea is that He never withdraws His presence.
3. Secondly, Jesus says the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth.
1. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, the very same Truth that Christ is.
2. The Holy Spirit is the Communicator of truth. He Himself—His Person and His direction—makes things perfectly clear. He reveals the ultimate source and meaning and end of all things. He reveals the truth of man himself and of the world surrounding man. He shows man the right way to the truth, and He enables man to choose the right way to the truth. If we let Him, God’s Holy Spirit will guide us into all Truth…
Proverbs 3:5 - 6 (NLT) 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
3. The world cannot receive the Holy Spirit. Note the word "cannot." It is impossible for the world to receive the Holy Spirit. Why? Because the world of unbelievers does not "see" or "know" the Holy Spirit. The world lives only for what it can see and know, only for the physical and material, only for what it can touch and feel, taste and consume, think and use.
The point is this: unbelievers reject Jesus. They do not love Him, and they care little if anything about Him. They are not interested in seeing or knowing Jesus. The result is natural:
⇒ They do not see the spiritual world or know it; therefore, they do not see or know the Spirit of that world.
⇒ They are unaware of the spiritual world; therefore, they are unaware of the Spirit of that world.
⇒ They do not know and love Jesus; therefore, they do not "know" the Spirit of Christ.
(Note this contrast between the "Spirit of the world" and the "Spirit of God,"
1 Corinthians 2:12 - 14 (NKJV) 12Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 13These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the £Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
3. The unbeliever does not know the Holy Spirit. The believer knows the Spirit both by experience and by His presence.
4. Third, the Holy Spirit is the personal presence of Christ.
1. Jesus said, "I will come to you." He meant that He would return after He had gone away, that is, died. He would come back to give believers His personal presence. He would not leave them comfortless (orphanous PWS: 638); the word means to be orphaned, to be without parental help, to be helpless. Jesus will not leave us to struggle through the trials of life alone.
Jesus' presence with His followers began with His resurrection and continued with the coming of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was saying that He would come to the believer in the person of the Holy Spirit.
2. The world lost its opportunity to see Jesus. He said so. He said that He would be present for only a short time longer, then the world would see Him "no more." (The next time the world sees Him, He will be coming in judgment.)
3. The presence of Jesus is a living, eternal presence. He died, but He did not stay dead. He arose and conquered death. He arose to live forever. Now think: if Jesus Christ is living forever and He dwells within the believer, then the believer lives eternally. Christ the Eternal Presence lives within the believer; therefore, the believer becomes eternal. He never dies. (See Deeper Study #1—John 8:51.) The believer is made eternal by the eternal presence of Christ within him.
4. The presence of Christ is a living union, a mutual indwelling between God, Christ, and the believer. "At that day" refers to Jesus' resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Now note: when Jesus arose from the dead, believers knew something. His claim was true in an absolute sense. Jesus really was "in" God. God is eternal, so by being "in" God, Jesus was bound to live forever; He was bound to arise from the dead.
Something else was known. All that Jesus had said was true. He was placing all believers "in" Himself and Himself "in" them; or to say it another way, when the Holy Spirit came, believers were placed "in" His Spirit and His Spirit "in" them.
5 Fourth, The Holy Spirit is the very special manifestation of Christ within the believer.
Apparently, this refers to very special manifestations of the Lord to the heart of the believer, those very special times when there is a deep consciousness of love between the Lord and His dear follower.
When believers go through terrible trials and experience severe crises, God knows and He loves and cares; so He moves to meet the need of His dear children.
This is when we find a depth of grace that we didn’t know existed…
A Peace that passes all understanding…
And a sense of closeness with Christ that will leave us longing for that touch again…
He moves within the believer's heart, manifesting His presence and giving whatever the believer needs.
The depth of the experience and the intensity and emotion of the special manifestation depends upon the need of the believer.
In other words…the greater the need…the greater the manifestation!!!
We must always remember that God loves each one of us so much He will do whatever is needed...
• to lift us up.
• to strengthen us.
• to conform us to the image of His dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
6. Fifthly, the Holy Spirit is the ABIDING presence of the Trinity… vs. 23
Note the words, "My Father...we will come...and make our abode with him [the believer]." Both the Father and Christ come to abide in the believer in the person of the Holy Spirit. All three dwell within the believer. Note four simple but profound facts.
1. The abiding presence of the Trinity is conditional: one must obey Christ, that is, love and keep His words.
2. The abiding presence of the Trinity is the love and presence of God and Christ and the Holy Spirit—all three dwelling within the life of the believer.
3. The abiding presence of the Trinity is not "in" the man who does not love and obey Jesus.
4. The abiding presence of the Trinity is assured by God Himself. Note what Jesus said: His words are the words of the Father who sent Him
John 17:20 - 23 (NKJV) 20“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who £will believe in Me through their word; 21that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
7. Lastly, the Holy Spirit is the Teacher. He teaches "all things" which Jesus taught.
"All things" means all the things which Jesus taught including the presence of the Comforter (Holy Spirit), who is given to help the believer through the trials of life, and the indwelling presence and love of the Father and Son.
However, a crucial point must be heeded. The Comforter comes only from the Father "in the name" of Jesus.
⇒ In calling God "the Father," a Father-child relationship is stressed. One must become a child of God, that is, of the Father, in order to be given the Father's Comforter.
⇒ The words "in the name" of Christ mean that one must approach the Father "in" the name of Christ, that is, recognizing that Jesus alone is acceptable to God.
The purpose of the Holy Spirit in the believer's life is twofold.
1. To teach all things:
a. both the words …and the life… of Christ,
b. both the Truth… and the Life
c. both the Word …and how to live
d. both the theory… and the practice
e. both the principles… and the conduct
f. both the morality… and the behavior.
2. To help remember: to help remember all that has been taught in the Word of God, to help especially in the moments of trial when the truth is needed. In a moment of trial the Holy Spirit either infuses the believer with the strength to endure or flashes across his mind the way to escape.
CONCLUSION
The Holy Spirit of GOD…
Our Comforter, Our Helper, The Communicator of ALL Truth…The Personal Presence of Christ living within us, The revealer of special Manifestations from God to help us as we need them…The abiding presence of the Trinity of God within us…Our teacher who leads us into truth…
Our God is an Awesome God He reigns from heaven above…With wisdom, Love and Power, Our God is an awesome God…
Not only does He reign from Heaven above, but through the ministry of His Holy Spirit, He reigns in the the hearts of the believer as well!!!
Does He reign in yours…He can today!!!
There is nothing to be scared or embarrassed about…just blessings flowing abundantly from a heart that is filled to overflowing by God Himself in the person of the Holy Spirit.
