A week ago Thursday night when I got home from our summer Bible study, I had a small red itchy spot on my right arm. I figured that I must have gotten some kind of bug bite, so I put a little anti-itch cream on it and went to bed. By the next morning, it really didn’t look much different, but it was still itchy, so I put some more cream on it and really didn’t think about it much more.
Later that afternoon, I went to the gym for my normal workout, which that day involved lifting weights for my arms. I always enjoy arm day at the gym because when I’m done my arms feel about this big around – for about 15 minutes - and then they feel pretty normal again when the blood flow subsides. But this time my right arm stayed red and swollen. So, figuring this was just an allergic reaction to a bug bite, and that I could handle it on my own, I took some Benadryl and iced my arm and since it felt better, I figured I was on the mend.
But by Saturday morning, my arm was even redder and more swollen, so I figured I better go to the urgent care and get it checked out. What I discovered is that somehow I had developed a very serious infection in that arm that was beginning to spread pretty rapidly. And because my body was incapable of fighting off that infection on its own, the doctors immediately gave me a shot of antibiotics and put me on a regimen of oral antibiotics.
I’m glad to report that after another doctor visit on Monday, two more shots of antibiotics, a tetanus shot and the oral antibiotics, the infection now seems to be cleared up.
I am more thankful than ever for the availability of antibiotics. Without the ability to get them into my bloodstream to fight that infection, who knows what might have happened? As I was thinking about that this week, the thought that came to mind was that the Holy Spirit is a lot like those antibiotics. Although He is in me, I can’t see Him or even feel Him at work there. But without His work in my life, I would never be able live the kind of life God wants me to live on my own. I need His help.
This morning is the third of a series of messages on the Holy Spirit. Together we are learning how the Holy Spirit works in our lives and how we can tap into the power that He provides which enables us to live a godly life that glorifies Jesus.
Let’s take just a moment to review what we’ve learned so far.
We began two weeks ago, by letting Jesus introduce us to the work of the Holy Spirit in His own words. And in John 14, we discovered two important characteristics of the Holy Spirit. Can anyone remind us of those two aspects of the Holy Spirit? [Wait for answers]
1. The Holy Spirit is God
2. The Holy Spirit is a person
Then last week, we took a brief look at how the Holy Spirit operated in the Old Testament and arrived at this conclusion:
The Holy Spirit is God’s divine power
for God’s divine work
And we discovered that Holy Spirit provided that divine power by carrying out four purposes. Can anyone help remind us up what those were? [Wait for answers.]
1. He gave life
2. He revealed
3. He rebuked
4. He equipped – to serve and to represent God
You’re going to want to keep those four purposes in mind this morning as we look at how the Holy Spirit worked in the life of Jesus during His earthly ministry. When we think about that topic we might tend to wonder why Jesus needed the Holy Spirit in His life. He is, after all, God Himself. But the apostle Paul helps us to understand Jesus’ need for the Holy Spirit in His life with these familiar words:
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
(Philippians 2:5-7 ESV)
Jesus did not, as some claim “give up” His deity when He put on a body of flesh and came to the earth. He still remained 100% God at the same time that He was also 100% man. But what He did do was to willingly give up His right to exercise much of the power He possessed as God in order to experience all that we are subjected to as humans. That’s why the writer of Hebrews could make this statement:
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
(Hebrews 4:14-15 ESV)
So, in His humanity, Jesus needed the Holy Spirit in His life, just like we do. And as we discover how the Holy Spirit worked in the life of Jesus, we can learn more about how He works in our lives. But even beyond that, my prayer is that we’ll be convinced that if Jesus needed the Holy Spirit in His life, we certainly need Him at work in our lives.
The work of the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus:
This morning we’ll find that the Holy Spirit worked in the life of Jesus in three main areas:
1. He gave life
The Holy Spirit gave life to Jesus at two crucial times:
• At Jesus’ incarnation
Both Matthew and Luke record the role of the Holy Spirit in the incarnation of Jesus:
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
(Matthew 1:18-20 ESV)
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.
(Luke 1:35 ESV)
Just as the Spirit had overshadowed the waters in creation and as He would later overshadow the church at Pentecost, He came to Mary and gave life to the man Jesus. Although there is certainly a great deal of mystery about how exactly that occurred, it is clear that Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.
And that was absolutely necessary if Jesus was going to be the savior of the world. Although Jesus was born to a human mother, Mary, through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, the baby Jesus was born - as Luke records – holy. The writer of Hebrews confirms the holy nature of Jesus that allowed Him to live among sinful men, yet never sin Himself:
For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
(Hebrews 7:26 ESV)
But not only was the Holy Spirit the agent of Jesus’ birth as a human, He also gave life…
• At Jesus’ resurrection
Let me ask you a question? Who raised Jesus from the dead? [Wait for answers]
That’s right – God. But specifically, which persons of the triune God – Father, Son or Holy Spirit – did that? [Wait for answers]
That’s right – all three of them.
God the Father raised Him:
God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
(Acts 2:24 ESV)
Jesus was also involved in His own resurrection:
For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
(John 10:17-18 ESV)
And the Holy Spirit was also part of that process. Two verses in Romans confirm His participation:
and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,
(Romans 1:4 ESV)
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
(Romans 8:11 ESV)
As we’ll see more clearly next week, the Holy Spirit also gives life to each of us, but not just physical life. He is also the means by which we receive spiritual life.
2. He revealed
The prophet Isaiah described the the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus in several places, most notably in Isaiah 11:
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
(Isaiah 11:1-2 ESV)
We see evidence of that work of the Holy Spirit very early in Jesus’ life. Even as a child, the Holy Spirit was doing this work that had been prophesied by Isaiah. As Luke describes the childhood of Jesus, he uses language that certainly echoes the words of Isaiah:
And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.
(Luke 2:40 ESV)
And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
(Luke 2:52 ESV)
Even as a child, we find that Jesus was taught the wisdom of God from the Word of God through the Spirit of God. It was the Holy Spirit who, throughout Jesus’ life, revealed God’s will for His life. We see this again at the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry:
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness
(Luke 4:1 ESV)
Although we can’t fully understand the purpose for God leading Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan, we know that Jesus was obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit, who had revealed to Jesus that this was God’s plan for His life at that time. And throughout His time here on earth, we see that God constantly revealed His will for Jesus’ life through the Holy Spirit.
In coming weeks, we’ll spend some more time understanding how the Holy Spirit does that very same thing in our lives today.
Not only did the Holy Spirit reveal God’s will to Jesus, He also equipped Jesus to carry out those plans.
3. He equipped
All four gospels record the account of the baptism of Jesus. We’ll read this morning from Matthew’s gospel:
And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
(Matthew 3:16-17 ESV)
This is very much like what we saw in the Old Testament last week, with God sending His Holy Spirit to rest upon someone to equip them to serve Him and be His representative on earth. But there was one significant difference. In this case, others were able to observe the coming of the Spirit, who appeared as a dove. It seems that God wanted everyone to recognize the importance of the empowering of the Holy Spirit in the ministry of Jesus.
After His baptism and His temptation in the wilderness, Jesus returned to Galilee, where He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day. There, He unrolled the scroll of Isaiah and read these words:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
(Luke 4:18-19 ESV)
Jesus understands that God has given Him the task of proclaiming good news to the poor, giving liberty of the captives, restoring sight to the blind and setting free the oppressed. By engaging in those tasks, Jesus is going to serve God’s purposes and at the same time be God’s representative here on earth. And He acknowledges that He is only going to be able to accomplish those tasks because of the work of the Holy Spirit in His life.
Later in His ministry, when Jesus cast out demons, He again acknowledges His dependence on the Holy Spirit:
But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
(Matthew 12:28 ESV)
And it is only through the empowering work of the Holy Spirit that Jesus is able to accomplish His most important task:
For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
(Hebrews 9:13-14 ESV)
It was the Holy Spirit who sustained Jesus every step of the way in His march toward Calvary:
• It was the Holy Spirit who constantly reminded Jesus of the “joy that was set before him” (Hebrews 12:2).
• It was the Holy Spirit who sustained Him in the Garden as He prayed with so much agony that He sweated drops of blood.
• It was the Holy Spirit who sustained Him as the soldiers pounded the nails into His hands and feet.
• And it was the Holy Spirit who sustained Him on the cross as He suffered the grief of separation from the Father as He bore all the sins of mankind.
In the coming weeks, we’ll learn a lot more about how the Holy Spirit equips us to serve God and to be His representatives here on earth.
Not surprisingly, we’ve seen that the Holy Spirit worked in the life of Jesus in a manner very consistent with His work in the Old Testament. He gave life, He revealed, and He equipped. But there is one task that the Holy Spirit carried out in the Old Testament that we don’t see in the life of Jesus. What is that? [Wait for answers.]
There was no need for the Holy Spirit to rebuke Jesus. Since Jesus never sinned, there was never a need for the Holy Spirit to reveal His sin or to rebuke Him.
Next week, we’ll begin to examine in more detail how the Holy Spirit operates in the life a Christ-follower today. But the foundation we’ve laid in these three introductory messages over the last three weeks is going to be crucial in helping us to understand how we can tap into the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Since this foundation is so important, I’m going to take a bit of a risk this morning and attempt to have us to respond to God’s Word in a different way than we normally do. You’ve probably noticed that this morning’s message is briefer than normal. That’s so we can take some time to review together what we’ve learned in the last three weeks.
So here’s what we’re going to do. In moment I’m going to pray for us and then I’m going to ask you to tell me – in your own words – what you’ve learned about the Holy Spirit in the last three weeks. My hope is by doing that, we’ll all be able to better remember that:
The Holy Spirit is God’s divine power
for God’s divine work
Let’s pray.
