THE SPIRIT IN THE WRITING PROPHETS
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. A man wanted to be a salesman, but he stuttered very badly. Then he saw an ad for a job as a Bible salesman for the Bible Society, and he decided to apply.
2. At the interview, they heard him stutter and said, "We're sorry, but there's no way you could do this job with that kind of stutter."
3. "Please", he said. "Just give me a chance." They did. A week later, the man returned. "I've sold out of Bibles. Can I have some more?"
4. The executive asked him to explain how he'd done it. "Easy", he said. "I just ask them, 'Would you like to buy a Bible, or would you like me to read it to you?'"
B. THESIS
1. Until you study it, most of us have no idea how much the Old Testament talks about the Holy Spirit, but it does voluminously!
2. Tonight we’re going to look at what the “Writing Prophets” – Isaiah through Malachi – have to say about the Holy Spirit.
3. We’re going to look at the Nature of the Spirit, His Ministry, how He animates His servants, the Promise of Latter Day outpouring, and the Danger of Grieving the Spirit.
4. The title of tonight’s message is “The Spirit in the Writing Prophets.”
I. THE NATURE OF THE SPIRIT
1. The New Testament makes the clearest revelation of the Trinity Godhead. There is one Being of God, eternally existent in 3 Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
2. The Holy Spirit is separate from the Father & Son in that He expresses His own thoughts, emotions, and will.
3. He speaks & acts and is referred to using the personal pronoun “He.” He’s not just the power of God, for the Holy Spirit is distinguished from His own power (Acts 10:38; Rom. 15:13; 1 Cor. 2:4).
4. But the O.T. has many revelations of the Holy Spirit that are unequalled.
A. THE 7-FOLD SPIRIT
1. Isa. 11:2, “The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord.”
2. The N.T. confirms the 7-fold nature of the Spirit 4X. Rev. 4:5, “From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God.”
B. SPIRIT: HIS POWER & WISDOM
Isaiah 40:12-13, “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord, or instruct the Lord as his counselor?”
C. SPIRIT OF JUSTICE/ JUDGMENT
1. Isa. 4:4, “The Lord will…cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire.”
2. Isa. 28:5-6, “In that day the Lord Almighty….will be a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment…”
II. AWESOME MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT
A. THE SPIRIT BRINGS THE WORD TO PASS
Isa. 34:16, “Look in the scroll of the Lord and read: None of these will be missing, not one will lack her mate. For it is his mouth that has given the order, and his Spirit will gather them together.”
B. SPIRIT TEACHES US WHAT’S BEST, WAY TO GO
Isa. 48:16-17, “Come near me and listen…I have not spoken in secret….And now the Sovereign Lord has sent me, endowed with his Spirit. 17 This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.”
C. THE SPIRIT SPEAKS TO US
1. Ezek. 3:24, “Then the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet. He spoke to me and said: “Go, shut yourself inside your house.”
2. Ezek. 11:5, “Then the Spirit of the Lord came on me, and he told me to say: “This is what the Lord says…”
3. Zech. 7:12, “They…would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry.”
D. HE ABIDES WITH US FOREVER
1. Isa. 59:21 “As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you.”
2. Hag. 2:5, “According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remains among you: fear not.”
E. REGENERATES THOSE DEAD IN SINS
1. Ezek. 36:26, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
2. Ezek. 37:1, 5-6, 9-10; “The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones….This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: “I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.”
3. Ezek. 37:14, “I will put my Spirit in you and you will live.”
F. REST GIVEN BY THE SPIRIT
Isa. 63:14, “like cattle that go down to the plain, they were given rest by the Spirit of the Lord. This is how you guided your people to make for yourself a glorious name.”
III. THE SPIRIT ANIMATES GOD’S SERVANTS
A. MOVED BY THE SPIRIT
1. ANGELS MOVED BY THE SPIRIT; Ezek. 1:20, “Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. (also 1:12; 1:21; 10:17)
2. SPIRIT LIFTED EZEKIEL BODILY
a. Ezek. 2:2, “As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.”
b. Ezek. 3:12, “Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a loud rumbling sound as the glory of the Lord rose from the place where it was standing” (also 3:14;11:1,24;43:5).
3. Ezek. 8:3, “He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and in visions of God he took me to Jerusalem….”
B. FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT
1. DANIEL FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT
“Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you…” Daniel 4:8,9,18; 5:11,14.
2. MICAH FILLED WITH POWER BY THE SPIRIT
Micah 3:8, “But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression, to Israel his sin.”
C. ANOINTING TO PREACH, SET PEOPLE FREE
Isa. 61:1, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor….bind up the brokenhearted…proclaim freedom for the captives and release…for the prisoners.”
D. GOD’S PEOPLE STIRRED TO WORK
Haggai 1:14, “So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel…and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty.”
E. ACCOMPLISHED ONLY BY THE SPIRIT
“This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.” Zech. 4:6.
IV. LATTER DAY OUTPOURING PROMISED
1. Isa. 32:15, “till the Spirit is poured on us from on high.”
2. Isa. 44:3, “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.”
3. Ezek. 36:27, “And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
4. Ezek. 39:29, “I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the people of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord.”
5. Joel 2:28-29 “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
6. Zech. 12:10, “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication…”
V. DANGER: IGNORING/ GRIEVING THE SPIRIT
A. PLANNING WITHOUT GOD’S SPIRIT
Isa. 30:1, “Woe to the obstinate children,” declares the Lord, “to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin.”
B. GRIEVING THE SPIRIT IS SERIOUS
Isa. 63:10, “Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them.”
C. SPIRIT LEFT BECAUSE OF UNFAITHFULNESS
Isa. 63:11, “Then his people recalled the days of old, the days of Moses and his people— ‘Where is he…who set his Holy Spirit among them?’”
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. A man went to the doctor. "Doctor, I'm coughing my heart out. It feels like my lungs are burning up." "Let's have a look," says the doctor, and examines him.
2. "It's not looking good. But you're in luck. I've got a bottle of medicine here. The instructions are on the bottle. It'll clear this up in three days."
3. Five days later the man returned. "Doctor, you told me this stuff would cure me in three days. I'm not getting better. I'm getting worse."
4. "Did you read the instructions?" "Of course I read the instructions. It says …" The doctor snatches it out of his hand. "Gimme that bottle. This bottle is unopened." "You didn't say I had to open it."
5. "Listen, you came in to see me. I examined you. I diagnosed your problem. I gave you the medicine. Now it's up to you!"
B. THE CALL
1. The Holy Spirit’s come to teach us, speak to us, regenerate us and show us the way we should go. He will give us rest.
2. He’s also come to fill us, stir us, and empower us to change our generation, BUT IT ALL DEPENDS ON US:
a. SEEKING TO BE FILLED;
b. ASKING HIM FOR HIS WILL;
c. OBEYING HIM.
3. Let’s make up our minds tonight to not grieve the Holy Spirit by choosing our own way.
4. It’s still “’Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty!”
