THE HOLY SPIRIT
This nine-part series was originally developed for a class environment, and later adapted for use in a prison ministry conducted via correspondence. Because of that background, questions were developed for each lesson for participants to use in a setting conducive to discussion, or as handouts for private use if the lessons are presented as sermons. At the beginning of each part of the series, I will include the outline of the series.
OUTLINE OF THIS SERIES OF STUDIES
Part 1
Introduction, Holy Spirit as deity
Names of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament
Part 2
Holy Spirit in the NT (apostles to receive power)
Gabriel’s message to Mary
Foreseen by NT characters—Jesus, John
What we learn from Jesus in John 14,16
The coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost
Baptism in, or by, the Holy Spirit
Baptism of believers
Part 3
If I do not go away the Holy Spirit will not come
Men received and were dependent on the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is a Guarantee
Grieving the Holy Spirit
The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit
Being Filled With the Spirit
Part 4
The Holy Spirit in the Functioning of the church (first installment)
(1 Cor 12; Rom 12; Eph 4)
Gifts of the Spirit
The Head
Grace as Gifts (did not delve into each of the gifts, or special aptitudes, given by the Holy Spirit)
Functions “God Has Appointed”
Tongues/prophesying
Part 5
The empowering gifts of the Holy Spirit
Bestowing honor upon less “presentable” members
Order of functions (First apostles, second prophets, third teachers) Teachers discussed in Part 6
Part 6
Teachers
First apostles, second prophets, third teachers.
Part 7
Ministries of the Holy Spirit
Are the Bible and the Holy Spirit the same?
Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit
Part 8
Fruit of the Spirit
The Spirit vs the Flesh
Attributes of the Holy Spirit
Part 9
Acting in opposition to the Holy Spirit
• Lying to the Holy Spirit
• Resisting the Holy Spirit
• Quenching the Holy Spirit
• Grieving the Holy Spirit
• Defiling the Temple of the Holy Spirit
• Insulting the Spirit of Grace (doing despite)
Intercessor (though mentioned previously)
How Can I Know if I Have the Holy Spirit?
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THE HOLY SPIRIT
Part 3
“If I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.”
“...but if I go, I will send him to you.” What did Jesus mean by this statement on that last night he spoke to his eleven disciples before praying, then going across the Kidron Brook to the garden of Gethsemane? (John 16:7) Did he mean that Jesus and the Helper, who is the Holy Spirit, could not exist in the earthly realm at the same time? No, that certainly wasn’t the reason, because as we have seen, the Holy Spirit under various descriptions and names had been active in the creation and had a part in human doings from the very beginning, all through the Old and New Testaments, and was active during Jesus’ life. When Jesus was baptized, the Spirit of God descended on him like a dove, and pronounced him to be God’s Son (Matthew 3:16-17). He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1). Jesus himself said that it was “by the Spirit of God” that he cast out devils (Matthew 12:28), and we can rightly assume that the Spirit was the power through which Jesus performed other miracles. It is plain from these and other evidences that the Holy Spirit was present and involved in earthly matters before and during Jesus’ lifetime.
Why then does Jesus say the Helper would not come unless he went away? It was because if Jesus did not die, and offer his blood in the Holy Place, of which the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle was only a symbol, there would be no redemption from sin (Hebrews 9:11-14), and therefore no mission for his disciples. With no good news to tell, the Holy Spirit had no help or comfort to offer. In fact, if Jesus had not died and offered his blood before God’s very throne, God might as well have destroyed Adam and Eve and the entire creation at the moment they sinned, before they drew another breath, for there would have been no saving of the human race.
But Jesus did go away, and the Helper did come. The presence of the Spirit does not replace or displace the presence of Christ, for both are said to live within us who believe in him. When Jesus died, the full meaning and impact of his life, mission, and death were not yet clearly understood, and would not be until the gospel and man’s response to it were preached about 50 days later, on the day of Pentecost. On that day, the Helper came and through the apostles, fully revealed the gospel, God’s plan of salvation, and the way by which it is accessed.
Men Received, and Were Dependent on the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is not a product of men’s imagination, nor is he a thing of the past, nor is he reserved for only a few. The Holy Spirit is God. He has worked in many ways in men and women of faith – invariably to their benefit. It is not hard to obtain access to the Holy Spirit. He comes as a gift to to all who believe in Jesus and confess and obey him through repentance and baptism (Acts 2:38).
We are utterly dependent upon the Holy Spirit. It was in the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ lived and worked. The more we understand the scriptures, the more we see our own dependence upon the Holy Spirit. It was in the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, lived and worked, achieved and triumphed. Notice Acts 10:38 “…God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”
How then can we be less dependent than Jesus upon the Holy Spirit at every turn in our lives and every phase of service and our experience of conflicts with Satan and sin? We cannot.
A wondrous world of blessing and victory is open to us. The same Spirit by which Jesus was begotten in Mary’s womb and by which Jesus offered himself without spot to God is at our disposal for us to be begotten of Him. The same Spirit who led Jesus Christ in his movements and actions here on earth is ready to lead us today. The same Spirit who taught Jesus and imparted to him wisdom, understanding, counsel and might, and knowledge and the fear of the Lord is here to teach us. Jesus Christ is our pattern (1 John 2:6), “the first born among many brethren” (Romans 8:29). The Holy Spirit who enabled Jesus to realize his mission is available for us to realize ours.
The Holy Spirit as an Earnest, or Guarantee
In 2 Corinthians 1:22 and 5:5 Paul wrote of the Holy Spirit being given “in our hearts as a guarantee.” The King James Version uses the word “earnest,” but most of the later translations use the more familiar word “guarantee.” Paul mentions it again in his letter to the Ephesians (1:13-14) where he says “having also believed, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge (or guarantee) of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession.”
In a business transaction such as the purchase of a house, an earnest is an amount of money that is put on deposit by the purchaser to guarantee his seriousness and commitment to see the transaction through to completion. It is a portion of the price to be paid for a product or service that assures the seller of the full price to come later. It is given in exchange for the seller’s promise to forego the sale to some other party while the transaction is pending. The Holy Spirit as a guarantee is our security that God “establishes us in Christ.” (2 Cor 1:21)
An earnest is somewhat similar to the first fruits in the Old Testament system of offerings. The first fruits from the crops, flocks, and herds were only a portion of the produce of the fields and the increase of sheep and cattle; however, that portion signified a person’s whole devotion to God – heart and soul and strength - and the recognition that all the harvest belongs to the Lord. In relation to the Holy Spirit, the meaning is that the Spirit who God has placed in our hearts is a “seal” of his firm commitment to fulfill his promise of an eternal inheritance.
That token is also shown in the figure of a seal, like a king’s signet ring being pressed into sealing wax. When the king’s seal is seen on a scroll or parchment, it is an indication that it bears the full authority of the king.
All three of the passages we have mentioned make it clear that sealing is accomplished entirely by God. Just like the baptism of the Spirit, we are never exhorted to be sealed. Sealing is the work of God from start to finish. It is also important to note that the verse reads “with the Holy Spirit,” not “by the Holy Spirit.” This indicates that the Holy Spirit is the seal, and not the sealer. It is God the Father who does the sealing. The Holy Spirit is the seal.
To summarize: First, the Father is the Sealer; second, the Holy Spirit is the Seal; third, Christ is the strength of the seal (as he is the one who sent the Spirit and the one whose work made the Spirit’s indwelling possible); fourth, the believer is the one who is sealed.
Grieving the Holy Spirit
Ephesians 4:30 exhorts us not to grieve the Holy Spirit by whom we are sealed, making it obvious that all believers are sealed. Remember, Paul is writing to all believers, so he says here to all those sealed believers that they should not grieve (sadden) the Holy Spirit.
We grieve the Holy Spirit when we sin, or fail to bear the fruit of the Spirit which were spelled out by Paul in his letter to the Galatians: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). The Spirit’s fruit bears witness to a Spirit-led life. The absence of these evidences reveals a life in which the Spirit’s influence is thwarted. Such a life is lived according to the flesh (Romans 8:12-14). In that passage, Paul says if we live according to the flesh, we will die, but that all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit having gone to great lengths to assure everlasting life to all who will receive it, we grieve the Holy Spirit when we reject his leading and follow fleshly desires.
The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit
In Ezekiel 36:23-28 God, speaking through the prophet Ezekiel in Babylon, told the nation of Judah that he would cleanse them and restore them to the land they had lost. In so doing, he said “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you” (verse 26), and in the next verse he says, “I will put my Spirit within you.” So again, from Old Testament times, God has expected his spirit to live within his people. It is not surprising then, that in the New Testament, we find references to the Holy Spirit dwelling within Christians. (John 14:17 “...the Spirit of truth...will be in you.” Some other passages that refer to the Spirit’s indwelling are:
• Romans 8:9 – “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him,”
• 1 Corinthians 3:16 – “the Spirit of God dwells in you,”
• 1 Corinthians 6:19 - your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you.”
It is impossible for us to separate the indwelling of the Spirit from the indwelling of the Father and the Son. The Spirit within us is the same, and has the same effect, as Christ within, as in
• Galatians 2:20 – “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me,”
• Ephesians 1:12-13 – “you were sealed in him [Christ] with the Holy Spirit of promise,”
• Colossians 1:27 – “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
God the Father also indwells us, through Christ, as Jesus said in his prayer, (John 17:23 – “I [Christ] in them [us] and You [the Father] in me.”
The fact that the Spirit of God indwells the inner life of the believer is important. The Spirit of God links the life of the believer to the saving act of Christ's death. The living Spirit makes Christian faith alive and keeps it from being a paper religion tied to a printed book.
The Holy Spirit gives energy and reality to our faith and its power in our lives. As the Holy Spirit gave gifts, or capabilities, to the earliest Christians (1 Corinthians 12:1-12 and Romans 12:6-8), one of his ministries still is to give gifts to the members of Christ’s body, which is the church. Thus when we speak of certain aptitudes or special capabilities a person has, we call it a “gift,” or say it is “God-given,” for such are the Holy Spirit’s gifts, dividing to each one different gifts as he wishes. Later in the series we will examine the Spirit’s gifts more deeply (which Paul called “spiritual gifts”), and their essential place in the functioning of the church.
The Holy Spirit also intercedes for us in prayers, presenting to the Father the desires of our hearts which we lack the ability to fully express in our own words.
Being “Filled With the Spirit”
One might think that being “filled with the Spirit” is one and the same as the indwelling of the Holy Spirit discussed earlier. It would be hard to find fault with that point of view, for the Holy Spirit is the same in every case, having unchangeable attributes just as the Father does. However, there are some occasions in the scriptures when the Holy Spirit came into a person or group of persons with a special fullness that empowered them to meet an especially demanding challenge or confront strong opposition. For example, when Peter was confronted by the rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas and all who were of high-priestly descent, the record says:
“Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers and elders of the people, if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead--by this name this man stands here before you in good health.” (Acts 4:1-10)
It appears that Peter, though already constantly enjoying the privilege of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling, had at that time an especially powerful surge of fullness of the Spirit’s power to meet the challenge presented by the Jewish rulers.
Later, as recorded in the same chapter, having been commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus, Peter and John and the other disciples: “were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31).
Still another example is Paul, who on his first missionary journey passed through the island of Cyprus. At Paphos, when he was opposed by a magician named Elymas, the scripture says: “But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him, and said, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord? Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time."
It seems that on these occasions the Holy Spirit was available and provided particular strength to meet an immediate need or challenge to those who, being Christians, we must assume had already enjoyed the constant indwelling of the Spirit in their lives.
In our own personal experiences we may experience the same. Most people would agree that there are ebbs and flows of knowing the presence of the Spirit. Although we may not expect to be empowered to perform a miracle such as Paul did in making Elymas blind for a time, we may feel the Holy Spirit operating within us at certain times in a particularly powerful way. It is evident that on the occasions cited in Acts, those disciples were filled with the Spirit. At a later time they were again filled. The Spirit in this sense is not a substance that is consumed and exhausted, but relates to one's dedication to the kingdom of God which is more intense at certain times than at other times.
THE HOLY SPIRIT
Part 3 Questions
Questions:
1. Did Jesus have to go away for the Holy Spirit to come? Why, or why not?
2. What did Jesus’ “going away” accomplish?
3.Who is the “sealer,” and what is the “seal” of our inheritance? What does the seal mean?
4. What effect does the Holy Spirit make in our day-to-day lives?
5. Is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit the same as being “filled with the Spirit?”
Answer True or False by circling T or F:
1. T F A person could live a life of faithfulness to God without the Spirit if determined enough.
2. T F Even Jesus, the Son of God the Father, did his work with the power of the Holy Spirit.
3. T F The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is different from the indwelling of the Father and the Son.
4. T F The Holy Spirit is like the first fruits of our inheritance.
5. T F We are equally filled with the Spirit at all times by his indwelling of Christians.
Discussion:
1. What does it mean that the Holy Spirit is given as an earnest, or guarantee? What is guaranteed?
2. What does it mean to “grieve the Holy Spirit?”
3. Do you feel personally “filled with the Holy Spirit” at times of special need or challenge?
