The Forgotten God
He is a person
He has intelligence 1 Cor. 2:10-11 He has a will 1 Cor. 12:11
He has emotions Eph. 4:30 He guides Rom. 8:14
He commands Acts 8:29. He intercedes Rom. 8:26
He is to be obeyed Acts 10:19f He can be lied to Acts 5:3
He is Divine : equal to the other two persons of the Trinity
Omniscient 1 Cor. 2:10 Omnipotent Gen. 1:2
Omnipresent Ps. 139:7 Holy Luke 11:13
He works in and through us
Convicts us of our sinful nature John 16:8-11
Regenerates us Titus 3:5 Indwells us. 1 Cor. 10:19
Baptizes us 1 Cor. 12:13 Seals us. Eph. 1:13
Gifts us 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, Ephesians 4
He is our promise for heaven Ephesians 1:14
This morning I want us to study the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Francis Chan wrote a book and has a video series on RightNow Media called “The Forgotten God.” I think that’s an appropriate title for a discussion on the Holy Spirit. We believe in the Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. 3 in 1. Each fully and totally divine, sharing the very essence of what it means to be God.
Yet we talk about God as our heavenly Father. Rightly so. We talk about Jesus, the son of God who died for our sin. Rightly so. But unfortunately we sometimes forget about the 3rd person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.
It would take us months to fully cover the person and work of the Holy Spirit, but I am going to try to hit the main aspects of who He is and what He does—and then finish with a reminder of what He does in and through us as believers.
Jesus calls Him our Comforter and our Helper. So who is He?
He is a person (build) So many times I hear people call the Spirit, “it”, like the Spirit is just a force. But the Spirit is as much a person as the Father and the Son. You see this throughout the Bible, particularly in the New Testament.
He has intelligence 1 Cor. 2:10-11
He has a will 1 Cor. 12:11 says He distributes the gifts as He will.
He has emotions Eph. 4:30 says that we can grieve Him.
He guides Matthew 4 says that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested.
He commands Acts 8:29 He told Phillip to go get in the chariot of the Ethiopian Eunuch and witness to him.
He intercedes Rom. 8:26 says that when we don’t know how to pray, the Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
He is to be obeyed Acts 10:19f He tells Peter to go downstairs and meet the envoys of Cornelius, thus opening the gospel up to not just the Jews, but Gentiles as well.
He can be lied to Acts 5:3 When annias and saphira lied about how much money they gave to Unleashed, Peter said, You didn’t just lie to us, you lied to the Spirit. Then what happened. Carried em out feet first.
He is Divine : equal to the other two persons of the Trinity (build only the 3 characteristic)
Omniscient all knowing “Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, since the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:10
Omnipotent. all powerful “For I would not dare say anything except what Christ has accomplished through me by word and deed for the obedience of the Gentiles, by the power of miraculous signs and wonders, and by the power of God’s Spirit.” Romans 15:18-19
Omnipresent He’s everywhere, He’s everywhere! “Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence.” Psalms 139:7
Holy Jesus ascribes the key characteristic to the Spirit. “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” Luke 11:13
He works in and through us (build without scriptures)
Convicts us of our sinful nature “When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment: 9 About sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; 11 and about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.” John 16:8-11
When I pray for a lost peson, I pray that the Spirit will convict them of their personal sinful nature and convince them that they need a Savior.
Regenerates us “He saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy—through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit” Titus 3:5
To regenerate is to restore or revive. We were dead in our sins, the ‘bible says, and when we put our faith in Jesus and what He did for us on the cross, the Spirit comes into us and makes us alive, spiritually alive. This is why Jesus said, “You must be born again.”
Indwells us “ Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God?” 1 Corinthians 10:19
Don’t you get this? The Spirit of the Living God abides in YOU! And He promises to never leave you or forsake you.
Baptizes us “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all given one Spirit to drink.” 1 Corinthians 12:13
That word baptize, as you know, means to immerse. Jesus predicted before He ascended that we would be baptized by the Holy Spirit, and at Pentecost the Spirit for the first time in history entered permanently into the hearts of the believers. From Acts 2 on, every believer is baptized, immersed by the Spirit into Christ. Christ is in us; we are in Christ.
There are some well-meaning but errant teachers out there that say there are 3 baptisms: baptized in Christ, baptized in water, and baptized in the Spirit. I want you to know that such a claim is patently false. No where, no where in Scripture are believers told to be baptized with, in or by the Spirit, or in any sense to seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit. When you are saved, you are baptized by the Spirit into Christ and you are indwelt by the Spirit AT THAT MOMENT, the moment of your salvation. You will never get any more of God than at the moment of salvation. The issue of course is how much of you will God get?
Seals us “In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed.” Ephesians 1:13
We’ve talked about this recently, but it bears repeating. Two examples that help us undersand the sealing of the Spirit: jar of pickles…ancient letters/documents/signet rings
Gifts us Not going to do a survey of the gifts this morning, but let me explain to you one of the wonderful things God does for you when you get saved. When the Spirit of God enters into you, H not only seals you, but He brings gifts with Him. These are spiritual gifts that are given to you, to every believer for the purpose of building up the body of Christ. These are not personality traits. These are not innate or learned skills. These are not gifts for you—they are gifts for the body of Christ. He gives them to you to bless and build up the Body of Christ. These are propensities, abilities that are assigned by the Spirit in each believer. If you don’t know what your spiritual gifts are, then you haven’t discovered your real purpose as a believer in the body of Christ.
Do you know your spiritual gifts? My main two gifts are exhortation and leadership. What are yours? When you go through our first step experience, we’ll help you discover your purpose in the Body of Christ.
He is our promise for heaven “ The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:14
What does this mean? Buy a house, put 10%-20% down as a what? Down payment; you pay part at that moment and you promise to pay the rest in the future.
The Holy Spirit is the down payment for our inheritance. What is our inheritance? It’s spoken of often. “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength.” Ephesians 1:18-19
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. “ 1 Peter 1:3-4
Again, would take months to discuss our inhertance. But I love some of the sweeping views that we get from the book of Revelation.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne:,am Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples,,an and God himself will be with them and will be their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away. Revelation 21:1-4
“And there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face.” Revelation 22:3-4
Just a glimpse, but O what a glorious glimpse it is: no more curse of sin and the brokenness in our lives and in our world; no more pain, suffering, no more crying, no more grief, no more death. And best of all, we will see Him face to face and everything in the universe and in our hearts will be at total peace and rest. O what a day that will be!
In the meantime, Romans 5:5 says, “God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” We do have part of that inheritance here; now!
“ I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, 19 and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. “Ephesians 3:16-19. Ahhh—to be filled with the fulness of God and to know the length, width, height, and depth of God’s love. Yes, Holy Spirit.
