Larry Brincefield, pastorlarry@pastorlarry.net
Wednesday, October 23, 2002
Title: "Reading the Note" 1 (Symbols of the Holy Spirit)
Text: Acts 2:2, Matthew 3:16
Introduction
1. We focus a lot of attention on God and Jesus.
A. and rightfully so...
B. but sometimes I wonder if we shortchange the 3rd Person of the Trinity...the Holy Spirit.
C. This month, we’ve been focusing holiness and sanctification...
i. which happens through the activity of the Holy Spirit....
D. But sometimes, we focus so much attention on the ACTIVITY of the Holy Spirit,
i. I wonder if we overlook the "Person" of the Holy Spirit.
2. I compare it to receiving a birthday card...
A. do we quickly open the card
B. to see if there is a check or some cash enclosed...
C. then once you grab the money...
D. you throw away the card without reading the note?
E. The money’s nice...
F. but you are really missing out on a blessing if you don’t read the personal note written in the card!!
G. Tonight...I’d like us to read the note!
3. Throughout Scripture, we see different pictures or symbols of the Holy Spirit
A. These pictures or symbols are important.
B. They help us to have a better understanding of Who the Holy Spirit is.
C. And as we look at these symbols...
D. we will be reading the note
4. Read Text: Acts 2:2, Matthew 3:11, 16
Body
1. WIND
A. The wind symbolizes the Spirit in a number of places. In Acts 2:2, Scripture tells us that the "blowing of a violent wind" accompanied the arrival of the Holy Spirit.
i. In John 3:8, Jesus told Nicodemus that "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit"
ii. We can’t see the wind,
a. but it is real
b. and it has great power.
c. The wind comes from the heavens, not earth,
a. but it affects people on the earth,
B. just like the Holy Spirit does.
i. we don’t see the Holy Spirit,
ii. but He has great power to move
iii. and change us.
iv. He comes from the heavens...
a. but He greatly affects people here on earth.
C. Wind also has a "cleansing" element.
i. I remember when Dad used to ask me to rake the lawn...
ii. one of the methods I used was to keep the grass closely mowed...
iii. and then on the next windy day...
iv. the wind would blow the leaves onto the neighbor’s property...
v. thus saving me several hours of hard work.
D. The Wind of the Holy Spirit has a cleansing element too.
i. When the Holy Spirit "blows" in and through us...
ii. it blows out the garbage of sin that has collected in our lives.
2. Another variation of the "wind" picture is, the Holy Spirit as "BREATH"
A. John 20:22 says, "And with that Jesus breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit"
B. In Ezekiel 37, Ezekiel prophesies to the dry bones in the valley
i. and the bones begin to form into bodies,
ii. but they had no life.
iii. Ezekiel 37:9-10 says, "Prophesy to the breath; ... and say to it, ’This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these ... 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"
iv. And then God says, in Ezekiel 37:14, "I will put my Spirit in you and you will live"
v. So we see the Holy Spirit as breath.
C. It is our breath that shows life.
i. When I took a CPR class, they taught us about how to recussitate someone who had become unconsious.
a. The first thing we were to do was to put our cheek next to the person’s mouth to see if we could feel breath going in and out...
b. while we were doing that...we would look at the chest...
c. to see if it was moving to signify breathing.
ii. If we could feel breath and see the chest moving...
a. we weren’t as concerned...
b. because there was life.
D. Genesis 2:7 says, "the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being".
i. The KJV says, "and man became a living soul"
E. In the same way, the Holy Spirit gives us life in the Spirit...spiritual life
F. Psalm 150:6 says, "Let everything that has breath praise the LORD"
i. Let’s praise the Lord, not only for our physical breath,
a. that gives us physical life...
ii. but let’s also praise Him for the Breath of the Spirit;
a. that breaths life into our spirit.
G. The song that we sang tonight says,
i. "Holy Spirit, breathe on me,
ii. until my heart is clean,
iii. let sunshine fill its inmost part,
iv. with not a cloud between.
v. Breathe on me, breathe on me,
vi. Holy Spirit, breathe on me
vii. Take Thou my heart; cleanse every part
viii. Holy Spirit, breathe on me.
3. DOVE
A. When Jesus was baptized,
i. the Holy Spirit descended as a Dove
ii. This image is found in all four gospels.
B. The very first reference to the Holy Spirit in all Scripture is found in Genesis 1:2 "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters"
i. The KJV says, "the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters"
ii. The word moved or hovered gives us the picture of a bird sitting on a nest of eggs...
a. to warm them...
b. and bring them to life...
c. like a brooding hen.
C. Doves are white...and have become the symbol of purity...
i. sometimes used during wedding ceremonies.
ii. In the Bible times, doves were often used for sacrifice...
iii. in fact, when Jesus was 8 days old,
a. and it was time for Him to be consecrated to the Lord,
b. like all Jewish young men...
c. His parents brought 2 doves for the sacrifice....
d. which I find interesting...
a. since Jesus is also a symbol of purity and sacrifice.
D. The Holy Spirit as the Dove represents His purity,
i. it represents His gentleness
ii. it represents His providing us with warmth and life
4. FIRE
A. God’s Presence has been symbolized by Fire in the Bible
i. God’s Presence was in the burning bush,
a. where Moses found himself standing on holy ground.
b. God was also a "pillar of fire" to the Children of Israel.
B. But, the Holy Spirit is also symbolized by fire.
i. On the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2),
a. the tongues of fire that sat on each of the disciples were the evidence of the Presence of the Holy Spirit.
ii. In Matthew 3:11, John says, "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire"
C. Fire has several qualities that relate to the Holy Spirit.
i. Fire Consumes...
a. God Himself is called a "consuming fire".
b. Lowell does a lot of work on the church grounds (for which I’m thankful)
a. One of the things he does is,
b. he will gather up a large pile of branches, leaves, and trash from the church property.
c. I’m talking big...maybe 6 feet high.
d. and then, when the weather is right,
e. he will burn it.
f. and that huge pile of debris
g. will be reduced to ashes.
c. The consuming fire is a fire of judgment.
a. burning and destroying sin.
ii. Fire purifies...
a. Sometimes, in those old Westerns,
a. when someone received a life threatening injury,
b. they would cauterize the wound as a way to
a. stop the bleeding
b. and kill the infection.
b. fire is used to heat precious metals up to the melting point...
c. and then skimming off any dross.
d. In Isaiah 6:7, a seraph touched a live ember to Isaiah’s lips
a. and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for"
iii. Fire softens...
a. when candle wax is burned, it begins to soften...
b. when gold or other precious metal is held to the fire...it softens.
c. When the Holy Spirit holds our life to the fire...
a. the hard shell of our life begins to soften,
b. so we can be molded into a tool fit for His use.
iv. Fire Hardens...
a. In metallurgy, they use the term "temper"...
a. when they heat certain metals and then cool them..
b. they are much stronger than before.
c. On the space shuttle,
a. they will use tempered screws and bolts,
b. because they are stronger and can withstand higher temperatures.
b. When the Holy Spirit tempers us...
a. we become stronger spiritually,
b. and we are better able to withstand the heat of temptation.
v. Fire warms and cheers...
a. when we are camping or hiking....
a. we like to have a campfire.
b. There’s something about a campfire that not only provides warmth,
c. but it also cheers us up.
b. In the same way...
a. the Holy Spirit encourages and warms and cheers.
5. WATER (John 4:14, 7:38-39)
A. Isaiah 44:3 says, "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.
B. John 7:38-39 says, "Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
C. Water speaks to us of life and refreshment.
i. without water, we would soon die.
ii. without water, the grass, plants and animals would suffer.
D. When our life becomes cracked and dry...
i. we need the refreshing flow of Holy Spirit Water to run through our life
ii. bringing healing and restoration to our heart and soul.
Conclusion
1. As I started to dig into this, I found about a dozen symbols of the Holy Spirit.
A. It makes a fascinating study.
B. Perhaps next week, we will look at some more.
2. The Holy Spirit is the 3rd Person of the Trinity.
A. He not only has the same qualities of God...
B. He IS God.
i. He was there are creation
ii. He was part of the birth of Jesus Christ
iii. and He has continuing activity in our lives today.
3. Let’s not just take the blessings we receive from the Holy Spirit...
A. let’s read the note.
B. Let’s get to KNOW Him personally.
#297 "Spirit of the Living God"
1 I was inspired by and used material from this book for this sermon. F. E. Marsh, “Emblems of the Holy Spirit” (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1963)
