The HOLY Spirit.
John 14:23-27
Dr. Roger W. Thomas, Preaching Minister
First Christian Church, Vandalia, MO
We are considering seven different names or descriptive terms for the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. So far we have examined two of the seven.
(1) The Spirit of God---the personal, powerful, presence of the Living God working in and through us. He is not an abstract force. He is the very personal and real God who loves and sustains us.
(2) The Spirit of Jesus—the continuing heavenly helper who calls attention to and reminds of what Jesus said and did in his earthly ministry. The task of the Spirit is to lead people to the Gospel of Jesus and lead them back to obedience to the teachings of Jesus. Some Bible scholars have referred to the Spirit as the “shy” member of the trinity because he seldom causes people to talk about himself, instead he turns the spotlight on Jesus. This factor is important because some mistakenly equate “spirituality” with how much a person or a church talks about the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches us that true spirituality always causes us to talk about Jesus.
The third name brings us to perhaps the most common title. It is no accident that the most frequent term used for this ministry of God is the HOLY Spirit. I want to attempt three tasks in this message. First, define the words HOLY and HOLINESS. Second, explain their importance. Third, insist on the possibility of personal holiness in the life of the believer and the church.
Holy/Holiness—The Definition.
We don’t use the term HOLY very often. We would be familiar with HOLY Bible. We might remember the biblical command to honor the Sabbath and keep it HOLY. The Bible says HOLY and reverend is the name of the Lord. Many use the expression HOLY communion to refer to the Lord’s Supper. A form of the same word is found in the Lord’s Prayer when it says “Hallowed be thy name.” Another form of the same word is used of believers when they are called “saints”, which really means holy ones.
So what is the meaning of the term, especially in the sense of the HOLY Spirit. First, in the phrase HOLY Spirit it is clear that we are speaking of a particular spirit. The Holy Spirit, not just any spirit. This is important since scripture also speaks of “unclean” spirits, deceiving spirits, and fallen spirits. Paul warns against those who preach a different spirit (2 Cor. 11:4). John exhorts Christians to “test the spirits” because there are many false spirits in the world (1 John 4). Isn’t spirituality, spirituality? Isn’t any spiritual experience or notion a good thing? Not at all!
We are not just talking about any spiritual power or unseen force or supernatural phenomena. We are talking about the HOLY Spirit. The Spirit whose very nature and character is HOLY.
Involved in the term is the notion of unique, something that is in a class all by itself. Or special in the sense of not common, not everyday. But behind all the uses of the word is the idea of “set apart for a purpose.” The Greeks who were not Christians used it to refer to religious things. If something were for use in a temple or for the worship of the gods, it was termed holy or consecrated. Anything else would be common, everyday, or secular. The pagans would refer to a building used exclusively for religious purposes as a holy place; a plate or utensil used only in worship was holy because it was used in coming before the gods. Our term sanctuary comes from this same Greek word. Our term sanctimonious is a derogatory term describing something that is pretending to be sanctified, to be something more than it is, to be more special than it really is.
The HOLY Spirit therefore is the Spirit that is special, set apart, or unique. We know by context that the reason is that the Spirit we are talking about is the very person and presence of God. Anything, according to the Bible’s view, that pertains to God is by its very nature HOLY.
This leads to an important difference between the way pagan Greeks used the term Holy and the way the Bible uses it. For the pagans the word never had any idea of morality, ethics, or right and wrong. In fact, most non-Christian religions, all non-biblical religions are a-moral. That is you don’t have to be particularly moral to be religious. Religion is merely a matter of ritual, ceremony, or magic. Morality and ethics belonged to another realm. In fact, many of the pagan religious ceremonies were little more than drunken orgies. And that was ok according to the thinking because religion and moral or ethical behavior had little to do with one another.
But not so in the Bible. As we shall see, the Bible takes this pagan religious term and baptizes it in the blood of Christ, and raises it up a new creation. Throughout the Bible, as can be seen in the Ten Commandments, religious behavior takes on moral consequences. Why? Because we serve a HOLY God. “Be Holy because I am Holy”, says the Lord (Leviticus 11:44).
In the Bible, that which is holy is never just something that has been through a ceremony or ritual; but something that has been dedicated to the Holy God and therefore is intended to reflect his nature and character. The Holy Spirit is the presence of the Living Holy God who works in and through us to make us more and more like Him. His purpose is to develop us into people who are “conformed to the image of his Son.” (Rom 8:19) His job is to make us people for whom it is second nature, should I say, new nature to live according to the question “what would Jesus do.” The HOLY Spirit’s business is to make us holy, to make us “saints”--a term the Bible always uses for every believer.
Holiness—Its’ Importance.
The result of having the HOLY Spirit at work in our lives is called holiness, a quality of life that reflects God’s presence and importance. This leads to our second concern—the importance of holiness in the life of a believer.
The Bible makes if very clear, “without holiness a person will not see God” (Hebrews 12:15). “It is God’s will,” 1 Thessalonians 4:3 says, “that you be sanctified.” This makes perfect sense. To be saved means to be changed, to be made a new person, to be rescued from a hell directed life to a heaven directed life. We are taken from living a way of life that leaves God out to one that is set apart for him. Who does that: the Holy Spirit.
As Romans 8 puts it, “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.” (5-8)
Jerry Bridges in his excellent book The Pursuit of Holiness (NavPress, 1978) offers a pointed illustration: I recall a young man, a fairly new Christian, whose father was visiting him. The young man had not seen his father for several years. He was eager to share his newfound faith with his dad.
Several days later, I asked him how it had gone with his witness. He told me his dad had claimed to have received Christ when he went forward at an evangelistic meeting as a youngster, something his son had never heard before. Bridges says, I asked the young man, “In all the years you were growing up, did you ever see any evidence that your father was a Christian?” His answer was “NO.”
Bridges asks a penetrating question: What reason do we have to put confidence in that man’s salvation? He was almost 60 and had never once given his son any evidence that he was a Christian.
He concludes: the only safe evidence that we are in Christ is a holy life. John said everyone who has within him the hope of eternal life purifies himself just as Christ is pure (1 John 3:3). . . . If we know nothing of holiness, we may flatter ourselves that we are Christians, but we don’t have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.
This reminds me of the one question that Former President Jimmy Carter said changed his attitude toward Christ: if you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?
Do you get it? The issue is not whether you have been down the aisle, been baptized, gone to church and Sunday school for years, as important and helpful as all of these may be. The ultimate question is have you been born again of the HOLY Spirit and is there observable evidence that the HOLY Spirit is producing his work in you.
Listen to the way two key passages of Scripture explain this—
First consider 1 Cor 6:9-20:
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
The good news is that any sin can be forgiven. God will accept and forgive any sinner of any sin. But that’s only half story. God does love you enough to accept you the way you are. But he loves you too much to leave you that way. When you are saved, the Holy Spirit comes to live in you and the result is a changing life.
12“Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13“Food for the stomach and the stomach for food”—but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
These statements were probably the reasonings of some of the problem people in Corinth who were contending that as “spiritual” Christians (quite likely evidenced in their minds by speaking in tongues) they were no longer restricted by the narrow rules of the past. Christ had set them free. Paul agrees with the principle but not the conclusion. They were free from the limiting rules of religion, but not the call to a holy life before Christ. Paul will insist that they still have limits. Only now the limit is on the inside rather than the outside.
14By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”£ 17But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 18Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
The way we live is important because we are not our own. Another has purchased us; we do not belong to ourselves. This is the key idea of the Holy Spirit’s work. Did you catch the significance of vs. 19: Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. There is that idea of something that has been consecrated, set apart. The term for temple was a special one; it referred to the most inner part of the Jewish temple, the place where God’s presence was manifest. That part of the temple was restricted territory. Not just anyone could enter it any time. It was HOLY. It was a sanctuary.
Please understand this room is not truly a sanctuary in this full sense. It is nonsense to believe that it alone is consecrated to God. It is that. But so is anyplace a Christian prays and worships and listens for the Word of God. Hopefully, this isn’t the only place where that happens in your experience. Your kitchen table, your bedroom, your living room chair, the drivers seat of your car—can all be sanctuaries, places dedicated to experiencing the presence of God. Any place, a child of God goes becomes a special place because that person is a special person.
To desecrate this room to abuse it, vandalize it would be terrible. But it is also terrible, to desecrate any part of a life that has been devoted to God.
A second passage also emphasizes holiness and the Holy Spirit --1 Thess 4:1-8:
1Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. 2For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
3It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4that each of you should learn to control his own body£ in a way that is holy and honorable, 5not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; 6and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. 7For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
Both of these illustrations make a big deal of sexual conduct. Did you ever wonder why? The passages make it clear that the issue has nothing to do with disease, danger, or even mutual consent. That would be the line in our day, what’s wrong with something as long as everyone is willing and no body gets hurt.
Remember the dominant thinking of our day is The Gospel according to Oprah. If it makes you feel good or feel good about yourself, how can it be wrong; if it makes you feel bad, makes you sad, or makes you feel guilty, how can it be right! That is NOT the Gospel according to Christ. Woe be those who don’t understand the difference!
Nor is Christian holiness and Christ-like conduct a matter of taking a poll to find out what most people think or accept. Living in the Spirit of holiness is not comparative. What others do or don’t do is not the issue. What would Jesus do is?
Did you hear about the two evil brothers? They were rich and notoriously evil. One brother died and the other was determined to give him a proper funeral.
The surviving brother approached the local priest and offered him $100,000 if he would preside at his departed brother’s funeral and say that he was a saint. The priest, being an honorable man, declined, saying, “I couldn’t say that for a million dollars. Your brother was a scoundrel.”
The brother approached the local rabbi and made the same offer. The rabbi was also a man of integrity. “I wouldn’t say that for any amount of money. Everybody knows your brother was good for nothing.”
Finally, he approached the pastor of small Bible church. He knew the church could use the money. He made the same offer. He would give the pastor $100,000. All he had to do was to say that his departed brother was a saint.
The day came for the funeral. The pastor said all the appropriate things that he always said at such a time. Just before the benediction, however, he departed from the normal pattern and began to talk about the deceased.
The pastor did not hold back. "He was an evil man," he said. "He cheated on his wife and abused his family." After going on in this way for a considerable length of time, he paused and concluded, good to his word with: "But, compared to his brother, he was a saint."
What’s wrong with sexual immorality, or other acts of ungodliness, for that matter, is that it is contrary to God’s intended, created purpose for us. It has nothing to do with social acceptance, the most recent public opinion poll, or what an evil sibling may be doing. The standard is God. His Spirit is holy and special. Anyone he abides in has been set aside for a special purpose, to reflect the character of God.
Holiness is important! It is a God thing! If the Spirit of God dwells in you—You are a God thing!
Holiness—Its Possibility.
Because he is the Holy Spirit, when he enters into a believer’s life and begins his work—the most fundamental result after a concentration on Jesus is ever increasing holiness--a moral and spiritual quality that can also be called godliness. We begin to act, talk, and behave like God in our moral and ethical character.
Here comes a big question: Aren’t we all sinners? Isn’t it too much to expect mere mortals like us to live holy lives? Surely, the Bible can’t mean it when it says that without holiness no man will see God?
I want you to hear clearly, holiness is possible. You don’t have to live a life controlled or dominated by sin. You can live a new life. But you can’t do it by yourself. The Holy Spirit can do it through you. No longer can we excuse our selves by saying, I couldn’t help myself. May be you couldn’t, but the Holy Spirit could help you--if in fact He resides in you.
William Temple, great British Bible scholar of the last century, explains this principle this way: “It is no good giving me a play like Hamlet or King Lear and telling me to write a play like that. Shakespeare could do it; I can’t. And it no good showing me a life like that of Jesus and telling me to live a life like that. Jesus could do it; I can’t. But if the genius of Shakespeare could come and live in me, then I could write plays like that. And if the Spirit of Jesus could come and live in me, then I could live a life like that.”
Remember Romans 8:9-11, “ You are controlled not by your sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.”
Listen to these important words: Galatians 5:16-25--
16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
If the Holy Spirit is in us, we are in the process of being made more and more like Jesus. It is not always easy. We do not always succeed completely. We are not a finished product. We are not everything we are going to be. But through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, we are not at all like we once were. But we will never be that, if we think we can do it on our own or if we are satisfied with what we already are.
It is very important to note that in the Bible the evidence of the presence of the Spirit is the fruit of the Spirit—this list of moral and ethical virtues. The proof of the Spirit is not whether a person walks on water but whether he walks like Jesus in righteousness and mercy and integrity. The proof of the Spirit is not “speaking in other tongues” as much as it is speaking in your mother tongue with truthfulness, self-control, and purity.
One thing is clear, where the Holy Spirit is at work, no one ever rationalizes, condones, or excuses moral failure. The Holy Spirit never leads one to say of sin, it’s not so bad, everyone does it. Our world may teach us to take sin and unholiness lightly as if Christ’s blood poured out for sin’s price were a trivial matter. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment and through that conviction brings us to the Gospel where we are not only pardoned of the penalty of sin, but where we are strengthened to over come the power of sin.
The classic hymn, Rock of Ages, speaks of this in its first verse:
Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hid myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood, From Thy riven side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure, Cleanse me from its guilt and power.
Step by step, bit-by-bit, the HOLY Spirit grows in us the character and righteousness of Jesus. He is the HOLY Spirit.
How can this be? It is a promise grounded in the faithfulness of God:
13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. (1 Cor 10:13)
Let me introduce you to the Holy Spirit. He is the HOLY Spirit. His work is to make us holy and righteous, a task we cannot complete on our own, but he can. He is the HOLY Spirit.
Summary: We have considered three of the seven names of the Spirit. The Spirit of God---the personal, powerful, presence of the Living God working in and through us.
The Spirit of Jesus—the continuing heavenly helper who calls attention to and reminds of what Jesus said and did. The Holy Spirit—the one who works in and through us to make us godly and Christ like.
Do you know this Holy Spirit. Is he working in you? Is the product of his ministry obvious and increasing? How do we get there . . . it is not by personal works, not religious ritual (not even baptism), not by seeking some spectacular supernatural manifestation, not by some deep emotional experience. It begins and ends somewhere else.
Jesus said this Holy Spirit is yours for the asking: If you then, he said, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” (Luke 11:13)
Are you ready to ask?
***Dr. Roger W. Thomas is the preaching minister at First Christian Church, 205 W. Park St., Vandalia, MO 63382 and an adjunct professor of Bible and Preaching at Central Christian College, 911 E. Urbandale, Moberly, MO. He is a graduate of Lincoln Christian College (BA) and Lincoln Christian Seminary (MA, MDiv), and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (DMin).
