The Holy Spirit: A Living Gift

Title: The Holy Spirit: A Living Gift

Text: “Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. (John 14:17)

Bible Reading: (John 14:15-20)

15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.

20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

11-18-03

Introduction

There are many different options available to someone who is eager to give a gift to someone he or she loves.

Some gifts are made from the lifeless materials that are found in nature, so they last a long time.

Other gifts, like cut flowers are perishable.

There are also living gifts like puppies, kittens, and beautiful growing plants.

Our heavenly Father has seen fit to give the believer a living gift of a different nature.

It is placed within the mind and heart of His children at the moment of their conversion.

This gift is the Holy Spirit, who is the living presence of God Himself.

Our message today is about the Holy Spirit.

I want to show you first that the Holy Spirit is a living gift.

Then we will see from God’s Word that the Holy Spirit is a divine person.

I remember a time, and it wasn’t too long ago, when people were saying God is dead.

I don’t hear that today, thank God.

What I am hearing is that God loves us and He is actively drawing us to Himself.

AND MORE AND MORE PEOPLE ARE AWARE OF GOD’S GIFT—THE HOLY SPIRIT, WHO LIVES WITHIN EVERY BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER.

It is important to know that the Holy Spirit is not just a mere influence that comes from God.

The Holy Spirit is more than a force, like magnetism, or gravity, or electricity.

As we read our scriptures today, notice that Jesus, and Paul, and John use the personal masculine pronoun “He” to describe the living gift from God.

But there are those who would pose the question, “What is the purpose of the Holy Spirit?”

They might say, “I believe in Him, that He is part of the Trinity, but I just don’t understand what He does.”

So, I will answer that question by describing for you seven of the functions of the Holy Spirit that are available to all of God’s children.

First, the Holy Spirit speaks to us to communicate what God wants us to know.

In the Revelation of John, Jesus said, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God” (Revelations 2:7).

This is a command for us to pay attention.

We can spot three truths in this verse.

What is written in the scriptures is spoken by the Spirit of God.

What is said to one church concerns all the churches, in every place and any time.

We can never use our sense of hearing better than in listening to the word of God.

And we deserve to lose our hearing if we do not use our ears for this purpose.

Second, the Holy Spirit intercedes on behalf of those who have received Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Paul understood that the Spirit helps believers know how to pray.

He said this in his letter to the Romans.

“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26).

The Spirit puts into words those prayer burdens that God’s people cannot even express.

Even when we don’t know what to say to God, the Holy Spirit interprets our innermost feelings and intercedes in our behalf.

The Spirit of God makes intercession for the saints of God.

Therefore, intercession is made for us not only by God the Son, who sits at the right hand of God the Father, but also by God the Spirit who dwells within the believer.

The third function of the Holy Spirit it that He testifies about Jesus Christ.