Holy Spirit
Who is the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is a Person
John 14:17 → “...even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”
Matthew 28:19 → “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…”
2 Corinthians 13:14 → “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
The Holy Spirit is God
Acts 5:3-4 → “But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.”
The Holy Spirit is eternal and holy
John 14:16 → “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever…”
Hebrews 9:14 → “...how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”
Romans 1:4 → “...and was declared to be the son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord…”
Romans 5:5 → “...and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
The Holy Spirit has His own mind and He prays for us
Romans 8:27 → “...but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
The Holy Spirit has emotions
Isaiah 63:10 → “But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them.”
Ephesians 4:30 → “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
The Holy Spirit has His own desires and will
1 Corinthians 12:11 → “All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.”
The Holy Spirit is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient
Zechariah 4:6 → “Then he said to me, ‘This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.’”
Psalm 139:7-8 → “Where shall I go from you Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!”
1 Corinthians 2:10b → “...For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.”
Isaiah 40:13 → “Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel?”
What does the Holy Spirit do in our lives?
The Spirit helps us speak when we are in precarious situations and need to bear witness
Mark 13:11 → “And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.”
Luke 12:12→ “...for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very house what you ought to say.”
The Holy Spirit teaches and reminds us of what we need to know and remember (comforter, advisor, encourager, strength)
Psalm 143:10 → “Teach me to do you will, for you are my God! Let your Spirit lead me on level ground!”
John 14-16 → “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you…But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring your remembrance all that I have said to you…But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me…Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged…When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
Acts 9:31 → “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.”
Acts 13:2 → “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’”
Acts 15:28 → “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.”
1 Corinthians 2:9-10 → “But as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him’ – these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.”
1 John 5:6-8 → “This is he who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.”
We receive power to be God’s witnesses through the Holy Spirit
Acts 1:8 → “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Romans 8:26 → “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
Ephesians 3:16-19 → “...that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith – that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
The Spirit works to free us from the sins of our flesh that we would not be able to on our own
Romans 8:2 → “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”
The Spirit gives us a spirit of adoption which leads us to intimacy with God the Father
Romans 8:15-16 → “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God…”
The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin as we are justified and sanctified
John 16:7-11 → “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”
1 Thessalonians 1:5 → “...because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.”
The Spirit brings life and freedom
Romans 8:10-11 → “But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”
2 Corinthians 3:17 → “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.”
We have hope through the power of the Holy Spirit
Romans 15:13 → “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
We are given a manifestation of the Spirit for the purpose of common good – the Holy Spirit gives us purpose
1 Corinthians 12:7 → “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”
We bear fruit through the Holy Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control)
2 Corinthians 3:18 → “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
Galatians 5:22-23 → “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
Videos
The Holy Spirit and You | Billy Graham Classic
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit | Billy Graham Classic
Quotes
“The Lord challenges us to suffer persecutions and to confess him. He wants those who belong to him to be brave and fearless. He himself shows us how weakness of the flesh is overcome by courage of the Spirit. This is the testimony of the apostles and in particular of the representative, administrating Spirit. A Christian is fearless.” – Tertullian
“What does the Spirit do? His works are ineffable in majesty, and innumerable in quantity. How can we even ponder what extends beyond the ages? What did He do before creation began? How great are the graces He showered on creation? What power will He wield in the age to come? He existed; He pre-existed; He co-existed with the Father and the Son before the ages. Even if you can imagine anything before the ages, you will discover that the Spirit is even further beyond.” – St. Basil the Great
“The Christians’ life in all its aspects – intellectual and ethical, devotional and relational, upsurging in worship and outgoing in witness – is supernatural; only the Spirit can initiate and sustain it. So apart from him, not only will there be no lively believers and no lively congregations, there will be no believers and no congregations at all.” – J.I. Packer
“When we are at our wits’ end for an answer, then the Holy Spirit can give us an answer. But how can He give us an answer when we are still well supplied with all sorts of answers of our own?” – Karl Barth
“And to expose our hearts to truth and consistently refuse or neglect to obey the impulses it arouses is to stymie the motions of life within us and, if persisted in, to grieve the Holy Spirit into silence.” – A.W. Tozer
“What the soul is in our body, the Holy Spirit is in the body of Christ, which is the church.” – Augustine
“The union between the Father and Son is such a live concrete thing that this union itself is also a Person. I know that among human beings, when they get together in a family, or a club, or a trade union, people talk about the “spirit” of that family, or club, or trade union. They talk about its “spirit” because the individual members, when they are together, do really develop particular ways of talking and behaving which they would not have if they were apart. It is as if a sort of communal personality came into existence. Of course, it is not a real person: it is only rather like a person. But that is just one of the differences between God and us. What grows out of the joint life of the Father and Son is a real Person, is in fact the Third of the three Persons who are God. This third Person is called [. . .] the Holy Ghost or the ‘spirit’ of God.” – C.S. Lewis
Podcasts
The Bible Project
Bridgetown Church
Book: Francis Chan - Forgotten God
“If we read and believed these accounts, we would expect a great deal of the Holy Spirit. He would not be a mostly forgotten member of the Godhead whom we occasionally give a nod of recognition to, which is what He has become in most American churches. We would expect our new life with the Holy Spirit to look radically different from our old life without Him.”
“We should be stunned in disbelief over becoming a ‘new creation’ with the Spirit living in us. As the caterpillar finds its new ability to fly, we should be thrilled over our Spirit-empowered ability to live differently and faithfully.”
“Empowering His children with the strength of the Holy Spirit is something the Father wants to do…Do you believe that God in heaven gives His Spirit to those who ask? Do you really believe it? This truth and what it means is so incredible that no one who actually believes it could then fail to ask for the Holy Spirit.”
“The truth is that the Spirit of the living God is guaranteed to ask you to go somewhere or do something you wouldn’t normally want or choose to do. The Spirit will lead you to the way of the cross, as He led Jesus to the cross, and that is definitely not a safe or pretty or comfortable palace to be. The Holy Spirit of God will mold you into the person you were made to be.”
“Some conservatives may quench the Spirit by ignoring His working, but surely putting unbiblical words into the mouth of God is a form of quenching the Spirit as well. We need the Spirit in order to live faithfully. We also need one another as we work out our faith.”
“The Holy Spirit is not a commodity to be bought or traded according to our individual wants, whims, or even our felt needs.”
“The Spirit is intentional as He apportions these spiritual gifts to each person, according to His will and purposes. The most obvious and stated purpose of these manifestations is for the good and edification of the church. The Spirit desires to use us when our hearts are aligned with this vision, when we are filled with genuine love for the church, and when we desire to see the church grow in love for God and others.”
“A lot of people want to talk about supernatural things like miracles, healing, or prophecy. But focusing inordinately on these things quickly becomes misguided. God calls us to pursue Him, not what He might do for us even in our midst.”
“Desiring the Holy Spirit means we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us. By definition, it’s ridiculous to desire the Holy Spirit for our own purposes.”
“When we submit to the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit, He helps us become more like Jesus. It is a lifelong journey of putting our flesh to death…We cannot live submitted to the Spirit and at the same time gratify the flesh because these two are opposed to each other.”
“The way of the Spirit is not a gentle downhill grade. Often, walking with the Spirit is an uphill trudge through all sorts of distractions and difficulties. But while the path is winding and difficult, you are constantly moving in a particular direction, and that direction is set by the leading of the Spirit.”
“He [the Holy Spirit] assures us that we are in right standing with and loved by God. He guarantees believers of the gift of new life in Christ. He assures us that we have nothing to fear because we are His children and He is powerful. He tells us that we are accepted, fully and unconditionally. And He reminds us of the victory that is coming when God’s kingdom is fully realized.”
“You don’t need the Holy Spirit if you are merely seeking to live a semi-moral life and attend church regularly…You only need the Holy Spirit if you have genuinely repented and believe. And you only need the Holy Spirit if you understand that you are called to share in Christ’s suffering and death, as well as His resurrection.”
More Questions?
Let’s connect. We would love to hear from you.