TEXT: 1 PETER 1:23
AIM: To be acquainted with the third person in the trinity.
INTRO: There is only one God, and this God has always existed in a trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our understanding of the Holy Spirit is therefore tied up with our understanding of the Trinity, and that in turn is tied up with the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.
I. DEMONSTRATIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
A. wind (1 Kings 18:45)
B. breath (Gen 7:15,22)
C. spirit (in the sense of a person’s life or feelings) (Gen 41:8; 45:27).
II. THE HOLY SPIRIT IN RELATION TO GOD
A. Wind to direct the course of nature (Gen 8:1; Exod 10:19)
B. breath of God’s ‘nostrils’ or ‘mouth’, by which he did mighty deeds (Ps 18:15; 33:6), or to his spirit, through which he had power, actions and feelings as a living being (Gen 1:2; 6:3).
C. It was not only full of life itself but was also life-giving (Judg 6:34; 2 Kings 2:16; Job 33:4; Ps 104:30; Ezek 37:14).
D. On certain occasions this Spirit of God, or power of God, came upon selected people for specific purposes.
E. It may have resulted in victorious leadership (Judg 3:10; 6:34; Zech 4:6)
F. superhuman strength (Judg 14:6,19; 15:14; 16:20)
G. artistic ability and knowhow (Exod 31:3-5)
H. Frequently it produced unusual behaviour (Num 11:25-29; 1 Sam 10:6,10-11; 19:23-24).
I. Always it was on the side of right and opposed to wrong (Ps 51:10-12; Isa 32:15-16; 63:10; Micah 3:8).
J. Prophets who received God’s messages and passed them on to his people did so through the activity of God’s Spirit upon them (2 Sam 23:2; 2 Chron 24:20; Neh 9:30; Isa 61:1; Zech 7:12)
III. GOD’S PROMISE ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT
A. That a day was coming when not merely selected people, but all God’s people, regardless of status, sex or age, would have God’s Spirit poured out upon them (Joel 2:28-29; cf. Num 11:29; Ezek 36:27).
B. And the one upon whom God’s Spirit would rest in a special way was the Messiah (Isa 11:1-5).
C. In spite of all this, it is probably still true to say that when the Old Testament people spoke of the Spirit of God, they were thinking more of the living and active power of God than of a person within a trinity.
D. They probably had no more understanding of the Spirit of God as a person within a triune Godhead than they had of the Son of God as a person within a triune Godhead.
E. These Old Testament believers, however, did not regard the Spirit as simply an impersonal force. They identified the Spirit with a personal God, yet at the same time they made some distinction between God the Almighty and his Spirit (Gen 1:1-2; 1 Sam 16:13; Ezek 37:26).
F. It was all a preparation for the fuller revelation of the Trinity that came through the life and work of Jesus Christ.
G. Jesus With the coming of Jesus came a much clearer revelation concerning the Spirit of God. People may not always have realized it, but every work ever done in people’s hearts, whether in turning them initially to God or in creating new character within them, was the work of God’s unseen Spirit.
H. In more spectacular demonstrations of God’s working, the Spirit of God had come upon selected people for certain tasks, but Jesus had the Spirit without limit. He lived his life and carried out his work through the unlimited power of God’s Spirit working through him unceasingly (Isa 11:1-5; 42:1-4; Matt 1:18; 3:16- 17; 12:28; Luke 4:1,14,18; John 3:34-35; Acts 10:38).
I. Through Jesus people now began to have a new understanding of the Spirit. As Jesus’ baptism showed, God the Father was in heaven, God the Son was on earth, and God the Spirit had come from the Father to rest upon the Son (Matt 3:16-17).
J. Through Jesus it was shown that the Spirit was more than merely the power of God. Certainly, the Spirit demonstrated the power of God, but people now began to see that the Spirit was a person – someone distinct from Father and Son, yet equal with them and inseparably united with them (Matt 28:19; John 14:15-17; 16:13-15; Acts 5:30-32; 1 Cor 12:4-6).
IV. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
A. Unlike the Son, the Spirit did not become flesh, but he was still a person, having knowledge, desires and feelings (Acts 16:6; Rom 8:27; 15:30; 1 Cor 2:11,13; Eph 4:30).
B. Nor was the Spirit merely a ‘part’ of God. He was God himself (Acts 5:3-4; 1 Cor 3:16; 6:19-20). The Spirit always had been fully God and fully personal, even in Old Testament times.
C. The difference between Old and New Testament times was not that there was some change or development in the Holy Spirit (for since he is God, he is eternal and unchanging; Heb 9:14). There may have been a change in the way the Spirit worked, and there was a development in how people understood the Spirit, but the Spirit himself did not change.
D. With the coming of Jesus and the events that followed in the early church, people now had a better understanding of what God had been doing during the pre-Christian era.
E. hey now saw more in Old Testament references to the Spirit of God than the Old Testament believers themselves understood (cf. Joel 2:28-29 with Acts 2:16-18; cf. Zech 7:12 with Acts 7:51; 28:25; 1 Peter 1:11).
F. Once God had come into the world in the person of Jesus, Jesus became the means by which God gave his Spirit to others (John 1:33; 20:22). Jesus became the one mediator between God and the human race.
G. No one could come to the Father except through Jesus, and no one could receive God’s Spirit except through Jesus (John 14:6,16-17,26; 15:26; Acts 2:33).
V. THE PROMISE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
A. Jesus left his disciples and return to his Father; for then they too would be indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit (John 14:17; 16:7).
B. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ Although the Holy Spirit is a separate person from the Son, he is inseparably united with the Son, as the Son is with the Father (John 5:43; 14:26).
C. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Christ. He bears the stamp of Jesus’ character, as Jesus bore the stamp of his Father’s character (Acts 16:6-7; Rom 8:9; Gal 4:6; Phil 1:19; 1 Peter 1:11; cf. Heb 1:3).
D. Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus continues to abide with his disciples, even though physically he is no longer in the world (John 14:18; Gal 2:20; Col 1:27).
E. The Spirit is called the Counsellor or Helper, for he gives Jesus’ followers the same counsel or help as Jesus gave them when he was physically with them. Through the Holy Spirit, the presence of Jesus, previously limited to first century Palestine, becomes timeless and worldwide (John 14:16,18,26; 15:26; 16:7).
F. It is impossible, therefore, to have the Spirit without having Christ. Equally it is impossible to have a relationship with God through the Spirit but not through Christ (Acts 2:38; Rom 8:9-11).
G. The Spirit does not exalt himself above Christ, for the Spirit’s task is to direct people to Christ (John 15:26; 1 Cor 12:3).
H. There is no competition between the Spirit and Christ, for the Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. Life ‘in Christ’ is life ‘in the Spirit’ and vice versa (Rom 8:1,9; 2 Cor 3:14-18).
I. Just as Jesus received his authority from the Father, glorified the Father and taught people about the Father, so the Spirit receives his authority from Christ, glorifies Christ and teaches people about Christ (cf. John 8:28 with John 16:13; cf. John 17:4 with John 16:14; cf. John 17:8 with John 14:26, 16:15).
CONCLUSION:
Through the Spirit we now have the freedom, and the power, to develop the righteousness that the law aimed at but could never produce (Rom 8:1-4; 2 Cor 3:6,17; Gal 5:5). This change in the behavior of believers does not happen automatically as a result of the Spirit’s dwelling within them. But if the Spirit of Christ has control in their lives and is directing their self-discipline and effort, the result will be a quality of character that is like that of Christ himself (Rom 14:17; 2 Cor 3:18; Gal 5:22-23)
CHALLENGE:
Have self-discipline and effort (Rom 12:9-13; 1 Cor 9:27; Gal 6:7-10; Eph 6:11-18; 2 Tim 2:1-6). The production of spiritual fruit, not the exercise of spiritual gift, is the evidence of the Spirit’s working in our lives. Even those who are unspiritual can exercise abilities given them by the Spirit, but they cannot produce the character that only the Spirit of God can create (cf. 1 Cor 1:7; 3:1-4; 12:1-3).
