17. The Holy Spirit
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
THE HOLY SPIRIT
“Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts" (Zechariah 4:6).
“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:1-4).
The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit-as pictured at the very top of the Art Chart (www.BibleSupport.com/a/gppc.png). He is from the beginning.
During the time of Old Testament history, the Holy Spirit came upon godly men, and He was wonderfully active through them. The work of the Holy Spirit was then creative, directing and energizing. His manifestations were occasional and special. The Old Testament expression is that “the Holy Spirit came upon” men. The Holy Spirit came from heaven to direct the lives of such men as Enoch, Noah, Job, Abraham, Moses, Daniel, Isaiah, Elijah and Elisha. In the book of Isaiah 41:10, the Lord said, “Fear thou not for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness"
Later on, when Jesus was here on earth, He talked with His disciples about the Holy Spirit. He told them that He Himself must go away, and after that the Holy Spirit would come to them, to remain in them, His church (See John 14:17).
He said “It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you" (John 16:7). The descent of the Holy Spirit to the church, therefore, depended upon the ascension of Jesus Christ. This descent is pictured on the Art Chart (www.BibleSupport.com/a/gppc.png) in the age of Grace following the ascension of Jesus Christ. Jesus, while on earth, knew that He must go away to take His place at the right hand of God where He is now. He knew that He was to be our High Priest, after the order of Melchizedec to make intercession for us, His followers.
Jesus ascended into heaven as He said, but before He ascended He performed the great mission of His life. He gave His life a ransom for many. He became a sacrifice by giving His shed blood. He was the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. He had such great love for us that He atoned for our sins. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).
Jesus arose from the grave. He became the first-fruits of them that slept. He conquered sin and death and He is alive now and forevermore. We accept Him as our Saviour by believing in Him. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house"
Jesus Christ sent the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, after His ascension, as He said He would do. He sent him at the time of Pentecost, to dwell within His disciples. The Holy Spirit was what Jesus told His disciples He would be, an advocate, His representative to dwell within His people. The Holy Spirit is Christ without the limitations of the flesh and of the material world. He did what the limitations of the flesh could not do. Thus Calvary opened the fountain from which was poured forth on the disciples the blessings of Pentecost.
Jesus said, “I will build My Church" This Church was empowered at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit came as an advocate of Christ to build the Church, Christ’s bride, to direct the Church, and to remain within the Church as long as it remains upon earth, or until the Rapture. The Holy Spirit came to earth to convict the world of sin. He came to convince the world of righteousness and of judgment.
At Pentecost, the lives of the disciples there assembled were transformed by the Holy Spirit. A new power went to work in the throne of their hearts. Fear was gone. They spoke the truth.
Jesus said to His disciples while He was on earth “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" (John 14:26). The Bible tells, in Acts 4:31; Acts 4:33 of another group of people who received the Holy Spirit.
“And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spoke the Word of God with boldness, and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection"
The Christian church today should be filled with the Holy Spirit. He dwells in the bodies of the believers, for they are the temples of the living God. He instructs the believer and inspires him to prayer which must prevail. The Holy Spirit can reveal what Christ could not speak. He quickens our mortal bodies. He gives health at the same time that He gives life. He makes possible to the believer sufficient energy and strength for a greater work. When the Christian is filled with the Holy Spirit, he receives the gift of power. Men today can be transformed by Him into humble, powerful witnesses for Christ. A person without the Holy Spirit cannot do the work of Christ, for his life is powerless.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth, but also the spirit of conviction, the spirit of witness, the spirit of power, the spirit of life, the spirit of holiness, the spirit of help, the spirit of adoption, the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of liberty, the spirit of meekness, the spirit of promise, the spirit of love, the spirit of grace, the spirit of revelation, the spirit of prophecy, the spirit of a sound mind, the spirit of glory. In the fullness of the Spirit, there is abundance of wisdom, of resources, and of power. The Spirit-filled man is God’s own perfect model for our lives. Such a person is close to God. He loves to commune with God. There he finds his thorough preparation and power for service. There may be many fillings with the Holy Spirit, but there is only one baptism.
There are many different kinds of places where Spirit-filled men and women have different kinds of experiences while alone with God. Every believer must have time alone with God.
This communion with God may be in one’s room or in his study or out in the garden or in the orchard or in the beautiful woods. It may take place in the early morning or in the evening twilight while on the still lake alone in a boat or a canoe. It may be up on the lofty mountain top or down along the quiet seashore or by the mighty ocean, that emblem of majestic decision. “If thou wouldst understand thyself, send the multitude away" It is in solitude, alone with God, that we catch the mystic notes that issue from the soul of things, and become surcharged with power divine. “Into the woods my Master went” but out of the woods my Master came, prepared for service. The gifts and functions of the Holy Spirit are many.
1. He is the author of the new birth (John 3:5-6).
2. He was sent by Christ from the Father (John 15:26).
3. He is the gift of the Father (Nehemiah 9:20).
4. He is sent in the name of Christ (John 14:26).
5. He testifies of Christ (John 15:26).
6. He was given upon the exaltation of Christ (Psalms 68:18).
7. He imparts the love of God (Romans 5:3-5).
8. He is given for instruction (Nehemiah 9:20).
9. He imparts hope (Romans 15:13).
10. He dwells forever with the saints (John 14:16-17).
11. He teaches the saints (John 14:26).
12. He edifies the church (Acts 9:31).
13. He sanctifies the church (Ezekiel 37:28; Romans 15:16).
14. He is the Comforter of the church (Acts 9:31).
15. He was given through the intercession of Christ (John 14:16).
16. He is the source of wisdom (Isaiah 11:12).
17. He is given in answer to prayer (Luke 11:13).
18. He strives with sinners (Genesis 6:3).
19. He is given according to promise (Acts 2:38-39).
20. He is given to those who repent and believe (Acts 2:38).
21. He is given to those who obey God (Acts 5:32).
22. He regenerates the believer (Romans 8:1-39).
23. He is given to the Gentiles (Acts 10:44-45).
24. He is received through faith (Galatians 3:14).
25. He is an evidence of union with Christ (1 John 3:24).
26. He is given as a pledge to the continued favor of God (Ezekiel 39:29).
27. He guides into all truth (John 16:13).
28. He reveals the things of Christ (John 16:14).
29. He directs our path (Acts 16:6-7).
30. He searches all things (Romans 11:33-34).
31. He teaches saints to endure and answer persecution (Mark 13:11).
32. He creates and gives life (Job 33:4).
33. He helps our infirmities (Romans 8:26).
34. He appoints and commissions His servants (Isaiah 48:16).
35. He directs where to preach (1 Corinthians 2:13; Acts 16:6-7; Acts 16:10).
36. He instructs what to preach (1 Corinthians 2:13).
37. He directs the decisions of the church (Acts 15:26).
38. He enables ministers to preach (1 Corinthians 12:8).
39. He spoke in and by the prophets (Acts 1:16).
. He reveals the future (Luke 2:26).
41. He is the source of miraculous power (Matthew 12:28).
42. He baptizes all believers into one body, the church (1 Corinthians 12:13).
43. The world cannot receive Him (John 14:17).
44. It is not by might nor by power but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts (Zechariah 4:6).
The emblems of the Holy Spirit are several:
A dove (Matthew 3:16);
Fire which illuminates, purifies, and searches (Matthew 3:11);
Oil which consecrates, heals, and purifies (Psalms 45:7);
Rain, which refreshes and fertilizes; a seal which authenticates and makes secure; a voice which guides, speaks, and warns (Isaiah 6:8);
Water which fertilizes, refreshes, cleanses, and is freely given (John 3:5);
Wind which is powerful, is independent, and revives (John 3:8).
There is strife, and always has been, between the Holy Spirit and the spirit of evil, the devil.
The one is contrary to the other. The flesh guided by the devil lusteth after the spirit, and the spirit after the flesh.
The Spirit leads heavenward. “The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance [with a dividend of assurance, strength, security, unselfishness, victory, happiness, understanding, satisfaction, encouragement, holy ambition, good influence, happy homes and heaven eternal]. If we are led by the Spirit, we are not under the law"
On the contrary, the flesh leads downward and profiteth nothing, as it follows the evil one. “The works of the flesh are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulation, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like" (Galatians 5:17-21). They that do these things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:14).
The mind of man when apart from the mind of God is inefficient, unsteady and powerless. Human philosophy may seek the solution of the basic problems of life by man’s own power, but it still does not give man the power necessary to solve these problems. Man cannot by the senses perceive the non-perceivable, nor by the reason know the unknowable. Man’s mind is only bewildered by great mysteries, and in need of wisdom.
Man always knows what he ought to be, and he knows also that he has always fallen far short of his goal. What he needs now is not more light merely, but more power. Man alone is oppressed and weighed down by great sins. He is in need of forgiveness, deliverance, and freedom from sin. Slaves of sin are not free.
Human philosophy may be true, and the greatest of the mental interests of man, but it never can be adequate to bring man into the haven of peace with God and power with man.
The feeble light of human wisdom cannot look into the inscrutable future or explore the dark recesses of the human heart. The history of human thought shows that the world by wisdom knew not God.
Peace and power are found in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit makes known great mysteries with such simplicity that the newly born Christian can grasp them and apply them. Believers are forgiven for sin through Jesus Christ, for “there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
What man needs is to know the almighty Lord who forgives, and who transforms man’s life and enables him to be perfect as his Father in heaven is perfect. Freedom then is no more an unsolved problem, for through the miracle of grace the saved man has been emancipated from the law of sin. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made him free from the law of sin and death. Then, the mysteries of life that have perplexed man in all ages have received their final solutions through the Holy Spirit.
Faith rests in a knowledge of Jesus Christ. Man must know Him. The church must explore the resources of the Holy Spirit. The Church must search the Scriptures. God hath revealed life unto us by His Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God and maketh them clear unto us (1 Corinthians 2:10).
God can and He will use a church whose people and pastor are Spirit-filled. Any church today, as in past years, which falls short of this high ideal of life will miss its high calling, however pretentious its claims or however elaborate its organization.
Unfortunately, the modern church of today is becoming a man-managed, world-annexing, priest-pretending church, and as such it cannot please God. It can never save the world from sin and fulfill the mission of Christ. The modern church is weakening in its spiritual power. In fact, it is gradually declining in its spiritual birth-rate.
The true church of Jesus Christ is Spirit-filled. God wants such a Church today. “Let this mind be in you which is in Christ Jesus".