06.08. Fresh Wind of Comfort and Conviction
Fresh Wind of Comfort and Conviction Acts 2:1-2 ; John 16:7-14
Acts 2:1-2 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
John 16:7-14 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; 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. 8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 Of sin, because they believe not on me; 10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. 12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
One of the most understood, under emphasized and overemphasized doctrines in the scripture is the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. We have extremes on both ends of the doctrine. The charismatic are on the overemphasized end and at times Baptist are on the under emphasized end of the spectrum. Paul Van Gorder said concerning the Holy Spirit, "If Satan can’t stop you by putting tacks under your tires, giving you a flat and slowing you down, then he will climb up beside you in the seat and say, "step on the gas!" (Paul R. Van Gorder, Power from on High, 1979 Radio Bible Class, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49555. pp 32. p. 9) I wish to look at the doctrine of the Holy Spirit first by seeing the Holy Spirit as eternal God and as Creator. Next we will explore His relationship to the scriptures, to the believers and finally to the lost man.
I- The Holy Spirit as Eternal God.
Who or what is the Holy Spirit? Man in his religions has called the Spirit many things. The Indians referred to him as the Great Spirit. The movie Star Wars called what they understood as a supernatural power "the force." But the question is Who or what is He as revealed by the Word of God. We see in our text that He is not an "it". In these verses He is referred to with a personal pronoun at least 12 times. In John 16:13 alone the Spirit is called "he" 6 times. So we can say with scriptural authority that He is a person not a force or an it. The concept of the Holy Spirit being the third person of the triune (3 in 1) Godhead is easily understood by exploring scripture. Genesis 1:1 records that "God created the heavens and the earth" God here is Elohim, which in the Hebrew is a plural noun. Genesis 1:2 records that the "Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light..." We have here the Spirit of God, or the Holy Spirit, as well as the Father. By this we know the Holy Spirit was in the beginning and in fact is God. When God created man He said, "Let us make man in our image." We also see the three persons of the trinity at the baptism of Jesus. The Holy Spirit descends like a dove, the Father speaks and the Son is present in the flesh. Luke 3:22 "And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased." In addition it was by the power of the Holy Spirit that the Son did the miracles. An interesting thing is He is not recorded doing any miracles prior to the Holy Spirit coming upon Him.
II- The Holy Spirit as Creator.
As we have already seen the Holy Spirit was active in creation. I want to get more specific and talk about the Holy Spirit and the creation of man. Genesis 2:7 record the creation of the first man, Adam, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." The Hebrew word translated here for breath of live is "neshamah" (nesh-aw-maw’); and according to Strong Concordance means "a puff, i.e. wind, angry or vital breath, divine inspiration, intellect. or (concretely) an animal: " (Strong, James, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Riverside Book and Bible House, Iowa Falls, Iowa 50126, p 81 Hebrew and Chaldee Dictrionary.) In the KJV it is also translated blast, breath, that breatheth, inspiration, soul, spirit. The word that is translated in the NT scriptures for spirit is the word "pneuma" in Greek. I want us to notice however what happened spiritually to man. It says that man, "became a living soul." Adam was not only alive physically but also spiritually. The Holy Spirit dwelled within Adam to give Him spiritual life. Hold this thought for a moment until we get to The Holy Spirit and the Saved.
III- The Holy Spirit and the Scriptures
The Holy Spirit was and is very active in His relationship to the written word of God. It was the Spirit that moved in the hearts of men to write the scriptures. He was the instrument of revelation of God to man. He inspired them to write. He now is active in the illumination of the word. 1 Corinthians 2:14 states, "...the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." Paul had stated 1 Kings 2:10-11 "...the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. ...the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." We know that the spiritual book, written by God the Spirit must therefore be brought to light by the Spirit for us to understand. The Baptist Faith and Message states it this way. "He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Thought illumination He enable me to understand truth." (Hobbs, Herschel H., The Baptist Faith and Message. Nashville: Convention Press, 1971. pp. 150. Page 33.) IV- The Holy Spirit and the Saved.
In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit came upon men only at special times. He did not dwell with mankind. The Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost came to dwell within men. Pentecost is rightfully called the birth of the church. In addition the same way that Bethlehem was the birth of Jesus Christ, who was alive from eternity past, Pentecost can be said to be the birth of the Holy Spirit who was from eternity past. Christ came to dwell among men at Bethlehem and the Holy Spirit came to dwell within believers at Pentecost. We hear it said today "we need a new Pentecost." However, Pentecost cannot be repeated any more than Bethlehem can. We do not need the Spirit to come again for He is already here we simply need to surrender to Him more. We will look at four verses in the New Testament that describes the relationship that believers have with the Holy Spirit. A- John 3:5 says we are born by the Spirit. Now we return to the story of Adam and the fall. We know that the Holy Spirit was the giver of spiritual life to Adam. When Adam sinned the Holy Spirit withdrew from Adam and he died. Zephaniah 2:1, Zephaniah 2:5; Colossians 2:13 all teach that man is "dead in trespasses and sin." This is the result of Adams sin and fall. This is the reason that Christ told Nicodemus that ye "must be born again." John 6:63 states "...it is the Spirit that quickeneth" (or gives life). We are born again spiritually by the Holy Spirit birthing us by faith in Christ into the family of God. (see Titus 3:5 ) B- 1 Corinthians 12:13 tells us that we are baptized into the body of Christ by the Spirit. This is a much debated verse. There are some who will tell you that we are baptized at some later point in time after we are saved. This is referred to as a "second blessing." This teaching is usually connected with talking in tongues or some other "hyper-spiritual" (my word) thing. I feel some of theses charismatic groups glorify the Holy Spirit in an unscriptural way. Notice our text. John 16:13 states plainly, "...He shall not speak of himself..." John 16:14 Christ states strongly, "...He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you." 1 Corinthians 12:13 is talking about the Holy Spirit placing us in the body of Christ just as we are placed in the water of baptism. He baptizes us into the body of Christ. C- 1 John 3:24 shows that believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit resides within believers. We are also called the "temple of God." His purpose of living within us is to direct our lives by convicting us of our sins after we are saved. We need a fresh wind of conviction to convict the church of its sins. D- Ephesians 4:30 teaches us we are sealed by the Holy Spirit. How do we know we are saved and what keeps us saved? My friend our salvation is secure in the Lord because we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit. God has given us the Holy Spirit as down payment on our salvation. Zephaniah 1:13-14 states it this way, "...after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory." Beloved may we understand the fresh wind of comfort this brings.
V- The Holy Spirit and the Lost.
The work of the Holy Spirit in relationship to the lost or the unbelievers is two fold in nature. He convicts and calls. Notice in our text John 16:8-11 the Scripture teaches He will "reprove" or convict the world of three things, sin, righteousness, and judgment. John 16:8-9 "Of Sin" because they "Believe not on me." Jesus did not say that He would convict the lost man of sinS (Notice the S on the end) such as lying, cheating, stealing, liquor drinking, women chasing, or any other specific thing (although these things are wrong) but that He would convict him of the sin of not believing on Jesus Christ. the great question that the Holy Spirit keeps asking the lost man is what will you do with Jesus Christ. John 16:10 "Of righteousness" or mans lack of it. There is an old saying that states, "to get a man saved you must first get him lost." The Holy Spirit also convicts the lost man of his need of righteousness. Regardless of how good a man seems to be there is sin in his life. The scripture says, "there is none righteous no not one." There is no difference in regard for mans need of righteousness in the man who is drunk and passed out in the gutter and the man who sits behind a marble topped desk on the top floor of corporate America. They both are convicted by the Holy Spirit of their need of being righteousness. The Holy Sprits job here is to get them to realize they are lost and need saving. John 16:11 "of judgment...because the prince of this world is judged." We might ask when this judgment took place. It took place upon the cross of Calvary. Satan was judged and defeated for the souls of mankind. Not only was Satan judged there but all of mankind. We are not awaiting the trial because all men have been judged as guilty already. We are only awaiting the carrying out of the sentence for eternity. Romans 6:23 states "The wages of sin is death" but wait there is another part of the verse, "but the Gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." The Holy Spirit also speaks to the hearts of lost men to draw them to Christ. He is the drawing power that urges men and women to come to the Savior. He is the wind of conviction upon our loved ones that need to come to Christ.