The person and the work of the Holy Spirit Introduction and class materials info
Mike Doyle · Feb 14, 2021
Holy Spirit (2021-23), No. 01
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926192147428

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

So welcome to the class of the person and work of the Holy Spirit. I did send out some time ago, the lessons and really what the syllabus we're gonna use is, Rideout's Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, there's seven lectures that he did. They're really, really pretty good, I think. He taught this class before, I think back in 2013. And it's as thorough a class as you're gonna see on the person of the Holy Spirit and what he does.

There's a lot of misconceptions, I think, floating around in Christianity about things that people say he does that he really doesn't do. And then things that say that, well, he doesn't do that, when in fact that's exactly what he does do. And the most important part, which is what we're going to start with over the next few weeks, is you hear the Holy Spirit referred to as it all the time.

He's not an it. He's a person. And he's not the force. He is the person of the triune God, third person of the Holy Spirit. He plays a unique role in God's plan for creation of mankind and salvation and eternity. He's a uniquely placed that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have assigned to themselves certain things that each one would do. creation and then salvation and eternity. And so it's important for us as believers to understand what they do, who's doing it.

I would encourage you to read, not too bad, too long, and a fairly easy read, especially for a brother and writer. Read as we spend a few weeks going through Holy Spirit and the dispensations before Christ, the present age and the millennium. Read the...

So, I've got an outline that I don't need to go through, but I've sent out, you should have all the questions for this first class. I'm going to try to keep the amount of questions down, you know, seven or six, seven or eight, rather than the 10 or so that we've done before. And so that you can engage in the discussion. I'll send out the lesson two and lesson three this week. So that you'll be a little bit ahead of time. So, all right, question number one.

How early in the Bible is the Holy Spirit mentioned and how late is he mentioned? And please give the verses. Genesis 1-2. Genesis 1-2 is pretty early, second verse of the whole Bible. Moving on the waters, yeah. Yeah, go ahead and read the verse. If you don't have it in front of you, I can read it. Well, yeah, go ahead, because I don't have my Bible.

All right, the earth was formless and void And darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. So what's interesting is, is that I think, according to Rideout, he says that the Holy Spirit, he used the term superintendence of the spirit in the preparation of the earth for the habitation of man. I like that statement because the entire earth in the book of Genesis in the first chapter is designed specifically to be an environment that suited the man that God was going to create. And so everything is working towards when Adam finally shows up on the scene and he's put into the creation, every one of his needs are already there and it's all set to go. And the spirit of God is involved in that.

But normally when we see the Holy Spirit's work, see the Holy Spirit's work today, he's more involved in regeneration and things like that, rather than brooding over the planet. It's interesting that the Spirit of God is the one who, in this case, looked over what was, would you call it a waste? What do you call when, like in the verse it said, the formless and void and darkness all over the surface of the deep. It was just, it wasn't formed, it was a watery matrix. Yeah, the water was just there. There wasn't any, no lights, nothing.

So, and the last, how late in the word of God is he mentioned? last chapter of revelation? Chapter 22, verse 17. And the spirit and the bride say, come. And let the one who hears say, come. And let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who wishes to take the water of life without cost. So, the spirit and the bride say come notice that the uh association with the bride which is us and the holy spirit together say come on Jesus.

So, So, at the beginning, he's at the beginning and he's he's at the very end and so he's involved all through the word of god in every aspect of god's the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to the millennial kingdom and then on into eternity. So he begins the work of God in our souls and he carries it on to the time of full fruition to eternity itself.

I think that's something that we sometimes are not all that aware of because he does everything so much in the background. We don't see his job as to magnify and glorify Christ and not himself. And that's a problem with the charismatic realm of things. They try to glorify the Holy Spirit, and that's not his role or function. But at the same time, we can't overestimate the importance of the work of the Holy Spirit. Without him, I don't think anything gets done. disease to power base. Any more thoughts about that? All right, the next question is, is there such a person as the Holy Spirit?

And give me a verse. Ephesians. Ephesians 430. Ephesians 430? Yeah. All right, you have to read that one. and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. So we have to, I mean, you can't not, if something doesn't exist. Yeah. The verse that I have is Acts 5, 3, and 4.

But Peter said that this is the Ananias and Sapphira incident, Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? You know what Ananias and Sapphira did, they sold a piece of land and they gave part of the proceeds to the church, but they told the church that they were given all the proceeds, so they lied. While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deep in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God.

So the question is, if the Holy Spirit was just an influence in your life, can you deceive an influence? No. I suppose you could try, but the deception has to do with denying the very existence of God. Ananias, it's interesting how men will do things without really thinking through them because they're so self-absorbed. People deceive themselves about the person of the Holy Spirit and about his work. As you study the person of the Holy Spirit, you find out that he's very carefully and very thoroughly revealed in God's word, yet the denial of who he is and that he is a person, a divine person, is to deny who God is. It's a pretty serious accusation to make. It cost Ananias his life. He left the planet in the next 15 seconds. And right after that, Sapphira's gonna come in and she's gonna continue the lie and she's gonna join him.

And don't you find it interesting that the Spirit of God has given that kind of power to the apostles? That the apostles had the power to take somebody off the planet. That's just amazing to me. And like we studied in Galatians, or in 1 Corinthians, that Paul had the power to turn a man, a person, over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. That's an incredible power that a man has. But it's a power that's given him, given the 12 apostles by the Holy Spirit.

So, anyway, the point being is that the Holy Spirit is in fact, he's a person. You can't deny the personality of the Holy Spirit because that, he's a separate person but one of the members of the triune God. And you'll find, I think, in dealing sometimes with people in discussions of the Holy Spirit, that they won't. They won't come to grips with the fact that he's a person. And that's why when the Star Wars thing came out and they talked on and on and on about the Force, so many people I talked to thought that, that we're really talking about, what's the Holy Spirit? No, he's not the force. He's a person.

What is a person? How would you define a person? Anybody? They have a body. Phil says they have a body. They're an entity. It's like God the Father is a person, but he doesn't have a body. He's a person. He's a spirit. The Holy Spirit doesn't have a body, but he's a person. The Lord Jesus does have one. He's a person.

So, is my personhood based on the fact that I've got a body, or is there more to it than that? I think there's more to it than that. It expresses sentience. Yeah. Boy, how do I explain this? It's tough. It is hard. It's not just a force. Well, what does Webster have to say? I looked up Webster. have rights and duties. Yeah. That's a good start, that a person is a being, whether created or uncreated, and a person has intellect. They have properties, I would call them, of that they're aware of their environment, or they're what I would call a sentient being, that they have the ability to make decisions.

Like we have a new dog in our house. His name is Jethro. We're already in love with this dog. He's really cool. He's a cross between a Labrador and a great dame. And he's very smart. But you know what? Jethro is not a person. sometimes you think he is, but he's not, he's a dog. And so he has characteristics, but he's not a sentient being. He can, in his own environment, he can sense things and do things, but he doesn't have the ability to sit down and have a discussion about impeaching the president. He can't do that. He can't care less. You know, he wouldn't know.

Go ahead. In the dictionary, under philosophy, it says a self-conscious or rational being. There you go. Self-conscious describes it right there. You can make decisions on his own. Well, was it Aristotle that said that the reason he knew he was a human, what his saying was, I think, therefore I am. Yeah. There is a self-awareness. Self-act, makes decisions on his own. Yeah. Rational, self-conscious. Rational is a good term to use. Yeah. Animals just go by instinct. Instinct, yes.

So question three says, are not all references to a person in scripture simply a striking way of referring to the attributes of God? I'd say definitely not to that. They're not that. Attributes describes a person as an individual but it is not in reference, we're not referring to the attributes of God, we're referring to an actual rational self-conscious person.

Yeah, and in the scriptures, it's very simple. God reveals himself as three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And so you can look up a bunch of passages which we listed actually down in question five, and we'll look at those when we get down there. And question four is, is not the spirit simply an all-pervading divine influence? The question is, why is he or why isn't he?

1 Thessalonians 5.19 says, do not quench the spirit. So the question is, can you quench an influence? Yeah.

Ephesians 4.30 says, So, if we grieve not the Holy Spirit, we grieve an influence. praying in the Holy Spirit. So, if if the blessed spirit of god was not a person, what would we, what would we be thinking about when we are We've been told, don't quench the influence. Don't quench the power or the influence of God. The point I'm trying to get at here is that the Holy Spirit sometimes is really thought of as just an influence or someone or a power that pervades, and that may come out from the throne room of God, but I can refer to it as an it because I don't really think of the Holy Spirit as a person. And yeah, God has an all-pervading influence on his creation, but can I say that that influence itself is in fact a person? Answer, yeah, I can. that talk about, because the scripture talks over and over again about the Holy Spirit being a person.

Okay? Mike? Yes. Maybe we could... Yeah, just real quick, can you do just contrast? So let's talk like a day-to-day decision where you contrast an influence versus a person in terms of the Holy Spirit. What does that look like in like a day-to-day situation?

Great question, I think, because a lot of times we have Let's put it this way. Because believers have two natures, the old man and the new man, those natures influence my decision-making process. Or maybe put it another way, both have desires. The Spirit of God has desires in us, and so does my old man. It's interesting, can I ask a question back, JD? Could I say that my old man is a person? What was that? Cut out there just for a second. Could I say that my old man, my sin nature is a person?

Crucified. now crucified, separated from, still has influence on my decisions and the decisions I make in my life. At the same time, the resurrected life in Christ, this new life that I have, is that a person? I don't think so. I think the nature, the sin nature is still the present. Yeah.

The old man is has been crucified. The old man is crucified. The total Adamic man separated. but still has influence because he's still alive and well and you know, looking for a nice, warm, fuzzy place inside me. So if the old man isn't a person, what is he? If the old man isn't a person, what is he?

Yeah, that's a great question. Well, he is a person. It's us, right? So it's what we're born into. But at the point of salvation, the old man is crucified. He is put to death. by faith, and from that point forward, the nature still continues to have that influence on us, to your point, but it's the person and the work of the Holy Spirit, which is what we're calling, you know, the class itself, and that is who you now truly are, so. Remember the term that Vern the In my mother's womb, in sin I was created, and here I am, a person who's infested with a sin nature, and identified with that sin nature. The sin nature and the person are not the same entity, but the sin nature controls the man and Adam. So when that man, it's him to believe it. As we know, not only are his sins What's that? It works better without that. Start that. Is that right? Yeah.

Am I still doing it? So, back to my train of thought when that when a man becomes a believer sins are put away and forgiven but he is crucified with Christ, buried and resurrected. The exact same person that was created in my mother's womb is the same person that becomes a recreated in Christ. is the nature that controls that person. Understand that? Is that all right? Does that make sense? Yes, perfectly.

So, the same person comes through that process, and the personhood of, say, JD, is the same. But now, the influence on how JD is going to behave or the source of his life now has totally changed. And the source of his life is like Romans 8, 2 says, the new principle of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. That is now the driving force of this person.

Courtney had a question. Okay. So, good. Uh what what Courtney's talking about is uh verses that identify the Holy Spirit as a person in the gospel of John. He's quoting So, we're trying to get Courtney up if we can. Can you hear Courtney now? Anybody?

John, in reference to John about the helper, when it talks about he, that's a person. He's a person. John 15, yeah. John 15, yeah. So it's at the helper he, but then also in Romans, where it says, he searches the mind. Romans 8. The mind of the Holy Spirit. Yeah. An influence doesn't have a mind. No. So a mind is there. It can also intercede. Right, intercede. A divine influence doesn't intercede. A divine influence wouldn't intercede. Sure. Yeah. A lot of references for that. Well, in question four, I list the divine attributes of the Holy Spirit in the word and give verses. And so God's revealed himself in scripture as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

He's revealed himself as omnipresent. And in Psalm 89, he says, where can I go from thy spirit, or where can I flee from thy presence? If I ascend to heaven, you're there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you're there. So talking about the Holy Spirit being omnipresent, also ever existent. Psalm 90, Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations before the mountains were born or you gave birth to the earth and the world, even everlasting to everlasting, you are God. omniscience, 1 Corinthians 2.

For to us, God has revealed them through the spirit. For the spirit searches the things, as Courtney was saying, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of a man which is in him? Even so, the thoughts of God, no one knows except the spirit of God. So the Holy Spirit is omniscient. He's also omnipotent. Job 33 says, the Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. So we can say from those verses that the Holy Spirit is omnipresent, eternal, omniscient, and omnipotent.

So I still want to go back to what JD's talking about, and that is the difference between a personhood and and a nature or Adam was created spiritually alive. Spirit has has properties that allow him to communicate with god. He was given a soul. God breathed in the breath of lives and that word life is plural. So, he has a soul. He has a mind, emotion, and will of his creation to understand and grow and learn. He certainly has emotion, God has emotion, and he's got a will. He can make a decision about some things. And he's got a body. And at that point, the body he has is probably just going to live on. It isn't going to have a coronavirus. And probably his aim is good, so he won't be hitting his thumb with a hammer.

Anyway, but he sins, and man becomes flesh. And there becomes this, he is indwelt or infested by this thing called the sin nature, which literally takes over his thought process and his decision making process. Because he's blind to the things of God. He sinned, and as Romans 3 says, he's come short of the glory of God.

Now, when a person is saved, he is indwelt by the person of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit brings with him, Romans 8, 2 says that he brings with him the new principle of life in Christ Jesus. or the new principle of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

He's the one that brings the new life. Well, whose life is that? It's the life of the resurrected Christ. But the spirit is the one who brings it, brings that life. So how do I say this? An influence couldn't do all of that. It has to be a person. It has to be a person. OK, JD? I'm going to call. What was that last? I said, is that sound alright to you? Yeah. Not that I need to be validating, but yes.

I think it's just an interesting concept, too, because you were talking about influence versus personhood. And I would put that in the context of a walking believer or maybe a not walking believer. We're going to get to a lot of those distinctions. But yeah, I mean, in the day-to-day life, an influence could be anything. But the Holy Spirit is, to your point, a person. And to Courtney's quotes with regards to his various references there, Um, it's a relationship there. It's not a simply an influence.

Um, and we're going to get more into that. I know, but yeah, we will. Yeah. So, but yeah, I agree. No, it's good. That's good. So I'm, what I'm going to do is we really actually already answered the question six. I'm going to go to seven because it's, It's the last question, and we're actually gonna finish the lesson in one time.

So, question seven says, in Acts 13, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Thessalonians 5, give us clues as to what the Holy Spirit has done in the church, and what is it? So, in Acts 13, verses one and two, talking about the church at Antioch, and it talked about the fact that in the church there were prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Nigerian, Lucius of Cyrene, Manan, who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. And this is the reference we want.

And while they were ministering, and to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, quote, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work which I have called them. So it's interesting, here they are praying and the Holy Spirit makes it very clear to them that he wants to set apart Barnabas and Saul and he's gonna send them out on a journey. So, and the saints, what were the saints doing? They were in Antioch praying, not really knowing what direction that the Holy Spirit was gonna send them in, but then the Holy Spirit asked. And he says, separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

So, how'd they know that? Notice it's a very clear sentence. it got real clear in their minds. The Spirit told them. And they verified it, I'm sure, by not only Saul and Barnabas, but these other men that are mentioned all got the same message at the same time. So they knew this is what we should do.

1 Corinthians 12, 11 illustrates the personal oversight and direction of the Spirit spiritual gifts but one in the same spirit all of these things distributing to each one individually just as he wills. He's talking about spiritual gifts, spiritual gifts are a distribution of spiritual enablements by the Holy Spirit himself. He's the one who does it and you know that uh every believer has at least one and it's been distributed by him and the Okay.

Oh, let's see. in Ephesians 430, without passing to dwell on the special significance of the passage, we might also notice the personality of the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 430. Quote, we do not leave the Holy Spirit of God and do not breathe the Holy Spirit of That's really interesting. And the influence couldn't seal you for the day of redemption. You and I will be at the day of redemption because this person, the Holy Spirit, sealed us in Christ. He makes sure we're there.

And the last one is 1 Thessalonians 5.19, do not quench the spirit. A divine person has taken up his abode in the body of Christ the church. Just a few of the passages. that talk about him in scripture as a person and begin to talk about what he does. And I think it's important that the things that the Holy Spirit does could not be done if he were not a person. So we're at 946, so we've got to stop.

Thank you. And I'll send out lesson two. Actually, I'll probably send out two and three this week. Again, I'm going to try to keep them so that we can maybe get through a whole lesson every week. But that doesn't mean you have to be quiet. You can talk and debate back and forth like we normally do, because that's how we learn. So let's close.

Dear Father, how we thank you for your time with us. We thank you for your person, your third person, the spirit of God who teaches us great ministry within us as members of the body of Christ and that we can trust him and rely on him to do what he has proposed to do within us as believers.