The Divine Person of The Holy Spirit

We finished First Corinthians last week and actually for the

next six weeks, we'll just be focusing in on who the Holy

Spirit is, what the Holy Spirit's role is in our lives,

and get to really know and enjoy and experience the Holy Spirit

more in our lives. I'd ask you to turn to John 14

and and then we'll just flick ahead to chapter 16 and then if

you're apartment and able to park a finger in Romans chapter

Romans 8 · chapter mention

8. We're going to read just a few

scriptures to begin with tonight.

The title of the message is the divine person of the Holy

Spirit. John 14, verse 16.

John 14:16

Jesus was talking to his disciples, he said, and I will

pray the Father, and he will give you another helper, capital

H, that he may abide with you forever.

The Spirit of truth, verse 17 whom the world cannot receive

because it neither sees him nor knows him.

But you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you, then move

ahead. Sorry, I will read 19 and 20 as

well. A little while longer and the

world will see me no more. But you will see me because I

live. You will live also at that day

you will know that I am in my Father and you and me and I and

you. Now move ahead to verse 25.

These things I've spoken to you while being present with you,

but the help of the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my

name. He will teach you all things and

bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

Then over into chapter 16 of John's Gospel, verse 5.

But now I go away to him who sent me.

None of you asked me where are you going?

But because I've said these things to you, sorrow has filled

your heart. Nevertheless, listen to this.

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 depart, I will send him

to you, and when he has come, he will convict the world of sin

and of righteousness and of judgement of sin, because they

not do not believe in Me. Verse 9.

Verse 10. Of righteousness, because I go

to my Father and you see me no more of judgement.

Verse 11. Because the ruler of this world

is judged. I still have many things to say

to you, but you cannot bear them Now.

However, when He, the Spirit of truth, verse 13 has come, He

will guide you into all truth, but He will not speak on His own

authority. But whatever He hears, He will

speak, and He will tell you things to come.

He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is mine and declare

it to you. All things that the Father has

are mine. Therefore I said that He will

take of mine and declare it to you.

Now move ahead, please, to the book of Romans chapter 8 and

Romans 8 · chapter mention

verses 1 to 6. Again, reading from the new King

James, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in

Christ Jesus who do not walk according to the flesh, but

according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of

life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and

death. For what the law could not do,

in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His

own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin.

He condemns sin in the flesh. That verse 4, the righteous

requirement of the law might be fulfilled in US who do not walk

according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the

things of the flesh. For those who live according to

the Spirit, things of the Spirit.

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually

minded is life and peace. So I just wanted to read those

scriptures there. And, and that'll just kind of, I

think sit as a blanket for us and we'll come back to some of

them throughout the course of tonight's message.

But what we deduce through that is that the Holy Spirit is given

to us. So much so that Jesus said it's

actually beneficial that I go so that you can receive the Holy

Spirit and that he will indwell the disciples and he will

indwell us as followers of Jesus, disciples of Jesus now

and Romans tells us that the Christian life that it is

absolutely necessary for us to because it's the life in the

spirit to have the Holy Spirit. It's an essential thing.

So today we're going to talk about the divine person of the

Holy Spirit. That's that's The Who next week

we'll have a look at what the Holy Spirit does about the work

of the Holy Spirit. But I think it's important to

begin with who the Holy Spirit is in our study in this series,

not just what he does because that that's the temptation is to

go straight to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Now think of yourself and and our culture and this is often

how we operate. We have a tendency to value what

over who You know. When you meet someone you know,

you'll say nice to meet you. And then what's the next

question we'll ask? What do you do?

All right, we do that in the way that we interact with one

another. What we do is certainly

important. It's a part of who we are, but

it's not the revelation of our entire being.

Our whole identity ought not to be wrapped up in what we do.

It's not the whole story. I scan groceries.

What do you do? I scan groceries.

So is that the end of the story? No, there is more to an

individual than than that. What we do is important and may

reveal much about us, but it's not the whole story of who we

are. And so, given that's not the end

of the story of who we are, it's important that we look at who

the Holy Spirit is and afford that same liberty that we would

like to afford to each other. Now who you are as a person is

more there's there's hopes, there's dreams, there's

ambitions, there's passions, there's fears, there's loves,

you know, gifts receive things to give, wounds and and sort of

grace abounding in our lives. So which tells the truest story?

I scan groceries. Well, the deeper revelation of

who you are, who you love and who you are loved by, what

you're passionate about, what drives you, what holds you back.

You know, we're, we're, I think the often the reason we ask that

is that we're, we're kind of painfully self oriented in our

culture. And so often that question, what

do you do is because we're seeking to, to know how that

person can help us in what they do.

Typically, what can you do for me?

And that's often times the approach that we take to the

Holy Spirit. What does the Holy Spirit do?

So then therefore, what can the Holy Spirit do for me?

We need to appreciate, we need to understand the divine person

of the Holy Spirit aside from that.

And so we first look at who the Holy Spirit is.

Individualism, consumerism is, is the wrong approach to God.

Now, it's, I think probably much easier to talk about what the

Holy Spirit does than who he is because that's a little bit more

difficult for us to get AT. And so hopefully tonight as we

study, we'll have a greater understanding because after all,

who really understands what spirit is, you know, And if if I

say the word spirit, all sorts of things come to our minds.

And then the old King James Version talks of the Holy Spirit

and uses the terminology the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost.

What does that even mean? And so we're, we're a little

confused maybe sometimes who even understands terms like

ghost and and spirit, These are ethereal terms for us, sometimes

mysterious, hard to pin down a little bit.

We don't really even know what our spirits are, let alone the

Holy Spirit. So we need help to understand,

to comprehend the Spirit of God, and that's what we're we're

looking at and why we're studying this series to aid us

in that. But you know, when we think of

the other other members of the Trinity for whom we have kind of

reference or points of analogy, we're a little bit more probably

secure in our understanding of Father God.

I mean, we know the term father. We can at least even in our

broken world, have some semblance of what a a father is

and, and to function like and to be like.

We can understand that and, and son as well.

And, and Jesus, obviously with the gospels and we read of his

humanity and all of his experiences.

But you know, compared to these familiar and and familial terms,

father and son, spirit, you know, we're a little vague or

unsure about that kind of seems remote, removed, maybe even cold

or distant in our understanding of that, at least on an

emotional or psychological level with us, maybe even a little

intimidating, especially when you factor in the old King James

Version, Holy Ghost. And what I think also adds to

this mystery is the adjective holy.

It's difficult enough enough for us with spirit and with ghost,

but then holy at the beginning in reference of God.

What does holy mean? The root significance of the

word holy in Scripture has to do with God's otherness of him

being separate in his morality, in his righteousness, kind of

placed at a distance, set apart, altogether different and unique,

special, particular, out of the ordinary for us.

And it's spatial language that again has otherness in mind.

And at the core of that otherness is morality.

God has moral distance where because of His Holiness, there's

this essential separation that must be there between sinful,

depraved humanity and a holy righteous God.

And this is language that we're we're very familiar with

throughout the Scripture. But one example I wish to give

to you in reference to God the Father particularly is in the

book of Isaiah. Turn with me to the Old

Testament book of Isaiah in chapter 6.

And the prophet Isaiah has this revelation of God the Father and

the holy God of Israel as he understands it in Isaiah chapter

Isaiah 6:1–5

6 verses 1 to 5. And you see this language that

describes God in His Holiness, God the Father, God the Son, and

in application also in reference to the the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 6 verse one it says in the year that King Uzziah died,

I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up and

the train of his robe filled the temple.

Above it stood Seraphim. Each one had 6 wings.

With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet,

and with two he flew. So already there's this language

in this, this imagery of things that are all together foreign

and and complex for our human minds to to grapple with and

understand. Verse 31 cried to another and

said Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

Now in Hebrew, to say something three times was like our

exclamation mark, and it was the fullness.

So in other words, when it comes to holy and holiness, to say it

three times means that that God is the epitome of all that is

holy. Everything holy is wrapped up in

Him. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of

hosts. The whole earth is full of His

glory. Excuse me and look at this verse

4. The post of the door was shaken

by the voice of him who cried out.

The house was filled with smoke, so I said, woe is me.

The new Living Translation, I think, puts it, I am doomed.

Woe is me, it says, for I am undone because I am a man of

unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean

lips. For my eyes have seen the King,

the Lord of hosts. Wow, God is high and exalted.

We just read. He's lifted up.

Isaiah, in contrast, is pictured as being low and thrust down.

The contrast, God's presence, the train of his robe, fills the

temple, it says with glory. While Isaiah, it's like he's

shrinking back in a corner, carrying, overwhelmed.

God has been declared by the Seraphim to be holy, holy, holy,

and the prophet discovers himself in comparison to be

sinful, unclean, and undone. Woe is me, I am doomed. 1

theologian puts it this way when Speaking of God's holiness.

God's holy holiness is the searing purity of his eternal

infinite being, the searing purity of his eternal infinite

being. And so the Holy Spirit of God in

this searing, pure, morally distant, high and exalted

otherness above anything else, holy, holy, holy.

It's who he is, Father and the Son.

Such is God. And so when it comes to the Holy

Spirit, we go, well, if, if God is holy, if the Son is holy, the

Holy Spirit, what makes him unique in that holiness?

How is there some differentiation?

You know, when we think of spirit or ghost, the sense that

comes to mind most quickly is perhaps that of immaterialism,

some sort of cosmic life force, some entity just sort of

floating out there in some vagueness.

But that is not what the biblical words are getting at

when we explore this. Spirit, many of you may know in

Hebrew is the term ruach, and it helps if you get that little at

the end of it too. And actually both of these

terms, the Hebrew and the Greek are onomatopoeic in their

pronunciation, in fact, and and it helps to to kind of

understand what what the language is getting at Ruach in

the Hebrew and it it looks like we would say Numa, but it's

actually you say it in this S and in the Greek here Numa.

It's kind of, it sounds odd for us to do so, but these terms

onomatopoeic, you know, onomatopoeia where words that

are spelt that sounds right sizzle and on snap and bat and

on through. So Ruach and and panema kind of

had this expulsion of wind, ruch and breath, you know, that are

connected with them. The idea is of air in motion.

So, so it kind of helps, I think in that way.

So spirit as a referent to God expresses in his most

fundamental form like the the breath of life, power, energy,

life, like I say, and the point of of spirit is not

immateriality, but rather the presence of energy and of

activity. Energy rather than immateriality

is in view here action not absence, power not

impersonality, And so therefore to say Holy Spirit is not to say

morally removed immaterial, but rather to say the searing purity

and active power of God. We must remember, though, that

the Holy Spirit is not merely energy or an impersonal it.

Just as I don't come up to you, or you don't come up to me and

ask what does it think about this thing that is happening

tomorrow? Though some in today's language

do, right? What does it think about what

you get going to do tomorrow? We don't say that Scripture

teaches that the Holy Spirit is a person, a who?

Not an it. Not in the way that you are, you

or I are persons, but in the way that the Father and the Son are

persons, divine persons. So we must not say that the Holy

Spirit is merely the exerted energy of God.

And some err in that way, you know, manifested in the world or

the eternally preceding energy of God, as some might declare.

In fact, that's classic heresy when it comes to the Holy

Spirit. And it's not historic Christian

orthodoxy to say that. To believe that the Holy Spirit

isn't it is to deny Scripture is to malign God and to be guilty

of heresy. That's in fact what the

Jehovah's Witness do. So a denial of his personhood is

a denial of the Trinity and tantamount to, like I say,

heretical thought when it comes to distinct Christian doctrine.

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity.

Let me give you an excerpt from the Athanasian Creed, which had

its origins around the 4th, 5th centuries AD.

Listen to this. We worship one God in Trinity,

and Trinity in unity, neither confounding the persons nor

dividing the substance. For there is one Person of the

Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit.

But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy

Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty Co eternal.

Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy

Spirit. The Father uncreated, the Son

uncreated and the Holy Spirit uncreated, the Father

incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy

Spirit incomprehensible, the Father eternal, the Son eternal,

and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet there are not 3

eternals, but one eternal, as also there are not 3 uncreated

nor 3 incomprehensible, but one uncreated and one

incomprehensible. So likewise the Father is

Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Spirit Almighty.

And yet there are not 3 Almighty's, but one Almighty.

So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God.

And yet they are not three gods, but one God.

So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy

Spirit Lord. And yet they are not 3 Lords,

but one Lord. It's awesome, isn't it?

So the Holy Spirit is presented in Scripture to have the same

essential deity as the Father and the Son, and therefore is to

be worshipped and adored, loved and obeyed as God.

Now the idea of what's called Ruach Kadesh is not simply

energy from God, but rather it describes God extending himself

in active engagement with his creation in a personal way.

It is the holy extending of the power and love of God to

creation in himself. And one of the things we

understand about God from Scripture is, is that God is

omnipresent. You know, he, he exists, he's

present, he's everywhere at all times.

That's what that that word means, omnipresent.

We also realise that there is a difference between the

omnipresence of God and the manifest presence of God.

Think of the following examples. Moses God exists everywhere at

all times. But Moses encountered A

manifestation and manifest presence of God when he came

across holy ground in the burning Bush.

Think of what we just read out of Isaiah.

A manifest presence of God. God is present everywhere,

omnipresent at all times and yet he he saw the train of his Rd

filled the temple and the voice. Think of Daniel the prophet on

the river and and the manifest presence of God.

Again, God present ever at all times.

But there are manifestations, revelations of God, where the

power of God is, as I say, powerful and real in ways very

tangible and known. And so it is the Holy Spirit who

seems to be the member of the Trinity, that manifests the

presence of God in creation. Ezekiel 39 verse 29 says I will

Ezekiel 39:29

no longer hide my face from them.

My face is terminology about presence in the Bible.

For I will pour out my spirit on the House of Israel, declares

the sovereign Lord. Psalm 139, verse 7.

Psalms 139:7

Where can I go from thy spirit, or where can I flee from thy

presence? And so the person of the Holy

Spirit is the extending of God's holy presence into creation, but

also of His loving presence. For God is holy.

Yes, we've been looking at that, but God is love. 1 John 4, verse

1 John 4:8

8. And there is a deep and unique

connection of love with the Holy Spirit even in this very in his

very essence as the third person of the Trinity.

Listen to what Saint Bernard of Clavo called the Spirit.

He said the Spirit is the kiss of the Father and the Son.

When great theologians have tried to describe the Holy

Spirit, they often resort to this kind of language and

imagery of, of trinitarian love and and delight in eternal

relationship. God the Father, Son, Holy

Spirit. Jonathan Edwards, He said the

Holy Spirit is the delight that the Father and the Son have in

each other and he carries in himself.

So sorry, I have to take this jacket off, but I'm kind of

pinned here. Sorry about that.

Let me read that again. Jonathan Edwards said that the

Holy Spirit is the delight that the Father and the Son have in

each other, and he carries in himself so fully the essence of

the Father and the Son that he himself stands forth as a third

person in his own right. Heard the name CS Lewis,

Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity.

He said Christians believe that the living, dynamic activity of

love between Father, Son and Holy Spirit has been going in

God forever and has created everything else.

In Christianity, God is not a static thing, but a dynamic

pulsating activity, a life almost, a kind of drama almost.

He goes on, if you will not think me irreverent, a kind of

dance. The union between the Father and

the Son is such a a live, concrete thing that this union

itself is also a person. Now to know who someone loves

and who loves them is actually a great way to get to know them,

isn't it? You know, we start to see who

the Spirit is as we begin to see whom he loves and who loves him.

The Bible tells us that the Spirit loves the Father.

The Bible tells us that the Spirit loves the Son.

The Bible tells us that the Father and the Son love the

Spirit. And we do this naturally in our

interactions. If any of you are employers or,

or maybe even as an employee, you've, you've had to submit

references and people will ring around and, and they'll ask and

they'll enquire about people who know you to get a sense of who

you are through their knowing of you.

And so we can do the same of the Holy Spirit by by looking at the

attributes and characteristics of those that know the Holy

Spirit and to enquire of what they say also about the Holy

Spirit. And so of the Holy Spirit ask

those who are closest to him, who are closest to the Holy

Spirit, God the Father and God the Son.

How does the Father feel and think about the Spirit?

Luke 24 verse 49. He is the promised gift of the

Luke 24:49

Father. In other words, when when the

Father looks at the Holy Spirit, he, he thinks of the Holy Spirit

being a precious gift to His people.

How does the Son feel about the Spirit?

As I read out of John 16 verse seven that he said it's actually

advantageous. It's better that I go so that

the Holy Spirit could come because he's going to be a

blessing to you. It's going to be beneficial for

you, an advantage. So the Father and the Son see

the person of the Holy Spirit as a tremendous love gift then to

humanity. And there's also a sense of

protection that they have about the Holy Spirit.

You know, what did Jesus say in Luke 12?

That all sins would be forgiven even against him?

But what would not be forgiven? Blasphemy against who?

The Holy Spirit. And so there's this this element

of protection that is towards the Holy Spirit in this way.

So both the Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit to us as a

gift is the language that they use.

And it's almost as if there's this beautiful loving Co

claiming of who it is. It's giving the Holy Spirit by

the Father and the Son. John 14 verse 26, the Helper,

John 14:26

the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name.

He will teach you all things. And then Jesus later and John

John 15:26

15, verse 26, when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you

from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth, man.

I get to send him. Well, the Father's sending him,

but I get to send him too. Oh no.

And there's almost like you could argue kind of like a holy

argument over who gets to give the Holy Spirit.

Andrew Murray says that the most precious gift of the Father's

love in Christ is the gift of the Holy Spirit to dwell in US

and lead us. So there's this again, wonderful

Trinitarian love that exists, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, some

sort of special endearing quality going on here.

And look at the sweetness that the Scripture uses to describe

the Holy Spirit. And 2nd Corinthians chapter 3,

verse 17, wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Romans 8 verse 6 The mindset on the Spirit is life and peace.

Romans 8:6

Romans 1513 You will overflow with confident hope through the

power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 1417 For the Kingdom of

God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a

life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

On Thessalonians chapter 1, verses 5 and 6, the Holy Spirit

gave you full assurance that what we said was true.

So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit.

Rooms 815 You have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by

which we cry out, ABBA Father. In other words, when the Holy

Spirit is enjoyed and experienced, we can't help but

say Thank you, Father, God, ABBA, Father.

Acts 9, verse 31. So the church throughout all

Acts 9:31

Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace being built up,

going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy

Spirit. It continued to increase

freedom, hope, goodness, joy, love, full assurance, comfort,

life, all of those those terms there that that hint at this,

this sweetness that is connected with the Holy Spirit, associated

with the person of the Holy Spirit, his attributes, his

characteristics. So far from there being some

remote sort of distant, mysterious cold connotations and

feelings, there is when we go to Scripture, an incredible sense

of warmth and tender care for the believer that is enjoyed and

to be known and the Church in and through the Divine person of

the Holy Spirit. Jesus used the term Paracletus

to describe or name the Holy Spirit, and translated that

means Helper, Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor.

And that tells us so much about who the Holy Spirit is.

The Holy Spirit is the one who's always ready to help, always

ready to bring comfort and support and advocate and

intercede for the Christian, for the church.

It's his nature, it's his qualities, it's it's his

attributes. They're all declared in this,

but there's more. Now this sweetness is combined

with tremendous holiness, hence holy, and this tells us more

about the Spirit. You see, again, just as is the

case with humanity, knowing someone's dislikes, what bothers

them, what annoys them, what irritates them, what what wounds

or what hurts them, tells us a lot about them and helps us to

get to know them more. And the same is true of the Holy

Spirit when we look into the Scripture.

The Holy Spirit can be wounded per SE, as we are, but not in

the way that we are. Scripture doesn't tell us this,

that the Holy Spirit can be grieved.

Ephesians 4, verse 31, Thessalonians 5, verse 19, and

Ephesians 4:31

that the Holy Spirit has a tremendous sensitivity towards

sin, to lies and untruths. He's called the Spirit of truth.

John 15, verse 26 And remember in the early days of the church

John 15:26

in the book of Acts, when Ananias and Sapphira came and

they conjured up their scheme over having sold some property

and they together in cahoots with one another said, well,

let's tell this story to the church, that we've sold it for

this amount and here it all is. But they held back some for

themselves and lied. And what did Peter say?

He said, why have you lied? Not to us, to the church, but he

said, why have you lied to the Holy Spirit as if it would have

been affront to his personage, to his attributes, to his

characteristics. Honesty is one of the best

qualities in a friend, isn't it? You know, Proverbs 27 verse 6 is

Proverbs 27:6

how faithful are the wounds of a friend.

Jesus calls us his friends in John 15.

Abraham was called the friend of God.

And so too, we're able to think of the Holy Spirit in this way.

If we press into the Holy Spirit, we'll discover him to be

a very good friend because the Holy Spirit will always tell us

the truth about ourselves, about God, about our sin.

John 16, verse 9, Sin, righteousness and judgement we

John 16:9

read is is what he would be focusing on.

And the Spirit will, though sweet and tender, never make you

feel OK about sin. Haven't you noticed that to be

true? John 16, verse 8.

John 16:8

The Holy Spirit will also be a faithful friend and true in that

way where he will never lie about life's harsh realities.

Think of the example of Paul when giving his farewell address

to the Ephesian elders in the book of Acts in chapter 20.

And the church has gathered there and the elders and he's

declaring that he would be making his way to a particular

destination and that the Holy Spirit had warned him what that

in going there that it would not go well for Paul.

And the Holy Spirit wasn't holding back on on giving that

revelation of truth because the Holy Spirit is a friend.

And we'll reveal that about life's harsh realities and did

so for the apostle Paul. You know, every, any friend that

tells you everything's going to be OK, you'll be right.

How do I look? Fine.

It's not a real friend. It's not a true friend.

A great friend who truly loves you will tell you, you know,

things are going to get hard. It'll be difficult, but take

heart. And that's the Holy Spirit.

You know, when you or I want to really get past what someone

merely does and get down to who they are, you know, sometimes

we'll ask some some deeper questions of them.

You know, what are you passionate about?

What drives you, what motivates you?

What, what gets you out of bed in the morning?

Three things that the Holy Spirit is passionate about, as

we understand through the scriptures #1 the Holy Spirit is

passionate about Jesus, is Christ centred.

He's humble. It's never about himself.

The Holy Spirit is always pointing to Jesus Christ, to

magnifying Jesus. What the Holy Spirit is

passionate about #2 is holiness. He is pure and undefiled.

And thirdly, what the Holy Spirit is passionate about is

the mission of Jesus Christ. And he is active and

compassionate and working in that and dedicated and devoted

to that. You know, so if you or I, we are

seeking the Holy Spirit, really wanting to pursue him and to get

to know him more, He will always be introducing us to and pushing

us toward and taking us deeper into Jesus.

Introducing us to, pushing us toward, and taking us deeper

into holiness. Introducing us to, pushing us

toward, and taking us deeper into the mission that we're

called to as believers. And where these three things are

valued and practise, I can guarantee you that the Holy

Spirit will be found. The Spirit is most present where

Jesus is most central. The Spirit is most present where

holiness is being pursued. The Spirit is most present where

mission is being accomplished. And now all of this is an

attempt to sort of bring things down to our level without

understanding and the guidance of Scripture to help us grasp

the person of the Holy Spirit, the The Who of the Holy Spirit.

Tonight we can only go so far. For at the end of the day,

there's a tremendous amount of mystery surrounding the Holy

Spirit. Even even the scriptures begin

to lose language, you know, in in human form when describing

the Holy Spirit and and employs imagery by telling us that he is

like fire, he is like water, he's like oil and wind.

And so brings our understanding of those things and somehow

tries to help flesh out and grow our understanding of the Holy

Spirit in that way. Listen to another theologian,

Ferguson, how he puts it. When the Holy Spirit comes on

individuals, they are caught up in the thrust of an alien energy

and exercise unusual powers. The faint are raised into

action. Exceptional human abilities are

demonstrated. Ecstasy may be experienced.

Yahweh's Ruach is, as it were, the blast of God, the

irresistible power by which He accomplishes His purposes.

Those who are the subject to the activity of the divine Ruach act

in supernatural ways, with supernatural energy and powers.

And yet there's the gentleness, the fruits of the spirit, the

control. Think of all of those combining

together. It's like Jesus who could calm

the raging sea and cradle the little child.

It's like Jesus who could expel a legion of demons and embrace

the suffering leper. He could fiercely overturn the

tables of the money changers in the House of God and mercifully

pardon the woman caught in the act of adultery.

So what does all this mean for the Christian?

It means this God has made himself available to you.

His Spirit is in you. Andrew Murray put it this way.

He said the Spirit displaces our life and replaces it with the

life of Christ in power to make the Son of God divinely and

consciously present with us always.

So here we are over the next six weeks attempting to gain a

little more understanding of who the divine Person of the Holy

Spirit is. And with this in mind, we, we

want to know more of God, don't we?

That's why that's why we're studying this.

That's what this is all about. Psalm 73, verse 25 to 26 says,

Psalms 73:25–26

besides the I desire nothing on earth, my flesh and my heart may

fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

And so let's begin over the the next six weeks to to really

immerse ourselves in well, what does the Bible say about the

Holy Spirit be students be studies of God's word.

Let me throw out rapid fire a number of scriptures for you

with the Holy Spirit. That would be a great poet of

call in you if your desirous to know God more and to know the

person of the Holy Spirit more, have that be a goal and get to

know the divine person of the Holy Spirit because there's so

much to him. He is the Spirit of God, One

Corinthians 316 the Spirit of Christ Romans 8-9 the Spirit of

Jesus, Acts 16, seven the Spirit of the Lord 2 Corinthians 317

The Holy 1 the eternal Spirit, the Spirit of truth, the Spirit

of grace, the Spirit of glory, Spirit of faith, of life, of

wisdom and revelation, of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of

counsel and might. The spirit of knowledge and the

fear of the Lord. The Spirit of grace and

supplication. He is the comforter, advocate,

counsellor, and helper. He is the witness.

Romans 816. The intercessor.

Romans 826 to 27. The dove.

Luke 322. The promised gift of the Father.

The living water. The spirit of adoption.

The Spirit of holiness. The Author of Scripture.

The convictor of sin. The seal and guarantee of our

salvation. The Teacher of all things, The

power of God. The fire of God.

The rushing wind of God. The outpouring of God.

The oil of God. The anointing of God.

The Divine Person of the Holy Spirit.