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Pentecost Sunday
Who is the Holy Spirit?
May 11, 2008

TEXT:  NKJ John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me. 25 " These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. 26 "But the Helper, 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. 27 "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 28 "You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.' If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I. 29 "And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. 30 "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. 31 "But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.
 
The Promise of the Holy Spirit
 
Luke records the fulfillment of this promise of Jesus—the sending of the Holy Spirit
 
NKJ Luke 24:49 "Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high."
 
God foretold the sending of the Holy Spirit through the Old Testament prophet Joel—God told us the Holy Spirit would not be sent to men only—but to all men and women—God would not restrict the Holy Spirit to the descendents of Abraham only—but all of humanity would know the Holy Spirit
 
NKJ Joel 2:28 " And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. 29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
 
Peter’s Pentecost message on the day of receiving the Holy Spirit contained a quoted passage of the Prophet Joel
 
NKJ Acts 2:14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, "Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 "For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 "But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.
 
The Holy Spirit was Part of God’s Plan from the Beginning
 
God’s plan included providing the Holy Spirit from the beginning of creation—consider these words from Moses’ Book of Genesis—in the first chapter of Scripture we find the Holy Trinity
 
NKJ Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. … 26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…
 
Before He ever created us, God knew we would need the Holy Spirit—just as He knew we would fall into sin and require a Savior—as we discussed before, many times, when God created the heavens and the earth—God also created time—God is infinite, that is, God has no need for a beginning or an end—we are constrained by time—God is not!
 
NKJ Genesis 1:5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.
 
God was before creation—and God will be forever—God looks at us from the beginning of time to the end of time—He sees everything at once—God knew man would fail—God knew He would send His Son to reconcile us to Himself—and God knew we would need the Holy Spirit to remind us that we belong to Him
 
Holy Spirit Reminds Us of All Things Concerning Christ
 
One of the things the Holy Spirit reminds us of our reconciliation to God the Father through God the Son
 
NKJ 2 Corinthians 5:18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
 
Jesus taught us in the lesson of our text—we will remember the things of God because the Holy Spirit reminds us
 
NKJ John 14:26 "But the Helper, 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.
 
The Holy Spirit Makes Intercession on Our Behalf
 
The word in Greek translated as Holy Spirit is “Paraclete”—and it means the One who speaks on our behalf—as a lawyer would represent us in a court—when the devil speaks his lies about us to God—the Holy Spirit speaks the truth on our behalf
 
NKJ Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
 
It is the Holy Spirit that represents us and makes intercession for us to God
 
Obtaining the Holy Spirit
 
At the end of Peter’s Pentecost sermon, he told the multitude of listeners to be baptized and they would receive the Holy Spirit
 
NKJ Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."
 
Baptism isn’t the only way to obtain the Holy Spirit—because we know that the thief on the cross next to Jesus was promised he would be in paradise—and there was no way for him to come off the cross and be baptized—and we know from Scripture that to proclaim Jesus as Lord, the thief had to have the Holy Spirit
 
NKJ 1 Corinthians 12:3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
 
The Holy Spirit is “poured out” upon all of humanity—we know this from the prophecy of Joel that we read earlier
 
If all of mankind receives the pouring out of the Spirit—why wouldn’t all men be saved?—the only Scriptural explanation I can offer is that men can reject the forgiveness of sins offered and paid for by our Savior, Jesus Christ—no one can do anything to earn salvation—but we can certainly reject the teachings and guidance of the Holy Spirit sent to us and poured out upon us—for this is the one unpardonable sin—to blaspheme the Holy Spirit
 
NKJ Mark 3:28 " Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; 29 "but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation" -- 30 because they said, "He has an unclean spirit."
 
NKJ Matthew 12:31 " Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32 "Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.
 
The Holy Spirit Dwells within Each Christian
 
NKJ 1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
 
NKJ John 14:16 "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever -- 17 "the Spirit of truth, 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.
 
NKJ Romans 8:9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
 
NKJ 2 Corinthians 6:16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people."
 
ALL GLORY BE TO GOD!