I Believe in the Holy Spirit
Minister: |
Rev. Ronald Van Overloop |
Date: |
1/27/2019 AM
|
Text:
|
John 16;
Lord's Day 20
|
Psalters: |
409, 65, 78, 287 |
- Who He is.
- The Holy Spirit is a real Person (not an impersonal force of nature). Three thoughts:
- He is a distinct Person in the Godhead, the third Person, God the Spirit.
- He is not just any person, but a divine person, the third person equal with God the Father and God the Son.
- His name (“Spirit”) describes His relationship to the other two Persons: makes possible communion within the Godhead.
- He is the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9; Phil. 1:19; I Peter 1:11).
- The work of the Spirit.
- He works generally - more than just in each believer. Four things.
- And His work is deeply personal: “given me, to make me….”
- He indwells each elect (I Cor. 6:19; Rom. 8:15), uniting each elect to Christ and to each other (I Cor. 12:12,13; Eph. 4:3).
- The Spirit regenerates, giving the new life in Christ to those previously dead in sin (John 3:8; Rom. 8:10,11; Ezek. 37).
- The Spirit convicts of sin (John 16:9).
- The Spirit convinces the regenerated that Jesus is the Son of God who earned forgiveness in His suffering and death.
- The Spirit sanctifies, conforming us more and more to the image of God’s Son (Titus 3:5; II Thess. 2:13; I Peter 1:2).
- The blessing of the Spirit.
- By true faith, the Spirit makes each elect a partaker of Christ and of all His benefits (Rom. 8:9).
- Another benefit of the Spirit is His comforting presence (“Comforter,” John 14:16).
- The Spirit seals us “to the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30).
- We do experience His presence and observe the result of His work, for we see the evidence of the Spirit at work in us (Jn. 3:8):