God the Holy Spirit

Why do people not believe the Christian message - the Good News that relates to Jesus Christ? After all, Jesus was the most remarkable person that ever lived. The historical evidence is clear enough and that includes the historical evidence for his Resurrection. Frank Morrison's book "Who Moved the Stone" is still a good read. Frank Morrison set out to write a book on the basis that the resurrection of Jesus never took place. But after he looked at the evidence, he was convinced it did take place and ended up writing a different book proving that Jesus had risen. And the first chapter is entitled, "The book that refused to be written". So why do people not believe? Jesus meeting with Nicodemus gives you the answer. That meeting is recorded for us in John 3 and verses 1-8 - our Gospel reading tonight. Look now, straightaway, at verse 3:

Jesus declared, 'I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.'"

You need to be "born again", said Jesus, to "see" - really see - the things of God. And as Jesus is going to say, that means (verse 5) being born of "water and the spirit - [the Holy Spirit]". A man once stood on a soap-box at the famous Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park in London. He was attacking the Christian faith.

People tell me that God exists; but I can't see him. People tell me that there is life after death; but I can't see it. People tell me that there is a heaven and a hell; but I can't see them.

And so he went on. His atheistic supporters thought this was wonderful. When he stepped down, someone else (with difficulty) managed to get up onto the small podium to take his place and said this:

People tell me that there is green grass all around; but I can't see it. People tell me that there is blue sky above; but I can't see it. People tell me that there are trees nearby; but I can't see them. You see, I'm blind!

Jesus said that is exactly the case with the things of God. People, by nature, are spiritually blind. They cannot see until the Holy Spirit works in their lives and opens their spiritual eyes. That is the fundamental reason why people don't believe in Jesus Christ, and why they don't respond to the facts and the evidence. That is why you must always pray for the Holy Spirit to be working when you are working and witnessing for Christ. Well, so much by way of introduction.

Our subject tonight is GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT in our series entitled BASIC BELIEFS. Two weeks ago we thought about God the Father. Last Sunday we thought about God the Son. And tonight we are to think about God the Holy Spirit. And my headings are, first, THE HOLY SPIRIT and, secondly, HIS WORK.

First, THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. Too often he is the forgotten person of the Trinity. You say, "But I can't quite understand the Trinity." Let me explain. The Trinity is a word used by the early Christians to define biblical truth in their debates with people who were denying biblical truth. The Bible teaches in the Old Testament that God is one - the only God who reveals himself as the creator of all and who alone is to be worshipped and loved. The New Testament agrees but speaks of three personal agents, Father, Son and Holy Spirit who work together for the salvation of the world. And the New Testament teaches that as Jesus is God (as well as man), so is the Holy Spirit God. Peter, for example, said that to lie to the Holy Spirit was to lie to God. Acts 5 verses 3-4:

Peter said, 'Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit ... [verse 4] You have not lied to men but to God.

So you should not be surprised that Jesus said we are to baptize people (Mat 28.19):

in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

In the original Greek "name" is singular, not plural. It is not baptize "in the names" (plural) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, but "in the name" (singular) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

So God is one and three at the same time. Now remember, this is not theology or doctrine that is only intelligible to educated and clever people. No, we are talking about reality - the real God that men and women have dealings with. We are talking about a threefold acquaintance with God that all believers have - whether they are clever or not. It is not that the three persons are just different aspects of God. There are not three roles played by one person. Rather there are three distinct persons who are coequal and coeternal but undivided. Nor is it that Jesus and the Spirit are not really divine but just two top special agents to do God's work. That is what the Jehovah's Witnesses teach. Nor is it that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are three gods. Mormons think that. All these ideas are nothing new. They simply don't teach what the Bible teaches; and that is that there is "Unity in Trinity and Trinity in Unity". It is a mystery, but as God says through the prophet Isaiah:

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55.9).

Now because the Holy Spirit is divine, in a moment we are going to say in the Nicene Creed the words ...

... I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life ... He has spoken through the prophets.

In three weeks time we are going to be thinking about the Holy Spirit speaking to us through the Bible, where you read what he said through the prophets (and apostles). So tonight I want to focus on "the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life."

I haven't time to spend on the Holy Spirit as the one involved in the creation of the universe, in making us holy, equipping us for service, helping us pray and worship and gain assurance. I haven't time either to go into the Holy Spirit's relation to Jesus Christ in his conception, his ministry, his death, or in his Resurrection. But let me just say this. The Holy Spirit makes Jesus real to each individual believer and equips and strengthens each individual believer. And no longer does he come just to special people, as in the Old Testament, but to everyone who trusts Christ. On the day of Pentecost, just a short time after Jesus' Resurrection and Ascension, you read in Acts chapter 2 how the Holy Spirit was poured out in a unique and new way for everyone who believed. This was the inauguration of a new era. The old era was marked by the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai in the time of Moses. It resulted in judgment and death because people couldn't live up to its standards. This new era, or new covenant era, is marked by freedom and life. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3.6 that the new covenant is ...

not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

So, let's now think about the Spirit giving spiritual life. That brings me to my second heading and ...

[Secondly,] HIS WORK in terms of his "life-giving" work.

Look again at John 3. I want to talk first about the necessity of experiencing the Holy Spirit's live-giving work, and secondly about how that work is experienced.

i) (then) the necessity of the Holy Spirit's work.

D.H.Lawrence once wrote that no inspiration whatever will get "weak, impotent, vicious, worthless and rebellious man" beyond his own limits. Therefore, he argued, Christianity was doomed to failure. In one sense Lawrence was right. He saw that naturally people can't keep the Ten Commandments or Christ's teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. This failure to live up to an ethical or moral code highlights one of the main differences between Christianity and other religions and philosophies. They say: "do this, do that" or "don't do this; don't do that". They point to a huge mountain of good works to climb. Christianity, however, recognizes that you and I, at the end of the day if left to ourselves, are "weak, impotent, vicious, worthless and rebellious" and unable to climb that mountain. But God in his love has provided us not only with a Saviour to deal with the guilt of the past in ignoring his instructions, but the power of the Holy Spirit to deal with the present and the future. Listen to these words of William Temple, a former Archbishop of Canterbury (dare I say it, when Archbishops of Canterbury were more concerned to stick to the Bible). He said this:

It is no good giving me a play like Hamlet or King Lear, and telling me to write a play like that. Shakespeare could do it; I can't. And it is no good showing me a life like the life of Jesus and telling me to live a life like that. Jesus could do it; I can't. But if the genius of Shakespeare could come and live in me, then I could write plays like that. And if the Spirit of Jesus could come and live in me, I could live a life like that.

That is what Jesus had to teach Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a senior Jewish leader and theologian - (verse 1) "a man of the Pharisees ... a member of the Jewish ruling council." Today he would be equivalent to a distinguished Professor of Theology. And he starts off with polite and affirming remarks - verse 2:

Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.

And you will find churchmen doing that today. They are very nice and polite people - so many of them. But spiritually speaking they haven't a clue. Certainly Jesus thought Nicodemus was like that. So he immediately cuts to the chase and doesn't reply with niceties. Verse 3:

In reply Jesus declared, 'I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.

And Nicodemus hasn't a clue. Verse 4:

How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.'

Jesus is saying that natural birth and spiritual birth are two quite different things.

What is the kingdom of God Nicodemus can't enter? Answer: it is any life where God is king and Jesus is Saviour and Lord. This relationship, as we have learnt in past weeks, brings salvation: Jesus forgives sin, you are adopted into God's family and you have the hope of heaven with death defeated.

But what is being "born again"? In modern English it used to be a phrase that was sneered at. Then Jimmy Carter ran for President of the United States in the 1970's and announced that he was a "born again" Christian. Since then the phrase has been in regular use - for anything from new models of motor cars to new hair styles. But what did Jesus mean by this phrase (or this "two word parable")? Well, Jesus amplifies the phrase in verse 5. He says:

no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

Jesus seems to be referring to Ezekiel 36.25-27 in the Old Testament. The prophet there says (speaking for God):

I will sprinkle clean water on you ... I will cleanse you from all your impurities ... I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you ... I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

This is the great twofold work of God - to cleanse you from the guilt of sin and to empower you for holy living. This he does through Christ's work for you when he died on the Cross and bore your sin, and the Holy Spirit's work in you when he gives you faith and makes Christ real to you and strengthens you for godliness and service. And unless that happens, Jesus says, you are spiritually nowhere, for ...

... No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

Jesus is talking not about a personal reformation but a radical new act of creation, a passing from non-life to life, or death to life - spiritual death to spiritual life. And you can no more give yourself spiritual life than you could give yourself natural life. The Holy Spirit alone can give you that new spiritual life. Let me tell you about another bishop - Bishop Taylor Smith, a former Chaplain-General of the British Army. He was once preaching in a large cathedral on the "new birth". And he said this.

My dear people, do not substitute anything for the new birth. You may be a member of a church, but church membership is not new birth, and "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

On his left sat the Archdeacon in his stall. Pointing directly at him, he said:

You might even be an archdeacon like my friend in his stall and not be born again, and "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." You might even be a bishop like myself, and not be born again, and "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

A day or so later he received a letter from the Archdeacon who wrote this:

My dear Bishop, you have found me out. I have been a clergyman for over thirty years, but I have never known anything of the joy that Christians speak of. I never could understand it. Mine has been a hard, legal service. I did not know what the matter was with me, but when you pointed directly at me, and said, "You might even be an archdeacon and not be born again," I realised in a moment what the trouble was. I had never known anything of the new birth.

The next day they met. The bishop and the archdeacon looked at the bible together. And eventually the archdeacon prayed to Christ asking him to be his Saviour from sin and to give him new life by his Holy Spirit. From that moment things changed. No! There was no perfection. There is never perfection this side of heaven. But as John Newton once said of his new life:

I am not what I ought to be; I am not what I would like to be; I am not what I hope to be; but I am not what I was; and by the grace of God I am what I am.

Who needs to be born again tonight? You say, "how does it happen"? Well, that is my second sub-heading and I'll be brief:

ii) How is the work of the Holy Spirit experienced?

Look at verse 8:

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

When the wind blows you can't precisely say where it is moving to or from. But you know it is there as your hair blows and you battle to walk against it. You can feel it all right. There is always evidence for the wind. And so there is always evidence for the work of the Holy Spirit. But how he works is so varied. With Nicodemus the working of the Holy Spirit seemed to take some time. But his working always involves our meeting Jesus Christ and trusting ourselves to Christ as the one who died for us and rose again. Nicodemus started very nervously - he came to Jesus (verse 2 of John 3 says) "at night". But later you can read about him in John 7.51 taking Jesus' side in the council of the chief priests and Pharisees. Later on still in John 19.39 you find Nicodemus quite open and now one of only two men who honoured Jesus' dead body with a decent burial. By contrast the apostle Paul - Saul as he then was - was suddenly converted in a dramatic moment.

But what matters is not how you come to new birth and receive the Spirit of Christ for new life, but whether you have received the Holy Spirit and are born again. And there will be evidence if you are born again. In John's first epistle you are told what some of this evidence is.Someone who is born again, "believes that Jesus is the Christ" (1 John 5.1); "cannot go on sinning" (1 John 3.9); "does what is right" (1 John 2.29); "loves our brothers" (1 John 3.14); and "overcomes the world" (1 John 5.4). John's Gospel tells you that the Holy Spirit brings conviction of sin (John 16.8); the Acts of the Apostles tell us that the Holy Spirit motivates you for evangelism; and Paul tells you that he helps you pray and gives you gifts and graces. And there are many other evidences of the Holy Spirit.

Now all this fruit of the Spirit may take time to grow. But where there is no fruit whatsoever, you may doubt whether the Holy Spirit is at work in your life.

So I conclude with a simple question? The question is this: have you received the Spirit of Christ - the Holy Spirit? If you have not, pray for him to give you new life. Jesus promised that that is a prayer that will always be answered - see Luke 11.13.