Holy Spirit….Hope, Help and More!

song means to me I just prayed it and I really feel it in my soul that you know it’s a god that wants to be here and present and very personal and powerful in our lives doesn’t he don’t you don’t you just hope for that if it’s not real to you because if it if it is real to you you just want more and more of it don’t you it’s really true and if it’s not then my prayer is that god will use something said this

morning that will ignite in you I mean this kindly an expectation not a demand but an expectation that changes today that you’ll be that person that like my title says holy spirit help hope and more one of the authors I’ve listened to over the years and I find him very original very sort of I probably read him more than most with the reaction of I never thought of that or you know that kind of person it’s how you feel every sunday in my messages no but

it is a it’s a statement that philip yancey makes he says that even the names the names of the holy spirit helper encourager comforter others healer strengthener interceder all of those indicate are actually revealing in in our lives they say at the very least we need those things why would you adopt a name if you’re the holy spirit that like helper or comforter encourager intercede or accept that that’s the role you want to play in your people so it’s a it’s a helpful image for me

in my heart and I want to say I know it’s belated it’s a couple of days past but happy thanksgiving to you all and thank you for your your prayers on our behalf we had a very different thanksgiving than we’ve ever had and it was was sweet it was it was just four of us my my debbie and my dad and my youngest daughter carissa and the rest were either well they were both very far away one living in a faraway place and one flying to

and from a far away place okay I’ll say it maui obama right yeah anyway no it was it was very we were very aware of the simplicity of thanksgiving and a family in our church arranged with a catering friend of theirs on thursday afternoon there was a knock on the door and there was a full meal with everything that you kind of make part of your thanksgiving including a fresh pie so it was just a delight and we we had reason to celebrate and give thanks

so I I want to read to you a list of names this morning so you got to kind of think with me as we get started it’s a list of names and see if you can guess what they have in common all these names they’ll be familiar to most of you they’re from the bible and I’m going to give them to you not a complete list and not but I want you to know they’re in chronological flow okay in in other words or the appearance in

the bible okay so the first is moses and the 70 elders now don’t say out loud just try to think of the link that I’m trying to draw your attention to okay so moses and the 70 elders that that’s all the way back in numbers 11. So the pentateuch then comes joshua also mentioned in numbers 27. Then comes the first of four judges off neil he was the first judge and sampson who was the 12th in the list of 12 he was he’s one of the

people I want you to think about and then comes in the middle gideon and jephthah so those are the four othniel neil jephthah gideon of neil gideon jephthah and samson okay but we’re not done with my list then comes saul king saul and following him king david and then sometime later two really standout prophets elijah and his successor elisha okay hopefully not going too fast I could give you all the scriptures but if you’re watching from some other place click the link down below and you

can have in your hands what everybody has here and that’s a note page with the scriptures that all of these people can be found they’re stories and then comes now stay with me on my list I’m not done mary the mother of jesus in luke chapter 1. And 120 people who are nameless in jerusalem in acts chapter 1 and 2. And finally every believer in jesus christ since pentecost all right anybody want to hazard a guest what’s the single link that all those people have in

common phil what was that they all believed in god that’s a start that’s right the presence and the filling of the holy spirit right they had the one we’re talking about this morning the holy spirits help and hope and so much more it’s not just the song we’re singing now it’s a reality that’s been true for well you’ll see for a very long time if you you had thought that the holy spirit up to this point up to the announcement the revelation that was shared by

many if you had thought that the holy spirit was someone on the scene only in people of old like really old like old testament old no wonder you’re scratching your head right now when you stayed with my list and heard that it in fact extended beyond the old testament into the very present in fact some of you are scratching your head because you’re thinking no I thought that was only something that was true after jesus well died was buried rose again and returned to the father

in heaven so no wonder there’s a lot of head scratching going on you’re thinking wait who is this holy spirit because I’ll remind you again most on that list I didn’t count maybe 10 or 12 on that list are all from the holy from the old testament so if we’re to zoom out for a moment which is what I’m having you do imagining all those different people sharing in common the holy spirit we zoom out to the widest possible holy spirit interaction with the world and

the people that live in it we might be surprised to discover a couple of facts let me just give you a few that kind of ease us into this pretty profound discovery I think that we’re gonna make the holy spirit first of all let’s start with the most basic observation of all he’s not a well he is god the holy spirit is god he’s not a power and he’s not a force may the force be with you you know he’s not that he’s he’s a he’s

a person he is god acts chapter five verses three and four tell the story of a couple named ananiah and sapphira husband and wife and in those days they were selling their personal belongings dwellings and stuff and they’re bringing the proceeds from those sales before the apostles to be distributed to people in need of any kind all right and so they sold their place and they brought the proceeds and presented the proceeds as the result of the sale only they were holding back a certain portion

of what the place sold for all right now you say well that’s not a problem well it is a problem if you lie about it and then somehow there it was it was understood that they they represented the sale at this level and or at this level and the reality was it was much more and so they were confronted by peter and these were the very words he used ananya and sapphira you lied to the holy spirit and at the end of the next verse he

says you lied to god himself you hear the link happening there the holy spirit is god and did you know secondly the holy spirit according to the second verse in the bible was actually around I said a long long time ago he actually predates genesis 1 verse 2 he was present and very involved in creation of the world itself you know that listen to this the bible was without form and void so there was a day when it didn’t look like this it was without form

and void and darkness was over the face of the deep not sure what that looks like but it sounds kind of creepy because it sounds like almost nothingness very fluid and then this and the holy spirit of god was hovering over the face of the waters that’s in genesis 1 verse 2. So the holy spirit is god and the holy spirit was very involved in creation here’s the third one that may shock you the holy spirit was present in the garden of eden the garden of

eden where we thought there were actually three there right adam even serpent no the holy spirit was present there these words describe in chapter 3 of genesis verse 8 that god came in the cool of the day verse 8 says that right well did you know that the hebrew word could a tool of the day could be translated wind of the day some translations do that interesting parallel with what I just said and if you go forward to acts chapter 2 and the day of pentecost

it says that people were gathered in jerusalem and the well the arrival of the holy spirit as it’s understood came as a blowing we’re told a violent wind do you hear the parallel there I always thought god was kind of trucking through the garden it says there was a sound of him you could hear there’s no question adam and eve heard god in the garden but we’ve already established holy spirit is also part of the godhead father son holy spirit and he came in the cool

of the day or what might have been the wind of the day wow from those early sightings then the bible goes on to report that the holy spirit moved powerfully in many people’s lives that we started my list with in the whole in the old testament some people in that list you would expect the holy spirit working through I’m just going to put myself out there when I made the list I thought well of course he’s there it makes sense when you hear moses you don’t

pull off what he did without help so that makes sense to me and then along comes david and I think gosh david big deal man after my own heart greatest king of israel saved jesus christ that makes sense hey elijah and elisha if you haven’t read their stories I double dare you to do it first kings 18 to 2 kings about seven or so and when you do see if you don’t have this overwhelming impression that the holy spirit was like powerfully upon those two prophets

I mean huge in fact I’ll blow a secret one of them didn’t die he was couriered to heaven how yeah chariot whirlwind holy spirit okay so those are on my list and I thought well that’s not a big revelation people aren’t going to go wow but there’s some that I’m just going to say are really surprising including several judges that we’ve gotten to know in previous conversations I mean othniel sampson gideon and jephthah they stand out though for a reason that is not mentioned about the

other eight judges and next to their names those four people’s names this statement is made I’m quoting the spirit of the lord came upon them not all 12 that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen but I kind of think god knows what he’s doing when he wrote the bible and for whatever reason he wants us to be impressed with the fact that those four had god the spirit come powerfully upon them and they pulled off amazing things you can look up those same references all from judges

there all right so that’s enough said about how the holy spirit comes upon different people but the opposite is also true in a few well-known old testament people what do you mean the opposite is true the holy spirit write this down it’s true left some who had sinned well I already mentioned his name that’s why samson is the first to mention now samson the last of those 12 judges also after divulging his secret sauce the the secret of his strength to a seductress named delilah you

remember long hair and azerite vow and all that well he was overcome by israel’s enemies the philistines and he thought no problem I can I can I can wreck this building like that I got the kind of strength I got the power right he was that guy he found at that moment that he was powerless to stop them the bible adds because the holy spirit had left him let’s take that in while you’re taking that in consider israel’s first judge king saul first king king saul

so his story is recorded for all of us to know about and and saul had sinned badly a couple of times and he rebelled in his sin against god and first samuel chapter 16 verse 14 laments and now at that moment the spirit of the lord departed from saul now we can make up all kinds of sort of contextual caveats I think it’s nuts to do so I think the bible just plainly says and the holy spirit said no more so there’s one more I want

to tell you about king david israel’s second king so saul after sinning and rebelling against god the holy spirit left him departed we’re told king david equally sinned some would say even worse broke two of the commandments two of the ten adultery and murder he sinned I’m going to call it egregiously and he feared that god would somehow remove his spirit from him david did he had that fear and so he expresses that fear in his beautiful public prayer in psalm 51 if you haven’t read

it you need to and he says purify me with hyssop and I will be clean wash me to prayer wash me and I will be whiter than snow create in me a clean heart o god and renew a steadfast spirit within me ready for this do not cast me from your presence or take your holy spirit from me you don’t pray that unless you fear that that possibility might be true in your case is it that I’m not making this stuff up so we have a

a little sort of sampling of the holy spirit’s work I’m by no means exhaustive either by the names of the people I’ve mentioned or the circumstances a lot more which brings me to a couple of prophets I just want to mention in passing and then we’ll land in the upper room for a few minutes john chapter 14 chapter 16. But there’s a group of godly people known as prophets I mentioned two of them already elijah and elisha but these are prophets in the old testament and

they they are describing something that I I often think of prophets as squinting people you know how you read something or you’re told something and you’re you’re trying to get it’s like a it’s like a dog that’s trying to interpret its masters movements and their they have that look of what what am I supposed to do for that biscuit because I’ll do it just tell me I don’t get it you know you know what I mean and these these prophets they lived a long time before

pentecost the event where the holy spirit came in great power in acts chapter 2. In fact the first one is named joel j-o-e-l he was a 900 bc prophet okay so that takes him way back and he’s squinting as he’s describing something that you and I go well duh but you got to go back and follow the timeline or we just get this way out of context joel is being given something by the spirit of god to announce and so he does so in chapter two

and it’s a big vision this is a god-sized vision that says it’s coming I have a book on my shelf called the great economic earthquake the coming great economic earthquake if you own any stocks you kind of want to read it go how to how to duck and cover you know how to dig a hole deep enough and hide it you know whatever but but when you hear a prediction like that you think ah that could impact me personally well joel’s hearing a prediction of something

way more significant and impactful that that he puts into spirit-filled print in joel chapter 2. I’m just going to read it I will pour out my spirit will is a future tense I will pour out my spirit drum roll on all people that means it’s not for the clergy it’s not for the seminary trained thankfully we get it too it’s for all I will pour out my spirit on all people your sons and daughters this is joel the prophet saying that will prophesy not just him

the prophet y’all will prophesy your old men will dream dreams I’ve been dreaming a lot lately and I don’t know anyway it’s a little attempted humor but notice this your young men will see visions dreams and visions he’s not done even on my servants both men and women I will pour out my spirit in those days so if you’re joel you’re going when those days came 900 years later in jerusalem at pentecost and the apostle peter’s first message in acts chapter 2 actually confirmed that joel’s

message had been fulfilled on this day as he concludes his message he makes an appeal peter did he goes you know you all know this is a little different in that day everybody there knew joel he wasn’t he was a he was a name you memorized you knew what he talked about hadn’t happened yet but you were looking forward to it and the apostle peter said and you were kind of dozing off until he said this has come true on this day you know how he

ended his message peter did that moment he says and the holy spirit the same holy spirit that did this says everyone who calls on the on the name of the lord will be saved is that great it’s the it’s the deal salvation has come to all have you called on jesus I gotta stop and ask to save you you know this isn’t do enough good and then you cross the line this isn’t somehow us a secret that only a few discover it’s a it’s an appeal

made to everybody whoever is inclusive whoever calls on the salvation giver will be saved is that a irresistible thing that means yeah you may you may have not committed adultery and murdered you your sins are another list so are mine but you know what I still have to call on the name of the salvation giver there’s no exception to that and there’s no exception that he saves those who do man that’s this gospel one more ezekiel 250 years closer to us so 900 bc joel ezekiel

250 years closer to us he provides more detail he’s still it’s squinting long ways from today long time ago he’s squinting when he’s speaking to the exiles in babylon that’s where they were at this time and they were gutted with the hope gone jerusalem and the city destroyed so he’s speaking to them painting a picture of holy spirit help and hope and so much more and he says it this way in ezekiel 36 listen to this I will sprinkle water on you notice the forward tense

I will sprinkle water on you and you will be clean I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all of your idolatry I will give you this is irresistible promise I will give you a new heart I will do that that’s what I’m gonna do I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you if you haven’t taken a note take those two words and put them down on the page they come up in a moment I will put a

new spirit in you I will remove in putting my new heart in you I will remove the heart that was in you it’s that heart of stone it’s that heart that doesn’t work and I will give you a heart of flesh and then he repeats himself I will put my spirit in you that preposition is there for a purpose in you and I will move you then to follow my decrees and to be careful to keep my laws and then you will live in the land

I gave your ancestors and I think this made god smile when he had ezekiel say it and you will be in that moment my people and I will be your god can’t you just feel the excitement of ezekiel’s prediction I mean he’s saying stuff that I drink up clean heart new heart a clean me put my spirit in you you will be mine and I will put my spirit in you to prove it and to fulfill that promise I’m not the only one that that just

is so impressed by this this sort of progression listen to these words philippians just captures it so well he says the progression father son and spirit represents a profound advancement in intimacy now listen he’s just a human trying to put together these beautiful images at sinai the people shrank back from god remember when they were afraid to go anywhere near the mountain and they begged moses to approach god the father on their behalf but in jesus day people could hold a conversation with the son of

god they could see jesus in some cases they could even hurt him and then at pentecost the same flawed disciples who fled from jesus at his trial became the couriers of a living message they were the ones that were given the privilege to take the message to everybody that will listen and jesus turned over actually the kingdom of god to the likes of the disciples and us and us and me and you so it’s no surprise that jesus would call attention to such intimacy on the

last night he’s gathered with his disciples in john 14 I’d like you to turn there if you saw my the location we’d eventually get to it’s there in your nose john chapter 14 and as you turn there let me remind you of there’s about five chapters here john 13 to john 17. They’re all happening in the same location in what we call the upper room and jesus is with his disciples there so he’s got some things they shared the passover meal together is very intimate gathering

about halfway through maybe not quite that long it was one night one of them left of course judas to go and betray him so there’s jesus in 11 in that room and chapter 14 is as you could do the numbers it’s kind of early in the evening or somewhere in that zone and it’s clear though by now that jesus is saying goodbye and so it kind of wrecks the meal I mean to be on to be human about I mean I’m like callie we’re having a

great time and you drop a bomb you know and any and it stopped everybody maybe they were swallowing or whatever they and it stops them and he says I’m gonna I’m going away this is goodbye but they had to all wrinkle their brow when he said what he said next this is good it’s actually good that I’m going and now you check it out verse 16 tells us that I will ask the father and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with

you forever the spirit of truth we’ve been saying that throughout this morning the world cannot accept him because he’s neither it neither sees him nor knows him but you know him for he lives with you and watch this will be in you I will not leave you as orphans I will come to you before long the world will not see me anymore that was just a matter of hours by noon the next day he was gone before long the world will not see me anymore but

you will see me because I live you also will live watch verse 20 now on that day you will realize that I am in my father and you are in me and I am in you incredible if I had been there despite hearing his amazing words I know I I think I know my reaction I would have pushed back out because I don’t know what he’s talking about the holy spirit what I know you jesus I’ve hung out with you for three years I would have

said no don’t go stay here we want you we’re into you we don’t even we don’t want we can’t imagine anybody better than you we don’t want anybody beside you I’d have said I would have felt that I don’t know if I’d say it all even so he’s not done a little bit later if you just turn the page to chapter 16 same night he’s still there a bit later that evening you can feel the tone in his voice his departure through death on a cross

is weighing heavy on his heart and theirs and in the midst of that he makes this surprising statement verse 6 of chapter 16. You will be filled rather you will be filled with grief verse 6 because I’ve said these things but very truly I tell you it is for your he says it again good then I’m going away unless I go away the my bible capitalizes advocate so holy spirit will not come in you to you but if I go I will send him to you

and when he comes he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin righteousness and judgment about sin because people do not believe in me the holy spirit will prove about righteousness because I’m going to the father where you can see me no longer and about judgment because the prince of this world now stands condemned that’s a whole other series sometime I just want you to know this it’s not your job or mine to convince people that they need jesus we can convey the

truth that he wants to live in them but we can’t convince them we can’t convince them that they need a savior why I’m you’re not looking at a sinner I mean whatever how could it be for our good that jesus went away new american standard uses I think a better word it says it’s to your advantage okay I think the answer is in the difference between with and within I think that’s what we’re reading here when jesus came to earth said matthew in his gospel he

was given a name remember that name emmanuel god with us that’s the name jesus was given god with us and in fact the moment he was born in bethlehem god was with us we’re going to celebrate that we’re going to light a first advent cantha today in anticipation of his arrival and the birth but but he was with us there’s no question that that’s what happened but when the holy spirit came a short 10 days after jesus returned to heaven when the holy spirit came in

jerusalem that day god went further than he had ever gone before god is now within us and according to numerous statements in the new testament he came to stay he came to stay can I get raw with you you can blow it huge you can mess up so bad you embarrass yourself will the holy spirit leave you emphatically no if you belong to jesus christ if you called upon the name of the lord he came and he plans to stay you say well pastor that’s good

pep talk but is it true you tell me ephesians chapter 1 ephesians chapter 4 roman it’s all over the place but these I’m going to quote ephesians 1. Listen to this the apostle paul put it this way when you believed in christ he identified you as one of his own let me slow down when you believed in jesus he identified you she’s mine he’s mine one of his own by giving you this is how he did it by giving you his holy spirit whom he promised

long ago it’s taken me 40 minutes to capture long ago okay he’s not done the spirit is god’s guarantee quoting from ephesians 1 verses 13 and 14 that he will give you the inheritance that he promised he would give you god is not just a promise maker he is a promise keeper so if you I don’t care if you did it in a big dramatic way or in a private little closet somewhere you said god I suck I need a savior I choked I did terrible

things I know some of you are all hung up he said sucked in pulpit get you know what I sinned in much bigger ways needing a savior than that okay trust me and it was more than a potty mouth it was big time and I and I found my way to to my knees and I said god no one else wants to help me get over this but you do you didn’t you’re one of the few that didn’t run from me is your story like that

it’s huge I’m not done quoting this either the spirit is god’s guarantee that he will give you an inheritance that he promised you when you said I surrender and that he purchased you to make you one of his own people and he did that for a reason so that you would never stop praising and glorifying him man I hope you never get over meeting a savior when you really needed one it’s a lousy sentence I just expressed because you always need one so do I but

you know that moment I’m talking about maybe you haven’t bowed the knee maybe you’re still trying to carry the load of your own sin I I did well I was pretty dysfunctional can I say by design I didn’t have game couldn’t couldn’t fix myself could put a smile on make it fake it but deep down inside without jesus I’m still a sinner lost everything about you changes when you surrender to jesus I’m not talking problems go away you win the lottery all that stuff I’m talking

about deep things you’re you’re no longer even known in the bible as a sinner you know that every epistle by the apostle paul you’re now a saint in christ jesus how’s that it’s a god that says I changed you I took out the heart of stone put a heart of flesh I see you differently if anyone’s in christ they’re a new creature new creation old has passed away completely new has come if you have not trusted jesus christ please save yourself time and grief you’re going

to come to that point at some point because your fix won’t work you’ll still be in that closet stinking up the place because you you know it’s it’s still who I am I need something deeper than a fix I need a new heart and the holy spirit is the one who makes men and women new I want to close with these words that capture the enormity of his permanent presence in every believer’s heart quote after jesus had left at pentecost the spirit of god descended and

filled individual human beings thus their fallen spirit because jesus had left was finally restored more t

Transcript machine-generated from the sermon audio, so it may contain errors. 5,507 words.