Edwin Palmer in his Book, The Holy
Spirit, wrote, “There are few subjects
more important to the Christian than the one concerning the Holy Spirit. For the eternal Spirit is the source of the
Christian’s spiritual life: both its origin and continuation.”
When evangelical churches consider
the working and the influence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer
and the life of the church, we often do so very cautiously. There is a fear that we will be too Pentecostal
or charismatic and once you start talking about the Spirit of God in the church
the next thing you know we’ll be rolling down the aisles and speaking in
tongues. Yet we fail to realize that in
our own rich history it was among the Baptists that some of the strongest
preaching about and for the Holy Spirit began in our western church. Charles Spurgeon, the “Prince of Preachers”
in the 1800’s preached and wrote on the Holy Spirit and said that one of the
greatest deficiencies in the church of his time was the forgetfulness of the
work of the Holy Spirit and that without Him we can do nothing. And that Biblical truth was as true in the
Time when Paul put it in scripture, when Spurgeon preached it and perhaps more
so even today. Spurgeon was not
preaching for the ecstatic suffusing of the Holy Spirit but the quickening,
filling and working of the Spirit in the salvation of, sanctification of and
security of the follower of Jesus.
It is the Spirit of God who works
in us in so many ways that we cannot and should not minimize the role He
plays. This morning I am not going to
give a theology of the Spirit in relation to his God-ness, his person, or other
essential teachings. Actually we looked
at the Holy Spirit about a year ago and there are many, many books written on
this. This morning I want to look at the
eternity of the Holy Spirit –his forever-ness and why that is so important for
us.
Many people, in the church, think
that the Holy Spirit came about after Jesus rose from the grave and then
ascended into heaven. It was at
Pentecost that the Holy Spirit came. Oh,
maybe he was around, but we do not realize the importance and significance of
the work of the Holy Spirit since before the beginning and in the beginning of
creation.
Genesis 1:1-2 gives us the first
look at the role and action of the Holy Spirit.
“The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” The Spirit of God is present and active even
at the very foundations of creation. As
with the Father and the Son, the Spirit of God is a significant participant in
the formation of all that is. The
picture here is of the Spirit hovering over the chaotic waters of the earth –as
a mother bird hovers over her young.
This is a fascinating image of the mother bird who gives birth to and
then protects her young.
AND what a powerful and significant
image which we have when the Holy Spirit, we read in Matthew 3:16-17 this event
in Jesus life. The Spirit hovers and
descends, the Father declares his pleasure –what a fantastic connection back to
creation itself when the Spirit descends/ hovers and God declares in his
creation the delight of “it is good, it is very good!
Even before creation, the Spirit
was. Hebrews 9:14 states that the Spirit
is eternal (read). You just have to go
to a concordance and look up “Spirit” (capital “S”) and in the OT you see
threaded throughout the work and activity of the Spirit of God. Psalm 139:7 declares, “Where can I go from
your Spirit?” Zechariah 4:6 says, “no by
might or power, but by my Spirit.” Job
33:4, the Spirit of God made me and the breathe of the Almighty gives me life.”
I want to stop for a moment on this
verse because it brings up something important.
Spirit in the OT, in Hebrew is the same word for breathe or wind
–“ruach.” Note here how the writer of
Job brings up the Spirit and breath in the same sentence –the Spirit makes us
and sustains us –gives us life. And even
going back to Genesis in creation we read that God “breathed” life into man
(2:7) and this breath was life.
The activity and working of the
Holy Spirit is present in the life of Jesus.
It is the Spirit that comes and creates the baby Jesus in the mother,
Mary. The Spirit comes down and lights
in him. The Spirit leads Jesus into the
desert. Jesus says demons are driven out
by the Spirit. That the Spirit speaks
truth though us. That the Spirit gives
life. That the Spirit will be left as a
counselor, a teacher for his followers.
The activity and working of the
Spirit is well documented in the book of Acts, which some have called the book
of the Acts of the Holy Spirit. And Paul
writes about he filling of the Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, the fruit of
the Spirit, the power of the Spirit, the presence of the Spirit. The ministry of the Spirit continues in
heaven lifting our prayers before the throne.
Translating even our groaning’s, things that cannot be put into words,
the Spirit brings them before God the father.
And even in the closing words of Revelation, when all has been fulfilled
and judgment is given, and time is no more, the Spirit is still there. 22:17, the Spirit and the bride say
come!
The Spirit of God is forever and in
his eternalness the Holy Spirit has the unlimited capacity to do his work. And because he is eternal we can experience
the fullness of His presence and working in our lives.
Because the Spirit is eternal he
can work at bringing everyone to God that God directs. We read that we do not, cannot, come to the
knowledge of God and become his child without the working of the Spirit in our
lives. The KJV calls it quickening. I
like that word. The NIV in John 6:63
reads, “The Spirit gives life, the flesh counts for nothing. KJV reads, “It is the Spirit that
quickeneth…” Charles Spurgeon writes on
this,
“The
work of salvation never starts with the efforts of any man. God the Holy Spirit must begin it. Man cannot because he is dead. The dead may be made alive but the dead
cannot make themselves alive. For the
dead can do nothing.”
The Spirit of God can and does
bring everyone that the Father desires to Him.
Jesus later would say, no one comes to me except the Father draws
him. The Spirit moves in people to
quicken them, to spark in them the life given by the Father. The eternalness of God gives the Spirit the
ability to bring ALL those who would to the Father. (cf. II Thes. 2:13) Not
most, not some. No “Oh I ran out of
energy, time focus.”
The eternalness of the Spirit
assures us that all who are drawn are kept.
This security is extremely comforting and assuring. Ephesians 1:11-14 tells us that we are
assured, guaranteed, sealed, marked, with the Spirit when we come to
Christ. IN a day and age when we see
retirement funds lost in a market downturn (crash) or a house lost in a
recession what a great guarantee that the eternal Spirit will NOT maybe preserve us, will not almost keep us, will not mostly guarantee our salvation -but fully!
Because he is eternal he has the
capacity to fully comfort us (John 14:16).
Because he is eternal he has the full knowledge of God (II Corinthians
2:10-11). Because he is eternal he has
the full ability to fill us.
Let’s look at Ephesians 5:18, Paul
says be filled with the Holy Spirit. Be
filled over and over, renewing our filling.
The Spirit does not run out, go dry, fail to be enough. He doesn’t ration himself because there may
be a shortage next week. He is more than
enough to fill and fill and fill and fill.
And along with this, because he is
eternal his fruit will not lack. The
fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace, patience, goodness, kindness,
gentleness, faithful and self control.
(Gal. 5:22-23). Because the
Spirit is eternal he has the power to gift us –not most of us, not some of us
–ALL of us who are in Christ! Because he
is eternal he gives the power to keep on serving, to keep on growing, to keep
on learning about he Father, to keep on.
Oh we may grow tired, we may grow weary but he never does and his limitless power is always at work
(Ephesians 1)
Because he is eternal we can know
he can help us in our weakness, guide us in our prayers, and intercede for us
always! (Romans 8:26-27 –read).
If the Spirit of God were not
eternal, if he could only bring 90% of those God called, keep only 98% of those
who were saved safe, fill only half the church, give only limited quantities of
fruit, only empower most of those who follow Jesus and guarantee 99.99% of
those sealed, then he would cease to be the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God, as the Spirit of God has
the eternalness of God because he is God.
And because he is eternal he will
always seek the glory of Christ who brings glory to the Father. Jesus put it this way, “The Spirit will bring
glory to me…” and then in almost the next breath Jesus says “I have brought you
(Father) glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” (John 16:16
and 17:4) The chief task of the Spirit
is to glorify Christ who glorifies God!
And this is something that we must understand about the Spirit.
Two weeks ago we looked at the
foreverness of God and the simple yet powerful truth that God is. God is.
Period. And because God is, his ways
are higher than ours, his thoughts not ours.
He will do what he will because he is God. To be any less, anything less than forever,
anything less than sovereign, anything less is to cease to be God. And as such, God will always seek his own
glory (Isaiah 48:11) “I will not yield my glory to another.”
God is above all. God is.
And the Spirit, through Jesus and glorifying Christ, seeks to always
glorify the Father through Christ, will always –ALWAYS, work for the glory of
God and His ways, his purposes his mind.
Remember, the Spirit knows the mind of God (I Corinthians 2:10-11). And this is important for us because the
Spirit will not be manipulated to our will, our ways.
We can, and sometimes do, view the
Spirit of God like a power source we can turn on and off –he is at our
disposal, he empowers us to do what we want.
I have heard people command, yes command the Spirit to heal
someone. After all isn’t that his job? Much the same when we “ask anything in Jesus
name” he must give it to us –because he said he would. I ask in Jesus name for a new car, a better
life, a kitten, world peace, to win the lottery.
The Spirit will ALWAYS seek to
bring glory to Jesus who brings glory to the father. ALWAYS!
And if what we ask, if what we seek, if what we command does not glorify
the Father, the spirit will not do it.
The Spirit saves us for the glory of the father. The Spirit preserves us for the glory of the
father, the Spirit unites us for the glory for the Father, empowers us for the
glory of the father, gives us fruit for the glory of the father, heals us,
comforts us, seals us, gifts us, lifts our prayers, teaches us 100% for the
glory of the father through Jesus Christ.
There is so much more that can be
preached in the Spirit of God –his guidance in the giving of Scripture, His
preservation of the word, his convicting us of sin, and so much more.
The eternalness, the foreverness of
the Spirit is essential for us. TO be
anything less, he would cease to be the Spirit of God. And because he is eternal we can have the
assurance, the absolute confidence that he will fill us, comfort us, guide us,
protect us and guarantee our salvation in Christ. Beloved, let us rejoice and praise God for
the eternal Spirit, seek him, be filled by him, listen to Him and obey Him.
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